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richincolor · 3 years

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New Releases for the Week of May 3, 2021

It's great to see so many new books hitting the shelves this week. I know I've been waiting for several of these and am happy to be able to finally read them.

The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He Roaring Brook

Cee has been trapped on an abandoned island for three years without any recollection of how she arrived, or memories from her life prior. All she knows is that somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, she has a sister named Kay. Determined to find her, Cee devotes her days to building a boat from junk parts scavenged inland, doing everything in her power to survive until the day she gets off the island and reunites with her sister.

In a world apart, 16-year-old STEM prodigy Kasey Mizuhara is also living a life of isolation. The eco-city she calls home is one of eight levitating around the world, built for people who protected the planet―and now need protecting from it. With natural disasters on the rise due to climate change, eco-cities provide clean air, water, and shelter. Their residents, in exchange, must spend at least a third of their time in stasis pods, conducting business virtually whenever possible to reduce their environmental footprint. While Kasey, an introvert and loner, doesn’t mind the lifestyle, her sister Celia hated it. Popular and lovable, Celia much preferred the outside world. But no one could have predicted that Celia would take a boat out to sea, never to return.

Now it’s been three months since Celia’s disappearance, and Kasey has given up hope. Logic says that her sister must be dead. But as the public decries her stance, she starts to second guess herself and decides to retrace Celia’s last steps. Where they’ll lead her, she does not know. Her sister was full of secrets. But Kasey has a secret of her own. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee Quill Tree Books

Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe.

When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page.

In this charming novel by Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

They Better Call Me Sugar: My Journey from the Hood to the Hardwood by Sugar Rodgers Black Sheep

Growing up in dire poverty in Suffolk, Virginia, Sugar (born Ta’Shauna) Rodgers never imagined that she would become an all-star player in the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association). Both of her siblings were in and out of prison throughout much of her childhood and shootings in her neighborhood were commonplace. For Sugar this was just a fact of life.

While academics wasn’t a high priority for Sugar and many of her friends, athletics always played a prominent role. She mastered her three-point shot on a net her brother put up just outside their home, eventually becoming so good that she could hustle local drug dealers out of money in one-on-one contests.

With the love and support of her family and friends, Sugar’s performance on her high school basketball team led to her recruitment by the Georgetown Hoyas, and her eventual draft into the WNBA in 2013 by the Minnesota Lynx (who won the WNBA Finals in Sugar’s first year). The first of her family to attend college, Sugar speaks of her struggles both academically and as an athlete with raw honesty.

Sugar’s road to a successful career as a professional basketball player is fraught with sadness and death–including her mother’s death when she’s fourteen, which leaves Sugar essentially homeless. Throughout it all, Sugar clings to basketball as a way to keep herself focused and sane.

And now Sugar shares her story as a message of hope and inspiration for young girls and boys everywhere, but especially those growing up in economically challenging conditions. Never sugarcoating her life experiences, she delivers a powerful message of discipline, perseverance, and always believing in oneself. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney HarperTeen

Quinn keeps lists of everything—from the days she’s ugly cried, to “Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud,” to all the boys she’d like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing…

An anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn’t know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett—the last known person to have her journal—in a race against time to track down the blackmailer.

Together, they journey through everything Quinn’s been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield Wednesday Books

Tilla has spent her entire life trying to make her father love her. But every six months, he leaves their family and returns to his true home: the island of Jamaica.

When Tilla’s mother tells her she’ll be spending the summer on the island, Tilla dreads the idea of seeing him again, but longs to discover what life in Jamaica has always held for him.

In an unexpected turn of events, Tilla is forced to face the storm that unravels in her own life as she learns about the dark secrets that lie beyond the veil of paradise—all in the midst of an impending hurricane.

Hurricane Summer is a powerful coming of age story that deals with colorism, classism, young love, the father-daughter dynamic—and what it means to discover your own voice in the center of complete destruction. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Indivisible by Daniel Aleman Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

There is a word Mateo Garcia and his younger sister Sophie have been taught to fear for as long as they can remember: deportation. Over the past few years, however, the fear that their undocumented immigrant parents could be sent back to Mexico has started to fade to the back of their minds. And why wouldn’t it, when their Ma and Pa have been in the United States for so long, they have American-born children, and they’re hard workers and good neighbors?

When two ICE agents come asking for Pa, the Garcia family realizes that the lives they’ve built are about to come crumbling down. And when Mateo returns from school one day to find that his parents have been taken, he’ll have to come to terms with the fact that his family’s worst nightmare has become a reality.

With his Ma and Pa being held in separate detention centers, Mateo must learn how to look after his sister and himself. The choices Mateo makes, and the people he turns to for help, might reunite his family… or tear them apart for good. With his parents’ fate and his own future hanging in the balance, Mateo must figure out who he is and what he is capable of, even as he’s forced to question what it means to be an American teenager in a country that rejects his own mom and dad. — Cover art and summary via Goodreads

Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan Inkyard Press

Karina Ahmed has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents’ rules—even if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything.

Karina is my girlfriend.

Tutoring the school’s resident bad boy was already crossing a line. Pretending to date him? Out of the question. But Ace Clyde does everything right—he brings her coffee in the mornings, impresses her friends without trying, and even promises to buy her a dozen books (a week) if she goes along with his fake-dating facade. Though Karina agrees, she can’t help but start counting down the days until her parents come back.

T-minus twenty-eight days until everything returns to normal—but what if Karina no longer wants it to? — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

All Kinds of Other by James Sie Quill Tree Books

In this tender, nuanced coming-of-age love story, two boys—one who is cis and one who is trans—have been guarding their hearts to protect themselves, until their feelings for each other give them a reason to stand up to their fears.

Two boys are starting at a new school.

Jules is just figuring out what it means to be gay and hasn’t totally decided whether he wants to be out at his new school. His parents and friends have all kinds of opinions, but for his part, Jules just wants to make the basketball team and keep his head down.

Jack is trying to start over after a best friend break-up. He followed his actor father clear across the country to LA, but he’s also totally ready to leave his past behind. Maybe this new school where no one knows him is exactly what he needs.

When the two boys meet, the sparks are undeniable. But then a video surfaces linking Jack to a pair of popular transgender vloggers, and the revelations about Jack’s past thrust both Jack and Jules into the spotlight they’ve been trying to avoid. Suddenly both boys have a choice to make—between lying low where it’s easier or following their hearts. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Luck of the Titanic by Stacey Lee G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Southampton, 1912: Seventeen-year-old British-Chinese Valora Luck has quit her job and smuggled herself aboard the Titanic with two goals in mind: to reunite with her twin brother Jamie--her only family now that both their parents are dead--and to convince a part-owner of the Ringling Brothers Circus to take the twins on as acrobats. Quick-thinking Val talks her way into opulent firstclass accommodations and finds Jamie with a group of fellow Chinese laborers in third class. But in the rigidly stratified world of the luxury liner, Val's ruse can only last so long, and after two long years apart, it's unclear if Jamie even wants the life Val proposes. Then, one moonless night in the North Atlantic, the unthinkable happens--the supposedly unsinkable ship is dealt a fatal blow--and Val and her companions suddenly find themselves in a race to survive.

Stacey Lee, master of historical fiction, brings a fresh perspective to an infamous tragedy, loosely inspired by the recently uncovered account of six Titanic survivors of Chinese descent.

#new releases #YALit

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beccascribbles · 4 years

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On your 18th birthday, control of your life got placed in the hands of your soulmate. To gain back control and to meet the one fate had deemed your ‘perfect match’, you must find your soulmate, using the choices you make for each other to guide you together.

warning - swearing

word count - 1.7k

There was one thing you knew for certain. Whoever your soulmate was, he was a little shit. Whenever you were forced to make a choice, be it a trivial matter or an important one, your soulmate was guaranteed to pick the one that would ultimately fuck you over. Since you turned 18, you were never on time to class, made a point of embarrassing your friends in public due to the stupid stunts you were forced to pull, and were depressing to be around. Truth be told, it was rare to see a genuine smile grace your features these days.

The week before you met your soulmate had started off in one of the worst ways possible, with a purchase of bright red hair dye. After watching a tiktoker dye their hair for a dare, you had begun to ponder what you would look like with a different hair colour. Then, against your better judgement, you had begun to picture yourself with different hair colours, could feel yourself being tempted to dye it. If you had been in control of your choices, you would have quickly discarded the thought of dying your hair, let along dying it any of the ridiculous colours you were picturing. You supposed you had to thank whoever it was for not choosing the neon green.

But, bright red wasn’t much better.

When you walked through the halls of Karasuno, you attracted the stares of pretty much everyone you walked past. You could feel their eyes on you. You could clearly see the way people would lean into each other as they whispered about your appearance. You weren’t stupid. Out of everyone, you were the most aware of how awfully this colour clashed with your skin tone. It made you cringe whenever you looked in the mirror.

At lunch, Sugawara could hardly look at you without snickering. He’d already used most of his witty comments over text the previous night when you had sent an image to the group chat along with the words ‘fuck my life’. Daichi wasn’t much better, taking every opportunity to tease you. Meanwhile, you would sometimes catch Asahi just staring at your vibrant locks. It was after one of those stares that you snapped.

“Take a picture if you’re that mystified by it,” you spat, fingers clenching around your chopsticks as you stabbed a piece of meat. He blushed, looking back down at his food. This interaction just made Sugawara chuckle more, snorting as he took a sip of his drink. Kiyoko, who had been noticeably absent from the teasing, placed a calming hand on your shoulder, shooting Sugawara a stern glare.

“It really doesn’t look that bad,” she reassured, her glance around the table indication that she was daring one of them to disagree. “Besides, at least this will make it easier for you to find your soulmate.”

“Oh yeah, can��t wait to meet the asshole whose made my life a living hell since my birthday,” you replied, sarcasm heavy in your tone.

Truth be told, your only motivation for meeting them was to end this hell that you were currently experiencing. Once you had met your soulmate, they stopped being able to make your choices for you. Already, you were missing the freedom of being in charge of your own life.

The next few days weren’t much better.

On Tuesday, you were forced to run through the heavy downpour to school, using only your flimsy bag as an umbrella due to your soulmate’s interference. If you fell deathly ill, it would be all their fault as they even prevented you from sharing Kiyoko’s umbrella on the walk back home, which had been your main reason for staying behind to help out with volleyball practice.

On Wednesday, due to your soulmate deciding that sleeping during class was perfectly acceptable, you missed a large chunk of the English lesson. This meant you had to beg your classmates to lend you their notes, and also put you in a terrible mood when you went to meet up with your friends. In retaliation, you prevented your soulmate from purchasing the next Shonen Jump, something you knew they were obsessed with as the choice occurred frequently. You also forced them to pay attention during class for a change, which you were sure would leave them exhausted as you had made sure they stayed up late the previous night.

On Thursday, you were indeed suffering from a cold. Though your soulmate had the heart to allow you access to medicine, you still had to make your way to school, head pounding and a stuffed nose to boot. You spent the morning huddled in your coat with a face mask on to stop others from catching it too. When your teacher said you could go home at lunch time, you almost let out a cheer.

Friday was unusually calm. You had recovered from your cold. Each choice your soulmate chose lacked their usual malice. The day was almost reminiscent of those before you had turned 18 until you received a message from Kiyoko asking if you were coming to the watch the final of the Spring Interhigh Qualifiers. Karasuno would be playing Shiratorizawa.

Originally, you had been planning on going to support your friends. However, after the week you had suffered through, you were painfully aware of all the work you had left to catch up on. You were stuck, unable to choose between the two options. Your head told you to not go, and eventually won you over when your gaze fell on the pile of school work you had yet to complete piled on your desk.

But, it was not your choice to make.

Against your will, you found your fingers tapping on the screen, confirming that you would be going to watch.

The next day, you were out of the house exactly on time, as punctual as if you were in control of your choices. It was this unusual punctuality that warned you of what might await you at Sendai Gymnasium.

Upon arrival, you sent a quick message to the group chat. Shockingly, it was Sugawara who was the first to reply, telling you that they were currently warming up on court. Clearly not everyone is entirely focused on warming up, you thought, quickly hurrying over to the court so you could wish your friends a quick good luck before making your way up to the cheering section.

Opening the door, you popped your head through, making eye contact with Kiyoko, who ushered you inside. You gave her a small wave before you made your way over to Asahi, Daichi and Sugawara, painfully aware of the stares coming from the other side of the court. You rubbed the back of your neck anxiously, feeling unsettled and nervous. Trying not to let that show on your face, you forced a smile, holding out your arms to embrace them in a hug.

“Good luck, boys,” you said. “You’ve got this.”

You shot them a thumbs up as you made your way over to Kiyoko to give her a quick hug and some words of encouragement. Before leaving the gym, you shouted over your shoulder to the rest of the team, “Good luck! Go Karasuno!”

There was a chorus of ‘thank you’ from the other members that almost masked the words uttered from the other side of the court, where Shiratorizawa were currently warming up.

“I think that might have been her.”

“Might have been who?”

“My soulmate, Wakatoshi.”

You couldn’t help yourself. Along with Yachi, you sprinted out of the stands and down towards the court. Karasuno had won. It felt surreal. You were giddy with the rush of pride you felt. Though not having played a role in their development as a team, you had been there to witness most of it and knew exactly how your fellow third years were probably feeling.

It was Kiyoko you spotted first, and you didn’t hesitate to pull her into a bone-crushing hug as you both jumped up and down. Next came your three friends on the team. You didn’t hesitate, running forward and launching yourself at them. It was at that moment, with your arms wrapped around your closest friends that you felt the tug of your soulmate’s needs. It was time for them to make a decision.

Go up to her or let her celebrate with her team.

A gasp escaped your lips as you pulled away from the embrace, glancing around trying to discern who may be waiting for you to make your choice. Without wasting another moment, you made the decision.

Go up to her.

It was at that moment that your gaze was drawn to the other side of the court where a tall figure with hair as red as yours was dyed was stood waiting. Almost against his will, as if he wasn’t expecting, he began to move towards you. His lips twitched at the corner, giving you a teasing smirk. He held out his hand to you, that smirk still twisting his mouth. You reached out and took his outstretched hand.

“Hi. I’m Tendou Satori.”

The moment your skin touched his, you felt it. That connection between you. Here he was. Your soulmate.

“You’re a fucking teasing piece of shit,” you spat. You couldn’t help yourself. The words slipped out, guided by the animosity you had been harbouring towards this individual for months now.

“But it was fun, no?”

“Fun?” you seethed. “Making someone dye their hair this shitty colour is not my definition of fun.”

“But, it was the reason we found each other, and you weren’t the nicest with your choices either,” he pointed out, probably remembering his sleepless nights and copies of Shonen Jump he had yet to purchase. “So, in return, let me take you out sometime. After all, fate has decreed that we are a perfect pair.”

You let out a huff, not able to argue with his logic. “As long as you pay.”

#haikyuu imagines #haikyuu x reader #shiratorizawa x reader #soulmate au #tendou x reader #tendou satori #tendou imagine #tendou oneshot #haikyuu oneshot #haikyuu fluff #tendou x you #tendou x y/n #haikyuu x you #haikyuu x y/n #karasuno

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thevoidable · 4 years

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Why did Dabi let Hawks into the League? (major manga spoilers ahead)

This is a question that’s been plaguing my head ever since Dabi proudly announced to Hawks that he’d known all along that he was lying.

If that was the case, what was the point of bringing him in? Surely Dabi must have seen this coming by enabling Hawks to continue his infiltration? What exactly was Dabi’s end-goal here???

It’s unclear whether or not if this will get explained eventually, but after giving it a lot of thought, I think I have a pretty good answer to the question regardless. Essay under the cut.

What is Dabi fighting for?

First, we have to address Dabi’s motivations. They run deeper than just making Stain’s will a reality - he’s taking steps that Stain never even considered to make, because even he was blinded by something that Dabi despises more than anything: hero idolization. Stain saw All Might as a true hero, someone worthy of the title, but in Dabi’s eyes, All Might is one of the biggest contributing factors to why there is such a huge problem with the hero system, and aside from All Might allowing other heroes to become complacent, it’s all because of Endeavour.

Hawks and Dabi are two sides of the same coin when it comes to the new no. 1; Hawks grew up seeing Endeavour’s ambition to surpass All Might as impressive and heroic, mostly due to the fact that Hawks himself lacks the drive to become so great, because all he wants is to live life comfortably. But for Dabi, Endeavour’s need to surpass All Might was nothing but a blinded greed for power, the need to be the best of the best for his own selfish desires rather than to actually save people. It was a path that led him to horrifically abuse his own family in order to achieve it, because he saw Quirk breeding as the only way to fix his own flaws. As such, Dabi, AKA Toya, suffered greatly at the hands of it. He knows firsthand just how much the hero system is unjust, allowing for people with unhealthy mindsets like Endeavour to gain positions of power. He knows that people admire Endeavour for his heroism, but are unaware of the monster that lurks behind closed doors, even when his temper comes out during public patrols. This is a man who is the very definition of a false hero, a man who let his eldest son die and traumatized his entire family.

Dabi goes on to claim in chapter 267 that there are no true heroes - this, however, does not mean that true heroes cannot exist. All he means is that there are simply no heroes currently present and he plans to change that, because in the system that society has right now, it’s near-impossible. Hero idolization forces heroes to become perfect images that people can admire, and it also enforces the mindset that only the greatest heroes can come from schools like UA and Shiketsu. This results in a flood of people longing to become heroes for reasons other than saving people. Uraraka, for example, while she is gentle and kind-hearted, is still only becoming a hero so she can support her family. It’s a well-paying job, and that kind of promise will most certainly lure anyone in who is desperate enough. Yes, she has good intentions in mind, and she does want to save people, but saving people is not her ultimate goal. So, by Dabi’s definition, she is not a true hero.

Becoming a hero should also not be as easy as it is, and becoming a hero certainly should not start at such a young age. UA and the other hero schools are putting teenagers between the ages of 15 - 19 at severe risk, and we’ve seen worst-case scenario results of this twice over the course of the series, and it’s terrifying to think that there are most likely more that we haven’t heard of.

First you have Shirakumo who died before he had even graduated, an incident that led him to becoming a nomu working for the League, who would then go on to cause the second result.

By placing children in such a dangerous training course, it automatically places targets on their backs for villains before they even get their licenses. The League proved just how incapable the staff are at protecting their students by not only successfully attacking a location within the school, but also kidnapping one of said students later on, even after UA’s attempt at keeping the location of the training camp hidden and Dabi himself had revealed their basic plan to Aizawa.

