#iron girder

[pratchettquotes]

"I hear that goblins believe that the railway engines have a soul, elf," she said softly. "Tell me, what kind of soul have you? Do you run along your own elvish rails? With no time or place for turning?" She looked at the kelda and said, "Granny Aching told me to feed them that was starving and clothe them as is naked and help the pitiful. Well, this elf has come to my turf--starving, naked pitiful--do you see?"

The kelda's eyebrows rose. "Yon creature is an elf! It has nae care for ye! It has nae care for anyone--it disnae even care for other elves!"

"You think then there is no such animal as a good elf?"

"Ye think there is such a thing as a gud elf?"

"No, but I am suggesting that there is a possibility that there might be one."

Terry Prachett, The Shepherd's Crown

[gorogues]

Spoilers for Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #3!

You can also see the preview pages at Adventures In Poor Taste.

Looks like most Rogues -- including Hartley -- except for Len have been locked up in Iron Heights, and they're rampaging now that the monsters are loose (a pretty good reason to rampage, IMO). This is an AU so no big deal about Hartley being here, but it's still a surprising creative choice.

I'm weirded out by all of Barry's top puns, but pleased to see Roscoe!

[scottish-wrestling-network]

Full Results: Iron Girders Pro Wrestling (@IronGirdersGym) ‘Live In Coatbridge’ (7 Mar 2025)

Continue reading Full Results: Iron Girders Pro Wrestling (@IronGirdersGym) ‘Live In Coatbridge’ (7 Mar 2025)

[placeinthemiddleofnowhere]

Reign down on me - Part 7

Pairing: Ghost x Hybrid!reader (eventual poly!141)

No use of y/n or mention of gender/race

Summary: Reader is a wolf hybrid in a world that treats them like second class citizens, given a horrible start in life after being thrown into the military with no preparation. After years of struggle, they're finally taken away from their base by Ghost, now a permanent member of taskforce 141 reader struggles to come to terms with the fact that perhaps there's a life there for them - if only they reach out and accept it.

Warnings: hurt/comfort, Angst, abuse mentions, self doubt, violent scenes

Masterlist here

-🐺-

When you opened your eyes the world was drowned in darkness and you were in an unfamiliar room, sapping warmth from an oversized lump in the sheets. At first you froze like a statue, flicking your eyes around to see if you could make anything out. It was clear enough that you weren’t in your own bed, but even your advanced eyes couldn’t make a single thing out for the lack of any light. 

The lump groaned and shifted, sprawling out like a tiger skin rug before retracting again. A heavy weight draped itself round your mid section, an arm you realised, that caused you to curse and pant for inside it’s unyielding hold. Ghost. Who else had arms the size of iron girders? 

It should’ve been obvious to you, but your mind had been too foggy in the aftermath of your unexpected sleep. Had you taken a second to scent the air, you would’ve been greeted with his relaxing scent, but instead you’d fumbled around like a bear coming out of hibernation. At that realisation you scrunched your eyes closed and then opened them again, still feebly trying to see through the oppressive black of the room. It had to be Ghost’s room that you were in, the place was practically painted with his citrusy scent, with undertones of sage ever present and invading.

“Y’alright, Pup?” a groggy voice called out. 

It sounded as if a pile of rocks had shifted from right next to you. Your ears twitched back at the sound and all at once you relaxed in his loosened grip, turning around to face him. Your noses were inches from touching. Not that you could see his, but you could feel the steady streams of his breaths trickling out from his sleepwear body.

“Um…yeah” you whispered, unsure of how to answer. “Why’d you take me to your bed?” 

He yawned and uncurled his arm from your body, instead using his hand to trace little patterns up your arms. 

“You seemed upset when I left you in yours. Only calmed down and stopped whinin’ when I let you curl up here,” he explained, sounding as if he was moments from drifting off again. 

“You didn’t have to do that,” you said hastily. 

You couldn’t believe it! Why would you have whined at being left to sleep alone? Why would you stop when you got to sleep in Ghost’s bed? The revelations had you frowning and feeling markedly warmer than you already were. Your mind whirred at the idea that Ghost had witnessed you mewling like a little puppy at having to sleep in your own bed. 

“I know. I didn’t want you having bad dreams after what happened yesterday, so I thought it was for the best,” he said simply, as if what he’d done was completely normal. 

“I can handle those,” you said weakly. 

“You don’t have to.”

You gulped down a thick lump in your throat and let the silence settle over you both. Though the room wasn’t completely quiet of course. Ghost’s steady breathing and the sound of your own pounding heart rattled around in your ears. Though your chest calmed its frenzy when Ghost drew you close again, urging you to burrow your head under his chin and into the soft cotton of his worn shirt. 

The two of you stayed silent for a time after though neither of you fell asleep. Instead the time was spent mulling through your sluggish thoughts, wondering distantly if you should be trying to leave. 

“I think you should reconsider your nesting situation,” Ghost said suddenly, breaking the silence. 

“What?”

“You have a lot of bad dreams most nights. You were peaceful last night though,” he explained softly.

“Do they wake you up?” you asked, brows knitting together in worry. 

You’d woken plenty of times before in your old barracks from others' bad dreams and in turn woken the others with your own. It wasn’t lost on you how annoying it was to try to get to sleep after being jolted awake and kicked into an adrenaline rush, lying there in the grey light of almost dawn with a pounding heart and the knowledge that you’d have to get to work again soon. 

“Nah, told you before - I’m not a good sleeper. If I knew there was something that helped though I’d make sure I got to sleep properly every night.”

You huffed out an embarrassed laugh and shook your head, feeling his stubbly chin scratch the top of your head. It was only then that it occurred to you that he was maskless again. You wondered if that meant he was getting more comfortable around you, just as you were him.

“It was probably just a fluke,” you murmured, trying to hide your interest. “I’m not gonna hoard your clothes like some feral squirrel, Ghost.” 

He laughed at that, the bassy tones reverberating through his wide chest and against your warming skin. 

“It’s not hoarding and it doesn’t have to be my clothes. I can give you my duvet or I could get you a new blanket and sleep with it for a bit if you like, if that would make it feel more natural.”

“It’s not natural, its weird,” you huffed. 

“You’re a hybrid, S’not weird,” he affirmed, stroking circled down your back. “It’s normal for you to need comforting scents and materials. My old partner used to keep a nest, we had an arrangement and it was fine.”

At that your ears flicked in curiosity. He’d never mentioned this ‘old partner’ before. All at once your mind flooded with questions and as it worked hard to process them all, you could barely hold onto one tightly enough to ask it. 

“You had a hybrid before me?” you eventually said, voice small and unsteady. 

Ghost paused. It was if he’d only just realised what he’d just said. 

“Another wolf,” he confirmed, throat swelling and tense. “We were paired up after I passed my handler qualification. It was a long time ago - feels like a lifetime really. Spent four years together, he used to cuddle up with me just like this in my stupid little barracks bunk when he had rough nights.”

The elephant in the room stared down at you from on high. There was no avoiding it’s almost tangible bulk. So you asked the question that wanted to leap off the tip of your tongue. 

“What happened to him?”

Ghost was ready for that, answering quickly. Though it didn’t sound like it hurt him any less to say it when it was spoken through gritted teeth.  

“Killed in action.”

“Oh…I’m- I’m sorry.”

Was that the right thing to say? When other hybrids you’d worked with had died, there usually weren’t many mourners if any, though that was because you were under the care of Branhaven. You’d only met a few hybrids before that were in the care of handlers and it had been obvious that you’d always been intrinsically different from them, that they had far more value to their teams than you ever did as an unclaimed hybrid.

“Roach was a good lad,” Ghost said eventually. “He taught me alot in our time together, made me sharper with all his…’quirks’. Used to steal anything of mine that he could get his grubby little mitts on and drag it off to his bed, so to be honest it was a bit of a shock when I realised you weren’t going to be the same.”

Ghost laughed a little despite the sadness that tinged his careful words. 

“With a name like Roach, I can only imagine what other quirks he had,” you smiled. 

“Oh that one loved to get himself into trouble. I still remember the first time we went out with Price - very long time ago. Roach thought it’d be funny to steal his hat, this is before he started wearing the boonie mind you, at that point it was this old beanie that absolutely reeked of cigars. Found that out because while Price was ranting about having cold ears, I was asleep on top of it, before I got woken up by his bitching anyway. I took it out from under me when I woke up, confused as fuck as to why it was there, and then Price saw it and was going on and on about how childish it was to take it, and then I started arguing back and saying I wouldn’t do something so bloody stupid. All the while Roach was giggling to himself in the corner, the little shit.”

“He wasn’t scared of what Price would do?” You asked incredulously, trying to put yourself in the shoes of a hybrid that didn’t know the intimidating Captain half as well as you did. 

“Roach wasn’t scared of a damn thing, beyond whatever shit he used to dream about anyway. It’s the reason he got called Roach in the first place, his real name was Gary. He used to run headfirst into danger and come out fine almost every time, that’s what they told me when they handed him off to me- ‘that wolf’s like a bug you can’t squash’...Course his luck ran out eventually. We got captured by an enemy group in Mexico and the bastards didn’t see the worth in keeping a hybrid around. Said they only needed me.”

“That’s awful.”

Another silence ensued. It made sense that Ghost had had a hybrid before you, he’d had a long career and he was so knowledgeable when it came to training with you that it made sense that he’d had plenty of first hand experience. Though it made your heart ache to think that he mourned for someone that was ripped away from him so long ago. The way he told those stories, you could hear the emotion etched in every word.

“Didn’t think I’d take on another hybrid on after him,” Ghost sighed, making you tilt your head in question, “but Price told me about you and kept badgering on about me being the only one in the team that was qualified to take you, kept saying that you didn’t deserve to rot away back at your home base and that you deserved a place here. I figured I owed it to him to at least go and check you out and well, I knew you had to be mine the minute I saw ya.”

“You saw a soggy mutt that was getting punished in an outdoor kennel and instantly had that epiphany?” You snorted. 

“A soggy mutt that didn’t deserve to be there,” he corrected. “There was no way for me to have saved Roach while I was tied up and concussed to all hell, I made peace with that a long time ago. I knew that I was able to save you though; doing anything other than untying you and walking out of that base with the angry ball of fur in my arms felt like sacrilege.”

“Angry ball of fur,” you repeated with a tut, rolling your eyes so far back they crept into your inflection.

