#okay so to be fair people are trying to take him from her (the government) but that’s not relevant

[jonathanarcher]

I love that Scully is so deeply deeply possessive of Mulder from day one. Girl calm down no one is taking him from you!! You’re the only one that even likes him!!

[sapphicsparkles]

"Bo-Katan isn't mean" Okay because I'm so tired of hearing this:

[/mēn/] adjective: unkind, spiteful, or unfair. vicious or aggressive in behaviour. Not mean? Okay definitely not vicious or aggressive in behavior Like her first appearance where she's part of Death Watch, a terrorist group and slaps Ahsoka's ass without consent to demean her?

Or when she shoves Ahsoka to the ground and *laughs* in a tent where Death Watch (including Bo-Katan) has stolen women from the local village on Carlac and put them into forced servitude?

OR when she helps slaughter the village and burn down said village for asking Death Watch to leave them alone? (that's her on top of the roof)?

Or after when she tried to kill Ahsoka and Lux for trying to help the villagers and leave?

Or when she aided in a plot to cause intentional destruction and fear to manipulate the people of Mandalore into deposing her own sister and overturn Satine's very successful government that ended the clan wars (the Traditionalists then were given the lush moon of Concordia and their own political agency and government in which Pre Vizsla was the governor)? Then forcefully deposed Satine at gunpoint after she had abdicated because of the will of the people who no longer accepted her rule due to the manipulation of public perception by Death Watch.

While Bo-Katan was likely traumatized by the Mandalorian Civil War/Clan Wars at a young age and there's no solid canon evidence but It's widely believed by fans that Bo-Katan was groomed and/or radicalized by Pre into DW from a young age--even if you believe this, IT DOES NOT EXCUSE HER HORRIFIC ACTIONS. None of it justifies her wrongdoing. She still had agency.

Okay so what about unkind or unfair?

Surely that can't apply to her sarcastic comment to Ahsoka when approaching her after she had watched her struggle on Kessel and made no move to assister her, only watching her to use her to fight back against Maul and reclaim Mandalore. While she does respect and befriend Ahsoka by the end of the Siege, she still initially saw her as someone to be used for her agenda.

Or when she uses Obi-Wan's guilt over his relationship with Satine to convince him to aid her forces in retaking Mandalore, which Republic intervention would disintegrate treaties over a hundred years old and start another war on top of the ongoing Clone Wars. Which to her was a legitimate, even desperate method to reclaim her planet from Maul who was only serving his own agenda, but it wasn't a very nice way to do it. In some ways Bo-Katan is justified in how she is mean, but it doesn't make her not mean.

Then there's her anger towards Sabine after she discovering what the Duchess does and that Sabine created it (after hearing how guilt ridden she is and how she already destroyed it.) Was her anger valid, oh yeah. Was it kind and and fair? No.

What about in The Mandalorian you ask? She's not a literal terrorist anymore in the Mandalorian. She's surely not still spiteful or unkind. Definitely not when she insulted Din's religious beliefs and way of life and called the COTW a cult.

Or when she took credit for killing that one guy's brother without any remorse.

Or when she changed the terms of her agreement with Din and forced him into helping her by withholding the agreed upon information after Din upheld his side of the deal. Which was her plan all along. And then on top of that, mocks him by using his own mantra.

And then there's the disdainful opinion she has of Din and her own superiority.

Only agreeing to help Din save his kid when he has something to offer her to serve her own agenda. Which again, valid but not something she does out of the kindness of her heart.

Oh and then she's so direct and straightforward to Boba, not mean at all.

Then in season 3 when Din shows up to help her reclaim Mandalore the first thing she does is take out her anger on him and once again insult his religion/COTW and invalidate his belief that the Mines will restore his place in his religion. All unnecessary.

TO BE EXTREMELY CLEAR: I'm not discrediting Bo-Katan's personal progress into a better person or when she does do good--a hero even by the end of Mando season 3--that's the whole point of a redemption arc, you have to be redeemed from something. And at her core is a commitment to Mandalore, but you can't ignore the cruelty and ego and dare I say it meanness that has gone with it, that's the beauty of her complexity is that she can be a character that grows and evolves and becomes honorable and also still be bitchy. Bo-Katan doesn't have to be morally squeaky clean or a victim to enjoy her character and her sometimes ruthless determination for Mandalore or appreciate her compassionate aspects and letting go of her ego. She's not an easily consumable or morally black and white character. This is in fact, what I love about her.

Thank you @armoralor for assistance with the screenshots from The Mandalorian!

[rederiswrites]

Look, I think if you're a US citizen you should go on Youtube and watch the debate, or at least some of the chunks of it where the topic matters most to you. You can't counter the arguments if you don't know what arguments they're making. And no, I don't mean arguing with your aunt that drank the conspiracy koolaid. I mean that there are genuinely a lot of people out there hearing what Trump is saying and thinking, "I don't know. That sounds really scary."

So know what he said, and know not just THAT he lied, but HOW he lied.

Sometimes, it's easy. There are no "abortions" after a baby is born. That would be uhhh let's see MURDER and it's already pretty illegal everywhere and absolutely no one is trying to change that. The comment Trump attributed to former VA governor Ralph Northam is completely misrepresented. Northam (whom I am not defending as a person, by the way) was commenting on the subject of *non-viable* pregnancies that represented a health risk to the mother. Nobody was talking about killing babies. Nobody. Not even Mr. Blackface.

Sometimes it's so addled that I'll leave someone else to unpack, for example, what the FUCK he was on about with the giving illegal aliens in prison forced "trangender surgery". Personally I'm assuming he just used the random word generator in his head to say something that sounded scary to him.

There is NO credible evidence that anyone, much less Haitian immigrants, is eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Both government officials and the police say there's nothing to it. Springfield has had a huge influx of Haitian immigrants, and this is causing infrastructure strain and racial tensions. But again, people who would rather believe that a) legal immigrants are okay with *stealing your pets and eating them* and b) the entire police and gov't infrastructure of a town and the surrounding county want to cover this up, are not worth our energy. It's the people who don't know the truth and are worried that we want to reach.

And my guy, my man, Cheeto Benito, that is not how tariffs work. Tariffs are not magical free money that other countries just HAVE to give you. They're...they're not that at all. Look, I'm lazy so I'm just gonna quote CNN:

Here’s how tariffs work: When the US puts a tariff on an imported good, the cost of the tariff usually comes directly out of the bank account of an American buyer. “It’s fair to call a tariff a tax because that’s exactly what it is,” said Erica York, a senior economist at the right-leaning Tax Foundation. “There’s no way around it. It is a tax on people who buy things from foreign businesses,” she added. Trump has said that if elected, he would impose tariffs of up to 20% on every foreign import coming into the US, as well as another tariff upward of 60% on all Chinese imports. He also said he would impose a “100% tariff” on countries that shift away from using the US dollar. These duties would add to the tariffs he put on foreign steel and aluminum, washing machines, and many Chinese-made goods including baseball hats, luggage, bicycles, TVs and sneakers. President Joe Biden has left many of the Trump-era tariffs in place. It’s possible that a foreign company chooses to pay the tariff or to lower its prices to stay competitive with US-made goods that aren’t impacted by the duty. But study after study, including one from the federal government’s bipartisan US International Trade Commission, have found that Americans have borne almost the entire cost of Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products. To date, Americans have paid more than $242 billion to the US Treasury for tariffs that Trump imposed on imported solar panels, steel and aluminum, and Chinese-made goods, according to US Customs and Border Protection. [link]

Also though you should watch the debate because Harris was an absolute savage and it was genuinely HUGELY entertaining to watch her mercilessly bait Trump in every answer she gave, and watch him take the bait every. fucking. time.

[pigeonp0st]

Lena Luthor x Reader #3

Summary: Lena breaks up with Reader to keep her safe from Lex. Reader hatches a plan to get rid of him that goes terribly wrong, and naturally, torture follows. This mostly takes place after she’s found again.

Warnings:

Angst,torture, depression, trauma, childhood trauma

Notes:

Hey! I’m going about writing differently now. Everything I write from here on out will most likely be straight from the tumblr drafts and fairly quick. Something I decide to do in a random sitting (unless it’s paid for). Fair warning that this isn’t that, this is just something I worked on ages ago and didn’t publish. I did NO SPELLING CHECKS and remember writing at 2am, so warning number 2

———————

Lena loathed the DEO in that moment. She loathed Alex, and she loathed Supergirl , and she loathed every damn agent in the building so that she didn’t have to loathe herself instead. It’s not enough, there was still a small part of her that she couldn’t ignore, a part of her that screamed; ‘you should have held on. You should have been there’

She knows she should have been there. She knows she failed you before anyone else did. She knows. But she’s trying now and she doesn’t know how to get it to matter to the world. Trying won’t save you, and trying hasn’t led you back to her.

Trying has only led you there, far from Lena, laying somewhere unknown with a body and a heart too worn. Though, Lena imagines, that’s probably not a new feeling for you. She trembles with the image of Lex mocking her on video, holding a gun to your head, she trembles and thinks, I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him.

Then, miraculously;

“Found her!” Winn shouts loudly, raising his Supergirl action figure in victory, and Lena, CEO, multibillionaire, crumbles in relief in front of dozens of agents in the middle of the DEO.

��-

When you wake up Lena feels her heart stop.

She wanted to kiss you, hold you. She wanted to be the type of person that stayed. She wanted to be the type of person worth staying for.

She wanted to believe the both of you would be okay, and she wanted to hold your face and tell you that. That you’d be okay. She wanted more than anything in that moment to be the type of person that said the right thing. That did the right thing.

She wasn’t. She wasn’t any of the people she wanted to be. Your eyes met hers, full of sorrow, and human and hurt, and she wasn’t. She wasn’t because she was scared, and because she was human also. She wasn’t—so she leaves.

Now, as she’s gripping herself in the hallways of the DEO, struggling against the weight of what feels like worlds on her shoudlers, choking on breaths that should have been being shared with you, she’s filled with so much self contempt it could fuel the whole government. Whoever said that “It’s better to have loved and loss, than to have never loved at all”, has never met the two of you and has never loved this desperately.

Loving you made her feel just as much as losing you had, and is it worth it? Maybe, but It’s certainly not better to be feeling this than not ever feeling it. Can’t those things coexist? Can’t it be better for her to never love, but can’t loving also be a choice she’d make despite all the pain?

Can’t you love the things that will destroy us in the end? Doesn’t she always?

She should go back in. She should go back in and ask for forgiveness, but the fear of ruining things further, of the both of you hurting each other further, prevents her from trying to fix things.

When she broke up with you she had just wanted to protect you from Lex. Losing you like that would have nothing compared to—

Lena shivers, shakes her head, and clutches onto herself more tightly with trembling fingers.

“You’re hyperventilating,” Alex says from where she’s leaning against the wall beside Lena. Her eyes are watchful, careful, but Lena feels them like daggers.

She straightens, forces out a; “wow, you really are an amazing analyzer, detective,” and nearly gets a smirk for her troubles—but Alex is too soft, too caring to give her that. She moves towards her, ever the big sister, but Supergirl rushes in first.

