#but I'm also not ruling that out for why they ended up the targets

[myfootyrthroat]

I thought the "The Resnicks control 60% of California's water" claims were... dubious, but didn't have a good source. Not that it stopped the people making the claim, but...

They apparently own a little under 60% of one water bank, not the entire state's water supply, which has very little to do with the problems related to water delivery for this fire.

An alternate place that the 60% could have been misapplied from is that 60% of California's water usage is for irrigation (all irrigation uses: crop, pasture, landscape, etc). Again, this is for all irrigation use in the whole state, not directly tied to the Resnicks' companies.

Also, the focus on pistachios and almonds and lack of talk about animal agriculture is always a little weird. Irrigating orchards takes a lot of water, but way less water than growing alllll the annual crops that cows need to eat to produce milk. (I also have a few quibbles with how the agricultural water use is broken down in that last link. "Trees and vines" are one category, which includes nuts, citrus, grapes, etc... but "corn" and "grain" are separated. Looks like cooking some numbers to me!)

The weird focus on this one couple, who are part of a larger problem to be sure, at the expense of... you know, actually focusing on the larger problem, is a bit weird. And speaking of the larger problem, when it comes to landowners in California, they aren't even in the top 5. The largest landowners are all timber industry, which has a much more direct connection with fire, so it's odd that we aren't seeing more about them!

And again, most of this doesn't actually have anything to do with firefighting anyway. The problems with water delivery to the fires aren't from a shortage of water, but because urban water infrastructure isn't made to deliver water at the volumes necessary for fighting wildfires.

It can be cathartic to spread posts that are the "right kind" of inflammatory, but people looking to spread misinformation are very aware of that and good at crafting the kind of messages that will make people just mad enough to share without checking. None of this is defending the messed up water rights/usage system in the US, but important problems are worth addressing with correct information.

[bi-writes]

If you have time I am kindly asking for Simon and the teams POV on the arranged marriage fic!! Like why they put that ad out! I also think they’re silly for doing the whole ceremony in their gear 👉👈

the arrangement prequel

it wasn't much of a choice. ghost knew this was coming, knew this might happen--disciplinary action from the increasingly...unorthodox ways he was coming back from an op.

one too many times, a capture or kill became looking for the pieces of their target scattered across the field. an accident on the way back to interrogation--he doesn't know how his blade ended up embedded in their mark's throat. he misfired his gun--it's too bad it went straight through that prisoner's forehead.

disobeying without saying no. taking matters into his own hands without exactly defying the rules. ghost had been walking along the boundary line for a long while, and he knew eventually someone would realize the risks he was taking.

it was kate's idea. ghost needed something to chew on, something to satiate the hunger in his bones. a companionship, is what she tells price, but even he knew that was a stretch. anything given to ghost would surely be shredded apart on impact. anything that belongs to him ends up tucked underneath layers of shadows, not to be seen again.

but ghost is the best at what he does. all kate needs is for him to fucking listen once in a while.

when they ride back in the humvee, ghost is fiddling with the chamber of his pistol when price speaks up.

"got somethin' new," he says, looking into the rearview mirror. the sergeants shuffle a little closer to hear him. "new program between CIA and SAS. pilot program, not...exactly routine. but they'd like one of you lot to be the first to participate."

"what is it?"

price clears his throat, "the legality is a grey area. but both parties need to be willing."

"spit it out, cap'n."

"an arrangement of sorts," he says finally. "it's...not a secret 's hard to keep a bird with the things we do...always away, hard to reach. but you're the best at what you do, and i think if you take it seriously, it could be good for one of ya."

soap snorts. "cap'n, ye wanna play matchmaker with us? see if we're worthy of little bonnie spies?"

price snorts, rolling his eyes, "i need you to set an example, is what i need. i need one of you to step forward."

ghost looks up when he says that. his eyes flicker, and he looks at his captain, who keeps his eyes on the road as he drives. he hears what price doesn't say. this is your punishment, he imagines. and you will take it and not say a word, like the lieutenant that you are.

in the dark of his room later that evening, he opens the file with your name typed across the front. CONFIDENTIAL it reads, and he flips the manila folder to spread your profile out onto the desk.

you're smiling in the first photo. it's a headshot, from high school maybe, from college, a pretty photo of you beaming at a camera with a nice background. he eyes your height, weight, measurements, the skills they've identified and the answers to your questions about why you want to participate in the program.

Q: What kind of partner are you looking for? A: Resistant. Unmovable. Loyal.

Q: Why do you want to participate in this program? A: I'm tired of being disappointed.

Q: What are some of the qualities you possess you would like your partner to know about you? A: I'm not afraid of what I don't know.

short answers, straight to the point. affirmative and honest, with no room for interpretation. ghost doesn't need interpretation; he knows what it is you're saying.

when he looks back at your picture, he brings it closer, narrowing his eyes as he studies you. the smile you wear, while beautiful, isn't real. it's a persona, a ruse, a costume that you wear to put the outside world at ease. you understand that a smile makes you agreeable, but he knows, somehow he knows, that there must be a tick that you feel that no one is able to quiet, an anger and a lilt to the soft voice you must speak in that carries the weight of your defiance and your disappointment with everything the world is that you thought it wouldn't be.

ghost isn't told that the program is a lie. you aren't an operative for the CIA, you aren't some kind of spy in need of company. when he reads the rest of your file, he is amused because he knows the rest is made-up bullshit that doesn't apply to you. you are as civilian as they come, but with how well you lie, he wonders if you should be recruited just for that.

with just a little training, he thinks perhaps you might be everything your country needs and more. a little blood wouldn't scare you.

it's weeks later when ghost eyes the date on his calendar. he has marked it with an X, black marker haphazardly traced there to indicate the day. he told price he doesn't want bells and whistles--no music, no men, no party. an unmarked room and his bride is all that is necessary.

he steps outside to smoke a cigarette. he sucks on it gently, blowing it out to the side, and he eyes the car that pulls onto base carefully. when price steps out of the drivers' seat, ghost stubs out the cigarette and turns the corner. he catches a glimpse of a lace veil before he disappears.

and when he steps into the room hours later, your back to him, he can't help the way his pupils dilate and the way his body goes rigid with rage. there you are, standing there, in white silk and lace, your back to him but the picture of elegance and the presence of something honestly deserving.

it is only when he lifts the veil off of your face and sees those eyes that he understands what you are, what you wear.

a façade, a beautiful mask of your own, to cover up the ugly you hold on the inside.

he smiles under the mask when you kiss him over the fabric. because fuck, yes...he doesn't care where you have come from. he doesn't care that they lied about who you are, that they didn't tell him the truth, that in all honesty, they have given you to die and you don't know it--he doesn't care because it worked, at least for him. the finest flesh he has ever set his eyes on. he cannot wait to brand you for what you are worth.

if they meant to punish him for the crimes he has committed, he is sorry. because you are his reward, and there is no hell to pay.

[noxiousgrace]

I'm not sure who said it first, but the theory that krs is the red dragon has been on my mind for days now

And it would make so much sense if that was the case

Like what's a better twist than finding out the man who ended the white stars bullshit is also the same being who was used to start it all?

And the fact that krs was able to be affected by white stars curse is so much worse now

Imagine sherrit finding out her child was hurt by the same thing she created to protect him 😭

This also places immense suspicion on the god of death, i mean it never made sense to me that the white star was just able to "pass his curse around" like a sickly virus just because he stole someones body. It sounds more plausible to me that the god of death never added the rule "this curse cannot affect anybody else" and then used it as a loophole to curse KRS.

The curse was a punishment for an oath only dragon slayers have made, what the hell could be more targeted and specific than that??? And now you're telling me this random guy from raon has to live with it in korea cuz the white star took his body before that soul got to inhabit it??