This is all fuel for Dabi’s fire in his journey to rip hero society apart at the seams, and while he is absolutely planning to kill every false hero he comes across, he also has a secondary plan in mind, and that is for the students.

In One’s Justice 2, Dabi has this particular voice line to Hawks: “We’re working for the glorious future where those UA kids are hollowed, and brought down to earth. We’ll have to see what you’re working for.”

Dabi knows that while they are all still young, there is still time to prevent them from falling into every hero’s brainwashed mindset: villains bad, heroes good, no matter what either of them do.

Something extremely important that the MVA and the current war arcs do is flip the black and white narratives on their heads, showing us just how human and empathetic the villains can be, while the heroes are doing nothing but making unheroic choices and opting for making the violent move first. We’ve seen all of the heroes do nothing but dehumanize Shigaraki, calling him “it” and “thing” like he’s just some monster that they have to kill. We’ve had to watch Hawks murder Twice in the name of “justice” simply because Twice refused to come quietly and be forced back into a life he felt miserable in. Even X-less chose to focus on the machinery next to him rather than getting a near-dead Shigaraki medical attention, and we all know how karma decided to treat that.

And this is where I would like to bring your attention to Tokoyami.

We’ve seen multiple times before how Dabi seems to have no interest in actually harming the students - initially, anyway. He leaves Aoyama alone even though he saw him; he taunts Shoto but doesn’t attack him to get him away; and lastly, Tokoyami first showing up to rescue Hawks actually calms Dabi down. Dabi shows no intent of hurting them because they’re still just kids, not heroes.

Calling back to how the heroes are currently being depicted as the ones making all the disturbing decisions, Dabi doesn’t hesitate to be the first to call out their decision to bring the students into what is essentially a covert-ops assassination mission that has turned into an all-out war. He first recognises that the boy in front of him is just that: a boy, and instead of attacking, Dabi gives Tokoyami a chance.

But what chance, exactly? To escape? Absolutely not.

The first thing Dabi does is make Tokoyami aware of the crime his so-called mentor just committed, and carefully wording it so that the stakes were made clear.

Twice was trying to run away to protect his friends.

But Hawks still killed him.

Dabi is giving Tokoyami a chance to recognise that the hero system he admires hides many skeletons in its closet, and is something that is severely corrupt. He’s giving Tokoyami a chance to rethink his working relationship with Hawks and everything Hawks has taught him.

But Tokoyami doesn’t take it.

As soon as Hawks speaks up again, Tokoyami returns to being obedient, ignoring everything Dabi just said and focusing only on the task at hand regardless of the moral dilemma presented before him, and that’s when Dabi’s intention for Tokoyami changes, because as Dabi put it, “You’ve stopped thinking for yourself.”

And indeed, Tokoyami has. Tokoyami is now cemented in the brainwashed mindset, blindly putting his faith in that Hawks’s decision to kill Twice was right, simply because Twice is the villain and Hawks is the hero, and Dabi realises this.

Tokoyami is now a false hero, and thus on Dabi’s kill list.

So, we have established that Dabi fully intends to wipe-out existing false heroes, while simultaneously trying to save those who have the chance to recover/escape from the brainwashing before it’s too late.

“Keigo Takami!!”

It’s no secret that Dabi clearly knows exactly what kind of situation Hawks is in. The fact that he knows Hawks’s real name alone tells Hawks that Dabi knows far more than he is comfortable with. So, seeing as Dabi was able to see through Hawks’s lies so easily, let’s assume that Dabi knows most, if not all, of what we the readers know about Hawks and how the HPSC groomed him.

Considering that Dabi came from the no. 1 hero’s household, there’s a high chance that he knows quite a bit about the HPSC and just how shady they actually are, especially if the theories are true that they had a hand in covering up his own death. Dabi is well-aware then that the HPSC is responsible for the hero system being so broken, and the reason they do nothing to fix it is so they can stay in power. They are not afraid to make questionable decisions which they know is only making the villain situation worse, because villains are what’s keeping them in business. And what’s sad about this is that even when the decisions they present are clearly morally wrong, the heroes are in no position to argue, because the HPSC is in complete control of their jobs. The HPSC governs the hero system, so whatever they do must be just, right?

Well, Dabi definitely knows the answer to that.

The HPSC deliberately manipulated the heroes to believe that the UA students were needed on the front lines for this mission, and so far, we’ve seen that they really weren’t, actually. The evac team remains the best place for the students to be, because while the pros with all the combat experience can focus on the villains, the heroes-in-training can focus on the smaller task of getting people to safety. Sure, Kaminari, Tokoyami, and the other front-liners helped, but the pros absolutely overwhelmed the PLF on their own. All the front-liners did was just kind of...pave the way, make things easier, and then they were sent back to rejoin their classmates. And the heroes didn’t question the decision at all.

What’s even more disturbing is that the students weren’t even aware of what they were getting into, and most of the pros weren’t aware that the students weren’t aware.

But, as mentioned before, Dabi doesn’t hesitate to call this out.

It’s highly likely that he’s able to connect that the HPSC were the ones who organised this attack and sent the kids out onto the battlefield, which also means that he’s unfortunately no stranger to the HPSC reducing talented children to nothing but weapons, a concept he is also personally familiar with.

Toya was bred with the intent of creating a Quirk superior to Endeavour’s, and then put under extremely harmful training that abused both his mind and his body. We already know that Dabi is heavily against valuing a person’s Quirk over their individual worth, thanks to his fight with Geten.

And in the world of heroics, this unhealthy mindset is unfortunately in abundance, especially in Hawks’s case.

What makes Hawks an especially tragic character is that he started out with the same longing to be a great hero that every child has. He wanted to be a comforting sight to those in need, and his innocent mind thought that the HPSC would help him make that reality.

Instead, the HPSC presented him with a life-changing decision that a child his age has absolutely zero mental capacity to consent to, and it’s heartbreaking that Hawks’s grooming began right from the second they met. The HPSC forced a child into intensive training at an age even younger than students training at proper hero schools, and they ever-so-gradually began chipping away at Keigo’s hopeful dream, starting with the erasure of his own name, the first step in disconnecting him from who he once was.

Over the years of the hero Hawks growing up under the HPSC’s wing, he had been stripped of his childhood and moulded into the perfect image of a hero, one that is loveable to the public, obedient to his handlers, talented in his work, and completely self-sacrificing to his missions.

The HPSC has successfully groomed Hawks so that his selflessness is now their trump card that they hold over him - instead of using his selflessness to save others no matter who they are, he’s been manipulated to believe that he has to give up everything in his life to be a great hero, that he’s not suited for being a “shining light”, thus bringing about his new goal of creating a world where heroes have free time, a goal that he is unfortunately pursuing in the wrong way. He’s been brainwashed to not think about villains too much, to not sympathize with them and dig into where they came from and why they became villains, which is why he’s targeting the wrong problem when it comes to making his dream a reality. He believes that he has to solve every case as fast as possible, and eventually there will be virtually no more villains left to hunt down, but the League has already shown us that the roots of villainy stretch much further down than that.

We catch a glimpse of how Hawks even acknowledges that he’s being held down by hero society, caged, and yet he does nothing to change it.

The result of his grooming has left him stuck in a thoughtless state, where it’s easier to believe that everything he is doing is right, and the villains are wrong.

And this is unfortunately something that he has spread to Tokoyami, as evidenced earlier.

Hawks is a hero who was groomed and manipulated from a young age, being thrown into training just so he could become a tool for those in power to use.

Sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it?

Dabi can read Hawks like a book

It’s wonderfully ironic how Hawks prides himself in being capable of fooling anyone and everyone, making himself the hardest person in the room to read while simultaneously being able to read everyone else, and yet the one person that he couldn’t predict ends up being the only one who knows him better than anyone else.

Throughout all of their interactions, Dabi has always been two steps ahead of Hawks, able to catch him off-guard and ruffle his feathers. Keeping in mind that Dabi had known all along that Hawks was faking his desire to join the League, it’s interesting just how long Dabi kept stringing him along. Was he simply doing it for his own enjoyment?

Maybe a small part of him was, but in the long run, Dabi was absolutely still testing Hawks’s worthiness. What makes this great, however, is that Hawks was unaware that Dabi wasn’t testing him for what he originally thought.

Loyalty was absolutely out of the question for Dabi, since he knew from the start Hawks wasn’t planning on being as such. So, what exactly was Dabi looking for?

Looking through the tests that we know Dabi put Hawks through (the battle with Hood, and taking out a hero of Hawks’s choice), we can analyse what Dabi was impressed with, and what he wasn’t.

First off, there’s not a lot that Dabi didn’t like about what Hawks did. The most he complained about was Hawks simply bringing along Endeavour to the Hood fight instead of someone else.

It appears that he also complains about Hawks not letting anyone die, but Dabi is always quick to point out when heroes are prioritising lives, and this will become important later.

Then, we have Dabi asking Hawks to take someone out who isn’t the no. 1. When Hawks brought him Jeanist’s body, Dabi was genuinely surprised, but pleasantly-so.

Now, Jeanist’s death here serves multiple narrative purposes:

It shows us that Hawks won’t hesitate to kill for a mission (RIP Twice),

It shows Dabi that Hawks is capable of killing anyone, not just villains,

And lastly, it serves as blackmail for Dabi in his pursuit of bringing down false heroes.

(There’s also Bakugo’s whole thing with his hero name, but this isn’t about him.)

That last point is what granted Hawks access into the League, contrary to Hawks believing that the only reason he got in is because the merging of the League and the MLA suddenly made it easy to do so.

Dabi wasn’t going to let Hawks in without making sure he had a backup in mind in case Hawks tripped up.

But, blackmail wasn’t the only thing that Dabi was looking for. If anything, it was just a bonus.

What the Hood battle and Jeanist’s death showed to Dabi were the two sides that Hawks possessed: a bird of prey that isn’t afraid to kill for a cause, and the innocent child who just wanted to help people. Dabi was searching for both of those qualities within Hawks, because they’re both qualities that Dabi himself has.

Dabi relates to Hawks

As previously mentioned, there’s no doubt that Dabi is aware of how Hawks was trained and forced into a life he didn’t want. He’s very aware of how much Hawks longs for freedom but still wants to help those in need, but what separates them from each other is that Dabi has achieved the freedom that Hawks wants and is pursuing his dream in a way that works.

Dabi kills for his cause, but that cause is ultimately to prevent the future suffering of innocent lives at the hands of false heroes. In his own twisted way, he too wants to save lives. He wants to stop the possibility of another him from being created. He is choosing to be the unfriendly reminder that something is very wrong with the current system, and it needs fixing ASAP.

And that is exactly why Dabi can see through Hawks’s lies, because he recognises that Hawks too is a victim of the same system.

Dabi’s plan for Hawks

With Hawks presenting himself in front of Dabi, it offered up a multitude of opportunities for him. Dabi not only had a new connection to Endeavour through Hawks, but here was a hero who was prepared to get his hands extremely dirty just for a way to bring down the League.

Dabi’s prior knowledge of Hawks and his past allowed him to constantly have the upper hand, but not in case Hawks attacked.

Through testing Hawks to see what qualities he possessed, Dabi was able to see if Hawks was worthy not for joining the League, but for undoing the brainwashing he’d been subjected to.

Dabi let Hawks into the League because he was giving him a chance, the same chance he gave to Tokoyami, to see hero society for what it really was and decide to do something about it. Dabi saw the potential in Hawks to be a true hero, to return to the boy he once was and save people for the sake of saving them. He saw Hawks’s potential to kill false heroes and that he wasn’t afraid to do it, and the idea of someone thinking the same way as Dabi, of understanding him and his goals wholly, would have absolutely been enticing to him.

Dabi claims to not care about the League, but even if that were true, Dabi recognises that the other League members are important to each other, especially when it comes to Twice and how eager he is to make friends. Dabi introducing Hawks to the League was his chance to show Hawks that they’re all human, and gain sympathy for them and what they stand for. It would have been the ultimate power move on Dabi’s part for Hawks to turn on the heroes and go villain, undoing what hero society did to him, providing him the freedom he always wanted and ultimately proving Dabi and his ideals right.

But, unfortunately, that wasn’t how things went.

How Dabi’s plan backfired

When Hawks first joined the PLF, it was obvious that Dabi was sticking close to him, both to keep an eye on him and to be genuinely friendly and accepting.

It’s rare to see a smile like this on Dabi when he’s around heroes, and he never smiles around the League, but for Hawks specifically, Dabi is always smiling. I think it’s safe to say that Dabi did genuinely enjoy Hawks’s company and that he was the only one Dabi actually liked, which is probably what led to him being comfortable with leaving Hawks to his own devices for the next few months, especially when he started a budding friendship with Twice.

Dabi must have been confident that Twice would be the one to break through the last of Hawks’s walls, because if we were seeing genuine smiles from Hawks, then Dabi must have seen them too.

However, it’s clear that Dabi severely underestimated Hawks’s capability to kill anyone.

Hawks leaked the information to the heroes, an attack was launched, and Dabi immediately knew why.

And he was, understandably, incredibly pissed.

Upon confronting Hawks and hearing how he was about to kill Twice, Dabi used what he’d learned about Hawks during the Hood fight to his advantage and triggered Hawks’s rescue response, prompting him to subconsciously save Twice from Dabi’s flames, because Dabi knows deep down that a hero is who Hawks really is. What he was most likely hoping was for Hawks to maintain that response, but he instead made a mistake and directly caused Hawks to go back into mission-mode.

And it’s just a downward spiral from there, with all of Dabi’s last-ditch efforts falling flat. In one last desperate attempt to reach through to Hawks, he called out his name. His real name.

Dabi’s final chance to bring Hawks to his senses was to try and reconnect him with his past self of whom the HPSC had carefully erased, and it almost worked. Dabi let Hawks know that he knew everything about him, everything that he once was, but just like with Tokoyami, Dabi learnt the hard way that Hawks was beyond saving.

With Twice’s death, Dabi completely lost it, scolded Hawks for not focusing on him, and dropped one last bomb on Hawks before ending yet another false hero.

Until, yet again, that too backfired due to Dabi’s hope that he could save an innocent mind from the hero system’s brainwashing, and Hawks escaped with his life.

We get a glimpse of Dabi’s defeated expression, the knowledge that he can’t cry, and that he just lost two friends within the span of just a few minutes.

What next?

Honestly, if there’s one thing that is going to break Hawks, it’s knowing the truth about Endeavour. My hope is that Dabi is going to have a chance to make his reveal public to the entire nation, and exposing Enji Todoroki for the abuser he is will really shake things up.

At the moment, it’s still not clear exactly what Dabi told Hawks in his redacted bubble, but it was obviously something relating to his identity. Only time will tell what Hawks knows once he regains consciousness.

#dabihawks #dabi #mha hawks #bnha hawks #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #mha #bnha #theory #dabi is a todoroki #mha manga spoilers #bnha manga spoilers

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sanjuno · 4 years

Note

how do you reckon things would change if Obito and Kakashi remembered their past lives as Izuna and Kanna? (And have you given a past incarnation of Rin in the Warring Era?)

… @deverickracoma you mean, like in canon? Huhhhh…

Well first off before Rin was Nohara Rin she was Senju Touka. Which makes this situation super fun because both Izuna and Kanna died before Hashirama strong armed Konoha into existence and Touka only went along with it because Her Stupid Little Cousins Need Some Common Sense. XP

In her lives as both as Touka and as Rin she holds the single (1) braincell for this Disaster Trio.

So Izuna dies via Tobirama’s sword. And then Kanna kinda… revenge rampages with Madara until the critical angst threshold is reached as Kanna just… explodes both theirself and the battlefield.

There’s a whole lot of background stuff behind the suicide run such as Kanna’s Hatake side suffering from mate-loss depression and their Uchiha side suffering from Makengyou Madness and also Really Bad post-partum depression compounding it and yeah. Unfortunately Madara is just as wrecked from Izuna’s death so he can’t really support Kanna and it all goes to shit because we all know canon is a shitshow.

But anyway Touka is there to see Izuna die and she is well aware that Tobirama has just made a horrible decision driven by unacknowledged jealously and overzealous paranoia. Then Touka barely manages to save Tobirama’s pasty ass from the screaming revenge demon that she later learns was Izuna’s wife. And then Touka stands witness as Hashirama forces peace at sword point.

So Touka is just there like, “Oh for fucks sake we’re all going to die horribly.”

And, of course, Touka was right everything is horrible and everything hurts.

Only now it’s plot-twist time and Touka, who was investigating certain questionable sources about the ongoing breakdown of social order in Konoha gets killed by Zetsu in order to cause even more tension against the Uchiha in Konoha and hey guess what? Yeah, that’s right Rin remembers the creepy plant-demon thing gloating about stealing Uchiha Madara (aka the only one vaguely strong enough to combat Kaguya at that time given he had naturally manifested the Rinnegan) for his own use before Zetsu killed her in a suspiciously ambiguous manner.

Shit.

Fuck.

Four year old Nohara Rin has a vendetta and the ability to kill a grown man.

So obviously given that the Plant Demon is trying to kill off the Uchiha using shadowy assassinations and rumour mongering the Plant Demon is afraid of the Uchiha. Ergo the Uchiha are a threat to the Plant Demon otherwise it would confront the Uchiha more openly.

So.

Rin therefore needs to make super-duper ride-or-die best friends forever with at least one (1) Uchiha. And then, on the first day at the Academy, Rin runs into an absolute dork wearing Madara’s face.

Ah. Says Rin, channelling canon!Madara. That One. That’s The One I Need For My Plan To Succeed.

Cue the Rin and Obito Bonding Moment ™ that will repeat as a flashback every time their history is at any point mentioned in the narrative.

As for Obito, well… when he was Izuna he loved his Clan but then when he was reborn he read the Clan Histories from after his death and the public history of Konoha and Obito knows his Clan are a bunch of fucking traitors who stabbed his big brother in the back and that’s why Obito is both disgusted by the Uchiha and overprotective of the Clan’s reputation because Madara still loved their Clan even after they turned on him.

I may include Obito unearthing Madara’s private journals from a hidden cubby in the Naka Shrine that only Izuna would have known to look for. Just for the sake of an extra knife and also so that Obito can find proof of Zetsu’s sabotaging his brother’s mental health.