“Lena,” Supergirl—Kara, Kara, Lena thinks, and often starts to forget, except when Kara looks at her like this—breathes out.

Lena steps back from them both, the humanity in the room tears her apart, reminds her of her lack of, and destroys her. “You have to…to warn people when you do that…super speed thing,” Lena grits out, cutting Kara off before she can even begin to try and be…be good. She gestures towards the room with shaky hands and begins to try and compose herself lHow long was she awake while I was asleep?”

Kara and Alex look at each other. Say nothing. “Guys—”

“She woke up two hours ago,” Alex says, at the same time Kara says; “you were wiped out—didn’t even hear the nurses, of course we couldn’t just wake you up”

Two hours, and she was asleep. Lena goes cold instantly. She remembers hearing Lex had you, remembers it like one remembers the worst moment of their life; both intimately and not at all. She remembers hearing Supergirl had you—that you were breathing , but people only say that when someone is very not okay, and Lena remembers the way adrenaline had rushed through her. She had felt both alive and utterly useless through it, and it sticks to her even now.

Alive, but asleep, never the person she needs to be to protect you. How alone have you felt because of her? How scared?

“Lena,” Kara starts again, “Lena, she wanted you to sleep— ”

“Go in there,” Alex cuts her off, gets a very annoyed look for it, because they both can’t seem to help cutting each other off today. “You want to show her she’s not alone, that she’s safe? I promise you that the only way she’ll feel that is with you there.”

Kara nods, suddenly straightening and transforming into Supergirl just like that, just in the stance. “Hero complexes will serve nothing except separation and loneliness. You taught me that. Stronger together, Lena.”

Wanting to save you had left you alone, and yes, alone to Lena meant away from Lex, but he’s not the only scary thing in this world, and she should have known that he’d never forget how to destroy her. To leave you alone, Lena thinks, was the worst thing she could have done.

While you were away Lena had to confront herself. Had to realize that so far, every good thing in her life has come with a cost, has led to ruin, and the threat of Lex…it had just seemed to her like the time had come. Like it was her only option. To sacrifice, to sacrifice and hurt.

If Lex had won by separating the two of you, then he had one like that. In her mind, Lena had already been destroyed, of course she imagined that to be the end of it, that he wouldn’t touch you. She’d rather hurt by pushing you away than you dying. Even the thought—

God, she’s so tired of being a coward. To being so scared of losing you that she’s willing to destroy you both.

Kara and Alex hating what she’s done in the unspoken way that they do hurts even more in a way Lena’s used to, because it hurts like regret. Their stances have turned from concerned and loving, to protective heroes. She should have never left you alone. Not when she was scared of Lex, and not now. She gives both Kara and Alex a firm nod and tries to walk past to get into the room. To make things right.

Kara stops her with a hand on her shoulder. She drops it instantly when Lena turns towards her. Ever the fragile hero, always afraid of her own hands for the strength they hold. “Before that…” Kara coughs awkwardly, “Um…we need you to understand her injuries…and what happened.”

—-

When Lena walks into the room, it’s not like you thought she would. She’s not the fragile human curled up in a chair, or the terrified women fleeing your medical room. She’s angry with rage and a whirlwind of feelings, caught in a tornado of emotion. She’s large in the way she’s always been, and yet it has never left you feeling so small.

You sink back into your hospital bed, pull the covers to your chin, and watch her.

“You went after him?” Lena hisses out, so lowly, so sharply, that she might as well have cut the words into your skin for the way that it dig into you. “Everything I’ve ever done is to protect you, and you just decided to throw it all away like it means nothing? Do you have any idea—”

“You were protecting yourself!”

Lena stops. She was pacing, shaking with emotion, but she stops dead in her tracks at the sound of your voice. You yell it, and yet it’s still somehow silent. Your throat is ruined, a testament to the cruelty of Lex, and the evidence of that and more is written on your skin. You’re covered in injuries. Your brokenness has never been more visible, you think, and it should leave you feeling fragile, and it does, god it does, but right now it gives you power.

Power over Lena, who looks at you like her life hangs in the palm of her hand.

“You think I’m stupid, that I don’t know that every fiber of your being is laced with fear?” You whisper now, hand on your throbbing throat. “You left me for you, and I went after Lex for me.” Its venom. Venom, and anger, and all of the thing you know Lena takes In stride. The thing she strives on.

It hangs in the air for a second. Then Lena, beautiful Lena, kneels by the side of your bed. CEO, one of the most powerful people in this city; on her knees for you. She doesn’t look invigorated, doesn’t looked fueled by anger, just looks sad with regrets.

“I did it for me,” Lena agrees, so soft, so not like them; not like her family. “I did it for you, too. Of course I did it for you, and maybe it was a terrible thing to do—led by my trauma talking to me—but don’t lay there and deny I wasn’t thinking of you,” she breathes, then pauses, eyes tracing your busted lips, bruised face, bruised neck. Her jaw trembles and her lips part, she looks as if she wants to say more, but her eyes are haunted by the home she grew up in.

As if reading your mind Lena whispers, “they haunt me. It’s as if I can never let go. I’m so sick of it. I’m so sick of it.” She closes her eyes with furrowed brows, as if not looking at you will prevent the shake in her voice. “I’m so sorry, Y/N. For them. For them now, for them back then, and for them in the future—if you still want to be in my life, you have to know I can’t escape them. Even when they’re not there they’re there. It…god, it makes me sick.”

When Lena raises her hands and grips herself, digging her fingers into her skin like she wants to pull the trauma and memories out of herself, like she wants to get rid of them, something in you breaks. Breaks because your arms are raw and aching, and it wasn’t Lex. Breaks because you know so intimately what it’s like to face reality and find it so frustratingly unchangeable. To want so much, and for it to mean nothing is the most devastating thing.

To be so large, and so small.

You’ve been crying, and Lena doesn’t notices until a sob falls from your lips. You’ve been trying to hold it in, but when she startles up at it and looks at you with that same wanting, like you’re her heart walking and she’d give anything to take your hurt, the sobs break through like a dam. They break through and it hurts because there is no part of you left unbroken.

When you sob it disturbs your broken ribs, disturbs the bruises covering your torso, rips at your tarnished vocal cords, and has the machines in the room beeping so loud it alerts the nurses.

—-

Lena doesn’t even have time to stand before the nurses rush in and pull the blanket off of you. There’s no words to describe the shift that happens in side of her when she sees the extent of your injuries.

It’s like something both breaks and rebuilds in her, and then breaks again, paralyzing her. Then, she sees a nurse heading towards you with a syringe and it activates her.

“Don’t fucking touch her,” Lena says, or thinks she says. She can’t recognize the venom in her voice, doesn’t feel apart of her body.

She’s moving in between the nurse and you, but your sobs begin to bring her back to reality.

“She needs to be put under, she’s hurting herself—”

Lena doesn’t pay attention to her, just sees Alex and Supergirl enter the room. Sees the way Alex shakes her head and nods to the corner of the room, and follows in suit while every fiber of her being says to do otherwise.

It kills her that she can’t protect you. Can’t protect you from the nurses that you try to pull away from, can’t protect you from the hurt on your skin, or in your heart, couldn’t protect you from— she thinks of Lex. Lex when he was her big, smart older brother that she admired more than anyone in the world.

She thinks of the way he’d give her a cheeky roll of his eyes behind Lillian’s back after a small verbal lashing. Thinks of every chess game, every hide n seek game, every reassuring grin. You’re smarter than they know Lena, he’d say, and she’d beam, not noticing the progressive darkness in his eyes as he said it.

Her eyes don’t leave you as the nurses put you down again. She thinks; I’ll kill him. In her peripheral she knows Kara is watching the floor, and feels Alex watching her. When the nurses cover you back up and they both turn towards you, Lena knows it was out of respect for you. She’s grateful for it—somewhere in her thunder of emotions she’s thankful for them, but also feels a bit of anger towards them.

This is why they kept her from seeing you when you were brought in?

“Why doesn’t she have a hospital gown?” Lena asks in a whisper.

“She took it off, said it hurt when the nurses moved it, and that it was sticking to her. Constricting her,” Kara explains, she sighs, shakes her head, and then turns towards Lena as Supergirl. With a fire in her eyes.

The same one in Lena as she allows herself to ask the very question she wanted to run from hours ago. “Where’s Lex?”

“No.” It’s both Supergirl and Alex.

“Alive then? Okay,” Lena starts towards the door. “If you’re here, he’s here. I’ll find him easily enough.”

Supergirl, familiarly, stands in her ways. Eyes sympathetic next to Alex’s hardness. “Where are you when you’re with them?” Alex asks from behind her. When you let them guide every bad decision you make, she hears.

Lena stops. Thinks about control, about gods, about leaving you to wake up alone again, thinks about murder, both in her blood and not, thinks about Lex with a gun to your head, with fists, and kicks, and a maniac smile, thinks about her dad in the same way—standing over Lex while Lillian gripped Lena back. She thinks of cycles, thinks of protection and all the ways it’s possible, all the ways she’s capable, more capable then him.

Smarter, Lena remembers Lillian saying casually. Always smarter than.

Better than, Kara will say.

The good one, Alex will joke.

My hero, you’d grin. Lena feels herself split. Starts forward again.

Kara whispers now, “Heroes don’t kill, Lena.”

Alex, “it’s both the best and most terrible thing about us.”

Us.

Lena wants to yell, wants to crumble, wants to curl by your side, wants to kill Lex with her bare hands, wants to erase the Luthor history from her mind, from her body, wants to erase it from yours even more. Wants it so desperately, so acutely it hurts. Sadness fills the room, suffocates them all.

Kara is watching you again, Alex keeps glancing back, they’re both unconcerned about Lena now. Full faith in her to be who they claim she is. Lena returns to the seat by your bed and allows herself to be that person.

“Whatever cell he’s in, I’m building it,” Lena whispers, thinking of the cuffs she’ll put on him, wondering if she can somehow slow down his mind.

Alex nods, running her hands down her face. The past couple hours have completely exhausted her in a way Lena’s not used to seeing from her. Alex cares so much about you, and it shouldn’t surprise Lena but It does. “We’re thinking about sending him to the phantom zone.”

Here, Lena is more surprised. They must know that’s a death sentence. Lena glances at Supergirl, she’s still watching you but she’s clearly listening, her eyes have turned hard. They aren’t underestimating Lex. They clearly know the responsibility that’ll bear on them if he escapes again.

Lena feels another bought of gratitude towards them as she takes your hand, and trusts them to handle the person she trusts no one to handle.

——

When you wake up the second time it’s because nurses are dapping you with wet cloths, clearly trying to clean you. They apologize profusely, say they thought the drugs would keep you down longer, and offer to finish the cleaning after you’ve gotten more pain killers.

Your eyes dart around rapidly, chest constricting in anxiety, and then you see Lena. She’s standing by the door, clearly trying to keep out of the nurses way. She’s not full of rage and untouchable in that way, and she’s not fragile, she’s strong.

