#call me a lib but i also fear that what people are taking away from this isnt that 'common people have more power than they think'

[mouseratz]

it's like the problem isn't that you're writing a story with sex including real people on it's own to me. it's more like .....seeing a real person you don't even know as your personal savior, rescuer, hero, even if I understand where it starts.....and we have all this very private information made very public, which shouldn't be the case, *especially* when the investigation has not ended and he is only a suspect.

even if the person did something important and impactful, it doesn't make them stop being a person, it doesn't make them larger than life. even if change is very necessary, even if violence might be needed to enact that change as the system has already enacted so much violence upon its citizens legally with no consequences...the guy is still just some guy.

(and, yes, by the trend of most of the trump would-be assassins, most of these men have appeared to be centrist conservatives. this doesn't change the action or the effects thereof, but your heroes will always let you down, I suppose. you don't know a stranger. the man is not the important part here, is it? does it matter who did it? does it even matter all that much why they did it? I don't know. I can't answer that for you, but I'd like people to at least ask themselves that much, if you find something like this very important to you.)

[aizenat]

Also queerios and libs need to have a real and honest talk about how trans ideology being attached to liberals and the Democratic Party was a huge reason for people to vote for Trump. No one wants to say it (I’m surprised the radfems haven’t made that point yet, but wait, they’re too busy trying to come up with excuses for why they—white women—voted for Trump in the majority), but exit polls had ppl saying they thought Kamala was “too leftist/progressive.” DESPITE her running a very conservative campaign that was just two talking points away from being a straight up republican campaign.

The trans ad (Kamala cares about they/them, not you) was running almost nonstop in PA—as someone who lives in south Jersey, meaning our local tv programming is based out of Philly, every time I turned my tv on this ad was running. And it’s a good and effective ad. SO MUCH SO THAT I HAD A COWORKER BRING IT UP AS A “MAJOR” THING SHE DISAGREED WITH KAMALA ON THE MORNING OF THE ELECTION.

Libs and tras can pretend the trans stuff wasn’t on ppls minds but it was. Literally up until they stepped into the voting booth. When ppl voted for trump saying he was better for the economy, that’s not based on actual policy. You can tell that because AFTER he was announced the winner, google searches for tarrifs went up. If ppl cared about the economy and how tarrifs would work (Kamala literally referred to them as essentially a tax on all goods to simplify them and yall just said herp durp this won’t hurt me financially at all), they would have been goggling that BEFORE the election.

So why did they think Trump was better for the economy? Because he doesn’t want to send aid to Ukraine, and he doesn’t want to use taxes to fund for trans inmates gender reassignment surgeries. That means fiscal responsibility to them.

When chappel roan got on an interview and said that the biggest “concern” she had was trans rights, people heard that and associated that with the party (democrats) who protect laws allowing for children to medically transition. In my state, hormones and gender reassignment surgeries are covered by most employers’ insurance, but cancer treatments and medically necessary surgeries are not (at least not automatically). THAT signals to the average person that politicians are not prioritizing the right things. Because trans ppl are (per their own words) less than 1% of the population, but they get so much more consideration than the average person. Companies care more about pronouns in their employees’ email signatures than they do about employees feeling like the work environment is racially insensitive or hostile towards women (etc).

And I’m sorry, but you can affirm a child’s gender reasonably without medically transitioning them. And most people, most PARENTS, are not going to be okay with the idea of fearing their child being taking away because they don’t want to pay for or facilitate medical transition until they’re at least 18 and had time to really reflect on if that’s what they want. And they don’t want to be labeled abusive for that.

THAT’S what a lot of people going into the booth were thinking about. That Kamala and democrats would prioritize THAT over raising wages and bringing down inflation and costs. Most working class ppl don’t care about gender identity and stuff: so anyone prioritizing that in a time of financial (and political) strife doesn’t look like someone who is going to prioritize what they need to survive and get by.

Tras need to really sit down and think about 1) how they go about lobbying for their rights (calling people genocidal for messing up a pronoun ain’t it cuz) and 2) what rights are worth lobbying for. For example, it’d be hard to argue against third spaces for gnc ppl in public spaces (bathrooms, changing rooms, etc). Same with third/coed sports leagues IN ADDITION TO mens and women’s leagues. Maybe lobby for your own safe spaces instead of demanding to be on spaces not in alignment with your born sex. Because that push back is only going to get worst and it’s not a battle even most liberals agree with. Especially when you also lobby for self identification over any proof of socially and medically transitions. What’s to stop a man who has no intentions of transitioning to go into a woman’s bathroom or changing room or enter a women’s sport league and claim he has a right to be there because he’s trans and we can’t question it?

And yall REFUSE to answer that honestly and then wonder why people don’t fuck with it. It’d be one thing if there was a barrier of entry, but y’all did away with that. So what are people going to do? At least when black ppl were lobbying for desegregation, it was in coed spaces. And if it was gendered, only the black ppl of said gender would participate (ie, only Black women would be on bathrooms with White women; not Black men as well). But you guys are trying to do away with that. And do away with any determinative way to know who the “real” trans people are vs someone just saying so to get access to a spot. And then if someone pushes back, you call THEM a bigot?

Like, women in Korea just about can’t piss in public because of how widespread hidden cameras are in bathrooms. And all I can think is what will stop an epidemic like that happening here if males can walk in easily and women aren’t even ALLOWED to question him because he MAY be trans?

If yall actually knew anything about Black literature (lol as if yall would read black authors and writers and poets lol), you’d see how all throughout our existence in our country, we have had to defend ourselves from the common perception of us. This is why Black people (well, the educated amongst us lol) are so GOOD at arguing against racist ideas. This is why every time I call a white radfem (or really any white feminist) out in their racism, they go for ad hominem attacks and straw men to try to discredit what I’m saying. And they fail because I straight know what I’m talking about lol.

Y’all’s language and concepts change each year. An argument or talking point is literally thrown away and seen as problematic within 5 years. We used to say that trans ppl are treated how they’re “read,” which helps to explain how their perception of how well or poorly they are able to conform to that read gender affects how others treat them, but now that’s transphobic to say. I literally have no idea what ppl mean when they say transmisogyny these days because it’s SO different from how it was used in 2010-2013. I have no idea what yall are talking about anymore!

Yall have to sit down, LISTEN TO PEOPLE’S CONCERNS instead of writing any pushback as transphobic, and really solidify what trans identity is, the actual signs and symptoms, how to treat it without medical intervention, and be honest on the lack of information and studies on medical intervention. Especially long term; a study following up with ppl who transitioned 50 years ago means nothing because the very concept of what a trans identity is has changed dramatically since then. Especially in the last decade alone!

Yall can’t be super counterculture and then expect the mainstream to rock with you. That’s not how that works. You need to pick a lane and at least come up with a better strategy on how to present the less counterculture aspects to the mainstream so they can understand what trans identities are outside of the radical. Outside of the clickbait titles. But honestly that means YALL coming to at least SOME consensus on what it even means to be trans because all the vague language around it isn’t helping. And when yall refuse to define yourselves, it means anyone else can go out there and define you for the world. This is why yall are losing the war on this. Yall have work to do to fix this shit.

[fatliberation]

I’m Abandoning Body Positivity and Here’s Why

In short: it’s fatphobic.

“A rallying cry for a shift in societal norms has now become the skinny girl’s reassurance that she isn’t really fat. Fatness, through this lens of ‘body positivity’, remains the worst thing a person can be.” (Kayleigh Donaldson)

•  •  •

I have always had a lot of conflicting opinions about the body positivity movement, but it’s much more widely known (and accepted, go figure) than the fat liberation movement, so I often used the two terms interchangeably in conversation about anti-fatness. But the longer I’ve been following the body positivity movement, the more I’ve realized how much it has strayed from its fat lib origins. It has been hijacked; deluded to center thin, able, white, socially acceptable bodies.

Bopo’s origins are undoubtedly grounded in fat liberation. The fat activists of the 1960s paved the way for the shred of size acceptance we see in media today, initially protesting the discrimination and lack of access to equal opportunities for fat people specifically. This early movement highlighted the abuse, mental health struggles, malpractice in the medical field, and called for equal pay, equal access, equal respect, an end to fatphobic structures and ideas. It saddens me that it hasn’t made much progress in those regards. 

Today, the #bopo movement encapsulates more the idea of loving your own body versus ensuring that individuals regardless of their weight and appearance are given equal opportunities in the workplace, schools, fashion and media. Somehow those demands never made it outside of the ‘taboo’ category, and privileged people would much more readily accept the warm and fuzzy, sugar-coated message of “love yourself!” But as @yrfatfriend once said, this idea reduces fat people’s struggles to a problem of mindset, rather than a product of external oppressors that need to be abolished in order for fat people to live freely.

That generalized statement, “love yourself,” is how a movement started by fat people for the rights of fat people was diluted so much, it now serves a thin model on Instagram posting about how she has a tummy roll and cellulite on her thighs - then getting praised for loving her body despite *gasp!* its minor resemblance to a fat body. 

Look. Pretty much everyone has insecurities about their bodies, especially those of us who belong to marginalized groups. If you don’t have body issues, you’re a privileged miracle, but our beauty-obsessed society has conditioned us to want to look a certain way, and if we have any features that the western beauty standard considers as “flaws,” yeah! We feel bad about it! So it’s not surprising that people who feel bad about themselves would want to hop on a movement that says ‘hey, you’re beautiful as you are!’ That’s a message everyone would like to hear. Any person who has once thought of themselves as less than beautiful now feels that this movement is theirs. And everyone has insecurities, so everyone feels entitled to the safe space. And when a space made for a minority includes the majority, the cycle happens again and the majority oppresses the minority. What I’m trying to explain here is that thin people now feel a sense of ownership over body positive spaces. 

Regardless of how badly thin people feel about their bodies, they still experience thin privilege. They can sit down in a theater or an airplane without even thinking about it, they can eat in front of others without judgement, they can go the doctor with a problem and actually have it fixed right away, they can find cute clothes in their size with ease, they do not suffer from assumptions of laziness/failure based on stereotype, they see their body type represented everywhere in media, the list goes on and on. They do not face discrimination based off of the size of their body. 

Yet diet culture and fatphobia affects everyone, and of course thin people do still feel bad about the little fat they have on their bodies. But the failure to examine WHY they feel bad about it, is what perpetuates fatphobia within the bopo movement. They’re labeled “brave” for showing a pinch of chub, yet fail to address what makes it so acceptably daring, and how damaging it is to people who are shamed for living in fat bodies. Much like the rest of society, thin body positivity is still driven by the fear of fat, and does nothing to dismantle fatphobia within structures or within themselves.

Evette Dionne sums it up perfectly in her article, “The Fragility of Body Positivity: How a Radical Movement Lost Its Way.”

“The body-positive media economy centers these affirming, empowering, let-me-pinch-a-fat-roll-to-show-how-much-I-love-myself stories while failing to actually challenge institutions to stop discriminating against fat people. More importantly, most of those stories center thin, white, cisgender, heterosexual women who have co-opted the movement to build their brands. Rutter has labeled this erasure ‘Socially Acceptable Body Positivity.’

“On social media, it actually gets worse for fat bodies: We’re not just being erased from body positivity, fat women are being actively vilified. Health has become the stick with which to beat fat people with [sic], and the benchmark for whether body positivity should include someone” (Dionne).

Ah, yes. The medicalization of fat bodies, and the moralization of health. I’ve ranted about this before. Countless comments on posts of big women that say stuff like “I’m all for body positivity, but this is just unhealthy and it shouldn’t be celebrated.” I’ve heard writer/activist Aubrey Gordon once say that body positivity has become something like a shield for anti-fatness. It’s anti-fatness that has been repackaged as empowerment. It’s a striking double-standard. Fat people are told to be comfortable in their bodies (as if that’s what’s going to fix things) but in turn are punished when they’re okay with being fat. Make it make sense.

Since thin people feel a sense of ownership over body positive spaces, and they get to hide behind “health” when they are picking and choosing who can and cannot be body positive, they base it off of who looks the most socially acceptable. And I’m sure they aren’t consciously picking and choosing, it comes from implicit bias. But the socially acceptable bodies they center are small to medium fat, with an hourglass shape. They have shaped a new beauty standard specifically FOR FAT PEOPLE. (Have you ever seen a plus sized model with neck fat?? I’m genuinely asking because I have yet to find one!) The bopo movement works to exclude and silence people who are on the largest end of the weight spectrum. 

Speaking of exclusion, let’s talk about fashion for a minute.

For some reason, (COUGH COUGH CAPITALISM) body positivity is largely centered around fashion. And surprise surprise, it’s still not inclusive to fat people. Fashion companies get a pat on the back for expanding their sizing two sizes up from what they previously offered, when they are still leaving out larger fat people completely. In general, clothing companies charge more for clothes with more fabric, so people who need the largest sizes are left high and dry. It’s next to impossible to find affordable clothes that also look nice. Fashion piggybacks on the bopo movement as a marketing tactic, and exploits the very bodies it claims to be serving. (Need I mention the time Urban Outfitters used a "curvy” model to sell a size it doesn’t even carry?)

The movement also works to exclude and silence fat Black activists.

In her article, “The Body Positivity Movement Both Takes From and Erases Fat Black Women” Donyae Coles explains how both white people and thin celebrities such as Jameela Jamil profit from the movement that Black women built.

“Since long before blogging was a thing, fat Black women have been vocal about body acceptance, with women like Sharon Quinn and Marie Denee, or the work of Sonya Renee Taylor with The Body Is Not An Apology. We’ve been out here, and we’re still here, but the overwhelming face of the movement is white and thin because the mainstream still craves it, and white and thin people have no problem with profiting off the work of fat, non-white bodies.”

“There is a persistent belief that when thin and/or white people enter the body positive realm and begin to repeat the messages that Black women have been saying for years in some cases, when they imitate the labor that Black women have already put in that we should be thankful that they are “boosting” our message. This completely ignores the fact that in doing so they are profiting off of that labor. They are gaining the notoriety, the mark of an expert in something they learned from an ignored Black woman” (Coles).

My next essay will go into detail about this and illuminate key figures who paved the way for body acceptance in communities of color. 

The true purpose of this movement has gotten completely lost. So where the fuck do we go from here? 

We break up with it, and run back to the faithful ex our parents disapproved of. We go back to the roots of the fat liberation movement, carved out for us by the fat feminists, the queer fat activists, the fat Black community, and the allies it began with. Everything they have preached since the 1960s and 70s is one hundred percent applicable today. We get educated. We examine diet culture through a capitalist lens. We tackle thin, white-supremacist systems and weight based discrimination, as well as internalized bias. We challenge our healthcare workers to unlearn their bias, treat, and support fat patients accordingly. We make our homes and spaces accessible and welcoming to people of any size, or any (dis)ability. “We must first protect and uplift people in marginalized bodies, only then can we mandate self-love” (Gordon).

Think about it. In the face of discrimination, mistreatment, and emotional abuse, we as a society are telling fat people to love their bodies, when we should be putting our energy toward removing those fatphobic ideas and structures so that fat people can live in a world that doesn’t require them to feel bad about their bodies. It’s like hitting someone with a rock and telling them not to bruise!

While learning to love and care for the body that you’re in is important, I think that body positivity also fails in teaching that because it puts even more emphasis on beauty. Instead of saying, “you don’t have to be ‘beautiful’ to be loved and appreciated,” its main lesson is that “all bodies are beautiful.” We live in a society obsessed with appearance, and it is irresponsible to ignore the hierarchy of beauty standards that exist in every space. Although it should be relative, “beautiful” has been given a meaning. And that meaning is thin, abled, symmetric, and eurocentric. 

Beauty and ugliness are irrelevant, made-up constructs. People will always be drawn to you no matter what, so you deserve to exist in your body without struggling to conform to an impossible and bigoted standard. Love and accept your body for YOURSELF AND NO ONE ELSE, because you do not exist to please the eyes of other people. That’s what I wish we were teaching instead. Radical self acceptance!

As of today, the ultimate message of the body positivity movement is: Love your body “despite its imperfections.” Or people with “perfect and imperfect bodies both deserve love.” As long as we are upholding the notion that there IS a perfect body that looks a certain way, and every body that falls outside of that category is imperfect, we are upholding white supremacy, eugenics, anti-fatness, and ableism.

[bluepecanpie]

You know what I find hilarious about this whole ‘Labour right working to change the leadership election process’ thing? The Labour right have pretty much consistently throughout the party’s history controlled its internal structures. The only time outside of the Corbyn era that there was an effort to make the party more democratic was under Michael Foot with Tony Benn insisting on a electoral college rather than the MP secret ballot ‘mandatory selection’ (basically  allowing challenges by prospective candidates to incumbent MPs for local party selection in an election without allowing the weight of the party machinery, unions, local socialist societies for support - essentially encouraging direct accountability to membership, and incentivising the incumbent MP to work harder for support) which was one of the reasons why the SDP split from Labour to begin with. John Smith returned it to ‘one man, one vote” (OMOV) to put a stop to that and to break the influence of the unions - and was further pushed by Ed Miliband to allow in disgruntled Lib Dem types disillusioned with the Conservative-Liberal coalition between 2010-2015.

Corbyn was a (un)happy accident - he wasn’t supposed to become party leader but frustration with austerity and the lack of a clear alternative presented by labour propelled him in - the very machinery that was used to rejuvenate the decaying membership (it had around 200,000 members - about half what it was when Blair came in) with middle class sorts and put in some bland dry technocratic centrist, instead propelled its most left-wing leader since George Lansbury (and maybe more than even him in some respects - either way, he was definitely more left wing than Foot, who was more of a ‘uniter’ type) and it only took 3 quid to get a membership and vote in.

But the machinery was still broadly controlled by pupils of the Blairite style of management, and they raised the membership price to 25 quid (pretty anti-poor of them, tbh), then expelled members for not being members for long enough, or voting Green in the last general election (hilarious when you consider how much Greens are also defined by middle-class types, and Labour’s irritating tendency to chase after Lib Dem and Tory votes) - all of which I remember quite well. And as you might already know, party resources were diverted from left-wing candidates (or people perceived as left-wing) to those MPs in their little cliques.

What the machinery gives, it takes away. What opportunities that the Labour left took to make the party more democratic during Corbyn’s time was squandered thanks admittedly understandable anxieties of a press already grotesquely hostile to Corbynism, and their own myopic electioneering tendencies about getting Corbyn through number 10. Now that we know that commanding the ship, doesn’t mean running it - those who’ve been running the show are now mobilising to push the electoral process back to how it was before Miliband. I think that their long-term goal is to put it back to “MP secret ballot” which would be turning the clock back to 1981 - literally forty years ago. The guy who’s now pushing for a return to the electoral college I suspect only sees it as a first step to this given this gross, tactless article he wrote on the other guy who originally pushed it in to open the party up after his death.  If they win, the only time you’ll see them open it up again is probably was they prioritise killing the union influence than the possibility that anyone like Corbyn could ever happen again (hell, the man is still suspended from their party and they’re figuring if they parachute a candidate during a by-election, they’ll have forced him out)

It’s hilarious that the Labour Party has the nerve to call itself ‘democratic socialist’. This is a party so defined by elitist impulses, and bureaucratic tendencies, that their natural inclination to the wider membership is one of contempt. They fear them, so they wall off any say in their structures - and certainly don’t bother to politicise them. The membership are people to be managed and directed to leaflet and knock on doors, not peers. Some are even to be bought off by patronage with promises to councillor positions where they walk around as community ‘big men’. This is probably the logical conclusion of a reformist party that put having a place in ‘representative democracy’ over socialist politics, and to see this nonsense play out in the face of zombie neoliberalism, and the risk of of irreversible climate change is well and truly pathetic. A part of me thinks that allowing this organisation to be the representative of the British labour movement was a serious mistake, and the only way it would be rectified is if they do the honest thing and join the Lib Dems, so that an actual socialist organisation can emerge - since the LP nothing but liberals posturing as socialists.

