#good for everyone in the target time zone watching this living it up on a saturday night

[brakingpoint]

i do find it really funny how hard they're pushing the glam exciting night race angle and everyone in the european audience is going to be watching this like

[purgatorysmostwanted]

I wanna know more abt k9 :D

(Like what do they do, possibly what their life was like, etc)

K9 (aka Kacey), a victim of Pride/Hubris, currently works as the Exorcists' "hunting dog" or "bloodhound" (whatever you wanna call it), sniffing out bounties and. well. Merking them. Their way of hunting is calculated, but their way of killing is downright animalistic (ba dum tshh). They mainly use their own body to do so (teeth, claws, etc) but will sometimes use a rifle or other forearm. They are by no means merciful and will fulfill their duties no matter what; once they lock onto a target there's no stopping them.

As for their past life... (Lore under the cut)

Kacey came from a war-ridden planet of a more "humanlike" race of people (they aren't from Earth, it's a long life species that looks like humans). Their people lived somewhat in peace with a group called the Hounds—invaders of their homeland—but they were still on edge because war was happening nonstop Everywhere (with small villages spread throughout as 'safe zones' for non-soldiers or families of soldiers etc).

Eventually, Kacey's village was attacked by the Hounds, and their father was dragged out of their home. Their mother pulled them and their siblings away, trying to escape from all the carnage, but they didn't leave quick enough to miss their father getting shot and killed. Kacey and their family ran into the forest, but they're technically the "runt" of the litter, so they're slower than the rest, and they ended up being separated from the others. However, they're also the most keen out of everyone in their family and heard some weird .. noise. or something in the forest so they slipped off with their tail tucked between their legs (metaphorically lmao), hiding in a bush or something as their mother and siblings called out for them. Right as they finally got the courage to poke their head out and call back, the Hounds found them (due to their yelling) and little Kacey watched as MORE members of their family were ruthlessly slaughtered. They hid in that same bush for the rest of the day, fearing what would happen if they tried to leave.

It was a while until they got out (only leaving due to hunger and thirst), and they just kinda. wandered alone for a while (back to their village, or what was Left of it). They were absolutely exhausted and would have died had an army soldier (on Their side, not one of the Hounds) that was searching for any possible survivors not found them in time. From then on they were raised to be...! Nothing but a soldier. They didn't have a good childhood in that place. There is no room for compassion in war, after all.

Aaaand this is where their hubris comes in! They grew to be a phenomenal soldier; they were fast, strong, quick-witted, and followed commands to a T. They ended up cornering the leader of the Hounds, the one that shot their father and ordered the genocide of their people. They were wounded as well, but they got cocky leering over the man that caused irreversible damage to both them and the world as they knew it. They mocked the commander at the muzzle of their gun, saying things like "How could someone like you fall to a mere soldier like me? Maybe you aren't as fearsome as we thought. Grovel at my feet, beg for mercy!" etc etc. However, they took too long to deliver the finishing blow, and the leader's backup arrived. They tried to run, shooting back a couple times but missing their target. They tried to escape, to call for backup, SOMETHING, but they were too slow. The Hounds caught up to them and.. that was it. They failed their mission. They're the reason millions of more innocent people will lose their lives— due to their own Icarus. They will be shamed for generations to come, and they know it.

K9 doesn't show it, but their survivor's guilt eats away at them every waking second, ESPECIALLY with the death of their family. There isn't a moment in time where they aren't like "Maybe if I wasn't so selfish they'd still be alive" or "Maybe if I wasn't such a coward we'd have escaped together" maybe maybe etc etc etc. While they are extremely desensitized to war and stuff, it's in a way that like... it replays in their head 24/7 and at this point they just don't. care. They feel everything and nothing all at once; it's so agonizing it's just numb to them now. They've gotten used to the torture and. they don't like it. They hate that they're used to it. They think it makes them just as bad, WORSE even, than the people that killed their family. But you can't teach an old dog new tricks (at least, that's what they think), so they continue to follow commands; trained be nothing more than a soldier so other people don't have to get their hands dirty. The skeletons in their closet run deep.

Also, side note! They gained features similar to the Hounds (ears, tail, markings, etc) after they were sent to Purgatory as a way to punish them/remind them of their faults.

[jordanlisgirlfriend]

The things we cannot see

Pairing: Jordan Li x reader

warning: not proofread, eventual smut

summary: after hooking up with jordan right before the summer you are trying to navigate how to be friends with the only person you've ever loved.

The campus used to be so much more intimidating during my first year, but over the course of my first year it became so small. As I made my way through the herd of freshmen looking for their dorms, pushing and shoving into each other trying to make it to my own room. With all the chaos around me, I feel my face make contact with another girl's face. I pull back a bit to put some  distance between us, to get a better look at her face. Her beautiful brown eyes expanded like a deer caught headlights. I offer a smile to diffuse the awkwardness to no end.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry. It's just so busy here and everyone was pushing into each other, and it's so chaotic, I’m so sorry” she said also immediately to try and explain away the situation, it was almost comical how she was tripping over her words. “ its quite alright,  I usually prefer when people buy me dinner before they try to kiss me sweetheart” “oh that’s not what I was doing, I swear, I didn’t mean to kiss you” “ relax, it was just a joke. The first day is always brutal in these hallways, so expect to kiss a few strangers, good thing i happened to kiss a cute one at least” she started to blush uncontrollably. I have always been a flirt but not in order to get into peoples pants it was more of a way to connect with people instantly. People loved to be complimented, so by default they automatically liked me. “ I’m y/n by the way, we’ve kissed the least I can do is introduce myself” “ Marie. I’ve been walking in circles and i think i can officially consider myself lost because i cant seem to find my dorm” she hands me the piece of paper she is holding for me to check it out. “ oh this was my dorm was my dorm last year, you are on the wrong floor. I grab her hand and lead her to the staircase. “Oh my god, you are a live saver,  i owe you one, whatever you need let me know and i mean anything at all.”

“ I’ll hold you to that” you wave her off heading toward the staircase once again.

After settling into your dorm, you decide to head to the indoor training gym, assuming everyone would be out on the field watching golden boy. The freshmen were always obsessing over him. The gym was quiet so you decide to work on your agility and endurance, running over the same drills repeated enjoying the complete silence except for your heavy breathing. You were so zoned in you didn’t even notice Jordan standing next to your target practice, almost blasting into him. “Fuck dude, I could’ve seriously hurt you.” They looked  at me smugly, “Not with those weak blasts, I think I'll be just fine.” You turn away from them and try to get back to your training. “ you’ve been avoiding me, and i know you are going to say that you haven’t but I know that its not just all in my head because every time we had planned to meet up over the summer you were magically busy or something came up, yet you had time to hang out with everyone else except for me.”  you stop in your tracks and turn to face them. “ first off I’m not avoiding you, just wanted to give us both a bit of space, a cooling period if you will. I had to for both our sakes because nothing like that can ever happen again, you know that right?” “ what I know is that we hooked up, so what, its not that big of a deal and we can move past it can’t we? You are my best friend, i wouldn’t want to do anything to mess that up, but its a lot harder to have a friendship when it feels like you are a thousand miles away.” Jordan moves in closer holding out there hands for you to hold. In their female form their hands are almost the same size as yours, you hesitantly interlock their fingers with yours. You thought that with 3 months away from Jordan your feelings would have settle but the moment your hands made connect all you could think about was the warmth radiating from their body and what you do to be wrapped up in them once again. “ I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so distant just needed the time and space to sort somethings out, because you are one of Andre’s bestfriends before you are mine and it would just be so selfish of me to not only ruin our friendship but also yours and Andre’s. I had to think and I do love being your friend but not exactly sure how to do that right now without it being awkward. It will take me a moment to adjust, so just give me some time.” Jordan was looking at you so intensely that you felt your insides turning, under their stare you became a nervous mess, the butterflies in your stomach were erupting. So you stepped back breaking the eye contact and letting go of their hand as if the closeness to them might lead to you doing something stupid again so instead you choose to break the tension. “ do you want to train with me? I could use some help” “ I would but I’ve got to go catch up on some work for Brink, how about we meet up tomorrow at like 8pm in here, the gym should be empty” you start to panic, you could not under any circumstances be alone in a room with Jordan motherfucking Li, it simply could not happen. You knew you would mess up and you would mess up big time. “ could we do 6 pm instead? I’ve got dinner with the family tomorrow” you said lying through your teeth. “ yeah I guess 6 is alright” they say as they head for the door, waving you off. You fall onto the mat, laying there for a second and all you could think was fuck I’m screwed. 

​​

[glitchlight]

i genuinely like to think i have a pretty good grasp on my anger at this point especially since i have had pretty bad issues in the past, but there's something about the arrogant overconfidence of people with half a fact shilling for the nuclear power industry as clean green and fundamentally necessary that makes me see red

there is no form of industrial scale energy production that does not have associated environmental costs, but the blind repetition that nuclear is clean and safe is patently ahistorical.

yes, they're not going to blow up like a nuclear bomb. yes, the massive quarantine zone incidents are comparatively rare in the history of the industry in comparison to oil and fly ash spills, and gas explosions.

however, nuclear accidents occur far more frequently than just the handful everyone knows, and are generally orders of magnitude more expensive to handle. Waste disposal is a massive issue I don't even have the inclination to get into. Let alone the fact that the nuclear industry benefits massively from this assumption becoming gospel in left of center politics, which makes it easier to sell the public on multi-billion dollar government contracts for reactors that will operate for 50 years and be disassembled for the next 50.

I ultimately think that nuclear power is necessary as well, and future generations of reactors are promising. However, even then, thorium reactors are merely a better technology, not a perfect technology, and still come with their own serious downsides and trade offs.

The great frustration of discussing nuclear power as an environmental scientist to lay people traditionally was always that you had to spend a lot of time convincing people they weren't bombs. In the 21st century, the time of global heat and political crises by the hundreds, the fate of global power production warrants a somber, long, and level-headed, conversation about what trade offs we want to accept as a society to continue to maintain a standard of living that we have now, and how to extend it to developing nations in an equitable fashion while long term sustainability goals are developed, targeted, and reached. Instead of that conversation, what is happening is that I'm sitting in the audience, watching my generation synthesize their own, new narrative, one which is blindly faithful to a newer, greenwashed multibillion dollar industry that they believe will save us from the old, imperialist multitrillion dollar industry.

[ravendruid]

Game Night

This fic is part of the Critter Genfic Bingo to fulfill the Game Night and Modern AU slots, and is set in my Gamer AU. Read on AO3

Vax’ildan rarely gets to spend his own money on games these days as they are often gently covered by his subscribers, but a new game caught him unaware, so he didn’t have time to set up a donation goal or even make a poll to ascertain interest from his followers. The plan was simple: Vax was going to record his first playthrough of the game in solo mode and finally give YouTube a try. If it got a good response, then he would ask a friend or two if they wanted to play with him on stream. However, as his plans are wont to do, everything went down the drain when he mentioned buying the game on his next stream, and chat begged him to play live. 

“Well, I guess that answers it,” Vax jokingly replied to everyone’s requests. “Let me talk to some friends and see if anyone is up for it. Hopefully, I’ll have a group for the next stream. How does that sound?”

Vax’s chat went wild with names and requests of other streamers he could ask to play with him, but the main name in common was very clear: Keyleth. It took him a while to cede to ask her, but he made no promises that he would be able to convince her to play the game. In the end, it was easier than he thought. All Vax had to do was tell his girlfriend that she could customize her character and show her the different options for races and classes, and she was in. The next challenge was finding two more people to play, which Keyleth also fixed by asking Percy, who in turn asked Vex’ahlia. So a party was formed, with Keyleth and Vax squad streaming so their viewers could watch both their points of vision.

“What are you guys playing,” Vax asks as he starts building his character. His is an easy choice to make, and he starts customizing a half-elf rogue to look slightly like him as his chat flies in approval and suggestions. 

“I think I might try a ranger,” Vex’ahlia replies. Because she’s not streaming today, the audience will have to wait to see the reveal of her character, but on Vex’s screen is a female half-elf with a ponytail braid.

“Are you going to get a bear companion and call him Trinket, dear?” Percival teases his girlfriend. Everyone in Vax and Keyleth’s audience is familiar with Trinket, Vex’s large Newfoundland dog. At almost 70 kg, Trinket’s massive form and shaggy brown hair make him resemble a bear, which is where the joke came from one day during Vex’s first streams.