Her eyes are hard, but not cold. They’re determined, and loving, and they’re your strength too. You suck in a shaky breath, whisper; “thank you. Later might be an option”, as you try to focus on Lena and not the thought of the nurses hands on you turning into Lex’s violent ones.

When they all shuffle out Lena quietly returns to the spot by your bed. This Lena somehow makes you feel more fragile than angry, furious Lena had, because in the place of your defensiveness you’re left to feel your guilt.

“I’m…I’m not weak, Lena.” It feels stupid to claim now as you lay in a hospital bed feeling nothing but. You clench your jaw. Lena’s hand reaches up and takes your chin, forcing you to meet her eyes. She’s not gentle, certainly not rough, but her firmness gives you the power to continue. She’s the stable ground that helps you find your footing.

You find it. Meet her gaze unblinking. “I’m not Supergirl, I’m not you, I’m not Alex, or Jon, or Winn, or James, or Kelly, or— or Lex…I’m not capable in the particular ways you guys are, but I am capable.”

Lena’s eyes fall to your throat. You grip her wrist, the one holding your face, and her eyes meet yours apologetically. “I know,” she says, so softly, so quietly. “You being here is the evidence of it, isn’t it?”

You nod, but you aren’t done. “I’m not sure what Supergirl told you. Clearly she told you I went after Lex, and in a way that’s true, but more so I wanted him to come after me,” you pause. Lena is watching you with furrowed eyes, clearly trying to piece together what you’re explaining before you finish.

Her lips part after just another moment. She’s figured it out you realize, feeling a bit of pride because of it. Pride because she has faith in you, pride because she‘s so incredibly quick and you have had the privilege to know her so acutely. “All of this…was your plan?” Lena asks, sounding both shocked and not.

You wince, brushing aside her hand so you can look down, adverting your gaze. “Well…not all of it.” Memories flash through your mind. “I thought he’d keep me captive, not…” you left out a frustrated breath, angry, so angry at yourself for not being able to speak about it. Speak about him.

“It was a game to him, of course. He’d torture me, send you a video to torture you. He’d get you chasing him. He’s always liked the thrill.” Your eyes stay on Lena’s fists. Watch as they clench so tightly to her side that they shake. “I knew he loved messing with you, and was partly counting on it, not like that but— but maybe just having me wouldn’t have been enough, maybe it was good he did what he did—got so high off of it his guard lowered.”

“Don’t say that,” Lena pleads. You startle up at the sound of her trembling voice doing everything not to cry.

You breathe in; your ribs hurt. You breathe out; they hurt again. Lena shakes her head at herself, frustrated and biting her lip. She’s having a battle with composure and losing.

“Kara told me how you stole his nanotech and used it to immobilize him. That the tech that was missing from my lab last week was found with the stuff he confiscated from you. That you hacked his computer with my prototype to send her the location to his headquarters underground,” Lena rushes out, “I didn’t know you planned to get taken to his HQ, to steal his nanotech, didn’t know that anyone besides me and the DEO knew what he was working on.”

It’s a quick summary of the things you’ve done, leaving out the weeks of planning, leaving out the struggles of actually setting the plan in motion when the shifting variables shifted in a way you weren’t prepared for. It should leave you proud, but when you think of what you managed all you remember is pain and struggle.

“You stopped Lex like you planned. So many people are saved because of you. An unfathomable amount, and yet,”she says. And yet, you think, heart fluttering because you know Lena will say the very thought that kills you to think of, but the thought that can’t escape you anyways. “What…what you did was monumental, and thank you, but god, I so wish you hadn’t,” Lena breathes. “He gone, and yet he has never been so present. Perhaps you felt the effects of him through me before, but you know now what it’s like to have him really present, always right over your shoulder, and that…I would’ve given the world for otherwise.”

It’s exactly the same thoughts you have had. To hear it from Lena, someone you admire and trust so much, someone you believe to be good with every piece of you, someone you’d follow everywhere—it’s like a medicine for guilt.

“What I said before…about doing what I did for me,” Lena shakes her head, ever understanding, like she doesn’t need you to finish. You do though. “I did it for me because I wanted desperately for you to still be mine, and getting rid of Lex was the avenue for that,” you admit. “I didn’t want him to plague you anymore either.”

You hesitate. Memories of Lena pacing at night—startling awake, watching the news with the grimness of someone attending a funeral—memories of Lena’s affectedness come to you. Her humaneness at hearing Lex escaped again, and in her humanity in her vulnerability.

“I want to take responsibility, so I don’t want to say I did it for you, but what you said earlier made me realize everything is a bit of both. I did it for me, I did it for you too.”

Lena laughs. Laughs. It shocks you, causes you to jump and stop looking at your hand, causes you to meet her gaze again. “Ow,” you growl, unamused, because Lena is still laughing. She’s covering her face and has the decency to look apologetic.

Your ribs hurt from the startle but even you can’t help but be confusedly amused.

“I want to hate,” Lena starts, mirth in her voice, “that you did the thing I wanted you to do least in the world, and you got exactly what you wanted out of it. You captured lex, and in a way captured me back too.”

“Oh,” you perk up, smiling up at Lena innocently. “Guess I’m the brains now, brawn.”

Lena’s eyes narrow at you. “That insinuates that you were ever the brawn.”

Back to glaring. Lena lets out another huff of laughter and brushes your hair back, away from a cut on your forehead. Her eyes are so soft, so full of warmth, and love that you could cry. Would cry, perhaps, if it wouldn’t hurt every part of your body.

Instead you grin, because that’s what humans are taught to do instead of cry, and ask, gently—feeling like a shaky child; “does that mean you’re my girlfriend again?”

—-

Lena’s eyes widen as she realizes what she implied, and as you own up to it so hesitantly, so childlike, like Lena could ever think of pushing you away after everything. Her words, not for the first time today, betray her. All she can do is nod.

Your responding grin is heroin to Lena. You smile so wide the cut on your lip breaks open again and starts bleeding, but you pay it no mind. Lena does. She smiles back, albeit more gently, and squishes your cheeks together to prevent the split widening.

You pout in her hands. Lena’s heart flutters. She keeps getting hit randomly with momentous emotion, and she’s hit again with it now. The softness of this moment feels like seeing a rainbow after months of storms.

You here, alive, looking at Lena with so much love in your eyes, so much understanding. It feels like a fantasy. Feels like a lucid dream, a dream she’d choose, over, and over again, until the end of time.

Lena leans in and kisses you—not on the lips, they are cut and bruised. She kisses you on the space just below your eye. A spot, one of the few spots, clear of visible injury. She takes pleasure in the way you flush like it’s the first time. She always did, will always do. “I love you,” Lena whispers, promising herself that even if there are days you won’t believe her, there will never be a day you don’t hear it.

It’s you, and it’s her, and it’s the mountains of history and trauma you two are fighting against. Lena likes the both of your odds. Loves winning just as much.

You’ll beat Lex she knows. There will be a day soon where he stops haunting the two of you. Where he’s not even a thought. When that time comes you’ll have won the war, but for now she’ll take the pride of winning every battle in stride, for now, in the now; she’ll cherish every moment, the many moments, when trauma leaves the room and love consumes it.

“Lena Luthor,” you breathe. You breathe. “My love, my hero.”

[adashoflavendermelancholy]

Hunting

Ace was acting strange. Stranger than normal for him. Which was saying something about the young man. He walked around the ship like a man on a mission. Looking over his shoulder and around corners. Haruta walked up behind him and he leaped out of the way. Leaving everyone confused as to why. Not that Ace answered any of their questions about it. Even when pops asked him, Ace just brushed it off. “Don’t worry about it.” He would tell them. As if that made things easier.

Then it happened. “Strawhats coming in!” The scout called. Marco looked up. Was it time already?

The strawhats pirates had been at sea for a few years now. They had taken the world by storm with all the antics they got into. From overthrowing a government, to stopping someone from taking over a government, they were in the news. Then everything with Nico Robin came to light. Making her one of the most protected women in the world. No one could touch her, not CP9, not any pirate group. The others monsters on the crew keeping them at bay. Whitebeard wanted to meet this Luffy. Might have even wanted to claim him as a son.

When Luffy finally arrived in the New world, things changed. He charged forward to take on another warlord, Doflamingo. From there, he pissed off Big Mom and Kaido. Taking both take on at the same time. With help from Captain Kid and Captain Law. If what the paper said was true. Then it was off to mess with the world government more. As if the world Government couldn’t hate them more.

Marco figured it was going to happen eventually. That he would set his sights on Whitebeard. Being the strongest man in the world, it only made sense. If Luffy wanted to take that title.

Ace, however, showed on deck. Watching the ship get closer, while hiding around a corner. “What are you doing?” Thatch asked, blinking.

Ace hissed at Thatch, waving his hand to get the other to go away. “SHHHHH!” Not once looking at Thatch. Marco braced himself for a fight and for helping Ace get out of trouble. It wouldn’t do to have him running in only to get killed. Based on how he was acting, that was what they were looking forward to.

“Let me goooo~” a voice whined, as they were close enough to see the people on the Thousand Sunny.

“No, we haven’t met Whitebeard. I’m not letting you get us killed!” Another voice called. When an orange-haired beauty showed up on deck. “Can we come aboard?” She asked, smiling at them.

Marco wanted to tell them to get lost. That there was no way they were getting close to Whitebeard. But it wasn’t his call. “Come on.” Pops called back. His hand resting on his weapon as the air was tense. Ready for anything that happened next?

The beauty opened her mouth when something flew past her. “LUFFY!” She yelled.

Fire lit up the deck. Luffy sliding to a stop as he turned. Ace had booked it around using the fire as a distraction. He barely managed to get to Pop’s chair when two arms wrapped around him.

“GOT YOU!” Luffy yelled. Ace was now trapped. By one of the strongest men in the world right now. No matter how close Ace was to Pops, nothing could be done.

“UGH!” Ace groaned, struggling to get free. “That’s not fair, and you know it!”

“Shshshsh!” Luffy laughed, “You’re just mad you lost first.”

The orange-haired beauty walked over to them. Smiling as she did so. “Sorry Ace. We couldn’t talk him out of it. He kept yelling about tradition.”

“It’s fine. I was planning on losing, anyway.”

“Oh?” Zoro asked, from his ship. He didn’t look intimidating, but neither did Rayleigh. “I thought the first loser had to hunt the others?”

Now the Whitebeards were not only lost but very worried. Just what was going on here. “Son?” Whitebeard asked.

Ace turned to them. “Oh, right? Luffy, Meet Whitebeard. I’ve decided to help him become the king of the pirates and not you.”

Luffy turned to look at Whitebeard. They weren’t sure why Ace was trying to start a fight like this. It wasn’t fair. Luffy looked back at Ace. “Okay, but I’m not gonna lose.” He sounded uncharacteristically stern.

Ace smiled, “That’s fine, because Pops will still beat you!” Luffy laughed.

Robin caught everyone’s attention. “Captain, shouldn’t we start the party? It’s been so long since we last saw your little brother.”

The words catching on everyone’s ear. “YOU’RE FIRE FISTS BROTHER!” The Whitebeards yelled. Not sure if they were shocked because it was Ace or if this made too much sense.

