#did you just deflect?!

[snowy-bones]

Marble be getting those "fren" kisses LMAO.

[dailyloopdeloop]

DAY 96: trapped in a timeloop all by yourself, handsome?

[chirpsythismorning]

El being *12 hours earlier* than the Cali timeline when she arrives at Nina. Will saying ‘it’s been 9 hrs’ in the scene following his monologue in the van.

We know that at some point their timelines merged when they arrived to save her…

But we don’t know when exactly those alignments took place when they were still apart… which just makes you wonder…

[tenderjock]

outstanding leadership, extraordinary initiative, & steadfast devotion to duty

Daniel&Jack&Peggy, and medals earned in wartime.

"You ever notice that Thompson doesn't talk about the Navy Cross?"

Peggy froze in the middle of adding milk to her tea. After a moment, she put the bottle down and stirred carefully, thoughts racing. Without turning to Daniel or letting her surprise inflect her voice, she said, "What do you mean?"

Daniel shrugged, a little jerkily. "I don't know. Everything's always bigger and better with him, you know? He'll tell you how much he earns or how long his - ah, you know, he'll brag. But he changes the topic every time it comes up."

She tapped the spoon against the side of her cup. "Perhaps he -" She broke off, struggling for the words that would turn Daniel's attention away from the issue. "Perhaps he simply doesn't like to talk about things that happened over there. We've all been there; it's never anything like the medals or newsreels seem to say it was."

"Yeah, sure," Daniel said. "It just doesn't seem like Thompson to not tell everyone he knows about it."

"You don't talk about your Purple Heart," Peggy pointed out, not ungently. Daniel stiffened.

"That's different."

"It is," Peggy agreed. "It's different for all of us."

A pair of familiar footsteps joined them at the office commissary before Daniel could respond. Peggy glanced back down into her cup and added a generous spoonful of sugar.

"I see my top agents are spending their workday productively," Jack remarked, his smirk a sharp line in his face.

Peggy shot him a rather arch look. "I see Chief Thompson is having an equally productive day," she said. "Have you admitted defeat yet?"

Jack made a face. He'd been fighting, along with Agent Faut and some rather obnoxious pencil-pushers, to balance the New York SSR's budget for the better part of the week. Most of his morning had been spent in a meeting with the senator's aide.

"I got 'em on the ropes," he said. Daniel clears his throat, rather judgementally.

Peggy isn't quite sure who he's been more upset with recently: Jack, for taking the promotion, or her, for not being bothered by it.

His attitude was a bit annoying, to be honest. Frankly, she was never going to receive a Medal of Honor or the position as New York Chief, no matter who advocated for her or what evidence was presented to the U.S. government. Daniel had to know that, too; the man wasn't stupid. And he had to realize that having Jack in charge, where they could keep an eye on him, was better than any alternative.

"We were discussing wartime medals," Peggy said instead of all that. Jack stiffened; Daniel noticed; Peggy rolled her eyes. "I once knew a man who earned an Order of the Bath for strategic actions in battle." She considered the memory. "He had terrible teeth."

"Order of the Bath?" Jack said, disbelieving.

"For conspicuous heroism taking place in a sauna," Daniel said. Both men laughed. Peggy sniffed. They had no respect, these Americans.

"What about Carter?" Jack asked, still laughing.

Peggy blinked at him. "What about me?" she said.

"What kind of awards did Agent Peggy Carter deign to accept?"

"I didn't earn any," Peggy said stiffly. "Women aren't combatants."

That's a bit of an oversimplification, she will admit in the privacy of her own mind. There were a few medals she could have theoretically earned, from the Americans and her own government, had circumstances regarding her service not been so, well, unique.

Some Englishwomen had received medals, but their service had been different than hers - usually as pilots or somesuch, not the covert missions she had in occupied France and Nazi Germany.

She may have qualified from the U.S. Women's Army Corps Service Medal, although it perhaps would have required Colonel Phillips to pull a few strings. Peggy had occupied a strange place in the war: a woman, first of all, and therefore not allowed in combat or eligible to receive medals for heroism under fire. But she had also been a spy, someone who technically didn't exist; and a British operative working for the Americans. Both sides had simply sort of - cut her loose, after victory was obtained and she was no longer useful.

It was only due to Colonel Phillips' recommendation that she had this job in the first place. Peggy pursed her lips, then shook herself out of her thoughts.

Only to find the two men staring at her like they had just been dunked in ice water. It was a bit unsettling. She took a sip of tea.

