#and there was never a unanimous agreement for 'yes'

[kittyhazelnut]

guess who just lost another 5% of their professionalism grade for not handing in the papers that I was told we weren't supposed to hand in because they were for our benefit and not for the clinical instructors'? :D

[rocketonthemoon]

#and one of my points was about how punchable arthur looks

👏👏👏

Nothing against Bradley James but GOD did they do a good job giving him an aura of "I'm gunna punch him I'm gunna punch him SOMEONE PUNCH HIM"

[cherryjamandtoast]

UPS TEAMSTERS-UNION WON !!!!!!!!!!!

From the article:

[(WASHINGTON) – Today, the Teamsters reached the most historic tentative agreement for workers in the history of UPS, protecting and rewarding more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters nationwide. The overwhelmingly lucrative contract raises wages for all workers, creates more full-time jobs, and includes dozens of workplace protections and improvements. The UPS Teamsters National Negotiating Committee unanimously endorsed the five-year tentative agreement.

“Rank-and-file UPS Teamsters sacrificed everything to get this country through a pandemic and enabled UPS to reap record-setting profits. Teamster labor moves America. The union went into this fight committed to winning for our members. We demanded the best contract in the history of UPS, and we got it,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. ... This contract sets a new standard in the labor movement and raises the bar for all workers.”

“UPS came dangerously close to putting itself on strike, but we kept firm on our demands. In my more than 40 years in Louisville representing members at Worldport — the largest UPS hub in the country — I have never seen a national contract that levels the playing field for workers so dramatically as this one....” said Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman. “We stayed focused on our members and fought like hell to get everything that full-time and part-time UPS Teamsters deserve.”

“Rank-and-file members served on the committee for the first time, ... “Our hard work has paid off — from those members and leaders negotiating for more at the table to my sisters and brothers building a credible strike threat around the country. Our union was organized and we were relentless. We’ve hit every goal that UPS Teamster members wanted and asked for with this agreement. It’s a ‘yes’ vote for the most historic contract we’ve ever had.”

Highlights of the tentative 2023-2028 UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement include:

Historic wage increases. Existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract.

Existing part-timers will be raised up to no less than $21 per hour immediately, and part-time seniority workers earning more under a market rate adjustment would still receive all new general wage increases.

Wage increases for full-timers will keep UPS Teamsters the highest paid delivery drivers in the nation, improving their average top rate to $49 per hour.

New part-time hires at UPS would start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour.

All UPS Teamster drivers classified as 22.4s would be reclassified immediately to Regular Package Car Drivers and placed into seniority, ending the unfair two-tier wage system at UPS.

Safety and health protections, including vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation. UPS will equip in-cab A/C in all larger delivery vehicles, sprinter vans, and package cars purchased after Jan. 1, 2024. All cars get two fans and air induction vents in the cargo compartments.

All UPS Teamsters would receive Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday for the first time.

No more forced overtime on Teamster drivers’ days off. Drivers would keep one of two workweek schedules and could not be forced into overtime on scheduled off-days.

UPS Teamster part-timers will have priority to perform all seasonal support work using their own vehicles with a locked-in eight-hour guarantee. For the first time, seasonal work will be contained to five weeks only from November-December.

On July 31, representatives ... will meet to review and recommend the tentative agreement. All UPS rank-and-file members will receive a list of improvements in the contract. ... Member voting begins August 3 and concludes August 22.

The UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement is the single largest private-sector collective bargaining agreement in North America.]

Check the article for the full list; but ho ho holy shit.

This is huge. It shows the collective bargaining WORKS. The Teamsters sent a message to UPS and this win will send a message to Corporate America that unions can WIN for rank-and-file workers!!!

[racetrackmybeloved]

Thinking about how different Jack and Spot are as leaders

Jack is impulsive, and optimistic to the point of naivety. He acts without thinking things through, he suggests the strike about five seconds after coming up with the idea, and without even realising that what he is suggesting is in fact a strike. He makes a claim that is wrong, because he has not thought it through (“cops ain’t gonna care about a bunch of kids”).

Before starting the strike, Jack did not evaluate the risks involved, he barely considered them before Crutchie was arrested. Failing to evaluate risk before acting is an enormously dangerous thing for a leader to do. The other Lower Manhattan newsies clearly revere him and follow his lead. Yes, the choice of whether to strike was left to a vote, but that vote was unanimous due to the weight of Jack’s opinion. His voice is the loudest in the room and can easily sway the opinions of those who trust him. The Lower Manhattan newsies trust that he has thought things through, and that he will not lead them astray. Jack isn't ignorant to this, he knows that the other newsies will follow him ("thanks to good ol' captain Jack!"), but I think he just never considered the significance of this prior to Crutchie's arrest.

As I discussed very briefly here, Jack has little influence outside of Lower Manhattan. Newsies from other boroughs, and even other newsie groups within Manhattan, do not have the same adoring trust in him. Brooklyn wanted “proof that [they] weren’t gonna fold at the first sign of trouble”, and other newsie groups would not even consider joining the strike without Brooklyn’s agreement. From this, I infer that Jack is known for being impulsive, and the other boroughs do not see him through the same rose-tinted glasses that the Lower Manhattan newsies do. Spot does not trust that Jack has thought this through, and does not believe he will remain committed when things inevitably go sideways.

And the thing is, Spot was right. Crutchie being arrested was the ‘first sign of trouble’, and Jack folded. He abandons the boys who followed him so loyally, to hide and plan his escape. He gave up, just as Spot thought he would.

Spot on the other hand, is cautious. He did not trust Jack’s word, so he waited for more information to become apparent before committing. We can assume that he heard news about the fight, the arrival of the cops, and the subsequent arrest of Crutchie, and how many of the newsies still walked away from selling papers the next day. He understood this to mean that they were remaining committed to the strike, despite taking a severe beating, and losing one of their own to the Refuge.

He does not take the decision to join the strike lightly. Over a third of the newsies in New York City are under his command, and he does not want to take unnecessary risks with their safety. If the Manhattan newsies did not remain firm in their decision to strike, and the Brooklyn newsies did go on strike, all eyes would be on them. They would then be the targets of beatings by strike-breakers, and subject to police brutality, risking both injury and arrest, at a higher degree of severity than they would if Manhattan continued to strike with them.

(Note: I am not sure whether Brooklyn was as severely affected by the price increase as the Manhattan newsies were, as they had other, Brooklyn-specific newspapers they could sell, e.g. the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and Brooklyn Life. This makes the potential gain of striking much lower, while retaining the high risk).

The way I see it, the other boroughs know that Spot is cautious. They trust that he, unlike Jack, will weigh up the potential risks and benefits, and come to a logical conclusion as to whether the risk is justified. They trust that his decision will be an informed one, so they wait to follow his lead.

More than that though, I believe the others trust that Spot is a man of his word. After Jack scabbed, Spot had every right to head straight back over the Brooklyn bridge with his newsies, but he stayed. He distributed the newsies banner even after Jack’s betrayal, because he remains true to his word. The other boroughs know that even if trouble arises, Brooklyn will see things through to the end. They know that when Brooklyn commits, they mean it.

Though I am incredibly critical of Jack’s leadership, I cannot deny that the strike would not have happen but for both of their involvement. Jack’s brash decision making was necessary for the strike to begin, but Spot’s trustworthiness as someone who remains steadfastly committed was necessary for the strike to succeed.

[fabuloustrash05]

My Top 5 Favorite TMNT 2012 Ships

5) Mikey x Renet

I feel we as a fandom has come to an unanimous agreement that all the canon romances/couples given to us in the 2012 series are bad/toxic/poorly written/inc3st/etc with THEM being the only exception (I'll talk about that ship soon), however I think Renetangelo is the other exception.

They’re certainly not perfect with their first problem being Mikey kinda “cheating” on Renet with Shinigami (they weren’t together or officially dating so it’s not cheating, but it still felt wrong that it was never acknowledged that Mikey was pretty much a skirt chaser, crushing on two girls at once), but I still really love their dynamic and relationship. Mikey and Renet are undoubtedly cute together, just two silly goofballs having a fun time and enjoying the other’s company with the occasional flirting and kiss on the cheek (which btw SO CUTE). Renetangelo is that couple that I feel works great both romantically and platonically. If you told me they’re best friends, I’d believe it, if you told me they’re a couple, I’d also believe it. That's how well they work off each other. I'm okay with them being a couple or just being friends.

Season 5 also practically confirms they’re together on two occasions with Mikey saying him and Renet are in a long distance relationship in the When Worlds Collide special, and Renet hinting during the Halloween arc that she and Mikey have some kind of future together.

Overall, I really like Renetangelo and I love seeing these two together. From Mikey's puppy love expressions when he sees her to their overall personalities clashing so well together. This ship is very underrated and needs more love.

4) Slash x Alopex

Btw this edit was made by @robins-treasure <33

Yes, this is a ship that exist and I take FULL CREDIT FOR THE CREATION OF THIS COUPLE! I AM THE REASON THIS SHIP IS ALIVE AND SAILING! YOU ARE WELCOME!!

Slash x Alopex (or what I like to call them Slaopex) is my rarepair of the 2012 series and I’m so happy that I’m slowly getting more and more people one board with it. It started off as just a random silly idea of mine, like "What if Slash got a gf?" and then I thought "Well, who could I ship him with?" and then my brain went "What if Slash and Alopex got together? That would be funny". I laughed at the idea, but the more I thought of it, the more I started to like it. I began coming up with headcanons and a story of their relationship, and the more I did that, the more I fell in love with this concept and the potential of this couple. So much that it placed 4th in my top 5!

I fell so in love with them I even ended up writing a short fanfic of how I headcanon they would first meet and the beginning of their blooming romance (you can read it HERE). But in short, Slash runs into Alopex during a late night patrol and helps her beat up some crooks who were attacking her. The two get to talking, sharing a tender moment before parting ways, with Alopex now being the only thing on Slash's mind <3

I also reference this ship a few times in my fanfic Courting a Salamandrian. Consider it a continuation of that little oneshot.

3) Leo x Casey

While everyone else was shipping Jonatello, I was shipping Caseynardo! I was never a fan of Jonatello, I don't hate it, just couldn't get on board nor understand the hype around it, but then one day I stumbled across fanart of Leo x Casey and I thought "Huh... these two actually look cute together!" and quickly sunk into the rabbit hole. Looking up every little bit of fanart, fanfics and edits I could find.

Liking this ship this much for it to be ranked 3rd in my Top 5 favorite TMNT 2012 ships says a lot. This ship really grew on me very quickly, so much so that I wrote a fanfiction on them! I wrote a Caseynardo fanfic before writing a Renetangelo one (you can read it HERE), which is funny cause I've been shipping Renetangelo since the show was airing, and I didn't start liking Caseynardo till long after the show ended! That says a lot about how much these boy effected me! LOL

My whole HC for this ship is that they bonding a lot in season 3 at the farmhouse which led to a mutual romantic attraction. Eventually they secretly date without telling anyone but due to the circumstances and problems going on in Leo’s life, he was unable to keep the relationship going. They agree to just be friends, which Casey promising to wait for him. It’s basically the “right person, wrong time” trope. But I like to headcanon that by season 5, Leo and Casey finally get together officially and made their relationship known to everyone else. The only one not surprised was Raphael who knew about those two since day one, cause he was stuck being their third wheel/wingman XD

2) Karai x Shinigami

I will NEVER forgive Nickelodeon for be too cowardly to make this happen. They'd rather ship inc3st and force Shini to be straight than give us our goth kunoichi lesbians. For shame, Nickelodeon... For shame...

Not to mention that one of the writers of the show, Peter Di Cicco, shipped them! Calling them his "OTP" and referring to Shini as "Karai's girlfriend", and even pitching an alternate ending to the series where Splinter and Shredder make up but the only thing they fight over now is who gets to walk Karai down the aisle during her wedding to Shinigami XD

The moment I saw Shinigami, I instantly thought "Oh that's a lesbian and she and Karai are a thing". I really love their dynamic, their friendship and the potential they have in being a cute couple of childhood friends to lovers. You can see how much they care about each other. The fury in Shini's voice when she confronts Super Shredder, "I will destroy you, Monster! For everything you have done to Karai!". Shini is supportive of Karai and is always the one down to start chaos with you. Makes me wish we could've learned more about these two and their history. I like to think they've known each other since they were little, being childhood friends while training and growing up in The Foot Clan.

My personal headcanon is that Shinigami has had a crush on Karai since they were young, like preteens, and is so loyal to her and willing to help Karai not just because she is her best friend but also because she loves her. However, she is scared to tell Karai how she really feels because she's worried she won't reciprocate and it'll ruin their long time friendship. Luckily, Mikey is there for support!

Not to toot my own horn, but I did write a fanfic relating to this concept that you can read HERE

1) Raphael x Mona Lisa

What have I not already said about RaMona? If you follow me then you know full well that these two are my life. I’ve written multiple fanfics based on them on AO3 (LINK HERE) and have done a few analysis posts about them as well here on Tumblr. They have consumed my life. I love them so much!

Overall, I believe they are the healthiest ship the series offered us, and the best one in canon. I know some complain that they were rushed and how they got together too quickly, but in truth I can understand why Raph and Mona got into a relationship as quickly as they did. They are both warriors with the mindset of "I might die tomorrow" so it makes sense they'd be open and honest about their feelings right from the start just in case something happens to either one of them in battle. You only live once, you know? And I like how open Raph is when it comes to his feelings for Mona. From the very start, the moment he realized he liked her, never once did he deny it. Even when his brothers and friends laughed or scolded him, Raph proudly admitted he likes her with no ounce of shame. Mikey even points out that Mona is "bigger, stronger and a better fighter" than Raph and him responding by saying "Exactly! What a woman..." The boy does not care that she will be the pants in their relationship. He loves that she's stronger than him, bigger than him, a better fighter than him. We even see how excited he gets when she suggests training with him someday. Not to mention how we also learn in the show that these two have written love letters to each other during the course of the season 4 space adventures. Their personailties clash so well together. Both being strong willed warriors who put their loved ones first. Both can be stubborn and jump to conclusions quickly. We even see that Mona can have a short temper much like Raph. Both are ready to kick some ass with anyone who talks shit (Raph defending Mona but then Mona defending herself *chef's kiss*)

It's not talked about often among the fandom/shippers, but the fact that Mona is as much in love with Raph as he is with her is what truly makes this ship great. While the other 2012 ships make it unclear (writing wise) if the love interest truly feels the exact same way towards her Turtle she's shipped with, but for Mona her feelings are obvious. She's the one who makes the first move during all of their kisses/nose nuzzles, she's the one to say "I love you" first" and do I have to remind y'all of the push up scene? XD

These two are obsessed with one another. You can tell and see just how in love they are with one another. Even with only appearing in about 4-5 episodes, they truly left a major impact on shipping in this fandom. I feel it has come to a unanimous agreement that this ship is the best (canon) couple this show gave us. I love them, I love their relationship, I love what these two have done for the show and this fandom. They were able to bring back a classic ship from the 87 series and add so much more to them! I hope we get to see more of this couple in future generations. They certainly aren't a perfect couple, they got their flaws too, but overall they are truly the best couple in the 2012 series. <333

[callmelyc]

Just gonna start cross posting every single bit of Twitter nonsense soooo

Lance joining Keith on blade missions post war and calling him "Captain" in the most flirty tone. He does this during meetings and such just to make Keith blush or stutter in his words.