The Labour Party does not represent the interests of the working class, but petite-bourgeois wankers who are quite satisfied with anything that goes on so long as their property doesn’t get taken from them at the very least, and business elites at the most. It will continue in its attempts to phase out the unions, now that their attempt at getting a pliable lackey in Unite the Union has failed, and in the event GMB and Unison turn on this strategy. It is aggravating that I spent nearly a decade on this pink pseudo-left organisation without pay to better my situation to see this play out, but here we are. Any serious person who calls themselves a leftist shouldn’t fuck with it, and it is enraging that it takes so much political space that no-one on the British left can’t help even talk about due to its hegemonic influence.

[ashintheairlikesnow]

BTHB: Traumatic Touch Aversion

@comfy-whumpee​ requested “Traumatic Touch Aversion” for Antoni and here it is! Antoni’s first meeting with Nat when he came to stay at her safehouse. Also listing @wildfaewhump​ who loves all things Antoni.

CW: Referenced burns/scarring, touch aversion, conditioning, pet whump reference, box boy, self-injury (reopening wound at the end)

They meet in what was supposed to be a brand new subdivision, back before the recession scattered the developers and contractors to the wind and left this grassy cleared patch of ground just outside the city, complete with poured paved little road and a few poured concrete slab foundations, like grave markers for the homes that were never built here, the people who never had the chance to move in.

A reminder of the world where you can do everything right and the whim of a few individuals, who live so far away from you, can create an avalanche that buries your plans. Nat is old hat at that, of course - she’s buried her plans twice now, and built new ones right on top of the old. She was going to work in journalism, and then she was going to be the best marketing director WRU ever had, and then…

And then she walked away.

Bought a house with some of her inheritance from her dad, fixed it up for a few months, and... started over.

She likes this life just fine, because it leads her here, to places like this, to clandestine meetings after dark.

Nat’s truck is parked in a cul-de-sac that loops around empty grass, where they might have built a playground, if the neighborhood had gone up. Or put in a pool. Ahead of her is the SUV of the man she’s meeting, so far out in the sticks that she doesn’t worry about being seen, not here. Not in the evening light, with the sky burning down to night. 

She hops down from the truck, short and strong, her long brown braid smacking in the middle of her back as she goes, in her signature flannel over a t-shirt and jeans. You look like Kurt Cobain’s mom, Jake had told her once, and she’d pointed out that she’d be Kurt Cobain’s little sister, thank you very much, she was in Driver’s Ed when all that happened, and hadn’t that blown his mind for a while. 

She’s smiling, a little, as the breeze picks up. It’s the time of year when the hottest winds blow, licking through her hair and over her skin. Like living in a kiln. Nat feels like she cracks a little more each year in the heat.

Still can’t give up her flannels, though. She’ll be cold in the ground before she wears anything else, ever again. Flannels and sensible sneakers or work boots, and that’s the farmer in her that just refuses to fade away.

Those years wearing suits and heels, she felt like she was playacting, wearing a costume picked out by someone else that didn’t fit. This is who she is, and she can’t be anything else. She wouldn’t be, not ever again, anyway.

“Evening, Nat,” One of the two men she is here to meet calls out, and she raises a hand in greeting. Paul is in his fifties, ten years or so older than Nat herself. He’s been living the lib life for decades, was the one she used to call fifteen times a week with a thousand crises she didn’t know how to solve. 

Now she’s the one the younger safehouse owners call, and it’s kind of funny… in a lot of ways, 42 still feels like 24 felt, only she’s less confused and gives a lot less of a fuck about fitting in or following the expectations set out for what makes a good life.

The other man standing next to him is younger, and doesn’t look up. That’s the one that Nat is really here to see. That’s the rescued runaway pet she’s here, in the end, to try and save.

Nat moves to the older man without hesitation and crushes him tightly to her in a hug, listening to his deep, rumbling laugh. “Paul! How was the drive? Was it good weather all the way?”

“Long,” Paul answers, sardonic as always, patting her back. “Started out rainy, as Washington likes to be up by the coast, and I don’t think I’ve seen an ounce of precipitation since we stayed overnight at the hotel. You’re starting to sound Californian, you know. That Midwestern accent’s slipping away.”

“After twenty years, you’d think it’d be gone.” She laughs, unbothered. “You’re grayer than last time, too.”

“Look, at my age, you’re just happy the hair is there at all, Nat. Where’s Jake? He didn’t want to ride along this time?”

“Hm? Home with the others. He’s talking about going back to college, and so he needs to study, and then we’ve got this new rescue who’s still healing up from some serious injuries he underwent, so Jake doesn’t want to leave... and I don’t blame him. Our newest rescue’s a flight risk in a big way. He wanted to send his greetings, though.”

“Well, tell him I said hi in return.”

“Will do. I was surprised to hear from you, I didn’t think you did out of state drives anymore.” 

Paul clears his throat. “I don’t. But we’ve got a situation, and we had a donor step in and pay for the gas and hotel money.”

Nat nods, her smile fading and moving back to seriousness, as she looks around Paul at the second man, just younger, standing hunched against the side of the SUV, clutching a single small backpack that hangs off one shoulder. “This is the situation?”

“Yeah.” Paul sighs, rubbing at his face with one hand. “This boy popped up at my door a couple of weeks ago, half-starved and pretty clearly abused, and he’s being strenuously hunted. We’ve had three close calls in a week. I had to make a choice, and… you know, I trust you to keep him safe, and I had to get him out of state, as far as I could go. I hate to uproot him when he hadn’t even settled yet, but…”

“Yeah, no, yeah, I get it. I just had a bed open up, Trevor moved in with some roommates in Nevada, did I tell you? All of them former rescues, too, so he’s got good support right there. There’s a coffeeshop owned by someone whose daughter is in the movement who agreed to train him as a barista.”

“Good, good. Trevor’s a good kid, I liked him. This one…” Paul takes a deep breath. “He’s sweet, Nat. But... he’s scared.”

“They all come to us scared,” Nat says, unbothered, giving a shrug and putting her hands in her pockets. “Any memories?”

“Nope. He’s blank, still. I haven’t… he hasn’t even been with us long enough for therapy. But, here, let me introduce you.” Paul steps back, and the young man with the backpack steps forward. He’s wearing the rescue uniform, more or less - sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt, nearly every ounce of skin covered, only his neck and face visible, the backs of his hands. “He named himself a couple of days ago. This is Antoni.”

He’s like them all, in his way - nervous and wide-eyed, young and beautiful, afraid of her and drawn to her. She can see the signs without even having to consciously notice them - the mop of dark hair in bad need of a good cut, the fear in his eyes, the way he’s skin and bones even underneath the baggy clothes designed to hide a body that didn’t belong to him for too long. 

“Hello, m-ma’am,” The boy says, quietly, his dark, slightly feline eyes flickering from her to Paul, seeking reassurance or praise for making the right choice. 

Nat’s head cocks to the side, and she notes the way the boy flinches a little at the quick movement. He’s a skittish one - that usually means violence was a part of his daily life, and he’ll need to learn how to live without fearing it. “Does he have…”

“An accent? Yeah. Eastern European or Russian or something. Says he only speaks English, but... sometimes he speaks something else. He doesn’t seem to notice when he does it.” Paul turns, and holds out his hand, gesturing the young man forwards. 

Nat watches the boy give a wide berth to Paul’s hand, the way his long fingers clutch more tightly at the backpack strap on one side and the hem of his shirt. He turns to look towards the entrance of the subdivision that never was, watching for cars who might have tracked them, and Nat’s eyes widen - and then she forces her expression back to neutral before the boy can notice - as she sees the bright red, still-healing circular burn on the side of the boy’s neck. “Paul, are we dealing with-”

“Don’t know.” Paul sighs. “Hasn’t even been safe long enough to get a doctor out to give him a checkup. We’ve kept him moving from house to house to house without even taking a deep breath, so… he could use a rest.”

There are deep, deep shadows under the young man’s eyes, settling above his starkly carved cheekbones, and she… she can’t argue with Paul’s assessment. This is a boy who needs a week of sleep, a month of safety, to even begin rebuilding. “Fair enough. You go on ahead, we’ll give it ten or fifteen and then head out.”

“Perfect. I’ll give you a call in a couple days, see how he’s settling in. That sound all right?”

“Works for me.” Natalie watches the new rescue - Antoni - as Paul climbs back into his SUV, turns the key in the ignition, the engine rumbling to nearly-silent life. Antoni doesn’t look back at him like some rescues do, desperate for a final glance. He only steps away, to give the vehicle more space, as Paul gives them one last wave and drives away.

The boy’s expression is unreadable, as Paul’s SUV turns left out of the subdivision, and he disappears into the growing night. She can’t tell if he cares, and she can’t tell if he doesn’t care. There’s nothing in his eyes at all but that same darkness.

Nat sighs. Well, they’ll figure it out as they go, or they won’t. “Okay, Antoni, my name is Natalie Yoder. I’m house mom for a safehouse you’ll be staying in from here on out.”

The boy looks back at her, and his dark eyes are fathomless and deep. “Okay, Natalie Yoder,” He says, and yes, that’s definitely an accent that softens his vowels, changes the consonants a little. She can’t quite name the accent, but… he definitely has one. 

“Call me Nat. I live down in the city-” She gestures behind her, vaguely. “And I’ve got a house there with some others like you, all right? We can keep you safe here. You did the first big thing, you walked away. Now it’s up to us to help you with the rest.” She holds out her hand, and - just as she thought - the young man jerks violently backwards, nearly tripping on himself, his shoulders hunched defensively nearly up to his chin.

Nat lets her hand drop.

“I, I do not… touch,” The young man says, clinging to his backpack strap. Nat lets her hand drop, watching the fear tightening his features, setting his jaw to trembling, flashing a hint of his teeth. “Please, please, I do not-... I do not touch.”

Nat puts both hands up in an I’m innocent gesture, taking one step back and then another, giving him some space to get around her. “That’s okay. You don’t have to, not with me and not at the house, not at all.”

The boy stares at her, and the sun is setting rapidly this far up in the hills, taking the hint of golden light that falls across his face and dimming it. “Please,” He whispers, and the sound barely carries to her. “Please, I, I cannot-... please-”

“That’s just fine,” Nat says, pitching her own voice lower, soothing. “You’re still fine, Antoni.” When he doesn’t relax, Nat swallows against her own reflexive distaste and adds, “You’re still a good boy.”

There it is. His shoulders relax, and he lets out a breath, an audible exhale, stepping a little closer to her. “I am? If I do not touch, still?”

Nat presses her lips together, wondering if Paul’s report that this new rescue was a Domestic holds water at all. Not that designations mean shit to people with no empathy and total control over another human being… “Yes, Antoni. You’re still good. Let’s get in the truck and head back, yeah? Can you get in the truck for me? I’ll stay right here.”

Simple, easy directions, and a safe distance. Antoni moves around her to the passenger side of the truck, and she gives him the time he needs, pulling her phone out from her back pocket to text Jake that the new rescue is here, and she’ll be heading home with him shortly.

Cool ok, comes Jake’s fast reply. Kauri’s a mess. Fever’s up and he took all his clothes off and got in bed.

Please don’t tell me your bed.

What do you think? He’s back on the couch and dressed though. I gave him something for the fever. Call Masood in the morning? This shit isn’t strong enough.

Nat knows how that feels.

By the time she gets into the driver’s seat, Antoni has himself settled, seatbelt buckled, hands in his lap, and… his backpack is firmly stuck between the two of them, right in the center of the seat, a slight barrier but a barrier nonetheless. 

He’s only been out for two weeks. He probably has some toiletries and a change of clothes or two in there, and that’s it. Maybe a book if he was allowed to remember how to read. But any way of giving himself space is better than no space at all.

When she reaches down to shift gears, Antoni flinches away, pressing himself to the inside of the door, his dark eyes locked on her hand.

“It’s a stick shift,” Nat says, softly. “I’m going to do this a lot. I’m not trying to touch you.”

His eyes move, reluctantly, from her hand to her face. “Please,” He says, and his voice is soft, and perfectly pitched. He’s been trained to beg, Nat thinks - she’s seen that before. She’s heard this voice before. “Please, please do not touch me. I will be good, whatever you need, just… do not touch.”

Nat takes a deep breath and rests her foot on the gas, cautiously moving out of the cul-de-sac and back onto the road, leaving the subdivision that never was, with its overgrown grass and brambles and the hot autumn winds blowing hard enough to rattle the dried-out leaves in the trees, behind. 

One new rescue, still sick from an infected wound, who can’t stop trying to touch everything that moves and has tried to talk Jake into bed at least three times - and one new rescue with an unmistakable cigarette burn on his neck who is so scared of being touched he starts begging before Nat can even get him home.

“This should be fun,” She mutters, not aware she’s even spoken aloud.

I am sorry. Antoni mouths the words, but Nat isn’t looking at him, and she doesn’t see him do it. As they drive down the hills towards the city, with its twinkling lights, he watches out the window, looking he hopes towards the north, wondering if he can ever apologize enough to earn forgiveness for the choice he made to leave the woman behind and run.

His right hand moves, pressing into his left arm, rubbing his thumb again and again over a certain spot just inside his wrist, rubbing right through the ribbed knit of the cuff of his sleeve, pressing and pressing and pressing until he feels the healing burn break open again, the bright flash of pain.

He relaxes a little, eyes closing, leaning heavily against the door as Nat turns on the radio and grumbles about what counts as classic rock now. 

It’s not that the ashtray, who has chosen the name Antoni, hates being touched.

It’s that he doesn’t deserve touch that doesn’t hurt.

---

Tagging @astrobly​, @finder-of-rings​, @burtlederp​ @slaintetowhump​ @moose-teeth​ @dhiabori @oofowouchies @doveotions​

[kitkat1003]

The Dawn is Breaking, and I am Crumbling

Yakko is awake.  His siblings awaken, too.  Through the thin veneer of calm that is fueled by the near 70 years of acting experience they have, they keep it together enough to meet the new CEO after filming.

She’s not what they’re expecting.

This is Chapter 2 to this fic.  Please read the first chapter.

@asilcorner

Yakko lets his face drop, just for a moment, when Spielberg turns away to mess with the controls and let his brother and sister out of the suspended animation tubes.

The whole room looks far too futuristic for only 22 years, Yakko thinks.  The eerie glow from the tubes, a light blue, paints and eerie vibe about the metal interior.  He can see the shadows in the corners of the room.

Wakko and Dot, at least, look healthy.  As much as the redesign weirded him out, change of art style and all, he has to admit they kept the general feeling of their characters.  Dot still has her flower and dress, Wakko still has his sweater and cap.  The studio kept them relatively the same, though Yakko can’t help but play with the bit of hair sticking up between his ears, unused to it.  He feels the lines are a bit sharper.  Maybe this is how modern animation looks like?

The liquid starts to drain, and the polite grin is back on Yakko’s face by the time Spielberg turns around, even though his hands are shaking behind his back and he’s terrified by how this is going to turn out.

Dot’s tube opens first, and she’s picked up by metal arms and set down on the ground, and Yakko is at her side before he registers moving.  She doesn’t look lucid yet, eyes open but unseeing, but she blinks a few times and he sees the spark of recognition soon enough.

“Yakko?” Her voice is so small.

“Hey,” he smiles at her, even though it’s a bit pained, and he hugs her close.  She clings to him and shakes, but the sound of Wakko’s pod opening breaks them apart, because Yakko turns to see his little brother.

Wakko starts to cry the moment he becomes conscious, and Yakko rushes to his side because he understands, but they don’t have time to cry right now.  

Not with executives watching.  Not with the situation they’re in.

“Hey, hey, hey, bud, don’t cry, it’s okay,” Dot is right behind him, clutching him by the tail as if its a leash.  Only his siblings are supposed to be allowed to grab his tail like that, and Yakko clearly remembers that night, when the men in the task force grabbed him by it and yanked hard enough to bruise.  He shivers in memory.  Wakko sniffles, as Yakko wipes his tears.

“We’re getting a reboot,” He says, loud enough for Spielberg to hear.  Dot and Wakko glance at the man, who gives them a thumbs up.  They wave back.

“We have to put on a brave face,” Yakko then whispers.  “They don’t expect us to be sad.  It’s just like acting, okay?  Just for a day, and once we’re back alone in the tower, you can let it out,” he hates that he has to tell them this, that he has to ask they hide it away.  He wants nothing more than to let them rage and cry and scream, because they have every right to want to.

But, because they did this in 1993, when all Yakko wanted to do was ruin Plotz, when all they wanted to do was feel the sun on their fur and play without contracts or cartoons, because they sucked it up and signed contracts and did the work then, they can do it now.

They all take a deep breath.  Wakko rubs the tears out of his eyes.

They stand in a row, familiar grins on their faces.

“I think it’s time for Animaniacs, don’t you?” Yakko tells Spielberg, and he is both relieved and annoyed by the way Spielberg smiles and nods.

“You bet it is!” Dot agrees, and Wakko nods his head, tongue flopping about comically.

They play their roles well, don’t they?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The first episode goes well.  Yakko helps move things along with the songs, all ad-libbed.  The new CEO is a curveball, and when she looks at him he can feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up.  There’s something off about her, something he can’t quite put his finger on, that makes her dangerous.  He internally panics at how casual Wakko and Dot are around her.  Maybe it’s just him?

In the break between the second half of their debut, where Pinky and the Brain’s return plays, she tells him that she wants a meeting with the three of them once they’ve looked over their contracts.

Yakko swallows the instinct to run and nods in reply.

They also, during the break between the two segments of their return, meet up with the grim reaper, who holds out their joint contract.

“Anything to keep us away from you, huh Daddoo?” He grins up at the reaper, and said personification of death cringes away from them.

“Yes-now read it over and sign it already,” The accent from this guy never gets old.  Yakko snatches the document from boney fingers, reading it over.  It doesn’t seem any different.  A higher paycut, actually, which is nice.  He supposes already being a celebrity helps with that.  The finale clause, though, that bothers him

Upon the end of the Reboot, the Warners will become property of Death.

“Yeah, no,” he points to the clause.  “I don’t think you actually want us, and I’m pretty sure making people property has been illegal for a while now,” Death seems surprised by the clause, himself.  He glances at it, and then his eyes dart towards the CEO’s office.  Yakko’s eyes narrow.

“Of course,” Yakko watches him revise it, the reaper mumbling under his breath about That crafty woman, and once that’s been taken out he lets Wakko and Dot sign it with him.

“Your As still look like 2s,” Yakko whispers conspiratorially to Wakko, and he giggles.

Back to the show.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The office building is quiet when they go in to meet with the new CEO.  He doesn’t actually know her name.  Nora?  Norita?  He doesn’t remember her introducing herself, so maybe that’s just for the mysterious factor.

“Leave the talking to me this time, sibs,” he whispers to them as the elevator dings to their floor.  They must hear something in his voice, because they don’t argue.

The CEO is at her desk when they arrive, scrolling through her tablet while nodding along to a call she’s in.  Her eyes dart sharply to the Warners, and Yakko pushes his sibs behind him.

“Mhmm, yes, that’s very interesting.  Please hold,” She tells the person on the line, setting her tablet down and pressing a button on her earpiece.  She takes it out and sets it down on the desk, standing up.  Her heels make her loom, ever taller, over them, and her eyes are dark.

“Now, I know of your history.  Plotz spoke of you extensively, and I had an assistant watch your previous show incarnation several times.  I know how you work, your strengths and weaknesses, and your fears,” She regards them coolly, and Yakko stands tall, despite the ever mounting panic.

“You were brought back because Spielberg wanted you, and keeping him ingratiated to the studio is more profitable than the property damage you cause with your antics,” Every sentence is said with calculated precision.  Every sentence is pointed, like the end of a knife

Yakko isn’t that aggressive, but Dot certainly is.  He can feel her getting angry.  Even Wakko, the calmest of the three when it comes to dealing with things, is becoming annoyed with the CEO’s attitude.  That’s dangerous.  He grips their hands in his tight, squeezing to remind them that they have to be quiet.

“You three, of course, will bring us money, but you’re also expensive to keep around.  The nightmare that will be the publicity scandal should you come out with what happened to you these past 22 years would be...difficult to handle.  So, I think it’s in your best interests to keep quiet,” She crosses her arms over her chest awaiting the challenge.

