#i'm on rio's side in the divorce

[mari-thesapphic-lady]

She was genuinely happy here apparently, even though the situation didn't seem the best she was very happy to see Agatha again.

Even though all the anger and resentment that Agatha feels for her had returned. She seemed at least to me truly happy.

Conclusion: Death's just a silly who was happy to have her wife back :)

Okay but her smile here is SO STUNNING LIKE 😍

[room-of-lies]

safamapiley dump ples. for the soul

THANK YOU FOR ENABLING ME, YOU WILL REGRET IT!

what I'm about to ramble about is majorly based on me and my friends' interpretations, theories and headcanons of these characters and how I imagine they're hypothetical relationship would pan out under the conditions we're presented with in-game! To put it shortly—I don't rly care about canon accuracy or if any of the relationship potential would be somehow ruined by the new chapter coming out, I'm having fun :3

With that little disclaimer outta the way, HI.

Why do I see potential in safamapiley as a polycule?

Well let's start with the fact Maple is a character who's narrative largely revolves around love. The love program is the only thing keeping her from killing Hiyori who well. didn't exactly treat her Well.. Alongside this, Emiri is another character with an implied tragic love life! In ch 3 dialog it's revealed she previously had a fiancé who went mad (I could go on all day about my thoughts on this specific thing and how I imagine their relationship went down but that's a tangent for another day) so it's safe to say either through death or divorce, he is no longer in her life as now she is dedicated to asunaro. Where things differ slightly is with Michiru, while not directly related to something involving relationships, was implied to be easy to convince to join asunaro, essentially having nothing to lose and everything to gain. Implied to be lonely, easy to convince to join something as shady as asunaro.. with those outlooks on life, you have 3 lonely, fucked up women who could all make each other sooooo much worse <3

It's stated that Hiyori considers Emiri to be scary, this line of thinking kinda made me wonder what she might have done to give him this opinion but I like to think she just sorta. hates him honestly! and with this, Maple essentially being doomed to love someone who would never love her back would honestly make Emiri pity her, perhaps even resent Hiyori for his treatment of her since. as someone who was once in love and lost it, seeing someones heart toyed with in this way is rage inducing AND . This is a weaker point but in the sillier media like the anthology comics shes shown to act uncharacteristically sweet to someone like shin… who ppl often draw parallels to maple :3

This brings us to the even more tragic side of things, in particular: Michiru’s involvement in creating technology and her associations with the ais such as rio (and ai-ceiver) with this association, it’s not too far of a stretch to think perhaps she helped in part to create or maintain Maple! Therefore knowingly allowing something she considered living continue to suffer under an unrequited love she had no choice in feeling… and while Michiru can be cruel, we see in the memory machine game end she’ll gladly allow someone to sacrifice their sound mind for her—she IS remorseful! So. Queue her being a bystander, this beautiful killing machine deluded with something she can never have all for the sake of HER company’s game… all in the name of keeping hiyori alive. I love yuri that hurts what can I say <3

A similar sentiment could be drawn to Emiri, though her associations with technology are more focused on the puzzles, executions and death traps (if we consider the silly 4KOMA) and her association with the ais is less of a factor… the most we can see about her thoughts on whether the ais are alive would be how she commands the wrigglers around like they’re her henchmen or attack dogs ehehe…

All this is to say:

there is a genuine argument to be made that both michiru and emiri would be sympathetic to maple, maple might even be appreciated company in asunaro because she’s not a floormaster like them, not a researcher—something almost not associated with asunaros dealings, merely a cog unknowingly turning… on the flip side of this, I think Michiru and emiri would have a much more antagonistic dynamic if you take the fact they were brought into the company under much different circumstances.. that’s not to say they can’t be good company for one another. Emiri would initially see michiru as an easy target, only to possibly unearth her more twisted nature under her emotional guise… as well as Michiru recognising the desperation within Emiri as someone possibly Wanting To Forget Something Terrible That May Have Happened With her Fiancé <3 it’s normal to possibly want to experiment on another woman, only leaving her happy memories, no? I mean, she has nothing left to lose. Much like Michiru herself ^^ two sides of a horrible little coin!

As for scenarios involving all three I particularly enjoy:

Maple still in love program in pre-canon, not understanding the joy she feels when talking with the other two but still trying to get close to them (the guys of asunaro are sooo boring when it comes to what she’s interested in talking abt… at least the women will indulge her and not run off like hiyori). Michiru stewing in guilt every time she talks to maple, wanting to find some way around the love program, while trying to not have a nervous breakdown over emiris incessant teasing and Emiri resigning herself to her fate to never being able to truly get close to Maple, so she may as well enjoy their company (not without a little discomfort at Any mention of His name) as well as teasing Michiru as unlike maple, she Is able to understand her emotions as well as just loving to watch her squirm and possibly lift that miserable little mask of hers to show how truly deranged she is <3

A post canon scenario where Maple gets repaired, slowly having to heal while mourning love that was never within her control while Michiru and Emiri sort of feel conflicted as to how to approach being romantic with her considering how much hiyori effected her... also it takes a while to repair her body so she's monitor-bound for a good while. Emiri is more open to trying to give maple a better example of a relationship (out of spite almost. lmao) but considering she is the way she is.. her attempts are a bit clumsy and sometimes do more bad than good.. while Michiru is more focused on giving Maple the chance to explore outside the facility once her body is repaired, though she worries over her experiencing how harsh the outside world can be (ironic because she literally lived in the DEATH game facility but u get my point) and also emiri and michiru are butting heads over this the entire time while picking up the pieces of what remains of asunaro. this may or may not be the silly little post-game au I've been cooking in my brain for a while now. dw abt it

I feel bad for having gone on so long so I'll cut it here, apawlogies for yapping so much i'm not. normal <3 thank you again for allowing me to be insane for a bit :D

[chaifootsteps]

Hey, been following your Rio AU. While I'm not entirely on board with the whole Blu and Jewel divorce (one of the few ships that got me into fanfiction back in 2013), I do dig the AU story. I like to imagine Roberto would start to have less and less of Eduardo's shit, mostly cause he knows how hard Blu had tried (and is trying) to make things work, and while they're not his, he cares a lot about Blu's kids.

I definitely don't want them to get divorced when it's just the original movie. They were adorable, I want that Blu and Jewel to live happily ever alongside their kids with the slightly fatter designs.

Roberto definitely would have a limited tolerance for Eduardo's shit. One of the scenes I really liked from the sequel I actually really like is when Eduardo's going on about Blu and Roberto doesn't take a side, and even when he does later on, it's very briefly. While Roberto in my thing is team Jewel just because it's Jewel, he knows Blu's a good guy who's trying his best and never doubts his love for Jewel or the kids.

"That's my little girl."

"And my wife. How could I hate the bird who jumped out of a moving plane just to be with her?"

[aquagirl1978]

Whaddaya think?

Jin: divorce lawyer

Chev: Government lawyer

Clavis: entertainment lawyer

Leon: family lawyer/ Public interest lawyer

Yves: IP lawyer

Nokto: "hi I'm Nokto klein, did you know that you have rights? Constitution says you do and so do I. I believe that until proven guilty every man women and child in this country is innocent" civil rights lawyer

Licht: personal injury lawyer

Luke: environmental lawyer

Silvio: business lawyer

Gilbert: military lawyer

Alter!Keith: prosecutor

Keith: defense

I was liking some of this with some changes - Leon would be more public interest, Yves entertainment attorney to the stars, I'm sorry your blurb for Nokto made me think of Better Call Saul (great, great legal show, watch it if you haven't), Gilbert would make a sexy JAG (ever see A Few Good Men?).

