#can we just!! cut out the main source of the problem please!!!!

[dailymanners]

I get my ideas for posts from a lot of random sources. Some of them are from doing research, like articles / books / etc. about different manners. Some of them are from suggestions people have sent to me or asked me about on this blog. Others are based on experiences.

The doing research is one of my main sources. But I don't think I've talked about before how I don't just post any and every manner I find, I put some effort into curating them, because not all the manners I find make the cut. Some just seem like bad ideas, some are hyper specific to one region or culture and would be considered rude in many areas outside of this one region or culture. Some have no good reasoning other than "this is just what's been considered polite for centuries so do it."

But in case anyone has been curious what are some of the ones who haven't made the cut, here's some of them and why:

If you're scraping ice off of your car, scrape off your neighbor's car too. I've come across this one a few times and have never posted it for a reason. It's a nice thought, if it was icy and my neighbor had scraped off the ice from my car without damaging my car at all, I would personally be grateful. But the problem and why I've never posted it is because of the risk you run of damaging your neighbor's car in the process. If you damage someone else's property while doing a favor they never asked you for, you bet they're going to be really unhappy with you and likely make you pay for damages. Now I have posted about shoveling your neighbor's driveway or walkway, because the risk of damaging a driveway or a walkway while shoveling is much much lower, if anyone has ever managed to damage a concrete driveway or walkway while shoveling please let me know how you managed that. But I also imagine it's less of a problem than a damaged car.

2. Calling service workers by their first name if they're wearing a name tag I worked the service industry for many years, and was lucky enough to never have to wear a name tag. It was already unpleasant enough getting hit on by people three times my age, or getting yelled at and chewed out by strangers daily, and I'm grateful I was afforded some anonymity. The last retail job I had we didn't have name tags, but for some reason beyond me the receipts would print the name of whoever did the sale, and I personally hated it when people would look at the receipt then call me by name and go "that is your name, right?". You encounter a lot of creeps and hostiles in the service industry, so many people prefer feeling anonymous. To each their own, maybe some people in the industry like it when customers use their name, but I never posted this because I know it's not universal.

3. Take off your hat while you're inside The reason is because I have never been able to find a good and logical explanation for this one, most of what I can find is based on outdated concepts like "back in the era of knights it showed trust and vulnerability for knights to take off their helmet while in someone else's residence" or "back in the day women wore huge and elaborate hats that would block the view for others" but nothing on why I can't wear a simple plain beanie indoors. Maybe I'm just personally salty on this. I have a skin condition that causes scalp issues for me, and I find wearing simple and breathable hats like beanies helps me. But when I was an au pair many years ago the host mom would scream at me and call me rude if I wore a beanie indoors because I was "setting a bad example for her children" by doing something so rude as wearing a hat inside. But I never did get a good explanation on why it was so rude and such a bad example for her children. I just wanted to ease my scalp problems. If you have a good reason, please do let me know because I would like to know. I'm sure there's more, but these are a few I can think of off the top of my head that I've encountered a few times but never posted. In case anyone was curious about what does or doesn't make the cut.

A few others are things that are more etiquette that manners like "make sure that x utensil is always to the right of y utensil" and I don't want to dunk on anyone who is big on etiquette rules and finds them fun or interesting, but it's the same problem as the hat problem. The focus of this blog is manners that have meaning and I can give a good logical explanation for how/why it benefits you and others.

And to be perfectly honest, sometimes I post things and later go "Actually, I don't fully agree with that now that I think about it more." But also, I trust that all of my followers are able to think critically on their own, so if they come across a post of time that's actually kinda unnecessary or they just don't agree with, they can think for themselves "actually, I don't want to do that or think that I need to" or even just "this might apply to other people but doesn't apply to me or my circumstances."

[windydrawallday]

WELCOME to my pile of HCs focused on the character of Vezok! Here I will babble about the blorbo and tie my character interpretation to pieces of canon to make sense of it. I will quote from source all I can, but be aware most of the time I'll just cite the page and book I'm referencing because I'm a lazy ass (tho if deemed necessary, I'll directly transcribe stuff). This text is a condensed version of my re-reading notes and musings from 2015 to our current year (2025).

It's the fault of @lee-the-yeen I did this in the first place, so if he enjoys this, mission accomplished! If someone else finds it entertaining, better! But in general, I just want an excuse to hurl my "Blorbo Paperwork" to the internet ocean and laugh at myself

[TAKE INTO ACCOUNT] English isn't my first language, and even if I have a decade of reading and writing in English, something can always fly over my head. Don't feel afraid to correct or point out mistakes I made!

Hurling all under the cut because this thing is monstrous, please, accompany it with some drinks and snacks.

We all know, before the Divorce Mind Splitting Event (that I'll write as MSE because I want to sound smug -kidding-), Vezok's main trait was his calm demeanor paired with his sharp strategic mind (Legacy of Evil, Page/s 09).

The calmness is a facade Vezok willingly chooses to partake in, because he found benefits in keeping his mind clearer to make the most of his plans.

He's contemplative and constantly reading the situation as fast as he can. He's proud to wield his intelligence in this way, making it a core part of his identity.

… of course, that doesn't stop him from falling into "estereotypical" skakdi acts like using their peers as cannon fodder -usually, Hakann- (Legacy of Evil, Page/s 10), or when he has violent outburst (Legacy of Evil, Page/s 11) from losing patience with the Makoki stone.

But most of the time, if he can find a way to solve a problem without the need of brute force, like when fabricating a lie to shoo away Prototype (Legacy of Evil, Page/s 36), he will take that route.

(…) By then, Zaktan had staggered back, looking for the massive guard. His rage only grew when he couldn't find Prototpe. "Where is he?" he seethed. "Gone," Vezok answered. "I did what you should have done in the first place. We needed him away from the gate, Zaktan, that's all. We don't need to start a war."

Something that would leave any skakdi astonished… or roll their eyes for how insufferable he was for that. But it is logical, it is practical, it works. And shows he's superior for thinking differently and efficiently than others. Is a brush to his ego.

He even prefers to rely on nimble and cautious movements (Legacy of Evil, Page/s 10) when approaching an obstacle! Another skill not usually called upon on a skakdi.

And that ties perfectly to another important detail that influences Vezok's "calm" modus operandi: his Power Absorption ability. To make it work, Vezok needs first to see a power in action in front of him AKA focus and interpret what's happening.

That means, in contrast to other skakdi, Vezok will persistently linger around others of his species. And here is where he will "study" them diligently, learn their combat patterns, their weaknesses, etc.

And knowing how unruly his species is, the decision to be levelheaded is stronger. He needs to stand tall and unfazed, always ready to take the lead when the opportunity comes.

SIDE NOTE 01: I find it interesting the dynamic between Vezok and Hakann early in Legacy of Evil flashbacks. They got that rivalry and constant disdain with each other typical of their species, but at the same time they match in might and mind here; both Vezok and Hakann are the types to analyze the possibilities in front of them… but in contrast of Vezok's cold discipline to plan ahead, Hakann builds up and adapts on the go. For that same reason, Hakann ends with the upper hand when Vezok loses his sharp intellect: he can't run at his same pace if it's a duel of minds.

Part of Vezok's approach when hanging with others is asking about them, like how he did about Zaktan's first impressions (Legacy of Evil, Page/s 30). He doesn't lose this habit even after the Mind Splitting Event (Dark Destiny, Page/s 36), once more focused on Zaktan and his change in demeanor.

He could keep it to himself, but he needs the reassurance of what he's perceiving to make the most of it. And what's better than having the opinions and thoughts of his other peers?

They can end up giving you extra insights you weren't expecting to get...

SIDE NOTE 02: On those pages cited, you can notice that, of all the Piraka, it is Reidak who most of the time answers Vezok's inquiries! We know the ebon skakdi silently pays attention to everything. So, is no surprise Vezok could have found some equivalent of a "confidant" in Reidak's inputs from a thousand years of "coexistence".

Talking about coexistence: I find it strangely endearing how Vezok wishes for Hakann's aid (Legacy of Evil, Page/s 49) during a task that doesn't involve the red skakdi but needs Hakann's Heat vision. Makes me think that, even if they hate each other's guts, with enough time, skakdi can at least be attached to the presence/usefulness of each other.

… a weird codependency of sorts. Less emotionally sacrificial. More like a bucket of crabs climbing on each other to reach for the exit, but failing at it. Yeah, that's the relationship dynamic of the Piraka as a collective.

Now that I mentioned Reidak before, can I talk about their exchange with Avak in this scene (Legacy of Evil, Page/s 52)? Reidak's statement had Vezok stopping in his tracks of thoughts LMAO

"They don't stand a chance," said Avak. "The city will be a ruin by tomorrow." "No, it won't," Reidak answered, smiling. "Because we're going to save it, aren't we, Vezok?" Vezok decided he had better rethink just how smart Reidak actually was (…).

Never change, Reidak, never change...

Insert here any third wheeling meme for Reidak/Avak and Vezok as the wingman, KIDDING

COFF

ANYWAYS

For all of this to work, Vezok acts"social" or at least tries to create "contacts" by showing himself as a knowledgeable figure, someone to put trust in. He was even called "loyal" indirectly (Legacy of Evil, Page/s 108-109) by one of the Piraka!

"You should talk," said Reidak. "Vezok knows better than to betray his partners. I'm betting Vezon does, too. Now, do you want to spend who knows how long trying to get that spear away from him, or do you want to invite him along?"

Good old Reidak, always obserbant.

But that: to qualify Vezok as a "non-betrayer" is quite a feat for a skakdi and will be deemed laughable to other species, right?

What a freak (said it with the most affection).

All pretty and dandy so far, but… the Mind Splitting Event happened, what changes from there?

We know it already, too: part of Vezok's "intellect" is separated and condensed in a new accidental being, Vezon (Legacy of Evil, Page/s 106).

Vezon not only took the blue skakdi's Logical side on a practical level, but tore apart the veil of calmness Vezok was using to navigate the world up to date.

Suddenly, Vezok has no way to stop the flood of rage that's just pouring and pouring into his mind. And you all know: someone guided by anger at full, becomes too blind to be reasonable.

And still, Vezok knows to whom to direct his anger at all moments, only knocking his peers when they cross his path of action.

Because the blue skakdi isn't only carrying anger, but its near cousin: Indignation. It's built up from every mistake made by others against him -especially Hakann's-, from knowing his head now could be the target by Dark Hunters, and now having the worst experience of his life…

… losing the main trait that shaped his whole existence and made surviving less hard for him.

Not only is his mind in halves, but his identity was shattered. Something he build with so much hard work and for so long...

Who wouldn't feel like flipping tables and tearing walls apart?

ANYWAYS I got overly emotional pfff but talking about that:

Let's think a little bit further: if Vezok lost his Logical side… why is Anger the counterpart? Imho, anger is just one of many forms Passion manifests when we don't follow our intellect.

Yes, I said Passion. Sue me -kidding-.

In all seriousness, what's left on Vezok after the Mind Splitting Event is a skewed form of Passion, one not shaped by gentleness and empathy.

But by the cultural and natural violence and mistreatment all skakdi push on each other. There's no place for falling on your knees between them.

And if you fall... all you will get are yelling and kicking.

Vezok can't let that happen to him, even if it means he will need to endure constant frustration to try to claw at the same pace as the rest of the Piraka.

Always minding his space to avoid being caught in their senseless bickering, which I'm sure is a cacophony with how irritable he's now.

… or try to not be taken advantage (Power Play, Page/s 106) with the way he lowered his guard during the mess of a battle between the Piraka to see who would enter first into the Mask of Life's chamber.

(…) Vezok turned to see Thok approaching, wisps of frost still coming from his ice weapon. "Thanks for the save," Vezok said. "Don't be silly," Thok replied. His weapon fired again, freezing Vezok solid. "I'm not on your side."

(And I know this dialogue was made for the LOLZ but it still amuses me, of all Piraka, he was the one to say it).

Still, when he's alone Vezok gives his best during battles (Power Play, Page/s 42) using his same "study" strategies he curated for so long, even if he finds it hard to grasp quickly certain details (Power Play, Page/s 45) for his plan to work.

He frowned. Ever since the accident, he had lost the ability to think tactically the way he used to. He was still smarter than he looked, but that intellectual edge was missing. Still, he knew who had stolen it from him, and he would get it back as soon as these Toa were dead.

THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HURT ME SO MUCH coff

He's not completely useless after all, but he needs to pace his concentration to work as he used to.

I told already on tags well captured by [Lee yeen], that Vezok's tendency to bite boulders "for fun" (Island of Doom, Page/s 45) that we only read about after his Mind Splitting Event (and is never told on flashbacks) I like to interpret as his way to cope with all this lack of concentration and/or over stimulation.

Because we have seen he does well on his own, but the pressure of not performing as always when alongside the other Piraka can pull some uncomfortable strings on him.

Vezok for sure thinks he's the one supposed to always be in control, but instead he at times feels the others are the ones in control of his fate... More fuel for his wrath... and paranoia.

One last detail I want to gush about, and I guess it is what left such an impression on me:

Of all the Piraka impersonating "Toa", the supposed most brutish and violent of them is the one that actually acts as a "concelour" when Dalu asks for advice from him (Island of Doom, Page/s 27)… horrible advice from a Matoran standpoint, but advice at last.

This shows Vezok can still hold a bit of his calmness after all… short-lived with how he then attacked the matoran with his Impact vision BUT AT LEAST HE'S NOT SETTING FAUNA ON FIRE coff

In this description: "Vezok sat cross-legged on the rocks, gazing up at a tall, skeletal tree (…) he was apparently deep in meditation." (Island of Doom, Page/s 27 once more) I couldn't avoid thinking of all those Gothic paintings that portray characters contemplating ruins and dried plants… and the futility of life.

That probably he has this habit too of observing objects around him, "studying" them to probe himself, there's still some clarity in him… just blurred.

And did you know? Another feeling that isn't far from Anger is Grief. I doubt skakdi grieve the loss of someone of their species.

… but of the self with how egotistical skakdi are. In some weird way, Vezok grieves what he lost on the Mind Splitting Event. But because anger took over and is his only way to express it, he can't let go of it. He will never heal from it.

Anger is good for telling us our needs aren't being met... but anger alone can't do much. It needs to be paired with another feeling...

Yeah, say hello to Sadness, that I actually delved a bit about on [this other post] of mine!

I need to actually redraw that "No Talk Im Angy" meme with him sometime coff

And knowing what happens when the Piraka find again the Spear of Fusion (Inferno, Page/s 112-113), Vezok's grieving and anger will never have a place to fall upon... Not even on Reidak, OF COURSE HE NEEDED TO BE THE ONE TO BREAK IT RAAAAAH.

Numb from the shock is all I can think about, such... and I can't stop thinking Vezok would want to save at least a piece of the broken spear with him.

(Noticing now the Spear of Fussion has little spurs/spines) Those could be made on a cool collar? -WindyPLS-

… That's all I can write: gotta admit I left half of Inferno for the second re-read to brace myself for the impact. I tried to end this post less hopeless but LMAO What's to expect of such a franchise?

BONUS NOTES/HCs:

Canon says Vezok is a thief, and that's it. But taking into account his Power Absorption ability paired with his analytical mind, I can see him in the business of relic falsification. It requires a good eye for detail and the skills to replicate such.

He has the physical dexterity to enter places and replace original items with fake ones without fuss *Insert Indiana Jones Theme here*.

For sure, he would be invited to those places with his social skills, pretending to be knowledgeable about the bells and whistles of such artifacts, going unnoticed until it's too late.

... and WHY NOT! Let him be a scavenger of underwater relics, leaving his claw marks on those spots as a signature "Vezok was Here" pfff.

In this 2nd re-reading I noticed quite the paralellism between Vezok and Nidhiki's fate: both were screwed by their respective teams, stripped of their status (Nidhiki from being a Toa) and their core skills (Vezok from his Intellect).

I found it ironic how they had a short, snarky chat when they first met on Dume's place (Legacy of Evil, Page/s 60), after they released the Kanohi dragon.

And when he was dispatched from Metro Nui and mutated by Roodaka, Nidhiki would train Vezok under the Dark Hunters (Island of Doom, Page/s 97)... I'm curious about the type of conversations these two could have.

Life is just a wheel that keeps turning and turning...

🦎 "A wheel that raises some… but crushes others"

... That's more depressing than the ending before. You know what, I'll leave it as is.

THANKS FOR coming to my TED Talk ENABLING THIS BABBLING AAAAAAA

[dreammfires]

HAROLD A SPENCER CHAPTER 2

CREDIT ME IF USING OR POSTING ELSEWHERE.

PART 1

Harold = Willfred and Hayden's ancestor from centuries before the main BMP storylines. He is the first King of the Philip Kingdom.

Finally this is done. I had to play his route twice cause I didn't understand something in this Chapter and the Special Story.

I have a relative irl named Harold who is a massive simp so everytime I keep thinking of him and how embarassing he is when translating this. 💀

If there are mistakes please let me know.

MC: *Wow he looks like a fairytale prince.*

He is wearing light clothing but you can see that it is of high quality. Given the beauty of the coat of the white horse he is riding it is clear he is someone high ranking.

Male: Hey woman!

MC is so mesmerised by him that she doesn't reply. With nobles you have to be careful with your words and your etiquette so she straightens up and makes eye contact with the man on the horse.

MC: I don't mean to be rude. May I kindly ask for your permission to inquire something first?”

Male: What?

MC: Excuse me may I ask who are you?

Male: What?!

The man's eyes widened in shock.

Male: You don't know me?

MC:.....no

This is a bad idea. Maybe he is really famous?

MC: I apologize for being naive. I'm not very knowledgeable about the world.

The man mutters something above her head.

Male: Well you're a rare one.

MC: ….yes?

Male: Nothing. What are you doing here?

He doesn't answer her question.

MC: I'm picking these..

MC is nervous and hesitant but she regains her composure, opens her baskets overflowing with plants and flowers and shows it to him.

MC: I was taking what I needed for work.

Male: I see. It's food for livestock.

MC:.....

MC:*I mean a lot of these can be used at dinner time but it's best to leave it as it is.*

MC: *Men in this world do not approve of women going to work and this attitude is much more prevalent with nobles and aristocrats like this man. This Is from my own experience. The adults around me and patients at the clinic have said the same thing.*

MC: Yes. That's right.

She was happy to deny it and let the man think she's getting food for her animals when his horse begins scratching the ground in front of them.

Darius had once told her that means that the horses want something.

Male: Water?

MC: Water?

Male: Yes. Do you know of any water sources nearby?

MC leads the man to a nearby lake.

