#the forces that bind us
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Snippet from Chapter 6: Shepard and Garrus bicker over rifles in the Seratoma Saunas.
"Have you been to Thessia?" Shepard asked, pulling Garrus back to consciousness.
"Refueling station a system outside on my first tour," Garrus clipped as his eyes fluttered open.
"Right. That's still so weird to me, how y'all need to join and fight."
"Well, it's not like we're all fighting. There's research division, medical, manufacturing-"
"Somehow, I doubt you added to the great pursuit of knowledge in those fields. No offense."
Garrus scoffed and brought himself up on his forearms to look at her. The clay beads shifted with his movements, sounding like crashing water to stone. "I guess you wouldn't call drilling a hole in between a pirate's eyes from 500 meters away an academic pursuit, then, huh?"
Shepard lifted herself from the pool. The beads loudly moved with her and fell away from her. The orange residue of the clay beads haphazardly decorated her light blue uniform.
"No shit, 26th Armiger Legion?" Her eyes lit up with excitement.
Garrus tried not to laugh, imagining himself strapped into a jet propulsion system like the 26th, a group of infiltrators who literally rocketed themselves on the battlefield.
"Spirits, no, not those crazy flying bastards. I was just a marksman scout sniper."
"Damn, and here I was, just beginning to think you were interesting. What did you specialize in? Incisor? Viper? Widow?" Her voice bounced, almost vibrating like a turian as she listed off each rifle.
"You sure are asking a lot of questions for someone who's not that interested."
"I haven't held a rifle in four years. Humor me, please. Give me some shop talk."
"Mantis-" Garrus said with the word barely past his mandibles before Shepard interjected.
"Ugh! I hated that thing. One shot reload with shit recoil that couldn't even penetrate most armor. Now get me a Black Widow, and then we can talk."
"So you just wanted to make this about you?" Garrus said in an unamused tone. "Besides, if you actually know how to use the Mantis, the one shot is all you need."
"Whatever. I'll take my three with the Black Widow any day."
"I thought those ripped humans' arms off."
"Gene mods," she said with a flex of her arm. Her linear scars bowed with the movement. The blue glow of the sauna lights encompassed the pale skin of the hard muscle on her bicep. "The same reason I'm not blind and a foot taller."
"You could be shorter?"
"Six feet is quite tall for a human woman, thank you."
"It's all the same to me. I still have to crane my neck to talk down to you."
"You think you're so funny."
"I have my moments," Garrus said, his mandibles pressed into a smile.
"I wouldn't even give you that," Shepard said, returning his smile before submerging back into the clay beads.
Read the rest on Ao3
#mass effect#commander shepard#garrus vakarian#shakarian#shepard x garrus#femshep#mass effect fanfiction#Mass effect fanfic#my fics#the forces that bind us
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The boy stops in his tracks. “I know you,” he says, tilting his head curiously. He’s not tall, but he’s regal nonetheless, dressed all in white. Something about him makes Leia’s hair stand on end, and although she hides it she feels a stirring in her own chest. I know you like I know my own soul, she thinks wildly, and wonders where it came from. Has she gone insane?
“That’s nice,” she says, and shoots him anyway.
He deflects it in a flash of light, a glowing blue laser sword appearing in his hand like magic. She’s only seen one of those before, and it’s Vader’s. If this boy is anything like Vader, she realizes, she’s in deep shit.
She’s smart enough to know when she’s outmatched. Leia makes the tactical decision to run for her life.
Later, as she’s getting the hell out of there, she wonders why he didn’t try to stop her.
She remembers being young and tugging on her mothers skirts, demanding to know why their guest was so sad. “Does he not like it here?” She’d asked, and then, trembling, because Kenobi always seemed saddest around her. “Is it…because of me?”
“Oh, Leia,” her mother sighed, lifting her into her arms. “It’s not that, I promise.”
“Then what is it?”
“Master Kenobi lost a child under his care, years ago.” Breha’s eyes grew deeper, darker. “It was not his fault, but he blames himself. You remind him of that child, that’s all.”
Leia had quieted at that, contemplative.
The next time she’d seen Master Kenobi, she had given him a hug. He didn’t seem to know what to do with that, so she resolved to give him more of them. “He’s lonely,” she’d told her mother. “No one should be lonely.”
Looking at Obi-Wan Kenobi now, the memory seemed so far away. He’d aged thirty years in the ten it had been.
He looks, Leia thinks with a small twinge of regret, very lonely.
“Leia,” he greets. “It’s been a long time.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Leia sees a glint of white.
Kenobi freezes in his tracks. “Luke?” He whispers, and through the distance Leia can hear it as if he’d been speaking directly into her ear.
Master Kenobi lost a child under his care, her mother whispers in her head. He blames himself.
In an instant, Leia understands everything.
Kenobi is still staring at the boy he’d lost so long ago when Vader cuts him down.
Later, as she’s pacing around on the Falcon to Han muttering darkly about Princesses and supernatural abilities, she rememberers the way the boy collapsed, as if all his strings had been cut. Vader was too occupied with him to even look at her as she shot at him desperately.
