#especially the project we did where the US was on trial

[lunammoon]

Learning that not every highschool level us history class had a unit about the guilded age, robber barons, and laissez-faire capitalism connected so many dots for me.

[uglypastels]

omg what about Logan being like the softest with a sensitive/shy reader. Idk in what context like maybe she’s just overwhelmed with life and kinda closed off in terms of voicing what’s wrong and you know he’s usually very stoic but he’s the BIGGEST softy. Totally not projecting btw.

YEsss Logan is such a fucking softie, no matter how hard he'd want to try and hide it. thank you for being my first request for this fandom i hope i can do it some justice 🫶 and pleeease, we love to project here so please, go right ahead.

warnings: darkness. anxiety. loneliness. alcohol. fem!reader. reader's mutation specified. mentions of past [implied toxic] relationship. so some angst but also bunch of fluff at the end. also please don't come for me if he's a bit out of character. this is my first time writing Logan so it will be trial and error.

~ X-Men Requests Open ~ Masterlist ~

It was the dead of the night. Quite literally. All around you was so quiet and dark that the rest of the world might as well have ceased to exist. All you heard was the floorboards creaking under your footsteps as slivers of moonlight illuminated your path through the corridors of the mansion. It was the rare instance that you felt at peace. 

Yes, you knew almost as soon as you stepped inside the large building and saw all these mutants walking around happily and carelessly that you had found a true safe haven, and yet, months later, you still had not found your bearings. It did not help that you were not exactly in the age bracket of most of the residents here. Having the mansion double as a school meant most of the mutants were in that school-going age range, and while they were lovely (for the most part), you had no desire to befriend children. Then, those who you felt more drawn to socially, like Storm or Jean, were all apart of that special ops team, which always left them busy, if not completely absent, while away on missions. 

Thus, most of your days went by in solitude. Something you had gotten used to throughout your life. Over the years it had become natural for you to simply disappear into your surroundings. Wether you wanted to or not, people simply overlooked you. In hindsight, it explained your mutation perfectly… or was that just an aftereffect of it? You had always wondered if it was one’s personality that influenced the mutation or the other way around.

Either way, for you, it all merged into one dark abyss. 

By now, you had gotten a hang of all the floor plans of the giant building, especially the route between your room and the kitchens. 

You hadn’t checked the clock when you got out of bed, but it must have been around 2 am, if not later. You didn’t expect anyone to be up at this ungodly hour. Especially not walking out of the dark kitchen exactly as you were coming through the threshold. The two of you bump, chest to chest, and the contact immediately made you burst out in a high-pitched scream. From the other side of the impact, you heard a muffled grunt and the sound of a blade being pulled. That was enough for your flight or fight mode to activate. You almost choked on the deep breath you took. The blade swung in your direction, but it only slashed the air where you once stood. 

‘Who’s there?’ it was a male voice. Hard and deep, almost wild. In your other form, your eyes adapted much better to the dark, and so you could see him looking around himself wildly. You counted the sharp appendages in his hands— no, they were coming out of his arms— six long claw-like blades ready to impale the very first thing that’d move. 

There was no doubt about it that this must have been the infamous Logan everyone around the mansion talked about. From what you had heard, he had been away for almost a year on some top-secret assignment for the Professor, but now he had apparently returned.

And what a comeback he has made, nearly stabbing you in the hallway.

‘Who’s there?’ he repeated his question louder, still looking around.

‘Just me.’ Your voice came out as the exact opposite of his, soft and weak, and you immediately regretted your words. Just me, as if he was supposed to know what that meant.

But it must have done the trick, as Logan retracted his claws. His shoulders visibly slacked at the lack of imminent danger.

‘Well, Me, you can come out of hiding. I’m not gonna hurt ya,’ he grumbled, ‘let me just turn the light on–’ 

‘Wait!’ You squeezed your eyes shut and let the cool air of the night brush over your bare arms. When you opened them again, all you could see was Logan’s large frame standing inside the kitchen, most likely hovering over the light switch, surprised at your sudden call.

‘Sorry, you can uhm– turn the lights on now.’ And like that, with a quiet flick, the kitchen illuminated with a soft orange glow. 

Logan’s eyes were immediately on you, scanning you up and down for any sign of recognition, but you already knew there would be none. Even if he had ever seen you before, there never was.

‘Do I know you?’ he cocked his head with the question, and all you could do was shake your head. 

‘I doubt it.’ No one knew you, but that didn’t feel like a smart response.

‘Care to introduce yourself, Bub?’ He leaned against the wall with the light switch, and maybe it was his overall greatness as he practically towered over you, but you felt a rush of heat fall over your face as he looked down at you in expectance. Awkwardly, you pushed out the sounds that formed your name, with a bonus of an extended hand for him to shake. 

‘And you must be Logan, right?’

He confirmed your suspicion with a grunt as he took your hand, squeezed firmly, but not painfully, and shook it once. Then, silence fell between you. 

Two strangers who met in a complete, nearly fatal accident. It was only to be expected you would have nothing to say to one another. But you were, after all both awake this late in the night, and that was enough to compel you to talk. 

‘Couldn’t sleep?’

‘Just got back, actually.’ His eyes glanced to your side and that is when you noticed the duffel bag that lay in the corridor. Then, only when you looked back at him did you take in what he was wearing. Not the expected gym shorts or sweatpants with an old shirt. Instead, Logan was dressed in a black button-up under a dark motorcycle jacket. With that, he had a boot cut-jeans and the boots to match. From the tiny dark dotted pattern on his shoulders and the light pitter-pattering that was occurring outside, it was visible he had just come from out of the rain. 

Immediately, a parade of questions entered your mind. Where had he been? Why did he come back so late? What was he doing in the kitchen? And so much more, though none of it would leave your mouth as you doubted he would talk to you about his secret mission. 

‘You alright?’ His brows furrowed as he looked down at you, and you realised how you must have looked. Staring up at him with wide eyes, not saying a single thing. Another heat flare hit your cheeks.

‘Yeah, I’m fine.’

He cocked his head in an examinatory fashion. The disbelief evident in his eyes. 

‘You’re new here, aren’t you?’

‘Relatively,’ you shrugged. ‘Got here a few months ago.’

‘Parents kicked you out?’ He assumed the most common backstory that comes with the residents of the mansion.

‘Not exactly,’ you kept your response short. After all, you could hardly tell a stranger you just met that your boyfriend had kicked you out of your shared apartment when he found out about your genetic abnormality. You had never been sure how he would have reacted, but the events that unfolded were even beyond your imagination. But the past was the past, and you didn’t want to dwell on it. The important part was that not a day after this conversation, you were crying in your car with nowhere to go. It was by chance that weeks after your break-up/eviction, you stumbled into some other mutants who told you about the Professor. You weren’t too sure about going to seek shelter at a school of all places, but in reality, the Academy was much more than that. Though it did give you the perfect opportunity to safely train your abilities.

That and so much more was what went through your head, but you didn’t say any of that to Logan. Why would you? He didn’t know you. He didn’t care about your problems, and you didn’t blame him for it. 

On the contrary, you appreciated that he didn’t press you for more details. When you answered the way you did, he simply nodded in understanding and made his way over to the fridge. The blue glow illuminated his tense features. Strange, for a man who had been a year on the go on some secret spy adventure, you would have expected him to return at least a bit beaten up. But besides maybe some signs of a bad sleep schedule, no form of strain was visible on his face.

‘You want something?’ he looked over at you, making you realise you had been, in fact, staring and not very subtly either. 

‘I’m good, thanks.’ 

‘Suit yourself,’ he went back to inspecting the contents of the fridge before sighing with disappointment. ‘They still don’t have anything stronger around here?’

‘Oh, if you’re looking for beer–’ you walked over to a cabinet at the other end of the kitchen. You tapped a corner, and a small code pad appeared. You tapped in the code, and the cabinet opened to reveal a fully stocked mini-bar. ‘Scott had it installed over the summer,’ you explained when you saw Logan’s confused expression.

‘Explains the babyproofing.’ He walked over, and you handed him a cool bottle of beer.

‘Well, it is a school after all.’ You held in a smile as the thought occurred to you that the kids might not have been the only ones who weren’t supposed to know about the secret compartment. The rivalry between Cyclops and the Wolverine was known all too well around the whole campus, even for newcomers such as yourself.

Logan smirked, taking his beer. You were about to offer a bottle opener, but he hit the neck of the bottle against the edge of the table and with a pop and a clink, the cap came right off. 

‘Here,’ he exchanged your bottles, giving you the open one. You watched him repeat his actions with the second drink. Your eyes were still on him as he chugged down half of the beer in one go. He probably could have downed the whole thing if it wasn’t for his look down at you, most likely noticing your entranced look.

‘That staring a part of your powers, too, then?’ he commented, and the acknowledgement immediately made you turn your head in the direction of the window.

‘Sorry. I just— I tend to do that, I guess.’ You wrinkled your nose. Being on your own around so many people, you had gotten used to people watching, observing them from a distance like a show on TV that you kept on for the background noise.

‘What do you do, anyway?’ He asked bluntly, ‘I thought I had done you in good back there.’

‘You would have,’ you chuckled, remembering just how close his claws had come into contact with you. ‘It’s hard to explain. I just kind of—’ You noticed the shadow that fell over the floor from the table and lightly grazed it with the tip of your toe. With a deep breath, the world in front of you changed. Except the exact opposite was the truth. ‘Disappear.’ You finished the sentence, punctuated by your new state.

Logan’s eyes widened as you disappeared in front of his eyes. Where the shock came from, he couldn’t explain. He had encountered these sorts of mutants before. But this felt different than regular invisibility or teleportation. With his heightened senses, he could always detect those sorts of hijinks. No one ever disappeared to him. But you— as soon as you had faded away, it was as if you had completely fallen off the face of the earth. Not a single trace of you lingered behind. When you spoke, just as you had in the hallway, your voice didn’t seem to be coming from one place. It was all around him, almost like a whisper, a voice inside his own head.

With a blink of an eye, you reappeared before him. Just as you had stood there moments before.

‘There’s not really a name for this, I think; at least no one around here could come up with anything that made sense.’ Not that you had any conversations that made people interested enough to do the research. ‘But from my own understanding, I kind of become one with the shadows.’

‘And what about the light?’ he recalled your yelp when he had tried to turn on the light.

‘I merge with the dark, and so when new light sources interfere… it’s not pretty.’

Logan simply nodded as he took the last swig of his beer.

For a moment, the two of you stood there in silence, you leaning against the counter and he against the large table. 

‘You’re doing it again, Bub.’ He smirked, calling out your lost stare. 

‘Sorry,’ you hadn’t even realised you were doing it. You had just been looking around the room and may have, perhaps, accidentally lingered a look at his frame for a few seconds. And then you caught sight of his hands. More specifically, his knuckles. There was a faint pink glow on the skin, but besides that, you would never be able to tell that deadly claws could grow out from there. You blinked. ‘Sorry.’ You were doing it again. Quickly, you drank the rest of your beer. The bitter taste lingered in your throat, suffocating the burning questions that you wanted to ask.

‘Spill it out.’ He hit you by surprise with the command.

‘Uh–what?’

You knew there were plenty of mindreaders around, but you had not thought it was one of Logan’s abilities. ‘How did you–’

‘It’s all in your face, sweetheart. You think just ‘cause you’re quiet, you’re hard to read, don’t you.’ His assumption left you a bit stunned. It wasn’t that you had thought exactly that, but more so that you never considered that you were making any expressions that were that easy to interpret, as you never really had anyone pay that much attention to you to point it out.