Obito is more than a little weepy and sentimental over the fact that Madara honoured Izuna’s last request to the point Madara destroyed himself and his connection to the Clan. Obito can’t blame Madara for giving in when Hashirama forced peace to try and protect the few loyal Clan members who remained. Obito decides to protect Konoha and the Uchiha because he won’t let Madara’s last wish go unfulfilled but he’s going to become the fucking Hokage and tear out all the Senju-inflicted rot infecting his Big Brother’s Dream.

Obito is openly disdainful of the Clan Elders and the only people he even vaguely respects is the Head Family. Mostly because Mikoto is descended from Izuna’s daughter and even though Izayoi married “Tobirama’s student Kagami” she was still his baby girl and Mikoto is his great-grand daughter and he loves her because she’s his family.

Mikoto, Obito, and Shisui are all descendants of Kagami and Izayoi’s kids so they’re second-third cousins. Obito spends a lot of time pondering the overlap of self-care and I-love-my-grandbabies. It’s a fun little exercise in existentialism.

In the meantime Kakashi is still a little shit-disturber of the highest order. Kanna was taught all the fun Uchiha Clan Skills as Izuna’s wife and now Kakashi has learned all the fun Hatake Clan Skills from Sakumo and the little bastard is even more terrifying than canon. Kakashi is more gender-fluid than agender the way Kanna was though which is a fun new flavour of dysphoria-through-reincarnation that I’ll probably enjoy exploring.

Now, this does mean that Kakashi starts wearing his mask before Sakumo gets scapegoated which is a minor yet still significant change from Kakashi’s canon characterization-and-motivations.

So Kakashi blitzes their way through the Academy in like, 6 months because Kakashi has negative chill and an understandably paranoid focus on keeping their dad alive this time around. The only people Kakashi respects are the Military Police and their Dad everyone else can perish. Minato is A Constant Despair because he cannot control this sassy hell child Sakumo-sempai pls tell your son to l i s t e n t o m e.

Sakumo-sempai goes “LOL nope” because Sakumo is also a troll but is better at hiding it than Kakashi is.

So Rin and Obito are BFFs then Kakashi rips through their class like ground lightning and the sparring scene happens but the kickback of Uchiha-memories manifesting as body action means the spar is a familiar dance and so Obito is like “OMG K a n n a” and cue Obito stalking Kakashi like a schoolgirl with an obsessive crush and no concept of personal boundaries.

Enough shenanigans occur to 1. make Team Minato a cohesive and functional thing instead of a train wreck, and 2. keep Sakumo alive because Kakashi recognizes their Dad’s suicidal tendencies for what they are and so they set their ninken up as watchdogs to make sure Sakumo doesn’t do anything stupid. Because Kakashi’s biggest regret is leaving Madara and Izayoi to suffer grief without them and they refuse to let that sort of despair take away anyone they care about again.

So now Team Minato is bonding, and they are friends, and they are all slowly coming to the realization that they all remember their previous lives. So they start to share information and gradually piece together where Zetsu’s influence has been applied as they try to figure out what the Plant Demon’s endgame is.

Which means that Team Minato is 100% more paranoid about mission intelligence than they were in canon and also Rin more than ready to gut the Iwa-nin who tries to kidnap her during the Kannabi Bridge Mission so that’s fun. Team Minato has also made a point system for rooting out moles, spies, and traitors to hand over to T&I.

Sarutobi had a lovely headache when the knowledge that Sakumo’s mission had been sabotaged “accidentally” got leaked. (Kakashi had given the old man more than enough time to fix the rumour mill so it’s on Sarutobi’s own head that he didn’t take action before Kakashi did.)

Also Team Chaos Gremlins Minato manages to charm Orochimaru over to their camp via one of Obito’s rage fuelled rants about dismantling the hypocritical indoctrination of the institutionalized status quo. Specifically, the fact that the Hokage is supposed to be a public service position voted on by the people who only really has complete executive power during war time. Instead of a unilateral dictator chosen by the previous Hokage’s undisguised bias and favouritism.

Also because they’re all proof of the reincarnation cycle existing. Orochimaru is living his best life especially when Team Minato trash talks the other two Sannin.

Rin is the Most Offended by Tsunade fucking off and abandoning her responsibilities. Tsunade basically inherited all of Hashirama’s worst traits without any obvious redeeming qualities to balance it out. Because, let’s be honest, the only reason Hashirama got any level of respect is because he was Over Powered to the point of ridiculousness and because Tobirama plus Mito were in charge of his public image.

Kakashi and Obito are both hyper-loyal so having Jiraiya decide to just not come back during wartime and for Tsunade to abandon her responsibilities as a healer and Clan Head has destroyed any possible respect they might have had.

Obviously Orochimaru is the best Sannin so he’s the one they’re going to make friends with. Also they drag Orochimaru back to the Hatake Clan House to commiserate with Sakumo about being the target of a Village wide smear campaign. Which strengthens both Orochimaru and Sakumo’s spirits enough to resist their Bad Endings from canon.

All of this basically allows Team Minato to have the leverage to track down Zetsu’s creeper cave and they find Madara trapped and blinded and leashed to the Gedo Mezo, and Obito nearly has a world-destroying breakdown. Rin stands guard while Obito and Kakashi have a tearful reunion with Madara and there’s a lot of dramatic apologizing and sobbing.

They all know that they can’t leave Madara here with Zetsu, but detaching him means he’s going to die. Eventually Madara makes the decision himself to break the connection because he refuses to be used as a hostage against his little brother. So Madara tells Obito where his eyes are (which means that the Ame trio are going to get kidnapped by Team Minato eventually) plus a run-down of all the subversive plots Zetsu has had a hand in, and then Madara outright smashes the statue.

Normally nothing would be able to destroy the Gedo Mezo given that it’s basically the fossilized corpse of a god but Madara is currently part of it which means that the statue’s defences don’t realize Madara is a threat. So, statue goes boom, the cave starts to collapse, and Team Minato runs away with Madara’s body so they can give him a respectful burial.

Zetsu has approximately ten thousand aneurysms in the space of one (1) second.

From here the kickback really starts to pile up because Obito now makes a habit of dropping in on newborn Uchiha to check and see if Madara’s been reborn yet. Which means that Sasuke has a really invested older cousin hanging around to take Itachi’s place when Itachi make dumb decisions.

Rin is grumpy because basically every Clan who joined Konoha had a bunch of Senju marry into their Clan so finding Hashirama’s reincarnation is basically impossible. (And then, of course, Naruto is born and Rin faceplams 1000 times because of fucking course.)

Kakashi is laughing at both of them. Right up until they take command of Team 7 and notice a hated familiar chakra under the skin of a pink haired little girl. (All three members of Team Minato nearly die laughing because Tobirama is a pink haired little girly girl heeeeee~)

Anyway aside from all the family drama Team Minato also manages to dispose of Danzo and exposes his “plot against the Hokage”, boosting Sakumo’s public image to the point he gets named as the Fourth, fixing the stigma Orochimaru faced despite being the only loyal member of the Sannin, and basically terrorizing Konoha with Political Activism.

Zetsu probably goes a bit around the bend thanks the Team Minato destroying all his hopes and dreams plans. Also they keep putting the pressure on and exposing Zetsu’s schemes and eventually that gains enough momentum that the other Villages are taking a good hard look at shit that’s going down and hey wait w h a t t h e f u c k …

Obito eventually takes over as the Fifth Hokage and tears apart the corrupt government systems like a Tasmanian Devil going through a rotting carcass because Big Brother’s Dream Will Become A Reality B E L I E V E I T !

The End. XP

#Sanjuno talks back #the memory remains #Sanjuno metafic #reincarnation AUs

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burgerpocalypse · 3 years

Text

Back 4 Blood Beta

It's not good. I don't recommend buying or playing this game. Avoid it. If you like it, you're actually wrong.

I'll be directly comparing Back 4 Blood to Left 4 Dead because it's the same development team (supposedly). I'm also in an especially unforgiving mood, so this will be an outwardly hostile discussion of this terrible product. If you think I'm just being overly negative and want the game to fail because I'm an asshole, well, yeah, I am, but this shoddy product deserves considerable ire and I won't be convinced otherwise.

Some publications and individuals are calling it good, a worthy successor to L4D. They're wrong. L4D was a charming, polished, streamlined game. B4B is passionless, janky, and complicated. It makes mistakes that L4D solved or cleverly avoided, and introduces critical issues that ruin the experience.

Game Feel

Shooting feels weak and unresponsive, slows your movement speed, and requires aim-down-sights to have any accuracy.

Basic movement is slow and plodding. Sprinting drains stamina almost instantly, and is barely faster

Melee attacks rapidly drains stamina and has dubious reach; shoving enemies provides almost no benefit unless you have a specific perk card.

Zombies (or Ridden, a terrible, thoughtless name for zombies) shumble at you like they're competing for the Jank Olympics. One zombie can drain your health bar in seconds through sheer jankitude.

Players will regularly be yeeted, and it will seem like you just experienced an unintended bug or glitch rather than a deliberate force.

You're constantly taking damage from random, unidentifiable sources.

In summary, the game feel of this particular game is woeful.

Characters and Monsters

I hate the player characters. Well, that's a lie. HG, the prepper guy, or whatever his name is, is the only one I don't hate. He doesn't say cringeworthy lines, and he has a definable personality beyond broad emotional traits or bog-standard tropes. Player animations are also jank

The Ridden, which I will reiterate are named terribly, are indistinguishable from each other, players, and the environment. The common zombies are of the same color and height as players, so you're gonna probably be shooting teammates a lot, especially when everyone's covered in blood effects. Special zombies are awfully designed, to the point that I have to complain about them for the rest of this section. They:

are unpredictable, in a bad way

have entirely too much health with easily missed weak points

do far too much damage from unreasonable distances

move faster than the player's default speed, and can charge for extended distances

often appear in multiples and crowd chokepoints

The Hocker operates like the Smoker from L4D, but can lock down multiple players at once, chunk your health from great distances, and repeatedly jump from vantage point to vantage point at random. Its name is also stupid.

The Snitcher calls more zombies if you shoot it, which isn't obvious at all until you end up shooting it and call more zombies. It's also a key mistake that the developers of L4D avoided through rigorous playtesting, which allowed them to see that a similarly designed enemy was completely unfair, resulting in it being cut from the final release. Its name is also stupid.

The big fat guy can douse you in health-draining bile from 50 meters away, is difficult to kill, and has a variant that charge you and explode. This like they took the Boomer and made it worse in uniquely awful ways, just to see if they could. I don't remember the name, but its probably stupid.

The big arm guy can thwack you for 50% of your health bar, pin you in place, is also difficult to kill, and has a variant that is even more difficult to kill. I don't remember his name either, bu its definitely stupid.

The final one I can remember is the one that sits in a flesh pod and ambushes a player that gets too close, pinning them exactly like the Hunter would. The flesh pod blends into the environment in an especially egregious way, and the enemy itself looks stupid. Its names is also probably stupid.

Difficulty

I've cut my teeth on L4D and other coop shooters. I've beaten all the official campaigns on Expert. This game is stupid hard and unforgiving to such a degree that I fully believe that the developers do not understand at all what made L4D fun.

As players lose health, they also accrue trauma, which reduces maximum HP, potentially down to 40 HP. This cannot be recovered, even after respawning at a safe room or midround, unless you find a special medicine locker, which costs copper to use.

Levels are far too long, and there is never, ever any room to breathe. Players are constantly assaulted by zombies from all angles with no sense of rhythm or dramatic tension.

Levels also have no flow. Players will feel as though they are randomly wandering with no sense that they are being led in a particular direction. In L4D, the player characters would constantly be making observations about the environment (i.e. "Up that ladder!" or "We can use X to get across"). While L4D used tooltips to point out important objects, B4B relies entirely upon them.

Players have an elaborate inventory and currency system that is confusing and unreliable. Instead of providing healing and ammo at the start of each level, players have to buy it with copper. Like, literal in-game microtransactions. Each player has a unique wallet, though any copper picked up is given to all players equally. The copper system is an unnecessary addition that serves to slow down the start of a round.

Players can hold one offensive, healing, and support item. Medkits are not given a specific item slot, but instead compete with bandages and pills for inventory space. Guns and melee weapons also have tiers and ranks that are ill-defined. I have an extensive list of gripes I could go on about with this system, but I'll list some key issues:

There are too many items of each type, and they are too plentiful in the environment to be worth spending copper on

Ammo is broken into 4 types, which can leave you with lots of ammo for a weapon type you aren't using and no ammo for the gun you're actually using

Weapon attachments and ammo upgrades do nothing but provide confusion and force you to stop and stare at a stat screen to understand what it is you're adding to your gun. You also can't transfer them between guns, so you'll eventually have to swap a lower-tier gun with great attachments for a higher-tier gun with no attachments

Some offensive items do not behave in the way you expect them to, or provide so little value that they aren't worth using

Bandages and medkits operate identically, offering no interesting decision-making opportunities

The efficacy of healing items in general is needlessly reduced by players being able to heal by killing enemies, as well as trauma reducing max HP to the point that they don't provide any value

The Legacy of Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead provided a tightly packaged experience that nearly anyone could pick up on, and has a satisfying core loop that kept me coming back for years in spite of its many obvious glaring flaws. It was not bogged down by unnecessary progression systems or overly complex mechanics.

Since Valve allowed the series to shrivel and die, there has been no refinement of the mechanics that give L4D its magic, only inferior imitations that do not understand why things were they way they were.

Warhammer: Vermintide fails by being too complex, with vast differences between player characters, and an awful gear system that locks players out of higher difficulties with an arbitrary power system and random lootboxes

PAYDAY has zero polish, an unfathomably dull progression system, uninspired characters, awful artificial difficulty, and generally wastes the player's time with crushing amounts of busy work and waiting around

Back 4 Blood could have been great, but it completely misses the point. I'm going to try and play more of it while the beta is open, since I'm a miserable masochist, but also because some small part of me still wants to like it.

I'm sorry that this was so long and uncoordinated. I also apologize if you do enjoy the game. I just hope that I was able to provide a unique perspective of some small value to someone.

Thanks for reading. Sorry there's no interesting art to look at. I only put that comically small cover image there because it made me feel slightly better.

#back 4 blood #turtle rock studios #left 4 dead #video games #review #sorry for the rant

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fymagnificentwomcn · 4 years

Note

Why do people think Kösem mistreated or was mean to Turhan and Mehmed? I've never read that anywhere in a book, but it's so famous around internet that it's ridiculous.

<DISCLAIMER> Here I need to put a small disclaimer because while answering the question, I truly decided to share some interesting bits about Kösem vs Turhan and in the end it turned into some mini-essay heh. It was definitely a really complex matter and the myth of evil old hag who snatched unlawfully power from her angelic daughter-in-law and then began persecuting her because she was not obedient enough culminating in Turhan having no choice but to kill her mom-in-law and then become best (but absolutely not interested in power) Valide ever is just... not true.<END OF DISCLAIMER>

*******

Same.

I mean, we can bet that when later the rivalry between the two ladies was in full force, they were sometimes rude to each other, but I doubt they would have done it in public for people to note and record, and even that could be filtered out. Harem was truly a closed-off space and this is why we get most of quotes by Sultanas from their letters or if they act in political capacity, like Kösem’s speech to the pashas from the Divan. And yes you can find all sort of rumours cited in books, but I haven’t seen anything like that with legitimate sources provided.

This is also why we have so many different accounts of Kösem’s assassination, often very conflicting, and sometimes even completely internally incoherent and illogical.

And for example we have an account by Derviş Abdullah, who so wanted to avod placing blame on any of the Valides, that he put all blame of Süleyman Agha going from one Valide to another, with each telling lies about the other to incite them to act against each other. But why would the agha want to create showdown between two sultanas? In this case he was an easy scapegoat because he was present as the participant in brutal treatment of Kösem in most accounts. And both Sultanas surely actively participated in the conflict.

As I said, Turhan was very good at propaganda. She really put a lot of focus to keep a good image, especially an image as a lady who was not so much involved in politics and doing it legally, so she placed far more attention to make it seem like Mehmed was ruling, not her, during her regency. She also relied more on statesmen’s advice than Kösem because she was less experienced, and, as Halil İnalcık puts it, less talented than her mother-in-law. And when she gave her power to Köprülü (who was however her man through and through) she created that image of a woman giving up her power willingly. Sakaoğlu states plainly that those historians who criticised Kösem so much were exactly the ones who praised Turhan a lot and stresses how such historians desribed Turhan as having “no political aspirations” as opposed to her mother-in-law. “No political aspirations immediately meant “charitable lady with golden heart, religious and loved by all”. Turhan continued to create her image even when Köprülü began taking radical actions to maintain order:

The year 1656 is, nevertheless, an appropriate date at which to conclude a study of the political role of dynastic women in this period, for henceforth the emphasis in Turhan Sultan’s role as valide sultan would be altered. As her overt political involvement lessened, her ceremonial and philanthropic roles increased considerably. Indeed, the appointment of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha seems to have initiated a period of intense ceremonial aggrandizement of the dynasty. It was shortly after his appointment that Turhan undertook the construction of the Çanakkale fortresses and her great mosque—both reportedly at the grand vezir’s urging. The elaborate royal progresses between Edirne and Istanbul and to Bursa and other areas near the capital also date from this period. Mehmed IV, who in the forty-five years of his reign displayed little interest in the government of his empire, nevertheless campaigned a number of times as a figurehead ghazi under Köprülü Mehmed Pasha’s successors. It may be that these royal rituals were planned by Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, or Turhan Sultan, or both, in order to divert attention from continuing crises and the severe and bloody solutions imposed by the grand vezir. With political power and military leadership delegated to the grand vezir, the most useful function that the sovereign might perform was to furnish visible symbols of majesty and piety to maintain the subjects’ loyalty and sense of community.

Source: Leslie Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire

Peirce also said that Turhan was a sultana who was very concerned with “custom and propriety”.

Sakaoğlu also concludes his citation of Evliya Çelebi’’s account mentioning [short summary & parapharase of that account by me:] how Turhan and Meleki found a way to kill Kösem and then they killed many other people after that and then mentioning also alleged mismanagement by both that brought about Cinar incidents in with the following comment: “This historical account tells us that she [Turhan] had a character far removed from some of her descriptions on other sources and the only ting that saved her from a fate worse than Kösem Sultan’s was luck and her son”. Sakaoğlu also wrote a whole article on how male historians tried to villify the most powerful woman in Ottoman history entitled precisely that (Turkish title of the article: Erkek tarihçiler Osmanlı tarihinin en güçlü kadınını nasıl kurban etti? How did male historians villify the most powerful woman in Ottoman history?)

