#and some of you guys took that as an attack instead of a learning opportunity

[sillyguy-supreme]

a pattern i've noticed:

tumblr user who is probably an antisemite: we need to call out liberal zionism!! we need to humiliate the liberal zionists who dare to share the same spaces as us!!!

people in the notes: so far the liberal zionists we have found are several jewish bloggers who have stated that they are against zionism several times, but they've talked a lot about left-wing antisemitism so they're clearly zionists!!

[coffeegnomee]

Bacon saying "yes. [I watched] the entire thing" about having seen Kab's new video "I watched it for entertainment purposes, but I also think I took some things from it as well"

KAB: "fair enough, I put things in there knowing people would watch it and take things from it"

she brings up how Clown never offered her a team, and that she is close to getting his full trust. Which I think is a lie rooted in the truth that she was so "my son could never hurt a fly he's just misunderstood" in the video to get Clown to trust her more irl/in lifesteal. Like how he trusts Branzy and Ferre.

(even though it is SO WEIRD for her to have been like that about Clown in the video. Like it was an exposé about how right the Mice were to be cautious about her affiliation and assume she was telling him things. She was. Maybe not base coords, but she just leaked that she absolutely told him things about them and that she was not for the team at all. And she left that all in. why? WHY Kab? I can only assume it was to endear her to Clown more? That's the only thing that makes sense? Unless she did it to "prove" to the Mice that they were wrong to assume she was teamed with Clown, "see I was just telling him to be careful and you guys were making him into a villain" or smth. I genuinely don't know. I don't understand her at all.)

But she's bringing it up to Bacon and downplaying it so that he thinks she isn't as close to Clown as she is. She's trying to manipulate him here I think.

then Bacon brings up the google doc of Mapicc's personality, which apparently Mapicc dmed her about (which is hilarious for the record)

To which she says it wasn't real [the doc itself], she made it for the video. She only articulated Mapicc's personality and Mapicc's alone.. which obviously means it was him very much on purpose. So did she do it to stoke Mapicc's ego? Or to see what he would say about it and confirm or deny if she was right? I can so easily imagine her writing it up being like, now Mapicc will think I understand him but this is not really what I think about him and he will be easier to manipulate.

But the analysis, like I wrote about, was right for the wrong reasons, AND YET I saw how they were rooted in very plausible assumptions she would have made bc of talking to Ash.

So I struggle to see how that writeup wasn't what she genuinely thought. This whole video just feels like exactly what she genuinely thought throughout the whole first week.

And it's completely rooted in the concept that she knows what she's talking about, even though her only evidence is that she can read Clown. (the only other moment being that she was right the empire would betray them in the End. Which was the softest of softball throws. It was an allyship against the other team. Obv the beef starts up the second that is over.) Like congrats. You've known Clown for two years very closely. It would be weird if you didn't. And on THAT note,

She called Woogie a dipshit for having his own opinions about Clown based on his interactions with him for the past FIVE whole seasons. THREE YEARS.

She took his words as saying that you shouldn't trust Clown instead of what he was really trying to say, which was we as a team should not trust Clown. Kab knows Clown won't kill her but she just fails to understand that other people have their own valid experiences of the members. She's just so focused on her singular view of people and how they will interact with her that she completely misses the opportunity to learn what other people think of other people without it being an attack on her own opinion.

I know I get on here and analyze everyone to death. I know that that's how I love to watch and enjoy lifesteal. And that not everyone observes the lifestealers like bugs to be pinned down and dissected. Watching vods is a listening-only experience. I cannot talk or add to the convo, right?

But it still boggles my mind that she doesn't see the manipulative value in silently listening to every word that comes out of someone's mouth in order to learn what they think about others. And let that tell you what to think about others.

If she just listened to what people said, especially what they say about people she doesn't understand, she would learn SO much.

Like she completely called Woogie an idiot for wanting to ally with the Empire for the purpose of killing Clown Mane and Flame.

And she said it because she doesn't understand how Mapicc and Spoke think.

And because she doesn't understand them, she thinks Woogie doesn't understand them.

Like I know Woogie isn't always the most active and integrated member, and he's also an unreliable narrator and has assumptions rooted in a subjective path just like she does.

But Woogie AND Mapicc AND Spoke have all been playing on this server since Season ONE. You would think that that would be an excellent learning opportunity to ask Woogie how he views Mapicc and Spoke.

And then from there, sure! Take it with a grain of salt. Take your personal experiences with them as the most important opinion to value for your own safety (bc nobody can tell you what your gut says) but then also take their opinion and use it against them if you want to be such a great manipulator. Or at the very least catalogue their opinion away for further study at a future time.

It's just. She just has her assumptions about herself towards every member and completely and totally discounts what anyone has to say about their assumptions of themselves with other members. And she gets so damn triggered by people saying they have more experience than her, thinking it's a personal attack on her intelligence. Where that comes from I cannot know but that sounds incredibly deeply rooted.

So back to the Bacon conversation.

She said she knew people would watch it and said stuff on purpose.

And yet she completely left in the whole scene about lying to Woogie about being sorry for discounting his opinion. “Sometimes you need to be sopping wet for people to trust you chat”

Everyone on lifesteal is going to watch this video. WOOGIE might watch this video (though I have a feeling he won't tbh) and you're just leaving in that when you apologize you are never sincere about it and are 100% using that to manipulate them later.

INSANE to leave that in. You leave that in the drawing board. You keep that shit hidden. ESPECIALLY if you know your enemies will watch it. Girl was the most open book ever.

And then to end the video saying I'm a liar and manipulator bitch I know what I'm talking about. Insane. You are just BROADCASTING that you should never be trusted ever. (for the second video in a row!)

Also in a video about you desperately trying to prove that you should be trusted. It's two different kinds of trust, funny that we use the same word for both.

Trusted in that you tell the truth vs trusted that you know what you're talking about.

I am so interested to know what Bacon thought of that. What will he think if she does apologize now? He's not dumb. He saw the video.

She just thinks she's playing 4D chess. And yet 4D chess would be being silent and listening to what everyone says. Like how Spokes does. and Clown. No talking, just silently listening in vc's and coming to conclusions about the members.

And Bacon too. He's been asking people so many questions about what they're doing and why and then just listening to what they have to say, and then forming his own conclusion about it and going off to try something. He's becoming great at listening and thinking and this whole little arc was founded on using that information to do something interesting on the server.

Though I suppose he wasn't always that good at it. And therefore the final conclusion you can take is the same every time: Kab needs experience in order to gain experience. And it will be a long and painful process.

[istadris]

Been a while since I offered a Bowuigi AU idea! Buckle up, this one is going to be rough 😈

It all starts with a typical, run of the mill battle of the Bros against another villain on the outskirts of the Mushroom Kingdom. For once Bowser is on their side. Well, sort of, he wants the same thing as the villain and won't take no for an answer. All in all, your usual boss battle.

Until it's not.

Something goes wrong wrong wrong, the villain triggers something, a huge explosion is about to happen, Mario grabs Luigi's hand and flings him away to safety right before everything goes KABOOM!!

All goes dark for Mario.

When he wakes up, he's stuck under rubble and it takes him hours to get out. Outside, everything is...different. The battlefield was barren and scorched when he last left, now it's lush and green in the bright sun. There is no one around.

Whatever, Mario thinks, the priority is to make it back to the MK castle. But it's easier said than done; the bridge he wanted to take is broken, the usual warp pipes don't work...

He comes across some Shy Guys at some point and instead of attacking him, they shriek and run. Mario follows them, and that leads him to one of Bowser's floating fortresses. On Mushroom Kingdom territory.

More and more worried about Peach or Luigi being prisonners,Mario manages to sneak inside and starts looking for his friends.

That's when he comes across Bowser.

Who looks a lot rougher than the last time he saw him. But what's surprising is how flabbergasted Bowser looks at his sight, before turning absolutely furious and charging, attacking Mario with a rage and desperation he's rarely witnessed, roaring "LEAVE US ALONE !!!".

Mario fights, and although he's not in top shape, manages to land some big blows on Bowser, and even gets him into a position where he can jump on him and deal a serious attack as Bowser is laying on the ground.

But right before his foot can connect, a blast of lightning intercepts Mario and sends him flying.

"Get away from my husband, bastardo!!!"

That voice...Mario looks up, and, standing defensively in front of Bowser, fists cracking with lightning...

"Luigi??"

"...Mario ??"

Bowser gets back up and immediately scoops up Luigi:

"You know it's not him! You know it's happened before! Stop falling for the tricks of that...thing !"

And before Mario can react, Koopa Troopas pile on him and manage to overcome him.

Once he's locked away and everyone has calmed down, he progressively learns the following facts:

It's been years since the battle.

He's been dead. Not missing : dead. His body, or what was left of it, was buried by Luigi and Peach in the aftermath of the battle.

Everyone in the Mushroom kingdom was heartbroken, of course, especially Luigi and Peach, but Bowser was more affected than everyone expected by his archnemesis' death. To the point he fell into a deep depression and started neglecting his kingdom.

King Boo saw an opportunity and turned on him, attacking the Darklands and capturing Bowser and his family. Luigi, initially looking for missing Toads, accidentally came to Bowser's rescue.

That was when the first impostor came along. Right after King Boo was defeated, something vaguely shaped like Mario with red eyes showed up and attacked them both. Bowser and Luigi, reacting on instinct, protected each other. Luigi was in a deep state of shock afterwards, to the point Bowser, himself deeply shaken, kept him and nursed him back to health.

Luigi stayed in the Darklands for some months after that. They started bonding. Luigi was angry at Bowser, of course, but he took being in their enemy's care as his punishment. He couldn't stay at the Mushroom castle, feeling guilty and ashamed whenever he was around Peach, and unable to talk about his brother with her. Bowser was the closest persn to Mario aside from Peach and himself, and they started having long discussions about his brother. Then it moved to other subjects. Then Bowser started showing a different side of him, one that gave Luigi the comfort he deeply needed. Then Junior grew attached to Luigi.

