#are those nine guns ed

[lovesickshanties]

Our Flag Means Death Season 2 | Official Teaser | Max

[lookinglass-fic]

THIS is Blackbeard. Not some namby-pamby in a silk gown pining for his boyfriend!

This little scene in the teaser is so important to me actually. Because no matter what Izzy took with those words, no matter what posturing Ed does with his nine guns and kohl beard, underneath it all, he is still the soft, queer, lovelorn man in a silk gown pining after Stede.

He is still an absolute badass. He is sliding through sand on his knees and cutting off Navy officers with a single blow. He's crashing ships and throwing knives and taking names, and he is also longing and aching and wishing to be the lovely, fine thing that Stede loved.

[follows-the-bees]

The journey of the Blackbeard image from three different perspectives:

1) Ed holds up the book containing a crude caricature of himself and scoffs. He has one gun and one knife just like everybody else. From the onset we see how Ed does not agree with the public persona of himself — a monster; the audience's perspective — just like Stede's — is challenged and flipped from the celebrity to the actual person behind it. We see the brilliant tactician, but also the man who likes fine things, goofy playacting, and sitting quietly and carefully taking care of someone majorly hurt.

2) Izzy holds up a different image of Blackbeard., ripping out the pages and telling Ed, beardless, vulnerable, cloaked in a soft robe Ed, that that version of him is worse than death. That this caricature in the book is actually Blackbeard and that's who he needs to become. He is telling Ed to only be the monster in the book — that public persona Ed made abundantly clear he does not like.

When we see Ed in the next season, he has completely shuffled on that persona: nine guns and all.

3) Stede sees the wanted posters of Ed and scoffs (just like Ed did when he saw it) and talks about how that's not Ed. Ed isn't a ghoul, he's a really great guy.

Stede takes up his own parchment and pens his own version of Ed. He creates poetry about Ed, he writes letters and "sends" them to him. He draws how Ed actually looks in the margins of the map. How he sees Ed: Not as Blackbeard with nine guns, but just a man, a man he loves, a man who loves him.

In the end, Ed takes up all sides of himself, including the leathes of Blackbeard. But not for other people, not to be that monster public persona, not to shield himself from harm, but to fight for love.

There is something to be said about the dropping of weapons completely during this scene as well. The journey of what Ed holds: weapons, the necks of colonization, the love letter, Stede (but that's for another post).

The layers of storytelling are built into the core of the show. I've written before about Pinocchio reflecting Stede's story of becoming himself, not just someone who lives in the fantasy of books, (also Jim's story) and how stories take on a journey of their own. As well as the importance of Stede's writings.

But Ed's story is also just as layered. Celebrity versus reality. We see both the good and bad of being in the public (the about turn at the French party, Ed teaching Stede about fame in Man on Fire). We see how exhausting and isolating it can be to keep up the public persona. And especially how toxic it is when others force this on you. But best of all, we see how freeing it is to have someone to see you for everything you are, flaws and all. And then being able to love yourself for those same reasons.

Ed takes back his story, the images about him out there showing a monster, and he learns to love all sides of himself, learning to be just himself: Ed.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

what if it was fang pushing ed to be blackbeard again? how would my opinions change if ed did this to another character?

bold questions indeed.

for starters, if it was fang in 1.10 who confronted ed in his cabin and said “be blackbeard or else. you being soft and singing a song is a worse than death and i think you would be better of dead” i would mostly be very confused bc nothing abt fang’s prior characterization would suggest he thinks those things or has a problem with ed not being blackbeard. i would probably say something like “why did they suddenly make this friendly samoan character deliver these incredibly cruel lines when it would make more sense for that one short mean white guy to say this stuff. i don’t understand why this writing decision was made but it feels kinda racist to me. i thought they were building towards something with izzy’s character this season but it’s like they suddenly swapped his personality with this side character who didn’t really have a lot of screen time this season but who seemed really on board with the whole talent show idea”

and then if ed proceeded to cut off fang’s toe and feet it to him i would wonder if maybe the writers/showrunners didn’t want to show that violence happening to a white masc character for some reason, and that’s why they suddenly changed the characterizations around so drastically. i would definitely be pretty critical of this very strange writing decision

but if we’re discussing “what if fang took izzy’s narrative role in the story” i probably would also be squinting at the choice to cast a fat samoan man as this asshole antagonist killjoy guy who’s a dick to everyone around him and whose job in the story is to push ed into being a racist caricature of himself. ed’s perception of himself/blackbeard as a hyperviolent monster is deeply informed by the colonial society he lives in. the nine gun smoke head picture of blackbeard that stede showed him was printed in a book published by colonial society, the art of himself that ed stabbed against the wall at the end of 1.10 was produced by racists in colonial society. i would feel really weird about fang holding that drawing up to ed and saying “this is blackbeard” and i would feel even more weird abt this casting decision when the toe scene happened

so yeah i guess technically to answer the questions of “what if ed did this to another character?” and “what if he did this to fang?” i would not feel the same way about the toe scene as i do watching it in canon. i would probably not have the same “he fucked around, he found out” opinion if fang took izzy’s place in the story bc i would mostly be critical of the choice to make fang’s job in season one to uphold toxic masculinity and racist colonialist depictions of ed.

[spaceumbredoggos]

However fucked up Alex reveals Bill and Ford’s relationship is revealed to be in The Book Of Bill, Kenz and Bill’s is a hundred times worse.

Disclaimer: I am not glorifying abuse in any way shape or form. I myself have had nightmares similar to this despite never being sexually abused, both Bill related and otherwise. Some of these are based on personal experience (such as the nightmares), whilst others are a device used to show how fucked up shipping Bill with pretty much anyone is. Not even the Axolotl is safe in my opinion. If Bill was real, I’d guarantee he’d probably be a massive creep and with how thirsty his fankids are (and I’m calling myself out here) he’d probably use his magic to g*oom those kids like a church pastor. The thing that scares me the most about Bill being canonically real is not that he could catastrophically end the world, it’s his oversexualization in the fandom that got so bad, Alex himself had to make him unattractive. This will be along the lines of a Yandere Bill Cipher x Reader headcanons. With that being said, here’s a few content warnings:

G*ooming, Pedoph*lia, s*xual abuse and assault, physical and psychological abuse, mind control, cult-like things, psychosis, and general paranoia. I’m not saying these things actually happened, but knowing Bill’s character and his powers and history, if he was real, I’d generally be afraid for anyone in the Gravity Falls fandom. Especially minors.

This could be my most controversial post yet, and it could jeopardize any potential of getting into some colleges. This may sound like paranoid rambling, but I know that Bill is just a cartoon character. That being said, Alex like the blur the line between our world and the world of gravity falls with Bill’s character, dicing around the fact that he’s influenced history and wrote all religion on the basis of a lie. I’m not scapegoating him as “controlling global politics on a massive scale” because that would be stupid and I’ll sound like those tin foil hat rednecks that snort moonshine and burn pride flags. My heart goes out to all those who have been impacted by all forms of abuse as an abuse survivor myself. Alex, if you see this post (or any other of my posts/ read my fanfics), just know that it’s a critique on the fandom and the canon lore, and a cautionary warning to avoid lawsuits in case The Book of Bill Cipher causes mass psychosis.