Peirce mentions about Meleki that:.

Kösem was murdered in a palace coup led by Turhan’s chief black eunuch. Meleki became the new valide sultan’s loyal and favored retainer. She was eventually manumitted and married to Şaban Khalife, a former page in the palace training school. The couple established residence in Istanbul, where, as a team, they were ideally suited to act as channels of information and intercessors on behalf of individuals with petitions for the palace. Şaban received male petitioners, Meleki female petitioners; Şaban exploited contacts he had formed while serving within the palace, while Meleki exploited her relationship with Turhan Sultan. The political influence of the couple grew to such a point that they lost their lives in 1656 when troops stationed in Istanbul rebelled against alleged abuses in government.

Source: Leslie Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire

Curiously, some people truly believe in some myth it all immediately became good after Kösem was killed. Evliya’s account is not the only one actually that mentions Meleki and Turhan being good friends even during Kösem’s lifetime, so maybe the “betrayal” wasn’t actually betrayal even if Meleki was formally Kösem’s slave/servant. Maybe the story of Meleki warning Turhan was invented. We will never know.

Turhan was truly careful to cut herself from controversial decisions and whatever the Grand Vizier was doing, but as Leslie Peirce puts it, she undoubtedly had influence on Köprülü and if she hadn’t liked what he was doing, she would have definitely had a way to end it.

Turhan saw what problems her mother-in-law encountered, so was careful to hide her interest in politics (which again does not mean she had none). But when she gave up power it was a necessity - chaos persisted and persisted after Kösem’s death, there was no Grand Vizier who could stay for longer, and last rebellion was bloody and very dangerous to both Turhan and her son. Turhan realised she would not be able to handle it and in the end made a correct decision because that was a necessary step at that point.

According to Naima, nothing came of these efforts because no one was strong enough to enforce the necessary reforms; the would-be reformer Tarhuncu was brought down by the discontent of influential persons injured by his attempts to economize.The year-and-a-half-long grand vezirate of Derviş Mehmed Pasha in 1653 and 1654 was a respite of relative solvency and harmony, but after his death matters once again began to deteriorate. The integrity of the throne was increasingly threatened both internally by rebellious pashas and externally by Venetian advances in the war over the island of Crete, as well as by chronic fiscal shortages now exacerbated by the costs of mounting campaigns against these internal and external enemies. A serious uprising of the troops in March 1656 that resulted in the execution of many palace officials demonstrated the urgent need for a political solution. It was found six months later when Turhan Sultan appointed the elderly Köprülü Mehmed Pasha grand vezir.

Source: Leslie Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire

Sakaoğlu descirbes this event in the following word “the financial and political management were responsibilities that Turhan Sultan and her son Mehmed IV could no longer attempt to rescue and operate, so they handed over the management to Köprülü Mehmed Pasha and new era began for the Ottoman Empire”.

Which does not mean Kösem ruling in her own right was a bad decision either - Kösem was more talented in state matters and she knew she could handle stuff, especially during her second regency when she also had a lot of experience. Turhan realising she could not handle it and withdrawing also spoke well of her sense of responsibility, even though she was not as gifted in politics as Kösem.

Thus said, while Turhan did not have such gift for state matters, she was truly skilled in the act of PR & ceremony, which truly helped her a lot during her career and after her death.

Since she later skillfully cut herself off from blame concerning what was happening in politics, there was still one huge stain on her reputation, namely the way she took power from her mother-in-law.

Contemporary Ottoman chroniclers did not welcome the news of Kösem Sultan’s death and recorded it as an injustice committed against a woman of great accomplishments and stature, and as a harbinger of greater social disorder. The manner in which the older valide was disposed of and the subsequent chaos in the palace was recalled during the reign of Mehmed IV as a time of upheaval. Bobovi, so taken by the event, was able to recall more than a decade later the part of the palace where the old valide had been removed from her quarters for the last time.

Source: Lucienne Thys-Senocak, Ottoman Women Builders: The Architectural Patronage of Hadice Turhan Sultan

Murder of Valide Sultan was unheard of in Ottoman history. And what was a better way to justify it then by assassination attempt on the padişah himself? But how to explain why Kösem, known for her prudence and careful calculation, would have attempted such a risky move for no reason? Wouldn’t it have meant that Turhan, the lady of pure characters with no political aspirations, actually did desire power and wanted to take her from her mother-in-law?

Peirce comments that:

The bloodiest contest between competing mothers—the murder in 1651 of the formidable queen mother Kösem by the party of her daughter-in-law Turhan, who was impatient to take power—was reminiscent of past rebellions of princes against aging sultan fathers.

We know little about their relations when Turhan was just a haseki - we only know about conflicts between Turhan and Ibrahim. We similarly know next to nothing about relations between Kösem and Ibrahim’s concubines - the person she was definitely in conflict with was Şekerpare aka one of the people who encouraged Ibrahim’s spending and supported corruption in his court (do not confuse her with his consort Şivekar, historically they were two separate people, show put them together because of limited screentime). There are however some mentions of her, similarly like in the show, backing up Turhan in her conflict with Zarife. Peirce mentions Kösem groomed Turhan in the Imperial Harem and one of her articles. This is a mention of Kösem backing up Turhan in the Zarife conflict from Sakaoglu’s Famous Ottoman Women, though of course this whole Padre Ottomano story with illegitimate prince has so many versions and legends surrounding it and again this account sounds sensationalised in some details like Turhan seeing them in bed or Zarife being pregnant with Ibrahim’s child only then, though we know such situation with throwing Mehmed after a quarrel did take place.

Turhan was definitely the person who benefitted most from Ibrahim’s deposition - from relative obscurity she entered big politics as Valide Sultan. While Kösem got the job of a regent, her position was actually not as stable as woman with her own son - it all depended on statesmen and their whims. She was offered a job due to her experience as opposed to really young Turhan (she was only around twenty two) and as person who had already stabilised Empire when it had been on the brink after Osman’s deposition and Mustafa’s disastrous reign. It was not legally normalised in the Ottoman Empire for a mother to be automatically regent - in the past it was often Grand Vizier and when Süleyman left for campaigns, he always appointed his viziers and later his sons as his regents, not his mother or Hürrem. Mehmed III was the first one to appoint Safiye as regent when he was on campaign to Hungary. Later Halime and Handan were appropriately co-regent and regent de facto, but they did not have the naib-i-sultanat title like Kösem and later Turhan.

Judge Abdülaziz Efendi commented on this unprecedented occurrence in the following words:

It being an ancient custom that upon the accession of a new sultan the mother of the previous sultan remove to the Old Palace and thus give up her honored office, the elder valide requested permission to retire to a life of seclusion. But because the loving mother of the [new] sultan was still young and truly ignorant of the state of the world, it was thought that if she were in control of the government, there would result the possibility of harm to the welfare of the state. Therefore the elder valide was reappointed for a while longer to the duty of training and guardianship, and it was considered appropriate to renew the assignment of crown lands to the valide sultan.

Of course I can bet neither Kösem wanted to go to Old Palace nor Turhan was happy about not becoming regent, but it obviously had to look like this officially :) Peirce comments here that truly the position of Valide Sultan had become institutionalised by then for Abdülaziz to put it in these words because he was a well-known as opponent of Kösem.

After quoting the above,Thys-Senocak goes on to say:

By the time that Turhan Sultan was to take up the position of valide, Kösem Sultan was in her sixties, and she had been a valide since 1623, close to three decades. Upon the death of her husband, Sultan Ahmed I, she had been removed to the Old Palace for six years until her son Murad IV succeeded to the throne in 1623 and she returned to the Topkapı. When Murad died, she continued to serve as a valide for her son İbrahim. During these years Kösem had established a solid network of alliances within the court and among the Janissaries, who would support her if her power was threatened. In the unstable times that faced the Ottoman administration Kösem’s seniority and guidance were seen as essential by many in the palace. Her authority was not, however, welcomed by Turhan, who saw her place in the harem administration usurped by her mother-in-law.

Turhan was deprived neither her Valide Sultan title NOR status. Kumrular mentions she was nowhere near as powerless as some try to portray her. There is even evidence from Spanish ambassadors she participated in foreign politics, e.g. that she complained about ambassador Allegretti sent by Spain .She also moved to Kösem’s old Valide chambers.

Kösem’s rank as “Big Valide” was a new one, created especially to allow her to be regent. It was the only time this title was used in the Ottoman Empire.

Also the new Grand Vizier, Sofu Mehmed Pasha, was against the appointment of Kösem as a new regent because he hoped to get the position himself and as Peirce says also saw himself as “temporary ruler”. He was supported by Abdülaziz Efendi, and these two were the two statesmen Kosem addressed particularly in her famous speech because she was well aware they plotted against her together. Swedish ambassador Ralamb said the following about two first years after Ibrahim’s death: “the state experienced two good years. The valide sultan, an intelligent and smart person, ruled well and peacefully thanks to her natural talents and much experience”.

It is generally assumed by historians who assessed the whole conflict, like Kumrular or Peirce, that Turhan was the one who initiated the rivalry. From the start, she tried to undermine Kösem’s rule, thus also making it difficult for her to stabilise Empire and Kösem was actually doing a good job with it. Her first decision was to remove corrupt harem aghas, who participated in mismanagement and mayhem of Ibrahim’s reign, but Turhan used this opportunity to lure them to her side and made them her supporters, which as Valide Sultan was not a difficult task. In her speech dimissing the aghas according to the account by Derviş Abdullah, Kösem apparently accused them of having schemed against her which resulted in her exile and then said that thanks to their corrupting influence “light of my eyes, Sultan Ibrahim, became a martyr, crying loudly. Do you intend to bring similar fate to Sultan Mehmed?”

Turhan also worked hard to lure as many statesmen as possible to her side by showing herself as morally superior to her mother-in-law, which again was quite easy considering she was up against a woman with so many years of experience on political scene. She especially used Ibrahim’s deposition for this purpose. According to Rycaut, she sent letters to statesmen describing herself as poor grieving widow with an orphan who hopes to see those responsible for his father’s death punished.. obviously she meant Kösem among them. She often incited anger following Ibrahim’s deposition and rebellions, which again made it difficult to restore peace after Ibrahim’s reign. And please - relations between her and Ibrahim were so bad & she was so sidelined by him during his reign compared to his other women, it is hard to believe she was truly in any grief. Sakaoğlu mentions three “strikes of luck” for her - Ibrahim’s death, Kösem’s death and surviving Cinar incidents of 1656). Rycaut ends his description of the “throwing Mehmed” incident with the following words: “All these matters served for farther fuel to nourish the implacable Spirit of the Queen [Turhan]”.

This tactic was also shown in the show – after pushing for Ibrahim’s death during the coup&making it bloody, she continued to incite riots to force the Şeyhülislam and others to demand Ibrahim’s execution, then made Mehmed sign his dad’s death order. For once, she seemed to acknowledge Kösem’s rank and didn’t do anything behind her back because she was well aware that Kösem, a seasoned politician, would realise that there was no way Ibrahim could survive this and decide to carry out the sentence herself being justifiably scared what might happen if he got into Turhan’s and her supporters’ hands or other angry people as she saw what had happened to Osman. Then Turhan could carefully remove herself from the scene and depict Kösem as Ibrahim’s murderer, while conveniently forgetting everything she had done from first episode she was in to have him dethroned and killed (when she told Haçı: “How any padisahs have you killed?” GIRL….) Plus, she knew the whole situation of Kösem carrying out the execution would fuck up Kösem mentally and make her an easier opponent for further fight...After all, following Ibrahim’s death she happily announced “Ibrahim is dead, now time for Kösem”.

Shortly before Kösem’s assassination there was still rebellion of sipahis incited by Turhan. Rycaut mentions she wrote to them about her husband’s death and how those who had caused it (implied Kösem and janissaries) disrespected her son’s authority and would soon bring similar end to sipahis and eradicate them forever. The rebels also mentioned Ibrahim’s name & demanded his killers punished during these riots in 1651 (!).

What happened next, we will never know for sure. Kösem was definitely a woman of action&it’s likely she had to take into account steps like dethroning Mehmed or getting rid of Turhan. Apparently, Turhan was afraid about Süleyman being put in Mehmed’s place for some time. What we know for sure she planned for eliminating four of Turhan’s allies.

Did she try to kill Mehmed? We will never know, but it spreading such rumours would definitely make it easier for Turhan to rally supporters.

Another example of Turhan’s strategic PR – she requested a fetva for Kösem’s execution, but after Kösem’s death dismissed the judge to cut off herself from his person and this decision&also to prevent punishment of people involved in the matter. Still, GV who carried out purges among Kösem’s allies was later dismissed for that and it’s hard to imagine Turhan had not been involved in the original decision for these purges. There is one account by Rycaut describing Turhan requesting fetva for Kösem’s execution in which the mufti was scared to make this sort of decision, while Turhan arranged a mob to come and demand justice “for their padisah”, and simultaneously Turhan hid behind a curtain to say to leave the woman (Kösem) in peace for the sake of the padişah her son and to stop slandering his grandmother’s name&involve the padisah in such matters The account goes to kinda sensationalised picture that there was a woman in crowd that Turhan pointed out as being Kösem and encouraged the mob to punish her, not the padisah’s mother, and then fell to her knees crying in front of her son, with Mehmed drying her tears with handkerchief, but this sounds definitely like sensationalised account to make the story more dramatic such as Rycaut’s mentions that Kösem was 80-year-old toothless old lady to stress her age (she was 60, chill)

Turhan was a very sly and PR-based sultana.

I’ve seen a theory (?) that Kösem was rude to Mehmed and Turhan because of her sassy speech to pashas (?). Firstly, one of the people to whom the speech was addressed earlier, Abdülaziz Efendi, had insulted MEHMED when during a Divan meeting Mehmed did attend (Kösem was there with him to instruct him, just as Turhan later) replied to Mehmed asking him about bribery among pashas: ’My dear, who taught you this?” Of course what they wanted was to express displeasure that in fact this woman was ruling them, not a padişah. And Kösem did mention the slight given to her grandson. After the “I’ve seen reigns” part the usually skipped later part is “Sometimes they attempt to kill me. When certain imperial commands have been issued, they have said [to the sultan], ‘my dear, who taught you to say these things?’ Such patronizing behavior towards sultans is impermissible! And what if the sultan is instructed?” [translation taken from Peirce]. Moreover, the same people were plotting against her and also tried to have her killed and she was very well aware of that, which is why she kept mentioning her death. The speech is not only sass, as Kumrular points out, Kösem also mentions that she is aware death might be near and is not scared of it and she’s also aware everything will go on following her death, no matter how important she was.

Kösem following Ibrahim’s death was shaken and just as shown in the show in fragile mental state that she did not resemble her old self in certain aspects – she was definitely more reliant on her trusted group of people mostly consisting of janissaries instead of co-operating closely with everyone unlike during her first regency (which was pointed out as serious mistake by Naima) and was more quarrelsome than ealier, but damn those people truly used her weaker mental condition for their purpose – like when she was crying in her room following Ibrahim’s execution, Abdülaziz Efendi (yes this bitch again) came to her and told her it was what she had been praying for in response to her “Whose curses and bad wishes reached him [Ibrahim]?”, which shook her mentally very much (Abdülaziz Efendi himself described this incident, so it’s hard to doubt its occurrence).

And in the end, while assessing the Kösem/Turhan conflict we must also take into account that this elderly woman who had been through a lot was automatically at disadvantage against young, seemingly innocent rising star, who in the end emerged as victor. And as Derviş Abdullah put it when talking about the matter “it’s easy to put all sort of blame on the deceased” (he used it when discussing all sorts of rumours & blame being assigned to Kösem following her death).

- Joanna

#turhan hatice sultan #turhan sultan #kosem sultan #kösem sultan #ottoman history #ottoman empire #answered #Anonymous #history #muhteşem yüzyıl kösem #historicalquotes

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hot-mess-choices · 4 years

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Fixing The Nanny Affair

I’ve had it with this book. I’m not against “naughty” romance novels, but please do them right. I beg you.

This stuff has been in my brain for a while now so this will be long and messy.

First up: this isn’t a single LI book anymore. That’s a train wreck of a concept for an app that’s basically an overpriced choose-your-own-adventure book.

Who would the LIs be?

Starting with the obvious: Sam, who will remain gender customisable as the “main LI”

Next is Robin (duh) I’m on the fence regarding their gender but I’d stick with the “whatever gender Sam is” thing.

Then I’d suggest two entirely new characters:

First addition: An intern at Dalton Enterprise (how this is relevant will follow later on), I’d prefer this character to be female (definitely not to make an all wlw book possible *cough*) but a male intern would also be okay I guess. (Alternatively whichever gender is opposite of the MC)

And 2. *drumroll please* Sam’s wife who’s not dead at all in this new and improved version. ‘Cause that’s how you write about an actual affair Pixleberry, you cowards! I’m so sick of authors using the dead spouse trope without doing anything with it. She deserves to be in this story. However she’d be a “surprise” late entry as it’s important to the story to build tensions.

Who’s the MC

The MC, gender customisable of course, is still a recent graduate with a degree in chemistry and a passion for science. They do not, however, go to Dalton Enterprise to get a Job as a Nanny, no, they are on their way to interview for an illustrious internship!

The Story

The story starts of the same. MC has a sexy dream about their (hopefully) new boss, however you get dialogue options to feel very weirded out by that. Not only is that your future boss, they are also happily married as the gossip magazine you browsed the night before suggests. Sam and their wife are a business power couple (think the Beckhams or BrAngelina rip) and get an insane amount of media coverage.

It comes to MCs attention that they’ve overslept and rush to Dalton Enterprise. A receptionist tell them that they are too late and the position is already taken. Enter Sam and Intern LI who worships the ground Sam walks on and thanks them profoundly for this once in a lifetime opportunity. Sam notices MC and asks if they are the no show, Intern LI takes a light jab at their tardiness; you get the option to flirt with them. (Intern LI is basically something like Jaylen from Platinum or Aurora from OH, but done right and a LI. Rivals to lovers? We love to see it!) Sam asks if MC is still interested in an interview because they might have a position in mind for them.