Yakko can see it, so he doesn't react.  His siblings, on the other hand, don't quite understand the position they’re in.

“Like Hell we’ll keep quiet!” Dot jumps out in front of Yakko before he can stop her, stomping over to the CEO with a glare and a sharp toothed scowl on her face.  “I’ll make sure the whole world knows about what you did to us!”

“Yeah!” Wakko runs over, mallet in hand.  “What are you gonna do if we blab, huh?”

She’s got them lifted in the air by their tails before they can blink, gripping them tightly.  Yakko jumps, staring at her with wide eyes, and Dot and Wakko are frozen in shock for a moment, before they start trying to escape.  Dot is shouting obscenities.  Wakko keeps trying to hit her with his mallet, but it isn't long enough.  She holds them far enough away from her body that they can't reach her.

Yakko is frozen.  This is the worst case scenario.

“None of your episodes have aired yet,” She reminds them.  “I could halt production here.  Spielberg is important, but we could smooth things over with him with the right words.  He’s terribly sentimental.  And while the fans would be upset about this reboot’s cancellation, we could cite many things that would have the Warner Bros. studio come out as if we were doing what was best for the show,” She glances between the two younger toons, and then to Yakko.

“And your next ending won’t be as peaceful.  We have Dip, here, and we aren’t afraid to use it.  That’s how we get rid of new toons that don't meet our standards, after all,” She grins, then, and Yakko freezes.

They use Dip casually?  Here?  That-that’s murder.  And they’ll do that to baby toons, ones who haven’t even gotten their footing in this world.  Yakko thinks he’s going to be sick.

“So, you have one option.  Comply,” She shakes Wakko and Dot in her grip, stunning them out of their scrambling to escape.  “I’ve made things efficient here, and I won’t have that changed by toons whose character sheets should have been burned in the 1930s,” Wakko and Dot flinch, and Yakko clenches his fists.

“Now,” She takes a breath, “Are you going to quit wasting my time?  Because I have about ten calls waiting that are more important than you three,” She smiles at Yakko, and it’s one that makes him shiver again.  

“Well?  Don’t try for bravado.  I know you’re nothing without your words.”

And Yakko hates that, and he’s terrified, but she’s got his siblings held tight in her arms, by their tails, and she’s threatening them with murder, and it’s all too reminiscent to that night, where he let his siblings down.

Not again.

He pounces, teeth bared, and digs them into her shoulder, knocking her to the ground.  His teeth breaks through her nice suit coat and shirt and through skin, and she drops his sibs and kicks him with her sharp heel, knocking him back. He rolls across the floor before standing, spitting out fabric and the taste of her, wiping his mouth.  He’s trembling.  Wakko and Dot look shocked.  

He’s never done that before.

“Here’s something you don’t know,” he spits, as she stands, incensed.  “No one’s threatened us with Dip before.  So, maybe I’m not as useless without my words as you think,” She narrows her eyes, and regards him with...something indiscernible.

“You don’t touch them,” he growls it out.  They aren’t fully animals and they aren’t fully human, so they’ve got the sharp canines that put a household dog to shame and enough cognizance to know when to use them.

“You got a problem with us, you leave them out of it.  This is just you and me, got it?” He bares his teeth, a reminder of what he can do.  The smell of blood makes him want to throw up, and that’s with him trying not to register the taste.

“Yakko,” Dot tries, but Wakko shushes her.  It’s a standoff, and Yakko is more terrified than brave but he doesn’t blink, doesn’t breathe, just lets the blood drip from his teeth as she holds a hand to her bleeding shoulder.

“This meeting is over,” The CEO says, finally.  “I trust you can see yourselves out.”

It’s not a concession, but it is something different than the high and mighty attitude she had before.  Maybe she’s realizing that all Yakko has to lose is them, his siblings, and that means that death means nothing to him.

Hard to beat someone who’s not so easily manipulated by fame and fortune or threats, is it?

The walk back to the tower is silent.  Dot holds his hand, leaning against him, and Wakko clutches his pant leg.  They both seem to still be in a state of disbelief.

“They have Dip now,” Dot whispers, incredulous, horrified.

“They aren’t gonna play anymore,” Wakko agrees, with the same amount of horror.  He’s shaking.

Yakko holds them tight, as best he can, and they go home.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The first thing he does when they get to the water tower is direct Wakko to the kitchen and Dot to her dressing room area.

“Eat and get ready for bed,” He says, weary and exhausted.  Wakko’s blood sugar levels need to steady out, and Dot needs something to keep her mind off of what happened.  Directing them to something that they can lose themselves in the motions of is easy.  He knows them too well.

They don’t protest, nodding.

He goes to the sink and gargles water, over and over, until he stops spitting out pink.  He brushes his teeth six times.  Scrubs his tongue raw.  Washes his face.  Doesn’t look at himself in the mirror until he’s sure he won’t see that dark red anywhere.

He doesn’t regret his actions, but he certainly isn’t proud of them.  

When he comes out of the bathroom, their bunk bed has been made a large king size one, and Wakko and Dot are waiting for him.  He quickly slips into some pajama pants and heads over to them, getting in the middle so they can snuggle up against him.

“Yakko?” Dot starts, and he can feel the fire in the back of her throat.  “Don’t-Don’t you ever say that.  That people can do bad stuff to you, if they keep us safe.  You did it before and you did it now and I can’t-we’re a team.  We don’t sacrifice each other-we can’t-you can’t do that to us,” Ever word is pushed out, like she has trouble knowing that she has to say it.  

“You’re everything to us too,” She finally says, halfway to tears, and Yakko can’t swallow the lump in his throat to reply.

“Stay,” Wakko pleads.  “You can’t give yourself up for us.  You have to stay,” A man of few words, and yet they strike Yakko right in the chest, as he holds them tight.

He rubs their backs until they’re almost asleep, staring at the glow in the dark star stickers on the ceiling.

“I’ll try,” he mumbles, and it’s not as much of a promise as it is a hope, but they’re too close to sleep to try arguing.

When he finally drifts off, he doesn’t dream at all.

[secret-engima]

I'm trying to sleep but I cant bc if this this idea in my idea do here have it and fo eith it as you will; Nyx reborn into the KHR universe.

Pure. Unadulterated. Chaos.

Because if you think this boy is gonna be anything but the world’s most reckless and powerful Inverted Stormy Sun you’ve got another think coming.

Probably becomes like- a message runner/thief. Something high speed and dangerous that isn’t straight up murder-land. Despite this, he quickly gains something of his own famiglia from all the strays he keeps picking up along the way. Famiglia of info-brokers, thieves, and other sneaky mouthy folk. It’s great. He calls them the Kingsglaive out of nostalgia and everyone wears an Ulric braid.

Has 100% mouthed off to Xanxus and gotten away with it.

Misses his warping like crazy. It’s not fair. He gets sparkly fire powers and they AREN’T the ones that can teleport. Boo.

Still he gets to make stuff disintegrate and he has almost limitless energy so hah.

Finds Tsunayoshi when Tsuna is newly sealed and Smol and Sad and just Nopes his way into that situation because this is Wrong and he’s Reckless so here’s to kidnapping Tsuna and his mom and carting them off somewhere private to get those seals off (because in this universe Nana also has a seal on her that makes her so ditzy and air headed since she’s a Latent Sky who would otherwise know better than to touch Iemitsu with a thousand foot pole, but Iemitsu is all the levels of Jerk in this and wanted That Specific Pretty Lady as a mindless trophy wife so...)

Anyway Nyx yoinks the seals off with a combo of stubborn stupidity and stupidly strong Flames and Tsuna and Nana are more than a little confused and grateful. Nyx explains the Mafia thing and Nana goes Active from pure rage over being ... well ... married to the guy who robbed her of almost all intelligence and free will and then tried to do the same thing TO HER SON.

Nyx is more than happy to get them new identities and take them to Mafia Land where even Vongola can’t touch them without setting off a war and helping Nana set up the world’s best cafe on the island to support herself and her son without Iemitsu. He also gets divorce papers via his Network, all without Iemitsu’s knowing (dude really needs to pay more attention to what paperwork he’s signing).

Also Nana (now named Hestia) becomes Nyx’s Sky. And his much needed Momming Figure because he doesn’t have a Lib to Braincell him (yet). Tsuna (now named Regis because Nyx is a Sap) adores his reckless big brother.

Of course, two skies living on Mafia Land is gonna attract ALL the attention (minus Iemitsu who is an Idiot and doesn’t even register the possibility that these two are his wife and child because those are TOTALLY still back in Japan being a nice trophy family TOTALLY). It isn’t long before people are coming to the cafe for both the good food and a chance to Court either Sky in hopes of getting a harmony. Of course to Court either, they have to get past Nyx and Nyx’s info network first which is a grueling gauntlet of terror and mind-screwing because 90% of Nyx’s info network/friends are all Mists who keeping trying and failing to Braincell this reckless reborn Ulric.

One day an Inverted Cloud shows up at Hestia’s cafe, takes one (1) look at Nyx, who is on forced vacation with his arm in a sling, and starts reaming him out. People kinda side-eye the Cloud, expecting blood to fly, but instead Nyx bursts into tears of joy because IT’S LIB. LIB IS HERE. Wait that means you died DANG IT LIB YOU PROMISED.

Lib: I DIED AT AGE EIGHTY WITH GREAT-GRANDKIDS. TIMELINE IS JUST SCREWED UP HERE. YOU’RE THE ONE WHO DIED YOUNG AND DUMB AND HAVING LIED TO ME. YOU DON’T GET TO LECTURE ME ON ANYTHING.

Nyx: I HAD TO PROTECT YOU AND LUNA.

Lib: NOT BY GETTING USED AS A CANDLE BY THE GHOSTS OF SOME OLD DUDES IN A RING YOU DIDN’T.

Random Vongola agent who happens to be in earshot and knows the legend of the Vongola Rings: ????????????

Anyway eventually more formerly dead glaives show up and wind up being Nana/Hestia’s Elements and Tsuna/Regis grows up thoroughly Galahdian and self-confident and HUGELY POWERFUL as a Sky because HAH take that Vongola. Also somehow the entire mafia world, proving their SPARKLING non-intelligence, never realizes that Tsuna is like- a vongola.

Because he totally doesn’t look like a mini ghost of Primo or anything NO SIR (rolls eyes).

Also Tsuna/Regis somehow still picks up all his canon elements. 

Gokudera when they snap bond after running into each other on Mafia Land. 

Takeshi on a visit to japan with Nyx where Tsuna/Regis talks Takeshi out of jumping off a bridge and also maybe running away to be mafia with him rather than hang out with the bullies on his baseball team. 

Kyoka and Ryohei after Nyx accidentally rescues them from a child trafficking ring (blowing up the trafficking ring in the process VERY intentionally thank you).

Hibari because the little maniac FOLLOWED NYX HOME after picking a fight with him during one of his deliveries to someone in Namimori (Regis took great offense to this kid attacking HIS big brother and Threw Hands in true Galahdian fashion, Hibari was an Awe of this Smol deceptively fluffy and cute carnivore). Lambo just kinda ... shows up one day and never leaves (Nyx suspects his family intentionally “lost” him in Mafia Land while on vacation and makes a mental note to have his info network raise hell for the Bovino because HOW DARE).

However, his FIRST Elements are Mukuro and his gang. Because Nyx may or may not have busted into the lab by accident while looking to steal something else entirely and then gone on a Rampage through the facility, rescuing kids as he went. The moment Regis laid eyes on the shell-shocked, skinny, traumatized Mukuro and co, he ran over and pumped them full of Sky Flames to make them feel better and BOOM snap bond.

Libertus and the others work hard to keep Mukuro on an even keel. While also telling the Vindice to shove it when they come sniffing around because YOU CAN’T BUST US FOR BREAKING THE NO-FIGHTING LAW WHEN YOU WERE IGNORING THIS. The Vindice, surprisingly, accept this argument and buzz off.

Mukuro wandered off and came home with Chrome one day when he was twelve. No one knows how. No one knows why. But there is no way you are convincing Nyx or anyone else in Hestia’s Elements that Chrome isn’t Mukuro’s long lost twin and thus THEIRS.

Also Chrome does not have organ damage in this so yay.

Nyx takes one (1) look at Reborn when the cursed baby comes sniffing around Hestia’s cafe in curiosity of the Uber Powerful Skies, sees Reborn smack Regis with Leon Mallet, and promptly Throws Hands.

Reborn was Not Prepared for this Stormy Sun to be able to steamroll him with the vast and unorthodox experience of being a Glaive who tackles Flames with the understanding of Magic That Can Do Pretty Much What I Want Barring Some Things rather than the Mafia’s religiously conditioned rules of Flames Do This and Are Like This And Only This and then kick him off the nearest peer.

Colonello, who has already been taught to Fear The Reincarnated Feral Glaives, just sits there and laughs at Reborn’s confusion at finally meeting a Sun even more powerful and stubborn than him.

Also at some point Nyx straight up steals Xanxus because the Varia hired him to and then just .... never gives him back. Melts him free, sure, but the kid is CLEARLY unstable and in need of mental help and Vongola sure isn’t going to give it to him so Nyx just kinda ... sics Hestia on Xanxus and when the Varia come thundering in thinking Nyx had broken his contract they find Xanxus sitting there with a befuddled but surprisingly un-angry expression, holding a cup of tea rather than alcohol and with Hestia putting his favorite steak down for him.

Also Regis is sitting in Xanxus’s lap radiating so much Sky Flames that Xanxus can’t really ... think straight enough to be mad about much. Because seriously if Tsuna/Regis could defeat a trained assassin when he was a noob middle school kid while his Flames were SEALED then you better believe that when unsealed and raised in a loving, nurturing environment he can Therapy Jutsu anyone through the sheer power of his Flame aura.

Except Iemitsu.

Iemitsu gets shanked at some point.

Nobody will say by who.

But Libertus looks very, very Smug (he is a Cloud and Hestia and Regis are part of his Territory. What did you expect to happen. The only difference between Lib and Hibari is Lib is an Inverted and so is better at the Stealthy Route).

[liliability]

Box Boy Auden- Eavesdropping

Learning a bit more about Daniel Cortes and Sara Bittencourt, a complicated couple with questionable motives behind the purchase of a Domestic/Romantic Box Boy.

First Chapter

CW: Box Boy Universe, briefly references to pet whump, dehumanizating mindset, argument, Sexy and Unedited. The Box Boy in question is 17. No direct whump in this piece, just an inside of Sir and Ma’ams minds.

Daniel Cortes thought his life would settle, once he moved with his wife to the mountains. Stay in his father-in-law's old mansion, leave the leadership of the company to his oldest son, avoid the press after one absurd and yet intrusive polemic with some self-righteous bastard CEO involved with the pet lib movement or whatever performative shit they called themselves.

Instead, he found himself in a new stressful routine, meeting with his lawyer - the boy can't be taken away, the acquisition was legal, it's all just in case, he reassures himself-, trying in vain to talk to his children and tensing, watching attentively as those damned names appeared now and then in the journal or TV- the list was once short, but now there are so many names and colorless faces disturbing his mind.

The Box Boy, needless to say, was a concern on his own, but every time Daniel could relieve his interminable stress in the kid, in many different ways, were a remind of how worthy the purchase was. But still, he couldn't trust the half-trained Boxie the same way his wife did.

When he got up in that morning to pick up his ringing cellphone, early and impossibly loud, Sara was already sitting in the living room's sofa, dressed in a bright red cardigan, waiting for him. She turned off the phone before he could enter the room.

"Who was in the phone?" His voice was still tired from the night before.

"Oh, nothing, just an alarm". Daniel lowered himsef to kiss her forehead. "Slept well, I think. Are you going to stay for breakfast? Auden's in the kitchen making tapioca. They have coconut and condensed milk, just how you like".

"You like. If one of us have a sweet tooth, it would certainly be you". He couldn't keep the smile out of his face. "But unfortunately I can’t. Have to go to the city. Today's Davi's day off and he wanted to talk to me in person."

Sara was suddenly irritated, as she always got when Daniel talked about his kids from an old marriage, the only people in the world that could compete with her for his attention.

"Don't worry honey, I'll be back in the afternoon".

"Some of my clients wants to meet me in the afternoon. The Art Deco bride, the one with the flower wall and the vintage bar carts. I'll be at her home by 3 pm, I think".

Daniel frowned at her answer.

"Wait, her house? Are you planning to leave Auden here, alone?"

"I mean...yes?" Sara didn't seem so bothered. "She lives nearly, I won’t be gone for that long. The doors will be locked, no domestic chores, he won't hurt himself and is not like he would ever try to run".

Daniel snorted. "I'm not so sure of that".

"Oh, don’t start it now. We can always find him with the tracking chip. And why would he even do it? Last night, he kneeled and tilted his head for me just to be able to use a towel. That's how he was taught to ask for something, and you’d  want to see how thankful he got because I didn’t force him to go downstairs and cook stark naked, although that would be an interesting scene to watch." She grinned maliciously, but her features were sweet and harmless again within a few seconds. "He's a pet with benefits now, and I doubt he has enough braincells in that pretty little skull to even think about running away".

“Naive” Daniel spat out.

Sara raised from the sofa, visibly astonished. “What did you said?”

"That's very naive, to see the kid as brainless for not speaking his mind when this option was taken away from him, in the first place. The truth is that no one could tell what's going on in his head." The man leaned against the wall and muttered the rest to himself, slightly wishing she could hear him anyway. "From all the people, you should be the one to know better".

Sara's face was almost red, not from embarrassment but from being contradicted, like a spoiled child being denied a toy. An irony, as Sara got exactly the toy that she wanted.

"What makes you suspicious about Auden?"

"When we're asleep, he walks around the house and thinks I don't know it. Last week, I caught him awake past his bedtime, staring at the windows, watching th- no, let me finish it- watching the backyard where the cars come and go. The kid almost passed out when he saw me in the room and started his nonsense shit to beg without words". Daniel's eyes suddenly darkened. "It's usually fun to see him do it but I had no patience for that in the moment. I just put him back to bed, but caught him doing the same thing the next day. Your handler friend said he could probably still know how to read, and I have no doubt that he had been messing with my office shelves and taking my books behind our backs".

Sara sighed audibly, crossing her arms.

"So, that's it? What do you even want me to do?"

"I wish you would discipline better your pet, as he had always been more yours than mine, and maybe do your part of the deal."

"My part of the deal?" The woman nearly laughed with disbelief. "You're not expecting that I will stay home all the time, are you? I got my helpful, gorgeous boy to fill the gap that my friends and my husband left in my life and you got your sadistic vengeance at a cost way lower than you expected. That, that was the deal!"

Daniel opened his mouth to argue but his wife interrupted him, a little less emotive this time.

"I miss meeting my clients in person, ok? I miss my former life. This city, it was your idea to move to the mountains. Not mine. Do you think I was excited to move to my father's former house? I went along with it, for you. But I was clear with him and I'll be very clear with you, too. I won't be the one to compromise anymore".

~

Auden never speaks unless he's told to, but he hear and watches his surroundings like a skittish stray that never grow out of the fear that it's going to be kicked at any time.

The boy thought he was the first to hear the phone ringing, but was surprised to find Ma'am already in the living room, touching Sir's phone with a cold, unreadable face. Then the older man appeared too, and the two started talking.

Neither of them noticed the boy in the nearest room.

It was tempting to listen their conversation, especially when he could hear his name. Sir said he was going to the city again, and Auden wished Ma'am could make him change his mind, keep the three of them safe and cozy under the soft blankets like the night before, but she seemed to have her own plans, too.

Auden would be alone. Again.

It's not the same, he has a name and his own collar now, a black piece of leather soothingly buckled around his pale neck, and that means he's safe. He's wanted.

"Are you planning to leave Auden here, alone?"

Sir was always disappointed when Auden had to learn a new thing in the mansion, and he and Ma’am were the only ones that could instruct him. Usually some specific cuisine, or an unusual domestic duty, that he hadn't been taught in the Facility. Interrupted training, he heard at more than one point.

