#this shit is GROSS. STOP IT.

[patronsaint-prometheus]

REMINDER THAT IF YOU REBLOG THIS FUCKING VIDEO I WILL BLOCK YOU ON SIGHT.

There is nothing cute or euphoric about dressing up in confederate uniforms. Being queer or trans doesn’t give you an excuse to be a racist pig. Stop fucking sharing this shit around. I don’t want to see it.

[imsiriuslyreading]

every time you compare one fic to another, a bisexual loses their garlic bread

[rouge-the-bat]

when i see people against using the term transandrophobia its all "just men trying to steal the spotlight from women again" "trans men just keep bandwagoning on things trans women are already doing" "they dont experience things as badly as trans women do" "terfs focus more on trans women so we should be talking just about that" "theyre just using this to say that TRANS WOMEN are their opressors!! its just transmisogyny!" "a bunch of TME people and theyfabs trying to say they have it worse"

then i see people that actually talk about transandrophobia and theyre just. in their own communities discussing the problems they face, trying to get people to not completely ignore their issues, and that they deserve to be treated decently and not as evil or that theyve become worse or betraying women for transitioning into their proper gender.

i think yall who hate these discussions are just falling into queer terminology discourse and oppression olympics and infighting (and radfem juice for sure), all of which we say again and again does nothing but help people that want all of us dead. this shit is stupid as fuck

[chronicsyd]

ykw? now that I've mentioned this hypothetical I'm gonna make the Wildest hot take that I'm sure No One will agree with but I'm gonna make it anyways:

Caitlyn is a victim of Ambessa's meddling

And before you all start typing away cuz I can already feel your comments coming, No this Isn't me justifying what Caitlyn does. This is me explaining that What she does is reactionary to all of the shit that Ambessa has set up, Ambessa is the bigger problem here and No One is willing to discuss it. They slap Everything onto Caitlyn and call it a day.

Because like I mentioned in my hypothetical, we do originally see Caitlyn still vouching for those in Zaun, saying innocents will die if they bring Hextech weaponry into Zaun solely to make Jinx pay for her actions. Which in turn causes Mel to agree with her, not just because she's against what her Mother's demanding (because she Knows that Ambessa's just puppeteering Salo), but because she also feels that Hextech should be a Last resort in any given situation, Mel still has compassion. Unfortunately, Mel still has to compromise with her fellow councilors, so they settle on sending the Enforcer's after Jinx, just without Hextech. This in turn is what causes Ambessa to set up the attack on the memorial. Because what the councilors have decided isn't going to start a war with Zaun, which is what she's looking for. She needs a catalyst to have people calling for so much blood that not starting a war is no longer an option.

Now I will admit, her bringing up becoming an Enforcer is one of her mistakes. She says to Vi "you can show not all of Zaun supports Jinx" because she believes this. Not just from Vi, but because Jinx's attack was her own, other Zaunites didn't attack the Council, she did. She says "I thought you were on our side" because she thought that Vi would understand because like her, she's lost a parent to an oppressor (and Before you start, I'm talking about Jinx oppressing Caitlyn specifically here. When Jinx threatens her, kidnaps her, and takes away her mom; she's specifically targeting Caitlyn, and for the most part, Caitlyn has been pretty helpless against her. therefore, that makes Jinx an oppressor of Caitlyn). But this causes her to think deeper about it and realize that asking Vi to put on the badge was the wrong thing to ask of her, she says so later in the episode. (btw, it's clear that Caitlyn secured Vi's enlistment Before offering the badge, not after being rejected, y'all are just reaching with this take because you're so blinded by your anger at Caitlyn (ironic isn't it?). Because 1) why would she even have the badge to begin with? But 2) it's pretty clear with with Maddie coming up and talking to her, that Enforcer's have been talking about Vi and Jayce going rouge after Silco's simmer facility for a bit now. And that they're all seemingly impressed with her and how Caitlyn stood up for her, they think that Vi's already agreed because Caitlyn hadn't asked yet)

When she's talking to Jayce, she says that "she understands how easy it is to hate them". because while yes, it is arguable that she was ignorant to people in Zaun back in S1, she didn't see how easy it was for her fellow people to just hate them. Especially after Vi showing her what life was like for people in Zaun. But that was before Jinx went and killed her mom (and gave her her whole baggage of other traumas). But it's still being shown to us that she doesn't lump all Zaunites together just because of Jinx's actions because she still remembers seeing everything down there, she doesn't hate them like other people do.

So, why does the attack at the memorial change things?

Because the attack wasn't made by Jinx, it was made by other Zaunites. Zaunites that she just spent a lot of her time vouching for, being in their defense, giving them benefit. because that's what's happening in Caitlyn's point of view, she doesn't Know (yet, most likely) that Ambessa was the reason that it even happened. She's angry at them and herself because like not shooting Jinx, she's been giving them the benefit when it seems that they don't deserve it. To Her, a peaceful memorial for her Mom that was destroyed by Zaunites that had no reason for attacking them. She Wasn't going to attack them until this happens, because now to her, they're all guilty (keep this in mind, because it actually has to do with her outburst at Vi later).

When she see's that her mom made the vents so that the people of Zaun could breath and not be harmed by the gray, she's so overcome by anger that she uses the gray as a weapon. she plows through the people of Zaun in order to get to Jinx, this is also what she does with Isha later. She isn't thinking rationally at this point anymore, she's simply being controlled by her emotions and thinking that if she kills Jinx it will fix all her problems. And because she now sees other Zaunites as guilty, she doesn't care what her actions are doing to the people of Zaun. they're simply just in her way.

