#it’s just blackmail fodder

[crazzberry]

Linked Universe as silly messages between me and my friends.

[miniatureliterature]

I highly recommend returning to classic photo albums for anyone needing a systematic hobby. I’ve gone through and printed all of my favorite memory photos since 2009, filled an entire album with 600 wedding photos, and started an album solely for my daughter. Bonus fun is that you then get to spend time reminiscing and looking back on your memories with friends!

What? Oh, yeah, no, it’s definitely not an obsession. No, it’s easily manageable and not all-consuming at all. Catching up on photo printing on a Saturday and having 40 more you want to get printed by Wednesday is totally normal, healthy even. I’m FINE.

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

Do you ever think about how Crowley treats Yuu like their disposable canon fodder and his blackmailing/neglectful behaviour is literally abusive?

And the fact that no one in NRC cares about them (and only started showing interest in them to satisfy their own means/once Yuu proves to be useful/only once Yuu nearly dies helping them) - and the fact that even the professors have failed them because they never once bring up the overblots or the mistreatment that Yuu faces even though they are adults whose job is to protect and care for Yuu and Yuu is just an actual child?

Because I do.

[fantastic-nonsense]

I think people who genuinely wanted Percy to rebel against the gods and overthrow the system kind of...miss the whole point of the series

The question is not whether or not the gods deserve to rule; the books are kind of unambiguous that they don't! That the gods are generally undeserving of their children's loyalty is the one thing that Percy and Luke both agree on! But PJO is less about divine right to rule vs. ruling via consent of the governed and more about improving dysfunctional family systems. It's not about whether unfair rulers deserve to continue ruling; it's about forcing the gods to be better, fairer rulers and a better, fairer family given limited alternatives.

Because what are the alternatives, as presented to us within the scope of the original PJO series?

Option 1: allow Kronos to topple Olympus and take over. Clearly not a viable alternative for all of the reasons the books show us.

Option 2: the demigods overthrow the Olympians and rule the world themselves. Okay. How's that going to work out long-term, given demigods are mortal and cannot control or protect their parents' domains? Demigods will die out within a generation or two, so that's potentially a one-generation short-term solution, and then everyone's right back where they started. Except worse, because now the world has been out of divine balance for a century and the gods have a completely legitimate bone to pick with all demigods. Materially worse outcome.

Option 3: demigods ignore the gods and their will entirely. They integrate into the mortal world, refuse to participate in quests or talk to their parents, and pretend prophecies don't exist. Except that's clearly not a viable option, since we see that demigods usually can't safely exist in the mortal world without monsters coming after them, the gods are cruel enough to use blackmail and engage in hostage situations to get demigods to act as heroes, and prophecies have a way of coming true regardless of everyone's best attempts to circumvent them. Again: materially worse outcome.

And for Percy, for the demigods at Camp Half-Blood, for Luke and for everyone else who defected....for the most part, they don't actually have an inherent problem with the gods ruling them. They just want to be acknowledged, valued, and loved by their families, to be treated as more than a tool for their parents to wield whenever their services are needed. That was the core thesis of the demigod rebellion, which was wholly separate from Kronos' specific motivations for overthrowing the Olympians, and it's why Percy's asks at the end of TLO were what they were.

The point was always that had Percy grown up in a slightly more dysfunctional family environment...had he grown up with Frederick Chase's seemingly conditional love or May Castellan's madness instead of Sally Jackson's steady, quiet, unconditional love...he could have turned out like Luke. Like Ethan. Like the dozens of demigods who defected from camp to join Luke's cause. Percy could have turned out just as a bitter and angry and vengeful. Just as ready to tear down the system. Just as willing to betray and kill his own family for the sake of making a point.

But instead, Percy openly reprimands the gods for abandoning their families and using them as cannon fodder in their own petty disagreements. He forces them to acknowledge and claim their children. He demands that everyone who is part of the godly family be recognized and accepted, not just those related to the Twelve Olympians. He asks for those unjustly punished (like Calypso) to be set free and accepted back into the family. Because that's the point at the end of the day: not forcing bad rulers to step down, but changing an insanely dysfunctional family system that the gods and demigods are all members of into a better, safer, and more accepting environment for demigods to grow up and live in.

Overthrowing the gods wouldn't solve the problem at the heart of the series, which is the gods' shitty parenting and family management skills. It would only exacerbate the massive familial fault-lines that Kronos exploited and leave the demigods open to more godly manipulation. Which is why the series ends as it does, with Percy using his wish to tangibly improve the lives of his family instead of selfishly improving his own life (via accepting immortality/godhood) or overthrowing the gods. Because the conflict isn't about the gods as rulers. It's about the gods as parents.

PJO's core thesis is Percy, who grew up knowing unconditional familial love, looking at this whole world of children who didn't and saying "that's not fair. Gods should be better than this!" But instead of destroying them the way Luke wants to, instead of overthrowing them and putting himself on the throne, he instead challenges them to be better parents and family members. To be part of the solution instead of the problem. And Percy's demands don't solve everything, but they were necessary first steps! Without forcing the gods to acknowledge a bare minimum floor of inclusion, the cycle would simply begin all over again the next time a major conflict popped up.

So that's the problem Percy solves and how he successfully fulfills the prophecy: by believing that the gods had the capacity to change and forcing them to break the cycle of familial abandonment, he preserves Olympus and takes the first steps towards a new status quo, one that is objectively better for demigods than the one he grew up in. That's why he succeeds, and it's why Percy overthrowing the gods would have made for a much less satisfying ending than what actually happened.

[inbarfink]

Okay, I’ve been considering it for quite a bit and I think that if Tumblr existed in Japanifornia… most of us would probably not be aware of the series’ main characters.

