#and pointing out solutions for her because he might be a lost cause but she sure isn't

[twobellsilence]

OH I JUST REALIZED THAT ADRIANA HADN'T BEGUN HER TRANSITION WHEN SHE ARRIVED AT HQ. she'd Literally Just ran away from home when she got there. And she was probably EXTREMELY nervous, not necessarily because she was about to join a secret supernatural organization, but because she'd always been conditioned to feel ashamed about who she is and she feared they'd reject her, or worse, be actively hostile towards her once they saw her in person.

Imagine her relief when she saw queer identities being recognized in the registration form. And when nobody batted an eye when she selected she/her as her pronouns. And when she met her bosses and the UNDEAD COMMANDER OF HER SQUAD noticed her discomfort and the mismatch between her government issued ID and her registration form and he mentioned gender-affirming care being available at the facility. And when her other boss encouraged her to get it, because it's free, and she deserves to be happy and, mlst importantly, herself. Can you imagine? Not only did she get her dream job and escaped her abusive parents, but she was also given the chance and was actively encouraged to become herself. Her REAL self. And she found nothing but support and validation along the way.

[an-android-in-a-tutu]

Hey if we’re talking about Dean and angels, entirely in good faith I’m sure, you wanna see one of my most personally loathed Dean transgressions?

It’s this bit from season 9:

[IMG: Dean Winchester with a phone to his ear, facing left, Sam is out of focus in the background of the shot. The captions read “Well, trust me, they’re just monsters with good PR.”]

[IMG: A man leaning against his car on the side of the road with his phone to his ear, the other side of the conversation. The captions, continued from the previous image, read: “So, if you run into one, torch his ass with holy oil.”]

[IMG: Later in the same conversation, Dean, leaning back and facing slightly right speaking into his phone. The captions read “And, uh, spread the word.”]

[IMG: The same as above, Dean continues speaking, the captions now read: “The more hunters that know, the better.”]

I’ve cut for the relevant stuff but that’s Dean’s solution to the problem of a bunch of fallen angels being on earth. Warning hunters about them I get, but this? To Dean angels are monsters with good pr, helping them or even sparing them isn’t in the equation, the solution is to burn them alive with holy oil.

Just to be clear, these are the last words exchanged with Cas on the matter:

[IMG: Castiel in the foreground looks back at another angel, Hael, who is looking around with concern, holding her harms to her chest and stomach. They are outside, framed next to a dumpster and an outhouse, Castiel is speaking into a payphone. The Captions read “Some are just looking for direction.”]

[IMG: Dean Winchester holds a cellphone to his ear, listening and looking perturbed, he is in a hospital hallway. The captions, continued from the previous image, read: “Some are just lost.”]

Cas expresses that some of the angels are just lost and confused, that he met one and wants to help her.

[IMG: Dean in the left half of the frame, looking down, speaking into the phone. The captions read “No Cass, I know you want to help, okay, I do.”]

Dean warns him not to, and I actually like and understand Dean’s point of view here. Dean might understand that Cas cares about the other angels, but he cares a lot more about Cas not getting hurt, and he’s personally seen that some angels are out for his blood, and considering Cas just finished getting tricked by an angel that caused this whole mess I don’t think it’s unreasonable for him to be skeptical of Cas’ judgment here. I mean, no more than his own considering what he’s about to do and also considering, oh yeah, it was Sam and Dean going to Metatron for help that put him back into play in the first place, but this is like understandable and in character. Dean wants Cas to prioritize his own safety, that’s cool.

[IMG: Castiel, centre frame, looking off to the right, speaking into a payphone, he looks upset. The captions read: “And do what? Just abandon them all?”]

Cas for his part views not helping the angels that he can as wrong, not fighting against them or hurting him, but just not doing everything he can to help. The conversation gets cut off before they can really get into an argument about it, and Cas ultimately takes Dean’s advice and tries to leave Hael and go to the bunker alone.

Now you know and I know that Cas ends up having to kill Hael when she backs him into a corner, despite his attempts to leave peacefully. Dean doesn’t know about that, his last word from Cas is that he wants to help the angels.

Cas has done plenty wrong by heaven, and a lot of what motivates him to help is the weight of that guilt, but his desire to reconcile and repent for his mistakes, and to help the other angels is a well established and consistent trait of his. Dean knows about this, he literally says “I know you want to help.” He just doesn’t care.

Because angels are “monsters with good PR”

anyway this is why I can’t stand it when people claim Cas should’ve trusted Dean with the angel tablet back in season 8. Forget the fact that Kevin literally got kidnapped from the place they were keeping him (and planning to take the angel tablet) two episodes later, Dean himself is not someone who can be trusted with information about angels, not if Cas cares about the well-being of his species, and he does.

Anyway that’s my take on it you’re welcome to disagree obviously, but Imo just because Cas is the poster child for angel massacres doesn’t mean the fact that his best friend seems to consider him and everyone like him to be sub-human isn’t like. An issue.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I have a question for you guys.

I was rewatching Yosano's backstory episode (and cried again. what of it?) but something this time caught my attention.

In the scene where Fukuzawa and Mori are fighting and Fukuzawa angrily tells him his plans "lack humanity"... is the word they both use... not "kokoro"?

It would appear to be, from this manga translation. If that really is the choice of word, that's really interesting, because one of irl Natsume-sensei's most well-known books is the novel Kokoro.

What does this mean? Is Mori really following the plan Natsume laid out for them? Is he derailing from the initial plan with the exclusion of "heart/humanity"? Did Natsume intend for "heart" to be sacrificed in the name of defense? Or is this conflict, with "heart" at the center, exactly what Natsume needed for this plan to work?

And on Mori's end: this isn't his usual cold, impeccable logic. This is anger that Fukuzawa is getting in the way. More than that, it almost seems to me like Mori has a paranoid streak. Check this out here:

To be quite honest with you, Mori sometimes makes weird calls that imo aren't the best decisions - and they're all out of some fear he has, typically over the protection of the city and the country. Mori's takeover of the Port Mafia is seen as overall a good thing - because the previous boss grew increasingly paranoid and started ordering unnecessary violence, something Mori himself wishes to avoid whenever possible. Yet his projection onto Dazai causes issues during the Mimic incident - sure it was logically sound, but he lost Dazai for it. Was it really then the best solution there was? And what about Yosano - so caught up in what she could prove and what she meant for the war effort that he failed to consider her taking drastic action out of sheer despair? It's interesting that Mori, who advises others on not letting their fears and emotions get in the way of strategy, is prone to the same thing at times. Might he get worse at this kind of miscalculation? It'd be altogether kind of tragic if he messes up later in the story out of paranoia, considering his predecessor's legacy...

Edit: I changed the last bit, as it's left somewhat unclear if part of Mori's reasoning in the whole Mimic incident was to get Dazai away from him - in fact, it's likely that wasn't the case at all and Dazai was just saying this to intentionally get under his skin. Unfortunately I am a bit of dumbass who misinterpreted this line on first read, and now read it differently:

He's sticking with the logicality of it - one person's life for a gifted business permit is a worthwhile sacrifice, even if it drove away his right hand man. Either way, whether it's projection (Dazai is just like me, so he'll understand) or paranoia (he is going to inevitably kill me someday - which is still kinda projection imo) or some combination of the two - I think the original point still stands: maybe focusing all your efforts on ensuring you're always prepared for some eventuality or other means you overlook things you deem less important or irrelevant. Maybe removing heart from your decisions... isn't actually the best call in the end.

[presidenthades]

In a semi-canon au where everything stays the same as the book/show (Aegon marries Hel, they have children, the throne is usurped and almost the whole family ends up dead) If Aegon and Jace survive (and maybe other characters like Corlys and Alicent, Baela and Rhaena) do you think the council would push for them to marry now that everything has been screwed up and they need heirs and stability?

