#except in reality they’re all the soldier

[cressthebest]

something something jegulily something something poet soldier king something something ☺️

[bromcommie]

tbh I still think Brock Rumlow was an interesting character and upon further examination way more unsettling a villain than most to me because like. Let’s be real, the second you lay eyes on Robert Redford as Pierce monologuing in his pristine suit and glass office high up in the sky he just screams Evil Politician! at you. You can see it coming a mile away. Meanwhile Rumlow is….Just Some Guy. On the surface, he’s just some side dude. He’s not enhanced, he’s not in some major position of power, he’s just someone who’s really good at what he does and seems dedicated enough to the work and functions well with his team. He respects Steve, might admire him even, but not so much that he gets starry eyed like everybody else. He’s lighthearted but focused, he’s no nonsense, he’s the everyman Steve can relate to way more than spooks like Natasha or Fury.

And okay, maybe what Rumlow does for a living is beat intimidate and kill people, but it’s not like that’s the primary objective, right, because SHIELD are the good guys and this is what Steve does now, too, anyway; except that Steve doesn’t really use any weapons other than the shield, he holds back, he doesn’t carry a gun anymore which is usually fine since he’s dangerous enough without it. But when that leaves him vulnerable, he’s covered: Rumlow’s got his six, and he does it well, and he earns some of his trust. This is familiar to Steve.

And maybe Rumlow’s a little too good, fine, maybe he shoots a guy in the head within the first fifteen minutes of the movie when he doesn’t necessarily have to and then cracks jokes immediately after but that’s alright too, because that guy had Steve at gunpoint and that guy was Bad whereas Rumlow is One of the Good Guys just doing his job, right. Rumlow’s joking around because he’s used to the violence, they’re all used to it, and this is just how it works. They’re just soldiers doing the grunt work and following orders, and this is familiar, too.

Except that they’re not soldiers and this isn’t a war, except that the work is for an intelligence agency whose job it is to hoard and steal information and monitor civilians and orchestrate and sabotage and meddle in internal and external state affairs. Except that the Good Guys, in reality, are extremely grey at best. Except that many of the Good Guys turn out to be Nazis on top of everything else, and it’s not that far of a stretch.

But when it’s all starting to unravel, you’re still thinking well maybe some of these guys didn’t know. Maybe they didn’t do it out of individual belief, and if faced with the right choice, they can be redeemed.

That is until you realize that Rumlow maybe didn’t respect Steve and what he did so much as what Steve could do if only Steve weren’t “weak” in other ways, if Steve had chosen the right side. That it not being personal is less a cop out and more a taunt the same way just following orders has always been, for Rumlow and many many men that came before him and will continue to come after. Until the vault when, by the most charitable of interpretations, Rumlow looks at the Winter Soldier letting himself be smacked around and crying and getting shocked like he’s maybe a little unnerved (if not just downright fascinated) by the whole thing, but not enough that it really changes anything for him, because the end justifies the means and it’s not really his problem, anyway.

Until Sam shows up and Rumlow looks at him like a bird of prey and says This is gonna hurt with a fucking smile on his face, and then you think: shit, man, obviously. How was it not clear from the start.

To me, what makes someone like Rumlow a good villain, even a side one, is not that he’s straight up Insane & Evil™️ or suffering from Tragic Backstory Syndrome or all hopped up on magic superstrength juice or whatever, but precisely the fact that he’s Just Some Guy with a cockroach survival mentality who operates well within the established system and just so happens to be really good at his job - a job that he might’ve even joined thinking it was for a good cause, or because he had something to prove, or simply because it gave him one hell of an excuse to be a bully. Because he either wholeheartedly believes in HYDRA or he just doesn’t give much of a shit either way so long as he gets his due in the end, and both are just as bad.

Because when you strip away all the grand scale superhero theatrics, you’ve seen this before. You’ve seen Rumlows in your school and in your neighborhood and in the military and the cop car patrolling your street. They’re the ones who sometimes say or do somewhat offputting shit but you figure it’s fine because they’re otherwise real nice or charismatic or normal looking, or maybe they work a job that’s framed as helpful or protective or inherently good despite the power dynamics at play, or they share your background and interests and you chat about the weather being crap this time of year.

And every time one of them turns out to be a violent, hateful piece of shit, you’re still somehow surprised then, too, when you really shouldn’t be.

[marionthegeek]

Stede is in the Gravy Basket, Izzy is Alive

The season 2 finale of Our Flag Means Death is odd.  It hits weird. I think I know why. And this is going to sound bananas, but give me a chance to explain.  Maybe you’ll agree.

It has a huge tonal shift. It seems to speedrun Stede and Ed’s romance. It feels like we’ve missed out on something from the end of episode 7.  The fight scenes and pirate plans are nonsensical, even for OFMD. And most egregiously, a prominent character is killed off in a way that feels disingenuous to his story arc, just for starters.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  We need to go back to the beginning of season 2.  The season opens with Stede looking more piratey than ever. Beard, sash, earring… oh he’s his own fantasy of a real proper pirate.  He’s clashing swords with Izzy Hands and demanding to know where Ed is. He’s dreaming. In the dream he kills Izzy. He and Ed run into each other’s arms while screaming each other’s names. They crash into the surf. Ed says “I knew you’d find me, Babe.  I knew you’d find me, Love.” Stede keeps asking if they’re good. Ed dodges the question. Then Ed asked about the smell. Stede wakes up in a crowded room with farting and shushing roommates.

At first I thought the finale was supposed to be just a “satisfying” mirror to Stede’s dream. Stede and Ed call each other’s names and run into each other’s arms in a display that resembles a more grown up version of Stede’s dream fantasy. There’s some wild sword fighting not unlike Stede’s dream duel with Izzy. And Izzy dies.

It does mirror, but I didn’t find it satisfying. All of the characters except Stede feel flattened. Stede gets to make the heroic plan (that we never even hear) while there’s at least five pirates with better skill sets for it in the room. Ed, as Blackbeard, was described last season as “History’s greatest tactician”; Zheng Yi Sao conquered China; Jackie just took out a room full of British soldiers. Izzy and Auntie are right there. You could make arguments that Jim or Frenchie, or pretty much anyone could make a better plan. Then Stede says “It’s only suicide if we die,” which is horrible considering the plan gets Izzy killed.

Stede’s really the only person in that room who thinks Stede should be making the plans.  So I got to thinking, what if it's not just mirroring the dream? What if it is a dream? Last shot of episode 7 is an incoming cannonball. Maybe he’s unconscious.

Huge shout out to @Arty_Sunflowers on twitter (I’m not calling it X, fuck Musk) for pointing out that that isn’t the only episode that ends with a cannonball. Episode 2 ends with Jim swinging a cannonball down at Ed’s head.  Stede’s not just dreaming, he’s in the Gravy Basket!!!! (Stede even screams “Oh my God!” at the end of episode 7 in the same tone he screams “Oh my God, I don’t want to die.” in s1e9.

Stede’s hopes, dreams, and insecurities shape everything in the finale. And it helps explain the absurdities in the episode when you remember that Stede is living out pulp adventure and romance novels in his head. (He even looks like someone on the cover of one in his episode 1 dream.) But Stede can’t be dead, you say. He’s literally the main character. Well, Ed was dead for a whole episode. Let’s take a closer look.

I could and probably will do another essay on Lucius as a POV character and Ed’s mental health and how the threads they seemed to have dropped aren’t as dropped as they appear. But all of that hinges on me proving the Stede is in the Gravy Basket theory. So for this essay I’m focusing on that.

So for starters we’ve got the cannonball scenes. They’re eerily similar even if the method of cannonball propulsion is different. We don’t know Ed is dead and in the Gravy Basket for about half of episode 3. Neither does he. It makes logical sense you can be there without realizing it for a while. Buttons even said Ed didn’t know whether he was in the Gravy Basket or not in episode 4. It definitely messes with your reality.

One of Ed’s issues is self hate. He manifests Hornigold as his companion. Stede is desperate to be a good pirate and have people be proud of him. And he lives in his fantasies a lot.  So his dream shapes his experience. There’s a whole bit about Zheng needing “soft” and Auntie saying she’s proud of her. That isn’t their issue. It’s discordant with the show previously. But it is Stede’s issue. He’s manifesting.

When we first see Stede and Zheng in episode 8, they’re in a familiar spot for Stede, the bridge from episode 1. But why are they alone? When we last see Stede and Zheng in episode 7, several characters are within 5 to 10 feet of them. Did none of them decide to escape with Stede? Izzy, Lucius,  and Jim are closest. But we know Pete was there begging Stede to stay down during his fight with Zheng. Archie was definitely in the bar. That's why Jim entered the fight. So why is it only Stede and Zheng at the bridge? Because, going back to rescue others fits into Stede's hero fantasies. 

