#he would care for the women's division if that was the case

[elitehoe]

Mariah don't lie for that man if TK truly watched or loved Stardom we wouldn't be in the trenches here

[youbutstupid]

What d’you think is the “best” trait the main bau team members have?

OH I love this question thank you so much. There’s a lot so bear with me

Hotch: his compassion for his team. He’s an extremely compassionate and empathetic leader, constantly allowing for his team to leave work if they need to and following them on their hunches, even if they seem unlikely, purely because he loves and respects each of them. Quite often Hotch is portrayed as stone faced but I’ve honestly never seen a male leading character be so openly loving to their team.

Gideon: how much he cares for the victims in his cases. Gideon is often characterised as being a bit clueless to the feelings of his team, yet he never is to the people he is trying to save because he puts his everything into it. He has always been so open and accepting in cases which was rare for a 51 year old man in 2005; he was very willing to let go of his old ways and what he used to know so that he could evolve with the changes in society in order to best help the people he was saving. We also got to see his book of the people he saved. It was amazing.

Rossi: his ability to read and help the people on the team when no one else does. I wholeheartedly believe that if Rossi was present during the Hankel case, Reid would not have gone through his addiction alone. Rossi is always the one to call out people who try to hide their problems and he puts in so much effort to help them, even using his hours outside of work to do so. We see him waking up early to help Hotch coach Jack’s football matches, him inviting Penelope over for scotch so that she can finally disconnect from technology and him hosting the cooking class, the wedding and Strauss’ funeral dinner ar his house. His character development from being weary about the team to adoring them all individually was amazing.

Reid: I love how despite him admitting that he has trouble with emotions, he is always the one doing everything he can to be an emotional support when people around him are struggling. We see him try and comfort Elle when everyone else disconnected from her, he stayed with Garcia the entire time when she was shot, he is the one to call Emily to ask if she wants to hang out when she started disconnecting due to the Doyle situation, he is the one to try and help JJ with her PTSD in season 10 and so on. He doesn’t like the idea of the people around him going through things alone despite the fact that he often tries to go through things alone and he is extremely selfless in this sense.

JJ: I am constantly inspired by how throughout the show, she is repeatedly putting in effort to try and improve herself as a person and as an agent. We never see her get cocky, even when she deserves to be like she was in the FBI from a very young age, she had one of the most challenging jobs as the press liaison and then she was able to work herself up to profiler where she was one of the most formidable people on the field. Despite how impressive she really is, the audience are never given a chance to consider it because she never boasts about it and instead spends everyday striving to be better.

Morgan: he is always willing to take on a leadership role when he has to, yet he is always willing to give it back to Hotch when he doesn’t need to take it on anymore. I’m not just referring to season 5 either, I’m talking about any time when Hotch is unable to take on his role. Morgan respects Hotch a lot and is always willing to support him by taking on the role of team leader when Hotch can’t anymore, yet he never tries to take the role permanently for himself, despite being told he could by Strauss. Despite his years of experience and his leadership skills, he is willing to give up the role because he sees it as what is best for the team and he respects Hotch too much to keep it.

Elle: her protection of women. Elle was, in my opinion, ahead of her time. She previously worked in the sex crimes division and in season 1, she was the only female profiler and she did not step away from her previous role as an advocate for women in sex crimes just so she could better ‘fit in with the men’ of the BAU; she instead brought her perspective with her and implemented it in her cases. She was the only one in episode 3 to look at the woman who was assaulted and realise how uncomfortable she must have been surrounded by men. She ended her career in the BAU fighting for women and it hurts me that the BAU lost her.

Garcia: she never, ever stops being herself, even when people question her or bring her down for it. Sadly, because Garcia is the brightest person in the room, she is quite often the one who the profilers take their frustrations out on; we have seen JJ, Morgan, Hotch, Rossi and Emily all do this. Despite this, she doesn’t waver, she doesn’t stop being the brightest person in the room just because someone is simply not in the mood for her to be because she knows that she does not need to apologise for simply existing as her authentic self. In the episode The Black Queen, 9x12, her ex tells her that they both used to make fun of girls like her, and she corrects him saying that he made fun of girls like her, this was who she always wanted to be. This is so empowering to me.

Prentiss: my love, she was so unbelievably loyal to those around her and this was clear from the beginning. She was the only one to question Reid’s suffering in season 2, she literally uprooted her life and faked her death so that her team’s lives could be protected in season 6. When she found out JJ was in danger in season 9, she was so quick to jump on a plane back to help her. When the team calls for favours whilst she is in London, she always answers to help them. When Reid got arrested and imprisoned in season 12, she didn’t once believe that he committed the crime of which he was accused and even risked her entire career tampering with possible evidence so that it couldn’t be used against him. She is loyal to a fault and so many don’t acknowledge that.

Todd: we only got Todd for 9 episodes but I loved how human she was. She was the first character to make the audience realise that none of what we were looking at was normal. By season 4, the audience became very desensitised to the crimes that we were looking at and Todd broke us out of that and she also was not afraid to call out the fact that it wasn’t normal that the profilers were desensitised either. I respect how in the end she would rather admit that she couldn’t do the job anymore than lose that human side of her. I also loved how she made sure Hotch never took JJ for granted.

Seaver: we never got to see much of Seaver’s development because of the writers, but I loved her willingness to learn. Seaver hadn’t even graduated from the academy when she joined the team, she was not a profiler, she wasn’t even a qualified FBI agent. Watching her learn and grow in such a traumatising field and take it all in her stride was so incredibly interesting to watch. I also loved watching her friendship grow with the team; going to the cinema with Reid, Morgan and Garcia, gaming night with Rossi and going out for curry with Reid. 

Blake: Blake was so incredibly talented and so unbelievably smart but instead of using it as a way to get ahead of her team, she used it as a way to relate to them and bond with them. She almost became a protective figure over them and she took that role very seriously too. It was honestly amazing watching her mind work and how easily she was able to take on her role as a profiler because of it. I know I just named multiple good qualities but it is incredible to me how much her character was able to grow and be adored in just two seasons, she had no idea what dynamic she was getting into when she joined the team yet she fit in perfectly and adapted to it so quickly in order to help them and gain their trust.

Callahan: her confidence. She went into that bullpen being unapologetically herself from the beginning and she fit herself into that team without an ounce of apprehension. She made so much effort to establish herself and she was not shy about it which I adored; she had banter with Rossi, she opened up to Reid, she carpooled with JJ, she became a close friend for Garcia and she gained Morgan’s trust all within a few episodes; the last two being hard to do as a new member of the team. I love how she didn’t question where she belonged, she knew she belonged.

Simmons: to me, Simmons was just so incredibly sweet. When he first joined and I saw that he was buff and conventionally attractive, I was weary that he was just going to be another jock detective that we see in other shows, but he wasn’t. He, again, was an incredibly strong and skilled agent yet when he arrived on the team he took everyone for who they were and never once acted like he was in any way better than them because he had skills that they did not have. He was just a nice person and that may sound like a basic description but to me, it’s the best description to give a person. I felt genuinely safe with Matt’s character on the screen because it was just lovely to see a man on the screen who was just good.

Lewis: OH I love this woman. Tara brought a new element of self assurance to the screen and also humour. She, again, was very unapologetically herself and she knew her worth, as we saw when she went through her breakup, which was so refreshing to see because it is rare you see a woman know her value and not be portrayed as cocky for doing so. She is also a character that marked her place on the team and I also love how unafraid she was to come out and say that she was dating a woman, which was a risk in itself because the BAU had never had an openly LGBTQ+ profiler before. I also loved how she brought ‘your mum’ jokes to the show because watching a 50 year old woman with a doctorate make multiple ‘your mum’ jokes is all I needed from the show if I’m honest.

Alvez: I don’t want to repeat things too much but I also love Luke’s loyalty, which is something we also saw from very early on in his time in the show. Bear in mind when Reid was in prison, Luke was only on the team for a very short period of time, yet he believed wholeheartedly that Reid was innocent and even made threats for his safety. I also love how he took Garcia’s original dislike of him in his stride and honestly embraced everything about her, whether it was her distrust in him or her ‘quirkiness’ as the team would dub it, he took it all in and loved her because of it all, not in spite of it.

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

Undercover Problem

Summary: You volunteered to go on an undercover mission without really reading the mission report or acknowledging that there would be someone going with you. When you learn that you would have to pretend to be married to Marcus Pike on this mission you end up having a nervous breakdown. Because you're 34. And you have never been kissed.

Pairing: Marcus Pike x fem. reader (though it can be read as gn. reader)

Worcount: 2.8k

Rating: G

Warnings: made up facts about the FBI and undercover missions, anxiety attacks, food, fluff, humour as a coping mechanism, fluffffff

A/N: This goes out to all the late bloomers (and everyone else who just want to read a cheesy first kiss) If I missed anything that makes the reader gender neutral let me now. I tagged this as fem. reader because I always write with a female reader in mind.

follow me @toomanystoriessolittletime-fics to get notified for new fics

You walked through the FBI headquarters with, what you hoped looked like, a professional smile plastered to your lips, nodding at anyone who greeted you. Trying to appear not like you were fleeing to your office.

You could only hope nobody could see the anxiety attack that you were on the verge of having. 

The door of your office was almost in front of you when you heard your name being called behind you by a familiar voice. 

Closing your eyes you took a deep breath, before you changed your destination towards the women's bathroom. Somewhere where you wouldn’t have to tell him to leave you alone. 

“I gotta use the restroom quickly. I’ll find you after,” you turned around briefly, catching Marcus Pike’s eyes for a fleeting moment before you practically ran down towards the restroom. 

This was fine. 

It would be totally fine. 

You were fine. 

Sitting on the toilet seat in the thankfully empty bathroom you massaged your temples, taking deep breaths. You had finally stopped shaking, your chest fully and slowly expanding as your lungs filled with much needed air. 

It shouldn’t have taken you by surprise that the meeting you had just attended was about the mission your boss had approached you about earlier this week. For years you had worked on getting information on Claudio Monero, the highest ranking mob boss of the Monero Mafia clan in the States. 

It was your first big case and you were proud of the progress you made not only in your division, but in working with many different crime divisions at the bureau. 

Claudio Monero also was involved in art crimes, which was the reason you had been working closely with Agent Marcus Pike, Senior Agent of the FBI art crime division. 

He was…. Honestly made straight out of a fairytale. He was funny, he was caring, he had your breakfast order down after three days of meeting for the first time and he was so fucking handsome in an almost annoying way. You sometimes asked yourself if he was real. 

You caught female (and male) Agents secretly swooning over him more than once in the break room. And you couldn’t blame them. 

You definitely had a crush on him, which also was your problem because… you had no fucking idea how to act on it. If you would act on it that was. 

Because the… maybe sad or let's say unique/different/annoying fact was, that at the tender age of 34 you had never been on a date. Or been kissed. Or… well you get the idea. 

And up until Marcus Pike strolled into your life with his smile and dimples and warm brown eyes, you never really thought about another man (or woman) like that. Like you wanted to know what made them laugh. How they spend their lazy Sunday mornings. How they tasted. 