“You tried to bite me at least twice and you called me Mr.Bonejangles in the car. Angry ball of fur was about right, you little sod! Sitting there all wrapped up in your towel with your grumpy face and hair poking out every which way,” Ghost laughed. “I’m just lucky you calmed down after a good rest. Thought I was gonna have to take to permanently being in handling gloves after that first night.”

“I didn’t try to bite you that much.”

“You did. You were like a hungry crocodile. You had my life flashing before my eyes that day, was praying I’d get to keep all my fingers and toes.”

“Now you’re just being dramatic!” 

Ghost’s laugh echoed around the room, hitting off of unseen walls somewhere inside the shadows. As much as you hated to think about a time before you knew Ghost, and actively tried to fight him, you couldn’t help but smile to yourself as you began to see that day through his eyes. You could only imagine what it must’ve been like to have met you then, knowing about your sketchy disciplinary file and admittedly bad track record for biting and scratching, Ghost couldn’t have had any clue what he was in for. In that moment you couldn’t have felt luckier, pressed into Ghost’s chest and getting to relax against him in his nice warm bed, when you could’ve been left to rot in those kennels.

Moments later, just as you were both settling back into the furrow of the mattress and had adjusted sheets to your liking, a high pitched alarm tone blared out and sent you both groaning. Ghost’s phone lit up from his side, finally shedding a little light into the room. From there you could see his bed was pressed up into the wall, as usual you’d assumed you’d made sure to be closest to the exit - even in your drowsy state. You still couldn’t make out much of the structure of the place. 

“Suppose we better get up then,” Ghost groaned. “C’mon then.”

“I can’t see a thing in here, you’re gonna have to turn a light on or something,” you yawned, stretching out and readying yourself to start the day.  

It was then that he saw fit to snatch the corner of his black out curtains and yank them back, sending you flying under the covers just to save your eyes. The duvet provided you shelter from the cold blue light and from under their safety you actively felt your pupils slowly unshrink from the tiny pinpoints they’d been forced to become. 

“Why would you do that?” You groaned. 

“Reckoned you needed a bit of a wake up,” Ghost shrugged, lifting the cover up so he could meet your eyes. 

As annoyed as you were you were distracted from your grumpiness momentarily by his face. His smug smile was in full view, lips slanting to one side and pulling his scars taught. In the full light of the morning he looked like a weathered statue, bright highlights and harsh shadow carving out his sharp jaw like chiselled stone. You tilted your head at him and in turn he tilted his back in the opposite direction. 

“See somethin’ on my face?” He joked, teeth flashing into view. 

You shook your head and pursed your lips. A little heat rose to your cheeks. 

“Just planning out the perfect place to bite you,” you lied.

“That so?” He asked, a sandy blonde eyebrow raising. “Sounds like I’m just gonna have to get you first then.”

At that he pinched your side and sent you yipping and scrabbling off the bed. Though that wasn’t enough to escape him. He gave chase, leaping off of the mattress, the bed groaning at the change in weight and thumped on the floor. The air blew through the fur in your ears, you ran that fast. Unthinkingly running to your own room before considering anywhere else. 

With that you dove under your bed, dragging your sheets down to cover the space and yanking Simon in just as he’d fallen off the top. Ghost yanked your door open straight after, his bare feet slapping into the wood and taking careful steps forward. He sighed loudly when he reached the edge of your bed and stopped, feet stopping at your chest. 

“I’d like to think you’ve been trained to evade enemies better than this, Pup,” he drawled. 

You rolled your eyes, full well knowing you wouldn’t go running and hiding like that against someone you had full authority to kill. 

Rather than let him crouch down and drag you out, you threw Simon up at him as a distraction and skittered out around him. In a matter of seconds you managed to gather yourself into a crouch and sprang up at his back, wrapping your arms round his shoulders and legs round his middle. From there you gently grazed your teeth against his neck in a fake bite and growled, announcing your victory to the otherwise empty room. 

“Soap’s right, you’re a menace,” he laughed, untangling you from around him and bending backwards so he could set you gently back down on the floor. 

“You brought work into it,” you huffed, folding your arms indignantly.

“Yeah yeah, cheap shot throwing your teammate at the hostile. Poor little fella getting sacrificed like that,” he said, holding out the puppy stuffed toy with a fake grimace. 

“Simon woulda shaken it off, I had every faith in him,” you shrugged, setting him down on the bed carefully so that he rested against the pillows. 

“Simon?” Ghost repeated, choking out a strangled sound that sounded somewhere between a laugh and a guffaw. “You named it Simon?”

“Yeah, after the hybrid from my books,” you said, nodding toward the graphic novels that were stacked by your bedside. “Why's that so funny?”

You narrowed your eyes at him, watching as a few different emotions crossed Ghost’s eyes. He chewed on his lip a second, eyes going wide and zeroing in on your sleeping buddy until he shook himself out of it. 

“Nothing,” he smiled, clearing the awkward edge in his throat. “Good name that. Strong choice. Little Simon.”

“I think it suits him.”

“Yeah…Anyway, we need to get ready and get in for work. I’ve got a bit of a stacked day today, so we need to get you sorted. Gaz and Soap offered to take you through your exercises this afternoon and Price is gonna let you sit in his office till I can come get you in the evenin’. Pack your books so you’ve got something to occupy yourself with tonight, Cap’s not very chatty right now. Oh and remember, if you want anything for your bed just let me know, ok?” 

-🐺- 

Stacked day indeed. Ghost made you run laps through the assault course he’d had set up for you and just before he left, he’d made you practise some bite work with him. The irony wasn’t lost on you after your conversation that morning. He’d donned his leather gloves and neck protector and brought out a fake gun, making you attack him over and over so that you could practise non lethal takedowns.

As good as you were at the exercise, that didn’t stop Ghost from firing a couple foam bullets at you from time to time when you got too out of control, reminding you teresley that you weren’t supposed to be ripping detainees to pieces. As your wilder side took over during your work, you’d bark out raspy growls at him for the cheap shots, knowing full well he shouldn't be able to fire after you’d just decimated his fake arm. However the sensible part of your mind would echo out that it was far better than getting smacked with the plastic batons that your old trainers would carry to discourage your savagery.

“Well well well, what kinda training do you call this?”

Your head turned just as you’d brought Ghost down to the floor and you ceased your growling, tilting your head when your gaze landed on Soap. Gaz joined him at the side of the field moments later, just coming off of a phone call to see you still on top of Ghost. 

“Oh yeah, we’re just having a bit of fun, Johnny. You know how much I love being mauled” Ghost grunted, tapping your thigh in short order. “You can get up now, Pup. Reckon you got me.”

You looked back down at Ghost and let out an embarrassed huff of air before rolling off him and standing up, dusting your dirty fatigues off. Some of the soft dirt smeared down them, leaving what would surely become a rough crust in its wake.

“Can’t believe you get to play with nerf guns and call it work,” Soap laughed, “That or the fact that you took the time to paint that thing black just so that it’d match your gear.”

“Well you’re welcome to take over if you think its so fun,” Ghost grinned, eyes cresting below his mask.

He unbuckled his thick leather gloves and threw them onto the grass at Soap’s feet, then tore the velcro off of his neck protector with a loud scratchy rip. Soap then looked back at you and visibility stiffened up, considering Ghost’s offer like it might be his death sentence. Gaz shoved him and laughed, going instead to approach Ghost and reach out for his gun. 

“Look at this,” he whistled, turning it over and opening up the ammo compartment. “What is this? A ten round? You even got the grey bullets with the red tips. Very nice hardware, Sir.”

“Well it is the Elite Ranger PD-5 Blaster, Garrick. Fine piece of kit, so it is,” Ghost quipped. “Maybe one day you’ll earn your own one.”

“Well now I know what I’m asking Santa for,” Gaz smirked. “So, we taking over here?”

You looked back at Soap again who was eagerly looking at Ghost to find out the answer to that question. Ghost looked back at him and winked, a gesture you only caught because you knew to look out for their antics now. 

“Nah,” Ghost finally answered, roughly raking his hands over your ears. “We made good progress today, I reckon we set Pup on anyone we need back alive, we’ve got a great chance of bringing at least seventy percent of the enemy still intact now.”

“Hey!” you growled. “I can bring people in just fine.”

“Oh sure, you can bring em’ in - in separate pieces of course - but you’ll get the job done,” he drawled, soon producing strangled notes as if he was choking. “‘Sorry sir, I would’ve given you the information but that damn wolf got my tongue.’”

Ghost laughed the way he always did when he was being cheeky, the rasping cackle crooning from his throat like a bear scratching up a tree. You had half a mind to do some scratching yourself, but instead you snatched the nerf gun from Gaz and shot Ghost in the chest a couple times. All of you silently watched as the foam bullets arced into his torso only to bounce off pathetically into the well trodden grass. 

You knew then that you should’ve aimed for his forehead like he’d done to you. 

“Friendly fire, is it?” Ghost questioned.

“Got you back,” you replied, tilting your chin in the air in defiance. 

He tutted at you and mussed up your hair once again, rubbing his hands over your head with enough force to almost knock you back.

“I’ll remember that next time we train together,” he said menacingly, jabbing your side just as he’d done that morning. 

You yelped and rubbed the tender spot, trying not to give into the laughter of the ticklish spot. 

“For now though, you two have the absolute pleasure of learning hybrid hand signals,” Ghost said, directing his attentions toward Gaz and Soap. “Sad that I have to miss such a fun exercise, but I’m sure you’ll have plenty of giggles without me. I booked out building three and left you a handler’s manual open on the page there. I had some corporals set up a basic simulation for you, so you should be good to go once you get in. Anything you’re confused on, Pup should be able to explain.” 

At that you groaned, shoulders slumping with the anticipation of the boring afternoon ahead. Back at Branhaven when they were training up new batches of handlers, you all had to take turns helping them through their coursework and modules - one of which being the hand signal module. That often meant long boring days being slowly and dramatically led around short courses and wildly gestured at until the new recruits were able to get the motions correct. 

“You couldn’t have just let me do more biting?” you sighed.

Ghost chuckled and picked up the rucksack of things he’d set off to the side.

“What? And terrify this one half to death in the process? I don’t think so,” Ghost said, pinching Soap’s cheek playfully. “You’ll survive one slow afternoon. I’ll even sweeten the deal, you keep the nerf gun and if they get something wrong you have my permission to shoot them.”

