#but know a lot of union organizers (somehow)

[rincewindsapprentice]

Just curious, given how much we promote unions on this site, if you've participated in union actions!

[nevadancitizen]

-> PROLOGUE: THE OLD SOUL OF AMERICA

synopsis: you meet with a mysterious woman on an old californian dock.

word count: ~850

ships: Arthur Morgan/modern!Reader, Van der Linde Gang & Reader

notes: inspired by @heart-of-gold-outlaw !! go read their modern reader fic i really like it. also we'll be getting into the actual time travel stuff after this teaser lololol :3

THE OLD SOUL OF AMERICA MASTERLIST

It’s a bracing, misty evening – supposed to be spring, but doesn’t feel like it. The waves are choppy and the gulls are huddled on the pylons with their beaks tucked under their wings, their feathers ruffling in the cold wind. 

Three hulking great ships, all freighters, are tied up on the beat-up dock. This isn’t one of those fashionable wharfs with dockworker unions or passenger liners – no pretty girls on their balconies, clinking champagne flutes to celebrate the start of the cruise. Just a couple of red-faced salts in pea jackets tramping by, trailing cigarette smoke, boots crunching on dried-up gull shit.

They spare you glances as they pass by, surely wondering what you were doing here in the early hours of the morning. Were you waiting for someone to get off work? Were you waiting for a drug deal? Or were you just admiring the way the waves spray water onto the dock?

(In reality, it was none of those. You’re waiting on something much worse.)

A woman, sleek and modern in style and rugged and worn in looks, approaches you. She has a quiet intensity about her — something about the way she squints against the ocean spray mixed with the permanent-looking scowl on her face. 

She tilts her head toward you, and you nod. You walk towards her and meet her halfway, leaning in close on her insistence. 

“You’re the one in need?” She asks softly. You just barely hear her over the waves crashing against the dock.

“Yes, ma’am,” you say, just as soft. “It’s my sister’s daughter. My eleven-year-old niece. She’s… she’s in a really bad way.”

“What does she need?” The woman asks. 

“A pancreas,” you say. “She’s got acute recurrent pancreatitis. There aren’t a lot of affordable child-sized organs lying around. God knows I’ve turned not just California, but the entire Mojave upside-down trying to find one. I’ve called hospitals in Arizona, Nevada, even New Mexico. I – I’m not asking you to kill a child! I just… I need the money for the operation. It’ll put her on the waiting list, and… once we show the hospital we have the money, I’m sure she’ll be okay. Somehow.”

The woman narrows her eyes. “Why don’t you just take out a loan? Or take on debt?”

“I can’t,” you say. “None of us can. I foreclosed on my last house. My sister has thousands of dollars in credit card debt, counting all the interest. Please, just trust me when I say I need this money. I don’t think anyone has nearly half a million dollars in their junk drawer. If I did, why would I be here, asking you for it?”

The woman looks you over and tucks her jacket closer around her. The outline of a gun at her hip becomes glaringly obvious – she wants you to notice it.

“Ma’am, I’m begging you.” You clasp your hands together as tight as you can. “I come from a family of deadbeats and addicts. I was an addict myself, and I quit just to save money for her operation, but it’s just not enough. I need this money. I won’t misappropriate these funds – won’t use them to pay off other debts, won’t use them for drugs. Just… please, miss.”

The woman holds up her hand. “Stop groveling.”

What the fuck else am I supposed to do?! You shout in your head. I need money, and you’ve got the money! My niece is going to fucking die if I don’t get it!

Instead, you just nod politely and put your hands behind your back. “Yes, ma’am. My apologies. I’m sure you can understand my desperation.”

“Uh-huh,” the woman hums. “I can get you the money. Just give me your banking details and I can wire it to you.” 

You pull out a pre-prepared index card with your bank information written down. The woman checks that it has your full name, address, account number, and routing number before speaking again.

“Do you have life insurance?” She asks, as if offhandedly.

“Uh, yes?” You say, unsure. “It won’t come out to a lot, so I couldn’t have an “accident” at work. Maybe just under 200,000 dollars? Nowhere near enough to cover her operation.”

The woman hums and tucks the card into her pocket. “I’ll get you the money.”

“Thank you so, so much,” you say. “You have no idea what this means to me – no idea what you’ve done for me and my family.”

“I have some idea.” The woman’s hand lingers at her waist. It takes you a few seconds too long to notice that –

A loud sound. A raging pain. The bullet hit something vital, but doesn’t grant you the mercy of dying in that instant. 

You stagger back, holding yourself. “What…”

“You’re dumber than you look,” the woman says, her voice fading in and out. “I’m just helping your family.”

You inhale shakily and take a step back. There’s a sense of falling, and something cold surrounds you, but you can’t make out much of anything in this condition. 

The last thing you think before the black takes you? It’s May. Who the fuck gets shot in May?

[liuhko]

Gold Digger

𝜗🤍 ݁ Nanami with an obnoxious, gold digging wife. Got this idea at 3AM (finished it at 5AM) and I can’t let it go to waste, especially with this rising interest in my man (nanami). This is a long one, so you're welcome!

Nanami wasn’t the richest man on the planet, but he was rich enough. You came across him at a restaurant after his failed blind date, you had been watching the ordeal from afar and noted the expensive dishes he allowed his date to order. Of course, that didn’t mean much but your gut told you to go after him, so you did.

Thank goodness you listened to your gut, you somehow managed to woo him and he eventually proposed to you. Now here you were, several years into a marriage built on support, trust, and financial stability.

Your relationship with Nanami started strangely but you did eventually fall in love, and that’s why he put a ring on it (kardashian level diamond ring). To him, you’re the cutest, silliest little financial parasite he’s ever known. No, but seriously you do love each other, you just so happen to care for his assets a bit more.

Nanami isn’t an idiot, he was aware you were after his money, and most men would’ve ignored you completely because of that, but he can’t deny that he‘s very attracted to you. That and your unbelievable lack of shame. Not once did you even attempt to hide your desire for his money, you would always eye designer stores whenever you were out on dates and you made a habit of asking him for exactly $5.99 every day. There was always a need for it somehow, whether it be the bus, food, or the convenient loss of your piggy bank. You were so dedicated that he couldn’t help but indulge in your wants (or needs as you’d say).

You’re a dumb dumb and VERY obnoxious, not Gojo-level obnoxious, but still pretty annoying. The only reason Nanami ignores it is because you’re a pretty lady who knows how to sweet talk him. He doesn’t mind your level of smarts, and while your obnoxiousness does irritate him at times, it’s not enough for him to up and leave. Besides, you aren’t as dumb as some believe you to be. You’re smart enough to charm a rich man, so how dumb are you really?

Back to the obnoxiousness, boy you talk a lot. It’s like an endless fountain of words spews from your mouth, and if that isn’t the case you’re always doing something mildly annoying.

Nanami’s friends and family are NOT rocking with you in the slightest! Except for Gojo, Gojo likes being around you, you’re a less frustrating version of him. The same goes for Nobara too, she thinks you’re justified and relatable because she too, dries out people’s bank accounts. As for the others, Nanami’s loved ones still don’t understand why he married you while knowing your true intentions. The one who was the most sour about your union was his son, Yuuji. Yuuji never outright says “I don’t like you.” But he does actively make an effort to persuade his dad to leave you. “Divorce isn’t that expensive these days, there’s also less shame, so I think it’s a great choice.” Nanami just chuckles and tells Yuuji that there’s nothing wrong with a woman wanting money. Yuuji is your biggest hater.

NSFW

Nanami gives you allowances for any extra things you want to buy, and you almost always use this money on lingerie. You have a singular closet just for lingerie, it varies from cutesy to intense BDSM. Nanami loves the ones with easy access since he usually comes home exhausted from work. He likes that he doesn’t have to think much, just put his things away and slide into you. He doesn’t like to acknowledge this but if he knows he’s going to be away for a while because of work he’ll take one of his favorite lingerie sets and go crazy with it later. He always asks for permission before doing so.

Hate sex. Annoyance sex (I don’t think that’s what you call it)! You’re so beyond irritating, and while Nanami does love you, he needs a break from it at times. It’s always the worst when he’s trying to organize his schedule or relax from a long day only to have you rambling in his ear. He could ask you to tone it down but sometimes that doesn’t work, if he asks nicely and you don’t stop he’ll distract you with sex.

Nanami will pick you up, toss you onto the bed, and do whatever it takes to keep you quiet. He’ll spend hours pumping into you repeatedly if it means he gets a moment of peace when he’s done. He does get distracted at times though, who can blame him? :(( the way you squirm and shake beneath him when he whispers sweet nothings into your ear while roughly thrusting into your warm pussy, the apologies that fall from your lips when it all becomes a bit too much. “Kento, please, it’s too much…I’ll let you get your work done, I’m sorry…” (you never mean it though, the overstimulation makes you pleasantly dizzy and you love pissing him off). He loves making you feel good, no matter how much he wishes you’d shut up.