How do you think their relationship would be now that Aegon (like in the show) lost a son he actually loved? Do you think he would deeply resent Jace for his death? Would their love survive or would Aegon prefer to send Jace away because having her around reminds him of everything he lost? Same for Jace, she could be close to Aegon again knowing that he murdered her mom and caused the death of her sisters or she would rather be married to another lord and sent away (Cregan, Benjicot maybe...) ?

I have thought about this scenario before, though I could never actually write it because too many of our beloved characters are dead. 😢

After B&C, I think Aegon would continue directing his rage toward Rhaenyra, Daemon, and other Blacks, but not Jace, who he knows would never condone such a thing. I imagine him mentally putting her on a pedestal and thinking things like “if only I’d married her, everything would be fine” and “none of this would’ve happened if Rhaenyra just let me marry Jace.”

One big canon change I would make is Baela going into the Battle of the Gullet instead of Jace. Jace in this series is definitely not a fighter, and Baela would volunteer herself so Jace doesn’t have to. So Baela and Moondancer die instead of Jace and Vermax.

When Rhaenyra takes KL, she leaves Jace on Dragonstone, both to keep Jace safe and so her heir can manage the castle/island that now belongs to Jace and has strategic importance. I don’t think Jace can go to KL or else she would change a lot of canon events, eg prevent Joff’s death.

That means when Aegon takes Dragonstone, he stealing it from Jace. Unlike Baela, Jace isn’t sneaking out of captivity or mounting her dragon to fight Aegon. So Aegon and Sunfyre don’t get injured again, and Aegon and Jace have a lot of serious discussions while she’s his prisoner. At some point they learn Aemond and Daemon are dead.

They probably hear about Helaena and Maelor’s deaths (let’s assume Maelor exists in this AU) shortly before Rhaenyra flees from KL to Dragonstone. I’m sure this sends Aegon into a rage, and even Jace can’t dissuade him from executing Rhaenyra. The only positive is that Jace can make sure Alyssa doesn’t watch.

Jace definitely has a lot of anger and complicated feelings toward Aegon, but she’s capable of compartmentalizing and focusing on her remaining family’s survival, as well as the good of the realm. The council would absolutely push for them to marry. Jace would comply because it’s the logical solution. Aegon would comply because by this point he’s lost all his siblings and most of his kids, so Jace is one of the few sources of familiarity and comfort he has remaining.

They probably get married as soon as the council finds a septon. Jace, as Rhaenyra’s heir, is able to send word to the Black forces to stand down, so the Battle of the Kingsroad never happens. Jace is also able to persuade Aegon to act more mercifully and peacefully, so he isn’t poisoned. And Aegon still has Sunfyre and isn’t as crippled as in canon, which makes him a force to be reckoned with.

It might be an interesting bit of drama if Jace betrothed herself to Cregan while she was in the North, and now she obviously can’t marry him. I doubt she ever fell in love with Cregan but they became friends, so I think she can also convince Cregan to act more peacefully. But Cregan and Aegon definitely hate each other for the rest of their lives.

Jace and Aegon’s marriage would be rocky at first because of everything that’s happened, though Aegon is a lot more open about how much he loves her despite everything. Jace takes longer to warm up to him again, probably not until after they have their first child together. But I think after they have time to heal and talk things out, they can eventually find their way to each other again. Jace especially would want to move forward in a productive manner instead of clinging to resentment, which helps nobody.

In the meantime, Jace is a good stepmom to Jaehaera, and she keeps Rhaena (who doesn’t marry Corbray) and Alyssa close. She might even convince Corlys to leave Driftmark to her second son or to Rhaena, instead of keeping Alyn (who’s trash in the book, let’s be honest) as heir.

[jplupineislost]

This....sucks.

So I've briefly mentioned some of this stuff before but given my current circumstances, I think some transparency might be needed. I could potentially be homeless soon and I'm at the end of my rope.

Under the cut will be how I ended up in this position with some potentially triggering topics [harassment, assault, abuse] Links to help me keep my home are at the very end if you want to skip the triggering parts.

Around two years ago, I was living in an apartment with my mother through government assisted housing. Between the both of us, our combined incomes were far beneath the poverty line even for a one person household. We're both disabled, so our methods of getting income are limited. The apartment became a health hazard to my mother because of neighbors stealing packages that contained medical supplies and upstairs neighbors nearly constantly smoking cigarettes and weed with the smoke coming down to our apartment through the connected vents.

The smoke was so strong that it stuck to our clothes and doctors would run secret drug tests because they thought we were lying about not doing drugs. We both have asthma, but mine is not as severe whereas Ma also has COPD and was having to do daily breathing treatments due to the smoke. We did everything we could to get it to stop including contacting management to see if they could talk to the neighbors about smoking outside instead of inside; we were essentially told we either had to just deal with it or move. This is on top of the same neighbors causing several floods from their apartment into ours. Given our financial situation, there was nowhere we could go.

Ma's health started getting worse from the smoke to the point that her doctor's told us that we needed to move or she could be put in a home. So with no money to live anywhere else, it was looking as if Ma would be taken away and I would be left homeless.

Our situation was taken advantage of by someone Ma thought she could trust. An old friend she had known and lost contact with but found again years later had agreed to help us move by all three of us getting a house and splitting the bills based on income. It seemed like the perfect solution; space, no more smoke, and the ability to install disability aids- the apartments had not allowed us to make the apartment accessible, which led to several injuries over the time we lived there. I had managed to save income tax + stimulus money that was just enough for a home inspection and other necessary expenses, so I covered those with the agreement that Ma's friend would pay me back for his part. He never did.

We managed to get a house- one that turned out to not even be up to code but it was too late to back out now, which put me into dept with loans to fix. There are still many repairs needing to be done, but those have no choice but to wait.

Moving in, MF said the place he lived prior had bedbugs but he had treated his things already so not to worry about it. He lied. The back bedroom got an infestation we had no money to get rid of, leaving us to resort to cheap sprays that did very little. It also became quickly apparent that MF was incredibly irresponsible with money; he would spend hundreds of dollars on unnecessary expenses from video game loot to luxury items. He frequently was late on bills that usually fell to me to pay off with whatever savings I had, so anytime I had a savings, it would be gone shortly after so that things like utilities would not be cut off.

Conflict and arguments became common over various things. MF was barely less than a stranger to me, but I tried to be polite and get to know him. The more I talked to him, the more I became uncomfortable. He was a sexist pig who laughed about beating one of his exes.

And now we were stuck living with him. MF is also disabled and took advantage of that as well. He was manipulative and would put up the image of 'poor disabled white man' to get out of trouble who knows how many times at this point. Ma secretly got into contact with some of his past partners and people who lived with him, and they had pretty consistent stories; he made their lives Hell. He called them all crazy and jealous, but given the fact that he was also making our lives Hell, it was clear he was a liar. Every time he got caught lying and called out on it, he tried to gaslight us.

MF escalated his behavior knowing we had nowhere else to go and no money to do so. He tried pushing boundaries with me, getting too close when I was bent over and had my hands preoccupied or when I wore certain clothes. I would immediately tell him to not get that close to me and he would react negatively with anger and trying to make it out as if I was overreacting.

My mother is not as confident in enforcing boundaries as I am. She wanted to 'keep the peace' but was being abused when I wasn't in the room. I didn't find out until much later when she ended up physically injured with bruised ribs. This was also when her doctors found out how dangerous our living situation was.

Then Ma had major surgery for health related reasons. She was in and out of the ICU for over a week recovering, and the entire time, MF was going to the hospital and telling the doctors/nurses all sorts of lies from being Ma's boyfriend to husband, took me off her emergency contact, and refused to tell me what was happening to her. MF would up and leave without warning, and because of my work and other factors, I could not go see Ma while he was there. One day I told MF that we would go see Ma together so that I could actually get to see her in recovery.

