#so how am i supposed to resist its so funny––

[stephaniedola]

my mom loves still acting like im gonna find a "real" husband someday even when i have a queerplatonic life partner

so forgive me, whenever she insinuates that my newest guy of the week might be "the one", for saying "i already found the one, i just want to have sex with him" and watching her horrified expression

[merlions]

Midway through typing this post my best friend called (she's the one who got me into tma to begin with back as the end of s1 was releasing and who's just as insane as me abt it, we talk about it literally every time we talk on the phone) and I was like, omg Lay do you remember that couple of months we had each been like taking a brief break from magnus and I got back from that plane ride where I caught up on it and as soon as I got back I was like "omg it has a plot, it's all connected, you just gotta get to like ep 140!!"

And she was like yeah, I was the one who picked you up from the airport and you fucking jumped into my car screaming that with the same energy as if I was the getaway driver for a heist and you were sprinting out of the bank just fucking drenched in colored ink

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Followed quickly by: "Yeah why did we still think there wasn't a plot during worm hell"

"Oh that was cause we didn't notice it was significantly weird for worms to be a woman"

"Oh yeah and of course ol knife hands Mike"

"Of course")

I don't remember what I thought at the time on my first listen when magnus archives was first coming out, before I was aware it was gonna have an overarching larger plot beyond just the individual statements. But in retrospect I'm shocked I don't remember because when I think about it now, like imagining listening to the first few episodes assuming it won't ever have a larger plot, the conceit is so fucking funny.

A guy comes on mic, is extremely snarky and derisive to the recently deceased person he took over for, then tells an extremely scary story, then tells you all the reasons he doesn't believe a fucking word of it.

It's kinda like a reverse of the classic "goddamn you see that shit? That was fucking crazy. Anyways I'm rod sterling".

But instead it's: *terrifying monologue* "That was normal. Webbed corpses are normal, and meat apartment is normal. The only thing crazy about that statement is the statement giver's clearly abysmal mental health. Nothing supernatural could cause anything like that. Anyways I'm Jonathan Sims"

[strwbmei]

i can't get kafka off the brain, she's so attractive 😭 she'd be such a huge brat, testing your patience all the time with that smug grin. she deserves to get tied up, gagged, spanked, humiliated and fucked until she's crying and promising to be good 💞 she's 100% a masochist

-🌧️

I am so sorry. This was only supposed to be a short, 2-4 paragraph thirst, but then it turned into pure filth 😭😭😭 Also a bit extreme compared to other things I've written, so it might not be to most people's tastes

nsfw utc (fem reader with strap on, bondage, dom/sub dynamics, use of toys, spanking, dacriphilia, not proofread)

She'd probably rile you up on purpose just for that. There's nothing she wants more than to just lay there and get fucked senselessly until she inevitably ruins the sheets, and she knows you're perfectly willing to accommodate her. Still, getting what she wants so easily would be so boring, wouldn't it? It's not fun if you aren't seething with a kind of irritation only Kafka could make you feel and if she still has some form of control of her body.

It'd start with you tying Kafka up, a bullet vibrator pressed onto her clit. The way her moans sound through the gag is delightful; they show how much of a whore she is for you. You watch her with disinterest and indifference in her eyes, fully clothed as opposed to how the only things Kafka is wearing are a ball gag and fancy ropes of silk the color of your eyes (something she insisted on) digging into her curves and currently unblemished skin.

It's humiliating, really, being forced to feel all vulnerable and owned—but both of you know just how much she loves that. Maybe if you're in a good mood, you'll even let her cum once or twice tonight. Kafka doubts that, though, especially with how bratty she's been acting. Your patience has its limits, and Kafka wants nothing more than to push you over the very brink of it. She starts begging, vulgar and wanton; almost mocking in its tone.

Kafka thinks you've finally given in when you remove the vibrator from her puffy clit. She prides herself in her beauty, after all. No one would be able to resist her "charms" for long... right? Wrong. Instead, you push her down, knees bent so her face is pressed into the mattress while her hips are up in the air. When you start spanking her ass, she begs for the bullet vibrator again. Her abused cunt just feels so empty, fluttering around nothing as your hand leaves yet another mark on her ass. She's already so overstimulated, and you've barely even started.

The woman endures, locks of hair the color of her most favored wine cascading along her back as each moan becomes more strained than the last. Anticipation fills her lust-addled head as she feels the tip of your length rubbing against her folds. You relish in the way her back arches as you finally insert the strap-on inside her neglected cunt, not to mention the drawn-out moan she lets out. God, you're sure her facial expression right now is downright sinful—you can tell by how she's clawing at the bedsheets and eagerly moving her hips to chase yours.

But you don't move.

Why would you? Did Kafka think you'd be nice to her after all that she's done? Her whines are barely audible through the ball gag, but you hear her mention something about "how mean you always are to her." Funny. You've been patient with all of her bullshit for as long as you've remembered, yet now you're the mean one. You were planning to be a bit lenient since you felt bad for her, but she can wave goodbye to any chance of being able to use either her voice or her legs for the next few days.

"Move," you command her. "Don't you think it's time you stopped relying on me to get you off?" Kafka whimpers at your words, looking back at you with glossy eyes. You can't help but snicker in response. It's rare to see her so desperate and needy to be filled. Maybe you should do this more often? She never really learns her lesson, after all. Realizing you weren't gonna budge on your decision, she rocks her hips as much as she can with her limited range of movement. She can feel each vein and bump of the fake toy rubbing against her walls, but it just isn't enough.

It's not rough enough. Not fast enough. Not deep enough. Nowhere close to being enough, but Kafka submits to the humiliation nonetheless. She can't bring herself to care anymore, too focused on making sure to savor each and every bit of pleasure she's feeling. You look at how fervently she's fucking herself on the fake cock, and think of how you've each turned the other into fully fledged perverts. Kafka wasn't this much of a masochist before she ended up in your bed. Or was it hers? You don't remember.

She never understood the people who liked getting hurt. Kafka used to find the marks that ropes left on her skin itchy and unbearable, but now she loves reliving the memories of lust and passion whenever she sees them. She wears them with pride. You, on the other hand—have never felt like more of a degenerate. You catch yourself wanting to break her; to ruin her for anybody else. You desire to know her body in a way completely exclusive to you. You want to own her; mind, body, and soul.

The past few minutes are a blur. Without realizing, you've been fucking Kafka senseless as she sobs from the overstimulation. The smell of sex fills the air as does the sound of your hips colliding with the fat of her ass. You thrust as quickly as you can, much to the other woman's pleasure, but the tightness of her pussy makes it more difficult than it usually is. You've been holding her over the brink for a while now—you're not sure how long exactly, but enough for her legs to be shaking and for her knees to give out. If not for your hands settling themselves on her waist, she would've toppled over. Kafka is powerless, and she loves it.

When you see her cum form a white ring on the base of your strap, you know you've found another excuse to fuck her dumb, and you plan on making full use of it.

[tohakumaru]

climb the stairs, the nomad is with you.

it is futile. you know this is the end. and it's quite alright, you've always been alright.

the steps are sturdy and forgiving though the hill is steep. it is not so much a struggle, but it drags. this is fine, a funny thing about time is that it passes regardless. whether you want to or not, you arrive at a lonely tree, so tall it almost eclipses the sky.

the tree has no leaves, only dry branches covered in flowers with bright red petals, from which buds of cotton-white silks burst out like stars spilling their guts over the emptiness of space.

...

this shame you live with.

that night she sleeps with her hair caked in mud

a top-shelf doll sits crossed-hand, stuffed with fluff and bone-dry eyes

passing divine judgement, you could swear its lips curl into a knife

...

with soft crackling sounds, the trees rises from sleep. it crouches towards you: branches reach out to envelope you in a wiry embrace, and lift you up. it cradles you like a mother does a child. when your head comes to rest on a barren patch on the trunk, the tree shudders: from a thin crack in the balk a flower grows and blooms. five petals like the rest, but an empty core. you look on with no resistance as a thin stalk climbs your neck, hangs over your face, and creeps into your right eye. it pulls from the socket a silver thread and attaches one end to the centre of the flower, which swirls and spins, pulling the thread from you as it does.

it dawns on you that you are being unravelled, quite literally.

for a very, very long time, you lay there and wait for sleep to come. it seems fitting, the motion of the flower-spool and the unbelievable lightness of coming undone work like a lullaby. ebbs and flows and tells you to go. it is fine, it is quite alright, even if there's nothing waiting, not even judgement. you can leave.

… and yet… you are still awake. how long must this take?

as though in answer, the flower suddenly stops spining, the tree tenses up - there is a snag in the thread. the line tangled in clumps forming a face, vaguely resembles that which was once buried in a shallow grave in your mind. this one won't go.

is this supposed to happen?

you frantically look for the nomad, but it is too far down. the panic sets in, but you don't have limbs to squirm nor mouth to scream. you are terrified. please, i will think of something, there must be a way. i am so sorry. i… i don't know what to do. i am still here. forgive me, i am scared, too. what do we do, darling? talk to me, please. what can i do?

like a bad joke, a crescent tore the night sky apart. you take a moment to make out the wicked smile of the moon - ear to ear as it begins with a theatrical cough:

"here you are!

all out of sorts, i see.

well, i did say it was your loss.

too bad, i don't want it anymore. a shame really,

could have been a nice dream.

do what you wish, bird.

i'm just a moon."

me.

and with that, the moon is gone. for good now, you can tell. then, all is still and quiet as the branches set you down, your eyes fixed on the red petals that slowly wither and fall to the ground. the tree has gone back to sleep.

the nomad stares at you. an unreadable expression spreads across its face as it slowly leans over and pushes its palm straight into your chest. you feel no pain as it opens your ribcage, and sets your lungs aside. soft fingers roaming in search. eventually, they find a tiny pair of wings clinging to your auricle and gently pluck it from your heart. in the light, the nomad…holds…

…

how ironic. we'd spoken about us at the end of the world, and i'm so sorry, darling, but i guess this is the world at the end of us.

cold, and getting harder to breathe.

as my wings flutter in the nomad's palm, i see the sky so wide. it's so cold here. i miss you, miss the aching warmth of your hunger, free falling in your heart.

once upon a time. there was a hole in your chest where i laid dying. lack of faith, the prophet diagnosed with a gesture of grandeur - no cures for it, keep praying. the fool.

there was a tunnel in your mind where your dreams bled and your scouring love leaked into the cold, cold world. help, it hurts like hell, i heard you say. could have done something about it, i didn't. i let you bleed to death, i hung you out to dry.

on top of the root-hill at the bottom of the dreaming tree, a nomad sits with a sand-eaten corpse. in its small, child-like hand, a moth takes one last breath. nothing changes in the world, but something has ended. yet, as all good nomads know, a walk doesn't end until it is home-time. nomads are neither moons nor trees, and despite their wanderings, they care very much about warm beds, good night kisses, and happy endings. the greatest nomad of all time once implied by gestures something along the line of, fuck tragedies, i've had enough, and all the other nomads thought that was a quite good point.

darling?

i love you.

this nomad then carefully tucks the moth into its breastpocket, stands up, gathers all it can of the corpse into a blanket, which is then neatly tied and slung over its back. steadily, it descends the root-hill, passes the groves of living-statues, and continues a brisk pace on its journey. just a bit more now, you'll be home before tomorrow arrives, it hums silently./

[digenerate-trash]

Mandatory (forced) therapy session with Harper where he gets you to admit how pent up you are (unknowingly from the aphrodisiacs he prescribed you) and fucks you like it’s a kindness from him

(I love love love Harper. id fuck him even if I wasn't drugged to hell.)

AMAB harper | GN pc 

Weeks of planning had led up to this. Literally weeks. You had been so stubborn and difficult always whining about this town and its problems insisting you didn't want any of the attention you were constantly showered with. Harper could tell that was a lie. Or at least a half-truth

So Harper had prescribed you something. Just a little pill to make you relax. Make you more open to receiving attention. But you were still so stubborn. 

He used the dosage but you still resisted. You had to be pent up to hell by now and Harper was getting impatient with you.

But today you were off. As you sat across from him and squirmed on the cold exam table. he could tell that today was the day it all came crashing down.

So he took his time. He sat across from you and thumbed through his notes carefully. Every time you tried to speak he held his finger up and motioned for you to wait. Every twitch squirm and whine he caught out of the corner of his eye and made him smirk to himself. 

You desperately tried to rub the blush from your cheeks as you waited for your doctor to address you. You needed help. You came to him for help. To lower your anxiety about this town and its issues and instead, it seems that things have only gotten steadily worse. 

"Now. What do you need today?" harper asks as he looks you over. As if it isn't obvious what's wrong with you. 

Now that's the hard part. You need new meds- that's for sure but for now, you would like him to deal with the heat that's been building in your core for weeks. Leaving you sleepless and needy. But how are you supposed to ask for that? 

