#what is your basis for either of those claims - first of all - and second of all your deal with her was that you'd hand over

[mieczyhale]

If you're going to be a mother act like a fucking mother

Your child does not owe you for taking care of them. That is LITERALLY your fucking job, you chose to have them, they didn't ask to be born

If they need your support you support them

They're your child! "I don't care" Well congrats on being the biggest piece of shit! Color me not even remotely surprised

[princessbellecerise]

are you aware that by lying about the bastard status of her children Rhaenyra committed treason? You know what the punishment for treason is yes? Aegon is the heir wheither you want it or not. If Rhaenyra had legitimized her children we wouldn't have this problem. She was being stupid.

Are you aware that both the King, Corlys and Laenor recognized these boys as legitimate and treated them as such? Are you aware that they KNEW, DIDN'T CARE, and STILL named them as heirs?

Any bastard recognized by the King or the Lord they are inheriting from as legitimate are thereby treated as such. But let's not even get into that, and get into the fact that despite it being obvious in the show, in the book Jace, Luke and Joffery are NEVER proved to illegimate as no one knows what Laenor or Harwin looks like. These are simply just misogynistic rumors spread by, yes, you guessed it, the Greens as just another excuse to justify usurping Rhaenyra.

Truth be told they have no proof and they don't actually care. They only say this weaken her claim.

But no matter which way you spin it, Aegon is not and never will be the rightful heir. First of all, there is no such thing as a 'rightful heir.' You do not earn that status by simply being born as the first male as there is no set law in Westros that establishes this. The next ruler is chosen by the current King on a case by case situation and Viserys named RHENYRA was heir, not Aegon. If you want proof, check out this 1999 article where GRRM himself says himself that there are not succession laws in Westros:

Here is the snipit: "There are no clear cut answers, either in Westeros or in real medieval history. Things were often decided on a case by case basis. A case might set a precedent for later cases... but as often as not, the precedents conflicted as much as the claims."

Second of all, Aegon is a rapist. Rape believe it or not is ILLEGAL in Westros. Men who were rapers got sent to the wall or castrated or executed, as seen when Daemon literally cuts someone's dick off during his rampage. Any crime committed is crime against the King, which is treason. Therefor your logic is invalid because technically, your boy committed treason as well. Multiple times.

Third of all, you cannot call Rhaenyra stupid for making a choice to save her life and her claim.

Having bastard children is not illegal or treason but trying to put them on the throne IS. If Rhaenyra had announced that her children were bastards then she would be put to death along with Jace, Luke, And Joffery (who, mind you, is an innocent little kid). Viserys would probably have no choice but to execute Daemon as well seeing as he probably knew, and anyone else like Harwin, Lord Lynol (his hand at one point), Rhaena, Baela, Laenor if he was still alive (which would greatly weaken the crown because there is no World in which Corlys would support him after that).

You really expect this woman to put herself, her entire family and others in danger for what - rumors started by Alicent? Because once again I reiterate - just because the show makes it oblivious, does not mean it was ever actually proven.

Rhaenyra giving into those stupid rumors would cost not only her, but the realm so much. And I find it funny how you are so eager to put her children in danger when you probably think Blood and Cheese is wrong.

Well, news flash, advocating for Rhaenyra to admit to treason would mean little kids die anyways. Luke, Rhaena, Baela, and Joffery who is around the same age as Heleana's children would be put to the death but I find it funny how you have no sympathy for them.

But back to the point - Westros is an absolute monarchy. The King's word is law and there are no if, ands, or buts. What Viserys says, goes, and even if you threw everything I just said out of the window, THE KING, and I repeat, THE KING OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS NAMED HER AS HEIR. HIS WORD IS LAW. THERE IS NO ARGIUNG WITH THAT.

If you think Rhaenya is still not the rightful heir even after the King has said she was and never relented to his death, then it is because you have a problem with a woman on the throne. It was always supposed to be her and not Aegon, and the Greens usurped her not because Aegon was the rightful heir, but because they hated the idea of a woman on the throne.

I leave you with all this and if you disagree that's your problem. But remember, even Aegon himself once said:

"What kind of a brother steals his own sister's birthright?"

[butchciri]

"promise me you’ll actually read my sources if you care about this topic” oh sweetheart, i hope you know what you just asked for. @wickedhappenings i care so much i gotta take it outta the replies for this one

first of all, you asked me which ‘trans rights’ i dont support, and i’ll reiterate that i reject their entitlement to be counted as female. i never said trans identified males (TIMs) deserve violence for the act of being gender non conforming. i don't ever, EVER, want anyone to be raped or murdered. i don't want gender non conforming people to face violence of any kind, or ever consider taking their own lives. the fact that you put those words in my mouth just because i made a joke you found insulting is in incredibly bad faith. i believe the best path forward for everyone is to abolish gender. i do not believe anyone genuinely wants to live by the rules of gender. as individuals we either accept its oppressive structure because its all we know or we reject it and embrace fluidity.

in my experience, the parameters that decide what men or women are, in a social sense, are what create dysphoria and pain. the gender binary itself is the real issue here, not transphobia. we will stop dysphoria for everyone when we stop living our lives in gender shaped boxes. im basically saying that man, woman, and intersex are the only terms we need because self expression should never have to be limited by socially constructed gender roles in any way. and im sitting here begging you to understand that i reject transwomen are women on the basis that it reinforces these rigid sex class expectations. if what differentiates men from women is no longer biology, that means we now rely on gender’s oppressive feminine beauty standards to identify what a woman is. that is why i was emphasizing how after removing feminizing products, real women still face misogyny but trans identified males don't. nothing about that assertion shows that i want TIMs to face violence.

as for your sources, i was hoping to see you quote specific findings that support your claim. i tried my best to find the evidence in these links to prove that "Trans woman are sexualized and brutalized by cis men in ways other cis men aren’t but that cis women are."

to validate your view you would need to show evidence that the way TIMs experience male violence is just as dehumanizing as how women experience male violence. that would require citing research into male sexual violence patterns against three distinct populations, men, women, and TIMs. lets take a look at what your sources say.

the main take away from your first source is that transgender people (both ftm and mtf) are four times more likely to experience violence than cisgender people. this was taken from the national crime victimization survey, and different kinds of violence are pooled together for this statistic, including rape, sexual assault, and aggravated or simple assault. if you look closer at the ncvs data, 63% of the violence named in that leading figure was simple assault.

in terms of what we are looking for to support your claim, this doesnt help at all. it combines ftm and mtf self reported violence rates and compares that against the self reported violence rates of combined "cis"men and "cis" women. it doesnt isolate the rates of violence TIMs experience, and doesnt tell us anything about how that compares to violence against real women.

the other notable takeaway from this link is that

"One in four transgender women who were victimized thought the incident was a hate crime compared to less than one in ten cisgender women."

all this tells us is that TIMs are interpreting the violence they experience as a hatecrime more than women are. in my experience women are often socialized to downplay the violence they experience and rarely label it as a hatecrime. meanwhile TIMs tend to be hypervigilant about transphobia and are often documented calling misgendering a literal hatecrime(1).

the second link of yours is provided by another pro trans advocacy group, the study found that "The overall homicide rate of transgender individuals was likely to be less than that of cisgender individuals…However, the homicide rates of young transfeminine Black and Latina residents were almost certainly higher than were those of cisfeminine comparator"

so yeah not helping your argument either. this just proves that race is more of a factor in violence than a transgender identity.

the third link is about workplace opportunities which isnt what i asked to see

the final link is a study on HIV risk behaviors in black, latina, and asian TIMs in california. the only relevant piece of evidence here is that they found ”Safer sex intentions with customers were frequently undermined by urgent financial needs” which suggests that the intersection of class has more of an impact on safety than the transgender identity.

your sources prove that you dont even understand the statistics you’re referencing, and you dont even know what you’re trying to argue. from your research we found out that transgender people as a whole are less likely to be victims of murder than the general population. you might be shocked to learn that the biggest threat to trans people’s lives isn’t transphobia, but gender medicine itself. one study found that gender affirming surgery increased suicide attempts by 12.12 fold(2). this information is actively being suppressed by WPATH, the organization responsible for the standards of care within gender medicine(3). WPATH sits alongside the UCLA (remember your first source?) as a part of the gender pharmaceutical lobby. they are sterilizing minors and ignoring detransition rates for profit(4).

you didn't provide any information that proves "trans women” face misogyny motivated violence. instead you proved that race and class play more of a role in violence against “trans women” than their identity. unfortunately for you the reality is that trans identified males are in fact more violent than other populations. one study found that 1 in 522 transwomen are serving time for sex offenses while the figure for men is 1 in 2,530(5). huh, fascinating. “trans women” are actually more depraved than most men, but in your mind they face the same kind of misogyny women do. thats fucking delusional.

1

https://www.newsweek.com/misgendering-should-crime-according-millennials-1813178

2

https://prostitutionresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SuicideRiskPostGenderSurgery2024.pdf

3

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/06/27/research-into-trans-medicine-has-been-manipulated

4

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56a45d683b0be33df885def6/t/6602fa875978a01601858171/1711471262073/WPATH+Report+and+Files111.pdf

5

https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/what-did-we-learn-from-the-census/

6

https://infogalactic.com/info/Crimes_Committed_by_Transgender_People#cite_note-3

teeheehee bonus link for you! these are the precious little trans women you’re so nobly saving from transmisogyny by debating me on the internet <3

if you defend trans rights, then you defend the patriarchy. you wouldn’t have “transgender”people without feminists spawning the concept of gender in the first place. The whole point was to give a name to a specific vehicle of oppression against women hidden in plain sight. they created language to talk about the role assigned to them, the expectation that women be submissive, caregivers, dress a certain way, and be sexually available to men. If a group’s rights depend on prioritizing gender roles over sex, that is a group who believes the oppressive sex role assigned to women is worth keeping. “trans rights” aren’t under attack, you just got scammed, and the people paying attention are screaming at you to look closer at what you bought. its the same system of patriarchy with new branding and packaging.

[9r7g5h]

A Week of My Enigma - Scents

Fandom: My Hero Academia, Boku no Hero Academia 

Rating: M

Genre: Saucy lmao, but not spicy

AN: A week of Enigma Bakugou prompt fills.

Words: 2154

There wasn't much information on enigmas.

With only one, maybe two born every generation or so, agreeing to be a lab rat for the rest of your life was no way to live, especially when there was no guarantee that the "research" wouldn't end up with your brain on the table of some mad scientist. With the only other two currently known enigmas an old woman in the Philippines and a woman in Australia the same age as his mom, Katsuki wasn't going to be the only one to sign up for being drained and gutted on a regular basis. Thus, the only publicly available information was the stuff that was, well, well known.

His teeth were larger, his scent stronger, his Command more than enough to drive off any potential alphas that might threaten his interests. His quirk was strong, he put on muscle easier, could command a room with ease; as far as everyone else knew, Katsuki had a ticket to an easy life, especially as a pro-hero.

What wasn't well known, and what was the bane of his existence, was his heightened sense of smell, something Katsuki would give up all the benefits of being an enigma for if he could just get rid of it.

It didn't matter most days that UA required all first and second years to take suppressants, no matter their secondary gender; he could still smell them all, the weak ass neutralized oils still building up on their scent glands, just strong enough to tease his nose and make him feel like he needed to sneeze twenty-four seven. At least the smells of the third years and teachers were pure, covered only by the everyday plastic patches that most normal people wore as the third years went through their scent desensitization classes. Those he could adjust to, categorize as pack, friend, or foe, and quickly learn to ignore. But the shitty suppressed smells that the rest of UA gave off just pissed him off, leaving him with a migraine by the end of the day if he tried to focus too much, and an itchy nose all day if he didn't.

Only Deku's smell didn't seem to annoy him, at least not the same way everyone else's did. For a teenaged beta his smell was still so childish, reminding Katsuki of afternoons in the park, evenings cuddling under blankets with ramen and movies, too young to care about the way the world actually worked. Like he hadn't grown a single bit since those days, though just looking at the nerd, his dense bulk and height (not nearly as tall as Katsuki, no, but a decent average nonetheless), told otherwise. It was a smell that paired well with his still present baby face, if not the rest of him.

Perhaps it was that childish reminder, perhaps it was the fact that it'd been there his entire life, but either way Katsuki often found himself taking comfort in Izuku's smell. Standing a little closer than he otherwise would have, or snagging a shirt from his locker to use as a mask when the migraines got too much. It might have been weird, sure, but who was going to question him? The nerd himself was fine with it, and everyone else backed off with a quick growl.

Except...except lately, there’d been something weird going on with Deku. Something was off about his scent the last few days, something that made his jaw ache, the gums around his fangs itch, his mouth fill with saliva and the bitter hint of claiming venom. He knew alphas could claim a beta, could form a mutual bond if they so desired, and he was more than interested in the dork, but it was weird that it was happening now, of all times, after so many years of them knowing each other. There hadn’t been any major change between the two, hadn’t been any quirks that could have set this off, and no one else seemed to notice.

He’d already been planning on courting him, giving him the scented collar that was part of the matching pair that would mark them as potential mates on his birthday, but it was still weird.

Not that he had a lot of time to think about it lately. Midterms were coming up soon, and the idiot squad that had managed to annoy their way into being his pack needed all the help they could get to avoid having to spend the few precious free hours they had off in remedial classes. Again. If he wasn’t running drills with them on a training ground, trying to make sure they were prepared for whatever fuckery their teachers decided to throw at them this time, he was stuck in the common room, surrounded by too many smells, fighting off the pounding in his head as he walked them through advanced calculus.

