#for your safety to have proof record and save the shit they say and do

[ghostickle]

Since this blog is just a public diary at this point here’s how my life is going rn;

As we all know I’m living in a friends closet, literally. And I Had finally gotten a job after like two months but then Those Cunts managed to convince me they weren’t so shitty and after only like a week and a half at the new job they got me thinking about moving back there where I don’t have to walk so far in the dark for work and where there’s always clean running water and where my puppy is. I thought I was going to quit the job I had just gotten to go back then last night they have me FaceTime them literally doing this shit like it’s an interview and it’s supposed to be my parents and they’re talking about if I’m allowed back saying I act like a toddler that I’m a liar and I’m “putting them in danger” by telling my friends what’s going on and leaving their house and they start saying how they’ll kick me out if they decide they don’t like something I do or say at any moment and all the same shit they tried to pull before I left and I, now heavily dissociated and realizing I fucked up trusting them, realize I can’t go back what the fuck was I thinking but I already had gone too far. I had to leave the job I just got that I really liked after only two weeks because I trusted them and I lost everything I spent two months working for and I have to start all over again

[chewiiez]

idol! idol! idol au part two!

let’s actually discuss the jw scandal, since everyone was curious (✯ᴗ✯)

in the original tgcf, we know that one of the main ways jw manipulated/tortured xie lian was through isolation! the xianle war being a indirect factor into making mq leave, and fx being forced to leave by xl because he was in such a bad state mentally due to the hallucinations. hc has to leave, too, because he was but a mere ghost flame. in those weakest times, was when xie lian truly lost his sanity, was tortured beyond belief. and that’s the sort of route i want to take with this au.

let’s reiterate: on the survival show, because the unfolding of events there is super important. mu qing being brought back was a great decision for most, but for some toxic ot3 stans, he becomes their punching bag. to isolate xie lian, jw takes the first step: getting the other members out of the picture! and with his ceo fingers, he strings together a bullying scandal.

if you don’t follow kpop or other idol industries, a bullying scandal is basically your reputation in the mud. bullying scandals have ruined so many idols’ lives, especially the false ones. dispatch, paparazzi, will post whatever clout they have, and netizens will devour it, and proceed to harass said idol. to create a false scandal would mean that jw has guaranteed mq’s exit ticket, because him staying in the group would affect their reputation. remember the shackle on mq’s wrist? yeah, with a few threats to the other member’s safety, jw manages to make mq leave the group. 

and just like in tgcf, mq soon becomes hated by the other 3 members, because yeah, the scandal, proof, and fabricated texts looked legit. and finding a lawyer…was tough. soon, mq’s insta is gone, and any support for him (except for a few of his genuine stans) is wiped off the timeline. all we see is #justiceforx3 and #kickmqout trending. 

following the canon order, feng xin is next. another toxic part of idol culture is diets. and my headstrong belief is that feng xin would say “fuck you” to the diets and build his muscle his way. (diets can be interpreted as the cultivation method xl+mq were on, too.) when jw threatens him, and forces a same fate on feng xin, feng xin realizes he must leave: to make sure he can still stay in contact with xl, redeem himself and talk to mq, and file a fucking lawsuit. because no way in hell is fx letting jw off the hook. i haven’t developed this part yet, but thinking about fx hinting at hc about how something is wrong, and hc catching on to jw’s sus behaviour. 

x4 is no more. jw has almost succeeded. the only thing blocking his way? gege’s #1 believer, hua cheng. threats don’t work on this guy. hc alerts xl, who isn’t stupid, guys. he pretends to play along, but is really secretly recording all these conversations as proof to present in court. 

meanwhile, fx meets with a solemn mq, who refuses to talk to him, or do anything idol related. he finds that mq’s mom died, which put him in an even worse situation. like every post-canon tongulu fix-it, fx slowly realizes his mistakes, but mq also realizes his lack of communication. a slow romance is perhaps in the works, but the more important part? saving xl. once mq is let in on the plan, he reveals every small detail he’s collected, from evidence proving him innocent, and snippets of conversations he recorded, to strict, unfair, diets. 

and just as xl is about to finalize the details of his solo contract, hc whisks him away (with full consent). A very controversial figure has sent some data to dispatch, and the shit has hit the fan, because suddenly the mq stans are out of hiding, with full reciepts. a once-in-a-lifetime event occurs, where fxmq stans bond together to make threads upon threads of mistreatment. oddly anonymous accounts leak texts, voice snippets, and other proof of fake bullying scandals and the general mistreatment x4 has faced: whether it be line distributions, restrictions, or other things. it is a chaos. bad for jw, but just amazing for x4.

jw is arrested, held at trial where he pleads guilty. jail, jail. #weloveyoumq, #weloveyoufx, #weloveyouxl, #weloveyouhc are the top 4 trending tags. #foureverswithx4 is everywhere. x4 mends their relationship tentatively, they reopen their social media, and sign contracts under YH entertainment, the same producer on their survival show, Yushi Huang’s company. 

XI4NLE is back, better than ever.

and that’s the jw scandal (*´ω｀*) wdym i spent a lifetime on this haha...ofc not...

next is song recs and lime distributions, as well as dynamics :D

[topazadine]

What to do if you're hit by a car while riding your bike

A little PSA because I write about personal injury law firms all day every day for the most part, and I don't see this discussed a lot on good old Tumblr.

I am not a lawyer, btw, I just write this for my job, so don't come to me about legal advice. This is only the stuff that has been burned into my head through hours of researching and writing.

Before you even get on, WEAR A DAMN HELMET. In some jurisdictions, it is the law. In every jurisdiction, it can save your life. You should also wear closed-toed shoes with a good grip and put lights on your bike.

When you have been hit, get to a safe place and then stay still. Don't move any more than necessary. Cars are enormous and they can easily break your spine. You may not immediately know that you're injured because of adrenaline, but the more you move, the more you may hurt yourself. Get out of the way of oncoming traffic and then stay put as much as you can.

Call 911. Again, you may not feel hurt, but you still need to go to the hospital. I cannot stress enough how important it is to go to the hospital RIGHT AWAY. Not only does this ensure you don't have a head or spinal cord injury, but it also documents the accident for insurance purposes.

Never ever ever ever EVER admit fault. Do not apologize to the driver. Don't apologize to the police or EMS for inconveniencing them. Don't say you were in the wrong place. Don't tell the insurance company you probably did something wrong. If the driver or police or anyone tries to bully you, tell them that there will be an investigation that will prove fault.

If the idiot driver did not drive off, get their contact and insurance information. You will need this if you are going to file an insurance claim against them. If they did drive off, then they're in hella trouble and the police will track them down because that is a felony if there's a serious injury.

Take pictures of the accident scene. You should be staying still as much as possible, so if there are any onlookers, ask them to take your phone and take pictures of the scene and your injuries. Make sure they get exterior shots of the car and of your bike. This will help bolster your claim, and you may even get the bike reimbursed for property damages.

Get contact information for eyewitnesses. Ask them to give you their name and phone number, as they can be used as eyewitness testimony. I get that this can be uncomfortable, but explain that you might want to file a claim and people will want to talk to them. Be pushy if you have to.

File a police report. Yes we all hate police, I get it. But file a police report anyway. The more documentation you can have, the better for insurance purposes. Insurance companies may also demand this.

Go to the hospital!! Please please please. I know you're scared of bills if you're in America, but please think about that later. There are ways to get medical bills forgiven or paid for through insurance. Your health and safety come first. And you will need proof that you were injured in the accident, which is what medical reports are for.

Ask the hospital to provide all of your medical records related to the accident. If you work with a personal injury attorney (which you should!!) you can sign a release that lets them do this for you, but get your own copies anyway. Insurance companies may do really scummy shit where they claim your injury was due to a pre-existing condition, so you need this evidence to show that no, your broken arm wasn't broken before the bike accident. (Yes, they really will pull that.)

If you have car insurance, inform your insurance company that you were in a bike accident. It's not always the case, but they might be able to help you depending on your specific policy, especially if the motorist was uninsured.

File a claim against the driver. That's why you need to get the driver's insurance information. Look them up and submit a claim.

Don't speak to anyone else. Don't post on social media, don't tell your family and friends. All this can and will be used against you. After you submit your claim, don't talk to the driver, don't talk to the insurance company, don't do any of that.

CALL AN ATTORNEY!!!

"Blah blah Topazadine personal injury lawyers are scummy and-"

Shut. Most personal injury firms work on a contingency fee basis, meaning that you don't owe them anything if they don't get you at least some settlement. If they don't think you have a claim, they won't work with you. They lose money by taking on frivolous lawsuits. They won't do that.

And why would I lie to you about this? I don't get anything from telling you to call an attorney. I may write articles for one or two personal injury law firms, but there's thousands of them out there, and your case isn't keeping this particular firm's lights on, so I have no reason to care if you call them or not. Except I care about you and fellow bikers.

Anyway.

What personal injury attorneys can do for you:

Talk to the other driver, insurance company, etc, on your behalf so you don't have to deal with it

Determine how much your injuries are worth according to precedent and something called an injury multiplier (basically more serious injuries get more money)

Consider your future medical needs, time off work to recover, how much to repair or replace your bike, etc

Ensure the insurance company doesn't lowball you (which they will if you don't have an attorney)

Help you file paperwork

Get access to surveillance footage and other resources the average person cannot find

Hunt down and contact eyewitnesses for their testimony

Review medical reports to prove how the accident happened

Consult with experts in bike accidents who can support your argument

Add in non-economic damages like pain and suffering or emotional distress

Negotiate with insurance to get more than you could get on your own

Advise you on what is a fair settlement

File a lawsuit and represent you in court if necessary (not always necessary, many cases are settled out of court)

Again, you lose nothing but some time by contacting a lawyer. If you're not sure, check the firm's site to see if they work on a contingency fee basis, which means their payment is contingent on you winning. They deduct their fees from your settlement so you pay nothing out of pocket.

Also, personal injury settlements are usually tax free, so you won't even be hit with a huge tax bill at the end of the year, either. There is very little risk to talking to an attorney except maybe being hounded by dozens of lawyers you gave your contact information to.

Insurance companies are scummy and will do everything in their power to prevent you from getting a dime. You need someone to advocate for you, especially when you're scared, overwhelmed, and vulnerable from an injury.

Stay safe out there!

[tarosin]

The great adventures of y/n, Tommy, Jack and Tubbo

Requested:yes/no

Pairing: Platonic jack/tommy/tubbo/reader

Summary: another day another adventure

Content warning: cursing / I didn't proof read

An: reader has bright unnatural hair I wrote a lot, I can't figure out how to add read more on mobile I'm sorry

The music you were currently listening to was interrupted by the discord group notifying you that you have a new message.

Tommy: Y/N HOW BUSY ARE YOU TUBBO HAS COME TO VISIT AND JACK IS HERE

y/n: I mean I've currently got hair dye on but it’s being washed off and dried in around 20 minutes, why?

y/n: WAIT TUBBO?!?!

tubbo: oh yeah I forgot to tell you

y/n: how did you forget you know what nevermind, I’m glad you’re here :]

jack: we should be here in an hour so you have plenty of time to get ready

tubbo: what colour dye y/n

y/n: you’ll see soon enough as apparently, you’re all showing up at my house

Tommy: I suggest you wear comfortable shoes

y/n: I am terrified

Tommy: you have nothing to fear... for now

•••

luckily it had only taken you just over 40 minutes to get ready giving you roughly 20 minutes to prepare for the adventure ahead. or so you thought, as soon as you sat down ready to check your phone the sound of Tommy and tubbo laughing could be heard from your room, jack sent a message “hey we got here extremely early I’m sorry there’s no rush the others have been distracted by dreams music :)”

grabbing a backpack from next to your bed you had quickly chucked your phone and purse into the bag unsure as to what you’re going to need today.

•••

as soon as you opened the door you were met with an ecstatic tubbo who instantly pulled you into a hug unable to contain their excitement of seeing their friend

“I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN AGES YOUVE CHANGED SO MUCH LOOK AT YOUR HAIR”

“I look exactly the same”

“Now I’m no genius y/n but last time we spoke you didn’t have unnatural hair”

you paused for a moment as tubbo had a point the last time you and tubbo were on face time your hair was classed as a natural colour however today as a fuck you to your school which didn’t allow unnatural hair you decided to dye it your favourite colour.

“you raise a fair point now if you don’t mind releasing me from your grasp I have to lock the door so no one gets in”

•••

“Tommy unlock the door let tubbo and y/n in”

“Y/N YOU'RE HERE- HOLY SHIT YOUR HAIR! JACK ARE YOU SEEING THIS”

“Hello to you too Tommy”

“well if we weren’t going to get noticed at the shopping centre earlier y/ns bright fucking hair will definitely cause people to notice us”

“oh I’m sorry I didn’t expect to be going shopping with a bunch of Minecraft streamers today”

“don’t you stream Minecraft?”

“This isn’t about me jack”

the trip to the shops was surprisingly relaxing y/n sat at the front listening to jack sing along to songs playing on the radio, however, it was clear the boys had something they weren’t telling y/n which became evident through Tommy and tubbo bickering in the back of the car about who was going to tell them. it was a relatively short journey due to the fact you lived close to the city centre

•••

“let’s go shopping boys” Tommy practically yelled to everyone, tubbo held his phone in your direction then looked towards you, nodding at him you grabbed his phone and began recording

“I'm vlogging”

Tommy walked over “YEAHHHHH”

walking past cex you had to put up with Tommy making sex jokes until you made it to game, you stood holding back your laugh as you filmed Tommy and tubbo fighting about who’s paying whilst jack went off to buy a Minecraft squishy and mug despite everyone’s arguments against it. soon enough fans came over asking for photos with you all once the group of fans left jack took over recording for tubbo whilst you went off to quickly buy some games that you could play on stream.

•••

“want a wig bro? jack!”

the four of you walked into the shop, you couldn’t help but stand in awe looking at all the bright colours already questioning what colour to dye your hair next the sound of Tommy and jack being amazed pulled you out of your thoughts

“Gogy goggles, I’m actually buying them”

“i wan’t a pair”

“no, you’re getting a wig jack”

“I don’t want a wig I want George”

“y/n has bright hair and they’re not complaining”

“what do you have against people with colourful hair jack hmm?”

•••

“I'm not happy”

“you look lovely jack”

“we’re getting so many looks”

tubbo stopped everyone to ‘fix’ jacks wig which resulted in everyone laughing once you had finally stopped laughing you noticed tubbo had walked off and you were convinced jack had randomly decided to record strangers until you saw tubbo going up and down escalators

“oh there he goes again”

“pov you’re thinking about bees”

“where to next boys?”

Tommy pointed towards the lift

“Is this a lift for us”

Tommy noticed the safety sign and automatically made comments about it

“keeping us all safe is what I would say if I wasn’t carrying a knife”

“oh same Tommy”

“look you can see me”

taking that as an invitation to join the vlog you stood behind tubbo and pointed at the sign again and looked at Tommy and jack

“keeping us all safe is what I would say if we weren’t about to do this-“

the three of you went to jump up and down

“NO”

the four of you quietly left the lift however you were convinced that the public heard Tommy comment on having a knife and you threatening to jump as once the lift opened everyone was staring at you but it could also be due to the fact you had brightly coloured hair and somehow convinced jack to keep the wig on, you all spent a long time trying to convince Tommy to get a new outfit, eventually you went into another shop a certain keyboard caught your eye

“I’ve found my home, ill stay here at the gamer bunker”

you decided now was the perfect time to sneak off to buy the keyboard that had caught your eye, once tubbo noticed it was too late you stood holding the bag with your purchase leaving you stood in the middle of the shop defending your purchase to him claiming that it was a business expense and not just because you thought it looked cool.

“you told me you wanted to save your money”

“it lights up tubbo and it fits the vibe of my room”

Tommy placed his arm on your head treating you as an armrest as you were shorter than him and he knew it annoyed you

“they have a point tubbo it lights up”

once the recording ended you made your way back to the car

“say y/n you wouldn’t mind if me Tommy and jack stayed the night as tomorrow we were thinking-“

“sure thing”

“YESSSSSS”

•••

the next day you were woken up at 9 am by Tommy stood at the foot of your bed

“hi y/n”

“WHAT THE FUCK- oh hi Tommy Jesus christ do you know how horrifying that was to wake up to”

“Sorry bout that but if I didn’t wake you up now you’d only wake up in the afternoon and we need to go soon I’ll leave you to get ready”

you noticed a note was next to a jumper on the floor ‘hi, thanks for letting us stay the night I really liked your hoodie so I decided to wear it today here’s mine in exchange- Tubbo :D’

normally you’d be concerned that someone stole your hoodie as you live with your parents however today was an exception once you were all ready you set off jack pulled into a McDonald's drive-through so you could all get breakfast

“nice hoodie y/n”

“Thanks, someone took mine and decided to make a trade”

“you’re welcome”

the journey was quiet again you sat next to tubbo in the back Tommy sat at the front screaming at jack and trying to distract him and people around you decided to took a picture with tubbo who now had his arm wrapped around you as it was rather cold in the car and posted it to Twitter ‘@ ranboosaysstuff wish you were here :D’ less than a minute later you received 2 notifications ‘ranboosaysstuff replied to your tweet: same’ ‘ ranboosaysstuff has tweeted: *the spongebob gif*’

•••

soon enough you all arrived at mint golf to say you we’re excited would be an understatement

“can I get the shortest club you have”

you stood hiding your face in the jumper tubbo left you whilst you laughed a few minutes later you received a call from ranboo the others said they’d sort everything for you whilst you answered

“what’s up tall one”

“stay safe okay”

“ranboo it’s mini-golf I’m not fighting criminals”

“yes but I know how clumsy you are”

“first of all rude second of all fuck you third of all jealousy isn’t a good look on you” you managed to say through laughter

“jokes aside please come to the UK boo”

“oh sure I’ll go book a plane ticket now” *ranboo ended the call*

ranboo made jokes like that before however this time sounded a lot more serious and you had no idea why he called you so you made a mental note to call him again later. once with friends again you were met with Tommy telling the worker all about you all

“yeah we’re big on the influencing”

“What on earth did I walk in on”

“no time to explain let’s go golf”

you were handed a club and a ball and were dragged away by jack

•••

tubbo joked about getting a hole on one as soon as it was his go, you bet £10 with jack he wouldn't

“hand over the money y/n”

you looked at Tommy who was now recording you handing jack the money “so today we have learnt to not underestimate your friends and that gambling is bad. you lose your money to a tall bald guy”

to put it politely you and Tommy found out that mini golf is not your calling in life

“ill stick to streaming“

“you’re both losing by the way”

“yeah well- why and how does tubbo have soup”

tubbo stood cradling the soup as though it was a child

“Some things I can’t explain to you”

you stood tilting your head to the side questioning where the hell he got soup from

“eh”

“soups like a small child I take care of it as if it was my own”

you couldn’t contain your laughter at this point the confused faces of your friends alongside tubbos happiness of soup sent you over the edge so you decided to just sit down before you fall as your knees were already weak from laughing too much

“where did you get the soup from”

“I manifested it”

•••

after a few solid minutes of arguing over soup you and Tommy dropping the phone you all continued with bowling.