Zheng and Stede also argue about who pulled who to safety and how they got there. Stede waxes poetic about being a failure his whole life, but things always seem to work out for him. He’s such a main character mediocre white guy in this scene. He saves Zheng from two random soldiers, then she has to save him from them. Then they fight a bunch more soldiers on the beach until Blackbeard manifests in full leather from the ocean.  It looks cool. But it's absurd, even for OFMD.

Speaking of Ed, he begins the episode waxing poetic about nature and calling fishermen simple.  Those things are more Stede than Ed. Pop pop tells Ed, “You have no skills” which is something Izzy said to Stede in episode 5.  He also tells Ed, “If you were ever good at something, go do that, you bum.” If Stede’s insecurities could be distilled into one sentence, it would probably be that. (He also talks about being like a wave. I’m not 100% sure it's a The Good Place joke, but it would be thematically appropriate.)

Pop pop also tells Ed he “ruined dinner.”  Back in season 1, in Stede’s flashbacks to life with Mary and the kids, Stede thinks he’s ruined dinner. But remember, we also see another version of the scene where Stede is laughing with Mary and the kids.  Stede isn’t exactly a reliable narrator. Even in his own head.

Despite it being beyond unlikely, Ed finds soldiers reading one of Stede’s letters. I know physics in this show is sketchy, but this seems like a good time to point out no one found the red silk. Stede wants Ed to read a letter and for it to fix everything between them. The letter, plus Stede being in danger, make Ed swim out, find his leathers, and emerge from the sea with them on, while the music is the Swede’s solo from Stede’s fuckery in s1e6. Stede wants to be rescued by his handsome pirate in leather, again, just like a pulp adventure romance novel. Little chance of Ed swimming out and finding his kit.  Even less of him getting leather pants on under the water.

Back to the beach… for some reason two squads of soldiers are wandering around out on an empty beach. A visually incredible fight scene occurs. It honestly reminds me of Pete’s story in s1e2, including flips. Ed and Stede yell each other’s names exactly as in the dream. Like I’m pretty sure they used the same audio track. The same song (I Love My Baby, Nina Simone) starts playing. Ed says “I love you.” Stede says “I know.” (We’ll come back to the Han Solo joke in a minute.) They have a bit more absurd fighting then Ed, Stede, and Zheng sit on the beach complimenting each other. And Ed calls Stede “babe”.  He’s never done that outside of Stede’s dream and this moment. He’s called him mate a couple of times.  Babe is exclusively in Stede’s head.

Back in the Republic of Pirates, the crew are locked in a cell that is actually the “vista suite” at Spanish Jackie’s.  Izzy gets a heroic entrance. It’s as cool as Stede thinks Izzy is. And he gives a speech that sounds like what he probably told Stede to get him to relinquish the suit in episode 5. Piracy is about belonging to something. You can’t ignore the wishes of the crew.  Izzy also knows details about Captain Kidd and Pinocchio. Not impossible, but not exactly Izzy’s wheelhouse. It is Stede’s though. He’s obsessed with pirate tales and he read Pinocchio to the crew.

Stede, Ed, and Zheng show up just as Jackie has poisoned a bunch of soldiers. Stede makes a plan, despite everyone else being more qualified. Everyone disguises themselves as soldiers. Now we’ve seen the crew of the Revenge wear disguises. They never do the weird free styling they do here. Only Stede actually looks like a British officer. Zheng at least wears the disguise properly. Suddenly Ed has a multi gun bandolier like Blackbeard in the books. Pete ripped the arms off. Izzy is still wearing his vest. Doesn’t make sense if we’re going for stealth. Neither does not checking hostage Ricky for weapons or putting Izzy and his wooden leg at the front of the group.

If I'm right, Stede wouldn't know Ricky was behind the explosions. However,  Ricky is basically evil Stede. He's Stede's perfect foil. All of this is reflecting Stede's psyche. So, of course, it's Ricky.

Izzy gets shot and says quite a lot of nonsense in his death scene. “They love you, Ed.” Um, 3 of them were going to leave like five minutes ago. Ed has made some progress with the crew, but we’re not at “they love you Ed”.  The only person who thinks the crew loves Ed is Stede. Stede who weeps for Izzy while most of the crew aren’t showing much emotion. Stede can barely deal with his own big feelings. His fantasy doesn’t give the crew room to have them. Also, given the rest of the season, having Jim just let Ed be the person cradling Izzy doesn’t fit. The crew is also pretty stony at Izzy’s funeral.

I feel like it should be noted the last shot of Izzy in episode 7, he’s got one are around Jim and a hand on Lucius’s shoulder. He sat in Wee John’s lap in episode 6. Reactions to his death don’t make sense.

Also, Izzy’s terrible grave marker is very … Stede. He’d think it was a brilliant idea.

I didn't understand at first why Izzy had to die, even in Stede's dream world. Stede clearly likes him a lot better now. Why kill him? Well, it's because we're supposed to think Buttons is there to go to the Gravy Basket for Izzy. When actually he's already arrived in the Gravy Basket and he's there for Stede. Also, mentors die in pulp adventure novels. Stede sees Izzy as a mentor.

They go aboard the Revenge for Lucius and Pete’s wedding. It’s cute that the crew performs the ceremony, but I’d venture a guess that’s because Stede doesn’t know a captain should do it if it's legally binding. Stede does love the romance of it all.  The sudden uptick in monogamy is also very Stede. He barely understands monogamous relationships. Polyamory is beyond him.

Then Stede and Ed, who earlier told Zheng they’d help hunt Ricky, go back to the island where Izzy is buried to start an inn in a run down shack.  Stede knows Ed wants to do this because Ed told the (Taika’s) kids that they ran an inn.  We hear Ed ask “Jesus, what is that smell?” Now, at first, I thought Izzy, because Ed “knows the smell of my rotting first mate”. But what was the last thing to happen in Stede’s dream? A fart joke.

Last scene is Buttons landing on Izzy’s grave. To retrieve Izzy from the Gravy Basket? No, Izzy’s not dead. He’s with Jim and Lucius, probably watching over Stede’s corpse. Buttons is there to retrieve Stede.

This theory fixes the plot holes and dropped threads problem. We’re coming back to them next season. Ed's amends making should be far from over. And we see several moments during the season where he acknowledged that. And yet here on the island they've set up a horror movie and called it a happy ending.  Well, Stede is the type of boss who thinks things are fixed with a pizza (Calypso) party. In Stede's mind, this is a happy ending.  But really Ed is still off finding himself,  Stede is (temporarily) dead, and Izzy (who is not dead!) is probably guarding Stede's corpse.

They haven't resolved the domestic violence thread, but they haven't dropped it, either. Izzy is alive. Stede and Ed aren't together (yet). There's still time.

This also explains some of the freewheeling nonsense David Jenkins has been spouting in articles. Ed doesn’t see Izzy as a father figure and mentor, Stede does.  Stede almost turned to mush when Izzy approved of him. And David is writing a three volume adventure novel. Han Solo (Stede) is in carbonate (the Gravy Basket). The perfect end to the second act. See, I told you we’d get back to the Han Solo joke.

I still have problems with the season.  I really think they need a sensitivity reader. Even just implying a newly disabled character was fridged is certainly a choice. Especially given the amount of time devoted to how the character handled the disability. The DV scenes were brutal, as well as the suicide attempt, and the Human Puppet joke. I think they need someone trauma informed and disabled in the writer's room. (David Jenkins hit me up!)

Overall, I liked season 2. Especially once I realized Izzy wasn't dead. I'm looking forward to season 3, the conclusion of the Gentle Beard arc, and hopefully 6 seasons and a movie of Izzy (to be clear, he's not captain) and the kids sailing up and down the coast being gay and doing crimes, occasionally checking in with Stede and Ed.

Seriously, David, call me.

Historical Note: IRL Blackbeard died on November 22, 1718, killed in a naval battle off Ocracoke Island in North Carolina. IRL Stede Bonnet died December 10, 1718, hanged in Charles Town, South Carolina for piracy.  IRL Israel “Izzy” Hands survives piracy, death date unknown. I know this show doesn’t actually care about historical accuracy, but this lends a little support for my Ed died, then Stede died, and Izzy isn’t dead theory.

[nightxcreature]

Payback

Pairing: SoldierBoy x Reader

Summary: Things finally come to a head when Ben and Reader are face to face again.