But Sir and Ma'am had unconsciously taught him how to read a room, too, just by some people's face or a shift of voice. He used that knowledge to know when his owners were upset or stressed. He knew when he had to be good enough to lighten their mood.

He could also tell that their conversation would soon turn into an argument but he could do nothing to stop it. He wasn’t supposed to listen, for a start.

"...And is not like he would ever try to run". Ma'am was right. Auden could never and the simple thought of it made him tremble and lower his head. He was grateful for having owners so nice. A kind Sir that pets his hair and lets him help with the woodcraft and a gentle Ma'am that pampers him and show him pictures of her beautiful flowers.

"We can always find him with the tracking chip". Does he have... a tracking chip? Auden didn't know that. Where could it possibly be?

"That's very naive, to see the kid as brainless for not speaking his mind when this option was taken away from him, in the first place. The truth is that no one could tell what's going on in his head." Sir words were harsh and hurtful for Auden. He had been made for the couple. A perfect custom pet, an enviable combination built to fulfill his owners desire.

But still, standing in an empty lounge listening to his owner's conversation, despite the throbbing headache telling him it was wrong, Auden couldn't help but wonder if Sir was right, if something had slipped between his training and his arrival making him defective. Untrustworthy. Maybe it was something that was never a part of him, in the first place.

And he wondered, silently, what he could do to make up for that.

~~

-Tagging: @albino-whumpee @eatyourdamnpears @whumpfigure @orchidscript @cubeswhump @more-miserables @whatwasmyprevioususername @castielamigos-whump-side-blog . Ask/Comment to be added or removed from the taglist!

[Question]: Is anyone interested in Auden’s WRU Intake Papers? Thinking about dropping some hints of Auden’s backstory in it.

[something-tofightfor]

Are there any headcanons some writers have that you don’t agree with? What are some big ones? Do you disagree because they don’t fit your perception of the character(s) or because they don’t fit the character, period?

This is a loaded question, ma’am.  Well, the first thing I’ll say is this: people write what they want to write. They characterize people the way that they want to, and they focus on the traits that they want to when they build their characters. This also goes for what people choose to read, too! Fanfiction allows there to be something for everyone, and that’s amazing. 

It doesn’t matter what genre or fandom, there are always so many interpretations of things to provide a variety of content by a lot of really talented writers - but that doesn’t mean that every single story or headcanon is going to be something that every reader agrees with. And that’s life - it’s no different than published work or TV or movies... which is why we write and read in the first place, right?

There are a lot of characterizations of certain characters that I don’t agree with that I’ve seen and read - but I��m sure that the same goes for people that read my work too.  (Under a cut because I am wordy)

I’ll answer your second question first:  I think a lot of it is that they don’t seem to fit with what we know of characters in canon, and it kind of bothers me when people consistently throw away every aspect of canon just because they don’t like them. There’s a huge difference in reshaping things to work in an AU (what I’m doing with Billy’s injuries in Steel City) or a to give something a different outcome (Logan’s choice to seek help instead of self-destructing in HCtS) and flat out re-creating the character to make them fit into a specific narrative.  When something is a flat out AU, I can look past it much more easily. In that scenario, you’re supposed to look at things as completely different. Sure, names will be the same, maybe professions, certain parts of the backstory... but an AU is a license to change a ton - and when done properly, they can be amazing.  And while I think that everything fanfic writers write is an AU to some extent, the truth is that not everyone reads stories because they want a complete turnaround from canon and from what we know, so everything in a story being different than expected is jarring. That’s a personal preference - definitely - but you asked. I don’t read a story because I want to know how a completely fictionalized version of Billy reacts to XY and Z. I’d like to see him worked into a scenario that’s different - but see how HE handles it. 

Take Logan out of Westworld? He’s just a businessman with some serious familial issues and an addiction problem. Benjamin completely removed from Julia and the Days? He’s a middle-aged man with a shady past and no money or solid place to stay. There are certain core characteristics that need to be kept, otherwise, it’s literally just Ben’s face and you’re Mad Libs-ing in a job and a personality.  And to answer your first question, there are many. And again, it’s just a personal preference because I try to keep my writing as in-character as I possibly can ... so when I read, it’s hard for me to disconnect from that. So while I don’t want to call any specific writer or story out here because that isn’t the point, there are a lot of overarching headcanons and characterizations that it’s really hard for me to get past.

The biggest one - and I know, know, KNOW I’m going to get shit for this one - is that everyone is so quick to write these guys wanting kids and to settle down. Of course, we want to imagine Billy and Logan and Ryan and even Benjamin healthy and happy and with people they love... but the truth is that not everyone’s definition of a happy or fulfilled life includes kids... or marriage. So being quick to include kids or the desire to have kids or just the feeling that children are necessary pulls me out of stories a lot. 

I actually don’t even read ones where I know the characters have kids, because I just don’t identify with that Reader character or that chosen lifestyle. ** The exception is Logan with Emily, because he’s the best uncle ** 

Love is another thing. With Billy and Logan in particular - it’s hard for me to comprehend them going from 0-60 in no time at all and just... being over the moon for someone and then expressing it. Especially Billy. Logan in canon is so much closer to being ready to love someone because he at least knows what love looks and feels like - he had his mom and he had Juliet. Billy didn’t. Benjamin is the only character we’ve seen that foolishly falls in love quickly. And Ryan? You gotta stay in contact with someone or stay in one place long enough to fall in love. You might know you have feelings for someone really quickly, but it’s not just meet - go out to eat once - profess love - drop everything - get married - pop out kids. 

Individual characters:

Billy: 

Without a good reason, Billy’s not going to meet someone and immediately fall in love with them. He spent 20+ years keeping people out, and there’s no way in hell one night is enough for him to drop his defenses entirely and accept someone into his life.  Billy using pet names pulls me out of a story really fast, especially in bed. A sarcastic ‘sweetheart’ is about all I feel like you’d get out of him. I don’t think he needs to rely on talking to someone in bed in order to keep them in the moment. He says NOTHING in bed with Madani, and again with Krusty, and he was straight-up playing Madani, so if he was one to use pet names and dirty talk to bait someone... it would have happened.  Billy never opened Anvil so that he could shower other people with gifts. His money is meant to be his own, and while I don’t think he's stingy, I don’t think he’s going to drop obscene amounts of money on someone, even if he’s in a relationship with them (in canon - and EVEN for HNH reader). Romance - in the knock you off your feet sense - is not EVER going to be in his wheelhouse. 

S2 Billy is not a child. Stop treating him like one. In the beginning, maybe...but the more he learns and grows and remembers, the emotions that he has aren’t tantrums - they’re a very real mixture of fear and anger and misunderstanding. He literally doesn’t know why he did what he did or how everything went wrong - but that doesn’t make him a child. 

Logan:

Logan is more than a sex-crazed millionaire. That is a front. And I know that he’s going to be great in bed and very hands-on with his partners, but canon Logan uses sex and excess to keep people AWAY...not to pull them closer. 

Logan doesn’t want or need extravagant gifts.... because he can get anything he’d ever want for himself. It’s more about the thought than the money for him.  Logan is a lot of things, but him being a dick and belittling someone for being of a different socioeconomic status really bothers me. 

Ryan: 

... Very few people write for Ryan, so there’s little here that I take issue with, except maybe that in some of the stories I’ve seen people seem to confuse his lack of a formal education with him being uneducated in general.  Benjamin: 

Benjamin is impulsive but he is not stupid. 

Caspian:

Every time someone writes Caspian as being hellbent on adhering to tradition and following the Narnian customs and rules of succession I want to rip my hair out.  Don’t sit there and try to tell me that a King has to have a blood heir when the Pevensies are proof that ANYONE can be a King or Queen of Narnia, no questions asked. They weren’t even FROM Narnia, and they got thrones. It’s not about blood - it’s about integrity and a person’s true desire to lead the people and keep them safe and happy. 

** One more overall thing that takes me out of a story faster than anything is the use of Y/N. Maybe I’m an idiot, but every time I see those I think “yes/no” and not “your name”... and it throws me. **

I’m gonna step off my soapbox now. BUT. I will end this by saying: 

As much as I disagree with some of these qualities and traits in writing - when they are done super well, I don’t even notice them. Some of my favorite stories are “Y/N” inserts. One of my favorite Logans calls his girl princess. There’s a coffee shop AU that I absolutely loved and it changes the main character COMPLETELY.  It’s all subjective. I’m not saying any of this to offend anyone, and so I hope that if any other writers read this whole thing and feel as if I’m calling them or their choices out - that isn’t the point. I’m not trying to hurt feelings or pick apart your writing, but this is how I look at characters and the way people portray them when I choose what I want to read.

I write for a living. Like, actual get-paid-to-put-words-on-paper writing. I have to look at details for my work. Things have to make sense. There has to be clear connecting threads. And that makes it much more difficult for me to completely disconnect from that mindset when I write or read. I can’t help it.  TLDR: Write what you want to write. Read what you want to read. Think what you want about these characters and stick to it. But know that not everything you post is going to get the kind of engagement you hope for - because not everyone is able to suspend disbelief about the characters they’ve spent HOURS growing to love and carefully thinking about when you change 95% of their canon characteristics to fit your plot. 

[hlupdate]

So what does a young superstar spend his time thinking about? Classic rock, mostly, along with the occasional movie or TV show. Harry Styles has always been a voracious scholar of pop history — the kind of guy who obsesses over John and Yoko album covers and Fleetwood Mac deep cuts. “We’re all just fans,” he says. “I’m just a music fan who happens to make some.” These are just a few of Harry’s favorite things — some influences, some inspirations, some heroes.

Listen along to our Harry Styles playlist here.

Van Morrison The Irish blues bard was down and out in Boston when he wrote his brooding 1968 song cycle Astral Weeks. “It’s my favorite album ever,” Harry says. “Completely perfect.” Harry recently posed with his idol for a backstage photo — inspiring Van to smile, which doesn’t happen too often. The grin is so out of character for Van, Harry jokes, “I was tickling him behind his back.” (He’s kidding, obviously.) On his first tour, before going onstage, he played “Madame George” over the speakers — the epic ballad of a Belfast drag queen. “‘Madame George’ is one of my favorites — nine minutes. I’ve got some long songs but not my nine-minute one — it hasn’t quite come through yet.”

Joni Mitchell Harry got so obsessed with her 1971 classic Blue, he went on a quest. “I was in a big Joni hole,” he says. “I kept hearing the dulcimer all over Blue. So I tracked down the lady who built Joni’s dulcimers in the Sixties. She still lives around here.” He not only found her, she invited him over. “I went to her house and she gave me a little lesson — we sat around and played dulcimers.” She built the dulcimer Harry plays on his new album. “Blue and Astral Weeks, that’s just the ultimate in terms of songwriting. Melody-wise, they’re in their own lane. Joni and Van, their freedom with melodies — it’s never quite what you thought was coming, yet it’s always so great.”

Etta James The hard-living R&B legend could do it all, from raw Chess blues to pop-soul torch ballads. Harry is a devotee of her 1960 debut album At Last! “This whole album is perfect. On that record you have ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You’ going right into ‘At Last,’ which has to be one of the greatest one-twos ever. Her ad libs are so intense. It’s like, ‘Come on, Etta — tell us how you really feel.’”

Wings Paul McCartney’s 1970s band left behind a slew of shaggy art-pop oddities. Harry swears by London Town and Back to the Egg. “While I was in Tokyo I used to go to a vinyl bar, but the bartender didn’t have Wings records. So I brought him Back to the Egg. ‘Arrow Through Me,’ that was the song I had to hear every day when I was in Japan.” The 1971 suite Ram was divisive for Beatles fans at the time, but for Harry it was a psychedelic experience: while making the album, he and his band enjoyed it while lying out in the sunshine on mushrooms. “I love Ram so much — I used to think it was a mixed bag, but that’s part of its beauty. And the one that’s just called McCartney, with the cherries on the cover and ‘The Lovely Linda’ on it.”

John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky Documentary A deep dive into the world of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, during the making of Imagine. “I watched Above Us Only Sky on Netflix,” Harry says. “Seeing him play ‘Imagine’ on piano made me want to take piano lessons.” One of his favorite Lennon songs: “Jealous Guy,” especially the Donnie Hathaway cover. “Have you ever heard the original version of ‘Jealous Guy’? It was called ‘Child of Nature.’ Every time I play ‘Jealous Guy,’ I can’t help singing ‘Child of Nature.’ I really like Mind Games too. My favorite-ever album cover is the John and Yoko Live Peace in Toronto. So beautiful: it’s blue sky with one cloud, and that’s it.”

Carole King For a playback of his new music, Harry arranges to listen at Henson Studios in Hollywood, which used to be the old A&M Studios, in Studio B. Why? “It’s the room where Carole King recorded Tapestry.” Obsessive pop scholar that he is, Harry reveres King as both a singer and songwriter. His favorite: “So Far Away.” “How do people make shit like this?”

Crosby, Stills and Nash These three hippie balladeers summed up the mellow West Coast soft-rock vibe, despite their chemical wreckage. (For the full story, see the great new band bio by Rolling Stone’s David Browne.) “Those harmonies, man,” Harry says. “‘Helplessly Hoping’ is the song I would play if I had three minutes to live. It’s one of my ‘one more time before I go’–type songs.”

The Other Two TV Series He’s a big fan of the Comedy Central series. “It’s a brother and a sister — they’re the Two — and their younger brother becomes a viral YouTube sensation. He’s a Justin Bieber–type thing. He’s 13, and it’s basically those two dealing with that. It’s really funny.” (He’s got a thing for absurdist pop scenes like this — he also recommends the documentary When the Screaming Stops, about a bizarre reunion gig from the Eighties twin-brother duo Bros.)

Paul Simon “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,’ that’s the greatest verse melody ever written, in my opinion,” Harry says. “So minimal, but so good — that drum roll. ‘The Boxer’ is a perfect lyric, especially that first verse.” Paul Simon was one of his childhood soundtracks, with or without Art Garfunkel. “I grew up in a pub for a few years when I was a kid and Simon and Garfunkel were just constantly playing, always. Every time ‘Cecilia’ started, I’d be like, ‘I think I’ve heard this a hundred times today.’”

Hall and Oates “For my 21st birthday, I had a big party, and I convinced myself I really wanted Hall and Oates to play. I knew it wasn’t going to happen — I just had to ask. But just a few months before, they went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so whatever it was, it was now three times as much as it used to be. Their rate just tripled — ah, fuck.”

Peter Gabriel, “Sledgehammer” Video “The greatest music video ever. I also love that Eighties synth pan-whistle sound — it basically just exists in this song and ‘My Heart Will Go On.’”

Elvis Presley “The first music I ever heard was Elvis Presley. When I was little, we got a karaoke machine and I sang Elvis, because that’s what my grandparents listened to. I made my grandfather a tape of me doing Elvis songs on one side and all Eminem on the other side. Unfortunately, I accidentally played him the wrong side.”

Harry Nilsson The legendary L.A. eccentric could croon middle-of-the-road hit ballads like “Without You,” but also a crazed weirdo who caroused with John Lennon and pursued his own lunatic pop fantasies. In other words, Harry Styles’ type of guy. “I think of all the great songwriters I love — but they all had their pop songs. Joni Mitchell with ‘Help Me,’ Paul Simon with ‘You Can Call Me Al,’ Harry Nilsson with ‘Coconut.’ You have to conquer the fear of pop.”

Stevie Nicks The Gold Dust Woman and her “little muse” are everybody’s favorite rock friendship. At the Hall of Fame ceremony in March, the sight of Harry dropping to one knee as he hands the award to a radiant Stevie — one of the iconic cross-generational images of our time. They first sang together in L.A. two years ago, when she made a surprise guest appearance at one of his first solo shows. “One of my favorite-ever musical memories. We sang ‘Landslide’ as a soundcheck, and that was even cooler for me than the show — just me and her, in an empty Troubadour.”

They just sang “Landslide” at a Gucci event in Rome, with Harry hitting impossible high notes on the final “snooooow-covered hills.” “We practiced in the dressing room,” he says. He’s got the rehearsal footage on his phone — when he hits that note, guitarist Waddy Wachtel is too stunned to keep playing. “That’s my favorite bit,” Harry says. “Practicing the song together. Just the two of us.”

[laird-brochtuarach]

ICONS AUGUST 2018 RAKE-IN-PROGRESS: SAM HEUGHAN

Sam Heughan is an actor, cult figure, philanthropist and marathon runner. The Rake is won over.

fashion director JO GRZESZCZUK by JESSICA BERESFORD photographyNICK KELLY

Charcoal virgin wool three-piece suit, Connolly; grey cotton shirt, Budd Shirtmakers; navy silk knitted tie, Francesco Marino for The Rake.

The collective noun for Sam Heughan’s fans are Heughligans, who number in the tens of thousands and act as a testament to his success: as an actor, philanthropist and, as you’ll probably agree, a rather stand-up guy. This affection is directed at one of Heughan’s characters in particular: Jamie Fraser, a soldier and the central protagonist of the cult T.V. series Outlander. Based on the books of Diana Gabaldon, the time-travelling show is set mainly in Scotland, but enjoyed most of its early success outside the U.K. — from America to Chile, Australia to Japan — despite Heughan himself hailing from Caledonia.

While he’s been enveloped in this world for four seasons, Heughan will this year venture into more varied roles, including as a secret agent in the action-packed Bond spoof The Spy Who Dumped Me. He plays Sebastian, a secret agent who aids co-stars Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon in their far-fetched journey around Europe, and who leads a rather different life to Jamie.

Away from set, Heughan keeps a fairly busy schedule: he runs a charitable initiative called My Peak Challenge, which encourages people to improve themselves physically and mentally while raising funds for Bloodwise and Marie Curie; he participates in marathons around the world to raise money for other charities; and, rather fittingly, he is developing his own brand of whisky, which stems from enjoying “a little dram now and then”.

How did growing up in Scotland inform your career? I was born and brought up in rural Scotland, in the southwest, and I think I was very fortunate living in the countryside: being alone but being in the outdoors, there’s a lot of freedom of expression and creativity — you can use your imagination a lot. I moved to Edinburgh when I was 12, and to me that was a great time to move, because you’re getting older and I started going to the theatre there, and that was certainly how I fell in love with acting. But I think Scotland is definitely a huge part of who I am, and through the show it’s given me a recognisable identity.

When did you realise you could make a living out of acting? I don’t think I have yet. If you’re a jobbing actor, or doing anything in the arts, you’re only as good as your last job. There’s always that fear that something is going to come crashing down. Things are really good, and have been very good for me recently, but I guess you’re always slightly looking over your shoulder. It’s not a bad thing, you’re just ready for everything to change.

What’s it like being part of something that has such a big cult following? We have a unique fan, I think. Diana wrote these books 20 years ago, or longer now, so we’ve got the people who were fans of the books, but then also we’re creating new fans who haven’t heard of the books, who are just watching the show through Amazon or whatever. But they’re very supportive and enthusiastic and vocal, sometimes more so than other fan groups, I think. They have a real ownership over the characters, and that’s probably because they’ve read the books, much like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. People love these characters.

How did you approach playing a character that people were already invested in? When you get either a real-life figure or someone from a book, it’s actually kind of a gift because you can research them, but there’s also that pressure of getting it right, because you don’t want to upset or disappoint people. I think we were slightly naive in that we didn’t realise how big the books were and how invested the fans were when we started. When I first auditioned for it, I just felt like I knew the character, that I knew who this guy is. It’s very fortunate that there are a lot of similarities in who he is and that world. I love Scotland and it’s a big part of who I am, but it’s also a big part of who Jamie is.

How have you transitioned from Outlander to The Spy Who Dumped Me, which are very different? First of all, the comedy world was something I had no idea about. But when I read the script, I laughed out loud, and I thought it was rare that you read a comedy script and it’s actually funny. I think a lot of comedy they supply these days is a lot of slapstick, visual comedy. But I felt this was clever and the dialogue was good. To work with Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon, who are at the top of their game, was a great opportunity. The first day was very intimidating, because I’m so used to working on drama, where, literally, if you get one word slightly wrong, you’re told and you have to make sure that you get the script exactly. And Mila Kunis is just ad-libbing and going off on a tangent, and the same with Kate, every take. And you’re just like, How does this even come together? I don’t know how it works, but they made me feel very comfortable and it was a great experience.