The first time lance does this it catches Keith so far off guard his reaction isn't at all subtle.

"Excuse me, Captain~" Lance all but purrs the title in that lovely lilting tone of his and Keith damn near chokes on his own spit right in front of a room of BOM personel.

He clears his throat best he can trying to gather himself- because what the fuck- "y...yes Lance?"

"What if we went in teams of two? That way at least two people could tackle that northern section there."

Keith turns to look at the map, fluster momentarily forgotten, and sees Lance is right it would make more sense.

So plans are changed with unanimous agreement and things move on.

The flirtatious captain is forgotten until it happens again, this time in the halls.

Keith is talking to a commander for one of the resistance outpost when he feels a presence slide into his side so smooth and efficiently he nearly ignores it.

He knows it's lance, it always was, and he's more surprised by the fact Lance stays so silent.

It's not until the Commander, a man named Zyre, starts to comment on lack of trust that Lance speaks up before Keith can even get a word.

"Excuse me Commander but I can assure you Captain Kogane has it all under control" he says it with a charming smile that seems to ease all of Zyres worries.

Keith never knows how he managed it with such ease and simplicity, to calm someone's worries as if it's his living purpose.

He watches as the two talk, ending with a light laugh and a kind goodbye.

As the commander leaves Lance turns to look at him, blue eyes sparkling like the ocean "what's wrong Captain?" And there it is again that flirtatious sing song of his title that makes Keith gulp. A tanned hand smoothly slides up Keiths arm making his mouth run dry "cat got your tongue?"

Keith fights the flaming blush rising up his cheeks, he turns to rush away in place of a reply knowing it was far more incriminating thid way.

If he hears Lances twinkling laughter as he turns the corner Keith makes nothing of it.

The third time is, unfortunately for Keith, during a joint BOM and Atlas meeting.

Griffin was arguing the benefit of using some of his crew alongside one of the other branches of the resistance and it was draining Keith's patience to no end.

Sure they get along now, somewhat, but that didn't mean he found James particularly pleasant to listen to.

He drones on and on about the efficiency and things he'd already covered in his pitch but despite a good amount of the room being a tad annoyed no one seemed willing to stop him...yet

That's when Keith sees It, the look™ on Lances face and he knows oh God does he know.

Lance smiles when he notices he's caught Keiths eye and tosses him a knowing wink.

Keith fights everything in him not to groan as Lance shifts to cut Griffin off without even looking at the guy. Those blue eyes zeroing in on Keith from across the room with terrifying accuracy and focus.

"Captain Kogane" he says oh so sweetly it shuts everyone up in an instant. Lance even bats his lashes for extra effect because his new favorite thing to do is apparently publicly torture Keith.

"I-" Keith starts far too distracted to even notice the way some have started giggling at his demise. Too far gone for this boy that his loss for words is so heavy for something so small.

"You had a contact in that Sector didn't you? Why not utilize them?"

It's not until after the meeting that Keith realizes others have taken notice to Lances....well, whatever it is he's doing.

Keith tries to ignore the look, the whispers, the focus. He really does. But then Shiro has that shit eating grin on his face as he walks up next to him and Keith would rather be literally anywhere else.

"So Captain Kogane huh?" Shiro asks smugly.

Keith glares at him "shut it grandpa, he's just being respectful."

That makes shiro snort "yeah sure respectful is definitely the word for that."

Keith reserved to say nothing as they walked to the cafeteria and did his best to ignore every giggle and whisper thrown as he passes.

If he thought that was bad he wasn't ready for the way people mockingly called him Captain at lunch. They'd say it with that same flirty lit and over the top gestures that made his skin crawl. Its not in a mean way, he knows. It's more in the they were clearly mocking Lances tone kind of way and Keith found that unacceptable.

It irked him to no end. If they were gonna poke fun at him fine! But don't bring lance into it.

So Keith did the only rational thing left. He left the cafeteria.

He tracked down Lance because even if he was the cause of the teasing Lance was still far better company than anyone else on this god forsaken ship.

He found him in the ships artificial courtyard humming to himself as he played with the vines.

He sits next to Lance enjoying the simplicity of the moment since they usually don't get much time like this and returns the smile Lance throws his way. It's comforting when they're together like this. Just the two of them with no prying eyes or mission discussions.

"What brings you here Samurai? I would've thought you'd eat lunch with Shiro."

Keith huffs a bit "with everyone jokingly calling me Captain I'd rather sit somewhere relaxing."

Lance frowns "do...do you not like being called Captain?"

Keith looks at lance dumfounded, he's unable to reply before lance continues "should I stop?"

"NO!"

The two look at eachother wide eyed for a moment.

A beat pases.

Two.

Lances surprise fades into a small smirk, a dangerous understanding filling his eyes "oh so you do like it when I call you Captain?"

"I- well..." He stutters trying to fight the rising heat on his ears. Keith wouldn't dare admit it out loud he can't. He can't give lance a weapon like this, his heart wouldn't survive.

But despite the lack of voicing his agreement Lance picks up on it anyways. Those sharp eyes always on target, lazer focused, and amused much to Keiths dismay.

Lance chuckles standing to leave "well, I'll see you around then Captain~"

And Keith has never wanted to smack himself more for being such an oblivious idiot.

[fans4wga]

“This Was A Negotiation For The Future”: Fran Drescher & Duncan Crabtree-Ireland On SAG-AFTRA Deal, AI & Informed Consent + Importance Of CEOs

"'We know that generations from now they’ll be talking about this seminal contract and reaping the benefits of it in the way that we have been for the last 65 years with a contract that was negotiated when Ronald Reagan was in my position,' says SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher of the new contract the actors guild made with the studios on Wednesday after 118 days on strike.

Worth more than $1 billion over the next three years, the tentative agreement has an “extraordinary scope” and is full of “unprecedented provisions,” according to SAG-AFTRA. While the fine print won’t be made public until the 160,000-strong guild’s board votes on it Friday, we know the new deal includes increases in minimum rates, a streaming participation bonus, new health and pension caps, diversity guardrails, and hard fought for AI protection provisions.

The recently overwhelmingly reelected Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland were at the heart of the strike and the talks. “This strike was about people who are trying to make a middle class living, and I think when the whole deal is put out in the public and people have all the different pieces of it, they will see that there is an overall commitment to improving the economic viability of a career as an actor in this business,” Crabtree-Ireland notes.

Frequently attacked and underestimated by the AMPTP and others, both the union president and national director were out on the picket lines day after day as well as in negotiations with the CEOs Gang of Four of Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, Disney’s Bob Iger, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley and Warner Bros Discovery’s David Zaslav. Back at the bargaining table for the second set of renewed talks starting on October 24, a month after the WGA reached their own tentative agreement with the studios, the duo, SAG-AFTRA’s chief contracts officer Ray Rodriguez and other members of the negotiating committee unanimously approved the deal Wednesday evening. That vote came as the studios had set a 5 pm PT deadline that could have seen everything go back to square one.

Today, Drescher and Crabtree-Ireland spoke with me about getting to that deal, power of the picket lines, role of the Gang of Four and the importance of the new contract for the entire industry. The duo also revealed some of the AI specifics in the new contract and the battles to come.

DEADLINE: What was the turning point that brought this deal together?

FRAN DRESCHER: We got the protections we needed in AI. We got the funds that we needed for the new revenue stream. That was the two biggest outstanding pieces.

The money was in place earlier, it was the protections that we really were holding out for. With AI, things move very fast, and three months is equivalent to a year in how things can change. So, if we didn’t close that up now then you’ll be so far behind you’ll never be able to catch up. It was really important to us, that we got the protections we felt that we absolutely needed to sustain this contract until the next one. I mean, there’s still things that we’re already working on to get for the next contract, but there are so many milestones in this one.

DUNCAN CRABTREE-IRELAND: I would say it’s been a roller coaster since we got back in the room late last month.

DEADLINE: No doubt.

CRABTREE-IRELAND: Yes, and AI has proved to be one of the most challenging topics in this negotiation from the very beginning all the way to the very end. It was on the table Day 1 and it was on the table on Day 118 of the strike.

DEADLINE: So, how did you seal that deal, so to speak?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: It’s clear that the direct engagement of CEOs was essential to reaching the deal. I think that it is also clear that the companies had to push beyond their initial comfort zone to find a path that could actually give us enough assurances that our members could say yes, we’re going to walk forward into this coming couple of years with a feeling that there is sufficient protection against any kind of abuse from the way AI is being implemented.

For me, I think the key moments really had to do with the kind of dialogue that we had directly with the CEOs, and with Carol, and our committee which has just been so strong and so united. That really gave us the power we needed. Outside the room, the other thing I would just add is having the chance to be out on picket lines in our rallies with our members. That was incredibly not only energizing for me and for the committee but also really helped us make sure we were hearing from all facets of our membership.

DEADLINE: How so?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: Because the picket lines are a very democratizing unifying place and members from all walks of life and all aspects of people’s careers, and all types of specialties are all there.

DEADLINE: In this final round of talks, one of the things that came up a lot from the studio side, but also on the picket lines, was the notion that everyone was running out of time. Running out of time to get a TV season and summer slate off the ground. Running out of time to get people back to work. As we reported yesterday, the AMPTP even gave you guys a 5 pm PT deadline Wednesday or they were going to take their ball home. How real was all that to you?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: You know, I took it as an expression of how concerned they were about this timing and that they were really trying to send us a message of the realities of their production environment – that meant that the timing was real for them. I never take a deadline like that as a given because we’re we live in a world of human beings and our committee was working as quickly as we could. So, I personally thought we were going to be ready before that anyway and we were – but, that deadline was what partially drove us. The desire to make sure that that we could make a deal as quickly as possible because of the ongoing harm that that being strike causes to workers. That’s really what drove us.

The other thing, Dominic, that I will say made it possible was the studios coming through with the final pieces in AI. We’ve made it clear to them from the very beginning and it was true all the way along: AI was existential for our members. And if we didn’t have the right protections, we weren’t going to be able to make a deal. So, I think they ultimately believed that, understood that and they did what they had to do to give us those assurances.

Also, people need know that just strike was not about celebrities per se, this strike was about working actors. This strike was about people who are trying to make a middle class living, and I think when the whole deal is put out in the public and people have all the different pieces of it, they will see that there is a overall commitment to improving the economic viability of a career as an actor in this business. And that’s really good for all of us.

DEADLINE: Fran, did you worry with the deadlines the studios were trying to impose, that this could go off the rails?

DRESCHER: Well, I didn’t know what you mean by go off the rails because it was either going to protract the strike or they were going to appreciate the gravity of certain points that really were deal breakers. About AI, I told them that to their faces: This is going to be a deal breaker, I could tell you right now.

DEADLINE: Clearly, they got the message at some point…

DRESCHER: In a negotiation, you don’t ever get everything, that’s understood. But when the opposition in a really appreciates that we are prepared to go longer, that we’re already on strike. We were prepared to go the distance on this. They heard us, so thank God.

DEADLINE: You’ve indicated you’re already thinking about down the line, the next contract. From what I know about this contract, while it is a three-year contract, this seems multigenerational and it plants pillars that are going to be a strong part of a vastly changing industry. Do you see it like that? DRESCHER: Without question? I mean, we said that to ourselves last night when we passed this, without objection, which in itself is a historic triumph. We know that generations from now they’ll be talking about this seminal contract and reaping the benefits of it in the way that we have been for the last 65 years with a contract that was negotiated when Ronald Reagan was in my position.

DEADLINE:I know that we’re going to get more details tomorrow on AI when the board votes, but Duncan can you give us a sense now of what these protections are?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: I will say, I think our proposals are more specific than the ones that you’ve seen in other contracts because our members are experiencing the use of AI right now. This is not something that’s coming down the road. This is something that’s currently happening.

So, we do have very specific protections around the creation and use of digital replicas, including informed consent for any creation and use as well as compensation structures for how people should get paid both for the creation and use of digital replicas.

DEADLINE: How will that work?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: One way is to protect against the use of generative AI to create what we would call synthetic fakes, which are synthetic assets that are created out of potentially multiple actors inputs. Where there’s any kind of recognizable elements of that there will be protection and a right of consent, as well as a right for the union to be notified when they’re created and a right to bargain for compensation.

Really, the theme around all of this Dominic is informed consent and fair compensation

 Also, I do want to just say because I know people have wondered this whole idea about zombie actors. There are now the consent requirements that apply if an actor is deceased. It wasn’t always that way during this negotiation, but where we’ve ended up is the producers will have to seek consent from the heirs or representatives of the estate of a deceased performer to get concerned for ad use of their image like this voice or performance and the creation of a digital replica, unless that consent was explicitly granted informed consent prior to the person’s death. Just with those examples, I think you can see it’s a very robust set of protections. Protections that address all of the areas of concern that we’ve raised in connection with how actors should be treated as the industry moves forward. Because, let’s be honest, nobody’s immune from evolution, and that includes the studios

DRESCHER: Also, part of the caveat of this negotiation is that the guild and the studios have agreed together to meet semi-annually so that we can always stay on the pulse of where technology is going. Because in many ways, we’re going to find ourselves on the same side fighting in Washington for a kind of legislation that protects all of us against piracy, and more.

DEADLINE: To that, on more than one occasion you guts put out stuff publicly about bullying techniques that AMPTP loves to use and has used over the years, and more How did that affect the tone in the room and or the tone in the virtual room sometimes? CRABTREE-IRELAND: You know,  it wasn’t really acknowledged directly in the room. You know, as an openly gay man, I’ve been bullied plenty in my life including as a kid, and what I’ve always found is when you call it out, that takes away some of its power.

DEADLINE: Amen.

CRABTREE-IRELAND: So, to me, if I feel like those kinds of tactics are being used, my first reaction is to just acknowledge it publicly, openly and take away the power that it has as a result. That was our approach. I will also say, I’m not sure everything is as tightly choreographed on the studio side as people would think. There are multiple companies and there are different opinions, even within their group about tactics and strategy and things like that. Even so, in the end, I think it’s important to just really be open and be direct about it. And when we were in our meetings with the CEOs, you know, I didn’t perceive that as was happening there. And nor was that topic specifically ever discussed during those meetings. DEADLINE: One thing that was discussed, as Deadline exclusively reported at the time, was Netflix’s Ted Sarandos saying to guild leaders last weekend, once the studios had presented their so-called last, best and final offer: We didn’t just come towards you. We came all the way to you. What’s was your take on that, was it true? CRABTREE-IRELAND: Well, I mean, I don’t think that’s correct. I think it’s a good rhetorical point and Ted is a very powerful orator and persuader, obviously, but you know, this has been a negotiation.

