#tactical takeaway

[coachtfd]

Tactical Takeaway:

The tactical awareness and game intelligence of the Spanish players are amazing. The ball hadn’t even gone halfway to Bellingham and he had three players converging on him fast. 🧐🤯

[aparticularbandit]

The art style for MIO looks so much like Child of Light. I love it.

[soliusss]

To me being a lesbian is being attracted to all women and then some random fictional guy from cod mw2 with a sheet over his head

[corpsebrigadier]

Another day of just really loving how Wiegraf's arc is about a powerless man degrading himself in his pursuit of power: how he moves from physically intimidating/assaulting his own men in the name of a good cause to attacking defenseless clerics in the name of a bad cause to becoming the monster in the game most remembered for its excess of strength.

Loving too how that contrasts with Zalbag's story of a powerful man who constantly refuses to seize responsibility and confront the escalating injustices around him until he becomes the monster in the game best remembered for its lack of agency.

[whompthatsucker1981]

evangelical christianity is a disease

[notjustjavierpena]

Nerf

Series Masterpost | Main Masterpost | Support a disabled creator

A/N: There’s a little background to this. Sweet @sawymredfox posted a picture in an inbox that I can’t remember who belonged to but the picture was of a Nerf gun with a note asking for a gunfight over dinner. This one's for you, Wym! 

Summary: Hubby returns from work to a Nerf gunfight over takeaway privileges. Luckily, he has tactical training and quite the appetite.

Pairing: Javier Peña x f!reader (no y/n)

Tags: Domestic bliss, fluff, pregnant reader, javi loves and worships his wife, pussy eating, fingering, squirting, rough piv sex, multiple orgasms, creampie

Word count: 4.7k

Link to this work on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57685981

Nerf

Javier comes home to his apartment like always on a Friday afternoon, fiddling around with his bundle of keys that he fishes out from his pocket to find the one to the front door all the while carrying his work bag in his other hand. He has planned a date night with you tonight and has been excited about it since Monday morning when you suggested it over breakfast. He cannot wait to see you in your shared home, already grinning from ear to ear at the idea of giving his wife a long kiss as you discuss the movie choices you’ve rented at the local Blockbuster. He doesn’t really care about what you insist on watching, easily distracted by you anyway as you watch your movie with curious eyes. He’s more interested in the food that you are going to eat, hooked on the idea of ordering greasy Chinese food to share with each other. 

When he finally gets the door open, the apartment is dead quiet and the noise of Javier throwing his keys on the side table echoes through the hallway. 

“Honey?” He calls out but you don’t reply. 

He takes one step forward only to hear the sound of cheap plastic scraping across the floorboards. He furrows his brow and looks down, noticing the toy gun with a sticky note attached to it. He sets down his bag by the shoe rack and bends down to pick the gun up. 

It’s a Nerf gun, more specifically a poor imitation of an automatic weapon. He checks the magazine and sees that it is full, loads it again, and only then reads the note sticking to it. 

Husband, 

Welcome home. I’m hiding in the apartment with a Nerf gun. Here is the other one… The winner decides what takeaway we’re having for dinner. 

May the odds be ever in your favor,

Your wife

A grin spreads on his face, his senses heightened now that he knows you are watching him from somewhere.

As he pockets the note with as little noise as possible, he smirks with determination and thinks that you have no idea who you are up against. He secures his grip on the toy gun, remembering his tactical training from Colombia, and moves silently through the doorway to the living room. 

He scans the space with his heart beating in his ears but where he expects you to jump out from somewhere, maybe behind the couch where you’ll be relaxing later, he finds nothing. He takes silent footsteps across the wooden floorboards, knowing which creak, as he makes his way through the small space, checking behind the curtain by pulling it open with the tip of the rifle. Not there either. 

“I’m coming for you, esposa (wife),” he tells you tauntingly when he makes a left into the kitchen. You’re usually more into pizza, stringy with cheese and topped with mushrooms, but he really wants that goddamn chow mein from just around the corner. He tightens his grip, on a mission.

He inches forward to see if you are underneath the breakfast table with a cloth that you bought at a flea market a few months back. He didn’t think it would fit the rest of the furniture in the apartment but you insisted, and you were right. He loves the mismatched chairs surrounding its slightly quirky pattern now, pulling one out to make sure you really aren’t underneath the tablecloth by quickly lifting it and aiming.

The kitchen is completely empty, he decides, unless you are hiding in the refrigerator which he seriously doubts. Despite this, the silence is thick with impending doom and he takes a deep breath to steady himself, not about to lose to a person with no experience in the field. He listens carefully, taking a few steps back and suddenly a Nerf dart flies past his ear. 

He whirls around, having noticed the slight movement just in time. And there you are, right in the doorway to the kitchen with a huge, beaming smile on your face, gun pointed at him, and wearing nothing but your white cotton underwear. He fails to concentrate on anything else except your gorgeous body, the only one in this whole world that he has worshiped multiple times and hasn’t lost interest in. He smiles at the sight of your baby bump that has just started to grow round and the way your panties’ elastic band sits across it. However, you play unfairly, a Nerf dart suddenly making its way toward him. 

He manages to duck it, hearing it hit the kitchen cabinets behind him with a soft thud before clattering to the floor. He raises his gun and you squeal with delight, turning on your heel, and running through your shared home. He fires a few darts in your direction without hesitation but none of them get you and you’re gone again. 

“Nice try, baby!” You laugh triumphantly. He follows the sound of your voice, your padding feet, and your giggles that elevate his heartbeat with indescribable warmth and happiness. They lead him to the bedroom, steadily creeping along the walls until he nudges the door open with his foot, gun at the ready. 

He guesses that you’ve stepped into the closet where his shirts hang because you won’t have had time to roll underneath the bed. He makes his way across the floor and swings the door open only to find nothing but his old clothes. He furrows his brow but then tenses up at the thrilling feeling of the tip of your gun poking into his back. He smirks to himself. 

“Hah!” You exclaim with glee, “Isn’t this a surprise? I can’t believe I won!”

His smile becomes more mischievous. You haven’t shot him yet, too arrogant to think that you won’t have to because he’ll surrender. Too bad for you that he is a stubborn man who loves you just a little more than anyone else before him. It’s enough to not let you win as you love it the most. 

