#bill quigley

[ghostampire]

crazy blonde bitches who don't need fixing

[wistfulwatcher]

Yellowjackets | 2.03 "Digestif"

[luulapants]

Where Illinois politicians stand on Palestine

I sent a letter to Senator Tammy Duckworth today. Illinois is a solidly blue state, and I've dutifully voted blue no matter who since I started voting. Droves of people here have been writing to her and our Congressional Representatives, begging them to support a ceasefire, and all we will get back is a canned party-line response about Israel's right to "self defense" and the need to eradicate Hamas.

They are able to do this, to disregard the outrage of their constituency, because they feel certain that no matter how many letters we send, we will show up and vote for them when the time comes. They are certain their actions have no consequences, and even if they did, they would tell us that it's all our fault for failing in our democratic duty to vote.

Senator Dick Durban received about $154.5k from Israeli lobby groups. He has publicly called for ceasefire anyway. Their money was not worth a genocide.

Senator Tammy Duckworth received over $212k from Israeli lobby groups. She refuses to call for ceasefire. This was her going rate to enable genocide.

In my letter, I told her that I could not see pictures of dead Palestinian babies and turn around and vote for someone, like her, who had their blood on her hands. I told her that "vote blue" cannot extend to genocide. My ethics do not stretch this far.

14/17 representatives for the state of Illinois are Democrats. Of these, only 5 have called for ceasefire.

Jonathan Jackson: $3k from Israeli lobby groups. He has publicly called for ceasefire anyway. Their money was not worth a genocide.

Robin Kelly: $21.5k from Israeli lobby groups. She refuses to call for ceasefire. This was her going rate to enable genocide.

Delia Ramirez: $0 from Israeli lobby groups. She has publicly called for ceasefire. They knew she could not be bought.

Jesus "Chuy" Garcia: $0 from Israeli lobby groups. He has publicly called for ceasefire. They knew he could not be bought.

Mike Quigley: $43.5k from Israeli lobby groups. He refuses to call for ceasefire. This was his going rate to enable genocide.

Sean Casten: $61.5k from Israeli lobby groups. He refuses to call for ceasefire. This was his going rate to enable genocide.

Danny Davis: $0 from Israeli lobby groups. Yet he refuses to call for ceasefire. You can have his cowardice for free.

Raja Krishnamoorthi: $61.5k from Israeli lobby groups. He refuses to call for ceasefire. This was his going rate to enable genocide.

Jan Schakowsky: $58.5k from Israeli lobby groups. She has publicly called for ceasefire anyway. Their money was not worth a genocide.

Brad Schneider: $54k from Israeli lobby groups. He refuses to call for ceasefire. This was his going rate to enable genocide.

Bill Foster: $65.5k from Israeli lobby groups. He refuses to call for ceasefire. This was his going rate to enable genocide.

Mike Bost is a Republican. $14.5k and obviously no ceasefire talk. He will not be moved.

Nikki Budzinski: $25.5k from Israeli lobby groups. She refuses to call for ceasefire. This was her going rate to enable genocide.

Lauren Underwood: $0 from Israeli lobby groups. She has publicly called for ceasefire. They knew she could not be bought.

Mary Miller is a Republican. $0 - they don't even have to pay her to toe the party line. She will not be moved.

Darin LaHood is a Republican. $27.5k and obviously no ceasefire talk. He will not be moved.

Eric Sorenson: $0 from Israeli lobby groups. Yet he refuses to call for ceasefire. You can have his cowardice for free.

The Republicans will be trash regardless, but we cannot let our Democrats skate by thinking there are no consequences for supporting a genocide. They are slaughtering people with your tax dollars, Americans. It's time to get serious. It's time to tell these people that they cannot have our votes for free. It's time to start talking about primary opposition and third party voting. It's time to start exercising our power as voting citizens.

[peach-and-bugs]

Masterlist

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∘₊✧──────✧₊∘∘₊✧──────✧₊∘∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

characters that I write for are organized in alphabetical order by fandom and by name. links will lead to my complete list of posted work for said character:

willing to write for characters: romantically (➵ ) platonically (✸) or nsfw (✧)

Character Alphabets (sfw ✸ & nsfw ✧)

Ask Box Headcanons and Blurbes

Agents of shield

Bobbi Morse ✸ ➵ ✧

Daisy Johnson/Quake ✸ ➵ ✧

Jemma Simmons ✸ ➵ ✧

Jiaying ✸ ➵ ✧

Leo Fitz ✸ ➵

Malinda May ✸ ➵ ✧

Phil Coulson ✸ ➵

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 

Hilda Spellman ✸ ➵ ✧

Madam Satan/Lilith ✸ ➵ ✧

Sabrina Spellman ✸ ➵

Zelda Spellman ✸ ➵ ✧

Doctor Who

Amy Pond ✸ ➵ ✧

Bill Pots ✸ ➵

Clara/Clara Oswald/Oswin ✸ ➵ ✧

Eleven/Smith!Doctor ✸ ➵

Jack Harkness ✸ ➵

Missy/Gomez!Master ✸ ➵ ✧

River Song/Melody Pond ✸ ➵ ✧

Simm!Master ✸ ➵

Thirteen/Whittaker!Doctor ✸ ➵ ✧

Twelve/Capaldi!Doctor ✸ ➵

Five Nights at Freddy (movie)

romantic (➵) platonic (✸) nsfw (✧)

Mike Schmidt ➵ ✸

William Afton ➵ ✸

Vanessa Shelly/Afton ➵ ✸ ✧

Killing Eve 

Eve Polastrí ✸ ➵ ✧

Villanelle ✸ ➵ ✧

The Legend Of Korra

Asami Sato ✸ ➵ ✧

Bolin ✸ ➵

Bumi ✸ ➵

Izumi ✸ ➵ ✧

Korra ✸ ➵ ✧

Kuvira ✸ ➵ ✧

Kya ✸ ➵ ✧

Kyoshi ✸ ➵ ✧

Lin Beifong ✸ ➵ ✧

Mako ✸ ➵

Opal ✸ ➵

Tenzin ✸ ➵

The Last Of Us (Games)