Ace and Luffy, for their part, only laughed at them. The Strawhats knowing the feeling. Having been through this several times already. “Just wait until you find out who else is in this family.” Nami said, thinking about the other top names.

Whitebeard laughed, not sure if this was the best day of his life or not. He worried, secretly, about Strawhat coming for his head. Out of all the pirates in the sea, they were most likely strong enough to kill him. Not that he minded that. Dying in battle would be a good way to go, but what of his sons then? Would they be spared afterward? Or killed. There was no telling with them. Strawhat had left many of the crews that he took down alive. But there were a few that didn’t make it.

Still, the more the merrier. “Strawhat.” He called, making the other look at him. Whitebeard and Luffy stared at each other for a minute. Taking in the other before, Whitebeard smiled. “It’s good to have another son.”

Luffy stared at him, then blinked. A smile taking over his face. “Shshshshsh!” He laughed, not telling anything about what he jsut tried to claim. After all it wasn’t Luffy’s fault that two men felt anger run down their backs. Wanting to fight something for overstepping.

“Pops- “ Ace tried to warn. But it was too late. He was swept away in the crowd. Making it hard for him to tell Pops that Luffy was already taken.

[fedorasaurus]

DEUS EX SPOILERS

I finally beat the game yesterday! I'm sure you're curious to know what ending I got.

First, let me go over my thoughts about each of the options that were presented (I assume it was only these three):

Morgan's offer -- Spare the base. Join him in leading the world via the Illuminati, which will definitely not be tyrannical.

I don't trust him. Not after seeing what he did to DeBeers (locking him in a cold stasis pod under his house and using him for his knowledge while lying about curing him, taking sole control over the Illuminati in his place). Is that going to be JC's fate, too? Plus, even with JC's compassion, I don't see what good can come of a secret society running the world. Joining the big conspiracy goes against everything JC fought for up to this point. Maybe he can make a change for the better, though?

Tracer's offer -- Destroy the base, activating a massive EMP blast that will disable electronic tech worldwide. Society will be returned to the "dark ages," but from there, everyone will be on equal footing, and we can rebuild to a better, more fair society, where no one government or billionaire can control everyone/everything.

Like JC says, "that sounds overkill." Then again, Tracer's hope and optimism is compelling. It's not that advanced tech would NEVER return, anyway. Now it has the chance to be rebuilt under better circumstances. Maybe this time we can use tech to help people rather than harm them. One thing gives me pause, though: this is a sudden, worldwide change, which most people will not be ready for. A lot of people will be harmed by this at first. Think about it: no hospital equipment, no refrigerators, no phones to contact people in an emergency. I certainly don't know enough about farming to be self-sufficient, nor am I in shape enough for long term physical labor. But, I also think... If forgoing the use of modern technology means, for example, that nukes no longer existed, I think it's worth it.

Helios' offer -- Combine JC with the AI, using his augs and Helios' vast knowledge to control the world.

This sounds scary on the face of it. Trust a machine to handle running the lives of humans? Helios makes a compelling argument, though. It doesn't have ambitions. It's simply programmed to protect people and help the world run smoothly. No emotion or ulterior motives that can be bribed into doing what some wealthy benefactor wants. Though, any fan of System Shock would sweat a little at this, recalling that Shodan was programmed for a similar purpose, and her solution to "protecting people" was to... make it so that there were no more people. Come to think of it, Helios never elaborated on their plan to protect people. A machine built on spy software and internet data, relying on algorithms to make decisions, it's concerning. But combined with JC, maybe it could work. JC would have to do a lot of emotional heavy-lifting, but maybe he can keep the AI in line. We also found out that... people are already kind of okay with Helios opening up the roads and shutting down the criminal organizations. JC does wonder, though, if Helios is trying to learn about people in order to control, not help them.

As a sidenote, Bob sounds like SUCH a jealous lover when he finds out that Helios wants JC and not him. God, hearing the villain lose his shit when he knows he's at a disadvantage is delightful after everything we've endured at his hand. All he can do is sit behind his force field and yell at us. You got got, Bob!

Alright, so, what choice did I make for my first playthrough?

---

Deus Ex handles the endings in an interesting way. There's no obvious "GOOD" or "BAD" ending. Each option has positive and negative consequences, and it's up to the player to decide, based on what they learned and discovered throughout the game, what feels right to them. Even Paul trusts JC to follow his heart, supporting him whatever he chooses (god, I love Paul 😭).

Part of my decision also came from just having a difficult time navigating the Area 51 base. Other folks in Chat had similar experiences, so I'm glad I'm not alone there, but it got to a point where I was mulling two choices around in my mind but ended up committing to one because there was no way I'd be able to find my way back if I changed my mind again (yes, the game gives you maps, but even in real life I struggle without a point of reference of my current location 💀).

Plus, Helios was weirdly pushy. "Yes, you will do this," "You will go there, do that." It was uncomfortable, kind of bossy. JC had an option, but Helios still acted like it was bent on controlling things. Maybe I can chalk it up to the language processing of a machine, though.

The ending I picked on this run, you can probably guess, was the New Dark Age ending. Tracer's hope is something I can really vibe with. His, "Come find us, JC!" got me really emotional, in fact. The game doesn't explicitly show JC escaping and reuniting with his friends, but I believe he does. Something made me second-guess my choice, though: the animals and workers who are still alive on the base. The mechanic who tries desperately to stop JC when he presses the three buttons to start the reaction. I really hope they all had enough time to evacuate. I'm okay sacrificing my own life to save everyone, but taking others down with me feels terrible. It's left ambiguous, though. In fact, the ending only shows JC running from the facility while it crumbles. Did we make the right choice, in the end? Is society going to be okay? It isn't shown. I like that, though. Let the player imagine how the future plays out. We weighed the options and followed our heart, and really, that's all anyone can do.

I believe it all worked out.

I'll get the other endings next week and see if any of them feel more "right," and then we'll see how Invisible War handles the continuation of the story (one thing's for sure: Alex Denton must have escaped somehow 👀)!

[thatsmzbitchtoyou]

Angry baby? -Oneshot

Word Count: 1715

Y/N sulked in a corner of the common room, reading her book but not retaining any of the story.  She honestly couldn’t remember what she and Bucky had been fighting over a few days before, but they had ultimately thrown their hands up and walked away from each other.  Now she was ignoring him.  It was childish and petty, but her anger wouldn’t let her give it up just yet.

Bucky had almost immediately tried to apologize an hour after they’d blown up at each other, but she wouldn’t hear it.  He’d been sweet and apologetic, trying to get her to talk to him, but every time he walked in the room she would walk out or ignore him when he tried talking to her.  

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, Bucky plopped down next to her on the loveseat she was sitting on.  “Hey baby,” he said, sidling up to her, his arm around her shoulders.  Y/N didn’t acknowledge him.  “Oh come on, baby, please?  I said I was sorry.”  She slightly turned away from him.  Bucky huffed then quickly moved to kneel in front of her.  “Y/N?” he called to her, his fingers inching up her knees to her thighs.  “If you forgive me, I’ll rub your feet and give you back scratches every day for a month.”

The offer was tempting.  But for some reason her rational brain was on vacation, and she kept her gaze focused on her book.  She knew if she looked into his sad, puppy dog blue eyes that she’d crumble, and she wasn’t willing to admit defeat yet.

“Really?  That didn’t do it?  Okay, well how about if you forgive me, you can do whatever you want with me,” he said quietly, his tone suggestive.  “And I won’t complain or take back control.”

Y/N glanced at him.  That was very tempting.  He looked completely serious, and she seriously considered it before shaking her head to clear her thoughts.  She stood and stepped around him, walking away to her room.

“Baby!  Please!” Bucky quickly followed her.  “I can’t stand it when you’re mad at me.  We both said some stupid things we didn’t mean.  You know that, right?  I didn’t mean any of it.” Y/N walked into her room and tried to close the door but he stopped it with his foot.  “What do I gotta do, huh?  Please, name it and I’ll do it.”

Y/N stared up at him for a moment.  “Beg,” she hissed, then kicked his foot and shut the door.  She stood by the door for another moment, watching the shadow of his feet stand there for a moment before she heard a heavy sigh.

“I love you,” he mumbled, then his shadow retreated.

***

The Avengers were at a press event that was disguised as a party.  Y/N hated these things, but showed up with a smile and a ridiculous dress to appease Tony and the government officials they had to deal with on a regular basis.  She nursed a champagne flute lazily as she walked through the tight groups of people talking, drinking and dancing at the Avengers tower.              

“Hey Y/N,” Peter greeted her with a wide smile.

“Hey you,” Y/N smiled back.  She hugged him and he kept his arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards a quieter area by the windows.  

“How’ve you been?  I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” he said, turning to face her, keeping her free hand held loosely with his fingers.

“I know.  But it’s not my fault you’re here in New York all the time while I’m sent out to random areas for missions,” Y/N replied, sipping her drink.  

“Ugh, so not fair,” Peter rolled his eyes.  “How’s Bucky?”

“He’s…he’s fine,” Y/N said, looking out the window.

“Mm, trouble in paradise?” Peter narrowed his eyes.

“Oh, it’s nothing serious.  Just me being petty at this point,” Y/N shrugged.

Peter hummed.  “Yeah.  I can feel his glare burning my back as we speak.”  Y/N frowned and looked around until she caught Bucky’s gaze.  He was indeed glaring daggers at Peter, looking frustrated and upset.  Y/N shook her head.  “Wanna make him jealous?” Peter smirked.

“More jealous than he already is?” Y/N laughed.

“Well, you know, just drive him a little crazy,” Peter said, stepping closer to her.  He wrapped his arm around her waist, his hand flat on her lower back.  He dipped his head and whispered in her ear.  “I’m sure whatever happened, he’s super sorry.”

“I know he is,” Y/N sighed, leaning into Peter slightly.  “I’m sorry, too.  I just…sometimes I need a few days to cool down.”

“Does he know that?” Peter asked.  “Because I’m pretty sure he’s about to try and kill me.”

“What?” Y/N asked, looking at him.

Peter moved at the last second, pulling Y/N toward the window just as Bucky’s metal arm shot out next to them.  Y/N gasped and Peter quickly turned, grabbing Bucky’s metal hand and shaking it.  “Hey Buck,” he greeted him, all chipper and not like Bucky was just about to hit him.  “She’s ready to talk,” he said, raising his eyebrows at Y/N in a look that screamed, “Fix it!” before walking away.

Bucky watched Peter incredulously before turning to Y/N.  “What the fuck are you doing?” he snarled at her.

“Me?  What the fuck are you doing?  Trying to attack Peter in the middle of a press party?” Y/N said lowly, her frown deepening.  

“What’s wrong? Did I almost hurt your new boyfriend?” Bucky sneered.

Y/N recoiled.  “Fuck you,” she hissed, then turned and walked out of the ballroom.  Once she was out of sight of everyone she took off her heels and started running toward the elevator.  She thought she’d left him until his hand stopped the elevator doors at the last second.  “Buck, please leave me alone,” she sighed.