In a flurry of tactical decisions and moves, he manages to whip around and grab the gun to fling it out of your hands. It falls to the floor with a clatter and your eyes widen. It dawns on you that you have noticed his plan too late and you end up with a Nerf dart hitting you square in the chest. 

“Gotcha!” Javier celebrates. 

You stumble back dramatically, clutching frantically at your chest after impact to earn a genuine laugh from your husband. You end up on the floor and Javier steps forward to stand with a leg on either side of you. 

“Do you stand down, soldier?” Javier asks, imitating the sound of reloading. When he aims at your chest again, you hold your hands up in mock surrender. 

“Fine, you win take away privileges,” you giggle but still try to reach out for his gun. 

Javier drops to his knees, getting comfortable on your thighs while you start to squirm, “You’re not very convincing, wife.”

“I’m being completely genuine, husband,” you reassure and accidentally push up into him, the slightest friction against his jeans making him feel a stir of desire in the length of his cock. 

Just when you try to reach for his gun again, he throws it next to the other and thus out of your reach. He leans down over you, hovering over your pouting face, and kisses your lips, “You really thought you could beat me so easily? Chica tonta (silly girl).”

The exhilarating feeling of your little game has left him clouded by thoughts of you. His eyes start to wander down your figure, his yearning for you that’s been building since he left in the morning making him unable to stop them. Your chest rises and falls a little quicker underneath his greedy gaze. Your breasts are more full than usual because of the baby growing inside of you and you look so stunning sprawled out on the floor at his mercy that he can’t help but let his hands wander as well.

You arch up to catch his lips in a tantalizing kiss that leaves him short of breath. Warmth thrums underneath his skin, a result of your heat radiating through him even as his fingertips only ghost down towards your waist and stomach. Your skin is electric, soft to the touch, and glowing just right because you are pregnant. 

“Javi,” you breathe softly as your hands come up to tangle in his hair, messing it up after he has had it under control the whole day. He nods but doesn’t keep his mouth on yours, instead lets the tip of his nose trail over your cheek and down your jaw whilst leaving kisses on your trembling neck as he descends. 

“I missed you all day,” he whispers, nibbling and kissing your skin until a thin sheen of spit runs down the pulsing vein along your throat. When he reaches your belly, beautiful and pregnant, he presses several kisses all over the growing bump while listening to you sigh with contentment. He smiles into your skin, briefly resting his cheek on you to look up at your face, “How have you both been today?” 

“We’ve been good,” you hum and run your hand through his hair, flattening it down again by pushing it back as you caress the top of his head, “We’ve missed you though. They’ve been moving around a bit but I think they’ve gone to sleep now… all that running around.” 

“Lots of privacy for us then,” he teases. He shifts positions, scooting backward until he is kneeling between your legs. He pecks your belly repeatedly, “You just sleep, bebito (little baby) while I take care of your pretty mamá.”

“What do you have planned?” You ask, wiggling your hips to try and get comfortable on the hard floor. He smirks at you and crawls forward to yank at the covers on the bed, pulling them far enough off the mattress until the pillows follow. He helps you to lift your pelvis up so he can scoot the soft pillow underneath your hips and then does the same with your head. 

“Can I eat this sweet little pussy, mamá?” He asks, finally kneeling in position again and watching you plant your feet on the ground by bending your knees. His own knees are hurting slightly but he ignores it because he knows he’ll forget it once he gets lost in your cunt.  

“Please,” you swallow thickly after a hitched breath. You nod eagerly with that little expression on your face that he loves when you’re getting treated for simply being the love of his life; all softened features, mouth slightly open, and pleading eyes watching as he goes down. 

Gently, he puts his palms on the back of your warm thighs and pushes your legs towards your chest, enjoying seeing you in the same position that he put that baby inside of you while he still can. You follow his movements without protest, keeping them there while he hooks his fingers under the waistband of your panties. 

“You want it?” He asks while dragging the fabric down over your hips as you nod repeatedly, snapping it slightly from how you barely register that you have to cooperate. He laughs as you do, a tiny giggle escaping you as you hold your legs up with your hands under your knees when he slips the underwear off your feet and tosses it to the side. 

Your pussy is on display for him like this, your pushed-together thighs and your ass slightly elevated from the pillow making it stick out even more. You squeeze around your calves to hold your position and he can see your dripping slit quiver, inviting him in to squish his head between your thighs. 

He flattens his tongue to lick a long, greedy stripe from the cleft of your ass to your clit, feeling you pulse in excitement as he finally touches you with his mouth. He groans at your sweet taste, repeating the move to concentrate on gulping down some of your slick like he hasn’t had a drink all day and Texan summer is peaking. You make him so hard in his jeans that it hurts, the length of his cock straining against the zipper as your sweet scent fills his nostrils. As he eats you out slowly and hears you sigh with pleasure above him, he agrees with himself that he’ll fuck you too. He thought this would be enough but no, you look perfect, swollen and warm below him and he doesn’t want to go through this late afternoon without feeling your heat around his cock. 

“Fuck, baby,” you gasp the way you do when your orgasm starts to tug from within you. He stops only using the tip of his tongue to be more forceful in his treatment. He covers your mound with his mouth, hollowing his cheeks as he sucks at your clit to hear you whine a mhmm…

You gush a little wetness when he releases you briefly, a drop of it sliding down between your cheeks so it accidentally wets the pillow you’re writhing on. Javier doesn’t care right now, will just throw everything in the washer later. He kisses your clit a few times before going in again, this time pressing his tongue against you to wiggle it against your clit that’s now hard from how turned on you are. 

There’s a climb in your pitch, a little higher moan coming out your mouth as he starts to let small flicks of his tongue rain down on your gorgeous clit. He concentrates on getting you there, heart beating in his ears but still managing to listen to your heaving breaths, notice your palms tighten around your legs as you channel the intensity into whatever you can and feel your hips involuntarily move so he has to grab the widest part of your thighs and hold you in place. 

When you start to hold your breath after a particularly long whine, he pulls away to stop your orgasm with the excuse that he has to breathe. You look down at him, releasing your grip around your knees to let your thighs fall out to the sides. You look frustrated, your racing heartbeat evident from the way your pussy pulses in a steady rhythm. 

