#like i only *just* removed Adam off the blacklist

[resetting37]

A R C F O U R

It’s a happy finale, the friends are reunited after a fun night of crashing a ball and dressing up ! It looks like happily ever after <3 (but it’s not I’m sorry there’s more to the story and there’s worse - and better !! - to come)

Context time !

So a few months prior, Audrey ran away to her hometown in the island of Dile to find the source of the substance Aurora stole from her in (aka the amulet Audrey always wears around her neck.) She needs proof that it’s “connected” to her and not something Aurora can willfully take to a lab or whatever she was going to do with it. But while Audrey is gone, a lot happens. Avery and Zack return to the city (after being kidnapped by Trinity, do you think that’ll come back to haunt them ???) and everyone learns that Avery is the secret half sister of Aurora and Samson. So it’s her newfound way of entering the prime circles, what she truly wanted from the beginning. She’s a little distant from Morgan after realizing Morgan didn’t have concerns over her disappearance and Morgan is trying to fix their relationship.

Of course Morgan feels awful, but Avery’s working towards her own internal struggles at the same time while handling this new wave of attention from Aurora and Samson. She’s not committed to Morgan all the way. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not completely broken up either - we still get to have them be together. Avery is just not ready to be Morgan’s girlfriend (insert trademark logo) - that is, until the event I’m gonna get to.

Meanwhile, Kat’s undergoing her alter ego “GLOSS” as a secret attempt to regain her old fame. And it works ! In fact, Gloss is more famous that Kat ever was. Gloss is adored by crowds through her battle games against genetically-engineered creatures.

Zack’s welcomed back into his family while his new friendship with Sean grows, despite that being a conflict since Sean still has tension with Advik. To be fair, Morgan is the only one out of Advik’s friends that knows why Sean and Advik hate each other (the only secret Advik can actually keep). But, that doesn’t stop Morgan from wanting to be friends with Sean. What ?? Maybe he’s nice now ! As for Advik, his situation is relatively the same as it was from the previous arc. He works alongside Echo in attempt to follow his prototype’s footsteps of being a ~scientist~. His tension with Sean and Aurora and his fear of the experiments are what are stopping him.

Anyway, now that I’ve basically summarizaed Arc four (jk more stuff happens it’s not all angsty there’s fun stuff) Everything changes when Audrey returns ! But she’s got a friend with her ! The sole resident on Dile, Lilith. (Lots of Arc four’s story revolves around the events on Dile, but for the sake of this post, I won’t go into it.) Now that Audrey has found the source of her amulet’s power, SOUL, she can find the amulet again so she can publically take it back and show the council it’s not theirs.

She’s hiding under the radar, and the first person she goes to is Kat. She tells Kat everything and apologizes for leaving. Morgan, Advik, and Zack also get the news that Audrey has returned and go to Kat’s place to see her. Avery is purposely left out because she’s super close with Aurora right now and they can’t afford to have Affora find out Audrey’s back in Evelow. Another important note is that Lilith and Advik remember each other !!! They hadn’t seen each other in ten years, who would have thought they’d ever see each other again ? Audrey doesn’t blame Advik for being preoccupied on Lilith’s return more so than hers. After all, her mind is on Kat the most. When she was in Dile, she did a lot of examining on her relationships and she realized that she did love Kat in a way that was different than the way she loved her other friends.

Regardless, the Group of six have to find a way for Audrey to get back her amulet and prove to everyone Aurora can’t possess it. But how ? And when ? Perhaps the grand Evelonian Ball, suggests Advik. It’s conveniently being held at the city hall in the same center that the laboratory the amulet is being stored in. Due to the heavy security of the ball, it’d be easy to sneak into the laboratory due to less attention there, which leaves the difficult part of making the entrance into the ball. None of them are invited to the ball. If anything, Advik and Zack have bad blood with Aurora and are blacklisted. A thought was maybe Morgan would be Avery’s date and she’d be their inside access, but Avery is too close to Aurora (see above) they didn’t want to risk it. Which bums Morgan a bit, but she understands.

Then Kat has the idea of going as GLOSS ! No one knows Kat is Gloss besides her friends, and despite Gloss not being invited, she could make a date to someone that was. Perhaps Crystal ? And who else to pose as Crystal than her brother Zack. They’re not twins or anything, but with makeup and some styling, it could work from afar. As for the real Crystal, Morgan uses that attraction Crystal had for her to her advantage and get Crystal to take her as her date to the ball. Would this hurt Avery ? No, because they wouldn’t make it to the ball ! Morgan would make “accidental delays” to make sure she and her date don’t make it to the ball so that Kat, aka “Gloss”, and Zack, aka “Crystal” could infiltrate the city hall and thus let the rest in after they retrieve the amulet from the lab.

And so it works. Morgan is Crystal’s date, Kat and Zack dress up, hell, Advik, Audrey, and Lilith get a little fancy for the occasion.

The Lab Heist is a success. The trio sneak in, aren’t caught, and find the amulet. It’s back to Audrey ! But something’s off with Lilith. This is the lab she grew up in, and while Advik and Audrey initially assume this is the reason for her discomfort, she says there’s something else.. SOMEONE else.. and Advik knows. It’s Adam, who was taken in after a deteriorating condition, who is being held in a lower level in the laboratory. So Advik tells to go get him and that’s where they part ways with Lilith. Don’t worry, they’ll meet again, and soon, but Lilith has parted ways in this night.