The next morning when we were supposed to go, he left early by himself without saying a word. I had to take my little brother to work 'cause he didn't have a car and had to prioritize that so my brother wouldn't lose pay or his job. When I got to the hospital afterward, I had a suspicion and went to the front desk to ask where Ma was before I went anywhere. Found out then that MF had also lied about what room Ma was in. When I get there, a nurse was checking on Ma and asks who I am. I tell him, and he turns to MF and asks "Is this the one you said wasn't coming?" I was seething. Ended up having a breakdown shortly after because I finally learned what all was happening with Ma.

Ma's doctors and social workers, after several months, were able to find a way to get MF out of the house. He was given the options of leaving and owing only $500 a month in mortgage or being taken away by police. He didn't leave until the day before he would be forcibly removed. He stole several items of ours while leaving junk and spare furniture behind. Him leaving behind furniture was not out of kindness, but another way to lie and play the victim to people who didn't know what was happening. 'They kicked me out and stole my things' is the gist of what he told others so they would pity him and give him money/luxury items.

Since he was only obligated to pay $500 in mortgage, Ma and I had to figure out how to pay the bills he had been covering while living there. We managed it, but we could not cover that $500 with our incomes. MF did not pay that $500 and hasn't in over a year. We've been scrambling month after month to cover it. I got a better job and still can't cover it. We tried to seek legal action to hold MF to his contractual obligation of the $500....he put himself into a temporary hold at a mental clinic to be deemed 'incompetent' at the time. He's hopped around places to not be found, all the while threatening us and trying to sell the house while we're still living here.

He told us that he only has to wait it out until we have no choice left but to sell the house and he'll get his cut due to being a partial 'buyer'. Several times he even showed up without warning, coming into the fenced yard, digging through our trash, and getting into the shed. He only stopped as far as we know when threatened with the police.

For the past year, we've been struggling to cover his $500 and facing potential homelessness every month. We've been managing by the skin of our teeth, but it's looking as if our options are running out. Then with him trying to sell the house from under us, he may be able to succeed if we can't pay the mortgage, which will get him even more money than what he's already stolen from us. We're working on taking him off the mortgage, but that is taking time we may not have. We also can't legally get a roommate due to our state laws.

So I'm asking for help. If y'all could commission me, get stickers/magnets/etc. from my Redbubble shop, or donate through my Ko-fi, that would be greatly appreciated. Even just reblogging could help. I'm doing whatever I can to not lose my home.

Comm Info | Ko-fi | Shop | Adopts

[chryza]

Presidential debate SICK ASS REACTIONS.

“The microphones will only be turned on during their turn to speak” thank the lord they finally learned

“VP Harris you and President Trump (sic.) were elected four years ago” I hope to god that it was a slip and not an omen.

Harris coming right out and attacking project 2025 is pretty pog anyway I hope she kills him. I’m still skeptical about her in a lot of ways and I’m not a fan of the continuing imperialist military industrial complex ie genocide. but fuck me she’s not a raving lunatic or a decrepit dude with dementia so like. Fuck man I’ll take it.

he keeps saying “as she knows” to try and ruin her credibility which might be effective if he didn’t immediately then verbally veer off the road and crash into a tree

WHY DID THEY TURN HIS MICROPHONE ON. THEY SHOULD HAVE JUST LET HIM FUCKING TALK TO AN EMPTY STUDIO IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO FUNNY.

I hope Kamala kills him. I’m obsessed with the way she keeps laughing at him. KILL HIM.

“She’s a marxist” this is the only time in my life I wish trump was right I fucking wish Kamala Harris was that cool.

[on abortion] “When the baby is born they will decide what to do with the baby and they will EXECUTE the baby” i don’t even have a quip to add the quote speaks for itself

Live Kamala Reaction your opponent just said Tim Walz wants to “Execute Babies”

The MODERATOR being like “there is no state where it’s legal to kill a baby after it’s born” is KILLING ME

Harris does sound legitimately incensed about abortion rights which is a massive W for her, I fully believe she would crack down on restrictions to women’s healthcare

Harris “I invite you to attend one of trump’s rallies and what you’ll hear is him talking about fictional characters like Hannibal Lector, how windmills cause cancer, and you’ll see people leaving early out of exhaustion and boredom” YES. BLOOD. BLOOD.

SHE KNEW EXACTLY WHAT SHE WAS DOING HE IS NOW SOOOO MAD SHE IMPLIED PEOPLE WERE BORED OF HIM AAAAAAHAHAHA I AM MAKING TRIXIE MATTEL SEAGULL NOISES RN

Shown: watching Trump take the bait hook line and sinker

My mom sent me memes so I knew about this beforehand but

“THEYRE EATING THE PETS OF THE PEOPLE OF OUR COUNTRY”

*further trixie bird noises*

[Harris] “This is why I have the endorsement of former Vice President Dick Cheney” that’s NOT A GOOD THINGGGGG I don’t know if it’s like trying to be bipartisan but girl this is NOT the way

I need them to stop turning on Trumps microphone. Just leave it off

I TOOK A BULLET TO THE HEAD BECAUSE OF THEM

KAMALA I SUPPORT FRACKING HARRIS EVERYONE

WHAT ARE WE EVEN TALKING ABOUT ANYMOREEEE THIS IS SUCH A SHITSHOW

“Strength as a leader is not about beating people down it’s about lifting people up” Bold words from a woman who is actively delighting in mocking her opponent, to be clear I think it is an objectively good thing, I simply think this is a hilarious thing to say ten minutes post Live Kamala Reaction

“NOW SHE WANTS TO DO TRANSGENDER OPERATIONS ON ILLEGAL ALIENS IN PRISON”

Most of what trump says is just bloviating nonsense but I am noticing that Kamala Harris is very good at making her words sound nice while not actually saying much of substance. This is not a specific indictment against her because it’s a very Politician thing, but she isn’t actually saying much here.

[moderator] So do you acknowledge now that you lost the 2020 election

[trump] No it was obviously sarcasm

[moderator] I did watch all of the videos where you said that and I didn’t detect the sarcasm.

Trump, on Biden: I’ll let you in on a little secret, [Biden] hates her *pointing to Harris*

Okay so Harris is a proponent of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine and is opposed to civilian mass-murder. I don’t even know how to begin to touch that with a ten foot pole and the whole situation feels so confusing to me in general. Overall she seems Anti-Civilians-Being-Slaughtered in the name of self-defense but then in the same breath assures that Israel needs support to defend itself from Iran so. Wow sounds like a whole mess of colonization practices that have deliberately destabilized a region that can’t easily be nuanced in a single answer

[Trump] “If she becomes President Israel won’t exist within two years” God I wish Harris was half as cool as he makes her out to be.

“I WOULD GET [PUTIN AND ZELENSKY] ON THE PHONE AND GET THE WHOLE THING SETTLED.”

Kamala Harris PUTIN WOULD EAT TRUMP FOR LUNCH put that on a check and take it to the bank I love national television

I love Harris essentially dishing the hot goss on Trump negotiating with the Taliban. Is this the platform to do it? No. But this is practically kayfabe at this point anyway. Do I even care

What a shitshow. Harris has zero high horse here, she refused to answer basic questions about position in an attempt to remain bipartisan, Trump endlessly blathered about nonsense. Kamala Harris won the debate, but to be frank, trump could lose to a mildly literate dog.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Also the whole "flooding the world thing" - I think its a copout too for Oda to remove any complexity - now even some badguys must simply fight for the good side, cause yeah, nobody wants to drown.

There isn't any ambiguity over marines, like "the goverment may be bad, but it atleast stops anarchy from taking over" - no, now the goverment literally wants to destroy the world, so even Black Beard is the lesser evil, cause supposedly he just wants to rule it not destroy it in a black hole, but maybe thats gonna get revealed too lol.