Luke. She hates him more than she hates herself.
“They know where you are,” he hisses frantically. “They’re coming for you. You have to run.”
“Wait!” Leia quickly pulls up their sonar. Nothing yet, but it would explain the distant queasiness she’d felt since they’d landed. She tended to trust her gut. “How do you know? How much time do we have?”
“Not important, and not enough,” he says. “I have to go, and so do you. You need to leave yesterday.”
“How do I know I can trust you? I don’t even know who you are.”
He pauses. “Call me Skywalker.”
“That’s not an answer, Skywalker.”
“Yes it is.”
She opens her mouth to argue, but there are faint voices on the other end, drawing nearer.
“Shit,” Skywalker mutters. “I have to go. I’ll be in contact, okay? Don’t ever tell me where you are, or where you’re heading. Vader and Palpatine aren’t shy about reading minds. Just leave as soon as you can, and figure out the rest.”
“But—“
It’s too late. The comm has disconnected.
She stares down at it, disbelieving. How would the Empire know they’re here? Why should she trust a stranger who somehow got her personal comm code?
Gut feeling or not, on paper this was a perfect location. Supplied, armored, and most importantly, extremely well hidden. There was no real reason to think it would possibly be found out.
It’s probably a trap. Almost definitely a trap.
Han sticks his head in the door, a sour look on his face. “Hey Princess, can you tell these idiots—“
She makes a decision then and there.
“We’re leaving.”
“What?”
“We’re evacuating, effective immediately.” She pushes past him, and he follows so close he’s nearly stepping on her heel.
“Why? I think it’s pretty cozy here. Actual sunlight doesn’t hurt, either.”
“Apparently too cozy.” She grabs the first person she sees, a pilot who stares at her with wide eyes. “Emergency evacuation. Spread the word to pack everything you can and leave, I’ll let you know where we’re headed when we’re in orbit.”
He salutes and scurries off.
“Woah, hey now.” Han snatches at her elbow until she turns around to face him. “What’s going on?”
“There’s a new informant. He told me the Empire knows we’re here. They’re coming for us.”
“And you trust this person because…”
“I don’t have a choice,” she snaps. Someone runs past them, holding three packs filled to the brim with rations. “It’s either he’s lying and we’re not in danger, or he’s telling the truth and we’re going to die if we don’t listen. It’s not exactly hard math.”
It could be a trap of course, but he hadn’t suggested any sort of direction or destination to follow, and Leia wasn’t inclined to share. Especially not after his tidbit about Vader and Palpatine reading minds.
He squints at her. “That’s not it.”
“What?”
“I don’t believe you,” he insists. He’s so infuriating. Leia doesn’t know why she hasn’t kicked him out yet.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes you do, and you’re either gonna tell me why, or find a different transport when we head out of here.”
“Who said I was riding on your hunk of junk?” She demands. She actually was planning on going with them, since the Falcon has more than enough room for all the supplies that can’t fit in the other ships and none of the trustworthiness of the other pilots, but Han doesn’t need to know that.
“Well?”
Damn him. Damn him for knowing how to read her. She doesn’t know when she let that happen.
“I feel it,” she admits, defeated. “Something tells me he’s trustworthy. We’ll wait and see if it’s right.”
He studies her. She holds her head high, but inside she’s jittery at the scrutiny. They don’t have time for this.
“Yeah, all right,” Han finally says.
“Really?”
“Yes, really.” He rolls his eyes, like she’s not acting absolutely insane by putting all her trust in a random man she’s never even met. “Now come on, Princess, weren’t you the one who said we had to hurry?”
What is it about this man that makes it impossible to tell whether she wants to punch him or drag him into the nearest supply closet? They don’t have time to find out.
“So there’s good news and bad news.”
“Bad news first,” she demands.
“They know there’s a mole.”
“Shit.” Of course they know, how could they not? She should have been more careful, less obvious about the correlation of their movements with the Empire’s plans. “The good news?”
“They’ve tasked me with hunting down this ‘pathetic rebel spy,’” Skywalker says, humor in his voice. “That should buy me some time.”
Leia can’t quite stop the snort she lets out. “Seriously?”
“Yep. You’re speaking to a professional mole-hunter, here.”
“Well congratulations on the promotion, Skywalker.”
“Thank you,” he says grandly. Then, quieter, “It won’t last, Princess. They’ll find out eventually.”
“I know. Just hang in there, it will be over soon.”
“Will it?” He asks, suddenly sounding very young. She realizes that she has no idea how old he is. She doesn’t know anything about the man who has saved them more times than she cared to admit, and the idea rattles her until they sign off.
Later, she looks up the name Skywalker in their archives. There are a few results, but only one sticks out.
Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight and hero of the Clone Wars. Killed at the hands of Darth Vader. There are gossip articles too, speculations on his relationship with the pregnant Senator Padmé Amidala, who died around the same time Skywalker did. The baby, it seems, died with her.