“Don’t do that,” Bucky said angrily, punching the button for their floor.  “Don’t go running away from this.  We need to figure this out.  It was a stupid fight, we both know that, and we need to get over it.  But you going and flirting with someone else–”

“I wasn’t flirting,” Y/N scoffed.  “Peter is my friend–”

“A friend that would love it if you were single,” Bucky said, stepping closer and caging her against the wall of the elevator.

“Jesus, Buck, quit being so jealous,” Y/N sneered back at him.  His jaw ticked, his nose flaring as he exhaled sharply.  “Oooh, big scary Winter Soldier stare gonna compel me to forgive you?  Huh?  Maybe I wanted him to touch me.”  She knew she was treading dangerous territory as his eyes widened.  “Maybe he would treat me nice.  Not get mad at me over stupid, silly, little things.”

Bucky’s face crumpled.  “Y/N,” he whispered.  “I’m trying here.  I know I’m not perfect, that I mess up, that I’m…a mess,” he swallowed harshly.  “But I love you.  I love you more than anything.  You are my everything.  And I’m sorry I got mad, that I overreacted then and now.  But I…I can’t lose you, baby.”  Y/N frown fell at his words.  “Please forgive me.  I-I-I’ll get on my knees and beg,” Bucky suddenly kneeled, grasping her hands in his tightly.  “Please baby, I’m sorry,” his hands released her hands and started to move along her legs, gripping her hips as he leaned in and kissed her thighs, the dips in her hips, her stomach.  “You mean everything to me, I don’t know what I would do without you.  Please…” he looked up at her and she inhaled deeply at the tears that started to build in his eyes.  “Please forgive me, baby.”

Y/N felt the frustration and anger melt away as she watched him.  The pettiness died in her mind and she reached down and cupped his face.  “I forgive you, sweetheart,” she whispered, then kissed him softly.

They were interrupted by the ding of the elevator and she pulled Bucky up and led him to her room.  Once the door was locked she turned and pushed him to her bed, making him sit and then climbing into his lap.  She started kissing all over his face, holding him gently as his hands gripped her hips.  “I’m sorry, sweetheart.  I’m sorry for being so petty and letting it get to me, to us, for the last few days.  Sometimes I just need time to cool down and…God, I’m sorry.”  She pulled back to look at him. “Can you forgive me?”

“Already forgiven,” Bucky breathed.  “You know I can’t stay mad at you.  I just need you to talk to me.  If you need time, I’ll give you time.”

Y/N smiled as she nuzzled his nose.  “Communication.  Got it.”

Bucky smiled.  “I’m sorry I reacted so badly tonight.”

“And I’m sorry I played into it,” Y/N whispered, resuming her kisses.

He chuckled at that.  “Oh, so you knew it would drive me crazy seeing you with somebody else?”

“Maybe?” Y/N shrugged, hiding her blush in the crook of his neck.

“Little tease,” Bucky tickled her sides, making her shriek and laugh as he moved back on the bed with her still in his lap.  Once their heads were at the pillows he pulled her to lay next to him.  “As much as I should punish you for purposefully making me jealous,” he said with a playful glare, “right now I just want to hold you.  I’ve…I missed you,” he said sadly.

Y/N’s heart broke at his admission.  She promised herself she would never let herself get overwhelmed by her anger or frustration when it came to him.  “I missed you, too,” she said quietly, not trusting her voice.  “Can I make it up to you?”

“How?” Bucky smirked, looking curious.

“Well, how about I take care of you, show you how sorry I really am, then we can cuddle?” Y/N smirked back at him, pulling herself up and shifting down the bed, her fingers starting to pull at his belt buckle.

“Baby you don’t have to do tha–fuck!” he gasped.  “Nevermind, yes, I…I want that…”

THE END

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

How do you feel about the idea that Azula would've been a good Firelord before her mental breakdown? I won't name anyone, but there has been a few fics that depicted Azula as a legalist who would enforce bureaucracy and government structure, including busting corruption and reforming the FN's legal system.

Honestly though, I personally interprete Azula as highly emotional (even though she is very intelligent and calculating, she also has a lot of anger and pride) and uncaring of her people, so she likely wouldn't have bothered. As Firelord, she would've been the highest authority anyway and who cares about fair legal systems when she gets to execute idiots she doesn't like while wrecking shit in the Earth Kingdom? Azula loves power, but I think she wouldn't love ruling. Pre-breakdown Azula's ideal place was by her father's right hand

Pre-redemption Azula would be as good of a ruler as any imperialist can be, aka not that good.

But let me start off by saying: Azula doesn't execute people for shits and giggles and she surpresses the fuck out of her emotions because she desperately wants to pretend she doesn't have any. That is not to say she's a kind, compassionate soul that would NEVER take advantage of the fact that she's so much more powerful than anyone else, but still, these are her consistent character traits.

We have very few scenes of her showing any emotion openly (most being during her breakdown, aka when she was too mentally exhausted to fight them), she canonically only ever killed ONE person (who came back to life), and we literally see her stopping a torture session. Even when she was completely out of control, she banished instead of executing people that she believed were conspiring to kill her, and only attacked Zuko and Katara, who were enemies not only of her but of her entire nation and explicitly said they were about to steal her crown.

She's cruel, but not that cruel, anything else is out of character fanon. The most she'd do is threaten people with the fact that she has the power to get away with doing ANYTHING them, because she genuinely believes that fear is the only way to ensure loyalty.

Azula is all about order (girl gets mad that she was firebending with one hair out of place) and, much like Zuko, she's a patriot - but her definition of patriotism is very different from his. She had little interest in the human element of it all or in the notion that duty it'd be her duty to take care of anyone. She's all about the glory, the legacy, the conquest, the battles won, and the Fire Nation being seen as inherently superior.

For exemple, if she had been in the war meeting that led to Zuko's banishment, she might have also had an issue with that general's plan of using Fire Nation soldiers as bait because they're "fresh meat." Not because she'd see it as a betrayal of their trust and a horrible crime against innocents, but because it's a waste of resources. It's stupid to knowingly let competent, loyal soldiers die just to avoid coming up with a different strategies that maximizes enemie losses while keeping yours as low as possible. And obviously she wouldn't have brought up that concern out of turn and in anyway that could be seen as challenging Ozai.

Basically, if there was a famine, a plague, a tsunami or anything that means only losses for the country, you can bet Azula will try to remedy the situation. She needs people in her army, as her servants, growing the crops, etc. Human life is not THAT disposable to her. But if a fishing village is dying because, to make all their weapons, the Fire Nation is creating a problem of polution? Well, too bad for them, they can they there and die or try their luck and move elsewhere, weapons for the army are more important than one village filled with nobodies.

And if some soldier dies, you can expect she'll okay with the family and fellow men honoring him because glory of battle and all, but don't expect her to actually care. She won't send them to a doomed battle, but she's perfectly at peace with the fact that not all of the soldiers going into battle will ever return. And she will NOT be happy if someone pulls an Iroh and "falls apart" after a person loss.

And obviously, only the people of HER nation sometimes get her "pragmatic compassion" so to speak. The colonies? Forget it. They're inferior beings that barely count as people. Again, Azula wouldn't be ordering her army to commit attrocities for her amusement, but don't expect her to give a shit if they imprison or kill people who are resisting too much, or to see literal genocide as bad - she canonically doesn't care.

There'd also be no valluing of nature and/or the spirits, which is a very, very, VERY bad idea in the long-run. Angry pandas kidnaping people, folks getting sick, all that unpleasant stuff - and that's still the best case scenario because I believe Azula wouldn't pull a Zhao and try to kill the fucking moon and anger the ocean when she lives in an archipelago.

Azula's reign would be ruthless, but functional... for some time. Sooner or later the disregard for human life, both in the Fire Nation and especially the colonies, would mean revolt and a colapsing system. Maybe it'd happen during her lifetime, maybe it'd happen decades or centuries after her death, but still, her actions would heavily tied to it regardless of if she was around to face the consequences.

As to whether she even wanted power at all, the show made it quite clear that she did - but there was ONE thing that she wanted even more than she wanted the crown, and that was love and genuine human connection, hence her being super devoted to her dad and basically giving Zuko the crown twice (by bringing him home in Crossroads of Destiny and by looking out for him in The Headband instead of letting Ozai find out about his visits to Iroh). The fact either the dad that strongly favored her or the brother that she felt she could easily manipulate being the ones in power also meant power for her was a nice bonus.

That's why in my headcanons for what a redeemed Azula would be like, she usually ends up as Zuko's advisor and wife. She'd deal with all the bureaucracy Zuko has no patience for and he'd remind her that a ruler can only be truly good if they're compassion. Plus, hey, if he didn't have to give up his ambition for the crown even after redemption, why can't Azula be redeemed AND achieve her goal of being the Fire Lord's second in command/favorite person due to how loyal she is, only this time for a Fire Lord that would actually care about her?

[lesdeuxxx]

ATTENTION PEOPLE: MISSING FANFIC SEARCH:

So this is going to be very incredibly confusing, but I’m searching for this fic I read a really long time ago. In light of the possibility ao3 gets banned, I’m going to save fics that I think deserve to be preserved like the literature they are. This includes fics that I read previously and really liked. However, I’m having trouble finding this Heartstopper fic I read ages ago back when I was still in the fandom and do not remember the title of. I fear it may have been deleted. But regardless, I will shout into the void and hope and pray someone knows the fic I’m taking about and can maybe send me the link. So here’s a plot recap:

It’s set during the Christmas season. Charlie is homeless. He breaks into nicks shed to steal power tools to pawn them for money but nick catches him, and feels bad. Slowly over time they become friends, and nick does what he can to help Charlie. The early chapters im blanking on but it gets interesting much later. Charlie stays with nick after a lot of convincing and they lie to nicks parents (who in this fic, are still together-nicks father is a cop.) and say he goes to truham. Christmas rolls around and nick (I think) fakes sick to stay home while his parents travel or see relatives or something, and Charlie spends a few days with nick alone in the house. Charlie also plays the violin for some reason, which nick happens to have and gifts to Charlie because he never uses it. Charlie grows insecure about “using” nick and eventually runs off, feeling as though he is a nuisance, and so he goes back to the street. His violin gets stolen by some street rats who beat him up, but nick goes out searching for him and throws the street rats off, leading to him and Charlie having to escape and hide in an abandoned apartment Charlie stays in some times. But when you think everything’s okay, the third act happens and Ben comes into play, who is a much older drug dealer who takes advantage of Charlie being in a bad position to have an abusive relationship with him. Charlie tries to go to Elle and Tao, who he met through Ben, and who try to hide him but ultimately he’s sniffed out and Ben takes him when his goons and him storm elle and Tao’s apartment. There’s some sort of fight in I think a motel and and nick gets him back. Imogen is also there, I don’t really remember when she is or what she does until the end, when we find out she went with Ben who is now technically a kidnapper, and nicks cop father has to swat Ben to take him out, and he goes to jail cause turns out he killed Charlie’s mom because she was (I think) verbally abusive to Charlie and it’s what leads to them being together.