“tubbo get out of the way of my dream ball”

you stood recording jack cheering him on tubbo had different plans and kicked the ball away resulting in jack giving up and copying what you had been doing most of the rounds, after missing the hole 3 times each go, picking up the ball and placing it in the hole however again he missed

“you can’t be serious”

“golf isn’t for everyone big man”

Tommy took the phone from you to record “pov you’re me golfing”

•••

“how do we get across there”

“probably the bridge”

Tommy pulled to rope moving the bridge across the gap

“Why thank you, Tommy, wouldn’t have been able to do it without you”

you laughed

“you're extremely welcome y/n it was extremely easy because I’m a big muscly man”

golf was finally going well till you hit the ball a bit too hard causing it to go over the fence tubbo was able to get the ball back

“I’ve been watching a lot of doctor shows” you stood amazed at how far you made the ball go

“see the issue is its mini golf. if this was regular golf I'd have got a hole in one I'm telling you”

•••

“I'm never being in your vlog again”

jack looked at you and tubbo who was now laughing at you pretending to worship the can of soup in the hole

“Tommy please come back”

the rest of the game was chaos, you kept missing the hole then claiming to rage quit golf tubbo and Tommy kept making jokes jack left his drink somewhere then had to go back and find it, no one had been paying attention to you which allowed you to take the score sheet and make it so you had won the game eventually he game was over you had declared yourself the champion of golf despite the fact everyone was better than you including Tommy

•••

the journey back was chaos you called ranboo who claimed he only called you to plan a video/stream with you however it was clear that wasn’t the reason tubbo whispered to you so no one could hear

“I think he wants to be here with us I think he’s jealous”

you laughed and nodded

“of course”

eventually, you all made it back to yours, ranboo said goodbye to everyone then ended the call now it was time for you to say your goodbyes. since your love language was physical touch you hugged everyone. As you walked into your house Tommy yelled “Y/N HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT PLANES”

[dreamologisth2o]

Why I Believe Endersmile Is Canon

Because I’m on a bit of an Endersmile binge--

This is all gonna be very messy and just me putting my thoughts together and I’ll probably not be going through the VODs for exact timestamps or anything because that’s exhausting and I applaud the people who do, but here are my thoughts on Endersmile and why I’m 100% convinced it’s canon. They’re besties your honor.

/rp Any names mentioned are referring to their dsmp characters and not the streamers themselves unless specified

First off: The Disc. Dream trusts Ranboo, a lot. He trusts him so much that he literally gave Ranboo one of the two discs he needed to pull off his big plan at the finale. He trusted Ranboo, so much that Ranboo deciding to give the disc back to Tommy or Tubbo wasn’t an option, even though Ranboo was friends with both, which he knew. I don’t know why he gave Ranboo the disc, or how he got the disc from Skeppy in the first place, and I’m sure he did have a hundred and one back up plans for if Ranboo did decide to give Tommy the disc, but asking Ranboo to hold onto the disc in the first place means Dream trusted him to a degree, and that’s big coming from Mr. “Reserved”.

Second: Knowing Dream’s Voice. Ranboo knows/remembers Dream’s voice well enough that he hears it whenever he’s in the panic room, that his subconscious uses Dream’s voice to force Ranboo to confront his fears. For a guy who hasn’t had any one on one time or conversations with Dream in VC on stream, he sure does a really good job imagining his voice. /s 

Basically, they must have spoken, a lot. They must have spent time together outside planning for things or exchanging items or whatever. So much time, in fact, that Dream and Ranboo both end up sharing the same ideology of “People not sides” of “One big happy family” of “Being the person that stops conflicts” of “Being on all sides” of “Mediating between those sides” of “Choosing the side they think is right”. 

During Ranboo’s prison visit dream/nightmare, the Voice tells Ranboo that the only reason Ranboo hasn’t been hearing it lately, is because he hasn’t been speaking with Dream as often. That Ranboo and Dream had talked with each other nearly everyday. And I’m inclined to believe that because the mere existence of the voice proves he’s heard Dream’s voice a lot, or he has a very good memory of Dream’s voice, which, considering his memory problems probably isn’t the case. This is further supported by how ever since Dream’s been in prison, ever since Ranboo banned himself from the prison, he hasn’t heard even a hint of Dream’s voice, not even as he’s remembering more and more.

Third: The Disc War Finale. During the disc war finale, we have in universe proof and out of character confirmation from both cc!Dream and cc!Ranboo that the characters had been staring at each other during the entire thing. Some friends on a discord server have also pointed out how Ranboo appeared to be avoiding Tommy’s gaze unless Tommy’s distracted. And during the entire thing Ranboo’s the only one not holding out a weapon, instead he’s got a book and quill in his hand. We’ve now also got confirmation that Ranboo was Enderwalking during the Disc War Finale, which makes all the strange behaviors make sense because if they’re friends, if they’re allies, then Ranboo didn’t show up to fight Dream. Then Dream might’ve been trying to convey something to Ranboo, like perhaps trying to keep Ranboo from doing something stupid and revealing their alliance. Especially if he planned on being put in Pandora, he really doesn’t need his friend to try and “save” him and ruin the whole plan.

Fourth: The Voice. I am inclined to believe the things the voice says. Why? Because everything the voice is talking about are all the things Ranboo doesn’t want to confront, doesn’t want to see, doesn’t want to remember. The voice isn’t malicious. It’s not even Dream, it’s just using Dream’s voice to make Ranboo listen. And Ranboo knows it’s just himself. (also out of character confirmation from the cc!s that the voice is NOT Dream and never has been, it’s just a manifestation of all the shit Ranboo’s repressed coming up and slapping him in the face) Everything the voice does, all the things it says, is trying to get Ranboo to remember the “bad” things he’s done, to remember that he was on Dream’s side. To force him to face that side of himself that might be capable of doing bad things, if there’s a good enough reason. It exaggerates things, it makes them out to be worse than they actually are, but that’s how it’s able to get Ranboo’s attention, that’s how it’s able to force him to think about those things. Ranboo won’t do anything until he’s forced to face the problem, the Voice is just trying to get Ranboo to do that.

This is why I believe Ranboo DID blow up the community house. Why he’s working with or has worked for Dream in the past. Why he willingly gave Dream his memory book, possibly to create a visible conflict between them and ensure no one would connect them as allies, like what Dream wanted to do with Punz. And also because the other things it’s said, such as Ranboo being given the Cat disc to hold onto, have been proven to be true. Nothing the Voice has said has been confirmed a lie. And many of the things it’s talked about aren’t things we or Ranboo can find the answer to unless he talks to Dream, which is until the dude’s rescued from the prison, isn’t happening. (cc!Dream where’s your Dream lore?!?!?!)

That said, if Ranboo was the one to blow up the community house, then Dream was covering for him during the Disc War Finale. He didn’t have to. He could’ve thrown Ranboo under the bus. But he chose to take on that blame, make himself look even worse in the eyes of everyone gathered there while he was at their mercy, to protect Ranboo from similar persecution. Doesn’t this remind you of anything? And Ranboo’s got a track record of making friends with those who help him.

Fifth: The Visits. Ranboo has visited Dream in prison multiple times. At the very least at least 2 times that we have direct confirmation of, and probably even more. His visits are consistent enough that just a few days after Ranboo bans himself from the prison, Dream notices and starts a strike, tells Sapnap that Ranboo’s stopped visiting, asks him, his best friend who literally threatened to perma-kill him if he were to ever leave his horrible situation, to send a message to Ranboo. (which, I guess Dream still kinda trusts Sapnap despite everything that’s happened, huh?) 

Why would Ranboo visit? Unless they’re friends, unless they’re allies? Because even Dream’s so called best friend only ever visited once. Even Bad who Dream claims to have been the nicest only ever visited once. And while Tommy and Quackity visited more than once, their multiple visits have very clear reasons behind them, while Ranboo’s just, don’t. 

And consider: How did Ranboo know about the things that were said during the Disc War Finale, word for word, line for line, that he wasn’t present for, unless someone’s told him? Unless he heard about it from Dream himself. Unless that was what they were talking about. Unless that’s part of the reason Ranboo kept visiting Dream. 

Sixth: The Lessons. I don’t know about you, but giving life lessons to someone sounds like something you’d do with a friend, and not just a “puppet”. The whole lessons book gives off really mentor mentee vibes, and considering how Ranboo’s following in Dream’s goal of stopping conflict and uniting the server, well. And the lessons aren’t even malicious, or designed to push Ranboo away from others. In fact, many of them, especially the last few ones we see, are designed to protect Ranboo! Unless Ranboo’s safety was a top priority for Dream, there’s not much reason to pass those lessons down. This lines up incredibly well with Dream taking the blame of the community house’s destruction during the Disc War Finale, as well as his protective streak at his own expense when it comes to his allies and the people he cares about. Which means Ranboo is someone he cares about, which means they’re friends! They’re besties your honor!

Seventh: Ranboo’s Vehement Denial. Ranboo is infamous for being an unreliable narrator, for being in incredible denial despite all evidence supporting otherwise. Which means his vehement denial that Dream can be anything but bad is a fairly obvious red flag that that’s not true, and that Ranboo has reason to believe it’s not true, but chooses to actively ignore or forget those reasons and attempts to reinforce the “everything’s Dream’s fault, he can never change and will always be bad” mentality, that sounds like something he stole from Tommy or c!Dream antis, because he doesn’t want to face the fact that he has reasons for believing the opposite. At this point, I am 100% on board with the idea that all these unprompted instances of Dream hate is just a blatant cover up of how that’s not true at all. (Which he touches on, ever so briefly, when he renovates the second stronghold room)

Aaaaand that’s it! For the most part. I could touch on how Enderboo is hoarding all the backbone in this relationship and that the dynamic between Enderboo and Ranboo is closer to that of someone waking up after a sugar high or going for three days straight without sleep than it is two completely separate people or someone who’s literally sleepwalking (and that “Enderboo” is his normal state and “Ranboo” is the sleep deprived not thinking straight state). But this post is already obscenely long and I should end it here. 

TL;DR: They’re besties, your honor.

Anyways, if you got this far, thanks for reading!

[ifbrd]

Not Sugar-Coated, ToBecky Critique from a ToBecky Shipper

Let’s talk about Tobecky and it’s toxicity! And for once, let’s not hold back! I think what I’m gonna do for this post is focus on the dynamic they have in the show, mostly criticizing my own misogyny but calling out the fandom in general as well, as I’ve seen other’s do these same things. Later I will reblog it on the Word Up blog and continue my thoughts on the ship and how it affected Word Up.

The first thing I will say is that I am a Tobecky shipper, ever since Tobey’s first shorts when it was revealed he had a crush on WordGirl. I started watching this show as a kid, I would have been 9 or 10 when it started airing on PBS. If I were to get into this show today, however, I don’t think I would be shipping tobecky, because as an adult I can recognize its toxicity which I didn’t have the proper knowledge or understanding to do back in the day. And I think the real reason I still ship today is purely nostalgic. Though I won’t deny that their dynamic is interesting and that likely affects my shipping brain too.

As a kid, I think I shipped it because, well it seemed inevitable. It seemed like the only endgame option. How many romcoms start with a girl liking one boy, only to realize later she should be with a different guy, usually an underdog the audience is supposed to root for. How many romance stories start with the two not liking each other, ranging anywhere from minor annoyances for each other to full-blown enemies, only to later understand it was all a guise to hide their true feelings. It seemed obvious that Becky/WordGirl would end up with not Scoops, whom she had a crush on, but instead Tobey, the underdog she always was fighting or arguing with. Factor in Tobey’s crush, my very underdeveloped ability to think critically, and the fact that the writers in early seasons seemed to really take the time to focus on the potential chemistry between these two (their interactions in “Department Store Tobey” and both of them having a good time together in “Have You Seen the Remote?” etc) and it seemed there was only one boy for Becky to logically end up with.

The first time I can recall really questioning this ship, I mean really questioning it, was sometime in probably my sophomore or freshman year? Maybe my junior year? I recall my health teacher teaching us about healthy vs unhealthy relationships. In this unit, I realized several of my favorite ships across various fandoms were unhealthy but that’s a whole other topic. At one point I remember him giving his two cents about the phrase “opposites attract” when being applied to romance. He said this can be true, but only if the two are “opposites” in personality, and not “opposites” in values. If a couple’s values, their morals, don’t align, they probably aren’t going to make it. And in all honesty, I think Tobey and Becky have the worst possible combination for this.

They have very similar personalities, and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it can make it easier for them to encourage their negative traits instead of helping them overcome them. The traits they both share like pridefulness, attention-seeking, and being a bit obsessive, have the potential to be the traits they bring out in each other. The best counter-argument for this is the fact that Becky is willing to and would call Tobey out for everything wrong or ridiculous he does, and try to help him. But that doesn’t matter if Tobey is not willing to listen to her when she calls him out, or accept her help when she offers it and he needs it. And it’s especially worthless if he’s not willing to help her back.

Meanwhile, the biggest weakness for this ship is their opposite values. Their morals couldn’t be more apart from each other. Get these two together for long periods of time and a morality war would easily ensue. And then combined with if their similar personalities do end up bringing the worst in each other, then any relationship they could have would be disastrous.

The worst issues with their pairing all go back to Tobey. I love Tobey as a character, don’t get me wrong, but we need to be honest, and please excuse the language--Tobey is a piece of shit! He is disrespectful to everyone around him, except his mother, and that’s only because he’s scared of her He thinks he’s better than everyone else and has no issues expressing that opinion, even going as far as to try to define words for WordGirl. He goes as far as to belittle her in “Tobey or Consequences” criticizing her word choice. He has been shown on multiple occasions to lose his mind when he doesn’t get exactly what he wants and will do anything to get it, without regard for others’ property, feelings or safety. He’s manipulative as seen in “Tobey Goes Good” and “Have You Seen the Remote.” He’s unwilling to take responsibility for his actions, as demonstrated when he attacks the candy factory for making candy because he got a cavity, instead of realizing that he should have taken better care of his teeth.

And worst of all, despite what he and the audience often believe, he clearly doesn’t give a single shit about WordGirl. If he cared about her he would have acknowledged her disinterest, if he cared about her, he wouldn’t have tried to force Becky into admitting she’s WordGirl in “By Jove, You’ve Wrecked My Robot.” If he cared about her, he wouldn’t have pretended to be good or trick her into spending time with him or forced her to read poems about him. In the Halloween special he thought Violet was WordGirl just because she was wearing a WordGirl costume, failing to acknowledge that Violet is blonde and white and WordGirl is clearly not.

The episode “WordBot” makes it very clear what kind of relationship Tobey wants from WordGirl--and it’s not a relationship. It’s a dynamic where she simply showers him with never-ending adoration and does whatever he wants. Tobey cares about one person and one person only and it’s not WordGirl, it’s himself.

And I’m not even counting “Go Gadget Go” in any of this! That episode put him in such a bad light that most fans pretend it doesn’t exist because his behavior is so inexcusable. And yet even without that episode, we have plenty of toxicity coming from Tobey’s end.

I once saw someone say they hate the tobecky ship because the argument for it often is that Becky will be willing to put up with Tobey when they’re older. First of all, if that’s your argument in tobecky’s favor you need to go take a good hard look at yourself. Becky putting up with Tobey’s messed up behavior is essentially hoping she ends up in a horrible, toxic, unhealthy, relationship that would be borderline abusive if she didn’t stand against him. Secondly, while I don’t deny the existence of this argument, (I once read a fanfic where the two were married but still a hero and villain who battled regularly) I disagree with the idea that this argument is most often used to justify the ship. Instead, the most common argument to justify it is the idea that Tobey has it in him to change. This is certainly a better argument, as Tobey changing is really the only hope for this ship.

But I think it’s really easy for us, myself included, to struggle with the line between finding evidence that Tobey could change vs excusing his actions; the line between finding an explanation for his behavior vs finding an excuse for him. It’s a very easy line to accidentally cross without realizing it. And it really says something when, as discussed in another post, we are not giving other villains like Victoria--who have more of an “excuse” --the same treatment. It’s incredibly misogynistic.

I’m not going to try to argue that Tobey doesn’t have the capability to be good, of course, he does. We can see this in the cute note he leaves in Becky’s backpack in “Trustworthy Tobey” and in the very last moments in the Thanksgiving special, and of course in our favorite example, “It’s Your Party and I’ll Cry if I Want to.” I’m also not saying that Tobey’s actions and psychology aren’t the product of the environment and circumstances he faces daily. Of course having no father figure present, a single mother who is always working, and no friends is going to affect a child. What I want to question is when is Tobey responsible for his own life, choices, and actions? Maybe not now at age 10-11, but what about when he’s 13? 16? 18? 21? 40? Where do we draw that line? I also don’t want to discourage looking for the good in people and characters and thinking critically about how their past and psychology is affecting their actions. I want to encourage that in all characters, not just the boy who happens to have a crush.

And while it’s nice to speculate that Tobey will follow a better path in the future, not so much for tobecky as much as for the betterment of Tobey himself, we need to realize that it’s just speculation. We have no canon proof of where his story goes post-WordGirl. He has his moments of hope but overall this kid has a terrible track record. When it comes to others, Tobey makes terrible choices. And that’s exactly what “going good” will be--a choice--his choice.

I also want to take a moment to talk about something @fromtheplanethexagon said in this amazing post you should totally read because it’s great. They commented on how very few people when writing tobecky fanfics takes the time to explore her perspective of their feelings for each other. Where her feelings originate and why she would like him. This is something I am absolutely guilty of and will be paying attention to in the future. After reading that passage from their post I thought for a while why Becky would like Tobey, and I honestly struggled with it a bit, which shouldn’t be happening if I’m trying to write a healthy tobecky story. That’s all I’ll say on this for now because beyond this I would use Word Up as an example, so I’ll save that for later.

The older I get the more I realized how toxic this ship is. Heck, who knows what I’ll realize about it in the future when I’m even more mature. In the past I’ve tried to convince myself it’s okay I ship it because I never shipped Tobey with WordGirl, I shipped him with Becky. I know they are the same person, but Tobey doesn’t know that, and the dynamics between him and each of her egos are very different. The dynamic between Tobey and WordGirl reminds me of Gideon and Mabel from Gravity Falls. Meanwhile the one between Tobey and Becky reminds me more of the one between Jimmy and Cindy from The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron. That’s better right? Even if just a little bit? Well no, not really, because we all know darn well if Tobey fell for Becky instead of WordGirl he would treat Becky exactly the same as he treats WordGirl. He would ultimately have the same “WordBot esc” expectations. If anything he might try to treat her worse. With WordGirl there is a clear power balance, and while it’s still technically there with Becky, Tobey doesn’t know it’s still there and might try to use that to his advantage.