“Don’t tempt me, Percival.”

“What about you, Freddie?” Vax leans back on his chair, admiring his character. 

“I’m playing a human fighter, of course.”

“Chat is asking if you’re going melee,” Vax leans in to read the questions on his screen.

“No. I’ll be ranged.”

“Keyleth, darling, what are you playing? You’re so quiet.” Vex mutters, adding piercings to her character.

“Oh? Sorry, there are so many options and hairs. It’s a lot,” Keyleth sounds and looks overwhelmed. She’s not used to playing this type of game, especially for the first time on stream. 

“It’s okay, darling. Take your time.” Vex’ahlia reassures.

One of Keyleth’s biggest insecurities about streaming a game that is so out of her comfort zone was related to how her regular audience would react to the change. She usually streams cozy games that a lot of people use for body-doubling, and she loves providing everyone with a safe environment where they can go to escape from their daily lives. An adventure roleplaying game with a lot of action, dialogues, and possibly fights is not what her target audience usually looks for. However, Keyleth was pleasantly surprised—and relieved—when the poll results came in favor of her playing the game on stream. It turned out that a lot of Keyleth’s followers were avid players of tabletop roleplaying games or were generally interested in the game itself.

Although she felt better about how her audience would respond to the new game, Keyleth was still worried about stepping out of the bubble that shielded her from trolls. With a much more popular game being streamed—adding the fact that she is a woman with her camera on—Keyleth still couldn’t shake the fear that something bad could happen during the streams, which is why she recruited her best moderators, Pike and Grog, who were more than happy to stay on the sidelines and keep everyone on track.

“Okay, I think I’m done. Sorry, it took me so long,” Keyleth finally announces an hour after the stream starts. On her screen is a female half-elf druid with space buns and braids almost as red as Keyleth’s hair. She quickly reads the chat and smiles at everyone’s compliments about her character, most saying how fun her hair looks.

“No problem, love. Is everyone ready?” Vax asks. Everyone agrees, so they quickly name their characters after themselves before they move on to the next screen.

“We have to make another one?” Keyleth shouts, raising her hands to her head. On everyone’s screen is another character whose race and appearance can also be customized.

“What the fuck is a guardian,” Vex’ahlia asks, going over the different races available.

“I think it’s someone who will protect you and keep you alive,” Vax explains, quickly building a generic male elf. “You don’t have to fully customize them if you don’t want to. Just pick a race and whatever you want them to look like, I guess.”

“Yeah, right…” Keyleth looks distraught at her screen. “You know what… Chat, pick a race,” Keyleth asks. Her chat window quickly fills up with people firing races: there are a few elves, some asking for a dwarf, and a couple of people asking for a Githyanki, but the majority of the requests seem to be Drow, which is the preset anyway. It doesn’t take everyone a long time to finish building their guardians, and finally, the game begins. 

A lot of fun is had for the next few hours: Vax steals everything he can get his hands on (and flirts with the vampire NPC), a wizard is saved from a portal, and the group goes through their first dungeon, the overgrown ruins of an old temple where they find a sarcophagus in a dank crypt.

“Guys, I found a sarcophagus. Do you think it has a treasure inside?” Vex’ahlia asks. 

“We should investigate,” Percy crosses the threshold and waits for Vex to join him before he continues. 

For some reason, neither of them notices the notification in the corner that says they failed several perception checks, so once Vex’s character is by Percy’s side, he opens the lid to the tomb, making several explosions go off and fire erupt in the chamber.

“Vex’ahlia!” Percy screams in real life, jumping out of his chair so fast it tumbles back and hits the wooden floor with a loud thud. 

“I’m alright, darling,” Vex reassures him from the room next door, cackling at her boyfriend’s reaction. Her and Percy’s portraits on the left side of the screen are gray with a skull symbol next to them, indicating both characters are dead.

“What the fuck happened? I was gone for thirty seconds,” Vax shouts, sitting on his chair. He had just gone to the kitchen really quickly to grab some water for himself and Keyleth when he heard Keyleth’s screams.

“When was the last time you saved, brother?” Vex manages to ask, still laughing. 

“Right before we walked into this room.” Vax shakes his head, unamused. “Are you okay, Freddie?”

“Ye–yeah, I think so. That was—” Percy draws a long breath and releases it slowly, and when he speaks again, his heart has slowed, and his voice is back to normal, “—unexpected.”

Once Vax reloads the game, he goes through the room ahead of everyone to make sure he disarms every trap before they loot the sarcophagus. “Let this be a lesson about greed, everyone,” He jokes once the valuables are successfully stashed in his inventory.

Because one tragedy doesn’t come by itself, not long after, the party is suddenly ambushed by undead skeletons, making Keyleth scream in panic as her character gets knocked unconscious by one before she gets a turn to do anything. 

“I don’t think we’re strong enough to defeat these guys,” She cries.

“Yeah, we are, look.” Vax’s character appears next to Keyleth’s and stabs the skeleton that attacked her twice, leaving it with two HP. “I’ll always be here to save you, Kiki.” Vax’ildan being cheesy with his girlfriend on stream is not news, but it still manages to send both their chats over the edge. This will surely make the next fanmade supercut.

“Alright, lovebirds. Shall we kill these assholes, then?” Vex teases them. 

The battle doesn’t draw long once Keyleth’s character is back up—still at one HP, but up nonetheless—and this time, when they find another sarcophagus, the group allows Vax to spearhead the party.

“Well, that was fun, right, everyone?” Vax asks a few minutes later, once they get a new NPC ally and discover an arcane book that they put away to ask their wizard friend to check later. 

“Yeah. I wasn’t expecting it to be so fun,” Keyleth admits, leaning back in her chair and pulling her hoodie up. She can feel her battery draining fast. They have been streaming for a few hours longer than what she usually streams for, and her body is already reacting to it. 

“Even when I died,” Vex’ahlia jokes, petting Trinket’s head on her lap. She’s glad she’s not on camera today. Her hair is a mess and she’s wearing a stained t-shirt she stole from Percy’s drawer. 

“I did not like that part at all,” Percy chimes in, combing a hand through his shock-white hair and making it messier than it was.

“Just be glad I saved right before you two dingus went and set all the traps off,” Vax rolls his eyes at his sister and her boyfriend. His gaze darts over his screen to Keyleth’s stream, and he sees her bury herself in her hoodie and pull her knees up to her chest. For others, it might look like she’s just cold and getting comfortable, but Vax knows she’s overwhelmed and overstimulated, and she needs to relax, so he seamlessly brings the stream to an end with the promise of another one very soon.

More adventures await this group of chucklefucks, many mistakes and perception check failures that lead to not-so-good results, a lot of flirting with NPCs—Vax finds himself torn between the Vampire and the Wizard—and even a few not-safe-for-work unexpected scenes that make Keyleth slide down her chair and hide under her desk. At the end of the day, there is no denying that game night in general, and the new game in particular, is a huge success overall, and that everyone has plenty of fun playing and watching it.

[weemietime]

Here's some testimony of a doctor from Gaza talking about the humanitarian situation. My friend did a basic transcript of some of it, which I've included under the cut. But it's a good video to watch, to really get a sense of what is going on. He is a professor of transplant surgery with the NHS who went to volunteer in Gaza in a so-called "green zone." I think this kind of testimony is important to preserve, when we talk about war crimes being committed this some of the stuff that is occurring.

When I talk about whether or not something is genocide here on this blog, I want to be very clear: these are war crimes, that are happening. And this is at scale, that this is happening. It isn't good, man. We need a fucking hostage deal, and a mutual ceasefire, and we need one now. There is no doubt in my mind that the IDF is deliberately targeting civilians, I am curious when he talks about the medical supplies being kept, of who is actually making these decisions to keep them or whether or not Hamas is taking them or what is going on.

(...) "Drones hover constantly—the whirring is very eroding psychologically. It has been a daily feature of Palestinian life for many years as they used to be employed as surveillance devices, but now they do shoot the sorts of little pellets. I got shot by one while leaning on a staircase, since then I stay put in the hospital. (...) I regularly see children coming with such pellets injuries, they’re usually worse than bullets as the pellet bounces around causing visceral damage. I also saw young children coming dead with single head shots to the by IDF snipers. (...) The guest houses we are supposed to be hosted in as international aid are targeted by bombs, and UN convoys are shot at even though all routes are planned with the IDF beforehand. It is evident that it has been a systematic use of intimidation, at times even execution and beatings of medical staff as a tactics of discouragement for international aid to come. Colleagues of mine who were in Rwanda during the genocide had never seen something like this before. I worked in Ukraine, never seen anything like that either. We don’t even have time to make proper documentation as casualties constantly come in, that if the ambulance makes in because they’re shot at. People come in in donkey carts. (...) Essential medicine remains blockaded, it reaches the borders then sits there, and while I can’t give a proper estimate since everything has been so chaotic, I do believe around 100,000 to 200,000 people have died of chronic and environmental diseases that were not attended because of it. Diabetes, hepatitis, kidney failures, sepsis—all these things that were routine treatment are unavailable and the natural consequence of it is that people die. (...) Evacuation orders usually come it by SMS, but it is hard to get your hands on a phone, let alone get it charged and working when you’re living in a makeshift tent. Usually a medical worker will receive the message and try to run up to there to tell everyone to evacuate. (...) Once I arrived I asked where were was Hamas, and while yeah maybe they could be somewhere in a tunnel under us, I never saw a guy. In my experience warring parties are pretty unmissable. They have rifles and their friends have guns and they tell you to give way. I saw none of that. I never saw a single Hamas fighter, and in all honesty if one made his way in that hospital he would have been pushed out the hospital because everyone hates them here with their guts." (...) You’re asking me if this would qualify as a genocide, I’m a doctor, not an international lawyer or anything. So I don’t know. What I see though is that the Palestinian people there have reached a point of resignation where they are basically sitting waiting to die. So I find it really hard to find another word for it, and from their point of view that’s certainly how they call it.

[demonicintegrity]

Literally just now I learned through Instagram that Netanyahu is visiting Congress this month. And has been visiting Congress over the years apparently.

So naturally, there’s gonna be a protest. For those going you can find a bus from your city to DC from answercoalition.org/arrest_netanyahu to see if there’s one. And for everyone else

MASK THE HELL UP. COVER YOUR HAIR/FACE. PROTECT YOURSELF. USE SUNSCREEN AS WELL.

DC and the capital are crawling with cameras and cops, especially considering the current political scene. Masking will also protect against the germs and trust me, it’s dirty up there. Personally when I go to protest I prefer a mask, tying back and completely covering my hair, and wearing very plain and loose/comfortable clothing. My friends don’t even recognize me. That’s good. Don’t be recognizable in photos.

Your top objectives when you’re going:

Don’t pass out from the heat. Drink plenty of water, find shade, sit down if you need to. There’s been heat warnings all month. I cannot stress enough that it will be hot. Carry water for you and extra for new friends if you can.

Do not fuck with the police. Do not antagonize. Do not throw shit. Don’t riot. The typical stuff. There’s a nonzero chance of a counter protest from people for the genocide, drown them out but do not engage them.

Shut down any antisemitism, especially from your own. Shut down anybody riling up police, shut it down any violence, shut down any racism and bigotry. Regulate your group.

Familiarize yourself with the area. Have a plan in and out. Make your meet up points and know when to bounce.

Note: I’m not the organizer setting this up, nor do I know them in any capacity. If you see organizers, talk to them and listen to them. They should have plans in place to manage the protest and move if need be. Watch the crowd, be aware. If the organizer has a media liaison, let them handle the press.

You may want to:

Turn off your phone. DC is crawling with tech. Use the knowledge of your devices and what you’re doing at your own discretion. When I’m solo, it’s on. As a group, maybe off.

Pack snacks!

Figure out rides ahead of time

Wear sunglasses

Be prepared for things to get ugly. Personally I prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Draw live, take pictures or videos, or otherwise capture the scene. If you’re doing so, remember to not capture identifying details of your fellow protesters, there will be people intending to be malicious by finding out who your peers are. Be mindful of faces and metadata.

Ultimately, stay safe and cool but make your presence and message clear. I highly recommend before you go down to DC you brush up on the news, be on the lookout for new information about this protest, brush up on antisemitic conspiracies and dogwhistles, and figure out how to manage the heat.