Money = breeding session. Nanami has a breeding kink, it’s a fact among the people. He loves cumming inside you but you’re a wicked little thing who won’t let him until he promises to add just a bit more to your allowance. He’ll give you your desired amount no matter how absurd it is. Truth be told he is WHIPPED for you and wants to make you happy (he also wants to cum in you). Some may say this is wrong, others call it taking advantage of your resources.

Bonus: he loves when you suck him off for multiple reasons. 1, it silences you completely. 2, he gets to cum in your mouth. 3, you look so pretty with his dick in your mouth.

𝜗🤍 ݁ I finished this whole thing in 2 HOURS. This must be how mass producers feel when they pump stuff out quickly, better start calling me the SHEIN of tumblr.

TAGS @cindol @rizsu @lucstarz @histani @pekejs @hymnboos @dayestic @svgvruz @zorosq @peachop

[rainbowgod666]

Really fucking stupid patch notes, wizardposting edition

Fixed a bug where @the-gnomish-bastard could NOT turn back into a normal gnome when using "Become Lead Statue" in some cases. This somehow applied to every "Become Statue" spell but the Lead one was the most broken one

Fixed a bug where Meme Summons straight up couldnt work if you had more mana than usual. No, we have no idea what the fuck happened

Fixed interactions with every variant of @the-wizard-council-blog, including the Illegal one, the NSFW one, The worse one, The better one, and all other iterations

Fixed a bug where the stew arcanum was straight up uncraftable because all the data was gibberish. This was fixed a few versions ago and now you only need 3 high-tier gods to make it. Also you need Meme-Infused Magic Spellwood Bowls to hold this post-post endgame item. Yes, its still too much stew but we kept it like that because its unironically funny

Speaking of magical trees: fixed a bug where some types of trees straight up Did Not Grow unless some form of "chunk loading" was enabled. In other words, what the fuck.

Fixed a bug where stacking too many attack ups made the damage 0 on any "explosive" spell. @official-megumin can now deal 9 quintillion damage (as long as its not over the positive 64-bit integer limit, because then the bug stays) (also the code is less fucked)

Fixed a bug where some unusual but valid items for wands and staves (such as LITERALLY EVERY NUCLEAR METAL and some fantasy ones like orichalcum and australium) straight up couldnt exist.

Added more items to mythril, but this time everything you can do with mythril can be done with other materials, so now you can choose between mythril orichalcum AND adamantine depending on the color

Adamantium crafting now doesnt require a bordering-on-hyperbole amount of adamantine. Also you now need industrial steel instead of normal one.

Fixed a bug where "Triple Summon of Meth Berserk Chimps" not only was unobtainable, but required over 2.14 billion mana. Granted it was unreleased back then but then it was released and it still was in its testing stage

Fixed a bug with many spider-themed spells not really being "spidery", this one goes out for our boy @autism--wizard, may you find many cute spooders in ur life :3

Fixed a bug where "induce memetic stroke" accidentally... told people about the meme. Whoops.

"TACO BELL TACOSPELL OF INTESTINAL IMPLOSION" fixed to deal less damage than the psychological damage. We know its a forbidden spell but fuck you we are not sending people to the therapist because omega diharrea

Speaking of: fixed a bug where "steal item" could work on vital organs. Youre gonna learn "Spell Of True Thievery" and youre gonna shut the fuck up about it

Fixed a bug where non-sentient kobolds could be... "milked". Yes mr gnome. KILK existed and it was kobold sperm this entire time. This is why you said it didnt exist, CAUSE THAT SHIT WASNT MILK CHIEF! Anyways now KILK actually doesnt exist so y'all better shut the fuck up or FIND A MILKABLE SOMETHING WITH A K IN ITS NAME

Fixed a bug where familiars didnt familiar. Yes it was terrifying in every way ever, so thank @familiar-union for this. Yes thwy cant be tagged by us idfk why

Fixed mithril tools being literal reskins of their steel equivalents. Whoops!

Fixed a bug where that one April Fools joke of "summon cock" actually summoning a penis. Now it actually summons a rooster (and a really big one)

Speaking of that, Summon Rooster has been fixed and now its a better version of the aforementioned spell

Fixed the interaction between A LOT of spells. Turns out that 99% of harry potter being trash doesnt stop people from doing Dragonball Beam Struggles with their spells. Also yes, elements apply

Fixed a few lines of code so that now the "use pokemon typings" option doesnt disintegrate the UI. Over 120k spells and each and every single one of them now has functioning typing. Now shut the fuck up wE DID IT

Fixed retrocompatibility issues. Now runescape can scape the runes! (HR is fully aware that the joke is shit) (but fuck it, it was funny)

Fixed a bug where any "Robot" something would bug up and change colors. Considering that people somehow managed to make trans flags with this, we added a transgender flag skin for every "robot", "wulfrum", and similar tech spells.

Greatrererest Blahaj Blast Barrage now has a hitbox AND a cost. It can be set as your ult and we already have the Gold, Platinum, Uranium and other skins ready. Yes the transgender skin is unlocked by default if you already have the spell, and if you dont- Magical Battlepass has it at levels 10, 32, and 69 (otherwise you get materials and xp) Because the one battlepass that works without FOMO and Whaling had to be the magical one

Fixed a bug where "draconic" items were only easily obtainable by dupe glitches. We may not have fixed those but we upped the drop rates so you dont have to exterminate dragons for one singular heart. Now it takes 3 dragons at most! (Yeah so it turns out the drop rates were HELLA WRONG. Whoopsie daisy!)

Speaking of that: Draconic Evolution Backporting works now! Now when you use a staff of power, people wont think its an euphemism for your di-

Magical swords now can be made woth higher tier elements. No idea why would you need an Entropic Steel Magic Sword but fuck it. You deserve to put some sparkles on that Alien X looking ass blade

The Throngler's Gold Skin now doesnt make it a mess of metal and gold. Now its actually good

Fixed a bug where bad connection made the online version of "the potion seller's strongest potion" unplayable because some elements were only obtainable in multiplayer. Fuck you and your theories about thwnpotion seller being an eldritch dragon eater. LoL. KeK even

The Augur Dragon now doesnt get stuck flying in circles above the Forbidden Volcano Arena. Now it actually CAN hit you from 10000ft in the air!

The marble wyvern boss (and therefore all other marble wyverns) actually drop the dragon marble builders want

Added tier XVII to the Magical Engine. Also recipes for Tier Ascension were fixed.

N2O Blast was fixed to deal hellfire instead of fire. And also being blue. It was easier than you believe

Using "Golden Shower (Metal) actually rains coins instead of being "golden shower but identical and deals steel damage"

Sniler's quests now update in 1 hour instead of 24, and the quests are better. During multiplayer, there are 5 quests avaiable instead of 3

Ghastly Mist now actually blinds opponents instead of being really dense

"F.I.S.T." can no longer be boosted by attack boosts, but nOW its damage is "(999 × your level + (your attack stat × 2)) × 2", and its cast cost went from 1000 mana to 1200.

More scroll duplication bugs were fixed, but the "use Grant Spell Usage onto a low level non-magic enemy so they have a spell that they cant use and then using Turn Into Scroll" has been made into an ACTUAL feature. Go ahead and make a billion "Scroll of Imaginary Technique: Hollow Purple"!

"Starlight Thunderstorm" now has 1% paralysis

Removed the "domain expansion" function until we figure out how THAT works. Theres still the tab, and when it will be implemented just send screenshots of what "domain expansion customizations" and then youre getting them once we implement them

[viperwhispered]

Ngl I'm a sucker for postive characters development. So here's technically a bonus hcs for this ask: Jamil picks up skills that make it impossible for him to overwork.

During his 3rd year, he became the housewarden and FINALLY learned to delegate tasks. Because he's a paranoid king he still prefers do things himself, but now he can identify capable people and put them to work in accordance to their skills. He'll die before admitting, but its something he picked up from Azul.

With Vil he learned how to keep up appearences without letting his boundaries get stomped all over. No, he won't let show how much he despises someone but at least now he can at least properly maintain his own demands without officially offending anyone.

With Riddle he learned the noble art of letting someone know exactly what you think of them with just a look and certain way of sipping tea.

During his travels post-grad and post-freedem, he stops by Briar Valley. Malleus, always happy for the chance to play host, invites him to stay at the castle. While in Malleus' court, he learns how to properly organize all responsibilities within a reasonable time frame of 9 to 6 with a 1 hour lunch break. Any overtime is reserved strictly for emergencies (based on this).