When they started dating, another Mario clone showed up. Still a poor imitation, but just a bit more similar to the original. They defeated him, but it burned away and they couldn't gather enough information to know where to look.

It showed up again. And again. Each time Luigi and Bowser grew closer, another Mario clone would show up out of nowhere to attack them. And each clone was closer to the original than the previous one.

The one who attacked when peace was signed before the Darklands and the MK had a normal human skin (instead of a dark metallic one).

The one who attacked when Luigi officially moved to the Darklands had blue eyes.

The one who attacked on their wedding day could speak.

Luigi was now scared of that new threat showing up. And yet he was sure this one wasn't just a clone, this was the real Mario! Somehow back from the dead!

...Right ?

That was what Mario learned.

But what he concludes is this : Bowser must be behind all this. He has magicians who dabbled in necromancy, he has cloning magic, he would be able to do this. Mario didn't understand why Bowser pretended to love Luigi instead of Peach, but he was convinced all of this relationship was some kind of ploy to get revenge on Mario and use Luigi. And Luigi had to be under some influence to love and trust Bowser. It had to be. It couldn't be otherwise!

....Right?

.

Is Bowser sincere in his sentiments for Luigi? Has he been using him since the beginning? Is Mario the real Mario or the most advanced version of these evil clones? Who is right? Who is wrong?

[seraphtrevs]

Hi!

Idk if anyone asked this before, but I really wanna know you opinion on Lalo's tattoo? I thought why they kept it? Is it just because it looks cool or Is it because it fits Lalo? Or no reason behind it all?

I think meaning fits Lalo quite well, but dying to know what do you think!

So this has been sitting in my inbox for months - sorry! 😅 I decided this ask was a great excuse to finally read the Tao Te Ching, which I'd been meaning to do for a long time, so I did that, and then I realized that it will probably take a lifetime to understand it, and maybe it should be less than a lifetime before I answered this ask.

Anyway. I think the real reason they didn't conceal the tattoo was because that would take time and effort better spent elsewhere. It's complete in character for a cartel operative to have a tattoo, so why bother to cover it up?

But that's a boring answer, and I think we can have more fun with it. Because I think you can make a case for this being Lalo's tattoo, not just Tony's. Come, take my hand, and let us indulge in some headcanons~

So let's take a look at it: (I found this on pinterest here, but no artist was credited. If anyone knows who it is, lmk!) ETA - art is by Artmetica - ty @reztruck!

The most prominent aspect is the yin-yang symbol. When he holds his arm palm up, it's staring him straight in the face. That makes it easy for him to look at, maybe as a reminder. So why would Lalo, violent cartel don, get a tattoo of a yin-yang?

My headcanon is that Lalo is a reader. He canonically only gets a couple hours of sleep a night (like - this is literally impossible, but he's kind of an impossible person. maybe it's really a couple more, but let's just say that he gets by on much less sleep than the average joe.) So what's he doing with all that time? There's only so much slithering around you can do in the dead of night. We know he likes to use his quiet time to think, and what better way to come up with stuff to think about than to read?

He's a curious and intelligent person - I'm sure he likes to read on a wide variety of subjects. Maybe when he was a young man, he had some questions about the meaning of it all and went looking for it in books. And maybe he came across a copy of the Tao Te Ching and took it to heart. (Well, not all of it - he is, after all, a violent drug dealer who kills without remorse lol)

I've always attributed Lalo's lack of fear to his psychopathy, which it is for the most part. But psychopathy doesn't entirely explain him, does it? Psychopaths aren't known for their emotional stability, but Lalo rarely loses his cool and seems in a good mood most of the time. It's not that he doesn't ever lose his temper, but he's able to calm down quickly. He's such a go-with-the-flow guy that he even laughed off his own death.

Wu wei is an important concept in Taoism. It's active non-action, or effortless action - instead of forcing your will on the universe, be in tune with it. Go with the flow. And that's pretty much how Lalo operates. Unlike Gus, who has many meticulous plots and never leaves anything up to chance, Lalo jumps in head first and figures things out as he goes. This makes him a good detective - he goes where his leads take him (all the way to Germany sometimes). It also means he's able to adapt quickly to changing circumstances.

For example, when he's spying on the chicken farm in 4x10, he springs into action when he realizes something's up and is almost able to catch Werner. When his house comes under fire in the middle of the night in 5x10, he immediately switches gears and is able to beat a team of assassins single-handedly by going with the flow, effortlessly taking every opportunity as it arises (using the frying pan of hot oil to blind an attacker, using Ciro's body as a shield, doubling back on his attackers to take them by surprise, etc.) When he learns that Gus bugged the phone at the nursing home, he loses his shit for a minute, pulls himself together, and then spots a cockroach, thinks of Jimmy, and he's off on a completely new path, wasting no time second-guessing himself. There's no reason to get too worked up when things don't go your way, because a new way is bound to open itself up to you if you pay attention.

(That's not to say he never plans - for example, he set up his body double in case he ever needed to fake his death. But I think that was probably also a product of wu wei - by random chance he meets a guy who looks a lot like him, and so he thinks "hey this could be useful later.")

So yeah, I definitely think this could be Lalo's tattoo, not just Tony's! It actually explains a lot about his approach to life.

[blackjackkent]

FINAL Boss Battle Report!

Our buddy Baldy has 140 hit points and many friends, though not as many as I have. The dragon behind him is much more scary; it has 400. It's dominated by the brain itself, not by anyone on the field that I can kill, unfortunately, and its presence is definitely freaking Hector out something fierce.

Also on the field are four other mind flayers, the three dream guardians at 80HP apiece, and the Crown itself, which leads me to believe this is it, the big kahuna fight, and it's time to pull out all the stops.

The Crown has no hit points but will presumably do unpleasant things when its turn comes around.

Quick look at the other dream guardians with flycam, just because I can.

This one is Hector's obviously, the one we saw during the first half of the game.

These are the other two; I'm assuming if we had another tadpoled companion instead of Jaheira, there would be a fourth on the field? Wonder which of these is Karlach's and which is Lae'zel's. XD And why are neither of them githyanki. It feels like there are lore implications here.

(I haven't done an origin run - are these randomized or are they ones you get in Karlach and Lae'zel origin?)

Anyway. We have this notification on the side of the screen which usually indicates we just need to survive:

I'm doing a hard save at the start of the fight because it feels like it'd be really easy for me to fuck this up - particularly because it is CRITICALLY important that Buddy survives to the epilogue. And, after some consideration, I've decided everyone's first action is going to be spent summoning more friends onto the field.

So we kick off with Aylin, Yurgir, and Buddy exploding onto the field. Tragically, the dragon is immune to fire damage so this is probably not the right moment for Rolan's firestorm, so after some consideration and for roleplay reasons, I have Jaheira summon the Harpers as our fourth summon for the round.

As soon as our first summon hits the field, a bunch of tentacles spring up in response, which is unfair. This seems to happen just in general in response to movement around the brain; luckily they're only about 30hp each and can mostly be removed by Orpheus's black hole attack.

I get full control over the big summons, unlike the trash mob ones which ran on their own recognizance; this is a lot of new characters to learn to deal with on the fly.

After summoning Aylin, Lae'zel manages to almost completely eliminate one of the dream guardians on her first turn.

"Time to bite, my owlbear friend!" Hector says as he summons Buddy, which is adorable.

Aylin is (unsurprisingly) a paladin, so lots of smiting. I think there's probably more about to happen when these four turns are up so we need to be careful not to use everything up too fast though. She removes Hector's dream guardian from the field.

At this point the game crashed so I got to start over and took the opportunity to have Jaheira cast Hero's Feast on everyone before we come up.

Knowing what I know, and realizing that my companions shout about it as soon as the fight starts, I decide to keep everyone in place for the most part to reduce the number of tentacles and immediately kick off Orpheus's netherstone ability:

OK on closer inspection we need to get Orpheus CLOSE to the crown in order to do this. And I guess the idea is we need to do it within four turns before the nautiloid shows up?

Buddy is the coolest:

Overall this round is going a lot better, although it's a bit scary when the Emperor yeets itself all the way across the field and stuns half the crowd in one go.

Once again, the good guys are all frontloaded which makes the long string of enemy attacks very disheartening.

Karlach and Lae'zel wreck the Emperor's whole world, which is very satisfying to watch:

Orpheus's black hole is continuing to be super useful against all the tentacles that pop up whenever we move around.

Aylin goes down - and immediately pops right back up again because she is a sexy motherfucker.

Ho!

At this point I have everyone open up on the dragon while Orpheus starts booking it towards the Crown. If we can get rid of it, then all is left is the other mind flayers on the platform surrounding the brain and hopefully we can just turtle up around Orpheus and protect him while he works.

Victory on the Dragon! It had the most elaborate death animation too.

Orpheus reaches the Crown! This needs to channel for a whole round so fingers crossed.

"How long are you going to keep this up for?" the remaining dream guardian screams around her 9 remaining hit points. Girl, I don't know, you got another appointment somewhere?

Orpheus gets IMMEDIATELY stunned by a mind blast and loses concentration; we'll try again next round.

All of the illithids can cast Shield which is making them VERY challenging to hit. And I just realized we've reached the last turn before the nautiloid shows up. O.o:

Oh boy.

Unsurprisingly this means now we're getting aerial attacks in addition to everything else. But almost all of the illithids are dead at this point. Just need to keep Orpheus safe for one round!

Hector slips in a bit of ice in the middle of an aerial attack target, whoops D:

Orpheus kicks off the compulsion again. All of the illithids are dead. One of the dream guardians is the last survivor, with two hit points.

Aerial attack goes off, does not kill Hector! And we're now only friends between us and Orpheus so I think we've got this in the bag! Everyone together on the platform for the moment of triumph.

The last remaining Harper summon shoots the last dream guardian for her last two HP. Orpheus completes the summon. The screen shakes, then fades to white...

[snugglyporos]

Victor, or my wildest Vampire the Masquerade Muse

// Okay so I have a few minutes this morning, let me recount to you the tale of my wildest Vampire the Masquerade character, Victor.

