#doug riddle

[bondpix]

The Q Boat is hoisted in the air for some adjustments before continuing the chase in Royal Victoria Dock. Doug Riddle, who designed the jet boat, is looking at the engine. Behind the scenes of "The World Is Not Enough"

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[fountainpenguin]

FOP: A New Wish: "Teacher's Pal"

[t4tails]

[xtruss]

Sharecropping: Slavery Rerouted

Though slavery was abolished in 1865, sharecropping would keep most Black Southerners impoverished and immobile for decades to come.

— Published: August 16, 2023 | By Jared Tetreau | The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools | Article | Sunday August 20, 2023

Sharecropper's children. Montgomery County, Alabama, 1937, photographer Arthur Rothstein, Library of Congress

“The White Folks had all the Courts, all the Guns, all the Hounds, all the Railroads, all the Telegraph Wires, all the Newspapers, all the Money and nearly all the Land – and we had only our Ignorance, our Poverty and our Empty Hands.” — an anonymous Sharecropper, Elbert County, Georgia, ca. 1900

On January 1, 1867 in Marshall County, Mississippi, Cooper Hughes and Charles Roberts entered into an agreement. In their contract with landowner I.G. Bailey, Hughes and Roberts, both formerly enslaved men, agreed to work 40 acres of corn and 20 acres of cotton on Bailey’s land, along with “all other work…necessary to be done to keep [the farm] in good order,” for the duration of 1867. In exchange for their labor, Hughes, Roberts and their families would be “furnished” with stipends of meat, a mule for plowing, a plot of land to grow a garden, separate cabins and one-third and one-half of the corn and cotton crops respectively.

On that first day of 1867, Hughes and Roberts joined a growing number of newly freed African Americans turning toward a new agricultural arrangement in the South. It would come to be called “sharecropping.” In the decades that followed, sharecropping would grow into what scholar Wesley Allen Riddle called the “predominant capital-labor arrangement” in the region, defining how hundreds of thousands of Black Southerners made a living and supported their families. But once up and running, sharecropping itself would deny the formerly enslaved their rights and liberties as free American citizens for nearly one hundred years.

Sharecropper "Mother Lane" Pulaski County, Arkansas,1937, United States Resettlement Administration, photographer Ben by Shahn, Library of Congress

What is Sharecropping?

Sharecropping is a system by which a tenant farmer agrees to work an owner’s land in exchange for living accommodations and a share of the profits from the sale of the crop at the end of the harvest.

The system emerged after the Civil War, when the southern economy lay in ruins. With the Confederate monetary system wiped out, farm land decimated, and slavery abolished under the 13th Amendment, access to labor and capital was extremely limited among Southern landowners. For former slaves, federal proposals to redistribute land fell apart in the 1860s, leaving millions without the promises of full citizenship guaranteed to them by the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments.

Pitched as a solution for both groups, sharecropping was presented to the formerly enslaved as land ownership by proxy. It put an end to work in “gangs” under an overseer, while keeping Black workers within the agricultural sector, preferably on the same land where they had been held captive, and incentivizing high crop yields, benefitting landowners. But even though the old plantation system had changed and some day-to-day activities were delegated to sharecroppers, sharecropping proved a fundamentally unequal arrangement, organized to keep Black farmers from ever achieving economic or social mobility.

As writer Doug Blackmon notes, many white southerners after Emancipation were determined not to pay for something they had once had for free—Black labor.

Many landowners at the end of the Civil War were furious at the idea of paying Black workers whom they’d owned only months before. As a result, landowners developed systems adjacent to slavery. On the plantations, this took the form of sharecropping, though the transformation did not happen overnight.

Black Americans in the South were eager to exercise their newfound freedoms after the war. As historian Wesley Allen Riddle writes, “the most basic and symbolic” of these freedoms was “mobility” itself. The formerly enslaved left their plantations in droves, some looking for work in the South’s devastated cities, while others looked for—and were given by the Union Army—vacant land on which to raise a farm. But work in cities was hard to come by. Only about 4 percent of Freedmen were able to find work in southern cities after the war, and many who came there were relegated to shantytowns of the formerly enslaved. As for those that were given vacant lands by the army, they were forced out when President Andrew Johnson canceled Field Order No. 15 in the fall of 1865, returning these properties to their white owners.

While many formerly enslaved did leave the plantations after the war, many others could not. Those trying to leave faced horrific violence and intimidation from their former owners. As Union General Carl Schurz reported in his testimony to Congress in 1865, “In many instances, negroes who walked away from plantations, or were found upon the road, were shot or otherwise severely punished.”

With land ownership all but closed to them, and urban service work extremely limited, many Freedmen had little choice but to return to the plantations by the end of the 1860s. Their motives for this were mixed. Though economic pressures were strong, many wanted to reunite with loved ones who had been sold during slavery, and saw some appeal in working in an agricultural sector that they were familiar with.

Twenty to 50 acre plots, a cabin to live in and farming supplies were promised to them, all in exchange for about 50 percent of their harvest. Freedmen envisioned a self-sustained life working a plot of land, raising a garden, and providing for their families as they wanted. But these hopes were dashed as the pitfalls of sharecropping quickly became clear.

Sharecroppers, Pulaski County, Arkansas. 1937, photographer Ben by Shahn, United States Resettlement Administration, Library of Congress

Life as a Sharecropper

By design, sharecropping deprived Black farmers of economic agency or mobility. Although they were no longer legally enslaved, sharecroppers were kept in place by debt. As their income was dependent on both the profits from the sale of the crop and the whims of the landowners, sharecroppers had to find means to sustain themselves during the rest of the year. They were forced to purchase food, seed, clothing and other goods on credit, typically from a plantation “commissary” owned by the landlord.

At the end of the harvest, when revenue from the crop was “settled up,” the sharecroppers’ portion of the profits was calculated against their debts. As a result, sharecroppers often ended the year owing their landlords money. What could not be paid off was carried into the next year, creating a cycle of indebtedness that was often impossible to break.

Sharecroppers in debt to their landlord were subject to laws that tied them to the land. If they attempted to move, any new tenancy contracts they signed with other landlords could be voided by their existing ones. If they ran away, they could be brought back to their landlord in chains, and made to work as a prisoner for no pay at all.

Even if sharecroppers did not try to leave, they still faced massive obstacles in achieving any kind of solvency. For instance, many Southern states limited how and to whom sharecroppers could sell their part of the crop. In Alabama, cotton had to be sold and transported during the day, and could only be purchased by a state-defined “legitimate” merchant. As sharecroppers couldn’t afford to lose a day’s work to take their crop to market, these laws curtailed their ability to sell their product at the best possible price.

In addition, individual freedoms were crushed by tenancy contracts, many of which included arbitrary clauses forbidding alcohol consumption, speaking to other sharecroppers in the fields or allowing visitors on rented land.

Black sharecroppers could not seek redress through the political system either. Despite the ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments, the southern “Redemption” that followed the withdrawal of Union troops from the South in 1876-7 ensured that the federal government would not enforce Black voting rights. Black elected officials disappeared from Congress and state legislatures, and attempts at organizing Black voters were brutally suppressed, as in New Orleans in July of 1866, where a convention of Black voters was attacked by a white mob under police protection that killed an estimated 200 people.

Educational opportunities were also sparse. In 1872, white Southerners pressured Congress to abolish the Freedmen's Bureau, a federal agency designed to provide food, shelter, clothing, medical services and land to newly freed African Americans. With the dissolution of the Bureau, few resources remained for the approximately 80 percent of Black people who were illiterate.

Sharecropping, with its prohibitive restrictions on physical and economic mobility, its use of violence and intimidation and its emphasis on maximum production, denied Black Southerners the ability to gain wealth, to exercise the freedom granted them by Emancipation and to gain the education they were deprived of during enslavement. The system existed, in conjunction with other institutions, to exploit Black labor at a minimum “relative loss” to white landowners while keeping the Black population underfoot.