But then I got this reply on a post:

@wordycheeseblob I'm going to take your idea (Chevalier would be the prosecuters, Chevalier DA, the others ADA, Luke the intern), and Leon's faction is a rag tag team of defense attorneys (have you seen The Practice? Go watch it, another great legal drama). And then I thought the three new princes are being questioned by both sides to find out what happened the night of a crime.

Sariel is the judge - he is particularly tired of Clavis' dramatics in court. Sariel's right hand man, his Law Secretary, is Rio. And you work under Rio - maybe as a fresh law school grad and both the prosecuter and defense teams have been wanting to hire you for their firms.

[nightowlsim]

New Matches Available on Cupid's Corner! 6 NO-CC SIMS FOR YOUR SAVE/GALLERY

Nadia Byrd (she/her, Young Adult): A champion High School swimmer. She spent her high school years overachieving in Sports and Academics, leaving no room for a social life. Can this Sim find time to nurture her Romantic side now that she's living independently?

Anthony Burke (he/him, Adult): An accomplished doctor who dreams of living a comfortable life and making strides in medicine. He is looking to widen his social circle after being shaken by his ex-wife's sudden demand for a divorce. Can this Sim learn to find a healthy balance between his work, social, and family lives?

Rio Ueda (they/them, Young Adult): For their entire life, Rio has dreamed of becoming a virtuoso violinist. Their life is consumed by their passion for music and performing. Rio is looking for a partner that shares their same passion for music, performing, and indulging in different homebody hobbies.

Minoru Akiyama (he/him, Young Adult): After moving out of his parents' house, Minoru is ready to branch out and explore what the world has to offer! He wants to meet as many people as possible and enjoy his young adulthood. Minoru loves to dance and party, and he's not looking to tie himself to anyone - but he's more than happy to explore and have a good time.

Wendy Willis (she/her, Adult): Wendy devoted her life to her ex-husband and child. She spent her entire young adult life at home, reading books and tending to her family. She thought she was happy, until she realized her husband has been distant from the family for a long time. After filing for a divorce, Wendy is looking to find a partner who shares her dreams of raising a family and befriending the neighborhood - and maybe forming a tight-knit book club along the way.

Celia Monet (she/her, Young Adult): Celia is a self-taught jeweler who is looking for love! She is in love with love and wants a fairytale romance. Each of her pieces is filled with her hopes to find a lifelong love, and she won't accept anything less than perfect.

Note: Anthony Burke and Wendy Willis are part of the same Household/zip file, and come with their teen Emma (they/them). I divorced Anthony and Wendy in my game but I'm not sure if the gallery reads divorce or if they'll just be household members that don't like each other :')

[LINK TO DOWNLOAD] (5 zip files at the bottom of post)

[aspideronmywall]

Ok lads, it's time I open up my writting side, and what better way than to post the first chapter of a WIP to help me stay motivated because I'm DETERMINED to finish at least one of my increasing pile of WIPs.

So, the first chapter of a Nick Bradshaw x OC that I have brewing.

Note: This is by no means a polished work, it doesn't even have a proper title, which I will update in the future when I eventually figure it out. (Any suggestions are welcome if anyone has an idea) This also may have some terminology that is used incorrectly, or is just outright wrong for the time period because I just don't know and for some reason I can't seem to find a timeline for naval aviation lingo through history.

Warnings: Swearing, Sexual innuendos, divorce, angst, fluff, misogynistic discrimination (minor, but placed here nonetheless.)

Enjoy!

“Spider! Where are you?”

“Below you, on your six Mav.”

“Goose, make sure you keep your eyes open for those MiGs, sneaky bastards!”

“Got it Mav,”

There was 30 seconds of radio silence, both pilots keeping their head on a constant swivel, the RIO's keeping double duty with their radars and looking for visual contact.

"Magellan, how we looking?"

"Still no contact, continue heading 015- I mean 095!"

The three other aviators shook their heads in exasperation.

"You really need to go back to flight school, you know that?" Spider laughed.

"Hey! I'm not the one who got both our asses chewed out on our first day on the boat, now was I?" Magellan sneered.

Spider looked at Maverick. Hoping the head turn was enough to send a message.

Maverick briefly switched his coms to passenger only. "Spider's pissed,"

Goose heard the digital beep signaling him that Maverick turned off their outward communications. "Yeah, I would be too in that situation. Would you let me be that much of an ass to you?"

"Who says you aren't already?" 

"Don't bullshit with me Mav," Goose turned his head to gaze at the other jet. "I have never seen a pair of people, who want to do nothing more than throw the other off the deck, than those two."

"Mav, something doesn't feel right," Spider's voice brought Maverick back to the cockpit.

He re-established outward communications. "Talk me through it Spider,"

"I'm going inverted," pushing the yoke to the right, the jet elegantly spiraled so the cockpit was faced with the ocean. Glancing to the ocean below. The pilot could see three MiGs in a tight formation below them.

"Mav we got a problem, three bogeys directly below us, not much more than 2,000 feet I'd say"

"Strike, permission to engage?"

"Negative Ghost Rider,"

"What? Come on!" Goose shot back.

"Strike this is no normal formation, there should be no reason they would be so close below us and now they know we've spotted them we need to make the first move-"

"Repeat: Do not engage."

"Damn it!" Spider cried out.

"Well, we've got to do something to get these MiGs out of here what do you suggest Strike?" Spider inquired.

"Approach but do not open fire,"

"Alright Mav, let's bug 'em out," Goose chants excitedly

"I'm with you Maverick."

"Throttle back, and descend,"

"OK what's the plan here, we are in an F-14 not a paper airplane," Magellan felt himself go weightless, taking the breath from his words.

"Alright let's get missile lock on these guys and send 'em home," Maverick encouraged.

"Get a move on Mav, don't wait for me," Spider informed.

Maverick was engaging one of the three MiG's, his targeting system was taking its sweet time to lock on. The high-pitched alarm sounded and Mavericks lips curled up.

"Gotcha," Goose muttered, mustache twitching up.

Goose could hear, Spider's murmuring, "Come on, give me tone, give me tone," 

After Spider's successful lock on, the three MiG's peeled off. 

"Nice work boys, time to go back and-" Spider stopped speaking. A loud alarm blaring.

Magellan could see the lights blinking rapidly, the RIO turned and tried to find the aircraft behind them.

"Visual contact! On our Six, Spider!" 

"I'll come around and-"

"Shit Mav, We got one too!" Goose twisted his head back around to see the dark jet advancing on them.

Spider heard another alarm.

The enemy had fired.

"Smoke in the air! Smoke in the air Spider!" 

"Hang on," the pilot flipped a lever, bringing the wings out on the jet to produce more lift. Yanking the yoke back, they ascended above the attacker. "Magellan, flares!"

Magellan, reached forward to activate the button, releasing the heat radiating projectiles to keep them from harm. They heard a resounding boom behind them, with no new warnings sounding off.

"Coming back around to engage," Spider's fingers twisted, the throttle levers splitting apart, while simultaneously pressing one foot on full brakes. The jet twisted gracefully in the air.

"Holy shit!" Magellan exclaimed. His hands pressed against the top of the canopy.

With the wings leveling out, Spider was watching for the lock on. When hearing the pitch, Spider pressed on the button. "Taking the shot!" 

The missile cut its way through the air, the trail taking a rotating and twisting path. The MiG it was aimed at was consumed with fire on impact, the enemy plane was no more.

