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empty-blog-for-lurking · 3 months

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If youre ok w sharing then i would love to hear your thoughts on lotor........ Hes such a weird guy. Dissecting him like a frog

If i get hate for this, i am blaming you/j but in all honesty i apologize if this kinda messy, as i have said it has beem awhile since i saw any of the episodes about him. Most of it is my personal interpretation and opinions of his character-

First of all i personally hate both "L0tor is evil rapist imperialist who did not have a single redeemable quality" and "L0tor is uwu poor baby who did nothing wrong", because yeah he had good intentions and he seemed to genuinely love Alura and care for Alteans but also he very much did do a lot of things Wrong. I am pretty sure a lot of his actions fall into category of Very Wrong

Lot0r to me is an absolute control freak, he has to be 10 steps ahead of everyone, he needs to be control of the situation no matter what. Whether it be through a silver tongue or by his blade (see N@rti's death, him vs White Lion). This is as much as a ruthless strategy as it is a trauma response. Being raised under Z@rkon, a father who only saw him as inferior half-bred, he had to learn survivor tactics. He will do anything to survive whether it be beg, lie, manipulate, and kill. He is a survivor of some genuinely godawful abuse he suffered for 10,000 years, combined with racism he suffered for being half altean

However this need to be in control extends to his allies and people he cares about. I am sure Lotor may have loved Alura, it doesnt change the fact that he very much abused her trust. Their entire relationship was based on a lie. He knew Alteans were still alive and not only did he not tell Alura about it he leaned into the "last survivors of Altea" for their relationship, which is why it was doomed since the beginning. And if it had not been this, then it would have been something else. Cause lying and manipulation are very much core of his character, that is how we are introduced to him

Like i see people going "Oh Lot0r could have been good if he had therapy and a hug", and i am not really not sure about it, cause like would he? Would he choose to be vulnerable and actually let his feelings out and be truthful in a an unbiased reliable way that will neither serve him in any way nor make him look better nor is a part of some machivilian scheme he cooked up because he doesnt trust the therapist he is paying? No

And thing is he does desire connection. He looks for connection in people who are similar to him. Half galran, altean survivors, Alura these are the people who he chose to get close to. He looks for similarities, people he can relate to, people who he sees as like him, people who he thinks can give him a sense of belonging. He is deeply lonely. However his desperation for control, absolute mistrust in anyone and everyone, and his inability to be actually honest dooms any relationship he'll ever have

Also this is probably just me, but for someone who is this morally complex character he has tendency to see things in black and white? Like it is His dad and empire= bad, alteans=good. He idolizes Altea to the point of seeing it as an Utopia, and this ideal was more important to him than any Alteans who are alive and with him. I also cant remember him ever caring about someone outside of the Dichotomy. Like at most i remember is after he became the emperor Lance pointing out how other planets need to be freed and he just brushed it off

Overall he gives me the "smart people dont always make good decisions, but they are good at justifying their bad ones" vibes. We dont know exactly why he decided to use alteans as batteries but i am choosing to go with my interpretation- "Lottor saw something fucked up in that future showing space whale thingy, decided the only way to solve was altean batteries except in true self fulfilling prophecy greek tragedy way it only made things worse and started a series of event that will cause the thing he saw causing real trouble a few years after his death.

Another thing! I think it should have been him being the focus of Evil Altean episode instead of A//ura. I hate that episode and everything it stands for but like if there Had to be an evil alteans episode then it should be around someone who is you know? Obsessed with Altean culture? Is big on control and manipulation? Is more geared towards big picture and "greater good" over individual? Is worried about turning into just like his galran father and so desperately wants to connect to his idealized version of his altean mother? Yeah

#empty answers #This is the type of shit that used to get you sniped from both sides of the shitty discourse back in ye old days #I probably have more thoughts but i also need to rewatch vld to have a clearer picture #Also i dont get when people say it was bad writing that he turned out traitor #Like it was handled in abhorent way but also- we are literally introduced to him manipulating an entire audience #The fuck yall mean yall thought he was genuine??#I used to like him but come on man #That was the most obvious disney twist villain if i have ever seen one #and vld writers are not smart enough to do something actually subversive #Also gonna be real with you while i do have a lot of thoughts of him i kinda also dont enjoy his character??#It is-how do i put it? A bit lame #Like the eps were going on about how he is this Most Complex Character and instead we have is-#a disney twist villain and sad anime backstory that is supposed to absolve him or something #I can think of so many villains/character that had similar aspects to him but were just Way Better #A convincingly manipulative man with black and white morality who thinks he is in the right even though his actions beg to differ?#B3los is right there #Villain who uses manipulation as a defense mechanism which only drive all their friends away? Grace monr0e and Sash Waybrigt #A tragedy who just wanted peace for his people only for things to spiral so horribly they destroyed the very people they sought to protect?#M0rdred pendrag0n hnoc my beloved <33 #A hot villain who is morally reprehensible but is really hot? M3dusa G0rgon <3 #And just. I think the problem is the writers wanted him to be all of those things and he ends up being none of them #Not to mention the plot armour. You mean to tell me he is being this obvious and yet no one suspected anything??#Yeah right. Detective!Hunk for the win!#Anyway sorry this is late and so rambly #Thanks for the ask!!!!#Anyone else reading this. This is just a personal opinion ok? No fights ok??

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the-modern-typewriter · 8 months

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Your work inspires me so much! Could I request a villain x hero where they’re both mutually in love but the villain, is very much a villain and murders people and the hero feels betrayed, and hates the fact they still love the villain (bonus for the villain doing it out of jealousy 🥺💕) don’t feel pressured to write this ofc! Thank you for taking the time to read and have a good day / evening and thank you for the content you produce ❤️

The hero scrubbed harder at their hands when they heard the bathroom door open behind them. Their shoulders tensed. Their jaw locked.

They didn't look up at the mirror.

"You're upset," the villain said, finally.

The hero snarled, wordlessly. Their skin was beginning to look flayed. Red from the hot water. Clean. Not clean enough.

"You know who I am," the villain pressed. "You know what I'm capable of. I've never hid it, never pretended to be something other than what I am."

"You killed them."

"I've killed before."

"Oh, well. That makes it all so much better then, doesn't it?"

The villain stepped closer. They gently took hold of the hero's wrist with one hand and firmly closed the tap with the other.

The hero whirled, wrenching back and shoving.

Part of them expected the villain to instantly lunge; slam them right back against a wall, leaving the two of them struggling. It was worse that the villain immediately put their hands up in placating, 'okay, I won't touch you', surrender.

It was too damn reasonable.

The villain's expression, through the blurry fury of the hero's tears, was too damn concerned.

The hero swiped at their cheeks, teeth practically bared. "Fuck you."

"Oh, I wish that was the mood, right now."

"You killed them because you were jealous."

The villain's head tilted.

"Don't deny it," the hero snapped.

"I wasn't denying thing. Outside of a court of law, I rarely do."

"This isn't a joke!"

"I wasn't joking, love."

"Don't call me that!"

The villain folded their arms across the chest, and for a moment the hero thought they might walk out and come back later 'after the hero had calmed down'. They leaned back against the bathroom door instead, shutting it.

The hero gulped. They took a step closer, fists raised - wanting to - needing to - they ended up hurling their shaking hands back to their sides.

"You know," their voice cracked. "I defend you to people. Did you know that? I tell them that you're not so bad. Ruthless, yeah, but you're not a monster. You have a code. You love me."

"I do love you, which is why I would never ask you to defend me."

"Like that's the point here!"

"Then what is the point?" the villain asked. Calm. Implacable.

"You're better than this. You're supposed to be better. You don't just - just kill people. Not because of me."

"Ah." The villain's gaze flicked down the hero's arms. "You feel you have blood on your hands."

"No. That's not it."

"Isn't it?"

"It's about you being morally reprehensible."

"Yeah, but we knew I was morally reprehensible, didn't we? Just as we both know I pretend otherwise sometimes when I can make it easy for you."

The hero made a strangled sound. Even if they did know that. Especially because they knew that.

The villain shrugged. "If it makes you feel better, it's not your fault. Yes, I was jealous that you were spending a lot of time fighting them. But on the other hand, they were also a morally reprehensible person, so really if I'm going to kill anyone it should be the people like me. I thought you'd be pleased."

"Pleased?!"

"Well, that I'm channelling my violent tendencies in a societally friendly way. You wanted to stop them too. Does the end not justify the means?"