All things considered, it'd been going well, and there was real hope that they might actually not suck this time. He wouldn't call the feelings in his chest proud, but something close, something he could find a name for later, when they were solving their own homework without him hovering over them.

A future something Katsuki quickly lost all thought of as Izuku walked past the door, heading towards the kitchen to refill his water bottle, the light breeze of his movements sending the slightest hint of his scent towards him.

Fuck.

Katsuki was in control. An omega in heat, an alpha in rut, the nameless hormonal shift betas went through that still made them smell tempting; never once had he flinched at those smells, his enigma control over his baser instincts unshaken. Even Midnight's quirk was less effective on him, needing a stronger dose and longer exposure in order to knock him out, the pheromones fighting against his need to win. Despite the number of times people had called him feral, said he was a villain waiting to happen, Katsuki was in control.

He'd always been in control.

Perhaps that's why the others didn't back away when the low growl started in his throat, confused instead of the scared they should have been. Denki had even looked around the room, searching for some other source of the noise, before acknowledging it was coming from the enigma right in front of him.

An enigma with his eyes blown, mouth dropped to show the grown teeth, drool and venom dropping onto the papers and table before him. Panting and growling even as he waited, muscles tense, eyes locked on the doorframe perpendicular to their set up.

"You ok, Kats?" Mina asked carefully, nudging Kirishima until he hardened and waved his hand in front of his friend's face, not even receiving a blink in response. "You're acting kind of..."

"Dude, you look like you're gone. Stop playing around and tell me the answer to-"

Izuku moved, heading out of the kitchen back towards the elevators that would take him to his room. Away from Katsuki.

He hadn't meant to blow up the table, setting fire to the mountains of papers covering the wood, but he'd been surrounded on all sides, and the quickest way out was over. A snap at the blond, sending him toppling back with a bleeding hand, too close to grabbing him, to stopping him. Kirishima harded just in time, a deep dent in the far wall as he bounced off a support beam, dazed and clothes smoldering. Mina and Sero had been too stunned to move, to interfere, so he left them alone, a harsh snarl over his shoulder the only warning they would get to stay away.

Mate wasn't alone when he caught up, though no true threats. A swift kick to the stomach had Aoyama crying in a ball, the tiny purple fuck screaming and fleeing with a single growl. Leaving him alone with mate, with Izuku, confused but not scared as he was jerked away from helping his friend, as he yelled and tried to get through to Katsuki, ask questions, try and find an answer to what was going on. As he activated his quirk to throw a kick, Katsuki deflecting it at the last moment, putting a hole in the floor that he could hear screaming through.

Don't destroy den, a part of him growled inside. So instead of deflecting the next attack like he knew Izuku was expecting he accepted it, grabbing at his arm, his waist, wrapping himself around his opponent until his front was pressed against Izuku’s back; not to immobilize him, he didn’t give a fuck what he did next, but to give him the leverage he needed to grab Izuku’s hair, yank his head to the side, and sink his teeth into the slightly swollen scent gland presented to him.

He moaned as Izuku went limp beneath him, falling to the floor as blood and oil spilled over his tongue, the smell of an omega snapping into heat filling his nose, the hall, the entire dorm as the suppressants did nothing for this new presentation, enhanced by the particle bond settling into his skin, his bones, every sense telling him this was right. Freeing his teeth, uncaring of the blood that dripped down his teeth or stained his tongue, he rolled them so Izuku was facing upwards, no longer pressed into the wooden floors, his glazed eyes clearing for a moment as Katsuki tilted his head.

“Mate,” was the only thing he could spit out, trying to fight back the need to tear off their clothes, to fuck right there in the hall, uncaring of Aoyama watching them with bemused horror from his fetal position by his dorm. His dick could wait, he needed this, needed to smell himself on Izuku, needed to smell their bond, needed everyone to know he was Izuku’s and Izuku was his. It took a long moment for Izuku to move, to respond, long enough for Katsuki to whine, a pleading sound he would deny he made later, because he begged no one, but eventually Izuku moved, nuzzling at Katsuki’s cheek, his shoulder, his neck.

“Mate,” Izuku agreed, his own teeth breaking skin a moment later, Katsuki’s hips rutting forward at the feeling, curses forced from him at the feeling of it all. At the pain in his neck, the warmth of Izuku below him, slick already wetting his skin as Katsuki groped his ass, his infuriatingly short shorts wet through. Their kiss was bloody, sharpy and metallic as their teeth clashed, painful and the wrong angle as they rutted against each other, unable to think beyond getting closer, fucking and mating and breeding.

“Nest, now,” Izuku whined, and they were standing, his arms around Katsuki’s shoulders, legs tight around his hips, neither of them stopping their desperate movements as Katsuki stepped towards Izuku’s room.

Only to be stopped by fabric wrapping around them, twin capture weapons pulling them in opposite directions, both crying out as Katsuki found himself at Aizawa’s feet, Shinso standing over Izuku. There were others there, he finally realized, teachers and classmates and members of their packs, moving to surround them, getting too close to him, to his mate. Aizawa was smart, Katsuki’s hands forced inwards towards his chest, his eyes instead trained on the snarling omega down the hall snapping at anyone who tried to touch him, both of them trying to squirm and bite and tear themselves free to get back to each other.

Finally Midnight stood between them, half dressed in civilian clothes, her face soft as she knelt between them. “I’m sorry, boys, but we can’t let you two make any pups on school grounds. School policy, not mine. So let’s go to sleep.” He almost got the hand extended towards him, his struggles only increasing as he saw Izuku still, his snarls falling into peaceful snores. He could feel himself falling, though, no matter how hard he fought against the pull of her quirk. “He’s not going anywhere,” Midnight promised, voice soft and soothing, lulling him more, her words comforting as more of her smoke floated under and around his nose. “You’ll both be in the same room when you wake up, just with meds to let you think clearer, ok? It’s ok to sleep, Bakugou, so it’s time to sleep.”

As if knowing what he needed, seeing him fight the effects of her quirk that much more at the suggestion he had to sleep, Ochako slipped into Izuku’s room, throwing a bundle of cloth at the X-rated Hero. She caught it easily, shaking her head as she shook out the shirt.

When she pressed it over her hand, her quirk flowing through the fabric to tinge her quirk with Izuku’s scent, there was no more fighting. Katsuki quickly fell asleep to the smell of his mate, leaving everyone else to deal with their mess, uncaring of what awaited them when they woke.

[END]

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[selormohene]

day 131 (saturday, november 11th 2023)

Following on from the post for Friday, and a bit of the one for Thursday, and a post from a while back. The contemporary progressive ideology, at least as it manifests in the USA among relatively affluent young urbanites and suburbanites, is influenced by three systems of thought which are in tension. To begin with, there's identitarianism, which involves the valuation of a number of individual identity categories, both the general right of people to "identify" one way or another and to affirm the values they take to be associated with that identity, and as it were the identities that are thereby affirmed. In other words, it's not enough to say "I respect your right to place value on your identity, though I place no such value whatsoever on it myself," it's thought that you should see a wide range of identities as genuinely valuable. This doesn't mean anything goes, for instance, people who identify with being white aren't meant to have their identities affirmed, and there's a genuine question of why not. But it does mean that there are a wide range of identities which would otherwise be thought to be in tension with each other which are somehow meant to be valued simultaneously. And what's more, sometimes you have people identifying with multiple of these categories at once, and it is thought that their own identification with these categories is what determines what those categories can and should be, rather than the other way round. Now in a way it makes complete sense that this should be so; for things to be otherwise would be for human beings to lay down their lives for the sake of abstract ideas. Surely it is the living, breathing human being who should take primacy over the ideology. The problem is that this view often extends to categories which one would think have their basis in some sort of view of what is the case objectively. And so you here have situations where people are like "well Christianity doesn't require X because I identify as a Christian and I don't want it to require X," which wouldn't be an issue of the people who made such claims didn't want their interpretations to govern the interpretations of others, for one thing, and to determine actually existing Christianity, which one would have thought should be constituted independently of their however-formed preferences.

Anyway, that's one strand. Then the second is leftism. The point of leftism lies in two things: the first is the valuation of solidarity across what one might call "superficial" ideological differences, and the second is the affirmation of substantive values such as freedom from the oppression of the bourgeoisie, socialist or communist modes of social organisation, the possibility of free creative or recreational activity untethered from being compelled to reproduce the material conditions of one's existence, perhaps the quasi-Aristotelian idea of realising one's species-being, and so on. So here you have various tensions with the identitarian viewpoint. For one thing you have a privileged set of values which are to be shared by all, rather than different sets of values which nominally have no reason to be compatible but nonetheless have to be valued by all. Second, you have what often seems to amount to a dismissal of categories of identity based on things like race or religion, or sexuality; here there is an argument that such categories arise from falsehoods, are "ideological" in the pejorative sense. Such an argument might take various forms: it might be epistemic in nature, saying that racial or religious identities somehow generate an unreal or reified picture of the social world and its joints; genetic, arguing that the origin of such categories is in a bad aspect of the productive process, either as a sort of false reconciliation in the case of religion or as a divide-and-conquer strategy in the case of race; or functional in nature, arguing that in fact such categories serve to facilitate oppressive relations of production. At least in its Marxist incarnation there is quite a substantive metaphysics behind the leftist impulse, one which is materialist in nature (and I genuinely think that historical and dialectical materialism and metaphysical materialism are meant to go together, though I've heard it argued that they aren't), and this metaphysics is hostile to the idea that there are different spiritualities or ways of knowing or what have you which come with different identities and should all be respected and are equally valuable (or even, somehow, equally true). There is a view of real interests which is divorced from the interests people take themselves to have under these other aspects, and so on.

So that's identitarianism and leftism. And then the third leg is liberalism. Liberalism proceeds from two values: first, the right of each individual to pursue their vision of the good. This it has in common with identitarianism at any rate. But then there's another aspect which puts it in tension with both identitarianism and leftism, which is that the liberal ideology prescinds from including individual or even communal substantive values in public valuation. At any rate, it allows for people to end up agreeing on certain public courses of action for different reasons. Now of course I have my own problems with this sort of view, because it seems to me to reduce reason in the public sphere to a simulacrum which is employed insincerely to produce a veneer of theoretical consensus for the sake of practical coordination, and (depending on how you want to look at things) either forbids people from advocating for their own substantive complex of interests in terms which cannot otherwise be "justified" to others, or is naïve to the fact that people will do this anyway. But the point here is that there is nothing like public valuation. And in a sense liberalism is the glue that binds everything together: it waters down the public substance of identities and the cost of their affirmation to the point where the sort of multiple valuation compelled by identitarianism is pretty cheap. And although there have been efforts recently to reconcile liberalism and leftism, which are perhaps better explained by the fact that contemporary political philosophy professors identify with both ideologies than might their viability explain why people are drawn to both, there nonetheless remains an influential anti-leftist version of liberalism, call it economic libertarianism, which does not construe class differences in the leftist sense as barriers to the liberal vision, perhaps because it starts from the viewpoint (both procedurally and, in a sense, metaphysically) of individuals as free and equal rational points without substantive content, whose particular positions and interests do not enter into public life.

[richo1915]

Political liberty was now firmly established on the basis of the restored tribunate, and the tribunes felt themselves strong enough to proceed against individuals.

Their first victim was, of course, Appius, and Verginius was put up to conduct the case against him. The summons was issued.

Appius entered the Form with a strong escort of young patricians, and the sight of him there with his satellites was a bitter reminder of the frightful tyranny which had so recently been suppressed.

Verginius spoke. 'Oratory,' he said, is all very well when there are no facts to go on: it was invented to conceal our doubts, I will not waste your time in presenting a case against a man from whose bestial conduct you found freedom by force of arms, nor will I let him at this juncture add to his other crimes the impudent hypocrisy of defending himself. Very well then: I have nothing to say at the moment, Appius, of all the countless vile offences which during the past two years you have committed against the dictates of decency and law; one charge only I bring against you: unless you can produce a referee to establish your innocence of having illegally given custody of a free person to one who claimed her as his slave, I shall order you to prison.'

What the people's verdict would be was all too obvious, and in the protection of the tribunes Appius could have no hope whatever; nevertheless he called on the tribunes and, when none of them offered to stay the proceedings and he was arrested by an officer of the law, he cried out: 'I appeal.'

The sound of the word, so intimately associated with popular liberty, on the lips of the man who so short a time before had pronounced that monstrous judgement which no one could forget, struck everybody dumb. Here, they murmured, was the very man appealing who had robbed the nation of the right to do so - begging for the people's aid, when he himself had trampled under foot every privilege they possessed - being hauled to prison without the protection which every man in a free society should enjoy, in just retribution for his own foul deed.

Suddenly above the murmurings of the crowd Appius's own voice was heard, raised in supplication to the people he had once enslaved.

'Will you not remember,' he said, 'the services my family has rendered our country in politics and war, or my own unhappy involvement in the popular cause? It was for that that I braved the Senate's displeasure and resigned the consulship, simply to codify the laws in a form that would be just to all. And what of those laws themselves - the Twelve Tables - which will be there for ever to protect your interests, while I, who am responsible for them, am taken to prison? As for my own personal acts - good or bad - I mean to put them to the proof when I am given the chance formally to plead my cause; for the moment I confine myself to demanding the common privilege of a Roman citizen accused of an offence to speak, and to await the judgement of the people. You hate me, but I am not so afraid of your hatred as to have no confidence in the mercy and the sense of justice of my fellow-citizens. I will call a second time upon the tribunes if I am taken to prison unheard, and I warn you not to imitate those whom you hate. Moreover, if the tribunes declare that they are bound not to listen to an appeal - the very crime with which they charge the decemvirs - then I appeal to the people, and invoke the protection of the laws passed this year for the safeguarding of this privilege, on the motion both of consuls and of tribunes. Who - I ask you - do you expect to appeal, if not a man who has been refused the right of pleading his cause and has never been legally found guilty? What humble working man do you suppose will find protection in the laws of our country, if I cannot? Your treatment of me will show clearly enough whether it is liberty or tyranny which has been strengthened by the new legislation, and whether the right of appeal either to the tribunes or to the people against injustice in high places is a reality or a mere parade of empty words.'

