#but like even earlier than the golden age stuff

[txttletale]

Saw a tweet that said something around:

"cannot emphasize enough how horrid chatgpt is, y'all. it's depleting our global power & water supply, stopping us from thinking or writing critically, plagiarizing human artists. today's students are worried they won't have jobs because of AI tools. this isn't a world we deserve"

I've seen some of your AI posts and they seem nuanced, but how would you respond do this? Cause it seems fairly-on point and like the crux of most worries. Sorry if this is a troublesome ask, just trying to learn so any input would be appreciated.

i would simply respond that almost none of that is true.

'depleting the global power and water supply'

something i've seen making the roudns on tumblr is that chatgpt queries use 3 watt-hours per query. wow, that sounds like a lot, especially with all the articles emphasizing that this is ten times as much as google search. let's check some other very common power uses:

running a microwave for ten minutes is 133 watt-hours

gaming on your ps5 for an hour is 200 watt-hours

watching an hour of netflix is 800 watt-hours

and those are just domestic consumer electricty uses!

a single streetlight's typical operation 1.2 kilowatt-hours a day (or 1200 watt-hours)

a digital billboard being on for an hour is 4.7 kilowatt-hours (or 4700 watt-hours)

i think i've proved my point, so let's move on to the bigger picture: there are estimates that AI is going to cause datacenters to double or even triple in power consumption in the next year or two! damn that sounds scary. hey, how significant as a percentage of global power consumption are datecenters?

1-1.5%.

ah. well. nevertheless!

what about that water? yeah, datacenters use a lot of water for cooling. 1.7 billion gallons (microsoft's usage figure for 2021) is a lot of water! of course, when you look at those huge and scary numbers, there's some important context missing. it's not like that water is shipped to venus: some of it is evaporated and the rest is generally recycled in cooling towers. also, not all of the water used is potable--some datacenters cool themselves with filtered wastewater.

most importantly, this number is for all data centers. there's no good way to separate the 'AI' out for that, except to make educated guesses based on power consumption and percentage changes. that water figure isn't all attributable to AI, plenty of it is necessary to simply run regular web servers.

but sure, just taking that number in isolation, i think we can all broadly agree that it's bad that, for example, people are being asked to reduce their household water usage while google waltzes in and takes billions of gallons from those same public reservoirs.

but again, let's put this in perspective: in 2017, coca cola used 289 billion liters of water--that's 7 billion gallons! bayer (formerly monsanto) in 2018 used 124 million cubic meters--that's 32 billion gallons!

so, like. yeah, AI uses electricity, and water, to do a bunch of stuff that is basically silly and frivolous, and that is broadly speaking, as someone who likes living on a planet that is less than 30% on fire, bad. but if you look at the overall numbers involved it is a miniscule drop in the ocean! it is a functional irrelevance! it is not in any way 'depleting' anything!

'stopping us from thinking or writing critically'

this is the same old reactionary canard we hear over and over again in different forms. when was this mythic golden age when everyone was thinking and writing critically? surely we have all heard these same complaints about tiktok, about phones, about the internet itself? if we had been around a few hundred years earlier, we could have heard that "The free access which many young people have to romances, novels, and plays has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth."

it is a reactionary narrative of societal degeneration with no basis in anything. yes, it is very funny that laywers have lost the bar for trusting chatgpt to cite cases for them. but if you think that chatgpt somehow prevented them from thinking critically about its output, you're accusing the tail of wagging the dog.

nobody who says shit like "oh wow chatgpt can write every novel and movie now. yiou can just ask chatgpt to give you opinions and ideas and then use them its so great" was, like, sitting in the symposium debating the nature of the sublime before chatgpt released. there is no 'decay', there is no 'decline'. you should be suspicious of those narratives wherever you see them, especially if you are inclined to agree!

plagiarizing human artists

nah. i've been over this ad infinitum--nothing 'AI art' does could be considered plagiarism without a definition so preposterously expansive that it would curtail huge swathes of human creative expression.

AI art models do not contain or reproduce any images. the result of them being trained on images is a very very complex statistical model that contains a lot of large-scale statistical data about all those images put together (and no data about any of those individual images).

to draw a very tortured comparison, imagine you had a great idea for how to make the next Great American Painting. you loaded up a big file of every norman rockwell painting, and you made a gigantic excel spreadsheet. in this spreadsheet you noticed how regularly elements recurred: in each cell you would have something like "naturalistic lighting" or "sexually unawakened farmers" and the % of times it appears in his paintings. from this, you then drew links between these cells--what % of paintings containing sexually unawakened farmers also contained naturalistic lighting? what % also contained a white guy?

then, if you told someone else with moderately competent skill at painting to use your excel spreadsheet to generate a Great American Painting, you would likely end up with something that is recognizably similar to a Norman Rockwell painting: but any charge of 'plagiarism' would be absolutely fucking absurd!

this is a gross oversimplification, of course, but it is much closer to how AI art works than the 'collage machine' description most people who are all het up about plagiarism talk about--and if it were a collage machine, it would still not be plagiarising because collages aren't plagiarism.

(for a better and smarter explanation of the process from soneone who actually understands it check out this great twitter thread by @reachartwork)

today's students are worried they won't have jobs because of AI tools

i mean, this is true! AI tools are definitely going to destroy livelihoods. they will increase productivty for skilled writers and artists who learn to use them, which will immiserate those jobs--they will outright replace a lot of artists and writers for whom quality is not actually important to the work they do (this has already essentially happened to the SEO slop website industry and is in the process of happening to stock images).

jobs in, for example, product support are being cut for chatgpt. and that sucks for everyone involved. but this isn't some unique evil of chatgpt or machine learning, this is just the effect that technological innovation has on industries under capitalism!

there are plenty of innovations that wiped out other job sectors overnight. the camera was disastrous for portrait artists. the spinning jenny was famously disastrous for the hand-textile workers from which the luddites drew their ranks. retail work was hit hard by self-checkout machines. this is the shape of every single innovation that can increase productivity, as marx explains in wage labour and capital:

“The greater division of labour enables one labourer to accomplish the work of five, 10, or 20 labourers; it therefore increases competition among the labourers fivefold, tenfold, or twentyfold. The labourers compete not only by selling themselves one cheaper than the other, but also by one doing the work of five, 10, or 20; and they are forced to compete in this manner by the division of labour, which is introduced and steadily improved by capital. Furthermore, to the same degree in which the division of labour increases, is the labour simplified. The special skill of the labourer becomes worthless. He becomes transformed into a simple monotonous force of production, with neither physical nor mental elasticity. His work becomes accessible to all; therefore competitors press upon him from all sides. Moreover, it must be remembered that the more simple, the more easily learned the work is, so much the less is its cost to production, the expense of its acquisition, and so much the lower must the wages sink – for, like the price of any other commodity, they are determined by the cost of production. Therefore, in the same manner in which labour becomes more unsatisfactory, more repulsive, do competition increase and wages decrease”

this is the process by which every technological advancement is used to increase the domination of the owning class over the working class. not due to some inherent flaw or malice of the technology itself, but due to the material realtions of production.

so again the overarching point is that none of this is uniquely symptomatic of AI art or whatever ever most recent technological innovation. it is symptomatic of capitalism. we remember the luddites primarily for failing and not accomplishing anything of meaning.

if you think it's bad that this new technology is being used with no consideration for the planet, for social good, for the flourishing of human beings, then i agree with you! but then your problem shouldn't be with the technology--it should be with the economic system under which its use is controlled and dictated by the bourgeoisie.

[iconuk01]

Pouches - Who's to blame (Not entirely serious)

Now, we remember that the king of the super pouches is Cable, and for good reason... Since his intro in 1990 he has tended to be more than slightly... pouch intensive

This isn't even a spoof cover, it's an accurate representation of his costume at the time.

But did he START the trend?

I think not.

Leaving aside Batman from the 1966 series, who had hefty pouches in his belt...

Though still not remotely large enough for some of the stuff he randomly produced from it, even if it DOES fold up... sort of.

But I digress....

I did consider the Silver Age bat villain Cluemaster

But those are specifically "plastic-glass pellets" containing assorted chemical weapons, like explosives, gas, acids and the like, so not sure they count.

It's been suggested that one of the first in the modern era to develop this was Longshot in 1986, when he did indeed have pouches on his belt, because artist Art Adams thought he needed practically-sized pouches to carry things in.

But even then are there MANY pouches? His bandolier was to store his throwing knives for easy access, so weren't pouches per se.

So technically, the first X-Men character to really lay into the pouches side of things isn't Cable, not by a long shot... it's this guy, slightly later in 1986

So Doug Ramsey was leading the field of poucher-y in the X-Verse side of things.

Just look at that vest and belt, LOADED and lined with pouches, and we never even find out what's in them... Though I think it would include pens, pencils, notepaper, some money, spare keys to the Xavier school, first-aid kit, lock picks (because he's always wanted to carry lockpicks), string (Everyone should carry string), breath mints and other things a relatively sensible teenager would want to be sure he was carrying if he had the room in his outfit and wasn't given to cargo shorts!

And yet, there are other contenders, so let's work backwards...

Also from 1986, Batman (again) from "The Dark Knight Returns" where even his BELT looks to be on a course of serious steroids!

And in 1983 we got this stylish new costume retconned into the history of the Golden Age Tarantula in All-Star Squadron who, up until this point, wore a purple and yellow spandex outfit that was, oncufsingly, identical to the Golden Age Sandman's spandex costume outfit.

Notice that he has rings of pouches on both boots, where he keeps things like spare cash in case he needs to hire a taxi and probably some spare ammo for his wirepoon gun.

But I think I've found patient zero as, from 1981's New Teen Titans #3. we have the inventor and technologist par excellence, the man who would be known (Eventually) as Mikron O'Geneus, though he would, perhaps thankfully, becomes better known by his codename:

GIZMO!

Look, even his LOGO has pouches!

In fairness, given his speciality is creating techno-widgets and devices out of other technology, him carrying dozens of gadgets and components makes a lot of sense, to the extent that he even manages to carry MORE weapons than Robin's utility belt (Which is TARDIS like in and of itself)!

So I think we have a winner!

Gizmo started the modern pouch trend!

If anyone can find earlier/other contenders, then please feel free to add them!

[fireemblems24]

Golden Wildfire Ch 11

On we go to ch 11. Things are . . . uh . . . interesting.

MAIN STORY

So if you didn't see ch 10, I failed to recruit Byleth. I retried the level a few time, but honestly I just want to finish this game so I didn't bother.

Plus, the reason I failed was that Claude just sat there instead of moving forward on the escort mission, which got really frustrating, and honestly I didn't want to bother.

Ugh, I don't want to fight the Kingdom.

So those Houses that wanted to defect to the Kingdom didn't because Claude's battle was that bloody in that fire map.

Poor Dimitri and co seems like he's just betting bullied for no real reason by two imperialistic maniacs.

I love how Arval is getting snooty over Shez getting credit for their tactics lamo.

Man, this dialogue is dragging.

So Nadar is going to cause diplomatic chaos by utilizing the Almyran army without getting real permission.