Meanwhile, the infiltration into the ball is a success. Kat and Zack, ahem, Gloss and Crystal, are in the grand Evelonian Ball ! But oh no ! Turns out the real Crystal was a little more persistent in going to the event so now she and Morgan are there too ! Aurora makes some side comment like “Of course Crystal would have two different outfits and two different dates” and that’s when it catches Avery’s attention. Something is up, and she confronts Kat and Zack.

(Kat has her mask removed in this picture ? This was drawn before I had the alter ego totally laid out so that’s why) and they tell Avery that Audrey has returned and their plan to come to the ball with the amulet. Avery is in, but they have to get off the dance floor, they need to find a way for the others to sneak in without Aurora’s attention. But they have been caught by Crystal, who gets ultimately gets Zack kicked out. But security couldn’t recall which was the imposter date so Crystal lies and says Gloss is her date, getting Morgan kicked out. After all, she wants to find out who’s behind the mask >:-)

Anyhow Morgan and Zack have been kicked out, and Kat is stuck inside. Avery sneaks out to help Morgan and Zack back in, but Zack already contacted Sean to get him a change of clothes and was out of sight, so Morgan and Avery use this moment alone to reconcile. Blah Blah sappy stuff, they love each other and want to be together <3

When Avery and Morgan are out there, Advik and Audrey run into them. Avery lets them the three of them in with her, and soon all eyes are on them ! Audrey proclaims to the crowd that she is a host, Aurora would never be one and stole the amulet from her. Aurora is McFreaking pissed. Doesn’t help that Avery and Advik stand up for Audrey (Aurora ? Betrayed by her sister ??) and the grand reveal comes when Gloss comes, tells everyone that she is Katsumi, the woman they all once shunned for spying on behalf of Aurora. And Kat finally gets to have her telling off. Aurora gets them all kicked out, but the damage is done. The ball continues, but Aurora makes a silent departure, and a promise to herself that she’ll get back at them. It may take some time and some manipulating, but she’ll do it.

And then they go to the diner ! Yay ! It’s happy ! They’re eating fries and sodas, with Aurora plotting her revenge behind the scenes. Thanks for joining me on this incohesive tale I had fun telling in, I promise it’s so much funnier in my head with a lot more detail and dialogue lol

[valeriannnn]

if youve ever wanted to think about what almost every major RWBY character would main in professional overwatch, then today is your lucky day! brought to you by hiatus, return of owl, and 3am delirium

RUBY - Star DPS.  Extremely flashy, always on the highlight reel.  Will play whatever is needed to pound the enemies into dirt, but also the type to say "fuck it ok guys trust me im gonna pop off" and swap to her signature widow/tracer to Pop Off.  Works unfailingly.  Team captain and emotional core.  Prefers mobile heroes and an unpredictable playstyle.

WhiteSnow - Flex Support/Flex DPS.  Put her on any sniper (including and especially Ana) and watch all hell rain down.  Methodical playstyle, favors high-utility heroes.  Aside from snipers, can often be found on Baptiste/Mei/Symmetra.  Enables teammates to make big plays, but often sacrifices her own presence in the killfeed for the benefit of the team as a whole.  Loves to maker opponents' lives a living hell with CC.  Line em up, knock em down.

Belladonna - Offtank.  Extremely attentive to her backline, constantly running interference and peeling for allies.  Impossible to catch off-guard.  Delights in thwarting the enemy team's plans and preventing them from making the plays they want to.  Excellent map awareness and always the one to touch point to preserve overtime.  Shotcaller.  Struggled with committing to risky/aggressive plays, but being on a reliable team has made her more comfortable performing her role and trusting her teammates to have her back.  Prefers mobile heroes but will adapt to any situation to work in perfect tandem with...

YangXiaoLong - Main Tank.  Could have been a DPS main but early on committed to tank role to enable her duo parter (and little sister) to pop off (and have shorter queue times).  Developed a real knack for controlling space and being a brick goddamn wall between her squishies and the enemy team.  Extremely aggressive playstyle, but has cooled down in recent years to be more of a team player.  Still loves to thrash about when given the opportunity.  Known for bold plays and phatty shatties.

Arc - Main Support.  Tried for years to be a DPS hotshot but was determinedly mediocre and got hard stuck in plat.  Persuaded by Pyrrha to pocket her for a few games, and discovered the depth and fulfillment of playing support to a well-coordinated team.  Nurtured his aptitude for assisting from the backline and quickly rose through the ranks.  Will play whatever is meta but will always be a Mercy main at heart.  Played Brig during GOATS.  Shotcaller.

Valkyrie - Doomfist.

Nikos - Main Tank.  Extremely methodical player, reknowned for big brain cerebral plays and unflappability.  Can be slow to push advantages, but never makes mistakes.  Loves the mind games in a Rein v Rein matchup, and unfailingly blocks the enemy shatter (delights in cucking the enemy Rein).  Will play Orisa For The Good Of The Team but takes no joy in it.  Terrifying on defense; takes a strong position and allows time pressure to force enemies into missteps.  When you make a mistake, she will be there.  Strategic backbone of the team.

RenLie - Flex Support.  Bloodthirsty support.  Likes the balance of damage potential and support capacity in Zenyatta, but puts forth strong showings on Moira and Ana as well.  First priority is of course keeping his team alive, but flankers trying to dive him in the back line tend to get sent home in tears.  Big Jjonak energies. :uwuknife: Can be susceptible to tunnel vision/desperation, and occasionally needs teammates to re-ground him.  Always nanos Nora.

PPolen - Offtank.  D.Va one-trick.  Absolutely notorious for eating ults; absolutely infuriating to play hitscan into.  Flawless mechanical skill.  Occasionally struggles with communication, but honestly so on-the-ball that it doesn't usually come back to bite her.  Always has gold objective time.