Let me preface this that this dovetails nicely with my previous post on my beliefs in how to play characters in rpgs, namely, don't get too attached while playing them. Instead, it's better to move fast, break things, probably get them killed in the process. And no character I've ever written follows that as much as Victor.

So let's give you some quick backstory. Victor was, background wise, meant to be no one. He was a gang banger who had a very wild side, died while attacking a rival hideout alone that was run by a vampire, and whose sire, a Gangrel, sired him and left him figuring that was a good reward for being so brave and stupid.

Keep in mind, this character was never meant to live long. He was actually my first vampire the masquerade character, which was why I went as crazy as I did with him. No better way to learn the rules than by making mistakes!

Here's where things get wild. See, I gave him some rather nasty flaws. First being a death wish. Now, not just any death wish. He wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. Less oh woe is me and more to valhalla! His mentality was that he'd already died once, and life never meant much to him while alive, so any time he had now was just extra. Furthermore, I gave him one flaw and two merits that were, uh, extra.

So I gave him the flaw overconfidence, while giving him the benefits common sense and daredevil. Functionally this meant that he had three voices in his head arguing about the best course of action, but it meant that overconfidence and daredevil agreed and thus he'd take the most insane actions possible, while getting bonuses from the Daredevil perk.

So what you're left with is a vampire whose prime directive is to have a natural inclination towards self destruction whenever it seems like it's going to end in a giant explosion. Ironically, his nature was that of a loyalist, because he'd sign up with anyone if it meant getting into trouble.

I should now inform you that this was a Sabbat game. For the unaware, the Sabbat are basically vampire supremacists, who reject their human nature, revere Cain, and who take every opportunity to be evil bastards as they away the end times. Usually, you don't sign up with them, you get embraced into them, because anyone on the outside is the enemy.

Victor, being insane, signs up with them by agreeing to undergo the shovelhead ritual, which is where the Sabbat mass-embrace people, bury them alive, and then see who comes up hungry, before hitting them on the head with a shovel to knock them out and deliver them to wherever they need to be sent at the enemy human wave style.

Victor, unsurprisingly, survives this, and soon becomes the guy you go to when you need a distraction. No one works better as a distraction than the guy whose idea of a good time involves setting himself on fire. I should also point out that Victor took 'being dead' to a rather far extreme; he realized that, for example, he didn't need to eat, so his stomach was basically a place to store things. Upon realizing this, he filled his stomach with gasoline, so that he could smash his teeth together and make a spark (having had his non-fang teeth coated in metal), so that he could, at will, vomit up a fireball. Most vampires are afraid of fire. Victor saw it as a benefit.

Now there is one thing I need to point out. Normally, vampires are not this durable. They would usually take lots of damage and end up dead. Victor, being a Gangrel, had fortitude as one of his natural disciplines, which meant that he would soak damage, and I put all his points into that. High levels of fortitude mean that you soak lots of damage, and we went with the rule that fortitude 5 meant you could blow willpower and just ignore damage. Having put all my points into fortitude, I then put all my points into buying willpower.

Here is where I give a warning to new players: it can be very tempting when you're new to just follow other people and try not to make waves. But the problem is that you'll end up following someone like Victor. I say this because again, this was my first character, we were in a group of people who were all new, and they ended up deciding that since I was the only one willing to do things, that they should follow him. This was, in my opinion, a bad idea, because following Victor was intended to be hazardous to everyone around him. But it's important for the next part of the story.

Victor, somehow, managed to gather followers, meaning other players, and this became a sort of quasi-pack where they gathered around him because they didn't know what to do. There were two such groups in our game, and one play session was us having to track down and kill a werewolf.

Victor, being the only person in this group with any ideas, decided that the best way to kill a werewolf was to hit it with a semi truck. Now, the group decided that the one to drive said truck was Victor, because he was the only one who had any skill in driving, which was probably not a good idea, because he was also slightly intoxicated, as he tended to feed on drunks for blood.

So the group decided that the one to drive a semi truck was the semi-intoxicated psychopathic vampire hell-bent on dying in the most extreme way possible. Why they got into the vehicle, any vehicle, with him behind the wheel, I don't know, and even at the time I was surprised that they were going along with what I felt was an intentionally bad idea.

Because Victor couldn't steal just any truck, he stole a gas tanker, reasoning that even if he missed, the fireball would probably hurt the Werewolf, and he might be fine, and even if he wasn't, nbd.

Cut to later, where he attempted to hit the werewolf, missed, and drove the gas tanker into a gas station, resulting in a giant fireball that would have killed everyone had they not jumped out of the speeding vehicle right at the time they realized Victor's 'plan.'

Victor, unsurprisingly, was ejected from the burning wreck at high speed and landed atop a nearby building, entirely naked. Victor, undaunted by this, immediately jumped off the building, and proceeded to fistfight the werewolf naked in the street.

Luckily, other people arrived to stop Victor from dying that night of bad decisions, much to his chagrin. Ironically, other people were much more concerned about keeping him alive than he was.

But this is why I have the mentality around making muses that I do; I can't remember anything about anyone else's characters. But I have stories like this, where my muses somehow managed to do something nuts, because it was entirely outside the bounds of rationality.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Defendant Trump has never said the words, "I didn't do it." He's been too busy pointing fingers and deflecting and lying.

LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV

AUG 3, 2023

I’m willing to bet that little detail escaped your attention as easily as it escaped mine:  despite copious opportunities in interviews, speeches at rallies, and rants on his social media platform, Truth Social, Defendant Trump has not come right out and denied the charges he has been accused of.  You’ve heard him say practically everything else – it’s a witch hunt, an illegal prosecution, a coverup of the crimes of the “Biden crime family,” on and on and on.  But you have not heard him say, I did not do it.

Politico today came out with a piece in which they detailed what they called, “the five pillars of his defense.”  They are, “Slow it down,” “Put 2024 politics front and center,” “Accuse Smith of criminalizing speech,” “Question Trump’s intent,” and “Attack D.C..”  Politico claimed to have discerned this strategy from an interview on NPR with Defendant Trump’s latest hire as an attorney, John Lauro.  I read the transcript of the interview, but among his mumblings and equivocations, I didn’t find what I would call any “pillars.”  Lauro, who appears to be positioning himself as the “reasonable one” on the Defendant’s legal team, led with this jewel: “He got advice from counsel — very, very wise and learned counsel — on a variety of constitutional and legal issues. So, it's a very straightforward defense that he had every right to advocate for a position that he believed in and his supporters believed in.” 

The obvious reaction to a description of Defendant Trump’s legal clown car as “wise and learned” is, what planet is this guy speaking from?  But it also rules out the classic position of defendants charged every day with crimes high and low:  SODDI, Some Other Dude Did it, a defense which has been suggested by actual, real learned attorneys all over the place on cable news – that Defendant Trump could claim he was misled by incompetent lawyers, at least one of whom has been sanctioned, and another disbarred for filing cases that wasted the courts’ time.  Then again, maybe it’s a clever move by an eminently reasonable attorney, because it will prevent the prosecution from presenting this photo and asking, “You mean this guy?”

I’m not even going to bother with a photograph of The Kraken.

Another theme of the Lauro defense is, “This is the first time in the history of the United States where a sitting administration is criminalizing speech against a prior administration.”

Silly me; I guess I wasn’t listening in a law class I took at West Point when they explained the whole administration v. administration theory of criminal law. Defendant Trump’s complaint isn’t with the Biden administration or even with Special Counsel Smith, it’s with grand jury, 23 American citizens voting in secret, who found that the evidence presented to them by prosecutors was enough to prove by the standard, “more likely than not,” that the Defendant committed the crimes he is accused of. 

Lauro was also good enough to inform us that Defendant Trump will not go to trial next year for conspiracy to defraud and obstruct the government and a government official and deny Americans their right to vote, but instead for his “cause.”  This is the way Lauro put it to NPR: “Well, political speech covers even information that turns out not to be true. So, it's all protected by free speech. But at the bottom, the government will never be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, as I said, that President Trump did not believe in the righteousness of his cause.”

You remember the cause Defendant Trump fought so hard for, don’t you, between November 14, 2020 and January 20, 2021, the dates covered by the indictment?  Having lost the general election by millions of votes and the electoral college by 306 to 232, the same margin Defendant Trump called a “landslide” when he won in 2016, he wanted the results thrown out and to be declared president by fiat.

Boy, was that ever an honorable cause, and boy is that ever a winning strategy. 

Lucian Truscott Newsletter

[halos-top-alien-model]

Sangheili Bracket Round 1 Tiebreaker 2

More info below:

Kitun 'Arach:

Debuted in Halo 5: Guardians

Part of Jul 'Mdama’s Covenant, he would be present in the Battle of Kamchatka, leading a lance fighting back against Promethean forces. He would form a temporary alliance with Fireteam Osiris against the Prometheans, before they left him to continue on their mission to kill Jul 'Mdama. Following the Covenant leader’s death, Kitun would look to figures like the late Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattineree for inspiration on the Covenant’s new direction. He also became disinterested in continuing the war against humanity, largely due to the costs. Later, he would be one of prominent commanders during the assault on Vadam and the Battle of Sunaion. Between these battles, he would receive a message from his brother Jacul to join the Swords of Sanghelios, but he instead would request his brother switch sides to the Covenant. The two brothers would then meet in battle at Sunaion, with Jacul dying and Kitun being mortally wounded with only enough time to leave a final message regarding their fight.

Additional commentary: Yeah, unlike other Mission Intel figures, you actually meet this guy in the flesh. Canonically, he’s the Covenant Sangheili you make a temporary alliance for the achievement Enemy of my Enemy, with that achievement being canon since he then goes on to do all that stuff on Sanghelios you learn through Mission Intel.

Asum 'Mdama / Bakar:

Debuted in Halo: Glasslands

Born Jan. 20th, 2542 as the second son of Jul and Raia 'Mdama and the younger brother of Dural. He was trained in combat by Naxan - the great-uncle of Raia. When he learned of his mother’s death in March 2553, he went to nearby fields to mourn. Then, he began to be fostered by Kasha 'Hilot as he assumed the new name of Bakar. She would take him to Onyx - her new place of work - and he would attend the Pax Institute while there.