Wait, Claude riled up Sreng? So much for "ending racism" lamo. Wasn't having two cultures not be prejudice against each other like his MO? The writers really just threw him in the trash, hunh.

I feel so bad for Claude fans. He's really a piece of work in this.

MAP/SIDE STUFF

Everyone missing Judith has a lot more punch than Randolph. Even Monica was like "get over it" to Fleche (but nicely).

So, let me make sure I have this right. Mr. I Want to End Prejudice Between Cultures just provoked Sreng into attacking the Kingdom so Edelgard can take it over because Rhea is the reason for everything bad. Did I get that right?

Unlike SB, GW is entertaining as hell, but man is the logic here is just non-existant. And poor Claude RIP.

Like, I know I'm biased and all, but I don't see how you're supposed to be the heroes and not Dimitri here. The people just defending themselves are getting attacked on all 3 fronts for the crime of *existing.*

Not going to lie. I kinda wish Claude didn't side with you in AG either. It would've been hype to kick everyone's ass as Dimitri after getting cornered by all these land-grabbers.

GW!Claude is really just the mean girl's sidekick. 😂

If Felix and Rodrigue die in this chapter I swear to God . . . (I just remembered Rodrigue is dead in SB now 😭 - LET THIS MAN SURVIVE).

I had to fight Felix in a side mission. Lysithea said they had to "defend this place" - like, girl, you are invading.

When the challenge is "you can't dodge" but you're using Lorenz 😌👌 (FYI, he just does not take damage in this game)

SHEZ & HILDA A SUPPORT

They're talking about how Hilda exerted energy in a battle because she worried about Shez.

Hilda claims it's just self-defense bc she was cheering for Shez on the front lines and enemies were there (honestly, this is pretty boring so far)

It's the same-old Hilda claiming she's weak but that not being true.

SHEZ & CONSTANCE C SUPPORT

I know she's an Empire character, but whatever.

She wants to create new magics to restore her noble house and wants to research Shez bc of their weird magic

Lamo, Constance low-key called us dumb

Shez suggests she get her house back through military accomplishments.

Constance refuses to train right now, she wants to at night (it's her dual personality thing, right?)

CLAUDE & LYSITHEA B SUPPORT

Their first one. Claude's unhappy Lysithea charged in the last battle. But Lysithea kicked ass, so she's upset with Claude.

Claude calls her plan dumb and that he thought Lysithea was smarter than that. Lysithea still argues it ended earlier bc of her.

Lysithea doesn't back down.

Honestly, I side with her here. Claude's being patronizing. And it's rich of him not to care about all the other deaths dragging out the battle would cause and only Lysithea dying because she's *important*

CLAUDE & HOLST A SUPPORT

Oof, this one hurts. Claude accuses the church of creating all the systems to serve their own interests, because he doesn't know the truth here. That the Empire actually created most of it, and that all the church ever did was protect a genocided race from being murdered by more power-hungry humans.

It's also hysterical to hear Claude talk about wanting to improve foreign relations while instigating a war between two cultures.

Oof, Holst doesn't care about any of this. He's only worried Claude's going to send Hilda to marry a big, brown, scary foreigner. NOT a good look.

Holst says he cares more about Hilda's future than the whole Alliance. Yikes.

HILDA & HOLST A SUPPORT

They're preparing a feast.

Oh, it's nice to see Hilda's insecurities about Holst's "perfection" come up in this, bc so far she hadn't said much.

After that last support though, Holst is actually a pretty shitty leader.

Holst wants to make the feast all about Hilda instead of himself though. Hilda likes the attention.

Hilda basically had to set up her own feast lol.

HILDA & LINHARDT A SUPPORT

Hilda's cleaning, and Linhardt's honestly upset that he's lost a fellow lazy person.

Hilda claims she never pushes work on people. That, is a lie.

Linhardt is mostly worried how bad it'll look if he's the only one not working instead one of two.

All this support confirms that Linhardt is by far the superior lazy.

LORENZ & LYSITHEA A SUPPORT

Their only support.

So, not related to their support (and watch it counter it), but I find it pretty amusing how getting a leadership position faster matured Felix and Sylvain, but Lorenz is still a bit of a joke and the butt-end of every support he's in.

He's just bragging about how awesome his position and power is.

Lysithea says she's not inheriting her house. She claims it's because she doesn't like what comes with nobility, but we all know why.

She worried that the land will go to chaos without it's leaders though. Lorenz offers help (which, imo, he's actually mature here!)

Lorenz suspects she's turning it down for another reason and encourages her to rely on others to help.

RAPHAEL & LEONIE B SUPPORT

Raphael keeps snapping bows in half when he uses them. Leonie's shocked.

Leonie seems to actually make one and invites Raphael to test it while on guard duty with her.

IGNATZ & MARIANNE B SUPPORT

Marianne found his picture. He puts it down, but she likes it (it's a horse, well a pegasus, but of course)

Ignatz gets carried away talking about it, but Marianne finds it cute.

Ignatz finds Marianne loving pegasus cute. She blushes.

He wants Marianne's help, helping him paint a pegasus bc they don't like men, but if Marianne is around he can get closer and get a better painting. She's happy to help.

Honestly, this whole support is really cute.

MAIN BATTLE/STORY

It sucks having to attack the Kingdom over and over again when all they want to do is exist in peace.

Oh, joy, Nadar wants to plunder Faerghus. I can see why Fodlan is so evil for not wanting to let them do what they will.

GW really had a chance here to finally do something interesting with Almyra. It even marketed itself as a route that WOULD. But instead it's just doubled-down on Almyra being a one-note lawless place full of barbarians. At least we have Brigid and Duscur so the only brown country isn't some racist stereotype. Since it's only 1 of 3, it's not AS bad of a look.

Fuck. I don't want to kill Felix and Rodrigue. It would be one thing if the Kingdom actually provoked this, but Felix and Rodrigue haven't done anything to deserve this.

I get to recruit Ashe again. Is he miserable here too?

Ugh, I was hoping Felix and Rodrigue weren't here. It seems vastly unfair that it's only Kingdom characters who die for reel in this.

Wow. Claude's really an A-class asshole. He told Ashe to surrender because Dimitri wouldn't want him to die. Maybe don't invade for no reason then?

Is Claude also going to single Felix out as a citizen of Faerghus who deserves to live? Or does only Ashe count and not the nobles and unnamed grunts he's slaughtering because he decided to team up with the person who plans on taking over his rule? (not hate to Ashe at all, I honestly feel awful for him in this game)

Ok, so fighting Felix is just a side quest. I'd rather fail a side quest than fight Felix so, going to try to avoid having to kill him. Ugh, he's attacking the engineers. And he's damn right saying he has every right to kill the people who are invading his home.

Thank God, he just retreated.

I still love how Claude got bent out of shape over Ashe, but Lorenz alone has killed 500 citizens of Faerghus this chapter so . . .

Felix is so worried about Rodrigue. I swear the writers wanted you to feel like shit playing this route.

Oh, fuck. Just when I thought I was finished killing people for defending themselves, Daddy Gautier shows up :( He's sacrificing himself to safe Felix and Rodrigue, isn't he?

Oh, fuck. He died for real 😭

It's really hard to like these characters, making mindless chit-chat after killing Sylvain's daddy. I hope Sylvain fucks them up a new one.

I've never wanted to slap a character more than I'd love to slap Claude right now. The moron has the audacity to be surprised people are going to die while he's invading a foreign country. What a fucking stupid moron.

He's also blaming - get this right - chivalry.

I'm like. I'm speechless right now.

That's right guys. Margrave Gautier died defending his king, his country, his home, and most importantly one of his fucking best friends from an asshole invader. But it's CULTURE'S fault he died.

I'm really confused what the hell Claude thinks he's doing. Does he REALLY think killing Rhea will magically allow people to live as they please? Didn't he grow up in another country where they had princes and shit and NO Rhea?? All he's doing is making Edelgard's take over easier.

This is starting to feel like a borderline spoof. Look at us end the war by invading another nation!!! I mean???

What's his plan? Kill everyone in Faerghus - profit - "freedom" from Rhea - Edelgard takes over - no profit???

The writing in this route has gotten really fucking stupid. Like, I LIKE the idea of evil!Claude. Either a Claude who wants to take over all of Fodlan or one who's ruthless and will do anything to preserve Leicester.

But what I don't like is really fucking dumb Claude, which is what GW's devolved into.

Oh, God, now we get a flashback between father and son. Sylvain and Gautier :(

Sylvain better not be fucking recruitable in this route.

Now Sylvain's in charge 😭😭😭😭

I'm convinced someone who's a major Edelgard stan wrote the larger plot of this, but then a Dimitri stan wrote the actual dialogue 😅

We really go from one moment Claude being like - it's Rhea's fault Gautier died bc Kingdom culture bad because church bad to Sylvain being like, naw, he died defending his friends.

At the very least, I'll give Hopes credit here. At least they didn't write anyone opposing Edelgard as either evil or like they're idiots for resisting invasion, but I almost feel like they made the Kingdom especially too sympathetic which makes Edelgard look more interesting (since SB is more honest than CF) and Claude just look like a bozo. Rhea just doesn't look like anything since she's not even here.

Though, I REALLY wish Claude didn't side with us in AG. I really wish we got to see Faerghus backed into a corner and kick everyone's asses. They've very much the underdog and watching them do that would've been awesome.

Felix and Rodrigue are beating themselves up over this.

See, this is what I mean - Sylvain just said he's reserving all his hatred for the foreign invaders who take everything for no reason - I really feel like a Dimitri fan saw how everyone collectively decided to take a dump on the Kingdom in the big plot and got revenge by making everyone look like villains (or morons in Claude's case) for doing so in the writing.

xxx

[the-somwthing]

Welcome to my little meta analysis essay called

Why do we misremember Flower Husbands as being “nicer” than it was?

Disclaimer: I’m not here to talk about whether or not FH is “toxic” or anything like that. It’s just a fact that many old fans rewatching FH POV and new fans who are watching it for the first time after seeing fan content tend to be surprised at how they actually behaved in the series compared to how everyone remembered them being back in the day. This will NOT go over whether or not I think FH is unhealthy or whatever and instead just discuss why I believe this phenomenon has happened.

So, if I try to make this a fancy well written essay, I’ll be here all day, so I’ll just get to the point. 3rd Life came out during the DSMP era of mcyt. MCRP has been around for ages, but the DSMP style of RP (which I’ll be calling “smp rp”) was pretty much popularized by DSMP, mostly towards the end of 2020. For reference, 3rd Life started early 2021, so there’s about a half a year between these two events, and DSMP kept going for years so 3rd Life was absolutely happening during the golden era of DSMP.

But what does DSMP have to do with this? Well, it sort of created this idea of “lore” and only specific things being “canon”. You can make fun of me for the way I worded that, but you know what I mean, DSMP was weird about that stuff. I don’t really blame them as it was kind of a new style of RP they accidentally spawned, but still, it was a confusing time for SMPs.

