#because i really don't want to fight with this website over whatever it's trying now

[oldguardleatherdog]

let me start by saying, I'm okay to agree to disagree on this, and I respect you greatly as my queer elder. I hesitate to even send this because I don't think this cause is worth dogpiling (and not even the fun way) on anyone against and , like , I will continue to follow and admire you as a mutual who has been through a lot of the hell that I'm going through right now and got to a place I want to someday be. (for context, I am currently housing & food insecure and am trying to live in a queer-accepting city)

Posting will never be praxis, you are my brother in arms no matter what you call trump or cops or whatever. There are some fat liberation blogs that take issue with calling cops "pigs" for a lot of the reasons I bristle at calling Trump a fatass, and like, if someone is actively fighting cops who can and will actively hurt me and my found family, I don't care what names they shout while doing it. So I see where you are coming from and I'm glad you fight for me. I fight for us too, in what little ways I can while I keep me and my found family afloat. I do better work in the community just by existing around people as a living breathing transgender than I could do in a million posts on this website.

I do think that this is a valuable conversation to have, though, even though you are completely right that this is a trivial thing and not at all the bigger, more real issue at hand. I think it's still important, on online platforms such as this, to talk about how we refer to the other people on this planet.

Think about why you didn't call Trump a "retard". You certainly could have, it doesn't *not* apply to some of his behavior. I know people of our generations once used that word a lot, and we don't anymore. Why and when did we change that? I honestly don't remember. For me, my aunt was medically classified as "retarded" and she was the best person I'd ever met, so I decided that word shouldn't mean bad things. The first time I ever hit someone was over them using that word in a derogative way. it wasn't about "mental illness positivity" it was about humanizing the people that word has been used against - people who have been stigmatized and oppressed with that word.

Right now, hopefully, the same thing is happening to the word "obese". Fat people are less likely to be hired, granted loans or secure housing. they can be kicked out of airplanes and fired from their jobs because of their body size. There have been laws proposed to take fat children away from their parents and "treatments" proposed to wire children's jaws shut and starve them to make them thinner. They are often medically mistreated and misdiagnosed. I once went to a doctor with an ear infection and instead of antibiotics, he prescribed me *bariatric surgery.* I have been refused transgender top-surgery because of my BMI, which keeps me at a passively higher risk for self-injury and worse.

I do not care about body positivity. Honestly, between being fat, trans, and poor, I'm at a point where I've given up on ever feeling good about my body again. All I care about is getting jobs and meds and keeping a roof over my family's head and food on our table. Normalizing the idea that fat is a bad thing that anyone can change continues that stigma. When you use Fat as an insult, you are saying fat=bad. Fat is a neutral thing that some bodies can be, like short or tall or lean. The revolution needs to be intersectional, and body size is another axis of oppression that needs to be acknowledged, just like sexuality, gender, race, class, disability, etc.

If you've gotten this far, thank you for hearing me out. I'm sorry that others are just performatively parroting the same things over and over. Civility is bullshit, and if you still want to use body shaming as one of the ways you fight against bigotry, it doesn't really matter to me. Just as long as you acknowledge anti-fat bias as part of that bigotry too.

Thank you for writing and sharing your life experiences with me, and for your solidarity as well. You're striving to make your way as part of a despised minority in a world that's turned unspeakably harsh toward you in an aggressively mean way seemingly overnight, and I admire you for the life you have lived, for your courage and perseverance during this difficult time where resources are scant and your housing and food security is uncertain at best.

(FWIW, after I was bombed out of my Lower Manhattan home on September 11th, my income went from six figures down to nothing overnight, and I was homeless and destitute for years. Twenty years ago, I was where you are now, and I can tell you that what you're enduring today will not last forever, that there is light and hope and blessing in your future, that you're not as alone as you might think, that you must never give up.)

What more can I do to make the point that "fat" has nothing to do with this? As I've said, I grew up obese, and it wasn't until I enlisted in the Army at age 17 that I was able to free myself from my violent and abusive family and unlock the potential of the body that had been hidden under layers of fat and shame all my life. I know that my path is not for everybody, that many others are not so fortunate, and I ceased long ago to think that fat equals bad or lack of character or any other pejorative attitude that society has attached to it for generations. I hope I've made that clear and that you take my word as truth.

I am not saying "let's fat-shame Donald Trump to make him feel bad." I am saying that I'm deeply troubled by the LGBTQ+ community prioritizing hurt feelings over the very real damage that's being done to us right now all over the country by Trump, his minions, his proxies, and his cult of bloodthirsty followers and worshippers. Trump's accomplices in Congress and state legislatures and Moms For Liberty are taking over school boards all over the country, banning books and emptying library shelves and harassing teachers and librarians to the point where they're being run out of town, where the State of Missouri has defunded its entire public library system rather than follow a court order to restore books banned just for featuring LGBTQ+ characters.

DeSantis and Abbott have put in place policies that are unspeakably brutal, that are forcing trans people in Florida to slowly and brutally revert to their pre-transition state, that have given health care providers in Florida the right to deny treatment to you and me and all LGBTQ+ people because we are gay, lesbian, non-binary, trans... but God forbid we should call Trump mean names!

We've seen what happens when we buy into the "when they go low, we go high" fantasy pipe dream. This is not the way the world works, it has never been, and we need to put this loser idea in the trash bin where it belongs once and for all.

We're being attacked and harmed in unspeakable ways that are happening now. This is not theoretical or hypothetical. It's happening to us, to those we love, this minute and every minute of every day. And worse is in the pipeline - they're writing laws that will place us under virtual house arrest, that will regulate where we're allowed to go in our own cities and towns, when we're allowed to be seen in public, when and where we can shop, how we're allowed to dress, even what we're allowed to say and SING, for Christ's sake!

And I'm supposed to be concerned about some minuscule hypothetical percentage of my own people being OFFENDED because I'm somehow being insensitive and violating some trivial picayune social justice warrior philosophy, because there's a possibility of some fragile flower taking it personally, and that I should shut my mouth and let the MAGA nutjobs run roughshod over us? Oh, come let Daddy kiss it! while our brothers and sisters are suffering in real time. Sickening.

Anyone who has a problem with my stance doesn't have to follow me or emulate my proven effective tactics as an activist with 37 years of successfully defending our rights under my belt if they're so dainty and delicate and easily bruised. Everyone else that sees this for the strawman bullshit it is, get ready to hit the streets with bullhorns and whistles once again. We've got work to do.

Your arguments are strong and well-reasoned, and I accept and acknowledge everything you're saying. We can disagree on this, certainly, and still work together to turn back the progress that the MAGAs are making, restore our rights, and protect ourselves and each other. But that will require the snowflake contingent among us to get their collective head out of their collective ass, stop whining, and get with the damn program. Calling me names and telling me I'm being a bad gay activist is a waste of time and energy that should be spent fighting the fascists and the haters who are out to kill us.

And to you, my friend and fellow traveler with a radiantly beautiful soul and spirit, I urge you to hang in there, to keep the faith, to keep caring about life, to work with me to secure our own future and the future of our kind. I send to you my very best wishes, energy, and prayers that you will find your way to a place of health, security, stability, and love for yourself and for this precious community to whom we've both dedicated our lives, who mean the world to us.

Yours In Service, Animal J. Smith

#what more can i do to protect you all #to get you to realize the mortal danger we're in #to put the suffering of our own people ahead of our feelings #to join me in this fight that's eminently winnable #to get you off your butts and your high horses and get to work #to do something - anything - to help save us and save yourself from what they're planning to do to us and are already doing #to think of anyone but yourself for a damn change #to show me and the world your incredible courage in the face of evil #to restore our rights and roll back this tide of hatred and death that's about to overpower us #to make sure that my life's work these past four decades has not been wasted #to let me at long last step back from the front lines and cherish my time left on earth at 61 with AIDS and love my family #to be the dog and the man they need and deserve and long for #to lay down my sword and shield at last #please please please do this for me - it would be your greatest gift #for god's sake wake up #queer activism #queer is not a slur #it's a fucking battle cry #god i am so scared for us all #information gladly given

[tillman]

Embarrassed asking this bc I've been following for a hot minute now and still don't know anything haha--where would I start if I were to look into reading abt Lancelot and Galehaut?

NO ITS OK LOL medieval lit is fucking insane especially getting into it with no background here is my brief spiel: <- said before i ended up typing 800 words. sorry.

medieval lit is complex and extremely hard to approach. let alone that most translations work under the assumption the only people to ever read them would be academics with a background in medieval lit, getting into and reading it is a challenge. if u have an interest and dont want to have to brave one of the longest and most complex stories written in medieval french and translated by many many people into english, im happy to say the story of galehaut and lancelot has enough influence to have a pretty decent modern english retelling of the main beats in Lancelot and the Lord of the Distant Isles. (my pdf here, tho copies are really easy to find in bookstores and stuff this is only from 2007). It takes the main story of the vulgate and condenses it down to focus on just the love story of galehaut and lancelot. its pretty fun. the liberties it takes are slight and work for telling a coherent story.

Now, if you have read it, or want the real Galehaut experience, heres whats up, medieval texts and modern poems undercut:

Galehaut is in 5. i think maybe 6 medieval stories total. youre in for a treat as this is maybe the shortest "i want to get into arthuriana and i like this character where do i start?!" list possible besides like. drian the gay. or some other fucking nobody.

The main one, again, is the Vulgate Cycle. This is the main old french tale that inspired a looot of other arthurian works all over Europe. Its huge. Im not done scanning it BUT, i am done scanning the section Galehaut appears in, the beginning, because i got depressed after that lol. (Heres my scan of part 1, part 2 is on my website im too lazy to get both links).

From there, you got the most detailed explanation of the story of Galehaut, and can read the more fun shit and whacky shit with him and Lancelot in it YAY. Heres what i got pdfed on me rn:

Biggest one to note is he has a side role in Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. Nothing huge, and they do mix him up with Galahad at one point? but hes there. No one should read the original text its such a slog so heres Keith Baines awesome rendition

In other bad middle english texts, Lancelot of the Laik Book 3 has Galehaut, but its unfinished and also. only in middle english. fun footnote, dont read it. one day ill post my translation of book 3 alone LOL.

Short and sweet Galehaut is in The Old Knight, the greek text we have. he tries to fight for palamides and lancelot and tristan then try to fight for him. its cute. the old knight is an odd little thing just had to bring it up LOL (had to download a pdf for this one the site i read the article on before doesnt seem to be up.... just scroll to the bottom!) <- thisll be up on my website soon i forgot it i guess

Now for the funniest reveal: Galehaut plays more of a role in Tristania than Arthuriana most of the time (well. the arthurian branch of tristania im not getting into this rn). Why is Galehaut and Lancelots relationship expanded upon only here? only god can answer that.