Unless he didn’t.
It’s ridiculous. It’s impossible. The idea is so ludicrous that Leia almost rejects it entirely.
But it makes sense. By the Maker, it makes sense.
The child of Anakin Skywalker, it seems, would be a powerful Force user indeed. Powerful enough for Kenobi to take the baby and run. Powerful enough for the Emperor to want him for his own gain. Powerful enough to send Vader after Kenobi and take the boy himself.
Maybe even powerful enough to shield his mind from Vader and Palpatine’s intrusions.
Powerful enough to hide the fact that he’s a spy.
Leia sinks into her chair, covering her face as she laughs.
Maybe Luke isn’t so bad after all.
“No, no, no,” she mutters, digging through the smoking wreckage of the TIE fighter. “Don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.”
“Princess…” Han lays a hand on her shoulder that she immediately shrugs off.
“No, he’s not dead. He’s not. Luke!”
A faint cough answers her, and she’s so relieved to hear it she could cry. Behind her, Han starts bellowing for a medic and, “Some damn help here, do you expect us to move all this ourselves?”
“Luke, it’s me,” she sobs. “It’s Leia. You’re at the Rebel Base. You’re safe.”
More coughing, and there’s a worrying rasp to his voice when he says, “You know…my name?”
“I figured it out.”
“Smart.” This time, the coughing is so bad Leia and Han both wince.
“Shit, kid,” Han says, moving another piece of rubble. “Don’t talk. We’re gonna get you out of here, all right?”
“Stand back,” Luke chokes out.
“What?”
“Stand back. Please.”
Han protests, but something in Leia knows they should listen to him. She drags him back, and motions everyone else to fall back with them. They do, albeit reluctantly.
“Clear,” she calls, hoping Luke can hear her.
The TIE explodes.
“Fuck!” Han goes back in, Leia on his heels with the terrifying feeling that she’d just allowed Luke to die, before they both stop in their tracks. Around them, the broken pieces of the TIE are floating.
And curled up in the middle is a man dressed all in white.
“Luke!” She pushes past Han to start dragging him out, and after another moment of staring around them, he helps her.
As soon as they get clear, the pieces fall to the ground with a clatter. Luke falls limp with them.
Han is still looking at the TIE. “Can you do that?” He asks quietly.
Leia pauses her examination of the unconscious man in front of her to glare at him. “Is that what you’re most concerned with right now? Really?”
“Excuse me for asking, Princess!”
“It’s white,” Luke grumbles, pulling at his hospital gown bitterly. “I hate wearing white.”
“Should I be offended?”
He rolls his eyes. “Don’t even. You look great and you know it. I just feel like I never left.”
“Well,” she says gingerly. “I guess it’s a good thing you got sick of it. If we went around in matching outfits all the time, people might think we’re twins.”
He snorts. “Yeah, right.”
#star wars#star wars fanfiction#luke skywalker#han solo#leia organa#imperial luke skywalker#exactly when luke was taken by the empire is totally up to speculation it could honestly be anywhere from newborn to 5#as for why luke has his dad’s blue lightsaber here instead of like a red one or smth- well you see your honor I thought it would be a slay#but also when you think about it for more than 5 seconds you’re like actually yeah that’s sick and twisted of palpatine and vader actually#you’re carrying your fathers most treasured weapon#you don’t know your father once fought the rise of the very empire you stand to inherit with that blade. you don’t know who he defended#you don’t know your father brought about the end of the republic with that same weapon#he killed the younglings with it. he fought his closest companion with it#you’re carrying what was once your fathers most treasured weapon. you are your fathers most treasured weapon#just as your father is a weapon now#also I didn’t make it clear but obi-wan has his ‘strike me down and I become stronger’ moment like he still dies on purpose to cause proble#but when he saw luke he couldn’t look away. he had to see him with living eyes one last time#can u tell I had So Many Thoughts on everyone else’s perspective in this fic too#han is having a constant crisis in the background because 1) force is real 2) princess is annoying AND pretty which sucks for him#in particular and 3) pretty princess is learning to use the force and is hot while doing it. Chewie is laughing at him. life is hell#good lord did not mean to put an entire essay in the tags. i love their super special twin powers (cosmic entity that binds their souls)#edit: GUYS I FORGOT TO NAME THE FUCKING AU#AND WHEN I TRY AND FIX IT IT GLITCHES OUT ON MEEE 😭😭😭
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dazai arcane verse........chainsaw man verse.......