Warnings: 18+ only! Cursing, Superhuman strength, slight spice not full-on smut, SoldierBoy is an asshole

 Part One: https://www.tumblr.com/nightxcreature/763348934598049792/dont-call-me-soldierboyxreader?source=share 

_______________________________________________

              I had yet to run into Ben over the last few days, whether he was avoiding me or vice versa. The incident in the elevator had made it’s rounds through Vought Staff and Payback, people were either congratulating me for standing up to the bastard or wishing me well on my journey to the afterlife. I push open the door to the Meeting Room and a hushed silence falls over the few of us that are already there.

 “You know he’s going to kill you right?” Crimson quips, breaking the silence as I step into the room, “That little stunt you pulled in front of the staff really put his panties in a bunch.”

                I roll my eyes and pull up the seat beside her, skillfully placing my things down on the table as I do, “Yeah, well I hope he does it quick. I have another interview this afternoon and Christ knows they’re going to need the secret ingredient I use to keep my hair this shiny.”

                I wink and take a long sip from my coffee cup, turning when Clara snorts a laugh from across the room and sends a cheshire smile my way, “Do you honestly think he’d be so gracious? You embarrassed him in the lobby during staff hours. He’s losing his shit.”

                “I deflated his ego a little; It’s not like I pantsed him in front of his peers.” I say setting my cup down with a shrug, “Besides it’s not the first time I’ve gotten an attitude with him.”

                “No, but it is the first time you’ve done it in front of loads of people who think he’s a fuckin’ god.” She shot back quietly as she pulls out the open chair beside me, “All I’m saying is you need to watch your back.”

                We all quiet down as the door slams open and the man himself saunters in. Signature smirk on his lips, not a hair out of place, and that damn green suit clinging to him like a second skin…God, help me. Even when I hate him, I want to fuck him. He slowly makes his way to the head of the table, snatching the coffee cup from in front of me as he goes. His takes a sip and places it down in front of his seat without even a glance in my direction.

                “What do you fucks think this is?” He questions, motioning around the room and growing frustrated when no one speaks up, “That’s not a rhetorical question, I want an answer.”

                We all glance at around at each other, no one saying a word until Tommy raises his hand slowly, “Uh…that’s a coffee cup.”

                Ben sighs, snatching the cup up and I watch in horror as my favorite mug breaks into a million pieces against the opposite wall, no remorse on Ben’s face as he screams, “Not the fucking cup, Dumbass!”

                Tessa and Tommy both flinch when he takes a few heavy steps in their direction, so I quickly interject to take the heat for a moment, “You’re going to say this is a dictatorship.” I begin loudly, causing Crimson and Clara to stare wide-eyed at the sides of my head, “You seem to think that this is Soldier-Boy and His Bitches when in reality it’s supposed to be a team, Benjamin.”

                We all watch as his shoulders go stiff at my words, but still, he doesn’t turn to face me. I can see the tension in his jaw from behind and I know that he took the bait. He places a hand on the back of the chair before him and takes a moment to breathe slowly, a silent storm simmering just below the surface of his green eyes. He lifts a single finger and points toward the door, “Everybody out. It seems like I need to have a little conversation with someone about what it means to be on this team.”

                Everyone scrambles to the door except for Clara who leans down next to my ear and whispers, “It was nice knowing ya.” Before stepping in line behind Crimson, leaving me to face the monster alone.

                We stare intensely at one another as they make their way out; neither of us says a word even as the door shuts. He takes a few slow steps toward me, finally leaning against the table beside me. A look of surprise crosses my face when he lets out a dry laugh, “Soldier Boy and his bitches. Really?”

                I’m unsure whether I should answer so I remain silent as he continues to inch closer to me. He laughs again and then suddenly his hand is around my throat and I’m lifted out of the seat below me, “Looks to me like the only bitch here is you.”

                The air is quickly leaving my lungs as he squeezes tighter, not a single emotion on his face while he watches me struggle, “No fight in ya today? You sure had a fuck-ton to say in that elevator.”

                My hands reach up to scratch at his wrists to no avail, he still clings to my throat like he owns it. My vision begins to blur, darkness coaxing me into passing out and I realize I have no other option. I send an electric current through my fingertips just sharp enough to shock him into letting go causing him to step backward cursing me as I greedily gasp for the sweet air filling my lungs again.

                “What the fuck, Ben?” I gasp, “Are you really so damn insecure that you’re going to kill me for having an attitude?”

                “An attitude? You think this is over an attitude?” He towers over me, a slight twitch in his bicep before he reaches out to grab me again, “I’ve dealt with attitude from you before. This is different. You don’t get to embarrass me in front of all those Mother Fuckers and then expect me to let it go.”

                I intercept his arm and throw it back at him, ducking under his other and sprinting to put the table between us, “Yeah, I do. You and your massive ego can’t handle someone not sucking you off all the time!”

                He rolls his eyes, that stupid smirk on his face again, “You sucked me off plenty before you started acting like a hormonal bitch! In fact, you fed my ego more than anyone. Practically drooling for my cock daily.”

                I grip the table tightly and fling it over on top of him, chairs and papers flying across the room, “I hate you, you pathetic little man!”

                He throws the table off and stands, forcing me to glance at the empty space between us, “Little?” He quips before grabbing me quickly and slamming my body into the floor, straddling my waist and pressing his length against me as he adds, “That’s a lie and we both know it.”

                Groaning, I reach up and grab him by the hair sending enough electricity through his skull to put an elephant on its ass. He flinches, but stays on top of me, “That tickles, stop.” He wraps a hand around my wrist and places it roughly above my head, “Hmm, this seems familiar, doesn’t it?”

                I quickly place my other hand onto his throat, zapping him again. He groans reaching up to rub his neck, allowing me the opportunity to roll and force him below me, “Maybe you should get acquainted with this position instead.”

                That smirk graces his face again before he wraps his hand around my jaw and tugs me down to him, “Gladly.” His lips are on mine before I can stop him, and he forces his tongue into my mouth at incredible speed. He rolls on top of me again, pushing me into the floor and hooking my leg around his waist giving a better angle to rut against me. My conscious and the horniness building within me are battling for dominance when he suddenly slides his hand down to my throat once more, squeezing lightly as he bites down on my bottom lip.

                “Ben….” I moan, raking my hands through his hair, “I…”

                “What? What do you need?” He whispers against my lips, pressing his body harder against mine as he kisses his way down my neck.

                “Please,” I manage to quietly utter, the wetness pooling below me and the fire under my skin were becoming too much to bear, “Please, I need you.”

                “You need me?” He echoes, a slight smile on his lips, “How bad do you need me?”

                “Stop teasing me.” I beg, “Please, just fuck me already.”

                “No.” He suddenly shoves me away and stands to his feet that sickening smirk on his face once more. He adjusts his clothes and fixes his hair as I sit gaping like a fish surrounded by broken furniture and paperwork.

                “No?” I question, dumbfounded, “What do you mean?”

                “I told you that you’d try to fuck me again.” He says with a laugh, “You can’t stay away, they never can.” He smiles and pats my cheek before turning toward the door, “Maybe I’ll call you in a few months…maybe not. I kinda feel like I’ve used that little cunt up, don’t you?”

                The door slams behind him as he leaves, leaving me in the mess we made, both figuratively and literally. Confusion, embarrassment, and anger flood my body, sending lightning through my fingertips to the floor below. If Ben wants to play hardball, he’s got one hell of a game coming his way.

_______________________________________________

A/N: I finally did this thing! Good grief, it took some vodka to finally figure out an ending to this one. I feel like I have a part three in mind if you'd be interested? Let me know!

Taglist: @lmhf1 @whimsyfinny @k-slla @enigmalynne @envysarchive

If you'd like to be added to my taglist please comment below. If you want to be removed from my taglist or only on specific stories send me a message!

