#never beating the made in a lab allegations

[idkcoven]

oh im dead

[scattered-winter]

honestly if i was a character tumblr would be obsessed with me. words of affirmation to repeat in the mirror.

[yandere-daydreams]

For context, imma give you a little Spider-Man 2099 fact from the Spider-Man comics if you didn’t know about it already.

Before becoming Spider-Man, Miguel was injected by this drug called Rapture, a super addictive drug with really bad withdrawal symptoms, like you will feel like dying without taking it constantly symptoms. He was the top geneticist for Alchemax and he wanted to quit but the cooperation wouldn’t allow that, so they injected him so that he would have no choice but to be reliant on them and continue to work for them since they were the only ones that were distributing rapture. (It was actually due to him getting his spider abilities that he was cure; he had his DNA rewritten with spider DNA so he’s technically genetically half spider).

So basically Miguel injects you with rapture. So predictably you become more and more difficult, as he puts it. One day he offhandedly shows you a little vial in his lab that was used to turn him into Spider-Man, he drops little hints here and there that it’s what cured him of rapture. So it’s no surprise to him that you start acting so docile and pleasant soon after, your attempt to lower his guard are welcomed when he gets to cuddle you. So he lets you sneak into his lab when you think he’s away on a mission. It’s when you take the vail and inject yourself do your hopes for freedom start to dwindle when you feel a broad chest on your back and a pair of fans in you neck the next second. While the contents in the vail cured you of rapture, he also made it so that it acts as an aphrodisiac when it’s mixed with DNA; (injections of any sort are the fastest way to get anything going through your system, so the Miguel-activated-aphrodisiac binds with your cells really fast when you first inject it into your system), so whenever he bites you, your cells react almost immediately to his DNA and it turns into any season is mating season, Aka Miguel never beating the vampire allegations.

Ah sorry for the messy writing, English isn’t really my strong suite but you get the picture.

tw - dub//con, unhealthy relationships, obsessive behavior, manipulation through drug addiction.

oof,,, miguel knows first-hand how devastating rapture can be, so i'd like to think that he injected you with it in a moment of desperation, just thinking about the high and the wanting and how badly he needs you to give into him, even if he knows you'll be twice as difficult once the withdrawal hits. his plan to splice your dna, to cure you the only way he knows someone can be cured of a rapture addiction is an act of mercy in his mind, too. he can't keep you high and strung out forever, so he lets you believe there's an antidote, lets you think that he doesn't suspect anything when you suddenly start behaving and treating him like the hero he wants to be, rather than the captor he is, lets you sneak out of his bedroom in the middle of the night and into his lab, where his 'rapture cure' was conveniently left in plain-sight beside a syringe gun already prepared for injection. he lets you think that your alright, now, that you've escaped the worst thing he's ever done.

and then, he drives his fangs into your neck, holding you close as you go through the motions, as you realize that your body's reaction to him isn't something you can drown out with terror and loathing and fear, anymore. you haven't been cured, he just replaced one addiction with another and now, you're as reliant on him as he is on you. it's not love, but it feels close enough as you claw at his chest and pant against his neck, as you promise to behave and to follow his rules and to do whatever he wants, as long as he takes care of you. as you promise to love him, as long as he takes care of you.

[gulfportofficial]

It's no surprise to anyone, I'm sure, but god it's insane how like all of Antarctica is just named after the same guys and their boats.

Your Ross Dependency, your Ross Ice Shelf, your McMurdo Sound, your mcfuckin' Cape Crozier - the most easterly point of Ross Island. Mountains named after their ships, Ancient Greek Concept of the Personification of Darkness and Howling Dread.

Either that or monarchs. It's just insane. I kept thinking that, watching The Terror, how have these people already fucking named everything? They don't even know what's an Island yet, and it's still all Prince Edward This and King William That. It's the same in Antarctica, of course.

Anyway: Back when I was doing my ESCI paper on Antarctic fieldwork* I didn't think much of it while I was doing my map memorizing and recreations (a requirement of the course), but I DID finally kind of crack and write this mammoth essay about the expedition of Sir Douglas Mawson, who was, predictably, trying to find the South Pole. He did not, of course, manage it and the two guys with him died, one of them named Ninnis has the glacier he died on named after him.

The thesis of this essay was that Mawson had no business being there besides imperialism and that it was ridiculous to regard people as heroes for willingly putting themselves in situations extremely likely to kill them for the sole purpose of claiming land. Doing this in Antarctica is not as egregious as doing it in the Arctic, of course, as there is no indigenous population to steal from down there especially, but it's still goddamned bonkers. And yet Mawson was so resoundingly lauded simply for not dying that he was at one time on the Australian $100 note.

One point of interest is that while Mawson was criticized for not having his party wear snow shoes (which would have distributed their weight more evenly and made them less prone to falling in crevasses) he absolutely did beat the cannibalism allegations. He was simply too pious a man for anybody to believe he'd've done that. Mertz, the third man in the party**, died either of eating dog livers (concentration of vitamin A will kill you if not careful), or of a broken heart from the loss of Ninnis (listen, I have read the diaries, okay. It was a very detailed and exquisitely researched essay.)*** Like, exploration is so romantic, romanticized, it's so easy to do it, and yet it's like bonkers stupid that there was literally no reason for them to be there but to claim the land. To make the "discovery". To manifest destiny. I've got no point here, I was just remembering how wild it was to remember all the different things named Ross all the way back in my Antarctic Fieldwork 101 paper. And how The Terror was basically made for me in a lab lol. *The school I went to had a really close relationship with Scott Base, and while I'd never be allowed to work down there - people who work down there have multiple graduate degrees, not just undergrad with field assistant training, but I was interested as hell and I learned a lot. Like for example how to put up a Scott - there's that name again - tent in a snowstorm. Remember Scott's expedition? That was the one that had Cpt. Oates on it. Of "I am just going outside and may be some time" fame. **No relation to Shackleton's third man. Another time. *** Also I wrote a song for the banjo about it. This was a long time ago and no records of the song survive.

[jinkicake]

Sigh, back at it again😔 okay so hear me out; my fav thing is to like subvert popular fandom tropes bc everyone is wrong and I’m right. Like no Venti isn’t your uwu little blushy bottom boy he’s a god who can and will fuck you in his church on the altar and nobody will stop him🥰 so the chaotic switch Venti has grabbed me by the neck and will it let go and I’m just imagining everyone else, back to my (toxic) ex boyfriend Xiao propaganda I imagine like in your head your like “ lmao this man has not had ass in like 4 centuries imma Rock his world” and like 20 mins in you have to tap out and ask for a water beak and he’s like 🙄 is that all? Like you gotta train like your training for a marathon to fuck Xiao like even when he’s not all rough and animalistic, he’s just attacking all your weak spots at once, truly feel like he could have you suck his dick while he does like paperwork (in a modern Au) and he wouldn’t flinch like he has the best poker face ever so you gotta throw him off his rhythm 👀 itto I actually hc as bad at sex and it’s funny asf bc someone made like a tweet about it that and I’m like??? Your absolutely right!! He cums so quick but bc oni blood he can do it as many times until your satisfied and he tries rly hard to please you so it’s fun to tease him and his dick is huge so by default he’s already better than most, only time I will allow him to destroy someone’s insides is when he’s in heat and can’t think straight, gorou my beloved; he’s a whole war general like he’s killed people and seen his friends die same as kazuha there’s no way this man don’t know about sex.. HES A DOG! Like he in my eyes is a switch leaning bottom bc hehe funny god man have sensitive ears but if you tease him too much he will have to put you in your place, starts talking all sharp and serious likes he giving orders to his recruits and it’s a lil scary, and next to him kazuha , idk what I want from him exactly bc I do like mr steal yo girl I can make you cum without even using more than 2 fingers but also would like to tie him op🤔 he to me feels like a bag of tricks like he’s always a surprise, like he seems like a calm quiet poetry boy but he’s literally so unhinged like in the last summer event w everyone he body slams a delusional man to get him to come to his senses and every one is like😰 and done even get me started in his mirage,,,,, yeah that is not a good boy for even when we meet him in the quest he such a little shit!! “ you fight well” and telling the dude who stole the dead vision that he was gunna break his fingers???? Even paimon was like?? Ayo why we going so fucking fast??😭 he just be saying shit to throw people off!! Like him and Beido always got this “ flirting but not really but we have a secret that we can’t tell you but we gon talk about you infront of you” vibe going on like the way they speak?? Yeah I would not be surprised if you ended up in some back room on the ship at night w both of them bc they always scheming 😒 albedo my beloved melanin challenged man💕 he’s just like his twin so I feel like whole he wants to act all soft and romantic he will get scary if you test him or if he gets stressed enough, def the type to hit sore spots when you argue that’s like okay see I wanted to fuck you bc your hot when mad but imma punch you now🔪 definitely does everything w passion and romancing in mind. Would not be surprised in the slightest if he read books on flirting like noelle did in her hangout thing💀 mf is in that lab watching romcoms!! When I frost got into the game I was like he is never beating the weirdo allegations bc I always see him and trying to do some kind of experiment on someone like??? You can literally ask me like lmao I’m down you don’t gotta be sneaky unless it’s crazy

no, i agree that everything you say is right, nothing can prove that wrong!!!!!

but yes.... people always soften venti and it's like,,,,, come on.... come on!!! are we talking about the same venti? it's all a front he puts on to fool and distract everyone! i know he is crazy!!!! (.... i like crazy and reckless venti, hes the fucking free archon like?!)

AND I NEED YOU TO SPEAK LOUDER ON XIAO BECAUSE EXACTLY, EXACTLY. He's sometimes written as someone who doesn't know shit about pleasing a bitch and it's like LOOK AT HIM... LOOK AT HIM!!! Xiao knows exactly what to do and he can go for DAYS while doing it.... my heart is racing just thinking about it!!! I love toxic ex bf xiao!

itto is a himbo (that is my one cliche trope idc idc) so yes he cums in two seconds but can go for hours on end... I agree i agree!!! speaking of gorou,,, i love a good itto gorou ship,,, there i said it!

also yes kazuha would be insane bc it's always the quiet ones that surpise you the most!! the mention of beidou and kazuha just reminded me of how i literally ship anyone w everyone like itto sara the whole enemies to lovers is fun and theyre hot together- i could ship xiao w a fucking rock if i thought they were fun together omg

albedo.... i could do a thinkpiece on him truly- i just love the quiet psychos!!!! not that he's really a psycho but he could be! like his unleashed power that's supposed to destroy ****** ,,, wow..... just wow! but about his experiments.... i wouldnt hate them HAH YEAH I would read some good yandere albedo performing experiments on the reader..... it sounds fUN

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

aurie! :] i want to know about your takeuchi mars red headcanons (if you have any)! also, i know about the "This is my brother and I need a shovel to love him" inspiration for This is No Cultivated Heaven, but do you have any other fics where there was some specific noteworthy literary influence (a poem that had the same vibes, a book that inspired you, etc.) ?

Fanfic Writer Friday

!! Sparrow!! Yes!! Love this ask! It's gonna be hella long!

Takeuchi headcanons:

He has a favorite lab coat that he embroidered flowers onto. This is because he seems like the type of guy to have at least tried crochet/macrame/embroidery/knitting on account of being functionally immortal. Like, poisonous flowers, because he thinks they're cool and has tried infusing them into blood candy to see if it improves the taste.

He has, on occasion, wondered if there's a way to generate immortality in humans without making them vampires. Just wait till he finds out about telomeres.

Speaking of modern science inventions, he absolutely keeps abreast of them by subscribing to every scientific publication he can get his grubby hands on. He does miss his government funding, though.

You know how he wears yellow socks in the anime? He's got one of every primary color and switches them out depending on his mood.

He wears Birkenstocks when he's not in the lab (no open toed shoes in the lab space!! It's a lab safety violation that got him vampire-d and he's not about to risk it again!!)

In that vein, if Takeuchi ever taught a high school class, he has mandated goggle wear on pain of getting kicked out of the class. They all think he's a little strange for avoiding sunlight but his sunscreen means he's been able to beat the vampire allegations. For now. (I want to write this fic btw)

He can't drive. By which I mean he can drive, but he insists on modding his cars until they're probably illegal and make weird noises. He did get his Chevy to fly for a bit, though.

He enjoys splashing around in shallow ponds. They're never deep enough that he'll drown, but splooshing shallow water is fun.

Every year, on the anniversary of the Great Tokyo Earthquake, he visits Yamagami's military grave and the makeshift one for Maeda that the surviving members of Code Zero made with his kids.

Even though Code Zero is scattered throughout the world now, they keep in touch via postcards.

Okay, short answer is I don't have any fics that are as heavily influenced as "This is No Cultivated Heaven" was. I had intense Cain and Abel brainrot that day and I think I went a little nuts. But! There are definitely some others.

For example, "No Longer a Puppet." The title is a terrible No Longer Human reference and it's a fic about humanity, achieving it when one finds themselves feeling inhuman, and doubles as a commentary on the faults and foibles of people in general. It's heavily inspired by the concept of feeling inhuman (thanks Dazai), the concept of commenting on humanity as an outsider (thanks Natsume, re: I Am a Cat), and it also was kinda influenced by "Thou Shalt Not Die" (thanks, Yosano) because it's also a fic about war, and wanting so badly to prevent your loved ones from going off to the battlefield. It's a very BSD-colored fic in that I was really thinking about those three while writing it, despite being about a Genshin character. It's one of my favorite fics.

There's also "The Wind Rises," my Genshin longfic that I have a very love-hate relationship with. I stole the title off of the Ghibli movie by the same name and I feel like it took on the tone of the movie, and maybe even the main message, as I was writing it. Which is, in and of itself, a reference to the poem "The Graveyard by the Sea," as its opening lines are:

Le vent se lève! Il faut tenter de vivre. / The wind is rising! We must try to live.

It's a movie (and poem) about grief (war too, for the movie), and the idea that life gets really difficult and overwhelming but it's necessary for us to keep trying to live. Genshin, I feel like, is a game that's heavily colored by old grief that was never processed. I know you haven't played it but many, if not all, significant plot points draw on the fact that the people of the present have lost things irrevocably--people, homelands, lives, etc.

And my fic is this pre-canon rewrite of some characters' backstories in an attempt to make them happier, and less colored by grief--but there's an unavoidable sense of loss that creeps in whenever I write about Genshin characters anyway. So it's also about them learning to live when the world disappoints them.