At the end of his travels, Jamil gets convinced to join Leona on his campaign to reform the slums. Because Leona is still one lazy son of a bitch he somehow manages to develop a work/organization system that is so effective that all Leona has to do is occasionally wake up for paperwork and meetings. Said system also includes enough personnel for every type of situation, benefits + good pay for everybody, a 24-hour work schedule with constant rotations to prevent exhaustion, etc. Jamil is in the background taking notes on every little detail of this system.

Skip ahead, Jamil is now working as Kalim's vizier after grueling negotiations of his work contract so that he isn't treated like corporate slave (Kalim is fine with it, its the rest of the nobles who need shutting up).

Jamil proceeds to reorganize the staff according to a modified version of Leona's system and productivity goes up. Helps that he modified their employment contracts so that the staff are treated like staff and not slaves. He also bans child labor and any poison testers are experienced in identification, treatment, and have practiced mithridism. Jamil's absolute refusal to do overtime unless absolutely necessary along with being the only one to bluntly keep Kalim from doing whatever he wants pisses off a lot of higher ups but they can't argue because he's by far the best vizier they could ask for.

Cut to Kalim, who the nobles believe will punish Jamil for daring to "act above his station". Instead Kalim adopts the 9 to 6 schedule himself and orders a mass reorganization of work policies. Why? Because Kalim loves his bestie, wants to help people, and also likes having time to spend with his family. Previous Asim heads would just pass on their extra work to advisors and viziers which caused them to be constantly stressed andoverworked. Kalim is determined to break this cycle.

Ironically, this causes an unintentional employment rights movement all over the country. Staff are demanding contract modifications, better employment benefits, legal reforms to protect their workers rights & their children, etc. Workers unions are popping up all over and the nobles are getting their asses kicked. There are so many protests that the government has no choice but to accept in order to prevent a full-on revolution. Again this was all unintentional, but that doesn't stop Kalim from jumping in as a major supporter with a fondly exhasperated Jamil following behind.

A quibble at first: now I'm far from a Leona expert, but I'm inclined to believe the folks who talk about his supposed laziness as being more of a defense mechanism or a depression symptom. Because why put in the effort it doesn't pay off, anyway?

On the other hand, I love it how I pretty much knew which post you were gonna link for Malleus before even clicking it.

This makes me wonder tho. Jamil is indeed the sort to pay attention to others and what they do. I do wonder if we’ve seen any in-game examples of him picking up “tips” or habits from others in a manner similar to this. 🤔 Can’t think of anything off the top of my head, at least, but it doesn't seem like it would be out of the question.

“He'll die before admitting, but it's something he picked up from Azul.” Yeah definitely. What, the shady man who ruined his plans in book 4 might actually have the right idea for once, to the extent that Jamil would adopt it? Yeah definitely not something he’s gonna broadcast, at the very least.

I mean Azul and Jamil can be such a well-oiled machine when they want to be, and Jamil’s practical enough to recognize that when their plans align (as we’ve seen in events I believe), but… yeah.

Considering this rant of mine, tho… Yes, I'm all in for the workers’ revolution. 

(Tho now I'm also thinking of Jamil going all “chaos is a ladder” about it. Definitely not as a public face or anything, but attempting to capitalize on the situation nonetheless.)

[flagellant]

That's it, I find it infuriating and insulting that you continue to push the narrative that the USA's occupation of Japan was some purely cruel and totalitarian cudgel over a helpless foe. This is completely out of the scope of your dive into soy sauce and problematic when you state such opinions with apparent confidence.

Your remarks to the last ask were unjustly defensive of your own narrative and they stood on weak foundations.

"America's treatment of Japan was one of extreme hostility and cruelty with little-to-no care about the nation or its people, solely using it as a means to enforce American/Western ideals and principles onto an unwilling populace and using violence and illegal organized crime syndicates to fulfill those goals..."

Putting aside the unjustified hyperbole of "extreme hostility and cruelty," SOLELY?

What about revenge towards another empire previously encroaching upon its territory? What about establishing a new balance of power with the Soviet Union? What about preventing future atrocities? I have no idea why you are obsessed with forcing a single aspect of a historical regime into the forefront and outright discarding the other factors involved in that period, NOTABLY the confrontation of two colonial empires.

"a single woman in 1947 having this much power/control over Japanese-American relations"

You wish this were true but it isn't. As some have pointed out in responses, it is weirdly infantilizing of the Japanese for you to state so and in such an adamant manner. I find you nearly unable to portray either nation in a complex way in many of your updates, and it is infuriating.

You are not entirely wrong. Neither is the person asking. SCAP was involved in a lot of misconduct. Japanese entities also worked both above and below board to salvage their own economy. In the middle are a slew of individuals playing roles with varying degrees of personal or institutional intent. It is entirely possible that things happen as a combination of events that we place into multiple competing narrative after the fact.

Please stop exaggerating and aggrandizing your own narratives.

I was gonna try and respond to you seriously, but honestly? I can't take you seriously. Every time I tried I just would stop and go "I'm sorry, but this is too stupid."

I don't know why you consider the reasons you give are not "things which were used to justify extreme cruelty and hostility on America's behalf to Japan and its citizens", but it's definitely weird.

And it's not my fault that I gave three different sources from distinctly different areas of news that all supported my claim that Appleton seems to be the complete and final authority, and I guess somehow you must have missed that despite writing this big ole tirade about my response to the ask you reference.

I think I'm going to keep doing exactly what I'm doing, and I think you need to learn to read what's being said and what you're saying before trying this again. I really encourage you to send another ask about how mad you are for inventing a guy in your head.

[transingthoseformers]

Hi hi! Same anon who talked about Clerk!Megatron and gave out some ideas/headcanons for it!

For the team part, I had two ideas that both could work together :0.

Idea one was the team is more akin to an organized protest group, think similar to like a union in a way. The protest for their rights on stuff and how unjust the caste system is, Optimus agreeing to be their mouth piece in the council so their voices can be heard since the council may be more willing to listen to a prime than a miner turned clerk and a bunch of ticked off people screwed over by the caste system.

Idea two is more like "Common People vs The Council" i.e Viva la Revolution fhdjksf. So a war could still happen, but it wasn't because of Megatron, it's because the Council doesn't like being called out for being scumbags and don't like the fact their precious new Prime is very against the unjust system of things.

And to like humor the idea of the group getting sent to Earth: Took a page out of Animated where, the group gets banished but some loyal to the team stay on Cybertron and feed them intel and stuff.

Also hey as a bonus, Megatron gets to experience earth in a less bitter way and gets really excited over all the human literature and excited he can choose his own alt mode (angst idea maybe that Megatron used to hear the upper-class seekers fly above the mine and he wanted to fly like them because they seemed so free when he got to catch glimpses of them when he surfaced from the mines, that the moment he laid his eyes on a helicopter, he ran with the chance to be able to fly).

Oh cool, all the options have to lead to interesting consequences (though to me I REALLY want to send them to earth somehow) (Megatron having a helicopter altmode to me sounds like it'd be fun, and a cool reference) (also YES ON THEM GETTING FED INFORMATION FROM CYBERTRON) (I just want to know how humans interact with these versions of Optimus and Megatron)

I am. Obsessed with how this version of Megatron would regard a lot of earth poetry now, especially the more obscure stuff.

[genlosscharliie]

hello countryhumans fandom tumblr.com. i make an offering to you. same fic under the cut but the formatting is better on ao3!

It wasn’t that you knew where it was, not by sight anyway, but you still remembered the steps. You let your memory guide you throughout the woods, half surprised they hadn’t been burnt down by now. As quickly as you could without Iran losing you or with your crutches giving out on you, you tried to make your way.

It had to be near here somewhere.

—

The eighth of October, nineteen-eighty, is when your relations with him improve again. You hadn’t wanted them to thaw in the first place, but you could not control all your government decided or saw as right—you just listened to them. You just didn’t think it made sense to distance yourself from that important of an ally.

It was not like you could find allies in your fellow Arab nations, really, either. Reaching out to foreigners was your best call here. What was the point of aligning yourself with your kind if they only brought your people strife? Playing a puppet again? Stupid thought.

Moscow is where you are requested (and requested is a light word, but you were never one to disobey your actual leaders) to accompany your leaders to, to finalise this treaty. The Union will be there, too, they said, try to be pleasant.

He is holding something, some small box, when you spot him as you enter and wave at him. He does not wave back, but he offers you a glance and places the box on the table.

The meeting is all you could expect of it: talking over points, laying out details, writing down things. Nothing in particular stands out in it, until you are dismissed at least.