 ‘If you want to say something, just say it.’ Logan said the corner of his lips lifted in a small smile. ‘If you’re wondering if it hurts,’ he looked down at his knuckles, ‘it hurts just as any other one-foot-long knife cutting through skin.’

‘That’s awful.’ You gasped, considering what it must be like to have such a mutation that inadvertently harmed you any time you used it.

‘You get used to it after a while.’ 

Another round of silence. This time, the longer it went on, the more you started thinking how you must be inconveniencing him. With the beers drank, there was little for you both to still be doing here, but also didn’t want to be rude by just up and leaving. After all, you didn’t know Logan very well. 

‘You sure you’re alright?’ He asked, coming out from behind the table.

‘Yeah.’ You tried to smile but could tell it probably did not reach your eyes. Logan moved with a sense of apprehension, unsure of how to approach you. Being a year on the road, not to mention the years of solitude before he had joined the Professor’s team, had not exactly prepared him for these kinds of situations. He didn’t know the right things to do or to say. But to you, just his presence was enough. Just him being there, talking, or in this case, just seeing you, was more than you could have asked for. ‘I’m good.’ 

And yet, ironically, though you had actually meant it for once, you really did feel alright, but something about the situation caused tears to prickle in the corners of your eyes. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation that made you overly sensitive. Or the alcohol. 

You blinked the tears away and smiled awkwardly. ‘It’s just been a long day.’ or week. Month. Year. How about your entire life?

‘Yeah, tell me about it.’ There was that quirk in his lip again, that ghost of a smile. And you couldn’t figure out if his response was just a sarcastic quip, understandably referring to his past days, which you were sure did not consist of a walk in the park. Or did he actually mean it, and he did want you to tell him more? Well, your moment of contemplation brought on another wave of silence, and the heavier it fell, the worse you felt to go back to your problems.

The sudden sound of footsteps pulled you back into your world. People must be slowly waking up; meanwhile, you hadn’t had an hour of sleep yet, and the effect of that started to hit.

‘I should— should probably go.’ You muttered, taking small steps in the direction of the door.

‘Well, the offer always stands.’ Logan followed you with his eyes, turning in his spot as you passed by him. See you around, Nightshade.’

‘What?’ the nickname caught you off-guard, stopping you in your tracks. 

‘Sorry,’ Logan winced, ‘I don’t know—’ that’s what he gets for trying to be cute. 

‘No, don’t apologise. I like it.’ Your smile finally found its full form. A “thank you” almost slipped past it, but you held yourself back. It felt too cheesy to get all sentimental about something as silly as a nickname. Especially since he didn’t know what it meant for you. He didn’t need to know didn’t think you’d ever belong amongst these people enough to get a moniker. 

And maybe it didn’t mean anything at all, maybe he had just said it as a mindless comment on your powers. Or maybe not. Maybe he had really tried hard to put that smile on your face. 

You would never know.

Unless you took that one small step. Because, of course, all you had to do was ask, just like he had told you, but maybe another time. For now, you just bid him farewell, hoping for that next opportunity to certainly come sooner than later.

the end.

thank you for reading 💗

if you enjoyed the fic, please consider reblogging and leaving a comment. or send a message via my inbox. requests are also more than welcome. 💗

[blueiight]

I want to tell the real story.

In a week's time, in a setting of my choosing, we revisit the project boyish youth prevented us from finishing. Years and thousands of miles removed from the room we shared in San Francisco, I offer, for your journalistic pleasures, my full attention and my life story.

vs.

Props in a play. A play that's been fully designed and rehearsed. And every actor onstage has scripted lines except for us. … Set dressing nailed to the floor.

On one hand, the sham-trial of Louis, Claudia, and Madeleine, is absolutely a mockery of the worst examples of this show’s real-world audience. But in the wider narrative, the trial enriches Louis’s own motivations in 1973 and 2022. Louis wanting to tell the story of his life has an added layer to it simply by the fact that, chronologically, Louis and Claudia, especially Claudia’s, entire lives were made mockeries of on stage first in 1949-1950. The sham-trial is a near-original product of the show, in that what was a straightforward execution in the source material is turned into a public spectacle, where vampires are food to a human audience, and Louis and Claudia are violently silenced as their lives are framed into caricatures of who they were. The rhetoric of two interviews too, are entirely original to the series, but share a common starting point.

Why does Louis, both in 1973 and 2022, choose to begin his life in the year 1910, and not when Louis was a child? Armand opens up his life story with Arun, Lestat tells Paul how he was stolen from the monastery& beaten as a child, Claudia writes in her diaries how her mother died and her father abandoned her to an abusive relative.

It is as much, because Louis truly understands his (and Claudia’s) lives to have restarted with his (their) vampiric turning, as it is the fact that this show-trial takes advantage of Louis’s self-image (and how he relates Claudia in relation to himself) by beginning the story of Louis’s life in 1910, and Claudia’s life in 1917.

Looking at the trial script, and comparing it to the interview in season 1, we see how “the vulnerability within the object” [Louis] is perused. Something to remind is that the sequences I will fixate on are on-script, and therefore, blatantly untrue. The only times we truly go off-script are transparently obvious, even twice-aided with flashbacks, and the only time Louis cedes the narrative to an off-script Lestat only enhance the existing framework of how Louis relates to Claudia.

[SANTIAGO] The accused was a troubled man. A failed sugar farmer, a brothel-keeper.

[LESTAT] Forced into corners by his race, alienated from his own desires. American puritanism mangling his very soul.

[SANTIAGO] Disreputable, cold, violent.

[LESTAT] Louis first accosted me in a pleasure house, and then everywhere I went, as if by happy accident, there was Louis, offering to be my chaperone, his eyes sliding down me. I… a vampire, was being hunted. With every breath, every heartbeat, every sidelong glance, Louis was saying, "Come to me".

In contrast to the scripted debate over Louis’s life, how does Louis relate this aspect of himself to Daniel? Almost as if he’s defending himself, but from who? Daniel who is already familiar with this? The audience of a book in its infancy? Or…The man in the room who pinpointed at the “vulnerability within the object?”.

I was, admittedly, a rougher thing then. You had to be if you wanted to survive. You couldn't look weak on Liberty Street. [ … ] Did I want to pull a knife on my brother? No. But as I alluded to before, you couldn't look weak on Liberty. You never knew who was watching.

I couldn't move. My body was seized with weakness. His gaze tied a string around my lungs, and I found myself immobilized. […] Let the tale seduce you. Just as I was seduced. […] It was a cold winter that year, and Lestat was my coal fire. And I found myself, for the very first time, to anyone other than Paul, confiding my struggles to another man. I was being hunted. And I was completely unaware it was happening.

Here’s Louis on his own race here, Lestat is the one who accosted Louis at the Fair Play Salloon.

Segwaying: This trial is not “Lestat’s point of view”, this is Lestat playing a marionette on stage to revenge himself. His revenge evolves live-on-stage into an attempt to go off-script to save Louis, and only Louis. Lestat breaks script in almost S1 fashion to berate Louis for his reticience to admit his desire, where he admits to making Claudia for Louis, and admits where he broke Louis. [Lestat says the singular “pup”, not “pups”, and this is when Claudia realizes that Lestat did not come for her.] Even bragging about Claudia being the pinnacle of his vampiric self is on-script.

This is Armand, aware of the optics of the kind of men Louis had to wrestle his own legacy from in two lifetimes, creating this script to break & re-shape Louis. “I felt like we were the only two vampires left in the world.” Armand orchestrates this so Claudia & Louis can forever be severed when trying to break Claudia into mad suicide through “My Baby Loves Windows” failed, and Louis still thinks of her even after he turned Madeleine, and Louis can channel his vengeance over his own torture & Claudia’s wrongful death to the coven. What did Armand say in E12… “Don’t you/we have enough to fear from Paris?” Anyways…

If Louis is framed as both the desperate predator and the frigid reticient lover, how does this sham-trial mock Claudia?

Through her words. We are narratively introduced to Claudia’s diaries in Dubai during Episode 4 with Louis out of the room, Armand, docent still as ‘Rashid’, introducing “an alternative perspective on the years of [this interview]’s interest”. Armand in Episode 13 in an attempt to re-gain control over the interview admits to what he and Louis did and did not cut, but to what end? Louis in Dubai has to ask Armand for the missing pages, pages we have yet to see. And chronologically speaking, through the showman Santiago, Armand was the first and last one to use Claudia’s private words to pilfer her narrative and try to break her.

The framing of Claudia as a mad, permanently infantile defect, but also the artfully manipulative entity able to assess Louis & Lestat’s fragile union pinpoints the assumption Armand makes to Louis & Madeleine both: the near inevitability Armand disregards her and treats her end with, throwing her in an infant’s dress to be a character constantly suiciding itself, and Armand calling her a manipulator in the prior episode.

Claudia’s defect caught up to her.

She harmed herself in the sun for attention and followed that up with a killing spree, corpses clogging the bayou, a penchant for human souvenirs.

And what does Louis offer us, in Dubai?

Louis can easily revenge and reclaim his own legacy through the interview, but how can Louis hope to re-pay the smearing and murder of Claudia? Through re-contextualizing the same words she wanted no one but Madeleine to read? “You can put the diaries in their proper context,” he once said. He can never be the one to truly salvage Claudia’s self, which is why the diaries cut out when Claudia finally felt fulfilled, and her last words are kept from our ears. An explanation, to who Claudia once was as a vampire, from Claudia’s own pen, without her will, just as she was turned.

It is through her diaries and Louis’s recollection of her that we realize her trophy-seeking was an evolving project. The boys she killed in New Orleans were her attempt at creating her own vampire companion, only to realize that she cannot create companions of her own bc of the same body she was trapped in, through no will of her own. There is something fascinating about “who” & “when” can make vampires, but that’s another post.

The “artful predator assessing the cracks in [Louis& Lestat’s] union” is in fact, Claudia returning to familiar captivity after being kidnapped and raped repeatedly. What’s interesting is that TdV does not have or launder the pages of the immediate aftermath of her rape, which suggests that Claudia herself tore those pages out [& certainly matches the damage], as ripe predators would see fit to find fault in Claudia for being assaulted.

The showboaters of TdV will die next episode, but what of the architect/s of the trial vs. Louis the architect of this interview? What will be done with Claudia’s diaries after this? The end of this interview poses very interesting questions.

[swiftyangx12]

🕸️Webs Intertwined🕸️

[Pairing]: Villain!Miguel x Spider-Woman![Reader]

[Synopsis]: Miguel has encountered a respectable scientist from another competitor and things get interesting.

[TW]: Female Reader insert, Marvel/ATSV Violence, and Moral Quarrels

[A/N]: This is inspired by @exhaslo’s Corruption series. Ex, if you’re reading this, you’re an awesome writer and I adore your work. Especially the smu-!

Just another day at ALCHEMAX, employees with their assigned duties and responsibilities while heads lowered to avoid distractions. Though, many stir clear from one such scientist, specifically the infamous geneticist and son of the company’s owner, Dr. Miguel O’Hara. A ruthless madman who would do anything to “improve” humanity, no matter whose life is destroyed.

However, things would change when another famous company signed a deal, a collaboration where both respectable parties will start working together for future projects. People whisper among themselves that the other also has their own infamous scientist, but they seem a little "nicer" than O’Hara. For such example, they don’t risk anyone’s live and safety during highly dangerous experiments.

