#b-bomb scenario

[cherrysarchives]

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🔞 - sᴘɪᴄʏ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ

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Ships

[meanbossart]

Do you personally think that Astarion gets touch repulsed sometimes? If so, what would Drow's thoughts be about it and how would he handle it? You've said that he's careful about his loved ones' boundaries and avoids bombing them with affection, however I think some insights of his thoughts about Astarion's ambivalence with physical contact would be interesting!

Sorry to give a reading assignment right off the bat, but I think the reply to this ask and this one serves as necessary context for this. But I actually don't think Astarion is all that prone to feelings of repulsion as much as he's prone to either A) an eerie and total disconnect and indifference to his partner's and his own well-being or B) A sense of anxiety born from the association that has formed between sex and his partner's encroaching death. - or arguably worse, a gut-churning resignation to it.

Sometimes he communicates the discomfort and things stop. Sometimes he doesn't - be it because he wants to explore it, try to push past it, or just because 🤷eh, been a while, so might as well. Either way, he's a grown man who can make that choice for himself and deal with the emotional consequences later.

DU drow does not see it that way at all, at least not for a while. He concerns himself far too much with Astarion's ability to consent to and want for intimacy, and could never wrap his mind around him wanting to do something despite not being entirely in the mood for it. Point is, DU drow would have no issue abstaining from sex or physical affection (well - he would and has, but he'd deal with them privately and they're mostly, uh, physical), his biggest flaw in this scenario is to continually miss the forest for the trees and make his partner out to be more helpless than he is in reality.

[nekropsii]

Atomic Ask Bomb 4!!

This is a bunch of lighthearted haterism! Well... "Lighthearted" as in it's just a bunch of quippy bitching, not "lighthearted" in its subject matter. Same shit as always!

Content Warning: Long, Discussions of Abuse, Transmisogyny, Ableism, Pedophilia, Mentions of Incest, Bestiality.

True. At least I don't have to start doing unironic Freudian analysis just to feel like I've said something new and interesting about my specialty cast.

It's weird, because there really is a lot that isn't said about the Main Cast - a lot of which is really interesting - but... People would rather die than put serious, grounded thoughts into these characters, it feels. Especially if the topic is even vaguely uncomfortable. So, you get some nonsense on how there should have been menstruation in Homestuck, or that Eridan was never intended to die, instead of putting any serious analytical thought on Dave's abuse, or Jake's relationship with gender.

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In some places, they're even worse. Not because anything has changed, but because some issues have been made more visible by the change of landscape on Tumblr.

Like, people have way more points of entry to be Transmisogynistic, for example. The Homestuck fandom has always been Transmisogynistic, of course - March Eridan... Certainly exists - but now we've got more people talking about Roxy, about Dave, about Jake, about Calliope, about June... And while the level of Transmisogyny hasn't really changed, per se, it's hard to deny that it isn't more commonplace, in a way, purely because the amount of discussions surrounding Transfemininity has increased.

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CroTuna fans need to pick a fucking struggle that isn't that lame ass hill they've chosen to die on. Can you do something else, instead? Can you think liking Bluey is praxis or something? Literally anything is better, because literally anything else is funnier.

I'm not really super into AraSol or anything, but how can you be down to clown with CroTuna and not fuck with AraSol. Do you just want to crank your meat to abuse? What? Lmao.

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No one's normal about Personality Disorders. Cluster B Disorders especially get the shit end of the stick. It's unsurprising that the Homestuck fandom isn't normal about Personality Disorders when literally no one else is, for some reason.

It's just crazy watching people try to have you take them seriously and not look at them like they're fucking insane when they talk about their analysis that Cronus has NPD because he's terrible and abuses people. Like, what are you saying? Do you hear the words coming out of your mouth?

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Dave generally keeps all of his most intimate relationships pretty private, it's why it's kinda hard to keep up with his love life in canon. He grew up under the lens of countless cameras for the pleasure of prying adult eyes. Voyeurism is a huge part of his story, as it is a strong aspect of the abuse he faced growing up. Particularly, said Voyeurism was a key part of the sexual abuse he was subject to.

The fandom's handling of DaveKat feels like Voyeurism because so much of the fandom is dedicated to showing them in intimate scenarios that just feel... Wrong to see. Like, you just know for a fact if this was happening in the comic, we wouldn't be seeing it. Some even have whole blogs dedicated to those kinds of private moments they'd have behind closed doors. The fandom eats it up and calls for seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths - with a nigh fetishistic fervor. Sometimes, it's really hard to not feel like they're in Bro's sleazy live chats, asking to see more of the cute young one.

Even PostCanon frames the rabid consumption of DaveKat content as Voyeuristic. It's not a difficult or out of pocket read, I don't think.

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I think the secrecy of it all is fitting, personally. The hints we did get of the dynamic certainly don't sound very pleasant, though, much to the fandom's chagrin. On screen Kurloz & Mituna interaction would likely just be more Mituna Abuse Simulator.

And, no, I don't think she would be able to do that.

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The issue is that Cannibalism is largely something used not as an expression of Control Issues, but as an expression of Consumption.

Consumption is a really interesting theme to me in fiction. It can mean a lot of things and be shown in a lot of different ways - possessive love, caves, abuse, codependency, capitalism, so on and so forth - but... It's just... Honestly completely nonexistent in Dirk and Jake's relationship. That's why it feels forced to me. I just genuinely don't know where people are picking up the theme of Consumption, especially hard enough to start talking about Cannibalism as a natural extension of it.

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That's the Heterosexual Incest Exception, babey. It's the Spiders Georg. It doesn't count. People are always gonna have the Heterosexual Incest Exception, because they physically cannot help themselves but jerk it to little girls getting molested by their dad or something. It's awful, but it is unfortunately true.

That said, if anyone pulls that kind of shit with Sovereignstuck, I am personally banning you.

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See, Vriska fans aren't in denial - they know she blows, that's the appeal. They're just tired of people acting like it's the end of the fucking world, or like she's the worst person in the comic when Cronus exists. Who is, ironically, exactly who you're talking about, lmao.

You know that meme that goes "You guys would fuck a fence if it was white"? That, but it reads "You guys would forgive anything if a white man did it". If you're a skinny white man in a piece of fiction, you apparently just have a free pass to do and say literally fucking anything. It's actually genuinely insane. People will gaslight themselves so hard into thinking that skinny white man is hot and did nothing wrong, even when the whole function of his existence is that he totally and completely sucks and is entirely irredeemable and has never been sorry for anything he's ever done in his life and never will be, and is 100% aware of the fact that what he's doing is abusive and simply doesn't care. It's nuts. It's so nuts. What are you guys TALKING about.

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[Writing in notebook] Modern AU Cronus... Is Jeffree Star... Got it!

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Look, man. I've seen some shit. You have to understand how much I could fully see that happening. I flinched because it's realistic. Do you know how much Bec/Jade content there is? Help me.

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"Indirectly".

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Kankri even takes part in being Ableist to Mituna. It's crazy. They're fucking tag teaming to make Mituna's life as miserable as possible.

Really funny that people still take him as the good and correct guy when he's an Ableist Stalker that doesn't think Misogyny is real. This is the guy whose hill you're willing to die on? Get real!

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He's a great source for conflict. Excellent torture device to have primed in the toolbox of narrative crafting.

Completely intolerable as a person. He should actually genuinely go to jail. That's not a joke. He's literally a repeat sex criminal.

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It is so fucking funny watching people act like they would've been any better than her. Like, no, I can assure you that if you were walked on and ignored to the degree that she was, for the amount of time that she was, you'd start smashing planets together, too. No one here is better than Aranea. Aranea handled that shit better than a saint would.

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Can you believe people act like the past was better? Lmfao.

We've made at least some decent strides in making sure the fandom is at least a little safer. Don't know why people are looking at a sordid past littered with terrible behavior and and an intense amount of porn of children and unironically parroting that cute little fascist "Reject Modernity, Embrace Tradition!" meme. What the fuck are you on about?

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We can't fucking win. Either we have to sit in a little pool of the same 15 guys and never really get anything fresh on the table, or we can bait new people in and suddenly have to deal with a million people calling WV "The Mayor" and condescendingly calling everyone whiny bitches when you correct them or literally defending segregation in your notes or something.

That last one isn't a joke. I've literally had people defending segregation in my notes because I pointed out that it's weird as fuck that the Racial Kingdoms exist in PostCanon. They started going on about how it's okay because they all "have different needs" (so do humans?) and "Carapacians can't talk anyway" (yes they can??) and "Consorts are biologically stupider" (WHAT). Like. Holy shit. You should get hit by a car.

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Your honor, he never even did all that shit!! Get your facts straight!! Stop getting all your info from 23rd-hand sources!! Think for yourself!! AAAAAA!!!!

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[casscainmainly]

So, I saw your Cass & Jason should fight (& Cass should win obviously) tag and totally agree with your stance!

However, given how often Jason's been characterized as an incompetent "Thug" due to classism, I'd ideally want it to let both characters shine, which can't happen in a pure CQC scenario.