And while Caitlyn says she wouldn't have missed the shot, I'm having doubts about that. Because at that point she's just firing wildly, she misses and takes off Jinx's finger, she misses and hits Vi instead. When Vi grabs the gun and aims it at the ground, look at the face Caitlyn makes here. it goes from shock at what just happened, to looking at Vi in anger. her face Screams "how could you?!" and while Vi's saying she's protecting a child, Not Jinx, that's Not what Caitlyn's hearing. by Vi getting in the way at all, she believes that Vi is still protecting Jinx, that despite Vi telling her to take the shot, that her sister is gone, she believes that Vi was lying to her. That's why she says "I keep telling myself that you're different, but you're not." she now believes that Vi was Never going to kill Jinx, that simply being her sister that was going to be a problem for Vi (because that's what happens in Ep 9. Vi's the one pleading with Caitlyn that "she's my sister" "don't hurt her" etc.). The straw that broke the camels back, however, is when Vi compares Caitlyn to Jinx. Now, Vi's absolutely right in what she's saying here, because Caitlyn has been acting like Jinx (because that's like the whole Point with these two, they're Supposed to be foils of each other). But to Caitlyn, Vi might as well have just slapped her across the face because she just compared her to the person that killed her mom and has been causing all her suffering. In response, she lashes out by hitting Vi with the back of her gun (AGAIN, I'm not saying what Caitlyn did is right, I'm just explaining what's going on and how CAITLYN is currently seeing things).

For a split second, you see regret on Caitlyn's face. She feels bad because she hit Vi, but that isn't quite enough to get her to stay, because the other demons in her head are still convincing her of what she think's Vi's done, so, she turns and leaves.

SO now that we got all THAT outta the way, let's talk about Ambessa appointing Caitlyn as a general shall we?

like I've mentioned in another post, she switches from Salo to Caitlyn because the fool mentioned how much power the Kiramman name wields. Because she simply can't put Herself as leader, oh no no no That would be too obvious. She needs a face for this war to hide behind, someone from Piltover itself, and who Better to Be that face than the new head of the most Powerful house in all of Piltover? Especially now that that new head has been dealing with quite a lot of anger and grief (something that Ambessa is Exceptionally skilled at weaponizing).

She starts with this whole speech of how Zaun has just been attacking Piltover nonstop (despite 2 out of the 3 instances she lists, she Herself is the one that's Responsible), and how "wrath must be met with wrath". Earlier she tells Salo to bring the "Who's who" of Piltover so that Caitlyn CAN'T say no to this because with everyone calling for war, it would look bad for Caitlyn to be like "nah I'll pass thanks". Because you can see everyone's faces, they're Approving of this decision that Ambessa makes, they're Willing to stand behind Caitlyn and the Kiramman name. And so are the Enforcers who Admire Caitlyn, they all begin to pound their chest in solidarity with the Noxian soldiers, they're Also willing to stand behind Caitlyn. and watch the look on her face as Caitlyn walks towards Ambessa, when Ambessa places the cloak on her and swears "her mother will have justice". she's merely starring off, almost in a daze, her rational isn't kicking in, she's merely being lead on a string. here she's being given what she Thinks will solve her problems, and is taking it.

I'm sure that once Caitlyn starts to figure out what Ambessa's doing, not only is her anger going to be directed at Ambessa; but the guilt from the blood that's now on her hands is probably going to eat her alive. She's going to need to make things right with both Vi and Zaun if this has any chance of becoming better but it's rather unclear if that's even going to be a viable option for her. Is there enough time left for Caitlyn to be able to right her wrongs? who knows, it just depends on what they show us.

So all in all, while Caitlyn's actions Are wrong, she isn't this evil, unlovable bitch that just proved that she's been a bitch all along that isn't worth redeeming. thank you for your time.

(before I go, one thing I AM going to say people invalidating Caitlyn's trauma and grief because she comes from a privileged background and therefore "her trauma isn't as bad" is one of the most DISGUSTING things I think I've ever seen. Trauma Absolutely Does NOT work like that. Caitlyn's been through a Fuckton of trauma in merely a matter of Days and is being expected to hold herself together. Yes the actions that she's taking are wrong, I've said this like 5 times during this post, but that doesn't mean her pain and trauma has less value and isn't real. This isn't the trauma olympics, there isn't an invisible line that someone has to cross before you deem "they're allowed to react now")

[edandstede]

ed and stede would not fuck izzy hope this helps <3

[kandicon]

I love the "he asked for no pickles" meme with doorkeay bc I've only ever seen it with Gerry being the one talking and u just KNOW it's not bc Michael doesn't want to correct the food staff, but that it wants to correct them a little too much. Gerry has to step in otherwise they'll be there for at least another hour of Michael spinning some philosophical bullshit and scaring some poor fast food worker, and while Gerry doesn't necessarily mind Michael doing that in and of itself (he knows the thing he's in love with), as the only one of the two of them who actually needs material food he would like to eat that food before it gets cold tyvm.

[wrathofrats]

Btw accusing people of bad things based solely on vibes and no real proof is fascist and you’re a bad person thanks for playing

[stvryyy]

I literally hate scrolling through my favourite characters tags to find multiple fics of certain characters and incest??? Like what the fuck is wrong with these people's minds? Literally logged in and saw a fic of fucking JING YUAN GETTING HIS FUCKIN DAUGHTER PREGNANT??? people are disgusting and that shouldn't be allowed. If you come across one of these posts please report the post and block the user 🙏

[aleki-lives-here]

The second part of tech's pov is actually here, this time including Murderbot being lovingly disassembled while conscious! (an experience that was definitely nothing but pleasant, don't worry about it)

It's officially a series now, I think there'll be five parts total? But don't trust my word, the process is mysterious and unpredictable.

A feed alarm marking the end of ter shift blinked to the center of ter vision just as Ginson pried open the chest panel. Ter tool slipped, jamming into exposed synthetic muscle held to the side by the SecUnit’s one functional hand. Ginson turned off the reminder, rubbed ter eyes with the back of ter hand that hadn’t yet been covered in blood and fluids, and sighed. 

“Everything alright?” Minoa chimed in. Ginson could feel him working in the shared feed workspace, but he was keeping an eye on what te was doing. Which was, of course, not awkward and distracting at all.

“Yes, yes,” te sighed again, and brought the clock to the foreground of ter attention – it was an hour into ter usual rest period – and set a new timer, counting seconds to the morning. Te had a little less than eight hours to finish every diagnostic te could think of and compile the report, and even fewer if te actually wanted to get any sleep.

Which was why te picked up the tool, nudged the Unit’s hand into a more convenient position and pushed the chassis open manually instead of hooking up the specialized machinery and starting the full maintenance cycle that would require at least another half an hour and take the SecUnit offline. 

Blood dripped down from where the organics tore. The SecUnit helped ter maneuver its parts to provide access. Minoa whistled, feed activity slowing down, and peeked over ter shoulder. “That’s… fuck, they actually have, like, organs?”