But ever since then it was like a switch was flipped in your brain and you had no idea what to do. 

Was this how teenagers felt in puberty? Because your parents more than once told you that they felt like you skipped that part of growing up and went straight to adulthood at the tender age of thirteen.

Only one friend knew about your… lack of experience. You had tried to tell someone else once a long time ago, only to find out they had told everyone they knew about it, making you the weird one. Ever since then you lied about it to not feel like a weirdo. God you were a mess. 

Which brought you to your current problem. 

Claudio Monero would be in Washington next week for a charity gala and the FBI had managed to get two invitations. Two agents would pose as newly married couple Colin and Riley Rogers who had made a name for themselves selling forged art.

That should have been your first hint on who would go undercover with you. 

You volunteered to go undercover when you heard about it the first time and your boss had a long talk with you, because this would be your first time going undercover. 

She only did not mention everything that would be included on the mission. 

You probably should have read the fine print when she gave you the mission report.

There you would have read that not only are the two undercover Agents freshly married and very in love, no. That married couple also was open about visiting swinger parties, something Claudio Monero was heavily involved in and known for in the community. 

Which meant that the FBI Agents also would attend one of his swinger parties in two weeks that he had planned in DC. Of course without the intention of…. Partricipating in any kind of sexual relations (the FBI could not force their Agents to have sex for the sake of getting information, though they did not explicitly forbid it).

Had you known that, you probably hadn’t volunteered like the dumb idiot you were.

That was the first time today you almost had a nervous breakdown in the fully seated meeting room as your boss presented the plan for the undercover mission. 

But then you learned that the other Agent who would go undercover with you, the man you would have to pretend to be newly wedded and very much in love with, would be Agent Marcus Pike. 

You don’t remember much of the meeting after that, only his eyes on you, his stupid pretty face giving you an encouraging smile that slowly dropped the longer he looked at you, replaced by a frown and maybe even concern the longer you had been stuck in the meeting.

You bolted out of the door as soon as the meeting was finished. 

This… was a fucking mess. 

But you could do it. Right?

You knew that your co-workers were wondering about your private life after working together for almost ten years and never bringing anyone to any kind of Christmas party or get-together you had throughout the years. 

More than once had Agent Murphy tried to ask you out, only for you to shut him down firmly last year. He spread some rumours about you being uptight and difficult after but you couldn’t care less. 

Now you wondered if Marcus had heard those rumours too.

God, Marcus. 

You’d have to get close to him. Closer than you ever had been with anyone really. Or you could… quit. Move to another country and live on a tiny Greece island and make feta cheese until you die. 

There was a knock on the door and you jumped to your feet. 

“Sorry. I’ll be right out,” you called, releasing a sigh. 

“Are you okay?” It was Marcus. Of course it was. 

You looked at the mirror over the sink before you grabbed a paper towel and cleaned your mascara off your cheeks. You didn’t even remember that you cried? Your eyes were red though, nothing you could do about it now.

“Can you let me in?” he asked, his voice now quieter. 

You kept looking at yourself in the mirror. Calming yourself down. You had to get it over with. Even though living out your life out in this public restroom had a nice ring to it, you knew you couldn’t hide here forever. And Marcus was right outside.

Deep down you knew that you couldn’t ask for a better partner to go undercover than him. And you wouldn’t even have to play being in love with him.

Oh shit did you really just admit that to yourself? 

He said your name and you walked over to the door unlocking it. He slowly opened it, looking at you with those warm brown eyes. 

You took a deep breath. 

“I need to talk to you,” you said.

“If it’s about the mission. I can request someone else if you’re not comfortable with me going with you. You worked long on this case, you should be the one seeing it through,” he said.

Your heart warmed. Anyone else would insist on being on this mission to take the credit, but not him. You shook our head. 

“That’s… That’s not it. Can we… Can we go to my office? There’s something I have to tell you,” you said quietly. 

“Of course,” he nodded, giving you a small smile. 

“Good,” you nodded too. 

“I’ll meet you there in five minutes?” he asked. 

“Okay.”

His eyes lingered on you for another moment before he turned around and walked towards the elevator, probably to his office which was on another floor. 

You, in the meantime, went to your office to google how expensive living on a greece island was. 

He brought cake. And the good coffee from the first floor. 

Of course he did. 

He sat down across from you while you took a sip from your coffee. 

Apparently living in Greece wasn’t as cheap as you thought, so you decided the best plan was to come clean to Marcus about your… lack of experience of… literally anything that had to do with love. 

Easy peasy.

Even if he would judge you for it, you trusted him to keep your secret and not be mean about it. 

“You’re quiet,” he observed. 

“I’m thinking,” you replied, reaching for the cake. Lemon sponge. Another one of your favourites. 

“About what?”

“About my reaction earlier,” you took a bite. 

“Looked to me like you didn’t read the report before,” he teased and you rolled your eyes. 

“Guilty.”

“I get it. It’s your first undercover mission and of course it’s the one where you get to pretend to be into some kinky shit with a complete stranger. It’s not perfect.”

“That’s not it. I just… Fuck. Okay,” you took a deep breath and Marcus raised his left eyebrow, eying you warily. 

“I have never been in love. Ever. I don’t know if something’s wrong with me or if I’m just… oblivious if someone along the way has been interested in me in that way but…” you shook your head, "pretending to be freshly married and in love and in some kinky shit? Yeah I should have read the fucking report before,” you laughed nervously, taking another bigger bite of your cake to shut yourself up. 

You avoided Marcus' eyes, not really wanting to see his reaction.

“If you save you have never been in love before, you mean…” you looked at him and he tilted his head. 

“Yeah. I’ve never… kissed someone. Or… had sex. Which doesn’t mean I might not be into some kinky shit but I’ve never….”

He parted his lips in surprise while you shoved more of the cake into your mouth. You focused on chewing the cake while Marcus processed the news. 

“I have to admit you caught me off guard there. But.... It actually makes some sense? I really thought…” he huffed to himself and you grew even more nervous. He shook his head to himself, a smile playing on the corner of his lips before he looked at you. 

“You really thought what?” you asked. He seemed to be in thoughts before his face fell. 

“The undercover mission…” he said and you nodded. 

“Yeah. That’s why…. I have to ask a favour. A big one and you can say no and I will go to my boss tomorrow and request that she finds someone else but. I really want to see this fucker behind bars. And I want to be the one to do it. So… I need you to kiss me. Before we go undercover. There’s no way a newly married couple isn’t kissing or touching each other. And the swinger party… We won’t have sex. But we have to be comfortable with each other so… I am asking you to kiss me. Now,” you ended your rant. 

Marcus blinked his eyes at you, his face blank. 

“You want me to… kiss you?” he asked. You nodded. 

“Now?”

You nodded again.

“Because of the mission?” he asked. You hesitated. “Because if it’s just because of that my answer is no.”

“Why?” you breathed. 

A small smile came to his face, his eyes softening as he leaned closer. 

“Because it’s your first kiss. Ever. And maybe that’s my romantic heart but your first kiss should be with someone who means something to you. Someone you want to kiss and not someone you just… rip the bandaid off with so you can go on a mission.”

You took a deep breath, your thoughts running through your head. You knew that you would have never asked him to kiss you if you hadn’t been assigned this mission with him. Because he was your co-worker. Because you didn’t know if he’d be interested. Because deep down you wanted your first kiss to be with someone who meant as much to you as you did to them and you were scared to be rejected. 

“But if… You happen to have some other reason to ask me of all people, reasons that have not to do with the mission, then I want you to know that I have been thinking about kissing you for a while now,” he said, his eyes warm. 

What he was trying to say took a couple of seconds before your lips parted in surprise. 

“Really?” you gasped. 

He nodded, a smile on his lips. 

“Do you think I know the breakfast order of every one of my co-workers? Or how they drink their coffee? Or that they are the funniest and most beautiful person I might have ever met? I thought you weren’t interested,” he said. 

“I… I don’t know what to say. I didn’t think…” you laughed nervously. 

Marcus said your name, his hand reaching over your desk to put it on top of yours. 

“Do you want me to kiss you?”

You walked with him in comfortable silence, his hand holding yours as the sun set slowly. 

After your confession he had asked you to meet him in the parking garage after you both finished for the day. You followed him with your car, as you drove through the busy streets, surprised when he parked at the Lincoln Memorial. He waited for you at the exit after you parked, taking your hand to lead you through the evening crowd at the sight. 

Every time he looked at you from his side, you finally started to understand what people meant when they said that they felt like there were butterflies in their belly. You never experienced love, but if it was only half as what happened in your brain when you were looking at Marcus Pike you might finally know what all the fuss was about. 

He walked a little away from the crowds, towards the cherry blossom trees that were in full bloom, until he stopped and came to stand in front of you. He had switched his blazer for a very soft looking dark blue coat and you wondered if it was as soft as it looked. 

“Your first kiss isn’t something that should happen in a dark office between files and outdated stock art,” he said. Marcus took a step closer, and you sucked your bottom lip in as he let go of your hand. Slowly he rested his one hand on your waist, his other hand coming up, his fingers brushing over your cheek. 

Your breathing got faster as you tipped your head up, giving him a shy smile which he mirrored. 

“You brought me to the Lincoln Memorial at sunset to kiss me?” you whispered. 

He shook his head. 

“I brought you to the Lincoln Memorial at sunset because I want to give you the perfect first kiss,” he said and you smiled. 

“Perfect huh?” you teased, feeling brave as you put one of your hands on his chest. And yeah, the coat was as soft as you had imagined. 

“I mean it is your first. So it’s not like you would know if it wasn’t,” he shrugged with a teasing smile and you playfully slapped his chest before you both laughed. 

But then he put his hand on your cheek, pulling you closer as he leaned in, a soft smile still on his lips. 

“I like to make a fuss for the people that I lo…. Like,” he corrected himself at the last minute and your heart fluttered. You put your other arm around him, resting your hand on his neck, your fingers playing with his hair. 

“In all my life I haven’t thought about kissing someone before I met you Marcus,” you said quietly and he released a shuddering breath.

“Then I’m gonna kiss you now,” he said and you nodded. 

“On the lips,” he added and you chuckled before sighed as his lips pressed down on yours. 

[stephensmithuk]

The Hound of the Baskervilles: The Man on the Tor

E. Remington and Sons, founded in 1816, was an American company known for firearms and typewriters, manufacturing the first commercial model of the latter. The typewriter part of the business was sold off in 1886 and via a series of corporate changes, the company is now part of Unisys. Not that it makes typewriters anymore.

The earliest known use of the word "sexy" comes from a letter by Arnold Bennett in 1896.

This is a period where people, especially of class, very much cared about avoiding scandal. A married woman visiting a single man late at night would be a scandal.

At this time Laura Lyons would have to prove that her estranged husband had committed both adultery and abandoned her. Proving the former would usually require a private detective of some form, beyond the means of most people.

