#government program: [makes a mistake] damn so this is your fault

[binghe-malewife-goals]

[my life crumbling around me] ahah time to be silly on the interwebs :)

[youngbugandtonystank]

what's the difference between what wanda did to those people in wandavision and what tony did with ultron?

I have so many asks about this. Hate asks, and people wondering what’s going on. This is the only one I’m answering.

Both of them are responsible for their actions. I’ve seen people try and take away either Tony’s responsibility for that or Wanda’s engagement and accountability. 

In Tony’s case, the Ultron program was supposed to be a global peacekeeping program to protect the people, acting as a suit around the world to prevent events like the Battle of New York. He was doing it in the name of peace and safety. Tony was rightfully scared because he was the only one who knew what was coming. Wanda intentionally enhanced that fear in him and this drove him to create Ultron with Bruce. He has responsibility for it. Same as Bruce. He owns up to this, he took full responsibility and agreed that they needed to be regulated. 

Tony Stark: A few years ago, I almost lost her, so I trashed all my suits. Then, we had to mop up HYDRA... and then Ultron. My fault.

--

Tony Stark: There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys.

--

Tony Stark: That's good. That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stop manufacturing.

--

If people think he needs to be in jail for it, then I’m guessing the rest of the Avengers too since all of them have made mistakes and killed people too. As a matter of fact, after the events of Wandavision, I’m sure that Wanda should be in the Raft, but because she’s ‘a poor baby’ yall won’t think she deserves that. 

SPOILERS

It’s a big possibility that we don’t have all the info about what happened in Wandavision but we’re going to go with what we know so far. 

In Wanda’s case, she did it to appease her grief and pain, and I can understand why she would get to that point, she’s been through a lot and maybe she was about to lose her mind. Instead of recruiting Wanda after the Sokovia incident, they should’ve given this girl treatment for her mental health problems. She just lost her brother and passed through a very traumatic war zone, of course she needs assistance. Cap and Natasha were the ones responsible for her because they were training the ‘new’ avengers. Sam was with them and he used to be a counselor to veterans with PTSD. He could’ve helped Wanda with some of her traumas. As shown in the series, Wanda did the whole hex business before meeting Agatha, which means creating that little reality was all Wanda’s responsibility. Hayward and Agatha did exactly what Wanda did to Tony (and the avengers/other people) in AOU. They manipulated her and played with her emotional traumas. Hayward showed her Vision’s body parts and Agatha started to pull strings to know how Wanda did what she did and her real powers while orchestrating against her. 

Both of them have made mistakes. No one is better than the other. I don’t understand why some fans want to make someone responsible more than the other or blame one character for the other. While Wanda gave Tony that vision and pushed his self-destructive side to obsess over saving the world, he did create Ultron, what Tony didn’t predict was that the robot was going to corrupt itself. Same with Wanda, while Agatha and Hayward contributed to her trauma, she held hostage and isolated 3,892 people to create her perfect reality, ripping these people away from their identities and free will to fit her own fantasy. Don’t turn this into ‘omg poor her, it’s Tony fault that she’s this way'. I can’t believe I have to repeat this but you don’t see Peter Parker obsessively looking for the person who manufactured the gun instead of the criminal who actually killed Uncle Ben. Ridiculous that I have to repeat this example. 

Oh and about Vision’s body (damn yall have a gift to turn everything into Tony’s fault for some reason). I can’t believe some of you think Tony (while grieving for 5 years) would give Vision to Hayward. You’re either pulling stuff out of your asses or you didn’t pay attention to the show. Maria Rambeau founded and was the Director of S.W.O.R.D. In 2018 (when IW happened), this is where she came up with a new policy within S.W.O.R.D. to ground snapped agents in case they ever returned. Maria was diagnosed with cancer, then two years later (2020), she passed away. Then, Hayward was promoted to Director of S.W.O.R.D., in his first years (2020-2022) he refocused the organization’s work from extraterrestrial operations to robotics, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, etc. There, that was the 5 years. Then in 2023 it’s when he started project Cataract, which revolved around rebuilding Vision as a sentient weapon. Tony was dead when this happened. How come yall don’t get this part? I don’t understand, do you really think his dead corpse signed some papers to give Vision to those people? LMAO

Instead of thinking Tony would give up Vision just like that, think (possibilities):

Maria was the head of S.W.O.R.D., she might have just been keeping his body safe without doing anything with him. Maybe she trusted Hayward and he, obviously, betrayed her because he’s turning her organization into something else after her death. 

One of the Sokovia Accords regulations states that the use of technology to bestow individuals (the term ‘enhanced individual’ in this book is defined as any person, human or otherwise, with superhuman capabilities) with innate capabilities is strictly regulated by the government, as is the use and distribution of highly advanced technology. Vision signed those accords ('I'm saying there may be a casualty. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict... breeds catastrophe. Oversight...oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand’) The Avengers were no longer be a private organization and they operate under the supervision of the United Nations. This means they (UN) were the ones that referred Vision’s body to S.W.O.R.D., to a trustworthy leader, Maria. 

Vision died in Wakanda, not in New York. Tony was missing for 22 days after the snap, the rest of the avengers should’ve taken responsibility for his body.  

Why is it always Tony’s fault but never consider that other parties are also involved in this? 

I want to address some other asks with this one. I know some of you are angry because people are starting to blame Tony all over again, so a few things to remember:

Tony did not create the Accords. The Accords were the result of all the collective actions the Avengers have done in their superhero careers. All of them have made mistakes and the collateral damage of that was taken into consideration by the government and 117 countries around the world. He signed the accords because he knew that he could amend them with the support of the rest of the avengers and he knew about Thanos (something big was coming). 

Obadiah Stane (it’s so bizarre for me seeing that some people don’t know who this guy is, I’m guessing that the people who are watching Wandavision are too young to remember or didn’t watch the Iron Man movies at all which is highly probable) was the one selling weapons to the wrong people, not Tony. Obadiah was the CEO of Stark industries and became second-in-command for two decades. He grew jealous of Tony and began cooperating with the Ten Rings in Afghanistan, selling them Stark Industries weapons illegally. Imagine blaming all of it on Tony when Obadiah basically murdered thousands only because he felt a little green. If someone who you trust (he had no reasons to doubt Obadiah since he was like a second father-figure for him) does something behind your back (take into consideration that people like Pepper; who was Tony’s assistant and had knowledge of all of Tony’s activities and responsibilities, Rhodey; who was the liaison between the military in the department of acquisitions and Stark Industries, and Happy Hogan; who was his personal bodyguard and Head of Security of Stark Industries, didn’t know what Stane was doing either), how are you going to know about it? Tony trusted him. And when he realized what was going on he immediately stopped all of it. He worked hard to be better and people overlook that because they want other characters to look better. 

Don’t act like Tony was the only one assisting the military. All of the avengers assisted in one way or another. Natasha (who used to be an assassin) was in the Red Room, trained in the Black Widow Program in association with Leviathan and the Soviet Armed Forces, served for KGB, etc. Bruce Banner used to work for the United States government and was commissioned to create a super serum for them. Same goes with the rest, Sam, Clint, etc. Steve Rogers was a soldier lmaoooooooooooooo like, what happened to Tony with Obadiah happened to Steve with SHIELD/HYDRA in TWS. He trusted the people working in there (SHIELD), served for them, did missions for them and as soon as he found out what they were doing behind his back he turned against them. 

Knowing all of this, how is Tony always the villain for yall? I’m guessing because Tony’s popularity in the MCU, but still, aren’t yall tired of not understanding the plot and having people repeat it to you constantly? Watch the movies if you want to understand the franchise, people. Stop following the crowd. 

Also, Wanda is not a kid, she’s a 35 year old woman in Wandavision, she was 26 in AOU and 27 in CW. Hardly a child. Tony had almost her same age (38) when he realized Obadiah was selling illegal weaponry behind his back. The only reason people don’t fully forgive Tony is because 1. he’s a man and 2. he’s a billionaire. Even if Wanda was poor she still killed and hurt many people over the course of her life. Stop trying to make Tony the villain only to downplay Wanda’s actions. 

Both have killed people, both have made mistakes. They’re both responsible for them. 

[sparklingpax]

A Different Side (2/2)

Summary: Optimus comes back from an unsuccessful mission and seems to be out of sorts…but there’s more to that story.

///

A/N:

-Part 1 arguably where I should have ended it :’)

-Literally been a year and I apologize so hard sdjdj ;w; also this part is too long asfsksdjfl aaa 

-BEFORE YOU ATTACK ME, this is not “the first time optimus ever makes a joke!!!” kind of story, despite how much it looks like that. It’s just. something,,,

-as usual, there are definitely typos and mistakes; hopefully I get around to fixing them aha ^^’’ Also please don’t mind the weird spacing, for some reason the way I type things out never seems to translate well to when I put it here so,,,

-please I’m literally not funny, my humor is broken 😀 Like, I didn’t quite know how to continue or conclude this, and it’s not creative or interesting at all and it highkey doesn’t make sense tbh?? so aaa qwq I just hope it’s not too cringe,,,,but I did say I’d finish it so rather than keep y’all waiting any longer than I already have, here it is....part 2....

-I just. wanna apologize again that it took so long and this scrappy second bit is all I have to show for it. hh. 

///

             “At last…” Ratchet sighed contentedly to himself.

             He carefully placed two pieces of metal together and wielded them to one smooth shape.

             Stepping back to admire his work, smiling a little, he then picked it up and started towards the supply room. 

             After a long day of work, Ratchet was pleased to finally be able to place the repaired tool back on its shelf and retreat to his room for a few hours of quiet reading.

             Maybe three at the very most, he wagered his bet with a slight grimace. 

             After all, it was commonplace for commotion to interrupt his every attempt to enjoy himself quietly.

             Such is my fate. 

             However, hearing a familiar set of footsteps thumping slowly down the halls, Ratchet paused.

             “Optimus? Is that you?”

             He leaned to the side and peered down the hall.

             Said mech emerged from the corridor and into the medic’s view. He had a funny look in his eye as he came to a stop quite abruptly. 

             He placed his hands on his hips and regarded Ratchet for a strange few moments of….awkward silence…before speaking.

             “Ratchet,” his voice tremored almost imperceptibly, “Would you consider me…humorous?”

             The medic blinked at him. He was officially more confused.

             He had been just about to ask what had happened to upset him so much earlier, or if there was anything he wanted to talk about, one-on-one.

             After all, from time to time, Optimus would reach a point where he could no longer bear whatever was troubling him. And of course, Ratchet was right there for him, ready to listen and help. In the end, he was able to get Optimus to say what was troubling him, and they would talk about it or they wouldn’t. But something about the way Optimus walked away each time told Ratchet he’d done at least something to help.

             “…Ratchet?” Optimus prompted him gently, eyes showing a little concern.

             Scrap, I still haven’t answered his question—Ratchet, focus!

             Still, the thought drifted through the recesses of his mind: had Optimus…not been upset in the first place? 

             If so...what had it been all about? 

             Or was he simply reading too much into it?

             At a loss as to how to answer, the medic fumbled for a word to say in response. 

             He actually didn’t know, now that he thought about it. 

             Optimus—or Orion, even—had never really attempted to be funny before as far as Ratchet knew...which Ratchet was well aware that he didn’t know everything. It couldn’t be a yes or no. Of course, there were moments Orion was humorous, everyone has their moments.

              No, he means funny—as in, on a regular basis, as something part of his personality, even. And to that....

             A more appropriate response was ‘why?’ 

            But Ratchet knew better than to snark at Optimus like that. It was uncalled for, at the moment.  

             Perhaps Megatron would be more likely to know.

             After all, it had been him Orion had spent the most time with back in those days.

             As if I could just call him and ask! 

             “W-well, Optimus, I wouldn’t really know that!” Ratchet paused, feeling slightly guilty for his tone of voice just then. “You’ve never tried to be…that I knew of, anyway…”

             Optimus just nodded slowly. That weird glint in his optics remained. It hit him that something seemed….different. Like the Prime was planning on...doing something. 

             Just then, footsteps alerted the two of Jack’s arrival. He came into view, leaning against the wall and panting. He pointed wordlessly at Optimus for a second, trying to catch his breath. Ratchet stared at him, somehow growing more confused as the seconds passed. Then, finally, Jack straightened, managing to say what he’d wanted to.