“Language,” te warned distractedly (Minoa groaned), then answered, “Yes,” and leaned forward to get a better view. The diagnostics couldn’t tell where the damage was, and te hoped looking at it would make things obvious, but there were no visibly leaking parts, and the inorganic tissue was still in the way, even if this one was partially transparent, so te reached to move it aside – thankfully, it was made to resist impacts, not being cut through (if the most inner parts of a SecUnit are being cut, there’s likely nothing more to be done) – moved the tool carefully around the tubing, pulling the tissues away with the other hand, and–

“What’s this?” Minoa exclaimed. 

Ginson stilled ter fingers before te could accidentally cut something that should not be cut. “Nothing you need to look at,” te snapped and immediately regretted it. Judging by Minoa’s silence, it was entirely too harsh. That’s why Ginson hated working with people – te wasn’t good at it, especially when te was busy! Te put the tools aside and faced him.  “Sorry. I don’t mean to yell, it’s just… sorry.”

“No, no, sorry I interrupted,” Minoa laughed, and te shifted awkwardly. “It's late, and you have to work. Ugh,” he made an entirely exaggerated face of disgust. “Eleven pm at work is the exact time and place to be cranky.” 

That just reminded Ginson that te wasn't the only one staying after hours, and Minoa wasn't even paid for this. “If you want to call it a day–”

“Nuh-uh!” Minoa exclaimed and emphatically tapped his lips. “Nope, never, you're not getting rid of me so easily. You think I all but begged to be in your wonderful company just to give up like that?” 

Ginson sighed, but this time it came out exasperated. “Offering help isn't begging.”

“That's besides the point.” Minoa waved dismissively. “Also, where else do I get to poke around in one of these?”

And, to prove his point, he poked. His finger landed at the side of the mostly exposed lung, and he immediately flinched away, making a face. It startled a laugh out of Ginson. “Don't do that,” te had to warn. “These things are delicate on the inside, and cost a fortune. I need to prove it hasn't been damaged, not get it damaged.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Minoa grinned back. Ginson found some part of terself relaxing. “I'll limit my poking to data, then. Your magical fingers are definitely much better suited for this task.” 

Te waved him off, but couldn’t hold back a smile.

At seven hours thirty-eight minutes before the solicitor was due back at the office, Ginson had to accept that a purely visual inspection would lead ter nowhere, and ushered the SecUnit towards the table. It hesitated slightly, still holding its chest open with one hand, and Ginson put its severed arm aside, clearing the space.

At seven sixteen Ginson had gone through most of the circulatory system piece by piece, still finding no explanation for the lowered performance. It wasn’t surprising – the numbers weren’t significant enough to warrant so much effort in any other circumstances, but the manager had been clear: te was to investigate and list every smallest issue, and prove that (ignoring the mangled arm that happened during the assignment and could not be blamed on the company) no, there was no malfunction, so no, the company wouldn’t be paying for the mess. 

Ginson really hoped there wasn’t any malfunction, because if there was… best not to think of that.

At seven ten, Ginson was waiting for the liquid pump to pause the flow on one third of its pipes, so they could be rerouted to an external pump, when Minoa made a surprised sound. Te made sure the errors from the temporarily reduced blood flow cleared out, then asked, “Something interesting?”

“Uh, I guess?” Minoa’s attention was on the feed. “Dunno. I’m gonna– yeah, that, I’m gonna run it against the archives, but maybe?.. Give me a couple of minutes.”

At six forty-seven Ginson fiddled with the disconnected pump, still warm and dripping liquids. It looked perfectly good in ter fingers, but the diagnostics did return an improvement now that it was out of the picture, so, here. A meaningless problem solved. Te wiped the pump and ter hands and focused on the report and the list of other things that returned less than perfect status. Could the left knee joint being 1.7% too tight cause a SecUnit to misinterpret the order? No. Did anyone care about ter opinion or basic logic? Also no.

Stars, te was tired.

“So,” Minoa said and then paused for a good half a minute. Ginson looked at whatever he was working on in the feed – graphs and automatic reports by programs te wasn’t familiar with, structured in ways that didn’t feel intuitive. Minoa sent some of it to the display surface. “Got a minute?”

“I’m listening,” Ginson sighed. 

“Okay,” Minoa smiled and rubbed his hands together. “So, first of all, I wasn’t actually sure what I was looking for?” He looked apologetic. “I ran the code you sent, and the results were all very clear, and then I thought: surely I can do better than this! And you know I don’t really know how to interpret the logs, but it’s the exact kind of data I work with, so I ran some of my code just to see what’s up with that. And you know its performance is generally abnormal, right? Turns out, that’s not the only weird thing!”

That was interesting, Ginson told terself, and it was. Just, at any other hour, you know? Once te'd had a good long nap, then it would be interesting.

“I don’t have all the data from all the SecUnits,” Minoa continued, “but what I did have on hand has yielded fun discrepancies. This,” a graph appeared on the display surface, “is feed activity. This is what you’d see in new SecUnits, and some of the old ones here. This one would fit more with the first bunch, which is weird–”

“Individual differences,” Ginson interrupted. 

“Huh?”

“They are all different. I don’t suppose it shows up for you, but it’s critical in my work. Every Unit is a bit different. They perform differently. They approach things differently and in different ways.” Te shrugged. “Neural tissue. You really can’t get them acting the same, no matter how much structure and how many constraints you implement around their decision-making process.”

“...Right,” Minoa said. 

Ginson thought he looked disappointed, and felt another pang of guilt. Te fidgeted with the pump again, bits and pieces moving inside of it with every twist of ter fingers. “And other differences?” Te tried to sound enthusiastic or at least like te wasn’t dying for a soft pillow and some quiet.

“Right! Okay, there's quite a few to look at, but the most interesting one from those I could check is, I think, the cleaned up data for research on the governors and their effects. The primary focus was the cumulative damage to neural tissue and whether it was worth doing something about, but we tracked many metrics, and one of the things we tracked was hormonal response. The stress levels are higher in older SecUnits as a rule, but they fluctuate a lot, and, looking at the governor module’s influence, there’s always this spike right before it activates, and a long period of recovery afterwards, no matter which level the punishment was at.”

