#my response was “oy vey”

[sorrymyrabbisaidno]

Y'all the christian landlord I have who keeps trying to proselytize to me wanted me to watch a "Jewish Christian" on youtube😭😭

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive

There could be a lot more here about non-pharmaceutical interventions like masking, but some pretty good analysis of the climate of vaccine "skepticism" and disease minimizing we live in.

By David Quammen

Health officials would like to remind you that we are entering that time of the year still quaintly known as flu season. That means autumn to spring. Kids go to school, adults spend more time gathered indoors, people breathe and speak and sneeze and cough at one another, and the latest influenza virus spreads widely.

The reason flu season seems a quaint idea is that we now hear about and maybe worry about so many viruses all year. And well we should.

What if there’s a simultaneous surge of Covid and seasonal flu this autumn? What if infections of respiratory syncytial virus, known as R.S.V., peak at unusual levels, as they did in the 2022-23 season? What if the new strain of mpox, which is especially virulent, continues spreading in Africa and beyond? What if this year’s flu combines with the dreaded H5N1 bird flu and emerges as a nightmare flu? What if a novel virus destined to be called SARS-CoV-3 emerges from a horseshoe bat in a rural village somewhere, gains a few key mutations and comes barreling through the world’s airports?

Oy vey and déjà vu. It’s always virus season now. Maybe none of those worst-case scenarios will happen, but to assume so is to count on fool’s luck.

The notion of flu season is a relic of times when one virus could transfix our response efforts and dominate our collective consciousness. Influenza in 1918. H.I.V. in 1980s and ’90s. Ebola in 2014. We can no longer afford to react on a case-by-case basis. Today we need a broader vision. We need personal, governmental and technological responses that address the full spectrum of viruses that disrupt our lives.

Because they will continue to disrupt our lives. We live amid viruses. We eat them. We breathe them. We touch them on doorknobs and cafeteria trays. All the wild and domestic animals with which we interact, from mosquitoes to mice to the sparrows on the bird feeder and the monkeys in the temple gardens, carry their own freights of them in wondrous variety. Most of these viruses have no chance of infecting a human, but many do. The best way to protect yourself and your family is just what health agencies recommend: Get the vaccines if reputable ones exist.

The best way to help protect your community, your country and the rest of humanity is a more complex proposition. The answers range from public health measures such as better virus surveillance to ending our bone-headed science denialism and finally supporting pandemic preparedness. But it’s not my purpose to unpack those big topics in this small spurt of words.

My purpose is more modest: to refresh your awareness of something you can’t see, not without the help of an electron microscope. Even the human genome contains a sizable portion — roughly 8 percent of it — that was once the genomes of ancient retroviruses, acquired and internalized by our ancestors in the course of infections.

Viruses of concern to humans come and go on various schedules. American dairy cows began their flu season this year around March 25, when the first infections with bird flu were reported in herds in Kansas and Texas. Measles outbreaks tend to be seasonal but more complex. In the tropics they may peak in the dry season, while in temperate climates measles correlates more with school schedules. And now that warmer temperatures are welcoming tropical mosquitoes farther north and south — including ones that transmit viral diseases like yellow fever and dengue — people in Florida and Italy may find that their worst virus season is summer. Climate change is the new force applied to the viral calendar.

Each year another seasonal vaccine is offered because influenza viruses evolve and mix continuously; their genomes entangle like shape-shifting snakes. The most concerning threat is different each year. This year’s flu vaccine in the United States is what’s called trivalent, or three-powered, meaning it contains elements from three different influenza viruses, all of which are circulating and any of which may prove most pervasive and problematic. Manufacturing flu vaccines takes months, so calculated decisions, mixing science and foresight, must be made long before autumn. Increasing efforts to produce even more kinds of vaccines, including some that target multiple virus strains, signal scientific awareness of the point I’m trying to make: We know a virus might get us, tomorrow or next season, but we can’t say which.

Hence the need for a universal flu vaccine, such as one that’s now in clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health. Hence the need for a universal coronavirus vaccine, toward which scientists at the California Institute of Technology, among other places, are working. Hence the need to create combination vaccines that protect against Covid-19 and influenza in one shot, which are also under development in the United States, China and elsewhere. Hence the need to improve ventilation systems for public and private buildings, which can significantly reduce the spread of respiratory viruses.

These are urgent challenges, at which laboratories and public health authorities all over the world are laboring busily. Science takes time; applying its findings takes patience. Persuading the public to adopt behavioral changes — some of which involve a prick in the arm, some of which require placing community welfare on a level with individual independence — is a task that may seem almost Sisyphean, but it remains crucial and doable.

Flu season in America is no illusory concept, and I don’t mean to deride it, merely to expand it. Get the jab if you’re not disqualified by special health conditions. Don’t disqualify yourself by indifference or groundless suspicions. But bear in mind that virus season doesn’t end with the first swallows of spring. We’re in it for the duration.

[flipside-phoebe]

what are your thoughts on frozen empire? What are its failures?

Oy Vey…

I've already ranted my thoughts both in posts and in private, so what can I say that hasn't already been said? I'll just try to summarize my main gripes.

The cast is bloated with too many characters and none of them have enough screentime to properly showcase or develop their personalities. It's honestly a shame too, because Afterlife set up Phoebe, Trevor, Lucky, and Podcast as the new main four Ghostbusters to parallel to the OGs, who could be their mentors. Instead we got the Spengler family, along with Nadim, and lars. It's not as tight and focus as it should be, in my opinion. I don't hate Lars, but his inclusion bothers me in particular because his role could easily be filled by other characters. I don't know why he's being pushed as "the new Egon" either when Phoebe was already shown to have so much in common with him.

Speaking of Phoebe, what the Hell were the writers trying to do with her? In her first appearance she was funny, clever, and brave. She had a temper sure, but only when she was pushed to her breaking point. She also knew how to be a team player, working with her friends and family to prevent the apocalypse. In just her second appearance, suddenly she's snapping at her parents, recklessly causing damage, arrogantly taking all credit for saving the world, and preferring the company of a ghostly stranger over people. Disturbingly enough, she develops a morbid fascination with becoming a ghost herself. Where did this come from? She behaves more like Rowan North from the 2016 film. What happened to the determined young girl who stood up to the god of destruction and refused to die? Now she's locking herself into a metal box and painfully electrocuting herself in a scene that resembles self-harm or suicide. All this to separate her soul from her body just to be closer to this girl she's hinted to have a crush on.

Phoebe never needed a love interest of any gender, explicit or implied. It doesn't serve her story when there were so many other interesting things about her that could've been explored instead. How does she live up to the legacy of her grandfather? Is she worried about repeating his mistakes? Does she struggle to be taken seriously as a child doing an adult's job? There were already two other romantic subplots that deserved focus anyway: Callie with Gary and Trevor with Lucky. Adding a third one at this point just comes out of nowhere. Not to mention all the other elements of Phoebe and Melody's relationship that make it weird, like the age gap between the actors or the fact that melody is DEAD. Even if you ignore the flirty undertones and interpret their interactions as platonic, it's still a toxic situation because Melody is only manipulating Phoebe to release the real villain Garakka.