#i briefly went over his arcane verse like a week ago#chainsaw man verse........#the despair devil is the embodiment of the feelings of hopelessness and existential dread that plague humanity - that plague dazai#dazai whilst working as a devil hunter made a pact with the despair devil who found it fascinating the way in which dazai craved his own#perfect end. the despair devil being picky had taken on very few pacts in its time under capture but the pacts exist as the promise#that dazai will one day end his life - handing over his very being to the despair devil#the power it grants him comes in three forms. 1) th ability to induce feelings of deep hopelessness within others sapping their will to fig#which immobilises them as their own mental strengths are tested#2) dazai own inner feelings towards suicide manifest in a physical form - as spectral chains and nooses that can bind opponents at his will#3) the evasion of life and death. as he has signed the end of his life to the despair devil dazai cannot die unless it is at his own hand#and unless all of his conditions are met (yadda yadda double suicide with a beautiful women yadda yadda) BUT#dazai can “die” by the hand of an opponent but he will just be brought back within minutes thus i think its funny bcs he'll be sat there li#wtf......not again...... but this is like embodiment of his own lost soul and his own hopelessness#as he's forced to wander the earth without really ever feeling anything. he can also read emotion in others - those that are negative that#is and will likely be able to tell you a person/devil's worst fear (if they have one) but one of the less - impressive abilities would be#this.....#anyway..... yeah <3#still covered in bandages and still SHIT at hand to hand combat...but very good at his evasive manoeuvres and will put people out of action#using the skills he does have.........anyway <3
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Autocorrect is out here inventing accidentally compelling headcanon. I actually like the idea that out of all her siblings Visenya of all people was the one who realized that good intentions or a legal claim to a throne dont really matter and that in a monarchy and a feudal system it effectively boils down to "might is right"
#people dont see the point of hugh hammer well let me tell you EYE see the point of hugh hammer#like at his core hes right#you could literally be a random and if youve got a dragon you could force your way onto the throne#visenya targaryen#also like the idea of aegon and rhaenys being like omg we got dragons because of our superior blood and our prophesied hero status#meanwhile visenya is like that older sibling who tells the other ones santa isnt real#shes like lol guys we did blood magic to bind them to us
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The Ties that Bind Us
Hey remember that fic I’ve mentioned a few times? The one about Ahsoka and the 501st that’s over 50k words already? I finally posted it!
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When Ahsoka Tano had joined the 501st battalion, she had made an effort to keep herself at a distance from her men, she was their commanding officer after all. However she finds her self drawing closer and closer to a certain group that also finds themselves being drawn to her. Their resulting bond changes nothing, and everything. Can it change the universe?
#the clone wars#sag’s stuff#see’s writes#ahsoka tano#captain rex#arc trooper echo#arc trooper fives#arc trooper jesse#clone medic kix#clone trooper hardcase#that’s not how the force works#The Ties That Bind Us#ao3#fanfiction#fanfic author
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❓
#GOD i love candela lore#also thinking abt breath-binding#molten gold to block the airways of the dead. to keep the soul from wandering.#either way it's used to contain#oscar dies and there's nothing but void#and nowhere to go but back out#and he must cede something of himself every time.#is whatever he's given up also freed?#not just from the void but from himself altogether?#there's something -- someone? -- in there with him.#he emerges once he's paid his due.#does whatever force or entity he interacts with do so as well?#he doesn't remember his time there-- are those memories truly gone#or simply denied passage?#idk. i'm connecting dots that may or may not prove actualized#my mind just immediately went to the gold as a barrier to magick#and i wanted to put the thought somewhere#ALSO as usual i am pausing to get thoughts down. i do not know what happens after this screenshot <3#candela obscura#candela#candela spoilers#co spoilers#circle of tide and bone#the circle of tide and bone#oscar grimm#aabria iyengar#sam riegel#aspen tag
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i crave top surgery so bad- its the one thing that would fix me dysphoria
#is like#i know i can bind but it makes my dysphoria worse??#because it forces me to see chest and feel it pressed together and be in my brain “mine” when it very much isnt#may see about getting some sorta big job or use summer job stuff/save it up to be able to get it cause mannn#idk idk idk i know others that bind and that works for them but i just#i want to be more dude thats fem than fem thats dude#if that makes sence?#i wanna be man that has feminine traits and dresses in feminine ways that is seen as a dude without having to be masculine#but thats not posible for me with how me body is so must! contort to fit my inside shape even a lil!!!!