The interview is beyond weird with Sam asking for the MC’s thoughts on children, about their living situation etc. Eventually you get to call them out on that and they confess that they only have company funds for one intern and even though the MCs application was a standout and their personal favourite, they can’t hire them. That’s where they propose a compromise: MC becomes their Nanny, as they are in need of one due to recent changes in their personal life, and they get to pay them out of their own pocket. The MC gets the opportunity to work at Dalton Enterprise on the days she doesn’t have to watch the kids.

As you accept you wonder why that is, but don’t dare to question them further as you don’t want to seem ungrateful. That night you come by the apartment to meet the boys, who in this version are a bit more weary of you, but you bond over a chemistry experiment. After they are put to bed you get to the office scene with Sam. You ask when you’ll meet their wife and that’s where you find out what’s really going on here. Sam and their wife are having troubles, severe enough that she packed up and moved out a few months ago. They are trying to work things out but it looks bad. Not only is their personal life affected by this, their relationship is a huge part of their respective public image and even just saying the word divorce out loud makes them see Dalton’s numbers drop into the red. They still keep up appearances, stayed on good terms for the twins but this is just a partnership of convenience by this point and secretly they’re both sick of it. They got married straight out of college, had the twins by their mid-twenties and are approaching their tenth wedding anniversary, the spark’s gone and they crave something new and exciting but are too scared to move on from the known.

Character Arcs

1. Sam: They are a huge science nerd at heart, they never held big business ambitions and are mostly in it to help improve people’s quality of life. If it were up to them they’d slave away in a lab, happily isolated from the stress of public relations. Years of training went into their suave persona, but deep down they are still an insecure dork. Sam is struggling to adapt to the changes in their life and can’t bring themselves to take that leap of faith and start a new chapter. Their arc would include cutting back at work and focusing on the things they’re passionate about like lab work and spending more time with the twins. With a romanced MC their story would be loaded with tensions of Sam clinging to the past. MC feels like the unfavourable side-piece as long as Sam keeps the facade of their marriage up and the constant threat of their relationship becoming public lingers over everything. In addition there’s the question of Sam’s true motives. Is this just a convenient rebound or more?

2. The Twins: Mason and Mickey have a hard time dealing with their parents’ separation. Their pranks are more channelled into “parent trapping” them into getting back together. They don’t really understand their parents separation of public and private life and are mostly confused by how hot and cold they are with each other. After their initial scepticism towards MC they see them as a confidant with their problems. MC gets to champion for the twins needs and force Sam and their wife to see how much their behaviour is hurting their kids.

3. Robin: Robin’s been living in Sam’s shadow for all their life and they are so sick of it. Everything they have feels like a constant fight, every snippet of appreciation or recognition is earned through blood, sweat and tears and still not good enough to measure up to their older sibling. They built this careful ‘I don’t care’ façade and have kept it up for all their life. That is until they meet MC. They bond pretty quickly over their struggles to reach unreachable expectations and find a close confidante in one another. Depending on the players choices this will be a friendship or a romance. As Sam’s arc comes to a close with them cutting back at work Robin finally gets to step up and do what they always wanted. They are quick-witted, extroverted, business savvy and well connected. Unrecognised by their father they’ve been the better candidate for the position Sam was in all along.

4. Intern LI: From the get go they aren’t a big fan of the MC. In their eyes, they’ve worked for all the life to get where they are now and feel like the MC was just handed their position. MC and Intern are aware that they are basically two people working a one-person job and are both trying to be the best at it. You get the option to play into this rivalry or make it a team effort. Getting closer you find out that your background isn’t so different after all and that it’s silly to try and hold the other one back. Their love language is still very teasing and snippy but never without an affectionate smile and rare but genuine compliments will come later in the friendship/relationship. A big setback is when they find out that you are living with Sam and they far that that’s an inevitable unfair advantage for you, which it is, but they learn to trust their abilities more than others connections.

5. Sam’s Wife: You’ll first meet her maybe five or six chapters in. Up until then she’s build up to be this perfect, idealised, flawless being. She’s supposedly fearless, fought to be in the position she’s in now, a self-made woman who turns everything she touches into pure gold. As you meet her you are more than intimidated but she’s just pleasant to be around! A ray of sunshine, positive to the bone. You get the option to ask about her and Sam and she sadly has to admit that sometimes people just fall out of love. She tells MC that she needs Sam to move on, so she can move on and nudges them into their direction. Her romance heavily focuses on her fear of leaving Sam behind in her progress but she can’t help her feeling. Her arc in general focuses on recognising Sam and herself as individuals and not two parts of a whole.

This is crazy long already, but just some major events the story would cover:

A company picnic

The ten-year wedding anniversary

A Dalton Enterprise charity gala

Telling Sam’s parents about their future

Insides on the work at Dalton

Time with the twins

Sorry for the long post, thanks for reading this far!

#playchoices #choices #choices stories you play #The Nanny Affair #choices tna #tna

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rynhaswritersblock · 4 years

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the benefits of fake dating | p.p.

summary: although incredibly annoying, flash thompson’s arrogance was just what you and peter needed.

warnings: some cussing, flash being an idiot, and 5K WORDS I POPPED OFF SO HARD

+ + +

"Flash, I don't know how you got into this school with that pea-sized, misogynistic brain of yours, but somehow it still leads you to think that you telling me how I feel is attractive. Just fuck off, please," you sigh, shutting your locker with a bang.

"Alright, for now," the boy says, smug smirk on his face. "although I know you're just denying your undying love for me. I'll wait."

Your eyebrows furrow. "Did you not hear a single word I just said?"

"Nope," a new voice pops in and you turn to see Peter, words and expression monotonous as he stares at Flash.

"Aw, and the protector swoops in to save the day. Aren't you two a cute couple?"

"Oh-" the two of you blurt at the same time.

"We're not-"

"a couple," Peter finishes for you, roses blooming on you guys' cheeks.

"It's the only explanation for little Y/N's 'disinterest'. See you later, babe," Flash nods, walking off with a wink that only bewilders you more. You and Peter look at each other.

"Did he just call me babe?"

"Apparently," Peter shrugs.

Peter should be in theatre considering the acting he does around you. It enrages him to see such a jackass bother you constantly, and the pet names only make him even angrier. If it wouldn't ruin his hero image, he'd totally wipe Flash out during one of his patrols.

"I swear, that kid makes me question things I shouldn't have to even worry about. For example, why isn't part of the requirements for getting into this school common sense?" you ask, shaking your head.

"No clue," Peter sighs. "Sorry to cut this off, but I gotta go to-"

"Physics now, yup. See you later, shithead." you nod, shoving him the other way, laughing as he almost crashes into the cheerleaders.

You resume your way to AP Calc, letting your mind inevitably fall back into your conversation with Flash. Every freaking time Peter steps in, he immediately calls him your boyfriend. But, honestly, the thought of that didn't sound too bad.

+ + +

"MJ, you're not helping."

"All I'm saying is: you tell Flash he's your boyfriend, he leaves you alone. In addition, dating Parker doesn't seem so bad, especially to you, right?"

"MJ!" you groan, falling back onto the pillows of your bed. "It's fake dating. It's not like we'd..."

You suck in a breath.

"It's not like we'd actually date."

"Yeah," she scoffs, "tell that to the prolonged hesitation in the middle of that sentence."

Goosebumps ran across your skin at the gust of cool midnight air that rushed through your window, but you didn't bother close it. You were too comfortable.

"Whatever, MJ. I'm just saying, if Flash and the rest of the school thought we were dating, not only would that jackass leave us alone, but everyone else would. And maybe even Tony and the rest of the team."

And it was at that point that Peter, donned in his Spider Suit, landed on your fire escape. You didn't notice though, too preoccupied in your conversation with MJ to change your focus. He peeked through the window, the words "fake dating" immediately making him spin around against the brick wall, telling Karen to project your conversation to him.

"Imagine having the Avengers ship you with your partner in crime. Couldn't be me."

"MJ," you groan, "It's not like they actually think Peter and I like each other."

The boy's eyes widen.

"They just saw the opportunity and took it. We're each other's age and work well together. Seems like an easy target to me. Plus, they were probably getting tired of making fun of Nat and Bruce," you explain.

A small pain rips through Peter's heart. Even though he didn't act like it, he loved the way everyone acted like they were dating. It made him feel like it was real.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself to get you to believe it, Y/N. But seriously, I don't see anything bad coming out of a fake relationship with Peter Parker," MJ states. You can practically see her shrugging smugly right now.

"Well," you say, firing up, "something bad that could come out of a fake relationship with Peter Parker-"

The poor boy outside, already looking stupid and stalker-ish, becomes even more flustered.

"- is that I could lose control of the feelings I already have, MJ. Do you realize how much that would mess up our friendship?"

Your words sting like icy-hot. On one hand, it sucks to Peter that you sound totally opposed to a relationship with him, but on the other hand, he's now 99% sure that you like him too.

He couldn't bare standing there any more. He swung home, all-consumed by his thoughts.

It would be a long night for Peter Parker.

+ + +

The bags underneath Peter's eyes were enough of an example of his insomnia last night. As if his brain didn't already love to overthink, the conversation he eavesdropped last night was enough to send him into overdrive, going over possibilities, how the two of you'd act, and just the very concept of fake dating itself.

Little did he notice, you shared the same look of under-eye bags (which you failed to cover with concealer), kept up by the same conversation.

The two of you were, obliviously, on the same page. You both thought that it was a pretty smart solution to the dilemma, but both were terrified of confrontation.

For being Avengers, the two of you sure were cowards when it came to love.

The school day passed quickly and slowly at the same time, the two of you fighting to stay awake as your history teacher rambled on and on about the Sokovia Accords. It was a Thursday, so the two of you kept your weekly plans to hangout at Peter's after school to study and just hangout. Needless to say, you two almost failed to miss your stop on the subway due to your sleep deprivation.

You enter the apartment, immediately greeted by May.

"Hi, you two," she smiles, grabbing her keys off the counter and swinging her purse over her shoulder as she talks. "I have a shift in a few minutes, so you'll be on your own, but I trust you."

"Thanks," you smile.

"Of cour-" she frowns. "Y/N, did you sleep at all last night?"

You feel the blood rush to your cheeks and cringe. "What? Oh, yeah, I did, I'm just... stressed, is all."

"Okay.." she eyes you, half-playful, half-serious.

"She's fine, May," Peter nods, which eventually eases the woman.

"Okay, fine. Don't keep her here too long, Peter, you both need some rest."

You give him a look and the two of you say goodbye to her before you go to his room. You eye him closely.

"Peter!"

He jumps. "Goodness, what?"

"Why do you have bags under your eyes?" you furrow your brows.

"I should be asking you the same thing," he huffs.

His attitude catches you off guard. "I asked first," you retort.

"Okay, okay, fine. I couldn't sleep."

Well, that was slightly underwhelming. "Why not?"

"I was... thinking about stuff," Peter shrugs. "not that big a deal."

"What stuff?"

A sigh of exhaustion and desperation falls from his lips as he shuffles through his bag, not looking for anything in particular, but rather a distraction. You clear your throat and hear his breath hitch.

"Do you want to date?"

Whoa there.

...

What the fuck?

The breath catches in your throat before your voices finally regains itself, a bit louder than you meant it to be. "What?!"

"No-" he sputters, eyes wide, "Like, fake date."

By some force of nature, his correction of fake dating surprises you more than just straight-up asking you to date him. Your mind becomes invaded by thoughts; questions about how he thought of that and oh shoot did he hear me last night? You sit down on his bed.

Silence fills the room that sends Peter into a thought spiral similar to your own, just about to make him break into a nervous sweat before you pipe up.

"Did you hear me last night?"

His chocolate eyes widen.

"You heard my call with MJ, didn't you?"

"How.. how would I even do that?" he stutters, rubbing the back of his neck with the hint of a crooked smile. You give him a look and he sighs. "Okay... maybe when I was on my way home from patrol I stopped on your fire escape, and maybe when I was about to come in through the window I heard you say my name, and just maybe that made me hide and listen to the rest of your conversation. And maybe I got Karen to hack into the call so I could hear it."

You shoot up from his bed excitedly, "Gotcha!"

"Whatever," he jumps back, startled, but with a smile.

You raise an eyebrow at him and plop back down on the bed, letting your back fall against the mattress. Peter marvels at how your hair is sprawled across the mattress before he, too, lays down next to you with a thud, making you laugh.

"So, fake dating, huh?" you tease.

"You're the one who came up with the idea in the first place!" he scoffs. A huff falls from your lips and Peter looks over at you. "Do you actually wanna do this?"

You shift your head to look at him. You feel that familiar feeling of the tingling in your stomach; the butterflies fluttering, the fireworks going off. Still, you hide it. "Eh, why not?"

The two of you sit up on the bed, legs criss-crossed and your foreheads less than a foot apart. Words began to fill the air as the two of you devised an intricate plan to fool everyone- well, except for MJ. And maybe May.

You came up with a set of rules:

1. No exposing yourselves to the public (duh) 2. Make it seem AUTHENTIC (hand-holding, nick-names, kisses on the cheek) 3. Go to and from school together 4. ONLY kiss on the lips if put under pressure and make it QUICK! 5. Love letters (????)

These were all scribbled on a scrap piece of paper from your journal, donned in your messy yet legible handwriting.

The whole process of coming up with this was a bit weird for the two of you. On one hand, you were super awkward with romance; your dream relationship was one where you could make fun of each other and laugh at rom-coms. On the other hand, as much as he hated to admit it, Peter Parker was a hopeless romantic. He wanted to be able to show you off and make you smile. Hence, rule #5.

He'd seen Instagram posts with clips of To All The Boys I've Loved Before. And, although he knew that movie didn't make sense to you, he found the idea of writing you love letters every day an incredibly good tactic to get you to fall in love with him.

Because, let's be honest, a huge reason that he was doing this was in hopes that just maybe the two of you would actually date. For real.

Little did he know, you felt the exact same way.

With a sigh, you folded up the scrap paper and handed it to him, getting a puzzled look in return.

"What?" you ask. "If anything, you're the one who's gonna mess up about this."

He perks up, an offended look painted on his face. "How would I possibly do that?"

"I don't know, you'd probably accidentally let it slip that this isn't real-"

Ouch.

"- or go too far with it. I've seen the look in your eyes whenever we watch rom-coms, Petey." you raise an eyebrow.

Jeez. Not only did you hit him with the already incredibly enforced friendzone (again), but you called him out for his love of rom-coms and called him Petey, a nickname that pulled at his heartstrings every time.

Guess he'd be hearing that name a lot more now.

He scoffs and shakes his head. "Whatever."

The paper crinkles as he unfolds it, scanning over the list one more time.

2. Make it seem AUTHENTIC

Hmm.

"Y/N?"

You hum.

"How are we gonna make it seem authentic if you can't even hear the word 'babe' without making a face?" he asks.

"Yeah, that's a good question. Maybe we should... practice?"

As soon as the words leave your mouth, you cringe. A crooked, smug grin tugs at Peter's lips and you scold him, only getting a boyish laugh in return before he pounces onto you, teasing you with lovey-dovey words and tickling you.

"PETER I WILL NOT HESITATE TO SEND A POWER BLAST RIGHT INTO YOUR CHEST RIGHT NOW!"

Your words make him freeze and he hovers above you, chocolate curls hanging over his forehead as the two of you pant, slight smiles on your lips. You raise a brow.

There go the butterflies again.

Peter's eyes light up and he plops down beside you, beginning to wrap his arms around you. You slap his wrist.

"What?" he asks accusingly.

"I should be the one asking that! What do you think you're doing?" you question, slightly bewildered.

"Jeez, Y/N, I'm trying to cuddle with you."

His blunt words practically knock the air out of your lungs, but you and your stubbornness refuse to let that happen. You relax slightly at way his eyes give you a look of "just let me do this" and you give him a small sigh and nod of approval.

Peter tries to hide his happiness and content as he turns onto his side, turning you with him. His arms wrap around your waist gently and pull your back to his stomach, lacing your fingers together.

As much as you hated to admit it, this was nice.

And it was especially nice when you felt him bury his face in the crook of your neck, letting out a relaxed sigh.

A few minutes pass and you lay there, eyelids getting heavier by the second.

"Pete?"

He hums.

"Are we supposed to fall asleep?"

He shifts, opening his eyes drearily. "Yeah, that's kinda the point."

"Alright, dumbass, I was just checking," you say with a smile, pausing for a moment. "Okay, my turn."

Peter furrows his brows at your words before he feels you shift in his arms, turning to face him and settling into his chest. He lets out a soft hum that makes you scrunch your face with a smile, feeling him pull you closer and entangle his legs with yours.

So, who's the one that made Peter Parker a god at cuddling?

You ignore your thoughts and eventually let sleep pull you in, relaxed by the soft breaths of the boy you were so close to- not just as best friends, but now physically.

When May got home late that night, she walked into her nephew's room to catch the sight of you two, having to slap a hand over her mouth to keep from letting out an excited yelp.

Naturally, she left the room with at least fifty pictures of the two of you.

+ + +

Despite the deepest sleep you two had ever had, your restfulness was broken within a split second by the piercing noise of Peter's alarm. You shoot up, eyes wide, only to be dragged back down by Peter's strong grip.

"Peter!" you yell.

"What?" he muffles into your hair, pulling you closer.

No time to fall into that. No matter how hard you want to.

"It's morning!" you exclaim, finally receiving the reaction you expected.

The boy practically flies up, expression matching yours. His eyes shift over to the clock, which, although inanimate, makes him jump out of the bed and begin hunting around his room.

"May!" he yells.

You snatch your bag and begin rummaging through it for your phone when Peter's door busts open, a very tired-looking May appearing in the doorway.

"Peter, what is it?" she pants, messy hair correlating with her exasperated expression.

"You let us fall asleep!" he exclaims, running his fingers through his hair.

Which- not that you notice- somehow looks even better in the morning. You completely ignore how its normally styled chocolate curls have gone wild and how it makes him even more attractive to you.

Yup. Totally ignored.

"Oh, honey," May sighs, a tired smile pulling at the corners of her mouth, "I called Y/N's mom last night to let her know she was sleeping over. I couldn't stand to wake you two up, especially considering the position you were in."

You whirl around to look at her, cheeks bright red as she wiggles her eyebrows playfully.

"May," Peter groans.

She laughs. "Not sorry!"

