#so they're both working in the medical field for another similarity

[mzminola]

DC Bat comics have a lot of classism issues (among other problems) but thanks to the weird-ass way that wealth scales, any analysis that assumes Tim’s original family is closer to the Waynes than they are to the Browns is going to be full of holes. Or if you assume Stephanie’s family is closer to the Todds than to the Drakes.

Like, the Drakes when Jack still has the company are definitely in a different tax bracket than Crystal Brown the nurse & Arthur Brown the ex gameshow host turned costumed villain, but the Drakes & Browns are still closer to each other than they are to the old money Bruce Wayne whose company bankrolls the Justice League.

Plus the time when DI went under and the Drakes were relying on Dana’s income from working as a physical therapist moved them to probably about the same bracket until Jack picked up a job too.

Acting like Stephanie Brown, who grows up in the suburbs in a house her mom owns outright, can easily put herself up in a hotel room for a week or two when fighting with her mom, only needs a job in college to avoid student loans instead of to supplement them... is close to pre-adoption Jason?

Even pre-his-parents-dying Jason?

No.

Tim & Steph have enough of a gap to have different experiences and sometimes talk past each other, but they’re still both much closer to each other than either of them is to the Waynes or the Todds.

Tim & Steph are both economically well off kids with abusive dads who decide to sneak out and fight crime. Stephanie’s mom is uninvolved in her life because of a prescription pill addiction (though she works past that to become more involved), while Tim’s mom is straight up dead, and the stepmom he gets later is nice but takes a hands-off approach to parenting (and then dies too).

This makes sense with Stephanie’s role in earlier comics being a foil to Tim (though she grows into a more independent character over time). They need enough similarities in circumstance that their different philosophies and crime fighting styles come down to personal choice, and they can argue with each other without mutually devolving into “You just don’t understand!”

TL;DR: economics and social class are fucking weird, Tim & Steph are foils, exaggerating the differences in their backgrounds messes up your analysis.

Bonus: You don’t need to make Steph even more of an underdog to appreciate her character.

[some-pers0n]

Op what’s the ship you’re obsessed with? I’m curious now

These two idiots

Why? Short answer: their personalities reflect each other well and are really fun to watch interact

Long answer? Well... I guess you can read on

Engiemedic is something I still honestly struggle to describe. Funny considering the staggering amount of writing I've done in their name, but I suppose it's only natural to find it hard to define what you love.

I think one of the reasons they click well for me is that they're one in the same in many regards. I wouldn't say that they're "two halves of a whole", as both can exist and do fine without the other, but they flourish when together. They can properly be themselves.

They're two sides of the same coin in terms of presentation. Engie is more reserved and subtle about his nature and tries to keep up a good face. Medic doesn't care. Medic is brash and says exactly what he thinks, while Engie will oftentimes hide his emotions to try and win favour in a scenario. They're also obviously both scientists who study in fields that, while different, are very much similar. Something something...the flesh and the machine are not enemies but rather one in the same.

The enable each other, albeit in small ways at first. Medic influences Engie to get more in touch with his creative (i.e. maniacal mad scientist) side. He encourages him to indulge in every stray thought, whether it may be good or bad. Meanwhile, Engie gets Medic to lean more in-touch with his human side.

I don't think Medic has ever really been with another person, romantically or otherwise. Maybe that's just headcanons conflating with my thoughts (I like writing him as being a romance/sex-repulsed aroace)(cause projection ftw), but I never saw him as the type to get with anyone before Engie. Why would he? None of them understand him. Because he often comes off as rude, cold, and is generally pretty reclusive most people kept their distance. Good! He never cared for them either.

In Engie's case, I think he dated, but they never lasted long. Engie can't really keep up the facade of normalcy for too long. He's had boyfriends and girlfriends before, and while they were sweet, he never clicked with them. There was something fundamentally different about him that made them incompatible, despite being a pretty good boyfriend all things given. He never found a person who got him. Understood him, god complex and all.

It's why I think Medic and Engie work so well. I think them being together, doing experiments and whatnot, is what they love most. It's something they've craved. To be understood. To be seen, heard, and accepted. To be loved for who they are down to their very core.

I also just think they're fun lol. It's fun to watch these two pair up and do experiments. I love seeing them work on weird and wild projects, gossiping and chatting the entire time. I've mentioned before that I think they'd do parallel play sometimes, where they just work on separate projects.

I dunno. They click for me a lot more than, say, Heavymedic or Helmet Party. I think it's mainly due to how well they work with each other. They compliment one another perfectly. They're one in the same in many cases. They see each other as gods. Together, they create miracles. They defy the will of nature and physics. This spark, this feeling of innovation and creation, it is there when they work. When they share ideas. When they hole up in Medic's lab or Engie's shop for days, sustaining themselves on snacks, coffee, and beer, all to create some affront to mankind.

They make me think love is real. I don't know how else to describe it. I think of them and I think that, whatever they have, it is potent and strong. It's why I like the QPR angle a lot as well. It's something different. Something hard to define and unfathomable to a lot of people. Most look at them and see them as one thing or the other, but they themselves know the truth: they're partners, and by god do they love each other.

I dunno. I think every interpretation of them is valid and good, whether they be friends, romantic partners, or in a QPR. I just find myself gravitating towards the QPR one 'cause I think it's fun and, as previously mentioned, projection.

I just think they're great and perfectly flexible. You can make fluff, angst, humour, hurt/comfort, whump, etc and etc out of them so incredibly easily. I just also think they're cute and sweet and them holding hands makes me think that everything is going to be alright with the world.

There's a lot of nuances I could go on and on about, but honestly I think it's better to just glance over my silly goofy fics of them to get a better understanding of my perception of them. Speaking of which, man I need to get back to that...

[wirewitchviolet]

When Complete BS Becomes "Common Knowledge."

Someone told me they stopped paying attention to someone who reviews movies after one too many mean-spirited jokes about trans people, and it was one of those cases where the reviewer in question definitely had the vibe of someone who'd go around doing that, but I couldn't think of any real flagrant examples. Cut to me watching a movie the other day, remembering that oh yeah, I skipped that one guy's review of it because I wanted to go in blind, and sure enough, that review has this big long crappy 5 minute aside of an out of left field "DID YOU JUST ASSUME MY GENDER!?" routine. So that's a shame.

Now this particular guy rather famously Does Not Get Out Much. Pretty sure he hasn't really have any exposure to a single trans person, or to any real die hard transphobes, and most likely what happened here is he saw I dunno, an episode of South Park or a facebook post from some bigoted aunt, or some Tiktok video, something like that, and just blithely assimilated it into his world view.

But you know, the reality is... to the best of my knowledge no trans person has ever actually said this, or anything similar to this, and we sure as hell don't live in a world where anyone would have the back of someone who did? But you know, here we are.

Now I want to be clear, this isn't some kinda thing where trans people can't take a joke or anything. Literally while I was typing this, some cis guy just tossed this out, and this is a real tired old hokey one, but I cracked a smile, because oh yeah, the whole "programmer socks" bit really is a weirdly accurate stereotype.

And there's plenty of other trans jokes I'll laugh at. Ones directly at my expense. Some real dark ones even. You wanna go off on trans women all having the same like 10 names and them all sounding like we were born in the 1800s, go for it. Other stuff about how we all dress? Coping mechanisms? Low standards? Being too into pickles and sriracha? There's plenty.

But "DID YOU JUST ASSUME MY GENDER!?" and while we're at it, "I identify as..." don't even have the vague shape of something you're ever going to encounter in reality. Like if I didn't know the context of where these came from and hadn't had them posted a thousand times or so by people with swastikas for avatars and such, these probably would get a laugh from me the first time I heard them, because they sound like weird surrealist humor. Like, "don't you hate how every time you go to the laundromat, you have to play chess with the dragon before they let you in?"

But, again, I know the context. And the context is a bunch of fascists want people like me dead, and they're both too scared to pick up a gun to do it themselves and too incompetent to know who to point it at or where to find them. So they sit around with each other and go "hey, what sort of person does everyone hate? Let's all say trans people talk like them!" And because they haven't spoken to a single human being besides each other and the rich parents they're sponging off since getting banned from the Something Awful forums in the 90s/punk bar in the 80s/whatever, they settled on "rich white person calling the cops on somebody for walking down the street" and "didn't I first get into being a hatemonger because I was stupid enough to think that time I saw someone roleplaying he really thought he was a big scary dragon?" Which has honestly worked out weirdly well for them when you stop for half a second to appreciate just how absolutely ridiculous it is to ever imagine cops coming to the aid of trans people.