Plus, you know, heavy references to the wind because it's Mondstadt-centric, and that's the city that houses the god of the wind. And the idea that Genshin is fundamentally about a world that is recovering from a war, and yet there's still a shadow war going on at the same time...Genshin's not an inherently sad game, but it is so viscerally about grief that you can't help but touch on it when you write in that world.

Some of the chapters also feature literary references, too. Chapter 14 is heavily inspired by, to the point of including, the Jewish story of the Golem (very good read, and Jacob Geller has a super intriguing youtube video about it). At least one chapter features FMA references, one is a promare reference, one is a reference to Snow White with the Red Hair (my favorite shoujo), references to Mo Dao Zu Shi...oh, and it quotes Dazai's The Setting Sun at one point.

As a last thing, I'll say that "Eat the Apple," my horror FyoGol fic, was inspired by a couple Naruto fics! The writing braincell will latch onto absolutely anything, literary or otherwise.

[sserpente]

Pastel Blue (Chapter 13)

Synopsis: After his lucky escape, the Tesseract takes Loki on new adventures–but unfortunately, his journeys through space do not go unnoticed and he soon ends up on the TVA’s radar. Working for them, albeit reluctantly, he keeps finding himself in the company of a young woman, Jess, who works in the linguistics department and who has a truly strange effect on him. Smitten by her confidence and smugness, he seeks her presence like a bee hunting for honey and lets her wreak havoc in his heart without really knowing why. But he is determined to find out. He means to escape his new prison anyway.

Find all chapters on my masterlist! ♥

A/N: Here we go! Another week, another update! Enjoy, everyone! ♥

Back in Fred’s lab, Jess had been holding back her tears ever since she’d found the energy to heave herself to work to not raise any suspicion. Betrayed. What else should she have expected? The TVA had not yet found out just how Loki had freed himself from the collar but truth be told… it was only a matter of time.

This was it. She wasn’t going to be put on probation again. Not for this. Not for helping a Variant of one of the beings who caused the TVA the most trouble. She’d be pruned. If she didn’t leave… then surely, she would die today.

As of right now, the whole of the TVA had been in an utter panic for the past hours. Mobius flew about from left to right, asking for news and any dividing branches, leaning over dozens of documents to figure out Loki’s potential hiding spot and when they finally found a branch, they were all quick to assume it must have been him.

Renslayer was already on the verge of madness, not the mention the poor Hunters and Minutemen she was chasing about like a drill instructor at the military. It was the perfect time to escape and yet, part of her couldn’t bring herself to leave. The TVA was her home.

“Jess!” Her blood froze, as did her whole body. Swallowing thickly, she turned around to face a spooked Loki starting towards her as if her very survival depended on the next few seconds. As soon as he was close enough, she drew back her hand and slapped him across the face, a satisfying sound of skin hitting skin echoing through the lab. That had felt good—she kind of wanted to do it again.

Loki briefly closed his eyes, letting the pain subside with a deep breath before looking her deep in the eye. Her heart skipped a beat, even more so when he gently took a hold of her upper arms. How he had made it past all the guards would remain a mystery to her. Why did he even come back?

“Jess, you need to listen to me.”

“No, you listen to me, you Asgardian piece of shit! I should have never trusted you. Fuck, I should have never let lust get the better of me. Fuck that connection between us, fuck you, fuck everything! What do you think they will do as soon as they count one and one together and realise it was me who let you escape? I have nowhere to go. The TVA was my home and you took that from me, how is it that you ruin everything you lay your hands on?!” She shrieked.

It was Odin who had something similar to him once, along with Mobius when he had first arrived at the TVA. Hearing it from Jess, however, felt like a dagger cutting his heart right out.

“Jess, please. Listen. I know you think I only shared my bed with you as a means to an end but that is not true.”

“Right, you’re telling me you weren’t just pretending to like me this whole time?” She retorted sarcastically.

“No, I…”

“Fuck off, Loki! What did you even come back for?”

“Jess! You are the Tesseract!” He interrupted her, gripping her tightly and pulling her even closer to him.

The linguist blinked at him, lips parting in utter shock. Bullshit. “Excuse me? What on Earth are you talking about? Is this another one of your tricks?”

“I met you. Well, not you—some sort of Variant of you. I used a TemPad to return to my alleged death, took the Tesseract and it brought me to New York in the 90s. It… she… found a way to regain her physical form. She is you.”

“That’s ridiculous.” She stammered. “How can I be an ancient and powerful artefact? An object? Don’t you think I would know? You know why I ended up here, my parents…”

“The TVA is lying to you. This connection that Mobius kept speaking of, his interest in our interactions together… he knew. He knew all along. Jess, we don’t have much time. We have to find your Variant and get out of here.”

Jess bit her lower lip. Was he telling the truth? This feeling… this feeling cooking up in her heart and consuming her entire body… it felt like Loki had just handed her a puzzle piece about herself on a silver platter. Something to make her whole again—and something that would explain her very being. The teleportation—portals—the multilingualism, even her love for Doctor Who…

“Tesseract… Tess… Jess… they didn’t even bother with my name, it seems.”

She was about to say something else when the heavy door opened and B-15, Mobius and Renslayer, along with a few serious-looking Minutemen and Hunters barged in. Mobius slowed them down with a swift movement of his hand, albeit did not stop them from aiming their prune sticks at Loki.

“Nowhere left to run, Loki. It’s time to give up.”

The God of Mischief reluctantly let go of her and turned to face them.

“Where is she?” He growled.

“She’s right here, Loki. Infinity Stones don’t work here, remember? We only found out recently what that meant. That the physical laws that apply to Variants of other beings don’t apply to the physical form of an Infinity Stone. Time tears itself apart in a place like this. The Variant you met in New York City, the one B-15 took back to the TVA, she no longer exists.”

Loki frowned. But they did work. Jess was able to use her powers. But it was a question that did not need answering. Because in her physical form, she was stronger than the whole of the TVA. Mobius had just found a clever way to suppress them with her earrings. Loki glanced at her ears. She had taken them off again.

“What are you saying?”

“The being you encountered in New York was an absolute point in time. We… we can’t say we didn’t try to override it like an old hard disk when you arrived at the TVA because I knew that would mean you’d escape and well… cause chaos, as usual.”

“So what, you kept her around as an experiment?”

“You’re twisting my words.”

Loki scoffed. “Oh? I remember someone else telling me that a long time ago and they ended up being one of the most manipulative and cruelest men of the nine realms.”

“So it’s true?” Jess interrupted, swallowing thickly. “I am really… the Tesseract?”

Mobius took a deep breath, letting a few painful seconds pass. “Yes. He’s not lying, for once.” Jess held on to the edge of the desk, her knees threatening to cease to support her any longer.

“Everything you told me… my whole past… It was all a lie? You made it all up?”

“We had to tell you something.”

“You reset me! You… you took my memories from me! Fuck you. Fuck you, Mobius! Fuck you!”

“Jess, please…”

“Don’t you dare call me that! It’s not even my real name, now is it?” She paused, taking in Mobius’ guilty expression. “Why did you keep me here in the first place? Why not prune me?”

“We can’t prune you. We tried. You’re an ancient being from before the existence of time. We… when we recruited Loki, we had to be sure neither of you finds out who the other is but that…” He took a deep breath. “That doesn’t mean we weren’t interested in how you would play out if confronted with one another.”

“Like a lab experiment,” she spat, repeating Loki’s words. Mobius shook his head.

“Loki causing your transformation back to a physical being already happened, that’s what an absolute point in time is all about, that is what was supposed to happen and that… created a time loop he keeps triggering with his presence here at the TVA. We tried to close it. If Loki had not created  an alternate timeline on the Arc where he died, we wouldn’t have taken you here.”

That’s why he had found him so quickly then. He’d known what diverging branch to look for. But there was another, far more devastating revelation.

“You knew… you knew this whole time that if you succeeded with closing that loop that I wouldn’t exist?”

“Yes. We had to. Your Variant creates portals that could drown the universe as we know it in chaos. It could potentially trigger a multiverse and the end of the proper flow of time.”

“You never truly cared about me then. You know, it all makes sense now. Why you kept me locked up and supervised like a goddamn criminal.”

“You’re a wild spirit, Jess. You needed security either way.” Mobius gave her a sly smile, a weak attempt to ask for forgiveness.

Jess glared at him, then exchanged a look with Loki, making up her mind there and then. She would go with him, wherever it was he was going to take her. Even if that meant he’d abandon her and that she’d be homeless. Escaping… escaping sounded tempting all of a sudden.

“That’s enough talking now. Let’s get this over with. Prune him.” Renslayer commanded. “And then reset her. I should have never allowed you to recruit this Loki in the first place, Mobius.”

“I thought you needed me.” Loki mused mockingly.

Renslayer snarled at him. “Our plans have changed.”

“Well, so did mine.” He growled. He shot Jess a knowing look and she understood. But was she truly ready? Where would they even go to? The portal she opened up swallowed them both within a fraction of a second, enveloping them both in hues of black and blue.

-

A/N: Be sure to let me know if you enjoyed this chapter and come say Hello on my Kofi! I really appreciate your support! ♥ ko-fi.com/sserpente

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

please. i can’t do this alone.

Titans 3.01

thoughts! thoughts! thoughts! some red hot thoughts!

SPOILERS ahead.

1. one episode in, and this season already looks set to give me everything i want. its abandonment of plot and storytelling conventions as it goes from one point to the next at breakneck speed; its cheerful bastardisation of iconic storylines from the comics; the ‘as-you-know-bob’ clunky exposition on one end and extremely restrained, subtle explorations of complex character dynamics on the other; endless shots of neon bleeding into black and blue corridors, shadows and silhouettes; my delight in seeing it celebrate and deconstruct the dark nolan-y batman aesthetic at the same time; my bafflement that it’s so fucking goddamn obsessed with the batfam when it’s supposed to be about the TITANS; kory just... saving every overburdened, clunky scene that she’s in by her sparkling charisma. just... *chef’s kiss*. muah. my show is back, in all its glory.

MY SHOW IS BACK, Y’ALL!

1.5. i mean... this show is so artful and weird and not afraid to go absolutely bonkers in exploring its characters’ psyche, but can just about barely stage a passable comic book fight when every tom dick and harry and their new streaming services can deliver ones that are far more exciting. i love this show with every atom of my body.

(there’s something to be said about rooting for the underdog as well. a pleasure in finding something to love about what other people dismiss. but! enough navel gazing! i have fictional characters’ navels to look at! metaphorically! and maybe literally!)

2. i expected jason’s death to come about pretty early in the season as soon as i heard rumours that red hood was showing up, but for it to happen in the first five minutes of the first episode... that’s a record. 

(well. “happen.” still don’t know what exactly went down there.)

2.25. GOD. jason is such a tortured and tragic character in this show, used and passed around by people with alleged good intentions, never really fitting in anywhere. he’s veritably bleeding vulnerability and the need to belong, the need to be known, and yet the tragedy is that his death proves that nobody in his life knew anything about him at all; that they only saw the flimsy walls he put up to protect his soft core, and thought that that was all there was. that they say they loved him, but blame him for his own death. 

dick is flabbergasted that jason can read, though we know from last season, from what jason revealed to rose, that he has a love for plays and music. barbara is quick to dismiss his actions as ‘impulsive’. bruce has no idea that his supposed son was building his own little chemistry lab right under his nose, and beyond that, no idea that jason needed structure, stability and validation beyond being left alone in a huge house with a treasure trove of dangerous weapons. kory thought his decision to fight the joker was from not learning and growing when the guy tried to kill himself last season and nobody apart from dick even tried to talk to him about it! did you consider that he might still be suicidal? especially after the titans admitted to having “given up” on him because he was just “too hard”?

2.5. the one thing that’s been consistent across all three seasons (so far) of the show is the unreliable narrator trope. there’s a reason why the characters’ dismissals of jason’s actions as impulsive is so repetitive; why jason’s death is a mystery dick feels compelled to solve. it’s a flailing attempt to know his brother much too late--but with red hood, maybe he gets a second chance, just like he got one with the titans. this is what jason’s arc has been building up to. this is ‘death in the family’ but more fucked up in some ways. it didn’t linger on the death because the death wasn’t the point. the joker isn’t the point. everything that came before it is.

this way it will also make perfect sense that the red hood’s main enemy becomes the titans rather than batman.

2.75. goodness knows what’s going on with jason’s little chemistry project. at first i thought he was immunising himself to joker gas or something, but maybe it’s what passes for lazarus pit juice in this universe? 

anyway, it’s pretty impressive that jason learnt all of that from a college chemistry textbook. STOP BRINGING UP THAT HE READ SOMETHING, DICK--

2.8. i’m glad that dick doesn’t immediately sink into self-loathing and guilt and tries to investigate jason’s death while also acknowledging how he failed him. it’s like he actually learned something from the last two years! 

anyway. more about dick later. 

3. oh how i love titans!bruce. a lot of characters had a lot of Opinions on his reaction to jason’s death in this episode, but again, i ask you to consider that they’re unreliable narrators, and this universe’s bruce is a product of how it shaped him. bruce wayne has become a phantom to himself--an artifice borne out of vigorous discipline and crushing self-denial. 

bruce has been batman for a very long time, and without a robin for much longer. (dick must be... in his early thirties? so he was robin for about, say, 10-12 years according to the timeline of the show. that still makes bruce pretty old when he took on his first robin.) things have... calcified (possibly parts of his brain). the personal cost and the collateral from the mission he’s taken up for most of his life is too much to countenance; it has to be a war, and war requires sacrifice. 

on some level bruce knows that’s a lie. he’s so goddamned alone. what’s he going to do? sit down and cry? who’s going to listen to him now? oh, is he going to just stop being batman? who’s going to stop gotham from consuming herself then? he’ll just have to forge ahead, do better next time, maybe he’ll be firmer with them, or kinder with them, or notice more things, or train them harder, or spend more time--

3.25. don’t get me wrong: titans!bruce is an asshole and a half. his roster of potential robins was honestly bone-chilling. the fact that there’s a twisted root of compassion makes it more disturbing. 

3.5. alfred’s dead! it must’ve been pretty recent, because i could’ve sworn that dick tried to call alfred in the very first episode of season 1, or at least considered calling him... 

what a devastating double-blow for bruce then, losing his father-figure and his, uh.... son-figure so close together.

