#he's probably in his 40s and works for the power company

[mirandaputsherbestbuttforward]

my mission to radicalize my Chinese immigrant neighbour named Jeff about landlords/rents continues

[sweet-evie]

I have so many thoughts and headcanons about the Gojo clan... You have no idea. 😭 Also, I'm talking out of my ass and everything I say is fictional and from pure imagination... Don't take it seriously.

The Gojo clan may or may not span 40 generations based off of how long ago Suguwara Michizane lived...

and ummm... That's a lot of generational wealth 🤯.

Imagine if you married into that -- married Satoru Gojo. You're automatically the highest-ranking woman in the family, on top of having access to all that money. 😆

Listen, some of the world's richest families like the Rockefellers currently span 7 generations and they're worth billions of dollars.

Damn I really need a full backstory on the 3 major clans. I need to know how rich they are and how they maintained and/or grew that wealth until the modern day.

There's plenty of drama and info on the Zen'in clan. We get crumbs and pieces about the Kamo clan...

But info on the Gojo clan is close to nada, and I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THEM DAMMIT! I'm so thirsty for more worldbuilding in JJK, you have no idea.

At this point, just seeing Satoru's parents would make me happy.

I have a headcanon that Gojo's family, apart from being sorcerers and political powers in the jujutsu community, are probably mixed bags of company shareholders, politicians, lawyers, philantropists, etc.

Yeah, it's said that the Gojo clan is a one-man army that consists of Satoru Gojo, but I interpret that as Satoru outshining every other family member -- especially every other practicing sorcerer in the family. (There's simply no surpassing the wielder of the Six Eyes and the Limitless technique).

The Gojo clan is a sorcerer clan first and upper tier members of Japanese society second.

Some of Satoru's male relatives are probably Shinto and Buddhist monks. The point is to have a foothold in influential religions among non-sorcerers.

I like to think that maybe one sorcerer in the clan has Limitless... maybe his grandpa, but the man was never as efficient with it as Satoru Gojo.

Maybe the majority of the sorcerers in the Gojo clan fight with Grade 1 cursed tools and good-old hand-to-hand imbued with cursed energy. Maybe other cursed techniques exist within the Gojo clan too... It's all just overshadowed by Satoru.

I also think the Big 3 actually tend to keep to themselves (e.g., the Zen'ins having their own military unit). Their spawns don't ALL go to Jujutsu High, do they? It's a choice for them rather than a necessity. Like, Jujutsu High was established primarily for sorcerers who come from "somewhat normal" backgrounds, unlike people from the Big 3. Satoru was born into jujutsu sorcery and it's the only life he's ever known, whereas people like Suguru who come from non-sorcerer families are brought into Jujutsu Tech to learn about what it means to be a part of jujutsu society, and to teach them that they're not, you know, mentally ill because they can see curses.

Quick side note, I imagine Jujutsu Tech as the bridge between the branch of the Japanese government that is aware of the existence of curses and the jujutsu society as a whole. It just kind of makes sense that way, especially when you consider where their funds to pay people come from -- not from thin air, that's for sure. I mean, how else do the higher-ups get the funding to pay their actively practicing sorcerers, especially the special-grades? Does jujutsu sorcerer pay roll come from citizens' tax money?

Also... On top of Satoru Gojo having access to his clan's generational wealth and assets, how much is he getting paid as an instructor at Jujutsu Tech? Is that salary separate from his special-grade sorcerer salary? Is he technically working 2 full-time jobs?

Man is rolling in cash...

Anyway, I want to circle back to the point that Satoru Gojo is the most active sorcerer in the Gojo clan when it comes to interacting with the higher-ups and being a constant presence in Jujutsu Tech. Obviously, his fingerprints are all over Jujutsu society politics as well.

I headcanon that Satoru comes from a big family, actually. Satoru is an only child, but I imagine lots of cousins and aunts and uncles and distant relatives, and the Gojo estate is probably one massive compound where most of the family lives. Like, they can live in that huge ass ancestral property if they want too... There's plenty of room.

The clan also likely owns several other properties and probably small temples or shrines across Japan. They have one ancestral seat and other properties. That goes for the Kamo and the Zen'in clans as well.

That real estate portfolio be popping.

As for actual size, think Heian estate in ancient Japan big. It's expansive.

Maybe the sorcerers in the family would be fond of living in the Gojo estate. The others, especially the ones who hold positions in the government or the military or who have public-facing jobs have their own homes registered under their own name, and not... you know... registered under the family with the clan head.

Another headcanon is that the clan head is capable of assigning properties and other clan assets to family members if he chooses to. Satoru Gojo can give away houses if he wants too, like a nobleman or European feudal lord. But for real, the Gojo clan might have been part of the nobility in ancient Japan, only losing their noble titles after the Imperial family changed the rules around the 1940s.

Speaking of, it's probably not a reach to assume, that the clan head has his fingers in many many honey pots. 🍯 That is to say, Satoru Gojo has access to more money than he can spend in a single life time. And after he's passed, maybe the money just goes back to the surviving members of the clan.

I need to know Satoru Gojo's net worth.

I think each of the Big 3 has their own hierarchy and their own family politics. Again, the Zen'ins are a prime example...

For the Gojo clan, I headcanon that there's a small council of elders -- people way older than Satoru. Satoru's own father is probably part of that. Put his grandfather and a couple of uncles and aunts in there too.

How do they work? I imagine it's pretty similar to how the Small Council functions in Game of Thrones. Like, there's someone in charge of managing finances, someone who keeps an ear on clan politics, someone who has a foothold in the national military, etc.

I imagine they have a bi-weekly gathering. They offer counsel, but the final decision in any dilemma they discuss always falls to the clan head -- Satoru Gojo.

I also headcanon that Satoru has a penthouse somewhere in Tokyo -- a place he considers as his own residence, away from clan politics and the rest of his probably snobby family.

But Satoru is always busy, so his penthouse is way too clean. It looks like no one lives there.

This is the vibe of the penthouse... I have his penthouse in my Sims 4 game.

Speaking of snobby... The Gojo's clan general reputation? I would say... They're intellectual people, some of them are likely obsessed with history, and rigid and formal when it comes to observing traditions. I imagine they have a tendency to be really elegant.

Whenever the Zen'ins look at them, the stereotypical thought is, "Look at those pompous, snobby, jackasses."

In the succeeding years since December 7, 1989, the Gojo clan's sense of pride has only grown, because well... The most powerful and strongest sorcerer of the modern age came through their lineage.

Needless to say, Satoru Gojo is the pride and power of the Gojo clan.

Satoru's parents were practicing Grade 1 sorcerers... really active in the field, and Satoru's grandfather was Clan Head for a time.

Satoru's mom retired from fieldwork after she married Satoru's dad and after she got pregnant and became a mom. I love my headcanon that she's a shrewd politician and is all about maintaining good standing with the elders while doing intelligence gathering. The woman maintains a network, so she's always in-the-know.

Satoru doesn't make it easy for his mom especially when he goes around and does what he wants. e.g., Becoming a benefactor to Megumi, saving Yuji and Yuta, etc. She's actively working to cover his tracks wherever she can.

Satoru's mom is actively looking for a wife for him, for obvious reasons. The plan never came to fruition because of the Shibuya incident and Ch #236.

Satoru's father is more politician than actively practicing sorcerer by the time Satoru was studying in Jujutsu Tech. He's all about maintaining solid relations with the other clans, the elders, and collaborating with the branch of Japanese government that knows of the existence of jujutsu sorcery. He probably works with the Japanese government too.

Satoru Gojo visits the family estate once in a while... for other business, but primarily for hearings and clan meetings. It's peculiar to look at during these meetings because Satoru is the only person in that room who isn't wearing traditional clothes. Like, I headcanon that he shows up in casual attire, or his Jujutsu Tech uniform, complete with the blindfold.

His mom probably tried to talk him into wearing traditional clothes for these meetings when he was younger, but it just never stuck. Satoru is Satoru, after all.

After Satoru Gojo passes away, I like to imagine the Gojo clan takes a bit of a backseat. It's probably the wiser course of action too, considering everything that's happened in Japan after October 31, 2018.

[I know some people think he's the only survivor of the Gojo clan, but you gotta think of the fact that he learned about Hollow Purple from some people. Someone taught him FBE as a kid.]