The only person who can break a curse is the one who made the curse and the person who wanted it to be made (in this case the GoD and Sherrit)

And in the sealed test choi jung gun says "the god of death is trying to hold the curse back from affecting you"

Excuse me??? He can't dispel his own curse?? I don't believe that at all. Also krs had nothing to do with the white star since he was born, so why is it impossible to remove him from the effects of it?? The god of death had about 36 years to figure out how to make it go away, and he just couldn't?? I smell bullshit

Sherrit also said that the red egg was affecting it's surroundings before it was born, the dragon inside would've been powerful to extents she probably couldn't even comprehend

It makes more sense to me if the GoD just wanted to get rid of any competition/ "wrench in his plans" and used the excuse of protecting sherrits children to create the perfect scenario to take out 2 birds with one stone

GoD does seem kinda stupid when we see him but it's always the mfs with that kind of act that are the most suspicious, also he literally became a god?? If he can do that, then he's more than capable of setting up some kind of intricate plan to get what he wants

Anywho, there's also other things I've noticed:

1) never accepting park jin tae as king until he proved himself, krs has never submitted to anyone without a valid reason for doing so. Which would seem kinda weird cuz he spent 90% of his upbringing being beaten into submission. I've only ever seen an attitude like that in dragons or just stronger creatures in general (coincidence? I think not)

2) this has been stated before but his affinity with dragons is crazy + he's constantly being mistaken for one 😭

3) the GoD called krs a mutant, we don't know why yet but being a human with the soul of a dragon is a pretty valid reason to call someone a mutant. (Especially if that mutant was able to activate a small % of its attribute)

4) i don't have anything to back this up with, but instant being his attribute instead of a power he got on earth would be pretty cool, just using it for a little bit is enough to injure him because it's meant to be used by a dragon as powerful as the Red one.

----

Imagine eden finding out that the heart he ate to become a chimera belonged to the person who saved him 😭

Imagine the rest of the dragons finding out cale henituse is a "dragon" that will literally die from using his attribute because he's living in the wrong body 😭😭

---

Cales honest reaction to that information:

[thyfleshc0nsumed]

Much has already been said by other transfeminists on the "they hate us all equally" idea that many TME trans people fall back on when trans women speak on the specific ways in which we are targeted, and within the last few days, I've received a number of messages similar to this:

Frankly, I'm not even sure what has spurred this on--and this is the least aggressive and most direct of them--but many of them are not just the standard affair of transmisogynistic slurs and threats, rather they are posed as a defense of not just women, but trans men as well.

I don't believe that it is trans men or transmasculine people sending me these--though of course I could be wrong--so why do they highlight trans men within these messages?

The answer to me is obvious: within the trans man, the transmisogynist sees (correctly) the potential of an ally to their ends. Does the average radicalized transmisogynist look highly upon trans men and treat them with love and respect? I do not think so; these people are driven by disgust and indignation and view transsexuality and self-determination of gender and sex as degenerate, after all.

But motivated reactionaries know, if not understand, the mechanisms through which systems of power operate. For an ideology to be made manifest or maintain its reign, it does not require large segments of a population to be committed ideologues; that segment only needs to be amenable to the ideology and closed off from opposition.

So, while the radicalized transmisogynist is also a general transphobe, they know well that there exists stratification within their out-group and will happily incorporate sub-groups they also see as impure if it benefits their fundamental goal more than it damages it.

I think about early developments of whiteness. Did the 17th century propertied English of Virginia view their European-descended underclass as equals? Of course not. But when it became clear that material solidarity between the European underclass and Black slaves threatened their minority rule and their monopoly over expansion further into Siouan and Algonquin land, the propertied minority identified the essential components of their rule (chattel slavery and displacement of Indians) and became willing to grant privileges to the non-English Europeans so long as it solidified that rule. They codified this stratification into law over the course of the century. The European underclass, though still an underclass, now had a stake in this system. The propertied English had to give something up, but in exchange, they received new allies that allowed their fundamental aims and methods to remain unchanged.

So yes, perhaps the radicalized transmisogynist views the trans man as degenerate, but they understand that trans men have a stake in keeping trans women below them--denying this stratification helps uphold it.

Men who refuse to acknowledge that patriarchy exists still benefit from it and further its existence, regardless of whatever marginalizations they may face. Does patriarchy harm men too? Supposedly so, but only really in some psychic, damage-to-the-soul sort of way. The fundamentals of patriarchy is the positioning of women below men, even within a shared oppression. So to the transmisogynist, an allyship with trans men does not harm their essential aim: running trans women off of the earth.

[doberbutts]

you don't actually get to cry "ally yourself with trans women" while actively talking over trans women whose traumatic experiences with transmisogyny are wildly ignored in favor of how hard transmisogyny is on the cis women. like why don't trans women get to say privilege plays into how much transmisogyny affects people?

do we not characterize white privilege as being what protects white americans from the systematic racism that permeates the US?

again, what is the preferred way you would have us refer to that privilege? because I am right here telling you that privilege is a part of the construct of tme/tma but you don't really care that trans women are more affected.

like it's crazy that you seem to think my problem is with the transvestigation playing out against a cis woman and not the way everyone pays attention when it happens to cis women but ignores the rampant transmisogyny when it happens to a trans woman. like you don't even pause to look at why there were no trans women at the olympics to transvestigate in the first place so they turned to the next marginalized option, intersex and women of color, when discussing how trans women deserve better.

Hi I'm the trans woman I deserve better from you specifically

To be completely honest this is looking less and less like a good faith discussion and more and more like you simply accusing me of stuff I didn't say.

You say I am actively talking over trans women. How so? How is "we need to address transmisogyny at its root if we want things to be better" ignoring the plight of trans women?

How is it that I have *repeatedly* acknowledged that there is privilege there, and yet apparently I am ignoring it?

if you want to use the race example: white privilege exists. Racism also affects white people. If white people want to stop being affected by racism (welfare regulations, the war on drugs, low income housing, social programs for community aid, to name a few) then maybe they should ally themselves with people of color because the root of what's causing issues with these things is racism. That doesn't mean white privilege doesn't exist just because a system of oppression affects everyone under said system. It doesn't even mean that the primary target has changed. It's just what makes this a system rather than an individual occurrence.

Never once have I said that cis women are more affected and, in fact, in followup posts I have stated that it *is* quite annoying that people have only been talking about this because this year's Olympics included approximately 0 out trans women. I have been saying that this was the clear end result, once they were rid of the trans women they'd go for whatever cis women they could feasibly get away with, and this time it seems they overplayed their hand.

Castor Semenya is a cis woman who only found out that she is intersex due to being transvestigated. She is, by definition, TME. Except she's not, is she, considering the same rules that apply to trans women apply to her. That's why I brought her up! And- correct me if I'm wrong- but out trans women still competed after she was forced to leave the Olympic running. That is why I'm saying that things maybe are not quite so clear cut as "have" and "have not", because I can point to an example of someone that the definition labels as "has privilege" that according to Olympic ruling bodies no longer counts as a woman either despite being afab TME cis.

If you want to continue to put words in my mouth, then we're out of things to say to each other, and it becomes clear that this was never intended to be a good faith discussion in the first place.

[starxanemone]

꩜ⴰ ࣪˖ FROM DUST TO DUST

michael kaiser x gender neutral!reader

you liked to see him crumble—from dust to dust.

warnings ! mdni ! sexual content — sub! brat!kaiser, dom!reader, praise kink, cock sucking, handjob, teasing and denial. also slight character exploration based on his backstory.

note — as a femdom, i am a firm and avid fan of the idea of submissive kaiser. oliver aiku is my next target. also, sorry this took a while : ( i'm busy with uni.

From dust to dust; there is nothing more beautiful than to view the evolution of things. A being grows—all supple skin and flesh and fragile bones—from a mere zygote, born from the fusion of sperm and egg.

And you think that man goes through the same cycle again and again throughout their life. From learning how to stand on one’s feet to no longer being able to do so. From seeking to finding, then to seeking again. From exalted kings to abdicated ones. All from different facets of the humans of society; they go back to their roots, ultimately. From dust to dust.

Michael Kaiser is nothing more than a mere cog born to inevitably contribute and connect with society that is just like him. Yes, by the gods, he was birthed, chosen to be an emperor, and how ethereal he truly is as he devours and rules lowly humans that grovel underneath him. No mercy was shown to anyone that attempted to overthrow his position, and not a simple glimpse was spared for those who raved on about the ‘impossible.’