Having now done both drama and comedy, what do you see yourself pursuing? I’m actually off to do two movies this summer, they’re both slightly different. I think I just want to do as much variation as possible. I just want to try different things. As an actor, I certainly never wanted to do the same job, I don’t want to do a 9-5, I don’t want to do the same thing. I want to try different things, and that’s the joy of being an actor — you get to be different people. So, yeah, I want to try and stretch myself.

What jobs have you had outside acting? I’ve done them all. I lived and worked in London for 12 years as a jobbing actor. I delivered sandwiches by bicycle around London during winter, which was horrendous. I worked in all the bars, restaurants. We were doing the BAFTAs the other night at the Southbank Centre, and I actually worked there as a barman a couple of years ago, so it was kind of cool to be on the other side. I won’t name the actor, but I remember I was working for an event at fashion week, and an actor I know, and would almost regard as a friend — my job was to hold people’s drinks as they went and had a cigarette, and he didn’t even notice me and came and gave me his drink and I was just standing there going, ‘Oh my god, I’m just standing here holding his drink, I feel like such an idiot’. But yeah, I’ve been a temp, I worked at Harrods in the perfume hall. I was one of those guys…

What else have you got in the pipeline? I’m off to do a project this summer. I think I can say that it’s an action thing, maybe based on some comics. And it’s going to be a lot of fun.

This interview is from Issue 59 of The Rake. Subscribe here.

[wendip-week]

Wendip Bits from the GF Complete Series Commentary/Lost Legends Comic

Hey all!  @ddp456 here!

So, in between helping Kenzoe64 with the last few pages of the Protector comic and working on chapters of DBR3 (yes, I swear it’s still coming) I’ve had a bit of a secret project I’ve been working on (and to be honest, I’m kinda surprised no one else beat me to it)

Over the last few months, I’ve had a chance to rewatch Gravity Falls through the newly released Complete Series Blu Ray set, and for this, listened to every commentary created for each episode, as well as those made for the special features disc (which forgive me if I’m wrong, but was for the BD set, right?).

While the tracks give a HUGE insight on all things GF, it also unveils the curtain on many things Wendy and Dipper related; some things I guessed correctly from the very beginning (see my personal notes for bragging rights), and some, well, that kinda shocked me, and left me uncertain about a few details.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As you can guess, think of this as a dissection of the commentaries given, focusing on our favorite duo from the series, and afterwards, I’ll include a few questions of my own.  Fair enough?  Let’s get started:

(Tidbits in the first few episodes)

-Alex Hirsch states that Dipper’s crush on Wendy was always meant to be a big part of the series.

-Hirsch wanted to drop Wendip hints in the first episode (Tourist Trapped), but Rob Renzetti (Supervising producer director, creator of My Life As a Teenage Robot) talked him out of it, saying that he was doing it way too soon.

-The age difference between Dipper and Wendy was the very first conflict that came to mind in the writer’s room, so therefore, it was used.

-The persona of Wendy herself was crafted like that of a “cool camp counselor” so that she could do cool adult stuff, and be able to do “kid stuff” as well without being out of place.

(The Inconveniencing)

-The Cold Open for Episode 5 (Roof Time!) was created at the last minute because the writers realizes that the Wendy/Dipper connection really wasn’t justified.  The roof sequence was to make not only Dipper fall in love with Wendy, but the audience as well.  (D’aww!  - Editor’s note)

-At the end of the episode, the second “Zipped Lips” motion between Wendy and Dipper symbolized many things.  It shows that Dipper (despite lying) is accepted by Wendy into her social circle, and given her friendship.  Her lying to the other teens is just as important, as she does so without Dipper asking her to.  This was done to make Wendy as real as humanly possible, showing that she is just as cool as Dipper (and we as an audience) make her out to be.

-Hirsch often laments on the fact that they didn’t do a full “Wendy-themed” episode.  He explains that the point of many episodes is that a said character “learns a sin” and they were afraid to do so with Wendy, in fears that it would ruin her chemistry.  (more on this later - Editor’s note)

-They foreshadow the conflict over Robbie and Dipper (involving Wendy) and recognizes that things weren’t always realistic (e.g. how Dipper can beat up the Multi-Bear, but how he was deathly afraid of Robbie).  Hirsch’s reasoning is that the audience seems forgiving with such exaggeration as long as everyone appeared to stay in character ( again, more on this later - Editor’s note)

(Double Dipper)

-Originally, Double Dipper had nothing to do with Wendy (GASP! - Editor’s note)  The original premise was about Mabel trying to set up a party so she could mingle with the citizens of Gravity Falls, and make new friends, and Dipper, being the anti-social opposite of her, tries to prevent this at every turn, only to fail.  It was only when at the last moment, someone suggested to have Dipper’s story be about Wendy.

-During the slow dance scene, the animators specific added a shot of Wendy from Dipper’s POV so that we (the audience) could understand and feel the same anxiety that he did at that moment.

-At the dance of the episode, Hirsch and the rest of the crew theorize about what happens when Dipper goes back inside the Shack at the end of the night.  He specifically asked, “Do you guys think he asks Wendy to dance?”  The rest of the crew disagree, saying they can picture Dipper trying to dance on his own, and Wendy cheering him on, sprinkling confetti on him from afar like in the beginning of the episode. 

(Cute, but what about this? 

is it non-canon, now?  Did the commentary happen before the real Journal 3 was written?  Or is it presumed that Dipper lied in the journal?  What the fuck?  - Editor’s note)

(Irrational Treasure)

-Going off on a tangent, Hirsch describes Dipper’s crush on Wendy as “creepy” and “over-the-top.”  He details that it’s Dipper’s seriousness that leads to misfortune, and for that, he takes a lot of lumps. 

-The Zodiac is mentioned here, and the writers explain that the Ice wasn’t always related to Wendy.  The symbol was random.

-And as a cute sidenote, the “binkies” that the Pines twins have at the back of their heads were taken from the same ones that the Mario Bros. have.

(Time Traveler’s Pig)

-Alex Hirsch goes hard on Dipper here.  He explains that Dipper has a very naive, yet forgivable, but wrong idea about romance.

-He feels that Dipper would die a thousands deaths to have Wendy feel the same way about him.

-Dipper is desperate to have this perfect moment, this perfect day with Wendy, because he believes that he’s not perfect on his own (told ya’ all! - Editior’s note)

-Hirsch says because of this, Dipper doesn’t deserve to get what he wants.  This idea of how the world works shouldn’t be rewarded.

-He adds that creating the lessons above was the hardest part of writing the episode.

(Fight Fighters)

-Hirsch knew that the “crush” angle was getting old, but he loved the story presented here.  He says that “Dipper’s heart was in the right place” when defending Wendy against Robbie.  (again, take that, internet!  - Editor’s note)

-Hirsch was blown away by the internet’s response to the episode, shocked to see how many people have had a negative reaction to it.  At this point, Jason Ritter (voice of Dipper) responses, “What?!  Love doesn’t die, guys!

-Alex goes into how he doesn’t care for “shipping,” that the “Wendy/Dipper” stories come from need for conflict, but not from character relationships.  With Wendy involved, Dipper is motivated, desperate, and will do the most insane things.

-He agrees with internet that the crush wasn’t really going anywhere, but he loved the W&D scripts that kept coming in.

-Robbie’s calling out Wendy like a dog (C’mon, out, girl!) was ad-libbed by TJ Miller.

-Hirsch believes that if left alone, Robbie would have never fought Dipper.  He was jealous that his girlfriend was going off on all these weird adventures with this kid.  (Wait, so there are untold Wendy/Dipper adventures out there?!  - Editor’s note)

-The height difference between Wendy and Dipper literally comes from Alex’s real life (and his twin, Ariel, was taller, like Mabel), where he was the smallest kid in class, and his science partner in school was regular sized, and also, his secret crush.

(The Deep End)

-The episode was always meant to be a non-serious, low-stakes piece.  Dipper’s having a good time with Wendy was not meant as romantic, but as friends.

-Wendy was originally meant to have a two piece bikini, but the network made them change it (So, wait, it wasn’t a homage to the Sandlot’s Lifeguard Wendy? - Editor’s note)

(Boyz Crazy)

-Hirsch regrets not clarifying the Robbie/Wendy/Dipper portion at the end.

-He insists that the hidden message in the song was mere coincidence.  Wendy was not hypnotized. 

-He sees the situation as follows:  Dipper is jealous that Wendy is into Robbie’s music.  For this, Dipper figures there has to be a sinister reason for this. 

-Robbie definitely stole the music, but didn’t know that the message was there.  Hirsch says as a child, he was personally fascinated by rock bands having hidden messages in their records.

-At this point in the commentary, Ariel Hirsch chips in, saying that in the end, “Dipper wasn’t thinking about Wendy.”  Jason Ritter (Dipper himself) agrees, “He’s only thinking about calling out Robbie.”    (told ya’ all x3.  - Editor’s note)

-Alex Hirsch’s quote about the hidden message: “Backward messages can’t control people’s behavior because you can’t understand them!”

-His notes on Stan and Dipper bonding in this episode: “Both would rather believe that there is a huge conspiracy rather than they’re bad with women.”

(Land Before Swine)

-Hirsch says as side-notes that Wendy had a running bet with Grunkle Stan about who would eat the corn-unicorn first (he didn’t bet on Waddles).  Also, he says that Ford has a fear of women because after a bad experience involving someone being freaked out by his six-fingers.

(Gideon Rises)

-Hirsch admits that Gideon’s speech to Dipper is bullcrap.  Dipper has beaten plenty without the aid of the Journal 3, but his insecurities make him believe otherwise.

(Scary-oke)

-Wendy has two cut scenes that are shown in the Special Features disc.  At the beginning of the episodes, she (along with Soos) is interview by the news and she is chided for using the word “Jerkface” on live TV.  She then goes into a huge rant about her “freedom of speech.”  The second shows that Wendy was given the blow-horn by Mabel to be the official hype person of Scary-oke.

(Into the Bunker)

-ITB won an Annie award?!  (Didn’t know that - Editor’s note)

-Hirsch wanted to keep the Dipper/Wendy crush going, but could see that the audience was getting tired of it.  The writers decided to have Wendy become a member of the team and go on adventures, choosing to have Dipper deal with heartbreak sooner than later.

-It was considered to be the third priority for the second season.  (Reveal Author, Revisit Switch in the Woods, and Kill the Crush)

-Speaking of, the Bunker’s staircase was taken from the video game classic, Myst

-The script for “Into the Bunker,” was given to Matt Chapman (of “Homestar Runner”/Strong Bad fame), because all of his GF scripts happen to have heartbreak in them, earning him the nickname, “Shipwrecker.”

-Wendy and Dipper’s movie night/Cold Opening was the very last thing to be added to the episode.  They needed something to tie Dipper’s investment to both the adventure at hand, and the Wendy crush

-In this, Dipper’s confidence grows by defeating Gideon, and when Wendy says she doesn’t need guys, it brings him to turmoil by the impossible and hopeless.

-The symbol room was originally the “Gonna Die” room.

-This episode is in Alex Hirsch’s top 5 GF episodes, because of its darker tone.

-He details:  there are so many good moments in this episode where Dipper is suffering at the hands of this girl that’s so much cooler and so much beyond what he could even understand.

-The GF team knew that this had to be a stand-out episode for Wendy.  We had to spend a lot of time with her, showing that she could hold her own and make a valuable addition to the Mystery Crew.  Hirsch regrets not doing that more.  For this, every time Wendy is added to the team, she’s awesome.

-The most amount of takes in the entire series was the “Dipper crying over dead Wendy” scene.  Hirsch explains that it was a hard thing to sell, and a really vulnerable moment.

-ITB’s ending was one of the hardest endings to write.  The commentary says they rewrote it 5 times to get it right.

-An idea used was “Love is temporary, but friendship is real love?”  (Hell, that’s what I use about 90% of the time - Editor’s note)

-The line “Don’t be itchy.” was added super late to the script.  The team tried to avoid as many cliches as possible.

-The first time the Wendy/Dipper confession scene was watched in animatics, Hirsch and crew felt that it was “too romantic,” like a romcom.

-In the Special Features disc, we see a sneak peak of the deleted scene.  In this, Dipper goes in on a rant of despair, pledging to Wendy that he’ll try to avoid the Gift Shop from now on, and that she’ll never have to talk to him again, before she stops him and tries to calm him (Dude, Dude, it’s okay...)  (Poor baby... - Editor’s note)

-The scene was meant to reflect Alex’s own puberty, which wasn’t romantic, but nightmarish. 

-”It’s meant to be terrifying for Dipper.  His heart is in his throat as he has to have this talk with Wendy.  He’s frozen, waiting for it to pass, and Wendy can see this pain, and she’s doing everything she can to show him, “Nothing’s different.  Everything’s normal.  You’re normal.  These feelings are normal.  I’m a couple years older than you, and I’ve seen this.  I’ve been around the block.  We all go through it.  You’re going to be okay.”

(Kinda wish they went this route instead of the whole “age” thing.  It’s beautiful - Editor’s note)

-It couldn’t be a “will they/won’t they” situation.  The real question was “will they be friends after this?”

-The writers could see a very legitimate path where Wendy is like, “Dude. you’re creeping me out.  Maybe we should take a little time from each other because this is not healthy, etc.”  The fact that she was so beautiful and cool and treats Dipper so well shows that she IS the awesome kind of person that Dipper thinks she is.

(The Golf War)

-A quick note about Dipper and relationships.  Dipper’s normal social fear melts away when he’s around someone he hates so much.  Someone like Pacifica brings out pure sass and rage.   (HA! - Editor’s note)

(Little Gift Shop of Horrors)

-There was a possible story being tossed around where Wendy gets a tattoo and gradually, it overtakes her/she becomes the tattoo herself.  Alex Hirsch loved the idea of a living tattoo, stating that it’d fit with Wendy’s rebellious teen nature, and that she’d learn a lesson at the end of it.

-The writers passed, saying that Wendy is very hard to write for.  When we see her, she’s cool and controlled, and for a short story concept, finding that depth to make it valuable would be difficult.  Plus, they didn’t want to be compared to Moana (or the fact it’s almost exactly like a Goosebumps story? - Editor’s note)

(Society of the Blind Eye)

-Hirsch and the writers loved the Wendy/Mabel scene because there’s not many of them throughout the series.  To them, it was great to show Wendy as the “cool, older sister.”  Hirsch dug Wendy’s complete disregard of boys.  “Don’t worry about them.  Yeah, whatever, they’re a dime a dozen. I’ve had so many boyfriends...”

-The writers discuss what kind of man Wendy would end up with.  “He’d have to be something - some kind of specimen.  She’s so confident and having a good time, comfortable in her own skin; if a guy’s cool, she’ll be “Yeah, I’ll try it out,” and when she’s bored, “Yeah, no thanks,” leaving a bottomless scar inside their heart,” going on to cite Robbie as example.

-Alex Hirsch added the line about Wendy’s being stressed 24/7.  It’s obviously not what she shows the world, and yet, it shows how you can vaguely see it there.  (Tell me about it - Editor’s note)

(Blendin’s Game)

-Alex Hirsch’s view on family:  “Friendship is thicker than water, and family’s something you can create.”

-Hirsch’s further thoughts on shipping:  He tells the writers that it’s meaningless.  He rather ask if they have a compelling story instead.  He doesn’t care about love, saying “Love isn’t the end - it’s a story turn.”

-A member of the writing cast was going to comment on the baby Wendy and Tambry scene, when she was interrupted, and the point is never bought up again.   (Dammit! - Editor’s note)

(Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons)

-Hirsch debated about having a scene where Dipper reveals his real name to Ford.  The consensus said no.  The same happened for “Dipper and Mabel Vs. the Future.”

(The Last Mabelcorn)

-Originally, the episode was going to be a Wendy-eccentric episode involving her family and her relationship with Manly Dan.  On top of that, she was going to gain magical weather powers as well.  The team decided against it, not wanting to be compared to the movie, Frozen, as well finding it hard to balance considering Wendy’s grounded character.

For this, they made it up to her by having Wendy (and her influence) take over the episode after the first third.

(Roadside Attraction)

-The Special Features disc shows an alternate opening that doesn’t showcase a Dipper/Wendy angle at all.  Dipper asks a group of ladies to borrow a quarter and instead, gets beaten up for it.  Mabel and the gang figure from this that Dipper needs help talking to women.

-The whole point of the episode (to Hirsch) is that Dipper gets advice from Stan when Dipper is only trying to move on, while Stan has no idea what he’s doing, stating he is not a role model by any means.  The lesson is not to present false affections and learn to hear other people’s feelings.  “Stan lives alone for a reason!”

(Dipper & Mabel Vs. the Future)

-The Mabel/Wendy scene was created so that if someone as cool as Wendy doesn’t like High School, it immediately changes Mabel’s perspective on the matter.

-One of the Government agents were originally going to offer Dipper an apprenticeship/”advanced learning path,” in due to all of his discoveries and research.

-Hirsch figures that Ford’s speech towards Dipper is similar if not the same that he gave to McGucket.  Ford takes advantage of hero worship - it’s not so much as he needs an apprentice, rather to have someone that’ll do anything he says.  (So where are those people that says Ford doesn’t have a mean streak in him? - Editor’s note)

-Upon Dipper rescuing Ford, Jason Ritter laments on commentary, “If only Wendy could have seen that moment...” to which the room explodes with laughter.

(Weirdmageddon Part 1)

-Hirsch explains: “Wendy is the most grounded character in the series, so in this ungrounded scenario, she is able to make the most of it.  She can handle just about anything.”

-Wendy’s speech to Dipper was struggled with for a while.  It had to be a speech not about Dipper’s self-confidence, but about how he needed Mabel back (which the writers says there’s truth in)

-The live action Wendy and Dipper scene (with Jason Ritter and Linda Cardellini) had lines cut from the final version (Son-of-a-...  Editor’s Note)

-The Gideon/Dipper speech represents the full completion of Dipper’s Wendy arc.  It’s a real-life lesson that Hirsch says many people in real life still don’t get.

(Weirdmageddon 2: Escape from Reality)

-A deleted scene in the Special Features disc expands on the beach scene, where Mabel zaps Dipper, Wendy, and Soos’s ruined clothing into gaudy swimwear (though Wendy has a cute flower in her hair ala Hawaiian).  They go to the beach and Wendy begins to admire the hunky volleyball players, leading to a jealous Dipper.

-Alex Hirsch explains that the fantasies offered in Mabelland aren’t fantasies, they’re easier outs.  Wendy’s is teen rebellion rather than facing reality.  Soos’s is the dad he always wanted.

-With Dipper, what was originally going to be behind the door was Ford and the offer of the apprenticeship.  They would go off on adventures and discoveries, only to stumble upon a now-alone Mabel, growing up in High School, and having a real life.  Hirsch axed the idea, believing that Mabelland, and by extension, Bill Cipher, wouldn’t show the downside of any fantasy, rather Dipper would have to discover it himself.  For this, the writers had to go back to “the Wendy Well.”   (Special note: we at @wendip-week have to use the phrase, “Wendy Well” more often - Editor’s note)

-Earlier versions of the episodes had different “Wendy wants,” including one where we find her writing deep poetry.  The writers go on about her fantasy, saying that it couldn’t be a “perfect guy,” because she’s self-realized.  But at the same time,  they admit that Wendy “exhibits destructive character flaws that she has to get over.”  They add, “She really loves that aimless teen rebellion, that it’s hard to turn down all that chaos.”   (So, why the hell didn’t they make an episode about that?!  And I wanna see Poet Wendy ASAP! - Editor’s note)

(Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls)

-Alex Hirsch:  “Gravity Falls was always meant to have a bittersweet feeling to it.”