A red letter day is one of special significance. In the UK, there are certain days where English High Court judges wear scarlet robes instead of the normal black. This would include religious festivals and the Sovereign's birthdays (official and actual), but I am unable to find an updated official list to reflect the situation with the current King.

Red Letter Days is also the name of a company that sells "experiences" like tank driving days or a cream tea at a posh hotel.

While Franklin possibly isn't aware of it as it was a common turn of phrases, the term "double event" was used in a postcard purporting to be from Jack the Ripper sent the day after that serial killer murdered two women in the space of an hour.

The Court of Queen’s Bench, now the Court of King's Bench, is the division of the High Court dealing with things like personal injury, libel and breach of contract:

Frankland clearly does not remember that you cannot sue the Sovereign. He could sue the Devon County Constabulary though, which has since become the Devon and Cornwall Police.

Tins for food were widespread at this time. They were made of iron, soldered with a tin-lead alloy, which could lead to poisoning by the latter until Max Ams developed a seam in 1888 that only required the solder on the outside.

A pannikin is a metal cup coated in enamel.

"Spartan" means austere. The city state of Sparta in ancient Greece was known, in a rather mythologicalised fashion, for its heavily militarised society, eschewing personal comfort for this. It attracted a lot of admirers as a result, including playing a big part in fascist beliefs. Their reputation for physical prowess has also seen several sports teams adopt their name, like AC Sparta Prague, who dominate the Czech association football game.

There is also of course 300...

[comicaurora]

So, you mentioned on the podcast that you were watching some classic-era Gundam.

For the season(s) you've watched, assuming you're not planning on suddenly taking the plunge and making a Universal Century Detail Diatribe, would you mind sharing your opinion so far? Universal Century can be a bit divisive, but I always enjoy seeing people's opinions on it. I have mixed feelings on some of the decisions made, myself, but in the grand scheme of things I enjoy what I've seen so far. (Especially Unicorn, but that's not really classic era.)

Also, I'd like to reccomend watching (or reading!) Gundam The Origin, since it acts as a really good, pretty, (and in the anime's case, short) prequel series to the original.

It's interesting! I've watched the compilation movies for 1 and 2 and most of 3, and I can't tell if they lost the plot after 1 or if the writers were being really, really scathing in a subtle way.

1 was incredibly blatant about how Amuro is a traumatized kid who got strongarmed into being the gundam pilot and using it to kill people, something that he clearly absolutely hates - and it's pretty overt that the Federation Force is more than willing to mulch up as many child soldiers as they want in order to win. The movies, and I assume the show they're compiled from, go out of their way to show that there are sympathetic young people on both sides of the conflict that just want to be free of this war, and there are also right bastards on both sides that are willing to be very callous with the lives of others. You can, of course, always identify who the compassionate people are by how pretty they are, and all the right bastards by how grotesque they are. It's pretty unsubtle about that being the core of the narrative, and they really twist the knife at certain points, like when Amuro's mother is horrified and ashamed at him self-defense-killing a Zeon soldier that was actively menacing her refugee camp, and Amuro concluding that she doesn't love him and he truly has no family to go back to.

By 2, things have gotten a little confusing, and I'm inclined to assume this is because the compilation movies had to make some cuts that would've made the character arcs flow a little more smoothly. Amuro decides to leave the whole war behind, which makes sense, but he takes the gundam, which doesn't. They introduce this thread that Amuro is extremely attached to the gundam and very proud of his ability to pilot it, and he has an actual breakdown when he learns that other members of the crew are now trained in its operation and can use it just fine, if not quite as skillfully as he can. It seems like there was a bit of a lurch from "Amuro has been unwillingly dragged into this nightmare and is forced to fight again and again despite his extremely obvious PTSD" to "Amuro refuses to let go of the giant robot that tethers him TO this nightmare," and while it's very interesting in the implications, it doesn't exactly flow cleanly. In fact, this is where there seems to be a bit of a shift from "war is bad" to "wow! cool robot." Amuro goes from PTSD-catatonia every time he destroys an enemy mobile suit to counting them during fight scenes, which is kind of a chilling indicator of the mechanized horror he's becoming accustomed to - assuming that was on purpose and not just a broad defanging of the story to do more Cool Robot Fights.

But the thing is, there's this subplot sometime around 2 or 3 involving a bunch of actual toddlers that have been hanging around on the ship - because it started as a refugee vessel escaping the destruction of a colony, so there's a lot of women (who are now conscripted pilots, of course, and shockingly badass for the era it came out in) and children onboard, and they've been stuck on the front lines running from Zeon with almost no ground support because the Federation likes throwing the gundam at things too much to care about a handful of six-year-olds potentially getting mulched. But throughout this little arc, the kids are finally on track to getting rehomed on Earth by the military - something that the kids are unhappy about because they've got a whole Found Family thing going, but Amuro approves of them leaving, saying "little kids shouldn't see people killing each other," which aligns very firmly with how he is a kid who hates all the killing he's stuck in.

Except then the happy ending is that the six-year-olds get to stay on the warship because they recently helped out with bomb disposal and "they've seen things you guys can't imagine, they don't want to leave!" And this is either really losing the plot or absolutely brilliant spiteful writing on the part of the creative team, because as I understand it, executive meddling was pushing them to include newer, flashier, more colorful giant robots (weapons of war and untold suffering that our teen hero has been trapped in by a mechanized war machine that has effectively enslaved him for his talents) to push toys to the exact age demographic of those chipper six-year-olds. It's almost like the teenage child soldiers are turning out to directly face the camera and saying "what's the difference between forcing us onto the front lines and letting these precocious youngsters keep flinging themselves into the crossfire? Gotta sell more gunplas, right?"

So if that was on purpose, I really liked it. If not, it's kinda hearbreaking to see the show gradually start pulling its punches in favor of turning the Oops All Babies warship into a heartwarming found family situation.

Also they started really banging the "newtypes are the plot now" drum in 3 and once everyone started getting psychic powers I kinda lost steam tbh

[detectiveagathaau]

MIWAKO SATO

(She takes the Takagi's role)

She's the police sargent and detective from Tokyo Metropolitan Police District's Criminal Investigation First Division.

She tries to be cool around the officers by imitating her lost love interest Matsuda Jinpei (however his death will play different in the AU) to honor his legacy. She doesn't really participate in any hot topic being flowing around the headquarters, only missions and cases as it's part of her job.

She's still quite competent and a nice person, being skilled in action and good at disguises, and also trusts Agatha in some occasions (similar to how Takagi trusts Conan as well).

She get adviced to get a boyfriend before she turns 30 years old, especially by her father (he's alive and her mom dead in this AU). She didn't get interested on Takagi at first, despite him being popular around the police women at headquarters, leading to police men being envy at Takagi (and only in Takagi, he can't even get a break here). However with time, they'd eventually get along with some cases and would end up being interested romantically.

She does take orders from him however, as he's the assistant inspector here.

Unlike the original counterpart, she's not really too popular by police men due to her "too cool to care" attitude and she's simply not interested in any of them.

Concept art:

[beardedmrbean]

A former Oregon Department of Corrections employee who worked as a nurse at Oregon’s only women’s prison has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for sexually assaulting nine inmates while on the job.

The man, 39-year-old Tony Daniel Klein of Clackamas County, Oregon, worked as a nurse from 2010 until January 2018 at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Oregon, when he abused his position of power and access to female inmates to engage in “nonconsensual sexual conduct with many female inmates entrusted to his care,” according to court documents per a statement released from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Oregon.

“In his position, Klein interacted with female inmates who either sought medical treatment or worked as orderlies in the prison’s medical unit, aided by his access to the women and his position of power as a corrections employee,” officials said.

Klein, who was often alone with his victims, would “manufacture reasons to get them alone in secluded areas such as medical rooms, janitor’s closets, or behind privacy curtains,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in their statement regarding the case. “Klein made it clear to his victims that he was in a position of power over them, and they would not be believed if they tried reporting his abuse. Fearing punishment if they fought back against or reported his conduct, most of Klein’s victims submitted to his unwanted advances or endured his assaults.”MORE: Girl Scout troop treasurer arrested for stealing over $12,000: Police

A federal grand jury in Portland returned an indictment on March 8, 2022, charging Klein with multiple civil rights crimes. On July 25, 2023, a federal jury in Portland found Klein “guilty of 17 counts of depriving his victims of their constitutional right not to be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment by sexual assault and four counts of perjury.”

Klein was ultimately sentenced to 360 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release for his crimes on Tuesday.

“Today’s sentence sends a clear message that using a position of authority to prey on individuals in custody will never be tolerated by the Department of Justice. Holding Tony Klein accountable for his crimes would not have been possible without the courage and resolve of the women he abused and the dedication of our partners at the FBI and Civil Rights Division,” said Natalie Wight, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division echoed Wight’s sentiments.

“The sentence in this case should send a significant message to any official working inside jails and prisons across our country, including those who provide medical care, that they will be held accountable when they sexually assault women inmates in their custody,” said Clarke. “Women detained inside jails and prisons should be able to turn to medical providers for care and not subjected to exploitation by those bent on abusing their power and position. We will listen to and investigate credible allegations put forward by people who are sexually assaulted and, where appropriate, bring federal prosecutions. The Justice Department stands ready to hold accountable those who abuse their authority by sexual assaulting people in their custody and under their care.”

The case against Klein was investigated by the FBI Portland Field Office and was prosecuted by Gavin W. Bruce, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, and Cameron A. Bell, Trial Attorney for the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section.

“We know this prison sentence cannot undo the trauma Tony Klein inflicted on numerous victims, but we hope this brings them one step closer to healing,” said Kieran L. Ramsey, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Portland Field Office. “As a state prison nurse, Klein abused his position and abused multiple women, violating the public’s trust, while doing everything he could to avoid being caught. The investigators and prosecutors should be applauded for their efforts to hold Klein accountable, but we recognize this lengthy sentence is also because of a group of brave women who came forward and helped ensure that Klein was held accountable for being a sexual predator within Coffee Creek Correctional Facility.”

[crimsonblackrose]

.

George has been divorced 3 times and when it's recommended they cater a little towards women he recommends instead of karate they put on a baking class. (He was against the blue mats)

Malcolm-Jamal Warner debacle.

Ron son's fencing team, one of the dad's is a talent agent.

Ron has a gaval.

It's kind of funny how much the all-valley annual board meeting fights. 🤣 No wonder they like karate.

Gavin is showing Aisha getting kicked on repeat to say that the boys punching and kicking girls might be problematic.

They were drinking Aha and coffee

They're introducing skills competitions aka weapon proficiency (even though it sounds like a pageant 🤣) Kata, board breaking, weapons display and separate girls division.

The kids pointing out that without Miguel and Hawk they don't feel like they've got a shot at the all-valley

I think Johnny made this via paper. Which, it's freaking huge, that had to have taken forever. I guess he spent his time after being upset by Daniel making that thing and putting it up.

I'm also surprised that despite all the random background extras that Miyagi-do and Cobra Kai always have that they stopped giving Miyagi-do the random extras and cut it down tot eh main small amount so that it's more obvious how few students they all have split up.

Johnny: Do any of you know any girls.