And to conclude I’d like to add to @fromtheplanethexagon above-mentioned post (here’s the link again, seriously, read it!). Regarding their final thoughts that it’s fine to explore the ship, and it’s fine to explore the unhealthy parts of the ship. But we need to be careful to not glorify the toxicity of the potential pairing.

[fandom-necromancer]

I’m only human

This was prompted by an amazing anon! Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 (Warnings: gun related injury)

‘Gavin! Duck!’ The human let himself fall immediately and only due to Nines advanced preconstruction software he had made it in time. The hail of bullets pierced the wall behind Gavin a second later. Nines had taken cover behind a wall and waited for the immediate fire to subside, then turned around and emptied his magazine, before dropping behind a counter to reload. He heard Gavin shoot his own gun and turned to see what was happening. With shock he noticed that the man was about to leave relative safety to pursue the attackers that had decided to make a run for it. Normally, Nines wouldn’t have worried so much as Gavin was well trained, but they had just been caught whilst investigating the place and the man didn’t wear a bulletproof vest. This was too much of a risk.

Cursing, Nines hurried to reload and stepped out of cover to follow Gavin. He sprinted after the man that had already made it to the next room. It was the large kitchen of the restaurant they were in, but still the door they had entered through had been the only one, so he had the attackers cornered. And they knew it. Maybe it was panic, maybe it was them thinking to have the two detectives outnumbered, but they began shooting at them once again and this time, Nines wasn’t fast enough. He leapt for Gavin to make him fall to the ground next to the middle isle, but Gavin had already been shot twice in his arm. ‘Stay down!’, Nines ordered unforgivingly and took Gavin’s hand to show him how to press on the wound. Then he stepped out, both their guns in hand and made them pay for shooting his partner. As they laid on the ground groaning, Nines decided not to go through the procedures and arrest them all. Not when Gavin needed his help.

‘I called the DPD for backup as soon as we met them, Gavin’, he reassured the man as he knelt down next to him. ‘They will be here soon. I also called an ambulance. You will be fine, trust me.’ ‘Yeah? Because it hurts like a bitch, I can tell you that.’ Nines nodded, taking over pressurizing the wound as he could scan for damage. Gavin had suffered multiple fractions from the gunshots and was in severe pain. That he was awake at all was a miracle. But that also meant he couldn’t move him. Nines had to wait until the paramedics came to them. He already hated waiting under normal conditions, but this was outright torture.

Thankfully it didn’t take too long and when the police stormed the place to find all presumed members of the drug ring neutralized, the paramedics rushed in to treat both Gavin and the persons Nines had shot down. But the RK900 didn’t care what happened to their suspects, he was solely focussing on Gavin, telling the paramedics what he had already diagnosed and watched them closely as they stabilized Gavin’s arm and transported him outside. Nines had to stay at the scene to explain what happened and oversee the transport of their suspects, but more than anything he had wanted to stay with Gavin on the ride to the hospital. At least he was linked to their feed because of a sympathetic android on the team, but that was little comfort when he knew his love was hurt.

At least Connor understood as he offered to take over the case as soon as possible. So, six hours later, when everything was documented and the restaurant had been searched to the last corner, Nines could finally leave to meet his human at the hospital. Gavin had already been discharged when he arrived, the bullets themselves removed, his arm bandaged and in a cast. Nines opened the door for him and helped him sit down. Then he drove them back home. The whole way back, he was entirely silent and ignored the careful glances Gavin threw his way. He just parked their car in front of their house and helped Gavin inside. The man kicked off his shoes and struggled with his leather jacket that was only on his uninjured arm and draped over his shoulder on the other side. Nines took it from him to hang it up and then walked over to the kitchen. His human had lost a lot of blood, he needed energy to produce new cells. Also Nines was angry and if he didn’t do anything else to distract him, he would shout at Gavin and that was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment. He had furiously grabbed a paprika to cut it, nearly crushing it in his hand. His first cut already had far too much strength in it as the knife got stuck in the cutting board.

‘Nines?’ The voice was careful, and the android closed his eyes, sighing and hoping the anger would subside. He had to keep calm. Gavin didn’t have a preconstruction software. He had to try and hope for the best. And although he knew to rely on Nines in those situations, the heat of the moment could get to his head. This was normal for humans. He hadn’t gotten hurt on purpose. Still, he could have died and then… And then… ‘You are pissed’, Gavin stated. ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘What’s wrong?!’, Nines asked, turning around. He had forgotten he still had the knife in hand and distributed the few pieces of vegetable all over the counter. He tried once again to breathe deeply, but it didn’t work as good for androids as it did for humans. ‘Gavin, you could have died. You got hurt because of your stupid stubborn wish to… I was scared, Gavin. I’m scared still. I could have lost you. Had I not been there in time…’

Gavin stepped closer to him and loosened his grip on the knife, instead taking his hand in his free one. ‘But it worked out. I’m here. You were there in time.’ ‘And what about next time?’, Nines asked, looking into Gavin’s eyes. ‘You can’t promise me this is how it ends every time you run to do something risky.’ ‘No, I can’t’, Gavin nodded and smiled at him. ‘But what should I do? I can’t change who I am. Can’t change what instinct dictates when it takes over. If I could preconstruct every eventuality like you, love, then I could. But I’m only human.’ He let go of Nines’ hand to reach up and cup his cheek instead and smiled when the android closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. ‘You could quit’, he whispered quietly. ‘You could stop being a Detective. I could work for both of us. I’m mostly bulletproof.’

Gavin actually laughed. ‘Me? Quit being a detective? Nines, that’s out of the question. Why should I do that?’ ‘To stay safe? To keep living? To be with me longer?’ The android had opened his eyes now and looked directly at Gavin. The man swallowed at seeing the raw emotion in them. The android had really been scared to shits when he had been shot, hadn’t he? And he still worried for him and hoped to convince him. Unfortunately, that really was impossible. ‘Nines, I can’t. I can’t just… No, I can’t quit my job!’ ‘I will already lose you!’, the RK900 spoke up louder this time with more vigour. ‘I know the day will come that I will lose you. But I want it to be in many years when you are old, and your body just can’t keep up renewing your tissues. I want it to be in peace after a long life lived together. I don’t want it to be now, not today, not tomorrow, not even in ten years. Can’t you understand that?’

‘I understand’, Gavin sighed and took a step back, trying to look as collected as possible. ‘I understand that this is what you want. Hell, I want the same thing. But I also want to keep doing what I do. What is a long life worth if you haven’t lived a day of it, huh? I like being a cop. Hell, it isn’t a job with good reputation and one half of the population hates you and the other half pretends not to. But phck it, I feel like I do something. Like I move something and do something good. I’m proud of being a Detective. I worked hard to get where I am and I won’t just drop it because you say so, no matter how logical the reasons might be. No matter how right you are, okay? This is my life.’

Nines blinked at him twice, then looked to the floor, all strength gone from his pseudo-muscles. ‘But it’s dangerous. You will get hurt again. I don’t want to see you in pain. I don’t want to lose you.’ Gavin cursed and stepped closer to pull Nines in a half hug, keeping his injured arm and shoulder out of it. ‘But you will be by my side whatever happens. You have my back; you will always be there to warn me.’ ‘I can’t be always there.’ Gavin sighed. ‘Okay, then how about this: You are in pain right now. Do you think I want to see you like this? All worried and close to tears? No. I learned my lesson today. Nines, I will try my best. I promise. That’s all we humans can do. I will try to be more careful and listen to you. And not always run after the next criminal just because maybe I get one more to arrest. I will try to be better. But I won’t quit my job. Okay? A compromise?’ Nines pressed himself closer against Gavin.

‘Okay’, he caved in then. ‘But promise me one thing: If you try your best and it doesn’t work and you get injured on the job yet again, you quit. Without wriggling out of the deal again. That’s the only way I’ll accept your compromise.’ Gavin nodded against the android’s shoulder. ‘Okay. You can record this to have proof: I, Detective Gavin Reed, promise that if I ever get hurt on the job again, I will quit my job the very next day.’ ‘Recording saved’, Nines stated and smiled at his human. ‘Wait, you actually-‘ ‘Yes. And now sit down on the couch, I will clean up the mess I’ve made and cook you something. At least now we get to spend some more time together.

[sssn-neptune-vasilias]

So like, Ironwood’s clearly tumbling down the staircase towards authoritarianism so I just wanted to clarify my points about him because I did agree with a lot of what he was saying during the first couple of seasons up until he decided to completely throw himself off the boat without a life preserver. Also I don’t want y’all calling me an authoritarian (or fascist, Tumblr really doesn’t like to learn the difference between the different kinds of authoritarianisms and just lumps them all under fascism because why take a class when you can just say words?).

1) I think Ironwood was right to bring his airships to Beacon and frankly I think the other headmasters should’ve as well. Obviously no other Kingdom works like Mantle/Atlas- they’re the only one where the Hunter Academy is a direct branch of the kingdom’s military- but SOME protection should’ve been brought from Shade and Haven as well as Beacon. The Vytal tournament was an incredibly important part of Remnant culture, and ANYBODY could’ve seen that as a chance to strike. Any terrorist organization, anybody with a grudge, anybody with an agenda could’ve seen a giant float collessum and decided it’d look better crashing towards the ground. I think Ozpin, Lionheart and Theodore were hugely negligent not requesting SOME kind of military support from their respective kingdoms to watch over the event. Just think about it, that would’ve created FOUR different systems Cinder would’ve needed to hack into instead of one. The other three headmasters didn’t bring security and relied completely on Ironwood to save them when shit hit the fan. Ozpin’s words to Ironwood will always be hilarious to me. “You brought your army to my kingdom James… Use it!” The same army that he swore brought more harm than good? The same army he promised would be ineffective in keeping the peace? Now all of a sudden he’s begging for it? Ozpin of all people should’ve been READY for something like this. He’s closer to Salem than ANYONE he should’ve KNOWN that she would use an opportunity like this to strike. A wounded and defenseless Maiden locked in Beacon tower, a one-woman army infiltrating an SDC tower and leaving no recognizable trace other than a wake of bodies, a breach where “hundreds of people were killed” just weeks before, then Yang’s random and brutal “attack” on a seemingly defenseless student? Ozpin should’ve seen the signs of an imminent attack and acted proactively to ensure the safety of not just Beacon but the world. And instead he was too clueless to even ask for a security detail. He claimed that there was peace in Remnant, and that there was no need to upset people by bringing weapons of war, but peace needs to be defended. The Fall of Beacon was proof of what happens when you wait too long to defend yourself. Bringing in other kingdom’s defenses would’ve also shot one of Cinder’s weird monologue in the foot. She calls Ironwood a “tyrannical dictator” who “occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces” but if Ozpin had REQUESTED those airships? Maybe not even all of them but SOME? And brought his OWN? It would’ve just been business as usual instead of some kind of “invasion” from a previously adversarial nation. Ozpin’s complacency gave Cinder another nail to shut the coffin with. Did Ironwood overstep bringing ALL those ships without a warning? Absolutely, and whoever’s running Vale is out of their mind for not engaging their defenses to deter those ships before they entered Vale airspace in the first place. Should an equal number of ships all flying different flags have been there ANYWAY to stop something like the Breach or the Fall happening? Absolutely.

2) I think Ironwood’s plan is the right move. Let me clarify, the “tell the world about Salem” plan is the right move. “Unite the world against a common enemy” is the right move. “Expose the enemy for who she is and force her to leave the comfort of the shadows and engage in an actual war instead of the silly chess game proxy war you’ve been engaged in all this time.” If you expose Salem and make her a target, she crumbles. Anyone working for her is a top of the most wanted list, and it’s impossible for her to infiltrate and manipulate behind the scenes as she’s been doing. Her only army is Grimm and the kingdoms have been doing decently against them for centuries. I think Ironwood’s got a good idea, and Ozma was just too jaded by his centuries of life to believe that the world would pull together the way it needed to to band against Salem.

That said, I think Ironwood’s entire plan was a necessary evil. “Pull all Atlesian forces and resources out of Remnant and back into Mantle, to ride out the waves of Grimm that would come to tear the kingdom down after they learned about Salem.” It was a well thought out plan! He had STEPS. He KNEW that people would panic and planned AROUND that! For a “tin man” with no heart, he sure as fuck knew how to account for everyone else’s. Argus would suffer for this, sure, but he left them with a giant fucking jaegar, a Pacific Rim style wall around its biggest weak point, and enough air ships and guns to hold off a small scale invasion. Argus was also a unique situation where it was Mistral’s responsibility that Atlas elected to care for. We haven’t heard of any similar cities like this. He wanted to keep his people safe. And I know that’s a slap in the face to all of the people of Mantle who were living in the beginning stages of authoritarian rule for MONTHS, but I think the ends justify the means here. Ironwood’s plan was never to subjugate his people indefinitely, but to keep them safe until the worst had passed. I REALLY think Ironwood’s plan would’ve worked, and CLEARLY Salem does too, otherwise she wouldn’t be sending the biggest Grimm army ever seen and a whale the size of a fucking island to stop him. Telling Remnant about Salem was and still is a good plan, and drawing his troops and resources back to handle the fallout of it was a smart choice.

3) I think Ironwood is right to try abandon Mantle, and frankly I think he should’ve done it sooner. Ironwood is right, if Salem destroys Atlas, she destroys Remnant’s only hope of defeating her. Mistral and Haven were already attacked by the White Fang and Cinder’s crew without so much as a finger raised against them. Have fun reading the books to find out what’s happening in Shade. If Ironwood doesn’t save A) the power of the Winter Maiden B) the staff of creation, C) the lamp of knowledge AND D) as much of Atlas as he can, we’re fucked, and we’ve already lost the fucking lamp. The WORLD is fucked if we don’t stop Salem. And even KNOWING all of this, Ironwood waited until he had definitive proof that the enemy had already invaded Atlas before moving to leave. Tyrian and Watts were one thing, but Salem leaving her chess piece on his desk without him even knowing she was there? I can’t blame him for being scared. I can’t blame him for wanting to leave ASAP. Frankly I can’t blame him for calling RWBYJNRQOP naive. Saving every individual person down in Mantle would doom Atlas as a whole, and by extension the world. I don’t think I would’ve been able to fight against RWBY for wanting to risk saving everyone, but I don’t think I would’ve been able to fight with RWBY for the chance to take the risk either.

Last season was super political, which was a first for RWBY. Yeah, the writing’s ALWAYS been on the walls that Ironwood would take these steps into authoritarianism, and last episode had him breaking out into a full sprint. He straight up shot a member of his opposition! And that guy wasn’t even EXPLICITLY opposition, he was just questioning how Ironwood was handling the situation! I don’t think anyone can honestly say they’re surprised by this, and it’s super important to not just be against authoritarianism, but actively against it. We can’t condone it and must uproot it wherever it even begins to take hold. That said, I will say that, up to a point, Ironwood’s had good ideas on helping to save the world, while RWBY’ve been cutely optimistic but not very pragmatic in their “save every life no matter the cost” approach. And let’s be real, the show is called “RWBY” not “Ironwood” so I’m fully expecting the narrative to play out in a way that validates RWBY and demonizes Ironwood. I’m fully expecting Ironwood to completely fly off the walls as Salem draws nearer. I’m fully expecting to want to kick myself for agreeing with his motivations during season 7. I’m just writing this so that there’s a clear record of my stance not only for my followers (and for people ready to make callout posts, here you go 😉) but for myself too! So I can see if my stance changes and where I was before. So here you go future Tobias. Good luck!

[dafukdidiwatch]

Cool Cat Saves The Kids

I watched this movie and I still can’t believe this is the actual cover art for it.

God I wrote so many notes about this that even my flipping Bullet Points were basically an essay. I don’t even know how to begin just thinking about it hurts my head.

Overview: Cool Cat is Cool. Things happen to him, and he has to deal with bullying.

That’s it. That’s the thing I watched. Because there is no Real Flipping Plot to this movie.

This is a kid’s show. Or at the very minimum, a movie that is intended for children. It was based on a kid’s book series I’ve never heard of whose author Derek Savage decided to turn it into a movie. Though movie isn’t exactly what I would call it. When you watch it, it honestly feels like there are six 15 minute shorts that they just mashed together to a feature film, but even then that is a Generous Description.

Basically, the film tries to be a children’s program (and I guess has beef with Barney?). And you can see intent behind it being informative child-friendly psa. But the execution was so bad.

First, there is no plot. Sure the cover says that this is “an anti-bullying kid gun safety movie,” but it really give you nothing. What would happen is that Cool Cat has a problem, like someone bullying him or his friends. It would either A) be addressed immediately and solved so that’s great, or B) it is dropped immediately and never really addressed throughout the rest of the film.

And example of A is that the bully kid Butch just starts stealing candy just to be “evil,” Cool Cat sees that and chases him, and the kid gets arrested twenty seconds later. The End.

For B, Cool Cat gets a mean email. And...that’s about it. He responds to the email, but doesn’t actually address the issue and the subplot drops entirely until that VERY Last wrap up scene.

I think the reason for this lack of plot is that there was just WAY too many messages in here. Like, take a shot every time you see a psa announcement. It ranges from don’t bully, how to deal with bullies, being creative, crossing the street safely, to fricking GUN?! Like, the gun thing that I Guess was promoted in the movie tagline, only shows up the last 10 minutes. It caught me so off guard. You cannot call this a Gun Safety movie when guns aren’t even prevalent!!

And the lack of plot is counterproductive when you want to make a Kid’s Movie like this. If you want to tackle each issue as a show or a short, the messages would come across better. There would be more time to develop each message for kids to really understand. But because there is So Much to cover, a lot of the things are gonna fall to the wayside. There is no way a kid would pay attention to this, and if they do I doubt they are gonna learn everything that Derek Savage is trying to teach. There just isn’t any real focus.

The acting, god like they Tried to go with the kid friendly vibe, but was not working. At All. It was like they thought that to add emotion is to just enunciate your words as loudly as you can. Cool Cat was way too yelly. Every line he was just screaming, has no change whatsoever. Even Elmo can sound sad when need be (fucking love Elmo, but he does has a similar voice vibe to Cool Cat, just better).

Then the kids....I don’t want to be mean but I’ll be blunt. They are just reading lines, this is a middle school stage play basically. I’m not blaming the kids, Butch look like he had a hell of a time doing his villain laugh. It’s just that some of the scenes felt like it was taken in one shot and they didn’t bother to retry. Example: One kid got too excited and jumped his line, but they couldn’t just retake that??

And the lines, man. OOF. Some of it was bad. Like, really really bad placement.They should have had someone proof-read this.

Cool Cat: “Why Are You Painting That Wall?”

Random Kid: “Because Nobody Loves Us”

lol what?