-Weirdmageddon was about giving everyone a hero moment.  Part 1 was Wendy and Dipper’s.  Part 2 was Mabel, and the Mystery team as a whole.  Part 3 was the Stan twins and the town united.

-Jason Ritter marvels at the Wendy and Rumble sequence, noting how all the other characters are fighting  with machines, and yet Wendy is going at it bare-handed.

-Weirdmageddon was approved to be a made-for-TV movie, but Disney demanded another 3 episodes for regular air.  The team declined.

-There was never an official plan for the Zodiac.  It was something the team made as a tease, but after seeing fan response, they knew they had to do something with it.  Linking Wendy with the bag was a last minute decision simply because of the scenes involving her and ice throughout the series.

-A quick note about the original quote of the Llama, versus the final one given by Larry King, “Llamas are dumb, blonde, beautiful, and they spit!”   (BWHAHAHAHAHAHA! - Editor’s note)

-Hirsch is a big believer in visual aid.  The Pines twins changed on the inside, and he wanted something to show that on the outside as well.  Mabel got to keep Waddles, and for that, Dipper received Wendy’s hat, as a symbol of their friendship.

-Rewatching the scene, Jason Ritter says that he believes Dipper never takes off Wendy’s hat, and is too shy to tell anyone its origins.  (”When people ask him, he’s like “Don’t you worry about that...”)

-Alex Hirsch says the switching hats idea came from a storyboarder’s sketch, in which he said, “That feels right.”  (Uh-huh.  Just a sketch... - Editor’s note)

The Wendy’s note scene was meant to be ambiguous about two things.  The first being “Mystery.”  It gave Dipper one last question to ponder in his head.  (Had to do one last tease, eh?  Editor’s note)

-The second was “Endings.”   “Did something just die here?  Are all these things we love really gone?”  HIrsch says not quite.  “Endings are new beginnings.”

A few neat points of interest (non Wendip related)

-Jason Ritter is a HUGE gaming fan, where he was able to name almost all the references in “Fight Fighters.”  He also played and completed the Gravity Falls 3DS game twice (where Alex Hirsch admits he never has...)

-Hidden in the Double Dipper episode, there is a secret commentary track, where Jason swoons over Wendy for part of the episode, only to be interrupted by his clones (including one that had to camp out for “The Legend of Zelda - Breath of the Wild)

And lastly, I want to address the new comic, Lost Legends.  While it didn’t have a hint of Wendip in it:

(sorry, fam, Wendy making a crack about Dipper wearing a skirt doesn’t cut it for me.  And didn’t mean to mooch. @fereality-indy. - I couldn’t find a real scan)

But it does contain two other important pieces of information (besides Mabel getting her just-desserts).

The first is a code that gives the hint, WENDY'S MOM: IN ANOTHER DIMENSION?

Such a thing would explain a ton.  One would guess that Wendy and her family believes that her mother just vanished, meaning she could have abandonment issues.  (and yes, kids, such a thing can affect how people have relationships)

And to add to the tease, there’s a second hint as well in the first story:

(and thank you, GF Team for giving me another canon point to add to the Protector comic by stating the BES still exists!)

But back to the task at hand, we see that the far right vital has Wendy’s mom’s memories.  Is this in conjunction with the above point?  Or its own theory?

Hopefully, this plot point is exploring in the next piece of GF related media.  All I can guess is this, if Wendy’s mom really is stuck in another dimension, the Pines better pray they didn’t have anything to do with it...

The only other interesting thing to note is that at the end of the second story, Wendy makes an comment about “overthrowing the government,” which kinda sounds like the cut scene from “Scary-Oke” mentioned above.  Is it a statement of the politics taught in the Corduroy home, or is it a reflection of current views from Alex Hirsch and the writers?  (It’s fascinating either way, IMHO).

So, with everything said and done, I’ll admit, reader, I’m a bit mixed up, feeling wise.

On one hand, Alex Hirsch himself confirmed a shit-ton of Wendy and Dipper info that makes me feel like:

But at the same time, it seems like one of my favorite parts of the show is the one he could care less about - that it’s an end to a means.  The closest feeling I can relate to is how the Professor in the 2nd TMNT movie inadvertently tells Donatello that he was an accident.

And I get it, the series is based on the dude’s real life, and that includes nearly every aspect of Wendy and Dipper, rather it be good or bad (or as he describes it, mostly bad).  But that’s kinda of why I love it, too, that I can relate to that as well, as I’m sure many of you can.  I can say with full honesty that I’ve been both a “Dipper,” where I’ve followed along with a way-too-cool-for-me-girl like a lost puppy, and I’ve been a “Wendy,” too, in which a small ball of wonder looked up at me like I was a gift from God, and I tried my best not to sour or pervert that, and yet, remain honest.  It is an interesting story, even if it’s not the main story.

Man, he wasn’t kidding when he said “Gravity Falls was about being bittersweet,” eh?  But still, the fact remains: while it wasn’t perfect for ol’ Dipper, at least he wasn’t Patti Mayonnaise-d.

Between the numerous essays and questionnaires I’ve whipped up this summer, I still believe that there is ton of info to be asked and answered, especially involving our non-official favorite duo.  We can only hope that the powers that be may want to wish about that “Wendy Well” one day in the future.  Nothing is ever certain, and with that, I’ll leave you with some of the truest words out there, straight from Dipper Pines himself (and because I can’t find the damned gifs.)

Until next time.

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Drop: Chris (BTHB: Wrapped in Blankets)

Prompt fill for @badthingshappenbingo : Bundled Up in Blankets, requested by @scorpiowhump for Chris. 

CW: Trauma recovery, referenced pet whump and institutionalized/legal slavery. Referenced negative/self-injury stimming including head banging.

Direct sequel to This Isn’t Hypothetical for Chris.

“I, I’ll just drop the class. That’s, that’s, that-that’s what I’ll do, just drop the, um, the the class, Jake, is all-”

“Bullshit. Making you drop a class because you were right is fucking bullshit.” Laken sits back, frowning, and Chris’s eyes skip to the side, away from the sparking, crackling fury there. Their fingertips brush over the bandage they’ve applied to the side of Chris’s forehead, and he winces at the sting. “Sorry. You were hitting your head again, weren’t you?”

Chris lets his eyes roll up towards the ceiling, chin tipping with the motion, and he doesn’t answer the question. He only pulls the pale blue weighted blanket that Laken gave him for his birthday around himself tightly. With its heavy soft warmth, he feels less like he’ll float away, or crack apart into a thousand puzzle pieces. 

“Chris,” Laken says, soft but insistent, taking his hands in theirs, holding his long, cold fingers in their warmer, smaller hands. “You can’t keep doing that. You’ve been banging your head all week since it happened. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

Chris’s fingers twitch in their grip, but he doesn’t answer them. He can’t, can’t think of how to explain the noise inside his head, the jangling off-key sound of his thoughts, the way every bit of light overwhelms him, all the sounds of people shouting and laughing and talking and not being like him makes it build and build until there’s nowhere else for it to go.

There are dark places, quiet places, but he can’t be in them all the time, and the cold light inside of Chris needs somewhere to go. 

“Al, already did,” He finally says, with a slight smile. “That’s why the, the the-the bandage, right?” They don’t return the expression, only shake their head, a bit of thick wavy black hair falling over one of their eyes, and rub at his shoulders and arms through the blanket. 

He reaches up, lets his fingers run over the short undercut they wear along the side of their head, the way it feels soft like fur under his fingertips, rougher when he runs back the wrong way. He hums, and Laken only watches him, worry in their eyes. It’s familiar, reminds him of someone, but he can’t think of who.

Baby, you’ll get a concussion that way, we have to redirect, okay?

Who told him that? Who taught him to redirect? Do they know he keeps forgetting and has to learn it all over again? Would they be disappointed in them, if they knew?

Something tells him it doesn’t work that way, not with the shadowy memory-voice he hears sometimes, whoever it was had the brush of hair over his cheek, whoever held him when he couldn’t stop screaming. 

“You’re past the drop date for this class,” Jake says heavily. He’s sitting on the couch, leaning over the paperwork Chris brought back from his meeting with the grad student and the professor officially overseeing the class. The grad student’s written summary doesn’t match what Chris said, but even more than that, it doesn’t match Chris. Chris doesn’t have violent outbursts, and he certainly doesn’t have violent outbursts without provocation. Chris isn’t someone who starts yelling over nothing, he’s just… not the person they’re saying he is, at all. It’s a piece of creative writing masquerading as an incident report. “If you drop now, you fail, full stop. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, your GPA will take a hit-”

“I don’t, don’t, don’t-don’t-don’t care.” Chris shakes his head, just to feel his hair move against his skin. “I… I have to, to drop, anyway. He… he said, he, um-”

“What?” Laken leans forward, until their forehead just touches Chris’s, careful to avoid the injured spot, the sensitive bruised skin under the adhesive pull of the bandage. “What did he say, Chris?”

“I said us,” Chris whispers. “When I talked about, about… pets. Instead of them. He knows.”

There’s a silence that draws out, in the living room. The sound of Jake shuffling papers around, and of Laken’s calm, steady breathing. “There’s nothing in here about that,” Jake says in a low voice. “I didn’t see-... I’ve read this stupid fucking essay that asshole wrote like three times-”

“He didn’t write it, it down.” Chris tightens his grip around Laken’s fingers, but his own aren’t warming up to match theirs. “He told me after the, the professor left that he heard it. Which means-”

“He could report you.” Jake sighs, rubbing his hand over his face. Chris feels suddenly very, very small. “Per-fucking-fect. Did he say what he intends to do with this information?”

Chris swallows. “Nothing.” 

Laken and Jake exchange a look that Chris can’t read, he’s not good at reading the looks where people have whole conversations without actually saying anything. He looks up between them, one to the other, wondering what they are saying about him without speaking.

“So… if he’s not going to do anything-”

“He won’t say anything to, to, to anyone,” Chris says, softly, “as long as… as I drop the class.”

There’s a beat of quiet again, and another conversation held in silence that Chris can’t follow, only feel its weight, and then Jake clears his throat. “Chris, did he really-”

“Yeah. He really.” Chris shakes his head, pulling away from Laken’s grip, sitting back in the armchair. His right hand traces over the sleeve of his compression shirt on his left, and he taps against the back of his hand. He has no tears left. “He doesn’t want to… to get charged with, with corrupting influence if, if, if-if I get picked up. He said he, he doesn’t… doesn’t want to, to, to-to teach… pets.”

“This is bullshit,” Laken says again. “You’re not a fucking pet anymore. They can’t-”

“Take the fail,” Jake interrupts, and Laken spins in their chair to look at him, but Jake is staring down at the papers. “It’s fine. You can take an extra class later to fix a little of what it’s going to do to your grades. Just take the fail.”

“Jake, you’re not fucking serious-”

“Yeah, Laken, I am.” Jake’s anger is usually worn openly, but now it’s tightly coiled inside of him. Chris can feel it underneath the air in the room. Once upon a time, every hint of safety he could hope for was based on how well he could read the anger in the handlers or his Sir before it came down on his head. Most of it is gone, but… but in these moments, his skin prickles, the hair on the back of his neck wants to stand up.

Danger. Run. Danger. Hide. Danger. Be still. Danger. Be good.

“This asshole can’t force Chris to-”

“That asshole can call Chris in, report him, report us. They charge people like me, and they charge people who know and don’t report, like him. I get it. I get it, but I fucking hate it.” Jake sits very still, and then he’s up and off the couch and Chris flinches instinctively back as Jake balls up the paper with the grad student’s report on it and throws it violently at the wall. “Fuck!”

The little ball of paper bounces harmlessly off and hits the floor.

“That is singularly un-fucking-satisfying,” Jake says, staring at it. Laken and Chris only stare at him, Laken with the same anger in their eyes that Jake feels, and Chris with an old, barely-concealed fear. 

There’s a beat of silence before Jake speaks again. His voice is back to calm, but there’s an edge to it that gives him away, no matter how even-keeled he is trying to keep himself. 

“If those are his terms, we take it. We can’t risk safety to prove a point, to be right. Understand? It… it sucks, and I’d give my right fucking arm for ten minutes alone with that dick with no consequences, but… but this is still an out. He’s still giving us a way he won’t report. If he’s giving me a way to keep Chris and my rescues safe, I have to take it.”

“But… that’s-”

“Bullshit?” Jake twists a wry smile. “You bet your ass it is. But that’s-... that’s lib life, isn’t it? Just wading through waist-deep bullshit trying to give people the life they deserved after their real lives were fucking stolen, and the whole time I’m building up the fucking fort, these assholes - from dickbrain grad students right up to the goddamn Senate - are taking bricks out from the bottom hoping it’ll collapse and I can’t-... I can’t risk it, just to fight this, Laken. I have to think about everyone, not just Chris, but also… I have to think about Chris. Winning this battle could cost him. I want to - I want to fight this - but if we do…”

“That dumbass gets Chris in trouble,” Laken says, and groans. “Which means cops, and jail, and worse. Christ, Jake, do you think he just doesn’t want Chris in his class and this is a way to make it happen so nobody will fight it?”

Jake takes in a breath, lets it out. “Maybe. His worry could be legitimate, though.”

“Or he could just not want to face how fucked up this is,” Laken points out. “But he’s got us fucked both ways from Sunday for sure. We’re boxed in, no matter what we do.”

“Don’t say, say box,” Chris whispers, a shudder racing through him.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Jake paces, walking from one end of the living room to the other and back again. On TV, a cartoon about a spy is playing, but none of them is paying any attention to it. It’s just background noise to the conversation none of them wants to be having. “He could report Chris anyway, honestly. He doesn’t have to keep this promise. And if he does-”

“WRU will, will, will take me back,” Chris says, pulling his blanket as close as he can as though he could hide within it, and the tremble in his voice catches Laken and Jake’s attention again. The two turn to look at him, and Laken leans back forward, hands on either side of his face. Their hands, pale palms with warm brown skin, nails painted thick matte black, are warm and dry, and Chris lifts his own to cover them, closing his eyes. 

“They won’t,” Laken says, with fierce and total conviction. “They won’t. Never, ever. Now that I know, I’d-... Chris, I’d never let them. I have… my family knows people, we could get you somewhere else.” They lean forward, and he feels the warmth of them just before their lips touch his, and he answers the kiss. The throb of fear and anger inside him fades, a little, under the strength of their need to be here for him, even when he is difficult, even when he can’t stop hurting himself, even when he says us instead of them.

“I can’t believe he would rather turn Chris in than teach him,” Laken says, after a second’s pause. “I thought-... you know, the grad students aren’t that much older than we are, and people don’t think about it the way they used to. I just… I just thought-”

“I know. I used to think that, too. But.” Jake sighs, and moves to pick up the little crumpled ball of paper. “Maybe lighting this on fire would make me feel better?”

“Doubt it.” Laken pulls Chris’s head against their shoulder, the denim of their black jean jacket scratchy but still soft with wear and age, and he hums, rocking into them lightly, as their arms slide up and around behind his neck to hold him. “You’re okay, Chris. One failed class is nothing. We’ll figure it out. We’ll figure this out.”

“Maybe I should, should, should drop out. Give up on, um, on college.”

“Absolutely not,” Laken says, at the same time Jake says, “No fucking way.” 

“You’ve worked too hard for this,” Jake says after a pause. “You spent years working to relearn how to read so you could start studying for your GED and get a good score, you were so excited for this. This is just one bump in the road, this isn’t a dead end, I swear. We’re not giving up, Chris.”

“But-”

“We’ll tell him you’ll drop the class. He’ll keep it quiet, and you can go right back to normal. Nobody has to know but us.” Laken’s voice is low, and Chris wants to trust them, wants to believe. 

“We’ll figure it out. One failed class won’t wreck you, Chris.” 

Jake sits on the arm of the chair Chris is in, and slides an arm around his shoulders behind him, over the blanket. Laken is warm in front of him and Jake is warm beside him, and Chris hums again, but lower-pitched this time. The two of them are the soft, soothing darkness that holds back the white light.

“I just-” Chris lets the words die in his throat, and taps on his own stomach while Laken and Jake hold him, tears hot behind his eyelids that he refuses to let escape. He’s so tired of crying, he’s so tired of it being hard, he’s so tired of something unsettling his world every time he thinks there won’t be any more earthquakes.

Brick by brick, Chris is building a life - and the time he spent on his knees and on his back comes back to haunt him, whenever he lets himself relax. Whenever he feels safe. Whenever he thinks it won’t haunt him any longer.

“We’re not giving up on you,” Laken murmurs. “Don’t you give up now, either.”

--

Tagging: @burtlederp​, @finder-of-rings, @endless-whump​, @whumpfigure​, @slaintetowhump​, @astrobly​, @newandfiguringitout​, @doveotions​, @pretty-face-breaker​, @boxboysandotherwhump​, @oops-its-whump​ @moose-teeth, @cubeswhump​

[patriotsnet]

What Republicans Think Of Trump Now

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-republicans-think-of-trump-now/

What Republicans Think Of Trump Now

What Is Happening To The Republicans

Republicans Face ‘Civil War’ Split Over Remaining GOP Loyalty to Trump

In becoming the party of Trump, the G.O.P. confronts the kind of existential crisis that has destroyed American parties in;the past.

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Content

But, for all the anxiety among Republican leaders, Goldwater prevailed, securing the nomination at the Partys convention, in San Francisco. In his speech to the delegates, he made no pretense of his ideological intent. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, he said. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Goldwaters crusade failed in November of 1964, when the incumbent, Lyndon Johnson, who had become President a year earlier, after Kennedys assassination, won in a landslide: four hundred and eighty-six to fifty-two votes in the Electoral College. Nevertheless, Goldwaters ascent was a harbinger of the future shape of the Republican Party. He represented an emerging nexus between white conservatives in the West and in the South, where five states voted for him over Johnson.

Opinion: Why Donald Trump May Lose Influence In The Republican Party

Common wisdom holds that former president Donald Trump remains the dominant force within the Republican Party. The truth is that his personal influence and standing are not as powerful as many imagine, and his power is as likely to decline as it is to increase.

Theres no denying that many Republicans still revere Trump. He remains highly popular with GOP voters, and candidates for office still vie for his endorsement. Two recent Politico/Morning Consult polls show how strong he remains. A mid-May poll found that half of Republicans surveyed would vote for Trump in a hypothetical 2024 presidential primary matchup, and another poll released this week shows that 59 percent want Trump to play a major role in the party going forward. Trump is clearly the single most influential figure in the party today.

Other signs point to the gradual erosion of Trumps influence. Candidates may seek his support, but those who fail to get it dont drop out of the race. Trumps endorsement of Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks for his states open Senate seat did not dissuade Katie Britt, a former chief of staff to retiring Sen. Richard C. Shelby, from entering the race on Tuesday. Her three-minute announcement video barely mentions Trump and strikes traditional conservative themes of faith, family and hard work.

Democrats Return The Favor: Republicans Uninformed Or Self

The 429 Democratic voters in our sample returned the favor and raised many of the same themes. Democrats inferred that Republicans must be VERY ill-informed, or that Fox news told me to vote for Republicans.;;Or that Republicans are uneducated and misguided people guided by what the media is feeding them.

Many also attributed votes to individual self-interest whereas GOP voters feel Democrats want free stuff, many Democrats believe Republicans think that I got mine and dont want the libs to take it away, or that some day I will be rich and then I can get the benefits that rich people get now.

Many used the question to express their anger and outrage at the other side.;;Rather than really try to take the position of their opponents, they said things like, I like a dictatorial system of Government, Im a racist, I hate non-whites.;

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Republicans Cant Understand Democrats

Only one in four Republican voters felt that most or almost all Democratic voters sincerely believed they were;voting in the best interests of the country.;;Rather, many Republicans told us that Democratic voters were brainwashed by the propaganda of the mainstream media, or voting solely in their self-interest to preserve undeserved welfare and food stamp benefits.

