#corona strains

[electronzekrom]

I haven't posted any art in a while- let's change that! Meet Wen-Khan, an Osmosis Jones OC I made way back during the pandemic. So, you can probably guess what kind of virus she is...

Aaaaand because of that, I've been really nervous about posting this, because even though we've been out of the pandemic for a while now, there are still people who lost loved ones or could be long-haulers. So, I didn't want to upset anyone. (And if this is upsetting/offensive, please let me know and I'll take it down ASAP.)

But I've had her for quite some time now, and as a result I have plenty to share about her, so stay tuned!

[inkedinfusions]

𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝 | geto suguru chapter 4

⊱𖤓⊰ | In which you, a thief, meet the lost prince of the kingdom.

── ★ ˙ ̟ . ⚜️ .ᐟ.ᐟ masterlist

⊰–prev next–⊱

𝟎𝟒 | 𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥

chapter word count: 3k

content warnings: normal warnings for the tangled movie lol

a/n: ONE CHAPTER LEFT!!!!!! Kingdom dance scene and the lantern scene changed my brain chemistry when I saw them for the first time. Eugene Fitzherbert you'll always be famous to me 

Thank you for reading!

𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐑𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍 up by the snort of an animal. But not just any animal, because when has life given you a rest? When you crack open one of your eyes, you notice none other than the horse with the gold colored eyes, standing menacingly above you, still wet from the flood.

Ugh. It's too early for this.

"I hope you are here to apologize for yesterday," you mumble, still half asleep and you close your eye and move to a more comfortable position.

Apparently he is not, because you're suddenly being dragged away by the boot, and you claw at the ground, looking for vines, roots, plants—anything to grab so you aren't pulled away.

"Hey—hey! Stop that!" you yell at the horse. "Let me go! I don't even have the circlet anymore!"

The horse does not relent, only stopping when your body straightens up into the air. Suguru takes your hands, pulling you towards him to fight off the horse. "Release her!" he says, pausing between each strain.

Finally, your boot comes off, leaving you with one foot in a boot and one in only a sock. You scramble to stand, taking refuge behind Suguru's bigger figure as he tries to calm the beast. You pray his princess nickname is somewhat accurate, because you don't see any other solution to calming the creature.

"Whoa!" he says, arms up. "Hey—hey, calm down—"

You take a step back when the horse gets too agitated, letting Suguru handle the situation.

"Easy there," he continues, somehow succeeding. "Easy boy. Now, sit."

The horse looks at him with contempt and you almost want to scoff. Pigs would fly before that animal would ever—

"Good boy!" Suguru says when the horse sits and drops your boot at his order. "Why was Y/n so mad at you? You're not appreciated enough, are you?"

You watch in disbelief as Suguru pets the horse without a care in the world, and what is even weirder, the horse lets him. This crazy guy just blabbers on about him being such a good horse and whatnot, leaving you speechless.

"I can assure you," you say, "he is nothing but a menace."

"How can you say that?" Suguru asks, turning to you whilst still petting him. "He's just a big sweetheart, isn't that right—Koryu?"

"This has got to be a joke," you say, tensing up when the horse—Koryu stomps his leg.

"What, can't get along with a horse, Starlight?" he says with a teasing glint in his eyes. You want to retort like you always do, but something in the way he says your nickname makes you pause.

"Hey, this is like, a super important day for me," Suguru says, addressing the horse. He pulls you up, bringing you face to face with Koryu. "If you could pause your manhunt for twenty four horses I would be very grateful. After that it's fair game, of course."

Man, this guy sucks. Why do you even like him?

"Also it's my birthday," the guy adds when Koryu seems unconvinced. Seems because, well, heis a horse. A horse that strikes you right between the ribs the moment Suguru turns away.

Suguru makes you both shake on it at the end, and you follow the sound of the village's bells ringing in the distance, leading your group of four to the bridge connecting Corona and the Mainland.

You walk five paces behind Suguru, having given up catching up to him, his glee at the village something you can't match. Your mood is soured even further when you catch a glimpse of one of your posters on the side of the bridge, so you quickly rip it off the wall and crumble it into a ball.

Koryu neighs in protests to which you stuff the paper up his snout, laughing until he decides to spit it in your face. You retaliate with a shove, small actions turning into a borderline fight. Suguru's lizard stares you down from the top of his head, and you grumble, separating yourself from the horse.

In the entrance of the village, however, Suguru seems to have a bit of a problem with his hair, the length of it causing people to step on it, ducks to stomp on it, dirtying it and bothering the man. You jog to catch up to him, momentarily forgetting your gripe with the kingdom, and you help him pick up his hair, both of you carrying large chunks of it in your arms.

Your eyes scan the plaza, looking for anything that might help. Then, sitting at the border of the fountain, you see the solution presented to you in the image of two little girls, one twin braiding half of the other's hair, while that girl braids what's left.

You whistle at them to get their attention, nodding towards Suguru when they look your way. You chuckle at the way their eyes light up when they see the amount of hair in your arms, immediately running up to Suguru, who watches them nervously.

You put a hand on his shoulder, guiding him to kneel on the side of the plaza so the girls can reach his scalp. You pat him twice for good measure, walking off to get flowers or something for his hair. You were going to turn him into a real life princess—the price to pay for making you call a truce with that stupid horse.

You bring back the flowers and let the girls loose with them, ducking behind a wall when a patrol approaches. Thankfully, they don't notice you, nor does Koryu alert them of your presence.

"Thank you!" you hear Suguru say, and so you turn to look at him from where you are hunched.

The teasing remark you had prepared ages ago dies on the tip of your tongue, taking with it the remnants of the air in your lungs. Suguru twirls at the girls' request, his new braid almost reaching the floor, absolutely covered in wildflowers of various colors. You stare at him with a dumb smile on your face, forever grateful he never looks at you directly. Koryu does though, and you shove him away when his snout somehow manages to form a teasing grin.

You walk from shop to shop, stopping to buy a banner with the royal crest from a kid, giving it to Suguru after a little bit of bickering. He uses it as a guide to help some kids paint a mural on the floor of a different plaza, staining his hands with the dark purple and yellow of the crest.

You lose track of Koryu in one of your multiple escapades when you buy Suguru a cupcake, barely avoiding the patrol that passes by the bakery. When you finish your pastry, he pulls you into a bookshop and you both stay there for a while, browsing books and maps and poems.

Later, you stand in line with Suguru after walking through the market, going from here to there at his signal. You haven't eaten anything today though, so you patiently wait for your turn, not even looking when you see Suguru disappear from the corner of your eye. He probably just saw something new to him, and he definitely doesn't need you for protection. So you wait and pay when the merchant hands you a loaf of bread and cheese, turning around to search for the black haired man.

You find him immediately, dancing in the middle of the square with people it seems he pulled in, moving his body to the rhythm of a band at the edge of the group of people. You watch as he dances with one of the girls who braided his hair, the brunette one, offering his other hand to the blonde one when she approaches him.

He leads the villagers into a circle, more and more joining the fray. He turns to you with a smile, gesturing for you to come and dance, but you decline with a swipe of your hand, not really wanting to. Koryu, however, has a different plan, because he pushes you in, causing you to lose track of your food.

You don't have time to lament the loss of your lunch as you are swept away before you can reach Suguru. It happens time and time again, both of you getting close only to be pulled away by different dancing partners each time. It's fun though, and you don't think you've ever felt this happy in the kingdom.

The music swells, with the violinist carrying the main tune, and you dance and laugh and sway as the tempo rises, changing partners with each breath you take. You look for Suguru in the crowd as you dance with another, when your partner sends you twirling away.

You bump into Suguru just as the music flourishes and ends, your hand on his shoulder, his on the small of your back, both your other hands clasped together. You stare at each other as you pant slightly, breath spent on the dance.

You look at him—I mean, really lookat him. At how the corners of his eyes crinkle when he smiles slightly, how he has slight dimples in his cheeks. How his skin is ever more tan now, with some freckles giving life to his pale face. How his eyes shine, deep purple and yet so bright, how he looks at you tenderly, an expression that is sure to be reflected on your face.

"To the boats!" a villager yells, breaking you out of your moment. Both your faces heat up as you take a step back, putting a small sliver of space between your previously pressed together bodies. You've only just separated, and still you long for him again. You don't even wantto snap out of it, but you must if you want to make it to the boats in time.

"Where are you taking me?" Suguru asks when you retrieve his hand to guide him to the boats. No other purpose or ulterior motives here, no sir. You just don't want him to get lost, is all.

"It's a surprise!" you say, grinning as Koryu follows.

The dock is just a few paces away, and there stands the boat you had borrowed from an old lady, who was all too happy to lend it to you after you told her it was your friend's first time seeing the lanterns. She wiggled her eyebrows and said something about young love, but you didn't have to pay a cent, so you didn't question it.

You help Suguru step into the boat, taking the paddle when you sit behind him. The currents take you away into the middle of the water, but not before you throw a bag of apples to Koryu, who stands on the dock. He looks at them suspiciously, making you chuckle.

"They were legally sourced, I swear," you defend, smiling when he starts to eat them. "Well, most of them."

You don't turn around to see his reaction but you are sure it's something out of a comedic book, so you instead busy yourself with letting Suguru's lizard climb the end of the boat. You row until you are a sizable distance away from the coast, the sun long gone, giving way to the stars. But the light they emit is nothing compared to the spectacle you're about to witness.

"What are you thinking about?" you ask Suguru after you notice the worried look in his eyes.

"I'm... scared, I think," he answers, looking at you.

You tilt your head questioningly to the side with a smile. "About what? I thought this was your lifelong dream."

"It is," he says. "That's what scares me. What if it is not everything I dreamed it to be?"

