#some action!

[softquietsteadylove]

We need more Thena and jack stories!

Let’s say thenamesh and jacks family go to a big amusement park when suddenly 4 giant deviants attack.

Let there be action and a little drama!

"Do you want some ice cream, Aunt Thena?"

She smiled, prying her eyes open and looking down at the kindest hearted human in all the galaxy. "You should be enjoying it, no?"

Jack twisted his little lips and turned the heaping dish of ice cream around in his hand a few times. "Hm, I think it'll be too much for me to eat by myself."

Thena smiled. She had heard loud and clear the urging by Jack to get the three scoop cup, despite his father's insistence that it would be too much for young Jack. He had asked for the three scoops with the intent on sharing. She leaned and pressed her lips to his hair, "thank you, Jack."

The boy blushed, offering the dish to her.

Thena picked up the spoon and took a delicate bite of the strawberry scoop. "Are you having fun?"

"Yeah, lots of fun," he mused idly, swinging his feet off the edge of the bench upon which she had been seated for the last hour. He squinted as the light filtering through the tree over them shifted and changed. "Are you?"

This amusement park was a nightmare designed specifically to be her own personal hell.

Jack had insisted she and Gil come with them, though. Jack always wanted them to be included when they went on family outings, and it was endearing to no end. So Thena endured car rides and school functions and the general crowding of city life for her nephew.

He had let her decline to actually go on rides, though. She had found this bench for herself in the shade, close enough to see them but far enough that she wasn't in the depths of the crowds.

"I am," she smiled, and he pursed his lips at her (in the way that she often did). It made her laugh, ruffling his hair again, "so long as you are."

"Well, okay," Jack accepted, taking a scoop of chocolate for himself while she had more strawberry. "I'm glad Uncle Gil is having fun."

Uncle Gil was currently on a ride with Ben which consisted of going through a completely dark section of tunnel on a rickety metal boat at unacceptable speeds.

"I believe he is quite enjoying the experience," Thena smiled even more. She wasn't sure how else poor Gilgamesh was supposed to experience the thrill of a theme park, so she was happy to be part of that for him as well.

"I've tried going on that ride before," Jack said quietly, looking at his black and purple sneakers. "Baba loves it, but it's too dark for me, and I think it makes Dad carsick."

Phastos was better than Thena when it came to automobiles, but it seemed that the accelerated speed and jerky turns of the rides also reduced him to a motionsick mess.

"Then we can enjoy our ice cream together," she suggested gently. If Jack was going to be melancholy for even a moment of his day of fun, she would not have it.

"'Kay!" he beamed up at her, with his teeth becoming less gappy as time went on. According to Phastos, he was in the process of losing all his small teeth and growing new ones.

What amazing processes the human body could endure.

Thena looked around the park. People were mulling around along the concrete pathways. The sun was beaming, but there was at least a breeze to rustle the trees and people's hair. For as little as she had experienced major metropolitan areas, this was by far the most bustling. There were people everywhere, several children crying as loud as they could, the sounds of machinery, of people screaming in joy. It was a lot to process.

She looked around. Something didn't seem right. It was just something at the edge of her mind, but it didn't feel like the beginning of an episode. Although, even then, she needed to have eyes on Gilgamesh. "Where are your fathers?"

Jack watched her looking around, swivelling her head like a bird of prey. "Uh, Dad said he was gonna look up places to eat after we leave. And the ride Baba went on with Uncle Gil is that way."

Thena followed the point of jack's finger to a line of people no more than a kilometre away. She stood sharply, holding their cup of ice cream, "they should be done by now."

Jack scrambled to his feet to join her. He was no longer so young that he was willing to hold hands just for the sake of it. But he was used to the nervousness that existed in her at times. He reached up, tugging at the sleeve of her white dress. "Aunt Thena, are you okay?"

She inhaled. She could feel something in the air. Something familiar, but also distant in her mind. And her Cosmic Energy was crackling inside of her. "Jack, I think something is coming."