“I hate you,” you say through gritted teeth, hips lifting off the pillow for just a moment as you chase something, anything to no avail.

“No, you don’t, Mamacita, not with what I’m about to do to you,” he grins, eyes glued to your glistening slit, watching the shine of his own spit covering your delicate skin. He grabs your ankles to plant your feet on the floor like you’d done briefly earlier, only to slide his hands upward over your shins, knees, and thighs until they sit on your hips. He gropes your jiggly thighs for a second, watching his movements vibrate all the way up to your bra-covered tits. They jump a little and he knows he has never seen anything so perfect, catching his hungry eyes and attention for a little too long. When he wants to smirk at you, he sees your pouty face and chuckles, “Alright, I’ll hurry up. Gotta give you what you want when dinner isn’t your call.”

You bite your bottom lip as he descends on your cunt again, tensing up the muscle of his tongue to lick a long stripe between your soaked folds. He moans when your hands find his hair, tugging gently on the follicles of his scalp. When he dares glance up at your writhing body, he can only see your tensed-up jaw as you have thrown your head back.

“Fuck, Javi,” you whine, “F-fingers. Make me come on your fingers, please.”

He can definitely do that. He lets his dominant hand slide down between your legs while he holds himself up with the other one on your hip, keeping your pelvis down as he sucks hard on your clit. Two of his fingers enter you and curl toward the front of your walls, seeming to have a direct line to your spine because you arch your back with a groan. 

Javier hums with pride, fucking you open on his digits whilst hollowing his cheeks around your clit. He drags the pads of his fingers over your g-spot again and again, hearing how your breathing speeds up once more and feeling your heartbeat as you rhythmically start to clench around his middle- and ring finger. He doesn’t have to look, is simply driven crazy by the mere thought of the finger that he wears his wedding band on disappearing into you over and over. 

“I’m coming,” you announce with a cry, barely able to catch your breath at this point. You tug harsher on his hair, pushing your hips up to earn more friction, “I’m gonna come, baby. Fuck, you’re making me come.”

Javier bobs his head slightly as he nips and sucks and licks, moving his fingers inside of you almost frantically to get the reward that he so desperately wants and needs. You squeeze your eyes shut, thighs tensing up and then go completely silent above him for less than a few seconds. 

You come with a high-pitched squeal a moment later, pussy going off into rapid spasms that choke his fingers but not enough for him to stop dragging them out while they curl upward. He releases his mouth from your pulsing clit, withdrawing his head from between your thighs so your arms fall to the floor. You gush all over his hand which he doesn’t manage to pull away, twisting your gorgeous body in surprise as you practically wet yourself on the floor. He tightens his grip on you to keep you on your back, hearing you sob with pleasure as he sinks his fingers knuckles-deep into you again and repeats the move. 

Another gush soaks the floorboards and you are practically levitating by now, enough for Javier to be sure that he has made up for the fact that his pregnant wife won’t get her takeout craving satisfied. He hears how it sounds in his head, knowing immediately that he should decide on that goddamn pizza if he wants to have it easy. 

He snaps out of it to go again at least three times more and when you seem like you can barely handle it anymore, he pulls back but only after a gentle peck on your swollen clit. You squirm in oversensitivity, shaking your head repeatedly while he cannot stop grinning in self-satisfaction. God, how on earth can he of all people have the privilege to make you feel so good? 

It takes a moment before your mind isn’t fogged by fireworks going off between your legs anymore and you slump on the floor with a satisfied smile on your face, a giggle bubbling up in your throat which is the most heavenly sound he has ever heard. 

“Okay?” He asks with a dazed expression, the taste of you lingering on his tongue. He rubs your thigh up and down, feeling the slight dampness from the sweat and wetness of your body. 

You nod in reply, “Mhmm…”

“Made a mess on the floor,” he tells you with a hint of taunting in his voice. 

“Mhmm,” you repeat, no shame in your tone which he loves completely, “You’ll clean it up.”

“Oh, will I?” He laughs quietly at the state of you. It’s true though; he will, and as you nod once more, he is already getting up from the floor with an aching hard-on in his jeans. 

“Yes because I’ll let you fuck me when you get back,” you grin lazily, letting your thighs fall out to the sides even more to show him your wet cunt. He could skip the step where he gets a towel but you’ll complain about it later tonight if he doesn’t nip it in the bud.

He adjusts his cock in his jeans when he is on his feet and undoes the pants on the way to the bathroom, hands gripping the handle on the bathroom drawer a little too hard when he gets a towel. He slings the towel over his shoulder and pushes the fabric of his pants down over his hips, relieved when his cock is only covered by the softness of his briefs. 

When he has patted down the floorboards, just managing to do it before your come has started to soak into the wood, he throws the towel to the side and kneels between your legs again. He looks at you with longing, with a fire in him that feels as if it is getting poured gasoline over it when you look into his eyes with a mischievous grin. 

“Can I have it now, baby?” He asks politely as he pushes his briefs down, letting them sit just below his hips because it feels like too much work to undress completely when he so desperately wants to be inside of you. You nod and hold out your hands to signal that he needs to come closer, and he follows through on your silent request but only after taking a last look at the beautiful mess between your legs that he’ll push into soon. 

When he crawls over you, you unbutton his shirt to reveal his chest and touch him all over. Your delicate hands roam over the skin of his torso, fingertips sliding through the little but sexy amount of hair there until you grab around the small of his back. You pull him in, he moves closer. 

A sharp exhale leaves him as he enters you finally. You on the other hand moan shakily as he fills up every last inch of you, intruding just a little before you relax around him. Your hands slide down and your nails dig into his ass, motioning for him to start moving inside of you. 

Your head falls back when he thrusts once then twice, fucking you slowly but harshly into the floor. It’s so ridiculous to think that he only had plans to kiss you when he came home, maybe making love to you in bed after the film you definitely won’t fall asleep to. He braces himself with a hand beside your thrown-back head, leaning down over you to practically latch onto your throat. He kisses along the beautiful arch of your neck, tasting your salty skin and feeling your throat vibrate against his lips with each noise of pleasure you make. 