Also, a couple random plot points I remember but don’t know where to place include:

-charlie constantly wears a thin denim jacket that later gets traded with one of nicks old puffer coats

-he runs into Tara and Darcy drawing graffiti under a bridge and joins them. If I remember correctly, Darcy was kicked out by her mom and Tara has a shit home life.

-Charlie goes with nicks mom to one of his rugby games and they talk I think

-nick and Charlie have a date where they go to some sort of Christmas fair and I think go ice skating

-Ben may or may not have been drugging and pimping out Charlie, and I think that’s like the main reason why he freaks out about Imogen is cause he’s worried it’ll happen to her?

-when Ben brings Charlie to the hotel, he shoot’s up heroin

The fic was posted during the holiday season, I do remember that. As for the year, I’m not sure, but I would say it’s likely to be either from December 2021 or 2022.

If ANYONE remembers anything about this fic, the name, the author, anything at all, please comment below. I remember it was an incredible story and I know I would feel incredible guilt if I couldn’t find it again while I’m on the hunt to preserve my favorite fics before the government might take them away from me.

[grounded-gryphon]

I'd Die (Again) For Y'all (Chapter 8)

Prev

wc ~1100

Martain Manhunter, Cyborg, and Wonder Woman shuttled down to a meeting with the GIW the next morning. J'onn was not happy with the situation. But he said nothing to his companions of his concerns.

THe flight down was without incident and they met the GIW in Illinois, a state J'onn had not previously been to. As a scientist, he found the floral monoculture across much of the state concerning, but it did make for many location for an unobtrusive meeting.

The agents were already waiting for them, ostentatiously armed and alert.

J'onn landed the shuttle beside their van and led the team out. As soon as J'onn stepped into view, the GIW agents aimed their weapons -- very odd weapons -- at him.

"What is the meaning of this."

---

Flash was late.

He wasn't very late -- he got sidetracked by a hostage situation in Topeka. And all these cornfields looked the same. (How did people live like this?)

So instead of being in place before the 'GIW' assholes arrived and sneaking into their transport with the thumbdrive Bats had given him, Flash arrived just in time to see the assholes pull guns on Martian Manhunter.

Which had not been part of the plan. At all.

MM had his own bad experiences with government, and no way was Flash going to let these goons mess with him. Without waiting even long enough for a quip, Flash dashed in and yanked the weapons out of the agent's hands.

Stopping far enough out they couldn't make a grab for them, Flash held up the weapons (and one weird looking sensor thing. "Looking for these?"

There was a moment of silence and then everyone was yelling. Huh. That was why Bats was so uptight over folks at most of the JL meetings. It really was annoying.

/"Flash,'/ came J'onn's telepathic voice -- he didn't have a problem talking over everyone. /'What are you doing here?'/

Oh… right. No was supposed to know he was here. Even the team. "Plausible deniability," Bats had called it.

That was annoying.

"I was… um… just passing through? There was a thing in Kansas and… anyway, am I interrupting something? I'll just… yeah."

Flash zipped away (taking the guns and sensor with him, of course). He'd give them to Bats. Having strange tech to play with might keep the Bat from lecturing too much, right?

Nah… He wasn't that lucky.

---

Oracle had a headache.

With Cyborg on an away she was handling the cyber side of the Phantom/GIW investigation on her own. She was also trying to track down Red Hood, because having Hood offline and out of touch overnight after he and Red Robin disappeared together was not reassuring. Everyone always worried about Tim, which was fair. But a few times Oracle has… accidentally hacked Jason's comms when he was in the middle of a nightmare. Jason being alone with Tim would not have been good for him, either.

(Jason was doing better, she knew he was doing better. And Tim /had/ checked in with her before going to one of his safe houses that she wasn't supposed to know about. But he'd kept his audio off and comm to text only the rest of the night and not answered any of her questions. And that wasn't at all concerning.)

Except that they had both disappeared right around the time Phantom escaped. There was no way Hood could have gotten around Watchtower security on his own, but if he'd somehow gotten Red Robin to help him…

But Tim was okay, even if he'd gone quiet. Probably just so deep in a case he lost track of time. Hopefully not so bad he started hallucinating.

It should not be this hard to find the legal basis behind the GIW. Federal agencies could run dark, but the laws to create them had to be on the books somewhere. And laws were public information. But all her searches came back empty. Not surprising. If anyone had gone before Congress and openly advocated a bill to investigate Ghosts, they'd have been laughed out of the next election.

The CIA and FBI both had a history of dealing in paranormal, but this wasn't either of theirs. If only because none of their agents would be caught dead in the get ups she'd seen photos Flash had uploaded after his run to Amity Park. Plus, she had a few contacts on that side of Alphabet City and none of them had even heard of the GIW.

It was time for a different approach. Past time, really. Oracle had been so worried about Tim and Jason she'd missed an obvious step.

Pulling out of all the secure government files she's spent so long getting into, Oracle started a new search. Common ghost terms.

Then back into the congressional data base.

Spirit turned up patriotic goop.

Specter… right… should have expected that.

The next few terms got similar useless results.

Ectoplasm. That wasn't real, right?

Hell, it couldn't hurt to try.

Huh. Ectoplasm turned up a dozen times scattered across a handful of environmental bills. As a potential clean energy source?

Huh.

"Batman. I found the laws, sending you the information now."

"Understood."

"Nightwing needs me monitoring tonight, but I should be able to dig a bit deeper. I'll keep you updated."

"Hn."

"Oracle out."

Okay, so she had the legal handle she needed now -- bill names and numbers. With that, zeroing in on the GIW should go a lot faster.

Her comm beeped.

"Oracle, Hood."

"Hood. Everything okay?" She tried to keep the worry out of her voice.

"I'm good, O. Somethings come up, though. A personal project is going to take up more time than expected. Calling in a favor -- keep B off my back for a bit and stay off my comms."

"Hood--"

"If you don't, I swear to God I will set off an EMP grenade in each of my safehouses and destroy every comm, tracker, bug, and camera you or any of the others has ever managed to get no me."

"You can't--"

"Roy can get me a back up helmet in 24 hours. Try me."

"Fine, but you owe me a girls night -- movies, makeup and nailpolish."

The threat told her he was serious -- he absolutely would do it.

That he didn't hesitate or argue before accepting her terms… that was almost frightening.

"And I need a way to reach you in an emergency."

He did hesitate then. "I'll make sure Re-- Red Robin knows how to find me."

And… he signed off, leaving Oracle right back where she started.

Worried.

------------

Next

Thought we'd take a lot at what the JL is up too. Didn't get this one edited.

Flash is based on my vague recall of the Justice League show from 20 years ago. Hope I didn't mess up the character too bad.

taglist

@8-29pm @admiralwidow @ailithnight @androcat191 @andsatisfactionbroughtmeback @annkan7 @apointlessbox @beacedocrime @beepboopimaproblemchild @blep-23 @breesperez139 @bun-fish @chaos-n-kindness @charcoalstainedbones @consouling @crystalqueertea @d4ydr34min9 @darkstarsapocalypse @drowningroane @enderglace @ever-changing-weirdo-3100 @everything163 @fenanoni @firegirl108 @fisticuffsatapplebees @gaelic-holiday @ghostpyre @gildedphoenix @girlnic @greenmuffinofdoom @help-i-need-a-cool-username @icedbluesoul @idkmrpianoman @idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @igotafewbadideas @introvert-even-on-the-internet @istillhavenosociallife-blog @jaggedheart11 @jarlyd @kaneking-ken @kjoboo91 @lazy-bouqet @liandrin @library-cat-in-the-window @meira-3919 @mentalcarebear @mokakacoco @mossy-bonez @mygood-bitch99 @nexthenerd

[cowgurrrl]

Hey gorgeous girl!!! I hope you’re having a good day! I wanted to request maybe a preoutbreak!joel and reader where reader has a bad day at work/college? Just how Joel would comfort when he sees reader all upset and stressed out🥹 if it doesn’t spark any interest, feel free to ignore this!!! I love you & your writing 🫶🏼💐✨💋💗

Thank you for your sweet words and your love!! I love this idea!! Pre-Outbreak Joel makes my Texas heart soar 🤠

Snowqueen of Texas

Pairing: Pre-Outbreak!Joel Miller x fem!reader

Summary: Joel hears about your day through the grapevine and decides to try to make you feel better

Warnings: None! Just Joel being a softy (gif by @loregifs)

The day had started rough. You got stuck in traffic on your way into work and cut someone off so badly they laid on their horn for a solid ten seconds. It didn’t matter because you ended up being twenty minutes late anyways. By the time you had clocked in, you were already in the weeds and barely had a chance to breathe before rushing around the restaurant like a crazy person. Every table that got up and cleaned got sat again almost immediately. People weren’t tipping as well as they usually did, but they made up for it by being rude as fuck. Your feet hurt from running back and forth all day, and to top it all off, you spilled hot sauce on your new white shirt.

So, when the hostess came to the back and told you someone was there for you during the two seconds you had to sit down, you were more than a little frustrated. You sulked up to the front, where you found Joel talking to your manager with a smile on his face. He ended all his sentences with “yes ma’am,” “no ma’am,” and “thank you, ma’am,” like the good southern boy his mama raised him to be. You smile as you walk over to him and wrap your arms around his middle. He kisses your forehead and hugs you back, not missing a beat in his conversation.

“Is it okay if I take my break, Samantha?” You ask your manager. Normally, she would make you roll silverware for a while before she let you go on break, but Joel seems to have buttered her up because she agrees. As she goes back upstairs, he holds up a plastic bag from your favorite Mexican restaurant. “Oh, my god, I love you.” You gasp as you take the bag from him and walk to his truck.

Joel tells you about the job he’s working right now and Sarah’s school project while you eat the tacos he brought you. The air conditioning blasts cold air to beat the summer heat, and an old country song is playing on the radio. You’re really trying to listen to his story, but with the food and the comfortable passenger seat, you’re more focused on how much better you feel. “By the way, Tommy ratted you out for cutting him off this morning.” He says, and you laugh.

“Tell Thomas he can’t take up the entirety of I-35 just because he thinks he’s the only one late to work.”

“Thomas? We’re using government names now?”

“Snitches get stitches.”

“Fair,” he says as you roll the empty tinfoil wrapper into a ball and throw it back in the plastic bag. “Feelin’ better?” He asks as he puts his hand on your thigh, his warm hand squeezing you.

“How did you know I was having a bad morning?” You ask and catch his nervous habit as he grinds his teeth.

“Sarah might’ve told me she saw you leave the house from the bus stop. Said you were in a huge rush, and I figured you slept through your alarms.”

“Are all the Millers spying on me?”

“Nobody is spying on you. She told me because she knew I would be nearby today and said I should bring my beautiful girlfriend lunch.” He says as he leans over and kisses you.

“Smart girl,” you whisper against his lips, resting a hand on his scruffy jaw. His hand snakes through your hair as he deepens the kiss. “You should always come to see me on my lunch break.”

“I reckon if I did that, we’d do a lot more than eat lunch.”

“Is that such a bad thing?”

“Only if you want us to keep our jobs,” he says, and you groan dramatically. “You just have to make it through today, and then when you get home, we can have dinner and drink wine and yell at Tommy for being a snitch.”