4. i don’t know about barbara yet. i mean, i like her, but she had so much clunky expository dialogue to deliver this episode, and for an episode that was named after her, she only showed up halfway through it. but i like the weight of history behind her interactions with both bruce and dick and her compassion to bruce before he cruelly crossed a line. i also like the implication that she and dick have been in touch recently, and that she didn’t immediately try to guilt-trip dick about some perceived abandonment. it’d be too repetitive.

4.5. there’s also a sense that she ran interference for dick a lot whenever there was something Too Big and Emotional for him to confront directly, and i like and appreciate that character beat.

5. dick, my man! it really does feel like a substantial length of time has passed between the end of s2 and the beginning of s3... kory’s got a new costume, they’ve become celebrities in SF, working missions together, and dick’s actually smiling! genuinely enjoying his work and having fun with it for possibly the first time in the entire series! it’s really a far cry from the fractured, dysfunctional mess that they were at the end of the last season.

i just hope this doesn’t mean that they’ve magically reached a resolution off-screen to all of their fucked-upness from last season, and that the repercussions--for gar in particular--are actually addressed on screen. 

5.25. i mentioned this briefly above, but it really is so refreshing that dick doesn’t wallow in guilt and self-loathing after jason’s death; he acknowledges his and the titans’ failure, is able to admit to barbara honestly that he’s not doing great, and is actively trying to reach out to bruce to make sure he’s ok, is trying to investigate what made jason seek out the joker on his own, and is probably the only person not immediately buying that it was jason’s recklessness that got him killed. i love that dick is finally beginning to trust his instincts or just employ them at all after years of guilt and paranoia and self-loathing. we love some positive character growth!

5.5. another thing i love? the bruce-dick interactions on this show. every scene they’re in together is so fraught with tension, both of them holding themselves back, their emotions on a whipcord-tight leash. dick wants to reach out to bruce, is even somewhat familiar with this brand of denial in the wake of grief, but wants barbara to make the first move because he genuinely does not know how to get bruce to open up. his instincts are right, and wonderful, and genuine, but his expression has been smothered by years of trauma, emotional and physical self-discipline, and what i suspect is poorly treated mental illness. 

it takes a lot for him to finally explode at bruce at the end of the episode--in a way he hasn’t done even when his only opinion of bruce was ‘fuck him’--and it’s all the more startling for how subdued he’s been through the episode, how much he’s been holding back his emotions for bruce’s sake. love it.

5.75. it sort of hurts my heart to see the flying graysons poster in jason’s room. there are a few implications:

a) jason settled into dick’s old room despite living in a giant mansion with dozens of other rooms he could’ve used

b) he didn’t take down dick’s poster--not when he moved in and was idolising him, not when he moved out of the titans and was sort of hating him. i wonder if the reminder of what dick was before robin--that he was forged out of unspeakable tragedy--gave jason the connection to dick that he so desperately wanted in real life

c) dick moved right back into the room and slept on the bed that was now jason’s. grief can be so quiet and piecemeal sometimes.

6. i spy the beginnings of actual arcs for both gar and kory! i just hope that with the move to gotham their stories don’t fall to the wayside...

6.5. i’ve known tim drake for less than ten minutes but if anything were to happen to him i’d kill everybody 

7. this review has gone on for too long and i am tiRED. however, before i leave: i miss some of the dedication-to-aesthetic that titans season 1 used to have. remember how the first few episodes didn’t really feel like a superhero show but something out of gothic horror? there was something gorgeous and raw about that, about open landscapes and the road and creepy buildings looming up at the end of it. moving to titans tower in s2 really ruined a lot of that for me, given its ripped-from-architectural-digest aesthetic, all smooth and clean and artificial. 

i hope that we really explore gotham’s hellscape in interesting and innovative ways instead of camping out in the batcave all the time and indulging in the show’s unending love for long corridors, neon backlights and silhouettes.

8.....

9.  wait, fuck, HOW CAN I FORGET ABOUT HOT PSYCHIATRIST GUY (TM)??? NONE of you prepared me for his return! NONE OF YOU! i gasped! i got up and did a happy dance! 

listen, titans writers, if you’ve had a peek at my titans s3 wishlist, please go ahead and give the other items on the list a go too, thankyouverymuch.

[carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory]

Diamonds Are the World’s Best Friend: The Important Roles Diamonds Play in Society

by Shelby Wyzykowski

In the classic 1953 movie “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” is a memorable musical number performed by silver screen legend Marilyn Monroe. Wearing a striking pink satin gown and dripping in dazzling jewels, she is surrounded on the stage by a bevy of handsome suitors that are dressed to the nines. In this glamorous setting, she sings the praises of diamonds…how nothing in the world can compare to how it feels to possess these glittering gemstones. But off-screen, Monroe’s taste in brilliant baubles was radically different, preferring costume jewelry to the real thing. I have to admit that I agree with Marilyn. Diamonds have never held much interest for me. That is until now. After doing a little research, I’ve discovered that, besides their use in the jewelry industry, there are other ways in which diamonds are utilized in society today. In fact, there is so much more to these captivating stones than just their scintillating sparkle.

Perhaps you’ve heard the adage “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.” Well, it just might surprise you that this saying holds true for diamonds. In the jewelry world, a diamond with perfect clarity is the much-desired ideal. But in the scientific world, a so-called “poor” specimen that is full of inclusions (imperfections), could hold a treasure trove of geologic information. Researchers are studying them to try and uncover the secrets of the deep-Earth environment. The majority of diamonds are created fairly close to the Earth’s surface, between 93 and 150 miles down. But there are some diamonds, called super-deep diamonds, that come from far down in the Earth’s mantle and are as deep as 500 to 600 miles (the mantle, which is mostly made up of solid and very hot rock, is directly below the Earth’s surface layer, or crust, and makes up more than 80 percent of our planet’s volume). These 3.5 billion-year-old gems formed at a pressure that is 240,000 times the atmospheric pressure at sea level, and this fact makes these tiny stone time capsules extremely valuable to researchers. No doubt geologists would love to travel deep under our planet’s surface like the characters in Jules Verne’s 1864 science fiction novel Journey to the Center of the Earth. Unfortunately they can’t, but these super-deep diamonds are the next best thing to journeying there themselves!

With these diamonds, scientists are uncovering clues to the origins of water on Earth. Did water come from incoming asteroids and comets, or was water an integral component at the planet’s formation? We’re still not quite sure. But diamond research has brought us closer to figuring out how much water lies deep underground. Scientists think that there may in fact be as much water present in our planet’s deep subsurface as there is found in our oceans. They have developed this idea after discovering a special water encased in the inclusions of deep diamonds. Called ICE-VII, this water ice can only be formed under tremendous deep-Earth pressure. In addition to water, geologists have found an elusive mineral in diamond inclusions. Scientists had theorized it to be an extremely common mineral that makes up to 38 percent of the Earth’s volume, but it’s been impossible to create in a lab. Now that it’s been found in nature, researchers have the proof of its existence and have named it Silicate-Perovskite (or Bridgmanite). In addition to Bridgmanite, they have discovered other trace minerals and elements that are commonly present in the Earth’s crust. This means that the materials were subducted (drawn back down into the Earth) billions of years ago by plate tectonics. Deep in the mantle, the materials were encased in a forming deep-diamond and then eventually sent back up to the surface by way of volcanic eruptions. Even more exciting than all of these discoveries is the thought of what geologists still have yet to uncover. They still hope to find carbon from primordial organic matter in these special diamonds. That matter could be a clue to the origins of life on Earth!

"Earth’s most abundant mineral finally has a name" byArgonne National Laboratory is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

In addition to their contributions to the scientific field, diamonds also have practical uses in society. In the mid-1950’s, synthetic diamonds were invented. Created in a lab, they are chemically and physically exactly the same as natural diamonds. However, these man-made gems do not possess the allure and mystery of natural diamonds, so they are not very desirable in the jewelry market. But since diamonds are the hardest known natural substance, they are ideal for industrial use. For example, they can be pulverized into a fine abrasive that can be made into a “diamond paste” and used for polishing other jewelry-grade gemstones. Small particles of diamond can also be embedded in tools like saw blades, drill bits, and grinding wheels. These diamond-coated tools are very wear-resistant and can be used for mining, deep-sea drilling, and road construction. And there are some ingenious uses for diamonds that you may find to be very surprising. Diamond windows can be made from very thin (thinner than a human hair) diamond membranes. These windows cover X-ray machines, laser openings, and vacuum chambers. A diamond can also make your music sound better. A speaker dome made out of diamonds can vibrate very rapidly because this gem is such a stiff material. So it is ideal for enhancing the performance of high-quality speakers. Diamonds can even help you keep track of time. Small mechanical devices, such as watches, have tiny bearings inside of them that make everything move (in a watch, it’s called its “movement”). A thin coating of diamond makes these parts wear-resistant and ensures accurate time-telling and lasting durability. From helping to build highways to making your timepiece tick, who knew that diamonds could be so useful in so many ways!

CM18561 is located in the Native Elements case in Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems. Source: https://carnegiemnh.org/emu_widgets/mineralogy.html#details=ecatalogue.2019718

Yet another important role that diamonds have played in our world is how they have influenced history. The brilliantly blue, supposedly cursed Hope Diamond, for example, has not brought much luck to its owners since it was discovered over 350 years ago. It was in the possession of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI until their untimely deaths during the French Revolution. Subsequent owners also met with unfortunate outcomes until it was donated to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History where it is now safely on display. Another famous diamond, the 750 year-old Koh-i-Noor, has been owned by many royal rulers. It once decorated the Peacock Throne that was used by the Mughal Emperors of India, including Shah Juhan, the builder of the Taj Mahal. Now in England, the stone is part of the Imperial Crown. Due to an alleged curse, it can only ever be worn by the royal family’s female members. Finally, there is the Regent Diamond, which was unearthed in the early 1700’s. After being owned by several rulers, it disappeared during the French Revolution. Years later, it reappeared in the sword of Napoleon. But he was unable to hold onto it for long. After being defeated by the British in the Battle of Waterloo, the once-great ruler was exiled to the tiny island of Elba in disgrace. Since 1987, the Regent’s home has been at the French Royal Treasury in the Louvre in Paris. But you don’t need to travel to France or Great Britain or Washington D.C. to see the Regent Diamond, the Koh-i-Noor, and the Hope Diamond. Replicas of these three stones plus many more world-famous diamond replicas are on display at the Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems. While you’re there, you can also admire some expertly crafted pieces of authentic diamond jewelry that would make any gem lover’s heart skip a beat.

Even though Hillman’s diamond collection is truly amazing, I can’t help but wonder if it would have impressed someone like Marilyn Monroe. Apart from a single piece of jewelry, the diamond wedding band that was given to her by Joe DiMaggio, she had no real affinity for diamonds. Apparently, the legendary actress didn’t believe that they’re a girl’s best friend. But if she had been given the opportunity to find out about all of the other meaningful ways in which diamonds benefit our world, perhaps this screen siren might have developed a new appreciation for these precious gems. I know that I have. I’d like to think that Marilyn would have too.

Shelby Wyzykowski is a Gallery Experience Presenter in CMNH’s Life Long Learning Department. Museum staff, volunteers, and interns are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

[alternativewinxcontinuity]

Well, I read the ‘sneak peak’. God I hope they cut a lot out because there were places where the pacing felt like they cut something out.

The was... a general level of ‘I think I’d have more fun beating my head against the wall’, but there were a few places where I had some things that needed to be said.

Under the cut because I’ve included the full available text in addition to my b*tchy little notes.

So I’ve just realised the whole thing +sneak peak is 14,232 words, that’s a bit excessive for a single post.

I might leave just the snark here (I chucked the +sneak peak chapters up on AO3, it’s just for more contexts.)

Prologue

Under her list of ideas, she’d written the results of her experiments.

July 6th—candles—no burns.

July 8th—camping stove—no burns.

July 10th—blowtorch—no burns.

Experimenting on herself had been scary, but not as scary as the memory of her home burning.

You set shit on fire and your only experiments thus far are: “does this burn me? How about this?” CHILD! Start with a candle, a lighter and a f*cking FIRE EXTINGUISHER and practice putting out a single flame!!!! Then: light a single candle!

Stop putting your hand in fire if it scares you! “I am this many kinds of fire proof” does not equal “control of fire so I don't hurt anyone else”!!!!

Also, the wall behind the woman had opened into a shimmering portal of light. Just another clue that something unusual was going on.

Bloom waved this off. “Is this the part where you tell me I’m magic now?”

“You always were, Bloom,” said Headmistress Dowling. “You just didn’t know it yet.”

That was enough. She might have mysterious powers that were out of control, the world might be going mad, but her parents hadn’t raised her to listen to strange adults who approached in the dead of night with what sounded like a cult recruitment speech. Bloom snorted, abandoned her sleeping bag, and made for the door.

The woman’s voice stopped her at the mouth of the warehouse.

“I know about the fire, Bloom.”

Bloom trembled like a candle flame in a gust of wind. Slowly, she turned around. The woman was watching her with a steady gaze, keen but not unkind.

“Where are you going? You can’t go home. You’re too afraid you’ll hurt your parents again.”

Headmistress Dowling was right.

Kay, so obvious magic goes unremarked upon, not even a “nice trick with the lights, is that suppose to convince me”.

Also, either someone's been stalking Bloom, or Dowling is some kind of Mind Fairy.

FIRE

Once upon a time, it was my favorite possession, the fanciest book I owned, with golden swirls on the cover. But I’d grown up and packed the book into my old toy chest along with my teddy bears. I’d thought I was long past fairy tales.

That was before I used magic to burn down my house. My toy chest and my fairy-tale book had burned, too.

Creators kick my nostalgia for the lulz: 01

My book of fairy tales hadn’t included a swarm of kids around my age. One long-legged, capable-looking African American chick strode by, wearing a denim jacket and carrying a bag full of athletic gear. Wait, she wasn’t African American. Fairies didn’t have Africa or America. I didn’t know the name of the fairy realm I was currently in. Also, I hadn’t pictured fairies being into extreme sports.

Another girl, pale with a cloud of brown hair, was clutching several plants to her bosom as she hurried across the courtyard. A third sauntered by, vaguely punk rock and olive-skinned and wearing enormous headphones that buzzed faintly on her ears. I hadn’t pictured fairies rocking out, either.