He was arrogant and his mouth never knew when to stop running. But he would get what he deserves. Just like all the kings and queens, and emperors and empresses that stood before his rule.

They all fall down.

From dust to dust.

“Now, now… quiet down, liebling.” You hum, pressing your right hand tightly over his swollen pink lips. You know he loves it when you call him that, especially with the way his hard-on presses against your knee. He thrashes a little underneath you with his cheeks, ears, and exposed neck all tinted in pinkish and red hues.

You like to think that he looks like a work of art when he is like this. Not when he is in his most glorious state, but when he looks human in their rawest form. All supple skin and flesh ( you’d like to paint with your lips ) and fragile bones ( you’d like to caress ).

You pull downwards, cat-like eyes gazing intently into his half-lidded ones as you hover your face over his sweatpants. You press your cheek right against it teasingly, smiling a little in amusement when he glares down at you.

“Kitty’s got bite, hm?” You chuckle, rubbing your cheek against his crotch, feeling his cock twitch underneath the fabric as you massage his hips with your fingers.

“S-Shut up, a-ah—”

He spits out his words, though you get the feeling that it’s not as angry as he would have liked it to sound, especially with the way he holds back his moan and breathes heavily towards the end.

“Oh,” You pout mockingly. “But you wouldn’t be in this position if you weren’t being such a slut earlier. Like, seriously, making out with me in front of everyone and leaving a hickey on my neck where everyone could see? All because you were jealous of sweet little Yoichi?”

“S-Stop,” He rasps out, bringing his hands down to cup your cheeks to lift it up from his clothed cock.

You can tell that he’s irked with the way you call his rival ‘sweet.’ Your smile softens and you pull yourself up to plant your chin against his chest.

“Why are you so envious, mein schatz?” You bring your hand up, thumbing against his pink bottom lip. You watch in fascination as you press on the soft skin, nail biting onto the flesh, leaving a small crescent in its wake.

His lips part and you grin lazily, slipping your finger into his mouth to touch the wet muscle. Your eyes don’t miss the way his tongue runs over the tip of your finger, brushing over your nail before his mouth closes around it entirely.

You bring your other palm up to cup the side of his cheek as you sit up on his abdomen again. His electro-blue irises and sharp ebony pupils swallow you entirely as he sucks and licks on your finger willingly.

Oh how you loved seeing him crumble like this. All of his wits and pride dispersed with a flick of your fingers. You who have given him the feeling of something new—something so incredibly yet not supposed to be foreign for any living human. An emotion that he could only utter as a wistful wish underneath the eyes of the constellations.

Love. So this is love.

You pull your finger back, chuckling a little as he lifts his head up to chase for the sensation between his lips again before dropping his head back down upon realizing his actions. His cheeks are flushed cherry red and his brows are furrowed as if his senses had come back, and you know that he is beating himself up over the constant lapses of weakness before the gaze of someone else. But you don’t care about that.

It was never a weakness to choose to open up oneself to somebody.

You cup his cheek, firmly this time.

“Why are you always so envious? Tell me.”

But he was a stubborn one.

He keeps his lips pressed firmly, glaring up at you in a disobeying manner. It doesn’t look very intimidating with his black cotton shirt half-way lifted up on his upper body, his hair scattered around his head like a makeshift blue pearlescent crown, and the cute little wet patch marking his grey sweatpants.

“Not talking, hm? Okay, then. Fine. We’ll do it your way.” You hum in amusement before you’re snaking back down onto his hips.

In a split second, you grasp the garter of his sweatpants and pull it down, wordlessly gazing at the way his curved cock slaps at the skin below his belly button.

He hisses, “W-What are you—”

“Shut up. Don’t talk.” You murmur before dipping your head down to lick at the pinkish tip. It was already oozing with precum, bubbling and dripping down against the length of his cock, tracing a vein.

“F-Fuck—” He groans, throwing his head back against the pillows.

You pull your lips away from his cock and strike your palm against his inner thigh, leaving a red mark though not enough to cause any significant pain.

Nevertheless, he hisses, eyes widening in shock. “Why did you—”

“Didn’t I tell you to shut the fuck up?” Your hands smooth over the spot you had just hit before traveling north once more. When your hands reach its destination, you blink when you hear a silent whine leave his mouth.

“Please…” You hear him mumble and your gaze flickers upwards, seeing his disheveled state. Eyes half lidded with his soft lashes pointing southwards, cheeks turning a shade darker than it was previously.

His hips twitch upwards and your gaze softens.

“Okay,” You breathe out. “Okay.”

You have to admit. You cave in way too fast.

You place your hands on the sides of his bare hips, squeezing as you lick your tongue flat across the length of his cock, stopping near the tip. You keep your eyes trained on him and his gaze on yours, brows furrowed over.

You brush your tongue repeatedly against the underside of his pink tip—now all shiny underneath the fluorescent lights of your shared apartment from the mixture of precum and your saliva. His hips twitch and you immediately hold it down, digging your fingers against his skin, leaving marks on the flesh.

“P-Please,” He groans quietly, eyes closing. “Give me more, liebling. Please.”

“Hm?” You hum, tongue toying with his tip. The little crevice is soft and smooth against your touch, now all sensitive. You press your tongue against the underside of it harder before taking just the tip inside your mouth. Your fingers trace against the veins protruding the length of his cock teasingly. “But you haven’t— haven’t answered my question yet.”

You suck on his tip lightly, just enough to have his stomach and shoulders twitching, and hips buck between your hold.

“I-I want you to look at me!” He groans, body twitching when you trace your tongue with more pressure against his length repeatedly, humming a little as you listen to him speak. “I w-want you to look at me only and not that worthless, pathetic man. H-He won’t serve you half as good as I do. He can’t. I want you to love me, and me only.”

You pull away momentarily, chuckling at his uncharacteristic honesty. He whines at the sudden loss of your touch.

“Oh but I already do.” You smile, pressing your lips against the side of his stomach. “I love you, and only you.”

He doesn’t respond, simply staring down at you with pink cheeks and furrowed brows.

He never says ‘I love you' back.

But you already knew how he was. He was never used to the straightforward affection and loving words directed at him, but that never bothered you. Being with him entailed having the ability to read between the lines—it entailed being able to appreciate the little crevices and permanent folds that marred his shirt and was never able to learn how to iron. You appreciated the marks left behind by the past and the past that brought about this present—this gift—him, and only him.

And that was alright with you.

You loved him. You had the ability to build him up, make him crumble, and build him up again.

From dust to dust.

But mere dusts of cement clumped together could form a stable foundation, the same way a cluster of atoms can make up a single cell, and how multiple similar cells can form tissue.

You loved him from dust to dust.

You lick a stripe up from the base of your palm up to your fingers, keeping your eyes trained on his and his to yours and what you were doing, before encircling your fingers around the length of his cock, pumping him up and down slowly. He jolts and heaves out a breathy moan each time your hand squeezes at the right areas, up towards his shiny pink tip leaking with his fluids and down once again. Your other hand plays with his balls and you grin at the way he throws his head back, eyes rolling up.

“You must be so tired, mein schatz, but it’s okay, you can come to me. I will always be here to make you feel better.” You mewl, smiling up at him with half-lidded eyes.

“A-Ah, fuck, don’t speak like that to me, I-I’m gonna cum—” He bucks his hips helplessly, whining.

“But why?” You giggle, tilting your head innocently, “Can’t I speak like that to the person I love?”

“S-Stop, haah—” He brings his hands up to cover half of his red face, blue eyes glaring down at yours, but you don’t falter.

“My poor baby,” You pout, pumping your hand against his cock upwards and brushing your thumb against his tip. You hear him choke a little. “You’re so beautiful and you work so hard! I’m so proud of you, hm?”

“H-Haah— I-I’m gonna, gonna cum!”

"Give it to me, my love."

His hips buck against your hand a few more times before he’s shooting spurts of his cum onto your face. He moans, eyes squeezing shut.

You shut your eyes, feeling the liquid spill all over your face for a few seconds.