[its-your-mind]

A compilation of things we know:

the OIAR used to work with a security company called Rightforce International, previously called Diligence Security Systems

the Magnus Institute burned down 24 Dec 1999

the OIAR separated from a company called Starkwall Protection Services on 3 Jan 2000

Starkwall had something to do with a “magnus protocol,” and information related to this is above the level of access of the OIAR team members

Gerry Kaey was a Magnus kid

there is no evidence that there were files in the basement of The Magnus Institute when it burned

The basement of The Magnus Institute was the Archives in the TMA World Line

Also in the TMA World Line, Gertrude Robinson was the Archivist for ~40 years, starting in the 80s

She frequently worked with Adelard Decker to thwart the machinations of the Entities and their avatars

Later, she worked with Gerard Kaey, who had intentionally aligned himself with the Eye in order to see when people were being stalked by one of the Powers and help them

He was also a firebug

Also known firebug: Agnes Montague, who had been bonded to Gertrude via a ritual by followers of the Web - a bond Gertrude used to protect herself from the Cult of the Lightless Flame

An unnamed security company saved Dianne Margolis from a shop on Hilltop Road in Oxford that was filled with supernatural shit and subsequently set on fire

FR3-D1 should NOT work like this considering the technology it runs on

FR3-D1 appears to have complete access to any files transmitted via the Internet, no matter how secure or buried they are, for the sole purpose of categorization

there (is? used to be?) some sort of Response Department, that is still enough a part of the OIAR’s operations that Sam gets paperwork on his desk about it after checking a box marked “Response 121” on his onboarding paperwork

Klaus learned things that he believed put him in danger and subsequently disappeared via Lena’s intervention

Colin believes there is Something watching and/or listening via any technology with cameras or microphones

Lena answers to some sort of authority that none of the other workers know about

The Entities exist in this world, just in a different form than we’re used to (in-depth meta on this here)

okay those are all the relevant facts time for:

CRACK THEORY TIME

Gertrude and Decker are co-founders of Starkwall né Rightforce né Diligence

They kept changing the name to keep off the radar of any avatars

Gerry was Youngest Recruit In History

He was recruited while he was a Magnus kid to be their INSIDE OPERATIVE

He got to help set the fire

He swept the archives and stole all the relevant files because he is still an Eye-aligned bitch who wants to figure shit out

Agnes is also in on it

Bc she fuckin DESERVES IT

also look at all the fire shit

She and Gertrude are lovers

Bc I fuckin deserve it

that eldrich bond should be good for something and that something is LESBIANISM

(*speaking in a voice crushed with disappointment but with a Touch of hopefulness* here’s how agnes montague can still win?)

Anyway back to Starkwall

Their whole thing is basically scorched earth policy when it comes to Fears shit (see: MAGP 07 statement of fire at Hilltop Road)

Feeding the Desolation by ^ and the Eye by collecting info on the activities of other fears (whatever slightly warped version of the Fears exist in this world)

Used to work with? under? the OIAR as part of the “Response Department”

FR3-D1 is like EXPLICITLY Eye-based system set up to collect info for Starkwall to go after (Eye is a silly stupid entity who just wants to gobble up the fear and is bad at planning, so doesn’t notice/care how its people use the info gathered)

a significant part of Jon Martin and (probable) Jonah got schlorped up by FR3-D1 when they got here bc their voices reading out Statements for the Eye were the conduits for the Fears to travel, and FR3-D1 had INTENSE EYE GRAVITY that was Specifically Tuned to gulp up supernatural stories from the interwebs

unfortunately the Intense Eye Beams coming off him DOES tend to place FR3-D1’s IT workers directly into a position to get Eyed into intense paranoia and fear of being watched (rip Klaus, stay strong Colin)

this did not happen when Starkwell used to work with them bc they knew how to handle FR3-D1 but alas once the Eye folks all fucked off it left Klaus (and now Colin) open to both paranoia attacks and possible Consequences for asking too many questions

Speaking of which

the Web (or an analog (jonny and alex drop titles for entities in this world if smirke didn’t make up the same ones challenge)) took notice of what was goin on and got operatives into the OIAR

Lena is one, or else she works for one. (Insert here’s how annabelle caine can still win theories here)

Klaus figured out too much and got in the way of Machinations and thus the whole *gestures*

Gertrude and Decker noticed and separated from the OIAR as soon as they were able to bc they realized that shit had gone South but are still out there doin the good work

Alice ALSO done got recruited from out of the Magnus program as a child

The reason she keeps pushing people away from the sus stuff and seems to know more than she claims to is bc she is their PLANT still working for the OIAR

She got Sam hired bc he’s still got eldritch eyes (in general, but maybe also Eyes) on him and she wants him somewhere she can keep an eye on him AND keep him inside a spooky space so it’s less likely an unknown actor would come after him

[syntia13treeman]

Case 15.01

CAT1RB6451-22062023-22032024

what I think happened in:

Case 15.01, the case of "The Sunset Hunt" or "It's EAT the rich, not FEED the rich. Get it right, damn it."

On 22nd of June 2023 a man was shot dead while on the phone to The Sentinel (I'm guessing a private emergency service; like 999 but unofficial).

He used to be a caterer in his own company, catering to the rich.

Before that, he was a soldier. An army cook at some point, but also familiar with looking down the barrel of the gun up close, and the sound of a headshot. Trained to kill, both with guns and in close combat. Trained not to hesitate.

At the time of the call he's been on the run for a couple months, living out of motel rooms, maybe different one every night, always looking over his shoulder, flinching at the sound of dogs' barking.

What he was running from is known as 'Lady Mowbray'. He'd been lured to her property in Wychwood Hall in the Cotswolds on the pretense of catering a 'small family hunt'. Ostensibly, he was supposed to cook and serve game the family hunted. In reality, he and his people had been watched all afternoon as they worked, until, at dusk, in blood red light of setting sun, he was compelled (magically and with threat of death) to kill and cook his employees while the 'family' watched.

He killed at least 4 people that day, maybe more: his permanent employees (minus Steven, murdered by Lady M herself), and any temps he might have hired for the job.

The creature responsible for that was described as a big and imposing matriarch, with electric blue eyes and gunmetal-gray hair. She had dangerous looking dogs with her, and a big-game gun, which she handled with ease. In her arsenal were also: power to force a man into silence with a gesture (demonstrated) and power to made her orders be obeyed without question (heavily implied).

After the Killer Caterer did her bidding, she rewarded him with cash – and a head-start. Neither helped him in the end.

It is unknown if deaths/disappearances of the entire catering company was ever noticed or investigated.

---

On 22nd of March 2024, in the OIAR office, Freddie tried to warn Celia about the approaching predator by queuing this case for her. Was it helpful? Possibly. Celia is smart, but she might not have been as on-guard as she was without it.

Lady Mowbray not very subtly tried to get Celia to give her name. (Celia point-blank refused). Lady Mowbray VERY unsubtly tried to sniff out any additional information about her, with limited success (odd, brave, strong, different). Soon after Lady M was swept away by Gwen, whom she talked to very differently than to Celia. Old money can sniff out old money, I suppose.

I… have some questions

Who or what is Lady Mowbray? An old aristocrat who became as removed from humanity as they believed themself to be? An embodiment of the concept of the ruling class, that forces 'peasants' to do their dirty work for them for little or no reward? ...one of the Gentry? Look, I know I've been yapping about the Fae for a long while now, but here is a literal aristocrat (a lady; a gentlewoman if you will), with literal power over people's minds, who tries to get Celia's name, and Celia (the mysterious, different Celia, who know more than she lets on) knows that she shouldn't give it. (Never ever give them your name!) It's probably nothing… but maybe? How long has she been making people kill other people for her dinner and entertainment? 40 years? 60? 600?

Why is she working with OIAR? She seems like a very different kind of monster than Bonzo (thought they both eat their prey; hm); why would she let herself be in any way controlled? Is OIAR responsible for cover-ups of all the murders committed by 'Externals', and that's why Externals are willing to work for them? Do they even need it? Both Bonzo and Mowbray seem to have their own magic going on in that regard – Bonzo with his music and Mowbray with her voice (and money) that can make things go unnoticed.

Who or what are Mowbray's 'family', and why none of them got to shoot somebody? Are they actual family, ruled by their matriarch's iron fist? Are they just props (fake people to create a crowd for better scare tactic)? Are they followers? Courtiers? Servants? Slaves? Who are you, people with guns and dogs and expensive cars who never get to participate in the hunt beyond watching and eating? (Do you look like someone copy-pasted few random features onto multiple individuals? Asking for a friend).

So who is the next unlucky soul that Gwen's gonna sic a killer on? Do we know them? Will we get to know them for just as long as it takes Norris or Chester to read about their death? (Gwen, are you sure you want to do that, girl? It's not to late... well. It probably is. Enjoy your new job while you can, I guess).

[blackmoonlightexpress]

TTEOTM Creative Team: What else did they work on?

For those who are a bit underwhelmed by the summer drama options or still dreaming about TTEOTM! 😎

Kuk Kok Leung (Lead Director)

Kuk Kok Leung is a veteran director who started his career in Hong Kong's TVB. He's been nominated for the prestigious Magnolia Award and is known for wuxia and serious, warm-blooded historical dramas (he's adapted 7 out of 8 Jinyong novels). His works include...

Legend of the Condor Heroes (1983) as Assistant Director, with Felix Wong and Barbara Yung

The Duke of Mount Deer (1984), with Tony Leung & Andy Lau

Return of the Condor Heros (1983) with Andy Lau & Idy Chan

Legend of the Condor Heroes (2002) with Li Yapeng & Zhou Xun

Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (2003), with Hu Jun, Jimmy Lin, and Liu Yifei

Water Margin (2011), nominated for Magnolia Award

Cool Sword (2013), with Julian Cheung & Wallace Chung

The Patriot Fei Yue (2013), with Huang Xiaoming & Ruby Lin

The Stand-In (2014), with Wallace Chung

The General and I (2016), with Wallace Chung and Angelababy

He's also a frequent collaborator and producer on Johnny To films, including Election, Election 2, Mad Detective.