You bend your legs to wrap them around his hips, rocking with him as he fucks into you deeply. Your cunt is so wet and warm around him, echoing each of his groans by choking his dick just as he has come to love it after he started fucking you on the regular three years back. Here he is, happily married to you and he is going to be a father. The thought of what you two have together, what you will achieve together, makes him impossibly hard inside of you, especially when you go and do something as stupidly adorable as a Nerf gunfight. He must have you. Fantastic, sexy, beautiful you.

He rolls his hips to hear you say his name, the floor creaking underneath you as you move together. You tilt your head forward again to kiss him, slotting your mouth over his and tasting your sweat and slick on his tongue. You suck at the tip, hinting at how good you are at going down on him and he groans with how wanton you can come off. You’re not just a sweet girl like everyone says.

“There! Oh fuck, th-there,” you break the kiss to yell out for him as he hits an angle that wasn’t even deliberate, the noise bouncing off the walls. The little old lady who lives downstairs from you will be banging on the door tomorrow, gone before you can answer and having left a cheerful yet unhappy note that starts. It's so nice that you enjoy each other. Javier thinks it’s more than nice. 

“Yeah? There, baby?” He does it again to piss off the whole building instead and your fingers dig into his skin with how good it is, “¿Así (like that)?”

“Sí, así (yes, like that),” you sob, your cunt squeezing his dick with how you have another high incoming. He seeks out your lips again but you are busy; your eyes are squeezed shut in concentration on your pleasure and your mouth hangs open as moan after moan leaves it, so he settles for a desperate bite to your jaw. 

“I love you,” he says as clearly as he can muster, his own orgasm creeping up on him as he spears you again and again. He moves a little to go harder and faster, his pace slowly increasing until you need to hold onto him to not go upwards on the floor with the strength behind his hips. You slide your hands up his back, nails scratching in their wake until you pull him into your arms. God, he feels so good and safe when you do that. You are both sweaty, chests sticking slightly to each other from how much effort you are putting into being together like this. 

“I love you too, esposo (husband),” you whimper feebly and tighten your legs around him to keep him where you want him the most. He can hear you are close in the way your breaths fall from your lips. 

“Come for me,” he whispers with a hot breath against your ear that has you shivering on top of everything else, “Por favor, mi amor. Quiero sentirte (Please, my love. I wanna feel you).”

His words send you there, your sounds send him there. You come with a pained noise and then a string of moans, your brows furrowed as your cunt goes off into spasms that he relishes in. They pull his own high from him, his muscles tightening before pleasure washes over him as he fills you up with his spill. It is accompanied by a guttural groan that makes you clench around him just when he thought it was over. He cannot control his hips as he feels it. His pace, albeit slowing down, gets uneven until it comes to a complete halt. 

Eventually, he rolls off of you. The both of you groan as he pulls out, and he immediately reaches for the towel which you place between your legs. He turns his head towards you when you do and as you gain eye contact, the both of you laugh in post-orgasmic bliss. 

You scoot closer by wiggling your entire body. You also decide to share the pillow under your head with him, pulling into the space between you. 

When you rest a hand on your baby bump, he reaches to hold it. Your breaths fall in sync with no need to say anything until you have the energy. 

When that time comes, you look at him out of the corner of your eye, “So.”

“So?” He asks and pulls up his underwear. 

“What did I lose to?” You elaborate while he buttons and zips his jeans. 

“Chinese,” he replies and tries to suppress his excitement in case you start pouting. Instead, you laugh out loud. 

“What? Why’s that funny?” He probably looks confused. 

“I wanted Chinese,” you clarify with continuous giggles. 

“Oh,” he joins in and chuckles, “You never want Chinese.”

“The baby wants Chinese,” you pat your belly with your other hand.

“Must be my kid,” he smirks and rolls onto his side. He pecks your cheek repeatedly. 

“Must be,” you turn your head to kiss him but it doesn’t quite feel enough. So he kisses you again, squeezing the hand on your pregnant belly as he does it and when you giggle against his mouth, it seems like the whole reason he was put on Earth is to do all of this and what’s to come with you.

.

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If you would like to follow my writing then go follow @notjustjavierpena-fics and turn on notifications 💖❤️

[thatrandomblogsays]

Me: *reading a post that makes the joke “Peeta dropped the baby bomb, Gale drops bombs on babies”* haha good one

Also me: you’re missing the point! You’re missing the point! YOURE MISSING THE POINT! He grew up starving. His best friend almost died of hunger. Most of his people live in poverty. He watched children die in a bloodbath every year for the capital’s entertainment. The girl he loved went into the games. Was tortured by the capitol. His district was bombed out of existence. Nearly everyone he knew was killed. Their only crime was being fed up of being hungry and oppressed and sharing the same district as Katniss. All those innocent people. Murdered. He had to take refuge in a district that was bombed out of existence and forced to live underground. Of course he joined the war effort. Of course he designed unethical bombs and battle tactics. He wanted revenge. He wanted the capitol to have a taste of their own medicine. He wanted the rebellion to succeed. And tell me you could live through what he did, and that no part of you would be screaming for Justice and vengeance. Gale is you. You are Gale. He represents a part of feelings and actions that reside within us, even if you don’t act on it.

“But he killed prim!” Exactly! Gale loved prim. She was a second family to her. He looked after Katniss’ family. He saved them from the district 12 bombings. He loved her. He never would’ve put her in danger. He never would’ve put in order for a bombing if it would kill Prim. But coin would. And did. She took what was meant to be a tool of Gale’s righteous revenge for all the suffering he and his people suffered through, only for someone in power to take it and use it to kill someone he loved.

There’s some many lessons to take. We can’t control the things we create. War spares no one. Even justifiable rage and actions can end up rebounding and hurting those you love instead of your targets.

“He drops bombs on babies” is too simplistic of a takeaway and does a disservice to the story and Gale.

[elizabethrobertajones]

My main takeaway about the jobs demonstration (which I watched on the exercise bike at the gym because this is a completely normal thing to do) is that almost every job has an effect which looks like you're calling in some sort of strike from orbit. However, I think the MCH one may not be metaphorical. I think Stephanivien is launching tactical satellites.