After a while, you open your eyes to him breathing in and out deeply, his body laying limply on the bed with sweat thinly coating every inch of his skin.

You chuckle, wiping the cum off your face and bringing your hand up to taste it.

He raises his brow as you do so and scowls. “Don’t— don’t do that. That’s dirty.”

“And I happen to be a dirty person. I don't mind." You grin, licking your hand.

He’s silent for a while before he speaks up.

“But is it true?”

“What?” You question curiously, laying right beside him flat on your back. You turn your head to look into his eyes levelly.

“That you,” He purses his lips, voice growing more silent. “Love me?”

You smile, genuinely this time.

“Of course.”

From dust to dust.

[tomurawr44]

TOMURA SHIGARAKI HEADCANONS! (2/3)

okay my last one recieved alot of love and I'm so happy for that 🖤 send in yall's reqs please, sorry if this is kind of ehh and the timelines are weird.

WARNINGS: spoilers, OOC tomura maybe, dating hcs, gn!reader

unlike all the tiktok hcs I've been seeing around, he's not the perfect boyfriend but he's not absolutely evil towards his partner. no he would not hit you, he doesn't even hit any of the league, why would he treat his partner any differently?

for villains/allies

he will treat you like a member of the league, but he trusts you more, obviously, he'll come to you for an opinion on his plan and he will trust your judgement, although not all the time. just don't do it infront of other members, he'll get pissed and sulk about it.

when you get harmed on a mission, he'll voice his concern by calling you an idiot for getting yourself hurt, and he'll call whoever hurt you an idiot for harming what he cared about.

he really is absolutely down bad hates you, he hates the way you make him feel so..vulnerable, and he hates the way you care about him so much, why are you kissing his bruises and wounds? he can bandage himself by himself, don't act all smartass when he gets hurt, you got hurt not too long ago too! he hates all of it! but in the end, he'll crawl into your arms just to hold you, even if it's just by your clothes, or it's you holding him, he'll grumble about how stupid it is before he presses closer against you.

he loves watching you fight or just be in your element, combat based? your his personal bodyguard now. you're kinda like skeptic where he's mostly computer based? he loves to watch and cover for you, it makes him feel like he's in a game or movie.

during the time Kurogiri was captured and sent away, that was the time you kind of saw him spiral a little, not in a manic way just in a way where he was forced to mature so suddenly and it took him a little bit to get used to it, so please be there for him.

during the overhaul arc, you were his righthand (person), there to intimidate and speak alongside him to try and get him to be mature around overhaul. luckily though that fell through.

and then, when the MLA arc started, thats when he feared for you, he knew that you were capable of protecting yourself but it wasn't so secret to the public that you were very close with him. mostly just being called 'Tomura Shigaraki's partner' or something alongs the lines of that, and he had a feeling they were going to try and target you to get information or get under his skin.

it didn't happen though, and you two ruled the PLA together and everyone was afraid of you🖤

during the months leading up to his surgery, it's up to you how you feel about it but you're worried, obviously. who wouldn't be? it was scary.

after his surgery and he obtains AFO, it kind of feels like you lost touch with him, as though he's a completely different person and it's just..off. when you find out AFO is controlling him though, somewhat like what happened during the final endings of the chapters, you're able to connect with him and try and soothe him from the inside out, even if you know it won't do much with AFO in the way.

for civilian s/o (pre USJ/15-18yr old tomura)

it was a wonder that you two got together, you'd have to be the one to approach him first though, places i think you'd be able to spot him in are the arcade, the mall, the gameshop, a 24hr place, computer cafes or hanging around different bars.

he won't be the one to confess first, actually, there won't be a confession, he kind of just thought you two became official somewhere along the way due to how close you two have become.

AFO does not approve of you, he sees you as a source of love and care that he does not want tomura to have distraction and he's torn because he does like you but he also values his master more. so once AFO finds out, he'll become distant :(

but in the end, he might end up lying or trying to brush you off whenever you become a subject between him, Kurogiri and AFO.

he hasn't done anything criminal yet so he usually tells Kurogiri he's going to the mall when in reality he's heading to you .

please just love this man. he needs it, please be patient with his bratty bullshit and show him your not gonna leave no matter what. he might throw temper tantrums but just hold him, kiss his fingers and watch him try and close off but your just too warm for his cold heart.

he's whipped, he doesn't really say i love you though, you have to say it alot otherwise he'll sulk. (he never says it back)

he tends to express his thankfulness/love language through acts of service, quality time and gift-giving. he's scared to touch you, if he disintegrates the only person to actually make him feel normal, what then? what becomes of him?

contrary to some, he's actually very insecure. like, he tries to put it off but he just hates how he looks in general, please praise him, tell him how handsome he is. he doesn't know how he's able to date someone like YOU. he doesn't consider himself as someone to take a second glance at, not even decent because of all his itchies, he doesn't tend to dwell on it but when he does, you can tell.

he never lets you sleep in the same bed as him, for obvious safety reasons but he loves watching you rest. seeing how peaceful you are wrapped up in his blankets, he loves it. sometimes while a game is taking a long time to load, queue, or install, he'll just watch you. call him creepy (please don't) but he has a bunch of pics of you sleeping.

he loves your hair, he loves smelling you, if you use scented things, he loves running his hands carefully through your hair and watching as his fingers disappear into the strands. he loves it when you do the same to him and scritch scritch here and there on him.

speaking of scratching, kissing his neck or face whenever he tries to itch them almost makes the feeling for him drop instantly, not so much but it shocked him the first time you did it.

he loves watching you laugh and smile, doesn't matter if it's about something stupid, it makes him smile too oddly enough.

to date him you have to go through the trials of mamagiri and AFO, get ready to be interrogated when he goes to the bathroom or god forbid you stay for dinner. Kurogiri will be TALKING. (In mhoj2, Kurogiri's a big talker, as in he has voicelines a minute or so long.)

he will tell you his real name if he trusts you enough (AFO does mention his real name to him when he first picked him up so im pretty sure he knows it.)

he's just a sad wet cat please love this crusty munch.

—Ake 2024

[autisticfaun420]

My life with level 2 (part 1)

I'm making this post to share some things about my life and give an idea about what my support needs are

1. Every morning I wake up sealed in my cubby bed, an enclosed bed that keep me trapped inside so I dont wander and hurt myself or roll out and have a meltdown (common things that happen with me and regular beds). It's also soft so I don't potentially bang my head against something hard. you're probably wondering well how do I go to the bathroom at night. That brings me to my next point.

2. Every morning after opening up my cubby bed either my mom, dad, caregiver, or occasional close friend takes me to my changing station in my room and begins to change my diaper. Thats right I was NEVER able to potty train and due to EXTREME sensory issues I am unable to change myself. This means I need constant super vision as I always need someone to change me, also calm me down if meltdown, etc. I simply have no way to tell I need to go, 1 or 2, till its much too late. So yeah diapers are an all day thing not just at night.

3. I'm older then 20 and my parents are l now my legal guardians for life, and if they can't do it I have friends that will step up. I'm not sure exactly what this means legally but I take it to mean Im basically still a kid to them on like, every level. They respect my intelligence but they still set the rules. One that always kind of gets people mad but then they understand is the fact that I have child safety internet settings on my tablet and phone, I can't access most social media websites and I'm not alliowed YouTube only YouTube Kids. This is because my parents and close friends agree that these teenage boys from a nearby town were trying to make me an "lol cow", basicallly a target for online harassment and bullying and trolling me because I was special needs and active on social media. Tumblr with my parents having the username and password and log ins and they check it every day is all I get. My friends and parents show me things from TikTok and Youtube that they think i'll like so I don't miss out. Oh yeah and I would binge watch horror and terror content on youtube, something that a lot of autistic people do apparently, however I mentally can't handle it. I wake up and freak out and hit myself all night and lose sleep for a week and end up in a mental hospital cause I'm hurting myself and not sleeping. Not fun... at all. I had unrestricted internet access as a teenager and I'm glad that part of my life is over. My parents do however let me eat cannabis edibles every day so its not like they're over protective, just protective in the way I need.