Ginson snorted. “So basically you’ve discovered that they have stress reactions to pain?”

Minoa blinked and looked at the SecUnit. Ginson did, too. It was still lying on the table, unmoving, tubes going out of the hole in its chest and to the external pump. It was still online. Suddenly, it made ter uncomfortable. 

“Well, yes. The thing is: this one doesn’t. Or, if it does, then less than other SecUnits. There’s little to no correlation between its governor module and stress responses. By that I don’t mean it doesn’t have stress responses, because it does, and they’re– there’s a lot of those. And I mean, a lot. If I were a MedSystem looking at a human, I’d give them anxiety meds.” He paused and blinked some more. “...Can constructs have anxiety?”

“The hormonal responses are calibrated for optimal performance,” Ginson dismissed. Te squinted at the graph, then closed ter eyes and accessed it in the feed instead. That, somehow, didn’t make it make more sense. “Individual differences,” te muttered. 

“I suppose,” Minoa sounded sceptical. “Do you know how long it’s been like this?”

“No idea. Logs aren’t kept in full for long.”

“So no logs pre-RaviHyral incident?”

That made Ginson pause. The SecUnit was a mess when te’d gotten ter hands on it first. Being infected with code that took control of its systems and forced it to kill indiscriminately – that was something out of a horror show, and none of them got out of it unaffected. Some were decommissioned as their performance reliability never returned to acceptable figures. Every other one had their memory thoroughly purged. 

Half of those showed repeated problems afterwards, which was how they ended up in ter basically personalized care. Ginson knew them, pulled them apart and put them back together with ter own hands, and hated seeing three more of them gone, never returning from other contracts. Te compiled reports of their state afterwards, and all looked like unfortunate accidents, and were unfortunate accidents. It still felt a bit like ter failure. Maybe they were still underperforming, some error stuck in the organic parts of their systems that Ginson couldn’t access, and the mistakes were the consequence of ter lack of ingenuity. 

But out of the ten Ganaka Pit SecUnits, there was one outlier. It hadn't been an outlier early on – In fact, it was one of the units struggling to return to baseline functionality – but then something happened and it shot beyond the baseline, enough to get Minoa's attention. It was great at its job, and Ginson never found out how it got there.

Te stared at the graph now, and wondered. It made ter feel deeply uncomfortable.

“Neural tissue can be unpredictable,” te repeated. “Especially after extreme adversarial circumstances. And it largely controls its own hormone release so it can self-regulate, and that’s what it did.”

Minoa didn’t look any less sceptical. “You made this sound like a very natural response that every Unit has,” he pointed out. “But then shouldn’t they have the same stress response to their governor module being activated? All the others do.” He gestured at the graphs.

“Well, what other explanation is there?” Ginson asked and immediately regretted it. The discomfort turned into painful pulsing between ter ears. This day couldn’t be over soon enough. “Whatever,” te waved ter hand. “It doesn’t give us much. I’m going to run the proper diagnostics on the endocrine system, but it’s not like it could have forced it to jump into the blast radius against an order.” 

Except hormones affected decision making (that’s why they were there to begin with), and so, yes. This could in fact make it jump into the blast radius without paying attention to an order. If it didn’t have the appropriate fear of the governor module’s punishment protocol, it was the exact kind of thing that’d make it disobey. 

Ginson winced. The only worse result te could deliver was finding out it was a rogue that got caught in an explosion in an attempt to commit mass murder. Oh, ter supervisor would love that conclusion. 

The good thing about hormones was: they were in the blood, and that blood was already conveniently running through a machine capable of taking every test needed. By which Ginson didn’t just mean the SecUnit, though of course it could track its own levels, but the external pump could double as a diagnostic tool. That was just great, and a wonderful way to appear like a good diligent worker that took time to run double tests instead of enjoying ter rest – if a single supervisor would think to realize how much effort hooking it all up would have taken if Ginson hadn't already done that. 

Half of the Unit’s hormone levels were of course elevated. Te’d already talked about individual differences – this was exactly about that. This SecUnit didn’t like going through any tests or repairs. It’d found those stressful since Ganaka Pit, and usually Ginson tried to keep it offline for everything that didn’t require its participation. Te felt a bit bad for keeping it awake like that. Poor thing must have spent the whole time in fear, but, well – it’s not like te had much of a choice here. Te’d take ter time if te had any. 

The test was simple and automated, but took time. The hormones flushed away from its system, then flooded it again. The SecUnit twitched minutely when they plateaued at the highest concentration, and Ginson patted its hand briefly. “Sorry, it’s not going to be a pleasant test,” te muttered. 

Minoa gave ter a startled look that made ter cheeks warm up, but didn’t comment. 

The hormones slowly flushed again and as its results returned almost clear, Ginson dropped a modified governor module diagnostic in its feed. There was an immediate spike in adrenaline that the machines quantified, which was also great because here, proof that Minoa’s findings were a fluke and all of it worked beautifully. The systems connected to the governor, exchanged messages, orders (limited to those the Unit could perform without moving physically), received responses, all in a timely manner and with elevated stress. 

Then came the test of punishment procedures. The shocks were administered at regular intervals, with growing magnitude, the governor module registered every one as completed with not a single problem, except…

“There are no pain-related spikes,” Minoa pointed out. 

Ginson could see that. 

The test finished, and returned all clear. “The endocrine system is being tested, that must interfere with the regular hormone production,” te lied. Because it didn’t, and the first spike was a proof that te’d not messed something up in the settings. The SecUnit had a fully functional hormone production system that could deliver as much adrenaline as needed, and somehow, magically, it didn’t have the natural, innate-to-all-constructs (and humans and, te was sure, animals too) responses to pain. 

“Should we test for it separately?” Minoa offered and clapped his hands. “If that’s the reason it’s been performing better, we should look into it!”

Ginson cleared ter throat. “Minoa…” 

“Come on, call me Tom.”

“Uh,” Ginson blinked and for a whole second looked away from the SecUnit. “Right. Sorry, – could you get me some coffee?”

Minoa stared for a few seconds before smiling. “Sure! How much sugar?”

“Three.”

“On it, boss!” 

He left and closed the door behind himself, and Ginson lowered terself on a chair and slowly, articulately, allowed terself a singular thought: holy fucking shit. 