3rd Life was actually less like DSMP and more like the modern SMP RPs, where there’s no (known, lol) scripted events and the fandom itself deciphers what is or isn’t “canon” rather than it being told to them, with mostly everything being considered canon. HOWEVER, I do believe that DSMP’s style did still affect the fandom, specifically with the topic of this essay, Flower Husbands.

But why would it only really affect Flower Husbands? Now we get into a rough topic: shipping discourse. Back in those days, shipping in the mcyt fandom was heavily frowned upon. Moreso than it is today (I know it’s still around, but it was a lot worse the earlier we go lol). I’ve even seen old relics of ppl saying flower husbands should only be portrayed as platonic cuz it’s wrong to ship them, despite their team name literally being husbands. But more importantly, for A LOT of people, flower husbands was the One Ship people felt “allowed” to ship, BECAUSE it was canon. So they would allow FH and shun every other ship.

My point isn’t actually that, with it being the only “acceptable” ship everyone tried to make it more wholesome, though I suppose that could be a contributor. But my ACTUAL point is where all the things I laid out finally close in on each other:

Ships were a Dangerous territory in mcyt fandom, and ships being “canon” was something a lot of people weren’t prepared to deal with. People don’t want to get too close to RPF territory, but back in the day their ideas of c! vs cc! wasn’t as great, so they default to the DSMP Rule of “if it’s stated to be roleplay, then it’s canon to the characters, if not, it’s noncanon and just the CCs hanging out”.

You see where I’m going with this? When trying to follow this rule for a character relationship where they don’t explicitly state what is or isn’t RP, they hear “we’re married” and instantly mark that as canon to the characters since it clearly isn’t true to the CCs, and tend to block out anything else, otherwise you’re risking it not actually being true to the characters. Especially when it’s things like Scott saying something mean about Jimmy; that directly contradicts the “these characters are in love” thing, so it must not be canon, right?

But wouldn’t people still remember that these things happened, or did they actually straight up not process any of it? My answer to that is: of course everyone was paying attention, but with the context that it’s the CCs playing a video game, all of the teasing and other behavior seems WAY less serious. It just looks like average friends playing a hunger games smp together. And as I explained earlier, the fandom was ONLY processing this as a CC thing, so Scott’s treatment of Jimmy never stood out because that’s just how it is playing games.

Back to DSMP, I’m not active in that fandom anymore but I’ll see snippets sometimes, and I’ve seen the claim that beeduo was actually boring in canon and the fandom was the one that made it interesting. I feel like this is exactly what happened with FH. Nobody was actually expecting anyone to go hard into romantic roleplay, so the fans just take whichever pair says they’re getting married and fill in the blanks themselves. And that was normal back then, it wasn’t fans making stuff up for no reason, it was kind of expected of us.

So yeah, I personally believe that this whole confusion about FH is a result of its time. Whether you want to finally look at the actual substance of the relationship rather than following weird rules about what is or isn’t “canon”, or you believe that since FH was from a time where romantic RP was confusing and weird it would make the most sense to take into account the time period it came from and ignore the less appealing bits in favor of the fanon, I don’t really care honestly. But man isn’t this an interesting situation.

[imagionationstation]

I expanded a bit on the separated au with Shinigami. Here’s extra if you care. I’d love to have your help in expanding this more…if you want to help. No pressure

But here’s basic stuff from my notes app

All turtles are 16 y/o. Leo, and Mikey are raised by Splinter. Raph is raised by Casey’s family. Donnie is raised by Shredder, than later “kidnapped” and raised by Shinigami. 

While exploring the sewers together, Raph and Donatello were swept up by a flood or something and were separated. Raph is found by Casey’s family after they thought it was hurt and lost child. Donnie is found by Shredder.

Shredder over works Donnie, with both his tech stuff as well as training. He’s also juts an asshole. Shinigami becomes Karai’s friend and sees how Shredder is treating Donnie and sneaks him home with her. Karai is distraught and betrayed that her friend took her brother. But Donnie left willingly and is doing great with Shinigami’s family. He’s even taught Magic by them.

After learning about the (idk) Donnie and Shinigami return to NYC where they meet Splinter, Leo, Mikey, April, Casey and Raph (who has already been told what happened and all that). 

Donnie begins staying with Splinter and everyone though he does visit Shinigami (‘s family) quite often or at least he video calls. 

He helps them fight Shredder, but tends to struggle when fighting karai (as he still typically sees her as his sister, though estrange). 

B-days and zodiac: (I chose random dates. Idk remember when their actual b-day is)

Leo - February 10th - Aquarius

Raph - April 2nd - Aries

Donnie - August 13th - Leo 

Mikey - October 11th - Libra

Turtle Species:

Leo - Red-Bellied Cooter

Raph - Red-Eared Slider

Donnie - Red-Eared Slider

Mikey - Golden Thread Turtle

Heights:

Leo - 5’4

Raph - 5’4

Donnie - 5’7

Mikey - 5’2

“Donnie begins staying with Splinter” How dare you split up the family. They raised him like their own and Shini made him her familiar and this is the thanks they get? His brothers can be the ones to do videos calls, you monster. /playful /joking

I imagine Shini stays in New York when he does. So she basically just enters the series earlier and makes herself a part of the family. Then Karai sees both of them and is like, “Leo, we cannot be friends until Shini gives him back” and Leo’s just “This is between you two, m’kay, I will do a lot for you but I have no control over that one.”

I love imagining that Donnie can do some of the stuff Shini can do (but she has the natural talent, obvi) like appearing out of nowhere and acting like he’s been standing in the room the whole time (the brothers can’t decide if he transports, is invisible, or something else entirely) and it always catches his brothers off guard.

How on earth did Splinter manage to adopt three different turtle species of the exact same age. Did he do that on purpose? Interrogate the pet store about all their ages to pick-and-choose possible pets? I mean, I know this is an unnecessary line of thought but I’m thinking it anyway.

Casey and Shini tolerate each other. The “my little brother evidently has an extended family that we had no idea about and I’m okay with that as long as the other family remembers that he was mine first” vibes are shared between them and it leads to rooftop conversations and bonding. Shini still won’t teach him magic, tho.

Donnie would die for that cat.

Headcanon lore: He actually almost does.

Other headcanon: Raph has the hardest time getting Donnie to like him until he gets cat toys. She had a hard time adapting to new surroundings and she relaxes for the first time in weeks.

Donnie instantly has a favorite brother.

Donnie: This is my only friend. I love her more than life itself.

Mikey: Oh, neat! Mine tastes better.

Donnie: What.

[sweet-honey-tears]

🍃Gifts To and From🔥

Shoto Todoroki x GN!Reader FLUFF

Izuku Midoriya x GN!Reader FLUFF

Hello everyone! I'm super happy with this post -specifically for Shoto’s. IDK I just really love it! Thank you all for the support and as always feel free to leave a request🤍 If you want to see the last post to this series(?), click here for Part 4

INFO: Characters are aged up unless specifically mentioned they are not. This is not canon and is just for fun, I do not mean to anger or offend people.

❄️Shoto Todoroki🔥

When the reporters found out it was your birthday: shit got crazy.

—>“What did he get you?”

—> “How much did he spend?”

—>“How many diamonds?”

—> “Was it something for the bed-“

“Enough! He got me breakfast.”

—> “Like from France- oh was it covered in gold leaf”

“No, it was a drink from Starbucks and (enter whatever ya like)”

—> “Wait, he didn’t get you anything?”

People ask you why he’s so cheap.

—>“He has all that money, doesn’t he?! Why won’t he actually buy you something for your birthday?”

You shoot back- “he’s not a damn bank! He’s my boyfriend. He doesn’t need some fancy golden diamond whatever to show he loves me!”

Takes a long time to actually engrave that in Shoto’s brain -that he doesn’t need to buy you the world.

On your first date when you both were in the U.A. He tried to buy you a golden, diamond, thingy - yeah no.

He’s currently a pro hero now, and you both graduated around 5 years ago. He doesn’t buy you jewelry, or cars, or anything like that. He gets you stuff for cooking. Since you like to cook/bake for the two of you.

You say you made the soup with love, NO IT’S NOT BOTTLE YOU CAN BUY

The first time you told him that, the boy looked confused- like is that possible? But then he eats it and he’s like ‘oh. Oh, are you sure that isn't an ingredient?’

Will come behind you and hug you while you cook, lips pressed to your shoulder blade, and ask :

“making it with love?”

“Of course Sho” you laugh

He did end up getting you a necklace for your 3rd anniversary. (It was after the notion of not needing to buy you stuff was engraved into his head.) It's a pretty silver necklace. A thin silver chain with a little salt shaker charm on it, like the ones you’d find in dinner, with the words ‘made with love’ engraved on the back.

You hugged him so tight the day he got you that. He had just come home from patrol and had this flat little teal box. He understood jewelry more than anything after that- it’s supposed to be meaningful.

He'll rest his forehead on your collarbones, his nose touching the little charm that hangs from your neck as his arms wrap around you.

“Sho what are you doing?” You laugh, staring down at the pro hero who just got out of work.

“Just refilling on love”

Oh! At one gala you wore the necklace because screw Endeavor- “

“Not fancy my ass I’ll show him how fancy my love can be.” Sho just smiled. His cufflinks match your necklace.

His home screen is a picture of you mid-fall. The noodle dish you made, coming apart in the mid-air. You look like you’re about to topple over any second, balancing on one leg as the bowl is only in contact with your fingertips. You had asked him earlier to get a picture of you turn with the dish, thinking it would be funny. Or cute. You don’t know- it was meant to be fun. What you didn’t anticipate was Marshy(your cat) sprinting in front of you.

▪️Izuku Midoriya▪️

Izuku never realized how soft his hair could be until you bought him this certain brand of conditioner.

Hair is like a cloud after you taught him how to take care of it. And his hair looks so… tamed? Like each curl is defined and shiny.

“It- it looks so good!”

He feels more confident and even looks more confident in the photos published by reporters.

He turned pale the first time he saw the price tag of the products you bought him for his hair but you just said.

“You're worth it ZooZoo. Plus it feels nice, right?”

He couldn't stop running his fingers through it- you couldn’t either.

Izuku has a thing for shoes- and it’s not like Kirishima with crocs-

He likes to buy you shoes.

And if you have feet or leg issues(from past injuries or pressure sensitivity etc) he spends so much time researching and sifting through reviews to ensure you’re comfortable.

His heart melted when you came home wearing these nice (pretty) green and black sneakers that match his hero uniform.

They're pictures on the web fans made which show pictures of you wearing your sneakers(a little bit creepy ngl) and pictures of his hero costume and pointing out all the similarities.

The fans fricken LOVE that you both match. To a point, they will send both of you matching sweatshirts, shirts, and pants(or he’ll get a pair of pants and you’ll get a skirt with a similar pattern to his pants if that's what you prefer).

The man picked you up and spun you around when he SEES YOU WEARING ALL MIGHT PLATFORM SNEAKERS(or just ALL MIGHT sneakers if you are not into platforms.)

You both have a lot of matching shoes- converse, sneakers, and his dress shoes are red to match your red heels and/or dress shoes.