Abby Anderson ✸ ➵ ✧

Dina ✸ ➵ ✧

Ellie Williams ✸ ➵ ✧

Joel Miller ✸ ➵

Tommy Miller ✸ ➵

Marvel 

Agatha Harkness ✸ ➵ ✧

Bucky Barns/Winter Soldier ✸ ➵

Bruce Banner ✸ ➵

Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel ✸ ➵ ✧

Darcy Lewis ✸ ➵ ✧

Drax ✸ ➵

Gamora ✸ ➵ ✧

Hela Odendottir ✸ ➵ ✧

Hope van Dyne/Wasp ✸ ➵ ✧

Jane Foster/Mighty Thor ✸ ➵ ✧

Kate Bishop ✸ ➵ ✧

Layla El-Faouly/Scarlet Scarab ✸ ➵ ✧

May Parker ✸ ➵ ✧

Mantis ✸ ➵ ✧

Maria hill ✸ ➵ ✧

Monica Ranbough ✸ ➵ ✧

Natasha Romanov/Black Widow ✸ ➵ ✧

Nebula ✸ ➵ ✧

Okoye ✸ ➵ ✧

Peggy Carter/Captain Carter ✸ ➵ ✧

Peter Parker/Spider-Man ✸ ➵

Sam Wilson/Falcon/Captain America ✸ ➵

Scott Lang/Ant-man ✸ ➵

Sharon Carter/Powerbroker ✸ ➵ ✧

Sylvie Laufeydottir ✸ ➵ ✧

Thor Odenson ✸ ➵

Valkyrie ✸ ➵ ✧

Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch ✸ ➵ ✧

Yelena Belova ✸ ➵ ✧

Parks and Recreation 

Ann Perkins ✸ ➵ ✧

April Ludgate ✸ ➵ ✧

Donna Meagle ✸ ➵ ✧

Jennifer Barkley ✸ ➵ ✧

Leslie Knope ✸ ➵ ✧

Star Wars 

Ahsoka ✸ ➵ ✧

Captain Phasma ✸ ➵ ✧

Finn/FN-2187 ✸ ➵

General Hux ✸ ➵

Han Solo ✸ ➵

Leia Organa ✸ ➵ ✧

Luke Skywalker ✸ ➵

Padmé Amidala ✸ ➵ ✧

Rey ✸ ➵ ✧

Rose ✸ ➵ ✧

Stranger things  

Argyle ✸ ➵

Chrissy Cunningham✸ ➵

Dustin Henderson ✸ ➵

Eddie Munson ✸ ➵

El/Eleven/Jane ✸ ➵

Erica Sinclair ✸

Jim Hopper ✸ ➵

Johnathan Byers ✸ ➵

Joyce Byers ✸ ➵ ✧

Karen Wheeler ✸ ➵ ✧

Lucas Sinclair ✸ ➵

Max Mayfield ✸ ➵

Murray Bauman ✸ ➵

Nancy Wheeler ✸ ➵ ✧

Steve Harrington ✸ ➵

Will Byers ✸ ➵

misc.

Alma LeFay Peregrine (mrs peregrine's home of peculiar children)✸ ➵ ✧

Elizabeth Corday (ER) ✸ ➵ ✧

Lady Alcina Dimitrescu (RE:V) ✸ ➵ ✧

Laura DeMille/Madame Rouge (Doom Patrol) ✸ ➵ ✧

Lily Lebowski (Crossing Jordan) ✸ ➵ ✧

Marilyn Thornhill/Laurel Gates (Wednesday) ✸ ➵ ✧

Millie Rusk/MolotovGirl (Free Guy) ✸ ➵ ✧

Miranda Croft (The Flight Attendant)✸ ➵ ✧

Dr. Olivia Octaviouse (Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse)✸ ➵ ✧

Yellowjackets

Jackie Tayler (1996) ✸ ➵

Laura Lee (1996) ✸ ➵

Lottie Mattews (1996/2021) ✸ ➵ ✧

Misty Quigley (1996/2021) ✸ ➵ ✧

"Nat" Natalie Scatorccio (1996/2021) ✸ ➵ ✧

Shauna Sadecki (1996/2021) ✸ ➵ ✧

Taissa Turner (1996/2021) ✸ ➵ ✧

Travis Martinez (1996/2021) ✸ ➵

"Van" Vanessa Palmer (1996/2021) ✸ ➵ ✧

[disregardcanon]

yellowjackets au where coach martinez lives through the crash. it does not, actually, make things better

bill martinez was a good soccer coach- a great one, even. he could call a play the other team never expected, spot talent at the middle school level and make for DAMN sure those girls kept playing in high school. he could pick captains with a talent for motivating the others and keeping a team together and keep his lowest achieving athletes scraping by in classes enough to keep the on the team. he could even drag all their butts through from states to nationals.

but coaching a soccer team is a lot different than trying to lead his girls, his boys, and his assistant coach through a survival situation in the wilderness.

he tries his hardest to maintain control over the situation, but there's a LOT of situation to control. coach scott's been seriously injured and no one but misty quigley has the time or mental space to help him deal with it, and beyond Making Sure that Ben Stays Alive, he doesn't have the mental space to deal with it, either. he's happy to delegate his assistant's care to the team manager. if ben tries to talk to him about how misty's poisoning him (that's absurd, scott. what would she get out of that?) or making romantic advances on him (well then, be a man and get her to stop? come on, scott, she's under five foot five inches. she's not even one of our PLAYERS and you're saying you can't hold her off? i have more important things to deal with here.)

he lets coach scott organize his Lets See Who's Gonna Hunt For Us party, and has him be in charge of it because ben's the one with the hunting experience, but he's also... very much Flexing His I'm Really In Charge Muscles. he reams both ben and travis new assholes about travis aiming the gun at natalie (and he does it with all the others there) and then he tries to talk ben out of appointing travis as the second hunter. ben refuses to have that talk in public, but bill's like look my son is Very Unstable and Highly Emotional and i don't think you should give him a gun. and i also don't want him spending that much time with natalie scatorrcio. i like her and i trust her with our lives, but someday we're going back to The Real World and she's going to die in a ditch and i'm trying to get travis to Not Fucking Do That. but ben thinks about how he's technically in charge of this choice and how bill told him to man up about misty quigley's behavior... so he puts the gun in travis's hands and dares bill to make a comment about it.

beyond trying to control his son's life and belittling his assistant coach, bill's biggest concerns are with the basics of survival, keeping jackie and tai in line, doing things that are probably helpful to keep travis from Behaving Like Travis and things that are Very Much Not Helpful for That, trying to get javi to integrate more with the group, and trying to figure out how much he can trust coach scott to back him up on any given decision.

he hates the seance idea, but lets jackie organize it because hopefully it will help with their team building. he tells travis and javi they should stay out of it, which makes travis go up immediately and makes javi sneak up. so that dad doesn't see and think badly of me

when tai decides to make her Wilderness Adventure, he decides to accompany the group because they might have more luck with him there. he tries to get travis to come with them and bring the gun, but coach scott digs his heels in about the gun staying with the group and the girls all... side with him... and travis refuses to come along. javi WANTS to, but bill won't let him because he says he won't be able to help and will be safer with his brother. who he makes eye contact with like if you don't protect your little brother i will be ending you, travis.

he goes on the expedition and tries to be in charge by virtue of being The Coach and The Adult, but van is just here to make sure tai doesn't die, mari and akilah are here for tai, and tai is still sore that he didn't make her captain. so if he doesn't do things HER way then he's just going to have to deal with doing them alone. (van gets her face eaten, coach loses an arm, and they make their way back with terrible injuries and their tails between their legs)

when they get back and get the injuries taken care of, laura lee announces her intentions to fly the plane to get them help. coach scott says that's a dumb idea and no one else is dying on his watch, but coach martinez says it's a great idea and he'll help her. and thus, the power struggle continues. he gets some information from laura lee about Visions that lottie's been having and goes. oh. oh shit. i forgot about the schizophrenia. he tries to talk to laura lee about how Lottie Is Probably Very Sick Right Now, and she doesn't listen, and then he tries to talk to lottie herself about it. lottie is starting to drink her wilderness koolaid and is like coach. i think that i have visions and i think the wilderness is telling me what we need to know to survive. he keeps it to himself for a while, but is like lottie matthews if you do anything stupid i'm going to tell EVERYONE! and that. is a very big point of tension.

jackie reveals that shauna is pregnant, he reams shauna a new asshole in public about how stupid that was and how clear he made the team protection requirements and how they could get it, and then he confronts both travis and coach scott about whether or not they got her pregnant. his son is very upset that he thinks he's sleeping with SHAUNA and didn't even notice what was happening with natalie, and the coach scott just. laughs at him. laughs right in his face. he's been beating misty quigley off of himself with a stick but he got shauna shipman pregnant. sure.

he tries to get jackie to participate more in being Alive, and she helps him and laura lee with the plane stuff more than anyone else.

when laura lee goes kablooey and lottie notices before it's started, a lot of the girls start to go Wilderness Prophet. bill notices that something's off about the energy but doesn't know what to do about it beyond. encouraging jackie's last attempt at teambuilding. the kids can have a dance if they want, right? he'll try to find something to get them free. something something something there still has to be SOMETHING

he doesn't attend the dance or eat any of the food. he stays inside and rakes through information in the books. he hears travis and jackie come in and wonders what the fuck's up with that, and then hears them upstairs and goes. shit. that's what's up. hopefully my reaming of travis made it so he used protection, at least, and then he hears a big group of the kids burst in and they start... the events. he gets the fuck up and opens the door to see what the hell's going on, but all he sees is- lottie shoving jackie in a closet and then they're passing his High As A Kite Son Around. and he's trying to get through to them to figure out WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING, but soon it's a hunt, chasing travis out the door. he runs out after them, trying to figure out what the hell is happening and how to stop it from happening, and he comes and tries to use his coach voice to get it to stop. but no one listens.