As a kid (ages 7-9) I would watch Gravity Falls casually. At that age, the only thing I consumed online content wise was Skylanders and Minecraft content (Skylanders until age nine, then it was pretty much a lot of Team Crafted, Popularmmos, DanTDM, and other Minecraft YouTubers.) I didn’t invest in the Gravity Falls fandom until I was eleven (that’s when I first started writing my fanfics. The drafts are long gone because they were on school computers that were crammed with viruses due to kids installing Minecraft mods (this was just before chromebooks became mainstream. I went to a special ed middle school specifically for autistic individuals (it was pretty ableist, gonna make a post on that.) so the rules on what was allowed in school were pretty loose content wise. It didn’t have to be educational, as long as it didn’t have blood or guns. There were no safe search filters or Go Guardian (I remember one of my friends accidentally finding Iris from Pokemon black and white vore. I also found Pacifica vore.)) Before that, the February before my tenth birthday, my dad took my TV out of my room due to behavioral issues (undiagnosed autism go brrr). Around that time, there was talk in my town that the Disney channel was “rotting kids minds” with bad attitudes and crude humor (this could be said about any child’s television network (I mean, look at Nickelodeon.) but I lived in a pretty conservative area of Southern California and had a pretty conservative dad. So naturally, Disney was the scapegoat (this was way before the “woke” era of Disney.)) All of this talk of Brainrot made me stop watching the Disney channel during the peak era of gravity falls (2015 as a whole) and I didn’t watch gravity falls again until summer of 2016 when my tv was put back in my room (with intense parental controls so that I couldn’t watch my vet shows.) That’s when I had my first gravity falls dream about Bill cipher. It had to do with getting unicorn hair to protect my house from Bill Cipher. I had an interest in dreams previously due to warrior cats. It was at that moment when Gravity Falls was added to the obsession list.

As a neurodivergent eleven year old surrounded by other neurodivergent preteens and teens, we found common ground talking about Gravity Falls at school. I also would, whenever I didn’t feel the prying eyes of the grown ups or my peers would go off outside and act out my gravity falls x pokemon x warrior cats fanfiction (I’m not sure if those are signs of maladaptive daydreaming disorder or I simply had an intense imagination that would consume my body and make me want to just act out my fanfictions outside. I don’t do this anymore, mostly because of my own embarrassment and I can just write it out.) Yes, there were times where the discussion or action played out Bill Cipher being real. A lot of my “play” as I called it back then was me being kidnapped or possessed by Bill. I even wrote some really cringey fanfics involving my friends and Bill Cipher. To this day, I still involve my family in my fanfiction, but more final drafts will have their names changed. Weirdmaggeddon was a common topic, as well as Bill Cipher possession.

As time went on, I had more dreams about Bill Cipher, fueling the obsession and the fact that Bill could be real. During my middle school years, I never had a crush on Bill Cipher, despite what my friends seem to think. My parents just took it as whatever and as long as I was happy and just working towards going to a neurotypical non-sped school. My crush on Bill Cipher didn’t start until I was in high school. I remember it specifically being Valentine’s Day 2020 when I learned that I have a crush on the triangle. My dreams of Bill would only get more frequent and worse from here (involving the typical horny teenage dream that I don’t want to elaborate because I feel weird doing so (you’ll see why later on.))

Now there’s typically nothing wrong with having a cartoon crush. Given any other cartoon character that doesn’t have a canon history of influencing this world (Bill’s history of influence is vague but it still counts) I would excuse this as another silly cartoon crush like PurpleCliffe simping for Cynthia and the like. However, given that it’s in the show’s canon that Bill could be real and he crossed over to our world, do you understand what implications this could have? Bill is trillions of years old, he’s likely seen every timeline to ever exist. Meanwhile, there are whole armies of fankids who are down bad for him (including me.)

Notice how when I first started getting into Gravity Falls that I didn’t have a crush on him. How many other fankids felt the same way? It wasn’t until years of obsessing over Gravity Falls did I develop feelings for him. And of Alex says in the Book of Bill Cipher what I think he’s going to say (that Bill probably ab*sed Ford sexually with possible g*ooming involved), notice the pattern that is being presented here? Alex, if you blur the lines between fiction and reality with a villain who may or may not have canonically g*oomed and abused someone, possibly using mind control given his powers and his role as a dream demon, could it really be so far fetched that… (I’m not going to say it because it’s leaving a sour taste in my mouth, but use your imagination.)

If we take Alex’s word that Bill has crossed over to our world, then we can only assume that there are vulnerable kids and adults being… You get the picture. I’m not explicitly saying that it is happening right now, but this is problematic because revealing that Bill ab*sed Ford in that way means that Alex would probably imply that Bill is doing the same to MINORS. I may sound paranoid and this may just be a ramble, but considering the show’s canon and how mythology is filled with cases of degenerative acts from deities, this is a really fucked up situation.

It may be funny to say “haha, evil triangle man is sexy” but at the end of the day, Alex stated that Bill has crossed over into our world. For all we know, he could be taking advantage of the fact that people thirst for him, probably not in pleasant ways.

[vegalocity]

It’s honestly a crime that the writing just brushed Syntax’s becoming a Spider under the rug. No, he’s fine with it, don’t worry about it. No we’re not gonna explore this, they’re bad guys and we’re killing them off anyway, don’t worry about it.

There was so much room to explore, especially with how Goliath and Huntsman might’ve felt, but no.

I MEAN RIGHT?

Admittedly it's a running thing with LMK to IMPLY a lot and then look at the audience and say 'no followup questions' with their full chests, (like all of the implications of Red Son's home life being kinda fucked but it barely gets touched upon again after season one despite clear evidence that things aren't all fixed in S3 and we're just supposed to believe everything's aces by S4) And the Spiders i think are probably the most egregious example

the deleted character (rip Spindrax regulated to the shadow relm), one of the characters never gets a dedicated episode to see how he acts as an independent agent and that spider doesn't even have a real NAME (which im sure drives you crazy in particular Twinkle) there are IMPLICATIONS of character arcs and backstories and overall POTENTIAL that just got thrown away to show everyone how cool and dangerous LBD was and gave NO hope of rescue.

Back when s2 was airing i thought LMK was sort of like- Building a rogue's gallery- a sort of batman rogues are we type cabal that could keep the adventures fresh and fun and... nope. I would have KILLED for a sort of 'Harley and Ivy' type episode that was focused entirelhy around the spiders, and possibly run it like essentially an Ed Edd N Eddy episode as the spider boys tried running a heist or smth without SQ there to keep them from feeding off of eachother's vibes too hard and it all turning to complete chaos.

LMK has a lot of stylistic influence to Adveture Time, and you can tell they WANT MK to be a Finn type (I mean his place in the mythological system seems to be essentially Finn's Catalyst Comet arc truncated significantly) but you kinda can't make an adventure time style world without understanding that the world belongs just as much to the semi-reformed wizard kidnapping princesses as it does to the hero that kicks him in the boingloins, you know?

and LMK very much belongs ONLY to the Monkie Kid Krew (I mean ive gone on record to say that Tang's arc would have been MUCH more interesting if he WASN'T actually the Monk in a past life and really was Just Some Guy and fully earned his own magic, but that would mean the world was bigger than just the characters designated as important so that couldn't be) and the villains are just pins to set up and knock over in a season and a special's time (if they even get that, sorry Nine Heads)

But as for Huntsman and Goliath's perspectives on Syntax- man i WISH i knew those... I think the ones i like the best are Goliath being... nice but distant to the new guy in like a 'whatever the queen clearly thinks its fine' type way and Hutnsman being like- INSTANTLY thinking Syntax is gunning for his 'position' (whatever it is) and is HYPER aware of him, Syntax is living RENT free in this spider's head because he's CONVINCED that he's after his position in the 'loyalty to the queen' social ladder or smth and meanwhile Syntax, genre savvy as he is is like "oh we're gonna do that thing where we start out as rivals but grow closer to respect eachother and eventually become very close friends and playfully compete with eachother sometimes to keep the spice in the banter! this is fun! ^.^"

Idk sounds like more fun than a pile of dead bodies that don't even get the dignity of being brought back in flashbacks

[gnabnahc317cb97]

Office Space

Bang Chan × Female reader

Word count: 1.8K

Synopsis: You live in a world where one touch of your soulmate will ignite a pathological urge to consummate your bond. What happens when you bump into the cute guy from the office and it appears as though you've found your match?