Garakka fails to impress me, too. He has little in the way of personality or motive. His visual design has a striking silhouette at first glance, but it's rather plain compared to other ghosts in the series. There’s nothing about him that suggests the culture he’s from (what was a frost giant/lich doing in India?). I don't understand why they make such a big deal out of his horns either, they're the source of his power yet he's able to do things without them. The horns are also conveniently locked in the same room as his orb, so he's able to quickly retrieve them. They might as well have stayed stuck on his head the whole time! What's so scary about this guy anyway? He's cold, naked, and skinny. That's not scary, it's just me stepping out of the shower.

Well, I guess Garakka deserves some credit for killing that random store clerk. The only on-screen kill in GB film besides Shandor in the last movie, and it’s some poor innocent bystander. Normally I wouldn’t mind such a thing, but it sucks that Phoebe and Nadim are indirectly responsible for this dude’s death through their irresponsibility. All the characters seem incompetent here. The Firehouse and the new lab don’t have adequate safety measures, and apparently Egon never thought to plan ahead for if the containment unit got full. That last point is a non-issue that just wastes time since the lab has backup units and Garakka breaks the main one from the outside anyway.

There are several moments that come across as mean-spirited and cynical, from Podcast crushing the old lady’s watch (that belonged to her late husband) to Lucky and Trevor cracking sex jokes about Nadim’s dead Grandmother. I complain about Phoebe’s attitude, but it’s not like she has a good support network. Her parents are dismissive of her and Ray doesn’t ask her what’s wrong when she asks if he ever wondered what it’s like to be a ghost.

We get a happy ending when Garakka is trapped and Melody crosses over, but it rings hollow when nobody acted as they should. They only acted how the convoluted plot demanded them to.

Oh and those mini-pufts, how I despise them. They were fine in Afterlife but now they’ve overstayed their welcome and become the new minions.

This whole movie feels like a bad dream and as far as I'm concerned, it's not canon.

[khaoala]

Started off the episode with mays terrible parents 😠 (I’m smad at the mom. Mad that she won’t defend May or stand up to her husband and sad because she is probably scared af of him. Divorce that man asap!)

Young May: How can someone be hurt emotionally?

Mays dad: hold my beer 😈

Hate that man with a burning passion!

Thankfully we quickly moved past that and onto the oonmay camping date. May struggling to remember that she’s supposed to be completely blind, the pluto necklace 😭, SEX IN THE CAMPER VAN 🫦🫦🫦. Oom’s twin senses were tingling so hard during that scene that she ended up waking up from her coma AND IMMEDIATELY LOOKING FOR MAY BECAUSE SHE ONLY REMEMBERS HER AND NOT PAUL!?!? Oy vey 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

Ai seemed completely heartbroken right after she spoke with her grandma but it doesn’t seem to be stopping her since we see her texting May about cashing in for her reward while her sister IS RIGHT BEHIND HER. Bold Ai, very bold. and then AND THEN… the back to back reveals had me BOUNCING ON MY BED!!! Ai finding out may was the attorney who defended the guy who caused Ben to be paralyzed AND THEN IMMEDIATELY FINDING OUT THAT KOSAL WAS THE ONE WHO CAUSED MAY TO GO BLIND ALL BECAUSE Ai MADE SOME OFFHANDED THREAT OUT OF ANGER!!!!!

The repeated “i love her”s while breaking down had me breaking down 😭😭😭😭.

PinPangJan…

I totally understand that pim needs time after her breakup before she can jump into a new relationship but GODFUCKINGDAMMIT part of me wishes she moved on as quickly as pang! You and i seem to be switching stances on the whole throuple thing. I was initially hoping for a love triangle in which each person’s feelings went both directions(the ever rare true triangle!). Here we have Pang likes Jan. Jan likes Pim. Pim is still pining for Pang. Does Jan even like Pang? Doesn’t seem like Pang ever really loved Pim. I need someone who has read the books to tell me if pim ends up happy. That’s all I need to know!!!

Some last random thoughts…

-is ton breaking HIPPA every time he gives May an update on oom?

- i find it interesting that Jan basically knew everything about May from the start but didn’t say anything!!!!

-I’m curious as to how much oom remembers. She called May her gf but also remembered that May was the attorney. I wonder if she remembers the moments after that when she realized May met and fell in love with Ai that day way back when.

I’m am so sorry about this insane amount of word vomit of all my thoughts and feelings.

-🤫

i've said this before and i'll say it again, i hope the dad dies. he's probably going to get arrested or have a quick redemption arc and ask for forgiveness for being a despicable human being, but in a perfect world, he'd end up dead in a ditch. "bibi that's so revengeful", i couldn't care less. he's abusive to his child, he's abusive to his nephew and given the mom's response to all of that, he is most definitely abusive towards her (and he know it's not only mentally, given that he didn't think twice before slapping may across the face after very reasonably questioning him). so anyway, hope he dies.

i spent my free evening playing baldur's gate 3 and when i tell you i would regularly remember the way may would sneak glances at oon… *sighs* is it yearning when they are already dating? anyway, i didn't go into the tags and none of my moots reblogged anything like it (i think), but i'm so on my way to make a gifset about that because it made me feel things.

the sex scene was so beautifully shot, too. the light and the mood and the way oon had her hair to the side and looked quite dishevelled, it was better than i could have hopped (also, here i am, yet again, even more excited about girl rules bc yes, beautiful sex scenes with feelings are always great, but i'm so ready for the messy and angry that i know all three couples will serve).

LISTEN. amnesia plots are so cliche and used to be so overly used, and it's also one of my favorite tropes for some types of fanfics, SO HOW DID I NOT THINK THAT WOULD BE A THING? OOM HIT HER HEAD FOR GOD'S SAKE. honestly, that's on me, i didn't even think of the possibility like a fool. but i was so heartbroken for oom, too, bc imagine you go through the heartbreak of finding out your gf is in love with your sister actually, and then you marry a dude you don't care about, and now you forget him, and think you're in love with your ex again! when she finds out, it'll be heartbreaking. namtan will make me cry again.

the thing about ai and oom tho, they aren't telling her about paul and may right away just to avoid her going through more traumatic stuff after surviving an i-don't-know-how-many-months coma. at least the impression i got was that they were going to tell her once she got stronger, but then, BUT THEN! the revelations about batman, and ben, and kosol come to light and i wanted to die right then and there. you can see oon's face dropping and her heart breaking with each new piece of information she gets. i wanna commend namtan again bc man, how can she cry so prettily and make me feel all of these sad things? she did so great, i love her acting. i love the way she plays oom and say "pls forgive may, for me". i love how in love she looks whenever she's with may. how fond of her sister and her grandma she looks. i love this woman.

YOU SUMMED UP THE PIMPANGJAN THING PERFECTLY (for me). here's the thing, and i think i've said this last week, too. if pang demonstrated she has ever liked pim romantically (bc even when they were together, i feel like pang was just keeping pim to fill in space), i would be fine with a possible throuple. but pang has no interest whatsoever in pim, while pim can't forget pang, and poor jan is in this crossfire, bc she's respecting pim's decision to not get involved with her, but i don't think she's romantically into pang, either. it'll be great if they all kiss. i can't wait to finally add earn to the girl kissers list i have, and add two names to her tab, BUT STILL!!

to be fair, ton has been lying left and right to cover may, so i don't think he's too worried about patient confidentiality. he's an ally helping out his poor lesbian cousin get the girl, we can forgive him.

i was already suspicious that jan knew everything. watching back, it's so clear that oom was trying to set oon and may up, and bc jan is oom's best friend, i can only imagine all the things they've talked about and how much jan must have comforted her friend after the revelation about may's true affections.

i think oom has a selective memory loss thing going on. as in she forgot all the most traumatic things that have happened in the past year and regressed. even tho i wish oom would make things messier, i think she'll get her memories back on her own soon-ish. i do wonder what type of ending she'll get bc i must say, i'm an oom apologist, and i need her to somehow get a cute girlfriend who loves her for her too.