Qrow - True flex.  Exclusively solo-queues on ladder, just plays the leaderboards.  Played just about every role at some point (except main tank, fuck that), but currently on a flex support kick.  Holds world records for gravs/blizzards/immortality feels clipping through the geometry and falling out of the map.  The sort of Ana who will singlehandedly take out both enemy DPS when beset by flankers only to immediately die to an errant Moira orb.  Gamers can we get an F in chat.  Accustomed to playing on 200+ ping and is deeply unsettled when he moves somewhere with good internet and has to re-learn all his timings.

RWBY+JNPR+P All form a single 9-man roster.  Sub out roles with redundant players for map set strategies and for flexible plays.  Probably called the Beacon Huntsmen or something generic like that, who cares

Winter - Main Tank and Offtank.  Excellent mechanical skill.  Unparalleled when allowed to execute her set strategy, but struggles with adaptability.  Extremely self-sacrificial, and knows exactly how to leverage her health pool to buy time and/or space for her allies to make the plays they need to.  Will unflinchingly act upon callouts, good or bad, because the worst outcome is a split decision.  Especially fond of a quick reset.

Whitley - Doesn't play Overwatch, but holds several championship trophies in international Pokemon tournaments.  Minecraft youtuber.

Adam - Widow one-trick.  Highly overrated, inexplicably popular streamer.  Mechanically talented but poison in a team environment.  Picked up and quickly dropped from several professional teams.  Teabags.  Looks impressive on stream but crumbles against opponents with any semblance of coordination.  Eventually blacklisted from professional environments after one too many scandals in his personal life.

Ozpin -Franchise owner.  Has never actually touched Overwatch, but used to be a respected Starcraft player back in the day.  Took on a coaching role for a time, but now largely manages from afar.  Has a sparse and cryptic social media presence.  Makes business decisions largely at random, unbeknownst to all his subordinates.

Salem - Hates videogames. Will unplug the router if you piss her off.

Ace Ops - High profile roster hand-picked for perfectly complementary hero pools.  Hyped to fuck in the preseason.  Unparalleled individual play but poor communication, incompatible playstyles, and truly abysmal coaching staff keep them from being a top-tier team.  Widely considered a disappointment considering the talent and money backing them.

Harriet - DPS.  Exclusively plays flankers and extremely mobile DPS.  Tries to solo-carry; in her defense, it often works.  Unironically brags/complains about having gold medals.  Quick to tilt but often uses the negative energy to pop off even harder.  Overtime clutch god.

Marrow - Flex DPS.  Cautious player, often hesitant to commit to risky strats.  Flawless positioning, both personally and for thrown abilities.  Talent for projectile DPS; probably contributed not-insignificantly to scatter arrow being removed from the game.  Prefers to understand the enemy's strategy before acting.  Shotcaller.  Nobody listens.

Elm - Main Tanks (Except Reinhardt), Zarya.  Aggressive tank player, frequently found with gold damage.  Generally good natured but vulnerable to tilt if on a losing streak.  Highly momentum-based.  Makes tutorial videos on strategy and positioning for her youtube channel.  Wants to see the competitive scene develop and flourish, but sensitive to feeling threatened by new talent.  Helps them anyway.

Vine - Flex Tanks (except Zarya), Reinhardt.  Unflappable, regardless of quality of games or recent performance.  Good at reading enemy team and tracking ults.  Generally calls enemy plays before they happen.  Always sticks with Elm, largely out of obligation to bail her out when her aggression puts her in a dicey position.  Understated player, rarely in highlight compilations, but extremely consistent performance.  Plays off-meta in scrims so as not to reveal strats.

Clover - Main Healer. Can play any support, but Lucio main through and through.  Suffers from Reddit Lucio syndrome, but usually good enough (or lucky enough) to get away with it.  Loves to deny enemy followup.  Peel master, boop god.  PMA to a borderline-irritating degree.  Gives great pep talks at half time.  Tends to overcommit to strategies that are dead in the water; sometimes it's better to call it and switch comps while you still have time on the clock. Despite this, is opportunistic in the moment-to-moment sense and quick to capitalize on enemy vulnerabilities.

Flynt Coal - Lucio one-trick.  I mean, come on.

Wukong - ???  Exclusively plays off-meta heroes and weird shit.  Talented but remains on ladder because he doesn’t like the rigid structure of tournament play.  Refuses to be confined to a single role.  Hates role lock cause he can’t swap mid game anymore.  Despite all this, somehow tends to be more of an asset than a detriment.  Definitely a team player.  PMA king.  Occasionally finds legitimately competitive strata for underutilized heroes.  Nutty with hammond movement, godawful with mines.  Has the Winston skin equipped, of course.

Ilia - DPS.  Popular streamer.  Tried going pro for a bit, but didn’t like the schedule and retired shortly.  Frequently plays with the community and does weird custom game modes for a laugh.  Loves Daddy Rein Chases Tiny Torblets.  Refuses to open loot boxes, much to the dismay of her stream.  Plays Golfing Over It during long queues.  Draws all her own custom emotes.

Watts - DPS.  Mains Widow, Sombra; plays anything that lets him avoid ever actually engaging the enemy at close range.  Thinks the game stopped being good when Sombra GOATS stopped being a thing.  Spends all day on twitter heckling pro players and declaring Overwatch a dead game.  Suspected of cheating.  Considers himself a shotcaller but isn't very good at it.