The door shuts and you two let out a collective sigh. You begin putting your bag together, feeling a bit out of place. The sounds of ruffling in the background makes you furrow your eyebrows.

"Pete, what are you doing?"

"Oh, uh," he turns from his dresser, shirt in hand. "I didn't think you'd want to go to school in the same stuff you wore yesterday."

Your breath hitches as he tosses you a t-shirt with a science pun on it. Classic.

You hum, smirking.

"Thanks, babe."

His expression is priceless.

"What? Might as well get practicing now," you shrug innocently.

Peter lets out a small laugh and the two of you resume with your routine, leaving the apartment with lunches from May and intertwined hands.

And, in addition, a sweatshirt from Peter that smelled just like him.

The two of you walk to school, sharing headphones and getting mildly surprised looks from the other daily commuters on the subway, surely pondering about how the quiet schoolboy from Queens was holding hands with a new mystery girl.

The looks only amplify once the two of you step onto campus.

Your hands are sweaty, fingers having been locked together for a solid twenty to thirty minutes. Still, it's easy to ignore when suddenly you're getting looks from mutual classmates whose gazes now have a weird magnetic pull to your hands. The two of you are mere inches away from your locker before MJ veers in front of you, smirking and clearly satisfied.

"Looks like the idiots finally got their heads out of their asses," she smiles.

"Michelle."

Her eyebrows raise in (impressed) surprise. You never call her Michelle.

"Fine, whatever, I know what's up," she shrugs.

Peter squeezes your hand reassuringly, a silent message of "everything's okay."

"However-"

Oh boy.

"Let's not waste time pretending you both don't want this to be real."

"MJ-" Peter blurts, pleading in his voice.

Right in time for Flash Thompson to enter the scene. Both MJ and Peter can practically hear your annoyed groan at his presence.

"I'll take that as my leave," the curly-haired girl winks before she beelines the other way.

"And that'll be my entrance," Flash smirks. "Parker, I see you've taken the whole protection thing up another notch?"

You practically feel the boy next to you puff his chest up in pride (whether it was fake or not was beyond you). "Well, as her- um- boyfriend, I'm pretty sure it would be a problem if I didn't stand up for Y/N."

You look up at him, smirk on your face. Maybe you were a little peeved at the idea of having to have a boy stand up for you, but you'd let it slide in this situation.

"Boyfriend, huh?" Flash asks, a hint of confusion written in his expression that you pick up on immediately.

"Boyfriend," you nod firmly.

God, if you and Peter were alone right now you'd totally intimidate him to get rid of his rising ego.

"Well then. If the two of you are dating, why don't you kiss her, Parker?"

Or Flash can do that for you.

You look over to see his cheeks bright red. He stutters for a second before Flash raises an eyebrow, prompting Peter to lean over and plant a quick kiss on your cheek.

There.

"On the lips, dumbass."

Nevermind.

"I... uh," Peter chokes out. He's not the only flustered one anymore.

"Oh, don't be a wuss, Parker. Just give Y/N a kiss or I'll do it," Flash smirks.

Whoa there, bud.

You squeeze Peter's hand both anxiously and reassuringly, frantically trying to silently tell him to just do it. Thankfully, he gets the message, taking a deep breath and turning to face you, fingers still loosely intertwined. You give him a slight nod and he slowly leans down, minty breath lightly fanning over your lips before a loud yell erupts in the hallway, making you two jump, as well as everyone around you.

"Eugene Thompson!"

You two, free-handed (which feels refreshing), look up to see Principal Morita speeding over to the boy in front of you.

"You're coming with me," he mutters angrily, grabbing a spluttering Flash by the wrist and dragging him down the hallway.

Grateful smiles bloom on you and Peter's faces and you laugh, resting your head on his chest.

"This isn't the end of this!" Flash shouts, pointing back at you two.

"Yeah, okay, Flash!" Peter yells back, donning a boyish grin. He speaks again, whispering, "What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know," you mutter, resting your head on his shoulder and smiling as he wraps his arms around you softly. "Jeez, cuddlebug."

Peter's face burns at the nickname, but he smiles, drawing circles on your back with his thumb.

"Whatever," he murmurs. "We're definitely not bad at PDA, though."

He got that right.

+ + +

You had everyone fooled.

The news spread quick, to both the school and the Avengers team.

You and Peter became relationship experts, holding hands in the hall, giving the other occasional cheek kisses, following all the rules you two had layed out.

Essentially, you both were living out your dream relationship.

You'd both be lying if you said you weren't trying to somehow make the other fall in love in hopes that the relationship would turn into a real one. You both went the extra mile- in your own ways. You'd make sure to give him plenty of kisses on the cheek- which he'd return- and call him Petey, all while wearing his clothes and using TikTok videos to guide your way (hehe). Peter would take extra thought into every word he wrote in his love letters and made sure to keep them interesting, writing them on leftover bags, old notes, or gum wrappers.

You open your locker, alone for the first time today after spending every second possible with Peter and talking to friends about your "relationship." A small, folded piece of notebook paper flutters to the ground and your face lights up, realizing it was your first letter from Peter. You unfold the paper with a smirk on your face.

"My favorite element is Uranium because I'm in love with U.

- Peter ;)"

The air in your lungs flies out. Of course he'd use a nerdy pickup line, but god, if it didn't make your stomach flutter.

"Hey."

You spin around.

"Speak of the devil," you say, waving the paper in the air.

He lightly smiles. "Was it good?"

"Are you made of Copper and Tellurium? 'Cause you're Cu-Te," you respond, getting a confused look from Peter before he's struck with realization.

"Nice."

"I know."

It almost made you want to write notes to him, but you'd figure you'd find a better idea rather than steal his.

The two of you walked into the Avengers Headquarters, fingers intertwined (as always).

"Well, well, well," Sam says, shifting his gaze from the TV over to the two of you.

The group was split in half when you and Peter announced the "news" about your relationship. One half was immediately ecstatic, running up to you with bright smiles on their faces and asking hurriedly about details. Opposingly, the other half didn't buy it one bit. When they heard the news, they gave each other wary looks and analyzed the two of you.

"Hi, guys," Peter greets, giving your hand a slight squeeze of anticipation.

"What on Earth-"

Tony is cut off by the sound of squeals from Wanda, Bucky, and Bruce, the group eagerly running to you with the biggest smiles you'd ever seen.

"FINALLY!" Scott yells as he runs down the stairs, ice cream covering his mouth and bowl still in hand.

It was a bumpy road.

You lay on your stomach, working on a physics worksheet, nearly falling off the bed when you heard a knock at your window. You raise your head to see Spider-Man gazing in. A sigh falls from your mouth as you roll off the mattress, stumbling over to the window and sliding it open.

"Peter, what are you doing here?" you yawn, falling back onto your bed and nearly crushing all of your papers.

He pulls off his mask. "Why are you so tired?"

"Pete, it's nearly one in the morning."

"Oh," he says quietly. Late nights never got to him.

You close your eyes. "Why are you here, again?"

"Well.. I uh," he hesitates. You grumble and he continues. "I was thinking about this whole relationship thing and it's authenticity and I don't know I kinda missed you and I was thinking maybe we could cuddle just cause it might help with the chemistry and stuff you know-"

"Just get in bed, Peter."

He shuts his mouth immediately, hesitating before piling your papers and neatly placing your things on your desk. Then he looks down at himself.

"Do you by chance have any-"

"Top drawer."

He pulls open the drawer to see a pair of his sweatpants and a t-shirt you'd stolen from him a few weeks ago. A smile pulls at the corners of his mouth at the knowledge that you'd worn these and kept them. He glances at you before pressing the spider at the center of his chest, feeling the suit loosen and fall to his feet.

You open your eyes.

Of course, you and Peter had seen each other in just underwear; you'd known each other for ages. But it was different now.

Your eyes scanned over his body, just donned in a pair of plaid briefs as he dressed himself. You look away as he turns around, clothed.

The boy then walks to you, picking you up lightly and adjusting you on the bed, pulling the covers and sliding underneath them behind you. You let out a sigh of relief, easing into him and letting sleep overcome you.

+ + +

You should've seen it coming.

Sure, you did, but you never acknowledged it. Your subconscious was playing a manipulative game and you desperately wished to have a talk with it.

You were in love with Peter Parker.

It was known well within you, but you'd never fully registered it until now, here, in the middle of a training session.

Heavy breaths flew out of you as you panted, sweat dripping off of your forehead. Peter stood a few feet away from you, in fighting stance, panting and sweating just how you were. His front curls were getting soaked in sweat, hanging over his forehead as he bounced on his feet. You couldn't help but let your mind get pulled away from your session and towards the fact that he looks so incredibly hot right now.

And then you got angry.

It made you mad that you'd held these emotions in for so long. You'd loved Peter your whole life and never once thought about making a move. It was stupid.

You didn't even give him the nod you normally do, throwing a punch and just barely skimming him in the gut. His eyes widened.

"Jeez, Y/N! You know I have fast reflexes, but that doesn't mean you ignore the signal," he pants, exasperated.

Your hard gaze meets his soft one for a split second before you begin laying it on him, the hardest the two of you had ever sparred. The poor boy was trying to talk to you the whole time, letting out pleads between his pants of desperation, trying to get you to calm down.

"Wow, you two really like getting at it, don't you."

You pull back, snapping your head over at Sam, open door behind him and smirk on his face.

Peter stops. "Uh, now's not a good ti-"

"Get out, Wilson, or I'll shove my finger up your nose so hard that-"

"Okay, okay, jeez," Sam smiles, walking out and shutting the door behind him.

An exhausted huff falls from Peter's lips as he looks at you.

"Y/N," he pleads, "what's wrong?"

You shake your head, entering fighting stance again. He sighs, doing the same before you resume your session, taking a swing at him and barely missing.

"What's wrong," you huff, knocking him out from underneath and pinning him to the ground. "is that I'm in love with you, dumbass."

His eyes widen. You let out a sigh, relief and sympathy immediately washing over you. You look down at yourself, practically straddling the boy on the ground.

And then he flips you around, hands on opposite sides of your head and his breath fanning over your face. He has a soft look, mixed with exhaustion and what seems to be relief and joy. Finally.

Peter Parker smiles, tilts his head down, and lays his lips on yours.

Fake relationship my ass.

+ + +

goodness gracious that took so long to write

#peter parker #tom holland #peter parker imagines #marvel #mcu #spiderman #peter parker x reader #spiderman x reader #fanfic #fluff #writing #peter #parker #thomas holland

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dc-earth53 · 4 years

Photo

#0001: Superman (Clark Kent/Kal-El)

Age: 45

Occupation: Reporter, adventurer

Marital status: Married

Known relatives: Jor-El (father, deceased), Lara Lor-Van (mother, deceased), Jonathan Kent (adoptive father), Martha Kent (adoptive mother), Lois Lane-Kent (wife), Jon Kent (son), Conner Kent/Kon-El (clone “brother”), Zor-El (uncle, deceased), Alura In-Ze (aunt, deceased), Kara Zor-El (cousin), Karen Starr (clone “cousin”), Lucy Lane (sister-in-law), Sam Lane (father-in-law, deceased).

Group affiliation: Justice League of America

Base of operations: Fortress of Solitude, the Arctic

Height: 6’3”

Weight: 235 lbs.

History:

45 years ago:

Jor-El and Lara send infant Kal-El to Earth to escape the destruction of the planet Krypton.

Kal-El’s rocket is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent near Smallville, Kansas. The Kents adopt him as their own son, naming him Clark.

33 years ago: 12-year-old Clark befriends Lana Lang and Pete Ross.

29 years ago:

16-year-old Clark’s latent Kryptonian abilities including super-strength, flight, and invulnerability begin to emerge, thanks to time spent underneath Earth’s yellow sun. The Kents reveal to him his alien heritage, and he begins doing good in secret.

Clark and Lana begin dating, and Clark reveals the secret of his powers to Lana.

24 years ago: 21-year-old Clark graduates from journalism school at the University of Kansas and sets off to see the world, doing freelance reporting during his travels. Clark and Lana amicably end their relationship.

20 years ago:

25-year-old Clark stops an experimental spacecraft from crashing in front of a crowd of people, and the incident leads him to decide that it’s time to come out from the shadows. Martha fashions a costume for him from his baby blanket, emblazoned with the family crest of the House of El.

Clark moves to Metropolis and gets a job at the Daily Planet as a reporter, meeting reporter Lois Lane, editor Perry White, and intern Jimmy Olsen.

Dubbed “Superman” by the media after saving Daily Planet staff from a helicopter crash, Clark makes his costumed debut while his identity remains a secret.

Superman makes an enemy of billionaire Lex Luthor, who believed him to be an extraterrestrial threat to humanity.

19 years ago:

Superman meets Batman, and the pair team up to solve a series of murders.

Superman has his first encounters with opponents such as Mr. Mxyzptlk, Metallo, Toyman, and Rampage.

Clark and Lois begin dating.

Superman becomes a charter member of the Justice League of America after helping to repel an alien invasion of Earth.

18 years ago: Superman meets the Eradicator, a Kryptonian artificial intelligence dedicated to the preservation of Kryptonian culture and driven to turn Earth into a second Krypton. The Eradicator builds a citadel in the Arctic, which Superman repurposes as his Fortress of Solitude.

17 years ago:

Superman discovers the body of his cousin, Kara Zor-El, in suspended animation, when a rocket similar to the one he arrived in crashes to Earth. Kara takes on his colors and symbol and joins the fight for truth and justice as Supergirl.

Superman first encounters Brainiac, a rogue artificial intelligence from the planet Colu, when one of his probes arrives on Earth in pursuit of Kara’s rocket.

The shrunken Kryptonian city of Kandor is recovered from Brainiac and taken to the Fortress of Solitude.

16 years ago: Superman releases Dru-Zod and Ursa, Kryptonian war criminals, from imprisonment in the Phantom Zone, but is forced to re-imprison them when they attempt to take over Earth and turn it into a new Krypton.

15 years ago: Superman is abducted by Mongul, the ruler of the artifical planet Warworld, and forced to compete in gladiatorial combat. He leads a revolution among the slaves on Warworld, and escapes, forcing Mongul to retreat.

14 years ago: Superman first encounters Darkseid, despotic ruler of the planet Apokolips.

13 years ago: Mongul returns to Earth on Superman’s birthday, attacking him with the parasitic Black Mercy plant and trapping him in a world of his own fantasies.

12 years ago:

In the wake of Checkmate’s offensive on the Justice League, revealed to be a plot by Brainiac, Superman moves to disband the team.

Clark proposes to Lois, revealing to her his secret identity as Superman.

11 years ago:

Superman, along with the rest of Earth’s heroes, fight against the Anti-Monitor. Supergirl perishes in the battle.

Superman encounters Bizarro, an early, flawed result of an attempt to replicate Kryptonian DNA.

9 years ago:

Superman falls in battle against the living weapon Doomsday.

The Eradicator places Superman in a Kryptonian healing matrix hidden within the Fortress of Solitude, restoring him to life after a few months of hibernation.

Clark and Lois are wed.

8 years ago:

Clark and Lois’s son, Jon Kent is born.

Superman comes into conflict with pragmatic vigilante Manchester Black and his Elite.

7 years ago:

Superman fights against the Joker, who had stolen Mr. Mxyzptlk’s powers and twisted the Earth into his own image.

A third Kryptonian rocket crashes on Earth, containing Krypto, a dog-like creature belonging to Jor-El and Lara. Krypto comes to reside at the Fortress of Solitude.

Superman and Earth’s heroes fight against the allied forces of Imperiex, Brainiac, and Darkseid.

5 years ago: After a battle against Lex Luthor, who had given himself Kryptonian powers, Superman loses his powers from heavy exposure to red sunlight and temporarily retires.

4 years ago:

Superman’s powers return, in time for him to foil a new plot from Luthor.

Superman foils an attempt from Brainiac to bottle Metropolis, restoring Kandor to its proper size in the process and locating it in the Arctic. Around the same time, Jonathan Kent passes away of a heart attack.

3 years ago:

After failing to integrate with humanity, the citizens of Kandor use Brainiac’s technology to relocate Kandor to a new planet opposite Earth’s orbit - “New Krypton.”

New Krypton, led by Zod and Ursa, declares war on Earth as the new planet proves to be unstable. Superman and Earth’s heroes drive them off, but not without suffering many losses, which leave Superman as the true last son of Krypton.

2 years ago: The Kent family leaves Metropolis for an extended period of time, taking a trip across America to reconnect with ordinary people. Eventually, they settle down in Hamilton County, Pennsylvania, a rural area west of Metropolis.

1 year ago:

Superman defeats Darkseid, who had returned to Earth in search of the Anti-Life Equation, removing his threat from the universe seemingly for good.

Superman receives a warm welcome back to Metropolis when he’s attacked by Hank Henshaw and his Superman Revenge Squad.

Present Day: Clark helps 8-year-old Jon deal with his sudden development of powers similar to his father’s.

Commentary:

Superman’s origin is so iconic that Grant Morrison summed it up in just eight words: “Doomed planet. Desperate scientists. Last hope. Kindly couple.” In light of this, I see no reason to mess with a good thing. That being said, the story of Superman’s public debut has been retold with major differences four or five times now between the various Crises, and that makes things tricky to pin down.

The version I ended up writing is mostly inspired by Superman: Birthright by Mark Waid. (Sorry, anyone who’s a fan of Clark as Superboy. While I don’t hate the concept, it raises the question of “why doesn’t anyone associate Superboy and thus Superman with Clark?” it doesn’t really bring anything valuable to the table that can’t be put elsewhere in the timeline: the Legion is more associated with Supergirl in this timeline, and Krypto is moved to later on.) His post-Crisis history is mostly intact, although with a few notable omissions, mainly Superman Blue. I hope nobody will miss that too much.

Superman’s history sets the timeline for the rest of the universe - while other heroes’ origins occur before his public debut, he’s the first of the major figures of the Age of Heroes to debut, twenty years prior to the present day. The rest of the Trinity follows within a year of his appearance, along with most of the iconic Silver Age DC heroes. This Superman is forty-five years of age at the current point in the timeline: a seasoned superhero who has saved the world time and time again, but who also lives a simple life as a family man with Lois and Jon.