So you get the picture. He makes TV for men who are ready to bleed for their country. This all makes him a really interesting choice for TTEOTM (and tells you a bit about the ambition and creative vision of the producers), especially since all his more recent idol dramas were widely panned.

Wang Haiqi, Director & Action Director

We don't know too much about Wang Haiqi because TTEOTM is actually his directorial debut. He started his career in stunts and has worked as the action coordinator on Ashes of Love (2018) and Immortality (unreleased) alongside Luo Yunxi. He was also a stunts man/double in a bunch of Hollywood films, including Mulan (2020) and the Foreigner (2017) through the Jacky Chan stunts team.

He's responsible for most of the action/battle scenes in TTEOTM, and his experience working on films probably explains why the fight sequences are unusually cinematic for TV.

Luan Hexin, Art Director

Luan Hexin is a Magnolia Award nominated art director best known for Huanyu productions, including Story of Yanxi Palace, Winter Begonia, and Royal Feast. He's a serious art guy, as you can tell from this interview.

(Note: Huanyu is Bai Lu's management company. There is a rumor that Luan Hexin is part of Bai Lu's "dowry", but the parties have since clarified that Luan was brought in after she was cast.)

He's also an interesting choice, having never worked on costume fantasies before and better known for his authentic representation of the look and feel of bygone eras.

Huang Wei, Costume Designer

Huang Wei is one of the most sought-after costume designers working today, especially for xianxias. She started her career as a Vogue China editor and was in fact the person responsible for TTEOTM's Dunhuang-inspired aesthetics.

Her better known works include A Dream of Splendor (2022), One and Only (2020), Love O2O (2015), Back from the Brink (2023) as well as a bunch of highly anticipated dramas like Immortality and The Last Immortal. (The joke on Chinese internet is that there is an "expensive" vs. "cheap" version of Huang Wei costumes - her design can be much simpler on lower-budget productions.)

I'd like to think that after designing 40 mostly white costumes for Luo Yunxi in Immortality, she decided to go nuts on color with Tantai Jin.

Tsang Ming Fai, Makeup Designer

Tsang Ming Fai is a big name in the xianxia circuit. He and his team of “students" have worked on a large number of costume dramas, including Ashes of Love (2018), Love & Redemption (2020), Under the Power (2019), Noble Aspirations (2016), Sword of Legends (2014), as well as the... wait for it... unreleased Immortality and Luo Yunxi's currently filming drama Follow Your Heart.

He's sadly been receiving a lot of hate in fan circles over the heavy makeup in TTEOTM (which may or may not have been his call). What I do appreciate is his ability to help actors craft distinct characters with varied hair and makeup choices. For example you can distinguish between different Luo Yunxi characters and their personalities with Runyu's clean cut tie-back half ponytail (ethereal & straight laced), Tantai Jin's slightly brown hair, messy bangs and heavy eye shadow (dark & sickly), Chu Wanning's angular eyebrows and geometric hair puff (strict & proud).

He also excels at creating unusual, iconic looks even for side characters, e.g. Chen Yao's dark lipstick paired with gothic jewelry in Immortality and Chen Duling's retro updo in TTEOTM.

[hanzajesthanza]

I wondered what is your favourite witcher moment? A moment/chapter that really struck with you? And why?

hmmm...

as for "favorites"...

i consider baptism of fire chapter 7 to be my favorite chapter out of the saga, because every scene in it is fantastic and a personal favorite... firstly, the frame story (love a good frame story!) of the children of vyrva hearing the legend from old storyteller pogwizd. then the heartache and black humor of regis loredropping his backstory, followed by interesting intellectual discussion, geralt's company and zoltan's company being reunited, emotional shattering of geralt consoling milva, and finally, one of the best action scenes: the battle of the bridge. and geralt and regis' side conversations in this chapter really serve to illustrate just how much geralt developed as a character in this book, a major aspect of why it's my favorite in the series (imo, geralt before baptism of fire is not as compelling as during and after it).

my favorite short story is something more, for its ending with geralt and ciri. and for its scenes with calanthe, yennefer, and death, each with powerful emotion. and for how visenna appears... i actually can't get through something more without crying, i cry every time. also, of course, geralt telling dandelion that he must have gone crazy with fear if he could think that geralt would leave him there... and i also think something more is an example of incredibly good writing, in terms of weaving everything together.

my favorite setting is beauclair, i find it really beautiful and yet the most tragic, in its beauty, because our heroes cannot stay there and it's not their destiny to live happily ever after. i joke "my mind is in beauclair" but it's actually true, it's the setting for a lot of my daydreaming and there's something so magical about it.

my favorite character introduction is tied inbetween dandelion (voice of reason 5) and angouleme (tower of the swallow 5).

in ciri's story, i think tower of the swallow was her strongest book, within that i like her time spent with vysogota. and, of course the ice skating scene on tarn mira is well-written and orchestrated (my favorite detail is that bonhart realizes what she's planning, and turns back without warning any of the rest... foreboding, foreshadowing, but also, hilarious).

and maybe an unpopular opinion: i like chapter 6 of time of contempt, when ciri is in the korath desert. it was a great way to break the crazy action of chapter 4 and interconnected politics of chapter 5. i find it to be much more figurative than a lot of people see it: "oh, ciri's in the desert and has to survive." yes, that's the literal interpretation of events... but the point of it is that she's abandoned by everyone who she thought promised to never abandon her, she realizes that all she learned is useless. and she wanders the desert ("for 40 days and 40 nights," one might say). the suffering is the point. it breaks her. it's hard to change a character this drastically, it's also hard to write a chapter with just one character and their introspection without much happening (expect for ihuarraquax showing up in the middle of it, i mean). but i think it was done well and was placed in exactly the right moment with the rest of the book. time of contempt has probably the best pacing out of the series.

the witcher does "suffering" really well, that's probably why it struck such a chord with me. so anything where a hero is in anguish is well-loved (for instance, geralt's monologue to iola in voice of reason, or the ending of a grain of truth).

i also like anything that is an allusion or in reference to another work or history, particularly when i can pick up on it - either i knew it before i read, or when i've had time to look into it and research it.

in particular, i like seeing odyssey parallels, like in the last wish, how geralt and yennefer go back to this ancient topos of a hero in conflict with a witch or sorceress, using trickery to defeat her - odysseus and circe - but yennefer is the one to trick geralt instead; and then they find love genuinely, putting this manufactured conflict down, recognizing a connection, not hatred. and i also see an odysseus - circe thing with geralt and fringilla. and one of the reasons i like beauclair so much is because of the "magic land tempts heroes into staying forever, staying their quest and making them either drugged or miserable" which is like at least four different places in the odyssey: the island of the lotophagoi, circe's aiaia, calypso's ogygia, finally, scheria... someplace so perfect and beautiful that you just want to stay, but it will be your doom if you do. very metaphorical. and also on this topic, i think regis is like the anti-polyphemus, being a great host and displaying exemplary xenia, giving the heroes wine and not eating them or drinking them. it's them who get drunk, not him!

segueing from this, my favorite part of the odyssey is odysseus and telemachus. and so i really like everything about geralt and ciri, and how ciri inherits this misery of being a witcher from her father, though her future is left up to reader interpretation, i love the lines in chapter 7 of lady of the lake that she was all alone amongst an archipelago of places... i really like their story that he tried to save her by leaving her, and it was his leaving her which doomed them both. and i like how sapkowski decided for ciri to be a girl, which not only makes her interesting and unique as a hero, but also invites more interesting examination into her and geralt's relationship as a father-daughter relationship rather than a patriarchal lineage father-son inheritance. (the witcher would be so trite if ciri was a boy).

oh yes, anything relating to isolation and loneliness is a big win for me, which is also probably why i like the witcher so much, it's all about that

i have to stop writing now but i could literally go on about more favorite things for hours <3

[1902touyatc]

(Headcanon) Officer!Dabi • If he works in the office •

I'm not joke, i really have a obsession about Dabi quirkless, so yeah, we have this shit piece! Yippieee!

Warning: Quirkless AU, officer!Dabi, f!Reader, Dabi is a bastard

Don't ask why his arrogance came from, it's all thanks to his own "unusual" background: His father is the CEO of this damn company.

The type of person: "Do you know who my dad is?", "Be careful, my dad will fire you now!"

Goes to work because he likes to defy his father (Or is forced to come here because Todoroki Enji is afraid that if he opens his mouth, the company and business he built will be ruined)

He hates being directed by someone, but because his dad said "Before you can be a master, you must be a servant", he is forced to be a normal office worker, also having to make coffee, print, and staple documents. ,…

Defaming, humiliating and secretly degrading employees in the company because they don't do a good job (Actually, if it were me, I would also judge)

He's not the type to have a relationship easily, let alone fall in love. That's why women in the company (or not) are not on his radar. That means not dating. Even Touya himself will realize there is no need to search, his dad will do it.

Ready to grab the remaining hair of bosses, and shareholders or grab other employees' collars because they dare to look badly at the plans and projects he proposes. And again, who needs Dad? Todoroki Touya.

Not go to lunch with other employees in the company because he has a lunch box that his mother made or eats out alone. Sitting at the same dining table with his old man, he would probably choke to death.

Will send an email to anyone who looks at/glares at him in the company: "If you want to survive in this barren company, you'd better be reasonable!"