It was around September 2558 that Molly Patel would transfer to his school, leading to her, Kareem El-Hashem, and Unggoy Gudam Keschun to come across him being bullied by three human peers. He would at first avoid trying to defend himself, until one of the bullies hits Gudam hard enough to draw blood. However, just as a full-on fight ensues, an instructor named Dinok 'Acroli breaks it up. The next day, Molly would be forced to sit at the same table as Bakar, giving him the opportunity to chastise her for making him look weak, until the other two arrive. Their attempts to become friends with him causes him to leave. Later, he would be stuck in the same self defense lesson being taught by Spartans Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091 with the same trio. During a field trip to the Repository, Bakar would open up to the trio a little and bond with them. Then, things took a turn when a beast called a rafakrit attacked. Kasha would go to distract the beast to save everyone else, only to get injured in the process, leading Bakar and his new friends to launch a risky plan to save her. After this, the Spartans and Director Mendez talk with them, which would then lead them to sharing with Bakar the identity of his father: Jul 'Mdama (due to Sangheili customs, he did not know this before). Even after learning the Covenant remnant leader was his father, Bakar would continue to feel hatred toward him. Also during this conversation, they would warn him that his brother had joined up with the Servants of Abiding Truth and had possibly infiltrated Onyx. However, much later, Cortana’s message would be sent to all of the galaxy and Onyx’s Guardian would awaken. Bakar was at school be it occurred, forcing him to join those hiding in the cafeteria. When Prone to Drift arrives, he and his friends concoct a plan to have Drift reach the Guardian and disrupt its communication with Cortana. Then, the Servants of the Abiding Truth attack the school, killing some people and taking Drift away to the Repository. Bakar and friends would pursue, using some creatures also chasing the Servants in their plan to stop them. After catching up, Bakar would confront his brother and beg him to stop, while Dural felt he had been dishonored and should kill himself. In order to keep the attacking creatures from hurting Bakar, Dural chose to whistle a distraction and sacrifice himself, being carried away. Another creature would remain, but Lucy would arrive and take care of it, getting injured in the process. The kids would take her and Prone to Drift away in the Pelican Lucy brought, then fly close enough to the Guardian so Drift could disable it. Now, Bakar is amongst those living in hiding from Cortana due to Onyx’s slipspace bubble being reactivated.

[junsei-draws-rotasu]

LEGO MONKIE KID S1E9: Macaque (Live rewatch Blog)

The episode I'm waiting for! My favourite monkey! Just like in BSD we're I came for Dazai's looks, I came for Macaque's voice, specifically "Ohhoho, can't hold the magic staff anymore?". The plot and animation are just a bonus!

I will always appreciate the intro

I agree on MK here. Hammering a wall isn't practice unless MK wants to go to a university and learn to be a construction worker. Wukong, your just making MK do chores, and not the ones that are helping his training!

AH yes! The first appearance of my fav monkey besides the title episode

Smug little shit menace face right here.

To be fair, you didn't tell him what the hammer is for besides lighting for your area, SWK. You could've told him it's a lesson for patience!

That's quite a anti-climatic attack

Ha! Like father like son!

MACAQUE!!!!!

I know what's going on in the episode, and I know this is an elaborate plan, but damn Macaque is so cool!

You know, I think Mac was caught off guard at MK's request on teaching him, but saw the opportunity and took it regardless. I think the original scheme was to get closer to MK and bam! Betrayal!

"Expecting a little more of your power" I read this one fanfic where different types of disappointed stare, and MK describe that Macaque doesn't have it instead have the stare of 'You can do better'

Woah! MK can use long whatever nunchuck that is!

Ok, despite Macaque going to steal MK's power later on in the episode, you gotta admit that MK is getting combat training here!

"You ARE a weapon" interesting to say there Mac, where did you learn that? Is it because you're a Warrior?

Man, Wukong, if you said that alittle bit earlier, maybe you guys wouldn't be in this situation! This is why I say, to have a healthy relationship, you need good communication!

Oh~? Wukong noticed that seal work anywhere~

Man, Macaque got some good acting skills! I would say he's a theatre kid if I know what a theatre kid means

Damn, I felt the power

Gasp! The betrayal punch!

Does Macaque really need to put of his Glamor or he can't put it back on cuz he was in his war form?

HE SAID THE LINE!!!!!!

OOP! Dad Wukong is here!

The subtitle eyebrow twitches on Mac!!! God I'm so glad to rewatch this stuff instead of continuing where I left off!

I'M BOTH LOVING THE ANIMATION AND ART

THE BIRDS!?!

That's sly of you Mac!

Protective Wukong!!!

Does anyone have any fanfics that describe MK's emotions right here? His thoughts? Seeing the Great Monkey King struggle for the first time he'd met him. Because seeing SWK struggle def hit it in him, not his speech.

The tears!

Not WuKong immediately shields MK 🥹

MK, remember you saying you should get a doctor? Well, I still think you still do it!

Yeah no

It's totally in line of SWK character to make MK to do his chores and lie it's not chores he's doing

And finished!

[thcophagy]

despite the upset he was encouraging, elton didn't actually want to hurt birdie. no, he was better than that, better than all those who had made lifelong careers out of sneering at those they deemed less than. he loved her, in his own, strange way, which is why it had hurt so much to find out that she wasn't as different from the rest of her friends as he once thought she was. if he were any other guy, his leering at her chest would have gone unquestioned, maybe she would have even liked it and tried to encourage that behaviour but because it was him, it was something worth gossiping about. in his mind he bounced back and forth between letting her free from the responsibility of guilt and forcing her to suck it up and live with it, but his face revealed nothing of his plight. he watched, stoic as ever, as bride snivelled and pleaded her case, desperately trying to prove that she wasn't as bad as the rest of them and that she was deserving of his forgiveness. yet she continued to lie, to not take responsibility for her past self and her actions and instead tried to play herself off as eternally innocent. he supposed he couldn't blame her too much for her inaction, she might have been just too dumb to have realised exactly the impact what her friends were doing had on him but was that a good enough excuse? he sighed once again as she continued to blubber and took a step away from the door, retreating back into his apartment so he could have a moment of respite from her self-imposed pity party; and also to try and calm himself down, if he got an erection watching her cry then he'd truly never be able to live that one down. "jesus, birdie..." elton rubbed his hand across his face and tossed his book down onto the small shelving unit beside the entrance to the apartment. all he wanted was for her to be honest, he used to want her to think he was a good guy but that was clearly too much to ask, the least she could do was be frank with her feelings. before had time to even think about how to address the situation he'd brought about from his brutal honesty, birdie had practically thrown herself into his arms, neatly manicured fingers digging into the old fabric of his nirvana t-shirt while she shook like a wet little kitten left out in the cold. he had always been incredibly careful not to touch her, not out of a lack of desire to do so but rather a trained kind of refusal, he hadn't ever been able to risk a friendly gesture without the threat of it being turned back on him so he had learned how to keep to himself. with birdie pressed against him, elton's arms remained stiff by his side, he froze, half in surprise from her sudden attack and half in fear, he couldn't recall the last time if he'd been touched by a girl and the sudden excitement was dangerous. "i- birdie i don't-" he tried momentarily to wiggle away from her but she was clearly in distress and clung to him like only he could hold the antidote- maybe part of her did genuinely care about him, even if it was in some weird, twisted way. "okay- okay we can- how about i... " she'd given him a golden opportunity, the chance to get her to do whatever he wanted and the power that afforded him was too much, he had half a mind to tell her all was forgiven and quickly escort her out of his apartment only to then never see her again. that didn't happen though, he deserved some kind of concilisation for everything he'd been through and if he could try and tame birdie's sudden waterworks at the same time, wouldn't it be letting them both down if he threw that chance away? "... how about i think of a way for you to make it up to me?" hesitantly, like she might disintegrate into a pile of ash if he touched her too hard, elton reached out and gently placed one of his hands onto her shoulder. "please stop crying, i- i'll come up with something."

birdie felt truly at a loss for what to do, the likes of which she'd never experienced in any other social interaction. she was a people person, naturally bubbly and easy to get along with— no one had ever held her accountable for her actions like this. not that she really had much to atone for, but she frequently used her looks to get her way, played dumb to dodge responsibility, led guys on just for fun; nothing damnable about it, but because nobody had ever directly called her out, she wasn't even aware that those behaviors could have a negative effect on others. seeing herself in this new light, being forced to accept that maybe she wasn't as innocent as she painted herself out to be, that maybe she was a bad person, it was all too much for the fragile thing to process at once. "n-no..." she sniveled, hastily shaking her head so that her blonde curls bounced. "no, i know, i... i'm s-sorry..." her breath caught in her throat as he continued to push further, reminiscing on the not-so-fond memory of an event she recalled with perfect clarity, full body tremors ceasing as she found herself paralyzed. of course she remembered. it was quite literally all anyone could talk about for months after that, perhaps going down as one of the most infamous stunts ever pulled in their small, mundanely suburban high school. the steadily rolling tears and wobbling lower lip were just about the only things moving on her body, as it felt as though her heart had ceased beating the second he had to go and get specific. she was silent while he spoke, at a loss for words, up until she blurted out, "no!" when he asked if she'd believed it, a knee-jerk reaction, but a lie all the same. she wanted it to be true, to have been able to see through the petty high school bullshit and realize all the sordid rumors swirling around elton were merely projections imposed upon him by small-minded assholes, but that simply wasn't reality.