Tyrian - Plays Junkrat and Roadhog exclusively.  Thinks it's bullshit that the game doesn't have friendly fire.  Thinks it's bullshit that Junkrat doesn't deal self-inflicted damage anymore.  Master of the bounce shot.  Tends to treat the game like a TDM and forget the objective in favor fragging out.  Targets a single enemy player and tries to get them to tilt.  Uses voice chat but only laughs.  Never makes callouts.  Trash talks in all-chat.  Considers it a personal victory if he gets someone to rage quit.

Hazel - No Role.  Doesn't really get the idea of the metagame; knows it's generally good to have a balanced team but thats about as deep as he chooses to go.  Was one of the old guards of PC gaming but now that it's a mainstream hobby has to refuses to confront that he's hot garbage at them.  Can't really parse everything that's happening onscreen in a fast-paced game like overwatch, so he just picks Torb (regardless of map or attacking/defending status) and uses the turret as a security blanket.  Godawful turret placement.  Still has a good time somehow.

Cinder - Main Tank.  Likes the importance of the role, and especially the way her team has to follow her calls for any chance of success.  A nice balance of aggression and craftiness, she makes a fearsome opponent.  Callouts could be more frequent/detailed, but her directions are always good when given.  Very susceptible to emotional ups and downs, and often takes out frustration on teammates.  Takes losses very hard, gloats about wins.  Happiest with an Ana pocket.

Emerald - Offtank.  Would be much happier on DPS or Support, but desperate to show off and live up to Cinder's expectations.  Sticks with her main tank except when it's absolutely necessary to peel for the back line.  Tends to be overcautious with ults; she's good enough mechanically to earn them relatively quickly, but fear of whiffing one makes her reticent to spend them.  Flawless bubble timing on Zarya.

Mercury - Support.  Still considers Symmetra a support.  Quick to whip out the blaster and try to fight off flankers instead of calling for assistance.  Knows all the angles for a narsty biotic grenade.  Plays as though he's got better positioning and backup than he does; frequently gets opponents to back off just by winning the mental game.  Will let allies die on ladder if they piss him off.

[kari-izumi]

In over 15 years of online fan, the Adam Discourse is the first and only thing I've ever had to blacklist on any media site, and I say this as someone who has watched Ichiruki drama unfold going back to LJ, posted on a message board where ship wars got so bad that to this day--13 years after the finale--admins get nervous when certain episodes are brought up, and was a card carrying member of goddamn GAFF aka the /b/ of fan writer community.

This was....so very tiresome. I think if I had felt like more people were coming at this in good faith, I would be less pissed off about this. After all, there's no fewer than five articles after each new progressively worse season of OItNB discussing how they exploit issues concerning PoC and Riverdale has been a clusterfuck on that score from day one (accidental incest is cool, but asexuals?).

But it wasn't good faith for most, and we all know why. And rather than be happy that the man who has cheated death so many time and still comes out of all his trauma as a great leader who is so proud of his paladins when they unlock abilities he never did is getting a second shot at life--they choose to spread lies and disinformation to people outside the fandom. People who, without context, spread even more disinformation and eventually we all get labeled as lunatics.

It wasn't about Adam.

It wasn't even about Shiro.

I really, truly did not grasp how stressful fandom discourse could be for people until this. I kept a side blog out of courtesy to my muturals who found it all triggering but in-show stuff...god, Tapir I assume you'll never read this since I assumed you stopped interacting over it, but I owe you and iced-blood the BIGGEST apology for tagging you both on that Kaiba post a few months ago. Even though it was nowhere near this level of insanity, I literally could not grasp how deeply this stuff cuts when you hear the same arguments and you have been fighiting an uphill battle, especially for as long as Kaiba discourse has been A Thing(tm) you've both had to defend yourselves over. Truly, I understand it to the core of my being, and if nothing else good has come out of this seasons's big VLD shitshow, at least be far more sensitive to that.

With that having poured out:

I'm not going to give two shits crying over a character who appeared on screen for exactly 1 minute and 14 seconds because a bunch of bitch babies misread the entire fucking purposes of his existance because of an entirely different ship they cared about. He wasn't our rep, and the gall some of you had to reach out to the Shaladins you spent two years slandering and doxxing and running off because you didn't get Klance Shiro with Adam is something well outside of even Anne Shirley's creative imagination.

Die mad about it, kiddos. 🙃

All of my thoughts on post-season 7 voltron fandom summarized in one picture

Like seriously I saw a comment whining about this fucker on a BUBBLINE video it’s not even the same show for fuck’s sake. At least be decent and keep your salt to the vld fandom.

Also why people are stanning a character who only appeared for a minute during a breakup scene with Shiro (the character we’ve known for six seasons and we’re supposed to root for) is beyond me. Oh wait I know why 🙃

[bubblesandgutz]

Every Record I Own - Day 358: Darkthrone Transilvanian Hunger

A friend of mine went to a book signing for British-Jamaican author Zadie Smith. It was a packed event, and my friend was towards the end of the line of fans with their newly purchased hardcovers waiting to talk with the writer and get her autograph. By the time my friend got to the table with her book, she could tell Smith was worn out by all the talking and signing. Smith asked her who to make the book out to, and because my friend’s name was a little unorthodox and because she really just wanted the book and didn’t want to further Smith’s visible exhaustion, she responded “just your signature would be fine.” Smith sighed and scribbled something in her book before handing it back and ushering over the next fan. When my friend got back to her car and looked at what Smith had written, she was devastated.

Good luck selling this on eBay, you cow. - Zadie Smith.