(*) How did he meet you in the company?

In a situation, you are his subordinate, he will not hesitate to order you around like a cheap servant. If you ask how bad it is on a scale of 1 to 10 it's a 9, the other 1 is when he shuts up or hasn't seen you anywhere.

Is the only person who can endure his taciturn, sometimes crazy, incomprehensible temperament.

Even though you're a subordinate with a low salary (I mean when you are a trainee), you're still not very satisfied with being with someone like this, let alone establishing an official relationship. (Sorry doll)

With him, the best thing you can do is do your job well, don't go against his wishes. That's right, of course even flirting with him is in the "No Doing" box.

(*) What if he likes you?

I didn't know what to say. If he likes you because of the romance, it's not necessarily a healthy thing, or if he likes you just because you do a good job at your assigned tasks, then congratulations, there's no salary increase here, you can only exchange for peace when living in this life.

If he likes you romantically, then you're 100% sure you don't know a damn thing. The only thing you feel is the eyes staring at you for 8 hours working at the company.

He won't be someone who can confess his love early, he will come and tell his old man that he wants to meet a girlfriend from the same company and Enji is like: "I'm a dad, not a joke." Please don't ask about the 40 PowerPoint slides he brought along. And somehow (based on the power of course), he will arrange a blind date between you and Touya.

I think that's enough, happy delusions, I love you doll!

Oh well, if you're interested in what I write why not try sending me requests, I'll do my best!

[whencyclopedia]

Smoke and Ashes: Opium's Hidden Histories

"Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories" is a sweeping and jarring work of how opium became an insidious capitalistic tool to generate wealth for the British Empire and other Western powers at the expense of an epidemic of addiction in China and the impoverishment of millions of farmers in India. The legacy of this “criminal enterprise,” as the author puts it, left lasting influences that reverberate across cultures and societies even today.

Written in engaging language, Smoke and Ashes is a scholarly follow-up to the author’s famous Ibis trilogy, a collection of fiction that uses the opium trade as its backdrop. In Smoke and Ashes, the author draws on his years-long research into opium supplemented by his family history, personal travels, cross-cultural experience, and expertise in works of historical verisimilitude. Composed over 18 chapters, the author delves into a diverse set of primary and secondary data, including Chinese sources. He also brings a multidimensional angle to the study by highlighting the opium trade's legacy in diverse areas such as art, architecture, horticulture, printmaking, and calligraphy. 23 pictorial illustrations serve as powerful eyewitness accounts to the discourse.

This book should interest students and scholars seeking historical analysis based on facts on the ground instead of colonial narratives. Readers will also find answers to how opium continues to play an outsize role in modern-day conflicts, addictions, corporate behavior, and globalism.

Amitav Ghosh’s research convincingly points out that while opium had always been used for recreational purposes across cultures, it was the Western powers such as the British, Portuguese, the Spaniards, and the Dutch that discovered its significant potential as a trading vehicle. Ghosh adds that colonial rulers, especially the British, often rationalized their actions by arguing that the Asian population was naturally predisposed to narcotics. However, it was British India that bested others in virtually monopolizing the market for the highly addictive Indian opium in China. Used as a currency to redress the East India Company (EIC)’s trade deficit with China, the opium trade by the 1890s generated about five million sterling a year for Britain. Meanwhile, as many as 40 million Chinese became addicted to opium.

Eastern India became the epicenter of British opium production. Workers in opium factories in Patna and Benares toiled under severe conditions, often earning less than the cost of production while their British managers lived in luxury. Ghosh asserts that opium farming permanently impoverished a region that was an economic powerhouse before the British arrived. Ghosh’s work echoes developmental economists such as Jonathan Lehne, who has documented opium-growing communities' lower literacy and economic progress compared to their neighbors.

Ghosh states that after Britain, “the country that benefited most from the opium trade” with China, was the United States. American traders skirted the British opium monopoly by sourcing from Turkey and Malwa in Western India. By 1818, American traders were smuggling about one-third of all the opium consumed in China. Many powerful families like the Astors, Coolidges, Forbes, Irvings, and Roosevelts built their fortunes from the opium trade. Much of this opium money, Ghosh shows, also financed banking, railroads, and Ivy League institutions. While Ghosh mentions that many of these families developed a huge collection of Chinese art, he could have also discussed that some of their holdings were most probably part of millions of Chinese cultural icons plundered by colonialists.

Ghosh ends the book by discussing how the EIC's predatory behaviors have been replicated by modern corporations, like Purdue Pharma, that are responsible for the opium-derived OxyContin addiction. He adds that fossil fuel companies such as BP have also reaped enormous profits at the expense of consumer health or environmental damage.

Perhaps one omission in this book is that the author does not hold Indian opium traders from Malwa, such as the Marwaris, Parsis, and Jews, under the same ethical scrutiny as he does to the British and the Americans. While various other works have covered the British Empire's involvement in the opium trade, most readers would find Ghosh's narrative of American involvement to be eye-opening. Likewise, his linkage of present-day eastern India's economic backwardness to opium is both revealing and insightful.

Winner of India's highest literary award Jnanpith and nominated author for the Man Booker Prize, Amitav Ghosh's works concern colonialism, identity, migration, environmentalism, and climate change. In this book, he provides an invaluable lesson for political and business leaders that abdication of ethics and social responsibility have lasting consequences impacting us all.

Continue reading...

[cobaltstarling]

So, I proposed an idea, jokingly, to a friend. The idea was Glass Onion, if Miles Bron was smart. The joke being that Glass Onion wouldn’t have happened if Miles was smart.

But then I started thinking… what would happen instead?

And I’m not going to make Miles Bron too smart for this, I’m going to give him about my level of intelligence. Whether that’s a lot or not it up for interpretation.

So, the main thing that kicks off the conflict of Glass Onion is Klear. That’s what causes the split between Miles and Andi.

On paper, Klear sounds great. It’s made out of sea water, which is a plentiful resource. It’s hydrogen fuel, which is arguably one of the fuels of the future, especially since when it mixes with oxygen, what do we get? Water. And since you’ve been taking the hydrogen for it from the sea, you could consider it a renewable form of energy. It sounds almost too good to be true. And to be fair, it’s not that the FUEL was bad. It’s just that Miles is an idiot.

So, what’d happen if he was smart? He’d listen to Andi, because he knows she is smarter than him, and kicking her out of the company, when she likely does the lion's share of running it, isn’t the best idea.

So he'd probably be like "Ok, I hear your concerns, I won’t push for us to put everything behind this, but can we give it to Lionel to test it?" And Andi would, hopefully, agree. From what we see if Andi she's not unreasonable.

And Lionel would come back with what we already know: That it is a source of power, but it’s also very volatile and most houses do not have tight enough piping for it, so they’d leak hydrogen gas. Which would be BAD.

So Miles would go back to Andi these findings with another suggestion… develop piping that WOULD be safe for this. Maybe even offer one of your own places as the testing grounds for this new piping.

Like

He would still push for them to explore all avenues with Klear, but he wouldn’t insist upon throwing the entirety of Alpha behind it. He's still relatively young, like late 30s, mid 40s… however old he is, he has time. If Klear becomes a major power source, he would still be remembered as the one who set down a lot of the groundwork to get it going.

But the main issue with putting it in houses that Lionel mentioned was the piping. So if you fix the piping, is there still a problem? If there is. Lionel will likely bring it up. Part of being smart is listening to people who know more about subjects than you, after all. Recognising you don’t know everything, and that other people know some things better than you.

But yeah, Andi wouldn’t die, Duke wouldn’t die, he wouldn’t ruin his friend's campaign or risk ruining Lionel's name…

And there’s a bunch of other stuff that likely wouldn’t have happened. He would have advised Birdie AGAINST using a sweat shop, might have advised Duke to tone down the mandom stuff… Basically a smarter Miles Bron would have likely worked out better for all involved.

But then, we wouldn’t get one of the best moments of the film…

"It’s so dumb…"

"So dumb it's BRILLIANT!"

"NO! It's just dumb!"

But in terms of people staying alive, and not ruining Alpha? Turns out better for everyone involved.

[noodyl-blasstal]

Promising Union

We made it! Day 30 of @taznovembercelebration which means I've written 30 fics in 30 days and had an absolute blast. Thank you to @ceilingfan5 for all of their hard work in organising taznc. I've had the best time rolling in the taznc tags.

Today's prompt was "three" and then I clicked until I got an AU which was "superhero". You can read below or on Ao3. Missed yesterday's? Catch up here!

-

Kravitz feels like he lives in the staff canteen now. He’s used to the ebb and flow of it, has managed to time his day around it. He makes sure he’s there to cover the stand at breakfast time, gets on with work until mid morning, and then sets up is ‘ask me anything’ sign again at lunch time. There’s no point in standing and smiling through the afternoon, no one’s really around. There’s three times a day, three chances to talk to people about what Kravitz could do for them, and three chances to get snubbed repeatedly and relentlessly.

The free pens had helped, but they’d cleaned him out pretty fast and no one had actually joined up. No one had even really made eye contact. He understood they were busy, a superheroes work is never done, yada yada yada, but that was exactly why unions were important. He and Sloane had worked really hard on the sidekick down time requirements, they shouldn’t be doing day shifts into nights without a proper break between and they definitely shouldn’t be working more than 40 hours a week - especially not fresh out of training. Supers shouldn’t really be doing it either, but there was a whole mess around ‘vocation’ and ‘voluntary’ roles which he and Sloane were still knee deep in resolving. It would help if the membership was representative and not just a few supers who joined up because their parents had always been members.