Warnings: 18+ ONLY MDNI! Cursing/strong language, semi public sex in a locked office no one knows), unprotected sex (please use condoms), cream pie. I think that's it not anything too crazy but if I missed something please let me know and I'll add it asap!

The same thing happened to everyone. Once you turned twenty-one, if you came into physical contact with your soulmate your body had an overwhelming primal desire to claim each other physically. Fuck. It was a big talking point when you start going through sex ed in junior high. You heard the same thing you always did with anything else that had to do with sexual education. ‘It’s perfectly normal’ or ‘It happens to everyone’.  

No matter how true that was, it didn’t make the topic any less uncomfortable to talk about for some people, you being one of those people. You avoided anything that had to do with soulmates but when you turned twenty-one you went to a psychic with some friends and the lady who read your fortune said that your soulmate’s name would be Chris and his last name had something to do with a gun or fireworks, an explosion maybe, she wasn’t sure and you weren’t buying any of it.  

By the time you were twenty-five a few of your friends had already found their soulmates. You didn’t have time for that nonsense. Your career was your soulmate. You were the lead of your department’s team and it was no easy feat getting to that position.  There were eight other teams all the leads for those departments were men.

Most but not all of them you had met in passing regularly. There was one that you had never even been introduced to but you heard people calling him Chan. You couldn’t lie to yourself, he was gorgeous. Strong nose, kind eyes, pouty lips, shoulders for days, and well, he definitely had a good tailor because his ass... You had to stop thinking like that, you didn’t know the man. You didn’t know his last name, you had never even heard his voice.  

Well, that was about to change really soon. Today when you got to work the head of your branch was pulling all team leads in for a meeting so you and the eight other men, including Chan, had to meet in meeting room three immediately after lunch. Around one thirty all nine of you promptly met your boss.

There were eight other people there and you were trying not to be distracted by one person in general. It was difficult, you didn’t know why. You were able to keep up with the meeting but about halfway into your boss's third bullet point you were getting warm and took off your sweater. The dress you wore was sleeveless, you were hoping you could cool off. You were trying not to look at him but your eyes found him anyway as you shrugged your cardigan off. When you did you found his eyes already on you, something in them.  

“Chan?” Your boss had called him twice now and he snapped out of it and realized you noticed him staring, he quickly looked away. You could see his ears turning red. 

“Yes sir?” Your boss asked Chan to present what his team had been working on this quarter, asked a few questions about Chan’s team, and where he’d like to see things go in the next quarter. Chan had an answer for everything and it came out as smooth as butter with his thick Australian accent, which you had not been expecting.

When Chan was done the boss called on you to do the same thing. You stood and started walking forward as Chan was headed back to his seat. The walkway was narrow, you went to step around each other but stepped in the same direction, you both kind of nervously laughed and then stepped in the same direction again. 

“Sorry,” His slender fingers gently gripped your shoulder and he stepped behind you. His cologne was intoxicating and it was like one touch set your whole body on fire. When he passed you and headed to his seat you looked behind you for a second but he was already pulling out his chair. You tried to ignore the feeling in the pit of your stomach and focused on your presentation.

One by one all of the guys had to go up and do the same thing. It drug on forever if felt like. The throbbing between your legs was unbearable, you didn’t think you could press your thighs together any harder. Chan just seemed to be intently listening to whichever one of the guys was presenting, seemingly unbothered. Finally your boss dismissed you all you were thanking the stars you could finally get out of there and away from Chan before you made a fool of yourself. Just before you could make your haste, exit Chan called your name. 

“Oh excuse me, y/n? Would you mind coming to my office and running over a couple things about your team that I think I’d like to implement with mine?” You almost choked. 

“Y-your office?” He nodded; he was acting perfectly normal. You’d thought, well... you’d thought maybe he was your soulmate with the way you were feeling but apparently, you're just a horny perv that thinks about fucking their co-workers. 

“If you’re busy...” You didn’t want to seem impolite or like you weren’t a team player, he was really giving you a huge compliment by asking for such a thing. You just needed to get a hold of yourself. 

“No! Uhehm, no I’m not busy... I’d be happy to go over whatever you’d like.” That sounded like more than it should have you felt like but he still seemed totally nonchalant. He bowed and then led the way, you following the trail of whatever cologne he was wearing. Chan opened the door and let you in first.

You walked into his office nervous, hoping you could keep control of yourself because you had never felt so out of control in your life. As soon as you were in his office Chan came in too, then shut and locked the door. You turned to him and he walked up on you quickly. Your heart started racing, his hands gently cradled your face, his now a breath away from yours. 

“God please tell me you feel this too.” You were so relieved, you pulled him into a kiss as your answer. You had to taste his lips, they looked so juicy, a little red from worrying at them. You pulled away for a breath and backed towards his desk pulling him by his tie gently. He had a wicked smile on his face and followed. You sat on the desk legs spread, skirt riding up a bit and Chan nestled himself between your thighs, gripping your hips before kissing you again. You wrapped your arms around his wide shoulders and scooched forward. 

“I’ve had the biggest crush on you since I started here.” He admitted suddenly, lips hovering over yours. You couldn’t help how big your smile got. 

“Really?” He nodded biting at his lips and then kissing you again, his tongue sliding into your mouth, tasting you until oxygen was needed. 

“I’ve always noticed you too, it’s always kind of scared me.” You panted out. One of Chan’s hands was on your waist the other tracing your jaw.  

“You don’t have to be scared baby girl.” You felt warm all over hearing him say that. 

“I know.” You lifted your skirt more then hooked your fingers into the side of your panties and pulled them over, exposing your dripping sex to him. He looked down and his mouth watered but then he forced himself to look back up at you. 

“Are you sure?” You nodded and pulled at him desperately. 

“Mhmm.” You needed him. Chan started to unbuckle his pants, pulling them down and just as he was about to pull down his briefs, exposing the large outline in them, he realized something. 

“Oh... uh... I don’t have a condom.” You looked at him sweetly, a little shy, you always were when it came to this stuff. 

“Well... it’s just... together forever, right? I mean, that’s what this means... doesn’t it?” Chan cupped your face and nodded his eyes sparkling. 

“Together forever.” He kissed you softly. 

“I’m on the pill, so... it’s okay.” He shook his head, then dropped his underwear and you got a full view of what had been straining against the stretchy fabric of his briefs. You gnawed at your lips and he didn’t waste time. Chan wrapped your legs around him and lined up with your wet hole. When he sank into you it finally made sense.  

“Yes... fuck... f-feels so good baby girl. Please wanna hear you say my name, tell me how you want it beautiful.” 

“Chan yes fuck... harder, fuck me harder...” Chan fucked you harder, panting and moaning just as much as you. You loved how he wasn’t scared to make a little bit of noise for you. Not enough for anyone outside the office to hear but enough to make you drip for him. Chan shook his head no. 

“C-call me Chris...” 

“What?” You stopped him and looked into his eyes, your soulmate’s eyes. 

“C-Chris, my real first name is Chris...” I’ll be goddamned, you thought to yourself. 

“What’s your last name?” He smirked at you with a funny look on his face, laughing a little. 