I actually disagree with this, because this has been foreshadowed for a long time, and the set up for a massive escalation has been building up as the series and our understanding of the World's history has been revealed... But there was definitly a massive change at some pount, am im pretty sure I can pin point what it was.

But to set the stage...

There is one, single canon One Piece Movie. Strong World, written by Oda as Luffy's final adventure before everything went down at sabaody, amazon lily, impel Down, and Marineford.

But there was going to be a second canon movie.

One Piece Film Z was made with the idea of it being canon from day one in mind... Only for Oda to realize there was so many continuity mistakes within the movie in relation to the film, that he wqs forced to scrap it as being in continuity with the manga.

However, the important thing is not that it wqs scrapped as canon, but what Oda wrote as it's plot and how it relates to Imu's eventual plan.

The plot of Z, is that the former Marine Admiral Z is planning on ending the Golden Age of Piracy...

By using a super weapon called the Dyna stones to cause a volcanic chain reaction that would lay the New world beneath the waves(Something that an eagle eyed viewer might realize means all the islands in the new world is part of one, continious chain of tectonic activity, suggesting it was all one continent).

Sound familiar? That's right, this was Oda foreshadowing the eventual big endgame of the series by showing a villain plan something similar, just on a smaller scale.

Also, It's not really focused on before the very end, because this is very much a movie about the Straw-Hats vs Z, but the marines are NOT onboard with this plan at all, even if they would wipe out Kaido, Big Mom, Shanks and Blackbeard by doing it.

The reward is not worth the cost.

Again, Oda puts the reality that for how bad the marines can and are through the series, there are moral lines that even they, even Akainu himself wont cross.

I have a lot of critiques of Oda as a writer, but one thing I cannot complain is just how thouroughly he plans things out and hints at events to come. How well he does that as a norm, just makes the times when he fails look so much more jarring by comparison.

Then of course there is Noah. The giant, giant Ship that was the big unfired chekov's gun from Fiahman isles, made as a response to the reality that the side of the great Kingdom had lost the war, and now had to prepare for the contigency plan.

We have no idea what Joyboy's original plan was, or what he wrote on that apology to his friend/lover/ally Poseidon, but she and her people presumably built this ship as a result, and the reason for it was that Joy Boy and his side must have feared that the endpoint of everything was that the entire world would end up being flooded as a result of them losing the war.

Similarily, Wano, the only other country that we know fought on the side of Joy Boy and his allies, erected enormous walls around itself, which charqcters in story thinks are for defence, but when you have the full picture, it's obvious these were made in preparation of what they must havr thought would be coming soon, a total sinking of the entire world.

Another Chekov's gun that is as of yet unfired is Iceburg's plan to turn Water Seven into a floating Island. Ehich was treated as an interesting solution to a problem at hand, but when you realize where this story would ultimately end up heading, it's actual endgame purpose becomes clear, as one of the island's that are going to survive the comi g sinking, just so happens to be the same one where Pluton was originally built.

Just in time for the Thousand Sunny to fullfill it's purpose of reaching Laugh Tale and the Straw-Hats needing to level the playing field for Blackbeard's coming aquisition of Pluton.

Now with all of this in mind, it's pretty clear that Oda has been planning this endgame for a very, very long time.

So with that in mind, what was the shift i was talking about at the start?

Well, from a story perspective, the eventual flooding of the world was always One Piece's endgame.

But from an in universe perspective, i dont believe at all, that this was what Imu and the Gorosei was going to be about all along.

Rather what i think was the original plan, was that though Joy Boy somehow foresaw this as the future that would take place when he was "Reborn", what actually was going to be the case, was that the plan to just sink the world and be done with it was going to be the result of massive escalation from the World Government's perspective.

From a historical perspective, Imu has been the unchallenged leader of the world for a long, long time.

During that time, there was very little need, or motivation for Mariejois to flood the world... Why would they even consider such a course of action?

Well, if you pay attention to how we were introduced to these concepts back in Water Seven and Enies Lobby, there starts to form a picture.

Originally the stance of the WG going to any and all lengths to keep the very existence of the void century and the ancient weapons a secret was ironclad.

It was the way of things for centuries.

But then something happened. Something so monumental that they changed from trying to keep them buried, to try to revive them and harness their power for their own ends.

That something was 2. Things.

The great Pirate Era, and rise of the Yonko.

The greatest and most dangerous Pirate in history(So far) was Rocks, a man who tried to upend the entire world order, but at the end of the day, after his death his entire crew fell apart, and his ambitions and legacy died with him.

What really changed, was Roger, and the 4 Pirates who followed after him as the rulers of the next age.

Roger lit the world aflame in the great Golden Age of Piracy, and over the course of two decades, the World Govenrment's grip over the world began to disintegrate in the face of the rise of countless new pirates who took to the seas.

And of course, there was the other problem. The Yonko.

This is a fact that the Five Elder's immortality makes somewhat easy to miss, but not a single one of them, nor the Admirals, are on the same level of power as the Yonko.

Other than the Boar one, Luffy has so far beaten around the Gorosei lime ragdolls with little difficulty, and as we saw with both Luffy's manhandling of Kizaru, and a heavily wounded witebeard, who's age and illness made him unable to use his Haki to it's fullest potential still taking down Akainu in two hits, the Yonko are at a level of Pkwer that the World Government simply has nothing to bring to bear to realistically challenge them.

One, single exception might be Imu, as we don't have a good idea of how powerful the Monarch actually is, but Imu's capacity to actually be able to go out into the world is rather limited given how important total silence is on the very existence of such a figure.

And worse, while Rocks was a figure who's existence could be covered up, the Yonko weren't just pirates. They set themselves up as monarchs of their own, the inheritors of Roger as the rulers of the seas.

So influential was they they the world government couldn't directly challenge them, they couldn't wipe the knowledge of them from history, and they in general just had to tolerate their prescence and the risk that any one of them might go to Laugh Tale and find Roger's treasure.

So with that in mind, they tried(and eventually succeeded to some degree) to ressurect the ancient great weapons of old, to do with the great powers that brought ruin to the world, what their military power could not.

With this in mind, the logical conclusion is to assume that the plan to just sink the world beneath the seas would just be the next escalation.

That something being Luffy's awakening his devil fruit, The Ancient enemy of Poseidon coming back into the picture, and... Blackbeard.

I honestly dont know why he's so important in this situation(It would make way more sense if this happened AFTER he obtained Pluton), but im guessing that the fact he possesses the devil fruit the world government has labled as continuing the power of the Devil Himself has something to do with it.

So with this in mind, it makes way more sense that the final endgame of just "Flood everything and let god sort them out" was originally planned to be a direct escalation of the rising challenges Imu faces.

Just wipe the board clean, rather than risking the pieces doing to us what we did to the great kingdom.

Im honestly not sure WHY it changed to "This was always the plan.", but if i had to guess, Oda's original plan for this was that it was going to be Luffy's awakening that would serve as the final straw figuratively speaking, where Imu would finally reveal themselves and declare that play time was, figuratively over.

However if that was the chain of events, then Luffy's rise to Yonko would be an unambigiously bad thing, that would color the entire end of Wano in a rather grim light.

Rather than a hopefull beginning, it would instead be the final hours of the old age, before the events that took place there brought about the apokolypse.

There would be no way to spin that as a good ending in any way... And if there is anything that marrs Oda's writing more than anything else, it's his horrific fear of letting a story or arc end on a full on downer ending(The only exception to that ever being Marineford).

[cosmicjoke]

Okay, chapter 205 of "Vinland Saga"!

I'll admit I was worried about how this chapter would go. I feared there might be some too convenient and contrived solution to the brewing problem of war between Thorfinn's group and the Lnu and other natives. It seemed for the first part of the chapter that it might go that way, with Niska showing up all of a sudden after seemingly being deathly ill in the last chapter we saw her in. But things took a pretty interesting turn here.