Students: ....

Johnny recognized that their black mold in the corner.

Also note that Hawk isn't with them even though he left with the Eagle Fangs

How does Silver know that Johnny and Daniel split?

the first time I watched this I really hoped that Lynn would stand up for Tory against her aunt here.

The fact Kandace wants her sisters disability check is messed up. Especially when Tory's already working multiple jobs. "My sister always promised to take care of me" girl, not in this case.

Kandace says Tory's father also had a quick temper. But she also is invoking her sisters death. Tory's brother's name is Brandon but Kandance forgets that. And he's 8.

Kandance when Tory says she's almost 18 threatens to fight for custody of Brandon and points out, who would win that battle a high school drop out and a criminal which Kandance also is but apparently knows how to play the game.

Oh Johnny. His abandoned warehouse, which maybe he's squatting I don't know, is between the burned down Chuck E. Cheese and pipe supply. At least he realizes when the girls run off how bad it sounds.

THE BABY OIL AND MIGUEL'S FACE. Johnny why are you carrying around a Johnson's bottle of baby oil? (I googled baby oil to try and remember what it was used for, moisturizing, but also apparently a top search result is uh...lube so now I know a little too much about Johnny)

"Where's your beach ball?" Miguel sighing and very tiredly saying: "Here's teh beach ball" while showing off his muscles.

I'm sorry Miguel that Johnny's trying to use you as a piece of meat but this is also hilarious.

I guess he or Miguel made a new website. Twiddler. 🤣🤣🤣

"We have a whole stable of hot young dudes like Miguel over here"

Poor Miguel, also Johnny this is weird. We've got babes and everything, whatever floats your boat. Really living out that pimp life that demetri compared the whole thing to.

See Moon said she'd join except she didn't want to fight and Johnny lets her go. But he should've brought Moon on board, she could've just been in the skills competition section.

Demetri knows that Eli's mom leaves teh key under the flower gnome since kindergarten.

The sound coming from Eli's computer sounds like he's playing Dungeon Lord.

"You should really think of increasing security, given, you know, the karate war."

I'd like to point out that that means Demetri has always known how to break into Hawk's home and take revenge and never has.

Demetri super self aware, also he has a butter sticker.

Hawk's not joining Eagle Fang or Miyagi-do he's quitting.

I believe this sounds like a predator joke is Netflix. He's never talked like this before. I mean at a much smaller level/minor level. And yes "I'll be awake" is something that Johnny might say but maybe I might be misremembering but I think earlier in the seasons he knew what woke meant.

I did not notice this until this rewatch but:

Those girls in the back just got boxes from Silver and Cobra Kai.

Which is a bummer because Johnny did a really good job there and I'm proud of him.

Okay, I love Sam right here. Yes she's upset about Tory and I do think some of that is earned and some of that is unearned. But this is maybe my favorite line ever to Amanda's I don't want your rivalry continuing to dominate your life:

for more than 2 seconds.

She's right. 🤣Roast him.

Amanda got arrested, she said it was a high school prank, or that's what Daniel says when she asks if she told him about it: She took a baseball bat to her math tutors car, while he math tutor was in it. She was having an affair with Amanda's dad. Daniel knew Amanda didn't get along with her dad but didn't know why. Amanda was charged with: misdemeanor reckless endangerment She didn't walk her graduation because of it.

Daniel asks why she never told him. Mr. never told her about Silver, or Kreese, or that he never told Johnny that they had his son. Probably hasn't mentioned Chozen, Kumiko or Mike Barnes either.

Demetri says joining a dojo was the best thing that ever happened to him, he got stronger, confident, got the girl of his dreams and he's excited for teh all-valley tournament.

They have their own theme song.

The space next to the mini mart is for lease. I think it was a kebab house.

For some reason I forgot that his conversation with Amanda led Daniel to try and win over Robby again.

Robby has a special handshake with the mini mart guy. I like that

The way each person shows up faded in the background, sneaking up and cornering the other. Like Daniel, you said some pretty awful stuff about Johnny too. To Robby it probably all sounds like a mess. And when you say things that sound like opinions rather than facts it kinda doesn't have the affect your guying for.

If Daniel had said: Terry silver offered to help me train for the all-valley that I didn't want to be a part of but had to be because I was being harassed by people who literally were holding me and my friend by a rope off a cliff and going to kill us only for him to teach me a few moves and go from learning basics to trying to break my hands and feet with two by fours and then I found out it'd all been a trick and the bastards hanging me from a cliff by a rope ended up being his students. I dunno Daniel I feel like people would react to that better than "This man is sick and twisted and when he's done with you you won't be you anymore." I think you just need to back that up a little, but on Cobra Kai turf was a bad idea.

Daniel doesn't care about it being ethical it's good vs evil in his book.

Silver: I only brought out what was already inside.

Daniel: You tortured me.

Silver: Please, you were a hot head. All I had to do was wind you up and get out of the way.

Johnny's Eagle Fang dojo

Piper is 20 minutes late. I can't believe Johnny's literally waiting for her.

Silver made a bunch of designer stuff for new recruits, so they got Piper.

Also Miguel's reminder is a good reminder. That Miguel wasn't a champion, Johnny trained him to become one. While everyone else is like these kids are all wimps, the point is that they can train them not to be that way which is what Johnny's done with multiple students.

I think Sam has a new car.

Aisha's new home!

I missed Aisha so much!

That's about an hour and a half maybe a little less if lucky for Sam from Encino.

Aisha's dad got a job at UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Aisha's parents were pissed but it wasn't the only reason they moved. Aisha broke a kids nose during the fight.

Aisha thinks the LaRusso's are overprotective. They made Aisha wear a helmet on the trampoline. (Random personal note, a classmate broke an arm on one of those when I was little at a party so...I get the be careful on a trampoline thing)

Sam feels like she doesn't have control in her life

Aisha started her new school and their was a girl in her homeroom wearing tons of pink like she was a that walked out of a malibu barbie beach house. Aisha knew that was going to be her next bully so she walked up to her and introduced herself, lied and complimented her shoes, said she was new and asked to be introduced around. And now they're besties. Aisha attacked her problem head on, struck first. Just like Johnny taught her.

Somewhere Johnny is so fucking proud of her.

Johnny constantly sneaking in 🤣 I also think it's interesting that Miguel lied about being in debate but is sitting her watching the debate with Bert.

Miguel: Think outside of the box Johnny: Okay wigs and dresses. Miguel: NOT LIKE THAT

Johnny's new movie name drop: Ladybugs

Johnny's plan is for Mitch to dress up like a girl for the competition.

I'm thinking a lot of things, I don't know where to start I think is Miguel's whole mood since season 1

Hi there DEVON

The way Johnny leans in

Devon has their attention.

This was the girl Bert was going to recommend. Which, sometimes Johnny, listen to Bert, the kids smart.

Daniel setting up a mixboard to play crowd cheering with large speakers. 🤣

Hawk becoming an miyagi-do I think only happened because of Demetri.

Sam taking Aisha's I used Johnny's lessons to make my bully my friend and now we're besties to mean Allow Tory to come back to school and threaten her and make sure she knows that she's on thin ice.

[caffeineandsociety]

The past few days on tumblr have been a fascinating albeit EXTREMELY frustrating case study in how bigotry spreads among people who think they're resistant to it.

Mattie-boy, shortly before....all of this, went on a whole screed about how he doesn't SEE race and he's so similar to MLK and anyway labels like race and gender and sexuality are just so divisive and uwu can't we all just be friends? He is not actively hateful on a group level, we will not see him go on a rampage about how trans women are ruining his precious website because by all evidence that's not what he CONSCIOUSLY believes, that's not what he BELIEVES he believes; he's just a giant egomaniac who thinks he has nothing left to learn about the world and the people in it.

But three things are very obviously true about him:

He experiences a lot of subconscious bias,

He doesn't care to take the time to learn basic sensitivity (again, he thinks he's already got that down), and

He is blissfully unaware that overmonitoring one group while letting others slide for the same infractions - if not making false accusations outright and letting the authorities come up with a post-hoc justification to explain why someone freaked out (because it WOULDN'T be for NO reason, right?) - is a form of both top-down and grassroots bigotry VERY popular on the internet, despite us telling him multiple fucking times over the course of 5 years.

I'm sure that Matt believes he would act the same way toward ANYONE who bruised his ego so severely. I'm sure he's wrong about that; I'm sure the intensity might be similar but the specifics would be very different given the number of blatantly transphobic and specifically transmisogynistic tropes he's invoked-

But more importantly, we're overlooking a core part of the problem that is much bigger than Matt and his ego: not many groups would ever get the CHANCE to bruise his ego so severely.

He prides himself on being a good and fair and just person who believes in equality...in the most center-right liberal chickenshit way. The exploitability of his moderation system - the automated nature of a good chunk of it, and the way the human staff is so overworked that they make constant obvious mistakes and often act as barely more than an extension of the machine, such that anyone with an axe to grind and a willingness to mass-report (you know, usually racists and terfs...who are largely the same people) effectively becomes a member of the FUNCTIONAL community standards team - shows in no uncertain terms that he is failing to live up to that ideal.

And he can't fucking STAND having that called out. He HAS to prove its not true...by constantly changing his justification for banning a trans woman who made too much of a stink about it, justifying taking down her SFW photos with claims that she totally DID post explicit ones elsewhere, then abandoning that justification to say she threatened him, then abandoning that justification to say she HARASSED him (AND, as an afterthought, other users), and THEN stalking her to another fucking website to double down on the already disproven explicit content allegation.

Again. This is a center-right milquetoast liberal loser. This is someone who believes that he treats everyone equally and doesn't see labels. Not only is this obviously not true, he is ignoring the role of systems of abuse in determining who pops up on his radar as a threat to that spun glass ego of his. Absolutely none of this would have happened had he been willing to take criticism and make even the SLIGHTEST effort with the SLIGHTEST bit of transparency to make the moderation system less exploitable, but because he hasn't - and, as he just admitted, hadn't even considered it until now - it was near inevitable that the person who would end up bringing it to his attention so loudly as to wound his ego this severely would be a victim of the system; i.e., probably a trans and/or Black woman - and sure enough, as it ended up, it was a trans woman...surprising absolutely no one but Matt himself.

And, frankly, we are doing a disservice by ignoring that aspect as well, especially since now there's yet another bullshit pedo callout circulating about yet another trans woman and the overlap between people who have been calling this bullshit for what it is and people who have been reblogging that callout uncritically is...significant.

The problem, in this case, is that entirely too many people here have not unlearned the stranger danger mindset. Of course, we believe, trans women are not especially likely to be 🚨 SEXUAL PREDATORS 🚨...but as a community we still do believe in the idea that the INTERNET as a whole has a massive problem with unchecked 🚨 SEXUAL PREDATORS 🚨 and callouts of them work. We talk about how the stereotype of trans women as predators is a problem - but every single time a callout comes along, as a community, we often think it's one individual exception; most trans women aren't child molesters...but THIS ONE totally is!