             “Optimus was…not upset…”

             “What?!” Ratchet practically squawked. “What?!”

             Optimus glanced from Jack to Ratchet, looking surprised for all of a moment, then simply nodded. Just then, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead returned to base. Their engines could be heard from all the way down the corridor. They skidded to a halt in front of Optimus and Ratchet, transforming a backing up a bit.

             “Oh no,” Bulkhead murmured to his teammates. “Cue pissed-off Ratchet.”

             And pissed Ratchet was. 

             He had been worried for his friend.

             “Wh—then—why on earth did you go off to your room in such a huff?!” The medic exclaimed, setting down the newly-repaired tool not-so-gently.

             “That is—”

             “AND WHY WOULDN’T YOU OPEN THE DOOR?!”

             “I—”

             Just as Optimus was about to answer, a proximity alarm went off. Everyone gathered wordlessly around the main computer screen as Ratchet pulled up the video feed. He rolled his optics, sighing heavily.

             Instantly everyone knew it could only be Agent Fowler.

             Jack took this opportunity to attempt to get Optimus’s attention and pull him aside for a second. He waved and whispered the Prime’s name.

             When Optimus finally heard him, he departed from the group and made his way over to Jack, kneeling down when the human motioned for it.

             “Hey, Optimus,” Jack started, a bit awkwardly. “Sorry—uh……so....I saw what you were watching…”

             “Oh…” Optimus instantly looked kind of embarrassed. “Well, I was….admittedly….curious.”

             Jack tilted his head.

             In the background, their liaison to the government was shouting something about Bumblebee and a burger joint parking lot, to which Ratchet was defending his teammate and annoyedly asking how it could be his fault or problem.

             “After yesterday,” Optimus began to elaborate quietly, “Miko said...something to Ratchet. It dawned on me that Earth humor is much different from Cybertronian humor—which, in honesty, I never knew much about anyway.”

             “You mean when she yelled ‘in this world, it’s yeet or be yeeted’ to Ratchet after he asked why Bulkhead decided to throw that guy he was fighting?”

             “Yes.”

             “So…” Jack sighed. He looked so confused. “You looked up vines?”

             “No, Jack,” Optimus responded rather seriously. “I used the Google Engine program you children seem to enjoy so much—”

             Enjoy…not when you have friends like mine, Optimus. I’ve seen some things...

             “—to find the meaning of ‘yeet.’ Through my research, I came across the concept you humans refer to as…” his optics flicked to the ceiling for a second as he held up a hand and air-spelled the word, trying to remember the pronunciation. “…Memes.”

             “You…you found memes?” Jack repeated, as if he couldn’t process this. 

             “Yes, Jack,” Optimus affirmed, looking very pleased with himself. He had that same sparkle as when he watched his teammates laugh, when he was tired but relieved everyone returned from a mission alive.

             Except. It was for memes he found. On the internet.

             Jack was about to ask another question when Optimus abruptly stood up again. He put a finger against his lip in a shushing motion, smirking ever so slightly. A twinkle in his eye told Jack all he needed to know.

             “O-Optimus, which videos did you exactly—”

             “Vine is no longer dead!!” Optimus whispered a little too excitedly.

             And then he winked.

             “This is a dream,” Jack murmured in disbelief as he heard Optimus walk away.

             He was apparently going to try to make vine jokes.

             Jack knew it would be hilarious, but he was also worried for the Prime’s dignity. 

             Oh, Lord.

///

            “Oh, YOU want to hang up on ME?!”

            “THAT’S DAMN RIGHT,” Ratchet hollered back, “YOU CAN TAKE YOUR COMPLAINTS AND SHOVE THEM UP YOUR—”

             ‘Ratchet!!!’ Bumblebee cut in, looking rather uneasy. He hated it when people were shouting at each other like that.

             The medic whipped around and Bumblebee flinched a bit. The older mech was fuming.

             He had been in a generally awful mood after the events of the day, and as the seconds of silence passed, he realized just how angry he was—or at least, how he seemed to everyone else.

             Can’t vent frustrations like this, Ratchet—you have to talk it out. He stared back up at the computer screen and watched Agent Fowler straighten his tie as he started up again.

             “Now you listen to me, Ratchet. Neither I—nor my superiors—will tolerate your—”

             Ratchet decided he’d had enough of dealing with others’ foul moods, because they were only making him even more upset.  

             “Agent Fowler, I’m frankly not the bot you want to talk to right now. These are not my doings, you in fact have no qualms with me. All you do is call us up and gripe at us, and no one here appreciates it,” he hissed at him, having toned his voice down to a mild stern one.

             “HEY!! DON’T YOU DARE—”

             “Goodbye.”

             And with a simple tap, the base fell silent again.

             “Well….that’s that,” Arcee said.

             “Yup,” Bulkhead agreed.

             ‘Why is Fowler so aggressive all the time?’ Bumblebee buzzed, annoyed. Arcee shifted her weight and shrugged.

             “He wants what’s best for humans, and he’s concerned for the planet. I mean, yeah--he has the right to tell us to be careful and all,” she made her guess. Then her optic twitched as she, too began to look rather irked. “But he’s so….”

             “Insufferably rude,” Ratchet finished for her. Arcee nodded.

             ‘And…loud.’

             After a moment of attempting to compose himself, Ratchet turned to Optimus, who had discreetly drawn up beside them.

             The medic was about to ask him what the scrap he’d been doing and why he left Ratchet to fight with Agent Fowler on his own. It was usually Optimus who took the calls, and that’s why there wasn’t always an argument like this. Fowler would yell at Optimus, but not for long.

             They had some kind of interesting mutual respect for one another. Of course, all the bots respected Fowler—even when he was being overly aggressive—but Optimus seemed to even get along with the government agent in a special way.

            Even more of a reason he should have been the one to talk to him.

            So, Ratchet was annoyed. Or he was.

             It was then he noticed the grin on his leader’s face. His first question was understandably, why.

             Before Ratchet could speak, Optimus put up one digit and tapped it against his lips, as if to signal for quiet.

             “I apologize,” he said solemnly, leaning a bit closer to Ratchet. The medic felt his spark begin to pound, and was sure that some color was heading to his face. He swallowed.

             “That’s alright….but, uhm…what were you doing instead?”

             “I was discussing with Jack a rather important finding…” he responded quietly. Ratchet tilted his head at Optimus.

             Arcee and Bulkhead exchanged confused looks. Bumblebee debated leaving the room or asking what exactly he was talking about.

             It was at that moment, Optimus bit his lip, visibly trying to hard not to laugh. He then took a shaky breath and stood straight.

             “Ratchet, I have but one question.”

              Tentatively, Ratchet moved the conversation forward. 

             “…yes?”

             Optimus pointed to his tools lying on the metal surface behind the two, and with the most level tone, spoke.

             “...What are thoooooose?”

             There was silence before Ratchet slowly and rather confusedly glanced back at the desk. He answered Optimus just as slowly. 

             “They’re.....my…reparation tools….”

             And with that, Jack lost it laughing so hard from the corner. Optimus looked on the verge of bursting into laughter himself.

             But Ratchet wasn’t laughing. He just stood, blank. 

             Very quickly, Optimus realized no one else was laughing either—except for Jack, of course—because they also looked like they were trying to process this.

             He felt a pang of worry.

             Even if gradually, Optimus had been hoping for a long while that he could show his teammates that Primes do laugh, lose their cool, cry, and party. It was a silly notion, he would often chide himself. Nonetheless…it was a hope.

             After all, it was the only reason he had gone to the Google Engine and decided to try and figure out what exactly humor entailed.

             But…I might have approached this incorrectly.

             Now looking just a little annoyed, Ratchet backed up and picked up his tools. He had no idea what had just happened and wanted some time alone in his quarters. 

           Optimus gently grabbed his shoulder, causing him to stop and look at him again. The Autobot leader looked rather abashed, obviously regretting the last five minutes of his existence. 

            In the background, Jack had gone over to the other Autobots and started explaining what had happened, the vines, the context of what Optimus had just pulled…

            “I…apologize, Ratchet…” Optimus looked away for a moment. “It seems I…lack the ability of timing…”

             Ratchet blinked a few times, then setting down the tools, he sighed.

             “Optimus…”

             “I know now that it is not my place to attempt humor.” He looked quite sad, but at the same time, resigned to it. Ratchet was about to tell Optimus that not everyone was cut out for everything, and that he was rather amusing in his own way.

             But he was interrupted for a second time by laughter. Ratchet and Optimus instead turned to see behind them, the other three team members absolutely losing it.

             Optimus was taken aback.

             He wondered briefly if they were laughing at how pitiful his attempt at humor had been. Then Bumblebee spoke up.

             ‘Jack just told us what that actually meant!’

             “Yeah!”  Bulkhead chimed in. “And now I wanna know what vines are!”

             Arcee, giggling, added, “Yeah, and what crocs are.”

             Ratchet felt Optimus next to him, struggling to contain his pride, and himself began to laugh. At this, Optimus let a little of that joy show, smiling and standing straight again. 

            What a funny thing to be proud of…

            But, then again, that had been the Prime’s intent.

///

*dies* I’m sorry I even wrote this please forgive me--

[buddha-in-disguise]

LGBTQ representation & diversity

I think those who know or follow me know I advocate for not only more LGBTQ representation on television, but also that representation has to recognise and include more than White Caucasian characters.

I am fortunately white, however we have various family of different ethnicities, including Black & Asian, & in one instance Maori.

I know & recognise my privilege. I can’t change that part of me, but what I can do is stand up for all those who don’t have the same privilege. Who face bias (whether consciously or unconsciously), every single day.

Today, this post on Twitter caught my eye, and it is absolutely something I agree with. (Used with permission).

I’ve made no bones about why we need more LGBTQ representation on TV, & since it’s an area a lot of my mutual Twitter followers & I are fans of, I used Supergirl as an example. That post is here:

I also cite GLAAD, who show that the most important demographic of viewer numbers have 20% who identify as LGBTQ. This number doesn’t have to tally with census figures which is lower, for a variety of reasons. What is important is that one 5th of the most important demographic of TV viewers identify as LGBTQ. Yet we get nowhere near that level of representation on television or film.

Within that group, we’ll have the same diversity that the general population has. Yet all too often, already underrepresented LGBTQ roles have even less who are shown as part of that diversity.

How many gay men? Or Black women? Or Asian? Latinx? Or someone of Native heritage? Our heritage and stories are as varied as anyone else’s. We all deserve to have that shown on screen.

I for one know & understand for example just how Azie Tesfai’s role as Kelly Olsen is going to be hugely important, because it gives not only Supergirl a Black female season regular, but that her character is a lesbian.

She is part of an interracial couple, also something that is important to show, even if it does mean she isn’t with another Black woman, another important area of representation.

I might be white, but make no mistake I know exactly what it feels like to have no representation on screen. I’m old enough to have been there.

When I first came out there was nothing on TV. Nothing at all. A big fat zero. We didn’t have openly LGBTQ actors, or many who we could even look at for representation regardless of the field. Sure, there were rumours (Elton John, Freddie Mercury etc). Then a few people came out (Martina Navratilova for instance), but still we had so few known to us.

Then it was a painfully slow drip feed of TV characters (in the U.K.) with a Gay couple on a soap. Then a Lesbian on a different soap. That was pretty much how it carried on, with one and if you were lucky, two LGBTQ characters a year somewhere, but sometimes there was no representation for months or a year or more.

In the U.K. our government implemented a law (called Section 28) that undoubtedly harmed many LGBTQ people in so many different areas, particularly the younger generation. This wasn’t repealed in law until 2003, and even then some areas kept their own rules in place that mimicked Section 28, until the Equalities Act 2010.

Section 28 caused a huge amount of damage, but also made U.K. TV & film more reluctant to include LGBTQ characters for fear of backlash.

It might feel now as if the lack of representation is a hurdle that we’ll never cross, but we absolutely can. I never thought in my lifetime I’d see Marriage equality, or Transgender recognition to the level it is today (at least in the U.K.) It still needs huge reforms here & elsewhere, but it is improving beyond anything I thought we’d ever achieve.