"It will be," you assure him, looking up at the stars. The lanterns should appear any second now, illuminating the sky like nothing else.

"Well, then what if it is? What am I supposed to dream of now?"

"I don't know," you say, meeting his eyes. "Something new."

You go back to silence, wordlessly contemplating the night sky. You remember you have some leftover flowers in your pockets, so you bring them out and offer them to Suguru. They're a little crumpled from being inside your pocket for so long, but he still accepts them with a smile. One by one, Suguru drops them into the water, until his eyes widen at the appearance of the first light.

The king and the queen's lantern is always the first to appear, floating into the night from the balcony of their castle. The rest follow their cue, and you watch enraptured as hundreds burst to life, when Suguru scrambles for the bow of the boat, prompting you to grab the side of it so you don't topple over.

From the hull of the boat you see Suguru lean against the stem, his dark hair swaying as he cranes his head upwards. You wonder how he feels, now that he has fulfilled his lifelong dream of seeing the lights. You wonder if you've done enough to give him a memorable experience.

You sit up, uncovering one more surprise from your bag. Well, two more surprises, given there are two lanterns stashed away there. You prop them up, lighting the inside with some matches the grandma gave you. The lanterns are ready by the time Suguru turns to you, and you relish in the way his eyes go bigger with amazement.

He smiles, moving to sit down in front of you, giddily taking in the lanterns sat atop of your hands. You extend your right one towards him in offering, when he gasps and turns to his side, revealing a very familiar looking satchel.

"I'm not one to break promises," he says when you watch him incredulously. To be honest, you had completely forgotten about the satchel and the events that led you to be here, content with simply living in this moment.

"I probably should've returned before, but truth is, I was kinda scared to," he continues. "But I'm not anymore. You know what I mean?"

Your eyes dart from him to the satchel, then to him once again. You don't think anything has been this clear before, not when you extend your hand and gently push the satchel down, not once breaking eye contact with Suguru. "I think I'm beginning to," you say.

The corner of his eyes crinkle as he takes the lantern you offer him, and you both release them into the night in sync. You watch as they twirl with one another, blending into the thousands that are already up in the air. And yet, they never seem to drift apart, staying together even when a slight breeze runs through them.

You don't know if it's just you, but everything seems more vibrant now, more alive. The days that went by in that orphanage were drab and grey, and the ones as a thief were slippery and unreliable. But now? Now you are starting to see the way things truly are. And it all started because of him.

Suguru leans on the side of the boat, his body directed towards the lanterns, as if the closer he gets to them, the more beautiful they'll look. It's endearing how he adjusts his weight so as to not fall, how he pushes stray strands of hair behind his ear.

How he points at a lantern that approaches, glancing at you and then back at it. The lantern with the royal crest floats towards you, getting close enough for Suguru to give it a push upwards. When he sits back down, a surge of courage washes over you, and you take his hand in yours.

Suguru reciprocates, taking your other hand too, bringing you closer. Next to his eyes, his strand of ink-black hair sets itself loose, no longer tucked away into his flower-covered braid. To take the opportunity to slip it behind his ear, ghosting your fingers against his jawline.

He leans closer, and you lean closer, and everything is magical and wonderful and golden. His eyes slip shut, and yours are about to too, when a green lantern on the coast catches your eye. It is not the green lantern that makes you pull away, but rather those holding it: Jogo and Mahito.

"Is everything okay?" Suguru asks when you stay frozen, the boat swaying when the currents take it closer and closer to the coast.

"Yeah, just..." you start, addled. "Just need to take care of something."

"Oh," Suguru says.

"I'm sorry," you say when the boat docks, grabbing your satchel from his side and slipping onto the ground. "I'll be right back, I promise."

Suguru nods, just in time for you to walk away.

It takes no time for you to arrive where the Curses are, standing tall in all of their deformed glory. Jogo without an eye, Mahito covered in stitches. The gravel crunches under your feet as you greet them with a smile.

"Jogo, Mahito, long time no see!" you say. "I didmean to get in touch with you, but then there was this whole thing about—well, I won't bore you with it."

"Anyway," you say, throwing the satchel to their feet. "Sorry for stealing your target, but I'm sure we can all put this in the past like the mature adults we are."

"Mature adults?" Jogo sneers. "What about your little friend who almost decapitated me?"

"A misunderstanding, I'm sure," you say, itching to get back to the boat. "Well, I'm off. I'd say it's been a pleasure, but I'm trying to ditch the habit of lying."

"Not so fast," Mahito says, intercepting you. "Word is you've found something far more valuable."

"Valuable? Well, unless you are a big fan of matches—"

"We are talking about the guy," Jogo interrupts, signaling Mahito to do something. "We want him." You don't get to find out what it is Mahito does though, because you get knocked out at the next second. Wait, that was probably it.

[nightguide]

i talked to hospitals that have got more infection than heart to invite you there, i know you killed.

i am in touch with why than how, so it is the right palette for morality than showing why than how befitting all decades as aspect in how showing than knowing how if i can manage to wear how than why i wore it than to say if darker colours implement the one colour making the most of it (very touching to say why you like being around your company that way)

ambitiously spread by reason than heartbreak. no colours can spread that much awareness than attitude sensitivity being you if if that was never there but the arrogance applied if you were never arrogant if i wore it than to say the introvert wore it more than i do if that was never about you anyway to be and it is

shimmers don't choose you but you alter it when worn alone. there is no solid advice in wearing it if you were to apply it to a designer or your own fingers staple you as a designer/artist/photographer of that ability, shuns away selfishness that even Wintour can't even see. you can try believe in arrogance in seasonal reasons to apply clothes in that manner than to say florals, animal prints and generational spots and stripes strike no resemblance to an avid return is why you're made to be redundant in assuming pathetic is philosophy to reason and dirt itself

no reason to wear it if the blue you're thinking of is not even allowed to commit (tarot about the chance) so decision occurs that the designer known to you is that of you to resemble cringe to modesty then what is you anymore, so you're about the times to apply shimmers to change than shimmers to embrace then what is to erase anyway, if you're wanting adobe photoshop to embrace you then you would have never changed it anyway (what you actually rejected to perform better than technology to compete with the aces to apply and excel (why you're so beautiful) is why your chances to see skin is lighter than nature to bring than fire from tight ships so there is no such thing, so black does not hold you down but elevates you so there is no such thing as broken trusts, but broken hearts to live and let die, so the colours show you who you are (truthfully Linna)

your fingers chase waits to say if the purple has more ironic erotic spontaneity if the vintage green applied wisdom to defeat culture (all colours apply for a vivid touch of death when placed with a chance known by tarot if never been there themselves)

if you know a palette has a visual aura about it then immediately, you never knew identity than you being about time but lies but it is truth if the creator implied to tell you how death is made then you see luxury (for the first time for a neuro-divergent) almost dying so there is erotic success in making known by faith and trust is why capitalism exists. so there is nothing i can do about other creators asking for sex by intention than asking intention by sex is why you don't want to be there by promise of emotional fulfilment than emotional identity being attached to the f*cking Qur'an itself making you believe in identity in real life (we don't care about 'InTrOvErTs' making haste in interviews to 'SeTtLe ThEiR dIsPuTeS' in a long term marriage that you never get because you use the same general population to vice grant in the UK for not speaking truth about a visa than to fake your way into buying one, so there is fetishism in buying than you clarifying a time you never felt to erode identity in shamelessness is how and why history does not decorate you but dessicrate you (take it either way); a compliment holds more strength in continuity than a shameless marriage being taken for granted, so quit your play and leave while you can (why you cannot buy your way into fetish play acts nobody wants to watch is why you should not be there when time still tells you for it and monarch and identity are still the same with piety and age, so despise your elders with that same foul play you fought for fools gold or i will not declare your life useful to me in person (speak or remain silent)

[asparklethatisblue]

Bats being an especially dangerous animal in transmitting diseases is a myth by the way. The study this is based on had poor methodology in picking what animals to test for viruses, and there is no increase in sickness where bats roost! And bat scientists get vaccines against rabies but don’t have an increase in other diseases either. Yes bats can have rabies, but not at a higher rate than other wild animals, which you shouldn’t bother anyway! And bats don’t really try to bite humans unless you actively try to hold and trap them

i need to track down where I read it, book or study, but even Covid 19 wasn’t directly transferred from bats! Most likely a different, perhaps domestic, animal was infected by bats and then passed it on to humans. Bats in the area it originated do have corona viruses, but so far none were tested that had a strain matching Covid 19 as a potential origin point. AND! Healthy bats generally have a good enough immune system to contain most viruses of this kind, and a lot of bats that are sick stay in the roost

[pansy-picnics]

No idea if they would since they all live in a castle but how do you think the uknighted parents each would deal with empty nest syndrome?