“Seems like an unusual time to ask. Wanna know what yours is gonna be in the future?” You flushed and smiled. 

“It’s Bang.” He kissed you. The fucking psychic was right. 

“Why does everyone call you Chan?” He pushed a stray hair away and you couldn’t help but lean into his warmth. 

“It’s my middle name and there is a lot of Chris’ on our team. So I go by Chan in the office, but everywhere else, I’m Chris and I’d very much prefer to be Chris when I’m inside you. He rolled his hips and your eyes rolled back.  

“Mmmm Chris...” He started fucking you harder egged on by you using his actual first name. 

“huhuhu Chrisss...” Harder harder harder he kept pounding into you. He loved it he wanted more. 

“C-C-Chr-risss... g-gonna... gonna cum.” A light sweat was starting to break out on Chan’s forehead as he pushed you harder towards your climax. Your arms wrapped around him hand fulls of his beautiful curls. 

“God fuck I’m gonna cum too... fuck! Cum with me baby girl... cum with me.” He snapped his hips into yours again, brushing your g spot and you went nose diving into your orgasm clutching onto his muscular frame tightly, gasping for air. As soon as your cunt started clenching around Chan he started coming too, pushing deep inside as he filled you.

You both held each other, your legs wrapped around him, foreheads pressed together, trying to catch your breath. Once both your heartbeats returned to normal Chan helped you off his desk and pulled your skirt down for you. You adjusted his tie and he leaned in kissing you again. 

“Uh do you maybe wanna grab some dinner tonight?” You smiled and tried to help tame his curls a bit after mussing them when you came. 

“I’d love to Chris.” 

Please do not repost or translate any of my works. My blog and stories are NSFW and 18+ ONLY! Minors, ageless, and blank blogs will be blocked!

[natjennie]

guuuuysysssss because beacause beacusadfha sdbecuas "i love everything about you" EVERYTHING!!!!! he doesnt just love the parts that the world classifies as ed he doesnt just love the parts that the world classifies as blackbeard he loves everything about him. and even when we're shown absolute carnage, wrecking shit, nine guns, shooting people point blank, etc etc it's still "he's actually a good guy" when olu says "do you think blackbeard's gonna murder you?" like!!!! if only ed could see that even in his grief in his rage in his turmoil stede loves him! he wants to be near him!

stede presumably heard from olu and the crew what happened, abandoning them "killing" lucius, kidnapping frenchie and jim, destroying all his stuff, and without blinking an eye he said. I want to be around him again. I miss him. I LOVE him. like he deadass says the word love. multiple times! and the audacity of "I hope youre thinking of me as well"

because he KNOWS ed! he knows him. he knows that ed is sensitive and caring and heartbroken and hellbent. and he knows he can make him happy. and he wants to be around him even when he isnt happy. it's such a testament to how much he does actually love ed like the idea of. I love you when you're at your best and I want to strive to make you happy as often as I can but I know that can't always be true and I want to be there with you at your low points because every moment that I'm with you is one well spent. you are loved and you are important to me breathing the same air as you is a privilege and I want to share my life with you, especially when you feel like those things aren't true.

[darkmaga-returns]

Whoa! If you give a policeman your phone for any reason, and you have a biometric ID turned on (facial recognition or fingerprint), you will expose all the data on your phone: pictures, passwords, financial information, chat streams, email, mapping data, etc. Don’t let that happen! Immediately turn off all biometric ID features on your phone and use a password instead. If your phone has an anti-theft feature to block repeating guessing of your password, turn it on! The same logic applies to tablets and laptops.

⁃ Patrick Wood, TN Editor.

Without a warrant and specific proof of incriminating evidence, police should never be allowed past your phone’s lock screen.

Growing police power has gravely distorted interactions between cops and citizens. Officers arrive with not just a gun and body armor but with wide-ranging legal immunities and both the privilege and training to lie to you during questioning.

Now they want to force you to unlock your phone. [Don’t ever do this! – ed.]

The amount of personal data we keep on our smartphones is almost immeasurable, a reality the Supreme Court recognized in 2014 when it ruled that police must comply with the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement to search your device. But your phone has a simpler safeguard: a password that, under the Fifth Amendment, you shouldn’t have to reveal unless the government overcomes your right against self-incrimination.

It’s a right with deep roots, dating back to fourth-century Christian thinker St. John Chrysostom, who argued that no one should be required to confess their sins in public because it would discourage people from confessing at all.

By the 17th century, English common law had begun to develop these ideas into a right not to be interrogated under oath. The right achieved major recognition after the infamous Star Chamber sentenced prominent natural rights thinker John Lilburne to approximately 500 lashes for refusing to testify against himself. Lilburne remained a significant English philosopher and politician for decades while the Star Chamber was abolished just four years later.

Lilburne’s case was so influential that colonial America enshrined the privilege against self-incrimination in nine state constitutions before it even became part of the Bill of Rights. Today, police act as if smartphones and digital technology invalidate those protections. They don’t.

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t broken the law or you think you have nothing to hide. What matters is whether police believe—rightly or wrongly—that you have done something illegal or that you have something to hide. Police are incentivized not to protect rights but to arrest people allegedly (or actually) breaking laws.

Without a warrant and specific proof of incriminating evidence, police should never be allowed past your phone’s lock screen.

Unfortunately, your Fourth Amendment right against warrantless searches and seizures is insufficient to stop police from scouring the trove of personal data on your phone for information unrelated to their investigation. Police can seize your device before they get a warrant and if they have the passcode nothing stops them from performing an off-the-record search—even if they might be later prevented from introducing that information in court.

Once police get warrants to perform specific searches—which courts regularly grant—they often retain smartphones far longer than needed to execute the narrow bounds of the warrant. They may try to introduce the evidence they “coincidentally” discovered, even if it falls outside the warrant’s scope.

[black-diamond1329]

⭐ Name: Sandra, but you can tell me Sandy 😉.

⭐Age: I feel like I'm 15 years old, I stopped counting at 19 and my friends say that I act like I'm 5 years old XD hahaha ... Nah! I just turned 23 years old this August n_n.

💔 Occupation: Being a universitary girl XD ... Yes! It's so fun! (sarcasm).

🩷 Some things that I love it: Read (I read all kinds of books and about my favorite ships on Ao3! 🤭), cook desserts, listen to music while I do other activities like my homework or when I read, Greek mythology (The love between us will never die! 💗).

⭐Saint Seiya (or Knights of the Zodiac). I found this beautiful serie when I was 7 years old. My favorite is the original serie, although I also like the Lost Canvas a lot and Episode G (because Aioria is the protagonist). Soul of Gold gives me mixed feelings. From Omega and Next Dimension, better don't ask me; my mind lives in denial. My favorite characters are the Golden Saints, especially Aioros and Aioria, being Aioria my super favorite.

Thanks to Saint Seiya I developed a great love for the stars 💫 and I have many scientific books on the subject, as well as books of myths and legends about the constellations ✨.

💥 I'm a Marvel Girl. I love those tormented superheroes and antiheroes. I basically grew up watching Marvel since Iron Man came out in 2008 and I immersed myself fully in the world of the comics, I have a lot of comics and books on my bookshelf 🤭. My favorites are: Iron Man ♥️, Captain America, Spider-Man, Loki, the X-Men, Black Widow and Scarlet Witch, in all their presentations and with all their charms and defects!.