We started out with an admittedly aggressive side of asks in our initial proposals, and we knew we weren’t going to get everything that we were trying to achieve it just as they knew they weren’t going to get everything that they were trying to achieve. In fact, where this deal has landed. I think it’s very favorable. It’s very successful. For us, it’s groundbreaking, but it’s not everything that was in our initial proposal package, and there are battles that will have to be fought another day.

So, did they come all the way to us? No. Did they come far enough to us to make a deal that provides our members the protections that we that we really need and provides them with a level of respect to this agreement that members can be excited about? Yes, and I do appreciate them ultimately getting there, although I wish it would have happened a lot sooner.

DEADLINE: Of course, but also there was a lot of bitterness, a lot of agendas in this strike, in the negotiations and in the getting there. What do you think, if anything the studios and the AMPTP leadership learned from this half year of strikes?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: One thing I do wish, and I hope that this will take hold in the industry and future cycles of negotiation, which is if there are strikes, it’s not a good strategy to just let everyone sit there. It’s not going to wear us down. It’s just going to cause more harm to the industry and it’s unnecessary. So, hopefully in the future, there won’t be these long periods of time, like the 100 days before the studios went back in with the Writers Guild to restart talks. There shouldn’t be those kinds of time periods of no talking, because the only way to solve these problems is through discussions and negotiations

DRESCHER: As we said all along: One day longer, one day stronger.

DEADLINE: Fran, there were a lot of attacks on you, on your leadership, on your abilities – some of which you have responded to. Some of the attacks were open, many were whispering campaigns. Now, with this contract, do you feel vindicated and what would you say to those who took potshots at you?

DRESCHER: The people that know me were not surprised that I was going to rise to the occasion. Yet, I think that sadly, women in leadership positions often are faced with the lowest hanging fruit ploy, which is to find any way to discredit them. Duncan’s actions in the negotiating room were a non-issue, never discussed. For me, the pendulum swung from being you know, overly aggressive to frivolous to everything in between. But I will tell you, I merely saw that all of that as an opportunity to create a womaqn and girls movement that I can lead and be exactly me, which is what I did.

DEADLINE: It seems there was a lot of underestimating and undermining here…

CRABTREE-IRELAND: I agree. I think they didn’t think they were going to go on strike in the first place.

DRESCHER: I don’t think so either.

CRABTREE-IRELAND: This entire process has been one of the studios opening their eyes to the reality of SAG-AFTRA, its membership and its willingness to do what it takes to make sure that they’re protected.  

We came in with a strike authorization vote that was unprecedented. We then tried really hard to get a negotiated deal without going on strike, including the extension, which was also unprecedented. We did that and then I really think that they believed at the end of that we were stop.

DEADLINE: But you didn’t, why?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: Because the thing was, it wasn’t good enough for our members at that point. So, we couldn’t do that and so we went on strike with the WGA.  Even then, I believe that their strategy was to wear us down, but our members didn’t get worn down. Yes, everyone’s hurt the whole industry, all the workers hurt and I don’t want anyone to ever think we didn’t know that and feel that. I did, all of us did. But what we’re fighting for something that was wasn’t just a regular three-year marketing cycle, we always knew that.

DEADLINE: How did that manifest itself?

CRABTREE-IRELAND: This was a negotiation for the future. For the future of our members and our industry. And members stayed strong at our picket lines. I’d say the last few days have been as strong as ever. Our members did not get weakened. They did not get discouraged. They knew that we were fighting a battle we were going win. Ultimately the studios and the streamers had to recognize. Also, the fact that the public and the rest of the industry really did hear us when we talked about we were fighting for was great.  Between us and the Writers Guild, I think the public support was extraordinary, and I think the studios had to acknowledge that as well. So,  there was a lot of elements that came together to really help us get here.

DRESCHER: One thing I made sure of too was that every community and every major concern for this contract was well represented. Represented by not only our amazing staff and chief negotiator, but experts. Our experts were with us every step of the way, in all fields, and that’s why we got so many, I believe, groundbreaking new things language in the contract that never existed before. This time called for that. I’m just grateful that the AMPTP recognized where we were coming from heard us and met the moment.

CRABTREE-IRELAND: Yes, there was a lot of progress made, and the last very last thing was negotiation on the toughest issues. I guess that’s to be expected, because all of the underbrush had been cleared and all of the points that could be addressed most easily had been addressed. In the end, we did things to send signals that we were not holding on to anything that we didn’t really need. To let the AMPTP know, and see, at the end this wasn’t a case of negotiating just for everything we wanted. It was for things that our members really needed, that were really important. As the studios really started understanding that, they realized that if they wanted to have an agreement in the timeframe that they were looking for, that they would have to do something to address those needs. And they ultimately did. So, a day after we agreed on a deal, I appreciate that very much, because that is what helped us get this across the line in the end.

[junosmindpalace]

something i wrote while i was still in school because i have no motivation <;/3

written messily with a nearly dried-out, green whiteboard marker was the dilemma sugawara was facing at ten in the morning.

he had bursted into his classroom late and out of breath, loosening his tie and anxiously carding a hand through his unruly hair as he made his way over to his desk, apologizing for his tardiness.

sugawara was a likable teacher, one that graduated students always came back to visit and one that shared the same humor as the kids he taught. he was one of few that made lessons enjoyable and a class students always looked forward to knowing they’d be listening to his humorous lectures. his well liked reputation exempted him from the students’ typical impatience, especially considering that sugawara never called them out on their lates. but they were definitely curious as to what had gotten their favorite laidback teacher so anxious looking.

he looked disheveled as he sorted through papers in his briefcase, trying to organize himself as the time he typically spent doing so before the school bell rang was long past. the students chuckled under their breaths and exchanged looks as their teacher drew out a long sigh. before any of them could ask what exasperated him so, he straightened up and addressed the class. “i screwed up.”

“what happened, sir?” a boy who sat near the back of the classroom called out, and suga’s eyes darted between his students and the whiteboard before he made his way over to write something down. he uncapped an old marker sitting on the ledge, a loud squeak emitting from every line he wrote. he only responded: “we’re doing a poll.”

the students stared curiously at their teacher’s back, craning their heads to make out the words. eventually, he stepped to the side to reveal what he had written.

how do i apologize to my spouse for taking their car keys?

the class was immediately in an uproar.

“you took their keys, sir? that’s why you came late?”

“yes,” sighed sugawara as he walked back toward his desk and collapsed into the leather chair behind it, holding his head against his hand. “i drove all the way back home to return them.”

“they couldn’t take yours?”

he fished around in his pocket with his opposite hand before pulling out two sets of keys. the class let out a sound between a groan and a laugh. “i didn’t realize i already had mine in my jacket.”

“were they late to work?”

“of course they were late.” groaned out sugawara, rubbing his hands down his face.

“were they mad?”

only when suga had arrived at the school building and pulled out your keys to lock his car did his heart drop at the realization of his mistake. he immediately got back into his car and drove the whole 30 minute ride home to return your keys, calling the school to inform them of his lateness. his heart dropped to his stomach when immediately afterward, your contact flashed onto his screen. he hesitantly answered the call, tumbled (practically shouted) out, “i have your keys”, before hanging up, tightening his grip on the steering wheel.

annoyed you definitely were at the inconvenience, but your husband's profuse apologies made it hard to stay angry. you quickly rushed out the door and urged him to return back to school. the guilt was still eating at him, which is why he wanted to do something to make up for the trouble.

underneath the question written on the board were three different options given in response.

flowers

chocolate

all of the above

“your answer is obvious.” another boy called out from the front end of the room before suga could respond to the previous question. the class exclaimed in agreement.

the vote was unanimous, and when you returned home from a long day ready to collapse into bed and laugh at the absurdity of the situation from that morning now that you were no longer in it, you were met with an arrangement of your favorite flowers wrapped in pretty packaging, an assortment of different chocolates, and a goofy (but deadly sincere) apology letter tucked away in the bouquet on your living room table.

and though your irritation had long died out, you certainly weren’t rejecting suga’s smothering affection as you entered your shared bedroom, and you certainly weren’t going to turn down his offer to run you a nice bath as an apology either.

[rose-tinted-vision]

Writing patterns

rules: share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able and see if there are any patterns!

Thank you for the tag @habizuh-studios !! I think I've managed to post ten more since the last time I did this so here we go!

爱随风起 | love rises with the wind

Rated T, Tian guan ci fu- Feng Xin/Mu Qing

Feng Xin had expected to get thrown into a dungeon as dianxia had been, or tortured by the infamous beast of the tower, anything but this.

Guo Changcheng's Discovery

Rated G, Guardian- Da Qing & Guo Changcheng, Guo Changcheng & Wang Zheng

Guo Changcheng notices something strange in the Special Investigation Department’s records.

said you'd never hurt me but here we are (here we are)

Rated T, Floating Youth- Shen Zhouzhou/Chen Che

[1 unread message] My brother is leaving today. Aren’t you going to see him off?

pinky promise

Rated G, Mo dao zu shi- Jin Ling & Jiang Cheng

“Jiujiu,” Jin Ling barrels into his side out of the blue– when had he snuck his way into the study?

把酒問月 | asking the moon, a cup of wine in hand

Rated T, Qi Ye (Lord Seventh)- Jing Beiyuan/Wu Xi

今人不見古時月，今月曾經照古人。

Today's people do not see the ancient times' moon,

(but) today's moon used to shine on the ancients.

wardrobe blues

Rated G, Link Click- Cheng Xiaoshi & Lu Guang & Qiao Ling

Cheng Xiaoshi does not notice anything at first.

to build a home

Rated G, Mo dao zu shi- Jiang Cheng & Lan Jingyi, Lan Jingyi & Lan Xichen

After the dust settles and everything is said and done, Lan Jingyi can't help but feel a little lost on his own.

the ice hockey team's unspoken rules, an agreement they unanimously came to

Rated G, Floating Youth- (implied) Shen Zhouzhou/Chen Che (more crack than anything, really)

Qiao Mu watches as yet another one of their new recruits stares starry-eyed at Shen Zhouzhou and Chen Che duking it out on the ice, and takes a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the Talk that they would have to give once again.

执子之手 与之偕老 | taking their hand, to grow old together with them

Rated T, Qi Ye (Lord Seventh)- Jing Beiyuan/Wu Xi

Now, Jing Qi hadn't meant for this to happen, truly.

寻鹤 | Searching for Cranes

Rated T, I Am Nobody- Zhuge Qing/Wang Ye

This is it, Zhuge Qing thinks.

I think I tend to establish the setting and whose pov it's written from at the start? So my openings can be a little weaker compared to the endings...

Tagging: @yeliuxi @astrowaffles @luckymoonly @lynne-monstr (no pressure to do this!!)

[analumina]

I managed to finish this one however, one of my greatest challenges is writing longer spicy scenes because, it seems, I can only write short scenes, no idea why, but I challenged myself with this one. I am working on it though haha Sharing chapter one.

Summary: There is always a first for everything, including the first time you let your demon/angel boyfriend...

_________________________________________________

Crowley's eyes widened in curiosity as he sniffed his hand. “Feels…hm, I'm not sure, really.” He rubbed his fingers together.

Aziraphale nodded in agreement as he too let the slippery substance coax his soft fingers. “Are you sure?” He questioned his frie- ahem, his now lover who had given the angel a celebratory kiss after non-mageddon, which led to more kisses and eventually, the start of many random kisses. They were celebrating after all, and don't humans kiss each other when happy? Yes, it was all practically normal, the stolen kisses, the hand holding, the lovely dates, the I love yous that they never seemed to tire of saying or hearing. All normal in fact, after a year of it all, the demon decided best to stay with his angel at the shop and forget all about his cold flat.

Meanwhile, as the angel and demon navigated through their absolutely normal relationship, they had heard about something some humans did in said normal relationships and that was good old-fashioned sex, or relations as Aziraphale put it. Now, the couple was not at all naive, especially Crowley, when it came to the act of "reproducing" as some called it; however, they had yet to explore it themselves. After a very much discussion where Crowley had suggested they give it a go, or in his own words, “you wanna,” the couple had done the required research for it.

Crowley stammered and took back the silver box from Aziraphale's hand, “Yes, I'm sure. It says here it prepares you for, erm, you know,” he muttered as he read on, “hypoallergenic��water based, um…gentle warming sensation?”

Aziraphale pursed his lips and carefully eyed the substance within his fingers. “Exactly for who?”

“Whot?” Crowley looked up with a raised brow.

“The warm sensation? For the receiver or giver?”

Crowley puffed a small breath of air through the corner of his mouth and skimmed through the box again. “Ngk, i-it doesn't say.”

Aziraphale's mouth made an O shape as he nodded. “Um, dear?”

“Hm?” The demon turned the box in his hands trying to understand if they needed to use the whole tube.

“Have we established who will be the giver and receiver?”

Crowley's head practically whiplashed as he turned his attention to his partner. “Er…di-did we not discuss it?”

“No. I…I, erm, don't believe so.”

They remained silent for a minute until, “I got it.” Crowley rummaged through his jeans. “Toss you for it?”

Aziraphale smiled at his demon’s brilliance. “Alright. Heads.”

Crowley tossed the coin, but before he could reveal the results, “So the loser is what? Receiver?”

The angel was at a loss. This was all so new to them. Kisses were easy to learn as were hugs, snogging sessions, and other relatively appropriate public endeavors but this was…something else. With both quite perplexed, Crowley took it upon himself to check online. “Unanimously says receiving is better, erm…bo-bottom.” He shared his phone screen. “So, I guess…”

“Loser is giver. Heads.” He shook his fist in front of him all too enthusiastically.

Crowley tossed the coin once more and grinned. “Heh, tails I'm afraid. You get to do me.”

Aziraphale clicked his tongue and furrowed his brow. “Don't say it like that. We are making love.”

“Right!” He clapped his hands, tossing the little box, and rubbed his hands. “Shall we start?”

“Now? Just like that?”

“Um, hm,” he rubbed his chin, “I pretended to pick you up, we went to the theater, dinner, and you ‘invited me in,’ so…I suppose, yea?”

“Do I kiss you?”

“Y-yes?” He sounded unsure.

“Or do you kiss me?”

Crowley rubbed his neck. This was all too complicated. After their lovely, innocent dates, the couple, by this time, would have stayed in, watched a movie, talked about whatever, and even had a drink or two before bed. “How about…err…meet you halfway?”

Aziraphale smiled and took a step forward, mirroring Crowley and, as said, they met in the middle, their lips sweet against each other. “Wait,” Aziraphale placed his hand on Crowley's chest, “should we not do this in the bedroom?”

Crowley clicked his fingers and nodded eagerly. “Yes! Of course. Bed is in there after all.” He took hold of Aziraphale's hand and led them upstairs. “Ready?” he asked once he shut the door behind him.

“Erm,” Aziraphale glanced at their comfy, full-size bed.

“Angel,” Crowley spoke softly, “we don't have to do this.”

The angel smiled lovingly and gave the demon a quick peck. “No, no, I didn't say that. It's just…hmm, wha-what if we don't like it or we do it wrong?”