“Could I have a moment of your time?” he asks when the time comes, and you agree with a healthy amount of wariness. You’d taken a liking to the man in the past forty years of cooperation, but you couldn’t help but be skeptical of your allies nonetheless—especially one as young and ambitious as Soviet is.

He gives you the box the moment the room is emptied, tells you to open it. You do. A present, then? Strange, but you weren’t going to just turn him down.

In it sits an eyepatch. Black cloth with a single, green star atop it. It matches with Soviet’s, and one of those kids’ he had separated from the other.

“Huh,” is your response, but you couldn’t force the smile that rose back down, “Thank you.”

Later, he helps you with getting the bandages you usually use as eye covering off and cleaning out the wound slash gaping hole slash empty socket that once held your eye, then assists with actually getting the patch on.

It looks nice, you think. He gives you a thumbs-up when you ask him; it looks a bit comical with how stoic he still looks as he responds

—

You could hear Iran tapping the shovel against the exposed roots of a tree behind you as you tried your damnedest to remember what direction you were meant to go in to arrive there. It would have been incredibly awkward to claim you knew exactly where this thing was and then get lost.

Eventually, you decide that heading north is the most correct option. You continue in the same direction you were going already.

—

Soviet has a lot more connections than you do, you quickly realise the longer you are affiliated with him. It is most apparent when you are invited to an event that was apparently reserved for the Second World.

You are pretty sure you have seen at least one nation from every single continent, barring Antarctica, and yet you are somehow his only pair of eyes and ears in the Middle East.

Notably, you feel disconnected from the rest present. You suppose that is your own fault for distancing yourself from most of your kin. Eh, not like they would accept you right now, not most of them.

The only people you know here are Soviet himself and the few that had made independent efforts to become acquintances with you (though, the latter was mostly just Korea).

In the evening, you are invited to a walk with Soviet, and you gladly accept. After all, it would be rude not to when he was hosting all of you for this time, would it not?

It is a cold, late-autumn day. Nearing winter. There are small, thin sheets of snow where you walk. You don’t get to see that very often.

He says that he expected you to fare worse under such vastly different conditions. He speaks in Arabic, or his accented, mispronounced-here-and-there version of it.

You respond to him in Russian, your own knowledge of his language equally challenged as his of yours, that your home doesn’t have insulation; it’s easy to deal with it when you have to spend your winters like that back home

The conversations continue from there, drifting from topic to topic, with each of you speaking one another’s language and offering corrections when especially egregious mistakes are made.

You arrive back in your country a day or two later, and are glad to be closer allies—friends, you dare say—with him.

You should’ve probably asked him why he knew Arabic, but with the way he was, he probably would’ve only asked you why you knew Russian.

—

“And you’re sure that you know where it’s buried?” Iran asked as he helped you get back up from where you had collapsed.

You did not speak Farsi, and he did not speak Arabic. It was almost ironic for Russian to be one of the languages you had in common.

“Yes, I am. Shut up," you responded. You were close, you could tell. How, you didn’t know, but you knew you were getting closer.

—

It’s eerily quiet. No one wants to be the first to speak here. Nineteen-ninety-two, January second, is when Soviet’s funeral takes place. You doubt that his body is actually inside the casket. Does he even have a corpse?

The thought isn’t one you want to have here, amidst the crowd. Citizens, human ones, and nations like you alike are present. Some look more upset than others do, some look like the only reason they aren’t openly celebrating is because they’re in public.

You whisper a prayer to him under your breath. Soviet didn’t believe in a God, but you did, do. You get a side-eye from the person to your left, someone you do not recognise and could care less for. They are bearing a flag you don’t recognise off the top of your head, so they are unimportant to you.

You stay longer than strictly necessary, unsure of when these customs—unlike yours—ended officially. The funeral only lasts a day, hardly that, even. It is odd to you, especially for someone so important.

When you come back home, it’s like a wall of emotion you didn’t even know existed came crumbling down on you. So that was the last of your friend, huh?

A few days later, you discard of the eyepatch and instead leave it to detoriarate over time in a desk drawer you would not look at if you got the chance to. You return to bandages to cover that half of your face, only with a crudely drawn star atop them this time around. It’s silly, but commemorative enough for you.

—

Iran shouted at you to duck a second later than he should’ve, and you end up whacking your head against a particularly low-hanging branch of a tree. You really should’ve brought your walking stick with you, instead of depending on blind (hah.) muscle memory.

You offered him—his general vicinity—a glare that was entirely useless considering your blindfold. You hoped he got the memo anyway.

—

You can see the writing on the wall, you are not stupid. You are not unaware of your people’s turmoil. I t acts like a parasite, how could you be?

A combined anguish, an anger and a sense of mourning you hope is displaced, all of it boils under your skin, bubbling and popping and threatening to escape any moment, to come to a point where your people could not keep a lid on their ideas and follow in their neighbours’ footsteps.

It is inevitable. You are not unaware. They believe you are, but the crows had started circling long ago and you have kept a silence about you when it came to it.

Your allies are closer to you now. This does not matter in the present. Iraq and Iran and Palestine will not save you from a fate of near-death and sickness and collapse, they will not just like Russia and Venezuela and Korea will not.

You wished you had more time, at least, to prepare.

You dig in your pocket for the worn eyepatch, extracted from the drawer hours ago, when you had began your departure for this forest. So far from your home, it had to be safe, didn’t it? You hope it stays in-tact as you stuff it into as secure a container as you could find on short notice.

It is just over midnight, the moon shines on you like she knows of all your misdeeds and your sins and how you have mistreated your people in favour of an unjust ruler. You deny the notion vehemently, peer up at her with defiance unlike that you can muster around the people you hate.

You dig your shovel into the earth, drive it in again and again and again like you are burying a body you came across and not one of your stupidest, most sentimental possessions that you have not touched in since nineteen-ninety-two. It is the late two-thousands now.

Dirt stains the inside of your nails and your palms and your trousers as you kneel down on the bare earth, depositing the triply-checked secure box into it. You heave in air as you force yourself back to your feet rather than collapsing here, or in the grave.

You pour the dirt back over it, praying for a thousand different protections over it as you smooth down the mound that forms. You do your best to make it look like untouched ground.

You will not be safe from the violence that is coming, the unrest, but it will be, and for tonight, you think that is enough. Just for tonight, that is enough, you think as you begin the long trek to your own house.

—

The only good thing about being unable to see was the fact that you could get Iran to do this one thing for you, you thought, listening to the crunch of metal being shoved harder than was needed between dirt.

After a handful of minutes of waiting around, circling around the same tree six times, he announced that he had found something as a sound distinctly unlike dirt was heard from where he had dug it in.

You made haste to get over to where he was standing, crouching beside him to feel into the cavity now present there. You had forgotten just how deep you had buried this thing, but that mattered little as your fingers found purchase on the container—edge of it, anyway—and latched on.

You dug it out with your bare hands now, Iran standing off to the side and watching. You thought your hands were shakier than normal, but whether that was a result of finally getting this thing back, or exertion that wasn’t exactly healthy for you to commit to in this state, or something else, was entirely unknown to you.

You opened it without thinking much for it, getting it into your hands at least. It had been so long since you had gotten your hands on it. Iran piped up with a “Didn’t think it was real,” somewhere behind you.

You traced your thumb over where the star was embroidered, the one that wasn’t scarred enough that you would’ve hardly made out the bumps from them. One of the threads was loose. You felt over the string. Also worn.

Huh. That was a bad feeling. You’d let it get too ruined, one of the few gifts you actually cared for getting (and one of the few, in general, that you had even gotten). How time flies, or something. It made you upset, why did it mae you upset?

Iran placed a hand over yours before you could too in your head about it. “You sure that thing’s even wearable?” he questioned, the sorry state of it probably even more evident to him than to you. He didn’t sound genuine in his asking, so you didn’t bother with responding.

A beat of silence passed before he shifted to put an arm under yours, hoisting you up suddenly and getting you to nearly drop the patch in your surprise.

“Come on, we’re going home," was all Iran said to you, helping you in getting your crutches from where you had discarded of them in favour of digging like a dog. You didn’t respond, only nodding with your lips pressed into a thin line as you pocketed the eyepatch.

You followed him this time around, he seemed to remember the way back. Your mind conjured up the image of Soviet’s ghost watching over the two of you, like some guardian demon. You mentioned it to Iran and earned a laugh from him. That improved your mood slightly.

It was... well, it was definitely not fine, per se. But you would live, you thought. You’d lost much more than a gift before, hadn’t you?

[joezworld]

The Cars of Goncharov

So, I finally got to sit down and watch Goncharov over the weekend, and it was everything that people said it would be.

A lot of posts have been made extolling the virtues of the film itself, but I was absolutely baffled by some of the choices made behind the camera that absolutely influenced how the film portrayed both itself and its characters: the cars that the characters drove.