"Scratch one! Let's go help Mav." Magellan called out.

Spider took a hard bank to the left watching the two planes in a rather acrobatic flight.

"Mav, this guy's still on us!" Goose warned.

"What the hell? Get this guy off me Spider,"

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Go vertical, help me engage."

Spider levels the wings and tried to get a lock on to the other MiG. The jet banked away from Maverick, going back in the direction of the three others.

"Looks like he bugged out before I could get there, your tail is clear Mav. Let's go back, fuel is getting low,"

"Great balls of fire Spider, you got another kill!" Goose whooped.

A smile crept along Spider's face.

"Well, I just about had a heart attack back here," Magellan jabbed.

Spider's jaw clenched. Taking a breath in to calm the nerves.

"Let's just get back to the boat,"

To say the landing was uneventful would be a lie. While Spider did coax Maverick out of doing a flyby of the tower, another pain in the ass was trying to pick on Spider.

"You are unbelievable when flying out there," Magellan blocked Spider from continuing down the corridor.

"Why thank you Magellan," Spider shot the man a condescending smirk.

"Wasn’t a compliment," Magellan retorted. He tried to tower over Spider, however he was unsuccessful. "You're dangerous, unpredictable. How you even graduated flight school is beyond me,"

"Well then if you don't like my flying then you can ask to get reassigned,"

Magellan grumbled and walked past the pilot.

"Or you treat this like it's a serious occupation, not the circus!" Magellan threw back. "Especially someone like you,"

Spider's smirk widened, "Ah, I get it now," Spider turned to look at Magellan who had made a fair bit of distance down the hallway. "Your fragile ego has been shattered because a woman is flying you," 

Goose and Maverick picked up their pace at Spider's words, rounding the corner, they were met to see Magellan's back.

"My ego? No, I don't have an ego!"

Spider tilted her head with raised eyebrows.

"No, your ego is going to get us killed, a woman can't keep her head straight in the air, you're too busy trying to impress that Bradshaw boy!"

Don't let him get to you Shadlena.

Magellan felt a large hand grip his shoulder; his nose began to scrunch up from the pain of the calloused fingers digging into his joint. "Do we have a problem here pal?" Goose looked down to the RIO.

Magellan looked up to see the fire in Goose's eyes, the kind of look that said: You're lucky that there are people here, otherwise there would be no saving you.

"Uh, No Goose, just a minor disagreement, that's all," Magellan rushed to get out of Goose's grip, brushing past them.

"Magellan!" Shadlena called out. "Your bunk is this way,"

"Shit," he muttered under his breath. Magellan returned back the way he came. Goose caught his arm again and leaned down to Magellan.

"If there are anymore of these kinds of…disagreements, there will be hell to pay,"

Magellan wiggled his way out of Goose's grip, to the point where he was running down the hall to get away from the rather protective RIO.

Goose smirked, proud of his work, and sauntered his way up to Shadlena.

"So, are you getting a new RIO?" He asked, leaned up against the wall.

"Probably, he's too scared of the great and mighty Mother Goose he's got to contend with,"

Goose placed a hand over his chest with a theatrical gasp and his best british accent, "How dare you even entertain the mere idea that Magellan was competition for me dear,"

The accent wasn't all that great.

A laugh rolled effortlessly from Shadlena’s lips, her bright eyes taking his soul to the great heavens above. His chest bubbling at the sight of his friend enjoying his entertainment.

"Hey, don't forget to check for mail you two, it came in today," Maverick walked past Shadlena. Placing a few pats on her upper back, and throwing a nod to Goose.

"Well did you go check Pete?" Goose asked, Pete rolled his eyes.

"Nick, who would be sending me any letters?" Pete proposed.

Nick nodded his head lowly, "Alright you got me there,"

"Nick, would you check if I have any? I'm going to take a shower before you lads do," Spider inquired. Searching his eyes with a hopeful gaze.

"Of course Lena-" he patted her shoulder, "And yeah take a damn shower, you stink,"

"So do you Bradshaw," She smirked.

"Alright time to hit the showers Goose, man Spider is giving me a run for my money,"

There was no response. Pete stood waiting for a quick witted quip, or anything for that matter.

"Goose, where's my-" Pete spun on his heel to see his RIO hunched over, shoulders shaking. The smug grin fell. Pete hopped over the bench and sat next to Nick, an arm hung around his shoulders.

"Talk to me Goose," He almost didn't hear it, but he didn't need to hear to know what Pete had said.

"Carol…" Nick sniffed. Pete looked down at the paper Nick held. Tears staining and bleeding the ink.

"She, she, God Mav," Nick looked up to Pete. His puffy red eyes taunting Pete to shed tears of his own.

“Tell me. What’s wrong Nick?” A chill washed over Nick.

“She’s leaving me Pete.”

The silence was louder than any thunder that had echoed through the skies that night, they were in their bunk, a soft knock came from the door. Pete opened up the heavy door, there stood Shadlena.

“Can I come in Mav?” her voice was partially drowned by the crack of thunder overhead.

With a soft nod he motioned her inside. Shadlena saw Nick facing the wall, silently sobbing. She climbed up and sat near his legs on the edge of the bunk, Pete drifted over to a desk in the corner and ask down on the desk legs bent.

Before Spider said anything, Goose had turned to face into the room. His eyes were trying to look anywhere but her face.

“I’m pathetic,” Nick had a rawness in his voice that brought a gut wrenching pain to her chest.

“You’re human,” She had moved herself to lay next to Nick. Her fingers pushed the rebellious hair out of his face. 

“We are here for you Nick, I promise,” she scooted closer.

“No, Lena, don’t-”

“Too late,” Shadlena had wrapped her arms around him and held him with a death grip.

Keeping her voice low for Nick, and only Nick, to hear. “I will stay as long as you need, no need to apologize, no need to thank me, just let yourself be free,” Shadlena was twirling his hair.

“Stay with me tonight Shadlena,” 

“Of course,” 

Goose had buried himself as close to her as humanly possible, he was trembling his emotions all got turned up beyond the max, everything was eating him alive. They slept through the night.

Goose woke up to a familiar scent, his eyes remained closed, but his mind teased him with memories…

“Aww, come on Nick, she's got it on for you!” Peter egged on.

The trio sat in a booth at a diner near their local high school. 

“Naw, no way man. Out. Of. My. League!” he exclaimed.

“If you’re going to be this much of a pussy Nick, I'm going to get her to come over here and talk to you,” Shadlena was sitting next to him, he could smell the light perfume she wore.

He turned his upper body to her, his eyebrows raised almost to his hairline, “Don’t you dare,”

Shadlena winked at him and got up, Nick dropped his head in his hands, this would be the single most embarrassing night of his life. He peeked through his fingers to watch Shadlena grab a napkin and asked the waitress he was so worked up about for a pen, with a light nod and radiating smile she obliged, listening to Shadlena talk. Shadlena slightly turned and pointed toward Nick and Peter and he tried to bury his head further into his hands.

Shadlena returned but seated herself next to Peter.

The waitress had walked back over to their table, the napkin tucked into the back pocket of her jeans.

"So, Mother Goose," the waitress looked at Shadlena for approval.

Shadlena gave her an eager nod, instilling the waitress with confidence.

Meanwhile, Nick had brought his forehead to press against the table, arms folded over the back of his head.

"Someone told me you're aspiring to become a naval aviator when you get your papers approved,"

Nick felt his confidence build up, this was his chance to be the big player navy men were pictured to be.

Nick lifted himself to sit tall against the back of the booth, "That's right honey, I'm going to be the best RIO the navy has ever seen," he announced, panning his hand in front of himself.