“Erm, I mean…I mean…I don't think we can do it wrong and even if we do, at least we gave it a go. Now,” he cleared his throat and began to shed his jacket, “shall we?”

“Wait, darling, I,” Aziraphale blushed, “want to do that for you. Like in that film we watched last night.”

Crowley extended his arms to the side. “Go on then.”

Aziraphale's cheeks were as red as his partner's hair. “I can't do it while you look at me.”

Crowley smirked and closed his eyes while Aziraphale waved his hand in front of the demon's face, making sure he did not witness anything. Carefully and slowly, with trembling fingers, Aziraphale began to unbutton Crowley's vest and shirt. Meanwhile, Crowley, being the naughty thing that he was, and trying to ease the awkward atmosphere, leaned forward and kissed Aziraphale's familiar lips and, before Aziraphale could question anything, Crowley deepened the kiss. “You're taking too long.” He breathed.

“I'm nervous.”

The demon began a trail of small kisses along Aziraphale's jaw. Something they had done countless times during their heavy snogging sessions, which had evolved into something quite inappropriate for the public eye. And it was during one of these sessions that started this new endeavor. Crowley had somehow crawled on top of Aziraphale's lap, grinding down on the angel, while Aziraphale's hips thrusted upwards. “Oh, I like this.” The angel had stated, giving Crowley encouragement.

Meanwhile, “Damn, angel.” Crowley pulled back as he felt Aziraphale bite his lower lip. “It's going to be the sofa all over again.” He grinned and went back into the angel's space.

Aziraphale tilted his head back, letting Crowley get to his neck. “You were the one who sat on me.”

“It's not my fault you are so deliciously tempting.” Crowley sucked on the angel's neck, prompting a small mewl from said angel. “Are you done with my shirt or will I grow old waiting.”

Aziraphale nodded shyly and with a simple snap, Crowley unbuttoned Aziraphale's vest, shirt, and other obstructions on his partner.

“You can't do that.” Aziraphale gasped.

“Because?”

“It's not romantic.”

Crowley cocked his head to the side. “Angel, if I were to do that on my own, we will be here a while.”

“But the film.”

“I promise we can take it as slow as possible next time.”

“Next time? What if we don't like it?”

Crowley laughed through his nose. “By what I can feel,” he pressed his body against Aziraphale, “there will definitely be a next time.”

[echoedcrosshairs]

Those Who Fight Together - part four

Summary: Undescribed Jedi female continued story with The Bad Batch in 3rd person 🖤Smut with a Plot series🖤

Warning: NSFW, Crude language, Violence, Battle Wounds, PiV, Self pleasuring, Angsty Angst Crosshair,

Word Count: 6.5

18+ NSFW NO MINORS

Part 3 Part 5

Story Master List

Tech looked at you doing nervously, aware if he's suppose to display manners or kiss you like regular people do before their about to they leave. He fiddled with his googles taking a small gulp, opening and closing his mouth. He didn't like the feeling of not knowing what to do, he turned to unlatch the door when he felt you against his back and your hands on his chest.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Nothing, just wanted too. I'll try to be quick."

Both of you walked out with a clear path, everyone was probably with Hunter waiting. You felt a pit start in your stomach, everyone's mind was loud and you could tell it wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation when you got there. You held your head up high and your change of clothing under your arm as you walked your way into the bathroom. As much as a warm shower sounded the best thing in the Galaxy right now, you turned on the cold water to try to quiet your own distracting thoughts. You've been in a lot of compromising situations but this was definitely for the books. You took the soap, scrubbing every inch of your body but taking special care to scrub your lower bits a second time around just in case. You could feel the anger starting to boil over, starting it's count down until things broke lose. You hurried to dry yourself but your hair refused to, you kept your towel around your shoulders so if any let left over water would have something to drip on.

Crosshair leaned against the wall with his hairs crossed, "Are we seriously considering this?"

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"Have the regs pick her up and go on our merry way towards the temple."

"I kinda enjoy having her around" Wrecker admitted, "plus when's the last time we had someone around who wasn't a reg?"

"We've never needed someone else around," Crosshair argued, "Why start now."

"We're the only GAR squad with out a Jedi, it would be beneficial to have one especially one who isn't like the rest," Echo chirped at him, logically still combing over the idea of having her stay with them.

"To add, her connection to the force would be beneficial to us out in the field and she's work outside the scope of the Jedi council so taboo matters wouldn't matter. She does have a plethora of knowledge that clone intelligence does not which would also benefit us," Tech chimed in.

"Plus it's just nice having a girl around," Wrecker added.

"I'm surprised the smell of your bunk hasn't kicked her off the ship."

"Hey it's not that bad!"

"Are we all in agreement then?" Hunter asked eyeing each of this brothers who gave a small nod except Crosshair.

"Fine," Crosshair said flipping up a toothpick and sticking it in his mouth, "but it's a bad idea."

"What's a bad idea?" You said stepping into the room.

"We want you to stay here," Wrecker said looking at everyone, "you would be very beneficial to the team," Wrecker said attempting to immaculate Tech who rolled his eyes and covered his face.

"Isn't me being here the problem?"

"What he was trying to convey is that we've come to almost unanimous decision that we want you to stay here with us permanently."

"Sith's hell, they want you to stay here to fuck all of us and be apart of this squad," Crosshair said switching out toothpicks.

"I—."

"Crudely putting it yes," Tech said standing up attempting to hide his nervous leg shake "It's rather late, I am going to turn in for the night."

"I didn't take you for the running away type."

"I am not, but given I've been awake since before the rest of you."

"You brought this up, you should be the one to see it through."

Tech jaw tighten and rubbed the side of his face, leave it to Crosshair to find his one embarrassing moment; "Yes it was my idea however if I remember correctly," he said raising his index finger, "which I do, just wanted to leave her on a nearby planet which seems hardly fair given it was us, namely yourself and Hunter, who put her in this position not the other way around."

"I haven't put her in any position unlike you," he flung the gnawed on toothpick at him.

"More than you'll ever do ," he said smacking away the toothpick midair, noticing the sound of aggravation and bitterness between him.

"At least Tech kisses better," you deliberately pointed at him, murderous rage boiling across his face.

"Thank you."

"Who says I was trying," sneer covered in his voice.

"Tech kissed her?" Wrecker said smacking his arm knocking him forward with a laugh, "Ha, I thought you were different."

"And screwed her."

"Really" he said smacking him again, "I thought you were like a reg and didn't feel that stuff."

"Just because I don't express myself, doesn't mean I can't. Also regs can," he said massaging his arm.

"It's getting late, I'm going to catch some sleep before first shift" Echo said standing up, "Try to keep them from killing each other," he whispered  walking by.

"No promises."

"Do you want to sleep on the proposition?" Tech asked.

"Actually I'm exhausted."

"I'll drop you off."

"I can-" he already picked you up before you could finish your sentence.

He was warm, so very warm, your eyes started fluttering shut. Wrecker attempted to set her down she didn't move. He checked to see if she was still breathing but heard a soft snore answer him. He squeezed himself down to fit both of them under the door frame and laid her down on the bed and pulled the blankets over her. Wrecker may play dumb alot but he understood a great deal more then he lead on but he didn't quite understand why his squad was fighting over her. She's pretty and likes to fight, what so bad about her like them? He shrugged to him, with a big yawn and left the room. He found Tech standing outside pacing.

"She's asleep, night Tech," he said walking off the the bunk.

"Pathetic," Crosshair mumbled out of the shadows heading towards the pilot seat.

As soon as he passed, Tech quietly entered your quarters trying to wake you. His fingers quickly disconnected the armor and carefully placed on the floor. He put himself under the covers and put his arm around her, trying to make up for not being able to earlier.

"Good night, Tech.." she mumbled curling more into his arm before going back to sleep.

"Good night, Reaper."

Crosshair played with the toothpick by gently gridding his teeth against it. He put his feet up on the dash and crossed his arms over his chest. He doesn't run from anything, why did he run from her? That mistake not only humiliated him, it made him feel like a coward and gave raise to doubt that he could outdo whatever Hunter and Tech did to her. He could hear her moans and it was the only thing in his head causing his mind to wander about the faces she made. He stuck his hand down his pants adjusting his pulsating cock so it lay in a more tolerable position, his breath hitching against the cold touch of his hand. He quickly withdrew it, he wanted to relieve himself but didn't want to have to clean up the mess.

Crosshair thought about Tech standing outside your door, hearing it side open and shut knowing he walked in. Anger boiled up, he already had her twice by the sounds of it did he really have to rub it in their faces.

"You can relax, from what he said about what he was reading apparently sleeping next to each other afterward helps the oxytocin form emotional attachments. Although I think he was looking for an excuse not to be snuck in a room with you" Hunter said taking the co pilot seat.

"Wouldn't blame him, I would have slept with one eye open too."

"Would you have really jettisoned her out the air lock on an inhabited planet?"

"You tell me."

"Crosshair, I know you and the rest of us don't see eye to eye on the matter but you don't have to be apart of it if you don't want too; go find a brothel on the next planet and work whatever it is out."

"Like you worked it out on her?" He scoffed.

"At least I act on it instead of being consumed by it. Just think out it, ya?" He stood up putting a hand of his brothers shoulders before leaving.

Crosshair sat in silence watching worlds go by, ships pass by but let his eyes wanders to the planets below trying to imagine what domestic life would be like and that thought disgusted him.   They were the best soldiers in the army destined to be even greater, the thought of not being a soldier made his stomach contents threaten to come up then he realized they wouldn't have too. She wasn't like the Jedi fighting for peace because he saw the same look in her eye that every soldier does. She fought because it was fun.

"Maraunder, this is WolfPack One do you come in? Over."

"What can we help you with?" Crosshair said turning on the holo to find General Plo and Commander Wolffe.

"Meet us at these coordinates, highest speed possible with the cargo on board."

"Yes sir."

Crosshair got up, realizing he was going to have to walk in on her next to Tech in who knows what state. While it had been hours since since she went to bed, maybe they had learned to be quiet. Crosshair didn't want to keep thinking about the position he could Tech in you. His still semi hard dick moved, agh, he let out walking into her room. She was soundlessly asleep her back pressed into Tech and her arms curled around his.

"Get up."

"Go away."

"General Plo is meeting us on a moon not far away."

Crosshair mused as that caused her to sit up, swinging each naked leg over the bed. His eyes trailed up her perfect legs to a simplistic grey underwear covering her. He noticed Tech staring him, unamused with a concerned glint in his eye, probably thinking he was a nerve burner. She noticed the stare down between the two and shooed Crosshair from the room.

You rushed through it your armor together putting on your boots, by the time you were Tech was already dressed and waiting by the door unaware if he should have left or if waiting was the correct decision. You were excited to see Master Plo and the boys. You practically skipped your way to the docking ramp.

"What do you think this is about?" Echo asked appearing at your side.

"Not a clue, hopefully it's something fun."

"Thrill junkie," Crosshair purred.

The ramp went down, you made sure you were the first off the ship to meet the battle going on around you. A small handful of troopers on the ground with even more droids littered the ground. You looked out to see Master Plo in the distance engaged with several Magnaguards.

Drawing your lightsaber "Lock up the ship, no one goes in. Protect the cargo," you said running head first in the droids both yellow ends of your saber twinkling against the destroyed droids.

Keeping the saber spinning you deflected shots flying towards you, making your way to Master Plo. You sliced any droid who was stupid enough to get close to you. Blaster fire screams in your ear drowning out everything while your vision tunnels to your object. Blast reflect off your custom Beskar, but one manages to break the plastoid that covered your shins. Your leg faulters and you slam down on your knee with a small crunch. You forced your leg back up, twisting your saber and disconnecting the ends.

"Alright who did that," you yelled at the droids around you.

They stopped shooting to scratch their heads and look at each other.

"Didn't you do it?" One droid said looking at the other.

"Oh I think I do," you disconnected the head from the droid, kicking it across the field before it hit the ground.

The droids started shooting again, you jumped landing behind two of them and disconnecting them. You continued bouncing your way to Master Plo while you assumed Crosshair picked off the droids flanking you.

"Master-" you start to say as blast rip through your left arm, leaving it sensational-less the lightsaber falling out of your hand and rolling away.  Another blast hitting your back, going cutting through your side

"REAPER," Wolffe shouted behind you, sliding towards the still light saber using it to level the approaching droids.

"Get her out of here!" Plo shouted at him.

"Sir-"

"Protect the Cargo on her ship, we will rendezvous back on Kamino. Go Commander!"

Wolffe switched off the saber, quickly tucking them on his side and tossing her on his back and running towards the ship. Wrecker met them half way tossing the rocks at the droids while Wolffe got her aboard the ship, shutting orders to abort. Tech flew to the pilot seat taking off.

"Stop looking down at me like that, that was fun," he heard her mutter.

"For krikes sake, you might be more of a a soldier then us clones," Wolffe said with a small laugh.

"Speak for yourself," Crosshair said looking down, seeing red.

"It's just an arm and maybe a rib."

"Mother of Kwath Reaper!" Wolffe said relaxing the anger in his voice, "If you go down who's suppose to outdrink the boys with me?" he said exhaling.

"Don't worry mesh'la, it'll take a whole lot more then some measly droids to take me down plus who needs both are," you joked trying to keep the pain from being shown.

"Here," Hunter said running over pain patches.

"I'm not going to even ask how you have these without a medic," Wolffe said ripping down your sleeve and sticking the patches on, "How long is it going to take to get to Kamino without being able to punch it?"

"Days," Hunter gritted out.

"Don't have that, do you think you could hold a shield around it for a couple moments?"

"It's to risky-"

"Vencuy, can you."

"Fine, bring me and the bomb to Tech, we'll have to do it at the same time."

"I got her, get the cargo," Hunter said scooping her up while Echo dashed to get it.

"Change of plans, she's going to try to hold the bomb in stasis while you get us to us Kamino.

"The probability of that working is slim, I do agree we need to need to get her to a tank with haste but that could kill all of us."

"Fine. General Plo, do you come in?"

"We've made it off the planet with heavy casualties, is the cargo safe?"

"Yes sir, I'm recommending a ship to ship extraction we can't use the hyperdrive with the bomb on board please advice."

"We'll bring you both onboard, stand by."

"I'm going to take a nap," you said letting your eyes close.

"I just dragged this thing here," Echo said rolling his eyes, backing out of the room with it.

"You care to explain what the nicknames were about?" Crosshair said staring down at him.

"I don't need to explain myself to you."

"I also want to know," Hunter said.

"When I was a shiny, we're trapped in an AT-TE for twenty six rotations together one thing lead to another... and ended. My loyalty to General Plo and to the republic had to come first."

"Like I said, she's been with every Reg" Crosshair tried to sulk off, a fist colliding with his face.

"Disrespect your commanding officer again and I will have you striped of rank."

"Calm down," Hunter said stepping between them, "You're going to work it out like I told you before we get to Kamino. Get her here there safely."

Wolffe scooper her up and took her to the awaiting ship, "put her down for a moment," General Plo said, before she even touched the floor he force lifted her and pulled her over.