The same goes for LGBTQ TV representation. Just stop & think how you’d feel if you saw nothing in your screen of any kind of LGBTQ representation. Even today, it isn’t always ideal, but to get characters now who are talked about way beyond just being LGBTQ, that have a far greater role in a show or on a program. That is progress. It’s gone from, ‘Alex Danvers is a Lesbian!’ to, ‘Alex Danvers is a kick ass DEO agent, a sister to an Alien, who also happens to be gay. Oh and here is her girlfriend Kelly.’ Sure we still can get the ‘She’s a Lesbian’ thrown out there, but it is far more than that, and it does show. But we didn’t get here without pushing to have this representation put up on screen. It takes time & effort, & if it makes you uncomfortable then that is on you, no-one else.

I will continue to advocate for these changes. We have as much right as anyone to see ourselves on screen. This isn’t taking anything away from anyone. We’ve always been here, whether you’ve seen or acknowledged it or not. We aren’t going away. It’s asking for us to be equal to everyone else. For us to gain things you see and have never once had to fight for. Where your normal is shown day in, day out, despite the reality being it isn’t this sterile white male hetrosexual world it all too often portrays.

If like me, you have at least part of that privilege, a pretty big part in fact, acknowledge it. It isn’t our fault. LGBTQ representation & pushing for equality doesn’t live in a vacuum, & the noise still needs to be made. It means we sometimes have to be louder to be heard, but that’s okay.

What is our fault is if we don’t even listen to those who don’t have that privilege & if we don’t work alongside them to push for change.

We all deserve better. I for one will never once stop listening to those who need that equality; now more than ever, & push where I can to show support for it.

So yes damn it! We do need a remake of The Princess Bride, but with Queer POC representation. We need that Holiday Hallmark movie, but with Queer representation. We need a LGBTQ lead in a blockbuster movie. We need all this & more.

We all deserve to be equal.

[randomthingsthatilike1]

You know, sometimes the things I see on this website about Lena just make me go ???????? (and here is going to be some constructive criticism. Key word here! This is not bashing or hate but genuinely thoughtful and sincere critique about a character I love and often seen wobified by fandom)

Because Lena isn’t her family and she’s not responsible for their actions, but at the same time Lena is a billionaire. With a B. I am reminded a bit about what I’ve seen people say why they don’t like the modern day royal family, the Queen especially—sure they didn’t quite play a role in some of the atrocities their family committed and are innocent of those acts, but because of those acts they are still benefiting—and Lena is still benefitting from plenty of pretty damning things that her family did.

It would be one thing if like. Lillian and Lex and Lionel were just straight up murderers and she was suffering by guilty by association, and therefore didn’t actually derive anything from that, but she benefits from the profits made by their anti-alien technology—she’s not a self-made person suffering from mere stigma. She wants to be better than her family, and I genuinely do think she is better! But this is about how she can grow!

Lena is a billionaire and that has implications, but I think I’ve only ever read one fic that really explored that? Because if she is a billionaire, and knows that the former head of security is a xenophobic murderer, and she has in her possession several devices that can be used as weapons against humans and aliens alike, as we see with the anti-xray glass, with Kryptonite, with the device she made at the gala, with the Lexo suit, and god possibly the most dangerous and most innocuous looking one of all, the alien detection device (a device that outs you to any business or place of employment or residence or friend that requires you to take it, while also selling something meant to conceal your identity as an alien as well? Not great moral optics there). The actions of her family are not her fault, but the subsequent actions she takes are her responsibility.  

Now, someone was going to take over LuthorCorp, and I do agree that it is better Lena, who does genuinely care about being a good person, than one of Lillian or Lex’s cronies. Bad shit could have happened. You can’t just get rid of a multibillion corporation overnight either without very bad consequences—jobs lost, stock market in tatters, etc etc. But, Lena’s still a billionaire. Funding this out of her own pocket if she absolutely had to—and she probably wouldn’t, since bad security looks really bad to the public and clients and the board would not want to have inventions and prototypes stolen.

Lena’s a billionaire. Let’s explore that.

This is a corporation. A corporation is, despite Citizens United (fuck that ruling), not a person. The first security breach wouldn’t be her fault, or even maybe the second, but consider that Metallo was able to steal Kryptonite, Lillian’s goons were able to throw her off the balcony in their attempts to get the information they wanted, and now this with Mercy—a pattern is being established.

Yeah, Lena, you may not use it against Supergirl but that is irrelevant if your security is so bad that the xenophobic people who would use it against Supergirl can easily enough break in and steal weapons. If it can’t be kept safe from the people who would use them to cause egregious harm, then it shouldn’t exist!

(this is one of the main arguments for gun control. If you can’t keep a gun securely in your house where other irresponsible people can find it and use it accidentally or on purpose that shouldn’t, then it should not be in your house.) Sure, that may seem unrealistic, and you may be then bringing up examples in your head of people and companies and organizations that don’t do this, but then ask yourself—are they good people? And if your argument is why Lena as the CEO of LCorp can’t do this without risking profits, then again, this ties back into Lena being a billionaire has interesting moral ramifications and they should be explored.

And yes, I am including the DEO in this answer. So many times I see oh what Lena does vs what the DEO does, especially regarding Kryptonite but they can both be wrong.

Sure, you may be saying she can’t guarantee that—well if that’s the case then do not make any life ending weapons. Lena is not a starving scientist type with a gun to her head; Lena Luthor has billions of dollars. She can completely afford to redo her security, and as long as others will be harmed if she does not then she has an obligation to do so.

The DEO is also her employer and a government agency who’s also tortured her aunt—they don’t have any obligation to listen to Kara, and she probably thinks she’ll be ignored. Lena is her friend, who’s life she’s saved several times—persuading your friend vs. persuading the US government? Yeah, I would go with trying to change the mind of the friend.

The DEO is a black ops government program started about 14 years ago originally headed by a very xenophobic man who hunted down not just Fort Rozz aliens but also J’onn and probably countless other innocents and is the reason why Alex grew up without a father. The only reason why J’onn took over is because he had to, and even still had to play the part of Hank Henshaw, a known xenophobe. Also, for a government organization, 14 years isn’t all that long to be working there—there are definitely people who have been a part of the DEO since the beginning still working for that organization, especially since it is nationwide, possibly even worldwide considering Alex in the first ep was on her way to Geneva. Shit happened at the DEO. (To quote James from season 1, the DEO is “a secret Guantanamo, and it’s not just for aliens anymore.” They torture aliens, hold them without parole, without trial, without a lawyer, definitely not complying with Geneva standards for holding and for bringing them in. What part of the DEO is not Guantanamo?)

And these are the people who recruited Kara’s sister and shot her out of the sky and are trained to take her down and tortured her aunt in front of her as Kara begged them for mercy. I wonder why she didn’t protest too much oh yeah IT’S BECAUSE KARA HAS VERY LITTLE INFLUENCE WITH ACTUAL DEO POLICY BEYOND WHAT SHE CAN CONVINCE J’ONN AND ALEX OF. AND GENERAL LANE CAN AND HAS TAKEN OVER WHEN HE WANTS.

The DEO has always been bad. It’s just been less bad with J’onn and Alex at the helm. But anyway. Back to the main point

Do you know how many times I’ve seen on this website “eat the rich”—and I am not at all saying you can’t like Lena because she is a billionaire. This is a fictional show. It is not real life. But it should be talked about.

With CatCo, they had one security breach, and it turned out to be an internal one. The consequences of that were on the shoulders of Cat Grant alone, and she was fully willing to pay the consequences herself and the only reason why she didn’t step down from CatCo is the last-minute save from Kara and friends. CatCo is a media empire built from the ground up by Cat herself, who’s talked about the consequences of her actions shaping her future direction—she thinks about the actress with the abusive husband every day, knowing that it wasn’t her fault but it was her responsibility as a reporter to say what she saw—and she didn’t. Inaction in itself has consequences.

They’re both willing to face the consequences of their actions–but Cat is the one who is a well known Democrat, who left her multi million dollar company to pursue public service, the whole: “ that’s why we do what we do. That’s why we’re driven to tell the truth. Not only because we want to be good journalists, but because we also want to be good people” and yes with Kara’s help, trying to elevate the conversation, valuing loyalty and integrity beyond just what it could potentially bring to CatCo (that video of Supergirl letting that Fort Rozz escapee go could have brought so much traffic to CatCo, but that wasn’t the point. Compare with the alien IDer. And. Well. We’re getting to the pretty damn grey area).

Cat is willing to do things that are for the benefit of National City and potentially the world at the expense of her company. That isn’t the case with Lena. Lena wants to be a good person! She does! But her motivations for being a good scientist haven’t, even as a kid, been “I am doing this directly because I want to be a good person”—we have seen time and time again that Lena’s main priority is LCorp, and doing what is in the best interest of her company. I am not going to stop harping on the alien identification device because it is horrific and this is something Lena, not her family but Lena, has done in an attempt to increase LCorp’s bottom line.

I am not at all saying Cat is perfect and without flaws and Lena is not, since I just finished detailing one of Cat’s past mistakes (and I’m not going on to detail Cat’s flaws and mistakes, which I have done in the past, because this is about Lena and I’ve counted this now--it’s a total of 2.1k and I’m tired) but when shit happens at CatCo it’s usually something that only affects Cat and her employees, or something unexpected—like really, having one of your employees spontaneously develop superpowers? Unexpected. You really can’t get security for that shit—and there are very few cyber security breaches (Winn is brilliant, but he’s also just one person. There are plenty of people L Corp could hire to deal with cyber security issue, and they have one if they were able to be hacked from the Cloud—and that hacking was human, predictable, and preventable.

I really did appreciate the single Lena/Kara scene past episode, because I keep seeing as well “oh but the DEO has Kryptonite and that’s fine”—clearly, as we saw this past episode, it is very much not fine that the DEO had Kryptonite since Kara almost d i e d. Lena very well have been asking herself this question—and we see this episode that for Kara it is equally bad. This is not a witch hunt because her last name is Luthor but as we see this episode there are very bad things that can happen when people can steal Kryptonite. Kara is the only one who suffers. Katie’s acting choices were great—she was genuinely shaken and concerned as she sees the scenario that Supergirl was most afraid of happening concerning Kryptonite happen—and happen only to her. Everyone else was fine—but Kara lay seizing in the hospital bed from the device that she created (although let me be clear—this one is completely on the DEO. They were the ones who were supposed to be guarding the device, they were the ones with the stolen Kryptonite that was entered into the atmosphere, it was their agent and their security breach that caused this, they were the ones who took responsibility for the device—and dropped the ball).

Lena sees Supergirl on a hospital bed, and hell if she didn’t realize Supergirl was Kara before Lena almost definitely did, staring as she watched the person she loved more than anyone else in the world fade away before her eyes and this is what she was talking about before. This is what she was worried about—it’s an understandable fear. They took the Kryptonite from the DEO, but if they didn’t get a mole, would they have turned to L Corp? Would they try to break in, and succeed?

Would this be because of her? She wouldn’t have deployed the weapon the used herself but she would have created everything they used to do it. Kryptonite isn’t used for anything except as a weapon. This isn’t about Lena “going evil,” or becoming like her family. This is about how just because Lena is willing to be the one who pays the price for her actions and the risks that she takes doesn’t mean that someone else wont.

Tl;dr the 2.1k word monstrosity: Lena is not her family and she isnt evil but oh my god shes the CEO of a multibillion dollar company that makes weapons and still benefits from the actions of her family, and who's main priority has always been her company. Shes not just a perfect ideal who can do no wrong or cant improve--shes done a lot of good but just look at the alien detection device--shes done a lot of wrong too.

[vspirit8]

Figure skating: Bunch of thoughts based on recent comments I came across

Warning: Long post ahead (apologies to those who are scrolling through on your mobile devices) 

I came across a comment that praised Chen for his mental strength, which isn't wrong, because the kid does have it in spades, but then they also go on to say that Hanyu's is weak because he lets things affect him too much. Which isn't technically wrong per se but....

...seeing their performances during their short program at the Olys side by side and their individual circumstances coming into it, I find it hard to make sense of this claim. I see the point that they are trying to make but I think they may have mental strength and mental fortitude mixed up and they also have a very one dimensional, or perhaps, selective view of what mental strength is. 