As Black sharecropper Ed Brown said of his experience, “hard work didn’t get me nowhere.”

Sharecropper's cabin, Southeast Missouri Farms. 1938, photographer Russell Lee, Library of Congress

Sharecropping’s Decline and Legacy

After dominating the southern agricultural economy for decades, sharecropping was, like most other farming practices, upended by the rise of new technologies. While these changes were delayed by the Great Depression, sharecropping had become obsolete in many areas of the South by the mid-twentieth century. With increased mechanization, white planters’ demand for Black labor dried up.

Also during this time, Jim Crow obstructions to Black enfranchisement, as well as state-sanctioned violence against Black people, were directly challenged by the Civil Rights Movement and the landmark legislation it helped enact. The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 deconstructed de jure segregation across the South in housing and public accommodation, while empowering the federal government to secure the right to vote for Black Southerners.

As scholars Paru Shah and Robert S. Smith note, enfranchisement, desegregation and the decline of sharecropping weakened “the broader agenda of White Supremacy to crush African American socioeconomic mobility,” but did not destroy it. The effects of centuries of Black economic and social oppression, represented in part by sharecropping, are still felt today. Limited access to capital, to mobility, and to representation during Jim Crow and before it denied Black Americans the ability to save, invest or accumulate wealth, concentrating inherited fortunes in the hands of white families and shaping the present class makeup.

For nearly a century, sharecropping defined Southern agriculture and hindered Black economic advancement. The system reflected a multidude of attempts by the white power structure to keep Black workers stagnant, achieving this through intimidation, physical violence and exploitation. Ultimately, aided by organized action, shifting technological and economic conditions and the determination of sharecroppers themselves, the oppressive reality of sharecropping ended. But in the endemic inequities of American political and economic life, its legacy persists.

[genderkoolaid]

So it is with Florence Hines, a Black singer and drag king who got her start on the stage sometime around 1891, when she began to receive particular notice for her performances with Sam T. Jack’s Creole Burlesque. When the show came to Paterson, NJ, on November 23, 1891, “hundreds were turned away from the doorway” before the Creole Burlesque was even scheduled to take the stage, according to the Paterson Daily Caller. In their review, they called out Hines in particular for being an “excellent male impersonator.” The Creole Burlesque was a standard minstrel show, featuring all Black performers, led by a white manager, giving skits, songs, and scenes that featured standard variety acts (everything from clog dancing to drag) set in a pre-Civil War Southern plantation fantasy. But within a few years, Sam T. Jack would launch The Creole Show, an important milestone in Black performance in America. For the first time, an all-Black revue was presented as a modern, staged performance — not as an “authentic” recreation of Black life. According to Whiting Up, a history of white face entertainment by Black theater historian Marvin McAllister, The Creole Show was “a major outlet for Black artists interested in… developing a comedic tradition that was racially grounded but not riddled with stereotyping.” In another important departure from tradition, instead of hiring a man to play the traditional lead role of interlocutor or master of ceremonies, Sam T. Jack hired Florence Hines. As a drag king, Hines performed a routine that made mock of the “dandy” — flashy, modern, young men who drank and dated openly, and wore the latest clothes. One of her most famous numbers was “Hi Waiter! A Dozen More Bottles,” whose first verse went: Lovely woman was made to be loved, To be fondled and courted and kissed; And the fellows who’ve never made love to a girl, Well they don’t know what fun they have missed. I’m a fellow, who’s up on the times, Just the boy for a lark or a spree There’s a chap that’s dead stuck on women and wine, You can bet your old boots that it’s me. Many white drag kings of the day also performed this song, and similar dandy characters. For these performers, the dandy was a way to needle the men in the audience. But for Black performers, taking on a dandy role was also a way of resisting degraded depictions of Black people that were common on stage at the time. As Kathleen B. Casey wrote in The Prettiest Girl on the Stage is a Man, “when worn by a Black performer, the tuxedo with tails, cane, cape and a top hat countered the image of the ragged, shoeless plantation slave.” Thus, Hines made a natural choice for a show that wanted to show an entirely new kind of Black performance. By 1904, The Indianapolis Freeman would report that Hines “commanded the largest salary paid to a colored female performer.” In their book, Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889-1895, Lynn Abott and Doug Seroff wrote that “Hines’s male impersonations provided the standard against which African American comediennes were compared for decades.”

[cloverlynn-mosaic]

I can’t take it anymore

Dark Deception PC AU

This was the au I was planning on making art for then revealing but at this points it’s gonna take like a month and I can’t wait that long.

NOW HEAR ME OUT HERE.

Sophist - Doug Houser (DOUG HAS NO RELEVANCE IN THIS AU, SOPHIST REPLACES HIM ENTIRELY AND IN NO WAY WILL HE SHARE THE SAME BACKSTORY)

Brent - E (B)

Nick - Dark Star/Lucky (?) (he’s still in development but I’d like him to be one of Malak’s generals. Lucky fits him the most but I really don’t want to just destroy the Joy Joy Gang so his placement would make sense, idk I’ll probably just switch between the 2 cause we haven’t properly seen Dark Star yet)

Vernias - Mama Bear (originally he was gonna be Bierce’s assistant but that didn’t make sense to me, later thought about replacing him with Bierce entirely but then there goes a large portion of the story. Then thought about switching him with the orb spirit but I didn’t really want him to be theoretically tied with Sophist’s past. Would he be a genuine loving parental figure in this au? yes, Does he care about his work more in this au? Well within the realms of MB’s character, probably. I would’ve given this placement to Nick because she’s the lead executioner but her personality heavily contradicts his).

Now what is this game exactly?

Dark Deception is about a mortal named Doug Houser who must help a woman named Bierce if he wants to fulfill his deepest desires. However he’s going to have to suffer a lot to get it. In Bierce’s ballroom, there a portals that lead to different areas across the nightmare realm, each filled with monsters to protect a ring piece. The ring pieces when together form the Riddle of Heaven which contain a demon’s power that can be used to do whatever the user wants. However these pieces are scattered in 10 different portals. Of course, Doug isn’t the first one to have attempted to do this before, as thousands of other mortals have met their ends here trying.

Now for a brief explanation of each character that the PC’ers are swapped with to give u a general idea

Doug is not a good person however he does regret a lot of his actions. (Yes I’m purposefully leaving out a bunch of details because he is a HEAVILY controversial character and I really do not want that to be associated with Sophist in this au like at all)

E was the mortal here before Doug, however she planned to escape on her own rather then doing whatever Bierce wanted. It was a suicide mission to even attempt something as horrifying as this. She left behind her tablet to make it seem like she died, but really she found a relic that would help her teleport across the portals, she just has to be careful with who she encounters.

Not much is known about Dark Star other then the fact she’s the warden of Prison Panic, one of Malak’s generals, and a pop star (kinda?) because the chapter she is in (5) has not released yet. She is one of the main enemies in Chapter 5

Lucky is the leader of the animatronic group called the Joy Joy Gang and one of Malak’s generals (if I remember correctly). He’s a bit childish but his insanity makes up for it. Often getting all happy like trying to kill you. He doesn’t take your attacks seriously at all, because he has his name for a reason. He never loses.

Mama Bear is another one of Malak’s generals and is the lead executioner for him, any beings who step out of line would be brought to her portal to be finished off. In a way, she has an addictive motherly presence that leads to many mortals being driven to her. She uses that to her advantage to pull off a motherly figure persona that makes herself seem innocent. Despite it being a persona, she does take care of her children (I think at least).

Please tell me someone sees my vision

[acetypeface]

The New Mutants Play DnD

They're still in my brain soup.