"they... no— no i didn't kn-know... i didn't." another lie, one that stuck on her tongue and fell limp and pathetic at his feet once she finally spat it out. just looking at him hurt, because when she did, all she could see was that sad, broken boy she'd known all those years ago, the one who sometimes looked like he was silently pleading for help when their eyes would happen to meet, and it reminded her of how she'd conveniently looked the other way rather than offer him just an ounce of respite from the malice others doled out. and yet, she couldn't tear her eyes away now, thankful whenever a new well of tears would blur her vision only for them to drip down her face and reset the frame. she didn't want to speak, because hearing her own voice only reminded her of how she'd responded when leah bragged about the hilarious prank she and her boyfriend came up with— "guys! that's so mean!" and that was it. no efforts to try and stop them, no explanation of just why it was so cruel, but she'd been verbally opposed, and therefor remained blameless. so then why did she feel so fucking guilty? the picking apart of her own clumsy words made her flinch, feeling so foolish for ever thinking they were starting to become friends that she had half a mind to dart back to the sanctity of her apartment and never come out. her mouth opened, but no sound found its way out, stood there in a stupefied silence until he pressed further, at which point the trembling resumed. "i-i-i... i don't know, i don't—" every word felt choked out of her, throat tightening as she barely held back a pathetic whimper of submission. "i d-don't know, i... i think i-i'm..." there was a message she was trying to get across, some sort of reassurance that she didn't see him as a monster, that he'd come to represent something much more complicated that even she herself didn't quite understand, but she hadn't the slightest clue how to articulate that. "i'm sorry," she wailed, something in her seeming to snap as she flung herself at him and clung onto his shirt for dear life, wide, pleading eyes peering up at him through messy, mascara-dripping lashes. "i'm so-sorry, i didn't know i h-hu-urt you, i didn't mean t-t... i don't kn-o-ow what to do. ple-ease— elton... tell me what to d-do-o."

[violescent-scrolls]

Bed Buddies (Levi Ackerman x reader)

Pairing: Levi Ackerman x gn! reader

Word Count: 3.5k

Warnings: A healthy amount of cursing, mentions of PTSD, injuries, and insecurities. Mentions of canon typical violence. 

Genre: Fluff, slight hurt comfort.

A/N: This is my first time writing for Levi and I’m not sure whether I did a good job or not, but hopefully he isn’t too ooc here. Also idk if you guys can tell but I ran out of steam near the end but this has been in my wips for far too long.

Summary: Nightmares lead to you looking for comfort in Levi. Little did you know, he’s. not as unwilling as you first thought he would be.

One of the biggest perks of being a senior member of the Levi Squad was having a bedroom all to yourself. Whilst all the members that formerly made up the 104th cadets shared rooms depending on gender, what with the kids having only recently joined Captain Levi’s team, you got to cozy up in your very own bed with no disturbances, a luxury in the Survey Corps.

It was great.

Or at least it was at first. The first few nights you’d been thrilled to sleep in a room completely by yourself. In theory, it was great. You got to stretch your limbs as far as you wanted and you didn’t have to fall asleep to the annoying snores of your comrades.

However, you quickly learned that having a room all to yourself was very… lonely.

Up until this point, you’d never had an opportunity to not share a room. You’d gone from sharing a room with your siblings back home to sharing the barracks with other cadets at the Training Corps to sharing a room with other members of the Levi Squad after being recruited by Levi a couple of years ago, the older man seeing potential in you whilst on an expedition. You’d found it annoying at first, never having a place to yourself. Now that you did though, you couldn’t help but long for someone else’s company at night.

Especially on nights like these.

You’d woken up in a cold sweat, your skin prickling as if thousands of tiny swords were stabbing at your flesh. The memory of the Female Titan killing every single one of your comrades was still fresh in your mind and you couldn’t help but shudder. The room was suddenly far too quiet. The only thing you could hear was the sound of your panting breaths coupled with the sound of your thundering heartbeat ringing in your ears.

Desperately in need of some fresh air and a change of scenery, you made your way out of your room and towards the kitchen, quietly so as to not wake Levi and the kids. Surely a glass of water would help free you from your stupor.

Once in the kitchen, you grabbed a cup and unlidded the ceramic basin that contained all the fresh drinking water that had been collected today. Gingerly, you laded a few spoonfuls of water into your cup. Before you could place the lid back on the basin, however, you were startled half to death by someone breaking the silence.

“If you want something to calm you down I recommend tea over water.”

You seized your cup harshly, jerking it a bit in your fright and spilling some, incredibly cold, water on yourself.

“By the walls, Captain! What are you doing sitting in the darkness all by yourself? You nearly gave me a heart attack,” you shrilled out, voice high and cracking slightly in embarrassment at getting scared so easily. The last thing you wanted was Levi thinking you were a coward, or worse, weak.

Instead of bothering to reply, he merely gave you a once over, no doubt finding your eyes red, your cheeks tear-streaked, and you're no doubt sweaty forehead with baby hairs stuck on it. He raised a brow as if evaluating your person to make sure you weren’t physically hurt before serving you a cup of tea and pushing it towards you, a silent invitation for you to sit down on the kitchen table across from where he sat.

You didn’t need more encouragement than that. You quickly sat down and took a sip of the tea, sighing peacefully as the warm liquid heated you up nicely.

Levi didn’t ask any questions and you were grateful for that. He was never much of a talker in the first place, or at least not in the stereotypical sense. He often preferred to let you chatter on about whatever crossed your mind most times. You suspected that the reason he stayed so quiet was that deep down he was just an awkward dude who never knew what to say, though whenever you shared your theories with others you were always laughed off. The sharped-tongued captain being at a loss for words? Unlikely.

Instead of chatting about trivial subjects as you usually did, you simply stayed quiet, gazing into your image reflected on the surface of your drink. Levi seemed to be very uneasy with this silent version of you. He was waiting for you to start the conversation you know he couldn’t start, albeit impatiently if the way he looked up every time you let even the slightest of noises escape was any sign.

After taking another sip of the expertly brewed tea, you decided to take pity on him and break the silence.

“I- uh- I had a bad dream,” you said, trying to sound nonchalant, but your voice wavered halfway through the sentence. “About the 57th expedition and, y’know, the female titan and stuff.”

Levi made a sound of understanding and nodded, simply serving you more tea.

“Sounds shitty,” he said rather gruffly.

To any other person, Levi’s words would’ve felt inconsiderate. You knew him well enough to know that he was trying his best to comfort you. The fact made your chest feel alight with gleeful embers and your stomach swarm with butterflies, a sensation you knew the meaning of all too well but refused to acknowledge.

Your relationship with the captain was… odd to say the least. Though you’d been the last to join the original Levi Squad, everyone seemed to agree that you understood Levi Ackerman the best, even with knowing little to nothing about his life before or out of the Corps (though you had heard some things about him being from the Underground through the grapevine). According to Hange, you were something of a ‘Levi Whisperer’, though you were sure they were only exaggerating. The two of you often spoke during the late hours of the night. Levi frequently had trouble sleeping and you, well, you just wanted to get an opportunity to chat to humanity’s strongest (and, in your opinion, most handsome) soldier. From there, the two of you cultivated something of an odd relationship. Not quite friends but more than just superior and subordinate. Close enough for the two of you to know each other’s habits and preferences but not quite enough for you to feel comfortable addressing Levi by his name instead of ‘Captain’.

After the 57th expedition, however, things had shifted. It was almost imperceivable to someone unfamiliar with the intricacies of your and Levi’s relationship, but as obvious as an abnormal Titan running in an open field to you. He was somewhat more protective of you. He was often keeping you close to him and keeping alert for anything that might be a threat to your person. In fact, he’d even taken to checking that the leather straps of your ODM gear as of late, giving you no explanation whatsoever.

You’d chalked it all up to Levi thinking you were weak after how battered and bruised the Female Titan had left you. You hated that. You wanted to be Levi’s equal, a trusted companion, his lo- his friend.

You supposed that to some degree you understood why Levi was acting this way. after all, finding all your trusted soldiers brutally murdered by a Titan and the one survivor beaten within an inch of their life must’ve made him feel as if he failed as a captain. However, you didn’t want Levi to see you as yet another responsibility, you wanted to take care of him in the same way he took care of you.

You were snapped out of reverie by the sound of the wooden chair legs screeching against the hardwood floor, signaling that Levi was ready to depart.

“You should try to get some sleep, kid,” Levi said. It was phrased as a suggestion but his authoritative tone was anything but.

Your stomach churned uncomfortably at the thought of having to spend the next five hours or so trying to sleep in that lifeless, quiet room. Before you could even think about your actions and the dire repercussions they could have, you grabbed his wrist as he passed by you to get to his bedroom.

“Can I sleep with you?” You rushed out, looking into his cool grey eyes pleadingly.

Levi’s eyebrows raised, his eyes widened, his shoulders tensed, and despite the only source of light being the moonbeams shining through the kitchen window, you would’ve sworn a light blush was starting to form across his defined cheekbones.

After a beat of silence, you realized that you phrased the question poorly.

Did he think you wanted to sleep with him?!

You flushed as you realized the thought did not sound unpleasant in the slightest.

“I- No! Not in that way. I meant to ask if I could sleep in your room. I don’t mind sleeping on the floor or anything so you don’t have to worry about it being inappropriate. It’s just that I’m not used to sleeping in a room all by myself, y’know?” You floundered, trying to amend the situation as much as you possibly could.

Levi blinked slowly as if processing your request.

You let go of the man’s wrist as if he had burned you and got up from your chair so fast you nearly tripped in the process.

“Actually, just forget this ever happened. It was incredibly inappropriate for me to ask that of you. I understand if you need to punish me, I’ll even clean the-” You rushed out, wincing in advance at the scolding you were no doubt about to receive.

“Fine.” was all Levi said before turning his heel and heading toward his room.

You stood there, completely gobsmacked and unsure of what to do next. Did he just say yes to you sleeping in his room? Or was he saying fine to forgetting this ever happened?

You were forcibly ripped away from your spiraling thoughts by Levi stopping and looking back at you.

“Oi, brat. Are you coming or what?”

“I- yes of course Captain Levi, sir, right away.”

You followed Levi to his room, stalling at the door frame to watch him climb into bed and make himself comfortable. It felt almost illegal to watch this as if you were infringing on something private. At the same time, however, the thought that he trusted you enough to let his guard down like this caused your heart to flutter.