Kravitz cracks out a box of stress octopodes. There had been a slight issue with the stress ball order (he actually intended to get oranges), but the tentacles were comforting to squidge. Maybe that’d lure some people in for him, or, one specific person. A tall guy with a long blonde braid and seemingly never ending layers of clothes (maybe his super power was pockets?) had been eyeing Kravitz appreciatively all week. Well, he thought so… maybe that was conceited? The man might just be admiring Kravitz’s impeccable taste in tailoring… the attention had certainly encouraged him to dress more elaborately as the week went on. But he wanted to believe it was an interest in him, not just the way he was packaged.

Kravitz was hoping this was the day he’d finally be able to lure him in, the guy didn’t seem bothered by the pens. On Tuesday Kravitz had smiled when he caught the guy’s eye, but he just winked and then turned away before Kravitz could do anything else… Which was probably for the best because Kravitz had really only planned that far anyway. Your move, mystery man. On Wednesday he was fairly sure there was a little bit of flirting, the man came and took a card, but he took it realllllly slow. He wasn’t here yet today, but he tended to show up for the mid-morning coffee rush so Kravitz wasn’t worried. Any minute now. Sometimes he had company but mostly he was on his own (and seemed relieved about it.)

“Interesting choice of stress relief.”

Kravitz wishes he could say he didn’t jump, but he did. The fucking display board with all the union benefits blocked his view so whoever it was snuck up on him.

“Feel free to take one.” He puts a smile on and leans round the board to see the man. Ha! He knew a better freebie would do it.

“Nah, Taako’s good.” Says the man, drawing three into his rainbow cardigan so quickly Kravitz can almost believe he didn’t see it happen.

He’s wearing a ridiculous hat today, definitely not approved uniform. It doesn’t have any protective properties as far as Kravitz can see. The rest of his outfit isn’t much better, sleeves which are long and prime for catching on obstacles, and the many layers would be simple to grab and restrict his movement with.

“Okay.” Kravitz says, instead of lecturing him about theft or uniform code. Kravitz is cool, he’s hip, he’s sexy. He can break rules, he can take more than the one per-person approved freebie.

“So, what’s your handle, bones?”

“Bones?”

“Are you asking me why I’m calling that, or confused about your own name?”

“Kravitz.”

“That’s not a reply to either of the questions Taako asked you.”

“Sorry… I…” Shit, he’s fucking this up. He can pull it back round. “Question one, my name… er, handle…” He regrets it immediately, slang always sounds weird coming out of his mouth, cool people like Taako can tell he’s not made for it, he powers on anyway. “...is Kravitz. Question 2, where did bones come from?” Kravitz wants to know so he can make everyone else call him that too. His Mums use Kravitz without fail and Sloane alternates between Krav and ‘oi dickhead’, so this was nice.

“Nice to meet you Kravitz.” Kravitz starts to offer Taako his hand to shake. “But why the fuck are you here?”

Oh. He didn’t anticipate this. Kravitz’s hand drops limply back to his side. He belatedly tries to pretend he was stretching and watches Taako’s mouth twitch. Thankfully he controls the impulse to laugh because Kravitz is fairly sure he’ll melt into a puddle if Taako laughs at him right now. He’s doing such a bad job of marketing the union that his presence is being questioned and he’s not exactly known for responding well to criticism of his performance.

“Union stuff.” He says, just about keeping his voice even.

“You’d have more luck next door.” Taako indicates his head.

“What?”

“Well no one here cares.”

“You don’t care?” Kravitz desperately wanted Taako to care.

“Oh no, Taako cares.” Taako provides another lingering look. “Taako is very invested in you.” There’s a pause. “...r union.”

“Are you a member?” Kravitz perks up. Maybe he can get another sign up. Maybe Taako will tell his friends and they’ll join too?

“Taako isn’t really here.”

“Uh…” Kravitz isn’t really sure how to break the news that he very much is. How could he steal an unfair amount of free stuff if he wasn’t? “You, you are actually here though… you know?” Before he can consider how inappropriate it is he reaches out and prods Taako’s arm. “See.” Fuck. That probably wasn’t a great sales technique.

Taako’s looking at him like he’s lost his grip on reality. Is he hallucinating? Did he get bored enough that he just invented a man to look at? Is he currently talking to himself in public?

“No, Taako’s not here if you get my drift.” Taako raises an eyebrow and looks very intently at Kravitz like he should be able to make sense of it.

Kravitz can’t.

“Oh, I see.” He says and nods sagely. Because admitting that he doesn’t know something is physically painful for him. He’s working on it, it’s fine.

“Good, I knew you were cool. Come on then.” Taako gestures for Kravitz to follow him.

Kravitz does, nothing’s going on here anyway, he can’t bear to overhear Captain Neverwinter banging on about politics again either. It makes him feel slightly murdery. It’s fine. He's working on that too. He’ll probably figure out what Taako meant from context clues, plus, if he gets new sign ups then Sloane won’t even pretend to be angry about him leaving his post.

Taako strides down the hallway, Kravitz is grateful that his long legs help him keep pace. He and Sloane aren’t allowed to come this way, the front entrance is only for the big name heroes, so they just use the lift in the staff entrance when they run the promotional events. He concentrates on keeping his head down and keeping up, he’s not entirely sure he’s authorised to be here.

“Taako was pretty sure you’d be game, so cha’boy got you approved for next week. It’ll be better than the snoozefest over that side.”

Maybe there was a second canteen where all the hip young heroes who cared about workers’ rights hung out.

“Here we go!” Taako turns down a dimly lit corridor. The lights flicker ominously.

“This one?” Kravitz asks tentatively. There was probably some kind of form someone needed to fill out about this.

“Natch.” Taako says and offers his hand. “I’ll hold your hand if you’re scared.”

Kravitz definitely isn’t scared, he grabs hold anyway.

Taako’s warm and comforting and rubs a steady thumb across his knuckles. It’s nice, soothing. Kravitz could get used to this.

They reach a door all too quickly, but Taako doesn’t let go, he just scans his pass, then there’s a thumb print, retinal scan, and some kind of situation where he whispers into a box. Kravitz isn’t trying to keep track, he’s too busy trying to work out if this means Taako’s important, like really really important. Is Kravitz being taken to the management corridor or something? Shit… maybe they didn’t have permission to be there that week? Sloane said she did the paperwork, but maybe there’s been a mix up? Kravitz can’t be in trouble, he’s not emotionally robust enough to handle a disciplinary meeting without getting bitchy. Sloane’s warned him plenty of times.

On the other side of the door everything’s different. It seals quietly behind them, just a series of hisses and clicks letting Kravitz know that he definitely won’t be able to turn round and go back the way he came, which he should do, because apparently Taako’s somehow taken them to the supervillain lair? On purpose? He had the pass… Shit.

“Are you bad!?” Kravitz blurts out.

“Is this a roleplay thing? Taako didn’t think we were there yet, but I can be a bad, bad boy if that’s what you need?” Taako looks excited enough that Kravitz feels bad delivering the follow up.

“No, evil-bad!”

“Well I’m not a super, am I?” Taako barks out a single laugh as if the notion was ridiculous.

“What? You were in the canteen!”

“There’s no way cha’boy could be that conceited. It takes too much effort. Taako was just scoping the coffee situation, then he found something nice enough to look at that it kept cha’boy coming back for more.” Taako looks pointedly at Kravitz.

“But… I didn’t recognise you!” Taako can’t be a supervillain, Kravitz would have seen wanted posters, he would have seen him on the news, like Kreigan, Queen Quynh, or Dr Diomed. There was wanted posters for them everywhere!

“Well I’m not exactly going to do crime dressed as myself and visible am I?”

Huh. Kravitz had always wondered why some of them didn’t disguise themselves. “No… I guess that makes a lot of sense.”

“Anyway, this isn’t regulation, imagine the shit these sleeves would get snagged on?”

Taako has never been sexier.

“And the way someone could grab…”

“... my cardigans if I was turned away.” Taako finishes. Because he’s perfect.

“Uh huh.” Is about all Kravitz can manage because he’s busy staring at Taako with what is probably undisguised lust.

“Cha’boy’s all about health and safety.” Taako continues. “My mask is fun and functional.” His voice is dropping, getting richer, low and sultry.

“It’s important.” Kravitz nods to reinforce his point and swallows thickly.

“Anyway.” Taako starts as he sees something over Kravitz’s shoulder, then spins and lets go of Kravitz’s hand in one move. “Here’s the canteen.” He chivvies Kravitz into a large room full of rustic looking wooden furniture.

“Taako!” A tall man and a shorter grizzled one barrel through the door behind them, panting slightly as if they’ve been running. “Is this the guy from the shit canteen?”

“Taako has no idea who you’re talking about.”

“You know, the hot one… uh… what was he called… er… Kravitz!” says the tall guy.

“The Kravitz you’ve been talking about all week?” Adds the shorter man.