[booasaur]

When I wrote this loooong recap of the recent French elections, I ended up seeing a lot of people's takeaways for the US election, namely: Voooote!

And that is what I said as well, but I think a lot of people ignored the other part that made as much of a difference:

It was NOT just voting that avoided a far-right takeover, it was ALSO the less electable candidates dropping out. Voting AND tactics.

If you took any lessons from the French elections, take them both and take heart. This is good. We can win this.

[coachtfd]

Tactical Takeaway:

This is the value of the modern goalkeeper. You don’t struggle with trying to play through a possession-based team because you bypass the midfield completely. Perfectly aimed long balls put the opposition on the back foot and disrupt the back line. It allows them to keep their plays simple and dangerously effective. Love what South Africa is doing right now, I think they can equalize and go on to win if they keep this up.

[triviallytrue]

Did my biannual scroll through a terf blog, some takeaways:

-These people are frighteningly fixated on the sole issue of trans rights. They will occasionally talk about abortion, abuse, etc, but for most of the hardline terfs, over half their posts are about trans people

-The whole "punch a terf" thing is a tactical error, it just feeds the victimization complex that gets used as a recruiting tool

-If you're going to debate a terf, approach it with the intended audience of someone witnessing their very first trans rights discourse. You aren't going to convince anyone who's already a terf and there's no point in preaching to the choir, so if you want to waste your time, argue with an undecided third party in mind

[byemambo]

4Minutes EP. 5 - My Takeaways

I'm back! I hope everyone is doing well and recovering from what happened this episode. BIG WARNING: I hacked the system (while happily creating more work for myself /lh) and made my own photo layouts to maximize the 30 image cap so I'm not sure how long this post will be but at least it's reference heavy!

The full analysis is under the cut to not spoil it for those who haven't watched yet :O

We start the episode off with Title's downfall and now in the hands of Tonkla, drawing connections in the supposed timeline dependent on whether Dome is dead or alive. Since the main story has funneled its way in solidifying the passing of Dome, we now are given the opportunity to watch Tonkla's revenge plot play out. My main question is wondering what Win will do once he is confronted with Tonkla, either through initiating that interrogation himself or look out for signs and gather evidence since they're now living together. But this is only if Win chooses his morals over his own vices, which will be one of the main points I wanted to cover today :)

Confrontation vs. Compliance: The Return to Ethics

As we've seen in the released episodes, there has been a wide range of how Tyme and Great approach life and its circumstances. Although both of them are introverted in nature, we can see their differences most through Tyme's guarded personality marked with tactical execution side by side with Great's impulsivity and kind hearted nature bursting with a strong sense of duty and justice. Tyme's pivotal life circumstances caused him to become detached and absentminded in his every day living, only giving his true self away to his grandmother and holding the strongest bond with her. Great on the other hand, entered the main family circle once Korn's mother passed and Great's mother, the mistress, elevated in status to be alongside both the son's father. In a sense, one person grew up with power handed to him and the other with power taken away from him, which really highlights how both of them interpret the world around them and interact with it.

Great is confronted with his most pivotal decision thus far, really putting himself to the test in challenging his passive nature for action: helping in seeking justice and accountability against his own family's corruption, which he is still wrapping his mind around since he's been told of how they affected Tyme's family along with others like Nan. I find this in contrast to the Great we first met in episode 1 to be so striking considering that the "old" Great was reckless and seemed to have little regard for his family, specifically his father, and now having to ponder on the ultimatum Tyme presents: confrontation or compliance.

Growing up in a Western culture with individualistic views in contrast to my ethnicity's Eastern culture with collectivist views, relationship with family is strong but in its respective ways. Individualism evokes a person to ground their reality in themselves and those who are an extension to them, such as immediate family members. These cultures value autonomy, personal responsibility and rarely fall to ostracization or becoming a scapegoat.

Collectivism finds strength in the prioritization of group effort and maintenance, valuing cooperation and collaboration, but easily gives into sacrificing autonomy for the sake of the group's overall success. We find such values in families who thrive off of power and exploitation, living in a "dog eat dog world." In a dynamic that feeds off of manipulation and utilizing violent or illegal methods to gain access to capital gain and status, many of these families, intentionally or by force, follow in blind faith that the head of the household dedicate themselves to these means for the sake of the family's survival, discouraging conflict and divergence within the system. Because this family involved themselves in high risk activity, tensions between them and other rivaling families and even within the family itself is kept under wraps until it's impossible to avoid.

This boiling point is best highlighted once Great begins to solidify his moral stance, which to his family interprets these actions as defiance and causes impatience and true colors to show through. Great's father uses deliberate language when his temper gets the best of him, willing to disregard familial love and affection for potential financial gain while throwing his own children under the bus after they've displayed no use to him.

Great's father has always operated on the basis of investment (he is a business man after all), which translates aspects of his life in terms of assets that have their various levels of worth and value in relation to himself and his own personal gain. Once he realizes that Great's behavior isn't simply another car accident scandal or frenzy that'll cause an uproar in the media and taint the family's reputation, he prepares himself for a point-of-no-return, already shoving aside his son and his mother and baring no relationship to them. "Get that son of yours," disconnecting himself at the point of realizing there is a chance of failure if he continues investing in this part of his family, that Great's behavior is not of his own son, a son like Korn who has set himself up for a life deeply rooted in submission. Korn represents compliance, Great represents confrontation, which reaches its peak once Samarn reveals information about Nan and her escape without Korn's permission.

Not having enough time to process and sort out his thoughts about the whole ordeal, Korn wishes to speak to Great before meeting their father, ending in Great's veil being pulled back to reveal his family's true nature.

Korn follows the footsteps of his father, falling under the guise of filial piety and familial responsibility. I spoke more on Korn's character traits in my episode 4 analysis, which has become oppressive and unyielding as he finds himself deeper and deeper in keeping the business from falling apart as it seems to be on its last leg.

I find that because Korn has witnessed the vast amount of violence and crime within this organization, he'd rather sacrifice himself to keep Great away from his eventual fate in also participating in the business. Rather than choice, it has become an obligation that has slowly consumed him whole to a point of not being able to shield his brother any longer from the main threat: their father.