"You're not going to be a pilot?" She questioned.

Pete smirked, telling himself that Nick had just crashed and burned on his first take off.

"Well, what good's a pilot if he's dead? I'm going to be the guy that keeps me and my pilot alive up there, the best Radar Intercept Officer. Ever." Nick gestured to himself and then Peter. Helping the waitress make the connection that they planned to fly together.

"Well that sounds like a very important job future Lieutenant-" the waitress trailed off, hopping to be supplied with a name.

"Bradshaw, Nick Bradshaw,"

"Well future Lieutenant Bradshaw, I hope to see you around here more often, and keep our skies safe up there gentlemen, miss," the waitress nodded and walked back to her place behind the counter.

"Thank you, Lena" Nick rubbed his hands together, the butterflies finally settling in his stomach.

"Anytime Nick,"

Nick had opened his eyes finally, scanning them over Shadlena, who was still wrapping her arms around him. He could feel her fingers still tangled in his hair.

"You awake Nick?" She asked without opening her eyes.

"Yeah," he whispered hoarsely.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“I… I don’t know.”

“Do you want me to leave?” 

“No!” his whisper was desperate, needy. 

Shadlena had a thousand thoughts running through her head, opening up her eyes to see Nick's state of dishevelment. The way his hair stuck up widely, partially because of her hands in his hair. His lips parted, the way his eyes were still red from bawling as if the tears never stopped even as he slept. The way his flight suit was unzipped with no undershirt-

She shook her head slightly.

No.

Don't think about him like that.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"Yeah…I'm alright" 

Nick chuckled, placing on hand on the side of her face, "You look like you want to take a bite out of me, Lena"

Nick crawled over her to get out of bed, turning Shadlena into a blushing mess.

What the hell are you thinking Shadlena, nothing happened, friends comfort each other like this all the time.

Right?

Shadlena willed herself to get up from the bed. She heard the door close behind Nick, taking a careful look around the room looking for Peter or anyone else that might be in there. Evaluating that she was alone, she slumped down against the wall, head in her hands.

You can't go and have this little rekindling of a high school crush because the man’s getting divorced! Jesus he’s not even officially single yet.

Shadlena sighed in frustration, checking her watch she saw the time was 9:43 am. Her and Nick lost out on breakfast. With her stomach grumbling in protest she stood and walked to her own bunk.

Lost in her own thoughts she bumped into someone in the hallway. She muttered an apology without glancing up.

“Spider,”

She looked up from the floor to see Peter was who she ran into.

“Oh, geez sorry Pete,” she tilted her head.

“Don’t worry about it, I was actually coming to check on you and Goose,”

“He left before I did, have no clue as to where he went,”

The two squished themselves to one wall of the hallway to let a pilot and RIO pair past them.

“Maybe he went to command?”

“Perhaps, let's go.'' Shadlena nodded her head in the direction of the commander's office.

Nick had knocked on the door to the office. Tugging up on his flight suit zipper. which he only realized now that he was still wearing.

"Come in,"

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door to the office and stepped inside. Commander Stinger glanced up at Nick, only taking a moment to register who had put themselves in front of his desk, he looked back down at his paper.

"Bradshaw," Stinger sighed.

Nick could feel the intense heat generated by the carrier, beads of sweat rolling down his face only made him feel more vulnerable.

"Sir, I received a letter from my Wife yesterday,"

Stinger slowly glanced up to the RIO, he raised his eyebrows in question.

"She's divorcing me sir, and in my current mental state, I am quite unsure if sending me back into the air would be a good idea," Nick clamped his eyes shut ready for the Commander to bust his ass for being so soft, but the words never came.

"I see lieutenant, well the best I can do at the moment is to have you grounded for the next two days, after that I'll have you go to the sick bay so they can do an evaluation on your mental state," the commander sat back in his chair, passing a hand over his face.

"Tell Spider and Maverick to come to my office, you are dismissed,"

"Yes sir, thank you sir," Nick turned and began to depart, opening the door he took a step out.

"Lieutenant," the commander called.

Nick half turned back to the Commander.

"I'm sorry," 

Nick nodded his head and got out of the sweaty office, not that the rest of the carrier was any better. He could see Peter and Shadlena halfway down the hall. And not a moment passed before Shadlena started to jog to him. When she arrived she pulled him into a tight embrace, just about knocking him to the floor.

"What's going on Nick?" She questioned, unable to hide the concern from her expression.

"I just told the commander about what happened, he's allowed me a few days grounded until I'm in a better headspace,"

Shadlena nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Jesus, you have long legs," Maverick leaned against the wall with an exasperated sigh.

"It's not my fault both sides of your family gene pool were stingy when it came to height." Shadlena retorted. Nick had lightly bumped her shoulder earning a smirk from her, “Hey be nice to the short stack,” Nick chimed back.

“I’ll be nice when he grows about 8 inches,”

“I’ll show you 8 inches,” Peter grumbled, still hunched over.

Nick had raised his eyebrows in disbelief. “You better not, Mitchell!”

“Or what? Bradshaw.”

“Easy, Goose,'' Shadlena soothed, a hand running lightly down from his shoulder.

“I know Mav isn't 8 inches. He would have had a wife by now if he was,”

Both men turned their heads to look at Shadlena, both equally baffled by her statement, but for two very different reasons.

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” Peter stood up.

“I’m going to fucking kiss you,” Nick breathed out, face instantly going red the moment she turned her head to him. “Oh, Jesus i really didn’t mean to say that I’m sorry-”

“I’ll kick you in the nuts if you do,” Shadlena interrupted with a lopsided smirk.

She turned her attention to Pete, “And, I’ll kill you first,”

Nick blinked a few times, trying to register if he should be worried or turned on.

Damnit, Goose. What is it with you today?

“H-Hey” Nick lightly patted both of his companion’s shoulders, “Stinger wanted me to fetch you guys to send you to his office, thanks for doing the hard work for me,”

Pete and Shadlena glanced at each other, worry etched into their faces.

They turned back to regard Nick, "What did we do this time?" They said together.

"I don't know, he didn't give me any details." Nick said, resting his hands on his hips. "But you better get in their before he busts your asses,"

They nodded and parted ways. Pete held the door open for Shadlena, and she assumed position in front of the desk with Pete arriving at her side a moment later.

"Sir," Shadlena announced, "You wanted to see us, sir?"

The commander looked up from his desk and sat back, eyeing how both pilots were sweating.

This goddamned boat without AC is killing me.

"Goose is grounded," he delicately plucked the cigar he had been nursing and drew the smoke into his mouth. Tilting back he parted his lips, letting the smoke curl and twist its way out into the room.

Shadlena and Pete strained their eyes to gaze at each other in their peripherals, causing the headaches they were experiencing to weigh harder on their fight to remain at attention.

"For now," the commander finished. Replacing the cigar to its resting place. He folded his hands up and propped his elbows on the desk. His head turned to a small, ungraceful shrine on the end of his desk.

Two rather young people, a man and a woman, embracing from a tearful reunion. A set of dog tags hung from a plaque the picture was tucked into. The woman once widowed had given the tags to him during her final days on the earth.

Brother

"Spider, I'm going to ask you to be Mavericks temporary RIO," the commander pulled an agonizingly thick book from a shelf and rested it in front of him. "Take whatever time you need to refresh your memory on procedures, but orders are to be that you two are flying tomorrow on Mavericks schedule,"

Shadlena stepped forward to grip the manual, slipping the book under her arm, and returned to her attention position.