The hero stared at them, aghast. They genuinely weren't sure if the villain was joking or not. They did not look like they were joking.

"I hate you," the hero said. "So much."

"Yes."

"That's all you have to say? Yes?"

"I'm not an easy creature to love," the villain said, softly. "Of course you hate me sometimes. Otherwise loving me would be unbearable."

"It is unbearable."

Some of the calm slipped from the villain's face; a flinch of pain.

it didn't make the hero feel better. It just made their hands feel more bloodied, more like the villain's hands. Hurting things.

"You know," the villain said. "You're not easy either. I limit my nature a lot for you. I compromise for you all the time."

"It's not a compromise when my demand is asking you not to kill people!"

"I've never asked you to stop risking your life to save people."

"That's not the same thing!"

"Hurts the same amount.," the villain said quietly.

The hero didn't know what to say to that. The two of them stared at each other from across the bathroom, the hero still shaking violently. "I don't want to do this right now," they managed to say, and it was only a little wobbly. "I can't deal with you right now."

"I wanted to check you're alright."

"Yeah? I'm not."

The villain bit their lip. "I really didn't think you'd react this badly. I wouldn't have done it if I thought it would upset you this much."

The hero closed their eyes, because it was true and it was terrible. Another treacherous tear spilled over their cheek. They dashed it away.

"What do you need?" the villain asked. "You should have water or you'll get a headache."

"I want you to leave."

"Are you going to put your hands under the tap again if I leave?"

The hero glared at them.

The villain's defences were back up again, so they merely raised an eyebrow. "I'll be outside, then."

"I thought you were better," the hero said. "You were supposed to be better."

The villain paused, one hand on the door, considering that perhaps.

"No," they said, after a moment, like the hero was the one who had committed some great and grave betrayal. "You just started pretending."

They shut the door behind them.

#hero x villain #heroes and villains #villains #heroes #writing #enemies and lovers #story #short story #ficlet #creative writing #writeblr

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quotesfrommyreading · 10 months

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Much of the public discussion of Ukraine reveals a tendency to patronize that country and others that escaped Russian rule. As Toomas Ilves, a former president of Estonia, acidly observed, “When I was at university in the mid-1970s, no one referred to Germany as ‘the former Third Reich.’ And yet today, more than 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we keep on being referred to as ‘former Soviet bloc countries.’” Tropes about Ukrainian corruption abound, not without reason—but one may also legitimately ask why so many members of Congress enter the House or Senate with modest means and leave as multimillionaires, or why the children of U.S. presidents make fortunes off foreign countries, or, for that matter, why building in New York City is so infernally expensive.

The latest, richest example of Western condescension came in a report by German military intelligence that complains that although the Ukrainians are good students in their training courses, they are not following Western doctrine and, worse, are promoting officers on the basis of combat experience rather than theoretical knowledge. Similar, if less cutting, views have leaked out of the Pentagon.

Criticism by the German military of any country’s combat performance may be taken with a grain of salt. After all, the Bundeswehr has not seen serious combat in nearly eight decades. In Afghanistan, Germany was notorious for having considerably fewer than 10 percent of its thousands of in-country troops outside the wire of its forward operating bases at any time. One might further observe that when, long ago, the German army did fight wars, it, too, tended to promote experienced and successful combat leaders, as wartime armies usually do.

American complaints about the pace of Ukraine’s counteroffensive and its failure to achieve rapid breakthroughs are similarly misplaced. The Ukrainians indeed received a diverse array of tanks and armored vehicles, but they have far less mine-clearing equipment than they need. They tried doing it our way—attempting to pierce dense Russian defenses and break out into open territory—and paid a price. After 10 days they decided to take a different approach, more careful and incremental, and better suited to their own capabilities (particularly their precision long-range weapons) and the challenge they faced. That is, by historical standards, fast adaptation. By contrast, the United States Army took a good four years to develop an operational approach to counterinsurgency in Iraq that yielded success in defeating the remnants of the Baathist regime and al-Qaeda-oriented terrorists.

A besetting sin of big militaries, particularly America’s, is to think that their way is either the best way or the only way. As a result of this assumption, the United States builds inferior, mirror-image militaries in smaller allies facing insurgency or external threat. These forces tend to fail because they are unsuited to their environment or simply lack the resources that the U.S. military possesses in plenty. The Vietnamese and, later, the Afghan armies are good examples of this tendency—and Washington’s postwar bad-mouthing of its slaughtered clients, rather than critical self-examination of what it set them up for, is reprehensible.

The Ukrainians are now fighting a slow, patient war in which they are dismantling Russian artillery, ammunition depots, and command posts without weapons such as American ATACMS and German Taurus missiles that would make this sensible approach faster and more effective. They know far more about fighting Russians than anyone in any Western military knows, and they are experiencing a combat environment that no Western military has encountered since World War II. Modesty, never an American strong suit, is in order.

— Western Diplomats Need to Stop Whining About Ukraine

#eliot a. cohen #current events #politics #ukrainian politics #american politics #warfare #strategy #tactics #diplomacy #russo-ukrainian war #2022 russian invasion of ukraine #war in afghanistan #vietnam war #ukraine #usa #toomas hendrik ilves

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livinggeekchic · 8 months

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I’ve been thinking a lot more about Harvey on my most recent reread of Purple Hyacinth. He is set up as this kind of bumbling but good-natured kid, whose death hits us hard—only for us to later find out that he was a spy for the Phantom Scythe all along. And we, like Lauren, feel betrayed.

But we are given clues that everything is not as it seems. To start, Bella tells Kieran that Harvey was eliminated because he wasn’t useful.

That got me thinking about this set of panels. March and Hermann are having a conversation about Lune. This is surely information that the leader would be interested in hearing about. Harvey is in the perfect position to listen in, walking by with a stack of papers. But instead, he hightails it out of there. If you zoom in, you can see the “spinning” of his feet, he’s booking it so fast out of there.

So while he was a spy, he either wasn’t a very good one, or he didn’t really want to be one. We also see Harvey mentioning that he has to do his best for his grandpa--is it possible that his grandfather needs money, and that's why he's doing it? This is just one possibility of many. Kieran says as much to Lauren, after she tells him that Harvey was a mole. Kieran knows there are many reasons someone might join the Phantom Scythe, but Lauren is still thinking in black and white--right and wrong. While it makes sense that Lauren feels betrayed, she's failing to grasp the nuance of the situation.

Nothing showcases this better than Harvey’s funeral. We see Harvey’s grandfather violently sobbing, obviously devastated. He says “you didn’t need to try so hard.” (Another indicator that Harvey was likely making choices for his grandfather’s benefit.)

And how does Lauren react? Her expression here doesn’t look like one of sympathy, or even pity. She looks shocked and almost affronted. She’s so consumed by her hatred of the Phantom Scythe, for what happened at Allendale, that she can’t even see Harvey as a person. She can stand by and watch his close family member grieve, and all she thinks is, “they don’t know what I know.” But regardless of what misdeeds Harvey committed, he was still loved. He still deserves to be mourned.

She calls him a traitor. She’s almost disgusted by the fact that everyone is mourning him. But was he really a traitor? How much information did he actually give the Scythe? He was "useless" after all. Even if he did help the Scythe stall the APD's investigations, we know he wasn't this inherently evil character. He was genuinely concerned for his coworkers' safety. Lauren tells us that he never lied or showed any signs of being part of the PS. She sees this as evidence that she was blind to the truth, but I think she's actually blind to the fact that not everyone in the PS is "the enemy." Their motivations can be complicated.

In S1, Lauren views Kieran similarly. He’s an assassin, and therefore, he is reprehensible. She can’t understand why it's so important to him that he kills only when ordered or when it's the only solution. She doesn't really attempt to unearth his reasoning for wanting to take down the leader, beyond asking about it just once. She is inflexible, and rigid in her thinking: good people don't work for the Phantom Scythe. But of course, we come to see that it's more complicated than that.

A lot happens in S2 that helps open her eyes to this, which I won’t go into now. But I will leave you with a quote from Kieran in episode 93: “all these years within this wretched organization have taught me…it’s not a monolith. Not everyone agrees nor is aware of what is truly going on.”

Perhaps Harvey truly didn’t know the half of it. Maybe he was given a chance to provide for his grandfather and took it. Maybe he was told that the Scythe was helping the poor, and he related to that struggle. Maybe he was told they would only use the info he gave them to protect themselves from the APD, and wouldn't ever go on the offense. Ultimately, we don’t know. But what I do know is that if Harvey was outed as a spy in S3, I think Lauren would try harder to understand.