[mylight-png]

My partner is not Jewish, but looks more stereotypically Jewish than I do. She’s picked up a lot of my yiddish, and ‘oy vey’ has become part of both our vocab. When we’re together though - something makes us LOOK like a jewish couple. In the past few weeks, she’s received a crash course in practical antisemitism 101, and it feels like everyone is actively trying to identify jews. She’s half Irish (first gen born outside Ireland) and she’s been iced out of local expat groups and feels unwelcome at community events. She’s also Indigenous to the country we’re in - but still has been called a coloniser in public because they think she’s Jewish and/or Israeli? I feel responsible in many ways - that because of me, she’s had to shoulder the burden of more vitriol, had to be even more hyper vigilant. I worry so much that she’ll shoulder so much burden she’ll drown.

This honestly seems like something you should have a conversation about with your partner. Check in about how your partner feels about what's going on. I cannot speak for her, and I think that it is definitely something to have clear communication about.

Also, it isn't your fault. It isn't fair to blame yourself for the ignorance and hate of others. Their actions are their responsibility, not yours.

I wish for safety for both of you. Stay strong, don't let the antisemites get in your head. You are a part of a wonderful and resilient community. Be proud of it, embrace it, even if the world tells you otherwise.

[baelpenrose]

Project Praetorian 41: New Arrivals Part III: Commonality

Micah talks religion with Mark and Molly, and Mia works on language barrier issues. As I do not speak spanish (though ironically @writing-with-olive does) we wound up telling the sequence from Mia's perspective, with the note that everyone else speaking "broken" English from Mia's PoV is a translation convention.

Beta read by @canyouhearthelight and @writing-with-olive TW For kidnapping in flashbacks. Historical note for anyone who doesn't get the in-joke in Mia's flashback: the US Government has a long and sordid history of using Central American and specifically El Salvadorian cartels as mercenaries to do the CIA's bidding.

Micah

Getting off the VTOL was a relief - his dad had been an engineer, even if the obvious accent made it hard for him to get work at any of the really big firms, and Micah had had to hear about the dangers of that kind of air transport more than once when his dad had held up a newspaper and talked about the Osprey. “Another crash! Rotary blades on the top and a jet engine! How did any company allow this out of R&D?”

He hadn’t been riding in one of those - thus why it had landed instead of crashing - but his father’s general distrust of VTOL craft in general had left an impression. And that Nazi asshole who wouldn’t shut the fuck up about his panic attack the whole trip hadn’t helped, even as he’d tried to stay calm by counting the stitches on the seatbelts.

At least Jared hadn’t found out he was the product of a mixed-faith marriage. He’d suffered racial slurs, he’d suffered Islamophobic ones, and he shuddered to imagine how much worse it would have been had Jared known he was half-Jewish. 

Then he was introduced to the people he’d be joining, heard the last name of the leader of the kids, and realized he was going to find out any minute - hopefully with violent consequences for Jared. 

The group of new arrivals was split up, and Micah found himself being pulled aside by the boy introduced as Mark Ascher, along with a redheaded girl introduced as Molly Harper. 

“Hey. So, welcome to Palatine base. You’ve probably been stuck at Aventine for a minute, and…actually, before we start, did they do any testing on any of you there? I know they have facilities there, Echo’s testing started there.”

Micah felt a surge of fear. “Testing? What���what are they testing for?”

Mark blinked. “Okay, that’s a no. They did not. We’ll cover that later - oy vey, at this point I’m gonna buy a camera on my next leave - make an orientation film.”

Micah looked between them and Molly glared. “I think that’d be…kind of a dick move. I don’t think I’d have adjusted as fast if Vergil hadn’t given me the tour.”

“Fair enough, but I never know where to start with this…”

Something clicked for Micah. “You’re not a New Yorker, right?”

“Bite your tongue. I’m from Boston.” 

“That’s what I thought, but you cursed in Yiddish, so I thought I’d check. Salaam.”

Recognition flashed in the other boy’s eyes, changing him all at once from a young man trying to be older and harder than he was to match responsibilities he never wanted to the kind of boy Micah wished he’d known more of in school - clever, quick to laugh, and easy to talk to. “Muslim?”

Micah nodded. 

Mark gave Micah a fast hug. “A relief to have someone else here who gets that at least. Now, I know that Kosher and Halaal are not exactly the same thing, and I have been working to keep kosher on military rations, but you came at a good time - we just got a lot more freedom to operate on our own, so you’re not dealing with the crap I was where it was something I more or less only kept on holidays because I didn’t have a guarantee of eating if I stuck to it consistently.”

“Holidays?”

“Oh, right. Uh. We don’t get them. Not just us, though, for once, I’ve been here for almost three years now and we didn’t get Christmas off from everything sucking. It’s a very nondenominational suck. Oh, talk to Leon, she’ll help you find some ways to keep your traditions while surviving here. All in it together and we do mean ‘all’ in it together. Which means you’re probably going to be asked to explain Eid, both of them, I had to explain Purim and Rosh Hashanna. The results of the whole detachment trying to celebrate each other’s holidays is…I mean it’s often hilariously bad but it winds up giving it more of a home feel than not bothering. And don’t expect help from the higher ups.”

Micah felt a strange mix of warmth and horror at the casual description of a lack of recognition of holidays of any kind. 

Molly suddenly asked a question. “Hey, actually, I have a question since I know Muslims have a holiday where they fast for a month and Lent is coming up…”

Micah spoke first. “My faith acknowledges exceptions for health reasons, I don’t know about yours…”

Molly shook her head. “I don’t have to give up all food, just meat from animals on land, and something else. Also from blood in general. The church used to enforce a ban on carrying arms during Lent.”

Mark took a breath. “I…I want, so badly, to not immediately reverse myself, but I am going to strongly suggest that our job itself is a health reason to not fast - I don’t think you can do a month only eating at the beginning and end of each night. I mean, I barely make it through training on Yom Kippur each year and that’s one day without food or water. I’m not saying you can’t, I am saying, before you decide, train with us, then decide if you can do that while fasting. And remember that combat is much, much worse.” 

He turned to Molly. “And…yeah, sorry. No. There’s no holiday any of us can skip a mission for. If it happens during Lent, or Yom Kippur, or Ramadan, or the High Holidays, or any other day when we are absolutely not supposed to be spilling blood, then…taboos get broken because we are keeping each other alive, and we’re too short on hands to have anyone sit out. I’m sorry.”

Micah felt a thrill of fear. “So. You keep saying ‘combat’ - what are we fighting? I saw a bunch of UN flags at Aventine. Are we going to be turned into supersoldiers to deal with terrorists or lock down nukes, or..?”

Mark looked at him, then doubled over laughing. Micah felt hurt, and Mark kept going, slowly taking a breath, then spoke. “Okay, okay, sorry, sorry, just…that’s what we thought for the longest time, just. Okay. no. The actual answer is so much dumber. No, see, we actually straight up get super powers, and we’re fighting aliens. Yeah, really.” 