"I need..." you trail off but Harper holds the silence waiting for you to admit it. He needs you to say it so he can keep his doctor's facade. He needs you to admit what you want so he can keep pretending he's not the one who pushed you this far. That it's not his fault you're so desperate.

You reach over and grab his coat your hands are shaking a bit as you pull on it. "P-please?" You ask looking up at him with big eyes. Harper's heart skips a beat and he presses a gloved hand to yours threatening to push you away. 

"'Please' what? I can't help someone that's not straightforward with me-" Harper says. But you can feel his breathing pick up. He's grinning at you. It's a game now. He wants you to admit that you want him. Otherwise, he'll leave you on your own.

Neither of you budges unwilling to make the first move. But it gets too much for you. And you lean in to kiss Harper. He seems delighted as he pushes you back against the exam table he's grinning as he shakes his head at you. 

"This is terrible behavior on your part-" he mocks as he pins your arms down to your sides. "But I guess. If you have no one else to go to for your issues I can help you out. I am a doctor after all. And I'm nothing if not generous." 

It's not quite as funny to you as you press your body into harpers and whining louder. Harper covers your mouth with his hand pressing you down more into the table. 

He pulls at your clothes eagerly as he is even more desperate to get at you He might tear up as he presses another kiss to your lips pressing his tongue in. You give in as he toys with you you're nothing more than a doll for him to play with.

You're so got and pent up and whiney that your climax comes fast. Harper looks down at the mess you've made of his gloves and chuckles a bit before removing them with his teeth. 

"That's just the first part of your treatment."

[henghost]

Twig Liveblog for Arc 6

[captain haddock voice] what a web serial huh! all i'm saying is that if i had written amy dallon i wouldn't also write this part with jamie. i appreciate the themes here about how the academy is creating its own contradictions, its authoritarian measures only make the resistance strong which in turn makes their measures more authoritarian, etc., and i can't help but wonder if a similar process is occurring with wildbow and i. i.e. the more he tortures me like this the more i want to [redacted]. why!!!!!!!!! why did sy transform into a raging homophobe the first time he interacted with a gay person lmao 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 he's basically bart simpson and jamie is millhouse.

here i was, a casual and respectful mary/sy enjoyer, titillated (in a respectful way) by the "undressing confession," daddy-issues cry for help though it may be, thinking that was the best i was gonna get as far as my sy dating sim side-project was concerned. then there was a brief moment where i was jubilant that there was some lillian/sy progress. then there was a brief moment where i was in religious fucking ecstasy where i thought jamie/sy really was gonna happen. then--and i remember it with crystalline clarity--walking home late at night, that one line hit, and i started cackling in the middle of a deserted parking lot. i'm only slightly exaggerating when i say this rivals the amy interlude in terms of being a true Epiphanic Wildbow Moment. then of course there's the final chapter. doubling down. you almost have to respect it.

i suppose other things happened too. i think the duke, after sy, is the twig character i'm most like. i am also large and powerful. i also command the respect of everyone around me. i am also flamboyant and attractive. i also condemn torture.

on that subject, i listened to avis' interlude on 1.5x speed cuz i thought it would be funny. kind of a nonentity for me personally, though i'm excited to see more fray so soon. i could only think of the quote from that great poet, kanye west:

[lsttpn]

ok

so

lestappen rbr teammates but everyone thought that charles wouldnt fit in at redbull and he proved them wrong by bonding with max verstappen so hard that they become unbeatable in grill the grid

so bare with me and get this

charles announces his departure from ferrari and everyone is shocked because this guys breaths and lives and loves and adores ferrari even in the worst moments so they are like wtf is happening

when he announces that his move would lead him to rbr, they are like wtf are you doing you will not survive verstappen you will be out of place you wont get on with the guy at all

he was out of place because he still felt like an intruder but he quickly got over it because simply max

so, he liked max, that was obvious. like he would not deny in that. charles knows that he liked max since he was a kid but he coped with it when the inchident happened, he coped when max entered f1 three years befor him, he coped when austria 2019 happened, he coped when 2022 happened.

so he couldnt do much about it because it was. a crush. yeah

he thought hey since we are teammates i can get over it and just bond with him like a normal person and just get him as a friend off track and a rival on track

simple

but jesus christ max is so nice that its painful

its terrible. max is nice and thoughtful and a cool guy and pretty and hot and ugh charles almost regrets not resisting another win of barely points so that the merc seat would open. almost

almost because he and max just work so well. off track, on track, everyday every time they meet they just.. click

and its funny too because he knew even before he came to rbr that they click, he knew since he was little and he let other people be convinced that they will not work because they have no business in thier relationship and stuff but being so close to max made him aware of this constantly

and its enjoyable being in eachothers company and they are so relaxed with one another that they start a genuine strong friendship which led them to random talks at 3 am on random days of the week at eachother houses

this is where its starts

they are expected to film a video for the first grill the grid of the season at the next gp

while they cant know what they will be made to do, max knows a couple of people from f1/fia pr and he could easily get the info on what they are suppose to do

he tells so to charles one night while they were hanging out in monaco, maxs flat, just eating takeout and playing fifa

now charles is a competitive person and he hate losing at those videos and is absolutely fed up with being called a babygirl himbo so he tells max to hit those pr people up and beg them for the prompts so he can study them and win

max, another competitive person, absolutely agrees with charles and they shake hands: dammed be the actual champion, that they sure will win but the grill the grid champions is more important at 1 am on a wednesday

so they start to prepare themselves by studying for the video and they are doing study dates between interviews and team debriefs

and they absolutely smash the competition

they both come first, tying ofc and they are absolutely ecstatic

so they do that again and again

some of those challenges are made to be for both teammates so they work even better when they are together, placing first by a margin not only in the championship

and its so fun, the study dates and the absolute nerding they both do and it makes them even closer

at one point,on a study date they have their fluffy oh moment and they just.. get it now that the feelingtm are revealed

and they are fluffy and in love and they do their little cheater stuff and at the end of the season, when they are drunk because they won the constructor championship and charles won the drivers one, one of them slips up that they cheated the whole grill the grid season and every other driver is enraged (mainly geroge and lando tbh thats how i see it)

and they are like tf why did you tell charles you have contact with the pr people?? to max and he says something like i wanted him to win no matter what. in a casual tone

and charles is literally so drunk on love at the moment and says someting cheesy like yeah even if you cheated you still won my heart and its cute and nice and fluffy and tooth rotting sweet and just

lestappen bonding as teammates

and so sweet

ugh its 3 am im done i love this concept i changed it 2 times tho

anyway if you read this ty!, it was a lil thing i had in mind and i couldnt resist not to write it

and ik quality is probably bad, its because this is the first time im writing someting like this but i could not care less ( lie i really hope its at least readable as in i hope there is coherence)

[casanovawrites]

random sentence prompts  ━ from various tv shows, part 4

surviving is a choice. make yours.

you can’t be afraid to kill. you understand?

i’m not afraid to kill. i’m just… afraid.

i was trying to save lives. i had to try. somebody had to.

if they slaughtered everyone once, what the hell makes this any different?

this sounds like a suicide mission.

we did terrible things in its name.

my honest advice would be that if you’re that miserable, you should break up with them and be with me instead.

you are remarkably resistant. it must be exhausting. 

how is it possible that this is the most scared i’ve been all day?

you don’t have to like what i did. i don’t. but just accept it.

we’ve all done the worst kinds of things just to stay alive. but we can still come back, we’re not too far gone.

this is why i like you. you just want to hold my hand.

when are you two going to make out already?

have you ever had to work for anything? 

bad things happened because i was scared. they didn’t need to. i didn’t need to be afraid.

i don’t have to be tough. i can run. i’m good at that.

my mom used to say, “everything works out the way it’s supposed to.”

have you been in love with me this whole time?

you start breathing, i’ll start you a shower, and we’ll go from there.

maybe we could catch our breath here for a while.

life isn’t a race. you taught me that. 

the whole world’s haunted now. there’s no getting out of that - not until we’re dead.

we’re supposed to be working together. 

this year would have been painful without you.

you were so self-obsessed, you never noticed your best friend needed you.

i don’t feel challenged. 

if this is where you want to be, then stay.

i need to know if you mean what i think you mean. do you still love me?

i’m with you. ’til the world explodes. 

if we’re going to do this, you need to be all in.

it’s funny how you don’t even notice the time go by. horrible shit just stacks up day after day.

you are not safe, no matter how many people are around.

we’re strong enough that we can still help people.

this is the nightmare, but nightmares end.

we ain’t dead. whatever happened, happened. let’s start over.

there’s nothing left in the world that isn’t hidden.

we’re friends. we have each other’s backs, that’s it. that’s how it works.

growing up is getting used to the world.

we do what we need to do, and then we get to live.

we don’t have to be friends. it just doesn’t have to be quiet.

people always die. you know that.

you don’t know yourself. that’s the big ah-ha for me here. i get you more than you get you.

i know that i love you, and i need you, and maybe you could love me too. and that’s okay.

all you do is hurt me.

oh, please, like you haven’t been waiting for me to screw up.

you’re no sheep. you’re a wolf. 

i actually thought you wanted to be my friend.

asshole, i don’t go to the gym every day. 

so, you’re leaving to fight ghosts? that’s the plan?

i don’t think any one place can be someone’s everything.

all i have is pain.

there are very few people in this world that make me feel the way you do.

can we just forget this ever happened, please?

you’re doing great. i promise.

it’s you and me against the world, okay?

friendship doesn’t matter. love doesn’t matter.

i’m superhuman, right? made of steel.

people will say almost anything to save their own life.

what if i hadn’t come home in time?

they think we’re guilty, so we are.

i’m grieving the loss of what we could have made this place.

tonight, even though we are in hell, i feel like i have another chance with you.

you and me are the way out.

i won’t let anything pull us apart again. you hear me?

i should've just skipped class, partied, had sex, have fun.

you smell like shit.

we need to get the fuck out of here now.

you are not defined by what happened to you. you are what you do.

fuck it. i’m dying tonight one way or another.

maybe you’re right. maybe shit is doomed. 

the reality is, i’m dying. i am dying. you have to face that. 

what happened to “me and you against the world, you’re all i need”?

stop crying where everyone can see you. it’s embarrassing.

all my days are bad.

tonight’s been the first time i’ve felt like myself in months. it’s been so long. i forgot what that felt like. 

you make me feel like… me.

you drive me crazy sometimes but we're in this together. you're not alone.

[gamebunny-advance]

Confession

I wish I liked Zuke more than I do.

I don't dislike him, but he just doesn't do anything for me.

And when I say "he doesn't do anything," I almost mean that literally. I feel like he contributes almost nothing to the main conflict, and the conflicts he is a major part of aren't really his fault, so he has nothing to gain from being in them. Zuke basically begins and ends the main story as the same person, and I think a main character should go through a little more growth than that for me to get attached to them.

And frankly, his personality just doesn't make up for those shortcomings for me. He's funny, but almost everyone in this game is funny, so he doesn't really stand out to me.

Normally, I like a kind-of-weird dude, but he's just so subdued about it that those quirks might as well not even be there. I get that he's supposed to be the straight man to Mayday's excitability, but those traits aren't strong enough against the more colorful characters in the cast. I'm not asking for him to be a wet blanket, but he doesn't resist the world's wackiness as much as he could to be a more effective straight man character.

I also get that part of his character is that he's more "experienced" compared to Mayday, so he's also sort of the anchor to this world: he already knows of most of its eccentricities, so he doesn't feel the need to react that strongly to anything weird they might come across, but that makes him very boring to me. He just doesn't go far enough in either extreme. Because it's not even that he just blindly accepts everything: he does have a reaction to DJSS pulling out a mini-Earth to make himself grow, and he does question how Kliff got May's number. He's just... reasonable, but in a boring way. It's like his two main traits are at odds with each other: He doesn't really react to the world, and the world doesn't react to him. He simply "is."

At the end of the day, No Straight Roads is Mayday's story, so she gets most of the important story beats and character growth. Zuke is more of a support character, and that's fine, but it feels so unbalanced when he's also the other playable character. Like, I'd think he'd be at least as important as Mayday to the story, but he really isn't. He does have parts dedicated to him, but again, neither his conflict with DK West or Eve are actually started by him, so he doesn't really have anything to gain from them in terms of character growth. In fact, his fight with DK West is so unimportant to his growth that you can still beat the game and get closure on the main conflict without even finishing it.

I dunno, I just feel bad about it because I don't think I should be as indifferent to one of the leading characters as I am the numerous NPCs in this game. Part of my problem with the fandom's treatment of Kliff was that he's a main character, but gets almost nothing from the fandom, but here I am not giving a damn about one of the two main protagonists. Like, I don't think I could be more hypocritical if I tried.

I'd almost go as far as to say I care about Yiruk more than I care about Zuke. That's how bad it is for me, XP.