Pete eyed the back of her head as she stepped forward, calm washing over him. Familiarity and a deep-rooted nostalgia flooded his mind.

"You two are dismissed,"

[borreloadsavagedragon]

Of course I have to ask for Kaito, but also, the Arclights :3c

Oh boy........ I did mr Tenjo already, so it's time for the drama club family

First impression: Honestly... I was a little bit terrified! I knew how beloved all of them were and I was waiting for one of them to ruin my life lowkey, so definitely a little terrified

Impression now III: My favorite Arclight, I want to protect him and also let him throw swords at my enemies for the rest of my life and his, I love that's he's the definition "call an ambulance! but not for me!!!!" IV: I hope Thomas IV Arclight is very pissed that Kaito's my favorite Zexal character; surprisingly, even tho he's my kind of crazy, I'm not rly a huge fan of him in canon, but more the idea of him? If that makes sense, like I like him but he ranks surprisingly low compared to most of the cast because I wasn't too big on how his character was handled, sweats nervously V: I love you and I think you’re very a interesting character, but I really want to pull hard on your long beautiful hair sometimes because you have no right, please wear your hair in a braid again though, that was a LOOK Tron: A Yugioh Dad tm, no real feelings one way or another, but I'm glad he came around for his boys, compared to other token parents in this franchise he ranks surprisingly high! I imagine he destroys all three of them in Mario Kart

Favorite moment III: Throwing a whole ass sword at Mr Heartland omfg, WHY DID IT MISS!!!! WE COULD HAVE BEEN SAVED!!!!!!!!! He also was never leaving Yuma's side after Astral sacrificed himself and that's gjdsklagjklgjdsklga IV: I’m torn between his duel with Nasch because he’s just such a freak how he talks sometimes, and I also love how he just… goes all out against a pair of middle schoolers, like there was never a hinge on him to begin with💀 I also love that Thomas is introduced as this celebrity, champion duelist but NEVER wins against a named character that isn't one of Yuma's background friends or in a tag with someone else gjdaskljgdklsaj, accidental cringe king V: I really like the arctic moments, specifically when he makes this face

Tron: Being an absolute menace at the WDC second round party fjdhdhdh, you can just tell he’s the father of the other three

Idea for a story: I have no idea honestly fjehdjje, they’re usually just recurring characters or background in the drafts I have But I do love writing my friends’ oc and canon pairs so they’ll usually get the focus in those, which I gotta finish the Vkou one soon 👁👁👁👁

Unpopular opinion: SWEATS I've never been shy about this fact, but I am not a huge fan of how quickly some of the Arclights' conflicts with the main cast get resolved and that really impacts how I view the Arclights' relationships with the cast gdjsaklg Like it's yugioh and cards/character popularity will always do all of the talking, there's no way you watch yugioh for great character and story writing, but like Rio could have fucking died from her duel with Thomas lmao It makes for some BANGING fanon content and like we get all of the context for why everything happens and for Thomas' motivation and guilt in general, but... if you put someone's sister into a coma in intensive care, I feel like canon should probably do a little bit more than some bickering and dueling with her brother, you know-

Favorite relationship: I do love their family dynamic and how they’re trying to patch it back up, it’s very touching and Michael’s original anguish and resentment towards Yuma’s family is very touching 🥹 III - Michael was in love with Yuma even though he knew it was unrequited, send TWEET IV - What do you mean Momoya isn't canon, she's canon to ME; I'm disgustingly biased but I love how much IV and Kaito just hate each other lmfao Also love what could have been his turbulent friendship with Ryouga, you know they subtweet each other on the daily V - Kousei ofc, what do you mean he's also not canon; I always affectionately refer to Kaito and Chris as divorced I REALLY wish we saw them go through more of the hurdles to get back to ~before~, we only saw a little in the arctic but you know these two are bickering Tron - I need a post canon one shot of how him and Faker work together, I want to be a fly on the wall of the first day

Favorite headcanon: They ALWAYS host dinner parties for the squad, Thomas and Tron need to show off how much better their estate is than the Kamishiro's so they always offer to host

[firstdegreefangirl]

August 2023 Reading Wrap-Up

August 2023 Reading Wrap-Up 

Total books read: 6 

Total pages read: 2,394 

Days read: X/31 

Average star rating: 4.25/5 

Challenge Prompts Filled: 11 in July; 85 total. Popsugar: 4(28)/40.   Romanceopoly: 2 (24)/36. CRAD: 1 (8)/12. BTBL: 4(25)/52 

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

Listen. By now we all know how much I love this one. I just wanted an excuse to read it again before the movie came out. Five stars before, five stars now, five stars always.  

Prompts filled: Popsugar– A book becoming a TV series or movie in 2023; BTBL – Five word title 

The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser 

⭐⭐⭐(¾) 

This was adorable! It took a few chapters to ramp up, and I almost didn’t keep going, but I’m so glad I did. I love books about books, so this caught my eye … I think at the dollar store? It’s a gentle, cute read, some perfect escapism for unbearably hot summer days. Once the story picked up, I got to sit back and enjoy friends-to-crushes-to-lovers, with a hearty side of women’s lit as the MC reinvents herself post-divorce. Very cute, but I don’t know that it’s something I would pick up and read again. 

Prompts filled: BTBL – Standalone; CRAD – The same genre as last month 

Bear With Me Now by Katie Shepard 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

I LOVED this one, and I'm already excited to reread it again later. I bought a copy at my local indie back on Indie Bookstore Day, but only just now got around to reading it. I laughed, I cried, I got some strange looks from my coworkers for the laughing and the crying. Right out of the gate, when Teagan gets tricked into rehab (he’s not an addict), I was invested in the relationship between him and his sister. Then he meets a bear, then he meets Darcy and we’re off to the races. They’ve got their traumas, they’ve got their walls, and they’re figuring them out together. There’s something about a love story where nobody needs to be “fixed” to be loved that just hits so perfectly for me, and this absolutely fit the bill. 

Prompts filled: BTBL– All the nature vibes 

Summer Reading by Jenn McKinlay 

⭐⭐⭐⭐(¼) 

Again, books about books. Also, books about robotics (tangentially. Anyone looking for books about CIMs and RIOs and such will not find that here. But the MC’s younger brother is into robotics, so I was interested). The first thing I noticed about this book was right there in the forward: it’s designed to be dyslexia-friendly. The author worked with her publisher to use a font that’s harder to flip around, wider leading and bold type instead of italics. The bold text took some getting used to, but I love that McKinlay took such care in putting her story out there. The MC is dyslexic, which made this the perfect story for this sort of accessibility. It touches on mental illness, family drama, friendships, sibling relationships and everything in between. Also, the MC is a chef, which makes this a book about books, robotics AND food. All in all, an excellent book presented in an excellent way. 

Prompts filled: Romanceopoly – The Gym/Longest book on your TBR; Popsugar – Longest book on your TBR 

Chef’s Kiss by TJ Alexander 

⭐⭐⭐(½) 

I grabbed this from the library based on the vibes of the cover alone (it’s a great cover, honestly. I know how the adage goes, but the fact of the matter is that covers sell stories). What I got was rivals(?) to lovers, workplace stress, and a well-handled discussion of sexuality and gender. The book handled the complex nuances of those conversations with grace and class, but the rest of the plot fell flat in places. There were places I was ready to reach through the pages and shake the MC silly for staying with her terrible workplace, or refusing to have one (1) conversation about her feelings. Solid romance, but it’s hard to stay invested in that plot when I’m so frustrated with one of the characters invovled. 