We asked every Republican in the sample to do their best to imagine that they were a Democrat and sincerely believed that the Democratic Party was best for the country.;;We asked them to explain their support for the Democratic Party as an actual Democratic voter might.;;For example, a 64-year-old strong Republican man from Illinois surmised that Democrats want to help the poor, save Social Security, and tax the rich.;;;

But most had trouble looking at the world through Democratic eyes. Typical was a a 59-year-old Floridian who wrote I dont want to work and I want cradle to grave assistance. In other words, Mommy!;Indeed, roughly one in six Republican voters answered in the persona of a Democratic voter who is motivated free college, free health care, free welfare, and so on.;;They see Democrats as voting in order to get free stuff without having to work for it was extremely common roughly one in six Republican voters used the word free in the their answers, whereas no real Democratic voters in our sample answered this way.;

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Taking The Perspective Of Others Proved To Be Really Hard

The divide in the United States is wide, and one indication of that is how difficult our question proved for many thoughtful citizens. A 77-year-old Republican woman from Pennsylvania was typical of the voters who struggled with this question, telling us, This is really hard for me to even try to think like a devilcrat!, I am sorry but I in all honesty cannot answer this question. I cannot even wrap my mind around any reason they would be good for this country.

Similarly, a 53-year-old Republican from Virginia said, I honestly cannot even pretend to be a Democrat and try to come up with anything positive at all, but, I guess they would vote Democrat because they are illegal immigrants and they are promised many benefits to voting for that party. Also, just to follow what others are doing. And third would be just because they hate Trump so much. The picture she paints of the typical Democratic voter being an immigrant, who goes along with their party or simply hates Trump will seem like a strange caricature to most Democratic voters. But her answer seems to lack the animus of many.;;

Democrats struggled just as much as Republicans. A 33-year-old woman from California told said, i really am going to have a hard time doing this but then offered that Republicans are morally right as in values, going to protect us from terrorest and immigrants, going to create jobs.

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Emboldened ‘unchanged’ Trump Looks To Re

Across the party as a whole, an NBC News poll released late last month found, a majority of Republicans considered themselves supporters of the GOP, compared to just 44 percent who supported Trump above all, the first time that has been the case since July 2019.

But mild dissatisfaction with Trump isn’t the same as political courage. Most prominent Republicans have publicly aligned with Trump even as voter support erodes, and they’re buckled in for the long haul. That creates the opening for more traditional Republicans to toy with forming a new party but it’s a slim one.

America Should Deport Illegal Immigrants

Republicans believe that illegal immigrants, no matter the reason they are in this country, should be forcibly removed from the U.S. Although illegal immigrants are often motivated to come to the U.S. by companies who hire them, Republicans generally believe that the focus of the law should be on the illegal immigrants and not on the corporations that hire them.

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Republicans Think Democrats Always Cheat

The Republican strategy has several sources of motivation, but the most important is a widely shared belief that Democrats in large cities i.e., racial minorities engage in systematic vote fraud, election after election. We win because of our ideas, we lose elections because they cheat us, insisted Senator Lindsey Graham on Fox News last night. The Bush administration pursued phantasmal vote fraud allegations, firing prosecutors for failing to uncover evidence of the schemes Republicans insisted were happening under their noses. In 2008, even a Republican as civic-minded as John McCain accused ACORN, a voter-registration group, of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.

The persistent failure to produce evidence of mass-scale vote fraud has not discouraged Republicans from believing in its existence. The failure to expose it merely proves how well-hidden the conspiracy is. Republicans may despair of their chances of proving Trumps vote-fraud charges in open court, but many of them believe his wild lies reflect a deeper truth.

Despite The State Of Our Politics Hope For America Is Rising And So Is Youths Faith In Their Fellow Americans

What GOP Leaders Think of Trump, Then and Now

In the fall of 2017, only 31% of young Americans said they were hopeful about the future of America; 67% were fearful. Nearly four years later, we find that 56% have hope. While the hopefulness of young whites has increased 11 points, from 35% to 46% — the changes in attitudes among young people of color are striking. Whereas only 18% of young Blacks had hope in 2017, today 72% are hopeful . In 2017, 29% of Hispanics called themselves hopeful, today that number is 69% .

By a margin of nearly three-to-one, we found that youth agreed with the sentiment, Americans with different political views from me still want whats best for the country — in total, 50% agreed, 18% disagreed, and 31% were recorded as neutral. In a hopeful sign, no significant difference was recorded between Democrats and Republicans .

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What These Republicans Think About Donald Trump

Michele Gorman U.S.Donald Trump2016 Presidential Campaign2016 Presidential ElectionRepublicans

| We’ve been hearing it for months: Many established Republicans won’t support Donald Trump, who now is the party’s 2016 presidential nominee.

Since May 3, when Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus urged the party to unite behind the real estate tycoon, several prominent Republicans have publicly said they won’t back the New York billionaire in the general election. And some have said they will skip the Republican National Convention, scheduled for July 18 through 21 in Cleveland.

Trump’s inflammatory remarks toward immigrants and women have given pause to some members of the party, while others differ on his policy stances on issues including the economy, foreign affairs and international trade, to name just a few. Meanwhile, a small number of established members of the party have publicly supported the presumptive nominee.

Below is a look at who has said what…so far.

With Trump Off The Ballot Republicans Look To Regain Votes In The Suburbs

Trump’s influence in Ohio even after defeat so far has showed no signs of decline.

In the Ohio legislature, where the GOP controls the agenda with a super-majority, Republicans are looking to enact new restrictions on voting, following Trump’s baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 elections. There have even been proposals to rename a state park after Trump and to honor him with a state holiday. U.S. Senate hopefuls are jockeying to be the most pro-Trump Republican candidate. And the fact that a Cleveland area GOP congressman, Anthony Gonzalez, voted to impeach Trump in January has made him a handy target for Republicans looking to catch Trump’s eye, and maybe an endorsement.

But even at the Licking County GOP gathering, there were a number of opinions about the former president and the role he should play going forward in Republican politics.

The guest speaker at the event was GOP consultant Matt Dole, whose remarks offered a bit of consolation to audience members who may have loved Trump but were far less fond of his Twitter habit.

“We had to defend whatever Donald Trump did on a day in and day out basis,” Dole told his audience of about 50 Republican Party members. He added that they were all for Trump’s policies, “but sometimes his tweets got in the way.”

Republicans wish Trump were still in office, but according to Dole, they are now free to go on offense and focus on attacking the policies of Biden and the Democrats.

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Forty Percent Of Young Americans Expect Their Lives To Be Better As A Result Of The Biden Administration; Many More Feel A Part Of Bidens America Than Trumps

By a margin of 2:1, young Americans expect their lives to become better under the Biden administration, rather than worse ; 25% tell us that they dont expect much of a difference. We found significant differences based on race and ethnicity.

Whites: 30% better, 28% worse

Blacks: 54% better, 4% worse

Hispanics: 51% better, 10% worse

Forty-six percent of young Americans agreed that they feel included in Bidens America, 24% disagreed . With the exception of young people living in rural America, at least a plurality indicated they felt included. This stands in contrast to Trumps America. Forty-eight percent reported that they did not feel included in Trumps America, while 27% indicated that they felt included . The only major subgroup where a plurality or more felt included in Trumps America were rural Americans.;

39% of Whites feel included in Bidens America, 32% do not ; 35% of Whites feel included in Trumps America, 41% do not .

61% of Blacks feel included in Bidens America, 13% do not ; 16% of Blacks feel included in Trumps America, 60% do not .

51% of Hispanics feel included in Bidens America, 12% do not ; 17% of Hispanics feel included in Trumps America, 55% do not .

Have Expressed Reluctance Or Misgivings But Havent Openly Dropped Their Backing

Paul Ryan and John Boehner, the former speakers of the House: Both have expressed their dislike of the president, but have not said whom they will support in November.

John Kelly, a former chief of staff to the president: Mr. Kelly has not said whom he plans to vote for, but did say he wished we had some additional choices.

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska: She has said that shes grappling with whether to support Mr. Trump in November. She told reporters on Capitol Hill in June: I am struggling with it. I have struggled with it for a long time.

She said: I think right now, as we are all struggling to find ways to express the words that need to be expressed appropriately, questions about who Im going to vote for or not going to vote for, I think, are distracting at the moment. I know people might think thats a dodge, but I think there are important conversations that we need to have as an American people among ourselves about where we are right now.

Mr. Sanford briefly challenged the president in this cycles Republican primary, and said last year that he would support Mr. Trump if the president won the nomination .

That has since changed.

Hes treading on very thin ice, Mr. Sanford said in June, worrying that the president is threatening the stability of the country.

Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.

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Will Not Support Trumps Re

Former President George W. Bush: Although he has not spoken about whom he will vote for in November, people familiar with Mr. Bushs thinking have said it wont be Mr. Trump. Mr. Bush did not endorse him in 2016.

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah: Mr. Romney has long been critical of Mr. Trump, and was the only Republican senator to vote to convict him during his impeachment trial. Mr. Romney is still mulling over whom he will vote for in November he opted for his wife, Ann, four years ago but he is said to be sure it wont be the president.

John Bolton, the former national security adviser: As he rolled out his recently published book, The Room Where It Happened, Mr. Bolton said in multiple interviews that he would not vote for Mr. Trump in November. He added that he would write in the name of a conservative Republican, but that he was not sure which one.

Gov. Phil Scott of Vermont: Mr. Scott has said multiple times this summer that he will not be voting for the president, a position that he also took in 2016. He says he has not yet decided whether or not he will vote for Mr. Biden.

William H. McRaven, a retired four-star Navy admiral: Several Republican admirals and generals have publicly announced they will not support the president. In an interview with The New York Times, Admiral McRaven, who directed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, said, This fall, its time for new leadership in this country Republican, Democrat or independent.

Most Republicans Still Believe 2020 Election Was Stolen From Trump Poll

May opinion poll finds that 53% of Republicans believe Trump is the true president compared with 3% of Democrats

A majority of Republicans still believe Donald Trump won the 2020 US presidential election and blame his loss to Joe Biden on baseless claims of illegal voting, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll.

The 17-19 May national poll found that 53% of Republicans believe Trump, their partys nominee, is the true president now, compared with 3% of Democrats and 25% of all Americans.

About one-quarter of adults falsely believe the 3 November election was tainted by illegal voting, including 56% of Republicans, according to the poll. The figures were roughly the same in a poll that ran from 13-17 November which found that 28% of all Americans and 59% of Republicans felt that way.

Biden, a Democrat, won by more than 7m votes. Dozens of courts rejected Trumps challenges to the results, but Trump and his supporters have persisted in pushing baseless conspiracy theories on conservative news outlets.

US federal and state officials have said repeatedly they have no evidence that votes were compromised or altered during the presidential election, rejecting the unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud advanced by Trump and many of his supporters. Voter fraud is extremely rare in the US.

Still, 67% of overall respondents say they trust election officials in their town to do their job honestly, including 58% of Republicans, according to the poll.

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[buckyscrystalqueen]

Taking The Shot: Part 8

Pairings: Negan x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, angst, fluff, typical Walking Dead stuff, murder

Word Count: 5,202

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took two days of convincing and explaining your reasoning before you finally got Negan to agree to go with you to the neighbor’s house. He grumbled as he got out of the truck, gripping Lucille tight in one hand and the handle of the car seat in the other. You couldn’t help yourself but smile at him as you climbed up the stairs to the Cane’s little house.

“Fucking stupid.” He growled as you knocked on the door.

“Put the fucking bat down, Negan.” You said as the man approached the door hesitantly. He paused for a moment as his eyes shot between the two of you before he crossed over to the door and opened it.

“Hi.” You said cheerily, hoping you could pretend to mend the already rough start with the potential ally in front of you. “My name is (Y/N). You’ve met my husband, Negan. I just wanted to come over and introduce myself since we are going to be living in that house now and to talk to you.” The man nodded slightly as he looked up at Negan, who still had Lucille on his shoulder. You turned and glared at him and with a glance down at you he rolled his eyes, lowered Lucille and leaned her up against the house.

“I-I’m Travis. Come on in.” He said as he stepped to the side letting the two of you inside and pointed to the couches in the living room. “Take a seat. Sadie! Can you come out here? The neighbors came to talk.” You moved over to the couch and sat down on one side and rolled your eyes when Negan sat down almost on top of your hip with the car seat tucked behind his legs. A young woman came in from the back of the house and hesitated for only a moment at the sight of people on her couch for the first time in two years before she smiled.

“Hi, I’m Sadie!” She squeaked as she walked toward you and stuck out her hand. You smiled back.

“(Y/N). My husband, Negan.” She held out her hand to him, fighting against her fear and after a quick elbow to his rib cage, he shook her hand before the couple sat down in the chairs in front of you. You leaned forward, rested your elbows on your knees and spoke. “First, I want to apologize for our first meeting and I want to explain my husband’s odd behavior. You see, we just left a group that consisted of the most absolutely vile humans on the fucking planet. I was pregnant and they came after me and my husband for no reason. When we packed up everything we could and left, they tried to kills us for leaving. These people had been harassing us for months, trying to steal all of our food and weapons, sending walkers into our yard and killing the people in our group in horrific ways. Their leader was a true psychopath.” As the couple looked at each other with appalled looks, you stole a glance at Negan who simply winked at you behind his poker face so you continued.

“So, my husband and I and our couple close friends are very leery with new people especially with our daughter being so young.” Sadie’s eyes lit up at the mention of your little girl and she smiled.

“Can I see her?” She asked as she craned her head to look for the car seat. With a heavy sigh, Negan moved his leg forward, pulled the car seat out and rested it on his knee; his way of telling them to not go near his little angel. Sadie cooed as she stood up slightly to get a closer look before sitting back down and looking at you. “She’s beautiful! What’s her name?” She asked as Negan put the car seat back down under his leg, smiling down at his baby girl as he silently agreed.

“Hope.” He said as he reached down and ran his fingertip across her cheek before putting his poker face back on to look at the couple once more.

“Look, like I said before; we don’t want trouble.” Travis said as he pointed between him and Sadie. “We live off our land, we have a few farm animals in the barn out back that keep us going and we don’t need much of anything other than that. If we need personal supplies there are enough places to go and find them. We don’t need to steal from people who need stuff just as much as we do.”

“And we feel the same way.” You said with a smile as you wrapped your arm through Negan’s; both of you knowing that if needed, the two people in front of you would die for their supplies no matter what sort of lies you fed them now. 

“So the only thing we are asking for is our privacy. Like my husband said, if you need our help with a heard of the dead, we will assist the best we can but other than that we will keep to ourselves and take care of our own.” The couple nodded as you smiled sweetly and pat Negan’s arm. “I think we have taken enough of their time baby. Let’s get Hope back home.” He nodded and the four of you stood up. “It was a pleasure meeting you both.” You cooed almost sarcastically as the four of you shook hands.

“If you ever change your mind or simply want company feel free to drop by!” Sadie piped, completely missing your sarcasm and you nodded.

“Thanks hun. That’s so sweet of you.” Negan coughed to cover his laugh as he headed out the door. He grabbed Lucille on his way and you waved at your neighbors as you followed after him.

“Drive safe.” Travis said as you walked out the door. As he closed the door behind you, Negan let out his signature two-tone whistle while opening the back door of the truck to put the car seat in. You bit your tongue as you climbed into the front seat and turned around to look at him.

“Nice poker face.” He gruffed as he looked up at you through his eyelashes with an evil smile.

“I don’t know what you are referring to, my love.” He chuckled as he shut the back door and got into the front. You waved again at the couple watching you from the window as Negan backed out of the driveway.

“Really fucking laid it on thick, didn’t you?” He asked as he pulled down the road a smile finally staying on his face now that you were out of the potential threats eye sight.

“I told a slightly exaggerated version of the truth leaving out some key plot points and ad-libbing here and there. They don’t need to know that the new neighbors could shoot them dead in their front yard from our front porch in a matter of seconds and that we could literally pop their eye balls out of their skulls. The only thing they need to know is you are fucking scary as shit and you will protect your girls no matter what.” He pulled into your driveway and put the car in park, grabbed Lucille and jumped out to open the gate while you crawled over the middle and drove the truck toward the car port.

“Did you have fun?” Arat asked as you got out of the truck and you shrugged.

“Let’s put it this way. They are terrified of Negan already, they think Hope is adorable…”

“Man, she just fucking slid her Goddamn dick down their fucking throats and they ate that shit up.” Negan interrupted with a laugh as he strolled away from the now padlocked gate. “She’s a fucking pro at saying exactly what the fuck people need to fucking here.” You shrugged as you lifted the car seat out of the base and shut the door.

“What was I supposed to do? Say ‘hey, you have four professional murders for neighbors now’? That shit doesn’t go over very well.”

“Fuck, that’s what I would have said.” Simon replied as he put his cigarette out in the metal smoke tower you had stolen from outside a store. “Makes shit a hell of a lot simpler.”

“Na. Fucking let them squirm.” You said as you put the car seat down on the porch to sit and bull shit for a while. “That way they won’t fucking see us coming.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It only took a week before the first herd came through and you thought you were beyond prepared. Negan had cleaned out the lumber yard and found bag upon bags of quick dry cement. It took an entire day to dig holes and get the posts cemented into the ground to reinforce the fence every 4 feet. Once you realized how easy it would be for your new neighbors to just drop by on a whim, you had also come up with the idea to create a second front gate out of the leftover pieces of steel to essentially make the house a fortress at night. It took Negan a couple days to find everything he would need to accomplish his goal but he had found it just in the nick of time. He was just finishing drilling the second hole in the driveway for the bottom bolt when Travis came running toward you.

“Hey, just a head’s up- there is a herd of biters coming up our side of the ridge. We can’t tell how big with the fog. We have electric fences so we should be good but Sadie wanted me to pass the message along.” You waved in thanks and he quickly turned and ran back to his house. Negan finished the hole and gestured you inside the fence.

“Guess we will fucking see how this fucker holds up.” He said as he swung the three layer, 7 feet high by 20 feet wide steel gate closed, sliding the bolt into the ground as you latched the three on the hinge side.

“Babe, you have this mother fucker cemented to the fucking fence AND the main gate and it has 8 thick as fuck steel latches and a fucking padlock. This fucker isn’t going anywhere.” You told him as you dropped the last latch in the ground while he locked the chain and pocketed the key.

“Sweetheart…” He started as the two of you headed back to the house and you raised your hands in the air.

“I know, I know. You have the right to be worried.” You replied as you climbed the stairs and headed into the house. “Guys, we got a fucking herd coming through. Pay mind.” You called out as you headed up to your room to check on Hope and head out to your balcony to keep an eye on your property.

“Want me to come help watch?” Arat asked as you climbed the stairs and you nodded.

“Yea, third pair of eyes is never a bad thing.” You told her and she dipped back in her room to grab her rifle.

“Wake me up if you need me.” Simon called out sarcastically and you laughed knowing full well he was going to end up on the roof with you in a few minutes. Carson, as useless as ever, said a simple thanks for the warning as he moved from the living room into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

“I’ve about fucking had it with that mother fucker.” Negan grumbled as he walked into your room and peeked into the bassinet at Hope. You shrugged as you grabbed your rifle and a pack of cigarettes and headed for the balcony.

“Fucking kill him then. We don’t fucking need him anymore. He did his fucking job.”

“Who are we talking about killing?” Arat asked softly as she tiptoed into the room, not wanting to wake up her niece.

“Carson.” Negan told her as the two of them joined you on the balcony. Arat shrugged and accepted the smoke you offered.

“I get why you brought him in the first place but I’m fucking shocked he’s still alive. Take his ass on a run and leave him. He won’t make it a day.”

“Who won’t?” Simon asked and you rolled your eyes at him.

“If you want to be part of a fucking conversation, get your ass off your bed,” He pointed his fingers at you and shot an invisible gun.

“Fucking, Carson; who else?” Negan said and Simon nodded and pursed his lips.

“Yea, fuck it. Fucker gets on my last nerve.”

“All in fucking favor, say I.” You said and the three other members of your family all agreed.

“Alright… fuck Carson.” Negan said. You all heard the approaching herd hitting the Cane’s electric fence and turned toward the sound.