AUDJSJSD NGL I’VE KINDA BEEN HOPING FOR A QUESTION LIKE THIS BC!! they DO. and they are NOT good at it. AT ALL.

ukd are very adamant on giving their kids the freedom they never had growing up, so as long as they’re managing their own duties they’re basically free to do whatever (though eugene can be a Little overprotective sometimes he means well). of course bc ilmari’s adopted and isn’t of any royal blood they end up being the first to leave the nest… i’ve already discussed that vaguely here, so this time i’m gonna talk more abt ryder!!

being the eldest of the twins ryder is technically supposed to take on the throne to corona, and people have a LOT of high expectations from him, especially other nobles/those who were….less than pleased with rapunzel’s approach to ruling. he’s basically seen as the “light” of corona and has been held on a pedestal since he was very young, which leads him to repress himself and puts a lot of strain on his relationships for many years- especially with alina who’s often left in his shadow (and he doesn’t mind it per se!!! but he does feel like her life is pretty directionless, and she’s always been rather dependent on ryder bc of it).

all this to say, eventually on their 18th birthday everything boils over and leads to a nasty fight between the twins. they both kinda realize that they need to grow up and branch out in their own ways- and ryder in particular realizes that he rlly just needs to get Away for a while. so going to help edmund in the dark kingdom seems like a pretty good way to gain some new perspectives!!

after all the pressure she was under herself, rapunzel understands this more than anything…..but that doesn’t make it any easier for her (or cass and eugene, for that matter) to accept. :’3

idk if any of you guys watched steven universe future, but i think they’d all be like this final scene like. ALMOST WORD FOR WORD LMFAO

in fact as soon as ryder even suggests the idea to rapunzel shes awkwardly slipping out of their painting session and running to cass and eugene in TEARS and they cry for a good 3 hours but obviously they want to be SUPPORTIVE and STRONG for their BOY!!! so they pull themselves together and when he brings it up again at dinner they’re like. “omg thats great!!! ^_^” and ryder is just like ?????????

and ryders almost a little hurt that they seem so unfazed so he tries to prod them like. Aren’t you guys upset. but they don’t budge. and so obviously right at the end as he’s saying goodbye to everyone and they’re STILL nonchalant abt it he just bursts into tears like “WHY AREN’T YOU GUYS SAD IM LEAVING :(“ and IMMEDIATELY the three of them all jsut run to him BAWLING

ryder rlly enjoys his time in the dark kingdom actually. obviously edmund and the brotherhood have a Lot of flaws in their approach to ruling….but that’s not rlly what ryder needs anyways. i think they’re very goal oriented and focused on what they can do as a unit rather than what other people think of them, and that’s a lesson ryder definitely needs to learn. not to mention he brings a lot of color to the place (both in a literal and metaphorical sense).

alina pretty much stays in corona tho…which her parents certainly aren’t complaining about. i think he really needs some time to stand up and take on more responsibility without ryder stepping in for him. the twins wont be taking on the thrones anytime soon, but i think when they do, they’ll end up switching- so ryder will be the king of the dark kingdom, and alina will take on the role as queen of corona. alina’s always had deeper ties to her kingdom than ryder did…not to his fault, but the pressure he’s had put on him just made it hard for him to focus on the things that Mattered, yk? he’s ended up being very stuck in his status, while alina has been a lot more down to earth and has always felt a closer connection to the public, if that makes sense… :3

but ryder and ilmari still visit all the time, and ilmari will take over the library one day too…like, raps, cass and eugene haven’t been Perfect parents by any means, but they’ve never failed to make sure their kids know just how strong, capable and loved they are. even though it hurts to see them go (and poor alina definitely has to deal with their theatrics and coddling for YEARS while her older siblings are gone), it’s very clear that no matter where they go, their kids will always know their home is with them, yk??? they love their parents so much and it just makes me so emo😭😭😭

additionally, i think uknighted dream kind of do some equivalent of fostering long after their own kiddos leave the nest… the three of them do a lot of community work, they have a lot of programs instilled for struggling families and kids alike. they end up helping pretty closely with a lot of the orphanages, not only with funding but also by putting in their own work. they visit a lot, come to tons of events…they end up forming a lot of bonds with the kids individually, or occasionally take them in when there isn’t anywhere else for them to go.

sometimes they know these kids for years, sometimes only for a few weeks…but they always try to stay in contact with them regardless. and even when that isn’t possible, they never forget about any of the kids they’ve met….so by the time they’re all old and grey, they basically have hundreds of pseudo-kids and grandkids all across the seven kingdoms, and in a way, their nest never really feels completely empty 🥹🫶

[raayllum]

27 for rayllum pls

Send me a number with a ship and i’ll write it (accepted ships are tdp canon ships + rarepairs (claudiez, sorpeli, corvus/terry, sorvus)

27. i'm going to carry you, okay?

It'd been a while since they'd been stranded out in the wilderness together entirely, their brief stint with the corrupted Banther notwithstanding, even if this time felt... different.

Maybe it was the two years apart, and the last time they'd travelled Xadia together, properly to return Zym, felt like lifetimes ago. Maybe it was because they'd usually been blessed with good weather, and now they were limping up the side of a mountain in the rain (again).

Only this time, Callum bore the brunt of Rayla's weight rather than the other way around.

"Careful," he murmured, guiding her away from the uneven side of the ledge.

She squeezed his shoulder in thanks, even as she scowled with irritability. "I can walk on my own."

"Not in this weather." He was drawing on both his arcanums' affinity for water (the irony was not lost on either of them, he was sure) to keep his face steady in the mud, and it felt like it was barely making a dent.

Part of it was the way Rayla's likely sprained ankle—why would she take that blow for him? Well, he knew why—dragged along the ground, the other being the fact that it was hard to see. The Celestial elves, unhappy that they'd stolen the Corona of the Heavens and the Nova Blade, hunting them down didn't help matters either.

Finally, hedging his weight, Callum gripped her waist and made a decision. "I'm going to carry you, okay?"

"What? Callum—"

But he scooped her up, only straining a little as he got her settled against her chest and made sure the mud wouldn't make him slip. "We'll move faster this way," he said, glancing at her. Her face was pink and close to his when the lightning flashed. "And you shouldn't be putting weight on your ankle."

She seemed to war with herself, momentarily, before she sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, surrendering. "Okay." She swallowed. "Thank you."

He chanced a kiss to her forehead and then started back up the mountain, glad when she wrapped her arms around her neck to help keep her secure.

He laid her down in the first cave they found, then used some of his spare kindling and a fulminus to get a fire going. Then he took a spare blanket out of his bag and draped it over her shoulders, her hair damp and their cloaks set to dry on the other side of the fire.

"Thank you," she repeated, fingers curling into the fabric as she gazed at him.

He nodded, thinking of that day on the Nexus when she'd cried over the egg, and he'd decided he couldn't let her carry that burden alone—her grief, her guilt, or even herself.

He took her hand and squeezed it. "Always."

[madamepestilence]

H5N1: What to know before fear spreads

What is H5N1?

H5N1 is a 1996 strain of the Spanish or Avian Flu first detected in Chinese birds before spreading globally across various avian species. H5N1 is similar to H1N1, but spreads slower and has a much higher mortality rate.

H5N1 may also be referred to as Influenza A. The American Association of Bovine Practitioners has seen fit to rename H5N1 to Bovine Influenza A Virus, or BIAV, and are encouraging others to use the same terminology.

I would not be surprised if the colloquial name among the public becomes Bovine Flu or American Flu in the coming months, and may be referred to as the Chinese Flu by the same folks who took the spark of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic as an excuse to be publicly racist to East Asian people without social repercussions.

BIAV is a virus, meaning that it is a (probably) non-living packet of self-replicating infectious material with a high rate of mutation. BIAV is structured similarly to SARS-CoV-2, having a packet of infectious material encased in a spherical shell with a corona, or crown, of proteins that can latch to living cells to inject RNA.

Image source with interactive model: ViralZone - H5N1 subtype

What is the history of BIAV?

In 1996 and 1997, an outbreak of BIAV occurred among poultry and infected 18 people in Hong Kong, 6 of which died. This seemingly isolated incident then infected ~860 people with a >50% death rate.

At the time, BIAV was known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or HPAI, and killed nearly 100% of chickens within a 48 hour period.

From 2003 to 2005, continual outbreaks occurred in China and other East Asian countries, before spreading to Cambodia, the Netherlands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

From 2014 to 2016, it began being detected in American fowl, as well as mutating the H5N6 (lethal in birds, no human to human transmission) and H5N8 (largely spread through turkeys, ducks had immunity) viruses.

BIAV has since evolved into a clade known as 2.3.4.4b, and was first detected in 2021 in wild American birds. This then caused outbreaks in 2022 among wild and domesticated birds (such as chickens) alike, but was largely being overshadowed by the pressing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic at the time.

From 2022 to 2023, it was observed to be spreading among various mammals, including humans. Now, in 2024, we're having the most concerning rapid outbreak of BIAV since 2003.

BIAV is known to spread from mammal to mammal, particularly between cows and humans. BIAV may also be spread from cow to cow (highly likely, but not confirmed - this is likely the reason the virus has spread to Idaho from Texan cattle), and is known to be lethal to domestic cats and birds within 48 hours.

How does BIAV spread?

BIAV spreads through fomites - direct contact with infected animals or infected surfaces and then touching parts of your face or other orifices - as well as through airborne particulates, which may be inhaled and enter the sinuses and lungs.

BIAV is known to spread through:

Asymptomatic Ducks, geese, swans, various shorebirds

Symptomatic, may be lethal Foxes, bears, seals, sea lions, polar bears, domestic cats, dogs, minks, goats, cows, (potentially human to human, but unconfirmed - there have only been 8 potential human to human cases in 2024).

How can I protect against BIAV?

As BIAV is a type of Influenza A, existing protocols should do fine.

Current recommendations are to wash your hands vigorously after interacting with birds (I would also recommend doing this with mammals), avoid touching your face or other open orifices, and wear N95 masks.

Avoid sick or dead animals entirely - I would also recommend reporting them to your local Animal Control or veterinary centre and warning them about the infection risk. People who work with animals are recommended to also wear full PPE such as N95 masks, eye protection, gloves, and partake in vigorous hand washing.

If you suspect you've caught BIAV, seek medical attention immediately. Existing medications such as oseltamivir phosphate, zanamivir, peramivir, and baloxavir marboxil can reduce BIAV's ability to replicate.