Thorfinn agrees to leave Vinland, which I thought was perfectly in character for him at this point. I thought, if he were staying true to character, he should agree to leave, not only to avoid war, but to avoid causing any more deaths through the Nords presence. The latter point didn't really come up, but Thorfinn's got to be feeling guilty over that, no matter what Niska tries to claim about it being "evil spirits" that caused the disease. I'm sure Thorfinn knows better than that.

Now, things could go a few ways here. Thorfinn's declaration that they'll leave Vinland won't, I imagine, go over too well with the other Nords that came along with him. Hell, Einar started to protest, even going so far as to say he refused to leave, before Thorfinn was able to talk him down. Einar is Thorfinn's best friend, though, and he respects and listens to Thorfinn. The other Nords don't hold nearly as much respect or feel as beholden to him as Einar, so I would think this is going to cause a massive conflict. Given the huge amount of work they've all put into building the settlement, and the mounting tensions between the natives and the settlers, there's almost a certainty that some kind of conflict will break out. The end of this chapter made it seem as if it would be the gathered natives that wouldn't simply settle for the Nords walking away, which could be the case (though really, why wouldn't they?), but the Nords I think are the bigger problem. They aren't going to want to just give up all they've worked for because Thorfinn tells them they have to. There's already been rumblings of a power struggle between Throfinn and Ivar and some of the others, and this could be the thing that ignites that flame into an inferno.

An awesome chapter, I think, and once again just have to give a shout out to the art. I'll never stop being blow away by it.

I wonder if the Nords really will end up having to leave Vinland, and with it, the death of Thorfinn's dream. Even worse for Thorfinn would be if war broke out, and his dream is twisted into the very thing he sought so desperately to escape. We'll see. Hopefully it won't be something ridiculous like the Lnu just decide, because Thorfinn agreed so easily to leave, that they can stay after all. I wouldn't put it past this manga to do something overly convenient like that, lol.

I fear Hild may be right when she says Throfinn's lost. But then, I think Thorfinn's true desire is to avoid war and violence at almost any cost, more so than building a place free of war and violence. I think Thorfinn is having to face the bleak and sad reality that his dream is a fantasy, one which can never be fully realized. The best he can do is avoid violence personally, and even then, it's not so easy. With his baby on the way too, it might throw an interesting extra dynamic into the whole thing. He'll want to protect his family, I imagine. But what if protecting them means betraying his vow never to hurt or kill anyone ever again?

Anyway, like I said, a lot of possibilities arise from this chapter. It's gonna' be tough waiting to see how this develops.

[just-an-enby-lemon]

If I could change something in DC would be to at least make an alternate reality were Steph is foil for Jason and Tim makes a parallel with Babs. These are the major changes because it would invove a lot of rewriting at parts.

Because the thing is. Based on the - honestly victim blaming - modern version of Robin Jason, Steph could be Bruce's sucess story. She is a bright hopefull girl in love with the idea of being a superhero but also a poor kid with a complicated and straight up abusive home life that gave her anger issues and complicated morals. She wants to help people and believes in justice but also sees murder as a possible solution and sees no problem in using excessive violence against does she belives deserve it. Defending a punitive way of justice, she is also very impulsive wich can put herself in danger often.

That means in my au verse I would write Bruce trying to convince Steph to get out and loudly disaproving her as he seing too much Jason in her and refusing to lose another kid. This is also the reason he is soo adamant in cutting connections and tells Tim he should keep his identity a secret (because yeah Tim didn't just dated Steph as Robin without being honest because he decided it, Bruce's anxiety decided it and starstruck kid went for it). But no matter what he does Stephanie keeps trying.

So when Tim's dad forces him to retire it is never implied Bruce chooses Steph as Tim's sucessor for petty reasons or to convince Tim to came back. He wants Tim back but he wants Tim to came back on his own terms and after figuring out his issues and he keeps contact with Tim the best he can because he is an adult and he takes the mature route. Instead he chooses Steph because after Tim he knows he can't go without a Robin and if she didn't stop at this point she won't and is better to guide her than to let she keep endangering herself. He still sees her as provisory Robin but also as a possible permanent member of his team.

Steph's reasons to accept also change. At this point Tim had broke things up with her because he was trying to cut his connections with his previous hero life and that meant she didn't took the mantle for petty jealousy but because she wanted the training and equipament Batman could take. She might not understand it perfectly and see it as a dream or as magic (just like baby Jason) but she also takes her hero work seriously and wants to be better.

A lot of their early relationship involves Bruce realizing that Steph isn't Tim and noticing how similar she is to Jason only to slowly notice that this isn't totaly the case either. Steph has a lot in common with Jason but she isn't Jason at all and unless he starts treating her like Steph things won't work out. And things start working. Bruce has to revisit and understand deeply his morals so he can actually truly guide Stephanie into understanding why he doesn't kill and deciding to be like him and to see redemption as possible. Steph run as Robin would be bigger and in the end would be Steph's family failing apart with her mom overdosing and her own feelings of inadequacy that get her. And just like Jason Bruce does one critical mistake. He wants to assure Stephanie that her and Tim (if he ever cames back) are part of his team now but ends up only passing the idea that he still sees her as provisory Robin so like Jason they fight and she does something impulsive (although I would make so it isn't Steph that caused the events of No Man's Land and change a bit how they got there) and trying to destroy Black Mask on her own. She fails. But this time Bruce actually can save her. This time he was able to save his kid, explain himself and change her views on murder. And if Tim healed Batman after Jason is Steph that heals Bruce and this does change his dinamic with Jason during Under the Red Hood with Buce really trying to correct his mistakes but also not as lost on trauma allowing him to see things clearer and Jason seing both Tim AND Steph as replacements. With Tim being replacement Robin and Steph being replacement Jason. And that goes to my biggest change that makes this an AU and not a thing I would ever do on a main line: Bruce adopts Steph and Tim is the kid that's basically Bruce's child but also has his own slowly improving home life and isn't really a Wayne. He goes back to being Robin with Steph as Spoiler and he and Bruce still have a close relationship but his dad never dies and instead the hinted and thorwed alway rebuilding of Tim's relationship with his bio dad with the help of his stepmom (and on this reality Bruce) keeps going.

Now Tim is a parellel and a bit of a foil to Barbara. He is the kid with a lot of potencial specially mentally that choose to be a hero and has a family to come back to even if is complicated. Tim has to make his dad understand not only why he became Robin but why helping people is important to him - because while yes he sometimes goes really unhinged, almost villanous and if he ever becames a villan it will be terrible, Tim is also really heroic, the reason he became Robin, the reason he realized Batman needed one was because Batman was being too violent on criminals! Tim started by thinking that criminals, at least small time criminals and goons deserved more and of course of being afraid of a possible escalation and his first instinct was to try to make Dick be Robin. He didn't even consider himself until Dick implied the possibility and he realized that it was the only way to fix things. Tim is compasionated, he likes and wants to help people and he doesn't have a punitive view on crime, he has a bit of a black and white view on the rogues early on but he still believes in redemption, this is a tangent but it's because I need to say that because while I have nothing against villain Tim, I hate this wave of Tim is evil actually and he is only pretending to be a hero but he will show his true colors - why he can't just stop. But also learn with his dad to see it as more than his responsability of helping Bruce and consider his own life and choices instead of just following orders/risking it all. Basically slowly Jack (and Dana and Bruce) help Tim in his work-life balance.