Male: Sorry for troubling you. Thank you for helping me.

MC: No problem.

The man after leading his horse to water returns to MC with a relieved look on his face. His eyes are so beautiful she is drawn in.

MC: I am glad I could help well then..

Male: I went out for a ride to relax but the geography around here is complicated.

He cuts her off as she is about to say goodbye to him, now she doesn't have the heart to leave him. She resigns herself to sitting on the grass a small distance away from the man.

Male: How is your income lately?

MC: Income…my income is decent.

Male: That's good, the rains we hoped for didn't come so it must have been tough for you.

MC: Y..yes we need the rains for crops to grow.

MC: *ugh if we keep talking about farming it is going to be tough*

Even though she is panicking on the inside, she endures the situation with a safe answer as if her prayers are heard, a moment of silence comes. The man mutters to himself softly.

Male: It's just like me.

What does that mean?

He lowers his long eyelashes to the ground and looks at the flowers. The pale blue flower spikes stand up straight and sway gracefully in the breeze, neither resisting nor giving in to the wind.

MC: Is something bothering you?

The man who is taken aback by her words goes quiet. She feels sorry for him.

MC: *I can't leave him hanging.*

MC: I am sorry if I seem nosy but I think you will feel better if you let everything out. Most likely I'll never see you again so it's fine.

Male: Is that so?

After a moment of hesitation he casts his gaze onto the lake and begins to speak quietly.

Male: I respected my father and helped him with his work for years but my father passed away and all of a sudden I had to assume his duties. It made me realize how unprepared and immature I am. I am always being called upon to make big decisions at critical times. It's a constant struggle.

MC: *ah he has also lost his father*

Their social classes are different but their situations are almost the same. She feels a sense of closeness with him.

MC: I lost my parents at a young age too.

Male: ???

MC: Their teachings or rather their will is all I have left of them. The more sadness you feel the more happiness slips away. On the other hand if you always stay positive and smile good fortune will come to you from unexpected places so even now I try to do that.

Male:....MC: Of course it doesn't solve everything, there are times where I am lost but when I do that somehow someone always lends a hand. I feel like there's a lot we can overcome when we do that.

Images of Uncle La Salle and Darius come to mind and she smiles.

MC: You were entrusted with your father’s work so that means he had high expectations of you right? If that's the case you should be confident and positive too.

He stares at her in shock when she's finished speaking. Then the man bursts out laughing as if not expecting her to say something like that.

Male: Hahaha

MC is confused by his sudden smile more than his laughter till now she never had the impression that he was easygoing or would laugh among strangers.

MC: *He looks younger than he really is when he smiles. Who wouldn't want to help him when they see his smile.*

Male: You're a strong woman.

MC: Strong? I guess so.

She has no idea if he means it as a compliment but he looks more calm and refreshed than when they first met.

MC: *I hope I was able to help even a little.*

Male: The sun is almost gone now.He stands up brushing the grass off of his clothes.

MC: It has! I need to get home soon!She frantically tries to stand up as if it is the most natural thing in the world, the man holds out his strong hand to her.

Male: It's almost night time, I'll take you home. Show me the way.

MC notices something on his hand.

MC: This wound…

Male: …..*surprised sprite*

On the back of his hand is a large laceration. Mc examines it. She realizes that the man isn't well and he has a fever.

MC: You need proper treatment!

Male: No need.

MC: !

He shakes his hand off away from her and his expression returns to his stubborn one.He turns his back to her and walks briskly to his horse.

MC: *I thought we were getting to know each other better but more importantly..*

MC: No! If you leave it alone it will get worse!

She chases after the man.

Male: A wound this size will heal if I pour alcohol on it.

MC:...Wha

MC: That is unsanitary!

Male: Oh stop bothering me! If I don't want to be treated, I DON'T WANT TO BE TREATED.

MC: Can you please just….kyaah!

Suddenly she is lifted up by the man. MC protects the basket of herbs as she goes up. The man places her on the horse’s back. She is amazed at how easily he placed her there.

MC: What are you doing?

Male: I told you I was taking you home. Didn't you hear me?

The man straddles his horse with her infront of him. He effortlessly turns his horse, travelling back the way he came at a speed she can only imagine.

MC: *This is scary! This position makes me feel as if I am being hugged from behind.*

MC: Put me down!

Male: Be quiet unless you want to get thrown off.

Once they descend the mountain and reach flat ground... in fact, once on flat ground the horse gallops down the road even faster. MC is making noises because of the speed.

Male: What a really unattractive voice you have. Hold on! If we go at leisurely speed the sun will be set before you know it.

MC: Even so…

Male: That's it!

Even though he's being reasonable, the man seems to be having fun much to her chagrin. The horse gallops faster and faster, MC has to hold on for dear life to its back.

He may be a nice guy but this is just mean, she thinks.

A while later they're in town as darkness has set in.

MC: *I thought I was going to die.*

Male: Are you sure you want to be left here?

MC: Yes. Thank you.

Pale faced as the man helps her off of the horse, a stone’s throw away from her home, MC thanks him.

Male: I apologise for going fast and scaring you but even if you don't have parents, there must still be people who are worried about when you'll come home.

She stared at him and sees a kind look in his eyes. MC is dumbfounded but she can't look away.

Male: You helped me today. Thanks to you I feel better.

With that he melts into the night with a quick flick of the reins, in the darkness she can still hear the sound of hooves being carried on the wind before they fade away.

MC: There must be people worried about you as well even if you do not have parents someone must care about you too...

MC: *No matter what he's a good person at heart*

Her heart feels warm and she heads home.

__________

La Salle and Darius are pissed. MC knew it would turn out like this. They returned home from their house calls and were worried when she didn't come home.

MC: I am sorry. It was a complete oversight and stayed out longer than I wanted.

She bows to them both.

Darius: I expected better from you.

MC: Look on the brightside I picked things I can cook for dinner. I'll start preparing them right away.

Smiling, she walks past them both into the kitchen.

Uncle La Salle: As long as you are safe that is fine.

MC: I am so sorry.

Darius:.....

If she tells them that she was with a stranger they would worry even more. That's why she asked the man to drop her off a short distance from her house.

MC: *I wonder if he got home safely. I should have asked his name.*

She remembers the gentle expression on his face when they parted.

__

The next day the clinic is closed because of the holiday. MC is taking stock and making medicine.

Uncle La Salle asks her for chest pain medicine.

MC: Okay!

The reason why they're so busy is because a messenger from a neighbouring town came to their house. Their only doctor, an acquaintance of La Salle's, has collapsed and is bedridden. Uncle La Salle is going to that town to care for him and the townsfolk. MC and Darius will run the clinic together in his absence. Their mentor is a kind hearted man who often takes trips to help others so this isn't a first for them.They see Uncle La Salle. off and MC is glad she picked the herbs yesterday.

She has a late breakfast with Darius, tells him she's happy that today is a holiday and goes about cleaning the medical equipment.

Darius: Why did you really take so long yesterday?

The question comes out of nowhere and she is at a loss for words.

MC: I told you. I was also looking for plants to cook so it took a while.

Darius: That's a lie.

MC: That's not a lie.

Darius: I understand, sis.

Darius resorts to calling her sister which she has a weakness for.

MC: What do you mean “You understand?'

Darius: If I told you how else would I catch your lies?

MC is defeated.

MC: When I was up on the mountain, I met a man of noble rank who asked me to guide him to a water source for his horse so I did.

Darius’s face darkens.

Darius: A man of noble rank?

MC: Yes and that's it. We didn't reveal each other's identities so I don't know who he is and he doesn't know me either.

Darius: Really? Did they say anything mean to you? Did they do anything to you?

And this is why she didn't want to tell him anything. Darius’ anxiety is intense, maybe as he knows her true origins as the daughter of a Lord or daughter of an aristocrat if she wants to be up to date.

MC: *Well they ended up in ruin so my parents would be known as former nobles.*

MC: No, he did nothing of the sort. If anything he is a wonderful person. He wasn't arrogant, in fact he wanted to understand the life of ordinary people like us.

Now that she thinks about it he did seem different from the other high ranking people around town.

Darius: Still. Don't get too involved.

MC: Of course.

MC: *I told you the truth, why are you still sour?*

She is curious about Darius being grumpy when there is a knock at the front door.

MC: Huh? We're closed, it must be an emergency.

Darius: I'll answer the door!

Darius unlocks the door and standing there is a well dressed young man.

[tamayula-hl]

TAMA IT'S YOUR DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE WE WANT TO SEE!! It's no matter if cultural values are different - because the story you want to write is filtered through YOUR lens, the characters are interpreted through your lens only, a.k.a. you set the philosophical/cultural context of your story regardless of the original context your source material is based on. If you use your SebxOC dynamic (you have already explained her background in your OC posts), the dual cultural values will actually factor in your story in an extremely fitting manner.

I would really, really like to see things your way, or even how you interpet a foreign value system in your story. This is one of the reasons I think you don't need to be writing in English! I know it is discouraging to know people are losing the nuances of your work by putting it through a translator, because there are subtleties to every language which cannot be caught when translated ('male' and 'female' speech, choosing a level of distance/formality, relation of the individual self to the mass public etc.), but please know we will try to catch on as well as we can! Don't dilute your work for us, even if you feel the need to - it's the reader's job to interpret the text, not the author's to explain it!

I'm excited to read everything you write - writing is never useless in a fandom. You never know if what you write is exactly what someone wants to read!! GO TAMA!!

Aww, I'm really grateful and happy to receive such strong words of encouragement. Thank you so much🙇‍ I want to write a novel about the charm of the Wizarding World and HL characters seen through the perspective and values ​​of Sakurako, a typical Japanese person, and the dynamics of how a woman with Japanese values ​​interacts with Sebastian, and as you say, I think that if I were to write a novel in this fandom, I would have to use these differences in values ​​as a weapon.

And it was really encouraging to hear you say that I can just submit the novel in Japanese. However, if I take the time to write and post a novel, I want as many people as possible to read it, and considering that almost no one has read the Japanese novels I have posted in the past, I think I may need to translate the novel into English for my own sake 🥹

And because sentences that maintain the style of a Japanese novel will end up in English that are quite strange and incomprehensible even if I use DeepL or ChatGPT (mainly sentences that are considered more beautiful when omitting the subject, which is unique to Japanese, are a huge hurdle when translating into English), I think I will write Japanese sentences that are easy for machines to read, such as ChatGPT, and that clearly state the subject (and that are very strange and unrefined from a Japanese speaker's perspective).

Sentences that are refined as Japanese while retaining the unique nuances of a Japanese novel and sentences that are easy to translate into machine translation are completely different, and it is a very difficult choice to decide which one to discard. Should I post both the original Japanese version and the English translation? 🤣 Anyway, this language barrier is really bothering and bothering me.

If I had English skills, this problem would be almost solved, but I regret and feel ashamed that I didn't study English as hard as I could for the past two years. First of all, I'm going to start by writing out the lines that appear in HL's main quest line and Seb's quest line in English, reading their meanings, and memorizing them. 🥹 I have to continue studying art, and this is the beginning of days where I will have to cut down on my eating and sleeping time even more. 💪

[deltaengineering]

Winter Anime 2024: Payday

Metallic Rouge

Metallic Rouge hasn't ended yet, but I am quite certain that at this point it's unsalvageable. I can give it one thing: it's going for a specific ~vibe~, and nails it. Why anyone would want to evoke the ~vibe~ of "deservedly forgotten 2000s sci-fi seasonal" is beyond me (I won't provide an example, because if I could remember it it wasn't forgettable enough), but there you go. Truly, Bones have outdone themselves with this celebration of their 25 year legacy.

It's hard to even start, but the one thing everyone is certain about is as good as any: The plotting and structure of this show is a complete mess. Some consider this "ambitious", but I don't think an ambition of "let's throw in every half baked thing we can think of and try to glue it together with proper nouns" is worth celebrating. We've got insipid and illogical worldbuilding that ultimately goes nowhere, brave political statements on the level of "slavery sure is bad but don't be rude about it", metaphor bombshells like a character who schemes behind the scenes and styles themselves the "puppetmaster" and constant plot twists that explain things long after I've given up on even trying to make sense of anything. That's where the ~vibe~ comes from: everything that has ever vaguely annoyed you in a mid anime is somehow in this one all at once.

This wouldn't be so bad if it had characters that are entertaining on their own, but here we meet the most bizarre creative decision: the one thing it has going for it is the Diet Dirty Pair banter between Rouge and Naomi, which elevates a few episodes to "decent", but of course they spend half the show seperated. And by themselves, Rouge likes chocolate and is as dumb as a brick with charisma to match, while Naomi is sassy and mysterious and that's it. The rest of the characters (and naturally, there are far too many of them) are either irritating or at best just bland.

So if this is Bones pulling out all the stops, at least you should expect the production values to be high, but even that is a mixed bag. Metallic Rouge looks quite mediocre for the most part until it's time for a dedicated Sakuga Cut™, which might be a fight or alternatively just a random one of the dozens of boring hallway conversations (that Crunchyroll of all things is treating this as a joke really says it all). And even the fights aren't all that great, because this show somehow manages to have bad sound mixing and music beds that I'd call interesting in theory but don't work well as a score. At least it has a stellar OP, but even that seemed a lot better before the show actually came out.

I might bump up the score a point if it ends exceptionally well (which it won't), but even in that case... it's still bad. Please go back to sourcing your deep plots from Weekly Shounen Jump, Bones. ~3/10

Bucchigiri...

Bucchigiri..., on the other hand, has the exact opposite problem: While Metallic Rouge is a convoluted tangle of inconsequential plot, this show is just happy to phone it in. It almost feels like a rerun of fall 2021, where Metallic Rouge is the new Fena and Bucchigiri... is the new Takt:Op. It leaves an agreeable first impression, with a bold, colorful look, unusual setting, expressive direction and kinetic animation – but everything not entirely superficial is an excuse, and a "dog ate my homework" level of excuse at that. If all you want is bromantic burly brettyboys going through the motions, get your fanfic pen ready, but don't expect the show itself to provide significantly more than character designs. It doesn't help that the main character is particularly bad, with his gimmick being "annoying disinterested horndog". These non-characters keep going in circles slapping each other's asses and being not very funny for two thirds of the show, until a very generic "sensitive best friend is tempted by evil" drama plot appears because even yaoi shippers realize that eventually something has to happen, which boils down to Matakara going around slapping everyone's asses again, but now it's supposed to be sad. And then that doesn't work at all, because for character drama you need characters. Who knew.

Of course the funny bit is that this is pretty much what I asked for. I gave SKOO shit for only being good at the wacky parts while the heartfelt drama and more fleshed out characters fell flat. Well, now the director's followup work is just the wacky bits and feels completely hollow for it, and then the exaggerated drama lacks anything to back it up. Maybe just do better, I suppose. Oh yeah, and this also hasn't ended yet but with how completely predictable it is I feel like I've already seen the final episode. ~4/10

Undead Unluck

You can take the Shounen out of the Jump but you can't take the Jump out of the Shounen. I don't usually touch the Weekly Shounen Jump brand for good reasons, but Undead Unluck definitely had one of the strongest first impressions for one in a long time, if only because it has leads that aren't Goku and Vegeta again. But it also had a flashy, devil-may-care attitude with absurd nonsense happening left and right, a bonkers setting that is actually interesting in its own right and production value to back it up. In short, it was Fire Force with arguably better characters. When it's firing on all cylinders, Undead Unluck is a very fun time.

The problem is that Undead Unluck is firing on all cylinders about as often as a Cadillac V8-6-4 with a flaky ignition distributor. Primarily it has a massive padding problem: The amount of recapping and flashbacks to things that just happened is patently ridiculous and I say that as someone who has watched two seasons of My Hero Academia. If you include things like OP and ED, I feel like calling roughly a third of this show's runtime literally repeated content is not a wild exaggeration. And that's only literally repeated content – since this is Weekly Shounen Jump, there is also a lot of restating of facts and tedious explanations. I can't even blame this just on Jump Editorial, because a lot of the time it seems to be in service of hitting the right cliffhangers – but if both source and adaptation have severe pacing issues, it all compounds to the worst pacing in any show I've seen a considerable amount of.

And then, even in the coinflip of time when it's actually doing anything, it's obviously not always at its best either. This is honestly acceptable from a show that goes wild – with these you have to take the bad with the good. I didn't care much for the lazily metafictional final arc for example, but it would be perfectly fine if it didn't (quite expectedly at this point) do its core statement twice in as many episodes in a row, only with more screaming the second time. It's good when it's good, sure, but it would have to be outstandingly brilliant to make the whole thing worth it – which it isn't, so it's not. 5/10

Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete (Gushing over Magical Girls)

My standard line regarding any extra spicy fanservice anime show has always been "you know you can find real porn on the internet easily, right". Gushing over Magical Girls (which is, aint gonna lie, a genius title translation) is a pretty good example why: Even though it is pretty damn explicit, it still isn't on the level of actual porn, and then the extended moaning and wriggling sequences just take up so much of the time that it gets tedious pretty fast. And a lot of the "other" content of the show is just blatantly an excuse to make the porn happen. There's some edgy comedy too, but I think characters like Kiwi are more annoying than anything, so that didn't do much for me either. Then the middle section of the show is an excursion where our protagonist villains go sex up a couple of more villainous villains, which feels like it's missing the point even by its own standards. Also, be aware that with hentai content come hentai production values, and this one is definitely below average. None of this is particularly unusual.

However, I kept watching this one, and the reason is pretty simple: I don't actually object to spiciness in principle, and in the beginning the show did a pretty good job of portraying Utena's awakening to a bunch of fetishes. That she then started an awkward on-and-off anonymous BDSM relationship with an actual magical girl was even better. I honestly have to say that this is a brilliant concept, even if it wasn't executed to a level where I was certain it was intentional. Also, while it's arguably the "main plot", it's a fairly small part of the show and when it didn't show up much in the middle I was sure the show had lost me. I do have to admit though that against all odds, Gushing does stick the landing, with a final episode that really pays off that plotline in the best way you could reasonably (see above) expect. It's a bit of a rough ride, but this show delivers.

