#lemmings need a leader

[eastgaysian]

trying to imagine lemming and dak-wai existing in the same universe but their vibes clash so wildly it just doesn't compute. lemming has to try and save everyone and dak-wai is doomed to fail at saving everyone. also they are on opposite ends of the 'solving problems with murder' spectrum which lemming feels pretty strongly about. it would be extremely funny for lemming to have yet another friend significantly larger than him who could chuck him like a football though. and for dak-wai to have an emotional support 3 ft bard so they're constantly glancing at lemming with a hand on their sword like 'are we gonna kill this guy' and lemming shakes his head no. Actually nvm i just sold myself on lemming dak-wai adventures

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

before this goes any further, I want it on the record that you all asked for this.

my first and most petty point: Midnight Mass gets basic details about Catholicism wrong, such that even I (not a Catholic) twigged them. The big one is that Catholics DON'T HAVE MIDNIGHT MASS FOR EASTER - it's a Christmas thing - but since the priest holding the mass is also a vampire, I can accept that he's going off-book. I have a harder time with them holding a PICNIC for ASH WEDNESDAY, aka THE DAY LENT STARTS, aka the day everyone starts fasting and are therefore not snacking on a potluck. It's a minor thing, and normally I wouldn't pick at it, but since this show ostensibly revolves around Catholic doctrine, it bears mentioning.

on a writing level, not one single character in this show talks like a human being. or acts like one. I couldn't give you any information about who these characters are as people, because they're not people, they're mouthpieces for Flanagan to impart his ideas to the audience. He is both deeply in love with his own writing and entirely unconvinced that his audience is smart enough to Get It, so he has his actors turn to the audience and lay it all out. Not only is this bad writing on a character level, it brings all plot and tension to a screeching halt whenever it happens. The most unintentionally hilarious instance of this has to be when Annabeth Gish comes to the sheriff to tell him that the church is being run by a vampire and her mother is aging in reverse, and his response is to start rambling about where he was on 9/11. Like. Nothing about this makes sense, and also why should we care when it has fuckall to do with the story?

(as regards the sheriff character: I, a white Quaker, am not the person to critique this show's handling of Islam. But I will say that Flanagan doesn't seem to have a clear idea what he wants to communicate: the overarching plot is antitheistic, in a very r/atheism sort of way ("WHAT IF THE SACRAMENT WAS VAMPIRE BLOOD" ooh wow didja cut yourself on that edge there, buddy) but Flanagan has no idea how to balance that with the precepts of any religion that isn't Christianity while also maintaining his broadly liberal bona fides, so it all sits very uneasily next to the church plot. I'm not advocating for the show to go full Christopher Hitchens, but I am saying that if Flanagan wants to posit that faith is a mass delusion and a net detriment to any community formed around it . . . he needs to either focus only on Christian characters or be willing to engage with how other religions function in society, because as is, the storyline with the sheriff and his son just peters out into nothing.)

but the thing that made me angriest - that took me from "this is so boring and pretentious and badly written" to "oh FUCK this guy and the horse he rode in on -" was the titular midnight mass. It is very overtly inspired by the Jonestown massacre, which a lot of horror media does, but what it fails to account for is that the members of the People's Temple did not voluntarily kill themselves. I know "drink the kool-aid" has entered the popular lexicon as shorthand for "blindly following a leader," but extensive testimony from Jonestown survivors - not to mention the death tape, which is available online if you really want to ruin your day - all confirms that the people who died that day were forced to drink poison at gunpoint, after years of brutal abuse from Jones and his inner circle. And even after all of that, people fought back. And not outsiders - people who had been in the Temple for years and wholeheartedly believed in the mission that had lead them to Guyana in the first place. (Christine Miller was a fucking hero and she deserves to be remembered for it.) Jonestown was not lemmings going off a cliff, and any serious take on the story would involve reckoning with that - that these people believed in a higher power and also believed that they had a right to live despite what Jones told them. But that would contradict Flanagan's point of "religion is dumb, WAKE UP SHEEPLE," so instead he borrows the iconography of a truly horrific tragedy and disrespects the victims by implicitly representing them as dumb, brainwashed cult members who eagerly toss back poison because they think sky daddy wants them to. He has so little respect for the subjects he's portraying, and the real people whose deaths he is copying for shock value, that he doesn't care about the inner lives of anyone whose beliefs might demonstrate that faith is more nuanced than his screed would have you believe.

There are good horror properties out there that are critical of religion and society - The Medium, which we posted about a few days ago, is one. The Witch is another. So is The Sudbury Devil. Hell, you could go back to the sixties with Witchfinder General. Religion - especially socially dominant religions like Christianity in the west - can and should be critiqued. But Midnight Mass is too sloppily written to be a critique of anything besides, accidentally, how far Mike Flanagan's head is shoved up his ass.

Anyway, that's why mod L doesn't like Midnight Mass. I did warn you.

[little-miss-dilf-lover]

Hey love💕If you’re not too busy I’d like to request a Tangerine fic because I think you write him so well!! I was thinking maybe the reader and him sharing a cigarette together after an intense mission and the reader needing a distraction from the chaos so she makes a move on him?🥹thank u so much darling

hii lovely!! stop, you think I write him well?? that means sm, thank you🥹 I absolutely LOVE ones like this. thank you for requesting, hope you like it💌

after mission breather

tangerine x f reader

wc || 1.1k

warnings || none? nothing serious

masterlist + rules

taglist

You’ve done many missions in your time but they’d never get any easier, they’d be so mentally and physically demanding that it often left you with blinding migraines afterwards. It wasn’t the blood or the noise of the guns, it would be because of the whirlwind of intense emotions that came along with the job.

Despite the headaches, gore and danger of the occupation, you loved it. You liked the freedom it gave you, and even more so, you loved your partners.

The assignment you had been working on this week had been a complete shit show, an utter disaster from the get-go. You and the twins were in Madrid taking down numerous gang bases in and around the city. It was a little different to the usual jobs you do but money is money and the amount you were getting paid, left you no room to complain.

Today you were finishing up on a well-known gang based just along the outskirts of the city. It was meant to be the easiest task of all until you ran into unexpected members of the gang. They were meant to be at a meeting with the leaders of rival gangs to discuss the matters that had been happening over the city this past week. This meant that the three of you were able to collect the money and information that was needed, unfortunately, that was not the case.

The gang that was being targeted today, were already on such high alert that they left a majority of their men behind to keep the base safe. Ultimately, this meant a lot more work for you and the twins. Luckily, you were always prepared for the worst, always ready for any unexpected changes that may come your way.

Within minutes, you and the boys had infiltrated the location and wiped out the bulk of the men on site. Tangerine and Lemon were sniping the stragglers from above while you went on to collect the stolen bags of money from the boss’ office.

Slinging the full duffle bags over your shoulder, gun in hand as you stalk through the dingy hallways to make your way back to the car out front. Clambering down the metal steps, running over to the car that the twins were waiting patiently in.

“Chop chop.” Lemon calls out, revving the engine.

Immediately hopping into the backseat, throwing the bags beside you, he speeds off.

“Get everything?” Tangerine asks, turning around in the passenger seat to look over you.

Panting, clutching your chest. “Think so… I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Lemon asks looking back at you through the rearview.

“I just need a sec.” You sigh, rubbing over the bridge of your nose. “Can we pull over in minute? I need some air.”

“You alright?” Tan asks, his face full of concern.

Nodding in response.

“Lem pull over.”

“I can’t, we’re still too close.” Lemon snaps, swerving in between cars.

“Then go that way.” Tan points off to an alley. “I’ve been here before, go up then take a left.”

“Guys it’s fine, seriously. I’m okay.”

“You look like shit, you need some air.” He finalises, gripping the steering wheel to urge Lemon to turn off sooner.

Truthfully, the aftermath of missions really affected you, you’d often desperately need a moment to wind down after all the chaos. And that was something you urgently needed right now.

“Lem hurry up.”

“Bruv, I’m going as fast as I can. There’s people everywhere— get out the fuckin way.” Interrupting himself with the honk of the horn.

“Christ. Watch it, she’s gonna fly through the fuckin windscreen.” Tan grits out, occasionally looking back at you.

“Guys, I’m really fine.”

A sheepish grin tugs the corners of his lips. “Nah, I need a cig break anyway.”

“Fuckin hell… there we go, bunch of babies. Got five minutes or I’m leaving.”

“Was that so hard?” Tangerine snarks, opening the car door, and stepping aside to open your door. “You alright?” He asks again, his eyes searching yours.

“Yeah— yeah.” You nod, closing the door behind you.

“Five. You got five minutes.” Lemon calls out, watching you both walk away.

You and Tangerine climb up onto a little ledge, both sighing as you take a seat on the half-brick wall beside one another. He pulls out a pack of cigarettes, extending a hand in which you take one. You place it between your lips and he cups his hand around the end as he lit it, staring into your eyes as he did so.

Taking a slow drag, exhaling steadily as you close your eyes, already feeling a moment of calm. He snatches it from your lips so he could have a couple puffs himself, before eventually passing it back to you. “Been a long fuckin week.” He sighs, spreading his legs as he rakes his fingers through his hair.

“Yeah.” You softly laugh, crossing your legs as you take a couple more drags before passing it back to Tangerine.

“You did good today.” His eyes soften slightly as he exhales, looking over you with an expression you haven’t yet seen before.

“Thanks.” You nod, gazing at him. “So did you.”

If truth be told, you’ve always had a thing for Tan, you knew you could never act on it, but right now after the chaos of this week, you couldn’t think of a reason to stop you.

Your eyes flicker between his lips and soft blue eyes, gazing between the two as you slowly lean in. He catches on and does the same. Flicking the cigarette to the ground, he cups your face and gently pulls you towards him. Softly brushing his lips over yours, working over them with such care and precision.

Breathlessly parting, staring at each other with a sight twinkle in the eye. You pull him back in for a couple more long tender kisses until you were interrupted by an impatient partner, pounding on the horn.

“Fuckin Christ, man.” Tangerine sighs, brushing a few loose strands of hair behind your ears. “That has not been five minutes.” Softly chuckling.

“Nah, that’s just Lem being Lem.” Grinning wide, standing up. “Come on.” Flashing him a sweet smile as you pull him up.

“Don’t make it obvious.” You lightly smack his chest, pointing to his face. “Hide it.”

“That’s rich.” Smirking as he points to yours. “Like a Cheshire cat over there.”

Stepping into the car, trying to act as inconspicuous as possible.

“What’s up with your faces?” Lemon questions, looking between the two of you.

“Tan tripped over.”

“Cherry tripped over.” You both respond in sync like you were thinking the same thing.

“You kissed.” Lemon replies flatly, pulling away from the curb.

“A little bit.”