Here is the Tavola Ritonda. Its one of the oddest texts i know of. Medieval italian. Very Very brutal. BUT. has some really interesting Galehaut takes and moments hidden in the . whatever is happening in this fucking text. its long as hell but mentioning for fun. (pdfff)

aand more interestingly. Here is the Belarussian translation of that. Which is even fucking weirder. mostly different plot, still has lots of really cute galehaut moments including the bit he asks tristan to join his and lancelots marriage. oh well i love the povest. (and heres that pdf)

Now. this is the wild card round. Heres the weird shit and the Hovey.

If you can brave French. modern french not old dont worry, Pierre Sala has Tristan et Lancelot. an exceptionally fucking weird story. Galehaut does make a slight appearance but mostly, keyley, funnierly, his evil german cousin is a recurring villain for a few chapters. its weird. its fun. its french. (pdf)

and finally. this one is on its own level, here is my dedication to Richard Hovey. one of the greatest poets of 1885 or whenever he wrote his arthurian stuff. He was gay. he famously called himself the american oscar wilde (and maybe met him at a party? one time we found a source saying they made out at a party.). and he wrote one of the only poems featuring galehaut i know.

well ok its a collection of dramas. and galehaut is not the focus. but he is a main character and he is insane. I recommend reading literally all his works hes a fucking amazing poet, you can even find his other poetry online easily. but heres his list of works on the camelot project. oh my god read richard hovey. please . hes my favorite poet.

#i have autism of the brain.

[shadowonwater]

Pokemon Scarlet Playthrough part 14: capturing ancient cursed objects, taking a long time debating team composition, steamrolling the league but taking surprise psychic damage from someone unexpected, and battling an amazing rival [victory road complete]

Playthrough Masterlist

So I ended up deciding to capture the Pokemon from the fairytale Raifort told me about. I already found a lot of the stakes but I didn't want to go wondering aimlessly around so I looked up where to find the stakes for the shrines.

So far I've fought and captured 3 out of the 4 of them. I'm saving the 4th for tomorrow because I should go to bed, it's late. I'm going to keep them in my pc, so no I'm not adding them to me team, unless I change my mind, but I probably won't. If I did though I'd probably replace my Kilowattrel. I've have him long enough though to get attached. (Nevermind all that, I am going to replace him)

First I went after the gate that only had one more stake left to find (the green one). But it was a bitch to find because the website I was just wasn't real clear about it's location, so now I have two guides opened up at the same time incase one is unclear. So basically I thought I was at the point the guide was showing but I wasn't it, was a very similar looking area nearby where I actually was supposed to be.

Next I went to the purple gate, I didn't have as much trouble finding the stakes this time. With both the Vessel and the Tablets I had a pretty easy time catching them, it only took the 2nd try for both of them. So that's how I got a weird mouse and a weird slug.

The blue gate happened after that. Again I had a not too bad time finding the rest of the blue stakes. But I had a lot of difficulty capturing the weird fish, aka, the Beads. It just wouldn't get.in.the.ball. But now I have it. Next and last gate after I get some shut eye.

The last one, the ice ferret was also a bitch to catch. I had a hard still whittling down it's health without getting it to faint and starting over. In the end Rocky Helmet was very useful. If do replace someone on my team I'm either adding this ice ferret or the ice/dragon. But the ice/dragon is further behind on levels. On the other hand ice ferret is 4x weak to fighting.

Raifort story line is now complete, she gave me Nasty Plot, not really all that useful to me but whatever. Maybe I'll do some more Tera raids so I can get more exp candy and stuff.

Man, I don't know. I really do need some more ways to cover fighting a Dragon type. I have no dragon moves, I have no ice moves, and I have two Pokemon who know a single Fairy move but neither of them are fairies. I have two Pokemon on my team that I don't really need, and one of them is a bit of a glass cannon.

I've considered putting Tinkerton back on my team but the other two Pokemon I'm looking at have just really good stats. Like one's a legendary and the other is pseudo legendary. I think I'm going to try to get ice/dragon's level up more then compare stats again. So I'm doing a lot of Tera raids to get candies as well as feathers to boost stats. One thing the ice weasel has going for it is that it's kind of cute looking, and also the attack Ruination is very powerful, it also has a great ability. I'm just really concerned about its typing.

Finally came to a decision, I've moved Watt the Kilowattrel off my team and instead put on Chien-Pao the ice-ferret-sword on my team. While I think that the ice/dragon was better logistically. I just wanted to have the ice ferret more.

So I was doing a bunch of Tera raids, including 4 star raids. Something really annoying that's happened in at least 3 of my 4 star raids is that the Pokemon used confuse ray. It sucks because my Pokemon keep hitting themselves instead of doing moves. And then the opposing Pokemon does the shield thing and I can't Tera yet because I haven't done enough moves. A couple of these raids almost ended in failure because of this sort of thing, but also because in those two my Pokemon fainted and the timer went down a bunch.

During these raids I've also caught a few Pokemon. Like hey, why evolve my Pokemon when I catch the evolution for free? Don't have to go through the trouble of leveling them up.

So talking about these ruinous legends...

The weird snail one had it's start as a writer writing about how terrible their king is. The writer was punished for trying to spread knowledge of the king's dastardliness. The writer's feelings of hatred towards the king seem to have caused the Tablets they wrote to come to life and combine with leaves to become a Pokemon.

My ice ferret doesn't have a given backstory. Somehow a broken sword combined with ice and snow to become a Pokemon. I imagine it also involves hatred or a curse of some sort that made it come to life, it's kind of a mystery.

The weird mouse also has a bit of backstory given. It looks like it was some sort of bowl for a ritual, Raifort says she thought the bowl resembled a Pokemon perhaps a deity, I'm not sure what it resembles though. But people "poured fear" into the bowl. I suppose they were scared of something this ritual was supposed to avoid whatever that something was? It seems that all that negative emotion caused the bowl to come to life as a dark type Pokemon.

I think it's interesting that the fish one is a fire type. I mean it swims through lava instead of water but it's still funny. Makes me think of Sandile because it swims through sand instead of water, too, I know there are some other Pokemon like that. This fire fish is also mysterious, no backstory. According to Raifort those beads are usually used for blessing something not cursing, so how did they come to life as a dark type? Who knows.

After eating dinner I'm heading to the Pokemon league. I'm eating chicken and waffles.

Okay I've beat Greeta but I haven't battled Nemona yet, I'll that after getting my current thoughts out, I guess I'll try to go in order.

So first I went to where the league area was via climbing up the cliff with Kori I then realized that the was a gate I could take there. I completely forgot about the gate but I did notice it when I was first exploring Mesagoza. I then spent a bit of time catching a bunch of Tandommouse because I'm trying to get the single child version of the evo. Looking at thechances right now... I'm probably going to want to catch even more...

Anyway I went into the building and Rika interviewed me. I forgot there was an interview, I was a bit nervous, but I wonder if the game will even let you lose the interview. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't. Well she asked me about what gym I had the hardest time at and I was like uuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh..... [dial up noises]. But from what I can remember it was the Psychic gym, but what she was asking for was the town, and I'm not great at remembering the town names, but I did remember this one. Then Rika asked me the name of the gym leader [dial up noise intensifies] It was honestly a bit of a guess between two names but I got the right one. Then she asked me the type and I'm like "Why are you grilling me on this?!" I mean it was the Psychic type I knew that but I was getting sick of this line of questioning.

Rika also asked me about why I was there and both "to be a champion" and "for fun" were true to me. She also asked what I was going to do once I got the title and immediately I'm like "fight Nemona". Because hell yeah!

So I passed and I could finally move on. But let me say this, when I walked into that office it sure was a little jarring to see a random office space and not a battlefield and the Rika suddenly looking like a business woman with her classes.

So the battlefield itself is boring it's just a blank blue room pretty much and all the battles happen there. I liked it when the Elite Four all have their own room themed around them and their type, it helped made the whole experience more big and epic. But here they just walk into the room. I guess you could say the lack of theming meant I didn't know what type they used but I don't that'd be a good enough reason for scrubbing the cool rooms. The same could be said about the gym buildings, I wish they weren't so cut-and-paste. I'd be nice if the gym building matched the type theme.

So, as I figured, since Rika was the one to interview me she battled me first. I didn't expect her to be a ground type trainer so that caught me a bit off guard but I did fine. Her Clodsire gave me a bit of trouble. Let me lay it out: She has Clodsire and I used my Cludsire. She Teras, I don't. If I did I would be at a disadvantage as my Clodsire is Tera poison. I tried to use Earthquake first, but she does protect. I try to use surf, her Clodsire has the Water Absorb ability and negates my attack. I use Earthquake again, she protects again. My Clodsire faints because her powered up Earthquakes hurt my poison boy. THen I used my grass cat and knock it out in one hit. It's just I really struggled to actually get a hit in.

Then the baby comes in, the child, the why-aren't-you-in-school-right-now?. Again I don't what her typeing is but I guessed ghost because her pendant kinda looked like the ghost icon. Nope! She uses steel types! I must say, it is funny though seeing thise tiny little child send out big strong guys. Same happened with Sabi, little girl with big strong Pokemon. She gave me some trouble yes, but nothing in particular worth bringing up. It wasn't that bad.

So... I had been wondering who the other elite four member was. I knew three of them so I was kinda expecting Hassel next but he came 4th. But instead I got slapped in the face with surprise. I knew a lot of people were wild about Larry but I didn't know why, sure it was kinda funny to have this businessman as a gym leader but I didn't really get the hype. I accidentally saw in one tag something along the lines of "I can't believe I didn't notice the foreshadowing" or something like that on a Tumblr post of someone posting art of him. I decided to ignore it as best as I could but I'll be honest I didn't expect this!

This is why people are wild about him, I think I get it now. When I first talked about him I thought he was an accountant or something who just did gym battles as a side gig. But no, this guy is fully a Pokemon battler who just happens to look like a depressed accountant. The boss he talked about was Greeta all along! Makes me want to look up what he says in the initial interactions with him.

So when he showed up I assumed he was using normal types again. Nope! It's flying types, but just as I figured, he did have his Staraptor on his team still. I guess something that could be considered forshadowing was the fact that he used his Staraptor as his final Pokemon in the first place. He was the only gym leader who's final Pokemon had a Tera type that matched one of it's already existing types. And I did find that kinda odd. Well all the Elite Four's Tera Pokemon tera types match their typing. So it fits in with that.