“Fine,” You sigh. “But I need one more thing before I can go back to work.”

“Name your price, sweetheart.”

When you walk back into work full of tacos and love, you’re wearing Joel’s shirt to replace the one you spilled hot sauce on. The hostess raises her eyebrows mischievously at you, but you shake your head, smirking, as you clock back in. “He had an extra work shirt, and mine was dirty.” You say. She hums and walks away, giving you a look that tells you she doesn’t believe you. She can think whatever you want because the scent of Joel’s cologne on his shirt is going to be enough to get you through the rest of your day.

Thank God the Millers are nosy as hell.

🍓

🍓

🍓

[inevestigator]

WORLD STATE POST! - SPOILERS !

okay having done two playthroughs, entitled neve has an okay apocalypse and neve has a very bad apocalypse i can now make some assertions about the main state of play and neve's 'considered canon' when interacting, unless i am informed otherwise (and please inform me otherwise if you want your game choices to be reflected, i'm happy to accommodate).

Spoilers below the cut.

This makes it easy to have two main verses, so that's what I'm going to do.

verse one is likely to be the main-main verse because realistically i think most people chose to save treviso (for good reason).

ONE. Neve has a very bad no good apocalypse -

in which, neve throws herself into the fray early, following rook into the ritual and taking a heavy knock to the face. this leaves her bruised and headachey for a bit, but in terms of lasting impact- she has a small scar on her forehead.

then minrathous and treviso are attacked and for whatever reason, rook goes to treviso (my rook was a warden so the blight was their concern, but reasoning is largely irrelevant at this point) and minrathous suffers for it, the dragon torches large parts of the city, including neve's apartment, and wounds ashur, infecting him with blight. the venatori seize control of the magisterium. they then start raids on known dissenters, including ransacking the shadow dragon hideout and taking no prisoners (unless they were going to use them for blood magic later). there are dozens of public executions, neve gets away by the skin of her teeth and lets the team know she's going to need a break to try and help where she can in dock town. and she does try, but it leaves her more jaded and hardened than ever. when she returns to the lighthouse it's mostly out of a strong desire for vengeance on the gods- and also because she knows they can't stop the venatori until the gods are dead. she's tired and distant, especially from rook though by her own admission she knows that isn't fair because what happened was not their fault. she throws herself into her work. she's available for missions. she's working through some stuff.

then damas, leader of the threads crime gang, is taken from the cobbled swan and elek asks for neve's help in tracking him down (with rook's assistance of course) and the real fun begins- tracking down damatus leads to the reveal that aelia is puppeting him and also other people in the city to do her work for her and she's got big plans. for their help the threads offer to deliver some information to the shadow dragons that will help them take down bataris, a corrupt magister. the threads deal is accepted and the threads warm up to the veilguard.

people start to go missing from dock town - including people neve cares about (hal, specifically), damatus is killed and aelia is tracked to an old temple under the city. with the venatori in control of the government there is no way of holding aelia safely- and she has escaped captivity at least once before- so, swearing to protect dock town no matter the cost, neve leaves her fate in the hands of the threads who eagerly take vengeance for their people and their streets. aelia is killed and the threads make sure everyone knows who's responsible.

later, elek turns up at the lighthouse and offers control of the threads to neve, which she takes- on the agreement that they don't cross her lines and that they help what's left of the shadow dragons when they need it. all personal problems squared away, the team start an assault on the gods.

during the assault when they come across dangerous blood magic wards neve insists on being the one to take them down (in an effort to protect bellara) and as she finishes taking down the wards, she's grabbed by elger'nan and controlled using blight and blood magic to help his takeover of minrathous.

weeks later, after rook's fade journey and as the team begins its assault on elger'nan, neve is found helping to control the blight for elger'nan. rook frees her, but the blight remains in her system. she helps give the information that if elger'nan dies then the veil crumbles too, giving the team time to make a plan. she accompanies rook to the archon's palace but is separated during the climb. she spends her time helping solas fight the archdemon by freeing him from blight tendrils at important intervals.

at the last moment, as it looks like all hope is lost and rook is alone and solas is trapped, neve takes the initiative to place herself on the blighted throne, taking control of the blight and fighting elger'nan's residual influences with the assertion that this is her city. solas is freed, the archdemon killed and rook kills elger'nan, which kills the blight and removes large chunks of it. solas closes the veil (one way or another) and neve breaks free of the blight, now unblighted herself. what this means for others who had blight in their bodies has yet to be determined.

she moves back into the lighthouse while looking for a new place to live and helping to clear up the streets of minrathous in more ways than one.

TWO. neve has a pretty good apocalypse all things considered -

on joining rook, harding and varric at the ritual site neve stays behind to fight demons while rook and harding go on to try and stop the ritual, harding comes off worse for wear here. neve joins the lighthouse team.

when the dragons attack the cities rook saves minrathous, causing treviso to be blighted and lucanis to temporarily leave the team to go and help clean up in treviso. minrathous suffers some damage but it definitely could have been worse.

damas still gets kidnapped and neve and rook investigate the disappearance, leading to the revealing of aelia and the subsequent explorations to find and put a stop to her. neve still takes the threads deal- but this time the information to put bataris away is given over to the templars instead of the shadow dragons.

upon finding aelia neve makes the choice to be an inspiration for the people of dock town, letting the know there's someone looking out for them publicly. aelia is handed over to the templars to be locked up.

rana loses her job for not being corrupt enough and neve offers her a place working with her. they start a detective agency- one that is going to make a difference in dock town.

when it comes to the assault on tearstone island, neve and bellara bicker about the wards but bellara is chosen to open the way forward, leading to her being grabbed by elger'nan and ending up blighted. neve is very upset about this.

after elger'nan is killed and the world doesn't end, neve still has a lot of clean up to do in minrathous following the final battle. she will spend more time there than the lighthouse in the aftermath as she still has a house there and now also a new detective business.

other potential aftermaths of either verse include:

minrathous monsters and murders where neve and davrin set up an agency (and probably employ rana lbr) to fight monsters and solve crimes.

ashur succumbs to the blight and she takes over running the shadow dragons?? i guess.

someone (dorian) makes her a magister as a meme?? idk

other things

[pitbullwithaship]

DOCTOR WHO LIVEBLOG 2009 SPECIAL THE END OF TIME (PART 1)

Okay, I think I might be emotionally prepared for both of the parts of this. Time to watch, wish me mental stability!

Planet Earth Intro

Oh there's a documentary narrator lol

Hello christmas

WILF HELLO

Pretty singing, gorgeous singing

Those kids are good

Tardis cameo?

THE SAINTED PHYSICIAN LOL

Spooky woman?

Evil laughter?

Hi Doctor (he's mentally ill)

Hi Ood (he is aware of the Doctor's mental illness)

Snowy day

Ooh pretty city

Ood prophet cool

More evil laughter?? Hello?

Which man is dead

The Master? Maybe tis his wife at least (poor her)

WHATY WHAT TIS WEIRD GALLIFREYAN THINGY

HES ALIVE THEN WHAT

It's not nice when time starts bleeding

Poor Lucy

Weird woman on the TV?

Okay resurrection generally isn't the greatest choice

This is culty

Til death do them part she's awesome

Person running? Master running?

I love Wilf he's so silly

Lol sending out the troops to find the Doctor

Okay so the Master is even more insane than before

Yay Obama

Creepy as hell my dude

That's horrifying

That's ultra horrifying jeez

Hello Doctor

Epic chase through a garbage dump

"Let me help" oh come on you've tried that before

Old people gang up to take a photo with him lol

Gets groped

Don't be sulky Doctor

HE WILL KNOCK FOUR TIMES OH MY GOSH

Dude course you'll die that's just what happens

Not changed no

Aww hello Shaun Temple

They're cute, and he's glad she's happy, he's the ultimate depressed bestie

Merry Fucking Christmas

Awww he misses her so much!! This is so sad!!!

Doctor where are you going now!?

Idiots and fools

Dramatic western faceoff

WALKS FROM AN EXPLOSION HELLO

I've said before, he's quite good at getting electrocuted

He's also vaguely suicidal but at the same time desperate to stay alive

Oh I know, he has the fear of death that only one who'd like to die can have

We can hear it

HE HEARD IT

You are mad my dude

Flying light thing? Hello

Oh it's the government then I assume

Poor Doctor

Oh generic rich powerful dude has a book

HELLO DONNA?

Oh generic rich powerful dude has the Master

Okay generic rich powerful people are evil generic rich powerful people

The war was won and passed you by

Aww he never killed that wonderful I live Wilf

Usually if people say "whatever you do don't tell so-and-so" you should probably tell so-and-so

Pistol

He loves her so much

Fair enough lol

Sylvia gurl

I thought it'd be cleaner I love Wilf

Wilf and Doctor friendship is the most pure flawless amazing one ever

Scientists rebelling maybe?

Nope those are aliens

PEOPLE NEED TO STOP TRYING FOR IMMORTALITY ITS BAD

If the censoring thing on the tardis got broken the Doctor would be scandalized by the amount of swearing his companions all do but especially wilf and donna

Shimmer shimmer

I love aka hate how he's wearing a dog collar

Bondage

Oh shit

Oh dear

I guess they hide the presidents face cuz they couldn't get a real Barack Obama cameo which sucks

No he's not gonna love this

Oh dear a planet of Masters

Oh dearie me

That's disturbing

That's incredibly disturbing holy cows

THE TIME LORDS RETURNED IM SORRY WHAT HELLO THE NARRATOR IS A TIME LORD TOO WHY DO THEY WANT TO END TIME I THOUGHT THEY WERE STUFFY AND LAW ABIDING

[luxxtuxx]

The Punk Prince And His Pink Princess P4

(YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW LONG IT TOOK TO MAKE THESE PICS FIT!!) PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 CW: Hobie apologizing for his actions and being a simp, A man wearing pink, Enjoy, this might be the last part of this Anyways I refuse to word-count this