Oh look, this Bloom also subscribes to the: “it's not whitewashing if they're aliens” theory

There was a rangy guy with skinny jeans, overly sardonic eyebrows, and a knife-bridge nose. California had plenty of white boy edgelords, but this edgelord had an actual knife. Oh no, actual knife! I wasn’t interested in getting to know Knife Boy better.

Called out Riven.

A stunning blonde girl with porcelain skin was taking a selfie with a group of overawed younger students. A luminous wisp floated in the air, making her glossy hair shine. Talk about a beauty angle. Seemingly, fairies could create their own beauty lighting.

Bloom is gay for Stella count: 01

I sneaked a look at him and grinned. His hair had coiffed peaks like a gold helmet and his shirt was pink, which I liked because gender stereotypes were for the weak. He even had a summer tan that fishbelly-pale redheaded me could only dream of. But no matter how cute he was, I wasn’t going to encourage him.

“I guess that means we have to do this forever. There are worse things, but—”

I stopped and turned to him. “I don’t need help, but thanks.”

Now I was looking at him properly, Some Guy was very cute, with a hero jawline and a confident air. Some Guy might be cute, but I was the independent type.

By the way, it's very important you all know that Bloom is a strong independent woman™  who scoff at gender roles, because she's hip and edgy, but she's like, totes not an edgelord(!) She's cool(!) Even if she hates her super pale skin.

Some of the chandeliers in this place were so dainty and delicate, they looked like stars suspended on gilt ribbons. The rooms were large and bright, with sunbeams dyed by stained-glass windows that were as intricate as the embroidery on a princess’s hem. Much of the stained glass was different shades of green, subtly coloring the air around us as though we were in a world made of jade and emerald.

Welcome to the Emerald City of Oz?

She continued talking, full of ennui about the fairy-tale castle, while I sneaked another look at her ring. “If you ever want to go back,” Stella said as she deliberately flashed it at me. She was making some kind of power play, and I didn’t know why.

Stella might be a bitch now, but I'm pretty sure It's only because Stella is also Diaspro in this reality?

FIRE

There was a realm called Eraklyon, which sounded like a dragon clearing its throat.

I mean... that's one way to pronounce it? I guess?

FIRE

I’d do anything for my parents, including lie to them about my new boarding school in Definitely Switzerland. 

Your parents didn't ask about any paper work? They just accepted that you were moving overseas without warning? Who's paying for this alleged boarding school? Actually how are you paying for school?

We’d get dressed up and she’d play me cheerleader-type music. I remembered one chant that went Close your eyes and open your heart! The cheesy brainwashing hadn’t worked. I never much cared about frilly princess gowns, but I liked the idea of being at home in my princess castle.

Creators kick my nostalgia for the lulz: 02

In what beautiful blonde Stella had called the Winx suite—a bright series of rooms with tall windows and a view I couldn’t allow my parents to see—only one person got a room of their own. To my total lack of surprise, that person was Stella.

Bloom is gay for Stella count: 02

Creators kick my nostalgia for the lulz: 03

Really? That's how you're chosing to shoe-horn the Winx brand in? It just happens to be the name of their dorm. Sorry, their 'suite'.

When Mom, always waiting for my transformation into Ms. Popular, asked about the other girls, I shrugged. “Honestly, it’s five girls in an enclosed space, so … it’s only a matter of time before we descend into a Lord of the Flies situation and kill one another.”

So... no. Lord of the Flies is an extension of a study in relation to a very specific mono-ethnic (white), male and privileged group. It is literally young rich white boys, and the break down in community and sense of ethics that results in their single bias attitudes in the face of adversity.

The Winx are firstly female, multi-ethnic (not as much as they should be) and from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. If it devolves into murder, it will be vicious but it will not be “Lord of the Flies.” Find a better reference.

I busied myself with unpacking to hide my discomfort. “Ms. Dowling said there’s a fairy somewhere in my family tree? A long-dormant magical bloodline?” I sighed. “One day I will get used to how ridiculous all this sounds.��

Aisha’s surprise became wry amusement. “Oh my God. Have I just met the one person in the universe who’s never read Harry Potter?”

… why is that your conclusion? Long lost princess/prince/hero/magical heir swept up for adventure is a common trope. It doesn't make it feel any less ridiculous.

I wondered if any of my new suitemates ever felt that way. Happy bustling Terra, cool girl Musa, glamorous Stella, and Aisha who seemed so grounded.

It is so amazing how the girls that Bloom just happened to notice outside, you know, the only girls Bloom noticed outside, are all her roommates.

MIND

Terra’s super sweet voice revved into overdrive, picking up speed and frantic pleasantness on the way. “She’s just having fun. And I know it’s a lot. Shocker, Earth Fairy named Terra likes plants. It’s a family thing. I’ve got a cousin named Flora. My mom’s name is Rose, and my dad works in the greenhouse here. That’s why I know a lot of the second years. I grew up around Alfea, and—”

ohp, there it is

Creators kick my nostalgia for the lulz:04

“Stella’s a second year? Why is she in a suite full of first years?”

“Oh yeah. Actually … I don’t know. Some administrative thing last year? I mean, I think …”

I think you’re lying, thought Musa. She turned her back and dipped her power toward Terra, getting a faint sense that …

Somehow I doubt it was blowing up a potions lab in pursuit of a new shade of pink.

SPECIALIST

Less cool was Sky, Riven’s super annoying best friend in the whole world, who was rattling on about the ginger girl from the human world he’d met yesterday. Riven was sure she was crazy. He knew this because crazy was what Sky looked for in a woman.

So Riven is Riven and Brandon, okay.

I hate these assholes.

Riven bared his teeth. “Correction: I got high this summer.”

… : /

There was no real point trying to beat Sky. He was the best. Anyone in Alfea could tell you that … right after they told you Riven was the worst.

There was no real point, but Riven kept trying to beat Sky, anyway. Hey, nobody ever said Riven was smart.

… >:(

Sky’s dad was Andreas of Eraklyon, the dead legendary hero, slayer of the Burned Ones. Sky’s dad-substitute was Specialist Headmaster Silva, their fearless leader with the cold blue eyes and passion for early morning runs.

So many dead parents suddenly

He passed the blue, shimmering Barrier and went into the deep, dark woods. He could almost hear Silva’s voice now, telling the first years that the Barrier was their magical shield against the Burned Ones. Beware those merciless monsters with their inhuman strength and speed, never mind that nobody’s seen one in sixteen years, woo woo, so scary.

And Bloom is how old? Also: guess who’s about to start showing up suddenly! Trick question, it’s the Burned Ones, the ones we’ve already been told are the new series’ enemy.

EARTH

Their suite was called the Winx suite, which was such a cool name. Maybe they could call themselves the Winx Club?

Yep, they're going with that, okay. 

You couldn’t even name the suit Wings in the kind of obnoxious cursive that makes it look like Winx and have Bloom misread it and become a running joke amongst the girls?!?!?!

Terra nervously eyed the food laid out on the tables before them. Sometimes she felt as if food might bite her before she bit into it. She couldn’t take cookies. All the other girls in the Winx suite were so skinny and pretty. If Terra ate a bunch of cookies, people would say, “No wonder she looks like that.” But if Terra got a plate full of carrots, people would say, “Who does she think she’s kidding, when she looks like that?” It was hard to know what to do.

Wow, just, wow. Terra honey, they do you so dirty. Fat girls don't have to hate themselves, just a note for the creators. And Terra, baby, if people gonna talk shit either way, you eat whatever the f*ck you want.

(If this is not the set up for a personal growth arc in which Terra learns to not-hate-her-body and that she is worth loving regardless, and the creators really think plus sized folks just hate themselves as a constant state of being, I'mma be so unbelievably pissed off.)

She wasn’t going to hunt for her annoying brother.

Hold up, Terra has a brother?

FIRE

I still needed a breather. “Where can I go that’s the opposite of this? What’s outside?”

Cute Guy looked alarmed. “Past the Barrier? Depending on the rumors, bears or wolves or something much scarier.”

Did you not hear about the dead body? The very mutilated dead body? Sky, buddy? You're not going to bring up the very murdered and mutilated dead body in order to prevent the new girl from a foreign world (that you want to bang) from going into actual and legitimate danger? No?

I thought about Stella saying once she knew me, she’d find something to love about me.

It made me smile.

Bloom is gay for Stella count: 03

As if I’d conjured her by thinking about her, Stella’s voice rang out. “Hey, Sky. Can we talk?”

Stella was wearing her flawless new outfit and holding two drinks. Every twinkly light in the courtyard caught gold in her hair. She was looking right at Cute Guy, whose name was apparently Sky. From Sky’s expression, he knew Stella pretty well.

Yeah, Stella is Diaspro now

EARTH

Oh, for the love of … Riven was menace-flirting at some poor Specialist boy. This was Riven’s typical behavior when he felt off balance. Terra had once witnessed Riven looming at a fern in a way that suggested he either wanted to prune viciously or make out.

I... what???

“Really? Bullying the new kid? Be more obvious.”

Riven smirked, because of course he did. “Can’t bully the willing. Right?”

There was something loaded about Riven’s tone.

“I don’t know what that means!” the new boy said sharply.

The new boy was clearly feeling uncomfortable. Terra sympathized. The poor thing mustn’t take Riven’s terrible personality personally.

Well, someone belongs on a sex offenders registry. What the f*ck Terra, don't excuse this shit, it's not okay.

“But sometimes we’ve had a bad day, and a scrawny little twerp says the wrong thing at the wrong time,” Terra purred. “And all of a sudden, we’re not happy you’re talking to us. And we’re not nice. And most of all, we’re not harmless.”

“purred”, really? You gonna make it sound sensual? Let the girl Snarl! Damnit!

The vines were suffocating him so he couldn’t even talk. It was so nice and peaceful.

Terra smiled sweetly. “What’s that, Riv? I’m sure it’s clever. I just can’t hear you.”

His face turned red. He was about to pass out, Terra noted, still with that feeling of cheery distance. She shouldn’t actually let him faint. Riven would hate that.

Uhhh, so Terra might have psychopathic tendencies and maybe a dissociative disorder.

She shouldn’t actually let him faint. Riven would hate that.

Yeah, and his victim would have hated being assaulted, choke this douche.

Gods above I cannot stress how much I hate this Riven in comparison to OG Riven, and I was not OG Riven's biggest fan.

FIRE

THESE ARE THE SCENES FROM THE TRAILER!!!!!

Bloom continues to be a dumbass.

WATER

Aisha wasn’t used to Alfea, but she was used to being part of a team. 

Well someone hasn't watched the show.

How her mother and Bloom had been fighting about her social life, and how Bloom would rather fix old lamps than cheerlead.

Who is this woman, where is Vanessa? And Bloom's art thing? The lamps sounds interesting, but I've never seen sign of it yet, was it cut for time?

“It was almost like the fire had a life of its own,” Bloom went on. “I don’t remember how long I let it burn. I just remember their screams.”

When Bloom finished the story, she was clearly fighting back tears. A subtle, weary tremor went through her frame, like a runner past her endurance. It seemed like Bloom had been fighting for a long time.

“My mom was covered in third-degree burns,” Bloom said. “Because of me. And if I hadn’t gone in there to stop it? To stop what I started?” She looked completely burned out.

“Every night after that, I sneaked out. I was so scared I’d hurt them again that I slept in this creepy-ass warehouse near home. Until Ms. Dowling found me and …”

Given the Tragic Backstory™ , I'm actually a little surprised Bloom didn't straight up run away from home completely, the fact that she went back at all...

“I’ve heard the story of my birth a million times.” Bloom’s tone brooked no argument. “Miracle baby. There was a problem with my heart in the womb, but the day after I was born, it was gone.”

Aisha went cold. “Oh God,” she breathed. “You’re a changeling.”

Because Bloom needs to be even more Special™, this is doing nothing to ruin my theory Bloom is a Burned One, by the way. (Actually starting to think Burned Ones are Fire Fairies whose powers pretty much consumed them or cursed that way or something along those lines.)

So where's the “real” Bloom Peters? Was the fetus even real, or just a simulacrum to have something to switch MC Bloom with?

MIND

Stella’s tone gave Musa pause. Plus, Musa could tell Aisha was really upset. Deliberately, she let her powers turn on, and faced Stella with her eyes glowing.

I'm sorry, I thought Musa couldn't control her powers and that’s why she “has to wear her headphones at all times to block out the noise of other peoples emotions”, now she can 'deliberately turn them on'? When did this happen? Did I miss some Implications?

“You’re a Mind Fairy,” Aisha observed, but there was no other judgment.

Aisha turned to Stella just as Terra came out of her and Musa’s room.

“A Mind Fairy?” Terra repeated sharply. “What’s your connection? Memories, thoughts—”

Okay, so now we learn there are different types of mind fairies. Explain to me why Musa is an Empath with Synthetic input? ('hearing' feelings, or experiencing them in a way that registers as audio.) Is this a “Song of their Hearts” reference, because I don't feel like that was done on purpose if it is.

Only Terra was moving toward Stella, and the way she moved wasn’t Terra’s usual going-nowhere happy bustle. The way Terra moved was that of a woman on the warpath.

Musa was almost impressed.

“She was talking to Sky, wasn’t she?” Terra demanded.

“And?” Stella demanded haughtily in return.

Terra pursued: “And I know what happened to the last person who talked to Sky. I was here last year, remember?”

A crack appeared in Stella’s veneer as she shot back, “You don’t know the full story!”

Didn’t seem like Terra cared. “Ricki was your best friend, then she talked to Sky. Now she’s not here anymore. Why is that again?”

Yeah, definitely getting the feeling DiaStella isn't being held back for a Pursuit of Pink Potions accident.

FIRE

There was even more rustling than usual in the detritus piled in the warehouse corners, but I didn’t care.

Why teleport there? Is there a Rule about where Portals can go? Or is is just Because Bloom felt this was the best place to pop in?

“You don’t have to be okay,” Mom assured me. “You’re only sixteen. Being that far away is a huge deal.”

Dad said gently, “I couldn’t have done it when I was your age. Be thankful you got your mom’s bravery.”

But now I knew that wasn’t true. I didn’t get anything from my mom. No wonder I was always such a disappointment to her.

Osmosis [noun] Def. 2. the process of gradual or unconscious assimilation of ideas, knowledge, etc..