The only real capacity I have for caring about Zuke is how he interacts with Mayday as a part of the B2J unit, but at that point he's just an accessory, the same as May's guitar.

To put it another way, I feel pretty comfortable drawing Mayday by herself and can tell a story with just that, but I can't draw Zuke alone, or I feel like it's incomplete.

[specialagentartemis]

you bring up women and female too much... feeling pretty terfy tbh

This is so fucking funny. As bait it’s like you’re not even Trying

(for context: transphobes just found my post about why it’s important to not spread historical misinformation and they are mad about it. This is from a transphobic radfem angry that I said trans people exist and existed in the past too.)

Shockingly I bring up women and being female because I am a woman and I care about feminism and women’s rights. I firmly believe most people should! Being a woman kind of makes it pressing in a certain way though.

I went through the whole gender questioning and gender exploration thing, thinking about gender and womanhood and femaleness and what they mean and how I relate to it and don’t. I was a tomboyish girl who liked to read and climb trees and hated shaving my legs and participating in gym class and was resentful and resistant to Rules but also enthralled by history and particularly suffragists and women who Did Things. But also, for a while, as I started to increasingly reaize I was queerer than I supposed and felt alienated from other girls my age, I felt pretty disconnected from womanhood; I didn’t know what it meant to me. I’m aromantic asexual, and that self-knowledge was hard-won and required a lot of soul searching and fear for the future and trying really hard to be allo and crying alone at the dining hall. And the question of “what is my gender for, anyway?” felt pertinent in that regard. If it’s not there to structure romantic/sexual attraction and relationships, what is it there for? What does it do for me?

Reading feminist texts by cis feminists was important for thinking about political organizing and political necessities of combating sexism and misogyny in its many pervasive and awful forms, but it didn’t really make me feel any more of a personal sense of womanhood. Political coalition building is not necessarily the same as personal sense of self, nor should it be.

You know what made me feel more secure in my gender? In feeling like A Woman?

Reading the work of trans lesbians.

I mean it. Reading trans women lesbians writing sci-fi stories about apocalypses and AIs and identity, and realistic stories about longing and coercion and freedom and joy and fear and just being, is what made me go, oh, this is it. This is what it’s all about, this is what it means to be a woman. You get it. And you make me feel it in a way I haven’t in a long time.

(I’m also an anthropologist. Thinking about human societies and social constructs and performances of identity is my job.)

But if you want to read the work of the trans woman who really made me feel comfortable and seen and resonant in my womanhood for the first time in a long time, I highly HIGHLY recommend Jamie Berrout and particularly her Portland Diary: Short Stories 2016/2017. They have a spark of brilliance. This Pride month treat yourself to these stories. (This is a direct download because unfortunately Berrout scrubbed her entire internet presence, including any place to legitimately buy her work, but I paid a fair price for these before she did, and I think they deserve to be read.)

(I won’t currently link the other trans woman writer who helped my through my Gender Epiphany, because unlike Berrout who has gone off the grid, she has an internet presence and I don’t want her to get targeted by any transphobes camping my page waiting for my response to their brilliantly crafted bait.)

TERFs, and some overzealous tumblr/twitter users, want so badly to believe that feminism and trans rights are at odds, that if you believe in one you can’t believe in the other. That’s bullshit, of course. My feminism is fully bound up in trans rights; non-discrimination by sex and gender means non-discrimination by sex and gender. Bodily autonomy and authority on one’s identity are the rights of everyone. We need to end sexism and part of ending sexism is ending the belief in gender essentialism; we need to end transphobia and part of ending transphobia means ending the idea that women can only be One Thing and men can only be One Thing and there are unbreachable distances between them. I believe in gender equality and that means the equality of all genders. And from personal experience, I believe that trans women have a lot to say about feminism and what it feels like to be a woman.

Also I have a lot of trans and non-binary friends and I like them much better and trust them much more than I like or trust transphobes. So.

Women’s rights are human rights. Trans rights are human rights. Trans rights are women’s rights. All of these things are true, and inextricable.

[twoidiotwriters1]

Almighty (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: Ara having a villian origin story every so often is very funny to me -Danny Words: 3,068 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter Listen to: 'Nobody's Soldier' -by Hozier

XIV: To Whoever's Controlling Me Like a Sims Character, It's Not Funny Anymore

It gets dark awfully quickly after an hour of walking, Ara is lighting their path with Almighty, keeping her eyes ahead trying to look out for monsters, when Meg squeaks suddenly and yanks her back.

"What?" Ara looks down in alarm.

"You almost stepped on that!" Meg points with disgust. 

Ara has been too busy looking ahead to spot it but feels a shiver run down her spine when she recognizes what Meg's looking at. "Myrmeke. Thank gods it's dead!"

"A murr-murr-key?"

"A giant ant," Apollo clarifies. "There must be a colony somewhere in the woods."

Meg squirms. "I hate bugs."

"I'm partial to them—but yeah, these in particular are not friendly," Ara examines the corpse with curiosity. "It's really hard to kill one with brute force, this looks like something took a bite. Maybe Pollo did it while playing in the forest..." Her lion growls and shakes its mane, he knows better than to get near acidic stuff since he came back to life.

Apollo gulps. "Well, the rain should keep the myrmekes in their tunnels. Just don't make yourself an attractive target. They like bright, shiny things."

Ara glances at Almighty, remembering how they took Festus into their layer the last time she encountered them. She turns it into a compass and puts it away. "Alright, so we depend on Pollo's eyesight now. Everyone hold onto the lion."

The deeper they go, the weather changes, becoming hotter without losing its humidity. "What's going on?" Meg huffs. "Feels like a tropical rain forest now."

"A geyser," Apollo says sounding weirdly excited.

"A geyser," Meg frowns. "Like Old Faithful?"

"This is excellent news. Perhaps we can get directions. Our lost demigods might have even found sanctuary there!"

"With the geysers," Meg tilts her head.

"No, my ridiculous girl," Apollo brushes it off. "With the geyser gods. Assuming they're in a good mood, this could be great."

"And if they're in a bad mood?"

"Then we'll cheer them up before they can boil us. Follow me!" 

The geyser wants them to take a survey. He keeps ignoring their questions and Meg is even more impatient than Ara, so the girl pushes her inquiries in a sharper voice. "Can you tell us anything about a secret grove with whispering trees?"

"Oh." Pete the geyser blushes. "I'm not supposed to talk about the grove."

"Why can't you talk about the grove, Pete?" Apollo raises a brow.

"Paulie said it would scare away tourists.'Talk about the dragons,' he told me. 'Talk about the wolves and serpents and ancient killing machines. But don't mention the grove.'"

"Ancient killing machines?" Meg asks in alarm.

"Yeah. We're marketing them as fun family entertainment. But the grove... Paulie said that was our worst problem. The neighborhood isn't even zoned for an Oracle. Paulie went there to see if maybe we could relocate it, but—"

"He didn't come back," Apollo guesses.

Pete pouts miserably. "How am I supposed to run the marketing campaign all by myself? Sure, I can use robo-calls for the phone surveys, but a lot of networking has to be done face-to-face, and Paulie was always better with that stuff. I miss him."

"I know how it feels to lose your better half," Ara tries patiently, slipping charmspeak into it. "So help us out, buddy."

"Maybe we could find him," Meg nods, "and bring him back."

"Paulie made me promise not to follow him and not to tell anybody else where the grove is," Pete hesitates. "He's pretty good at resisting those weird voices, but you guys wouldn't stand a chance."

"Sorry, Pete." Apollo pipes in. "I'm just not buying it."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"I don't think this grove exists. And if it does, I don't think you know its location."

"I—I do know! Of course it exists!" 

"Oh, really? Then why aren't there billboards about it all over the place? And a dedicated Web site? Why haven't I seen a groveofdodona hashtag on social media?"

"I suggested all that! Paulie shot me down!" Pete hisses.

"So do some outreach! Sell us on your product! Show us where this grove is!"

"I can't. The only entrance... Ah, spew." 

The lights go off but Ara hears the noises and recognizes them without even needing to look back. "Ah, crap. I'm reliving every single one of my childhood traumas..."

"Pete," Apollo says shakily, "when you said your spotlights attracted the wrong kind of attention—"

"I meant the myrmekes," he says quietly. "I hope this won't affect your online review of the Woods at Camp Half-Blood." 

"Apollo, stay back," Ara orders firmly.

"Thank you!" Apollo retorts. 

"I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to my lion!" She huffs. 

"His name is Apollo?" He asks in a heavily flattered tone that Ara hates.

"Only when I'm stressed out by his presence, now shut up," she grumbles. Meg presses closer to her, and Ara does her best to shield the girl. Pollo remains alert although he steps back, hesitant to attack the acid-spitting creatures.

"Oh, Pete?" Apollo whispers. "How do you deal with myrmekes invading your territory?" 

"By hiding," he vanishes instantly.

"Never trust gods," Ara mutters.

"I heard that!" He whispers angrily.

"That was on purpose!"

"Can we dive in?" Meg asks glancing at the geyser.

"Only if you fancy boiling to death in a pit of scalding water." Apollo grabs his ukulele very slowly. "I have an idea..."

"I thought you swore not to play," Meg says quietly.

"I did. But if I throw this shiny object to one side, the ants might—"

The myrmekes jump into action, snapping their massive fangs. Apollo falls on his butt and Ara turns Almighty into a shotgun, firing at their faces but having a hard time aiming in the dark.

"Hey, bugs!" Meg's weapons materialized in her hands, Ara didn't know she had any.

"Aim low!" The girl shouts out as they charge together. "They've got big heads and tiny eyes, so that's a lot of blind spots! Their bodies are tough to get through—hurt their legs!"

Meg does what she's told and Ara feels a wave of pride cursing through her. She turns Almighty into a spear, the distance giving her safety but also easier access to spots such as the mouths and antennae.

"Strategus!" Apollo shrieks when the third ant goes for him. 

Ara rushes to his aid and jumps onto the myrmeke's back using her spear for impulse, then wraps her legs around the thin neck and stabs its eyes ferociously. "Go help Meg!" Ara commands him.

The ant tries to shrug her off violently swaying side to side and slamming its body against the trees, Pollo jumps into action and topples the ant, but traps Ara beneath it in the process. "Back off!" Ara hisses at the lion.

Apollo shows up again and pulls her out from under the bug while Pollo bites and claws at its carcass ferally. "Peaches," the boy huffs out as they both fall back. "Where is that stupid diaper demon when we need him?"

"Where's Meg?" Ara sits up and then stands on shaky legs, looking around anxiously. "I told you to help her!"

A second myrmeke comes at them, they roll to different sides, and out of nowhere, Ara catches a snippet of  'Sweet Caroline'. With horror, she spots Apollo playing his ukulele, actively breaking his vow. "No!" She picks up her spear.

Apollo keeps singing, looking at her urgently trying to convey a message. Be ready. He's guiding the ant toward the geyser. The ant shrieks and pounces, the boy jumps out of the way and causes the ant's gigantic head to sink down the geyser's hole.

Ara drives Almighty right below the ant's jaw. Meg's screams cut through the air and Ara pulls her sword out, Apollo and her lion following closely as she runs to the noise. They reach her just in time to see the last myrmeke grab her and scurry into the trees. "NO!" Ara and Apollo cry out. 

Apollo seizes his ukulele again, but the second his fingers run over the strings, he collapses. She's seen this many times, demigods faint after using large amounts of their powers. It used to happen to her.

Ara decides he'll be okay, but when she turns to save Meg, she freezes. It's too dark and she can't hear the creature, they've always been quieter than most. "Pollo..." she turns and gasps, noticing the state of her lion. "Oh, gods, my baby..." She approaches and hugs the creature, gently examining his burnt paws. 

By the time Apollo wakes up, Ara has healed Pollo and the boy's superficial wounds. "You broke your oath," it's the first thing she tells him, staring at him like he's gum in her shoe.

Apollo sits up groaning. "Meg..."

"Gone," Ara frowns. "She has a day at most before they eat her."

"I know how myrmekes work, thank you," he scowls, rubbing the back of his head.

"You need to get that geyser talking," Ara continues. "So pull out the myrmeke's corpse out of his hole, and try again."

"Okay, so I've had enough of you," Apollo replies impatiently. "I only take orders from Meg because I have no choice, but you—"

"I'm your general," Ara stares at him defiantly. "I'm in charge of every mortal that's attached to the gods and—oh? Oh, what's that? You're Zeus's son!" She says sarcastically. "So you take orders from me! And since the gods abandoned us, you have no choice but to listen to me."

Apollo throws a tantrum, stomping and clenching his fists like a real teenager, so the transformation must be complete. "You're insufferable!"

"Meg is in trouble because you didn't listen!"

"I was trying to save you!"

"So I could save Meg for you!" Ara yanks him up to his feet by the bandana around his neck. "Do what I tell you next time, or I'll kill you myself!"