Tensions are high and you will be in the proximity of a lot of notable figures. Be smart and be safe. I think there’s a real chance to make this one really catch attention, so plan accordingly. The ICC has a warrant for Netanyahu, and that seems to be the primary focus of this protest. Making him acknowledge and answer for war crimes. Sounds like making signs highlighting the war crimes and statistics of what the IDF has been doing. Maybe highlighting the bombing of safe zones, targeting of those providing aid, and the starvation of Palestinians.

He’s likely trying to legitimize his war on Hamas and appeal to Congress. He’s not popular in Israel, im sure he’s gonna throw a pity party for himself. Do not let anyone forget that any crime Hamas has committed doesn’t warrant retaliating on innocent civilians. And Palestinians deserve to live as peacefully as Israelis do.

[capslock3284]

Lizard Thoughts on Destiny 2: The Final Shape

Oh god, where do I begin

Before the release of The Final Shape a few months ago, I was extremely on the fence with Destiny as a whole. The game has been through extremely high ups and downs due to the wonders that is its management, but when the developers are actually allowed to do their thing it's incredibly fun (see Witch Queen for past releases like this)

However, this mismanaged hellhole of a game might as well be the poster child of "I hate it, it's my favorite game". Developers are rewarded for success with layoffs, all while head management uses their earnings to buy more cars. Players are mocked for their time, with constant FOMO through past seasons and holiday events, all of which are separately paywalled from the main expansions.

Anyway, about TFS itself! Beware of unmarked spoilers!!!

============================

The Final Shape is the climax of the past ten or so years of buildup, with the Witness being the main antagonist of the expansion. The main destination of Final Shape is the Pale Heart of the Traveler, a surreal pocket dimension created from collective memory and deformed by the Witness' corruption. The main campaign of TFS is a slow march from the entrance portal all the way to the Witness's ziggurat, to finally defeat it and stop all of existence from being calcified.

Of course, gameplay has always been the bigger focus of Destiny, and the moment-to-moment to action has never failed since i started playing back in 2019. Bungie's encounter, weapon, and ability design has always made it feel good to play, and Prismatic builds off that by giving everyone new ways to combine old tools. Finally getting a new enemy faction in the Dread is refreshing, given that I never got to see the Scorn at release (though the Scorn have always felt like Fallen mixed in with enemies from other factions to me, rather than their own thing)

The way Bungie handled the pacing of the story was very good as well. The campaign never forced me to stop to go do a grocery list type task, and you always made visible progress - the Pale Heart is set up as one long, straight line from the portal to the ziggurat and you go through a single zone in every campaign mission. During release week, the story paused after finishing the campaign - to emphasize how powerful of an enemy the witness is, you just barely manage to wound it in the final mission of the campaign with the raid, Salvation's Edge, being the final push to finish things for good.

Speaking of Salvation's Edge, while I was never able to find a group (like hell i'm setting foot in an LFG discord) being able to watch the raid race live, go to bed, and wake up to see most groups not even at the final boss was something else to see after hearing stories about the race for Last Wish. Even after world's first, the story didn't end there - Excision, the post-campaign mission to finally finish off the Witness, felt like an incredible sendoff for the story of Destiny as a whole.

================================

And a sendoff it had to be, because three weeks into Episode: Echoes Act 1 I uninstalled the game. Back to the same old FOMO carrot and stick, with weekly lockouts and the same, dull seasonal activities given a poorly applied coat of paint. Allegedly, Bungie executives hit sales targets for The Final Shape even higher than what Lightfall had, and predictably fell short of these leading to even more waves of layoffs after one of the best expansions the game had ever seen.

Destiny is now on the first week of Act 3 of Echoes. Same seasonal activities, same mindless grinding, same carrot and stick.

I have no interest in coming back to Destiny.

I have no interest in Marathon whatsoever.

The Final Shape was just that - Final. A good way to send off the franchise,

because I'm not going back, and almost all of my friends who like Destiny feel the same.

[open-hangar]

Space Defense Lanzer Ep. 12

SIYANQOBA MECHANICAL RECORDS

Ngodumo Lwe Siyanqoba

Lanzer Assistant Device “Bastet”

Size: 10m, 26 tons

Power Output: N/A, must receive outside reactor power from attached Lanzer

Pilots: 1 active pilot

Weaponry and abilities: Space flight, limited atmospheric flight, onboard weaponry, dedicated shielding device

Etc: Most human pilots complain about the size of the cockpit. Recommended assignment is to Nobubele.

Hope you understand, we won’t go as planned

Hold me while you can, hold me while you can

I’ll still be your friend, you’ll come back again

Hold me while you can, hold me while you can

Nomfundo was always astonished by Nobubele’s ability to sleep anywhere. The trousers of her uniform were certainly not comfortable, to say nothing about the loud jets on the aircraft flying them north to the BIUST Launch Base Zone. Siyanqoba aircraft heading into and out of Kwazulu airspace needed to fly at supersonic speeds and without Lanzer backup to dodge orbital strikes, which meant that the passengers typically weren’t allowed to hear much of anything without going deaf. Must be nice to turn off your ears, the ace thought to herself as she looked down at the cat twitching in her lap.

The ship’s pilot turned around to give a hand signal meant to indicate that they were now closing in on the BIUST LBZ, and were now safe to slow down. Kpt. Dimba gave a signal back to approve the maneuver, and scratched the base of Bel’s tail to wake her up. She did so, stretching out her back and front legs while yawning widely. Dimba couldn’t help but mouth the words “Big stretch” as she watched, and Bel tapped her ears with her front paws to indicate the red bases, showing that she still couldn’t hear. Nomfundo nodded and removed her ear protection as the supersonic cargo aircraft slowed to a reasonable speed. Bel flicked her ears, the red bases flicking to green and then growing dim.

She didn’t want to tell her girlfriend about the song that had come to her while she was sleeping.

Who could’ve thought? It’s not black or white

Now every time that I tug, you bite

Ever I call, will you spend the night?

Can’t name this “love” if I’m not that nice

—

Captain Righteous Indignation of the Catena Brigitte stood at attention on the bridge of his ship. He always had the strange policy aboard all of his ships that if you were going to work on his bridge, then you had to work standing up. This also applies to guests, such as First Lieutenant Elysian Truth, leader of the newly formed Luminary Squadron, who was watching in rapt attention at the front screen displaying what’s in front of the ship.

A rocket laden with processed chargon had just launched from the Launch Base Zone in what was once known as Botswana and was growing close to entering the outer atmosphere where the Catena Brigitte was parked, which would normally be unnoteworthy if it weren’t for the fact that it was almost 2 days behind schedule. The BIUST LBZ was designed to be completely autonomous and worked at a fixed schedule, and there were no reports of breakdown or issue. Something was clearly wrong, and it’s up to the Catena Brigitte to figure out what.

“Target approaching on expected vectors,” a helmsperson proclaimed. “No deviation. Wait…” She squints. “Mild deviation, within expected parameters.”

Lt. Truth didn’t like that. While everyone here was old enough to remember the disaster at Colonyβ, they were the only one who had lived through it. Captain Indignation squinted at the report. “Keep an eye on that. Determine the amount of deviation and what could be causing it.”

You deserve someone new

If I can’t call you, I won’t shake it

Even though you should leave me for good

Elysian whipped their head around in confusion. What the hell was that? It was like a song that echoed through their chest and up to their head, but judging from the lack of reaction among the bridge crew, they were the only one among them who had heard it. It sounded like…

“Something’s wrong,” Truth exclaimed. “Scramble the fighters. Now.”

The captain looked confused to the Lieutenant, but they were already gone before he could explain that the deviation was incredibly common for processed rockets. “Weird kid…”

“Wait! No, it’s deviating more. Something’s changing its trajectory,” the same helmsperson from before announced. The display in front of them zoomed in to the tip of the rocket. “It has extra vernier thrusters!”

—

She was only half right. It wasn’t simple verniers attached to the rocket, but a brand new Siyanqoba Lanzer hanging off the side of its nose cone, angled in just such a way to hide from the Castena Brigitte’s sight. They had given it the very simple name of “Space Lanzer,” and this was its inaugural mission, even if it was still within the atmosphere. Earthlings had never built a Lanzer capable of operating above 15 kilometers, and Kpt. Dimba wishes that she could see the looks on their faces when they see her new machine, almost more rocket thrusters than Lanzer.

“Nomfundo,” Bel pipes up from the Bastet clinging to the Space Lanzer’s back. “Looks like they saw through our plan somehow. Look.”

Sure enough, a respectably-sized squadron of Lunarian Lanzers began pouring out of the ship, at least 10 of them, painted pitch black. That would be a problem if they were actually in space, and they weren’t highlighted by the dim blue air .

“Huh, look at that,” Nomfundo said in a playfully deadpan manner. “Guess they ran out of O.R.B.s.”

“Yeah, and they’re not like ours. Looks like they managed to build more of our boyish friend’s Lanzer. We could probably take two or three of them on, but not all of them. Especially before we get the hang of this low gravity situation.” Bel was almost shockingly serious, with none of her usual sing-songiness in her voice. It was a little disconcerting to Kpt. Dimba. This was serious.

“No problem,” she responded through the radio back, “We just fast-track part two of the plan.”

One of the handles that the Space Lanzer was hanging onto twisted under the machine’s command, and popped off to reveal a hatch underneath with an enormous mechanical lever. Dimba guided the Lanzer’s hand back to it, and yanked it down.

Immediately, the cone of the rocket split wide open like a blooming flower, revealing a large chargon-powered energy device, a blown-up version of the weapon that they had lifted from the destroyed Type-Artemis. It wasn’t pointed directly at their target, not quite yet, but it fired regardless, firing burning plasma in a wide arc across the bow of the Catenna Brigitte, melting sections of its hull and venting burning oxygen and fuel into the atmosphere. The swarm of Artemis-likes seemed none too happy at this development, so Dimba activated the third part of their plan and leapt off of the rocket, letting gravity slow the Lanzer’s ascent compared to its ride.

“Radio connection to the rocket confirmed,” Bel reported from the shell-like machine attached to the Space Lanzer’s back. “Activating the Bloom.”

The panels that covered every meter of the rocket split open, causing even more Lanzer-sized plasma rifles to point upwards in every direction and fire in constant but unpredictable bursts, almost lighting the thin air on fire. The Siyanqoba ace smiled underneath her atmosphere helmet as she watched most of the mass-produced Lanzers explode in a shower of molten chargon. It soon turned to shock, however, as she watched a silverish-white Lanzer dodge every blast with little effort, a pair of emerald/amethyst wings shining behind two large structures on its back. It was closing in on them very, very quickly.

“SFEBHE!"

—

Now that Lt. Truth knew what the Type-Selene was doing to them, it was impossible to ignore. Their heart was beating at triple speed. Every breath was manual and deep. Even their intestines seemed to squirm in labor. It would make them sick if they didn’t know that they were designed from the ground up to be able to handle the chargon being pumped through their body, and the amount of power being output through their spine back into the Type-Selene.

“The paths of the plasma bolts are now being shown on your display,” Cynthia explained.

From the tips of each plasma rifle pointing out from the rocket, a solid red line drawn on the cockpit’s hud showed where it was safe to fly, and Elysian could see the path through the laser jungle to their target. They punched it as hard as this machine could go.

“I would recommend against rushing in head-long until we know this new machine’s capabilities, Lt. Truth.”

Elysian could feel their hands shaking at the suggestion. “Believe me, I know,” they exclaimed pointedly. Gods, did they know. “But we can’t know what it’s capable of if we don’t force it to act. And I know you’ve got my back, regardless.”

“Understood.”

—

Nobubele rattled against her leather harness in the Bastet’s cockpit as the Space Lanzer juked and jived in defense against the Lunarian’s new Lanzer. The mechanical hands reaching out from the sides of her oversized collar rapidly type at the surrounding keyboards as data floods into her mask, telling her of the situation. “Nomfundo! The ship is going up, I’m sure they got the message, let’s get out of here!”

A visual representation of the Space Lanzer’s current arc shows that they’ve reached the apex and are ready to begin descent, placing them somewhere between the two safe zones of the BIUST and Kwazulu LBZ’s. “We’re going to need to redirect our descent to one of the LBZ’s. BIUST is closer, but Kwazulu has better anti-air defense, it might give us a better shot against the kid’s new toy!”

She switched her view over to the Space Lanzer’s main camera, watching as the Lunarian Lanzer took rapid plasma potshots at them. It looks like the kid learned their lesson, as they were staying a respectable distance away. “Trust me, Bel, I’d love to make that decision, but this kid’s giving me the works. Make a decision and tell me where to go while I try to deal with them!”