I’d wanted to read Zadie Smith, but now every time I look at a copy of White Teeth at the bookstore, I think of this exchange. Granted, every artist has been shitty to someone at some point in their life. One could argue that this was an isolated incident in Smith’s private life, but how isolated is it? Maybe Smith has a habit of being shitty to her fans. Maybe no one talks about it because, like my friend, they think maybe i’m the person that did something wrong. Maybe we shouldn’t care about it because Smith’s bad behavior is in her private life and shouldn’t stain her work. But then what about Ryan Adams? Obviously, I don’t want to equate Adams’ ongoing mistreatment of women to this one instance of Smith being needlessly shitty to my friend, but I imagine people could understand why I wouldn’t want to read White Teeth. And on the flip side, I should be able to understand that my story shouldn’t stop people from loving Zadie Smith. Her fans have their own stories of how her words have shaped their world view, so while I assume everyone is disappointed to hear that their heroes are prone to lapses in decency, I don’t expect any Smith fans reading this to throw out her books anymore than I expect Adams’ fans to toss his records.

What does this have to do with Darkthrone? Well, Transylvanian Hunger is a tainted album. The first pressing of the album came emblazoned with “Norsk Arisk black metal” (Norwegian Aryan black metal) on its jacket. Darkthrone would later deny affiliations with National Socialist ideologies in the artwork for their next album Panzerfaust and “Norsk Arisk black metal” was removed from subsequent pressings of Transilvanian Hunger. Their drummer/figurehead Fenriz has described his earlier problematic behavior as “disgusting” and is now a local politician for the liberal party in his hometown in Norway. But there are still people out there who have written off Darkthrone forever.

Should I get over Zadie Smith writing a hateful thing to my friend? Probably. Can Ryan Adams ever be forgiven? I don’t know... that kind of misogyny seems deeply ingrained and requires more than just a blanket apology. And what about Darkthrone? In my mind, aligning with a political ideology and later rescinding and atoning for those beliefs is similar to a band flirting with the Christian market only to later deny the existence of Jesus. No Christian would cling to them. Or if the politics were flipped---if Darkthrone had been a radical antifascist anarchist band in the early ‘90s that later started spewing a bunch of Richard Spencer bullshit---no crust punk would endorse them. So why would we still blacklist Darkthrone for something they corrected twenty-five years ago?

Sometimes bad people make great art and that can be tricky to navigate. And sometimes those bad people also turn into decent people.

[wellhellotragic]

Unintended Side Effects

After overhearing a conversation between Emma and the girls, Killian decides to grow his hair back out to prove a point. Emma isn’t pleased.

For @best-left-hook-jones to wake up to.

You can also find this story on AO3

It had all started with an innocent comment to the girls at one of their Sunday family dinners. The men had moved into the living room where Henry was attempting to explain to Robin and Killian, that although they were labeled Star Wars episodes one, two, and three, they were made after episodes four, five, and six. David was adamant that they should be watched in chronological order, while Henry explained that the first three didn’t count and should be ignored.

Henry easily became very passionate when it came to educating Killian on the classics, and the last time he had been so excited was when he explained why it was called Back to the Future when they were actually traveling into the past. Of course, there had also been a minor discussion the week before while trying to decided which super hero movie to watch. Killian didn’t have a dog in the fight, but Henry just couldn’t pick which one he wanted to show Killian first. Having chosen to also blacklist The Hulk, much the same way he had episodes one through three, Henry threw order out the window. Captain America was a classic, but he was starting to think that Killian might relate more to Iron Man’s sardonic nature, even if he was still only barely starting to understand basic modern technology.

Before he could decide though, Emma had plopped down in the couch next to Killian, making the final call. Thor. She had reasoned that it had been longer since they watched it than the others, but Henry couldn’t help but notice the way Killian’s brow furrowed at Emma. His gaze focus suspiciously at her until the movie queued up. After the movie, Emma and Killian had retired immediately to their bedroom and Henry was just able to make out the sound of the lock on their door clicking. He turned on his Xbox to help drown out any noises just incase.

It had been a week though, and Killian hadn’t thought anything of it. Their love making that evening had been vigorous to say the least, but he had simply attributed it to Emma having had the day off. The town was monster free, letting Emma focus her energy elsewhere. It wasn’t until he made his way back to the kitchen to grab another round of beers that he learned the truth. Ruby’s voice had cut through the noise of the running sink and clanking dishes.

“Hey Ems, Belle and I were thinking about seeing Wonder Woman Friday night. You want to join us?”

“Um,” Killian could recognize Emma deflecting from just two letters. “I’ll have to see what my schedule is like. It’s difficult to make plans when you have drunk Viking’s lurking about trying to fight their way back to Valhalla every weekend.”

“Okay.” The way Ruby drew the word out spoke to how little she believed Emma.

“Oh, sweetie. Just because you can de- detect lies, doesn’t mean you can tell one.” The hiccup in the middle had Killian wondering just how much alcohol Mary Margaret had consumed. “We all know there’s only one superhero movie Emma’s ever been interested in.”

“Mom!” Killian couldn’t see her from where he was hiding around the corner, but he could imagine that her face was turning a shade of red that closely resembled that fetching dress she wore for their first dance.

“What did I just miss?” Belle’s voice was teasing.

“Nothing.” His Swan was fierce, but drunk Mary Margaret was fiercer, never backing down from a fight.

“A little birdie once told me that Emma has a think for Chris Hemsworth, or more specif- specifica- specically Chris Hemsworth with long hair,” she sing-songed in spite of her stumbling over a specific word.