At top form Jason's a bit better than Bruce, (UTRH - Comic) which is enough to not get instantly shit stomped but not really enough to make spectacle or show off either characters best side.

Not sure how one could arrange it in current comics, but my ideal was always an alt timeline where Bruce died or had to step down post War Games & was replaced by Cass.

Naturally the dynamic with Red Hood is different, in that there isn't one, he avoids the new Batman like the plague and relies on backdoor hacking & spying to work around or sabotage her.

Thus its been a steep learning curve and exploration of Cass's other skills, IE detective work, people reading, weapons expertise (We know she's trained in guns & such after all)

A series would be ideal, but if it was just one comic issue, ideally the first third sets up the status quo & what is about to break it.

The second third lets Jason's strategic side shine, he's got ambushes, bombs, flares, those miniguns popping out of cars he loved so much.

Then the third and final segment is when Cass has finally found wherever he slipped away to after thinking he got away.

"... I don't suppose all the guns and bombs wore you out enough to make this easy on me did they?"

Cassandra just smirks.

Cue the final third (Or at least a decent portion of it) being an epic, but pointedly one-sided overall, duel. With every weapon, martial arts technique and piece of scenery put to use. All in the name of dragging out the fight for the audiences sake and cos it makes sense character wise.

Naturally Cassandra wins.

Oh my goodness?? You should write comics because I would read the HELL out of that. I definitely think Jason's intelligence has been weirdly diminished recently (definitely classism, combined with DC's push since New 52 to make Tim the 'smart' one and Jason the 'strong' one because why were they LIKE that in B&R: Eternal).

And Cass' arc in learning detective skills is one of the most underrated things in Batgirl (2000) and beyond! She is a detective and, while she for sure punches her way through stuff, her intelligence shouldn't be sidelined for her fighting prowess. So basically you've written the arc of my dreams.

Also I adore the idea that whoever takes the mantle, Jason will be there to be super annoying. Happened to Dick, and will happen to Cass as well. He's a multi-generational hater.

Someone write this please!!!!

[mochiwrites]

I wonder who would be the first to find out or if it's a group thing. if it's someone individually, would it be Mumbo or Cub like predicted or someone completely different? and HOW? what would make them realise? so invested in this au hehe

this has been sitting in my inbox for so long, wahhh I’m sorry!!! ;;;;

but okay. I’ve talked about a few different scenarios but the one that I’m running with as canon is:

the person to find out is xisuma. mostly because I think a) he’s the funniest option and b) it’s even better if he walks in on them being all gross and lovey. and really, with all the signs since scar first joined hermitcraft, it should’ve been obvious (“oh my goodness that’s what you meant when you said grian was your partner!”)

he’s then sworn to secrecy until the next hermitcraft meeting, where scar and grian just casually drop that their wedding anniversary is coming up, so if everyone could hold off on trying to get them together (again) for a few days, that’d be wonderful

there’s silence for a few seconds as everyone processes the bomb that’s just been dropped on them, before the room explodes with noise and everyone is just about losing their minds about scar and grian apparently being married and no one had any idea (except cub and pearl— they had their suspicions but just observed)

grian hits them with a “just wait until you find out how long we’ve been married for” and bdubs is ready to kill them <3

(the rest of the meeting turns into everyone bullying them for information and details)

[lenaboskow]

i think i cracked the code to what the finale is going to be and i just--

i've seen people talking about the bts shots of the fire, and i've seen people talking about the eddie isolation, but i don't think i've seen anyone talking about these two facts together, or at least the way i'm about to.

if you haven't seen them, this are the bts shots we got of some fire that they were filming the other day

at first, a lot of people thought that maybe they were burning down the loft (it could be the loft set, and the fire truck in the background of the first pic could be there as safety measures) but then we got the second oic with the 133, which means that this has to be somewhere else.

i've seen theories about this being the warehouse that amir takes (or finds) bobby, but i've also seen people (myself included) talk about how this could be the firehouse, and i think that's what this is. in the first picture, to the right of the crew person's head, it looks like a garage door, and in the second picture the driveway looks too long to be a normal house.

now, what would burning down the firehouse mean? well, it would mean that everyone would have to be temporarily misplaced to other firehouses, kind of like how lena was in s3. they wouldn't all be in the same firehouse, and they'd be lucky if even two of them were stationed together.

why is this important?

because of this article ryan did

“There are some bombshells coming,” Ryan Guzman teases to TV Insider. “There are some massive events coming for Eddie. And as far as we know, Eddie has always kind of had somebody to run to. He might not have anybody to run to anymore for Season 8. Yeah, there are things that are going to be happening in Eddie’s life that are going to leave him feeling isolated.”

bombshells... amir placing bombs in the firehouse? (most likely not, he'll probably burn it down normally

massive events... the firehouse burning down while they're having a ceremony

not having anyone to run to... everyone is at different firehouses on different shifts (emphasis on the fact that buck and eddie are not on the same shift anymore)

things happening that leaves him feeling isolated... just like in season five, he's no longer working with his family, but this time it's worse because everyone's isolated from everyone

if they wanted to make the isolation have a little more kick, then everyone could be transferred to another station while staying on a shift (still not the same firehouses, but at least their schedules match) while eddie gets stuck with b shift somewhere

it just suddenly clicked for me, and in this scenario nobody is intentionally icing someone else out, and a lot of it would be very much eddie not processing his feelings right, which would make sense given the circumstances, and especially if we get an eddie feelings realization at the end of s7 or beginning of 8a

i don't know, this was very quickly written as a way to get my thoughts down into words, but if i find more evidence...

[dr-futbol-blog]

The Storm/The Eye, Pt. 4

Finally, the Genii arrive at Atlantis with Acastus Kolya at the helm. With Robert Davi acting, it's rather on the nose how much the events of the story follow the plot of Die Hard with Kolya as Hans Gruber and Sheppard as John McClane. And, as I mentioned the polysemic storytelling used by the series, the role of Holly Gennero is played by both McKay and Weir.

McKay and Weir are captured by the Genii almost immediately.

They're clever enough to keep their communicators on so that Sheppard can eavesdrop on the discussion. McKay is clearly frightened, even more so than Weir because he actually has experience of these people from before, but he's not about to give them anything that would jeopardize Sheppard (not even his own name, confirmation of which Sora provides for Kolya). Rodney is a brave little toaster but he's way in over his head. You can see by the minute tilt of his chin that he just entered What Would Sheppard Do? zone, he's trying to navigate the situation the way he thinks John would.

The fact that Weir responds verbally to Kolya's inquiry about his identity and McKay does not but is recognized anyway is exactly how the entire scenario plays out main text / sub text wise. We are verbally told: Elizabeth, from contextual cues we are able to interpret: Rodney.

We actually cut from Sheppard's reaction to what he just overheard to the storm brewing outside. Because if he was frightened of the storm and what it might do to this newly found home at the beginning of the episode, he's now terrified.

In the Genii home world when they were held hostage, McKay and Sheppard both attempted to keep the other safe in their own ways, and they continue doing just that here. Sheppard is using his military training, McKay is using his brain (and Weir is using her skills as a negotiator). McKay is trying to convey information that Sheppard could use by "accidentally" leaning on the communication panel but at the same time, he's letting him know that they are both still alive and unharmed. It's notable that all of the characters are lying to keep each other safe. They are saying counterfactual things in the hopes that the others might be spared.

Also notable: Kolya is smart enough to know that they are lying.

McKay seems to realize that he has no experience in dealing with the kind of sociopath Kolya is but he tries his best. He's being careful not to antagonize them unnecessarily and is also lying about the most important things.

Kolya has figured out that McKay is too important to be there. There must be a reason why he stayed behind. The Genii clearly recognize his importance on a lot of fronts, the least of them not being that he's the one that knows how to use the C4 to build an A-bomb which is something that the Genii don't know how to do. He would go as far as to injure McKay but it's doubtful he ever had intention of killing him.

But even under physical torture, he didn't give up Sheppard. The Genii only learn that Sheppard is in fact in the city through the radio he left in the armory himself. The only reason he gives out the plan to save the city is that he has such faith in Sheppard. This is why he looks guilty when Kolya and Sheppard have this exchange:

Kolya: Your offer is very generous, Major. Sheppard: Yes, it is. Kolya: However, Doctor McKay recently shared with me there's a plan in action to save the city. Sheppard: He did?! Kolya: He did.

Like, McKay overhears this and thinks that he's disappointed Sheppard; as though Sheppard is expressing surprise that he would do such a thing. The last thing McKay wants is to let the Major down. What their exchange is actually about is Kolya letting Sheppard know that he has hurt McKay enough to get information out of him, and Sheppard gets this.

And Sheppard's plan is to rescue them. He hides the thing that he knows the Genii care most about, the thing they can't do without, it being the C4. He's holding the most important thing to the Genii ransom because he hopes that this will be enough for him to get back the most important thing to him. Everyone is attempting to find the leverage and use it.