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He knew he need to find Y/N, but he panicked and stressed and ate one of the cookies she gave him. (HOLY FUCK! I MIGHT BE PUNK BUT THESE COOKIES HAVE MORE HEAT THAN ANY OTHER FOOD I HAVE EATEN!!) While he trusts Gwen, he felt like he should check her dimension. Hobie opened a portal. "Please, don't hate me" he steps through, stepping into the room. "Y/N..." he steps forward cautiously, scared of angering her. "I know I'm the last person you want to talk to but...." he took a deep breath (be honest Hobie, lying only helps when talking to cops) "I didn't know that was your Dexcom, and I was trying to be light-hearted when saying it was a GPS tracker and calling you fucking dumb" He went to try and sit on the edge of the bed, missing the mattress, his ass hitting the floor. He stood up quickly, his pride a bit hurt, but the snicker she had let out when he fell made it worth it. Suddenly she spoke, "Im ashamed of my Dexcom, its so bulky, it gets in the way of things, and the people who don't understand make fun of it or look at me with pity thinking it's something bad." she spoke above a whisper. hobies heart cracked a bit "You.... Feel like I embarrassed you?" he asked trying to understand why she was so upset. She nods looking away. Hobie stood tall and said demandingly "Then, embarrass me. Dress me up head to toe in pink, if that helps at all. I know it's not the same, but I really hate pink but ill do it if that's what will help patch this over with us" Y/n stood from her bed and went towards her closet. he got nervous when there was no response "What do you say?" he tried not to let his voice waiver. Y/n let out a dark and scary giggle "I say, you picked the wrong payback method, and now it's time to dress you up like Barbie" Hobie paused "I fucked up didn't I?" he said softly. Y/n put on a record she called bimboCore. She painted his nails, and picked out the outfit, giggling with glee. It was a pastel watercolor crop top that barely covered his nipples, some pink shorts, pink cat thighs highs, some pink makeup, a white collar with a white and pink bell, then to finish it off some Kandi bracelets. God he fucking hated this, He hated it more when Y/N took a picture with her Polaroid camera. the next few hours at HQ were rough, it even got stone cold Miguel laugh a bit. By hour 4 he was kinda into it, he even took a video yelling "FUCK THE GOVERNMENT AND FUCK GENDER ROLES" The next day, hobies plan was to kiss Y/N out of retaliation, but when he saw what she wore. He nearly dropped to his knees and started to pray to whatever god was out there thanking them. Y/N had put on a long straight-haired black wig; her clothes were a red and black plaid crop top and matching skirt, there was a black choker, fishnet tights, black platforms, and a black chain purse. To add to it, a red lollipop in her lips. (Holy Fucking Shit, She was already cute but now she is hot! That's not fair you can't be both!!) He walked over and without saying a thing he pulled her into a rough kiss by her collar, she didn't pull away at all she just accepted it leaning into him. "and just for the record" he hummed "I didn't fall for you, you fucking tripped me into your trap"

INSPO FOR THEIR CLOTHES (not exact, but where i got the ideas):

BONUS: HOBIE HELPS REPLACE DEXCOM *a week later* "So i need to go slow right? i mean its literally stabbing you and putting a machine on your arm" hobie said. Y/n laughs "NO The faster the better!" He sighs and quickly did the injection on her arm. "okay, now clip this in the plastic, this is the robot part" he takes the part from her scared and was quick to clip it in place. "now we add a cover, Also gwen ordered this weeks sticker as a tribute to last week babe" Y/N showed him a dexcom sticker that said 'GPS' on it. Hobie huffed "Thanks gwen" he muttered

[carmenized-onions]

hey girl so i just got around to reading chap 13 and its fucking Insane! got me all attached to mikey just to hit me with reality real bad... i really admire how you take every detail into account; down to saving the candles and including minuscule (yet non-minuscule) details in the flashbacks like the painting tony gave carm. i just realllllyyyyy love how you just!!! make them feel so real!!! like yes tony is a real person who keeps narcan and kid's bandaids on her at all times. what do you mean that's just someone created in carmenized-onion's head?

the parts leading up to mikey's death fuckin HURT, MAN!!! felt so real. i didn't start connecting the dots to what it was all leading to until uncle jimmy got involved and i was like fuuuuuckk... you're so unbelievably talented.

chip also making sure she's aggressively letting mikey know she's rooting for him and he shouldn't always have to be fending for himself was so... Damn i wish i had that YEOWCHHHH we all need a government assigned chip in our lives.

the ending of it was also very healing and gives me just a tinge of relief that maybe everything will be totally okay and we'll be happy again. everything came full circle fr like syd was tony's bff and now they're coworkers once removed?? woah...

but yeah. been waiting on this one for a WHIIILE but didn't get to read it til just now, i am a squidink truther (what kind of friend talks about their "friend" like that like no girl you were crushing). also the blatant affection richie and mikey showed chip, someone clearly struggling, was sooooooo Oh my god man. keep up the amazing work you're a GENIUS!

AH. I love this, let’s talk let’s chat let’s go. First of all thank you so much for this. ANONS PLEASE START GIVING YOURSELVES NAMES SO I KNOW YOU’RE A REPEAT CUSTOMER JUST CAUSE YOU’RE ANON DOESN’T MEAN WE CAN’T BE FRIENDS BABBYYY

Anyways. Thank you thank you thank you so much for noticing the small details. It’s literally. A nauseous amount of re-reading on my part to make sure I really fucking dot my Is and Qs. Something I admire so deeply about the first 2 seasons of The Bear is how much they constantly referenced something from several episodes ago or possibly the previous season that is SO small in retrospect but if you’re someone that notices that shit it HITS! And so I try to really really emulate that and I’m so happy that it pays off. 

And TO THE CROWWWDD, TO THE WRITERS OUTT THERREEE, when it comes to making Tony feel real— I am fully pulling from my own self and the friends I love and have in reality honestly. I keep kids bandaids in my wallet, painkillers (cause I get migraines), gum, clothespins, and an unused narcan kit on me (your local drugstore might give them out for free! Go check online baby!). And my best friend keeps chewable tums, pepto, and lactaid (because her stomach is a fucking nightmare). My advice to making characters feel very real: Pull their traits from very real places and people! No one asked for this advice…

YEEOOWCCHH is right. With every time I re-read bits of 13 in prep for 14, I fucking OUCH MAN. It’s like. Deeply annoying that we don’t have Mikey. I truly was like. Well what if I just kept writing Mikey/Chip/Richie 2 years ago because they were so fun. And maybe down the line I’ll have some flashback spinoffs after the series is done but GOD it sucks to not have Mikey anymore man. HE WAS THE FUCKING GUY!!!!!

Also I am now your government assigned Chip. I might not be able to make any actual real impact on your life but I am actually legally your assigned Chip and I am in fact here for you so. Fucking take that bro.

SQUID INK TRUTHERS UNITEE!!!! She won the poll a couple asks down too… To be fair only 18 people voted but much to consider much to consider. I really need to pull back on how clearly ‘at least in one point in love’ I make them before I break my own heart. THANK YOU FOR THE LOVE, hopefully these fuckers get it TOGETHER in Chapter 14— And last thing, truly the ‘amish’ story/intro will forever live in my own brain because EXACTLY they immediately cared for Chip like a little sister I am so. Im ill. ANYWAYS THANK YOU CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEXT ONE WHEN IT EVENTUALLY DROPSS

[the-scrappy-stinger]

We open up to Honda being a mood.

This is Honda, and he's a business guy. He doesn't wanna go to the old okonomiyaki place with his high school buddies because he's bored gossiping about old girlfriends and passed memories. They make him go anyway. Along the way... they avoid KitKat.

Heading off to the old place, the shop is deserted, dirty, and run by the shopkeeper's only daughter. So what's basically the first place she does when they walk into the store?

What is it with this manga and women running restaurants? To be fair, she doesn't WANT to, her dad's just in the hospital. And she's got a toddler at home, and her husband works full time at a DIFFERENT restaurant as the head chef, and she's still expected to be a homemaker, so yeah, she actually has it rough.

So they all agree to help. Honda the grump is... not as agreed, but onboard in his own very food-tsundere way.

So of course he goes to the MEETING OF THE HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH TO SAVE THE OKONOMIYAKI PLand nobody else shows up. Figures. Honda the grump is alone.

AND OH NO, CUSTOMERS. AND HE DIDN'T READ THE RECIPE. I think I've had this nightmare. SO he sucks at it. KitKat comes over to borrow some flour and even though Honda the grump isn't the owner, he has a speech.

Weeping like my co so then a fuckin' yakuza boss comes in for food, because why the fuck is this place still getting reservations if the owner's been laid up for months- anyway so the yakuza boss nearly throws Honda into the back of a car to fuckin' kill him or whatever and KitKat's like "stop it. We're gonna use words."

And these guys were willing to kill Honda because he told them he didn't work there and the restaurant was closed because the owner's kid had the flu. ANd they're street food vendors.

Thus is the world of KitKat Jesus. (The Jesus part we're getting to, just stick with me.)

I have never related harder to a character in this manga in my life.

So KitKat's like "Look if you're here to shakedown for flavor THIS hard, let me try making the recipe. Honda you stay you have to taste test" and Honda's like "damn it!" because he is LITERALLY walking out the door! KitKat reads the recipe and goes "Wait... this is way too basic, this can't be right" and it turns out he's right, because despite living in the shop her whole life and watching her dad cook every day she didn't know the recipe.

So the street vendors are like "You should sell this at the food fair tomorrow!" and KitKat's like "... hell, why not?". Honda's like "okay i'm fucking LEAVING NOW THANK YOU" and the street vendors go "Hey wait aren't you a government worker? You know your job would be way easier if you did public work and people saw your face" and Honda's like "... ... sign me up."

They got the owner's daughter's permission, though, that's okay.

This next chapter's actually kind of cook- I mean cool! Freudian hungry. But KitKat talks about how food stall cooking is different from restaurant cooking, because you have to take into account eating on the go. Honda the grump is put on the cabbage cutter machine to help and bemoans that he wasn't allowed to eat street food as a kid.

Guy's just got opinions about fuckin' everything.

Honda the temporarily-asshole-for-the-plot decides to just go... LITERALLY grab customers out of someone else's line to force them to eat at his stall.

And starts a fight.

I'm starting to think the author has a low opinion of street food vendors.

OH wait no, I was wrong, they are ALSO the mafia. And street food vendors. Yeah there we go. No wonder Honda wasn't allowed to eat street food...

(skims ahead) oh god I'm gonna run out of pictures again- SO TO SUM UP:

The Capo wants to put the screws to Honda the grump because he tried to cheat at food stalls, so he has his two lancers, big dudes who cook fast, give him a bunch of okonomiyaki to sell before sunset, but KitKat's like "you bitch, you gave him shitty food to sell so you could kick his ass later".

Honda at this point must be like "I wouldn't be in this situation if everybody else hadn't flaked out on me, christ".

OH well, only one way to settle it.

And Honda the... weirdly malleable personality for the plot is like "I am so moved by this cook-off between two rival food mafia gangs that I volunteer to be the chef".

And so KitKat's like "Okay". TRAINING

Honda the singer now apparently has to sing ONLY this song for the next two days.

It's supposed to help him improve his internal clock so he doesn't have to look at his watch while he's cooking. Three minutes to cook on one side, six minutes on the other. ... thing is.

This song's been covered a LOT. And most of them aren't 3 minutes long. Most of them are REALLY fuckin' short actually. Fun little bop though!

Must be this version.

Hey, me too, guy!!!

So the training continues, and on the day of the cook-off-

Sooey sooey, soodada-lata, soodada-lata sooey sooey!~

And his place is a hit! Because-

It's in easy-to-eat pieces!

So he wins the contest- wait whatever happened to the restaurant?? WELL LEMME TELL YOU!

Honda the better goes back to his normal job.

Honda's buddies realize that they forgot about the plot for TWO WEEKS.

Buncha assholes!

And... Honda has quit his well-paying government office job... to work the okonomiyaki bar.

I mean... Not judging but... like, benefits? Vacation days? ... not going home at night smelling like cooking oil? Just a thought...

Story arc length: 9 chapters.