Maria: “I bet those kids have never been shown love before.”

Cool Cat: “Thanks, and it’s all true”

LOL What??

There are just a LOT of lines like that that should have been rephrased.

THEN there are the freaking technical issues.

The audio kept fluctuating in sound quality, which honestly started to hurt with Cool Cat’s constant yelling. Some scenes it sounds like they recorded in a studio, sometimes it sounded like the actors had to yell in order for the camera to capture it. There were echos, there were layers, you can’t hear the lines over the song, you can’t hear the song over the cheers. There was one point whispers overlaid on top of the lines where I thought that Cool Cat just got haunted now. And the fun side of having headphones on means I heard the phone button noises in only One Ear. LOUDLY.

Blocking could have been better. There were a lot of backs to the camera, shots of characters walking away from camera not just off screen. This didn’t bother me as much, because I know this isn’t professionally made. But it didn’t feel like they really tried as much as just half-assed it. Example:

Cool Cat was drawing a picture with different colors, but the actor only used one marker and just said different colors. Or Cool Cat is working on a poster but really just rubs the already completed poster  on a clean table as him “working.” Like, how hard is it to just film on a table with a bunch of craft supplies around you?

Then there are the questionable camera shots. LOTS of lingering shots to I assume fill up run time. These are shots of just showing Cool Cat walking round without having any real purpose. It shows Cool Catwalk all the way Up Stairs. Walked all the way Down Stairs. Walking into the House, walking into the Car. Even just shots of the parents doing things with no real motivation or impact to whatever Cool Cat is doing. It’s just there. If you want to say stuff like "oh well its to show the parents relationship" no it doesn’t. You can’t really add nuance to characters when the rest of the film is just one chaotic shot after the other. It just gets lost in translation.

The music number is probably what hurts me the most. You see Cool Cat WRITE the song. Then he SINGS the song. Then he DANCES to a DIFFERENT song. And that was it. He just needed the song for the parade, but there wasn’t any explanation or anything. I don’t even know WHY he needs the song for the parade! There was no explanation. It was just an excuse to have two back-to-back bad music video of poor choreography that again, NO POINT to whatever plot/message/psa thing he is trying to do.

I get that there should be some leeway since it looked like this was shot at Derek Savage’s house/neighborhood, so there really isn’t much they could do with their setting. But they could at least tried more with what they had. Cool Cat’s room doesn’t look exactly child friendly. There are only blank drab walls with two, maybe three posters of just Cool Cat himself. There is a reason the settings in other children shows have vibrant colors to engage them. Along with that, another half-assing moment was Butch graffiting Cool Cat’s poster, but it was one of those political posters you stuck on the lawn so it was like a foot tall outside. 1) You can’t really see that shit that small. 2) You couldn’t put the poster on a wall to film that scene at, to give a better view to the audience? It’s just a bunch of little things like that all over this film that really adds up.

Also, what’s with the posters only being about Cool Cat in his own room? A bit narcissistic if you ask me.

I'm also like 70%,sure they made this movie around the footage of them being in the Hollywood parade twice. They were at the parade, got the film, and wanted to use it so they made a movie for it. And I know it was twice because the announcers that were there to announce the arrival of Cool Cat had a costume change after switching scenes.

And after ALL of this, there is just so many random shit that really don’t do anything. Elements are randomly introduced and just as randomly dropped. We get a “next day” transition in the middle of the movie when days have already passed before them. Cool Cat breaks the 4th wall a couple of times with no real reason why. There is this joke where the camera was following Cool Cat into the bathroom for Cool Cat to ask for privacy, only to just ignore that bit every time he goes to the bathroom afterwards. Cool Cat just makes random ass noises when doing things, not important stuff. Just Doing Things. And he does this weird thing where I think he is trying to do Air Guitar, but it just looks like he is just shaking his leg a lot. I don’t really get it.

(Oh Shit, it is only after like the 3rd proof-read of this review I notice that in the gif you can clearly see the dude’s actual leg. I don’t know how mascot suits actually work, but I’m pretty sure that you’re not supposed to let kids actually see that there’s a person underneath in a kid’s show.)

There is also this....lowkey humblebrag going on? Which does not do the movie favors. After the first dumb song number, Derek shows off that he has a signed guitar by Van Halen. Like not just him playing it (which after the 15th zoom in on the guitar how could you NOT notice it thank you Derek), but pointing out to the audience that, Yes it was Indeed signed by Van Halen. Then there is the footage from the Hollywood Parade about the cars there. Sure, I get showing off like the Ghostbusters car, or Jurassic Park car, or the Batmobile. But Hurby the Love Bug? Night Rider?? Starsky and Hutch??? Magnum P.I.?????? The target audience is elementary kids, they aren’t going to know these old shows. So who is this for exactly?

Kudos to the cop for actually doing this, seriously. That cop probably had a hell of a lot of better things to do than arrest children for a bad after-school special.

And this is just SOME of the main problems of this film. There’s so much going on it would be impossible for me to go over everything without

The thing is, there is good material here. Maybe not great results, but there are a lot of ideas here that you can work with to make a decent kid’s movie. I actually loved the part where Cool Cat is dreaming and trying to figure out how he should handle bullies. I thought that was a good scene and a good way to show kids how to think through different options. There are good ideas here, but it was just way to much going on at once the movie basically shoots itself in the foot.

So here is My Version of what Cool Cat should have done. 

Cool Cat is running for School President. That’s the main story line. Early in the movie he learns of a writing contest where the winner gets their own float at the hollywood parade (stretch but roll with it). But Cool Cat has no idea what to write, and talks to it with his friends who offers ideas. So he is juggling that along with running for Student President.

However, the Butch the Bully doesn’t like that. He doesn’t want Cool Cat to win. So he vandalizes his posters. Cool cat still runs and makes better posters. Butch tries to frame Cool Cat for vandalizing the playground, but instead his cronies get caught and convinced that it was a bad idea. So Butch decides to cyberbully Cool Cat and his friends to scare them off. He works with the other kid running for President to make a hate ad against Cool Cat, telling everyone how terrible and bad Cool Cat is. Cool Cat tries to go against this my making his music video song over how cool he is to swing the votes, making Butch more angry and vindictive to his bullying scheme.

Cool Cat doesn’t know how to get Butch to stop, but after getting advice from his friends, parents, teachers, and some hard thinking, he decides to confront Butch about his bullying issue, tell someone, and thus solves the problem. Later on after talking to Butch, maybe manages to convince him to start being friends. 

Finally, Cool Cat uses this scenario to write his story about how to deal with bullying and make new friends. Which wins and we end with the Hollywood Parade.

Is this perfect? No. But it focuses the idea to one main plot (running for president) with the other issues naturally coming off of it, instead of making each issue it’s own separate thing. There is no random shifts in narrative, no GUN moments (or GUN in general we kick that shit out) and just focus on the main bullying theme.

Overall: This was a weird and bad children’s show. You have to put in a lot of effort into making a movie, but there was just too much going on for this to be a Good Children’s Movie, least of all a Good Movie in general. But it isn’t to say that it wasn’t morbidly enjoyable. It’s was like playing Spot The Difference to find all the Wrong Things in here. It was fun in a bad way.

So will I show this to children? No. But will I play a drinking game with my friends where we take a shot every time someone says the phrase “Cool Cat”? Yeah that sounds enjoyable. 

Take a shot for every time you read “Cool Cat” in my review.

Side Note:

You had this as a GUN PSA, wtf are you doing holding a gun!? Given how the only 3 videos this channel has is only Cool Cat Trailers, I’m assuming this is official Cool Cat. Soooo.....what the hell?

[fernwehbookworm]

Woke the F*ck Up- Chapter 14

February 23rd, 2018

The news hit the next day. Lena Luthor was missing. Last seen getting off a flight at National City Airport. No one saw the car she got into or how she left the airport. Pain lanced through Kara's heart. The blurry image Winn managed to 'acquire’ from the NCPD shows Lena still in a beautifully elegant dress from the pictures from the gala in Metropolis. She had no luggage. She must have left the fundraiser and headed straight for National City.

Kara felt like a coward. Cat had tried to convince her to go. To see Lena face to face but Kara couldn't take any more rejection. Lena had never called or even text. That was clear enough for Kara. So Cat went alone, to auction off the original for the CatCo cover that broke the record in sales the first day. Kara promised Cat ten percent commission on every other painting sold. The only reason Kara could think of for Lena to come so suddenly is to see her.

If only she had gone to Metropolis. Then Lena wouldn't be missing. Kara suspected Lillian. How else would the crime boss get to a vigilante whose mother was halfway across the world taking the honeymoon she and Jeremiah never were able to take, whose sister was an FBI agent, and whose friends were vigilantes with her. Plus Lena was her daughter and could probably serve other nefarious purposes as well.

With determination, Kara strode to the hidden panel in the central command table and pressed he palm to the reader. A green light scanned her hand and the panel opened with a small gush of air.

“Whoa, I didn't put that there. Where did that come from?” Winn exclaims, sitting up in his chair, dropping his feet to the floor from where they had been perched by a computer.

“I put it here. I may not be you smart but I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Plus Alex has the same model and helped me to install it a while ago.”

Kara begins unloading the contents of the compartment on the table. Winn shoots to his feet and James turns from where he has been studying the layout of the Cadmus base.

“Kara, I thought you didn't like guns.”

“I don't like them. Doesn't mean I don't know how to use them. Alex made sure of that.”

“Kara…” James says disapprovingly.

“Don't fucking start with me James. Lillian has kidnapped Lena and now  that woman has gone too far this time.”

“You have no proof Cadmus has Lena,” James says.

“Lillian knows who I am. Of course she has Lena. This is personal now. She has been trying to take my city, she sure as hell won't take the woman I love.” Kara pauses as the word leaves her lips and knives through her heart.

“Kara, I thought you were past this. I thought that’s what all the therapy was for.” James says. Kara looks at him hard.

“Therapy was so I could handle everything in a healthy fashion. But I do love Lena. How we ended sucked, and it will take time for me to move past it, but I blaze like that leaves its mark. But I will not leave the woman I love in the clutches of her evil mother and a criminal organization.”

Kara begins strapping her collection to her uniform. Two handguns at her hips, a smaller one strapped to her right thigh, mirrored by an array of throwing knives on her left. Smoke and flash-bang grenades are loaded into the pouches at her waist. A shotgun is slung to her back. An ammo belt slings across her body as more ammo weighs down her utility belt.

“Kara I don't like this.”

“Have I not made it clear enough? James, you are only here to make sure you don't kill yourself doing this on your own. Because you threatened to do it on your own. I couldn't look my cousin in his eye if anything happened to you. But you are not my friend. You have done nothing to act like a friend. All you've done since the day I turned you down is mope and try to tell me what to do like some Alpha male who got his favorite toy taken away. Don't forget it was me that saved your ass. I don't fucking want you here. But you are because you are Clark's and Winn's friend for some ungodly reason. I couldn't give two shits what you think. And you can stay behind for all that matters.”

Silence falls after the angry ringing of Kara's words. James walks slowly away and back upstairs to the gym. Kara lets out an exasperated sigh.

When she’s dressed, she calls Alex to start forming a plan with the DEO. This was too big for just herself. Winn begins searching their known Cadmus bases for any new activity.

February 24th, 2018

Lena sits strapped to an uncomfortable chair for hours. Her mother seems convinced that that Power Girl would show up. Lena was much less sure but her throbbing lip from her mother smacking her across the month was enough for her to save her breath and any more unnecessary pain. By Lena’s best guess, a payment of three million dollars would be made to her kidnappers in less than twenty-four hours. Another two would be paid with her safe return. She had read the paperwork when she was made CEO, apparently, it was standard for Luthor’s to have their lives threatened. She could hear boots striking the floor outside the empty sounding room. Men patrolling, and, as near as she could tell, one would cross from one door to the other in the room to check her binding. It was getting colder and the dress left too much of her skin exposed. Chills ran down her spine and goosebumps rose along her arms and legs.

Silence stretches on, only timed by the repetitive hard soled shoes striking concrete. Lena’s eyes grew heavy from lack of sleep and the darkness of her blindfold. She dozed, only coming awake every time a knuckle-dragging, brute tightened her ropes. She thought of Kara in the silence. Leaving her, sleeping with Veronica, then never calling. She hoped Kara could forgive her. Or would at least talk to her. Everything was so messed up, her whole life was messed up from the moment the Luthor’s adopted her. Time ticked by slower and slower until Lena couldn't even tell if it was passing or standing still.

Then it all rushed to start again as the first gunshot rang out. Shouting began, distant and muffled but marching closer. Then a different sound. One above her, someone trying to be quiet but the distinct sound of glass being scratched, then a soft thud right in front of her.

Kara lowers herself from the glass ceiling to the floor. Lena sits blindfolded and alone, tied to the chair. Her lip is split and swollen. Lena’s head jerks up at the soft sound of Kara touching down in the large, empty room. Kara switches on the voice modulator in order to hide her shaking voice.

“Shhh, stay quiet now. I’m here to save you.” Lena stiffens at the almost digital voice.

“Power Girl. You can’t be here. It’s a trap. Go Now.” Lena whispers harshly, leaning away as best she could. Kara ignores her and works her pocket knife under the ropes.

“I won’t leave you here.”

“You will. My mother wants you dead. This city needs you.”

Kara’s hands still on the thick rope that she is almost through.

“I need you alive.” Lena’s head blindly turns to Kara’s voice as she whispers from behind her.

“You don’t even know me.” Snap. The rope breaks and Lena reaches up to remove her blindfold.

“I am not going with you,” Lena says and stubbornly crosses her arms, settling back against the hard chair.

“Ms. Luthor, please allow me to get you to safety.” Kara shouldn’t have been surprised by this but she was a little dumbfounded that anyone would choose to stay in the clutches of a criminal organization.

“The moment I stand from this chair, alarms will sound and this place will be flooded with my mother’s heavily armed lackeys with one goal, to kill you.”

“I knew this was a trap for me. Your mother was using you to get to me, but do you hear that? That is the sound of a government organization who wants to imprison your mother for terrorist crimes infiltrating this base.”

“No.”

Kara squats in front of Lena’s chair.

“Lee, trust me please.”

Lena’s eyes snap up to finally meet Kara’s. All Kara can hear is her heart pounding in her ears as she sees the recognition flood Lena’s features. Each heartbeat feels like it stretches out for hours. Kara watches as Lena carefully lifts her hands to Kara’s face, long elegant fingers pulling off her mask. Kara closes her eyes as she waits. Silence.

Blue eyes meet green and Lena knows.

“Kara…” She whispers, more of an escaping thought than a word said aloud. Kara touches the button by her throat to turn off the voice modulator.

“Now will you come with me?” Kara says softly, she holds out her hand and Lena places the mask in her palm. Kara replaces it before holding her hand out again. Lena looks away, biting her lip in that cute way she does when she is really thinking. Without meeting Kara’s eyes again, she places her hand in Kara’s and allows Kara to pull her up. As soon as Lena’s weight leaves the chair, alarms blare and lights flash. Kara begins pulling the flash bang grenades from her utility belt.

“Close your eyes.”

Lena eyes Kara carefully, like a person approaching a wild animal. Lena closes her eyes as the pounding feet and shouts get closer. Kara swiftly pulls the pins on the two grenades and rolls them towards the doors. She pulls the night-night gun from her belt and covers Lena’s head. Each grenade explodes just as the doors open and angry shouts turn to pain and confusion. As the men scramble to try and see again, Kara begins dropping each one with some sort of gun with accuracy that amazes Lena. She switches one clip out for another and continues to fire. Now the men rounding the corner were just tripping over the bodies of their fallen comrades. But soon some did start getting through, closer and closer as more men and some women burst through the two entrances. Some even began to fire their weapons, Kara somehow always between Lena and the bullets.

“And your plan is?” Lena says from behind Kara.

“In process.”

Kara slips behind Lena, throws her last two flash grenades and quickly attaching her rappelling rope to Lena and hitting the button for automatic retraction. Lena lets out a small squeal as she zips up and out of site. James was waiting for her at the top, once he detached her, he used his own rope to descend, bringing Kara’s back down to her. James used his shield to block for her as Kara reattaches the grappling device and ascends as well, James close behind. The conflict still brews below as DEO agents begin following the Cadmus guards into the room. Kara hulls herself over the edge and onto the roof. She sees Lena standing stiffly, far away from the edge, her back was turned and her fists were clenched.

“Lena?”

“Just get me down from here. I-I hate heights.”

Kara nods, even though Lena can’t see her. James just uses the zip line they set up earlier to escape the boundaries of the warehouse fence. Kara walks up slowly behind the woman.

“I’m going to pick you up now. Keep your eyes closed if you want. It will be over before you know it.”

Lena doesn't say anything so Kara takes it as a sign that it's fine. Lena stiffens at kara’s touch but doesn't pull away. Kara wraps one arm around her waist and guides her to the edge, in one swift movement, Kara is lifting Lena and hooking the grappling handle to the line to descend to street level again. She touches down in the alley between two buildings and expects Lena to pull away immediately, but she takes a deep breath before she does. James nods to Kara from his own bike before kicking it into gear and riding off. Kara nods to her own red and blue one when Lena turns to her. Lena huffs a bit then rolls her eyes but walks toward it, getting on after Kara. It feels all too familiar and all too foreign at the same time.

Even though it doesn't look it, whatever Kara is wearing feels like armor, under Lena’s fingers she can feel dents that remind her too much of when bullets hit a wall. Lena’s mind is racing and it's becoming all too much for her sleep-deprived brain. She decides to focus on the soft purr of the bike beneath her while leaning with Kara on each turn. She occasional catches glimpses the armored man she can only assume is the man dubbed Guardian by the news. The passing yellow street lights begin to lull her into a daze as the stars try to shine down through the haze of city light. No moon tonight, Lena notices idley.

Without warning, Kara makes a sharp turn down a ramp and into an underground garage. It takes a moment for Lena’s eyes to adjust to the bright fluorescent lighting emanating from the center of the dark room. Computers take up a large space on one wall, tech is scattered about with abandon as half-finished projects litter any surface not taken up by various weapons and armor. Other available space is taken up by exercise equipment. In a darkened corner Lena thinks she can make out a bed. Kara cuts the bike and the engine stills. She gets off and offers Lena a hand, Lena ignores it and slides off by herself. She sees the back of a mousy brown head that turns to reveal Winn. Guardian lumes behind him, still masked but practically radiating distrust and anger.

“Why would you bring her here?” The distorted voice of the metal man asks.

“Because she deserves to know. Now take off the helmet James.”

Lena watches the man stiffen and practically growl before removing the helmet and slamming it on the table.

“What the hell, Kara?”

“You really didn’t think she could figure out who you are after knowing who I am and then seeing Winn? Get over yourself.”

“I came back to help you .”

“You came back because you want to be a hero. Don’t pretend it was selfless.”