🍿Series: Friends, Full House, The big bang theory, How I met your mother and How I met your father, Modern Family, Mom, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel... I love it K-Dramas like Goblin: The lonely and great God, Crash landing on you, Tale of the Nine Tailed 😋, I have also watched many animes like Sailor Moon, Ouran High School Host Club, Toradora, Code Geass, Inuyasha, Kaleido Star, Shaman King, Attack on Titan... it's a long list and I don't remember everything at this moment 🤔. Miraculous Ladybug (I know it's for kids, but ... there is Chat Noir 🖤).

🐉In my House of the Dragon era ��: Like many people, I was also terribly disappointed with the horrible ending of Game of Thrones, but I really loved Fire and Blood when I read it in 2020... so I decided to give the serie a chance when I saw the first trailer... and I don't regret it! 🥳. I liked Daemon and Rhaenyra so much in the book and absolutely loved them in the TV Show! (Matt and Emma are incredible! ❣️). Another character that I loved in the book and the one I always wanted to know more about was Jacaerys Velaryon and I must say that I am very pleased with the choice of Harry Collett 😍 (oh yeah baby! 🔥).

I really hope that the directors and writers do justice to this wonderful crown prince! 🥰, because for me he is already one of my favorite characters of all time! ❣️.

🎥 Favorite Movies: Troy 2004 (did I mention I'm a Greek mythology lover?), the Star Wars saga 💫 (1-6 only), The Great Gatsby, A Walk to Remember, Harry Potter 🪄 (books and movies), The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy, The Hunger Games saga ❣️(books and movies), The Twilight saga 😊 (books and movies).

I love Studio Ghibli movies with all my heart 💗 since my dad bought me the movie of Kiki Delivery Service when I was a 6-year-old little girl.

I love everything Disney and Pixar does 💗😘. (think of the happiest things, It's the same as having wings! 🎶)

🎧 Music: I have a very varied taste in music, some would say strange 😅, but if I like the rhythm and lyrics of the song I will surely add it to my playlist (mainly I like rock), AC / DC, Queen, Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, Linkin Park, Evanescence, Within Temptation, Imagine Dragons, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Lana del Rey, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. I enjoy classical music too 🩷.

⭐ Something more about me: I am an inveterate dreamer and extremely perfectionist. I express myself better by writing than talking 😚.

I haven't drawn anything in almost 5 years and when I did I used to draw with traditional media (watercolor, charcoal, colored pencils, gouche and acrylic paints 🖌️).

But since October (from last year), when I saw Harry Collett as Prince Jacaerys, I felt a desire to draw that I hadn't felt in a long time ❣️.

This is my first time trying to draw in digital media, I hope you like what you see! 😘 (YouTube tutorials don't fail me now! 😭). I spent the whole summer practicing🥺.

P.S: Sorry if exist some error, the english is not my firts lenguage.

[maggotwithanf]

“I still can’t believe you pulled that off.”

Arcade cocked his head to the side, the sunlight glinting off his glasses and blackened Van Graff armor as it sunk into the skyline of the New Vegas strip.

“I wasn’t sure what you were going to do, you know, accepting Caesar’s invitation like that,” he went on, the worried edge stealing into his voice. “I wasn’t sure you weren’t going to, you know. Betray me,” he finished, his voice breaking a little.

“Me? For that asshole? Never,” Lloyd grinned, lighting up a battered cigarette with one of Arcade’s safety matches. Arcade frowned.

“You know I’m obliged to tell you those are bad for your health.”

“Nine out of ten doctors agree, Grey Tortoise cigarettes are perfectly fine and leave a healthy coating of protective tar in your lungs.”

“Oh, don’t start.” Arcade rolled his eyes, but his nervousness was starting to subside.

There was about two feet between them, and they hadn’t quite talked about what happened, yet, but he had much bigger things on his mind.

“How did you do it?” Arcade whispered, like he was afraid people were going to hear.

They were perched on the edge of a bluff, overlooking Freeside, the gates to the Strip still shuffling slowly, milling about with a handful of NCR soldiers and the odd barker. It was still early.

Lloyd grinned even wider. “Okay, yeah. You sure I didn’t tell you this?”

“No,” Arcade frowned, but with a sort of lopsided smile. “You just - busted out of there, guns a-blazing, screaming about how we had to get the fuck out of there right now.”

“Well, get this.” Lloyd spread his hands out in front of him, palms splayed, trying to paint a picture. “I get in there, and who’s down tied up in their custody but Benny, the fucking fink himself. So I give him a little idle chat while Caesar’s tying up some loose ends, and next thing you know, he and I start coming up with an escape plan.”

“Escape plan?”

“Yeah, right? Cause he’s all tied up. Kinda at my mercy, huh?” Lloyd grinned. “I wanted him to owe me one, so I slipped him a stealth boy, cut the rope, and, when I gave the signal…”

“Oh, no.” Arcade’s frown furrowed. “Oh. You didn’t.”

“Yup!” Lloyd beamed, his grin looking almost devious at that point. “They didn’t notice where he went, but they definitely noticed the guy just disappeared into thin air.”

“Of course. Pandemonium ensued. Naturally.”

“You fuckin’ know it,” Lloyd grinned, looking positively feral. “Only took a few seconds for them to figure out who probably did it. And by then -”

“You were hightailing it out of there, half the Legion on your back.”

“Hey, we did great!” Lloyd protested, taking another drag of his cigarette, followed by a swig of lukewarm Nuka-Cola. “You and ED-E really held your own. Barely a scratch on both of you.”

“Because you were a bullet sponge,” Arcade frowned, concerned. He edged slightly closer to Lloyd, peering down at his knee. “...May I?”

“Be my guest,” Lloyd shrugged.

Arcade whipped out a leather bag of supplies, and set to redressing Lloyd’s already filthy knee wound. They had been doing an awful lot of crawling round in the dirt lately - one of them more than the other.

Gritting his teeth as Arcade swabbed and snipped, Lloyd took another hard drag of his cigarette. He’d never admit it, but there was just something precociously special about the awkward pleasure and pain of having him carefully and caringly patch up his sustained injuries. He’d never had that before. He never thought anyone would want the job.

Flicking his gaze downward, he caught Arcade’s eye, just for a second, before the doctor grinned sheepishly and returned to dressing his knee. Lloyd pulled back a smile, trying his hardest to look steely behind his Nuka-Cola.

“You all right?” Arcade murmured, cutting the last of the gauze and taping it carefully up.

Lloyd nodded. “All thanks to you,” he grinned.

Arcade looked up, and, for once, smiled right back, his gorgeously chiseled face betraying the slightest, yet most potent, of little lopsided smiles.

Lloyd felt his heart knock right out of his chest.

[Part 2]

[chacusha]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Prophecy and Change (2003) ed. Marco Palmieri

I bought this book because of @ysalamiri-queen's recommendation of its Quodo short story, which is indeed great. This is a collection of short stories published shortly after DS9 ended, all set within canon (missing scenes/episodes) except for the one by Andrew J. Robinson at the end which seems to be a post-canon follow-up to A Stitch in Time. Here are my thoughts on the stories (mild spoilers for the general content of the book/premises of the individual stories):

"Ha'mara" by Kevin G. Summers: This is a Sisko & Kira story set shortly after the events of "Emissary." I liked this one! It's a good opener to the book not just because it occurs so early in the timeline but because it touches on so many of the themes that DS9 will eventually be about: religion and faith, Sisko's odd role as the Emissary, post-colonial Bajor, Bajor's (non-)entrance into the Federation, etc. I thought it was both a good and odd fit into the timeline: Good because it fleshes out when exactly did people generally know Sisko was the Emissary -- this is a bit vague in DS9 season 1. We know Opaka and Sisko know but outside of that, we never really get how that was communicated to the wider Bajoran public and what the reaction was, so it was nice seeing that here (throughout season 1 I don't think anyone calls Sisko by the title of Emissary but over the course of the show it's obvious he's generally seen as filling that role). Anyway, that's a bit of canon I thought was missing and could be filled in. The story is also a bit of an odd fit because it does some serious relationship development between Sisko and Kira very early in season 1. I'm a bit torn whether I think that fits their dynamic in canon or jumps the gun a bit on their relationship development. In any case, though, I enjoyed this story and its themes. I liked getting to see more of Opaka, too, before she disappears.