Like, lawyers just don’t tend to be high-profile publicly-known figures. Even within True Crime communities or the coverage of high-public-interest cases, people don’t tend to focus on the lawyers as much more than a representative of the defendant and the legal system as a whole. And yeah, you can say this is just because real-life lawyers are Boring and if they did the kind of Bonkers Shit AA Lawyers do we would pay attention to them… but we do actually have textual evidence that Japanifornia treats lawyers not-too-differently than real life.

Mia’s murder, and probably the uncovering of all of Bluecorp’s dirty dealing, was highly talked about, but Phoenix’s actions in court went kinda ignored. And note that this is the case where Phoenix literally defended himself and broke the Demon Prosecutor’s five years winning streak, and that wasn’t enough to draw eyes to his part in this whole case. 

And that’s also generally consistent with how characters treat Phoenix throughout the rest of the games. By the AJ Trilogy era, it’s clear that Phoenix has made quite a name for himself… in the legal world. If you are yourself a lawyer or another sort of legal professional or just unusually interested in court proceeding, you know the name ‘Phoenix Wright’ 

But if you’re just a regular person who cares about the law the Regular Amount, you probably have no idea who this is.

So I’d guess most of Japanifornian Tumblr would probably be aware of a lot of the cases in the games, especially considering how many of them concern, like, corporate corruption and organized crime and legal corruption and international politics and the entertainment industry and other such stuff that makes it likely to get national/international news coverage. And also so many of them are so bizarre and wacky and are thus prime meme fodder…

But most people wouldn’t necessarily know the name of the lawyer the Nickel Samurai blackmailed to defend him after he ordered an assassin to kill the Jammin’ Ninja, or even how involved that lawyer actually was in Matt Engarde’s downfall.

But there would probably be a small mini-fandom of Tumblrina Lawyers and other legal nerds who are ABSOLUTELY obsessed with the WAA, and trying to collect any piece of info they can find about their adventures. 

(That’s also another aspect to consider, the general public in Japanifornia does not have full knowledge of everything we get to see in the game. News coverage of the smaller cases would be extremely minimal and very regional - and even the bigger cases probably won’t give you a full line-by-line record of everything that happened in Court. Apollo Justice was, like, the Biggest Phoenix Wright Stan in the Universe and he had very choppy and partial knowledge of the Gramarye Trial. We have to consider that even folks who are trying to keep track of the AA Lawyers in-universe would not get the full picture from the media. And that’s before we get into fake news and rumors.)

And meanwhile, the rest of Tumblr would probably treat that Fandom the same sort of bemused delight we give to, like, the extremely dedicated gimmick blogs. Like, you’d probably see less posts about Phoenix and Co. as you’d see posts memeing about the fact there’s a Tumblr Fandom for ‘some random law agency in Japanifornia’, they’d be like five thousands people in the notes going “There’s a Tumblr Fandom for WHAT? WHY IS THIS THE FIRST TIME I’M HEARING ABOUT THIS??” and then one person from the WAA fandom going “NO YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS IS THE GUY WHO UNCOVERED THE PHANTOM HE’S JUMPED OFF A BURNING BRIDGE ONCE YOU LITERALLY TALKED ABOUT A TRIAL HE DID YESTERDAY YOU JUST DON’T KNOW HE WAS INVOLVED”. 

Now, that’s all for the Defense Attorneys. The Prosecutors have a bit more publicity. I mean, Phoenix literally heard about Prosecutor Edgeworth on the news.

But also… I do think this publicity is highly regional. Like, Phoenix ended up stumbling on newspaper coverage of Miles because he lives in the same city as him. I’m guessing that most of the series’ Prosecutors are at least casually known not just to Legal Folks, but also generally to people within Los Angetokyo and people involved in Japanifornian Politics… but also not much outside of that sphere either. Again, the series does establish that they are not that well-known amongst laypeople even when they are famous amongst other lawyers

And are generally recognized by fellow legal professionals and journalists and people involved in criminal activity. So the situation with them won’t be that different than with the WAA, they might be a tad more high-profile, depending on how many Tumblr users are specifically from Japaniforina and wanna make memes about the local politics… but those who will get really invested in their misadventures won’t be that different from the kind of people who’d get really into Phoenix Wright. 

Klavier is the obvious exception. Like most Famous Lawyers, he’s actually primarily famous for something other than law. It’s just that in his case, instead of politics, it’s being a world-famous rock star. There’s plenty of textual evidence that the Gavinners are an actual household name and they’d probably have a pretty sizable Tumblr Fandom, but… well… while I assume any casual Gavinner fan knows that Klavier is also a Prosecutor, I’d guess only the insanely dedicated fans and the Haters looking for something problematic would actually start digging into the records of the cases he worked on. But then again, Tumblr does have a lot of insanely dedicated fans and Haters, so maybe Legal Misadventures Involving Klavier would be kinda mainstream on Japanifornia Tumblr.

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

.... well this noir Vaggie au edit got waaay out of hand ha ha!

self indulgent au lore under the cut bc WEEEE

Detective Vaggie finally got enough blackmail on Valentino for Charlie and Angel to pin him in a corner, but as Vaggie expected, Angel Dust ends up doing what almost every other Sinner has done after Vaggie hands the evidence over to them, and chooses to just accept Valentino’s renegotiated and seemingly better soul contract rather than break it and make a mortal enemy out of an Overlord

Of course the first thing Val does is force Angel Dust to destroy the evidence they’d used against him, just like every other Overlord Vaggie's worked against always has, leaving Angel at his mercy again

And also leaving Charlie devastated. She'd given Angel her promise of protection as soon to be crowned king of hell-

(long story) (Lucifer wanted to kill Vaggie for scarring Charlie a few years back and Charlie had to beat him up to stop him) (the Overlords, led by Velvette and the Vees, decided to flex their power by saying this invalidated Lucifer as king and made Charlie the new ruler of hell) (she reluctantly accepted because..)