But also he has other more interesting parallels with Barbara because I think they are very complementary. Tim being soo marked for his indecisiviness that on the Robin 100 special both short tales they choose to put about Tim is about how he has all this talent, all this endless possibility of being whatever he wants both as a hero and academically and he has no idea what this is. Tim cannonically picked all extra curriculars because he didn't knew how to choose than stoped doing all of them because he preffered just being Robin. His plans for the future are wait and find out. He follows Batman soo blindly at the start both because he needed more positive adult interactions and Bruce's praise and atention was it (Tim is the one with the biggest hero workship and Barbara was like that at his age as well) but also because it means he doesn't have to choose. A big contrast with Barbara who is super decided and knows exactally who she wants to be at all times (the uncertainty of the early days was a hit she really had when learning to accept her disability). And it shows because while they are both good detectives and master strategists Tim works with quick thought and a huge room for adaptability while Barbara thinks a lot and is adaptable because like Bruce she considers ever possible scenario. And we got to Tim is impulsive. He does think a lot over what he wants but if he wants to do something he might take a lot to actually do it but he impulsivally decided it and will now follow it after he convinces himself this is the best plan. Tim is the most stuborn motherfucker. And this is great when he is right (like Bruce not being dead) but it really sucks when he is wrong (like his destrust of Catwoman in Hush or he quitting because his dad asked). And I think actually making so Tim has to figure things with Jack and convince him about being Robin instead of just becaming an orphan reworking his whole life prefencially with Barbara's help so we can work it would help he grow so much and stop being the Robin the authors don't know what to do with.

Besides that I would explore more Duke's relationship with Bruce because I think it has soo much interesting bits and underutilized potential and would write a comic with Cass and Helena working together because I think it would be fascinating (and maybe also one about Harper and Harley as while I not the biggest fan of batfam Harley I do think that the fact both of them have an common enemy in Punchline interesting and also Kate and Montoya as Batgirl and Questiin having a team up... it's weird they don't team up, not because they are the two major lesbian characthers but because they are the two characthers with a past in law enforcement- military and police- who got disilusioned by realizing what this forces were all about and how it repressed people like them and other minorities and they should bond over it), also more Dick and Damian we do have a lot of this two brotherly bond, similaridades and differences but I just love them.

[kumquatqueenb]

Pandalily: canon compliant break up.

“Hey, so listen, I got us in. It’s tonight at 7.” Lily said, matter of factly, as if it was already decided.

Pandora took a shaky breath, knowing that this was it. She’d thought, well, she’d hoped they’d have a bit longer.

“I’m not coming.” She informed her, the air going still between them in the otherwise empty dorm room.

“What? Pandora, whatever else you had planned can wait! Do you know how hard it was getting us both into an Order meeting?” She exclaimed, and Pandora knew it must’ve been difficult, getting them to accept a Slytherin.

It didn’t matter though, her place wasn’t in the Order. She already knew that.

“No. I’m not joining the Order. Ever.” She stated, “I’m sorry, love.”

“I don’t understand, you aren’t coming with me?” Lily’s eyebrows were furrowed in genuine confusion now, though her expression was rapidly tipping towards distress.

“Not when it means leaving him.” Pandora whispered, looking down at her shoes.

“Regulus? You mean Regulus?” Lily scoffed, “Dora, he’s a death eater! He’s already got the mark!”

“He didn’t want it.” She pointed out, knowing that in the end that it counted for very little.

“And yet, he still has it.” Lily retorts, ruthless but honest.

“He does.” She agrees, heaving a sigh before looking up to meet the other girl’s eyes resolutely.

This really was it for them.

“Make it make sense, Dora!” Lily exclaimed, waving her arms around in frustration, “I know you don’t trust the Dark Lord, and I know you sure as hell don’t believe in his cause.”

“You’re right. I don’t.” She agrees, “though, to be fair, I don’t trust Dumbledore either.”

“So this is about Dumbledore?” Lily asks, latching onto that point, almost desperately.

Pandora sort of wants to fixate on that point too, it would be a lot simpler if that was why she was doing this. If Dumbledore was the only issue then she would’ve joined his side anyways. She would’ve been careful, especially when dealing with him more directly. She would’ve done it anyways though, because if she went with the Order then at least that way she would’ve been able to keep Lily.

“No. It isn’t about Dumbledore at all.” Pandora sighs, not allowing them to be waylaid by such a moot point.

Even if that moot point could’ve given them an extra couple minutes together, a few more minutes where they were still them. Even if they spent those minutes arguing.

“You’re right, it isn’t. This is about your inability to let go.” Lily spat out, and there was that frustrated, righteous, anger she had been waiting for. “Even of someone that’s already a lost cause. He’s already starting to rot, and it’ll spread. Pandora, if you stay with him it won’t be long before you’re rotting too.”

“Side by side. Until the day we die.” Pandora parroted her and Regulus’ old promise, tears welling in her eyes.

She didn’t bother wiping them away. Pandora knew what choice she was making, that she was choosing someone else. What Pandora and Lily had was real though, and Lily, at the very least, deserved to see that Pandora wasn’t doing this lightly, that it hurt her too. That she was worth the pain Pandora was going through right now, that not choosing her wasn’t easy.

“Sure, together till death or whatever, but you two fucking dying together isn’t the only thing that might happen!” Lily exclaimed, though she was circling back to desperation, just masked by the anger and hurt this time. “What are you going to do if, or more likely when, they want you to take the mark too!”

Pandora sucked in a deep breath, she’d considered it, but she still hadn’t found an easy solution to that situation, “I will do everything I can to avoid it.” And that much she was absolutely certain of, “but if it comes down to a choice between that or losing him, then I’ll get the damn mark.”

A whoosh of breath rushed out of Lily, “what about me then? What will you do when you find me on the opposite side of a battle?”

Pandora felt her jaw clench firmly all of a sudden, “if you think for even half a second that I won’t be trying to protect you from the other side, that we both won’t be trying to protect you, then you’re dead wrong.”

“Both? Regulus doesn’t care about me.” Lily scoffed, already knowing it was true.

“He doesn’t have to.” Pandora replied, “he cares about me. That’s enough.”

Lily huffs out a breathless laugh at that, like she can’t even believe any of this is happening, “you Slytherins are so fucked up.”

“It’s a war.” Pandora points out, not unkindly, “everyone’s fucked up, and if they somehow aren’t yet, then they’ll get there soon enough.”

“Speaking of getting there.” She hums, righteous indignation washing over her features, “you know they’ll make him do all sorts of fucked up things. Doesn’t matter if he wants to or not, he’ll have to. And what? You’ll still stay with him, even then?”

“Even then.” Pandora nods solemnly, not hesitating in the slightest.

“What if it’s you, hm?” Lily exclaimed, voice getting louder, “what if he has to torture you? You’ll still stay? You’ll still love him?”

“Of course.”

Lily sucks in a breath at the ease with which Pandora had answered, “and what if he kills you?”

“Then I will die with forgiveness on my tongue.” Pandora states, the words flying out of her mouth before she even knew what she was going to say.

Tears were falling from both of their eyes now, because they knew. They knew that this was it, this was where their paths diverged, never to meet again.

“There’s nothing, is there?” She chokes out, “nothing I could do or say to change your mind?”

“I’m sorry, love, but no.” Pandora’s voice wobbles, “this is it.”

“It’s not fair.” And now they’re both sobbing, wrapping their arms around each other desperately, knowing it’s the last time. “I love you, you know? This isn’t fair, you were supposed to be it. We were supposed to be forever!”

“We are forever, my love.” Pandora promises, “we’ll just find each other in the next life, and hopefully it will be a kinder one. That’s all.”

“Oh?” Lily lets out a choked laugh, “just making reincarnation our bitch then, is that all?”

Pandora smiles a bit at the sarcastic tone she knew better than her own voice, nuzzling her face deeper into the other girl’s shoulder and pressing a kiss there.

“Yes, my love, that’s all.”

[truedairship]

Hello! For the WIP tag game, I have to ask about Young Ashley overhearing Helen and James and Sanctuary/Stargate. 😁

Sorry it took a while! I think you’ve noticed that it sometimes takes me 3-5 business days to answer stuff😅

Helen/James fight, overheard by Ashley:

It was actually a scene in the crossover that caused this one.