Behind the Camera

Ignoring all of it's wild satire of and/or adherence to the popular western view of both the Soviet Union and the Italian Mafia, Goncharov is at its core a movie about Russian/Italian mobster Goncharov trying to run his Naples Mafia organization while also dealing with betrayal, a loveless marriage, and a hidden past. As a result, most of the cars in the film - especially those driven by main characters - should logically be cars that were widely available in Italy at the time - a sea of Fiats, Vespas, Alfa Romeos, and Lancias, with a few Ferraris, Maseratis, and foreign cars thrown in for good measure. Goncharov should be driving around in a Lancia Flavia, while Sofia's midnight meeting with Katya should be lit by the headlights of a classic Cinquecento.

Right?

WRONG

This film plays absolutely nothing straight, and everything driven by a main character is Soviet in origin, and if it isn't, that lack of communist origins means something, even if it wasn't intended to by the filmmakers. Actually, hell, even the Soviet cars mean something. Let's get into this:

Cars of the Stars

1: Goncharov's Limo The original script treatment for the movie called this one out specifically - Goncharov's mysterious past would be accentuated by the fact that he drove around in a "meticulously-kept Volga sedan, in KGB black. From a distance, the car looked flawless, but upon closer inspection, numerous dents can be seen - remnants of a hard drive across a continent."

How Goncharov came to own a car that was owned primarily by the state intelligence agency of the USSR was unstated, however the car would've fit well with the character's intimidating "hardman" aura. However, because it was 1973, and most, if not all Volga sedans in existence were the property of the KGB, there was not a single car to be found anywhere in Italy, for all the scrabbling the crew did in pre-production.*

So, the crew "improvised", and somehow managed to "borrow"** A ZIL 114.

Goncharov's Limo, as seen in the opening scene of the film.

To state fully how insane this is, the Zil 114 is a state limousine, built for the sole use of the USSR's diplomatic corps and those in the highest echelons of the Communist Party. Y'know, people like Brezhnev. For Goncharov to have gotten one is borderline impossible, but goddamn does it look good. The huge limousine dominates every scene it's in, and is an unmistakable presence in its own right. Had he arrived in a Volga, it's unlikely that anyone would've viewed Goncharov in the same immediately terrifying light.

*Tomas JWHJ 0715, son of director Matteo, wrote a book on the film's absolutely wild production in 1999 - it's where I'm sourcing most of my info from - and recalls his father bribing his way into the Port of Rome, in the hopes he could buy a Lada off of a passing ship.

**Real quotes there - nobody knows how they actually got this car. it's assumed that one of the film's local 'fixers' had connections in low places.

2: Katya's Lada 1300

Sold internally in the USSR as the VAZ-2103, Katya's ride throughout the film is actually an export model, a bright red Lada 1300 with the steering wheel on the wrong side - likely imported from the UK under less-than-legal means.*

This is a baffling choice, as production on the UK-spec 1300 began in the middle of 1973, meaning that filming was almost over by the time the car was built, unless it was a pre-production model. Either explanation - along with the fact that the film was shot in Italy, does not explain how they got the car. Additionally LHD models were for sale at the same time in both East and West Germany, making the choice of a RHD car is inexplicable at best, and speaks to the desperation of the film crew as they tried to source Soviet products in the middle of the Cold War.

Katya's UK-registered Lada parked outside a garden party about an hour into the film. She meets Sofia in this scene, and enters the car via the "correct" door, one of three times she does so in the entire film.

That being said, the car fits perfectly with Katya's personality. While the Lada is a very obviously Soviet car, it's based on the Italian Fiat 125, and blends into the background of many street scenes, mirroring Katya's desire to leave her husband and the USSR behind, and live freely in Italy. The steering wheel being on the wrong side is a sign of her refusal to stick to conventional societal norms about her relationship - throughout the movie, she often forgets which door of the car she's supposed to get into, usually after being with her husband. However, whenever she leaves Sofia, and when she (spoiler) betrays Goncharov in the finale, she enters the car via the correct door on the first try.

*In his book, Tomas JWHJ 0715 claims that members of the production were successful at least once in their various madcap attempts to find a car for the film, supposedly stealing something off the street. Stills from the upcoming Criterion Collection remaster were revealed several years ago, and one of them showed the car featuring a UK registration plate. Someone managed to get a result in some forgotten DVLA record, showing that the car was registered and then almost immediately stolen, although there were no specific dates given, the record being over 50 years old.

3: Valery Michailov's UAZ-450

A man with a mission (although we never learn exactly what that is), he arrives on the scene in a red UAZ van. You know the one. That one. It's a former military van, now serving a seemingly more dangerous purpose, although it's not clear what - even in the potato-quality youtube rips and the sole VHS release, the van has clearly been repainted in a hurry*, possibly to hide its origins.

Like Valery himself, the van sticks to the background, driving sedately behind crowds and sticking to the backstreets throughout the film.

It's a close parallel to its owner - Valery seems to be itching for a fight the whole movie, a tight military haircut and rigid firearms discipline giving some clue to his origins, but not his mission. Is he here to rescue his sister Katya from a loveless marriage? Is he on Goncharov's trail? Is he trying to repossess the limo? We may never know for sure and he likes it that way.

*No shit it was hastily painted. Seemingly the only vehicle in the film that wasn't outright stolen, the van had been bought from the Romanian national police, and was still in its police paint until two days before the first scenes were shot.

4: Mario's ZAZ 965 A Zaporozhets

Another bizarre choice for a car that inadvertently speaks to who the character is on a deep level. Mario is usually seen riding with Goncharov in his Zil, and his car is not seen until the end of the film, although mention is made of his "tiny shitbox" well before that. When the time comes, it's revealed that instead of an expected Fiat 500, Mario instead drives a tiny Ukrainian-built supermini.

Mario's "Tiny Blue Shitbox" doesn't do him any favors.

This is, again, entirely on-brand for Mario, even if no specific mention of the car is made in either the script or behind the scenes book.* One of the only Italian characters in the film, Mario desperately wants to be a Soviet citizen, and latches onto Goncharov in an attempt to further this. His choice of an obscure Soviet car instead of a rare-as-rocks Fiat 500 not only speaks to this, but also to his penchant for making bad decisions: the car is a heap of junk that barely starts and smokes heavily from the exhaust. Later on in the film, after he is dismissed from Goncarov's organization for his betrayal, he attempts to drive away, only for the car to completely die on him. His life in ruins, his car derelict, and his dreams broken, he walks away on foot.**

*Considering it's very clearly a Soviet market version, it's assumed to be stolen, however so many cars were stolen for this film that even the production crew was unsure by the end of filming.

**Again, not a scripted thing. The car actually did that and Al Pacino just rolled with it.

5: Andrey Daddano's Maserati Indy

Is there truly a better villain car than a bright green Maserati? Andrey Daddano doesn't think so. Goncharov's rival/subject of obsession is of questionable nationality, but plays the "rich Italian" role to a tee. His Indy is a signature part of his appearance, to the point where the mere sight of it is enough to get Goncharov's full and undivided attention.

The Banker, in his green machine.

Disposing of a liability.

Little is known about this car - according to production sources, it belonged to a member of the crew, although accounts vary as to whether this car belonged to writer Matteo JWHJ 0715 or producer Domenico Procacci. Another account claims that Gene Hackman had bought the car, and loaned it to the production in order to recoup some of the costs. Other accounts claim that Hackman owned the car, and refused to loan it to the production; whenever scenes with it needed to be filmed, he was "distracted" with alcohol and women.

6: Ice Pick Joe's Ford Transit LWB

Everybody's favorite professional assassin had an (pardon the pun) absolutely killer introduction to the movie - exiting Naples' central train station, with no introduction at all, he finds the nearest unattended van, breaks out the window, and steals it right there and then. Gone in 60 seconds, but without the Nicholas Cage.

Ice Pick Joe is one cool customer, and his unassuming murder van adds to his quietly violent ways.

The totally blasé fashion that he approaches his mode of transport is as much a part of his character as his icepick is. He needed a ride, so he stole one. The fact that it's a van designed by the British division of an American car company means nothing to him; it's just a set of wheels. After his death at Katya's hands in the boathouse, the van becomes his tomb, and is shoved into the harbor.*

*For real. In 2019, they found the remains of the van at the bottom of Naples harbor. Its fake license plate survived almost 50 years underwater, and Carabinieri investigators were able to match it to stills from the film.

-----

TL;DR: Goncharov's wild-ass production meant that half the cars used in the film were stolen, and the rest were destroyed or stolen anyways. In the process, they managed to make meaningful and wholly descriptive chariots for each character in the process. I don't think they could've made it like this if they tried.