In reality, let's look at where CSA is common: in the nuclear family, and under other systems of authority that are held up as beyond questioning. The most likely child abusers are older immediate family members, religious authorities, cops, teachers, sports coaches, doctors and nurses - people who, for one reason or another, have power over the victim that manifests as a sense of ownership, be it permanent or temporary. Randomly acting opportunists are rare.

Many of us know this, some of us don't, but even among the people who do know, we also know that "rare" doesn't mean "nonexistent"...

So as a community, every time someone swears they've found that rare exception, people believe it. The fact that it's a trans woman about 80% of the time, another trans person about 19% of the time, a POC a good chunk of the time including most of the 1% of the time it's a cis person - as a community we don't even tend to consciously notice, because every time is yet another "rare isolated incident".

There's too much acceptance of the premise that the internet is just FULL of PEDOPHILES like all the stranger danger PSAs of the 2000s claimed, and too much trust that no one in THIS community would make such a callout in bad faith, or at least that a bad faith one would contain NO evidence but "dude trust me", so even the flimsiest "evidence" is accepted without question - and that's not even getting into how the kink community and the queer community intertwine, and yet a kink more taboo than light bondage is often seen EVEN among younger queer people as proof of predatory tendencies.

You see what happens? Even if you have fully managed to reject the idea, on a personal level, that trans women (or other trans people, or POC, or mentally ill people, or whatever other group painted with this brush, for that matter) are disproportionately likely to be A Predator, if you uncritically believe whatever callout crosses your dash, you will still disproportionately hurt marginalized people, because most if not all of them are going to be bullshit and you're not going to be given nearly as many targets who are NOT part of those groups - just like how Matt may indeed have had this nuclear meltdown on anyone who bruised his ego this badly, but the odds of him being pushed to that breaking point by anyone BUT a trans woman, or a member of at least one of a handful of other marginalized groups, were extremely slim.

And thus, bigotry finds a way to perpetuate itself even in communities and individuals who staunchly believe themselves to have rejected it.

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Loki Ships

All right, I think it’s time to jump into the inevitable, since ships can make or break whether or not some people care what I have to say, and I get it. I considered including them in my pinned post, but that was already way too long. 

I ship Loki with a lot of people. The first time I heard the term fandom bicycle, a friend was using it to refer to Loki, and I took it to heart (and probably also a challenge). As I said in my pinned post, though, I mostly ship Loki with guys, since his canon women love interests are often kind of shitty to him. This doesn’t deter me from the potential of shipping him with women (I acknowledge and celebrate that he’s bi/pan, after all) but the women that he’s around tend to be assholes to him, so the men kind of have to pick up the slack. (Is the assholery deserved? Yeah, sometimes. But I also like the idea of people being soft with him. And I think he deserves that sometimes, too.)

So I’m going to explain a little bit about the ship in general, why I ship it personally, and the canon likelihood of it, whether or not it’s likely to become canon in comics or the MCU or both or neither. Also spoilers for Where Mischief Lies, The Defenders (1983), The Defenders (2021), and Defenders: Beyond.

 Thorki: Might as well start with my most divisive ship, though if you read my Loki playlist post, you’ll already know I ship this. I believe this is the first person I came to ship with Loki. This is obviously Thor and Loki, and I get it. I do. I am not here to defend my questionable taste at all. I am not here to make the flimsy arguments people sometimes make for this ship, like that he’s adopted so “they aren’t really siblings, so it’s not really incest.” I think that’s damn rude to people who are adopted and have adoptive siblings. Frankly, these are fictional characters who are fictionally siblings and I know the difference between fiction and reality. Am I supportive of IRL incest? Not particularly, no. But Loki and Thor are not real (and thank God for that; Loki would annoy the hell out of me). So I’m not here to defend it. I just think that they have a lot of chemistry, and a lot of romantic and sexual tension. Especially in Thor: Ragnarok. Like towards the end, they have this whole conversation about how Loki belongs on Sakaar, how he can flourish there and rule over Sakaar and it would be the ideal place for him. And both of them (at least verbally) agree that this is the case. And then Thor leaves him basically seizing from electric shock on the floor of a hangar. And then the next time we see Loki, he has come back to Asgard anyway, to help Thor save the people. And if that’s not love (familial, romantic, whatever), I don’t know what is. 

          Canon Likelihood…….Unlikely.

          Not even possible, it’s never going to happen. In the comics, not a chance. In the MCU, not a chance. Marvel’s never going to make incest happen, especially not with Disney as their parent company. And frankly, I don’t want them to. I don’t trust them to do this right or be sensitive about it. They will never not be able to spin it as some shocking joke no matter how serious they pretend to be about it, if they ever were to do it. And with the level of backlash that would happen because of it, it wouldn’t be worth it. So I’m just content to read and write fanfic and look at fanart. I don’t need it to be canon and it’s never going to be canon and that’s okay. Sometimes that’s okay.

Theoki: Theo Bell (from Loki: Where Mischief Lies) and Loki. Theo Bell (as I’ve said previously) is gay, very snarky and is a good match personality-wise for Loki in the novel, he walks with a cane as a result of becoming disabled due to a homophobic attack, and he works essentially for Odin on Midgard (but Odin really only calls on him and his coworkers when he really needs something, like when he needs something for his younger son to do when he exiles him to Earth). This is speed-run Enemies-to-Lovers. They don’t like each other at first, mostly because Loki does not want to be there. And Theo’s basically like ‘You don’t want to be here, got it. You’re here, though, so let’s deal with this.’ And then pretty quickly Loki’s like, ‘Oh shit. He’s hot…Oh shit. He’s smart… Oh shit. Do I like him?….Oh shit. His freckles are like stars.’ (He thinks the last sentence almost exactly, it’s wild.) So I think it’s very cute and I don’t think they got enough time together. 

          Canon likelihood…….Depends on your definition of canon.

          Did they kiss? Spoiler alert: Yes. Are they together? Well, uh, about that… So this book is supposed to serve as a prequel to the events in the MCU. Do you see Theo anywhere in the MCU? There’s your answer. (Which sounds like I’m implying something different, so you should still read this book, because you don’t know what’s going to happen.) So at this point, at this time, is it likely that this relationship is going to come back and be 100% canon? No. Not likely. But in my opinion, how I define canon, has this ship been canonized? I generally define canon as requited affection that’s acted upon, so Yes, this was a canon ship to me. (Still hoping my unlikely Loki theories are true, though, so this ship can come back and be present tense canon.) I wish this could be an established relationship right now, but given the circumstances of the events of the story and the purpose the story is supposed to serve in the MCU, it’s not possible.

Lokius: Loki and Mobius, from the tv series. I was resistant to this for a little while. Mostly I was finding Owen Wilson in the MCU in general and interacting with Loki hard to believe. It was weird to me and I could not unsee Owen Wilson for a chunk of the show, and that’s partially what was preventing me from shipping it. But the tie fixing scene, while it wasn’t what got me to ship it, it did make me go Oh, fuck. This is going to end with me shipping this. And then I continued to resist it for a few episodes, and then it hit me, and now I’ve been bitten by the Lokius bug. I don’t remember precisely what was the turning point for me, but it was late. I think it was probably “You could be whoever, whatever you want to be. Even someone good.” I think they’re perfect together. I think it’s an interesting dynamic, because Mobius knows him so well. But at the beginning, he knows Loki from this clinical standpoint. He knows how Loki’s story is supposed to go and his personality, from studying versions of him, but he doesn’t know him. And then spending the show getting to know Loki himself. I think they neglected somewhat to show this on a nuanced level in the show itself, but the working relationship and budding friendship between Loki and Mobius is what ultimately gets Mobius to realize that the TVA is kind of crap and needs to be shut down because the TVA doesn’t know everything. Because he gets to know Loki as a person, that he’s not just a story or the predetermined events that have been laid out in the timeline by some higher power, just because that’s how Kang has decided that’s how he wants Loki’s life to go (or something to that effect). I think there’s something inherently interesting about taking how you understand someone from a general, macro level and thinking you know everything about that person, and then getting to know someone on a more personal and intimate basis. At the risk of perpetuating a sort of racist rewrite of historical events, it’s kind of reminiscent of Disney’s Pocahontas in a way. Where you have these assumptions about a person or group of people based on what you’ve been told by your superiors, but by getting to know a particular individual in that group, you change your preconceived notions about that person. And then taking it a step further into a romantic level. 

          Canon likelihood…….Likely

          I think they fucked up in season one. And I think they know they fucked up. I’m sorry if people ship the other thing (I’m trying not to type the ship name so it doesn’t come up in searches and people think I tagged my hate.), this is not the place for you. I think they fucked up where they were like “Look, we’re so progressive! Here’s two bisexual characters.” And then they were like “No homo. Here’s some selfcest instead.” And obviously Loki can have a girlfriend and I’d be fine with that, but making that woman love interest a variant, essentially just an alternate version of him? That feels like they only let Loki say “A bit of both,” so they could pat themselves on the back. They didn’t want to act on that. But the only woman who makes any sense to pair him with, with whom he has the most interaction with in the series…is himself. But they went with that anyway. 

So the level of likelihood is either one, they realized they fucked up and now they’re going to fix it. Or two, (and I don’t think they have enough foresight for this) they knew they fucked up before they even aired it, and are like “This is the journey that Loki is on. He will eventually break away from himself, and fall in love with somebody who is not himself.” Or three, not understand what bisexuality is and be like “We need equal! He kissed a girl and now he’s gotta kiss a guy!” [Which implies there are only two genders, but they don’t even know what genderfluidity is, so I’m not confident they have any understanding of the diversity of gender identity either.] So I think it’s likely (especially the last option, unfortunately, given their track record with representation). I’m not sure they’re going to do it well, but I think it’s possible. I think they’ve set it up well for this to be canon. I think there’s some romcom story beats that are already present in season one, despite their decision to go with a different ship. It’s just a matter of how much they’re willing to break out of this mold of heteronormativity.

Frostiron: Tony Stark and Loki. I like this because I am partial to Enemies to Lovers tropes. I think the fandom has done a really good job of taking like two minutes of onscreen interaction and making an entire ship out of it. I think they have a lot of things in common, which can help them bond. They both have daddy issues, they’re both kind of spoiled, and a little self-centered, which can cause some conflict that will eventually be resolved. And they both have quite a bit of trauma that’s ultimately caused by the same big purple asshole, so that can also bring them closer together. I have a lot of feelings about them, which has caused me to write a six-part series about them and their relationship and how they can relate to each other. (I’ve attempted a few times to write a seventh part, so we’ll see if that ever sees the light of day, but they have certainly not relinquished their hold on me.)

          Canon Likelihood…….Not likely.