@tangerinesgf @kpopgirlbtssvt @ch3rries-n-cream @earth-elemental18 @ashlynhasmanyhyperfixations @idontknowwhattohaveasmyuser @thewinterv @navs-bhat @ilovetangerinewithallmyheart @theredvelvetbitch @randomawesomeperson102 @lov3lypeaches7 @princess-pebbles-things

[dailyanarchistposts]

The Basic Differences

Let’s face it: There is a major dispute in the ecology and Green movements, today. It is a dispute between social ecology and “deep ecology” — the first, a body of ideas that asks that we deal with human beings primarily as social beings who differ profoundly as to their status as poor and rich, women and men, black and white, gays and “straights,” oppressed and oppressor; the second, that sees human beings as a mere “species” — as mammals and, to some people like the “Earth First!” leaders, as “vicious” creatures — who are subject almost entirely to the “forces of nature” and are essentially interchangeable with lemmings, grizzly bears (a favorite species!), or, for that matter, with insects, bacteria, and viruses.

These are not airy, vaguely philosophical, and remote problems to be disputed by modern-day scholastics. They underpin very practical differences. The social view of humanity, namely that of social ecology, focuses primarily on the historic emergence of hierarchy and the need to eliminate hierarchical relationships. It emphasizes the just demands of the oppressed in a society that wantonly exploits human beings, and it calls for their freedom. It explores the possibility or a new technology and a new sensibility, including more organic forms of reason, that will harmonize our relationship with nature instead of opposing society to the natural world. It demands sweeping institutional changes that will abolish a competitive “grow-or-die” market society — frankly, called capitalism, not such politically safe and socially neutral words like an “industrial,” “technological,” or “post-industrial” society — and replace it with an ecologically oriented society based on free, confederated, humanly scaled communities in which people will have direct, face-to-face control over their personal and social lives.

By contrast, “deep ecology” essentially overlooks the profound social differences that divide human from human and “zoologizes” poor and rich, women and men, black and white, gays and “straights,” oppressed and oppressor into a biological lump called “humanity” which is, presumably, “spiritually impoverished,” “anthropocentric” or “human- oriented” in “its” belief that the world was “made” (by whom? — a mean God?) exclusively for human enjoyment, and humanistic ends (whatever that word means these days). As voiced by Bill Devall and George Sessions in their bible, Deep Ecology, this shift from a basically social to a basically spiritual outlook essentially side-steps the social (apart from a “minority tradition” that recycles the far-reaching works of Peter Kropotkin, the Russian anarchist, into a few bumper-sticker slogans) and then takes a complete nose-dive into Buddhism, Taoism, “the Christian tradition,” the “question of technology,” “green politics” — and, very significantly, Malthusianism.

The crucial economic forces that divide so much of humanity into exploited and exploiter are replaced by conflicting “worldviews.” Utterly opposed individuals like the authoritarian Communist, Woody Guthrie, are amalgamated with libertarian anarchists like Paul Goodman. The “development of a market economy” and the “impact of the rise of capitalism” are given short shrift. They are mentioned once, only in passing (p. 45), as issues that attract “some historians and social scientists to explain the origins and development of the dominant worldview.” “Our purpose here is not to extensively review the origin and development of the dominant worldview,” write Deep Ecology‘s authors, Devall and Sessions, in what can be regarded as one of the major understatements of the book, “but to explore in general its (the worldview’s) influence on current societies and on our approach to ultimate reality (metaphysics), to knowledge (epistemology), to being (ontology), to the cosmos (cosmology) and to social organization.” (p. 45)

As it turns out, the expectant reader gets a heavy tribute to Thomas Malthus (pp. 45–46) for an analysis of current social problems (i.e., the “population problem”), the impact of a “technological society” as a source of personal alienation (p. 48), “basic intuitions and experiencing ourselves and Nature” as the “foundations of deep ecology” (p. 65), and a “realization of the ‘self-in-Self,’ where ‘Self’ stands for organic wholeness” as doses of metaphysics and epistemology combined. The notion that “All things in the biosphere have an equal right to live and blossom and to reach their own individual forms within the larger Self-realization” (p.67) is a sparkling issue that generated a serious discussion in the New Scientist on the right of “endangered viruses” like the smallpox virus to exist and flourish. All of this is presented in a metaphoric form that evokes a sense of nausea in any thinking reader. The few social issues with which Deep Ecology began fade into paens to wilderness, critiques of natural resource conservation, and the brilliant rediscovery that organic agriculture is good and city life is bad. Besides a host of platitudes, what we need in addition to communing with nature and dissolving our burdensome “selves” into a cosmic organic wholeness, Devall and Sessions emphasize, is to turn our “opponent into a believer” (p. 200). In short, we need the personal touch: a festival of warmth, rituals, and a good dose of religion that tries to pass for politics.

That a market economy based on dog-eat-dog as a law of survival and “progress” has penetrated every aspect of society has no centrality whatever in this self-indulgent literary collage of platitudes and pieties. At a time when the “self” is being rapidly dissolved by the mass media, we are urged to further this process by dissolving all the boundaries that define us — this, in the name of a cosmic “Self” that seems more Supernatural than natural.

[quitealotofsodapop]

[Someone like Erlang (all seeing eye) peaks in and is like "Whoa. That monkey came *out* of a tree of immortality. Thats new. Wonder if anyone else knows about this... Best not say anything and cause a fuss."]

God, this guys gonna get it for not telling anyone. Like, gonna need to ask Nuwa to make him a whole new body level of gonna get it.

Although, coming OUT of a Tree of Immortality is hell of an idea!

I've had thoughts of Rin-Rin coming out of a flower - but one of those really big ones, shaped like a rafflesiaceae, maybe even.

I've had thoughts she'd be a hippy like character - like the hippies in ATLA in the Cave of Two Lovers episode - playing her instrument and going with the flow with what life throws at her.

Though, I did think the Smash Legends version could be one of three things:

part of a ghost hunting crew ala Ghost Files with Rin-Rin being the Shane (but make her really short to give the idea that she's got raging chihuahua energy even when challenging demons to kill her)

a commentary channel ala PenguinZ0 who also makes big documentaries about big things ala SWOOP

anarchistic punk rocker who gets into fights and wields her guitar as a blunt weapon and uses music to do actual damage

[After all, losing someone you think will be there forever makes you think about what "forever" really means....]

*Looks at the various SWKs and LEMs* Well, their story does differ, so maybe hers can differ as well.

Although, the picture of a hippy, commentator or anarchist versions of Rin-Rin meeting up would be bizarre - like, they would be way more different than either SWKs or LEMs.

Would be hella sad times for the one that lost their Rin-Rin.

referencing the Rin Rin post here; and how she might be a supernatural monkey in her own right.

[I've had thoughts of Rin-Rin coming out of a flower - but one of those really big ones, shaped like a rafflesiaceae, maybe even.]

Oh gosh she's just born from it like Thumbelina. Some of the largest flowers like rafflesia actually grow on/parasitize trees! Maybe a unexpected result of a rafflesia attaching itself to a Tree of Immortality or Enlightenment (Bodhi tree) is a very confused little celestial monkey popping out of it.

Rin Rin in most of the universes is like the cabybara of the mystic monkeys. She likes everyone and wants them all to get along. Ends up joining the strangest of gangs depending on what verse.

In TMKATI-au Rin Rin is like the monkey village's leader, and tries her best to keep any conflict from cropping up. Think of a monkey leslie Knopes (Parks & Rec). Actually a political rival for The Mayor by the time of the main series. She def takes over running Megapolis during and after S3. She's also the first person Wukong goes to for "boy advice" cus she's like his big sister with this stuff, and Marshal Ma is useless with anything regarding romance. Is like teh kids' older cool aunt.

I love the thought of her Smash counterpart being a commentary youtuber with a decent follow count, mostly cus she has a straight forward and unbiased opinion on whatever issue she tackles. But she does ghost-hunting on the side with Smash!SWK & LEM/Starfruit & Lilac, when they ask her. She gets along weirdly great with more punk-rock/rebelious types in the Smash Legends verse, despite looking like she crawled out of a 1960s flower power magazine.

I offer the idea of New Gods!Rin Rin being the hard anarchist punk of the variants. She's an older lady (same age as Ace and Joker) and she is Tired of late-stage capitallism in Donghai City. The NewGods monkeys agree that she's the scariest of them.

If the different Rin Rins ever met, it would be a little confusing since the biggest thing they share is their grey fur and some flower accessories.

And very sad for which SWK lost their Rin Rin :(

[whumpbug]

Question for the Scarab Crew :D

How does each character act as A) a whumpee and B) a caretaker?

What's their pain response? Their fight or flight? How do they react to the idea that they need to be cared for? Are they fussy about it? Compliant?

How do they go about soothing another character? What's their experience in the area? What's their most common gesture of affection or comfort (making someone a warm beverage, putting their hand on their arm or shoulder, words of encouragement, etc)? Are they sweet and reassuring, or more of a tough love type? Or are they just a stressed awkward disaster

HI ANON!! this is another great question!! gonna answer all of them with each character at a time because it feels Right

hope you enjoy!!! HUGE shoutout to @lemlem21 for helping out SO much with these answers. lem is basically the scarabs' co-author atp

very long post incoming i apologize in advance

✮⋆˙

nieven:

as a whumpee: nieven hates being vulnerable. he's the captain, the leader, and the protector. how is he supposed to be those things if he's hurt? he's a bit grumpy and closed off when he's hurt, though, don't worry. he will get his time as a whumpee. TRUST me.

as a caretaker: in lem's words, he is Worried Dad™ his way of showing care is just being there. he sits at the bedside of whoever is ill with such diligence. he's a calming presence.

pain response: nieven can take pain like a CHAMP, except when it's anything to do with his horns. his horns are RIDDLED with nerve cells and pain receptors because they are an extension of his central nervous system. truly not a fun time.

fight or flight: fight. 100%. he's already lost his family once, he doesn't plan on it again. he will fight, even if it is at the expense of himself.

being cared for: similar to being a whumpee, he doesn't like the idea of the people he's supposed to be leading doting on him. it just puts a bad taste in his mouth.

soothing: nieven's only experience in soothing people has been his own child (that passed during the attack that killed his family), so he's very much a physical touch soother. he'll rub their back or shoulder or caress their hair, little things like that

✮⋆˙

hari:

as a whumpee: hari is kind of unserious. when it comes to being a whumpee. he's so used to being a whumpee because of his health issues that he just kinda jokes about it because what else is there to do?

as a caretaker: he's unserious but in a different way. he tries to make whumpee laugh to take their mind off of how they're feeling (when it's appropriate of course) and he also will sometimes make self depreciating jokes to lighten the mood

pain response: hari is used to pain. he can hide his chronic pain, or allergies, or anything like that with ease because he's been doing so all his life. that being said, inflicted pain makes him flinch like crazy. hes kinda a baby about it.

fight or flight: flight. he's a medic and an engineer, without him the team is kind of screwed. best to get as far away from the situation as possible

being cared for: he fusses a little bit. he gets frustrated because yes, he knows he'd "fragile." that doesn't mean he's a child. he hates being treated like one.

soothing: he's gentle and sweet. he will do his best to lighten the mood, but if that's not possible, he just whispers reassurances and does his best to use his medical knowledge to make the person as comfy as possible!