He totally had a pair of sneakers that have blues prints of hero costumes as well as a pair of white sneakers that just say ‘shoes’

Izuku ends up giving you your favorite pair of sneakers for your birthday. He hand-painted them, swirls of your favorite colors skillfully and painstakingly done. The words “I love you” are written on the side of the shoes in his handwriting. You love them. And wear that everywhere.

His Lock Screen looks like this:

[elfyourmother]

before I start posting more of my bg3 stuff here I really need to warn people that I approach this game not as someone new to any of this but as someone for whom the original bg trilogy (1+2+tob) is deeply meaningful, and pretty much all of my grievances w 3 stem from how larian treated most of the legacy lore and characters (poorly. as an understatement.). I realize some of that was just them building on the atrocious way wotc finally decided to canonize the old games in FR, but shit like the character assassination of sarevok anchev (one of my favorite characters of all time) is entirely on them.

it’s not only that, it’s also that I’ve been playing in the Realms sandbox as a whole for more than half my life at this point, since I was a tween in the 2E golden age. I cut my teeth worldbuilding w Abeir-Toril. even had wotc not literally lost the plot in 4e, my Realms look very different after 30 years of worldbuilding and storytelling through the various tabletop campaigns I ran for years, my fic, and 20+ years of crpg games set in FR not just from the original BG trilogy, but even earlier in the old SSI gold and silver box era of Curse of the Azure Bonds and the like.

in short, I have a very old and very deep history w FR that predates larian’s entire existence as a game studio much less this 1 game they made in it. this game is simply an opportunity to go home again and add another link on the charm bracelet.

so. in keeping with ed’s mantra, the faerûn Gisèle inhabits is uh. different. eg durge is not a thing, was never a thing, will never be a thing. (in the interest of not upsetting folks, I’ll keep my feelings on it to myself). eg. my loviatar has always resembled lady kushiel much more than the caricature of fevered neckbeard fetish dreams, even before ed set the record straight on her church. but too there are constant references to my older lore and stories from the previous crpgs, and not only baldur’s gate—she is my reincarnated CHARNAME, but she also fled to Lith My’athar and trained under my hero of Undrentide, which becomes very relevant when she sets thousands of vampire spawn free in the Underdark. She also knows the True Name of Mephistopheles because of this association, which gives her leverage when dealing with his son. And so on. Everything is deeply connected.

That might make it a little opaque for some, but that’s nothing new for me lol.

[animehouse-moe]

Mobile Suit Gundam - The Witch From Mercury Season 2 Episode 5: The Prodigal Son Returns

Man oh man oh man. Where to even begin. The best character arc of a deuteragonist/side character within easily the last year? The shifting tides that pull Suletta under its surface? The kickass mecha fights? All the various plotting and scheming that forms countless webs? There's a lot to this episode, but the vast majority of it is placed under Guel and Suletta, and for incredibly good reason.

I oh so desperately want to talk about Guel Jeturk and his character arc through GWitch, but I really do need to start with Suletta. Right from the get go, Miorine is helping us establish the issues of Suletta. It's almost a bit of a slander episode for the poor girl, and by the end I think you'll agree that it's a pretty incredible choice to make.

Anyways, we start with Suletta excitedly waiting for Miorine outside her room before consistently walking behind Miorine. Behind her in the hallways, behind her on the stairs, and in all sorts of camera angles. The pair have had that distance bubble up between them from earlier conversations, but here it's Miorine creating that gap.

This was also an interesting addition in terms of layouts and conversation. Suletta is still behind Miorine of course, but there's a mobile suit that walks by in the background, providing the audible footsteps of its massive frame while Suletta talks about celebrating a birthday. It very strongly speaks to the out of place nature of Suletta's constant positivity in the current outlook and nature of Astacassia.

Then, we get some here and there pieces about Grassley plotting with Peil to lead the Benerit Group, and Elan five trying to get Suletta to give him Aerial. Sorta the usual stuff, but we kick things off from there. Suletta enters a duel with Guel, where Aerial is up for collateral. Miorine and Guel (and even Ericht) end up plotting against Suletta in the duel, forcing her to lose.

This loss builds directly off of Miorine's conversations with Prospera, and even her interactions with Suletta herself during the beginning of the episode. Miorine hates that Suletta is so easily controlled by her mother, and that she's entirely blinded by what she's been given. An undefeatable mobile suit, friends and people that will flock to her, comfort and happiness to push through the darker moments. She hasn't said a single word of Sophie dying in an earlier episode, but will excitedly move towards planning a birthday for someone.

Her mother has her and Aerial strung up like puppets, and Miorine so intensely desires to break that, to allow Suletta to be free and her own person. It's just that, in doing so, they essentially have to break Suletta apart. Rip her from her sister Aerial who has protected her, wrench Suletta from Prospera's hand, and completely isolate her from all that she's known. They're basically pulling a Bob on Suletta and I'm 100% here for it.

Speaking of Bob/Guel. Absolutely best boy of the season and year, incredible character arc, impeccable style, and talents and abilities that stand up to the early makings of a God. His name should be screamed from the rooftops to celebrate his story.

It's just so amazing. He comes back with purpose, with resolve. Not for himself alone, but for his brother, his family. His house. He wants to bring back his company's golden age, give his father something to look down on with a smile, something that could earn his father's pride.

And where does he get this resolve? None other than Suletta. The girl that's had everything in her life, the girl that's embarrassed Guel on more than one occasion. He takes the words of this girl that has been manipulated beyond belief, and finds his own strength in them. His own resolve that places Suletta in his shadow, and moves forward. He moves past death, his failures, his inability to save those around him. He looks towards his future with hope, and the strength to turn his dreams into a reality. It's just so incredibly beautiful and strong. This man had lost it all. He lost the position of holder, he was expelled from school, he killed his own father, had a young innocent girl die in his arms. And now, he's come back to school to reclaim his crown and forge his own path in life. I can't get enough of it, I really can't. Such an incredible character arc told with such little screen time. Guel deserves the world, and by God he's gonna reach out and grab it with his own two hands.

Also, this moment of his duel with Suletta is beyond amazing. They consistently point out his aversion to piloting a mobile suit. Of how the last two times he was in one, someone has died. He feels sick, his head's spinning and he breaks out into cold sweats. He freezes up, forced to relive his trauma and deepest terrors. It's such a wonderful depiction of it, that is complemented by various other standpoints, like the aversion that one girl expresses to the fight.

But the crowning moment of this duel, is a single moment of fear from Guel. He's frozen up in the cockpit as Suletta bears down on him, solely focused on winning for Miorine. He can't do anything, he sees his father's mobile suit before his eyes, it too bearing down on him, intent on killing him. And it's not some "strength" that pulls him out of this spiral, it's not Guel's willpower alone that snaps him out of it. It's his resolve. His resolve to hold onto the present, to keep those around him close to his heart, to make sure he can do all that he can to live up to who he wants to be. It's the cries of his friends, of his brother and the people in his house, that give him that resolve. Far from it for this moment to be "the power of friendship" though, it's a piece of solidarity and support that speaks to greater depths than pure "friendship", and is yet another amazing aspect to this story.

All in all, just another astonishingly wonderful episode. We're back in the school setting, but we haven't lost a lot of that edge that we gained from the excursion to Earth. Stakes are still high as blood runs a deep crimson and tensions rise among factions and groups. Guel comes to reclaim his crown as holder, and in doing so perfectly breaks apart Suletta with the help of Miorine. We begin a downwards tumble for the Mercurian Witch, and it seems like it's just the beginning of ripping the threads that Prospera carefully placed within Suletta out.

[your-divine-ribs]

The Christmas Wish Part 3

Words: 3.3k

Sorry I’m slow to write new stuff at the moment but hope you enjoy the next part of this story 🤍

The Christmas Wish Masterlist Main Masterlist

🤍 Sacha's POV 🤍

I have to bite back a giggle as I see Van settling his lanky frame into one of the tiny plastic chairs the kids use to sit in, his long legs bent and folded up awkwardly.

"Oh you don't have to sit there, I've bought a bigger chair in especially."

I drag over a larger version and he thanks me as he takes a seat, his eyes darting all around the classroom, taking everything in.

"God, this takes me back, except we had blackboards in my day."

"In your day," I echo, smirking. "Watch out, you're showing your age!"

He chuckles good-naturedly. "Yeah, feels like a long time ago, a very, very long time ago. Good times though, some of the best... carefree. You really don't realise it at the time do you? How easy you've got it when you're a kid, how simple things are..."

He trails off with a wistful smile and I detect an undercurrent of sadness that runs much deeper than a brief reflection of an untroubled youth.

"Adulthood is definitely over-rated," I venture, and then it's gone, his charming grin back in an instant, chasing away the cloud.

"I'll say. I guess we didn't read the small print eh? What the hell did we sign up for?"

He's gorgeous up close, even more so than in that damn video that had me captivated earlier in the staff room. His striking eyes that I'd been sure were blue at first seem more green now in the crisp wintry light filtering in through the classroom windows, specks of amber glinting in his irises. A faint dusting of freckles adorn his pale skin and I find myself wondering how they'd look darkened in the summer months, how his mousy brown hair might take on a golden hue.

Christ Sacha... pull yourself together and be professional for fuck's sake... and stop gawping. He's just a man.

"So... let's talk about Grace shall we? That's what you're here for."

I shift awkwardly in my seat, hands clasped in my lap, suddenly wishing I had something to play with. It's habit of mine when I'm feeling nervy, and I settle on smoothing out non-existent creases in my skirt.

"I think I know what all this is about," Van starts, brows pinched into a small frown. "It's that little shi... errr... that Ryan Carter isn't it? Gracie's class-mate? I've heard all about how he's been winding her up."

I bite the inside of my cheek to stem the grin that tries to surface in reaction to his almost curse word, the fact that I share his sentiment exactly when it comes the class nuisance. Not that I can let that show.

"It's not just Ryan though, it's Grace too I'm afraid. If you've spoken to her about him I take it that she's told you about why you've been called in to see me today?"

His frown deepens. "She's not a trouble maker, she's a good kid. She knows right from wrong and she's not scared to stand up for herself. I know sometimes she might be a little..." he pauses like he's searching for the right word "... feisty, but her heart's in the right place. Always has been, it's how we brought her up."

"She's physically lashed out at Ryan, not just once but twice now," I tell him, watching the frown dissipate as his brows raise up sharply in surprise. "I'm guessing she didn't tell you that bit though."

"When you say lashed out, what are we talking about here exactly?"

"Last week she trapped his fingers in the desk drawer, purposefully I might add. Yesterday she kicked him in the shin, hard. It nearly made him cry."

I fold my hands over my chest, trying again not to react to the ghost of a smile that twitches at the corners of his lips. I know exactly what he's thinking.

The little shit probably deserves it.

I'm thinking the same thing too. I wish we could just cut through all the bullshit and speak honestly and frankly but of course we can't. We're not two parents gossiping on the school playground, I'm the children's teacher and I have to act accordingly. I have a responsibility to all the kids.

"Ryan can be a disruptive member of class, but we can't just stand by and let the other kids take out their anger on him. Violence doesn't solve anything and they need to be taught that there's other, more acceptable ways to work out a disagreement. If we don't nip this in the bud it could escalate."