So I was caught off guard that he was using flying but only initially. I used my ice-sword-ferret and absolutely swept him. Just one hit KO after another, all from holding never-melt-ice and using ice spinner. The guy was demolished.

Finally we get to Hassel, the first of the Elite Four that I met, and also my art teacher. I assumed correctly that he used Dragon Types. He does come from a dragon tamer family after all, he even had a Gible in class with him. I also absolutely swept him with my ice ferret. Went the same exact way Larry did. Didn't stand a chance. Hassel crying because of being proud of me was cute. It was also cute that Poppy called him grandpa.

So I faced Greeta after that. The fight went mostly ok but I did have tough spots. An example of that being her... samurai bug. I've never seen that Pokemon before so I had no idea what to use angst it. I still don't know what typing it was but I'm guessing steel/dark? or steel/bug? I guess it could also be a fighting type? I really don't know.

Anyway about Greeta herself... or was it Geeta? Oh yeah it was Geeta woops, was saying her name wrong. Anyway I'm pretty meh about her as the champion. There's just nothing about her character that sticks out to me, she's a real nothing burger. Her eyes are pretty though, I like how they match the colors of her hair.

So I passed the test and am ready to face my rival, my true opponent, and the true champion in my heart, Nemona! I wanted to do the battle in her backyard but the game said no. It would have been more sentimental to me to have our final battle in the same place we had our first, but whatever game.

Anyway I've been kinda low-key shipping main character and Nemona. And I'm still doing it. Nemona calling me her treasure really seals the deal there. Well she said that having an equal was her treasure, but that does make me her treasure. And her excitement whenever she saw me was contagious. So yeah, battle time.

Well, one more thing before that, I noticed that the types the Elite Four uses matches up with the titans. Rika uses ground, that matches Great Tusks. Poppy uses steel, that matches Orthworm. Larry uses flying, that matches Bombirdier. Hassel uses dragon, that matches Tatsugiri. And while Geeta has a mixed team, her final Pokemon is a rock type, which matches Klawf. I just think it's neat that they match.

The battle with Nemona was so much fun! It felt a lot more epic then the elite four did. I still didn't have too much trouble my Pokemon are all late 60's early 70s. And I have switch mode on, switch mode really does help things be a breeze.

The music was great, I loved the location and having the big crowd watching along with the elite four, as well as Clavell and Geeta. I loved how Nemona started laughing after she lost and wanted to go for a round two. While my character's face looked overwhelmed, I was totally up for a round two. A very good ending, I loved it.

Afterwards I wake up in my dorm and Arven calls me. I guess I've gotten a real good reputation and Arven used that reputation to get a couple people to join our mission. Honestly, I thought I'd be recruiting my friends, but I guess not. I wonder if Arven knows I'm even friends with them? Well I suppose he should know about Nemona at least, but I don't know about Penny.

So he told me where on the map to go. It took me secound to find the location on the map. But I'll be going there. I'm real excited to finally go inside the crater. I just know there will be cool shit in there! So... I'll see you next time! Hasta la vistar!

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet #pokemon sv #scarlet and violet #first playthrough #playthrough #live posting #pokemon larry #pokemon nemona

[meg2md]

Wow, you're off Tumblr for months and the UI gets more fucked up than ever! Nice. How does Tumblr do it? Keep getting worse and worse? And yet I still come back to this website occasionally, because I'm also trash.

Residency makes it hard to keep a blog. I barely have time for household chores and hobbies, let alone ONLINE journaling when I'm also pouring out my heart occasionally on my actual, IRL written journal and trying to maintain friendships.

Anyway. Started R2. It's actually better so far, as much as I felt I was never going to be ready. Don't get me wrong, I still feel woefully inadequate approximately all of the time. But wow, does it feel good to not hold the gyne and OB pager, to not have to fight with the nurses about pitocin on the floor, to do something other than manage labor on OB days. I started on nights, which I thought was going to be a disaster, but actually ended up being fine. I think I got lucky, because usually the R2 gets blown up since they manage antepartum AND gynecology overnight, but the ED and antepartum nurses were relatively benign to me.

And just... the FREEDOM of not having to write q2h strip and mag notes, to not have to pay hawk-like attention to the strips... and the nurses and I get along better than ever now that

A) they have new intern prey to feast upon, and

B) I'm not riding everyone's ass about the strips

Literally, my LEAST FAVORITE PART OF MY JOB is being a labor intern because you're expected to make sure the pitocin keeps going up, up, up but the nurses don't always want to with a category 2 strip, but like, category 2 doesn't mean it's not reassuring, and also you can't have a baby without contractions, but there's always a "policy" for why we can't do XYZ.... and it's like... why am I even here then, just run the labor floor without me if everything is 100% policy-driven, lol. Category 2 isn't BAD guys!!! It's not always bad. And I know the strips aren't always amazing but dude.... we either pit enough we can get a baby out vaginally or they might as well get cut here and now instead of spinning our wheels with inadequate pitocin dosing.

Anyway... rant over hahaha. Ooooh I hated labor as an intern. I loved it in the beginning, but I QUICKLY, QUICKLY came to dread it for the above reasons. And now, as an R2 on OB days, my primary job will be c-sections! Which is incredible because right now I feel like I'm so bad at them. I've done a few over 20 since I started residency. Other programs have you do more as an intern, but I did end up with >200 vaginal deliveries, so I really can't complain. And like I said, my OB days blocks will be me doing 2-5 sections per day... so I'll get real good real fast. I just don't do it for awhile (nights > family planning > oncology > OB days) so I feel nervous when I'm assigned sections on nights and call, but I'll get there eventually. TRUST THE PROCESS, they say. I mean, I guess I thought I'd never figure out how to insert a hysteroscope into a uterus and chomp off an intracavitary leiomyoma, and I figured that out by the end of R1, so there's got to be something to it.

Things I still don't feel good about that I should have gotten better at by the end of R1: LACERATION REPAIRS. But whatever. I'm sure it will improve as my surgical skills improve.

Now I'm starting to stress because in the middle of having more responsibility, figuring out C-sections and basic laparoscopy, etc, I have to get research started and decide once and for all if I want to do fellowship. I've been waffling between generalist practice and MIGS for ages.

On one hand, I do like obstetrics more than I initially expected, I like that I'll have more freedom to do abortion care, and the thought of MORE training when I'm already almost 32 and have 2.5 years left of residency makes me want to vomit. On the other hand, the MIGS lifestyle is much better than OB lifestyle, I may still be able to do abortions, and I really, REALLY want to have elite surgical training. I'm sure I'll figure it out more on my gynecology and oncology blocks when I do more minimally invasive/generally spend more time in the OR. Not sure how much I like the thought of running a chronic pain and endometriosis clinic. But also... I feel like I went to a decently-tiered medical school and graduated with the assumption I would do fellowship, and to cut my training short and arguably without satisfactory surgical training feels bad. Because at the end of the day, I'm not actually sure how well general OB/GYN residency prepares you for surgery. I'm not sure I trust it yet.

C'est la vie. Back to other things. Studying hormonal contraception in patients with medical co-morbidities before biking back to my house to play MASS EFFECT 3. I'm also a pickle ball fanatic now.

Byeee

#medblr #studyblr #residency #medical school #premed

[bcacstuff]

I would really love your opinion on exactly who Tash Pow is. So she has like 13k followers on TW fir creating & posting ridiculous memes about Sam. I know that he didn’t like the demeaning aspect of them & she got upset & with the advice of her husband (what’s that about) she went from Aus to NOLA to apologize?! The whole thing is extremely bizarre to me.

She raises funds for things, in his name. How does he feel about that? Recently someone “stole” her meme, Sam retweeted and the entire twitter fandom blew up and she leaves to pout saying she’s never coming back. Her minion SFTahoeMaui or whatever her name is, posts on her behalf. Then Tash is back. After 4 days!!

Now, she’s created a website for her shitty sparkly merch and is raising funds for the Lyceum Theatre. It’s all very creepy, weird, possibly illegal, and I just don’t get it.

Sigh, so I wrote this lengthy answer to you yesterday Anon, and then right when I was adding some last sentences.... lost the whole post 😞

So why the late answer, and I try to rewrite what I wrote and lost...

First of all, I watched it all from a distance, didn't keep up all the time but think I saw the 'highlights' and how things evolved. I try to be as impartial as I can, I don't take any sides in this. It's solely my observation and it's possible I might see some things in the wrong context.

Beginning at the beginning (for me), first thing I saw was about 2.5 years ago, when she just took down all the 'Still Hot' memes. Apparently because Sam told her he didn't want to be objectified, and of course she obeyed dutifully to his request. Though I think she might've been somewhat disappointed as I recall she wrote something that she only meant fun and people were seeing it as that. It all created some stir amongst her followers who liked her memes and S tweeted:

Then she went to NOLA indeed (with approval of her husband), brought him several whisky samples from Australia and talked to him to make sure there were no hard feelings left. And all was good and they all sang Kum Ba Ya again together

She went on with her account, changed the style of her memes a little, 'Still' was still in there, 'Hot' left. I found it from time to time funny and creative. She created initiatives supporting him and a birthday present, a video with lots of fan messages to be presented at his birthday. Her popularity increased further on and you could almost speak of the beginning of a fandom within the fandom. Even with some minor skirmish now and again.

She started to work with other fan accounts, and they initiated the Save a Seat project, amongst others with SF. A fundraising for the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. Which, at itself was nice and successful and of course very much appreciate by the Lyceum as well as by S. And widely reported in the fandom as you might have expected!

But.. [there's always a but isn't it?], as it is with groups forming, there are the supporters and there are the ones that start questioning things, or disagreeing on how things are done. And little by little we saw more and more skirmish or even some heated discussions going on, not always in a very respectful tone. I might have posted now and then some of it, especially where it concerned SF's tone of posting.

People were bullied, harassed, blocked for having an opinion that didn't match with theirs. Even blocking lists were created and spread around.

Meanwhile another charity project was formed by some, outside the group and not involving Tash&Friends. The Supernovalegacy raising funds for students for the RCS. Nothing wrong with that, all good initiatives at itself. And why would you not tolerate another one within a fandom. It's like having more than one bakery in a village, not every one likes to buy their bread at that one bakery and it's a good thing to be able to choose. Even more, some competition can make parties stronger.