✮⋆˙

nyla: (going to answer the chronic pain question with this one too. short answer, yes she has chronic nerve pain in her wings)

as a whumpee: she doesn't try to make a big deal of it, but she won't outright refuse care unless it's specifically her wings. for normal ailments, she'll fuss a tiny but but ultimately relent. for her wings, she isolates completely. she doesn't want anyone seeing the source of her shame.

as a caretaker: she is very doting and sweet! she's kind of nuturing in a way and shows her love through food. she'll cook the favorite food of whoever's hurt and sit with them and braid their hair and comfort in any way she can!

pain response: if it's something surface or typical, like a headache or soreness or a broken bone, she'll complain and seek out comfort. if it's something to do with her chronic pain, she locks herself up in her room so no one sees her in such a state. she usually cries.

fight or flight: flight (no pun intended). she's always the first to the ship so that she can pick up the others and they can make a run for it

being cared for: again, if its for something simple, she'll let herself be taken care of if the team insists. if it's a pain flare-up, she gets very pissy when people approach her but its because she's hurting so bad

soothing: like i mentioned before, she loves to cook for others! she has a little notebook of everyone's favorite foods so she can make it for them on special occasions!

✮⋆˙

zel:

as a whumpee: don't be surprised if someone gets bitten. she is pushing people away with every ounce of strength she has left. in her culture, if you need help patching yourself up, it is HUMILIATING. she is Not a fun patient.

as a caretaker: very very much tough love. she's not naturally very caring and soft, so she gets a little awkward, and that awkwardness defaults to aggression. she means well, though and truly believes her approach will help whoever's down.

pain response: no reaction, unless it is a severe injury. if she can't help a wince or grimace, she quickly schools her face back to normal because that is what she was trained to do. she was trained to withstand and endure.

fight or flight: don't think it needs to be said for her but fight. her first move is to fight until she thinks there needs to be a tactical retreat, but even then she'll fight all up until everyone's safe.

being cared for: nope. don't touch her. she gets very pissy when people start to look at her with pitiful looks because no, she's not weak, she could take all of the crew members in a fight and win and she does Not need people fussing over her.

soothing: again, she's hopelessly awkward. her method of soothing is the silent reassurance that anyone who tries to bother whoever is upset or hurt is getting stabbed. shes protective like that.

✮⋆˙

vinny:

as a whumpee: usually doesn't outright refuse. they try to assure caretaker that they can handle it themself, because they want to be seen as independent. they want to meet everyone's expectations. they don't want to show how much they really enjoy being doted on.

as a caretaker: a bit awkward but very well meaning! often distracts whoever they're taking care of with fun facts and trivia because that's all they really know to do. they're dilligent and willing to get any food or blankets or anything the person needs.

pain response: hisses, flinches, pants, and backs away. very cat-coded. they don't handle pain very well, and tend to kind of close up when in it.

fight or flight: freeze. vinnie startles and just freezes and their mind goes a bit blank. they're a scribe, they don't see too much action in the field, so when they do they have no idea what to do.

being cared for: yes please i mean they hate it. duhhh. they're not a child, they don't need anyone to look after them of course. they can handle it. you don't have to stay by their bedside, they're fine. obviously.

soothing: like nieven, their soothing is done in mostly a protective way. they'll sit by the person's bedside with the guise of telling them random facts, but really they just want to make sure they're alright.

✮⋆˙

ren:

as a whumpee: scared. scared and confused and ready to run away at a moment's notice because being hurt means he's vulnerable and he can't be vulnerable again. he can't go back.

as a caretaker: disastrous. usually, the person hurt has to end up comforting him a bit (with the exception of when he's using his healing abilities). he has no idea how to take care of people beyond using his abilities.

pain response: he tries to be strong, but cmon. he's little. he cries and weeps and sobs. then scampers away from whatever was hurting him and goes into panic mode

fight or flight: flight flight flight. flight and HIDE. make himself as tiny as possible and as unseen as possible and maybe the threat will go away.

being cared for: he's very weary of being cared for. he's half-convinced that when people care for him, it's for some ulterior motive and his instincts won't let him let his guard down. he's always on edge.

soothing: again, very skittish and awkward. he usually takes to sitting with the person and waiting patiently and anxiously until they need something. he's VERY dilligent in that sense. he just needs something to do.

✮⋆˙

HOPE THIS ANSWERED YOUR QUESTIONS ANON!! THIS WAS FUN AND THANK YOU AGAIN LEM U ARE AWESOME!!

[konohamaru-sensei]

🍋 FOR LEM 🍋 | Saya x Kakashi | A third person pointing out how beautiful they're and suddenly you're seeing them in a different light

happy birthday @lemony-snickers, I'm sorry this is such a lame story, I had SO MANY different ideas and couldnt pick one, please contact me on discord to hear about all of em.

Exhausted, Saya leaned her back against a big oak tree and already eyed the rations that had been provided for her hungrily. It was not like she wasn’t used to long stretches of time running and no or very little food, but that didn’t mean her body couldn’t feel exhausted. Especially when the long stretch of no food had been 8 hours, the running had been without pause and there was fried chicken in the rations.

Tenzo handed it to her as he took out her ration first and then his own, throwing a very sceptical look into the bag. They weren’t even away from Konoha for one day and he already seemed worried about food. That was oddly sweet and a little over nervous of him. Sure, he hadn’t really led missions before and Saya was technically a kouhai to him, but he knew very well they’d get through this. It was a very standart mission anyway.

“It might only last for about 4 days,” he said in a tone as if he was just declaring that the rations were almost out. “We have to be careful.”

Saya basically ripped the cover off her box. She felt like she hadn’t eaten it for at least 20 days, when it was more like 10 hours. “The mission is only supposed to take a day or two, Captain”, she said, winking a little to show Tenzo that she was teasing him.

He had that need for overplanning from Kakashi, Saya was sure of it. From how she had gotten to know Kakashi during the last few months he seemed like the kind of guy who would overestimate to make sure all his teammates made it back safely. Though, Saya noted with an internal eye roll, he also seemed like the sort of guy who would pack less for himself, seeing himself as the least important person in the operation.

Saya of course hadn’t run missions with Kakashi a lot, especially not now that he was poised to make the switch to jounin sensei. But she was somehow paired up with Tenzo from time to time, who was obviously missing his senpai judging from the way he was organising himself. Tenzo was different, he was a little more worried and unsure of himself and yet his actions as a team leader had Kakashi written all over it.

“Have a nice meal,” Saya just about said before she was already digging into the mix of rice and fried chicken. They had packed an extra big portion of rice, probably to make sure they were stuffed enough to make it all the way through the desert at night. It was a hassle staying up all night, but it seemed even worse to get to Sunagakure during the daytime. BEsides, they were ANBU: They were expected to be able to run great distances without sleep.

This mission was a very easy one. They were supposed to get to Sunagakure, hand over a missive regarding the chuunin exam and head back. Generally, with peace reigning for many years, this was not a big deal, something that, in Saya’s mind, could have probably done via falcon, but the peace seemed frickle, especially lately, so they were sent instead. “My best ANBU”, the hokage had said with not so well hidden pride of who Tenzo had become. “HE can pick his own team.” Saya, to her own surprise, had been chosen as said team.

Stuffing her mouth with rice she thought of the way Tenzo had walked up to her. “I would like Fox to accompany me,” he had said and when her eyes had gone wide behind her mask he’d replied. “I think our fighting styles are compatible.” But that just seemed like an excuse. Back then she’d told herself she would ask him later what really had been his reasoning, but the tempo to get to the border had been high, so she had felt entirely unable to.

Now, though, with food right in front of her and her muscles relaxing against a tree, she thought maybe it would be the right time to ask – after she had swallowed down most of the chicken and rice of course.

“Cat,” she said, holding the protocol of addressing other ANBU by their codename while on duty, “Why did you choose me for this mission? Aren’t there better options? Dragon or Mouse?”

Tenzo ate much slower than she did and she admired him for that. He must be just as hungry as he was and yet he ate slowly to make sure not to overfill himself. That was the ANBU handbook after all. “If you eat too fast you will feel sick later!”, but Saya was hungry so nothing could stop her.

He hummed as he thought about his answer, as if he didn’t really know why he had chosen her himself. “I guess it is because I think senpai trusts you. And if senpai trusts you, so can I.”

Saya blinked. She hadn’t really expected that answer. Sure Kakashi and her had grown good friends and that surprised her just as much as it probably surprised him, but that Tenzo took his judgement basically as a word of god… 

“Does Kakashi-san have such a good intuition?” Saya asked with a laugh. “Or do you just generally believe everything he says?”

Tenzo blushed. Saya hadn’t seen that coming either. “Usually the people that gravitate around senpai are good people. I think there is something about him that makes good people choose him.” Tenzo chewed and swallowed a chicken. “He picks people to trust that he thinks are good people and usually he is correct. At least I’m pretty sure he was correct about you, Fox.”

And about you, Saya wanted to say. After all, Kakashi had also rescued Tenzo from Root when he was very little. “If you argue like that,” Saya replied, “Then you mean to say that every person that is seen as important by Kakashi is a person that should also be important to you.” She cringed a little at the fact that she had just included herself into “Person important to Kakashi.”

“I think it is a gift,” Tenzo smiled to himself. “Being chosen by senpai is something that I am very grateful for. He saved me and I’m sure one day he will save you too.”

Saya sighed. “Someday,” she said, trying to hide the fact that there had already been countless times he’d made sure she was safe. “I mean I think he is a valuable friend, of course, I would just never tell him that to his face.” Saya frowned thinking of the raised eyebrow and the “Is that so?” that he’d give her if she ever told him.

“Why?” Tenzo seemed genuinely confused.

She put the lid back on the box and then covered one eye with her hand and grinned as wide as she could. “Because of this face!” she explained.

Tenzo laughed, which was a rarity since Kakashi had quit ANBU. Then he put his head to the side: “You are right he can be a little mean about certain things. But I think, all in all, that is still one of his cuter faces.”

“One of?” Saya said a little louder than necessary, immediately startling the man in front of her. “I mean, you know? He is a handsome guy! Most of his face is covered and yet he looks so good, especially when he smiled. There is this twinkl ein the eye, also when he looks at you and likes you. It’s a gift… you know..?” He got faster and faster towards the end, then abruptly gave up.

Oh! Saya thought and looked back to her hands. Certainly, Kakashi could have his pretty sides. She had never really thought about it, not until this moment, but he did possess a sharp face and very sparkling eyes. And what Tenzo had said was true, despite being almost completely covered, he was able to convey so much trust and admiration just through one eye alone. It was a gift.

She also now understood why Tenzo had been so down since Kakashi had left ANBU, but she wasn’t sure he understood. Because she liked Tenzo and liked that he trusted her enough to pick her for such an important mission she didn’t point it out to him. That was something he’d need to figure out himself. The only thing she could do is silently wish him good luck. Kakashi didn’t seem to care about this stuff.