Knowing that Sheppard has walked into an ambush, even though he is afraid McKay tries to help him the only way he can which is by pointing out that something is invaluable (reminding them that they might break the only thing that can save the city if they start shooting at him). Likewise, Sheppard only went to the grounding station with the hope that doing what the Genii asked would keep Weir and McKay safe. And boy is McKay relieved to hear the Sheppard managed to dodge the ambush:

Note that it's McKay's reaction we get to this, and his alone.

Now, Sheppard makes the mistake of mentioning McKay because he just can't keep him out of his mouth. When you're thinking about something or someone, it's going to come out of your mouth. He tells Kolya that he's going to get "an earful from McKay for" his soldiers breaking the controls to the grounding station, and then this very thing actually happens. What he actually did was to demonstrate to a really intelligent sociopath that he knows McKay pretty damn well. Too well. And that he cares about him because damn, if that didn't signal familiarity between them.

Starting to play hardball, Kolya tells Sheppard "Say good-bye to Doctor Weir". But note that he actually looks at McKay just before he says this, thinking about something. Kolya and Sheppard are playing a game with extremely high stakes.

Now, it seems like Kolya threatening Weir is too much for Sheppard. It's the mention of Weir that throws him off the edge, right? Makes him threaten to destroy to whole city if he hurts her. Weir, and not McKay. Easy, heteronormative reading. That's what they say, after all.

The thing is, we've seen before that Sheppard is both a strategic thinker and (especially in Underground, S01E08) that especially when it comes to the Genii, he thinks that the less information they have about them, the better. He lied about the number of puddle jumpers they have. He was willing to let them know that they have a ship, but not that they have many ships. He stopped McKay from spilling the beans on how much weaponry they have. Each and every one of the characters have been lying through their teeth all through the ordeal to keep each other safe.

Kolya is likewise a strategic thinker. He's trying to figure Sheppard out. He has two hostages and he's trying to find out how he can use them for leverage. He knows all of them are lying.

Some people watch the episode and come to the conclusion that Sheppard cares about Weir the most because Kolya threatens her and he loses it. And like, he doesn't mention McKay so he must not care about him as much as he does about Weir. But it is precisely because McKay is the one he cannot and will not lose that he plays it out as though Weir is the one he cares the most about here. Giving the enemy that kind of leverage like revealing the thing you actually can't live without would be stupid. And Kolya figures it out anyway.

Sheppard tells him that if he hurts Weir, he would rather blow up Atlantis with all of them in it, indicating to him that Weir is the one he cannot afford to lose. Anything you do, just please don't kill her. And yet we end the episode with Kolya telling Sheppard that he is about to kill one of the two, and he's not telling him which. Having just glanced at McKay before he decided to test Sheppard out by threatening Weir by name.

Why would he do that? If Kolya believed that Weir was the one Sheppard cared most about like he indicated to Kolya, why would he not simply use the leverage Sheppard had just (on purpose) given him? Why suddenly be vague about which it's going to be?

Because Kolya can play 4D-chess too. And it's when Kolya tells Sheppard that he is going to kill one of them and he does not know which that is going to be that Sheppard actually capitulates, not when he threatened to kill Weir a moment ago. Notice that Sheppard was still relatively cool and level-headed when Kolya was just threatening her life; when her life was on the line, he was still negotiating with Kolya. But suddenly he loses it.

Note that while he's shouting throughout this dialogue because he's outside in the storm trying to get his voice heard, his tone of voice changes throughout:

Kolya: You killed two of my men. Sheppard: I guess we're even! [flippant] Kolya: I don't like even. Sheppard: I'm not finished yet! [bravado] Kolya: Neither am I. Say goodbye to Doctor Weir. Sheppard: The city has a self-destruct button. You hurt her, I'll activate it. Nobody'll get Atlantis. [still calmly negotiating, able to formulate a plan of action] Kolya: Even if it exists, Major, you need at least two senior personnel to activate it -- and I'm about to take one of them out of the equation. Sheppard: Kolya?! Kolya?! I'll give you a ship! I'll fly it out of here for you myself! KOLYA!! [suddenly desperate]

Sheppard is willing to do anything and say anything to keep McKay safe. The man he's fallen in love with. His home. The person he cares so much for that a stranger he's known for all of five minutes was able to figure it out and use it against him. Threatening Weir wasn't the thing that pushed him over the edge, it was not knowing which one the gun was pointed at and the fear that Kolya had figured him out, had his ticket.

This is when Kolya made himself into Sheppard's mortal enemy. And it's notable that in every one of their subsequent encounters, Kolya knows to use McKay to get to Sheppard.

Continued in Pt. 5

[youllallriseintheink]

What would happen if hella boss and hazbin characters meet each other. Like Charlie and blizo. Alastor and stoles. Val and asmodeus ((you can pick anyone to meet ))

It's very easy to see Blitz developing a one-sided petty rivalry with Charlie if one of Blitz's previous repeat customers checked in at the Hazbin Hotel and decided that revenge murders aren't for them anymore. What would follow is Blitz trying to tempt all of Charlie's customers back to sin. Charlie might attempt to reform him even though he's a hellborn imp and not a sinner, because a) that way he'll cut this out, and b) Blitz is clearly miserable and Charlie would see the good in him. Of course, this scenario would lead to all kinds of interactions between the Hazbin cast and I.M.P.

-Cherri Bomb and Millie would have a figurative and literal blast together.

-Despite the obvious jokes about cats and dogs, Loona and Husker would get along great and would probably trade snarky remarks with each other as they watch the others' antics.

-Alastor would most likely be interested in Moxxie since Moxxie can be very malleable in the right circumstances. Expect Charlie to have to intervene on an attempted deal, perhaps multiple times.

-Vaggie would NOT like this and want Charlie to get these assassins out NOW. Charlie, they aren't even sinners! They can't go to heaven if they aren't dead people!

-Stolas is content to watch the shenanigans from afar and intervene only if Blitz is in trouble, but if he did show up, Angel Dust would be flirting with him in seconds and Blitz would not be a fan of that.

-Assuming Charlie could get Blitz to open up at all, she'd praise him on his progress in his relationship with his brother, and would encourage greater openness and a better sense of boundaries both in his own actions and the actions he chooses to accept. Maybe, even though he's just there to mess things up, the Hazbin Hotel could be a good experience for him.

[ketrindoll]

Russian scheduled threats to erradicate London, Europe, and whole Baltic states (reminder that Trump said he'll allow putin to do whatever), have become so pathetic, ruzzian own war propagandists are making fun of it:

[Rough transl.: There's a tradition in our TV: every few years virtually bomb London. There's new scenario, new speakers, but the attitude is old. But interesting graphic's]

First of all, London is the third capital of russian oligarchs. They have all their wives/kids/mistresses/Plan-B homes there. It's never getting destroyed for as long as russia has oligarchs.

But it's funny to see this negativity towards Kremlin propagandists from russia's own war dogs. Of course, they have a reason to think these claims are funny. After all, in 2.5 years ruzzia:

- Failed to bomb Ukrainian leadership and logistics, resorting to terrorism instead

- Failed to achieve full domination of the skies

- The attack pace is so "rapid" they present taking over any village as this huge victory

- Ruzzia's own air defence is so lame they cannot do anything not only about long-range Western missiles, but simple Ukrainian drones

Of course, ruzzians always knew their country is pathetic. It still never stopped them from wanting to erradicate every other nation on Earth to make themselves feel a bit better.

[vera-keller]

switchblade | masters of the air | taster

Coming here is functionally a grounding. That much is clear. The B-17 is a metal coffin that, by some aeronautical miracle, has managed to attain the gift of flight despite everything – poor defensive coverage, inadequate range, weak nose structure – that suggests this should not have been the case. 

Olivia Mariner looks up at the B-17s sitting obliviously in the hangar at Thorpe Abbotts and thinks about what it might be like to shoot one of them down.

It would be an easy target. B-17s are not intended for aerial combat, and their one singular, solitary tactic is apparently to fly continuously in formation even when being shot at, because performing evasive manoeuvres runs the risk of disrupting the formation and causing collisions. Mariner imagines herself in her P-51, armed with its two fifty-calibre nose-mounted machine guns and four thirty-calibre wing-mounted machine guns, the only conceivable match for the Luftwaffe’s fire-spitting death machines that she isn’t afraid of as long as she’s facing them down in her Mustang. She imagines herself as the enemy. How would she approach a Flying Fortress? How would she bounce it? It wouldn’t be difficult at all: she could outmanoeuvre a B-17 without breaking a sweat. She would move into its blind spot and break into a steep spiralling dive downward so the B-17’s Brownings – for which they do not carry sufficient supplies of ammunition that could last them over a minute of continuous gunfire – wouldn’t be able to maintain a target lock on her. Then she would pull her aircraft back up, sharply, abruptly, until she’s below the body of the B-17, where she has the perfect vantage point to shoot out the unprotected fuel tanks within the wings.

That’s all well and good, a strategic manufacturing error that could be fixed, without a doubt, throughout the Flying Fortress’s production run that will last until the end of the war. Until Mariner remembers that, in this scenario, she will no longer be the one in the fighter plane but rather the one getting burned to a crisp in the B-17 because the fuel tanks just exploded and eviscerated the fuselage before anyone even had the chance to bail.