Soap rubbed at his cheek with a glare and slapped Ghost’s arm away soon after. His blue eyes were all storms and indignation and his jaw was clenched tight as a vice. Meanwhile you were doing everything you could not to yip with obvious delight, settling instead for a slow tail wag. 

“You don’t get to authorise that,” Soap said, rolling his eyes.

“What rank am I again?”

“That doesn-”

“It does actually. Have a good day, Sergeant,” Ghost interrupted, softly pretending to punch Soap’s shoulder. “Do me proud!”

Gaz laughed from next to you and waved Ghost off as he made his escape, narrowly avoiding getting hit by one of the leather mitts he’d set down earlier. Soap didn’t give chase after the failed throw though, instead he just stood grumbling to himself and eventually gathered the gear together and slung it into the holdall that Ghost had neglected to take with him. Once the bag dangled from his shoulder, he turned to you and Gaz and flung his head in the direction of the training buildings. 

“So what’s this about hand signals? We gonna have to make you sit and fetch?” Soap asked. 

“You tell me to go fetch and we’re gonna have problems,” you said, pumping the nerf gun’s ammo chamber for emphasis. 

“Christ in heaven,” Soap muttered, heaving himself off across the field. “The things I put up with.”

-🐺- 

The room was heavy with thick silence as you traversed your way around it. You might as well have been glued to Gaz’s side, one of the few sounds that were allowed to permeate the quiet was Gaz’s breathing and the metallic ting of the ancient filament lights. Every second that you walked, you obsessively watched Gaz’s hands, fixing your eyes on them as if they might hold untold treasures.

This was it, the last run through. Gaz paused at the same doorway you’d had to wait outside at least a dozen times already, and quickly held up his fist for ‘halt’. It helped that it was just the same as the standard hand signals that he’d been taught already. From there he pointed two fingers to his side and signalled for halt again. You nodded and moved next to him, looking from his hands to his eyes in quick succession while you waited for further instruction. 

From there he cupped his hands by his ear and pointed at you. You twitched your ears, adjusting yourself so that you could listen out for any tell tale sounds of Soap skulking around from inside. Though there was nothing beyond the annoying skittering of the old ticking clock inside the fake office, so to confirm the silence you shook your head. Gaz then held his finger to the side of his nose and pointed at you, but you held your palm up and waved your other hand around it. Unclear. Smell was little use when you’d all run the training course together so many times, everything stank of the two men at that point. 

Gaz nodded and thought for a second. Time might as well have been a sound, the continuous buzz of the lights or the shaking hands of the clock behind the door, your senses felt like they were blending into a big mush. You were glad when Gaz finally patted his back and held out his palm and then a single finger, signalling to walk back to back with him and watch his six. 

You nodded again and did as asked, making quick work of slinking through the door as quietly as possible and advancing down the corridor beyond. Gaz looked right and left, checking through the first office room on the right quickly and efficiently and kept things moving down the hallway, readying to advance to the next room at the end of the hallway. This was it, there was only one place Soap could be now, you thought. 

However, just as Gaz was heading down the corridor, you could’ve sworn you heard a noise. A faint almost wooden gasp, but it was something nonetheless. You grabbed Gaz’s arm and forced him to a stop, holding your hand to your ear so that he knew you heard something. He narrowed his eyes, honey irises appearing chestnut from under his shadowy gaze. After another few seconds you heard the sound of something making contact with the floor, hell you could've sworn you felt the vibrations of it at that point.

You looked up at Gaz with wild eyes and motioned your head down the hallway from the office that Gaz had assumed was safe. It wasn’t like there was much to sweep that you hadn’t already looked through on all your other runs, so he hadn’t been sloppy to dismiss the empty space. There was just a single desk with an exposed underside, the wall clock and a fake sink set up. The sink had a cupboard but it also had a slew of fake piping that made it impossible to squeeze inside. Or rather it should’ve. 

As soon as you crept back down the hallway, you both stumbled onto Soap emerging from the cupboard like a spider creeping from a crack. He was all arms and legs as he tried to slyly remove himself from the tiny space and before he was able to see you and Gaz, Gaz blasted him with the nerf gun and you ran toward him, ensuring you were out of firing range and jumped up in front of him. Pieces of loose plastic piping scattered from all around the bottom cupboard, and he just about exploded from his skin when you got your face up close to his.

“Steamin Jesus! How’d you know I was in here?” 

“We didn’t, I heard the cupboard opening though,” you explained, wagging your tail all the while. 

Soap sighed and leaned back into the cupboard clutching his hand over his heart for a moment before sitting back up. 

“I suppose I should be happy you’re on our team with those big satellites, fuzzy lugs,” Soap sighed. 

“Hey!” You whined, flattening your ears. “They’re not big satellites.”

“Well not when you put them back like that,” Soap said, a sly smile piercing through his eyes before it reached his lips. 

“Better big fluffy ears than big fluffy hair,” you huffed. 

“Oooh,” Gaz smirked, “Get ‘im.”

“You canny insult the hawk,” Soap sniffed, running a hand through his messy locks. “Nothing you say will convince me this isn’t stunnin’.”

You rolled your eyes and sat back from Soap, about to let him get up when Gaz stopped you both. He held out his hand and demanded you wait a minute, causing you and Soap to turn to one another and frown until all became clear. 

“Gotta get a good photo of our quarry, Pup. All the best hunters get their trophy photo,” Gaz explained, while holding his phone up and adjusting the angle.

Gaz adjusted his pose, tilting his nerf gun so that it crossed his chin and partially obscured his faux serious expression, meanwhile Soap sat back amongst the loose piping and accepted his fate, holding his fingers to his forehead in a fake gun gesture as if he were shooting himself. You weren’t sure what to do. No one ever asked you to be in pictures that weren’t mandated for the government website, so you didn’t know how to pose. 

At the last minute you tilted your head and pulled out a cheeky grin just before Gaz took the photos, the screen flickering black a couple times before he started tapping at his screen and laughing. He walked over to you both and lowered his screen, letting you see the resulting photo that oozed chaos with the silly toy gun and you and Soap sitting atop the mess of piping.

“Ooft, sexy,” Soap whistled. “Get that up on tinder. You’ll get all sorts of tail with that.”

“Oh yeah, caption writes itself - ‘anyone wanna hold my blaster?’” Gaz sniggered, tapping away again. “That’s going on insta.”

You huffed out a surprise breath at that.

“You’re actually putting that up on your socials?” you asked, frowning. 

Gaz ceased his tapping and tilted his chin up at you. 

“Was gonna, why? do you not want it up?” he asked, showing you the photo again. 

The screen tilted round to reveal a confirmation page with the photo sporting a slightly more dramatic filter. He’d been about to post it with a slightly less ridiculous caption at least ‘Mission success: blockage identified - Soap too big for the sink.’

That didn’t stop you from snorting at it of course. 

“I don’t mind - just figured you’ll get people being strange about you showing off that you hang about with the little hybrid weirdo,” you shrugged. 

“Aw, furball. You don’t have to worry about people finding you weird. Your ears aren’t that big and strange you know,” Soap said, rubbing your arm in mock sympathy. “They might not even qualify as full sized satellites, maybe just small radio towers or- Hey!”

You smiled smugly to yourself after flicking Soap on the nose, but quickly dropped the grin when Soap yanked you back by the shoulders and blew a big gust of air into one of your ears.

“No! Disgusting!” You squealed, wrestling him off and slapping him away while he laughed.  

You rubbed at your ear, screwing up your entire face while you tried to work the feeling of Soap’s breath out of your fur and inner canal. The uncomfortable pressure ceased after a few seconds and finally you were able to stop cringing away from Soap enough to see Gaz shaking his head at you both. 

“Aaand its posted. C’mon, we better start clearing out of here. You can fix that mess with the Pipes, Soap.”

“Fuck sake,” Soap cursed, looking around at his mess. “Thought this was gonna be worth it as well.”

His grumbling didn’t stop as he got through his work either. As he put the sink back together you sat on top of the desk by Gaz while he sat on the chair and scrolled through his phone. You didn’t really have anything to do, so you twisted the manual round that you’d been teaching the guys from and started flicking through the old yellowing pages. The corners felt like they might melt away from even just fingering through them, it was so ancient, but that wasn’t the only sign that the book wasn’t from your lifetime. After skipping to a random page, your eyes widened into saucers and your mouth almost dropped to the cold concrete below. 

“What the fuck,” you breathed out loud, reading over the page contents with a dry mouth.  

Gaz’s interest peaked at that. Out of the corner of your peripherals you saw his eyes drift from his phone to look over the page you’d pulled.

“Yo! What the hell is that about,” Gaz cackled, pulling his chair up and scraping it over the concrete to get a closer look. “Proper Maintenance of your Hybrid’s Hygiene? That’s nasty.”

Soap looked over from his work and frowned.

“What’s so nasty about that?” 

“Nah, I can’t tell you. You gotta come over here and see this, mate.”

You frowned down at the book, casting your eyes over the frankly awful illustrations therein with a sickening mix of horror and gratitude for not having to have experienced anything depicted in them for yourself. Below the section title, In the two little boxes with smaller boxes off shooting from them were mirror images of a man standing over a bathtub with a hybrid in it, however in one box there was a female hybrid and the other a male. In the smaller boxes were close up pictures of the illustrated hybrids' tails, ears and genitals with captions that explained the proper way to keep them clean and healthy. 

“As you will well know, being experienced handlers in training,” Gaz read aloud, using a posh old timey voice, “Hybrids do not have the mental capacity that humans possess. As such, they are simply not capable of keeping themselves adequately clean, which means this is a care requirement you must oversee yourself at least once a week. Following the diagrams above you must draw a bath for your hybrid and have them clean their bodies under your guidance and ensure their tails, ears and extremities are maintained to regulation. You must make sure to prevent water flooding their ear canals, as this can cause infection, you must clean and detangle/deshed their tails using a long tooth or a short tooth brush depending on their fur texture, and you must ensure their genitals/nethers are kept cleaned of any discharge, excrement, c-crust build up or- fuckin hell I can’t. This is actual slander. How did they get away with writing this?”

“This is some absolute specist nonsense,” you scoffed, taking the manual from Gaz, who was slowly losing it to soundless laughter, and turning it so that it faced you.