There was a part of him that knew he should find that little tidbit amusing, and that he could use it to tease her mercilessly, but a much larger part of him became irrationally jealous. The idea of his Swan finding another man attractive had his stomach churning, especially after realizing what had spurned her on that evening, but the addition of that very last part – the part about the long hair – had wounded him. He had once told her that he had a pony tail during his naval years, as was customary of the times. She had laughed at that, and told him that she was happy that he kept it short.

He had even taken it so far as to getting regular trims since then, keeping it just long enough to be messy, but not so long as to turn off Emma. But here she was, fawning over that wanker and his greasy limp locks. If that’s what she wanted, that what he would give her.

Emma was out of shampoo again. This was the second time that month, a shear impossibility. She turned the bottle over in her hands, looking for a crack or leak somewhere that could explain how she was going through so much of it. Yes. Big princess hair did require a certain amount of shampoo and conditioner, but this was getting ridiculous.

Groaning in frustration, she tossed the empty bottle towards the trashcan on the other side of the bathroom, and continued with her shower routine. After about five minutes, she was just finishing shaving her legs when she noticed that the waters was starting to build up. Emma shut the water off and waited, and waited. It took almost ten minutes for the water to fully drain. She had given up, choosing to dress in a tank top and sleep shorts while she waited.

When she returned to the bathroom, she looked around to see if there was anything long and slender that she could poke through the drain to see if it was clogged. Failing to find anything suitable, she let her hand hover above the drain. Light started to emanate from her palm and before she new it, the course of the blockage had been pulled from the drain. And if The Dark One had taught her anything, it was that all magic came with a price, and what a horrible rancid, foul smelling price it was. The clump of hair she had removed was enough to form a small hamster, but was really surprised her was the amount of dark hair that was tangled up with her own. And it was long.

Thinking on it, his hair was longer. She hadn’t noticed it over the past few months, seeing him daily had allowed it to sneak up on her and she couldn’t remember the last time he had visited Todd, the local barber. They weren’t overly busy, so it wasn’t as if he hadn’t had time. He was simply choosing to grow it out, despite her once telling him how much she like it was it was shorter. It was so easily mussed that way and screamed sexy to her. But now, it was verging on being longer than his Dark One days.

This needed to stop.

She should have just talked to him about it, but she couldn’t think of a way to bring the situation up without sounding like a superficial nag. Instead, in a moment of weakness she had given into Regina’s advice.

What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

That had been the push she needed. Using some ingredients from Regina’s vault, Emma mixed up a small potion that would not only stop Killian’s hair growth; it would even help reduce it.

That evening, she had slipped the potion into Killian’s rum bottle. She wasn’t sure how long it would take before he needed to refill his flask, but she wanted to make sure it wasn’t something that Henry might accidently consume. True to his pirate title, it didn’t take long before the effects had become apparent.

Four days had passed when Emma spotted Killian standing in front of their bathroom mirror, tilting his head from side to side as he stared at his reflection. He looked vexed, and while Emma was quite content with the results, there was a small pang of guilt in her stomach. After all, she had made him a promise that she would never control him again.

“What are you doing?” She hoped her voice didn’t betray her.

“Nothing.” He didn’t quite snap at her, but there was an edge to his voice as he left the room.

Damn.

All magic comes with a price.

She hadn’t thought it through, and now she didn’t know how to fix it. The initial effects were minimal, only affecting the hair on his head, but over the next two weeks she had noticed that the hair on his chest was beginning to recede as well. She hated it.

The first time she noticed it was late at night, as she ran her fingers through it after a late night rounding up Leroy from the White Rabbit. She had stripped down to her underwear and crawled into the bed next to him. Hoping to wake him up in one of his favorite ways, she had started by kissing his jaw, letting her hand slide down to his naked torso, and nearly naked it was.

“Swan?” His sleep-addled voice was low and sensual, but not enough to distracted her.

“Did you-“ she paused trying to figure out how to phrase it, “trim yourself.”

She felt him tense underneath her, every muscle in his body going rigid. His good hand came up to wrap around her wrist and suddenly he was pushing her hand off of him.

“No!” He huffed as he turned to face away from her.

He had never turned away from her before; even in his sleep he cuddled her.

“Killian?” She winced at how small and timid her voice was.

“Go to sleep.”

He didn’t even bother to call her love, and it hurt.

“Please?” She wasn’t the type to beg, but guilt was coursing through her blood.

It took a few minutes but he finally sighed in defeat and rolled back over so that he was on his other side facing her.

“I’m sorry, love. I didn’t mean to snap at you. Please forgive me.”

She shifted her body closer to his so that she could rest her head on his chest.

“What’s wrong?”

Another pause.

“I know how much you all like to tease me about my age, but for the first time I’m starting to feel it. I think time is starting to catch up to me, love. I seem to be going through some age related changes and it’s hard to accept it after being so devilishly handsome for so long.” He sounded so exhausted.

“Oh, Killian.”

He interrupted her before she could say more.

“And I know it’s silly to be so vain, but sometimes I worry that you’ll lose interest in me, biblically, as I like my looks.”

And that was the nail in the coffin.

“Crap.”

“Swan?”

She steeled herself.

“You’re not getting older. I, uh, may have slipped a potion into your rum and I think it’s had some unintended side effects.”

“WHAT!”

He shot up knocked Emma over, catching her off guard.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why? Have I done something to you?”

“No. No. No. Nothing like that.

“Than why, Emma? What potion?”

She knew it was bad. He only used her first name why he was terrified, or truly angry.