DANI: Is the DM. A fantastic storyteller, although she can be a bit of a stickler for the rules. Loves to prep days in advance, and includes as many elaborate schemes and puzzles as she can. Prefers to run a game that's evenly 50% roleplay and 50% combat. Brings lots of drinks and snacks so people (Roberto) won't leave the table mid-session with the munchies.

SAM: Plays a Human Fighter (Champion). Played the most basic character because he didn't want to challenge himself too much at first; has become the party's most talented member. Wants to be the leader of the party (no one listens to him). Somehow got knighted in their first session. The best at accents when roleplaying, but gets increasingly more southern when he gets frustrated during a session. Accidentally married a dwarven princess and can't figure out how to divorce her.

XUAN: Plays a Half-Drow Warlock (Great Old One). Has no idea what a drow is, just thought they sounded cool. Came up with an elaborate and tragic backstory for her character, which has fucked her over multiple times. Prefers deception and trickery to direct combat; has soothed over multiple of Roberto's accidental fights that way. Is really good at remembering all of the tiny things about each player's character. Is the resident healer of the party (the only one who remembers to grab important items, like food and healing supplies).

ROBERTO: Plays a Fire Genasi Bard (College of Eloquence). LOVES the roleplay aspect. Wants to be the face of the party, but tends to start fights. Talks a little too much; Dani has to remind him to give others a turn. Has successfully seduced the dragon. In charge of the party's money. Tends to power up when he gets too excited. Has "accidentally" led Doug into a trap more than once.

ILLYANA: Plays a Tiefling Paladin (Oath of Vengeance). Doesn't like to roleplay, but drops absolute bangers when she deigns to join in. An absolute beast in battle; has killed the most enemies to date. Was banned from being the party's face after starting an interdimensional war. Isn't afraid to engage in a bit of friendly fire. Has almost broken her oath several times. Gets really worked up and competitive during the tiny side quests.

AMARA: Plays an Earth Genasi Monk (Way of the Sun Soul). Loves elaborate descriptions of her character. Has already commissioned drawings of her character several times. One of the more cautious players; has saved Roberto alone upward of five times. Loves to dress up for each session, artful body paint included. Has mastered the eloquent speech of the fantasy realm.

DOUG: Plays a Human Wizard/Artificer (Order of Scribes/Alchemist). Takes too long choosing his spells and has to be reminded he would not be allowed to pause and contemplate mid-battle. Gets really excited by the terminology and world-building. Tends to have a panic attack when his character is about to die. Is known to "accidentally" cast area spells around Roberto. Loves solving all of the puzzles and riddles. Takes notes during the session, to the bewilderment of all.

WARLOCK: Is Doug's construct. Gets confused when they can't solve battles by talking things out. Is prone to running off to save Doug if his character is in danger. Incredibly distractable mid-game, but will always have his friends' backs. Gear hoarder who picks up absolutely everything, in case the party needs it later.

RAHNE: Plays a Human Druid (Circle of the Moon). Spends most of her time in Wildshape. Refuses to kill any animalistic enemies. Gets squirrelly whenever clerics or gods are mentioned; has been known to pray for forgiveness after a session. Gets genuinely frightened by some of Dani's descriptions. Strangely enough, is one of the party's best faces. Usually has a wolf following her at all times, and she cries if it dies.

[schrijverr]

I Didn’t Mean to Be Something I’m Not Supposed To, but I Am. I Am. 6

Chapter 6 out 23

Buck and Eddie are visiting El Paso with Chris, while pretending their marriage is still just convenience for Helena and Ramon, which causes tensions to arise between them. Otherwise known as the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad El Paso trip.

In this chapter, they wake up to a call from Chimney, worried about Maddie after a call when she didn’t say I love you back. The three of them plus Athena get caught up in a bigger situation as they realize dispatch has been taken.

On ao3.