Like... here's a situation that actually plays out in reality. I have a bad tooth. Dentist says I need a root canal, and she doesn't do them. Refers me to another dentist like an hour and a half away. I walk in, write my Victorian sounding name on some paperwork, fill in all my various medications, wait a bit, hop into the big dentist's chair, so far so good. This dentist busts out the pick and the mirror about to have a look, and goes "hey, so I noticed on your medications you're taking a ton of something called divigel? What is that?" I say "oh, yeah, I'm trans, so I'm on supplemental estradiol." She almost drops the mirror, stares at me like she just realized I'm Venom and if she bent down to look at my teeth I was about to swallow her whole head. She stands bolt upright, says, "your teeth are fine, get out." I'm a bit confused, but I can read a room, so I say "well that's weird, but OK..." and start to leave. I get a "have a nice day SIR!" shouted at me. And then I go out, call the cab company to say my appointment ended early, and get told too bad, it's coming when it's scheduled, and someone snickers. See, at some point in having to take cabs to all my appointments, a driver worked out that this woman he'd been picking up from this address for the past year has a similar voice to and maybe vague family resemblance to who he'd been picking up from that same address the year prior, and after getting the courage to ask me, guess who's constantly having cabs show up late, or not at all, or on time with a driver staring angrily into the rear view mirror while blaring AM radio with someone shouting about all "the gays" needing to be rounded up so they can burn in hell. And I just need to suck it up and live with it. I'm sure as hell not going to pick a fight over it. I'm just gonna stand out in the cold (fortunately with nice warm knee-high socks) waiting for this cab for an hour because I sure as hell can't stay in this lobby.

But again, the whole weird myth here posits a world where trans people are all-powerful and control the government and stuff. And the basis for that is like... sometimes people refuse to pass ridiculous laws to stop trans people from doing things we only do in bigots' imaginations at great taxpayer expense, and SOMETIMES someone is responsible enough to double check what's up before they allocate the funds. Like... hell, you know what's exactly as completely divorced from reality and honestly the same people doing to same crap? That wild BS about "schools keeping litter boxes in classrooms because all this acceptance of trans people means we also have to accept kids who think they're cats!" Like... how the hell can anyone actually be stupid enough to believe that anyone else could be stupid enough to believe that they're actually stupid enough to believe such an OBVIOUSLY made-up narrative? Like... lawmakers bring that one up and try to get bills passed on it. Everyone else in the room is socially obligated not to laugh and ask whether they also want to pass legislation against Bat Boy and UFO abductions. This is Ralph Wiggum tier absurdity.

But like... what do you do about this sort of thing, really? As the person ultimately has to deal with the dentists who think I'll bite their heads off, ask to speak to their manager, and drop trou over a sandbox the state mandates they keep in the middle of the room, I'm... not in the room when this BS gets concocted, or discussed, or shared in Minions meme some film critic sees and imitates to try and be relatable and relevant. Can someone else start grabbing all these people by the lapels and shake them and shout questions about how they can be this stupid, maybe invite them back to reality for me?

[thebreakfastgenie]

Alright Frank Burns manifesto. I think by the end of his run Frank is written as cartoonishly incompetent, but that's something that was exaggerated over the years to the detriment of the character and the show. The fact is, most of Frank's patients survive, and he doesn't seem to lose any more than anybody else. This is partly because sometimes another doctor like Trapper or BJ takes over, but that's obviously not happening most of them time. Henry describes him as "good" and "fair," and once says "he's a good doctor and we need him" to Hawkeye, who does not dispute it. I think early on, Frank's incompetence was exaggerated both in-universe and by the structure of the show, similar to Radar's apparent psychic abilities.

I think the reality of Frank is that he's competent at the routine work he does back home. His technique is probably not as sophisticated, something that would be very apparent to a highly skilled surgeon like Hawkeye, but not apparent to someone who did not work in the field. It's not possible for every surgeon to be the top surgeon and from a patient's perspective, for the routine work, Frank is probably fine. What he's not good at is thinking on his feet. Henry says Hawkeye is a better doctor "when the heat's on." Frank panics under pressure and is ill-suited to work in a MASH; Hawkeye, by contrast, is great in a crisis, which makes him very good at working in a MASH and is why he's chief surgeon.

What Frank is really bad at is the rest of the job, and notably that's what the bulk of Hawkeye's dressing down in Sticky Wicket is about. Frank doesn't take correction or criticism well, he doesn't acknowledge when he makes mistakes or take responsibility, he's not a team player, he has a bad attitude and a terrible bedside manner, he's self-serving and self-centered, he treats his colleagues badly. These are all important to the job; many people in the field would argue they're just as important as medical skills. So in that sense, Frank is a bad doctor. But I think somewhere along the line the show lost the nuance and as a result fans did too.

[snowaftermidnight]

Marble Moon AU Explained

note: while this is heavily inspired by the movies Europa Report and The Thing, it doesn't follow their events exactly! in other words, having watched either movie will not spoil this AU for you :3 (also if you haven't, please watch both of those movies theyre so good)

I haven't figured out everything for this AU yet so some stuff might get changed later (which is why i'm not posting 100% of what i have written lol) but this is the synopsis:

A manned mission is sent to Jupiter's moon Europa for the first time. The crew of astronauts consists of the full cast of Marble Hornets. In this AU, they're all research scientists, most of them in graduate school or post grad (yes ik a deep space mission irl wouldnt be grad students but. shh gbhfdjbf)

The objective of the mission is to confirm biological readings taken by a rover stationed on the moon. A base of operations was constructed in advance of their arrival by some little robot dudes, and another is currently in construction under the ice, scheduled to be finished a few months into the crew's arrival.

Now before I continue, if you're not familiar with Jupiter's moons, here's some infodumping background info :D

Jupiter has like. over 90 moons discovered atp? but the 4 largest are named the Galilean moons, since they were discovered by Galileo. Europa is one of these moons, and it is theorized to have a global liquid ocean under a thick layer of ice (i say "theorized" but it's pretty much agreed upon by astronomers lol).

for reference, Earth's ocean is about 11 km deep at its deepest point. Europa is 1/4 the size of Earth, with 1/9th of its gravity. its ice shell is 15-25 km thick, and the ocean under it is anywhere from 60-150 km deep!! aka at the very least almost 6 times deeper than Challenger's Deep!! it also likely has hydrothermal vents (think underwater geysers) and produces its own CO2. because its ocean is so deep, the mission is mostly focusing on the ice shell and the top layer of the open ocean, around 4 km.

so!! here's what each character is on the mission for :D

alex: marine xenobiology, invertebrate xenobiology; he proposed the mission, and is using it as his thesis. he's trying to document the first alien life, and is hoping for it to be equivalent to around the cambrian period on Earth.

amy: paleontology, invertebrate paleontology; she and alex are engaged in this AU, and she was the first crew member to join besides Alex. her thesis is trying to find evidence of preserved remains/fossil life in the ice (and on the seafloor if theyre able to reach it eventually)

jay: geophysics, glacial ice and tectonics; he was friends with alex through undergrad and grad school, and joined the mission because alex asked so he could study the tectonics of the ice shell (it behaves kind of similar to how the Earth's crust floats on the mantle!)

brian: medical grad student, specifically studying the effects of low gravity on astronauts; he and alex have been friends since high school. he was asked personally by alex to join the mission, and alex then suggested inviting tim as well mostly to convince brian

seth: botany, aquatic botany and low-light environments; also a general handyman around the base.

sarah: seismology, marine volcanology; she and jay are also collaborating on tectonics research

tim: astrophysics, radio astronomy and deep-space objects; last minute addition. he was friends with brian in undergrad and grad school, and brian convinced him to join the research mission. also helps seth with base repairs sometimes since he worked construction in undergrad and does the observatory repairs/maintenance himself

jessica: astrophysics, meteorology of Galilean moons and Jupiter's magnetic field; she and tim worked for the same professor as research students in grad school so they're pretty good friends

After landing, the first few months of the mission are fairly normal, but the crew is made aware of an incoming magnetic storm from Jupiter. The storm will be strong enough to block radio signals to Europa and within the moon itself for an unknown amount of time. They're told to carry out the mission as best as possible, and a rescue team will be dispatched "as soon as the storm ends" (aka they're left for dead). The team have nothing to really do besides keep working, so they try to keep going. Around this time, the under-ice base is completed, so Alex and Amy move down to it, followed eventually by Brian, Sarah, and Seth. Jay, Tim, and Jessica are left in the original base on the surface, as their research can't be done under the ice.