Perhaps the situation would be less grim if she knew how to fly a B-17 at all.

How did she even end up here?

Fighter squadrons come before bombers. That is the standard principle of air warfare. Once air supremacy has been gained by more aerodynamic single-engined high-speed fighters – P-51s and P-40s and P-47s that require only a light touch to manoeuvre, the deft hand of a skilled pilot who knows their plane and its operational mechanisms as though it is an extension of their own body – that is when larger, long-range bombers come in to deliver their payloads of air-to-ground weaponry to strategic targets. Bombing raids cannot take place without the prerequisite of air supremacy as bombers, sufficiently implied in their name itself, are not themselves intended for aerial combat against enemy aircraft.

And therein lies the problem. To Mariner, it’s difficult to see the B-17 as little more than a large and defenceless flying flak-magnet. A warplane that cannot roll on its longitudinal axis, cannot pull into vertical climbs, cannot dive or loop or fly at steep angles or allow for aerobatics without disembowelling itself, is hardly a warplane at all, at least not in the sense that she defines what should constitute a warplane. She understands that heavy bombers are an entirely different grade of aircraft, one that requires a different series of skills that are no less demanding than that of a fighter pilot, one requiring the ability to work with a team, first and foremost, the idea of which she finds herself thinking of with a pit of tension in her lower stomach. She understands that this is necessary because a war cannot be won with fighter planes alone, as much as she would like to think that is a possibility. What she does not understand, however, is why she has been presently chosen to fly a bomber.

So that was what she told her squadron leader, word for word, when she first learned of her reassignment.

“I understand your concerns, Mariner,” was what her squadron leader, Tillotson – a thirty-something USAAF officer who had been in the Eagle Squadrons with her, primarily because he knew her father for some reason or another that she never bothered to find out – said in answer. “But it is an operational need. The 100th has a shortage of pilots and they can’t continue flying missions at the volume they’re expected to if this shortage continues. We’ve reached a point in the war where our strategic focus must shift toward bombing campaigns. You have the relevant flying experience that qualifies you for retraining and reassignment toward where the war effort needs you most. Repurposing you as a bomber pilot now, of all times, makes every sense to me.”

Mariner blinked in disbelief. She didn’t like the suffix makes every sense to me, the finality of it, the implication that this was now a non-negotiable and non-retractable decision already made by her superiors, a decision that centrally concerned her yet one she had no part in making.

“Sir,” she began, “heavy bombers require escort fighters. Our squadron can do that. I’ve been asking for it in my sitreps since we first started strategic bombing. Wouldn’t it be more practical to keep me here and deploy us as escorts as I recommended, rather than retrain me from the ground up?”

“It is something we thought of, yes. But having enough pilots is crucial for whether the 100th can remain operational. If they can’t fly missions, you’ll have nothing to escort. Now is when we need our best and brightest to step up and fill in for the shortage of pilots capable of flying those missions that a complete novice coming out of flight school cannot.”

Best and brightest. The sudden compliment took Mariner by surprise, filled her momentarily with a glow of pride radiating from that little hollow at the base of her throat that warms up every time she receives some kind of validation. She cleared her throat self-consciously.

“Who else is getting reassigned? Smith? Heppell?”

Tillotson paused briefly. “We decided that you alone would be the best fit for the transition.”

Apart from the fact that it made no sense to single out one member of a squadron for a reassignment, there was almost no chance that she would be the best natural candidate. Mariner thought for a brief half-second that she would not pick herself to be reassigned to a bomber unit if she had the choice of other members in her squadron, members who would indubitably be more patient and longsuffering when it came to flying a heavy bomber, both of which she was not.

And then the realisation dawned on her, like the awful downward shudder of the blade of a guillotine. The previous glow of pride disappeared, replaced immediately by a simmering indignant rage that bubbles to the surface. “You’re bumping me out of the squadron!” 

“Mariner—”

“That is exactly what you’re doing! Best and brightest my ass. You think I don’t fit in with the rest of your squad because of how I fly. Because you think I’m going to collide with my wingman every time when I so much as move my aircraft a centimetre to the left. Because that one time on patrol, when I was guarding your tail, I said your call sign when I wasn’t supposed to and broke formation, and that was because I saw three 109s above us on our six about to pulverise us and you hadn’t even seen them yet!”

Another thought came to her then, one that sent a fresh wave of anger coursing through her as though her dam of restraint – which admittedly was never a particularly robust structure – had broken. She was aware that she was losing her temper. She was aware that she was not to lose her temper around her superior officers under any circumstances. But that awareness was purely academic now, and at any rate it was disappearing quickly out the window.

“You can’t trust me in a single-seat fighter, is that it? You think I need a whole team of people behind me to make sure I don’t fuck up?”

It was less of a question and more of an accusation, and the very idea of it was absurd to Mariner. Saying it out loud only cemented its absurdity. Who in their right mind wouldn’t trust her in a fighter? She’d been in combat with Bf 109s since before Pearl Harbour and America’s formal entrance into the war. It was indubitable fact – one that seemed to be obvious to all except Tillotson and the others responsible for making this ill-conceived decision – that she was one of the most competent fighters in the squadron. Three years of flight experience with the No. 71. Seven aircraft destroyed. An ace by the end of the Battle of Britain. Such accomplishments were not coincidental. Mariner knew it. And unless you have some kind of malfunction, she thought bitterly, then you don’t transfer a pilot with those accomplishments under their belt out of your squadron as petty punishment. You’re supposed to keep them and hold onto them and deploy them on high-risk missions that accurately reflect the value of their skill set! 

“Lieutenant Mariner,” Tillotson said, raising his voice now, in a way that brooked no argument. “I was hoping to save both of us from this conversation and let you accept your reassignment amicably, but it appears you’re determined to have this conversation, in which case I’ll be clear with you. You’re not a good fit in my squadron. You take unnecessary and ill-calculated risks that endanger not only yourself but also your wingmen and the outcome of the mission as a whole. On our last sortie, you completely disregarded formation and went off on that solo chase of yours after an enemy fighter, leaving your leader’s tail vulnerable to attack. And what is most alarming is the fact that this incident is not an isolated one, nor is it the first time you’ve flagrantly disregarded orders to do what you think is clever. We’re lucky nothing catastrophic has happened so far, but luck won't always be on our side, as you seem to believe it will always be on yours.”

He paused for a moment, his brow low and creased, his eyes fixed upon Mariner’s, as though examining her closely for her reaction.

“You’re rough on the stick, Olivia, but I’ve seen potential in you. Even so, talent alone won’t cut it and your consistent lack of discipline is compromising the overall effectiveness of our unit. I’ve seen pilots like you – good pilots capable of exercising mathematically precise command of their aircraft – shot down for less. You should know better than anyone that, up in the air, in a Mustang, split-second decisions can mean the difference between life and death. I need to be able to trust every member of my squadron to make those decisions, and make them correctly. And right now I can’t trust you to do that.”

There was a long agonising pause. Mariner’s expression remained unchanged, though she thought her stomach had vanished. She was suddenly conscious of how she was standing up very straight with her body held up at her sternum, and of the tachycardic rhythm of her heartbeat that for a brief moment she irrationally feared Tillotson might hear it.

It is a rare thing for words from a superior officer to cut so deep, though Mariner doesn’t like the idea that any words might be able to cut her at all. She has gone through flight training like everyone else and made her share of mistakes in every plane she has learned to pilot – Mustangs and Warhawks and Thunderbolts alike – and she has grown accustomed to the stony visages of instructors, their crushing expectations and the feeling where you irrevocably begin to question your own strength of character and purpose and worth whenever you fail to meet them. Yet she came through with top marks and everyone who has ever been disappointed by her has eventually been proven wrong. She would have thought that, by now, her skin has already thickened into something comparable to steel.

Yet, when she stood there in Tillotson’s office, being told that she could not be trusted to fly, Mariner felt utterly reduced. It was a humiliating kind of reduction. And humiliation made her angry, a unique cornered anger of its own kind that seethed all the way down to the bone.

Tillotson seemed to sense this. His voice softened slightly, becoming conciliatory, in the way only a victor acutely aware of his own impending victory could afford to do.

“This is not an exile, Mariner,” was what he said. “This is when you prove yourself. Maybe a change of perspective will help you understand the gravity of your actions and teach you some restraint. It is an opportunity. Don’t squander it.”

“It’s an opportunity?” Mariner’s jaw clenched. She knew now the reassignment was inevitable. She knew that the decision had indeed been made on her behalf without any of her input and she had, somehow, been played so well that she happened to be the last to figure it out. And if she was to start learning restraint on her reassignment, she supposed that she didn’t need to begin now. “It’s not a goddamn opportunity, and you know it. It’s punishing me for something I haven’t even done. Yeah, I went after that enemy fighter on my own. And you know what? I shot it down. I saw an opportunity and I seized it instead of waiting around for the 109s to regroup. Isn’t that what we’re trained to do? Adapt, improvise, overcome, all that?”