Chen is mentally strong in some ways, not in others. Meaning he's strong in coming back quickly from disappointment, but he can't hold it together during the moment of truth where the stakes are at their highest and the competition its strongest, and only seems to be able to perform at his best when he doesn’t have as much pressure or is relieved of it. Hanyu, on the other hand, has proven time and again he can perform very well under extreme pressure, despite his lack of mental fortitude at other times. Chen, like a lot of other skaters, so far seems to implode at the first sign of disaster during his performance, while Hanyu and even to some degree Uno, are able to leave their mistakes right where they made them and focus on delivering what's left of their performances as best as they could most of the time. I say most of the time because there were times when they did implode almost all the way through. But when they did, it wasn’t because they lost focus due to mistakes. It was due to other reasons that they weren’t able to save the rest of their performance (e.g.: rhythm loss due to tech change or bad mentalscape right from the get-go).

Both Chen’s and Hanyu’s strengths and weaknesses are trade-offs of one another and results have shown that Hanyu's less common brand of mental strength (Chen's type is more commonly found) and, uh, acute sense of competitiveness, is the more effective one in getting the exact final result one truly wants.

Uno also has an enviable and less common sort of mental strength that sees him with less of a tendency to get affected by outside influences, something that is especially handy to have as an athletic competitor (and something that Hanyu most definitely doesn't have despite everything else he does have--Medvedeva, however, has it in spades), but the guy himself has acknowledged that what he has is different from what Hanyu has. He can block out pressure by being so immersed in his own little world he remains unaffected, but he also mentions that, had he had to suffer the same kind of pressure and attention Hanyu has been shouldering for years and expected to deliver results on top of it all (this is also something Medvedeva also seems to be able to do) then he's pretty sure he'd be out of the race pretty quick. Say what you want about the kid's jumps and sleepy attitude, but like every elite athlete, the guy knows himself, because he is right and has proven that he does buckle under pressure when Hanyu isnt around to shoulder most of it like he was originally supposed to (JNats ‘16, GPF '17, JNats ‘17 & WC '18#). And while mental strength is good and all, I think the real secret behind these athletes' success is knowing exactly what both their strengths and weaknesses are.

Since I'm talking about mental strength though, I wouldn't undermine Hanyu's one. He may not be able to block out noise as effectively as others nor can he effectively shut off his brain when skating (he only managed it like, what, once?) plus he may take defeat harder than most others (though not in the sour grapes sort of way but more in a self-punishing way), but when he comes back, he does it swinging three times as hard. Possibly harder. In fact, he swings back so hard, it’s more than enough to make all the difference for him to win it all at the end of the day. So if anything, I'd be afraid of it. And would never underestimate it. Not as a viewer, and especially not if I'm a competitor.

There was also talk that if Chen and Hanyu were to both skate clean under the new rules and scores, Chen would likely come up on top due to the trend of judge's scoring so far this season. To a certain degree, I actually agree. It's entirely possible that a clean Chen with all guns blazing can beat a clean Hanyu who doesn't put out ammo to match because that's how the game is played. This was how Hanyu himself had gotten ahead of past rivals who had been ahead of him. Chen may not have beaten his record that he achieved with less quads but that was also during the era before Chenflation so if both skaters skate clean and Hanyu breaks his previous record, there is no guarantee that Chen with his bigger guns won't get even more simply because judges are compelled to score him as such. From what I observed, scores are relative and aren't given according to what's actually put out (or not put out) on the ice. Miyahara's scoring at SkAm is the latest perfect example of this (higher tech score and lower PCS than she truly deserves). Far from being ashamed and apologetic about it, though, they are making it more obvious, as if they are showing the world what they are really about and there's nothing anyone can do about it. And they'd be right. 

Everything is upside down and inside out when it comes to figure skating, and it's not even at random, so let's not delude ourselves that ISU and the sport they govern over will suddenly become the epitome of clean. Nothing that depends on judging ever is. Hanyu certainly hasn't deluded himself and that is a huge part of why he is able to win--or almost win--the biggest comps, season after season. Strategy based on information you gathered on the environment is key. You don't whine about it. You play their game according to their rules and if you're able to outsmart them (and get this, they're really not all that intelligent), you win. Zagitova did just that last season.* Easily. Not that what she did was easy, quite the opposite, but her strategy, although not easy to pull off, was an excessively simple one. If Tutberidze was testing out a theory with Medvedeva and Zagitova, she was proven right. 

Hanyu himself knows this. Which is why he had the 4lo, his biggest weapon at that point that Chen doesn't properly have himself, ready at hand during the Olys. If Chen had skated his SP clean, he wouldn't have held back on his own ammo, wonky ankle be damned. And if both Hanyu and Chen skated clean with their biggest ammo at hand, based on how judges are forced to judge Hanyu when he's at his very best in the past, I still think the edge would go to Hanyu because when two top competitors are head to head, then it's the little things that count. This is something that Hanyu had accounted for and worked into his winning strategy from Day One, even before all these trigger-happy skaters came out from the woodwork. The guy has what a lot of these shortcut athletes don't: rock solid foundation on both his tech and other performance-based aspects, that judges will be forced to take into consideration when they can't use other things as leverage to justify their scoring.

So, in a scenario where both skaters were to skate clean but only one uses all his ammo, the one with the bigger BV may just win simply because of that. But in a scenario where they both have high BVs with only a slight difference between said BVs, and where both skated perfectly, Hanyu will win not just because he is the better skater. It's because he knows what's inside the judges heads and is able to use it. To me, this, and not his skating skills, is Hanyu's true strength.

*Clearly Chen's and Uno's strategy doesn't work for Zhou, like he was hoping it would. Whining about it won't do much because at this point, it just sounds like he's making excuses for himself for giving judges room to doubt him in the first place, and angry they they chose to doubt him instead of giving him the benefit of it. If he truly wants to get somewhere in this sport, he might want to consider taking a page off Hanyu's and Zagitova's** books instead. It is infinitely harder but you get more control over your results. If he can't pull it off, it's simply because he lacks the ability to and that's no one's fault but his own. I know it sounds harsh but that is the reality of the world and situation he's in. He apparently won't be one of the lucky few who can apply shortcuts and make it work. But if he's able to come back with honest to goodness improvements and gain results in that way, then ultimately, he'll be the luckier one. If he's as wise as he seems to want people to think he is, he should be able to come to this conclusion.

**Admittedly, Zagitova's strategy is slightly different than Hanyu's in that hers also has elements of Uno and Chen's strategy of blinding judges with tech prowess (or so-called tech prowess  in Uno's case, but he seems to have other things to blind the judges with, like nice upper body movements). So Zagitova may not be able to bank on her strategy like she did last season as it was wholly designed to game the last system. Her basics aren't solid enough to enable her control even after a system change/revision but she does have her OGM rep so she may be able to completely cross over to Uno’s and Chen's strategy instead. We'll see.

I mentioned Medvedeva in passing when talking about mental strength because that girl is the epitome of it if I've ever seen one. However, what she doesn't have is a rock solid foundation that sees her with few skating flaws. If she manages to fix at least half of them and get her natural mental strength back into gear, she may just stand a chance against the upcoming lady quadsters, if they still have their quads when they turn senior (and Kihira, if her prowess with the 3A also stands the test of time).

#EDIT: I’ve struck WC18 off the list because it has been brought to my attention that it is not like the others on it. That mistake-ridden performance apparently had less to do with Uno succumbing to pressure and more to do with his injuries and not being in an ideal mindscape to overcome them earlier but was able to snap back into it enough to deliver the last bit of his perf (jumps that he apparently also had trouble with in practices but was able to nail during the performance itself). Having only seen that performance once and not being in the habit of seeing practices and warm-ups of any skaters, I might have been too hasty in my judgment of that particular performance. Thanks to those who corrected me. :)

[80srockher]

Yuri on Ice Rewatch and Live-Commentary, Episode 1: Easy as Pirozhki!! The Grand Prix Final of Tears

*There are spoilers throughout.  I also make assumptions that anyone reading has already seen the episode or has a grasp of the content.*

Source: http://yurionicescreencaps.tumblr.com

The opening scene is so pretty.  Really sets a tone.  I went in knowing nothing about the anime first go-around, so I found Yuri and Victor’s grow/glow-ups montages interesting.  

This theme song is… not my favorite.  Maybe it’s the French horns?  That and too much synth.  I usually skip over it but want to give it a chance this go-around.

Heh, Victor and his gold blades to match his gold medal.  And his European af haircut.  Can’t remember the last time I saw an American past the age of 12 with bangs. No mistaking him for anything other than Eastern European.

Also, the poster on the left is for Victor, I believe.  Can he pull his leg that high in the air?  Was that featured and I forgot?  I’ll be on the lookout for it.

Also, looks like Jean JACK made it to Sochi and placed third here too, lolz.

Yes, please listen to your coach, Yuri.  Don’t poke the wound.  Stay off the internets.  ESPECIALLY the figure skating internets.  What little I remember from when I used to follow the sport is that it’s dramatic, to put it nicely.

I keep getting distracted by the utter Euro-ness of the Europeans in this show. The cut of Coach Celestino’s suit is so Italian I weep. He’s too smooth.

Yuri’s name tag has his name in Cyrillic as well?  Cute.

My first impression of Yuri was that he looks about 18 and that impression hasn’t changed.  Perhaps it’s the glasses, but he def looks youthful. I’m also someone who’s been accused of looking a decade+ younger than I actually am, so I can sympathize.

Speaking of sympathy – Yuri caved to pressure, binged ate before the competition while mourning his dog, then bombed his first trip to the Grand Prix final.  All in front of his idol.  Damnity damn damn.  Sorry, kid.

Is Cao Bin ever introduced on the show?  Something else I forgot, maybe?

Now, when I first saw this poor child crying in the bathroom, that’s when I knew the series was going to be much different from the light-hearted anime about figure skating I expected.  It got real deep real quick.

Yuri Plisetsky “The Russian Punk”.  Is this something the in-universe media refers to him as?  Because I only recall (JPN) Yuri saying it and only this once.

This screencap is during the scene where the journalist Marooka (sp?) is hassling Yuri about his future plans and instead of answering, Yuri can only stare at someone else’s puppy that reminds him of his dead Vicchan.

This baby is crying. Cry.ing.  This has been a tough day for poor Yuri, overall.

And he talks down to himself so much.  It’s all his fault he caved to pressure. He was an idiot to think he could meet his idol on the same playing field.   He’s come so far and still thinks so little of his accomplishments.

So, I understand this “one year later” is not really accurate, lol.  It’s just the new  year following the previous season.  I was confused initially about a number of soon-to-happen events before Yuri’s mental alter ego cleared it up.

So, per Minako’s voice actress, Yuri really is pronounced YOO-RI.  Cute.

Four Continents is… not a Grand Prix competition?  My figure skating knowledge is all rust now.

LOL, Minako does. Not. Play. And she wears a pinky ring.  My God, that death grip on poor Yuri.

It’s snowing outside the train station when Yuri and Minako leave.  So, it’s not unusual to snow in this region in March, but it’s highly unusual a month or so later. Man, hard to believe Yuri sat around for almost an entire month before the infamous video became viral.  More on that, later.

So, based on everyone’s interactions with Yuri so far, the only person who cares that he didn’t make it to the World Championships is him.  And he should care since he’s worked basically his entire life towards that goal.  But, he doesn’t appear to have let anyone down but himself, though he doesn’t act that way.

So, the fact that the family hot springs is named “Yu-topia”… did that influence Yuri’s name at all, I wonder?

Ha!  I wish I could have recorded the Japanese actor’s voice when he says this line.  He makes Yuri sound so done with it all, lol.  It’s the best.

Ok, so a number of very interesting and entertaining things happen in succession that I don’t feel like screencapping.  No hug between the littlest Katsuki and the senior Katsukis, even though he hasn’t been home in 5 years.  Fascinating. No doubt cultural (I’m guessing) but fascinating.  

Yuri’s mom basically calls Minako a drunk.  To her face. LOL.  But I imagine no one can get mad at this sweet lady.

Minako calls Yuri out on his weight gain in front of God and everybody.  Though, I think it’s more of a matter of his clothes no longer fitting due to said weight gain.  

But, his parents don’t care. Eat more pork cutlet bowls, Yuri! Welcome home!