Titus Livius

[wiserodin032402]

The Business of Empire: Military Checkpoints Will Receive More Funds Than Covid Relief, And Here's Why.

tl;dr the US is selling security to other nations and created the largest and most powerful front of logistics and supply the world has ever seen, while the average American suffers under a corprocratic hellscape. You should form a Union.

I have a lot of time on my hands, and I end up falling into a lot of topics. One of my more recent fascinations has been with US Military Logistics. You learn wild things looking into supply lines and logistics, like how those two things are fundamental to winning all wars forever since they’re the basis of strategy.

You can also find heartwarming stories like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zmJ8-uK7m0

Where Ryan here, on an MFO Rotation to an outpost on the border of Egypt and Israel, details the difference between a US outpost and an Egyptian Army Border Station. While the US Station has food to order to the tastes of the soldiers, showers, air-conditioned units, satellite TV, and so on, the Egyptian station is operating out of a 55 gallon drum of water for drinking, bathing, and so on, while on rations of vegetables and rice for the deployment. Ryan finds that there’s a surplus of breaded chicken patties that are gonna hit their expiration date soon, and having grown up poor, Ryan figures he’s gotta do something with them.

His troops don’t like eating them because they have to eat so many, and Ryan remembers the Egyptian outpost and takes the patties to them. They’re grateful, and he learns that even when they’re on base the best they get is substandard meat that’s rejected by their own inspection agency for general consumer production.

And Ryan comes to the same revelation I came to, which is that the true superpower of the US is being able to get literally anything to anywhere in the whole goddamn world. It’s part of how Ukraine is managing to fight Russia, a supposed military juggernaut that has the ‘second most powerful military in the world’ to a standstill.

Granted, the war is far more complicated than that, since a lot of it is just failures on Russia’s part, but we don’t have time for that.

Here’s the important takeaway:

The American Empire is not weak, it is not collapsing, and has powers beyond your wildest imagination

Everyone who claims America is weak or collapsing, or would get beaten by a foreign power is a fucking grifter who wants to sell you their brand of ideology. They’re either a lolbertarian, an alt-righter, a groyper, a tankie, or some other variant of conspiracy-brained crazy. But America has a different problem outlined in a video making the rounds below:

https://va.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_rst2zq5GhG1yicrsp.mp4

It’s a good video, hits on the general attitude of the American worker. There’s supposedly a massive deficit in the workforce that the media keeps talking about, everywhere is supposedly short staffed.

However, as someone who’s been job hunting with multiple IT Certifications to my name, I’m basically finding jack shit when it comes to jobs, and so is everyone else. I’ll apply to places and find that no, actually, that job never existed in the first place and I’m crazy for trying to apply to it.

Corporations reported record profits, people got massively laid off, small businesses went under, and people have become homeless. What happened was a massive wealth transfer, the second one in US history, where the wealth of the average person was distributed to the top. And on top of that, the covid relief checks caused record inflation which caused the general currency to devalue.

What happened is, those big companies pocketed the money and simply figured out how to downsize their workforce, since they’re bound by law to maximize profits for the shareholders. I’m not fucking joking. It’s called Fiduciary Duty, and while everything presented under the legal definition seems fine on paper (I’m using this one right here https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fiduciary_duty) you have to account for the fact that companies are operating on fiscal quarters. These are 3 month periods that at the end of which, companies have to pay their shareholders and compile financial reports. Most companies operate like this, not because it’s good long term, but because their competition does this and it maximizes shareholder profits which attracts more shareholders, which is a big part of where companies get their initial amount of money to work with.

That was a huge simplification of a lot of complex shit, and it’s about to get more complex because those stocks are subject to Speculation. In simple terms, if a company promises growth and provides growth, it can increase the potential value of its stock, especially if more shareholders buy in. If a company promises growth and fails to provide it, shareholders sell their stock and cash out, causing the value of the company to plummet, which creates a never-ending spiral of the company losing value and actual money to work with until it goes under and everyone loses.

All of that was to explain why they act like psychos. They’re playing a game of economic rocket tag where one false move will wipe your company off the face of the earth.

That’s why they treat workers as replaceable parts instead of assets, and feel entitled to your work. They’re operating at an entirely different scale to the consumer end of things. They have to min/max profit for their shareholders or they lose it all, and this is enforceable by law.

So how did covid throw a wrench into the works

Covid basically required an economic pause, which is fundamentally impossible. This is not me being a capitalist shill or anything of the sort, this is me pointing out that the way we’ve structured our system implies there will be few interruptions to it. This is actually a relatively sane way of doing things since bar a fucking apocalypse there wouldn’t really be many interruptions to global trade.

Anyways Covid-19 swept through due to a variety of failures on all political fronts from all parties on a combination of bad policy and culture war nonsense.

Please kill me.

Many people are now permanently disabled, like my father. He’s still trying to run his business, but he’s now barely able to work due to not being able to get enough oxygen. Many people died from covid.

And as per the above video, the rest were just completely cut off from their sources of income and told to ‘figure it out’.

This may sound bad, but the Lockdowns are actually a huge part of the problem in the job market. Suddenly companies had a reason to accelerate optimizing jobs out of existence, and other companies figured out how to make proper full delivery into a gig-economy miracle. Any company that couldn’t do these things went out of business.

But Covid-19 also cut a swathe through the workforce since a lot of people were obligated to stay working or get fired, since they were declared ‘necessary workers’ and could be fired for taking any time off. They were simply told ‘figure it out’.

And then...gig work. Revolting stuff, no benefits, no vacation, work that you have to compete with your fellow worker to get, but the hours are flexible and it’s money in your pocket immediately. Most of the people around my town who do it are on welfare anyways, since it doesn’t pay enough.

While we could blame a lot of this economic fallout on Reagan, that’s a tired fucking pastiche at this point, and doesn’t address the immediate problems that the entire covid response caused. 

What I will say is that Reagan is the reason that only 6% of Americans are unionized anymore, compared to 23% before Reagan really took a hammer to them, it’s just a funny coincidence that all those graphs that show everything getting worse because of dramatic neoliberal policies just happen to coincide with him.

Would more unions have solved this? Probably not, but it would have helped cushion the blow for the average American

What do Chicken Patties in an outpost in Egypt have to do with America’s Covid response?

Everything. It’s a show of where we’re spending our money and how we’re prioritizing getting shit done. The US is an Empire. With a capital E, that exports security to member nations of NATO. This makes the world a safer place and stops nuclear proliferation. With every nation that joins NATO, we take a step away from World War III, and means that, coincidentally, the US can spend less on its military.

On the issue of taxes, who gives a shit. The US government is spending trillions of dollars a year at this point. Our budget is big enough that if we took the wealth of the top 10% of earners by force it’d barely be a drop in the bucket compared to what is being spent. Should they be taxed more? Probably. But first we need to actually figure out where the money is going and who’s getting it.

We know various corporations got huge bailouts from the government during Covid, but that’s the least of it.

In 2022, the us government spent 6.27 trillion dollars, broken down like so:

Here’s a big question: Where is this money going. What’s causing it to evaporate up at the top and not make its way to the average American?

Some of this is obvious, like the defense spending. That’s our military budget and so on. But look at how much goes into social security, health, transportation, education, and medicare, and think about how little the average person sees.

Before we consider more government as the solution, we need to figure out what the hell is going on up there, since a combination of government and corporate incompetence is why we’re here in the first place, and we need to figure out how to untangle them.

We need to answer why we can get chicken patties all the way across the world to an outpost but we can’t provide for the people of our own nation.

Conclusion

Usually these things end with a big answer to life’s questions, where the spin comes in. I don’t got shit for spin, sorry. Unfortunately in America you gotta look out for yourself and those around you. Take care of your friends and family, pay attention to the local politics of the places you live in and vote there, since your vote is objectively stronger in local and state elections, and will get you immediate results.

I’m also not gonna call for an armed uprising and a revolution of the worker against the state, because those go poorly. If you can start a union, start a union. If it’s not safe for you to do that, don’t put yourself in danger.

[i-d-e-g-a-f]

first of all, op was not making a one to one comparison about the ships or saying they were complete variants of each other, they were saying those are the ships they enjoy and deem as correct. there is no reason to compare them or try to argue that zutara is more legitimate or whatever you’re trying to do.

second of all, please procure the evidence where james was lying or lily didn’t defend snapes (pre fifth year when they were friends). you can’t. BECAUSE THE TEXT DOESNT EXIST.

we know little to nothing about these characters school lives outside of a few characters reminiscing and snape’s memories (which also can be considered unreliable information) so you have no basis. you can’t say they objectively don’t compare to zutara because they objectively nothing it’s all head canon.

also your spiel about lily being a plot device is utterly stupid because SO IS JAMES. THEY ARE DEAD. THEY SERVE NO OTHER PURPOSE THAN HOW THE AFFECTED THE PEOPLE AROUND THEM.

furthermore you’re wrong about lily only being a mother and love interest. she was CANONICALLY a good and kind friend, a brilliant witch, a brave woman who joined the order, and of course a mother and a lover. there’s nothing wrong with the last two, but those are canonically not the only things she was. we unfortunately don’t get much insight into her character because the story is told from harry’s point of view, but that doesn’t stop people from theorizing, making head canons, and becoming fans BASED on those head canons so do not try to claim it to be impossible for them to “be on the same level” for some people because that’s simply stupid. it’s frankly impossible to compare the two’s “levels” since we know such little canon information about the nature of jily’s relationship, but those of us who do enjoy the headcanons and theories have a right to say it so stop being a fucking party pooper. yeah there might not be a “deeper” meaning to jily but fans have CREATED and FOUND one. they aren’t trying to argue that those deeper meanings are the truth, but goddamnit they can enjoy them so honestly fuck off.

and cry my a fucking river about how offended you are that they are in the same post. although you are trying present your thoughts as facts, they are not, they are opinions, and they aren’t even opinions that can be supported by the actual canonical text SO THERES NO POINT IN ARGUING ABOUT IT. 

you can have your opinion about jily and can be offended all you want about how it’s not like zutara or how it’s more like jetara or whatever else i don’t care but don’t try and act like there’s factual basis for those opinions, and that therefore you have the right to impose your views on others. because your opinions are not in any way more correct than OP’s opinions. there is truly no point or way to argue it.

i would claim, BASED ON MY HEAD CANON, that jily is most similar to percabeth and sukka, but not zutara. BUT THATS NOT FUCKING GOSPEL. and i’m not trying to act like it is. jily is not objectively most similar to jetara (or sukka or zutara or percabeth for that matter) because they aren’t truly anything. no one was even trying to argue which one they are “like” it’s just about what op enjoys.

like zutara in my opinion isn’t similar to any of the other ships in op’s post, but that doesn’t diminish the quality of either of the other two ships nor does it undermine op’s point which was that those are just their favorite ships, not that they are necessarily similar.

in summary, your claims are unfounded plus they have nothing to do with the message of the original post.

kindly, shut the fuck up and take your opinions elsewhere if you disagree.

jily 🤝 zutara 🤝 percabeth (correct take)

[writingforatwistedworld]

Ok I couldn't find the ask in my requests anymore (I think it was eaten) so I hope I am still able to nail this.

Self-aware au

I do not take any responsibility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from!

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, murder, imprisonment, manipulation, stalking, blood, kidnapping, unhealthy relationship

Jamil Viper/Malleus Draconia/Lilia Vanrouge-Player hides that they are the Overseer

First question: WHY??!

Second question: Has he done something so that you would hide who you truly were

Jamil always knew that there was something special about you

But every time he was close to figuring out when he had felt this warmth before he was always assuming that it was simply due to you treating him like a human being and not some sort of asset you could throw away whenever you wanted

What if this was just a way for you to test him? What if you wanted him to figure out that you were the highest being in his world?

If it weren't for you laughing and telling him that it was alright and not some sort of test things will be a bit more easier in the aftermath for him

And we can't really blame him for not noticing

After all, you had suddenly disappeared, your wise gaze went suddenly missing, leaving him trapped in the cold of a world without you

Was he cuddling his cushion on the second day when you were gone, hoping to find at least some of the comfort you took with yourself? Maybe...

But after he finally figured out who you were, let's say your tongue slipped and you said something only the Overseer could know, there was also a huge change how he treated you

Kalim? What was that? Something to eat? His former master? There was nothing before you became. His master. Nu uh. N o t h i n g

Also, I haven't seen you talking with the other students so much anymore. They are distancing themselves form you? How sad *side glance to Jamil*

You know these people that claim to do something good for you when it's in truth doing more bad? That's him but only that he is not aware that he is doing it

Those frightened-off students? His work. They were just talking about you in such an disrespectful way and something in him just snapped

They ended up in the infirmary with a broken nose... never knew he had it in his fists...

But he is doing all of this for you. What? You would like to go to your classmates? But they really aren't the best company! If you want to lead a good life you also need to surround yourself with only good people. Who those are? Well for starters him. Only him. You got that, right. Only him.

Either you are in truth some master of hiding your identity or he lost 90% of his brain cells

I mean, you are his God so HOW??!