Ships: Buddie, Madney

Warnings: anxiety, hostage situation, the copaganda inherent to the show, referenced Doug

~~~

Chapter 6: I Love You

Eddie wakes up to Buck’s phone ringing and it’s not his alarm, but like someone calling. Buck is clearly also not awake, because he grumbles and rolls away from Eddie, which makes him frown as he snuggles into the blanket, trying to make up for the warmth he loses with Buck practically abandoning him to his fate.

“Yep, go for Buck,” he hears Buck say, then after a beat he confusedly goes: “Uh, is that some kind of riddle? Like, who watches the watchmen?”

Okay, now his curiosity is piqued, Eddie is a nosy man, alright. So he blinks the crud out of his eyes and rolls over to watch Buck. He is shirtless, leaning on his elbow as he listens to what the person on the other side of the line is saying, still trying to wake up, but starting to frown at what he is hearing.

“No, it’s been a pretty chill morning. If something big happened, I slept through it.” Buck rubs his face, getting the sleep off. Then he snaps more upright, suddenly concerned: “Wait, why are you calling 9-1-1? Is everything okay?”

Now, Eddie is concerned too, sitting upright and making a questioning noise as Buck puts the phone on speaker. It shows Chimney’s contact and it is Chimney’s voice that comes out of the phone: “Your sister said she loved me.”

“Wait, wasn’t that what your big dinner yesterday was about? That’s good right?” Eddie says, getting more confused by the pieces of information he has with every passing minute.

Offended Buck looks at him. “He told you what that dinner was about and not me?”

“I’m sorry, Buck, you know you can’t keep a secret,” Eddie tells him apologetically, because he is a good friend and it’s kind of based in truth anyway.

“Yeah, that,” Chimney agrees. “Anyway, that is not the point. The point is, I said that I loved her and she didn’t say it back.”

“Ai, that’s rough,” Eddie sympathizes.

“Really?” Buck sounds surprised. Then he goes: “…And that is an emergency how? You know filing a false report is a felony, right?”

“I’m not calling because of that and it’s not how it sounds,” Chimney tries to explain. “Look, she made this big deal saying that she couldn’t say those words, which is fine, if she’s not ready, you know, but then this morning, she blurts them out and hangs up on me.”

Now they’re both confused and Buck carefully says: “That is still not quite sounding like an emergency, Chim.”

“Because I sound insane,” Chimney sighs, sounding tired. Trying to be more optimistic but obviously not fully believing it either, he adds: “She’s at the call center. What could happen to her there, right?” A beat. “You know what? Forget it.”

Then he hangs up, leaving Buck and Eddie to give each other yet another confused look. Any thought of sleep is completely forgotten.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Buck frowns, worried regardless of Chimney’s words, because they both know that Chimney believed it as little as they did.

“No, it doesn’t,” Eddie agrees, snapping into work mode. “Go call Maddie, see if you can reach her or Josh or anyone at dispatch. And get dressed. I’ll make breakfast. We eat something then see where we’re at, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Buck nods, going back to tapping on his phone, while Eddie rolls out of bed and pulls on some clothes that he takes from his pile on the dresser.

By the time Eddie has thrown together breakfast, Buck is joining him, messily dressed and his phone in hand. “No one is answering.”

“Fuck,” Eddie swears, because that is not good. They can all understand not being able to pick up during a shift in the first responder field, things happen, you get busy and people’s emergencies are more important than personal calls. However, nothing from no one is a bad sign. Very bad. “What do you want to do?”

Buck starts grabbing his keys and Eddie also starts pulling on his shoes. Before they can leave, Buck’s phone rings again and he picks up: “Chimney, hey, did you hear something from Maddie?”

“Buck, do not talk me out of this. I need to go down there for myself and make sure that she’s okay,” Chimney starts like Buck would disagree.

“Yeah, no, she- she didn’t pick up when I called her either. I tried calling Josh and it went straight to voicemail,” Buck says, already starting to put on his shoes and nearly falling over when he does.

Eddie shakes his head and kneels down, putting on Buck’s shoes for him, before he can brain himself as he listens in on the phone call. Chimney is more worried too. He sounds stressed, much like they all are, as he says: “Now I’m definitely going.”

“What if something is wrong?” Buck asks, anxious. He is speaking to Chimney, but looking at Eddie with big unsure eyes. “Maybe we should call the police?”

He is asking for Eddie’s input and Eddie considers it for a moment, before nodding. They all feel like something is wrong. That is an instinct of three first responders going haywire. That is nothing to scoff at in the slightest, in fact, that is worrying. Besides, they all know it’s better to be sure than to not go and it turned out to be something.

Chimney confuses both of them out of their decision by saying: “I think someone already did.”

“What?”

“Athena is on my doorstep.”

The next few minutes are spend standing in their doorway, trying to listen through the phone to a conversation Athena is having with someone else over her own phone, while Chimney is right there with them, commentating like it’s a sports match.

In the end, they can overhear Athena say: “Captain needs to make some calls. As evidence goes, an ‘I love you’ is less than convincing.”

Conveying their shared annoyance, Chimney points out: “But they sent you down to my apartment for an assault with a deadly onion. That feels more convincing.”

“Well,” Athena says, “she’s gonna talk to Operations, see if they can get eyes in the building, see if anything’s wrong.”

“No,” Eddie interrupts. “No, we can’t just send in SWAT. If there is someone inside the call center doing something, they’ll know we’re onto them.”

He sees his words worry Buck, which is not what he wanted to do, but not saying it might mean that today ends badly for Maddie and that would be worse than worrying Buck now. And it was a valid concern to share, because it’s strikes a cord in Athena, her voice different when she tells Chimney: “Let’s go for a drive.”

“Talk to you later, you two,” Chimney says, clearly no longer focused on the conversation with them by the time he hangs up.

Even before he is, Buck is already trying to stop him, calling out: “No, no, Chimney! Chimney, don’t hang up!” but it’s not enough. He looks like a kicked puppy when he turns his eyes to Eddie again. “He hung up on me.”

Eddie can’t let him stay upset like that, so he reaches behind Buck and opens the door. He gives him a slightly mischievous look and says: “Hey, we were already planning on going anyway. They just stole our plan.”

Buck instantly lights up again, kissing him on the lips and pulling back with an: “I love you,” before pushing the door open with a backward step and twirling around, skipping off the porch and to his car.

Without a pause Eddie follows him since there could be lives in danger, but there is a goofy little grin on his face. He will never tire of hearing Buck say that. Belatedly, he calls back a: “Love you too,” then hurries to slide into the passenger seat.

Before Eddie has even gotten a chance to put his seatbelt on, Buck is pulling out of the driveway and onto the road. He is driving like he’s in a drag race, but Eddie doesn’t say anything as he holds on for dear life, because he knows how much Maddie means to Buck. She is the only person from his childhood he still has left. She’s his everything. He has the right to overreact.

Of course, that doesn’t stop them from getting pulled over by Athena on the way there.

As they watch her walk over there through the rear view mirror they share a look of dread. Eddie decides his best course of action is to stay quiet and take whatever she is going to yell, but since Buck is her unofficial favorite – even if he doesn’t realize it – he just goes: “Okay, now don’t be mad,” the second she comes up to their window.

Athena stares him down, which doesn’t seem to effect Buck, which Eddie can’t understand, because he shrinks under it and awkwardly gives her a wave: “Uhm, hi?”

She is not impressed with either of them, but she doesn’t yell at them as expected, just jerks her head towards her squad car and says: “Come on.”

Chimney is already sitting in the front seat, giving them a wave as they come walking over. Eddie is pretty sure they are now all at an age where they are just embarrassing themselves and dreads the day Chris will find out, so he doesn’t respond. Buck on the other hand waves back.

After they’re both buckled in, Athena pulls away. She seems a little annoyed, but in the same way Bobby gets annoyed with them. “You three tell anyone else what's happening at the call center?” All of them shake their heads, it hadn’t occurred to them in the chaos of the morning. Athena nods to herself. “Good, because I’m running out of room in here.”

On the drive, Buck is restless. He keeps jiggling his leg and biting his lip as he looks out of the window, then back to Athena, then to his feet, then out the window again. When he raises his hand to bite his nails, Eddie snatches his hand out of the air and holds it steady.

Buck looks down at their interlinked hands for a moment with confusion, before a small smiles breaks out on his face. Eddie squeezes his hand and Buck squeezes back. Then Buck brings their hands up and presses a kiss on the back of Eddie’s hand.

Eddie blushes and glances away for a moment, before he looks back. Buck is still jittery, but he doesn’t look like a dog in a cage anymore, which is good. They hold hands for the entire drive.

Having Eddie’s hand in his calms Buck. Today has been chaotic from the moment his phone rang and sitting in the back of Athena’s car is the first time he’s gotten a second to breathe and think. To let it sink in what might be happening. That there is something wrong and Maddie could be in danger.

Maddie could be in danger.

It’s been months since Maddie got kidnapped by Doug and Buck still viscerally remembers running through those woods, thinking he won’t ever see her again. And he still remembers the guilt he felt after, the guilt of being scared for himself when she needed him.