Prompts filled: Romanceopoly – Rainbow Row/Read an LGBTQ+ romance; Popsugar – A book with a queer lead 

Dog Days: A Year in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile by Dave Ihlenfeld 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

My non-fic selection for the month, this one has been on my shelf for ages. I love a good memoir, and this was unlike anything I’ve read before. There was a startling about of parallel between the author and myself – J-school graduates who didn’t want a future in journalism – except he went on to spend a year driving an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile across America. I LOVE a good tourist gimmick ((thanks to this book, I’ve looked to see if the renamed Frankmobile is going to be anywhere near me)), so this was a perfect fit for me. Ihlenfeld wove his personal story together with the history of Oscar Mayer and the Wienermobile, which left me with a better understanding of how and why it worked as a marketing schtick, and how taking unexpected opportunities can change peoples’ lives.  

Prompts filled: Popsugar ��� A book with alliteration in the title; BTBL – No romance  

DNF: Triptych - Karin Slaughter

[movedtobathroombreaks]

rewatching gg 1x06 and god i hate dean so much he’s so fucking patronising and condescending with beth. the way he yells at her “sit down” makes me wanna wring his neck, you’re not her fucking father!!! and you know the kids pick up on it and that influences how they treat her too bc kenny said in like ep 2 or 3 or wtv that she “can’t do math” as if she’s not a full grown adult - like dude 6th grade math is not hard and with how simple the sums you were doing with rio were, anyone could help you. and the worst part is that dean is basically beth’s 5th kid, she has to do everything for him and like we see in season 2 he’s completely incapable of keeping the house clean and taking care of the kids, so he does not have the high ground here, if anyone deserves to be treated like a child it’s him!! basically, fuck dean!!!

[lowkeyerror]

Mini Masterlist Marvel Edition

Welcome to my Mini Marvel Masterlist. New format because of the 100 links cap! Just like before, unless stated otherwise everything is female x reader. Well I'm sure you saw the greeting messages at the main masterlist, if you didn't here. Find something you like and get all comfy cozy, hope you enjoy!

Natasha Romanoff

I Lost Everything Pt1 & Pt2

Ex Military, New SHIELD

I Never Thought You’d Say It

She Wouldn’t Want This

You Left Me

Failure

I Wish I Would've

Adapt

Not What I Expected

Not From This Universe

A Little Mischief

Reformed

Exhaustion

Open the Door

Young & Capable

Ms. Romanoff

Nobody Knows

Spend My Time On Us

Wanda Maximoff

Invisible Thief Pt1 & Pt2

I Have To See Her Again

Distraction Pt1 & Pt2

Party

Simple

Little Brother's Best Friend

Holiday Season 🎄

Love Thy Neighbor

More Than Just A Mission

War Pt1 & Pt2

I'm Yours

Power Dynamics Pt1 & Pt2

Insecure

Unforgettable

Ex-Avenger

Best Friend's Wedding

Feeble Minded

Unsober Activities

Messy

Prom

Don't Forget You're Mine

The Gardener

Drunk

Comfort

Strong

The Lion's Den

The Villain's Hero Pt 1 & Pt2

Reputation

By Your Side

Effort

WandaNat

Warmth

Congrats on Your Divorce

Teammates Pt1 & Pt2

Syllabus Week

My Fault

Third Wheel Pt1 & Pt2

An Earth Kiss

No Escape

The Family Buisness

Agatha Harkness

I Can’t Do This Anymore pt2

I'm Sorry ( Agatha Harkness x Wanda Maximoff)

A Young Ache

Power

Real

Talk It Out (Agatha x Rio x Reader)

Ours Together & pt2 & pt3 (Agatha x Rio x Reader)

Always There

Reunited

Guidance p1 & p2 (Agatha x Rio x Reader)

Help With The Curriculum (ft Rio Vidal)

Softie

Rio Vidal

Just Hold Me

Yelena Belova

Nights With You

Car Troubles

Ambush

Kate Bishop

Partner

Drowning

Hero

Home For The Holidays

Teamwork

[shihalyfie]

Between Hiro and Espimon, I kind of jokingly hope that Umi Tenjin and somehow Mona Marshall to do voices in Ghost Game as well. "The Koushirouing never ends~"

Oh, goodness, I am so glad I am not the only one who thought this. (For those unaware, Hiro's voice actress Tamura Mutsumi voiced Koushirou in tri. and Kizuna, while Espimon's voice actress Kobayashi Yumiko voiced Koushirou in Adventure:, and official has even pointed this out.)

In fact, Tenjin seems to have retired from voice acting -- she's had no new roles in over a decade, and she currently has no agency affiliation, which usually is a sign of withdrawal from the industry. (The voice acting industry is rather extremely make-it-or-break-it, and one of the really unfortunate things is that a lot of Digimon voice actors don't end up getting a decent flow of work in the industry, so a rather significant percentage has retired.) But she did return for Adventure PSP (2013) and the 15th anniversary drama CD (2015), and it seems she quietly showed up to a Digimon music event in 2019 with Kazama (Yamato), the probably-industry-retired Araki (Hikari), and the very industry-retired Tada (Terriermon/Lopmon), so she's probably not averse to picking up Koushirou again if it's for something short and not a full TV series. That said, I wonder if she would be willing to do so for a role that's a reference to Koushirou, not necessarily Koushirou himself (not that I think she'd hate the idea, but we are talking about dragging someone out of retirement)...

This is a bit of a digression (and perhaps a bit of a sadder note to divert this post into, I'm sorry about that), but I do wonder about things like this in regards to the extremely awkward circumstances Adventure-related things are currently in right now, something I've been calling a "divorce" situation between the old staff and the new staff due to the fallout of tri. and Kizuna. The most infamous part of it is the fallout between Kakudou and Kizuna production (which was only really the last straw in a passive-aggressiveness war that had been going on since the later parts of tri., this was just the first time it was so obvious in public), but I've seen other production staff members from the original Adventure and 02 also dancing around the topic of tri. and Kizuna/The Beginning on Twitter with differing levels of awkwardness. (I can't say I really blame them; considering how enthusiastically they like to talk about their work on the original series, it really seems to have been like their baby to them, so it's only natural something like this happening with something so personal is likely to give them mixed feelings.)

This awkward situation has been happening to a lesser extent with the voice actors as well -- for one example, Tochika Kouichi (Hawkmon) joined Twitter last year and didn't hesitate to re-establish contact with Natsuki Rio (Miyako's original voice actress), shortly after which the latter's profile suddenly updated from "Miyako" to "Miyako (2000)", as if the incident (and especially Tochika's promotion of Kizuna/The Beginning-related stuff in front of her) had given her increased awareness that she doesn't get to be Miyako anymore. But on the bright side, most of our voice actor testimony indicates that they seem to have also been understanding of the reason why this all happened; Fujita Toshiko gave her blessing to the new tri. voice actors before she passed, Maeda Ai was openly supportive of Yoshida as Mimi, and Urawa certainly took the fact Iori's role was basically taken away from her right in front of her eyes in stride for the most part. And after all, Tenjin being likely industry retired means she probably would have less of a stake in this than the actors who are still active and therefore really did have an important role taken away from them.

Meanwhile, Mona was lucky and got to voice Izzy every time (for those who aren't aware, people who know the American English dub generally agree she's got to be one of the most iconic voices in it), and I actually even wonder if they'll end up keeping her for the upcoming Adventure: dub despite the fact that the Japanese version deliberately changed out the cast (edit: I’ve been informed that apparently they’re definitively changing them out, ah well). If they do dub Ghost Game, she should absolutely voice Hiro. Either way, please bless another generation of kids with her. (In fact, she probably actually sounds closer to Tamura than Tenjin when you think about it.)