You have some damn decent parents by the sounds of this scene, even if your mother is sure you're a likeable human being who will have friends one day, why are you this way?! For the Angst points?!

Only I could see Mom through the kitchen window. She didn’t seem disappointed. She looked so happy just to be talking to me. How could I ever tell her what I did to her? How could I ever tell her what I was?

Okay, so this line is bringing back the “they deserve to know what I am” line from the trailer, and now I'm torn between “The Winx deserve to know Bloom is a Burned One” and “my parents deserve to know I'm a Magical Fire Fairy (who burned down our house) and maybe a Changeling and thus not their biological daughter technically, maybe.”

My parents told me they loved me. I knew I loved them. And I knew I didn’t belong here. Maybe I never had.

May I advise you: remove your angst blanket, turn on a light and clean the room to remove the Dark and Gritty filters of your life.

I heard faint whispers. Sibilant. Strange.

Sibilant means hissing by the way. In case anyone was wondering.

The monster was on the grate above me.

I crawled as fast as I could. The ring was on the other side of the mesh, but there was a hole just big enough for my hand to get through. I reached for the ring, almost had it.

But in the crawl space in front of me, past the barrier, the shadow of the creature passed on top of the grate. The monster bashed frantically at the grate. Once. Twice. Until with a ringing metallic crash, the monster fell into the claustrophobic space with me.

I made one last grab for the ring, but the monster slammed its hand down on it.

Oh man, if only telekinesis was one of the most basic of Fairy abilities Bloom might have been able to do something, but no, it's basic bitch elements or nothing.

SPECIALIST

I really freaking hate this version of Sky, just, so much.

Terra has her suspicions about the Stella-Sky dynamic and she just, 'oh they's in love at first sigh nothing could possibly go wrong here' hand the number over? Really?

Diaspro!Stella confirmed?

[thewhumpstuff]

Flashback

Flashback - [So, this got longer than I intended. It probably needs to be cruelly edited. But, nah. I’m just going to throw it into the void!

@badthingshappenbingo​​ [Original Characters and content for - Reopening an Old Wound] Whumptober Day: No. 6 - Please -   “Get it out!” No more. “Stop, please!” [Sorta all three]   Ten Trails: Heart and Soul (2)- Repressed memories [@yuckwhump​] CW/TW: Uncomfortable invasion of the mind. References to interrogation, captivity and potential torture. Reference to implied bullying in the OC’s past. [Please let me know if I missed anything] [I don’t think there is anything triggering about the abstract art, hopefully, so its just out here. FYI-That is a man casually ‘caught up’ in his brain.]

Zach drummed an arrhythmic beat against the edge of his table, when the door to his office slid upon and the framework framed Akira like a painting, “Ah, good! You’re here. I’ve been led to believe you possess a unique set of skills and are the perfect candidate to... solve a little problem I’ve chanced upon. Shall we?”  She wasn’t given a chance to make her way into his office. Within a moment, he was already crowding her. Zach shepherded her towards a vehicle. They rode in uncomfortable silence. There weren’t too many people who could set Akira on edge, but Zach was definitely one of them. She assumed it was because she couldn’t get a read on him. And the tenebrous past he shared with Jared. The vehicle pulled up and she almost opened her side of the door into Zach’s crotch, accidentally. She stopped herself just in time, leaving the door slightly ajar. With a soft huff of disappointment and impatience, Zach opened it all the way and waited for her to step out. Akira really wasn’t accustomed to this level of archaic chivalry. The silence continued to loom as they walked past the wired fence, to the decommissioned lab. It was marked for repair and rennovation. As they rounded to the door, he went on to warn her, with feigned concern, that did fool her. “This is not going to be easy. It certainly isn’t for me, but I trust you know, that as Amity Enforcers, it's our duty to defend the goals of the Global Confederate. ”

Her brows knitted and her eyes narrowed, but she nodded. They made their way inside. Their footsteps echoed in the vacant reception area and continued to click as they walked through the lobby and the labyrinth of corridors. The first couple of floors had already been revamped and restored. From the corner of her eyes, she noted the silhouettes of wrapped equipment. She recognized them with ease, some were bots for medical procedures, others were devices typically used for research… on human subjects. They were flush against the walls haphazardly. He led her into a softly lit room, and stopped by two-sided mirror. The other side was dark. Akira stared at their reflections.  In retrospect, the sincerity in Zach’s expressions, would surprise her. Another guilty reassurance followed. It felt like he was setting her up for some kind of a climax,  “I assure you, I’ve done my due diligence, and grave apologies that I wasn’t able to get to him before the others. He’s a little roughed up. Needless to say, he’ll be fixed up. Perhaps you can help with that too…” Zach fiddled with something that looked like a keypad touch screen. Bright fluorescent lights illuminated the room beyond the mirror. Akira did a double-take and didn’t realise she was holding her breath. Jared. She didn’t need to see his face to recognize him. He didn’t have a shirt on and his pants looked scruffy. Angry, fresh bruises covered most of the skin that she could see. Cuffs cinched his wrists behind his back. His cheek sat in a small pool of blood. Crimson that leaked from a cut lip and from his nose. His chest rose and fell erratically. Jared didn’t react to the lights. He was either asleep… Or just unconscious. Zach’s little roughed up didn’t exactly do justice.

 She couldn’t tear her eyes off Jared, but she found her voice and addressed Zach in an indignant hiss, “What the fuck is this?” Zach ran gloved fingers through his silken strands, “I told you this wasn’t going to be easy. I recognize that your relationship, predisposes you to defend him. To take his side. And that’s good. Because-” Aki interrupted him through grit teeth, “Get to the point damnit. What reason do you have to hold him like this?” She found it very hard to maintain composure. Her eyes still riveted on Jared, till Zach’s fingers found Akira’s jaw. He held it to force her to turn and look at him. She did turn, but also jerked away from his hand. He didn’t press for contact. Zach’s voice darkened. It got colder and softer with a bridled rage, “I’m going to let that tone slide. Compelling evidence has surfaced, that declares him responsible for the death of my mother… and my subsequent capture. And that he either is, or was associated with SpecSyn.” His tone reminded her of the chilly one that Jared assumed, when he had reason to truly mean whatever threat he was uttering. The comparison was unsettling. Zach went on, “And I’d like very much to believe this evidence is bogus, because I don’t want it to be true. As much as you probably don’t. We grew up together, him and I. We trained in G.C.A together, served in Sector Nine together… ” She noticed a sort of hurt in Zach’s eyes. The kind of pain that screamed betrayal. For the briefest of moments it made her trust him, as he went on talking, “And I’m doing my very best to not fall prey to my anger… Akira. So please… help me. Help me wipe these allegations once and for all. You convince me, and I’ll take care of the rest.” Akira sounded hesitant, she was processing everything a little too slowly to immediately recognize what Zach wanted. So she defended Jared rather simply, “Look, I don’t know what to tell you, he never told me anything-” Zach’s voice changed to something practical and detached again, like this was just any other mission detail. This also reminded her of Jared. “No, of course he didn’t. Despite how intimate you two are, I doubt he would’ve trusted you with anything important, or too personal. He’s always been an agent first… Apparently, just not for G.C.” She could sense that he was provoking her now and instilling doubt again… Somewhat successfully.  Jared had always been rather tight-lipped. Even more so around the subject of the events that led to Azrael’s death and his missions. They’d argued about it on more than one occasion. Now was not the time to get hung up on the way the truth of his words stung. She turned her back to Jared and leaned against the two-way mirror. Zach went on, “Frankly, I’m surprised you didn’t simply-” She challenged with another interruption, eager to defend the relationship he sounded so dismissive about. “What? Just read him? Relationships don’t work like that, Zach... I trust him. Still do. Always will.” Her heart sank when she finally realised what the man wanted. And he made quick work of confirming Akira’s assumptions, “Well, push has come to shove. And if you trust him so much, you shouldn’t find anything in there-” He rested one hand against the glass of the two-way mirror and tapped it. ‘-In there, that’s too alarming. I say you- and by that I mean we, because we’re running out of options. So, convince me, he truly doesn’t know anything. And I’ll make sure he’s free to go. And you.” And me? She folded her arms across her chest, “I didn’t realise I was not free to go. So what, I’m a prisoner now too?” Zach stepped in closer and placed his other hand on the surface of the mirror behind Akira. Her face was between his palms and she felt a little trapped, by the situation and literally by Zach’s proximity, but she did her best to not show it. He shrugged, “The Jared I  know, would’ve worked alone, but the others would not hesitate to assume your involvement by proxy. And it doesn’t help that you’re a Niner. But, like I’ve said before I’d like to stay on your side, on his side.” She drew in a long shaky breath, her voice fell to an uncertain whisper, “It…. My power doesn’t work like that. It’s not so perfect… I can’t just give you what you want.” He smiled, realising that she’d understood that her options were limited and was at least, considering compliance. “I know how your power works. And I’ll guide you. We’ll have to find a way, for his sake.” Nonetheless, she obviously had to check if there was in fact, any other way. She wasn’t too keen on breaking that sacrosanct trust, “What if I say no?” Zach huffed brusquely, “Then I’ll have no choice but to give the two of you up. I can only buy so much time. They’ll either force a confession false or not... or kill both of you in the process of doing so… So, Akira, I really don’t want to spend our time constantly reminding you, that I’m the only thing standing in the way of a very… very bleak future for both of you.” So, no real choice indeed. A small part of Akira rejoiced and then recoiled with guilt. The part that did want to know all of Jared’s secrets, just so they could clear the air once and for all. The part she’d leashed, with difficulty and upon his insistence- out of respect for what they shared... Another part of her curled up in fear of what she’d actually find. And how she’d hide it from Zach, if it was indeed incriminating. “How do you expect me to convince you?” Zach looked beyond her, presumably at Jared, as he laid out the plan, “To make sure you aren’t lying, I’ll first have you dredge up memories of his time with me, details that I can confirm. Things you’re unlikely to know about, at least not in all their specificity. Then we can work towards the rest. It’ll be a process… But hopefully, Jared gets out of this absolved and we all walk away unharmed. I’ll have Mark monitor your stats when we get to the important stuff. So I’ll know if you’re lying. You know Mark right, I believe you’ve worked with him? That should make all this a little easier...”

-

Carrying a glass of water, painkillers and some tissues, she walked into the cell alone. Her SmartNeura was connected to Zach’s, so he could instruct her without Jared’s knowledge. Jared was still curled on the floor. He had not moved almost at all. His knuckles were unbruised. But his wrists bore evidence of struggle. She gathered that Jared had not resisted arrest and that they’d hurt him after he was already cuffed. Presumably to get quick answers. Knowing him, he must’ve chosen silence. She assumed he was in some drug induced stupor now, she was wrong. “Jared…” He sat up so quickly, she and her heart jumped. “Shira? What the hell are you doing here?” Why did his tone sound accusative? “Z-” Before she could tell him, Zach interrupted her sharply, “No. Don’t name me. He doesn’t need to know of my involvement yet. Tell him someone else asked you for help with the interrogation-Better yet, tell him you heard and volunteered. Keep it vague.” Akira chewed the side of her lips and looked at Jared as intently as she could, she wasn’t sure if he could see truth in her eyes. She went and flopped by his side, cross-legged. And put the water beside him, along with the painkillers and tissues. He picked up the latter to wipe away the blood. She repeated Zach almost word for word, “I…  heard they caught you and volunteered to help.” She was hoping Jared would recognize the foreignness of her words. Unfortunately, given his current state, he either didn’t, or did a damn good job of hiding it. His eyes widened. She knew he was definitely closing in on her intent. And desperately hoping it wasn’t true, just like she had been, just moments ago. “Help how?” She was at a loss of words. Aki jerked her chin towards his head. She really didn’t want to spell it out, “You know… I’ll just… Read and confirm you innoc-” Jared shot up like a spring, and was on his feet. He staggered as he backed away from her. He sounded uncharacteristically flustered, his words as choppy as his faltering steps,  “Why the fuck would you- We’ve gone over this… We agreed- It’s the one thing I’ve asked for- Wait you told them about your- Just…Just… Get outta here and let them do what they want. You don’t need to get involved. Why would they believe you anyway?” He kept shuffling away as he talked, to literally stay out of her reach. Till he had nowhere left to go. Akira didn’t move towards him, she remained on the floor and stared at it. She wanted to yell. To let him know in no uncertain terms that she didn’t want any of this. That she had no choice. That it wasn’t going to be a damn walk in the park for her either. That she’d been summoned. And that she was glad that she’d been called. At least she could buy them some time to figure this out. That she couldn’t, in good faith, just… let them do what they wanted. She sat frozen, screaming internally till Zach was compelled to intervene. He sounded impatient… but Aki could swear, he also sounded mildly delirious, “Tell him, it's too late and you’re already involved. Tell him, he doesn’t have a real choice. Then ask him about Erebus at the C.T.F we did for training at G.C.A. Read the memory that comes up. I’m staring us off easy.”