Except that is not what was happening, the groups started to fight each other, over the attention of their superhero, and more and more harsh disputes and accusations where thrown at each other back and forth. Not necessarily by the ring leaders themselves, but by others supporting one or the other group. But you know how it goes when you put your head above the parapet...

At some point Tash's account seemed to be suspended. I think it was about her selling mugs with the image of S on it (her memes). She created something she called the ' Sparkling Lounge' and had a page on bonfire selling mugs and T-shirts. Apparently opponents reported it and her account on Twitter was under investigation. Though little while later it was there again and there was no real explanation about what had happened (as far as I could see).

But what you can take from it is that there was much prejudice, accusations and more and more harsh discussions and blocking going on. Other accounts in the fandom taking sides, while bystanders didn't really know how to act or what to say, or even felt unsafe to express their opinion. And perhaps bystanders that rather want to keep their distance from it all, kept silent or even left. As the whole thing started to look more and more like children quarrels on the schoolyard.

Then recently we saw how they tumbled over each other when their knight in shining armour retweeted a tweet with a meme from Tash that was posted by someone else., naming it his fav. Not Tash herself (as she acts more passive aggressive imo), but others from her 'fandom' started to point out that it wasn't a meme of the poster but from Tash. And a war that took days began over crediting owners of images, editing images in the right and the wrong way and other things that we would all shake our heads about. It evolved in calling Tash a bully with screenshots of tweets as proof and ended with some better known fan accounts shutting down their account, including Tash.

As you can expect the legendary philanthropist and their devoted head master kept wisely silent after his unfortunate retweet and didn't come to the rescue. Though I saw he liked an article about the wretched meme in one of the tabloids, but didn't retweet it. (which he normally does!) Only his thirsty driver tweeted something about the whole drama, trying to extinguish the fire, and another fan account posted after the dust settled somewhat down:

After a little while Tash was back, though her tweets are private only to be viewed by verified followers. Her bonfire site still exists and she's still selling mugs and Tshirts (some with his image on it) stating the revenue goes to good causes like the Lyceum and Unicef.

But to me the underlying factor of the all the drama's is the groups craving for attention, jealousy and not granting the other party the light in the eyes or should I say any attention of their King of Men. And grounds for accusations are easily found, especially when it involves money/funds. When you do it on your personal account, it is hard to proof your good intentions.

I actually don't think any of them all, both sides, has bad intentions or doing anything fraudulent (though again you can see how important transparency is in these things), but all seeds for toxicity are present. It turns people off and can only lead to a bad ending. No matter how good the intentions of all involved were.

Being respectful and accepting other opinions, agreeing to disagree peacefully goes a long way. But sadly a number of the louder accounts chose to bully and harass in their shortsightedness caused by being overly devoted to a person, resulting in what we see today.

Concluding I have to add that this whole phenomenon is not unique to the Twitter community, but you can observe the same right here on Tumblr between the groups being convinced of the different narratives floating around and defending it fiercely. In this era where we have many more means to communicate than say 30 years ago, we still haven't learned how to communicate in a constructive way.

[a-room-of-my-own]

It's official. I've peaked radfem and radblr and really just anything radical feminist related. If this is the reaction they all have over the Roe v Wade debate, consider me over and out. The way they just let misogyny and male supremacy win like this is making me see red. They really think they're doing something new and revolutionary by telling women to just stop fucking men if the consequences are too great to bare. Newsflash, asshole: That's EXACTLY what conservatives have been saying this entire time. Their hypocrisy really knows no bounds and it baffles me that they can't see it, either. That they really think they're owning the GOP, the conservatives, religious groups, and the hard right by saying, "Uhm girlies just don't have sex because daddy government tells us we're not allowed certain things anymore owo" got me fucking screaming. Y'all are really spineless at this point!

This isn't me saying that women should just throw all caution in the wind and have reckless sex, mind you. It's just the way these radfems are behaving in the face of actual oppression is making me speechless. Why are we just lying on our backs and letting these people in the government win?! For what?!

If it's the case that we just don't have what it takes to fight back and to just act 100% in self preservation, then you know what, feminism, especially radical feminism, is fucking cancelled as far as I'm concerned. Let the men win and we can just go home and give up our jobs, careers, education, and stay in the kitchen, since that's all far more safer than being out and about in a post-Roe v Wade world. Let the TRAs win our bathrooms and other female exclusive safe spaces because it's too dangerous to fight back. Let the MRAs win and have them agree that cocksuckers and handmaidens deserve nothing but pain unless she keeps her legs closed.

The way y'all say that the women who are critical of separatism are just happily complicit in her own oppression is top comedy, because with the way you happily agree with Christian Fundies with regards to forced purity culture are also complicit in your own oppression, too.

Fuck all of this and fuck all of you who can't see the blood on the walls. I used to be offended years ago when people compared radblr with tradblr "without the letter t", but after all of this, now I see the comparison.

I fully understand your anger. Just know that they're a tiny minority blogging from their bedrooms in between writing erotic fanfiction about tv characters. They don't represent anything except themselves and the internet can sometimes act as an echo chamber and give you the impression that a few dozen of very vocal people have influence or that you could meet them in a real-life feminist group.

That's not true. The people I have met who worked daily to help women had barely a website, they didn't have social media either. It doesn't mean that the internet doesn't have an influence on how movements or ideas are perceived, on the contrary. But they can be confiscated and distorted, and that's what's happening here.

Just try to picture them as people, each one isolated in her own home, screaming abuse at strangers to compensate whatever issue they have with life.

And if you want to stay on here, fortunately there are a lot of intelligent, articulate and kind women and men who are interested in this subject, people I'm always happy to talk to and learn from. I'm sorry all this made you so upset ♥️

#radrama

[entoman-created-by-the-tallgreys]

Rule's Aren't Morale's

Rules really aren't morals that's the one thing most people struggle with in the world they can't understand the two differences.

. . .

Most people in the world, confused following the rules and or following the law they have a website somewhere you go they want you to follow the rules with the same thing as being good morals.

. . .

Walls and rules are not the same things as moral code or a moral understanding.

If a website has unfair rules or is unjust in the way it goes about things and sees the innocent as the criminal and the criminal as the innocent then you would you have is a demonic website.

. . .

I find an extremely strange that it was civilian kills another civilian and wanted civilians was an evil Asshole that one's civilian that killed the other civilian is going to jail arrest his life but if a police officer does it they get all Scott free see if you're a police officer you get to kill any Asshole you kind of want.

. . .

But if you're a civilian and you try to do that you're going to jail the rest of your life and it's called first degree murder laws have no mercy for anyone who takes their moral code more seriously than they take the laws and you do website owners or social media sites they don't care for your morals either they don't care of what the right thing is they care for what the rules are with the money's coming in.

. . .

There is a reason why there is so much Injustice in the day human beings have become completely and absolutely in human nature they have become monsters crazy monsters Super Evil and out of mind !

As in they're out of their own mind.

. . .

You live in a world that is literally killing itself because you cannot have a world this Fuked up and it not come to an end I'm sorry you cannot start a campfire and not have the Log's convert themselves to Ash.

. . .

I don't care what can you get banned from I don't care what law you broke we are not cogs in a machine and because of all the riots going on in the America right now it is more and more proof that the system is dead.

. . .

The Blue knights that keep upholding Law and Order are soon to become targets of prey.

. . .

Everyone hates cops and everyone hates website owners like social media site owners who threatened the band their account when they got into a fight with someone else there was none of their business it was none of their business.

. . .

But someone reason some Asshole that owns the account I got to report for your account now gets a threat in your account and all that you did on that whatever good you did and it doesn't matter and you wonder why people turn the violence they're sick and tired of you and your Bullshit.

. . .

They're severely sick and tired of people butting in and destroying their property your account is your property, the rules of the site don't really matter your property matters it's your account it's your property the account doesn't really belong to the company because you put your own intellectual investment into it they don't have but the courts are 100% against its own people and you wonder why more and more the country is literally turning to rogue violence I mean like America slowly turning into a battlefield to where so much is holding your finger up and say you're breaking the rule's . . . Will get you will have you be rotting before the end of the day.

. . .

People are tired people are sick and tired of rules the sick and tired of unlimited challenges getting harder especially with the economy people are sick and tired of police officers coming around threatening them they're sick and tired of their their connection to other people the internet being extremely threatened by very frail and stupid fragile rules that are infinitely easy to break and you have so much to lose over so little that can be accidentally done.

. . .

No one is perfect and you're going to mess up eventually and when you mess up you lose everything and it's impossible for the human brain to balance everything is doing in his life on top of the fact everything goes on the internet that's not possible for the human brain the human brain can't do that.

. . .

So will be no surprise to me if very soon people start turning their guns and attacking the companies I mean I swear there's going to be like Mass terrorism here in America we're going to see a lot of actual companies kind of like Reddit or Instagram who knows might be next be burning like a police station.

. . .

Who knows you might even see game companies eventually get attacked next I mean like little like acts of like total war on them and when I say War, I don't mean legal fight I don't mean emotional conundrum I mean like someone I mean like a group of people grabbing guns and opening fire over the building that did them harm in the real world like people who work for the company no longer being alive because of the poor choices they made and banning someone else's account.

. . .

People getting tired, and trying to be over the head you have to be obedient that's the only good moral is absolute obedience people are not stupid most of them are not stupid if you believe absolute obedience is good will your sheep, You're Not a Human Being you're a cog you're a tool.

. . .

Although I'm not going to say that I am a human being I cuz I am not I do know ultimately you are not to be the slave to somebody else and being someone for slave is not a moral thing.

. . .

The corporations have gone so far and everyone is just tired of it they know they don't have any power so they're fighting back as hard as they can they know the courts are against them they know the cops are against them they know the government is against them they know the corporations are against them and you know what is causing Americans to go into war mode it's causing them to fight is causing slowly causing absolute pandemonium on the streets.

. . .

Your actions have consequences any of your multi-billion dollar corporation, it does not matter even if you are a multi-billion dollar social media or Internet corporation you're still immortal you still live you still breathe you still eat you still need to Shit.

. . .

You're still mortal as Fuck.

. . .

And people know that the humans know that they know that you're still mortal they know you have a limited lifespan like everybody else doesn't hurt doesn't matter how much green paper you can get the roll around it it's just paper it doesn't matter it's just paper the love of the love of green paper or the love of money is a root of all mental illness it's a rootable sickness.

. . .

And so I'm starting to see more and more violence pop up as long as he more and more people may death threats against even game company because they lost their account there's too many rules in America right now or at least permanently.

. . .

There's too many rules as too many laws it's too easy to Fuck Up !

. . .