#purple hyacinth #lauren sinclair #ph reread #webtoon #kieran white

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jefferkyleson · 3 months

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As a Jew who has recently been undergoing an identity crisis about my Judaism due to my father's passing and the conflict in Israel and Palestine, I just want to say, try to assume good in people.

First of all, genocide is horrible and what the Israeli government is doing is reprehensible. I will not indulge in a both sides argument. The numbers of civilians deaths speak for themselves.

Real quick, let me tell you a story. My father was Jewish. He grew up in a rural town in America. You can imagine how that went. Day after day he was belittled and beaten. He was mostly known as "Jew" and would often be called that followed by a swift punch to the gut.

As he got older, things didn't get much better. In High School, he and his friend were in the same class. He got a B, she got an A. They both knew each other well and knew he got better scores, so they went to the teacher for clarification. The teacher had a simple response. "You're the Jewish kid, right?" he said. My dad responded, "Yeah?" "That's all I need," he said. If he wasn't Jewish, he probably would've had straight A's.

Throughout his career, again, little changed. Dog whistles and insults and fear were thrown around wherever he went. And after he had me, that fear only grew. Of course it did. You would do anything to protect your child and you fear whatever the world may do to hurt them.

Now, only 8 years ago, he had to watch a man become president who was being openly supported by nazis. He had to watch people march in the street and chant "Jews will not replace us!" He had to watch as some of the last holocaust survivors started to die out and he had to watch as the neo-nazis grew louder and bolder.

To drive my point home, I've only ever seen this man cry once. It was when he watched Schindler's List with me in the room.

So when my father spoke about supporting Israel, I was confused. "How could he stand for genocide?" "How could he support colonialism?" "Is everything he taught me about the middle east a lie?"

But I knew my father well.

He did not support genocide. He has always stood for equality and peace. He did not support colonialism. At home, he has helped support native populations in every way his job allowed. He knew a lot about the middle east. He had a PhD and had bookshelves of history books.

I think deep down, Judaism can often be tied to fear. When you look at Jewish history, it's hard to notice anything but enslavement and genocide. When you live a Jewish life, it's hard to notice anything but fear and hate.

All he wanted was for Jews everywhere to be safe. All he wanted was for me to be safe. All he wanted was to be safe. So when he stood with Israel, he still did not support the genocide. But he grew up in fear and hoped that Israel could one day become a peaceful place where Jews could be safe.

Did I agree with him on everything? No. He would always jokingly call me a Commie. We did not agree on the situation on Israel. But I knew him. I understood where he was coming from. I understood what he meant and what he was truly fighting for. He wanted a world where everyone could be safe. He personally felt that Jews could be safe in Israel and lived a life that made him feel like we couldn't be safe anywhere else. He also felt that Israel's actions were wrong and that Israel needed to undergo a lot of changes so that the middle east could be safe for everyone. He did not support genocide, he did not support Israel's current actions, but he still supported Israel. And you know what, maybe with more time, he would've condemned Israel entirely, but when he passed, he still supported Israel, and the least I can do is understand where he was coming from.

This has gotten pretty long-winded, but what I'm trying to say is, look at who people truly are. When my dad grew up, "Zionist" was often code for "Jew" and "From the River to the Sea" may as well have been saying "Jews will not replace us." But when I see the people calling for an end to genocide, I believe that is what they are fighting for. When I see Jewish organizations, politicians, teachers, rabbis, and kids on splatoon saying "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," I truly believe they are against genocide and are advocating for freedom, equality, and peace. And when I see celebrities and Jewish organizations and my dad supporting Israel, I truly believe they are against genocide and are advocating for freedom, equality, and peace. And when I think of the millions of people in the middle east, I know the vast majority of them just want to live lives of freedom, equality, and peace.

Now don't get me wrong. Again, I'm not trying to make a both sides argument. I personally believe that what Israel is doing is wrong and the bloodshed needs to stop immediately.

I also know that there is going to be the occasional douchebag who hides behind rhetoric in order to be hateful. I also know this situation is extremely complicated with history and experiences going back for thousands of years. I also know people have things they need to learn and things they need to unlearn and that process might take more than a week.

But before we go firing and censuring and yelling at other people, all I ask is, look at who they really are, what they are really trying to say, where they are coming from, be patient and understanding with them, and try to assume they are coming from a place of good before you assume they are coming from a place of hate.

#everybody love everybody #jewish #free palestine

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little-laurance · 4 months

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Tbh I think this fandom needs to settle tf down. There is a not a single (mainish) character I can think of in mcd who doesn't act a little bit fucked up. You can like or dislike whomever you wish, but we are all pretending our fav didn't do some messed up shit. Jesson cannot write consistent characters and they most definitely cannot write characters without questionable morals or behaviors.

Too many people seem to get on a high horse about their favs in comparison to other peoples, and it leads to arguments cherry-picking actions on both sides. Let's be real for a second, none of us are writing these characters the way Jesson intended. We're taking their characters and restructuring them to better suit our personal preferences, morals, or story structures. Everyone's rewrite is about two steps away from original fiction. No one is justifying every bad action from a character by enjoying them. Some may justify some morally reprehensible things, but I'm under the impression most of us are simply ignoring the parts of characters that don't align with our view of the character (or reconstructing some morally dubious actions to properly be addressed within the plot).

In short, stop fighting over the block men being sexist. All of Jesson's block men are sexist. Every single one. If they aren't in mcd, they'll basterdize them to be in mystreet (sorry Dante). They all kinda suck at one point or another for one plot point or another. Let's try to stop acting like we're 10 year olds in the aar/laur/garmau wars PLEASE

#sorry for rant guys I kinda disappeared and this is why #guys we're pretty toxic #I think we need to address some things #aphmau #aphblr #aphverse #mcd #minecraft diaries #I mentioned mcd specifically here but it mostly applies to mystreet #and no this isn't exclusive about the men being sexist #but it is smth that is brought up repeatedly #this applies to people being angry at stans for stanning the character #in general #mystreet

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thedepthsoffandomminds · 3 months

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The guest PT 10

Masterlist

Jack Dawkins x fem reader.

The Navigator had been wrapped and placed in a bed on Jack's ward, Belle had fallen asleep, sat in the viewing gallery. You looked up at her, then to Jack who was sliding down to sit against the wall. His deep brown eyes met yours.

"I can tell things are different, the way you looked at her then. That's not how it happened is it?" He says.

"No, not exactly." You walk over to him and sit beside him on the floor.

"At Government House, I heard your sister say that this was your eighth attack. What did she mean by that?" He asked, eyeing you curiously.

"Oh nothing, you know I'm new to all of this, the clothes the air..." you try to laugh it off.

"No, please don't lie to me. I heard Sneed talking to the Professor, he said he had to check you again recently."

You bite down on your bottom lip as he talks.

"Jack I... I'm not well but please you just need to do as I say. I need you to try and love Belle.."

His hand comes up to your face.

"I don't want to. I want to be with you, to look after you."

"Jack."

"Stop lying to me. You're just saying this because you're with Sneed."

"I'm not. Jack he asked me to marry him and I said no. As nice as he can be he isn't a person I would marry." You try to convince him. "He has since set his cap at either of the Fox girls."

"Then why? Why won't you let me kiss you?" He asks and a tear falls from your eye. You take his hand from.your face and turn yourself so your head is resting on his shoulder.

"What the Navigator said, about the sea, did that sound true for you?" You ask. Jack testis his hand so your fingers interlock.

"It was the greatest day of my life when I got promoted to sublieutenant. They gave me my own bed. I'd never had my own bed before. And my own room."

"Must be wonderful to be at sea. Travel the world."

"It was. It was the best and the worst of times. I saw all kinds of things I didn't even think were possible. Wild animals and festivals. In Hong Kong, I saw this giant paper dragon with fifty people under it and as they moved, this dragon appeared to dance and breathe fire. It was quite amazing."

*_*_*_*

"Where the devil is Dawkins?" Sneed bellowed when he saw the navigator lying in the bed. He stomps through the halls to the operating room, where he sees you still sat on the floor, curled around Jack.

"I can scarce believe my eyes." He gawps.

"Sneed?" Belle asks from her place in the gallery. All three of you waking at his voice. You remove yourself from Jack.

"I insist you both return to Government House immediately and we will discuss this later."Sneed growls at you both.