Meet…

[Y/N], a bright and cold bioengineer: I’m Dr. [Y/N] [L/N]. It seems my company is collaborating with yours for the entire year.

Villain!Miguel: “Shock, she’s beautiful.” It appears so.

[Y/N]: My director informed that I’ll be working with you for the time being. Here’s my business card, and contact me for work purposes only.

Villain!Miguel: “Cold and strict. Shocking Hell, gonna melt [Y/N] and make her mine.”

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️ 🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

As weeks flew by since the start of the collaboration, workers from both sides feel the high tension between O’Hara and [L/N]. Everyday is eventful from the two who always battle each other with different ideas to deem whose is better with less casualties. They even bicker during break times.

[Y/N]: Absolutely not! We are not jeopardizing our coworkers for your cruel experiments. We need to start with smaller subjects before human trials.

Villain!Miguel: Think of the possibilities, [L/N]. Humanity needs better outcomes so it’s best to use them.

[Y/N]: O’Hara, we’re trying to help others. Not play God by sacrificing many people.

Villain!Miguel: Help. You think it would change for the better.

[Y/N]: Rather to continue with testing than have high body counts. It’s why our companies signed together, to enhances civilians so they can live healthier and be at the appropriate age to move on from life.

Villain!Miguel: “Even her view on humanity is too good, and macabre.”

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️ 🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

As the sun already set with lights of Nueva York shun bright through the night’s darkness, trouble already started. Criminals from many corners of the city have begun with their dirty work, however a certain spider has to prevent the rates from climbing up.

Spider-Woman: *Hangs the defeated criminals in her web* “Stupid shocking O’Hara. Why so obsessed with messing with people? Trying to prove to someone?” *Sighs* At least these idiots are easy tonight…

Spider-Woman notifies the police to clean the mess up and shoots her webbing, swinging out of the scene. She swung from buildings to skyscrapers while discreet at best to avoid witnesses…

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️ 🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

“Did you see the news?”

“An actual hero.”

“We haven’t seen one since the Era of Heroes.”

Word got around as scientists and nosy coworkers gossip among themselves about the mysterious hero. Though they sounded in disbelief, were ecstatic that an actual heroic figure is present in their precious city.

[Y/N]: People, we have work to do. You can talk during your breaks, but not while doing your routines.

Everyone around Dr. [L/N] groan and return to their work while some need their coffee. As unfortunate timing for [Y/N], a familiar presence casted over her.

Villain!Miguel: You don't like the new hero?

[Y/N]: *Not turning to face him while feeling disgust and annoyance* O'Hara. No, it's a distraction. We have other priorities to fulfill before fooling around.

Villain!Miguel: So uptight. Have you actually loosened up during your hours?

[Y/N]: I'm just doing my job. Unlike you, a reckless scientist who care less of others. *Walks past Miguel without looking at him the slightest*

Villain!Migual: *Chuckles lowly* We'll see about that.

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️ 🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

Later in the evening, [L/N] had to deliver some late-night reports to Miguel’s office and arrived at the door. She heard from other ALCHEMAX workers of how secretive he is with his work, so he has his A.I. assistant, L.Y.L.A. to drop updates of any whereabouts that concern him.

L.Y.L.A.: *Materializes in front of the bioengineer* Hey girl! Here to drop some reports, I see.

[Y/N]: Yes, I just finished them. Could you let me in?

L.Y.L.A.: Sure thing! *Opens the automated doors to the office* Just be aware I have eyes everywhere. *Adjusts her heart-shaped glasses and smirks*

[Y/N]: “Not for long.”

[Y/N] shivers as the cool air from the room hits her. Before entering, she pulls out a hard drive and inserts it in the keypad next to the doors.

L.Y.L.A.: What are you-

[Y/N]: *Calmly commands* Shut the cameras off.

L.Y.L.A.: *Shuts them off unwillingly* What did you do?

[Y/N]: Just updated your system and added in something that can benefit me. *Her eyes glare down at the A.I.* I want you to follow these commands: don't record any footage involving my presence, especially with audio recordings. This includes what I'm about to commit tonight. And also, don't tell Miguel about this. If you do, I’ll insert a nasty virus that you’ll never recover from. Do I make myself clear?

L.Y.L.A.: *Nods silently and disappears*

Then [Y/N] steps into the room, observing the unfamiliar surrounding and proceeds to drop off the reports. Afterwards, she searches through his desk and found notes explaining some unethical experiments.

[Y/N]: Genetically modified arachnids? O'Hara, what are you playing with? *Snaps most of the notes with her phone*

[Y/N] took more images of the arachind species displayed in the office and neatly places everything back in order. She leaves the room quickly and returns home like nothing happened.

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️ 🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

Nights passed since that event, Spider-Woman swings around the city. The breeze hitting her face as being shielded behind her mask, performing the duties as presumably the only hero people are protected by and all seems normal. Until she encounters another problem.

Spider-Woman: *Lands on the wall and sneakily crawls into a safe space to relax a little* Oh my god, that bastard is playing like if he’s God. No worries, he’s just a pawn I’ll knock down.

Then her Spider-Sense is triggered.

Spider-Woman: Shit, someone’s here. *Hides in the shadows*

As Spider-Woman peeks out, she sees a menacingly tall figure stood with his back turn to her view. Dark, skin-tight blue suit with intimidating crimson accents.

Spider-Woman: “Who is he? Wait, that can’t be him, right? I know that backside from anywhere. Ugh, why did I acknowledge the details?"

The crime fighter escapes through the shadows and swings away from the scene.

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️ 🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

Back at ALCHEMAX located in a temporary office, the bioengineer herself couldn’t sleep much since the discovery from that night. She knew the man back at the late hour during one of her patrols. It was none other than Miguel because everything was connected from the notes, catalogs of species, and everything to manipulate nature itself, especially the human kind. While lost in thought, [Y/N] didn’t notice someone behind her…

“[Y/N]?”

[Y/N]: *Spider-Sense triggered and quickly turns around* WHAT?!

Villain!Miguel: *Little surprised* You didn’t have to be that tense with me.

[Y/N]: I…I’m just tired from working long hours. Are you here discussing about the project or to annoy me again?

Villain!Miguel: It’s about the project. Stone requested that before it’s finished...

Miguel's voice in [Y/N]'s perspective became mudded as she couldn't stop thinking of that night when it was obvious that the other Spider is in front of her.

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️ 🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

Later at night, Spider-Woman was out patrolling as always, shooting her webs to grapple onto buildings as she swings through her beloved city. Then trouble arose as she witness citizens running away from the source.

Spider-Woman: *Lands on the side of a tower and scans the area* Great, Doc Ock came back. *Leaps off and swings in scene*

Spider-Woman reaches to the chaos her notorious nemesis created. She lands in front of the eight-legged former scientist.

Spider-Woman: I thought you were sent to prison, for help.

Doc Ock: They mean nothing to me. All I want is to show who’s boss and why they shouldn’t have!ignored everything I worked hard for!

Spider-Woman: Ock, we…I would have helped you with another way but your actions killed innocent lives.

Doc Ock: *Scoffs* They were in the way.

Spider-Woman: *Pissed* In the way?! *Shoots webs behind Doc Ock*

The webs attach to a wrecked vehicle and Spider-Woman yanks them towards Doc Ock.

Doc Ock: *Blocks the attack by caging themselves with their mechanical appendages*

Spider-Woman: *Wraps more webs around the tentacles*

However Doc Ock breaks free from their bonds and swings their tendrils, attempting to swat at the arachnid figure. Spider-Woman leaps backwards, performing backflips and throwing some Web-Bombs at the mechanical cephalopod. They become stuck in place due to the blown-out silk.

Spider-Woman: Doc, you need to return back to your cell.

Doc Ock: *Struggling to escape* Never…I rather die than be directed by anyone.

Spider-Woman: *Sighs* Just return back. We already caused enough damage for today.

As she was about to finish catching the villain, another criminal was on the loose. Spider-Woman’s sense was triggered but it was too late, the other figure swoops in, able to knock the spider hero. She braces herself and crashes into a wall.

Spider-Woman: *Plops down and barely moving* G-Goblin! You two are working together? *Struggles to get up*

Goblin: *Smiles sinisterly* Bingo! Octco was merely distracting you.

Spider-Woman: *Able to sit up but was kick down by Goblin*

Goblin: Now I get to squish this pesky spider~

Before Goblin could end the heroism of Spider-Woman, they were yanked back by more web.

Spider-Woman: “Neon red? He’s here. Wait, feeling limp…Fuck, passing out…”

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️ 🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

[Y/N] shoots up awake, breathing steadily as she looks around the foreign setting. It seems like a bedroom and looking down, her suit is gone replaced with a university shirt and some shorts.

She gets quickly got out of bed and rush out of the room. Walking quickly on the chill wooden flooring and looking for someone. Then, she stops at an office where her worst nightmare sits behind the desk.

[Y/N]: O’Hara? No, wait, I should address you as that other web-crawler.

Villain!Miguel: You finally figured out. Congrats.

[Y/N]: I already know it’s you because of your backside. Who else has a muscular back shaped like the discontinued Doritos?

Villain!Miguel: And who else was acting too suspicious when I already know you’re Spider-Woman?

[Y/N]: You already know my other identity?

Villain!Miguel: Of course I know. I sense you, by your scent.

[Y/N]: You smelled me?! I need a minute.

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️[Hours Later]🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

[Y/N]: *Carefully sips some tea Miguel brewed for her*

Villain!Miguel: Calm down?

[Y/N]: *Sighs* Yeah, I’m good. Disturbed, but good. When did you get your powers, O’Hara?

Villain!Miguel: I had experimented on myself a couple months back. When did you get yours?

[Y/N]: ...

Villain!Miguel: Heh, won't confess? Guess I'll force it out of you~

[Y/N]: Do that and I'll force something up your ass.

Villain!Miguel: *Laughs a little* This is one of the many things I love about you.

[Y/N]: *Sighs* I was bit by a spider that was genetically modified back in my company. My director put me in charge of developing more advacned medicines to help people. Somehow, one of the specimens escaped from its enclosure and you know the rest. I'm Nueva York's only Spider-Hero, until you came along as an invasive pest.

Villain!Miguel: Where did you even get these spiders?

[Y/N]: Some biologists and other specialists procured these kinds of species, but why am I telling you this? I have a mission to fulfill.

Villain!Miguel: What mission?

[Y/N]: It’s none of your business. Personal matters for me, only.

Villain!Miguel: Fine. Then you don’t mind explaining these.

Miguel pulls out [Y/N]’s suit and gadgets he held up. He got a hold of them when the bioengineer was resting from the last battle.

Villain!Miguel: Voice modifier. You really know how to hide your identity.

[Y/N]: O’Hara, this isn’t for show n’ tell. I need my suit back and my gadgets too.

Villain!Miguel: I can’t let you go yet. I need to know more about your powers.

[Y/N]: Miguel, this isn’t the time for jokes. I have a mission and you’re in the way.

Villain!Miguel: Tell me what’s your mission and maybe I’ll hand everything back.

[Y/N]: I’m not explaining until you give my stuff back.