Oh, interesting. Taako has mentioned him! There’s no need for anyone to know how many times he may have talked about Taako this week in exchange. Sloane definitely hadn’t started a Taako jar to fund their monthly food truck foray. This definitely makes it slightly less embarrassing.

“Taako has never said anything to anybody in his life, now scram, this is business.”

“Hi, I’m Magnus Burnsides!” The tall man says and shakes Kravitz’s hand heartily. Not evilly. Interesting.

“The name’s Hightower. Merle Hightower.”

“No, it’s Highchurch.” Cuts in Magnus.

“Ssssh, I was using my alias.” Merle hisses back.

“We all have downsides to jobs we love.” Taako says. “And these are mine. Anyway, moving on!” Taako grabs Kravitz’s hand again and pulls him away from the others.

“Oooooh, they’re holding hands!” Says Magnus and raises his phone up. “Smile!” He yells.

Kravitz does, because he’s nothing if not good at following direction… well, most of the time.

“Lup’s gonna love this.” Magnus says happily.

“Can you fuck off now?” Taako asks.

“We’re nowhere near you!” Merle reaches out his stubby arms and waves them around. “See!”

Taako looks like he might implode. He turns to Kravitz. “Do you wanna go talk somewhere more private?”

“Oooooh! Talking.” Magnus sing songs, then taps away at his phone some more.

“Okay.” Kravitz says, he definitely isn’t opposed to being alone with Taako, although he’d also like to thoroughly quiz the others about exactly what Taako has said about him and whether it was good. It probably wouldn’t look good to throw Magnus his card.

“Taakitz! That’s the ship name for them. Magnus, tell Lup!” Merle tugs Magnus’ arm excitedly.

“On it!”

Taako’s mouth is slowly disappearing into a thin line. “We’ll go to my office.”

Kravitz lets himself be tugged along. He doesn’t care about which direction they’re going, he just wants to ruminate on the fact Taako talked about him. Taako talked about him a lot!

“Okay handsome, let’s get the important thing out of the way, do you wanna bone down with Taako?”

Kravitz very much does want to bone down with Taako. First he’d like some more time to take in the abject horror of his office because it shouldn’t be possible to get this many things in this small a space or for all of them to be different colours, but he manages it. The couch does, however, look very comfortable. Well padded arms. “Yes.”

“Excellent. Point b, 2? Did I do some kind of number or letter system? Fuck it, it doesn’t matter. Villains are a better market for union stuff. Hench people need caring for and most people consider it, we’re not monsters, well, morally, but some of us could be better. Plus, the training programmes can be brutal and we need someone fighting our corner. Frankly, it’s long overdue.”

“Oh.” Says Kravitz, because he’s not sure why he didn’t think of this himself.

“Yeah. Exactly. Plus, I hear that when you join you get great deals on contents insurance and with the way the supers keep smashing up our fucking lairs we need it.”

“You do, we have a 42% off deal with Abvgal, but you can also get some cash back if you switch your premium mid-year and trust me, it’s usually worth it. Their staff are great, you can just use the summoning sigil and someone will get back to you super fast, you talk face and face and they can survey the damage there and then.”

Taako nods approvingly.

“Plus, the one everyone forgets, you get 15% off at Paloma’s.” Kravitz adds conspiratorially.

“As in Paloma’s with the scones?”

“As in Paloma’s with the scones.” Kravitz nods smugly.

“Well you can sign Taako up right now.”

“I’d love to.”

“Right after we…” Taako crushes his lips against Kravitz’s.

It’s stupid and it’s perfect. He’s going to get a new sign up, he’s going to get laid, he’s going to do something ridiculous like ask Taako to be his boyfriend. Kravitz kisses back, hard, you can’t say something stupid if you can’t speak. He’s a genius.

Kravitz barely registers the fact they’re moving until his knees connect with the sofa and he falls backwards into it, he doesn’t let go of Taako as he goes. It’s probably illegal to do this on the clock, but he technically hasn’t taken lunch all week so it’s fine. The feeling of Taako’s thighs bracketing his and his mouth moving against Kravitz’s is more than enough to convince him that the rules didn’t matter right now.

“Form?” Taako pulls his lips away briefly before Kravitz tugs him back in.

Kravitz pulls Taako closer with one arm, fiddles with his satchel with the other. Taako snakes a hand down to help depress the catch while he pulls it free then does something so sinful with his tongue that Kravitz abandons it completely.

“Pen?” Asks Taako, some time later.

Kravitz takes the opportunity to lick the column of Taako’s throat. The corresponding gasp fills him with pride. He did that. He could do that again. He does.

“Pen” He says, and presses Taako’s hand to his chest pocket.

Taako apparently forgets about the pen, instead, takes his time to run his hand liberally around the area. He squeezes appreciatively.

“Okay, so I just gotta fill this out?”

“Yeah, then we’ll be in touch.”

“I think we’re in touch right now.”

“That was appalling. I should leave right now.”

“You don’t want to though?” Taako asks, and there’s more concern in it than Kravitz would have thought possible. Taako’s some suave villain, he’s probably never not hooking up in his office, Kravitz is just lucky he found a gap in the schedule.

“No.” Kravitz says, and pulls Taako down so that he can kiss him softly, gently, reverently, exactly the way he deserves.

“Name.” Taako says and taps the pen against his lips. Kravitz is never going to be able to look at it again without thinking about this.

“Mmhm.” Kravitz says and nuzzles Taako’s neck as he scribbles.

“Date of birth.”

Kravitz kisses Taako’s collar bone. “Address… trying to angle your way back to my place on the first date, interesting.”

“This is a date?”

“It could be.”

It could be!

“Can we have another one?” Kravitz asks.

“Another first date?”

“Yes, our first date, and then first date’s alias.”

“Sounds good, Taako’s in. You can choose, cha’boy sorted the location for this one.”

It’s the longest anyone has ever taken to fill out a membership form. Kravitz loves every second.

–

The week in the evil canteen is the most productive they’ve ever had, and not just because of the interest in the new man Blink’s been seeing. Their hench policy is set to be ready within the month and they’ve had to order more of the octopode stress tentacles.

Kravitz quite likes the dark side.

[undertheknightwing]

WIP GAME

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigued them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Tagged by @not-so-mundane-after-all and if you don’t mind I'm gonna steal your idea since I don't have any active wips either, just ideas:

• First, obviously I'm always working on chapters. We're gonna ignore the fact that it took me two years to get to the chapter where the boys finally go on a date 🙃 but I'll give myself a pass since this is chapter 22 and I can't believe I got that far.

• Titanstober Week 4 idea that focuses on some of the horrible things done to Gar by the Chief, all seen by Rachel who somehow found herself able to wander in Gar's memories even though she hasn't been able to before and towards the end gets her answer when meeting someone very magical and powerful.

• Now to jump to another ship, I'm a sucker for re-writing episodes/scenes and I've been itching to re-write the kryptonite poisoning scenes in the s&l episode "Loyal Subjekts" to give my Jonny-Boy some hurt + comfort because it's just.. ughh.. that he didn't get sick too. He's got Kryptonian dna which means he should be affected by kryptonite. Simple as that. He's getting poisoned by kryptonite and Clark is gonna be a good dad who actually takes care of Jon for once dammit!

• Okay back to Titans, I thought about writing some kind of Christmas party fic that takes place like four years after season 4. It'd be wholesome but also bittersweet because everyone's grown up with their own lives. DickKory are living a life as normal as they can with Mar'i, Rachel is about to graduate college, and Gar's living in Metropolis with a roommate (who's also technically his co-worker) but is still the Red's champion so he's barely had time to see the Titans throughout the years. It'd be a shock to everyone that Gar actually has the time to attend the party. (that, or release the director's cut of "a very merry crossover christmas")

Now for ideas that probably won't be written but they've been stuck in my head for a while

• Since Gar is connected to life and death through the Red, I assume he can contact the afterlife and thought how emotionally damaging it'd be for Gar to visit his parents. Like I have this image of his parents afterlife being living peacefully in a cute little house where they can just enjoy each other's company, away from all the science stuff that took up their attention forever, and someday Gar shows up to finally talk to them again after so long. Heartbreaking family reunion stuff, ya know?

• In the same train as family stuff because I love it, it makes me very happy, I'm so soft for the idea of dad!Gar. It's been in my brain for years. He'd be so silly but so sweet,, I'm just in love with it 🥺💖 Anyway the idea would be Dick meeting Gar's son and being a mix of anxiety, pride, and "Oh my god I'm a grandpa and I'm not even 40". Mar'i would be super excited to have a nephew too.

• Krypto in s&l, that's all. He's Jon's dog because Jon deserves a dog.

• Jon in Wonderland au. I was obsessed with this idea, like it's all I could think about for a bit. (I have a couple drawings from the idea that I'd glady show you bestie if you ever wanna see 💙)

[eclipsecrowned]

anyway. blog focusing. gonna try a technique a friend taught me to attempt to get my askbox under control. also goin to give a small preview of muses i have been asked to add -- though this does not mean they are all being added at once, some need a rewatch/reread before i unleash them on the blog.