“There’s a stark difference between adapting, improvising and overcoming, Olivia, and putting the rest of your squadron at risk,” Tillotson replied firmly. And then, what really pissed her off: “You have to learn, one way or another, that the USAAF is an ecosystem where every element, down to the individual fighter, must depend upon command structure to function. It’s not a place for young Turks wanting to prove themselves and be a hero. Don’t worry. I’'ll make sure no one else takes up the Switchblade call sign when you’re gone.”

At this Mariner felt her blunt fingernails digging pink crescent moons into her palms. That was an extraordinarily low blow. It was not merely the complete misconstruction of her character – as a willful contrarian who thinks only of their own glory, apparently – that incensed her, but beyond that it was the fear that thrummed at a deeper sub-cellular level, a fear that this may be how she was truly seen by her superiors, how her efforts and achievements were being interpreted by those who disregard her as little more than an ordinary pilot who likes to think of herself as extraordinary. And the placement of the command structure meant that she could not rectify this mistake or defend herself against this obvious besmirching of her name and reputation without risking a dishonourable discharge from the military altogether. 

So she did what she does best.

“Fine. You want discipline?” she said, her voice lowering into something hard and cold and stubborn. “I can do that. I’ll get into a bomber. I’ll drop a few bombs. But mark my words, sir, you’re making a mistake. Both you and I know exactly what I can do and what I should be out there doing, whether I’m in a Mustang or a tin can with wings. And when the time comes, when you need someone with enough balls to fly through hell and back under twenty-millimetres and flak, don’t be surprised when you come back to me because there’s no one else up for the job.”

She did not resign herself to waiting around for Tillotson’s reaction. Instead she saluted him sharply in a way that suggested an obvious grudge, pivoted on her heels and marched out of the room. She refused to even attempt to try and understand Tillotson’s reasoning as there could be no possible reasoning on God’s green earth that could justify this decision. Perhaps an attempt at figuring out his reasoning, however unfounded it may be, could come later, when she has spent enough aimless months with the 100th to supposedly have learned her lesson and earned a place back on her former fighter squadron. But the embers of rage were still very much scorching hot in her hands, hissing and spitting and burning wherever they touched her skin, and she refused out of pure spite to put them down, so she carried them with her all the way until she reached Norfolk, England.

[cyborgnachte]

I really like Roserric's expression in your latest piece. The intensity in his gaze as he looks at the viewer/onlooker is striking but simultaneously I can't seem to look away.

Do you think if he became Miquella's consort, he would be content with his life as such? And follow up, is this how he believed his life turning out this way?

He thought he was gunna help Ranni send the world into a new era of bomb-ass chaotic free will, so this is not what he was expecting, but he's happy with it in Scenario B.

[silicacid]

No evidence of inflated mortality reporting from the Gaza Ministry of Health

Benjamin Q Huynh, Elizabeth T Chin, Paul B Spiegel

Published: December 06, 2023

Mortality reporting is a crucial indicator of the severity of a conflict setting, but it can also be inflated or under-reported for political purposes. Amidst the ongoing conflict in Gaza, some political parties have indicated scepticism about the reporting of fatalities by the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH).

The Gaza MoH has historically reported accurate mortality data, with discrepancies between MoH reporting and independent United Nations analyses ranging from 1·5% to 3·8% in previous conflicts. A comparison between the Gaza MoH and Israeli Foreign Ministry mortality figures for the 2014 war yielded an 8·0% discrepancy.2 Public scepticism of the current reports by the Gaza MoH might undermine the efforts to reduce civilian harm and provide life-saving assistance. Using publicly available information, we compared the Gaza MoH's mortality reports with a separate source of mortality reporting and found no evidence of inflated rates. We conducted a temporal analysis of cumulative-reported mortality within Gaza for deaths of Gazans as reported by the MoH and reported staff member deaths from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), from Oct 7 to Nov 10, 2023. These two data sources used independent methods of mortality verification, enabling assessment of reporting consistency.

We observed similar daily trends, indicating temporal consistency in response to bombing events until a spike of UNRWA staff deaths occurred on Oct 26, 2023, when 14 UNRWA staff members were killed, of whom 13 died in their homes due to bombings. Subsequent attacks raised the UNRWA death rate while MoH hospital services diminished until MoH communications and mortality reporting collapsed on Nov 10, 2023. During this period, mortality might have been under-reported by the Gaza MoH due to decreased capacity. Cumulative reported deaths were 101 UNRWA staff members and 11,078 Gazans over 35 days. By comparison, an average of 4884 registered deaths occurred per year in 2015–19 in Gaza.

Cumulative reported mortality rates (Oct 7–Nov 10, 2023)

Data are calculated by separate death reports from the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH; red line) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA; blue line).

If MoH mortality figures were substantially inflated, the MoH mortality rates would be expected to be higher than the UNRWA mortality rates. Instead, the MoH mortality rates are lower than the rates reported for UNRWA staff (5.3 deaths per 1000 vs 7.8 deaths per 1000, as of Nov 10, 2023). Hypothetically, if MoH mortality data were inflated from, for example, an underlying value of 2–4 deaths per 1000, it would imply that UNRWA staff mortality risk is 2.0–3.9 times higher than that of the public. This scenario is unlikely as many UNRWA staff deaths occurred at home or in areas with high civilian populations, such as in schools or shelters.

Mortality reporting is difficult to conduct in ongoing conflicts. Initial news reports might be imprecise, and subsequent verified reports might undercount deaths that are not recorded by hospitals or morgues, such as persons buried under rubble. However, difficulties obtaining accurate mortality figures should not be interpreted as intentionally misreported data. Although valid mortality counts are important, the situation in Gaza is severe, with high levels of civilian harm and extremely restricted access to aid. Efforts to dispute mortality reporting should not distract from the humanitarian imperative to save civilian lives by ensuring appropriate medical supplies, food, water, and fuel are provided immediately.

[neogandw]

Page 4 of 6, the rest can be seen here.

Honestly this is the part where I just get to have fun with the training montage and the reason of why I love Smash Bros like I do.

The gameplay IS fun even if I don't actually play online matches all that much (I'm not all that competitive, I play mostly solo or with friends exclusively), but to me Smash Bros is a toy box.

I love these universes and Smash Bros has introduced me to many more over the years, to me its an introduction to various things I could learn and play with, and even more fun to me its concocting how these series gel together and how you could use their elements as playthings to craft a story or a cohesive universe.

I explored this before with another massive comic I made, honestly kind of one this is a sequel to. Its "The Strongest Fighter".

To me, I am not interested at all in "who would beat who", I prefer to think of "Okay, if these two were to meet, how WOULD it go down?" or "If so was in this situation, what would they do?", the joke of the Strongest Fighter comic is not to actually decide who is the strongest in terms of made-up power levels, but rather an exploration of how these characters view and talk about one of their own in a context disguised as a poorly thought-out question.

A lot of people tend to miss this, sadly, even if Shulk points out "Anyone can beat up Kirby" rather blatantly at the end.

So, going back to Page 4, its also similarly an exploration of the question "how do you go on about getting strong in this context?".

With splatoon, there's not much other than "pick up the weapon and sink or swim, we ain't an helicopter parent, you figure it out". But when you introduce the idea of a MENTOR (specially one out of universe like Peach is) how would you go on about teaching something so abstract as getting good aim?

Its not so much that Orange needs training in weaponry at all, I did make it a point to show that she was Super Fresh with everything BUT the Chargers back on Page 1, but that her aiming skills with the Charger are so off that:

Speedy targets won't stay still (Joker just dodging out of the way)

Her shots are blantantly obvious (Samus just leaning her head to the side)

She's not using shooting at a range, so her aim is so off that she misses even in Super Flat World.

So the training montage is tackling these issues.

Study up and learn how the weapon actually works, as I said her first mistake was skipping up Sheldon's explanation, so the first thing Peach does is explain the basics of the weapon to Orange (if you notice, the billboard does show things like leading the shot as exemplified with the Rabbid, using bombs to flush out your enemies and the importance of things like Ink Saver). Basic stuff, but you do hit the books to learn your tool.

Learn in a safe envoirement that is somewhat predictable, and it is slow going (notice the timer of the Break the Targets), get used to shooting long-distance first and foremost, no matter how long it takes.

Then you introduce the erraticness (AKA: the ducks) and practice off that, Orange hit exactly half and Peach mentions as much. The dog may laugh, but its a start.

And finally, put it to the test. I specifically chose Sonic to be the target to be hit because he'd be the most erratic, fastest and would NOT allow himself to be hit that easily. Landing a headshot on Sonic has to be the hardest thing you could do.

I did mostly pick scenarios that would be funny, but I did want it to be a ramping up in getting good. Not just jumping from point A to point B and just skipping to "welp, you're a god at sniping now".

Anyway, the hidden jokes and references of this page:

I used to be a teacher (programming, if you're curious), so the panel of Inkling Girl going to school is reminiscent of my experiences as a teacher and a student. hence why Inkling Girl's set-up on the school resambles what I know rather than the desks you find on Garreg Mach. Such as taking special attention to draw the ever present ruler, using a square notebook for math, the pencil sharpener and erasers being the ones we use down here on México and the bag being a knock-off rather than an official product. Its just sort of the norm you see around here.