-hoping it would be enough to counter any Overlord threat against Angel once he was free

Ironically though, Angel Dust having come to see her as a friend after all this and not wanting to put her in the line of fire ends up with him sticking with Val instead, who gloats about it, and tells Charlie to her face what he'll do to her friend and her pet P.I. if she (as soon to be king) doesn't back down and let the Vees do all the real running of hell (like they already have been)

Charlie the Pissed let's slip she's had enough of Val as she leaves his studio (both her and the studio being on fire)

No one takes her little threat seriously, except for Vaggie, who sees Charlie picking up and weighing Vaggie's spear in her hands when she thinks she's alone. Vaggie freaks out realizing Charlie is about to go do a murder

So Vaggie decides to break her own no-more-murder vow AGAIN for a girl AGAIN (last time was for Velvette) and she kills Valentino before Charlie can reach him, regaining her wings (kinda), absorbing his demonic energy (yuck), belatedly becoming one of the Vees like Velvette had once wanted (not in the way Velvette had wanted), and accepting all Val's soul contracts including Angel’s, which she breaks

She also breaks the truth of everything to Charlie on coronation day-

(maybe also breaking up with or getting dumped by her, even though they weren’t even dating)

-confessing to the murder and her exorcist past

Now that she’s an Overlord and Charlie’s about to be King of Hell, anything publicly personal between them (like Vaggie staying the basement of Charlie's abandoned hotel instead of sleeping in an alleyway next to a dumpster every night) would throw the other Overlords into a rage over the power imbalance with normal sinners caught in the crossfire or getting used as canon fodder, something neither Vaggie or Charlie can stomach

Besides which Vaggie feels 0% worthy of Charlie anymore after breaking her no-murder vow, and Charlie is feeling more things than she knows how to name about that and the exorcist thing, none of them good

Their last kiss (for now) leaves claw marks on Vaggie’s face to match the scar she gave Charlie all those years ago-

(which Charlie has finally also confessed to her about, to Vaggie's horror, Vaggie having blotted the memory out after binge drinking with Husk the following week)

-the scar from when Vaggie happened to still be holding her spear as Charlie reached out to help her, and ended up lashing out instead of flinching back, unintentionally driving away Charlie and their happy life together

(this shit luck is what pinged Overlord Husk's gambling powers and led him to Vaggie, meanwhile Angel dropped a paying client to go check on the random demon chick- Charlie- soon to be nicknamed Apple Slice by him- holding her bleeding face in her hands as she stumbled down the street in a daze)

Charlie and Vaggie made do with other friends when what they both most needed was each other

They’ve both been miserable and lonely since then, had only just started to build up what they should have had together all along while camping out at the old hotel working on Angel's case together, but the case is done and now…. this

This is NOT a good timeline for them (yet)

[pumpkinmetaphor]

other thoughts about Ouran genderswap au where they're doing a zuka club

-the theatre performances all suck. varying effort is made by any of the participants

-it is technically a theatre troupe but most people are just regular attendees because they get to hang with their preferred host afterwards because Tamaki insists on hour long meet and greets. For a school theatre troupe.

-Kyoya is so much more deranged about her future because her sister is literally getting married off when she meets Tamaki for the first time and here's Tamaki like "oh what do you mean you won't inherit? I'm an only child so even though I'm a girl I'll get everything. Though actually maybe I won't even go to college, I always thought I'd make it as a model lalalala" and Kyoya is insane about it

-Hikaru and Kaoru are actually set to inherit their matrilineal family line and therefore are mommy's specialist little princesses and probably do not get almost killed by their nanny as children because they're not left to raise themselves as much. They're still Like That though because still no one can tell them apart and they're weird and off-putting

-Renge's fujo fantasies are all fantasies about thinly veiled ecchi bait harem fan service. It's extremely unpalatable. Parodies of this frequently happen.

-is it funnier for Tamaki to be entirely unaware she's created a bisexual harem or is it funnier for her to be like I am SO beautiful that even girls love me... sigh I wish I wasn't straight so I could share my beauty with more people <- deluded

-in ep five during the fake fight, Hikaru cuts her hair off and then Kaoru makes snide comments about her dumbass bob. Then obviously Kaoru has to cut her hair off afterwards too.

-ironically college Kaoru has the exact same haircut as canon college Kaoru in that she cuts it off again. That haircut is a universal constant on both sides of the gay community I'm afraid.

-Kyoya and the twins are using the zuka club to create blackmail fodder on half the student body. Kyoya is using it for future business endeavours, to always have something up her sleeve to get ahead. Hikaru and Kaoru are just contributing to it by tricking their regulars into various compromising situations for entertainment

-when the host club tries to steal Haruhi, their response is to host a performance of a shonen sports anime to show that girls can be guys too. Mori is actually really good at baseball and takes it super seriously. Hikaru and Kaoru spend the entire time speaking in sports analogies that get increasingly innunedo-ified

-Haruhi has to be exactly the same. The majority of his dialogue doesn't even change. None of his outfits even change. Literally same font.

[itwillbelonelywontit]

Re: if I could make you write anything: I'd be curious to see what you'd do with a scenario where L is a kid and Light a young adult. I'm thinking, an AU where Light is born earlier and attains the DN around the same age as in canon. L is already doing detective work, but it's when he's still a kid, closer to when he started solving crimes. (Say, anywhere between the ages of 11 and 15? Though, maybe age-up Light if L is on the older end of that range). Maybe L's work on the Kira case isn't 'official' (don't know if he's made as much of a name for himself yet, or if Watari would want him to take on that case as a kid). But either way, L is able to narrow it down to Light as a prime suspect, and eventually takes the risk of introducing himself to Light. How would Light handle kid L? I imagine kid L would be fascinated by Light/Kira in an obsessive way, like his adult version. But there might be a more childlike crush element thrown in, and kid L might be a bit more stubborn and less patient than his adult self? I could see Light using that fascination/crush to try and manipulate L (similar to his approach to Takada or Misa), though I think kid-L would be less susceptible to manipulation than kid-Light. Kid-L's personality probably wouldn't be that different from his adult self, but he'd have less experience, a bit more recklessness, and a bit more susceptibility to Light's charms. And maybe raging hormones, depending on the age lol. Also, Light's mental gymnastics to justify whatever immoral ways he tries to manipulate kid-L (or the fact he plans to kill him) could be interesting. Orrrr it could also be fun to see kid-L as still the more in-control one, somehow manipulating Light into depraved situations with him both because he has an obsessive crush and also because he wants to fuck with Light lol. (Maybe gives him fodder to blackmail Light, too?). I'm not quite sure, but I imagine your brain could come up with something good! Sorry for the length haha