“So in this section it’s basically hammering it into you that I’m apparently too dumb to wash my own shit covered ass, and then in thiiiis page…” you trailed, flicking back a few pages to a title that had almost caught your interest before, “yeah here. In this section it details ‘training techniques and guides for making your hybrid competent in use of blades and blunt weapons.’ So essentially I have to be watched to make sure I get my fuckin ‘crust’ or whatever cleaned off because I’m an incompetent beast, but I can also be reasonably expected to wield a fucking machete! What kind of bullshit is this?!”

Soap and Gaz were dead silent for a few seconds, lips sealed firmly shut and eyes wide as you waved the page around that had the giant sword diagram. That is, until the moment they both looked at each other. After that they burst out into floods of laughter, clutching their chests and howling like animals themselves until tears started falling down their cheeks. 

“It’s not funny!” you growled, taking another look through the ‘guide’ for anymore terrible tidbits. 

“It’s not, it’s really not,” Gaz affirmed, trying to hold in his giggles. “It’s really fucked up, but c’mon, mate. Crust!”

“They didn’t even have to go into that crust shite, but the fact they went on and actually specified the parts in the diagram that had to be cleaned and all that,” Soap wheezed, “I don’t know who the experience is worse for! Where did Ghost even pull this crap from? Did he time travel back to 1945?”

You groaned and turned to the front page, ears drooping back when you found the publishing date. 

“Man, this is from the fucking seventies,” you frowned, realising what torments could’ve befallen you had you been born just a bit earlier. “Wait…you guys don’t think this is Ghost’s personal copy…”

You cut yourself off. All of you were silent.

“Well its possible they could’ve just issued Ghost with an old copy rather than print new ones,” Gaz shrugged, voice weak from laughing so much already. “You know what budgeting’s like.”

“Hold the bus, I’m gonna google something,” Soap announced, pulling his own phone out his trousers and quietly muttering to himself. “Hybrid hygiene, British army regulations…here we go…from the 1960’s hybrids were able to voluntarily join the army or be transferred in from institutes for displaced hybrids and… hygiene was taught in handler training courses and monitored by…then up until 20- steamin’ jesus.” 

“What?” you and Gaz sounded off in unison.

“Essentially says here that the practice of teaching hybrid hygiene and monitoring it didn’t completely end in all British bases until well after Ghost joined up which means…-”

“Ghost is probably a certified crust inspector,” you said gravely. 

At that you all burst out laughing. The room practically shook, none of you could contain yourselves, the sounds ricocheted off the walls and exploded in your ears. Though you couldn’t muster the wherewithal to care. For a few moments you all laughed in a joint heap until slowly you all came back to yourselves and closed the manual, doing all you could to stop yourself from launching it out the skylight above. 

“That’s fuckin awful stuff,” Soap said, finally getting back to finishing up with the sink. “Glad I never signed up for any o’ that pish. I’ll gladly take apart a bomb before I have to supervise you in the tub, furball.” 

“Me too,” Gaz sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Least you’ll never have to get bathed and de-crusted. Almost puts a silver lining on Branhaven if you never had to deal with that, huh?”

“God, I never thought I’d say it, but thank you Maddox for being a neglectful dick,” you muttered, giggling after Gaz snorted from next to you. 

-🐺- 

Later on that day, after Soap and Gaz had dropped you off with Price, the full schedule that you’d been handed weighed heavily on you. You drooped over Price’s sofa and were barely able to read more than a few pages of your new book until you gave up and slumped fully into the cushions. 

You happily dozed off with the sound of Price’s accompanying pen scratches and mutterings, your lips curving into a soft smile against the saggy old cushions. Cigar smoke and musk cradled your prone form and with just the gentlest hint of spiced citrus, you were letting it carry you off to sleep. 

However, before unconsciousness could fully take you, a loud unfamiliar knock sounded at Price’s door and shattered you from any notion of rest. Your heart beat rapidly, chest thumping heavily and you sat up fully and at attention.

You looked over at Price, watching as he put down his pen and shuffled his papers. He made a brief second of eye contact and shrugged as if to tell you that he didn’t know who it was until he looked back toward the darkened door. He’d yet to turn his main light on, instead he sat commanding the room from his lamplit desk. 

“Yes. Who is it?” he barked, rubbing his weary eyes.

“Captain, it’s Major Kelly, I need to speak with you about an incident involving your team’s hybrid. Can I come in?” Called a lilting Irish voice.

Your ears perked up and again you looked at Price, but he didn’t look back at you this time. He set his jaw in a tight line and folded his hands up across the top of his desk, thumping them heavily into the wood. 

“Door’s open, Major,” he called, voice booming in a way you hadn’t heard it before. “Let’s hear it.”

[literaryvein-reblogs]

A List of "Beautiful" Words related to Summer

to include in your next poem/story

Aestival - of or relating to the summer

Arboreal - of, relating to, or resembling a tree

Calefaction - the state of being warmed

Canicular - of or relating to the dog days (i.e., the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere; a period of stagnation or inactivity)

Chanterelle - a fragrant edible mushroom (Cantharellus cibarius) usually having a yellow to orange color

Convivial - relating to, occupied with, or fond of feasting, drinking, and good company

Crepuscular - of, relating to, or resembling twilight; dim

Devilry - playful, reckless behavior that is not intended to cause serious harm; mischief

Forenoon - the early part of the day ending with noon; morning

Igneous - of, relating to, or resembling fire; fiery

Noctilucent - visible or glowing at night; bioluminescent

Ocherous - of the hue of impure iron ore with an earthy usually red or yellow pigment

Pergola - arbor, trellis; a structure usually consisting of parallel colonnades supporting an open roof of girders and cross rafters

Redolence - an often pungent or agreeable odor

Respite - an interval of rest or relief

Salubrious - favorable to or promoting health or well-being

Solstice - the time of the sun's passing a solstice which occurs about June 21 to begin summer in the northern hemisphere and about December 21 to begin winter in the northern hemisphere

Souse - to make drunk

Vespertine - active, flowering, or flourishing in the evening

Viridescent - slightly green; greenish

If any of these words make it into your poem/story, please tag me. Or leave a link in the replies. I'd love to read them!

Word List: Spring ⚜ More: Word Lists

[newyorkthegoldenage]

This young man from Austin, Texas is making good use of his summer vacation by learning, by the sweat of his brow, how tons of steel become giant skyscrapers, August 21, 1925. He is an iron worker on the new 15-story physics building being constructed at Columbia University. Besides not being afraid to balance himself atop the highest girders, the student iron worker is quite a boxer, fighting under the name of "Wary" Wade, the proceeds of the fight going towards paying his way through college.

Photo: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images/Fine Art America

[purronronner]

The way I see it, Magneto doesn’t manipulate metals as in metallic elements, he manipulates metals as in the substance. Metallic elements in pure form, or alloys of multiple metallic elements mixed together. The material that’s malleable and ductile, that conducts heat and electricity (even at absolute zero, in the case of electricity). The material that is made up of a repeating lattice of positive ions surrounded by a sea of electrons - metallic bonding, not molecular or ionic.

Are there metallic elements in salt? Yes. But salt isn’t a metal, and it doesn’t function like or have the properties of a metal. The calcium hydroxyapatite in your bones isn’t a metal.

can i ask? does magneto control metals or electomagnatism? what exactly are his mutant powers? is there a different secret system to what is and is not a metal to him? because it seems like he has a handle on all transition as well as like lead and tin which are post transition metals of any quality or alloy of them but like... this implies that the only things he isn't in control of are like... the noble gasses and the organic chemistry elements (reactive nonmetals which is such a blah name for them.)

like, he should probably be able to control most salt and calcium... so he should be able to pretty easily mush people or marionette them around or control AT LEAST their emotions and stuff? idk i have food poisoning right now but i feel like he should also have some kinds of lava powers too if it was consistant? or is it about his abilities with electromagnetic forces? because if that's true then forget it, he should be able to control the spin of the earth, the earth, most solid objects and the chemical signals in people's brains and muscles, but i guess he could also do that with standard metal control too...

that's too much. i know he was created a while ago but like... they need to be specific. he should really be called like, "Deorbito." every issue should have a little periodic table with a blerb about electron spin or something, and specifics about what is and is not a Magneto "metal" and why... just to be sure. wouldn't cost a dime...

[ghibli-collector]

Question time…

Is the bath house Man made and inhabited by spirits or is it a spirit world creation? (See above picture)

I always assumed that the actual bathhouse was an old or ancient structure and created by someone like Yubaba, i assumed that once Chihiro went through the tunnel with her parents and as she crosses the dried up river she was crossing into the spirit world. But the area beyond the river with all the food places and the dried up river itself are clearly part of the abandoned theme park. So i thought that the abandoned restaurants part had been claimed and inhabited by spirits. Also the film shows a transformation as the spirit world comes to life as night falls across the the abandoned restaurants and as Chihiro tries to flee back across the river it’s suddenly massive and over flowing.

Regardless i always thought the bathhouse itself was this ancient structure created by Spirits but watching today in the scene where Chihiro first crosses the bridge that leads to the bath house door the construction under the traditional bridge is actually modern man made iron or steel girders and reinforced concrete which made me question and think wow is the bathhouse also just a man made structure inhabited by the spirits?

I noticed also that the rebars are still sticking out of the concrete giving it an unfinished look, could this also be a hint that maybe this is where the construction was abandoned and the actual spirit world begins? I’m not sure 🤣 because i also thought when Chihiro takes the train ride to swamp bottom that all these land scapes can’t be part of the human world? But actually maybe they are?!? It’s still day time on Chihiro’s train journey and the ghost like silhouette of a child and silhouetted people at the train stops along the way are similar to the black silhouettes we saw at the start of the film when the restaurant area came to life as darkness fell, but as darkness falls and the train passes through neon lights floating by the train by the time Chihiro visits Zeniba it’s also night time and she’s greeted by a spirit lamp. So it makes sense to me that Miyazaki has shown us a world where the spirit and human world are overlapping but just revealed at different times, i guess this is why Chihiro and Kohaku are linked since the time of Kohaku saved her life as a child and the song is “always with me”.

I will keep watching and see if there are any more signs of modern construction inside the boathouse… but what do you think??? The bathhouse built by men as part of a theme park resort bewitched spirit inhabited structure claimed by Yubaba and her patrons? Or a structure created by the spirit world?