Bel internally read through the possible pro’s and con’s of the decisions before her. BIUST will get them safe faster, but there’s also the risk of atmospheric friction weakening the armor. Would it be better if…

Hope you understand we won't go as planned

“What? Bel, bad time to sing!” Nomfundo was right, of course. Bel wasn’t sure why she did that. She tagged the BIUST LBZ with a waypoint and directed the best way to redirect to the Space Lanzer’s main thrusters.

“I flipped the coin! Go!”

—

Both Nomfundo and Elysian would run the next several minutes through their minds many, many times for the rest of their lives. Wondering what they could have done differently. Wondering if they could have stopped the other. Wondering if the future could have turned out differently. But as with all regrets, reliving them only brings pain.

Elysian is the one who acted first. They noticed that the descent redirection took up most of the Space Lanzer’s maneuverability, and launched a head-on attack against Cynthia’s recommendations. Bel had grown antsy and took the next move, flipping off of the Space Lanzer’s back as they had practiced and used the umbilical cable as a swing to bring her around to the pair’s front, just like they had done the last time they had fought Elysian.

But the Lunarian remembered this maneuver and stopped short, before they were within grabbing range. They swung their over-charged, over-sized swords in sweeping arcs against the Bastet, which unfurled its plasma defense array as a shield and deflected them both. The force of the attack was enough to push her back, however, and the Bastet and the Space Lanzer collided and sent them in a momentary spiral. Elysian was confident that they had won, but the thing that had caught them off guard was the hammer throw.

Nomfundo had decided to use the momentum of the spin to use the Bastet as a weapon, swinging Bel’s ship back around within melee range. The bastet’s plasma defense grid focused into a sharp blade, and was aimed directly at the Type-Selene’s head. Elysian probably would have simply blocked or dodged it, but Cynthia realized that they were now in a life-or-death situation and took complete control.

It was ultimately Cynthia that was most to blame for severing the umbilical cable and sending the Bastet free falling down to Earth.

Nomfundo was the first to spot the wreckage. Umbrella trees were flattened and grass was simultaneously burning and regrowing thanks to the puddles of liquid chargon that littered the field. The Bastet was completely shattered open, and the cockpit was split wide open. Once the Space Lanzer landed, she leapt out of the cockpit and ran towards the wreckage, chargon splashing against her boots as she dug through melted metal and sparking wires.

Elysian was second to arrive, and simply hovered in the air as the second reactor deactivated. They popped open the cockpit, and looked down, what they saw causing their stomach to ache even without energy flowing through it.

Nobubele’s black body laid in a purple and green shimmering puddle, strange flowers sprouting and dying around her. Her mask was shattered, and blood was leaking out from underneath as her eyes flickered on and off the screen. Somehow, her body still twitched. Her burnt and mangled collar was several yards away. Nomfundo collapsed to her knees and cradled the dying cat’s body in her arms as tears filled her eyes, and exasperated pleas came from her mouth.

Nobubele would never sing again, and Nomfundo’s heart couldn’t take it. With all the strength in her gut, she let out a guttural scream in anguish before Elysian could take no more, and left.

Art by https://x.com/b11mech and https://www.instagram.com/bleach.s0da/

[koschei-the-ginger]

Screw it, brief reviews of Jason Bateman's filmography pre-Arrested Development

(there are only 4 pics but the post is long)

1981 Little House on the prairie - He was there for 1 season and already became so popular they made the grand finale all about him being a proof that God exists lol

1983 Just a little more love - can't find this one

1982 Silver spoons - they had to fire him because the second he appeared on screen nobody gave a crap about the other kid, iconic, I've only had Derek Taylor for 21 episodes but if anything happened to him yk yk..

1984 Knight Rider - Derek Taylor steals a car

1985 Robert Kennedy and his Times - I'm sure he's in it somewhere but it's like SIX hours long and incredibly boring

1984 The Fantastic World of DC Cooper - Derek Taylor strikes again

1984 It's your Move - Arrested Development for 6th graders, this show is SO fucking funny the parents insisted on killing it together with his Derek-sona for good.

1985 Right to kill - blink and you'll miss him, this is his sister's movie

1986 Mr Belvedere - MILF CHASER

1986 Can you feel me dancing - a commissioned tv movie to show off Justine Bateman's range

1986 St Elsewhere - see, Dave Hogan can do drama too (no)

1986 Valerie/ The Hogan family - his most famous role pre-AD and I genuinely don't understand why, stale bread even for a family sitcom™. Cancelled for being the only show that was normal about aids thanks to Jason. They also dyed his hair to a different shade of auburn each season for some reason lol

1987 Bates Motel - this was supposed to be a sequel to Psycho 🤨

1987 Teen Wold too - words cannot describe how much I hate this movie and everything about it

1987 Matlock - he's playing "Jason Bateman, the star of Valerie" only 1 year after they fired Valerie from Valerie hmm...

1987 Moving target - this was fine

1988 Our House - if your kids think giving 10k to a teenager will get them a record label at 13 it's on them, he did nothing wrong

1988 Crossing the mob - you can watch this but god at what cost, it's so grainy you can barely see their faces (okay movie tho)

1989 Breaking the rules - commissioned to show that he can do some "serious" acting, a tragic mistake on everyone's part

1991 Necessary roughness - Scott Bakula simps, I understand, no I seriously get it

1992 A Taste for killing - for every good movie (prev) you get 2 bad ones

1994 Confessions: two faces of evil - COPAGANDA

1994 This can't be love - *looks up synonyms for CUTE*

1994 Black sheep - can't find this one either

1995 Hart to Hart - he was so annoying they made him believe he's related to Donald Trump I can't even rgsthsrth

1995 An affectionate look at fatherhood - can't find this one either²

1995 Burke's law - this show is so camp you need to WATCH THE DUEL

1995 Simon - the writing is atrocious, he's trying SO hard to make it work while Harland Williams recites every line as if he had just learnt to read. Tragically, a must watch, I wish it existed in HD

1996 Ned and Stacey - a sitcom star playing a sitcom star in a sitcom making fun of Friends, 10/10

1997 Chicago sons - 3 polish brothers live together, Jared Paladecki isn't in this eventhough there are at least 4 people that look like him

1998 George and Leo - if this came out today AO3 would be full of this elderly gay couple

1999 Love stinks - not mine but yk

2000 Rude awakening - the absence of a laugh track caught me off guard, he's doing his best Bud Bundy impression down to the tragic goatee

2001 Some of my best friends - after this many cancelled sitcoms you stop seeing AD as a show that's simply good but as a miracle

2002 The Jake effect - if Scrubs was about hs teachers

2002 The sweetest thing - nobody cares about the men this is the penis song movie

2002 No way out - this is like Cary Elwes-kind of bad

2003 Sol Goode - blink and you'll miss him (idk what's even happening)

2003 Twillight Zone -someone get him an Emmy for trying to bribe a ghost of a kid he unintentionally murdered

[abigettie]

A Great Thing Called Time

warnings! mentions doctors, being sick, alcohol, swearing, yelling, death! Shirtless Bradley, sharing a bed, grief the use of the word daddy( not sexually you horn dogs). Let me know if I’m missing anything

I’m so sorry it’s short I’ll update soon I promise.

——————————————————————————

"Time" maverick paused "is your greatest enemy" Bonnie zoned out on mavericks boring lecture "because no one is insane enough to fly below it" Bradley said snapping Bonnie out of her trance

"That's exactly what I'm going to train you to do" maverick said

“why do I have to listen to this when I've already been trained to do this"

she thought leaning her head back, it was true right out of top gun she had become a stealth pilot watching everyone's backs, sitting farther back from everyone to stay off the radar and off of coms flying at such low altitude that it felt like she was driving a hover car or something, "why are they dead" maverick asked "because we broke the 300 foot ceiling-" Phoenix started "no why are they dead coyote"

"I slowed down and didn't give them a warning"

"Was there a reason you didn't communicate with your team?"

"I was focusing-"

"What would their families say at the funeral" maverick asked coyote mumbled "why didn't you anticipate the turn?you were briefed on the terrain" Maverick turned to Phoenix before she would even speak maverick cut her off "don't say it to me, say it to his family" he motioned towards bob, "what happened" maverick asked

"Well I flew as fast i I could, kinda like my ass depended on it" hangman said "and you put your team in danger and your wing man's dead" rooster added on "they couldn't keep up" . "Why are you dead" maverick asked rooster "your team leader up there, why are you, why is your team dead?"

"Sir he was the only one who made it to the target"

"A minute late, he gave enemy aircraft time to shoot him down, he is dead" maverick said firmly "you don't know that" Bradley said "your not flying fast enough, we don't have a second to waste" Jake said "we made it to the target"

Bonnie looked down and shook her head at her best friend, "it's not the plane sir it's the pilot" brad said smugly

"Exactly!"

"There's more then one way to fly this mission" he said "you really don't get it, in this mission a man flies like maverick here, or a man does not come back, no offence intended" Jake said looking at Swan and Phoenix "yet some how you always manage" bob said loud enough for hangman to hear "look I don't mean to criticize your conservative,that's all"

"Lt"  maverick shook his head "we're going into combat son, on a level that no living pilot has ever seen, not even him" hangman looked at maverick "that's no time to be thinking about the past"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rooster asked "Rooster"

"I can't be the only one who knows maverick flew with his old man, the he flew with him when his old man-" Rooster jumped out of his seat and lunged towards hangman bonnie rushed behind him pulling him back "Hey!Hey!Hey!" She yelled pulling the two apart "you son of a bitch!" Rooster yelled as Bonnie finally pulled the two apart "I'm cool I'm cool" hang man said shaking fanboy and coyotes arms off him "that's enough"

"He's not good enough for this mission, you know it you know I'm right " he said walking back to his seat. "We have one more then your all dismissed do you hear me" maverick said his face turning red "Lt, Ross will be doing this solo she'll show you how it's done" he said patting her back as she walked out of the hanger, the plane rocked side to side "increasing to 500 knots" Bonnie said into her mask as she pushed the handle forward staying low to the ground "27 seconds to target" she said confidently

"Increasing speed to 600 knots" the plane jolted ahead as she hit the target "reached target with 1:43 seconds to spare" she said flying back to base, "your all dismissed" maverick said as everyone cleared out of the room "that was fucking awesome Swan! Jesus Christ how did you know how to do that!" Phoenix said as the two changed into there uniforms "Thanks Phoenix" she giggled as she placed her helmet into her locker along with her flight suit "so you and rooster bunking together?" Natasha asked looking at Bonnie "yeah why" she said raising her eyebrows “I saw you two pulling into your driveway last night when I was on my jog" Bonnie laughed "you doing okay I saw you crying last night in the truck"

"Dads not doing well and he's realizing it's coming to an end" Bonnie sighed "oh Bonnie" Phoenix walked over and engulfed her in a hug "I better get home nat I'm making a shepherds pie for dinner" Bonnie laughed pulling away from the hug "alright see ya tomorrow bon"

"Bye nat". "Bradley I'm home!" Bonnie shouted as she put her keys down "Bradley?" She looked around  the room hearing soft snores walking over to the U shaped couch to see Bradley sprawled out on the couch in his uniform Bonnie shook her head at him, she walked over to the side of the couch and grabbed a blanket throwing it over him she smiled as she watched him stir Bonnie made her way to the kitchen grabbing the sac of potatoes on her way in, "Bradley" Bonnie shook him trying to wake him up "Bradley dinner is ready" she said as his eyes opened slightly "come on sleepy head come get it when it's hot" Bradley stood up off the couch and threw the blanket on the couch walking into the kitchen, Bonnie placed a plate of the shepherds pie in front of him "thanks bon looks good" he said sleep evident in his voice Bonnie smiled "thanks Bradshaw now eat" she said, as the two ate and talked about Jake being a prick Bonnie's phone started to ring

"Sorry Bradley I've gotta take this it's the hospital"

She said standing up

"Hello, yes this is her pardon?" Bonnie's face paled Bradley stood up and made his way over to stand beside her "thank you for informing me, yes I would, thank you have a good day" Bonnie hung up the phone rooster pulled her over to sit down in the living room as tears started rolling down her face "dad passed away"