So I'm two minds about Gushing over Magical Girls. If you just consider it a hentai OVA that somehow escaped to television (which is not an unreasonable standpoint), it feels surprisingly ambitious and well thought out. But as a regular TV show, it just has too many weaknesses to ignore. Still, even though I can't call it good, I still think it's a more interesting curio than the score might make it sound. 5/10

Hime-sama "Goumon" no Jikan desu ('Tis Time For "Torture", Princess)

Oh no, this has "torture" in the title, what could it mean? Yeah, I think at this point everyone knows that it's a joke (one might even say... The Joke) and let's leave it at that. It feels like every season there's some fluffy and cute comedy that I quite enjoy for no profound reason. The Alleged Torture here simply doesn't do anything wrong, manages to find just about enough angles to its one joke to not get boring, and features nice designs and enough production value to deliver a smooth ride all the way to the end. It occasionally does something beyond its one joke, and that tends to turn out cute and chill as well, like Tortura's modest OL home life. Really the only thing I don't like about this is the manzai reaction antics of the sword – explaining the joke is always questionable, but it's especially so when there is exactly one punchline that never changes. In any case, this one is hardly essential and there are many others like it, but sometimes you just want something sweet and inoffensive that still puts the effort in. And this is definitely one of those. 6/10

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (Apothecary Diaries)

I feel like I should like this show a lot more than I actually do. This is because it is made of great ingredients: Very nice looks, a setting with tons of potential, mostly interesting characters and in particular an amazing main character. Maomao is just great, she has tons of personality and a funny oddball charm that is tempered by a smart and stoic attitude. The beginning of the show, where Maomao plays the streetwise intruder into the stilted world of court intrigue and manages to cut through the bullshit like nobody else could, is pretty excellent.

However, as the show went on, it became clear that I just don't agree with the direction the plot takes. Of course it turns out that Maomao is actually deeply involved into the court drama in half a dozen ways (without ever telling the audience about it, which smells of retcon). Of course the focus shifts to other characters like Jinshi or later on Lakan, who are far less interesting. Of course there is a romance with Jinshi on the horizon. I don't want to be that guy that is mad that a show doesn't turn out to be what they had wished it to be, but it's still a letdown.

And that's not mentioning that the daily business of the show, various levels of detective work, is hardly solid gold either. It's just bad at mystery writing – most "cases" turn out to be massively contrived and then Maomao walks in and just guesses the solution out of nowhere. The large-scale mystery (who is Jinshi, really?) is not much of a mystery at all but Maomao can't figure it out because apparently she has to solve these complicated and tiny problems before she can realize the simple and obvious large one. And then there's the drama, which is effective enough in the moment but seems to be mostly built on a foundation of allegedly smart people acting much more stupid than they should.

So overall, I think this is still a good show simply because Maomao is fun to watch no matter what, but I just don't think the writing can quite hold up its part of the bargain, and that is kind of a bummer. 7/10

Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern

Bang Bravern arrived with a simple, but quite amusing thesis statement: What if you had a tacticool, Armored Core-like mecha setting but then everything changed when a super robot show invaded. That's pretty funny. It also just so happens that Masami Oobari knows that the likes of Top Gun tend to have a certain undertone, and also made Bang Bravern explicitly homoerotic. That's even funnier. Add to this the fact that the epic super robot action genre is inherently hilariously over the top, and you have the makings of a very amusing show. Now, I could just leave it at that, because that's what Bravern is. An over the top and self-aware love letter to the super robot shows of old, with a couple of additional comedic angles.

In other words, it's like all super robot shows that have been made in the last two decades. Yeah, Bravern is undeniably quite entertaining, but I also don't think it's anywhere as unique as people seem to think it is. The "super in a world of reals" joke in particular doesn't really come into play that often, apart from when that side of the show keeps introducing dozens of characters that then proceed to not do anything apart from standing on the sidelines. The gay love affair does matter more often, but seems to run into diminishing returns because once you've done "come inside me" (which it does in like episode 3), you really have nowhere to go. And besides those two, well... it's charmingly exuberant and features all the goofy tropes, but it lacks the absurd hugeness of a TTGL or the meaningful subtext of a Gridman – and that's only shows that I have actually seen as a non-fan of the genre. I suppose fans will gladly take it anyway, because the genre is somewhat rare nowadays, but Bravern doesn't exactly blow me away. Still, you can't deny the fun. 7/10

Sousou no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End)

So here we come to the big dog. The show that's pulling Doraemon numbers on Japanese TV, has been riding a comfortable #1 spot on MAL for months, and has inspired an unfathomable amount of porn. And the real surprising thing is that it's the first show in a very long time that I think comes even close to deserving that level of hype, especially early in its run when it absolutely isn't the kind of show you'd expect to do this – apart from the production values being about as good as TV anime gets, naturally.

Frieren starts out as an uniquely focused narrative that explores as many angles as it can out of a complicated mess of legacy, memory and regret through the lens of a pretty simple and generic RPG trope. It achieves this almost entirely through one of the best casts I've seen in a long time – Frieren may not be quite as charming a protagonist as Maomao, but she has much more depth and more importantly, every character that matters in her show is almost as good, and their relationships are even better. In its first-cours adventure mode, when we're just wandering around having more or less episodic encounters and plot points that drift in and out of focus with a wistful tone but splashes of goofy comedy, Frieren is quite excellent and would have been my show of last year if I had considered it eligible.

But then it slams in a new gear with the elegance of a tractor driver who thinks clutches are for pussies. Suddenly we're doing a proper Shounen Exam Arc and we're getting a lot less of this and a lot more of this. Now to be fair, this is a long running manga and it probably could not have kept doing flashbacks to Frieren being too dense to realize that Himmel was hitting on her 80 years ago forever. But still, the mage examination arc just really isn't Frieren at its best. It's not even that the content is particularly bad (maybe apart from the really quite rough beginning), and I do understand the long-term benefits of introducing a bigger cast of characters for future use, especially when they turn out to be quite good eventually... but it all just takes way too long. There's still great moments here, but that's usually a small segment of the established good stuff or, failing that, Frieren dropping a sick ass spell. Yeah, I won't even blame this on the action, because said action is incredibly well done and still quite brief, but you really didn't need a full season of theorycrafting and skill discussions to get those explosions. In short. Frieren temporarily turns into Full Metal Alchemist with better leads, and while this would be high praise for almost any shounen manga, it isn't for the one that has demonstrated it can do far better.

There is one real upside to this distraction arc though: Unlike, say, the plot problems of Apothecary Diaries that are here to stay, none of this irreversible, which Frieren immediately makes clear by snapping back to its best behaviour the second they leave the designated raid zones. The ending is as good as any part of the show, with the skillful writing and great tone we have come to wish for. Frieren may not be as consistently excellent as it first appeared, but it is still pretty damn good – and not on a purely superficial level either, because it obviously can have outstanding writing when it wants to and the fundamentals are rock solid too. 8/10

Yubisaki to Renren (A Sign of Affection)

And the top spot of the season goes to... a show that may not be the most ambitious, but does absolutely nothing wrong. Yubisaki to Renren is a fluffy romance where a very cute girl meets a very nice boy, and then no drama happens because not everyone in the world is a fucking idiot. I think my delight with this says more about the absolute state of romance anime than it does about the show itself, but I also have to say that while the plot of this show might be simplistic, it takes great care to set everything up in such a way to get away with said simplistic plot.

Obviously the core of the setup is that Yuki is deaf. But, quite smartly, the author doesn't make the story about Yuki's problems with not being able to hear, but rather about how her world is just... limited. And Itsuomi is a dude with an uncommonly wide worldview and experience. Opposites attract, and there you go. The show basically gets all the grounding it needs from that simple setup for free, then throws in a bit of complicated history among the larger cast. Then just make Yuki incredbly cute and Itsuomi an uncommonly levelheaded adult who will take measures to prevent any pointless drama before it gets out of hand, and you have a show that's just 100% a good time all the way through. So the leads (i.e., the thing that matters way above all else in a romance) are great, and the rest of the cast is more than fine too, even those who would instigate such drama – it can't get annoying, because they never succeed.

Really if I had to say something negative about this show it would be that it's still superficial compared to a show at its skill level that does go hard. I mean, it's about two nice people falling in love and nothing goes wrong, which isn't exactly a lot. There is maybe also the idea that Itsuomi may be a bit too perfect, but I'm just more than happy to see a male lead in a shoujo romance that is neither an abusive jerk nor a bland cardboard cutout. In a perfect world, something like Yubisaki to Renren should feel a bit bland and generic, but in the real one, there just isn't much like it. 9/10

[lemonhemlock]

Curious your thoughts on something I haven’t seen many people bring up regarding season two, but please forgive me if you’ve discussed before: Dyana. Not her existence in season one (I honestly didn’t have much of a problem with that, although I completely understand why people do and it’s both boring and showing a lack of media comprehension to reply to every post about Aegon with a reminder that he’s a rapist, as if he alone is the one person in Westeros to hold this distinction.) But the fact that she is brought back in season two for multiple episodes, where she is connected to Elinda (??) and helps to start the riots in KL- but the story never reminds you who she is? I saw a few reviewers make the connection, but an equal amount of people just didn’t seem to remember her at all. And without the reminder, why would you, it’s been years between seasons! It seems like such a small thing, but clearly they chose to bring back this character for a reason. She doesn’t even have a moment where she seems to recognize Aegon? It is just an odd choice to me! I was wondering your thoughts (if any, I know many of these writing choices can be hard to explain.)

I hate the whole riots-in-King's Landing / city-on-lockdown-yet-people-come-and-go-like-it's-the-Grand-Central-Station / famine-after-two-weeks-of-blockade-even-though-the-main-source-of-food-is-from-the-west /dragonseed-recruitment so much because they're so insultingly nonsensical.

With Dyana, I think they wanted to flesh out her character more in a way that wouldn't make her outright involved in child murder by associating her with Blood & Cheese, but still give her some agency in participating somehow in the deposition of her rapist? Hence the whole organizing riots thing.

I mean........ it would maybe work if the riots weren't such a stupid idea in the first place? Dyana trying to get back at Aegon for what he did to her is not a crazy, unbelievable notion, but it is another half-baked, half-executed idea that they threw in and didn't have time to build upon. I would have cut them some slack considering the writers' strike, but hearing GRRM say that the scripts were re-written something like 4-5 times, IDEK anymore. By your fifth freaking draft you should have caught inaccuracies and logistics problems like this.

They should have plenty of food at this stage! Nothing has even happened yet, the only King's Landers that have died were those killed by Meleys (AHEM). Also, it's like anyone can sneak into King's Landing and organize themselves in a bona fide resistance, even though a highly competent Master or Whisperers is supposedly keeping the city under lock and key, but there's not a hint of any similar anti-Rhaenyra rebel activity on Dragonstone. Sure.

As for Dyana specifically, her re-introduction was not done efficiently at all. Like you said, we know who she is, but all the randos watching will have effectively forgotten about her. Aegon doesn't even notice her. He has no reaction. She has no reaction. They don't even interact. She gets no speaking lines. (?) She gets not a sliver of conversation explaining her conversion to insurrectionism.

[pardi-real]

Main Story Ep. 2 / Part 2 / Chapter 3 - Mysterious Girl

Prev | All | Next

Note: this chapter contains violence & some swearings

Angel: " 'Die. For life.' "

Shunk…! *Cutting/stabbing SFX*

Angel: " 'D...Die… F, F-Fo…' "

Lato: "How nice~ ♪ This is a pleasure."

Boschi: "Good grief... When did these guys start flocking together? It's such a hassle…"

Slash

Haures: "Certainly...there's no end to it."

Lato: "Please come more… more... This feeling of crushing angels... It's just… the best feeling ever."

Lucas: "Maybe they're trying to wear us down?"

Miyaji: "Hmm… no matter how many there are, it's not a problem. I've got plenty of stamina left."

Lucas: "You're still as strong as ever in that form, Miyaji."

Miyaji: "Shut up… Lucas. Don't talk to me about anything other than the mission. I'll kill you."

Lucas: "In that form, you tend to speak more, but your hostility towards me is also more apparent…"

Berrien: "Are you all right, my lord?"

> "Yeah…"

Berrien: "Please rest assured. There are quite a few angels, but... no problem. All of them are very strong butlers."

> "Yes" > "I'm feeling reassured"

Mysterious Voice: "Somebody, help…!"

> "Hm…? Whose voice was that?"

Berrien: "What's the matter? My lord?"

Mysterious Voice: "S-somebody...!"

> "I can hear a voice asking for help!"

Looking at the source of the voice... There was a child sitting down with her head in her hands.

Haures: "Th-that's...!"

Lucas: "A child…?"

Boschi: "Tch… What's a kid doing in a place like this!"

Berrien: "I-Is she lost?"

Miyaji: "Is it even possible to get lost here?"

Haures: "A-anyway! I'll go help her! I will leave the formation for a moment! Please attend my part."

Lucas: "Roger… ♪"

Miyaji: "Leave it to me."

Dash

Mysterious Voice: "Sob… sob…"

Haures: "Hey! Are you okay! It's okay now. Come, let's go over there. It may be scary, but raise your head…"

Mysterious Child: "Th-thank you… I…"

Haures: "!? W-why…  are you... here?"

Boschi: "Hey! What are you doing! Haures! Quickly bring that kid back!"

Haures: "T-Tricia...!"

Boschi: "Tricia? Isn't that… your sister's name…"

Haures: "W-why are you here…"

Flap, flap

Haures: "Ugh…"

Boschi: "Wh-what...!? This strong gust…"

Intelligent Angel: "All riiight~ Stop right there…"

Grab

The intelligent angel has seized the mysterious child.

Mysterious Child: "Ah! H-help me!"

Haures: "Hey you! Let go of that girl!"

Berrien: "It appeared. That is the intelligent angel."

Lucas: "I've heard of it... So that's the intelligent angel."

Miyaji: "It really talks."

Lato: "Ooh~… It's quite beautiful."

Scout Leader: "Is that the intelligent angel from the report…"

The intelligent angel is flying while holding the mysterious girl.

Berrien: "This is an unexpected situation."

Lucas: "Hmmm… First, should we prioritize rescuing that girl?"

Berrien: "But the problem lies in the number of angels. If we break formation to pursue them… it might leave the lord vulnerable."

Miyaji: "That's what we need to avoid the most."

Berrien: "For now… don't break the guard formation… Keep hunting until there are fewer angels."

Lucas: "Roger… ♪"

Lato: "I want to take that guy down already… but if our priority is the lord's safety, I'll hold back."

Intelligent Angel: "Oh well? What's with all the tension? Show me some flashy fighting. Humans like to fight, aren't they? Since we've been killing each other for a long, long time… Now, now... don't disappoint me."

Flap, flap…

Angel: " 'Die. For life.' "

Boschi: "Shit… A lot more angels… Haures! Retreat for now! Let's rearrange the formation!"

Haures: "B-but… At this rate…"

Berrien: "Boschi is right...! First of all, let's focus on defeating regular angels! Once the number of angels decreases, we will move on to capturing the intelligent angel!"

Haures: "W-wait… Let go… of that girl."

Boschi: "Hey! Haures! Can't you hear me? Go back quickly!"

Haures: "I, I… will rescue that girl…"

Dash...

Boschi: "Hey! Stop!"

Berrien: "Haures!?"

Boschi: "Tch...that guy... He's completely out of his mind. He's going to go in there no matter what…!"

Flap, flap...

Angel: " 'Die. For life.' "

Lucas: "It's dangerous to be alone when there are so many angels around."

Boschi: "Mr. Lucas! Mr. Miyaji! Lato! I left this to you for a bit. I'm going to deal with Haures!"

Lucas: "Understood, but please make it quick. Handling this with just three people is tough given their numbers…"

Miyaji: "Our primary focus is protecting the lord."

Boschi: "Understood!"

Dash…

Lucas: "Now… I'll guard the front. Miyaji, I count on you to cover the rear."

Miyaji: "No need to tell me, I'm already doing it. When in danger, ask for help. I'll help you if I feel like it."

Lucas: "How reliable you are~ Miyaji… Lato, please deal with the angels coming from above. It's a wide range, but I'm sure you can manage, right?"

Lato: "Kufufu... absolutely. I'll go wild as long as my stamina holds."

Angel: " ''Die. For life.' "

Slash

Haures: "Get out of the way!"

Angel: " ''Die. For life.' "

Slash

Haures: "Move! Don't get in my way!"

Flap, flap…

Haures: "Dammit…" (What am I so fired up about… I... I have to return to the formation quickly…) (Even though protecting my lord is my top priority… My body... won't stop... Even though there's no way...)  (Even though there's no way Tricia would still be alive...!)

Slash

Intelligent Angel: "Oooh~... That's amazing~... How devilishly terrifying. As one would expect from a man who has a devil in his body. Now then, can you make it this far? Haures."

Mysterious Child: "H-help me...!"

Haures: "Damn... There are 12 angels, including the intelligent one...  Dealing with all of them at once is incredibly dangerous... But... Still…"

Smack...!

Haures: "Urgh…!"

Boschi: "Hey! Cut it out already, Haures!"

Haures: "Bo-boschi...!"

Boschi: "Calm down! How reckless are you, moving on your own!"

Haures: "But... Tricia…"

Boschi: "There's no way Tricia is still alive! Isn't that just a similar-looking kid?"

Haures: "That's…"

Boschi: "Tch... you're so distraught... No matter what happens, control your emotions when fighting! That's what you always teach your juniors!"

Haures: "Ugh…"

Boschi: "Anyway! Let's rearrange the formation! Don't you understand that your selfishness is putting our lord in danger!"

Haures: "The lord… …… S-sorry, Boschi. It's okay now... I've calmed down."

Boschi: "In that case, let's quickly return to formation! Hurry up! Haures!"

Haures : "Y-yeah…"

Dash...

Lucas: "Oh…! You're back ♪"

Haures: "I-I’m sorry…!"

Lucas: "We managed to hold out somehow ♪ Miyaji and Lato are doing a great job."

Miyaji: "Shut up, Lucas. If you've got the breath to talk, use it for moving your body instead…"

Lato: "More… more… ♪ I want to tear apart more angels!"

Intelligent Angel: "Sigh... I guess it's not that easy after all. Even though he is a devil butler, he is still a human being. I thought playing with his emotions would be effective…"

Flap, flap

Haures: "Hey! Wait!"

Intelligent Angel: "I'll take this child along."

Mysterious Child: "H-help me!"

Haures: "Dammit...!"

Intelligent Angel: "It's okay... You can always come here again. Because I'm here. Haures."

Flap, flap

Boschi: "They're gone…"

Haures: "T-Tricia…"

Prev | All | Next

[qnewsau]

Victoria passes anti-vilification laws, protecting LGBTQIA+ people

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/victoria-passes-anti-vilification-laws-protecting-lgbtqia-people/

Victoria passes anti-vilification laws, protecting LGBTQIA+ people

Vilifying LGBTQIA+ people, women and people living with a disability is now illegal in Victoria, after the passing of the Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-vilification and Social Cohesion) Bill.