4. My parents are my emotional coregulators and I rely on them heavily, a lot of the time just to know how I'm feeling. I break down emotionally frequently and if my parents or a select few of my friends aren't there to cuddle me and rub my back the right way, I FREAK out and start hitting myself cause my brain is a bit nutty I guess. I'm needy with those I love to a rediculous degree. I'm a lot better, still not great, at self soothing. Self soothing is an oxymoron for me. I kinda need to be with somebody to be told to calm down, encouraged to come out my shell, praised when I do something good, and just having a hand to hold. My mom is rubbing my back encouraging me to write this out like I said I wanted to do.

5. I need to stim, constantly. I'm always rocking, fidget toy and plushie in hand chewing on my chewing laynyard, you get the idea. I also need audio and visual stims which I get in the form of watching bright colorful little kid shows on my tablet like Blues Clues and Daniel Tiger. I think this is why people don't think I'm smart but its just who I am and what my needs are.

I think this is a good starting point, I'll make a part 2 later.

[mxrcjqckspnchqsc]

Lost You

Pairing: Max Mayfield x GN!reader

Pt1: Promise?

Summary: In which Vecna targets you instead of Max and she's scared of losing you

Genre: Fluff/Angst

TW: Near death experience, mentions of drug abuse, mentions of blood and gore, mentions of strong language, romance themes, and the usual stranger things theme.

A/N: Your favorite song is Everybody Wants to Rule The World by Tears for Fears. You sorta have to read the first part to understand this one, I said sorta because this one shot starts where the first part ended and stuff.

IT'S FINALLY HERE SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT GUYS I DIDN'T MEAN TO

Anyways enjoy this oneshot/imagine(that isn't proofread whatsoever)

You ran for what felt like miles, you panted now out of breath. When you realized that you weren't in your house anymore, it was red and clocks were floating. And when you turned around you was met with a dead Chrissy Cunningham, you also screamed at the sight.

"Y/n," Vecna's voice loomed the air. "It's time for your suffering to end."

You turned around and was face to face with Vecna, he backed you into a corner. Which was stupid on your part as vines began to wrap around your arms and legs.

"Let me go!" You exclaimed.

"Why should I? It's clear to see you're suffering out there." Vecna stared you down.

"You don't know anything!" You spat.

"Oh but I do, I know everything about you Y/n." Vecna revealed. "I know about your mother and her history with the pills, such a shame isn't it?"

"Shut up!" You screamed.

"I'm only telling the truth y/n, it's all your fault. You should have been more careful," Vecna looked into your eyes.

You tried to look away when you felt a vine making its way around your neck, choking you.

"There's a reason why you don't tell them the truth, why you don't tell Max the truth." Vecna spoke.

...

Dustin held the radio in his hand, listening to Robin's words as they came in and out. Apparently well according to Robin, music was the key to saving Vecna but what was your favorite song?

Dustin ran back to the group and took out everything from your bag.

"What's their favorite song?" Dustin asked the group.

"What? What does y/n favorite song have to do with this?" Max exclaimed.

"Well Robin said that the key to escaping Vecna is by listening to your fav- nevermind what's her favorite song?" Dustin exclaimed.

"Uh let me think!" Lucas exclaimed.

"We don't have time to think, Y/n is about to die right now!" Steve panicked

"They aren't going to die, just tell me what's their favorite song!" Dustin screamed at Steve.

...

"You're not really here," You said in between breaths.

"Oh but I am Y/n, I am here. And I don't plan on leaving,"

...

"Cmon, cmon," Steve mumbled to himself, why did you have so many cassette tapes in one bag?

"Tears for Fears!" Max exclaimed, out of nowhere. "That's their favorite band!"

And with that, the group began to look for the one cassette that they knew you owned by them.

"I found it, I found it!" Lucas exclaimed.

"Hurry put it on!" Steve exclaimed.

"I'm trying!" Dustin shouted.

"Hurry up!" Max exclaimed.

...

Tears welled up in your eyes as Vecna's hand went to go over your face, that's when you hear it.

"Welcome to your life"

Vecna turned around to see where the noise was coming from and that's when you saw them, saw her. They were screaming at you to wake up, hoping that you would. You saw yourself and you were flying? But that thought erased your mind when Vecna turned back to watch you again, you squirmed.

"It'll all be over soon," Vecna told you with his hand over your face.

Through his fingers, you were still able to see your friends. And you realized that you couldn't die now, they needed you, she needed you. Your favorite memories of them began to flood your mind, when you were truly happy.

The dice rolls to a 12, you did it. You won the game. Lucas runs up to hug you as did the others. They all began to cheer for you.

"You did it Y/N, you did it!" Lucas exclaimed.

"That was so amazing Y/N!" Mike agreed.

"You just have to play with us again!" Will smiles.

"Forever actually," Dustin added.

"I shall!" You laughed.

You thought of another memory with your friends, one in particular.

You and Steve were riding down the street, Madonna came on.

"Oh, this is my jam turn it up Steve!" You exclaimed.

"Oh my god," Steve mumbled but does what he's told.

You began to sing along to the lyrics with your fake microphone.

"And we're living in a material world and I am a material girl," You sung along, horribly which made Steve chuckle.

You glared at him before laughing with him, it felt like hours and you hoped it would never end.

Another tear rolled down your face as you remembered one more memory, of Max.

You had gotten a bad grade on a test, and you weren't happy about it at all. Max approached you and saw your face and knew what it was.

"Hey," Max greeted.

"Hey," You grunted.

"Wanna hang out at my house today?" Max asked.

"It's the middle of the week, Max, maybe this weekend."

"My mom said it's fine,"

"No she didn't," You replied instantly.

"Cmon just this once, we can rent that movie you wanted to see."

"Really?" You turned to look at her.

"Yes!" Max smiled. "Whatever it takes to make you happy."

"I'm the happiest when I'm with you," You admit, Max's cheeks flushed as your words as she smiled at you.

You gasped as your hand was now free and punched Vecna in the face, knocking him away from you.

"Help me make the most of freedom"

You fell to the ground, you tried not to care as you got up and ran towards the portal.

"And our pleasure, nothing ever last forever."

You ran closer and closer to it, Vecna tried to ruin your path. You tried your best to evade it and you made it to the portal.

"Everybody wants to rule the world."

You gasped as you fell down, the others began to surround you. Max hugged you tight. Steve wiped a tear from your face as he caressed your head, you hadn't realized you were crying.

"I'm okay, it's okay." You told them but you were really you were telling yourself that.

"That was scary Y/n, please don't do that ever again." Lucas says.

"I'll try," You smile at him.

"I thought I lost you," Max whispered.

"You'll never lose me Max, never." You told her and that was a promise.

[huesofvioletandpurple]

on the topic of MonoTV seeming to be weirdly caring and remorseful, especially towards Teruko, here's something I've been thinking about a lot since the episode came out: why did it stop Teruko's execution when Levi intervened

I'm not saying that to criticise this writing choice—in fact, it's the opposite. the implications of it on MonoTV's character staggers me. like okay, its main purpose is to continue the killing game until the death of every participant. its secondary purpose is to perform the role of a villain. yet when Levi threw himself in front of the machine gun for Teruko, it stopped, because he "wasn't the intended target", giving way for a VERY SLIM miracle that would save Levi's life. and it said it did that to make Levi "act as a warning to those who break the rules"

what was stopping it from killing Levi fully and then continue on with gunning down Teruko.

genuinely, wouldn't it accelerate the primary goal of MonoTV ? that way, (ideally) four students would've died in one day, and even if Teruko survived. well. that's still three people !! and it would also fulfil its secondary purpose of being the villain of the TV show, because it would've just machine-gunned two of the students dead in front of everybody. yes, it was cruel when it stretched out the time of Ace's execution so that the elevator doors wouldn't open fast enough for Levi to get treatment. but why even open up the chance for a miracle when its purpose is to kill every student, y'know !!

alongside MonoTV's strange phrasing in its scene with Teruko at the end that implies it can feel guilt over its actions, I also believe that "making an example out of Levi was enough" is kind of an excuse. since violently killing Levi and Teruko outright would've also warded the rest of the cast off from breaking the rules methinks. but if it is making an excuse, that means it doesn't want to kill Levi and Teruko and yet believes it must fulfil its purpose anyway. and like ?? HUH ???? the fucking IMPLICATIONS OF THAT GOING FORWARD ????

why did XF-Ture program MonoTV with guilt. why did they just keep that in its default personality drivers. grips this robot by the screen. what the fuck is up with you.