"Oh Bonnie I'm sorry" rooster pulled her into his chest as she sobbed "we need to call Maverick and admiral so I can try and get the day off tomorrow to plan the funeral" 

"Okay I'll go call you stay here".  "Hello this is Pete"

"Hey maverick this is rooster calling you might want to sit down" Rooster said hearing maverick shuffle on the other side of the phone "what's up Bradley"

"Admiral Ross passed today my deepest condolences" maverick sighed "thank you very much for telling me Bradley give Bonnie my condolences have a good night" the line went dead Bradley's heart broke seeing her cry "oh Bonnie...." As he pulled her back into his chest he rocked her back and forth slowly trying to calm her down the little mascara she was wearing had melted off her face, "come on bon why don't you go to bed" Bonnie wiped her face looking up at Bradley nodding she stood up pulling Bradley with her towards her room "stay with me tonight?" She asked quietly looking down at her feet "sure just let me get changed" he said kissing her temple his moustache scratching her face slightly she smiled and walked into her room leaving her door open for him. Bonnie woke up to her phone ringing and roosters arms wrapped around her tightly "hello" she said groggily "hello Lt Ross I've heard the news about your father we send our deepest condolences, take as long as you need the navy will take care of the funeral I don't expect to see you at training today" “

Thank you sir" she said looking over at Bradley sleeping soundly she looked down at her phone to see that the admiral had hung up she swiped up unlocking her phone looking at the dagger squad group chat to see that maverick had texted to meet on the beach behind the hard deck she shook her head at the text "I'll just hang out with penny" she thought rolling over to admire roosters face softly tracing her fingers over the scars on his jaw she watched him open his eyes slightly she smiled at him "it's not nice to stare honey" he said his usual smirk spread across his face "I was just admiring this beautiful face infront of me" Bonnie slapped his face slightly Bradley laughed shaking the bed "Maverick says meet behind the hard deck for training today" she says leaning up on her elbow "I don’t want to get up” he complained as Bonnie stood up pulling the blankets off him she walked over to her closet looking for something to wear grabbing a floral yellow sundress, she heard Bradley get out of bed the old wood floors creaked as he walked over to where Bonnie was standing “i heard your phone call with the admiral, everything okay?” He asked looking down at her “I have the day off today, he said that the navy will be setting up dad’s funeral” Bonnie responded looking at Rooster with sad eyes Bradley sighed and pulled her in for a hug her breath hot on his bare chest “as much as I wanna stay like this honey I still have training today” the two broke the hug and Bradley walked out to get dressed in the spare room,Bonnie pulled on the floral dress and grabbed a bathing suit out of her sock drawer just in case, Swan stood in her room looking up on the shelf above her desk she eyed the Cuban cigars that she used on special occasions but it was her fathers tradition to smoke a cigar on the beach she sighed and grabbed two out of the box knowing that Bradley would probably beg her for one and if he didn’t she would smoke it herself if give it to Natasha. Bradley made his way into the kitchen grabbing two coffee mugs from the cupboard “hey bon you want a coffee?” He shouted grabbing a k-cup from the drawer “no thanks” Bonnie said walking into the kitchen “you sure?” “Yes I’m sure, can you hand me a scone out of the red container please” she said pointing to the red container on the shelf above his head,

Bonnie stared blankly out of the broncos window at the coastline as the two drove to the hard deck “you know Bradley, if my mom was still alive I wouldn’t be in the navy god- I would probably be married to some business man with 2 kids under the age of 4” the laugh she let out had no humour whatsoever “if my mom was still alive I would probably be that business man your married too”

“Are you trying to flirt with me Bradshaw?”

“What if I am” he said pulling down the aviators that were on the bridge of his nose to wink at her making her laugh “well it’s workin” she said turning her gaze over to his face taking in the way the sunrise made his face glow you could see each scar, freckle, dimple Bonnie smiled to herself as they pulled into the parking lot of the hard deck, looking up to see Phoenix waving them towards the beach “I’m just going to sit up here with penny” Bonnie said as they took off their sandals to walk in the sand “Okay honey holler if you need anything” he said giving her a kiss on her cheek like always. “What was that about” penny smirked as Swan walked up onto the porch “he always does that, ever since my first home run on varsity” Bonnie said pulling out a chair to sit beside Penny “I heard about your dad Bon, I’m sorry sweetie he was a good man” penny placed a hand on Bonnie’s arm “thank you Penny, I’m gonna miss him but he’s not suffering anymore” Bonnie felt her eyes start to water “you can cry sweetheart, it’s okay not to be okay” Bonnie couldn’t stop the tears from falling that’s when it sunk in, she just lost her dad her pops her Daddy.

[medicinemane]

Man, I'm not saying this to try and sound unique, but the way algorithms are set up seems to prioritize exactly the stuff I can't stand but I guess huge portions of the population think is like crack (feel like this site is full of a bunch of fellow oddballs)

Cause like... listen, I want it to be good, I want it to target me successfully so I can have youtube videos to watch, but it's just like... nothing but clickbaity craft videos or minecraft videos with the occasional youtube slop

For a second I watched a random redstoneless witch farm given I probably want an interim set up and like... why are we shouting buddy? It's a witch farm in minecraft, you know?

but youtube seems to like "high energy"... me, I can't stand it. Be quiet... and it's not like excited, it's that "what's up everybody!? Smash the like button!" kinda shit, I don't mind when some of the people I watch can get loud cause they're having fun

Then all the crafts people it's like... oh boy... another powertool heavy video. I just uh... listen, they're all talented and I don't want to shit on them, but so often it feels like it's about "and here's a thing you can do to get into a saturated market!" and it's like... man... I'm tired of seeing this exact same video a thousand times

Did you know jake paul had yet another fight? I sure as fuck didn't cause I usually forget that dweeb exists... but... seems like once again people dropped a ton of money watching it and it's just like... why? Surely you have better things to do with your life... but then again I always wonder why the live action remakes keep making money when you can just like... go watch the original animated movie so... again, clearly I just don't align on this shit

Like I'd love if more stuff catered to me, but... it's probably right not to. I watch a handful of things on youtube with the adsblocked while either playing minecraft or a 20 year old dead mmo... one of my big goals is to get a private server running for a 25 year old mmo so I can screw around wandering zones I have memories of messing around in... I'm probably not a good target audience

Anyway, this really just boils down to me finding youtube annoying and finding a lot of people on it annoying. Shush, stop being a jester and just... be yourself, I might stand a chance at liking you then

...I'm tired of content and merch I think. Like if I had to sum it up... feel like most of you probably are too

There's a reason I'm on tumblr and not twitter, it's cause I just like the vibes of everyone here better

[chorusfm]

Taylor Acorn – Survival In Motion

Every now and then in our lives we will discover an artist that checks all of the boxes of our music interests. This happened to me this past Friday when I hit play on Survival In Motion, the debut album from Taylor Acorn. The powerhouse vocals, crisp songwriting, and the overall feeling of good vibes coming through the speakers washed over me from the opening notes all the way to the dramatic conclusion of the album. Taylor Acorn shared, “I feel like I’ve been waiting a lifetime to be able to say ‘I’m putting out a debut album’, but in all honesty I’m so glad I waited for as long as I have, I feel like I’ve finally found my sound — I’ve fallen in love with every single song in it’s own right, the writing process was truly something I’ll never forget — and to top it off I got to share the experience with my best friends and some of the most amazing and talented people I know. I’m not sure what will come next, but this chapter is something that I am so unbelievably proud of and I can’t wait to share it with everyone. I hope you love it and I hope you find peace in knowing that no matter what we go through, we are all walking representation of survival in motion and life is a gift no matter how crazy it can be.” Taylor Acorn has a voice that fits somewhere between the emotive vocals of Hayley Williams, the range of Kelly Clarkson, and the punk brashness of Charlotte Sands, while her warm delivery still feels refreshing and new. The opener of the title track finds Taylor setting the scene as she sings cautiously in the first verse, “We all wake up in our little boxes / Different time zones, same problems / Fill our heads with something toxic / Sell our souls, turn a profit / Then pray to something way up high / Just to make it through the night / Another pill to ease my mind,” as she explodes into a rewarding chorus. The song features some great-sounding guitars that never drown out Taylor’s powerhouse vocals, and instead, complement her approach to the track. “Applause” follows in the sequencing with a steady beat and gradually builds up to the great hook of, “‘Cause now I’m right here on the floor full of tears in my eyes / While you’re out with your friends, God I hate how you’re fine / Played a wonderful show until you got me close enough / Damn you did a good job / Why don’t you stand for the applause.” Taylor showcases the vulnerability in her lyrics and matches it well with the tone of her vocals to bring out the intended emotions. My personal favorite in the set comes in the form of one of the singles, “Greener,” that is a mid-tempo gem that features a well-crafted chorus similar to the style of Avril Lavigne. Taylor explains vividly on the chorus, “The grass is greener on the other side / Yeah, it looks even better than what I had in mind / Yeah, I could build a house and maybe paint it white / Now I see for miles and it’s all mine,” and she commands the song throughout. Other early standouts like “People Watching” feature a more somber tone to the guitars, while it still hits its intended target with relatable lyrics. “High Horse” closes out the front half of the record with a brash punk rock song about people stuck up in their ways. As Taylor Acorn puts it in the chorus, “Who made you so cavalier? Go head stay inside / I’ll keep on living out here / Pay no mind to all your hot takes and your trivial shit / In the big picture it’s irrelevant / Hope your high horse throws you into a ditch / Yeah, I can forgive but karma never forgets.” The song is pointed, yet clear in its overall execution. The back half wastes little momentum from the front half as “Nervous System” features some crunchy guitars to provide the perfect landscape for Taylor to lay out her vocal attack. “Final Nail” is a speedy song about one-sided relationships not worth her time, as she laments on the second verse of, “I’ll make sure I’m the one, love, to read your eulogy / I promise you that I won’t leave out a single thing / How you lie, how you cheat / Didn’t call me for… https://chorus.fm/reviews/taylor-acorn-survival-in-motion/

[rendevousz]

reunited

req: i was wondering if i could request a natasha x teen daughter reader where the reader has really bad social anxiety please? maybe where the reader was in the red room with natasha but given to hydra once the red room was taken down and natasha has been looking for her ever since she left the red room. on a mission to take down a hydra base natasha finally finds reader, and it's super emotional for the both of them and they're just happy to have each other back. natasha knows about readers social anxiety from when she was younger and sees that it's only gotten worse now, so she's super sweet and understanding. she saves the reader from the base and comforts her the whole way home because she's scared of all of the new people also on the jet (the other avengers). the reader lives with natasha at the compound with everyone else and natasha is just great about her social anxiety and never pushes her out of her comfort zone and comforts her when she has panic attacks. sorry if that's a lot, but thank you so much! i love your fics sooo much, you're such an amazing writer!!! 💖💖💖

mother figure!nat x fem!teen!reader

summary: nat finally finds you after years of looking.

word count: 4083

notes: i didn't make them peers in the red room because then they'd have to be around the same ages but i made them meet at the red room. also i didn't know how to write about her having social anxiety so i hope you don't mind that i didn't 😓 hope you like this <33

"stop," madame b's authoritative voice commanded and all of you stopped dancing. all of your peers seemed to be struggling to stand still on their battered feet, some breathing heavily but who could blame them? you had all been instructed to dance for hours now. you had to dance until you couldn't anymore.

your head faced madame b but your eyes landed on your best friend, veronika, for a split second. she seemed in pain and you vowed to check on her after whatever announcement your supervisor had for you. you stood tall, clenching your jaw in order to not show that you were in pain or out of breath.

madame b's gaze flickered to you for a second, her lip lifting up on one side for a brief moment before her face hardened once again.