Micah started laughing. It was a joke, it had to be a joke - but Molly’s face was deadly serious, and he slowly stopped laughing. “You’re for real. This is…”

“Yeah. Go figure.”

Micah sat down. “Alright, so…” 

“They’re real. I got scooped after an alien scouting party attacked Tanglewood music camp and wiped out my family and killed my best friend. I was the only survivor.”

“That was a fire, wasn’t…” Micah trailed off as he realized how stupid he sounded. No, obviously not. Obviously that would be the cover up. “Ya Allah.” 

Echo was calling to Molly, and Molly ran over to them, Micah noticing the tears in her eyes. 

“She lost everyone she loved in her first contact. We had another battle we were ready for and we beat them, pretty soundly but we’re…” Mark leaned back on the bench, tossing chicken and beans onto Micah’s plate. “It’s terrifying.”

“What’s the testing?”

“I’m going to explain and you are going to leave the swearing or the appeals to HaShem to the end because if you do it every time I say something awful we’re gonna be here a while.”  

Micah nodded, the ghost of a joke failing to cover the menace implied by Mark’s story.

“So. We get injected by some vile chemical that causes mutations. Before it can give us turbo-cancer or whatever, we strip down to underwear or completely, depending on how much of this we’ve already done, climb into machines that look like sealed MRI machines but are not, which then proceed to blast us with radiation from all over the spectrum. This breaks down the mutagen while also mutating you harder and in a more useful way. The reason you don’t get clothing later, we figured out, isn’t that it gives Koleth a clearer read, or that it blocks too much of the radiation, and I can’t believe we ever believed that, no. It’s actually that once you’re far enough along, they have to hit you with enough radiation at a weird enough frequency that clothing will catch fire. By then you’re changed enough that it doesn’t do anything but change you. They did not tell us this, by the way, Echo found out while poking around the scientists’ computers while she was breaking a captured alien machine. I do not know what this says about our ability to survive nuclear fallout so do not ask. I am terrified we will have the opportunity to find out.”

“Allah yahmina, what is this place?”

“Official answer: Imperator’s Palatine Base. Unofficial answer: The best argument I’ve yet encountered that my people are wrong and that hell is in fact a thing.” 

“How are you this calm about it?” Micah felt vaguely faint.

“You get used to it.” 

Mia

She hadn’t slept properly since those mercenary assholes had gotten a bag over her head and taken her north. She still wasn’t sure how or why they’d picked her, but from what she’d gotten out of the mercenaries - who were locals, when she’d screamed at them - they’d told her that the blood tests she’d gotten in the hospital had showed she could be helpful.

She didn’t know what the hell that meant, but she knew she had to get home, back to her mother, back to her brothers. She’d struggled to try to escape, but been told if she kept going she’d be knocked unconscious.

She remembered the mercenaries taking her to someone they clearly answered to, asking him if he wanted to keep her for other sale for a few days, and him shaking his head. “No. Some rich white American asshole already paid us a hundred thousand for her - with another hundred thousand promised if she’s undamaged. Apparently she’s got some rare gene that some fucked up American research firm wants to experiment on and they’re paying top dollar for test subjects.”

She had been kept in a dark room - though fed surprisingly well, apparently the cartel was interested in getting paid for the ‘undamaged’ part - and once she’d realized she wasn’t going to be sold to a brothel, assaulted, or shot because she was apparently already paid for by people who were capable of paying the cartel too much to throw her away, she started using it. 

By swearing up a storm at her captors and spitting on them every chance she got. 

Thus by the time she was dragged out of a warehouse, she had been gagged, and two white assholes were talking to her captor, offering him a suitcase - and shoving her onto a boat, which went a certain ways off the coast before she was put on a helicopter.

She remembered seeing her city - her country - fade away in the distance.

She’d been surrounded by assholes who refused to speak her language, except the man who had apparently commissioned her kidnapping by the cartel, who introduced himself as August Gideon, who spoke it fluently and kept up an eerily polite tone.

“Ms. Orellana, I apologize for the roughness of your arrival. As you know, your country has a history of being a bit politically unstable due to a criminal element who are easily made into efficient proxies for outside actors. Our organization is funded by the UN security council, and we have access to most of the UN data bases, even the ones they swear are strictly confidential. You see - that hospital you went to a few months ago, to get your tonsils out? They tested you, like most patients, with a gauntlet of basic blood work - and one of those samples, as of eight months ago, is determining if someone is a Praetorian candidate. Among other things, I no longer have to collaborate with Stricken about the most effective ways to bribe blood samples out of donation or hospitals.” He gave a wan smile. “You came back with a positive test. Which is when we engaged the mercenaries who picked you up and turned you over to us.”

“What did you want from me? What the hell is a Praetorian candidate?”

“Project Praetorian…you’re now in the custody of an organization called Imperator. You’ll find out the rest from your compatriots, day after tomorrow - you were the last to arrive of this wave, and you’re all being transported together to the other facility. I have a plane to catch back there tonight, I’m afraid.”

“Why not ride back with the rest of us?”

“I have business I have to attend, and an important briefing to provide.” 

***

The four she’d been stuck with at the base were incapable of speaking to her, so she’d been stuck gesturing at herself and saying “Mia,” asking for their names and getting “Kimmy,” from a girl in a wheelchair, “Micah,” from a quiet, nervous looking boy with Gideon’s complexion but the gentle presence of one of her brothers, and “Jared,” from a boy who looked at her like something to scrape off his boot.

The ride on the chopper had mostly consisted of Jared apparently antagonizing Micah - Mia didn’t understand what was being said but she understood the tone - and Kimmy taunting him back. Rapid-fire English that she couldn’t follow but that she knew was probably important to understand.

When they landed and people were presumably introduced, she stood there, asking if anyone spoke any Spanish - and got a response from one dark, gorgeous girl who pulled her aside and spoke, haltingly but with some degree of fluency. 

“My name is Echo and yours…”

“My name’s Mia, it's really good to meet you. I’ve been stuck with no one to talk to because no one understood what I was saying for ages and I don’t actually speak English. So, what is this, what’s going on? What is a Praetorian candidate? Who are these people?”

Echo blinked, slowly, and then said. “I am not that strong in Spanish now. Praetorian is a thing where they do crazy science to us - it hurts. Gives us weird powers, like a comic book.” 

Mia unwrapped that in her head - Echo wasn’t totally fluent in Spanish yet, or spoke a different kind, but she was trying. Praetorian was a program of some kind where they were having experiments done on them, which gave them…superpowers? Echo had to be saying that wrong, Echo seemed smart.

“What do you do here, Echo?”

“I work with computers - hack into them. Jonathan is…” She shouted for Jonathan to do something in English and Jonathan casually lifted an unused table. “Strong. Like a comic book. The crazy science changes us. They teach us to fight too. We’re supposed to be…” Echo broke off and said something that was obviously a chain of curse words in English.

“Supposed to be fighting aliens. One minute.” She shouted for someone and a girl came over, the same age as Mia and red-headed. Echo chatted with her fast, and the redhead looked between them, then said something in Spanish back, also a dialect that was more formal than Mia really spoke but was something her churchgoing aunt would have gotten much more easily. Molly had a rosary, a simple one, but it reminded Mia of her grandmother’s.