The storm prevents communication through the ice, and eventually, Jay gets worried about Alex and the others since he hasn't heard from them in a very long time. Alex, being Alex, recorded himself on a tape recorder rather than taking written notes of his findings, so Jay starts to retrace his steps and get more information rather than immediately go to the underwater base and risk walking into a dangerous situation. He'll still have to go down there eventually, and who knows what he'll find? lol

[coffee-writesthings]

I may or may not have been feeling inspired-- might try to expand it into a proper fic later but this is more of a refined-ish idea dump. A fic of a fic (Taking Running Blind by @thetriggeredhappy and having a similar plot with different main characters. Congrats, your peer pressure worked! :))

Summary: Spy is blinded, and after an earnest attempt to hide it, Engineer and Sniper notice (not crossteam btw, tho that would be another cool angle). They try to help him as best they can. (It's those 3 being shipped together, since I have trio relationships on my mind lately cus i read this rly good book with one in it it's called Iron Widow you should go read it rn)

At the moment it's more like an organized-ish infodump that I might turn into a proper fic at some point

Okay so Spy going blind, I think he would still be able to see light but nothing else. It'd happen because of some sort of injury that Respawn couldn't cover for some reason and that leads to Medic and Engineer getting anxious as all hell about Respawn. Medic would make Engineer take breaks, and it's during these breaks that he is trying to help Spy deal with day-to-day stuff.

I think the first to notice would've been Sniper, honestly. Looking through a scope it's not hard to assume that his sorta-friend is struggling with backstabs for a reason he can't place. What's going on with the Spook?

It gets even more obvious when Spy's knife lands, not into someone's spine, but their shoulder. it still does damage, but it's not a backstab. he's killed immediately by Pyro who was nearby and he's still blind. He thought maybe respawn would fix it but no nothing was fixed. Fuck.

Since he can only perceive light, he has to hide out for the rest of the match, using his Cloak and Dagger to remain alive and make an excuse as to why he wasn't seen on the field. I think he would hide out with Sniper, trying his damndest to not give the game away.

It's in this next half-hour that he starts getting used to how loud everything else is, without the visual clutter to distract him. For some reason he hears the other team's Heavy nearby, and it tips him off that that's actually the other Spy, using a new tactic.

The knife sinks into Sniper's back easily, but he never expected the second spy (our pov spy) to pin him down and start stabbing wildly, finishing him off with a carefully aimed gunshot before returning to the shadows.

Once the match is over, he makes his way back to the base, using the light and large colored arrows he can process as a guide. All of this is under the guise of his cloak, so nobody notices.

Or, at least that was the plan. He manages to fall into the Engineer, knocking both of them over.

"Spy what the hell are you trying to pull?"

"That's not your business." is the lousy attempt at a coverup he gives. If he knew the only way he could tell who he was talking to was by the sound of his voice... that would be bad for him.

"Then get off me, will ya?"

He does so without making eye contact, he couldn't imagine what his eyes looked like at the moment but it couldn't be good (they probs look normal, if the research i've done is correct)

There isn't another battle for two weeks, so during that time he rests up and figures out some very basic echolocation so he can make his way around the base. it's better, in his mind, to look competent than it is to be hidden. So long as nobody can tell he has a problem, that's fine by him.

~~~

Engineer and Sniper get to talking, and find they both think something's up.

"You think his sight's gotten worse?"

"I can only tell ya what I saw mate, and I saw him swinging blindly. You've seen how his stabs usually are, they're point-perfect on that specific spot on everybody's spines! Just doesn't make any sense."

"He did trip over me... Kinda thought it was some short joke but, now that'cha bring it up, it's kinda suspicious."

"He'd never want us to notice."

Engie snorts, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he'd rather die than admit he needs help."

"What do we do then?"

"We help him, whether he admits he needs it or not."

~~~

The first way they try to help him is subtle, reaaaaal subtle. Sniper asks to take him on a walk, holds his hand and tries to talk to him about that day's battle-- he's a bit blunt but he's got the spirit. Spy complains some, but doesn't really say anything substantial. He's actually surprisingly good at not getting off-track (i've been doing things with my eyes closed as an experiment and your steps can legit get wobbly), using sniper's voice as an anchor of sorts

~~~

Engineer takes the next attempt at getting him to open up, just sort of chilling together though. It's a normal thing they do every couple of weeks to de-stress after battles. Today he thought that it would be nice to watch a tv show together, and it's some history thing idk. He describes some of the images to him, which makes Spy feel a mix of thankful and scared about-- Did he notice something? And he confronts Engie on it, asking what's going on?

"It's been both you and Sniper, what do you think happened?"

"There's no think to it. He pointed it out to me-- you botched a buncha backstabs and it looked like somethin' happened.

"This stays between the two of you and me..." he proceeds to explain what he knows about what happened. He does admit that he is, in fact, blind. He explains that he can perceive changes in light but nothing else. "It's... something like closing your eyes, permanently."

Engie is conflicted, having very little of an idea how to care for someone having vision in a state like that. He's especially not sure what to do in terms of telling Medic for instance (since respawn didn't fix it like expected)

~~~

Still though, he tells Sniper about it after staying up all night doing research on like a million specifics about vision loss (causes, treatment, what to do if it can't be fixed, etc etc)

"Huh, so what can we do right now?"

"He's gonna be real concerned about visibility, so honestly our best bet might be teaching him echolocation."

"You're kidding me!" he lets out a wheeze of a laugh, "Spy, echolocating? Yeah right. By the way when was the last time you slept?"

Engineer responds, "uh, yesterday."

Sniper proceeds to herd him into bed like a border collie, doing everything up to and including a brief attempt to pick him up over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. Engineer blushes, maybe makes some joke about being a princess

~~~

So anyway they teach Spy how to echolocate (Sniper does, specifically, since he just forced Engineer to get some sleep).

Spy: 'this is a joke, right?"

Sniper: "do you want to do this without help or not? I don't see you being willing to get a white cane" (note: it's super good actually for figuring out ur surroundings and materials, i didn't think it would be as good as it looks but the way it works sounds really damn useful)

Over the next hour or so they do echolocation together, starting with simpler sets of noises (snapping, clicking of tongue, things like that) and then just walking and talking around the base. After a little bit, Spy is able to get a general idea (hehe i misstyped that at first to be gender. Spy is certainly able to get a gender alright) a general idea of the layout of the base. He can't really figure out the rooms without touch and counting the individual doors, and stairs are his worst enemy, but he can do the base mostly.