Okay, te could still be wrong. Te wasn’t dismissing the idea that it was all a fluke, and a natural difference, and there wasn’t a singular test that came out anything but clear, and, most importantly, the SecUnit hadn’t actually killed anyone it wasn’t supposed to. It did ignore an order. And it did show the complete lack of natural responses to pain–

Wait, was it pain generally or pain from the governor? Te had full access to the logs, and te knew the exact timestamp te needed – ter alarm had gone off at exactly eleven, – and, yes, there was the spike in response to the tool slipping and hurting it, and then it lowered its pain sensors even further. So it felt pain alright, and had all the natural and universal reactions associated with it. Except when it came to the pain delivered by its governor. 

So, returning to that thought: holy. fucking. shit. 

At six hours and two minutes, Ginson spent an entire minute staring at what had to be a rogue SecUnit, lying on ter table, chestplate to the side, hooked up to an external pump and currently riding another hormonal high. That made no sense. There was not a single universe in which it made sense for a fucking rogue SecUnit to allow Ginson to do any of this to it! To continue allowing this, for months! 

…Was this why it hated being tested so much? Was it scared of being found out?

At five fifty te was carefully connecting the tubing back to the SecUnit’s liquid pump as the door opened again. “The sugariest coffee I could find!” Minoa announced. He placed it on the table without being told to do so, and peeked at what Ginson was doing again, and drew out a disappointed, “Is this a no for additional testing then?” 

“Not tonight,”” Ginson replied. “There’s already a lot to do–”

“Awwww.”

“–and hunting for mysterious possible problems – that likely don’t even exist because all the diagnostics are clear – would not just be a waste of time, it would be- it would be utterly unproductive, is what it would!”

“Okay, okay, I get it. I was just curious–”

“Well, I’m not! If it works, don’t fix it! My job here is to make sure that it was working within normal operating parameters during the contract. And it was! There’s a whole fucking lawsuit–”

“Hey, language,” Minoa tried for a joke.

“–and who do you think would be blamed if it were to have malfunctioned? Do you think it’d be whoever demanded it stopped in the middle of saving the workers? There was no malfunctioning involved, just some stupid contradictory orders, and that’s it. That is it!”

Minoa was silent for a while after te’d finished. “Sorry. I was just curious, is all. We don’t have to do any of that if you don’t want to, tonight or ever.”

“There’s no need to check that, because it’s nothing but bullshit,” Ginson said and made sure ter voice sounded confident. 

Minoa was silent again. Ginson stared at the SecUnit in front of ter and felt sick. It stared at the ceiling, never once meeting ter gaze. A regular, normal, obedient SecUnit that helped with its own disassembly because a tech had asked it to, who just happened to receive conflicting orders that one time. Te’d checked the logs, there were conflicting orders. It was just that simple.

“Okay,” Minoa said finally. “I’m sorry. Is there something else I can help you with?”

Ginson felt awful. He’d done nothing but try to help and cheer ter up, but it was just… not a good night for that. “No. It’s fine, I’ll finish here myself. There’s just a lot of tedious checks, you’ve already helped enough,” that sounded wrong. Te winced. “Sorry, I’m really grateful, just…”

“No-no, I get it,” Minoa assured. His voice sounded odd. “Well, I suppose it’s time to spare you from the fun of my company.” He laughed. “Hang out at some point later?”

“Sure,” Ginson agreed and turned toward him. “Good night.”

“Good night,” he echoed and left.

At five forty two Ginson suddenly had no distraction from wondering whether a rogue SecUnit would jump up and kill ter the moment its blood was safely running all inside its body. It hadn’t yet. But it really wasn’t convenient to murder someone while they were conducting your own repairs. 

Ginson spent a few minutes sipping ter coffee and mulling over that possibility, and every other possibility that bloomed in ter imagination, and then got to work. 

At one hour thirteen minutes te submitted a final report that said that yes, there were minor problems with the SecUnit’s systems. Its pump was performing 2.3% worse than standard. Its left knee joint was too tight. A patch of skin on its back had been regrown at some point with slight defects. But there was nothing more than that, and nothing that would have made it malfunction and do what it shouldn’t have, and definitely not a single tiniest thing that would make the company liable for the damages, and even less that would point to ter, good Tech Ginson, as not having conducted a thorough enough check of the SecUnit’s functionality. 

It was a great report, all in all, with the result of every diagnostic attached. And te didn’t even get murdered while writing it, so maybe it really was the truth.

[solargeist]

Bit of a stupid question, but do you have any ridiculous fears? And when I say ridiculous I mean RIDICULOUS. I’m scared of popcorn and cereal lol.

hahaha ummmm !!!!! hmmmmm monkeys and horses give me uncanny valley, does that count ?

im terrified of accidentally putting a whole light bulb in my mouth and it getting stuck

i also hate stickers and bandages, they make me gag and feel sick, i rly can't stand them, i wont touch anything with stickers on it, i'm so glad the trend of bandaids over the nose is over. they're worse than actual shit to me, i've had an easier time cleaning human shit than picking up used bandaids. children's bandaids are worse than the regular, the themed ones ? they're so disgusting i will literally get violent over it i cant imagine anything more unsanitary !!! makes me upset just to think abt it !!!!!!

[thecreatorsvessel]

(a bit of rant at the middle of this post but please read this, I appreciate it, thank you)

I'll just post some Pressure fanarts here because here is at least decent, not on Twitter, I already got paranoid and anxious of talking to fans & posting arts after everything happened (also, I'm not looking at TikTok because I know what people will do Iike the last time)

Leave the devs alone. Let Zeal and the other devs/mods take care of themselves, let them take their break from the community and from the harassment and threats fans threw at them. Yes, they did a moronic mistake, but, can you just give them advice or criticism instead of harassment and foul words, doing that kind of stuff won't make it better for them. I've seen on Twitter people kept spamming some freakbastian with his tongue out while didn't take the situation seriously and only focused on the fish. You people shouldn't treat them like they aren't human beings. They are humans who are working for a game, not some robots to throw objects or spit foul words at them every day.