" Or possibly not." Belle quips as you leave. You hear the two men beginning to argue as Belle pulls you away.

"I have always known you to be a reprehensible, arrogant upstart, with no respect for your betters." Sneed growls

"I have enormous respect for my betters. It is just there are none around here." Jack bit back

"You have directly performed an operation I had forbidden you to do. That I specifically said was not a safe operation in the patient's interest."

"And I agree with your diagnosis. A surgeon of your skill level, Sneed, it would have been impossible." Jack quipped angrily .

"I am to be Head Surgeon here in two months."

"Only if you can force one of the Fox's daughters into marriage right? Or y/n?" Jack squares up to the other man.

"I see that is truly what this is about. You will never be good enough for any of them."

"And you think you are? Money you never worked for is not a personality trait, you pompous, overgrown toff. Y/n will never love you."

"When I am head surgeon you will no longer have a role here and I will ensure you have it nowhere else in the country. You can crawl back to your own kind, Dawkins and I will have my pick of the three women."

Jack's fist collided with Sneed's nose before Jack fully knew what he was doing. A trail of blood dripped down Sneed's top lip. He pulled a glove from his pocket and slapped Jack across the face with it.

"Is that how you fight in Mayfair?"

*_*_*_*

Sitting in the carriage around half way back to Belle's house your memory of the show flooded back to you.

"Oh god no. Belle stop the carriage, I have to go back!"

"Y/n what, what is it? What's happened?" Belles asks fearfully.

"Just please stop," you banged on the top of the carriage and hear the driver pulling at the horse's. "Belle go home. You need to.implore your father not to allow any duels." You say to her jumping out of the carriage and running back to the hospital.

You as fast as you can until your chest starts to tighten. Your foot catches on rock and you fall to the ground. Your head smacking down, everything going dark.

@fandomfan-102 @deanstolemydragon @mydeputyghostwagon

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ebi-noodle-doodles · 4 months

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I think that last anon was incredibly rude and very, very suspicious. I'm also a fat person, and I think your art is just fine the way it is.

This anon accuses you of having a fat fetish for using peach to shade, doesn't give you the name of the artist they think you're emulating, and then tell you (not asking politely, on your own blog where they are a guest, TELL) you to put body hair on Miku.

Not to mention, why are they recognizing a style from a fat fetish artist if they aren't on the fat fetish side of twitter themselves, enough to have picked up on this supposed artist's style, down to the shading?

Sure, Twitter is wild, you'll see plenty of things you aren't necessarily looking for, but this reads as someone who is trying very hard not to let you see them sweating. What are they doing at the devil's sacrament, pointing out all of the sinners there, tactfully not pointing at themselves as one of the people included amongst the crowd.

If they didn't say "teehee I'm a fat girl btw <33 nasty nasty fetishists <33" at the end, wouldn't you think this message is situationally inappropriate? This is the internet, this person is anonymous, and that means they can lie if they feel like it.

You shouldn't even believe me or care when I say I'm fat, because I too am anonymous, and you simply can't fact check me. Even off anon, I don't share pictures of myself online, because I know better than to trust the internet at large.

If they are not outright malicious

(people will do this when they themselves fetishize fat women for the sake of getting art they think is hot; kind of like people saying "fat women can't be sexy" so fat women will post suggestive pictures of themselves to prove the statement incorrect, especially so they can pick and choose through which images they like. This is Creep Behavior, to use negging to manipulate people into sharing racey pictures)

then they are outright very, very rude, despite their friendly tone. This is YOUR blog, your art is fantastic, and nobody should be coming into your house, telling you how to run things.

Personally, I think the shapes and textures you draw are aesthetically pleasing, and your color choices always go together very nicely, especially when pink and green can clash really bad if you're not careful. Please don't let some misguided person (or worse, a creep) tell you what to do. You've gotten as far as you have on your own just fine, because you're doing your own thing.

In your response to anon, you said

"I find it weird that when a “normal” character is posed something suggestive its just a drawing but when added a bit weight it becomes a “fetish” ????"

(https://www.tumblr.com/ebi-noodle-doodles/739308628074496000/im-really-not-trying-to-be-rude-but-your-pure)

and I could not agree with you more.

Why is it a fetish that Miku is fat? I look an awful lot like her, and it's nice to be represented in art, suggestive or otherwise. Why is this person coming at you like you're a freak pervert that needs to be corrected, when you're just drawing a character?

Why is fat considered inherently unattractive, the only people allowed to enjoy it being (implied) nasty, disgusting, morally deficit fetishists, when "normal" or "skinny" body types are left alone? Why are we treating body fat as morally reprehensible, and not just a thing people sometimes have?

If this person really is fat, they have a lot of internalized fatphobia to let go of, and if they're a fetishist they need to learn better manners.

And thank you, for being generous enough to share your art with the world. Sorry for the lengthy message as well. Your Miku is very cute, and I look forwards to seeing more of your art in the future :]

- 🐺🕷️ (Wolf Spider Anon)

Ive been self debating and doubting if what I’m doing is bad or that Ive done something wrong especially on illustrating her in a suggestive manner

Thank you for understanding my view. The reply timing is off as I’m still trying to understand myself if my coloring it self was wrong… are my poses off? Is it rude to draw her like this? I didnt take the anon’s comment as rude but i did feel some guilt that i feel i shouldnt have? Man i dont understand I’m dumb when it comes to these sort of stuff. I just answered truthfully on thoughts about that. All I know is I enjoy painting her, suggestively, happy, innocently or cute! I just like drawing her. Youll see more of her in blog hopefully :D

#thank you for taking the time to type all of these!#anon #reply #ask #chubby miku replies #chubby miku #miku related tag #miku related post #vocaloid related post #vocaloid related tag

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secretmellowblog · 2 years

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So much internet analysis of media feels like……. if people were trying to criticize Chick-Fil-A, but refused to talk about anything other than the quality of the sandwiches. All that mattered was whether the product was good. So people just debated endlessly over whether the products were Good or not, and no one discussed how Chick-Fil-A donated to conservative homophobic hate groups.

“Is this Disney product Good and does it have good gay representation?” Does Disney still donate to homophobic republican politicans!!!??? Do they still actively censor any queer content during production, cancelling gay projects and actively forcing their writers to cut gay content, to the point where every sad scrap that makes it onscreen is a miracle? Can you meaningfully make any statements about “gay rep at Disney” without bringing in that larger context?

It’s not a perfect analogy— because art shouldn’t be a product, and a movie is theoretically trying to Say something in a way that a sandwich is not. But Idk I feel like the reason we fixate so much on media analysis is because it is Fun. It is fun to talk about lord of the rings and the owl house and Steven universe. It is not fun to talk about the horror and exploitation that is baked into the “entertainment industry;” it’s not fun to research and analyze the systems that created the horrifically expensive movies you love.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because amazon is releasing the most expensive tv series ever made, a spin-off series based on lord of the rings. I have no interest in watching it despite my lifelong love of lotr but the thing is—

I have no doubt the series will be good! It will be fine. Lots of money has been thrown into it, and I have enough friends in the entertainment industry to know that on every massive corporate product there are hundreds of writers and artists sincerely trying their best to create good meaningful art. The Amazon series will be Fine. It will be good.

But my question is: Does it being good actually matter? Does it matter if a chick-Fil-a sandwich is good? Does it matter if this vile evil horrible media monopoly run by a villainous CEO that works its employees to death creates a good product?

I feel like I’m going crazy when most of the criticism of Amazon’s lotr is conservatives and people who act like conservatives ranting on about how “I can’t believe they gave Blorbo GenericElf a personality! That’s so out of character—he didn’t have a personality in the book! Tolkien, our lord and savior who we must worship as an authority, would be infuriated (because we still are bound to submit to this dead guy’s opinion apparently!) Everything would be better if everything stayed exactly as it was in the past, in the Sacred Original Canon. Any attempt to transform Tolkien’s work is morally reprehensible and a sign of the fall of the civilization.”

Sometimes I just want to shake those people and say “PEOPLE ARE DYING! people are dying in Amazon warehouses, and you’re treating your petty fandom opinion about blorbo genericelf’s personality as if it has this laughably enormous moral weight.”