~~~

The next day is a CTF battle (completely spontaneous for some unknown reason) and Spy hangs out with the intel with Engineer (yknow what fuck it i'm being fancy this isn't 2fort it's Landfall, the foresty one), hoping that the administrator will just think he's having a bad day. They chat while Engie builds and tinkers, about all manner of things. Probably more about what Engie found and remembered in his research.

~~~

Anyway I've been sitting on this a few days, felt like sharing a collection of vibes which may someday be expanded. Btw writing this actually inspired me to take a different direction in an original work lol, I might try to share some of that in the future when I have proper snippets to share

[zoroara]

Here's a question I'll probably have to sleep with one eye opened for. Rip my poor soul, I know the Varia are gonna hate me for this one 🤣 But I thought it was fun, so *shrugs*

If the Varia members could have any other occupation that isn't mafia based,what would it be? (This question includes everyone *waves at the ocs you have*)

Oh boy is that ever a question, well that's pretty easy for the OCs at least So I'll start with them. For the non-ocs take em with a grain of salt because there's no perfect fit past what they're already in there is going to be HELL with them either way.

Vittorio is the absolute easiest, assuming a weapons manufacturer is off the table because while that can exist outside of the mafia, that is very similar to what they are already. But any sort of mechanical work would be a job they'd love.

Silenziatore is a bit not quite what you'd expect. See Silen absolutely loves animals, even tries to play with the box animals when their owners aren't around. He's decently good with people and if it paid decently well he'd be pretty okay with working at a pet shop or even a pet groomers. You're not supposed to try and cuddle the animals at the zoo even as a zoo keeper so it's probably best he doesn't work there however.

Nascosta Okay that's a doozy, there's actually a lot of jobs they could work if they weren't so ready to beat the shit out of people for slights. But they absolutely love attention, both for their strength and looks as well as showing the fuck off, are a fantastic actor and fighter, so the logical conclusion? They'd make an amazing wrestling heel. Not the immediately thought until you remember they need to be as physically strong as the people they mimic and they sure are able to mimic the other varia executives. They are hiding muscles with their mist flames.

Tyr is really funny, especially since I actually ended up with an au recently with it, because it's out of left field. See no job except the one he currently has would every work out for him so he'd be deeply unsatisfied in everything. So he'd actively seek out a job he absolutely hated but was good enough at to keep, because he's the type of person if he can't be happy he may as well be downright miserable. So he'd end up in a library, working in a quiet little place, shelving books dealing with people, so on. It's a jarring sight for sure, but he at least does a good job

Now onto the Canons, again the easiest to place first:

Honestly I think the Levi could thrive in any work environment, he is constantly early, always on top of things, his only issue is he's sometimes a little clumsy and can occasionally get lost without some sort of guiding system, like in the drama cds. Of course I don't think he'd like an office job and probably needs something more physical as with most of Varia honestly. He's probably do a good job in a more government position having to deliver documents and things.

Mammon literally anything that handles money and gets paid a lot, fuck they could probably just be an accountant, or maybe run a fucking insurance firm you KNOW they would get so much out of that. Life insurance? you know it. Good god would they bleed you out. I think that's too much power to give.

Lussuria's pretty straightforward too, I mean in his little interview section he was apparently the youngest body building champion, he could easily go back to those sorts of championships if he wanted, or maybe some sort of modeling career. He has some good options for sure. there's also another potential depending on how much medical knowledge you believe Lussuria to have, he could potentially be a pathologist.

Squalo, ohhh Squalo, see I have, funny answers for these ones and more serious ones. Though with his tolerance which while yes he's constantly being pissed off he's also just. constantly being prodded by his co-workers he probably could make it in anything literally less stressful than the current job he has. But regardless, with his sword skills, either competition wise(he really could be an Olympic level fencer if his dumb ass would like be satisfied with not killing his opponent), or teaching wise are potentials. I did have a really funny au where Squalo lost his memories and ended up working at an aquarium, mostly taking care of the sharks.

Now Xanxus and Bel, oh god these two. Buddy, buddy I don't think they can HAVE jobs outside of the Varia. Do they have some form of skills that can be used in other jobs? absolutely. Can they tolerate/take orders from other people? absolutely the fuck NOT. The best you can do with Xanxus is stick him in SOME sort of leadership role where he won't be bothered and pray to god he doesn't come and kill you anyway. Bel? Dear lird. I don't even think you can do THAT.

He needs to have some level of respect for the people above him and unless you're a violent fuck like Xanxus is that sure isn't happening. He may be a prince but I don't even think he's anywhere fit to be in the position of a leader.(I know Rasiel would agree with me there). Those two are best fit right where they are and honestly it's doing the world a favour by keeping them there.

Edit: Upon further consideration if we consider freelance an option, Bel could likely work as an Ice sculptor with his skills and thanks to being able to be choosy once he gets as a popular option he'd be able to do what commissions he thinks are cool.

[sml8180]

Before They Were...

Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

What do you like best about this fic?

What did you learn from writing this fic?

(I absolutely love the worldbuilding you've done for Reginald's past! You can easily see where the prequel leads up to who they are now. And your Phoenix? I can't wait to see what else you've got planned! /gen)

Before They Were...

I'm so glad you like what I've done with both of these characters!

Reginald's past has been a lot of fun to flesh out. We're given little bits and pieces in the games, but I love that it's mostly left to interpretation.

As for Phoenix, I'm excited to show what I've got in mind! Once I untangle a few things and get myself out of the corner I accidentally wrote myself into with Ash and Shadow-

I'm glad I was able to keep the two consistent enough that the events of their pasts easily connect to the people they are now!

Answers are under the cut, because this got long.

Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

A couple, actually! Sort of.

For Reginald:

I have a draft called Field Sign, which would've covered some of Reginald's past with the Agency (this is where I first played with the idea of the Agency having their own sort of internal sign language, an idea which has since stuck around in my other works). I initially introduced the language in a short flash-back at the start, to when Reginald was going through a final test of sorts before being activated as a Field Agent.

I didn't go too far into Reginald's past in this one, just snippets that revolved around his use of Field Sign. The story went on to show him a bit older, after his incident (which I didn't go into in this version), after being reevaluated for Field Work, and finding out he was no longer considered fit for the position. This was when he was given the option to become a Handler (it was suggested to him, rather than him mostly coming to the conclusion on his own).

After all that, he encounters Phoenix for the first time, when they're a Cadet and he's simply observing. Then he's assigned as their Handler, and finally meets them in person, after they're brought in from Death Engine. Phoenix is using Field Sign as their primary method of communication, and not all of the Medical folks understand them. Reginald needs them to slow down at first, then shows that he knows Field Sign (rusty as he may be at this point), and he stays with Phoenix to translate for the Medical folks.

There's another version of sorts, Changes, that goes more into a different version of Reginald's incident. It actually starts immediately after the explosion (in this version, he's still conscious for a bit after, until he's rescued).

In this one, I go more into how he got his prosthetic arm (he only lost his arm in this version, while he dealt with nerve damage in his leg), and that Roxana (then a fairly new addition to the Agency) had designed it. That was pretty much where that version stopped, though (I couldn't figure out how I wanted things to play out from there).

I don't really have any alternate versions of Phoenix's chapter! I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do with them from the start, so there isn't anything else drafted for their past! Just pieces in my notebook that haven't come to light just yet.

What do you like best about this fic?

There's honestly a lot I like about this one! If I had to pick just one thing, though, I think it'd be Damien.

I wanted Reginald to have a (somewhat) similar relationship with his Handler to what he has with Phoenix. Damien was a father-figure of sorts to Reginald, as Reginald is to Phoenix.

Having Damien pop up not just in Reginald's chapter, but in Phoenix's was a decision made on the fly. I wanted older, more experienced Agents to be the ones interviewing new potential Agents, and in doing a bit of math, figured Damien would fit nicely, and I'm so glad I did that.

What did you learn from writing this fic?

I learned quite a few things!

For Reginald's chapter:

I learned about different methods of information/audio recording! Magnetic Wire Recording specifically is what's referenced in the first section. (Fun fact, the first commercially available magnetic recorder was made in Springfield, MA, only about an hour and a half from my hometown).

I also learned about the history of distance communication (things like walkie-talkies), to come up with the headset that Reginald used in the Field. I didn't want to just have him with the earpiece we get in the game, technology wouldn't have been quite there yet back in the 1940s (given, the game takes some liberties with technology, so I did as well, I still wanted things to feel reasonably grounded). So, a bulkier bit of tech, which requires a connected source of power, was what I came up with, and the set Reginald used was born!

For Phoenix's chapter:

Even though a lot of the specifics didn't make it in, I did learn about the history of Spy Fiction, mostly so I could ensure that it would make sense for Phoenix to have been exposed to it for a decent amount of time, enough for them to be somewhat influenced by those stories.

Another thing I learned (though didn't make it into the story), was that the free fall at the end of Rising Phoenix (assuming one story at Zoraxis Defense is 14 ft) would take roughly 5.28 seconds.

[utrechtgeneticsonline1]

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[kaidatheghostdragon]