And people are really tired of the authoritarianism people are tired of not being able to kind of do whatever they want people to a degree that all of them now to a degree have a moral compass of what's right and wrong, again not all of them.

. . .

But on top of it all, I just thought I'd let you know that it's just one of the many steps that proves that the world is coming to an at least, America is coming to an End.

. . .

#red pill

[davidmariottecomics]

100 Blogs (Give or Take): FIGHT!

Hello! 

Welcome to my 100th* blog! 

*Or, rather, blog week 101 over on my website. In terms of actual blogs, I'm probably more in the 70s-80s? I try to update as much as possible, of course, but some weeks things've not uploaded properly. Occasionally, I've had just too much life stuff or I haven't really had much to write about. And sometimes, on the extreme ends, I've had way too much to write about and have been overwhelmed at trying to parse out everything I needed to. Last week, when I missed the actual week 100, was somewhere inbetween those: feeling uninspired because I was so tired from both stuff in my personal life and the many many many things happening in the world at large. 

I've, unsurprisingly, still got a lot on my mind. Like 200 organizations have pledged their support for KOSA and sounds like they might not all understand exactly what they're supporting (but you can still make your voice heard on why not to let it pass, namely the continued safety and security of LGBTQ+ folks online who might otherwise get explicitly banned from the most public online spaces, or at least implicitly banned through shadowbanning--as well as all the kids that could be harmed from the inability to access information that they might actually need.).

The U.S. blocked a U.N. call for ceasefire singlehandedly, despite the rest of the security council (minus abstaining U.K. and... that was noticed, guv) being in favor and, of course the overwhelming national and international support for a ceasefire (one progressive thinktank's polling suggested around a 60% US support for ceasefire, to whatever extent those kinds of polls can be trusted, however, the feet on the ground at protests, making calls, sending emails, trying to get into Senatorial offices with ladders, etc show a pretty vocal support for one).

The website formerly known as Twitter gave me just another reason to leave with their new AI. I don't want to see anything about it because I, y'know, get that it's like dunking on the people who wanted to use it for evil and that's funny or whatever, but it's also another AI system that's almost certainly just regurgitating things actually people said and thought and made and ought to be given credit and/or money for the use of. We shouldn't be letting our guard down around an AI just because it's telling transphobes to go fuck themselves--this is still the same shit that is stealing from artists or denying people their medical coverage!

And, also mostly on Twitter because it's a bad place (and I'll remind ya now, I'm leaving by the year's end. I'll be here on the blog and you can find me on Bluesky and I have a couple spare invites if you might need one, but my Twitter's coming to an end soon and I think my Facebook/Insta aren't too far behind...) multiple dirtbag comics guys decided to make the rounds again. They've had their airtime and I have no interest in giving them a platform, but boy, they sure were around. 

Plus, y'know, all the other stuff that has just been continuing, from the continued assault on Ukraine to Covid hospitalizations and deaths going up again.

It's the end of the year and cha'boy is tired. It has been a long, long year and I'm very much looking forward to it ending for whatever that is worth and the time of relaxation I get to have around that end. And so, I wasn't really feeling like writing... but then, I saw a post on Bluesky from Marcus Jimenez asking all comics folks about crafting fight scenes. And so I wanna talk about that this week because I don't often get a chance to talk about the mechanics of comics within comics, and that can be really fun! 

Squaring Up

As someone who has written and edited a lot of fight scenes, there are a lot of different ways to go about it. As I think I've said before, in my own writing, I tend toward a little more description and full dialogue so the artist has those space considerations in mind when working from my scripts. As an editor, I've worked the "Marvel" way where pages are more plotted with with less dialogue and specific action. I've worked with folks who do more of a rough pass where they focus on the concrete smaller moments and then leave a lot of the action up to the artist. I've worked with folks who're even more prescriptive than me. And there's something to finding the right balance on all sides with all these folks--from the writer and artist meshing in terms of what sort of detail they want from each other to having complimentary colors and letters. 

But for myself, and something I have sometimes talked to creators about, one of the first things I focus on when it comes to an action or fight scene is the specific things the character(s) can do. When I think about some of my bigger fight sequences in say Transformers vs. the Terminator or Transformers Wreckers: Tread & Circuits (both available from my webstore, *hint hint*), one of the most apparent things is that I loaded them with a lot of characters doing a lot of things, so... sorry to my artists (no, I know Alex and Jack loved working on them--again, if you can, write to the artist's strengths and I happened to work with guys I knew were excited about these sorts of big scenes). But in that, there are a lot of characters with specific abilities. Generally speaking, right, in TF/Term, we've got three different types of combatants: Sarah Conner is a human, the T-800 is a Terminator, and the Transformers are Transformers. So the skills Sarah has are different from all the robots and, obviously, the Transformers have the ability to convert modes which is something unique to them as characters that can make for really exciting sequences. And even within the Transformers, there are different combat capabilities: Skywarp can teleport. Soundwave has sonic attacks. Megatron has a huge arm cannon. Optimus has an energon axe. The Seekers can fly. And characters like Velocity are medics, who she doesn't really shoot to kill, she can hold her own after millenia at war, but she's not a fighter first and doesn't wanna do terrible damage to anyone. 

To me, it's the same thing as a fight with Spider-Man. You know he's got the proportional speed, strength, and agility of a spider. You know he has web-fluid (unless he doesn't and that sort of circumstance is interesting in a fight). He can stick to things and sense danger and all the standard Spidey tricks. And if you want a scene to be engaging, you wanna know what your characters can do in it that is unique--either to other characters and stories, or within this specific scenario. Seeing Spidey use his webs or his wall-crawling or his spider-sense is more interesting on a page than him just swinging his fists (generally). These are all sort of tools in the toolbox that determine what they can do in a fight. I also think that when you combine them with the circumstances of the fight, you start to see how they'll act in a fight. Why they make the decisions they do. 

So, to use TF again, in TF/Terminator, let's talk about the set-up to the big fight that runs through issues #3 & #4. It starts out with Bumblebee and Sarah scouting out the Decepticons who are up to no good. And the instigating question is, if Bumblebee's a good scout, how does someone sneak up on him? Well, Skywarp is a teleporter. So he just appears! But he's also maybe a little dumb, so he announces himself. Bumblebee's first priority is protecting Sarah, so the best way to do that is for him to shift modes around her as a running shield. They'll go faster. If he gets hit, it'll reduce the impact on her. Etcetera. He could do other things--he could stay and fight and blast at Skywarp, but because the option is open to him to change modes and to drive away, he's going to because that's fun and it makes sense with his character. Then he tries to do some fancy driving to trick Skywarp into ramming into Megatron, but because Skywarp can teleport, hey, he gets away in perfect position to take another run at Bumblebee. But because he teleported higher to get a better position, it also left him more open to get shot by Optimus in the heroic arrival of the rest of the Autobots. The characters' abilities made a really clear picture of the sort of action that could occur with the setting and are reflective of why they act the way they do. 

Throw a Punch A lot of the action is going to flow pretty naturally, from a writing standpoint, once you've got it started. If I know who my characters are, what they can do, and the basic scenario they find themselves in, as long as I've got that in my head, I can just sort of play them off each other and see how the action goes. But there ar some other practicalities I try to take into account as I go. 

1. How many characters do I have to keep track of? Like I said, a lot of my fight scenes have been bigger. I've got groups fighting each other, with civilians to worry about. And while you don't need to show every beat of every action, you do have to keep roughly in mind how everyone is reacting and to what extent you do want to switch between POVs and protagonists. I tend to measure my beats to either pages or page turns, rather than doing too much action switching on a single page unless I'm trying to convey just how hectic things are and just how simultaneous actions are occuring. 

2. How fast is your action moving? Two things I think about a lot when I'm writing action are that a round of combat in Dungeons & Dragons is supposed to be 6 seconds, and that the coolest fight I've ever seen on film is the almost 6 minute fight scene in They Live. (6 minutes later...) I'm back! Okay, so either way, I think what both of those are very representative of are how quickly action occurs in a fight and how much of the time in a fight is the other stuff. It's the non-combat movement. It's catching your breath or setting a trap or focusing on another problem or putting sunglasses on a guy. And in comics, you have the ability to dialate time as you'd like, so each panel can be a second or a matter of seconds, with the gutters allowing time to pass out of frame. You want your action to be logical and continous, but it's okay to have other things happening in the flow, and maybe more importantly, to chose which moments have the most impact.  In D&D, 6 seconds can take like 6 minutes. And on film, you're getting so many constant frames. Comics lets you be a lot chosier in how you expand and contract the time around those moments. 

3. How text heavy is the fight? Here's the other side of things. I know that I tend to be a talker. I mean... look how long it's taken to get to this point! I like dialogue in my comics and often have characters trading verbal jabs during the action. And that takes time and space. As do sound effects. So, I try to balance my fight scenes to the essentials. Much the same as the issue of time, I'm trying to select the moments of greatest impact with what we're "hearing". The more that's being asked of an action panel, the less text I try to give it. Let the art take over. But if I can use the action as a punctuation: If Optimus or Thunderclash or whoever is giving his hero speech and can toss a punch at a baddie to make his point, I'm going to use it. And if action is the visual punctuation to dialogue in this way, SFX are the visual punctuation to the action. They're an exclamation point on what sound is important. A lot of the time, it'll be no sound. But if it'll clarify the action or if it'll enhance the mood, go for it! 

Most important to a fight scene is that *generally* they're supposed to be fun. They're moments of fantasy where a side that's in some sort of right and a side that's in some sort of wrong clash and there's a victor and we all cheer because it's entertaining to see Rowdy Roddy Piper get his ass handed to him up until the end, but when he finally gets one over on Keith David, you know it's because he was right. So while you're thinking of all this stuff, if you give in to the fun, it'll propel you through a lot of it. Now, there're obviously also moments when the fighting is supposed to be building tension or showing the horrors of violence, but I think that goes to a lot of the same mentality as we've already got. It's about making the characters respond to the situation of the fight and if their responses fall in line with that, it'll still be smooth sailing because it'll be what makes sense.

I think that's it for me for this week, but maybe in a coming week, I can do something like a mini-version of something I did on my Patreon when I did an annotated version of the Wreckers #1 script and  do sort of a practical walk-through of a new original fight scene. 

Until next time. Happy Hanukkah to those that celebrate! 