I'm sure that the KGB still want to know how they got that Zil.

[ripaxed]

Sugar and Heather for the character ask?

Evil women <3

Sugar!

Sexuality Headcanon: Lesbian! Nothing too deep about it

Gender Headcanon: I don’t really have one? I generally default to thinking of her as a cis ally but I vibe with her being trans too.

A ship I have with said character: Skygar <3. Their team up went hard idc. Also I don’t really think about it much but her and Leonard is cute

A BROTP I have with said character: Not really a friendship but I think the alliance she offered to Shawn would’ve been interesting if he agreed. Her laughing at Max is funny also.

A NOTP I have with said character: Sometimes people would talk about her and Owen and it’s so. side eye

A random headcanon: With her making it far in Pahkitew, Sugar was offered more role in tv and commercials. Which let her eventually go to veterinary school, like how she wanted if she won the million.

General Opinion over said character: Sugar suffers from Pahkitew’s weaker writing a lot of the time, but I still really enjoy her. Her huge personality makes her a standout even in the season of zany characters. Plus I find her rather interesting, with her history in exploitive child beauty pageants resulting in her underhanded and competitive attitude and her lack of trust in others around. If Pahkitew theoretically somehow had a second season, she’d be the number one character I’d have wanted to see expanded on.

Heather!

Sexuality Headcanon: Unlabeled! I think Heather struggled to accept she was queer for a long time, in part because no label felt “like her”. Finding out she didn’t have to fit into any particular box made it easier for her to understand herself.

Gender Headcanon: Transmasc. I have. many thoughts about this hc that I should save for it’s own post. But I first thought of it when I started to read the line “I’m the good guy?” as equating to gender euphoria and Heather being tied to being labeled a villain as she is to being labeled a girl.

A ship I have with said character: Ah Sceather, the crackship made as an inside joke that I turned unironic and I am obsessed with. Outside of that, Aleheather is so good. Genuinely just a fantastic canon ship and the backbone of World Tour. I also really really like Gweather and H-bombs.

A BROTP I have with said character: Her and Harold again! They work super well together both platonically and romantically to me.

A NOTP I have with said character: Uhh, I guess I’m not a fan of her and Courtney? Not in the sense I hate it I am just incredibly indifferent to it. Shearing sheeps pops off tho

A random headcanon: I hc they work as a union negotiator in adulthood! Based on that scene in action about her knowing union rules and wanting to organize against Chris

General Opinion over said character: Heather <3. A favorite character easily and forever. I’m obsessed with her. I think she’s under appreciated in Island. She’s not very complex but she brings such an energy that almost all of her scenes are entertaining. Also season one would be impossibly dull without her srry </3. She’s so good in the Island special where her confidence is totally shattered. In Action not only do we see her at her most pathetic /pos but also at some of her funniest. I love you bald Heather <3. In World Tour, well, what can I even say that someone else hasn’t. She’s at her peak, she’s funny, she’s completely hated but manages to scrap her way to finale, and she’s the best winner of any gen 1 season by a mile. Her history of unpopularity and horrible parents and being rejected by everyone around her it just- I love her. Heather sweep.

[deancaslover]

my problem here is that a lot of people has been treating Misha as if he had suddenly become a terrorist, as if somehow he's he's making things worse for speaking his opinion, and that's not fair.

his opinion is not more relevant or holds anymore moral weight than yours or mine, is just an opinion and he's just some dude, he's not the US government, he can't do anything other than talk, he's on the same position as you or me here.

he's not a bad person, he's done a lot to help people through the years, he built schools, founded charity organizations, raised money and raised awareness for several different causes, he went to ukraine and worked in the sun for 3 days wearing a protection suit and refused any kind of luxury that was offered to him. he's a good person, his heart is on the right place and all the good he has done should out weight some dumb jokes and a neutral opinion that not everyone agrees with.

he was just trying to be diplomatic and start a conversation, he didn't deserved the reaction he got.

It's not just an opinion!!! An opinion is "I like color blue" not "we shouldn't call what is happening in Palestine a genocide." Like a said a million times, he might not have the power to make decisions but he's very influential among his fans and he has done political activism for decades, so his "opinion" is very harmful, especially because he says he's listening but keeps saying the same horrible things. What a he learning? That he can keep manipulating his fans? That's great.

"You're treating him like a terrorist" please, he's an American white liberal 🙄 you know who is a terrorist in my country (🇨🇴) ??

Students in public universities

Indigenous groups fighting for their rights

Workers in unions

Farmers

People who once we're in subversive groups who now want peace

Left wing politicians (not the "left wing" that exists in the US, real leftists with real ideals)

All those have been killed by our past governments helped by the US and Israel.

So I won't tolerate a white American saying that kind of shit, he can go fuck himself.

[mejomonster]

SOME FIC RECS LETS GO

These are the fics I'm currently reading or rereading. <3

Divergence by 13empress: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3327329/chapters/7273328

It is AOS Star Trek, Spirk, time travel and fix it fic and just was so amazing last time I read it.

Rapture by ratbones: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33172045/chapters/82355902

Weilan, Guardian, cyberpunk case fic science fiction mystery. Summary: In the towering neon-lit half-underground metropolis of Dragon City, a cryptic homicide case brings together Dixing Register Department field agent Shen Wei and an unusual detective by the name of Kunlun, who may not be what he seems.

Mismatch by laireshi: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25206172

Weilan, Guardian, secret identity. Summary: Zhao Yunlan goes to Shen Wei's office and runs into the Black-Cloaked Envoy instead. He does his best to convince him not to send Shen Wei back to Dixing.

Void by Alxina and xantissa: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38479816

Love and Redemption, Luohuo Jidu X Yu Sifeng, Summary: What happened in the Demon Citadel when Luohou Jidou realized Yu Sifeng was a lot more injured than he let on. (I'm so happy fic for LaR exists)

The Crimson Lotus by bonibaru: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19983613/

Guardian, Weilan, summary: A chance meeting. An unexpected union. A kingdom in turmoil. Secrets run deep in the tumultuous land of Haixing - but none more deeply than those between crown prince Zhao Yunlan and his mysterious new husband from Dixing.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by ancient_moonshine: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33438478/chapters/83065069

Guardian, weilan, organized crime au, dark. Summary: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33438478/chapters/83065069

Who Wants to Live Forever by The_Marron: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38704245

Guardian, weilan, enemies to lovers historical au. Summary: Shen Wei hates the highly-favoured General of the North. He’s reckless, unorthodox and unruly, he disregards almost everything Shen Wei knows about conducting battles, and yet he returns triumphant every single time, his signature cocky smile firmly on his face. Shen Wei hates that he is so competent, hates that he is so unlike Kunlun, his predecessor. He hates how much he yearns for his return every time Zhao Yunlan goes away.

To bind a tiger and subdue a lion by Humanlighthouse: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30487530/

Pingxie, dmbj, Summary: While rescuing his shady uncle, young antiquarian Wu Xie somehow finds himself bound to a man of mystery by an even more mysterious set of jewelry. Much like his efforts to discover the man's identity, every step Wu Xie takes to unbind himself from him seems to have the opposite effect from the one intended, but does he really mind?

Into the Woods by killerandhealerqueen: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38655996/chapters/96639642

Killer and Healer, alternate universe fantasy historical. Summary: It was a calm and peaceful night as a tall young man dressed in black robes, with light skin, brown eyes, and long dark brown hair pulled up in a half-up, half-down, the half-up part of the ponytail adorned with four braids while four smaller braids framed his face, walked through the forest that surrounded the kingdom, basket in hand as he was out collecting ingredients for his latest potion. As he walked through the forest, enjoying the crisp night air that caressed his face, a scream suddenly echoed throughout the forest, an explosion following shortly afterwards. At the scream, the young man paused and looked around, a frown of confusion on his face.

         ‘I thought I was the only one out here at this hour…so who screamed?’

先来后到 ⃒ first come, first served by sarahyyy: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28357530

SVSSS, mobei Jun X Shang qinghua, bridgerton au. Summary: “You speak of my engagement to Gongyi Xiao,” Shang Qinghua says. He’s quiet today. Distant. “The banns will no doubt be read this coming Sunday.”

Mobei Jun’s chest tightens. His fingers curl into fists. “Why?”

“He proposed, Your Grace,” Shang Qinghua says mildly. “There seemed to be no other offers forthcoming, and he is an acceptable match.”

“I came back, didn’t I?” Mobei Jun asks, hoarse.

(Or, the Bridgerton-inspired AU nobody asked for.)