Ooooooh absolutely. I love kid L you can just tell hes the most traumatized weird little freak on earth. i REALLY like your idea of light realizing that L has what he thinks is just a little kid crush on him, and trying to use it to manipulate him in the way he does with kiyomi or misa. which is. light do you realize that you are not a ""master manipulator"" you are seducing a child. you are on purpose seducing a child. but of course light and his delusional god complex would be completely oblivious to the glaring wrongness of it (until its pointed out. more on that later). of course L is wise beyond his years, despite the raging hormones, so he fully knows what light is trying to do, and tries to flip it around into his favor. because, like any version of L, he still wants to fuck light. he manages to pinch and tease light's subtle seductions to a point of extremity where light is doing highly inappropriate things to a seemingly innocent L (who is truly anything but). and once L gets light to a certain point, he can inform him how weird it actually is, that theres security footage, and light's entire reputation and life would be ruined if L were to tattle to the task force, rendering light completely helpless to whatever L wants to do to him via blackmail. I think this light should be in his 20s during yotsuba arc just for fun (I <3 age gap). OH WAIT LMAO this is so self indulgent and I just think it's hilarious because light would hate it but imagine if L's dick is somehow bigger than his. he would never recover from the humiliation. also the possibilities of the task force seeing light as the pervert in the relationship when it comes to the handcuffs is very fun, because it would actually bother light. L doesn't care if hes a pervert because well its true and when has he ever cared about societal expectations, but light? it completely goes against his entire golden boy image. he would be absolutely distraught.

on a similar note, I do have a whole shota L au in my head for the 2015 jdrama... I just need the motivation to talk about it. its fire trust

ask game

[eldritch-spouse]

PFFT Pinnie I can just imagine Grimblys S/O finding all the cursed and horny pictures he has saved of his coworkers that he uses for blackmail, and shes just there like 👁��👁

I would end up pretending I dont believe him when he says it's for blackmail just to fuck w him

Grimbly is only taking this seriously if he gets the feeling that you think he's cheating on you. To think you perceive him as such scum is downright nightmarish! Catch him somehow paling ten more shades.

Listen, please please please gods listen- He only has eyes for you, you know that right?! These pictures- They're nothing to him, they're fodder, they're a means to an end! He doesn't want to fuck his coworkers, they're all gross and shitty, oh my GODS stop looking at him like that!

Perhaps, if this were any other topic, Grimbly would have picked up on your little tactic...

[pinsque]

Not to be an alien but eating is such a fucked up concept if you really think about it...

What do you mean I have to keep stuffing the wet hole in my face with different substances every few hours?

And if I refuse, my body will start to whine & protest and blackmail me until I do it again. I can't even opt out of this bullshit subscription service or I will very slowly and painfully cease to exist.

On top of that, the substances need to be certain type of edible stuff, like I can't just eat turf & rocks I need to get some spesific ass fodder for my body. What the fuck. Whose idea was this???

Yea yea food is enjoyable too and eating can feel amazing BUT I just think it's fucked up that I NEED to do this on daily basis, it's not optional!!!

And some ppl think sex is somehow dirty & and the flesh is weak... I'd say that horniness is only a natural addition to a body that already fucking demands you to eat a.k.a "Bitch I need you to put something inside me right noww😭🤤🤤" Everyone does eating everywhere all the time and it's considered completely natural and even celebrated on some holidays. Wtf

[bharv]

I write Gortash to be charming and manipulative and quite good at playing the society game but equally I am VERY interested in reads where he’s actually… not?

I keep thinking of Wyll’s response to Gortash having risen through the ranks. It’s a “her? Really?” Kind of reaction which is so interesting.

So what if Gortash actually isn’t good at it? What he is good at is information brokering. He’s just got so much blackmail fodder, has so many people bent over the barrel that none of them feel like they can stand against him? That they all see a bruiser from the hells, but none of them think to try and stand united against him because he’s already ripped away all ability to do that?

It’s an interesting take and I’m very here for it.

[perfectlovevn]

im kinda curious about our resident canon fodder ryan

was he always a inherently bad person before he met eris? if ryan actually was in a healthy relationship, would he still be a decent person?

Oo, a rare Ryan ask. Actually two of my friends really like Ryan, which I was surprised by.

Like Eris, I didn’t give him too much of a backstory, but my general idea was that he’s kind of a rich kid frat bro kind of guy who just went with the wrong crowd. And by wrong crowd I mean he decided to date Eris. Still, I never really specially said this in game, so you can theorize how he came to be. Doc made a good one about him being an incel nerd that Eris ended up prettying up before he became too cocky. I kind of like this backstory too, so I’ll just leave Ryan’s backstory mostly up to interpretation. There is an extra scene I’ve made relating to the USB that Eris was blackmailing him with.

Hmm, tough to say. I will say it might be possible but it’ll be a LOT of work, whether it be reversing Eris’s damage or just fixing his attitude. He’s not too much of a lost cause, but if you do try be prepared to spend a lot of time on him.