Would Danny's heart rate immediately drop, or would it take a few minutes? Either way, the bats are already assuming he's a meta, so they would be watching closely until his vitals stabilized, and once they're stable, assume that's closer to his normal than whatever the belt was doing.

The Fenton's might be the experts of their field, but the moment the bats understood that they were harming their own son, all of that expertise is getting thrown out the window. Finding that they've declared ghosts to be nonsentient? More fuel to the fire to burn down their life's work.

Danny was in *pain,* and the first few minutes after the belt was taken off? Incoherent babbling about how his parents were going to tear him apart if their *treatment* didnt *fix* him, and how their going to target the bats for 'being manipulated into helping a ghost', and wouldnt rest until they hunted Danny back down, on and on. Clearly, his parents are both delusional and extremely dangerous.

If Jazz was institutionalized, they're gonna find that so fast once they get Danny out and start a proper investigation. Danny is gonna for sure mention her if they don't. He might be paranoid, but the bats literally just saved him and then deferred to him as the defacto expert of his own health (the only reasonable option for closet-metas until a thorough doctor's exam can be done, which Danny is understandably terrified of - they arent gonna force it, unless he crashes, for a few weeks while they're still gaining trust). He's getting his sister out come hell or high water.

Institutionalizing their daughter is definitely gonna add to the Fentons' criminal charges, and the Waynes (cause lets be real here they are totally adopting both kids at this point) will be behind her to legally and financially support her dreams. Regardless of being vindicated, I'd imagine having that record is gonna really make going to school and entering the medical field extremely difficult, but it segues very nicely into Jazz being a staunch supporter of mental health reform. She's been on the other side and now has experience to know exactly what needs to be changed.

That members of the bat fam are affected by varying amounts by the deflector is definitely gonna be a puzzle. The fact that Danny immediately has an explanation is gonna really cinch that he's more of an expert than his parents. Maybe they go back to the Fentons to hear their explanation, but the Fentons are gonna be saying things to the effect of 'you need to be decontaminated, clearly one of your members has been replaced by a malicious ghost and they are controlling you.'

Jason is clearly the most affected, and they *know* he died and came back. Even at his worst, his most manipulative behaviors were an attempt at forcing a sadistic choice on Bruce and beating the snot out of Tim. No weird mind whammy stuff that the Fentons are implying.

And Danny, at this point, has latched onto Jason for being the most similar to him. The Waynes have another liminal/potential halfa in their family! It might be messed up, but for his own safety, he may have implied that if they turned on him, they could turn on Jason, and attached himself to Jason so that if Danny goes down, Jason goes with him. It's not a healthy response, but he's just trying to survive, and the Waynes all recognize that.

Also, Jason is weirdly calmer around Danny. Mind-whammy concerns would pop up again, but Jason is gonna beat that concern down with a tire iron. The pit rage is the mind whammy, removing it is a *cure,* not a concern, and Danny has been very open about any information that might affect Jason, even as he closes off about himself, to the point that a lot of what they have learned about Danny is because he gave up the information for Jason's sake despite clearly being uncomfortable about sharing. Danny doesn't have all the answers, but what he has explained has answered many of the questions that the bats have been asking about Jason for *years.*

DC X DP PROMPT #20

Danny has been captured by parents who thought that they could 'fix' him. They thought he was possessed.

Their fix? Capping all emotions. It wasn't a lobotomy per se, but it was quite close to it. The Fenton's know this isn't a long-term fix, they are looking for something more permanent. Which is what led them to a Wayne Charity Gala in the first place. The Drs. Fenton are seeking funds to make a mirical cure for their obviously sick son. No, they can't tell you more about it (not here at least). If you want to find out more you can donate and come to their next seminar.

Danny is sickly and devoid of all emotions, this sets off some red flags for the bats, regardless of what the boys parents are saying.

[purple-compromise]

I came across Tiwwan fairly recently as I'm new to TF2 (just got a computer that can handle anything beyond art programs without sounding like it's about to take off on the nearest runway) personally, I'm on my 6th reread of this fic (series?) and I love it a ton. I know you're focusing on other projects but it's just so good and I will happily wait for the next update. Even if it's well into next year.

I've got a few questions. It can be answered with headcannons about TF2 in general or related to Tiwwan, totally up to you. I couldn't get them all in the normal submission without feeling bad about imploding your inbox from word count as it was so I'll do my best to separate text from here.

Do Blu and Red teams ever run into each other on their days off and in town (before red specialist knocked the three guys into next week at the bar in town) or do both teams get assigned a day to go into town to get supplies, so like RED can only go into town in the evening and Blu can only go in the mornings? If they do run into each other, do they get into full brawls (or do only certain members get into brawls with a 1 v 2 with Red specialist with Blu medic and Blu spy) or is it more similar to the relationship that red demo and Blu soldier had in the comics (doesn't matter if it's the entire Blu and Red team or if it's a select few, like Red and Blu engi, pyro and demo for example just chillin off the field at a bar or star gazing)? Or are both teams assigned to different towns of where they can get supplies from in order to avoid contact with the opposing team entirely?

How much does Blu team deviate in interests from their Red counterparts? Are they close to the same as  their counterparts or do they stray in different ways? For example, does Blu specialist like reading novels but prefer a different genre than Red specialist or does Blu specialist enjoy reading but prefer another form of arts such as drawing/painting but uses art books as references? Or with engi, where both play guitar, but maybe Red favors guitar while Blu favors banjo more? Or red scout loves westerns while Blu scout might prefer watching American football matches with soldier instead when the channel comes in?

If Red specialist takes vacation time to visit her mother and it happens to fall during work days (not sure what it says in her contract for time off if she has any or if miss pauling allows her a short leave of absence to visit her mother) do both teams get time off from fighting each other due to unbalanced teams or does Blu specialist get the base to her self while everyone else is on the field/getting intelligence/pushing (stopping) payload? does she get reprimanded if she tries to help give her team an unfair advantage from being out of range/off the field?

How frequently do both teams get stationed at different areas/maps? I know Tiwwan takes places primarily in Teufort but I wasn't sure if both teams would get shipped out to different locations (or even experience different game modes like Mann v Machine, though  it would be interesting to see Merasmus appear and having both specialists reacting to the wizard that is Merasmus).

 (bonus, does Blu specialist have any teammates that she gets along with? Any that she despises with her entire being and would personally send through respawn herself if they're an annoyance?)

I know that this is super lengthy but I do love your work! Take care of yourself!!

[Submitted by: @taytay4674788]

Gosh. I'm sorry I sat on this so long but I've read it more than once and just haven't had the time and energy to properly reply. But wow!! Just wow, thank you so, so very much!!! Your sixth read??? I'm floored and delighted! 🥺

Interesting first question! I've actually thought about and maybe discussed (though not here) what might happen if both teams were to supply at the same time. I don't know if they've been given specific days they're allowed to go, though that would absolutely make the most sense! But, if they did happen to be in town at the same time, there's no guarantee they'd recognize each other if they weren't in uniform. Plus, if they did, I think only certain members of the team would be prone to brawling... most of the team-members like Engineer, Sniper, Spy, Heavy, and Specialist (possibly even Demo) would, for the most part, view it as "I'm only paid to beat you up M-F, 7-3. I pretend I do not see you." But! It would also 100% be possible to get in a conversation with somebody you do or don't recognize from work and accidentally strike up a friendship with your double over literature or what a limited selection of food this town has. The idea of both Specialists getting to know each other outside work has come up on the blog before, I believe, under the tag "Berry Smoothie."

Another interesting question regarding the teams' similarities! According to my own interpretation of what's going on (that I don't think I've made explicitly canon at this time), both teams are made up of completely different individuals but ones with such similar, hand-picked skillsets that they do, at first glance, seem the same. But! They do have their own interests and appearances. For most of the mercs, I based their small differences in personality largely off what it presented in the "End of the Line" SFM short. For BLU Specialist, she does have some interest in literature but actually dropped out of college while studying theatre to support her sister's education, a bit like RED Specialist joining the Navy post-college to help pay her mother's medical bills.

Ooo, this is a great question and I've never thought about it! I imagine if Spesh (or any member of the team) needed emergency leave, if it's only a couple days, everyone might get time off, but if it's longer the counterpart would likely have some forced time off or time spent doing some other kind of busy work. Who knows! Maybe they'd be sent away to fulfill some other contract for a bit.

While most of TiWWaN takes place at Teufort, the team will, at some point, rotate to other locations--probably more and more frequently until we reach the fic's conclusion. This also means we'll see Marasmus around Halloween (I think Scout did allude to it at one point) and Mann vs. Machine is definitely in the future when Grey Mann finally appears.

Bonus: BLU Specialist will eventually be in a romantic relationship with the BLU Spy and they probably have at least a casual relationship already at this post in the story! She also gets along well with her team's Heavy, Engineer, and probably Demo or Soldier. BLU Specialist absolutely can't stand the medic and finds their Scout exceptionally annoying.

Thank you so much for you kindness and your interest! I enjoyed your questions and hope you have a wonderful autumn! 💜

[softxsuki]