“Don’t bother sleeping on the floor. Your back will be sore and you’ll be shit at training. The bed’s big enough for the both of us,” he said.

As weird as it was to think this about a man who’s killed dozens, if not hundreds, of titans (and perhaps, you thought a bit uneasily, people too) as cute, you couldn’t help but think Levi looked incredibly cute snuggled up under his gray quilt.

“Tch, if you’re gonna stand there all night instead of sleeping you might as well go back to your room,” he argued, though if you didn’t know any better you’d swear he looked embarrassed by your staring.

“Fine, fine, you old man. I’m coming,” you teased, ignoring his scoff of indignation.

And just like that, sleeping in Levi’s bedroom became a regular occurrence.

During the daytime, you would spend your time training with the rest of the Levi Squad (and cleaning the already spotless cabin, of course). Once nighttime hit, you would wait until everyone was asleep until slinking over to the Captain’s room, pillow in arms. He’d roll his eyes at you, acting annoyed, but that didn’t stop him from scooching over on the bed and patting the spot beside him, an invitation of sorts.

To say you got the best sleep of your life in Levi’s room would be an understatement. Maybe it was how soft his sheets are, or maybe it's the fact that Levi always ends up searching for your warmth in his slumber, but you were sure you never wanted to sleep anywhere else. Every morning you managed to wake up before him to find his arm wrapped around your waist, holding you to his chest, felt like absolute heaven.

However, that also meant that it was getting harder and harder to dismiss your feelings. You could deny it no longer; you were in love with Levi.

Did he love you too? Yes, he did cuddle you in his sleep but he was in his sleep. Did it count if it wasn’t a conscious choice? You weren’t sure. The one thing you did know, however, was that if you confessed your feelings for him, only to have them be unreciprocated, it could mean the end of your time as a member of the Levi Squad. That, you decided, was something you were simply unwilling to jeopardize. Not only would you not be able to see Levi again, but you wouldn’t get to spend as much time with the 104th soldiers you had quickly come to view as younger siblings.

You would simply have to be content with sleeping in Levi’s bed every night and have it remain completely platonic.

You were doing a relatively good job of playing it cool until one day you overheard a conversation between Levi and Hange.

“C’mon Levi,” the eccentric section commander argued, “Don’t you think it’ll be fun? Just think about it! A camping trip would be a blast. And it would be great for team building!”

“I highly doubt the brats will do anything but cause chaos and make a mess,” he said plainly while sipping at his tea.

“Don’t be like that,” they teased, “Just think about it, we could even share a tent and talk about titans all night.”

“Four-eyes, if you go anywhere near my bed I will destroy you,” he retorted, setting his teacup down.

“Sheesh, I forgot you’re weird about people being near you when you’re asleep.”

Hange’s last words kept replaying in your head all while cooking dinner for the rest of the squad. They didn’t stop even after you were laid in your bed, staring at the white ceiling.

Levi hated sharing a bed with anyone? Then why had he been letting you sleep in his bed with him for months now? Did he just feel bad for you? Had you been annoying him this whole time?

You supposed it made sense. If what you’d heard about his life before the survey corps was true, he probably spent most of his life in a place where showing vulnerability could mean death. And when are you most vulnerable if not when you’re asleep? You shivered at the thought.

Thinking back, you remembered that the first night you spent in his room, he’d been quite tense, jolting awake at even your slightest movements. He’d looked more tired than usual the day after too. It was all suddenly starting to make sense and you were feeling guiltier and guiltier.

You resolved to stay in your bed even after everyone else in the cabin had gone to sleep. The last thing you wanted to do was bother the poor Captain and take advantage of his kindness towards you. Besides, maybe this is the push you to get over your feelings for the man? Goodness knows that was a particularly hard task with Levi sleeping right next to you, looking devilishly handsome and clinging to you oh so sweetly.

And so, with a sorrowful heart, you attempted to get some sleep.

Except actually falling asleep proved to be quite hard. It was way too quiet without the steady, comforting sound of Levi’s breathing. If having a room all to yourself was hard before, it was damn near impossible now that he wasn’t within arms reach of you.

Feeling frustrated and damn near pitiful at your newly acquired separation anxiety you decided to get up and make yourself some tea. You’d purchased some chamomile leaf bags on your last trip to town and a hot cup was just what you needed to calm yourself down a bit.

With a restless feeling in your gut, you tossed your thin white blanket to the side and got out of bed, sliding on the slippers you kept by your bed and opening the heavy wooden door.

To say you weren’t expecting what waited for you outside of the door was quite an understatement.

Before your very eyes stood Humanity’s strongest soldier, clad in his scout’s uniform (sans ODM gear and jacket, of course) with a pillow clutched in one hand and the other lifted up to the air about to knock on the door that you had just opened.

You blinked twice, staring at your captain in shock.

“Are you going to let me in or what?” Levi asked gruffly.

“Oh, uh- yes! Right away, sir,” you said, fumbling over your own two feet as you backtracked into your bedroom, Levi in toe. With a nervous laugh, you sat on the foot of your bed, looking at Levi.

Now, from what you had thus far experienced, Levi Ackerman was not one to hesitate. He glides through the air with confidence and grace, slaying titans left and right without an ounce of fear. He tells it like it is with a sharp bluntness that can cut through almost anything and anyone. But looking at him now, as he opened and closed his mouth a few times, Levi looked almost… uncertain.

Knowing that he was struggling to start, you decided to give him a hand. “What did you need, Captain?”

“I thought we had an agreement,” Levi spoke after a beat of silence.

“An agreement?” you repeated.

“Yes, an agreement. You come over and we talk and spend time together or- or whatever and that way both of us are happy.” Levi stated. If you didn’t know him any better, you would’ve thought he was annoyed. However, to you, he just looked insecure.

“So…” you prompted, still unsure of what was going on.

“So why aren’t you coming over?” he asked. “And don’t start with that ‘nothing’ bullshit of yours ‘cause we both know you’re the shittiest liar.”

You blinked. Once and then twice. If it had been any other person, you would’ve tried to lie your way out of it regardless of being called out. However, this was Levi. He would sooner rather make you run ten laps and put you on horse cleaning duty for weeks on end than put up with it.

With a sigh, you spoke the words you had been dying and dreading to tell him.

“I’m in love with you,” you admitted, wincing and looking down to avoid seeing his reaction.

Silence.

Upon hearing nothing, no admonishments of scoffs, you looked up to examine his expression. Despite the rosiness of his cheeks, you were surprised to see that his face was astonishingly deadpan, as if you had just told him that the sky was blue or that the grass is green.

“You’re not surprised?” you gawked.

“Sorry that I’ve got enough tact to notice you mooning over me, brat,” Levi said with what you could’ve sworn was the start of a smirk adorning his handsome features.

“Wait I’m confused,” you mumbled, almost dazed, “If you knew why didn’t you say anything? Surely it can’t be appropriate of me to be in love with my Captain.”

“It’s not exactly appropriate for us to sleep in the same bed either, but neither of us gave a fuck,” your captain scoffed, “So why are you distancing yourself now?”

All of a sudden, it hit you. You were such an idiot. Levi knew you loved him. He didn’t do anything to stop it. Levi knew you loved him and he still let you sleep with him, He didn’t do anything to stop it. You stopped going to his room. Levi is currently doing something to stop that. That can only mean that-

“You’re in love with me too.” You whispered out as if you were revealing some great, long-lost knowledge out into the world.

You stared at him in shock. Suddenly it all made sense. All those late nights spent over tea and paperwork weren’t nothing. Those nights spent in each other’s arms in search of reassurance that the both of you were still alive and healthy weren’t one-sided. He’d felt the same about you all along. However, Levi hadn’t been as blind as you had. He’d known all along, as if it was the most obvious thing as if it were a solid, concrete fact. There was no need to say anything because, at least to his knowledge, you both knew. And really, what’s the point of stating the obvious?

“I overheard you and Section Commander Hange talking,” you admitted, “and I heard them say that you don’t like to be touched in your sleep. I feel bad because I’ve been infringing on your boundaries this entire time.”

“You’re not ‘infringing on my boundaries’, (Y/N)” Levi stated. “At first it was kind of hard to get used to having someone so close to me, but I got used to it. I like having you close to me.”

Every single nerve on your body felt like it was lit up. You loved Levi. Levi loved you. You wanted to be close to Levi and he did too.

“So, are you going to stay there or are we going back to my room?”

Tags: @paintingsofdragonspine (look at me not procrastinating today!!!!!!)

[thebisexualagendasblog]

I Rant About Black Widow

The reason why people say this fight scene is dumb is an understandable one. At first glance, it looks like a well-choreographed but random fight, like the producers threw it in just because they needed something interesting to happen. After all, why would two sisters be trying to murder each other out of nowhere?

There is an explanation, and that explanation is emotion.

First, I want you to think about how Natasha is feeling at this point. She’s already stressed: the Avengers have broken up and 117 countries are hunting her down with the intention of throwing her in prison to rot. That would push someone close to the edge already. To top it off, she’s just been attacked and defeated by some guy in a fancy suit who can mimic her moves and use them against her. She doesn’t know who he’s working for or what they want, but she does know that it has something to do with her sister Yelena.

That must be a massive punch in the gut to Natasha. She hasn’t seen Yelena in twenty years, and as we learn shortly after the fight, genuinely believes that she took down the Red Room and freed the Black Widows. There’s no reason that Yelena would be involved with some secret violent conspiracy, right?

Now if you ask me, Natasha really does think that Dreykov is dead, but there’s wishful thinking going on too. The Red Room and the separation from Yelena were so traumatizing that she would prefer to avoid any reminders of that pain. As she says later, “Honestly, I didn’t think you’d want to see me,” she assumes that Yelena wants to forget about all that as well.

At the fight scene in Budapest, Natasha is going in with almost no information or trust, and a great deal of fear and anger that her broken relationships are being dredged up again. Now onto Yelena.

The audience can guess that Natasha was very important to Yelena from the photographs in the mind control antidote. If she loves Natasha enough to hold onto those photos for two decades, she probably isn’t thrilled that Natasha apparently feels the opposite.