All she sees when she looks at Apollo is Olympus, and right now, she's got no sympathy for them. Percy was right, they mistreat her, and if Zeus is handing her a former god on a silver platter ready to be manhandled and yelled at, she won't waste the opportunity to do it. To Hades with helping the gods, Apollo serves her now.

Lester has a head injury Ara missed, so he's too dizzy and weak to walk, and to top it all, he's made a new vow to save Meg at the risk of dying instantly if he doesn't. Ara isn't speaking to him as they go back to camp, but she's forced to do so when he starts to hallucinate. 

"I loved you..." he whispers.

Ara looks down at him. "What?"

He sits up abruptly on Pollo's back and holds onto her shoulders tightly. "You were my first true love. Oh, Daphne!"

"Dude, back off!" His face is much too close to hers. She pushes him away and he falls face first on the mud. The girl turns to Pollo. "Can you..." Her question is left unfinished as she spots a second lion in front of her, smaller than hers, approaching from the trees. Her eyes keep moving, and they spot none other than Rhea, with a second lion walking lazily by her side. 

"My lady," Ara hops off and bows. Pollo sits reverently as well.

"Get up, princess," the woman walks past her and pats her head, when she does that, little flowers sprout in between Ara's brown locks like a flower crown directly from her scalp. The woman reaches Apollo. "Wake up."

The boy sits up and speaks hoarsely. "Rhea..."

"Peace, Apollo. I don't want to bum you out, but we need to talk." 

"Why are you... Where have you been all these centuries?"

"Upstate." Pollo skips over and rolls on his belly, the woman pets him gently. "After Woodstock, I stuck around, started a pottery studio."

"You... what?"

"Was that last week or last millennium? I've lost track."

"I—I believe you're describing the 1960s. That was last century."

"Oh, bummer. I get mixed up after so many years."

"I sympathize."

Ara can't say she's starstruck, but she'd never thought this was going to be her life at fifteen years old, that she would hang out in the forest with Apollo and Rhea while her Nemean lion demands to be petted. It's... pretty cool.

"After I left Kronos... well, that man was so square, you could cut yourself on his corners, you know what I mean? He was the ultimate 1950s dad—wanted us to be Ozzie and Harriet or Lucy and Ricky or something."

"He—he swallowed his children alive," Apollo frowns.

"Yeah. That was some bad karma. Anyway, I left him. Back then divorce wasn't cool. You just didn't do it. But me, I burned my apodesmos and got liberated. I raised Zeus in a commune with a bunch of naiads and kouretes. Lots of wheat germ and nectar. The kid grew up with a strong Aquarian vibe."

"And he came out just perfect," Ara says, unable to hold back the sarcasm.

The goddess is on some kind of trip and Ara wonders if gods can get high, or if they simply think I'll get high, and then forget to call it off because they're tripping so bad they can't snap out of it.

"Well, anyway, the communication lines are down, man. Nothing works. Rainbow messages, flying scrolls, Hermes Express... it's all going haywire." 

"We know this. But we don't know why." Apollo replies.

"It's them. They're doing it."

"Who?"

"The Man, man. Big Brother. The suits. The imperators."

"Triumvirate Holdings." 

"Yea. That's their new military-industrial complex. It's bumming me out in a big way."

"How is this possible? How have they come back?"

"They never went away," Rhea shrugs. "They did it to themselves, you know. Wanted to make themselves gods. That never works out well. Ever since the old days they've been hiding out, influencing history from behind the curtains. They're stuck in a kind of twilight life. They can't die; they can't really live."

"Wait, what?" Ara frowns. "What do you mean they did this? Like, simply willed themselves not to die?"

"But how could we not know about this?" Apollo frowns. "We are gods!"

"Apollo, Grandson, beautiful child... Has being a god ever stopped someone from being stupid?"

"I'd say it makes them even more stupid," Ara nods. "Present company excluded, mother Rhea."

"Your shoulders are so rigid," Rhea touches her and the muscles in her body stop responding. "Chill out."

Ara falls back, eyes wide but unable to stop it. "Can't move."

"That's great. Now, the emperors of Rome... They can't all be immortal," Apollo continues, getting used to ignoring her.

"No," Rhea agrees. "Just the worst of them, the most notorious. They live in human memory, man. That's what keeps them alive. Same as us, really. They're tied to the course of Western civilization, even though that whole concept is imperialist Eurocentric propaganda, man. Like my guru would tell you—"

"Rhea, can we stick to one problem at a time?" 

"Yeah, okay. I didn't mean to blow your mind."

"But how can they affect our lines of communication? How can they be so powerful?"

"They've had centuries, Apollo. Centuries. All that time, plotting and making war, building up their capitalist empire, waiting for this moment when you are mortal, when the Oracles are vulnerable for a hostile takeover. It's just evil. They have no chill whatsoever."

"I thought that was a more modern term."

"Evil?"

"No. Chill. Never mind. The Beast... he is the leader?"

"Afraid so. He's as twisted as the others, but he's the smartest and the most stable—in a sociopathic homicidal way. You know who he is—who he was, right?"

Apollo shakes his head in defeat. "It's true, then... The other Oracles still exist. The emperors hold them all?"

"They're working on it. Python has Delphi—that's the biggest problem. But you won't have the strength to take him head-on. You've got to pry their fingers off the minor Oracles first, loosen their power. To do that, you need a new source of prophecy for this camp—an Oracle that is older and independent."

"Dodona. Your whispering grove."

"Right on. I thought the grove was gone forever. But then—I don't know how—the oak trees regrew themselves in the heart of these woods. You have to find the grove and protect it."

"I'm working on that. But my friend Meg—"

"Yeah. You had some setbacks. But there are always setbacks, Apollo. When Lizzy Stanton and I hosted the first women's rights convention in Woodstock—"

"I think you mean Seneca Falls?"

"Wasn't that in the '60s?"

"The '40s. The 1840s, if memory serves."

"I'm having so much fun," Ara speaks from her patch of grass. "Can you please make my nervous system go back to normal?"

Rhea touches her again without paying much attention. "So... Jimi Hendrix wasn't there?"

"Doubtful."

"Then who set that guitar on fire? Ah, never mind. The point is, you have to persevere. Sometimes change takes centuries."

"Except that I'm mortal now. I don't have centuries."

"But you have willpower. You have mortal drive and urgency, just like our daughter of Olympus here present. Those are things the gods often lack." Her lions sit up and pace around anxiously. "I've gotta split. If the imperators track me down—bad scene, man. I've been off the grid too long. I'm not going to get sucked into that patriarchal institutional oppression again. Just find Dodona. That's your first trial."

"And if the Beast finds the grove first?"

"Oh, he's already found the gates, but he'll never get through them without you and the girl." 

"I—I don't understand."

"That's cool. Just breathe. Find your center. Enlightenment has to come from within."

"But what do I do? How do I save Meg?"

"First, get healed. Rest up. Then... well, how you save Meg is up to you. The journey is greater than the destination, you know?" She hands him a set of wind chimes. "Hang these in the largest ancient oak. That will help you focus the voices of the Oracle. If you get a prophecy, groovy. It'll only be the beginning, but without Dodona, nothing else will be possible. 

The emperors will suffocate our future and divide up the world. Only when you have defeated Python can you reclaim your rightful place on Olympus. My kid, Zeus... he's got this whole 'tough love' disciplinarian hang-up, you dig? Taking back Delphi is the only way you're going to get on his good side."

"I—I was afraid you would say that."

"There's one other thing. The Beast is planning some kind of attack on your camp," she looks at Ara when she says that. "I don't know what it is, but it's going to be big. Like, even worse than napalm. You have to warn your friends."

Ara stands and pulls Apollo to his feet, nodding dutifully. "You got it."

"Good luck. I've got to check my kiln before my pots crack. Keep on trucking, and save those trees!"

Next Chapter –>

Taglist.

@siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris @obxstiles @ellipsisspelled @thepixiechicksh @ebony-reine-vibes

[melissamasakari]

Confessions you didn`t notice

Chapter seven. Bright sun

Persistent and loud knocking on the door distracted me from an important engineering problem. Who the fuck is that? The third prototype was ruined! Covering the needlework with a blanket I went to find out what I am needed for this time. Definitely that’s not my red blockhead. He would simply take the door off its hinges and walk in as if this house was his own.

“Here you are! I’ve searched the whole city for you! Why didn't you come to catch gifts from the sky?”

“What should I do there? I have already donated gifts for the city so there are lots and lots there with my logo. It won't be fun to catch two more umbrellas or three more jewelry boxes.”

“You're are overthinking! What about the spirit of competition? And don’t you believe in miracles?”

“It would be a miracle not to get hit in the head with a desk lamp. The broken one.”

“Whatever. Oh, you’re bleeding, kid,” and it’s true, apparently, I pierced my finger somehow.

“Damn it. I’ll treat it now, and it will heal in a couple of days. The main point here is not to catch any infection. That would be just the best thing to catch on that Day of the Bright Sun of yours.”

“An injury like that is quite unusual for you.” Sam looked around at the blanket-covered mess on the dining table. “What are you making?”

“Secret device for neutralizing blockheads. Do not touch! It bites as you’ve seen.”

“Okay,” my beloved friend pulled her hand back and made a funny face. “You didn’t come to the feast, so WE were worried. Cap sent me to check on you and, if possible, bring you with me back.”

“Whose princess am I supposed to be this time? And they even gave me a guard of honor. I'm impressed!”

“I have no idea. You have more and more heart pillows here. Who showed off this time? Gust, Dr. Xu, Albert or someone else?”

“Nobody. I bought it myself. I got used to sleeping on them on my lonely cold nights. What is the dress code?”

“Any, even oil stains on the face would do. But it’s going to be a group photo there. So take the blue uniform and let's go out. They are waiting for us. Wait. No. Not a uniform. Blue shirt, cargo jeans and sneakers.” Sam pointed to hangers one by one.

“I obey your orders, comrade escort! Should I send gifts for friends by mail? But they are over-sized,” I muttered from behind the screen.

“Oh, so you are prepared. Can't wait to see.”

“Certainly. Practical, useful or something for the soul. Children will get toys, certainly. Adults...well, you'll see soon.” I left my shelter and looked into the mirror. “Well, how do I look?”

“Intimidating! Just fit for a ‘wanted’ poster.”

“Fine by me.”

There was a typical celebratory chaos in the Central Plaza. Cheerful townspeople showed off their prizes to each other. The airship flew majestically over the waterfall, having completed its mission. That’s nice - I missed the whole dull part. Now Gale will begin another solemn speech and will herd people onto the platform under the tree. And Sam took me to a bench near the school.

“Captain Arlo, on your orders, the dangerous recluse has been delivered! She did not resist the arrest. Please take this circumstance into account when passing your sentence.”

“At ease, soldier! I promise to file a report on additional days off!”

“Well, I'll catch you later, you cunning cat!” I pretended to have my hands tied behind my back and trying to kick Sam in the knee.

“And this is an insult to the authorities,” Remy added with a sly smile, coming to my other side.

“So exceeding official powers for personal gain does not offend your authorities enough? I'll file a complaint! To your boss directly.”

“Don't kick up the heels” Their so-called boss muttered through his teeth. He threw his arm over my shoulder and pulled me against him by the neck. His palm was now resting on my breast. Mmm, his familiar scent. I'm starting to melt again just fro, that! Wait, what did just happen? “Your lady love,” I nodded towards the church robes flashing through the crowd, “doesn’t mind that you're groping dangerous criminals in front of everyone?” I said in exactly the same conspiratorial whisper.

His reaction exceeded all of later my expectations. Arlo immediately blushed deeply. He hiccuped nervously and abruptly let me go, straightening up, to the roar of laughter from the rest of the team. Worth it! I might regret this later, but not just now. Nora giving away a vibe of a jealous wife, pouted like a huge duck and ran away as I was watching her attentively. Hm. Friendship with her is l definitely out of the question now. I hope she will not stand beside me this time for a group photo.

“You promised not to tell anyone!” It seems that Arlo was seriously insulted and angry.

“Don’t you think it’s already too late to care? The whole city is talking about it. I was the only one who was silent. The statute of limitations should have expired three times already,” I retorted without raising my voice. So are they dating or not? If so, then why am I here? So cruel. Why do you, red blockhead, still insist on giving me false hopes?!

“Stop it immediately! Or I’ll lock you both in a cage, you dumb redheads!”

“Let’s go,” Remy added, “everyone else has already taken they places, they’re just waiting for us.”

“Civil Corps! Do you need a special invitation?” Our good mayor yelled.