Vicchan’s shrine is where they also store the unused treadmill.  Want to bet the only person to use it was Yuri?

Then older sis Mari-neechan appears with frosted tips.  I can appreciate a character that doesn’t beat around the bush (a trait she inherited from her mother, I imagine).  Welcome home, Yuri, but don’t sit on your ass.  Start thinking about your next move.    

Actually *loads headcanon* I suspect Mari doesn’t want Yuri to give up on skating.  The longer he stays at home, the more quitting becomes a possibility.

So, the Katsuki family hot springs resort (Inn?  Restaurant?) is the last one standing in town.  Very OT, but I wonder if the hot springs are still an attraction at all and are perhaps, government-owned?  Protected, used by tourists for a fee, perhaps?  I think about things like that.

Having never visited a hot spring, and based on the setting around Minako while she watches the World Championships on TV, it appears to be a place for people to come, soak, and lounge and grab a bite to eat if the mood strikes.  So, the Katsukis wait on people basically all day long.  Gotta be exhausting work.

Yuuuuuko!  The Madonna of Ice Castle Hasetsu!  Yuri’s crush on her is hella cute.

A slight segue to Yuri’s perceived attraction to Yuko and what it could imply about his sexual identity.  Per his labeling of Yuko as a “Madonna,” I figure Yuri considers Yuko untouchable, perhaps even “too good” for him.  Yuko, just like Victor, is “ideal”.  For someone as self-conscious as Yuri, comparing any romantic prospects against his two ideals was probably a convenient excuse not to get *too* close to anyone, male or female.  That being said, he didn’t pursue Yuko.  Alcohol loosened enough of Yuri’s inhibitions to eventually openly flirt with Victor, but this is still an important distinction, IMO.  He pursued one of his ideals (in more ways than one, even going so far as to leave home to in hopes of becoming Victor’s equal) and left the other one behind.

Yuri idealizes/d Yuko, and comes to love Victor.  He’s gay.  Bi, at the least.  

I don’t feel confident in applying any other labels, because I’m a straight.  Yuri could fall under any number of categories as long it they include, IMO, same-sex attraction.

In actuality, Yuko is “introduced” to the audience as Yuri’s straight love interest, but that doesn’t last long.  Cute and clever, show creators.  Cute. And . Clever.

Then we find out, via flashback, a) how adorable they all were when they were little kids and b) Yuko wanted to see Yuri compete against Victor.  Yuko has been a profound influence on Yuri.

So, Victor.  This guy is in a class by himself.  The animators obviously invested a lot of time in his movements.  You can see why he leads the field even at 27.

Also, the creators had the nerve, the audacity, the unmitigated gall to compose an original opera aria for a cartoon.  That was my next indicator that this was more than a cutesy figure skating anime.  

The song really is beautiful, too.  Probably my favorite in the soundtrack.

Who’s the last IRL skater to win 5 consecutive World Championships?  Michelle Kwan, maybe?  Who is Kwan’s male equivalent?  Back then, probably Alexei Yagudin?  May research. May not. 

Anyway, Victor is the Michelle Kwan of YOI-verse lol.

Hmm.  Here come the three brats.  Good God.  Poor Yuko and Takeshi lol.

So sweet to see Yuri’s childhood bully is his biggest fan now.

Sooo, Yuko’s triplets secretly record Yuri’s private performance, post it online (sometime before April 10, when Victor shows up), and things progress rather quickly from there...

Or do they?  It appeared to me that Yuri caught up with Yuko at the rink the same day he returned home.  Did he skate Victor’s routine for her that day, as well, or did it happen later?  Perhaps the triplets waited a few weeks to post the video, or else it took a few weeks to go viral.  Did Yuri turn off his phone for *weeks* to avoid the world?

Maybe he got home on March 30 and then the whole month of April just went to hell for him?  The possibilities...

LOL, I’m so SO mad the title of the video is “Katsuki Yuri TRIED to Skate Victor’s FS Program”. Those brats.

This might be the most unattractive Victor’s ever looked.  Severe close-ups aren’t flattering on anyone.  Welp, down the rabbit hole now.  

So, in the next scene it snows in April which doesn’t stop anyone from stripping naked to bathe in a hot spring, apparently.  Or it just doesn’t stop Victor.

#moneyshot

I like this ending theme much better.  It’s a head-bopper.  The Instagram reel kills me.  

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read through this stream of consciousness!  No idea how long it may take me to get through the rest.  I tip my hat to those who regularly and passionately participate in fandom.  It’s a lot of work!

[ganymedesclock]

it's kinda surprising to me that pidge actively defends shiro in regards to the kerberos mission; even though we know it wasn't his fault, pidge didnt, and it would be a pretty typical response to grief to try to blame someone. do you think she thought it was extraterrestrial intervention, even before she started picking up alien radio chatter?

Probably because in declaring it pilot error, the Garrison was not insinuating that Shiro was a reckless or malicious person who slammed them all into Kerberos for the hell of it.

I’d really recommend looking up actual historical failed missions because even when they’ve been able to narrow it down to a specific cause or a specific person’s oversight, it is not as if that person is treated like a murderer.

Shiro would be regarded respectfully, as a victim of the situation. He was depicted respectfully:

Look at this. They’re using professional, official images for all three of them. Shiro’s even the one not in a space suit so they can see his uniform and the, y’know, medal hanging from it.

The Garrison handpicked Shiro and the Holts for this assignment. If they made out Shiro to be incompetent, not only would this be dancing on the grave of one of their own coworkers who as far as they know suffered an unpleasant death in space via explosive decompression, suit failure, asphyxiation or starving- it would be mocking Shiro to his grieving family (unprofessional as hell), and it’d be pretty damn blatant to anyone who knew Shiro.

Not only is it not something the Garrison would pull, not something that we have any evidence the Garrison did pull, but if somehow they performed the necessary yoga exercises to get their head that far up their ass and do it anyway, a lot more people than just Pidge would eat them alive for it.

If you’re still not convinced Shiro wasn’t the Garrison’s scapegoat, consider: He’s Lance’s personal hero, in a way that Lance doesn’t seem to justify. BOTH Pidge and Lance are mutually incredulous that the Garrison wouldn’t listen to Shiro.

Literally the exact way Iverson frames the Kerberos mission is that the slightest lapse of discipline “cost the lives of” three good men. Iverson is delivering this warning to promising, higher-class cadets. He’s framing this as “I’m sure you think it’s harmless to have these minor, inconsequential distractions but they will kill you in space.”

Iverson isn’t accusing Shiro of trying to fly the spaceship with his butt. Iverson’s accusing Shiro, at worst, of looking away from the console at the wrong time. Of making any of a number of tiny, trivial mistakes at exactly the wrong time and exactly the wrong place and that leading to a disaster. Nobody is going to say “you sneezed at the wrong time, therefore, you totally deserved to die and took two people with you, you murderer,” and the Garrison in particular is not going to say “We, a competent and well-staffed organization which trains our pilots exhaustively for years, sent This Total Loser out into space with all of the resources needed to catastrophically mess up and kill himself and two other people.”

Since it’s somehow very hard for people to believe the Garrison as an organization actually cares about people: anything they accuse Shiro of reflects on them. They’re the ones who let Shiro graduate from flight school, from the Garrison cadet program- they’re the ones who put him in charge of flying this mission, they’re the ones who pinned that medal to his chest. Saying they put their faith in an incompetent pilot isn’t washing their hands- it’s saying they, themselves, are incompetent in their ability to judge. 

There was no smear campaign. There was no demonization. The worst that the Garrison did for the Kerberos mission is sound more certain about it than they were- since they were unable to pin down mechanical failure and there was no evidence of a crash they had to assume it was a more difficult-to-trace human error. Shiro, as the pilot, is the one where pure human error could endanger the whole team without an outside force- communications technician would only be in that position if they had someone else to communicate with, and the mechanic would get involved if they had a mechanical failure.

Getting back to your specific question now that we’ve established Shiro was not Garrison scapegoat.

Pidge knew there was more afoot before she infiltrated. That was what she found- that the Garrison had no evidence of a crash on Kerberos. What you’re saying- that Pidge is angry and grief-stricken and very fourteen, and going to leap to conclusions, is exactly what she does with the Garrison. In them she sees not a government organization that has to release some kind of explanation because they know nothing, because three of their astronauts- coworkers, people they knew, a bright cadet full of potential on his very first mission who probably the media would latch onto because he was so young.

The weeks after the Kerberos Mission this would have been inescapable on the news. It’d be something that went down in history like the Challenger explosion. The Garrison can’t afford to shrug. If nothing else, I think they wouldn’t want to- sure, this did turn out to be a sci-fi series, but at the time- if you’re grieving the tragic loss of three people you really don’t want to accidentally imply aliens and let the tabloids drag their memory through the mud and seventeen conspiracy theories.

But Pidge? Pidge just sees that they’re not telling the truth, and she can’t forgive that. She wants justice, she wants truth, and they’re in her way.

In that sense, it’s pretty straightforwards why Pidge latches onto Shiro. Because Shiro promises answers. Because he made it out of there- at least initially, she’s full of hope that Shiro can lead her back to her family. He’s a lead when she hasn’t had any of them in a very long time.

[forsetti]

On Reaching Out To Trump Voters

Another day, another hot take from someone who thinks what Democrats really need to do, must do in order to get back political power is to reach out and cater to specifically white people who voted for Donald Trump.  Every single one of these lava hot takes provides some firsthand examples of individuals who claim to be “ex-Democrats” and their woeful laments about why they felt they had no choice but to vote for Trump.  My first presidential election was in 1980.  I cannot think of any time in the previous nine elections where there have been more “think pieces” written begging for the losing side to understand, take pity on, and cater to the winning side.  I'll bet my right kidney (my left is reserved for Belgian ales) you can search the archives of the New York Times, the Washington Post, any of the major media outlets from 2009 and you won't find a single article written pleading conservatives to “understand and reach out” to Obama voters.  This lack of reciprocal “think pieces” isn't by accident.  If there is one thing I've come to understand the past few years, it's the absolute need for everyone, especially the media, to kowtow to the needs, wants, and feelings of white Americans.  In America, all roads lead to whiteness.

In 2009, it was white Americans who were “jilted” and “upset” so it was them who Obama voters needed to reach out to and understand. In 2017 it is white Americans who feel “disrespected” and “not heard” so the demand is once again being made on progressives to reach out and understand.  Win or lose, everyone must take the feelings of white America into consideration.  As a fifty-six-year-old white American, this is complete and utter bullshit.  By default, my feelings have ALWAYS been considered my entire life for no other reason than I'm a white male.  I never gave this special status a second thought for a lot of years.  I didn't even notice it. However, thanks to the patience of a good close friend and reading writers like Ta-Nehisi Coates, I've come to understand not just how fortunate I've been and treated for the random luck of my birth but more importantly, how those not so fortunate have been negatively impacted by the very system that has blessed me so greatly.  For this reason and many others, I can't give a flying fuck about the feelings of white Americans who voted for Trump.  They made their choice. They need to accept the consequences of it.  Full....fucking....stop.

While some of the hot takes reluctantly admit that Trump voters are somewhat responsible for their vote, they still feel compelled to lay the brunt of the onus on progressives.  I'll accept their half-assed acknowledgment people who voted for Trump are responsible for their decisions.  What I won't accept is the notion that progressives have “pushed white America” towards Trump.  Fuck this nonsense! Nobody held a gun to white America's bigoted/racist head and forced them to fill in the oval or pull the lever on their ballot for Trump. If your political choices are based on what will piss off someone else, you are doing democracy wrong.  Voting for someone because it will upset liberals is at best a childish reaction.  “I didn't vote for what would be best for my and my family, for my job, for my health care, for the environment, for the future...  I voted for Trump because Hillary called me “deplorable.”” Jesus-childish-fucking-Christ!  “I didn't like the neurosurgeon's bedside manner so I yanked my kid out of the hospital and took her to the vet for her brain surgery.  That'll teach him!”  Way to go Jethro.  You just got your kid killed because your fee fees were hurt.  If I know you, and I do, you'll rationalize it by saying, “It was God's will” or some other nonsense instead of owning up to the fact you are the one responsible for your kid's death due to your ignorance and arrogance. This is exactly what is happening right now with regard to many Trump voters.  They are having buyer's remorse but instead of owning up to their shitty decision, they are deflecting responsibility to anyone but themselves.  Fuck that!