[dozysloth]

thoughts on the salesman / contains spoilers:

the salesmean/recruiter ended up being a lot more intriguing than i excepted from his first appearances last season. that’s not to say i didn’t expect him to be a terrible person but initially i brushed him off as a sketchy businessman recruiting poor people into a death trap. i guess i didn’t think he’d be so unstable. it made him into a far more dynamic character.

bread & lottery seems to stump people because he’s not recruiting anyone. maybe he’s running a messed up social experiment on the homeless population as a side hobby like something you’d find on youtube.

will you choose the bread or choose a small chance at winning a lottery that has the potential to turn your life around? you’re used to hunger so a piece of bread doesn’t make a difference. and if you lose? you gain nothing. you’re hungry again.

he is trying to prove a point and in some twisted way he is trying to justify everything he has done and is doing. toying with people, murder, and recruiting them into a death game. he avoids looking in the mirror, denies that he is in the same position as those he deems “trash” or lesser than him. the reality is that the salesman is also hindered by classism. no matter what he does, his efforts will never be enough or recognized.

we ask why? what does he gain from this if it has nothing to do with the games? what is the purpose of stomping on and destroying the unpicked bread? why would he be upset if he’s proved his point correct? that they’re foolish and all fall into the same trap again and again and again. that he’s different than them. instead he just absolutely looses it. (buying the bread and lottery tickets in the first place just to test this is interesting, too. almost as if there’s a sliver of someone in there that doesn’t believe these people deserve to die. if he truly believed it he wouldn’t have to test it).

the final scene between he and gihun is very striking. the lighting and how it emphasizes the actors asymmetrical eyes is delicious. the innocent eye of a smiling businessman offering you a chance at a fortune highlighted in white and the cutthroat and sinister recruiter that has been hidden throughout the episode with a red glow. he looks arrogant, terrified and estatic all at the same time depending on which side you look at or both. it creates such a complex and beautiful scene and i love that his expressions surprised the director.

what gihun says rings true. he is just their dog, an underling, and no matter what he does he will never be enough in the eyes of his superiors. he stops denying it when he honours the game. he plays fair and pulls the trigger under his chin.

some other things i want to note:

- the callouses on the salesman’s hands could be brushed off by the fact that the actor actually has them. even though the shot isn’t deliberate it feels that way. here’s a handsome businessman wearing polished shoes and a nice suit. why would he have callouses if he truly is part of the elite and has a cushy job? what kind of physical labour could he possibly be doing? or had done in the past before he became a recruiter?

- the way he stands over the first homeless man and doesn’t block the sun out of his eyes. so he has to look up and squint to actually see the salesman standing over him with a smile.

- how quickly he moves to put the gun at the roof of his mouth in contrast with gihuns hesitant and cautious movements. is he just confident that he’s in control? trying to get a rise out of gihun? is he eager to die or does he just get off on the thrill of chances? it would explain his obsession with lottery and russian roulette. (i was literally speechless this entire scene.)

- it is revealed that he was one of the pink soldiers responsible in dealing with dead bodies. he also murdered his own father. he states that his actions were fuelled by the desire for his efforts to be acklowdged and recognized, and to (presumably) move up the ladder. i find it very interesting that in the final scene between the salesman and gihun he is sitting in a pink chair. and he dies in that pink chair.

i cant say much for the rest of the show as i do not plan on watching it but gong yoo really knocked it out of the park with his performance in a way i haven’t seen before in his other projects. (he was already an amazing actor).

[girlactionfigure]

Nakba, nakhsa, на хуй

The Arabs consider only two wars against Israel as defeats: The Nakba in 1948 and the Nakhsa in 1967. The reason for this is that they measure defeat only in terms of land loss. I'm not talking about the movement of political borders, but about regions that are no longer inhabited by Arabs. Lost homes, lost fields, lost groves. Places where they had once lived but can never visit again. Keys without doors.

This is why, despite a crushing battlefield defeat in 1973, the Arabs don't feel they've lost the war. While Israel came to control a huge swath of Arab territory after destroying the Syrian and Egyptian armies, no Arab communities were displaced. There were no columns of refugees and no people with useless keys hanging from their necks. 

The Middle Eastern equation is very simple. 

No mass displacement = no victory. 

Anyone telling you otherwise is fantasizing. Any loss except land loss is immaterial. The enemy is willing to suffer greatly to restore his lost honor. Where did he give up and admit defeat? In medieval Spain. Why? Because he were truly defeated there. Not because Christians armies defeated Muslim armies, but because the Muslims were displaced from Spain. 

Total displacement = total victory.

As most wars have shown, despite being a very tough people, the enemy is not immovable. Hundreds of thousands fled their homes in '48 and '67 (even though no organized effort was made to displace them) and almost three millions fled their homes in Gaza and Lebanon now. 

In Lebanon, a single tweet from Avichay Adraee is enough to send thousands packing. They don’t even need to see Jews with guns. Just an alert is enough. Millions more have fled Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon during intra-Arab wars. 

Turns out that the “true owners of the land” can leave it after all.

This brings me to my main point: only displacement can bring security to Israel and peace to the region. Israel isn't an empire. The IDF was created to defeat armies in quick wars, not to be a giant police force. 

Israel has neither the mindset nor the resources to rule over millions of hostile people. Nor does it or those people gain anything from such rule. It’s an exercise in sadomasochism. Nevertheless, for almost 60 years, this is exactly how Israel has been behaving, in total contradiction to common sense or reality. 

Each time Israel conquered a new territory as a result of a defensive war, it found itself ruling over a hostile population that resisted Israeli rule through guerilla warfare. As we’ve already established, death and destruction don't deter the enemy. They’re capable of sacrifice and steadfastness that we find hard to imagine. 

The former head of Hezbollah had once said: “Kill us wherever you may find us. On every front and on the door of every mosque. But know that we are Shia Muslims and we love death. For us, life starts when we become martyrs.”

I see no reason not to believe him. 

And so, each battlefield victory became a greater burden for Israel. Each time Israel was handed lemonade it found a way to make lemons out of it.

This was the mistake made in Judea and Samaria, in Gaza, and in South Lebanon. It was avoided by sheer chance in the Golan Heights. 

Instead of displacing the hostile population, the IDF mixed with it, creating an environment in which the enemy had an advantage. Arabs are not good regular soldiers, but they’re excellent ambushers and raiders. 

I'm afraid that Israel is headed towards making the same mistake again: getting bogged down in Gaza amidst a hostile population and making some kind of a deal with Lebanon that will "retreat" Hezbollah X kilometers to the north. 

Such a deal means nothing as long as there are hostile villages on the Israeli border. 

Hezbollah fighters are local Shia. They will simply remove their uniform, hide their weapons, and remain where they are. What else can they do? These are their homes. 

Such a deal cannot be enforced. Furthermore, the enemy will rightly view it as a victory and will be emboldened to launch more attacks. A single truck can carry enough weapons to launch another invasion of the magnitude of October 7. If you don’t believe me, clearly you haven’t played Tetris enough when you were little.

As long as Lebanese border communities exist, Israelis will never be safe from a sudden invasion. As long as Israel will be managing affairs in Gaza, Israeli soldiers will be open to attacks, even if it’s just a teenager with a kitchen knife. Once again, Israel will be shoehorned into the role of an occupier of people it doesn’t wish to occupy instead of defending its territory from outside threats. And we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.

For this reason, the only route to security is the creation of buffer zones in which the enemy doesn't have communities from which to lunch attacks. These zones can't be just de-millitarized. They have to be depopulated and deforested. They have to be reduced to deserts that will remind the enemy of the cost of attacking the Jewish state. 

Only then will Arabs view the war of aggression they’ve launched against Israel on October 7 as a defeat. Only then will Israel be able to defend its borders from external threats. Only then will it become possible to talk about peace. Only then will the IDF stop being a bloated police force and become a military again.

Anything else will just set the stage for the next bloody war.

URI KURLIANCHIK

NOV 22

[aviteirs]

✩ ‧₊˚ ✩ loving gojo satoru is cruel

note: hello dazzling you, you who by some miracle (algorithm) ended up here reading my little story, but I’m grateful, grateful that you took your time to even read this. This is my first time writing something like this so, crossing my fingers like Ken, hopefully you will like it.

“sadly too many of us stay together far longer than we should because it’s easier to say I love you than it is to say I don’t” - Beau Taplin

pairing: Gojo Satoru x fem!reader

synopsis: you understand your relationship has become toxic but after so many years with Gojo, you still love him and can’t let go.

warnings: pure angst, mention of cheating, sorcerer!Gojo x non-sorcerer!reader, hurt, did I tell you it’s angsty?, toxic established relationship

The room is dark and quiet, you’re on your bed staring at the glow in the dark star stickers scattered across the ceiling. Those stars a beautiful surprise he had given you some time ago right after you confessed you were having trouble sleeping due to recurring nightmares.

“Now you,” he points to the ceiling and you giggle, “my loyal star soldiers are in charge of keeping my precious princess safe when I’m not here,” he says giving you that grin you have come to adore and you laugh thankfully, cause maybe it is childish or sappy, no, maybe he is childish and sappy but you don’t care, you’re just so happy, he makes you just so happy.

You keep staring.