"Like," he huddled somewhat closer to her, "bad guys?"

"Possibly," she murmured. She was thinking more along the lines of a horrific creature designed to look like a beast and a nightmare rolled into one. But she gave Jack's hand a gentle squeeze, "nothing will happen to you, Jack."

He looked up at her with wide eyes, "are you gonna fight them?"

"If I must." She would do what was necessary to protect the humans here, most of all, this human child.

"W-What about Uncle Gil, and Dad?" Jack continued, tugging at her sleeve more to dissuade her from seeking them out. "They'll fight whatever it is. You could let them handle it."

Thena stopped in her hurried steps, looking down at the worrisome boy beside her. "Jack?"

His little lip tightened, both of his hands attempting to anchor her wrist where she stood. "Don't go."

Thena's heart ached. In all her years on the planet, she had no experience to compare with this one. She had never felt the desire to turn away from the fight like she did now, just because Jack asked it of her.

Jack squeezed his eyes shut as she knelt down in front of him, kissing his forehead on the way.

She collected his tiny hands between hers. He would grow up so fast, his hands probably becoming larger than her own in no time. He would become a fine young man, then a grown man, just like his fathers. But that could only happen if she used every breath in her lungs to protect him. "I do not wish to leave you, Jack. But I will let the planet split apart at the seams before any harm shall come to you."

Before he could dissuade her further with his big teary eyes and wobbly lip, she turned away, looking through the crowds. A human would have no hope of seeing from their distance, but she picked out the head of her husband in an instant.

He looked their way, already frowning. He knew as well.

Thena scooped Jack up under her arm and jumped. If she moved fast enough she could probably remain undetected. It was a mere matter of dropping Jack at the feet of his father so she and Gil could deal with the danger at hand. "Do not leave your father's side!"

They were gone in a flash. If there were people recording their surroundings, they would look like blurs of motion. And the world was growing increasingly used to happenings like this.

"I thought they were gone," Gil voiced beside her as they ran towards the outer edge of the park.

"I cannot say I'm surprised by anything, at this point in time," she lamented as they skidded to a halt before leaping over the outer fence. The threat was still far enough away that those inside weren't panicked yet. They may be yet able to stop them within the parking lot.

"You two are show offs."

Thena offered no comment to her snarky brother, already summoning her blades to her hands. The bracelets around her wrists tightened around her skin. "You should be with Ben and Jack."

Phastos huffed at her, his rings floating around them with a gentle tinkling of metal. "They're fine. And I am not leaving you two to handle these things alone."

"How many are there?" Gil asked him, needing no further preparation than clenching his fists.

"Looks like four," Phastos looked at the palm of his hand. "And they're big."

"Then we will have to stop them here," Thena declared. She looked at her hands, reminding herself why she was holding weapons in the first place. No matter what, she could not leave this post. What was behind them was far too precious to risk.

"Hey," Gil whispered to her, touching the back of his fist to hers. Their Cosmic Energy sparked and fizzled at the contact. "You're not alone here, okay? Just stay close to me."

She looked at her husband, trying not to think of the last time they had been in combat. She nodded.

"You two take those ones!"

Phastos faced down the two larger ones prowling closer. They looked crocodillian, massive maws of teeth and scuttling legs at their sides. He thrust his fists forward, leashing them together with lassos of energy.

"Gil!"

He didn't need to be asked, grasping her by the waist and launching her up into the air. The flying ones were always the most troublesome. And this one would be capable of flying over the fences and walls and plucking those inside like ripened berries.

Thena grabbed onto its foot, already enough to shifts its balance. She reached up, climbing up its form until she could strike out, driving her blade through the membrane of its wing.

The winged beast roared as they plummeted, crashing to the ground again. Its body was met with the frame of several cars below. Thena tumbled off and away, rolling a few times before scraping her feet against the pavement. She wished she had the durable boots of her armour, but she was in sandals and a light sundress.