"i have someone special here today. she's here to observe your training and if necessary, teach what you girls lack. she has long graduated this academy, please welcome miss natasha romanova."

you jolted awake, panting hard at the memory that just played in your dreams. you looked around you, seeing the same cell wall you had been put in for the past three years. after the fall of the red room academy where you were from, another organisation came and swooped you in, not wanting to waste your skills. you were the only one they took, having heard much about your abilities and reputation in the red room.

the girls stood all around you and veronika, watching the two of you spar tirelessly after hours of endless ballet. natasha and madame b watched the match closely, eyes trained on your techniques and movements.

after natasha had introduced herself to all of you, madame b had instructed her supposedly two best students—you and veronika— to demonstrate a true spar between skilled assassins.

while you were reluctant to attack your best friend, she had other plans, one that included impressing her idol who stood mere metres away from her. you were shocked when she started attacking you. never had she obeyed a command against you so quick.

you had to put away your initial shock to start attacking back in order to not get hurt by the hands of your own best friend. the look in her eyes was different, almost animalistic. it wasn't like the one she had when you two were laid in your beds side to side at night, handcuffed to it while you talked about your deepest struggles being in the academy. it wasn't the same one she had when you reassured her that she was doing okay whenever she said she would never be as good as you were at this whole assassin thing. it wasn't the same innocently surprised one she had just moments ago when she was addressed as one of madame b's best students.

this wasn't your best friend. this was a girl blinded by her desire to impress. she wanted to show natasha that she was the better one out of you two. your heart broke when you saw her desperation. it was obvious in the way she fought you.

it wasn't long before you had her in a chokehold, the girl struggling to get your grip off of her. your face visibly faltered, eyes tearing up slightly when you heard her whimpers. natasha took notice of this.

your lips were quivering when you turned to madame b. a simple nod from your trainer had you whispering a strained 'i'm sorry, i love you' in her ear before you broke her neck. the girl fell limp in your arms, dropping down to the mat, dead. you panted heavily as you stepped away from her body.

"good. this is what i expect of all of you," madame b turns to your peers, the stone cold look back on her face. "one thing you need to perfect though, y/n, is your emotions. don't get emotional over things that don't matter. i saw your inner conflict. veronika would have no reluctancy to end you if you were the one in the chokehold. she was more mentally prepared to be a ruthless assassin. you're lucky you're more skilful than she is. she would have no hesitation to kill you, close companion or not."

you swallowed that lump in your throat, biting the insides of your cheeks to prevent crying right then and there. "you have a lot of potential, y/n. don't let your emotions ruin it. i have high hopes for you." she spoke once again, before dismissing everyone.

you left the room with a heavy heart, turning to look at veronika's body one last time before leaving quickly so you could break down where no one else could witness.

you rushed to the staircase where you and veronika would sneak away all the time when you were supposed to be having lunch. you two would always sit under those stairs, talk about anything and everything you could. your tears were now freely rolling down your face.

"hey," you heard a voice say and you quickly wiped your tears away. you looked up and saw that it was none other than natasha. "miss romanova," you breathed out, scrambling to get up before she placed a gentle hand on your shoulder, the woman seating herself next to you on the floor, under the staircase.

"that must've been hard for you," she spoke after a few seconds of silence. "i remember my first time killing an actual person in training. they had me shoot targets and i consistently got the bullseye every time. then they switched out the targets to an actual person and i had a hard time doing that. i can't imagine how it must've been for you. i heard you and veronika were quite the inseparable duo."

you didn't move to show that you were shattered over the current events but the millions of tears silently streaming down your face said otherwise. natasha turned to you, reaching to wipe your tears away before gently caressing your cheek.

"you're a strong one, y/n. you remind me of myself when i was still in training. i can see myself in you." she told you truthfully. she had no idea why but she felt a strong connection towards you. she felt that you and her had so much in common. she had a strange inclination to protect you even though she knew damn well you were capable of doing so yourself.

since then, she always dropped by to help train all of you but you and her developed a relationship so strong that she even told you of her plans to get you out of that hellhole. at that point, it had been a few months since she'd turned good but she kept coming to the academy for your sake. she felt a sense of responsibility over you, like a mother would over her daughter.

she would with the other girls too if they had shown at least a bit of humanity but it seemed that the red room had ruined them beyond fixing. despite being the best student of the academy, you still weren't inhumane like the rest. you would hesitate to hurt others, only doing so when threatened and even that, you still weren't as heartless or cruel.

madame b would always berate you over this but natasha would pick up the pieces every single time. you loved her. she was the best thing in your life after veronika and your heart broke when the red room fell and you were taken away. away from the mother you never had.

you awoke with a jolt again. it was the second night in a row you were reliving your past memories. you touched your face and you felt the tears on it, wiping them with your sleeve as you sat up in your cold, uncomfortable bed in your cell. you sighed, bringing your knees up to your chest and hugging them.

you couldn't help but think of nat again. what could've happened if she managed to get you out before you were taken away? could you have a nice life with her? would you never have to hide under the stairs to have emotional exchanges with the woman? would you finally have been able to be who you were, not influenced by the evil around you?

you never knew what it was like having a mother but you imagined it was what nat had been towards you during the times you spent together at the academy. you two were more mother and daughter rather than trainer and student.

all of a sudden, alarms blared through the building and red warning lights flickered in your cell. you stood up, peeking through the small glass of your cell door to see guards rushing through the hallways in a frenzy.

you assumed that the facility was under attack and no one was coming to save you. you didn't even try, walking back to your bed to return to your position of hugging your knees tightly to your chest.

you could hear the chaos outside but opted not to pay attention to it. it didn't involve you and if no one was coming to save you from whatever was attacking the place—not that anyone in that place would, you were merely an asset to them—you wouldn't bother worrying about whether you were going to live by the end of the night.

a loud bang interrupted your thoughts and you looked up to see your cell door had been forcefully thrown open by a large man in stripes, holding a circular shield. you immediately stood up, getting ready to attack him when he spoke.

"i'm not here to hurt you." he said, holding out a hand as if to tell you to stop whatever you were about to do. "we're here to save you. you can finally leave this place now." he says gently. you frown at him, still in a stance ready to attack him.

"cap, is there someone in this room?" a familiar voice spoke and your head immediately turned to the door, where the owner of the voice stood, mouth dropping open at the sight of you. your face softened and a tiny gasp left your lips at the sight of her.

"y/n...is that you?" she breathed out, walking towards you and not stopping when she saw that you weren't alarmed or anything. "nat.." you choked out, tears starting to form. how crazy was it that you had been having flashbacks of her for the past two nights and suddenly she was here to come save you?

"y/n!" she exclaimed, pulling you into a tight hug. you knees buckled but she held onto you tightly, sniffling as she caressed your head gently. you buried your face in her shoulder as you took in the familiar feeling of being in her arms once again.

more tears started to form in your eyes now. never had you thought you were actually going to see her again. you lost the hope of seeing her again two years ago. but here she was, standing in your cell and hugging you like there would be no tomorrow.

your hugging session was cut short when steve sheepishly spoke up. "sorry to uh, interrupt this reunion but more guards are coming, i think it's best if we leave now." he picked up his shield, leading the three of you out of the facility safely and back to their quinjet. the whole time, nat held onto your hand tightly, as if letting go would lead to another few years of being apart once again.

once you reached the quinjet, nat led you to the seats in the back where you two would have more privacy. the team watched the two of you in confusion before turning back to steve for an explanation as he was the one who was partnered with nat for this mission. all the captain could tell them was that you two knew each other way before this and that all of them would have to wait for an explanation from nat herself if they wanted to know what was going on.

when you reached the compound, nat led you to her room where she lent you her clothes and let you shower before tucking you into her bed. when she was sure you were comfortably asleep, she left the room quietly to go grab a glass of water only to find the whole team sat in the common room instead of back in their own rooms.

she looked at them, confused. "guys, it's like almost the crack ass of dawn and we just got back from a mission, why aren't you asleep? or were you debriefing? in the common room? did i miss it?"

"no, you know debriefings for late night missions are the next morning. we were waiting for you actually," steve spoke on behalf of the whole team. "me? for what?"

"nat, c'mon, don't act stupid. you know what we're talking about," clint makes an unimpressed face at his best friend. nat sighs, taking a seat next to him and the team look at her expectantly. she cleared her throat, preparing for a whole story time.

"you know how i was from the red room?" she asked them and they all nodded, urging her to continue her story. "well, after i graduated, i was asked to come help train the younger ones in the programme. during that time, i met this girl. she reminded me a lot of my younger self and she didn't seem completely brainwashed to the point where she lacked emotions. i grew close to her and after i met clint and joined SHIELD, i vowed to get her out of there because she went through a lot in that hellhole and i could tell she didn't want to do any of the things that the other girls were fine doing.

"she had a good heart and i didn't want it to be wasted. she was the best in the academy and i knew they had big plans for her. but i didn't want her to be programmed to kill. she was much more than that. so i made this whole plan for her escape. i kept going back to the academy to come see her and share my plan with her. clint, you always asked me where i kept disappearing to when we first started becoming friends. it was her. the people there didn't know i was already under SHIELD at that time—nobody did—so it was safe for me to keep visiting and keep planning an escape for her.

"but three years ago, the red room fell. i rushed over because i thought i could finally leave with her without anyone knowing. but apparently she'd been taken away. she was the only one of the girls who was taken. by who, i didn't know at that time. but i knew it was because of her skills and abilities. if the red room had big plans for her, i knew other organisations must've already heard of her too.

"i never stopped looking for her. i don't know why i never thought of HYDRA. but it doesn't matter anymore. i finally found her and i'm never letting her go. i hope you guys don't mind that she lives here now. if not, i'll move out and find somewhere for us."

the team seemed surprised that nat told them her story. they were very much expecting her to, well, not tell them because this seemed like a very personal story.

"no, no, of course she can stay. i'll even set up another room for her." tony says and nat nods gratefully. "what's her name?" wanda asks.

"y/n," nat tells her, smiling at the thought of you as she stands up. "alright, i have to go back to her. see you guys in the morning. maybe you'll get to see her then."

she bids them goodnight, leaving after grabbing a glass of water for you in case you woke up in the middle of the night, in need of it. she wasn't wrong because when she got back to her room, you were up, hugging your knees as you cried.

"hey, hey, hey, what's wrong, sugar?" she quickly puts the glass of water on the bedside table, sitting on the bed and pulling you close to her. you look up at her all teary-eyed and she feels her heart break.

"i–i thought i lost you again," you croaked out, burying your face in her shoulder. "oh, sugar, you'll never lose me ever again. i'll never let that happen. you're safe here with me. now sleep, i'll be here when you wake up." she stroked your hair gently, laying down next to you on the bed before you two fell into a blissful slumber in each other's arms.

true to her words, she was right next to you when you woke up the next time. she seemed wide awake and you felt bad because she probably had been up hours before but didn't leave you because you were scared.

"how'd you sleep, sugar?" she asked as you sat up, stretching. "the best i have in years. thanks to you, nat." you smiled at her, still not believing all of this is real. that you're finally reunited with the woman you thought of as your mother.

"do you want to meet my friends? they're dying to meet you," she tells you and you bite your lips nervously. "do you think they'll like me?"

"are you crazy? of course they will. and if they don't, i'll make them." she threatens playfully and you laugh, missing how protective of you she is. you smile, agreeing to her suggestions to meet her friends after you got ready for the day.

-

"hi, sweetie, you're y/n?" a man with fancy silk pyjamas greeted as you entered the common room with natasha. you nodded timidly, scooting closer to natasha. it was weird for natasha to see you this nervous. after all, you were the best student of your batch in the red room. but she understood that years with no actual social interaction does that to people.

"i hope you'll like staying here, i already have your room setting up as of right now. when you move in, you can tell me if you don't like anything and i'll change it for you. oh, i forgot, i'm tony," he extends a hand towards you and with an encouraging nod from nat, you hesitantly shake his hand. he smiles at you before telling you both he has projects to finish down in his lab and to tell him if you needed anything.

"hey, nat, not gonna introduce your friend to us?" you heard a voice from behind you and you two turned around to see two men and a woman. you recognised both men—one of them was the one who broke into your cell last night and the other one you had seen him a lot from pictures nat would show you during your secret meetings in your red room days. he was her best friend. you didn't know the woman but the kind smile on her face was enough to reassure you that these people weren't bad.

"y/n, meet clint, the idiot who i call best friend," she points to the shorter man. the name nat called him must've offended him because the face he made was hilarious that you let out a little giggle. nat smiles at this before proceeding to introduce the other two.

"this one's steve, he's an old man stuck in a young body—literally— so if he says things you don't understand, just smile and nod." you nod at nat and steve gives her an incredulous look, as if not believing the audacity she had to introduce him like that.

"this one's wanda, she's the least annoying person in this whole place and she can cook whatever you want so i think you two will get along really well." wanda smiles at you and you return it shyly. you smile at the other two before nat drags you away, telling them she still had others to introduce you to.

when you entered the kitchen, you saw a man reading a newspaper on the kitchen island while another man, whose skin was red, stood beside him. they seemed to be discussing something very intelligent because you didn't understand a single word they spoke.