The stars don’t glow as much anymore, you notice, just a dim light remains and for a moment you think that maybe they are like you, they keep fighting cause they’re hopeful that things can go back to normal and that they can go back to glowing just as bright as they did before. A stupid thought you push aside.

You keep on staring for what feels like an eternity until the sound of the apartment door opening snaps you back to reality.

Turning your head, you glance at the clock sitting on the bedside table beside you.

2:35 a.m

There was a time, not too long ago, where you would’ve excitedly jumped out of your bed to welcome home the beautiful man of your dreams after days of not seeing him, courtesy of the long missions he’s always getting. And he would happily throw his things on the floor and remove his mask, just so he could open his arms for you to melt in, immediately kissing you with the same hunger and need and love as you.

You pretend you’re asleep.

A few minutes later you hear the bedroom door open. Keeping your eyes shut, you hear him call out your name. Your heart clenches. You ignore him. He waits for a few second then you hear him getting into the bathroom and re-emerging again, plopping down beside you. He must be really tired cause he immediately falls asleep.

He’s so close, you can feel the heat radiating from his body, so you try your best to even out your breathing in an effort to calm and stop yourself from shaking him awake and demand lies answers from him.

Thanks to his sorcerer friend you know he arrived four days ago.

He has been here for four days and didn’t tell you

As a non-sorcerer you are prohibited from knowing details of the missions they are given, being strictly confidential and all. Fortunately, your boyfriend never was the one to respect or follow rules so you always knew everything, and this time was no exception, so naturally you knew there was another sorcerer, one you’d met before, accompanying him. Safe to say it was a very awkward meeting when three days ago you bumped into him at the supermarket.

“Nanami?” You blurt out, stupidly staring at the blond tall man as if he has grown another head. He gives you a confused look before he greets you as politely as ever.

“Sorry for sounding weird,” you immediately try to explain yourself, “I thought you were also going with Satoru to that trip but I must’ve heard him wrong or something.” You try not to show any hint of emotion when he gives you another confused look and says, “I did go, the mission was cut short so we arrived yesterday. I thought you knew.”

For a very foolish, or maybe hopeful, moment you wanted to believe your boyfriend was just busy giving his report to those annoying higher ups he’s always whining about.

Unfortunately, you knew him better than to allow yourself to believe that.

So you decide to wait, that’s all you seem to be doing lately anyway, for him to choose to come home. To come home to you. While also doing the impossible of not giving in, grabbing your phone and reaching out to him and ask stupid questions like where is he, who is he with, why he still hasn’t come home.

Stupid questions because you know their answers, of course you do, it doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together. Sudden disappearances with no explanations, the once long texts and calls reduced to just the occasional hello, forgetting dates you both had already planned, his credit card purchases showing one too many gifts that you never received, lipstick stains on his shirts that could never be yours, you have never worn those shades of lipstick after all. But love is blind, love is stupid, love is forgiving that person over and over again because you don’t know what’s worse, them hurting you or the thought of never seeing them again. So you stay, despite the obvious lies that it’s all in your head cause he would never do that to you and the continuos heartbreaks, you stay.

Love is cruel.

Loving Gojo Satoru is cruel.

Life is cruel as well cause you are painfully well aware that you can’t bring yourself to hate him because, even as much as you want to, you can’t solely blame him for how toxic this has become. You have to admit it is also your fault, yours and your stupid stubborn heart that prefers the crumbs of a dead love you refuse to let go than learning to live a life without him in it.

After all, you open your eyes and turn your body to face him. Strands of that beautiful white hair of his fall to his face, his long eyelashes flutter softly and he snores softly, he is so cruelly and painfully beautiful, you lift your hand to caress him but you stop yourself just in time.

No matter how many times you tell yourself to let go and be over with this, you still love him, you love him so much it hurts.

And it will continue to hurt, cause maybe you’re just too weak to let him go or maybe he’s too much of a coward and a selfish bastard to not tell you the truth, he doesn’t love you, not anymore, not how he used to. Or maybe it’s both, but either way you won’t can’t let each other go.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Episode 2 of What If Season 2 poked the Peggy hornet’s nest and did exactly what I thought it would. 

So, for context, in this reality Yondu actually handed Peter Quill over to Ego when he was supposed to, and within just 6 months Ego was able to corrupt his son into a conqueror, so they invade Earth together. Peggy is director of SHIELD at the time, and she and Howard work together to assemble a proto-Avengers team to stop them. The team consists of Hank Pym, Bill Foster, T’Chaka, Thor, Wendy Lawson (who I think is from Captain Marvel), and… wait for it… the Winter Motherfucking Soldier. 

Yes, for real.

And because I know you’re thinking it, the excuse given is that he is in the hands of the Russians during this time, so Peggy and Howard couldn’t possibly have known about it UwU. Anyway, when they see him there’s a super drawn-out moment where they both think they recognize him (and it’s while he still has the mask on, so while this probably wasn’t intentional I actually read that as yet another middle finger to Steve, as Peggy could apparently recognize Bucky even under his disguise while Steve couldn’t). And then, Howard says, I shit you not: “I'd heard the rumors, but even if they’re true, the man we knew is long-gone, Peg, and we have bigger fish to fry.” And then later in the episode, with no segway from that to this, there’s a scene where they’re all together and the Winter Soldier has his mask off, and actually speaks. 

So, at least in this universe, Howard and Peggy are 100% aware that Bucky Barnes is in fact the Winter Soldier. Later on in the episode Howard attempts to get through to him, but only when it becomes a necessity to save the world (because he is about to kill Peter Quill while Hank is trying to convince him to turn on Ego), but it’s still pretty damning. And then at the end of the episode, rather than trying to rehabilitate him, they just let him go. Like, it’s not the same situation as Steve where he was out cold and unable to do anything, they could have taken Bucky in and tried to break his programming, but they didn’t. It’s left ambiguous what will happen to him after that, so it’s not like they sent him back to Hydra, but Hydra is still out there in this universe, so my hopes aren’t high.

TLDR; this episode attempts to handwave away the very strong possibility that the Howard and Peggy of the Prime Timeline knew what was happening to Bucky, but in doing so unintentionally made them look so much worse.

I don't... I can't even... WTF did I just read? (not you of course, I mean, what is wrong with Marvel?) 🤦‍♀️

So they use Bucky while brainwashed and/or still with Hydra's BS in his mind, and they don't even care to help him out after? They see a victim and they use him and then turn away from him, not caring about his well-being? And, I assume, Howard and Lady Brexit are still framed as good guys? And how are they any better than Hydra in that story?! The absolute nerve...

Once I read the spoilers a few days ago and saw they were going to have her as Director of SHIELD, I just knew they were going to absolve her of everything and never have her answer for any of her actions. And of course the only one who says he had "heard rumours" was Howard, not her. She's an angelic glorious being incapable of doing anything wrong. What in the absolute narrative protection is this...

Howard and Miss Brexit couldn't possibly know about Bucky... yeah, right. Except for the fact that they knew what Zola had done, because Steve told them, and they still willingly worked alongside him, even gave him a nickname. Oh Arnie, my beloved, wasn't it fun when you tortured Steve's best friend? Let's have some beer. I don't see how Miss "I shoot innocents when I'm jealous" Brexit could have recognized Bucky considering she didn't give a damn about him after Steve risked his own life against her wishes to save him, but apparently in this she can tell who he is even with a mask on? Damn girl, did you inject the serum in him yourself?

And I'm sorry but what is this... “I'd heard the rumors, but even if they’re true, the man we knew is long gone.” Excuse me? Oh, good enough to use but not good enough to save? How is the everloving hell is that even a line?! Oh my god, Marvel, just say you hate Bucky and go. I don't get it, what, he's the guy who ruins their beloved Steggy nonsense and they can't help themselves, they have to drag him through the mud for daring to be more important to Steve than Miss Brexit here? (And I say that as a non-shipper but holy crap, this is nuts.)

Not even in another timeline are these two somewhat redeemable. And Bucky is fucked up no matter what. Typical.

So the Infinity Saga had Stark as their golden boy and now it's Agent Brexit's time to shine... Will the Hero Cinematic Universe ever provide any heroes of narrative protection or are they going to choose the bad ones only? Oh, you're a soldier kidnapped, tortured and brainwashed? Go ahead and make amends, you monster. Oh, you willingly worked for the TVA and tortured and killed because you wanted to? Poor you, let us frame you as good and pat you on the back, you sweet thing.