Standard flu shots will not protect against BIAV. Remember - symptoms of BIAV may not manifest for between 2 to 8 days, and potentially infected people should be monitored for at least 10 days.

How far has BIAV spread?

BIAV is currently a global virus, though the current infection location of note is the United States.

Image Key: Dark red - Countries with humans, poultry and wild birds killed by H5N1 Deep red - Countries with poultry or wild birds killed by H5N1 and has reported human cases of H5N1 Light red - Countries with poultry or wild birds killed by H5N1

Image source: Wikipedia - Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 - File: Global spread of H5N1 map

Image source: Metro.co.uk - Map shows where bird flu is spreading in US amid new warning - File: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s H5N1 bird flu detections map across the United States

Should I be afraid?

You needn't be afraid, just prepared. BIAV has a concerningly high lethality, but this ironically culls its spread somewhat.

In the event human to human transmission of BIAV is confirmed, this will likely mainly affect marginalized communities, poor people, and homeless people, who are likely to have less access to medical care, and a higher likelihood of working in jobs that require frequent close human contact, such as fast food or retail jobs.

Given the response to SARS-CoV-2, corporations - and probably the government - may shove a proper response under the rug and refuse to participate in a full quarantine, which may leave people forced to go to work in dangerous conditions.

If this does spread into an epidemic or pandemic, given our extensive knowledge about Influenza, and the US having a backup vaccine for a prior strain of H5N1, a vaccine should be able to be developed relatively quickly and would hopefully be deployed freely without charge - we won't have to worry about a situation like The Stand.

Wash your hands, keep clean, avoid large social gatherings where possible, wear an N95 mask if you can afford them (Remember: Cloth masks are the least protective, but are better than nothing. If you can't afford N95 masks, I recommend wearing a well-fitted cloth mask with a disposable face mask over it to prevent pneumonia from moisture buildup in the disposable mask), support the disabled, poor, and homeless, and stay educated.

We can do better this time.

Further things to check out:

YouTube: MedCram - H5N1 Cattle Outbreak: Background and Currently Known Facts (ft. Roger Seheult, M.D.)

Wikipedia - Influenza A virus subtype H5N1

Maine.gov - Avian Influenza and People

CDC.gov - Technical Report: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Viruses

Wikipedia - H5N1 genetic structure

realagriculture - Influenza infection in cattle gets new name: Bovine Influenza A Virus (BIAV)

[ianthe-is-a-bitch-and-i-love-her]

@st-just, in reference to this post.

Here's my more in-depth review of The Faithless, if you're curious.

The Locked Tomb is something of a special case of queer norm fiction. It took me a while to figure out why I loved tlt so much when I was so cold on all other queer norm fiction, but I do have an answer.

The thing about tlt is that it's queer norm in the sense that queer characters and relationships are utterly unremarkable... but it's also not queer norm because there is no norm. The worldbuilding in tlt is deliberately sparse, such that we have no idea what a normal family or relationship within the Nine Houses even looks like! We know Harrow's parents were married and had her. We know that Magnus and Abigail are married but don't have children. We know that Corona and Ianthe have parents. We know that children can be grown artificially in vats. We know that marriage for political alliance is a concept that Harrow is aware of. And as far as I can remember, that's it! The worldbuilding is a black box, and nothing that we can glimpse in it is strained by unremarkable queerness, which is a very rare thing.

The Locked Tomb also injects other elements that resonate with me as authentically queer. Probably the biggest one is that the characters, in addition to being queer, are horny and weird about it. Like, I know that sounds trite to say, but of all the wlw books I've read, I would say a plurality are pretty chaste, and most of the ones that aren't are fairly tame or understated in the level and type of horniness on display. There's a lot to be said about the overlap between the queer community and the kink community that is way beyond the scope of this post, but without even touching Harrianthe bone sex and Nona's vore thing, one of the first things we learn about Gideon is that she owns porn magazines. It is vanishingly rare for fiction to acknowledge that people have or use pornography, let alone queer characters, let alone in a value neutral way, but a lot of queer people owe some part of their self-discovery to porn, in whatever form. The books are just full of unsanitized, "impure", queer desire, and that's both resonant and uncommon.

The last thing, I think, that makes tlt stand apart from queer norm fiction, is that the queer normalization is localized. In Nona the Ninth, we see life outside the Nine Houses, and it is messy. Pyrrha gets misgendered and stereotyped. Her gender identity is misunderstood and disrespected. The polite fiction of perfect understanding and tolerance of a lot of queer norm settings falls away completely. If you want to take a particularly meta read, you could argue that since the Nine Houses are not an emergent culture but a society designed and created by John, a queer man from our time, that he acted as an author and deliberately enforced queer norm standards on them because if he was going to be God, then god dammit he was gonna have his queer utopia about it.

The locked tomb deals with queerness in its setting in a really novel way that works very well for it specifically, and I really enjoy it. You could argue whether it counts as queer norm or not, because it very much blurs the lines. Something queer about that too, yeah?

[losfacedevil]

Quickie // JTK

a/n ~ I've been sitting on this one - no pun intended- for months and finally found the motivation to finish it. As always thank you to the bestest @vanfleeter for always hyping these things up and getting first dibs on em. I love youuu! Prompt: "You think I stare at you just for fun? Well, think again." Worked it in this one just for you @iheartjakekiszka

WARNINGS: 18+ MINORS DNI!! Heavy petting, Oral (M! receiving), unprotected penetrative sex, cock riding.

She was always the third wheel and never the plus one. So when she saw Jake in the same predicament with Josh and his plus one she decided she was going to have some fun with it. 

A curt nod to her friends let them know that she was going to mingle and would be back soon, not that they really cared. Quickly making her way into the kitchen she ducked past Sam, a quick smile and wave exchanged before she snatched up a bottle of Corona out of the ice bucket sitting on the counter. 

She checked herself out in the reflection of the microwave door, cracking open the beverage as she made sure the tendrils of hair that framed her hair fell just right. Straightening out her back she took off at a saunter, shooting short waves and soft smiles at the acquaintances she passed. 

Her eyes fell on Josh first, a shit eating grin spreading across her face as she waved at him. He reciprocated her smile, the alcohol coursing through his veins giving him the liquid courage to do anything. She stepped in front of Jake and took in his form, the way he leaned back casually, his arm thrown over the back of the couch next to him. 

“Is this seat taken?” A giggle slipped past her lips as she pointed at Jake’s lap. His eyes danced to hers as he continued the conversation he was in, not skipping a beat answering Josh’s question. 

She shrugged her shoulders, not waiting for him to answer and wrapped her arm gently around Jakes shoulders before lowering herself into his lap. She threw her legs over his, leaning her upper body against his in one fell swoop. Jakes eyes grew wide as his body stiffened slightly and his arm fell to rest against his thigh. 

Jakes eyes quickly met Josh’s as she leaned forward slightly to place her beer on the coffee table in front of them. She fell seamlessly into the conversation at hand, addressing a mutual acquaintance sat with the group and engaged in a nonsensical conversation. Josh couldn’t help the drunken smile that spread across his face as he moved his arms in a motion that suggested the wrapping of them around someone. 

Jake pulled a steadying breath in through his nose as he shifted in his seat. He let his arms snake around her middle very gently, letting his hands rest against her sides. He couldn’t see the smile that spread across her face as she crossed her legs, pulling her arm back from around his shoulders before adjusting the way she was perched on him. 

She leaned forward slightly, grabbing her beer off of the table and pulled a long swig, feeling her nerves starting to kick up as Jakes arm tightened around her. He took advantage of the way she leaned and leaned with her so he could slip his phone out of his back pocket. 

Jake let go of her quickly, unlocking his phone and opening his notes app, he quickly typed something out. He watched as her eyes lit up, almost fully entranced with the way her lips moved as she continued to engage in conversation with those around her. 

He leaned forward, pulling in a deep breath through his nose as he hooked his chin over her shoulder and brought his hand around to rest against her thigh. Jake tapped her thigh lightly, pulling her attention back to him as his rubbed his phone gently against her. Her eyes danced down to where the phone rested, her eyebrow quirked up as she read. 

‘Wanna get some air?’ His breath caught in his chest as he strained his eyes to watch her profile intently, the corners of her mouth turning up into a smile. The slight nod of her head had him hopeful as she stretched her arm out for her beer once more. She brought the bottle to her lips, sucking the rest of the cool liquid down in one swallow before turning her head slightly and placing her lips dangerously close to his ear. 

“Meet me outside in five.” She whispered, her free hand finding his thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze before lifting herself up off of him. 

She waved a quick goodbye to Josh as she turned on her heel and tossed her empty  beer bottle in the recycling bin on her way out to door. She pushed her way out of the house, letting the door slam shut behind her as the cool night air kissed the skin of her face and bare arms. Her eyes fluttered shut as she pulled in a deep breath through her nose, the smell of rain looming in the air. 

She slowly made her way over to where the cars lined the street, eyeing the two identical jeeps parked one right behind the other. With a gentle shrug of her shoulders she turned and leaned against one, hoping to have found Jake’s vehicle.

Jake made quick work of finding her, eyes honing in on her as soon as he stepped foot out of the house. He couldn’t help but roll them as he realized she was leaned up against Josh’s jeep not his own. 

“Hey!” He called, making his way slowly down the stairs as her gaze found his and a sly smile spread across her face. She pushed off of the Jeep, twirling a strand of hair around her finger as she slowly walked towards him and met him in the middle of the yard. 

“Is there enough air out here for you?” She teased, coming to a stop in front of him. A soft pink kissed the apples of his cheeks and she wasn’t sure if it was from the heat of the house, the liquor running through his veins or her. He chuckled shyly, reaching up to press a hand to the back of his neck. 