I know that’s unkind, and that people can care about more than one thing; but I don’t know. I used to have this really naive idea that adaptations were a conversation with the original work, and every reinterpretation was a beautiful addition of meaning. I still believe that on some level. I think every author should be free to reinterpret stories however they want, should be able to argue with the original author and set their work on fire if they need to. there’s a lot about Tolkien’s work specifically that deserves to be disrespected, like his vicious racism and sexism. I LOVE transformative work—especially transformative work that meaningfully argues with the original author.

But like….you really can’t talk about these big media franchises without talking about the systems that created them.

Yes, people can sometimes create great beautiful sincere emotional art within these exploitative systems! I love the original lotr films and books. The new Amazon series is so expensive that it will be perfectly Fine.

But creating good art doesn’t change the fact that these giant media monopolies do so much real, constant, tangible harm. Warner Brothers caused massive harm to New Zealand while making the lotr/hobbit films, essentially strong arming the country’s government into changing their film industry laws to benefit massive foreign corporations. And Amazon is a vicious violent exploitative mega monopoly that is literally overworking its underpaid employees until it kills them.

It’s hard because I believe that good art can be very meaningful to people, and that media analysis can be important and valuable.

Its just that— not to swing a bat at a hornet’s nest— sometimes I wish people would stop hyperbolizing about how [petty fandom opinion] will cause lasting harm to the world, while not engaging with the things about the media property that are causing immediate tangible physical objective harm.

#idk if this is coherent but yee #;-;;;;#anyway thank you for reading! i know I haven’t been active here lately #i just wanted to throw this out there before anyone asked me about rings of power #I’ve just become so disillusioned by the entertainment industry and the active tangible harm these giant franchises cause #that I just . don’t #XD #like it’s probably good! it’s probably a good fine show #and lots of marvel movies are good!#and I found meaning in the original lotr trilogy #but I don’t know #i kinda just. am disgusted with the way these mega franchises work #and the way the entertainment industry works #it’s the ‘art school student with entertainment industry friends’ life lol #but yee #anyway I’ve been inactive here but I’m back to be sad about stuff again XD

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gale-gentlepenguin · 3 months

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Gale Talks: Apologies and Forgiveness

I feel sorrow for what society has done with the concept of forgiveness. By basically removing it.

And I Despise what it has done to the concept of apologizing.

Look at social media, Apology videos are a genre of video at this point.

But the problem really comes down to two things.

1. People getting called out for old stuff that most people have already apologized for, jokes/ comments that were acceptable for the time, or just because someone had a differing opinion than the consensus. Nothing actually morally reprehensible.

2. People that DO/ have done awful stuff that should be called out dont appologize, do a fake/pseudo apology that is more “I’m sorry I got caught/ the mob is mad” instead of being genuine, OR the people in charge try to cover for the people that do because corruption.

What an apology is, it’s a person saying “Hey, I did something that was wrong, I realize I wronged you, I want you to know I acknowledge I wronged you, and I want your forgiveness in exchange for doing my best to never hurt you like that again.”

It’s an act of humility where you elevate the other person that you have wronged. When done right, it can help mend bridges. Now will those that genuinely apologize always be forgiven? Not always, it depends. Should people still apologize even if they aren’t forgiven? 100%. It is the bare minimum.

As for forgiveness, Forgiveness is something more people need to embrace. Holding a grudge, being continuously hung up on what someone did, holding that resentment. It does nothing for you but makes you miserable. Like drinking poison hoping the person you are angry at dies. This does not mean you aren’t allowed to be angry/hurt/ or sad. You need to address those feelings. You must first forgive yourself, and whether you tell the person that hurt you or not, you must forgive them.

Forgiveness is just as much for you as it is for those that wronged you. Forgiveness doesn’t mean you let the people back into your life. That is reconciliation, that is something you decide to pursue mutually with another person.

Now to those reading this, that have gone through traumatic experiences. You ask, “How can I forgive X for what they have done?”

Maybe you can’t. But God can.

Forgiveness is Spiritual in nature. Even if our capacity for forgiveness is limited. The well of forgiveness God gives is infinite. It will not be easy, but to forgive it also takes humility just as apologizing does.

Now if you dont believe in God, then this aspect becomes a lot harder. I would even say impossible in some cases. But that is really a call you as a person have to make.

We’ve all messed up at some point, and we all need to address our mistakes and ask for forgiveness for those times, intentional or not. We need forgiveness to be better people. We need to let people who are genuinely sorry and want to be better feel they can try and do so. We need compassion, mercy, empathy and sympathy. We need a world where Forgiveness can be an option. We also need to forgive ourselves, Forgive yourself and then forgive others.

#forgiveness #apology #Gale talks #spiritual #God

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leonsliga · 8 months

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https://x.com/iMiaSanMia/status/1711361038514327611?s=20

there's just no way Leon condones abuse or excuses it cuz "friendship" right? he personally must have some reason to believe Boateng is innocent. There's just no way, Leon, who openly stands up, bravely, against everything wrong in the world, without hesitation, excuses Boateng's behaviour. there's no way. my morals and ethics feel triggered. cuz I don't see a reason yet, not based on his actions and what he's done for the world and the world of football, to stop liking him. idk. What do you think bri?

TW: brief mentions of abuse (i.e. context on the Boateng situation)

I had a feeling the press was gonna ask Leon for his take on the Boateng situation eventually, and truth be told, I'm left feeling a lot like how you described: confused, frustrated, and just all around off. I won't lie, I love Leon; I'm a huge fan of his, that's no secret, and I'm aware that that makes me incredibly biased. That said, his comments left a really bad taste in my mouth.

Ever since the Boateng trial (and even before that), I've found their friendship a really tough pill to swallow. After everything, I struggle to comprehend how he can just...ignore all of that? I mean, surely he's heard all the news surrounding the man. Surely he knows Boateng was convicted. Leon's many things, but he's not oblivious and he's not stupid. It's hard not to feel like he’s making himself out to be a hypocrite, considering everything he stands for and everything he positions himself so clearly against. Maybe he knows something we don't or holds beliefs behind the scenes that we don't know about...I don't know. But I've made a promise to myself in writing this blog that I wouldn't pretend to have the answers when I don't. And I won't pretend. I have no answers. I can speculate, but I have zero clue what was going on in Leon's head when he made these comments, no matter how much I may wish I did.

My morals and ethics feel triggered too, if I'm honest. It's hard for them not to. I feel hurt and I hate that I feel that way, considering he's a man I've never met. I just...I'm really struggling to wrap my head around the possibility that Leon Goretzka, the man who's always advocated strongly for women's rights, could still be friends with a man found guilty of assaulting his girlfriend. I want to believe he's better than that. I get that as human beings we can be prone to blind spots in our values and judgment, but this is a pretty glaring blind spot if it’s true…I think we can all agree. I'm trying my best to process this, but it's hard to process his comments when we don't know what he was thinking when he said them. Pretty much the only context we had going into this was that he and Boateng were close at some point. How close are they now? It's hard to tell, but these comments lead me to assume they're still, at the very least, cordial with one another. I guess it's good he stated that in the end, he respects the club's decision, and recognizes it was a decision they had to make, but it doesn't really do anything to soften the blow of anything he said prior to that.

To clarify, just because I'm a Leon-focused blog doesn't mean I agree with what Leon said. I wouldn't be happy if Boateng had rejoined the club. I think even considering allowing Boateng to play for the club as Bayern did, even though he was tried and found guilty, is morally reprehensible. I'm just struggling with Leon's statement a lot as a fan of his and I need to write out my thoughts to process things. He's been my comfort person for a long time now, and so I'm finding it really hard to define where I stand beyond fundamentally disagreeing with his comments (and possible support?) towards Boateng.

We play a dangerous game when we throw our support to footballers, I know that. In our unconditional appreciation of them, they can turn around and let us down. And I won't lie, I do feel let down. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I think it's more than ok to feel that way, just like I think it's ok that it'll take us time to process what happened and come to our own conclusions. We care about him, even if it is just a parasocial relationship, and that's not nothing. I can tell you that at the moment, I feel profoundly disappointed, no matter how hard I try to understand—the way we all try to understand when people we support let us down in some way. I want answers that I know I probably won't ever get.

So yeah. There's my very long-winded non-answer. I'm sorry...I wish I had more definitive thoughts on the matter, apart from the initial hurt and disappointment. But this is all I have for now. I’d love to hear what you guys think, but please be kind, ok?