Wolffe jumped across, happy to be away from the crew how definitely had some screws lose, "She'll be alright. She's strong, I can feel how heavy your worry is, we'll be there soon."

"Not soon enough," Wolffe mumbled standing up and grabbing the rail.

"Patience."

It's going to be a long day, Wolffe thought. Upon landing the ship a medical crew was waiting to transport her. Doing his best to not worry about his dearest friend he followed General Plo who stopped him, "Go see that she's taken care of."

"Yes sir," he replied heading towards the medical crew starting to hook her up to their machines.

He stayed within a reasonable pace to stay out of there way but to be able to hear the reports. Mild internal bleeding but he sigh when the head Kaminoan said she'll make a full recovery. Taking her off the tank he stayed outside the room, waiting. Obi and Cody came shortly after.

"General," he greeted with a nod.

"How is she?"

"Wanted a robotic arm but much to her disappointment she'll make a full recovery."

Obi scowled, "Both of my Padawans ended up theatrical, brilliant."

The dreams that kept you conscious in the tank were images of remote planets you've never seen before, dark clouds spreading across a darkening sky. A planet covered in clothes, random battle fields and buildings but never in perfect clarity and slightly distorted.

You awoke to Clone Force 99 and Obi standing around you, Obi not even trying to hide his annoyance. Hunter's face read concern, Tech's was soft, Echo's was relief and Wreckers showed excitement but you realized Crosshair wasn't around.

"Where's Snarky?" You asked sitting up with a yawn.

"He was ordered to attend to some personal matters, how do you feel?" Tech asked.

"Like I want to sleep."

"You've been sleeping for three days, how was that not enough?" Wrecker asked confused.

"It wasn't restful."

"Oh?" Obi cut in.

"Yeah saw a lot and understand none, lots of planets and darkness. Anyway, where's the Artifact?"

"One of your sisters picked it up before you got to Master Plo, he was coming to bring you back before the Separatist ambush."

"That's a relief anything worth it?"

"Haven't been able to translate it yet, I'm just glad you're okay."

"If a droid takes me out, don't bother burying me in a temple," you said laughing, "I am being serious though," you said laughing more.

You kicked your legs over the med bay bed and stood up, twisting your arm and shoulder checking every muscle and tendon. Everything seemed in order, then you pulled up your shirt to check your ribs. Not even a scar.

"Nice," you said dropping.

"I'm glad you find this amusing, may the force be with you," Obi said leaving.

"So when we're you going to say something about that Mandalorian armor? That was awesome" Wrecker said.

"There's many things you don't know about me."

"Ha, we got plenty of time if you've thought about sticking around."

"Warning you boys though, I am a walking magnet for trouble."

"So are we," Echo smiled.

"I'll talk to my sisters later, don't think they'll care we all do our own things most of the time anyway. Mind showing me around? Never actually been here before besides a quick landing."

"We have to stop at our room first, don't mind the dirty looks."

"Don't think I get any? I get plenty for being a Jedi and a soldier, what's a few more."

He was right, every trooper who saw us walk down the corridor turned their heads and even disgust when we turned into their bunk rooms "That could have gone way worse," Tech mumbled heading towards the table in the middle.

"The smell," Echo said coughing.

"Eh it's not that bad," I said strutting in, while it did smell bad many animals smelled worse, "not as bad as I was expecting."

"See" Wrecker said slugging his arm.

You realized it was your armor on the table that Tech was messing with, you walked over to find the damage that he was trying to repair. The armor was a lot more banged up then you remembered which was probably why everyone was standing around because you were probably hurt more then it looked.

"Damn, I got banged up," you said tracing your fingers over the blaster marks.

"They were shooting at you close range with very diluted Beskar what did you think was going to happen?" Tech said looking up.

"She sure got a lot of clankers though!" Wrecker said patting your back walking off to his bunk, "Just try to be more careful next time. You worried us,"

"Yeah I've outgrown the armor, haven't been able to stop and get it properly fixed."

"Where you mandalorian?" Hunter said slipping his arms around your waist kissing your neck then resting his chin on your shoulder.

"That's complicated, but you could say I was. I don't really remember it before the order took me in."

"You came from Concordia, the moon of Mandalore," Tech said not meaning it as a question.

"Yes, my parents were from Mandalore but didn't agree with the politics."

"We can go sometime to get your armor fixed" Echo offered.

"I don't remember the last time I was even there, but I'd like that," Hunter started kissing your neck a couple more times, "it'll be fun," he whispered.

"It's as good as it's going to get without being remade," Tech said setting down his tools, catching a glance at a distracted Hunter, "I'm going to go to the mess."

"I know I'm starving," Hunter whispered.

"Let's go get some real food, I've been out for days and you can't tell me that stuff is food."

"Better then rations," Echo agreed.

Hunter let go of you in defeat, "Go hold his hand or something, he hasn't slept," he said guiding you towards an already walking off Tech.

A rosy blush spread across your face and a smile pulled on your lips, "A little birdy told me you've been worried," you said slipping your fingers into his.

"Are you sure that is a good idea?" He said messing with his googles, "Yes I have, part of the blast clipped your spine."

"Please get some sleep tonight," you said noticing all of the dirty looks upon entry of the mess, Tech attempted to drop your head, "Let them look."

"I'm not sure if that is wise. The regs are very vocal about their displeasure about us."

"Oh they'll be sorry for saying something," Wrecker said with a knuckle crack.

You followed them through the self service line, noticing every set of eyes taking a peek at you. You all sat in between Hunter and Tech which was not probably not a good idea, they each had one hand on your thighs.

"Oh look the sad batch and their... prostitute. Bunch of defects."

Echo groaned and Wrecker stood up, but Crosshair beat them to it hitting the clone as hard as he could one handed with his lunch tray, "Ever speak to a Jedi like that again and I think being decommissioned is going to be the least of your problems," grinning with full smug.

"A Jedi- I am so incredibly sorry General," the trooper stood at attention saluting.

I stood up and walked over to him, walking a circle around him looking him up and down, "Your heart is full of hate and you think your brothers are lesser than you. Just because someone is different doesn't make them lesser. All clones are not just copies. You all are unique with your individual personalities, how you style yourself, accents, so what if they look different? You bleed the same blood and you are brothers in this war now go eat."

The trooper swallowed, "Yes Sir," he said putting his hand down and walking over to a table.

"Aww I wanted a fight," Wrecker said sitting down.

"Didn't expect you to be back so soon" Hunter asked between bites.

"It was an easy decision," he said sitting down with the bowl of soup he saved.

"How much did you have to pay her to deal with your attitude," Wrecker said laughing, "probably a lot."

I raised an eye brow at them but Crosshair and Hunter wouldn't look at me. I didn't press the matter, what or who Crosshair does in his free time is none of my business. Echo tried to make conversation with all of them but no one was really chatty anymore, so you talked with him to fill the silence.

"Do you have a fond memory of this place" I asked him.

"There was this Clone 99, he was wise and caring. He helped pull my squad together and helped us passed our last test. We would have failed without him... Kamino came under attack and he died protecting all of us."

"He wasn't like the other clones was he?"

"No he definitely wasn't but he was definitely a better person than half the troopers here."

"That's beautiful."

"Do you have a fond memory?"

"Obi took Anakin and I to this planet which was entirely a library, it's when I decided I wanted more myself," you stood up with your tray noticing the drop off area, "I'm going to go back and nap."

"I'll go with you," Echo said getting up with you, "I'm not excited for that storm to blow," he added once out of the mess.

"It's none of my business but what was that about anyway?"

"Crosshair is always been insufferable at times but it's been exceptionally worse since you arrived and even worser since Hunter and Tech did what the rest of us especially he wanted too. So he got ordered to go get it out of his system..."

It stung but it was for the best "Wrecker was right, probably a lot."

"You can take my bunk if you want," Echo said pointing the nicest kept one of the bunch, "I have adjustments to make any way," lifting his data port.

"Thank you," a yawn escaping you.

Sleep was the idea, but it didn't last long once the rest of the squad came back. You kept your back turned to them, still pretending to sleep.

"Did you have to hit him so hard with the tray?" Hunter said.

"He's lucky that's all I did."

"She's decided to stay with us," Tech said fiddling  with her armor, "the reason why is beyond me."

"Wait so you thought of it but didn't actually think it was an option?" Echo said in disbelief.

"We didn't have long to discuss it before she walked in and I wasn't the one who brought it up nor was I the one who put it so crudely, I didn't expect her to actually consider it after that."

"I'll wake her up," Hunter said waking over to you, "I know you're trying to sleep, but might as well get this over with," he said gently caressing your face.

"Do any of you actually sleep," you mumbled sitting up, you sat yourself up on the edge of the bunk, "Yes?"

Tech motioned for a seat next to him,  with mild reluctance of leaving the warm bunk you went and sat by him, "As I was going to ask before someone's had to chime in the other night, yes, most of us, want you to remain here with us. As you are aware you've caused varying reactions in this squad and we would like to attempt to see how it goes; unless you have reservations which would now be the time to voice those."

"It would help to know everyone else feels," you ask trying to reflect being the center of attention a little longer while you're trying to wake up.

"Well, I like ya. You're definitely different. Oh and you don't mind blowing this up, that's an important quality."

"It's incredibly hard to quantify a feeling I have yet to understand, yet I might with time understand it."

"I don't really know," Echo said awkward rubbing the back of his head, "ever since Skako I haven't really thought about romance or women, but I think I like you."

"I think you were personally made for me, in more ways then one and I definitely wouldn't mind have you watch my back in a fight,” after a long paused Hunter arched an eye at the silent squad member “Crosshair?"

"I don’t care, we all collectively find her hot what do feelings have to do about it?.”

“I know that’s a lie,” you said walking up to him letting yourself feel the emotions, “I won’t make you say them but I know you didn’t care of that personal matter,” you smiled at him, bold and cocky.

He stood up and eyed you down, trying to size you down. Crosshair didn’t like his emotions being known or even talking about them. His eyes squinted down at you, his breathing deepened and his heart picked up the pace. You stared up him trying to match his intensity. His backed down, sitting back down on bunk. Which got a lot of raised looking glaring at him. He kept thinking about there was nothing that he could give you that they couldn’t and probably better.

“Is that why you wiped your mouth because you feel like you’re not good enough?”

He shot up so fast, spinning you into the wall with a thud, “Shut it” he growled.

“Like you shut your mouth and walked out?” You said poking at him.

“Shut it,” he growled, his nostril flaring.

“I don’t think you took care of that personal probably,” you said flashing your eyes down and than back up at him.

He backed down and walked over to the ration box, grabbed a snack and munched on it staying on the other side of the room. Everyone was taken back what they witnessed, Crosshair had always been the most composed person besides Tech but seeing him back down was a first for all of them.

“I think he’s embarrassed,” Wrecker jested.

“Oh shut up Wrecker,” he said taking another bite of his bar.

“Crosshair, it’s an order. Go take care of it with literally anyone,” you walking towards the table, your heart hurting but it had to be done, you watched as he lowered the bar from his darkening face.

“Is that an order from our General.”

He realized he said our, realizing their was nothing he could do to push you away because Sith’s knew he tried but you still chose to stay no matter how moody he got. His jaw tighten, it normally it wouldn’t bother him to go find a beautiful girl but this time it was different it made him feel physically sick. Even thinking about it made his stomach turn. His eyes trailed to you trying to gage the depths of reaction, the pain you were obviously trying to hide. It made him feel worse. He quickly walked over to the table, pinning you with one arm and blocking you in.

Crosshair grabbed you by throat and starred at you, "Don’t you dare ever tell me to go after someone else. I'm going to take show you what screaming in bed is like.”

"That was perhaps something all of us didn't need to hear,” Tech said messing with his spanner.

"Then you might want to leave now," he hands ripped the front of your shirt in two, pressing his mouth into you and his finger nail digging into your breast, “kair’ta,” he groaned against your lips, he quickly ripped down your pants picking you up and setting you on the table with one hand unlatching his codpiece letting it fall to the ground.

He pulled both of your arms around his neck grabbing you by the underside of your thighs standing up and slammed himself into you without a single care that the other were barely out of the room. He was panting, not because he was tired but he felt the animal in him stirring and you were going to be his prey. Crosshair grabbed the side of your throat with his teeth, sucking hard on it leaving the mark under your ears.

“No more Regs, your ours and that’s it… That’s all the sharing I think I can do,” he said slowly his pace letting his voice trail off.

“Ours,” the words left your lips in a moan.

“Ours,” he growled burying his cock inside you, “I hope you’re ready to be busy for the next couple hours.”

“Hours?”

“Or all night I haven’t decided.”

Still pumping into you he took you over to his bunk, removing his wet for a moment so he could set you down on the mattress before climbing back on top of you. You let your heel trail down his long slender yet muscular legs. Crosshair wasn’t gentle in any of his touches especially when he put your arms above your head pinned them in place with one hand definitely bruising your wrist bringing the other hand to your mouth brushing your lips with his fingers. Each stroke deliberately following his thumb across your lips.

He could feel you pulsing and he stopped with a grin, “You don’t get to cum yet, not with out jealous you made me. Fucking Tech after I left, I was ready to kill him” he started slowly sheathing himself again.

“Why didn’t you come back?” You asked softly.

“Because I decided that you didn’t need me.”

“I thought you hated me,” sadness creeping in.

“Kair’ta,” he pleaded looking down, “we can talk about this later, for now just enjoy this,” he leading down with some gentle kissing before pulling back with a devilish grin.

He bit his own lip looking down at you taking in every perfect imperfection, before slamming his cock into you threatening to split you in two. His thick cock was heaven, he smiled at your blissful face taking it like a good girl. He was having fun edging you, a little to much to make fun, he let your wrist go to see what you would do with them. His cock pulsated inside of you as he watched your panted breathing quickened as you played with your played with your nipples.

“Crosshair, please,”

“I thought your moans were the most beautiful thing, it’s how you say my name,” he said with quick deliberate thrust, going harder with every moan, “I know you want too,” he cooed.

That was enough to make you come undone for him, loud and your insides clapped down on him making it harder for him to thrust but he didn’t stop. One hand clawing your breast and another on his armor, he was so hot in it. The death grip on him loosened and he was growling in your ear that he wasn’t going anywhere. He was so beautiful, deep brown eyes, smokey white hair, slender confidant figure he was yours, just yours, while you had to be shared he didn’t want anyone else; which was enough to make you cum again his dick.

“What was that for?” He smiled.

“We can talk about that later,” you said once your core untightened itself, “Are you ever going to cum?” You asked shyly.

“Do you want me too?” He smiled.

“Yes..”

“Then hold on,” he said pulling you partially off the bunk to where he could stand over you and watch every squirm you made under him, he grabbed your knees and shoved them wider apart tightening your entry.

He smiled when he came, pulling out letting his semen shot all over your chest. He knew where you wanted it but wanted to mark you with his scent. You let out a whiney moan as each hot drop touches your skin.

“You look beautiful as my Canvas, but I think you would look more beautiful with more and dripping out of you,” he said pushing his trying to soften cock back in.