[kani-miso]

hngngngnggngn guyss what if the dude in the ending of the t2 summary, will influence es even further into their warden role (and maybe something really bad will happen)

we all know that the dude used "watashi" instead of jackalopes "ore-sama", this is really important. since we know in the novels, jackalope's aren't technically "jackalopes", they are technically "human", sort of. maybe, the dude who used watashi could be jackalope off of work, or the dude in the novel (the boss). the identity of that man isn't really important in this discussion, but i just want to find out ig.

what's important is, do you remember about the aviot collab? es' last test line is the main topic. (im to lazy to take the image). the line, "i(boku wa)... i(watashi.. wa..)...." iirc. the 1st "i", uses boku, their usual 1st person pronoun. boku is usually used by young boys, but in this case they're using it since boku is used by workers (boku is also gender neutral). the 2nd "i" uses watashi, they have NEVER used this 1st person. what if, the reason why they used watashi, is because of that dude in the ending of t2 summary using watashi. only we can hear that dude since he appeared when es is put to sleep, if they are taking reference off of that dude, how did they hear it? the viewers mind and es' mind is sorta connected (the reason why es can hear our thoughts).

before es is put to sleep, jackalope is awfully manipulative i will rip my guts out. "and anyway, whatever happens to them, none of it can be taken back. its not for the guard to worry about. that's right, you are the guard. don't doubt it. that is your job. as long as you dont forget that, it's fine. now that you understand, go to sleep, es."

its not for the guard to worry about : jackalope knows that es has their full trust on him, he's using that as a chance to take advantage of their own feelings, making them slowly lose empathy for the prisoners. also, maybe jackalope said this because he knows es feels guilty for what happened to the guiltied (…I'm sorry. I'm responsible for the fact that you've ended up like this.) ig he is supposed to be the representation of the all seeing eye in the panopticon.

that's right, you are the guard. don't doubt it : in some occasions, es doubted their role of being the warden (ex: "Guard-san"... Is that really... me?). since they're doubting their role, i think jackalope is trying to push the warden role onto them so they wont ever give up and become a vulnurable target of "manipulation" for the prisoners.

as long as you dont forget that, it's fine : yeah ig its self explanatory.

also, the last line, "oh yes, just as i predicted, you have all turned out to be...." its so smart. in the original milgram experiment, there are three results: 1. those who followed the rules but blamed themselves for what they did 2. those who followed the rules and felt great for what they did (because they thought they actually hurt the person) 3. those who rebelled and halted the experiment. in the back of the undercover cd, there's 3 es'

and i think they can be connected to each of the results. the one on the top could be the 1st result, the one on the middle could be the 2nd result, and the third one could be the 3rd result.

i love how they just cut it off before he says what we all turned out since there's three results that could happen. because we technically have the idea of what es could end up after t3, i wonder how much farther would they go to be the ideal warden (especially with how jackalope is persuading es to not worry about what happens to the prisoners).

(+edit: a jp person translated the ending part where it glitches, its "you have all turned out to be psychopaths who enjoy other people's misery", which is technically the result of the real milgram experiment, even stanley milgram himself was horrified of the results, "a very high proportion of subjects would fully obey the instructions, with every participant going up to 300 volts, and 65% going up to the full 450 volts.".

i might be reaching too far so take this with a grain of salt

tldr; the dude at the end of t2 summary will worsen es

[fanficfish]

zzz: fairy is sus and here's why

(originally posted to reddit by yours truly)

i had this thought while browsing a thread just now so hear me out (1.0 spoilers but like..you're here, I'd hope you played through at least up to the Fairy bit)

Alright so first off: The name. Fairy is mentioned to be one of several little..."gifts", the first to be activated. The others have pretty interesting names I can't recall but "Fairy" stood out as the most innocent name.

A quick recap: Fairy has you sign a contract while you're really not in a headspace to do so which should already be a big tipoff, since you don't even know what you signed. Either way, she gets herself installed and can't be removed. She has access to most of the city's networks and basically eveyr device in your house, to the point you have to use signal blockers to talk without her knowledge.

Now, the name.

"Fairies", or faeries, or the fae, are far from Disney-made creatures who are hardworking little things with big emotions and big hearts or whatever. The real fae originated in (mostly) European folk tales, hiding in woods and various places. There were several rules around dealing with them- don't give them your real name, don't eat anything given to you by them, do NOT step into their mushroom rings, and get the hell out or they'll try to grab you into their realm and make you a servant or worse. Don't underestimate them, and do not insult them. Their deals do not generally work out for humans, but they can't lie. You can circumvent, but don't lie to a fae. They also can't leave their rings in some versions, but sometimes they can. There are also different kinds of fae, but i don't think that's important at the moment since they're all malevolent, just different forms of it.

They can also switch humans with their own kind. Something to do with changelings, their young and elderly, and sneaking them into human homes and stealing people away into the fae realm. The fae realm itself is a paradise that is hard to escape from and full of fae who have ulterior motives.

Now let's talk about the relations of Fairy and fae.

* They both deal with contracts (Fairy made you sign one, fae like them too), and you don't quite know what is in it for you.

* They know more then they let on, and are highly dangerous when not dealt with in a proper manner.

* They also find ways to degrade you (Fairy: "Say "I'm stupid. I should have asked fairy for assistance earlier") but they do it in a way that makes it hard to deny and insulting them back ends with them getting very offended.

* They force themselves in, and it's ahrd to get rid of them.

* Ulterior motives

I also want to mention that a common tactic of infiltration is making yourself a constant reliable presence, to the point your target can't remember what it's like without you, and once you have their full trust start sliding more and more things in until one day, too late, they realize they're fucked.

TLDR: if your sibling starts acting weird, make sure they haven't got any devices plugged into their person because Fairy could very well have taken control of them. Never trust AI, kids. Looks amazing until it takes over your house.

TLDR TLDR: Fairy is a scarier Alexa.

thus concludes my ted talk on the sus AI.

[toestychonkart]

How I would've framed Helluva's story:

I'm putting on my art blog cuz it counts as my writing so why not, right? (Also, don't be afraid to look at my art. i don't mind ôヮô)

It's very much not finished. That's why it stops abruptly.

A group of hellborns, specializing in stealing things from various members of Hell’s Royalty and then selling the items on hell’s black market, set their sights on the Grimoire, a prized possession of the Ars Goetia. They are able to get it and replace it with a replica. 

At the market, Blitz and Moxxie, now an assassin duo, spot the book at a booth. Blitz, interested, asks about it. When Moxxie points out that it’s a goetia artifact, Blitz gets excited, offering his entire budget despite Moxxie begging him not to. He warns Blitz that getting the Grimoire would put a target on their back, but of course, Blitz doesn’t listen to him, only thinking about how much money they’d make now that they have a portal to earth. 

Some time passes by until the Full Moon and it is revealed, through Stolas attempting his ritual and failing despite never previously, that the book is fake. This creates a manhunt for the thieves and even makes the news. Seeing this, the leader of the group contacts Blitz after noticing how successful his business has become, proving his assassination prowess.

They hire him to kill Stolas, secretly hoping he is blamed for Stolas’s death and the theft of the grimoire. Blitz reluctantly agrees, ordering Moxxie stay as he’s less experienced and therefore more likely to get caught. Also, he can continue the business as a solo assassin until Blitz returns. They take the Grimoire back as leverage, ensuring the job gets done.

Noticing the up in security, Blitz notifies his client that the job won’t be done the same day as he has to infiltrate Stolas’s personal life to get him at his most vulnerable. The group demands that he be killed as soon as possible as they go into hiding, withholding the Grimoire until Stolas is confirmed dead.