Please comment and have your say

[scotianostra]

Just after 7pm on December 28th 1879 the Tay Bridge disaster occurred.

The first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed while a train was passing over it from Wormit to Dundee, killing all aboard.

At the time, a gale estimated at Beaufort force 10/11 was blowing down the Tay estuary at right angles to the bridge. The collapse of the bridge, only opened 19 months and passed safe by the Board of Trade, sent shock waves through the Victorian engineering profession and general public.

The disaster is one of the most famous bridge failures and to date it is still one of the worst structural engineering failures in the British Isles.

The first Tay rail bridge was completed in February 1878 to the design of Thomas Bouch. Bouch was responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of the bridge. Most of his bridges were lattice girders supported on slender cast iron columns braced with wrought iron struts and ties, such as the Belah Viaduct in the photograph to the right. The building of the Tay bridge culminated in him being knighted.

The Tay bridge was nearly two miles long, consisting of 85 spans and at the time was the longest bridge in the world. The spans carried a single rail track; 72 of these were supported on spanning girders below the level of the track; the remaining 13 navigation spans were spanning girders above the level of the track (i.e. the train runs through a tunnel of girders).

These "high girders", as they were known, were 27 ft high with an 88 ft clearance above the high water mark. It was these spans which fell. Most of the girders below track level, all of which remained standing, were transferred to the present Tay rail bridge. At the time of the collapse Bouch was working on the design of the proposed Forth Bridge. In consequence, the design of the bridge was transferred to Benjamin Baker and Sir John Fowler.

A Court of Inquiry was set up to try and ascertain the reason for the collapse of the bridge. The Court of Inquiry report concluded that, "The fall of the bridge was occasioned by the insufficiency of the cross bracing and its fastenings to sustain the force of the gale." The Court of Inquiry indicated that if the piers, and in particular the wind bracing, had been properly constructed and maintained, the bridge could have withstood the storm that night, albeit with a low factor of safety - 4 to 5 was the norm at the time.

A Court of Inquiry was set up to try and ascertain the reason for the collapse of the bridge. The Court of Inquiry report concluded that, "The fall of the bridge was occasioned by the insufficiency of the cross bracing and its fastenings to sustain the force of the gale." The Court of Inquiry indicated that if the piers, and in particular the wind bracing, had been properly constructed and maintained, the bridge could have withstood the storm that night, albeit with a low factor of safety - 4 to 5 was the norm at the time.

Sir Thomas Bouch was held chiefly to blame for the collapse in not making adequate allowance for wind loading. He used a wind pressure of 10 lbsf/sq ft for the design of the Tay bridge. It is interesting to note that when working on the design of a proposed Forth bridge he used 30lbsf/sq ft. To this day, however, there is still speculation as to the fundamental cause and as to whether or not the designer, Thomas Bouch, was to blame.

Apart from the results of the original Court of Inquiry, various theories have been put proposed to explain the collapse. The last two pictures shows the present Tay Rail bridge, the first shows the pier remains of Bouch's bridge alongside it. It is a very emotive site and provides a grim reminder of the disaster. The wrought iron girders which remained standing after the disaster were transferred onto the present bridge where they are still in use today.

[kidlit-queen-competition]

I submit 'Iron Girder' from Terry Pratchett's Discworld:

Iron Girder is possibly The Train Ever. Immediate add to the bracket.

[ID: an illustration of a postal stamp from the discworld novel Raising Steam. The stamp features a drawing of Iron Girder, a 4-4-0 locomotive, in an ornate frame. She has a headlamp on either side of her running board and one above her smokebox. She has a tall dome and a tall funnel, from which smoke is pouring. Her cab is open; two people are standing on her footplate. Above the illustration is the text "Postage paid: 5 pence" and below it, "Iron Girder" and her number, No.1]

[pratchettquotes]

"Can you believe it? They 'ad it in their hands. They could've built a working steam engine, and steamboats that didn't explode. That's academics for you. All that knowing and they went back to discussing t'beauty and truth of numbers and missed the fact that they'd discovered something important. Me? If I want beauty and truth I look at Iron Girder."

Terry Pratchett, Raising Steam

[thesilliestrovingalive]

Updated: March 22, 2025

Rebel Army Machines

The Type-2 Armoured Fighting Vehicle “Di-Cokka” is well-known for being used in tough fights and its stationary H-Cannon, a short-barreled 155mm cannon capable of rapid fire. The original German-American variant featured two slow-firing turrets, but Rebel Army engineers redesigned the Type-2 Di-Cokka to be more compact, equipped with a single smoothbore gun capable of firing at high velocities. Rumors suggest that the H-Cannon had to remain stationary due to its heavy weight, but only the original engineers know the true reason. Due to its cost-effective production, the Rebel Army has been able to mass-produce the Type-2 Di-Cokka, making it the most produced tank in the army. Notably, even under limited conditions, the Rebels successfully created the tank's main gun without compromising its high quality, making it ideal for mass production.

The Type-3 Armoured Fighting Vehicle "Bull Chan" was developed by Rebel Army tacticians in response to concerns that the Regular Army could launch attacks from rugged terrain. Designed to counter this threat, the Bull Chan is a heavy tank featuring reinforced armour that's tough and durable. It's equipped with tracks that can easily traverse challenging terrain and climb steep hills due to its high ground clearance and wide tracks. Primarily used to launch attacks from high vantage points such as hilltops and mountains, these tanks excel at ambushing enemies in mountainous terrain.

Due to their vulnerability to aerial attacks, Rebel Army engineers reinforced the top armour and applied camouflage to blend in with the surroundings, disguising the tank as a large boulder. While this camouflage offers limited concealment from nearby ground troops, it effectively prevents detection by Regular Army spy satellites and reconnaissance aircraft. Notably, the Rebel Army views these tanks as highly expendable, frequently deploying them in large quantities without hesitation.

The Type-4 AFV “Girida-O” was the Rebel Army's response to the need for a main battle tank with a balanced mission profile, combining firepower, mobility, and survivability. Aware that the Regular Army was developing a superior vehicle, the SV-001, the Rebel Army sought to create a close enough counterpart. The resulting Girida-O boasts compactness, enabling high-speed travel, and a rifled main gun providing sufficient firepower to address most threats. However, its design prioritises mobility over protection, resulting in a smaller frame and higher speeds. This compromise led to a notable flaw as tank operators often inadvertently ran over their own infantry support.

The Girida-O's chassis is versatile, with the Rebel Army adapting it for various purposes, including material transportation and bulldozing. A utility variant, dubbed Dararin Dara Dara, features a removed turret, a front bulldozer blade, and a hydraulic dumper. Primarily used for transporting materials, the Dararin Dara Dara serves as an engineering and construction vehicle. Although rarely deployed in combat, some resourceful Rebel soldiers have repurposed these vehicles to drop girders on incoming troops, attempting to kill or block their advance.

The Type-5 AFV “Iron Iso” is a defensive-focused vehicle, boasting cannon-based firepower capable of demolishing both enemy and friendly forces with ease. Its armour is exceptionally thick, allowing it to withstand 12.6mm Vulcan rounds and 127mm cannon munitions from the SV-001, which simply bounce off without causing significant damage. Serving as a fortified roadblock and providing cover for troops and other vehicles like the Girida-O, the Iron Iso plays a crucial role in defensive operations. However, due to its high production costs and complex construction, the Rebel Army has never mass-produced or widely deployed the war vehicle in the field.

The T-2B Melty Honey is a lightweight tankette armed with a frontal cannon that fires slow-guided missiles, supplemented by a hefty spiked plate providing additional defence. The vehicle's primary vulnerability lies in its exposed pilot, who's susceptible to enemy gunfire and explosives during combat. However, the absence of heavy armour plating enables the T-2B Melty Honey to achieve higher speeds and acceleration. This advantageous trade-off has led the Rebel Army to continue producing and utilising the T-2B Melty Honey.

The Cooperative Mission Tanks "Shoe & Karn" originated as a gesture of appreciation from General Morden to the Armitage twins, Sagan and Logan, following the formation of the Rebel Army. However, Sagan and Logan persuaded General Morden to produce additional versatile, super-heavy twin tanks based on their original design, recognizing their potential value in intense combat situations. Consequently, these tanks have been manufactured for Rebel soldiers to utilise in warfare. Each tank features a main turret-mounted cannon, two sub-cannon turrets on the front, and a rear-mounted missile launcher. Additionally, two side-mounted hatches enable Rebel soldiers to assist in defending the tank, typically employing bazookas, pistols or grenades.

The M-15A Missile Tank "Bradley" was specifically designed to serve as a long-range artillery unit, addressing a critical gap in the Rebel Army's capabilities during the Great Morden War. Following General Morden's escape and subsequent alliance with the Pipovulaj Army, Rebel Army technicians, with minimal assistance from Martian forces, developed the missile tank. This collaboration resulted in a versatile vehicle capable of engaging targets at ultra-close range. The M-15A Bradley can fire a salvo of anti-tank missiles horizontally or at a 45-degree arc by rotating its turret. Ideally suited for providing support fire, the M-15A Bradley is not designed for self-defence in close-quarters combat.

The Amphibious Vehicle of Destruction "Big Shiee" is a repurposed Ptolemaic Army Terrain Carrier, transformed into a large amphibious battleship designed for seamless transition between water and land travel, utilising its tracks to move like a conventional tank. The Big Shiee is heavily armed with multiple 75mm APDS cannons and a large, retractable main cannon concealed within the bow.

Two primary variants of the Rebel Army's Big Shiee exist: the Carrier Big Shiee and Morden's Battleship. The Carrier Big Shiee has undergone significant modifications, removing several turrets to accommodate Flying Taras as an aircraft carrier. In contrast, Morden's Battleship represents a more advanced iteration, incorporating numerous missile launchers and a colossal frontal minigun in place of the standard battery cannon. This variant boasts reinforced armour, enabling it to traverse sand and water with ease, and even dive beneath the sand.