“I’m Molly,” she started, “And…I only really know Church Spanish,” she said, waving the rosary. “So I do not know how much I can say about our lives here - beyond that we may have been kidnaped by the devil. But if you want to talk about your family, I can understand that - we had a few Latin families at our church, we were supposed to be able to talk with each other, all of us, about important things.”

Mia nodded. “I have brothers back in El Salvador. And parents. They have no idea where I am.” That started hitting her for the first time. “God, I’m never going to see them again, am I?”

Molly lunged forward and hugged her. “I’m sorry. My parents are dead, died when the aliens first appeared. The others talk a big game about being a new family and hopefully the ones with living parents see their families again, and…I don’t know, Leon and Curtis are talking about ideas for the rest of us if the war ends before we’re adults.”

Mia nodded. “So, Echo - and Molly. What’s the deal with the kids who introduced us?”

“Mark - the skinny one? He’s kinda in charge, and the guy who spoke is Xavier.” 

“Xavier spoken for?”

“Not officially,” Echo replied, glancing at Shiloh in the distance. 

Molly followed her gaze. “I wouldn’t recommend it.” 

Mia let the other two girls guide her to a table and sit her down, shoveling food on her plate and eating with them, slowly fumbling through Spanish with them and starting to get through a smattering of English, some of which she’d gotten in school before she’d had to stop going to start working. Picking it back up with them was helping, a bit, but suddenly Molly started. “Right. She needs ASL too.”

Echo cursed in not only English, but Spanish, and her phone let out a series of beeps that might have been her using powers to curse in morse code. 

“Right - actually, might be easier, different grammar.”

Mia looked between them, and then Molly stood up in shock.

Molly

The conversation had been going well with Mia - honestly the new girl was really pretty and Molly was glad she spoke enough Spanish to make her feel welcome, but then something insane happened.

Shiloh had been over by Kimmy, and was putting hands on Kimmy’s back. The paralyzed girl started screaming, then bit down on her shirt, before Shiloh stepped away for a second, leaving Casey holding Kimmy’s hand as Kimmy writhed in pain, then Shiloh had come back, and begun doing - whatever they were doing again.

And it hit Molly what she was witnessing. Shiloh was trying to repair Kimmy’s spine. 

Shiloh. A person that, as much as she hadn’t admitted it, she hadn’t talked to much, been alone with the least of the Praetorians - by design. Their anger, their weird gender stuff, had always made Molly nervous, went against what she’d been taught.

Shiloh had given someone back his eyes during the battle, healed burns, restored wounds. Molly had seen that, but that had been rational, Molly had thought, or at least, as rational as anything could be in a world where aliens had come down from the sky, gunned down her parents, and she was now a superhero-supersoldier supposed to be fighting them.

But this.

Kimmy stood up, leaning on Casey, as Shiloh slumped, taking deep breaths and huge bites. 

Kimmy took a few steps forward, eyes filling with tears, and laughed maniacally.

Shiloh had just performed a straight up miracle. It wasn’t just healing a broken bone or restoring a wound, Shiloh had just made a cripple walk.

She heard Mia gasp behind her as she crossed herself.

“Even here, that’s…that’s crazy. That’s…”

Molly’s world spun as she saw Kimmy take slow steps and turn around of her own accord. 

“Holy shit.”

“Welcome to Praetorian. That’s our healer, Shiloh. Going completely beyond the impossible.” 

Beyond the impossible. 

That was one way to put it. 

Molly picked up a huge platter of food and carried it over to Shiloh in absolute silence then set it down in front of the deaf healer, signing for them to eat as she did so.

Shiloh gave her a quiet nod, and continued to watch Kimmy, a smile of satisfaction and quiet pride on their face.

[hexsreality]

@mehrcedita inquired: this happened once before.

BARBIE (2023) PROMPTS ⤷ Accepting!

"This has happened once before?" Wanda parroted back incredulously at Mercy as she turned to look at the other woman with an eyebrow raised. That response wasn't something that Wanda wanted to hear at all. She didn't like these events happening once, let alone twice. "Oy Vey," Wanda muttered under her breath, she needed to smoke a cigarette or an entire pack. Mercy didn't need to use her mutation to take Wanda's injury. The mutant sorceress didn't want that at all, as she was used to treating her injuries and even altering the probability of being injured in the first place. "You needn't do this on account of me. I could've taken care of myself just fine, my dear."

[alyosiuscreightonward]

Dear Diary. I’ve not been here for a moment because I’m going through some shit. I love and I hate my new job. I don’t like getting up at 530am but I do like having a few hours before 6pm. Good, bad, etc. Sigh. I’m thinking about looking for a new job.

Then there’s the idea of having to go back to the place where I scattered my late husband’s ashes. It was a glorious day. I did my duty. Then I had to think about my ex boyfriend’s passing and how he would have been 73 if he didn’t blame me for his illnesses but I didn’t become a hoarder and have just an aisle width to navigate the way to the bathroom. But I’m sure I caused his atrial fibrillation. I caused his sleep apnea. I caused his weight gain. Oh. The. List. Is. Long. Like I’m surprised that he didn’t blame me for 9/11 while I was in Boynton Beach, FL. Though he was known for saying, “I’ve been disappointed twice a year for the past 73 years of my life on my birthday and on Christmas. I’ve never gotten exactly what I wanted.” 🤦‍♀️

Bitch! I can’t afford a new fucking Cadillac!!

I know all about your Champagne taste and my Beer Bottle pocket. We all have pipe dreams.

Then there’s this. I wrote to a long time friend and this is the response I got back.

“I am happy to read that you have been feeling better recently and I am so sorry to hear that you have been having a tough time of late. If the meds are helping, then more power to them. And no, you have not offended me, so please don’t apologise – for what I have no idea. We are two people who hung out and shared a few laughs decades ago in another time and another place. If not for your efforts over the years, that would have been the end of it, as it has been with so many of the people I have rubbed alongside over the course of these past 63 years. I am now at the stage in my life where I know more dead people than living ones - oy vey - And naturally one’s – ahem – priorities start to shift and evolve. Which is a fancy way of saying that as we get older we inevitably get more ornery and ill-tempered. Misanthropic too in my case. But not for you dear “Blank”; for you I have fond memories and an enduring appreciation for your dedicated efforts at maintaining contact with the likes of me, as I slip into my dotage and hermit’s lifestyle.

Enjoy the better place you now inhabit and make it your sanctuary.”

In the immortal words of Michael McDonald, “We’re talking divorce and we weren’t even married.”

After much contemplation with my navel, my only response is, “Regardless, I will be your lighthouse keeper.”