          Absolutely not likely, not a chance. Comics, no. MCU, no. In the MCU they had like a two-minute interaction and that was it. It was cute, they were snarking at each other, Tony offered him a drink, but that was about it. In the comics, they have a little bit more interactions but it’s still very limited. The most I know about their interactions in the comics that are not antagonistic comes from (I believe) The God Who Fell to Earth, and there’s still not a whole lot. There is some explicit dialogue of Tony respecting Loki’s pronouns, so that’s chill. Tony knows that Loki’s genderfluid, so I like that. But again, that’s about it. Ultimately, the places were Tony and Loki have the most interaction are in Avengers Academy, the mobile game, and I don’t believe there are romance options for anybody in that game (I didn’t play that game for very long, so I don’t remember much; there was too much multitasking and it was stressing me out). And in the animated tv show Avengers Assemble, and even there it was only like an episode or two. (And in later seasons, Tony isn’t even in much of the show, let alone Loki.) So I don’t think it’s likely we’ll ever see a canon frostiron, unless we get like an episode (or issue) of What If that’s like, “What If…Tony Stark was gay” or something, but that’s both unlikely and I can think of several characters more likely to be Tony’s What If boyfriend before Loki. 

Cloudki: This is a ship name I made up on the spot, because no one else knows who this character is. (And that hurts me, deeply.) Cloud has a fraught history in the comics, and ultimately, it’s not much of a history at all, they’re in maybe three stories since their debut in 1983. Cloud is basically the personification of a cloud nebula (hence why they’re called Cloud), and they’re genderfluid! Primarily because, when they made their debut in the eighties, they crash landed to earth and then their essence combined with the dying souls of this straight couple whose car they crashed into. And the essence of the star lost their memory and decided to take on the couple’s likeness and sort of absorb their souls so they could survive on earth. And the comic, while weirdly progressive for the time, was still published in the eighties. So you have to get past the Comics Code Authority or whatever it’s called (which is basically censoring anything it considers remotely queer), and also it’s the eighties and the author was cis and (I’m pretty sure) straight. And I’ve read articles that said he had a friend who was a transwoman, so he was able to get some help maybe (if he asked her). But at the same time, if she’s a transwoman she’s not genderfluid, so it’s not exactly the same thing. So while it’s done surprisingly more sensitively than expected, there is still a lot of transphobia directed at this sweet summer child. And they don’t know any better so they kind of adjust to this shit, so it’s rough. 

         So that’s Cloud’s debut. It sucks, and we don’t talk about it. But Cloud comes back a few decades later in The Defenders (this is a new run; they also debuted in The Defenders). When last we left them, Cloud had figured out they were a nebula, and people were being kinda shitty to them on earth, so they were like Fuck this, I’m supposed to be a star, good-bye. And so for the last few decades they’ve been in space as their true self. So they get summoned by Dr. Strange to help the Defenders solve a mystery through the cosmos. (Cosmos as in I don’t get this part. So in the comics, the cosmos are like eras of existence in the universe. I think most events take place in like the twelfth or thirteenth cosmos. The Defenders travel backwards through the cosmos through this story.) In the middle of one of the battles, they’re like “Hey, by the way, I would like to go by they/them pronouns.” (Because up until this point they’ve been going by she/her pronouns.) And everyone else is like “Yeah, sure.” And then no one messes up for the rest of the book. Because Al Ewing is the best. And then like halfway through the book, they get to one of the cosmos where the emphasis is like beauty and imagination and color or something. And Cloud is like “I’m going to stay here. This is a good place for me.” And they transform their body into one that they choose, one that is no longer resembling the guy or the girl whose souls they absorbed. And Cloud’s living their best life in this cosmos. And that’s the last we see of Cloud in this book. (And I almost stopped reading the book at this point, because I read Defenders: Beyond first because Loki’s in it, met Cloud, and then read The Defenders, which comes first, just for Cloud because Loki isn’t in this one.) 

        Then in Defenders: Beyond, Dr. Strange has to call the Defenders together again. But he only calls a few of the original Defenders and the rest are new people. And one of the people he calls is Loki. And this is right where Loki: Agent of Asgard ended. (And thank God for that, because whoever took over for Loki between AoA and DB fucked him up. I don’t know who that was or what that run was or if it was just Thor, because I never read it, but I’m upset by that author and the new Loki that trashed all of his character development. Because Al Ewing did some great things. Okay moving on.) Frankly, I don’t know what the fuck is going on in this book. We’re still traveling through the cosmos, but I’m very confused. I only read this for Loki and then I met Cloud and read Defenders. So they’re going through the cosmos and they get rescued (Loki especially) by the members of the imagination cosmos, and one of the members of the imagination cosmos is still Cloud. This is similar to MCU Frostiron, because Cloud and Loki have a very important conversation towards the end, but that’s about the extent of their interaction.

        My reason for shipping these two (since this post is long as fuck, as usual), because I know nothing about Cloud and Cloud is known by nobody but I would die for Cloud I love them so much, is that they’re both genderfluid. And I think gf4gf is a great pairing honestly (I’m not super interested in a relationship myself anymore, but I think the only partner I’d want at this point would also be genderfluid, so I’m projecting a tad). And I think they would be great for each other and I love it. I think Cloud could really help the present Loki come back to himself and deal with these memories that AoA Loki wiped from him so that he could be this stupid Loki that doesn’t have any of the character development, that at the eleventh hour of this book (I think) regained all his memories and now has to deal with it all and defend the cosmos. And also, where the hell is Verity? Ya know? Like, does he remember Verity? How much did he forget? So I think Cloud would be a good help to rehabilitate him and then they fall in love.

        Canon likelihood…….Not completely unlikely, things have to happen.

        I’m not gonna straight up say unlikely, because things happen in comics all the time. And comics go back and fold in on themselves and change things all the time. So I’m gonna say probably not likely, but maybe. Here are the things that are gonna have to happen in order for this to take place: One, Cloud needs to come back. I think the last time they showed up was in Defenders: Beyond, and that came out last year. Preferably, Al Ewing needs to write Cloud, because Al Ewing is the best and I love him. Two, Loki from Agent of Asgard needs to come back. Loki as it is needs to regain his memories and become the perfect version of himself again. Preferably written by Al Ewing, because Al Ewing is the best and I love him. Three, Cloud and Loki need to be in the same comic at some point. They’re two completely different characters, drawn together by the ties of fate and tarot cards that, for some reason, Dr. Strange has. And also the cosmos (because he didn’t draw Cloud’s tarot in Defenders: Beyond). Therefore, it’s difficult to get them back together, because Cloud isn’t even in this cosmos right now, let alone on the planet, and Loki doesn’t even remember meeting them. Four, Cloud has to have some romantic capabilities. I don’t know what their romantic capabilities are. In their original run, they tried to fall in love with Moondragon, and then also with some other guy (I don’t remember his name). That dude was transphobic as fuck. Moondragon, the second she found out Cloud was genderfluid, became transphobic as fuck, because it was the eighties, and neither of these characters were gay yet. So did that turn Cloud off to romance forever? That was also before Cloud realized they were a cloud nebula; did Cloud realizing that they are technically supposed to be an insentient celestial being turn Cloud off to romance forever? I don’t know. Five, even if Cloud has some capacity of romantic inclination, Cloud and Loki have to be attracted to each other. They have the tiniest of interactions ever, so who’s to say? Certainly not me, except in my fanfictions, which I haven’t written yet, because I don’t know enough about Cloud. So possibly, but unlikely. And that makes me sad. 

This is the only ship, besides Lokius, where if it doesn’t become canon, I’m going to be a Victorian heroine wasting away on my fainting couch, because I’m very disappointed. 

[coochiequeens]

“Performing sterilization without the informed consent of the person concerned is considered to be a violation of their rights,” the ministry said.

By Sarah Hurtes Sarah Hurtes reported from across Europe, including spending more than a month in Iceland.

Nov. 25, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

Anita cannot speak or comprehend complex information. At 28, she communicates mostly with facial expressions and baby-like sounds. When excited, she washes her hands. When her periods cause cramping and pain, she moans and agitates, unable to understand.

To eliminate this monthly discomfort and ease the burden of caring for her, caregivers at an assisted-living home in Reykjavik, Iceland, proposed an unusually aggressive step. The home’s manager recommended that Anita undergo a hysterectomy, a major surgical procedure to remove her uterus and end her periods.

Eirikur Smith, an official in Iceland’s disabilities office, discovered this plan last year during a routine visit to the home.

“Does she even know if she wants children later?” he recalls asking.

The manager, he said, was stunned. “She just laughed in my face.”

“‘Of course not,’” he said she replied. “‘Why would she ever want children?’”

Forced sterilization, with its history of racism and eugenics, is banned under multiple international treaties. Thirty-seven European nations and the European Union have ratified the Istanbul Convention, which declares, without exception, that nonconsensual sterilization is a human rights violation.

But a New York Times investigation found over a third of those countries have made exceptions, often for people that the government deems too disabled to consent. Some countries have banned the practice but not actually criminalized it. And records show that the Istanbul treaty’s official watchdog has repeatedly criticized governments for not doing enough to protect disabled people. (The United States has signed but not ratified a separate treaty on the issue and sterilization laws vary by state).

The result is that people with intellectual disabilities — mostly women — are still being sterilized, even when it is not medically necessary.

Doctors and experts believe that the practice is rare, but record-keeping is inconsistent and data is often unreliable. Iceland’s government, for one, does not keep a tally.

“So many times, you hear it’s in the best interest of the woman,” said Catalina Devandas Aguilar, a former United Nations special rapporteur for disability rights. “But often, it’s because it’s more convenient for the family or the institution that takes care of them.”

That pattern has complicated things for lawmakers and doctors. While in generations past, governments around the world sterilized disabled people as a matter of policy, today it is parents and caretakers who seek out the surgery — saying they have the women’s best interests at heart.

In Iceland this March, for example, Hermina Hreidarsdottir authorized a hysterectomy for her severely cognitively impaired 20-year-old daughter, whose periods sometimes lasted six weeks.

“I know it’s taboo, but we didn’t do it to make her infertile,” Ms. Hreidarsdottir said. “We wanted to make her feel better.”

Since 2019, Iceland has banned nonconsensual sterilization except in cases of medical necessity. But the law covers only tubal ligation, the surgical blocking of the fallopian tubes. Hysterectomies are considered medical treatment and excluded from the ban.

Neither the treaties nor most national laws address how seriously disabled women like Anita or Ms. Hreidarsdottir’s daughter could ever consent to such a surgery. United Nations standards say that caregivers should try alternative ways to communicate with severely disabled people, but experts agree that happens sporadically at best.

In France, the law allows the sterilization of people with severe mental disabilities under certain circumstances.

“When we say ‘sterilization of the disabled,’ we might sound like Nazis, but this completely ignores the diversity of disabilities, the gravity of certain disabilities, and the distress of parents,” said Ghada Hatem-Gantzer, a Paris gynecologist who sits on a regional committee that approves roughly three sterilizations annually.

Even when the law is strict, sterilization sometimes continues.

In Belgium, it is generally illegal to sterilize someone without their express consent. But one therapist, Anne Dasnoy-Sumell, said she was counseling two women with moderate intellectual disabilities who had been sterilized at their parents’ insistence recently without understanding what was happening. And Yannick Manigart, the chief obstetrician at Saint-Pierre University Hospital, said that he and his colleagues would still perform the surgery if parents request it and doctors, after consulting with hospital psychologists, deem it in a woman’s best interest.