INstead she turned to Tenzo and nodded: “I guess you are right. He does look like that. I have never really thought about it.” It was the truth. 

“From now on you will notice it, I bet,” Tenzo laughed and put the lid on his own empty foodbox. 

“I bet with you on that one!” Saya got up and stretched a little, readying herself for the long run ahead. She thought of Kakashi's grey eyes and how, really, they could be softer than anyone else's. That man was truly gifted with endless kindness and that was something Saya would have never assumed she might be thinking one day.

[therecordconnection]

Ranting and Raving: "Dreams" by Van Halen

Picture it: A team of teenage superheroes piloting a giant fighting machine have just defeated an evil wizard (who himself has just fused with a different giant fighting machine) who was trying to achieve world domination by unearthing two long-buried giant death machines that lie underneath a bustling city. The wizard couldn’t free these machines on his own, so his plan was to hypnotize the parents and adults of an entire city so he could have enough slave labor to free them. The machines were successfully freed and used to try and destroy the entire city, which was only made possible by convincing all the parents and adults to buy and use purple ooze (made by the wizard) sold in a can and advertised as a multi-use product. Once the wizard got what he wanted, his final command to the hypnotized masses was to march and throw themselves off of a cliff like a giant herd of human lemmings. They are eventually saved when the kids of the parents and adults figure out that dumping water on them undoes the hypnotism. They do this while the heroes are off fighting the wizard.

The superheroes, before saving the day, have had to travel to a distant planet in order to find “The Great Power.” This was needed after the wizard destroyed the heroes’ main base and placed their leader into a near-death state, which strips the heroes of their powers. Long story short, the heroes find said great power, return to their city, and quickly spring into action to save the day. Once the day is saved, our heroes, disguised in their civilian identities, celebrate with the entire town and enjoy a fireworks display put on by the town in order to properly thank their heroes. 

That thank you is spelled out on a billboard in bright lights and pyrotechnics. It reads, “Thank You POWER RANGERS.” Van Halen’s “Dreams” plays during this entire fireworks display and it’s a glorious end to one of the campiest, silliest, most beautiful mid-nineties time capsule movies ever made.

Everything about 1995’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie is so lovably, shamelessly, unabashedly DUMB! But that’s the incredible beauty about it. In this movie version of the popular TV show's world, the rangers, who never had that much characterization to begin with, become one-liner machines saying stuff so heinously idiotic that even Spider-Man would shake his head in embarrassment. Consider: The movie's absolutely bonkers first fight scene against evil wizard Ivan Ooze’s Ooze-Men. The following lines are all said in rapid succession: Tommy (White Ranger): "Welcome to my nightmare." (said right after Ivan said this, which is a reference to an Alice Cooper song.) Adam (Black): "Wanna play Kick the Can?" (Adam then kicks a bucket at one of them.) Aisha (Yellow): "Kiss & Make-Up!" (Aisha slams two ooze-men together, knocking them out.) Adam: "Let Me Get the Door." (Adam hits one of them by opening a door in an ooze-man’s face.) Billy (Blue): "You Ooze, You Lose." Kimberly (Pink): "SIT DOWN!" (said when she kicks one of them and they land on their butt). 

I'm pretty sure whoever wrote this movie only had passing knowledge of the show and assumed the rangers always talk like this while fighting. Whoever choreographed the fight scenes REALLY loved watching the rangers do backflips. They do it SO FUCKING MUCH! I never noticed until my most recent watch with friends. Billy, Kimberly, and Rocky (Red) backflip like Olympic gymnasts throughout this entire movie (for Kim makes sense, she's a gymnast in the show).

The writing of the movie is at its strongest whenever Ivan Ooze is on screen. Paul Freeman gives the performance of a lifetime and plays Ivan exactly the way a corny villain in a nineties kids movie needs to be played: Over the top, gleefully evil, with a backstory that is basically 1:1 Rita Repulsa's story from the show (locked in a bucket, freed by humans, seeking revenge). Everything he says in the movie is gold. My friend Brian and I knew it was coming and laughed like bandits when Ooze delivered the best line in the movie: "Oh the things that I have missed: the Black Plague, the Spanish Inquisition, the Brady Bunch Reunion." Freeman delivers all of this like a perfect Saturday morning cartoon villain. On some level, he knows he's playing a purple monster wizard in a kids movie, but on another, he takes it seriously. A superhero movie is only as good as the villain the heroes need to defeat. He's better than any villain in the show mostly by merit of being in something longer than a TV show episode, but he's also better because he just oozes (heh heh) personality from minute one until the end (when he's crotch-kicked into a comet).

This movie is also smart enough to know its audience and plays to it. It knows that it was made for kids ages 5-10 who had been watching the show for two years and already know everything about the rangers and their world. The movie correctly assumes you've watched the show in some capacity, so it doesn't have to waste any time. We just get into it immediately and the movie is better for it. The pacing is great! It never feels like the movie drags at all and there's always something happening. It revels in its own camp and ridiculousness. It just throws everything at you and it never fully loses that delightfully light-hearted tone, even in its most dramatic moments.

You can immediately tell where the extra budget for a movie went. Normally this would be sarcastic, but it's not in this case. The movie begins with the rangers going skydiving and roller skating through the park. The new metallic look for the ranger costumes still holds up. The costumes really pop and I think they're visually better for "The Movie" than the spandex from the show would've been. The re-designed Command Center looks great (despite the fact that Ivan destroys it in about two minutes). Zordon looks goofy, but you can tell he got "The Movie" treatment by having a more realistic looking hologram head. The Alpha-5 costume is a little shinier and he clinks and clanks more like a robot. The zords and Megazord fight in this one got the budget of CGI, but that's the one place where I think the budget wasn't worth it. That's where the movie really looks the most dated and I'd even argue it looks like dogshit dripping from a paper bag. But it's so bad in the funniest ways. If anything, the movie gets more charming because it was bold enough to go with something that bad.

Money definitely went to the soundtrack, which is almost undeserved: Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Higher Ground" cover is here. DEVO (who recorded songs for movies when they felt like it) gives us fight music with "Are You Ready?" Shampoo's "Trouble" soundtracking parents marching to their death like lemmings is unintentionally funny. The orchestral version of the Power Rangers theme that plays during the morphing sequence (which still rules) is big, ridiculous, and epic all at once, just like the movie is. But if you ask me, the one soundtrack moment everyone remembers is the very end, when Van Halen’s “Dreams” plays. Say what you will about the Power Rangers movie, but it absolutely earns the right to have that song as its ending theme. The first time I ever heard Van Halen, as I imagine a bunch of people my age did (I’m 29) was when I was a little kid watching that movie on VHS in the late nineties. I can’t hear the song without thinking of the Power Rangers. Evidently, I’m not alone in that regard. If you scroll through the comments section on any Youtube video for “Dreams,” you’ll find somebody referencing the movie in some form. “Dreams” works as an anthem for the Power Rangers because lead vocalist Sammy Hagar’s lyrics and thesis statement for the song are basically proven and reinforced by what the Rangers do in the movie. The biggest, brightest, cheesiest superheroes deserved (and, more importantly, earned) one of the biggest, brightest, cheesiest songs made in a decade that was full of them. “Dreams” is special. It’s a perfect song, and, oddly enough, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie, of all things, reinforces why it’s a perfect song.

I highly doubt Sammy Hagar or any of the guys in Van Halen saw the Power Rangers movie. All four members of the band had kids by the time the movie came out, but they were all scattered in age (and some of them were older than the target demographic). My only guess as to how Saban Entertainment got the rights to the song is that somebody told Hagar and the guys that the song would do business because the movie was going to do business (and it did: $66.4 million box office against a $15 million budget. It was fourth on its opening weekend against Apollo 13, Pocahontas, and Batman: Forever). I imagine they were paid a nice check for that and thought there wasn’t any harm in having a nine year old song of theirs featured in a kids movie. It wasn’t like Van Halen needed the extra exposure. They were one of the survivors of the grunge era. They were still consistently doing good business and playing arena shows. Hell, they had scored their fourth #1 album (Balance, which would end up going triple-platinum) five months before the movie came out. They were doing just fine.

“Dreams” was never the biggest Van Halen hit (it peaked at #22 on the Billboard Hot 100) but chart success isn’t always the best indicator of a song’s history and life. “Dreams” is one of the most beloved songs of the Hagar-era of the band and it remained a live staple for the entire time Hagar was in the band. Even after the “Van Hagar” years, it stuck around after that. Sammy has played it a healthy amount during his own solo ventures and other bands post-Halen. I remember hearing the song a lot (among others) when Eddie Van Halen died in 2020. A great song always finds ways to stick around.

I’ve always had the theory that by the mid-eighties, Eddie Van Halen was starting to get a little bored with being one of the best guitar players in the world. Around the mid-eighties with the 1984 album, he started really experimenting with keyboards and synthesizers, the instrument that invaded eighties rock and threw rockers to the ground in a Big Show-style choke slam. Of the eighties dad rock bands that incorporated keyboards into the mix, I think besides Geddy Lee in Rush, Eddie was one of the best to do it. It helps that he didn’t have to learn how to play them on the job. Before becoming a guitar god, Eddie trained to be a classical pianist. That’s what his parents wanted him to be before he got bitten by the rock n’ roll bug. As a fan in the eighties, it was probably weird to suddenly see the wildly technical guitar hero suddenly start banging on keys, but I doubt it was to Eddie. He already had experience with the instrument and just like guitar, Eddie was good at playing keyboards.

You can hear all of that experience in the intro to “Dreams.” It’s a stunning and beautiful melody, played on an Oberheim OB-8 (for all you gearheads keeping score at home). It’s coupled with Eddie mirroring it with an acoustic guitar and it just adds to the beauty of the whole thing. It’s soothing. It’s euphoric. It’s enticing. It’s any number of adjectives you want to ascribe to it. 1986, the year “Dreams” came out, was the beginning of the really overwrought synth-cheese years. Say what you want about the synth-heavy Van Hagar songs, but Eddie knew good keyboard sounds when he heard them.

I love that little two second pause right before the rest of the band launches into the song. It’s great! Van Halen always had great energy and “Dreams” comes right out of the gate with it. Alex Van Halen’s drum sound is so underrated to me. I’ve always loved how much weight his drum sound has. He comes crashing in and it feels like he just punched through a gate and sent it flying into a wall. His drums are just so beautifully pronounced without getting in the way of everything else. He might have been one of the only rock drummers on Earth in the eighties who didn’t buy into the whole gated reverb craze that Phil Collins invented. It really makes him and his whole sound that much more unique in hindsight.