I have noticed Zeal deleted his acc on twt because of the amount of harassment (mostly he and Zerum) the devs had received since back then. Seriously, can you all just leave them alone, let them have some time to think and correct their mistakes. Why do you have to harass them when it's not even your problem. It's theirs and they are trying to repair and recover everything just to make it better not only for them but for us, community and fandom. The devs had consequences of their actions, but to those who had harassed or threatening them have the most of it. Zach(on twt), who exposed them, have been caught for defending a gr**mer instead of defending the actual victim/s, and hasn't apologize about it. Exposing someone's actions doesn't make you a good person, it does make people aware, but you would do something bad afterwards. Quit being self-righteous. I am so upset of them, after they exposed them on discord, making us believe misinformation, and is also ignoring people who have been harassed and has harassed the devs like they deserved it. Not to mention, they had an excuse to bring back the old drama and antagonized Zerum again and (possibly) the whole canon shippers. Self-shippers are being harassed by some of them, self-shippers don't deserve to be harassed, they have the right to ship themselves with their favorite character. Even I'm not a self-shipper to this fandom, self-shipping is harmless and that's what makes them happy. I am glad self-shippers stood up for themselves and continued to do their thing. On the other hand, some canon shippers removing their bio as a canon shipper. And why do you have to bring it up the old drama before when it's been months? That has nothing to do with it. Gosh why being so obsessive of hating her and the others? Why not ignore canon? If it's too much for you then why just...leave? For the fandom, if you can't accept canon, that's your problem, not theirs. If you can't accept self-shipping/ocxcanon, it's your problem, not theirs. So if it's not your thing, don't start to come at them then bark like dogs and start a fight because that's what commonly happened and people are leaving because of it. Do your own thing and leave them alone, otherwise you'll be either exposed or blocked for your actions.. as a canon shipper, it hurts to see people are fighting over a character, over a ship...I don't want self-shippers to get harassed for doing what they want and some started a fight. That also goes for those who shipped canon. I hate to see my people invading someone's space and yell that their favorite character being married like come on we already knew that but leave the ones who wanted to ship themself with their favorite character alone. This is why we cannot understand each other completely and some people who have issues with that ship and some became insecure for liking the ship in public (including me..)

Both sides are flawed. The Devs and Community. But the audacity of harassing and sending death threats is unacceptable. People had no shame of telling the devs to k themselves while they didn't do nothing but trying to explain the whole situation. And when they heard the game is getting sold, they're gonna be cheering that the devs are no longer with us, it's so gross to see. We should be happy that our beloved game won't be sold anymore. Stop accusing people. Be at least grateful for the devs for creating the game. Be respectful to each other and move on. Learn to be a decent person.

I came here just for you all to be aware (and in case some of you don't have twt). And that's all of my take and what I thought about it. Thank you for reading this, I appreciate it and have yourself something nice to get off the negativity from the community/fandom. If you can't handle to stay, you can leave and find a better,small, non-problematic one. No one is stopping you, it's okay. Your comfort and mental health is important.

This is a random question but I won't judge you. This is only for your own perspective and your own feelings.

[bumpscosity]

Actually all gravity falls shipping wars back when the show was airing were hilarious. i once saw two ppl arguing abt wether pinecest or stancest was better like guys i think its better if we just throw both of you into the bottomless pit forever

[sleepy-crypt1d]

will never forgive the COF 2013 remake for trying to take away simon's crustiness- it is PART of him he's not himself without it

[uluthrek]

lannicest is such a top tier ship though because they are the absolute originators of weird incest. no one does circular family trees quite like these two weirdos. all other incest ships are like “oh god, we shouldn’t do this, i can’t, oh god, you’re my brother!” and then they slip up and feel horrible about it or they don’t even know they’re related and find out later and are subsequently completely horrified and that’s all fine and dandy, to each their own, but you just gotta respect how nonchalant cersaime are about the inbreeding they’ve got going on. like yes, i’ll call you brother during sex and i’m gonna waterboard a nun while telling her how good it feels to have your genetically familiar dick inside of me. the fact that we’re twins makes it even better. we’re so fucked up that it’s rubbing off on pur younger brother who wants to fuck both of us. when you’re not around i’ll make do and sleep with our cousin because i can’t handle dick that isn’t at least on the adjacent branch of the family tree. you ask the woman you’re attracted to if she’s a lannister during one of your less unromantic interactions and while she interprets it as an insult, we both know what you mean. we’re what would have happened to the ashford twins if capcom had walked the mile and committed to making code veronica even more uncomfortable. they’re absolutely fucking unmatched in just how weird they are. no one does it like them. absolute hats off to grrm for committing to making them capital h horrible. i’d kill for both of them.

[calkale]

i cannot wait to get out of school so i never have to be around kids using ai for their work again 😐

[verfound]

FIC: "When Did You Get THAT?" (MLB; Lukanette; LBSC Lukanette Month 2024)

@lovebugs-and-snakecharmers is doing a Lukanette Month for September 2024, and we all just kinda tossed some prompts in the disco to compile a list?  We ended up with 71 prompts, so I decided I’d roll some dice to pick a prompt, do a twenty minute (ish, bc we all know sometimes they run away from me) sprint, and try to get some short fics out this month?

Also HUGE shoutout to @goldenlaurelleaveswrites , who is the Juleka Whisperer and absolutely saved this fic when my Get-the-Prompt-Donitis had Juleka sounding like a dyed Alya. You're the best, babes 🖤

Read on Ao3

Prompt 52: Piercing

Luka was…distracted.

Which really wasn’t saying much, because Juleka would argue he was usually distracted when a certain someone was around, but today was…worse than usual.

Because today was hot.

And had been set aside for a seasonal Mop Up Day – one of the few times a year the Captain actually tolerated the word clean on her ship.  And Marinette had come over with the best of intentions, not realizing it was a Mop Up Day until it was too late.  All Luka had told her, when she had first asked if it was all right to come over that day, was that they’d be busy all day and wouldn’t be able to have anyone over.  He had also had the best of intentions, wanting to keep her from getting caught up in the chaos that was the Captain cleaning.  He had also known that, because it was Marinette, she would totally offer to help, and while that was appreciated he had still wanted to save her from the Captain cleaning.  So imagine his shock when she showed up bright and early – at least for them – with a box of pastries and some harried excuses about how I know you said not to come over but if you’re busy you’ll need sustenance and pastries are always a great pick-me-up, right?