[pigeonwhumps]

Memorial

Immortal Cannon Fodder masterlist

Taglist: @extrabitterbrain @wolfeyedwitch @fuckcapitalismasshole @ghost-whump @whump-tr0pes @rainbowsandwhumperflies @painful-pooch @i-eat-worlds @a-funeral-romance @rainydaywhump

Gemma and Joseph attend a memorial for the victims of the boarding schools for powered kids.

Joseph and Pat belong to @i-eat-worlds

2.1k

CWs: past death and loss, grief, past minor whump, implication of past alcohol addiction, past institutional whump, intrusive journalists, past blackmail

Gemma leans against the back wall of the small room and breathes out a long, slow breath. She needs to keep it together. She can’t blast holes in the building without her goggles.

Not that she would. There’s innocents here.

But seriously. ‘Thoughts and prayers’ are not going to erase the fucking torture she went through at that place they called a school. Nor are they going to bring back the people she’s lost. And she cannot stand to be around people who either think that or are callously pretending it’s true for another second.

She desperately wants a proper drink. But that would be a stupidly bad idea.

She hears the sound of movement from just outside the room and tenses. If that's a journalist, looking for innocent victims to use as fodder for their puff pieces about memorials and thoughts and prayers and oh, aren't the politicians sorry, and they're trying so hard, she's going to…

Well. She's not sure what she'll do. But it won't be pretty.

Fortunately for everyone, the man who stumbles in looks nothing like a journalist. No press pass for starters. Red eyes, tripping over his own feet, he looks far too upset for that.

He stops dead upon noticing Gemma, a few steps after entering. He's white with brown hair, dressed in INSUPA formalwear that she's sure would've been less unkempt earlier. He narrows his eyes.

“Who are you?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” she retorts. Just because he doesn't look like a journalist doesn't mean she's going to risk it.

“Joseph. No, wait, I… oh, fuck it.”

“Who are you here under?”

“INSUPA. You?”

“HAL.” Even after retirement, they still managed to drag her into this. “Fuck them.”

Joseph continues to stare. “Who’re you?”

“Gemma. Formerly Solar Flare, formerly a student of one of those fucking schools.”

“Fuck.”

That about sums it up, Gemma thinks.

“What about you? Why are you here? I assume you're not INSUPA’s official representative.”

“Whatever gave it away?” says Joseph dryly. Gemma snorts. “I… I'm not sure. Pat… she died. Six years ago. And she wouldn't have… but I don't know. INSUPA told me about it, I thought I should, but this place is just… what right do they have, to stand there and proclaim that the government is sorry, when the schools were partially run by them and they never would've shut if it wasn't for campaigners? What right do they have to talk about reparations and mourning when they killed people? Fuck!”

Gemma slides down the wall, clenching her fists. She needs to keep her anger inside. There's no training rooms or punching bag and she doesn't want to blind anyone by losing control.

But, damn.

She looks up at Joseph. “Pat. Tell me about her.”

Joseph sinks down and leans back against the opposite wall, closing his eyes. “She was brilliant. So alive. She was 17 when her school closed and she came to us, and she… she was amazing. Traumatised to hell, too. She was so young, y’know? She was so… you know. You must. Apologetic. Polite. Hurt. But she was incredible.” Tears are streaming down his cheeks, but he doesn't bother wiping them away. Maybe he knows there's not much point. “But her powers were dangerous. To herself most of all. And she pushed and INSUPA pushed and she… she had four years of freedom before INSUPA’s greed took her away.”

Gemma does a quick calculation. “21?”

“21,” Joseph confirms. “21 and she died because INSUPA wouldn't pull her out despite the knowledge that her next powers usage would likely be her last, because I couldn't save her, because nobody in authority cared enough about her, only her powers. She never got a childhood, she never got to be a teenager, her life was just getting started, and then she died and it's something no-one should've ever let happen. I should've done more.”

And, well. If Gemma knows about anything it's misplaced guilt. “It wasn't your fault.”

“Maybe not entirely. But she was my responsibility.”

“No. You did the best you could, I'm certain of it. It's the fault of the assholes who locked her up for seven– six years and then still never stopped using her. That's not you. I don't know how they even dare show their faces tonight.”

Joseph wipes his nose and looks at her blankly. “Because they're assholes. Assholes who have no shame.”

“Bet they think the schools should've stayed open too.”

“Some of them definitely do. Which is why I can't stay down there, because one more second around that counsellor who we know is working with the Costellos on that anonymous campaign to put more regulations in and fuck up more kids’ lives and I will be in prison for murder.” Gemma stares at him and he shrugs. “I have a friend monitoring the campaign. Just in case. They found out a few things.”

“We could blow up the building?” Gemma suggests. Joseph snorts wetly but she isn't joking. She could do it, she's sure.

“Maybe not. Maybe we leave the killing for another day.”

Gemma nods, barely able to see Joseph through her tears. Maybe.

“I should go back downstairs,” he croaks. “I should– oh, god, I need a drink.”

“Stay,” says Gemma, voice wet but calmer than she feels. “Fuck those assholes. They don't deserve any of your time.”

And Joseph doesn't move. Gemma can't see now but she doesn't need to to plot the brutal, bloody death of all the staff from her school and everyone else who's ever hurt someone she loves.

She doesn't know how long it is before she finishes that. There's a lot of them. But she breaks out of grieving for the scared and confused newly-enrolled 11-year-old inside her and the 21-year-old who died just as she was starting to become free and the childhood of the 14-year-old on the streets who'd had to hide so carefully to avoid being forcibly re-enrolled instead of being a teenager and Lian's dad –

Well, she breaks out of grieving all of them at once to Joseph's voice.

“I need to go. I can't stand it. This building, this memorial. I… I said I'd pop my head in, and I have. I can't stay for the unveiling. I don't want marble, or whatever the fuck that memorial is, I want Pat back.”

Gemma nods. She understands the sentiment. She'd rather have her childhood and her friends back than a memorial. They've apparently collaborated with ex-students for it, but that doesn't mean it's any good. She knows what the officials’ actions are worth. How much they actually listen.