Wow, I got mad in this one. Sorry. I have the Bucky feels right now 😜😂

[actualbird]

Luke Pearce and Conditional Faith: When Does A Skeptic Believe (or When Does He Want To)?

wc: 1.4k

obligatory disclaimer that these are just my own thoughts and interpretations. spoilers ahead for: SSR Shape Of You (the summer breeze card), SSR Overflowing Thoughts (the sott card), SSR Twinkling Eyes (the skadi card), and Main Story 9. 

Luke is a skeptic. 

I feel like anyone who is familiar with his stories knows and fully accepts this fact. While he’s a very emotional and warm guy, when it comes to like, his general view of Reality, he is the type of person to believe more in facts, science, evidence, tangible proof, and empirical explanations. A lighthearted example of this is in Luke’s Sweet Chapter Personal Story 3, where he and MC were investigating that abandoned school that everybody said was haunted by spirits and Luke calmly proved that it was nothing more than faulty circuitry. And in the same scene, MC fondly remembers how in their childhood, when other kids were telling ghost stories, Luke would just exclaim “THAT DOESNT MAKE SENSE” and spoil the fun of the spook. He’s such a STEM guy, it drives me nuts. 

And his skepticism doesn’t just happen there. It pops up over and over across a lot of his stories, and not just in terms of the supernatural. In general, Luke is a skeptic of anything that can’t be empirically proved, including: folk beliefs, spiritual things, the divine/gods.

(sidenote 1: which is REALLY interesting given what I brought up in a previous analysis I did about Luke and Catholic Guilt. Like, so much of his mental framework and morality is something very familiar to the kinds of ways-of-thinking you’d see in this religion. And yet he’s not religious. god gives the biggest ironies to his most skeptical soldiers, or something).

So he’s a skeptic, that’s clear. 

Except it isn’t, because there are times when he does believe in faith. Or wants to believe in it. And these moments are made so striking because of Luke’s general disposition towards skepticism, which is why I’d like to do a deep dive of When Luke “Skeptic Extraordinaire” Pearce Decides Or Desires To Believe.

(sidenote 2: just a disclaimer, all folk beliefs, spiritual things, the different kinds of divine/gods are all obviously very different from each other and I’m not saying that they’re conflate-able, DEFINITELY NOT, but just that in Luke’s stories specifically, they Do serve the same purpose to him; they're something he doesn't believe in)

But before I go into when he Decides Or Desires To Believe, I wanna first tackle why he Doesn’t.

The first reason for why Luke is a skeptic is just his general inclination towards empiricism (things are proven via experience and experimentation) and rationalism (things are proven through logic and reason). Like how it happened in the abandoned school scene I mentioned before. And it makes sense for Luke. He’s a STEM guy, but he’s also a detective. Proof matters, and proof creates reality. 

But another reason is more personal. Sometimes Luke doesn’t believe because of a sense of Betrayal mixed in with a “Fuck It, I’ll Do It Myself” mentality. 

In SSR Overflowing Thoughts, the AU shows Luke originally being trained to be a temple priest while MC was originally trained to be an assassin. But after seeing the sheer suffering MC had to withstand day after day even after praying to the for a peaceful life, Luke took her place and then later remarks “If gods truly exist, then why didn’t they help you despite all your prayers?” and in the flashback, he says “If she dies one day during training [...] then I’ll stop believing in the gods.” 

Here, Luke’s non-belief is due to what he expects higher powers to have responsibility over; taking care of good people. While this card is an AU card, I think it still carries over to regular-Luke because of Luke’s very strong sense of morality, of good and bad. If higher powers are good, but they allow bad to happen, then they can’t be good, or they must not exist in the first place.

So someone else has to do it. In SSR Overflowing Thoughts, it was Luke who saved MC, not the gods. And in SSR Shape of You, during their childhood, Luke had gone missing during the festival to seek the Land God to make a wish to erase himself from existence because Luke believed he was a burden and was robbing MC of the love of her parents buuuuut in the present, Luke remarks that he himself will be the one to repay all the love he had robbed her of.

In a way this is an honestly pretty noble kind of non-belief. There’s a cynical aspect to it, but Luke doesn’t just go “gods aren’t real, cowabummer”. Instead, it’s more like “there are no gods to do the good we want to see in this world, so we have to do that good ourselves.” 

So those are what leads to his non-belief, which is 99.9% of the time. But the few times he does the opposite were interesting because Luke only tends to do it under two circumstances.

1) I Want To Believe In This Because I Love You

Two cards I wanna talk about here: SSR Twinkling Eyes and SSR Shape Of You (again, not sorry, this card is so important to this post and also to mE PERSONALLY AHVKHS). 

In SSR Twinkling Eyes, Luke was his usual skeptical self at the whole local faerie folk beliefs up until Peanut’s messing up that faerie house meant that under the belief system, misfortune might fall upon MC. 

In SSR Shape Of You, at the very end of the story, he releases lanterns that are all wishes for MC’s benefit.

In both these cases, whether or not he truly believes or simply Wants To is up to debate, but it is clear that he does ascribe to actions under something that requires faith due to his love for MC. 

What happened to Luke the skeptic? He’s still very much there but there’s caveats now. He’ll ascribe to a degree of belief if it means keeping MC safe, if it means ensuring her safety and happiness in the future. Which is so fucking sweet and tender, fucking hell, Luke “I’ll give the divine a chance if only for you” Pearce, OOOAAAUUUGGHH.

But where there’s light, there’s also dark. Because sometimes his reason is…

2) I Want To Believe In This Because I Hate Me

Two stories I wanna talk about here: SSR Shape Of You (this card is a legend, mentioned 3 times in this post alone…) and Main Story 9

In SSR Shape Of You, the entire reason Luke even looks for the Land God (thus implying that, if even for one night, he did believe in the god) was due to self-loathing. He saw himself as a burden, he wanted to wish he never existed and that nobody would remember him because he was convinced his mere presence caused bad.

In Main Story 9…..hoo boy, Main Story 9, HAHA. At the very end of the chapter, we see a flashback where Luke—a little bit after the mission where he was the only survivor—has this exchange with Aaron

Now, it could be argued that this is more psychological than it is spiritual (this whole thing smacks of unaddressed PTSD, after all) and while that Definitely is a factor, it’s key to note the language used here being specific: spirits, gods, believe. 

And why does Luke want to believe? Why does he wish it was real even if his usual inclination is skepticism? 

Because he’s guilty. He’s so guilty. And you only ever feel guilty when you think you’re in the wrong. You only ever apologize when you think you’re responsible for wrong.

He wants to believe because he thinks himself a sinner and that only afterlife can grant him a chance at absolution.

That’s the flipside of his belief. Either he loves another so much or hates himself too much. 

So like, now that we’re here, what does it all “Mean” then? Ehhhh nothing much tbh jHVKJ. It just Struck Me. It’s just something I really liked seeing because it’s such a genuine and human kind of ‘hypocrisy’; no matter how rooted in reality we are, when we’re driven by intense emotion (positive OR negative), we’ll grasp for more.

More what? More Anything. More answers, more possibilities, just…More. Sometimes intense emotion makes Just Reality feel like it isn’t enough to explain or address whatever we’re feeling. 

When Luke is pushed by his devoted love or by his intense self-loathing, the limits of tangible empirical reality just don’t cut it. He’ll believe or want to believe in something more.

[mapplesand]

List of the Morbid Minds AU

AU : Alternate Universe, just in case someone out there keep seeing this and pretend they totally know what this mean

because when your special interest is your own story, you gotta find a way to feed the illusion that this is a fandom to your brain

most of these are about Marco and Tristan but some others characters can play a role too

Rotten Minds/Bad Ending AU

this is the first AU I ever done with them, back in july 2024, I wrote like 75 pages of this one so it's probably more elaborate than the others

probably met each other earlier in life at some point in middle school when Tristan was still grieving his mother and was coping with tcc and gore, they end up fueling each other dark interest, coping mechanism and fucked up fantasies which continues throughout high school

Marco wouldn’t change that much except that instead being scared of himself he’s using hate as a way to keep himself alive, he beats up people way more in high school and while people still bully him, most people are probably scared of him. His violent fantasies are mixing up with his porn addiction and he can’t really decipher which one is which (unless there’s a clear context lol)

Tristan would be way more aloof, he’s just as quiet as before but like a cold stare and cold anger (while Marco got the hot and explosive anger) he doesn’t really yell but you know when he’s mad at the tone of his voice, he also tend to swear more and be more violent with his words

this one is for the toxic yaoi enjoyer i guess, because it does get really toxic because they're bouncing each other darkest part of their personalities and often actually physically fight

Every trans AU

related to this insane post I made a while ago

I wrote something about their transmasc selves at some point too which was following the premise i talked about in the post but i'm gonna sum it up here

Marco is a trans guy struggling a lot with self hatred and dysphoria who believes in transmed rethorics while Tristan is a trans guy who doesnt bind, doesn't want to take T and didn't really change much about how he presents himself, Marco doesnt really like Tristan throughout high school because he thinks he has it easy and will probably go back to being a "cis woman" after a while

and then they go to college and have to share a dorms together which means that Marco actually get to know Tristan more and rethink his own opinion because he's actually being kind of shitty sometimes

Cis women AU

slighly talked about in the post above

what if Marco and Tristan were Marcy and Tiphaine

that's it, that's the plot, they're just weird girls, the name of this AU is funny tho

New England AU (historical)

set in the late 1600s

Tristan is a french aristocrat sent to the colonies of New England in America and ends up on the coasts of the Connecticut Colony. He is the only one in his crew to America that still uses a rapier instead of a gun to fight, he would consider himself to be a musketeer but in reality he’s only an aristocrat and a diplomat. He is known for his liking of culture and literature and also, sleeping around with married men.