You may notice the random calendar on the Garreg Mach page on the top left. On the coloring process I decided to add to the joke of Inkling Girl going to school by imitating a Persona UI.

Originally the joke was to have it be styled after P5's, but the UI used wound up being Persona 3's instead. Not only is it topical thanks to Reload, but the reason I did it is that curiously -just as I was working on this panel- I hit this date on reload ( 8/10 ) and it just so happened that THIS is when you downright lose an entire week worth of days because Mitsuru decided to sign you up for summer classes without consulting you. Fitting for Inkling Girl sacrificing her own free time to learn and study.

Small thing, but if you actually read Orange's notebooks you may notice she's dividing by zero.

Just to show how much Inkling girl sucks at aiming, the break the targets timer is there to show how badly she's doing. Normally during Break the Targets you either get timed to your best time counting UP if you're doing it on the dedicated mode or counting DOWN from 2 minutes if you do it from Classic Mode. The timer instead reads 28:05.15, meaning that Peach had her do it at her own pace and its been nearly half an hour of just missing shots (since she's only been able to hit 1 target so far).

Also, the timer number may be random, but its actually Splatoon 1's release date. I love to hide significant numbers like that on my works. I forgot to mention it but Peach's player ID back on page 3 was also a release date.

And to add on to the cute factor, the platform they're standing on in Break the Targets is actually taken directly from Peach's stage. So she's lending her own target test for the practice.

Fun fact: on the Duck Hunt panel you can see the UI discussing how many ducks have been hit by Inkling Girl. Not easily apparent though is the blue bar below the ducks.

THAT is the minimum requirement. In the original Duck Hunt the UI for the duck tally would shift over to the left and be compared to that blue bar, if you didn't shoot enough ducks to go beyond where the bar was pointing at the game would end.

Essentially, Peach is asking for a bare minimum of 4 ducks to be hit, which Inkling Girl technically did as she managed 5, but she's still frustrated due to the dog's mockery.

Irregardless of how the montage was gonna go on the planning phase, I always wanted to have Sonic be the last test for Inkling's improvement because -once more- I like to think more in-character when writting down these scenarios.

Sonic is the fastest thing alive, he's capable of dodging whatever bullet or explosive eggman tends to throw at him (capable, not reliable, it depends on player input if he does so or not). So he'd be perfect for target practice, specially for something like Sniping.

Sonic's pride would NOT agree with being shot in the face, admittedly, but he could be talked into it if asked as both a challenge and a request. Peach wouldn't put anyone in danger and it is really just ink, so if its for the sake of helping others, Peach could reliably ask Sonic to do it and he'd at least take solace in helping someone else. Though he'd likely taunt and make it as hard as possible due to his ego.

To show that it was amicable and that Sonic agreed to it I had the two bits of Peach handling a tower and Sonic giving a thumbs up, to show that he was in on the plan.

I could have drawn Green Hill Zone again (in fact, the planning phase did had it AS Green Hill), but I instead opted to go with Seaside Hill as the background (kind of a mistake on my part since Ocean Palace is OBTUSE on its architecture), mostly because I wanted some scenery variety with Sonic, its not always gonna be on Green Hill Zone, you know.

The Loading screen that Inkling is having on her head while she realizes she passed the final test is from Sonic 06, which I shouldn't have to tell you that its infamous for its loading.

I originally wanted it to be Splatoon's loading icons, but those would have required animation since they're not visually understandable otherwise. So I just went with the Sonic theme and made it match.

The UI used for the last two panels are the stage clear screens for Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 1 respectively. Also, I didn't just copy-paste the assets from Splatoon 3 into the comic, every time you see the weapon icons like that its one of my recreation of those assets.

[sparkbeast20]

Bonding with your Demon (Lucifer X (MC) Tia)

Summary: Bad Mood Lucifer means, that the other brothers are in a house with a ticking time bomb. So what better way is to use a human to sooth their brother.

Note: I just some PG-13 loving with this pompous demon (No Smut). Is that too much to asks? (Might as well post this on my Boo~ Birthday)

Warning: Establish Relationship, Wing Groom, Horn grabbing, Biting, Scratching and Implied sexual act at the end.

Tia pouts while siting on her bed, arms and legs cross, back turned towards the brothers who destroyed the little running course she made for her pet rat Morrison. While said rat is squeaking up a storm at the brothers mostly Beel for making his owner anger.

"Please Tia!" Asmo begs

"No I'm not listening!" Tia shook her head.

"Look we're sorry for wreaking yer toy set-"

"Toy set!" Mammon jumps when Tia yelled and whip her head around with a eyes narrowed. "That ain't a toy set! I made all these-" She turn her body around then gesture at what uses to be the mini obstacle course for Morrison "From scratch!"

"Look we can have Levi make you a new course for your pet. Just as long you deal with Lucifer." Satan told her, while thought of their offer she was curious about something.

She sighs before facing them with one of her brow raise "What exactly is going on with Lucifer?"

"He's in one his foul moods again. Only this time we don't why or what caused it."

"And your idea is to send me to deal with it! Your sending a human to deal with the devil himself" She isn't happy to being a sacrificial lamb in this scenario.

"Well...~ Technically Diavolo is the devil himself while we're just high rank demons and the avatars of the seven deadly sins." Levi explain, which earn him a elbow to his gut by Belphie. Who in his way of telling his brother that his not helping convincing her.

"Either way, Devil or demon. Your still sending me to face an moody Lucifer!"

"Oi! We all know that Lucifer has a soft spot for ya, seeing your cute little innocent face will tame or at least calm him down a bit" Mammon knows to lean on the aspect of her taming Lucifer with just her and her innocent nature.

"I'm not that innocent"

"Oh Darling you are! Your brothers loves talking about how your the only innocent thing in their family thus making sure your well protected" Asmo can she that she getting flattered by all this small praises. He knows that Tia loves that her good nature is being acknowledge by others. He could say that she loves that she so innocent and pure to the point she wants to be corrupted. Especially by Lucifer.

When he started dating Luis, Asmo can't help to notice that he, Tia and the others siblings are so hell bent on their faith and the idea of staying pure on the moral and normal senses. That they all developed this other side when ever they are with their significant other that they want be pushed and drag to open up to their deepest desire. Which He, Lucifer, Mammon and Diavolo's demonic nature is hungry for and he loves it.

"Well... If you're sure that I'm safe with him even if his in this state. I might as well try it." There it is, her trusting and gullible nature. Though they all know not to take advantage of that side of her too much just in something small like this "However!" She jump out of her bed and points at the brothers. Even with her small size, she stood tall to be seem intimidating which doesn't work on them by they act as if it does work. "I want you build his course in the living. And at least one of you have to play with him!"

That made all but Satan flinch, before looking over her and see the Rat narrowing his eyes before flipping them off.

"Fine. Deal" Satan isn't phase by the Rat and walk over to Tia and offer a hand and she took it sealing the deal with a shake. Tia looks as Satan grins before dragging her across the room and gently shover her out of the room. "Remember! Make sure that Lucifer is calm before dinner!" Before the closing the door and turn to face his brothers before glancing at the rat. "Morrison"

All the Rat those was squeak angerly, like his ready to challenge Satan.

_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

Tia angerly stomps away from her room with a pout on her face, anger at Satan and how he just kick her out from her own bed room just like that and have the nerve of demanding that she deal with Lucifer before dinner.

However, the closer she get to Lucifer's room. The more she feels nervous and scared with all the anger within her fades as each step she took, it slowly sink in that she could actually be in trouble.

Tia immediately stop right at Lucifer's door and stood there for knows how long she stares down on the floor not wanting to move a single muscle-

"Who's there- *sniffing* Tia?" She yelp when she heard her name being called. "Did my brothers sent you?" Tia didn't know what to answer or even what to say. All she can think about is how deep and raspy Lucifer's voice sound right now. It actually send shiver down her body... A good type of chill.

She face start to heat up and she grab the helm of her shirt and clench her fist tight, swollen her nervousness down her throat before finally responding. "Yup" She said it, ending with a small smile.

The sound of the lock click and the door slowly opens. She peek into the crack and sees that the light of the room is turn off with the only light sources is the fireplace.

She walk in the room and the door immediately shut behind her. She jump and instantly turn around only for her trip on her own foot and falling forward. She groan in pain as she slowly lift her head.

Suddenly Tia felt two pair of clawed hands grab her by the waist almost wrapping both hands around her stomach. Lifting her up and carry her to couch of the room and gently tossing her on couch. She rub her butt from the landing before looking up, with the flames light she can see Lucifer.

He stood there tall in fact he seem to be... Taller and that's say from her since she's under five feet- 4'10. Tia knows that Lucifer was second tallest to the brothers. But Now he seem to be taller then Beel by a accouple of inches. His hair is a bit longer. She looks closer and notice that he was in his demon form, and she blink a few times to make sure she's seeing him correctly. Tia could've swore that she sees that Lucifer has. Feathers around the side of his face. She looks down on his hands and their in fact more like talons now.