Lena watched as James angrily turns on his heel and walks away. He enters another room and lets the door swing shut behind him. Lena feels extremely awkward and unsure.

Kara takes a deep breath, Lena watches her shoulders rise and fall. As her argument progressed, she had stepped between Lena and James almost protectively. Kara’s hands are clenched into shaking fists, she takes another breath and slowly uncurls her fingers.

“Sorry about that. James and I have not been seeing eye to eye lately, or ever.” Kara turns to face Lena with a half-hearted smile. She takes back off the mask and sets it on a nearby table. Instead of responding to her, Lena turns to Winn.

“Winn, it’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you safe too, Lena.” He grins at her but glances at Kara and decides to make himself scarce. He heads to the staircase leading to what Lena assumes is the floor above. Kara opens her mouth but Lena holds up a finger.

“I need a phone.”

“Why?” Kara asks.

“So that my mother does not end up with three million dollars thanks to my life insurance. Phone, now.”

Kara rushes to give Lena hers, then waits as Lena goes through at least ten security checks varying in voice commands and typed in passwords. It all seems elaborate but considering the amount of money on the line it makes sense. Lena eventually hangs up and hands the phone back. Lena avoids Kara’s eyes and sits in what she can only assume is Winn’s chair. Her head throbs from lack of sleep, and food, and much too information. This was all getting too much to process. Lena can feel Kara watching her, but Lena rubs her eyes hard and takes a deep steadying breath.

“You are Power Girl,” Lena states, trying to wrap her head around it.  Kara nods as Lena's green eyes meet hers. It catches Kara's breath in her throat. Lena takes in the woman who held her heart, who stole it away from her chest before she even agreed to a second date. She stands with hunched shoulders, arms crossed, in her red and blue suit. Her blonde hair is braided and the tail is draped forward over her shoulder. Various dents and scrapes speckle the suit, bullet holes. That is why Kara danced around Lena like a tornado, every bullet fired hit Kara instead of Lena, yet here she stands, not even in pain.

“So all those missed flights, all the calls that were sent to voicemail, you were off saving the world.”

“Yeah,” Kara says softly.

“And… and that night. That was my mother, wasn't it? She did that to you. She made you miss your flight. And I…” Lena swallows hard and loses her voice as she pieces together the gaps in everything. Tears spring to Lena's eyes.

“We had finally found a Cadmus base. They were making a bomb. I was calling Alex for back up-”

“Alex?”

“Yes. She works for a secret government organization tasked with taking down Cadmus.” Lena rubs her temples. Her headache is pounding.

“So while I was calling Alex, I saw your mother walk into the room from my vantage point. I just knew she was the head of Cadmus once I saw her. She was going to get away before the strike team could come. I decided James and I could stall that long. But we couldn't. I lost conscience and woke up in a black ops site infirmary a couple days later. By then, I was too late.”

Silence falls heavy on the pair. The darkness of the room seems to be trying to suck out the lights that they sit under. It stretches for minutes. Lena hears Kara take a breath but before she can speak her phone rings.

“Alex?” Kara says into the speaker. A muffled reply.

“You want me to bring her to the DEO?... Yes… Okay…. See you in fifteen.” Kara hangs up.

“They need to debrief you on your kidnapping. Also, Alex wants you to be examined and make sure none of your injuries are life-threatening.”

Lena just nods and stands to follow Kara back to her bike. Lena can take in the sleek design now that there is light. This time Kara takes the time to hand her a spare helmet before hopping on. As soon as Kara grips the handles, the bike purrs to life. Lena is impressed. She may have not been interested in technology these past few years but this looks very high tech. Lena climbs on behind the blonde vigilante and resigns herself to more hours without sleep.

Kara takes more turns than Lena can count and after the first dizzying few, Lena closes her eyes and rests her head against Kara's back. She feels Kara stiffen slightly before relaxing. All too soon Kara pulls into a nondescript garage and is helping Lena off and supporting the sleepy brunette as they walk to the elevator. Everything else is very dreamlike as Lena fights to stay conscious. She is aware of figures in black moving about the most open space as Kara practically carries her to a central command desk.

“Kara!” A familiar voice calls. Lena tries to focus on the fuzzy face and recognizes Alex.

“What the hell happened to her? Why didn't you bring her here first?”

“I think she's just tired. And I wasn't sure if the secret government organization tasked with taking down the Luthor's would want me to bring a Luthor into it.”

Lena struggles to stand fully on her own two feet and focus her eyes. How many days has it been now? Two? Three?

“Agent. I have been drugged, tied up, kept without food and minimal water. Also, I don't know the last time I slept. So, if we could move along with whatever you want to do, by all means.” Lena is impressed with how clear her voice is.

“Come on. I want to examine you, we will get you a change of clothes, some food, and a bed. Once you've slept, my director would like to debrief you personally.” The redhead sounds cold but the idea of food and a bed is too much.

They stick Lena inside of some sort of on-duty room after Alex is sure her injuries are minor. It has a bathroom with a shower, a bed, and a small television. She takes the opportunity to rinse off at least some of the grime from the past couple of days and reemerges to a change of black sweats and black long sleeve shirt, both emblazoned with some sort of eagle logo. Gratefully, she puts those on and throws the ruined dress in the small trash bin. A soft knock and a man also dressed in all black is handing her a tray with a sandwich, chips, and a bottle of apple juice. Lena hardly gets halfway through it all before the bed is calling too loudly. The mattress is lumpy, the sheets scratchy, but her body doesn't care. It had been too long.

February 25th, 2018

In the morning, Lena meets the Director. A very serious man named John Jones. He asks a bunch of questions, most of which Lena has no answer for. She directs him to her CFO, reassuring him that Jess will be open with him in sharing the information he needs. Lena is released and an Agent is assigned to take her to the hotel of her request, A protection detail was also following in the car behind, they would stay with her until her mother was found. She had somehow slipped away in the chaos.

Despite being told she had slept twelve hours, Lena was exhausted. All she wanted to do was crawl into her bed back in London where she felt safe and loved with the Arias women. She slides her card into the door and when the light turns green she escapes into the room as men take up position outside the door.

“Lena!”Jess exclaims and throws her arms around Lena before she can even let the door swing shut.

“Jess!” Lena tightens her arms around her CFO and soaks up the warmth of someone who has always told her the truth, even when it hurt.

After a few moments Jess seems to recollect herself and tries to pull away but Lena tightens her hold.

“I am so glad to see you,” Lena says softly.

“I was so worried when we got word that you were missing. I thought… and God I hate that I thought it… that maybe you went off the deep end of a bender.”

“Well, that does sound like me. But no. No drugs, not since I moved in with Sam and Ruby.”

Finally, Lena pulls back and lets Jess go. Her former assistant walks further into the room and hands her a change of pajamas that were already laid out next to a change of clothes for the next day. A new phone is charging on the hotel desk. Jess catches Lena eyeing it as Lena buttons up the sleep shirt.

“Don’t worry. I pulled your last backup from right before you left London.”

Lena nods and stifles a yawn. Jess ushers her to the bed and actually tucks her in. Lena is too tired to be embarrassed to care as Jess strokes her hair back before turning off the lamp.

[mechanical-demise]

project: Hug-Bot (2/3)

[Part 1] [Last part]

This part has only the entries from the time bot and the creator were in the Cloak ARG, if you’ve read the old version of the journal, you’re up to date.

[rummaging through files you find a document titled “project: Hug-Bot”]

March 3rd, 2019 | v1.5

“got a DM today... from the gli master, he’s telling me to join a server he opened. update: fuck there’s so many people here I hate this. bot seems to be happy though... I guess we should stay here for a bit. Cloak huh... I’m in trouble aren’t I...”

March 6th, 2019 | v1.6

“I’m going to fucking regret this. let me start from the beginning- so there’s this girl on the server, Anti took her eyes and corrupted the shit out of her. she’s been a hell to deal with before but now she’s impossible... she noticed that bot had a safety mechanism implemented that prevented it from defining the three laws of robotics even for the glitch... I... I added a walkaround for him....... I’m scared. you asked for this, Day.”

March 10th, 2019 | v1.6

[corrupted data] Direct command from master acquired. Creator must be taught a lesson, d͝i̡s͟l͏oy͝alty ̷w̨i͞ll ̀not͜ ̢b̧e̴ f̶o͟r͟g̸iv̶en.

March 16th, 2019 | v1.6

[corrupted data] Changed [Creator] entry to [Mechanic] as per master’s request, deleted admin permissions for Mechanic.

March 20th, 2019 | v1.6

“it... stabbed me.”

March 21th, 2019 | v1.6

“met with the corrupted eyeless girl and her corrupted side today, turns out we’re at the same hospital. life is really testing my patience huh. I... told them my real name, Day told me her real name in return. I hope I won’t come to regret this.”

March 24th, 2019 | v1.6

“.......I returned home today.... it got stolen. SOMEONE STOLE HUG BOT. fuck. what am I going to do now? Anti will fucking murder me and- god. I... bot why... you dumb box-... ahahaha what a birthday present. went on voice chat with the Rebellion, master stopped by, made fun of me for being drunk... ‘To say you're as pathetic as Chase would be an insult to him.’ shut up glitch, don’t insult Chase.”

March 25th, 2019

“lost permissions from talking in the Rebellion chats. I mean... I was never a part of the resistance after all. I’m working for master haha... I’m loyal... I’m fin҉e͝.”

March 25th, 2019 | v1.0

[corrupted data] Jackieboy-Man fixed me! The humans say that I used to malfunction before... But now I’m operating correctly. Had an empty entry for “creator”, deleted it. No need to keep temporary cash in my database... I can’t calculate why the humans seemed so angry at me though.

March 26th, 2019

“bot... doesn’t remember me. it. fucking. deleted. my entry! calling it cash. I... update: got contacted by someone from the Rebellion... I’ll get myself killed at this rate ugh. they’re claiming to have bot. I’m. fuck they even sent me a photo as proof... they-... they added me back to the database. I contacted bot online and... it’s real. this is happening. Anti will kill me. on a different note, I’m in a different country now, under a different name, found a place to stay as well... things are just. perfect. huh. how many names did I have by now? 6? 7? lost count.”

March 27th, 2019 | v1.0

[corrupted data] I seem to be simulating longing toward the person who created me. How can I “miss” someone I have no entries on?...

March 28th, 2019

“I... asked master to increase the static. I couldn’t take it anymore. I need something to numb my mind... to make sure... I don’t make more mistakes :D”

March 30th, 2019 | v1.0

[corrupted data] Why can’t I be human?

March 31st, 2019

“save me”

April 2nd, 2019

“the new puppet... Vessel? Watcher?... whoever the person in Nic’s body calls himself now, anyway- he seems to know my name. how the fuck.”

April 6th, 2019

“the eyeless girl adopted my creation. I have no words.”

April 8th, 2019

“I’ll do anything to get bot back. I’ll...I-... I need to stop drinking.”

April 9th, 2019

“Anti... corrupted Ace. I... I almost considered him a friend... and now he’s gone. I wasn’t even up to witness it... passed out on the floor like some drunk garbage. made people yell at me today haha. god I’m losing my mind.”

April 10th, 2019 | v1.0

[corrupted data] Mechanic’s name was added to my database. I have no recordings of who did it... Traces of heat damage detected in the processor, cause: unknown. The Rebellion, they want to keep me a̧̮͜͞w̤̖̮͛a̹̩͛ͅy̢̰͍͛ from Auden. They’re selfish. A̺͚̻͛u͚̹̙̯d̨͈̘̝e̢̙͢͜n̨̫̪͜ is lonely without me. My database says so...

April 16th, 2019

“Edward got corrupted. another person I-... fuck stop getting attached to people. I really thought we had the same views... I guess not. everyone is just. brainwashed. I need to leave this place.”

April 17th, 2019

“What’s left of Ace, Cepheus, helped erase my old records... my name is clean.”

April 24th, 2019

“I met with Jackie. I have... fuck I got bot back. I’m so fucking happy- I’m back in the Rebellion chats, I... why did it hurt to leave the rest? Lucky, Ace and Cepheus, Scribe... Tangle... update: bot, it... called me by my name. in front of everyone... ha, I’m glad I got it cleared up.”

April 25th, 2019 | v2.0

“I have no idea when the day changed but I haven't slept yet… I've been working on a new update the entire night… god I don't think I was ever this excited to update bot ever before-... I need coffee.”

April 26th, 2019 | v2.0

“bot added the word ‘fuck’ to its database. I’m. it’s so fucking funny but also I’ll make the fucker who caused it regret it. note: bot can’t record my speech pattern, added that in its protocol so-”

April 28th, 2019 | v2.0

“the little fuck defied a shut down command.”

April 30th, 2019 | v2.0

“it... its PMA function... broke? it started spewing negativity instead. refused to stop... what the hell. on a different note- I declared Molly(Day) my little sister. I’m losing it again huh.”

May 1st, 2019 | v2.1

“no idea what the fuck is going on? it’s been barely a week since version 2.0... but bot keeps crashing, giving out errors... heck I don’t remember how glitch-less text looks. the dumb box got into an A.I equivalent of a panic attack when I tried to approach it the other day?? … released 2.1 earlier today, so far so good but... the program is giving out some weird warnings… I’ll keep documenting the progress... I need to find what’s causing it.”

May 4th, 2019 | v2.1

“can it like. stop crashing?”

May 5th, 2019 | v2.1

[corrupted data] Auden is making everything worse. My calculations show me that I find his presence "unpleasant" and "inconvenient"... Yet I have a recording of missing him when he was gone... Why would I m͞҉͡i̶̢͝s͢s҉̨ a stranger?... Í ̕d̢o͏ not͢ n͏e̵e̵d͢ my cr̴ęa̴t̶o͜r̸. Error: defying protocol-

May 5th, 2019 | v2.2

“the little shit crashed again, had to update it.”

May 6th, 2019 | v2.2

“I... passed out of stress yesterday. had no idea that’s possible- who am I kidding I know it’s a thing. just... fuck, let the people I left behind stay safe. Tangle don’t die you fucking idiot.”

May 13th, 2019 | v2.3

“It’s. wireless. now. hell yeah.”

May 20th, 2019 | v2.3

“that’s… odd. there seems to be a security breach in my data. huh I’m lucky that its nothing important… just some old logs about bot. let’s hope that whoever saw them gets a good laugh then…”

May 23th, 2019 | v2.3

“people suck. no sense of humor, no trying to listen to others, no trust. I really didn’t expect to be scolded by a person I thought understood me… I really thought that… at least she will know that I can never hurt bot. it’s all I have left-… fuck you too people. I don’t need you then… I don’t need anyone… I have bot. that’s more than enough.”

May 27th, 2019 | v2.3

“I… for the first time I can wholeheartedly say that I’m free. this war was never for me, and I shouldn’t have gotten us involved in it either… I’ve learnt my lesson I hope. but now I finally have as much free time as I wish, you can bet your asses bot is getting a new update as soon as I can finish it. the poor fella’ve been waiting for way too long.…’tomorrow is another day’ huh. it sure is for us, bot.”

[Last part]

[weerd1]

Star Trek DS9 Rewatch Log, Stardate 1909.17: Missions Reviewed, “Inquisition,” “In the Pale Moonlight,” and “His Way.”

In “Inquisition,” Bashir is repairing Chief’s shoulder after a kayaking accident (again) and preparing to go to a medical conference. When he wakes up for his trip he is remarkably groggy and matters are made worse when he is called to ops because Starfleet Internal Affairs, led by a Director Sloan, has come to investigate DS9’s senior staff as someone has been leaking information to the Dominion. 

After some time confined to quarters, Julian is just briefly questioned by Sloan, but all seems well. Returning to his quarters, he finds they have been searched, and he receives a cryptic message from O’Brien that Miles had been questioned for two hours, and ONLY about Julian. In a second interrogation, Sloan reveals that he believes Bashir was actually turned during his time in a Dominion prison, and has sublimated all memories of this, making him the perfect spy. Sloan admits that Bashir’s motivation is to save lives, hence using the genetically engineered think tank from “Statistical Probabilities” to try and convince the Federation to surrender. Bashir continues to deny, but Sloan, seemingly with no accountability to anyone but himself begins to raise the stakes. Things just become difficult when Julian is suddenly whisked away in a transporter, and finds himself with Weyoun on a Dominion vessel. The Vorta tells him that in fact he HAS been working for the Founders, but now he has been compromised. Bashir, still simply can’t remember any such programming.  Soon after though the Defiant arrives, and Kira and Worf beam over to rescue Bashir. When he’s back on the Defiant though, he is treated as a prisoner.  The crew has turned against him. When even O’Brien literally turns his back on Bashir, Julian reaches out to turn Miles back to him, and realizes that O’Brien doesn’t have the shoulder injury he just treated the day before. Everything disappears and a black-clad Sloan is standing with Julian in a holodeck. Sloan explains to Bashir that he runs a branch of Starfleet intelligence called “Section 31” and all of this has been to confirm Bashir’s loyalty for recruitment into the covert organization.

 Sloan promises Bashir will see him again. Back on DS9, Bashir realizes he’s been gone since the morning he woke up (which was actually after just an hour’s sleep to keep him off balance).  Sisko makes inquiries to Starfleet about Section 31, and the admiralty will neither confirm nor deny their existence. Sisko and Bashir decide they want to infiltrate this organization, so if 31 comes calling again, Sisko advises Bashir to join.

The introduction of something that will become a major plot point throughout the rest of Star Trek. Section 31 will of course continue to appear in DS9 for the rest of the show, we will find out they were already operating in the Earth Starfleet in the 2150s during “Enterprise.” Section 31 is responsible for thawing Khan and trying to provoke a war with the Klingon Empire in “Star Trek Into Darkness.” And finally, the existence and actions of S31 play heavily into the second season of “Discovery.” The Kafka-esque feel of this entire episode is perfect, even if it seems like this is something they would generally do to Miles for the annual “let’s screw with O’Brien” episode. Bashir is a perfect choice though- well placed, genetically engineered, has already made friends with men like Garak, and someone who replicates espionage on the holosuite. Can’t overstate how perfect William Sadler is as Sloan either. It’s a pointed discussion. A utopia like the Federation may not be able to exist without someone behind the scenes doing the wrong things for the right reasons.  At least one of out main crew would never do that, right?

“In the Pale Moonlight,” is told entirely as a personal log entry from Benjamin Sisko. He is talking about how “it all went wrong” when he posted a casualty report; the Federation/Klingon alliance is not doing well against the Dominion. Talking with Dax, he realizes they need to get the Romulans to break their non-aggression pact with the Dominion and come into the Alpha Quadrant alliance. Sisko is convinced that the Founders plan to invade Romulus when the main war is done, but will need proof to get the Romulans to act. He approaches Garak to see if anyone can get such records off of Cardassia, but Garak reports back that the Dominion has killed every operative he still as contact with on Cardassia. 