Reweave Our Lives by starandrea: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20511506/chapters/48679718

Guardian, weilan, post canon fix it fic. (One of my favorite post canon stories) Summary: After the Hallows restore the Guardian, they bring back the Envoy and the Enemy as well. Zhao Yunlan will do anything for Shen Wei, but he has to accept that there is no Shen Wei without Ye Zun: not now, and maybe not ever.

Deal with me by amiyade: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38888196/chapters/97249488

Heihua, dmbj, merman au. Summary: He didn’t leave home with the intention to buy an at least two metre long octopus-man, but apparently that was his life at the moment.

Xie Yuchen makes the purchase of his life and gets so much more than he bargained for.

Maybe you just don't understand the brain of an ancient alien by Hyde_DualDomination: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45424996/chapters/114289978

Guardian X The Lost Tomb (dmbj) crossover. Summary: The fact was simple: Wu Xie, the antique shop owner, had been a good friend of Shen Wei for a while - how it had happened was a long and ridiculous story, which Zhao Yunlan had heard five times and had stopped trying to understand, - and he was one of the few people who had always known that Shen Wei was Dixingren. And it was Wu Xie who Shen Wei had chosen to ask for help in his severe case of inability to confess his love - even if that love was something ridiculously explicit at that point.

The Gate of Memory by Destina: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2659442

Merthur, Merlin, post canon reincarnation fix it fic, this was recommended to me and thank you so much for it! Summary: Merlin forgets to remember, until the time comes to remember once again.

*Deeper Water by Alxina: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46632835/chapters/117440221

Silent Reading, Fei Du X Luo Wenzhou, I LOVE THIS FIC, character study, canon compliant. Alxina writes amazing Silent Reading fics <3 Summary: Luo Wenzhou has several headaches in his life, and one of them is called Fei Du.

When he gets called into Chengguang Mansion to pick up Fei Du on his request, Luo Wenzhou has no idea what to expect. He now knows better than to walk in with expectations where Fei Du is concerned. However, this time Luo Wenzhou finds himself in deeper water, because apparently, nothing is what it seems.

Least of all, Fei Du.

~What Makes Monsters Stop Devouring by softcorevulcan (me): https://archiveofourown.org/works/21072317/chapters/50130563

Guardian, Weilan, Ye Zun X Kunlun, post canon fix it fic, Ye Old Haixing, dark, angst with a happy ending, time travel. (Yeah I'm reccing my fic lol). Summary: Zhao Yunlan is brought back to life. Then he is brought back in time 10,000 years, to a version of the past that is different from the one he experienced the first time. And Shen Wei is alive and okay, but it’s not clear if that means everything Zhao Yunlan hopes it does. Also, Ye Zun is there. And Kunlun never died.

Or: Shen Wei and Ye Zun did end up okay, together, after they died, after Shen Wei promised to be with Zhao Yunlan again. This is the story of them all finding their way to that better ending.

[eternal-reverie]

I still need to do my khdr rewatch but I just wanna say ever since I first saw Baldr, I had a nagging feeling that he was someone potentially chaotic and then that came true…

but uh I just going to put this out there; I think there’s some potential he’s the Master of Masters.

OK HEAR ME OUT

Upon learning Baldr had a missing sister, my mind went immediately to the only other pair of siblings we know in the overall story: Lauriam and Strelitzia. Missing sisters meeting their tragic demises, which then torment their brothers into yielding into their dark impulses; thematic parallels done very much on purpose between khux and khdr.

Then I thought of how exactly siblings were involved in these circumstances. So Lauriam and Strelitzia were chosen as union leaders. Who decided that? MoM, when he gave the list to Ava. And it’s such a choice??? Like I spent hours thinking of why in the first place, and MoM probably had a good idea that darkness was going to infiltrate the dandelions (since it was looking over his shoulder while he wrote the book) so why did he choose to involve these family members other than to guarantee future events down the road? And honestly before Dark Road released, I thought that one of the reasons he brought them together for the task was cause…it would be a touching family reunion! Just a kind gesture. Perhaps something he wished would have been granted for him….He could never separate siblings after what he went through…as Baldr.

So if Baldr is the MoM, where he’s calmed down after the darkness possessing him vanquished, and with foresight about the events that led him to his end, he somehow becomes this master figure with a unique hatred and fear towards darkness, then leads his other fallen classmates as the foretellers.

My large leap in this logic is that kh is not the type of series to let characters go that easily. And with so many new characters introduced in Dark Road, I simply cannot believe that we saw the last of them. I think the most likely way we’ll see a lot of them again is when the foretellers are inevitably unmasked; a restoration to their original identities that were obscured by the abstract aspects and roles that only served to the seal darknesses away within themselves (similar to how defeated organization members were restored their humanity and original names.)

and you know!!!! we would be so shocked if we point out Urd, Hermod, or whoever on the screen after a foreteller’s true identity is revealed in kh4?!? “False lights” and all, I think it makes sense that Baldr, named for the Norse mythology god of light, who’s such a character driven to extremes, could have his moral pendulum swung so hard the opposite way to enact all of this. This whole risky plan is just his attempt at redemption and saving everyone he hurt in the most drawn out way possible so much suffering for literally everyone in the story so far like holy crap I hope it’s worth it??? Sora help

tl;dr Baldr could be MoM because of the cinematic parallels between the pairs of siblings in khuxdr; speculating why the MoM had both Strelitzia and Lauriam chosen as union leaders and if he has a soft spot for family???

[indignantlemur]

Do we know anything about Andorian government? My personal headcanon is that with their Keth system there’s a lot of nepotism with governmental positions or am I reading too far into the scene where Shran is talking about Talas? I mean it makes sense, but also if they like competency then nepo babies are a no-go (unless they’re somehow good at their jobs).

Fully caffeinated but need to sleep- the horror!

-Horta-in-Charge

Aw man, nepotism is alive and well in Andoria's governing body but corruption, when it crops up, is surprisingly short-lived.

They have a couple levels of organization going in my headcanon, being divided into the main governing body (broken up in to ministries), the military (the Imperial Guard), the Guilds (mega-unions, basically), and the Imperial family.

The Andorian government is a well-oiled machine of absolutely merciless litigators kept in line by absolutely rigid rules of conduct to prevent all-out warfare during any kind of official meeting. Within these ministries that form the governing body, you have a number of individuals who are elected based on merit, competence, and personal honour. The higher up the political ladder one goes, the higher the level of scrutiny becomes; it is not unheard of for a corrupt politician at the Minister-level to have a friendly visit from Am Tal operatives in the night, should their activities endanger Andoria and its people.

Additionally, competence is a key part of being able to hold onto a position once one has achieved it. If you can't do the job, you won't have it for very long because absolutely nothing it stopping someone more qualified for the job from challenging you to a ushaan duel or making accusations of incompetence - or both, as the case tends to be. Most corruption and nepotism therefore occurs in lower-level positions, though it certainly can crop up in higher level positions as well. In addition to the general intolerance for incompetence, there is an additional layer to nepotism when it does occur: if you fuck up, not only do you look bad but so does the guy who got you the job and if you really, really make a mess of things then both of you are out of a job. Overall, I would say that Andorian nepotism will get you in the door, but you actually have to do the work well enough to stay once you're there - or else.

The military is fairly straightforward by comparison, and generally much better liked by the general populace. Run by the most senior ranked members of unimpeachable honour, or at least close to it, their primary goal is to protect Andoria from without and from within, and they do a pretty good job of it. As an Imperial Guardsman, you might be able to get your nephew a posting but whether or not he stays there is entirely up to his work ethic and competence, and any shame he brings upon himself is likewise brought upon you. In this, at least, the political and military sides of things are matched.

Then there's the Guilds. The Guilds are highly regulated and actually have the least amount of nepotism overall. Progress within the ranking system of a Guild is based purely on skill and duration of membership, and being so-and-so's granddaughter won't get you better pay or better gigs. Generally, nepotism can't really take place inside a Guild until you have already proven you won't bring shame onto the Guild and have reached a certain level of seniority. Even then it mostly takes the form of getting somewhat preferential treatment where job selection is concerned.

The Imperial family (which is really just a small Clan that one can only ever marry into or be born into) is, by default, all for nepotism because that's what keeps them going. Highly reclusive, head of this family is the Emperor (or Empress, as the case may be) and he sits above the governing bodies of Andoria. No laws are passed without his consent, no wars are declared without his approval, and the Imperial Guard swears loyalty only to the Emperor - not the governing bodies of Andoria. In Émigré's era, the current Emperor is quite hands-off, but his predecessor (one of his mothers) was a very involved ruler.

That being said, there can be challenges from within the Imperial family for the right to rule based on competence - or fitness to rule. These challenges are always lethal and never publicized until after they are over and done with; the need to present a unified front for the people of Andoria is deeply ingrained into this particular family.