It was just…Marinette being Marinette.  Being the awesome girl she was.  But it had, unfortunately, also completely blown his plans to save her from cleaning, because she was a helper.  A doer.  And the next thing he knew, she was hauling boxes and mopping decks with the rest of them.

And he wasn’t complaining, because he would never complain about getting more time with Marinette, but…it wasn’t really fair.  For her, totally, because it wasn’t even her home.  Sure, she spent enough time there and often joked that it was like a second home, but the Liberty still wasn’t her actual home.  She shouldn’t be responsible for cleaning it up.

It also wasn’t fair to…well.  Him.  Because it was hot, and she had dressed appropriately for a late summer day, and sure he had seen her in shorts and swimsuits before but that never made it any easier when there was just so much Marinette on display.

…he was still a guy.  A guy who was still stupid in love with her, even if he was pretty sure it was no longer mutual.  A guy who was still stupid in love with her and had eyes.

Somewhere out there, up there, whatever (…probably hiding in her purse, or back in her bedroom but still somehow just knowing), the universe (or a tiny snake-shaped god) was laughing at him.  Uproariously.

He was probably playing his pain on fucking loop.

So now Marinette was sticking around for the mop up, and while she wasn’t stuck with the more manual tasks Luka had been assigned – like how he was currently on the roof of the greenhouse, replacing some panes that had broken in the last bad storm – she was still…there.  Distracting.  Because, if you asked Juleka, Marinette was always distracting.  At least for him.

She…really had a point.

Because he was always so aware of her, even when she wasn’t directly engaging him.  He was drawn to her, as he had always been, like a magnet.  Every time he heard her voice somewhere below.  Every time Juleka said something stupid that made her laugh.  Every time he looked up and saw the flex of her arms as she lifted something someone so tiny shouldn’t have been able to, or saw the curve of her ass on full display as she bent to pick something up off the deck.  The way her white tank top was starting to stick to her skin with her sweat.  The glimmer in her eyes when she called up to him and tossed a water bottle his way – “So you don’t overheat!”

…the little glimpse of something, something small and shiny, that he couldn’t be sure he was actually seeing every time that tank rode up just a little too high, which was happening more and more as the day wore on.

He couldn’t be seeing that right.  It had to be his imagination, or a hallucination, or…something.

Because there was no way he was seeing what he thought he was seeing.

There was no way Marinette would have gone through with it.

There was no way in hell Tom would have let her.

And there was definitely no way she would have done it without telling him!

…right?

Not that…not that she needed to.  But they were friends – really good, really close friends – and they told each other stuff.  He had told her before he’d gotten his first tattoo.  And sure, that was partly because he’d been hoping she would design it, but…he had still told her.  She was actually the first person he had told, when it was still just an inkling of an idea instead of actual ink.

So wouldn’t she tell him if she was planning on…on…

She turned back towards Juleka, lifting an arm to wipe some sweat from her brow, and there.  Her shirt lifted just enough that her navel was in plain sight.  And she wasn’t moving.  And he could clearly see, glinting in the sun…

Juleka noticed it, too.

“Woah, Mari,” she said, her eyes widening.  Her hand reached out almost automatically before she seemed to catch herself, and Marinette frowned as she noticed Juleka was staring at her…she squeaked and went to tug her shirt down, but Juleka put a hand on her arm and made her pause.  “Can I…is that what I think it is?”

“It…ah…” Marinette stammered, but then she was looking towards the deck as she nodded, lifting her shirt up just a bit more to reveal…holy shit.  Juleka gave her a Look, and she rolled her eyes and sighed as she lifted her shirt even higher.  Luka swallowed, his throat suddenly too dry.  There was a tiny, pink flower – a cherry blossom, he was sure, because what else could it be with her, made of glittering pink crystals – nestled perfectly in her belly button.  A smaller white stone poked through her skin just above it.  It was…it was…

…hot, a tiny, strangled voice somewhere in the back of his mind offered, most unhelpfully.

“When did you get that?” Juleka asked, her eyes widening even more.

“Not that long ago,” she said.  She started to lower her shirt again, but Juleka shook her head as she reached out to stop her.  She looked up at her with a grin, one Luka had seen too many times over the course of his short life and now had Marinette looking away anxiously, clearly uncomfortable with her scrutiny.  There was a blush on her face.  “It’s…it’s still new.”

“Not that new,” Juleka said, and Luka watched in something akin to amazement – or maybe just…bafflement – as she reached out to poke her fucking stomach.  She seemed to remember herself just shy of actually touching Marinette, but Marinette – who was too familiar with such oversteps from other people who had called themselves friend over the years – flinched away all the same.  It was enough to make his fists clench against the roof, and the next thing he knew he was making his way down to the deck and over towards them.  He didn’t care if Juleka was his sister: she knew better, and even if she had opened up more over her time in lycée – mostly thanks to friends like Rose and Marinette – she knew shit like that wasn’t ok.  He noticed she did pull back as his boots touched the deck, her hand moving to rub at her elbow as she looked at Marinette’s stomach.   “…sorry.  But it can’t be that new, Marinette.  It’s not even swollen anymore.”

“Juleka…” she sighed, and Luka felt himself swallowing again when she glanced over at him.  Her face turned several shades darker as she saw he was no longer on the roof, and that almost gave him pause.  “Cut it…come on.  It’s not a big deal.”

Juleka followed her gaze, and her grin turned positively wicked when she saw him, and that was around when Luka realized they were both fu…doomed.  His swallow was more of a gulp that time as Juleka coughed and nodded towards him.

“…have you told Luka yet?” she asked, her voice just loud enough for him to hear as he walked towards them.  There was a moment – an almost painful moment, as his boot landed heavy on the deck behind Marinette and her entire body seemed to tense before she spun around, her eyes wide and her face several shades darker than it had been moments before.  And she looked up at him, her eyes wide and kind of terrified and so, so blue, but…she was still holding her shirt up.

It would have fallen, if she hadn’t still had her hands twisted in the hem so tight he was surprised it hadn’t ripped.  If she hadn’t frozen upon seeing him right there, in front of her, with his eyes glued to the piercing like some creep.