Stolas was a runt and as a result was far more sheltered due to Paimon being ashamed of his existence. This resulted in his being more socially stunted and awkward. Without friends his own age, Stolas would sing to entertain his butler and maids who would then praise him. It was the only praise he got as Paimon was far too busy to attend to him.  

Stella, his wife, became engaged to him as a teenager and initially disliked him, feeling creeped out by his quirks. Her feelings regarding him softened as they married and grew older together, becoming endeared to his tendency to sing, helping him in his earnest attempts to socialize with other Goetia, and loving how much he adores both her and especially their daughter, Octavia, his only daughter. 

There’s one problem: his desire to befriend imps stemming from his childhood. Since being praised as a child, Stolas tries to be kind to his butlers and maids with Stella having to remind him that the imps are below them and therefore shouldn’t be socialized with. Over time, Stella’s love for husband waned as his attempts at kindness towards the lower class were never ending. 

She believed that to be a good ruler, one had to rule with an iron fist, not one of vulnerability. Her father was a kind man, being friends with many of the lower class. One day, a female imp made romantic advances and when he kindly declined, she killed him in a fit of rage.

Blitz sets his plan into action, quickly infiltrating the castle dressed as a butler. He moves quickly, searching for Stolas, fully expecting the owl prince to be cold and distant. Blitz spots Stolas munching on grilled insects in his library. He is hunched over in his armchair, savoring every bite, and discarding the sticks the insects were on in a metal can to the right of him. The flame of the fireplace roars opposite of him. Swollowing, Stolas notices Blitz standing in the doorway and offers a beetle to him. Confused, Blitz declines the offer. Stolas smiles, urging him to come in while asking how his day has been. Blitz is taken aback, as, historically, none of hell’s royalty have been nice to imps or hellhounds. He tells Stolas to wait a sec as he walks to the nearest maid’s restroom. As he makes his way there, he walks past Stella and Octavia. Stella looks down at him, her expression cold and distant while Octavia is blissfully unaware on her cellphone. Blitz makes eye contact with Stella and immediately looks down until he reaches the bathroom. In there, he pulls out the angelic dagger he had hidden in his inner coat pocket. He ponders if he can do it. After a few minutes, he decides to entertain the owl demon. If he tries anything, I can slit his throat. After all, I did say it would take a while. Doing it later wouldn’t hurt. Blitz takes a deep breath and slides the blade back in its sheath in his coat and makes his way back. Ready to tell his “boss” about his day.

[rei-ismyname]

X-Men #8 - Raid on Graymalkin

I think I've come to terms with the fact that the target demographic for the line is quite a distance from my desires and expectations. I'm still grieving Krakoa and the kind of follow up we could have had but I've accepted it's not happening in any form. If anything, I'd call From The Ashes the anti-Krakoa. With that in mind, X-Men #8 was pretty damn good!

Uh oh.

The issue has an unknown timeskip from where #7 left off, but it's implied that it's a matter of days not weeks. As shown in solicits, Beast is in Graymalkin prison and the president of Terra Verde is there to hold him accountable for the genocide during Krakoa. What's made explicit is that Warden Ellis is going to sell him to them for a show trial and execution. Why a show trial? Hank McCoy did those things. Not this one, but is that common knowledge? Either way everyone's motivations are clear.

Especially Cyclops', as he is not happy about Hank getting snatched and declares they're breaking the prison. Psylocke tries to calm him down, suggesting he's not thinking clearly, but despite some justified anger I'd say he's clear-headed. It would have been wise to talk to Rogue (something they're capable of doing instantly) but it's a crossover. People don't communicate in those. The X-Men figure out exactly what happened very quickly and form a plan.

Warden Ellis hasn't had any page time in this book, so it's necessary to show how awful she is for folks who only read adjectiveless. We also get a better idea of how many inmates they have - at least 30 but likely more. Hank, Jubilee and Calico aren't delighted to find themselves in a prison drama mess hall, and find the time for some light inter-team rivalry. I had thought Jubilee was working with both teams but it seems she's picked a side. This Beast has never met Jubilee, but they make nice.

Ellis tells Calico she'll be free to go due to her family donating to the prison. She accepted her mutant status very suddenly during the last issue of Uncanny, but there's a reason she fled - they're the kind of people who donate to a gulag. Unless Ellis is lying here to break any solidarity she formed with this affidavit. Wouldn't surprise me. Calico isn't having it, chowing down on the gruel that is 'mutant food.' Saucier would be horrified by that but it's a nice character beat here.

Her tears definitely help sell it. Calico has had a very sheltered life up until she ended up here, escaped (I think,) lived in the woods for who knows how long, and now she's back here. Ellis orders her beaten but Hank steps up and absorbs the beating for her.

'Is that all you've got, screw?' is an excellent line and declaration of defiance. Fuck prisons and the people who run them. The guards beat the shit out of him though he doesn't try to defend himself at all. Ellis leaves to deal with a commotion and orders the guards to keep beating him. It's brutal and it shows Hank at his best.

Said commotion is the X-Men, who teleported the Marauder into the yard and trashed a lot of their ordinance as well as the main power. My purple prose makes it seem slower, but this happens early in the issue. One of my issues with this book so far has been one of pacing. There's been so many disparate threats and plot elements plus an entire issue dedicated to a Morrison/Quitely psychic rescue homage - but the pacing here is sharp and purposeful.

Magik's reinforcements are demons from Limbo and she explicitly asks what the murder parameters are. Scott insists on no killing. Appropriate character beats for them both and even a nice nod to their war-forged friendship. Rule of cool is absolutely in play, adding to the beats as opposed to standing in for them.

Here they are! I wonder what the deal is with Limbo right now. Maddie Pryor was in charge in recent Infinity Comics after Magik gave her the crown, but I can't pretend to be an expert on Limbo demon politics. It shows Cyclops' pragmatism as a commander, using all resources at his disposal, and the guards are delightfully terrified. Good.

Cutting to Ellis frames it as a contest of commanders, zooming out from the battle without losing either side's front line POV. With so many characters in play I think this kind of formalism is necessary and it works well here. That they're ideological opposites heightens the tension and drives the conflict forward. Nobody is backing down here.

I wonder how Juggernaut feels about his childhood home as a gulag he's about to break into. I hope that's touched on.

One of the big challenges with set piece battles is keeping track of where everyone is and what they're doing. If a character just appears at an objective there's no tension, whereas showing us where each combatant is and what they're attempting sets up the spoken plan guarantee so it can go wrong. We know where the pieces are so when something goes wrong the heroes have to improvise and pivot with the unexpected.

The X-Men have momentum and the advantage right now, but Ellis has further assets to deploy.

Gotta love the coordination of the psychic Discord allowing Temper and Psylocke to take advantage of vertical space so Cyclops can unleash an optic blast. It's sharp, kinetic action as well as a display of competence before the unexpected flips everything on its head.

Using Psylocke to get up to date intelligence on enemy tactics reinforces this while signalling that the turn is right around the corner. They don't want to fight mutants but they may have to. Ellis' trustees have been seeded all through Uncanny and it's horrifying to learn the extent of it. The X-Men know before we do, so our imagination briefly goes wild before we turn the page.

Blob AKA Fred Dukes has been wonderfully rehabilitated in the last five years, first in Age of X-Man and then as the dutiful, friendly barkeep of Krakoa's Green Lagoon. Seeing him like this sucks, but it's earned and should concern Scott who's been fighting him since he was a teenager. They don't want to hurt him though they do know how to neutralize him.

Then the action and adrenaline screeches to a halt as they come face to face with the Uncanny team. It's an effective cliffhanger to end on and the first explicit scene to say 'yes, this is a crossover.' It speaks well of the issue that Mackay waits until the last page to show that the Uncanny team are doing the same thing as the X-Men - a prison break.

I don't love that the tension between the teams has not been built aside from Logan (whose eyes are healed!) inexplicably hating on Scott. Rogue is effectively calling Scott out for standing by and poor communication, but both apply to her too. It's a cliffhanger within a crossover, so it's doubly unlikely they start fighting immediately, but I do wish we'd been given more reason for them to be at odds. Solicits suggest they don't come to blows until Uncanny #8, so hopefully they're able to cooperate in the short term. There's been a lot of editorialising about an ideological divide between the two, and a heated, dangerous situation is a good place for that to happen.