But we don't judge him

Especially not when he looks so... small (?) and like he is ready to burst into tears second now (I don't know how that is supposed to look since it's just so unimaginable)

At the same time, when you disappeared there was a huge crisis in the Valley of Thorns so he was a bit occupied

This had to be some punishment, right? Did the offerings not satisfy you? We're they too little??! (They offered you gold and other riches on a daily basis so I don't know how he could assume that)

Malleus felt like he was nothing but a small hatchling again, remembering how he hugged Lilia when he felt like no one would ever like him because of his powers

Also a reason why he is so... “interested” in you, his light in the darkness

So when he found out? Pure joy and the urge to protect you (aka lock you up like you are some sort of mountain of gold)

Malleus always knew that there was a special connection between you and the Overseer but never in his wildest dreams would he have guessed that you were them

So, now our oh so peacefull and abslutely not member of what is more or less a cult has found his God. What could go wrong?

(*sigh* we both know that this won’t end well…)

Malleus has prepared all his life for this even though he had always been told that there was also a pretty good chance that you wouldn’t necessarily descend durig his lifetime (and now remember that he is a Fae, this tells a lot)

Mhm. Congrats! You are now rich! Huh? But you want to leave this room? But why? He has prepared everything just for you! Is something to your disliking? Do you need more? Just your freedom? No, he isn’t keeping you imprisoned, just safe from the dangers of the outside world

Just leave everything to him. You have been in so muchh danger all this time so now it’s his turn to make up for that. Oh thank you so much for telling him that there is a red stain on his clothing. Seems like that imbicle will always be an annoyance, even after he asked them to “leave” so kindly.

Once more: HOW??!

This annoyance of a Fae has prayed to you for hundrets of years this should be impossile

But ok, let’s assume that for some reason he couldn’t recognise you

Remember that crisis I mentioned in Malleus part? Well, he is probably more destructive than that crisis (probably even double)

Is ready to jump on everything that talks even somewhat without respect for you (or at least when he thinks they do)

Also, he is sharpening his toothpicks, ready to end whatever made you leave

You better step forward and just tell him that you are whom he calls the Overseer because at least fife students have gone missing under mysterious circumstances

But mhm, he is ready to watch the world burn

Let´s just say that that sixth sense finally fixed itself to move on with the scenario

So one day, good old you is just wanting to go out for, let’s say groceries, and nearly step on a Fae who is kneeling in front of your door

Before all of this you were already a close friend to the former general and not to get surprised hugged by him was absolutely flabbergasting to you

Privacy? What is privacy?

Lilia will always be there whether you are eating or sleeping. The only moment you are alone is when you are changing your clothes or using the Bathroom and even then he is standing in front of the door

Let us all remember that he was fighting in a war in your name so there is always that paranoia that you will be somehow harmed

But let us not fool ourselves, he is also doing this out of selfish reasons

After all, he can see you, hear your voice, did his hand just brush yours and OH MY GOD IS HE CREEPY

[nothorses]

when people say that all trans people aren't affected by "male/female socialization" because we internalize whatever genders socialization, i dont think thats completely accurate? like i know for a fact that i, as a trans man (whos not out) and my sister got treated differently growing up then my brothers. even if i did internalize messages about how "boys should be" (which i dont even really think i did, because i do still have feminine mannerisms and have always hated toxic masculinity), wouldn't just the way youre treated, as a female child vs a male child, really play a big impact on you? i can confidently say that if i were a cis man, my personality would be different.

i think people get too held up on the idea that "trans women have "male socialization"" to mean that they are more likely to have toxic masculinity and be aggressive, which is obviously what TERFs claim and isnt true, but dismiss the idea that your agab has a HUGE role in the way you are treated as a child and how you grow up.

and i dont mean to say that there is some kind of "universal afab/amab experience" or whatever, because that is blatantly untrue, just to say that even in parents who are consciencely trying to eliminate gendered bias in their parenting, its so ingrained in our society, that even they don't treat their children 100% the same

Yeah, I think there are two positions here that get parroted most often:

1. Trans people are socialized the way their AGAB is normally socialized

Which is typically used to reinforce bio-essentialist ideology and claim trans women are more aggressive/prone to predatory and dangerous behavior, and that trans men are helpless, whiny, and bitchy. (see: TERF ideology, typical transphobia)

2. Trans people are socialized the way their actual gender is normally socialized

Which is used to reinforce gender-essentialist ideology (trans women are helpless, whiny, and bitchy, and trans men are aggressive/prone to predatory and dangerous behavior), and transmedicalism- which often suggests that any amount of AGAB socialization means you aren't "really trans".

Most people who oppose concepts like "transandrophobia" will ascribe to the second set of beliefs, and insist that the only alternative to it is the first set of beliefs- i.e., they argue that it's transmisogynistic to imply that trans people are not socialized strictly as the gender they actually are (trans women as women and trans men as men), because otherwise they must be socialized as the gender they were assigned at birth (trans women as men, and trans men as women), and that's an idea TERFs and other transphobes use to justify transmisogynistic ideas.

Which, of course, means that either you must agree that trans men are socialized like cis men to be aggressive, domineering, and oppressors- or else you must hate trans women.

But there's obviously a more nuanced take here.

3. Trans people are not socialized exactly like their cis counterparts. Trans people internalize lots of different messages about gender- often a combination from different genders- and this varies by individual experience and personal relationship to gender.

i.e., trans women as a group are not trained to be aggressive and predatory; nor are trans men. Trans people have unique experiences with socialization, and the messages one internalizes about gender cannot be predicted or assumed.

(I would also argue that socialization itself is a bit of a flawed concept; cis people also receive and internalize messages about their genders very differently, and those things can and do evolve over time as well. Socialization is real in the sense that society tries to socialize people to fill certain gendered roles, but how successful it is will vary widely on an individual basis.)

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

My Captain (Pirate! Park Seonghwa)

Pairing: Pirate! Seonghwa (Ateez)× Pirate! Reader (Female)

Genre: Smut, Fluff, Pirate AU.

Summary: After taking victory over the most notorious beast to plague the seas, the ship's quartermaster wants to relish in the pleasure of claiming one of his crew members.

Word Count: 3.5K

Warnings: Soft to Hard Dom! Seonghwa, Sub! Reader, body worship, oral (female and male receiving), spanking, face fucking, multiple orgasms, Captain/power kink, unprotected sex (always use protection), breeding kink, degradation.

Taglist: @little-precious-baby @multidreams-and-desires @galaxteez @yunhofingers @yunhoiseyecandy @deja-vux @brie02 @couchpotatoaniki @daniblogs164 @a-soft-hornytiny

⊱⋅ ──────────── ⋅⊰

The young woman exhaled deeply, her eyes trained on the hands which were currently unfastening the front lacings of her brown leather corset in a rather desperate and anxious manner.

"Before we get any further, I want your full and complete consent to what is about to happen."

Letting the article of clothing drop to the floor, the sailor in front of her took a step closer to her, his thumb pressing down across her bottom lip. His eyes became even more narrow as they looked at her mouth with hunger, wanting nothing more than to close the distance between them and press them against his own.

"Say no right now and I won't push the matter any further." He repeated himself, his Adam's apple moving abruptly from how hard he swallowed back a nervous lump of anxiousness and self restraint.

The young maiden took a deep breath and brushed her fingers across the white silk shirt the boat's quartermaster was wearing, the deep V neck allowing her a glimpse of his bare, tanned upper chest, the outline of his pectoral muscles peeking out. She hummed out an incomprehensible tune as she looked up at her superior.

"Does the Master Seonghwa need to make use of my body? Would he like to release his deepest passions on me?" She reached a hand up and caressed his cheek, half expecting him to swat her hand away since he was not known to be a gentle or affectionate lover, given the long list of women that have had the pleasure of being taken to bed by him. But unlike her expectation, the male actually let out a small and contents sigh, his face falling deeper into her touch, his hand reaching up to clasp it in his own before bringing it over to his lips where he placed a tender kiss on each of her fingertips. It confused the woman utterly to see the usually strict, ruthless and unmerciful pirate act so mellow, meek and warm, yet it also sent a flutter into her chest.

"What I want hardly matters right now, I can manage either way. But I need ... I must know if you're ok with this Y/N."

She widened her eyes when he called her by her name. On a daily basis, ever since she had been forced onto the life of piracy after they raided her village, he'd never addressed her with anything other than mean spirited and sometimes even cruel insults, as he did with those he deemed inferior to him. It shocked her greatly to think he even knew her name in the first place.

Taking a step away from him, Seonghwa's mouth parted in amazement when the crew member in front of him began to slide the sleeves of her dress off her shoulders, the fabric slowly sliding off her body until it pooled by her ankles, which she then swiftly kicked out of the way. His eyes beheld her nude figure, admiring from the top of her head all the way to her toes. She was simply mesmerizing, stunning, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in all his years of sailing across different continents.

"I'm perfectly content with anything my lord wishes to do. He may do with me as he pleases. Tonight..... he is my Captain."

Seonghwa's black trousers suddenly felt too tight, the title Y/N bestowed on him affecting him greatly. She gasped softly when one of his arms held her by her waist and pulled her against him.

"Your captain..." He muttered softly, his lips ghosting across her cheek until they came up to the corners of her lip where he then pressed them down harder onto her face.

"Yes- my captain-"

The rest of her words were muffled when Seonghwa's mouth enclosed over hers, his luscious lips parting and then closing over and over against her own. His hand cupped at her chin, keeping her head tilted up as he practically devoured her mouth. His tongue never poked out to intrude into her wet cavern, his teeth however had an utter fascination with nibbling onto her bottom lip, tugging and pulling at them. Y/N groaned in surprise when she lost her footing as Seonghwa backed her up into the bed, his arm clutching her tighter against his body to keep her from falling. Inhaling softly, she inclined her neck back to allow Seonghwa to plaster nibbling pecks along her skin, subtle red patches spreading around it.

His hands moved from her waist to caress her further down, his thumbs pressing down against her hip bones. Her satin like skin was practically inviting him to caress and admire every inch of her, and that was exactly what he planned to do. Starting in between her supple breasts, he slowly placed heartfelt and tender kisses that traveled from her sternum all the way to her abdomen, his knees slowly dropping so it would be easier for him. When he felt her pull slightly away, his hands pressed her further into his face, fingers digging into her thighs.

"Stay there." He told her as he dragged his tongue along one of her inner thighs, so near her core that Y/N held her breath when his nose neared her pubic bone.

"So pretty, and you smell so delicious." He mused out loud as his nose inhaled her arousal, tongue swiping across his lips.

Before he could even get to sample a bit of her juices, he was lifted off the ground by none other than the woman he was admiring, switching positions so now she was kneeling in front of him while he was standing.

"Y/N- what are you....?" He stood absolutely still, watching as she pulled his trousers down, freeing his painfully erect member that greeted her sight with tiny bursts of precum splashing onto the wooden floor underneath them.

"Tonight it's all about you, after all, you were brave today in taking down that vicious monster all by yourself. If it weren't for you, we'd all still be living in fear for the rest of our lives."

Gripping him at the base, she collected up some saliva in her mouth before spitting it around his length, wanting him to be properly lubricated before she started stroking him. His trembling hisses were music to her ears as she slowly pumped him, coating him even further, her eyes never looking away from his dazed look.

"It's only right you be rewarded as a captain deserves to be rewarded."

Seonghwa's mouth went agape, shuddered breaths coming out as he watched his cock disappear into Y/N's warm mouth. She didn't stop until she fit all of him inside, an impressive image to behold. She stilled for a few seconds before pulling him out, stopping when it was just his tip resting on her tongue and then proceeding to slide him right back in.

"Fuck- you're killing me beautiful." Seonghwa reached a hand up so his thumb could stroke one of her hollowed cheeks, full of his cock that she slurped on without hesitation. Y/N closed her eyes as she continued to savor Seonghwa's taste, long and slow strokes of her tongue making sure not one inch of him was left untouched or neglected. It swirled around the shaft before sucking onto him. Her hands came up to cup his balls, softly fondling them so that he may experiment the most pleasure possible. Seeing her look so calm, her mouth practically worshiping his cock, Seonghwa held back his urge to hold her head and slam his hips into her face. Instead he settled for running his fingers through her hair, brushing them up into a makeshift ponytail so that he may peer down at her with no distractions or anything intervening with the visual. During a particularly harsh suck she gave him, his hips had a mind of their own and pressed him back into her mouth, his tip reaching so far back that a muffled choke had her drooling slightly at the corners of her mouth.

"I'm sorry." He apologized when he saw her eyes shot open and she pulled him out of her mouth.

"Don't apologize my lord. As I said, do with me as you please. If you wish to fuck my face, then by all means, please do." She encouraged him as she pressed sloppy kisses along his head, tongue darting out to place kitten licks on his slit.

Taking hold of her jaw, Seonghwa positioned his tip at the entrance of her mouth, his face looking concerned, silently wondering if she was really ok with what he wanted to do. Nodding up at him, she opened her mouth as wide as she could and hummed in approval when he slid himself back into her mouth. She took a deep breath, readying herself for the coming assault upon her maw which came just as intense and fervent as she expected from him. Seonghwa rutted his hips up into her, using her hole to release most of the adrenaline that had been brewing in him ever since he went out in battle just a few hours prior.

"God! You have no idea how hot you look right now, letting me use your mouth like this. You're too good to me."

Hearing him suddenly praise her, a stark contrast to the daily criticism she only heard from him, had her getting more wet in between her legs. She moaned as she continued to lap at Seonghwa each time his cock forced itself back into her throat. Saliva ran down her chin from the force his body used to buck up into her mouth, his previously mannered thrusts now becoming less calculated and more spontaneous as his high was nearing.