Marco is born into the colony from a german navigator and a filipino woman. He is currently a soldier into the army and a skilled gun man, although he tried to court many women, he was unsuccessful in making his way to marriage, or even premarital sex, and he did try, he really did.

Josh is one of Marco’s superior, betrothed to a woman he doesn’t like, he spent his nights seeing prostitutes until he meets a painter called Tyler.

They’re all 21 here.

if you're wondering what Tristan would look like here's a post about it

Tristan do be having more gay sex in these AU huh

Wild West AU

During the gold rush era

Marco is the son of a rich german man who ran away to piss of his father, Tristan is a farm boy who tries to get rich by going to the west. They both met on a train to California, Marco wasn’t on his first attempt at running away from home, especially now that his father is actually trying to get him married. Tristan lived off stealing from richer men that were falling for his charms. While on their way, they both develop some kind of criminal reccord by continuously stealing from rich men and hijacking stagecoaches.

They both arrive at some random town that became pretty popular for gold diggers and start pissing everyone off honestly.

Meanwhile, Josh is the absurdly young new sheriff in town who had to abruptly take the place of the old sheriff when he died. Tyler is a criminal that got locked up by Josh, which he prides himself for, but Tyler actually didn’t do much effort to not get arrested. He somehow always ends up getting out of his jail cell until Josh doesn’t even bother to lock him up again because he won’t do anything without his weapons and access to explosives materials.

They’re all around 22-23 years old here.

Heathers AU

basically the movie Heathers but with some changes to fit the characters, Marco is obviously JD while Tristan is Veronica

Bestars AU

Tristan is a hybrid wolf-deer, it doesn’t really show except when he starts growing antlers by the end of high school. Marco is a hyena, not much to say here it would probably be similar to whatever happens in canon.

Josh is a ram, rather tall for his species and overcompensating for being a herbivore by hanging out with carnivore. Tyler is a bear, fascinated by the beauty of true animal nature.

They’re probably like 17-18.

Demon Hunter AU

Marco is a demon hunter from a catholic demon hunter family, Tristan is a demon and Marco has to hide him from his family

it's actually the second AU i came up with and I have some drawings about it, mostly with Marco becoming a monster fucker lmao

They're both 19.

Monster AU

Marco is a vampire, Tristan is a werewolf, can I make it any more obvious

Marco probably stalks Tristan until he actually interacts with him and really wants to turn him into a vampire for normal reasons and then there's a full moon and he realizes Tristan isnt a human but a stupid autistic furrball who's really affectionate

Soulmates AU

related to this post about Marco and Tristan sharing their pain

listen, i was never a big fan of soulmates but these two do find each other in a lot of universe so idk

90s AU

what if the story was set in the 90s instead of the 2020s, well things would change and some wouldn't, at least now Marco will look like he actually belong to this era because even in 2020s he just looks like a 90s kid who got lost in time

this list might update with time because I will always come up with something crazy

maybe i'll post what I wrote about some of these AU because there's a lot sometimes

[autism-purgatory]

Poorly Summarized WIP Tag

thanks for the tag @the-golden-comet!

Our Lonely Ocean:

Fantasy romance where closeted a prince comes to an island kingdom to become a squire, where he meets two really odd companions and an even more closeted knight who’s getting married in two months. They get along…ok at first, but will they overcome their rivalry whilst protecting the islands from invasive beas- oop nvm they’re fucking.

Altered_Humanity (AUGMENTED HUMANITY IS BACK BABY WOOOO)

Android wakes up in an overgrown post apocalyptic world and finds out magic exists now whoops. Turns out it was real all along and has suddenly returned in full swing (including giant cathedrals that can be seen from orbit). So said android had her arm replaced with that of her dead human wife who could use magic blah blah blah. Now she has to stop some eldritch elf twink from destroying all that remains of the old world with the help of an annoying hacker and a golem without a tongue.

Viscered:

Single dad who’s actually an escaped bio weapon is like one bad day from killing himself after the death of his wife, but he has a 10 month old son to take care of. Oh, also the government wants their super weapon back.

Loop of the Hollow:

Man that small town in southwest Texas sure is racist. And haunted, like, extremely haunted.

LunuL:

Three bounty hunters in the late 22nd century. Earth was overtaken by a prehistoric pathogen, humanity lives on mars now, aliens exist, you get the gist. Said bounty hunters don’t pay their rent in time and The Horrors TM ensue due to their landlord being a powerful crime boss. Also eyes. Loooooots of eyes. We’ve got a nerd who hates how light sounds, a former soldier who is surprisingly happy despite everything, and Astra, with whatever the fuck she’s got going on. And of course, they each have enough emotional baggage to drag down a plane.

Shadows Over Novald:

Urban Dark Fantasy. Murder Crime Soulmates are about to ditch Gotham but 10 times worse, when the god of death shrouds the city in darkness and asks everyone to find and kill five magic wielding humans in the city or else everyone dies to the undead. While this is happening, the most dysfunctional detectives ever are trying to find another way to break the curse.

WanderStruck: Nephew of closeted knight from before is ALSO getting forcefully married when he and his half sister suddenly get pulled through reality and into…modern day Los Angeles? So now they’re trying to find a way home with the help of some nerd who just wanted an internship at a cool tech company. He had no clue they did multiversal travel and just wanted to type at a desk.

Tales of the Sculpted Lands: A dark fantasy anthology about a land sculpted from primordial clay. It’s a dying, complicated world full of complicated people with complicated problems. Some tales are more adventurous and end happily, others absolutely don’t.

Grayguard: Ah shit I spilled my TOTK copy and my cup of Jujutsu Kaisen. Fantasy world where all magical aspects fall under chaos or order. Humans, animals, and elves are the only exception. Each major kingdom has a guild, one being the Grayguard, who’s leader is the strongest warrior in the land. Everything falls apart when a mysterious demon with magic robots kidnaps her. Now her students have to stumble their way into rescuing her and stopping the major kingdoms from imploding, all while old threats from their leader’s past begin to rear their ugly heads.

And last but not least: Chaos Travelers

The least deranged and unhinged fantasy motley crew come to the island kingdom from before to stop a doomsday cult from resurrecting the god of chaos. Hilarity and angst ensues. Our glorified D&D party includes a humanoid dragon bard with a southern accent, a runaway from said doomsday cult, a cat lady with magic paint who may or may not have sold her soul, and a mute knight with WAY too many knives.

Tagging @mk-writes-stuff @willtheweaver @alinacapellabooks @frostedlemonwriter + open tag!

[theshadowrealmitself]

Marvel x Stardew Valley Crossover?

The Farmer being the spider-person of their universe, except their world already has monsters and magic and the like—with the means to defend themselves. While the Adventurer’s guild is run by two people base-game. Surely, there are more guilds out there that go off to fight monsters across the regions. So. What’s an (accidentally) enhanced individual who spent most of their time acting normal to do? Did the spider bite happen before they started working at Jojacorp or after?

Something from the mines? A radioactive spider from some of Joja’s potential waste dumps?

Being out in the country is both better and worse for their enhanced senses. Less people mindlessly milling about, but so many freaking animals!

Maru could be the Gwen Stacy/MJ to their Peter Parker. Morris is that reality’s Norman Osborne? Sam is it’s Flash (Flash went off to be a soldier in the original comics) but less bullying. Harvey is the Curt Connors? Who’s experimenting with monster DNA/materials to try to make new medicine?

It’s an idea.

I have. A thing. That makes me feel like an asshole. But I,,, how do I put this?