Oh, what nice gangster faces we made for the photo! I'll hang this picture on the wall. I can almost see the steam coming out of Arlo's ears. Nora took off her hat and crumpled it in her hands, looking at the floor. Sam, standing behind me, put her elbows on my shoulders, almost like her boss had done before, but much less intimately. Remy, as always, smiled cheerfully, but for some reason it looked very scary today. Django...yes, he is sad. Apparently this friendship is over. Well, okay. I'll survive. The mayor tried to put his arm around my waist. And pet a little just below. WHAT?! Is this a harassment already? I'll kill you, nasty old pervert!.. I couldn’t wait to wriggle free from him!

I was brought in specifically for this photo, wasn’t I? So that Gale has somewhere to put his hand. Old fart, I'll kick a shit out of you! But why it is me who are feeling SO ashamed now? In order not to do something terrible, I decided to flee.

“Hey, guys! Your accusations are void, so I’ll go about my business. Bye-bye,” I made a teasing gesture with a hand and walked towards the Western Gate.

“Stand down! Nobody’s let you go!” Wow, what a statement! I wish I could hear this in a different situation.

“Ha. Try to catch me! Your princess is in another castle!” The gaze Nora gave me definitely deserved a separate photo. That’s a pity I don't have camera though.

“Fuck it!” The unlucky dragon swore. He abruptly gave out several commands and rushed to catch up. I wonder if I have a chance of sneaking away? At least he won't see me bursting into tears.

Now here is the opportunity to check if I have surpassed my personal trainer. And where should I go? At home they will quickly catch me. So, lets go to the left. Rushing past the Papa Bear's home, I headed towards the Bassanio Plateau. Elevator. A great opportunity to get lost in the forest there. All that was left was to climb up the hill. I should hide my hair – it’s too noticeable against the fresh grass. Why didn’t I think to grab a cap? Okay, I’ll hide it with my shirt and turn up the collar. Out of breath, I finally made it to the elevator. I was lucky that it was downstairs. Breathing heavily, I poked at the controls and pulled the lever. Now you can only get here through the Wasteland. Or from a cave on Amber island. By the way, that’s a great plan. I can go down there through the ventilation and return home by nightfall. Surely by this time the supposed siege on my ‘castle’ will be broken. No matter what I am guilty of... It is unlikely that such seriousness is due to the disclosure of his unclassified great secret. Well, they are dating. So what? Here in this small town near everyone is somebody’s significant other, a relative or an ex. What does he want from me now? And why does this very thought make me cry and want to throw sharp objects? I already decided that we are friends. True, after today’s prank it’s no longer a fact.

Oh, the hatch into the caves is not pressed tightly. I can rest there. And I won’t even reveal where I'm hiding with noise. Great. The coolest thing is to climb a tree, but, my height does not allow me to do this quickly. I made my way inside, found a shelter behind some half-broken boxes and sat down in the shadows, clasping my knees with my hands. If something happens, I can even clearly see the stairs to the hatch from here.

I have no idea for how long I sat there in the twilight. For some reason I felt very painful and disgusting. The guys are probably worried. Seeing the stopped lift they should have realized that I had been here. Maybe even Higgins was called in for repairs. What if Arlo went through the Wasteland? What if he got hurt there, it will be my fault! Wiping away my tears with my sleeve I nearly already decided to follow the planned course, but then the roller rails of the hatch began to move with a nasty squeal. I hid back, covering my ears with my palms.

“Well, she definitely passed here, Cap. There's traces in the dust, do you see?”

“The question is where to look next. And what if she needs our help?” Sam and Arlo walked briskly down the stairs and along the wall opposite of my hiding place.

“She herself can help just anyone. You know that.”

“I’m still worried.”

“Why were you so angry? It’s true, Nora’s crush is not a secret for a long time already. And everyone already knows for sure that you mercilessly blow off any girl who dares to bring you a heart knot. Why should Nora be an exception?”

“Oh, leave me be, little thorn. Better take a closer look.”

“I see something. Let's go ahead. Little fella seemed to have rushed into the haunted cave direction through this corridor.” Sam walked past my hiding place, pushing Arlo’s back with her palms and guiding him into a long passage. “Come on, move.”

Then she turned around and winked, supposedly into empty space. In response, I made a closed-mouth gesture. So I have an accomplice, cool! Let them go. It's definitely safe there. And I’ll have time to get out and at least wash myself clean. Wait! Sam DID say that he blew Nora off TOO?! At that time, she already realized that I could hear everything, so this is a hint for me! And what should I do now? First, get out and make my way home to hide the handicraft I have started. In case of unexpected guests, that is.

Great, it's even not dark yet. I can rush through the Eastern gate and up the hill, for example. Most likely, they will come to my house a little bit later. I hope that Sam will effectively hide my trail giving the redhead some extra loops so I can restore some peace of the mind.

To my incredible surprise, there was no ambush near the house. And I didn’t even meet anyone on my way home from the waterfall across the field. Climbing into the window through the hole in the stable I found myself in my kitchen. I listened. I looked out. Silence. Just in case, I blocked the front door with a bedside table and went into the shower. Even if they hear any noise, they will at least not break in right away. Oh...that's right, I almost forgot. I grabbed the blanket from the dining table, threw everything into it, rolled it up in a knot and stuffed it under the bed. Looking in the closet, I took out some sportswear and finally went to the bathroom.

I barely had time to change clothes when I heard the clatter of hooves from behind the fence. Remy? The rest could have came on foot. Judging by the fading sounds, he is now galloping towards Amber island. Did he guess everything too, or I’m delusional? Well, what a show is going on! I’m hiding in my own house from those who swore to guard and protect me here, from my best friends and from the guy I’m in love with. They were so unlucky with me. I myself didn’t notice how I dozed off, sitting behind the screen near my closet. I was awakened by a knock on the kitchen window. Three long, two short. And repeat. Okay, that’s Sam. I carefully peeked out.

“There is no tail. Let me in. I know you're here.”

“Then climb through the window. The door is blocked. Then we’ll tell everyone that there was a rummage here,” following my instructions, Sam successfully climbed inside.

“Where did the chase go?”

“They rush around the field and around the pond. Don't worry, it's good for them. Why did you run off?”

“I won’t tell you, definitely not now. I haven’t really gotten my head around it yet.”

“As you wish. Are you okay now?”

“I doubt it. I told you it was a bad idea to drag me to a party. I was just sitting here and was not bothering anyone. Why did you need to drag me in?”

“You’ll find out when our pepper-breather will finish blowing of steam and will cool down. You should have seen Higgins in his pajamas at the elevator! He yelled, he swore and he absolutely demanded a double price for urgency.”

“What a moron. There were only three buttons that had to be pressed on the panel down the side. How long did he fumble?”

“About two hours exactly. Then he just pried open the plug with a knife and connected the wires directly.”

“Was he at least electrocuted? Now I have to repair this crap nearly from scratch all over again after this.”

“Certainly. Phyllis also have had some extracurricular work. Sooo nasty. Let's dismantle your barricades, okay?”

“Your boss won’t destroy my door later, will he? After his kicks I merely have time to repair the gates.”

“If we don’t sort it out ourselves, he’ll take it out along with the furniture. And, perhaps, with walls, if he understands that I found you a long time ago and now hiding you from him.”

“Won’t you get punished for this?” We carefully lifted the bedside table and dragged it to its place.

“I’ll get away with a couple of extra shifts. Trivial matter.”

“But can you not drag me out of the house?”

“Certainly. Let me get out and run around for show. Then we'll turn on the light. And pretend that this is my first time here. It's already dark enough that I won't be noticed ahead of time.”

Sam left. After some time, the sound of hooves became clearly audible. - from the kitchen side. There are more than two horses. Are those some kind of glitches or else? One of the riders dismounted. His steps were heavy and nonrhythmic. Remington. And the other is Sam. I can hardly hear her steps at all. Oh, here came the wide brusque steps. Predictably, the door was thrown open with a powerful kick. It’s good that I managed to open the lock and didn’t come close.

“Alive,” Arlo breathed and rushed forward. He abruptly grabbed me like a doll and pressed me onto himself, burying his beard on the top of my head.

“You keep squeezing me like this, and this will change pretty soon,” I squeaked in response. He relaxed a little, but did not release me from the hug. What's wrong with him? He stroke my back. And since this is already a pretty long physical contact, now I will either blush, or burst into tears, or suffocate. Or maybe all at once. Well, at least I'll die happy.

“Hmm. We're all ready, Cap.”

“I'll be back soon. Close the door. From the outside,” wow, his heartbeat is at extreme rate. Now I can even feel it with my cheek. And my blood is pounding in my ears so terribly. I just wanna bury my face in his chest. Maybe forever. Should I probably say something?

“Sorry for causing so much trouble. I don't know what came over me.”

“It's okay. The main thing is that you are safe. I don’t even want to know how you got here before us.”

“Agreed. And what do they have ready?”

“You'll see now. Let's go.”

Arlo took me by the hand and led me out into the yard. We walked around the house and found ourselves near the stables. I was not mistaken, there were more than two horses here. But Teddy isn't here. This white one is Spacer. Brown mare in dapples is Arrow. And for some reason, some balloons were tied to the saddle of a cream-colored young filly.

“Surprise!” All three shouted in unison.

“Come and greet her.” Sam lightly pushed me in the back. The redhead released my hand with obvious reluctance.

“What?” I was surprised to recognize the very same filly for which I had been saving money since last fall. I asked McDonald not to sell her to anyone. “Guys, have you all gone crazy? I planned to go buy her next week!”

“Now there is no need. So what will you say?”

“I say – welcome home, Shifter. I hope you’ll like it here as much as I do,” the horse trustingly poked her wet nose into my neck. That looks like a start of a new friendship. I would really like that

Spacer whinnied and tried to bite my ear. That's a nasty horsemeat sausage!

“What kind of tricks are there?! Calm down! If you behave like this, we’ll miss the land run!” The mischievous horse stiffened and calmed down. What a commanding voice Arlo used. I'm so impressed.

“Admit it, whose idea it was?”

“You won’t believe it, but it’s yours. I just remembered and organized everything. The rest of us supported. And besides, if you’ll decide to join Corps, you won’t be able to do this without a horse. And the territory will soon get larger so we will probably have to expand our staff.”

“I love you guys!” I extended my arms invitingly for a group hug. “Thank you all so very, very much!”

[juliets-obsession-corner]

Chapter Two; The Lion's Den

Note: I'm painfully aware it's taken me a trillion years to post this but uhm....listen sometimes the anxiety hits and you just use Balders Gate as a coping mechanism...it be like that (:

🦊🦢🦊🦢

Erin collided harshly with the ground beneath her. A heaving gasp was all she managed to pass down her throat. When she tried to move, painful spasms rocked through her body, locking her limbs in place. She whimpered quietly while frustration pooled in her eyes. 

Minutes passed, and Erin swallowed the dryness in her throat.

“Ivy?”

There was no response.

Erin lifted her head and scanned the surroundings. A little frown pressed itself between her brows. Not a soul was around when she knew the tourists must have been up ahead. The benches and stone paths that should have littered the greenery were gone. It was eerily quiet too. Funny how background noise can make such an impact on your surroundings. Usually, Erin would complain about the sound of car engines and the high pitched screaming of children. Unease now settled in Erin’s stomach. 

She needed to find Ivy.

Her muscles resisted but Erin managed to stand up. She wiggled her arms and shook her legs, and considering she was in no great deal of pain, she guessed nothing was broken. That was something at least. Hand over her eyes, she searched for her friend more diligently, and spotted her deep red hair. She was face down at the bottom of the hill, and she was not moving.

“Ivy.” Erin mumbled. She broke out in a run. Her legs wobbled like that of a newborn deer, veering left and right, and she tumbled along the grass. She didn’t stop until she collapsed at Ivy’s side.

She turned Ivy over onto her back, and gently brushed away the strands of hair from her face. There was a small cut above her brow, and when Erin flitted her fingers along the back of her head, she felt a small bump. 

Erin took Ivy’s face in her hands and shook. When she spoke, her voice was quiet, “Ivy, come on, wake up.” 

Ivy didn’t stir.

Erin swallowed her panic, “I don’t know anything about first aid, help me out, come on, you have to wake up.” She muttered over and over again.

As if her prayers were answered, Ivy’s eyes fluttered softly.

“Yes!” Erin laughed. She blinked her tears away. “That’s it, wake up.”

Ivy groaned as she slowly made it to a sitting position, and leaned into Erin’s front. A throbbing pain steadily beat in the back of her skull. Ivy recognised the symptoms as a concussion. She guessed it was only mild but she forced her eyes open nonetheless. She couldn’t fall asleep.

She turned to Erin, “What happened?” 

“Remember being by the rock?” Erin asked.

“Hm, remember that but,” Ivy paused, “what happened?”

Erin chewed her lip, “I don’t know…maybe a big gust of wind slammed into us-”

“A gust of wind?” Ivy interrupted, incredulous.

“Maybe gravity went on strike for a moment,” Erin waved her hands dismissively , “how am I supposed to know?”

The sound of voices snapped the girls out of their shared confusion. 