After 2 more loads on you, he finally started filling you up. You were sore, bruised and half conscious. Every inch of you tingled.

“I think that the personal matter is almost satisfied for now,” he smiled at down at you, trying to get get one more out.

“Crosshair-“ you hiccuped.

“Yes?” He moaned, nearing the end.

“You’re really pretty,” you let out as a small hum.

When he pulled out of you he cock was still twitching but he had fun looking down at the mess of you, satisfied with his work. He looked down to see the mess of his armor, for a millisecond thought about leaving it there as a reminder but decided against it. He returned his back at you with his hands on his hips realizing there was no way he was getting you into the shower. He sighed finding a canteen with water and an old towel to wipe himself off and to at least try to scrub off most of you, even trying to scooping himself out of you so you were such a mess when you came off the pleasure wave you were on. He noticed the clock and saw it was early in the next rotation days and was smug about it. Although that meant every reg who passed by this morning heard it. He chuckled, at least no one interrupted.

He wrapped you in a blanket and let you sleep while he quickly headed to the shower and then to the mess. He found his brothers at the tables chatting away, everyone back to their regular selves. Crosshair sat down with a smug expression.

“By the look on your face you had a good night,”

Hunter said eyeing him.

“The mess needs stronger Caf,” he said sipping the drink.

“By the looks of it he didn’t sleep,” Tech interjected looking at the small eye bags forming, “it’s obvious.”

A smile tugged on his lips, “No sir, I did not.”

“Speaking of which, where is she?” Echo asked.

“Deliriously laying down, hopefully sleeping by now.”

“Delirious? What does that mean?” Wrecker asked.

“A disturbance in the mind usually due to intoxication causing incoherence of thought and speech, she more then like currently half conscious feeling an endorphin rush or asleep.”

“How are you doing doing Crosshair?” Hunter asked.

“Better.”

“Good- because everyone is talking about it,” he said tilting his head to side listening in.

“They’re just jealous,” Wrecker patted his arm.

“I’m going to go check on her, in case she needs to go to med bay,” Tech glared at Crosshair.

“He’s definitely jealous,” Crosshair chuckled.

[nonbinaryeggrolls]

Battle of the Larynx II

Miguel O’Hara x afab!reader

Pt. 1, Pt. 2. Pt. 3, Pt. 4

Synopsis: Having Spider-Man as a boyfriend was becoming increasingly more difficult, and his reoccurring absence is tearing you apart

Warning: ANGST, mentions of breakups, self harm (not eating caused by depression)

MINORS DNI. AGELESS AND MINOR BLOGS WILL BE BLOCKED

And they talk without thinking

They bark while they're shaking

With teeth that are round and dull

And they yell while they're chasing

While I'm steady pacing

My syllables hit the floor

How stupid, selfish baby

Don't you battle with my larynx toni—

Macie: “Melanie Martinez? Weird choice for a heartbreak song.” Your coworker and close friend critiqued while snatching the earbuds out of your ears

Y/N: “I like it, and it’s helping so leave me alone.”

Alchemex was quiet and slow at 8 AM, the only tasks you had assigned were to organize itineraries and pick up lunch for your employers. Once that was done you used the time you had to yourself to sit at your reception desk and wallow.

Macie: “Here, eat this.” she said handing you a container of vietnamese spring rolls and mango slices she brought from home

Y/N: “I’m not hungry Mac”

Macie: “Yes you are, you’re just saying that so you don’t have to feel anything other than sadness, but I’m not gonna let you sit at your desk all day and sulk. So eat something, please.” You took the food and ate it while she watched you like a hawk to make sure you got every last bite. She was right, making yourself miserable wasnt helping you but it was the only thing you knew how to do right now.

It’d been 3 weeks since you pushed Miguel O’Hara out of your life, and for those past 3 weeks you have been an absolute mess. You could barely get 2 meals down, your sleep schedule was ruined, you had no motivation to complete any tasks, and you avoided your friends and work almost entirely. It probably wasn’t a good idea to use nearly all of your sick days just so you can cry and mope about a guy but it is what it is at this point. You were fortunate enough though to have friends that wouldn’t stand for you ruining yourself while you recovered from heart break. Today your coworkers unanimously decided they needed to save you from depleting all your sick time and practically dragged you into work today.

Macie: “C’mon, tell me what’s on your mind babe.” She took a seat in her chair next to you

Y/N: “It’s just…why hasn’t he called me? Why hasn’t he tried to come back to our apartment? I just fuck I feel stupid but I wanted him to fight for us and he hasn’t at all.” Tears pricked from your eyes and you let your head fall onto your hands

Macie: “Well, why do you think he hasn’t reached out?”

Y/N: “Because he’s a little bitch that doesn’t care about me.” You cross your arms like a stubborn child

Macie: “That’s possible, but what is your heart telling you?” She asks

Y/N: “…He’s doesn’t know how to apologize for everything, or if I’ll accept it.” Macie nods in agreement

Macie: “I’ve never met Miguel other than passing him to get to the vending machine, but I’ve listened to you cry on my couch about him on multiple occasions. It sounds like this isn’t his first screw up, but it is the worst and I’m sure he knows that. It’s very possible that you two are done for good and I think he’s scared to face that…or make things worse.” You shrug in reply, “Be honest with yourself, would you have even listened if he came back immediately?”

Y/N: “No…I probably would’ve told him to fuck off.” You chuckled

Macie: “See. Maybe this time your taking from him is a good opportunity for the fog to clear, you can figure out if it was just your anger that pushed him away or if you actually want to break up with him. No one’s saying you have to forgive him but don’t write his hesitance off as not caring just yet, I have a gut feeling that he’s just afraid right now.” She pulled you into a much needed hug and ran her fingers up and down your back

Y/N: “…It hurts so bad Mace…I miss him so much and I don’t want to”. You sniffled

Macie: “I know babe I know, if it makes you feel any better you look really hot today even with runny mascara. He’s an idiot for fucking up with you so badly.” She said while planting a sticky lip gloss kiss on your forehead.

Macie helped you fix up your makeup in the bathroom and you both returned to work, luckily the front desk foot traffic is always slow with only phone calls and e-mails to keep you busy. It wasn’t a lot but it was enough to keep your mind off of everything.

Miguel wasn’t doing any better than you were. It wasn’t like him to talk without thinking, he was always so stern and calculated with everything he did in life, it was what he was known for but that night it was as if he lost all control. He felt horrible about everything, everything he said to you he wishes he could apologize for but he was terrified that it wouldn’t change anything…or that he might make things even worse.

Miguel’s world came to an abrupt halt since you shut him out. He was bitter and angry and lashed out on his fellow colleagues far more than he usually did. Even his favorite variants couldn’t shield themselves from Miguels wrath. Yelling at Miles or Gwen was routine, but yelling at Peter Parker (Earth-13122) was unheard of and it showed just how badly your absence was effecting him.

Nowadays if it wasn’t for missions or to go into headquarters it was rare for him to ever leave his room— well what was supposed to be a room. All of his belongings were still permanently relocated at the apartment that you both used to share, meaning his old apartment was long gone. There was no place for him to go back to when you kicked him out, so that meant the twin size mattress in Peters guest room that was far too small for his tall figure was what Miguel had called home for the past month.

The clock read 10:34 AM when Peter went downstairs to Miguel’s living space, Peter knocked and poked his head into the guest room

Peter: “Miguel?”, Peter looked in to see a semi asleep Miguel. “Cmon man get up you need to eat something. MJ made French toast, you need food with your depression.”

Miguel: “I’m not hungry.” He sighed and rolled over to face the wall. His appetite wasn’t important to him especially if it meant watching Peter and MJ canoodle at the kitchen counter the way you and him used to. Peter stepped back into the hallway, a worried MJ was motioning him to go back and talk to Miguel.

“Go talk to him!”

“I don’t want, to he’s gonna yell at me!” They both whispered, low enough for a regular person not to hear but it was enough for Miguel’s heightened sense to pick up. Choosing to ignore them, Miguel covered his face with the pillow trying to drift back to sleep until he felt a small weight crawl on him and start tugging in his hair

Mayday: “Uncle Mickey! Wake up Mickey! Come eat breakfast with me!”

Needless to say Maydays cuteness was enough to get Miguel out of his cave. He ate breakfast in silence and by the end Peter had convince Miguel to return back to work, saying it would help him take his mind off things. Mj lent Miguel some of peters old dress clothes from when he was 4 sizes larger, the pants flooded of course but that’s what happens when you’re a foot taller than most people.

It was raining in Miguel’s dimension when he returned, making the drive to Alchemex that much more depressing. It didn’t even register to him that you would be working, he panicked about what he would do or say when he sees you.

Miguel: “Lyla are you there?…” No answer, “Lyla?…Okay I’m sorry.”

Lyla appeared on an illuminated orange screen

Lyla: “Sorry for what? Use those big boy words.” She mocked, arms crossed and turned away from him, refusing to look at him until he gave a proper apology

Miguel: “I’m sorry for yelling and for being a dick for the last few weeks. Okay?” He sighed

Lyla: “See. Was that so hard?” He growled in annoyance but was honestly glad to have her talking to him again, even if she was just a combination of zeroes and one’s she was helpful, “Still having lady troubles I see?” She teased

Miguel: “God, shut up.” He grumbled

Lyla: “That’s it goodbye—

Miguel: “No! No I’m sorry.” He groaned and sank in his seat at the red light rubbing circles on his temples, “What the fuck am I gonna do Lyla? She probably hates me.”

Lyla: “After everything you said I wouldn’t be surprised if she did, but Peters right Miguel you need to just apologize and actually EXPLAIN yourself. Stop acting like such a tough guy and open up to her already. You keep her in the dark all the time and let her wonder if she did something wrong or if you even like her, maybe if you were actually honest with her she’ll understand. And even if she doesn’t understand you STILL owe her an apology. That part’s non negotiable.” Lyla criticized with no intent of being gentle. For an AI she actually gave genuinely good advice.

But he wasn’t ready to see you yet, he wasn’t ready to say what he needed to say, had no idea what he was going to say. So when he made it to Alchemex instead of going through the front entrance like he usually did he opted for the back entrance where the delivery trucks usually are. Stunned faces met his along with whispers and other greetings. A few, “Welcome backs” and handshakes from his fellow geneticists, too many faces and none of them was the one he wanted to see…

Miguel barely got any work done that day, instead he chose to spend all his time pacing back in forth near the second floor ledge. Though his office was on the top floor, the second floor had a view that peered past the large glass staircase and directly over the receptionist desk. So throughout the day he made a routine of getting up every 30-40 minutes to go to the second floor bathroom so he can look over at you on the way back to his office. He couldn’t stop himself from trying to catch a glimpse of you, he got warm each time you smiled at a new person entering the building. It was fake of course, he’d seen your real smile and it was breathtaking. This on the other hand was a plastered in customer service smile accompanied by forced laughs.

Around the the 12th time he went to go check on you he froze when he saw you weren’t at your desk anymore, but it was around the time of your lunch break so he suspected you were in the cafeteria. It was kind of pathetic the way he felt himself rush to the elevator with urgency to get to the food court but it was what he was doing.

The area was busy, filled with lab coats and other Alchemex staff. When he finally located you he stopped in place. You were smiling, genuinely smiling, with some idiot employee he had never seen before. He was leaning against the wall talking your ear off as you bought a soda from the vending machine, and he was far too close. Miguel’s eyes darkened when he hugged you goodbye, holding you a few seconds to long.

“Do you know that guy over there? He’s been staring for a while” Your coworker asked, nodding over to Miguel who stood by the elevator door glaring through angry brooded eyes. You stilled as you met his gaze that softened the longer you looked at him

Y/N: “No…No I don’t.”

Macie: “He just stared? Ew that’s creepy.” She giggled, “Whatever just ignore it, he hasn’t made an attempt to talk to you so don’t even entertain schoolboy behavior like that.”

Y/N: “Yeah, but you should’ve seen him he looked like he wanted to murder somebody...I hate that I thought it was kinda hot.”

She slapped you on the back of the head bringing out a string of giggles amongst the both of you. You took her advice and decided to just forget about the interaction and try and get through the rest of today. You sifted through emails and answered phone calls for the next few hours until a younger boy, no more than 19 years old, walked up to the front desk.

Y/N: “Hi there! can I help you?” You questioned

“Got a Grubhub delivery for Miguel O’Hara.” He held up a closed Thai food bag

Y/N: “Oh okay you can go up that elevator on the left, it’s the sixth fl—

“Customer requested no contact delivery so I guess this is on you guys. Okay bye I’m gonna leave now, remember to tip, thanks!” the rude little bastard plopped the take out bag on the counter in front of you. You’re heart practically plummeted to your stomach at the realization. Miguel knew what he was doing, he knew that if he requested no contact that meant the assigned assistant for genetics department had to deliver it. These snooty scientists didn’t want a random person walking through their building, it happened all the time just never with Miguel. Fuck

Macie looked over at the bag then back at you, just as flabbergasted as you were. Begging her to deliver it for you was no use, she was the assistant for the botany department and could get in huge trouble if she did. Reluctantly you made your way up to the floor his office was located on, the walk from the elevator to his office door felt like an eternity but you swallowed your fear and knocked.

Miguel: “Come in!” He sounded nervous, he looked like it too when you opened his door to see him already standing in front of his desk. Miguel looked disheveled and tired

Y/N: “Here, is there anything else you need Mr. O’Hara?” You deadpanned and handed him the bag. You weren’t surprised to see that he threw the bag away immediately, it’s not like his intention was to eat anyways.

Miguel: “Can I talk to you? Please?” He asked, you sighed and nodded in agreement closing the door behind you to give you both some privacy

Y/N: “Okay go ahead. Talk.”

Miguel: “…Who was that you were talking to?” he asked in a slightly desperate tone

Y/N: “That’s the first thing you have to say to me?” You scoffed

Miguel: “Please just tell me who he is…”

Y/N: “Who? I’m a receptionist I talk to a lot of people.” you lied knowing exactly who he was referring to.

Miguel: “The guy in the cafeteria, with the black hat. Who was he?”

Y/N: “That’s Anthony. He works in security for your department. But I guess you wouldn’t have known that, it’s not really a job that contributes anything to this world, is it?” Miguel winced at the sting of his own words being thrown back at him

Miguel: “…I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have said that.” he said in a tone barely above a whisper

Y/N: “Great, thanks I’m gonna go back to work now.” You dismissed his shitty excuse for an apology and turned to leave

Miguel: “Y/N I’m trying to say sorry to you!” he said almost begging. He was willing to beg if that’s what it took to make you listen

Y/N: “You’re always sorry! Every week it’s a new apology and honestly they’re all starting to sound the same and Im so tired of it!” you shouted

Miguel: “But I—

Y/N: “No I am talking, you are listening!” you silenced him, “You made it clear how you felt about me and I’m not going to keep myself in a situation where I’m just a fill in for someone else.”

Miguel: “…What are you saying?”