“Um. It was a potion that makes your hair stop growing. I only meant to keep the hair on your head from growing. I didn’t realize it was going to make you bald everywhere else too!”

He fell back on his pillow, groaning in the process. His hand had come up to his face, and his fingers were pinching the bridge of his nose. It was another one of his tells, and Emma had come to understand that this one meant he was trying to calm himself down.

“And is there a way to undo it?”

“I’m not sure. We can talk to Regina first thing in the morning.”

Almost twenty minutes went by in silence. Killian was almost certain that Emma had fallen asleep, but then her voice broke through the quiet, almost as a whisper.

“Why?”

“Why what, love?”

“Why were you growing your hair out?”

She nearly received an elbow to the nose as Killian lifted his arm to scratch behind his ear. For the first time that night, Emma let her curiosity outweigh her guilt.

“I may have heard a conversation between you and the girls a few months ago, about a certain superhero.”

If there had been any light in the room, Killian would have seen how wide Emma’s eyes had snapped open at the admission. She felt warmth crawling up her neck and cheeks.

“Killian, That’s not- I wish you hadn’t heard that.”

She felt him tense again.

“I mean, yes, I think he’s attractive with the long hair, but I promise you, he doesn’t hold a candle to you. And even with the longer hair, I still think that you are the sexiest man I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

“Swan, my ego will recover in time. There’s no need to placate me.”

“I’m not,” She admonished. “Do I need to prove it to you?”

He didn’t object, and she proved it to him twice more that night. They met with Regina the next morning after breakfast and within minutes Regina had whipped up and antidote, along with a few snarky remarks towards Killian’s current predicament. It took three months for Killian, and his chest hair to return to its former glory, and she promised herself to never again try to control him.

[bosstoaster]

46 shatt?

(Wondering what this is?  This is the 800 Followers Special!  Find out more here.  These requests are now closed.  Don’t wanna see these because there’s a lot of them coming over the next couple of weeks?  Blacklist ‘800 Followers Special’.  Hate reading on Tumblr?  These will be going on AO3 as ‘This Paradox Place’ a couple of days after posting.) 

We are terrible for each other, and, yes, we are a disaster.  But tell me your heart doesn’t race for a hurricane or a burning building.  I’d rather die terrified than live forever. (mistakes aren’t always regrets)

“Where is it?!”

Pidge froze, heart in her throat.  Next to her, Lance grabbed onto Hunk, who clutched the machine tighter to his chest.

Because Shiro sounded mad.

And okay, maybe they technically weren’t supposed to take any tech out of the kitchen.  Coran had been adamant about it.  But it really wasn’t worth the tone Shiro was taking, and they’d barely removed it ten minutes ago.  Hunk and Pidge just wanted to see if they could replicate it so they could all have drink makers in their room for the morning, to make getting up a little easier.  So it wasn’t worth that much ire.

Pidge turned around to tell Shiro that, taking a deep breath in anticipation of arguing.

But Shiro wasn’t there.  

Instead, his voice was coming from one of the side rooms.  From Matt’s room.

As it hit, Pidge shot Hunk and Lance a relieved smile, but then frowned.

Why was Shiro yelling at Matt?

“Yelling isn’t going to change my answer,” Matt shot back, voice low.  “It’s fine.  I put it away.”

Shiro snorted.  “No, you didn’t.  I would have seen it if you put it away.”

“It’s safe, whatever!  I put it away in- don’t you fucking touch my drawers, Shiro.”

Shiro barked out a laugh that sounded seething rather than amused.  Then something slammed shut, probably the drawer Matt had mentioned.  “Oh, sure, alright.  You can steal my clothes, but getting them back is out?  Sounds fair.  Perfect.”

Nudging them both, Hunk tilted his head back.  “We should go,” he whispered. 

That made Lance pause, and he shot Hunk an incredulous look.  “No way,” he breathed back.  “I wanna know what’s going on.  Don’t you?”

Hunk squirmed in place, which was proof enough he was curious.

Jamming herself against the wall so there was no way they’d catch sight of her, Pidge nodded.  She wasn’t leaving.  If Matt and Shiro were fighting, then she wanted to know about it.

“Don’t be an ass,” Matt shot back, low and angry.  “I’ll give it back when you’ve calmed down and you’re not stomping around like a jackass.”

“It’s not yours to pick when you give back!” Shiro snapped.  “You know what?  Fuck you, I’m getting it now.”

Matt growled, and there was a noise like a scuffle.  “No, you’re not!  Stay out or get out, Asshole.  You don’t even wear that fucking sweater, what do you care?”

“I care because it’s mine,” Shiro’s voice had gone low, something rumbling and dangerous to it, and Pidge leaned back from the doorway automatically.  It was a sound that came from his year in captivity, no doubt.  “And you took it.”

There was a slight pause, like Matt was processing that.  “Look,” he snapped, matching Shiro’s tone.  “Fine, whatever, I’m ever so sorry for your horrible sweater loss.  But I’m not here to take all the temper you can’t dish out to your little team, okay?  So calm the fuck down.  Maybe consider I didn’t just do it to fuck with you, hm?”

“Really?  Because it seems like most things you do are just to fuck around.”

“Screw you, Shirogane.  I stole the sweater because I was going to sleep in it, alright?  Because I’ve missed you at night.  But, sure, take it back.  Won’t be missing it tonight.”  There was a scraping noise, then the slam of something closing hard.  “Here you go, feel better now?”

Shiro sighed, but the noise wasn’t quite as furious anymore.  “You could have asked.  I would have said yes.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t think you’d notice.  You’ve never worn it.  And you didn’t mind when I took the slippers.”  Matt let out a long breath.  “So just don’t- fuck.  Alright, this is stupid.  C’mere, Cuddle Bunny.”