hello :DD i just saw your event post today and was wondering if i could make a request hehe :33 may i ask for a confession letter from vyn (tears of themis) with a fem!neurologist! reader? she's like him in the sense that they're both doctors, but she has a different background (e.g she comes from a family of artists who want her to pursue something more creative than something as hardset as science), though it's okay if you think it's easier that they have a similar background. i don't particularly mind what he calls me tbh, y/n works just fine; i'm not sure what he would call me other than that cuz i think he's the type to find his partner's name just as endearing as any other petname HAHAHAH

i think the easiest relationship background is that they both work in the same field, and they met when she was assigned to his research center when the organisation she works for tasks her with research to be undertaken with his team. it's a friends to crush thing, though i think they'd be off to a rough start cuz they'd maybe work on a project together, but find each other's reports unsatisfactory. then it gets better over time as their subtle jabs become more of constructive commentary. he's probably gone out with her several times over the course of their project (e.g. to grab some food when they finish labwork on a late night, or going to an orchestral concert because it's a good way to unwind after a week's worth of research). all this develops into a crush, and it's mutual, but if reader is an extension of myself, then we're dense asf- FDJFJD

location.... they'd live separately. reader is the type to keep her place to herself, and won't rly let anyone inside unless they've known each other for a long while. she goes to vyn's place for work if they have stuff to bring back though, and it's a work/chill vibe whenever she's over at his place.

other info—we're both 27 (in this setting) and introspective people. i'm not the type to reach out to others, so their start to a friendship would very likely come from him (likely with some criticism attached to it HAHAHAH). he's the type of person i think i can vibe with though, long chats from medical advances to music (we'd probably play a piece or two together since we're both pianists, or teach one piece to another), to philosophical concepts, and i think having someone to share all these ideas with is a wonderful thing <33

thank you for taking the time to read through my (absurdly long) request!! i hope you stay happy and healthy wherever you are in the world, and remember to always love yourself :))

(i'll leave this with a 🌱 emoji hehe)

thank you!! :))

Vyn's Confession Letter To His Friend

Valentine's Day Letter Event Masterlist (CLOSED)

Pairing: Vyn x Fem!Neurologist!Reader

Warnings: none

Genre: Fluff

Post-Type: Letter

Word Count: 610

Summary: In which Vyn drops off his confession Letter to you in your office on Valentine's Day

[A/N: Hey Happy Valentine's Day. Thank you so much for participating, I hope you enjoy this letter from Vyn. This is my first time ever writing for him, but I think I did fairly okay. Have a wonderful day <3]

You were in your office working on a report when you heard two knocks at your door.

You look up from your desktop and clear your throat, “Come in.”

It was Vyn, your friend who you had slowly developed a crush on. Your heart sped up in your chest at the sight of his golden eyes as he smiled softly at you.

“Good Afternoon Y/N and Happy Valentine’s Day. I am just here to drop this off to you,” he places an envelope with your name on it in front of you and then walks back over to the door, “Please come see me as soon as you read it. Then, if you would excuse me.”

He was in and out before you could even get your brain to start functioning properly again. You quickly, but carefully open the envelope and are surprised to see that it’s a letter addressed to you.

Dear Dr L/N,

I know this may seem strange to you, but I thought this would be a nice way to tell you what has been on my mind without possibly making you feel uncomfortable. By all means, if you do not feel the same way as I do in this letter, then you may throw it away and pretend like nothing ever happened. Do not worry, I will not feel offended.

When you first arrived at our center, we did not see eye-to-eye, did we? I remember it so well, all our disagreements and how hard we were on each other, though I must say that in the long-run, we helped each other grow as Doctors which is a wonderful thing.

I am not entirely sure when this started, but as we began spending time together outside of the office, I seem to have grown fond of you, in a romantic sense. Perhaps you can call it a crush? But the very thought of you makes my heart race and I look forward to seeing you each day.

I admire the ambition you have to live out your dream of being a Neurologist even though your parents had encouraged you to reach for something more creative like them. You work so hard proving to them each day that you made the right decision for yourself. I appreciate how strong and independent you are. We have our career in common as well as our love and talent in playing the piano; every conversation with you brings new life and meaning to each and every day for me. I have found myself looking forward to seeing and speaking to you each day.

With all that being said, I would love to get to know you on a more personal, romantic level. I want to be closer to you and what better way to start than on Valentine’s Day. If you feel the same way, then please come to my office so we can further discuss this in person.

With Care,

Dr. Vyn Richter.

You never in your life would have thought that a man like Vyn could ever love you back, but according to his letter, he did. That was all you needed to hear before you raced to his office, wanting to see him in person, almost to confirm that he actually felt this way.

You don’t even remember to knock on his door, you just open it and see him at his desk. He raises an eyebrow at the sudden intrusion, but smiles when he sees that it’s you.

“I feel the same way Dr. Richter,” you say in full confidence, still standing by the door.

“Wonderful, then would you join me for this Orchestral Concert tonight?”

“Of course.”

EVENT REQUESTS ARE CLOSED

REGULAR REQUESTS ARE OPEN

Posted: 2/14/2022

[thefairyletters]

Showdown

Naruto and Hinata versus Sasuke and Sakura

According to stats: Naruto and Sasuke are almost equals, and Sakura is the most powerful Kunoichi, only second to Kaguya who is not a Kunoichi but a goddess. But if in Boruto, these two couples were to face each other for real (and not just spar) then it wouldn't be Naruto vs Sasuke while Sakura faces Hinata, contrary to what most of you may think.

Sasuke and Sakura have an extreme Intelligence advantage. The 3/4ths of the total brainpower in this fight would be coming from their team. Sakura is the second smartest shinobi in the Leaf village as an adult, only next to Shikamaru, and Sasuke is arguably a close third. It has been like that since their genin days. The amount of tactical planning going on from their side of the battle would be ridiculous. Naruto and Hinata are both the type to charge headfirst through sheer willpower and pressure, but this isn't going to work against any plan Sasuke and Sakura manage to think up. Brains are always one step ahead of brawns.

As an adult Sasuke shows us that he is capable of using the Rinnegan in far more versatile ways than he did in the war arc, when he was new to the power. He can jump dimensions, swap places with another body, affect the gravity around a person, throw immensely powerful genjutsus with a single glance, see any invisible barriers, predict movements, recognize patterns/codes/signals, and much more. Like holy shit y'all. You really think Naruto would preform as well as he did against war arc Sasuke now that Sasuke actually has a full understanding of his Rinnegan and frequently UTILIZES it?

Gravity and pull. Sasuke's Rinnegan gives him limited control of the gravity around a person or between him and another person. Using this, Sasuke has the ability to tap into some Deva path shit and yank Hinata towards him. It is immensely difficult to resist the pull, and someone as physically weak as Hinata would be easily ripped forward away from Naruto. Once they're separated, Naruto has no surefire way of getting Hinata back to his side and safe in enough time, because she would either be led right into a fatal punch from Sakura or a chidori or sword through the gut from Sasuke himself. Either way, if Naruto lets his watch on her slip even a little bit, she probably already dead or close to it. This could also be a support tactic. Sakura gets separated and is in danger. Using his Deva path pull Sasuke can drag Sakura out of a potentially dangerous situation and back to his side. Same works with the body swap. If Sakura is in a nasty situation, Sasuke can swap places with her in his Susanoo to easily tank a hit that may have killed her. That or he can swap her place with a rock if need be.

Two words: Summoning strength. Sasuke and Sakura hold two of the three boss summons in the three way deadlock. Naruto holds one. Hinata holds…nothing. It doesn't stop there though. Sasuke has at least two other powerful summons that we know of, and while they aren't as powerful as Aoda, they still give him some fair advantages. For example, Sasuke's hawk, Garuda, gives him an aerial advantage should he ever need to take to the skies as a countermeasure against Naruto. Naruto and Hinata have no summons who could reach Sasuke, and this gives him many solid opportunities. Sakura, on the other hand, has Katsuyu. Katsuyu can be spread out across the battlefield in various sizes to heal her allies wherever they may end up on the field. She could also be used in her original form to spit acid or protect the two from any taijutsu and most ninjutsu attacks. Katsuyu is stated early on to be extremely resistant to taijutsu and ninjutsu, and for fucks sake she can tank Pein's attacks with ease while protecting people inside, plus she survived Naruto's corrosive 8 tails chakra just fine. I see absolutely no taijutsu attacks that Naruto and Hinata pull getting through or truly damaging her, and Naruto would have to really put some effort into his more powerful ninjutsu techniques to take her down (also note that since Katsuyu has a very jelly like body type and is resistant to taijutsu and ninjutsu, Naruto's summons wouldn't be terribly productive on offense). But this leaves him wide open for counterattacks if he focuses too much on Katsuyu. And then of course Katsuyu can heal fatal injuries or at least sustain the life of a person fatally injured until help is given. The ultimate win for Sasuke and Sakura in terms of summoning.

Being an Active Shinobi is very important. Sasuke is an active shinobi. Very active. He is constantly on B through S rank missions, and Sakura has traveled with him on some of these. His teammate for this battle, Sakura, is still an active medical shinobi who easily accepts an S rank mission in the Retsuden novels and is originally dealing with part of it on her own before she teams up with Sasuke, who is also present. We have seen her fight in Boruto too. It shows that she is 100% still at her peak performance. Well, what about Naruto and Hinata? Hinata is a housewife who hasn't gone on anything above a C rank mission in years. She takes a B rank mission with her father and sister when Boruto is a toddler, and this is all we hear of it. She's rusty AF and doesn't have the experience nor mission bulk that Sasuke and Sakura have under there belt, nowhere NEAR it. Naruto is somewhat similar. He is, for lack of a better description, out of practice. He was only recently taking on S rank opponents in Boruto, and other than that he's been doing desk work and some minor shinobi guard training over the past few years. Sasuke and Sakura are more in shape and have more recent shinobi mission experience than Naruto and Hinata's combination, both by themselves AND as a team in a fight, which is immensely important here.