Villain!Miguel: *Smirks and he levels his face to hers* Make me~

[Y/N]: *Punches his stomach hard*

Villain!Miguel: *Crouches down and lets go of [Y/N]’s gadgets and suit*

[Y/N]: *Quickly gatherings her belongings and exits out of the apartment*

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️ 🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

That evening, Spider-Woman was swinging around the city. Leaping from one building to the next skyscraper as she tries to formulate another plan to get rid of Miguel. Safely landing on the rooftop of an apartment complex, [Y/N] removed her mask to get some fresh air. Viewing the city helps her to relax and keep calm.

Spider-Woman: *Spider Senses triggered* What now, O’Hara? *Turns her direction towards his*

Spider-Man: *Lifts his hands up* I just followed you.

Spider-Woman: Followed me? *Turns off her modifier* Did you smell me like a blood hound?! Tracking me down and other creepy shit you do.

Spider-Man: ‘Course not. I put a tracker on you.

Spider-Woman: *Finds the tracker and smashes it to bits* What do you want from me?

Spider-Man: I just want to understand why are you doing this. Why’d you have a vendetta against me?

Spider-Woman: You wouldn’t understand, Miguel.

Spider-Man: I know I don’t. Just tell me why?

Spider-Woman: Want to know why? Fine. I’m only doing this to get back at your father for killing my parents. I’ve planned everything just to bring his empire down, along with his prodigy of a monster. I dedicated my life and education to destroy everything Stone built and tear his family apart so no one else can be harmed by them.

Spider-Man: I’m not like my father. I was never like him.

Spider-Woman: Will you shut it? Just like that murderer, you decide to hide everything from the public for your own gain. I’m giving back what people deserve to know.

Spider-Man: *Feels a painful string from that comment* [Y/N], you don’t have to do this.

Spider-Woman: *Scoffs* Oh, please! I know you’re eyeing me the whole time because you assumed I’m a spy, right?

Spider-Man: “No, I thought you are the most beautiful woman I ever met and wishing to have you with me forever. ㅜ_ㅜ”

Spider-Woman: *Sighs* Miguel, just stay away from me. We’re only coworkers by day, not close after hours. Don’t want you ruining everything. *Shoots her web and swings off*

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️ 🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

A week has passed, the two are founded in the most uncomfortable atmosphere. [Y/N], still keeping her word of only communicating with Miguel for work while the mad man himself, he didn’t try anything to disturb the other. Colleagues and other workers already knew something happened between them. And it’s a first to see Miguel in a much depressive state.

At the end of the day, there aren’t any crimes to solve and the bioengineer took this as a night off from her responsibilities for now. Then, someone came to visit.

[Y/N]: *Holding up her phone* What are you doing here?

“Villain”!Miguel: *Sighs* Here. *Holds out a thumb drive* It’s most of the data of ALCHEMAX’s illegal projects.

[Y/N]: *Looks at him suspiciously and carefully takes the thumb drive* You know I’ll be running this if it’s untraceable and hopefully you’re not tricking me.

“Villain”!Miguel: I’m not. Why’d you have to be so cold?

[Y/N]: I don’t trust you, that’s why. You’re Stone’s son and heard from former workers that you were evil enough to force them to participate in dangerous trials. It proves my judgement on you is true.

“Villain”!Miguel: …What if I prove you wrong?

[Y/N]: What?

“Villain”!Miguel: I’ll prove I’m not bad.

[Y/N]: Really? Would that undo the years of torment you caused?

“Villain”!Miguel: No. I can do better. Just give me a chance.

[Y/N]: “I don’t know. He’s probably using this as an advantage against me. Better not let my guard down. Though, he’ll be more persistent if he continues.” Fine, are you willing to put your own father behind bars?

“Villain”!Miguel: If it shows I’m good, yeah.

[Y/N]: “It takes time to gain my trust, you freaky-ass man.”

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️ 🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

As months pass, the atmosphere surrounding the two scientists feels lighter. The duo seemed to communicate better without much disdain though they sometimes quarrel and in their case, [Y/N] would be the one to walk away from the conversation to cool off but is always followed by a 6'9 semi-former mad scientist like if he was a dog worried about his fuming owner.

[Y/N]: Dr. O'Hara, would you stop following me? And quit hugging me, I'm working.

"Villain"!Miguel: *Holds her closer to his chest* No. I feel better staying with you.

Some of their colleagues are questioning their dynamic.

"What’s happening with Dr. O'Hara?”

“You think he finally lost his mind?”

“Don’t know, but I think Dr. [L/N] has something to do with his behavior.”

[Y/N]: O’Hara, people are talking about us. Let me go.

“Villain”!Miguel: So? Let ‘em. At least they know not to bother us.

[Y/N]: “Ugh. Such a clingy man.”

In the duration of their time together, the two Spiders were able to gather evidence of Stone’s future plans and defeat other villains connected to him, bringing down the corrupted empire. With his presence gone, someone else would have to take over his position which leads to Miguel filling in the role.

[Y/N]: Well, our collaboration has finished just as Stone is taken custody for his crimes. This means we’ll not see each other as much.

“Villain”!Miguel: Yeah, that’s right.

[Y/N]: It was pleasant working with you while it lasted. Hopefully we’ll work together in the future. *Remains professional but has a sadden look in her eyes*

Before she can leave, Miguel stopped her tracks.

“Villain”!Miguel: Wait. If you’re okay with this, could I buy you a drink? If you’re alright with that. I know it doesn’t make up what happened to you and everything my father did to hurt your family. I want to be better for you and do everything I can to help make your life easier-

[Y/N]: Miguel, stop. With everything we went through these past months of cooperating with our projects for making the future better and safer while stopping your father, I’ll take my chances going out with you.

“Villain”!Miguel: [Y/N]… *Gently holds her hands* Gracias, for trusting me to take you out.

The months after the confession, [Y/N] still works for her company while Miguel runs ALCHEMAX by his own terms. Changing for the better of his employees and botches out the illegal activities Stone left after his arrest. Everything seems to be the same, though the only thing that has evolve were Nueva York’s heroes working as partners and lovers…

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️ 🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

[5 years later]

[Y/N]: …And they lived happily together for the rest of their lives.

Gabriella: Woah…Love does change people.

[Y/N]: *Smiles warmly* It does. Now… *Tucks her daughter in* It’s bed time, sweetheart.

Gabriella: What happened to the couple?

[Y/N]: I’m sure they’re enjoying life together and keeping each other loved.

♦️🔷🕷️🕸️[Later]🕸️🕷️🔷♦️

[Y/N]: Gabi’s asleep. Miguel, I’m worried.

Miguel: What’s there to worry about?

[Y/N]: Our daughter could have our powers, but the side effects…What if they hurt our baby?

Miguel: Cariño, there’s no worry. I checked and she won’t have to suffer.

[Y/N]: Still, I don’t want her to feel as if the powers are a curse.

Miguel: We’ll do everything we can to help her. Be there for her.

[Y/N]: You’re right. We need to be by her side.

Miguel: Sí, we’ll support her. Hey, maybe we’ll give her some “enforcements” to cheer for her. *Giving her a knowing look*

[Y/N]: *Understood the innuendo* Miguel, I was still sore from our first time. Despite having powers, you ravaged me like a demon in heat.

Miguel: Thought you needed a day off at that time.

[Y/N]: *Deadpans at him* -_- I had to call in sick for the next three days.

Miguel: Then Gabi wouldn’t exist if we didn’t.

[Y/N]: *Sighs* At least it was on a Saturday. Come on, it’s your turn patrolling. Maybe after you come back, we’ll talk about siblings if Gabi is okay with it.

Miguel: *Gets thrilled hearing a possibility of growing his family* I’ll get to it.

[Y/N]: Okay. Just come back in one piece. *Kisses on his lips* And still breathing. I love you.

Miguel: *Smiles down at her* Love you, too.

[THE END]

[Tagged]: @mrsoharaa @lazyjellyfish300 @hao-ming-8 @greensagephase @queenoftiddies @kenjioharashotspot

[A/N]: FINALLY! I FINISHED THIS PIECE THAT’S BEEN IN MY DRAFT FOR MONTHS! Yes, I wrote Villain!Miguel as if he was a neglected puppy who wants to be with the feisty kitten (The [Reader]). But it adds flavor for a Hero x Villain trope. I tried to write the reader as someone who acts cold, but with boundaries they put up for valid reasons. The kind of traits like Viper from Valorant. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this story.

💙🕷️❤️Reblogs help creators and creates more content💙🕷️❤️

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Lately I've been reading "Drawdown", by Paul Hawken et al, a comprehensive set of strategies for tackling the climate crisis. Your Cambrian Wildwoods post reminded me of one of the solutions - Silvopasture, from the Latin for 'Forest Grazing'.

Essentially it means proposing to farmers that a portion of land be forested and that their animals freely graze there. It can be extremely flexible - planting trees in existing pasture, thinning down woodland to allow for forage growth, using trees as natural fencing, and more.

It's got good potential for carbon capture, and also for saving farmers money in feed and fertiliser, creating better conditions for livestock by keeping them in the shade, and potentially providing secondary income sources in fruit, nuts, etc.

What do you think of it as a potential avenue for Welsh farming? The focus in "Drawdown" is on cattle farming, but I don't see any reason not to trial it with sheep - especially since it could be spun as a hybrid of both aspects of traditional culture...

("Drawdown" also emphasises peer-to-peer uptake through word-of-mouth, rather than being pushed by outsiders.)

Oh, yes - it's basically what they did at Pontbren. That was a farmer-led initiative - one of the big expenses with sheep farming is having to bring them into barns over the winter and supply all feed, but traditionally they'd have stayed out all year. So these farmers got together and went, "How do we ethically and sustainably reduce this expense?"

What they realised is that they were paying for (a) the government-enforced decision post-WW2 to swap to high-yield breeds of sheep that weren't suited to the Welsh climate and topography (i.e. wet as fuck and mostly vertical), and (b) the decline of traditional hedgerow management and shelterbelts. And so the dream was born.

They contacted the Woodland Trust purely to act in an advisory capacity - they wanted to know which trees would be best, and where. They could take much land out of production, but the beauty of hedgerows and shelterbelts is that they're linear features that replace your fences. That was how environmentalists got on board - we were invited, and we remembered that. We were therefore allowed to do a couple of experiments as it progressed, such as testing the infiltration rates of rain into groundwater rather than run-off and comparing it between hedgerow fields and fence fields. Meanwhile, the farmers replaced their stock with native breeds - I believe mostly Welsh Mountain Sheep, which look amazing:

Ain't no rain getting in THAT.

Anyway, a few strategically placed shelterbelts and hedgerows later and:

The sheep can now safely stay out all year round, excepting storms

The sheep are actually healthier and have higher welfare standards

Floods have reduced thanks to higher infiltration rates

Soil erosion is reduced so the fields and river are healthier

The farmers have saved money

The farmers are now making extra money, because they started a tree nursery and sell trees as a side project

You can read multiple publications on it here

So yes! Silvipasture is actually a huge tool for the future that we need to be embracing, as is agroforestry for arable farming, and the frustrating/hopeful part of it is, these are tools we used to use. This isn't new knowledge - it's forgotten knowledge that we need to reclaim. But even aside from the immediate benefits, it also has massive implications for resilience in a world with a warming climate, and we need to do it faster.

[gremlin-bot]

The Trials and Tribulations of Summoning Your Boyfriend

This is based on this prompt from @stealingyourbones !  Hope y’all like it!

AO3 link!