Y/N: “I don’t want to be with you any—

Miguel: “Please, please don’t say that N/N.” He practically leapt from his desk when you turned to leave without saying anything. It didn’t matter how many times he said your name it didn’t stop you, not until he physically blocked the door with his own body

Y/N: “O’Hara MOVE!” you demanded. The sound of his last name being said again signifying just how detached you we’re becoming

Miguel: “No. I want to fix this please!”

Y/N: “Find a new replacement then!”

The two of you went back and forth for what seemed like hours, his pleading was relentless. You’d never seen this side of Miguel before, he was unhinged and desperate it was like watching a child have a breakdown. But it wasn’t changing your mind, you deserved better.

When you reached for the door handle once again that’s when all of his words came spilling out.

Miguel: “You’re not a replacement! You’re not a joke or useless or anything stupid I said! I didn’t mean any of it I was just tired of being painted as the bad guy so I wanted to make you feel worse than I felt! But…I am the bad guy Y/N, Im a selfish fucking moron and I ruined a perfectly good thing just because I was scared we were getting too close and that would mean I might forget about Dana and Gabriella! So every time you wanted a date night or wanted to bring me to a family dinner or even just wanted to be around me I made excuses, because every time I did those things I felt myself forgetting. But I’m sorry! I’m sorry for saying terrible things to you and I’m sorry for making you feel worthless, I’m sorry for being so fucking stupid throughout this entire relationship, I’m sorry Y/N….”, He looked down ashamed, he sounded so small and vulnerable something he had not been in a very long time. You froze in place, taking a moment to process everything.

He finally looked back up at you and you stared at him with wide blank eyes. Whether it confusion, sympathy, or hatred he couldn’t tell, but your silenced scared him.

Miguel: “Please… say something.” He begged

Y/N: “Miguel…you’re grieving and I understand that, I think in some way you’ll always mourn the loss of Dana and Gabriella. But we can’t continue this at the expense of my own feelings, I need to know that if we were to keep this up you’re not going to keep hurting me during the process of you healing.”

Miguel: “I understand, I’ll do better I promise.” He felt a wave of relief surge through him. He leaned in to try and hug you but he tensed again when you rejected it, placing your hand on his chest and pushing him away.

Y/N: “I…I think we need a break Miguel…” His shoulders dropped in disappointment

Miguel: “So that’s it? We’re done?”

Y/N: “No…no were not done, I just can’t be around you right now. Just because I sympathize with your pain doesn’t brush over the fact that you just admitted to neglecting me on purpose all this time. I can’t ignore that. I need some space, and I think you do too...”

Miguel: “Y/N…”

Y/N: “Bye Miguel…” You opened the door and exited to see concerned faces all staring as you walked by. It didn’t matter what they thought, today would be your last day anyways. You left your name tag on the front desk and gathered your belongings. Miguel watched from his office window as you got into your car and broke down in the drivers seat before leaving the parking lot

Lyla: “Miguel…are you okay?” she interrupted, watching him stare emotionless out of the window

Miguel: “No.”

Lyla: “…Do you wanna talk about it?”

Miguel: “…”

[lenbryant]

(LongPost) Joe Biden completely recast the 2024 election and Donald Trump can't handle it

Democrats were able to take bold action. Republicans are still embracing a fascist, who's having a full-blown meltdown.

Michelangelo Signorile

President Biden did something Donald Trump could never do: give up power.

He listened to members of his own party, people who weren’t afraid to speak up.

That’s the opposite of what happens in the GOP, where Trump silences anyone who challenges him with threats of political annihilation, the hallmark of an authoritarian.

And now, as Biden announced he was dropping out of the race while focusing on important issues for the remainder of his successful presidency, we can all get behind a historic candidate for president, Vice President Harris, someone who will energize voters and transform this presidential race.

Already, Democrats have raised a torrent of money from online small donors—over $50 million as of last night. It was the biggest online haul from small donors since 2020, showing the enormous excitement.

The Signorile Report is reader-supported. If you’ve valued reading The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!

Yes, these last few weeks and the process surrounding them were messy and drawn out, taking up precious time. We weren’t in agreement about what was playing out. Many of us went back and forth in the span of a few days—or even a few hours. It was also often enraging and heartless, as a sensational corporate media inflamed the discussion for its own purposes. I was certainly outspoken about that, as were many of you.

But we’ve come to a great place.

First off, the drawn-out process—which mostly was about Biden coming to a decision that certainly had to be made deliberately and with care—wound up benefiting Democrats and hurting Trump. He chose JD Vance, going full MAGA extremist and Project 2025-backed in his VP running mate selection. He was cocky and confident that Biden wasn’t leaving the ticket. He would have chosen someone who highlighted diversity or was part of the GOP establishment if he believed Biden was stepping down and endorsing Harris.

Better yet, Trump’s entire campaign and the entire Republican National Convention have been wasted, as they were focused on a candidate who is no longer running. He’s even now whining about having spent all his money on Biden. Poor baby.

We also seem to have dodged the suggestions of a “mini-primary” and a chaotic battle at the Democratic convention. There is simply no time left for that. As the days went on, more Democratic leaders came behind supporting Harris if Biden dropped out, as a consensus was built. It helped to alleviate fears of disunity and a party in disarray at an open convention in August.

There will likely still be an open convention and voting by the over 4000 delegates, as Democratic leaders heed the advice of those who say this shouldn’t be a coronation by the few hundred members of the Democratic National Committee.

But other potential candidates, named in recent weeks by those calling on Biden to drop out, took themselves out of the running. Governors Gavin Newsom, Wes Moore, and Gretchen Whitmer made that clear, while Governors Josh Shapiro and Roy Cooper quickly endorsed Harris, as did Cabinet Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. They are all potential running-mate contenders, with Shapiro, Whitmer, Cooper, and Kelly reportedly under the most serious consideration.

So Harris will not have any real competition—even as Joe Manchin laughably announced he may re-register as a Democrat to run for the nomination, only to backtrack on the idea this morning—and Harris comes with a campaign war chest and, most powerfully, Biden’s endorsement, which the majority of delegates will surely honor. Already, at least five state delegations to the DNC announced they unanimously backed Harris as the candidate, as did all 50 Democratic state party chairs.

I know there’s lots of disagreement, angst, and sadness among many about the pressure put on Biden to drop out. I was in fact among those who two weeks ago were saying we needed to get behind Biden, as he’d made it clear he was not leaving the race and we needed to focus on Trump. And many were annoyed that the discussion continued even after Biden said he was staying in.

But I trust that almost everyone involved has been acting in good faith (except for the corporate media). Trump is an existential threat. Concerned people, from the donors and members of Congress to the rank and file of the party, had different opinions about what would be the least risky path. Many believed Biden should stay in, viewing that was less risky, while others pushed for a replacement, seeing that option as having less risk. And it was debated in the open for over three weeks.

This is where that’s all come now, and everyone should get behind Harris. And let’s be clear that it happened because Biden, and Biden alone, made a selfless decision to put the country ahead of himself based on data about the race and what he was being advised. That shows him to be a patriot in addition to having had one of the most successful presidencies in history, one which Harris, as a member of that administration, can build on in a new presidency.

Don’t buy all of the palace intrigue stories in the media about Biden “seething” in recent days at his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, “digging in” and refusing to drop out—stories based on unnamed sources and reported even as late as Sunday morning, just hours before he announced he was leaving.

We now learn—from the same media that pushed those narratives, mainly the New York Times—that Biden was in fact preparing his letter to the American people announcing he was leaving the race all day Saturday, even as the reports of him being “dug in” were circulating well into Sunday afternoon just before his announcement.

Share The Signorile Report 

The president saw polling and other data that made it clear to him that he needed to make a move. Biden saved us from Trump in 2020, and he now passes the torch to a candidate who makes history, who would become the first woman and Asian American, and the second Black person, to become president. 

Biden is not stepping down because of cognitive decline—contra the ridiculous claims of those in the GOP now saying he can’t run the country if he can’t run for president—but rather because of shaky support in polls (in his case, because of a very bad debate that exacerbated the situation). This is what President Lyndon B. Johnson did in 1968—another enormously successful one-term president—and what other presidents did after they saw support dwindling. So it’s nothing new, and the president can certainly run the country for the remainder of his term.

This is a fresh start, and, as I said, the excitement is reflected in the amount of money Harris raised from small donors—and the big donors who were worried about Biden—in less than 24 hours.

And Donald Trump is very worried.

As I noted, he picked JD Vance, an extremist in his positions and a bit of a dud in his oratory and campaign skills, thinking Biden was the candidate. He stupidly listened to his two not-very-bright sons, Eric and Don Jr., who were charmed by Vance, who is a tool of the man who bankrolled him, tech billionaire Peter Thiel. The Vance pick was lauded by the leaders of Project 2025, who excuse Trump’s crimes and wouldl help him commit more as they work with him to consolidate power.

Trump again tried in vain to distance himself from Project 2025 at a rally on Saturday in Michigan, deathly afraid of the connection. And after Biden’s announcement on Sunday, he showed how petrified he is of Harris, already pushing back against debating her.

His fear drove him to write ugly, panic-laden posts on Truth Social attacking Biden and Democrats, which had critics saying he was “shitting his pants” in an overnight meltdown. Even the far-right Wall Street Journal editorial page criticized Trump in an editorial, headlined: “Trump Gives an Assist to Democrats: His reaction to Biden’s decision was small-minded and divisive.”

The 2024 election is Donald Trump’s to lose, and he may yet manage it.That was our reaction to his splenetic outburst on Sunday after President Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race. It should have been an opportunity to show some class and judgment by welcoming the decision, warning U.S. adversaries not to take advantage of Mr. Biden’s last few months in office, and saying Vice President Kamala Harris will have to defend Mr. Biden’s failed record. Short and presidential, with a unifying tone. Not Donald Trump. On Truth Social on Sunday after the announcement, the former President posted this: “Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for president and is certainly not fit to serve—and never was! . . .” And on down from there.  We realize Mr. Trump is frustrated that he won’t be able to run against Mr. Biden. The biggest doubt voters have about Mr. Trump is that he’s a divisive, vindictive man who is unable to speak for all Americans. He had a chance on Sunday to show he was capable of more, but he didn’t rise to the occasion. 

Trump, of course, will never “rise to the occasion,” as he is incapable of it. The WSJ editorial page knows this, even as they hope against all hope.

And “frustrated” isn’t the word I’d use to describe his reaction to not running against Biden. He is, rather, immensely frightened.

Trump is now the oldest candidate in the race, one showing mental declineas he fumbles sentences, confuses names, makes non-sensical comments about “the late, great Hannibal Lecter," and is an overall rambling, low-energy mess. That was clear in his sleepy yet hateful and ultimately disastrous acceptance speech at the convention—and it’s why he’s not campaigning a lot—which completely upended the convention’s bogus unity theme.

Trump thought running against Biden, and using the media’s one-sided obsession with Biden’s age, would insulate him. Now he’s exposed, as all the focus will be on his fumbles in addition to his authoritarianism.

The entire MAGA world is, in fact, angry and fearful, railing on social media and attacking Democrats and Biden. And Trump’s campaign officials are worried. Per Axios:

Some of [Trump’s] advisers are quite concerned that a fresh, youthful, non-Biden ticket presents a bigger threat than Trump assumes…the Trump team's biggest concern, and some early polling flicks at why, is that Harris would help turn out more women, who historically vote in greater numbers than men. Harris, armed with Democrats’ abortion message, which worked well in off-year elections — could leverage the nation's gender divide.

Be fully prepared that they will be working hard to demonize Harris. Democrats have got to define her before the Trump and the GOP does. The good news is that she’s already a high-profile figure who has truly grown in he past year, on the campaign trail and in her public profile.

The contrast now couldn’t be clearer: a convicted felon and his enablers vs. a former prosecutor and her fighters for justice. It’s autocracy vs. democracy.

If some voters, as the polls suggested, disliked Trump but were reticent about Biden because of his age and the debate performance, they now have a new choice: a woman who will be making the case against Trump on reproductive freedom, racist bigotry, and democratic freedoms.

It’s time to rally everyone, get energized for this fight, and beat Donald Trump.

[antisociallilbrat]

What Polyamory Does For The It Fandom VS In The St Fandom.

These are some brain worms I've had for a while and I've decided to share, regardless if it makes some people mad. Although that is truly not the intent of this post. Anyways. If you haven't been in the It fandom and only have stayed in the St fandom this post may not make sense but I do encourage you to read it.

I joined the It fandom in 2017. I'm one of those few people who were in the It fandom first before moving over to also join the St fandom in late late 2017/early 2018. I had a blog for consuming content but I didn't start making content until 2020 for the It fandom and more recently and regularly for the St fandom. Anywho what I'm trying to say is that I've seen a lot.

I loved many ships in the It fandom and one of the main ships is Poly Losers Club. This is the first fandom I've seen where a poly ship was one of the more popular ones. Even if someone didn't ship all the Losers, throuple and quatrouples (is that how you say it?) have always been popular in this fandom.

Because it is almost unanimously agreed across the fandom, that whether platonically or romantically, all the Losers love each other. Even the most die hard of reddie shippers, the fandom's most popular ship, can often agree on certain fanon headcannons, Stan and Richie practiced their first kiss on each other, Eddie's first crush was on poor oblivious Bill. And that comes back to the agreement that all the Losers love each other. Ships in this fandom have never had an issue coexisting. If someone shipped something different from someone it was always more like "oh that's not my favorite but I definitely see where you're coming from'" OR they're like "yeah no they're in love too," Hardly ever any belittling or any superiority complexes.

That's what makes being in this fandom fun and easy.

Poly Losers even often features a gay man and a women and I've read many beautiful fics where this is explained as they're more best friends than lovers but Eddie doesn't love Bev any less because she's a woman. This fandom allows Eddie and Bev to have an amazing and emotionally intimate relationship because I feel like this fandom does understand, for the most part, that platonic love is just as important as romantic love.

Now on to the St fandom. There are some poly party shippers out there but they are far and few. And there is SO MUCH shipping discourse. Yes I could talk about Mileven and Byler but come on, it goes beyond that. It's with Jany and Stancy, Ronance and Rockie. Elmax and Lumax, and Steddie and Stonathan. Just about every ship you think of there is an alternate ship that people will fight for. They will belittle you for shipping something they don't, and insist that your ship is nothing but platonic. That,,,that just doesn't happen in the It fandom. You know the joke, "All the Losers had a crush on Bill at one point," I think that in itself says a lot. Bill, the arguably least liked character, (my poor bb), has the joke that all the losers had a crush on him at one point.

I'm getting off track. Anyways I'm not saying that shipping everyone together in a poly sense would fix everything with these shipping wars but i do believe why there was never any shipping wars in the It fandom was because of Poly Losers. Also when I talk about poly in St I mean it like Poly Party and Poly teenage crew. Not together, I hate that I have to clarify that.

In the St fandom, it's just not as universally agreed that everyone loves each other, even in the basic platonic sense. All anyone seems to care about in the St fandom is romantic love. A lot of shippers want to be right, they want to prove that their ship will be cannon which just,,,sucks the fun right out fandom spaces.