"Anyway," she said. "I actually do have work to do. Daniel, try to keep in mind what I was saying."

Jack was frowning at her. Daniel was frowning, too, but his gaze flicked to Jack once when she spoke, before he nodded.

"Sure thing," he said, and shifted on his crutch out of her way to let her back to her desk.

: :

Peggy frequently found herself the last person in the office, nowadays, with the possible exceptions being Daniel and Jack. Right now, Daniel's dark head of curls was bent over his desk and Jack's light was still on in his office, although the blinds were drawn.

They've all been working in a companionable silence for the last two hours. Daniel was eating something that smelled hot and spiced at his desk; little noises kept coming from the Chief's office, the sound of a file cabinet being opened or the desk chair being pushed back.

For Peggy's part, she's been combing through reports of gun sales to women matching Dottie's description in the tri-state area. She has found three that warrant a closer look, and was just about to get herself another cup of tea and really settle in when Jack's door opened and he slouched out.

He stopped in front of her desk. She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. He stared at her for a second, looking troubled.

"Yes?" she ventured, when it became clear he wasn't going to say anything to her.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked, rather abruptly.

Daniel was looking at them now. Peggy drummed her fingernails on her desk, then nodded and followed Jack into his office, where he shut the door behind them.

He then proceeded to stand at his desk, hands braced against the wood, staring blankly. Peggy was honestly starting to get worried, not that she thought letting Jack know that was a good idea.

"Chief Thompson?" she said. She didn't touch his arm, but it was a close thing.

Jack opened his desk drawer and pulled out a box. It looked like a large jewelry box and was made of navy blue leather, with gold detailing. Peggy didn't need to ask what was inside it - even if it hadn't had the name of the medal printed on it in little gold letters, she would have known.

"You should have it," Jack said. His face was grim and set.

"Jack!" Peggy said, shocked.

"You should have it," he insisted. "I don't - it shouldn't be me, anyway. And you deserve it, Peggy. We both know that." Jack glanced at her, then glanced away. "I was going to put it out on my desk but - I couldn't. I can't. You should have it."

Peggy stared at him, feeling like her heart was in her throat. Jack Thompson was a liar, and a fraud, and a self-serving, arrogant pain-in-the-arse to work with, but sometimes he still surprised her.

And, anyway, it would do no one any favors to make this into a bigger deal than it already was. She nodded, and carefully took the box and tucked it under one arm.

"I'll keep it safe," she said quietly. Then, more briskly, "Do you want me to brief you on the progress I've made in the Underwood case?"

"Christ," Jack said, rubbing his eyes. He laughed, a little wetly. "Yeah, that'd be great. Tell me you got something."

They talked for a few minutes. Jack agreed with her that there was meat in the rumor of a bank robbery being planned, although neither of them could fathom why a notorious Communist would want to rob a bank. When Peggy left his office with the Navy Cross in hand, Jack was pouring himself a Scotch, looking exhausted and like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Daniel looked up as Peggy fastened the clasps of her purse and got her coat. "You leaving?" he asked, and then considered her more closely. "Are you okay, Peggy?"

"Yes," she said. "Just, you know." She looked at Jack's office door and clutched the rectangular shape in her purse tighter. "I need to get home."

"I'll walk you out," Daniel said, still watching her. "I'm just about done here anyway."

Peggy waited while he grabbed his coat, hat, and briefcase. She had to watch her pace a bit when she's walking with Daniel, but the company was usually worth it. Tonight, she was tired and a little shaken and a bit too reflective, and she appreciated the distraction of having to make small talk with Daniel as they walked to the subway station together.

As they were waiting for her train - hers was due in four minutes; Daniel's, in six - Daniel said, apropos of nothing, "I guess I just never expect Thompson to care enough about anything to feel, I don't know." He looked across the platform blankly. "Shame or guilt or, or loss. Or anything."

Peggy looked at him. "I know what you mean," she said.

"You know why he doesn't talk about the Navy Cross." It wasn't a question. Daniel wasn't looking at her.

Peggy tucked her heavy purse tighter to her torso and breathed out slowly. "Yes," she said. Just yes, and nothing else.

Daniel nodded, still staring across the empty platform. "Is it something I should know about?"

She gave that some thought. "It's not something I'm going to tell you," she said finally. "Not without Jack's permission, which I don't think he'd give. But it doesn't change who he is, not really. It might explain some of what he's done, recently." Then, because she wanted to be honest with Daniel: "Although you may not like the explanation."