"I didn't realise," he says in dismay. "That's not like my Gracie at all, she's usually such a caring little girl, she wouldn't hurt a fly... well I mean she fights with her little brother all the time but I guess that's just siblings for you. She's not a bully. It's not in her nature, well not usually anyway."

It's never easy hearing tough news about your kids and I'm pleasantly surprised he's not on the defensive like some parents get. I was fully expecting him to be outraged and argumentative, the typical hot-headed type, spouting on about how perfect his kids are and how they'd never step out of line, all the while not having a clue what's really going on in his children's lives. There's none of that though. He looks crestfallen and a pang of sympathy runs through me. Maybe I shouldn't have been so biased and given him a chance before I made assumptions about him. He's actually right. Grace is a good kid and this behaviour is totally uncharacteristic of her.

"I'm not saying she's a bully," I say, carefully choosing my words. "I really don't think she's getting any kind of enjoyment out of it, it's not that. Your daughter's a kind, sweet caring girl, I've seen that right from the start of the school year. This is most unlike her and this is what I'm trying to work out. I feel like there must be something causing it, some outside factor making her act out of character."

His expression immediately darkens, his fists clenching where they're resting on his thighs, quite obviously perturbed. "Is she being bullied? Is one of the other kids picking on her, is that it? Is someone hurting her?"

"No!" I hurried reply. "That's not it, I'm positive it's not. We keep a very close eye on our children here and I'd know right away if anything like that was happening."

"Are you sure?" He asks, sitting forward in his seat.

"I'm certain," I say with conviction, then I pause, wondering how I'm going to put what I want to say into words without causing offence. Even if I tread carefully it might still not be careful enough. "I was... errr... I was wondering whether there's something going on at home at the moment? If she's worrying about something it could be manifesting itself in all sorts of ways. Kids act out sometimes when they're confused or angry or upset about something, and she did... errr... she did mention something the other day..."

"What did she say?"

I wince inside. Why did I have to bring up such a personal matter? It's not really my place unless the information's volunteered, that's what we had drilled into us during teacher training.

Don't get too involved unless there's genuine concerns about a child's welfare.

But I am concerned. And I want to help.

I keep my voice soft as I begin to talk, watching Van closely. "She was talking about Christmas... about making a wish for Santa... something about making you and her mum love each other again..."

I see a flash of grief in his eyes before he screws them shut tight like he's trying to block out painful memories. I almost reach out a pacifying hand to him but I stop myself just in time. I'm already over-stepping the mark in being too familiar.

"I... I'm sorry. I shouldn't be bringing it up," I backtrack. "I'm really not trying to pry, I just thought you should know."

He curses low under his breath, eyes still closed as both hands reach up to push through his hair before falling limply to his sides. He looks defeated when he finally looks at me again.

"Me and Helen... the kids' mum... we've recently got divorced." He speaks the last word with obvious distaste and I pull a sympathetic face, lost for anything meaningful to say so uttering a quiet "sorry to hear that."

He huffs wearily. "It was never supposed to turn out that way, we had it made. The band were flying, the kids were happy, we were happy. Life was pretty fucking perfect... uhhh sorry," he mumbles an acknowledgement of the profanity which I quickly dismiss with a wave of my hand. "I was just so caught up in everything that I didn't see what was happening right in front of my face. Helen always felt I put the music first. It was my own stupid fault, if I'd noticed she was feeling that way instead of focussing on the damn band..."

"It must have been tough trying to juggle everything," I sympathise, feeling surprised and a little uncomfortable with how honest he's being. I was expecting him to shut down, not open up. "I'm not even a mum but working with kids I can see how demanding they are... it's a lot of work. And being in a touring band's not your average career, is it?"

"You're telling me," he nods in agreement. "The last year and a half were mental with the new album and all the gigging and promo we did... and that's aside from all the problems we were trying to fix. I tried to spend as much time at home as I could but it wasn't enough. I convinced myself I'd got the balance right, but looking back I know I was delusional. I guess there's only so many unanswered calls and missed anniversaries before something's got to give. And then by the time I realised things were that bad it was too late..."

Being proven right has never felt so bad. As Van speaks candidly about his shortcomings as a husband I don't feel the slightest bit of smug satisfaction that I'd shown Ellie earlier when I was being judgemental, I just feel sorry for him and the family that he's let down. And he's not finished yet, downcast gaze fixed on the floor as he continues.

"I'd had this dream of the band for so long, and then it was all falling into place… then falling apart. When I set my mind on something I go all out. I'm kinda like... I dunno... blinkered to what's going on around me..." He stops, eyes flicking up to meet mine again, his voice growing in strength like he needs to convey the truth of what he's saying. "I didn't neglect those kids though, I never did that! I love those kids. They mean the world to me."

I do reach out this time, a placating hand resting gently on his forearm. It's an instinctive reaction to his heartfelt admission, the way I note a glossiness in his eyes and a crack in his voice which I wasn't expecting from a simple classroom chat. It's quite obvious this man wears his heart on his sleeve with how open he's being about a difficult subject and my desire to help blooms warm and insistent in my chest.

"Look Mr McCann... uhhh... Van," I start, feeling a little out of my depth and picking out my words with care. "I hope you don't think I'm speaking out of turn when I say this, but speaking from experience I think the best thing you can do is just be there for your children as much you can. Let them know they can come and speak to you if they're ever worried about anything... and even though your life might be turned upside down it's really important that they don't feel that. They need consistency and stability and just to know how much they're loved. They're probably feeling a little lost and confused right now, kids' worlds are so small and they need to feel cared for and secure above all else."

I come to a stop and immediately feel self-conscious. It's the way he's looking at me, jaw a little slack and eyes a little wide like he's hanging on my every word. Jeez... something about him is so... intense. I crack a shy smile, snatching my hand away and resting it in my own lap, hoping to break the quiet kind of intensity of our interaction. "They're great kids... both of them. You really should be very proud."

Thankfully that seems to work. Talk of his children sets off a wide smile that flushes the sadness from his eyes, his whole face beaming like it's lit from within.

"They are and I am... sometimes I wonder how we created something so perfect. I've always dreamed about being a dad ya know, and I really don't want to fu... uhhh mess it up. I'll talk to them... and especially to Grace... find out what's really going on."

"You got this," I smile back, full of encouragement.

"I sure hope so," he says, finally sitting back, more relaxed. "And you said both kids... d'ya know Leo as well then?"

"Yeah, my friend Dan teaches reception year and Leo's in his class. He says he's as a bright as a button and so keen to learn, apparently he was the first kid in the class to master his phonics. He's always got his hand up to answer questions too, he's so eager... a real little bookworm too. Dan's really impressed!"

I can practically feel the pride emanating from Van. He's grinning ear to ear, overjoyed to hear praise for his son. He really has got a gorgeous smile, it's infectious, genuine with a hint of something playful that makes my belly flip like it's not done for a long time.

"Leo's dead smart, just like his mum," he enthuses. "He definitely got her brains and not mine, that's for sure. Gracie takes more after me... star quality that one. Could see her performing with her own band one day."

I'd have to agree with that, a lot of seven year olds shy away from being in the limelight but not Grace. She comes to life when she's got an audience. Now I know where she gets it from.

"That I can definitely see," I laugh. "She took her audition for Mary in the class nativity play very seriously, she even stuck a cushion up her jumper to look pregnant, said she was 'getting into character!’”

"Did she? That's class!" Van chuckles, and I immediately launch into telling him the humorous story of how his daughter was filling in for Joseph and one of the shepherds too as they'd forgotten their lines.

We're so caught up in our laughter and chatter that a loud rap on the classroom door startles us both. We both turn to see the door cracking open and Ellie's head appear around the frame.

"I thought you'd gone home!" I say in puzzlement, watch her face scrunch a little in awkwardness.

"I was on the way but I stopped by the office and started talking to Grace and Leo..." she pauses, her eyes darting between me and Van. "And I'm sorry to interrupt but I just wondered if you'd nearly finished because Grace has been complaining she's got tummy ache..."

"Daddy!" The door suddenly flies fully open and Grace and Leo both crash through it simultaneously, practically sending Ellie spinning.

"Alright kids?" Van greets them, arms outstretched as Leo hurls himself into his dad's lap and Grace flings her arms around his neck, cuddling into him from behind.

"I told them to stay in the office," I hear Ellie murmur but I shake my head to tell her that it's okay.

"It's fine, I think we're about done." I rise up out of my seat, practically melting at the heart-warming scene before me, watching Van basking in the affection his kids are heaping on him that's quite obviously wholly reciprocated. There's obviously a lot of love in that family despite the problems.

"Am I in big trouble?" Grace frowns at her dad as he turns to her. "Because Leo says Christmas might be cancelled if we're too naughty."

"You're not in trouble angel but we do need to have a chat," Van tells her, a hand moving up to brush an unruly blonde curl out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. "But let's not worry about that now... and Christmas is mostly definitely not cancelled. What d'ya say to going to buy a Christmas tree right now, eh?"

The kids immediately erupt into cheers of excitement. Leo jumps up off Van's lap to bounce up and down whilst fist-bumping the air and Grace squeezes her little arms even tighter around her dad's neck so I think he might choke if she doesn't let go soon. Ellie and I exchange smiles and I don't miss the knowing glint in her eye as she watches me grinning away like an idiot. I quickly look away, back to Van who's getting to his feet.

"I don't suppose you know where's the best place to get a tree from round here do ya?" He looks between me and Ellie hopefully. "We've not been in our new place for long and to be honest I'm not usually the one to go out and buy all that stuff. I'm a bit clueless really."

I go to reply but Ellie gets in before me, moving further into the classroom towards us. "There's a brilliant place just on the outskirts of town called Harvey's. It's like a garden centre but they're fully kitted out for Christmas, it's like some kind of winter wonderland." She pauses, turns to me with a grin. "Sacha... you love it in there don't you? Weren't you just saying you were going there this afternoon to pick up some decorations yourself?"

It's an innocent enough comment but I know damn well what she's doing. I try to keep a neutral expression so my eyes don't narrow at her in suspicion. "I was but I'm not sure now, it's getting late and I don't have the car today... think it might rain too."

We all turn to look out the window at the grey skies, plump clouds threatening to spill with icy rain or maybe even snow the way the temperatures are plummeting.

"Why don't you come with us then Miss?" Grace's voice comes booming out, loud and enquiring. I whip my head around to see her tugging on her dad's jacket sleeve, looking up at him. "She can come with us can't she? She can help us to pick out a tree!"

"Oh I don't think so," I blurt, feeling my cheeks heating up at this unexpected turn of events. "I wouldn't want to intrude."

"You're very welcome... I'm sure we've got room for one more," Van replies, rather enthusiastically I note. "Can drop you off home afterwards too, save you from getting drenched. What d'ya say?"

The warm smile Van's wearing sets off little sparks of excitement fizzing around my belly and I have to will myself not to giggle like a teenage girl with a crush.