[daddy-socrates]

hey daddy socrates!

as i understand you did MA in philosophy, can i rant a bit in your ask box?

i did my BA in philosophy, now i want to do my MA in philosophy because i love it. but everyone tells me it's useless since this degree is unemployable.

idk, i guess i wanted to ask, what are your thoughts on this? i feel so depressed lately since it feels like i have to pick between a) something i'm interested in, passionate about and love b) something that will land me a well paying job. and it feels like b is more responsible choice but also that it will ultimately make me really miserable.

Okay so, I'm not gonna lie I also thought it was useless in undergrad. I had gone in initially with the aim of an English major and the education certification track (bc my school was quirky and wacky 🤪🤪 a cert for my state rather than a full major) but I found myself so enamored by the mushy-ness of philosophy that I stuck with it. Every time I asked a professor "so what can I do with this degree?" it was ALWAYSSSSSS "you can do ✨️anything✨️ :)" and I'm like, Gary that's not an answer (^':

Right so a lot of people take a philosophy degree (or two) and then go into law school or become a professor. I wanted to take some time to explore other options before committing to a second degree in philosophy and honestly I got about halfway through a school year away from it before I went crazy and applied for some classes at a nearby university. Backstory backstory backstory, etc. If you really want you can find the rest of that in my talking tag (#blah blah blah) if you want all the ramblings and complaints and the victories.

Getting back to your point though, when Gary said "you can do anything," he meant that the skills taught in philosophy - like critical thinking, deep reading, reasoning, recognizing fallacies, awareness of social and political history surrounding the "whys" behind the "whats" of individual beliefs and broader systems/structures - is almost universally adaptable. My mom said through my junior and senior years that those skills are always in wicked high demand, so philosophers are going to be good at whatever we decide to apply ourselves to.

But that's not fun. We know REAL fun! Sitting in a library basement drawing the ghosts out of dead texts and "Um, Actually"-ing them with our 21st century, likely more diverse perspectives :)

Have the others in your life picked out careers for you? Because I have a little list of things I came up with that are not rooted in academia but can use the skills and might help cast a wider net while still related!

Joining an activist organization, or a union organizing group

Political analysis

Editor (maybe for a philosophy journal?!)

Local office ethics board

Human resources is a related option to the above and seems to be in constant demand

It's a short list and definitely a work in progress, but they're just a few little ideas. Use your network!! Use them! Professors, classmates, alumni, friends, family of friends, etc! They may have insight into places you can't even conceive of yourself at this moment!

I did almost go for a job in HR with an environmental technology company but somehow got a job in costuming. Fuckin bananas, the chance of that. But it's wonderful, because it's a job I can leave at work, and once a week last semester I would leave a little early to do just one class. Working full time and being a super-small-part-time student has been uhhhh tricky but it's more or less worked for me to dedicate a few hours each weekend to doing the assignments etc. JUST a few. Sleep and video games and going outside are also necessary.

... But also, if you really want to commit to philosophical research or teaching philosophy (as I am now planning to do), then I say go for it. My current job is definitely not my forever-home, but ALSOOOOOO the idea of a "forever career" feels silly to me. If you are able to let yourself float a little bit from time to time, recognize that you can switch it up if you need to. My partner is currently in a floating spot right now and he's miserable about it, but there is something comforting about knowing that the training he is currently doing in the meantime while between jobs does not have to be the only office he will ever have to sit in.

If you choose to go ahead in philosophy, hell yeah!! Big fan, absolutely love that. If you decide to take a break like I did, try something else, even just for a little while, that's also great! It could be used as a sort of "See? I DID do other things" at your nay-sayers too >:)

WHEW lots to say, too much space allowed to say it. I hope some of that can help a little. Absolutely come back to rant more if you want!

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

When Wifey talks about her union organizing work, she talks about prospective contacts on a 1-5 scoring system. On the one end you have Conservative David who is considered a long term cultivation possibility, but someone who must be approached strategically and adaptively. And on the other end you have Leftist Jane who is not only already jazzed about the union, but seems like possible future leadership material because she has a great rapport with her department and solid social skills. How someone falls on the spectrum tells you how to approach, how much time/resources to invest in someone, and what expectations might be reasonable to have of your contact.

I think that it can be hard to let go of the instinct that we don't want to coddle people when they say stuff we know to be anti-labor. Especially when it's rare for more broad spectrum social skill building to focus on conflict resolution (as opposed to conflict avoidance). But conflict resolution isn't just for fights! It's for any time that you and another person are on different sides of an issue and need to reconcile yourselves somehow. Community organizing involves a lot of that, as well as rapport building, learning to hold the people around you in unconditional regard in ways they receive without sliding into their ideological camp, and how to de-escalate a situation where someone is becoming agitated.

And if you feel anxious about those things, don't be! It feels scary and threatening because you weren't taught how to do it. But if you join a program like a union where they WILL, once you start to get the hang of it, that sense of mastery translates into less anxiety doing the thing! It's always easier to do something you have a lot of tips and tricks to manage weirdness for right? Same thing here.

So honesly? If you're someone who wants to get into organizing and doesn't know how, maybe just start by reaching out to local unions, social coaches, peer group facilitators, etc and see if any of them would teach a class if you got a group together! Learn as a community how to talk to each other and share space in ways that make it feel easier, not harder, to do the work that needs doing.

Activism is not cold-calling.

Activism is not cold-calling, and this is critically important to understand.

I'm seeing a lot of posts on here about 'building bridges' and 'finding community,' and then (extremely valid) response posts saying "BUT HOW??" And I'm going to explain something that can be very counter-intuitive: there is strategy involved in community.

As a longtime volunteer labour organizer, I’ve taken and taught many trainings on the strategy of talking. Something that surprises a lot of people is the very first thing you do in a union campaign. You sit down with your organizing committee, take out pen and paper, and literally map it out. You draw a physical map of the workplace: where are the entrances, exits, break rooms, supervisor offices. Essentially, ‘where is it safe to have a union conversation.’ Then you draw another physical chart of your coworkers. You sort out who is union-friendly, openly hostile to unions, or somewhere in the middle, and then you plan out very deliberately and carefully who talks to whom and in what order.

Consider: If Vocally Leftist Jane walks up to Conservative David and says "hey what do you think about unions," David is going to shut down immediately. He's not inclined to listen to Jane. But if Jane talks to Moderate Jason and brings him into the fold, then Jason is a far more effective strategic choice to talk to David, and David may actually hear him out without an instant reaction.

IMPORTANT CAVEAT: If Conservative David turns out to be Alt-Right David, and could be dangerous to follow organizers, we write him off. We are not trying to reach Alt-Right David. We are trying to reach Conservative David, who may actually be persuaded to find solidarity with other employees as fellow workers. Jason is a safe scout to find out which one he is. It does no one any good if Leftist Jane (or even Moderate Jane who is a visible minority) talks to Alt-Right David and puts herself on his radar. Not only has she done nothing to convince Alt-Right David to join a union - she's probably actively turned him against the idea - but now she's also in danger and the entire campaign is at risk. NOBODY WANTS THIS. Jane was NOT a hero for doing this. The organizing committee was foolish and enacted a terrible strategy to everyone's detriment.

Where you can make a difference is with people who will listen to you. You having a conversation with your well-meaning but clueless Centrist Democrat Auntie, and maybe gently helping her understand some things the media has been glossing over, is way more strategically useful than you marching up to MAGA Neighbour You've Met Once and trying to "build community" or "understand" them. They don't care. They're impervious, dangerous, and cruel. But maybe your beloved auntie will think about what you said, and then talk to her friend Anna who IDs as "fiscally conservative" but didn't vote because she can't bring herself to get on board with Trump. Then perhaps Anna talks to her brother Nic who has MAGA leanings but isn't all the way there yet. Proto-MAGA Nic would not have listened to you, nor would he have listened to Centrist Democrat Auntie, but he might absorb some of what his sister is saying.

This is not a cop-out or an echo chamber. This is you spending your time and energy strategically and safely. You are not a useful activist to anyone if you’re dead. Anyone who is telling you to hurl yourself directly at MAGA assholes like cannon fodder has no understanding of the strategy behind community building, and you should feel comfortable writing them off.

Last point: If you are tired, emotionally devastated, and/or in danger: take a break. This post is for people who would feel better jumping into action, not for people who are too overwhelmed to even think about it right now. You are worth so much even if you’re not actively Doing Activism, and your rest is worth more than “a break period so you can recharge and Do More Activism.” We all deserve the individual dignity of being worthy of comfort, rest & safety just on the basis of being human, outside of whatever we're doing for others' benefit. To deny ourselves that dignity is to devalue ourselves, and that’s the absolute last thing any of us should be doing right now.