"Y'okay, T?!" Phastos called out from holding the other two at bay, with Gil grasping the tusks of the third one.

She didn't bother answering. They would know she was fine by that. It was if she called out them that would mark cause for alarm. She pulled up her blades again, sticking one straight through the underside of the Deviant's 'beak' and through its head. "One down."

Phastos did what he did best - one of several things, to his credit - sending an electrical current through the creatures tethered to him. They writhed in agony. "Finish 'em off!"

Gil tossed away the tusked one's positively mammoth body just to turn around and deliver a bone shattering punch to one of them. It was easy to tell it was effective when the Deviant's eyes exited the cranial cavity.

Thena leapt over the other one, easily landing with her blade pointed down, driving it in similar to how she had taken down the winged one. She was not going to waste time on these things. They were interfering with Jack's fun day. "That one."

Gil shook out his fist after killing one of the reptilian ones, only to look at the tusked one again, which was dragging its front feet to signal being ready to charge. "You ready, baby?"

Thena grinned. She had almost forgotten what a thrill the hunt could be. The battle thrummed through her veins as she took her stance beside her lover. "Always."

Gil focused his energy into his feet, driving them into the concrete and refusing to budge as he caught the elephantine Deviant by the tusks again. "All yours!"

Thena jumped onto one of the tusks as her launching point, twisting and leaping over its head to the back of it. There was quite a hump there, and clearly it was built to b e durable. But she wasn't going to hack at it blindly (who was she, Ikaris?).

The Deviant bellowed as she found the softness where its neck and head connected, and pierced. The creature reared up on its hind legs in one last ditch effort to rid itself of her.

Thena leapt off, flipping over a few times before landing. She'd had her feet out to land, but she found herself in her husband's arms. She blinked at him.

He smiled at her, "one of your sandals is torn, hon. Don't wanna ruin them before we get home."

She laughed; what a sweet Eternal her husband was. She nuzzled and then kissed his cheek as dust and wind rushed around them, signalling the fall of the largest Deviant.

"Seriously?" Phastos rolled his eyes at them, cleaning off his glasses with his shirt collar. "Can we go?"

Indeed, they had to go. New castors were arriving, crowds building. If they wanted even a semblance of a chance of escaping, it had to be now.

Thena sighed, "where is Sprite when you need her."

"C'mon," Phastos motioned to them to follow him, taking a roundabout route closest to the emerging crowds. They could blend in and pretend to be early spectators.

Gil laid his light jacket over her shoulders, "you feel okay?"

Thena looked down at the bracelets around her wrists. Her powers were in check and her mind was clear. She nodded, letting him kiss her cheek as they melded back into the human masses.

"Aunt Thena!"

She blinked, receiving a bundle of human youth hurtling at her. She patted his shoulders, "you should not have run off from your father, Jack."

"Are you okay?!"

She melted; how could she not, in the face of those big puppy eyes? She sighed, letting him cling to her after she had disappeared from his side so suddenly. They continued back into the depths of the park, Ben mere steps behind his son. "I am."

Ben put his hands on his hips as his husband also rejoined them. "Should I expect alligators if we ever go to Six Flags?"

Phastos rubbed his husband's back as they walked towards the other end of the park. "You know we can't go there, babe."

"Why not?" Thena asked with Jack still clinging to her as Gil patted his head to reassure him.

"It's all water," Phastos sufficed to say, and she had to agree. They all sank like stones (them and their semi-inorganic bodies, and all).

"Aunt Thena, will you come to Six Flags if we go?"

This boy--her one weakness! She sighed, "of course."