In Iceland, Mr. Smith, whose sister has Down syndrome, was particularly frustrated with Anita’s case. Notes by his colleagues show that caregivers had not tried a hormonal intrauterine device, or IUD, which can shorten periods.

“They proposed hysterectomy without consent or conversation,” one of Mr. Smith’s colleagues wrote. A Times reporter visited Anita’s home several times, observed her and reviewed records related to her case, which refer only to her first name.

After Mr. Smith intervened, the home’s manager stopped pursuing the surgery.

Iceland, like its Nordic neighbors, has a dark history in this area. In 1938, the country began a policy of sterilization and abortion for people its law called “feebleminded.” Such policies have long since been abandoned and Iceland is now a leading voice on human rights issues. The country’s Ministry of Health said it had tightened its sterilization laws over the years with the treaties in mind, and would continue to do so.

“Performing sterilization without the informed consent of the person concerned is considered to be a violation of their rights,” the ministry said.

Still, Mr. Smith said he had seen other cases like Anita’s recently. The hardest to spot, he said, involved parents and doctors who pressured disabled women to consent. “Not necessarily for eugenic purposes,” he said, “but still definitely to control and affect their sexual and reproductive health.”

For him, this issue is simple. A woman does not lose her human rights because she is disabled or has long periods.

But he acknowledges that he is hardly unbiased. His sister, Kristin, was sterilized at their mother’s insistence.

“She gave her written consent,” Mr. Smith said. “But she was misled.”

‘What If I Want to Have Children?’

Kristin Smith always knew she was into boys.

As a teenager in the 1990s, she sang along with the Spice Girls and fangirled over the Irish boy band Westlife. She watched “The Bold and the Beautiful” and dreamed of marrying.

She was part of a new generation. Women just a few years older recall comparing abdominal scars with classmates in special schools. Ms. Smith was among Iceland’s first students with Down syndrome to graduate from a mainstream high school — the same one as her older brother.

But she remembers feeling under near-constant surveillance by her mother. Ms. Smith’s mother declined to be interviewed.

At age 20, Ms. Smith said, her mother arranged for her to receive a tubal ligation. “I told my mom, ‘What if I want to have children later?’” Ms. Smith recalled. “But she said no. It would be too difficult.”

It is rare for people with Down syndrome to become parents, and their children have an increased chance of having the condition themselves.

Any talk of children, though, was theoretical. Ms. Smith had never even had a boyfriend. She consented to the surgery.

Ms. Smith remembers her mother taking her to the hospital. The doctor explained that she would be unable to have children. Then came medicine to make her sleepy.

Her mother assured her that this was for the best. And sometimes, even now, Ms. Smith agrees. “It’s a good thing,” she said. “I feel fine about it.”

‘This Is What Is So Horrible’

Mr. Smith joined Iceland’s Disability Rights Protection Office in 2016. Though Iceland had signed a pair of treaties that banned nonconsensual sterilization, neither had been ratified and the law still allowed it for the mentally ill.

Iceland’s health ministry even ran a committee that approved requests from parents, which has not previously been reported. The ministry says it kept no records on how many sterilizations occurred this way. But a spokesman for Landspitali, Iceland’s largest hospital, said that between 2013 and 2017, the committee approved the sterilization of six teenage girls.

“This is what is so horrible: I never met any of the children who would be sterilized. Never,” said Anna Sigrun, a former hospital social worker who said she was ashamed to have recommended cases to the committee.

The committee disbanded in 2019 after Iceland banned nonconsensual tubal ligations. But sterilization cases continued to pop up in Mr. Smith’s office.

Less than a year after the ban was passed, his unit intervened on behalf of an 18-year-old girl with severe cognitive impairment. Her foster mother, with the support of government social workers, sought a hysterectomy to manage her periods. Mr. Smith said the surgery was simply a way to ease the burden of care.

“They reasoned that she would be easier to handle afterward,” he said. The surgery did not go forward.

‘The Best Medical Treatment’

Hermina Hreidarsdottir’s fourth child, a girl, was born with six fingers on her right hand and a pointy, almost elfish left ear. One eye was a lighter shade of blue than the other, but she otherwise seemed healthy.

After a few months, though, Ms. Hreidarsdottir (pronounced RAY-thars-DOH-tair) realized that her daughter had trouble seeing. Doctors said she might be blind in one eye.

“I knew something was not normal,” she said. She welcomed a reporter into her home to meet her daughter, but asked that she not be named.

Finally, at about 8 months old, the girl was diagnosed with two rare genetic disorders. For the rest of her life, doctors said, she would see in only two dimensions and would probably struggle to speak and understand.

With no special-education programs nearby, Ms. Hreidarsdottir placed her daughter in a mainstream school. She dreaded her daughter’s first period. “I knew she wouldn't handle it well,” Ms. Hreidarsdottir said.

At 11, her daughter started menstruating, sometimes for weeks. Confused, she would sometimes remove her pad, then bleed in class, her mother said. Her doctor says she has the mental capacity of a 4-year-old.

Ms. Hreidarsdottir said she tried hormonal injections, but struggled to give her daughter a shot every three months. An IUD failed to shorten the periods.

Dr. Alexander Smarason, the young woman’s longtime doctor, concluded that because she could neither understand nor manage her periods, a hysterectomy would be in her best interest.

“That’s just giving her the best medical treatment possible for her quality of life,” he said. “We cannot deny her that right.”

Ms. Hreidarsdottir said she also knew that disabled women face increased risks of sexual assault, and she feared an unwanted pregnancy. At 56, she could not care for another child and knew her daughter would never be able to.

Decisions like these, involving people who almost certainly cannot give express consent, hang over the sterilization debate. Katrin Langensiepen, a German politician and one of the few visibly disabled members of the European Parliament, is pushing for a strict Europewide ban on nonconsensual sterilization. Many of history’s notorious eugenics practices, she said, were justified as being in a disabled person’s best interest.

But she acknowledged that some parents saw things differently. “They have the deep, strong belief: I need to protect my children,” she said.

At 20, Ms. Hreidarsdottir’s daughter has soft eyes and a knack for puzzles. She loves audiobooks. In March, her mother explained that she would go to sleep and have an operation to feel better.

“I don’t think she understood,” Ms. Hreidarsdottir said. “But we always try to explain things.”

True Love

Even after her surgery, Ms. Smith kept dreaming of romance. She considered trying dating apps, but in every potential profile picture of herself, all she saw was someone with Down syndrome.

Every summer, she attended a camp for adults with disabilities. During those Icelandic nights, under vast skies that never went dark, she hiked, sang karaoke and mingled outside her mother’s gaze. “I felt free,” she said.

There, during the summer of 2020, she met Sigurdur Haukur Vilhjalmsson, who also has Down syndrome. They both liked pop songs and soccer. He was charming and had a silly streak, a contrast to her more serious personality. He made her laugh.

At age 38, she had found love.

The following Christmas, on the beach in Tenerife, Spain, Mr. Vilhjalmsson knelt in the sand and proposed.

They now live together in Husavik, a town on Iceland’s northern coast. They share a cozy one-bedroom apartment in a building for people with disabilities. Their baby pictures hang in the living room.

Some residents need lots of help. Ms. Smith and Mr. Vilhjalmsson are the building’s most independent tenants and its only couple. She washes dishes in a restaurant. He works in a hospital kitchen.

They enjoy road trips, cooking and music. Mr. Vilhjalmsson plays the drums. Ms. Smith serenades him with “Husavik (My Hometown),” a song from the Will Ferrell movie “Eurovision Song Contest.”

They’re picking a wedding date. On Sundays, they walk hand in hand around the port. They talk about their future.

Mr. Vilhjalmsson wants children. Ms. Smith has spent years saying that she never did, that her mother’s decision was for the best. Now the conversation is less abstract.

Does she want to be a mother?

“I wanted to,” she said.

Her eyes welled. She paused, composing herself.

“I still want to.”

[theshortolivia]

Ok I finally got around to watching all of buddy daddies and I have Thoughts.

First off literally months ago I had a fan fiction idea in which rei’s father called him home, told him he knew about kazuki and Miri and had had them assassinated so rei would have no more connections (this was before I’d watched that Misaki was even in the picture) so?? I’m psychic maybe? That fic idea also included a 10ish year time skip so Literally

As a psych student I couldn’t help but read way too far into everyone’s actions. I know some people have said Rei is autistic coded and while I def do see that I also see similarities to isolated children cases (to a lesser extent of course he wasn’t isolated more deprived) which ends up with a lot symptoms we also see in ASD like the difficulty in reading social cues. in general reading way into Rei’s actions and words and relating it to his upbringing was super fun.

Super interesting that Rei, while clearly being emotional stunted and not the best with social cues, is super good at reading people, at least Kazuki and Miri

The CHARACTER GROWTH they clearly still have so much more to go but moving past unhealthy coping mechanisms? Processing grief healthily? Learning life skills? Learning to parent? Amazing

This anime shone light on so many real issues in modern day Japan (that are dealt with all over the world to different extents) that I’m just beginning to learn about now since I’ve been doing research since I want to go and maybe live there at some point. Namely same sex couples being still stigmatized by not a small amount of the population (we see the variety in acceptance with the first daycare woman and miss Anna) Also with gender labor division at home, Kazuki feeling taken advantage of and exhausted trying to balance home care and work and being frustrated Rei is not contributing equally in those aspects is something a lot of women deal w in Japan since the role of house and child care and cooking is still seen as the wife/mother’s responsibility while the man is the breadwinner a lot.

While the eventful ending was wonderful and shocking and scary and well done i was ultimately disappointed by the ending for a few reasons

Personally I don’t think an non functioning arm would make Rei’s father suddenly okay with him not taking over? Like as the head of the business I don’t think rei’s father is doing a lot of active assassin work anyway (I will write fanfictions about this don’t worry)

Disappointed that they made a point to include in the timeskip that kazuki and rei were not together instead of leaving it even just ambiguous with Miri’s comment about kazuki going out with a woman the night before or w/e. I know it was clarified to NOT be a BL anime so my expectations probably should have been lower than they were but idk the amount of tropes they so obviously put in there throughout make me feel a LITTLE queerbaited

The outfits were all ICONIC especially Miri’s I LOVED THEM

Finally, I have MORE STORY IDEAS NOW some bridging off from the canon end and some from earlier in the anime and I’m trying to get back into writing so wish me luck on that cause I’m SUPER inspired rn

[the-feminist-philosopher]

I love (/sarcasm) when some chronically online person (this time an r-fem) sees- maybe- two posts or tweets about an experience similar to their own and makes some wide sweeping generalization. This time, someone assumed that we must all naturally gravitate toward matrilineal and matriarchal societies because they saw two tweets about kids not having much of a connection with their father's side of the family and assumed that no one has much of a relationship with their father's side of the family.

Look, if this were the case, we'd have never lived under a patriarchy and matriarchies would have been far more common over human history. The waves of patriarchalization that came in the wake of male pastoralists migrating and settling in new lands, the introduction of pack animals, the spread of Abrahamic religions, and cycles of conquest and colonization would not have stuck around.