#anon 💖#yeah…definitely a lot to unpack here. sorry I couldn’t give a more definitive answer on the subject…I’m still working thru it all myself tbh #you can also read my comments on this post if you want to know a little bit more about what I think about this whole thing #I’m still very much processing as I go oof #leon goretzka #my asks

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gingerlurk · 4 months

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Lovers' Crest | Chapter 16: The Bounty Hunter

Din Djarin x f!Reader

Masterlist

Summary: Six months later...

Word count: 3.6k

Warnings: 18+ MDNI, slow burn, non-canon (the Razor Crest never gets destroyed, it also gets upgraded with a cabin), post season 3, ANGST, I'm sorry, yearning, there is the squeakiest blink-and-you-miss-it mention of Reader with someone else (so brief, so squeaky), brief blood/gore, canon characters present (Greef gets the briefest mention - rest in power, Carl), Reader uses her Force powers.

A/N: Here. We. Go. Moving into the endgame. Hang with me. All the love.

SIX MONTHS LATER

Smoke from more than two dozen water pipes wafts at every corner of the buzzy cantina. A sad jizz band drones away in a neglected corner, barely a stage to crowd in on. Every figure in the place sits with the assured air of the heavily armed and capable.

The doorway is darkened briefly by a lone figure entering the place, strolling down thrumming aisles of chatter and hustle. Mutual shoulder nudges and open stares follow the shadow passing over tables and booths. Whispers of ‘that who I think it is?’ and ‘yes, so shut up’ carry on the hazy air. Ignoring it all, the presence comes to a stop in front of the honch of the Guild. Three complete tracking fobs are tossed on the table.

Leaf Goghal looks up.

‘That was quick,’ he slurs, he peers at the stony visage by his booth. ‘Queenie here ready for more?’

Only your eyes can be seen under the shadow of the hood pulled far forward. Anger and impatience radiate out.

Leaf tuts, leans back.

‘You know, pace like this and folks here will start to resent your pretty little presence.’ He waves for a droid tender to come near. ‘Why not sit a bit, have a beverage? Take in the ambiance?’

A hand raised, a gesture at the fobs, and he drops the entreaty immediately.

‘Fine, here,’ he smirks, tossing a mess of credits to you. ‘And here.’ A puck is placed more gently at your hand, glowing with dim eminence. ‘A good one, I guarantee. Real piece of shit too. You enjoy those ones don’t you? Like to make it rough? Take it, and consider a drink with me next time, hm?’

You just scoop the lot into a hand and head for the bar. Putting your back to the sleazy honch, you motion for a drink. It’s slid to you without pause.

Staring into the foamy, spongy liquid of your cup, you focus on channelling your rage and boredom into the space where the crushing loneliness is trying to win ground. It’s been a battle for months. Once fear and guilt were coaxed down into a simmer, you’d noticed your heartbreak fresh and blistering. It was close to unbearable. It almost drowned you. But a primordial will to live still festered hot along with the pain, so you decided to do your best to hide from it.

How better to hide from all that than to seek out violence.

So here you were, in the Guild. The place you were sure was as far out of the way as it was possible to be. It had changed a lot since Greef Karga was in charge. Less principled, more brutal. And it suited your needs. That sludge Leaf knew your one condition on hire, fade quadrant jobs only. Fortunately, there was plenty of work out there.

But grief, and guilt, and heartbreak, have their ways of catching you.

You’ve not gotten through half your drink, but you slam it onto the bar, grab your fresh puck and stalk out of the cantina.

Leaf wasn’t kidding when he said this quarry was a piece of shit. A courier. Of what and who varied considerably, but always for the unsavoury and reprehensible. A long charge sheet of assault came along with the job – a lot of bartenders, some security personnel, and even an escort or two.

Your blood boils as you drop into the cockpit of your ride and dump a couple credits by your pilot’s knee, where they’re crouched low ratcheting an access panel closed.

‘Well fuck you very much,’ Gaius mutters, picking up the coin. ‘That it?’

‘That’s it,’ you say, leaning over the control panel and slotting the puck into place. ‘Next job’ll settle me up though.’

‘Right.’ You move past each other as you take the passenger seat and they drop into the pilot’s chair. Gaius plugs in the nav to the planet where your bounty was most likely enterprising himself with a labour trafficking ring. You sit back, grit teeth and flex knuckles.

The trip is silent, as it always is. The pilot speaks up only as you stand and ready to leave. They reach around and brush a hand against one of yours.

‘Hey, careful out there?’ Gaius says.

You step away from the touch and climb out into the suffocating urban air.

Gaius was an alright pilot who’d come along just when you needed them, still not confident in your own abilities to fly a craft without killing yourself. Quick and savvy, they’d helped you out of a tight spot. You weren’t planning on forming a partnership with anyone, but getting a hole blown in their old ship wasn’t planned either. It was gracious of them to continue to ferry you back and forth on jobs while you paid back on the damage.

You’d taken a tumble in bed with them exactly once, so consumed by loneliness and touch-starvation to the point that it physically hurt. You’d hoped it would help. Hoped, maybe, that it would take your mind off the cold, hollow ache in your chest for a little while. Let you stop thinking about it if for only a few moments. But it didn’t. The only feeling that leaked in afterwards was remorse.

You’d decided that once this job was done, you’d hand over whatever remained on the bill and break it off.

You don’t think they’ve realised that yet, though.

Cringing at the thought of that conversation, you push it aside and duck into the seedy dive frequented by your favoured informant.

‘God fucking dammit,’ you mutter, kicking the gory little stubs aside and tucking away your tracking fob. ‘Better hope a few missing fingers don’t dock the reward on your scummy ass.’

Your quarry is slumped against a bloodied bench, wrists finally restrained. He glares at his right hand as blood continues to seep from where three of his fingers used to be.

‘More’s the pity for you,’ he spits.

It had been a brutal fight. Maybe you’d made it that way, but he’d landed one too many fists into your ribs when you’d taken the upper hand by slamming his own onto the table and your knife down along with it. When you’d twisted the hand up behind his back and made a real show of preparing to take the remaining forefinger and thumb, he’d angrily yielded.

‘Yeah,’ you tap at the cuff on your wrist to let Gaius know you’re on your way and make an ‘up you get’ gesture at the bounty.

He gets a look like he’s calculating an out, so you just unsheathe your blade again. Hold it lazily at your side.

You look up to the ceiling of his dingy hideout, thoughtful. ‘On second thought,’ you say. ‘I could probably afford a whole hand.’ Stare back down at him. He pales at that and grunts in furious resignation, lurching to unsteady feet.

Marching him through the back alleys, he speaks up.

‘You know, I think I’ve heard of you,’ he says.

You roll your eyes. ‘Less chat, please.’

‘Mm, so polite,’ he sniggers. Why do they always do this when the fight is over? So ready to run you through, then all they wanna do is talk.

‘Heard you took in the Daly crew,’ he throws over his shoulder.

‘Shut up.’

‘Is it true? All six of them?’ He whistles low. ‘Where’d a girlie like you get bounty huntin’ skills like that?’

‘Shut up.' You give him a hard kick in the ass. He stumbles forward with a cry. As he flails to not fall on his face, something drops from his coat pocket. It’s a compact datapad that lights up on impact with the ground. You’re about to stomp on it maliciously when a fragment of data on the screen catches your eye.

You bend to pick it up as he rights himself with a pained hiss. He watches you study the screen, its illumination highlighting the colour draining from your face.

‘Hey, uh,’ he hedges. ‘You can take that you know? Big job, huge. One I’ll never finish… now, and,’ a chuckle, ‘I get it, work doesn’t pay like it used to. But that… that’ll make you rich.’

A long, heavy pause. Your eyes stay locked on the screen, a thumb moves to scroll through it.

‘I can get you started?’ he tries again. ‘If you hold off on turning me in? Skills like yours, contacts like mine… We--’

You don’t look at him as you pocket the device, take a small dart revolver from your holster and twirl it to the heaviest tranq you have. His ‘huh’ is brief as he thuds to the ground.

You sigh, annoyed and uneasy. Punching at your comms, you mutter, ‘Gaius, can you get out here and help me, got a dragger … What--? … Yes you can have a higher cut, hells.'

You get back to the Guild’s quarters and do the whole song and dance with Leaf again.

Settled up, you retake your usual place at the bar. A drink appears by your elbow, but you ignore it. Instead, you pull out the datapad and stare at the detailed ship manifests and inventory supply runs for an imp battle fleet.

This can’t be what I think it is.

You’d marked rumours. Knew something was rising. Felt despair and fear. Tried to send hidden comms but probably into nothing but ether – useless and untrustworthy that you were.