"you don't matter anymore" lottie tells him. he thinks about getting physical, but that's- shauna, holding a knife to his son's throat. it only stops because natalie scatorccio bursts out and makes them.

the girls finally disperse, finding different places to run off to, and travis left... collapsing. he doesn't want his dad around, of course he doesn't, even though he's high enough he barely knows what's happening beyond Not Dead Not Dead Not Dead. and natalie promises to make sure he's okay and then orders him (HIM!) to go find javi.

and he tries. he tears through the cabin, the meat shed, down by the lake, all the areas around the cabin, and finally he collapses in a pile of leaves and sleeps right there in the woods. when dawn breaks and wakes him up, he searches for hours again, but can't find him. he has to come back to try to eat and tell everyone that javi is, for sure, missing. he tries to get travis to join him on HIS search, but travis has decided that he and NATALIE are going to do it together. without his help. "i don't want you criticizing every move i make." he looks to natalie, please back me up, but she shrugs.

"dads aren't always good people. i'm not sure i trust you with him, either."

the girls killed a bear.

"no," coach says, "jackie is right. this isn't some sort of gift from the forest. lottie isn't a prophet." van glares. "well how do you know, coach? you couldn't protect us from those wolves. lottie's amulet kept all my LIMBS attached!"

"she has schizophrenia, vanessa, not psychic powers." the room falls silent.

"is that true?" van asks gently.

"i-" lottie's voice catches in her throat. she starts crying, and just... sits there. it's a yes.

"SEE!" bill demands, pointing towards her, "she's just off her meds. she tried to kill my son yesterday, are we really going to pretend she's some... forest jesus?"

coach scott glares. "coach, that's... really fucked up. you don't just- out a kid like that."

"that kid," coach says, gesturing wildly to lottie, "almost killed my son because of her psychiatric problems! she's dragging the rest of them in, and i thought they ought to know she's crazy."

suddenly, the confrontation here isn't jackie vs everyone else. it's coach martinez vs lottie matthews...

"vanessa-" a core member of the group. if she changed her tune, that could sway all of them.

"lottie should have gotten to tell us that herself," van says firmly, "and hell, what if it's made up? what if she's... always been magic?"

bill turns to taissa. "come on, taissa. surely YOU don't believe this?" taissa refuses to make eye contact. he can't try mari, because she's been falling under lottie's spell for months. akilah, mari, misty- all lost causes.

"shauna?" he asks. shauna moves a little closer to taissa. he doesn't even bother asking coach scott. they've been drifting further apart for this entire time. he can't trust his assistant to back him up on ANYTHING.

that leaves jackie taylor, his team captain. the girl who, when they crashed, could have gotten those girls to move mountains. maybe she still has some of that left.

"captain?" he asks cautiously.

jackie is angry at a lot of things and a lot of people. she doesn't want to be here, and she knows that shauna doesn't love her and she knows the girls wouldn't side with her the way they are with lottie.

but she's still a YELLOWJACKET. "that was lottie's secret to share."

some of the tension left in the room dissipates. maybe, just maybe, if natalie were still here she could make a difference. he knows that travis has poisoned her against him to some extent, but she's not that easily led. even if she didn't like him revealing lottie's diagnosis, she's against their insanity enough that she might agree they need to be cautious- that it's important information to have, to make sure the girls don't lead them to becoming some sort of pagan forest cult.

but natalie isn't here. travis isn't here, to show whether he'd side with his father or with the girls who assaulted him, and javi certainly isn't. because he and travis and natalie are the only ones who have even thought about searching for their youngest member.

"fine," he says, "if you'd prefer to let the girl who gets visions thank the forest for you, go ahead. i'm going to go find my son."

he freezes to death in the woods that very night, just a hundred feet away from the cabin. travis and natalie find his body when they leave again that morning for the hunt, and even though travis didn't like him and things just got worse in the wilderness... he bawls. he takes his father's ring for javi, when they finally find him, and they let the rest of the group know what happened.

jackie thinks about the fight she was about to have, about how she might have... gone outside and slept there, just to prove a point. she talks to shauna about it instead of letting it boil. it's still not pretty, but she lives longer.

lottie has to deal with the prophet thing even more, since this conflict very explicitly got the coach killed. if she doesn't lean into it... what else is left?

[brokehorrorfan]

4K UHD Review: The Guyver

Following in the wildly successful footsteps of Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Guyver takes a (relatively) grounded approach to its outlandish source material — in this case, a Japanese manga series — without divorcing itself from its comic book roots. Produced by Brian Yuzna (Re-Animator, Society), the 1991 film is directed by special effects wizards Screaming Mad George (Society, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) and Steve Wang (Predator, The Monster Squad).

As the Star Wars-esque expository opening crawl explains, mankind was created by aliens as an organic weapon. The evil Chronos corporation is further developing a technology that allows humans to change into "super monster soldiers" known as Zoanoids for world domination. The only viable defense against them is The Unit, a piece of bio-booster alien armor that increases a human's natural powers a hundredfold, turning them into The Guyver.

Mark Hamill's top billing may lead you to believe that he's the titular hero, but he instead plays a supporting role as a CIA agent investigating Chronos. The real lead is Jack Armstrong (Student Bodies) as Sean Barker, an amateur martial artist who's the only person that can activate The Unit. When his girlfriend (Vivian Wu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III) is endangered, Sean utilizes his newfound powers to take down Chronos and the Zoanoids.

Armstrong is a bland lead, but it's not entirely his fault. In addition to a mustachioed Hamill channeling Colombo, he has to compete with several scene-stealing character actors. Re-Animator's David Gale chews the scenery as the malevolent head of Chronos, briefly reuniting with Jeffrey Combs as the company's scientist, Dr. East (get it?). Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) plays Gale's right-hand Zoanoid with Jimmie Walker (Good Times) as his rapping goon. Linnea Quigley (The Return of the Living Dead) cameos as a scream queen.

But the real stars of the show are the creatures, the designs of which showcase boundless creativity. The Guyver looks like Ultraman by way of Clive Barker, and each Zoanoid adopts a different animal's traits. While a number of other artists were employed to pull off the myriad of monsters, George and Wang's fingerprints are all over the effects, imbuing the alien superhero movie with some disturbing body-horror.

Jon Purdy's script deviates significantly from source material not only in terms of story but also tone. While some of the manga's dark atmosphere and violence remain intact, it's undercut by goofy humor in an attempt to appeal to a younger demographic. Fans of Yoshiki Takaya's original creation were no doubt disappointed (Wang attempted a bit of a course correction with his 1994 sequel, Guyver: Dark Hero), but the tonal confusion is actually charming.

Originally cut down to a PG-13 rating in the US, The Guyver has been newly restored in 4K from the original, R-rated 35mm camera negative with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 options for Unearthed Films' 4K UHD + Blu-ray release. Far removed from the days of Jaws and Alien in which the monster was largely hidden in shadows, George and Wang put their creations on full display — and even with a crystal-clear restoration, the in-camera effects shine.

Two new audio commentaries are included. The first is a lively one with George and Wang, moderated by Budget Biomorphs: The Making of The Guyver Films author Dom O’Brien. It's not the most informative track — the filmmakers admit to not having seen the film in over two decades — but they're enjoying themselves so much that it hardly matters. The second commentary features creature crew members "Evil" Ted Smith and Wyatt Weed, who delve into the nitty-gritty of the effects.