Yelena refers to herself as Natasha’s family—“you didn’t want your little sister tagging along whilst you saved the world with the cool kids”—which hints to us how Yelena feels about Natasha treating her distantly for their first few scenes together.

For a big chunk of the rest of the movie, Natasha spends a ton of time in denial. She doesn’t want to acknowledge Yelena as her sister for the reasons I mentioned above, and also the unavoidable truth that if they’re family, Natasha has abandoned her little sister. While Natasha is trying to push these feelings down, Yelena very much feels the sting of betrayal. She doesn’t see the trauma left behind on Natasha, she sees her own and is angry that Natasha willingly left her to that.

Yelena has also just come out of extended and brutal mind control and doesn’t know which parts of her were real. She won’t trust anyone, least of all the person indirectly responsible for it.

So, to summarize, we have the perfect recipe for a fight here. Yelena is furious that she was betrayed and left to her own devices. Natasha is stressed and deeply in denial about her past. It’s clear to both of them that the other one does not trust them and is not to be trusted.

Looking closer at the actual fight also clears things up a bit. Natasha is more on the defensive and when she has an opportunity or the upper hand, uses it to disarm and try to pin Yelena to the ground instead of hurting her. She’s also the first to call for a truce when they’re strangling each other. On the other hand, Yelena slams Natasha’s head into the wall a few times and goes for a very large knife when given the chance.

In conclusion, this fight scene seems out of place at first glance, but if you look at Natasha and Yelena’s mental/emotional states at the time, it makes a lot more sense.

[robininthelabyrinth]

a lot of people in fandom have this idea that nie sect is some super progressive place and if only MY had dealt with the CQL captain guy better then he'd have had every opportunity to advance and be accepted but it didn't happen for him because he was too sneaky? hiding his 'real' personality? or something like that? what are your thoughts on this bc mine rn are teetering between 'yeah maybe' and being a bit annoyed at the way fandom has decided nie sect is actually perfect and can do no wrong

Okay, so the tone of this question is weirdly aggressive for whatever reason, but let me share my thoughts anyway.

First: the Nie sect is clearly not a place that is wholly lacking in the usual types of biases found in the cultivation world, including specifically against people with "questionable" backgrounds, i.e. Meng Yao's mother being a prostitute. We know this from there is bullying, name-calling, etc., both in the cave and, in CQL, from the captain. This is all bad.

However, this is modified by two things: the fact that there is ample evidence that this is the same everywhere else in the cultivation world (and is indeed worse, including for example in the Jin sect, per novel canon), and the fact that despite this, Meng Yao has managed to significantly advance his career at the Nie sect. Nie Mingjue stood up for him, took measures against those he saw as looking down at him, promoted him and treated him as his right hand man advisor - in CQL, we see him entrust him with his younger brother and listen to him over his own best instincts. He trusted him.

In a system where blood and birth is everything - Meng Yao isn't going to be made an heir to Nie sect because, well, he's not a Nie - Meng Yao has basically reached the highest pinnacle of what is possible to achieve with pure merit. Is there still a hostile work environment? Yes, because that's the culture they live in. But Meng Yao has Nie Mingjue - the big boss - backing him to the hilt. In CQL, we literally see that Nie Mingjue will start yelling at people he learns are putting Meng Yao down because of his birth.

That's the key point here - Nie Mingjue can't do shit about the stuff that doesn't get reported to him. From a modern corporation perspective, Nie Mingjue is basically doing all you can ask for: he's providing the correct tone from the top, he's ensuring that people who violate that are swiftly disciplined, he's modeled a better example through promoting and trusting Meng Yao, and he's provided a route for future complaints by establishing that he is willing to listen to Meng Yao's judgment.

Does that immediately make everything perfect for Meng Yao? Of course not! Nie Mingjue is fighting upstream against not only his own sect's culture, but the entire cultivation world's. But he's doing the best he can, and that, at least, is more than we see anyone else doing. (In CQL, Lan Xichen does something similar by personally modelling acceptance of Meng Yao, though notably, he doesn't take any action to punish those who were mocking him, which in CQL he had the right to do as sect leader. This makes being nice to Meng Yao a personal trait of Lan Xichen that others are encouraged to emulate, which is a good start, but doesn't go as far as Nie Mingjue since there's no reason to stop looking down at Meng Yao if you don't happen to feel like it.)

Conclusion: the Nie sect is a pretty good place to be at for someone like Meng Yao, as available places in the cultivation world go. While gaining acceptance would not happen immediately, there is no reason to think that it wouldn't happen eventually.

Now, onto your point about Meng Yao being "too sneaky" or showing his "real" personality being the issue - the issue, at heart, is not about whether Meng Yao was faking his sweetness. It's that Meng Yao chose not to tell Nie Mingjue about the captain's bullying, despite having previous evidence that Nie Mingjue would likely take his side against bullying, and instead chose to MURDER THE GUY. To be clear, in the modern corporate environment, even if you have a really hellish hostile work environment, even if you think your boss would side with the other guy over you and there's no point in making a report (which isn't the case here), even if all that is true, murder is not an appropriate response.

But it's not a modern corporate environment, it's the cultivation world, where murder happens a lot more casually - well, guess what, even if murder is okay (and it's not), do you know when it's pretty obviously NOT okay? In the middle of an attack on the sect by an enemy.

You don't really come back from that. Sorry. Doesn't really matter what your personality is, if you're willing to do that, you're out at best.

Where Meng Yao not showing his "real" personality comes in is actually later: he pretended to be righteous and just, just the way Nie Mingjue likes people to be (and that's totally okay because righteousness is an act not an intention; as long as he acted righteously, he was righteous, and who cares whether it came to him naturally). But maybe if he'd shown Nie Mingjue his true self, it wouldn't have been such a shock when he murdered a man in cold blood, and would have made it easier to forgive him later.

(I sincerely believe that part of Nie Mingjue's trauma at Meng Yao's action is the discovery that his trusted advisor, someone he thoguht of as a friend, wasn't at all the person he thought he was. I've compared it in the past to discovering that a good buddy of yours commits domestic violence - so often, you get people going "I never would have expected it from them, they were so nice to me" and are shocked and horrified because they feel they should have known, they should have seen signs, they should have figured it out.)

But the key thing here is - when your trust in someone is broken, it's broken. Nie Mingjue knows that Meng Yao isn't what he thought he was, and yet, for the rest of their relationship, Meng Yao persists in continuing to act as if he was that sort of good person...and gets pissed at Nie Mingjue for not believing it. Why should he believe it? Nie Mingjue wants to forgive him and to try to build a relationship with the person Meng Yao really is, and Meng Yao won't let him because he wants Nie Mingjue to go back to not having ever looked behind the curtain. Which is, of course, impossible.

If Meng Yao had been up front with who he was, maybe Nie Mingjue would have known to look for what Meng Yao wasn't telling him and been able to help prevent everything. Maybe he would have extended more sympathy to Meng Yao for the actual act of killing the guy. Maybe they could have made up again later.

Maybe not.

But what is inescapable is that Meng Yao's own decisions are what cost him his position in the Nie sect, and nothing else.

[maythevoidnotscreamback]

To support yet not so subtly disagree with @master-ray5, I fully believe that Usa becoming a cheater, especially in a scenario as this ↑, is if who-so-ever she cheated with had preyed on her insecurities to their advantage. "He's working toward being a Dr, what're you gonna be: housewife, mangaka, teacher, social worker? Puh-lease. The first two might be feasible, if you can learn to make more than one or two decent meals or actually draw but the last two? You barely passed your mandatory schooling why would you think you could get through the optional kind?" or "What good are you to him at any medical conferences he attends? Other than to look pretty on his arm as a trophy wife, of course. Maybe pique someone's interest to gain support for himself, because those who want to succeed need to make… certain sacrifices, if you know what I mean, to get anywhere in such a cut-throat world." or "You do know he's just showing you off as his own pet ditz he calls his "cute girlfriend", right? Maybe not since he says it in a way he knows you won't understand, especially when you inevitably say the wrong thing." And other such shit as that.

Especially if they 'unintentionally' create scenarios between the two that can lead to misunderstandings, hurt feelings, times of protectiveness that get twisted into 'he doesn't trust you' or moments of shame that get blown way out of proportion. Like, I'm not saying Seiya would do that ↑, that wouldn't be all that subtle, (not to mention how saying that when someone claims to love you? Especially with how protective they were over the season while Mamo wasn't in the picture to defend her himself? Yeah no. The other Senshi would whoop his ass first. Haruka might even kill him for it if Michi or Sets didn't get there first with a sweet smile on their faces.) but if he saw other(s) saying/doing such things to her because they don't feel she's worthy of Mamo, he might take the opportunity to subtly hammer it in "how much better" he'd be with someone who's actually on his level. On many levels. Especially if she starts feeling like the constant reassurances of Mamo are more placations of his girlfriend instead of his true feelings; what with the horrible communications skills coming between them. Not to mention how 'the future is always changing' and since a certain pink spore hasn't been seen lately... You know? And if Mamo breaks up with her for cheating on him then it's no skin off his nose since he knew Mamo didn't deserve or appreciate Usa's love, support, and faith. Not like he will once Usa gets over the guy.