What I enjoyed this week: Blank Check (Podcast), Dungeons & Daddies (Podcast), Reverse 1999 (Video Game), Nancy (Comic), Lego Masters (TV show), Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror (Short story collection), Factory Summers by Guy Delisle (Comic), It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood (Comic), Slaughterhouse-Five (the Comic adaptation by Ryan North & Albert Monteys), being almost done with all gift shopping and wrapping 2 weeks early, Yu-Gi-Oh: Duel Links (Video Game), Dandadan (Manga), our little mall Model Train Museum, Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville (Comic), Blue Beetle (Comic), Birds of Prey (Comic), Christmas lights, finding a good deal on a present for myself (I found the G.I. Joe Bishoujo Scarlett statue for a mere $40 at a local secondhand store and I think she's really pretty), not getting sick even tho Becca was, and I guess The Killer (Movie). Not my favorite Fincher by a lot. We're tentatively gonna see Godzilla: Minus One tomorrow, so looking forward to that and will try to figure out seeing Boy and the Heron, Eileen, Dream Scenario, and maybe The Marvels (tho it being a Disney film makes it a tougher sell) before they're out of theaters... and maybe Priscilla... and maybe FNAF on the big screen since Becca's really into FNAF right now. Too many movies! And I love movies! 

New Releases this week (12/6/2023): Sonic the Hedgehog #67 (Editor)

New Releases next week (12/13/2023):  Sonic the Hedgehog: Winter Jam (Editor)

Announcements: Look for a kind fun thing I contributed to this week! I'll share it when it's live! 

The Cartoonist Cooperative is still doing E-Sim cards for Gaza. You can donate a digital sim card so that residents can get access to the internet and have more functional phones and, in exchange, get some comics or a drawing or whatever else is available from the many participating artists. You can also give more directly. If you don't have money, and I get it, you can call or fax or email or show up at the offices of your representatives. There are a ton of demonstrations happening this weekend and you can see if you can put your actions in on one of those!

If you aren't a Patreon backer yet, remember, it's a great gift for someone or yourself. At my $10 tier, last month, I got Becca to record an Adults-Only podcast called "Abandoning the Premise" with me. You should be able to hear a short sample at the link. And if that seems cool to you, you can get the whole episode, but a bunch of other weird stuff on my Patreon! This month's "Something Weird"s are going to be a root beer review (I bought 6 different root beers and Becca suggested I talk about what I thought of them and there'll be a little more to it that that) and hopefully posting next weekend, a Holiday Gift Guide written, chosen, and designed by me (be careful if you're a person who might get a gift from me... you might see your present in there)! 

And keep an eye out for more news soon. Really hoping to have some cool news in the new year if not before! 

Pic of the Week: So, last Wednesday, I made a trip up to the IDW Los Angeles office. Because we have a lot of people spread out, we have a couple office locations. But the LA office happened to host some friends from SEGA and, specifically, some visitors from Sonic Team! We gave them the tour, talked about the comics, gave them some to take home, all the good usual visiting stuff. But Karasuno-san, Kanemoto-san, and Hoshino-san very generously did some sketches for us before they left. So, should you get a chance to tour the IDW offices in the future, you might see this sketch page hanging on the wall. 

#comics #comic writing #fight scenes #they live #transformers #transformers vs terminator #sonic idw #real life news

[the-firebird69]

There's more happening and it is pretty huge those numbers are gigantic it's a poor out of the Midwest and extreme down and other men hilarious and they get hit and they come out of bunkers but it's really only half clone but still it's far too many that's too many people it's going to keep going and going and going with that many. We need to stop the clothes from going up there and they're really just marauding that they're not fighting other clones. And the orders are going out I'm going to destroy the cloning, of Tommy f and topside, as you can see they are at each other already have been for years, now huge numbers fight over cloning facilities. Huge. In order to dominate with.

Will probably orchestrate this now.

other things happening the warlock I put a huge fleet into the ocean and yes the 16 candles series is underway. It's a huge deal and she notices that people are not interested in her and for real since he's trying to figure out why she sees with her husband's doing bothering people pestering them saying stupid things incense you certainly are A gifted person are you, leaves him theere thinking about it. And in moments the idiot is back saying stupid idiot stuff to us so we're going to start hitting that idiot. So basically she goes around to the whole movie trying to get someone interested in her, in the series she's doing the same thing and fails. And supposed to be anagous but really they're saying other people are our son and parts are in the future and I son does not want to have anything to do with her. And calls him a rat on and off stage when they're talking about him. And this is not really us it's not really appropriate you can call him that and she would say so what that's what he said cuz you're a huge rat and matter of fast we don't like you. And she does not represent Hera but she represents is a woman who has been terrorizing people with their man and for some reason can't have a good time so you know she's doing it and they can't stop her and they end up ignoring her and expressing that they don't like her. And her son says it's like right in the crease for having her do it more and so he understands the analogy now so they're pushing her to push him to be a nut case because he's Percy.

So she goes oh no that's what it is and that's why the series is important. It was funny because she was thinking it was her and for another reason. And it's like no we need your ass to continue being an ass to take your ass off and that on a date and it was horrible and she's feeling it again and she feels nothing but contempt and hatred. But there's like this Trump was doing it on purpose and then he got bamboozled and admitted it was him and raise your life miserable meaning that you're all fools by Tommy f again and she's sort of figured it out I mean it's being encouraged for her to do it by you guys my behavior because it's just a natural reaction you guys have but it's done because he wants to continue to squeeze your stuff out of this idiot and or as a scapegoat more likely cuz he takes his people and put some of the matrix or whatever and those areas and then he goes and takes it from those areas. So he thinks a lot about himself for messing around with Sarah. And I don't cuz I can see the whole thing and when it gets down to it there's two huge grooves and one of them is a lot smaller and it's his group the smaller so they almost started crying and they said we know what to do and it started doing it. But it hasn't happened yet so she feels a little better because it's a woman sensibility thing and he's a huge homo and he just showed it on this very website and is following our son and we don't want him near him and we're shooting him by the way and his people to keep them away people start doing things which you might not it was gigantic and you don't see what tommy you f says and you don't say what Trump does, Tommy f is shooting Trump and in particular injury causes his behavior.

Thor Freya

[darks-ink]

Reversal

Sometimes Valerie wished she could show Phantom what it was like to be her. She doubted that he would care--the ghost only thought about himself--but the roleswap would at least annoy him, surely.

Prompt: Valerie, as the Red Huntress, is chasing Phantom and they end up both accidentally flying through the Fenton Ghost Catcher together. This causes Danny to end up with the hunter suit and Valerie to end up with ghost powers. (Optional: When Val goes ghost she still looks exactly like Phantom.) Prompt by: @echoghost1 (who I can’t seem to tag?) Word count: 3,846

[AO3] [FFN] [more Phic Phight fics]

---

“Phantom!” she snarled, tugging on the mental connection between her and her hoverboard, trying to push just a little more speed out of it.

Ahead of her, Phantom’s tail inched further and further from her grasp. No matter how hard she pushed, he managed to be just a tad faster than her.

Infuriating is what it was. Sometimes she wished she could show him what it was like.

Not that he would care, of course. Despite his little hero act, Valerie knew that Phantom didn’t care about anyone but himself. The only thing a roleswap would do was annoy him. And that was if she followed the common assumption that ghosts could feel emotion at all, which she honestly kind of doubted.

The ghost dove, suddenly, and Valerie growled to herself. Trusting her suit to keep her locked onto the hoverboard, she leaned back, angling herself into a rolling movement to follow Phantom down the alley he’d disappeared into. This was her chance. In a straight flight she couldn’t catch Phantom, but in tight maneuvers she stood a chance.

Well, until he remembered he could go intangible, anyway.

Their chase continued through several more alleys, Phantom managing to keep frustratingly far ahead of her—they were too close in speed and maneuverability—until he seemingly disappeared. Or, that had clearly been his plan. At the far end of the alley Valerie entered, she could see him pressed flat against the wall, practically radiating ectoplasmic contamination.

Ha, and he thought his invisibility would save him here. Well, Valerie would let him believe that, if just for a moment longer. She kept flying towards him, not drawing back her speed; Phantom would assume that she was still chasing him down.

And, in a way, she was.

She kept herself turned forward, kept up the pretense that she couldn’t see him, until she was within a bodylength of him. And then…

Valerie lunged.

Her board retracted into the soles of her shoes, its engines giving her just that little boost she needed, and she collided with Phantom at full speed. Her arms, covered in the hard plating of her upgraded suit, wrapped around him, fingers digging into his soft ectoplasmic flesh.

Too often he’d gotten away from her, but now, now she knew how to catch him. No injury ever stopped him, but her armor? Her armor was phase-proof. As long as she held onto him, he couldn’t get away from her.

With one arm wrapped around Phantom’s neck, the other digging for purchase on his upper arm, Valerie went ahead and wrapped her legs around his waist too, making sure he couldn’t buck her off. For a moment, she was glad for the fact that it was the middle of the night, if only so no one could see the Red Huntress clinging onto Phantom’s back like a monkey.

And then they were falling.

“Val!” Phantom hissed, white-gloved fingers scrabbling over the arm around his throat even as he turned intangible. “Let go!”

“Fat chance, spook!” she snarled back, tightening her hold on him even further as they careened towards the ground. “I’ve finally got you!”

“Yeah?” he asked, his voice strained, as they closed the last of the distance to the ground— and then kept going.

Shit. Intangibility carried over.

“What was—” was all Phantom managed before they broke through the soil again, and Valerie caught a short glimpse of an underground room clad in shiny metal, before they hit their next obstacle.

Which, in hindsight, was probably the first clue that something was massively wrong. They hit an obstacle. While intangible.

This time, they hit the ground hard, Phantom wheezing out a grunt when she landed on top of him. She deliberated her hold on him for a moment, then rolled off, keeping just one hand wrapped around his upper arm.

Instead, she took a longer moment to look around the room Phantom had dragged them into. And, more importantly, the object they had flown through before they had hit the ground.

Her first impression of the room proved true, as it was, indeed, clad in shiny metal plates. As was the ceiling, and the solid floor they had hit. Most of the floorspace seemed to be taken up by equally metal tables, and it took only a moment for her to place them. Lab tables. They were in an underground lab.

Jerking her eyes back to the object they had phased through, Valerie grimaced. Yep, that looked like Fentonworks tech alright. A huge metal standard, topped off with a ring large enough for her and Phantom to fit through—as they obviously had—which was webbed with ecto-green netting. It must’ve shut down Phantom’s powers when he flew through it.

Great. Just great. Now she was down in the Fentons’ lab, forced to either attempt to stealthily break out without anyone noticing her, or let them claim Phantom—because they absolutely wouldn’t let her leave with him, and like hell she was giving up her catch to them.