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god i forgot how much fucking WORK went into church uniforms, i was just looking them up to remember smth. my family put so much effort into regulation and literally still weren't following half of it, plus our corps as a whole never gave a shit abt it really lmfao
technically today, women in the army can wear pants. i was never allowed to wear pants with my full uniform. always the pencil skirt and the exact regulation colour of pantyhose. i hated those skirts with everything in me
ON THAT NOTE there were exactly two acceptable colours of tights you could wear and they were black and nightshade. to this day i have only ever owned three colours of tights that werent regulation black or nightshade, and they were red (for christmas recitals), white (for summer recitals) and skin tone (for dance performances when required) lmao
new skirts always got taken straight to the one tailor in town who was just as overfamiliar with uniform code as my mom is. they got modified so they would fit well and never be above the knee when sitting down (and honestly she was killer at her job. tysm ms t, i hope you're still in business out there)
buying tunics was a nightmare bc after a certain time they would change the sizing or mysteriously stop making tunics to go under uniform jackets, and you have to either go to the trade to get new ones or order them online, which are equal but different headaches
epaulets and neck pins had to be put back on once your shirt and jacket got washed. i had two pairs of epaulets (senior soldier and brass band) and i never remembered which was which (or to replace either them or the neck pin)
hair has to be above the collar and off the face, and that can mean it's either tied up or it's short enough not to worry about. to this day i'm convinced that's the nail in the coffin that made mom let me cut my hair off, bc the alternative was helping me do a ballet bun every sunday morning and hearing me complain abt said bun and the headache and weird hair bumps it caused all day
NO NAIL POLISH. only clear. if it can be seen from the platform god doesn't love you (joking. you still can't wear any tho)
NO JEWELRY. unless you're straight married then you can wear your ring <3 i wore my key necklace under my uniform every sunday from my senior soldier ceremony right up to the day i left and honestly i don't regret shit, nobody ever knew. that was my one rebellion
and we still weren't regulation! i never wore a hat/bonnet and my shoes were flats with silver buttons on them (instead of plain black heels), my necklace was definitely not allowed if anyone had ever known, and i def wore plain earrings once or twice. wild shit looking back, all that to go play a fucking glorified trumpet and sing for a couple hours a week
#and oh my god my mom still gets so judgemental abt people not following regulation. oh my god#for a christian she gossips sm abt this ghjfdks you do NOT wear 'yoga pants' in the sanctuary around her#levi.txt#christianity tw#i have never felt the same overpowering dysphoria i felt in uniform again it was something else entirely#i would try to remind myself that i technically had a suit jacket on and then you try to walk and bam. pencil skirt. cant walk right#i would bind and then remember i had to go shave to put tights on#once in jr soldier training they made us do this shitty little obstacle course. two boys and me in uniform. so unbelievably humiliating#i dont even remember the object lesson i just remember how i had to crawl on the floor in that fucking skirt and how goddamn mad i was#just. truly a nightmare#im so glad i dont have to do all that anymore. even when im forced back to church nowadays for occasions i never wear uniform#delete later#also im just. completely shocked nobody ever picked up on me being a whole dyke#constantly bothering my mom to wear pants? never having an issue w the jewelry/makeup regulations? my fucking hair?#to this DAY i still dont know how nobody ever figured it out i went to youth group regularly in casual clothes too#and by casual clothes. excessive flannels snapbacks boots etc. i was and am a walking stereotype#its not like ive ever been. subtle. HOW was i never outed or bothered abt this.
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[ INCOMING MISSION : @arachost ] ❛ people are scared. they need a leader. and right now, like it or not, they’re looking to you. so go on. lead us. ❜ — 🕷️
how desperately peter wishes he could break. when would it be his turn ? when would he be allowed the luxury of fear ? never — he has known this answer since he first donned the mask. if he fell apart now, people would die. no, not just people, spiders. it's not fair, none of this is, to any of them, but peter parker's life has never been fair. he holds gwen's gaze ... you can do this.
he smiles weakly, ❝ so i'm gonna go ahead and jot you down for inspirational speechmaker of the group from here on out. ❞ she's right though, there's no time to waste. ❝ the web is in danger — cause of course it is — this ... thing that we're up against is something new. i tussled with it in central park, it's no joke. but i think i know how to beat it. ❞ peter lifts up a small vial, holding it between his thumb and index finger. ❝ i managed to get this off of it, i think if we can reverse-engineer a biochemical compound that will break this substance down, it'll immobilize it. ❞
he looks out at the small group that had been able to gather in time. it was about to get smaller, ❝ miles, mayday, you're on science duty. ❞ he tosses them the vial, ❝ i know you can do this. hobie, jessica, and aña — damage control. this thing is duplicating clones of itself all around the city and fast. lots of people are gonna get hurt if something isn't done about them. ❞
finally, he turns his attention to the person who had given him the push he needed to set things in motion, ❝ gwen, you're with me. we're about to have the most exciting game of tag of our lives. we're gonna distract the original, buy some time for miles and may. capiche ? ❞