Grief: A Shared Experience

Throughout the episodes, we've seen Korn beaten down by his father on almost every occasion he occupied the same room as him, to which he throws the bait by disclosing Great's involvement in Nan's escape and is instantly confronted by Great's mother defending her son. Living under a close eye by his father for most of his life, we're starting to see Korn enter a period of grief for himself and his life circumstances.

Denial when he found out Great helped Nan escape, anger when Great was defended by his mother to which his father defends her and leaving him with no one by his side (who used to be Tonkla), bargaining when Fasai proposes her offer to help him out of this situation on her own terms: marry her and stop seeing Tonkla, who was nothing more than a toy.

Depression when Korn identifies with his learned helplessness, that no matter what decision he makes, it's nothing but an illusion and he will ultimately give up something he loves. Acceptance when he agrees with her terms, and we witness a part of him that dies, the part which was dignified, ambitious, respectable and has become dishonorable, insecure, shameful. That person is no longer there, accepting his fate and making amends with his crossroad.

In contrast, we witness Great undergoing the same grieving process, but instead of grieving for the person he once was, he grieves for the family he once knew. The family who is loved and hated by many, the family who endured the death of a loved one, the family who carries enough influence within the industry that a few stories revealed by families suffering in the hands of their involvement will only make a mere dent in their reputation: this status and footing in their society means nothing to Great if the means in which all their wealth and resources caused irreparable damage to other families, to families like Tyme's.

Denial when his father refuses to accept responsibility for their family's corruption that has deeply impacted the lives of others. Anger once his finally meets eye to eye with his father and finalizes his estrangement from him.

Bargaining by his mother, who is also deeply affected by their initial status in the family as the "mistress and her child," finding any way to salvage the dire situation that will impact their lives forever due to her husband's influence and methods.

Depression once he confronts his mother with the real questions that haven't been answered with any ounce of satisfaction: who is this all for exactly? What is exactly best for me? Why does my voice not matter? Why do I not have a choice? Why am I being shamed and blamed? What are we even doing? Who exactly are we?

Acceptance once Great mourns for a brief moment that in order to save himself, he must make the painstaking decision to abandon his family, including his own mother. This sequence along with her desperate cries got to me, the pain a mother experiences when losing her child. Not only have they lost Korn, they too, lost Great. However, rather than sacrificing himself for his own self interest, he chooses to sacrifice himself to be with the one he loves, the one that he carries an indescribable pit in the stomach levels of guilt for, as his family has directly caused a lifetime of pain and suffering.

A cardiac arrest ensues once Great sees the guy with the gun in attempt to harm his mother, sending him back and he still chooses to sacrifice himself for another person he loves, this time his own mother.

We are blessed with an authentic depiction of unconditional love from both ends: Great telling his mother to run away, his mother remaining by her son's side, Great biding his possible last I love you, experiencing a different reality of acceptance. His mother willing to die right beside her son and allowing herself to take the bullet, she too, had experienced her own grieving process. Denial that her son has supposedly helped in Nan's escape that caused the scandal leak, which will possibly affect their family's reputation, anger and bargaining by conducting any possible attempt to bring Great back to apologize to his father and keep the position she had worked hard to attain in this life, depression once she realizes that her son is leaving for good and there's nothing she could do to stop him, and finally, acceptance in her own fate to die, as long as she can die alongside her son, the only person she has ever loved unconditionally.

We also arrive back to Tyme with his grandmother, renting their home and hiding out at a relative's house for the time being and wearing the exact outfit worn in the intro of episode 1.

Episode 5

Episode 1

Now entering the possible point-of-no-return at high stakes, we've arrived back to the beginning of the story, in which the person in need of CPR and medical attention in episode 1 is Great. This "full circle moment" is also visually present in the series's b-roll: all of these objects are spinning or being circled counterclockwise, as if time has reverted itself back to stage one. Even the camera rotation while Tyme is running to the hospital is rotating counterclockwise, that in this timeline, Tyme has the opportunity to rewrite his own history, a history that will reunite him with the one he loves, the one who's just as willing to sacrifice himself in order to protect each other. The one who both exchanged mutual reasons to choose life as an active participant, and became each other's reason that makes life worth living for.

We are the ones who are capable of changing our fate: it's all within our grasp, it's all within the confines of our hearts, it's all within our reach, it's all worth fighting for.

Honorable Mention: Jes in All Shades

Every day, I'm becoming more and more enamored by this gentleman. To think Jes is a household name who took the chance to venture outside of what he's always known as a means to try something new and challenge himself, to think that Bible has found his match who's into all the same things as him, who becomes observant of others whenever Bible speaks to make sure they're actively listening, to be so humble when people mention his accolades in so many areas that he's dedicated himself to (acting, music, sports, hobbies, etc), to be so endearing with such a fun and bright personality that is just the right temperature that compliments Bible well, to be so kind in taking care of him as the more experienced of the two, to be such an amazing person inside out that you can't help but want to scream off the rooftops for the world to discover such an incredibly hardworking individual whose goal for this particular series is to bring something new to the Thai entertainment industry, to become a trailblazer and take it upon himself as well as the 4M cast and crew to break out of the mold that's been complacent and safe, to be the best person for this role that I can't see anyone fulfilling it. Thank you so much for being a part of this project and bringing so much life to Tyme, and bringing so much insight and enthusiasm for the rest of us that support BOC series. <3

And we made it to the end WHEW. Totally wasn't fighting sleep trying to form coherent sentences before I sleep on it and forget literally everything

Quick shout out to everyone who's shown appreciation for these posts, that means the world to me and I love reading everyone else's thoughts :)

See y'all next week <3

[bestworstcase]

Fingers crossed on the 'Yang's dad reconsiders about her' thing, mainly 'cuz it seems like an effortless failure mode for their particular dynamic (and one she's super likely to keep internalizing) would be 'huh, guess you're finally using the ol' noggin for more than headbutts, proud of ya sport'. And that's IF both parties aren't too swept up (or unalived in Taiyang's case) by Events for such fine-tuned cognitive script-flipping. Plus, 'we all pedestalized Ruby into a breakdown' does strike me as a higher-priority family crisis if there is any breathing room.

