Scully sits in her new cubicle. She hates it. She hates the way her every breath is heard by at least twenty agents around her, she hates the way her back feels exposed with her front and side surrounded by thin walls, she hates the placard the reads “Fox Mulder” sitting atop the desk next to hers.
The man himself is walking down the hall. She knows it’s him; she’s spent too many years with him not to and too many nights listening to see who was outside her door as a child. Another year and she might be able to tell you what pair of shoes he’s wearing, but for now she could tell you that he’s angry. Scully does not turn around as he approaches her, the familiar shadow eclipsing her stupid, tiny desk.
Mulder slamed the paper on her desk, his hand still covering it as he asks, “What the fuck is this?” She pokes his wrist with a pen and he concedes, granting her access to the familiar page. ‘Dear A. D. Skinner’ at the top and her name at the bottom.
Scully does turn around when she hears the click of heels. Arlene, Skinner’s assistant, is racing after Mulder. “Agent Mulder, you cannot have that! That was intended for Mr. Skinner!” She looks like a cross mother speaking to a school child. Mulder does not look remotely remorseful, in fact, he ignores the poor woman all together.
Scully can feel the heat radiating off him, and she’s never wanted to step out of his reach so much before, even in the last few months, “Well, Agent Mulder, this appears to be the resignation letter I brought to A. D. Skinner’s office this morning. May I ask how it came into your possession?” She asks, her tone even, professional, and clear as a bell.
“I was going to pick up a file and saw it on his desk. You can’t quit Scully, not now! Not after Antarctica!” He’s yelling. Scully bites the urge to nag him about everyone on the floor being able to hear him. They can hear her as well, and she’ll be going out with dignity.
“As long as my resignation is accepted, and it should be as I am owed a fair amount of compensation, I can. I’m a doctor, agent Mulder, and I’d like to get a chance to use my degree in the traditional sense before I’m kidnapped by another serial killer, I hope you can understand that. Please return that paper to Arlene.” Mulder rips the letter in half. Scully purses her lips: this is childish behavior, even for him, but not entirely unexpected. Scully pulls another copy from her desk, pushing Mulder’s chest as she stands so she can have another room to breathe. “I’m terribly sorry for the inconvenience, Arlene,” she says, handing the paper to the flustered woman.
“Quite alright, Agent Scully,” she said primly and walked away. Scully practically has to manhandle Mulder out of her way so she can exit the cubicle.
“Where are you going?” He asks, so bewildered Scully almost feels bad, but she forces that back behind the door with all the other things she’s feeling about Mulder.
“The restroom, I hope that’s alright.”
“Scully, please,” She almost breaks as he grabs at her shoulder as she walks away.
She reminds herself that that’s why she has to do this and dislodges his hand. “Don’t make this personal, Agent Mulder,” she says, with her best impression of professional detachment.
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I should be asleep
but can we just appreciate that the Animorphs finale shows how incredibly important 'soft power' is, politically?
if you're not familiar: soft power is making yourself appealing and interesting. it's what south Korea does! it puts a lot of money and effort, as a state, into k-pop and Korean food, and a whole lot more. as a result: if your country wanted to start shit with south Korea, you'd probably get really upset - you've got great feelings about south Korea! blackpink is amazing! you love Korean barbeque! you'd be protesting you'd be calling your representatives, you'd be fucking mad
this is on purpose.
hard power is militaristic. you don't want to fight a country with hard power, because they have nukes, or an itchy trigger finger, etc.
(i'm super simplifying this, i'm no expert)
Jake involves the civilians of the andalite home world. marco makes sure the military knows. they're hoping for some soft power - and it works. the military can't act first and tell the civilian population a propaganda version of what they did later. the civilians are watching.
this is soft power! this is diplomacy! and later in the postwar section- the andalite civilians coming over for tourism shit? that's more soft power! that's more normal andalites that think of earth as that charming planet with delicious food and isn't it funny how we balance on two legs? oh those juveniles were so brave!
this is an alternative to war, and i love it. i love how this was written, i love the context of soft vs hard power.
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I think alot of people misinterpert Megumi's "it's our fault" after Shibuya as him taking blame for Mahoraga, when that's not what he meant at all. What he actually meant was because he chose to save Yuuji, the burden of Sukuna's actions fall on both their shoulders. That's why Megumi was so insistent on sticking by Yuuji's side, because he wants Yuuji to understand they're in this together. There is no "i" in this, just "we".
Him summoning Mahoraga has nothing to do with it, because he doesn't actually know the extent of the damage it's done or if it was even involved. All Megumi knows is:
He summoned Mahoraga so he should be dead, but he's still alive so that means it had to have been defeated
He knew Sukuna was in the area, and coupled with the destruction he saw after he woke up and the people around him (Inumaki) telling him that Sukuna opened Malevolent Shrine, he would've assumed that MS just happened to be caught Mahoraga in the domain.
There is nothing (in Megumi's limited knowledge) to indicate that Sukuna 1v1'd Mahoraga, or even knows about it, or that it actually did any collateral damage, or anything, because he didn't know about Sukuna's interest in his technique, either.