The bill was passed just before 3.30am this morning, 22 votes to 17, expanding the state’s pre-existing hate speech laws.

LGBTQIA+, women’s and disability groups welcomed the news, which gives the relevant communities the same protections that have been afforded on race and religious grounds for over two decades.

‘Cutting off hate’

Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown said the anti-vilification laws were about “cutting off hate at its source”.

“Attacks on the queer community have escalated in recent years and harassment, discrimination and violence shockingly remain a lived experience for many people,” Brown said.

“This legislation makes it clear that hate is not just against humanity – it’s against the law,” she said.

Other reactions

Transgender Victoria CEO on Son Vivienne said: “Transgender Victoria applauds the passing of the long-awaited Anti-Vilification Bill through Victorian parliament.

“True progress hinges on building widespread public understanding of the lived reality of vilification which requires ongoing public education that empowers all Victorians, including targeted groups.

“We want a society built on mutual regard and not hate.”

Sally Hasler the CEO of Women’s Health Victoria, said: “Some of the most marginalised and vulnerable people in Victoria are now finally protected from hate speech.

“All Victorians deserve to feel safe and respected, especially women and gender diverse people who are the main targets of gender-based violence.”

Julie Phillips, CEO of the Disability Discrimination Legal Service, said: “People with disabilities should not have had to wait so long for the protections from hate that other minority groups have benefited from.

“We are extremely pleased that vilification against people with disabilities, a long-standing problem, will finally be illegal.”

Up to five years’ jail for bigots

The reforms make serious vilification offences – such as incitement of hatred or physical threats – punishable by up to five years’ jail.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said they were backed by Hindu, Muslim and Sikh community leaders, as well as advocates for women, disabled people and the LGBTQIA+ community.

“It’s another strengthening of the laws, the strengthening of police powers, and doing it in a really powerful way.

“It’s about saying this is the sort of society we want to see here in Victoria, where you can be free from hate,” she said.

For the latest LGBTIQA+, Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.

[dread-master-styrak]

Hell Year

So most of 2023 and first four months of 2024 were fucking hell. I barely remember it. All thanks to this one fucking person.

I cut them out of my life. They were actively dragging me down and their presence was a huge mental drain on me.

Tw: fictional rape, real suicide attempts, real and fictional self harm.

I will probably edit this post to get my thoughts in order. I'm not telling this story to garner pity, I'm telling it to explain why I was probably acting erratically over the past year.

I think the breakdown that led to me deleting all my SWTOR art, and later my Tumblr was partially caused by me being fucking worn out by this person's demand I talk to them every waking minute of my day.

I was in pain but didn't see that that "friend" was the main source of pain and exhaustion, and so I lashed out at the next best thing.

Please please heed the trigger warnings and the mature content tag!

I don't know what to call them. I suppose "friend" will have to suffice, for ease of telling this story.

I met them last year. Barely two weeks into talking they called me their best friend. They also dumped horrific trauma onto me within those two weeks. Sexual assault. Three suicide attempts. Photos of their fresh cutting wounds.

They put me on a pedestal just cause I showed them basic human kindness and politeness I try to show people by default. They kept saying how they don't need other friends. And how their mood gets better with me around.

They expected non stop 24 \ 7 interaction and would threaten or even attempt self harm and suicide when I said I need space.

I'm very introverted. I REALLY need a lot of alone time and space to recharge. Do you see the problem?

It's difficult to put into words how worn down I got. Several months of non stop RP. Several months of having to constantly comfort this person. Several months without being allowed to rest in peace and quiet. I stopped writing. My art slowed down a lot. I felt like my head was constantly full of buzzing static.

We both were into 40k. So they wormed their way into roleplaying as our characters. They had cool character concepts, but they went out of the window the moment the RP started. They just turned into submissive anime waifus who just want to be isolated with my characters forever and have a traditional family with babies despite being fucking grimdark cyborgs.

Like the player, they said they don't need anyone else. And they all had nearly identical angsty backstories filled with rape. Like, that person would probably think the manga Metamorphosis is peak literature because they think misery and cynicism are intellectual and sophisticated.

Ah yes. Rape. Their favourite fucking subject.

They kept casually shoving rape into the RP, dropping it on both their own and my characters. It was a fun quirky random event to randomly happen in the roleplay. /Sarcasm.

Now, I don't have a problem with dark topics in fiction. You can write or draw whatever. Appropriate tags and warnings are appreciated. But RP is a whole nother beast. It takes two or more people to RP.

I mean, shit. One of my favourite stories ever is Berserk. However. There is a big fucking difference between choosing to read Berserk and reading through the Eclipse, or writing the Eclipse and giving people a choice whether or not they want to read it, and being fucking coerced into roleplaying the Eclipse. As Griffith, no less.

I went with it for two reasons. First, I figured out it was some kind of catharsis for them. Second, my options were either roleplay raping their OC or have a multiple hours long fight. In which they would threaten self harm and suicide, and be passive aggressive. Which in turn is a huge trigger for me as I have to deal with it IRL.

Here's the grim tally of characters who got raped in RP for no fucking reason. Roll the fucking Curb Your Enthusiasm theme, I guess:

My Kenaz, by slaaneshi cultists on their forge world, for like several days straight

Their character R - in their backstory

R again, by their former mentor (makes no sense for admechs to be so controlled by fleshy desires). Dahan (played by me) killed him.

Their character D, same exact backstory as R

D again, by some rando tech priest, who also got killed by Dahan

D yet again, in a horrible alt timeline. Dahan had to watch before breaking out and killing the perps.

Their character F, in her backstory. Slightly different from the other two.

F again, by the same Slaaneshi cultists as Kenaz

F yet again, by a stand in for that exfriend's ex's character. He got, you guessed it, killed by Dahan.

F yet again, by Skoll because I guess the player gets off to that shit.

Kotov, played by me, by a fellow admech(makes no bloody sense)

Irbis, played by me, by the character who was supposed to be his love interest.

My Skoll, by a slaaneshi cultist.

Oh, also: if I gathered my little spine sprout and said no to a scenario or ship for whatever reason, they'd throw a fit and torment me with graphic descriptions of their character mutilating themself. Or draw their character mutilated and post it somewhere I could see.

I eventually got them to stop shoving rape into every plot, until...

The crowning fucked up cherry on top of the shit rape cake. They pushed a scenario where my character Irbis would have a smut related modification installed in him against his will and against his character. And it was implied that their character was the one secretly behind it. Their character, who was supposed to be Irbis's love interest.

And to add insult to injury, the character Scorn so gleefully turned into a rapist was a character I gave them.

I don't know where else to put this, and it's kinda, more light hearted compared to the other shit. They also did this thing where they wanted to copy my character design, have it altered a bit, and make it their own character. I did a lot of these copycat designs for them, but they also commissioned other artists for them as well.

My OCs

Here's a rundown:

- Skoll copycat (designed by me)

- Teyron (centipede tech priest) (designed by me, for free)

- Pollux (fiery lion tech priest) (designed by me, ended up keeping him)

Book characters with my headcanon designs

- Kotov from Forges of Mars (copy based on my design, basic sketch by me, ref done by another artist)

- Dahan from Forges of Mars (copy based on my design, by another artist. Ended up with me and became Irbis.)

Their obsessive adoration towards me scared me. I was / am scared they'd try to find me IRL and do something horrible to me, as the physical boundaries of my body are the only ones they haven't trampled on.

- Telok from Forges of Mars (again, my design)

Actual Warhammer minis:

- Magos Dreykavac (ended up with me, slightly redesigned, and became Ophania)

- Myrmidon Secutor (they just had the artist add a slightly different head. Ended up with me, became Mordred. We love Mordred in this house.)

Back to heavy shit I guess.

I was afraid to walk away, fearing they'd kill themself and the blood would be on my hands. I got so worn down by them throwing fits and threatening to hurt themselves, or getting passive aggressive in the same exact way my mom does, that I just kinda shut down and went with whatever they wanted unless completely drained.

I'm angry at them for taking advantage of me. I'm angry at myself for letting them do so. I saw the red flags but pushed on because I felt responsible for this person.

They were incredibly insecure and I guess jealous? Constantly whining about stuff they didn't get while "everyone else around them got cool stuff".

They threw fits over:

me posting art at quicker rate than they did;

me having cool stuff in SWTOR because I played the game for like 11 years at that point;

Me not wanting to RP SWTOR stuff cause I have a complicated relationship with SWTOR (that one ended up with them posting art of their character gruesomely decapitated where I could see it)

Me begging for time and space alone to fucking rest (that one ended up with them attempting suicide!)

not having money to buy an expensive clothing item

someone in the same room having an ipad and drawing on it.

Me trying to say something nice about their characters and saying they looked kind

At one point they tried to kill themself. I managed to get them to stop. I managed to convince them to get help. I felt so relieved about it.

However...

It came out later thar thet lied to me FOR MONTHS about going to therapy. Which kinda put a big fat question about literally everything about them because if they lied about that FOR MONTHS, what else could have they lied about?

I shit you not, they even mentioned getting made up homework from their made up therapist over the course of the six or so months they kept the lie up. And they passed off info from online articles as shit they learned in therapy.

Somehow they had the brain capacity to remember everything needed to maintain an elaborate lie for MONTHS but then they couldn't be arsed to remember details about their own OCs or my OCs. Priorities I guess.

During the same fight they also tormented me with graphic descriptions of physical harm done to them by a family member, as well as graphic descriptions of self harm and suicide. They knew full well I can't handle graphic descriptions / depictions of violence a lot of the time.

The final straw that killed this relationship was them dropping 40k as an interest. They replaced their entire personality with nutcrackers from Lethal Company.

They kept trying to show me art of them. They sent me screenshots of nsfw messages they sent someone else about the nutcrackers.

I asked them to not show me that. And even then it was this constant hemming and hawing about wanting to show me stuff I explicitly said I didn't want to see.

That last one was the last straw that resulted in a fight where we mutually blocked each other. EXCEPT, TWO DAYS LATER who do I see in my art page's notification, but A PAINFULLY OBVIOUS ALT of theirs? It had the name of one of their OCs as the name, and their own 2Edgy5U nutcracker art as the pfp.

Like, good job burning any remnants of any bridge that could stay between us, dumbass.

And like, I feel bad for hating them because they are obviously very mentally ill. But also I left because they wouldn't leave me alone even when I begged for it. And i sure had to beg a disturbing amount over the course of whatever shambling fuck that relationship was.

They lied to me. They coerced me into roleplaying rape scenarios under threats of self harm and suicide. They took advantage of me trying to be kind and turned me into their little therapy bitch.

And like, my fucking art block that had me in a chokehold for like two months cleared up almost the moment I hit the block button. I feel much calmer for the most part. I even started writing again.

I recently learned that it's healthier to express emotions than to bottle them up and let them fester, and I have a lot of pent up emotions about this.

A few months after I left, I briefly spoke to them to see if they have some files I lost. We talked. They seemed to be apologetic, but given their capacity to lie, what's the worth of those apologies?

Apparently i was the only one blessed with being coerced into roleplaying rape under threat of self harm, suicide, and multiple hours long fights. What fun. /Sarcasm.

I bought some character designs from them, and they tried to charge me twice for one of them, claiming they forgot. Jury is out on whether or not its the truth or they just wanted to squeeze a bit more money from me lol.

I went back to blocking them after a brief fight where I confronted them about everything they did and that it hurt me. Of course, they started whining that they don't wanna hear about it.

I don't regret the fight or going back to blocking them. It was my plan to do so, after my dealings with them were done, although my plan was less aggressive. I just wanted to fade out. But leaving with a bang will do too.

All in all, I have mixed feelings about it all that range from grief to hatred and back.

I cared about them. But now I hate them. I want them to know that I hate them, and to know exactly why. My fucking life is now separated into Before Them, The Hell Year, and After Them.

Never got my files back even tho I distinctly remember giving them an archive. Just got a bunch of random shit they saved from the internet, some of it not even mine.

Also, Scorn, if you see this: FUCK YOU.

You raped my soul. You took advantage of my kindness. You lied to me for months. With friends like you, who bloody needs enemies?

I hope the people you're using for your entertainment and free therapy see that you are a leech. A leech that attaches itself to people and sucks out their personality, beliefs, interests, and energy.

Also, how's that chatroom that roleplays astra militarum by harassing people for being weird or queer or furries treating ya, by the way? You had no issue with it despite having latched onto the exact kind of person they target. You hung out with them despite me foolishly coming out to you.

I hope you end up alone for the rest of your life. Because it is your biggest fear. And I hope it comes true. And no one hears your screaming fits that your literally terminally online ass has if your internet cuts out for 0.000001 seconds.

To anyone who might divine who this person is: don't engage with them. Don't harass them, it will only fuel their martyr / victim shtick. Don't let them near unless you want to be coerced into rape roleplay, or unless you want to be an emotional support dog.

[artist-issues]

Sorry this took so long, I had to read the articles and then find their sources because they don’t cite them, and then read those, and then remember that none of that is even the point of our argument. But fine, I’ll bite. Going to tackle this point by point. 1. “The deleted scenes are important because they give the context that the photos were part of a larger message and were absolutely just left in because the director thought it was funny.” - That’s not how any of this works. No filmmaker, certainly none of Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois’ caliber, would make a movie that presupposes that deleted scenes will be released to audiences to “give context” to anything that is important to the story. Please look up Chris Sanders’ resume, the films he’s worked on. Please at least look at the interview he did, I linked to it in the comments below, where he specifically talks about his “boomerang phrase” in storytelling: he believes in cutting anything that specifically does not tell the story he’s trying to tell. That’s why he makes cuts. If a deleted scene has anything in it that he wants to keep in the movie, he finds a way to communicate it in the scenes that stay.

Chris Sanders is not the kind of director that only leaves in an element which might be “funny” if it also makes no sense in the story. And because there are no scenes in the movie where tourists are treating Lilo like a safari animal, supporting the one where Lilo takes a picture of a tourist, you have to deduce that that’s not what the scene is about. Because that’s not the kind of storyteller he is. It’s fundamentally against how he does things. I’m not saying he doesn’t tell jokes in the movie. (And by the way that’s a weird scene to call a “joke” when it’s the one you’re claiming is also the leftovers of a statement the movie was supposedly making about the insensitivity of tourists. Which is it? Because it’s not funny or ironic if the tourists were making fun of her—and the joke falls flat when the audience isn’t shown examples of that.) I’m saying that this particular joke killed two birds with one stone; one, it was weird and quirky, (which sets off a chain reaction of Lilo being an appealing character AND a lonely one) and two, if you really look at the WHOLE of who Lilo is, it shows how she views the world after losing her parents. Just like taking Pudge a peanut-butter sandwich and explaining he controls the weather— you think that’s a joke, a quirk of her personality, until you look at it for five seconds next to ANOTHER bit of information about her character: her parents died in a storm. It is a joke, it just also communicates something about her character that adds to the main point of the story. The scene where she snaps a picture of the icecream tourist, and the scene where she points out her wall of “beautiful” tourist photos, has nothing to do with how tourists treat her. It has everything to do with her weirdness-appeal/loneliness-instigator, and her deeper characterization of having a problem with people who leave. (I don’t take Lilo & Stitch: The Series to truly have anything to do with the original movie because it was produced way after and by different storytellers, but if it helps, there’s actually a scene where Lilo explains that she can’t make friends with tourists because they leave, too. But you can disregard that if you want, and that would be fair.)

2. I am not going to argue with you about whether or not discrimination and biases exist, or whether or not Hawaii’s colonization was bad. Not going to touch those topics. I’m making sure this is very clear: we are only talking about whether or not the filmmakers of the original Lilo & Stitch intended to leave a message in there about tourists objectifying Hawaiian people/the supposed fear Nani feels stemming from family-separation as a direct result of historical colonization.

I’m not claiming colonization didn’t happen. I’m not claiming it doesn’t affect any indigenous people today. What I am claiming is there’s nothing about that in Lilo & Stitch. Not from what’s in the movie.

So. With that reiterated:

Your first article is dated April 7th, with data coming from 2019 and 2010. The point of the article is that it’s hidden data. Meaning they’re revealing it, in the article, and before April 7th, it was not widespread knowledge. …and Lilo & Stitch began production in 1999, and wrapped production in 2002. Even if the data in this article confirmed, for sure, that the reason there are more half-Hawaiian and Hawaiian kids in the Hawaiian foster care numbers is disproportionately because of bias—even if they confirmed that for sure—the article itself states that it’s only doing that now, 18 years after Lilo & Stitch’s storytellers said what they had to say. IF this article confirms for sure that this is a prevalent fear for indigenous Hawaiians as a result of biases from racism, not as a result of failure to care for a child? Even THEN the article itself claims that people like Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois would not have known about it or known its prevalence enough to intentionally address it in their movie.

Your second article is from the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School, which has a Digital Resource Center, but it does not cite it’s source for the one line which you highlighted at the beginning of the article claiming Hawaiians were part of the Indian Civilization Act of 1819 (which had funding and reach extended into 1961.) I don’t know how the Foundation that wrote this article came up with including Hawaiians in that first line (it doesn’t mention them at all anywhere else in the article.) But it makes no sense to do so. Here’s why: The Indian Civilization Act and its continued funding’s stated purpose was to “civilize” native children—and it only applied to continental tribes that were federally recognized. Hawaii didn’t get overthrown until 1893, and it didn’t get annexed until 1898. By that time, the funding for the Indian Civilization Act was under the Bureau of Indian Affairs. And this is the important part: Native Hawaiians have never been classified as Native Americans by the U.S. Government, so they didn’t fall under that jurisdiction. They wouldn’t have needed that “civilizing” step the colonists were taking (using as justification for their forced-boarding schools) because at that time, the public schools on Hawaii were already transformed into what colonists wanted them to be. So all of that to say; your second article doesn’t cite its source for lumping Hawaiians in with Native Americans in one sentence alone, and it got that wrong.