[harpersplay]

Genuine non-troll white woman here - you wrote "So I already knew that Good Girls was a white feminism phantasmagoria...But, jesus fucking christ, y'all are just showing your true colours lately. The way you talk about a MOC in relation to a white woman is disgusting." Not asking you to call out specific people or posts or start any kind of flame war but what would be a general example of what you are talking about? I follow a good chunk of people and I'm not seeing this maybe b/c I'm not following the same people, maybe out of willful blindness, maybe I'm not recognizing it - again, b/c of ignorance, etc. Just trying to understand what you mean - and not do it obviously, if I am doing it.

I apologise for taking a longish time to answer this. Honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted to get into it. Anyway, I'd first like to say that this is all my opinion. What bothers me might not bother someone else. BIPOC are not a monolith. Even subsections aren't. Not all Mexican trans men are a monolith. Neither are all Japanese lesbians. You get the idea. And that's not even including people like Ben Carson or Caitlyn Jenner—people who support and work for policies that actively harm the marginalised group of which they are a part. Secondly, I know this isn't your intention, but asking POC to tell you what is ok to do and what is not is a slippery slope to "my [blank] friend said this was ok." Finally, the fandom is quite small so it is pretty hard to give general examples. I don't know if it's more trouble to quote specific posts or not, because some will think it is about them anyway. Anything I'm going to mention I've seen on Tumblr, Instagram, Reddit and/or Twitter. But there are definitely popular Tumblr blogs that all push the same narrative. Oh, and one last thing, I haven't seen any of what I'm referring to from people I follow.

Ok, let's go. For a very long time, mainly WOC have pointed out the racial problems within the show and the extremely dismissive attitude about those problems from mainly white women. And while these same women have written thousands (even tens of thousands) or words about Beth (it's always Beth) and her struggles and the amazingness of such a complex female character (ymmv), they brush aside commentary about racism as either nitpicking, not understanding the show is about the 3 women (tell that to all the white men with fleshed-out storylines), or misogyny. The last is especially hostile because they are often talking over Black women and misogynoir is a very real fucking thing that couples the fun of being hated for being a woman with the delight of good old-fashioned racism. They espouse the idea that people having a problem with Beth are all covert & overt misogynists. But talk out the other side of their mouths that they can't possibly be racist even when they support racism in the show or ignore concerns brought up by fans of colour. And that is just the absolute height of hypocrisy. Because by the former they acknowledge that people in a marginalised group (women) can still be anti- that group (a phenomenon with which I agree). But in the latter, suddenly they don't understand that concept.

Specific to the post you are responding to, fans that purport to like Brio write about the relationship in ways that reveal how much of their enjoyment comes from Rio being inferior to Beth. It's all about what he can do for her, how he acts against his best interests for her, how he literally denies himself sexual pleasure for her. Those are all meant to show how in love he is with her. But the show never bothers to tell us why. And, no, this is not because the show is so deep. Other romantic relationships they have scenes that are explicit about the characters' feelings. But Rio, after being shot, after being betrayed, after being mocked, is just so in love with Beth....because. (MYSTERIOUS!) And the Beth stans are more than fine with this because they think everyone should be as obsessed with Beth as they are. But it's bad storytelling. And, in this particular case, it gets into very dicey racist tropes. A white women treating her Latino lover like an afterthought is not the same as a white women treating her white lover like an afterthought. It just isn't. And if some of these fans are as smart as they pretend to be, they know that. They just don't care. Much like the showrunners.

There was so much talk defending the drawn-out Boland marriage because why can't we understand how hard it is for Beth—who is, at various times, claimed to be emotionally abused by Dean or staying with him because it is safe and comfortable—and we don't appreciate how difficult it is for her (I may be one of the few divorced people talking about this show on Tumblr, so this has always made me laugh). Yet there was nothing but glee when Rio flipped on his brousin (who was written as both abusive and safe) for Beth. Where was the empathy for Rio and how hard it was for him? Especially because, unlike Beth, he didn't even have one parent? Hadn't the Beth stans used her very tragical history™️ to explain away her every shitty act? idk, not having any parents and going to jail (as a minor?) and being betrayed by your family seems pretty tragic. But I didn't see them all of a sudden excusing Rio's bad behaviour. Because, feminism or something?

What about Beth's feelings? Last season she spent trying to have him killed. This season she spent looking annoyed by him. Throughout both she talked down to him in a specific white woman way that every BIPOC has experienced, even if some of them are cool with it. There were multiple opportunites for Beth to talk about her feelings with Ruby and/or Annie, but the writers made the deliberate choice to always make it about sex (and god, the immature way they had these three grown women talk was fucking obnoxious). She spent the last 2 seasons also wanting him out of her life to the point that a majority of her actions in S4 were motivated by getting to Nevada with her husband and kids. Beth doesn't care about Rio but Rio needs to put Beth above everything because he's just so in love like he's never been before (which is blatant Marcus & Rhea erasure). And anyone who doesn't think Beth would have just as happily been sitting on that bench plotting how to "run the city" (hahahahaha!) with Nick if the situation worked out differently hasn't been paying attention.

So, what do we have? A white woman who is constantly excused (by the loudest portion of the fandom) for all her ill treatment to her Black BFF & her Black husband, her Asian coworker, her Latina "friend," and Rio (among others) because her life is hard and who is not required to even be nice to her supposed "endgame". And a MOC who is expected to accept being treated poorly by the white woman because he loves her.

And, a last thing, this attitude grossly crossed over into talk about real people when the fans—who self-righteously claimed to be above anon sources or talking about the actors—latched on to the narrative and enjoyed blaming the MOC actor for the cancellation of the show, even dragging his insignificant (in terms of influence) Black wife into it. All while conveniently ignoring that the creator/showrunner is a white woman. The star & producer is a white woman. The people making the decisions at NBCU & Netflix were white women. All white women with so much more power than the Latino actor.

Shit, did I answer your question? I know this is a lot. But I could honestly make mulitple posts on each issue I touched on here. Basically, white people ain't slick, be they content creators or fans. We see how & what y'all talk about. We see that Rio not having a last name is not a big deal to you and we know why that is. So we're fucking tired. And we're over a show that had so much potential crapping all over their POC characters to prop up a white woman. And we're repulsed by the white women in the fandom who use their tears to seem oppressed and who toss around the word misogynist because POC dare call a Karen a Karen.

[lunafeather]

People are upset about Rio behaviour but I'm not. Would we realistically expect Rio to say that Beth is more to him ? after all the thing she done to him (act in a very cold way with him after having sex, ending things with him personally and professionally, blocking his number..). she doesn’t deserve it, but he has just returned the favor there.

Let me start by saying that these two are the biggest, pettiest babies of all time and wow would both of their lives be so much easier and so much more enjoyable if they just f*cking talked to each other

But that’s not them, is it? So we gotta watch and suffer.

Honestly, Rio has every god damn right to be mad.

They’re stuck in this game of Get Even. They have sex in the bar, Rio can see that obviously Beth hasn’t told Dean in the car smashing scene (and is obviously a bit peeved/jealous), so he gets even by flaunting Dylan. Beth gets even by strong arming the 50/50 deal -- while also showing Rio that Dean is still in her house with her kids. Then she invites him back to that house and makes love to him and then pays him off and breaks up with him and Rio gets even by harassing her until she caves and then playing 20 questions with her and kicking her out. And this all goes with their back and forth professionally, too.