“Heh, yeah. It was uh… a bit stifling in there.” He joked, reaching up to tug at the collar of his shirt with one hand and fanned his face with the other. A knowing smile spread across her lips as she closed the distance between them and placed her hands on his hips. 

“Oh is that what happened? Did my sitting in your lap cause you to get a little hot and bothered?” She could tell by the way his eyes widened slightly that she had struck a cord. Her hand danced up his side, feather light touches kissing his cheek before she began to lazily thread her fingers through his hair. Jake fought the shiver that danced up his spine, his eyes fluttering shut as she tugged lightly at the strands of hair through her fingers. 

“We’re gonna have a problem if you don’t cut the shit.” He spoke through newly gritted teeth, locking his knees into place as he fought the urge to press his hips forward. 

She reached for his hand, wrapping her petite fingers around his wrist before pulling his arm forward and placing his hand on the back of her thigh. Jake pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, fighting the primal urges that bubbled within him. 

“Oh yeah? And what kind of problem might that be, baby boy?” She cooed, her gaze trained on his face as his eyes danced behind his closed lids and his dull nails dug into the exposed skin of her thigh. 

“I might just put you into the back of whichever Jeep I can get unlocked first and take you right there.” His voice was raspy, swallowing down the whine that threatened to escape him as her thigh brushed up against his hardening length. 

“Oh is that so? Maybe you should show me a good time.” She cooed, lifting up onto her toes to press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. Jakes eyes widened, boring holes into hers as she pulled back and softly danced her free hand over his dick. 

“I’d suggest you stop if you don’t want that to become a reality.” He mumbled, snaking his free hand up her skirt and cupped her clothed core in his palm. He slowly began to move forward, backing her up against the side of the Jeep as his fingers lightly danced around her clothed core. 

“I think you’re staring, baby boy.” She cooed, picking her foot up off of the ground and rested it against the door of the Jeep. Jake pressed his entire body weight against her, pinning her to the body of the vehicle. 

“You think I stare at you just for fun? Well, think again.” He mumbled, reaching up to cup her chin in his hand. A soft confused expression kissed her features and she cocked her head to the side slightly. 

“Oh yeah? What’s that supposed to mean?” She cooed, wrapping her arms around his waist and pulled him even closer against her. A devilish grin played across Jakes lips as he leaned forward and captured her lips with his. The kiss was sloppy, all spit swapping, tongue dances and clashing teeth. She giggled as she pulled back from him, reaching up to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand. 

“It means I’m about to put you in the backseat of my Jeep and take what you’ve been teasing me with for months. You’re mine now and there’s nothing you can do about it.” He pressed the heel of his hand expertly against her clit, grinding his hand in circular motions and pulled a whine out of her chest. 

“Laying claim now are we? So what you’re telling me is this? This right here is mine, huh?” She cooed, wrapping her fingers around his dick the best she could with his skinny jeans in the way. Jake fought the urge to let his eyes roll as he removed his hand from her thigh and shoved it into his pants pocket. He pressed the button on the key fob and successfully unlocked the Jeep to their right.

“Damn it, Josh’s will have to do.” He mumbled, leaving over to open the back door of his brothers vehicle. Jakes eyes met hers and he nodded his head in the direction of the jeep before capturing her lip in a gentle kiss. 

“You’re really gonna rail me in the back of your brothers jeep? Naughty, naughty. I like it.” She quipped as she took a step towards the open door and looped her index finger into his belt loop; essentially pulling him along with her. 

“That’s what he gets for picking the same thing I wanted.” Jake mumbled as he reached up and placed his hand in front of his nose, pulling in the scent of her before gripping her shoulders and pushing her backwards into the vehicle. 

Jake couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corners of his lips as he watched her situate herself, leaning her head against window and threw her leg up over the front seat for some support. 

“That’s not gonna work, sit right, gorgeous.” Jake chuckled, waving his hands at her to drop her leg off of the seat before he slid inside and shut the door behind him. 

A devilish smile kissed her lips as she lunged forward and buried her face in his neck. Soft pecks turned teeth nips and sloppy movements of her tongue driving him wild as he slowly palmed his growing erection through his jeans. She threw her leg over his, pushing herself back into a seated position as her hands went to quick work unbuckling the belt he wore. 

“Well someone knows what they want.” He chuckled, lifting his hips so she could shimmy his jeans down just enough for his erection to spring free. 

“Wanted this for so long.” She mumbled, her eyes growing wide and mouth damn near watering at the sight of him. Her gaze met his as she slowly wrapped her hand around his shaft and his eyes widened slightly, encouraging her. She pulled a deep breath in through her nose and began slowly stroking his dick. 

Jakes mouth fell slightly agape, his eyes fluttering as her fingers tickled along the skin of his shaft, the barely there touches beginning to drive him crazy. His hand found the bun her hair was tied up in and he wrapped his fingers around it, using the bun to maneuver her face to his. He leaned forward, ghosting his lips over hers.

“Suck it.” His voice was but a whisper before he pulled her head back and pushed it towards his lap. She couldn’t help the shrill giggle that slipped past her lips as he pushed her head towards his erection. Her tongue snuck out between her lips, wetting them slightly before she wrapped them around him. 

A guttural groan escaped him as she gently flicked her tongue along the slit of his dick before hollowing her cheeks and taking him into her mouth as far as she could. His head fell back against the seat, eyes rolling in the back of his head as he focused on keeping his breathing steady. 

His grip on her hair loosened as she continued her motions, swirling her tongue around the tip on every pull up. Jakes thighs tensed and he fought the urge to buck up into her mouth. She hummed around him, her free hand coming to rest on his thigh. 

Jake shook his head softly and tightened his grip in her hair as he pulled her up and off of him. A pout played on her lips as her gaze met his. 

“Why’d you make me stop? I was having fun.” She giggled, stroking the hand that still rested against his shaft upwards and rolled her thumb over the tip of his dick. Jake dropped his hand from her hair, bringing both up to rest against his thighs before he lifted them and brought them back down against the clothed skin. 

“Ride it, now.” The chuckle that escaped him could only be described as sinister as he snaked a hand between her legs and yanked her panties hard enough to hear the stitches give. Her jaw dropped and eyes widened as she maneuvered the best she could and quickly placed her hands on his shoulders as she straddled his lap.

“You ripped my favorite panties you asshole.  You’re buying me a new pair.” She joked, rocking her hips slightly as she coated the tip of his dick in her slick. 

She bent down slightly, capturing his lips with hers as she sunk down on his length and swallowed down the moan that slipped past his lips. Jakes hands found her hips and he gripped them tightly as she came to rest against his hips. 

“Good?” She questioned lightly and loosened her grip on his shoulders lightly. He nodded gently, prompting her to move with his hands as he hid his face in her cleavage. She pulled a deep breath in through her nose and began to move slowly, her movements calculated around the limited space she had. 

“God damn.” Jake mumbled, digging his fingers into the flesh of her hips and she threw her head back, reveling in the pin pricks of pain he left against her hips. 

She changed her rhythm slightly, rocking her hips against his with every downward movement, giving her clit the friction she craved. 

“Holy shit Jake, what the fuck.” She mumbled, the band in her stomach quickly pulling taut with each downward movements of her hips. Jake chucked lowly, reaching his hand down between their bodies and his thumb found her clit, rubbing lazy circles around it. 

“Jake, please. I’m gonna cum.” She whispered, hiding her face in his neck as her hips faltered and she clenched hard around him. A scream ripped from her chest as she felt a gush between her legs; something that had never happened before. A hiss sounded in her ear and his hand returned to her hip. She screamed out again as he began fucking up into her, holding her hips still as he quickly chased his high.  

“Make a mess of my fucking pants I’ll make a fucking mess of you.” He growled, bucking his hips upwards as hard as he could as breathy moans escaped him and his hips began to slow. He came to a stop, letting his head fall back against the seat as they both got their bearings. 

“I’m sorry, that’s never happened before.” Her voice was small and she leaned back, her big doe eyes meeting his. A fucked out smile spread across his lips and he reached up to cup her cheeks in his hands. 

“No worries, hot stuff, Josh basically lives out of this thing, I’m sure there’s a spare pair of pants somewhere.” He chuckled, leaning forward to press a kiss to the tip of her nose. 

“What do we do now? Other than make a mess.” She thanked the stars that the jeep was dark enough to hide the crimson blush on her cheeks. Jakes gaze danced around the back seat briefly before leaning over and snatching fast food napkins off of the front seat. 

“Sorry, the clean up crew doesn’t touch this car.” Jake groaned, wished he had had the patience to unlock his own car. She smiled sheepishly at him as she pulled off of him with a soft but lewd pop and quickly cleaned herself up. 

Jake sighed, trying to dry his pants the best he could with the fast food napkins before lifting his hips and shimmying them back up. A grimace kissed his face as he buttoned his pants and he looked at his damp hands before wiping them on his pant legs. He opened the car door and slipped out quickly,  standing under the street light to see if the wet spot was noticeable. 

“We should probably get back before they think we’ve taken off. I’ll take his car to get detailed tomorrow just shhh, don’t tell Josh.”

Cheeky Jake girl taglist: @puzzle-gvf @writingcold @takenbythemadness @ignite-my-fire @alwaysonthemend

[theinternetisaweboflies]

Jägermeister

Chapter One: Celebration

“Your leg is killing us,” grumbled Newt. 

“Well, pardon me for attempting to make haste.” Hermann rolled his eyes, which was particularly effective with the subconjunctival hemorrhaging. “It was merely the fate of the world at stake.”

Newt was pretty sure Hermann hadn’t been this sarcastic before the drift.