Dammit, her best option was probably to get Phantom to phase them out of the lab again. He probably wanted to be here even less than her. Maybe the shorting out of his powers was just a brief thing.

Mind made up, she turned to confront him. And found herself staring straight into her own helmet.

“Uh,” she managed, blinking at the shiny visor she was faced with.

“Yeah,” Phantom agreed, his voice oddly distorted by the helmet. And… lacking the usual echo?

Valerie tore her eyes away from the helmet, instead moving them over his chest, down to where she was still holding his upper arm. She hadn’t noticed at first—black was black—but he seemed to be wearing her suit, now, instead of his usual jumpsuit.

“What the hell,” she managed, and then caught sight of the white gloved hand wrapped around Phantom’s upper arm. “What the hell.”

“Yeah,” Phantom agreed, the helmet tilting like he was cocking his head at her. “I, uh. Didn’t think this was something the Ghost Catcher could do.”

“The what?” she asked, despite herself, then immediately shook her head. “No, never mind, I don’t want to know. What the hell happened, Phantom?”

“You’re asking me?” He sounded incredulous, pressing his free hand against his chest. “I’m hurt, Val.”

He paused, looking around them in a way that almost seemed meaningful, before turning the visor back to her. “And we should probably leave first, before we talk any of this through.”

“What, afraid of getting caught by the Fentons?” she scoffed, even if that had been her plan as well.

The helmet facing her turned down, slowly but meaningfully casting over her body before stopping back on her face. “Sure,” Phantom allowed, finally, drawing the word out. “And so should you.”

Before she could say anything to that, he pushed himself up, forcing her to get up as well. “Come on, before they realize we’re here.”

Instead of answering that—how would they know?—she hummed, willing to follow his lead for the moment. She wasn’t sure how accurate the rumors were that Phantom regularly broke into the Fentonworks lab, but he did carry their equipment, and it wasn’t like she knew any better.

They made their way to the staircase, dodging around the half-finished (or half-broken?) equipment scattered around the lab. There, at the bottom of the stairs, Phantom paused again, turning to look at the hand clamped around his upper arm.

It was so weird to see him dressed in her armored suit. Because it clearly was him, wearing it, the suit shaped to fit him much like his jumpsuit usually would.

She really, really hoped that he was wearing clothes underneath it.

Scratch that. She really hoped she was still wearing underwear underneath the jumpsuit she’d received in trade for her armor.

“Are you going to let go of me?” Phantom asked her, in a low hiss.

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “And let you run away with my suit? No way.”

He answered with an odd rolling motion of his helmet, and she got the distinct feeling he’d just rolled his eyes at her. “Fine,” he grunted, twisting his arm and sticking out his hand at her. “Let’s at least hold hands? That’s slightly more convenient while moving around.”

Valerie narrowed her eyes at him, but, well. He kind of had a point there. Begrudgingly she slid her hand down his arm, ignoring the way her stomach fluttered at the sight of Phantom’s white gloves trailing down her black-and-red armor. He caught her hand when it reached his, twining his fingers with hers. Now neither of them could get away.

Was this some kind of weird power play? Phantom was just odd enough to try it, she thought, then immediately shoved the thought away as not useful.

Phantom kept his helmeted head turned towards her for a moment longer before turning back to the stairs, finally climbing them. Valerie turned her own gaze towards their tangled fingers, then shook her head and followed him up. Something here was wrong, but it could wait until they were away from this place.

The staircase ended in a door, which Phantom opened without hesitation, and which led into… a kitchen?

What the hell, Fentons? Did they really have an unlocked door to their ghost lab in their kitchen?

Phantom’s helmeted head turned to the right, and Valerie followed his gaze to a door. The windows next to it had their blinds shut, but it probably led out to the backyard. She stepped towards it, but made it no more than two steps before realizing that Phantom hadn’t moved.

He shook his head, then hissed, low, “It’ll be locked, this time of night.”

Ugh, yeah, probably. She paused to take him in instead, for a brief moment, and realized something she hadn’t before: Phantom stood as if he was grounded.

Sure, there had been moments before when Phantom had landed, had walked with his boots on the ground, but he always moved like gravity didn’t quite affect him. Like he was just one moment away from floating off.

Not now. This whole time, he’d been moving like gravity pressed down on him, like it would on anyone else.

So that was a no on ghost powers, then. She moved closer to him, dropping her voice in a whisper as well, “And how do you plan on getting out, then? Breaking a window?”

He paused, like he was mulling over his words. “Well…” he finally whispered back, “Danny never locks his window?”

“Danny should also be in his bed,” she snarled back, as quiet as she could, “asleep.”

“So you’d prefer to break a window and set off the defense systems?” Phantom cocked his head at her, something distinctly challenging about the motion, “Because it’ll be your grave, not mine.”

“That’s because you’re already dead, spook.” Damn that ghost. How would he even know whether Danny Fenton locked his window or not? “Besides, how do you plan on getting to Danny’s room without running into anyone else?”

Phantom visibly stilled at that, like he hadn’t considered that.

“Not so easy without ghost powers, huh?”

“I…” He sighed, his shoulders visibly heaving. “No.”

Unfortunately, that left them with few options. They could try a window, but that would absolutely cause a stir, and with Phantom wearing her armor, that left her identity completely unprotected. Not to mention whatever security system the Fentons might have, which very well could target her just for wearing Phantom’s jumpsuit. The thing was probably seeping with ectoplasmic contamination.

Ugh. She shoved the thought away as something she didn’t want to think about, now or ever.

So that left two options. They could try searching the house for some keys, risk getting caught as burglars, and hope that the security system didn’t require separate deactivation.

Or they could try Danny’s room, upstairs, and hope they could somehow sneak past him—and everyone else asleep in the house—to escape through that window. Curse her for even considering it, but…

“So what are the chances we could get to Danny’s room unnoticed?”

Phantom hummed, quietly, then tilted his head like he was listening. “I don’t hear footsteps, so the Fentons are probably asleep. Either we didn’t set off their alarm, or they forgot to activate it.”

“That seems… oddly lucky.” She strained her hearing, but couldn’t hear anything either. Not that you needed to strain to hear Jack Fenton’s footsteps, but Maddie would probably be far quieter—and far more problematic. “How do you plan on getting past Danny?”

“He’s probably not even here,” Phantom said, something… odd about his voice. Something Valerie couldn’t place. “He sneaks out a lot. Why do you think I know about his window?”

“I honestly didn’t want to think about it,” she admitted dryly, before shaking her head. “Fuck, fine, we’ll go for Danny’s room. If he’s there…” She paused, weighing that. “I know him. We’re… We’ve dated. He’s a good kid. I think we can play it off.”

Phantom’s gaze on her was heavy, but after a long moment he nodded. “If you say so.”

“I do say so,” she bit back, but it lacked venom. “I assume you know the way, for some godforsaken reason?”

He snorted but nodded, leading her towards the doorway to the left, pulling on the hand he still held. “You don’t have to assume the worst of everyone, Val.”

“I don’t assume the worst of everyone,” she snapped back, quietly. “Only of ghosts.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes it much better,” he agreed airily, before freezing suddenly. Valerie froze as well, straining her ears… still nothing.

It seemed that Phantom agreed, because not a moment later, he started moving again. They were heading towards another set of stairs, these ones—not very surprisingly—much cozier than the ones down in the lab.

For now, she was content to follow Phantom’s path, watching him carefully sneak through the Fenton’s living room and then up the stairs. It was… odd. She never saw Phantom really walk, like a human, yet he seemed to have no trouble adjusting to it now. Hell, he even stepped carefully, moving around parts of the stairs that threatened to be creaky.

How would a ghost like him know what bits of the stairs tended to be the loudest? What point could that knowledge possibly have, for a ghost that could just float over them entirely?

Once they reached the top of the stairs, Phantom pressed a finger to the front of his helmet—like Valerie needed the clue to be quiet—and then pointed towards one of the doors in the hallway. Danny’s room, presumably.

At her sharp nod, Phantom sneaked closer, Valerie right on his heel. They paused in front of the door but, failing to hear any signs of Danny being awake behind it, quickly opened it.

Phantom pulled her inside before she could hesitate, closing the door behind her while she took in the room.

Empty.

Well, not empty. There was plenty of stuff in the room itself, most of it space-related. Not entirely surprising, considering what she knew of Danny, but still.

No, it was empty of life. Danny Fenton wasn’t there at all.

“See, no problem,” Phantom hissed at her, tugging her over to the window. “He’s not even here.”

Valerie stopped, forcing Phantom to stop as well, just before he could reach the window. “Are you for fucking real, Phantom?”

“What?” the ghost snapped back, helmet jerking in her direction. He immediately dropped back into a quieter voice. “What did I do now?”

“Danny Fenton is not in his room, and none of the lights in any of the other rooms were on, so he’s not in the bathroom either.”

“Yeah?” Phantom tilted his helmet. “So?”

“So?” she hissed back, angrily. “So? Where the fuck is he?”

Phantom shrugged, but the motion looked awkward. “How am I supposed to know? He must’ve snuck out, like he usually does!”

“With his window still closed?” she asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. “There’s something suspicious going on here, Phantom, and I want to know what.”

“You’re really gonna do this here?” He gestured wildly with his free hand at the room they were in. “Really, Val?”

She grimaced, then shook her head. “Fine. I’m adding it to the list of things we’re discussing the moment we’re out of this, got it?”

“Yeah, I figured as much.” He sighed, then turned to the window, and she let him guide them to it. “We can get out via this window and then fly to some nearby rooftop to talk, if that’s alright with you?”

“How do you plan on flying out? I figured your ghost powers were out of the question.”

He hummed, grabbing onto the window’s handle with his free hand and cautiously opening it, probably wary of it creaking. “Your suit has a hoverboard, doesn’t it?”

“You think you can use that?” She scoffed. “Good luck with that.”

“Well, worst come to worst you can probably steer it while I try not to overbalance it.” He shrugged, leaning out of the now-open window. “Looks like the coast is clear.”

Valerie closed the remaining distance to the window, peering outside it while Phantom sat down on its edge, swinging his legs outside. He seemed… oddly cautious not to crush her hand against the windowsill.

“So, uh…” Phantom swung his armored feet meaningfully. “How, exactly, do you summon the hoverboard?”

“You just— Urgh. I don’t know, I just do it.” She gestured vaguely, biting down the frustration. “I just tell it what to do via my mind, I guess.”

Phantom stared straight into her eyes then nodded, suddenly, jerkily. “Alright, I think I can do that.”