This whole time, Rio has been pretty visibly salty about being her side piece and a dirty little secret. He respected her choice and didn’t reveal anything to Dean -- despite having multiple opportunities to do so. She obviously hasn’t been forthright about the state of her marriage and I doubt she said a word to him about the divorce. She’s withheld info that would confirm to him that he means something to her and she -- from his perspective -- deliberately slept with him and let him think it meant something then walked away without a backwards glance, oh and then blocked his number. Then she has the gall to follow him around and break into his apartment (the fact that he was likely also impressed not withstanding) and think everything is okay and he’s gonna just kiss her and make it better??

At some point after this his inside man must have told him what was going down with the FBI, so now he’s got that shit in his lap, too?? Her refusal to listen, to take care of her bad eggs, to be a Boss Bitch -- all of it is now causing even more headaches on top of their personal shit.

AND THEN -- again, from his perspective -- she harasses him endlessly (despite ignoring him and blocking his number) and expects him to drop everything for her.

She is a lot of work! That double entendre was painfully obvious.

Now, if they would both be adults and bigger people, they would stop this shit and just have a conversation. And honestly? All things considered? Rio could have been a lot nastier to her in that car scene. But he was subdued and almost tired. There wasn’t as much venom behind his words as he’s capable of. He literally couldn’t even look at her while saying these things, he only looked at her for her reaction. Was he being dismissive? I think his “I don’t work while on vacation” line was meant that way, yeah. But the “pretty much, yeah” and the “that’s it” were not. They were almost fond (the first) and defeated (the second). It felt more like him closing off and trying to wipe his hands of her. Shove her away and pretend like he’s not feeling any type of way and hopefully she’ll get it.

My biggest take away is that he was more hurt by her sleeping with him and acting like it meant nothing than her turning him into the feds. Let that sink in.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

i'm curious: do you think the animorphs could have won if they were adults? marco starts out as the only one with the maturity to understand death; it's sort of because the others don't have that understanding that they're so eager to fight. jake NEEDS to idealize past soldiers/leaders in order to keep himself, well, 'good', acting like he thinks they did, as much as he can. what do you think??

Interesting premise. Let’s suppose the Animorphs are five adults—thirty-three, let’s say,instead of thirteen—who encounter Elfangor as they walk home from where theywere getting a few drinks at the local bar. 

Suppose Marco is a smart-mouthed lawyer with more secrets and lies thangenuine wins in his resume.  Suppose Rachelworks as a graphic designer for a fashion magazine by day, but she lives forthe nights when she goes surfing in the moonlight swells off the Californiacoast or skiing at breakneck speeds in the Canada Rockies.  Suppose Tobias has been an adjunct professorat the local college for five years now and suspects he’s headed nowheredespite his Ph.D., whereas Jake is a high school dropout rocketing up throughthe ranks of his contracting firm thanks to his canny leadership skills.  Suppose Cassie’s in night school so that shecan continue as a vet tech, always exhausted and always telling herself it’sall worth it.  Suppose they’re joined twoweeks after the war begins by War-Prince Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, who gothis own self out from under the ocean without calling for help.   

The firstthing the Animorphs do is fly north and tell the governor about theinvasion.  She calls the National Guard,the president, and the United Nations.  Withina month, the yeerks have doubled their force on Earth and the two species arein open total war.

The U.N. appoints a military commander tooversee the Animorphs, a five-star general with thirty years of combatexperience.  Jake and Ax both salute himand call him “sir,” but they’re the only ones. Cassie calls him by his first name when she asks about his family.  Rachel and Marco hold side conversations inwhispered thought-speak throughout his briefings.  Tobias sits in the back of the room, eitherpreening feathers or doodling on his intel packet depending on what form he’sin.  Every time he gives them an order theythank him, leave the room, and then look at Jake to find out whether or notthey should obey it.  

The war wears on for months, then years, and thehumans lose steadily. 

Here’s the thing that it takes the U.S. and theU.N. a dangerously long time to adapt to: every time they lose a soldier, they loseevery single scrap of intelligence contained within that soldier’s brain.  Every single time they’re forced to leave aman behind, they lose every base that person has ever visited, every file thatperson has ever seen, every scrap of knowledge once kept secret in that brain.  The humans start equipping their soldierswith cyanide capsules; the yeerks start gagging hosts the instant they’recaptured.  

Here’s the other thing they don’t figure outuntil it’s too late: even hardened soldiers balk at shooting their own friendsand neighbors and siblings.  Even theones with years of training will hesitate to shoot a child.  The yeerks know this, and they takeadvantage.

David is the son of the deputy director of theNSA, placed with the team in a blatant act of nepotism after he finds the morphingcube.  Rachel gets dishonorably dischargedin the aftermath of the “accident” that causes his death.

Dissent starts to grow large within the ranks ofthe humans.  Several believe that theyeerks come in peace; several more believe that the humans should stop fightingand negotiate a truce.  There are stillpockets of people who insist that there are no such thing as aliens, and thewhole thing is made up to target certain types of people as “controllers.”  

The yeerks take the entire Eastern seaboard ofthe U.S. and Canada.  There are simplytoo many people, too densely packed; the human military cannot protect thoseareas.  The humans retreat to the Midwestand Mexico.  

Visser One gets put in charge of the invasionforce, quietly moving Madra and Darwin offworld in the process.  Marco and Rachel, acting against orders,infiltrate her base and kill her and nearly sixty other high-rankingcontrollers before they are themselves gunned down.  The U.N. erects a statue in their honor,makes fifty other morph-capable soldiers to take their place, and keepsfighting.

Jake and Cassie marry.  She gets pregnant twice during the war, and knowsthat she can’t afford to keep either pregnancy. She never tells Jake about this.  Later,they will divorce in the last weeks of the war.

Visser Three once again takes over the invasionof Earth; he thrives at open war.  Hebargains and threatens and calmly assures the human forces that they will lose, and that there is only oneway to avoid death.  All they have to dois walk to the nearest yeerk compound, surrender, and let one of his warriorstake away all their worry and pain.  

The human race is dwindling.  There is no other way around it.  The yeerks kill humans because they alreadyhave more hosts than they need, and the humans kill humans every time they succeedin bombing a yeerk base or shooting a controller.  The species has already been decimated;everyone fears that within a decade it will be annihilated.  

The humans destroy a Blade ship.  Forty humans and eighteen hork-bajirdie.  

Visser Three gets revenge by turning his draconcanon on China’s east coast.  Two hundredmillion humans die.  

The humans blow up a yeerk pool.  Two hundred thirty-eight humans die.

The yeerks blow up Rio de Janeiro.  Twelve million humans die.  

So it goes.

The human armies take refuge in Brazil andArgentina, in Tanzania and Angola and the DRC. The yeerks have control over the entire northern hemisphere.  Communications between the two continents areconstantly intercepted.  Jake and Cassieand Ax go on mission after mission after mission, no one bothering to tell themwhat to do anymore.  Tobias comessometimes; more and more since Rachel’s death he’s nowhere to be found.  

Food runs short. Electricity runs out.  In the heatof the summers and the cold of the winters, in the times when a few handfuls ofdried sorghum are all that can go around, dozens of humans quietly slipaway.  The controllers are well-fed,well-equipped, well taken care of.  Allit takes to earn safety and comfort is to give up your soul.  

Three years pass this way, and the andalitesfinally arrive.  

They are merciful: they rescue the few hundred freehumans who remain before they blow up the planet.