"The Orb of Opportunity" by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels: Oh man, the main thing I remember from this story is that it seemed like it was written by a Kai Winn fanboy. Now, I love Kai Winn and Nog (who are the main characters of this story) and I love that someone wrote a story focusing on them, but in this story I felt they played up Winn's bravery, revolutionary spirit, and moral compass a bit too much in a way that she no longer felt like Winn. No doubt she is capable of having all of those characteristics and I appreciate getting to see the nobler side of Winn, but she is ultimately meant to be a total snake and I want to see Kai Winn being a total snake. Making Kai Winn instrumental to Nog's decision to join Starfleet is so funny to me but also just NO. Anyway, I liked the story here and appreciated the Nog and Winn focus and the bizarrely positive take on Winn was an experience in and of itself. I like it, but I don't think it's canon.

"Broken Oaths" by Keith R.A. DeCandido: This is a Bashir & O'Brien story that says it's set after "Our Man Bashir" but I think it's more accurately a coda for "Hippocratic Oath". Basically, the plot is "Bashir and O'Brien talk their anger/feelings out about O'Brien disobeying direct orders in order to destroy Bashir's ketracel white research to save his life." Which I suppose is a kind of thing that would put a damper on one's friendship, and generally I like fanfic of the form "Characters actually talk about all the fucked up stuff that happened in canon" but I guess I didn't particularly feel I needed these two to talk out this issue and it felt a bit "stating the obvious out loud" at points (like, "Maybe the reason I was so mad was because [self-analysis]!", you know?). I did appreciate the humor of the stereotypical plot of two characters' whole friend group scheming in order to get them to kiss and make up (with Dax, Worf, Garak, and Quark being the scheming friends here).

"...Loved I Not Honor More" by Christopher L. Bennett: This is the Quodo story featuring Grilka set sometime after her second appearance ("Looking for par'Mach..."), and it's great. I feel like the author had a really good handle on Quark and Odo's dynamic which is ostensibly antagonistic but actually very tender and intimate underneath, and not explicitly romantic but still with those ~vibes~. So like, if you want another story involving these two that's very close to/in line with canon, this does that really well. Also, we get another story involving Grilka and Klingon noble house drama, which is always great. Even though Quark and Odo's canonical love interests come up in this story, somehow it's about Odo telling Quark that he's a Ferengi and that's enough and he never has to be something he's not, and UGH THESE TWO. How do they manage to be so rom-com sappy when they're not even a couple? I'm dying.

"Three Sides to Every Story" by Terri Osborne: Oh man, I have a lot of thoughts on this one. This is a Jake/Ziyal (pre-ship) story, where Jake and Ziyal get to know each other during the Dominion occupation arc and then Jake has to deal with her death. I've heard of Jake/Ziyal as a relatively popular "Ziyal survives AU" pairing so I wasn't surprised to see it here, but I haven't actually read any fic for that pairing so I guess I'm not intrinsically interested in it. Reading this story made me wonder if Jake/Ziyal is actually a soft NOTP for me, or if I just really didn't like the way it was done in this story. I didn't find Jake and Ziyal's attraction to each other convincing (more tell than show), their characterization felt flat to me, and I felt the setup of the story made Ziyal's death more about the tragedy of Jake's connection to her, which is a tough sell as Jake's connection to her is only really established in this story, so the emotional resonance of the story is heavily reliant on having set that up well, which I already felt this story didn't. Anyway, I like the idea of looking at Ziyal's death through a different lens than in the show, and Jake as an artist who doesn't know Ziyal well could have been an excellent choice but I felt making that lens romantic (especially given all the weird forced-romantic stuff with Garak in the show which is thankfully not present here) kind of wasted the potential of Ziyal's character to have some meaning other than potential love interest and daughter, which is already there in the show. Even fleshing out an antagonistic relationship with Damar would have been more interesting IMO (Damar does interact with Ziyal but I also felt those interactions felt flat/didn't have a good grasp on Damar's character either). Anyway, sorry this is so negative -- it's one of those cases where I have a lot to say because I can actually see the reasoning/potential/good ideas here but just got a bit let down by the execution.

"The Devil You Know" by Heather Jarman: This is a Jadzia-centric story set in season 6 after the Romulans join the war against the Dominion and intersecting with the events of "Time's Orphan." This one is an old-fashioned moral dilemma of a wartime Federation where the character goes too far and has to deal with the fallout of that. It felt like a DS9 plot, but at the same time, I felt this took Jadzia's character in too dark a direction (it felt like it relied on emotional outbursts to show/justify why a character makes decisions that don't really line up with that character's values/normal way of functioning); also, it is just depressing but I kind of appreciated the depiction of helpless grief here. Also, Jadzia should totally get her own Romulan woman to have ridiculous chemistry with (Subcommander T'Rul in this case) following the Romulan entrance to the war, just like Kira does (with Kimara Cretak), so I approve. Overall a kind of depressing/bleak story especially for Jadzia (kinda seems out of line with her character) but I enjoyed the plot and thought it did interesting things with her character, even though I don't particularly think Jadzia would react to stress in quite this way.

"Foundlings" by Jeffrey Lang: This is an Odo & Thrax mystery set between season 6 and 7 when Cardassia is increasingly not flourishing under the Dominion. Thrax comes to Odo with a case of a shuttle accident that left all its passengers dead. I'm not sure I really dig the Thrax characterization here but hey, he's a very minor character so... free real estate! I appreciate the author bringing a one-episode character (he doesn't quite appear in one episode, even...) back. Fun mystery with nice Odo character work (and interesting stuff involving Odo vs. Thrax and Odo's relationship to the Dominion vs. Thrax's relationship to Cardassia). But I really could have done without all the Kirodo parts, ngl. 😂

"Chiaroscuro" by Geoffrey Thorne: An Ezri-centric story. This one was weird. Once it started getting into the Jadzia-designed, Dante's Inferno-themed labyrinth, I started wondering if the author already had a non-Star Trek sci-fi story that they had already written, which they quickly adapted here, because the aesthetic and themes seemed so off from Jadzia/Ezri/Trills/Star Trek in general, with a kind of weak rationale for why Jadzia a Trill would theme a maze around a human notion of hell and punishment... But at the same time, the story outside the maze itself does so much to tie in Ezri's previous lives and how Ezri differs from Jadzia that it had to be the case that at least a lot of this story was specifically written with Ezri/Star Trek in mind. But yeah, this one was pretty wild (even the premise of Jadzia wiping memory of the event seemed kind of designed to be like a concession that this story fits awkwardly in canon). I liked seeing Ezri and Jadzia's past work and past hosts get some fleshing out but not sure what I think about this story as a whole.

"Face Value" by Una McCormack: This is a story that fleshes out Kira & Damar & Garak's relationship when they are fomenting rebellion (and are stranded) on Cardassia. Not much happens plotwise in this story but there's a lot of character work, and I like the interactions between these characters and wish we'd gotten more than was in the show (so I appreciate getting more here), and I liked the writing.