They were still in LOCCENT, because moving sounded like a lot of work, and they were officially off the clock.

The clock had stopped.

Newt knew one of them didn’t quite believe it yet, but he couldn’t tell if it was him or Hermann. 

Hermann had collapsed in a nearby office chair after its owner vacated it in favor of joining the celebration that was spreading through the Shatterdome like a particularly noisy strain of flu. 

Newt had been saving two bottles of alcohol for the end of the end of the world. They’d been stashed in the lab for five years, ever since he first got to Hong Kong and could take advantage of its open port. One was a bottle of blue Curaçao. The other was Jägermeister.

Newt had always wondered what public affairs person decided Jaeger would be the perfect name for their military-grade Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots, when it was already sort of taken by a fairly infamous brand of German liquor, but it was kind of like when Coronavirus hit and nobody stopped drinking Corona. There were much bigger things to worry about. 

Jägermeister was German for 'Master Hunter,' a title originally reserved for officials in positions related to game keeping and hunting. Newt seemed to have a stronger grasp on German history than he had before the drift, so he now knew that Hermann Göring had been a Reichsjägermeister, which was just patently fucking unfair. 

If any Hermann ever deserved the title ‘Jaeger Master of the Realm', it was Hermann Gottleib. 

Now they wouldn’t even get to drink their celebratory toast. Even Newt knew better than to mix alcohol with neural overload.

Some rockstar he turned out to be. Here he was, at the biggest party the human race would probably ever throw, and he was going to bed both early and sober. 

At least, Newt hoped he was going to bed early. Even his hair hurt. Though not as much as Hermann’s leg. 

“I still can't believe it’s the year 2025 and we had to deliver that message in person,” he said. “I mean, how could you have forgotten your phone?”

Hermann huffed and puffed for a moment before saying, “You didn’t have your phone either!”

“As usual, Hermann, you are wrong. I did have my phone. It was just in several pieces. Why? Did you try calling me or something?" Before Hermann could respond, Newt added, “How weird was it that the chopper’s radio didn’t work either? I mean, it was fine when you flew out to the bone slums, right?”

Hermann gave a tired hum of affirmation. “Murphy's Law?”

Maybe Leatherback had a baby too. Maybe it let off a tiny localized blast of organic EMP that took out the radio in a single PPDC helicopter. 

Maybe Newt needed to go to bed.

“I thought you said Murphy’s Law was unscientific compared to… What was it called? The English Flatulence Formula?”

Hermann bristled. “You know perfectly well it is called the British Gas Formula, because the work was commissioned by British-”

Newt interrupted Hermann before he could blow a blood vessel in his other eye. “Yeah, yeah, but you've got to admit it was kind of cool getting to storm into LOCCENT and save the day.”

Hermann smiled suddenly. It was a little bit blinding, even through a cracked lens. “Did you actually call Hercules Hansen a fascist, or was I hallucinating?”

“Oh, shit,” Newt groaned. “I should probably apologize for that. I was sort of worked up, and he looks a lot like your dad did back in the 90s when he thought he could pull off a beard.”

Hermann's smile grew, impossibly, wider. “You were calling my father a fascist?”

“Look, the drift was a lot, alright? I mean, the first one was too, but in a completely different way. I- You know their minds don't work like ours. It did nothing to prepare me for a drift with another human being. Your mind-”

Newt cut himself off. He wasn't breathing but he was babbling, which should have been biologically impossible. 

He sat down on the floor, leaning against the console where Hermann was seated. Someone rushing past them with a bottle of actual champagne accidentally stepped on his leg a little bit, but Newt was too tired to mind much. It wasn’t even the first time he had been stepped on that day. 

The console was cold and hard, so Newt rested his head on Hermann’s knee instead. He didn’t realize this was an abnormal thing for him to do until it was too late. By then, Hermann was patting the top of Newt’s head, like he was a Japanese schoolgirl or a golden retriever. 

If anyone in LOCCENT found this weird, they elected to ignore it in favor of whatever weird shit they were getting up to. Except for Tendo, who kept giving them double thumbs up. He also seemed to be collecting money from a lot of people. Newt and Hermann elected to ignore it. 

“When did you get stepped on?” asked Hermann, who was now probing gently at Newt’s hairline like he was expecting to find a footprint. “Was that at the Anti-Kaiju Shelter?” 

Newt's hair stood upright when Hermann's hand left it, even though the only product that could still be in it was kaiju placenta. 

“On the way there,” said Newt. “Right before I hit the car.” 

“You were hit by a car?” asked Hermann, frowning like he already knew that wasn't quite right. 

“No, I hit a car,” said Newt. “It was parked.”

Hermann sighed. “You should really get checked out by Medical.”

“Hermann,” Newt absolutely did not whine. “This is the first party I’ve been to in years that I’m pretty sure I’m actually invited to. Can’t we stay for a little while?” 

“If you can feel my leg, then you must know I can feel your ribs,” said Hermann. “Not to mention all the debilitating neurological damage.”

“Nah, man, that’s how my brain always looks.”

“Newton, you drifted with two kaijus.”

“The plural is still kaiju,” he said. “You know that drives me crazy.”

“Newton.”

“Fine!” Newt leaned into Hermann just enough to push his desk chair a few centimeters. “Only if you let me wheel you there.” 

Hermann crossed his arms. “Absolutely not.”

“Why not? I know your hand is starting to spasm from white-knuckling that cane for the last hour or two.”

“Try day or two,” Hermann muttered. 

“Come on, man,” Newt might have whined this time. “Our leg is killing us.”

“You sound like the Queen of England,” snapped Hermann, and then he giggled. It was a short, hiccupy thing, but it was an honest to Godzilla giggle. Newt had never gotten one of those out of him before, not even with the joke why you can’t hear a pterodactyl in the bathroom.

“You sound like the Queen of England.” Newt leaned into him again, but this time Hermann planted his feet on the floor so the chair wouldn’t move. 

“Well, we are not amused,” said Hermann. 

“Fine,” said Newt. 

He had a theory that the Queen of England had died a couple of years ago and the one they put on TV just last month for Christmas was actually a deepfake. Whenever he brought it up, Hermann got all offended on behalf of queen and country, and his stupid posh accent got even worse for the rest of the day. So of course Newt brought it up constantly.

Newt stood up with little to no cursing and helped Hermann to his feet. Then he sidled up alongside him, much like Hermann had done to him moments ago when the clock stopped. 

The clock had stopped.

This time, Newt slotted himself under Hermann’s armpit, and wrapped one arm around his waist. 

“Alright, Your Majesty. Let’s go put on our gowns.”

...

@lastdaysofwar

[tangledbea]

Why does everybody hate Cassandra’s arc in season 3?

Well, not literally everyone hates it. Lots of people think it's really good. I don't like to generalize and say that "everyone" feels a certain way about anything.

But what a lot of people don't like comes from a few different directions, often coming together in the center into a hot mess. I'll do my best to recall all the biggest complaints. (Under a readmore, because it's kind of long and I don't want to subject people to it if they don't want to see it.)

It's incredibly out of character for her to blindly trust a stranger who won't reveal their name to her. She mentions several times during the course of the series that she doesn't trust people (especially people she's only just met), but Zhan Tiri wouldn't even tell her who she was, and Cassandra just decided that what this strange ghost child in a weird and dangerous house had to say was more important that a friendship built over the course of a few years, even if that friendship was currently strained.

Her rancor was poorly sourced. There were legitimately several things Cassandra could have been mad about, even directed at Rapunzel. But being mad at Rapunzel for Gothel choosing to kidnap her and abandon Cassandra was an unsympathetic way to go. She sang a whole song about not wanting to be second best anymore, about always waiting for her time to shine. But that entire story beat was thrown out the window in the face of "I am Gothel's biological daughter". She had one (1) glorious line of, "I'm not taking orders from you anymore!" and then all of that was put to rest in favor of, "My mom abandoned me, so I'm going to blame the abuse victim that she kidnapped."

She kept talking about her destiny, but didn't seem to have any goals beyond "be first over Rapunzel." She never even said what it was her "destiny" to do or be. She wanted to take over Corona? And then what? It's not like this was some long-standing desire of hers. Which leads me to

Cassandra spend the majority of her life defining herself as strong-willed, distrustful, and thinking for herself. But they decided that Zhan Tiri could get into her head as easy as that and start full-on manipulating her from the word "go," and that we'd all just handwave it away and accept that Cassandra was doing villainous things because she was being manipulated. Well, nay, I say. Cassandra was an adult with her own mind, and manipulation isn't as instantaneous as that. They didn't even try to portray it like they did with Rapunzel and Sugracha as complete magical mind control. No, it was Cassandra being given choices and choosing the things that would benefit her and/or hurt other people over and over and over again. But we're supposed to be sympathetic towards her.

She assaulted and kidnapped people, attempting to kill Rapunzel or at very least leave her for dead multiple times, then was surprised to find out she was the villain. And honestly, that surprise does a lot to make me dislike her villain arc. I love me a villain who thrives off their villainy, who revels in it, like she did at the beginning of "Cassandra's Revenge." And even villains like that can be redeemed. But people who choose violence and revenge and hate and are then surprised that they're the villain don't impress me.

Her redemption was rushed, crammed into the last twenty minutes of the series - her realization and apology was literally given about a minute of time - and she only realized she was wrong when she lost. Up until the moment Zhan Tiri wrestled the Moonstone away from her, Cassandra was convinced that she was going to win the day. As soon as she was powerless, she was sorry. And then, she was forgiven by everyone because she was forgiven by Rapunzel.

And things that don't go on the list because enough people disagree with them, or because they don't exactly line up with "why we dislike her villain arc" but are still things that bug me, personally:

That Gothel was her mother at all. I hate that plot point. It's stupid, lazy, and makes no sense.