"Fuck! I'm gonna cum! I'm gonna cum all over your-" His hands clasped her head and held it still as he roughly pumped his cum down her throat, which Y/N promptly swallowed fully. She was gasping for air when he pulled himself out of her, panting hard as she caught her breath. She wiped the slick that was glistening on her lips and chin.

"No woman has ever managed to make me cum with their mouth."

Y/N's head whipped up at Seonghwa's revelation. He was peering down at her with a curious yet smug smile.

"You're the first to do so. You really are too good to me." His index finger wiped off some leftover slick from her cupid's bow.

Y/N was practically purring at his words, reveling in his praise.

"My sweet and good girl, I think it's only fair if I pay you back." He chuckled heartily.

Swiping her off the ground, Seonghwa pulled back the covers of his bed and then layed Y/N down on it, her head falling back against one of the soft pillows. She could not protest when Seonghwa spread her legs, eagerly placing his face right above her wet core.

"You smell and look so delectable. I wonder how long it'll take for you to lose control."

With one hand pressing her down to the mattress, Seonghwa latched his lips to her sensitive clit, producing a loud whine out of his crewmate above him. He was bewitched by how amazing she tasted, his tongue relishing in her flavor. He couldn't contain himself as he lost himself in consuming her heat. Dipping his tongue into her hole had her spilling out more slick which he lapped at with great intensity. His lips smirked against her folds when he felt her try to buck up into his face, her whining sounding so needy for him.

"I could stay here forever." He murmured.

The hand that was keeping her down dropped down to grip one of her thighs while the other did the same thing. Lifting her hips slightly off the bed, Seonghwa became like a beast as he devoured the entirety of her sex. Y/N writhed underneath him. Before she was antsy about pushing herself closer to his lips, now she was squirming to draw away from him. But of course Seonghwa wasn't having that. He simply relished in working her up until she reached her peak, which seemed to be coming up very soon, his skilled tongue making sure of it. Y/N tossed her body about as much as she could, which wasn't much considering Seonghwa was holding tightly to her. He slurped at her as if his life depended on it, even his nose would rub against her mound from how hard he was burying himself in her.

"Seonghwa-" Y/N cried out when a sharp smack landed on her thigh.

"It's captain to you. Now go on, say it or else I'll stop right now and tie you to the bed." He ordered her, slowing down his movements just slightly.

"Oh my- captain! Please-"

Hearing her beg for him just riled Seonghwa even further, his ego boosting more as she whimpered and squirmed frantically, her juices pouring out from inside and collected by his tongue. His chest practically puffed up with pride as she continued to shudder even when her climax had passed and he was merely cleaning around her folds, not letting anything drip off onto the sheets since he wanted it all for himself.

Pulling back with an audible pop, he sat up and nearly ripped his shirt off his body, discarding it somewhere on the floor. Y/N marveled at the sight of his godly body making an appearance, her instincts making her reach out to touch him.

"Turn around, ass up and on all fours." He instructed her as he worked to take off the remainder of his clothes.

Rolling over on the soft bed, Y/N did as she was ordered to, making sure to push her ass as far as she could just for Seonghwa. He seemed to appreciate the gesture given his hand was now caressing one of her cheeks, starting off gentle and loving before pinching her flesh, which made Y/N groan.

"You're really begging me to fuck you." Seonghwa grunted as he brought his hand down to strike her ass.

Y/N clenched around nothing, shuddering at Seonghwa's harsh treatment.

"Is that what you want? You want me to fuck you? Want my cock to tear that pussy of yours?" He mercilessly teased as he glided his tip along her slit, slapping it against her nub.

"Y-yes! I want my captain to fuck me like one of his whores." Y/N exclaimed, unable to bear the wait any longer.

Seonghwa raised an amused eyebrow at her pleading.

"Oh? So you've heard some of the other sluts talk about me haven't you?" He said with a slight dark laugh that sent shivers down Y/N's spine, heightened more when Seonghwa plunged his cock into her, stilling when he was fully stuffed in her.

"Want to experience it firsthand then? Want to feel how good my cock will fuck your brains out?"

Y/N nodded frantically, wanting to slam herself onto Seonghwa's cock but restraining from doing so less it should result in him denying her what she wanted.

"Don't say you didn't ask for it."

A sharp cry was forced out of her mouth when Seonghwa pulled out with no warning only to slam himself back inside her. He set a rough pace, each deep stroke against her velvety flesh pulling out cry after cry out of her lips. It was sheer and painful bliss to have the ship's quartermaster tearing her insides apart, her heat pulsating against his length as it constricted around him. Seonghwa's tip plunged into the deepest part of her, slamming against the entrance of her womb as her plump ass rippled against each slam of his hips against them. Y/N's deafening moans were so loud she was sure the party above them could hear what was going on below them. She buried her face on the pillow underneath her, only laying there for less than a minute before a pair of hands harshly pulled her back up, a strangled gasp emanating from her throat.

"Don't you dare. I want everyone on board to listen to me destroy this little cunt of yours, I want them to hear you scream my name." He growled in a low and deep tone that her folds further clenching around him.

Y/N's face started to contort in ecstasy from all the pleasure burning through her body, her whiny pants and sobs flowing out endlessly from her lips. Seonghwa's pounding became more violent and brutal, losing himself in the mutual lust that was taking over both of their bodies, the heat and warmth of Y/N's slick filled walls throbbing against his shaft.

"You're close aren't you my little whore? You're gripping my dick impossibly tight." He snickered behind her, his hips continuing to jolt harshly into her.

"Yes captain! I'm so c-close." She responded loudly, her panting becoming more exhausted as her skin started to glow from the sheen of sweat that was stemming from their passionate affair.

"So am I, my cock is twitching to fill you up with my seed."

Y/N nearly drooled at the thought of having Seonghwa cum inside her hole, filling her up until she couldn't contain his cum anymore. She was snapped out of her fantasy by Seonghwa's hand that struck her ass.

"Beg me for it you wench. Beg me to fill your cunt with my cum." He commanded her.

"Please my lord! Fill me up with your cum! Want my captain's cum inside of me!" She pleaded, hands nearly tearing the pillow she was clutching so tightly.

Seonghwa's eyes were like a raging sea, his thrusts becoming more sporadic as he worked to bring the both of them over the edge.

"Shit! I'll fill this hole of yours up, I'll fuck it full until it drains me of all my cum. Wanna see your pussy stuffed with my seed."

With walls fluttering around him, Y/N was a frantic and screaming mess as an agonizingly hard and euphoric chord snapped in her, prompting her body to burst open as her essence poured out all over Seonghwa's cock. Seonghwa himself was hissing and grunting fiercely as a wave overtook him, drowning him in an abyss of pleasure while his release flooded into Y/N's cavern, her walls hardly able to contain all that he pumped into her that some of it trickled down her thighs. With curses befitting his status as a sailor, Seonghwa pulled himself out of her warmth and collapsed next to her, eyes wide open as his chest heaved up and down with labored breathing. The girl beside him was in no greater state as she felt an intense ache and burn when he slipped out of her, her thighs and legs still trembling after having her superior conquer her body.

Through clenched teeth, Y/N moved one foot to rest on the hard floor so it could help stabilize her as she tried to get up. Remembering all the stories Seonghwa's previous affairs recounted about him not liking to have them around after messing around with them, Y/N slowly began to sit up and show herself out before the quartermaster himself ordered her out his chamber.

"Where are you running off to?" He questioned, hand reaching out to clasp her own before she slipped out of the bed.

"I was just going to collect my clothes and withdraw to my own room Sir. If you'd like, I'll even take your clothes with me and return them clean to you in the morning." She offered, knowing he was an avid clean freak that hated even the slightest bit of dirt or dust around his space.

"Don't worry about the mess Y/N, we can sort that out tomorrow. Stay for tonight, I insist. It looks like it'll be a cold and rainy night as well and I know your quarters tend to leak."

Without even waiting for her response, he tugged her back by his side, covering them both up with the blankets. Y/N stared off in confusion when Seonghwa pressed his chest to her back, an arm slung protectively around her. She began to question so many things surrounding her quartermaster. Didn't he dislike her? Why was he still keeping her around when he's notorious for not liking affection? He discarded all his previous lovers as if they were used rags, so why was he not doing the same to her?

"Don't think too much about it, just go to sleep and rest up." He seemed to be reading her thoughts, his nose nestling against the crook of her neck as he hugged her tighter to him.

"Yes....thank you my lord."

Seonghwa whined tiredly at her response.

"Seonghwa. Just call me Seonghwa..... my love."

He must have really been so tired and out of it for him to blurt out that endearment to her. Y/N blushed, unable to contain the shy smile on her face.

"Yes Seonghwa."

[ragingbookdragon]

The Secrets Best Left In The Dark

Batsis x Batfamily One-Shot

Word Count: 4K Warnings: Angst, Mentions of Death

Author's Note: I thrive on angst, so I have no apologies for y'all. Enjoy! -Thorne

They’d never claim their eldest sibling was cowardly. Far from it, she put her life on the line every day, in and out of the suit, defending those she cared for with a strength that they’d never seen in anyone. But while everyone in their family was typically hot-tempered and ready for a beatdown, she was calm and quiet. Always kind, and never letting anger, or any type of other emotion show besides pleasantness. For a while, they merely assumed she was the doormat type, simply on the basis that she never argued with their dad over anything—the whole “It’s my way or the highway” and his way was what she always went with—and that made her seem like an alien surrounded by humans because everyone argued with Bruce. That, and the fact that whenever she got into the rare fight during patrol, she’d never hit anybody. She was trained to take down multiple combatants and not once did she ever punch, hit, or kick a single person.

It was practically abnormal to be in the Batfamily and never lay a hand on a criminal, and yet that was what their sister did. Hardly ever did she use force to get what she wanted, always relying on stealth. Even on the minute cases when she got caught in an infiltration and had to fight her way out, she used electrified gauntlets to subdue them, rarely coming to blows. So, in a sense while everyone in her family was an aggressive fighter, she was a defensive—or perhaps a passive one—and that’s how she acted in life too. Always passive by nature, but always playing the peacekeeper between brothers and between fathers and sons.

They never knew why she was such a way, from the stories that Diana and Clark used to tell, back when it was just their sister and Bruce, she was a whirlwind that got into fights with anything that dared breathe in her direction—apparently, she made her angriest siblings look like mice. But no matter how many times they pried or even asked Bruce (apparently, he didn’t know what changed either—and this was coming from the World’s Greatest Detective), she never talked about it, simply saying that she grew out of always being angry and wanted to be calmer.

They suspected she held a dark secret—but no one could’ve prepared for just how dark and damaging it had been to her all these years.

***

In hindsight, taking a trip into Scarecrow’s lab was a bad idea, but when the offer had come up in the cave from her father, (Y/N) was happy to lend a hand, knowing that with his recent injury, he wouldn’t’ve been able to get out there during the night. It was also amazing, in the twenty-seven years she’d been alive, and in the past nineteen years that she’d been a vigilante, she’d never seen her father take a break—she could count on one hand how many times he had, and even then, he was still working in the cave, so technically it wasn’t a break.

But after tangling with Bane and Croc, he’d broken a few ribs and after repeated complaints and worries from her, his sons, and Alfred, Bruce finally agreed to let his children handle patrol. Which is why when the quadrants of the city were split up between Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian, it left (Y/N) to pick up specific places that Bruce wanted checked out—she warmly agreed to do so. And while she was confident in her abilities to do everything, he asked of her, she should’ve called for backup when it came to infiltrating Scarecrow’s hideout.

***

Another vent went off above her and she ducked, eyes narrowing as she watched the orange fog, appearing blue through her detective mode, drift out. She would’ve sprayed it, but she’d used up all of her explosive gel covering the others. Now she simply had to avoid them and hope that her gas mask filtered properly—so far, it was. A shrill laugh echoed through the speakers above her, and shivers went down her spine.

Anytime now, Batgirl. You will fall too.

She frowned. “I’m not afraid of you, Doctor Crane.” Ducking under another pipe, she added, “I can help you if you’ll let me.”

Help me? Help…ME? You can’t even help YOURSELF!

Scarecrow had always been a talker, much like the majority of the villains they faced, and he was looking for a rise. She came to the end of the corridor where the pipes met a brick wall and she sighed, searching for a way through. A vent covered the top right corner and she pulled out the grapple gun, pointing it at the grate. She pressed the trigger and it latched onto the metal bars; grasping the cord, she yanked as hard as she could, stepping backwards when it fell, hitting the ground with a clang.

(Y/N) heaved herself up into the vent and crawled on her hands and knees, as quietly as she could, twisting and turning through the maze of confined metal. When she came to the end, another grate covered the exit and she pressed her foot against it, pushing until the bolts popped loose and she could slip out.

From the looks of it, if the advanced chemistry equipment were any help, she’d ended up in Scarecrow’s lab. He wasn’t in sight, but that gave her time to look around and see if he’d changed any formulas recently. She raised her wrist and tapped at the blue screen, taking a moment to run a program. When it beeped, (Y/N) sighed in relief and reached up, pulling the gas mask off—the air was clean.

She set the mask down on the counter and put a finger to her ear. “Batman, do you read me?” His voice came through a moment later.

“I read you Batgirl. Loud and clear.”

“I’m in Doctor Crane’s lab,” she said, poking around at the notes he’d scrawled out. “I don’t see anything new. The formulas all look the same.”

“Compounds?”

She frowned and read. “Honestly, it’s a bit hard to decipher. His handwriting is a lot like Red’s when he’s had one too many energy drinks.” A quiet huff came from over the line, telling her that he was amused. “I’ll send you pictures of it and see if you can.” (Y/N) snapped a few photos. “Get ‘em?”

“Just now,” he replied, and she walked over to one of the lit Bunsen burners.