In his impatience, Zach was revealing himself with every suggestion and Akira was glad that he was. Though she wasn’t sure if Jared was truly catching on, or not. She’d heard him speak of Erebus - now an Acer himself, working in the resources department- and not too fondly. She had nothing specific enough for her to fib her way through this. Akira cleared her throat and repeated Zach’s words, paraphrasing just enough to change the perspective, and couch her question as a memory-trigger, “Look, I’m already here. So this is happening, whether you like it or not. Let’s talk about Erebus. You two were in G.C.A together, right? Did both of you participate in the capture-the-flag game? Were you on the same team?” She hoped that the confusion that flitted on Jared’s face was a sign that he was starting to catch up. He had to have figured out that they were being watched by someone, if not specifically Zach. Jared asked, “Erebus? Why? I’ve barely mentioned him” She made up a lie, now improvising without Zach’s direction, “He’s... A suspect too...” She was grateful that Zach needed to confirm her compliance with… hopefully benign memories. But, with the way Jared tensed up, perhaps even this was not as benign as she was hoping. It’s just C.T.F… How bad could it be? Jared sighed, like he’d curtailed an exasperated warning, “Shira… please just...” After one last look of what she perceived to be despise- aimed either at her, or at the very least at the situation, he closed his eyes. With a dark, heart-rending resignation, he slid against the wall, till he was sitting on the floor with his knees pressed against his chest. She knew he wasn’t the sort to protest once he realised it was futile. She sat there feeling a little paralyzed. There was no going back once she crossed this line. Zach prompted her into action, “Go on! Remember we’re still time-bound. Wordlessly, she inched closer to Jared and set his hands on his exposed arms. -

Lying on the ground, stomach first. The wetness of dewdrops against the cheek. The chilly breeze against a bareback. The smell of damp earth and grass. The blurry sight of the green blades and the soil - shuffling shoes and ankles in the distance.  The recently-cracked awkward husk of a pubescent voice, “This’ll teach you to fucking play decoy for Pixie-dust!” The sound of vague, bitter and cruel jeering. Shoes sliding closer. Fingers curling around wrists and ankles, tightening with a certain envious sourness. The soles of shoes against the back of the knees… and the elbows, with the wobbling, inconsistent, but hurtful pressure. The body, contorts and twists to see the sneering face of the kid who spoke. A raspy, baleful protest, claws out of the throat, “Get your lackeys off me ‘Rebus!” An unavailing struggle that ensues. Another soul pressed against the lower back, with a pathetic finality. And then the sound of the marker, shot at point-blank range. The smarting slap of the bullet splattering between the shoulder blades. The strangled roar, interrupted by another shot… and then another. The headache-inducing grit teeth and set jaw. The metallic tang of blood and the annoying stab of a bitten tongue- completely overshadowed by the aching throb of the back. The burgeoning tenderness and the blooming bruises. Finally, after half a dozen shots, the deafening silence. The splattered, viscous paint, that felt as good as blood, rolling down the sides of the torso. And a soft, defeated whine. The vague thought that this must appear rather comical to an onlooker… but sure didn’t feel that way. -

Jared’s quieter whimper met Akira’s louder groans, they tapered to an uncomfortable silence, first him, then her. She blinked away, the tears that collected on the side of her eyes. When she let go of him, she noticed her fingers had left a print on his pale skin, blanching through a bruise. She had just experienced his memory in first person and forced him to relive it too. Aki could still hear the echo of the shots and feel her back smarting. He probably felt the same lingering effects. She knew it’d fade soon enough, but it left her heaving for air. Her emotions were mingled with young Jared’s- contempt for this Erebus kid who pressed him into the ground and shot him. Despair... that it happened. And her instinct was more violent than his, “What a fucking tool. I’d have kil-” She cut herself off when Jared opened his eyes. The dejection in them tore at her. And Zach’s voice broke the moment, “Why did you stop? Tell him you want to know what happens and go back.” Akira hesitated, till Zach made the order in no uncertain terms, “Do it, now!” She echoed his suggestion with a slight startle, like a spurred horse, “I… I want to know what happens next-” He let his fingers lace with her approaching hands. A plainative squeeze followed, “No! Stop it… Shira… Please. Please no more… Not again.”

[iamnotawomanimagod]

okay this is dark, it’s about pet dogs and how they shouldn’t be guard dogs, and also includes the murder of a child, please scroll on if this will upset you

I was watching an Eleanor Neale video about the murder of a teenage girl (you can watch it yourself here, but please know it includes graphic descriptions of crime scenes and violence with specific details,) and one detail really stuck with me and made me think a lot about how we kind of want the best of both worlds from dogs and that’s not fair at all. (This post, while adorable, also set me on this path.)

Dogs make for amazing pets. We have a truly special bond with them that I think goes beyond the bonds we can create with most other animals.

In certain situations, dogs have also been used as attack animals, guards, weapons.

Generally speaking, with some exceptions, these two things do not coexist.

If you socialize your dog well, and teach them to be a good pet, they’re not going to make a good guard dog.

If you train your dog to be aggressive, to bite without hesitation, they’re not going to make a good pet.

You can’t expect your good pet to be your guard dog.

Here’s how that relates to the case I mentioned above. Last chance to dip out:

This teenage girl was walking her dog along a relatively busy nature path. She did this often, and alone. Her parents thought it was safe, because it was relatively busy, she always had her phone on her, and she always had their dog with her - a larger breed, I think a lab or shepherd. Unfortunately, on this day, she encountered a man who wanted to harm her - and he did. He beat her to death, brutally, and left her body only a couple dozen feet away from the nature path.

Her dog stayed with her the whole time. :( Eventually, he went back to the path and ended up alerting some passing cyclists, leading them back to his girl’s body.

It’s not hard to put together an unfortunate reality there - the dog was not able to protect his owner from this attack. The dog was likely present during the attack, unable to leave his owner because of loyalty, unable to protect her because of his good socialization. And he was a very good dog, leading people back to where she was killed. Without that, her murder might have never been solved.

But you really cannot expect your sweet, cuddly dog to protect you. There are always exceptions. But I think the general rule should be that if your dog is comfortable around strangers - which good pets should be! - then your dog is not going to be the type to attack a stranger. Even a stranger that’s hurting you.

On a less sad but no less serious note - back in the day, there was this show where alleged former thieves would break into peoples’ homes, with permission, to show them all the cracks in their security. A lot of people thought their pets would attack burglars, but 99% of the time, the dogs just wagged their tails and sought out some petting.

TL;DR - Dogs that are good pets don’t make good guard dogs. Depending on them to be such can lead to disastrous and truly tragic consequences.

[blancheludis]

Tagging: @tokky231

Fandom: Marvel, Avengers Characters: Tony Stark/Steve Rogers, James Rhodes, Pepper Potts, Bruce Barton, Steve Rogers Chapters: 30/?, Words: 166.584

Summary: Tony meets his soulmate under the worst possible circumstances. It is not just a kidnapping gone wrong. It turns out Steve and his gang picked him on purpose and they want some personal revenge. If only he had managed to say the words written on his soulmate’s arm before they threw him back out into the streets.

—

They have a table in the back of the restaurant where fewer people can watch them. With everything that is happening at Stark Industries, the press is hounding Tony more than ever. If he had not thought that a public setting would help Steve and him relax, he would not have ventured out of the tower at all. Being in an open space where someone could be listening in does wonders to one’s countenance, and while Tony does not think they are going to start an outright argument during dinner, it is better to be prepared.

Also, Rhodey would not have stopped hovering had they stayed in the penthouse. He might have even found an excuse to call Pepper up, and then they would not have had an opportunity to talk at all.

Tony knows the owner of the restaurant. They should be safe here. The rest is up to them. That does not make him any less nervous.

The first moment of confusion happened right in front of the restaurant when they both tried to let the other go through the door first. That just worsened the awkward tension between them.

Now they are seated, neither of them ordered any alcohol to go with dinner, and are waiting for their food while working through a conversation.

Steve is talking about some exhibition at the MoMA, which Tony finds interesting right up to the point where he realizes that, at some point during this entire mess of Tony’s life falling apart, Steve took the time to go to a museum. It might have been before they snatched Tony off the street, of course. He is not petty enough to ask, but it does leave a bitter taste in his mouth while he listens.

On unspoken agreement, they have decided to leave all discussion about their future for later, at least until after the main course. Tony is already not very hungry, but the food here deserves some consideration at least.

“Why didn’t you become an artist?” Tony asks when Steve begins to trail off, obviously fishing for something else to say. Up until now, Tony has not made it easy on him. Keeping a conversation alive when one party mostly just listens passively is always hard.

And Tony wants to make to most of this evening. He has Bruce and Thor’s story in his head, who first got to know each other before they made any kind of decision. Playing the long game might be a bit too much for him, but that does not mean he needs to brush Steve off either.

“I tried,” Steve says, a hint of red creeping up his neck that Tony sees even in the dim restaurant lights. “Turns out nobody wants to give an artist without a degree any work that’s enough to pay the bills. And I didn’t have the money for college.”

He looks as if he expects Tony to laugh at him. Money has never been a problem for Tony. People have described him as over-indulgent and wasteful. He has too many fast cars. Every house of his that he has spent longer than a week in has a state-of-the-art lab. He always looks meticulous when stepping out the door. And he used to throw the wildest parties, no expenses spared.

The thing is, Tony needs money to fund his projects, and life is so much easier when he does not have to count bills. He likes to think that he could do without all those zeroes in his bank account. But he never had to try, so he can hardly offer his perspective on Steve’s situation.

“So you enlisted to get the Army help with tuition?” Tony asks, careful to keep his tone neutral.

He does not think less of Steve because he did not grow up with money – he has real reasons for the distrust between them - but he realizes that any reaction of his could be seen as unfavourable.

Steve hums in response and picks at his pasta. “Didn’t work out too well.”

“Why?”

It looks like Steve would prefer to change the topic, but this is important. At some point, he decided to stop being an artist and found a mob instead. If they want to go anywhere from here, Tony needs to know whether Steve has just been waiting for an opportunity to abandon the boring day-life as an artist – or anything else really that does not involve crime. In his opinion, people do not just go from painting pictures to chasing criminals instead.

“I started college,” Steve says but trails off, staring at his plate until he drags his eyes up. His lips twist into something too bitter to be a smile. “Bucky did not do well after we came home from our last tour.”

The way Tony sees it, Barnes is not doing so well now either, but he wisely does not say that out loud. He does not need to start another argument right now.

“So you gave up your chance to study art for him,” Tony says, nods his understanding. If needed, he would do a lot more than that for Rhodey. If Rhodey had not been so adamant that Stark Industries is Tony’s, Tony might have never followed Obadiah’s call back.

“Yes,” Steve answers simply and waits. He must see the thoughts racing in Tony’s face.

And Tony, fork hovering in the air over his plate, looks at Steve. “Just like you betrayed your alleged morals when you let him and Barton beat me up in the hopes of him getting some peace of mind back.”

This time, Steve hesitates for a moment, his expression utterly defeated, but he does not deny it. “Yes.”

Tony exhales slowly. He is not sure he is allowed to be upset when Steve is being honest with him. “Did he at least feel better?” Tony asks with some urgency, unsure why it is important. That does not make his ribs heal faster or softens his memories. “Before he knew I wasn’t the one he wanted?”

They both know the answer. It is written all over Steve’s face, just like Tony could read it in the crooked letters of Barnes’ postcard.

“No.”

It does not feel like a relief but a knot loosens in Tony’s chest. He will not ask about Barton since he is sure the answer will not be in his favour.

“Great,” he sighs, resolutely tucking his fork back into his food. “Glad we could clear that up.”

Across from him, Steve does not move but keeps watching him with that careful expression, almost waiting for judgement.

“I’m sorry, Tony,” Steve says, sounding dejected in a way that just spikes Tony’s irritation.

“That’s not where I was going with that,” he says, more harshly than intended.

Apologies will not get them anywhere. They are already beyond words, and Steve’s face says it all. Looking back, the sheer panic and fear that Tony felt through the bond in the warehouse told their own story too. This is not just about being sorry and making up for their mistakes anymore. Somehow, they have gotten invested in each other. The mere thought is scary.

“I still am,” Steve says and, this time, Tony just accepts it with a nod of his head.

They both have a cluster of one-sided information about each other, painting them as villains. It will not be easy to pick out the good parts in between all of that. To see the person beneath all of that.

For a few minutes, they eat in silence, while Tony is second-guessing his reason for being here. He sneaks in glances at Steve and pretends not to notice when Steve does the same. Going out with someone has not felt this awkward in years. Usually, he knows very well what he wants and what the other person wants from him. With Steve, he is at a complete loss. It is not even a battle between head and heart anymore. His feelings are all over the place and he cannot begin to make sense of them.

“Your USB drive,” Steve speaks up when the silence becomes too much. “There were a lot of great ideas on there. A lot of things that weren’t weapons either. Why didn’t you pursue them?”

“Because my board of directors said no.” Tony laughs, still bitter about the fact that Obadiah held his entire life in hands with no intention of giving him any leeway. “My name might be on the side of the building but I can’t just make all the decisions on my own.”

His problems from before appear insignificant compared to the mess of dealing with his godfather. How often has he heard the word no and countless of reasons why his ideas were not feasible? He knew he could have done it and made them all richer in the process as well as doing something good for the world. If only he had not listened to Obadiah.

“You shut down the weapon manufacturing,” Steve remarks, appearing genuinely curious about why he could do that but not market one of the many projects he has already planned out.

Tony takes a bite of his food and chews it slowly, giving himself some time to answer. “And that’s a giant clusterfuck we’re not even close yet to figuring out,” he finally says. He managed to anger just about every investor and contractor they have, which makes rising up out of their own ashes unsurprisingly difficult. “Not without firing people, which I absolutely refuse to do. They’re not at fault that Obie abused the company as his personal piggy bank.”

Right now, his board is just interested in saving their own hides. Now that Obadiah is gone, Tony will have to watch them closely anyway. Everybody who knew what was happening or even aided with the dealing will have to go. Without Pepper, Stark Industries would already be nothing more than a rotten wreck, completely unsalvageable.

“But why go into weapon design in the first place?” Steve asks, still without accusation, although Tony feels like there should be some. All of this could have been avoided if Tony was not such a pushover. “You studied robotic engineering, right?”

How careless his MIT time had been, how happy. At least until Howard died and Tony went completely off the rails.

“Amongst other things, yes,” he answers, keeping his tone even. “My Dad never approved. After he died, I wasn’t going to touch the company at all. Obie got me back into the fold.” He shrugs as if the mere mention of his godfather has him not wanting to curl up and hide from the world – and to check his hands for the blood he washed off but will never be able to unsee. “At that point, it was easier to just do what he thought best. I didn’t want to lose anybody else.”

More than that, he did not care. Stark Industries still was mostly his father’s company then. Obadiah first asked for a few designs, then for some appearances where the press could see them. He did not just come out and ask Tony to come back but pulled him slowly back in until Tony was so entangled with the company again that there was nothing else to do but make it official.

In one way or another, Tony has always allowed himself to be a pawn of other people. He is done with that. Done with letting anyone else decide where he is going and what he is doing.

Silence engulfs them as they finish their meals. Sooner than Tony would like, his plate is empty. With exaggerated care, he puts down his cutlery and takes a sip of water. Only when he is done does he look up at Steve.

Compared to the past weeks, the bond has calmed down. It is vibrating with worry, but nothing so loud that he cannot concentrate on his own thoughts. Making sense of those thoughts is a completely different problem, however. Every time their eyes meet, it gets worse.

“What’s going on, Tony?” Steve asks, his expression tighter than it has been all evening.

And Tony gulps around the sudden tightness in his throat. He wants to look away but he owes it to Steve to not hide from this. “I’m not sure this is going to work.”