#oh this made me insane#im thinking about how madame web (cassandra) referred to peter as “the heart of the web” and the “force that binds us together”#and then how once she gained the sight julia said “you are the strength of the thread from which the web of life is woven”#and then said “you are the best of us. the center must hold.” i am soooo insane#arachost.#🕸️ ・゜゜but the fun is real ֊ answered#what is this new villainous thing u may ask?? vibes <3 i didn't want to make it something concrete
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If God is all caring but only if you behave how he wants you to in all areas of life and if the Devil just wants to make a business deal with you - which you have to agree to first, then i would always pick devil bc at least I'd have some AGENCY ge
#im an ATHEIST#this is more about christian culture then about God themself tbh#here 'Gods light' analogy as societies rules and judgement#if i envision the great force of societal moral posed upon us as a personification to loathe upon. can i still call myself an atheist 🤔#im getting past my point#trying to get angel rooms in the binding of isaac fucking annoying
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Do people realize this isn't unique to Disney? Cuz this is not unique to Disney. Other corporations are already doing this and this isn't new. Wish there could've been this big of a reaction about it before someone actually died 🙃
#I remember like last year(?) or something McDonald's added the same clause to their app#and i think a bunch of other companies followed - I can't recall if Disney added theirs before or after McD's#i feel like it was after. but anyways. the point is - this isn't unique to Disney.#a bunch of other companies figured out they could do this shit and decided to sneakily add it into their terms and conditions#because “well if you don't agree to it then you can just not use the app :)”#which is bs. Disney makes it so there are shows only available on D+ with actual canonical implications to other media-#and then freak out about any and all pirating. so if you want to indulge in the Content™ you “have to” use the streaming service#and therefore “have to” sign the agreement.#the McDonald's example is especially heinous imho because in some places McD's was and still is the only place-#to be able to buy a meal with enough calories to last you a full day for cheap.#but then they jacked up their prices and made it so the only way you could still get a full day's meal for cheap is to use the app#which means they are specifically targeting the most vulnerable individuals-#by making it so you *cannot* use the app without agreeing to never sue them.#like literally even if you had the app for forever before they changed the terms and conditions#they signed you out forced you to agree to the terms and conditions before you could use the app again.#corporations have been doing this shit. folks tried to warn people about it back then but nobody listened until a woman fucking died#unfortunately as far as i am aware what corporations are doing is completely legal and this cannot be stopped.#you as the consumer are technically required to fully read the terms and conditions (even though no one does)#when you click “i agree” that is - as far as I'm aware - legally binding.#and these apps are technically not necessities so by all means legally the companies can say “well then simply don't use these apps”#so if you decide to use the apps or streaming services or whatever-#then you are also deciding “of your own volition” to agree to an arbitration agreement.#and then you can't get them in trouble for having the arbitration agreement by claiming ignorance-#because technically you said that you knew about it when you clicked “i agree”
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Here's a snippet of Chapter 5!
Shepard rubbed her arm where she had been pricked as she walked out to the waiting room. Garrus sat going over a datapad, busying himself. The green and yellow suit still left much to be desired. But she felt her vision clear slightly, opening her left eye for the first time that day. Shepard couldn't help but note he at least looked better out of C-Sec's bulky armor. "So trust me to go on my own this time? Promise I won't be late. Finch isn't as forgiving," Shepard said. "Again, it's up to you if you still want to work with me," Garrus retorted. "Only if you change out of your "I'm not a cop' outfit." Garrus' brow rose in a look of confusion, looking down at the brightly colored outfit. "This is my best suit." "Nice to know you wear your Sunday best to stakeouts, Vakarian." "What do clothes have to do with days?" He asked in an unamused tone. "Never mind, maybe just find something in a darker shade? Black and white. Those colors would fit you better for Chora's." Garrus flicked out his mandibles in response, almost as if he were annoyed. "Fine, I'll be early to get situated too." "Try to snag a seat by the back doors near the strippers." "You take me to such lovely places," Garrus deadpanned while ushering them out of the clinic back into the sparse ward. "Spas, strip clubs. Let's try out a casino next." "On C-Sec's dime?" Garrus asked jokingly. "You catch on quick. A casino is better than a clinic any day, even if the doctors are so caring." Shepard placed emphasis on the last word. "Well, Dr. Michel is one of the good doctors on the ward and helps as much as she can. She's been a good friend over the years," Garrus said innocently, not understanding what Shepard's inflection implied. "Friend?" Shepard asked, her eyebrow raised up, trying to coax more information out of him. She was having too much fun with it. "Yeah, she's kept insisting for years about owing me a favor after helping with a blackmail case. About time I used it." "Oh, she owes you something, alright," Shepard laughed, pulling up her omni-tool. "What do you mean?" Garrus asked, head cocked to the side. Shepard again tried to stifle another laugh. So he didn't know that the doc was totally into him. "Oh, nothing," Shepard said with a smirk while activating her cloak. "I hate when you do that." "See you at Chora's, preferably in a new outfit," Shepard said, already running off towards a public shuttle.