Tag list-  @bewitched-forest @half-dead-ham @eyesofcrows

Tim wasn't up in the watchtower much. It's the Justice League's base and he had his own city and team to take care of (even if said team is a branch of the Justice League and he shared responsibility of Gotham with his family). All of that is to say that when he and other available members of the League were called to the watchtower, it was bad.

Tim was expecting a world ending threat. What he wasn't expecting was a summoning circle and a portion of Justice League Dark to be there. John Constantine and a summoning circle always means bad news, it's even worse that Zatanna and Captain Marvel are there helping. What kind of threat is it to warrant this? All of this is topped off with superman wheeling in a projector to the training room they are all set up in.

Bruce steps up next to the projector. He looks extremely tired, not that most people could tell but a bird knows the bat well. As Bruce turns on the machine, Constantine takes his place next to him with a book bound in leather that holds pages that glow a slight green. 

"I called you all here because of this creature attacking Central City." Projected on the wall is a blurry image of a black dragon with a purple underbelly, its whole body glowing.

"Justice League Dark was able to identify it as from a place called the Infinite Realms. They have advised us to not engage and to evacuate everyone we can from the whole city. The Flash has started that. Half of you will join him, as indicated by folders Superman is handing out. The other half will be here to help with the solution that Constantine is handling."  

As Bruce directs those in the evacuation group, Constantine takes over the debrief. "The beast in Central City is a bitch to take care of and the solution is even worse. You boy scouts are here to make sure everything doesn't go completely tits up. I hate to say this and hate fucking doing it even more, but we are trying to trying to summon the Ghost King." 

At that point Tim tuned out a bit. Usually he wouldn't have but he actually knows more about what's happening than Constantine does. Looking back at the creature still being projected, he can vaguely recognize it now. How did Aragon get out of the realms? Especially without being noticed by Da-

Tim was pulled out of his thoughts by Dick, who apparently was dragged here as well, brushing past him with a smirk. What a dick, going out of his way to mess with him. He really should get to where he was needed. 

Taking his place near the top of the summoning circle, he noticed how it was actually set up. It was wrong, completely and utterly wrong. The array was correct. It showed the right constellations and had the right places connected but the candles aren't on the circles that represent the planets, nor was the offering placed correctly. This wasn't going to summon anything. Too bad that Tim was going to let them try anyway. It's better than trying to correct it and explain why he knew it was wrong, plus where was the fun in that.

The other heroes settle into their places. The ones left were the Justice League's big three , the JLD members, Conner, Dick, and Tim himself. They all looked a little nervous and on edge in their own way, from Superman's clenched fists to Dicks never moving smile. Besides Tim who was a bit more relaxed than he really should be. He really should hide it a bit better.

Constantine reading from the book starts the summoning. Latin falling heavy from his lips, a wind that should not be possible in a satellite blows through the room, the candles' flame turns neon green. Everyone holds their breath as the chanting stops. The candles flicker once, twice, and nothing. The room quickly reverted to how it was before. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife.

"Bollocks." Constantine deflates. "Looks like this didn't work, we must have fucked up somewhere." 

"Why don't we explain how we set it up and go from there." Zatanna offers, gesturing for everyone to gather around her and Constantine. Tim stays back and waits for the rest to be distracted by figuring out what went wrong. He can tell that Bruce and Dick have noticed his distance from the others but they haven't done anything yet.

Once the distraction is set, Tim moves in front of the correct offering section of the array. Removing his glove and taking out a birdarang from his belt. He can hear the moment everyone notices the actions he has taken and the one about to come.

"Red Robin, step away from the summoning circle." Bruce demands with concern hidden in his voice. 

Tim doesn't listen. 

In the moment before anyone can get to him, Tim slashes his ring finger on his left hand. It wasn't deep per say but it definitely wasn't a paper cut. Blood flows out of the wound (almost like a ring), hitting the floor inside the offering ring of the array.

Several things happen at once. First, Dick who was the closest and was trying to grab him, stopped in his tracks along with everyone else. Second, the summoning changed. The first offering was ejected from its place, the crystals shattering. Candles slide at high speed, settling on the represented planets, their flames changing color. The summoning is like a loaded spring trap now. Tim grinning, sets the trap off.

"Alnilam, my love" dropped soft and sweet from Tim's lips with a crawling static buzz. Everyone could hear the buzzing honey intertwined with those words despite their low volume.

The stilled room stirred, yet no one but Tim himself had moved. A cold fog rolls out from the array, blowing a light breeze with it. The static can be felt in their scars, healed bones, all the near misses, and clipped hits. All close calls of the past haunt them in this moment. The room's lovely held in tension snaps as the soul deep buzz is pulled from them into the array. It spills into a Lazarus, toxic, death, neon green pool with small rippling waves that crest with reflection of the space that engulfs the watchtower. This rippling pool stretches upwards. Everyone struggles to move as they inch closer to Tim. As the liquid barely reaches the tall ceiling of the training room, gravity seems to take hold. It sloshes down, turning into a cool fog on impact. Leaving a being in its wake, that is kissing Tim's offered bloody hand.

Danny is in his full king garb. A black metal crown floats above his head surrounded by light similar to earth's aurora borealis. White hair glowing starlight complementing pale blue skin, that blushes the prettiest cyan, not that anyone but Tim can see that. Jewelry hanging from pointed ears and slender neck. His suit is hidden by a long cloak cut from the barrier between realities. The outside is the space outside the satellite with the interlining of a swirling Lazarus green peaking out as the end floats upward. 

Tim is grinning like a love struck fool and he knows it. This is so worth the lecture he will be getting from both Bruce and Dick. Danny raises his head, blood staining his lips as they stretch into a fanged grin just as love struck.

"Hey Red, uh what the fuck!?" Dick's voice snapped the two boys out of their own world and back into the one with everyone surrounding them with looks of concern and from certain people, bone deep exhaustion. Danny drops Tim's no longer bleeding hand, allowing Tim to turn to fully look at the group around them. Tim's grin is now one of mischief and secrets yet to be spoken. From the look on Bruce's face if Danny wasn't behind him he would be out of the watchtower and locked in the manor despite not living there anymore. Too bad that Constantine could give less of a fuck about what's going on between Danny and him.

"Your highness, we called your assistance because one of your subjects is causing trouble in the moral realm and-" as Constantine told and worked out what was going on, Danny moved so he was behind Tim, his arms loosely wrapped around Tim's neck and chin resting on top of his head. Danny was floating off the ground to do this. 

"Oh! That's Aragon, give me 10 minutes and he'll be out of your hair. There is no payment needed, I insist. But before that –'' Danny’s legs float up, flipping him to face Tim upsidedown. A grin that only means trouble for Tim sets on his pretty face. “Red, Babe, Love. You could have just called me if you wanted me to meet your dad and his superhero friends!” 

“Danny, I swear to the Ancients if you disappear –” Tim couldn’t finish the hollow threat as Danny gave him a peck on the cheek and disappeared from sight. Leaving Tim to the heroes, one being Bruce ‘Tim is my little princess’ Wayne and another is his very protective brother. 

Tim looks at his family members in the room, and wow, yeah he is not escaping the interrogation when they get back to the manor. Bruce is approaching him swiftly and looks as if he is going to grab him and never let go. Dick is no better, he has a shit eating grin with his wrist computer up and is already typing. Everyone is going to be there for the interrogation and Bruce's coddling, Tim just knows it. He's going to make Danny go back to the manor with him, he is not doing this alone. It's the least his boyfriend can do after leaving him to deal with this. It was still worth it, even if he has to flee to the Infinite Realms after all is said and done. He’ll just become a trophy husband for Danny and avoid his family at all costs in doing so.

"Red Robin, would you please explain what your relation is with the King of the Infinite Realms." Bruce is definitely in mama bear mode, he was never going to be let outside of the manor.

"I think there are more pressing matters at hand here, like how King Phantom is on his way to Central City and we have yet to inform anyone on the ground." Tim is stalling and everyone knows it, but he's not wrong.

Bruce grumbles about not knowing the king's name but still steps away from Tim and starts relaying the relevant information to the evacuation team. Dick is leaving him alone for the moment, probably waiting for more privacy. Conner on the other hand is trying to hold in his laughter at the situation he got himself into. Tim just glares at him, even if Conner can't see it under the domino. At this point he doesn't care what the rest of the League thinks, he just wants Danny back so they can face Bruce and the rest of his family like he (they) has been avoiding. 

Danny was quicker than his self-imposed time limit, taking 7 minutes instead of 10. Giving just enough time for Bruce to almost give an on the spot interrogation, almost being Tim's saving grace. Unlike Danny, who decides to drop his invisibility only after wrapping around Tim's torsos, his head and arms taking their previous places. 

"Your ghost problem is taken care of. I'll be taking Aragon back to the infinity realms, along with Red Robin here." Danny casually says, like it isn't kidnapping.

"Wait, what." Tim said in shocked silence.

"Well since you summoning me got me out of a meeting with the observants, it's a perfect time to go on a date, you know like all of our dates." Danny is saying these things on purpose and he better get them out of here quick before Bruce tackles them.

"You are a menace!" as Tim says this, ectoplasm begins to pool at their feet, spreading out making a barrier of open space around.

"A menace, you love!" Danny lovingly teases as a low rumble ripples from his core making Tim smile. This is the last thing the heroes hear before the couple drops out of the mortal realm and into the one of the dead.

[deusvervewrites]

How about an AU where Izuku has the powers of Polymerization and De-Fusion from Yugioh?

Midoriya's Quirk is called Combine. He discovers it at around, say, three years old when he fuses his bed together into basically like a beanbag chair but bed sized. He was confused but excited! Especially when he discovered that he could reverse it. I'm very proud of Midoriya for making it through seeing a doctor and having his Quirk registered and I think even making it a few days longer before accidentally fusing himself with Inko.

Combine tries its best to average out every component in the fusion. Among other things, 3-year-old Izuku fusing with 31-year-old Inko averages to 17-year-old. Additionally, their minds and personalities sort of gestalt together. Both of them are present, but secondary to the combined persona, if that makes sense. And yes, this new fusion is extremely confused. Luckily, they remember that Izuku can de-fuse things so it's not a big deal. Izuku is thrilled by this and the possibilities. I should note that certain physical characteristics don't really average out but semi-combine (no pun intended), like height.

Unfortunately, Bakugou is still Bakugou and in Aldera. While he does understand why Combine is a useful Quirk for being a Hero, you could call Bakugou a film reel operator with the projection he does. As such, Bakugou breaks off the friendship like he does in canon, and does so before Midoriya can reveal to him that he can do human fusion.

Inko is happy to help Izuku practice his Quirk; not just human fusion but fusing objects together or Izuku fusing with objects to see what happens. Izuku doesn't actually get to decide the results of the fusion so it's a bit of trial-and-error.

UA Entrance Exam was a great time for Izuku with all the fusion material the robots gave him. However, it wasn't enough to stop the Zero Pointer when Uraraka was in trouble, so she became the second person Izuku fused with.

+1. As you may recall when I did some Quirk Analysis for Menagerie, but the Quirks that impose physical alterations that we see in MHA don't wear off. Combine, likewise, will not wear off on its own. Midoriya has to undo it himself.

+2. Combine's Quirk Registry wasn't updated after the discovery of human fusion because it was technically covered by the initial description.

[kyoranrilynth]

🩸BloodNotes🎶: After the Love Trial

As the group settled down for the night, Kyoran made her way to Astarion’s tent. Unlike most nights where he stood outside reading in the moonlight, that night Astarion nestled himself inside his abode, working on what seemed to be some needlework when Kyoran peeked inside.