Erin sighed, “Okay, you stay there, I’ll get…whoever’s attention.”

Ivy nodded, still stuck in her daze.

Erin stood. Legs shaky and stiff but the pain dulled with each step she took. Once she made it up the hill, she lifted her arms up and waved, shouting for the strangers' help. Their silhouettes became clearer in her mind’s eye and something akin to dread filled her stomach. They sat on horses, which on its own shouldn’t be strange. But there were so many of them, and more kept coming over the horizon. 

The horses turned tail straight towards her at a leisurely pace. With every step closer, their collective appearance confused Erin. They looked like something out of a history documentary. Weapons hung from their backs or hips, looking concerningly sharp. They were dressed in furs, leather and cloth. Some of them had the appearance of Viking warriors.

If Erin was a more confident girl, she might have trusted her gut to grab Ivy and run. Instead she batted away her instinctive thoughts and told herself that many people wouldn't hurt her. She stood her ground. Nerves fired across her entire body.

"Who are you?" One of the men in front asked. She assumed he was the leader. He had a strange accent she couldn’t place. His chestnut hair was half down while the rest was tied back in a bun. He had a goatee, several of the men did. It surprised Erin how much it suited him.

"Uhm," her eyes flitted nervously to the rest of the group, "I'm Erin." 

A quick silence passed between her and the group of strangers. God, there were so many of them. Why were there so many of them?

Erin shifted on her feet.

"Are you just going to stand there all day or tell us of your problem?" A bearded man, with a thick irish accent, spoke next. His hands were crossed and leaning against the saddle of his horse. Playfulness glinted in his eyes.

Erin grumbled but it brought her back to why she'd gone to them in the first place. She stood a little straighter and pointed behind her, "My friend and I…something's happened and she's hurt, and I was wondering if I could borrow your phone?"

The Irishman and the leader looked at one another. The same puzzled look on their faces.

“We don’t know what you’re saying, lady.” The leader said, irritated.

"A phone." Erin bit out, “you know the things that you speak to people with.”

“Like what we’re doing now?” The Irishman spoke slowly, as if Erin was going insane.

"Really isn’t the time for your roleplaying." Erin said between gritted teeth.

"Roleplaying?" Another man spoke. He was tall and well built. His blond hair was tied back and unlike the others he had a full beard, it was just long enough for a small braid down the middle of his chin.

"Jesus Christ, I’m not playing 20 questions!" She erupted. 

A few of the men gasped, and one bald man who was dressed like a monk spoke up, "Do not take our Lord's name in vain, it is ungodly."

"I do not care," The monk's eyes widened with shock but Erin continued, "my friend is hurt, and I think she might have a concussion, and we're confused because I touched a fucking rock and now everything is different and you're all dressed weirdly and the paths are GONE and the rock is GONE…oh God I'm going to get fined."

“Fined…for touching a rock?”

“It’s a special rock.” Erin whispered.

She didn’t wait for an answer, they weren’t going to be any help anyway. She walked away without turning back. She didn’t want to look at them, she didn’t want to hear them. She was afraid the longer she looked at them, the more impossible her thoughts would become. What if this wasn’t technically Durham as she knows it? What if that rock really was special? Erin’s imagination was wild enough as is, and from the books she’s read, she should have known the stupidity of touching a big rock.

She stiffly walked down the hill and crouched besides Ivy. She took her hand in her own. She squeezed it tight and willed the tears away. Erin had been through worse surely. What was a bit of time travel compared to the horrors of the world as she knew it?

"I have bad news."

Ivy groaned. "But I just stopped feeling dizzy."

"We might have time travelled."

Ivy looked up at her friend. The words settled in her mind at a terribly slow pace. She nodded, then she frowned, and then she stared at Erin like she'd truly gone insane. Ivy was about to ask Erin if she was experiencing any symptoms of concussion herself but suddenly her eyes darted behind Erin, and any question she wished to ask disappeared. Her mouth opened, forming a perfect O.

Erin turned, already knowing who stood behind her. Four men had dismounted. The leader, the Irishman, the monk and another Erin hadn’t noticed. He resembled a Viking, like many of the others but much younger, probably hers and Ivy’s age. He had mismatched eyes and dark hair that was braided along the top of his head. Unusually, the sides were shaved to show off a tattoo along the one side of his head.

Ivy shuffled closer to Erin, and Erin placed her arm over Ivy's body. Both making a failed attempt to protect each other from whatever came next.

"You can come with us." The leader stated.

"What if we don't want to?" Ivy countered, attempting a glare that only made her look like a small fluffy dog.

He raised his brows, "I thought you wanted our help."

"We're fine now, thank you." Ivy said quickly.

"Let us help you, hm?" The monk spoke in a much softer tone, "And maybe get you some … appropriate clothing." he coughed uncomfortably which made the irishman laugh.

The girls frowned at the same time. Ivy stared at Erin's oversized shirt and shorts and wondered what was inappropriate. Erin thought the same as she stared at Ivy's tank top and shorts.

"I told you. Time travel." Erin whispered.

"Maybe they're just crazy."

"Maybe it's both." 

"Mind involving us in the discussion." The leader said. Impatience became clear in his posture.

"We don't want help." Ivy reiterated.

"I'm afraid we'll have to insist." he said.

Ivy didn’t respond. She stood on shaky legs, and Erin followed suit. Ivy wobbled for a moment. She noticed the young man with mismatched eyes furrowed brow as if in concern. He went to say something but clamped his mouth shut.

Ivy frowned at the momentary concern. She considered maybe the group was being kind just by the look on the young man's face. She thought better of it.

"Erin."

"Mhm?"

"Let's go."

"Mhm, I agree."

The strange group was shocked by their answer, which turned to relief but it only lasted a moment. Almost simultaneously, the girls turned on their heels and ran down the hill at a shockingly fast speed.

It took everything in Ivy to ignore the throbbing behind her eyes, concentrating solely on placing one foot in front of the other. It was cut short when she was tackled to the ground, a surprised yelp escaped her.

Ivy wiggled beneath her assailant, her face was pushed deeper into the grass beneath her. She cursed and screamed and kicked. She heard him grunt. She was flipped onto her back, and her eyes widened at the sight of the man with mismatched eyes. He placed all his weight on her stomach, and kept a firm grip on her hands without it hurting.

"I don't want to harm you, lady." His voice was strained as he attempted to keep Ivy still.

"Then let go of me." Ivy growled. 

"You'll be safe, I promise you'll be safe." His voice was so surprisingly soft, Ivy was tempted to believe him. 

Just as suddenly as his weight engulfed her, it was gone. For a moment she laid there, confused. Snapped out of her daze she looked up and found Erin atop the man with mismatched eyes. Erin scratched and slapped and kicked. The man with mismatched eyes struggled to grab a hold of Erin's hands, she fought so recklessly it was impossible to know what she was going to do next.

The Irishman came up behind Erin in a casual jog. He picked her up effortlessly, letting her dangle in the air with her legs kicking. Erin shouted.

"Feisty one, aren't ya?" The Irishman laughed, "don't worry, Sihtirc, any one of us would have struggled with this one."

Erin kicked him in the balls. He groaned but managed to hold a firm grip.

The man with mismatched eyes, Sihtric, turned to Ivy. He stared at her with such an intensity, seeming to show everything and nothing all at once. It made her want to run. She pushed herself along the ground, staining green her bare legs and shorts.

"We really don't want to hurt you." 

She noticed his accent now, it was alluring to be sure but Erin's erratic screams broke the magic of his voice. 

Finan started up the hill, Erin placed firmly on his shoulder. Ivy reached out a useless hand, and she whimpered. Fat tears blinded and rolled down her eyes and the pounding in her head made her dizzy. She bowed her head, her hair fell into curtains around her face.

A ghost of a touch grazed her shoulder but Ivy flinched anyway. She tried to shuffle away from the strange man. From this strange place. It certainly wasn't home anymore. Was Erin correct when she said this was the past? Was such a thing even possible, or had they finally gone mad?

"Lady," Sihtirc spoke softly, so softly, "My Lord Uhtred fears you may be spies, once our mission is done, you may leave."

Ivy laughed. Spies. How amusing of a thought. Ivy remembered playing spies with Erin as children. They'd sneak around Ivy's home, hiding and murmuring plans. They didn't know they were useless at spying at the time, Ivy's parents liked to indulge and pretend they didn't see them.

"This is true, I swear it." Sihtric insisted. 

She didn't respond. She stood on shaking legs, smoothed her hair behind her ears and wiped away the tears from her freckled face. Eyes bloodshot and defeated, she met Sihtirc's eyes.

"I'll go willingly."

Sihtirc seemed to hesitate. He didn't trust her. He shouldn't really, she thought. The moment she found a way to escape with Erin by her side, she would. But Erin was not by her side so to the lion's den it is.

Ivy huffed and began walking in the direction of the group. Sooner than later, she felt Sihtirc's presence at her back. She felt bare with the knowledge he was staring at her, intent on not letting her run. She tried to concentrate on one foot in front of the other. One, two, one, two. Until Erin's angry shouting was back in earshot.

[thegeminisage]

ok its star trek update time. once again i am So Fucking Behind thank you work week from hell. monday (i think...) we watched ds9's "starship down" and "little green men," tuesday we did voy's "cold fire" and ds9's "sword of kahless," wednesday was voy's "maneuvers," except we watched it right after we watched star wars so i was incapable of paying attention properly, and last night we got ds9's "our man bashir" and voy's "resistance." whew!

starship down (ds9):

ALMOST perfect. i have very few notes here

first of all, sisko my best friend sisko my favorite guy sisko. i think it was very fun drama that sisko had to order the little bulkhead closed when he knew dax would die if he did in order to save the ship. i JUST WISH. he and dax. or he and literally anyone. had spoken about it afterward. i mean he thought his BEST FRIEND was DEAD and that it was HIS FAULT and we arent gonna follow through on that? what is this, tng??

that said, it was such a lovely way to deepen his relationship with kira...my best friend kira my favorite terrorist girl kira. it's easy to forget that she she has a truly and deeply held genuine belief that her boss is space jesus who is gonna save her people. and so then you've got. Your Boss, Who Is Jesus, But Also A Fallible Human Man. dying of a brain injury on the floor of your little spaceship. and what can you do! you only talk about work! kira wasn't out there making fun of him for "it's a big step" absoluuuutely not. she's just gotta tell him jack and the beanstalk, space version. and try to keep him from passing out. and then pray even though he thinks that's awkward. what a moment

AND THEYRE GONNA PLAY BASEBALL LATER. it it a TRAVESTY that baseball isn't ds9's thing the way poker was for tng or pool is for voyager. i understand it would be more expensive to shoot but like they got a whole ass set for that pool hall. come on.

side plot of bashir diving back in to save dax...WAH THEY LOVE EACHOTHER. HE'S SUCH A GOOD PERSON!!!!!! GOD

other side plot of quark lowkey being at fault for all of this (by cheating those guys) initially annoyed me but this episode did so much for quark in the me community because then he's like yeah i can deprogram the torpedo. and he can get in but not deprogram it. he just gets lucky. idk. it's so nice to see him do literally anything other than make unfunny jokes AND WHEN HE DOES he does a great job.

my final note is that it was charming kira misunderstood "hot dogs" but that quark will know what they are. how much do you think sisko had to pay him to get him to start making those for the holosuites lol

little green men (ds9):

im so glad i was able to forgive quark before this episode

this one was...fine. i enjoyed rom and nog a lot, and i didn't mind quark very much. he even made me laugh a couple of times!

i enjoyed all the jokes about how stupid were to be smoking and dropping atom bombs. when even QUARK is shocked at your behavior ("they IRRADIATED they OWN PLANET?") you know you've really fucked up

this raises so many questions about the universal translators though. people just...have those? under their skin? in their ears? all the time? then what on earth did they need a big one for in tos? what is this, farscape?

i've just now learned one of the guys in this ep was in tos, but since i never rewatch way to eden i didn't recognize him at all. iirc he famously said he'd love to come back to trek one day but only if they let him wear proper clothes. i am absolutely tickled with this information i love star trek

also, it was funny when nog said "i'm supposed to report you for smuggling but i'm not sworn in yet so i'll keep it under my hat for 10%." i love him so much.

of course, my favorite part of this episode was surprise odo. i remember joking when the dog put its paws on quark's chest "haha it's odo" and then 2 seconds later the dog DID TURN INTO ODO and i lost my fucking mind. my best friend odo...we haven't had any odo-centric content in awhile so this was a nice way to tide me over until "crossover," which ik is going to be a biggie and which BETTER BE FUCKING GOOD.

cold fire (voy):

my absolute favorite thing about this episode was that we get a little outside pov on voyager. this dangerous warship that appeared out of nowhere and leaves destruction in its wake with its advanced technology. <3 like, is that what theyre doing? no, at least not on purpose, but i absolutely LOVE that it's how they look to outsiders.