Yuzna and George each sit down for thorough new interviews. Yuzna reveals that he's been approached about a remake, but the rights are complicated, while George's infectious energy lasts the entire 56 (!) minutes. Creature suit camera test footage is included with commentary options from George and Wang or Smith and Weed, while outtakes and a gag reel feature George and Wang commentary.

Other extras include: alternate title sequences in English, German and Spanish; English, German, Spanish, and French trailers (all carrying the alternate title Mutronics); and extensive promotional and production galleries. The collector's edition also comes with the soundtrack CD composed by Matthew Morse (Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker) and a booklet featuring liner notes by O’Brien and Morse.

The Guyver is available now on 4K UHD via Unearthed Films.

[the-chosen-none]

I have no real interest in mods aside from somewhat following the Frontier mess, but when I found out that the fairly popular old New Vegas Bounties mods included incredibly blatant references to Judge Holden and Glanton from Blood Meridian, plus a character named "Javier Sugar" who speaks several lines lifted straight from No Country for Old Men, I wanted to find out how many references to other things pop up throughout the three mods. Turns out, a LOT.

I identified some of them myself, but eventually when I realized how much time it would take for me to watch a whole playthrough or try it out myself, I decided to look up the rest on TV Tropes and put them all together in a list.

The aforementioned Judge Holden knock-off is also said to be seven-feet tall and is a child predator (though only technically implied to be in Holden's case)

The character literally named Glanton runs a group who goes around killing "tribals"

There's a character named Cormac, as in Cormac McCarthy

During the scene with "Javier Sugar", in addition to all the NCFOM quotes there's also a random quote from the movie The Outlaw Josey Wales thrown in there... to spice things up? IDK, the quote is something like "Dyin' ain't no way of livin', boy"

A character called "Harmonica" references one of the main characters of Once Upon a Time in the West

The ghoul Doc Friday references the historical figure Doc Holiday, and his revolver the Huckleberry references the famous quote from his depiction in the movie Tombstone, "I could be your huckleberry"

Marko's outfit seems to reference the character Loco from the movie The Great Silence.

The Frosthill segment of III is also lifted from The Great Silence, what with its Utah setting during the winter, the main character getting shot through the hand, and bounty hunters pretty much kill the whole town.

Aaron Flagg the cult leader seems to be inspired by Randall Flagg the Stephen King villain

The sniper Charlie Halfcocked references the U.S. Marine sniper during Vietnam, Carlos Hathcock, the previous record holder for the most kills

Tom Quigley references the movie Quigley Down Under, the titular character being played by Tom Sellick.

Enclave members Quantrill and Onoda, who keep fighting despite the Enclave's repeated defeats, are named after Confederate guerilla William Quantrill and WWII Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda, who did the same for their sides (okay, I thought that reference was pretty good)

Eileen the Fiend = serial killer Aileen Wuornos

Tony Idaho = Tony Montana from Scarface

Tommy the former Omerta enforcer who killed a made man references Tommy DeVito from Goodfellas

Alex and his gang in Freeside reference Alex DeLarge and his droogs from A Clockwork Orange

Freddie the ghoul = Freddy Krueger

Jack, former muscle for Heck Gunderson, references the villain Jack Wilson from Shane, his revolver is called "Shane's Bane"

Albert Quisling = Vidkun Quisling

Mario Barksdale = character from The Wire

Prometheus is named after the subtitle for Frankenstein: "The modern Prometheus", his Deathclaws are Mary and Shelley

Pancho Cortina = Pancho Villa

"Squirrelly" Bill Blasius references outlaw "Curly" Bill Brocius

Angel Lee is a combination of Angel Eyes from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, and the actor Lee Van Cleef

Godwin, who mails out bombs, probably references Unabomber

Joe Frost = Edward Snowden

Guys fighting over treasure named Clint and Tuco

Fiend chem lab has characters Walter and Pinkman, references Breaking Bad

John Ramsey's body is put on display with a quote referencing the movie Unforgiven, "This is what happens to assassins/rangers around here".

Those are the ones that I either caught myself or saw other people list, if there's more, go ahead and add on.

Some of the historical references are kinda funny, though others are either tasteless (Aileen Wuornos) or eye-roll worthy (Carlos Hathcock = Charlie Halfcocked, GEDDIT IT'S A GUN JOKE), and the majority of the pop culture references are so blatant and so numerous that it gets annoying.

If I made my own mod or anything else, of course I too would love to stick in a bunch of references to the things I love, though I would try to be less obvious about them, put different spins on them, you know? You can't really judge mods to the same standard as the source, and I would be more forgiving if the rest of the mods didn't look like such an edgy slog.

[luvstruckmutt]

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ mutt | any pronouns | 21 ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

abagrotiscupida -> luvstruckmutt

commission info

ʚ🍓ɞ hiiii!! im mutt, a queer self shipper!! welcome to my blog where i spend my time giggling, drawing, and fawning over my f/os!!

ʚ🎂ɞ im comfortable with sharing f/os!!

ʚ🍓ɞ im a big fan of the color pink, stars, aliens, dogs, deer, and horror!!

ʚ🎂ɞ my f/os kind of come from all over the place so i'll try to keep things tagged and sorted!!

ʚ🍓ɞ i would prefer you be 16+ if you're gonna follow me here, thank you!! i sometimes rb suggestive stuff (jokes, mostly) and don't wanna make anyone uncomfortable! ^^

dni basic criteria + dni pr0ship/c0mship/neutral

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ general tags ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

text: cupid.txt

art: cupid.png

assorted self ship stuff: gen

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ romantic f/os ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

samwise gamgee | tolkien | 🌻

sans | undertale + aus

undertale | 🌭

underswap | 🫐

underfell | 🍒

swapfell | 🍇

horrortale | 🧸

dust | 💀

error | 🧵

paladin | 🤺

marshal | 🤠

champion | 🏆

papyrus | undertale + aus

undertale | 🦴

underswap | 🐝

underfell | 💢

swapfell | 🐾

horrortale | 🫎

rusty | 📷

shane | stardew valley | 🌶️

present day misty quigley | yellowjackets | 💉

foggy nelson | daredevil | 🐕

the spot | spiderverse | 🥯

scoria | minecraft oc | 🐖

stanford pines | gravity falls | 👓

stanley pines | gravity falls | 🎱

alphys | undertale + aus | 🧪

underfell | 🧫

undyne | undertale + aus | 🐟

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ crushes ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

aziraphale | good omens | 🕊️

crowley | good omens |🐍

furiosa | mad max saga | 🚛

nux | mad max saga | 🔧

laios touden | dungeon meshi | 🗡️

kabru | dungeon meshi | 💭

namari | dungeon meshi | 🪓

tori | ellsworld/eddsworld | 🚬

tamara | ellsworld/eddsworld | 🎸

ell | ellsworld/eddsworld | 💚

charlie | smiling friends | 🧢

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ platonic f/os ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

frodo | tolkien | 🍃

merry | tolkien | 🐎

pippin | tolkien | 🛡️

burgerpants | undertale |🍔

soos ramirez | gravity falls | ❓

ink sans | utmv | 🖌️

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ secret third option (hitting them with a big hammer) ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

chilchuck tims | dungeon meshi | 🔐

bill cipher | gravity falls | 🎩

gf!sans | undertale/scream | 👻

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ familial f/os ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

frisk | undertale | ✨

jas | stardew valley | 🌹

grogu | the mandalorian | 🐸

mabel pines | gravity falls | 🌠

dipper pines | gravity falls | 🌲

[insanepoll]

WELCOME TO THE INSANE CHARACTER TOURNAMENT

Here's where your favourite insane characters will battle to the death for the first spot! More below the "keep reading" line.