He doesn’t want to feel that again. He doesn’t want to leave her behind again. She is in danger and Buck is not going to abandon her to her fate. Not again.

So he argues with Athena when she wants to go in alone. He isn’t letting her go in alone, not when he is there to help.

“Buck, I appreciate you’re trying to help Maddie, but we don’t know the situation and you walking in there with me will only raise suspicion,” Athena tells him, but it’s not what Buck wants to hear.

“No, I can be back up,” he says. “You shouldn’t go in alone. It could be dangerous.”

“And you’d be the perfect back up? Not your ex-military husband?” Athena asks him pointedly, which is fair enough, but that doesn’t mean Buck likes it and he crosses his arms.

“Hey,” Eddie says, getting his attention with a warm firm hand on his arm. When Buck looks at him, he is looking at him with those imploring brown eyes of his that Buck isn’t immune to and he knows it. “I know you’re worried about her. We all are and it sucks to have to sit here and wait. But this is Athena’s area of expertise. When a house is burning down, she listens to you, now we listen to her.”

For a moment Buck puffs up like an offended bird, before deflating, knowing Eddie is right, even if he doesn’t like it. “Fine,” he mopes. “But I’m not going to like it.”

“You don’t have to, mi amor,” Eddie smiles fondly as he shakes his head, bumping his shoulder against Buck’s to comfort him.

“Good,” Buck nods, failing to be stern about it, because Eddie is comforting to him and he is there with him and that means so much to him.

Athena gives him a final one over, probably trying to see if he is going do something stupid the moment she looks away. Buck doesn’t have it in him to be too offended when Eddie grabs his hand and smiles at her, as if to say ‘don’t worry, I got him.’ Even Chimney takes a step closer.

“Alright,” Athena nods. “Stay here,” she orders, then turns to walk away while they all wait by the car for her to come back.

Buck paces back and forth the entire time Athena is in there, while Chimney and Eddie watch. Well, mostly Eddie watches, Chimney seems caught up in his own head, frowning worriedly at the dispatch building like he’ll be able to look through the walls if he just tries hard enough.

Soon Athena returns. Too soon.

Her shoulders are tight and her face expressionless. She says nothing beyond: “Get in the car,” roughly pulling her door shut and driving off the second everyone is in.

The moment he can, Buck is leaning between the front chairs, asking: “What happened? Where is Maddie? Did you see her? Is she okay?”

“She is not okay, none of them are. I have to make a call,” Athena says seriously and ominously, before doing exactly that.

The three of them listen to what went down, dread filling Buck as he listens to her laying it out to her Captain. At this point, the only thing that is grounding him is Eddie’s hand, which is still firmly wrapped around his, squeezing periodically as a reminder that Eddie is still here. That he is not alone.

Athena pulls up to a parking lot and gets out, the three of them quickly following. She explains how they’re tracking them through the system and they have to go off grid if they want to help.

Buck is trying to come up with a plan, even though he knows he’s not the person to do it. But he can’t just stand around. Maddie is smart, she is competent. The people at the dispatch center are competent. They know how to work in an emergency, but it still doesn’t feel right. He is ready to move and it feels like there is just delay after delay.

Eddie’s voice snaps him back: “Screen went blank.”

“Okay, good we’re off the grid,”Athena says, going to close the hood after removing the tracker.

Eddie is already climbing into the car again while Chimney passes Buck on the way to his seat. His shoulders are tight too and there is an uncharacteristic frown on his face. It hits him that Chimney is worried too. Buck has been spiraling, but he has had Eddie right there, while Chimney doesn’t have anyone to assure or comfort him.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he stops Chimney. “I know you’re worried, okay? I am too. But Maddie is smart. She can take care of herself until help gets there.”

Chimney does stop and looks him in the eye. It’s the most serious Buck has ever seen him. He looks away for a moment, then back at Buck as he says: “That’s what I’m afraid of. Nobody inside that building knows we’re coming for them. What if they get tired of waiting?”

Buck hadn’t even considered that. If he feels like this is taking so long, he can’t imagine how a person in that building will experience all the time that has passed. Especially Maddie. She is a fighter and has already proven she doesn’t need Buck to come save her. At some point, she will take action.

That thought alone is enough to propel Buck into action too. He quickly gets into the car and turns his professionalism knob on. He’s not great at it, but it’s the best thing he has right now and they cannot afford any more delays.

After that, it’s mostly organizational. They have to gather everyone under the radar so they can launch a coordinated operation on the dispatch center, one that has the highest chance of success. Which is good, Buck supports a high success rate. However, Chimney’s comment gnaws on him.

Eddie knows it too, ever since they got to the meeting place, he hasn’t stopped touching him. It’s not inappropriate of anything, just a steady hand squeezing the junction of his neck and shoulder, a shoulder bumping into his, a finger around his belt loop, a foot lightly knocking into his.

Buck is sure he would have lost his mind without Eddie there.

It seems like it takes forever, before there is a plan… if there even is a plan. It’s not like they are kept in the loop about it, in fact Athena walks away from them when the person who supposedly has a plan arrives, only telling them she doesn’t like it.

“I don’t like this,” Chimney mutters, watching the Athena, her Captain and this Mr. Morrisey guy walk off. Standing next to him, Buck just nods, jaw tight.

Also standing with them, is Eddie, who sighs. “I know this looks bad and sounds bad and I’m not saying you shouldn’t worry, because you should, but that is normal.”

“What?” Both Buck and Chimney turn to him.

“It is,” Eddie shrugs, crossing his arms and looking way too attractive for the situation as he leans against the car Athena left them at. He nods to where the group of three disappeared. “They’re the higher ups, these people here are the foot soldiers and we are the outsiders. They’re not even telling the foot soldiers anything until there is more of a plan. We’re lucky if we hear anything.”

“Outsiders?” Buck hears himself exclaim. “Maddie is in there.”

“Yeah, Eddie, what the hell,” Chimney backs him up. Buck loves Eddie, but that was a fucked up thing to say right now, can’t he see they’re worried?

Eddie scrunches his face in a way Buck is familiar with. He is realizing he said something he shouldn’t and is trying to figure out how to amend it to be closer to what he meant. It’s an expression he knows well, so he waits and holds out a hand for Chimney to do the same.

After a beat, Eddie indeed explains: “I meant, I know this looks bad and worrying, but we are not even supposed to be a part of this operation. We’re off the clock and not law enforcement, they would be in their right to tell us to go home, the fact that we aren’t being send home, is because Athena wants to keep us in the loop. She’s trying, but we’re not part of the higher ups, that’s just how it is. We don’t get to make the choices and that sucks, but we get to be here. We just have to wait.”

“So, no need to go rogue yet?” Chimney half jokes, breaking the tension.

“Yeah, no going rogue yet,” Eddie gives a relieved smile back. “Let’s go check the RA units, see if they’re good people and who’s out here. Keep busy.”

The two agree and follow Eddie. His words have calmed Buck. It’s always frustrating to feel like you’re not being allowed to help, which granted they aren’t, but it’s not because they’re not being trusted and that makes a difference. They’re not maliciously being kept out.

Looking around and seeing trusted faces of people they know and have worked with, does help. Eddie probably knew that too when he suggested it. It almost feel impossible to love him more, but Buck does every single day.

God, he doesn’t know what he’d do without Eddie to lean on. Doesn’t know what he would do without Maddie either, but he’s trying not to think about it.

Naturally that flies out the window when Athena’s Captain, Maynard, comes to talk to them and loop them back in, just like Eddie said. “How we doing with those RA units?” she asks.

“The 122 and the 133 just got here. There’s two more houses en route,” Chimney answers.

Meanwhile Buck comments on a new arrival he is curious about, wanting to know about every little thing when it’s about Maddie’s safety, especially now that someone is talking to them again. “Captain, who are all these people on the bus?”

“Off-duty dispatchers,” Maynard replies. “Once we take back the building, somebody has to handle call response.”

All three of them share a look, but it’s Chimney that says: “Take it back?”

Eddie jumps on it too, adding: “You’re not gonna negotiate, see if they surrender first?”

Buck hates the pitying way Maynard looks at all of them when she explains: “They haven’t asked for anything or made any demands. They don’t even want us to know they control the building. If we reach out to them, we’re gonna lose the one thing we’ve got going for us: the element of surprise. We do this right, we hit them fast, take the building before they even know we’re outside.”

“And if you don’t?” Buck asks, already knowing the answer, but needing the hope that she will make this pit in his stomach disappear.

She doesn’t. “Why do you think we asked for so many RA units?” That is all she says, before she claps an equally shocked Chimney on the shoulder and walks off.

They just stand there in shock, trying to process what she just said. On a professional level they can all logic their way through this decision, but still, Maddie is in there, friends, people they know, are in that building. To have to have so many RA just in case it ends with a massacre while they are all sidelined feels wrong.