"The Calling" by Andrew J. Robinson: This is set after A Stitch in Time and the stage play "The Dream Box" and features Garak struggling to unify a broken, fragmented Cardassia post-canon. As I still haven't read ASIT (it's very hard to get a copy of), I didn't get much out of this one. Like, there was an attempt to fill the reader on all the important terms, concepts, and characters but the whole story just didn't make sense without having that previous background and investment in what happens after the events of the previous stuff. I'll revisit this later once I've read the earlier works.

Overall, a really fun collection of stories. I liked the variety, getting to see the whole cast here, and getting to read stories pretty in line with canon. And yes, the Quodo one was my favorite, although there were a couple of other stories here where the writing was just as good and it told an interesting story.

[mlobsters]

supernatural s9e15 #thinman (w. jenny klein)

don't really think about it until they show a bit of s1/2 in the recap and man, dean's voice got so much lower

SAM On a hunt? Why wouldn't I? DEAN I don't know, man. 'Cause lately with you, up is down and down is sideways, you know? I-I -- I don't know what you want.

does sam even know?

worked for will graham!

i'm trying not to cringe up into a ball knowing it's a ghostfacers episode... maybe it'll be fine.

HARRY Ah, the Winchesters. Yay. ED Says nobody. HARRY Ever.

it's funny because it's true

DEAN Am I supposed to be impressed with that treasure trail or the lady gun you got hiding in your, uh, pants there?

this show, sometimes

HARRY 50 shades of whey too much protein!

look at that, we got a tld! ghostfacers.com! but not in the search results window

two laptops and a full sized, albeit also vintage, stove. they sure find the interesting motels

why is sam looking so extra pretty today. hair must be in a pleasing (to me) configuration

kind of surprised they aren't talking about tulpas if it's the slenderman spn-universe equivalent. oh man. this episode aired 2 months before the girls stabbed their friend because of slender man.

and dean just smacked treasure trail boy on the ass, all right. we're having a normal one

DEAN You throw the right Tibetan symbol into the mix, you dumb asses ever think the Thinman comes to life as a Tulpa? ED Because thousands of people can agree that Thinman is any one thing? The lore changes blog to blog. He's not a Tulpa.

LOL thanks show, make me feel clever

SAM Okay. Just grasping at straws here, but when I think "teleport," I think "Crossroads Demon." DEAN Mm. Demon that likes to stab and watch YouTube. Why not?

DEAN You know what video would have gone viral, if we still had it? When you were five and you got dressed up as Batman and you jumped off the shed 'cause you thought you could fly. SAM After you jumped first. DEAN Hey, I was nine, and I was dressed up like superman, okay? Everybody knows that Batman can't fly. SAM Well, I didn't know that. I broke my arm.

DEAN I know you did. Man, I drove you to the E.R. on my handlebars.

okay i teared up because that was just so sweet, both relaxed and happy for at least a second. haha such a sap

DEAN Hm, good times. SAM Yeah, they were.

second over, emphasis on WERE

ED Harry was gonna leave, so I needed to give him a reason to stay. I-I made up Thinman.

what

SAM Listen, if you don't tell him, he's gonna leave anyway. Trust me here. Secrets ruin relationships.

laughed out loud. they would know!

look at that pretty face staring down the dude to get him to tell the truth

HARRY You crashed the Jenga Tower of our lives. I was gonna get married. I left her to run around with you, living some lie. ED Well, at least we were living it together.

this is so goofy. even more in your face than usual, parelleling a plot point to sam and dean's situation

ED Harry, we can get through this. We just debunk Thinman and then we go back to Ghostfacers. HARRY I can't. I can't trust you anymore, Ed.

so goofy!

HARRY None of it was real, Sam. Ed was just pretending, and now he wants me to pretend, like this is just something I could get past. SAM I know what you mean. Look, there are things you can forgive, and there are things you can't. HARRY So, which one is this? SAM That's something you got to figure out for yourself.

therapize himself a little along the way

DEAN So, the tires were only made for one kind of car. It's a 1989 Geo Metro.

man those little hatchbacks used to be all over the place, nearly all of them must be dead by now. specially the mid90s ish ones which were ... not very reliable

DEAN So, there was no teleporting -- just a couple of douche bags doing the "Scream" thing.

what did i say about looking extra pretty? and he usually is more buttoned up than this. very pretty lighting too

ED I've done all this crap for us. I-I don't know why you don't see that. HARRY No. No. You did this for you.

literally wheezing. not enough to take the same betrayal of trust plotline but even the same lines!!? LOL

from s9e13 SAM Okay. Just once, be honest with me. You didn't save me for me. You did it for you.

--

HARRY You roll with a guy so many years, you start to think he's always gonna be next to you. Like, when you're old and you're drinking on the porch, he'll be in that other rocking chair. And then something happens, and you realize that other chair has gone empty.

snorted. so like, okay. do you hear yourself say it, harry? very normal thing, just like planning on being with your friend forever. not wanting him to be with his lady and a regular job, but on the road with just you. i mean like, obviously, same can be said about sam and dean and that's probably part of the point but it's so loudly obvious that it's like *looking around* are you seeing this? are they saying this. i guess we can say like see, this is normal, just dudes being close bros. weird

WEIRD CHOICES. what a strange episode. good for those actors i guess getting to come back again and have a meatier parts in the episode

okay also tucking this episode in my pocket because i recall there's a thing with the retirement whatever brochure some time in the future, but also that makes me sad again that dean didn't make it to retirement age. womp womp

[casspurrjoybell-33]

Wreckless - The Waterside

*Warning Adult Content*

Emmett

After our walk last night Finnegan crawled into bed with his clothes still on and declared he was too tired to move.

I undressed him and got him into his undies and all of a sudden he was awake enough to need a story.

I didn't mind, I was curious to see what was going on with our Demi-God.

It's now after eight a.m. and he's still asleep.

I was more than happy to find coffee grinds, sugar and some creamer packets in the kitchen this morning.

After I could open my eyes and get them to focus, I left Finnegan a note and took a quick walk, letting my nose lead me.

I ended up at a little bakery and came home with enough food for four.

I ate a croissant sandwich, checked on Finnegan and then blew up the pool toys and tossed them into the pool.

If I'd known we were gonna have our own I would have bought more.

That's okay, they sell that stuff in every other store around.

I grab another cup of coffee and go upstairs, staring out the balcony door.

I was right, you can see the ocean.

"Morning Emmett," he sounds adorable.

"Morning darling, how'd you sleep?"

"So good. I never wanna get up but I'm excited. Hey, come back to bed."

He's got his tongue sticking out the side of his smiling mouth just a little bit and his eyes are sparkling.

I know what he wants but I'm also in the mood to mess with him.

"I'm not tired."

"But... but I want yummies."

Yummies?

I'm pretty sure I know what he means, it's funny that he keeps changing what he calls our morning fun.

"Is that so? I went to the bakery and got you some yummies."

I'm proud of myself for managing to keep a straight face.

He sits up and stretches, pouting.

"Fine. No yummies. Is it pretty out there?"

I'm not sure if he means the view or the weather.

"Gorgeous," works for both.

I suddenly realize that I just got outwitted and lost to a nine year old.

I guess that means no blow job for me although if I went over there I'm sure he'd oblige.

He walks over and stands next to me and I can hear his intake of breath as he looks out the window.

There's no doubt in my mind that his mouth is making a little 'o'.

"The ocean. Can we go to the beach?"

"Of course but you need some breakfast first."

He drops to his knees and this time I don't argue except to make him get up on the bed so I can ravage him as well.

When he gets downstairs he immediately opens the slider and runs out.

"Toys. Did you bring those, Emmett?"

He's outside and he's worried about people hearing him.

"I did. There's more on a chair but they can wait for another day."