What do you think @master-ray5? I not quite but took some inspo from your lovely fic "The Ghosts of Yesterday" but used other ways to incorporate certain things while leaving the uncertainty regarding Chibi in without revealing her existence and the possibility of how Usa cheating could be a Thing. ;)

Anyway! All not-quite-joking aside, other than all that ↑, Usa would never be a cheater. Never. If anything, the above image could be because Usa broke up with Mamo because of all I put above and she wanted what was best for him in her depressive, destructive type of support of him and his goals and dreams but he finally cracked through his own sense of inadequacies and went to get her back when he decided he wasn't having any of that, especially after he thought of how hard she fought for him in the past despite trying so hard to keep them apart on his end; maybe even had the Inners make him realize the truth - that Usa can be pretty self-sacrificial and self-harming if given half the chance or motivation; like someone she loves and wants to be happy even if it hurts or kills her. Like, it's not anywhere near the same type of way of R's break-up but the same very basic principle is there: wanting the love of their life to be living their life, even if they're not a part of it. Especially if she's thinking that by not marrying her, Crystal Tokyo's attack, or whatever else it might be called, doesn't happen because the Queen wouldn't advocate for banishment of those criminals to Nemesis, but death. Because remember people the Throne of Earth is Mamo/Dymi's Seat of Power not Usa/Ren's, that's the White Moon of Earth, so if they don't marry she has no reason to be called Queen of Earth if the royal planetary lines are ever re-established; hell, she might be called the Savior who woke the Earth from its dormancy/slumber but that 'honor' could be given to SM who could be killed off or said to have left to fight other evils elsewhere and Usa might not need to be Royalty at all. Especially if the Shittenou are revived to take on the roles the Senshi had in that alternate future so they can keep guarding their charge/friend/Queen-in-exile in secret while living their lives and dreams as normal people; only to be called on if the Shittenou should fall or the King asks for their aid.

Do you like? Do you agree? I'm calling it a Story Idea all the same because there's still people out there who get anal about how Usa "should" be with Seiya or the disgustingness that is Demando but there's also others, you know who you are, who love the OTP of SM too much to entertain such nonsense despite the many who say "they're wrong for each-other" because of the decisions of the idiots in charge of the 90s anime and can use that ↑ as inspo to show how it might work should they so desire. I just hope they send the link to whatever story they create or rec that has just this or similar as the plot.

Anyway! Sorry-not-sorry for high-jacking your own reblog and "proving you wrong" ;) @master-ray5! I just had to. X3 Please don't hate me too much, you know I absolutely adore UsaMamo too, and I also love you and your stories!!! Keep on writing and don't forget to keep being awesome, lovely! <3 <3 <3

Mamoru vs. Seiya

I found this picture in a Facebook group years ago. Unfortunately I have no idea who the artist is. If you know please let me know and I will update and credit.

Sooo... Mamoru looks like he's interrupting something serious happening between Seiya and Usagi.

This artwork might have influenced some of the dynamic between these two when I was writing the second arc (Black Moon) of Chaos Theory.

This would have been such an interesting storyline in the 90s anime if the Starlights didn't leave to go back to Kinmoku.

Happy Sunday!

Back to outlining more chapters!

[nat-seal-well]

Not me saying “what characters will I write for for this selkie au” as if I don’t already have a track record—

Anyway here’s the general idea I had in my head lol. It, unsurprisingly, features the boi I love most

Freelancer still goes by Freelancer. Or, they will, once they finally meet the gang.

When they leave the sea, they usually stay on a tiny, little secret beach not many humans know about, because it can only be reached during low tide. It requires crossing over some tide pools to get to it.

(It’s the same beach I’ve written about before, because I just love it so much. I’m sorry—)

Like in the canon, they meet Kody. He’s the first one from D.A.M.N that they know in this au. Freelancer was extremely interested in him because he’s a water elemental.

Kody’s also the first human they actually interact with. Which, as you can probably imagine, is… not good.

He immediately makes them uncomfortable, and Freelancer never strays far from the water whenever they meet with him on the beach. But he’s the only human they know, and they don’t want to lose their opportunity to learn about the human world, so…

Eventually, instead of bridging, he tries to take their seal coat. He isn’t even sly about it, he just straight-up tries to take it from them.

Freelancer fights back. In the end, they win when they bite down on his forearm and he lets go. Freelancer goes back to the ocean and Kody, cursing, leaves the beach. Freelancer doesn’t make it out of the fight without a couple wounds of their own.

Huxley finds out about them when he runs into Kody and he isn’t even trying to hide the bite mark. Like in the canon, he never met Kody before. He just sees a guy with a wound that looks relatively fresh, blood visible through the bandages, and wants to help.

“Whoa. What the hell happened to you, dude? Are you alright?”

“Some seal fucker down past the tide pools attacked me. Not that it’s any of your concern. But I’d be wary of the beaches, if I were you.”

And now Huxley’s interested. He knows that selkies, typically, are not very violent. If one took a bite out of him, they must have had a reason.

So he gathers some things—first aid supplies, just in case, and food—in a bag and goes down to the shore the next day during low tide. Huxley makes it over the tide pools and to the little beach, but of course, Freelancer isn’t there.

(They’re in the water, though, hiding behind a rock and watching. Huxley can’t see them.)

He waits until the tide begins to come up, and then he has to leave. But he comes back the next day. And the day after that. He does it for a week, coming to the beach and waiting. It means Freelancer can’t spend any time ashore if he’s there while the tide is out, and they get frustrated.

So, after the seven days, when Huxley shows up again and isn’t expecting anything to happen, he’s surprised to see a person standing on the sand. They’re naked except for a sealskin they’re wrapped up in and soaking wet. They also have an angry-looking cut down one side of their face, thanks to Kody.

Freelancer’s initial plan had been to chase him away. They’ve got their teeth bared and everything. But the first thing Huxley does is put his hands up and keep them where Freelancer can see.

“Hey, I’m not gonna—holy shit, dude, those are sharp as hell. No wonder… I-I mean, I saw the marks you left on Kody. The water guy? He seems like a dick. I just wanted to see if you needed help…”

When Freelancer doesn’t attack him, he starts rummaging through his bag very carefully and very slowly. Freelancer growls at him until he holds out some smoked salmon, wrapped in brown paper.

“I don’t really know what you guys eat? But, uh, they had this at the grocery store today, and…”

Freelancer stops growling, but they don’t come any closer. He ends up just kinda standing there, awkwardly holding the fish in his hands. Eventually he has to leave. The fish gets set on a flat rock he’s been standing next to.

“I gotta go. But… I’ll come back tomorrow. Thanks for not eating me or anything, dude.”

Huxley walks away and silently prays they don’t decide to attack him from behind. They don’t. He looks back when he gets to the tide pools, though, just in case.

Freelancer’s gone. So is the salmon.

Huxley’s grinning when he climbs up the rocks to get to the pools.

[halos-top-alien-model]

Sangheili Bracket Round 1 Match 22

More info below:

Kitun 'Arach:

Debuted in Halo 5: Guardians

Part of Jul 'Mdama's Covenant, he would be present in the Battle of Kamchatka, leading a lance fighting back against Promethean forces. He would form a temporary alliance with Fireteam Osiris against the Prometheans, before they left him to continue on their mission to kill Jul 'Mdama. Following the Covenant leader's death, Kitun would look to figures like the late Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattineree for inspiration on the Covenant's new direction. He also became disinterested in continuing the war against humanity, largely due to the costs. Later, he would be one of prominent commanders during the assault on Vadam and the Battle of Sunaion. Between these battles, he would receive a message from his brother Jacul to join the Swords of Sanghelios, but he instead would request his brother switch sides to the Covenant. The two brothers would then meet in battle at Sunaion, with Jacul dying and Kitun being mortally wounded with only enough time to leave a final message regarding their fight.

Additional commentary: Yeah, unlike other Mission Intel figures, you actually meet this guy in the flesh. Canonically, he's the Covenant Sangheili you make a temporary alliance for the achievement Enemy of my Enemy, with that achievement being canon since he then goes on to do all that stuff on Sanghelios you learn through Mission Intel.

Asum 'Mdama / Bakar:

Debuted in Halo: Glasslands

Born Jan. 20th, 2542 as the second son of Jul and Raia 'Mdama and the younger brother of Dural. He was trained in combat by Naxan - the great-uncle of Raia. When he learned of his mother's death in March 2553, he went to nearby fields to mourn. Then, he began to be fostered by Kasha 'Hilot as he assumed the new name of Bakar. She would take him to Onyx - her new place of work - and he would attend the Pax Institute while there.

It was around September 2558 that Molly Patel would transfer to his school, leading to her, Kareem El-Hashem, and Unggoy Gudam Keschun to come across him being bullied by three human peers. He would at first avoid trying to defend himself, until one of the bullies hits Gudam hard enough to draw blood. However, just as a full-on fight ensues, an instructor named Dinok 'Acroli breaks it up. The next day, Molly would be forced to sit at the same table as Bakar, giving him the opportunity to chastise her for making him look weak, until the other two arrive. Their attempts to become friends with him causes him to leave. Later, he would be stuck in the same self defense lesson being taught by Spartans Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091 with the same trio. During a field trip to the Repository, Bakar would open up to the trio a little and bond with them. Then, things took a turn when a beast called a rafakrit attacked. Kasha would go to distract the beast to save everyone else, only to get injured in the process, leading Bakar and his new friends to launch a risky plan to save her. After this, the Spartans and Director Mendez talk with them, which would then lead them to sharing with Bakar the identity of his father: Jul 'Mdama (due to Sangheili customs, he did not know this before). Even after learning the Covenant remnant leader was his father, Bakar would continue to feel hatred toward him. Also during this conversation, they would warn him that his brother had joined up with the Servants of Abiding Truth and had possibly infiltrated Onyx. However, much later, Cortana's message would be sent to all of the galaxy and Onyx's Guardian would awaken. Bakar was at school be it occurred, forcing him to join those hiding in the cafeteria. When Prone to Drift arrives, he and his friends concoct a plan to have Drift reach the Guardian and disrupt its communication with Cortana. Then, the Servants of the Abiding Truth attack the school, killing some people and taking Drift away to the Repository. Bakar and friends would pursue, using some creatures also chasing the Servants in their plan to stop them. After catching up, Bakar would confront his brother and beg him to stop, while Dural felt he had been dishonored and should kill himself. In order to keep the attacking creatures from hurting Bakar, Dural chose to whistle a distraction and sacrifice himself, being carried away. Another creature would remain, but Lucy would arrive and take care of it, getting injured in the process. The kids would take her and Prone to Drift away in the Pelican Lucy brought, then fly close enough to the Guardian so Drift could disable it. Now, Bakar is amongst those living in hiding from Cortana due to Onyx's slipspace bubble being reactivated.