i’m not sure how much i buy the reading that yang internalizes what tai tells her about herself, in all honesty, ’cause like

everything tai says is a generalization from her vytal tournament fights, which:

team rwby won on the strength of their superior tactics and teamwork

yang fired burn because those two were being assholes after her teammate got (possibly, as far as yang knew) seriously injured, then used the power her semblance gave her to take control of the battlefield and turn her opponents’ advantages against them; she wins by applying her strength very tactically.

yang and mercury are very evenly matched, the whole fight is a nail-biter, and yang uses burn to tank mercury’s big finisher, then wins because he assumes he’s won before the match is called. (<- which is merc’s plan, but tai didn’t know that when he formed these impressions.)

tai’s takeaway is:

burn is “basically a temper tantrum”

yang relies on it because she’s “predictable, and stubborn, and maybe a little bone-headed”

yang uses her semblance to make herself strong so she can brute force her way through problems.

except that doesn’t line up with what yang does in either of the fights where she uses her semblance! in the 2v2, she’s angry and she uses that anger to juice her semblance, but she’s not lashing out or blowing things up at random, she’s disrupting the terrain so her roller-blading opponent can’t maneuver; in the 1v1, her use of burn is defensive—she activates it to strengthen herself enough to outlast a volley she couldn’t dodge or otherwise avoid, and she stays focused.

yang, of course, knows this. she’s the one who was in her head when she made the decision to fire her semblance in those fights. she pushes back on the idea that burn is any different from any other semblance, but she’s also able to filter out tai’s specific bias against her semblance to extract some actually good advice, specifically “make sure you’re not getting yourself stuck in a rut, think outside the box.”

which is what we see her doing with burn after v4; she uses her semblance more, in more varied ways. she completely ignores the advice tai gave her to stop “relying” on her semblance because she knows she hasn’t ever been someone who thinks raw strength is the only thing that matters in a fight.

and then when adam taunts her, he doesn’t make jabs about her strength—he says “do you think you’re faster than you were at beacon?”—because he knows, and yang knows, that the reason yang lost her arm is she underestimated how fast he could strike. strength had fuck all to do with it; he hit her before she could reach him.

the thing about that is… sword. fists. adam will always be able to hit yang before yang gets close enough to hit him back, not because he’s a better fighter or faster or stronger but simply because his weapon gives him way more reach. yang is faster than she was at beacon, but is she fast enough to eliminate his mechanical advantage?

adam doesn’t think so. yang doesn’t either. so she doesn’t try—she stands her ground and lets adam come at HER, because she’s been feeling out his semblance the whole fight and she’s confident she can catch his blade. this is why she tells him she’s “smarter;” adam expects a repeat of their last confrontation whereas yang uses what she knows about him to trick him into overextending.

his advantage is superior range, which yang isn’t fast enough to overcome. (sword. fists.) her advantage is strength. being smart, in this case, means using her strength instead of letting adam sting her into a contest of speed she knows she can’t win.

yang is a very agile, precise fighter who’s smart enough to know when to plant her feet and use her strength. she took a risk that she could catch that sword, but 1. that was really her best option, and 2. she spent the whole fight prior testing his limits and her own to prepare herself as much as possible. and in reverse, there have been times—like at haven—where yang decided speed was the most important thing and took the risk of literally disarming herself to get down to the vault as fast as possible.

did she really internalize that she’s a dum-dum who tries to hulk smash her way through every problem, or did she go “well i’m not going to stop using my semblance because that’s bullshit, but maybe i can get more out of it than i have been,” cue experimenting with things like different intensities.

i do think—if there’s a moment of reevaluation from tai—it’ll probably incited by blake or yang or ruby? because, returning to the salem comparison: salem understands who cinder is but doesn’t know what cinder really wants, so when cinder defies her she is able to immediately grasp why. whereas tai generally knows what yang wants (protect her sister, find her mother) but doesn’t understand who she is, so when he tries to explain why she does something he’s likely to be wrong every time. “you’ve fought your whole life unwaveringly for what you want, and here i am holding you back” vs “your semblance is a temper tantrum and you’re a little boneheaded”—salem gets cinder whereas tai probably needs to be told he doesn’t get yang.

[sophieinwonderland]

The "Sysmed is Transphobic" Line Has to be Willful Ignorance, Right?

Sysmeds seem to have reading comprehension problems, so let me try to break this down as much as I possibly can!

Most of the systems who started using the word sysmeds are transgender. Transgender systems can't steal terms from themselves!

Many were victims of transmeds.

Transmed ideology claims that the only possible way to be a trans is through a disorder. Sysmed ideology claims the only possible way to be a system is through a disorder. Both use near-identical arguments and tactics.

"Gender identity disorder" was a diagnosis in the DSM until 2013. "Transexualism" was a disorder in the ICD-11 until 2019. Being transgender no longer being treated as a mental disorder is a relatively recent development. But these diagnoses helped fuel transmedicalism.

Sysmeds and transmeds both deny science and expert opinions that contradict their beliefs.

To date, every single expert commenting on multiplicity outside of dissociative disorders has either been neutral, acknowledging it as a possibility, or has affirmed it to be a real psychological phenomenon. There are ZERO experts who have supported hard anti-endo stances.

There is one reason and one reason only that sysmeds always resort to this buzzword salad of accusing primarily-queer systems who use the term of being transphobic and ableist...

And that's because you hate looking in the mirror and realizing that you are just as vile and disgusting as the bigots who have mistreated you.

You want a pass to use transmed arguments and talking points without anyone pointing out the similarities. And when systems, most of whom are queer themselves, point out the similarities, you try to paint those queer systems as queerphobic for pointing it out.

If you yourself faced hate from transmeds, I find it pretty sad that your only takeaway from the experience was "transmeds are bad because they targeted me specifically," and then chose to adopt their same tactics to use on another group.

[rin-and-jade]

Petrified like Medusa: A Post about Catatonic Dissociation. (more like how catatonia and dissociation work, creating a devastating combo. oof!)

Have you ever got that feeling where you cannot move your limbs, say a word, or even breathe? Do you feel like all your functions had stopped as if it's a statue? Where everything ceases to a halt as your body betrays whilst doing your daily activities? Something else might felt wrong and odd too;

It's not just your imaginary,, it is something real that us, systems sometimes experience. May this post bring you understanding of today's topic!