"bruce, vision, i want you to meet someone." they turned their attentions towards you and nat and you immediately felt like hiding once again. "oh hello, steve told us you brought back someone from the mission. is this her? hello, i'm bruce," the man sitting down introduced himself.

"wait, is this the bruce?" you asked nat, smirking teasingly at her and she smacks you gently on the shoulder. the man seemed flustered at what you're insinuating, scratching his neck awkwardly.

"bruce, vision, this is y/n, i've known her for a long time and i finally found her after years so i hope you two won't mind that she'll be staying here from now on," nat tells them. the two of them didn't come on the mission last night so they were the only two who didn't actually see you until today.

"it's nice to meet you, y/n. i'm vision, i hope you'll enjoy your stay here." the man with the red skin greets formally and you turn to nat with a confused expression. "he's an android, he does things a bit weird here so don't mind him." she whispers to you and you nod understandingly.

"it's nice to meet you two, i hope we'll be good friends." you say awkwardly, hoping to get this whole introduction thing over with. how many people do you have left to meet?

speaking of the devil—or should you say, devils—, two annoying voices rang through the kitchen, interrupting the peacefulness that it was before they came in.

"i'm just saying that if you hadn't eaten my last bag of chips last week, i wouldn't have taken your cookies last night. it's all about fair play, man."

"and i keep telling you that it wasn't me! i don't even like those stupid salty ass chips from that brand,"

"stop lying, i saw you eating that brand the other day! just admit you stole my chips and go,"

"guys, are you really having another one of your stupid arguments now?" nat cuts them off and they immediately turned to you, finally noticing all of you.

"oh hey! y/n, right? it's nice to meet you, i'm sam. if you wanna survive in this place, you better hide your snacks because if you don't, this winter warrior here will snatch 'em all before you can even stash them in the cupboards. don't ever trust this guy here when it comes to your snacks. you heard what happened to mine," the man fakes a cry and you held back a laugh at his long introduction. you only wanted a name to match the face but he gave you much more. you didn't mind though, he seemed like a fun person.

"hi, doll, i'm bucky. don't listen to eagle right here, i do not steal snacks. i simply let people have a taste of their own medicine. you steal my snacks, wilson, i steal 'em back. you think i don't know you stole my oreos too last month? that's why i stole your damn chips last week,"

"so you did steal them!"

"so what if i did?! you stole my oreos first!"

"oh my god, guys, you're really embarrassing me in front of y/n. these are really the people i was excited to introduce her to," nat face-palmed and you couldn't help but laugh. "don't worry nat, these people seem amazing. i can't wait to get to know them better." you assured her and she smiles, pulling you close to her. "buckle up, sugar, because living with the avengers is gonna be a wild ride."

you were excited for what was about to come. it seemed like everything was finally falling into place. you finally got nat back and you didn't have to worry about losing her again because you had a feeling these people weren't going to let that happen.

taglist <3

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[imaginesfordifferentfandoms]

Half of a Whole

Click here for my masterlist.

Add yourself to my taglist.

Spencer Reid Taglist - @asherhunterx, @ilovespencerreidmarryme, @canadailluminate, @nomajdetective,@reidsbookclub, @filmsbyblair, @ready-4-spencie, @mrs-scottmccall, @roseslovedreams, @j-cat, @cinderellacauseshebroke, @black-rose-29, @onlyssca, @memories-from-a-nerd, @chickensrule

Prompt - ‘We would be together and have our books and at night be warm in bed together with the windows open and the stars bright.’

—————————————————–

Falling in love with Spencer Reid was the easiest thing in the world.

You felt like you had known him your whole life and loved him even longer. From the minute the two of you were introduced nobody could deny the chemistry, you always joked that you must have known him in another life.

Never had you felt so comfortable with anyone as fast as you had with Spencer, he was the first person you turned to when you received good news, if you needed a shoulder to cry on Spencer gladly offered his, even if he had struggled the first few times it happened.

The two of you were like the same person and yet somehow you were so different, Spencer’s hesitation when dealing with strangers was fixed as you greeted everyone with a smile and friendly greeting and your struggles were countered by Spencer just as easily. The two of you fitted into each other's lives so easily it was like you had never not known the other.

Spencer Reid had never felt like this before. At first it scared him, god did it terrify him when he couldn’t get you out of his head, every thought somehow led back to you, his eyes straying to find yours when you were in a room together.

It was how he ended up at Derek Morgan’s home at two in the morning, knocking frantically on the door before coming face to face with a disgruntled Derek.

“Kid,” he had said, relaxing slightly as he saw there was no threat, “it’s two in the morning, this better be good.”

“I really need to talk to you.” Spencer told him, twisting his hands together. You had all just gotten back from a case, it was a tough one. You had been the unsubs' latest target and they found you just before the unsub could slit your throat.

Spencer had never felt so scared in his whole life.

“This better be good.” Derek grumbled but pulled the door open to let the younger man in.

It wasn’t long before the two were settled on the sofa together, Derek waiting patiently for Spencer to start talking.

Any other time he would have pushed Spencer to start but he had a feeling this was about you and knew Spencer needed to go at his own pace considering how far out of his comfort zone he was.

“Y/N nearly died today.” It wasn’t what Spencer had intended to say but this was the event that had made him realise just how strongly he felt for you.

“Yeah she did but she’s fine. We got her.” Derek assured him, watching as Spencer nodded but didn’t say anything for a few moments.

“I think I’m in love with her.” Was the next statement and, yeah, that was more along the lines of what he wanted to tell Derek.

“I know you are, kid.” Derek couldn’t smother a smile no matter how hard he tried but seeing Derek’s expression made Spencer relax.

“I’ve never been in love before.” Spencer said, causing Derek’s expression to soften.

“It’s not easy but if she’s the right girl she’s worth it and trust me, Spenc, Y/F/N Y/L/N is the right girl for you.” Derek said, his tone leaving no room for disagreement.

It didn’t take a genius to see that you and Spencer belonged together, Derek didn’t believe in soulmates but looking at the two of you, your souls were definitely half of a whole, nobody could deny that.

“What do I do, Derek?” Spencer asked, turning puppy dog eyes onto his friend.

“You tell her.” Was the wonderful advice Spencer was gifted with at 2:24am.

“That’s it?” Spencer asked dubiously, “I just walk up to her and say ‘hey y/n, I’m completely and hopelessly in love with you.”

Derek chuckled but was impressed the kid wasn’t having a bigger freak out. The entire team, besides you of course, had been waiting for the day Spencer realised his feelings and they were also waiting for the major panic to follow it.

Honestly, Spencer was doing better than anyone expected.

“Well maybe don’t start with that. Just ask her on a date,” When he saw Spencer go to cut him off he shook his head, “trust me, she’s not going to say no. That girl is head over heels for you too, pretty boy.” Derek grinned which turned into a laugh as Spencer flushed.

“I just ask her out?” Spencer asked.

“You just ask her out.” Derek confirmed and that was the beginning of your relationship.

The next day Spencer headed into work, determined to ask you out on a date. He knew how badly you wanted to go to the new restaurant that had recently opened so that sorted out the location, now he just had to ask.

Which was easier said than done.

Every time he tried to ask you, someone or something seemed to interrupt. It was like the universe was working against him. As the work day drew to an end Spencer had given up and was sitting at his desk with a pout, staring down at an open folder without registering any words.

You had just dropped off your paperwork to Hotch and were heading back to your desk when you saw Spencer.

“What’s got you so pouty?” You asked, taking a seat on the edge of his desk, grinning down at him as he startled.

“Y/N,” He said, ignoring your question entirely, “are you leaving?” He questioned instead.

With a laugh you let him change the topic, “yeah, I was just grabbing my bag.”

“Let me give this to Hotch and I’ll walk you out.” He said, standing up abruptly causing you to raise an eyebrow as he practically leaped up the stairs into the office before shrugging and picking up your bag.

As you headed to the door to wait for Spencer you missed the matching grins on Penelope, Derek and Rossi’s faces.

“Hey,” you said softly to Spencer once the pair of you were in the elevator, “are you sure you're okay?

“Will you go on a date with me?” Spencer blurted out, face flushing red as he cursed himself. That is not how he had intended to ask you.

Your eyes widened at the question that was asked so abruptly, not fully registering what he had asked for a second. That second felt like decades to Spencer who silently waited for your response.

The grin that spread across your face though…Spencer would remember it forever.

“I’d love to.” Was your response, not a single doubt in your mind that you wanted this.

Surprising nobody but you and Spencer, nothing much changed between the two of you. There was no awkward getting to know each other phase where you both tried to be people you weren’t, being friends first made everything easier.

Besides the fact that you could cuddle with each other on the plane nothing really changed. Most return flights now found you and Spencer sitting side to side with your heads bent together reading the same book or saw the two of you curled up on the sofa, you lying mostly on top of Spencer so as not to fall off.

The two of you hadn’t realised just how much you acted like a couple until you became one. You loved it, it was so nice to enter a relationship and not have the entire dynamic between the two of you change.

From there it was only a matter of time before you both confessed your love to one another.

You knew you loved Spencer, of course you did. What other word could be used to describe the excitement you had to see him everyday or the way your stomach still filled with butterflies? What other word could possibly sum up the feeling of home whenever Spencer wrapped his arms around you or the fact that you couldn’t help but smile when he walked into a room?

As Spencer had turned to Derek when he realised his feelings for you, you turned to Rossi. The man, god bless that wonderful man, had spent hours listening to you talk about Spencer Reid. He always told you that you should just tell Spencer how you felt but you were plagued with thoughts of losing Spencer or messing up the dynamic you two had. Rossi told you that was stupid, Spencer loved you, anyone could see it, and nothing could come between the two of you.

Eventually you decided to take Rossi’s advice and that night as you slipped into a dress ready for your date with Spencer, you swore you would say those three words.

Obviously nothing is ever that simple and not even halfway through dinner both your phones were chiming with identical messages that summoned you back to work.

“Oh no, not date night.” Penelope frowned as she looked at your outfits. Spencer just smiled at her but you were annoyed. You were so ready to tell Spencer how you felt and once you got your hands on this unsub-

Your thoughts were cut off as somebody lightly kicked your foot under the table, looking up you saw Rossi, the only person who knew how much tonight meant to you, raised an eyebrow at you, frowning in sympathy as you just shook your head, trying not to frown as Hotch apologised to the team and gestured for Penelope to start.

The case was hard but finally there was a breakthrough.

“Reid, JJ, I want you to go to Tomlinson’s house and see if he knows anything.” Hotch directed. It should have been that easy, Daniel Tomlinson’s name had appeared as Garcia checked a list of employees on shift the day of the murder. Nobody suspected Tomlinson of anything, his record was squeaky clean and on paper he looked like a model citizen.

How wrong was that assumption?

“Reid and JJ not back yet?” Rossi asked, it had been at least two hours since Hotch had sent them to Tomlinson’s house and nobody had heard a word from them since.

As Hotch pulled his phone out to call them, you couldn’t help the feeling of dread that settled in the pit of your stomach.

“I’m sure they’re fine.” Rossi said as he turned to you, watching as you grew paler as the call continued to ring. When nobody answered Hotch dialled another number and it was a matter of seconds before Penelope’s voice flowed from the speaker.

“Here to help.” She said and Hotch quickly ordered her to track Spencer and JJ’s cells, “Give me a moment, they are…” here she paused, it was a short pause, maybe lasting for five seconds but to you it felt like an eternity. “They’re at Tomlinson’s house.” She said, her voice wavering as she drew the conclusion you all did.

“Let’s go.” Hotch said and you all rushed to the SUV, police following behind you.

Spencer was unconscious when you arrived, you felt your eyes fill with tears as you choked back a sob. The unsub had JJ held against him as a human shield but you paid little attention to that, all of your focus was on Spencer.

You couldn’t recall exactly how it went down, it was only when the gunshot sounded that you moved over to Spencer, gently lifting his head and placing it in your lap as tears slid down your face. Faintly you could hear Rossi calling for medics as you pleaded with Spencer to wake.

“Please, Spenc, just open your eyes. C’mon baby, wake up.” You begged but he didn’t move. Medics surrounded you but you refused to move, it took Rossi gently lifting you up to move you away.

You turned around, burying your head in Rossi’s chest as sobs escaped you. Rossi held you close to him, whispering soft assurances that you barely heard.