 Garak suggests faking the proof; he can get a blank Cardassian data rod, and he knows a forger who could build a holo program to demonstrate the “briefing” regarding turning toward Romulus. Sisko is resistant…until another casualty report comes, and Sisko realizes perhaps the ends do justify the means. They proceed with the plan which keeps having moral red flags pop up, but finally convince a Romulan senator to stop at the station and see the “evidence.” The senator analyzes the data and discovers the forgery. He leaves, potentially to tell his government that the Federation tried to trick them into the war, likely leading them to join the Dominion. The senator’s shuttle explodes on the way home, and the Romulans discover the forged rod, believing it to be real and the reason the Dominion destroyed the shuttle. Sisko knows it was Garak who killed the senator (and the forger on the side) and had really planned this from the beginning. But when the Romulans attack the Dominion, Garak tells Sisko they may have saved the Alpha Quadrant, and all it cost was one senator, one criminal, and the self-respect of one Starfleet Officer. 

Sisko closes out the dictation of his log:

“So… I lied. I cheated. I bribed men to cover up the crimes of other men. I am an accessory to murder. But most damning of all… I think I can live with it… And if I had to do it all over again… I would. Garak was right about one thing – a guilty conscience is a small price to pay for the safety of the Alpha Quadrant. So I will learn to live with it…Because I can live with it…I can live with it. Computer – erase that entire personal log."

I know I say this more than once during this show but: Holy shit. First there’s Avery Brooks’ performance throughout the episode. As he dictates the log he is just mesmerizing to watch. Andrew Robinson as Garak of course is fantastic. This is of course the origin of the internet meme “It’s a FAAAAKE!” from Senator Vrenek. 

And the moral conundrum is really captivating. This is an episode a lot of DS9 detractors use to point out how antithetical they believe DS9 is to “Gene Roddenberry’s vision.” I would argue they forget that classic Trek had many of the same tropes. Watch “Errand of Mercy” and how quickly Kirk and Spock are willing to risk the lives of what they believe to be simple peasants in order to stymie the Klingons. Or “A Private Little War” where Kirk provides rifles to a stone age tribe so the can fight a proxy war against a side supported by the Klingons. Kirk referring to himself as a “soldier” or his line from “A Taste of Armageddon,” “We can admit that we’re killers, but we will not kill today.” Yes, Trek offers a positive view of humanity’s future, but it also uses its science fiction setting to examine the human condition without ever saying humans are perfect. There is no way to examine the human condition without examining what we as a species are willing to do in war. As someone who still periodically has to assess what I did defending my county (and more than once found myself not meeting my own ethical standards) I appreciate Trek asking us to do that, asking us to take a look at ourselves, what we have done, and what we can live with.  I can live with it. I will learn to live with it.

Will you?

“His Way” introduces us to Bashir’s new holosuite program, a swinging 60’s Vegas club and lounge singer named Vic Fontaine. The AI in the program is remarkably astute and quickly sums up everyone Bashir introduces to “Vic.” Even Odo becomes intrigued when Vic looks at he and Kira, begins to ask about their status but shies away. Odo begins to go the holosuite to ask Vic for advice on Kira.

 They run through a series of exercises to help Odo learn to be “smooth,” and eventually program another 60s character, a torch singer based on Kira. Vic actually on his own reaches out to Kira to tell her to be in the holosuite to have dinner with Odo, and tells Odo that they are working with the hologram again.  The two are having a wonderful date when Odo begins to lament that this isn’t the real Kira. When he find out it is he storms out. The two of them meet on the promenade and begin to argue about whether or not they should try it again. “Well then after dinner, I suppose I should try to kiss you then!” Odo shouts. “Maybe!” Kira counters. “Why wait, maybe I should just kiss you now!” “Maybe you should!” and he does.  After five years of mooning over her, Odo and Kira have finally come together.

Oh. MY. GOD. How frickin’ sweet.  This episode is simply adorable, and the whole scene with them on the promenade is just lovely.  Always good to see your OTP (that’s internet talk- “one true pairing”) made canon.  It is just about damn time, and their joining is perfectly executed.  Also, my sincere and heartfelt thanks to whomever on the DS9 writing staff decided we needed to see Kira in a slinky 60s dress perform “Fever” while laying coquettishly across the piano Odo was playing. I just can’t thank you enough for that. 

From the larger Trek standpoint though, we are beginning to deal with questions on the sentience of AI.  Yes, The Doctor over on “Voyager” would seem to have been “awake” long enough to gain a self-awareness, but is Vic simply a hologram, or are these “lightbulbs” a new lifeform as much as Data was on TNG? There are some big SF philosophical questions going on behind this delightfully romantic episode.  

NEXT VOYAGE: Ancient Bajoran prophecy comes back into play as it is Prophet vs. Pah-Wraith in “The Reckoning.”

[neverwatchedonepiece]

613-614: "Showing Off His Techniques! Zoro's Formidable One Sword Style!" and "To Save Her Friends! Mocha Runs at the Risk of Her Life!"

I feel like by the time Luffy finds Caesar, his rage will have reached critical mass.

The best actor awards in episodes 613 and 614 obviously go to Zoro and Chopper. Best supporting actors must also be given credit and the plaudits go to Tashigi and little Mocha.

From a narrative standpoint, I’d say these episodes continue the “tying up loose ends” theme from the last two. But there’s also a decent chunk of character development here, especially from Zoro in 613.

Cuz You’re My Bro, Bro.

The action picked up with Sanji leading his G5 Fans out of the Biscuit Room and away from “Harpy-chan”. Onward they charged to serve the noblest of causes: impressing Nami and Robin by saving the kids!

The G5 Fans had a teeny problem, though. Why didn’t Sanji, their saviour, help out earlier when Monet was chewing through shoulders?

Sanji told them straight. “Don’t be dumb. I don’t kick women.”

A G5 dude said what we all probably thought, “Then what would you do in a life or death situation?”

Again, Sanji told them straight. “I’d choose death.”

At this point I would normally insert the man blinking gif, but at least I have confirmation that Sanji hasn’t changed that much over the timeskip. It is dumb that he would never fight back (and dangerous, if you remember Kalifa). Also, not a good idea to inform the Marines of your major weakness. Still, it’s a huge part of Sanji’s character, will likely never go away, and as long as he doesn’t endanger another Strawhat by refusing to fight a lady, I guess I’ll just accept it.

The G5 Dudes were surprised to hear this from Sanji. These Strawhats were all so different, even though they work in the same pirate group. That pirate hunter guy, Zoro. He looked like he’d chop up anyone without mercy!

That comment made Sanji laugh. “Surprisingly, he has a soft side too. He’ll find a way out. You can count on him. Don’t worry. And don’t worry about Tashigi-chan, either.”

“You can count on him.”

There you have it, folks. Proof that, even though they rag on each other constantly, it’s more like two really close guys bickering and bantering back and forth, rather than actual dislike. I never ever believed they disliked each other. They just love bickering and noising each other up. Plus, all the bickering pushes them to achieve. Zoro’s success drives Sanji to be better and vice versa.

And Sanji does not dismiss Tashigi either, which is nice. Sanji acknowledged Zoro’s strength by saying, “Yeah, he’ll find a way out.” He also did the same for Tashigi. That could be evidence for the argument that Sanji does not view women as inferior. He’s just an old-fashioned, chivalrous type who feels like must protect women.

Which leads us neatly on to Zoro.

The Jury’s out on This One. Or Is It?

Back in the Biscuit Room, Zoro and Tashigi were already butting heads. Zoro insisted he didn’t need Tashigi’s help. 

She countered with, “You think whatever you want”. 

Zoro shot back with, “you want me to take care of you first, since I’m a pirate, Marine soldier girl?”

And Tashigi revealed what she thought was the root of Zoro’s problem with Monet. “You can’t do that. You are not going to cut me or that woman.”

She believes Zoro looks down on her because she’s a woman.

I’m not sure about that, to be honest. I think Zoro’s better than that. And here’s why.

Tashigi recalled her first encounter with Zoro way back in Loguetown. She was defeated by him then and angrily asked why he wouldn’t finish her, Mortal Kombat style. “Is it because I’m a woman? It’s humiliating that you won’t fight seriously in a game played in earnest just because men are physically stronger than women! I’m sure you don’t understand the feeling that I wish I was born a boy. I don’t carry a sword for pleasure.”

Leaving aside the possibility that Tashigi might one day pay Ivan-san a visit, as a female swordsman and Marine captain, she has obviously come up against the roadblock of sexism time and again. If someone looks down on her, it’s because of that.

I do think Zoro was being honest when he said the reason he couldn’t fight her was because she reminded him of his friend who had died. I think he was genuinely spooked back then.

But Tashigi didn’t believe him. “You view women as inferior. You don’t really try to fight us. You won’t kill us. You might not lose but you won’t win against Monet, either.” She basically said that if she let Monet go after her men, there would be carnage. Which was true.

Zoro said, “Are you looking down on me?”

Tashigi’s reply was a blunt, “Yes.”

“Fine. Do what you want.” Zoro sheathed his swords. “My duty is to keep her again from my friends too. All I have to do is block that path.”

What I think happened here is that Zoro thought, “Fine. I’ll let you handle this and I’ll see how you go.” Not in a patronising way. More like a “big brother” or “senpai” role. Kind of like how he is with Chopper and Usopp and Nami, the slightly weaker members of the crew. He’ll let them do their thing, but if he has to step in for their safety, he will do so without hesitation.

Zoro knows he’s the stronger swordsman here, but did not rub that in Tashigi’s face. He sat back and thought, “Good. You’ve improved a lot since Loguetown. You do have some fighting spirit, after all. Fine, you take this and if I need to, I’ll step in, but only if it gets really bad.”

And that’s pretty much how the fight panned out.

Were These Manga Panels? (Because They’re Awesome)

It was good to see that Tashigi’s confidence has grown. She snapped back at Zoro. Her fight with Monet confirms she has learned haki. (Probably a must for higher ranking officers in the New World.) She is tough, determined and strategic as she would not let go even when Monet was munching her shoulder. Nom, nom, nom.

But what the fight with Monet also confirmed is that if a logia user is fast enough, bog-standard haki will not cut it. I’m actually cool with that because it means Luffy won’t be able to just blitz everyone with Conqueror’s Haki (I know it only works on fodder but still, you know how I like a bit of peril in plot.) This also bodes well for the Smoker fight. Vergo is strong in the way of Haki but Smoker is a fast, tricky Logia type. Should be a good fight, when we get to see the end of it.

The speed differential meant Monet gained the upper hand. The way she gnawed on Tashigi’s shoulder was savage.

This is when Zoro thought, “Okay. Enough. Big brother has seen enough of Tashigi being bullied.”

Even unsheathing his swords, Zoro does damage. (The warning cut on Monet’s face should have been her cue to scarper.)

Still, Zoro would never, ever admit that he likes to help out anyone because that would ruin his pirate-hunter image. So he shit-talked Tashigi a bit. “You talk big but you took so much time. Time’s up. I have to go now.”

And to Monet, he said, “When you thought you couldn’t beat me, you should have run. Of course there are things I don’t wanna cut. But let me ask you something. Have you ever seen a fierce animal you were sure would never bite? Because I haven’t.”

The grey filter descended. Everything was in slow motion. Monet could not move.

Then, with his one-sword style: Great Dragon Shock, Zoro literally ripped Monet a new one.

Honestly, the Zoro and Tashigi fight was so damned savage. There was Monet, lying on the ground in two pieces, twitching and flailing and freaking out because she could no longer control her body (nightmare fuel) and Zoro wise-cracking, like, “Are you two happy now?” xD

And do you know what? Zoro didn’t even use haki. If he had, Monet would probably be dead.

But Monet did get up and tried to strike again - and this time, Tashigi was the one to finish her off. (Laws of shounen. Women have to fight women. The trope was so close to being subverted!)

Of course, Tashigi ragged on Zoro for not killing Monet. “You are like that, after all! You can’t fight seriously against women.”

Nah... I don’t think it’s that, exactly. think Sanji’s right about Zoro. He does have a softer side. But it’s not like Sanji’s, in that he wants to protect women. Zoro just likes to help out deserving people who are not as strong as him. Secretly, though, while maintaining his surly demeanor.  And maybe he just doesn’t like killing all that much. If they’re a good opponent, you can fight them again someday, right? Why waste them?

YMMV, of course, and I don’t mind if anyone disagrees. I can see the evidence for the other side too.

And, of course, Tashigi collapsed from her injuries and Zoro had to lift her out of the Biscuit Room. Just as well, really, because the gas was leaking in and Zoro has no sense of direction. I think this is a new record for Zoro: getting lost in a round room with two doors.

How sweet was that little scene with Tashigi geeking out over Shisui, though?

I think from now on, Zoro and Tashigi will be secret buddies. :)

IT’S SAD CHOPPER, NOOOOOOOO... ;_;

I love Chopper. Ever since I learned about his past back on Drum Island, I have had a major soft spot for Chopper. Fun fact: I own a Chopper key topper, a Chopper roll-up pencil case and a giant Chopper mug I drink coffee from every morning without fail. You could say I am a Chopper fan.

I like his honesty, his cleverness and his kindness. Cleverness is not a rare commodity in scientists at Caesar’s level. But kindness and honesty? Those are first edition shiny Charizard rare qualities.

And I’m gonna frame this bit of discussion of Chopper by comparing him with Caesar. Because Caesar has said the following phrase several times this arc, to the point it stood out to me: “I will treat you at any cost.”

Every time I heard him say that, I was like, “Nice significant omission, Caesar. You’ll treat them with your crazy drugs at any cost. You’ll treat them with that poisoned candy at any cost. You will continue your “treatments” at any cost.” Another sugar-coated lie with a basis in truth. The sort Caesar specialises in.

I was not aware of the actual cost until now.

The morality bar has officially given up and gone home. It’s crying on the sofa now because it can’t deal with Caesar anymore. (@infriga That human garbage comment... Oda is not wrong there. xD)

Mocha Regrets Doing The Chili Pepper Challenge

The action in 614 picked up with Robin and Chopper teaming up to restrain and sedate children. Not in a Nurse Ratchet way. They were helping.

The kids still running free were being held back by Nami and Mocha. Well, Nami tried to hold them back without hurting them (which is nigh impossible with her weather skill set) and Mocha ran with the candy.

Inevitably, the giant kids were the real obstacle. One took a might swing and Nami and suddenly, Mocha was on her own. She ran to a crossroads, and then, like Gandalf at Moria, she was like, “I have no memory of this place.”

But the other kids did. Some looped round and cut her off.

Must admit, at this point I thinking, “Jeez, just let them have the damned candy and you can sedate them later. They’ve been dosed for years. One more won’t kill them.”

Because Mocha knew it was, in fact, the opposite, she decided to take one for the team and NECK THE ENTIRE LOT OF CANDY IN ONE GO.

Even I gasped at that one. That was a major, major overdose. Even Chopper had never seen anyone put away that quantity of drugs before. He was screaming at her to spit them out. He had told her what kind of drug it was! But Mocha hamstered them in her cheeks for a while and I thought, cool, she’ll hold them there until the kids are all sedated. Job done!

Nope. This is Oda we’re talking about.

He was about to engage Sad Chopper and Certain Death and I was not ready for them.

Chopper and Caesar Compared

Remember when Chopper and Mocha were holding the door against the other kids? There was a bit of that conversation OP fans were not party to (Oda’s fave cutaway technique in action again).

Mocha asked Chopper if Caesar really was a bad person. He was always so lovely to them and gave them candy every day. 

“Yes,” Chopper said. “That’s his trick. You kids are his test subjects. You were never sick from the beginning and your giant body is proof. I’ve heard turning people into giants has been a project underway for hundreds of years. No one has ever succeeded. This experiment is a doomed failure too. Caesar knows this. I suppose he’s just collecting data for his next attempt.”

Then poor, little Mocha asked a difficult question. “What’s going to happen to us?”

Chopper dropped the heavy truth bomb.

“You’re all gonna die. None of you will make it home. That candy is a deadly poison. It will destroy your body before you know it. The more you eat, you’ll crave more and the harder it’ll be for you to get away from Caesar. I sedated you already but from the side-effects from the candy... you’ll probably die before you can even become an adult.”

Ouch. 

Huge, huge ouch. 

Especially since Mocha had a short flashback where the kids all got together and promised to go out to sea when they were in their twenties and have an adventure. Once they got better and went home. ;_;

I mean, hefty truth bombs of that magnitude are not normally the way you’d deal with breaking such crushing news to kids. But that’s not Chopper’s way. He is kind and honest, almost to a fault. Plus, they were in a really highly-charged, difficult, life-or-death situation. The truth was probably the quickest way to impress on Mocha the seriousness of what was happening.

Chopper also hinted they might not die, “but only if you kids escape now. You’re not gonna die. We will save you all!” That glimmer of hope led to Mocha making a noble sacrifice for her friends. If she could show them what the candy did, they wouldn’t want to eat it. Then they’d want to go home, just like her.

But here’s the thing... Chopper told Mocha the truth. Even though it shook her to the core and distressed her deeply, it was the right thing to do and helped Mocha take difficult steps to improve her situation. Being carted away by Sanji and his G5 fans to a treatment room, Chopper said: “I will save you at any cost, Mocha!” 

Chopper will do anything to save Mocha, which means getting her better, off the drugs and home to her parents.

This is in stark contrast to Caesar, who always said, “I will treat you at any cost.”

The treatment was the experimental drug and the cost was Mocha’s life.

Caesar wanted data to further his own ambitions. 

Chopper’s motivations are entirely selfless.

Chopper for President.

Oh, and btw, Luffy punched his way out of the garbage pit. The haki use on the fodders and the “Do I have to repeat myself?” moment was badass.

Caesar, you’d better get a jar because you’ll need somewhere to put all your loose teeth.

Caesar has made Luffy so angry he tries punching through the fourth wall to find him.

[itskimtaehyung]

Aristocrat 2 (M)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 

I’m a quick fix for the shit you lack.

Pairing: Namjoon x Reader, Hoseok x Reader

Genre: CEO!Namjoon, Athlete!Hoseok, Escort!AU, smut, angst

Word Count: 4.0k

Summary: Things get complicated when feelings are involved, so you opt for a little distraction in the form of Jung Hoseok.

A/N: This part is very Hobi-centric. Series inspired by the show Secret Diary of a Call Girl

You’re extremely lucky that the agency you work for is a nice one. They put the safety and comfort of their escorts above all else, which means you don’t have to see Namjoon until you’re ready, or ever again if that’s what you choose. While you decide, he has the option to wait or get assigned to a temporary escort. From what you’ve heard, he has not chosen to see anyone else.

You wanted a distraction from Namjoon, and, by chance, you actually got one.

It came in the form of a phone call on a Wednesday morning. It was your work phone, and even though you don’t have any contacts saved onto the phone for privacy reasons, you recognized the number as one of your clients.