A lump caught in her throat as she watched his hands carefully sewing away without taking any notice of her presence. Clearly, he was still agitated about the Trial of Love from the festival. She hadn’t meant to upset him and she certainly hadn’t anticipated the Dryad to be Orin in disguise either, but she’d still inadvertently caused problems between the two of them. So, Kyoran took a steadying breath and asked, “Can we talk about what happened today?”

“Which part, darling?” Astarion responded without looking up from his handiwork. “The rampaging clown, the ghoul who nearly ate your face off, or that farce of a love trial?”

Kyoran winced as she heard the bite behind the final listed event. “The love trial…” Her voice fell to a whisper as she crouched down beside him, but he refused to look at her. “I’m sorry, Astarion.” She reached out toward his shoulder but drew back, thinking better of it. “I got caught up in the moment in hopes of finding out the future about us.”

He choked out his signature cold, sharp laugh as he put down the shirt he’d been sewing. “You truly believed her, didn’t you?”

Kyoran sat silently, eyes glued to the mat beneath them.

“Gods, there are days I believe you’re quite stupid.” He picked up the shirt and needle again.

“I used to travel with people like her,” Kyoran sharply retorted, but lost her nerve the moment ruby eyes met hers. “At least the person I thought she was.”

“And did you believe the fortune teller then?” Astarion waved his hand as if gesturing to a non-existent person standing in the tent with them.

“I believed them well enough,” Kyoran pouted. “Besides…it’s not like they ever cared to remember any of their customers’ details anyways. Unless they were exceptionally interesting…” She began to trail off but realized what she admitted last second and tried to placate it by adding, “But we aren’t that interesting! I gave mundane, vague answers.”

“Sweetheart,” Astarion’s tone fell to a dark lull, “you told her I didn’t want to be a slave.”

“But that could mean anything…”

“Let me be abundantly clear: While that may be all well and true, we do not share that kind of information with just anyone. Especially not strangers at a circus.”

Kyoran nodded. “Again, I’m sorry. I was caught up in…” She gestured vaguely at him.

“In what?” He sighed, setting his project aside and finally turning to face her.

“Well, you.” Her face flushed. “I just worry.”

“Ah,” he tsked playfully and coyly placed his hand on his chest. “About me? How thoughtful.”

“Please, Astarion. For just a moment, can I talk to you about this?”

He grabbed her hand and pressed a chaste kiss to the back of her knuckles. “Of course, my sweet. But there’s nothing for you to worry about. I’ll kill Cazador, take the Ascension, and we’ll be on our merry way. You’ll be safe because I’ll be powerful.”

But Kyoran didn’t like the thought of that. Something about the ritual scared her. If Devils had any part of it, she didn’t trust it. She desperately wanted him to abandon the idea of it, but knew she had to play it safe in order not to cause the rift to split any further. If she lost him…

She squeezed his hand. “I’m uncertain whether we can trust Raphael’s information about the ritual, but I’ll be beside you when you meet Cazador next.”

“Devil’s always lie,” Astarion scoffed. “But Cazador clearly has done his research. If that Devil lied to us, we likely can find more information in the palace.”

“Sure,” Kyoran lightly nodded, hoping her lack of response would deter him from the subject.

“Anyways, as adorable as it is to watch you fret over me, we don’t need to consult anymore fortune tellers…do we?” He quirked his eyebrow with a sly grin, waiting on the ‘correct’ answer.

“No, we don’t.” Kyoran complied.

“Good. Now, was there anything else you wanted to talk about, my dear?”

~🎶~🩸~🎶~

[flightdale]

Domestic Assistance Part 3

This is Tony now who is actually proper drone with little awareness of anything we did not put in his memory, his day job is as instructor at local fitness gym which to us is easy placement to design and deploy but his real purpose is in bulge targeted for Captain despite did not know about it so when said Tony is puzzled in previous parts about why we are entering home services we intentionally left he in dark while Captain did knew in fact key part of whole project being in late stage of prototype testing and this is field trial to collect data for future missions plus refine built-in training to match the real life situations expected of butler / home staff, The house selected is of simple layout and single level 7 room (lounge/kitchen/laundry/bath/ toilet/2 bed) which Captain had scan and map extensively then claim kitchen/laundry to be his sole property and that Tony had no reason to enter also Captain took other bedroom for himself despite will spend most of time in Tony's where only thing Captain did not know was revealed since are to be here for 6 months but 80% of that Captain will be pregnant with large bump which is to test his level of performance as must be available 24/7 doing his duties of cooking / cleaning and washing especially if baby decides to be active plus we do intend to upgrade Captain to Negotiator status later including functional cock inplace of useless one got now, Below is how could look like mid pregnancy (will give birth after 16 weeks)

[talesofsorrowandofruin]

7 Snippets 7 People Tag

Thanks for tagging me, @oh-no-another-idea! :D

Here are seven excerpts from The Power and the Glory:

1.

Kitri had spent ages considering what she was going to say to Abi when she finally got her hands on her. There wouldn't be much said at first. That would wait until after Kitri had wrung Abi's scrawny neck. Then she would order Abi to undo whatever she'd done. Then she would place Abi under arrest and arrange a trial for necromancy. There was a time and place for being loyal to an old friend. That time and place was not in the middle of a zombie apocalypse caused by the old friend.

2.

The blue light darted above the dragon. It hovered in mid-air. Kitri squinted. It wasn't a baby dragon. It was… a bird wreathed in flames? A dragon and a phoenix together, in a country where neither had been seen for countless years? It could only mean Abi was involved.

3.

Lian looked from one to the other, and then to Shizuki coiled around Irímé like a living scarf. "Well, I was planning to go through the Void. We still have that other monster to deal with. But I wouldn't advise bringing a child—" "Siarvin and Ilaran would murder both of us if you did," Abi muttered. "—so Shizuki had better stay until the spaceships get up and running again. Irímé, you should stay with him. You can find the survivors and say… well, you can come up with any excuse you like. Abi and I will go back to Saoridhlém."

4.

Ilaran had seen so many odd things in his life — and in the last few months especially — that he wasn't even surprised when Abihira appeared in the middle of his bedroom. Annoyed, yes, but not surprised. He was mildly surprised that she'd brought a stranger with her, though. That was the first clue that this time she was physically present instead of just a telepathic projection. The second clue was that her friend tripped over a chair, staggered forward while waving his arms wildly, and hit Ilaran across the face.

5.

It was nothing short of a miracle that this man had been able to live in a foreign royal court without being recognised as a Sinistrah instantly. A miracle, or the Gengxin court was spectacularly unobservant. Or they might have noticed and thought it was rude to comment on it. Imrahil's eyes might be his most striking feature, but he also had his grandfather's facial structure, his mother's nose, his father's long and slightly curling eyelashes, and he shared his cousin Fiyanrin's slightly-too-prominent front teeth.

6.

"I don't know," Ilaran said for what felt like the hundredth time. "Haliran hasn't had the courtesy to put a map in the zombie's cage! So I just don't know where it is!" Abihira couldn't seem to get this very simple fact through her thick skull. "But can't you tell anything about it? Is it nearby?" Ilaran closed his eyes and counted to ten. It would cause a great deal of awkwardness if he murdered his cousin. "You created it. If anyone can find it, it should be you."

7.

In the background Abihira was whining about something and Imrahil was saying, "I am not going to ask Death!"

Open tag! :D

[empresskadia]

So here are my in-the-moment thoughts about the experimental Spartan-IVs with Raya and Lana making a brief appearance.

I am 100% here if y'all have opinions or ideas too, I would love to hear them. This is just my take on it.

We hardly know anything about the experimental phase of the Spartan-IV project, what's canon is that it lasted 2 years and there was a brief moment with Ilsa Zane but that's it.

However, I've been thinking about it and they would've needed a test group of volunteers. I personally think there were two, the group in 2548, which was Raya's group. and then 2549, which was Lana's. While Musa and Jun were in charge of the official Spartan-IV recruitment, the experimental IVs were mainly picked by a board of ONI scientists, Musa and Parangosky. They needed to be very selective with this group, files upon files were shuffled through.

It's also noteworthy that not a single one of the experimental IVs got all their augmentations at once, ONI needed to watch to see how each person reacted to each procedure, so it couldn't have been done immediately, especially after the IIsa Zane incident. All these files are currently redacted.

The first group was the trial group, they needed UNSC personnel who had an outstanding mission record, more so looking towards the ODSTs and seeing who has served the longest and who they could "fix" with augmentations. Example A, Raya was part of the eight other candidates that were offered the original Spartan II augmentation for their eyes. Three of them ended up permanently blind while five were successes. In the end, there were a handful of deaths and complications with this group, but was an overall success to continue to the next phase.

The second group was ONI personnel, teams that could drop in and out of missions and knew how to keep their mouths shut. These were the ones Parangosky mainly picked, the ones she trusted to get missions done, ODSTs that had worked under her for years, and most importantly, ones that didn't have a group of teammates, lonewolfs if you would. Alot of them were Section 3 such as Lana, the ones that knew how to disappear and not say a word. These ones went smoother than the first group but ONI still tried to use Spartan II and III augmentations, or rather, a more subdued version that eventually became the building blocks for the Spartan-IV argumentations.

The three years before the actual Spartan-IV program started was an observation period. These Spartans were sent on hand-picked missions and would go through tests and scans as soon as they got back, from their diets, to how their bodies were growing with the augmentation and this is where ONI picked and chose what to make the official augmentation list.

I guess in a way, you can say they are genetic freaks. Hardly any two of the experimental Spartan-IV have the same exact augmentations. However, this led to the experiment IVs being really proud of themselves and their teammates, not in an 'I'm better than you way' but we've survived while not everyone did. Every couple of years these IVs get called in for testing to make sure nothing abnormal has happened, as of today many of them are still active and I want to say the end number was around 75 or 76 of these Spartans.

[lanaluthorlang]

Now, I don’t necessarily think that Lexana are that out of character in season six. On the surface at least. With everything the two of them had been through, together and separately, you wouldn’t have to suspend your belief to accept that cracks would begin to show. Those trials could have strengthened their bond, or,they could have brought to the surface any anxieties that might have been lurking in their minds. 

For Lana, this is a new relationship. There’s bound to be doubts or fear that she’s rushing into things. Especially when you take into account everything that happened with Zod possessing Lex. She had to make a choice on the spot to follow him into the unknown. And she did. And once the dust settled she had time to sit and think about what she just got herself into. All her past relationships have either been built on lies, or staying with someone she had fallen out of love with for the sake of the other person’s feelings. 

Nothing new would have ever been easy for someone who’s used to being put on a pedestal until it’s time to discard her and move on. Clana might have had many ups and downs but at the same time, Clark represents a safe place for her to run to when her current situation starts to feel too real or she starts to have second thoughts. Lex might have been her confidant, but Clark had always been her constant, no matter how fragile that base might be.

And there is a version of Lex where his paranoia leads him to do all these awful things. Here is a man that has had every bad thing said about him proven to be true in the eyes of the people he cared for most, and as a result been rejected and abandoned. Who’d been lied to and deceived countless times over. There is a world were his fear of losing Lana, the one person he has left, leads him to going to extremes to keep her in his life. And with this being a sci-fi show, a fake pregnancy or a little cloning wouldn’t be out of the question. I think that’s what this season was going for, but the writing was so cold and detached that we couldn't connect with Lex’s reasoning. 