“Jesus fuck…” you whispered as walkers started to stumble out of the fog. Within seconds the four of you realized that if this fence didn’t hold up, you didn’t stand a chance. Without a word, Negan grabbed your arm and pulled you in front of him to protect you, knowing you would want to watch the herd.

“Simon, go inside and fucking quickly but quietly shut all the fucking windows in my room. Last thing we fucking need is them fucking hearing Hope crying if she wakes up.” Negan instructed. It took him a moment to find his feet before Simon dipped into the room to close the windows before coming back out on the balcony to watch. Negan wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you tightly to his body as the herd made their way toward your house.

No one made a sound or moved a muscle as hundreds walkers ambled by, nearly all of them ignoring your house completely. The pack seemed to go on forever but as the walkers started wearing thin, moving into the trees behind your house and down the mountain; you were finally able to breathe a little easier. Unfortunately, before the last walkers stumbled into the woods, Hope began to fuss in the house. Simon barely had time to jump out of the way as you nearly threw your rifle at him and ran into the room, scooping your daughter onto your arms and running into your closet. It was the only room that didn’t have a wall on the exterior of the house.

“Make fucking sure they don’t fucking come back.” Negan whisper yelled to the other two as he followed you to the closet. He stood just outside of the nearly closed door with Lucille gripped tightly in his fist as he watched Simon and Arat keep watch. You knew the fence would hold against one or two but with a herd that size; none of you had a clue how the fence would hold. You waited for nearly an hour for the last few stragglers to pass before you deemed it ok to come out of your hiding spot.

“I want to fucking find those fucking concrete barriers tomorrow and fucking stack them inside the fucking fence.” Negan told your friends as you laid a once again sleeping Hope in her bassinet before going out to the balcony for a cigarette to calm your nerves.

“We are in the mountains… what if we dug pits? Easy containment and easy disposal, dual purpose them for trash and shit.” Arat said as you lit your smoke and leaned against the side of the house.

“We could try but you’d probably hit limestone before you got deep enough to make an effective pit though.” Simon said.

“We could find razor wire and make a fence like 5-10 feet from the one that is already up. See if we can find rebar to hold it up and put more rebar sticking up throughout to stop what walkers we can.” You suggested.

“That could work. It’ll be a fucking cunt to work with though.” Simon said.

“End of the fucking day it would be fucking worth it.” Negan pointed out. “We should put the storm shutters they have in the basement up over the bigger windows and see if we can find storm doors or steel doors to replace the ones we have.” Negan nodded in agreement and sighed.

“We got a lot more fucking work to do. First, let’s go fucking take care of fucking Carson so it’s one less fucking problem to deal with and then tomorrow we fuckin’ start with the Goddamn storm shutters. That shit is gunna fucking take a long fucking time. Then from there we fucking start making that fucking fence impenetrable.” The three of you nodded and finished your cigarettes before heading inside. The four of you trudged down stairs, with Lucille now in tow and headed straight for Carson’s room. Negan threw the door open, startling the older gentleman and pointed toward the front door.

“Get- the FUCK- out!” He spat, forcing himself to keep his voice low so he didn’t wake up Hope. The man shook his head as he sat up on the bed.

“But… I… I didn’t do anything!” the doctor stammered as he cowered on his bed. You stepped into the doorway and glared at him.

“That’s the fucking point. You didn’t fucking do fucking shit! The fucking four of us just fucking stood on the Goddamn roof for two fucking hours watching a fucking herd come through that could have fucking killed us all. We were fucking up there to fucking protect our fucking asses and our fucking daughter’s life and you did fucking nothing like a fucking cowardly little bitch. You don’t want to fucking help protect us; we don’t fucking see a fucking reason to keep you fucking alive anymore. Now get the fuck out of my house!” The doctor stared at you in shock, his eyes watering as he shook his head. You heard Negan grip the handle of Lucille tightly and he pushed you to the side.

“Move.” He demanded as he grabbed the front of Carson’s shirt and dragged him from the room. The man stayed quiet out of pure fear as Negan dragged him out of the front of the house.

“Please, you don’t have to do this!” Carson pleaded when Negan threw him off the porch, exchanging Lucille for your rifle simply for the quietness.

“You’re fucking right, I don’t fucking have to; I fucking want to.” Negan told him as he threw the bolt, firing a nearly soundless round into the man’s forehead. As the body fell forward, spilling blood onto the driveway, he shrugged and handed you back your rifle. “Do me a favor, princess. Get your pretty little ass on the fucking roof for me and keep fucking eyes. I’m gunna go burn this mother fucker in the road.”

“You just suck all the fuckin’ fun out of cold blooded murder, don’t you?” You teased with a smile and he shrugged.

“Narcissistic psychopath.” He said as he held his arms out to the side and bent back slightly with a chuckle. You rolled your eyes and leaned up to kiss his cheek and Simon scoffed.

“God, you two are fucking sadistic.” He chuckled as he pointed to Carson’s body. “I’ll get the legs.” You giggled and turned back into the house to keep watch while the other three went to take the body out front. As you climbed up the stairs, Simon’s words resounded in your head once more. In the last year, you had killed hundreds of walkers which was a necessity but you had also witnessed or actually killed at least half a dozen people and you felt absolutely no remorse for it.

You could blame it all on Rick, sure but at the end of the day, what kind of person had you become because of Negan? Your answer came when you turned the corner into your room and saw a tiny arm waving over the edge of the bassinet accompanied by the soft cooing from your pride and joy. With a smile, you crossed the room and as you looked into the bassinet, you realized that you would do absolutely everything necessary to protect her no matter what. And if that meant taking out Carson for not being the protection she needed, so be it.

You stood on the roof with your rifle pressed into your shoulder and after a quick scan of the area around your property in the foggy afternoon sunlight you whistled out the two-tone melody to the men below. Arat threw open the last bolt and pulled open the secondary gate, unlocked the first one and held it ajar as Negan and Simon heaved the body down the driveway and out to the main road. It was only a matter of seconds before Carson’s corpse burst into flames. Negan and Simon headed back into the gate and into the house less than a minute before the small fire attracted the attention of a pair of rogue walkers that looked as if they had been electrocuted.

“Looks like they hit the neighbor’s fence.” You told Negan as he stepped out on the roof, smelling faintly of gasoline. He hummed as he leaned on the rail and watched the brainless walkers throw themselves at the fire. Not wanting to start a forest fire when they stood up and began to stumble around, you shot them down, leaving the three bodies to burn to a crisp in the street.

“Do you think he’s right?” Negan asked as he lit a cigarette, passing it off to you before lighting his own.

“I asked myself the same thing walking up here but at this point, who cares? We are kinda the last fucking people on earth. So we kill people who try to fuck us over or stand in our way of making sure we live another day and keep our daughter safe. Does that make us bad people? Maybe in the old world but this ain’t the fucking old world anymore, baby. This is the new world; kill or be killed. And we do what we have to do.” You pointed at the body burning in front of your house.

“Keeping him alive could have been the difference of Hope making it another day. I know without a shadow of a doubt in my mind that you, me, Arat and Simon would throw our lives on the line in a heartbeat for her. I don’t think he would have. So fuck him. We also don’t kill for sport Negan, which if we ever started to is the point that I would think we needed to be concerned. We kill when doing so ensures our survival.” He took a drag of his cigarettes and nodded slightly, looking over at you with a half mouth smile.

“What would I do without you, baby girl?” You shrugged and laced your arm through his.

“Crash and burn?” You kissed his cheek as he chuckled, and laid your head on his shoulder with a sigh. “We just have to keep doing what we need to do to survive for Hope. That’s all that matters anymore.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You were feeding Hope in the middle of the night about two weeks after the heard came through when the sound of your front gate rattling caught your attention. You stood up from the glider that was in the corner, tossing a blanket over Hope and went to look out of the balcony window. You figured it was probably just a walker; lost and bumbling along the fence line, looking for a path to continue forward but your stomach clenched when you saw a gloved hand grab the top of the secondary gate.

“Negan…” You hissed as you stepped into the shadows of your room out of the glow of the nearly full moon’s light. You put your knee on the bed, grabbed your pillow and whacked your husband with it.

“…the fuck, (Y/N)?” He demanded as he rolled over to glare at you and you hissed at him to shut him up.

“Someone is climbing over the fence.” He sat up, grabbed Lucille and walked around the bed to look out the balcony door window. As you peaked out with him, the two of you watched Travis lowering Sadie onto your driveway by her arms.

“Son of a cunt.” Negan said softly as he turned away from the door to grab a pair of jeans. “Stay up here with her. I’ll get Simon to help.” Without waiting for a response he slipped out on the room silently. You looked back out the window and saw Travis drop into the fenced in yard. The pair of thieves looked at each other for a moment and took a step toward the house before the light from your dining room flooded the yard, forcing them to freeze like deer in headlights. You made sure the blanket you had over Hope was completely covering her body to guard from the cold before you pulled open the balcony door to listen.

“The fuck do you guys think you’re fuckin’ up to?” Negan called out as his shadow danced out across the yard with Lucille over his bare muscular shoulder. You watched Travis grab ahold of Sadie’s arm and pull her behind him as he shook his head at Negan. “Because I’m pretty fucking sure you aren’t fucking coming to dinner and I’m also pretty fucking sure you are not selling fucking cookies. So I’m gunna fucking assume you’re trying to fucking steal from me.” You watched his shadow advance across the yard toward the couple as they backed up quickly toward the fence.

“We lost everything. That herd took out our fence, we lost all of our animals and we had no way to get into town. We just…” Travis stammered.

“We were gunna ask but we were scared…” Sadie chimed in.

“Ya fucking hear that, Simon. They were fucking scared.” Negan chuckled as his body finally appeared to you from the edge of the roof.

“If they only fucking knew, man.” Simon said, as he leaned against the porch rail with a gun in his hand, the top of his shadow falling at Negan’s heels.

“Look, we are sorry, OK? We’ll just go. We made a mistake…” Travis said and you heard Negan chuckle.

“Yeah. You most definitely made one hell of a fucking mistake.” You watched him drop Lucile to his side, casually strolling around the couple; stalking his prey as he continued.  “I’m gunna tell you a little fucking story.” He said as he jabbed the bat in the couple’s direction and they both jumped away from it. 

“Now, I know you both heard my wife tell you about the fucking story about the psychopath we used to fucking deal with… well I hate to fucking break it to ya… but we kinda fucking started the whole mess… and I’m kinda the fucking psychopath.” You smiled slightly and opened the door a little wider, moving to stand just in the doorway to get a better look.

“Granted, the mother fucker killed my men first because he didn’t know who the fuck Lucille and I were yet. So I had to fucking introduce him to her. It’s only fucking polite, you see. And once that fucking happened, well… you don’t exactly fucking recover from that shit easily. I mean shit, when Lucille gets thirsty… she gets fucking thirsty!” You could hear Sadie’s sobs as Negan circled closer and closer, waiving Lucille mockingly.

“So I take some of his shit, he kidnaps my wife and kills more of my fucking men, I retaliate AGAIN… and do you know what he tried to do? He fucking comes and tries to kill my wife and my unborn daughter.” He stopped at that point, standing right in front of Travis, towering over him by at least 6 inches and swung Lucille right past their bodies and on to his shoulder, causing Sadie to yelp in fear.

“And I just can’t fucking have that. Now, since fucking story time is over let me fucking ask you this. Do you really fucking think that I’m gunna let you two fuckers just walk into my fucking yard, wake up my wife and my daughter to fucking steal from me after hearing a fucking story like that?!” Without waiting for an answer, Negan grabbed the front of Travis’ shirt and pulled him away from Sadie. He screamed for only second a before Lucille collided with his face. Sadie wailed a drawn out ‘no’ as Negan swung his bat a few more times, ensuring that the intruder was dead.

“Now, I don’t fucking hit women.” Negan said as he turned back to Sadie and pointed the bat at her. “So I’ll give you two fucking options. 1) You can take a fucking bullet to the head or 2) I send your ass back over that fence tied to some fucking rope with no weapons and wait for the fucking walkers to fucking get ya. I’ll give you a moment to decide.” Negan began to strip Travis of any weapons he had on him as Sadie sobbed in your driveway and you took a moment to finish feeding Hope while you waited for her answer. You hummed to your daughter as you burped her, knowing that Sadie would pick a bullet to her head over the more gruesome option. When Negan was satisfied that he had emptied all of Travis’ pockets and taken his bags, he turned back to Sadie with his eyebrow raised.

“B…bullet.” She sobbed, her head falling to her chest in shame. You watched Simon raise his arm and you turned into the room, covering Hope’s ears with your shoulder and hand as the single shot rang out in the night followed by the thump of her body hitting the pavement. You stepped out on to the patio and kept Hope held to your body.

“Just toss them over the fence for tonight, baby. I wanna go back to bed.” Negan looked up from emptying Sadie’s pockets and gave you a thumbs up and you turned and went back inside, closing the door behind you. “See baby girl, daddy will do anything in the world to keep you and mommy safe. You are one lucky little princess.” You kissed the top of her head and laid her down in her bassinet, humming to her softly as you rocked the bed gently. After a moment, Negan walked in and huffed a laugh as he went into the bathroom to wipe the blood off himself and Lucille. “What’s funny, love?” You asked as he walked into the room with a rag in hand.

“You’re humming ‘Rocky Raccoon’ to our daughter.” You smiled and with a nod looked back down at her

“That’s because mommy has good taste in music and she knows a song like that will make this little angel the most bad ass little girl in the new world.”

Part 9

[secret-engima]

*tiptoes in* . . . Nox Verse, Wings AU? or a different verse, if you like, but Wings AU plz?

Ohhhhhh.

Ohhhhhhhhh okay I have.

Little to no experience with Wings AUs or what tropes people usually put in them but I do love the concept of Humans With Wings so okay-

Same rules as Nox!Taur verse, Nox came from a canon timeline where wings were not a thing, he and Ardyn got flung into an alternate timeline where wings were a Thing, proceeded to freak out over WINGS ON THEIR BACKS WHAT IN THE WORLD.

Also gonna make Ardyn a Fem!Ardyn in this AU just like Taur verse because that amuses me.

Everyone has bird-like/feathered wings of some kind and what animal they most resemble is often considered a hint to personality but that’s just- stereotyping nonsense really. Anyway, species of wing varies even in families, but tend to run along similar lines. Birds of Prey will often have Birds of Prey kids, but if the parent is an eagle, the kid can just as easily be an owl or a falcon as they might be an eagle etc etc. Wing culture is ... a Thing. Like not touching wings without permission, grooming being a Major Family or Romantic Bonding experience and flying is also totally a Thing.

Ardyn and Nox, understandably, give more than a few people heart attacks over how poorly they care for their wings and Cid takes it into his head to FIX that asap after meeting first Nox and then Ardyn. He is ... more than a little flabbergasted when both are just like “show us how it’s done” because that means- touching their wings. They trust him like that? They ... no. No they probably are idiots and don’t get the significance so he will TEACH them that but also Cid is an Emotion when they still let him touch their wings after his explanation on Wing Things.

Ardyn and Nox are just super grateful to have someone who will explain his stuff because Galahd wing culture is a little different so Axis is not much help and Dave never thought he had to say anything.

The royal line are almost exclusively birds of prey but there are some exceptions. Usually the big ones like eagles and stuff but sometimes hawks or even vultures (Mors was a vulture btw). Regis is a golden eagle. Clarus is also a golden eagle while Gladio is a bald eagle and Iris is an outlier as a red-tailed hawk. Cid is a house sparrow, Cindy is a pretty warbler of some kind. Weskham was a Canadian goose. Ignis is a chickadee because they’re pretty and Prompto is a fluffy burrowing owl.

Cor is the world’s most aggressive and Fite Me™ barn swallow.

Mock his wings and you will be Stabbed™. He is faster and more maneuverable than anyone here barring the incredibly rare hummingbird.

Then you have. Nox. And Ardyn.

Ardyn and Nox are both owls.

This is ... extremely unusual, as no Lucis Caelum in this AU has ever been an Owl. Not in recorded history at least. Eagles, Falcons, Kites, Hawks, even Vultures, but never Owls. Considering the night’s association with daemons, owls are even looked at with some suspicion in certain places, considering owls are also nocturnal creatures.

Ardyn laughs quietly as she tends her tawny, red, white, and black speckled plumage of a barn owl. She finds it funny. Nox’s wings are especially amusing to her.

Nox is a snowy owl. Silky white feathers with black specks in them, the one owl that is known to go about in the day, yet is still associated with the night because of all its night-flying kin. She suspects that their wings are a subtle message, especially after learning that young Prince Noctis of this world is not an owl, but a speedy and pretty merlin (I think they’re called pigeon hawk in North America?).

Stuff goes down ... kinda like canon Nox verse? But during the marilith raid Nox actually doesn’t warp Noctis away, instead getting there early enough to save Noctis’s wings and back and picking a fight with the Marilith, so Regis shows up, freaking out from the attack AND Cid’s phone call moments earlier to see the Marilith getting torn apart by an absolutely FURIOUS stranger. A teenager with massive, bristling wings of a snowy owl and glitter eerie white-orange colors in the firelight only to turn eerie blue-white as they reflect the light of-.

An armiger.

A powerful, complete, deadly armiger that is NOT Regis’s and cannot be Noctis’s because his son is huddled there in the arms of his wide-eyed nanny, watching the teenager stranger tear the daemon apart with magic that feels thick as a tidal wave and all but screams fury-fury-don’t-touch-MINE-DON’T-TOUCH-.

The marilith dies and teen stands there breathing hard, wings mantled and fluffed, armiger spinning around him in deadly circles.

Then Regis reaches out and touches his magic to the stranger’s in awe-shock-disbelief-hope-confusion and-

The teen looks at him with blue-blue eyes and Regis has just enough time to see his own features in a younger face, to see that face crumple with something like fear and hurt and longing denied while the heavy magic tangling with Regis’s SCREAMS a mix of love and fear and loss and hurt and longing-

The teen disappears and snap-crack of a warp.

Anyway Regis investigates because of course he does and he drops in to visit Cid without calling ahead because of Cid’s earlier phone call and finds one fluffy and worried Ardyn Izunia pacing in the kitchen of Cid’s home.

Much shouting happens.

The shouting wakes up Nox, who manages to drag himself out of bed long enough to bowl Regis and Co over with angry magic before passing out on the floor, which leads to an EVEN MORE UPSET Ardyn.

And then everything kinda goes to Nox verse canon with Nox waking up in the Citadel and Ardyn being there and Noctis being adorable as he talks them into staying.

Some other thoughts on a wing-fic AU:

Nyx is a lesser striped swallow.

Btw human wings are not nearly as confined in color/plumage as the birds they take after, with human boys and girls often getting the colorful plumage where the Actual Birds are much more rigid in who gets the pretty feathers or not. No one knows why. The only people who care are the taxonomists.

Lib is a blue heron.

Tredd is a northern cardinal (and proud of it, most Furia’s aren’t northern cardinals but rather other small birds but oh boy does Tredd love having red wings to go with his red hair. Luche is a Sigh). Luche is a woodpecker of some kind. Axis is a falconet.

Pelna is a grouse of some kind.

Titus is a harpy eagle.

Crowe is not a crow, Crowe is a magpie. Anyone who cracks a joke about that will get their nose broken.

Emperor Aldercapt is a cassowary. Because I Said So.

Oracles are like- Owls almost exclusively. No one knows why. It is thought that the first Oracle Aera was actually a swan, but 99% of Oracles are owls (am I totally making a hint that the original Ardyn of this dimension had a kid with Aera who went on to be the founder of the Oracle line after Aera was murdered and the wings were the Astrals tweaking things to be a permanent, silent reminder of Somnus’s sin in killing the first Oracle? Yes. Yes I am). Of course there are OTHER people out there with owl wings, but Oracles are the ones who just- keep having owl wings, no matter who marries into their line.

Luna is the first tawny colored Eastern Barn Owl in the line in a long time as most Oracles are True Owls (so like- Screech Owls, Great Grey Owls, Horned Owls, etc etc).

Ravus is a Great Grey Owl.

Hope that satisfies your ask anon!