“You have somewhere safe to go tonight?”

Joseph nods. “Aa– a friend, he's rented an apartment for a few nights. Get away from INSUPA for a bit.”

“Good.”

“What about you?”

She takes a shaky breath. “Staying with family. Let's get out of here.”

“Front entrance. The back's quieter but I'm not skulking out like I've done something wrong by actually grieving.”

“Okay. Okay.”

She lets Joseph pull her up and they head towards the sound of voices and clinking glasses. Typical politicians, schmoozing and networking during a damn memorial. She glances at Joseph and sees he's wearing the same disgusted look she imagines is on her own face right now.

For a moment, the sounds of glasses and obvious drinking remind her of her younger days, and– but she didn't drink it by the glass, did she? She drank it by the bottle, and–

No. No. She's been sober 22 years, she won't be derailed now.

They reach the door to the busy main hall and Gemma takes a deep breath.

��Ready?”

Joseph clenches his fists.

“Ready.”

And they head out into the crowd.

It's not that loud, but there's too many people. They're almost immediately identified, correctly, as some of those who lost people, probably due to their unkempt clothes and red-rimmed, puffy eyes. No-one here but survivors and relations (blood or otherwise) would look so upset. Maybe they should've taken a few seconds to tidy themselves up but she hadn't even thought about it. They're accosted from all sides, and somewhere in the midst of fending off politicians and journalists and the city’s ‘great and good’ she loses track of Joseph.

She stops, scanning the room. Where… ah. Over there. Attempting to fend off a journalist. But she can't get to him.

“Excuse me.” Gemma spins around, realising that in her search for Joseph she completely missed someone approaching. “Oh. Apologies for startling you. I just wanted to say sorry for your loss.”

Gemma looks the woman up and down scornfully. Well put-together, face set in a professionally upset expression, red and gold lanyard just like–

She squints at the ID card (why the fuck is the woman even still wearing it? It's not like a press pass) and her blood boils. She recognises that name, and even if she didn't she knows the logo, spent years working under its name. Fuck, no.

“HAL management, yeah?” The woman nods. “You found out that my friend's son was predisposed towards developing elemental powers and blackmailed him into going undercover in exchange for not getting his son sent to one of those fucking schools for having ‘dangerously unstable powers' as soon as he was old enough. You got him killed. More than that, you knew those schools were shitholes or you wouldn't have threatened him with one. So fuck you and your crocodile tears. Get the fuck away from me and don't come near me ever again or so help me.”

She takes one last, satisfied look at the woman's dumbstruck face and spins around, heading towards Joseph. She gets within earshot just in time to hear him say, “...and that's not a question you should ever be asking. Fuck you, you don't get to pry and find out who I've lost when you clearly don't care about the victims, you're just a predatory leech out for gossip, now get that camera and microphone out of my face.”

Gemma, unsticking her feet from the floor after listening to that satisfying answer, grabs Joseph's arm and tugs him towards the exit, barging past people as she goes.

“Come on. Let's just go. Before we get into any actual fights.”

They seem to have caused a bit of a scene, and people are hurriedly moving out of their way now. She drops Joseph's arm as soon as they get outside.

There's a bright flash from opposite the building. Joseph curses under his breath.

“More journalists.”

Gemma flips them off with both hands.

“I know where we can go,” mutters Joseph. “There's an alleyway to the side of the building, leading around the back. We can get to the surrounding roads from there.”

Gemma nods and follows him, the two of them walking briskly until he turns sharply into an alley, and then around another corner, and then onto a busy street. Her vision’s blurred with tears.

Fuck all of this. This isn't the memorial her friends would've wanted. It isn't much of a memorial at all, just a smokescreen to fool the public into thinking they care. Fuck all of them.

He stops, suddenly. “No-one will pay attention to us here. Trust me. Are you alright?” He pauses. “Stupid question. As alright as you can be.”

Gemma nods. “The woman… she blackmailed my friend and got him killed. That's all. It's…”

She doesn't know what to say, how to finish, but Joseph nods, like he understands anyway. “Reporter asked about who I'd lost. Like that's okay to ask, like I wasn't clearly distraught, like I'd ever spill the details of Pat’s life. They all just want juicy stories. It's disgusting.” He takes a deep, shaky breath, eyes glistening. “Still. At least it's all over for now, right? All the public shit anyway.”

She gives him as much of a smile as she can manage, not answering directly. They'll both be in deep shit for tonight, especially Joseph. He still works for INSUPA, he's wearing their uniform.

She guesses Joseph knows that though. So she goes with something else instead.

“My friends and I, we have a memorial garden. Well. Memorial allotment. If you ever want to plant something, or just sit there… let me know.”

Joseph nods, then clears his throat. “Thank you. I should… I need to… good luck.”

“And you.”

Gemma watches as he walks off into the night, shoulders hunched, definitely not in a straight line. He'll be okay.

And she needs to go back to her family. Aisling, Luiza. Her parents. People who she won't leave alone tonight, and who won't leave her. It's time to mourn away from prying eyes.

[lazlolullaby]

spy x family roleswap: Future Sight (Freelance) Yor, Assassin (in training) Anya, Telepath (Informant) Loid and Spy (unretired) Bond

i want to fully write this so bad but here have the premise + some ideas.

This starts with Yor. She was friends with the Garden, not officially an assassin. Her future sight was good for digging through rubble for people and supplies. Later it's good for dodging the SS and anyone she's avoiding. She ran smaller missions, researched targets, cleaned up, was partly but not fully trained like canon Yor.

McMahon picked up Anya. There was a splinter cell and they were training child assassins. This was considered unacceptable - any killing should be done by people who choose it, not ones raised with no choice but to follow orders. Never mind that they do this to keep vulnerable people out of harm, not use them as cannon fodder.