Snorting, Shiro let out a low laugh.  “Cuddle Bunny?  Really?”  But there was footsteps anyway, and then a soft noise.  “I shouldn’t have gotten in your face like that.  Sorry.  I can forget I’m…”

“Kind of intimidating now?  Yeah, we both know how I deal with that.  I’m sorry I took the shirt.  I know you don’t have a lot.”

Pidge closed her eyes, then took a deep breath.  Alright, seemed like everything was okay.  She didn’t get why they’d be screaming over a sweater in the first place, but when people dated their brains went weird.  It was documented fact.  Turning to the others, she tilted her head then nodded down the hall.  They should go.

Before Lance and Hunk could respond, Shiro chuckled.  “Is this the part where you make it up to me, then?”

“Always, baby,” Matt replied, laughing as well.  “Provided you give your own back.  C’mon, let’s work some of this off.  My heart’s still pounding.”

There was no response, and instead there was a thump against the wall, right next to where the three of them were hiding out, and then wet noises that were probably (hopefully) them kissing.

Agh, brother makeouts.  Gross.  Pidge started to walk, but a hand caught her arm.  When she looked back, Lance’s eyes were wide, and he nodded to the open door.

Oh.  If the walked past now, while the pair of them were so close, they’d almost certainly be spotted.

Uh oh.

From the door, there was a sound like a zipper being pulled down, and Shiro gasped.

Oh, no.

Face going bright red, Hunk pointed back they way they’d come.  “I changed my mind,” he hissed.  “Not worth it.  Let’s put the drink maker back.”

“Agreed,” Lance muttered, his own cheeks pink.  When Shiro let out a moan of Matt’s name, the color spread down to his neck.  “Now.”

Nodding, Pidge bolted down the hall, and hoped her blush would go away by next year.

At dinner, Shiro glanced over the three of them, his brow furrowed.  Matt sat next to him, leaning comfortably against his side, wearing the grey sweater they’d pulled out for Shiro a few weeks ago.  There was a curl to his lips that said ‘smug’.

Unfortunately, now Pidge knew it also meant ‘I got laid’.

It wasn’t fun knowledge.

“Are you okay?” Shiro asked carefully, gesturing with his fork.  “You’ve been quiet.  Something up?”

Lance let out a snicker.  “It was, but I think it got taken care of.”

Hunk jabbed him in the side, but Lance only smirked.

Narrowing his eyes, Shiro frowned, like if he just concentrated he’d figure out what Lance was on about.  

“Just a project we gave up on,” Pidge replied, shooting Lance a bland look.  “You know how we hate to give up.”

The suspicious look didn’t waver, but Shiro finally nodded.  Matt shifted against his side and reached out with his fork, pausing an inch from Shiro’s plate.  When he noticed the move, Shiro pressed a kiss to the top of Matt’s head and nodded, letting Matt enthusiastically spear a piece of meat, as though her brother didn’t have the exact same thing on his plate.  The expression on Shiro’s face was fond, damn near besotted.

They were such disasters, honestly.

Well, at least they deserved each other.

[thetrumpdebacle]

Stock markets are often driven by fear and greed. Not this one.

For sure, the Social Stock Exchange (SSE) in London is trying to raise funds for companies and make money for investors. But its companies must also fix social problems or improve the environment.

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“The organizations that pass our vetting process and meet [our] listing requirements are then free to trade,” the Social Stock Exchange says.

The SSE has seen rapid growth since it launched with just 12 companies in 2013. Today it has nearly 50, including MagneGas (MNGA), a cleantech company based in Florida, which joined the exchange earlier this month.

Thanks to its partnership with NEX (NEXGY), a U.K. regulated exchange that focuses on electronic trading, the SSE operates like a traditional stock market, allowing investors to buy and sell shares.

“From seed investment through to IPO and secondary listings, the Social Stock Exchange is able to cater for all fund-raising and visibility needs of those companies that fit its admission criteria,” the SSE says.

The London exchange claims to be the only regulated market in Europe offering investors the chance to trade shares in companies committed to a better world.

Related: This bond could shelter 200 homeless people

The SSE says that ability to buy and sell shares is key to encouraging more people to put money into impact investing and social enterprises.

Other platforms, such as Canada’s Social Venture Connexion (SVX), are taking a more cautious approach.

“The question for the future is how SVX can manage that secondary market, changes in value of shares and so on,” said Adam Spence, director of SVX. “We need to look at the technological, regulatory and even moral implications of a secondary market in impact investments. That will take a few years.”

SVX launched its online platform in 2013, connecting investors with qualified social enterprises that are not listed on a stock exchange but want to raise money via private share placements or crowdfunding.

Related: How to shop without harming people or the planet

Spence says the idea took root in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

“It was the early days of recession and we saw a huge need for capital to solve problems like inequality, climate change and so on. So we started to look at ways to mobilize capital,” he explained.

Before companies can raise capital on SVX, they are assessed on the impact of their products or services. One of its members, Komodo OpenLab, recently raised $500,000 Canadian dollars ($390,000) to finance a device that helps people with mobility problems.

Impact investing is also growing in Asia. Bangladesh-born entrepreneur Durreen Shahnaz has set up the Impact Exchange, a public social stock exchange, and Impact Partners, a platform for private placements and crowdfunding to help social enterprises raise capital.

The former banker and media executive says she’s building a “pipeline of high-impact enterprises” that she hopes will eventually list on the exchange.

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