"Uhhh... yeah... sure," I mumble, feeling stunned that an after school meeting has somehow morphed into a festive shopping trip with one of my pupil's parents... and an extremely attractive one at that... my mind teases me.

"Ahh that's perfect!" Ellie announces, and I realise that she's already holding my coat which she thrusts into my hands. "Could you pick up some holly and ribbon for the Christmas wreaths we're making tomorrow in class? Oh... and some mistletoe too," she adds, nudging me purposefully but surreptitiously in the ribs as we all start towards the door.

That's it. I'm going to fucking kill her.

[nattikay]

I'd like to hear 3 from you, I bet it's some cute Sully family stuff

3.) An off-screen scene you wanted to see?

YA DARN RIGHT IT’S SOME CUTE SULLY FAMILY STUFF, IT’S ALLLLL THE CUTE SULLY FAMILY STUFF BABEYYYY

For real though, I would’ve adored to see more of this. Especially when the kids were very young. Consider, for example:

Jake constantly carrying his baby(s) around to all his olo’eyktan duties.

Neytiri telling them all the traditional Omatikaya stories and singing them songs (according to the visual dictionary one of the earliest beads on Neteyam’s songcord represents the first lullaby he remembers being sung to him like excuse me??! 😭)

Mo’at recognizing Kiri’s inherent connection to Eywa and kinda taking her under her wing

Little Kiri going around nonchalantly befriending all the animals like a big blue Disney princess…to the point that she gets her ikran wayyyy earlier than usual just by asking it to be her friend (that part’s canon lol)

Jake’s own Na’vi language skills improving exponentially as his kids start learning to talk

The general mix of wholesome and chaos as Jake and Neytiri learn to be parents for the first time and all the stuff that comes with that, especially given how quickly they had their first three, them going around trying to wrangle their little toddler army…but despite the chaos they just love each other and their kids so much, the RDA is gone and the clans are at peace and they’re just so happy right now and wouldn’t have it any other way—

like bruh give me three hours of that and I won’t even have a heart anymore because it will have all melted in to a great big puddle of sugar-coated sap on the floor 😭😭😭 we got very brief little snippets of it at the start of the movie and it was wonderful but gosh dangit I want mooooooooore aahhhhhh

oh, here’s a more specific silly scene that I was discussing with @barking-in-the-dark recently:

So imagine that Jake and Neytiri need a babysitter for Neteyam and Kiri when Lo’ak is ready to be born. Mo’at can’t do it since she is of course assisting with the birth, and Jake’s next thought was OH! NORM AND MAX!

So now human!Norm and Max are stuck with a pair of comically oversized not-quite-toddlers for a few hours 

Norm quickly gives up and leaves for about 10 minutes to link up with his avatar. Max swears those were the most chaotic (non-war-related) 10 minutes of his life.

Neteyam is already walking at this point and he wants to be everywhere. Kiri isn’t yet (I headcanon that Neteyam started walking significantly earlier than Kiri did even though they are probably less than a month apart in age, partly because he is described as a natural athlete and “golden child” and partly because Kiri is just too easily distracted by her surroundings to think much about walking)—anyways, Kiri can’t walk just yet but boy howdy can she crawl and if you take your eyes off of her too long she will disappear, she practically needs a balloon tied around her waist so her caretakers can keep track of her

Spider, currently around 2 years old, also happens to be in the lab at the time and that kid can climb

so poor Max is now having to chase after Neteyam (who may only be year old but Na’vi as a species are big so he already comes up to Max’s torso), stop Spider from getting into all the equipment that should be way out of his reach but isn’t because he moves like a monkey, AND keep a constant eye on Kiri so she doesn’t wander off and vanish chasing some stray insect or something 

It gets a lot better when Norm returns in his avatar, but those 10 minutes were rough lol

[sineala]

What do you think was the better* “later addition to canon”?

Steve being frozen post WW2

Or

Tony being an alcoholic

Because those aspects weren’t part of the original sell of the character but it’s such a big part of each

Or a third option!

*better can be “I think this adds the most interesting things to the canon from a writer’s perspective” or even “I like this most 🙂”

Interesting question! Thank you for asking! Honestly, I feel like both of those things are very different from each other, in terms of narrative function, and if you're actually looking for moments in canon that added something new and major to Steve and Tony's characters that wasn't there before, I wouldn't pick either of those moments for either of them.

I have some thoughts about this!

Steve getting iced was basically just a retcon to put Steve in the comics at the age that they wanted and not having to deal with him having reached the ancient and decrepit age of 40, an age that is clearly forbidden for superheroes. It's not really much different from how they keep adjusting things as the timescale keeps sliding -- Sharon is Peggy's niece and not her sister, Tony's origin story moves to wars that are later than Vietnam. It's just one of a number of changes Marvel makes regularly to keep character ages consistent; sure, it might even be the first of them. But I don't think the icing itself is a fundamental change in who Steve is as a character.

Now, you could argue that the Man Out of Time aspect -- which came in as a direct result of the icing -- is a fundamentally different part of Steve's character that wasn't present in earlier comics and changed who he was. But in response to that, I would argue that, in a lot of ways, Golden Age Captain America isn't really the same character at all as later Steve Rogers. I would say that the Steve we know and love is one who has pretty much only existed since Avengers #4 and in a sense has always had the ice in his backstory. Sure, a character with the same name, powers, and origin as Captain America existed in the Golden Age -- but that guy, he doesn't really seem like Steve, and modern canon sure doesn't treat him like Steve. The fact that there was also a discontinuity in publishing -- unlike how DC, IIRC, never really stopped, Timely kind of isn't actually Marvel, and everything from before Fantastic Four #1 kind of doesn't count. I think.

I don't know how much Golden Age Captain America you've read. I haven't read all of it. I've only read about a dozen issues, but I feel like that's enough for me to get a sense of the character. So the thing about Golden Age comics is that they all just feel… really weird, compared to anything from the 60s and later. You get a sense that everyone at the time was still working out what a superhero comic, and maybe just a comic at all, was going to be like. The plots are weird, the villains are… okay, the villains being usually Super Racist is sadly not unique to the Golden Age, but it's really prominent. The characters don't really behave in ways you would expect. Bucky is treated as an actual child would have been in the forties -- like, there are panels of Steve threatening to spank him as discipline -- and the characters just don't feel the same.

Other than the fact that the super-soldier serum turned Steve Rogers into Captain America, and the fact that Bucky is his sidekick, and what Steve's powers basically are, nothing in these comics really feels a lot like the same character. Canonically, most of it isn't the same character! Everything after Captain America Comics #48 has been retconned to be people who aren't Steve, which shows you how much he isn't like Steve. Even the stuff that supposedly happened to Steve and Bucky doesn't really get referred to all that much. When later comics talk about Steve's time in the war, it's almost never the events of the Golden Age comics themselves -- instead, Marvel created a whole lot of stuff via flashbacks and then they refer to that. You never see Steve and Bucky talking about, say, the time they had to be in a drag show as punishment, although I swear this was a real comic. Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos? Not in the Golden Age. The Invaders? Not in the Golden Age as a team! The All-Winners Squad was, but again, that features Captains America who were later retconned as not Steve (William Nasland, Jeff Mace). Most of Steve's villains other than Red Skull are not really there. It's just… not really the same character and there's not much of a meaningful sense of continuity between any of the events in the Golden Age and later comics. Later comics are working mostly from their own retellings and flashbacks. So I feel like Steve basically starts anew in Avengers #4 and thus has always been a Man Out Of Time.

Okay, so what about Tony's alcoholism? Tony before and after Demon in a Bottle is still Tony Stark, but the thing is, I feel like Tony's alcoholism isn't a drastic alteration to the character, and it fits very well with established canon, and it has been easily accepted as part of Tony's character, unlike something that just comes out of nowhere and is true now and everyone is all WTF at it (looking at you, adoption arc).

Tony's worst villain has always been himself. Specifically, it's been his own body. At the beginning, it was his heart damage and the chestplate, and the terrible curse inherent in Being Tony Stark was that someday soon his heart was going to give out. There are so many panels of him dramatically plugging himself into the wall and thinking about how close he is to death. Tony's origin story was essentially Here, Have A Disability. His body betrays him. His body doesn't do what he wants. He can't control it. There's something wrong with him and it's hurting him. Every so often they take away whatever's wrong with him, but they always revert to it -- his heart's been bad, and then fine, and then bad, and then fine, and here's the alcoholism, and oh no now he's paralyzed, and now it's his brain and he has amnesia, and so on.

In that sense, the alcoholism really feels like a natural escalation from the heart problems and that it fits well with all of this all of this. Here's something else about his body/mind that isn't right, that's causing him harm, that he initially tries to hide from almost everyone, and that he often has difficulty controlling. It's just that it's not his heart anymore.

So what would I pick for canonical moments in comics history that weren't part of Steve and Tony's original character conceptions and that really represented a new addition to his character?

For Steve I'd pick either the original Secret Empire arc (Nomad) or The Captain, because those basically both show the same thing. Sure, Captain America has always been a symbol of all the ideals of America as a country, and sometimes America lets him down, and sometimes he has to lecture people about how they should be better people -- but, as far as I know, Secret Empire was the first time Steve basically said, "Yeah, no, fuck the government." He loves his country. He doesn't always love his government. He doesn't think what happened in Secret Empire (which, yes, we all know, is secretly Watergate) is right, so he's going to… simply stop being Captain America. He's going to be Nomad. The government itself has now massively let him down, and they don't get to tell him what to do anymore. And now we're all like, "Oh, yeah, of course Steve is mad at the government and has decided to stop being Captain America right now! He's gonna go on a road trip to find himself! Here he is in Civil War telling the pro-Registration side they're wrong and becoming a fugitive from justice." But… he didn't start out like that.

This is a character who was created to be a soldier and to do what his country asked of him. Sure, there are early arcs where he gives up the shield for a little bit, but they're because he's going through one of his usual "who am I when I'm not Captain America?" crises and then he comes back pretty quick. It wasn't that he didn't believe in his government; it wasn't that kind of crisis of faith. But then Secret Empire happens and he's like, "yeah, no, I can't represent a country when the president was conspiring with aliens to take over the world" and he's just out of there. Same deal for The Captain. The government wants to tell him what to do because he's Captain America? Nope! Someone else can be Captain America now. Of course, then John Walker does a terrible job and Steve has to come back anyway. John Walker is like your awful roommate who half-asses the dishes so no one will ask him to do the dishes again even though he clearly knows how to wash dishes and chooses not to, except with murder instead.

But, anyway, the moral stance depicted in Secret Empire and The Captain is pretty much the same -- when the government does something he thinks is wrong, he just simply stops being Captain America. He's not afraid to go against the government in Civil War or (for a more modern example) Devil's Reign. And it's not really a stance he had before Secret Empire, as far as I know. If you told comics readers in, say, 1970, that you really liked the fact that Steve wasn't afraid to quit being Captain America to protest unjust laws, they would probably be very confused. Steve is Captain America! He works for SHIELD! He does what the government tells him! Why wouldn't he? Except, well… these days, he doesn't.