“C’mon, cara mia, I’ll drive you to the hospital.” He said, leading you out of the basement and over to the car, only removing his arm from around your shoulder to help you into the passenger seat. He waited until the other members made their way over and once everyone was buckled in he began following the ambulance to the hospital, never letting go of your hand.

“He’s lucky.” The doctor said as he approached you all, “any longer and he would have bled out. He’s tired and weak but he’ll be ok.” Those were the words you needed to hear and more tears fell down your face as you let out a sob of relief. “You can see him now.”

You all made your way over to his room, everyone insisting that you go in and see him first. You couldn’t tell the team how much you appreciated them in that moment, so you just smiled at them and entered the room.

“Spenc,” you said softly, causing him to open his eyes slowly and smile at you.

“I’m ok.” He said before you could say anything else and he lifted his hand, gesturing for you to come to him. You did without any hesitation, sitting on the bed, making sure it was his uninjured side.

“I was so scared, I thought-“ Here you cut yourself off with another sob and Spencer just smiled up at you, lifting a hand to brush the tears away.

“I’m ok.” He repeated and you nodded.

“God, baby,” you breathed out, raising your own hand to cup his cheek, careful of the bruise on the right side of his face. “I love you so much.” You confessed without realising, it wasn’t until you saw Spencer’s expression change that you realise what you had said.

His eyes widened as he stared up at you, a soft smile that stretched into a grin taking over his face. You looked back at him, your own eyes widening but before panic could set in he spoke.

“I love you too, I have for so long.” He told you, the hand that lingered by your face moved to the back of your head. You felt him gently push and you let yourself be pulled down to meet him in a soft, sweet kiss.

When you pulled away you bit your lip in an attempt to hold back a smile so that you could kiss him again but nothing was stopping the smile that stretched across your face.

“You’re so beautiful.” Spencer whispered, his eyes taking in every feature of your face, thumb tracing your bottom lip.

The next big milestone for the pair of you was when Spencer asked you to move in.

Before dating you Spencer couldn’t imagine sharing his apartment with somebody else, though cluttered he knew where every book was placed, he knew everything belonged to him, he didn’t have to worry about people moving his files or misplacing one of his books.

When Derek asked him about how he felt about moving in with you, however, Spencer held no reservations. He wanted to live with you, he wanted you in his space, he wanted to see how your books looked on his bookcase and see evidence of you living there everyday whether it was a toothbrush in the bathroom or a pair of your shoes discarded by the door for him to trip on.

He wanted that.

You were in Spencer’s apartment, it was late and the two of you lay in his bed. There was no better feeling in the world, you believed, than being tucked up against Spencer Reid. Spencer looked down at you, half asleep and gripping his shirt and knew he wanted this more than anything.

He wanted to go to bed with you every night and he wanted to wake up to you. How could any day possibly be bad if he got to see your face first thing in the morning? The thought of you two waking up together everyday, him watching as you woke up before the two of you headed to the kitchen, working perfectly in sync with one another to make breakfast.

God, he wanted it.

“Move in with me.” He said, watching you blink the sleep away before turning your head to look up at him. “Please move in with me.”

“Okay.” You told him, smiling up at him. Giggling as he shifted the two of you so he was on top of you.

“I love you so much.” He told you before leaning down and capturing your lips in a rushed, heated kiss.

-

“Why do you have so many books?” Derek groaned as he brought another box up.

When the team found out you were moving in together they had offered to help and that is how you all ended up spending your day off, moving boxes from your house to Spencer’s, everyone grumbling about how much books weighed.

“Seriously, are you even gonna have enough room for all of these?” Derek asked as he looked around the room, seeing all the boxes piled up and knowing there was more to come.

“We’ll make room.” Spencer assured with a laugh.

“You’re lucky I love you two.” Derek told you both, wagging a finger as he did  before he headed back down to grab another box.

It took most of the day but eventually all the boxes were brought up, you had handed in your apartment key and the rest of the team had headed home so it was just you and Spencer. You closed the door before turning around to face Spencer with a grin, him already looking at you with the same expression.

“We live together.” You said, causing him to laugh.

“C’mere” he said, pulling you close and leaning down to kiss you softly. “Thank you for agreeing to move in.” He whispered as he pulled away.

“Thank you for asking me.”

The two of you ended up starting to put some of your books away, you couldn’t help but smile as you saw random empty spaces across the bookcases where Spencer had obviously made room for your books. You turned to thank him, giggling at the soft blush that spread across his cheeks.

“Maybe Morgan was right.” You said, flopping down on the sofa next to Spencer who laughed and automatically wrapped his arm around you. It had taken four boxes of books to fill most of the spaces Spencer had cleared out and there were still so many to go.

“We’ll make room.” Spencer told you, repeating his words for earlier. You turned up to face him, lazily leaning up and pressing a kiss against his jaw line.

“Can we go to bed please?” You said, pulling away and giving him your best puppy dog eyes. “I’m exhausted.”

He chuckled at you, leaning down to kiss your forehead before standing up and offering you a hand. It wasn’t long before the two of you had changed out of your clothes and were tucked up in bed together.

The windows were open, allowing a welcomed breeze to cool down the room, and the curtains hadn’t been drawn properly allowing the lights from the street to leak through. You rested your head on Spencer’s shoulder, smiling to yourself as you realised you got to do this every night.

You whined as Spencer shifted, watching as he grabbed one of the books from his night stand. He turned the pages before stopping on a new chapter.

“Read to me?” You asked quietly, not wanting to break the peaceful atmosphere.

“Of course love.” He murmured, placing a soft kiss on your head. “French or English?” He asked, causing you to glance at the book again and sure enough the words printed were in French.

“French.” You whispered, cuddling further into him, smiling as he began.

“J’ai regardé devant moi. Dans la foule je t’ai vue. Parmi les blés je t’ai vue. Sous un arbre je t’ai vue. Au bout de tous mes voyages. Au fond de tous mes tourments. Au tournant de tous les rires. Sortant de l’eau et du feu. L’été l’hiver je t’ai vue. Dans ma maison je t’ai vue. Entre mes bras je t’ai vue. Dans mes rêves je t’ai vue. Je ne te quitterai plus.”

“I looked in front of me. In the crowd I saw you. Among the wheat I saw you. Beneath a tree I saw you. At the end of my journeys. In the depths of my torment. At the corner of every smile. Emerging from water and fire. Summer and winter I saw you. All through my house I saw you. In my arms I saw you. In my dreams I saw you. I will never leave you.”

Before Spencer had finished the poem you were asleep against his chest, the small smile still on your face. Spencer leaned down to press another gentle, barely there kiss against your head before he placed the book down and wrapped his arms around you, drifting off to sleep with his own smile.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

Sept 2021 Wk 5

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Don’t Say No Ep 9 (Line) - It’s my corny af hurt/comfort soap opera that I watch at 1.5x and skip all the sex scenes and Fiat crying, but I like it that way, so there. Yes I am one of those people who only eats the outside of the peanut M&Ms, why do you ask? Episode recaps here. 

Bite Me Ep 5 (Viu & Viki) - sometimes I feel like this show is skipping all the important bits, or having them occur off screen intentionally, like some ancient Greek play. Still, the depth of the feeling understood between the two leads is clearly transferred to us despite that. Are they dating? Sure seems that way. Without anything being actually said about it. It’s oddly magical. I talked a bit about the north/south divide and food as a love language with regards to kao soi in this post. 

7 Project Ep 5 The Breakup Zone (iQiYi & YouTube) - another het installment, so I skipped it. Nash. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Peach of Time Ep 10 fin - A Korean BL (maybe not BL tho) featuring Thai talent that really went beyond a lot of tropes into interesting territory and allegory in a way only Korea does. I hope we get more collabs like this, perhaps happier than this one next time? RECOMMENDED only if you are prepared for The Sad. Because it is quite sad.  

x Friend or Lover (YouTube) Ep 6 - still waiting on the final of this Taiwanese indie series.  

Love is Science? (BL sub plot on Viki) Ep 14 (aired ep 15) - Taiwanese drama finally got subbed yesterday, so those of us who are waiting seem to be on a week’s delay. The BL couple actually has the most interesting story arc and the most unusual character growth. I’m enjoying how unpredictable these two are. Honestly, they could have gotten their own series with this much story - and now I really want that for after the baby comes. I’m a little sad we didn’t get the coming out in the skate park sequence (LOOK I love coming out drama, especially with sporty friends, it’s a THING), but I also get why the writers are doing what they are with these boys. And the actors sure can handle it. Taiwan at it’s finest.  

Love Is the series (YouTube) Ep 5 - continues to be fine for a V-BL but not all that actually good. 

See You After Quarantine? (Viki) Ep 6, 7 - Taiwanese gameboys with Japanese talent stuck in, what more could we ask? AND THEN they gave us some *thirsty boi* action, great kisses, and charmed the pants off... well... everyone. Taiwan, we don’t deserve you. Honestly, you spoil us. Turns out Aaron Lai is the best wingman any gay Japanese man in quarantine could ask for. Everyone should be watching this. It’s utterly charming. 

The Tasty Florida (Viki) Ep 3 & 4 - this Korean BL so fucking cute. Look it’s formless and too short but simultaneously aching and kinda special-sweet. But Korea has got to settle into something a bit longer for their BL for everyone’s sake. It’s time. Light On Me proved it was possible. I’m not asking for much, just 15 min+ of fresh content with at least a 10 ep arc. 

In Case You Missed It

Someone dropped K-BL movie cut of 2015′s The Lover series onto YouTube. The series was about 4 different couples all living in the same apartment complex, one of the 4 was a BL plot about a sunshine sweetie Japanese tourist who ends up roommates with a hot shy tsundere Korean boy. It’s 1.5 hours, proving Korea and stretch its BL when it wants to. 

Read more about it here. 

GOSSIP!

Rumors of OhmFluke to star in new Thai BL Oh! My Sunshine Night. It’s from Newsinfinity Entertainment who announced the casting and showed the couple in workshops. This is this (small) production house’s first BL and they aim to “appeal to to general audiences* with a “broader view of BL that everyone will watch.” Which is code for LOW heat, light gay, soft boys. If this happens I think we can expect this to be Thailand doing Korean-style BL. 

* GENERAL AUDIENCE? Let’s be clear no piece of media will EVER appeal to everyone. Here is the USA “general audience” is code for “families with socially conservative values and children who are still minors” AKA what used to be prime time TV watchers AKA suburbia. 

 The concept is analytically old fashioned and so fractured at this juncture (socially economically spatially politically) that “general audience” is actually impossible to target and it doesn’t really exist. But try telling that to the publicity department. 

We also call this the “Disney live action demo.” (Think Pirates of the Caribbean.) I occasionally refer to them as “the Simpsons.” And they’re about as realistic. All that to say I am VERY suspicious of Oh! My Sunshine Night‘s production house. 

To My Star does seem to be getting a second season, same director, same mains. Korea is much better about executing on its promises than Thailand, but until I see proof of filming or an honest trailer, my favorite boys are staying in the gossip section. I don’t wanna get my hopes up. (Honestly now, how many of you also want an alt reality with these two as a couple but Kim Kang Min playing his long suffering cardiologist intern character from Hospital Playlist? Just me?) 

I reported on Unforgotten Night a while ago. It seems to have been fully cast now, I still think the publicity stills make it look like a joke. But with this line-up I guess it’s even more of an alt answer to KinnPorsche. 

You know that thing that happens in media when suddenly we get multiples of the same style of movie or show at once? It’s now happening with BL. Love triangles. Restaurants. And now mafia. 

Cutie Pie (our arranged marriage Thai BL staring Zee) dropped some wardrobe fitting photo ops. Also... fancy pants sexy suits that fit, so that’s exciting. 

Starting Soon

My Mate Match from Starhunter should be starting on Line TV next Saturday. Usually, Line has subs relatively quickly and is available internationally. However the fact that the trailer is not subbed and the show is not listed on Line’s site has me nervous. No idea on length of run either. 

Starhunter studio doesn’t have a great track record in general for narrative arcs and this one is not based on a y-novel so could get waffly. This is a roommates love triangle BL about a boy who is looking for one roommate and ends up with two vying for his home and his heart. Stars Jet as the uke lead which I’m pretty happy about as he’s got great comedic timing and is accustomed to BL. He’s opposite two friends/co-actors from Gen Y and other projects, so we know they’re comfortable with each other. They could do great things... if they get a decent script. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International subs accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

This week’s best moment?