I’m very picky about crossovers/au’s like that? Like, in my head, for some reason, some roles can be taken over, like it makes perfect sense to me to imagine the reverse of that where Peter Parker is actually taking over the role of the Farmer and is moving to Pelican Town after Aunt May’s death to cope with everything and he’s struggling with farming and all these attractive singles in the area (Miles has everything covered in New York while he grieves don’t worry about it)

But when it comes to characters who don’t already exist in the marvel universe, I can’t see them take over as a spiderperson. To me, that’s not a role that’s available to crossovers

(And it sucks because having different characters have au’s where they’re Spiderman is surprisingly popular 😭)

And there’s a lot of different media like that for me where I’m like “that crossover character can take your role, but you can’t take their role”

You have a fun idea!! It just hits a specific nerve I have ��😭😭 I’m so sorry

[cheemscakecat]

Alternate Tf2 Mercs

I headcanon that the Tf2 crew gets so used to the rotation of enemy teams - especially that one team that looks almost identical- that they just… see everyone looking identical to them except for their clothes.

Like they could look and sound very different in reality, but our RED team isn’t going to remember 9 faces and voices for each BLU team rotation, especially if there’s more than 5 in their general area.

That being said, I have some ideas.

A Scout from the Appalachian mountains who knows all the cryptid lore. So he’s not afraid to go into an unfamiliar forest, but gives other teammates an earful if they’re and I quote;“Disrespectful houseguests”.

A Scout who is obsessed with carbohydrates; he orders pizza, donuts, bread and pasta. [I saw a sad post of a Blu Spy shooting his son and saying that from the start, he didn’t want to have him. I imagine he got brought back by their Medic and left mercenary work to start his own bakery].

A Soldier from Russia that scares the others a little, since he was involved in the Attack of the Dead Men.

A Germaphobe Pyro who refuses to take off the mask in the dirty base, and uses fire to cleanse areas that are “biohazards”.

An Engineer who totally isn’t an alien who escaped Area 51, haha. He wears a hard hat that covers his ears and never takes it or the goggles off. Probably has unexpected allergies to Earth food.

‘Merican monster truck enthusiast Heavy from Florida.

Emo Medic with a monotone voice that likes to drone on about his favorite medical procedures.

High strung female Medic with a short temper.

Kleptomaniac Demoman that frequently gets caught wandering the battlefield and hoarding enemy supplies that he wants.

A Spy that sells his own teammates’ secrets to the Administrator, and who has more leeway for failure since he’s an asset. I imagine she values spies that are only loyal to her, especially so she doesn’t have to hire dimwit directors again.

[maid-with-sunset-in-her-hair]

The Eyrie is Impregnable

The constant repetition that nobody can take the Eyrie by force is meant to lure us into a false sense of security, it's not foreshadowing a subversion of that statement. We don't worry about the characters living there, because they are inside the safest most secure place in the whole world:

Lysa covered her boy's ear with her hand. "Even if they could bring an army through the mountains and past the Bloody Gate, the Eyrie is impregnable. You saw for yourself. No enemy could ever reach us up here." (AGOT Catelyn VI)

Except that Lysa was murdered by her own husband, who is also slowly poisoning her son. Lysa also assured Sansa that the Eyrie was impregnable and would protect them from Tywin's army if he ever found out about Sansa being there, only to turn around and try to murder Sansa herself a couple of days later. How is a castle supposed to protect you from your enemies if they’re already inside? Most importantly, the Eyrie’s own strategic position also makes it easy to besiege by enemies:

They had no eggs, no more than they had bacon. The Eyrie's granaries held sufficient oats and corn and barley to feed them for a year, but they depended on a bastard girl named Mya Stone to bring fresh foodstuffs up from the valley floor. With the Lords Declarant encamped at the foot of the mountain there was no way for Mya to get through. Lord Belmore, first of the six to reach the Gates, had sent a raven to tell Littlefinger that no more food would go up to the Eyrie until he sent Lord Robert down. It was not quite a siege, not as yet, but it was the next best thing. (AFFC Alayne I)

What use is all that grain if they will die from scurvy first? Scurvy has a mortality rate of approximately 75% after 10 months without any vitamin C, and the terrain up there is rocky so nothing much grows. The author is aware of this fact, that's why he included Davos smuggling onions during the year-long siege of Storm's End. Good thing that Littlefinger has the support of the Lannisters and the Lords Declarent actually care about Sweetrobin’s wellbeing, because they could’ve easily besieged the Eyrie into surrending:

On the valley floor autumn still lingered, warm and golden, but winter had closed around the mountain peaks. They had weathered three snowstorms, and an ice storm that transformed the castle into crystal for a fortnight. The Eyrie might be impregnable, but it would soon be inaccessible as well, and the way down grew more hazardous every day. Most of the castle's servants and soldiers had already made the descent. Only a dozen still lingered up here, to attend Lord Robert. (AFFC Alayne II)  

The servants and guards aren't going to risk getting snowbound up there for years and die from starvation or the cold, if the siege had extended they would've rebelled or mass deserted.

As a fortress, the Eyrie is a strategic disaster, but chances are that it’s function is to be an embodiment of the feudal contract, both in universe and out universe. A liege Lord seems untouchable, but in reality he completely depends from his vassals and servants for survival, and has as much power as they grant him. No wonder the Arryn are so focused in honor and maitaining promises, their castle is a constant reminder of their own vulnerability. It’s the perfect place for Sansa to learn how to be a good ruler.

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

Why Outlander characters have not aged the best?

Everybody knows without makeup you see any actor look like an ordinary person. I did notice after they take a long break in a flash of season 8, Outlander’s actors appear not ageing without exception.

I am asking this because in this way none of them has struggled much starred their characters according to their age (non-ageing and still looking younger during this period of suffering, anxiety, habits and years of war were practically impossible in the XVIII century) It is difficult to believe that even actors and actresses in such a short duration of time try to play a role that appears out of reality while most people have struggled in every such field for years.

It is always good to dream and have something to look forward to, but not something that does not adapt to the real situation in time. It is a romance based on a fictional novel, the passage of time must also be reflected in the faces of both actors, although they usually look younger than the supposed age in fiction. No doubt it is difficult to believe.

The TV show is seen not be affected by the passage of time - where the characters age slowly or not at all. Or they exist in realities where the narrative is supposed to be limited to a period, regardless of how much time has passed in the “real world”, where more than thirty years were supposed to have passed when in reality the program lasts ten years.

It can create errors in the narrative canon - If the series lasts for years or even more than a decade, then there have been so many writers employed that keeping things accurate becomes difficult.

The leading actor SH now an executive producer may not want this to occur. He’s always very sensitive to his ageing and if his character’s primary appeal is his appearance, in and out of screen then birthdays and mentioning his age always have to be an unpleasant reminder to him.

At his age this is how JF should look.

I wonder what SH's contribution as an executive producer will be to help his character and the final story of Outlander. It’s rarely a source of humour (his favourite specialities) that could be used for dramatic tension, even then it’s very limited. It can be difficult to integrate it into the narrative.

If the executive producer doesn’t know, SH won’t add much to the show. The actor may not know it or care, but must be on set for every detail this is supposed part of his executive producer job; in the end, SH wanted this title in his resume. Sometimes STARZ’s politics in certain specific fields has no substance or foundation.

In their mid 60's this is how J&C should look.

Outlander series season seven takes place predominantly in 1776, more than 30 years after season one. Jamie and Claire are supposed to be nearing 60 years old, but the actors look over a decade younger. The majority of other actors are much closer in age to their characters.

If the depiction of a couple looking younger is what caused the attraction in the first place, particularly if they’re more than a couple of years younger than the character, and the difference can be quite large, at this point it’s almost comical. They can’t do to properly make a character credible.

As an addendum, the average age of the British soldier in the American Revolution was about thirty, with men well into their forties serving. Older soldiers in their thirties or even forties were common and effective.

Charles Cornwallis 1st Marquess Cornwallis was a British Army General, Leader of the British Army who served during the Revolutionary War. He led British forces to success in New York and Philadelphia before moving to the war's southern theater in 1780.

The Patriot (2000) - Tom Wilkinson as Gen. Lord Charles Cornwallis

The founding fathers in 1776 were younger than you’d think. It was very common in the 18th century for men to not age well.

George Washington, was 44, during American Independence War. He was older than most (but still, the same age as Sam Heughan) and you can see the difference how look a commander the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) as his age @ mount_vernon IG

This is the perspective in the 18th century….… You will never be younger than you are today.

Credit to the owners’ photos with age effects editor.

Posted 3rd April 2024