She looks up and meets his eyes before clearing her throat. "So... Furry?"

"Tia" He said it with a warning tone.

"I know. Bad joke. So uh... What happened?"

"This is normal for us to get to this state of our forms. Which happens every five years."

"Oh~" Tia turn away as she rub her arms. "Is this... why you were in a foul mood" She couldn't help it.

"I warned them when I'm this state. I'm not in the mood for their antics and shenanigans." He said it with a coo like growl. Which made Tia jump and quickly hug her knees close to her chest and. Making herself seem small as she move slightly away from Lucifer.

Lucifer saw her reaction, causing him to groan and grab his face with his taloned hand and turn away from her. He did want to scare her. "Tia. Just go back-"

"You know I can't when you're like this. Not after I see what you are right now." She was still a timid and cowardly mouse in his eyes. But moments like these he happy to see her trying to be at least brave.

"Alright. I'll be by my desk doing some paper work. Do as you please" He turn and walks towards his desk. Tia let her feet back to the floor and watch Lucifer walk back.

She smile before taking off her shoes and climb on the couch, lay down on her back, then pull out her phone and start watching some videos in deviltube. Videos of cute mice and rats running through obstacle courses.

Lucifer sat down folded his wings, picking up his quill, he glance up for a second to see Tia giggly to what she's watching making him smile before he start writing.

Little does Lucifer knows that Tia is trying her best not to stare at his gorgeous form. She wouldn't admit it yet, but she does find all the brothers demon form to be hot and sexy.

That includes Diavolo and Barbatos. And she was curious to what Mephistopheles demon form look like.

But this form that Lucifer is in right now... She quiet put it but she find more attractive. Not to mention how his voice sound like now, she has a thing for deep voice, but is a whole ball park.

Crap she's getting hot and bothered. She bit her lip before turning to her side, her back facing Lucifer so she can hide her flustered face.

But alas, as much she tries to hide it. Lucifer can sense her...

"Tia..." She got startled and dropped her phone on the couch, she look over her shoulder and her eyes widen when she saw Lucifer smug look with one hand beckoning her to come closer. With not hesitation she slide out of the couch and walked over to him.

She stood in front of him, look down at her feet, embarrassed to look at him in the eye.

But she gasp when she pulled on to his lap. Siting on his lap, Tia made sure that she hide her face from him.

Lucifer smirk before reaching his hand and cupped her cheek, drawing her to look at him. Tia stares as she bit her lip. Her light tan cheeks flush with heat from the blood rushing to her face.

She thought, how could she be this flustered just seeing him like this, she's better-

"You shouldn't hold back Tia." Lucifer responded as if he knew what she was thinking.

"I'm better than this! I should have better self-control" She mutters, as she shut her eyes tight. Try to resist her temptation.

But this, is what Lucifer wants. Something within him is grinning at the human's will power to resisted their sins. It admired it, but it wants to break it.

He rub his thumb on Tia's cheek, his talon grace under her eye, making her peek through to see him looking at her with such affection, and yet there was a hint of malicious intention within his eyes.

It was enough for Tia to open her eyes and look deep into Lucifer.

Slowly, she leans in close before her lips touch his, Lucifer push in and they both kissing passionately before it turned a heated make-out session.

_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

For whatever reason, a rat manage to out smarted six of the avatars.

Morrison manage to sneak away while the brother argue with each other and uses his secret tunnels to travel from Tia's room to Satan's room. There he search until he found a book he was looking for.

A book of spells, he opens the book and found the page where the spell of invisibility. He tap his tiny paw and it set the spell off, a flash of light seep out of the book engulfing him.

With a proof, Morrison turned invisible. But he knows that it'll wear off in a couple of hours, so he might as well start his plan to mess with these so called demons.

_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

"Guh... Yes~" Lucifer coos and purrs in satisfaction as Tia run her fingers through his wings.

The two moved there activities to Lucifer's bed when he lay down and let Tia straddle over his abdomen. Lucifer only wearing his pants as Tia strip him of his vest and shirt, while they were making out. And he tore her shirt. She glare before sighing and took off her pants. Lucifer is shirtless and Tia was only in her panty and bra.

Tia lay her head on to his chest, humming along his deep purring and coos from his chest, oh she love the feeling of his chest reverberating. As she runs her fingers through the feather of his wings.

"You like that?" She said with a little bit of confidance.

"Yes" Lucifer responded with a draw out Yes with a sigh at the end.

She giggle before turning her head and gave his chest a quickly peak. That send shiver down his spine, his feather ruffled in reaction.

Loving his reaction, keep on kissing his chest. She turn so she can have her chest press against his, than she kissing up his chest before reaching the crook of his neck. Where she letch her lips sucking his skin, before biting down.

He groan in pleasure, and he immediately wrap his arms around her, dug his talons into her skin, causing her to moan.

He pull up so she is in the same eye level, Lucifer stare and she smirk.

Lucifer smirk back before leaning forward capturing her lips into his. She gasps, before it turned into moaning.

As Lucifer let go of his hold only for his hands to start feeling her body, Tia free her hand and reach up to grab his horn. neither of them break away from each other.

Tia grab hold of Lucifer's horn, causing the demon to grant. Than she scrape her nails into his horns, earning more grants and growls from Lucifer.

Lucifer can't hold back any longer, he growl and flip them over, Tia under him, caged by his arms.

She look up with her face flush with heat. "Lucifer~" She crying for him. She needs him.

"Don't worry little one. I won't leave you in this state."

"I need you! Please!"

"You'll have me... All. Of. Me"

_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

That night, it was chaos. Well outside of Lucifer's room.

Well the two were together, outside of that room. Morrison terrorized the brothers.

By pitting them at each other, and all he had to do was making them think the other one destroyed their stuff.

The brothers were at each other throat.

Morrison satisfied, uses his tunnels to get into Lucifer's room. He entered through the skeleton's skull and saw Tia cuddling next to Lucifer with his arms and wings holding her close to him. Both feathers from his wings and pillow are scattered on the bed and on the floor. Morrison frowned when he saw Tia having scratches and bite marks all over her. But smile when he saw Lucifer having a couple on him too.

Not wanting to disturbing his master's sleep, Morrison left the room and head back to Tia's room.

Where he lay down on her bed, enjoying to the sweet music of the brothers yelling at each other.

Let's just say that Dinner never came that night.

Note:

I did it! I finish this fic!! And I finish it on Lucifer's Birthday (Happy Birthday my lovely Boo 😚)

I hope you all enjoy this self-indulged fic

If there’s grammar or spelling error, please let me know and don’t be shy to leave a comment or reblogging with cute tags. I just love to see you guys thoughts on this :3

[synchodai]

Just finished the Fallout TV show! Observations and spoilers under the cut:

GOOD: It's actually pretty lore accurate and canon compliant.

I don't understand the complaints that it retcons New Vegas? People argue that the Battle of Hoover Dam and "the fall of Shady Sands" both happening in 2277 renders FNV non-canonical, but that's not necessarily the case? It was clear from the chalkboard the fall of Shady Sands and the nukes dropping are two separate events? Meaning Shady Sands "falling," whatever that entails, doesn't necessarily contradict the NCR presence in the Mojave. Shady Sands is the capital of the NCR — not the entire NCR. Even without control of Shady Sands, they would still have rangers and citizens in their other settlements.

I think this is because people are so invested in this narrative that Bethesda hates FNV, and yes, they could have treated Obsidian way better and shafted them in numerous ways during game development, but developer Tim Cain himself said that Todd Howard loves FNV.

Yes, certain details in the show can be contradictory to its source text, specifically with how they handle ghoulification, but it wasn't like the games ever had a clear canon explanation for ghoul biology either. Fallout 4 showed that exposure to radiation isn't even the only way to turn into a ghoul — and I was certain the previous games emphasized that ghouls are ghouls because of overexposure to radiation.

All in all, the little details they do get right — the brand names, the music, the general vibe of how each faction operates — vastly outnumbers the ones that are a bit iffy.

BAD: They revealed who dropped the bombs and it doesn't make sense.

The twist of the entire series is that Vault Tec dropped the nukes because it wanted to increase sales and recreate the USA as a utopian, monopolistic corporatocracy. This doesn't exactly contradict established canon. In fact, with Mr. House being part of the corpo meetings discussing this, it explains how he was able to predict the nukes and shield his beloved Vegas before the bombs fell.

What this mainly contradicts for me is just...logic. This show clearly wants to tell its audience that corporations will prioritize profit over public welfare every time. It's a good, clear, and necessary message. However, corporations — no matter how evil they are — just wouldn't wipe out their own customer base, right? Who would they make profits from if 90% of Americans were dead? And let's say they don't care about the poors who couldn't afford their products and services anyway — they've just significantly reduced even the one-percenters' purchasing power by basically scorching the earth. Capitalists want to extract as much resources as possible. They will abuse and torture their golden goose so that it'll lay more eggs, but they will never just...kill their own goose.