Sammy Hagar had the improbable task of replacing David Lee Roth when he left Van Halen in 1985. For the record, I like both singers, but prefer Sammy. Roth was a great showman and frontman, but as a singer, I’ve always found him goofy and limited. He basically modeled his entire approach––from his look to the way he sang––on Vegas-era Elvis Presley (he kicks like the king, but he jumped around more than the king could). To me, his lyrical contributions always came with a sense of danger and unpredictability, but when he sang about specific people, it always sounded like he was armed with sarcasm. Nothing out of his mouth ever felt sincere, but I also recognize people didn’t want that from him. They just wanted a party animal. He obliged, and he was certainly entertaining to watch, but as a singer he only had a small toolbox of skills. Sammy didn’t have the sense of danger and that wild man/party boy spirit, but he was still a great showman in his own way and––let’s face it, people––a better singer with much more range and skills. I think one of the most important skills Sammy had, the one skill above all else that made his time with the band so successful, was Sammy’s sincerity. 

Roth wouldn’t have pulled off a song like “Dreams.” Part of that is because Roth couldn’t do a vocal like Sammy’s if his life depended on it. A bigger part is that Roth would’ve scoffed at Sammy’s lyrics for the song, which are very simply about following your dreams and never giving up, no matter how hard it gets. He would’ve laughed like a school bully and called him a clown (which would’ve been the pot calling the kettle black, but I digress). 

Sammy’s not the most gifted lyricist in the world (“Only time will tell if we stand the test of time” from “Why Can’t This Be Love” is a prime example of this) but Sammy’s greatest strength as both a lyricist and a singer is a tried and true one: It doesn’t sound stupid if you believe it and know how to sell it.

On paper, Sammy’s lyrics to “Dreams” aren’t impressive in the slightest. Most of them read like obvious and cookie-cutter motivational quotes that wouldn’t look out of place on a Hallmark card or a motivational calendar. But when he sings them? That’s what makes the difference. The great energy that the song already has gets immediately amplified to greater heights once Sammy steps up to that mic. When Sammy delivers the lines, “Yeah, you reach for the golden ring / You reach for the sky! / Baby, just spread your wings” he starts getting extremely hammy, but not in a bad way. It’s even more hammy during the chorus, if you can believe it, where Sammy practically screams out to the masses and assures us that we’re gonna get higher and higher and climb straight up. That chorus turns the entire song into a spectacle and Sammy sings it with such heartfelt sincerity that even the most cynical asshole you know would be swayed by it. He believes every single word of this song and that’s what gives the song its power. He delivers the lyrics with unshakable belief that we can fly higher and climb higher than we think we can. It’s glorious. If you listen to this whole song and it doesn’t make you feel fucking invincible, if it doesn’t motivate you or help make you feel like you could do anything and achieve anything, then I don’t know what to tell you.

The song’s most beautiful moments are during the post-choruses, when the melody from the intro returns and Sammy delivers his most impactful lines:

So baby, dry your eyes Save all the tears you've cried Oh, that's what dreams are made of 'Cause we belong In a world that must be strong Oh, that's what dreams are made of

Alex’s quick dum-dum-dum-dum drum hits during that are incredible. I love that bit when Sammy sings”Oh, that’s what dreams” and then Alex crashes back into the beat just as Sammy is finishing the line (“are made of”). A musical moment like that was born to soundtrack boxers and UFC fighters scoring knockouts, heroes defeating villains, people performing wild and incredible feats. It’s magic, that’s the best way I can describe it to you. 

Eddie plays keyboards throughout the song, but he’s still Eddie Van Halen, so that means that he’s gonna give you a guitar solo. Come on, what do you think this is? There are better Eddie solos than what’s on “Dreams,” but one of the reasons Eddie is so revered as a master of his craft is because he understood that a guitar solo has to serve the song. It has to give the song something. Eddie fires off two quick solos during the second half and they’re everything you want from the guy. They serve the song by ramping up the ridiculousness and hamminess of the lyrics by giving the song a triumphant melody and energy. The end of that first solo near the 3:07 mark sounds like victory and it opens up the song for Sammy to return and wail that chorus again. That second solo around the 4:00 mark keeps that triumphant feeling and it’s everything you love about Eddie Van Halen’s guitar playing in just fifteen seconds. Excellent tone, wonderful melody, that always-cool finger-tapping thing, what more could you ask for? That shit rules and it’s not hard to understand why so many classic rock fans miss Eddie so much.

The song ends in the most wonderful way possible. Sammy sings, “And in the end / On dreams we will depend” but instead of repeating that’s what dreams are made of, he switches it and sings, “‘Cause that’s what love is made of.” Only in the mid-eighties could you end a song like that and have it be so feel-good and so lovably silly. I love Eddie’s keyboard outro right at the end and that held note that just fades out. It’s a great ending and leaves you with the best feeling. It’s awesome. No notes.

“Dreams” is a perfect song because it’s so over the top, so ridiculous, but so lovably and unabashedly sincere. It revels in the cheesiness of its entire production. It does the exact same thing that something like Stan Bush’s “The Touch” (another pumped-up motivational eighties classic that famously appeared in a ridiculous-yet-incredible kids movie) and serves as lovably campy motivation music.

For Sammy Hagar, the motivational lyrics to "Dreams" were written as a sort of victory lap and  testimony from himself. He was a kid who grew up dirt-poor and struggled in poverty for most of his adolescence, but powered through that and somehow grew up to become a successful, world conquering musician. “Dreams” was his way of telling his fans and anybody who needed the song that if he can do it, so can you. If you have a dream, fight for it. You can make it happen if you work for it, believe in yourself, and don’t give up. You know who believes that kind of stuff? The Power Rangers.

The reason “Dreams” works so well as the end-credits song to the Power Rangers movie is because like the song, The movie revels in how ridiculous and over the top it is, but it never loses its sincerity. Like Sammy Hagar, the movie believes in everything it's selling to you and it remains unshakably optimistic. There's not an ounce of cynicism to be found in one single second of that movie. The only sarcasm are the quick one-liner jokes that come out of the rangers' mouths. After almost twenty years of MCU garbage, the Power Rangers movie becomes surprisingly refreshing. They also stand by what Hagar preaches in “Dreams.” They’re a source of motivation and just like Sammy, they believe that keep going and you don’t give up, no matter how bad things get or how impossible things seem. The movie reinforces “Dreams” by showing you six people with unbreakable determination. Here’s a superhero team that effectively loses their powers (it happens when Zordon is practically killed by Ivan Ooze, which makes no sense because the ranger powers aren’t directly tied to Zordon in the show) and become ordinary people again. Rather than wallow and accept all is lost, they risk their lives to travel to an unknown planet and find a great power that will restore them to being Power Rangers again and allow them to save both Zordon and the city of Angel Grove. No matter how tough their journey gets, they never break. They know they can turn things around and save the day if they don’t give up and keep going. Whether they have their ranger powers or not, they’re in a world where they have to stay strong and keep going. No matter what.

It's really easy to listen to “Dreams” or look back at the Power Rangers now and laugh at how silly and cornball it all is... but kids in the mid-nineties certainly didn't think it was stupid. I didn't think it was stupid either when I was a kid in the late nineties. Look me dead in the face and tell me Tommy Oliver doing impossible bicycle kicks and, later, a wild corkscrew kick dressed to the nines as a ninja isn't the coolest shit in the world. Go on. Do it. 

The Power Rangers are six of the silliest heroes ever put on Western TV and movie screens, but they're still heroes. Even when things get tough and the situation is dire, they refuse to break down and give up. They keep going. They endure, because they know they have to. Because they know people need heroes. They always will. “Dreams,” as over the top as it is, is a song that reflects that sentiment of endurance and the belief that nothing is impossible. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie earned the right to have a song as perfectly uplifting and as gloriously electrifying as Van Halen's “Dreams” close the curtain on their Hollywood movie experience. We’re all better for having their specific brand of cheesy optimism in the world.

Thank you, Power Rangers.

[stormxpadme]

Whumptober 2023 No. 7 - Alleyway

Scogan Bingo challenge Holding Hands

"Always knew you were a lightweight, Slim, but this is ridiculous."

Logan signaled the barkeeper of his favorite Hell's Kitchen joint that he'd be back for the bill another time – with the guy perfectly aware, Logan showed up here at least once a month to drink his weight in whiskey, not a problem, fortunately – and half-dragged, half pushed his drinking companion towards the door. If he'd stopped even for another half a minute to reach for his wallet, that would have meant Scott risking yet another fight with some random drunk bigots about a few admittedly unsavory remarks from these guys' table. It was one of these nights in which Logan was in no mood for a wholly avoidable brawl. That had not been the idea, coming to this place.

In theory, the plan had sounded good, getting the X-Men's team leader finally out of the house again for once, after Logan had watched the guy run himself into the ground in depression and grief after Alkali Lake for almost half a year now. In practice, it had turned out, Scott Summers on his third tequila was even more a righteous ass than sober Scott Summers. Plus, Logan hadn’t taken into account reports about yet another senate debate on mutant registration showing on the bar's huge flatscreen instead of the usual Friday night football rerun. Or that famously, Scott was equipped with the self-preservation skill of a lemming on the best of days, especially when he saw an opening to lecture someone against their will. Halfway through a fourth cocktail, the guy had stopped caring for good, how large and aggressive that group was that he'd been deadset on pissing off there. Charming as it could be occasionally, watching someone usually very smart, eloquent, and sharp-tongued take someone down a notch … If there was one thing Logan had learned in few years of his life that he could only remember, getting by on his own in the streets, it was to choose his battles wisely. Scott was very welcome to try and improve people's opinions on their race again tomorrow, preferably with an audience actually willing to listen, as far as Logan was concerned. Right now, all he cared about was getting that idiot by his side home, before Scott would end up getting himself in real trouble. Not that Logan thought either of them had any real danger to fear from normal people. But the last thing mutant world needed right now was bad press regarding the staff of a school that was far too much in the focus of the public eye since the whole Stryker crisis as it was. Sadly, such arguments were apparently not accessible to a mind more booze-clouded by the second, not least thanks to the icy November air hitting them in the face when they finally left the smoke-filled joint behind. "Wanna tell me what that was about? When did you start running from fights?" Scott was indeed so out it by now that he was starting to stagger, to slur his words, but somehow, unbelievably, that annoying bastard was still complaining, glaring at Logan from the side, a dangerous flash of red behind his glasses indicating how pissed off he was about having been taken out of the escalation before it could really start. Then he quickly turned his gaze forward again though because he'd damn nearly walked into a street lamp.

"When Ol' Baldy at home threatened to stop bailing me out," Logan answered dryly, discreetly steering Scott aside by the sleeve of his leather jacket, around the corner into a less crowded street, because his companion was talking far too loudly for his taste, and people were staring. "Jail cots are a pain for my stature and weight. Those fuckers in the bar had knives, in case you missed that. How do you think that would have ended, no matter who'd draw the first blood? Authorities aren’t exactly on our side lately."

"That's exactly what I'm saying. If we run and hide every time someone is spreading lies, how do you expect to change that?" Only even more enraged, Scott took a few steps backward, with his hands on his hips, to stare at Logan in challenge but quickly turned back again when he almost dripped over a protruding cobblestone. "If we don't speak up against public bigotry like that, in our position, no one will. Did you hear those assholes?"