Everyone is always forgetting about how important Support can be. Sakura is a first class, kage-level healer at this point in the series. Her medical ninjutsu surpassed Tsunade's back in her own canon novel and is confirmed in the novelization of Boruto's movie a second time. Her ability to constantly heal or boost Sasuke's chakra in battle is important. Whereas while Naruto can amp up Hinata with a chakra cloak, Sakura can go even further. We see with Obito that Sakura can transfer her Byakugou seal markings with all it's chakra to another person she is touching, and in the Retsuden novels this is looked into further. By applying her seal to Sasuke, he becomes an absolute terror for even Naruto to handle. Imagine this: super fast shinobi w/ the Rinnegan abilities and Susanoo suddenly not only getting a chakra boost, but being able to automatically heal potentially fatal wounds completely over and over again for as long as the chakra exists. Sakura at this point has 15+ years of chakra stored in her Byakugou seal (we know this because she notes briefly in the canon novels after The Last that she has not stopped storing chakra and plans to continue doing so just in case she ever needs it). But let's say she didn't continue after that though. She would still have around 6 or 7 years of chakra in her seal. 6–7 YEARS OF CHAKRA. I don't care how much chakra you think Naruto has, it isn't anywhere close to the amount of chakra currently inactive within Sakura's seal, considering the fact that she could completely replenish Naruto's chakra with only 3 days worth of her general chakra. Sasuke would be a BEAST. Absolutely nightmarish on every level if this fight. And Sakura, so long as the chakra exists, would also be nightmarish - especially for those people who think Sakura and Hinata would end up dualing it out at some point.

Have we gotten to the whole dimension portal thing yet? Nope and this is a crucial winning point for Sasuke and Sakura. If in danger, in need of a new plan or simply to dodge away from a particularly crazy attack from Naruto, Sasuke can pull both himself and Sakura into a completely different space in the blink of an eye. He can also use this to jump around the space Naruto is in and really screw around with them. And if you're worried about Sasuke's chakra levels diminishing quickly, don't be. Once again, Sakura's Byakugou seal is the ultimate support ability. Remember that whole “she has at least 6-7 years of chakra even if she, for some reason, wimped out on her plans” spiel? Yeah…that's an easy fix. She helped Obito actually hold open AND SEARCH (people seem to forget that he had to use chakra to search dimensions) multiple dimensions when she only had 3 years of chakra in the seal, and even the she still had enough chakra left to reform the seal on her forehead soon after. Sooo…keeping Sasuke's chakra level high wouldn't be a problem. They can also use the dimensions for Sakura to heal and repair them both. Hinata can't heal and Naruto can't truly “heal" so much as his life force is just really strong, so they're at yet another disadvantage.

Terrain manipulation and swaps. This is where it gets really technical. Sasuke has the Rinnegan, and with it he can do serious damage very early on in the game when his opponent is not expecting such a rush. Try to imagine a scenario like so: Sakura winds up for a full power punch directly behind Sasuke as soon as the fight begins, or otherwise as early on as possible. She fires off the punch at Sasuke. Sasuke, at the last possible second he can manage, swaps his place with Hinata, and BAM. That's one down for team Naruto. Hinata would either be dead or close to it immediately after she hits the ground and stops. Same applies for a switch with Naruto. At that close of a range with literally zero time to dodge at that point, even Naruto would be fairly damaged from a point blank shot, and a damaged Naruto from the start spells bad news for Hinata - the girl basically fully depends on Naruto in the fight, she can't do anything to Sasuke or Sakura without his constant support.

Overall, we can go into arguments if whether Naruto is stronger than Sasuke or Sakura stronger than Hinata, but the truth of the matter is that it doesn't really matter. What matters is that Sasuke is at least competitively close in power to Naruto, and Sakura arguably the most powerful kunoichi in the series at the moment. Their power gap is extraordinarily close, so at this point it all comes down to who is best tactically suited and best prepared for this kind of nuclear fight. And honestly, with their ability to manipulate their surroundings and work more with the terrain and constantly replenish, there's no doubt about the victory. 80% of the time it'll be Sasuke and Sakura if they play their cards like they should.

Answer credits goes to Alex Hendrix, Quora

[imgoodloveenjoy]

Chexton isn't perfect but Sexcel is toxic.

I’ve been a fan of Chicago Med since season 1, I love the growth of the characters and seeing them come into their own and blossom through their storylines. In the beginning, I liked Marcel, he represented a wild, fun and interesting addition to the cast and characters until the writers decided to make him messy. Now, I can excuse messiness but I can’t excuse the arrogance of Marcel’s character especially with him disrespecting one of my favorite characters, April. Since April and Marcel are working closely together, the way he speaks to her rubs me the wrong way so I’ve compiled a list of instances of Marcel directly disrespecting April:

 1. Season 5, episode 3:

               * In this episode, a woman came into the ED with a newborn infant. April thought she should’ve been checked out, which I agreed with as childbirth is a traumatic vaginal, physical & emotional experience and to make sure the placenta had passed. Voicing this concern with Marcel throughout the episode, even mentioning when she had her suspicions that the baby wasn’t hers, he aggressively bit back at her just to go behind her back and do what he admonished her for suggesting (and taking credit by making it seem like him doing the tests was all of his idea) while also sedating the patient, which resulted in DCFS not being able to talk to her and possibly find the truth and help the real mother sooner. Marcel could’ve talked to April about the issue, especially since a recessed placenta can cause extreme sickness and death for a mother, and he and April could’ve worked through the issue together as teammates instead of him being authoritative & holding his position over her head.

 2. Season 5, episode 8:

               * This is the episode where Noah has been beaten. Although I agree with Marcel about Noah needing surgery, he didn't have to speak the April the way he did. That's her baby brother laying there and he should've taken her concerns into consideration, a total lack of empathy. Lanik was running point as Noah's doctor and was discussing the options for treatment with his sister and all-knowing Marcel comes in, speaks over April & telling her "It's not your call", when it's most likely that April is designated to make decisions about his care when he's unable. Being aggressive with her that she isn’t in charge of his care and, once again, disregarding her medical input just feels like an asshole. April then apologizes to Marcel when he should be apologizing to her. This situation also lets us into a little window that feels like he always has to be right even to the point of not consulting with his own patients or their guardians about how they want their care to go & what their options are. He's right, they're wrong = Connor 2.0. To directly insult her about her brother's care is sickening and full of ego.

 3. Season, 5, episode 10:

               *This episode once again shows us how Marcel isn’t very communicative with his patients or the people on his team. He has a patient who has expressed a fear of being under anesthesia and Marcel, AGAIN, goes straight for the surgery instead of offering all avenues of service to his patient and advocating for what he feels would be the best course of action. "As much as I value your input, Nurse Sexton, I am the surgeon and this is the plan" cuing Noah being visibly uncomfortable by that statement.

Speaking with his patient would’ve told him that the father died under anesthesia and that could be evident of some kind of underlying issue, as we just had a similar issue with Elsa's patient, who was allergic to the anesthesia and had a deadly reaction. Even Noah notices that they're arguing a lot, which isn’t healthy for a work environment. Marcel tries to blame his horrid communication skills on April telling her that if the patient needs emergency surgery, it’s on her. No, it’s on you, Marcel.  I'm sure if he had just talked to his patient, there wouldn’t have been any dramatics and the patient would’ve done the surgery but since Marcel is hiding things (double entendre intended), the patient ops out, feeling uneasy. April did what Marcel should’ve done and what she suggested he do in the beginning and communicate medical action to the patient about what his options were. Marcel has no problem popping in on other people's patients offering surgery as an option, why is it so hard for him to offer non-surgical options for his patients? It's like he just wants to cut into people, almost psychopathic. In the end, April oddly apologizes when she did nothing wrong.

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

This brings me to another thing I've noticed: Marcel works really well with Noah because Noah is in training. Noah defers to Marcel's medical judgement and seems ready to try to please him. Meanwhile, April has been in the medical field long enough to know how some things are supposed or should go so she offers up her medical opinion, and has in the past to Will, Natalie, Connor and Ethan. Marcel probably feels like this calls in to question his judgment and snaps on her, wanting things his way while treating April as a glorified assistant. The only thing April did wrong was to not let Noah and Marcel know that she had this conversation with the patient when he requested to know his other options; Marcel was more in the wrong for not doing this in the beginning and for yelling at April, he doesn’t seem to work well with a team and April didn’t need to apologize. They will both find out that hiding things to make things go your way, won’t work.

Another thing is he relies on calling April "Nurse Sexton" as to remind her of his elevated status versus hers. It’s like he's telling her "You’re just a nurse, therefore inconsequential" as though she doesn’t know enough or have had enough experience with patients as he has, probably more as many of us in hospitals see the nurses more often than we see the doctor. April's position as a nurse isn’t because she cannot be a doctor, its due to her misogynistic upbringing where her status could be the same or better than the men in her family. She voiced this concern when Noah first came to Med and when hiding her relationship with Ethan - knowing that nurses are seen as lowly in the medical field when they're really vital.