He may be a Kryptonian by genetics, but at his core, thanks to his upbringing from Ma and Pa Kent, he’s a human - one who happens to have to balance his extraordinary powers and responsibility to the world (wait, is this Spider-Man all of a sudden?) with his alien heritage and the complications derived from such. He’s a champion of the oppressed, standing up for the “little guy” and those who can’t defend themselves against powers both great and small. Out of the Trinity, he best embodies hope - when the situation seems at its most dire, Superman’s the one to keep the faith and rally for one last push. He’s the hero who lands on a rooftop beside someone who’s about to jump and just sits beside them while they make their decision.

As for Superman’s costume, he’s currently sporting the Reborn look, sans trunks. I’m not saying the trunks are outright bad or silly, and envision them as being part of his original costume for certain, but the costume in the header is what he currently uses in this universe.

Have any questions about Superman or anything else? My asks are open!

#superman #clark kent #kal-el #profile #dc #dc comics #earth 53

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theskyeandsea · 4 years

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Two Player Game || Orion & Skylar

Timing: August 7th, 2020

Location: Quarter

Tagging: @3starsquinn & @theskyeandsea

Description: Ever the nerds, Skylar and Rio meet up at Quarter for some good ol’ wholesome fun.

Warnings: Brief mention of chronic illness symptoms

Checking her phone, Skylar chewed on the inside of her cheek as she waited outside Quarter for Rio. The last time she’d gone to do something fun, that she’d dared to try and enjoy herself a little… she’d found herself locked in a room, spilling some of her deepest secrets to a near stranger.If something bad happened to her, at least Rio wasn’t a stranger? But… he’d been acting so strange the last few days. She’d seen his very public messages with Blanche, seen mentions of a wedding, things like that. But, wasn’t he dating Winston? Was it a game? Just a little prank or something? Her fingers drummed absently against her thigh, the sleeves of her long shirt rubbing against her palm. She was looking forward to stepping inside the cool AC of the arcade, where wearing a long sleeved shirt wouldn’t look too out of place. As she glanced down the street, she saw Rio walking up and offered a smile. “Hey Rio. I’m glad you could make it. This place is a lot of fun, I’ve been here a few times before.” She said with a nod.

Orion wasn’t a celebrity. He had grown up in the town and spent the majority of his life not knowing most of the people that lived in town. Now, it seemed like everywhere he went people were staring at him. He had created a public spectacle of himself. The most embarrassing public spectacle of all time, in the history of public spectacles. He wondered how Blanche ranked this in comparison to the graduation video. Rio didn’t even want to leave the house. The only reason he did was for Skylar. He did so incognito, with a snapback pulled over his head and sunglasses. Maybe he was being overdramatic. Maybe people didn’t care about this nearly as much as Rio thought they did. All he knew was that it felt like all eyes were on him, and as someone who hated attention this was basically the worst thing that could have ever happened to him. He spotted Skylar standing by the doors and waved as he got close. “Hey!” Rio sighed, hoping he sounded happier than he felt. He was happy to spend time with Skylar, honestly it would probably help him feel better. “Thanks for inviting me. I haven’t been here in forever. How are things going?” He tried for a smile and moved to head into the arcade. Less people meant less attention.

Rio’s appearance had caught Skylar slightly off-guard-- she didn’t think he owned a snapback, much less would wear one. But, it was still nice to see him. The last time she’d hung out with Rio, she’d still been in a haze of Bliss, not entirely processing everything around her. She’d managed to piece things together afterwards, realized dimly that there had been some strange kind of tension in the air. It didn’t really matter now, though. She’d been… too scared to use the medicine recently, not after what she’d seen in the Hall of Mirrors. And besides, she’d went to the lake to change only a few weeks ago and, as much as she hated having to do that, at least she hadn’t run into anyone dangerous, hadn’t lost her voice, hadn’t been hurt again. “Of course.” She said with a nod, following Rio inside the arcade. The flashing lights and sound of pinball machines rang through the room and Skylar turned to Rio, signing as she spoke. “It’s a little loud in here, so I might need to sign more often. Have any games you want to play first?”

It had been a year or two and Orion had almost forgotten just how loud the place was. Back when he was a kid, Rio loved the place. It had been more than a few years now since he came in, but it didn’t look like it had changed much in between. The noise was overwhelming almost immediately, his hunter hearing betraying him. Rio flinched at the sensory overload and tried to ignore it, signing to Skylar as he spoke quietly, “Sounds good to me. Don’t bother with Gauntlet” Rio pointed over to the abandoned game, “It’s been broken since I was a kid.” He laughed and pulled the sunglasses off of his face. He hoped that nobody in here would come up and ask about the wedding. “The first thing I used to do every time I came into this place was play Pac-Man.”

Over the loud clattering sounds of pinballs getting hit every which way and people yelling at Dragon’s Lair as the machine ate their last quarter, Skylar could barely hear a word that Rio was saying. But, his sign was fluid and easy to understand, which was part of why she liked hanging out with him. She didn’t have to try so hard like she normally did with other people when it came to conversation. “That works for me,” She said, lowering her voice to barely above a whisper as she signed back at him. She wasn’t entirely sure how hunter things worked-- she knew that Rio could hear better than most people, but she wasn’t really sure what qualified as “most people.” It was kind of ironic. The two of them being friends, but at opposite ends of the spectrums in more than a few areas. At the mention of Pac-Man she broke out into a smile. “That’s my favorite game, I’d love to play. That one or Dig Dug. There’s something cute about the little Reptar guys.” She signed as she began to wander towards the Pac-Man cabinet.

Orion was confident signing now. It had been a language he had always been interesting in learning and had been working towards before meeting Skylar. But he became more passionate about it after making friends with her and Ricky. While he couldn’t be perfect, he was confident that next to English it was his best language. “I love Dig dug!” Rio signed back, motioning towards the machine as they brushed past it to get to Pac-Man, “We can play that one next.” Rio didn’t talk any louder than necessary, especially considering the noise. He could barely hear with the sound of pinballs smacking against the machines and coins dumping down, scraping against metal on their way down. He rubbed at his ears, trying to be nonchalant as he did it, in an attempt to filter out some of the noise. Usually, his ears adjusted. It wasn’t continuous torture. It was just a matter of time. “I don’t mean to brag, but I’m pretty good at this game.” Rio laughed as he signed, pausing for a moment longer before sighing in defeat and signing, “I’m kidding. I’m so bad at this game. After so many years playing you’d think I may be better.”

“Amazing.” Skylar beamed, offering an enthusiastic thumbs up and leaned against the Pac-Man cabinet. She watched as Rio rubbed at his ears, saw how he seemed to wince just a bit at all the sound around them. It must be so loud in here for him. Digging around in her pockets, Skylar pulled out a small pack of tissues and held them out to him. “Do you think these might help?” She signed, “With all of the sound?” Skylar gestured to his ears. They weren’t quite ear plugs, but they would be better than being forced to listen to all the noise around her. As she watched the little flapping mouth run around the maze of bright pellets, Skylar relaxed a little bit. This was normal, this was fun. Even if neither one of them were quite normal, at least they could still relax like regular people. “I mean, I think it just takes a little bit of practice. And figuring out what works for you.” Sticking a quarter into the game, she signed quickly before the game started, “I always go for the bottom area first. See?” Skylar said as she played through the first stage, then the second, before she lost her first two lives on the third stage and the Game Over image blinked on the fourth. “I’m not great, but I’ve played it a lot.” She signed.

Skylar had taken notice, and the next thing Orion knew she was holding out tissues and offering them to him. He wasn’t sure how much it could help, but just knowing that Skylar was thinking about that for him was all that mattered. He took the tissues, signing a quick thank you before tearing it and stuffing a small portion into his ears. It didn’t fix things perfectly, but the loud sounds from the arcade and children were dulled at least a bit which helped tremendously. Rio settled in to watch Skylar and appreciated her strategy, carrying her all the way to the fourth round before dying. “Hey, I usually lose my first life in the first round or two. You’re better than me.” He grinned. He jumped on next and true to his word, by the time he finally scraped his way to the second level he had already lost two lives. It put him at a disadvantage from the beginning, but he was starting to get confident that he could at least get to the third, clearing three corners and heading towards the fourth with the ghosts double teamed him, coming from both sides and cutting him off before he could get to the slightly larger ball. The game over screen flashed, and Rio sighed before giving a knowing look towards Skylar, “See?” Rio pushed out of the chair, floating around the machine to see if Skylar was going another round or if Dig Dug had stolen her attention. As thankful as Rio was that Skylar had not mentioned anything about the prior weekend’s drama, he had to admit it left him a little nervous. Was she avoiding the topic? Had she just not seen it, by some miracle? Eventually, the pressure became too heavy and Rio found himself sighing, barely mumbling the words out loud, “So. You haven’t asked about last weekend at all.”

Smiling, Skylar offered a slight nod in acknowledgement as Rio filled his ears with tissues. It wasn’t perfect, but she could understand the discomfort that came with having sensory issues. Her hearing aids might help her, but they had their own drawbacks-- with all the noise around them, she couldn’t parse out anything, couldn’t really distinguish what was what. It all jumbled together into a barely comprehensible mishmash of sound. “It’s all just practice. I used to play it a lot when I was home sick. My brother had a whole bunch of old arcade games saved on his computer.” Skylar explained, whispering and signing as Rio took his turn once more. She wondered how Hunter was doing. He would have just finished his first year in college… Did he miss her? Did he wonder how she was? Or was he too busy with his classes to even think about her? She blinked, shaking her head slightly as she realized Rio’s lips were moving. She couldn’t quite make out the words. She’d been too distracted to catch them, she’d only seen something that looked like… Wheat thin? “Hm? Sorry, I didn’t catch that.” She signed apologetically. “Something about… oh.” The word clicked into place. “The weekend.” Her cheeks went red and she shook her head. “You don’t need to talk about that if you don’t want to. It’s okay, really.”

Despite the obvious differences, Orion had always felt connected to Skylar. Besides their common interests, their experiences actually seemed to be somewhat similar. Rio had never had a lot of illnesses to deal with growing up, but he had been forced inside for other reasons. Just like Skylar, he had turned to gaming and reading to pass the time while he was locked in his house. “Makes sense. I usually played gameboy or read whenever I was in my room.” The situations weren’t that comparable, Rio knew. He had been in good health at least, for what that was worth. He didn’t want to try to compare their experiences too much. At the end of the day, Skylar was still born into a species that Rio’s kind hunted. That was an advantage whether Rio accepted that heritage or not. Skylar zoned out for a minute, lost in some other thought. He happily signed it again, speaking the words quietly as he did. So she did know about it, but had not brought it up. What a good friend. “Thanks.” Rio signed as sincerely as he could. Because he was truly so, so thankful, “Just know... that wasn’t me in my right mind. And I wouldn’t do something like that to Winston.” Well, technically he had. But not while under the influence of a love potion. “But let’s see if you can beat the highest score in Dig Dug” Rio’s face beamed, pointing toward the arcade and rubbing his hands together excitedly.

“Mhm, I’d do that a lot too. But sometimes I’d get bored of Pokemon for the fiftieth time, you know? My brother found an emulator with arcade games, so I got pretty good at them.” Skylar said, remembering how quietly bashful Hunter had been when he’d shown her the games he’d picked out for her. It was, she realized now, how he’d shown how much he cared for her. The little conversations about video games, anime, their shared nerdy interests. She wondered if he still had that emulator on his laptop. Or if he’d deleted it too. As Rio continued to sign, she could see the emotion flickering on his face, the nerves. “I don’t really need to know what happened, if you don’t want to talk about it. But, I’m glad that you’re back to normal now.” She signed and nodded at the prospect of Dig Dug. “I don’t think I can beat the high score… But, I’m happy to give it a shot.” Skylar responded with an enthusiastic grin.

“That’s really cool,” Orion had basically abandoned talking at this point, mouthing the words without using any sound. He was glad she had a brother like that to share games with, even if she didn’t mention him a lot. Athena had never shared many interests that Rio had. “Maybe another time?” Rio signed with relief, happy that Skylar didn’t need some big explanation. Rio had embarrassed himself enough. He was tired of thinking about it, and more exhausted trying to explain it to people. Regardless, he was thankful that Skylar was willing to ignore it and continue on as if nothing happened. Considering how their relationship started, it seemed like a big development. There was a certain amount of trust that Rio wasn’t sure he would ever be able to earn back. It was nice to know that he had at least won some. Skylar was a good friend, and Rio was lucky that she had forgiven him. He wouldn’t have blamed her if she hadn’t. “Hey, I have faith in you. I think you’re going for the gold. I want your name up in first place. You got this!”

“Whenever you want to talk about it, let me know. Or if you don’t want to talk about it ever, that’s okay too.” Skylar nodded as she signed. She knew all too well what it was like, to have people want to hear about what was going on, to want to help and listen. But, when there was just too much shame, too much that people wouldn’t understand? She wouldn’t put pressure on Rio to open up if he didn’t want to. As they finished up their last round on Pac-Man, with Skylar getting halfway through stage seven before she lost focus because of the sharp ringing sound of alarm bells going off from a nearby shoot ‘em up game that sent feedback through her hearing aids. At that point, she decided it would be easiest to just turn them off. At least she wouldn’t be overwhelmed with sound. And besides, Rio was really good about signing with her. It was much appreciated in places like this. “I’ll do my best.” She signed before slipping a coin into the machine and watching intently as the little space man looking guy began to dig through the ground. “It’s really cool that there’s a place like this in town.” She whispered as she played, knowing Rio could hear her. “It’s nice to be able to just play games, you know?” And not worry about everything else that happened in White Crest.

Orion enjoyed the moment of peace the two were able to share. The town had a way of constantly changing and throwing people for a loop. This week it was a love potion, who knew what next week would bring. So in between it was nice to have some time to just enjoy life with a friend. Rio didn’t bother answering Skylar while she was playing. He didn’t want to distract her, plus Rio had noticed her flip her hearing aids off earlier. Instead he waited until she finished a level, taking advantage of the break between to turn towards her. “God, it’s so nice to just be able to unwind for once. This place was like a mini safe haven for me as a kid.” There were a few around town. When he needed to be away from his family or alone. The arcade and the drive in theatre were his most popular spots. The more sensitive his hearing got, the more often the drive in won out over the arcade l. Until he stopped coming altogether. But being here now, especially with a friend of his made him realize how much he missed the place. And how much he would enjoy it now coming back. “I’m really glad you invited me. It’s so nice to be able to do this.” Rio grinned at her, noticing the screen change and signing quickly, “Next round coming up. Get ready.”

Dig Dug might have been one of her favorite games, but Skylar wasn’t very good at it. She never could get the hang of dropping the rocks on the enemies and, more often than not, she wound up creating strange winding paths in the dirt that did very little to help her progress. But, she made it through the first stage and watched as Rio signed. It was nice of him to sign with her like this. As Rio talked about unwinding, Skylar remembered that he had lived here his whole life. What must that have been like? She’d only lived here for a year-- God, a year-- she could only imagine how hard growing up here must have been. “I’m glad that you had some place like this growing up.” She replied with a smile. “And yeah, of course. There’s been so much going on, I just thought it would be nice to do something fun for once.” Focusing on the game, she made it through a handful more of the levels before her little explorer man was unfortunately smushed by a poorly timed rock at just the wrong moment. “Mmm. Your turn.” She beamed

Orion couldn’t agree more. It was nice to do something for once. His week had been occupied by being drugged and then punched. He wouldn’t have called it the most successful of weeks, if it hadn’t been for this small reprieve. But knowing that things were good here gave Rio hope that the rest would turn out okay as well. For now, he just wanted to focus on enjoying it. He had been studying the screen intently as Skylar played through. He held his breath at every last second dodge. Cheered every time she defeated an enemy. Gasped when she lost a life. Finally, once she lost her last life Rio dramatically waved his arms in the air, silently miming an extended NOOO! He bashfully took the controls afterwards, afraid that he couldn’t measure up to her playing. He made it a few levels mostly unscathed. He started fumbling on the fourth level, second guessing a move that led to his death. He sighed, but carried in. He made it another two levels in before he eventually lost entirely. As far as Dig Dug went, it may have been his best game yet. “Have you played Space Invaders? It’s the only game I managed to get a high score on in here.” Rio’s smile was wide with pride, “I mean, it was like tenth place or something but small victories, right?” He shrugged, taking the win. “I think that one is two player. Want to check it out?”

Rio’s enthusiasm as she made her way through the game was really encouraging, if a little distracting. But, it was still nice. Skylar had never had friends like this, who shared her interests, who enjoyed the games she did. Then again, she’d never really had friends before coming to White Crest. Just people who moved in and out of her life, never really making any lasting connections. She’d had people who had helped her out of pity or maybe guilt. But she’d never had friends like the ones she’d found here. Like Winston and Remmy and Rio and Morgan and Shiloh. The thought of Shiloh made her cheeks flush slightly and she was grateful for the glow of arcade machines to hide it. Skylar turned her attention to Rio’s game, gasping as he dodged around the screen, carefully weaving around the enemies. He was so good at this game, really. “That was so good.” She said, holding her hand up for him for a high five. At the mention of Space invaders, Skylar beamed. “That sounds great to me.”

“That was… lucky.” Orion paused midsign before finishing it. He had never considered that the enhanced reflexes that came along with his hunter genetics would help him in video games too. Rio had always been a bit of a spaz, and he thought that probably got in the way of any enhanced reflexes being offered to him. With Skylar he had been able to relax a bit, which made focusing on enjoying the game instead of stressing about dying easier. “I don’t think I’ve ever done that well before.” He laughed, returning the high five and jumping up from the seat. Skylar seemed just as excited about the idea of playing Space Invaders as Rio was. The two found the machine, Rio practically bouncing across the carpet in excitement. He slid into the seat next to Skylar and slid in the two quarters for the two to get started, “You ready?”

“That was amazing, really.” Skylar said with a smile. As the two of them made their way to the next game, she couldn’t help but think about how… good all of this was. Maybe, maybe life in White Crest wasn’t easy or simple. But, there were still good moments. And those made all the difference to her. Just being able to pretend like there wasn’t some secret of her looming over her head, that this entire town didn’t have danger lurking behind every corner, it was nice. Moments like these were the ones that counted. “Yup.” She said, giving Rio a thumbs up and a grin. “Game on!”

#p: tpg #p: orion quinn #chatzy #wickedswriting

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argentdandelion · 4 years

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The Perils of Being Literally Not Human

Image by Zarla-s

Terminology

Monsters are obviously not human. Not only do they look non-human, but they also have very different bodies and abilities, and see no problem in calling themselves “monsters”. Inconveniently, the very term “monster” connotes something scary that ought to be killed or avoided. (Assuming Mt. Ebott is in the United States, one wonders if humans would suggest the word “Teratoan-American?’) Knowing this, people who haven’t personally encountered monsters before might be easily manipulated into hating them.