Your third article is written by one reporter who does not cite sources for the evidences of her claims that these seven schools targeted Hawaiians with the goal of separation for control: all she says is “my research into the state report has revealed.” So I checked out the state report. Here it is. One part specifically says: “This report does not make final determinations about each site’s operations or legal status in relation to tribal or Indigenous identity; rather, it identifies institutions that may meet the working definition based on available data.” The report itself is still figuring out if these seven institutions even meet the definition of a boarding school, let alone had anything to do with colonizing-separation attempts. So: 1) The schools she’s referring to aren’t conclusively linked to colonization-attempts to separate families for control and oppression; they were part of a correctional movement made by missionaries before annexation but 2) they were never anywhere close to as systematic or targeted as the BOIA things I mentioned above, and 3) most importantly to the point of what we’re talking about, there were only 7 of them, nobody is sure what exactly they were for or what went on, and REALLY MOST IMPORTANTLY—again, this article states that May 11, 2022, the government And most Native Hawaiians were just THEN finding out about the schools’ existence. So between the years of 1999 and 2002 during a research trip to Hawaii and then years of storytelling work in Florida, you think somehow Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois heard about these seven specific schools that Native Hawaiians themselves didn’t have widespread knowledge of, and they made that niche topic that the jury is still out on as a tool of oppression the whole point of their movie’s theme of separation? That’s a ridiculous claim. Like I said with the first point; not even Native Hawaiians would have claimed that according to this very article you cited.

I could go point-by-point through your other three articles, but honestly that’s the main thrust. That even Hawaii didn’t have a deep-rooted fear of separation from their children as a result of colonialism, because it wasn’t a main part of their culture’s history with colonialism, …UNTIL around 2022, when one specific state report started retroactively convincing some people that it was. And even—listen to me—even if it was a part of the history—which it is not, not based on the historical evidence we HAVE rather than the investigations we’re currently guessing about—even if it was a part of history, that doesn’t change the fact that everything you’ve sent me has said Hawaiians are just now realizing it.

Meaning it wasn’t a widespread cultural deep-rooted fear. Because if it happened, they weren’t all that aware of it across generations. (Including the generation that had Tia Carrere and Jason Scott Lee, before you give me that) And if it wasn’t a widespread deep-rooted cultural fear, then how did you expect Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, white American directors, to pick up on it enough to infuse it into their movie between the years of 1999 and 2002?

How?

Answer: they didn’t. Because it wasn’t. That’s not the point of their movie.

And when we talk about the foster system, and how “the state separated Hawaiian children from their families,” you’re using that connotation as if it’s unjust separation. And okay, maybe it is. Maybe there’s an unjust element there.

But how does the movie argue for or against the foster care system taking Lilo?

I said:

The movie does not show the foster care system to be evil. It does not show that Nani is afraid of losing Lilo unjustly as a result of latent colonization-fears. Because Cobra Bubbles is a good guy. He is represented, in the movie, as a quirky character but an ultimately good character looking to do the right thing. And Nani undeniably needs help caring for Lilo, she is unable to do it on her own. You can tell, because she gets Lilo a pet dog that destroys their house and nearly drowns her. I mean, those are the cold hard facts. Stitch is a monster. Nani’s first instinct, to take him back, was, in the sense of protecting Lilo, correct. She should have done that, for LILO’s safety, if we were looking at this through a real-world lens.

But the movie’s not about “is the foster care system right to remove this child? Is the 18 year-old woman right to choose to keep the deadly creature?” It has those elements IN IT. But it is not about those elements. Just like it has peanut butter in it but nobody in their right mind would say it is a movie about peanut butter.

It is about “Family chooses to love and commit to one another selflessly, no matter what the other person can do for them or how hard they make it.”

That is not a uniquely Hawaiian value. It is a universal truth. For all people, living everywhere.

There are other movies that are definitely about colonization, the foster care system and its morality, the challenges minorities face, and ethnicities or races. There are other movies that are about those things.

This movie is just not one of them. It has Native Hawaiians in it, and that is good and has a purpose in the film. But it is not about, it’s main point and focus is NOT, “Native Hawaiians.”

Now that you’ve come to my post and tagged on a laundry list of articles about things that just “came to light” in the last 5 years as if they have impact on the intentions of movie that was made over 20 years ago, even though I specifically asked for evidence from the movie itself:

I’m just going to ask again. What evidence do you have—what in-text observations from the material—do you have to back up the claim that Lilo’s picture safari was about the dehumanization-actions of the tourists she interacted with?

That’s It.

I’m tired of seeing everyone repeat the same four points: “1) Nani gives Lilo to the state! 2) Hawaii has a better marine biology program than San Fransisco! 3) Jumba doesn’t get redeemed! 4) Pleakley’s not wearing a dress!”

Those are not the only things that were bad about this remake. You could easily tell it was going to be all that and more beforehand, but most people’s reaction to the trailer was “it’s surprisingly good!” and now they’re acting all surprised. If you didn’t see this coming, enough to purchase a ticket, you’re part of the problem and you don’t get the original movie any more than the people who made this remake did.

So I’m done being quiet, this is the Lilo & Stitch 2025 Takedown Post.

And as usual the only good thing about an attempted-remake is that it gives people a reason to think about what made the original so good.

Let’s go in order. But just scroll down to the Heading you Care About if you don’t want to read all this.

1. Cobra Bubbles

In this movie, Cobra Bubbles is a secret agent hunting for aliens and they have a new character take his place as the state social worker.

The Problem They Were Trying to Solve With this Change: “We shouldn’t have a black man or a government worker feel like an insensitive antagonist to Lilo’s family.”

That’s a stupid surface-level one-dimensional misread of the character from the original…and it wouldn’t have been hard, at all, for a child to explain to the 2025 filmmakers that Cobra is not an insensitive antagonist in the original.

Cobra Bubbles is not insensitive and he is not in any way portrayed as a bad guy in the original. Nani sees him that way, Nani sees him as antagonistic, because he’s the representation of Lilo being taken away.

But Nani is wrong about him and learns that she is wrong about him by the end of the movie.

Can we please make a list?

Cobra’s first interaction with the caretaker of the child he was being sent to protect was that she ran out into the road, yelled at a complete stranger, and dented his car.

Then he found her locked out of the home and threatening the child inside with a hammer in her hand.

Then he found out the stove was on while she was out, and she’d left a 7 year-old alone.

The 7 year-old made comments about being disciplined with bricks and a pillow case.

The 7 year-old looks like she might be more than a little emotionally unbalanced because she’s figuring out how to put voodoo spells on her friends to punish them.

He still gave that pair of sisters three days to straighten the ship. When in actuality, in 2002, under HRS §587-73, (don’t play with me) the social worker would’ve been well within his rights to remove the child from the home right then. But instead he gives her three days to fix it. THEN

The 18 year-old loses her job.

The family gets a “dog” who he is implied to know is an alien, right off the bat.

The alien is violent and wreaks havoc across town.

The 7 year-old almost drowns while they surf instead of find a job.

He lets the child and caretaker have one more night together to say goodbye, but when he’s on the way to get her he gets a call that she’s being attacked by aliens, hears a chainsaw, and finds the house on fire.

Do you understand what I’m saying.

Cobra Bubbles had NO BUSINESS being as BIG A SOFTIE AS HE WAS for all of the original movie. He was not only well within his legal rights to take Lilo away from Nani immediately, but he was actually required by law, it was his DUTY, to remove her immediately. But he didn’t do that. Why?

Now listen to me very carefully.

Lilo and Stitch is a movie about how “Family chooses to love and commit to one another selflessly, no matter what the other person can do for them or how hard they make it.” The fancy way they say it is just “Ohana means family: family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”

Did you catch that? “No matter how hard they make it.”

Cobra Bubbles was a CIA agent before this. A CIA agent who saved the planet, by doing what? Convincing an alien race to leave them alone. Oh, he didn’t fight them off? No. How? He “convinced” them? He talked it out? Sounds like a pretty compassionate guy, for all his tough exterior. How did he do that?

He could’ve picked any animal that’s actually endangered. The filmmakers chose to make him the guy who convinced aliens to value mosquitos.

MOSQUITOS. Creatures that give nothing, only take. Ugly little bloodsucking monsters. That’s the creature he convinced them to care about enough to save the planet.

NOW do you have any trouble understanding why this is the specific social worker who would give an alien-infested dumpster fire of a dangerous home a chance when two sisters are about to be torn apart?

Do you see that Cobra is just another example of the grace that the movie is always talking about? The love that transforms someone from bad to good simply because it refuses to give up even when it gets nothing out of it? I’m repeating myself because I want you to see why he was a well-done character who NEEDED NO CHANGE.

Cobra Bubbles’ character is not an insensitive monster who doesn’t care who his actions hurt as long as he gets the job done. But you know who that does sound like?

2. Gantu

Gantu is not in the remake at all.

The Problem They Were Trying to Solve With This Change: “It’s going to cost us upwards of 1.5 millions of dollars to design, sculpt, rig, animate, and render a character this big in addition to finding a suitable voice actor to play the part.”

This is a really dumb choice for several reasons. A. Without Gantu, there is no “stakes-raiser” to Lilo and Nani’s story. The movie has no climax without him. For the first and second acts of the movie, it’s about a grieving pair of girls trying to prove themselves to a social worker while the story-equivalent of Beethoven the Destructive St. Bernard wacky Jumba & Pleakley antics get in their way. But when a 40-foot tall alien stomps into their lives and abducts Lilo & Stitch in a spaceship that careens around the island during an explosive sky-chase scene, now you have a high-octane, somebody-could-die climax.

B. Without Gantu, Stitch looks weaker. The climax gave Stitch a reason to come out of the wackadoo puppy he’s been posing as and suddenly remind everybody that he’s a lethal weapon who can survive thousand-foot drops, lava, and astronomic explosions—and a giant alien’s Thanos-dwarfing fist. Take him out and who do we have as a match for Stitch to go up against, even for a moment, and prove how much he’s changed to be willing to risk his freedom and fight?

C. Without Gantu you have no villain to reflect that STITCH is no longer a villain. (So they substituted Jumba.)

But the reason this character is really worth millions is, again, the theme.

I told you Cobra Bubbles was a character who did not put “duty” or even “convenience” or “position” over the real lives of Lilo and Nani. He saw that there was love there, and in his own way, he gave it a chance. And even when he chose to take Lilo away, he did it carefully; he gave them time to say goodbye.

GANTU IS THE OPPOSITE OF COBRA BUBBLES.

Gantu is the insensitive, uncaring, unyielding Captain whose commitment to duty turns into rage and cruelty. Not Cobra.

Nani thinks Cobra is walking in a threatening to tear apart their family in a display of government judgement. But that’s what Gantu literally does.

His first reaction to Stitch is to call for his destruction. Without even waiting to see if “it can be reasoned with” like the Grand Councilwoman suggests. He’s merciless. He mocks Stitch when Stitch is captive. And he knows that he caught Lilo, a human, along with him. He doesn’t care. He even suggests that Stitch eat her as a snack.

There are only two other characters who laugh at others’ misfortune in the movie. One is Stitch, the original villain. Then love changes him. The other is Jumba, who made Stitch. Then love changes him. But Gantu never gets changed. He’s only concerned with his job, and with personally annihilating the flaws he sees in Stitch.

Gantu is unyielding, ungracious, and cruel. And he’s big and powerful enough to be a test for Stitch to prove he’s changed. For the benefits he brings to the story, he’s worth 1.5 million and more. But they cut him anyway.

3. Jumba

In the new movie, Jumba is a villain through-and-through with designs on overthrowing the Galactic Council using Stitch, and instead of being redeemed, he’s sentenced to prison.

The Problem They Were Trying to Solve With This Change: “We can’t spend money on our real villain so we’ll just keep Jumba evil.”

The reason this is dumb is obvious. They created their own problem, and the ‘fix’ makes the movie weaker, not stronger. But here’s how.

In the original, Jumba is introduced as trying to self-protect. He’s on trial, and he lies. But when Stitch is revealed, he’s genuinely passionate about the thing he’s created. And he cares about image. He prefers to be called “evil genius,” and he hates the headlines labelling him “idiot scientist.”

You have to remember he’s part of “Galaxy Defense Industries.” They had him making weapons of destruction anyway. He just got too into it with his genetic Experiments, went a little insane.

I’m not downplaying the fact that Jumba is evil at the start of the movie. He is. It is evil to be outcasted from society and then respond to that with, “well, if they’re going to treat me like an idiot, I’LL SHOW THEM, I won’t care about anything except my passion for mad science!” That’s evil.

But it also explains a lot.

I said it in another post. Jumba’s whole utility as a character is that he knows who and what Stitch really is, better than anyone. He made him to be a monster who can’t belong and wreaks havoc on everybody else’s ‘place of belonging.’ Jumba is the audience’s insider’s perspective on what is going on in Stitch’s head, at first.

But when he’s redeemed, it happens fast. And why? Because that’s how plain and simple Stitch is, as a character. Jumba knows Stitch is a disgusting little monster with nothing inherently loveable about him, and no “greater purpose.” So when his disgusting monster is loved by someone? When his disgusting monster is willing to ask him, Jumba, for help? Something totally outside his programming, totally not what Jumba thought he’d ever be capable of?

That proves to Jumba, in an instant, that there’s love out there that transforms. And creates a place of belonging.

There were already germs of that, a desire to belong, a compassion, in Jumba after he reached earth.

He doesn’t try to get Nani fired, he offers an explanation for Pleakley’s swollen head.

He claims he won’t hit Lilo (why would he care about collateral damage?)

He sounds sorry for Nani when she’s upset about losing Lilo, and tries to keep Stitch from bothering her.

My point is, Jumba’s redemption isn’t important because it’s cute or because we need to set up the big happy found-family trope everybody loves.

Jumba’s redemption is important because it is just one more PROOF that what’s happened to Stitch is so incredible. The love Jumba finds transforming his monster is enough to transform Jumba, too.

But sure, fine, whatever, make him a soulless one-dimensional talking head. Whatever.

4. Stitch’s Design

In this movie, Stitch is cuter than he is ugly, and he’s half Lilo’s size.

The Problem They Were Trying to Solve With This Change: “Ugly-cute doesn’t come across as well in ‘live action’ animation. And all the Wal-Mart moms remember Stitch as ‘cute.’ Plus we’ll save about 15% in rendering the animation.”

This is crippling to the characterization of Stitch.

Stitch is supposed to be an echo of who Lilo could become now that she’s lost her parents and may be losing Nani. This scene:

Where Jumba points out that Stitch has nothing, and destruction is his only purpose, is the evidence for that. But Chris Sanders, who made this whole story, also point-blank said it. Stitch is a future Lilo, if she loses her family.

So that’s reason number 1 that he should be her same height. But also, practically, no iconic pair of best friends, yin and yang, have visuals where one is smaller than the other. Especially not if one of them is supposed to be disguised as a pet.

The point is, Stitch is not LILO’s pet. He is her best friend, her other half. But between the muzzle-muscles they worked into his upper lip and the darkened dog nose and the butt-scooting across the floor, the remake is trying to make him more pet-like in relation to Lilo.

That’s not what he is.

I said this in another post. But Stitch is supposed to throw food to the back of his head like a gator—his lips are not designed for forming words. His gums and teeth are supposed to look like a shark’s. His nose is supposed to be too big, stamped into his face. His ears are supposed to be like bat ears, not bunny ears. He hunches forward, instead of bending at the waist like a toddler. His eyes can narrow to lizard slits.

He has to look like he can believably be a disgusting monster. Yes, he can also be cute. But he has to first look like a monster. Because that’s what he really is, in the story. If he isn’t, then LILO’s love for him doesn’t look as powerful.

It is easy to love a cat even if it scratches you, because it’s cute. It’s harder to love a life-sized spider that keeps knocking you down and eating your prized possessions and laughing when you get hurt. Stitch is supposed to be closer to the second one, so that Lilo’s love shines brighter.

But also, practically:

She can’t look him in the eye for emotional shots when he’s that short. He’ll always have to awkwardly be standing on a box or a chair or a bed.

How is he going to scoop her up, hero-style, and leap off of an exploding spaceship with her in his arms, when he’s half her size? He could do it: it’ll look stupid, though. So they just don’t have that part in the movie.

She can pick him up. That alone is demeaning and again, the visuals are silly. Not what we’re going for.

5. Lilo’s Personality

In this movie, Lilo doesn’t like weird stuff, and she screams when she first meets Stitch. There’s no problem that this solves. It’s just laziness and a lack of care about the characters.

I would like to remind you that the original Lilo:

Made her own doll that looks like a shrunken head and pretended a bug laid eggs in her ears.

Makes up stories about a fish that controls the weather and actively deep-sea dives to bring it peanut butter sandwiches.

Has a knee-jerk reaction of using practical voodoo spells on friends who wrong her.

Listens exclusively to Elvis Presley.

Fills baby bottles with coffee.

Believes Nani’s manager is a vampire.

Has fishing nets and seashells in her room for decoration.

takes safari pictures of overweight bleached tourists.

meets a social worker and her first impulse is to ask if he’s killed someone.

Nails the door shut when she’s mad at her big sister.

She’s not friends with pound dogs in that original movie; when they first get there she acts like she’s never been in the kennel before, and originally wants a pet lobster.

I know that we all love that little girl they got to play Lilo, but if you were really being objective, you’d acknowledge that she’s a little girl. She’s not Lilo. She’s a cute little girl.

They did not write Lilo into the 2025 movie. They wrote any old little girl.

You should have known, from the moment she first sees Stitch and her reaction is to scream in the trailer, that THAT IS NOT LILO.

Lilo had a very specific set of characterizations. She was a character with a personality that exploded out of the screen. Every other character in the movie meets Stitch and reacts with disgust.

But not. LILO. She’s the only one to react to him like THIS:

She is literally not like anyone else. She’s doesn’t care that he’s ugly. Or weird. Or blue. Or even bat an eye when he can talk with all those shark teeth.

From Moment One, Lilo chooses Stitch. She chooses to love him. Regardless of what he can do for her. Regardless of how many times he pushes her over or rips up her house or makes her relationship with Nani harder. That is the number one thing about Lilo.

She is desperate for people to stay, but she chooses to love Stitch even though he’s a monster. And she tries to make him better. And her love succeeds in transforming him when nothing else could.

Lilo’s personality traits all mean something in the story. (I.e. she likes Elvis because she’s clinging to the past, she snaps pictures of tourists like they’re safari animals because they’re inherently people who LEAVE and she has issues with LEAVING, etc.) But the thing I think that was so obvious that the moviemakers missed for 2025 is she has to be weird. If she’s not weird, there’s no reason for her not to have friends. And if she has friends, what does she need Stitch for?

But also, Lilo’s personality in the new movie is just boring. Cute. But boring. Cute’s not that great of an accomplishment; any 7 year-old is cute.

6. Nani

I don’t think you guys need to know this. It’s not just that Nani leaves. It’s that “take care of yourself” is the exact opposite of the selfless message of the movie.

In the beginning, Lilo literally argues with Nani after being told she’s “such a pain,” and goes, “why don’t you SELL ME and buy a RABBIT INSTEAD?”

And then breaks down and cries at the thought of Nani wishing she had a rabbit instead of Lilo, later.