Also, obviously manipulating situations to keep your partner is wrong in any circumstance, but the point is that they could have given Lex a very human motivation and they didn’t. They wrote a mentally ill character and never followed through in a way that mattered. 

The biggest change in their dynamic this season is the absence of their communication. Y’know, the very foundation their relationship was built upon. I could buy Lex lying to Lana about his secret projects. I could buy Lana hiding her resurfacing feelings for Clark from Lex. I could even buy the clones and the fake pregnancy. But Lana wouldn’t have been afraid to push Lex until he told her the truth. She wouldn’t have been afraid to vent to him about her fears, her feelings, or her insecurities. Lex has had a habit from day one from hiding the truth until it blows up in his face (secret Clark room anyone?) but he wouldn’t have so coldly brushed aside those massive breaches of trust. 

You could make the argument that every single thing Lex did to and for Lana in the previous seasons was leading to him trapping her in this abusive marriage, but quite frankly, I don’t think the Smallville writers were smart enough to plan long term like that. I still respect that reading, but, as with a lot of things, our perception of these characters changes how we perceive their interactions with others and how we read their overall narrative. This entire breakdown is soaked in my bias, but it’s still how I see the show at the end of the day. 

Because I don’t see the Lex from the first half of the show as a scheming mastermind. You can have Lex be the big scary villain all you want, but you can’t go from one season where he’s clearly shown to have empathy and understanding to having him be a volatile gaslighter in the next with no signs leading to that point. As for Lana, I could buy this relationship being an act of rebellion on her part. After all, Clana was the dying star that this show revolved around for eight seasons. Still, it’s a disservice to her character to tie her to a ship we all know is sinking.  

Tldr: the foundations of the Lexana divide is in character for both of Lex and Lana’s traumas, but the execution of how they deal with it, and the framing of Lex as the shallow villain and Lana as the silent victim makes the entire storyline feel cheap and poorly written.

[sapphim]

/ / nexus mods profile / / sapphimods tutorials / / tag directory / / character directory / / ko-fi / /

main: @vaxilmores

mod updates free of my bullshit: @sapphimods

faq ☆

↳ tag: #faq

↳ see also: #modding tutorial, #modders resource, #troubleshooting

Right now, most of my focus is on DA2 mods and modding tutorials. I am happy to answer modding questions, especially as they pertain my area of interest.

If you can't figure out where to begin with a mod, or if you have been following my tutorials and have gotten stuck at a certain point in the process, and you haven't been able to find a solution elsewhere, I may be able to help. All I ask is that you be understanding that this is something I volunteer to do with my free time!

If you need troubleshooting help with one of my mods, please do not contact me on anon! It makes it difficult and tedious on my end to get the information I need. Either leave a comment on the Nexus mod page (that is what it is there for!) or message me off-anon. I promise I don't bite.

☆ What's your opinion on Veilguard?

↳ I have none. I haven't been following development.

☆Will you be modding it?

↳ Nope! I hate Frostbite, and my graphics card is older than Inquisition, and also, I hate Frostbite.

☆ How did you/How can I get started modding?

↳ I got my initial start fiddling with others' mods that I had downloaded, fixing minor bugs or tweaking them for personal use, which introduced me to the process without having to start from scratch.

My general advice for getting started is to pick something small in scope to work on, where you will be able to start testing it in game in short order. Being able to see results from your work is key to maintain motivation. However, if this doesn't interest you and there's a bigger project that you're super enthusiastic about, go for it! It is all about the enthusiasm.

Just remember that modding is all trial and error. Sometimes you'll try something and it won't work and you'll have to spend a lot of time figuring out what went wrong. Don't get discouraged when this happens. The mark of a seasoned modder isn't that you stop failing, but that you get better at powering through the failures.

For Dragon Age Origins (and DA2) I have compiled some resources to get started here.

☆ What tool do I need to make mod [x]?

↳ I have a list of tools here that I have used for modding. However, I think often a better mindset to start is "how do I make mod [x]?" Once you know where to begin, you'll have a better idea of what tools will be required.

☆ Do you take requests or commissions?

↳ I do not take requests, unless I have specifically solicited requests for additions to a specific mod.

I am open to the idea of taking commissions for mods of the type that I usually post, but I would have to talk through the idea to get an idea of the scope before I could quote a price.

I do not create mods for Frostbite games anymore.

I will not accept commissions for mesh/model/armor mods, which seem to be the type of mod commission people most often try to solicit.

☆ I have a question about mods for Inquisition or Mass Effect or [other game]!

↳ I can try to answer general knowledge questions or give my opinion on a matter, but I haven't modded Frostbite games like Inquisition or Andromeda for years and I'm too out of touch to answer any specific modding questions.

These days, most modding discussion seems, for better or for worse, to take place on Discord servers, and that is imo your best bet for finding people available to answer questions. So I strongly recommend questions be directed to a server such as the Frosty Toolsuite, DAI Modding, or Mass Effect Modding discord.

For good measure, here's a link to the Dragon Age Origns Modding discord for Origins/DA2 mods.

☆ Can I message you off-tumblr?

↳ Yes, you can DM me on the Nexus, or if we are mutual members of a modding discord server, you should be able to find and DM me from there.

☆ Solas/Abelas/Fenris/Orsino is taller than the other male elves in the game, right?

↳ No. ♡

☆ Are you sure?

↳ Yes. ♡

[beardeddetectivepaper]

$21,580/$70,000

I’m Ritechal and i’m raising this funds for my cousin who suffers in gaza, here’s his story as his fiancé wrote.

“From the heart of Gaza, where harsh events intersect and difficulties abound. I'm Asmaa Daoud, 23 years old, and my fiancé is Mohammed Jawadah. We live a tragic life, trapped between the ruins of war and the walls of siege. Just a few months before our awaited wedding, our home was bombed by occupation forces, shattering all our hopes and preparations for the wedding, including my clothes and the new furniture.

Our memories and dreams scattered with the debris, making things seem more desperate. Five months have passed since the start of the war, and we haven't been able to meet each other, as the occupation prohibits movement between our areas. Text messages, even though scarce on some days, became the only means of communication to share longing and pain. Additionally, Mohammed suffered the loss of his income source and his own project due to bombing in his area. He found himself drowning in need and despair, with no hope of achieving our dreams. Amidst these harsh circumstances, thoughts of surrender and defeat haunt us, but we remain steadfast in hope and resilience, believing that love can overcome the toughest trials and difficulties. We knew that love and faith could overcome any difficulty, and that we would survive. Our need for essential donations to start our lives anew and for our marriage to be supported has become crucial. Especially since, in the current situation, it has become impossible for both of us to return to work with the ongoing war and the lack of resources for survival. We have lost everything in the war, from our homes and belongings to even our clothes.

UPDATE

We did it my friends !!!! We finally hit our first goal and we will meet today!!!!! Mohammed is in Turkey and i’m in Egypt and i will be there with him today so we will get married! We spent the funds we received as follows: Mohammed evacuation from Gaza to egypt fees $5000 Egyptian visa $500 including transportations. Then he moved to Turkey where his family stays and this took $2000 including visa and plane tickets. Now we will rent a house in Istanbul to get married for at least 6 months until our new business stands up and start giving us money. So renting that house in Istanbul for 6 months will cost at least $12000 including living costs. We feel so responsible to keep you updated with every thing happens with us.❤️ So that we need to raise our goal to rebuild our small business again with your help, we will start asking about renting the space and what it do cost. Will keep in touch with u❤️

[hms-no-fun]

hey can you just generally ramble about your terezi (and (terezi)) choices? I am interested in your process for her characters this chapter.

yeah! naturally i have a lot to say about a lot of things so spoilers for godfeels 3.2 A1 solo below the break!

let me just start this by saying that (Terezi) has been the BIGGEST pain in my ass of the entire core cast since beginning godfeels 3.

getting A1 out the door in general has been something of a nightmare, in part due to inconvenient irl circumstances but also because this track had a LOT of heavy lifting to do. Double Album is an ambitious project --too ambitious, arguably, considering how much time it takes to write (lots) and how little it pays (nothing)-- and this first glimpse into what's to come needed to do a lot of recapping prior events, moving pieces around on the board, clarifying character motivations, giving everyone a reason to be staying/going, and setting up several hefty dozens of plot threads in both major and minor ways, all while simultaneously being entertaining enough to read that old and new readers alike don't just get bored and peace out before we even get to the stuff that this story's actually about.

i think on balance A1 is going to wind up being sort of an odd duck among the tracks for this reason. i've been thinking of it as sort of a pilot episode, very much in the mold of the pilot of LOST whose very minimal flashbacks belied the load-bearing structural centrality that the flashback device would come to occupy in the series. but it's also a pilot episode for a series that's already three seasons in, which just further complicates the logistical job it needed to do. here again i took inspiration from LOST (get used to this comparison, btw-- everything from chapter 8 onwards has been/will be heavily inspired by LOST in theme and structure), where the season openers always had to pull double duty of cleaning up the mess from whatever bomb dropped in the season finale to completely change the status quo AND giving the core cast time to acclimate to the new status quo in a way that sets the audience up for what this season's gonna be about. it's a fun and punishing challenge that takes a lot of trial and error. there have been so many versions of A1 that all conveyed largely the same information in completely different ways to wildly different ends.

i'm glad i put that work in, because i'm really proud of how A1 ultimately turned out. i think it accomplishes the goals i set out for. and in a serial work like this you just don't get a chance to redo your first episode. if this part didn't work, if every character wasn't utilized with absolute precision, everything that followed would be at a disadvantage. i feel more confident in the future of this side of the story than i did when i first started writing it. but it was hard!

and at the center of that challenge was (Terezi), the character whose desire to go with Silverbark is easily the most obvious of the departing cast and yet simultaneously the most mysterious. i have a document for every writing project where i save cut material just in case, and the one for A1 is over 8000 words. of those, just shy of half are scenes involving (Terezi). because ever since the start of gf3, she's been a delightful, infuriating wrench in all my plans. it's easy enough to understand why she would want to go with Silverbark, but what does she feel about it? how does she feel about what she did to June, what June/Risk did to her, or about the state of Earth C today, and especially about the medicated domestic 30-something Vrisrezi who've just shown up out of the blue?

i wrote the dream strangulation scene in 3.1 chapter 1 knowing it would put a dent in her and June's relationship that would be a pain point through the rest of 3.1, but i'd always planned for them to get on better terms before the end (until Vrisrezi showed up, at which point all that progress would be painfully backpedaled). but as soon as she left the house, (Terezi) completely closed herself off and refused to come to the table again. throughout gf3 and especially chapter 8 i tried to find ways to let her talk about what was on her mind, and she just wouldn't. the Host-intruded memory of them getting into an argument watching Consort Jerry Springer and the birthday flashback where (Terezi) eats leafs both wound up defined in their conflict by (Terezi)'s own silence, her refusal to say what's really bothering her. even as she opens up some in the latter scene, she remains infuriatingly closed off to Risk and us. the question she thinks she's answering is why she's uncomfortable on Earth C, but the question June and Risk are really asking is, why am i not good enough to make this place feel like your home?