Perpetual Armament

Monsters can also produce large amounts of magical bullets at whim. While it’s possible for monsters to direct bullets away from targets (e.g., Toriel) or reduce the amount of damage they do (e.g., Asgore and Papyrus), the very fact monsters emit magical bullets as an everyday occurrence of self-expression would put them into conflict with humans. In most cases, humans can drastically reduce other humans’ killing power by disarming them, but there’s nothing to disarm for monsters. Thus, some humans might consider monsters perpetually armed, and therefore incorrigibly dangerous. Furthermore, while monsters can surely be taught to avoid emitting bullets around humans, or in areas with high human density, depending on when monsters gain the power to emit bullets, their children may be too young to properly control them. Thus, humans may feel threatened even around monster children. Even if, somehow, monsters found a technology that would safely block accidental bullet emission around humans, or every child had great self-control, humans may still feel uneasy. After all, some monsters (e.g., Asgore) are physically imposing, have sharp horns, claws, teeth, or other so-called natural weapons, or are outright made of fire (e.g., Grillby).

Laws

There’s also the long history of humans equating “human” with “person”. Humans often get over their natural reluctance to kill sentient beings or their own kind by describing other humans are beasts, vermin, or monsters. Since humans can dehumanize their own kind, they could easily dehumanize monsters. Worse, humans could characterize monsters as not only non-equivalent or inferior to humans, but inherently evil. Some monsters could be loosely described as “demons”, such as the bulky devil-like one in the MTT Resort. Moreover, the fact Asgore is an imposing, horned, goatlike, fire-associated being with a trident who rule(s)/ruled an underground realm parallels the Devil of Christianity, so more religious humans may consider all monsters suspect by association.

As humans often equate “person” with “human”, it might be hard for people to give monsters legal protections, since laws are made with the assumption only humans can be legal persons. Until some law is made to protect monsters, even if only a stopgap law (like legally classifying them as great apes, if the territory around Mt. Ebott has strong great ape welfare laws), humans could kill monsters freely. However, even a stopgap law that prevents torture and experimentation would have many loopholes. If monsters were not considered legally equivalent to humans, humans could reject monsters from service or jobs, and monsters would have no legal recourse. Even if protected from experimentation and torture, humans could still exploit monsters. (e.g., underpaying them in bad jobs) That humans can stomach being cruel to intelligent animals (e.g., dogs), but also compassionate towards other humans suggest humans might care less about unethical treatment towards monsters than towards humans.

Ease of Murder

As the movie Independence Day shows, teaming up against a non-human entity can unite humanity behind a shared cause. The human brain is hardwired to love whatever one’s own tribe (or team) does, and hate whatever the other tribe (or team) does. A shrewd (and evil) politician could present monsters as a threat to humanity as a ploy to unite a large voting base and gain power, regardless of whether they actually believe monsters are a threat. Once riled, humans may love to hate monsters. Any conversations to the contrary can easily be shut down with, “They are obviously not humans.”

It would also be easier to kill monsters than humans, both in psychology and strength. More unhinged humans who would love to get away with murder might find it socially feasible, or at least less worthy of punishment, to kill monsters. Monsters which cannot talk, such as Moldsmal, would be psychologically easy to kill. Other monsters, such as Whimsuns, would have such low stats and poor defensive abilities it would be physically easy to kill them, even for someone with no LOVE.

Furthermore, monsters are vulnerable to hateful intent, to the point a child with a notebook can (under the right circumstances) beat a super-strong monster. Anyone who starts with a great hatred for monsters could kill even strong monsters with ease. Due to psychological hardening (of LOVE and in general), stat increases from gaining LOVE, and the stat-increase effects of using actual weapons to fight, any human that kills a monster would find it easier and easier to kill more. Eventually, such humans would find it easy to kill even monsters that look more similar to human beings. (e.g., Undyne or Mettaton)

Monster-murderers would also find it easy to get away with murder. Monsters don’t leave behind bodies when they die, only dust. It would be difficult to do forensics on a murder scene to figure out murder patterns. Worse, if monsters only leave a small pile of dust, then even if it’s as heavy as a big sack of flour it would be much easier to transport and hide than a human corpse. If monster dust is like normal dust and not, say, mud, any dust on a murderer’s body would be easy to clean with some water or hand sanitizer in a few seconds. Unlike blood, which is harder to explain, if monster dust is white or grey one could easily excuse it as road dust (when an area has white soil), flour, or white soot.

Transport

Larger monsters might have trouble fitting in standard cars, public buses, trains, subway vehicles, and especially cramped airplanes. (see Undertale Character Heights Part 2) Large enough monsters would only be able to safely drive or even fit inside the biggest vans, customized vans, or in convertibles with the roof down. Even if they can fit, differing proportions mean they may be unable to use standard seatbelts, putting them at risk of both car crashes. (and unavoidable seatbelt ticketing) While extra-big monsters would probably face physical inconveniences and disapproving looks on crowded public transit, extra-small monsters (e.g., Whimsuns, Froggits and slimes) might be inadvertently stepped or sat on in crowded conditions.

Monsters that aren’t proportionately similar enough to a “standard” human may be banned from most airplanes entirely, both for logistical packing reasons and their own safety in case of a crash. Very big monsters (e.g., Onionsan) would find it impossible to use any but the most specialized transit, such as trains formerly used to transport circus elephants. Overall, many monsters would differ so much from human standards that they would be in danger when using cars, be functionally banned from travel, or forced to use specialty monster transit. If less human-proportioned monsters have no compatible cars and are functionally banned from public transit, it would be difficult to leave town quickly in case of anti-monster riots or, worse, roaming murderers.

The author of this post would appreciate funds to her Ko-Fi and Patreon.

Related Reading The Perks of Monsters Being Literally Not Human Undertale Character Heights

#Undertale #Analysis #Post-Pacifist #Meta

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gu-fem · 4 years

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Is Taylor Swift the Definition of the Modern White Womanhood?

Written by: Julia Zhigaleva

Call me dumb, call me white, but Taylor Swift’s music has been my guilty pleasure for so long that I eventually stopped feeling guilty about it. You guys, I’m not even kidding when I say that I grew up with Taylor Swift – from crying after school to Teardrops on My Guitar when the guy I liked chose to date my best friend over me, to dressing up like hipsters with my friends and partying to 22 in my college years, to taking forever to get over breakups with All Too Well, to lip-syncing to myself in the mirror to Blank Space wearing red lipstick, to trying to convince my significant other why Lover definitely has to one day play at our wedding.

As we grew up with Taylor, she grew up with us – from an overly dramatic teenager occupied with boy drama from the Fearless era, to a hopeless young romantic of Red and 1989, to an unapologetic bitch from Reputation, to folklore’s big sister Taylor who braids your hair and makes sure you don’t repeat the mistakes she made in her youth. To me Taylor Swift has always been the embodiment of the modern white womanhood, which in my opinion is also a secret to her huge commercial success. If you’re a girl and you don’t know a single Taylor Swift song you could relate to, you’re probably lying.

This to me is also the reason why haters are always gonna hate – if Taylor Swift embodies so much of the modern femininity, the reason behind the overwhelming hatred towards the singer could easily be misogyny. “Overly dramatic, shallow, immature and always playing the victim” – for years Swift has been bullied for loving our loud, singing her heart out and trying to grow up and figure herself out while being one of the most commercially successful artists in the world. Constantly in the public eye, the singer has often been accused of using this public obsession with her private life to promote her music, which was then dismissed as too girly or not worthy of attention – the double standard Swift herself called out in The Man.

And then we have the Taylor vs Kanye feud, which is honestly on the list of my possible PhD thesis ideas, as this decade-long beef has everything you could possible wish for - race, gender, cyber bullying, mental health, and even Barack Obama. When Kim’s Snapchat stories broke the internet back in 2016, it led to the outbreak of hatred like never before, with dozens of spiteful articles against Taylor appearing online and tons of snake emojis flooding the comments of the singer’s Twitter and Instagram accounts. And that’s when people that are normally impartial to Swift drama jumped in and reminded that not only is the girl completely crazy, but she also never in her life used her privilege to speak up social injustice and remained politically neutral during 2016 election race. Officially canceled and proclaimed dead, Swift was forced into an exile that very few of us believed she would ever recover from.

Coming back with her Reputation album, Swift literally reinvented herself, burying her most iconic past selves in the music video for Look What You Made Me Do. But it wasn’t until she put out Miss Americana on Netflix, which, let’s be real, we all watched while being bored at home in quarantine, that Taylor won back over so many of those who turned their backs on her back when the Kim drama happened. In the documentary we get to see the private side of the singer’s life, as well as hear her side of the story on all the scandals that followed her in the past couple of years. Swift confesses that she has always felt pressured to be perfect and unproblematic, which held her from ever taking a political stance, truly speaking her mind, and eventually led her to developing an eating disorder.

"A nice girl smiles and waves and says thank you. A nice girl doesn’t make people feel uncomfortable with her views. I was so obsessed with not getting in trouble that I’m just not going to do anything that anyone can say something about." – Miss Americana (2020).

I was sad to see that Taylor’s epic comeback was actually yet another attempt to fit into the image of the exemplary femininity, the new little miss perfect of 2020 - the good girl going bad. We see in the meeting room scene how Swift tries to convince some old white dudes from her management team that taking a public stance against the Republican candidate in Tennessee is the right and important thing to do even if it hurts the Taylor Swift brand. But the truth is, Miss Americana is actually Swift doing damage control after being criticised for being artificially perfect, calculated and politically estranged. If in 2010 good girls curled their hair, skipped lunch and obsessed over cute boys, in 2020 they wear slogan tees, joke about straight white men and have at least one gay friend they can paint their nails with. Yet I wouldn’t dare to accuse Taylor Swift of being hypocritical and self-serving with her recent political activism.

“For someone who’s built their whole belief system on getting people to clap for you, the whole crowd booing is a pretty formative experience.” – Miss Americana (2020)

Taylor confessing that she had based her entire self-image on the constant approval and praise from others, hit too close to home. It made me think that as easy as it would be to point out that the singer who built her entire career upon the society’s conventional idea of femininity, doesn’t get to jump on the bandwagon and call herself a feminist, one cannot in good conscience blame Swift for wanting to fit in, be approved and accepted. In Miss Americana I saw Taylor fighting the losing battle of having to be a 'good girl’ in order to stay relevant and successful, yet being mocked and dismissed for this very conventional femininity of hers. Taylor opening up about her constant pursuit of perfection and need for validation in the world of unreachable standards set for women was perhaps the most vulnerable part of her documentary and it is certainly a struggle many of us can relate to.

Coming from a place of race and class privilege, possessing conventional beauty, and being adorably naive in her attempts to dismantle the patriarchy with the songs like The Man and You Need to Calm Down, still, Taylor Swift is the ultimate white girl that we can’t help but relate to. May she finally find her true self and may we all be lucky enough to be able to do the same.

#taylor swift #feminism #pop culture #miss americana

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whatznewz · 4 years

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Anonymous Has Joined The Fight

After a recent video uploading on Facebook from the famous Anonymous, the “Black Lives Matter Movement” has a new ally.

By now we might’ve all heard about it: the group of hacktivists known as Anonymous has joined the #blacklivesmatter movement and protests that are occurring in the present day. Who are they? Where are they? What are they? How are they going to help the movement against the American police and military forces?

Let’s rewind all the way back to 2003. A website by the name of 4chan, basically a cruder version of Reddit, was semi-popular. This website, however, did not require its users to form an account, so everything was anonymous and people could generally post what they wanted without any backlash due to not having a designated username. The anonymity of the website is perhaps what sparked up the given name Anonymous.

Originally, they started as a trolling group, a sort of joke. Things that the group of trollers started to do in the beginning included sending unpaid pizzas to houses, posting humiliating information about public figures or other 4chan users, DDoSing different websites (method used to take down websites from the inside), and occasionally prank calls or private chats on other networks. In 2008, what was meant to be a private video of Tom Cruise praising scientology made it online. It was suspected to be uploaded by the trolling anonymous users that originated from 4chan. When the video was taken down, the anon users seemed to have been angered. This started a wave of trolling against the organization that had taken the video down. This provoked protesting outside of the Church of Scientology. However, the protesting eventually calmed down and the anon users went back to their regularly scheduled trolls.

Essentially, this “group” of hackers isn’t really an organized group. While there is technically a team of anonymous hackers, they only make up a very small percentage of the people that continue to support the group and hack for similar causes to that of Anonymous.

In the past they’ve hacked their way through recognition with some controversial issues like “Operation Tunisia” (2011), “Operation DarkNet” (2011), “Operation Russia” (2012), and many other big activism events throughout the years of 2010-2012. This form of activism can prove to be very powerful when a group of people is experiencing social injustice and needs something to be done. ______ The infamous Guy Fawkes mask that can has been used as a sort of face for Anonymous originates from the comic and movie adaptation V For Vendetta. V For Vendetta, summarized, follows the story of a young woman who is “rescued from a life situation by a masked guy known as ‘V’.” (V For Vendetta (2005) - Plot Summary - IMDb).

Guy Fawkes, however, is not fictional. Fawkes is a historical figure who had attempted to blow up Parliament (1604) in hopes of destroying the British government and instating catholic domination. He failed at his mission, but perhaps this act of rebellion is what inspired Anonymous to wear the Guy Fawkes mask.

In addition to the mask and the movie, Anonymous also has their own slogan: “Knowledge is free. We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forget.”

As far as we know, Anonymous communicates through 4chan (though I would not recommend searching the website), image board wiki forums, and IRC networks. Although Anonymous claims to not have any set leaders and, like I mentioned before, has only a small group of legit Anonymous hackers, it does have a way of targeting specific organizations all at once.

For example, a wide-range of people have strong opinions on something that’s unjust in the world. If the subject at hand seems to have a big enough impact on the world, Anonymous has stepped in to reveal classified files, expose authoritative figures, or to hack their way into private institutions (may it be the government or a corporation) to fix the problem or assist people in their activism. Because of their efficiency, they are considered a legitimate threat to the government or shady companies. ______

Anonymous is back?

Recently, on May 28th, the Anonymous Facebook account posted a video regarding the recent events of George Floyd’s death, the unfair power of Minneapolis police, and the protests that are now happening all over America. In the video, Anonymous said the following:

“Greetings citizens of the United States. This is a message from Anonymous, to the Minneapolis Police Department.

“Police brutality and murder is a widespread problem in the United States, which has undoubtedly infected nearly every jurisdiction in the country, but the Minneapolis Police Department is among the worst and has a horrific track record of violence and corruption. This week’s brutal killing of George Floyd, which has sparked protests and national outrage, is nearly the tip of the iceberg in a long list of high-profile cases of wrongful death at the hands of officers in your state. In fact, in the past two decades, 193 people have been killed by police in Minnesota.

“In recent years, we have seen numerous high profile killings in the area, including the deaths of Jamar Clark, Philando Castile, Justine Damond, Thurman Blevins, and Brian Quinones. These are only the cases to catch the headlines., where videos or other evidence proves that the police are lying. Sadly, in the vast majority of police killings, the only one left alive to tell the story is the officer who took the person’s life, and thus the cycle is able to continue because none of these murderers ever face any justice for their actions. This travesty has gone on for far too long, and now the people have had enough.

“In the most recent case of George Floyd, the blatant disregard for human life exhibited by the officers is undeniable and all evidence that has been released so far has shown that Floyd was being entirely compliant with the officers, which contradict earlier claims from police that he was resisting arrest. Furthermore, our initial investigation of the offending officers has revealed a criminal pattern of violence on the job. At least two of the officers involved in Floyd’s arrest, Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao, have a history of on the job shootings and excessive force complaints. The Star Tribune reported this week that Chauvin, the officer most directly responsible for Floyd’s death, has been involved in numerous on the job shootings where suspects were killed. There were four officers on the scene at the time of the incident, one who kept the gathering crowds away, and three who were forcefully holding Floyd down. Onlookers warned the officer that he was crushing the man to death, but none of the police on the scene seemed to have any concern for Floyd’s condition. You may have fired these officers to save face, but it is obvious that this type of behavior is condoned, if not encouraged within your police department, as it is in others. Officers who kill people and commit crimes need to be held accountable just like the rest of us, otherwise, they will believe that they have a license to do whatever they want.

“You will claim that this is the work of just ‘a few bad apples’, but what of the officers that stand by and do nothing while they commit offenses against the people they encounter, and the police departments like yours who refuse to prosecute these criminals as they would one of the citizens that they are sworn to protect.

“People have had enough of this corruption and violence from an organization that promises to keep them safe. After the events of the past few years, many people are now beginning to learn that you are not here to save us, but rather, you are here to oppress and carry out the will of the criminal ruling class. You are here to keep order for the people in control, not to provide safety for the people who are being controlled. In fact, you are the very mechanism that elites use to continue their global system of oppression, and the world is finally starting to wake up to this, and they are becoming increasingly angry every time they see blood needlessly spilled without consequence.

“These officers must face criminal charges, and officer Chauvin especially should face murder charges. Unfortunately, we do not trust your corrupt organization to carry out justice, so we will be exposing your many crimes to the world. We are Legion! Expect us.”

As you may be able to see, this is not any form of a warning to the Minneapolis Police Department and the government, but more of a declaration of action.

Over the weekend, the Minneapolis Police Department and the city were both kicked offline, but it’s undecided yet whether this was an accident or the work of Anonymous. Real records of President Trump’s past with sexual assault of a child has been “leaked” by this hacktivist group. I say “leaked”, because these reports were actually shown to the public years ago, but still kept quiet by supporters of Trump. Additionally, names of other police brutality victims have also been released to the public by the hand of Anonymous. Lastly, police radios have been reportedly hacked in the midst of protests and riots, playing either polka music or “Fuck the police”.

Overall, Anonymous joins the fight against police brutality and black social injustice, and the protesting continues.

________________________________________________________________

Follow for more news and send requests for updates on current events. Check the next post for pictures on this article.

#blacklivesmatter #police brutality #george floyd #anonymous #riots #minneapolis riots #2020 #news #this is not an official blog but i want to spread information on different topics #request for more #world drama

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