someone has got to teach kes how to recognize a red fucking flag. that guy was soooo shady from the get-go. girl, run. you know it's dire when even neelix's paranoia is justified.

actually, neelix wasn't in this ep much, but i liked what we had of him. he was willing to go with kes anywhere and just wanted her to be safe and live longer. wah. i really wish he didn't have this jealousy plotline as a black mark on his record because i REALLY like him otherwise

i liked the horror elements in this one at the end! the demonic little blonde girl, the women being pinned to the ceiling dripping blood...you may stop watching s*pernatural but you will never really stop watching s*pernatural. VERY surprising but in a fun way. also, tentacles

on a final note, tuvok is a VERY good sport about almost getting his head boiled by kes. like yes logic blah blah blah she does need instruction but just bc vulcans dont allow emotions to control them doesnt mean they dont FEEL emotions. anyone else would have been through with teaching her forever probably. i love tuvok so much i am so happy every time he is on my screen

sword of kahless (ds9):

RETURN OF THE KING!!!!! i'm so glad if any one of them lived it was going to be kor. i thought he died and that would have been kinder probably but he was the first ever klingon on star trek...he deserved another episode the most. also, if i had had to look at squire of gothos guy again it would've made me unwell

ALSO, KIRK MENTION. i literally had to rewind it and listen again 😭

i LOVED the first half of this episode. i loved dax and worf getting to know each other in a more subtle way, and i REALLY loved kor treating worf really niceys and vice versa. they were such good buddies! we were having a great time!

everybody got really annoying after they found the sword, except of course for dax, who got to be really fucking done in a funny way. dax having a consistent personality now has made her so fun, genuinely

and like, i kept wondering if the sword was cursed, how it made them act this way, why weren't they in their right minds...and then in the end it was Just Them. they quite literally tried to murder each other and it was JUST THEM. which could have been a very sobering realization if it was played that way, if like dax had assumed there was a curse or a psychic something-or-other messing with them, and then they realized in the cold light of day they had no excuses to fall back on...but that's not what they did, so, eh. gets an "either" on the spreadsheet. rip season 4's winning streak

i will say i had to google halfway thru the ep whether kor died and found out he does come back but then dies later. i'd rather know though because i couldn't take the anxiety.

OH WAIT YEAH I NEARLY FORGOT.................the return of that random kid from that one tng episode. fucking insane. the DEEP deep lore. i couldn't believe it

maneuvers (voy):

SESKA MY BEST FRIEND SESKA. SHE IS BACK!!! TO CAUSE PROBLEMS ON PURPOSE

kazon politics in this episode were BOOOORINGGG but seska made up for it

rewinding a little: chakotay and b'elanna flirting at the beginning was hot. i STILL can't believe she ends up with tom paris. that said, chakotay could work with almost any character on this cast. he's just great like that. thats why seska wanted him

also, i liked that janeway took the time to explain to neelix why "one little computer component" had the potential to cause sooo much trouble. it's a clever way to disguise that what she's really doing is explaining it to the audience, but it's also kind to stop and take a second to genuinely hear and respond to his concern, and make him understand, instead of just getting annoyed

b'elanna is really that ride or die friend. chakotay fucked RIGHT off and she still went to bat for him MULTIPLE times to try and get janeway to go easy on him. in the pilot she wouldn't leave without harry kim even though she didn't even really like him because they had been stuck together. she defends tuvok in an episode later too that i'll get into when i get there but i really truly and deeply love that about her. NO one is more loyal than b'elanna

some SERIOUS close encounter shit happening in this episode with seska. i'm thrilled that chakotay finally gets some juicy drama that they don't need to consult their fake racist expert to write. especially because:

BABY? SESKA IS GONNA HAVE CHAKOTAY'S BABY?? god i can't fucking wait. then he'll have just 3 less babies than tuvok. who has 4 babies, if i haven't mentioned that yet today

also, his scene with janeway at the end...AUGH. one thing that differentiates voyager from tng for ME is how much they all love each other on voyager. it comes through SO clearly, even when they're angry with one another, maybe especially then. tng was so. STERILE. every scene janeway and chakotay have together is CRACKLING. voyager has had a lot of duds so far, it's true, but you just don't get that kind of tension on tng - or when you do it's very very VERY rare

our man bashir (ds9):

another ds9 s4 ep i'm "eh" about..i mean, i don't like holodeck episodes in the best of circumstances, but i genuinely believed if anyone could pull it off it'd be ds9. however i am feeling so lukewarm

garak and julian were incredible, of course. i was particularly thrilled by the bit at the end where julian straight-up plagiarized him to stall for time. AND after thinking about it i like that garak was literally willing to leave them to die - it seemed ouit of character at first, because you think of him as a Good Guy Who Is On Our Side Because He Has Breakfast With Odo, but maybe actually it serves as a nice little reminder that he's still quite unknown

AND i love when avery brooks gets to act unhinged. mirror sisko i will miss you forever

i also liked that horny thing o'brien did with the gun. do it again

that said...the set-up for this episode was sooo flimsy. like, why was garak even there, for starters. like it's kind of funny that he's just being nosy but also like. it is flimsy

also, i've never seen any bond movies, which means i didn't get most of the bond jokes

but my major complaint was the women...what is this, tng? jadzia "honey bear" dax was one thing - dax kind of likes being sexy and showing herself off and she's more than down to clown. but putting KIRA in the holosuite and then objectifying her like that (AND making her kiss julian! i know the actors were married but cmon) just feels...so demeaning. kira would never want this. we quite literally had an entire episode devoted to the fact that kira would feel angry and violated for her image to be used in the holodeck for any purpose, let alone sexy ones.

even in that one episode with old bashir in the coma, which may as well have been a holodeck episode, we learned something about him. the episode fucking sucked but we came away from it with some measure of character development. we got nothing here but a fun time (if you have seen bond movies and don't mind objectifying women).

resistance (voy):

THIS ONE MADE ME CRY............

that weird creepy old man...i spent all of the episode going if anything happens to this guy i'll kill everyone in this room and then myself

and by the time we got to the end and he DID die i was almost grateful because then at least he can stop missing his family.

AND LIKE I BELIEVED HIM. i was right there with janeway!!! i was like damn you gotta go find his wife before you leave AND SHE WAS REALLY GONNA GO. she was gonna risk her life for it! BUT SHE'S DEAD

and then at the end when she isn't listening harry kim doesn't look hurt or offended he's just CONCERNED. because they LOVE HER her crew LOVES HER. like what the fuck

anyway i'm glad he killed that guy FUCK that guy no one deserved to kill him more than that old man

the other thing that really got me was tuvok and b'elanna. again, b'elanna is the ride or die friend bc when they tried to take him she was LITERALLY going to fight 3 guys with guns to her certain death to keep it from happening and only didn't because tuvok told her not to.

i am so sad for tuvok always. he is so far from home and they were TORTURING him!!! he hasn't seen his 4 babies or the orchids he breeds in like a year and they're torturing him!!!!! i really loved his and b'elanna's conversation when he got back to the cell...it was a very sweet moment between them

but i MOSTLY loved when tuvok got to vulcan nerve pinch that guy. not NEARLY enough vulcan nerve pinching in this series since spock left if you ask me. i want him to do that many more times

also, absolutely giddy that nobody bothered to explain what it is to either the characters or the audience. we all knew. everybody say thank you leonard nimoy

WHEW. that was so many, may it never pile up like this again, etc etc. TONIGHT: ds9's "homefront" and "paradise lost."

[dojae-huh]

https://youtu.be/qvd6Qbnd41s?si=YbMhy0U98nRcT550

21:53

Doyoung: I have seen jungwoo passing out in the middle of watching film exhuma!!

He was saying it like he have seen it through his eyes, not from some group chat......

First of I don't want to fight....but I couldn't ignore it huh nim.... Like that anon said it like so adamant, like no matter what I refuse to believe they 3 we're tgthr... That kind of mindset... Like dy must have get it from group chat? Omg.... Really.... If am not a jaedo shipper, but there is a possibility of them being tgthr for some place, I don't think there is any chance to deny it.... Like if one ship is really shipping, that 2 pll can't go with any other?? What's logic is that? Nd am not saying doyoung imalways says the truth.... But he is good at hiding info especially about jaedo.... But look here.... Jaewoo went to see the movie, it's the fact, then y would he say it like he have seen it??? Nd given his character, even if he sees it , he would say it like he got the info from somewhere else.... Isn't it right huh nim?? Nd that doyoung announcing it openely he have seen it woo passing out, for the movie where actually jaewoo went tgthr...??? BULLSHIT...... IT'S WHAT WE CALL IT AS THE SLIPPERY OF THE TOUNGUE...... nd it's the truth.... Nd the staff didn't cut it, coz it was funny nd entertaining for the woo fans..... Nd there is nothing to get afraid to be... So they just keep it.... If they knw we are fighting over a single dialogue, even after the 2 days of it's broadcast, they would be like calling a meeting..... Haha.....

I can just ignore this,....nd am not here to proove anything abt the movie night....but what I don't get is, doesn't matter if u r a shipper or not, why can't they accept the things as it is....its a straight confession, why u need to make alot of definition over this?? I don't get by proving this what do they get actually....

All I want to say is, if u see everything through the shippers eyes, you will lose a lot of precious moments..... Shopping is there, but also frndship, brotherhood, colleagues etc....evrything can make moments nd memories.... Don't miss it......coz that's also beautiful tooo.....

Link

I suppose it comes from different look on things and different feelings.

You, anon, thought you caught Doyoung on a slip up and added a new detail to an old information. You were happy because it meant JaeDo watched a movie and wrote to a JaeDo shipper blog to spread the news and tell about a shippery moment.

(first version) Jaehyun and Jungwoo watched Exhuma -> (updated) Jaehyun and Jungwoo and Doyoung watched Exhuma -> (a possible even fuller picture of the event) Jaehyun and Jungwoo and Doyoung and Jungwoo's sister/17's member watched Exhuma

As we can see, other fans interpret same news differently. For example, "those delulu JaeDo shippers need to make everything about their ship discounting wholesome JaeWoo time, stealing from JaeWoo shippers" or "those shippers are ready to call pure Jungwoo a lier just to turn everything into JaeDo conspiracy". There could be a feeling of jealousy (from a JaeWoo shipper), a feeling of irritation/hurt (from a Jungwoo stan), or a feeling of "I know better, don't try to change my belief in how events unfolded" (from a "I saw on the internet and you are wrong"). I'll stop, but there can be other possible reactions. It's not like DJJ watching a movie is unbelievable on it's own, it's that there is resistance to accept it happening (the way I have doubts about JaeWoo as movie buddies, doesn't mean I'm right, I'm in the middle of collecting more info, it's pending for me).

Now, to answer your question about the moment. Thanks for the timestamp, I've analysed it.

Doyoung didn't say he "saw", in Korean he said "it happened" (or, rather, "Woo did it"). Therefore, it is possible Jaehyun told him about it as a funny story, or Jungwoo told himself.

Doyoung looked at Jaehyun to laugh together after the words. And normally people bring up moments like that when they themselves were witnesses, when it left an impression. Other members didn't react (so it wasn't in a group chat like that anon suggested), Mark even asked Doyoung for a clarification (21:55).

In conclusion. Heh, it's still 50/50. Do's smile directed at Jae was huge, which can mean he was present (and thus his excitement was bigger, he was affected more by the scene seeing it in person). However, he didn't say "I saw". Other members didn't know about Woo passing (look at Mark questioning, Tae and Yuta not reacting, Johnny showing a surprised look), which means that if Doyoung didn't go to the cinema, then Jaehyun told the funny detail only to him.