“Looks like he’s got something brewing right now though,” (Y/N) leaned over and peered into it, careful to avoid any steam that was rising.

“Recognize it?”

She paused. “It’s not the usual stuff he’s got. It looks almost golden and—”

All at once the dish exploded and she had just enough time to cover her face from the shattering glass, letting out a gasp as she recoiled.

“Batgirl, what happened?”

(Y/N) coughed and waved a hand, and when her hand appeared double, she breathed out in shock. “Oh no,” she whispered.

“Batgirl, report.” She hurried to the exit of the lab as Scarecrow’s cackle sounded overhead.

“I’ve been hit with a blast of toxin.” Pulling open the door, she fumbled with her utility belt then let out a sigh.

“What’s wrong?”

(Y/N) shook her head and weaved down the corridors, the faster she got to her bike, the faster she could get back to the cave.

“I don’t have any anti-toxin on me.” She pushed against the doors and stumbled out into the cold and rainy night. Her mind was already beginning to fog over as she climbed onto her bike, and she barely had enough focus to keep it steady while she programmed it to auto-drive.

“I’m sending one of the boys to you.”

She grunted and lifted her foot as the bike revved and shot forward. “Don’t. I’ve already programmed the bike to the cave’s coordinates. I’ll be back in less than fifteen minutes.”

“You won’t make it that long.”

(Y/N) groaned as the lights began to flash around her and she saw faces and images passing her. “I just have to…focus.”

Horns blared around her as the bike weaved in and out of cars and she held onto the frame with all the strength she had. His voice started echoing in her ears and she shut her eyes, trying to block it out.

You could’ve saved me.

Another groan escaped her, and she heard, “(Y/N), talk to me.”

She shook her head. “I can’t—I have to—focus now.” But with every passing second, his voice got louder and more insistent.

You let me die. You watched me die.

(Y/N)’s eyes filled with tears and they dripped down her cheeks. I tried to save you. she thought, hoping it would suffice, but she knew it wouldn’t. I tried so hard to. The last thing she remembered was turning onto the street that led to the cave.

***

Bruce was already pushing away from the Batcomputer when the boys arrived back at the cave, Dick and Damian from the Batmobile, and Tim and Jason from their own rides. Knowing that their father wasn’t one to sit around, it wasn’t out of the ordinary for him to be moving, but with how quick and worried his movements seemed, they knew something was wrong.

Dick pulled the cowl away from his face and asked, “B? What’s wrong?”

Bruce didn’t respond at first, hurrying towards the medical station they had. “Your sister was dosed with fear toxin and she doesn’t have anti-toxin to counteract it.”

Jason, who’d already taken his hood off, was already in the process of putting it back on. “Let one of us take it to her.”

Their father shook his head, rummaging for an antidote. “She’s coming back here.”

“Here?” Tim repeated, striding over. “Fear toxin works within seconds on normal people, minutes for us.” He looked at his brothers. “She won’t have enough time to get back here and not be under the effects.”

Bruce nodded, focusing as he poured a vial of glowing green liquid into the needle gun. “I know.” He looked at Tim. “That’s why I’m getting it ready for her.”

“Father, can we do anything?” Damian questioned, pulling away the domino mask from his eyes.

“Get ready to be on the defensive if she’s offensive,” he replied. “I don’t think she’ll hit anybody, but you never know.”

“She can’t hit that hard. (Y/N) only weighs—” Jason cut off as the rev of an engine cut though the air and they turned to see their eldest sister coming in on a sleek black motorcycle, that was shaking badly.

“(Y/N)!” Dick yelled and the bike suddenly shifted and toppled sideways, throwing her from it. It slid across the cave floor in a hail of sparks, metal, and plastic flying in every direction as (Y/N) rolled too.

They started running towards her, hoping to stop her when her back collided with one of the glass cases that held their suits, and she went limp.

Bruce reached her first, and knelt down, setting the antidote aside to check her first. The way she hit the case and with how hard, it was possible that she could be seriously injured—or worse.

“(Y/N)!” he called, hands coming to pull her away from the case. She whimpered and he let out a sigh—she was still alive. “(Y/N), can you hear me?” he inquired, reaching up to pull the cowl from her face.

Her brothers crowded behind him and they all stared in horror as tears streamed down her cheeks, and blood out of her nose.

“I’m sorry,” she bawled. “I tried to save you.” Bruce looked at her then grabbed the needle gun, bringing it up to her neck.

“Hang on, (Y/N). You’re gonna be okay.”

She grabbed his hand and cried, “I held on as long as I could, but my grip was slipping. I’m sorry I couldn’t hold onto you. I’m sorry I let you go. I let you die. I’m sor—” her sobs cut her off as she curled in on herself, and as if finally snapping out of a trance, Bruce pulled his hand from her grip and pulled the trigger of the gun.

(Y/N) jerked as the needle entered her skin and they watched the neon green liquid in the vial emptied. She fell into whimpers and mumbles of “I’m sorry” before her eyes rolled back and she collapsed in Bruce’s arms.

He stared at her for a second, feeling numb at his daughter’s admissions. Whatever her fear had been, it’d been there a long time, and he had no idea what it was about. Sighing heavily, he drew his eyes to his sons, to Jason.

“Will you take (Y/N) to her bedroom while I get an IV ready?”

Jason nodded and bent down, picking up his unconscious sister. He tucked her head in the crook of his neck and looked at Dick. “Get the doors, yeah?” Dick nodded and hurried ahead of him, while Tim and Damian followed in suit.

Bruce was left alone in a matter of moments, and all he could do was rise to his feet and ready the medical supplies, all the while, thinking back on every night that (Y/N) had gone on patrol in the last nineteen years—and the last time someone died in front of her.

***

Her head felt like an overripe melon ready to burst, and that first moment of cracking her eyes open was the biggest mistake since she told her dad what ‘Thot’ meant. The second she opened them, she shut them once more, inhaling deeply through her nose as the fog started to clear from her mind.

“Queenie, hey, you’re awake,” Jason murmured, and she nodded, blinking a few times before his face came into focus, Dick appearing Tim appearing behind him.

“Go get dad,” Dick said to someone, and she figured it was Damian since neither Jason nor Tim moved.

(Y/N) started shifting, trying to sit up when Dick put his hand on her shoulder, gentle, but firm as he said, “Don’t try to move, Barbie.”

“Where’s dad?” she asked, craning her neck to see.

“Damian’s going to get him sis,” Tim answered, smoothing out the blanket covering her. “Just relax. You took a beating when you came into the cave.”

“I did?” she questioned, eyes widening in shock when they nodded, faces pinched with worry.

The ceiling light turned on just bright enough to give sight and they looked at Bruce who was coming in, Damian following.

“(Y/N),” Dick moved, letting Bruce take his spot, and he took her hand in his, running his thumb over the back of her hand. “You had us all worried.”

She frowned and exhaled heavily. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.” She gazed between them, and something in their eyes made an emotion she couldn’t describe rise in her chest.

“Why are you all looking at me like that?” (Y/N) met Bruce’s eyes. “What happened?” Before he could answer, she gasped and looked at her brothers. “I didn’t hurt anyone, did I?”

A chorus of hurried, “No’s!” rang out and she sighed in relief, reclining back on the pillows.

“Oh, thank goodness.” She went silent, then started, “But…something did happen, didn’t it?”

Her brothers glanced between themselves then they looked at Bruce who sighed and squeezed her hand, drawing her attention to him.

“What?” she asked and when he said nothing, she repeated, “Dad, what?”

His steel blue eyes met hers and he murmured, “You were apologizing for…letting someone die.”

Whatever had flashed in her eyes that told them she knew exactly what they were talking about was shocking enough because Jason said, “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t wanna, Queenie.”

(Y/N) fell silent for a full minute and when she spoke again, her voice was quiet and the look in her eyes was far away. “Before Dick came to the manor it was just you and I patrolling Gotham. At eight, I wasn’t really let out of your sight, but one night I had wandered off while you were dealing with Two-Face.” She looked at Bruce. “I found an injured GCPD officer on a bridge. He had been tailing Killer Croc.”

She glanced at Tim. “His name was Grady Richards.”

Tim’s eyes fell to the tablet in his hands, and he tapped at the screen for a few moments, then read, “Hero cop Grady Richards honored after dying in line of duty. He fell off a broken bridge on Miagani Island.”

Bruce’s eyes found hers again. “He didn’t fall, did he?”

(Y/N) felt tears grow in her vision and she shook her head. “No…no he didn’t.” Inhaling deeply, she recounted, “Croc came back and there was no way either of us could’ve taken him, so we ran. And Croc chased us.” She shut her eyes, remembering the night.

***

Fear pulsed through her veins as she sprinted as far away from the overgrown crocodile as she could. The GCPD officer was ahead of her, but he stopped and spun around to see her.

“Hurry!” he yelled, pointing back to the car. “Get to the cruiser!”

She spared a glance over her shoulder, eyes going wide when she saw Killer Croc picking up one of the concrete guards.

“Duck!” was all she heard, and she hit the ground, watching as if in slow motion as it flew overhead, then smashed into the top of the cop’s car, glass and metal shattering under the pressure.

Someone grabbed her by the back of her suit and hauled her up, slinging her behind them, and the back of the GCPD officer’s uniform came into view.

“Start running, Batgirl! And don’t stop!” he yelled, and when he has his sidearm drawn, he looked down at her. “You’ve got as much time as I have bullets.” He turned, opening fire, and she took a moment to stare before scrambling to her feet to start running.

A cry of pain sounded behind her, and against her better judgement, she turned and looked, gaping as Croc’s arm sent the officer flying. He hit the guardrail and collapsed against it and her feet were moving before she could stop them.

The first punch went to the back of Croc’s knee and she knew it had to have hurt her more than it did him because he didn’t even flinch. But when those glowing yellow eyes peered down at her, she knew she was in trouble.

“Looks like I’ve got an appetizer for the night!” he laughed and reached for her, but she ducked and rolled out of his way, standing in front of the wounded GCPD officer, who weakly looked up at her.

“What are you—doing? I told you…to run.”

She couldn’t beat Killer Croc, and she knew it, but she shook her head and stared down the villain before her.

Croc’s attacks were wide and though she was small, she was pushed to her limit rolling and dodging every one. After a few moments, she was practically dead on her feet, huffing as her lungs begged for air. She kept wiping away the rain that splattered against her mask and on a particularly unlucky step, she found herself slipping.

And it was all the opening that Croc needed because he swiped at her and she flew backwards into the officer who’d managed to stand, just barely. Colliding with him tipped his balance and they went over the guardrail, barreling towards the ground.

She reached out as fast as she could and grabbed hold of the metal beam that ran the length of the under bridge, crying out in pain as it pulled the joints and bones. Her other hand gripped the officer’s and she held on tight. Croc leaned over the bridge, apparently not seeing them because his footsteps went off in the opposite direction, leaving them in silence.

Time passed and she wasn’t sure how long, but both her arms were getting tired, and she looked down at the officer.

“Sir?” she called, and he looked up at her. “You have to climb. I’m starting to lose grip.”

He tried to reach up but let out a cry and grabbed his side with his free hand. Pulling his hand away, she saw the crimson dilute with rainwater.

The hand that held the ledge began to cramp and she started hyperventilating. “Please, you need to hurry! I can’t hold on much longer!” Again, he tried, and she looked down at him as her fingers began to shake.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered and let go of his hand, and the last thing she saw until he hit the ground was the sight of his eyes, wide with fear and pleading.

***

“I watched his head explode when he hit the ground,” she said, tears pouring down her cheeks as she stared out the window, watching the rain hit against the glass. “I had to make a choice. Either both of us died or one of us lived.” (Y/N) looked at Bruce. “And I chose my life over his.”

No one could believe their ears at the story she’d told, but suddenly, the self-sacrificing attitude their sister had, the way she’d bend over backwards for anyone, made perfect sense—she did it out of atonement, for a wrong she carried since she was eight years old.

“I pulled myself back up onto the bridge and I ran as far as I could and didn’t look back,” she said. “I kept my mouth shut when the paper ran his story and never told anyone about it.”

(Y/N)’s breath shuddered. “I just pushed it down as far inside me as I could and tried to forget about it.” Her eyes met Bruce and she tearfully stated, “But every time I closed my eyes, I saw his face.”

He leaned forward and took her hand. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked softly, dark brows furrowed in hurt.

She swallowed thickly and shook her head as she replied, “I killed someone that night. I was terrified about what you would’ve said. About what you would’ve done.” He gazed at her and (Y/N) whispered, “I’m sorry, dad.”

Bruce dropped her gaze and took a deep breath before murmuring, “It was just an accident, (Y/N).”

“I let go of—”

“I would’ve been more upset having to bury my daughter,” he interrupted, and she fell silent, gaping at him. He searched her face and reached up, placing a hand on her cheek. “I understand why you kept this secret, but you should’ve come to me, (Y/N).” Shaking his head, he added, “You didn’t deserve to be buried under this for nineteen years.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, lowering her head and Bruce shook his head in response.

“No, I’m sorry.” When she met his eye, he continued, “I’m sorry I didn’t know you were carrying this. Then and now.”

(Y/N) swallowed and rested back against the bed. “I send his widow money on the anniversary of his death. I slip it into the pension she’s given.” She let out a sigh. “It’s the only way I’ve found that I could sleep at night.”

Her eyes drifted to the window and Bruce placed a kiss to her forehead. “Get some sleep, sweetheart.” She nodded and before he left, he said, “And when you feel up for it, we’ll see about setting up a fund in his name.”