Pre-match rounds start April 12th at 1PM (EDT)! Each round will have 24h to vote. For propaganda, you can go ahead and submit it in the askbox or through normal submissions. If you want to post your own propaganda, be sure to tag me so I can reblog it! I hope to see y'all there!!!

Round 1-A matches:

Alex Kralie (Marble Hornets) VS The Antagonist (Hatred (2015))

Drusilla (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) VS Hisoka (Hunter x Hunter)

Tokishige Usami (Golden Kamuy) VS Enerjak (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Harry Du Bois (Disco Elysium) VS Evan (EverymanHYBRID)

Azula (ATLA) VS Knock Knock (Phantom Spirits (2002))

Eric Cartman (South Park) VS Wade Wilson / Deadpool (Marvel)

Orochimaru (Naruto) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH I

Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto Shippuden) VS Delirium (Sandman)

Castiel (Supernatural) VS Simon Keyes (Ace Attorney Investigations 2)

Opal Koboi (Artemis Fowl) VS Bibble (Barbie Fairytopia)

Hamlet (The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark) VS The Observer (TribeTwelve)

Misty Quigley (Yellowjackets) VS Lestat de Lioncourt (Interview with the Vampire)

Will Graham (NBC Hannibal) VS Shou Tucker (FMA)

Ophelia (The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark) VS Starscream (Transformers)

Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH II

The Narrator (Fight Club) VS Gamzee Makara (Homestuck)

Round 1-B matches:

Dabi (My Hero Academia) VS Shinobu Sensui (Yu Yu Hakusho)

The entire cast of Blaseball (Blaseball) VS Trexel Geistman (Stellar Firma)

Seo Moon-jo (Strangers from Hell) VS Sammy Lawrence (Bendy and the Ink Machine)

Sebastian Morgenstern (The Shadowhunter Chronicles) VS GIR (Invader Zim)

Aerion Targaryen (A Song of Ice and Fire) VS Lucille Bluth (Arrested Development)

Dottore (Genshin Impact) VS Helena (Orphan Black)

GLaDOS (Portal (Game Series)) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH III

Dr. Franken Stein (Soul Eater) VS Tyrian Callows (RWBY)

Samarie (Fear and Hunger 2: Termina) VS Mahito (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Cersei Lannister (A Song of Ice and Fire) VS Lee Dongsik (Beyond Evil)

Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader (Star Wars) VS Rebecca Bunch (Crazy Ex-girlfriend)

John Kramer (Saw) VS The Mad Hatter (Alice in Wonderland)

Light Yagami (Death Note) VS Komaeda Nagito (Danganronpa 2)

The Master (Doctor Who) VS Simon Laurent (Infinity Train)

Gollum (Lord of the Rings) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH IV

Roman Roy (Succession) VS Jack (The Shining)

Round 1-C matches:

Jinx (Arcane) VS Niki Sanders / Jessica Sanders (Heroes)

Micolash, Host of the Nightmare (Bloodborne) VS Professor Henry Hidgens (Hatchetfield)

Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein) VS Cicero (Skyrim)

Renfield (Dracula) VS Dr. Gregory House (House MD)

Tim Drake (DC) VS Ultra Violet (Lego Ninjago)

Donatello Hamato (ROTTMNT) VS Spamton G. Spamton (Deltarune)

The Ice King (Adventure Time) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH V

Villanelle (Killing Eve) VS Kira Yoshikage (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)

Max (Sam and Max) VS Loki (The Mechanisms)

Darcy (Amphibia) VS Cheryl Tunt (Archer)

Harrowhark Nonagesimus (The Locked Tomb) VS Dr. Baxter Stockman (TMNT 2003)

Izzy (Total Drama) VS Alfred Drevis (Mad Father)

Michael Distortion (The Magnus Archives) VS Vegas Theerapanyakul (Kinnporsche)

Doomguy (Doom) VS Gabriel Agreste (Miraculous)

Ben Chang (Community) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH VI

Fëanor (The Silmarillion) VS Ryuki (AI: The Somnium Files)

Round 1-D matches:

Eliot Cardale / Eli Ever (Villains Duology) VS Knives Millions (Trigun)

Denji (Chainsaw Man) VS Bubby (Half Life: VR but the AI is Self Aware)

Tsukishima Hajime (Golden Kamuy) VS Alucard (Hellsing Ultimate)

Hannibal Lecter (NBC Hannibal) VS Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)

Johnny C. (Johnny The Homicidal Maniac) VS Leopold Fitz (Marvel)

Midori (Your Turn To Die) VS Ken Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul)

Pugsley Addams (The Addams Family) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH VII

Billy Lenz (Black Christmas (1974)) VS Grell Sutcliff (Black Butler)

Goro Akechi (Persona 5) VS Fintan Pyren (Keeper of the Lost Cities)

Galahad (The Mechanisms) VS Alexander Hilbert (Wolf 359)

Armand (Interview with the Vampire) VS Spinel (Steven Universe)

Jīn Guāngyáo (Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Untamed)) VS Himiko Toga (My Hero Academia)

Morgana Pendragon (BBC Merlin) VS Nikolai Gogol (Bungo Stray Dogs)

Harley Quinn (DC) VS Xue Yang (Mo Dao Zu Shi (The Untamed))

Eren Jaeger (Attack on Titan) VS WINNER PRE-MATCH VIII

Chat Blanc (Miraculous) VS Volo (Pokemon Legends Arceus)

But first, we'll have the pre-match rounds that will determine if any of the following characters that almost didn't survive the cut will manage to secure a spot in the competition! They are as follows:

PRE-MATCH I: Caleb (Blood (1997)) VS Tuco Salamanca (Better Call Saul)

PRE-MATCH II: Pinkie Pie (My Little Pony) VS Amy Kirio (Mairimashita! Iruma-kun)

PRE-MATCH III: Magic Man (Adventure Time) VS Mindbender (GI Joe Renegades)

PRE-MATCH IV: Jevil (Deltarune) VS Midari Ikishima (Kakegurui)

PRE-MATCH V: Dennis Reynolds (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) VS Eddie Gluskin (Outlast)

PRE-MATCH VI: Vanilla Ice (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) VS Roberto (Futurama)

PRE-MATCH VII: Jonathan Crane / The Scarecrow (DC) VS Annie Wilkes (Misery)

PRE-MATCH VIII: Ben Linus (Lost) VS Kristoph Gavin (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney)

[elliesgaymachete]

Y’know what? Misty Quigley is a poor little meow meow. I don’t use that term often bc i think it should be reserved for the most truly pathetic characters and I think she fits the bill. Like, she’s a friendless loner but is it because she’s “uncool” and teenagers are mean, or because she’s an absolute fucking cunt? She didn’t crash the plane but she destroyed the GPS in the black box, thereby preventing anyone from finding them, just because she felt some sort of fucking power trip on her desperate Need to be useful and liked by her peers. She had a crush on a gay man twice her age. As an adult, she’s a nurse because she’s so pathetic and she needs that power over others once again that she experienced as a traumatized child. She knows her “old friends” can’t fucking stand her but she still tries so hard—not by being nice, just by inserting herself into their lives. She fucks with her friend’s car so it won’t start and they have to spend time together. She installs a hidden camera in her friend’s motel room to spy on her. She follows her friend to a restaurant and watches her on a date because she didn’t want to hang out. She steals medication from her work and uses it to drug and kidnap someone and keep them locked up in her basement, handcuffed to a bed. She snorts 2 lines of coke to try and keep her friend from relapsing. She has a pet bird. Truly the poorest little meow meow

[unfortunate-stranger-losers]

do quigley or duncan or their sister die? I’m on season 1 but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a clip anywhere of quigley and duncan together 😢

While the books leave it ambiguous, I do believe there is a definitive answer. Major spoilers for S3/all 13 books under the cut.