He watches Steve’s eyes narrow in confusion before they are blown wide. “What?” he asks, voice raspy. “Us?” Then he shrugs, bashful more than dejected. “I didn’t think it was an option.”

That is not the complete truth. Tony knows that even without the bond flashing warnings at him. Steve wants more. As it appears, he has at least learned to recognize reality for what it is, though.

“It’s not. Not like this. But you –” Tony interrupts himself, searching for the right words. He did not ask Steve here just to put him down but to find out what is best for them. “You’re not a completely bad guy. And I thought the intensity of the soul bond would lessen, but –” He trails off, certain that Steve is as aware as he is of the constant burning of their arms and twisting of their emotions.

“It doesn’t. I thought that was just me,” Steve says, nodding as he glances down at his arm. Almost as an afterthought, he adds, “There is medication for that.”

The words wash over Tony like a bucket of ice water has been upended over his head. It appears like Steve has been one step ahead of him all this time, already looking for ways out. He is sure that should not make him feel as irritated as it does.

“I’m not going to take drugs because my tattoo is tingling.” Tony snaps. The medication has side effects, which is partly wanted because rejecting one’s soulmate is not the natural course of things. He cannot afford to take anything that slows down his thinking.

A much smaller part of Tony is also aware that, all of a sudden, Steve is so willing to give up. It would make things easier on the both of them if they did not fight each other, but all this time Steve refused to leave and now he wants to take the easy way out?

“It’s more than that, though. At least to me,” Steve says, putting his hand over where Tony’s words sit on his arm. “Perhaps it needs more time.”

Of course, it is more than tingling. It is an invasion of their thoughts and emotions. It is a pull towards another person they do not really know, who might not good for them.

“Perhaps,” Tony echoes tonelessly. Bruce told him the sensation would fade. They can deal with this for a few months, surely.

His tone must have been off enough for Steve to perk up, watching him with new interest. Almost as if he knows that Tony is not as glad for that simple solution to get rid of Steve as he pretends to be.

“But?” he asks, waiting patiently for Tony to get his footing.

Tony should just shrug it off and tell Steve there are no buts. That might be better for everybody involved. He does not like giving up, though. At some point over the past weeks, he has gone from being afraid of Steve to seeing him as an ally to clinging to him when he was emotionally vulnerable. Things are not as simple anymore as saying that Steve wronged him and now they are doomed forever.

“You helped me with Obie,” Tony says slowly, measuring each of the words. “You saved my life.”

He stops speaking abruptly when he notices that Steve’s face has closed off completely.

“So you asked me to dinner because you think you owe me?” Steve asks, sounding offended. He is leaning slightly away from Tony as if he needs to distance himself from the very idea.

Within a span of seconds, everything has gone wrong again. Tony should have kept his mouth shut and agreed that the pills would solve their problem just fine. Instead, they are facing off again, and he has somehow offended Steve by trying to say his opinion of him has changed.

“No,” Tony replies dryly, not bothering to hide the bitterness in his tone. “Ask anyone, I’m the selfish type.”

Steve winces but it is too late. “You’re not –” he tries to say, but Tony shakes his head.

He does not even know anymore what they are doing here. Are they trying to work something out how they can stay in each other’s lives? Or are they looking for the best way out?

“Stop that,” he says, colder than he intended. “You don’t know me. I don’t know you. That’s the thing. All we know is the negative things.”

The weapons and the kidnapping and the stubbornness. Neither of them will come out of this smelling like roses.

“I know –”

“Let me make my point,” Tony snaps, cutting Steve off again. “You’re not responsible for Barnes and Barton beating me up. Yes, they might not have done it if you hadn’t given your okay, but it’s equally likely that they would have. Just later. Also, then I might have never found out about Stane selling my weapons.” He takes a shuddering breath, trying to sort through his thoughts. “I’m not saying I’m okay with what happened. You’re still a mob boss, and I’m not going to let you drag me into that, but maybe we should –”

“No,” Steve says suddenly and Tony falls silent immediately, caught off guard by the vehemence in Steve’s voice. “I can’t give up the Avengers.”

Tony’s expression tightens, even while he exhales with some relief. This is it then. His solution served to him on a silver platter.

He is not afraid of the Avengers anymore, although he would not want to be left alone with Barton. They are efficient and they may have done some good in the world. He has just learned that good intentions do not weigh out bad results. For years, Tony has built weapons, and while he knew they were used to hurt and kill people, he was convinced he was doing it for the good of his country, his people. Instead, they had just taken lives on all sides. Good or bad do not matter in that equation.

He does not see much of a difference where the Avengers are concerned. They have made themselves into weapons and they have hurt innocents just like Tony did. Perhaps just as unwittingly but it happened. If they are not going to change anything, if Steve is not even willing to take a step back and think about what happened, they are done.

“That makes it really easy then,” Tony says, slipping into a formal tone. Years of practice allow him to hide his feelings, although he is certain the burning through the soul bond betray that he is upset. “Thank you for meeting me. I wish you a good life.”

He is already in the process of getting up when Steve reaches out to him. His hand falls short of actually touching Tony, but it makes him stay where he is anyway. He is not going to ignore the plea written all over Steve’s face. Not while he is yearning for another kind of resolution of this himself.

“Tony.” Steve’s lips form Tony’s name with more care than he is used to, like it is something precious. “You can’t make me choose.”

The Avengers as they are now is not something Tony can allow into his life. Not while he is still caught in this mess.

“That’s exactly what I’m doing,” Tony says, although he just wanted Steve to consider changing things. “I know you think you’re fighting the good fight, that it doesn’t matter that you’re hurting people as long as they’re the bad guys, whatever that means. But it’s not okay. You’re no better than them.”

He takes no satisfaction when Steve flinches, looking at him with wide eyes.

“That’s not true.”

That denial just there is why they will have a problem with each other. Tony might not be responsible for what Obadiah did, but he feels like it. He feels responsible for every misplaced bullet, every wound, every death. Steve, on the other hand, is too practised at pushing all blame away and marching forward no matter what happens.

“Tell me, Steve,” Tony says, leaning forward. He wants to get this over with. “You have a Stark gun, right? Yet, no gun is registered in your name. Where did you get it? Did you steal it? Did you buy it on the black market, meaning you aided the very shady business you hated me for?” He shakes his head, openly showing his disappointment. “Your morality doesn’t add up. You’re not even in the grey area anymore, you’re just changing what’s right and what’s wrong based on what you currently need.”

His arm is burning, and Tony is not even sure anymore whether that comes from Steve or whether his own anger is taking over. It was ridiculous to think that they could just sit down and talk things through. That they could come to some kind of solution in one evening, talking about art and ignoring the bigger issues looming over them.

Steve is staring down at the table, biting his lip so hard that Tony expects to see blood any second now. When it becomes obvious that he is not going to say anything, Tony clears his throat and waits until Steve looks up.

“I don’t think you’re a bad guy, Steve,” he says, making his voice as gentle as he dares without making it seem like he is taking back what he said before. "But I’m not going to be your friend, much less anything more while you’re running a mob.”

A noise breaks out of Steve that is half laughter and half frustrated groan. He looks more alive than he did during the entirety of dinner, although in a non-flattering way.

“So what,” Steve asks, the words as clear as they are ugly, “you want me to abandon my friends on the off chance that you’ll stick around?”

That is the crux, Tony can admit that. He knows he will not start anything with Steve while he goes around doing his shady business. At the same time, he is not sure he can guarantee more even if Steve agreed to change. Everything is messed up and tangled inside his head. More than anything, they need to get to know each other, but that is not going to happen while Steve is someone Tony does not want to know.

“You don’t have to stop being friends,” Tony argues, knowing how uncompromising he sounds. “I would obviously prefer if the Avengers got some official, legal work, but you’re my soulmate, not any of them.”

He sees they are getting nowhere, not while they are both upset and lost.

“I don’t –” Steve tries to say, but Tony cuts him off.

“Go home, Steve,” he says, softening his expression and tone. “I don’t expect you to make a decision right here, but those are my terms. If you want me in your life, in whatever capacity we’d manage with time, you can’t have the Avengers in tow.”

Looking at Steve, he does not see any admission there, anything but the chaos of grief and howling sense of injustice echoed by the bond.

“I know what my answer will be,” Steve says, voice as tight as his face, withdrawing further from Tony with every breath.

Tony smiles. He can see that this throws Steve, but he simply nods. “Well, at least you’re dedicated.”

That is not a consolation. He knows the Avengers are important to Steve. He knows what he is asking.

He gets to his feet and reaches for a jacket, letting his eyes roam over Steve again. This might be the last opportunity he has.

“Tony –” Steve tries but trails off, sounding helpless even while he is unwilling to concede his point.

“Good night, Steve,” Tony says, wondering whether the tightness in his chest comes from the bond or whether that rejection is real. “You have my number if something important comes up.”

He is not even sure what he means with that. Is he going to wait for Steve to change his mind? Does he offer his assistance if Steve is ever in danger?

His thoughts are going too fast, fighting against the panicked current of emotions filtering through the bond, to make sense of it. With a last look at Steve, taking in his dejection and the way his shoulders slump, Tony leaves. Head held high and steps measured, he walks out of the restaurant, pushing some bills into a clueless waiter’s hands. All the way to the door, he can feel Steve’s eyes in his back, like a weight settling on him.

It is impossible to say whether he has just made the right decision. Cutting Steve out of his life is certainly not a bad thing, considering their history. He left him a backdoor, though. More than that, really.

It is perhaps unfair to ask Steve to give up the team he built without making concessions that things will work out with Tony if he does. Especially after said team saved his life. That is the best he can do, however. He sees the mistakes he made and he is striving to do better. Is it not his right to ask Steve to do the same?

[kjs-s]

A series of first

Pairing  Ava Starr x reader

Fandom Marvel, Ant-man and the wasp

Summary The first meeting between Ava and the reader, their first emotional talk and their first kiss

Word Count: 1977

Warnings: none i can think of

A/N: I saw a post about the lack of writing for Ava and i decided to write this because she is one of my favorites. 

You had spent the morning looking at job advertisements and applying to a lot of them. It had been a while since you lost your last permanent one and you were getting a little frustrated. At first, you were enraged with how the people at Berkeley University treated you. You had been Bill Foster’s teaching assistant for years prior to his termination. Your work ethics had never been questioned by anyone in the biochemistry department. That’s why it came as a shock to you that everyone believed you had something to do with Bill’s alleged illegal actions. Of course, you never doubted that he was innocent since he had told you about someone he was helping. Not in great detail, although you never suspected him of any wrongdoing.  On the contrary, you unsuccessfully attempted to reach with to show your support in case he needed it.

The phone stopped your daydreaming and you hoped it would be Maggie. She was your favorite neighbor and you were so thankful that she offered you to babysit her eleven-year-old daughter to help you financially. Therefore, you were thrilled to pick Cassie from school and stay with her until her swimming lesson. She was an athletic kid and you loved hearing all the stories that kept happening during her practices.

‘’(Y/N), Miss Julie said you were coming to pick me up so I drew you a picture during Art class. It’s the two of us eating ice cream.’’

‘’Thank you, sweetheart. I will keep it on my fridge so I can see it every day. Now, let’s go home so we can play the board game you like after you are finished with your homework.’’

While you were setting the table, Maggie texted you that Scott would be home to take Cassie in her lesson. He apparently wanted to talk to you about something important as well.

During your lunch, Cassie kept narrating a story about how her dad and Hope stopping a criminal and that Jim made sure he would go to jail for a long time. It was sweet to see how well they all got along and how excited Cassie was to talk to Jim tonight. He was in New York working on a case and she missed him.

‘’I hope nobody will try to scare me or run towards me.’’ Scott called out when he entered the house.

‘’I can try running if you want but your daughter tired me out a little.’’ You finished tidying up the living room and waited for Cassie to get ready. ‘’Maggie mentioned you wanted me for something.’’

‘’Yes, I believe I found you a job in your expertise and with flexible hours.’’

‘’I’m touched that you were thinking of me yet I don’t know if I will be good as a security consultant. I am a biochemist if you remember that.’’

‘’I do. And the woman I am about to introduce you to already took a look at your resume. So, just trust me.’’

After dropping Cassie off, Scott drove you to a small building. It looked nothing like you thought of when he had told you about a potential job.

On the inside, you understood it was a lab with a Quantum Tunnel in the middle of it. You looked around astonished by what you were witnessing. A good-looking silvered hair woman was working to harvest quantum energy from the tunnel. You never thought that could be possible even after everything Bill had taught you.

‘’Who are you? Why is she here?’’ A voice sounded from far and you followed it to see who spoke. It was a gorgeous young woman wearing a loose fitting jacket. You felt like you stared at her for a long time while Scott explained the reason he brought you.

Ava felt bad that she was instantly suspicious of you and she took a seat letting you talk with Janet. You figured it would be a mistake to deceive them so you immediately let Janet know that you knew everything about her. Bill had talked to you about his work with Shield and you were happy that Janet appreciated your honesty. She informed you about her plan to reestablish Pym Technologies and having you as an assistant seemed ideal.

You approached Ava after Janet told you about her condition. You would be working to help her and you wanted her to trust you.

‘’Hi, Scott told you my name, right?’’ She nodded to you and kept playing with her sleeves. ‘’I will work with Janet from now on so I’m happy to meet and I will try my best to help you.’’

‘’Thank you. It’s nice to hear that she would have some help. However, you can’t talk about this to anyone.  I don’t know if it was mentioned but the police are after me.’’

‘’I am aware and I was already trying to help.’’ Ava looked questionable at you. ‘’I used to be Bill’s assistant at the university. When he left, the principal fired me too. Don’t worry I am not angry with him; I was actually trying to help prove his innocence. Tell him that if you see him ok?’’

‘’He will come by later. You can stay and see him if you want. I bet he would like that.’’

‘’I have tried to reach him but he hasn’t responded. I don’t know if ambushing him like that would be a smart move. Will you tell him that I would like to meet him? I might feel better to know he wants to see me as well.’’

Since that first day of meeting Ava, you couldn’t wait to see her again. Working with Janet in rebuilding her husband’s company was taking a lot of time although you two always find time for Ava. Cassie had heard from Scott about you working with her aunt and she was excited that you met her. She had noticed that you looked happier and your mind was wandering much more.