Without even thinking much about it, Logan reached for Scott's arm again to pull him closer and this time didn’t let go, lest Scott could earn even more bruises, running into house entrances or flower troughs. With no stars out and heavy rain starting to fall now on top, visibility in this almost unlit alleyway was shitty even for Logan's enhanced senses. Thanks to Scott's limited vision, without a little friendly support, guy would look like he actually had gotten beaten up by the time Logan would have maneuvered him into the next best available bed. Besides, the man just wouldn’t shut up, so Logan had no choice but being abundantly frank about why he'd really had to step in earlier, though Scott usually was capable of taking care of himself. Such disgusting truths were easier to convey, coming with a supportive squeeze of that muscular arm under his hand. "I heard them, alright. Heard them whisper to themselves long before you even noticed them. Enhanced hearing can be a bitch. You want to know in detail how they fantasized about all they wanted to do to a pretty mutie face like yours? There's some people who are just not worth the trouble, Slim."

"Wouldn’t be my first rodeo. Didn’t know you suddenly cared so much about my well-being, Claws." That came out with a lot less bite than it would have been just a year ago which was just as well because Logan also didn’t fight unworthy opponents and therefore really didn’t feel like punching the guy in the dick for such an uncalled-for dig. Actually, they'd grown a lot closer than that after Jean's death, especially with Charles drowning in grief and guilt more and more by the month, which left Scott and him with the not-inconsiderable task of running that damn school basically all by themselves, together with Ororo. Scott still had his bouts of lethargy and breakdowns in which they were clashing more than usual, and Logan definitely knew better now than to think, an occasional bender downtown would be the right medicine for that … But most of the time, they were fine these days, as team partners, workmates and occasionally, indeed, as something like friends.

More than that, maybe, as Logan allowed himself to vaguely indulge in thinking lately, given there was also a remarkable amount of suppressed hormones and raging pheromones involved whenever the two of them were alone, but he'd never been in a lot of hurry about such things. And this definitely wasn’t a night to discuss such emotional complications. "I don't but I get paid to be your shield and I really need that end-of-the-year bonus for a new car," he thus answered dryly enough to get it through even to Scott's compromised brain that he wasn’t being serious. "Speaking of it …" With an unnerved sigh, he held Scott back by his hand this time, to slow him down, when Scott just huffed and dramatically strode ahead, with square shoulders, his head held high, obviously hurt in his pride. And apparently missing that that gap between two overflowing trash bins they had to pass was too narrow for stomping straight through. "Jesus, Slim, your peripheral vision is even worse when you're wasted. Do me a solid and stay behind me." His impatience to get to the damn car growing, Logan sneaked his way past Scott's taller, thinner silhouette without letting go of him but then suddenly froze in his tracks when he spotted a few burly, familiar shapes emerging at the end of the almost unlit street, blades out, each sporting huge, anticipating grins on their faces.

These motherfuckers from the bar had followed them and cut off their way.

"Muties and fags, huh? Someone's really asking for it," one of the men hissed as Logan instinctively came to stand in front of Scott. The guy had an open beer bottle in his hand that he generously helped himself to while playing with the switchblade in his hand. His racing heartbeat and the sour stench of battle adrenaline made the group's intention very clear before they even started coming closer. "Tell you what, mutt, you give us the prettyboy, then maybe we won't slice you open like a turkey too. Come on, it's not like you can't find a slut with such whore lips around every corner."

"That's gonna be a problem, no offense." Scott had not only used the moment that Logan had given him, shielding him from the group's sights, to switch his glasses for the VISOR in his jacket pocket, as Logan could make out with a tense glance back from the corner of his eyes. Within half a minute, the guy had also become entirely sober. And apparently, in spite of all big peace-making plans and noble intentions, even Scott had a bullshit tolerance limit when it came to trying to make people see the wrong of their ways. His grim smile these bastards' way was vicious, unblinking, his strong jawline working with aggression, held high, as his whole posture turned from intoxicated resignation into unfazed determination within a breath, all patience from that debate earlier replaced by provocative nonchalance and the unapologetic fearlessness of someone who wasn’t only desperate to make the world a better place but also had no problem bending it to his will if all other means failed. "You see, guys, I can be awfully jealous. And that one's mine." The whole sight was far sexier than it should be which was probably why Logan didn’t even think of resisting, not even out of dumbfounded confusion when Scott used their proximity to lean in for a kiss just as entirely unexpected as long yearned-for.

That this was only spite, of course, and a distraction, obviously, couldn’t hold back a wave of so-far well-controlled want exploding in Logan's midsection like a tidal wave. He had to try hard for a moment, not to push the guy back against the nearest wall in response to kiss him senseless in return, danger from a couple of low-life hillbillies a couple of feet away be damned. He probably could have gutted these assholes with his middle claw without even letting go or looking anyway.

But since Logan had already decided earlier, these people weren’t worth yet another police record on his list, he wasn’t too unhappy when Scott used the moment as the group screamed out in anger over that theatric reaction to their threats and came running at them blindly, in a row and far too close as the run-down street only allowed. Which made for a most satisfying image when Scot made his shot, creating a huge hole in the ground with his blasts right before the leader's feet and the man fell hard on his face, his friends all crashing into him and each other. A ramshackle entrance door next to them shot in just the right angle so that it dropped on top of the groaning group, made sure for good that they wouldn’t be any more trouble for the moment.

Taking the shortcut through that very house and its back door back to the main street, Scott and Logan could slip away from the scene easily and finally make it to the car before any more unwelcome issues could stall them. Only once they'd left downtown behind and could be sure they weren’t followed, with Scott switching his VISOR for his glasses again, he seemed to really realize what had happened there, and the most adorable blush Logan had ever seen spread on his cheeks. "Uh."

"So, I'm yours, huh?" Logan sought Scott's gaze in the rear mirror, letting him know with a lazy grin he wasn’t averse to this development in the least.

"That wasn’t … I mean, I was only trying …" Scott buried his face in his hands in embarrassment but looked up again with a shaky breath when Logan rested one hand on his thigh, in a gesture at least as possessive as that little stunt earlier. No, Scott Summers wasn’t someone to shy away from a challenge, given enough time, not even one concerning his troubled private life it seemed. "I guess, yeah. If you want the job. It's not exactly an easy one, you know."

"Guys like us don't do easy." Logan gave that attractive, long leg a firm squeeze, nothing short of a promise, before letting go again because that wasn’t happening before he could be sure the guy would have sobered up all the way. Every now and then, he could actually be a gentleman. And there was no hurry about anything as he knew now. Not now when Scott would hopefully finally let him in all the way. Or at least enough to pull him back from that abyss that Jean's death had created in his life – in both their lives – for good. "Far as I'm concerned? Worth it though."

Scott's still slightly abashed but very sincere smile as he was the one to reach for Logan's hand again this time said enough.

*******************************************************************************

@whumptober | @whumptober-archive

@scoganbingo

[howlingday]

Alright last ask and lore dump for today I promise before I explain the characters I need to explain what a Magiolem(Ma-Gi-O-Lem) is. So a Keeper uses some of their magic to create an orb to hold and use magic. Them he adds what the magic the orb can use. After that he gives them their mission and personality. Lastly he makes their body. Now their bodies can be made out of anything like stone, water, plants, animal parts, even cloth. Some of them can even gain a soul eventually. Few do.

Now their are certain ranks that each person can get their are four for now. The highest goes to the Guardians their power is at least worth one Maiden at max 2 Maidens. They are also the most skilled fighters with the most powerful magic. They live in isolated areas and almost guard something the Keeper and/or Keep have decided are important. Their are six in total but only four are active.

The next are the Stereotypes their are 5 in total.(One for each Kingdom plus Mereginre which i see as kingdom but i don't know if is one) They are the leaders of all lower ranking members and actually are part of society (mostly the Menegirne one is the expectation). They are on the same level as the highest ranking huntsman in combat ability.

Next are the Battlers they are used to hide in and keep track of important things like how the White Fang is acting or the Atlas Army or the Militades. They can fight on above average huntsman level but are not top tier. If the average is C and the best is S(Qrow,Ironwood,Glyand,etc) they be Bs.

Lastly they're is the Hiders they act as normal civilian or low ranking members of groups. They main goal is to keep track of certain areas and report to the Battlers of anything strange is going on.

Now all Magiolems follow a few rules and the same powers. They must avoid anything direictly tied to Omza and Salem to the best of their abilities and if they can they must ask how to proceed with the sitcation. All can cast a small illusion to look and feel human or faunus. All can teleport to another Magiolem. They can telepathically get orders from the Keeper anywhere.

So Questions? Criticism? Thoughts?

First Second Third Fourth

Alright, so they're golems. Alright, alright, I'm diggin' it. I kinda like how this third faction from Salem and Ozma is acting in secret without anybody knowing they exist. I can imagine them teleporting to safety if people in the village they inhabit become too suspicious of them. I'd love to learn more about the Magiolems.

[stachedocs]

so,,,, i just realized i’ve never asked you anything about my girl ted so i’m gonna change that! tell me about thaeda, her love interest ( if she has one ), and her arc with cat/lady stoneheart !!!

Ok, ok. Give me a minute. No, I’m fine, I just need a... *yells*. Thank you so much for this ask, my dear! Also sorry if this is going to be a bit incomprehensible, I’m still figuring out some details of the plot and the particular relationships, so. Also a warning, the reply is 800 words, because it got out of hand as always.

I have two love interests in mind for the idiot child. One is Marwyn Belmore, Benedar Belmore’s nephew (it’s not stated in the books in what familial relation these two are so I made it thus for the added drama).

Ted held Marwyn in high regard even as a child at Strongsong, considered him her fav cousin. But when they meet years later at the Gates of the Moon, he falls utterly in love with her and makes it everybody else’s problem. Because Benedar doesn’t have children of his own, Marwyn is currently the heir to Strongsong. He sent him to the Gates of the Moon as ward to Nestor Royce, in hopes that he one day marries either the widowed Randa or perhaps one of Yohn Royce’s daughters and strengthens the Belmores’ position in the hierarchy of the Vale. So when Thaeda and Marwyn start to spend *too much time* together and a word goes around, Benedar takes this as a personal insult and is convinced it’s Ted’s pre-planned revenge against him for throwing her out in the street. So he makes Nestor’s life hell, bullying him over it, even goes as far as threatening him with war if he doesn’t put his bastard daughter in place. This is a forbidden love, which Ted in the beginning doesn’t realise is that and isn’t too keen on before she’s forced out of the Vale entirely and finds how much she misses it.

The second interest is, of course, Lem Lemoncloak of the BwB, the arsehole extraordinaire. With him she builds an odd friendship at first, then they become lovers, and he shows her that a romance is possible even without anyone being constrained within it if there’s previous consent and understanding.