In the series!canon, Quigley reunites with his siblings on the SSHAM, and the secret code in The Incomplete History references them reuniting with the Baudelaires on Briny Beach.

In the book!canon, well... I have an unpopular opinion on this one; I believe that most, if not all of the members of the Queequeg crash survived. And this isn't just because I love the Quagmires and Fiona... I have evidence!

You see, we know that most of Snicket's knowledge of the Baudelaires' thoughts, feelings and situations were taken from their island commonplace book - A Series of Unfortunate Events- as he mentions them writing in the book. However, they could not write information they were not privy to, and all they knew about the Queequeg crash was that Kit suspected everyone was eaten by the Great Unknown. 

However, in an earlier portion of The End, when the Baudelaires are traveling to the arboretum, Snicket says that their friends (the Quagmires, Fiona probably) were "in circumstances just as dark although quite a bit damper than" theirs. "Just as dark" does not qualify death at the moment, as the Baudelaires are simply under a moral quandary and the Medusoid Mycelium has not been released yet. As well as this, they would not know if their friends were in a "damp" situation, just a "dark" one. And who would know better what situation they were in at that time than the Quagmires themselves?

As such, Snicket likely knows something we don't. As well as this, we know Kit's story doesn't always align with the truth- she claims all three Widdershins were on the Queequeg when it crashed, however Snicket stated in The Penultimate Peril that Fernald was fighting the Quagmires aboard the ship (not necessarily implicating Fernald in villainy, it's likely Duncan and Isadora just saw him and heard the kill bill sirens). 

Why would he leave their fate ambiguous? Well, considering several villains survived the Hotel Denouement, and many of them are stated to have something against the Quagmires (the Woman and Man send their eagles to sink the SSHAM home, and Esmé was in charge of their estate and helped Olaf capture them), it's likely the Quagmires want to stay as under their enemies' radar as possible. 

Adding to this, they could be trying to stay off the radar of VFD itself; VFD does not have a crystal-clear reputation, and in fact seems to have a dangerous cult-like atmosphere (best description here, but also see here, here, here). And seeing as Fernald is very disillusioned with the organization, now an enemy of both sides, he would definitely not want to be seen by them; adding to this Fiona's loyalty to him and the beginnings of her break with the organization in The Grim Grotto, she'd probably want to lay low as well. 

Duncan and Isadora also, probably, very against VFD. They found out something about it while researching, and after being captured by Olaf and the White-Faced Women, they shout to the Baudelaires that they learned about something terrible- which they immediately follow up by shouting about VFD. And considering how useless the volunteers were in rescuing them, and how they spent a lot of time with Hector, who seems to have either left the organization or be hiding from them, they almost definitely do not have a good view of it. Even though Quigley was p much successfully inducted by Jacques, he's not going to want to leave his siblings so soon after their reunion. 

All that to say, at the very least, everyone but Widdershins has good reasons to want VFD to leave them alone. So throwing out that they're alive would be dangerous for them, especially if Snicket mentioned they'd contacted him. So he likely gave some clues and left it ambiguous so as to not completely lie. 

As to how they survived? I've linked to @snicketsleuth a lot but they have a pretty good idea...

tl;dr the Queequeg and SSHAMH crews are probably alive!

[haereticus]

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍𝐎 𝐊𝐀𝐓𝐒𝐔𝐊𝐈 ...

𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝… 【 nana komatsu //. demi woman //. she/they 】 welcome, ONO KATSUKI. you have successfully been loaded into THE HUB. according to our records, you are THIRTY YEARS OLD and have held citizenship for TEN YEARS in the barrier city, neo california. your key attributes have been identified as AMBITIOUS and RECALCITRANT. please confirm your CHAOTIC EVIL status to proceed. our data indicates that you are currently employed with COWBOYS AS A BOUNTY HUNTER. for your safety and security, it is crucial that all background information is accurate. further analysis of our archives highlights your alignment with SIMMER BY HAYLEY WILLIAMS. ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ verification 100% complete. please adhere to all local regulations and laws during your stay. we trust that your time here will be both fulfilling and safe.

𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒.

full name. ono katsuki. nickname(s). suki. gender & pronouns. demi woman & she/they. date of birth. february 28, 2115. age. thirty. hometown. tokyo. current residence. neo california. nationality. japanese. occupation. bounty hunter. affiliation. cowboys / herself. languages. english, japanese, mandarin, french. education. high school diploma + bachelor degree in history.

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘.

positive traits. ambitious, analytical, curious, perceptive, steadfast. negative traits. recalcitrant, impatient, cruel, impetuous, unhinged. mbti. istp-a ( the virtuoso ). enneagram. type four ( the individualist ). moral alignment. chaotic evil. deadly sin. pride. heavenly virtue. diligence. western zodiac. libra. parallels. misty quigley, yellowjackets / villanelle, killing eve / jian-yang, silicon valley / loki, marvel cinematic universe / april ludgate, parks and recreation / harley quinn, dc comics / o-ren ishii, kill bill / lila pitts, the umbrella academy.

𝐁𝐈𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐘.

tw: murder, parental death, matricide, violence, guns

You were not always this way. You were not always a snake in the grass, waiting to strike. You did not always have poison dripping from your fangs, coating your tongue. You did not always have blood under your fingernails or fire in your veins. Once upon a time, you’d been gentle, soft, even kind – though this version of you is long dead and buried. Gutted and strung up as a warning to all those who think they can carry goodness and light with them as they plunge into the dark. They were killed and replaced with something far more wicked. They were killed and replaced with you.

You are the first, and only, child of Kenji and Akari – a pair of bright-eyed young lovers who had met in the barrier city of TOKYO. You don’t remember much of them, these days – but you remember that they were sweet and genuine and kind. And that you were so, so deeply loved. You thought they were superheroes, good samaritans, and you thought they were invincible. Of course, like so many childhood fantasies – you would soon be proven wrong about all of the above.

No children ever truly know their parents, do they? After all, they had lived entire lives before you were anything more than a measly bundle of cells. How were you supposed to know that the life you led was a carefully orchestrated lie? How were you supposed to know that they had wrapped you in cotton wool to protect you from their barbs? How were you supposed to know that they only reason they could afford the life they led – ballet classes, violin lessons, plush furniture and private schooling – but because of their association with the gokudō.

They were not major players, by any means. No, they had been pencil-pushers – accountants, of all things, for a small clan – barely important enough to be on the map. Just important enough, unfortunately, to put them in the crosshairs of the SŌWAKATSU-KAI. You are seven years old, and they are hiding you in a cupboard beneath the stairs and telling you to be quiet. You think it’s a game – so you stay hidden. You stay hidden, even after you hear two gunshots. You stay hidden, even after you hear heavy footfalls retreating. Even as your parents’ blood begins to seep beneath the door of your hiding place. Your parents die, and so does your childhood.

ONO ASAMI is the one who finds you. You do not know that this is her name at the time – all you know is that she is a pair of soft hands on your shoulders. A comforting presence looming over you. She takes you in her arms and escorts you from the house – hands covering your eyes so that you don’t see the Sōwakatsu-kai’s cleaners diligently scrubbing your parents’ blood from the floor. Asami tells you that everything is going to be okay – and so you believe her. After all, you are seven years old. Your parents are dead. You have been ripped from the safety of your bubble in the most brutal way imaginable. 

Your life, naturally, changes after this event. Asami is gifted in many things – not the least of which is the ability to lie. She recounts a vastly different tale of your parents’ demise – pinning the crime on a rival gokudō clan. She explains that only the Sōwakatsu-kai are good and right and decent, and that their enemies are vicious and evil and wrong. You believe her, because you are seven years old. You believe her, because she rescued you from certain death. Whoever killed your parents would soon have come back, if Asami had not overheard the gunshots and rushed to your aid. You would certainly be dead, if Asami had not been grateful enough to take you in.