The LV Armor, also known as the Rebel Armor, is a mechanised armour inspired by the devastating arrival of the Slugnoid during the Extraterrestrial Alliance Clash. Witnessing the Slugnoid's effortless slaughter of numerous Rebel Infantrymen, Pipovulaj Army troops, and mummies, prompted the Rebel Army to develop this armour. Unlike the Slugnoid, the LV Armor is exceptionally light and maneuverable, featuring a rocket booster that enables double-jumping. Its primary armament consists of a concealed 100mm cannon within one of its claws. Additionally, the LV Armor can equip various secondary weapons to its other claw, including Heavy Machine Guns, Flame Shots, Rocket Launchers, Laser Guns, and Shotguns. While this versatility enhances its combat capabilities, the armour's effectiveness is somewhat undermined by the limited ammunition supply for its integrated weapons.

The Multi-role Combat Vehicle "Iron Nokana" is a large, versatile armoured tank designed to counter advancing enemy troops. Its firepower is concentrated at the front, featuring a combined cannon and rocket launcher turret atop the vehicle, complemented by a concealed flamethrower at the bottom. To offset the limited rear firepower, a grey Girida-O tank is mounted on its rear. Initially, the Iron Nokana was designed for Chun Yutetsu, Marco Rossi's former combat school instructor, to operate during the Great Morden War as a last-ditch effort to repel the Regular Army's frontal assault. Following Chun's demise, Abul Abbas repurposed the Iron Nokana for nighttime operations during the Extraterrestrial Alliance Clash, requesting enhancements, including reinforced armour and blue flame projectiles.

The Formor is a distinctive variant of the SV-001, developed through a collaborative effort between the Rebel Army, Pipovulaj Army, and Amadeus Syndicate. Its design draws inspiration from blueprints of the Ptolemaic Army's Metal Rear, which Doctor Amadeus had access to. Serving as the Rebel Army's primary Super Vehicle, the Formor is twice the size of the SV-001 and features a crude green paint job. While it boasts superior maneuverability compared to the SV-001 and Metal Rear, its power output is somewhat lower than its counterparts.

The Rebel Gigant is one of the few main Rebel Army war machines developed using advanced Tuatha Dé Danann technology. Developed in collaboration with the Amadeus Syndicate, following the failed occupation of the Peregrine Falcons Squad’s South Pacific training grounds, this monstrous walker boasts a huge body, tough armour, great agility, and various weapons, including homing missiles and floating mines. Due to its limited deployment and massive size, many Rebel soldiers and Amadeus Syndicate troops refer to the Rebel Gigant as the "giant sleeping weapon”. Its use is typically reserved for high-ranking Rebel officers and the bravest and most loyal soldiers.

The Emain Macha, also known as The Twins, were inspired by the cooperative mission aspect of Shoe & Karn. Initially, Shoe & Karn were intended for deployment, but they were reassigned to bolster the protection of the Cabracan. As a result, the Emain Macha was hastily produced to provide necessary firepower and counter advancing enemy forces during the Survival Island Occupation. The twin units, Drache and Tiger, exhibit distinct differences in appearance and capabilities. Drache is green, bulkier, and slower, having sacrificed offence for enhanced durability. In contrast, Tiger is red, sleeker, and exceptionally agile, having traded durability for increased offensive power. The Emain Macha reuses the tracks and turrets of the Big Shiee. Due to its single-tread design, it lacks proper steering, only able to move forward and backward.

The Giant Self-propelled Artillery SDV-001 "Tani Oh" is a repurposed Ptolemaic Army heavy artillery tank, armed with a powerful, twin-barreled cannon capable of devastating large areas with ease. The twin guns are an experimental railgun system, firing instantaneous light bolts. Instead of ejecting spent casings, the turret vents smoke and heat through rear exhaust ports. Additionally, the Tani Oh is equipped with two side turrets, each mounting a Vulcan gun and a mine launcher, providing short-range defence.

During the Great Morden War, a female Warrant Officer, intoxicated at the time, and a lone Rebel grenadier crewed the Tani Oh. Regular Army resistance fighters who faced the Tani Oh reported that, after removing the badly injured Warrant Officer for questioning, the interior reeked of alcohol. Initially, only one unit was produced, used by the Rebels for testing purposes in the Käthehirt Valley. However, after Roberto Nicola and Leona encountered a Tani Oh during their operation before the Survival Island Occupation, rumours emerged that a small number of these units might be hidden in secret Rebel Army bases, reserved for desperate situations.

The Iron Sentinel, also known as the Iron Slider, is a colossal mobile rocket launcher that combines advanced Martian and Tuatha Dé Danann technologies. Heavily armoured, its primary vulnerability lies in the massive cannon mounted atop its structure. Additionally, the Iron Sentinel is equipped with an array of missile launchers and energy cannons. Developed in collaboration with the Pipovulaj Army, its creation was intended to facilitate the Rebel Army's and Rootmars' ambitions for global domination. However, these plans were ultimately thwarted by the Invaders' conquest of Earth.

The R-Shobu is the Rebel Army's primary single-seater heavy attack helicopter, designed to provide supplementary firepower for armoured fighting vehicles on the ground. With impressive speed, the R-Shobu attacks by deploying M31 bombs on ground targets or, in the case of the P.R-Shobu variant, utilizing an anti-tank TOW missile pod against aerial targets. Although equipped with a Gatling-style cannon, most pilots tend to avoid using it due to its unpredictable nature. An orange variant, the R.R-Shobu, boasts enhanced movement speed and the ability to fire two missiles simultaneously.

Interestingly, numerous accounts report that love letters have been found among the wreckage of downed R-Shobus. This phenomenon stems from the practice of pilots carrying letters in their pockets, which they would deliver to specific individuals upon encountering them, as requested by those who wrote the letters. The blueprints for the R-Shobu, along with those of the Flying Tara and Eaca-B, were stolen from secret Ptolemaic Army war machine manufacturing facilities during reconnaissance missions conducted by the newly formed Rebel Army.

The MH-6J Masknell is a lightweight utility helicopter often deployed in squadrons of five, led by a Regimental MH-6S. Since its introduction during the Vietnam War, the Masknell has spawned numerous variants, including the MD-500/530, H-6, AH-6, OH-6, and MH-6. Renowned for their speed, affordability, and reliability, these helicopters can be equipped with a range of armaments from anti-tank missiles to miniguns.

The Remained Fortified of Takatsu Bomber Type-770 "Tetsuyuki" is a heavily armoured flying gunship developed by the Rebel Army for combat. Its impressive arsenal has earned it various nicknames, including Impregnable Castle, Moth of Hell, and Sailor Titan. One of these gunships crash-landed in the Villeneuve Mt. System, where Rebel forces fortified it to serve as a strategic base. Despite sustaining significant damage, some of its weapons remain operational.

Notably, a Private 1st Class successfully piloted a Tetsuyuki during the Great Morden War, executing a daring emergency landing on the edge of a waterfall to save himself and his crew from certain doom. Later, Roberto and Leona investigated a reportedly abandoned Tetsuyuki in a jungle, following accounts of Rebels attacking hunters. Upon discovery, the gunship was found covered in moss and vegetation, indicating it had crashed long before the one in the Villeneuve Mt. System.

The Locality Bomber "Flying Tara" is a single-seater, multi-role fighter plane with ground attack capabilities. Its tactical approach involves carrying a single heavy bomb, deploying it, and then swiftly retreating to reload. Similar to the Eaca-B, some Flying Taras are equipped with missile-launching capabilities. Due to the Flying Tara's fast speed and moderate maneuverability, it comprises a significant portion of the Rebel Army's air force. However, it's highly vulnerable to anti-aerial fire.

The Eaca-B draws design inspiration from the Flying Tara, but boasts superior armament and maneuverability. As an air-to-ground fighter plane, the Eaca-B, alongside the Flying Tara, forms the backbone of the Rebel Army's air force. It's faster and more versatile than the Flying Tara, making it a more effective asset, although it remains somewhat vulnerable to anti-aerial fire. Its primary firepower consists of self-propelled heat-seeking bombs, semi-homing missiles, and machine guns.

The Orewana KO-42H "The Keesi I", now redesignated as the Second Generation Attack Helicopter "Hi-Do", serves as the Rebel Army's primary transport gunship and is frequently utilised by General Morden. Initially designed by the Russian Federation for testing purposes, the KO-42H was later legally purchased and modified by the Rebel Army for combat following the Federation's collapse in 2027. With its heavy armour and array of onboard weapons, this versatile combat vessel offers impressive capabilities. As a tandem rotor helicopter, the Hi-Do is primarily used for VIP transport and is the precursor to The Keesi II and The Keesi III. There's a transport variant with two doors and no accessible weaponry, designed specifically for transporting Rebel troops.

The Orewana KP-61 "The Keesi II" is a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) gunship designed to provide close air support to ground troops. Equipped with anti-air guns on its wings, it can also deploy heavy bombs. Notably, its length allows it to transport tanks. Additionally, The Keesi II can utilise its jet engines to incinerate targets below. A unique prototype variant, The Keesi II MK-2, features upgrades, including Vulcan machine guns mounted under each wing. However, this variant lacks landing gear, and only one unit was produced, which was subsequently destroyed by Roberto and Leona. Like its predecessor, it was acquired by the Russian Federation. The Arabian Infantry would later utilise it for daytime operations during the Extraterrestrial Alliance Clash.

The VTOL Heavy Bomber “The Keesi III” was the Rebel Army’s answer to providing Close Air Support while making an aircraft able to stick to the battle zone until the fight was over. It’s made to store more infantry and provide greater fire support than the previous two models.

The Hairbuster Riberts is a prototype heavy bomber developed by the Rebel Army, boasting a diverse array of armaments, including guided missiles and bouncing bombs. This versatility enables the Hairbuster Riberts to rapidly adapt to changing situations, making it a formidable weapons platform. Despite its potential, the project remained in the testing phase, and it was still ongoing even after the conclusion of the Great Morden War with over a hundred prototype units having been produced.

The Jet Hammer-Yang is a simplistic speed boat outfitted with small cruise missiles on its sides. Although its crew remains exposed, the Jet Hammer-Yang’s remarkable agility makes it a challenging target to engage. Notably, there have been reports of the missiles continuing to fire automatically even after the pilot has been killed, until the Jet Hammer-Yang is destroyed. The exact reason for this phenomenon is unclear, but speculation suggests it may be attributed to the pilot's body weight pressing against the controls. Originally, these vessels served as tourist jet boats in Ronbertburg City, but following the Great Morden War, they were seized and repurposed for military use by the Rebel Army and the Ptolemaic Army.