“I- I-” Buck starts, not even sure what he wants to say, but needing to say something, anything to convey all these feelings clawing at his throat.

“Hey,” Eddie spins him so he can look him in the eyes intently, one hand on his shoulder the other pointing at me. “Look at me, Buck. Sweetheart, you did everything right, yeah? You and Chimney both felt something was off.” He flicks his eyes towards Chimney too, involving him in his damage control talk. “You felt something off and you called for help. This is help. There wouldn’t have been anyone here at all for Maddie if it wasn’t for you two. Don’t spiral about this.”

Chimney looks frustrated as he looks away fists balling even when he resigns himself to it. But Buck stutters: “I can’t lose her, Eddie,” the words he wanted to say earlier finally being knocked loose.

“I know,” Eddie says, his own voice mirroring Buck’s emotions. “But I can’t lose you to something reckless either. Maddie has help, we just have to be here to catch her. I know it sucks to hear that, but Captain Maynard is right, they’ll have the element of surprise, that is a powerful thing, I promise. Just- just stay here. Let them do their job.”

Buck’s lip wobbles. He knows Eddie is right, but it feels wrong. It feels like he should be there for Maddie like he wasn’t with Doug, while she always was there for him. She saved his life, she got him out of Hershey and indirectly brought him to Eddie and Chris.

She has a life now, it’s looking up for her. She just had this great date with Chimney, who loves her and makes her happy. After all she sacrificed for him, he should be able to help her now.

But Eddie is right, Eddie can’t lose him. Chris can’t lose him. He matters to people. Maddie has a family, but so does he. They have Athena here, countless of back up and a bunch of great medics. Eddie believes in the plan. Edddie will be right there. Chimney has resigned himself too.

“Okay,” he nods even though that simple action feels like Herculean task. “Yeah, okay, I’ll stay.”

“Thank you,” Eddie says empathetically, hugging him close. It still doesn’t feel right to just stand there, but Eddie is standing beside him, Eddie has his back. Maybe he hates this plan and can’t believe in it wholly, but he can believe in Eddie.

~~

A/N:

Okay, so it wasn’t meant to get so season 3, just set in that time, since it starts pretty soon after the other fic, which is ends around mid season 3, but then I got to thinking on how all the other characters would fit into it and what is actually going on then and… well, long story short, this fic is about to get out of hand, so strap in for more season 3 vibes (Also, if you are starting to recognize where this might be heading, you’d be correct. Fear me >:3)

[millylotus]

Duke's cousin Jay

His full name is Jayden Jackson, he's Doug's older sister Patricia & her husband Heaven's son.

Jay's always been a competent guy, physically inclined like his maternal grandpa and just as smart as the rest of his family. But the Thomas have never been particularly well off, so Jay never really got the chance to properly expand on alot of his talents and stuck to what would get him far quick enough & cheap enough.

One of those things was the Army.

After the loss of his parents in the bombing of Bludhaven he had nowhere to go. He wasn't going to bother his Uncle & Aunt, who where raising his baby cousin and caring for Granny Luci. He needed somewhere quick and cheap. He had nowhere else to go.

Nowhere to go but the Army.

At first they where going to use him like every other boy who'd lost people to attacks like the one on Bludhaven. Trauma riddled and gunning for revenge on anyone they where directed at, but Jay just didn't want to be a bother, and being useless was being a bother.

They saw just how good Jay was and in no way where they gonna lose such a useful asset. He learned quick & adapted to everything they put him through. And all those things they put him through where important, so important that Jay was put on teams that required code names and red tape for everything.

When Doug & Elaine went missing & Duke was put in the system Jay wasn't even aware until two years later, and even then he couldn't leave because he was still "fighting the good fight".

Eventually he gets a break, a couple months and with a payout on the bounds he'd stay quite and no one would get hurt. He ran to Gotham, got an apartment and found Duke living with the Waynes.

For a second he thought maybe Duke wouldn't want to live with him, the extravagance, the comfort, it was all Jay had ever dreamed of for his family. But his little cousin jumped right into his arms and suddenly Jay has split custody with Bruce Wayne of all people.

He adjusts to civilian life about as well as he adjusts to that of a soldier, but not quite. Just enough that it doesn't register to him that Duke met him in the middle somewhere between soldier and everyday life.

He'll be back with the special ops eventually, but he has a couple months left with all the family he's got. And by god is Jayden gonna milk every second of that.

---

I generally think of Jay as an easy going if not a paranoid and really awkward guy

I've decided he has anxiety that he just isn't acknowledging right now

He's between Dick & Jason in age leaning more towards Jason

But ya know that's just how it is sometimes

He's not a very high emotions type of guy, most of the people in his family aren't

The most you'll drag out of him is an overprotective streak when it comes to Duke

He fidgets with his dog tags often

He knows how to kill a man in at least 50 different ways

He was the rookie for a solid 6 years before ending up as basically the middle child of his team

He's not sure how he feels about the Waynes but he's willing to take as much child support from them instead of indebting Duke to the army by using their money to care for him

When he finds out Duke is a meta-human he takes that shit to the grave, no-one is using his cousin

Same thing when he finds out Duke is a vigilante

He routinely cries to 16 Carriages by Beyonce

His favorite artists are Beyonce, Adele, & India Arie

He frequently goes to art exhibits and has tried his fair share at painting but is to embarrassed to really share it with anyone

Chronic resting bitch face he gets from his dad

The army aged him and people sometimes think he's Duke's dad

Knows things he shouldn't

Not tired all the time, but definitely more mellow compared to when Duke last saw him years ago, he smiled bigger back then

He's dated one person seriously in his life and that was a girl in high school

A fling there, a tent mate over here, maybe even on old friend who might come back, he doesn't really know

Once tried to eat his dad's belt as a kid

Got Duke hooked on sweets as a kid, much to Elaine's chagrin and now they're both sweettooths together

His favorite subject was art history

He reads plays a lot because they where just in abundance everywhere he went for some reason, and also because he likes dialogue a little more than heavy prose

Only has his GED, never really intended to go to college, now the army gets in the way of that

Figured out the We Are Robin thing quick, the Signal stuff not so much

Lets the WAR kids crash at his place even when he's dispatched

Doesn't like loud noises or the sound of guns

This ruined a lot of his fav trap songs for him

His fave color is yellow

He's jealous of Duke relationship with the Waynes and Robins sometimes, especially Jason, but by virtue of Duke just being a loving guy those feelings never really stick for long

One time he was babysitting Duke and the little man got him hooked on TMNT

He still has his Mikey mask, and Duke still has his Raph one

He's kind of just a guy sometimes

He's my one of my favs now

Jay Jack is just that guy, no excuses

[askyuuandco]

Twisted Wonderland Incorrect Quotes 23

OB! Malleus: All that effort and you still couldn- GN!Yuu: GrrrrHA! *hits Malleus with the Frying Pan* OB! Malleus: *holding his nose with his claws* GA- AHHHH!!! OB! Malleus: WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! ;A; GN!Yuu: That's called a Frying pan BITCH! D:< OB! Malleus: Ah Frying Pa- D:< OB! Malleus: How did it hurt so much? ;m; GN!Yuu: I have a lot of pent up trauma UnU OB! Malleus: That doesn't make any sense-ah... *lets go of his nose*

OB! Malleus: I'm Bleeding...*covers his nose back up* You made my nose bleed! D:<

OB! Malleus: OMG! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! D':< GN! Yuu: A LOT! D:< *hits him again* OB! Malleus: AAAHHHH!!! Everyone Else: o-o'///

------------------------------------------------------- Male! Yuu: I Don't have PTSD! D:< Male! Yuu: That is all just the Wizards curse! >n>

Male! Yuu: The wizard is my father *looking at Crowley* Male! Yuu: But that's-But That is not relevant >n> M!Yuu & Crowley: *glaring at each* Staff: oh boy. Family counseling it is. =v='/// --------------------------------------------------------

Lilia: Go...do a crime UvU *hands Baby Silver a toy sword* Baby Silver: YIPPEE :D *leaves to do silly kid things* ---------------------------------------------------------------- Sebek: HOLD ON!!! (x3)

Sebek: HER SISTER WAS A WITCH RIGHT?

Sebek: AND WHAT WAS HER SISTER? A PRINCESS, THE WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST BRO! Silver: ....I'm gonna stab him =-= Sebek: YOU'RE GONNA LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME THAT I'M WRONG? AM I WRONG? SHE WORE A CROWN AND SHE CAME DOWN IN A BUBBLE DOUG! Silver: I'm not fighting with you (x2) =-= Sebek: GROW UP BRO, GROW UP! Silver: get educated. =-= ------------------------------------------------------------

Idia: Stick. OwO

Orthro: what did you come home with? >_>' Idia: A Wizard's Stick. OwO

Orthro: where did you find this thing? >m> Idia: Work. OwO Orthro: What do you mean at work? What do you mea- Orthro: What do you for a live? >A>'/// Idia: Trains. OwO Orthro: I thought you said you work with Trains? >n> Idia: OwO Orthro: >,>'/// Idia: Trains. OwO Orthro: I think your lying to me. Idia: Work Stick. OwO

Orthro: Your a Wizard Idia: I am now >w< Both: *laugh* ------------------------------------------------------- Ace: Grimace shake. Here riddle have some >w> Riddle: Thank you *drinks* Hey this is half ba- ---2 minutes later--- Riddles: *dies*

Trey: NO MY BOY!!! Cater: *patting Trey's back* ------------------------------------------------------ Trey: I baked you a Pie Yuu: Oh boy what flavor is it? :D Trey: Pie flavor >:) Pie: *explodes and another pie pops out*