Final thoughts: Marcel needs to pack that ego in. He’s condescending to April every time she has an idea or concern about someone’s medical care. I do think his pairing with Natalie, someone who’s always as self-righteous as he is and rarely ever apologizes, will cause him to look back at his behavior and make some changes, hopefully. Not like April who seems to cow to his behavior. It would be interesting to see him work with Dr. Latham, someone who’s just as skilled, knowing and strong willed as he is who will really challenge him on ethics. We’ll see what happens in the coming episodes.

[supergirl-melly]

Why I became a nurse and what it means to me.

First I'd like to say I didn't always know I wanted to be a nurse. In fact when I applied to my university of choice I still had no idea what I wanted to become. I knew I liked helping people, but that's about as far as my knowledge of what I wanted to be when I "grew up" went. Let me tell you a story.

When I was 16 years old my grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer. I naively thought she would live forever or at least until she was very old. My grandmother's struggle with cancer while I went through high school was a very traumatic experience for me. She died when I was 17 years old, she never got to see me graduate, she wasn't there when I went to the prom, she never knew I went on to become a nurse. Something that always sticks out to me is a moment I had with her before she got really sick. I came home from school (yes I lived with my grandparents but that's an entirely different story for another time perhaps) to find her crying on the couch. I went to her and wrapped my arms around her trying to soothe her pain. It went like this:

Me: "gramma why are you so upset? Tell me what I can do to make you smile again."

Her: "it's okay Missy....I just.... I just want to be here to see what you become. You're full of so much potential and I want to be there for you when you find yourself."

Me: "awh gramma you will be here. You will. I promise I will make you proud!"

Her: "sometimes life isn't fair but that's how it goes. I'll always be proud of you no matter what. Missy....please know I will always be here for you. Right here." (She padded my chest and broke into sobs)

I didn't understand why she was so upset, of course she'd be here, I didn't know then she was dying. I was young and so very naive. I watched her go from the strong independent woman I always knew her as to a shadow of what she once was. Her cancer quickly took over her body and she went through an agonizing battle that eventually killed her. She was 58 years old, died April 26 2005. The year I graduated high school. She never saw me get into the university of Michigan, never saw me get into nursing school, wasn't there when I graduated high school or college with high honors. She wasn't here physically but I believe and know she was there in my heart. Cheering me on from Heaven. Losing her was one of the hardest things I have ever experienced but I naively thought nothing could be as painful as that.

Shortly after her death I saw an advertisement in the paper for a caregiving job at a group home for the mentally and physically disabled. Something about it stood out to me, it was as if I was meant to work there. I was hired on the spot with no experience or training. I was going to college and began working at the place that made me realize I was meant to be a nurse. The people I took care of were beautiful souls that never lost their love for life even when it wasn't fair. I loved each and every one of them and went on to work at many other group homes throughout my college career. For anyone aspiring to become a nurse I highly suggest working at group homes, it is the most challenging and rewarding job out there and it will give you the bed side experience you need as a nurse.

After graduating from college I wasn't sure what kind of nurse I wanted to be, I spent a great deal of time wandering through the many different fields nursing has to offer. I tried the hospital at first thinking it would be the perfect fit for me, how wrong I was back then! I absolutely hated it! I went on to try private care, that lasted for awhile but I grew bored and tired of it. I found myself longing to work at group homes again. Something about my patients there really spoke to my heart. I did go back to group homes as the medication manager, it was fun and a little different from being a caregiver. I mostly took patients to their doctor appointments, reordered medications each month, did the medication log book back when everything was done on paper instead of computers today.

When I moved to Florida in 2015 to take care of my mother whom was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in her 40s I did mostly private care where I could name my own wage. It wasn't until 2017 that I got into assisted living facilities for the elderly. It was an entirely new ballgame and I was nervous to start. The elderly and individuals with disabilities are very different fields of practice. What I found surprising was how many similarities both group homes and nursing homes had in common. The elderly are some of the sweetest people on this earth, I found their stories fascinating and taking care of them was just as rewarding as individuals in group homes. I had finally found my calling within the nursing spectrum. While I wasn't at work I took care of my ailing mother, God bless her soul. She was a handful but I wouldn't change anything about her. She unfortunately passed away April 23rd 2019 at the tender age of 55. I was by her side when she took her last breath. The pain I felt when my grandmother died was nothing compared to how it felt to lose my momma, my best friend. What fueled me to continue in nursing and keep moving forward? My mother and my grandmother. I want to continue making them proud even if they're no longer physically with me I know they're in my heart forever, and that's all that truly matters. If you're an inspiring nurse to be well I say go for it! It's a career that has many rewards and difficulties but it's well worth the time and effort! Go for your dreams and goals, for life is far too short to do anything else! God speed my friends!

[helloandwelcometomariasblog]

Review #72: Record of Youth (Ep 6-7)

Okay, I am officially hooked. I will go until the end with you, drama.

Well, I have always loved Hyejun and Bogum both, so there was never anything to convince me in regards to the male lead, so let's just say that the female lead convinced me this time.

I was really surprised this time round. It was as though I'd fully understood why Hyejun was drawn to Jeongha and why he decided to confess to her and date her. The pieces kind of all fell into place in episode 6 when Jeongha goes out to comfort Hyejun. When we saw the scene from Hyejun's point of view in the previous episode, I honestly thought Jeongha had no idea that Hyejun was in a bad place and thought she was selfish for wanting to hang out with him just cause she was bored. But it all made sense when I got to see it from her point of view. She knew. She knew that Hyejun was crying, and then she went out of her way to comfort him in her own style - which was a great style, to be honest. Very natural and comfortable, not over-the-top, and just being there for them. That is what it exactly felt like when she prepared the gift for him, called him out, gave him the chocolate then the drink, and just was there for him. What a great girlfriend, to be honest. That's when I realised why Hyejun liked her. She's great - and I never really saw it before.

It made me realise something quite huge, actually. In all honestly, I think I was blinded by appearances. I didn't find her charismatic enough, probably because I was comparing her to Park Bogum. This weird prejudice in me, saying she didn't suit him cause she wasn't the typical Korean pretty that you find in all drama female leads. This drama has changed that mindset, and has made me realise that attractive and charismatic people are attractive and charismatic because they themselves believe them to be. I know friends who are exactly like that, and the moment I thought about them, I immediately understood Jeongha and Hyejun's relationship and why they were together. And it makes me admire Jeongha even more. No wonder Hyejun likes her. Who wouldn't like a girl that is kindhearted and caring, but also ambitious and strong, someone who is passionate and skilled at her job but also takes care of those she loves? She's also very confident and doesn't doubt herself. It's true that it's you yourself that decides your worth. Jeongha never once questioned why someone like Hyejun was liking her. This almost makes me feel ashamed that I questioned it. This thought of mine is probably more complex than the words written here, and I'll probably go deeper into it in my personal diary.

But it's official now - I love the male lead, the female lead has grown on me, I really like their relationship, and now that the male lead has FINALLY started kicking some ass and is getting roles, I'm just so excited, it's like I'm the manager noona and my heart is just jumping.

Oh - one other thing I realised (and squealed about) as I was watching Bogum/Hyejun act in that medical drama, was that this drama is really milking it, guys. Think about it. We get to see Bogum play an array of characters in ONE SINGLE DRAMA. What kind of blessing is that? The moment I realised that I just kind of 입틀막ed. We already got to see him fight and act like a psychopathic gangster, and now we get to see him in the medical field. What a great drama this is.

One other thing I absolutely just have to mention before we move onto the next episode: the kiss scene. Especially the second one inside the car. Especially the part where Jeongha pulls him in for another kiss. That one. That scene. Bogum's hand half on her cheek and half on the back of her head. Near her ear. Drawing her closer. I really should stop. But yeah. That scene was. Great.

This drama is basically blissful death for Park Bogum fans. I get it. It's blissful death every single second, people. I knew he was handsome but like. This is crazy. Okay time for the next episode.

I just love his character. He's not a perfect human being but there's so much to love about him and he's the perfect character to root for. He's flawed and he's emotional but he's so real. I love that he's not perfect. I love that he has family issues and I love that his emotions show on his face. I love that he's affected by words, and I love that he shows it and he doesn't hold back. He's human. He goes through pain. I love that it's not just romantic pain, because a human being is so much more than that. He gets hurt by people all around, and it's so real. I love him. I am manager noona herself.

It might have not made sense to me at the start - and the writer might have not set it up properly - but now it makes so much sense. Hyejun and Jeongha, I mean, and Hyejun's affection for her. And isn't it great seeing a strong male lead dating an equally strong female lead? They're both ambitious in their area of work, and they both do their best where they are. They really are similar and now their attraction makes even more sense. I love it. Now onwards to the next ep!