Conservatives can and will tell themselves whatever they want to make themselves feel better about voting for and supporting Trump.  They will come up with things like, “economic anxiety,” “need for a change,” “liberals were mean to me” and other such nonsense but these are all intellectual dodges in order to avoid the underlying truth. Conservatives have bought into an ideology bereft of facts, bereft of morality, bereft of anything closely resembling the America and Constitution they claim to love almost as much as the baby Jesus. “Sure Trump and a lot of his supporters said racist and bigoted things, but that isn't me.  I completely disagreed with all of this.” Did you give money to his campaign?  Did you vote for him?  “Of course, but that doesn't make me a racist/bigot.”  Maybe.  This has yet to be determined.  At the very least, it shows you are willing to overlook the racism, bigotry, misogyny, blatant lies...for whatever reasons you have.  What does this say about you?  Am I supposed to sympathize, empathize, reach across the aisle and make peace with you because you are so willing to overlook these things?  Fuck no!  The “Progressives need to reach out to Trump voters” articles make it sound like this is nothing but a misunderstanding, a mix-up that could easily be the plot of a “Three's Company” episode instead millions of people being fucked over.  This isn't a misunderstanding. Misunderstandings happen when something happens “out of the blue.” Progressives were waving red flags and screaming, “This is going to be a fucking train wreck!” for months before the election.  This isn't a misunderstanding.  This is purposefully ignoring fire alarms then saying, “I'm shocked I lost everything in the fire.  I wished someone would have warned me.”  

Now, if people who voted for Trump want to have a heart-to-heart conversation about the issues and why they made the decisions they did, I'll happily participate.  I have yet to see anything that can even remotely be viewed as such.  Instead, all I see are “Progressives are mean and they are only making me love Trump more.”  Bravo!  While progressives are telling you taking your kid to the vet for brain surgery was a really, really bad idea, you're reaching for your Bible and the program from your child's funeral saying, “IT WASN'T MY FAULT!  YOU MADE ME DO IT!  IF YOU DON'T STOP, I WILL BE FORCED TO TAKE MY OTHER KID IN FOR THE SAME PROCEDURE!”  I'm supposed to reach out to these people?  I'm supposed to be understanding and sympathetic?  I'm supposed to not even bring up the fact it was their direct actions that led to consequences of that decision?  Fuck off!  Fuck off hard.  Fuck off often.  I can't.  I don't have the capacity or the inclination to let these people off the hook in any form or fashion or their actions. For years, all I've heard from conservatives is how liberals have turned our children into a bunch of lazy, entitled brats who have to have a participation trophy every time they do even the most basic task.  Trump voters want a participation trophy, a cookie, a pat on the back, a ticker tape parade, and reach-around for voting for the most dangerous administration in U.S. history.  Not only can't I do this, I won't.  I refuse to reward bad behavior.  I won't enable people who are responsible for making an already dysfunctional government completely broken.  They need to own their mistakes. There needs to be a collective mea culpa from conservatives.  There needs to be a reckoning, an acknowledgment from them that they fucked up and fucked up royally.  Then, and only then, will I muster up a smidgen of empathy, give a damn about reaching across the aisle, give a flying fuck about anyone who voted for Trump.  

[mega-aggron]

ask meme 1-100

throwing this under a read more because hoo boy

1. What is you middle name?

paul

2. How old are you?

20

3. What is your birthday?

august 7

4. What is your zodiac sign?

leo

5. What is your favorite color?

turquoise + teal

6. What’s your lucky number?

2

7. Do you have any pets?

not anymore, but my family is getting a dog soon!!

8. Where are you from?

maryland

9. How tall are you?

6′3″

10. What shoe size are you?

13

11. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

6 or 7 but some i havent worn in quite a while

12. What was your last dream about?

swimming in a river with a family friend

13. What talents do you have?

i can whistle well? i’m a good listener? idk what constitutes a talent

14. Are you psychic in any way?

no but one time i correctly guessed a coin flip 9 times in a row

15. Favorite song?

too many (newest addition: “heroes” by david bowie)

16. Favorite movie?

begin again

17. Who would be your ideal partner?

someone who makes me laugh and who i can just be myself around

18. Do you want children?

probs not, i think i would be a pretty good dad but idk if that’s what i want to do

19. Do you want a church wedding?

idk! my pastors are pretty cool so i wouldn’t mind them officiating but it doesn’t have to be at a church

20. Are you religious?

ya, holla at your local friendly presbyterian

21. Have you ever been to the hospital?

about a year ago i bust up my eyebrow after i fell from a bed and got hella stitches

22. Have you ever gotten in trouble with the law?

uH not that i’m aware of

23. Have you ever met any celebrities?

i’ve met some broadway actors/actresses at the stage doors after a show but no super big names

24. Baths or showers?

showers

25. What color socks are you wearing?

white

26. Have you ever been famous?

nah

27. Would you like to be a big celebrity?

i think the concept is cool but i really don’t think i’m quite cut out for that role lol

28. What type of music do you like?

a wide mix tbh, mostly synthpop, folk, and alternative

29. Have you ever been skinny dipping?

no

30. How many pillows do you sleep with?

depends, anywhere between 1 and 3

31. What position do you usually sleep in?

either facedown with an arm crossed underneath me or on my side

32. How big is your house?

my apartment is pretty small but it’s nice

33. What do you typically have for breakfast?

a muffin or granola bar

34. Have you ever fired a gun?

paintball once

35. Have you ever tried archery?

like once or twice maybe

36. Favorite clean word?

idk there are so many good ones!!!!!

37. Favorite swear word?

fuck or damn

38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep?

~24 hours probably

39. Do you have any scars?

one on my knee from when i was 2, one from the aforementioned eyebrow incident

40. Have you ever had a secret admirer?

if i did they kept that secret really well

41. Are you a good liar?

i’d say no but my friend just commended me on my lying skills last week when i gave a fake name for my blaze order so maybe?

42. Are you a good judge of character?

i think so

43. Can you do any other accents other than your own?

ah kin do a sko’ ish aksen pri’ ee well

44. Do you have a strong accent?

no

45. What is your favorite accent?

don’t really have one

46. What is your personality type?

isfj

47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing?

idk probably a suit jacket from like 6 years ago? i don’t really buy expensive clothing

48. Can you curl your tongue?

ye

49. Are you an innie or an outie?

in

50. Left or right handed?

right

51. Are you scared of spiders?

no they’re pretty neat

52. Favorite food?

cheese tortellini and pesto mmmmm

53. Favorite foreign food?

chicken tikka masala mmmmmmmm

54. Are you a clean or messy person?

depends on my stress level at the time but usually pretty clean

55. Most used phrased?

anytime one of my friends said the word “straight” i used to reply “that’s so heteronormative” but i have since stopped since that got old

56. Most used word?

like

57. How long does it take for you to get ready?

10 minutes?

58. Do you have much of an ego?

i hope not

59. Do you suck or bite lollipops?

succ until it’s near the very end

60. Do you talk to yourself?

not really unless i’m trying to figure out why my code isn’t working

61. Do you sing to yourself?

if no one else is in earshot

62. Are you a good singer?

i wish ;-;

63. Biggest fear?

insignificance, or worse, being a burden to someone

64. Are you a gossip?

not really

65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen?

man idk i haven’t seen many movies recently

argo was good? idk if it’s the best i’ve seen

66. Do you like long or short hair?

both

67. Can you name all 50 states of America?

yeah thanks to this freakin puzzle i had when i was like 4 i knew all the states and their capitals before i started school

68. Favorite school subject?

programming (if that doesn’t count, probably science)

69. Extrovert or introvert?

introvert

70. Have you ever been scuba diving?

no, snorkeling is as close to that as i’ve gotten

71. What makes you nervous?

public speaking (a little), when all my schoolwork piles up, and messaging people about emotional issues that i’m going through if they’re involved

72. Are you scared of the dark?

no

73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes?

to a fault, sometimes. i just want to be helpful but it’s not always the right time or place for that

74. Are you ticklish?

yes

75. Have you ever started a rumor?

no?

76. Have you ever been in a position of authority?

uh in boy scouts i was senior patrol leader for a while? and i’m often de facto group leader in projects but nothing to serious

77. Have you ever drank underage?

a few times

78. Have you ever done drugs?

no

79. Who was your first real crush?

first “crush” on a girl in 6th grade who was in my homeroom, first crush after i realized i was gay was a close friend when i was 16

80. How many piercings do you have?

081. Can you roll your Rs?

ye

82. How fast can you type?

i got 92 wpm when i compared with friends in class last week and just got 77 in another test so probably somewhere in the mid 80s on average

83. How fast can you run?

i probably run a 9 or 10 minute mile? i haven’t timed myself in quite some time

84. What color is your hair?

brown and purple (this dye was blue but it’s fading to pink it’s p nice)

85. What color are your eyes?

blue

86. What are you allergic to?

FREAKING POLLEN DESTROY ME SPRINGTIME

87. Do you keep a journal?

yes, but i haven’t updated in a while because life has been so crazy (i should get back in the swing of that)

88. What do your parents do?

mom works for the government, stepdad is in telecomm. idk what my dad does

89. Do you like your age?

yeah it’s pretty alright!

90. What makes you angry?

injustice

91. Do you like your own name?

yeah

92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so, what are they?

no, but i do like more uncommon but still traditional names so if i’m naming characters in a game i have a few that i go back to (oscar, felix, jasmine, etc.)

93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child?

boy girl nonbinary idc since i probs won’t be having kids anyway

94. What are you strengths?

good listener, get along well with most people

95. What are your weaknesses?

i want to help people and when they don’t want me to help i take it pretty personally, also i procrastinate a fair bit

96. How did you get your name?

i think my parents just liked it

97. Were your ancestors royalty?

i was about to say this question was weird and then i remembered i’m directly related to george washington so

98. Do you have any scars?

i swear this question was already asked

99. Color of your bedspread?

navy

100. Color of your room? 

turquoise and teal at my parent’s house, white at my apartment

ty winston!!!

[dennelandcamren4lyfe]

Superstition

Hey guys, it’s been over a year since I’ve written anything but I was feeling inspired... here’s some random camren for y’all, not really sure what the plot is... very small smut section. Love you!

It was my first time leaving baby Sofi at home alone, and I was doing it for three weeks. Sure, Sofi might be able to take care of herself, and also I really wanted to go on this study abroad trip, but still, I was nervous beyond words. Sofi had come along with me to the airport, like the good sister she was, and then it was time to say goodbye. She kissed my cheeks twice and then left me a phrase that was currently taunting me. “Remember, you need three kisses to stop a plane crash.”

Three kisses to stop a plane crash, is what Mamá had left us with at the airport back in Cuba when she kissed each of our cheeks three times before leaving us to fend for our own. Three kisses. Two of which Sofi had left me with. Two. Not three. So where the hell was I supposed to find the third one, Damn It! Mom had left us each with three- why couldn’t Sofi have done the same. Idiot sister. And no, it was not an option to just forget about that last kiss. I was superstitious, I’ll admit, and given all the bad experiences I’d had, I didn’t want to risk anything. I guess that might be why I was in my best clothes that I owned; a baby blue, collared Calvin Klein blouse tucked into a crisp black skirt that stopped just above my kneecaps. Under that I was wearing stockings, with my not so long legs extended by a pair of black stilettos.

Now finding people to kiss wasn’t so much of a problem. There were thousands in the airport at midday, many who were about my age and excited to go on vacations. And I wasn’t the most concerned about getting rejected. On the surface, I probably appeared to most people as a fairly attractive latina girl. I had some chocolate colored eyes, plump lips, and long brown hair that was flowing in waves down my back. I wouldn’t hesitate to say that I’m fairly well endowed in the butt section either- must have been all those years of cuban dances. No, the problem was all in the asking.

See, I’m definitely gay, but I knew that my chances of finding another gaybie in a Houston airport were very low, maybe even impossible, and even if there was another one, who’s to say they’d be willing? My eyes landed on a girl in leggings and a hoodie munching on some doritos with a bottle of sprite in her hand. Perfect. She had her long brown hair pulled into a ponytail, light shiny eyes covered with reading glasses, with an ass to match mine. Beautiful. I walked up to her before I could stop myself.