616.

sebastienne (tbt) // 20s-30s // mutant // thi3ves guild associated due to family debts, has passive mutant abilities related to luck and probability, once getting out from under the guild's thumb she starts working towards establishing a community/support system in the south. quiet revolutionary, diligent woman, knows the city like the back of her hand and tries to be a good catholic between the demands of work and solidarity.

dnd.

m0llymauk tealeaf // 20s // tiefling // i promised them forever ago and am finally getting around to my s2 relisten to really bring them around, so thank all of you for your patience :3

fandomless.

cathal // ageless // cait sidhe // imagine an orange cat that is also fae. and all the stereotypes that implies. he's two stone, dumb as a box of rocks, but has so many heart cells that he's welcome wherever he roams. he's a good lad. dangerously cute, but subtly off-putting if you are a mortal viewing him from the lens of 'just a cat' because he is certainly not that and some of his movements/behaviors outline this.

fin*l f*ntasy gets its own section.

b*lthier // 22 // hume // the leading man is an audacious boyfailure and i love this for him. we need more on the level dashing rogues. he's the han s0lo of this rebellion and his chewie is a sexy bunny girl so what could possibly go wrong? going to rewatch a game movie to brush up on him.

br*ska // 30s // hume // i delete him. i readd him. i delete him. my bestie picks up j*cht and we start bullying our third musketeer to play aur0n. at this point he's going up and staying up til the day i die even if he never gets any airplay besides ax.

l*rsa s0lidor // baby // hume // do you love a good prince archetype? do you love lil dude morality pets to arc villains? do you believe in the redemptive power of a child leading the people into a golden age? well good luck getting to any of that because fate and his ambitious but loving elder brother are kicking this kid's ass six ways to sunday. still, he keeps his head up and aims to be better for the world than it has been to him, and is a surprisingly adroit negotiator. if i get even a whiff of people being abnormal about him i'm blocking liberally. also rewatching a game movie to brush up on him.

mikoto // 20s-30s // human // ten years ago, she was a legendary warrior guiding her summ0ner towards victory. braska and company beat her merry band there. in the ten years since, he's given up her role as a guardian, retired from public life, had a kid... and been drawn back in with the promise of an ambitious young man o reform the church she sees aging out of humanity every day. badass twin-sword wielder who is gonna lose her shit when she realizes her boss is the villain, actually --

valeriana maghreb // 20s // hume // a biracial woman raised in the deadly decadent court of the empire, daughter of a judge, and old friend of ax's muse in setting. loyal to the ruling family in totality, she has an affinity for one of the princes of the empire and plays wholeheartedly into his schemes. her own guile is reserved for helping others across the imperial march of conquest, and has been allowed to help mold another muse listed here per the schemes of his brother to shape an ideal leader. generally tender and sweet but capable of great acts of pettiness if pushed. she's so pretty and she suffers so much for what? girlish whimsy?

literature.

erik // 40s // poto // a little of the novel's absolute mystery, a dash of the musical's tragedy, altogether we stand for accountability in this house. multifaceted but unerringly the villain, even if his intentions can be read as sympathetic. i stand by the hilarity of book erik thinking wives are like little pets you feed and buy trinkets for and take for walkies in the park, the fact women find him brooding and suave and sexy is weirding him out.

quasim0do // teens // hond // i am throwing the novel the musical didney and the 39 movie in a blender and letting it create my ideal take on the character. wretched and tragic and hopeful and mad and pious. he's been through a lot. tentatively nixing his book and didney lore bc Holy Racial Stereotypes Batman, but may keep the book ambiguity about his mother potentially having been Roma. Def want a rewatch of a bootleg before I set anything for him in stone (ha ha.)

misc.

garrett // 20s // q4c // would you like to see some of the sickest blind rep in fantasy from an admittedly mid tier otherwise production? a stable boy who suffered head trauma in an evacuation that led to gradual vision loss and then outright blindness, he entertained dreams of knighthood in camelot regardless. however, the death of his biggest supporter soured him to the notion, and he retreated into an enchanted forest to carve out his own path instead. ten years later, he's getting dragged back into camelot's drama by an adventurous damsel with big hopes and dwindling experience about the world. please god someone help him he's so tired.

[carnagesaw]

i would really really really really Greatly like to hear your morikaze and takahashi headcanons so much that im willing to very briefly get over my fear of sending asks to people. I wanna hear it theyre both very dear to me

mmnbvjklslm.........skl/./.....n starts cackling maniacally twisting twisting twsiting turning wriggling in the fdirst like an earthworm.

MORIKAZE;

-SOMEWHERE IN HIS MID 30S-LATE 30S he seems like a really tired guy who just wants to do his job. the fact he gets to be a bitch is just a plus to it. workaholic maybe since he was kinda pushed into working for mdcr. stays hours after the workday is over to fix and look over stuff

-if i had to describe him itd be standoffish and loyal, even if he doesnt want to be. i think hes definitely a coward when it comes down to it though

-does not like working for mdcr too much, but the benefits are insaneee and also jungle makes it bearable

^-otherwise, morikaze doesnt like kirimi at all. they have a little work place rivalry but manage to keep it civil since theyre higher up. also because morikaze is petty as helllll

^^-morikaze resents working for someone so young, and is also oddly a little terrified of jeraldy just cause of his sheer anger. its what keeps him in line

-probably workplace besties with ven, and i use that term loosely. they have a sort of camaraderie. after ven leaves mdcr for good, he envies her escape from the company, but in the end sticks with mdcr cause where else would he go?

-jungles the executive, but morikaze mostly carries out jungles duties ( assistant executive ? ) for him since jungle gets bored working after like 5 minutes. hes definitely the backbone of the company, and he doesnt hate it since it makes him feel important to mindy

^-aside from ''assistant'' executive, i like to think he does tech ( diagnostics , etc. ) stuff and money management for the company

-when he was younger he learned how to master a ton of brass instruments. i dont think hed be the kind of guy to play in a band or live solo, but hes probably dreamt about it. trumpet was his favorite but i like to imagine he was also a big tuba and saxophone guy

-ive said this before but hes a big ska fan. jazz too but i think moreso noir jazz. i cant decide whether hed like fast paced stuff or slow so its a bit up there for me

-definitely a frequent to places that play jazz though, and even concerts

^-morikaze is fat mostly but hes definitely got a little muscle there

-CARES GREATLY for how he presents. 40 step skin care routine and he always irons out his clothing. has like insanely good hygiene its kinda scary

-hes def a real sour guy. if youre tryna have fun at a work outing with him youve gotta get some alcohol in him for him to start lightening up, otherwise hes not budging

-big fucking fan of spicy food.

-not a natural born ice elemental numa unlike koritora. he had to learn how to curate and harness ice himself. i imagine this took years and he only really got the hang of it by the time mo4 takes place, but hes pretty skilled with it regardless

^-as such, i think his body would have scars and visual damage from the ice depending on where and how hed use it. even if he can create ice from himself, it definitely takes a toll on his form after a while, especially in battle if he doesnt have his mech or a weapon. the more power and force he uses the more it kinda nips away at him

-wears makeup. not all too much, just stuff like eyeliner and mascara. i also think hed draw in his eyebrows since i feel like hair in the numa eye is a symbol to be respected

-i think even if he is a little cold, a lot of employees at mdcr still look to him for guidance

-obviously, he has a very hard time differentiating limerence and love, as he has not experienced the latter due to how much work he buries himself in

^-honestly i chalk this up to kirimi experimenting on him in several unethical ways without his consent or knowledge but this also could just be how he is its anyones guess but the former is more fun than the latter

-aware of jeraldy and kirimis corruption, but compared to the two, he cant do anything

JUNGLE;

-older than jeraldy ( only by a couple months id say maybe 18 at the time of mo4 ? but very freshly. imagine dying right after u turn 18 fuckkkkk ) , but also a bit more immature than him. while he tries to act like an adult, he always seems to fall flat

-whatever is the numa equivalent to being indigenous, jungle is that. the markings on his head and face are a family community tattoo. got them a couple years after the massacre to honor his family. each of his relatives had different tattoos, probably got the same as his ma when he was younger to honor her but probably stands for the natural process of life ( birth, growth, death )

-even for a numa hes terrifyingly skinny and tall ( about the same height as kashikin who stands at around 5'2" ) , doesnt eat a lot unless he needs to, oddly agile and freakily flexible, you put him in a tight space and he could easily be out in seconds

-often seen jumping around mdcr often. youll see him in one room one second and then 6 floors up he'll be there too somehow. hes probably wandered through mdcrs rafters a time or two lol

-he didnt like anyone at mdcr aside from jeraldy and kirimi for a very long time. i think hed have issues trusting people and feels like he can only rely on the two for anything

^-after vens recruitment i think hed slowly start backing away from the two out of concern, and morikaze talking about the two would just reaffirm what jungle feared to be happening. while he cared deeply for kirimi and jeraldy he realized the path they were going down wasnt exactly healthy or the solution. even with the space however, hed always remain loyal to jeraldy

-i think somehow he managed to avoid kirimis mistreatment, whether kirimi saw him as bait or just another thing to watch, he was definitely not a concern for him, so he got out of it by a hair

-minimal nocturnal ability, he cant see too far in front of him however. definitely needs glasses but refuses to even consider it in the end lol

-sees morikaze as more of the weird distant father, but its still the closest thing aside from kirimi and jeraldy he has to family. in a way i think he looks to morikaze for assistance ( bad idea ) but doesnt like to ask for it. as such it kinda comes off as jungle berating or using morikaze for his own profit, whatever that may be

-he has his own room in the mdcr building, as do jeraldy and kirimi. the closest he'll get again to having a home would also end up being the place hed be killed

-bare minimum of idea of what it means when it comes to self care and hygiene. also hes like the average guy on malelivingspcae when it comes to shit like that hesso bad at it i promise you. funny but also terribly sad to the point you can only give like a nervous chuckle before remembering

-the phone is a replica of his moms

^-hes very obviously a huge mommas boy

^^-any topic relating to parents or the such if you bring up or try and jestwith the guy he will breakdown. Angrily.