The Armed Houseboat "Hammer-Yang" originated as passenger boats in Ronbertburg City, ferrying tourists and civilians. However, they were seized by the Rebel Army during the Great Morden War and converted for military purposes. Despite being inexpensive, these boats demonstrate remarkable sturdiness and capacity, accommodating a substantial number of passengers. Interestingly, they're also employed by pirates, primarily supplied by the Rebel Army and the Amadeus Syndicate. There’s a saying within the Regular Army that warns, “Whenever you see a Hammer-Yang, always assume that there are at least 30 enemies inside.”

The Medium Submarine "U25U" was developed to address the Rebel Army's need for submarine vessels in underwater combat prior to the events of the Survival Island Occupation. Developed by Rebel Army engineers in conjunction with the Mini-Sub 88, the U25U is larger, heavier, and remotely operated, distinguishing it from its smaller counterpart. Notably, the U25U can open its side hatches to deploy marine divers and launch guided energy balls from its top hatch.

The Mini-Sub 88 was a response to the Rebel Army's rapid expansion and their recognition of the need for specialised vehicles to operate in diverse environments on Earth. Designed by Rebel Army engineers, the Mini-Sub 88 was created to explore and conquer underwater territories. These compact submersibles are remotely operated, leveraging AI control to minimise manpower requirements.

The Covert Operations Submarine "Hozmi", also known as the Pahodumi by the Martians, is a nuclear-powered submarine designed for naval warfare. Developed in collaboration with the Pipovulaj Army, the Hozmi incorporates Martian and Tuatha Dé Danann technologies, notably featuring a powerful, long-range electric cannon. Multiple Hozmi-class vessels were produced during the Extraterrestrial Alliance Clash, with Martian personnel overseeing their construction in specialised booths. A rare variant, commonly known as the Hozumikai or Hozmi 2.0, was discovered by Roberto and Leona during their investigation into the remnants of the Rebel Army's Super Soldier Project. This finding suggests that either some Hozmi-class vessels remain in operation or the Rebel Army and/or the Pipovulaj Army retained access to the Hozmi's design blueprints.

The MV-280B, also known as the Attack Jeep Heavy-B, is a component of a series of quick-strike vehicles developed prior to the Extraterrestrial Alliance Clash. Designed to harass enemy tanks and serve as troop transports, the MV-280B is specifically owned and operated by the Rebel Army. This B-variant is equipped with rockets, enabling it to engage and disrupt slow-moving tanks. A C-variant, which featured a machine gun, was also initially part of the Rebel Army's arsenal but was never deployed. It was subsequently transferred to the Amadeus Syndicate to support the enhancement of their defences.

The Nop-03 Sarubia is a heavy tank designed to disrupt enemy troop movements by deploying rolling mines, rendering them unable to retaliate against the war machine or friendly forces as they evade the mines. Its frontal armour provides robust protection, and the tank is equipped with a cannon that fires spherical shells. However, due to the elevated position of the firing port, the tank's chassis experiences significant recoil, resulting in the shell losing substantial forward momentum. Consequently, the shell often falls short, rolling ineffectively along the ground. A notable vulnerability of the Nop-03 Sarubia is its lack of anti-aircraft defences.

The MG-36 is a supply car utilised by the Rebel Army, typically transporting a refrigerator stocked with assorted food products. Rebels also employ these vehicles as makeshift cover when frontline defences require reinforcement or when cover is scarce.

The 3-ton Utility Truck is a vehicle used for troop transportation, offering a cost-effective alternative to the Landseek for moving large numbers of personnel. Additionally, it can carry supplies such as barrels of fruits and vegetables, crates of ammunition, and boxes of explosives.

The Transport Truck "Landseek" is a support half-track vehicle primarily used for troop transportation. It also has the capability to transport heavy artillery, such as the AA Cannon, a one-man operated anti-aircraft gun, and smaller armoured vehicles. The Landseek has no armour as it's specifically designed for support.

The Rebel Van is a tracked transport vehicle designed to provide soldiers with temporary accommodations. As a result, several personnel are typically stationed inside. However, after the Martian Takeover, the Rebel Army deemed the Rebel Van to be an expensive and ineffective asset, ultimately leading to its discontinuation.

The M-3 Rocket Launch Support Van, also known as the Parachuetruck, is a large van utilized by the Rebel Army. Equipped with multiple launchers on its roof, it can launch a wide range of objects that fit within its payload capacity. The M-3 platform serves as a mobile bombardment system, capable of unleashing multiple volleys of rockets under parachutes to devastate a target area. Following the rocket barrage, it can deploy Rebel Infantrymen via the launchers, which propel them into the air, equipped with parachutes to descend and secure the area.

The Camouflaged Gun Battery "Mini-Bata" is a self-propelled railway gun, operated by a two-person Rebel crew. Following the Rebel Army's capture of Ronbertburg City, it served as a concealed defensive artillery weapon, cleverly hidden among the city's civilian buildings and advertisement towers. The Mini-Bata was converted from a captured locomotive, which was subsequently outfitted with a mounted cannon.

The Mini-Blimp is a miniaturised blimp utilised by the Rebel Army to lift and transport objects and vehicles. Constructed from robust materials, a single Mini-Blimp is required per vehicle. Additionally, the wooden scaffold typically carried by the Mini-Blimp doubles as a mobile platform for Rebel soldiers.

The Kaladgolg is a heavily armed troop train, boasting a laser cannon, dual miniguns, and twin mine launchers. Unlike its counterpart, the Tani Oh, the Kaladgolg is mounted on a railcar, granting it unparalleled mobility. Rumours suggest that it was originally an abandoned underground railway car used by the Tuatha Dé Danann before the K'antu Q'ente inhabited the South Pacific island, where this machine mysteriously resides.

The Walking Locomotive is a Rebel Army mobile train equipped with legs, designed to transport supplies to soldiers on the front line. Following the destruction of their seized 7000 Class Locomotives, which cities had used as specialised supply trains to transport goods and important individuals during the Extraterrestrial Alliance Clash, the Rebel Army developed an innovative solution. This resulted in a towering, heavily armoured walking train that can auto-pilot itself when the front section is destroyed.

The Balor is a submarine vessel discovered by the Rebel Army during a reconnaissance mission in the P.F. Squad's South Pacific archipelago, prior to the events of the Survival Island Occupation. Rumours suggest that the submarines previously belonged to the Regular Army, but were abandoned due to a prolonged period of inactivity in naval warfare, compounded by their supposed high production costs. Due to its relatively non-functional state, the Balor is repurposed as a stationary weapon platform to support ground troops. Deployed via crane, the Balor attacks by launching torpedoes in an arc. A Rebel Army vehicle driver is stationed on board to operate the functional sections of the vessel.

The Pipe Spider is an advanced mechanised spider developed by the Amadeus Syndicate, leveraging Tuatha Dé Danann technology. Following the Martian Takeover, it was gifted to the Rebel Army. The Pipe Spider boasts an array of armaments, including chain guns, Vulcan guns mounted on its sides, guided missiles, homing particle projectiles, and a high-powered laser. It’s strategically deployed to safeguard the Rebel Army's clandestine weapons factory, situated within an abandoned coal mine discovered in the aftermath of the Martian Takeover.

The Jupiter King is a massive defensive robot developed by the Rebel Army, Pipovulaj Army, and Amadeus Syndicate to safeguard their main secret factory. Its robust body is heavily armoured to protect the internal nuclear reactor, making the lightly armoured head its most vulnerable spot. The robot's arsenal consists of a missile pod on its left arm, capable of firing multiple homing missiles. Its prehensile right arm is equipped with a large, claw-like manipulator that can be converted to destroy surfaces. Additionally, the Jupiter King's eyes can fire a particle beam to attack enemies, and it features a unique "belly button" that generates a massive missile, which the robot can grab and slam into the ground.

The Platformed Urban Tank "Dragon Nosuke" is a quadruped tank featuring fast-moving wheels, designed to safeguard the Rebel Army's seized 7000 Class Locomotives during the Extraterrestrial Alliance Clash. It's heavily armed with massive chainguns and flamethrowers. Additionally, the tank is equipped with hydraulic systems above its legs, enabling it to crouch and crush anyone or anything underneath with its immense weight.

The Bull Drill is an advanced construction site machine and rumors suggest it drew inspiration from the Drill Slug, evident in its extending drill design. Developed jointly by the Rebel Army and Amadeus Syndicate, this large mining vehicle excels at digging underground and excavating precious materials with ease. Its name is derived from its dual functionality, featuring both a bulldozer blade and a drill.

The Master Armor Gigantic Excavator “Aeshi Nero" is a colossal excavator with a distinctive cobra-like appearance. Originally utilised by an Ajirabian archaeological organisation for underground exploration, it was designed for burrowing purposes. The Rebel Army seized the excavator and enhanced it with advanced Martian and Tuatha Dé Danann technologies, repurposing it for combat. The Aeshi Nero features a missile launcher in its mouth, capable of firing homing missiles, as well as a powerful laser cannon that can penetrate hard stone layers. Additionally, it’s used to create large caverns for Rebel bases.

The Cabracan is a powerful weapon jointly developed by the Rebel Army, Pipovulaj Army, and Amadeus Syndicate, leveraging advanced Martian and Tuatha Dé Danann technologies. Capable of generating devastating earthquakes to annihilate targets, rumors suggest that it can even destroy half of an island by locating and disrupting the central earthly ley lines of the area. Before it could be fully utilised, the Cabracan was destroyed by Division 6 and three former Peregrine Falcons Squad cadets: Walter, Tyra, and Dilovar. However, the Pipovulaj Army retains access to the Cabracan's blueprints, potentially paving the way for its reconstruction.

The Fall Climber, also known as the Fall Mecha and Narutaki, is a gorilla-like mecha designed for scaling cliffs. Developed collaboratively by the Rebel Army, Amadeus Syndicate, and Ptolemaic Army following the Martian Takeover, the Fall Climber incorporates advanced Tuatha Dé Danann technology. This is evident in its sophisticated arsenal, which features plasma shots and a high-powered laser cannon.

The Laser Drone is a vigilance drone utilized in elevator systems, jointly developed by the Rebel Army and Amens Amadeus Syndicate, leveraging advanced Tuatha Dé Sophian Dé Danann technology. These drones possess the ability to cling to ceilings and emit a concentrated laser beam upwards, striking any person above them. Although they have limited armour, Laser Drones compensate for this vulnerability by typically attacking in coordinated pairs.