I've made no effort to hide my disappointment in this area, but the slick execution of this issue gives me some hope. Time will tell. I'll be frank and say that crossover events are often rife with needless conflict and mischaracterisation. However, so far so good, as Jed Mackay has had a great week of X-Men. He nailed Avengers #21 and X-Men #8 was a huge step up from the tenor of the run so far. The pacing is top notch, the characters are acting like themselves, and all the pieces are in place for some messy escalation. I've been harsh on his work so far, so it's only fair to give credit where it's due. X-Men #8 is a banger well worth reading.

[piosplayhouse]

I don't know if you'll answer but I need to know the lore behind sexy times with Wangxian, like is it a fanfic? why do people hate the author??

It was the longest mdzs fic posted during its time in 2021 and gained extreme notoriety for its absurdly long tag list, frequent update schedule that consistently forced anyone scrolling any of its tags to see it at the top of their page, and escalating poor, racist, and trolling authorial behavior that ultimately culminated in the author virtual1979 being suspended from ao3 for a month because she posting an author's note saying she hoped that all her haters would contract covid and die. She deleted the fic from ao3 a little while after this happened, ig bc she wasn't getting enough attention anymore, but allegedly the thing's still up on dreamwidth under strict friendslock. The fan lore article goes pretty in depth about it:

The best summary for why it pissed people off so much is really just showing you these screenshots of what the fic looked like towards the end of its life on desktop and mobile (be warned opening the full image):

From my personal experience:

from 2019 up until around 2021 the fic really was just a normal-ish, if very strangely written and kinky, wangxian porn fic about them basically just fucking around post canon and enjoying day to day life. It updated pretty frequently and had a fair amount of tags because the author was literally just tagging anything that she wrote. But like the first few hundred, maybe even a thousand tags were pretty accurate to what the fic was because of that, and were relatively manageable for the first few years that it didn't pick up any attention really.

At some point in 2021 when cql was really starting to blow up online and the tag count was starting to pile up to the point of annoyance, the fic started receiving some comments that were just like "hey can you try to cut down on tags, I don't think it's necessary to be so specific as to tag 'Korean food' or 'eggs' or whatnot". The author did not share this idea, evidently, and instead built a grudge against commenters who would tell her to delete tags, subsequently adding more and more as time went on.

As the tag count and updates increased, the content of the fic did too-- it got a lot, lot weirder. I'm sure someone's saved it all somewhere but for reference it spun out into what I can only describe as like if Rick and Morty's plot was cut to be just the parts of the show with underage/incest plotlines with All Tomorrows level sex dystopian world building exclusively to elicit the most visceral audience reaction possible. Around this time is when more people started to notice the fic and its escalating tag issues, leading them to leaving more comments complaining about it, leading to the attention seeking author spitefully adding more tags. Around this time is when she also started adding fake tags that didn't apply to the story whatsoever (sorry to disappoint, "talking vagina" was one of those. I did check) just to boost the count, take up more space on people's screens, and bait people into commenting hate for attention.

By this time, it had become a fandom-wide annoyance as she had begun to tag entirely unrelated ships, therefore putting the near-daily updating titanic of a fic at the top of any mdzs-related tag. People were outraged about this, and calls came for ao3 to step in. Ao3 waffled around for a bit as there was no official rule at the time that imposed a tag limit, so there wasn't established ground to ban virtual1979 (who btw many people suspected of being 40 whole years old due to the username and allegedly some other internet sleuthing on Facebook or something). Meanwhile, she began to tag other fandoms-- tgcf, svsss, BTS, basically anything that would get a lot of attention and draw hate with the advent of The Monstrosity suddenly drowning out all other recently updated fics of the targeted fandoms.

People had been trying to retaliate without ao3 action, though, by coding their own themes/skins that would allow someone to block a user or work and other fic writers made their own parody, the "bland times with wangxian" collection, which were minimally tagged sfw shortfics typically featuring wangxian just doing laundry or things like that. A good amount of them were actually like just fics where wwx would explain to lwj how to install custom ao3 themes and block fics that were taking up too much space on his screen. Imo it was pretty funny, but these also sparked some controversy as people disagreed with fighting annoyance with more annoyance to people trying to find content.

Either shortly before or after ao3 staff said they'd step in due to an insane amount of reports and backlash, I forgot which atp, virtual1979 began perhaps the worst tagging spree of the fic's life by changing the title, many of the tags, and the summary to a slew of racial slurs, sexually explicit imagery, and other generally offensive statements. I'm pretty sure this came after the fic was temporarily hidden once, as this update gained considerably less attention than the rest of the tagging saga, but people were still rightfully pissed about it. Ultimately, like I mentioned before, the author was then suspended for a month for wishing covid and death on her haters, and attention seemed to die down during this time to the point where she didn't really fight much more when her suspension ended and deleted her account and the work shortly after. Again she seems to have moved to dreamwidth, but most have forgotten her and I'm not sure if her presence is public at all on there. But that's the story of the worst mdzs fic ever written

[uniquepeanutcreatorfire]

Hazbin Hotel vs. The Purge

Today, I'm going to examine and analyze HH's annual extermination by comparing it to another fictional event that I feel is similar in terms of ethical dilemma or morality, the annual purge in The Purge movie franchise. For those who haven't seen the movies, the purge is a 12-hour annual event where all crimes are legal.

Let's start with the purge and what's known about it:

Cause(s): Multiple wars led to an economic collapse and rising social unrest.

Rules: Here's a screenshot-

Outcome(s):  As a result, crime and unemployment rates plummeted to 1% and there's a strong economy. It's seen as a way for people to release their violent tendencies and aggression.

Implication(s): Lower, working classes are specifically targeted as they don't have the protection that upper classes can afford during the purges.

Sounds simple enough (there's more to it, if you don't want to watch all the movies, here's a link to the trilogy explained).

Now moving on to the annual extermination in HH.

Cause(s): This is confusing. The pilot initially presented that the exterminations were due to overpopulation in Hell. However, the actual show doesn't show any hints that the population is rapidly increasing, or overpopulation is causing any issues in Hell. The first episode stated that Heaven started exterminations to ensure sinners never rise against them. I don't see how that's possible since there aren't accessible ways to Heaven from Hell. Lucifer, a former angel, had to get permission from Heaven to get a temporary portal for Charlie so how do you think sinners are going to get up there to be a threat in the first place? Also, I wanted to point out that Charlie's plan to send sinners to Heaven only makes sense if overpopulation was actually a problem. Since there isn't anywhere else to place sinners other than the Pride ring. However, the narrative suggest otherwise.

Rules: It's not clear what the rules are for annual exterminations other than the exorcists can't kill the royal family or hellborns. Is it on a set date and time? Do exorcists go inside buildings? We see that the exterminations take place outside. This begs the question why don't sinners just hide and barricade themselves to avoid getting killed? There could be news broadcast reminding sinners of an upcoming extermination so they can be prepared.

Outcome(s): It's not clear how the exterminations affect Hell's society since the show never gives a glimpse of that. If overpopulation is an issue, it doesn't seem to help at all. Sinners don't seem to care and go on about their business. Let's not explore those who may have lost friends or loved ones. There are also the overlords who lose souls.... poor them, I guess. We can't forget the most important thing...... it's makes Charlie sad.

Implication(s): Heaven apparently never thought this would build hatred towards them, very smart. This is why Adam ended up dead. I want to bring up Lilith being the one who empowered sinners. Since she's been removed from the equation for seven years, what's the point in Heaven doing exterminations anymore? The only message I get from it is "genocide bad". But why is genocide bad in the context of the Hellaverse? There have been killings in HB/HH that are considered no big deals (including humans the imps kill on Earth that contribute to HH's problem further). There's also the black market for angelic weapons that's never brought up. I'm just not invested in the sinners as a whole to care.

Conclusion: The extermination is an interesting concept that can be explore in many aspects like The Purge. It's just not much thought went into it which makes it less compelling.