[darkmaga-returns]

3/27 ASTROLABE LINKS:

(39) Jack on X: "The future's looking green https://t.co/O9Bng16tzt" / X

(23) Paul Suda on X: "TRUMP 47 Week 10 of 208 "EYE OF THE TIGER" https://t.co/Wgywq2ybpj" / X

(28) Paul Suda on X: "@DaddyWarpig @IgorBrigadir not only do I GOT YOU, I chose a superior cover https://t.co/Q3twPg4l5B" / X

(28) Aesthetica on X: "Generational President https://t.co/1i9kBB0zl9" / X

(28) Fr Calvin Robinson on X: "https://t.co/ITUPcs7f0V" / X

(28) Angantýr on X: "Morning btw https://t.co/JwYYvYqCgg" / X

(28) Jordi Hays on X: "good morning https://t.co/WbAhm4DdRo" / X

(28) The White House on X: "https://t.co/Bw5YUCI2xL" / X

(29) bone on X: "Studio Ghibli presents SPIRITED OY VEY https://t.co/pgunTGn7OL" / X

(29) PJ Ace on X: "What if Studio Ghibli directed Lord of the Rings? I spent $250 in Kling credits and 9 hours re-editing the Fellowship trailer to bring that vision to life—and I’ll show you exactly how I did it 👇🏼 https://t.co/IqUeBSH4H0" / X

(29) Kunal Bagaria on X: "what if interstellar was a ghibli animation https://t.co/AJsjpZ1RGK" / X

(29) pagliacci the hated 🌝 on X: "I love studio ghibli https://t.co/fFKXigtix5" / X

(31) ☦️ Kingpilled 👑 on X: "“Hey ChatGPT I need you to ghiblify my entire FYP” https://t.co/54fav4kQ8A" / X

(31) Trung Phan on X: "Since Studio Ghibli is trending, worth noting the mind-boggling effort Hayao Miyazaki and his team put into a film. Each has 60k-70k frames, all hand-drawn and painted with water color. This 4-second clip (“The Wind Rises”) took one animator 15 months to do. In the documentary https://t.co/BwvipsyVCl" / X

(33) Howard Mortman on X: ""Should the Defense Secretary.." Marjorie Taylor Greene: "Wait what country are you from?" "From the UK" "OK we don't give a crap about your opinion and your reporting. Why don't you go back to your country. We have a major migrant problem. You should care about your own borders" https://t.co/l1lYrYdEbH" / X

(33) Breaking911 on X: "POTUS: "No matter how many surgeries you have or chemicals you inject, if you’re born with male DNA in every cell of your body, you can never become a woman. You're not going to be a woman." https://t.co/XF70L5jOak" / X

(33) Dr. Ben Braddock on X: "Instant canon https://t.co/lAfDLUH028" / X

(33) Rep. Lukas Schubert on X: "On Monday, I presented HJ22, a resolution to acknowledge that Christ is King to the judiciary committee, here is my testimony: https://t.co/2ReiiruD32" / X

(20) Rapid Response 47 on X: "Archbishop Elpidophoros of America: "Allow me to offer the congratulations of the Greek-American community on your re-election to the presidency of our nation!... I also want to thank you for creating the White House Faith Office, which promises to be an extraordinary https://t.co/tFsgkF4OW9" / X

(20) Rapid Response 47 on X: "Archbishop Elpidophoros of America presents President Trump with a Holy Cross: "Through your leadership, you embody the values of our Christian faith and love for the Gospel. You remind me of the great Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great." https://t.co/CbtYYHl2hL" / X

(22) Nick Sortor on X: "🚨 #BREAKING: CDC under RFK Jr. just canceled $11 BILLION in COVID funding for state health departments GREAT news! “The COVID-19 pandemic is over, & HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years https://t.co/ltrO8GwKr8" / X

(20) Texas 🇺🇸 on X: "BIG PHARMA TARGETED EASTERN KENTUCKY! A familiar story (all around the country) put to song! 🎶 “The Devil Wore a Lab Coat” She’s really good! 👏👏 Mary Kutter https://t.co/QmKhvphYDc" / X

(33) The Vigilant Fox 🦊 on X: ".@RobertKennedyJr: "The Media Is an Extension of the Pharmaceutical Industry" "75% of advertising revenues now on the mainstream media are now coming from pharma — and that ratio is even higher for the evening news." "Anderson Cooper has a $12 million a year annual salary. https://t.co/KOkibk2dYM" / X

(33) Liz Wheeler on X: "If reports are true—and I pray they are—that RFK Jr. is gonna ban Big Pharma ads on TV, a massive society earthquake is about to happen on two fronts. #1: The corporate media will fail. You will watch before your very eyes as highly paid MSM anchors are fired, networks panic &" / X

(21) Holden Culotta on X: "“This is the biggest secret Big Pharma has been trying to keep from us.” Nicole Shanahan just exposed the truth about autism. “This is the biggest cover-up in my lifetime.” “I was knee-deep in the autism literature … I can remember a call I had with a neurologist—and I’m https://t.co/RadhMByLVn" / X

(21) George on X: "RFK Jr. says Elon Musk & DOGE are now inside the Department of HHS, exposing & eliminating massive fraud. "We've identified extraordinary waste in my department and HHS. The expenditures, and the budget of HHS during the Biden administration went up by 38%, the employees went up https://t.co/y4dJayTN9M" / X

(34) America on X: "President Trump signs an Executive Order enabling the U.S. Treasury to modernize its payments system, in order to reduce waste, fraud and abuse: – Gets rid of all of the 47 “independent” payment systems and centralizes. – Makes use of the Do Not Pay list of fraudulent entities https://t.co/H7CsFhKRy7" / X

(21) Jack's complete lack of surprise on X: "@realKingpilled #showprep" / X

Recession Canceled... Again: US Durable Goods Orders Back Near Record-Highs In February | ZeroHedge

(35) Thomas Cyr (OFFICIAL 7HOMAS777)⚡️⚡️ on X: "@StandardUser420 You're talking literal SHIT, IOW - and you don't even understand your own position adequately (the data rebuts everything you've alleged, obviously). Beyond that - and more importantly - the issue is what Friedrich List, Alexander Hamilton, Joseph Schumpeter SAID it was:" / X

(35) Christopher Landau on X: "Over the past several decades, the American foreign policy community seems to have forgotten these five simple words. Not anything that happens anywhere in the world is our business, and effective diplomacy means clearly defining what our business is and is not. The absence of https://t.co/TRMslsiP8p" / X

(25) Tanvi Ratna on X: "The American empire isn’t ending—it’s evolving. Beneath the chaos is a fast, unorthodox, and deliberately under-explained strategy to reshape the U.S. role in a multipolar world. Tariffs, geopolitics, alliances—none of it’s random. It’s a new kind of statecraft. Let’s unpack it." / X

(39) Financelot on X: "🇨🇦🇺🇸 “We're going to make sure we inflict as much pain as possible on the American People." Ontario Premier Doug Ford https://t.co/OeLz7pSMnq" / X

(37) LTC Steven Murray on X: "This is growing legs for one reason - The world is tired of the parasites in office who are owned by the EUSSR elites. This is the start of the break up of the common wealth, the EU and the UK" / X

(21) Chris Brunet on X: "according to this chart, the entire nation of Canada just spent 5 whole years fighting over a carbon tax that crippled the nation's economy to offset just *37 hours* worth of China's carbon https://t.co/8bScaW2jgE" / X

(37) Jarvis on X: "I listen to a lot of NPR and my favorite tic of theirs is what I like to call Two Good Facts/Two Bad Facts. Once you hear it you can’t unhear it. If it’s a Dem policy or politician, they get Two Good Facts. “Kamala Harris, who is (1) gaining in the polls, has a new proposal to" / X

(37) @amuse on X: "STATE FUNDED MEDIA: NPR's CEO Katherine Maher explained, "Truth is a distraction from getting things done". She didn’t realize that 100% of NPR’s editorial staff were Democrats and has never seen any bias in the newsroom. https://t.co/gJldvEUZf5" / X