“Hi there, can I sit here?”

She looked up at me and put down her book. “Uh sure, no problem. I can go if you need?”

“No! Stay! I- I mean please, I would love if you kept me company! My name is Camila.”

And she smiled. Her smile was easy, wide, and her teeth sparkled in the light. “I’m Lauren,” she said, reaching across the table to shake my hand. But I was in need of a kiss so I figured, better start off with lots of touchy feely contact! I caught her by surprise with a hug and two kisses to the cheek.

“Nice to meet you from my country- Cuba,” I pulled back, gauging her reaction.

Her eyes twinkled- I swear! “Nice to meet you from my country Cuba also,” she smirked. She didn’t seem too shocked by my actions, so I thought I would step it up. Wait but… I already kissed her right? Or no… she had to kiss me. That was it.  And how could I break it to her.

“Thank you, Lauren, I think you’re really cute,” I flirted. If she didn’t like that, she wasn’t interested. I was good at picking out gay girls, and fairly sure I’d found one.

Yep, I had. She was blushing hard. I only needed to know her for today, so may as well get to it, I supposed. “So Lauren, this is a pretty crazy request, I know, but I have to admit something to you. I’m in need of a favor.”

“Well tell me what it is and I’ll see what I can do.”

“I um… Well- when I was little, my mom taught me a superstitious good luck type of thingy… It’s not- It’s just…” I paused. “I- She said that to have a safe flight, I must get three kisses, and I realized that I forgot to ask my sister for a third when she dropped me off… Would you- I mean- I… If you’re interested, I was hoping you might be possibly willing to kiss me- but it’s totally fine if you don’t want to. Your choice, I swear!”

She laughed. Her laugh was so sweet, so soft, so- shoot stop day dreaming here idiot! “Sure thing Camz,” she teased, “where do you want it?”

I was shocked she was asking me, and managed to come out with “Preferably the lips but wherever you’re comfortable?”

So she did. Lauren cupped my chin with a gentle hand, and the pad of her thumb lightly brushed against my cheekbone. My eyes fluttered shut and I leaned forward, feeling her uneven breath on my lower lip. She leaned forward for the final stretch, and she kissed me. Her soft lips pressed against mine, and I could taste the doritos on her tongue as it made its way into my mouth. She pulled away for a breath, and I scrambled around to her side of the booth, invading her space as my arms wrapped around her waist, with hers grabbing my ass, and then we were full on making out. Our tongues classed for dominance, and I let her win as she willingly explored my mouth, making me whimper softly. She pulled away softly, blushing bright red at the attention we’d attracted. Then she packed up her stuff and went on her way. Damn Lauren.

Dreams of making her my girlfriend were destroyed as I blushed at the onlooking crowd and found my way towards the nearest restroom. My superstitions were satisfied, and I could now get on with my trip. I was to be meeting other members of my high school study abroad program headed to Brazil to study the marine biology at the mouth of the amazon river. Apparently they’d discovered the first coral reef in muddy water down south. The program wanted me to wear a bright orange shirt so others could find me, and I did put it on in the bathroom over my blouse, before looking for the gate I was headed towards. Gate 23. All I could think about was how disappointed I was to not get to see that girl again. Honestly, she was my first kiss, and I hoped I wasn’t so bad that she ran off because she could notice!

I found the gate and began to converse with the other kids wearing orange t-shirts. They were from all over the US, and the program leader, Alex, told me we were waiting on one more student and the other program leader, Lauren. My eyes widened at her name. There’s no way I’d just kissed my program leader, was there? No- she hadn’t been wearing an orange shirt like Alex was, and they were required to at all times. But this only made me yearn more for those flower-like lips that I was missing so much.

“Saudade,” I mumbled.

“Huh?” The girl asked to my left.

“Saudade- it’s in portuguese,” I responded. “I’ve been learning for the trip! Saudade is used to describe somebody or something that you really miss.”

“Oh, cool!” She smiled, before looking away.

I heard Alex talking to somebody whose voice sounded familiar, and then I looked to my left. It was her. Shit. My first instinct was to hide, but the same girl on my left looked at me funny so I just sat as still as a statue and hoped she wouldn’t see me. Of course she did. Lauren was going around, introducing herself to everyone when she locked eyes with me. Her eyes widened, and then she looked away, and continued with the introductions. When she got to me, you could tell she was faking it, but I acted just as much and then she went on, barely making eye contact with me. I felt bad, but it’s not as though I’d known that the girl I’d kissed would be my program leader! If I’d known, I never would have kissed her in the first place!

Once we boarded the plane, I found out it was just my luck to be in the window seat next to none other than Lauren. We’d somehow been placed in front of all of the others from our trip, and nobody we knew was around us, so she wanted to talk. I was scared.

“Camila, while it’s not your fault, nor mine, that we ended up kissing, I would like to know why you did not tell me that you’re not 18.”

“Lauren, I am 18. I mean I am 19. It’s just that on my birth certificate, they made a mistake and it says 17. When I moved from Cuba, I wanted to stay close to my sister so when the official guys asked me my age and my sister’s, I said that we were only three years apart, when we’re really five.”

“Okay, but legally, you’re not 18 so I could get in trouble for kissing you!”

“If anyone is concerned about age, I will argue with them until I win that it is the government’s fault I am listed as a minor when I should really be as a 19 year old.”

“You don’t understand though, my whole job and reputation is in jeopardy!”

“Is it really though? Nobody needs to find out!”

“But I think if anybody even finds out that I’m gay, that’d be a big enough problem itself!”

“I won’t let it happen, don’t worry.”

Lauren fell asleep eventually on my shoulder, and the rest of the long flight was spent counting her breaths.

Eventually we made it to our dorms, and I was sharing with two fun girls, Dinah and Normani. They were excited to talk, but even more excited to sleep, and eventually we collapsed into our beds, eager for what tomorrow would be bringing. We were supposed to get Scuba dive certified during this trip, and that might be the one thing I was looking forward to the most.

*******

Throughout the trip, Lauren had been leaving me with lingering touches and glances, and tonight I was going to put an end to it. It was eleven or so and my roomies were fast asleep when I crept out into the hallway, walking to the end where Lauren’s room was. I knocked twice, and smirked when she opened up in only a pair of boxers and a T-shirt. Totally gay. I pushed her into the room and shut the door behind me.

“Camz- you can’t do that!”

“Don’t worry, you’ll love it.”

With that, I pushed her onto her bed, making out with her every step of the way until I had her flat on the bed, shirt riding up and exposing those smooth but hard abs, evidence of her daily workouts. I tore off her shirt and licked my way into her cleavage, where she gasped and writhed for my tongue. Her hands tried to keep up with my movements, but all efforts were lost the minute my tongue met her nipple. I’d never done this before, but I was going along with her noises as my reinforcement, and the more I played with her nipples, the louder she got. Eventually she pulled my hand down into her boxers, and helped me rub her clit. I wasn’t dumb enough not to know how- I guess I was just too slow for what she needed.

Lauren moaned at my hand movements and I pulled her boxers down, daring to venture into very new territory for me. I sniffed out the area, dropping wet kisses everywhere my mouth met. Her thigh. Her navel. Her well trimmed curls. I got to the place of no returns and took one swift lick from the bottom of her core up to her navel. Her taste was sweet and tangy, and I went back for another. Mmmm, I just couldn’t get enough.

Eventually I graduated to licking her clit, something she seemed to appreciate, if her moans had any indication. She gripped my hair in her hands and came in my mouth without a warning and then that was that. She kicked me out.

******

We went on like that, being fuck buddies, for another two weeks before it was time to leave. I’d had incredible experiences diving, but the most I’d taken from my trip was a deep love for Lauren. But it was to no avail. She only cared when it came to sex. Months later, I received an invitation in the mail. On the front it read, Save the date to Our Wedding. It was addressed to me. I double checked. Lauren was getting married to my best friend from the trip, yet after hearing about this, with no mention from either of them, I was furious.

**********

In the end I didn’t go to Lauren’s wedding. I also never kissed another stranger for a fucking superstition. True love cannot exist at first sight, no matter how good a kiss may be.

[multiversalmansion]

Trust and Truth

Dani hasn’t quite been completely honest with Blossom, and that comes back to bite her.

@pennedbypom

Honestly, what did she suspect? That her deeds would stay buried? That everything that she had done would stay in the past? No, it never worked that way, and she should have seen it coming. She should have left that city on a high note by working with the esteemed Powerpuff Girls, but she didn’t. Instead, she fell hard for the Powerpuff leader, and miraculously managed to win said leader’s heart. In retrospect, she doesn’t regret that decision. How could she? Blossom is everything that she could ever hope for in a girlfriend. Smart, kind, and with enough sternness that she could keep the ghostly girl from going too far on anything.

No, the decision that Dani regrets is not telling her love sooner about the criminal records she held. Maybe if she had told her then she would have had a chance to explain each offense. Yet, she just held her tongue, and thought ‘they won’t find me here, the city is way too big for that!’ What a foolish thought. When you’ve wronged the kind of people she has, they’ll put a lot of resources forward to catch you. Plus, it didn’t help that she was around some of the most popular people in the city, but hey, the heart wants what it wants.

Still, it did take longer than she thought for the Government Agent to come knocking down her hideout’s door. She was in the middle of a nap when that happened, nearly phased right through the bed and the floor. Honestly, it would have been better if she did. Unfortunately(?), she had gained a lot more control over her powers since she was made. So, the only thing she did was shoot up into the air and nearly crash into the ceiling. Luckily-perhaps the only lucky part of this encounter- when she did that, she inadvertently had dodged the initial shots that was fired at her.

What happened next was her second biggest mistake, she instinctively shot back with an ecto-ray. It nailed the bastard too, right in the chest. The shot forced him out of the doorway of her hideout, and it startled his partner enough that she could finally get a good look at the two. She barely managed to suppress a groan of annoyance as she recognized them: The Men in White. The only, that she knows of, government program that specializes in ghost hunting. Apparently, the people she pissed off finally pieced it together that she was part ghost.

Gee, it only took them several months.

Immediately, Dani turns intangible before flying up through the roof. Probably just in time too as she could hear Ecto-rays hitting the ceiling behind her. Continuing upward, she makes it outside fast enough, and quickly surveys the area. What really caught her off-guard was the fact that there were only two of their weird flying ski machines (seriously, what are those?) parked outside. She thought that they’d send in some bigger guns for sure. Almost immediately this entire scenario doesn’t sit right with her. Her instincts were just screaming at her to fly out of there, and don’t look back. Since those same instincts haven’t steered her wrong yet, she turned to at least get out of the area.

Instead, she witnessed the sight of her love, floating there with her arms crossed. It took only an instant to realize that Blossom wasn’t there to visit her- at least not in a good way. Her normally bright and stunning pink eyes look dim and forlorn as they meet Dani’s surprised gaze, her hands clutch at both arms for a moment before they drop to her sides. Stunned into stopping, the young clone can only blink as her mind struggles to come up with an explanation for why her girlfriend would be here now. To be fair to her, it only took a few moments before it hit her.

Oh god, they didn’t-

“Why Dani?” Those fuckers, they did! “Why did you do it?” Now the question remains, which tales did they tell her, and how badly did they twist the truth to make her look bad? Was it the time that she had to break that cops leg to get him to stop beating on a homeless boy? No, that isn’t bad enough to shake Blossom this much. Then maybe the time she stole false evidence from the police station to help protect a mother just trying to keep her family alive? Maybe, but they could have taken it further. If they really wanted to ensure the Powerpuff Leader’s aid, they would have gone with the worst ‘offense’ she has ever done.

“Blossom listen, if you just give me a moment to explain-“ In an instant, she cut off by a powerful glare that conveys the red head’s anger and sorrow. Yep, they told her their version of the senator that she helped to bring down. The bastard was using what influence he could to threaten those working under him into doing whatever he wanted, and she does mean whatever he wanted. It didn’t stop at extorsion or unfair treatment. No, it ventured into the realm of sexual harassment and nearly rape. Fortunately, that was stopped immediately by her overshadowing him and using his body to record a confession.