Your reunion with Bill came earlier than expected. Ava had convinced him to tag along during one of her appointments with Janet.  He was apprehensive about meeting you again fearing the worst. He was certain you felt some resentment towards him after everything that had taken place.

‘’I told you that she wants to see you. I used to be a spy and I can tell when people lie to me. (Y/N) was a little sad when she talked about you. She misses you.’’ Ava tried to reassure him to no avail. He wanted to turn around and leave when he spotted you. Staring at him since you couldn’t believe your old mentor was there you rushed to hug him.

‘’Bill you finally came over. How are you? Ava told me you two kept hiding in different locations and kept using the mobile lab. Do you stay somewhere now? Or need any help with anything? You know you can trust me.’’

‘’I always did. I feel like I owe you an apology. For not giving you a heads-up and for believing you would loathe me after I basically got you fired.’’

‘’You did no such thing. The principal fired me because he thought the police department questioning me and him keeping me employed, would look appalling for the benefactors. He was afraid I would lose him money.’’

‘’Are you happy here with Janet?’’

‘’Very. She is a great boss and working with Ava has been an amazing experience. I enjoy spending time with her.’’ Hearing that Bill knew you would end up a couple and he was delighted about that possibility.

The two moments you and Ava would cherish the most would be the first time you talked about your common past and your first kiss.

You had heard about Ava’s past yet you didn’t mention anything to her. You wanted her to talk to you when she was ready. She found the courage to confide to you about her parents and what she did in Shield you made sure she knew you didn’t judge her. Seeing her vulnerable like that and so trusting made you reveal the one thing nobody knew about you. Your brother was a scientist’s assistant working on a big project. One day the lab, they were working on exploded killing only your brother. However, even if hating his boss would make perfect sense you knew that it wasn’t anyone’s fault.

Your first kiss happened during a perfect day. It was a Saturday afternoon when you received a phone call.

‘’Hi (Y/N) it’s Cassie. I’m at my dad’s house but he had to go help Hope with something important and he asked me to call you. Can you please can take care of me for a couple of hours?’’

‘’Of course sweetheart. I remember the address.’’

Getting there, you expected to find a cheerful hyperactive girl. Ava answering the door was the last thing you anticipated.

‘’(Y/N) what are you doing here?’’

You didn’t have time to respond before Cassie ran to the door to greet you.

‘’(Y/N) I am so glad you came. Come in we are about to bake cupcakes so that I can have with dad for dinner. You two can take a few with you. Then I was thinking we can show Ava all our favorite board games.’’

‘’I had no idea you would be here. Cassie called me and said that Scott told her to. I wouldn’t bother you if I knew.’’ You whispered to Ava so Cassie wouldn’t overhear.

‘’You are not bothering anyone. I was over to discuss something with Scott when Hope alerted him about an emergency so he asked me to look after Cassie. I bet she just wanted to have someone else over as well.’’

‘’Are you two coming? I can’t wait for you forever you know. We have more things to do before dad gets here.’’

You ended up having so much fun that you vowed to tell Maggie that you and Ava should babysit together. The cupcakes looked amazing and the board games were so much fun. Ava was a fast learner however; nobody could beat the so-called queen of the games.  She beat you easily and ‘’demanded’’ you make her a paper crown.

When Scott came back, he was surprised and proud to see the three of you enjoy your afternoon. He wanted to pay you for babysitting. You refused and only accepted some of the delicious cupcakes.

‘’Those cupcakes did come out great. I can’t wait to go home and eat them after dinner.’’

‘’Me too. I am sure Bill will be grateful if I save him some.’’

‘’You can keep those for him and share mine. I was going to order some burgers if you are interested.’’

Because she wasn’t sure, you decided to go to a fast food restaurant. Dinner was fine, on the other hand being there with her was magical. You had dreamed about that for long and you were finally with her. Walking her back to the lab while eating the cupcakes you stopped to admire the stars.

‘’Ava, can I tell you something? I am thankful that I met you for you are an amazing person. I enjoy talking to you and making you feel better. I am not sure if you find the time with me as pleasant of not but I think I like you.’’

‘’I like you too (Y/N). Since the first time you introduced yourself, I knew you were special and now I know why. Do you mind if I kissed you?’’ You let her and you could tell that kiss would be your last first kiss.

Tagging people i believe would like to read this

@locke-writes @bennyhargreeves @samingtonwilson @dresupi @jurassicbarnes @murdocksmartinis

[vicccwrites]

The 9Spies Heist

Part 4 - Previous Part / Masterlist

(A/N: It’s been a really long time since I’ve touched this series?? BUT IT’S BACK!! It was a bit weird to write a chapter of a series - instead of a stand-alone scenario - but I hope you’re as excited for this as I am! Enjoy~)

    “You will all have a month for your first mission,” Zhang Yixing’s voice filtered through the high-tech stereo system of the TV set. 9 pairs of eyes were all concentrated on their boss’ face, not wanting to miss a single detail of their very first assignment. The tension was palpable – none of them knew what to expect.

    “Onto the specifics. Our main rival agency – SM Spy Academy – is currently storing a majority of their profits in iQiYi Bank. I trust that you’ve all heard of the impeccable security system the bank supposedly has in place, and I also don’t doubt the diligence of that protection. SM doesn’t take chances with these things,” Yixing paused, a contemplative expression on his handsome features, before he continued, “Break through into the central vault – SM’s vault – which is housed underneath the main bank, and take their profits from right under their noses.

    “Use whatever resources you want – other agents, labs, databases, the like. They’re there for a reason. Your one month starts tomorrow. Make me proud, Nine Percent. Make. Me. Proud.”

    With that, Zhang PD cut off the video conference, returning the screen to the previously paused game of Mario Kart. The cheerfully familiar soundtrack played in the silence of the room, each of the boys lost in thought about the call that had just ended.

    Calling the mission big would have been an understatement. It was huge. iQiYi had a worldwide reputation, and previous attempts to break the security system had failed miserably, even by the most established of teams. To ask Nine Percent, a rookie team, to hack it as their first mission? That was just insane. Some would even argue that it was borderline suicidal.

    Despite that fact, however, the sheer scale of the task ahead of him filled Linong with a sense of burning determination. He had to prove to everyone, especially to himself, that he belonged here in 9Spies. That he could contribute, and that he could carry his weight among the best of the best. If he was given the opportunity to be a part of the team that finally took down iQiYi’s unbreakable security system, then he would be damned if they walked out of this mission with anything less than every penny in that central vault.

    The central vault, which also just so happened to be the main cause of a lot of his problems at that moment. Although iQiYi in itself had a formidable reputation, he knew the central vault stood in a world of its own. Linong had heard countless myths about that very vault – from its alleged iris scanners to chip IDs implanted into the wrists of trusted employee’s wrists. He hoped they wouldn’t hold true, though. Things would get a lot messier if they would have to kidnap someone to gain access. 

    Of course, that was granted they could even get into the main hallways of the bank – beyond the tellers and the lines of people waiting for a withdrawal. Which brought even more questions to the forefront of his mind…

    “Why can’t we just break into the other parts of the bank? They’re bound to have way more money than just SM’s. Plus, the security won’t be nearly as tight as it will be in the central vault.” He asked, breaking the tense atmosphere among the group of spies.

    “Nongnong’s got a point. Wouldn’t that be much easier, not to mention more profitable? It’s a large establishment.” Zhengting agreed, along with a good majority of the others, who were also nodding along. The team lapsed into silence again, deep in thought as to why their boss would send them on such a roundabout mission.

    “Feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken… but didn’t Yixing PD use to work for SM? Maybe this his way of getting revenge. There are a lot of questionable rumors about why he left and started 9Spies. Not to mention that he would also be taking out some of the toughest competition. Spy agencies need a lot of cash to stay afloat, after all,” Xukun pointed out. Well, that made sense. Personal vendettas tended to cloud judgement sometimes. Or maybe there an ulterior motive behind it all? It didn’t matter much anyway, they already had their mission. They just had to carry it out.

    “Right. Well, even though the time doesn’t technically start until tomorrow, we should still get a head start on it. Linong and Zhangjing – you’ll lead the research. Search through the databases and grab anything you can get your hands on about the bank. Blueprints, camera locations, security specifics; the more information we have, the better. We’ll need to know the whole building like the back of our hand if we want any chance of succeeding here.

    “Yanjun, Zhengting and I will scope out the surroundings and accessible interior of the location. It’ll be good to figure out where our escape routes are, and we can use that knowledge to double check the integrity of the blueprints we find.

    “Lastly – the other 4 of you are on demo. Go wild and build us some smoke bombs and those camera blockers that Linkai is so fond of. I would rather we not blow the building or our cover to smithereens, but you can never be too sure of what we’ll need. I’d rather have too many bombs than not enough. From some of the rumors I’ve heard, the central vault might as well be able to survive a nuclear blast, so we’d better bring a bunch.

    “Let’s trick our way in if we can, but this is iQiYi – not to mention SM – that we’re dealing with here. If things end up going south, we can always blow shit up and run for it, cool? It’s a wonder that SM even has any money left to stash into the vault after paying the no doubt hefty sum it probably cost to rent it in the first place, but let’s drain that vault dry!” Xukun analysed, to the cheers of the others.

    Linong had known from his previous actions that Xukun had the charisma to take charge in situations, but it was clearer than ever after his spiel why he was chosen as leader. If he had half as much walk as he did talk, their team might actually stand a chance against the seemingly impenetrable security system iQiYi boasted after all.

    With that, the team split up and went back to their previous activities. Ziyi and Zhengting headed into the mini kitchenette (which Linong had just noticed), presumably to whip up something light for lunch; Yanjun and Xukun left the common room for who knows where in this godforsaken maze of a building, and the kiddos barring him resumed their previous game of Mario Kart. Zhangjing led Linong over to his wall of computers, and the duo started their job of digging for information on iQiYi’s security. Considering the whole team had just been given a huge mission, the dorms were looking… strangely normal?

    Seeing everyone hang out so nonchalantly, so domestically, brought a smile to Linong’s face. They were like a small family. A family that he was now a part of, despite having met them just over an hour ago. They were in this as a group, for better or for worse.

    “Hold up,” Linong blurted, something just having clicked in his mind, “What about my stuff? It’s all still at my place. And what am I going to do about school? I still have a couple weeks before I graduate…”

    “I have time if you want to pick some stuff up,” Zhangjing offered. Linong felt a sudden surge of gratitude toward the elder. What had he done to deserve such awesome groupmates?

    “And don’t worry about school. You’re a senior, right? Zhang PD’s probably taken care of it – you’ll just have to show up for the graduation ceremony. You don’t have to think about it, at any rate. So? Should we take the jeep this time? There’s no need to freak your neighbors out even more by showing up in the limo for the second time today.”

    As Zhangjing talked, he led Linong through the building and to the garage where he had parked the limousine earlier. This time, however, they climbed into a nondescript grey van instead of the sleek vehicle from that morning. The neighbors would have definitely gotten suspicious if they saw him getting in and out of a limo. He didn’t exactly have that kind of money. They filled the ride with more small talk, and the elder waited in the car as Linong headed into his house to throw some stuff into a ratty old suitcase he found at the back of his closet.

    Figuring he could always buy more clothes in the future; or possibly even steal some from his new teammates, he grabbed the essentials and left the rest. He would find time eventually to come back for everything else. Snagging his beat-up laptop for nostalgia’s sake, he bid his room of the past 17 years goodbye and clambered back into the jeep, ready to start the next chapter of his life in earnest.  

[jayraffe11]

Spoiler alert 🚨

Seriously, The Shape of Water is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time, and I’m going to attempt to articulate why. (I know I left out some aspects of the film but it’s a tumblr post not an actual essay so give me a break lol)

First, the main character and her relationships: Eliza is the leading role. She is mute, and therefore disabled, but her best friend Zelda, a black woman, has her back. They care for and support one another. Eliza’s other friend is her neighbor, an older white guy. He is struggling with work and Eliza looks after him. These relationships show broken barriers: white and black together (keep in mind this is around the 1960s), old male and young female relationship doesn’t have to be about money or sex - these relationships are about genuine human kindness and mutual respect. With the help of her friends, Eliza discovers that she is stronger than she previously believed. She realizes that doing nothing means you are nothing. Doing nothing when you feel the need to fight is the epitome of weakness. She may not have been able to speak, but actions speak louder than words, as they say. She stands up to an authority by signing vulgar words he can’t understand but recognizes are rebellious but he can’t prove because she then signs “thank you”, which Zelda then translates to him. She rescues the creature with whom she has fallen in love against status quo. They cannot speak to each other but they can sign a little, and they understand one another. They see each other’s truths. There’s something really special about a bond so strong words aren’t needed.

Second, the creature: Is it human? No. Is it a god? Maybe. Should we drag it from South America to a lab in America and run tests on and torture it? Definitely. Why? To beat the Soviets. Duh. Oh, it’s bleeding, what should we do now? Dissect him! That was basically the thought process of the lab people. But we, as the audience, and Eliza find that the creature is intelligent, capable of communication, emotion, and is truly sentient. I literally just wrote a paper on how the world wars impacted how stories about monsters vs men are told, how the monster is villainized and man glorified, and this movie went behind the propaganda and made the case for the “monster” and against the “man”. This movie is telling a story in a way it hasn’t been told for a long, long time, especially on screen. So many movies have shown non-human “monsters” who clearly have a reason for hurting humans but that reason is disregarded by just the total magnitude of all the awful destruction the monster causes and how man saves the day. This movie does the exact opposite. It shows man being oblivious to basic decency while trying to out-wit one another. In a way it is a lot like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein because Victor Frankenstein ignored morality and made a creature without thinking of the consequences of his actions that would be brought on both him and his creation.

And I have to mention the workplace ethics: With all this stuff going on with the allegations of sexual harassment coming out in all kinds of different workplaces, this movie just hits the nail right on the head. It shows how some men of power abuse their position. It shows how easy it can be to get trapped. It shows what verbal harassment is and that it is unwanted. It shows how the way someone stands a little too close is not okay. It showed how the white man thought he was king of everything and could do whatever he wanted, and how deeply flawed that man turned out to be.

Conclusion: Look, I know that there are other films that tell about the immorality of man, but this film did it in such a beautiful, impactful, poignant, detailed way that I have honestly never seen in a film. And more films like this that call out our flaws as humans and representing different kinds of people are coming out and are being made and I am so excited about this beginning of a change in the film industry.