The Patrol Robot is a small defence drone used to protect the main facilities of the Rebel Army, developed from experimental Tuatha Dé Danann security technology. They're heavily armoured, making their lens, which fires laser beams, their only weak spot. When intruders enter their searchlight, the light turns red, signaling an imminent attack.

The Supervisory Camera is a stationary camera equipped with a British Sten submachine gun or flamethrower, used for vigilance in Rebel Army facilities. It features adjustable angles and can fire upon intruders. Strategically positioned on ceilings, these cameras often operate in conjunction with Patrol Robots to enhance security.

The Sensor Mine is an underwater explosive mine developed by Rebel Army engineers and pyrotechnicians. Later, the blueprints were shared with the Ptolemaic Army as part of their alliance. These mines serve as underwater protection, tracking nearby targets and detonating upon detection. They are often deployed in clusters and transported using disposable Bull Chans that were dropped into the ocean.

The Rebel Walker is a defence drone created by the Amadeus Syndicate using salvaged Tuatha Dé Danann technology. It was gifted to the Rebel Army shortly after the Pod's creation and just before the Ptolemaic Emergence began. These versatile robots are highly agile, navigating to their targets by walking and jumping. They attack by firing energy cannons from their frontal protrusions, which emit waves of energy. If enemies get too close, they will open their mouths to reveal a retractable knife, designed for melee combat. Additionally, Rebel Walkers can launch rockets from their rear to strike targets at a distance, including those on cliffs. They can also deploy modified Pods that provide supporting firepower. These Pods will levitate and fire three homing shots at the target before depleting their battery and falling to the ground.

The Mosque Artillery, also referred to as the Missile Artillery and Turret Fort, is primarily utilised by the Arabian Infantry and Rebel Infantrymen operating in the Ajirabian deserts. Its development was initiated by Abul Abbas, who sought to create an effective ambush strategy against enemy forces during the anticipated counterattack in the Extraterrestrial Alliance Clash. General Morden approved this request and instructed his engineers to design a vigilant war machine capable of repelling enemy advances.

It serves as both a surveillance point and an ambush platform for the Rebels. Disguised as a series of minarets within an Arabian mosque, each minaret's dome conceals a missile battery. These batteries launch volleys of slow-moving, homing missiles to attack enemy forces.

The Spider Droid is a smaller, mass-produced variant of the Pipe Spider, also developed by the Amadeus Syndicate and provided to the Rebel Army shortly after the defeat of the Pipovulaj Army and Rootmars. These agile robots possess advanced mobility, enabling them to climb walls and precisely target enemies with their weaponry. Due to their thermal-resistant armour, Spider Droids are primarily deployed in areas with colder climates.

[scottish-wrestling-network]

Full Results: Iron Girders Pro Wrestling (@IronGirdersGym) x Over The Top Wrestling Contenders (@OTT_wrestling) (23 Feb 2025)

Continue reading Full Results: Iron Girders Pro Wrestling (@IronGirdersGym) x Over The Top Wrestling Contenders (@OTT_wrestling) (23 Feb 2025)

[eyra]

winning arguments without crying

Three years ago I liked you and now I think you’re hideous That’s really all it is. Crumbling stone above your sink in a houseshare bathroom that feels like an aeroplane toilet. A corona of snakes that couldn’t be saved by a beautiful tragedy. You have to train them, you see To bite beautifully and in a tragic sort of way A literary way You can’t just wash your red hair and let it dry like that. I would know. Mine are revered and I think people are afraid of them but in a beautiful sort of way.

That’s another story that I’m trying to write and I wish I could block you from the pages like I’ll block you on Instagram.

I think you’re hideous A gradual  and then very sudden descent into a cramping hatred like the way you think hot weather is just fantastic and I think the sun is fucking obnoxious Like you A loudly epic microcosm  A study in how to learn to hate a stranger measured by unprecedented times and a handful of afternoons eating  blue cheese and crackers on London grass waiting for the time to pass If nobody likes you and everybody likes me then does that make me awful too? or does it just mean I’m right

You glittered like a mirror for a morning our sisterly reflections in mourning A summer snapshot from the lens I’m still in charge of Now you’re a black hole or something worse probably an empty shell pretending to be a whole person. Boring boring boring Everything about you is boring I’m bored with how boring I find you This poem is boring. It’s boring to talk about you but I can’t stop none of us can stop we’re all awful. You were a mirror and isn’t that funny considering how much you fucking love looking at yourself now Is this fucking play about us? as long as it’s all focused on you Tell us to knock the f-stop back as far as we can until it’s just The You Show again but you’ll say you hate the lens I’m standing behind. Apparently it’s all so condescending of me but I think you just don’t understand what that word means and what you actually mean is I’m older than you and know how to win arguments? What you actually mean is I can fight without shaking and my face doesn’t turn red when I’m angry? and I’ve always thought that a very lucky trait to have I think I probably got that from my dad although he doesn’t really get angry. I think you should write a poem about what you got from your dad But you’ll never do that even if  it’s the easy pick to the door you say someone else bolted you behind screaming. I unpicked mine when I was twenty and I’ll always shoot if someone slags off my closet And you think you’re the gunmaster here

But that’s a totally separate conversation and I can’t be bothered having it with you so can we just move on because you’re too narrow to get that.

The most caring person in the world until empathy starts unearthing your enemies As if you don’t already have a thousand. And none of it feels important anymore so I’m embarrassed that I even care but it’s not a caring sort of caring. If you’re compelled by right and wrong I’m compelled by love and hate I think that’s my coin and one day soon I’ll stop spending it on you But for now I’m solvent Even if I’m letting you steal from me and your steel city state is richer than my ancient woodland but your vaults are beneath iron girders of fantastic and thanks so much and so it becomes a girlish and quietly-biting sort of coin that burns lips and makes everything taste like copper mine is just a mist and then you accuse me of being non-confrontational when actually I’ve always quite liked confrontation.

It’s something I’m good at

and yet you keep trying and honestly I find that mortifying But you’re a child so I don’t even care. Maybe I should swaddle you but you said you're wise beyond your years so I guess let’s go with that? And if everyone hates you and nobody hates me then maybe you should go back to your mirror and look there instead of at your front-facing camera because that’s mortifying too  and you should’ve gone to university because you would’ve met other mirrors there And at least I know I’m a bitch

I met my mirrors ages ago.

But you run from reflection and choose your front-facing camera instead because it does that thing where it flips the image and you get to pretend that you’re the opposite thing to the thing you actually are and you get to tell yourself that you’re so tiny and the world is the Big Bad pecking at your nest. But you’re the awful thing And everything is backwards And everything is mirrored to you And if I saw myself in you then send me the invoice and finish your email with  thanks so much  for teaching me how to be something else because honestly if I became what you already are I think I’d just die  I can see you rolling your eyes on the playground because someone else was enjoying the swings but in a stupid way and the tarmac was hotter in Germany but that doesn’t make you more interesting. God I wish I could tell you that.

I told you once that sometimes I pretend I’m on Graham Norton when I’m in the car I thought everyone did that but apparently they don’t But that’s fine I think and you didn’t need to laugh about it with your fiancée But she's left you too and I found that funny So let’s call it even.

I dive headfirst into the oil when it comes to you because it feels so hotly delicious  To nestle in the anonymous ranks of whatever armies you think you did nothing to provoke You’ve got spears for crutches but your armour is accountancy note paper With lecture notes too boring to comprehend I don’t think you’re actually interested in investment risk and taxation or fraud analytics Is anyone? It’s just something else to put on your brown sash and on your HER profile. Tell them about how you’re on every battlefield and I’m just softly at home writing a stupid poem about you And if you’re reading this now because you keep tabs on everyone and everything and if you were waiting for me Don’t flatter yourself. This isn’t about you. Because I already don’t remember how old you are but I think you get a notification when I post an Instagram story of myself as a child.

I have a pitchy black well of everything that you don’t have and I throw myself into it and you screw your face up lime-sour when actually I think you’d love to build one for yourself  but you can’t stop looking at your Instagram followers for long enough to work out  How to cast bricks or divine water or whatever else you need to build a well

You don’t even have the land for it yet.

I’d rather write a stupid poem than be your blank piece of paper I’d rather write myself as a villain than play your antagonist  Write me out of your boring story I’m begging you. It’s been a year and you’re still looking up how to spell my name  Between notes about investment management and derivatives And I don’t even know what that means Thank God. God it’s so boring But I’m laughing at the idea of one day forgetting your name.

I can be rotten but I think the thing that saves you from Hell is the welcoming of the rot and if I can be this but also sleep with my friends and love my American cereal and the little squares of sun my mirrorballs cast to my blue walls Then what does it matter I don’t think it matters. But you can’t be told about any of that Because you’re too busy romancing your front-facing camera and  one-hundred-and-thirty-three people in fluorescent ceiling panels who won’t ever clap at a volume that fills you So I’ll leave you waiting for your lean applause And I’ll just be lighter.

I watched a video today of my niece on a ride-on lawnmower Grinning with my dad in the field behind our house and that was me twenty-two years ago. God I love that I can love.

[ayeforscotland]

Re: the taste of Irn Bru. I once gave it to an American who said it tastes orange. Not the fruit, but the taste of the colour orange.

Iron girders from the Forth Rail Bridge

[beatricebat]

This one is strictly for the Floch girlies.

Because 1) of a long, complicated, boring sequence of tangential thoughts; and 2) I’m a fool, I decided I needed to rewatch the scene where the Rumbling reaches the warehouse where Floch is, and go frame by frame through it.

This was a mistake.

This was a big fucking mistake.

I’m going to drop why behind the cut, because I didn’t know before, and it left me going, “My boy…my boy!” for several minutes.

MAPPA DROPPED A FUCKING IRON GIRDER ON HIS HORRIBLE, BEAUTIFUL HEAD.

That’s noooot in the manga! Floch’s last physical appearance is the panel where Hange says he’s dead. There’s one panel later where the Rumbling titans squish the warehouse in the background as the plane sets off, but there’s not a close up of a goddamn girder crushing his little skull.

If you need to see this horror for yourself BUT YOU SHOULDN’T but if you do then scroll down past all the ellipses

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(Also real sorry for potato quality. I don’t have the Blu Rays, and Crunchyroll doesn’t let you take screen caps, so a photo of my screen it was.)