[stil-lindigo]

frankly, the people whose kneejerk reaction to bisan asking for a global strike form the 21st-28th is to say that it takes years to organize a general strike are really unhelpful! no one is saying otherwise, but palestine will be a smoking crater if we all wait for years to do anything - bisan is asking us to do something now. Like are we only supposed to do something if we can do it perfectly??? At some point it’s a valid critique about the work that goes into social movement, and at another point I feel like some people are just trying to absolve themselves from not putting any effort into observing a week of economic inaction.

like idk! I get it, okay! People have bills to pay that don’t magically go away for a strike, we don’t have nearly enough social infrastructure in place to support people to fully stop going to work for a week. But fuck, dude! Stop immediately responding in such a defeatist way! Cut out unnecessary purchases! Try to shop local! Put more effort into promoting Palestinian voices online! Attend a protest, call a local rep, do something!

[bajaja-blast]

you dislike Luke Castellan because he disagreed with an oppressive government system and actually took action to change the abusive ways him and his peers have been forced to follow for millennia.

I dislike Luke Castellan because in the Titans Curse he manipulated Annabeth, who he raised as his little sister, into holding up the sky, the FUCKING sky, for over 20 hours and had the audacity to walk away as though he was completely apathetic towards it while she begged and pleaded with him to help her.

we are not the same.

[catsharky]

Create cool summer treats for your vampire with this one neat trick

[damazcuz]

"I could fix him" well DON'T, I'm trying to breed a new generation of trembling pursedog freakboys and I need his cringefail loser genes.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

main take aways from Halloween (1978) rewatch:

michael myers is canonically 21??? this bitch should be at the club

*sees tiddies* ***MURDEROUS RAMPAGE NOISES***

that's it that's the movie

outside of the fact that everyone who has sex is murdered by the narrative, this is a surprisingly chill portrayal of female sexuality? these teen girls are horny and actively enjoying Getting It On with their boytoys. no pushy boyfriends sneaking in through their bedroom windows--these ladies are taking the initiative to sneak out and GET SOME. one of them gets laid and then immediately orders her boyfriend to get her a beer. (yes she gets Slashered soon afterward, but so does the boyfriend so honestly, gender equality.) yes the Final Girl is the only one not having sex, but she's not bullied for that, nor are her friends slut shamed except possibly by being murdered by the narrative

actually the only character who is shown being morally condemned on-screen is michael myers. specifically FOR his violent overreaction to other people's sex lives. (people he is spying on). metaphorically, the villain is American Puritanism sticking its judgy nose into other people's business.

aka Michael Myers Is A Republican

but actually the real villain is the doctor. guy's a judgemental, shaming, pathologizing asshole. and he's been in charge of michael's care since he was SIX YEARS OLD? kid never had a chance. i'd go on a killing spree too

also the parents. where are the parents? it's halloween night and all the teenage girls are home babysitting their younger siblings? come to think of it, michael's first victim was his own older sister, whom he killed while she was babysitting him. teen girls are really shouldering a labour burden here. maybe parentification is the true villain

side note: mike commits his first murder wearing a clown costume...which is never referenced again? his 'iconic' costume is a generic mask and wig and jumpsuit, when we coulda had a Killer Clown Michael Myers??? travesty

i like how the Final Girl and her friend casually smoke weed in her car. yeah she's an honor student and her friend is the sheriff's daughter. yeah they smoke weed. so what it's 1978

(to reiterate, mike is 21 and should be at the club. im not saying he shouldn't be rampaging, im saying it's sad that he broke out, tasted freedom for the first time in his life, and immediately snuck back into his childhood home to go rampaging. let's have a remake where he goes to a nightclub and has a few beers. maybe some slutty dancing. then rampage)

oh no he's hot

[reasonsforhope]

This is kind of a weird reason for hope, honestly, but it genuinely changed how I think about catastrophe.

Historical fact that you probably do not know:

At least 30-50% of the population of Pompeii survived.

Maybe even the majority of the people of Pompeii survived.

(The numbers 30-50% there are according Professor J. Theodore Peña, a professor of ancient Roman archeology who studies Pompeii, whom I took a class on Pompeii with in 2018. The numbers of "maybe even the majority" are from articles linked below.)