“Did you know, brother dear?” Juleka asked, her voice entirely too innocent as she smirked at him from over Marinette’s shoulder.  He swallowed, and her grin grew.  “Me neither.  But I must say: it looks hot.  Don’t you think?”

“I think I liked it better when you were too shy to speak…” Marinette grumbled, her eyes dropping to their feet.  Luka was pretty sure he was supposed to be yelling at Juleka – or corralling Marinette below, away from the ‘good-natured’ teasing and to the safety of his bunk, where she would be more comfortable.

…because they were friends, and she was comfortable with him, and this conversation was clearly making her so very…not comfortable.

“Come on, Jules,” she sighed, her eyes still on her feet.  “It’s not a big deal.  It’s just a belly button ring.”

“Lay off, Jules,” he said, finally tearing his eyes away from the piercing to glare at his sister.  “You’ve had your fun.”

“Oh, I’m just getting started, brother dear.  You, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, are pierced,” Juleka snickered, grinning at her.  She nodded towards Luka.  “You officially have more holes than that idiot.”

“Juleka!” they both snapped at her, but she just laughed – outright cackled, like the little witch she was – before looping an arm around Marinette’s shoulders.

“Seriously.  Did you lose a bet or something?  I wouldn’t have pegged you as a belly button ring girl,” she quipped.  Her grin was almost feral, and Luka honestly wasn’t sure if the blush on Marinette’s face was from embarrassment or frustration.  Probably both.  He was starting to feel frustrated himself.  “Probably some more on your ears.  Maybe a nose ring.  But your navel?”

“Juleka –” he started, but Marinette huffed as she tried to shrug her off.  Juleka took her arm back, her expression wavering for a moment, and he was relieved to see that.  Good.  Maybe she was finally getting the picture.

“Shut up, Juleka.  It wasn’t like that,” she said, her hands still twisting just enough in her shirt to keep the piercing revealed.  He was trying his level best to ignore it.  “I just…thought it was cute.  And Rose agreed, and she thought –”

That was enough to catch her attention.

“Wait, Rose?” she asked, her eyes widening as she looked up at her.  And that…that look on her face possibly made up for how much he wanted to throttle her, putting Marinette on the spot like that.  Like she wasn’t finding her game very amusing anymore.  That dawning look of horror and realization as she connected some dots in her head.  “Son of a –!”

“No, Juleka, wait –!” Marinette called as she spun away from her, but it was too late.  Juleka had the look about her of a woman possessed, and Luka knew nothing they said or did would deter her from her goal.  “You weren’t supposed to know yet!”

“I need a break!  Tell Ma I’ll be back soon – text me what you want!” Juleka called, and then she was gone.  Marinette blinked before turning back to him.

“Did…did she actually say where she was going?” she asked, her fingers still twisting anxiously in the hem of her shirt.  “I’m assuming she’s going to see Rose, I mean, but…”

“She’ll have to bring something back if she’s going to convince Ma she’s not just shirking her duties,” he said, shrugging.  “Might as well take advantage of it.  I dare say she deserves it.”

Marinette groaned and dropped her face in her hands – finally dropping her shirt in the process.  Luka couldn’t stop the way his eyes flicked down, or the way he reflexively swallowed when he still saw a glimmer of pink along the strip of still-exposed skin.

“Rose is going to kill me,” she said.  “It was supposed to be a surprise.  She didn’t want Juleka to know until it had fully healed – hers got…why am I telling you this???”

She had squeaked out the last question, and she was peeking out over her fingertips at him.  He shook his head, chuckling slightly as he smiled at her.  It didn’t feel as easy as his smiles for her usually did, which was…weird.  He hadn’t felt this off-kilter around her in…well.

That wasn’t fair.

He usually felt off-kilter around her.

He was just…usually better at hiding it.  At least he liked to think he was.

“Because we’re friends?  And we talk?” he hazarded.  He reached out, laying his hand on her arm and rubbing…it was supposed to be soothing.  Comforting.  He hoped it was, for her.  His skin felt like a livewire where they touched.  That damn piercing was still taunting him, begging him to reach out and…  “I’m a little surprised you hadn’t told me yet, honestly.”

“Because it was supposed to be a surprise,” she huffed, rolling her eyes.  “It…I mean…I didn’t…”

“I’m sorry she kept on you like that,” he sighed, squeezing her arm before removing his hand.  He shoved them in his pockets, where he was thankful to find a spare pick he quickly started flipping between his fingers.  Anything to fidget with.  Anything to keep him from…  “She knows how much that sucks.  She shouldn’t have embarrassed you like that.

“I’m not embarrassed,” she was quick to say.  He lifted an eyebrow, and she pushed out a breath as she rolled her eyes.  “I’m not.  I just…she just…I was going to tell you, Luka.  I was.”

“I know,” he said, because they told each other stuff like that.  He had no doubt she would have told him.  When she was ready.

“Do…” she glanced back down, her teeth worrying her lower lip in a way that was just as distracting as the damn piercing.  “…do you like it?”

…he would have told her he liked XY, with the way she was looking up at him like that.  He was amazed she even had to ask.

Like it?

Did he like it?

He didn’t like it.

He loved it.

He was…actually having some very inappropriate thoughts about just how much he loved it.  Thoughts he probably shouldn’t be having, considering…

“Yeah,” he finally said, swallowing thickly as he nodded.  Her smile turned a bit easier, and he reached out to flick a finger against her shirt.  When she didn’t flinch away, he lifted it just a little.  Just enough to fully reveal the little flower glinting up at him.  His eyes flicked up to her, his smile growing as his finger brushed the warm skin stretched out in stark contrast to the cool silver of the piercing.  It had to be his imagination, but he would have sworn she shivered at the touch.  “It’s pretty cool, Marinette.”

The smile she gave him at that was one of his favorite things, and he found himself smiling back as she ducked her head, a pretty blush on her cheeks.

“C-cool,” she stammered, reaching up to tuck some hair behind her ear.  Her other hand reached out, her fingertips brushing against his until she had pulled his hand towards her, and his breath caught as she threaded her fingers through his.  As she held his hand and smiled up at him like…he twisted their hands, pressing their palms together and  brushing his thumb against hers.  Her smile turned easier, and she took a step closer.  One more step, just one, and she’d…  “Cool.”