With that piece of damning evidence, he was forced out of office by taking a deal to resign so he could keep his public image. As such, the tape never saw the light of day. However, he still had some powerful connections in the government. Though, by this point, he’s probably used them all to hunt her down. Still, to go as far to- unknowingly- recruit the person she loved? That bastard might want to watch his back in case she ever comes back to further ruin his corrupt life.

“I can’t believe it Dani,” Yep, she sounds rather angry “You took over a government official?” Out of the corner of her eye, the ghost girl could see Blossom’s hands clench into fists “You forced him to resign, and for what? For your amusement?” For a brief moment, Dani could see in the Powerpuff’s eyes that she didn’t quite believe that. That she didn’t believe that Danielle would do a thing like this for such petty reasons. Yet, her drive for justice steeled her gaze as she put her fists up into a guard.

“Give yourself up now Dani,” There was a tender softness to Blossom’s voice as she pleaded with her “Please, I can try to convince the judge for an alternate sentence,” Dani might have shot at anyone else at the idea of being locked up, but she held back upon seeing how much this situation was hurting her love “Maybe some community service, you could help fight crime with us! Just please, don’t do this.” The words nearly do convince the ghostly girl to just surrender.

But, images of enclosed spaces, constant surveillance, government labs, operating tables, her own legs turning into Ecto-plasm rush through her head. No, she won’t go with these people, not even for Blossom. She won’t be a prisoner of these corrupt bastards, and she won’t let them do what they please- with her or anyone else. So, with an extremely heavy heart, she puts up her own guard while flaring her ecto-energy out from her hands. Still, she nearly faulted at the hurt expression on her girlfriend’s face. Knowing that she had harmed her love, situation or not, nearly cracked her heart.

“I’m sorry Blossom,” She put as much sincerity into her words as she possibly could “But I won’t let these men take me apart, molecule by molecule.” She knows without a doubt that would be the fate that would befall her should she be taken in. Especially now that the Men in White are a part of this. So, with no more options to fall back on, she takes a quick pot-shot at Blossom with a ecto-ray, hoping to catch her off guard. It didn’t, and the battle had begun.

It also ended quickly afterwards. With Blossom having more experience, a wider arsenal of skills, and just is more powerful, it didn’t take long for her to knock out the Ghostly Girl with one well placed kick to the temple. From there, everything feels pretty blurred together. Immediately, she had a ghost-deflector slapped onto her wrists, preventing her from using any of her powers as she was thrown into a cell. Apparently, that jackass ‘convinced’ (more like bribed) the judge into believing that she was far too dangerous to be defending herself at the courthouse. Probably didn’t help that she had assaulted an agent of the government.

So, despite the clear violation of her rights, she was to be sentenced without even being there. Word was that she was going to be handed over to the Men in White’s research division to be studied. What was the line of reasoning that would allow such a thing to happen? That she was a clone, and thus not a member of this state, this nation, or even their race. In other words, she was utterly screwed over. At least, she would have been if someone hadn’t stepped up in her defense.

Turns out, Blossom had attended this sentencing and immediately objected to the ruling. In a grueling and analytical counter to the sentence being given, she went on for an hour explaining every way that this was un-constitutional, unethical, and just plain criminal- all while denying the prosecution the chance to try and swindle their way out of it. At the end of it all, the judge looked to be so embarrassed and ashamed of himself that he asked the young lady what she proposed. According to witnesses, she quickly pitched the idea for extended community service via crimefighting.

The Powerpuff had proposed that Danielle would help keep the city help from crime with her unique abilities. In order to insure her co-operation, one Powerpuff (at minimum) would accompany her on each one of these patrols, aid her if needed to be, and just generally keep an eye on her. Also, to make sure she doesn’t attempt to flee at any other given time, she would have to reside in the Utonium household until her sentence is complete- while also going to school to further her education. Because, if she isn’t given a chance to do so, how could she learn from her mistakes?

Apparently taken aback by this new route of punishment, the judge had to take a recess to consider the idea. However, once the break was over, he agreed to the plan set forth by Blossom. So, in the middle of a cold cell, with her powers blocked and her face stained with tears, Danielle nearly jumped once more as the guard informed her of a visitor. Looking up through the bars, she saw the lovely visage of her girlfriend smiling sadly down at her.

In all honesty, this entire situation had strained their relationship a fair bit. They both don’t feel the same around each other like they did before. Blossom’s trust had been deeply damaged, as was Dani’s. They both didn’t know if the other would turn out to stab them in the back later, but they both deeply wanted to move past it.

It would take a lot of time to mend these wounds of the heart, but together they could manage it. They would just have to tread carefully for the time being. Maybe, they’ll be able to trust each other once more. 

[pabluesman]

The latest rant:

A common picture of the Republican Party is that of a cabal of big-money plutocrats, rubbing their hands gleefully as they kick starving children into the cold and knock retirees over for the Social Security benefits while lighting cigars with $100 bills. And while this is useful as agitprop, it creates a divide in the discussion of serious issues. Granted, there are some on both sides of the aisle who are craven and corrupt, and unfortunately they also make the most noise. It also doesn't help that the top figures in the party -- trump and his staff (Spicer, Conway, et al), Ryan, and McConnell -- further this perception with their words and actions, but such is a topic for another day ... The thing is, though, almost all Republicans are working with the best of intentions. They honestly believe that their proposals and actions are in the best interest of the American people. So why is there such a gulf between Republican and Democrat, liberal and conservative, trump and normal people? My opinion? It comes down to a fundamental difference in how progress is measured. The Republican Party measures everything in terms of dollars and cents. This is fine as far as it goes -- it is a completely objective measure, with no wiggle room for interpretation. Something costs what it costs, and revenue is revenue, and the numbers are going to be the numbers whether you like them or not. As a result, for many things this is fine ... but there are aspects of the things the government does that do not translate well into currency. Things like quality of life for a family that can no longer afford health coverage. Or environmental quality. Or lives lost fighting bullshit wars on false pretenses. The modern Republican Party is, on paper, dedicated to the idea of fiscal responsibility. They believe that deficit spending is fundamentally bad, that social welfare programs impede individual initiative, and (at least, on the far right) that many of the problems faced by marginalized populations -- the poor, people of color, and so on -- are the result of moral failings at the individual level. Proposals presented by the Republicans are centered around the idea of "if ya ain't got the dough, don't spend it." Nowhere is this demonstrated more clearly than in the following statement made by Rep. Mo Brooks on May 1:

“My understanding is that it will allow insurance companies to require people who have higher health care costs to contribute more to the insurance pool. That helps offset all these costs, thereby reducing the cost to those people who lead good lives, they’re healthy, they’ve done the things to keep their bodies healthy. And right now those are the people—who’ve done things the right way—that are seeing their costs skyrocketing.”

On the surface, this seems like a pretty cruel, heartless stance. After all, what Rep. Brooks appears to be saying here is that if someone gets breast cancer, say, then it's their own damned fault for not living a clean life and they deserve to pay more for insurance as a result. Now, everybody knows this is bullshit, and it's a pretty safe bet that's not what Rep. Brooks meant. My guess is that he was speaking more to the apparent fairness of premium amounts, taking a position that people who need more health care should be paying higher premiums. And while this does seem like a reasonable proposition, it misses the point entirely on how insurance is supposed to work (the people who need less subsidize the people who need more, thus spreading the cost more or less evenly ... but diving into the intricacies of health insurance actuary is way beyond the scope of this article). This illustrates a higher point, though. Whether it stems from ideology, or the need to maintain viewership across the basic cable spectrum, or just pure salaciousness, we have been trapped in a cycle of "gotchas" for the past several decades. Barack Obama says "So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion ..." as a statement on small-town America's reaction to steady job losses over the prior twenty years, which is clearly evident when the entire quote is used:

"Our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

However, the right-wing shriek factory chose to highlight a specific phrase in a manner designed to generate the most outrage, furthering the narrative of Obama as a Kenyan Muslim terrorist atheist communist dictator, hellbent on taking away everyone's guns and forcing them to adhere to Sharia law (which, let's be fair, almost none of the target audience knew anything about except what they had heard from the right-wing shriek factory in the first place ... and not for nothing, but it is impossible to be a Muslim and an atheist. Just sayin'.). To be fair, this sort of nonsense happens on the left as well, but again ... a topic for another article ... The thing is, there are actually very few Republicans who hew strictly to this line. The vast majority of them do not agree with ideological purity at all costs; instead they adopt a stance of "Okay, I have my ideology, you have yours, and there has to be some agreeable middle ground." For example, as you may have guessed, I am a liberal. Very liberal. Not quite to the anarchist extreme of some, but definitely more than most. One of my best friends is a hard-core conservative Republican. We argue about politics all the time, and rare is the occasion when one of us makes a solid enough argument to change the other's position. Despite this obvious mental deficiency on his part (kidding, and he knows it), he is a wonderful stepfather, a good and decent person, and regularly kicks my ass at pool. And this is the fundamental point. Republicans are not, by nature, evil. They are not the sort of cartoonish, sinister villains portrayed in the media, any more than liberals are all a bunch of skinny, stoned, granola-munching whiners with acoustic guitars militantly guarding against trigger words. Republicans just have a different viewpoint from Democrats. That's all. They are both still Americans, they both still love this country, they both still respect the Constitution. Go to any firehouse, police station, military barracks, elementary school, restaurant, grocery store, auto shop. Unless there is only one person there, chances are pretty good that there will be a roughly even split between conservatives and liberals. And I guarantee that the EMT who is driving the ambulance taking you to the hospital doesn't give a hairy rodent's posterior about your political affiliation, the only concern is getting you to the goddam hospital. This is what we, as a society, are losing sight of lately. It is incumbent upon all of us -- right or left, Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal -- to always remember this, and to accept the fundamental humanity of those with differing views, and to allow the respect that is born from this acceptance to be shown. And it has to start with a decision on which media outlet to frequent. Yes, there are no purely objective sources. Every media outlet has some sort of political leaning. It's only natural, considering they are all people. Where the differences lie is in how this slant is addressed. Some, like Breitbart and the Daily Wire on the right or Occupy Democrats and the Palmer Report on the left, make no bones about their political leanings. Which is fine, as long as people understand that their content is all opinion, not fact. Others, like the New York Times and the Washington Post on the left and the Wall Street Journal and Forbes on the right, acknowledge their political stance but strive to keep it from coloring their reporting. Yes, sometimes they are better at it than others, but they all have one common characteristic: when a mistake is made, they cop to it. Publicly. They issue retractions and correct the erroneous information. If there are enough retractions credited to a specific reporter ... well, that reporter is then out of a job. So I urge everyone reading this -- both of you -- to ask the following questions when considering a news source (not including articles clearly labeled as opinion pieces):

Does this news source use objective language, or are there subjective terms (excluding quotes) used to attempt to sway the reader to a particular way of thinking about an issue? For example, the Daily Wire recently published a story about funding being pulled from a Shakespeare in the Park production of "Julius Caesar" because it depicts the assassination of donald trump. While the story may be true, and it is not at all uncommon for theater companies to adapt Shakespeare to modern settings, the Daily Wire uses language like "objectively despicable contents of this production" to describe the play. Rather than just reporting on the "who, what, where, when" of the issue, the Daily Wire attempts to apply a value judgement to the play, thus robbing the reader of that opportunity.

Can the story be verified by multiple reliable sources? For example, if you see a story in the New York Times, or Forbes, or the BBC, or even the Daily Caller, can you also find reporting on that same topic from another source? This excludes the latest practice in which someone creates content that may or may not be factual and distributes it to like-thinking outlets, who then publish it blindly (basically, what happens here is that the article appears in multiple outlets, with identical or near-identical language).

In the case of erroneous reporting, does the source acknowledge it and issue a retraction? This only applies to factual errors. For example, an article about Ivanka Trump's clothing line that reports on a pair of shoes costing $2,500 when they are actually $250 deserves a correction. An opinion piece stating that they are the butt-ugliest things to come down the pike since the Pontiac Aztek does not.

It is vitally important that we all -- Republican and Democrat alike -- do our due diligence when consuming media. It is only once we emerge from the shriek factories on both the left and right and into the light of day that we can start to find common ground on the issues facing this nation today. Please like and share my page at http://ift.tt/2rkD9UV for more.