Or not, he's walking out barefoot.

The deck is fairly clean but I should sweep it and double check. 

I should be watching him or doing that now but I finish warming up his sandwich, drop it on the table and then walk to the door.

He's holding a water gun and shoots it straight at me.

The little rascal.

I shut the door but not before getting a wet stripe the whole way across my stomach.

Oh no, it's on.

I run out while he's reloading and grab the other one.

"You're in trouble now."

He looks straight at me, unloads his gun and runs back inside and I haven't even gotten mine loaded yet.

He knows I won't shoot him inside so he's progressed from a rascal to a little shit.

I put my gun down, put my hands up in surrender and he opens the door.

I will get him back for that.

An hour later we're walking down to the beach and I'm holding his hand.

That's why Rehoboth is the place to be.

I have my bag with our towels, sunscreen and necessities and I can tell that Finn is doing his best to not run.

He surprises me when he says...

"Is it okay if I'm in little head-space?"

"Of course darling. I expected you to be... at least for a lot of it."

"Okay. That's... that's nice of you Emmett. I need it."

He's had a rough two weeks.

"I'm sure you do."

"But I want to do what you need, too."

This again.

This horrible insecurity that he can't seem to get past.

I pull us to the edge of the sidewalk.

"Finnegan. It has killed me to not be able to help you more the past few weeks. I want to take care of you, no I need to take care of you. That's all I want to do on vacation. I want to spend some time with you, ravage you and take care of you. You're easier to take care of when you're little, you know."

He's looking down at what must be a very interesting rock so I let him off the hook and we keep walking.

As soon as we hit the sand he takes his flip flops off, then races down towards the cooler damp sand.

I find us a spot, put our stuff down and then walk out to meet him.

"I've never been in. I saw the Pacific once in Sacramento, went to the pier. I flew over it to Europe but I've never actually touched it."

"Finnegan? Look at me."

He may sound more adult right this second but this is important.

"I know you can swim but you need to listen to me, okay?"

"Okay."

"The tide is going out. It pulls, hard. The sand moves beneath your feet and some of those waves will knock you right over if you're not paying attention. Be careful, okay? Stay with me until you get used to it."

He smiles up at me.

"I'll be careful, I promise."

Good... I can't wait to watch him experience this.

He's done so many things and can do so many things that chances like this are rare. It's going to be an amazing day.

[redshiftsinger]

The thing is, sure, it's unsustainable to live for just one thing, or just one person. It's not healthy to pin all your will to live to one thing -- but sometimes it just takes one thing to tip the scales at someone's lowest moment.

There was still a significant part of Ed that wanted to live. Even thinking no one loved him or could love him. Even thinking there's no chance he could ever be anything but the version of Blackbeard with nine guns all over him. He spent his whole Hornighost Hallucination sequence fighting with himself between the conflicting impulses to live and to die.

I think it's important to remember that Stede leaving didn't give him depression issues. He had those all along. He's definitely had suicidal impulses before -- we see it in his first appearances ("there's an idea, I haven't died yet, have I? Maybe we should try that"). The combination hit of heartbreak and feeling like there's no hope to change his circumstances and escape the life he's come to hate just stacked on top of his pre-existing chronic depression to send him into a particularly severe self-destructive spiral.

He's been fighting the same battle for a long time, it's nothing new. He's just so fucking tired and thinks there's no point anymore. He just needs a reason to keep trying, one tiny bit of hope that life could still have something good in it someday.

It wouldn't be healthy to stay in a place where Stede is his only reason for living. But there's nothing unhealthy about Stede being the good thing in his life that tips the scales toward remembering that there ARE good things about living, things that are worth living for the hope of even when everything is currently sucking a lot, when he almost forgot that.

finding just ONE THING to live for is better than nothing at all.

yeah, stede cast out a line to ed and that line saved him, but ed also had to be the one to take it.

before, ed had made his pros and cons list and decided that his “cons” outweighed his “pros”—completely fucked them. once stede says, “i’m here, im here now, you’re safe,” that immediately got rid of that rock weighing him down. his “cons” no longer cancelled out his “pros” because there is someone waiting for him. stede was always there for him before, and he’s there for him now, even if they’re pissed at each other and have a lot of things to work out.

at that moment, stede was there for ed when ed had no one else left, including himself. and that’s more than enough to live for.

[biceratops7]

Can we just acknowledge how ofmd said “twink rights” for a moment?

Ok wait hear me out, it is legitimately so weirdly rare to see media centered around queerness that sees effeminate gay men as diverse, complex, and invaluable to our community. More historically it’s been used as cinematic shorthand for (often negative) queer coding, but now a days it’s either a token or something to point at and go “We’re gay but not like those guys, we’re normal people.” (Looking at you Love Simon…)

And then we have Our Flag Means Death, which has a bare minimum of three effeminate gay men, all completely different from each other in several areas. All having their presentation of queerness treated as a strength by the series.

First we have Lucius. He’s the first openly gay character we meet and is easily the most “stereotypical.” However these things are deconstructed and seen as healthy character traits. For example in episode 5, Lucius is shown to “get around” if you know what I mean. Usually this is seen as dangerous or immoral by the narrative, but ofmd completely turns that on its head when it’s revealed not only that his boyfriend knows about it, but the whole ship does and supports it. “We don’t own each other” takes a commonly frowned upon stereotype of gay men and asks why it’s even seen as bad in the first place. What’s wrong with an adult who enjoys open sex with other consenting parties? It’s precisely Lucius’s pride and the crew’s acceptance of it that wins them a victory against Izzy.

Another thing about Lucius is that he’s easily one of the most self actualized characters in the show. Normally when this happens it’s used in the “gay best friend” trope, where you’re a straight but “woke” blonde lady who’s uber confident twink friend gives great advice. You know, that one? Accept here Lucius’s strong sense of self concept and knowledge of healthy relationships are used to help his own community. Often times effeminate gay men either can’t hide their queerness or just choose not to, because of that “twinks” are often seen protecting or mentoring younger/ newer members of our community, and that role is incredibly important and deserving of respect.

Alright now let’s move from that to the dude with a giant beard who is so stereotypically manly he’s rumored to carry nine guns. That’s right, Blackbeard is low key a twink and I will fight to the death on this hill.

I’ve already touched on my reasoning behind that in this post, but what I didn’t mention is that these attributes are not only acceptable by the narrative but staunchly encouraged.

When Ed’s taking part in these things he’s growing as a character, he’s putting his past behind him and becoming the healthiest version of himself. Even when he’s just straight up having a mental breakdown throwing himself into these softer things is used as symbolism for healthy coping strategies like being honest about what’s wrong and opening up to people who care about you.

This is in stark contrast with him violently throwing away every trace of it. His abrupt return to traditional masculinity (and casual murder, but you know, pirates) is treated as a moment of weakness made in desperation, one he quickly realizes didn’t work at all. But now it’s too late.

And then there’s Stede, I won’t say much about him because it’s pretty simple. Stede’s “effeminate” traits are seen as negatives by the people we’re supposed to dislike (Izzy, the twins, his father, etc.), but a big theme of the series is showing that those people were wrong and painting them as strengths. He’s at his best when he uses less traditionally masculine traits, the show actually frames them as valuable skills. 

His attitude on being emotionally open makes a HUGE positive impact on Ed’s life and eventually endears his crew to him, making them all incredibly close. His knowledge and liking for “fine things” is something he and Ed share together and is the first thing they connect over. The show isn’t about Stede becoming a better man despite these attributes, it about him becoming a better man because of them. Because he chooses to share them with someone who finds them charming and loves him for who he is instead.