[bronx-bomber87]

Happy Tuesday all. Yay for writers strike being over. Now we just need to get the actors a good deal as and we'll get our couple back hopefully soon enough. Or have some kind of premiere on the horizon. Till then let's continue on with our rewatch. :) Getting to the crux is this whole Stanton SL. Their moments get better as we approach the climax of this whole ordeal. We don't have a ton of content but its pretty solid what we do get. Off we go.

3x05 Lockdown

We start out with our couple already in process of booking someone. Lucy is telling Tim that Stanton gave Jackson a blue page with leaving the drugs behind. She see's the guilt wash over him. She immediately stops Tim from blaming himself. Says it’s not his fault. Tim is riddled with guilt regardless and says it is. It was his fault because it was his idea to reach out to Doug's old rookie.

Then Tim sees Stanton enter the building and goes into aggressive protector mode. I’m here for it. If looks could kill oooh boy. That look in his eye is like a fight on sight clause. *fans self* Nothing love more than protective/aggro Tim. Lucy spots where his eyes are going. Quickly tries to deescalate Tim from knocking Stanton out cold immediately. Saying they don’t want to make things even worse for Jackson. Tim doesn’t hold back in the slightest when he comes up to Stanton. Asking if he wants to brush up on any arrest control techniques. Get em Tim. (Tim would've totally owned his ass if they had)

First off I love Lucy trying to ground Tim by touching him. Bringing him back to earth by saying hey we’re on duty… let's go. Doing what she does best by de-escalating him in the moment. He is ready to throw down with this putz. He doesn't care the consequences at this point. Lucy is very aware of this and is trying to head it off as quickly as possible. Doesn't want to risk Tim in the war they are waging against Stanton. She is doing her damndest to protect him from himself in this moment. Then Doug makes his next mistake... Trying to incite Tim by using Lucy and saying very inappropriate things about her.

Tim doesn’t have to step in because Lucy is gonna stand up for her damn self. Goes toe to toe with Stanton. Just like Tim does. Suddenly it's not just Tim. It's Lucy ready to take him down as well. Tells Doug he’s the one who is going to need rescuing. Whew lord This is getting good. Pass me the popcorn. Stanton is messing with the wrong couple. Separate they'll kick his ass. Together? Utter desolation. Fool of a man to try and take them on. Had no idea the hornets nest he just kicked.

Lucy telling Stanton she has a great hair pull takedown she’s been dying to try. LMAO Amazing. Don't mess someone they care about. Tim then becomes the one to ground her with his touch. Having them walk away before either of them do something they’ll regret. The fact that both of them wanna kick his ass in this moment is *chef kiss*. Best part is their natural instinct to protect one another.

Could care less about themselves but always instinctively shield the other. God I love them. Let's talk about how casual and natural they are about the touching to calm each other. Especially in front of others. My heart. Friggin love how they both wanna take Stanton down but also want to protect the other. Lucy calmed Tim down and then when Doug went after Tim through Lucy he had to be the one to calm her down. What a pair these two.

Tim can't help but give her crap about going after Stanton after she made him stand down. Lucy cracks me up with her testosterone line. How she got a contact high off of it LOL It was that and she was protecting both of the men in her life. The most important relationships to her. He threatened both in one moment and she was not going to have it. Ugh so good. Great opening scene for them hot damn. I will take this kind of content all day.

They follow up with a hilarious scene with the girl they booked. She’s asking for the bagels she stole back. The balls on this chick my god. Tim tells her they’ve been disposed of. She goes on saying how bad that is for the environment. His eye roll and his head tilting back LMFAO. I love this man so much your honor. He's in no mood to deal with this person. Lucy steps in and offers some logic to her ‘whole ethos’ Adore her stepping in and trying to run interference for Tim.

They’re both so over this girl by the end of their interaction I’m dying. They have much bigger problems today than her. She continues her obnoxious annoyance and says she doesn’t believe in money. But wants them to call her a cab. Sassy Tim arrives on the scene and he is most welcome. I’m laughing so hard at his reply. He is beyond done with this girl and her BS. Forever love how sassy he is now. Thank you Lucy haha

Lucy turns around and asks Nolan how his exam was. He says he passed but doesn’t seem psyched about it. Lucy notes this and Nolan says Grey just confirmed he’ll never make detective. Tim does this deep chuckle that does things to my insides and says ‘You mean you still thought you had a shot?’ LMFAO He’s so mean to Nolan and I love it sfm. Legit brings me joy how constantly underwhelmed he is by John.

His body language the whole scene has me rolling. Legit tickled pink Nolan with his letter of reprimand thought he still had a shot at detective LOL It’s the giant laugh that proceeds his line that kills me the most. Tim can't believe John could actually think he still had a legit shot at it after what he did. He’s such a jerk to Nolan and it makes me happy. I’m a bad person I know haha

They get pulled away by their freegan. She goes and gets herself arrested again by breaking into a car in their parking lot. John follows them out and quickly gets pulled away by a man in a van while they arrest her again. Nolan of course gets caught in a bomb threat outside the station. Leaving Tim and Lucy stuck there until the threat is neutralized. Hence the name of the ep. They're locked down till this mess is resolved.

They bring everyone in the lobby and in holding down to the parking garage. I love the chat they have about it. Lucy is voicing her concerns and anxiety for Jackson. Tim is instantly the calm presence she needs. He knows she is stressed because now they can’t be Jackson’s backup. Advises her the best he can till they are out of this current mess. The more they focus on the task at hand faster they're back out there to help him. I just can’t get over them being this united front to protect Jackson best they can. Makes my heart happy.

Once they're out of the garage Tim and Lucy do some digging on Graham their bomber. They find out he has a GF Kelsey Adams. She set up a page to fund his medical bills. Yet they haven't asked for money. Another thing is she’s going under an assumed name and they have no pictures of her. She wasn’t home when Lopez tracked her address down. All their leads aren’t going anywhere. It’s not about money or about the convict this man pretended to want release at first. So feels like they're back to square one. All they know is Kelsey must be involved in this circus. That they're close enough for her to have a hand in this with Graham. The issue is figuring why they're both doing this.

Lucy then has an epiphany and says what if it’s meant to distract them? Since this isn't about money or releasing someone. That the real reason is to pull their focus outside the station. When it should it really be focused inside. Harper then asks what kind of crazy person would be inside while her BF threatens that same building with explosives? I love this beautiful look between them. Their silent communication at its finest right here. All she has to do is look at Tim and they have the same thought. Their Freegan who got herself arrested twice in one hour is crazy enough.

They go to confront Freegan Freida and I love their dynamic. How confident they are and the back and forth they display. Trying to get her to break. Tag teaming it. Explaining how they caught her and her reasons why. Until they realize she’s not Kelsey Adams…. It was real good till then guys haha The real Kelsey takes off and breaks the keypad trapping them down there.

Harper is able to catch Kelsey in the evidence room and figure out why she’s there. They’re trying to get her fingerprints before they’re scanned into the system. Her ex-husband was abusive and has cops on his payroll. Why she was under an assumed name. Harper also finds out the bomb is a fake. Only needed them to think it was real to buy time. Also get him arrested so his medical care could be paid for in prison. With this mess resolved Tim and Lucy are finally able to return to their shift.

Lucy tells Tim about a text she receives from Jackson. Saying everything came to a head with Doug. That Jackson pulled his dad running IA card. That Jackson thinks he'll back off now. Hearing this sets Tim on edge. He wants to go find Jackson ASAP. He’s worried about what Doug is going to do since Jackson pulled his dad card. Say's he's not the type of guy you can back into corner and not react. Tim is afraid of what he’s going to do now that he is. Has them leave the station immediately to find him.

Tim and Lucy hear a call come over the radio. It’s the exact situation Tim was worried about. He’s having him and Jackson go into an area where they should have serious backup. Doing a ‘premise check’ solo. Doug is up to something and it’s not good. Sounds like he’s leading Jackson into the lions den. Which is exactly what happens. They split up and Jackson gets jumped. He is overwhelmed by 4 guys. Makes a call over the radio and Stanton says he’s coming to help then leaves him there be beaten to death.

Tim and Lucy show up on scene and run into Stanton and he “claims” to have lost Jackson. They quickly find Jackson and rush over to him. Tim calling in ambulance and RA. Beautiful thing about this moment is Jackson grabbing for his body cam. The cam footage that ends up condemning Stanton.

Watching Tim march over with Grey to suspend him. Phew lord Tim telling him 'Give me a reason'. Yum. Stanton gets the ending he so richly deserved. That ends quite an intense episode. Loved the United Front that is them in this episode. The way he fiercely protects Jackson the entire episode while keeping Lucy calm. So damn good. Not a ton like I said but enough goodies to enjoy especially the beginning.