And I think you can tell that this is important to the modern conception of Steve's character because it made it into the MCU. Okay, true, any adaptation of Civil War was probably going to have to involve Steve going against some kind of law about superheroes because he thinks it's the right thing to do -- that personality trait is basically baked into the plot. But they put it in the MCU way before Civil War, presumably because they thought this was important enough to Steve's character that it needed to be included. CATWS is an adaptation of Brubaker's Winter Soldier arc that I would say is a lot more faithful to the comics than many of the MCU entries that share names with the comics. But you know what the 616 Winter Soldier arc doesn't have? A plot where Steve decides that he's unable to trust anyone at SHIELD because they're secretly Hydra and therefore we are right to be suspicious of the US government which may not be acting in our best interests anyway because apparently even the good guys in SHIELD were still interested in building helicarriers to shoot people down -- they just had a different target list than Hydra did. The 616 Winter Soldier arc does, in fact, have the Red Skull infiltrating SHIELD. He then proceeds to successfully murder Steve. There's not really a Trust No One plot going on because Steve doesn't get that far, and he dies before any of this is discovered and also misses out on Secret Invasion. Plus, hey, the scene that introduces us to Steve way back in CATFA shows him sitting there staring at a sign saying it's illegal to lie on his enlistment papers and then we find out he's been lying a lot. Because he thinks doing the right thing is more important than obeying the law. Yeah, they went there pretty early.

For Tony, my pick for a similarly significant character development that absolutely wasn't part of his original character is his decision to stop making weapons in Iron Man #78. He was created to be a defense contractor. He spent about ten RL years making weapons and, as far as we can tell from canon, not really experiencing any kind of crisis of conscience about, say, being a superhero and also making weapons at the same time. And then (because readers complained) he meets a pacifist, changes his mind about everything, stops taking SHIELD weapons contracts, and then stops making weapons entirely. This is a pretty significant career change for a character who started out happily making weapons. He just stopped. He doesn't do it anymore. He hasn't in years. And now it's absolutely part of who he is as a character, such that it ends up being a defining trait of his in multiple universes -- even in 1872, Tony stops making weapons. In Superior Iron Man, one of the first things he did when he went evil was make weapons again. If he is making weapons, we know that something has gone very wrong with him.

This also made it to the MCU -- "Tony becomes Iron Man and stops making weapons" is basically the plot of the first Iron Man movie, right? They decided that "Tony stops making weapons" was important enough that it is absolutely had to be right there in the first movie. Sure, alcoholism is one of Tony's defining traits in modern 616 comics and I'm not saying it's not, though I am saying it's not coming out of nowhere -- but that didn't even make it to the MCU. (I'm sure a lot of that was Disney's fault, yes.)

You also might not know this from looking at modern comics, but The Government Wants Tony To Keep Making Weapons is actually a pretty salient arc after Tony stops making them. Half of the reason Demon in a Bottle happens is because Tony is forced to kill the Carnelian ambassador because Justin Hammer sabotages his suit, but the other half is because Tony is incredibly stressed because Nick Fury keeps trying to find a way to make him make weapons for the government and Tony doesn't want to. (Maybe Tony would have fewer control issues if people stopped trying to control him.)

If I had to pick a second new character trait for Tony, it would also be his willingness to defy the government (and, really, anybody else) and do what he thinks is right. (He and Steve are more similar than I think a lot of fandom gives them credit for. But that would be a different meta post.) I mean, they do what they do with opposite reasoning but they both kind of have the same problems to solve a lot, because comics plots are very often Here's The Trolley Problem. Utlilitarianism versus… what's the other one? Deontology.

Anyway, yeah, I'm talking about Armor Wars. The arc when Tony decided that the ends justified the means and he was simply going to steal his technology back from everyone who had it, including the government, and that he was willing to hurt anyone who got in his way (hi, Steve) and alienate both Avengers teams in the process, because he decided that he knew what he had to do, what he had to do was right, and nothing was more important, no matter what the consequences were to himself. This is the thought process that gets you Armor Wars, Operation Galactic Storm, and eventually Civil War. And before Armor Wars, Tony just… didn't do things like this. After Armor Wars, he does, and everyone expects him to, and none of that was there before as part of his character. So I'd say that's a pretty big change.

Interestingly, of the four things I've named, two of them each basically happen at the same time -- Tony stops making weapons in the early 70s, around the time the Secret Empire and Nomad thing is happening for Steve, and of course in the mid-80s Steve is The Captain when he confronts Tony during Armor Wars. I guess those were two very transformative time periods for Steve and Tony.

But yeah, those are my picks for the biggest changes to Steve and Tony that weren't part of their original conceptions -- Steve's willingness to say Fuck the Government and go do what he thinks is right even if it means not being Captain America; and Tony's decision to stop making weapons, as well as Tony's willingness to say Fuck the Government (And/Or Possibly Also All His Friends) in order to do with he thinks is right. There's a sense in which they're really not all that different.

[adachimoe]

Adachi's un-involvement in Rise's abduction

I feel like the story events on June 22-23 get commonly misremembered or misconstrued into "Adachi was facilitating Rise's kidnapping" lol.

June 22nd is the day that the protag, Yosuke and Kanji go into Marukyu Tofu and talk to Rise and warn her that she might get abducted. After they leave, Dojima and Adachi also show up. Rise reveals that someone has already warned her about what's been going on in Inaba, and Dojima manages to guess that it was the protag and his buddies.

At night on the 22nd, Dojima tries to talk to the protagonist about what's been going on and why he was at Marukyu earlier. Dojima drops it, and then Nanako gets in the middle of it and assumes you're fighting. The player sees that Dojima is concerned about the protag getting involved with all of this. He can't talk to the protag, the protag won't talk to him (can't anyway, he's silent), and Nanako is also butting in.

Enter Adachi on June 23rd. He walks into Shiroku and sees everyone hanging out, then complains about having to play babysitter. When the Investigation Team says they're going to Marukyu, Adachi claims he's on his way there too.

Based on the events of the 22nd, especially the dinner scene with Dojima, I really don't buy the idea that Adachi was lying about being ordered by Dojima to come babysit you all. And when the kids say they're going to Marukyu, he says he just-so-happens to be going there too as an excuse to keep following them around. But to his surprise, Chie invites him to go with them.

People even say that Adachi is the one who points out the photographer to distract the kids so that Namatame can kidnap Rise and that this is all part of some Master Plan, Adachi's Game, yada yada. But just rewatching the cutscene shows this is false - Yukiko is the one who points out the photographer, and she does so completely unprompted without any nudge from Adachi. It's like after you know, "hey, he's the guy", your brain just goes back and slots him into saying and doing shit he didn't even do lmao.

Some think that everything he says during this was all bullshit. They think that Adachi saying he's on babysitting duty was a lie, and that he was really there to help facilitate Rise's kidnapping. Per my very long wall of text, I have many issues with that reading of the plot lol.

Putting aside any walls of text though, I think it's the other way around - Adachi does jackshit in this sequence and you could remove him from this scene and it would play out the same. The kids would still go to Marukyu, the photographer would still show up, Yukiko would still point out the photographer, the group would still chase him, and Namatame would still drive by before kidnapping Rise.

As for why Dojima would send Adachi... Aside from the very obvious "Adachi is Dojima's slave", Adachi happens to be much closer to you in age than Dojima, and like you, he's also a city transplant.

Tbh, I think the new stuff added to Golden reinforces why Dojima would think you might talk to Adachi but not him. There's new scenes that setup the scooters and the Rise fanboy photographer. After you bring up the scooter license, Adachi sides with you. He thinks you should get one and talks about how it's super inconvenient to get around in Inaba. He even tries to tell you about Dojima's biker days. Plus, by this point in the game, you could have started Adachi's social link and even had him over to the house when Dojima wasn't there.

The idea that Adachi was not lying is based on Dojima being some mixture of anxious, concerned, and suspicious about you and your buds. As the later scenes in the game show, he absolutely was:

When you come home after Naoto is out of the TV, Dojima is clearly suspicious of you.

And when Dojima sees the 2nd letter, he finally verbalizes his suspicions.

[gothicwidowsworld]

Freezing R.S

Requested

The snow was no longer falling, but the early morning air still contained Goosebumps inducing crispness. The slopes were still quiet, only the true brave skiers & snowboarders making the trek to set the first tracks of the day in the fresh white snow before first light. Golden hour seemed to embrace the wintery ethereal landscape, Y/N always thought golden hour was magical. The way the first or last rays of warm sunlight bled across the sky following a billion years old dance across the land. Perhaps that’s why she convinced her boyfriend of two years to leave the comfort of their hotel room to take advantage of the world that remained sleeping around them.

Robert was used to early mornings, but he’d convinced himself that during his time off he’d be able to rejoice in late mornings, perhaps a cup of coffee on the balcony before finally deciding what to do with their day knowing that no matter how much the temperature dropped they had each other. However Y/N’s childlike excitement woke him up earlier than he’d planned, it was nice seeing the y/h/c girl happy and care-free. Despite no longer racing in Formula Two, Robert still had to travel for work as Ferrari’s reserve Driver. The start of the young couple's relationship had been a series of stolen moments between race weekends. With the y/h/c having to share her time between her brother’s own race categories, Robert & her other responsibilities, their time together was few and far between and really impacted their relationship.  

And even now with his 2022 role of test driver & new role as reserve driver the couple were playing catch up. Between his usual fitness program & Ferrari responsibilities the blond was glad he was finally able to spend some time alone with his Girlfriend Y/N.

Charles had recommended the getaway, seemingly the only Leclerc brother to notice just how much the couple needed some time to themselves. The Winter break was always busy, despite being a time for drivers to try and refresh before the next season it always felt like they were playing catchup with all the stuff they’d missed out on during the racing season. The Christmas Leclerc family trip was something they all looked forward to, but January was just for Robert & Y/N. 

“You’re freezing ” the Russian exclaimed in genuine concern, softly picking up Y/N’s cold hands and bringing them to his lips. Robert paused for a second before gently breathing warm air onto the girl's hands. “You’re so dramatic Rob!” the y/h/c young woman teased aching to pull her y/s/c hand’s away from the Drivers tender grip. Y/N had lost true feeling in her fingers ages ago, but from the blond’s furrowed eyebrows it was clear the numbness was hiding just how cold her hands were. 

“Rob I’m fine honestly.” the y/h/c young woman insisted affectionately, but still the look of worry stayed on the Russians face. “You worry about me too much.” Y/N added quietly, she tried to sound serious, almost like a strict parent telling their child off but Y/N’s couldn't help but revel in her boyfriend's concern. There was something about the Ferrari reserve drivers' caring nature that made it almost impossible to be mad at him. “I can’t help it.” Robert replied with a bashful smile finding its way onto his pale face. “So hot chocolate time?” Y/N quizzed the former Prema Driver hopefully, her nose crinkling a little. Capturing the girl’s y/e/c orbs the man narrowed his eyes suspiciously, he was sure Y/N would quite happily remain outside until the sun dipped and the snowy ground was bathed in moonlight. Robert was used to snow, hell he thrived in the snow, especially with cars drifting. He’d gotten some incredible tiktok and instagram footage showing off his skillful control in the innocently white element. But the cold was beginning to eat away at him, something he suspected was obvious by how insistent the y/h/c girl seemed to be in regards to going back inside. “Do you really want to go inside?” Robert asked. 