Canon, fanon, why can't people just make cute fan art and talk in babbles about thoughts they have on a ship. Why do you have to be right about what's going to be the canon ship? Why do certain people feel the need to put down and even to the extent as far as bullying people who ship something different? I've never seen a fandom so focused on 'canon pairings' like the st fandom. (Side note I was never in the sherlock and supernatural fandoms, I knew to mention this)

The party, like the losers, are friends who have been through turmoil that have bound them together for a lifetime. I don't care what pairing you give me from st, whether it be a platonic or a romantic one, I will tell you that those characters deeply care for each other.

Side note: it's worth a mention that the Duffer brothers originally wanted to film the It remake and when they didn't get it, we got Stranger Things. It can be argued that the Party is based off the Losers club so you know what that means? THEY ALL LOVE EACH OTHER. Take it as platonic or romantic idc.

Again, I don't think that poly party is the answer to ending the shipping wars. I do think however that if people could remember how much the party members mean to each other, that that could make less tiring fandom spaces.

Okay I'm done. I just thought this was an interesting point on how it's been like in the It fandom vs the St fandom.

Wait I was doing tags and I forgot to mention that there are few people who ship Elumax and Stoncy, two throuples and kudos to them. They're just worth a mention, I didn't forget about ya'll

[agreed-upon-solutions]

Agreed Upon Solutions is built to exemplify a kind of constructive theory of politics. We want to answer the question "what is the best possible democracy," without worrying about the requirements of political feasibility.

If you ask yourself what the most imaginably perfect democracy does, it's something like "Talk about everyone's opinion, on every topic, in order of most to least important. Then everyone votes and reaches consensus about what to do, and that's how the decisions are made."

When the list of issues is small and there aren't too many people, it's possible to do this. But, it doesn't scale. The largest group I'm aware of that does it successfully are the Quakers, and their ability to pull it off is one of the most remarkable acts of community trust I have ever seen; not something that can reasonably expected of a crowd of strangers. So what's the best you can do with a public website?

It turns out there's an answer to this, because doing something very similar is an important problem in the theory of distributed databases. Consider the problem of trying to predict real-world majority opinion using noisy ballots. You want to output "Yes", "No" or "Unknown", for all opinions. Your goal is to say "Yes" or "No" for as many opinions as possible. You are allowed to say "Unknown" whenever you want, but you must never give a wrong answer. This is impossible without assuming an upper bound on the amount of noise, so your goal is to maximize the amount of noise you can handle while still remaining correct. For our examples, we'll assume "Yes" is the majority position.

The noise in the polls is assumed to be Byzantine, a kind of adversarial and unavoidable worst case error. Not only are some votes in your sample guaranteed to be bad, they're bad in the worst possible way, chosen with full knowledge of how your voting system works. This does not just mean always voting "No". They might, for instance, want to blend in if your voting system has some sort of reputation system, to spring their traps at the worst possible moment. In reality, the situation is probably not this dire, but by assuming the worst you can derive the most stable system.

In this system, majority voting does not work. If your vote comes down to 50.1%\49.9%, your adversary could easily change less than a percent of the votes and flip the outcome. Your margin of resistance is 0%.

Let's say you do the opposite, and require a unanimous vote. Then all you need is a single voter to defect, which brings the system to a halt. Your margin of resistance is also 0%.

The optimum threshold turns out to be twothirds.[1][2] A robot can't flip a close decision or block a unanimous decision without having a third of the vote. All you need to do is keep robots below 33% of the vote, which feels like an achievable technical goal.

We're not trying to implement a voting system based on elaborate id checks, we're trying to implement one based on extensive use of fault tolerant algorithms. This is an approach that has not been well studied, because it has some significant downsides: specifically, it does not always reach a decision. Our attitude is that doesn't matter, as long as some questions can reach agreement we'll always be able to make forward progress.

The rest of what we do is similarly involved. There are no direct replies because it makes harassment effectively impossible. We discuss every thing because it's a constructive version of "provide any comment". The "Most Important Thing" pins down a shared answer to an otherwise very vague concept. It's not just limited to voting, either, it extends all the way through the design of the website. If you have an account you can enable "solid mode" in your account preferences to make the website less bouncy on mobile. Why? Because it feels better to touch, and we care about that. Much of what we expect to feel odd about the website is intentional. [3]

This is not a traditional approach to politics. It's a set of ideas unusual enough that it's easier to build, run, and demonstrate that they work in practice; than it is to successfully argue they "would hypothetically work if it were built". That's the core of constructive politics, making arguments by building working examples. It's hard to argue something can't be done when it already exists.

==========

[1] The concept of a "twothirds" is much more involved than simply a number, which is why we write "twothirds" instead of "two-thirds"

[2] Depending on your view of the United States government, the margin of resistance is either one person, nine people, or a few hundred people, for a total margin of resistance of <0.001%. That's why we're facing a possible civil war next week, exciting stuff. \s

[3] This does not include navigational, performance, or conceptual clarity issues. If you experience those, let us know.

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

JON SNOW FORTNIGHT EVENT 2023

Day 14 - Alternate Prompt: Dream of Spring

The dragon has three heads. There are two men in the world who I can trust, if I can find them. I will not be alone then. We will be three against the world, like Aegon and his sisters.

- Daenerys VI, ASOS

For quite some time, I’ve been thinking about Jon’s potential to bond with one of Dany’s remaining dragons. This is something that most readers take as a given, but it seems that there is barely a consensus on which dragon he will claim.

Many readers have theorized that Jon will bond with Rhaegal because that is the dragon named for his father, Rhaegar Targaryen, but some readers have made arguments for Viserion on the grounds that the black bastard should claim the white dragon - a largely aesthetic argument.

I must admit that the aesthetic argument is quite seductive…but there’s a hitch: Viserion is cream and gold, not purely white. 

The cream-and-gold I call Viserion. 

- Daenerys I, ACOK

Viserion’s scales were the color of fresh cream, his horns, wing bones, and spinal crest a dark gold that flashed bright as metal in the sun. 

- Daenerys, I, ASOS

Gold also isn’t a color that Jon is associated with in the books. His main color is black (which signifies his Targaryen parentage and identity as a member of the Night’s Watch). Ghost’s coloring, an albino direwolf with white fur and red eyes, is important because it’s meant to resemble the weirwood trees and establish a connection between Jon and the old gods. Cream and gold don’t really do that. And, I must also admit that I’m yet to come upon a compelling thematic argument for why Jon should bond with Viserion over Rhaegal.

Thematically and narratively, I think it makes the most sense for Jon to bond with Rhaegal. Now, some readers have argued that he could technically embrace his Targaryen heritage by bonding with any dragon. And while that is true, I think this argument diminishes the importance of Rhaegar Targaryen being Jon’s father. Yes, Jon may have never looked for a father, and he may always consider Ned Stark to be his father. But he also has to acknowledge the fact that he is a Targaryen through Rhaegar, no one else. He’s not just accepting being a Targaryen, he’s accepting a father he never knew about. And part of the emotional weight in the R+L=J reveal will be Jon coming to terms with the fact that Ned lied. Ned isn’t his father, someone else is - that someone else being Rhaegar. Thus, there is a heavy emotional weight in Jon bonding with this particular dragon.

But for today’s prompt, I want to make the argument that Rhaegal is more than just a dragon named after Jon’s father. What Rhaegal represents as a dragon and what Jon represents as a character are very much aligned. 

So obviously, Rhaegal is named after Jon’s father, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen.

“The green one shall be Rhaegal, for my valiant brother who died on the green banks of the Trident.”

- Daenerys I, ACOK

It’s worth noting that Dany not only mentions her brother, but mentions the green banks of the Trident. The Trident is a location that Jon is connected to without having actually journeyed to the place. For starters, there is the castle Harrenhal where Jon’s father and mother met, which is south of the Trident. And, there’s also the Ruby Ford which is where Prince Rhaegar died - and Jon has quite a few connections to this little part of the great river.

First, there’s the matter of Rhaegar’s rubies,

“Rhaegar’s rubies?” 

“It may be. Who can say? The battle was long leagues from here, but the river is tireless and patient. Six have been found. We are all waiting for the seventh.”

- Brienne IV, AFFC

We’re told that seven rubies were lost; six have been found but the people wait for one more. While there’s not really a consensus on which characters are represented by the six rubies, the unanimous agreement is that Jon is definitely the seventh - Rhaegar’s real son who is yet to be revealed. 

Then there’s the inn at the crossroads which lies near the ford, and is a place that is key to some of the most important events in the story. Some readers speculate that this might be where Rhaegar and Lyanna met before they decided to run off together.

Finally, Jon was named Robb’s heir in ASOS. One of Robb’s titles was King of the Trident. So it seems fitting for Jon to ride the dragon that is explicitly connected to this place.

Next comes Rhaegal’s color schemes. This is how he is described:

Rhaegal is a green and bronze dragon: his scales and wings are jade-green, while his eyes are bronze. He has black claws and teeth like black needles. His flames have been described as being yellow, yellow and red and "orange-and-yellow fire shot through with veins of green".

ref

Now green isn’t a color that Jon is associated with much in the books (it’s usually black - the NW, Rhaegar, and white - Ghost). However, I think Jon’s connections to this color are more symbolic.

Green is the color of life. It is synonymous with nature and fertility, prosperity, and hope. In the books, the color is often connected to youth and innocence, and sometimes even immaturity. In a lot of cases, it’s connected to the summer season.

“You’re no ranger, Jon, only a green boy with the smell of summer still on you.”

- Jon III, AGOT

“The Royce boy was green as summer grass, yet he insisted on the honor of his own command, saying it was his due as a knight.”

- Tyrion III, AGOT

And Rhaegal’s green coloring has been linked to summer:

Rhaegal was made of the green of summer and the bronze of fall. 

- Daenerys I, ASOS

His coloring is so interesting because it denotes a cycle. Summer = growth and life, fall = decay and even death. And we have Jon who represents the cycle of life in the story (more specifically, the never ending cycle of life after death: rebirth).

In broader texts, green is also connected to the season of spring. Spring which usually comes after winter. Where winter represents death, desolation and despair, spring usually represents rebirth, renewal, and fertility (among other things). Spring in many ways is a hope for summer. 

Anyone who is familiar with my blog will know that I have argued over Jon’s connection to spring many times. Many of his mythical parallels symbolize spring and the cycle of death and rebirth. Jon presumably dies at the end of ADWD, the start of winter, but readers expect him to return to the story so that he can help usher in the spring. In this way, Jon represents renewal and growth and rejuvenation of the land; bringing fertility back to the land after a period of death. Thus, it’s quite compelling to have the king who represents spring to ride the dragon whose coloring also represents spring.  

I’ve also argued before that King of Winter is a fitting title for Jon in the upcoming war for the dawn (and beyond) because it’s not about him being an agent of winter, but rather about him being a king who conquers death (winter). It’s just added symbolism then: a winter king who fights death riding on a summer-green dragon which is colored with life.

Rhaegal also has some bronze specs. His eyes are bronze and as an egg he had bronze flakes. Some traits connected to this color are: support and comfort, strength, reliability, and stability. There is a scene in the books that marks the green egg with bronze flakes as a source of strength and comfort for Daenerys. It’s when a pregnant Daenerys takes her green dragon egg and holds it near her bosom for comfort.

Irri fetched the egg with the deep green shell, bronze flecks shining amid its scales as she turned it in her small hands. Dany curled up on her side, pulling the sandsilk cloak across her and cradling the egg in the hollow between her swollen belly and small, tender breasts. She liked to hold them. They were so beautiful, and sometimes just being close to them made her feel stronger, braver, as if somehow she were drawing strength from the stone dragons locked inside.

- Daenerys IV, AGOT

Dany holds the egg between her womb and breasts, both of which are linked to her fertility. But she is also mentioned to draw strength from the dragon. At this point, it seems obvious that Jon and Dany are destined to meet and become lovers sometime later in the series. And even if they do not become lovers, it is very probable that they come to find strength and comfort in one another. 

She was lying there, holding the egg, when she felt the child move within her … as if he were reaching out, brother to brother, blood to blood. “You are the dragon,” Dany whispered to him, “the true dragon. I know it. I know it.” And she smiled, and went to sleep dreaming of home.

- Daenerys IV, AGOT

I do think it’s quite interesting that there is a link between the green egg and the child growing in Dany’s belly. There’s the aspect of fertility and the birth of a new life there, but also hope intermixed. There is a new life growing in Dany’s belly, and this baby reaches out to the green colored dragon who represents growth of new life. And then we have Jon Snow, who fans speculate will father Daenerys’ child(ren). Another link of fertility between Daenerys, Jon, and Rhaegal.

But that’s not all. There are some similarities in personality that make this a love match. Rhaegal has a fiery temper, which seems to match Jon’s quite well. Both boy and dragon can be little brats.

Across the tent, Rhaegal unfolded green wings to flap and flutter a half foot before thumping to the carpet. When he landed, his tail lashed back and forth in fury, and he raised his head and screamed.

- Daenerys I, ACOK

Dareon and Sam left with him. They descended to the yard in silence. Outside, Jon looked up at the Wall shining in the sun, the melting ice creeping down its side in a hundred thin fingers. Jon’s rage was such that he would have smashed it all in an instant, and the world be damned.

- Jon VI, AGOT

Though he is not as fierce as Drogon, Rhaegal is more dangerous than Viserion. We know that Jon can become quite dangerous, especially when he is angry as he sometimes exhibits explosive strength when enraged

[Barristan] wondered where Rhaegal was. Thus far the green dragon had shown himself to be more dangerous than the white..

- The Queen’s Hand, ADWD

There’s also the matter of Jon’s mental state post-mutiny. It’s reasonable to suspect that he might become angrier, colder, and more ruthless - thus embodying traits of a true King of Winter. Jon will have the wolf blood in spades, and so it’s fitting for him to ride a particularly fearsome dragon. 

In conclusion, I’ve come to really like the idea of Jon bonding with Rhaegal because there are some strong connections there not just for Jon but for Dany as well. I like the idea of Dany finding love, life, and new beginnings with Rhaegar’s son, especially as they fight against death and winter together. And for this son to ride the dragon that is named after the brother she’s never known but loves all the same.

[...] the Usurper’s dogs had murdered her brother’s son when he was still a babe at the breast. If he had lived, I might have married him. Aegon would have been closer to my age than Viserys. 

- Daenerys I, ACOK

As for Jon, Rhaegal is connected to his role as one who brings about spring (new life) and eventually summer. Not only is Rhaegal connected to the fertility of the land, but he’s also connected to Jon’s own fertility through any children he might have with Dany. And through Rhaegal, Jon could wield magic that he inherits from his father’s bloodline. Really, Rhaegal is almost perfectly suited for him.

I’ll end with this really cute scene between Rhaegal and Drogon as more Jon/Dany seeding…

Drogon and Rhaegal were asleep atop some cushions, curled about each other, but Viserion perched on the edge of her empty bath. 

- Daenerys IV, ASOS

Really, it was meant to be.