That her arm getting burned and disfigured was just... dropped as a plot point. We don't know if having the Moonstone was supposed to heal it, or if she'd sufficiently rehabilitated it on the road enough for it not really to bother her anymore, but the showrunner literally said that they decided it wasn't important anymore, so dropped it.

[asparklethatisblue]

also bats aren’t as dangerous to humans as people think. First of all they can’t physically hurt us more than a tiny mouse biting, which is unlikely anyway as bats generally avoid humans (and vampire bats don’t really drink human blood and if they do their bite is not very painful).

as for disease. Yes rabies are horrid, but you’re more likely to get those from a dog than a bat, and the rule of “just don’t go bothering and petting wildlife” generally applies. Growing up I was taught that stray dogs and deer or bunnies that act strange are the issue. Any wild animal that is too sick to run away or be bothered by a human could get you terribly sick. Every professional bat researcher I heard speak about this says they get appropriate vaccines but never had an issue with infections in general. and as for Covid and corona viruses in general? Yes bats do carry it, but so far the strains that were found first jumped to another animal, mutated, and only then got to humans. It’s actually a sign of humans encroaching on bat habitats, you get closer and closer to their caves, cut down forests, destroy sources of food, and the bats are forced in closer contact to human settlements. There was research in Australia showing how healthy bats are actually very good at keeping viruses in check. It’s only when their food sources dwindle and they get weaker that their immune system can no longer cope and they start infecting other species. And we need them! They’re extremely crucial to ecosystems all over the world! Entire agriculture systems would collapse without them!

[covid-safer-hotties]

University of Houston Researchers Create New Treatment and Vaccine for Flu and Various Coronaviruses - Published Aug 6, 2024

Team Develops Two Nasal Sprays – An Immune Activator and a New Vaccine – To Prevent Virus Transmission

HOUSTON, Aug. 6 — A team of researchers, led by the University of Houston, has discovered two new ways of preventing and treating respiratory viruses. In back-to-back papers in Nature Communications, the team — from the lab of Navin Varadarajan, M.D. Anderson Professor of William A. Brookshire Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering - reports the development and validation of NanoSTING, a nasal spray, as a broad-spectrum immune activator for controlling infection against multiple respiratory viruses; and the development of NanoSTING-SN, a pan-coronavirus nasal vaccine, that can protect against infection and disease by all members of the coronavirus family.

NanoSTING Therapeutic’s Highlights -NanoSTING, a nasal spray, can prevent multiple respiratory viruses by activating the immune system and preventing infection from viruses. It can also protect against SARS-CoV-2 reinfection.

-A single intranasal dose of the NanoSTING has proven effective against strains of SARS-CoV-2 and the flu virus.

-NanoSTING is complementary to vaccines and enables cells to be in a heightened state of alert to prevent attack from respiratory viruses.

NanoSTING-NS Pan-coronavirus Vaccine’s Highlights -UH researchers have developed NanoSTING-SN, a nasal vaccine that prevents transmission to the unvaccinated and fights multiple COVID variants.

-NanoSTING-SN provides the exciting potential towards a universal coronavirus vaccine and may end the cycle of onward transmission and viral evolution in immunocompromised people.

-Intramuscular vaccines prevent disease but are less efficient in preventing infections. NanoSTING-SN can provide improved protection against transmission for COVID variants and related sarbecoviruses.

NanoSTING -NanoSTING is a special formula that uses tiny fat droplets to deliver an immune-boosting ingredient called cGAMP. This formula helps the body's cells stay on high alert to prevent attack from respiratory viruses.

“Using multiple models, the team demonstrated that a single treatment with NanoSTING not only protects against pathogenic strains of SARS-CoV-2 but also prevents transmission of highly transmissible variants like the Omicron variants,” reports Varadarajan. “Delivery of NanoSTING to the nose ensures that the immune system is activated in the nasal compartment and this in turn prevents infection from viruses.”

As the recent COVID19 pandemic illustrated, the development of off-the-shelf treatments that counteract respiratory viruses is a largely unsolved problem with a huge impact on human lives.

“Our results showed that intranasal delivery of NanoSTING, is capable of eliciting beneficial type I and type III interferon responses that are associated with immune protection and antiviral benefit,” reports first author and postdoctoral associate, Ankita Leekha.

The authors further show that NanoSTING can protect against both Tamiflu sensitive and resistant strains of influenza, underscoring its potential as a broad-spectrum therapeutic.

“The ability to activate the innate immune system presents an attractive route to armoring humans against multiple respiratory viruses, viral variants and also minimizing transmission to vulnerable people,” said Leekha. “The advantage of NanoSTING is that only one dose is required unlike the antivirals like Tamiflu that require 10 doses.”

The mechanism of action of NanoSTING is complementary to vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and antivirals, the authors noted.

Nano STING-SN Despite the successful implementation of multiple vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, these vaccines need constant updates due to viral evolution, plus the current generation of vaccines only offers limited protection against transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

Enter NanoSTING-SN, a multi-antigen, intranasal vaccine, that eliminates virus replication in both the lungs and the nostrils and has the ability to protect against multiple coronaviruses and variants.

“Using multiple preclinical models, the team demonstrated that the vaccine candidate protects the primary host from disease when challenged with highly pathogenic variants. Significantly, the vaccine also prevents transmission of highly transmissible variants like the Omicron variants to vaccine-naïve hosts,” reports Varadarajan.

The authors further show that the nasal vaccine was 100% effective at preventing transmission of the Omicron VOCs to unvaccinated hosts.

“The ability to protect against multiple coronaviruses and variants provides the exciting potential towards a universal coronavirus vaccine,” said Leekha. “The ability to prevent infections and transmission might finally end this cycle of onward transmission and viral evolution in immunocompromised people.”

The research was conducted by a collaborative team at UH including Xinli Liu, College of Pharmacy and Vallabh E. Das, College of Optometry along with Brett L. Hurst of Utah State University and consultation from AuraVax Therapeutics, a spinoff from Varadarajan’s Single Cell Lab at UH, which is developing NanoSTING.

Funding for the studies was provided by NIH (R01GM143243), Owens Foundation, and AuraVax Therapeutics.

Study linked at either link!

[entomolog-t]

dude I just took a nap and had a lil dream about Sal and the only thing I can remember is him sobbing and telling me that he lost his shoes in a microwave and now they're melted in microwaved spaghetti 😭

I DONT KNOW WHATS GOING ON IN MY BRAIN

(I told him "is this how people got the corona virus?" And i dont remember anything after that)

THE FACT YOU DREAMED ABOUT THAT STINKY MAN??

AJGDJKAGFDKJ

I'm beyond giddy- especially because that is ssomething he would absolutely manage.

He may not have started the pandemic, but he's definitely responsible for at least one new strain of ringworm.

Unrelated Bonus:

Bettys having fun

[bitchyblkqueer]

flash 2023 issue 6 thoughts

opening on wallylinda.... prayers answered. i love how si spurrier writes and i love the family dynamics he's created.

like YES he gets it!! and our good friend eo is finally back! he's always a good time (for me as a reader)

i am fascinated by horror based on the covid19 lockdowns. the month and a half that people really had to stay inside. and the idea that a year of your life was lost. i completely disagree. and it looks like spurrier feels the same (corona contrarium) but we'll have to wait and see. i could be projecting.

there's this quote that i cant find that goes something like, "just because the time didn't pass how i wanted it to doesn't mean it didn't pass at all." it's important to think about who we're talking about when we frame the lockdown as "the stolen year." it's very entitled. and it's always confused me. i think it's the idea that something was taken from you when tomorrow is never promised.

and the overwhelming fear that was prevalent in society during that time period is still here. it's just being channeled into other things. and i have to make it clear that we're still in a pandemic and it's the worst it's ever been. TB and measles outbreak on top of new covid strains??? what are we doing?? and no one wants to mask.

i would love to talk to spurrier about this. he's not American and different countries handled lockdowns very differently. anyway back to the comic.

ghosts are scientific but there are enough tangents in this post. in retrospect barry has been acting pretty thawne-like the entire time. but i also feel like his worst traits (isolation, possessiveness/jealousy, cattiness, pride) were getting amplified.

oh my?? i feel like this is something barry might feel but would never say, especially not like this.

im getting deja vu and i hope wally is too...

building on the iconic scene from the return of barry allen, and upping the ante so now barry physically harms wally instead of just abandoning him. can we take a moment to appreciate a writer who has read the works of previous authors. it shouldn't be so rare but here we are.

im disappointed that the stillness seem to be a hoax set up by thawne. i was digging the whole cosmic higher power thing. that's all for now ummmmmm 5 stars

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 299, Replies Part 2

1) “…aaaaaand apparently we already skipped to the part he got “recruited” to be the government’s hitman.

And unfortunately that thing is still here.”- Given that Keigo had single-handedly stopped a car collision without fatalities in a manner akin to a pro hero whilst still a kid, it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine they were combing the neighbourhood looking for leads on him already. It even seems to be the same underground area she was sitting at before, meaning she didn’t even go to the police herself, Keigo brought the authorities to meet her whilst she sat on her ass. 2) “Oh back to the real world already? That was quick, I thought we would suffer a bit more.

Also, nice mask there Hawks, good choice, corona is still on the loose after all.”- It seems to be part breathing support, to help stabilise his lungs scorched by Dabi’s fires, which is another neat “realistic” aspect to dealing with a fire-user. Even if you avoid a direct scorching, the ambient heat is arguably far more dangerous. 3) “I’d say he would be stuck flying between life and death but I think his wings already decided on which side of the veil they want to be at.”- They have. Like their master, they’re not outta the fight yet. 4) “WAIT YOU MEAN THAT WAS HIS ACTUAL BODY THAT HAWKS TOOK TO DABI???