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 173 Rundown

The Witch from Mercury: Okay so I have a notoriously hard time of comprehending Gundam plots so if I get anything wrong… that’s just how it’ll have to be. So it’s the old chesnut Gundam franchise have been milking for forty years now… Earth vs Space, like seriously I haven’t even seen all the Gundam serieses and I am SO sick of setup and everyone philosophizing about how going into space gives people superpowers and shit like can Gundam as a series think of anything else to do? But yeah apparently in this verse they originally were making prosthetics for people that had muscle dystrophy and shit from being in space and then as someone always does they went ‘cool but what if we did WAR with it?’ and now regular mobile suits and Gundams are just quietly being built in the background even though no official war is going on and the Gundams make people fucking die from a combination of information overload similar to the Zero System in Wing and that shit in Pacific Rim that made it so you needed two people to coordinate motor functions of a huge robot. Enter Eri, tiny girl with a mysterious connection to the big Barbie Gundam being built by her parents who are definitely not surviving this episode. It’s her birthday because this backstory is REALLY gonna kick her in the metaphorical nuts and the Space People have decided ‘Gundams kill their own guys, I’M supposed to kill their guys, that’s not fair bro’ which, A+ politicianing, no notes, I’m sure that’d go over well with a CEO just shouting about how he wants to kill people on the battlefield before they can nobly sacrifice themselves and that’s why he has to shutdown the big superweapons will go over great, like anime politicians can just get away with saying the wildest shit while real politicians come under fire if you don’t say the word god enough in a speech. But yeah instead of just shutting them down and destroying their research they just fucking come out swinging and do a full Space Colony ARK and murder everyone in the station (I think these guys were Earth-Alligned despite being in a space station idk this is why I have a hard time keeping track of this shit) like I feel like that was overkill and just PR nosedive for no reason but Eri needs a tragic backstory. Like is there functionally any reason they had to go murder everyone instead of just going ‘your shit’s illegal now, hand over your research OR will kill you’ instead of going ‘hand over your shit AND we’ll kill you’? Like I guess they’re doing a scorched earth approach and wanting to make sure and are prolly gonna say the unarmed scientists resisted to a level that required lethal force but that really seemed unnecessary, like you probably could’ve tied that up in courts and had them hand over all their shit instead of murder. While all this is going on Eri’s in the Barbie Gundam and surprise surprise she can get it to work when no one else can, her dad and the random technician lesbian take out the non-Barbie gundams and murder everyone except for the angsty pretty boy in the obligatory regal-looking suit that’s fancier than normal but technically not a gundam to get around plot shit while Eri and her mom get away in the Barbie Gundam which I’m honestly kind of surprised Eri’s mom gets to live I was expecting a full familial wipe from a backstory going this hard on the trauma and eerie innocence of its main character.

Inuyasha The Final Act: After the events with Moryomaru, Koga’s joined the group and Shippo notes how it changes the dynamic now that he’s actively stoking the Inuyasha/Kikyo/Kagome love triangle and Shippo doesn’t like it but I kinda do, it’s kinda funny to have a party member that isn’t super friendly with the others. Meanwhile Naraku reabsorbs Onigumo’s heart, theorizing that if he can’t directly kill Kikyo without it, he can use the overt shittiness of humanity to corrupt the purifying light she puts into Kohaku’s shard to try and purify him. So that gives him the ability to shoot spiderwebs of bad vibes at people to corrupt them mentally since I guess Onigumo’s fine with mindbreaking Kikyo even if he can’t overtly kill her. Kikyo’s absorbed Miroku’s miasma and give her own was never fully healed she’s like 75% poison at this point and basically half dead so she has to ditch Kohaku so he doesn’t get corrupted, luckily Sesshomaru takes over the Kohaku Babysitting duties for the time being. Meanwhile Kagome is once again the only one who can save Kikyo and we have to play the song and dance of ‘does Kagome want Kikyo to literally die for a love triangle?’ again even though we’ve established time and time again the answer is fucking no, though this time we have Naraku actively pumping bad vibes into her to at least give her doubts while she goes to get the only bow that can purify Kikyo. This part’s kinda trippy since we see a bunch of illusions of Kikyo and Inuyasha and they keep going ‘no it’s real this time’ like an episode of Rick and Morty until we show that Kikyo and Inuyasha are still outside the shrine so absolutely none of it was real. Kagome has to AGAIN reject the idea of wanting her romantic rival to literally die though this time coming out on the side of her and Kikyo being equals because she’s sick of feeling like a Johnny come lately trying to vault over the First Girl and has a whole series of character development to relate to Inuyasha with so that’s a nice little moment of her in-universe being sick of the fucking endless tests of her heart, like Kagome’s fundamentally a good girl and yeah constantly getting asked this question has gotta be grating when it’s something she barely ever thought about.

Castlevania: We get Hector’s backstory now so we have all the pieces on the humans Dracula’s recruited while Carmilla’s still stirring the shit trying to get someone to go after the Belmont house and I’m still not entirely sure if she’s the one that will cause infighting that will ruin the bad guys’ plans or if she’s the more dangerous villain ready to take over for the more sympathetic Dracula The Rock style. Meanwhile Trevor’s group do come across the Belmon treasure trove and it is kinda sweet to see him reminisce over his childhood and family legacy despite how much he seemed to disown them in season 1. He gets a cool new weapon and Sypha gets to read books and shit but Alucard’s basically walking through the vampire version of the holocaust museum so he’s more than a little freaked out. Back at Castle Castlevania Godbrand’s a bit concerned that human genocide is kinda like cow genocide in that it makes everything kinda shitty on the food chain and Dracula just wants to be done with humanity. Their interaction cues us that Dracula’s actually kinda pulling a better-explained Raizen from YYH and slowly starving despite still being ridiculously powerful and may be plotting to let vampires die out with humans so everything’s just a quiet empty void (like I think vampires can still survive without humans but it’s a lot less pleasant so idk if a vampire genocide is really in the cards but it’s not something people are clamoring for). Still Carmilla’s just here to play the Starscream and take things over so I guess get ready for Carmillavania in Season 3.  

Jujutsu Kaisen: So turns out Megumi’s technique is like Pokemon and you have to fight the big monsters before you get to capture them and send them out for you and getting help means you don’t get the capture but you do get to try again if you need to and there’s a super secret legendary pokemon that no one’s every caught before and actually killed a Gojo-level guy in the past, though it obviously kills the person summoning it first. So much for Megumi being all ‘I’m not throwing my life away’ a few episodes ago because his first response to being attacked by a C-tier asshole is summoning the Ultra Necrozma nuke. I assume this is the technique that he’s been talking about all those times we’ve gone ‘oh he’s gonna do a big attack’ except probably the time against Todo because that wouldn’t make any sense but given the mass carnage here I’m kinda glad he didn’t pull it out until now because it definitely would’ve murdered a fuckton of people in the process. Sukuna steps in because Megumi doesn’t technically die until hand-hold guy dies so as long as he’s able to keep them alive while fighting Ultra Necrozma here everything’s cool. The rest of the episode is basically just a ridiculous slugfest between Sukuna and Ultra Necrozma because this guy’s like Amazo from Justice League and adapts to any and all attacks so the only way to beat it is to obliterate it on an atomic level with something it’s never seen before. Realizing and implying there is something sneaky about his ‘cut anything forever’ attack, Sukuna uses his Domain which is basically like sticking something in a blender combined with that glitch in OoT that’s just infinite sword swings and for good measure hits it with the fire arrow thing from last time to make sure it can’t regenerate. The end result basically turns Shibuya into Made in Abyss with a giant fuckoff hole in the center. He gets Megumi to safety and kills hand-holding guy FINALLY and then he just hands consciousness off back to Yuji who now remembers EVERYTHING from the past three episodes or so all at once and gets flashes of the hundreds of thousands of deaths his body is responsible for. So… yeah, that’s rough buddy.

Delicious in Dungeon: Just getting this out of the way but this is another of those ‘have you ever played an RPG before?’ anime that is ridiculously video gameified and kind of relies on all the tropes you already know about games for its worldbuilding and like luckily it’s charming enough on its own to not have that wreck the show for me but the over-reliance on making every fantasy setting a video game is REALLY a pet peeve of mine. But yeah, this series is rather silly, Laios’s sister Falin gets eaten by a dragon and there’s a medium-level urgency to get her back before she’s digested. Like the stakes are really confusing because several characters make it very clear how important getting her back is but part of the comedy seems to be how they’re not in a huge hurry and stop for food every five minutes, plus it’s not entirely clear if this is one of those video game fantasy settings that has no consequences for dying since they seem kind of chill about finding corpses and Marcille refers to a life-threatening situation being her ‘first time’ dying despite there being graveyards and shit so this is the kind of shit that really bugs me about video game-style fantasy worlds and I assume it’ll get explained later but it gets under my skin. Still the whole thing basically turns into a Food Wars episode as Laios is very passionate about monsters like in a Garou-level sense of just being hyperfixated but also has no idea how to go through the manual skill needed to actually cook them which is strange given he seemed to be kind of looking for an excuse to do this for years. Still, luckily they find Senshi, a guy whose whole deal is having already done this for years and basically treats it like a Martha Stewart show and it’s pretty funny watching them meet halfway between Food Wars and Toriko. Like there’s not much more to it than that, they make some scorpion soup and some vegetable tart and Marcille gets an obligatory tentacle scene though it’s not protracted and doesn’t have any fanservice shots so I get the feeling it was just something to fuel fanart as opposed to actually showing anything which is an interesting way to take things, let the R34 machine run itself without having to dirty their own hands. It’s fun, the setting is one of my least favorite things about modern anime and the tone is kind of confusing but I’m sure that’ll even out with time, I am enjoying it thus far.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End: The first bit of the episode is a little adventure developing the new group dynamic now that Stark has joined and Fern isn’t really sure what to do with him. Frieren gets to meet some more of the people touched by her adventure and the far-reaching festivals made in honor of their deeds. The real meat of the episode is in the second part though and we get some really good stuff here. The group enters a new town when Frieren senses demons and goes into attack mode, but turns out these demons wear clothes and shit and are all fancy and the like, being ambassadors to try peace talks with the village. Since Frieren just attacked a foreign ambassador they throw her right the fuck in jail and Fern gives her the scoop that one of the Demon King’s generals took over after he died and is now leading the charge but the ambassadors have decided that peace may be an option. Frieren is ridiculously racist against demons but also kinda describes how they kinda deserve it by telling a story of a demon girl that was trusted by a community only to murder more people and only using sympathetic words to save herself from attacks. Or at least that’s how Frieren sees things, the real story is the girl was taken in by the town and still hated for the people she had previously killed so in a truly utilitarian sense she stole a replacement child for the one she’d murdered just to get their racist asses off her backs and the evil Frieren sees in her is an ignorance of emotion, someone that’s not necessarily good or bad and is an alien to human connections acting in ways that appear horrendous to those that have them. Someone just like Fern. That’s kind of the part that gets me, like earlier this same episode we see how foreign basic social skills are to Fern and Frieren herself and granted they’re not murdering people but it’s the same kind of not fully understanding people thing that throws off the ‘measure of a man’ speeches because if you say someone that lacks compassion or social understanding is a monster what happens when a human shares those qualities, someone who’s antisocial or autistic and can’t be bought in by the ‘love makes us human’ answer to the kind of sentient being whose life we should or shouldn’t value, if that’s where we’re going with this I’m really excited. Still for the time being the demons are right dicks and manipulate the guards with all the right words of ‘oh but we’ve suffered too, let’s have peace’ that would absolutely wreck any Naruto-minded Talk no Jutsu protagonist despite demons literally not having families (and this seemingly crucial fact apparently not being widely known). Turns out the ambassadors’ plan is to make peace and then have the town lower its barrier so they can burn it to the ground which… doesn’t make any fucking sense like it’s not like you’re disarming a weapon you’re asking them to take down a purely defensive shield that can’t actually hurt anybody and promising ‘we won’t attack bro’ without giving any sign of good faith on your end, might as well ask them to tear down their walls like that probably protects them from non-demon creatures and judging by last episode is a crucial part of border control, like that’s a dumb plan. It’s frustrating because their emotional manipulation is ridiculously good but their actual plan doesn’t make any sense. Still this complicated situation is about to get a lot simpler because one of the junior ambassadors just fucking barges into the dungeon, kills a guard and is ready to kill Frieren, like these guys are so fucking dumb even if Frieren wasn’t a demi-god how are you going to explain a dead guard outside the cell while the fugitive elf died in the cell like you just blew your whole dumb barrier-lowering plan because you couldn’t think of a diplomatic way to get in to see the prisoner and had to kill her right fucking now.

Vinland Saga: Thorfinn and Snake continue their fight and are surprisingly evenly matched despite Thorfinn just using his fists and not being as small and nimble as he was when he first developed his knife style. Thorfinn isn’t defeated but does lose the battle of the terrain when Snake is able to move over to the cart and get to Gardar. He makes a good point that he can’t justify just letting Gardar go since he really cares about his whole crew and taking anything less than revenge would be an insult. Now obviously this is still wrong but making the ‘an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind’ argument is a little difficult when you’re in Viking times and have like five seconds before this guy stabs him. Snake starts making plans of what to do now that Thorfinn and Arnheid have disobeyed him and Gardar just… pops up out of the cart like a daisy and stopped the sword with his astonishing pecs or some shit because he gets Snake in a sleeper hold and knocks him out. Arnheid talks him down from killing Snake and Gardar’s still gonna die anyway so the rest of the episode is just a big schmaltzy sendoff for Gardar and all the regrets he’s had in his life and it’s a pretty cool sequence for someone whose character development mostly came from other people. Like just saying, Askeladd was basically the main character for a while and all he got was a final speech and Gardar gets a whole dream sequence of finding his obviously dead son. Still now we’re in the weird position of Arnheid being taken by Ketil’s guards and Ketil himself coming home to find his bottom bitch and his favorite slave tried to start a revolt over a guy he’s never heard of while war with the king is looming on the horizon, so… awkward, I guess.