~~~~~

Side notes none really this episode was truly intertwined. Glad to see Stanton finally get what’s coming to him. Awful that took Jackson nearly dying to get it done but glad he was finally removed.

As always thank you to everyone who supports these reviews. Been so fun for me to Analyze and share with you all. All the likes/comments and reblogs mean a lot ❤️ see you all in 3x06

[fountainpenguin]

Context: In my fanfic universe, T.U.F.F. Puppy takes place in the same universe as The Fairly OddParents, but in the future.

Cursed liveblog experience I had tonight

Bonus Panel:

[goon-account]

haaiii hello ramble about your beloved woke dog

okay. so. executive archer looks younger than the other executives in official art. (either that or im insane.)

and. in my big beautiful mind when he was a wee lad he didn't exactly have much Family or Belongings. gladion style not silver style. (by that i mean he up and left.) n like. he was a decent pickpocket but also a scrawny teen riddled with mental illness. he wasn't exactly doing well.

haven't thunk much about the circumstances of him joining team rocket. but like. thats not too relevant. n like. giovanni noticed the kid who rarely speaks without being spoken to and snaps at people who touch him, but also seems to be pretty skilled and full of unrealized potential, and decided to bring out that potential while also getting archer hopelessly dependant on him.

pmex could be considered dubiously canon ig but according to pmex archer got his houndoom from giovanni when it was still a ouppy. n like. that workles really well with my patently insane semi-projecting head cannons. most team rocket members get provided with like, a zubat or a rattata, but archer as the specialist boy in the whole mafia gets a doug. making a not properly socialized mentally ill teen feel appreciated and special is a pretty good way to make the teen more willing to do ant hing and less willing to cause you any issues !!

n like. after giovanni up and left and the execs had to take care of team rocket and team rocket accessories archer didnt really have an opportunity to get less mentally ill and actually got More mentally ill cuz like, the guy hes hopelessly dependant on for grooming reasons isnt around but he has a job to take care of and it's not like the other execs would want him to be any less hopelessly dependant on giovanni, so he like, really misses the guy and feels like garbage most of the time and doesnt think anything bad was done to him cuz its not like anyones gonna tell him much less anyone hed be willing to believe

[canonrpfinder]

Hello! I have 6-7 years of roleplay experience, literate, EST, looking for 18+ roleplay partners! I do NOT do NSFW. I don’t like romance plots. I type 3-4 paragraphs or more typically. I only roleplay on discord as well!

Most of my fandoms below and favorite characters to play are listed in parentheses!

Stranger Things(Billy Hargrove, Eddie Munson, Argyle)

Wednesday(Ajax, Tyler, Yoko, Xavier, Kent, Rowan, Enid, Wednesday)

Scream(Billy Loomis, Stu Macher, Charlie Walker, Ethan Landry)

Harry Potter(Draco Malfoy, Sirius Black. Fan cast characters such as the Slytherin boys - Theodore Nott, Blaize Zabini, Mattheo Riddle, etc.)

The Black Phone(Vance Hopper)

The Ranger’s Apprentice(Gilan, Will Treaty, Evanlyn aka Cassandra)

Marvel(Loki, Thor, Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Hela, most other male MCs)

Spiderverse(Hobie Brown, Gwen, Pav, Miguel O’hara)

RvB(Tucker, Church, Griff)

Twilight(Jacob Black, Seth Clearwater, Carlisle Cullen, Book Bella Swan not movie Bella Swan)

The Originals(Niklaus Mikealson)

Descendants(Harry Hook, Jay, Carlos, Chad Charming, Doug, Evie, Gil)

✒️

[yuurei20]

Meet the Seiyuu: Neige LaBlanche

Neige is voiced by Nagatsuka Takuma. Today is his birthday!

Nagatsuka talks about moving to the entertainment industry in a blog post from 2015 where he explains he believed that becoming an adult meant finding a stable job, so upon graduating from high school he started to work at city hall, even though he had been interested in acting since he was a child.

One day he saw posters for an actor training academy, and enrolled in weekend classes.

He says that he faced strong opposition from his family when he quit his job to pursue his dream of voice acting, but after his mother saw his performance in The iDOLM@STER SideM 1st STAGE ~ST@RTING!~ as Fuyumi Jun, she said she could die happy.

Nagatsuka has had roles in over 70 anime and 30 video games such as Momokuri (with Floyd’s VA Okamoto), Katsugeki: Touken Ranbu (with Ace’s Yamashita, Chenya’s Hama, Riddle’s Hanae, Floyd’s Okamoto, Grim’s Sugiyama and Sebek’s Ishiya), My Hero Academia, Butlers : A Thousand Years and One Hundred Years' Story, Double Decker! Doug & Kirill,

King of Prism: Shiny Seven Stars, Sk8 the Infinity (with Deuce’s Kobayashi and Lilia’s Midorikawa), Visual Prison (with Silver’s Shimazaki and Ortho’s Aoi)--Deaimon: Recipe for Happiness, Seraph of the End, On Air! and DANKIRA!!! - Boys, be DANCING!.

Nagatsuka is also the voice of Dewey in the Japanese-language dub of Duck Tales.

Nagatsuka also participates in character song projects, appearing in over 50 different albums for THE IDOLM@STER, KING OF PRISM and more.

PV for his original mini album, “dance with me.” ↓

Nagatsuka is also a big fan of tea and collaborated with Yokohama tea shop La Théière to release his own original tea blend.

[she-karev]

📚January Book Review📚

4/5 Stars! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Whatever he says, whatever he does, you need to remember that you are a brilliant, amazing person. You bend over backwards to please that man, and if he doesn't appreciate you, if he doesn't realize how special you are, then you just have to do whatever you need to do to protect your heart.”

Hey guys so for my birthday month I decided to finally read this on my TBR since I loved the cover and the sci fi story that challenges toxic masculinity and empowers women to escape from abuse. As The Companian movie draws closer being released on January 31st, I decided to read a book that shares similar elements of toxic masculinity with a futuristic setting and a female companion robot named Annie as the FMC. It’s safe to say this book took me by surprise in good ways as I continued reading it. There are brilliant explorations of ownership disguised as love that pushed my levels of discomfort but also allowed me to see that self-prioritizing is important especially when you’re in an abusive relationship like Annie and Doug’s. This is shown throughout Annie’s relationship with her human owner Doug who’s shown to be misogynistic and controlling over Annie that heightens as the story continues. The domestic prison she lives in is riddled with toxic masculinity as her life is quite literally in Doug’s hands who flaunts his control over her repeatedly. Greer’s prose is compelling as her details are attentive from Annie’s point of view as she breaks out of her monotonous existence and seek the thrill of human excitement. All in all this is a book you should read if your looking for a girlfriend experience mixed with future robots.