Asami does not raise you in the way your parents had intended. No, she does not believe in wrapping you safely in a bubble – she does not believe in hiding you from the horrors of the big, scary world. So, instead of treating you as though you were made of glass, she treats you as though you are made of steel. The atrocities of the world aren’t going away, so it’s better that you learn to confront them. She teaches you that to survive means to adapt, to kill. She teaches you to fight – each night after school is spent training in martial arts, in weaponry, in the subtle, graceful art of the kill. Maybe this is love, but it is not the kind of love you can recognise.

By the time you reach adulthood, your innocence has given way to savagery. You have seen the way the Sōwakatsu-kai work, the path that has been laid out for you by the woman you now call mother – and it is beautiful. You are no longer a girl, you are a weapon. No, you are the weapon – quiet and elegant and brutal and, most importantly, blindly obedient. You are the viper of the Sōwakatsu-kai – a venomous serpent with no purpose but to kill. You are far more deadly than any weapon that has come before you – you will settle for nothing less than becoming the ultimate killer of man. Your ascent is all but guaranteed – you and Asami are relocated to AMERICA as she is promoted to WAKAGASHIRA. You are both feared and revered, a clear path towards leadership is carved out in front of you. 

It is HANEUL SEON who throws a cat amongst the pigeons. He ranks below your mother – a wretched man desperately clawing for power. Wretched, yes, but also exceptionally clever. Evidence is placed in your hands – decades-old photographs of bloodied corpses and an all-too familiar house. Case notes and paper trails and at the end of it all – ONO ASAMI. Your adoptive mother stands above the bodies of your parents – pist0l in hand and same vindictive grin you have become familiar with adorning her face. You feel sick at the realization. That all you have come to believe is a lie – that Asami is not good, or right, or just. That the Sōwakatsu-kai were the ones who ordered the hit on your parents. That the woman you call mother is the one who carried it out. 

You will not pretend to know why Asami decided not to kill you. You will also not pretend to understand why she took you in, raised you as her own, and fed you lies for close to two decades. She must have had her reasons – Ono Asami is nothing if not meticulous. And yet, she made one crucial error. She had raised you in her own image, crafting a monster. A killer. The only one capable of destroying her as thoroughly as she destroyed others. You do not kill her with poison, or blades, or fists. No, you go about things the old-fashioned way. You kill Asami the same way she had killed your parents – a clean bullet between the eyes. For someone so clever, she fails to see it coming.

You clean the gun and dispose of it as she had once taught you. You leave no trace behind, and her murder is attributed to a rival gang. Only you know the truth – that she had destroyed herself. She had raised her own murderer and let you into her home to pull the trigger. No guilt weighs on your chest – in fact, you feel lighter than ever. You leave the Sōwakatsu-kai without much fanfare – unwilling to devote yourself further to the organization that had killed your parents and destroyed your innocence. 

Instead, you go out on your own – your only discernible skill is violence, but in Neo California, this is an asset. You gain your license as a BOUNTY HUNTER, and quickly gain notoriety. You are brutal, and you are cruel, but you are also neat and meticulous. You carry out hit after hit without mercy, washing blood from your hands as though it were simple grime. You feel no empathy, no remorse – only a sick satisfaction at a job well done, just as your mother had taught you. You are a beast that has been unchained – set free of your bubble and your shackles for the first time in your life.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

mike luckovich

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

January 18, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JAN 19, 2024

This afternoon, Congress passed a new continuing resolution necessary to fund the government past the upcoming deadlines in the previous continuing resolution. Those deadlines were tomorrow (January 19) and February 2. The deadlines in the new measure are March 1 and March 8. This is the third continuing resolution passed in four months as extremist Republicans have refused to fund the government unless they get a wish list of concessions to their ideology.

Today’s vote was no exception. Eighteen Republican senators voted against the measure, while five Republicans did not vote (at least one, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, is ill). All the Democrats voted in favor. The final tally was 77 to 18, with five not voting. 

In the House the vote was 314 to 108, with 11 not voting. Republicans were evenly split between supporting government funding and voting against it, threatening to shut down the government. They split 107 to 106. All but two Democrats voted in favor of government funding. (In the past, Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts and MIke Quigley of Illinois have voted no on a continuing resolution to fund the government in protest that the measure did not include funding for Ukraine.) 

This means that, like his predecessor Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had to turn to Democrats to keep the government operating. The chair of the extremist House Freedom Caucus, Bob Good (R-VA), told reporters that before the House vote, Freedom Caucus members had tried to get Johnson to add to the measure the terms of their extremist border security bill. Such an addition would have tanked the bill, forcing a government shutdown, and Johnson refused.

“I always tell people back home beware of bipartisanship," Representative Warren Davidson (R-OH) said on the House floor during the debate. “The most bipartisan thing in Washington, D.C., is bankrupting our country, if not financially, morally…. It’s not just the spending, it’s all the terrible policies that are attached to the spending.”

Republican extremists in Congress are also doing the bidding of former president Donald Trump, blocking further aid to Ukraine in its struggle to fight off Russian aggression and standing in the way of a bipartisan immigration reform measure. Aid to Ukraine is widely popular both among the American people and among lawmakers. Immigration reform, which Republicans have demanded but are now opposing, would take away one of Trump’s only talking points before the 2024 election. 

A piece today in the Washington Post by European affairs columnist Lee Hockstadter about the difficulties of reestablishing democracy in Poland after eight years under a right-wing leader illuminates this moment in the U.S. Hockstadter’s description of the party of former Polish leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski sounds familiar: the party “jury-rigged systems, rules and institutions to its own partisan advantage, seeding its allies in the courts, prosecutors’ offices, state-owned media and central bank. Kaczynski’s administration erected an intricate legal obstacle course designed to leave the party with a stranglehold on key levers of power even if it were ousted in elections.”

Although voters in Poland last fall reelected former prime minister Donald Tusk to reestablish democracy, his ability to rebuild the democratic and judicial norms torched by his predecessor have been hamstrung by his opponents, who make up an “irreconcilable opposition” and are trying to retain control over Poland through their seizure of key levers of government. 

The U.S. was in a similar situation during Reconstruction, when in 1879, former Confederates in the Democratic Party tried to end the government protection of Black rights altogether by refusing to fund the government until the president, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, withdrew all the U.S. troops from the South (it’s a myth that they left in 1877) and stopped trying to protect Black voting. 

At the time, the president and House minority leader James A. Garfield refused to bow to the former Confederates. Five times, Hayes vetoed funding measures that carried the riders former Confederates wanted, writing that the Confederates’ policy was “radical, dangerous, and unconstitutional,” for it would allow a “bare majority” in the House to dictate its terms to the Senate and the President, thus destroying the balance of power in the American government.

In 1879, well aware of the stakes in the fight, newspapers made the case that the government was under assault. American voters listened, the former Confederates backed down, and Garfield somewhat unexpectedly was elected president in 1880 as a man who would champion the idea of the protection of Black rights and the country itself from those who wanted to establish that states were more powerful than the federal government. 

Chastened, the leaders of the Democratic Party marginalized former Confederates and turned to northern cities to reestablish the party, beginning the transition to the party that would, fifty years later, usher in the New Deal.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jonathan Nicholson at HuffPost:

The House of Representatives approved a $60.8 billion package of aid for the embattled country of Ukraine on Saturday, ending a monthslong attempt by Republicans to leverage the Ukraine money to extract concessions on border security from the White House. The overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, 311 to 112, was never in doubt even as the path to get to the vote was a long and circuitous one beginning in September of last year.