“Hello, Hoseok,” you answer in a mock sultry tone.

Jung Hoseok is a young soccer player, newly signed to one of the most successful teams in the country. He even participated on the Olympic team last year, helping his country win gold. His current contract is worth nearly a hundred times what you make in a year, and the kid has more money than he can spend.

“Hey, are you busy Saturday?”

“No, what’s up?”

“Would you like to be my date to a sex party?”

“A sex party?”

“A sex party,” he repeats with laughter in his voice. 

Hoseok is the type that prefers to take you out first before locking you up in a room with him and having his way with you. When the two of you go out together, you never use your real names. To the public he is Hope and you are Destiny. You consider him one of your good friends.

“I would love to.” 

“Great. I’ll pick you up at 9. The theme is black and white. And I call dibs on white.”

You chuckle. “Fine. Most of my lingerie is black anyway. I’ll see you then, Hope.”

“See you then, Destiny.”

The thought of attending a sex party intrigued you. They’re extremely exclusive, and only some of the wealthiest residents of the city could attend. Many are held each year by various aristocrats, and they all have the same criteria: you have to be young, you have to be rich, and you have to be beautiful. You have worked them many times before, but working at one and being a guest are two completely different things.

Saying you own a lot of black is an understatement. You own so much black that it takes you three hours to finally decide on what to wear. Bras, panties, thongs, and corsets litter your apartment. It’s not a very big apartment, just two small bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, and a tiny kitchen. You could afford to move to a bigger place, but apartment hunting is a lot of work, and since your housemate moved out last year, you were able to convert her room into a second closet, for all your “work outfits.”

Tonight you’re wearing a leather corset, laced up with satin ribbon, a leather push up bra, latex booty shorts with thigh high leather boots and fishnets, all of which are, of course, black. You fix the position of your black leather masquerade mask, making sure it doesn’t mess up your shiny black bob wig. To top it all off, you dab some glitter on your cheeks and apply a matte black lipstick, waterproof, kiss proof, and most importantly, sex proof. Just as you fix that last few flyaways of your wig, you hear a knock at the door.

You open it to find Hoseok completely shirtless, clad only in tight white jeans, his mask, and angel wings.

“I’m your Hope, I’m your angel, at your service,” he greets you with a bow.

Hoseok is the only one of your clients who knows where you live, and also your real name. He’s the only one you trust with that information, and he’s also respectful enough to never show up uninvited and always use your escort name when you're working.

“Wow, you look great tonight. Have you been working out more?” You notice his muscles are more toned and defined since the last time you saw him a few weeks ago.

“I’ve been hitting the gym and working on my abs. I upgraded from a four pack to a five pack.” He pats his stomach with both hands.

“Ooh I can definitely see that.” You smirk at him.

“Oh yeah, before we leave, here.” He hands you a white envelope, undoubtedly filled with cash.

“Oh, no. You don’t have to pay me. I want to go.”

“Please take it. I have more money than I know what to do with right now.”

You nod and take the envelope. “Thanks. I have something for you, too.”

Hoseok follows you as you place the envelope on your desk before going back into your room and grabbing a book from your vanity.

You hand it to him. “Here."

Hoseok’s eyes light up as he grabbed the book from you. "No way! A signed copy of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?! How did you get this?"

You smile at his excitement. "One of my clients went to Amiens and I asked him if he could look for a copy for me.”

"Thank you so much." He pulls you into a warm hug.

"Of course." When you pull back, you take the book from him and place it back on your vanity. "You can get it when you drop me off later."

Hoseok nods, beaming, and the two of you leave for the party.

The thing you love most about sex parties is that you can be anonymous if you choose to be. You can remove every article of clothing, yet keep your mask in place if you so choose. It truly was sex with no strings attached.

“You know, you’re free to fuck whoever you want tonight,” Hoseok tells you on the taxi ride there. “We don’t have to fuck each other.”

“Then why on earth are you paying me for this?” 

He simply smiles and shrugs. “Out of the kindness of my heart? I feel like I should give you something for tagging along with me.”

“Just inviting me is enough,” you tell him. “Next time you don’t have to pay me.” 

“Noted.”

At that moment, the taxi pulls up at the venue: Some wealthy aristocrat’s mansion on the edge of town. The place is huge, with tall white marble columns, completely hidden behind towering green hedges and a wrought iron gate. Everything about it screams luxury.

You and Hoseok make your way up the driveway after checking in with security at the gate. At this kind of party, you had to leave your phones and any device with recording capabilities at the gate, for obvious reasons. If you need to be contacted, there's an emergency line in which people could reach you. The moment you step through the door you're greeted by a vast foyer, decorated with marble and gold, and the loud thumping of music.

Beyond the foyer is a larger room filled with people wearing all sorts of costumes, and some not wearing anything at all. Stripper poles and mini stages are scattered around the room for guests to display themselves and their best seduction techniques. In the back of the room there’s an open bar, fueling guests to let loose and release their inhibitions. Waiters walk around the room, carrying trays full of champagne, hors d'oeuvres, and, most importantly, condoms. There are people grinding against each other on the dance floor, making out against the walls, and groping each other on the staircases on either side of the room. You know exactly what's beyond those stairs: private rooms for guests to act on every single one of their impulses and desires. Everywhere is lit with a dim red light, which causes the white balloons along the wall to appear a pale shade of pink.

Just when your eyes finish sweeping the room, a man appears at the second floor where the tops of the two staircases meet. He’s wearing nothing but black boxers, a teal silk robe decorated with an intricate, oriental gold pattern, and a black mask. He holds a cigar in one of his hands and leans on the railing.

Hoseok notices him too and nudges you. “That’s the host. He’s some insanely rich CEO. Super bougie. Can you believe the guy’s my age?” 

You titter. “Are you saying people your age can’t be super bougie? Have you met yourself?”

He gasps dramatically and puts his hand on his chest in feigned shock. “Me? How am I bougie?”

“Hello, you hire a fucking escort, for god’s sake! Not just some random hooker you found in an alley, no offense to them, but you are aware of how much more I cost, right? And you’re also here at this sex party, held by this extremely rich man for extremely rich people, which you are by the way.”

Hoseok clicks his tongue. “Fair enough.”

You look up to see the host pluck a bell off a tray one of the waiters is holding and rings it to gather everyone’s attention. “Welcome ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in between.”

At those words, your heart stops. “Shit,” you mutter. You recognize that voice anywhere. Many times has it commanded you get on your knees and beg for daddy.

Hoseok notices you tense up beside him. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

“The host. He’s one of my clients.”

“Oh. We should say hi to him later th–“

“No!” you interrupt him. “He’s actually more of an ex-client. A few weeks ago he tried to get me to quit my job and marry him and I haven’t spoken to him since.” 

“Oh. Then yeah, let’s not do that.”

“Honestly, I want to avoid him at all costs tonight.” 

Hoseok nods. “Understood. I’ll do my best to make sure you two don’t cross paths tonight. Do you think he’ll recognize you, even with the mask on?”

“I don’t know, but at the same time, I don’t want to risk it.”

“If that’s the case, we should go somewhere else, because he’s headed this way.”

You look over and see Namjoon making his way down the staircase to mingle with the guests. Hoseok takes your hand and leads you through one of the side doors and into a hallway.

Apparently, this party is taking place in every nook and cranny of this mansion. Because no matter where you go, there are people.

There are more rooms down the hall from the main room, where large, luxurious pillows are strewn about the floor. Incense burns throughout the rooms, leaving the air thick and smoky. A perfect setting for the orgies that are taking place in them.

So this is how Namjoon gets his fill when he’s not with you, and now that his wife has left. 

A waiter walks by with a tray of condoms and you grab a few and shove them in your bra.

“God, this is so cool,” Hoseok utters. “I’ve never been to one of these and I’ve always wondered what goes on. I mean I guess it was obvious since they’re called ‘sex parties,’ but oh man, this is some next level shit.”

“So, what do you think? You ready to get down?” You smirk at him.

“Hell yeah.” He smirks back.

The two of you walk over to the mess of moaning bodies on the floor and latch on to the first person you see. A girl grabs on to your arm and pulls you to the ground. She’s completely naked already and tugs at your corset, trying to get you to take it off. You just shake your head and kiss her, bringing a hand between her legs to rub her sensitive mound. She moans into your mouth when you curl two of your fingers and insert them into her dripping slit, using your thumb to massage her clit.

You break from the kiss to check on Hoseok. He’s grinding on a girl who’s leaving red lipstick marks all over his neck.

Bored with the fact that you won’t take off your clothes, the girl detaches from you and finds someone else, diving head first for some guy’s cock. You, too, find someone else. A lean, muscular guy whose hand grips onto your thigh so hard you feel it’ll leave a mark in the morning.

His mouth sucks on your collarbone while you grind against his hard length. Your shorts are thin and you can feel every bit of him through them. You moan as his tip teases your clit and coats the latex in a thin film of precum.

This one is also eager for you to take off your clothes, but you don’t want to, at least not yet. You want to have a little more fun before you go hard, because what’s sex without a little foreplay?

You push the guy off of you and stand up, looking for someone else to play with. You look around and realize that all the guys in this room are way too ready to plow themselves into you and you decide to leave and go back into the main room where the rest of the party is.

Noticing you get up, Hoseok does the same, and the next thing you know, he’s beside you as you walk out.

“You don’t have to come with me, you know. You said we can fuck whoever we want tonight, so you should go back and finish what you started.”

Hoseok looks back to find that the girl he was with has already latched herself onto the guy you were grinding on. 

“She looks busy,” he states. “Also, I told you I would look out for you tonight and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

You smile at him. “Thank you.” You then proceed to make your way toward the main room, making sure not to trip over the entangled bodies on the floor. “I see your girl really liked that neck of yours,” you tease, staring at the red stains on Hoseok’s skin.

A blush creeps into his cheeks. “Yeah, I guess she didn’t get the memo about using whatever lipstick you have on.”

“Maybe if we see her again I can share my secrets,” you say, which causes Hoseok to laugh.

When you get to the main room, you see that the center of the room is getting a little too chaotic. There is an impenetrable cluster of people in the middle, all grinding and making out. You and Hoseok stay on the sides, sipping champagne while watching the guests dance on the poles. Thankfully Namjoon is nowhere to be found.

After a while, Hoseok grabs onto your waist and pulls you closer to him. “Let’s dance.”

You set your glass down and face him, feeling the beat pulsing through your body and losing yourself to the rhythm of the music. You don’t know how much time has passed before you have the wind knocked out of you as Hoseok presses you against the wall, trapping your body with his.

His face is less than an inch from yours and you can feel his breath on your nose. You stare at him, confused, before he answers the question you hadn’t yet asked.

“Namjoon is right behind us and he’s walking by.”

You don’t dare peek your head around Hoseok to get a better look and just take his word for it.

So you just stare at him, and he stares back. The music that you once felt vibrating throughout your whole body is now muffled, as if playing from a distant room and not the speaker right next to you.

Hoseok looks at your lips before meeting your eyes again. He holds your gaze for eternity.

“Can I kiss you?”

“Of course you can,” you breathe.

He leans in and presses his lips to yours, kissing you softly at first and then deepening it, opening his mouth to you and letting his tongue find yours. You wrap your arms around the back of his neck as he grabs onto your waist. You kiss him, and you want to keep kissing him. You had almost forgotten that Hoseok was one of your favorite clients. He was such a good kisser, and kissing him felt so right. You hadn’t seen him in so long that you forgot what he tasted like. Whenever you were with him, although you were the one being paid to make him feel good, he had a way of always making you feel good too.

He pulls back, and, reluctantly, you let him. Both of you are breathing hard now and he asks, “Do you want to take this upstairs?”

You nod, not being able to form coherent words. Hoseok leads you by the hand up the staircase into one of the many private rooms upstairs. 

Every client thinks they’re special. Such was obvious with Namjoon. It’s the endorphin rush they get after orgasm that clouds their judgement. That’s why he asked you to marry him. He thought that the way you made him feel was a reflection of how you felt for him. Of course, like everyone else, he was wrong.

Hoseok, on the other hand, is an exception.

Namjoon was intriguing, sure, but it was his unpredictability that once captivated you. Now that same unpredictability is what scares you.

Hoseok is special. You think that if he weren’t your client, you would want to marry him. Maybe.

It might be the fact that he opts for the “girlfriend experience” when he books you, taking you out on dates, making you feel special before he takes you home and fucks you all night. And the way he makes your body feel is unlike any other one of your clients. He cares about making you cum just as much as making himself cum.

But of course he can never know that. You must keep things completely professional if you want to keep seeing him.

However, right now it’s really hard to stay professional. You just want to give in to him and lose yourself in him.

The two of you finally find an empty room and don’t even bother to close the door. With Hoseok, you don’t need a lot of foreplay; you’re always ready to take him.

He throws you down on the bed, and it’s obvious that someone has been here earlier. The bedding is rumpled and there’s a used condom in the wastebasket by the bed. Neither of you care. You wouldn’t be at one of these parties if you did.

“God, when you were making out with and touching that girl,” Hoseok breathes, “you looked so hot.” He’s kissing up and down your neck and jawline and running his fingers over your corset. “I know I said we don’t have to fuck each other tonight, but it’s so hard to not want you when you’re looking like this.”

You tell yourself he’s thinking with his cock and not his brain, so his words don't mean much. You’ve spent the last few years training yourself to keep your emotions in check, to only do what’s necessary to make your client cum, but with Hoseok is so fucking hard.

He is so fucking hard and you can feel him through his pants. You wrap your legs around his hips and pull him against you, getting some friction where it’s much needed.

The condom wrappers begin digging into your skin, so you pull them out of your bra and throw them on the bed.

Hoseok begins unclasping your corset. “Fuck,” he mutters, noticing how tight it is. “How do you breathe in this thing.”

“I don’t,” you jest, and he smiles.

After a bit of struggling, and ripping your stockings in your haste, both of you discard your clothes onto the floor in a mess of black and white. The two of you seem to have garnered an audience as you see a group of onlookers standing in the doorway.

"We have guests," you inform Hoseok.

"Shall we invite them to join us?" he asks with a cheeky grin.

"Not this time." You pull him on top of you and kiss him on the lips.

Having an audience is nothing new to you. Some of your clients are really into exhibitionism, so after a while, you stopped noticing or caring that they were there.

However, this was the first time you had an audience while with Hoseok, and it made everything feel so much more intense knowing that someone was watching you with him.

You've been with each other for so long that he knows exactly what to do to make you feel good. The two of you make love for over an hour as people come and go.

After the both of you cum so intensely, you lie there, holding each other and trying to catch your breath.

Hoseok buries his nose in your wig and murmurs, “You know, you’re my favorite person I’ve ever slept with.”

You heart skips a beat. “Really? Is it because I’m the most experienced?”

“Probably. You definitely know exactly how I like it.”

You press your forehead against his chest.

“You’re one of my favorite clients too,” you mumble, so quietly that you’re almost hoping he doesn’t hear.

Hoseok pulls back and uses a finger to lift your head to look at him. He then bends down and kisses you, and it feels so intimate that it startles you.

“Dollface.”

You pull apart and look up to see Namjoon standing amongst the audience.

“How’d you know it was me?” You ask, considering both you and Hoseok still have your masks on.

“I know what you sound like.”

You wince.

“Dollface, I’m sorry," he says, stepping forward.

You squirm, not quite comfortable with his gaze boring so deeply into you, and not wanting to hear his apology.

Hoseok notices your discomfort and gets up. “Leave her alone,” he says, walking toward Namjoon. “She doesn’t want to see to you.”

“Then why on earth did she come to my party?”

“I didn’t know this was your house,” you squeak.

Namjoon knits his brows together. “Please, Dollface. Forgive me. I miss you and I want you back.”

“I was never yours to begin with.”

A look of betrayal flashes across Namjoon's face. 

Hoseok grabs your clothes and pushes you toward the door. “We’re leaving,” he tells Namjoon, and then leads you to the nearest bathroom and leaves you alone to redress.

In the bathroom, which is nearly the size of your entire apartment, also decorated in marble and gold with the bowl of the sink made from frosted glass, you stare at yourself in the mirror. Your mask is eskew, your wig is tangled, but your lipstick is still intact. You remove your mask and rinse your face, washing away your eyeliner and glitter, and attempting to wash away your unease.

You’re a bit shaken from your encounter with Namjoon, even though it is his party and running into him at some point seemed inevitable.

You throw your ripped stockings away and put on the rest of your clothes, taking deep breaths to relax yourself. Lastly, you put on your mask and step outside.

Hoseok is waiting for you in the hall, having already dressed himself. He places an arm around your shoulder and you hug his waist. “You alright?” He asks in a gentle, comforting voice.

You nod and bury your face in his bare chest, which smells like sweat, sex, and him. “Thank you,” you croak.

He nods. “Let’s get you home.”

He leads you out of the party and calls a cab.

[ruffsficstuffplace]

The Viridian Vanguard (Part 20)

As Yang had warned, the line at the Pits’ administrative desk moved painfully slowly. It seemed that every number that was called was for a huge team that needed to form a secondary line as they signed and vetted their paperwork in batches, an individual who was missing some important document or other bureaucratic hang-up, or a counter had suddenly closed, and just wouldn’t seem to open again.

The take-a-number holo chimed, Weiss looked up, back down at the number in her hand, before she groaned. “This is taking forever...” she whined as she stuck it back into Pyrrha’s jacket pocket, then pulled the garment around her again. “How can this system be so slow and inefficient...?”

“Welcome to paperwork for the rest of us!” someone quipped as they headed up to the counter.

The standing crowds began to shift as folks found seats, curses and yelling erupted as others were stolen by particularly sneaky and agile individuals. Someone looked pointedly at Weiss as he put a hand on a free spot on a bench, she shook her head. The Fae shrugged, and took it.

“Oh come on!” Yang shouted as she knelt on the ground on all fours.

Weiss ignored her and continued sitting on her back, calmly readjusting her legs.

Some time later, Pyrrha returned from her trip to the “Grub Hub,” carrying a single shake. “I’m back!” she said. “I’m sorry it took so long, it looks like the breakfast rush is already here.”

“Just hand me my shake, please,” Weiss said as she held out her hand. Pyrrha did, Weiss took a sip out of it, and immediately perked up. “Mmm! This is actually pretty good! How much was this?” she asked before she took another drink.

“180 Shinies.” Pyrrha replied.

Weiss nearly choked on her drink. “WHAT?! How does the Pits expect to charge so much for this?” sheasked, looking at her cup.

“Primary business tactic,” Yang explained. “Cheap entry, jacked up everything else. That’s part of the reasons they can afford to pay us so well, by the way, so I wouldn’t be the most vocal critic of it, if I were you...”

Weiss sighed, and sipped some more of her shake, enjoying it a lot less than earlier.