The difference between catatonia and dissociation

Catatonia is similar to freeze response, the only difference lies on the reason, which is: it is usually a byproduct of something (usually by overwhelm), while freeze activates from stressful situations. Being catatonic means:

Stuck in a position, no matter how uncomfortable or what pose you're at.

Find it hard to execute/keep up with basic actions such as eating, drinking, breathing, or even blinking!

You find yourself actively struggling/fighting against the heavy friction of the unmoving body. Or is absent from any forms of thoughts, seemingly empty inside out.

Stiff, rigid movements, making soft skills harder to perform.

--

Dissociation on the other hand, is an active defense that works by flinging you out from there by any means. Making you feel physically + emotionally detached, and mentally not engaging the situation. It is a veil that blurs the details and such, minimizing as much damage as possible.. it can look like:

The world looking a bit slow, distorted, or unclear.

Tactile sensations and sounds feel toned down and damped.

Your thoughts and movement may or may not get sluggish/lagged.

Memories feels fuzzy, preventing clarity of the situation.

How it affects us, systems..

Catatonic dissociation can happen when we are faced with inevitable, stressful moments. Depending on how bad the situation is,, when you're dissociating, catatonia can slowly creep up on you and petrify everything from top to bottom.. like medusa; This alone can hinder the communication and body coordination in systems.

Luckily, you can be aware of the warning signs soon before it sets in, pay attention to:

Feeling a huge reduction in movement, or have confusion of it.

It's harder to speak clearly, possibly restricting volume or vocals.

You are unbothered when someone is pushing you, for example. And stayed passive/still trying to process what happened.

Finding yourself standing/sitting/etc longer than you'd expect to.

A change in switching patterns, or show clear struggle in attempt.

Things feels like it skipped a beat, and you 'snapped out' every few moments. As if you were put into a trance.

--

Additionally, catatonia-like dissociation can also happen when you are in the middle of the process of a switch, feeling extra blank and unmoving until a new fronter completely took over, too! To minimize discomfort and possible injuries, practice caution by choosing a safe, comfortable spot beforehand.

The takeaway and tips to overcome this:

This episode is temporary, lasting from a few minutes to an hour or two (there might be instances that it will be longer). Frequency is subjective,

There are things that can be done to ease and lesson such discomfort or struggles; starting from planning a tactic for this situation, minimizing current triggers/stressors, finding a spot to lay down/sit although it'll be hard.. so take this step steady, and stay comfortable until it disappears by itself. Grounding techniques could help, though i have not tried them myself, feel free to test the theory.

Lastly, this concludes the end of the post! Thankyou for helping me decide which to do first, so please expect the other one to be out in a few weeks as i go down the rabbit hole, yet again. If you find this interesting, or helpful, or worthy of being shared to other people, i will appreciate every one of you who had read 'til the bottom of the post <3

- j, a very happy one

[itsclydebitches]

I find it striking that the show gave us two shots of Trent stopping a door right before it closes, in back-to-back episodes, with the first instance inevitably informing our reading of the second. Meaning, once that particular, distinctive shot is associated with Trent following Colin to come out to him/reassure him about being queer, seeing that shot again - especially so soon - automatically makes us go, "Okay, so what does this have to do with the themes of queer sexuality and coming out? Is this another case of Trent, on a literal level, running after a queer man?"

In a very general sense, this scene did have Trent 'come out' again: as a "dork," as autistic (based on many fans' reading of his enthusiasm and body language), as a total convert to the "Lasso Way," as a genuinely happy person after nearly three whole seasons of playing the cool, collected, despairingly cynical journalist. However, the takeaway is not just that Trent is finally comfortable enough to fully express himself, it's that he overtly acknowledges that Ted is the one who brought this about. Remember, "sport" is the metaphor and here everything Trent discusses about Total Football is really just a figurative expression of his love of Ted.

He's not even subtle about it, what with his language entirely focused on Ted's individual influence, rather than emphasizing the work the team has put in, or their own significant influences. (It's a biased focus that Trent indulges in despite Jamie straight up saving the day an hour before with Trent right there, watching him do it). He starts the scene by screaming Ted's name, says the strategy will work because of the Lasso Way, you haven't switched tactics, you've done this over three seasons. Trent might think that the fourth point doesn't matter, but really he's already discovered it. The last piece of the puzzle is Ted (or more broadly, the love that Ted helps flourish). A team can have conditioning, versatility, and awareness, but if they haven't formed the kind of bond we see when the boys are putting that water bottle into Will's basket, all of those others skills will come to naught when pit against the fluid, trust-based tactics of Total Football. That's the final condition that Ted has brought about and Trent's celebration of it is, by default, a celebration of Ted himself. Coupled with our opening door-stop that invites a, 'What gay quest is Trent heading out on now?' question, it's no wonder I've seen so many, "I thought Trent was going to kiss him" comments the last 24 hours. YEAH because that's how this scene is framed! Trent is newly out to the audience. He's paralleling his previous queer-focused plot-line. He's the most himself we've ever seen him while enthusiastically celebrating the existence of the man in front of him. What isn't romantic about that?

I also can't help but think about the door itself as a metaphor; of a possibility almost closing... only to be halted at the last possible second. We have the expression "When God closes a door he opens a window," yet in this episode we're explicitly told that God is not a part of this dynamic, so instead it's Trent - the supposed "observer" - who stops the door before it can close in the first place. He kept alive the possibility that Colin could find peace with someone about his sexuality and now he's keeping alive Ted's faith in his own coaching style... as well as the possibility for their romantic involvement (canon-based or fanon-based).

I know the "straight" comment disappointed a lot of fans, but the way I see it we have an episode where Ted's sexuality is framed in the past tense, while we get a shot of Trent giving him a I Know What You Are look similar to what Colin received, right after Ted gushes over loving a great head of hair + a clean-shaven look (Trent's vibe), alongside the meta (Lance's interviews) and canonical ("No, Sir / Yes, Ma'am") queering of Trent's gender, during a stint where a whole group of men are tied together by red strings of fate, right before one of those out men literally runs rom-com style after another to gush over how much he adores him while they're connected by their own strip of red.

[gnashing, wailing, etc. etc.] I BELIEVE