Shrugging for a second  Y/N nodded, “I’m starting to get a little cold.” Y/N admitted. The snow would still be there later, there was no rush. “Plus I have an idea of how to warm you up.” the y/h/c young woman teased, sneaking forward to place a chaste kiss on the corner of the surprised man's lips before walking away. 

Liked by robertshwartzman, charles_leclerc and 286,715 others

y/nleclerc love spending time with you away from the rush of life (I remembered my gloves this time) ❤️

Tagged: robertshwartzman

arthur_leclerc C'est dégoûtant 🤢

| y/n_leclerc Arthur s'en va ou je le dirai à maman

F2artieleclerc aw sibling love

robertshwartzman I think you mean I remembered your gloves….

| y/n_leclerc no comment

leclercfan4321 they are just the cutest things ever

charles_leclerc enjoy yourselves but come home soon

y/n4ever when is it my turn to be a leclerc… can Pascal adopt me plz

[justalowlyservant]

My Thoughts On: Genesis and Exodus

Okay, I'm coming into this partway through my reading of the Bible, so forgive me if my thoughts on Genesis and the earlier parts of Exodus are a little bit undetailed or fuzzy.

Genesis is absolutely INSANE. I fully understand now why God felt the need to create so many rules for His people. I know some people say that parts of the Mosaic Law are archaic in this day and age, but looking at what people were getting up to in the time of Abraham and his immediate descendants, you can still see how it was a major improvement at the time. I won't get into details on what kind of things went down in Genesis just due to lack of time right now, but I very much recommend you read it for yourself. If these people existed today, they'd be starring in the trashiest reality tv shows imaginable.

Well, I guess I can give ONE specific line. It's not one of the trashier ones, but I still think it might me one of my favorite quotes in the entire Bible.

Genesis 27:11 - 'But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man."

Yes you are, Jacob. Smooth little baby man.

Also, to clear things up, I'm using an English Standard Version Study Bible for this read-through, if my avatar didn't make that obvious.

Exodus below!

Moving on to Exodus, I won't really talk about the plagues themselves, since pretty much everyone knows about those at least. What I will say is that Exodus helped me to solidify my position on the whole matter of Free Will vs God's Sovereignty. Basically, how I see it now is that we still bear responsibility for our own choices, and we make our own choices within the confines of the universe God created, but every choice that we make conforms to God's will. He exists outside of time, and even if we make our own choices, God has ALWAYS known what choices we would make, from the beginning of creation. Thus, nothing happens outside of God's will. Pharaoh was responsible for his own choice not to free the Hebrews, but from the beginning of everything God planned for that to happen. If a person accepts God, it's because He allowed it. If a person denies God, it's because He allowed it. Again, we still have responsibility for our own choices, but every choice we make is a part of God's plan. That's how I see it at least, I'm no Theologian or expert on stuff like this.

Moving on from Egypt (literally), we get to another one of my favorite parts of the Bible, and reading it, I realized there was even more to laugh about than I initially thought.

It's the whole situation with the golden calf. I already knew the part about Moses coming down the mountain, seeing the Hebrews worshipping the calf, and throwing down the tablets with the Ten Commandments in anger, breaking them. What I did NOT know what everything that happened immediately after.

So, Moses, angry with his people, smashes the golden calf. Understandable. Then he grinds the calf into dust. Again, I get it, he wants to get rid of every trace of it. Then he throws the dust into water. Uh... okay. And THEN, he forces the people who were worshipping the golden calf to DRINK THE DUST-WATER. Moses is a lunatic! I mean, I get that they were being stupid about worshipping a false idol after everything God had just done for them, but still. Moses really was not messing around.

Oh, and then Aaron, Moses' brother who fashioned the golden calf, gives perhaps the lamest excuse ever for how this happened: "uh, well, I just... threw some gold into a fire and out came a calf! Crazy, huh?"

Yes, that's what he said. It's not a direct quote, but still. What makes it even funnier is that an earlier verse explicitly said that Aaron fashioned calf with tools, like the Bible itself is calling him out.

Okay, I'm running out of time, so here's the last major thing I wanted to mention. I'll admit, reading through all the chapters about dictating the materials to be used for the Tabernacle, then gathering the materials for the Tabernacle, then building the Tabernacle was... a bit of a slog. But towards the end, I think I finally understood the importance of it all.

It was to show the loving care that went into building God's dwelling place among the Hebrews. How important it was to them, that they'd give up so many precious materials, gold and silver and fancy linens, to construct it.

I think there's this tension in Christianity between two view points. On the one hand, you have people who want to honor God by building big, elaborate churches. Beautiful, artistic buildings to show how much we love Him. Palaces for the Lord.

And on the other hand, there are those who believe we should keep church buildings simple, and use the extra money and resources in order to help the poor and underprivileged. After all, did Jesus not say that serving the poor was equivalent to serving HIM?

I can honestly understand both sides, and I think both view points have their time and place. On a personal level, I do think I agree more with the view point of saving the money for the poor over building elaborate churches; my church isn't exactly a work of art, but we don't have much money, and we do our best to help people in our community and beyond. At the same time, I won't begrudge those who want to honor God by building churches as beautiful works of art. I think it's a worthy pursuit in its own right.

Anyways, I'm rapidly running out of time. I have to leave for work in about half an hour. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoyed it, and that maybe you were able to learn something new in the process. May God bless you, and may you have a wonderful day!

[cantsayidont]

December 1990. As Tim Truman conceived it, the HAWKWORLD miniseries was not intended to obsolete previous Hawkman stories, but when DC decided to continue the story as an ongoing series, senior management insisted that it pick up in the present, effectively rebooting the modern Hawkman rather than just updating his origin. This Annual sought to paper over some of the resulting continuity problems while also addressing the similarities between the Golden Age and Silver Age Hawkman, something pre-Crisis stories had just shrugged off. Ostrander's solution was to establish that Katar Hol's father, Paran Katar, had been a Thanagarian scout on Earth decades earlier (under the name Perry Carter), had surreptitiously helped Carter Hall to develop his gravity-defying Nth Metal, and later took the concept of Hawkman and even Carter Hall's emblem back to Thanagar as inspiration for the Wingmen. Ostrander further explains that the Golden Age Hawkman had been a member of both the Justice Society and the Justice League:

(The "1953" reference in the second panel is an error; the events to which it refers (first recounted in "The Man Who Defeated the Justice Society!" in ADVENTURE COMICS #466) took place in 1951.)

In the text pages, editor Mike Gold explains candidly why all this was deemed necessary and the various options the creative team had for addressing it. This wasn't an ideal solution, and several points still remained unexplained (like the presence of Hawkman and Hawkwoman in JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL, which Ostrander tackled later). Beyond that, building a story around the need to rationalize a continuity issue is seldom very edifying, and the contrivances involved (including briefly sending Katar and Shayera back in time, where Katar meets his own father as a younger man) clash uneasily with the tone of the HAWKWORLD series. By far the best part of this Annual is the scene where Wally West meets Shayera Thal and so aggravates her that she immediately starts punching him in the face — not just once, but three times, until Katar reins her in — which has nothing to do with the continuity stuff.

From a story standpoint, I think retroactively removing Katar Hol from the original JLA is regrettable mainly insofar as his HAWKWORLD origin would have given new dimension to his clashes with Oliver Queen. Unlike the previous version of Katar, a knee-jerk reactionary who was ultimately fine with fascist dictatorship as long as it didn't personally inconvenience him, the Katar of HAWKWORLD is by Thanagarian standards a dangerous leftist, full of seditious ideas about social equity and civil rights. However, the most radical leftist on Thanagar is still somewhere to the right of Barry Goldwater, so Oliver would undoubtedly still be appalled by Katar's politics in ways Katar would find perplexing. That would have been a more fun dynamic than trying to shoehorn Carter Hall into the role of Oliver's neocon antagonist.

However, none of that was really on the table in 1989–1990. DC's later obsession with maintaining the sanctity of the pre-Crisis JLA hadn't yet materialized; at this point, the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League books were riding high, DC regarded the old JLA as a relic that had outlived its commercial usefulness, and the JSA had been discarded (ostensibly permanently) after the Crisis. So, the only thing this Hawkman retcon really needed to achieve was to rationalize why flashback scenes might occasionally picture Hawkman with the original JLA, and this explanation did accomplish that much.

[pb-dot]

WIP Wednesday special: Olimar Trent

Since it came up in the last snippet I posted, I decided to have a look at the smallest, most insignificant part of the worldbuilding that still has some kind of a point behind it today. That's right, we're talking about the Olimar Trent series, the books that 13 likes to read and from which he finds inspiration for choosing his new name.

In short, the Olimar Trent books are a series of dimestore novels set in the pre-collapse Imelian empire following the eponymous private detective in his attempts at rooting out crime and corruption from the city, both as a detective and as his secret vigilante alter-ego The Pearlescent Mask. Along the way, Trent is hindered by many a foe and helped mostly by a rotating cast of supporting characters, among them Adrian Disimila, a filing clerk at city hall whose intensely cowardly predisposition doesn't stop him from doing all he can to aid the righteous detective.

These books are supposed to be a particularly pulpy blend of Sherlock Holmes-inspired detective fiction and early superhero stuff, think Golden Age, or even Pre-Action Comics #1. Another important piece of inspiration is the Dresden Files books that took me through some tough times in ways perhaps somewhat comparable to 13 and these books. I imagine that similarly to DF, the Olimar Trent books re-introduce important elements from earlier books when they come up in the story to be approachable for new readers. This is probably a blessing for 13, as the first book he read was the second one in the series, The Coal-Car Conspiracy.

These books are part of a wave of similarly pulpy stories set in a slightly mythologized version of imperial-era Imelia. As with any trend in literature, there are any number of variations on the themes and angles, but in general, they tend to portray life before the collapse of the empire as more exciting and vibrant, but also dangerous and made more so by corruption on multiple levels. The Trent books are notable mostly in featuring a gay protagonist, but also for being considerably less cynical than other entries, such as The Traitor Circle and In Sway of Blood-series.

I don't think it's possible to have books or similar entertainment in your writing without using it as a vehicle to talk about fiction in general and your writing in particular, so I have simply not tried to avoid it. The Trent series are disposable and at times somewhat silly stories, but that doesn't mean they don't have any merit. In fact, the books are, in their own small way, contributing to 13's development into a happier, more independent individual. Also, not to spoil the next book entirely, but let's just say the fact that he was recommended the books by his (maybe?) frenemy One may not be entirely irrelevant.

I could go on, but this covers the basics of this aspect of the world just fine. Tempted as I am to recount the entire narrative arc of the first seven or so of these books I have plotted out, that does sound a lot like consigning myself to sitting down and actually writing the damn thing, and I just plain don't have the time or energy for that even though it could, admittedly, be an interesting spinoff. Ah, the worries of a writer huh?

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