Headcanons behind this:

1. When Helen and James fight, especially as the years go by, they pull no punches. And knowing each other so well while also being equally as stubborn and headstrong, they know exactly what hurts the most. (and a lot of it is John)

2. Ashley was a very energetic child, who even then enjoyed the thrill of danger. Helen taught both children necessary basic self defence, but while Henry didn’t want to learn much more than that, preferring his computers, Ashley took to it like a fish to water.

So basically, James walks in on Helen and Ashley (I’m very bad at children’s ages, but I’m thinking maybe 6 or so?) sparring. He notices that Ashley is way better than any child that age should be, and thinks Helen is teaching her too much too soon. Seeing how much Ashley enjoys it, he begins to worry about how much of it is John’s darkness (since they don’t know about the energy being, he fears that whatever (his theory either being the vampire blood or John himself) caused John to snap might lead to Ashley doing the same, and finds her enjoying the ‘violence’ of fighting worrying).

The big part is him bringing it up with Helen, and the fight that follows. Thing is, they are both afraid of the same thing. That Ashley will end up like John. But while James think the best solution is to keep her away from all violence (partially brought on by his somewhat old-fashioned victorian mindset - or at least that’s what Helen accuses him of), Helen thinks it’s better to direct Ashley’s energy into ‘productive’ violence, aka self defence and helping with the abnormals as she gets older. It essentially revolves around ‘she’s not her father’ (but what if) and ‘you loved him too’. And the fact that Helen is quite violent herself. Ashley has the blood and violence from both sides.

Problem is that Ashley overhears the fight. So far the entire scene is written from her pov. Thing is that it’s just a continuation of an old fight between them, because they both still blame themselves for what happened in Whitechapel. And missing certain points (because Helen and James certainly don’t need to say everything out loud to hurt each other), Ashley draws some right and some wrong conclusions, causing a bit of an identity crisis. It sort of ends up being the final straw that makes her stop asking about who her father is.

Crossover Sanctuary/Stargate:

Seeing how long that got, I’ll spare you an infodump about the crossover. But it was caused by reading a lot of other crossovers while also contemplating the odds of an embryo surviving through two world wars and everything else that happened in the 100 years before Ashley was carried to term.

It’s what it sounds like. Ashley ends up on the Prometheus, alternating between herself and the cabal drone. She’s brought to the SGC where everyone freaks out. Plot happens and in the end they contact the Sanctuary. Seeing Sam and Helen’s likeness, everyone freaks out again. Hearing about Ashley, Helen is in too much of a mama bear mode to care at first. Plot happens. Assured that Ashley actually is Ashley, Helen helps figuring out why they look so similar. Turns out Sam is Helen’s daughter that she thought she had lost long ago. Similarly, but not exactly the same as Ashley, she had another embryo frozen that she later lost. (Either during WW2 or in the 60s depending on some plot points)

I’m sort of torn between two major plot directions with this one, and it’s fun to come up with small in-between scenes to both of them. The challenge with this one is figuring out how to make the timelines work (I need to rewatch a lot of SG1!) and making sure certain parts don’t turn into pure exposition, characters in between.

[gloryride]

Gin Rickey for all the babies?

Hey ♥♥ thanks for asking for all of them 💗💗

[COCKTAIL OC ASKS]

𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘆 〜 what does your oc consider to be their best feature? alternatively, what’s something they’re most self conscious about?

VANESSA - Her confidence. She's sure of herself, sure of who she is, and she knows the impact she has. She knows how to play it, and how to be to get what she wants. Thanks to this confidence, Vanessa knows that many doors can be opened. On the other hand, she doesn't know how to grieve. She lost two people very dear to her heart, her mother and then Jackie, and it's taking her a long time to heal. While she knows that death is a part of everyday life, she has difficulty assimilating it when it affects those she loves.

VIRGILE - His netrunner skills. He may doubt many things in his personal life, but he has never suspected that he is a gifted netrunner. If NetWatch wanted him when he was just a nomad in the middle of the desert, it's not for nothing. He could be formidable, a ruthless killer with his hacks, but fortunately, he doesn't like gratuitous violence.

But he has a lot of doubts, on a personal level, about his chances of being loved. He feels so worthless that he thinks other people will abandon him. For a long time, he believes that Panam will let him down. It will take a long time for him to realise that he can be loved.

ISAO - His calm. He knows he could be carried away by rage, a war machine consumed by the anger that has always gnawed at him. And no one can guess that under his impassive air, his poker face. He knows how to control himself to the point of pain, but nothing shows.

But this strength is also his own weakness. Being impassive and calm about everything makes him inaccessible, locked up in his own persona, his tower of solitude. But he doesn't know how to open up, he's never learned except from his sister and his former love.

OSCAR - His friendliness. He knows he's jovial and funny, and few people can dislike him because everything flows off him. All that's left is a smile and always a friendly tone. Oscar is a lovely boy, and he knows it, but he doesn't play it up. It's just who he is and how he lives.

It's not intermittent, but sometimes he's afraid of what Pacifica might become. The place is a war zone, dangerous, and VDBs are living targets. Sometimes he wonders what would happen if something happened, whether he should leave or not…

AURORE - Her kindness. She knows how to calm people with her soft voice, gentle posture and gestures. That's why she works as a nurse in Pacifica's small medical centre, helping to heal wounds and heal hearts. Her powers are a source of insecurity. Aurore is a young witch who likes to test things, but sometimes it gets out of hand, to the point of causing problems. That doesn't stop her from practising and trying, but it's not without fear.

ENZO - Already answered here

MIEKO - Her malice. She has always learnt to stay within the rules set by the family, to be the perfect little girl, to succeed … only to have all the fun afterwards. Without being a real rebel, Mieko knows how to play a double game to remain in her parents' esteem while still being able to go out and have fun. This also helps her in her work, helping her to find solutions.

She remains insecure about her future. It's mapped out professionally with Arasaka, but she doesn't know about her personal future. She currently lives with her mother, is a widow, and would like to enjoy her youth a little, but doesn't know how…

ROXANNE - Her temperament. Roxanne is a strong-willed woman who has experienced enough to say fuck off to somebody's face if need be. She's learnt to stand up for herself so she doesn't get eaten up by life, and she still holds on to what she wants.

But she knows that all her willpower is useless against the giants of the corpos. Roxy feels trapped by having sold her soul to a corpo for her show, she knows that it's an easy point of attack, a way of making it bend too. And she hates that.

[gen1-hc]

Love Melody

Job: Advice forum author

Element: Kindness

Location: Manehattan & Ponyville

Bio:

Love Melody grew up in the city. Her father is a reporter and her mother is a photographer. Together they're paparazzi for celebrities and princesses. Love always felt like the city was full of greed, selfish, and mean attitudes. From a young age she did her best to combat this by being as kind as she could.

As an adult she formed an advice forum in the paper under the name "Secret Song". She gave advice and attended community events.

She suddenly started having problems where she was too kind, and her advice was causing problems where the solution was to set boundaries and to be assertive.

One day, as she sat at her desk all frustrated, she sees a yellow light in the sky. She opened her window to get a better look and gets hit by a flying beam. Her cutie mark explodes its design all over her body. She panics and shuts herself in her room, not releasing any forums. Her regular readers and parents worry.

Fluttershy arrives in Manehatten, anxious and lost, wearing her dulled element necklace. She tries to find her quest from the map, but ends up hiding in a small cafe. There, she overhears a couple talking about the missing advice writer. She rushes over and asks for details before getting shy for her outburst. The couple point her in the direction of a reporter that might have more information - Love Melody's father.

He gladly tells her about Love shutting herself away, and they go together to Love's small apartment. Love finally lets them in and shows Fluttershy her strange cutie mark. Fluttershy tries to use her element again, and the cutie mark glows but the crystal necklace remains dull.