AND NEITHER OF YOU THOUGHT OF THE POSSIBILITY MIGHT HAVE WANTED TO INCINERATE THE EVIDENCES OR SOMETHING???”- On the one hand, having proof around would help Dabi, by incriminating Hawks more. On the other, there was an element of risk involved (beyond even the ‘let’s kill you for x amount of hours then Frankenstein your heart back online” deal) but as a hero, if it was crucial to catching the league and their plans off-guard (and Jeanist certainly was) then it’d be worth the risk. 5) “Honestly Horikoshi, I call bullshit on this whole thing being planned. It seems like you actually wanted Hawks to be a morally grey good guy that had to do horrible things to save people and then pussyout’d of it because no good character may do anything bad ever”- I’m undecided either way. Hawks is already morally grey because of how he dealt with Twice in the heat of the moment, but on the other, Hawks did have prep time to try and find a workaround in Jeanist’s case, and it does kinda fit the Icarus allusion for him to be trying a sneaky trick to deceive the enemy (proving his capability, as it were) and have that blow up in his face.

Honestly, it’s more the fact he went with the audacity of actually killing Jeanist (somehow) then resurrecting his in-stasis body  back to normal that boggles my mind, especially since it’s never made clear how he either faked the “death” or the resurrection method. I agree that it does feel like a bit of a cop-out, but because I like Jeanist a lot, I’m willing to let it slide overall. 6) “I’m still unsure what to say about the denimobile. Like, what could I even say about it?

Is it a hybrid at least?”- Horikoshi’s getting some prep done for his next planned racing manga. 7) “Ah, right, with society starting to collapse, all sort of evil personalities jump out of the shadows to grab a slice of that pie.”- And there’s plenty of pie to go around, what with the heroes starting to feel the strain on top of all their recent losses. 8) “THAT IS THE DENIMOBILE, IT EVEN CAME EQUIPPED TO ALLOW JEANIST TO USE HIS QUIRK WITHOUT STEPPING OUT OF IT

WHAT THE HELL WHEN DID HE GOT IT HOW DID HE GOT IT DOES IT HAVE LEATHER SEATS?”- The “Two Heroes” movie showed that All Might used to have a sort of similar transport when he was in America, mainly as a form of allowing David Shield to keep up with his speed, so its not too hard to imagine that certain heroes have custom-made transport option to enable them to maximise their Quirk even if they’ve got guests traveling with them. Heck, even Endeavour’s valet dude had that car he was driving the trio around in during their internship under him. 9) “There’s no one out there anymore to keep people safe. That’s not a side effect, that is intended by the “liberation” that the villains aim to achieve.”- Freedom for everyone, to do whatever the hell they want. And in Hawks’ case, he actually isgenuinely liberated for the first time in his life by all these events, in a massive twist of irony, so of course he’s gonna put this chance to good use and finally start being a hero for himself at last.

10) “Not all of them as we can see by Jeanist here. 

And, you know, it would be interesting to have vigilantes stepping up to keep people safe, since a huge deal of the story was how the spirit of heroism is more important than a title, but you know, Koichi is on New York embarrassing himself on TV I’m afraid.”- See, if Koichi had stayed around by the end of his series, then this whole sequence could have acted as a sort of “final arc” for him, getting to showcase his heroics openly without oversight or concern from official retaliation for once, bat sadly, the series just ended before this point, and Koichi had to skip town, least he wind up on AFO’s target list.

(Vigilantes ch 29)

11) “Oh my, Koichi, that’s an interesting vision you have there, it’s almost similar to what those guys in BNHA whose name I can’t remember were up to. Although their intentions behind allowing people to use their powers freely were… quite different, to say the least…

Oh we’re gonna fall down that hole again?”- Honestly, with things as they are, Koichi’s experience in how to effectively work alongside pro heroes as a ‘civilian’ would be exactly what the average joe on the streets needs to learn in order to ‘hold the line’ until the pros turn up, rather than take action to engaged the enemy like the old man here, with disastrous consequences. It might have been partly to protect himself from lawful reprisals, and partly out of his indecision about fighting back on his own yet, but his passive, dodge-based methods of tying up the enemy until the pros arrived for the beat down kept the property damage to a minimum, and minimalised casualties or injuries.

12) “is that a prosthetic or a hero support item?”- Support item, likely mass-produced and made freely available by Denetrat prior to this upheaval. Without heroes easily reachable, now everybody’s got a motivation to try and defend themselves, indulging in the “liberation” of an excuse to do their own heroics, even with good intentions in mind.

13) “Not all are happy, but still, Jeanist alongside other heroes are not here to be praised, they are here to keep people safe, and they will fight and die to make sure that comes to pass.”- On the other hand, criticism is still criticism. It doesn’t matter how much you throw yourself into the work, if you’re rewarded worth nothing but angry, sceptical glares and unkind words, no matter how good a job you did, you might start to wonder what the point of it all even is, if nobody cares whether or not you succeeded. MHA is a series that tends to run high on positive emotion during epic moments, and if those moments are lacking the feeling of “you can do this” that others before it had, then even the most successful hero will get ground down beneath it all.

14) “…not anymore it seems. Also jesus fuck look at the size of that living room what a waste of space”- A house as empty as her heart inside, save a few furnishings, denoting the trace care she held for her son, once a long time ago…

15) “right on the money, but being fair to her, it was not her fault in this particular case.

And it’s not like there’s people that can protect her now, it would be safer for her to disappear so she does not get endangered.”- And this serves as proof positive that Dabi knew that hawks was a traitor to the league for a long time, knew he was versed in spying and infiltration to undermine their operations with the PLF, but still allowed him to roam about with a modicum of freedom, because the same situation enabled Dabi to manipulate Hawks into a position he could maximise the benefits to his personal crusade from. All those advantages with the PLF, the Nomu, the doctor, the strike plan they had in place…all undermined because Dabi wanted to put himself first before anyone else…and succeeded.

16) “Well it most certainly didn’t came from your dad, that’s for sure. I wonder how long ago she fled, because if it was before the fall of the government she would have tried to ask them for help.”- And as always, Hawks’ mom put her own well-being before anything else, because she knew that these goons had the information about Hawks, and would likely use that against him….but she stayed silent out of fear for her life, even whilst enjoying government protection still, rather than informing the handlers about the leak. Hawks’ whole mission was jeopardised a long time ago, but it wasn’t until the comfort and security she’d enjoyed came crashing down around her that Tomie fled…and without even having the courage to apologise to hawks directly about the personal damage she’d caused him to boot.

17) “SO SHE WAS THE ONE TO TAKE HIM OUT OF THE HOUSE, AND HE LIED TO PROTECT HER

GOD

FUCKIGN DAMMIT HORIKOSHI WHY YOU DO THIS TO ME”- Even as far back as a child, Hawks was putting another’s well-being before his own. 18) “OH MY FUCKING GOD THE ONLY REASON HE HAD THE ENDEAVOR DOLL WAS BECAUSE IT WAS CHEAPER ICAN’T WE REALLY NEED TO KEEP KICKING ENDEAVOR INTO A CURB”- Yet ironically, it was his number 2 position that made Endeavour the number one hero in Hawks’ heart, seeing how he genuinely tried again and again to surpass the impossible, even with the limits of his body baring down on him. 19) “What you are in the dark is an amazing writing trope, and I suppose we are approaching this situation, since there’s no one left to tell you what to do or to judge you for your actions”- Not just him, but anyone who aspires to help another in these dark times. Ironically, what Stain most desired, heroes who act for another without thought of fame and fortune, is now a possibility in reality, but in the worst possible manner for Stain’s vision to have taken place. 20) “Don’t worry about that Hawks. I mean, it was definitely your fault, but it wasn’t solely your fault. In a way, you both were tools being used by masters you wanted to please, clashing against each other, until one of you had to break.”- And yet, the tragedy in Twice’s case is that his “masters” were all genuine friends who’d have wanted him to put himself before their sakes…except Dabi, the only one who sought him out and was by his side at the end, explicitly to capture it on camera for his smear campaign and manipulating Twice’s memory for his own gain. The Hero Commission may have been OK with hawks dying for the mission, but that’s because he was an asset they’d raised and proved more than worth the “investment”. The league, in contrast, asked nothing so highly of Twice besides his friendship, yet he was the one betrayed the worst between them. 21) “Because the spirit of heroism does not discriminate one’s origin place. It knows what is in their heart, and how they will use it for good. Now it is time for Hawks to show why he has those wings.

Had.”-  Nope, still got em! Hope springs eternal, and so too does Hawk’s wings, even stunted from what they once were. 22) “THE WINGS

THEY ARE GROWING BACK?

HOLY SHIT I THOUGHT YOU WERE DONE FOR HAWKS”- Hawks: I got one more in me. 23) “Awful situation for baby Hawks. Bor in poverty, in an abusive, criminal family, and when he finally thinks he’s free from it all, it turns out he just got put into another cage, this time by the government. The comparison with Twice there was spot on, they were both so desperate to fit in they went down into the deep end doing horrible things because they wanted to be helpful to those they worked for.

And as shown, both by Dabi as well as the government, they are the most helpful when they are sacrificed in the name of the greater good.”- But, only one of them gets a “rebirth” and a second chance to try and help. In the end, Hawks was decisive about ending Twice’s threat, whereas Dabi wanted to twist the knife more before the kill, and so allowed Hawks a second chance to redeem himself…

pic by Doodlelotl

@thelreads