#there's so much room for complex

[cuephrase]

the thing about bruce and jason's philosophies that gets to me is how similar they are. they're both very simple, child-like views on how evil should be dealt with. but they differ on killing and it sets them so far apart.

i remember being 9 years old watching a:tla with my family and being so frustrated that aang was unwilling to kill firelord ozai. like, yeah, taking life is a big deal, but if anyone had earned it ozai had earned it. i wanted aang to get over himself and see the bigger picture and do the right thing.

and the thing is, i do think he ultimately did the right thing. not that killing ozai would've been wrong- it would have been the wrong decision for aang, but my point is that there was more than one "right" decision to dealing with ozai.

life isn't neatly black and white, with only one correct choice at every step. but bruce and jason, typically, do not think that way. sometimes they can be respectful of differing viewpoints but by and large, they are so set and defensive of their ways that they struggle to connect even though there is so much room for them to have common ground. because they think that if they concede to any of the other's views they're contradicting themselves and that would make them wrong and they cannot be wrong. and it's unfortunate because it holds them back from growing.

they're never going to have the exact same viewpoint. and that's okay. but that doesn't mean that one of them is always right/good and the other is wrong/bad.

[merakiui]

mera, can u give me link to post about chalk line au pleeasee 🥺👉👈

Yes!! :D here is the origin post. If you would like to read more cute yan with Floyb, the tag fluffy floyd hours is full of similar writings. It's an old-ish thought, but despite that I'm happy it's still enjoyable and discussed even today!!!

I've been so Skully-brained I forgot all about the cutie eel who makes yummy meals for you and is so patient with you and tries to cheer you up in silly ways and is just so soft and gentle,,, 🥺 he's the sweetest eel. It's Jade who needs to be tortured in the most medieval of ways for his crimes........ >:( but maybe it's possible to think of soft, fluffy yan Jade.

[eywaseclipse]

Don’t get mad at me, but I see far more potential for an unrequited love, slow burn, grumpy reluctant Tsu’tey mini series rather than the one shot requested. If anyone has other ideas I’m open to that as well

[msmc-796-official]

I... have a confession to make, of sorts. There won't ever be a good time to admit this, unfortunately, so it's best I get this off my chest now, and ask for forgiveness rather than permission.

It has not been easy speaking with all of the flashclones who have made themselves known in the wake of Union's latest raids; both for myself, and the squadron at large. I must commend my squadmates for handling themselves with the utmost professionalism - while my own correspondences with these newest members of the Omninet have been what I would consider adequately polite, I've been biting my tongue the entire time, and I fear that my personal discomfort with the issue is starting to slip through the cracks.

To this end, I wish to share my thoughts publicly, that I might better express my own emotions towards this complicated, frustrating, and highly nuanced issue. I only ask that you hear me out in full before you render judgement, and pronounce your sentence carefully.

First: an observation.

MSMC policy requires that all pilots dictate an end-of-life plan at the time of their recruitment, that their final wishes may be carried out by the company in the event of their death under MSMC's employ. The options provided for this are effectively unlimited, allowing the pilot a great deal of choice and freedom in planning their postmortem arrangements. These plans may also be altered in the future should circumstances change, provided the pilot is of sound body and mind.

Under MSMC policy, in compliance with the policies set forth by Union, one of the available postmortem options is flashcloning.

In my fifteen-odd years serving under MSMC, I have only heard of three pilots who have willingly chosen to be flashcloned after death (thus prolonging not only their life, but their term of service under MSMC as well). Of these, I have only personally met one, affiliated with MSMC-808 "5Q8R3 L00P3RZ" - I believe their current iteration goes by callsign Lemniscate. While I do not know how many times they have been cloned during their term of service, their current iteration seems happy enough, and their squadmates reassure me that they've maintained a consistent identity (plus or minus the odd quirk, as is typical of flashclones) throughout their life (lives?).

Second: a digression.

I purchased my Dusk Wing, And The Voice of Apollo Spoke From On High (Apollo for short), from an SSC showroom on a planet whose name I no longer recall. The curated atmosphere called to mind the high marble pillars and lush green-blue waters of some distant Cradle mythology where gods roamed the earth and mortals strove to emulate them, punished and rewarded for their folly in equal measure with gifts and curses beyond name. Each frame was posed as the statues of old on Cradle, too-human limbs arrayed in too-human poses, each a machine of war turned living art piece.

Apollo, true to its future name, was arrayed in flight; hover-jets draped with sunlight-yellow gossamer, veil rifle aimed in its middle tier of manipulators with the same care and precision as an archer would take with their bow. To see it lowered to the floor after its purchase was to see Icarus fall; to climb inside its cockpit for the first time, to don wax-and-feather wings of my own and fly.

The old tales caution that divinity has a cost, and I too paid the price. A vial of blood, drawn with silver needle and spirited away into an unseen cooler before my pen ever touched paper. Apollo was mine, but SSC had received a far greater gift in its place: a sample of my DNA, unwillingly donated as the price for my divine armament.

Even now, this price weighs heavy on my head like the sword which hung above Damocles, poised to drop without a moment's notice with each new Union raid on yet another forgotten cloning facility. Who can say on what distant planet the children I did not birth sleep in stasis - children with my eyes, my hair, my nose, my smile; sons and daughters who will never be called as such because, to their creators, they are slaves, weapons, property - anything but human.

Third: an explanation.

I believe that flashcloning, in its current state as of 5016u, as approved by Union's Third Committee (and exploited by the likes of SSC, HA, and several countless others across the stars) is an inherently unethical practice; both for those who donate their DNA (willingly or otherwise), as well as for those persons produced by it.