Yor could help because she was the only one who could dodge Anya's knives. It takes time but they get into a rhythm as mother and daughter. There are still Garden traitors out there but as long as Yor breathes she will not let Anya come to harm.

Anya doesn't really understand; Mama Yor does exercise with her, gently, enough that she can still feel good after they stop, that she doesn't collapse. She gets to sleep, and gets naps if she wants, she's woken softly. Anya gets to read and learn from books and ask Mama so many questions! Even if Yor doesn't know they go to the library and find out! And she gets to see kids and be nice to them instead of.instead of..instead!

The Shopkeeper finds this arrangement an opportunity, to grow fruit within a flower garden. "While beauty is needed, even valuable at points, it does not always sustain us."

Yor will infiltrate Eden academy as a mother, and get in with Melinda Desmond, the ex-prime minister's wife. She could get intel on their movements, if they would continue the war or not. Eden also has excellent security - it could trip up the Garden traitors that would try to steal Anya back from school.

Everything was going well - but now she needs a husband for the school interview! Where will she find one on such short notice! That wouldn't be suspicious of her and her daughter?

Enter Loid and his dog, Ozmund.

Loid was dug out of the rubble of his hometown and experimented on. He escaped as a teenager, tried to get back to his mother but she was dead when he made it to his extended families house. They were practically strangers to him, but encouraged him to enlist in the Army to "make something of himself" and "avenge her".

Loid couldn't stomach hearing the thoughts of people in a firefight. They all sounded the same, Westalian, Ostanian, they all wanted to survive. So he dodged the draft as well as he could. He got a scholarship and studied hard so he wouldn't be a foot soldier. Learned how to leverage blackmail to get supplies to where they were needed most, get messages to civilians for them to leave in time. Loid was considered for Secret Service training but he purposely failed some tests. For the past few years, he's been working as a trauma therapist and specializes in mute/deaf/other patients who are difficult to normally communicate with.

Fiona is his secretary, a WISE plant keeping an eye on a man with significant ability to get supplies and information from seemingly out to nowhere. She still has the same crush as canon Loid knows about her affection and is very much not interested. But since she doesn't say it ever outright he can't outright deny it so they're just stuck.

WISE knows about Loid, Loid knows about WISE. They're at an impasse, because he could blow the operation, but he chooses not to as long as he's not roped into full service. Loid takes on a few spies as his patients as well as allows himself to be used as an alibi - all to prevent another War, of course.

Franky was a soldier who ended up with a prosthetic leg and deaf in one ear. Loid helped him out of a depression and Franky works for WISE now as a top spy/equipment engineer. They work on a sign language together in their spare time.

Sylvia uncovered a secret dog training facility. Bond was nearly set to die, but Franky took him to Loid. Bond is named Ozmund, after the Wizard of Oz books. He's a therapy dog that's taken into the office a few days a week to work with the patients.

Then tons of WISE spies get taken out of commission, and suddenly Oz is needed for missions. The dog gets a combat outfit with pouches.

The outfit gets torn up and Loid has to take it to a tailor that won't ask questions. Yor is there, getting Anya's school clothes. Oz picks up that shes going to Eden Academy. The dog immediately puts together that if the child goes to Eden, they have a chance to meet with Donovan Desmond, a recluse that only goes to his children's school events.

Ozmund approaches Anya, and Anya reflexively smacks the dog's snout. Due to his spy training, Oz doesn't flinch. Anya apologizes, patting him softer, like Mama told her.

Loid sees it, hears from Yor's thoughts that she needs a husband for the Eden Academy interview. That Anya is great, but she can't help her alone. Loid can't ignore their thoughts, their worries and hopes about protecting each other.

Loid and Yor enter a fake marriage, juggling raising a child, their missions, and the slow, certain steps towards making a true family.

Misc:

Ozmund gets a new name, "Bond", after Anya's favorite show. Yor also wanted to pick a name, so now his full name is now Bond Ozmund Rudolf Forger. BORF.

Anya has a favorite knife that she keeps on her person. Loid and Yor were able to modify Mr. Chimera to have a secret pouch for her to store it. Anya also keeps peanuts in there.

Yor's future sight is a genetic gift. Her mother and grandmother had it and always warned her never to tell anyone. If she concentrates she can focus on events for one person and replay the vision. But she generally has 1 chance so she's very good at picking up small details at first glance.

Yor wears a different colored bracelet or ring for each day of the week. It's to help her figure out when her future vision happens. When Loid picks up on it he wears a matching tie or shirt.

Loid has a little more "edge" to him. More likely to stir the pot for fun, make gossip and push people into big reactions. Being able to hear all the hot gossip made him jaded and bored of people. Yor and Anya are more honest and open than what he's used to, and he's slowly starting to respond to their genuine feelings.

Loid's powers have developed enough for him to "speak" to others in their minds. It bypasses deafness and the language barrier as long as he's being clear. He explains it as some "ventriloquist tricks" to catch people off guard. He says he has a limited range of 30 feet (and leads WISE and the SS to believe the same) but his range goes up to 50 and if he focuses on a single person he can track to 75 feet.

Fiona believes that because Loid doesn't react to her declarations of love it means that she's immune to his telepathy and they are destined to be partners. Loid just has a very good poker face.

Possible side plot where Desmond was also experimented on by the same people that took Loid - he's a little older, probably volunteered and covered it up after to boot. I'm not sure if he's actually got powers or he didn't get powers and thus considered it a failure, feeding into his "people can never truly understand each other" philosophy.

Anya is being treated to a regimen of poisons to make her immune. The Garden splinter cell sneaks them into her kids snacks. It's why she likes peanuts so much. They taste the same no matter where she goes.

Loid being very up to date with fashion trends and helping Yor with her hair and makeup so that she can "fit in" with the Desmonds. Giving her a bit of polish to her natural style. Actually having a "girls styling day" where he disguises himself as a woman and they go shopping around town. (he says its for a psychological social study about how "women are perceived" but...nah he just thought it would be fun, and it was.)