Because Lilo is afraid of people leaving. But Nani won’t leave her. Nani loses her job, her own life, because of Lilo. But she’s desperate to keep Lilo anyway, because she loves her. Don’t you understand? The message of the movie was about self-sacrificial love. A love that doesn't care what I get out of the relationship.

Nani starts it. But you know what, David loves her like that, too. And then Lilo transfers it to Stitch, who shows it off to Jumba. It’s a chain reaction, but Nani is spearheading it.

You realize that when their parents died, Nani already would’ve been in high school? With a whole life of her own? Her own friends, her own potential boyfriend, a job she went to, surf competitions (the trophies are in her room.) Lilo would’ve been well aware that that was the status-quo: Nani has her own life. And even a seven year-old can see that that life is being put on hold, but maybe the big sister wants to go back to it, at every turn.

The fact that Nani never does that, never expresses a desire for that, only ever expresses a desire to keep Lilo with her, is huge. It’s the core of the movie.

I don’t think that needs any more explaining.

We could talk more. Like about how Lilo needs to see that Stitch is an alien, because that’s the ultimate test: he’s one of the monsters who destroyed her house, he’s been lying to her and using her as a human shield, he’s a criminal—but she still winds up giving everything up to protect him.

Anyway. My neck hurts and I don’t want to type anymore. But we could talk about the music, the social worker, the grand councilwoman—it just doesn’t matter.

Ya’ll had more than enough details in the trailer to be able to not go see this movie because it was obviously going to ruin everything. But instead you chose to make this twisted corpse “the highest-grossing movie of any Memorial Day.” You bought tickets because they ruined a perfect movie and slapped together an uglier package for you.

Whatever. It was my favorite movie today, it’ll be your Treasure Planet or Tangled tomorrow. Keep riiiight on giving them your money, and keep letting influencers regurgitate the same four obvious facts to you over and over, because they paid Disney to make a talking-point for their content benefit. Whatever.

[ofmagiick]

pinned post and docs tba, but for now here's the html of the rules on my theme until i can get other admin stuff done:

laws

I.

SELECTIVITY / FOLLOWING - this is a selective blog for my sake, but honestly, if i can see us writing, i will follow back. i am mutuals only, though, and will have anxiety about sending you things if we aren’t, even if you’re cool. i'm iffy on doubles, just because i myself am very self-conscious. it’s a personal thing, chances are i thing your writing is fucking dope.

II.

CROSSOVERS / OC MUSES - two words: fuck. yeah. star wars lends itself to crossovers hella well, we can figure this shit out in a hot second. plus, the galaxy is so vast and diverse, i want to explore more of this universe, as much as i can. as for ocs, y’all brave as fuck, and i love them. just have a rules/about page, and then we’re golden

III.

RP ETIQUETTE - you know, don’t god mod, don’t randomly kill my muse (not saying you can’t, hell, please do, just im me first), don’t reblog threads you’re not a part of, don’t relog my hc posts. and have fun.

IV.

FORMATTING / ICONS - match me, don’t, dance the macarena before posting, i don’t give a fuck. i format how i want, when i want. my icons use citrus, by apocalypseresources

V.

WRITING - kind of a slow writer, and easily distracted. poke me over ims after about two weeks, if i haven’t replied before then. not super here for rape/torture, but i have an odd like for eldritch and body horror...

VI.

GRAPHICS - all graphics on my blog are made by me/for me. give credit where credit is due. be nice. making shit is a lot harder than just throwing an image into photoshop and clicking buttons. people work hard on shit, and i will come for your knees if you don’t credit people, creators, artists, etc… i have baseball bats.

VII.

SHIPPING - fuck yeah fuck yeah fuck yeah !! you come to me with a ship, and by the time i’ve finished processing the words, i’m already hella emotionally invested. crackships are my shit, so please don’t be scared. honestly, i’ll ship pretty much anything. probably even some sketchy shit by other’s standards. if that’s a problem, hasta la vista, and sorry i don’t cut it for you.

VIII.

NSFW - i and my muse are 18+, my nsfw tag is literally ‘a girl’s got needs,’ let’s fuckin’ do this. i’ll write it, but not with minors. other, general nsfw topics might come up, due to the nature of AUs and canon events. i do try and tag as cw // or cw ment //, so please feel free to tell me things you need tagged.

IX.

PLOTTING - do it. done. if i don’t write down whatever idea i have quick enough, it will get yeeted from my head like a brick out the window fuckin adhd, so (with express permission from you) i’ll message at bizarre hours, probably. on the flip side, this is your express permission: i, lily, mun of ofmagiick, give you, [name], mun of [blog], permission to send me ims/ask with plot proposals. it’s signed and sealed as soon as you read this. no take-backsies. you gotta, now. :3c

X.

MEMES - headcanon/ask my muse questions/etc, open to all. interaction-oriented, mutuals only. no reblog karma, but if you aren’t sending me something, reblog from the source, please

XI.

ACTIVITY - it can be spotty. i’m a full-time student, adhd mess. hit me up in ims with reminders or ping me on disco/in a server, its all cool.

XII.

MAINS / EXCLUSIVES - i'm okay with mains, you'll be my go-to version of a character, and the one i'm thinking of if mine mentions yours to someone else, but that's gonna be discussed beforehand. exclusives will have to be heavily, HEAVILY discussed, and likely will be way down the line if ever.

XIII.

CALLOUTS - bitch, no. get that shit away from me. won’t post ‘em, won’t reblog ‘em. call me out if you want, i’ll screenshot it, print it out, and put it up on my wall to laugh at, and remember people are still wasting brainpower to be mad at me. if you have an issue with me, hit me up in ims/off anon, and we can talk like adults.

???

ABOUT THE MUN - what up it’s ya nerd lily with newest brainrot, this time sci-fi. pronouns are she/her or “hey you ditz”, i am legal to drink in the us and far beyond legal adult there, and i id as a goddamned fucking mess mutuals feel free to hmu for discord if you want it

[wiypt-writes]

Rawhide

Chapter 13: Put On Your Red Shoes And Dance The Blues

Summay: It’s the clash of the titans as Hydra and Shield finally face off, but as Rumlow and Steve come to serious blows, you realise that the only way to end it all might be to sacrifice the thing you value the most…

Warnings: Descriptions of violence, angst, language…more angst…death…ooooh but who???

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction. I do not own any characters contained within, bar the reader and any other OCs that may be mentioned. I do not give consent for my work to be reposted/translated to any other site. Please comment, like and reblog.

W/C: 5.4k

A/N: So here it is, the penultimate chapter! Thanks to @spectre-posts for reading and adding in her thoughts...

Main Masterlist // Rawhide Masterlist Chapter 12

Rumlow blazed around the office he was in, kicking the chair over as he went. Langley, long used to his friend and leader’s temper tantrums, merely took a deep breath as he waited. 

“I will not have your Omega sister and her weakling pack get the better of me!”

“Look, if it wasn’t for Carter…”

“How the fuck did you not spot that she was a double agent?”

“Well, technically she was kind of a triple agent.” Bryce’s nostrils flared. “I mean, if she’d been Hydra pretending to be Shield, that would have made her the double agent, wouldn’t it? But she was Shield, pretending to be Hydra pretending to be Shield I mean…” He was cut off as Rumlow gripped him round the throat. Langley automatically landed a punch to the side of Rumlow’s face, and the man dropped him, recoiling from the blow a little. “Know your place, Brock…” he hissed, massaging his neck. “My family put you at the top of Hydra, remember that.”

Rumlow snarled before he sank down into the chair. “And we have no idea where they’ve gone?”

“If we did, you think we’d be here?” Bryce scoffed, “We’ve spent the last two weeks searching. Problem is, Shield have mobilised now they know that we’re gearing up for a fight. Up until your…experiment on my sister, they had no real proof. Now they do. Blue states up and down the country are taking up arms. Even those people that maybe hovered between accepting some of our views but not all of them are swinging to their side because they don't support another war. Montana is now basically impenetrable thanks to Odinson and Stark…”

“They won’t be in Montana, that’s too easy.” Rumlow shook his head. “Locking the state down…that’ll be a diversion.”

“I know that!” Bryce snorted.

“Boss?” 

Both men looked towards the door, where Rollins stood, an excited look on his face.

“What?”

“We might have a lead. One of our sources has seen two people, matching the description of Y/N and Rogers, in Bristol. Church Street Wharf to be exact.”

“Is it legit?” Rumlow demanded.

The guard nodded, “he’s a solid source, and what’s more so, he’s taken a recording on his phone so that we can verify it. He’s sending it through now.”

*****

The more you tried to pull your arm away from Steve, the stronger his grip was. The tears were now pouring down you face.

“Steve…let me go…”

“I can’t do that Omega, I need to keep you safe.”

“You can’t!” You sobbed, “I’m sorry, I love you, I really do but…Rumlow, that stuff he shot me with…”

“Was fake…” His voice was desperate, and you shook your head, sadly.

“I wish it was, but he did something to me…there’s something going on and all I know is I can’t fight the Omega part of me anymore…it’s wants him and it disgusts me! Why do you think I ran? Huh? I can’t trust myself!”

“Please, baby…” Steve’s face broke and a piece of your soul did too, and he released his hold on your wrist. “Just please, ‘Y/N get on the ferry… Banner is working on it as we speak, we can fix this. I know we can. We’ll go back until he figures out how to reverse whatever it is that it’s done. You don’t need to leave!”

“You know he ain’t gonna be able to,” you shook our head. “This is breaking my heart and it hurts so much because I love you…I know I do, but…it burns inside…every time you kiss me it really burns because my body is telling me I’m his now, and…”

“Don’t…don’t say that…our bond…” Steve’s eyes were full of tears.

“It’s fading…” you swallowed, hand pressing at the mark on your neck as you cast your eyes down, “don’t pretend you haven’t noticed…” At that your fingers moved your collar aside to show him. Steve studied the once prominent infinity bond on your skin, and he felt his chest ache and throat as he studied it. You were right, it did look a little lighter.

He took a deep breath, his voice cracking.  “Please… just please, come back. Give it a month, or a week. Let Banner try…”

“You have Hydra to…”

“Fuck Hydra!” Steve snapped, his hand running through his hair, before both his large palms covered his face. With a groan, he dragged his fingers back down through his beard and shook his head. “I don’t care about them, not anymore. I love you, I can’t live without you…you gotta give us a chance…”

“You know what the awful thing about all this is?” You whispered, wiping the tears from your face. ��You haven’t once tried to Alpha Command me to do as you say.”

“I don’t want to…why-“

“And we both know why.” You smiled sadly, “you don’t want to because you’re scared it won’t work. Scared that I won’t answer to you anymore.” From the look on Steve’s face, you were right. You looked around, your arms hugging your chest, before you took a deep breath. “Fine, I’ll…I’ll come back..but…I can’t…I can’t promise…”

“I know…” His lips brushed your forehead, “but we gotta try, huh?”

You nodded, and looked at his hand as he held it out. Tentatively, you slipped your palm into his, fingers twining together. Steve pulled you into him a little, casting what he hoped was a surreptitious look around, before he led you back towards the ferry.

Neither of you noticed the man a few yards away, with his phone out, pointing the camera in your direction…

*******

As the video cut off, Rumlow scoffed. “Pathetic. He’s actually begging her…”

“Where does that Ferry go?” Bryce looked at Rollins.

“Prudence Island. Secluded enough for a safe house.”  He smirked.

There was a pause as Rumlow and Langley digested that news, before the latter broke the silence. “It could be a trap.”

“I don’t think so.” Rollins shook his head. “They were taking great pains to hide from the CCTV, if it hadn’t been for our guy being there, right place right time…”

“Rogers ain’t that smart.” Rumlow shook his head, “and it aint his style. He’s a soldier, like me. But he’s also persistently blinded by his need to do the right thing, the honourable thing, meaning he doesn’t always see the bigger picture.” His fingers drummed on the desk as he mused through his thoughts. “You know, I’ve been waiting for his Alpha Challenge for the past two weeks, fighting to defend his little Omega Whore’s honour, but it never came. And now we know why.” Rumlow then chuckled. “He’s had bigger issues, because the serum worked.”

“Looks that way…” Langley arched a brow.

“So there’s nothing to make us assume the Alpha one won’t.” Rollins cut in, and Rumlow pointed at him, nodding.

“Guess not.” Langley spoke again, his voice flat.

“What is the matter with you?” Rumlow looked at him.

“I don’t know, I’m just not sold…”

“More like you want to take the serum yourself, because you can’t stand the fact that soon you’ll have no chance against me in a fight.”  Rumlow rose from his seat as Bryce scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Well, neither will Rogers. I almost had him beat last time, and that was without the serum. If it hadn’t been for his guard dog… “ he trailed off and looked at Rollins. “Tell everyone to ready the lab…I want it doing this afternoon. In the meantime, get some of our troops out undercover, see if we can locate this safe house.” He moved out from behind the desk, stopping as he smirked once more. “Shouldn’t take too long, Prudence Island ain’t that big… “

******

“You think this plan is gonna work?” Clint asked from his vantage point in the tree that sat on the boundary of the property. 

“Not if you keep talking.” Bucky mumbled back. 

"Not for nothing, Steve's thrown it together quick and our girl in there seems a bit...."

“She’s nervous, wouldn’t you be?” Natasha spoke over the comms. “Stop talking and keep your focus. They could be anywhere.”

"Yes, ma'am, Widow ma'am." Clint snickered.

“Amateur.” She replied sardonically

Sam cut through, "knock it, we've got incoming."

Clint scanned the horizon, his sharp eyes licking up t hee movement of a vehicle. The headlights off. “I see it. Can’t tell if it’s  them…”

“Who else is it gonna be?” Bucky snarled.

“A lost civilian…” Clint replied.

“Quit stalling, light ‘em up Hawkeye.”

"With pleasure."

Clint reached for one of his arrows, clicking the small button on the side to arm it. He took aim, and let it fly. It landed perfectly, five foot or so in front of the vehicle, exploding upon impact with the ground.

The car swerved and came to an abrupt stop. Two men exited, armed and scanning the area.

“He he he,” Sam chuckled, “I love it when they do that.”

Clint selected another arrow, “let’s see if this gives them the message…”

This time, upon hitting the ground, it sent off loud crackles of gunfire. The two men were quick to duck and dive back into the car.

Bucky sent a round of ammo their way, watching as it pinged off the bonnet of the car as the driver put it hastily in reverse. It down round, and Bucky continued to shoot until it was out of sight.

“Well, that saw them off…” Sam stated.

“They’ll be back, that was just the scouting party.” Bucky sighed, “I’m gonna head up to the house. Natasha, Clint, any more trouble holler.”

"You got it," Nat replied, her comms giving a crackle as she did so.

Bucky made it back within ten minutes. Steve and yourself awaiting news. "Scouting party cracked through, I'm estimating we'll have about thirty before enforcers show."

Steve didn’t miss the spike of fear that shot through you, your hand instantly moving to your bond mark, but it stopped short of touching it.

Rather, you rested your fingers against your collarbone and tucked your other wrist under your bent elbow. "We should be ready. Rumlow will send everyone, then he'll follow. I don't doubt Bryce will be by his side. He's not the enforcement type."

"Well it's taken them longer than we anticipated." Steve looked at you then to Bucky. "How far out s Fury and the rest of back up? "

Bucky called it in, "Hill says ETA thirty."

"Steve..." You whispered.

"I know. But it's a fight we have to take."

You stood numb. You knew that Steve was right. Rumlow wouldn't stop at anything not until he had you. "Stick to the plan." Steve looked at Bucky then turned to you. “Please, stay hidden in the storm shelter. Banner will be there…”

Your breath shook as it left your lungs. "I..."

“Omega…”

“I’ll take her.” Bucky said, “c’mon, Doll…we don’t have much time.”

Your pleading eyes looking at Steve for a final chance, but he just stared. A snarl to his features. You steeled yourself and turned away, following Bucky out the back door.

*****

The sound of gun shots, the unmistaken yells and grunts of fighting rang out in the air in the grounds surrounding the safe house. Hydra had come, and come in numbers.

For the most, Shield held their own. Fury, Hill and Coulson directing their troops, as Steve commanded his. 

But he had one person on his mind, Rumlow. And so far, he was nowhere to be found.

Fury's team had wounded and casualties. Steve and his team, few scratches, close calls and oh there would be bruises. But it was no longer just a battle, this was an all out war. The open fields gave little cover. The tree lines smoked and burned.

Steve dispatched two agents easily, Bucky to his left as they charged through the ranks.

“Where the hell is he?” Steve yelled, “where is Rumlow?”

“I haven’t seen him…” Thor replied, swinging his arm as he took out three agents at once. Steve then raised his shield and sent it flying in an arc, the familiar whoosh and clang almost soothing to him as it flew back to his arm having ricochet off numerous soldiers.

"I'm getting a little tired of," he paused to throw his shield into the neck of a goon, "playing these games."

“Yeah, as far as games go I’ve played with better odds.” Tony’s voice cackled on the comms.

No sooner had Tony spoken, a loud rumble sounded and Steve instinctively looked up to see a large black and red helicopter approaching from the distance.

“Hydra?”

“It ain’t ours!” Fury yelled back.

"It's about time," Steve growled.

The Hydra troops seemed to pull back and part as the chopper circled. Fury and Hill yelled at their soldiers to fall in as Steve stood still, watching as it touched down in the middle of the field.

Steve's steel gaze stared as Rumlow exited the doors, fourth in line. Bryce preceded him as did two armed men. Sam's comms broke the deaf air.

"I got three more this way," he grunted as others piled out from the other side.

“I see them…” Steve muttered. His eyes then turned back to Rumlow.

There was a snide, almost prideful smirk on his face as he stared back at Steve.

“Where’s your little bitch?” His voice rang out across the battle lines.

Steve wasted zero time sending his shield in reply. He wasn't in the mood for talking.

Rumlow managed to grab one of the soldiers to his side, pushing him into the shields path. He gave a yell and a grunt as he fell to the floor, the shield bouncing back to Steve’s arm.

“Oh, okay…well, doesn’t really matter. Once I’ve killed you, she’ll be mine anyway. That is, if she isn’t already.”

At that Steve audibly scoffed. “What do you mean by that? Course she isn’t yours, she’s mine. We share a Soul Bond.”

Rumlow scoffed, “cut the shit, Rogers, we both know that’s a load of crap. Her mark is fading, I know all about it!”

Steve’s face visibly faltered, even if his stance didn’t.

“Guess that serum I injected her with worked better than I thought.” Rumlow continued to goad Steve. “But, how about we put the one I took to the rest, huh?”