As if the universe had it in for you, the alert sensor on your cuff pings to life. You stare at it in shock, not wanting to believe what you’re seeing. But the hum in your wrist is echoed beside you and the barfly there is glaring at the same alert. The whole place is alight with the sound of alarms and buzzing as every bounty hunter in the establishment moves to their feet. You and your neighbours turn to a booming laugh.

Leaf Goghal, despite being what seemed to be mostly gone not long ago, is standing atop his booth table with the holo alert waving above his head.

‘We have been contracted!’ He bellows. ‘The job of our lives! Join the vaunted efforts of this war campaign and be crowned in glory and riches. The Guild will be made elite!’

A general confusion and nervous excitement vibrates within the crowd.

Leaf leaps from the table, seems to stalk expressly toward you.

‘We will follow the imperial militia into war. They will grant us everything – riches, power, resources – we would scourge this galaxy. Be unstoppable. Untameable.’

Your heart is pounding. Hands ice cold. Here it is.

‘We’re going to war against Mandalore!’

Every creature in the bar hollers and cheers.

Fierce and riled up warriors gather themselves into formation, oddly formal for their ragtag demeanour. But bloodlust was rising, and they all wanted the fastest route into a battle frenzy as was possible.

Sparks of panic shoot up and down your body as Leaf Goghal stands before you. He leans into your ear, treating it to his hot, stale breath.

‘Now, Queenie,’ he mutters. ‘No one here knows your little secret. No one but me. I was happy to take you in with such strong credentials. And I remind you now that you have made your choice.’

He clicks his teeth together in menace. You cringe.

‘You will not be leaving my side, do you understand? I want you in my sights until we’re on a frigate to the rendezvous. No mischief; no reneging on your pledge to me. Remember, they aren’t your people. To them you are apostate, outsider, enemy. Am I wrong?’

He isn’t.

You shake your head slightly, taking the chance to step back to glare at him.

‘No,’ you grit out.

He claps.

‘Excellent,’ and he gestures to his side, you fall in. He rounds on the crowd. ‘Guild! We go!’

Marching past bay after bay of spacecraft, a tempest rages inside you. There’s no point trying. You have to try something. Where would you even begin? Anywhere, anywhere but here. It’s hopeless. You have to try. You could die. So? There’s nothing you can do. You’ll probably die anyway.

But then you pass a hangar with a tiny, ancient T-Wing sitting across the way. It makes your stomach lurch. Its silhouette is so like that of the Razor Crest that all the months of trying to ignore your yearning and sadness slip away in a torrent.

It’s your heart that decides it, in the end.

Without breaking stride, you plant your right foot and raise the left to slam into the back of the knee Leaf has extended in his gait. He hollers and goes down, it’s an old injury he punishes anyone for even mentioning. At the same time, you’re punching the door controls to pull up the crisis module, so that it slams shut and engages a hard lock.

Every person, being and creature in the hallway freezes, unsure of what just happened. But Leaf pushes to his feet and shrieks, ‘get her!’, pointing to the door’s window where you’re on the other side, sprinting toward the ship.

‘Get this fucking thing open, and get that little shit back here!’

You hear his profanity-laced orders become fuzzy, blood rushing in your ears. You vault into the little craft with a speed that unsettles you and start jamming at the keypad, bringing the instruments out of standby. It roars to life.

‘C’mon, baby,’ you encourage the controls. To yourself, ‘C’mon, just like he showed you.’

The craft swings wildly and strafes toward the hangar opening. You hurl hard on stall just as it aligns with the exit and then throw the throttle with your whole weight. Forced back into your seat, you give a yelp of fear as the crystalline black rushes toward you.

The second the g-forces let you, you’re leaning over the nav screen and punching in the only code you’d come to know by heart – the system containing Navarro. Thinking the odds of surviving your first solo hyperspace jump are slim and frightening, you close your eyes and heave on the lever.

A few moments of uncertain wincing before you open your eyes and see dazzling light sailing past.

You push your head back into the pilot seat and contemplate your next move.

It had been a difficult and terrifying decision to head to Mandalore, where you knew the risk of being shot out of orbit without pause was great. But you’d survived hyperspace and you’d survived Greef Karga’s passive aggressive rejection of your plea for help. So you thought, why not dive further into the pit of the mess you’d made?

It takes a while. You have to make several stops for fuel and supplies, trekking the galaxy toward the distant and mysterious system, hoping on hope that your memory of the path there was sound. Your tiny little craft manages to stealth by a couple of terrifying imperial ships, so you’re pretty sure you’re going the right way. You just hope you’re not taking too long.

Despite everything, you actually feel good and in control for the first time in an age. Oddly enough, the journey keeps you calm.

Bo-Katan Kryze accepting your transmission and permitting you to land, on the other hand, begins a war within you between soaring hope and abject terror, twisting up your guts and setting your lungs on fire. Piloting your craft to a pad where it is dwarfed many times over by towering war ships, you let the current of your decisions and actions will you forward.

An escort eventually leads into a wide open room, with long tables and a hearth burning blue flame.

It’s a modest throne she occupies, a wide bench with little adornment. The truly staggering feature is the tall casting of an ancient looking megalith that rises behind her into the vaulted ceiling. You think Din had told you about something like it once, but in this moment there’s too much already crashing through you to recall.

You try to focus on the brittle and impatient look the woman in front of you channels into your very soul. But really all that’s going on in your head is an endless loop of Is he here? Is he nearby? Will I see him? Is he here?

You glance around the room at your company, flicking from one helmed figure to another. None are familiar. All stand with a watchful edge and some kind of weapon at the ready.

The escort that had marched with you comes to a stop and peels away, leaving you standing alone save but one Mandalorian that keeps a laser rifle at your back. Of course you’d left all weapons back at your little ship, but they seem aware you could still be a hand-to-hand threat anyway. Perhaps Din had warned them.

Bo-Katan leans forward and cocks her head.

‘He isn’t here,’ she says, voice ringing in the vast space. Gods, she just knew that would be the exact thing to say to make your insides crumble and your heart falter. Batting back tears, you run your tongue over teeth and lips, take a breath and look at her head on.

‘Will you tell me where he is?’

She smirks, ‘His Covert, the Covert of the Watch, continues to be among several groups covering our system’s perimeter. Why?’

‘I need to warn him. To warn you, all of you.’

The leader of a planet, a whole world, stands suddenly. The room rustles with many armoured individuals shifting to high alert. After a moment, she takes a step, then another.

She marches toward you with menace in every footfall. Halts just flush of you and leans into your ear.

‘That’s where your loyalty is?’ she says. ‘To him?’

You just steel yourself and nod.

‘You hurt him,’ she whispers, voice tight. ‘A lot.’

‘I know,’ you say, not moving another muscle. ‘I know that, I-- I just want to do right by him, by your people.’

She leans back and glares at you. ‘What if he does not want to see you at all, ever again?’

You stare at her.

‘I’ll accept that. I will. So long as he, as they, as you, hear what I have to say. And let me help.’ You lean in to whisper your entreaty, your message, your intentions. She listens, lets you trail off before stepping back and locking eyes with you.

She studies you, pierces you with her keen and discerning gaze. You feel as if you are being drilled apart, bit by bit.

‘I cannot tell you where he is,’ she intones to the rest of the room. ‘His Covert is in a system where Comms are difficult to maintain; they compose a forward party to incur the initial salvos, feeding us the intelligence we need to prepare.’

Her eyes settle back on you for a split second. You mouth a silent, tiny ‘thank you’ that she nods at slightly while turning away.

‘I am sorry I cannot help you,’ she says while marching back to her station.

It wasn’t much to go on, but there was an ionised cluster in the next sector over where frequencies were distorted and would corrode over distance. It also happened to be smack in the middle of the trajectory of the imps’ leading regiment. And it was also possible for a sufficiently small spacecraft to make discreet jumps back to Mandalore to share updates without detection.

It wasn’t much to go on. But Bo-Katan had given you what she could.

You pilot your battered T-Wing into the field.

Okay, now or never.

You push the autopilot into staying power and lean back in your chair. With an iron will, you let your mind clear, ferrying thoughts to the side and opening a way to that thing you fear to touch. It waits for you, doesn’t approach or call, just holds. You grit your teeth and reach for it.