He dipped his chin to his chest. "Alright," he said, then again, quieter, "Alright."

Her train arrived, and Peggy boarded, wishing Daniel a good night. Peggy observed him through the car's dirty, cracked window, a dark figure braced on his crutch, looking down at the concrete beneath his shoes. Peggy put one hand into her purse, pressing her palm against Jack's medal as she watched him.

As the train pulled away from the platform, Daniel seemed to shake himself and turned toward the opposite tracks, where his train going the other direction was arriving.

[tswwwit]

i have a counter argument to the 'only one person can boop bill' thing, mabel. she's the type of person to slap stickers on people, she would definitely be the type to also boop others occasionally and bill would be no exception. she probably doesn't do it to annoy bill like dipper would, but maybe as a form of a friendly gesture, kind of like those people who will lightly punch friends in the arm when they hang out.

You know what? Good point. Mabel would get away with more than most, as a fun-loving lady! Bill understands those impulses, and being a touchy person! He indulges in similar ones himself.

Though when Bill's not in the mood to be playful and gets booped anyway? The 'sister-in-law' status grants her considerable grace.

[wardencallings]

If your Rook had an intro like the companions do, what would it be?

[coconut530]

BITTERSWEET REUNIONS

[lord-squiggletits]

Answering that ask is a good reminder for me to remind everyone else that Pharma actually did nothing wrong in the way that he handled Tarn/the DJD and the t-cog blackmail, and the only reason he's villainized and seen as irredeemable scum is because the narrative wanted to have Pharma as a villain.

Literally every other time the DJD are shown attacking people on the page (or the aftermath of their attacks) it's constantly hammered in how brutal and unstoppable they are and how traumatizing it is to suffer even as a survivor who merely witnessed their methods so like LITERALLY THE ONLY REASON Pharma got singled out as selfish and cowardly is because JRO wanted him to be a villain.

And it sucks too because it's not like making the DJD terrifying was some retcon that happened 30 issues down the line. The DJD made their first on-page appearance in MTMTE #7, during which there's a whole page dedicated to the Scavengers describing every reason why it's impossible to stop the DJD-- including one person outright describing fighting the DJD as "suicide with delusions of survival."

There's no way JRO didn't know what he was going to write for #7 while he was writing the Delphi arc (#4-5, so only two issues beforehand more or less) so like. I'm sorry but there's no actual in-universe reason why Pharma should be considered evil for how he handled the DJD when every other person got to be seen as a victim/underdog hero defending themselves from horrible death. JRO just wanted there to be a mad doctor evil Autobot villain and that was that lmao

[sunlightfeeling]

｡ﾟ･ (>﹏<) ･ﾟ｡

smapxsmap: 2009.6.1

[brionysea]

El and Lucas are about to be good. Of all the things El has mirrored from other people, mirroring Lucas saying "I'm sorry" to her with an explanation of what they each did wrong was the most healthy.

[blueskittlesart]

you are the reason I decided to finally buy botw, the very first of the games I've played. I really like botw and still haven't beaten ganon bc reasons (it has been years)

so many people i know who bought botw as their first zelda game avoid beating ganon like the plague and i truly need you to understand that he is like. nowhere near the most difficult boss in that game. i'd call thunderblight more difficult personally ESPECIALLY without the master sword. as long as you're a decent shot with a bow and you either know how to deflect with a shield or are good enough at dodging and have urbosa's fury you will be FINE. you will finish the game and get to experience the very good ending cutscenes and then you will be dropped back into your unchanged save file anyway. there's no reason to not at least TRY it i promise you it's not nearly as difficult as you think it is and the spectacle of the battle and ending cutscenes is more than worth it imo

[piningpercussionist]

Since yuri is gonna get canceled, can we be yuri for the time being? I promise to not throw you into a river!!!!!!!!

*She stares flatly at you for several (painfully long) seconds before answering.*

... No.

Also, why would you feel the need to add that last bit? I trust you people approximately not at all to begin with, but that just... does not help your case. Ever.

[swaps55]

When Sam sent in Kaidan's recommendation to N-school, did he know Kaidan would turn it down?

Oooh, this is a REALLY good question.

I'm going to say he didn't, and Kaidan turning it down came as a surprise to him. Should he have known? Probably. But as intuitive and observant as Sam is, I think in this case, the N program is so integral to him, that he couldn't step outside himself enough to understand why Kaidan wouldn't want it.