By the amount of planning I’ve put into these two so far, you can probably tell who’s to be Ted’s endgame lmao. Marwyn was supposed to be an afterthought, just a side-character with a very minor role, but it ran very much away from me and I’m starting to love it.

As for Cat. Let me just afsfsggsgsga, because this is probably the most bittersweet relationship I plan on ever writing. So, Ted will meet her the first time upon Cat’s descent from the Eyrie (thank you GRRM for leaving sufficient holes for us fanficcers). Cat is forced to stay a night at the Gates of the Moon and Randa Royce and Ted are smitten by her honesty and fierceness, either not having their mothers around for different reasons. She is all they aspire to be: tough and decisive, driven and honourable. Cat tells them of her daughters, of how much they remind her of Sansa and Arya, which is also thanks to why when Littlefinger descends upon the Eyrie with Alayne, they start to suspect she is not who Baelish makes her to be.

Then after Nestor kicks Ted out the Vale because of Littlefinger’s scheming, during a small quest to the Crossroads Inn Ted encounters the Brotherhood and circumstances have it that she is thrown in front of Stoneheart. She recognizes the woman she met not too long ago, but she is someone else entirely. There are particulars of the story which I don’t want to spoil also bc I don’t have them shaped too well yet, but let’s say they make promises to one another which neither is intent on honestly keeping. For some time Ted is dependent on the group and their leader to survive. After some time and with Lem’s help she realises that Stoneheart really doesn’t care about anything else than revenge anymore, but at first Ted’s fine with overlooking it, bc Cat is very important for her to help rip the Vale from under Littlefinger’s influence.

But then Cat almost hangs Brienne basically for nothing else than carrying Jamie’s sword and Ted has a bit of an existential crisis. Because Cat for her was the embodiment of her most important principles and virtues, and the one to carry an idea of them after all the other men and women in her life have gone against them. So the relationship with Cat / Stoneheart for Thaeda is key for her to realise she can’t count on anyone carrying out righteous deeds and justice, however great role models the world or she herself have them to be, she has to do it herself, she has to uphold the principles herself.

I hope any of this made sense lmao. And thank you again for the ask, Joey, it really helped me to sort my thoughts and notes into a more coherent bit!

[riddikulus-writings]

Distracted

Chapter 15

Still tryin' our damndest to keep Rick's ass alive

“Why are you here?”

“Why are any of us here?”

“Quit gettin’ needlessly philosophical on me, Cadell,” Rick chided, pointing a chopstick at her from across the table, “One day you just… show up and wriggle your ass into my life– it was a legitimate question.”

She noisily slurped up a noodle before answering, “Uh, well. After… y’know, the Accident,” – her husband dying, Rick mentally noted – “I just… I couldn’t do it. The house, the farm. The dogs. The fuckin’ fish, even. Everything just sucked ass. Enlisted the youngest sister in law to move in and watch the place and I just fuckin’ booked it. Ended up on the task forces searching out for meta-humans until Waller plucked me out and took me to Belle Reve for her, instead. I guess I’m grateful, but fuck,” she ran a hand down her face, “If it wasn’t for you, I probably wouldn’t be here, anymore.”

Rick didn’t want to ask if he meant here in New Orleans or here, alive.

“Well, what was it you’d said that one night? I’ll follow you for life,” he repeated it back to her, “Always be around, wherever life takes you?”

“No, no,” Nyx waved a finger at him, “You’re the leader, here. I don’t lead, I’m a shit leader. My attention span? Whoever I’m leading would get led off a cliff. Like a lemming.”

“Aren’t you the one that told me lemmings only follow each other off cliffs if they’re being chased?”

She pointed a finger-gun at his nose, “Exactly. Only way I’m leading is if we’re being chased. One of us had a good head on their shoulders, and it ain’t me.”

“Gotta give yourself more credit, Eris,” Rick chided, leaning forward on his elbows, “You’re pretty sharp.”

“Sharp like a butter knife,” she chuckled, “Thanks, Flag, though. That means a lot, coming from you. Now, what do you say we get outta here, go get a couple drinks.”

“We have to ship out at three a.m. We need to go to sleep.”

She scoffed and waved him off, taking her other hand to grab his and tug him outside, “Who said anything about sleeping? C’mon, pull an all-nighter with me. Pull an all-nighter with me and I’ll pay for all your drinks next time, deal?”

“You’re nuts,” he wasn’t objecting, though.

“This is how I actually am, the actual me,” she beamed back at him, “It’s how you know I’m comfortable with you.”

“Are you comfortable?”

“Fuck no,” he wheezed out, allowing himself to be lowered to the ground.

“It was rhetorical,” Nyx rolled her back-to-indigo-eyes, crouching in front of him. Her knees knocked his as she moved to straddle his hips. The ground shook, people were screaming in the distance. The remnants of the Task Force were fighting a… hundred-fifty-foot-tall alien starfish… across town.

Said starfish was leveling every building he met.

“I don’t think…” Nyx’s face was centimeters from Rick’s chest, “it’s too deep…?” she was trying to convince herself more than him, “I’m obviously no medical expert, but I do know that you shouldn’t have ripped it unceremoniously from your chest. I am… fuck, left my jacket at Jotunheim. Um– ope, got it,” she flicked out a pocket knife like she likes to do and started cutting at her pant leg.

Rick chuckled dryly through his mouthful of blood, “This brings back memories.”

Now with one leg bare all the way up to the hip joint, she stretched the ripped fabric between her arms, “We need to find different methods of bonding.”

He went dead-weight for her while she wrapped his chest up, whining when she cinched the mediocre bandage across his chest, “We go drinking. Watch movies. Call each other lame. Almost die with each other.”

She leaned in with her nose brushing his, “Survive the day, got it? I’ll never make you watch one of my lame movies again. Deal? Now, if I leave you in this abandoned, dirty alleyway to go fight an alien with some criminals, are you gonna be alive when I get back?”

“Even gonna remember where I am?” he avoided answering because he couldn’t answer that.

“Fuck you, Flag,” Nyx snorted weakly, “I always know where you are. My memory isn’t that bad.”

“Yet.” he grit out, knocking his head back on the wall with a grimace. Fuck his body ached. His chest felt hollow.

“Hey,” she whispered softly. Rick hummed to let her know she had his attention, but didn’t open his eyes– couldn’t open his eyes. His eyelids were heavy. She continued, “Never a lip curved with pain that can’t be kissed into smiles again.”

“Bret Harte–” his response was cut off when Nyx pressed her lips to his. She tasted like blood and soot [so did he] but she also tasted like every unspoken word, every missed chance and every what-if they’ve shared in the last two years. Nyx’s hand slid up to grab at the nape of Rick’s neck, pulling him closer. She denied him when he tried to deepen the kiss–

And then she was gone.

[averageestrogenenjoyer]

only found out about this theory today lol. i like it. not totally ground-breaking, not insane tinfoil. Might be onto something, might not be! It just adds a few more layers to this character that I already like.

Can't remember where i read it, but im a fan of the speculation that richard/lem's wife and daughter lived in KL and were killed in tywin's infamous sack - that could explain why richard apparently disappeared after the war even if he had fought on bobby b's side, and why he so intensely hates "lions". And you know a "lion" who would be able to recognise Richard? Jaime, the guy currently being lead to the BWB! (though with his cloak and new helm, jaime'll defo mistake him for sandor at first lol)

We already know that LSH is undead-catelyn, so finding this out about lem could be another nifty reveal for Jaime when he and Brienne are taken by the BWB. (No doubt Lem and the others will be urging LSH to hang Jaime, but my money is on LSH keeping him alive to force him to watch a red wedding 2 electric boogaloo)

But yeah, like the thing says, this doesn't need to be true for lem's character to be meaningful and compelling. It's fine if Lem turns out to be just a common-born guy from the riverlands who wears a yellow cloak, whose wife and kid died in the war, who hates lannisters for their war crimes, whose desire for violent revenge leads him to become the very kind of monster that he had set out to fight in the first place (the same with harwin, tom o'sevens and brotherhood as a whole - that's what they're all about in book 4 with their new leader stoneheart). Lem doesn't need to be a secret highborn knight to be all that! He can still be just as vengeful and murderous!! Smallfolk can be evil too - diversity win! :)))))))

[little-miss-dilf-lover]

To you he's a menace to society, he's my little princess though. I'm back and here to serve more ideas of my favorite mean bbg 💗💗

Ok ok so I know this is based on the fic I sended, but can you imagine tan's wife being just so sassy? Walking up to this well known and feared leader, hand on our hip, smug smile, not a care in the world and saving our boys. And we always win because I said so.

Which brings me to my next point, acting. (I'm not obsessed with this idea at all haha) Now, this is silly but hear me out, since in the movie, the prince is a diesel because of her acting and how she bluffs, what if reader is arguing she's also a diesel because of her great acting skills. All I know for sure is that Lem would be so pissed at what we just said.

I hc that Tan doesn't spend much time on the internet, so when we send him "I'll see you at 14:37 :)" don't expect him to know. Lem would be like "you fucking dumbass" and having to explain what it means. (1437 = i love you forever)

Casual dom with Tan?? Pulling you by the waist so thar on the sidewalk you're further from the cars. Giving you his jacket because you "forgot" yours at home (he secretly loves it) scolding you when you don't eat and holding your chin up to make you look at him

This one is self indulgent but, wearing heels all day and you're legs hurt so he offers you a piggy back ride back home :((

Last one, I think he's kind of hesitant to open up at first but as time went by, and you two get married, what do you think will change in your relationship?

OK LAST ONE FR THIS TIME I'm feeling a little mischievous, giving him an attitude? 😱😱 shocking but,, how will he react? Please share thoughts ☺️

Also,, that text conversation ?? Delicious, thank you for the food ma'am. A while back, when I send one of these ideas asks (idk how to call them) I mentioned how it'll be like to be in a groupchat with these two and the fake sms app is exactly what I had in mind. Now that I saw the post, I wanted to ask if you could do something similar but I'm aware it's probably a lot of hassle so it's okay if you don't want to !! Sorry for any spelling mistakes!!  💺 anon

I love wearing sunglasses bcs no one will know what you're looking at haha. I say as I'm obviously staring at Tan's chest

hii!! ofc ofc, please enlighten me with ideas of our cute wholesome angel😩!!

1. like a protective mama bear 😌 always looking out for our little princesses. and yes to winning bc that’s the only way tbh

2. 😭😭😭 yes!! would kinda imagine as a femme fatale just bc it’s badass, and she would have many skills- acting one of them!! like someone you watch in a movie, and you’re like she’s fucking cool

3. yes!! feel like he’s a bit old in that department - he’s not really ‘up to date’. tbh I didn’t I know what that meant either until I read your last line😭 I feel like Lems the opposite of tan with the internet, he just knows things

4. ARFFGH LOVE IT!! he’s very chivalrous bc I say so! he NEVER lets you walk on the outside of the pavement!! always holds the/ your bags !! holds you close if you’re both out at night!! makes you food if you haven’t eaten!! makes you drinks- big acts of service kinda guy🫠😌 MAYBE… he doesn’t need a jacket but always brings one bc he knows you’ll get cold :((

5. so cute !!! especially if you went on a date!!