As in past votes, the final tally was bipartisan, but weighted toward Democrats ― 210 voted in favor, joined by 101 House Republicans. A majority of Republicans, though — 112 — voted against the aid, while no Democrats did. “This is now up to the American people,” said Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), a co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Ukraine Caucus, noting that the money should be enough to get Ukraine past the U.S. elections later this year. “The decision in November will be a decision for Ukraine and Eastern Europe and NATO. That’s the next turning point.” The bill is one in a four-part, $95 billion package, which also includes $26.4 billion in military aid for Israel and $8.1 billion for Taiwan and other Asian allies. Another bill in the package also allows for confiscation of official Russian government assets in the U.S. and requires social media app TikTok to divest its U.S. operations from its Chinese owners or face a ban.

Good news: The GOP-controlled House finally got off their rears and voted to fund Ukrainian aid 311-112, with 101 Republicans crossing over and 112 Republicans voting to suck up to Putin.

[afterthegreatunknown]

Hi!! Which unfortunate gen characters (who aren’t related) do you think have sibling energy? :)

hello @ven10!

ooh, those with sibling energy but aren't related...

in my post-canon headcanons, it has to be fiona and the quagmires, and sunny and bea ii (i mean they fit they bill).

regarding fiona and the quagmires, i personally headcanon fiona wanting younger siblings since she was little, maybe around five or six. fiona faintly recalled her older brother fernald, and at that particular stage of life, she wanted something to be close with. to play games with, like checkers, and to teach many things, like spitting.

fiona gets her unexpected chance at sixteen, and boy oh boy, it's nothing like she expected. she got keep an eye out on three identical chaotic messes who don't respect her half the time because to them "age doesn't give respect", two who want to (rightfully) beat up her older brother and she has to prevent this (or not; depends on her mood and if she feels the quags are in the right in that moment).

if i have to narrow down the one she has the strongest siblings energy with, it's probably quigley. but they're the siblings who actually like one another 99% percent of the time; they be planning things together and talk shit together of others. the 'sell for a corn chip' energy would be fiona and duncan (they talk and sometimes she wants to strangle him), while fiona and isadora are the weird 'we don't know each other well but we make sure we don't get into trouble' energy (really because they don't spend lot of time together; would trust when shit hits the fan though).

for sunny and bea ii, i feel because they're so close in age (sunny is what, only a year or year and a half older than bea ii), being the youngest of the unfortunate gen gets them into a sibling like dynamic. yes, sunny does her fair share of raising bea ii because sunny and her siblings are her adopted family, but it's more of a loving pain-in-the-neck older sister than adopted mother and father (which bea ii sees with violet and klaus).

they don't have the full picture of the unfortunate events (sunny definitely remembers events of tbb, tmm, tee, tss-tee completely while the the others only bits and parts; bea ii gets told of them but she knows something is omitted), and they bond over this detail. they being so close in age, tell each other things they don't tell violet and klaus (fear of judgement or disappointment). also: the baking disaster they get into! 100% sees sunny trying to stop bea ii from eating raw cookie dough (sunny is a risk taker, but she ain't getting anyone sick from a food-born illness on her watch), so sunny makes a batch for them to eat together (they don't share with violet or klaus).

and i like to think people when the baudelaires are back on mainland/the city, sunny and bea ARE mistaken for sisters and they go 'oh yeah we TOTALLY ARE' because it's fun to mess with strangers + they benefit from it (it takes awhile for the baudelaires reputation to be completely clear, so sunny and bea ii being sisters helps the bauds to go 'oh we're not them').

thank you for ask! this was fun to answer!

[tocitynews]

Georgia Lawmakers To Rein In Aggressive Home Owners Associations After Hearing Homeowner Horror Stories – Atlanta Georgia reporting

You can be up to date on your mortgage, never missed a loan payment, and lose your home to foreclosure by your Homeowners Association.

▶︎ Each month Karyn Gibbons mailed a check for HOA dues on her Gwinnett County condo to the address provided in writing at closing. But she said she never knew when or if it would be cashed.

“It was just random. I mean there’d be two, three, four, five months go in between checks being cashed,” said Gibbons. Then out of the blue she was served with a notice of foreclosure by her Home Owners Association, with late fees and thousands of dollars in attorney fees.

She owed more than $30,000.

“Did you even know you could be foreclosed on by an HOA?” Gray asked Gibbons.

“No. Never heard of it,” Gibbons said.

▶︎ “It’s totally insane. It’s totally insane,” said Tricia Quigley, a former Cherokee County homeowner.

She learned it can happen the hard way.

When Quigley’s Cherokee County home of 18 years was sold at foreclosure on the courthouse steps for about the amount of spare change on her coffee table as Gray interviewed her.

“It went for $3.25,” Quigley said.

She admitted she did not pay two of her biannual homeowner association dues payments totaling $800.

She ended up paying more than $10,000 trying to get right with the HOA but the late fees and attorney fees kept growing.

“I kept thinking I paid all this money; how come it’s not stopping?” Quigley said.

A big reason is attorney costs.

Every email, every inquiry, every attempt to contest, fix, or even pay the overdue bill adds to the bill.

Channel 2 Action News checked foreclosure records and found that ▶︎ just two metro Atlanta law firms that specialize in representing HOAs have filed 279 notices seeking damage and foreclosure notices in just the past three years.

By the time Juliet Graham finally sold her downtown Atlanta condo her HOA bill had reached $250,000.

“You broke us. We’re broke,” Graham said.

“I can’t imagine the mafia having been any worse than what my experience was with this,” Graham said.

State Senator Donzella James, a Democrat who represents South Fulton County, introduced multiple bills this legislative session trying to reign in overly aggressive HOAs.

“People need to be protected and safeguarded against foreclosures,” said State Senator James.

“This is where I resodded the whole thing,” said James McAdoo, a homeowner in South Fulton County.

The only way he could stop his HOA from intercepting his paycheck was by filing for bankruptcy.

“They garnished my wages,” McAdoo said.

He owes $36,000 and counting predominantly because of weeds in his front yard.

They were garnishing $600 from his paycheck every two weeks until he started the bankruptcy process.

“What way do you see out of this?” Gray asked McAdoo.

“Selling my home and just getting out of this neighborhood,” McAdoo said.

That is what Karyn Gibbons did earlier this year even though she still does not believe she did anything wrong.

“I just said enough. I can’t do it anymore,” Gibbons said.

She paid $34,000 in fines, interest, and attorney fees to end the nightmare.

“I don’t know how it’s legal,” Gibbons said.

And it’s not just happening to homeowners. Gray also spoke with a couple who said just because they were renting a home, they were not safe from an HOA.

Jasmine Latson and Jaquan Hunter said their HOA in their South Fulton neighborhood came after them over the condition of their yard.

They ended up hiring a lawn service to take care of everything. But that wasn’t enough for the HOA.

“I was like, maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m not doing good enough, I don’t know. So I went ahead and just hired an outside resource that my neighbor used. He’s been pretty consistent and good, but the fines keep happening,” Latson said.

Last year, they received a foreclosure letter saying the home’s owners owed fines and fees of more than $23,000.

“Never, never in a million years would I have thought that I would have would be dealing with this. You know? I pay my rent every month,” Latson said.

First Key Homes, Latson, and Hunter’s landlord negotiated down the fines to about $12,000 to prevent foreclosure. But the company has now passed that bill onto the couple along with an eviction notice.

Latson has fired an attorney and has a court date set for Friday.

Now, these renters are hoping state lawmakers can do something about these aggressive HOAs.

▶︎ A bipartisan bill sponsored by state senator and Rules Committee Chair Matt Brass, a Republican representing Newnan, did pass at the Gold Dome this year to create a study committee examining how to change laws to better protect homeowners.

Brass told Gray the No. 1 topic on the study committee’s agenda will be HOA foreclosures that he said are taking families’ generational wealth.

“To have some outside group come and take that away from me is again, it’s un-American. And we’re not going to stand for it in this state,” Brass said.

Several states have put in place laws limiting HOA foreclosure.