The moment you accept the feeling into yourself, it unfurls and coils around your consciousness, hugging at the edges of your mind’s eye. As it does, you fill your thoughts with the image of two sweet glistening eyes blinking at you slowly, of big twitching ears flapping in the rush of a speeder, and of a happy, babbling maw munching on whatever tasty treat is within reach. You conjure the feeling of a small, clawed hand gripping your own, just grasping onto a single finger in comfort. And you listen hard for the sound of Grogu’s exclamations of delight and curiosity, summoning his essence toward you.

‘C’mon, baby. C’mere. I miss you so much.’

A hot sweat erupts across your brow and neck. Tears break free. All form a salty river down to dampen your collar, shuddering above your chest heaving with effort.

‘Please,’ you weep. ‘Please.’

You’re ready to give up. You were a fool. Not strong enough for this; who were you kidding. Then, a soft, featherlight, curious strand of tender embrace reaches back to you. You let it nuzzle the tip of your nose, leaning into the feeling.

It lasts a second, then drains away and the cold hard cockpit rushes back into focus. Without pause you punch in the string of coordinates foremost in your mind’s eye. You give yourself a moment to close your eyes again and breathe, then you throw the lever.

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No such thing in-universe as a 'T-Wing' as far as I'm aware. But I for one think it makes a cool as hell 'lil spacecraft. Name suggestions welcome. And I had no idea what to choose as the gif for this one, so imagine that tiny speck is Reader crossing the galaxy to get back to Din... 💔

Until next time!

#din djarin x you #din djarin x reader #din djarin smut #the mandalorian x you #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian #din djarin #din djarin/reader #din djarin/you #the mandaloria/reader #din djarin x f!reader #the mandalorian x f!reader

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pink-strawberry-kissess · 5 months

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is it just me or has aeon and ada become even more popular because of the remakes (despite what haters say)

i think that a lot of people who were ada antis that switched were typically (not always tho) hating on her because they were jealous or they misunderstood her character. i think that a lot of the new fans are strictly leon stans and lack the critical thinking to go beyond their simping

it takes a certain amount of time and effort to look into a character that you vehemently dislike because you've already mentally written her off, or she's "in the way." and i don't necessarily blame them but i do think it's kinda stupid to hate on characters without knowing much about them (at least the people who hate on characters and make that their personality. I hate tons of characters- i just don't talk about it much cause i care about my time lol)

i think that SW was always made in a way to make the audience sympathize with ada. she's always been this morally grey character that (with most people who lack critical thinking skills) has always been painted as a villain- when arguably every single re character has does something morally wrong or has just straight up worked under actual villains in the stories

there's no morally good re character imo.

if we were to take this into account, it would be hypocritical to call all the other re characters morally just while condemning ada for her actions in the same breath.

i've already mentioned that i think the way they wrote luis's "redemption" arc was made in such a way that it was written to necesitate the story and was made into just a plot device. and i do think that if luis was written to be a woman, he would not have been given just a pass in what he had done.

ada's point of contention was always that she did what she needed to survive, and on the basis of what she deemed morally correct. people who paid attention to her story always knew she would kill if she needed to, BUT she would also do what she was think was the better option. she weighs two evils and chooses the lesser one.

i hear a lot of complaints from antis that her "saving" leon doesn't erase what she's done. and no one is saying that it does. but we have to remember that she doesn't owe leon ANYTHING. she could easily have left him to die. from the very start, if we were to assume the role as ada as our own pov, LEON is the one that wouldn't leave her alone.

i think that it's difficult to read characters that have their own sense of morality. when people do bad, you assume they're bad. but people aren't like that as a whole. when main characters like leon or chris do morally reprehensible things, it's because of the narrative, it's written as such so that the ending is still good.

the changes within SW was definitely to make the audience sympathize with ada. with her infection, with how the other characters treat her, with the way she carries herself. she knows what's she's done, she's "made peace with it," it's literally in her opening monologue.

anyways

tl;dr yes

#ada wong #leon s kennedy #leon kennedy #aeon #leon x ada #ask heart #heart answers #anon

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unforth · 1 year

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I started to write this as a reply to @vex-verlain but realized it should be it's own post.

To be clear, this is about @end-otw-racism and why I support this movement (even if I don't agree with all their proposals).

I am profoundly anti-censorship. It has been one of my biggest personal issues my entire adult life. I will absolutely defend the speech rights even of people I think are utterly reprehensible, even the rights of people who want me and my family dead. I think their speech has a right to exist, full stop.

But.

Being anti-censorship in no way means being anti-moderation. I often see people who are pro-ship, anti-anti, or "too old to use a name for telling yall you're clowning" say that AO3 is supposed to be a safe space for WRITERS, not READERS, and that to me is one of the big ways that the current harassment and moderation policies are badly failing writers of color. There's no way to 100% protect all writers, period, on AO3, and to me it seems like a no-brainer that if the goal is "protect all speech, avoid all censorship, minimize harm to real people," the only way to accomplish all those goals it to have a really robust, well-moderated system that prioritizes reducing harassment - ALL harassment - without looking the other way on certain topics just because they're harder and thornier to sort through. A way to section the groups that are oil and water away from each other, through blocking, powerful filters, comment options, etc (some strategies we do have now, btw! They HAVE been adding functionality in this direction, but it's clearly not enough.)

Currently, protecting people who write bigoted shit is causing active harm to fans of color. We see the impacts of this harm constantly; I personally have seen many, many Chinese and Chinese diaspora fans driven out of white danmei fandom circles for all sorts of reasons, and if yall are in fandoms that often have bipoc in them I'm sure you've seen the same (and if you are in a fandom that doesn't have many bipoc it might be wise to take a moment and consider why it doesn't.)

I just really want more people to take a step back and ask themselves why they think an anti-censorship position necessitates an anti-moderation stance, and also why they think being pro-moderation is the same as being pro-censorship.

I defend the rights of bigoted shit to exist.

What I don't defend is the right of the people who create that stuff to weaponize it against vulnerable people.

Regarding AO3, I personally support a solution that involves some way of sectioning off the bigoted shit. I'm not sure exactly how that would work but I think some kind of major archive warning is a solid start. Also maybe a way of flagging authors who are frequent offenders. And to be clear...it's not my job or responsibility to know exactly how to accomplish this. I'm no expert. That's why I'm supporting a movement that explicitly says AO3/OTW SHOULD HIRE AN EXPERT. And I know it would be expensive...and I know many, many of us would donate to a funds drive to raise the money to cover that expense.

I've seen too many friends get profoundly hurt, and I'm so tired of (overwhelmingly white) fandom circles pearl clutching over this not being an issue, that the real problem is that this will lead to censorship of (checks notes) Nazi shit, spitefic, and the other dregs of fanfiction (which, again, has a right to exist! But God why are so many of y'all favoring IT over ALL THE FIC THAT WILL NOW NEVER EXIST BECAUSE BIPOC GET BULLIED OUT OF WRITING IT.)

It's clearly an issue.

And we have to speak up and demand better or it will continue to be an issue.

Please, please listen to the bipoc who've managed to not be driven out of fandom and understand that *things need to change,* which means, for us white folks:

1. A lot of listening to the people who've been harmed

2. Using our voices to amplify theirs

3. Standing up to bigotry we see in our fandom communities

4. Shutting up when they ask us to shut up

5. Checking our own behavior and doing our best not to be part of the problem, and, if and when we go awry, owning it with maturity and apologizing and doing our best to make amends and not repeat our mistakes

...and probably more but those are the first things to come to mind.

Please stop siding with people who've decided they are entitled to spew vile shit, stop prioritizing their writerly protection over the safety of equally valid writers who also deserve protection and are being targeted and hurt. All you do by siding with the assholes is amplify their voices while silencing bipoc and create a space that protects bigots. Is that REALLY the hill you want to fight on?

None of us know it all. We can all learn to do better. I'm personally here to learn, and listen, and improve.

And I'm here to shout from the rooftops that we can be anti-censorship and pro-moderation.

I am, and you should be too.

#unforth rambles #end racism in the otw #end otw racism #hi folks this white jew supports you #id like more tools for moderation too cause ive gotten a little antisemitic shit over the years #but thats not in the post cause this aint about me and its not really about judaism #and if we protect bipoc jews will have more protections too #there are so many reasons to support this guys #just cause yall cant imagine what better would look like doesnt mean better doesnt exist #demand better and expect better and be part of trying to make things better #i will never stop supporting all authors and right now doing that means protecting some of the most vulnerable #from some of the most heinous #i truly think we can develop better protections and maintain posting freedoms

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