To see countless lives created, manipulated, slaughtered, and recycled in the name of so-called "progress"; to see inherently human beings stripped of every vestige of humanity but the body in which they reside and then forcibly brainwashed and molded into soldiers, medics, mechanics, weapons, machines, slaves, property - it is an abominable and inhumane practice that should have died a slow and painful death in the darkness from whence it was birthed.

This being said: I cannot stand idly by as the products of this inhumane practice continue to suffer. No matter whether it is beneath the apathetic gaze of Union, the dehumanizing bootheel of HA, or the eugenicist scalpel of SSC, I will not allow my fellow persons to endure another day of abuse at the hands of those who would abandon their own creations as little more than imperfect failures for daring to remind their creators of their sentience.

Alone, I can do nothing. I too am but a cog in this great uncaring machine humanity has built, one which prospers on suffering and bloodshed and the work of hands which have forgotten the body to which they are attached. Even if I were to risk life and limb and reputation to make my position known, it is a battle which lies dead in the water - it is impossible to halt the wheels of progress without irreparably damaging the future which relies on their turning.

And so I fight. I fight for those who have forgotten their humanity, both willingly and unwillingly, that they might find something of their own - identity, purpose, desires, connection, life - that reminds them of what they were and are and always have been: human.

-- Angel

[molagboop]

Noise game.

[luck-of-the-drawings]

OH ARTHUR BENNETT.. such a gorgeous and intriguing character. terribly burdened by a GRUESOME set of crimes, his light suffocated by a HEAVY century of GUILT. so tragic, so dark and broody, and yet PAINFULLY awkward in any social setting ever

[ssruis]

I think one thing saki is super thankful of wxs for is occupying tsukasa’s time so he spends less time working himself up & having neurotic little fits thinking she’s in trouble. like make no mistake she loves her brother & finds his bizarre behavior endearing rather than embarrassing (for the most part) (& he’s not grossly overprotective in a way that limits what she wants to do. Thank god.) but also this is the man who charged into a haunted house bc he heard her scream and ran home in a panic because he found out she lied about her plans for the day. Now he has other outlets for his insanity besides worrying about her. Like worrying about being exploded into orbit.

[abyssal-ilk]

how are you liking Veilguard so far?

i'm liking it!! the environments are gorgeous, the combat is fun, i'm liking all of the companions we have been given, and it's just good to be playing another dragon age game after so long. it's definitely not a perfect game by any means but i'm taking my wins where i can. i'm having fun playing it even if i don't exactly love at a lot of the writing choices, and maybe i'll write out proper critiques when ive finished the game?? but for now im chilling.

[hana-bobo-finch]

i feel the need to mention that my cat has a perfect pacman eating a dot shape on his back and it’s the cutest thing ever

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

something about qbad mentioning how much horror he put red team thru every time purgatory gets brought up... something about how proud dapper was of him.

like this is just my late-night read but- it feels like guilt qbad is trying to twist into pride. he keeps needling away at it. “i killed them all, over and over and over again.” “they were hunted by a monster.”

it’s like- reassurance. like a nail he’s trying o beat into his head. he’s had SO much trouble with legitimately hurting his friends, despite making that vow all the way back when the eggs first went missing, despite all the tree talk and the promises to save the kids no matter what. He never faltered with elq, and that protected them. He keeps faltering now. Sometimes he doesnt remember the code, or cucurucho, or skeppy. But that doesnt matter, right? Because he’ll protect the eggs. He’ll be the monster. he is the monster. he can and he will protect them even as his seams start ripping and he keeps breaking further and further apart. even at his worst, he’ll do whatever he needs to protect the eggs.

he’ll be the monster. wont he?

[ask-zerotrio]

Clavell and cyrano angstttttt. My mind has conjured some messy idea of Clavell's complicated personal relations with everyone. From unresolved pining/mourning/anger for the profs, to broken friendships with Cyrano.

[redwinesupercvnt]

petition to change the wlw marauders ship names because what the fuck is dorlene? pandalily?? marylily??? c'mon we can do so much better

[the-way-astray]

breaking my silence to say: T4T ALDELLA

[kakusu-shipping]

This feels like a good post to remind everyone I have over 500 F/Os. Please enjoy this VERY curated list of those I could or could not fix

OP asked not to be credited so blank below the cut if anyone else wants to make one.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

re: s5 episodes 6 and 7

going into watching the x files, one of the very few things i knew about, because i had consulted my best friend wikipedia, was the emily plotline. i knew it was coming, so in a way it felt inevitable, and my reaction to finally reaching it was approached from the in-universe knowledge that this was how it would be from the start.

but now that i read the notes on my liveblog post, i think about how i would have interpreted the episode if i had not known that fact, or had i been a contemporary viewer. i think i would have also felt frustrated that they decided to give the female lead a baby over two episodes and then kill her off and act like nothing happened. i think i would be frustrated with that, especially when i have other, existing complaints about the way women are treated in this show. how once again the plotline, from its very core, revolves around removal of scully's reproductive agency. and i think that rings even more true nowadays.

it's interesting to imagine my reaction had i not known it was coming. because the foreshadowing was there, what with the abduction plotline and the clones and the earlier babies in tubes and hybridizations and blah blah blah. but i guess i would have thought (or hoped) it was handled in a different fashion.

we'll never really know what my first thoughts would have been had i not known what was eventually going to happen, but hearing your thoughts from seeing it is making me ponder.

[lemememeringue]

there's a lot of valid criticism abt the lovestruck pack but not enough ppl are pointing out how stupid it is that you have to seriously level up the romance skill just to see how attractive you find a group of strangers