-tries to keep himself busy with a lot of stuff that isnt mdcr related, cause he gets super fuckin bored and eventually hell just start thinking about everything going on again. im saying he likes to try and remain blissfully unware but hes certainly very Painfully aware of the demise incoming

-worlds worst posture goes to jungle, even worse than sigkin and arakawas probably, but i think itd be a tie

-his puppies were a gift from jeraldy............ smiles

-got a little too attached to the robot of his mom. jeraldys probably walked in on jungle napping on it at some point beneath mdcr. hes never brought it up to jungle

-this guy will purposefully piss people off at mdcr to spar with them, doesnt matter in meeting, lunch room, etc etc always looking for a fight to dominate

^-despite this, hes definitely gotten his ass whooped by kirimi and morikaze, but thats because their moves can directly counter or overwhelm jungle, especially with how cocky he can be. only reason he fought kirimi was because kirimi likes to push buttons and knows exactly how to get jungle mad

^^-i dont think hed have the heart to try and spar jeraldy

-hes one of the rare cases of characters where i dont think he cares for music. regardless hes definitely a breakcore / noise guy. just any type of loud noise. hed listen to construction metal if it meant there was background noise

-his powers are wayyy too strong for him to fully control since hes not exactly using an object to try and concentrate the power ( ill compare this to how fukurou has the book and marikin has his cards, or how any other mo4 character has a weapon they can channel something into ) , which has led to a bit of destruction around the building

^-id also like to mention i think his powers revolve around raw energy. as such he can collect and transform the energy into anything ( those mostly being chemical, thermal, etc. ) he needs, unlike the other numa who can channel these into only one or two types of energy

-in conclusion, hes a big ball of ( potential ) energy that could go off at any second depending on the situation and hes always seeping energy from the surroundings

^-this would have been of use to kirimi theres no way to control it since even jungle cant. no way of using it, for good or bad, so there isnt a point in trying to harness it if the main user doesnt realize the potential ( and may never )

[angelosearch]

10 Ways To Tell You're Reading A Fic By angelosearch

@gardengalwrites came up with this awesome tag game and I am so here for it.

I am very punny. I love to use puns, allerliteration, and wordplay. Language is a jungle gym and I chose to climb it in any direction I please.

In every piece of writing I do (be it a chapter, one-shot, essay, etc.) I seek to give the reader a moment of ha, a moment of aw, and a moment of awe. I want to make you laugh, move you, and inspire you! Hopefully, I accomplish that.

This goes without saying, but dialogue (see what I did there? see #1). I let the words a character chooses to say and how they say it be the primary influence on their characterization. I think this comes from my favorite way of consuming media being TV, videogames, and movies where the plot primarily hinges on dialogue.

Family, trauma, and family trauma! I have experience in these things, enjoy thinking about them, and love to write them into my stuff so my poor characters have to suffer, muhahaha.

Most of my background in writing and reading is in nonfiction in nature and on the technical side. I've written for environmental organizations, nonprofits, associations, and medical service companies mostly in the form of marketing copy and press releases. As a result, my writing is overly researched and probably oddly specific about things that may have nothing to do with the plot. Basically, I over-explain things. We know this.

Related to the above note, I also need my writing to feel native to the subject material. I do a ton of research to tone-match and find little details and deep cuts to include to make it feel like it lives in the world I am exploring. I'd say a good 40% of the time spent on anything I am writing is dedicated to the research/planning stage.

Pop-culture references! I try to keep them subtle because I want to keep readers immersed, but I do make a lot of them. I am a pop-culture junkie. I am also planning on putting easter eggs in my fics referencing each other!

Simile, metaphor, allusion, symbolism, etc. My FAVORITE part of anything I consume is dissecting the author's intent and how their work fits into the greater context of their writing/life. Therefore, I do my best to emulate these narrative devices in my own work.

I refuse to play the omniscient narrator. I am in one character's head at a time. They are the narrator and my readers will only see what they see and know what they know in language they would be willing to use. Though I do love jumping perspectives and seeing the same scene from more than one point of view.

Unfortunately, typos. I try really hard to avoid them but my dyslexia is a powerful force that shows up in my writing.

Bonus: If it's an FFVIII fanfic, Laguna is most definitely involved. I have written three fics directly from his perspective (When in Dollet, Man of the People, and At this Moment); Balamb Harbor Playhouse and I hope you love the flowers as much as I do have him as a major character; and Chaos Theory is riddled with him and his POV as well. What can I say, I love that magical himbo and I will never stop making jokes about how he constantly falls off of cliffs. I may or may not also be using him to parent my inner child I MEAN IT'S JUST HIM AND RAINE TOGETHER YOU GUYS THEY ARE SO CUTE

Tagging @mathiwrites @irishais and any other fellow authors among my mutuals!

[bohemian-nights]

i feel like alysmond is sooo much more problematic than dettles. alys is aemond's prisoner! netty is a dragonrider and has much more power in the relationship than alys. the age gap is literally the same. i'm so sick of the hypocrisy in this fandom.

Uh as much as I love Dettles and think it’s the best ship in F&B and the people who rag on it are haters, I would say Dettles and Alysmond are pretty much equally yoked in terms of problematic elements.

Alys doesn’t have squat to her name, but a prisoner she was not(I only say she’s a concubine to point out how hypocritical people are being because you are right, she can literally be looked at as a concubine).

Even though Aemond basically killed her entire family(man the men of F&B really are special 🤣) I doubt she actually cared about any of them like that. Her father and later demented half-brother had her working for them as a servant.

In the show the Strongs are classist(see how they treat Ser Criston who they see only as the son of a steward), so odds are Alys wasn’t treated with respect.

And yeah Nettles has a dragon, but so does Daemon. He’s a prince and besides her dragon(and the gifts he gave her) she has nothing else to her name(she wasn’t even rewarded like the dragonseeds with a title or land; I believe that is why Daemon gave her those etiquette lessons and the gifts, but if he wasn’t in love with her she would’ve been screwed).

You can also make the argument that both Aemond and Daemon were using Alys and Nettles respectively. Alys because she was a witch and so Aemond used her for her prophetic powers, while Daemon only kept Nettles close because he didn’t trust the dragonseeds.

Although those arguments would be pretty shaky given how Aemond was shown to be affectionate with Alys and if Daemon really thought the dragonseeds were a threat separating Ulf and Hugh and bringing one with him would’ve been the better choice instead of taking Netty with him.

There is also no way Daemon I have no problem murking my own blood Targaryen was willing to risk his life to save her if he didn’t love Netty.

The age thing yeah they are equally yoked on that one. A 19-year-old (who is only 16 in the show which is still an adult in the ASOIAF universe before anyone says anything) getting with a 40-year-old is weird.

As is a 17-year-old (they are probably going to age up Nettles in the show and give her Laena’s book age so she’ll be in her early 20s) getting with a 49-year-old.

Most of the time when people get with someone that much younger/older the relationship is transactional However, there are rare instances where age(as long as everyone is a legally consenting adult) is just a number. The couple just genuinely enjoys each other’s company and I believe that is the cause with both Dettles and Alysmond.

Of course, Dettles is the most romantic ship in F&B(hey don’t argue with me, argue with GRRM because he’s the one who wrote this):

No wonder why the haters try to say that scream had nothing to do with Netty. Literally name me a more romantic moment than that in this book🤷🏽‍♀️

But these ships are basically identical. We can have our preferences(I like both, but obviously Dettles is S tier for me), but they are equally iffy(like most ASOIAF ships).

[collateraldamage-old]

// The idea of writing an AU Homelander where he's raised in a sorta Truman Show way while Vought waits for his powers to happen, it's been chewing on me, though mainly as a twt thing.

Like, he's certainly brighter than most kids and a little bit more durable, but he doesn't really develop powers that can be easily marketed, so he's just placed in a fake home with fake family and constantly monitored to see if maybe he's just a late bloomer.

But he goes through school, goes to university, becomes something really fucking boring (to most people, but he's brilliant at it--corporate lawyer or something to do with money), winds up going to work for Vought, probably snaps when he does find out his life for the past 40 years has been engineered in the hopes that the company hasn't completely wasted their time.

His powers manifest when it's least convenient and freak him the fuck out.

John would still develop into an asshole, I'm pretty sure it's genetic, and he's also the kind of guy who has the shittiest luck. Like, TRYING to be a good person (because his family are also assholes) keeps blowing up in his face.

(Also because I'm nasty I thought "oh god what if meeting Aurelia before her accident and the rage at the supe that caused it winds up triggering his powers ohgod")

I have been rotating this in my head for days like a rotisserie chicken