From the beginning, the allure of Kaidan Alenko has been that he's hard for Sam to figure out. Sam likes puzzles, and Kaidan is one he never quite solves. People don't often surprise Sam. Every time Kaidan does surprise him, he becomes even more interesting.

So turning down the N program recommendation would have set Sam on his heels a little. He would have taken time to over analyze why, sit with it, and have a little moment of clarity over the ways he'd misunderstood Kaidan's experiences, or just not given enough consideration them. I very deliberately gave Kaidan and Sam very different experiences with developing and learning biotics. Their perspectives are VERY different, and Kaidan's reasons for not wanting to be an N would have helped Sam broaden his own understanding of how un-universal his own experience was. For all the things he knows about Kaidan and BAaT and Vyrnnus, this would have driven home a little harder the ways in which they shaped him.

Sam also would have marveled a little at the ways Kaidan is so relentlessly himself, and rigidly follows his own code.

Truthfully, that was probably a small but important moment in Sam's long, slow fall. The relief he would have felt, however, at Kaidan staying put on the 'Yang and remaining with the squad is something he would have carefully tucked away somewhere he didn't have to think about very hard.

Other people are puzzles, after all. Less fun when the puzzle is yourself. :)

[gonersgoners]

remember when i said over a year ago that vegapunk's arc would start revealing even more of sanji's power and potential and how hard that was worrying me? yeah

[sainamoonshine]

Call me crazy but I do think people doing stupid shit they KNOW is a bad idea — and doing it anyway — and in the process putting a lot of other people’s livelihood at risk + threatening the public good…. Like yeah I do think they deserve consequences. Idk why that’s a controversial opinion.

[lord-squiggletits]

for the director's cut meme: I am very fond of Cooling Off, and interested in the "thank you for protecting me"/"not shooting you is an obvious tactical benefit", because the one doesn't quite follow from the other and I've wondered what your reading of that is...

Cooling Off, the fic in question, and the relevant excerpt:

"By the way... thank you for protecting me during that battle. I appreciate it." [...Prime, not shooting you is just an obvious tactical benefit,] Megatron said. [And since when did you need anyone to protect you? I think you hit your reality processor on the way down here.] Optimus' chuckle was low and quiet, resonating slightly through the barrel and grip of Megatron's alt-mode. "I would shoot you any time you let me. I enjoy the feeling of a well-crafted gun in my hands."

Ah, this one was written almost 2 years ago, so it's super not fresh in my mind. But this bit is easy enough for me to explain! The intention was to show some subtle megop banter: as in, they aren't lovers in this scene, and they can't even really be friendly because the (mostly irrelevant) background of this is a temporary faction truce. But nevertheless, I wanted to have some banter in which the pair of them betray their fondness for each other. Also, Megatron is really tsundere about his side of the affection, obviously.

In this part, Optimus is trying to distract Megatron from transforming out of gun mode (bc he wants to keep holding him) and opts to show gratitude towards Megatron. Basically, trying to distract Megatron with soft, friendly feelings.

But Megatron, being tsundere and unable to acknowledge for pride/political reasons that he likes being around Optimus too, deliberately sidesteps Optimus' gratitude by essentially expressing "Don't thank me, I would be shooting you right now if it weren't for the fact that keeping you alive helps us fight our common enemy." He's essentially rejecting Optimus' attempt to connect as people via compassion and gratitude and responding by saying their relationship is pragmatic, nothing more. Which is also followed up in a subsequent line:

[You're a good shot, Prime,] Megatron eventually replied. [Why don't we keep it at that until we get out of here? And stop fondling me, you're embarrassing yourself touching a gun like that.]

Again, Megatron is deflecting Optimus' soft and affectionate emotions by putting on a veneer of pragmatism, a "we only work well together because we have to" style of deflection and denial. But this time he returns Optimus' emotion a little by giving him a compliment about his shooting-- a useful, pragmatic skill, not one about OP as a person. So Megatron is returning OP's warmth a little, but being sure to do it in a way that maintains the plausible deniability: he is, of course, only working with Optimus because it's a tactical advantage, and he of course only likes being held in gun mode because Optimus is a good shot. But he also leaves a little bit of mystery by saying "Why don't we keep it at that until we get out of here," as if implying he's interested in reciprocating OP's affections in a more optimal location.

TLDR: Megatron is being coy.

Remember that ask I answered a little bit ago about how Megatron and Optimus are the kind of people that have invisible conversations underneath the surface of every seemingly superficial/everyday discussion? This is a prime example of that.