(38) Collin Rugg on X: "NPR CEO Katherine Maher was completely caught off guard today after Rep. Brandon Gill started reading her past tweets to her one by one. Absolutely brutal. Gill: Do you believe that America is addicted to white supremacy? Maher: I believe that I tweeted that. I believe much https://t.co/TfBt0h1qDF" / X

(39) Buckley Carlson on X: "Our father's obituary. Insufficient to say he was unique. Only truly fearless man I've ever known. Richard W. Carlson. February 10, 1941 — March 24, 2025. Richard Warner Carlson died at 84 on March 24, 2025 at home in Boca Grande, Florida after six weeks of illness. He refused https://t.co/wqjeFSvKyA" / X

(25) 🕊️ on X: "God's first question in the bible wasn't about the forbidden fruit. it was "Adam, where are you?" as if the Creator of everything somehow lost track of his creation. why would an all-knowing God need to ask this? because He wasn't seeking information - He was inviting confession." / X

[writer59january13]

Overrun by stuffed subdued teddy bears...

of diverse and sundry sizes engaged in woebegone wild rumpus as a last hoorah for diversity, equity and inclusion, whose somber bowed heads (hide their snickers just a kiss away) their backsides mimicked tufted heavenly clouds interspersed amidst with imaginary fallen angels softly chanting profane funereal requiem, where a former warren of dust bunnies galore met their ill fate getting vacuumed hashtagged as sinners in the hands of an angry dog.

Twas (NOT the night before Christmas), nevertheless bright idea lit up the eyes of zee missus Clause (she got known far and wide as an impractical joker) poised to strike at the least opportune moment while donning das skies of a playboy centerfold within the erogenous penalty zone took a page from Ursa (la) Major. Hens forth aye dedicate and air this poem for self aggrandisement, thus trumpet and blare to acknowledge this mister and asking thee to please support me courtesy mailing a blank check to Matthew Scott Harris, I kid thee not dear reader with ewe nanny muss cowabunga names of barnstorming farm animals buck cause I sheep push lee duck clear to promote worthwhile secular humanist (Billy me), one beatle browed, foo fighting nirvana seeking enigmatic, kinetic, romantic, and zoetic yahoo who dons guise pulling wool over your eyes. Before birth of our progeny yours truly (me) addressed said spouse "my little buttock blaster" endearment - for obvious reasons, and before she begat two 'ere

rip press able deux lovely daughters,

anyway thee wife I fear to publicize contracted a benign strain sans incurable glare ring housecleaning malady,

(thus far no unpronounceable hair

raising name affixed to non contagious plight, nonetheless

accursed obsessive/compulsive malady,

whereby to keep from appearing on Hoarding: Buried Alive at bay,

she applies elbow grease scrubbing stubborn stains from clothes, dishes, getting down on all fours with the help of scrub daddy and consolidates tchotchkes to make room, when gamut of hibernating Ursine horde (nee Mötley Crüe) come breathing alive with the sound of music Nsync chron eyes with beastie boys, Bay City Rollers culture clubbing babes upon first spring day engrossed in this, that, or some other sweeping floor foray. Endless task to “keep house,” especially cuz rural housing development inspector(s) (scheduled of March twenty eighth) intend to grade our apartment against any violation checking every square inch for tell tale signs of abhorrent sight for sore eyes such as manifestations of sizable tufts of dust analogous to Velveteen Rabbit shedding gray winter coat when warmer temperatures arrive, where humongous fur clumps would lay comprising sudden empty raft of shelf space minus a may zing globules, oh...lemme get on track, whence frenzied fever "cleaning bug" nee major virus afflicting wife, would necessitate impossible task strapping, pinteresting, and kickstarting former feisty Norwegian farm gal a force to reckon with even in a straight jacket would hardly deter native talent to create chaos in her wake inviting ecosystems of critters who ordinarily she doth thrive within slovenly unkempt environment analogous to pigsty would be to her analogous child's game to play boot tiring and cruel task to pick up after her Yukon say 24/7 daily challenge for yours truly the husband to experience despair lest we receive eviction warning, impossible mission to locate an affordable accommodating renting a U-Haul to move out, which unpredictable eventuality defies ample time frame to shape up or ship out thine remaining lifetime wedded to wife oy vey would frank lee zap every last efficient excellent employee “oompa loompa” specifically to the small, orange-skinned people who work in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Ultimate challenge constitutes weathering blistering retorts for remaining years of married life with same spouse in response to constructive criticism like a nattering nabob of nativity buzzfeeding, lamenting and testifying to the omnipotent power at large

who hopefully can affect and infect the wife with “house beautiful” syndrome.

[downtherabbitholewithauntieblegh]

This is in response to someone’s comment underneath my article about Emily Armstrong and Linkin Park….

I never ONCE gave my own opinion. The opinion that I opened up with belongs to AJ Channer of Fire From the Gods. Look I get that this is a sensitive subject for a lot folks, but please don’t come on here and chastise me for giving out information like a proper journalist would do! Oy vey….

[postmoderntongues]

LMFAO I showed my editor “one man one jar” because he’s never seen it and his response was “oy vey. No you know what? OY GEVALT!” He was so horrified by it I’m laughing my tits off

[selfundiagnosed]

found out my dad is adopted because his bio mom was in and out of institutions and had electroshock therapy and now everything is making a lot of sense

[quantumshade]

[image id: goon who will play Ball (see the Ukraine) [begin highlight] and notta one of these goblins is angry about any of that. [end highlight] Not a one is this upset about the [text cuts off.] end image id.]

harry potter fans are fucking insane. i say not to interact with me if they like harry potter and they respond by a.) bringing up global politics and placing individual responsibility on my shoulders about them in order to dismiss my point and b.) calling me a fucking goblin!!

oy vey, they're not even pretending anymore, are they?

[xinhar]

♯ Kiss me? Kiss you? [2]

What: Who would initiate a kiss first and how would they react/do it.

Warnings: Slight suggestive...and spoilers on Kumo's part ig...

Characters: Momokado Ousuke, Momoura Shingi, Momobayashi Shingi, Momota Kumo.

Masterlist. | Prev

♯ MOMOKADO OUSUKE

This bitch has anger issues

Like. Girl, did you think that he would let you kiss him first?

Nu-uh bitch. His pride is flying to the sky or even galaxy🙄.

Good luck with that shit.

He would be the person who would deny everything too that he doesn't like it...

But we all know the moment he adverted his eyes on somewhere else🤡

Slap him. Girl. Ugh.

He would pull you for a kiss while muttering how gross it is.

"Why do people does this anyway? I don't understand at all." Groaning in dismay, he suck a breather amd flicked his gaze to you. Who, stared at him like a puppy.

Oh goodness. Why do you have to look so pathetic.

"Alright. Come here, JUST this time. Alright? Don't ever expect me to do it again. It's gross." Sighing, he ran his gloved fingers on your hair, pulling you close to him as his lip brushes at the corner of your lip. He heard your breath hitches in anticipation as he smirked.

Crashing his lip against your own, he pulled away immediately out of embarrassment. I mean, what do you expect? Adverting his eyes anywhere else, he cleared his throat and spoke.

"Happy now?"

+ He needs pursuasion girl.

Don't believe in him. He'll do it again. He's just in the state of denial😒🙄.