6. he’s a tough nut to crack!! dare I say a little difficult to love at times😶 I think he just needs lots of genuine reassurance and support to get you both past that first barrier. also he probs tries to push you away. but once you’re comfortable with each other and had a lot of time to learn from one another, he’ll be a great partner!! as most people, he gets more comfortable with time, so he’ll start to annoy you and wind you up for fun. maybe might argue more as time goes on, but they’re not that serious, nor are they petty, just standard ones

7. he knows how to shut you up, that’s all im gonna say

8. ugh you’re so welcome, love feeding my children😌 yes yes ofc!! just need to figure out how to that (bc it’s 3 people) I send messages to my ipad and respond that way😭 so if I find away to make a group chat as such, I’ll definitely let you know

9. he’s got such a pretty chest🥹

[rks-art-and-design]

Follow…or lead?

Are you a leader or a follower? I can do both, leading and following. When I need to lead, I will do it to the best of my ability, if I need to follow I will do that. With a caveat. I won’t blindly follow someone. Some people lead others into a bad place. You have a brain, use it. Don’t be a lemming.

[biblenewsprophecy]

‘Will America Make It Until November 5, 2024?’

COGwriter

NBC reported the following:

November 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — Pick a metaphor: President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign is a “five-alarm fire.” It’s a cardiac case in need of a “defibrillator.” Or a lemming on course to “slowly march into the sea and drown.”

All come from Democratic strategists whose low-boil frustrations with Biden’s candidacy erupted over the weekend amid a spate of bleak polling numbers. No less a party mastermind than David Axelrod, architect of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, suggested in a social media post that Biden consider dropping out of the race and letting someone more electable take his place as the Democratic presidential nominee.

The 2024 presidential election looks increasingly like it will be a rematch of four years ago, and Democrats are more and more worried that the outcome may not swing their way this time. Yet at this point, they’re stuck with Biden — whether they like it or not.

Biden has given no indication he is interested in dropping out. Nor does his campaign team seem to be sweating the New York Times/Siena College poll that showed him losing to Republican Donald Trump in five of the six swing states that he captured in his 2020 victory.

Troubling signs for Democrats jump out from the poll. The party’s bedrock constituency, Black voters, appears to be eroding. In 2020, Black voters favored Biden over Trump by a margin of 78 percentage points. In the new survey, Biden’s margin had dropped to 49 points. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/democratic-frustrations-biden-spill-open-five-alarm-fire-rcna123841?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma&taid=654a26c66de02a00016ad2be&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Yes, unless Joe Biden or Donald Trump die, pull out, or are so impacted by legal matters, a rematch of 2020 is the position of most pundits.

Related to the two of them and 2020, the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put together the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

10:25

Biden, Trump, and the Bible

The USA presidential campaign is in full swing. Though Democratic party candidate Joe Biden and Republican party candidate Donald Trump have differing economic and climate policies as well as different views on abortion and racial matters, there are many similarities both share. Do they have policies that they share that are leading to the destruction of the USA? What do Bible prophecies reveal about sexual immorality, debt, and hypocrisy? What are some of the national sins of the USA? Does the Bible endorse voting? What did Jesus teach related to what to seek and pray for? What does the New Testament teach that Christians are to do related to leaders? Is the lesser of two evils still evil? Dr. Thiel goes over these matters, including going over eleven similarities the two major party candidates share and some of what the Bible teaches about evil.

Here is a link to our sermonette video: Biden, Trump, and the Bible.

Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have also taken steps consistent with my published warnings about them in my respective books (Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction and Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse).

Furthermore, the USA is becoming more and more divided. As Jesus said:

25 Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. (Matthew 12:25)

17 Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. (Luke 11:17)

The divide in the USA is growing as many of its sins (including hypocrisy) become more blatant.

As far as the fall of the USA goes, a reader sent me a link to the following:

Will America Make It Until November 5, 2024?

November 6, 2023

This past weekend, America hit an important, although a bit overlooked, milestone. As of Sunday, we are exactly 366 days until the 2024 presidential election. ..

A question I, and I believe so many other Americans, have begun to ponder also popped back into my head. So I am going to ask it out loud. Can America make it to November 5, 2024? …

While it might sound a bit melodramatic, I can’t help but think that so many Americans are feeling the same way. For the first time in their lives, they are truly frightened for the future of our country. Not because of any one thing specifically, but the entire toxic stew that seems to be bubbling up, and no one in any position of authority is competent enough, or even seems to care enough, to handle it. …

But the one thing that chills me to the bone is the byproduct of this potential World War III scenario — the virulent, unrelenting, and pathological antisemitism that has reared its head in a nation founded as the refuge for freedom and liberty for anyone seeking it in the world. It is an ugliness that many Americans, including myself, would have never thought we would see anywhere else in the world ever again, much less in America. Add in the fact that Iran, already funding Hamas, has threatened to become even more involved in the powder keg that is the Middle East, as have other nations. …

But the collective threats America now faces could easily erupt into utter unmanageability well before the 2024 election, and we would have few options as to how to proceed. This game of beat-the-clock is a scary proposition, but if little old me is thinking about it, others surely are, too. https://redstate.com/beckynoble/2023/11/06/will-america-make-it-until-november-5-2024-n2165961

While the USA will make it past 2024, yes many in the USA are uneasy.

And yes, many are uneasy about a Joe Biden or Donald Trump re-election.

But WWIII is not about to begin–that is at least 3 1/2 years away (cf. Daniel 9:27, see also The ‘Peace Deal’ of Daniel 9:27) –but it is getting closer.

As far as how long the USA may last, the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put out the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

34:10

Is the USA prophesied to be destroyed by 2028?

Are there prophetic reasons to believe that the USA will not last two complete presidential terms? Yes. There is a tradition attributed to the Hebrew prophet Elijah that humanity had 6,000 years to live before being replaced by God’s Kingdom. There are scriptures, writings in the Talmud, early Christian teachings that support this. Also, even certain Hindu writings support it.

Here is a summary of ten items to consider: 1. If as the School of Elijah taught, that God inspired Elijah to state that the world as we have known it would last 6,000 years, to be followed by a thousand year sabbatical time, which Jewish tradition (Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin [97a]) and early Christian traditions records (e.g. Irenaeus, a hearer of Polycarp. Adversus haereses, Book V, Chapter 30:4), then we are getting close to the end of that time.

2. And if, consistent with scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments, we can apply the concept that a thousand years is as a day to God (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8).

3. And if, as generally understood in the Church of God that Jesus was killed and resurrected no later than the Spring of 31 A.D. on Passover.

4. And if we can presume that the “last days” of a 7,000 year prophetic week began AFTER the middle day (day 4), then the last days prior to the “sabbatical” time, which some would refer to as the millennial Kingdom of God would last two thousand years.

5. And if when Peter referred to being in the last days (Acts 2:17-18) and since Hebrews 1:1-12 teaches that “God … has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.”

6. Then adding 2,000 years to a period of time leads to the end of the 6,000 years no later than 2031 (and it could be earlier than that).

7. Since the Great Tribulation is expected to start 3 1/2 years prior to that (cf. Revelation 12:14; 13:5) subtracting 3 1/2 years from the Spring of 2031 would be late in 2027.

8. Understand that the U.S.A. is prophesied to be taken over near the rise of the Beast and start of the Great Tribulation (cf. Daniel 11:39; Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:21-22).

9. Therefore, since the end of two full U.S.A. presidential terms would end in January of 2029, these prophetic understandings point to the end of the U.S.A. prior to two full presidential terms.

10. This is also consistent with certain Hindu and Roman Catholic prophetic writings as well. This video gives more details and quotes which point to the destruction of the United States of America by 2028.

Here is a link to the video: Is the USA prophesied to be destroyed by 2028?

That said, some see hope in Joe Biden and others in Donald Trump. I do not (though one could be better for the economy than the other).

Voting for Donald Trump or voting in Republicans will not stop the decline of the USA.

Voting for Joe Biden or voting in Democrats will not stop the decline of the USA.

The Bible warns:

20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

I am NOT a voter nor a Democrat nor a Republican –I am a non-partisan Christian looking for the return of Jesus and the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

Notice two translations of Psalm 146:3:

Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. (New Living Translation)

Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. (NKJV)

The Book of Psalms also teaches:

8 It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man. 9 It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in princes.  (Psalms 118:8-9)

From a Christian perspective, consider that neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden advocate national repentance nor the kingdom of God.

So, what should a Christian do?

Well, one thing is to pray:

1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.  (Matthew 6:9-10)

Understand that neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump will change what will happen to the USA without national repentance.

The USA needs the return of Jesus and the coming Kingdom of God.

The Feast of Tabernacles, which was observed last month, is a foretaste of the Kingdom of God. One in which:

15 … “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Revelation 11:15)

So, yes, there is good news, despite what goes on with the governments of this age. Related Items:

USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses Can you point to scriptures, like Daniel 11:39, that point to the USA in the 21st century? This article does. Two related sermon are available: Identifying the USA and its Destruction in Prophecy and Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?

Who is the King of the West? Why is there no Final End-Time King of the West in Bible Prophecy? Is the United States the King of the West? Here is a version in the Spanish language: ¿Quién es el Rey del Occidente? ¿Por qué no hay un Rey del Occidente en la profecía del tiempo del fin? A related sermon is also available: The Bible, the USA, and the King of the West.

Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? Two related sermons about this are also available: Real Repentance and Real Christian Repentance.

Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection. A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?

Might the U.S.A. Be Gone by 2028? Are there prophetic reasons to believe that the USA will not last two complete presidential terms? Yes. There is a tradition attributed to the Hebrew prophet Elijah that humanity had 6,000 years to live before being replaced by God’s Kingdom. There are scriptures, writings in the Talmud, early Christian teachings that support this. Also, even certain Hindu writings support it. Here is a link to a related video: Is the USA prophesied to be destroyed by 2028? In Spanish: Seran los Estados Unidos Destruidos en el 2028?

Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse This 188 page book is for people truly interested in prophecies related to Donald Trump and the United States, including learning about several that have already been fulfilled and those that will be fulfilled in the future. The physical book can be purchased at Amazon for $12.99 from the following link: Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse.

Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse-Kindle Edition This electronic version of the 188 page print edition is available for only US$3.99. And you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to for your free Kindle reader and then go to Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse-Kindle Edition.

Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction Can the USA survive two full presidential terms? In what ways are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris apocalyptic? This book has hundreds of prophecies and scriptures to provide details. A Kindle version is also available and you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to your free Kindle reader app (or if you already have one or a Kindle), you can go to: Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction (Kindle) to get the book in seconds.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. It is available in hundreds of languages at ccog.org. Here are links to four kingdom-related sermons:  The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.

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