She wished it didn’t make her as emotional as it did, but silent tears dripped down her cheeks as the door closed, leaving her and her brothers alone. They gathered on her bed, leaning close to offer their support, and she was thankful for them doing so. And for the first time in nineteen years, when (Y/N) closed her eyes, she didn’t see Grady Richards’ face.

[cherrywoes]

cuddle headcanons. (ft. diluc and kaeya.)

title: cuddle headcanons

characters: diluc and kaeya (separate.)

fandom: genshin impact

requests: open.

rating: nice and fluffy

a/n: thank you @sullen-angel24! i'm glad to see you in my ask box dear! <3 istg kaeya's was throwing me for a loop so i went with my best interpretation of his personality and in-game actions thus far. i'm a kaeya main and i struggle to write him smh. anyway! i hope you enjoy it! <3

diluc: cuddle headcanons

i feel like diluc would be one of those people who are intentionally a little skittish around intimate contact of any kind, but secretly loves it on the inside,,,

like there are only so many ways he can express his emotions through his words, usually which come out either wrong or not quite what he meant, so he can convey his emotions better through small actions, whether that be a hug or something else *wink wonk*

but on a more serious note, i do believe diluc is an actions over words kind of guy. he values actions over words, at least, because they mean more to him than anything you could say in the long run.

so cuddling with diluc would more than likely be a "behind close doors" affair, so to speak, he isn't fond of public affection and would much prefer it to be on his terms in a place where he feels safe.

that said!

cuddling with diluc is like cuddling with a heater. it can be comfy, depending on the weather (dragonspine) or it can be absolutely awful depending on the heat (mondstadt or liyue), but either way, the man runs pretty hot on a regular basis due to his abilities, so cool clothing--or none at all--is a must.

diluc very rarely wears much of anything because of it (this is if nighttime cuddles are a thing) so you'd have to be comfortable with an unusual amount of skinship with him. at first he might be a little wary and wear clothes, for propriety's sake, but would quickly grow weary of the whole thing and be as comfortable as possible.

since diluc has strong upper body strength (he has to, being a claymore wielder) he has a rather firm grip when it comes to holding you to his chest. it is pleasant and comfortable, not too hard and not too loose, but just enough to where you can feel comforted and protected--which is the goal.

if you are ever in distress, tired, sad, or anything at all, you can always track down diluc at the dawn winery and know he'll be ready to offer cuddles at a moment's notice, but only because it's you.

play with his hair. do it. he says he doesn't like it but he does. do it when he turns his back to you and just cuddle him from behind and run your fingers through his scalp, twist his hair into braids, muse it thoroughly--he'll be much more compliant and at ease than if you hadn't.

his favorite cuddling position is when he's on his back and you're snuggled right up to his side, resting your cheek somewhere between his shoulder and chest and a leg thrown over his hips, comfortable and leisurely. especially in the mornings, when neither of you have nowhere to go immediately and can just sit and bask in each other's presence.

his second favorite would probably be face to face but it's rare that it happens because he'd much prefer the first. he enjoys just flicking his gaze over your face if you've fallen asleep, or just staring into your eyes in general if you're awake, feeling as if his stare alone could convey the many words he would never say.

at the end of the day, diluc is a pretty soft boi with a fairly rough background so handle his heart with care please!

kaeya: cuddle headcanons

the opposite of diluc, i think kaeya would be opposed to any kind of skinship--for the most part. while he certainly appreciates a good hug or pat on the shoulder here and there, he's averse to contact for extended periods of time lasting longer than maybe a few minutes.

he is able to express himself more thoroughly with his words, i believe, than his actions, because his actions can be easily misconstrued, as past actions indicate. *cough* so he much prefers verbal affirmations to physical ones, but however, if the traveler (yourself) is more skewed towards physical affection, he supposes he can't complain, since it's you, after all.

with kaeya, you would have to start out small; lingering touches, never fully encompassing or heavy, but light and delicate. get him used to your extended presence, so to speak, and he'll be more inclined to be touchier because, despite what he says or indicates with body language, he does crave that interaction with you even if his mind vehemently opposes it.

in a compromise, he'll sit as close to you as possible, but the rest will ultimately be up to you.

cuddling with kaeya, at first, is a bit of an awkward thing. he isn't sure what he wants, so he tries to do what is natural--deflect with flirtatious comments and fond words, distracting you from his uncomfortableness, but you see right through it.

over time, as he grows more accustomed to it, he grows clingier, even going as far as cuddling you in public spaces. the knights of favonius' hq has never known him to be as close as he is to you at any given time.

if he's working late and refuses to come home, you can easily wedge yourself into his lap on his chair and cuddle him that way, which is counterproductive since he can't resist when you do that.

because he runs quite cool, being a cryo user, he's the best to have during mondstadt heatwaves or impromptu trips to liyue. he sleeps with several blankets so if you end up having a cuddle session before bed, either wear cool clothes or be prepared to sleep naked (not that he would mind). *wink wink nudge nudge*

he's a blanket hoarder and collects blankets. you can't persuade me otherwise. i will die on this hill.

in an interesting turn, he doesn't like his hair played with, but he will play with yours, although not in the neat and pretty designs you probably would. usually it ends up knotted and matted worse than before if you came off of a mission, because while his touch is playful, it more than often comes with disastrous consequences.

his favorite position is cuddled up behind you, as close as he can be, with an arm under your head and another wrapped around your waist, his hand close to your heart. you can either hold that hand or reach up and stroke your fingers down his arm and he'll be happy. bonus points if you twine your legs together with his, he loves that.

his second favorite is less of a cuddle and more of a bear hug; specifically, more like a koala hug. it's less of an intimacy thing and more of a "i enjoy being greeted this way" thing, especially if he's the one coming back from a lengthy trip or mission. just leap on him and hold tight with your arms and legs (don't kill the poor bby tho) and he feels loved and appreciated and actually wants to return to you than mondstadt.

kaeya, when all is said and done, yearns for affection and affirmation, so be careful with him; he does, despite what he claims, breaks easily.

[aquafaith]

My lengthy, angry ACOSF rant review.

Spoilers, TW for mental, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.

.

.

.

I loved ACOTAR. I still love ACOTAR. I always will love ACOTAR. But every book afterwards made me give up more and more. ACOMAF romanticized an abusive relationship and assassinated characters for the author's convenience. ACOWAR was a bunch of boring and inconsequential death scares. ACOFAS was all-round dreadful. And each book kept shitting on and pushing away Lucien for no reason.

I'd like to preface this by saying I hated Nesta too. I hated the way she treated Feyre in ACOTAR especially, and I wasn't even too excited for this book because I wasn't that keen on Nesta as a character.

Nesta's POV and her backstory changed my perspective. It does not excuse her actions. All Nesta stans can hold these characters accountable for what they do - trauma is a reason, not an excuse. I, and many others, sided with Nesta because of the way she's treated by everyone else in this book. Also, if you're going to hate Nesta for not teaching Feyre how to read and letting her hunt at fourteen, (which I did, and are very valid things to hate), AT LEAST hold Elain accountable too.

This book. This fucking book.

Shall we start with the intervention? Feyre on her little power trip thinks that her boyfriend that hates Nesta and Nesta hates back, Nesta's ex-best friend, and her possible mate who she never talks to should be at this stupid fucking intervention??? Excuse me???

Remember in ACOMAF when Feyre wouldn't shut up about how rich Rhysand is? Feyre literally has four or five houses and is always talking about how much jewelry and lingerie she can afford because Rhysand is so rich??? Well, Nesta has a few shots. So you know what Feyre does? Humiliates Nesta at this "intervention", TEARS DOWN HER HOME, and forces her to go to the Illyrian training camp.

That was the god awful premise for this book.

Did you think Elain wasn't there because she was against the "intervention"? Nope! She was packing Nesta's belongings without permission.

Remember in ACOMAF when it's made a big fucking deal that locking up a traumatised woman is extremely damaging? Well, when Nesta decides she doesn't want to be in Illyria, Feyre locks her in the House of Wind. Nesta can't fly, so her only way of leaving is down the TEN THOUSAND STEPS, that Feyre KNOWS Nesta isn't capable of climbing.

Feyre's pregnant. In ACOFAS she randomly decided that she wanted a baby to remember Rhysand by if he dies. Which doesn't make any sense because they made that stupid fucking death pact in ACOWAR. It's just SJM superimposing her pregnancy onto her early 20's protagonist. Ignoring the fact that Feyre isn't ready for a baby and Rhysand CERTAINLY isn't, and with a war just ended and another looming and so much trauma and a DEATH PACT are all such horrible circumstances to bring a child into, Feyre is already pregnant. Remember when SJM made a big deal about Fae babies being so hard to conceive, and Feyre said in ACOFAS they wouldn't have to worry for a long time because it can take years to conceive your first Fae child? Well it's been no more than 3 or 4 months and Feyre's already pregnant. Yep.

Also the birth will kill her. Because of course it will. Rhysand KNEW this, and still agreed to try for a baby.

There's no solution. Abortions don't exist for some stupid reason, and a C section would apparently kill Feyre?

(Wasn't this book supposed to be about Nessian?)

In ACOWAR, Cassian was on the battlefield with his entrails around his knees. Someone had to literally hold his guts in for him, and he's fine, but you're telling me a C section would kill Feyre?

Don't worry, this is just setting up the AWFUL ending to this book.

ACOSF amounts to Nesta being gaslit into believing her abusers are right. Her friends and family slut shame her and shame her for her lifestyle constantly. Cassian says it took him decades to work through some of his trauma, and he tried to drink and fuck it away too, but suddenly when Nesta does so it's heinous? Nesta's barely twenty five and she's expected to cope better than these ancient immortals.

Hell, didn't SJM write ACOMAF? Nobody expected Feyre to pick herself up so quickly. The IC (excluding Rhysand) respected her boundaries for the most part and understood when it was grief, trauma, and turmoil that made her angry, sad, want to be left alone, etc. But that's all forgotten here.

Amren also compares Nesta to the people in, and says she belongs in, The Court of Nightmares. You know, the murderers, abusers and rapists? This innocent woman who had a few shots and a bit of sex is on par with them, apparently!

The sex scenes.

SJM is scared to say vagina so she says sex.

She says seed to mean semen.

Apparently the word cunt turns SJM on. I just found Cassian saying that kinda cringe because I'm Bri'ish so the word cunt really isn't a big deal.

Back to the baby killing Feyre, because this is definitely what we all wanted from this book as indicated by the change in covers and format and title... Rhysand decides not to tell Feyre. He tells her friends and family, and tells them not to tell her.

SJM loves sweeping Rhysand's abuse from the first book under the rug and claiming it's always about Feyre's choice... where is that here, MAAS? WHERE IS IT?

Anyway, when Nesta rightfully decides to tell Feyre (although it is kind of out of spite), Rhysand threatens to kill Nesta.

And I believed him. With the way he treats his """mAtE tHaT hE lOvEs sO mUcH""" and all the people he's mindlessly killed before, do you really think he wouldn't kill the person who gave Feyre an inch of autonomy?

So what does Cassian do? His lover who he cares deeply about and suspects is his mate has received a death threat from tHe mOsT pOwErFuL hIgH lORd iN hIsToRy.

Cassian simply gets Nesta out of the court.

EXCUSE ME?

He doesn't breathe ONE word to Rhysand about this. This Illyrian WARRIOR who fought with his GUTS HANGING OUT didn't dare step up to the hIGh lOrD who he considers his brother and sparrs and fights with all the time?

Cassian literally does nothing.

Was it not Rhysand himself who said Mated males are dangerous? Can kill anyone who looks at their mate? Can be dangerous simply leaving the house? Rhys and Feyre both pull the Mate card to justify their bad actions on the other's behalf... and Cassian just tried to get Nesta out of the court?

Also, this High King bullshit.

I swear to fucking god, if SJM DARES to make this abusive, power-tripping, mOsT pOwErFuL hIgH lOrD eVEr, husband-insert of hers hIgH kInG, I will fight her in the street.

My beloved Lucien is in this book. Only for him to be used and shat on.

I really liked it when he calmed Cassian down with just a look though. Yes please fox man.

Helion is also in this book. Nothing to do with Lucien.

Eris is also in this book. ERIS. Lucien's eldest brother. The same one who abused him for years, but according to SJM he's slightly better, because at least he didn't agree to kill Lucien's lover. He betrayed his daddy that one time, therefore Eris is good. Y'know, the same Eris who abused Mor? Left her laying on the Autumn Court border with a nail in her womb? Well SJM is going back on her own canon to redeem yet ANOTHER abusive male, while continuing to demonize Tamlin for things he only happened to do when SJM decided the villain from the first book was sexy.

Nesta and Cassian are Mates.

Remember when Mates were supposed to be a rare and sacred thing? Now SJM dishes them out like Oprah.

I don't want these characters to be mates. I want to see them slowly fall in love. But SJM is incapable of writing that so she forces them together with the mAtInG bOnD. That's literally the only basis for most of these relationships, Feysand especially.

The only relationship where the bond would make sense is between Helion and The Lady of Autumn. Who still isn't named. But I will die on the hill that they're mates, I can feel it between them.

I wanted someone to die in this book. I predicted that it would either be Helion or Tarquin, but Tarquin isn't even in this one.

And the ending.

SJM can't write a decent climax, so she kills both Feyre and Rhysand for the second time. Yep.

The baby is being born which stupidly kills Feyre, and thankfully takes Rhysand with them.

Nesta decides to save them. Bad choice. But she decides to save them! Because she's so powerful and she ATE THE CONTENTS OF THE CAULDRON and she's CONNECTED TO THE MOTHER.

Do you know what happens.

Nesta loses her powers.

NESTA.

LOSES.

HER.

POWERS.