Steve sent his Shield in Bucky's direction, the former soldier catching it quickly. He cracked his neck and his knuckles, "let's dance."

“He’s mine!” Rumlow yelled out, as he advanced, “kill the rest of them but leave him to me!”

The private protection spread out, leaving Rumlow alone; including Bryce.

“I’m gonna enjoy this,” Rumlow picked up the pace as the rest of the Hydra army also began to rush forward once more.

Like a clash of titans, the two came at one another. Steve made first contact, his right hook sending Rumlow a step or two back. Rumlow cracked his neck as he went in with a punch of his own. Steve was quick to duck, flying in with a left hander to Rumlow’s gut.

Rumlow bent forward and Steve's well padded knee met the Hydra head's nose. He dropped down to the decaying grass with a thud, his back finding no cushion. As Steve drew his hand back for another punch, Rumlow rolled to the side and the captains fist connected with the floor where seconds before, his opponents head had been.

It gave Brock the opportunity to get to his knees and wrap a forearm around Steve's neck. But with his fast reflexes, Steve flung Rumlow over him and onto his back again.

"I'm gonna fuckin' kill you, you son of a bitch."

Not even winded, Rumlow cackled and fixed a hooked knee over Steve and pulled his right arm through for an arm bar in defense.

With just a split-second of freedom before his arm was straightened, Steve grabbed onto his lapel with his trapped right arm. He slid his left elbow under Rumlow’s right leg and began shuffling his own legs around to the side. His hips under Rumlow’s foot, he began to twist and roll, eventually turning his entire body inwards which allows him to sneak his head out of the vice like grip. 

Rumlow lost his grip entirely on the Shield Captain and he flexed his back and popped right up. He dove at Steve's midsection but, his tackle failed and Steve was able to suplex him again to the ground.

"Serum's a fail, you fuck."

Rumlow laughed, “shows what you know.“

"I'm waiting."

Rumlow stood straight, grinning as he seemed to be weighing something up. And then, Steve saw the flash of a blade as it slid down the mans sleeve.

“So much for a fair fight…” Steve arched his brow.

“Fuck fair,” Rumlow gripped the blade in his right hand, “I came to win.”

Steve knew his hand to hand combat was already top game, but he knew how quick Hydra could train with a blade. But Steve did as Steve always did, and didn't back down. Instead, he stuck his arm out and extended his hand. He opened and closed his fist, inviting Rumlow to come at him again.

Rumlow slashed at the air in front of him, causing Steve to jump back. Again and again the blade swiped him, Steve dodging in what felt like some kind of perverse dance. Left, right, back, forward, twist…

But, a stray bullet hissing by caused Steve to dodge that ultimately setting himself up for a prick to his side from the blade. He hissed, jumped backwards, and as he did so he heard a yell to his right.

A familiar voice.

Despite himself, he turned and saw Natasha crumpled on the floor, blood pouring from a wound in her neck.

"Nat!"

He saw a whirl as Bucky flew past, diving at Langley who had administered the blow, taking him down in a tangle of limbs. The two men began to grapple, flashes of metal arched through the air, Bucky using Steve’s shield to deflect the blows from a now rabid Langley.

Steve stood, watching his friend for a split second, but it was a split second too long. It was the distraction Rumlow had needed, and before Steve had time to realise what was happening, he felt a searing pain in the back of his thigh.

Rumlow had taken advantage and plunged the blade into his leg.

Steve dropped to one knee, and then the blow to his face from Rumlow’s foot caused him to crumple backwards. “You know, that’s always been your weakness, Rogers. Your friends. Loyalty. You care too much. It’s the reason you could never be a ruler, never be as great as Hydra has made me.”

Steve spat the blood out of his mouth. He moved to get up when another blow hit him in the face. 

“You can’t see the bigger picture, can’t see that sometimes you gotta make sacrifices for the greater good…” Rumlow leered over him as Steve lay, the blood from his nose trickling down his throat.

Then he saw the blade as it moved in Rumlow’s hand. And the he gasped as the man’s knee pressed into the middle of his chest.

“Imma enjoy this…almost as much as I’m going to enjoy breaking in Y/N. My only regret is you won’t be there to see it.”

Steve swallowed, attempting to buck Rumlow off, but it was no good. His eyes tracked the blade as it moved towards his neck, and then your voice filled his head.

“I got you, Alpha…”

Before he could even scan the area for you, your shout rang out loud and clear.

“Enough…Brock! Enough…”

Rumlow's head snapped in your direction, distracted and amazed.

“Call them off.” You swallowed, “let Steve go and…you can have me.”

Steve's eyes went wide. "No!" He argued.

A sadistic laugh rumbled Brock's chest, "Oh, 'Mega, I'm gonna enjoy this."

A final harsh blow to the side of Steve’s head left him seeing stars as you felt the tears prick your eyes. Your gaze then flicked to Natasha. Bruce (who you’d arrived with) was now tending to her, attempting to stop the blood flow.

Everyone seemed to have stood still, Hydra and Shield alike. Bucky and Sam took the opportunity to head over to where Steve was laid, unmoving on the floor, whilst Pete, Tony, Thor and Clint all gathered round Natasha and Bruce, shielding them from any attack which may or may not be oncoming.

“Little Bird…” Thor began but you shook your head.

“This isn’t worth it…I’m not worth it.” You whispered, your eyes flicking from him, to Natasha who was thankfully conscious, and then to Steve. Steeling yourself, you took a deep breath, and looked at Rumlow as he advanced towards you. “You got what you wanted. Just call this off. Please.“

As he stood in front of you, his hand gripped your wrist painfully and his eyes studied your neck. “Well, well…not so infinite, huh…”

The way he pronounced the word, like it was something dirty, made you choke a little as you licked your lips. “Oh, it was…until you…you injected me. It’s been fading ever since. If it wasn’t for that, you wouldn’t have stood a chance. And you’ll always know that, no matter what you do to me. That you couldn’t ever have taken me, or defeated Steve, without that Serum. Because you simply weren’t strong enough.”

A stinging blow landed to your face and you heard a roar from Steve, who was now staggering to his feet. He swayed, as Bucky and Sam held him up.

“Rumlow…I’m…”

“You’ll what?” Brock laughed, “I have her, she’s here. Begging for me to take her and save you.”

Steve looked at you, and you blinked back the tears. “Steve…”

“Please don’t…” he whispered.

“Please don’t...” Rumlow mocked, “God, you really are fucking pathetic. That all you got, ‘please don’t’? You can’t even stop your Omega from sacrificing herself…” He looked down at you, then to Bryce, and finally to Steve. “I mean…one Alpha command from you would stop this but….oh, yeah, silly me…I forgot. Your bond…it’s worthless now.”

Rumlow yanked you closer towards him. Steve made a move, a snarl rippling from his chest but Bucky and Sam were quick to hold him back. They knew that they were beat, and Steve wouldn’t make it two steps towards you before being gunned down.

A hand gripped your hair and your head was yanked painfully to the side, exposing your mating gland and the faded gold infinity bond. Smirking, Rumlow’s  gaze on the defeated faction, his tongue fell from his mouth and laved up your neck.

You winced, your eyes filling with tears as they locked onto Steve’s face. His expression was sheer devastation.

“I’m sorry…” you whispered, those blue eyes you knew and loved were swimming with tears and you couldn’t look anymore.

With a sigh, you closed your own. And then, as Rumlow’s sharp teeth latched onto your neck skin, the sound of your beloved Alpha’s bellows of distress were the only thing you could focus on. You waited with your eyes screwed shut, every nerve in your body was on fire, the adrenaline coursing through your blood as you fought the instinct to scream.  You could hear nothing but your pulse thudding in your ears, Rumlow’s pants and groans of delight as he laved up the blood on your neck.

And then, you felt him pull back, a frown on his face.

“What’s the matter, Brock…” you whispered, as you opened your eyes, “don’t I taste good?”

For a moment, he merely blinked, and then he moved his hand, pulling the thin, flesh like strip from his mouth. “What the…”

“One of Erskine and Banner’s inventions.” You spoke softly, as he looked at the two puncture marks where his teeth had bitten into the curious item he now held in his palm. “Still in the prototype phase, doesn’t have a name yet but…oh, and speaking of Erskine… the serums were both fake. Shield switched them out before you raided the lab.”

You saw his gaze slide to your neck, and his features slid from puzzlement, to shock, to anger in a matter of seconds as he saw your Soul Bond was there, as bright and as vivid as it always had been.

“Gotcha,” you smirked.

****

24 Hours Ago…

After your little scene at the ferry port, you and Steve made your way back to the safe house. You followed your alpha to the door, where it was opened from the inside. Bucky, Sam and Clint waiting for the pair of you.

“Banner not here yet?” Steve asked as you headed in.

“No, he’s still putting the finishing touches to the, well whatever you wanna call it. As soon as he’s done then he’ll be on his way with Tony and Thor.” Sam informed.

“And he’s confident it’ll work.”

“It’s a potent neurotoxin.” Bucky nodded, “the only reason we’ve never used it before is because there’s no known antidote.”

Steve took a deep breath, “well, let’s just say I’m very glad Hydra didn’t get their hands on that…”

Client's eyes drew up, "how'd it go? Play the part?"

“Oscar worthy.” Steve smirked, and despite yourself you grinned.

“Think they’ll find this place?” Bucky asked.

“Yeah, we made sure our vehicle was noticeable.” You nodded.

"Now, we wait." Bucky nodded.

As you waited, you went through your plan, over and over again. The first part was already in play. By pretending that the serum had worked, that you were feeling its effects and as such, your bond to Steve was fading, it would give Rumlow false confirmation that the Alpha serum would make him stronger. This, you hoped, would cause his arrogance to win out, have him mobilise and break cover, and more over leave him complacent on the battlefield.

Whilst Steve was still intent on ripping Rumlow’s head off, he had acquiesced and listened when you’d pleaded with him that you needed a plan B. And, after days of deliberation and plotting, that plan was finalised. Should Rumlow get the drop on Steve, then in you’d come, acting the part of the subservient Omega, all the time having a deadly poison concealed on your body. Concealed in plain sight, a small invisible pouch right over your mating gland. You knew Rumlow wouldn’t be able to stop himself from taunting Steve, that he’d try to bond you there and then, and when he did, his teeth would pierce the pouch, unleashing a fast acting, deadly neurotoxin, that would leave him dead in a matter of minutes.

Steve wasn’t completely happy about it, and you knew that he would do his absolute utmost to not even let it get to the point of needing to use you, but you also had no intention of letting any of your friends die. No matter what, you’d be walking onto that battle field and offering yourself up. Because, for some reason, you knew it had to be that way. You knew it had to be you.

A few hours post your return, Steve’s phone went and it was Natasha.

“They’re in the area, just picked two of their goons up. Following the route your car did.”

“Alright, hang back…” Steve took a deep breath. “Inform Parker and have him call me when they pass his watch point. Then we’ll know for sure they’re following the trail.“

"You got it, Cap," she said.

Steve sensed the smirk in her voice.

With a scoff he cut the call, then looked at Bucky and Sam.

“You know the plan. The scout party needs to escape, notify Rumlow they’ve located us.”

"Got it," Sam replied. Bucky merely nodded. 

Clint picked up his bow and smirked. "'Bout time."

“Wait for my signal. As soon as Parker calls I’ll let you know.”

"Yup," Clint followed Sam and Bucky out.

You eyed Steve with a look of major worry. "I hope this works.

“Well, if Mohammed can’t go to the mountain…” he shrugged, “I know it’ll work.”

“What makes you so sure?”

Steve looked at you, before he smiled softly and pressed his lips to yours. “It’s your plan.”

*****

“You fucking bitch…” Rumlow snarled. Those Omega skills you’d been honing with Nat kicked in as you saw the blow coming a split second before he went to make it. You ducked under his arm and twirled around, backing up quickly towards where Steve was stood. Rumlow advanced on you but only made it three or four steps before he stopped, his eyes widening, as he struggled to take in air.

He grasped at his neck, clawing at the collar of his uniform as his face was rapidly turning a puce colour.

“Pretty potent neurotoxin.” You stepped back towards him. “I estimate you’ve got about thirty seconds left.”

You watched as Brock fell to his knees, scratching at the skin on his neck, and you looked down at him, your eyes locked on his, relishing the fact that his pupils were now blown with fear.

“Wanna know the really, really funny thing about all this?” You looked at him. “When I came up with our little plan, it was Thor that had the most faith in it working. Because he’s always said that it would be Hydra’s inability to embrace things that you cannot understand, those which you simply refuse to believe that would eventually be your downfall. And here we are.” You smiled, “I bet you never in a million years would have believed that a lowly Omega could even dream of such a plan, let alone enact it like I did. And, to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have been able to had it not for those extra little abilities my Soul Bond seems to have given me. You know, such as shielding my mind and emotions from you. Had you done your research, give any sort of credence to the fact that this-“ you ran your fingers over your mark, “-might actually be what the myths and legends say, you might not be about to die.”

At that point, Rumlow began to foam at the mouth, his body convulsing as he lay back. Blood was trickling from his nose and his eyes, as he lay looking up at you, the veins in his neck and temple popping. A gurgling noise rose from his throat, before he suddenly stilled, his head lolling to one side. Unseeing eyes looked out of his head, around at the Hydra troops who stood motionless, looking down at their now dead leader.

It was as if time had stood still, no one moved, no one said a word, that was until you heard a familiar voice screeching at you. You wheeled on the spot sharply, as you saw Bryce raise his gun in your direction.

And then it all seemed to happen in slow motion, Steve’s shield arched through the air, knocking the gun from his hand, as Bucky, Sam and Tony ran forward. Whilst Fury barked orders, you watched as the three men surrounding Bryce pushed him to his knees.

“I’ve told Hill and Coulson to clean up.” Fury spoke, as you kept your eyes locked onto your brothers, eyes that were so like your fathers. “They’re beaten, they know they are. We can get the back to our camp and then contact the World Security Council. We’re going to need their help if we want to unite the states…”

“Hydra will never be beaten…” Bryce shrieked his voice almost hysterical, “cut off one head…”

“Shut up.” Sam groaned.

“He has a point.” Steve spoke, looking at Fury. “As long as Hydra have someone to rally around, someone spouting their bullshit cause, they’ll never be gone. And, as such, neither will Shield. We agreed, neither faction can survive. This blue vs red…it has to stop.”

“Then we get rid of him.” Bucky stated, “what was it Rumlow said, you have to make sacrifices for the greater good…”

“Buck, we can’t…”

“Can’t what? Kill him? I assure you, we totally can…”

A heated debate then broke out, the phrase war crime being uttered once or twice, all the time you kept your eyes locked on your brother.  In that split second, a hundred memories from your previous life flooded your mind. The cruelty you'd suffered at his hands, the pain and anguish you'd felt when he had killed your first Alpha.

As you saw Colin's face flash to the forefront of the metaphorical slide show, all you could see was the fear in his face as he told you to run, before he turned back to what he knew would be his certain death, to give you chance to escape.

With a slow movement, you reached out your right hand…

Moments later, a loud bang echoed around the field, causing the arguing party to jump. Bryce slumped to the floor, a perfect shot landed right between his eyes. You were aware of everyone staring at you as you tossed Natasha’s gun to the floor and took a deep breath, simply staring at your dead brother’s body.

“Fuck Hydra, and fuck him.”

**Chapter 14**

[bump1nthen1ght]

Hellooo, if you have the time can we please get more Drogo Headcanons? I love them!

Sure thing! More Drogo for their adoring fans ❤️

General and NSFW Headcanons

SFW

Perfect partner to steal clothes from. Not only do they have an eclectic style made up of pretty much anything, their ability to shapeshift also means they have a multitude of sizes and fits!

Especially loves date nights where you try on a bunch of their outfits and do a fashion show, them watching in their pj’s and a face mask.

Can cook fine, but not extremely creative. Loves to spoil you instead and take you out to nice restaurants instead. If you can cook well, they’ll playfully whine and beg for your homemade food when they can. Don’t worry though, they’ll do all the cleaning up afterwards as payment

Another favorite date night is dancing. Not only at clubs, but traditionally dance halls as well. With their good looks and phenomenal dancing, they’ll make you feel like the main character of the night

Definitely has dipped you and kissed you on the dance floor, just for the drama and passion 💃

Has a secret passion for tech, down to be your personal IT guy, even for simple problems

(Probably has a very nice PC they built themselves, though they only ever play one game on it.)

Extremely touchy feely and loved just holding you close whenever they can. They’ve definitely yanked you by you waist using their devil tail, just for a cuddle

Also the type of partner to come up behind you, placing their hands on your waist and their chin in the crook of your neck, just to ask “Whatcha doing?”

If you’re not comfortable with it, they’re down to quit their hotline job. It wasn’t their main source of income anyway and they understand that it could make their partners uncomfortable. But if you’re fine with them staying, they’ll probably cut back on their hours anyway, they need more to hang out with you anyway!

(Plus, they can get fed plenty of ways with you ;))

NSFW

It’s self-explanatory but they are a very giving partner; nothings tastier than a pleased partner

Their tongue is long, pierced, and VERY experienced

The type of partner to hold your hips down when they eat you out/suck you off.

“I know I’m good baby, but let me give you some more.”

Loves having their face sat on, especially because it gives easy access to spank your butt

Yes they know its a cliche for a sex demon to have a variety of sex toys, but these were expensive!! They show them off without even realizing how lewd it is

Has a preference for non-flavored lube; Their nature allows them to taste the pheromones of your sweat and juices and they far prefer it over some perfumed lube

Power switch; They’re down for being subby and/or bottoming but their zealous confidence means they always have a little bit of control, even if they play it off

“Yeah, you like that? Look at you, you’re practically drooling!. So cute ~”

(They also probably have to vamp up and ‘perform’ a certain way at work, so they prefer just letting their natural personality shine through during sex”)

Shape-shifting definitely makes things interesting; They can be picked up, thrown around, throw you around, kind of perfect

Absolute monarch of riding; Whether it's on a strap on or a cock, they can take you to TOWN

Loves to mark you up and be marked themselves. Definitely the type to show off all the love bites you gave them

Expect that tail to come into play as well. If they’re not stretching you out with their tongue or their fingers, expect a lovely fucking from their tail. They KNOW how to use it efficiently

Easily swaps between sexy time and casual time. It’s pretty helpful, like when they can order delivery effortlessly, mere minutes after fucking your brains out

[carterashofficial]

OOOOOHHH! I leaned about this in my botany class. So. Eucalyptus do in fact grow excellent in harsh (desert/coastal desert/etc…) climates. Please note I am not a historian and I was the sort of college student who used 2-hour long lectures to catch up on sleep, so if I got any details wrong, please time travel back to 2016 and slap past-Carter.