Yes, that Pompeii, the one where the entire city was swallowed by a volcanic eruption.

And no, I'm not kidding. x, x, x, x, x, x

So how this is possible, that anyone could survive, when the entire city was literally buried in volcanic ash? And the answer is that the eruption actually took place over the course of almost 24 hours, as the earthquakes and clouds of smoke emitting from Pompeii gradually got worse and worse, followed by the ejection of ash and giant stones that gradually escalated, until the fifth pyroclastic flow (aka giant wave of searing hot ash) hit the city.

So, people had a bit less than 24 hours to flee the city. And many of them did, whether by boat or cart or horse or foot. And many of them made it.

Pompeii is the iconic, ultimate example we have, culturally, for a natural disaster that causes complete annihilation.

But it never caused complete annihilation at all. Not of the people who lived there.

I think climate change, ultimately, is going to be like Pompeii. Yes, there will be natural disasters. Yes, it will keep getting worse for a while.

Yes, people will die, and yes, we do need to act fast, and we need to do all that we can to save every single living being that we can.

But unlike the people of Pompeii, we have the ability to fix most of the effects of climate change. We have the ability to cool the planet down from whatever temperature it ultimately hits. (Masterpost on this here.)

Natural disasters fucking suck. But as the true story of Pompeii exemplifies, they are often a lot more survivable than we think. And we have benefits and resources and technology and knowledge above all communication that the people of Pompeii never did - in fact, we're getting so good at building for and detecting and warning for natural disasters that the number of people dying from natural disasters has been plummeting, even as natural disasters are getting worse and worse (x).

We are going to survive climate change (x). We are going to fix as much of it as we can (x). And we are going to rebuild afterward.

Because as the many survivors of Pompeii show, that's what humans do.

[mejkosmos]

why has 2024 literally been THE summer of toxic old man yaoi i'm genuinely tweaking rn

[ruporas]

trigunned the hades or hadesed the trigun (id in alt)

[beif0ngs]

alright look, i just wanna know who is the writer that came up with the dumbass idea of replacing the line “Ever since I lost my son, I think of you as my own” with “Lu Ten would have been proud to have you as his father” in this scene for the Netflix live action series???

[oifaaa]

It's funny how opinions can change over time for instance I used to want Bruce to be a good parent but then I realised how fucking boring that is to read at the end of the day comics are soap operas and I'm here for the drama

[sboochi]

Pretty sure "ease him" doesn't mean anything but I'm NOT rewriting that now >:/

First >> Next

[stil-lindigo]

Bisan is calling for another global strike!

I saw some posts just outlining Jan 21st, and wanted to clarify that Bisan has called for a full seven days of action.

What a global strike would look like is:

calling in sick to work

purchasing bare essentials ahead of the week so you can observe the general boycott of goods / buying as little as you genuinely can

putting in a concerted effort to elevate Palestinian voices and make it clear that this strike is in support of a permanent ceasefire!

For those who will have to purchase necessary goods during this time, please observe the brands that the BDS movement is asking us to boycott!

♢♢♢

Right now is also a good time to mention some better uses for your money during this week.

Available e-sims in Gaza are running low!!

Mirna El Helbawi and her team are working round the clock to continue to connect Palestinians as Israel does its best to cut them off from the rest of the world.

You can learn how to purchase and send e-sims here, and below you’ll find a list of what is currently needed (the areas in brackets indicate what region you should select to buy e-sims in).

--

CareforGaza is an organisation that does verifiably good work, distributing supplies directly to Palestinian families.

They have a Gofundme set up at the moment, but because of Gofundme’s poor track record regarding refusing to transfer funds to Palestinians, I’d recommend continuing to donate directly to their PayPal here.

Good luck to all of you. Don't turn away from Palestine!

[baltharino]

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

[eveledoze]

reconciliation after a quarrel didn't come up with the reason of the quarrel btw lol