There could have been a more logical scenario here. War is a one of the most lucrative times for corporations like Vault Tec. And American corpos ARE known for orchestrating wars and destabilizing entire regions, BUT they always do so outside the US — a safe, far distance from the paying customers and away from the company's executives.

If that board meeting talked about purposefully disrupting the hardearned peacetimes they were in and dropping a bomb ON ANOTHER COUNTRY just to incite people to buy more vaults, then yes, I can see that happening. I can even see them anticipating nuclear retaliation, but they're too blinded by greed and the need for infinite growth that they're willing to take that risk. Add some dialogue about how this is their way of manufacturing and exporting American nuclear annihilation anxiety so they can take their tech global, and we have something that's closer to reality than just....one-step self-immolation.

House in FNV more or less had the same motivations to recreate the world as a technocrat dictatorship, but FNV handled it better in that House knew that people, even rivals like the tribes, were better kept alive and converted to paying customers and/or employees than outright exterminated.

Unfortunately, since the entire theme is about how corporate capitalism can lead to the destruction of the world, the show portraying the "fidicuiary incentive" as akin to an ideology (a set of beliefs on how the world should be structured) is misguided I think. A corporation profit motive isn't ideological because only people can have ideologies and corporations are not people. They don't prioritize profit because they think this is the best system we have to achieve a utopian society — they do it because it is what corporate systems are designed to do. They do not care about societal good anymore than a cancer cell cares about the body it is in. All they want is to grow exponentially.

Corporations like Vault Tec and its ilk are more like machines made to churn money, and that has resulted in sometimes progress and sometimes destruction. But it is always uncaring of those consequences and the methods it has to utilize as long as it fulfills its end goal of continually making profit — and THAT'S the problem of capitalism. Not that corporate execs want total political control. Because if lax control meant they could continuing exploiting and siphoning resources and pleasing shareholders, they wouldn't care about governance or politics at all.

STRAY THOUGHTS

Mr. House at that table gave me everything I wanted. I'm so excited for season 2 being New Vegas centered.

I love the portrayal of vault dwellers. They all had quirky and distinguishable characters and there wasn't a vault dweller character I wasn't entertained by.

Vault 4 is such a good episode! It was so funny and such a good way to show Lucy and Maximus that kindness is still possible in the wasteland without making it uncharacteristically sappy or too after-school special.

Norm is such a compelling character. I didn't expect him to be such a big part of the story but I'm glad he was.

They did justice to the scenery. I love the deer because it shows it's been a while since the atomic bombs and how life inevitably recolonizes the land.

The twist that Hank Maclean helped nuke Shady Sands because his wife escaped to it? It's kind of a weak excuse to nuke an entire area again. I hope this gets elaborated on in season 2 and why Vault Tec decided to let the NCR become a full-blown national power before taking action.

Cooper Howard? No notes. Perfect performance.

I'm not a big fight scene person, but I appreciate the tribute to the games with the splattered body parts and how main characters didn't just curbstomp their opponents.

The vault scenes were the funniest but I hope they also lean in more to how weird the wasteland can be too.

A lot of threads left hanging. Who is Lee Moldover and why are the refugees of Shady Sands worshipping her? Why did she need whatever was in the Enclave scientist's head? Whatever happened to Vault 33's problem with their destroyed water chip? Why did Hank give Moldover the code just because Lucy told him to? WHERE IS FINAL PAM???

CONCLUSION

Amazing adaptation. Well-written characters that felt very at-home with the setting. It understood the games deeply enough to know that Vault Tec is the overarching villain of the series. Plot has holes and logical inconsistencies, but aside from what I've already discussed, these aren't egregious enough to take away from character arcs and the show's themes for me.

**Fallout games I've played:

Fallout 2

Fallout 3 (only got through half of the game)

Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout 4

[keulixeutin]

Tempered

a/n: ahhhh.  a little self-indulgent. summary: tomura’s reaction to a nail technician—accidentally—nicking skin. shigaraki x gn!reader cw: gender neutral pronouns used, gn!reader.  blood. swearing.  threats of violence and murder. fluff, cuddling.  maybe slight ooc-ness ugh. wc: 1,020.

“Did you know there’s, like, a lot of blood in your hands?” you announced as you entered Tomura’s room.

“What?”  His head whipped around in his seat before the rest of the chair could even swivel.

“So, she cut my hand—”

“Who the fuck—”

When he stood up, red eyes pulsing, jaw tensing, fingers twitching for flesh to squeeze, you knew you needed to rephrase the scattered way you were speaking before you sent him over the edge and lit the fuse.

“Tomura,” you began, keeping your voice cool and calm.  “I was talking about my nail technician.  Remember I said I was getting my nails off today?”

His sharp, red eyes scanned your body for whatever worse-case scenario damages that his mind had thought up.

“She cut me with the drill bit,” you explained.  “It was small—the cut—but it was still bleeding for a pretty long time.  Hence the so much blood in the hands comment.”  Tomura didn’t seem amused, so you quickly added on, “but it’s fine now.”  To emphasize, you showed him your hand; the skin at the base of the nail of your left middle finger was red, and the spot where the technician had painfully ripped off skin made your cuticle an uneven line, like an inlet of an island.

He took your hand in his—pinky finger hovering safely—and eyed the tiny wound.  His hand was cold, but his touch was warm.

The cut was, indeed, the tiniest, little thing.  It had bled a lot earlier, and at one point, it had throbbed irritably from to the technician applying some chemical to help undo the acrylic glue; but, as you had said, it was fine now.  You had just wanted to tell a small story about your day, though this was just another reminder that Tomura didn’t have the best reactions to—well, to news in general, especially if it was you and your spotty way of delivering it.

Once Tomura was satisfied that you weren’t tortured in the nail salon, he dropped your hand and sat back down.  The game over screen glowed behind him, but his attention was on you.

Bomb defused, you closed the door behind you and set your bag down on the floor.  You opted to keep the many layers of clothes on as you settled onto the bed.  It was just as chilly inside the hide-out as outside, as the heater stopped working four days ago and no one knew how to fix it (and the back-up heater—Dabi—was getting violently annoyed that everyone kept hovering so closely to him, so that was an unusable plan b).

“Was it her first day?” Tomura asked.

“I don’t think so,” you answered.  You curled comfortably under the frayed blankets and reached for the unfinished book you had left on the shoddy nightstand.

“Then how the hell did she cut you?”

You shrugged, dropping your gaze to where you had left off in your book.  “Accidents happen,” you said offhandedly.

He didn’t respond, though, and when you didn’t hear even a grunt, you looked up to see him staring at your hand with a furious intensity.

“Tomura,” you said.  “It’s fine.”

He glanced up at you, holding your gaze with his own glowing red.  It didn’t seem like he was wanting to say anything; he looked like he was thinking, processing your words, deciding dark actions.  You could probably guess at what he was itching to do.  Then, without further words, he turned back around and picked up his fallen controller.

Later that night, when Tomura joined you under the covers, he grasped your hand and checked your injured finger once again, eyes narrowing.

“See?” you said.  “All good.”

He didn’t say anything, letting go and laying his head down beside you.  You smiled at him.  He didn’t return it—he never did—but his face softened, eyelids drooping and jaw unclenching. 

“Night,” you whispered.

“Mhm.”  He closed his eyes.

But you knew him.  You knew him well.

So in the middle of the night, when you felt a loss of warmth and a shifting bed, you knew to pull yourself from the sticky tendrils of a sweet sleep, and you knew that you’d see Tomura slipping out of the bedsheets in the dim dark and haze of slumber.  You grabbed onto the hem of his shirt; he stilled, glancing back.

“You can’t kill a nail technician because she accidentally cut me,” you said, voice heavy with lingering tendrils.

“I can kill whoever I want,” he said, voice barely above a hiss.

“Then kill her tomorrow,” you said.  

Tomura stared at you, both suspicious and curious.

You released your grip on the edge of his shirt and pulled the blanket closer around you.  “I’m cold,” you said.  “If you leave now, it’ll be even colder.”

“You’ll survive,” he said.  “It’ll be quick.”

“It’s almost below freezing,” you remarked.  “What if I lose some fingers and toes in the process?”

“You won’t.”

“But I sleep better with you here,” you continued.  “Nice and warm and safe.  And anyways, she’ll be there for you to kill any time.  Why go hunting for her in the middle of the night when you know where she’ll be every day from 12 to 9?  Right?”

Though Tomura didn’t respond, he didn’t move either—but you knew him.  He was listening; your voice was cutting through the growing red of his eyes.  You opened the blanket and urged him to come under the covers with your a waving hand.

“Hurry, Tomura,” you said when he still hadn’t moved.  “You’re letting all the heat escape.”

He clicked his tongue in annoyance, but it was a hollow sound, just a habitual response.  In the end, just as you had asked, he turned and lowered back down into your arms.  You settled the blanket around him.  His body heat spread throughout the space, and you shifted closer with a sigh.  In the warm fabric embrace, you fell asleep, already having come up with a quick excuse and reason to keep him tempered for every day this week.