When the roles are swapped like this, there's actually a psychological horror angle from Yor's POV about Loid.

(you know that your husband has secrets. To protect himself and this stitched up family. But every time it comes down to the wire he keeps saying the same lie: that he's a telepath. But why does he insist on it and try to prove it even when she doesn't ask? Why does he say that he knows about Anya he can't know he would have run if he really knew and wants to help them? No one helps, not without a price. She won't know the truth until it's too late to do anything. She can't trust him until he stops telling her that massive, insane lie.

...why does Loid look so sad?)

[terrence-silver]

Do you think Terry likes hanging out at Beloved's place?

The man who canonically relishes breaking into people's houses in order to snoop around and gather intel? Does he like hanging out at the home of the person who undoubtedly matters most? Someone who isn't even a rival? A foe? Is that the question? This guy? Here exclusively featured breaking and entering (at the cost of nearly getting caught)?

You kidding me?

It is like a dream come true!

Because what better way to have a perfect (and voyeuristic) insight into the life, comings, goings and someone's inner bubble than ingratiating oneself enough to be invited over? Not that Terry Silver needs an invitation, per se (he ain't a vampire) --- it is nourishment to his ego if he gets an invitation (he feels like he's won a thing), though, of course, but he doesn't require it, because his tremendous lack of boundaries is such that he'll just climb in through your window, over your garden wall, gate or slither in through the chimney, if need be and take what he wants regardless. No entry point is too ridiculous. It ain't ridiculous if it works. He is just as prone to letting himself inside of someone's home and, well, looking around without the host's consent or knowledge (in fact, that makes it all the more fun and titillating for him), but the very fact that he's cordially a regular guest and he can just first hand see where beloved lives, how they live, what their surroundings are, their memories, their hobbies, interests, their trinkets, their items, their things, their trash, their most personal belongings, their intimacy is...delectable.

Delicious.

It is beloved's life laid bare for him and him alone and he feels absolutely entitled to it, like he already owns the place way before he's ever even called over, but when he's there 'hanging out' as it were, it is truly official; this house, this flat, this apartment, this homestead, this rental --- it is his. Much like beloved's his. Alongside everything pertaining to beloved. Place doesn't even have to be some top notch luxurious condo, villa, mansion or estate. Could entirely the most ordinary, lived in home imaginable and perhaps that's what makes it more interesting. It doesn't matter. There's an extremely possessive noun attached to this bit of revenue now though sheer association with beloved in his mind and Terry develops a territorial streak towards it. In no time at all, not only does he 'like hanging out' there, but he starts sabotaging everyone else who once liked hanging out there too. Friends. Family. Other guests. Visitors. Formal. Informal. Doesn't matter. He pushes out the competition cleverly and quietly, so it is never noticed any pushing was done in the first place. There can be only one. They've no business here. What's their business in his spot?

It all belongs to him.

He doesn't want anything touched by anyone.

Used by anyone.

Changed by anyone, unless he conducts changes himself.

He doesn't want anyone inhaling the general air of the place.

Does want beloved's things seen, stroked -- perish the thought, damaged.

The place is like a museum to him, and beloved along with it.

So, does he like hanging out there? I don't think the word 'like' quite encompasses it properly. To him, it is like beloved's world condensed into a bubble in the palm of his hand and he can do with it as he pleases, with this home. Safeguard it. Take it. Protect it. Renovate it. Make it better. Destroy it. Crush it. Ridicule it. Love it. Use it as blackmail fodder. Consume it. Hate it. Turn it inside out for his own satisfaction. Burn it down. Treat it like something hallowed and priceless. The options are endless, but if one thing is for certain, Terry cannot have an emotion as mild and blasé as 'liking' when it comes to things pertaining to those he's fond of, even if that includes the very roof they live under. He feels everything about the house where beloved lives, the same way he feels everything about them too.

[originalleftist]

So, you might have heard that Bill Clinton decided it would be a good idea to go off at a rally saying that Israel has no choice but to kill Palestinians.

He also apparently claimed Jews were in the region before Palestinians, when in fact both groups trace back to the Canaanites.

He said this in MICHIGAN, a vital swing state known for its large number of Muslim and Arab voters, five days before the election.

Now, speaking as a Democrat, I've long thought that Bill Clinton is a piece of shit, but he was never an idiot. He was a skilled campaigner.

Maybe he's just starting to suffer dementia, but otherwise, he HAS to know that saying that, there, then was directly undermining Harris's campaign, in a way that (given it would be all but impossible for Democrats to win without MI, and it could very well come down to a few thousand votes), might very easily cost her the election.

Nope, not buying it. Sorry if I sound like a conspiracy nut, but this was sabotage.

Maybe Trump has blackmail on him from when they were both pals of Jeffrey Epstein's. Maybe Bill just subconsciously can't stand the idea of a woman of colour being President, and his white male self just couldn't help himself (I remember he said some stupid shit that undercut Hillary in 2016 too). I don't know.

Hopefully it won't change the result. Hopefully it isn't really as close as the polls say it is. But this was a really bad thing he did. It was doubtless hurtful to many Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Americans, it was inaccurate or at best oversimplified, and it was bad politics.

And (even though she will be blamed for it, and it'll be used as "proof" of her "supporting genocide"), I can pretty much guarantee that it wasn't approved by Kamala Harris, simply because she's not an idiot and actually wants to win the election.

I get why most Democrats don't want to disavow Bill Clinton, somewhat. He's a former President, a big name in the party, he has a lot of friends, and we don't want infighting close to a vital election.

But as a Democrat, the sooner we can leave Bill Clinton in the past the happier I'll be. That man is a fucking millstone around our necks, and an endless source of fodder for the "Both Sides" crowd.