♯ MOMOURA KUSABI

BITCH. HE IS TAKEN. BY ME🙄 /srs

You might see him as a sly person

But

Don't ASSUME that he will kiss you FIRST.

No.

I bet he would IGNORE you and play pretend with Onis organs

OR

just randomly play with things what he sees

Seriously.

You must get his attention in order for you to get what you want.

Man, he really needs to calm down researching things.

"Kusabi, when will you stop there and give your attention towards me?" Pouting in irritation, you've been sitting there on the chair as you wait for how damn long over there, watching your lover do random things that you don't even understand.

And you don't think that it's that important. In which, it's true.

"Wee hee─ hm? " Stopping mid at his antics, he turns his head towards you with a raise brow. "What is it that you wanted?"

Silence. Sighing in exasperation, you stood up from your chair and trudge your way towards him with a huff. Him spread on the messy floor as you bent to his height, grabbing both his cheeks, he frowned and squirmed.

"Oy vey, stop grabbing my cheeks. What's wrong?" Trying to pry himself off from your grasp, you hum and ignored his attempts of getting his face out of your grasp. Asking you again with a grunt about what's wrong, you got closer to him as he gave you a questioning gaze, waiting at your response.

"I want a kiss, 'sabi." At that, he didn't gave much reaction as he only hum and thought about it before sighing

"A kiss, huh... Alright, go on." Mumbling, at himself. You heard him and you gave him a sheepish smile. Getting closer to him as both your lips eventually tangled and savour the imitation. Forgetting what's he's doing earlier and proceeded to lazily wrap an arm around your waist to pull you with him on the floor.

He might or might not go to far lmao─

Yes. That's how you get his attention.

♯ MOMOBAYASHI SHINGI

LORD. PLEASE CALM HIM DOWN

How tf should I start with this.

Pls kiss him first😭😭.

Poor baby is overthinking too much and might just mess things up

He says he's just cautious...

you know how shitty he would get

And please.

Prepare a tissue for him

His nose might start bleeding😔 after.

"Hold up! What if someone might see us?! Or walk in on us?! Or even worst─" Shingi started panicking the more he thinks of what ifs and shits. You just asked him for permission if you could give him peck on the lips, but then it turns to this.

Chuckling at him, you grabbed his cheek and start pinching it as you mused on how cute he is, earning a flinch from him as he gave you an innocent look enthusiastically.

"It's fine Shingi. You really need to calm down. Besides, it's just a peck, it's not that bad." Yeah, your reassurance literally went flying out of the window when he started muttering to himself before voicing it out loud.

"No! What if Kumo-kun see us! He will made fun of us, be─" You sigh and cut him off with a peck on the lips, successfully shutting him up and noticing him lean closer to you for more contact.

At that, you pulled away and grin. Seeing his stunned reaction that morphed to pout.

"See? It's not that ba─?! Shingi are you okay?! Your nose is bleeding!!"

"Please do it again but longer this time..."

Yes. He would crave it if you started it,

Fortunately.

♯ MOMOTA KUMO

I can see this guy as a laid back person

So...

He doesn't care and doesn't mind

"Just go with the flow." Yes.

He's so that.

Basically, he doesn't have any reaction

Unlike his Boss💀

You might be the one who'll hide in embarrassment here and not him

I mean...

See his reaction all day? Bitch, and you're expecting him to give one?💀

Nah.

"It's fine, Y/n. You could do whatever you want, I don't mind." Shrugging mindlessly at your fidgeting reaction. He sighed and pull you closer to him as he buried his face on your shoulder.

"Or, would you like me to kiss you first instead?" At the boldness, you bloomed red before looking at other direction, making him look up and grab your face with his gloved hand as he turns your head to face him.

"Are you not embarrassed at all, Kumo..." Asking him that, he raised his brow and shrugged. Indicating that he isn't.

Pulling you more closer to him, he wrapped his other hand on your waist and plant his lip on your jaw before pecking to it up to the corner of your lip.

"Why would I?" Lastly, he finally catched your lips. Basking in others heat.

Unlike his half cold body lmfao─ /j...

[hopeymchope]

But are you against the HP game in the end or getting annoyed with people arguing over it? People are only pleading that they boycott the game because jkr holds so much influence because of HP and is happily promoting a game that helps support her own bigotry. She herself is not a neutral figure on her stances her media she puts out takes, it banks on the hatred for several groups of people and funds the means to continuously endorse that hate to keep that ideology in power. There is no neutral side on this really. There are so many posts here that at the bare minimum to boycott the game altogether because in the end that's all those against her can do. And loudly being against it is to spread the word in refusal of being passively accepting of it. It's horrible feeling helpless against her so it's literally all that's being asked here and not to push the idea away that buying and 'just enjoying a game' is harmless thing to do.

Note: This is a response to this previous post.

Oy vey. I’m literally afraid to answer this ask, because if I say the wrong thing there’s a good chance people will label me an awful person. I’m gonna lose respect, care, and followers if I choose my words poorly. It is DANGEROUS to have an opinion on this shit right now. 

What I dislike is not only the pervasiveness of the intense arguing everywhere on the Internet, but also the extremism of the arguments. The calls of "you can't be trusted ever again/aren't my friend/aren't an ally if you don't share my position on this video game" is what I’m most particularly opposed to. 

When I made my attempt to summarize the argument, I didn’t want to take a side. But I do think that, at the very LEAST, we should be capable of saying “I can comprehend that other people interpret this situation differently than I do, and that doesn’t automatically make them a bad person and/or unworthy of my care.” ........... Weeellll, unless the other person’s argument is that they simply don’t care about trans people or how any of their actions may affect them. Or if their argument is that they actively want to support the game because they want to support hatred and TERFism. If that’s the argument, then obviously GTFO and do not pass ‘Go’ on your way. 

But I’m sure you can grok the gist of what I’m saying here — as long as you’re putting thought and good intentions into your stance, nobody should have to be instantly vilified or cut off because of said stance. Making such a declaration is a very extreme one. ... And yet it’s a declaration that seems to be weirdly common on this subject.

Furethermore, I also have to wonder: Why is THIS GAME the biggest, loudest hot-button issue on trans rights? SURE, I’ve seen some people say “Never buy anything Potter-related ever again and also trash everything based on HP that you currently own” in the past few years, but that’s been nowhere near as many people as I’ve seen calling to boycott this one game specifically. You don’t see this level of passion over every other piece of merch being shat out. Where’s the calls to make sure you avoid every year’s HP Hallmark ornaments or something... ? Why didn’t we hear this much uproar over skipping the movies when the last “Fantastic Beasts” came out? Though maybe the answer to that last one is obvious: Not that many people give a shit about “Fantastic Beasts” anymore. :P

Actually, a much bigger question: Why haven’t I ever seen or heard anyone say “Boycott all the Universal parks and resorts” given that Rowling is getting a percentage of every single goddamn ticket sold... ? That’s a HUGE influx of income for her. HUGE! It doesn’t matter if you don’t go to the Wizarding World section or don’t buy any of the related merch: Just going to Universal and buying a ticket to ride the Velocicoaster or whatever AUTOMATICALLY puts money in Rowling’s pocket. So where’s my editorials about that?

.......I swear, if we could mobilize even two-thirds as much rage and fury when parts of the country/world introduce new legislation to criminalize and/or forcibly detransition trans people, the trans community and its allies would become a force IMPOSSIBLE for any politician to ignore.