this is a dominant theme of Divergence Syndrome-- characters ensconced in noise looking for silence, or characters sick of silence hurtling mortally towards cacophony. the strict meaning of silence vs noise change depending on the person. all the circus flashbacks are moments where characters just can't quite bring themselves to say the thing they really want to say. silence and noise, secrets and truth-- you might draw some comparisons here between this theme and the concept of Voidthought as introduced in A1. i try not to push my hand when it feels like characters don't want to be accessible. it's easy to want to give everyone center stage all at once, but it gets to being too much very quickly. you've got to pick your battles, give everyone their moment when the time is right, when you and they both feel ready for it.

but with (Terezi) i genuinely was like. hey. tell me the thing you really want to say. give me something to work with here. i'm trying to understand how you got here from where we left you in gf2. were you just lying when you said you loved how unpredictable June was? were you lying to Kanaya when you said you liked how boring Earth C was compared to Alternia? what changed in those eleven months between gf2 and gf3 and why didn't i see it until it was too late?

and she just WOULDN'T. every time i've tried to get her talking it felt forced and wrong. she only talks in narration when she wants to. she refuses to humor her guilt even to herself. i wrote a complete version of the scene in Dave's room where Silverbark is much, much meaner, just to try and get a rise out of her. but it was so out of character, it was too much, too forceful. you just can't drag secrets out into the open like that. not with a Mind player as stubborn as (Terezi).

that scene was for me, really. i needed to write it because i was mad at her. i won't share it here because i think quite a lot of it will end up recycled in some form down the line. i don't exactly want to give the impression that (Terezi) is a distinct entity, because none of these characters are. it's more that i see the narration itself, and each characters' varying awareness of it, as having strict rules and boundaries. there's that moment at the end of A1 where Vriska pops into the narration just to say, actually no i don't want my feelings on display right now. i'd planned to have a whole lot of prose there! but when i wrote that interjection, it felt right. it showcases a different form of closing one's self off-- where (Terezi) is doing bullheaded self-harm in her silence, Vriska there is being mature and recognizing that sometimes you just have to let things go. good characterization in this story isn't just about dialogue. every word you read is a function of character in some form. 3.1 was narrated largely by VV. 3.2's narration/structure is what i've been calling "paramniscient epistolary" --basically a roving narratorial eye that can take the form of disconnected third person narration but give way to direct influence from characters whenever they desire. the epistolary part will make more sense come future tracks. but all of that is to say that yeah, to let that device be honest in what it is, to really fulfill VV's promise of letting these characters have genuine agency, i need to be willing to step back and let them be obtuse sometimes.

the original version of that scene between (Terezi) and Silverbark broke rules i didn't yet know, and it taught me a lot about what this story wants to be. gf2 was so much about June expositing her every thought, having revelations, working through shit, coming to terms with her Self. gf3, at least so far, is the opposite. (Terezi)'s lack of answers, her refusal to self-examine, is a protest against the kind of sincerity that June often embodies.

the horror of encountering a Terezi who's well-adjusted and happy is that for (Terezi), it feels inevitable. like a death sentence, a sword hanging over her neck. it's proof that if she ever got what she wanted, she would have to lose so many of the things that she still feels are essential to her Self. i think she tried to force herself to get better in gf2, under the assumption that simply being with someone you love who loves you is enough. but getting better requires work. i don't like the pervasive idea in fiction that couples getting together is the Solution to interpersonal problems, because it's not. it can help! but when you're accustomed to being alone, it's easy to stay alone even when you share every waking moment with someone else. i think Terezi is proof to (Terezi) that getting better takes work, and she despises the notion that she needs to do that work, that this version of her "getting better" is obviously preferable to who she is now. it's revealing that she imposes parentheses on herself so immediately upon meeting Terezi. it's worth noting that when Vriska tries to talk to (Terezi) in the A1 solo, she doesn't use those parentheses.

i think (Terezi) knows that if she even started to have a conversation about all this stuff, she'd lose. there are so many little moments where you can see her resolve shake a little. her harshness is a manifestation of instability. to open that door even a crack is to consent to demolishing the whole house. so she closes herself off altogether. she tells Terezi she'll kill her if she speaks to her again, and when Vriska begs her to seek help, (Terezi) spits in her face.

infinite credit to janet girlpillz for all the art in A1 solo but this panel especially. it took a lot of work to get the mood and tone just right. i cannot overstate how lucky i feel to have her in my camp. this moment would be nothing without her.

it was important for me that the impact of this particular patooie be almost entirely on (Terezi). Vriska's shocked, yes, but in the way of being interrupted mid-sentence more than anything. i wanted to see the moment right before Vriska can emotionally process what's just happened. nonverbal, not overly emotive, surprised, taken aback. but not mad. not sad. not angry. it's (Terezi) who's angry. Vriska laughs it off pretty fast once the fluttersled departs, because she sees the gesture for what it is. it's not really about her or for her. it's (Terezi) kicking the dog to chase it away, maybe because she thinks its for the dog's own good, or maybe because she just doesn't want the responsibility of taking care of a dog, except she IS the dog and she might not even know it.

as to (Terezi)'s turn towards "Justice," i'm not even sure she really believes it. does she actually think June is guilty of a crime? or is this just an extremely elaborate means of tethering her fate to the woman she used to love? and in fact, is that love truly in the past tense for her?

right now, (Terezi) and the rest of the crew are in a state of transition, carried forward by the high-stakes manic momentum of chapter 8 into a new life with new rules without really knowing what that actually entails. i think their commitment to any idea of their role in that future is highly precarious, especially as we proceed out of that manic phase into what will, eventually, become the new normal. right now their motivations are all hypothetical, contingent, abstract. that is not enough in the long term. it will take something real, something personal, to get them not just to stay in Silverbark's company, but to live there. Silverbark has sown the seeds of these in each of her conversations with the core cast. but to paraphrase VV, their ultimate reason for choosing to do what they will do is theirs to decide.

it wouldn't take much to shake (Terezi) out of her present self-destructive funk. it's just that there aren't very many things that could, and most of them are on Earth C. the question for me going forward is, what will it take to transform (Terezi)'s present verve for becoming "a detective" from an elaborate larp into a genuine career conviction? she can't maintain her delusion of moral superiority without that. (Terezi)'s a real piece of work but i don't think she enjoys lying, even and perhaps especially to herself. but she is a serial lifelong liar-by-omission. the currency of her deception is silence.

and that's something that (Terezi) and Silverbark have in common.

my final note (dear god does this woman ever shut up) is on the characterization of Terezi. she obviously doesn't get many lines in this chapter, and that's interesting. I have a hard time imagining that even a medicated 30-something Terezi is particularly good at holding her tongue. part of it is just sheer practicality. there are ELEVEN characters with speaking roles in this chapter, and of those Terezi is the least... i don't want to say "important," because she IS important. least relevant, maybe? none of this interpersonal drama has anything to do with her. when you think about it, Terezi is in a similar position now to the one Silverbark was in when she returned to Earth C. older, wiser, fundamentally different, while simultaneously stepping into the role her less mature younger self occupied in all these people's lives. i think she recognizes that the only thing she can do in this situation is cause trouble, so she mostly avoids contributing altogether. her home base in the scene is Vriska, until at last the space opera drama mamas fuck off to their Very Important Story and she can safely make jokes again. wow, what a bitch. let's go get omelettes.

it'll be interesting to see (when we get to it, which will be a long time from now) how Terezi fits in with Jane and Karkat, and on Earth C in general. how will the media respond to her? how will culture at large respond to her? jesus christ man, it's gonna be such a fucking mess.

anyway, those are some rambling thoughts on Terezi and (Terezi)! i hope your thirst is sated, or at least that you didn't drown.

[aggressivelyaverage21]

Once A Rookie Chapter 19: Philippians 4:9

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Beatrice has a hard conversation with Shannon. Shannon does her best to tread carefully but the mistery of Beatrice's pain remains. Mary takes a crack at it with her own meathods.

It would be another day. Another day pressing forward and trying to learn. Trying to be better. And today was yet another shooting lesson with Mary. Something that didn’t really go well last time. It left Beatrice frustrated with herself, with her struggle to just relax like Mary prompted over and over. Left her feeling exposed for being so hard on herself that Mary had taken notice. 

It was something about the older woman Beatrice hadn’t quite figured out yet. She was tough. Hard sometimes even. Very snarky, almost to the point of being abrasive. But somehow that part was fun. That part seemed normal, friendly even. It was when things shifted toward something more emotional that made Beatrice uneasy, like there was something so wrong with her that it had Mary breaking her normal to accommodate. 

A mortifying thought really. 

To need to be accommodated. 

So, it wasn’t exactly something Beatrice was excited to get out of bed for. Especially not when Mary knocked on her door asking if she was ready before Beatrice could make her way down to breakfast. “Come on Kid, long morning ahead of us.” Mary passed her a steaming cup of coffee as she offered a somewhat apologetic smile. 

It was the earliest Beatrice had gotten up since the trials, not that she’d been sleeping the day away but she had at least appreciated not needing to be out of bed before it was fully light out. 

“Mary, why are we doing this?” Beatrice paused at the edge of the armory while Mary filled up a bag for them and pointed Beatrice in the direction of things she wanted to take as well. 

“I’m teaching you to shoot.” 

“You already taught me to shoot.” 

Beatrice wasn’t really sure where the rebuttal was coming from. She could always use more instruction. She was far from comfortable with the weapon, and only mildly confident in her ability to nail a target. Mary was one of the best in the Order when it came to firearms and Beatrice should be grateful for her vested interest in teaching her. 

However, her discomfort with the weapon left her feeling at least a little hesitant to actually work on it. It had been the only thing she hadn’t come out of training ranked number one in. It had actually been Abigail who bested her in that arena. 

“You’re coming back into the field with us soon.” 

Could that news have been broken a little better? Sure. Did Mary really have the patience for it? No. There were rumors about them being sent to handle a group of people causing problems in the valley. People who the priest thought were likely possessed. It could get violent and she needed to make sure Beatrice was at least able to protect herself. “I taught you to shoot a target. While standing. With your weapon already drawn. That’s not going to happen in real life.” 

“I…” Gwen, and Mary had already taught their class to move and shoot. It would have been irresponsible for them not to, given the order’s purpose and why that had such intense training anyway. Beatrice just wasn’t sure that she was ready for the training to move into something past that into reality. She didn’t want to kill. That’s not why she joined the order. “So we will be doing movement drills then?” 

“So many questions.” Mary sighed as she finished packing the bag up, zipping it closed with authority. Shannon had been urging her to fine tune Beatrice’s technique ever since Mother Superion floated the idea of taking Beatrice out for an assignment like this if the occasion arose. It wasn’t bad by any means but repetition was key, just like it was with anything else. 

Shooting had become a sort of meditation for Mary, and watching Beatrice struggle to find a calm about her in the last few weeks had the pair of warriors willing to try just about anything. Shannon had been emphasizing meditation and stretching, somewhat under the guise of getting Beatrice to recover from the insane demand of the trials. When that wasn’t working she’d walked Beatrice through a few forms with the Bo. Then when that wasn’t working Shannon had caved and taught Beatrice how to throw knives. 

When Shannon was getting a little weary of how to help ease the kid’s worry, Mary had stepped in. She wrapped Shannon up in one of her famous hugs, running her hand up and down the warrior’s spine as she offered to take a crack at it. Shooting always helped her clear her head, and Mary hoped that maybe the repetition would be good for Beatrice as well– after the lesson she had in mind of course. Maybe some insight from someone not Shannon , would help her settle back in, give her some reassurance that Shannon wasn’t the only one who had her back. 

They hoped at least. 

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