The powers we've hardly seen, the powers that were briefly mentioned and used ONCE in ACOWAR, then we saw like two flashes of in this book? They're GONE now. GONE SO NESTA CAN SAVE HER ABUSIVE SISTER AND ABUSIVE HUSBAND WHO ABUSES THEM BOTH.

Nesta is just an Amren now. They both fought for their powers, and had to give them up to save people who didn't deserve it. Now they're anticlimactically trapped in powerless bodies.

Also, and I can't BELIEVE I didn't originally include this - do you know what else Nesta TRADED HER POWERS FOR?

Illyrian anatomy so she can carry Cassian's baby one day.

EXCUSE ME?

I am so fucking SICK TO DEATH of the narrative that every woman needs a man and children to be happy. SJM clearly loves this because she's literally only keeping Amren and Nesta alive now to be sex objects to their partners and nothing else seeing as their POWERS WERE RIPPED AWAY FROM THEM, and now NESTA TRADED THOSE POWERS TO HAVE A BABY SHE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW SHE WANTS? Nesta does NOT strike me as a motherly type. She's the wine aunt, she and Cassian are the couple that go on holiday a lot and and babysit their nieces and nephews, but nope. Nesta HAS to have children.

The Feysand baby is called Nyx. That's just so underwhelming, you go from these huge, multiple syllable names like Amarantha and Morrigan and Lucien to Nyx? I get it's supposed to be unique but it's not even meaningful. It's just more shit-flavoured icing on the hAHa nIgHt uWu cake. I prefer Renesmée.

Nesta is wrong somehow. She says she's sorry as she's saving them. FOR WHAT? For being a little rude to Feyre as all sisters are? And rightfully hating your sister's abuser?

Oh yeah, remember in ACOWAR when Nesta took care of a comatose, starving Elain for months? Elain is randomly okay now because she takes care of her mental health the stereotypical way of baking cakes, and not drinking and fucking, which she shames Netsa for.

Remember the slut shaming, demeaning comments that the whole iNnEr cIrClE made about Nesta? They all expect apologies from her. For some reason.

Nesta has done nothing wrong. She coped with her trauma and minded her business in her own ways, and she's expected to apologise to the people who control and emotionally abuse her.

Nothing that any of these characters did to Nesta is right. Nesta wasn't okay at the end, this wasn't Nesta's healing story. This is Nesta being shamed and degraded until she submits.

Oh I can't believe I forgot to write this in my first draft of this review, do you know how Nesta "overcomes" her grief about her Father's death and her conflicting feelings about him and his life and her guilt? When she visits his grave for the first time, she takes Nyx.

NYX.

She holds NYX up to the grave and talks about how it's his grandson.

GO AWAY YOU STUPID DEMON BABY THIS IS NOT YOUR BOOK.

Speaking of, it's revealed that Nesta was abused by her mother and grandmother in this book? Something we were all looking forward to is seeing more of the Archeron's mother seeing as Feyre was so young when she died, but... nope. She gets a few vague mentions, and this newly revealed abuse is entirely glossed over. Nesta was also actively groomed by an older man at 14. But SJM glosses over this because of course she does.

Finally, the bonus chapters.

My edition came with a bonus chapter from Feyre's POV. It was pointless and I hated it.

There's another bonus chapter from Azriel's POV. Once I'd finished this book, he was one of the few characters I still harboured a shred of respect for.

Then I read his bonus chapter.

This exists to purely objectify Elain.

Whether you ship Elain with Azriel, or Lucien, or neither, this chapter is disgusting. He thinks about her coming on his tounge, and other things simply just to please him.

He then dares to suggest that "the Cauldron picked wrong" in choosing Lucien as Elain's mate?

No Azriel, SJM picked RIGHT in not giving each Archeron sister a bAt bOy.

Rhysand does the only right thing he's ever done by telling Azriel to stay away from Elain, but then he has to ruin it by clarifying that it's only so they can manipulate and use Lucien more.

Oh, and Azriel wants to kill Lucien.

Need I remind you that Lucien respects Azriel? Lucien is another victim of the Night Court's needless, baseless torment, and Azriel is no exception.

Lucien stays well out of Elain's way because she makes it clear that she's not interested in a mate, but Azriel wants to kill him simply for being her mate.

Lucien has done nothing. And I mean literally NOTHING to warrant any of this treatment. From the bAt bOyS, from Feyre, from his family, from SJM, from the deluded part of this fandom that think he's done wrong. NOTHING.

All I liked about this book was the Lucien scenes (which is a given), ((although I hated the way everyone talks about him behind his back)), Nesta's relationship with the house, Emerie and Gwyn, the evidence that Gwynriel is endgame and subsequently Elucien, and the book love. Everything else was horrible. Oh, and Nesta hates Rhysand. I love that for her, because everyone else bows at his feet.

Oh yeah, when Nesta DARES suggest that Rhysand is an "arrogant, preening asshole" which I think is a compliment, Cassian can't take Rhys' cock out of his mouth for one second, and has to get mad at her for having an opinion. Don't even get me started on Azriel in that scene.

If each book after ACOTAR made me slowly give up, this book made me give up altogether. I cannot go on to support this victim-blaming, abuse-forgiving, misogynistic series. I've given up on SJM, and the only characters I care about anyone are Lucien, Nesta, Helion, and Tarquin. I'll continue to read this series to see if SJM redeems herself, but I'll be downloading them for free. I'm not giving this piece of shit any more of my money.

I hope we don't get the Lucien book. I don't want her to slaughter my fox in the way she slaughtered LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE.

Thanks for listening.

Edit: I put the review on Goodreads!

[kanmom51]

In the new tokopedia interview, jk said saranghae to v, apparently it's a wordplay but we know all the Fandom will say he just confessed. Tbh I'm a bit sad, maybe he really meant, and he never said that to jm..

Before I start, let me be clear here:

This is only going to be addressed once. No more asks about this will be answered.

JK said "I love you" to Tae twice (consecutively) in the Tokopedia interview. The sky is falling down. Wait a second here. No it in actual **** isn't.

Where do I start here? With JK professing his love to Tae or with an interview recorded around 4 months ago (the Butter era - Tae with poodle hair - no offence)?

I will start with the interview then.

Yes, omg, JK actually said the words "I love you, I love you" to Tae, who was first to try and hit the balloon with the dart and succeeded. He earned 4 points. Was it to congratulate or placate him I don't know, but it sure in hell wasn't a profession of love.

If the man I loved would profess his love to me that way, he would find himself sleeping on the lawn outside (we don't have a doghouse, lol).

Yeah, thumbs up, "I love you" - sound real loving.

Since that interview, close to 4 months ago approx., many waters have flowed in the river, waters that showed us exactly how JK & JM are doing just fine.

These are my opinions of course, and everyone is free to think as they will, but once again, I think people need to take a step back, look at the big picture, stop judging every single action or word that come out of these boys mouths.

JK doesn't have to profess his love for JM in front of us. What JK feels about JM, believe me JM knows. How many times do we have to say that JM would not have stuck around if his emotional needs weren't met by JK? JM has said in the past how important it is to him to hear "I love you", so I can only assume that he hears it on a regular basis from the person he is romantically involved with.

Oh, and btw, this claim JK has NEVER said "I love you" to JM is growing real old.

JK has said "I love you" to JM, for us to hear, and he has done so more than once. He said it to JM during the eat Jin Vlive (at JM's request, but he said it); He said it to JM during the Paris concert (it was talked down as a mistake in translation, but hell no, he said it out loud in front of thousands of fans); He said it to JM during JM's Vlive when he took the phone from Jin (JK's voice & JM's happy flustered reaction said it all); He told him he loved him in sign language on the red carpet in front of all of the media; He said it following JM saying how important it is for him to hear those words, and seconds after JK himself saying he never initiates it, but then turning around and saying "I love you" to JM; And there is RB too, the "I love you"'s, the whispering in JM's ear and what followed.

JK also told JM he wanted him, he told him he will always be no. 1 to him, he flirts with him constantly, looks at him like he's the most precious thing he has ever seen, is willing to give up Marvel for Harry Potter just to be with JM, etc. etc.

Just to wrap this up in a little bow anon, I will make this as clear as I can:

All the members love each other. They love each other as friends. They have said so to each other. Suga told both JK & Tae he loved them. Suga told JM he loved him. Jin said it to Suga. Jin said it to JK and he said it back. BV1 recorded message from everyone, including JK saying "I love you" to Tae. JM said it to JK. JM said it to Hobi. JM said it to Suga. RM said it to Jin. And I can go on and on and on here. They love each other, they say it to each other.

Does the fact that JM said it to other members mean he loves JK any less? No. Because you can love your parents, your siblings, your friends and your partner. Each and every one of them is a different kind of love, but it's still love. So why the double standards here anon? Why is it ok when JM says it to other members but not JK?

I tell you what I think.

I think it's ok for them to do what the hell they want to. They are free to tell the other members they love them, they have been doing so over the years, and low and behold, it doesn't seem to bother either of them. And why would that be? Because they are secure in their love for each other. They, unlike many fans, understand the complexity of life, friendship and being in love with someone. They are not threatened by their partner saying "I love you" to their other friends, because they know that when it's said to them (in private, when it matters) it's a different "I love you", one saved for a lover, not a friend.

[selormohene]

day 129 (thursday, november 9th 2023)

This one is about identity, in particular personal and political identity. I think I remember being interested in the question of personal identity once. The interesting thing about it is that it doesn't satisfy Leibniz's law. In fact almost no versions of what is generally invoked under the name of identity, it would seem, satisfy Leibniz's law in the strict sense of the indiscerniblity of identicals, because you generally want to say that identity is compatible with the possibility of having been different, or changing (or even enduring) over time, but then that means that in different times (or at a different world) X has different properties while remaining identical to X. Or else you might want to resist this, and say identity means you retain all your properties in every context, but at the very minimum it seems you can fold being in a certain context into a property: thus X possesses both the property of existing at time t and having existed at time t', but then at time t' X possessed the property of existing at time t' and future existence at t, for instance. Thus you have tensed or modally indexed properties. But you can't place that sort of property within a temporal context or else you violate the indiscernibility of identicals. You can deny that any such properties exist I guess, or try to restrict your view to something like intrinsic properties (on the view that temporal context is relative to a world or whatever and thus an illegitimate relational property), or you can also argue for a level distinction between the properties denoted by your theory (i.e. as the interpretation of a predicate) and the terms which arise from the machinery of your theory (and would thus be denoted by terms in a second-order theory). Whatever. But anyway I was interested in the question of how you could be the same person as you were years ago when you don't seem to satisfy the criteria for physical identity, even if you do satisfy the conditions for physical continuity. Perhaps the idea is that you're connected by memory, or by some other complex of things like a life history, or that you only really exist over time and not in time, etc.

But this post is about something else, the identity in "identity politics." What's interesting about that is that to have X as your identity is to be part of a group; you're black, you're a woman, etc., and in some sense that's not an identity in the sense that it's something only you have, or a relation everyone has only to themselves, or anything like that. Identities in this social or political sense are thus not these sorts of special objective properties, they are sustained, as it were, by a certain sort of recognition, or claim to recognition. That's another shift I think, from a model in which identity is conferred from outside ("subject identified as a 6'4" black male") to one in which it's declared from within ("I identify as a first-generation immigrant,") even if declared identities issue from externally ascribed traits, they're filtered through one's own interpretation of and relationship to those traits and sometimes in opposition to the common understanding of those traits. (See the many debates about the extent to which people should or shouldn't be classified under X racial category if they're from social context Y and don't "identify" with category X, etc. So some people who are generally understood by others to be of a certain race, or gender, do not identify as that race or gender, and in some cases the self-identification is taken to be primary and in other places the external identification is considered primary, either on the basis of the contingent claim that no one can sincerely and rationally go against their external identification or on the stronger claim that the identity category in question is not the sort on which one can unilaterally cast off one's externally designated identity category.)

I think that on the "I identify as" model, the use of the term "identity" is fundamentally to make a very particular kind of normative claim, and one which is related to its more traditional metaphysical overtones. So traditionally, questions of identity have been related to questions of existence, continuity, change and survival. What makes it the case that something is what it is, that it continues to be what it is in a different context or under a different aspect, that it continues to be, rather than to be something else, or to cease to be. And I think that invocations of identity in this sense involve taking the trait one identifies with and saying "this is who I am, fundamentally." It's a way to fold a certain sort of commitment into one's very essence or being. This isn't to say this sort of claim is generally voluntaristic, not at all. The person making the claim may well believe that this is simply how things are. But the claim is to the effect of "this aspect of me is essential to me." (Or perhaps just is me, although this version of the claim raises the question of how an aspect of you, which would seem to bear an asymmetric, quasi-mereological relation to you, can just be you, where something's being you is a symmetric relation. The point is that something's being part of your identity would seem to be different in that way from its being a mere property you have.) But anyway, "this aspect of me just is me; if you're against this belief, this value, this commitment of mine, this feature of my personality, you're against me; to demand that I give it up is to demand that I no longer exist, or no longer am who I am; if you claim to accept me you must accept this as well, and if you don't accept this you don't accept me." And acceptance of this sort of move in connection with the sanctity of persons raises all sorts of questions, because people have all sorts of things they identify with and it seems like if we only want to accept some claims and not others, we have to admit the voluntaristic foundations of our acceptance of identity claims, or else make the controversial contingent judgment that everyone who makes a certain sort of identification is being insincere or evil, or else judge that some people are making a moral mistake, not a cognitive one, but then that raises the question of whether we can legitimately speak of identity claims in the object mode, saying "it is a fact that these claims are legitimate and these ones aren't," which is what we often do when we're trying to give these moral claims the full weight of objective reality.