Read the rest on Ao3 :)
#mass effect#commander shepard#garrus vakarian#shakarian#mass effect fanfiction#mass effect fanfic#shepard x garrus#femshep#olivia shepard#the forces that bind us#there was a reason I was looking up canon evidence why Dr michel was sooooo thirsty lol
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did yall know fixing ur gait is fucking painful & it makes u look like an alien inhabiting a human suit trying to walk ‘normally’ for the first time
#stream#like wow tendons i haven’t stretched in FOREVER being FORCED into USE … parts of my CALF THATVE GONE UNDERUSED#insane …#maybe i SHOULDVE spent the money i didn’t have on investing in physical therapy after my fracture was deemed healed#also it helps a LOT with my hip pain ALSKALSLAKSLAKSLAKSLAKSLA#how did i come to the conclusion that i should work on fixing my gait ? 2 things: i remember when i reopened the fracture a few months ago &#was wearing my hinged brace & i alrdy walk a bit funny so i was limping & tbus kid started miming me & i wanted to punch him in the throat#like boy i’m stronger than u are can & will ever be kill yourself !!!! anyway that was just a flashback or whatever idk & then i also have#been getting chinese foot binding content on youtube the past few days so i just looked into it so like ok the flower pot shoes#i was like wait ok why … what kinda walk like i get they would’ve walked differently but like i was like ok what has happened#like what happened to the musculoskeletal structures of the feet - how’s it impacting their legs ? so ur walking on ur heels mostly from#what i read (wikipedia page) but since i love callus content like podiatry like the corn removals omgggggg but u can tell where ur callous#formation is & i know why it forms the way it does so it’s all the outside of my foot; literally i walk on the side of my heel MOSTLY & then#when i u know lift the heel instead of pushin pressure onto the big toe & ball of my foot it’s going to the outside & onto the corner of the#pinky toe … entirely …. BUT I DIDNT KNOW / CONNECT THE DOTS to muscle & how it’ll impact u LONGTERM if ur not using or whatever certain so#i’m walking super fucked up im pigeon footed essentially but it hurts all my outer hip from overuse / misuse & focusing on walking normal#helps soooooo much for that hip but for my big toe & inside foot/arch & low inner calf: big mad biggggg mad bc UNDERUSE#i haven’t been using those muscles ‘normally’ for more than a year.5 !!! crazy !!!!!!!#but also i was like wait i do tons of illegal shit we need to fix this walk so it’s a nonidentifiying feature bc i DO walk funny & it IS#noticeable but i can use this muscle memory to my advantage it’s like being able to write w my left hand now. use it to ur advantage. fool#everyone for fun - it’s a NATURAL DISGUISE
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And God said, "Behold! I have created the fourth primordial force: the weak interaction!"
And the angels all clapped and nodded politely, and there was a long silence; and finally Verchiel, the Angel of Grace, spoke up and asked, "Er, what exactly does it do, O Fashioner?"
And God said, "What do you mean, 'what does it do?' It's the fourth fundamental force of the universe."
And Verchiel said, "You mentioned that. Um. But it's just that the other three sort of have a brand, you know? Gravity helps build large-scale structures, acts over vast cosmic distances, shapes time and space. The strong force is secret, hidden, binding together quarks and all that. Electromagnetism, very cool stuff, somewhere in between. We're all big fans of the whole magnetic monopole double bluff, very clever. But, er. What does this 'weak interaction' do?"
And God said, "It mediates radioactive decay. Sort of."
And Verchiel said, "Radioactive decay? All radioactive decay?"
And God said, "No. Just some kinds."
And Zephaniel, the Chief of the Ishim spoke, and he said, "A whole independent force just to mediate some kinds of radioactive decay?"
And God said, "Well. Not totally independent. Technically it's related to electromagnetism."
And Zephaniel said, "Wait, it's not even a real force?"
And God said, "It's totally a real force. It's just that it's one aspect of a combined electromagnetic and weak force. An electro-weak force, if you will."
And Metatron, the Celestial Scribe, scratched his head at this, but said nothing.
And Cambiel, the Angel of Transformation, said, "Maybe you can walk us through it from the top."
And God Sighed an immense Sigh, and said, "All right, fine.
"So the way it works is that all of space and time is permeated by a field that has imaginary mass."
And Cambiel said, "Imaginary mass, O Generous Provider?"
And God said, "Yes, imaginary mass. It's tachyonic, d'you see?"
And Sarathiel, the Angel of Discipline, said, "Wait a minute, I thought we agreed nothing was going to travel faster than light? All that 'c' business and the whole Lorentz transformation thing. What's happening with that?"
And God said, "Let me finish. The field is tachyonic. The particles in the field all move slower than light."
And Sarathiel had to think about this for a second.
And God said, "The point is, a field with imaginary mass has a non-zero vacuum expectation value."
And this really gave Sarathiel trouble, since he had never been very good at math.
And God, seeing this, went back to explain. "Most fields, like the electromagnetic field, have no effect when they are at their lowest energy state. It's like they're not there at all. If you give a field imaginary mass, then it vanishes only when it's at a very high energy state, and at a low energy state, it has a nonzero value everywhere."
And Sarathiel nodded, but he was confused, because he didn't understand why God would create such a thing.
But Verchiel thought he saw where God was going with this, and he was amazed.
"Truly, you are cunning beyond measure, O Only One Certainly Sound and Genuine in Truth! Only now do I understand your design! For in order to make the universe homogenous and isotropic, it is necessary that all large-scale fluctuations in temperature and mass must be evened out early in the history of the cosmos; and therefore, you have designed a field which will rapidly expand space after the Big Bang, many orders of magnitude in brief moments, and then swiftly and spontaneously decay as it gives up the energy it began with, giving rise to radiation and particles of all kinds as it does, which will condense into the material universe! It is a wonder to behold."