(Side note: Sukuna was going to absolutely destroy Shibuya anyways, he literally says so to Jogo. ffs stop blaming Shibuya on Megumi my god)
Idk, just people assuming Megumi said that because of Mahoraga and not because he cares about Yuuji and holds himself accountable for all the damage Sukuna has done imo takes out any emotional weight or depth the scene actually has along with his character. That's why it's misunderstood so much.
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people are saying he « led her on » because he did. the fact that he kissed her in the first episode set the tone for the rest of the season and if you can’t perceive the flirting I’m sorry but how?? he didn’t make anything clear he sent the craziest mixed signals in the world. there’s nothing revolutionary about claiming that Martha was being pushy toward someone who was clearly not interested it’s 1) weird to claim in what it suggests about her 2) factually not true.
I wasn’t gonna respond to this at first because the top half of this ask is pretty much just individual interpretation and I don’t really care about it. Like, no, to me, the Doctor doesn’t seem especially flirty towards Martha. He’s just sort of Like That. That’s his damage, you know, Mr. I need to traumadump on anyone who tolerates being around me for more than five minutes. Mr. If I don’t develop an intensely codependent emotional bond with the companion I have currently I’ll die. It doesn’t read to me as him trying to lead her on because that bit’s honest, and he does it with damn near every companion he’s ever had.
And if nothing else, because we do see Ten when he tries to flirt intentionally and he’s a fuckin dork about it. Kind of guy who looked up romance in the dictionary and took notes. Kinda guy who draws diagrams to maximize kissing potential. It would have been obvious even to me (<- romance-blind as all fuck) if he was flirting with Martha on purpose because he’s not smooth at all; he flirts like he’s gotten lines in a play and he’s super excited to be the main star.
But anyway, as I was saying, that’s just how I see it. And if you see it different, no skin off my back, I just disagree.
But I take umbrage with you putting words in my mouth. I never said Martha was pushy towards him. Because yeah, she’s not. If I implied that she was, then it was a result of poor phrasing on my part. Martha’s not at fault for what she feels, for wanting there to come something of it. No more at fault than the Doctor is for not returning those feelings. It’s a bit weird that you’re assuming that I think one of them has to be the bad guy here when that was the opposite of what I was saying. My point was: When it comes to their romantic subtext of their relationship, it’s weird to pretend like either of them are to blame for them not being in a relationship at the end of s3, and even weirder to assert that as part of why Martha supposedly wouldn’t like the Doctor afterwards when they’re. friends. they continue to be friends into s4.
Martha’s not pushy. She has a crush on her friend. It happens. He doesn’t return it. This also happens. Both of these facts are pushed to the extreme because he’s a time-traveling alien with poor emotional skills and she’s put herself in the position of needing to help him from minute one of meeting each other. That’s why it’s fun to watch, because the Doctor is both so open and so unavailable in turns, because Martha’s feelings for him grow and change as she knows more about her Doctor until she decides to step back.
I don’t know, man. You seem to be coming at this as if one of them has to be The Problem™️. I don’t think either of them is, not so definitively. I think boiling their relationship down to that is reductive and an insult to the way they both grow over s3, to Martha’s choice to continue to be his friend while also establishing her own boundaries, to the fact that the Doctor is able to let her go without immediately trying to kill himself afterwards when she’s not there to catch him.
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Gonna ramble again bc why not
So we already know Varian is super awkward around new people (especially people his age), and when people catch him off guard, right?
He'd be even worse with physical affection
We've only seen him willingly hug like 3 of the characters in the entire show: his dad, Rapunzel, and Lance. His dad bc, well, that's his dad. Lance bc he LITERALLY SAVED HIM FROM FALLING TO HIS DEATH. And that boy was frazzled AF when Lance caught him. Raps bc she had just saved his dad from literal death.
When Rapunzel hugs him, though? He's always genuinely surprised, confused, or just doesn't react at all.
So imagine him when the person hugging him or showing him affection is a romantic interest or even partner to him. You can bet he's gonna turn into a shy, probably even blushing, mess.
The guy isn't even used to getting hugged all that often, do you think he's gonna keep his composure if someone he's got a crush on shows him affection, and especially something like kissing? Probably not, especially early on in the relationship!
And honestly, the same goes for Hugo. Neither of them are used to physical affection, so when he first starts dating Varian, it's a mess of blushing and stuttering, despite the cool and calm demeanor Hugo tries to put on.
And with Grace a part of the picture, she and Varian are dating for a good two years before Hugo comes into the picture of the polycule. So those two are pretty used to showing each other affection, but ofc still get a little flustered (especially if it's PDA lol). Before that, it's about 6 months before either of them start opening up to him as a friend and start showing him any kind of physical affection like hugging. And even though it's not romantic at the time, Hugo is still very shocked by it, and understandably so. The guy grew up in an orphanage that didn't really nurture him all that much, and after he ran away from there at 14, he was on the streets where nobody would show him physical affection. So the first time Varian even puts his hand on Hugo's shoulder, just as a show of support, it's definitely a shock to Hugo.
Yes this is me rambling about Frozen Alchemy before 7am again, it's fine xD
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im so sleep deprived rn but guys do u know that playing dangerous (lana) tiktok where they stand beside a cop or some shit and sing the lyrics “everybody knows im a good girl officer”? thats so !!! reader n simon coded im gonna be ill
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