I am going to turn to the brilliant bell hooks for some guidance here:

“Usually adult males who are unable to make emotional connections with the women they choose to be intimate with are frozen in time, unable to allow themselves to love for fear that the loved one will abandon them. If the first woman they passionately loved, the mother, was not true to her bond of love, then how can they trust that their partner will be true to love. Often in their adult relationships these men act out again and again to test their partner's love. While the rejected adolescent boy imagines that he can no longer receive his mother's love because he is not worthy, as a grown man he may act out in ways that are unworthy and yet demand of the woman in his life that she offer him unconditional love. This testing does not heal the wound of the past, it merely reenacts it, for ultimately the woman will become weary of being tested and end the relationship, thus reenacting the abandonment. This drama confirms for many men that they cannot put their trust in love. They decide that it is better to put their faith in being powerful, in being dominant.”

However, in some cases, this dynamic becomes someone's mother and father. The man would marry the woman who he'd "feel" rejected by. As soon as she became a mother; an actual parent to actual children, he was no longer able to find the motherly love and care he desired, and desired from from her. This "feels" like rejection to him. To him, he is now in competition with the child for her attention and affection. This competition he thinks he has with his kids for her affection adultifies the kids and creates an adverse relationship with them.

When he needs further help, he'll eventually go back to his mother.

On the other side of this, the mother is not getting an adult relationship from her husband. She's looking for a partner; someone she could go to for her adult problems and adult emotions. His emotional neglect of his spouse leads her to lean more into her relationship with the kids, and eventually lean on them- especially a son- for emotional support. This also adultifies the kids. And it starts the process all over. Because no longer is the son getting love from his mother as a mother, but rather as a "partner" of sorts. She leans on him for emotional support as she otherwise would her husband.

When she eventually needs a hand, she'll go back to her mother. And she'll bring the children who she's developed a relationship with (rather than an adversity with) with her.

Now, in some more traditional houses, there may be a more traditional division of labor. In which case, the father is not home to develop a bond with his children while the mother is expected to be and so does. She is going to be closer, emotionally, to her own parents. So, when she needs an extra hand, she'll go to her parents as parenting is demanding and oft requires biparental involvement, so with a largely uninvolved husband, she will need the help of her parents.

This isn't some grand conspiracy to suppress our natural matriarchal tendencies, it's a feature of the patriarchy.

[mariacallous]

MONTANA — Abortion is on the ballot in Montana this year. Voters are being asked to approve a law declaring that an embryo or fetus is a legal person with a right to medical care if born prematurely or survives an attempted abortion.

LR-131, a referendum for the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, would require doctors provide resuscitative care to infants born at any stage of development, or face penalties.

Eighteen states already have so-called born alive laws on the books — all of them put there by state legislatures. Montana's would be the first to be passed by legislative referendum, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"A lot of people speculate, including myself, that the reason it was put on the ballot, was to gin up the base and get them out to vote on this very divisive issue and one that people are very passionate about," says Sally Mauk, a political analyst who's reported on the Montana legislature for more than 30 years.

Mauk says that the proposed law was put on the ballot before the U.S. Supreme Court ended the federal protection for abortions in the Dobbs case in June.

"I think what's happening now in the wake of the Dobbs decision and Roe being overturned," Mauk says "is that LR-131 could have actually the opposite effect. And besides getting people out who are passionately opposed to legal abortion, people passionately in favor of legal abortion will see this issue on the ballot and turn out to vote against it — and therefore maybe vote also against Republican candidates."

...

Dr. Tim Mitchell, an OB-GYN in Missoula who guides women through high risk pregnancies, says the premise of LR-131 is not based in reality of how health care is provided. He says who the bill will really impact is families suffering pregnancy complications.

"The clinical situations where we are dealing with an infant born alive is in the setting of a rapid, pre-viable preterm birth or in the setting of these lethal fetal anomalies where we know interventions are not going to have a change in the outcome," Mitchell says.

Last month Mitchell spoke at an event at the Capitol in Helena organized by the opposition group Compassion for Montana Families. He says if the referendum passes, physicians will be forced to make decisions out of fear of prison time and fines rather than following the families wishes for how they want to spend final moments with their infant.

"LR-131 will force physicians to attempt to place a breathing tube in a baby whose lungs have not yet developed or is so small that the tube cannot fit," he says.

Regier says the opposition is disingenuous in saying the referendum would require doctors to take a terminally ill infant from its family and try to resuscitate it. He points to language on the ballot that reads "a healthcare provider shall take medically appropriate and reasonable actions to preserve the life and health of a born alive infant."

"To me that just defies common sense, I mean, of what is medically appropriate and reasonable, and if you're going to say trying to revive a terminally ill baby— that's not medically reasonable," he says. "That seems pretty straightforward."

Mitchell, the OB-GYN, says the way the bill is written leaves too much gray area.

"Who is going to be the ones deciding what reasonable care is?" he says. "Is it going to be the state attorney general who is going to potentially look into cases, because anybody can file a complaint against a physician or providers who are involved in care of some of these very tragic circumstances?"

[dontbotherwiththepronunciation]

Hehehe (¬‿¬)

Robb/Jeyne W

Ramsay/Theon/Jeyne P

Mel/Selyse

Beric/Thoros

And a single unproblematic one:

Grenn/Pyp

Hi Tânia...

R0ßß x Jeyne (W)

I really liked your interpretation of them + a few other authors, but what attracts me the most of it is the mystery in the relationship and since fandom has decided to hold a very (almost insultingly in my opinion) idealistic view of R0ßß it has lost some of it's appeal for me. Weirdly enough I still love them a lot, because they embody some aspects of Germanicus & Agrippina, a couple that I really love. And I overall really like Jeyne and how courageous she is. So yeah, my problem comes mostly from the R0ßß's characterisation always being that of a selfless saint who sacrifices himself for her honour (or worse, gets roofied).

Theon x Ramsay x Jeyne (P)

“oh my god, we have the same abusive boyfriend”

hellish polycule. I hate it. I genuinely hate Ramsay so much. People keep making Theon the whump protagonist in fanwork by having him suffer, but I want Ramsay to be my whump protagonist. I can't stand that motherfucker. I hope he has the least climactic death in the story because he is simply not worth it. I don't want neither Theon nor Jeyne to ever come near him again because him dying while thinking that they are gone and safe is my favourite fantasy. It would be a huge slight for him.

On the other hand, this is kind of canon and I enjoy all the canon. I love the canon ships for what they are which, in this case, is plain horror. I want to gorge my eyes out whenever I think of it. They make me want to scream. The dynamic in fanwork is less interesting to me because most of the time it just ends up being gratuitous smut or Theon being in love with Jeyne during their captivity which is a huge no for me. (No hate to anyone who enjoys either of those things, they are just boundaries) but if written as in canon (that is implicitly and as horror), then yeah, I'd read a fic.

But viewed through a less serious lens Ramsay CANONICALLY and simultaneously acts as the matchmaker, the third wheel, and the sicko lurking on the window I can't-

Melisandre x Selyse

I read it as one-sided canon. It's probably not intended by GRRM, but I do. I know for many people this is a mostly comedic ship not to be taken too seriously or the one they use to write $tav0s without having to fully disregard the women, but... Repressed sapphic who is head over heels for a religious extremist who wouldn't hesitate at burning her alive if her god demanded it...oh how relatable. + there is the entire topic of faith

Beric x Thoros

I really love the themes of reborn faith at the sight of someone who is a living miracle. I know it's not a healthy thing in real life, but I love exploring the idea of someone finding a purpose and a cause in the world because of one (1) single person who reignites long-forsaken hope in another. Especially if that person dies later on. + a bit of borderline necrophilia meets Robin Hood. @/mylestoye described them once as:

"this is my lover I’ve pulled him from the arms of death six times & though every time he’s a bit more faded & a bit more lost I feel I can’t let him go, he is a symbol of my religion he reawakened my belief & faith, I will follow him & care for him for as long as I can"

Grenn x Pypar

"If Pyp wanted to call me aurochs, though, he could. Or you, or Jon." - Sam II, ASOS

I know it's completely insignificant and GRRM didn't think anything while writing it, but I loved that division. Two sentences. Not one. He had to add it as an afterthought. I remember there was someone on AO3 who wrote exclusively for them in English and Spanish and I used to compare the translations trying to analyse the text. Need to revisit those. They just give me warm happy feelings

[darktentacles0666]

A few doodles with my Lost Ones. -From top left we have Mike and Maya. They are a couple. Mike in the workshop was the leader of the Lost Ones, who were against Sammy's religion. Mike believed that worshipping a demon was not only absurd, but also dangerous. He considered little Bindy to be an abomination that shouldn't exist, since she would probably be the same threat as her father in the future. As about Allison, he thought Bendy was exploiting her to procreate. Believing the angelic was merely a machine to give birth to more demons. Now Mike already knows he was wrong and even has quite a bit of respect for Bendy.  Maya, on the other hand, always had a different opinion on the matter, secretly believing that the Ink Demon was no longer a threat and that his love for Allison was sincere. -From the top right we have Pedro. He was one of Mike's people. However, he was secretly conspiring against him along with his buddy Roger. Both tried to kill Mike, but in the end their plan backfired thanks to the intervention of Bendy, Allison and Tom. Roger was ripped and eaten by Bendy, while Pedro only ended up with a severed arm, as Mike asked the demon not to kill him. He was  banished by Mike'a and was no longer allowed to return to their hideout. Pedro currently lives in Ink Town and works (surprise here) for Sammy at the church. Yes Sammy was the only person who took pity on Pedro and after leaving the workshop gave him work. -On the bottom left we have Jake.  Jake is one of Bendy's worshippers and the first priest, he became one while still in the workshop. It can be said that he is even more fanatical than Sammy. He is currently still involved in the priesthood and wears a white robe with a green stripe. -And on the bottom right we have a character you already know, Jen. She is a doctor. In the workshop she lived in the Village of the Lost. On more than one occasion, she helped Allison and Bendy take care of their daughter. She is one of the few who remembers her past, a time when she was still human.   Interestingly, she was not an employee of Joey, but a doctor summoned from the hospital to investigate the mysterious plague prevailing in the studio. She simply found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Leaving on a call, she said goodbye to her husband and daughter, not knowing that she was seeing them for the last time. She is currently in a relationship with Sammy, having developed a crush on him while still in the workshop. Although she is not a believer, his determination and loyalty to ideas have always fascinated her. As you may have noticed with my version of Lost Ones, there is not only a gender division, but also so-called gender dimorphism. Female Lost Ones are significantly different from male Lost Ones. Interestingly, male Lost Ones are more numerous than female ones. Perhaps this was due to the fact that at the time of the studio's functioning, women more often sat at home and took care of children than were professionally active. And the men worked and brought home the money. Let's remember that the workshop functioned  probably somewhere in the 1920s. Or Joey was simply a chauvinist and hired women when he no longer had a choice as in the case of Allison Pendle or Susie Campbell.