After many failed attempts, including trying to wash the cutie mark off, Love talks about the problems she's been having. Fluttershy gets excited - because even though her element wasn't working she knew a bit about kindness and being assertive when it counts. She helps Love write some forums and teaches her what she knows. After successfully publishing the forums, the element necklace glows and Fluttershy's cutie mark blinks.

Fluttershy happily explains to Love that Twilight told her to bring her back to Ponyville. Love agrees, packs up, and leaves with her. Along the way, Fluttershy explains that the elements weren't working but the map sent all the Mane 6 to different places at the same time. Twilight had told them to bring the ponies or creatures that they helped back to ponyville to try to figure out why this happened.

Upon arriving to the Crystal Tree Castle, they find that everyone else had already arrived. All the Mane 6 and the Twice As Fancy Ponies were gathered by the table.

They meet each other, have their meeting, and conclude that the elements wanted these ponies in Ponyville to help the Mane 6 - who have been very busy with the school, their personal duties, and element quests. The Fancy Ponies decide to settle in ponyville, start new jobs and work part time as substitutes for the 6 at the school.

[error404vnotfound]

it's a plot of the second book of the secretos de la luna llena trilogy and it's hilarious and very fucked up:

besties got fake married but also very real married because eirene's cousin who was supposed to marry seaben ran away and if it was discovered it would cause an international incident so they decide to cover it up by having eirene disguise herself with magic as her cousin but because it's a very real wedding that involves SOUL MAGIC so her spell FUCKING BREAKS AS THEIR VOWS ARE COMPLETED and now they are at risk of creating another internation incident (have i mentioned seaben's country is at war with another country and that the cousin and eirene are princesses from two other different countries? no?)

so their solution is to TELL EVERYONE THEY FELL IN LOVE AND THAT THE COUSIN WENT AWAY SO THEY COULD BE TOGETHER. also, unimportant but THEY HAVE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR LIKE THREE DAYS

anyways more shit happens in book one but the only thing that matters is them getting closer. oh yeah also apparently there's a KIDNAPPED PRINCESS (from yet ANOTHER COUNTRY) in the palace that seaben didn't know about but his best friend did. also eirene was and still is in a situationship with another dude and is starting to be in one with seaben. her husband. (she has known both of them for the aforementioned three days btw)

anyways they try to free the princess for plot reasons (oh yeah she's the sister of the other dude eirene's in a situationship with. you should be taking notes btw i probably should have mentioned it). for plot reasons they get caught too and the Bad People lock eirene and seaben in a tower (the bad people being her dad and his mom) (who are in fact not but they dont know that yet)

ANYWAYS they decide to make out because at this point they failed and they will get either mind controlled to do the Bad People biding after (seaben) or killed (eirene). but sike they get freed and now they are all on a boat to the kidnapped princess and other situationship dude's country

and so book 2 starts with them having a conversation about their relationship where seaben is pretty much like hi i might like you can we be an item? and eirene panics and asks for time (also seaben pretty much has lost everything at this point and he also promised he'd go with eirene anywhere she wanted to go to help her in whatever she wanted to do. and he's aware of the other situationship too) AND THEN they get kidnapped by rebels but it's fine they are friends of the kidnapped princess and her brother and THEN seaben falls ill because he isn't taking his meds (he was poisoned as a kid and his wings got all fucked up has to take the antidote each night) and THEN they find out the antidote was not an antidote but something to keep a spell in place and that they need to wait for the full moon to reveal what the spell did to him and THEN seaben has this wonderful idea

anyways anyways turns out the spell did break and they are in love (duh) but the spell was seaben having the useless wings and surprise! your mom is not your mom also your pet wolf is your dad and the princess from the country you've warring against your whole life is your mom that went crazy when you were born because you have the same eyes of your mom-not-actually-your-mom (you were cursed)

I AM SCREAMING IT'S HAPPENING THIS IS NOT A DRILL AHHHHHHHHH

[eyrieofsynapses]

Been thinking about The Two Live Crew Job again, specifically about Sophie and Eliot with the bomb, and... y'know, it's interesting to me, how Sophie looks to Eliot while they're trying to figure out what to do with the bomb. He's not the expert in the room, not really—that’s Parker and Hardison, truth be told, though Eliot’s got more field experience with explosives, and we see that in how they're the ones providing feedback. Heck, Parker's the one that comes up with the solution with the instant pudding. Nate takes the natural leader position, and he and Sophie are... Nate and Sophie. But it's Eliot that we see Sophie consistently coming back to, who she locks eyes with.

That could be for plenty of reasons. He does seem to have the steadiest control of the situation, likely because he's the best at dealing with high-stakes life-threatening issues (the hitter with extensive military experience is, of course, going to be better under that kind of pressure than the ones who are technically civilians). But I think maybe there's another layer there: he's the one she can trust to be blunt.

See, Eliot's not going to try to soften this. He's a tactful person as a general rule, but he also knows when to be honest. Sophie doesn't want this to be softened. I suspect that's because it introduces a layer of instability; if she only hears optimistic viewpoints, there's an uncertainty in what could go wrong, a fear about what might really happen. But Parker and Hardison and Nate don't necessarily get that—in fact, they themselves won't want to stare down the flat truth, and they may take the optimistic standpoint simply to keep themselves comfortable, even without realizing it.

Conversely, Eliot's not (and never has been) the type to try to look only on the bright side. You don't get to do that in his line of work. He knows how to look at all possible outcomes and take the scene in as-is, and he understands that some people don't want platitudes. Sophie's one of them. She knows, then, that she can trust him to tell her exactly what's happening and what the stakes are, no sugar-coating, no shaky voice, just steady truth.

And she knows, too, that he knows when something is a lost cause—and he understands when to cut his losses. Eliot can be impartial in the moment, no matter how much he beats himself up about it later, and he can weigh the odds and decide, coldly, when to abandon her.

The others can't do that. Parker, even here, even now, two years before The Long Way Down Job, could never choose survival over Sophie in that way. Hardison and Nate? They'd stay, no matter how bad the odds, no matter if it was sure that they wouldn't make it. But Eliot can. More importantly, he's the one who can drag the other three out of there.

He's the one Sophie can depend on to keep them alive. Even if it means she dies alone, even if it means she loses that slim, tiny chance she could live—he'll get them out, and they'll live. She won't let them stay behind, and she even shouts that at them, yells at them to get out, and she knows even as she does so that Nate and Parker and Hardison might not listen. But Eliot will. No matter what, Eliot will, and he'll listen to her and follow her orders.

It's Eliot that she watches, and it's him that she keeps steady with, because he'll be honest with her, and he'll be honest with them, and he'll keep them safe, the same way she "[makes] sure we’re all okay," as Hardison so poignantly puts it.

And do you know what else? In spite of all of it, though, in spite of being the one to be blunt, he still manages to be gentle. He's reassuring, holds her gaze and speaks soft and even and gentle, calming, steady, sure. He's the one who hates explosives, who knows exactly how bad this could be, and he stays steady for her.

This is their second year working together. It's mere months after she apologized for lying to them, point-blank, in The Second David Job. Yet there's still this trust, this holding anchored balance, that they'll keep the crew safe together.

But here's the other thing. It's not just that they trust one another with the rest of the crew. It's that Sophie trusts him to keep her safe, and Eliot trusts her to keep him safe, even if "safe" doesn't mean physically. Because sometimes "safe" isn't about that. Sometimes it's safety in reassurance, even when everything is going to go horribly wrong. Sometimes it's safety in keeping secrets, or listening to each other without judgement.

And sometimes, it's about safety in knowing the truth, no matter how vulnerable and terrible it may be.

[phoenixyfriend]

Anakin Assists the Jedi Council While On Medical Leave

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(This is a very helpful conversation.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

These are his friends' lives.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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