Anyway.

Back in ye olde 1800s when thetranscontinental railroad was being built, someone had what they thought was a good idea. “Hey, these trees that grow in the desert. Let’s plant them all over California. It’s a desert. And then we can use the wood for the railroad”

Whenever this idea was voiced to clearly thought it was an excellent idea, and set the plan in motion.

Please note: a desert is not like, just sand and rocks and tumbleweed. I’m a southern California (SoCal) native. It’s got a lot of vegetation and oak trees and everything is just brown. We get rain. There are naturally-occurring lakes in the mountains and they get snow. An accurate description of our southern climate is “scrubby” b/c everything is made to survive the Santa Ana winds and live off like 8” of rain a year.

So there’s your mental picture of SoCal, where the eucalyptus was primarily planted.

So Railroad Company has all these trees imported and planted and they THRIVE. So Railroad cuts down a bunch of Eucalyptus for the railroad and. Uh. Um. Wait. Shucks. Uh oh.

The wood is too oily and brittle to use. It’s mostly the oily part that’s the problem. But also the wood just shattered into splinters b/c it’s full of oil. Smelly oil, too.

So all those trees planted can’t be used for the railroad.

However the farmers (this is where I note that huge amounts of California are avocado and almond and orange farms. Like on my 15 minute commute into work I pass a massive avocado orchard that’s even there since before I was born). The farmers discovered that the eucalyptus is EXCELLENT for stopping the wind. So they planted more eucalyptus around their orchards to keep the winds out.

Folks still do this. At my old apartment, the southwest side has a long line of eucalyptus to protect the buildings from wind, and along various freeways in SoCal you’ll see eucalyptus just doing their thing between the freeway and more apartments/homes/stuff.

Of course, because the trees are full of oil (it’s gross, it’s smelly, ants fuckin love the sap for some reason) they are an excellent source of fuel for fire. California is known for its yearly “fuck this area in particular” fires. Eucalyptus love this shit and go hog-wild with their seeds, b/c these trees are anything but normal about anything ever.

TL:DR: some moron in the 1800s thought eucalyptus would be good wood for the railway. It wasn’t, but the California farmers discovered its great at blocking wind. It gets planted everywhere again and is still used to this day. And it’s horny on main for fire.

I love that gum trees were carted over to California due to their ability to thrive in harsh environments, only for fire season to hit and the Americans realise that the trees were the harsh environment.

Baby girls, fire literally be the gum trees kink;

[aewinning]

Fontaine/4.x+ Predictions

I'm throwing some big bold Fontaine/4.x predictions out so I can reference this in a year and find out just how right or wrong I was. Under a cut because it's a wall of text and b/c it involves obscure lore not everybody's read.

(No leaks involved. If you've seen leaks that confirm or contradict any of this, please don't send them to me or discuss them in replies. As you can see, the lore theorycrafting is half of the fun for me!)

Yes, this is the tip of the iceberg on my lore theories. No, this is not a comprehensive prediction of the entire Fontaine plot, just bits of it I feel are foreshadowed. Yes, I'm citing a lot of shit so that when I go back through this a year from now I can see why I thought what I thought.

I think about Genshin lore too much, this truly is live footage of me every time a single new crumb of information is divulged.

Massive wall of text incoming b/c I can't stop rambling once you start me up on Genshin lore.

The theories:

Fontaine fucks up and Celestia gets involved

My big pet theory that I've been nursing for over a year now, ever since we started hearing from bit NPCs in minor events about Fontaine's energy problems, is that I think Celestia is either going to drop a nail on Fontaine or at the very least finally become relevant to the main plot in a big way by sending someone to intervene with Fontaine's technology and the mockery Focalors is making of the judicial process. (They might not care enough to intervene in the average judicial process, but she's literally the capital-letters God of Justice, and it's supposed to be her ideal. If she's abandoned it, they might not be happy.) They're also hovering over what we can assume to be the location of Fontaine, which is not a good sign.

This theory was strengthened when reading Rene's Investigation Notes in the Khvarena of Good and Evil questline, which indicate that Fontaine has done research on Khaenri'ah's use of abyssal power as an energy source, which was warned against by some of Khaenri'ah's own people but ignored (to disastrous outcome). There are a lot of parallels being set up between Khaenri'ah and Fontaine in those notes and with all the mention of sinners in the Final Feast trailer narration, and I'm not sure they bode well for Fontaine.

It's possible that the energy generator machine that Persikov and the other Fatui were working on as far back as 2.8's Golden Apple Archipelago were meant to help them gain a foothold in Fontaine; after all, solve the desperate nation's energy problems, and you suddenly hold a lot of power in the nation and can even hold their energy source ransom until your demands are met. I wouldn't be surprised if "the Fatui control Fontaine's energy future and use it as leverage" is a plot point.

(Although back in the day I thought it would be Pantalone behind that plot, not Arlecchino, because economic and political manipulation seemed his style and we hadn't heard anything much about Arlecchino yet. Hell, Arlecchino had been mentioned like once in-game then, in Inazuma's "The Very Special Fortune Slip" hidden questline, and was still referred to as male at that point.)

2. Neuvillette is unjustly imprisoned by Furina; Charlotte figures it out

I think Neuvillette is going to be imprisoned by Furina (who's pretty obviously the hydro archon Focalors), foreshadowed by the bars going over his face but not Clorinde's when they're walking in the sewers in the trailer. This will likely be either Furina framing him for something (foreshadowed by her burning what seems to be evidence while complaining about the lack of plot twists and entertainment, while he's literally 'framed' by the burning photo) OR a political imprisonment because they have an ideological clash.

Neuvillette seems to actually want justice, Furina seems to want a show. She seems very pouty and childish; if he tries to discipline her or remind her of the true meaning of justice, she could very well order him arrested and turn it into a grand trial to feed her lust for entertainment. And it could certainly be a combination framing/political imprisonment as well. Very French Reign of Terror style.

Charlotte may figure this whole situation out; in the trailer she's investigating photos with a puzzled look on her face as if she sees something wrong with them, and in the TCG event she offered to let us take out an ad in the paper if we ever needed it, in exchange for our assistance during the event. Now, the pictures were of Navia, not Neuvillette, so this may be an unrelated plot, but surely she's going to help us sleuth up the truth of something with foreshadowing like that.

Neuvillette is also...something. His eyes resemble Khaenri'ahn eyes, he's got the Kleelike pointy ears, and his cool blue hair streaks are certainly interesting. Oceanids can mimic other creatures so he could be an Oceanid (and given that they were spies of the previous archon that would set him up nicely for opposition to Furina). He could be Klee's species. He could be a Khaenri'ahn.

Whatever he is, he's NOT standard modern Teyvat human, and he's NOT the previous hydro archon despite the hair streaks because we know from the Khvarena of Good and Evil questline and Vourukasha's Glow artifact set that the previous archon died and was anchored beneath the Harvisptokm in the form of the giant Gaokerena lotus to purify abyssal influence in the region.

Neuvillette, I've got my eye on you. (Both eyes. While twirling my hair and kicking my feet.)

1b+2b. Neuvillette replaces Furina as hydro archon

I fully understand this is an unlikely scenario so it's not as firmly a prediction as much as a "this would be interesting," but if Celestia brings judgment on Fontaine it is possible that the hydro archon slot opens up, either because they repossess Furina's gnosis and find a new archon, or because they straight-up kill her (can you fucking imagine the shock from the community if they kill an archon off? but they'd still get to sell two separate units as archons, it'd be a win/win for them).

If this happens the logical choice for a replacement would be Chief Justice Neuvillette, especially if he was in opposition to the behavior that put her on Celestia's shitlist. I can see it now: Celestia repossesses the gnosis, gives it to him, he says thank you, the Celestians fuck off to be mysterious again, and he turns right around and hands it to the Fatui in exchange for getting the hell out of Fontaine. (Or for some other reason.)

I highly doubt they'll go this route, but I would love to see it. Not only would it even out the archon gender ratio a bit, but it would answer the question of how a change of archonhood takes place, which we still haven't seen since Morax hasn't been replaced as geo archon yet. And I think it's a question we deserve to have answered before the end of the game. If not here, then perhaps in Natlan (see point 7 below).

3. Lyney, Lynette, Freminet, and Arlecchino

This is a pretty common/obvious theory but I agree that the siblings are all likely working for Arlecchino, likely unwillingly. She runs the House of the Hearth which takes in (and sometimes causes) orphans and trains them for the Fatui; we've seen several NPCs that came from them before and many of them consider each other brothers and sisters.

I don't think Lyney and Lynette are related to Freminet by blood; I think they consider him a sibling due to being raised together. The resemblance between Lyney and Lynette is clearer, especially with the twin names, but names can be changed, so I don't even treat it as confirmed that those two are blood related until proven otherwise, especially since Lynette has cat features and Lyney doesn't.

Both Lynette and Freminet seem to have robotic features, and we know that Fontaine has robots and Snezhnaya has the technology for segments, plus we've seen Albedo as a homunculus and Scara as a puppet, so artificial humans are very much within the realm of possibility for Teyvat. Lynette is said to have rather mechanical behavior, and Freminet's constellation is literally 'Automaton.' So I think it's likely enough that one or both of them aren't flesh and blood humans.

To take that a step further, I think it's possible that Lynette died at some point, and the current Lynette is a mechanical replacement OR a robotic body being inhabited by her soul (Alphonse from Full Metal Alchemist style). Lyney may have had to pledge loyalty to Arlecchino and the Fatui in order to rescue or recreate his sister through these means, OR it's possible they were already in the House of the Hearth and Dottore or somebody else damaged the original Lynette while experimenting with her.

Dark. And quite the fun twist if it's true, tbh.

4. Navia and Clorinde

Navia gives off a 'gentleman thief' vibe to me but lady version, and Clorinde shoots directly at her in the trailer, indicating she's playing the role of the detective or law enforcement officer tracking her down. I don't have coherent thoughts here on a lore front really, I'm just really excited for the possibility of gentlewoman thief rivals to lovers/enemies with benefits lesbians.

Clorinde's outfit looks a bit historical Navy inspired to me, so maybe she's a member of the Navy, but I'm not really sure why she'd be chasing criminals if that's the case.

5. Wriothesley, Sigewinne, and the Tower of London

I don't have a solid opinion on whether Wriothesley is blind or not as possibly hinted at by his fumbling for the cup, but I think it'd be cool if he was! People point to him looking at papers or at Sigewinne as evidence that he's not, but 'blind' as a term does not always mean complete lack of sight, for one, and if we assume he's a vision user as a seemingly playable character then there could be alternative methods he reads things with, such as using elemental sight to read ink with crushed-up elemental rocks in it or something.

He seems rather military, and Fontaine seems to have a strong military presence in general with some of the Melusine giving off a British bobby (police) vibe visually. I wouldn't be surprised if we get a structure reminiscent of the Tower of London, potentially where Wriothesley works and Neuvillette gets held when imprisoned.

No solid thoughts about Sigewinne yet other than I'm guessing she's going to be a healer or support, since she's little and cute and taking care of someone in the trailer. I assume she's a Melusine.

6. Chenyu Vale and Qiaoying Village (and Yilong Port?)

They're coming. I can feel it in my bones that at last we will go to the long-awaited Baizhu homeland. Why? There have been multiple sources indicating that they're placed between Liyue and Fontaine, likely between Fontaine and Qingce Village. I think 4.4 should be Lantern Rite judging from the usual calendar, and that would be a prime time for it to pop up - the main Fontaine story should be over at that point, and we'll be back in Liyue anyways. It will also be the Year of the Dragon, which might mean time for some juicy Zhongli or Liyue lore. Though they might move Chenyu Vale elsewhere in the 4.x schedule if needed.

This region will likely utilize Fontaine's diving mechanics. Legends about the region in weapon and artifact lore discuss powerful sunken jade artifacts in the rivers and lakes of the region, which would make a storyline revolving around finding them the perfect excuse to introduce the diving mechanics to a non-Fontaine region. Given the name and the lore, it's very possible that Baizhu's signature weapon Jadefall's Splendor is one of those pieces of jade, reclaimed.

For that and multiple other reasons, I believe Baizhu will be relevant to the main storyline here. Not only does he have a personal vested interest in finding interesting and powerful old artifacts or knowledge that might aid in his search for immortality, but Changsheng is intimately connected to the region lorewise. The Echoes of an Offering artifact set doesn't mention Changsheng by name, but it does discuss an adeptus named "Herblord" in Chenyu Vale and tell her story, and Changsheng is referred to as an "Herblord" in Baizhu's story cutscene. There's no reason to refer to them both with such a specific unusual term unless they're one and the same.

(I also have a theory that the other woman in the artifact lore is Madame Ping. The other woman is referred to as a fish adeptus, and Madame Ping's younger self in cutscenes has fish motifs and a fishtail silhouette, so I believe she's likely a koi as her adeptus form. I am highly tempted to write a Changsheng/Madame Ping fic because y'all there is something incredibly wlw happening in that artifact lore. I am also not going to be surprised if Madame Ping's younger form becomes playable in conjunction with Chenyu Vale story.)

7. Natlan

As a final far future prediction: In Natlan, Capitano will likely challenge the pyro archon for her gnosis and possibly even replace her. We know he's headed to Natlan and also "has the courage to challenge gods as an ordinary mortal" from Varka's Weinlesefest letter, and if Pierro is simply the "Director" of the Fatui as labeled in the Winter Night's Lazzo description and not a numbered harbinger, Capitano may occupy slot #1, which would be in line with his name as the Captain. We've been told by Nahida that the top three harbingers rival gods in terms of power, and I feel like if any god would answer a martial challenge with their gnosis on the line it would be the God of War, especially if the challenger was backed by another archon. I TRULY hope we see a fight between them.

(I also wanna see someone guillotined in Fontaine to fit the vibe but I highly doubt that will happen in Genshin. I think Signora was the most violent death we'll get onscreen.)

Anyways I hope someone found this titillating or educational and we can all look back at this and laugh at how wrong I was a year from now, but occasionally my farfetched theories do work out, such as when I looked a the Echoes of an Offering set lore on its release a full YEAR before Baizhu's release and excitedly vibrated to a friend about how it HAD to be related to him or Changsheng.

(I have theories past this point in the game too but they mostly rely on esoteric Gnostic text parallels more than in-game foreshadowing/content so I'm less confident in them.)

[pikapeppa]

Let’s talk about turian/human sex, baby

In light of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition taking everyone’s hearts by storm (sometimes for the third time *cough*) and a resurgence of interest in everyone’s favourite space husbando Garrus Vakarian, I just wanted to address something very important: there’s no scientific basis for Garrus and Shepard giving each other allergic reactions by ingesting or otherwise enjoying each other’s bodily fluids during sex.  😂🍆💦

Read more below the cut; or if you want to go straight to the main source I used for this little post, please check it out -- the rest of this post is based primarily on this amazing one from 2018. 

To those who don’t know, it is canon in the Mass Effect world that the turians’ and quarians’ biology is different from that of the humans and the other major races (asari, krogan, salarians): turians and quarians are referred to as “dextro”, whereas the other major races are “levo”. Throughout the game, it’s repeatedly mentioned that levo species can’t eat dextro food or vice versa or they’ll be poisoned. If you’re romancing Garrus, there’s a wonderful scene where Mordin gives Shepard sex advice, including a warning for her not to swallow Garrus’s joy juice or she’ll have an allergic reaction.

Now, this post from 2018 does an amazing job of breaking down the meaning of levo vs. dextro and exactly why this distinction would not actually matter when it comes to compatibility of bodily fluids or food. The post is quite science-heavy, however, so my purpose today is to explain in the simplest possible terms why it’s okay for Shepard to go ahead and swallow Garrus’s semen.

What is this levo/dextro thing, anyway?

In very simple terms, “dextro” and “levo” are chemistry terms referring to the shape of amino acids (i.e. the building blocks of proteins) and other molecules, including sugars. Some molecules are "right handed", i.e. dextro, and some are "left-handed" i.e. levo. This means that for some molecules, there can be two versions: a levo version and a dextro version. 

The reason this matters is that the two versions of a single molecule can act totally differently. For example, the levo version might have a medicinal effect, while the dextro version does nothing. The idea in Mass Effect, then, is that quarians and turians are made up of right-handed amino acids, and humans and everyone else is made up of left-handed amino acids. This is actually a totally fine and plausible sci-fi premise. 

The problem is that the game makes the jump that dextro molecules are toxic to levo-based species and vice versa. It’s assumed that dextro people will have allergic reactions to levo molecules in their systems, whether through ingestion or through sexual contact, and vice versa. But this does not make scientific sense. In real life, humans really are based on levo amino acids, but sugars are dextro-shaped, and we eat sugars all the time without having allergic reactions. Just because something is a dextro-based substance - SUCH AS GARRUS'S SEMEN -- doesn't automatically mean we can't consume it, because we consume dextro-based molecules all the time. 

The levo/dextro toxicity issue is also inconsistently presented in-game. As an example, I personally find it weird that Mordin states says Shepard shouldn’t ingest Garrus’s semen, but he doesn’t state any problem with Garrus ejaculating inside of her. If the game proposes that ingestion of dextro molecules is toxic for levo species and vice versa, why wouldn’t that toxicity extend to contact with any other sensitive mucous membranes such as the vagina or the mouth? If we’re worried about Shepard swallowing Garrus’s semen, we should also be worried about her having an allergic reaction to the semen being in her vagina or mouth, shouldn’t we?

Either way, the point is moot: there’s no inherent reason that dextro-based species can’t ingest levo-based species’ bodily fluids and vice versa. As a result, Shepard should feel free to go ahead and swallow that space semen with impunity. 

From a fanfic-writing perspective, I personally would address this whole “levos and dextros are toxic to each other” thing by making it like a universal myth based on ignorance that’s only very slowly being debunked as levo/dextro pairings become more common. It could thus be argued that Shepard and Garrus fucking each other is good for science. 😌🤓

Once again, ALL THE KUDOS to this amazing post for doing the heavy work for me. If there are other science nerds reading this, I hope I didn’t butcher the science terribly in this summary; forgive me, it’s been years since my last organic chem class. Please let me know in comments or messages if something requires correction, along with a source!

Otherwise, friends, GO FORTH AND GET YOUR FUCK ON WITH GARRUS. (And if anyone has any Garrus fic recs that are mainly PWP, please send them my way, kthxbai.)

- Love from your friendly neighbourhood Pikapeppa xoxo