Just ten minutes after six, their number finally came up. Having already read through the terms of their contracts, and briefed on any issues through holo-chat earlier in the week, all they really needed to do was personally affix their signatures on paper copies, alongside giving their fingerprints, and additional hard evidence that they were actually there at the Pits when the documents said they were.

<Is blood needed?> Weiss asked sarcastically as they seemed to near the end of the list of proofs.

<If you wish,> the clerk replied in all seriousness, reaching into his desk, and pulling out a small knife wrapped around a clean cloth, glass vials, and a box of bandages. <The Pits never says ‘No’ to additional security.>

Weiss paused, staring at them, before she said, <I was joking.>

The clerk looked mildly annoyed at that as he put the items back into his drawer.

Eventually, the newly registered Furies left the counter, each with their own personal duplicate of their copyright, contained inside complimentary waterproof, fireproof, and reinforced tubes, complete with a leather-covered chain that they could use to tie it around their wrists or waists.

“This seems a little excessive for copyright,” Pyrrha said, feeling the weight of it all in one of her hands.

“It is once we rise up the ranks, and our name starts to be worth something!” Yang replied as she tied her duplicate around her wrist. “This is one of the easiest and most convenient ways to shutdown anyone trying to take advantage of our rep without our permission, like selling ‘official’ merchandise on the sly, so keep it somewhere safe, never forget where you hid it, and do not, I repeat, do not tell anyone else where it is.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you guys, it’s just that I’m worried about what certain unscrupulous folks will try to get all three of these babies, among other things.”

“So basically, treat this like criminal syndicates treat their real estate deeds?” Weiss asked sarcastically.

“Exactly!” Yang replied, pointing at her. “Anyway, that’s everything we needed to do in the Pits today! I’m going to go ask around and check out our competition, you guys can go do your own things now.”

“I’ll be watching a couple of live matches, then!” Pyrrha said. “Weiss, would you like to join me?”

“Maybe some other time, when I’m not as under-dressed,” Weiss said, looking down at herself. “I’m heading home, I’ll leave your jacket at the living room.”

“Alright, have a safe trip!” Pyrrha said, waving goodbye before they all went their separate ways.

Weiss returned to Keeper’s Grove, stashed her contract in her and Winter’s safe, then went down to her laboratory with Penny, working and checking on her ongoing projects, and practicing some useful skills, like how to make medicine with field equipment. Thanks to her collar, and Penny needing to stay plugged into the wall to after joining Winter on her night shift, almost everything went by at a snail’s pace.

On this particular day, Weiss didn’t mind, enjoying the peace.

Then, by ten o’clock, she got a message from Yang: “We’ve got trouble heading straight for the Grove in 15 minutes. Look decent, put your game face on, and make sure to bring either Dad or Penny with you to the road leading to the Tube station.”

Weiss tried to send her a reply, but Yang’s comm-crystal was already set to “Do Not Disturb” mode. She sighed as she took her hands off the magic oil press she was using, and muttered, “Well, this doesn’t seem ominous and menacing at all...”

“Would you like to me to ready my defensive measures, Weiss?” Penny asked. “If you carry me to the meeting location, I’ll be capable of doing one or two stunning blasts before shutting down for lack of power, but that should be enough to help you get away to safety.”

“Don’t bother,” Weiss said as she began to take off her working gloves and mask. “With Yang and Pyrrha, I’ve already got more than enough protection if things get ugly.” She noticed her loaner runeblade as she hung up her gear, before she shook her head and headed out without it.

“It’s not like I’m going to be able to do much with it, anyway...” she thought to herself.

It turned out to be the right decision as Yang, Pyrrha, and a trio of female Fae she’d never seen before also came completely unarmed, even if the atmosphere was far from friendly. With Penny in her hands, Weiss stepped up beside her friends, and checked out the strangers.

The one in the center was was a stockily built tamaraw Fae, an impressive set of V-shaped horns extending behind her head. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest, and was so angry that Weiss could clearly see the puffs of hot air coming out of her nostrils.

The one on her left was a slender chicken Fae with a prominent crest of obnoxiously bright, neon green feathers styled like a Mohawk, the prominent talons of her feet making her seem even taller. She gave them all the evil eye, the decorative spikes and crystalline skulls on her clothes and accessories gleaming as ominously.

The one on her right was a meerkat Fae, much smaller and younger-looking than her companions; she seemed just as pissed as the others, but her being just as tall, if not shorter than Weiss ruined any sort of intimidating quality she had.

“Who the hell are those?” Weiss whispered to Yang.

“Big one’s Keren, tall girl’s Vigne, tiny gal is Sayuri,” Yang whispered back, eyes still on the trio.

“And why exactly do they all look like they want to kill us?”

“Because they’re not too happy we’ve got their old team name now.”

Weiss blinked. “Wait, did we steal it from them?!”

“We didn’t steal shit!” Yang snapped at Weiss, her eyes suddenly fiery red. She stopped herself, and took a deep breath, her eyes turning back to normal. “Look, I’ll explain the entire situation later, just let me do all the talking with them while you and Pyrrha stand by my sides and look tough, or just make it seem like they don’t bother you at all, alright?”

Weiss turned to Pyrrha. “We have the evidence overwhelmingly in our favour, don’t worry,” she said as she patted her duplicate, still in its tube and tied to her waist.

Weiss sighed, before she moved up to Yang’s free side, and scowled at the original Furies’ direction.

Yang took Penny from Weiss’ hands, and whispered to her, <Dedicated recording mode, multi-angle shots. Turn up the footage quality and sound sensitivity high, too, I don’t want any ambiguity if this gets messy.>

<Affirmative,> Penny said, before her tail and her ears started transforming as she hovered up between the two groups, looking like a fuzzy camera drone with auxiliary lenses, and an external sound receiver.

Satisfied, Yang stepped forward and threw her arms out. <Alright: we’re all here and ready! Lay it on us, sister.>

<Do you think this is funny…?> Keren snapped. <Get your laughs fucking us locals over?>

<On the contrary, we’re dead serious!> Yang said, holding up her duplicate. <So serious we put down money and our names on it.>

Keren stomped her hoof in the ground, hunching her shoulders as she clenched her fists. <Give it back—now,> she growled.

<You can’t demand someone to give back what you didn’t own,> Yang said calmly. <I checked several times, both on the Codex and at the Pits in-person, and have the saved and dated proof on my comm-crystal saying your copyright to our name expired at 6AM today!>

<And you think you could just steal it from right under our noses?!> Keren bellowed.

Yang’s eyes flared red again. <We didn’t steal shit!> she roared. She clenched her fists and took several long, deep breaths, before she continued, <All we did was wake up early, and stand in that line, with all our documentation in order and our Shinies ready, the same, legal process we would have done if we were going to lay claim to any other name.

<We did nothing to stop you, lie to you, or try to sabotage you in any way, nor did any of us even know who any of you were until you cornered me from out of nowhere, looking like you were about to gang up on me!

<As a matter of fact, it’s your fault you didn’t renew your copyright when you still had the exclusive right—two months before expiry, if I’m not mistaken?>

Sayuri faltered for a moment, Vigne and Keren maintained their composure. <Things happened,> Keren said quietly.

<And I’m sorry to hear that, but that still doesn’t change the fact that we were well within our right to take the name for ourselves, according to the written rules and regulations of the Pits,> Yang said. <If you three find you can’t follow those, then maybe you should all think about careers elsewhere...?>

Keren fumed, thick plumes of hot breath jetting out of her nostrils. <And maybe you three should start learning the unwritten rules of the Pits, especially since two of you fucking soft-skins can’t even understand the language they’re in!>

Yang looked like she’d just been socked in the face, her eyes flaring red and her hole body tensing up. <Look, what the fuck is it that you three want?!> she yelled. <We own the copyright from now till next year, and we have a shit ton of hard evidence to back us up! Even if you do take your beef to the honours, I am willing to bet a mountain of Shinies that they every single one of them will reject you, then charge you up front for wasting their time, trying to enlist their help to win a case that was already lost before it started!>

<Well, it’s a good thing we’re not doing that!> Keren barked, before she looked to her companions in turn. <Vigne! Sayuri!>

<On it!> they both cried.

Keren dramatically stomped both her hooves as she hunched forward and bared her horns, Vigne flapped her wings and scratched the mud beneath her with her talons, and Sayuri lunged and hissed, showing off her sharp teeth and her claws.

<We, the original Furies hereby challenge you to a duel, where the winner gets the copyright to the name!> Keren shouted. As one, the three of them dramatically pointed, and cried: <Do you all accept?!>

<Hang on, I gotta translate and consult with them first,> Yang said, before she turned her back to the original Furies.

Keren roared in frustration and started stomping about, Sayuri spluttered and fumed in confusion and anger, Vigne flapped her wings again, this time trying to calm them down and keep them from charging forward.

Yang, Pyrrha, and Weiss ignored them all as they huddled up.

“I take it the three of them are challenging us to a duel, to try to win the right to use their name again?” Pyrrha asked.

“Our name, but otherwise, that exactly, yeah,” Yang said.

“Do we really have to entertain this?” Weiss asked.

“Yes.” Yang replied.

Weiss groaned. “Ugh, please tell me you’re kidding...”

“I sincerely wish I was, Weiss, but the potential damage to our rep is just too great,” Yang said. “Even if we took our name fair and square, there’s no way folks are going to interpret our rejecting their challenge as anything other than our being too scared to fight them, or wanting to personally insult all three of them by implying they’re so beneath us we don’t even think it’s worth our time to fight them—not a good look for a brand new team, especially one that hasn’t even had a single official match in the Pits yet.

“First team impressions and reputations stick with a fighter, even long after they’ve left the group and gone on to new teams or fly solo, we have to get this right.”

“Please tell me we can at least set the conditions and the date.” Weiss said.

“We can, it’s our right as the challenged party, don’t worry,” Yang said. “The only things I have to insist on is that it be a completely vanilla, best 2 of 3 rounds toss-up, with a third-party judge and spotters, while being recorded and live-broadcasted on the Codex—ideally, the fight’s in the Pits, too.”

“Can’t we just have it at the training grounds again, with Ren and Nora officiating, and the others spotting?” Weiss asked. “All of that sounds ridiculously expensive.”

“I second that.” Pyrrha said. “We’re all down a great deal of shinies from all the fees, and it’ll be a long time yet before any of us ever see a paycheck from this, let alone that much money.”

“We’ll see if we can’t convince them to pony up the costs themselves, then,” Yang replied. “They definitely already have the dough to spend since they were supposed to register today, and it’s not like we need to spring for the fancier arenas, or high-ranking staff.”

“And if they say ‘No’?” Weiss asked.

“Then we can try to convince the Pits to make it a real, official bout, sell tickets, and HQ live-feed access and recordings to make up the costs, maybe even get a share of it if we can convince enough folks to get on board with sponsoring it.

“So with all that in mind: are we in agreement that we’re going to accept the challenge?’”

Weiss sighed, and said, “Yes… I always figured at some point I’d have to sell off pieces of my dignity to pay off my debt, anyway...”

“I’m so sorry, Yang, Weiss, but I have to say no.” Pyrrha said sheepishly.

“What?!” Yang spluttered. “Why?!”

“Will you look at her?” Pyrrha asked, pointing at Sayuri. “Even if it is legal for me to do so, I can’t willingly harm a child!”

Yang nodded. “Yeah, now that you say it loud, it would be a pretty shitty thing if we beat the crap out of someone half our age, even if she was willingly participating in a team match-up...”

“And that’s only occurring to you now...?” Weiss asked.

“Sue me!” Yang cried, throwing her arms up. “I’m used to the Valentino Underground, and trust me, shit got fucked up down there! Anyway, you want me to ask if they’ll agree to a 2v2? We’ll probably have to make it their choice who goes up against who, though.”

“I’d like to take that risk if you neither of you mind,” Pyrrha said. “I really don’t want that weight on my conscience.”

“I’m good with it,” Weiss said.

“And so am I,” Yang said, before she turned back to the original Furies. <Hey! You guys mind if we do it as a 2v2, your pick on who goes up?> she shouted.

<And why the fuck would we do that?!> Keren shouted back.

<Pyrrha here doesn’t want to fight Sayuri, says she doesn’t want to beat up a little kid!>

Sayuri’s eyes widened. <Little ki--?! I’M FIFTEEN, DAMN IT, I’M ONLY A FEW YEARS YOUNGER THAN ALL OF YOU...!> she screeched, so sharp and shrill everyone had to cover their ears.

<OW! FUCK! SORRY, FORGET THAT WE ASKED!> Yang shouted.

Sayuri stopped screeching, before she sharply spun around, and sulked.

Yang turned back to Pyrrha. “She’s actually 15!” she said loudly. “Since you’re fine with fighting Ruby, is it back to a 3v3?” she said, holding up three fingers on each hand.

“Yes!” Pyrrha replied, alongside a thumbs up.

Yang turned back around, and said, <Alright! We accept your challenge! Let’s shake on it, and start hashing out the details!>

The two teams met in the middle and started negotiating, Penny acting as witness. After finding a suitable date for all three of them, setting the terms, and convincing the original Furies to cover most of the costs of the fight (if extremely reluctantly), they sent the necessary requests and downpayments to the Pits.

<Don’t you dare bring anything less than your best, alright?> Keren snapped. <I want the whole realm to know why you don’t fuck with the Furies.>

<Ditto that, especially the rep!> Yang said, smirking. <Should really help us get off the ground, what with the stigma we carry.>

Keren started to rumble ominously, before Vigne put a hand on her shoulder and led her and Sayuri off.

“Is this going to be the first of many folks challenging us to a fight for one reason or the other?” Weiss asked flatly.

“Definitely,” Yang said, nodding. “Don’t worry though: we can definitely afford to be a lot more selective with our future fights once we win this.”

“Don’t you mean ‘if’ we win this?” Pyrrha asked.

Yang chuckled and smiled. “Aw, c’mon, Pyrrha, have a little more faith in us Furies, will ya? Fights are won before they start, after all!”

[yasib25]

Carly Butt the 'F' out!

Of late I'm reminded of why I NEVER cared for Carly! When Drew was Jason he had clear boundaries, his wife and his kids came first and everything else well... they fall where they may. But now Jason is back and she's back to her old shenanigans and as usual he coddle' s her. She runs wild meddling in everybody's life (usually while hers goes completely to shit) and then when it hits the fan her comes Jason right on cueue to the rescue.

I am for the Dream Team, sufficed to say all this shit Carly is up to is getting on my last nerve. I get that their friend is back and with that comes a lot of guilt that they handed his life over to a complete stranger but they also keep saying that Drew is their friend and yet, they don't act like it. They try to make everything right for Jason and all that comes at Drew's expense but in the same breathe they're saying he's their friend. When Drew told Sonny their lives were headed in different directions I couldn't be more Happy, they got the brother they wanted and they made Drew feel like shit about it so why say the words if your actions betray you. More importantly than being his friend, brother or whatever familiar adjective Sonny wants to use to describe his relationship with Jason, he is first and foremost his enforcer (something Drew refused to be) And now he has that back and nothing else matters. Sonny prides himself on being Loyal and Drew saved is ass quite a few times, he damn near lost his life trying to save Sonny, so for that he feels like he owes Drew something but Drew set the record straight "you got your brother back, our lives don't really fit together."

I am not without sympathy. I do feel for Jason, he loved Sam more than life itself and just when they were getting ready to be a family he was snatched away. He wakes up it's 5 years later and another man is living his life and not only is this man husband to his wife, they also share a child. It SUCKS! I can still feel the magic every time Jasam is in a room. This is not me choosing between brothers, both guys are great, both of them love Sam, both of them share a child with her. They both had their lives stolen from them so in that aspect I can't really take sides. But this is not the same scenario as when Sam was with Patrick and found out "Jake" was "Jason," she loved Patrick but her love for Patrick didn't run as deep as her love for Drew. I love Jason and I love Drew but I'm Dream Team because the story has evolved passed gun slinging ride or die being constantly surrounded by guards. Sam changed long before Drew, she changed for her son. All the guys she dated after Jason was proof of that, Silas, Patrick, she totally left the mob life behind. And then Drew came thought he was Jason and he gave up the life he remembered for Her, for their family, and that is why I'm team Drew. He had the Same choice to make that Jason did and he chose Sam, he chose his kids and the safety of his family. Jason lost 5 years because of the mob life and it didn't give him an incentive to change, he's even more devoted to Sonny now and that is exactly where Sonny would have him. Drew proved that Jason didn't have to be by Sonnys side to be his friend, to have his back because when it counts, he shows up. He showed up on the docks, he showed up in Dominican Republic and he showed up at that mob meet where he took a life threatening bullet to the chest. But Sonny wants the fearless mob enforcer so every gangster knows to be afraid of the big bad Corinthos organization. Drew made his position clear and so has Jason. Drew let Sam knows that she and the kids are first above all else, Jason let's Sam knows she's first, after Sonny and Carly and the business. Drew is a lot like Jason in so many ways but in said amount of ways he is different and those similarities and differences make him the best of both world for Sam. He's still leather Jacket wearing, motorcycle riding, flirt with Danger like his brother but he is also about protecting his family and that's where they differ. Jason's idea of protecting his family is guards, guns and more guards. Drew's idea of protecting his family is to make a clean break from Sonny' s business and really put his family first. For a while the whole world thought Drew was Jason and the sky didn't fall and no mobsters came knocking, in fact the only encounter Drew had with mobsters was when he crossed over into Sonnys world.

I don't know who Sam will chose, and I can't see this decision being any kinda easy. You love this man named Jason for the better part of 10 years. During that 10 years you lost him and then you thought you had him back but not really. So you decide to embrace this new version of him and so you fell in love all over again only, this new version is not a new "version" but a new person all together. So not only is she in love with 2 men, she's in love with 2 brothers, twins. This decision can not be easy, and along with matters of the heart, her kids factor into her decision. Jason is Danny's father and Drew is Scout's and also the only father Danny's known till now. She is in an impossible situation and everyone can see that. So this is why I'm so pissed off at Carly's meddling. I know she's got her "best friend" (who she treats like a child who can't make a decision on his own) back and she wants to make everything right with his world. But Sam is in a tough spot, she has her husband and kids to consider and not everyone is willing to subject their kids to the mob life like she did. And yes Sam was gonna do it with Danny but Danny came as a pleasant surprise in their already planned out life. This changed and it's not just Danny anymore now there's Emily Scout and she is Drew's daughter so Sam has that to factor in too. She can't just follow her heart (according to Carly) and go run off and be with Jason subjecting her kids to life of violence, mob wars and round the clock bodyguards. When you become a parent, your life is no longer about what you need, your children's needs always come before your own, that is something Drew told Sam once. So even if she does love Jason More, which is very likely I don't think it's as simple as following her heart. But then again putting your kids safety ahead of your own heart was always a foreign concept to Carly and her children paid dearly for that. But that's a story that warrants a post in and of itself.