And God said, "What? No. I mean I did, but this isn't the inflaton field I'm talking about. This is something else."
And Verchiel said, "Wait, it's not?"
And God said, "No, I'm going to use a different field to drive cosmic inflation. The properties of this field are totally different."
And now Verchiel was also confused, and lapsed into silence.
And God said, "Like I was saying, this field is a scalar field with imaginary mass, and it does spontaneously decay to a ground state with a non-zero value. But it's not the inflaton field. Instead it combines with the W1, W2, W3, and B bosons."
And Metatron began to flip back through the pages of the Heavenly Record trying to figure out where he'd lost the thread.
And Zephaniel said, "The what bosons?"
And God said, "The W1, W2, W3, and B bosons. I'm sure I mentioned them. You know, the massless bosons?"
And Zephaniel said, "I'm pretty sure we only talked about the W+, W-, and Z0 bosons. All of which you said were going to have mass, O Owner of All Sovereignty."
And God said, "Yes, but this is how they get them, you see. Once this field acquires a nonzero value everywhere, the massless bosons interact with it and get mass. Well, some of them do. They turn into the W+, W-, and Z0 boson. And the photon."
And Zephaniel said, "…and the photon, O Accepter of Invocation?"
And God said, "Well, I did say I was going to unify the electromagnetic force and the weak interaction, didn't I? This is how. Above the critical temperature--right now I'm thinking 10^15 K, but I'm open to feedback on that one--electromagnetism and the weak force act as a single unifying force. Below that temperature, the field gets a nonzero value, you get three massive bosons to mediate the weak interaction, and the photon pops out seperately."
And Zephaniel said, "That seems… a bit overly complicated, doesn't it, O Reinstater Who Brings Back All?"
And God said, "No, it's exactly what we need. Look, that way the W and Z bosons have something to do, but the weak interaction still only travels short distances. Gravity is still the star of the show on cosmic scales, as it were. But now quarks and leptons can swap their flavor!"
And Zephaniel said, rather weakly, "Their… flavor, O Source of Good?"
And God said, "It's this new quantum number I'm trying out, to give the three generations of matter more unique identities."
And Cambiel said, "Three generations of matter? Now I'm really confused."
And God said, "I'm sure I mentioned this. You've got the lightest quarks and leptons, and then two heavier versions of each that can decay into the lighter versions."
And Cambiel said, "What do they do? New kinds of chemistry, is it?"
And God said, "Well, no. Mostly they just decay in a couple microseconds. Or even faster."
And Zephaniel began to rub his temples, and Cambiel sniffed.
And Cambiel said, "This all seems a bit ad hoc to me. Not really the stuff of an elegant and obviously ordered Creation. Why not have four generations of matter? Why not a trillion?"
And God began to grow irritable, and said, "Well, that's not really up to you, now is it? We're going to have three generations of matter, and the electroweak force, and that's that!"
And Zephaniel said, "As long as we are unifying fundamental forces, perhaps we could somehow also unify the electroweak interaction with the strong interaction, or even gravity."
And God hesitated saying, "Well, I haven't decided about that yet. I'm not sure I want gravity to be quantized, you know? Seems to take some of the geometric elegance out of general relativity."
And now it was Zephaniel's turn to sigh, and he bowed his head. "As you wish, O Possessor of Authority of Decisions and Judgement."
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i need to speedrun finishing bg3 so i can be over it but i just had the Big Romance Scene with astarion and i have to log off to combat the nausea (/pos)
#it was sooooooooo romantic#and we mightve fucked nasty on his grave after but thats neither here nor there#i lauv him#astarion haters just dont get him like i do#i love a pathetic annoying man#we are on our redemption arcs officially now#i started mine before him but thats ok#sorry for being madly in love with one specific character im queer and traumatized ok#in my defense my first playthru i was literally romanceless because i fumbled the bag so many times#i wanna do another with gale and another with wyll#but that is hard when the game is like 80+ hours long#he is just my pookie bear ok.#ASTARION HATERS JUST DO. NOT. GET ITTTTT!!!!!#i demand everyone who thinks astarion is just some cruel annoying guy to watch his romance cutscenes#ESPECIALLY the dark urge one#HE WAS SOSWEET TO ME#what if i was a man in love with another man and i was told by the little guy in my head to kill him in my sleep and the man takes care of#me even though i am literally fighting my binds to try and stab him and rip his throat out graphically.#what if he spoke so sweetly to me during it.#what if he was kind.#the people are right durge is the best way to romance astarion#what if we both were violent and deadly and did bad things because we were told to#what if we both just wanted to be free of what forces us to do such horrible things#what if we were so in love and heal together
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She doesn't get enough time in the light
#cleaning up today#and finding things you made is always pleasant#but like#finding things you made when you were at the height of your ability to make the thing??#damn i did good.#except still definitely fuck Lynn Sorge-English and her insistence on everything being historically accurate#EXCEPT#she made! forced! all of us to bind our stays in ultra suede#very annoying#anyway#sewing#costume studies#historical#drafting
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