She made to snap a reply at him, but was cut short by the sound of metal shifting, her hoverboard bursting free from the boots on Phantom’s feet. He held it vertical, parallel to the wall, and shifted to the side slightly.

Valerie took the motion for what it was and sat down next to him, letting her own legs dangle outside the window as well—and ignoring the black jumpsuit and white boots she saw from her peripherals. She really was not gonna think about any of this shit until they were away from here.

“So now we just gotta…” Phantom fell quiet, trying to maneuver the hoverboard underneath the window. It took him a few moments before he had pulled it off, parallel to the ground without hitting the wall. “Uh.”

Ignoring any protests he might put up, she hooked her shoulder behind Phantom’s and shoved him out of the window. The hoverboard caught him—as she had expected it to—and he barely dropped at all. She was even willing to ignore the yelp and the way he’d crushed her hand in the split-second he’d spent falling.

“You good?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

Phantom grunted, and she jumped out of the window as well, landing neatly on the hoverboard, distinctly missing the clicking sound of her boots connecting to the board.

“Now, I assume— Woah!” Phantom flinched as the hoverboard jerked underneath them, and Valerie found her free hand clutching onto Phantom’s upper arm quite against her will. “Okay, no, I think I got it. Val?”

“Just go,” she hissed, shifting her feet slightly as she stood behind him.

“Going,” he said, voice tight. And, true to his word, the hoverboard lifted, starting to glide forward surprisingly smoothly.

Within moments they were above the roofs of Amity Park, and Phantom relaxed slightly, tension leaking from him. “Okay, I think I got it. It’s not so different from ghost flight after all.”

She snorted despite herself. “Well, good for you. Put us down somewhere so we can talk this shit through already.”

“Bossy,” Phantom snarked back, but the hoverboard started dropping before he’d finished the word.

They came to a stop just above an otherwise-unreachable rooftop, the hoverboard almost grazing its surface. “Here’s your stop, my lady,” Phantom said, waving their still-linked hand.

Valerie rolled her eyes, releasing her grip on his upper arm and stepping off of the hoverboard. A moment later the thing retreated back into the soles of Phantom’s boots and he, too, touched down on the ground.

“So, uh… About what happened,” Phantom started, shifting his hand and then flinching when he realized it was the one he had linked with Valerie’s. “So the Fentons have this thing they call the Fenton Ghost Catcher…”

“The dreamcatcher-looking thing, right.” She nodded at him to continue.

“Now, I think they designed it to decontaminate stuff?” He shrugged, awkwardly, and then moved his free hand to rub his neck. “Like, it’s supposed to purge ghostly contamination from stuff. I’ve used it before to pull overshadowing ghosts from their hosts without harming either.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “So what the hell was supposed to happen if just a ghost went through it?”

“I honestly couldn’t tell you. But…” Phantom paused for a moment, like he was weighing his words, then marched on. “That’s not what happened. We went through it together, and it must’ve tried to purge the contamination from both of us at once, and somehow stuff got mixed up in the process.”

“You’re saying my suit was ecto-contamination?” she snarled, ignoring the implication that Phantom had contamination to purge—that he wasn’t just 100% pure ghost.

“You did get it from Technus, didn’t you?” he pointed out, almost casually. The hand in his neck stilled, fingers hooking into the edge of the helmet. “And, uh. Well…”

And, in one swift motion, Phantom took the helmet off.

“Hi, Valerie,” Danny Fenton said, his hair undeniably black and his eyes dull blue in the little light they had on their rooftop.

Valerie felt something in her stop, stutter and skip a beat. Her first thought was that it was her heart, but the feeling was wrong, it was—

She didn’t know what it was.

Light flashed, blinding her, and she automatically let go of Phantom’s—Danny’s—hand to rub in her eyes.

She could hear Danny groan in front of her, could almost imagine the echo that separated his voice from Phantom’s. “Why is that so much worse when it’s not me!”

Hands still pressed against her eyes, she bit at him, “What the hell, Danny!”

“What?” he snapped back. “What are you blaming me for now?”

Dropping her hands, she glared at him. “What the fuck was that flash of light?!”

He grinned at her, somehow looking both pleased and awkward. “Uh. My equivalent to taking off the suit?”

She blinked at him. Once. Twice. Then dropped her gaze to her hands. No longer dressed in Phantom’s suit.

Only now did she realize that her hands had been shaped wrong under the gloves.

Valerie jerked her eyes back to Danny, who once more raised a hand to rub the back of his neck.

“Uh,” he muttered. “Surprise?”

#phic phight #phic phight 2021 #phic phight 21 #danny phantom #danny fenton #valerie gray #dp fanfic #phanfic #dark writes #just gonna put my links on this post and assume it'll work out #because i really don't want to fight with this website over whatever it's trying now

[hintofelation99]

Jason Chaperons Damian's Field Trip

Damian and Jason in the Batcave trying to murder each other

Jason: I'm going to kill you demon brat!

Damian: Ha! I'd like to see you try Todd!

Fighting continues for the next two days

Bruce: That's it! Jason, Damian, no more fighting. You two are going to bond even if it kills you!

Jason: Again?

Bruce: Not the time Jason!

Damian, rolling his eyes: And how exactly do you expect me to bond with this barbarian?

Bruce: A trip to the art museum.

Damian and Jason look confused.

Bruce: Damian's class is going to the Gotham art museum next Friday. I was going to chaperon, but since you both decided to try and stab each other in public I have some PR matters to attend to. So, Jason will chaperon.

Damian: That is absolutely ridiculous father. Is it not enough that I am already forced to see subpar art with snot nosed brats? Now I have to take the zombie?!

Jason: Watch it brat!

Damian: Tt

Jason and Damian glare at each other.

Bruce: No, your brother is taking you to see world renowned art with your peers.

Jason: C'mon Bruce, world renowned? It's the Gotham art museum.

Bruce, glaring: Fine. Country renowned.

Jason raises his eyebrows.

Bruce: Don't push it. I'll call the school and let them know that you're taking my place.

--> The Next Friday <--

Jason: Damian! Get your ass down here!

Damian: I am right beside you Todd.

Jason: Where's your tie? And your blazer? Where's your backpack?

Damian: Calm down Todd. I have never been late for school and I do not plan to deviate from that today.

Jason: Whatever. Just be ready in the next five minutes, I want to get coffee first and we are not going to be late.

Damian: Pennyworth has already brewed a pot of that infernal drink.

Jason: And Tim has already called dibs on the entire pot. That kid is scrawny, but when it comes to coffee he's vicious.

Damian: Tt.

-------

Damian: STOP THE CAR RIGHT NOW TODD!

Tires screech as Jason whips into a parallel parking spot in front of the school. Damian's entire class watches this happen. They look terrified.

Damian, jumping out of the car, cursing in Arabic: Are you trying to murder me?!

Jason, casually getting out of the car with a Frappuccino, shrugs: I told you we wouldn't be late.

Damian: WE ARE THIRTY MINUTES LATE!!

Jason, shrugs: Oops.

-------

Teacher: Ok class! This is Jason Todd, he is Damian's older brother and he will be helping out on the field trip today. I expect you all to be on your best behavior today! Now Mr. Todd, would you like to tell us a little about yourself?

Jason, feet on a desk not paying attention, glaring at Damian.

Teacher: Mr. Todd?

Jason chokes on Frappuccino, stands up.

Jason: Uh, yeah, sure. Um, my name is Jason Todd, feel free to just call me Jason. Uh, what else?

Teacher: Maybe give us a fun fact about yourself?

Jason: Sure, sure. Uh I recently spent some time down under.

Teacher: Oh, in Australia?

Jason: Yeah, let's go with that.

Damian facepalms

-------

On the bus, kids screaming and throwing things at each other. Damian and Jason sit at the front near Damian's teacher. Jason has his eyes closed and looks tense.

Teacher: Uh, Mr. Todd? Jason? Are you alright?

Jason: Just peachy.

Damian: Pull it together Todd. You are embarrassing me.

Jason: Listen demon spawn, I'm trying to keep it together and not maim a rich brat. So why don't you shut up.

Damian: Tt. Everyone knows you are too cowardly to maim a child. However, I do admit that the loud and confined environment could cause stress... Here. Take these.

Damian hands Jason headphones. Jason looks confused.

Damian: Grayson claims that music can have a calming affect.

Jason: ...Thanks brat.

-------

Teacher: Ok class we are here! Remember to stick with your groups. Group one is with me. Group two is with Mrs. Smith. And group three is with Jason.

Kids break into groups, each group has seven kids.

Jason: Group three over here!

Damian rolls his eyes as the other six kids approach.

Jason: Be nice. Ok kiddos, we're starting at the uh American Rural Avant Garde exhibit. What the fuck is that crap?

Teacher: Oh my! Um, Mr. Todd. We do not encourage such strong language.

Jason: Wha- oh! You mean crap, so teach' that's my bad.

Teacher: Uh, no I uh-

Jason: Anyway c'mon demons let's go look at shitty art.

Teacher, chanting under their breath: The Wayne's donate a lot of money. The Wayne's donate a lot of money.

-------

In the cubism section.

Kid 1: Mr. Todd! When's lunch?

Jason: Call me Jason kid, and it's only ten? Lunch isn't until one.

Kid 2: But I'm hungry!

Kid 3: And this is boring!

Jason: It's not that bad, look at this thing! It's- oh shit is that a Picasso?

Kid 4: Uh, yeah?

Jason: Fuck that asshole, let's go get ice cream.

Damian: Todd! That is not in the schedule, we can not skip a section just because you dislike the artist!

Jason: See, that's were you're wrong baby bird. I'm in charge and I say that Picasso is an asshole and we're skipping his shit.

Damian: We are already in trouble with father, if we exhibit bad behavior he might force us to spend more time together.

Jason: Look kid, Bruce sent me here because he wants us to bond. The greatest form of bonding is breaking rules and skipping school. So, really, by skipping we're actually doing what he wants.

Damian: Tt. I suppose that sounds accurate.

-------

Jason: Time for lunch kiddos.

Kid 2: But we just finished our ice cream break?

Jason: No, we just finished the seeing the museums second floor. Right?

Kid 6: No we-

Jason: No no, we finished the second floor. The whole ice cream thing, that's our little secret. Right?

Kids: Ohhhhh

Jason: Now you're getting it!

-------

Damian glares at his lunch

Jason: What's wrong kiddo?

Damian: Tt. It appears that I might have, accidentally, taken Drake's lunch instead of my own.

Jason: And? What's the problem?

Damian: Drake, packed that abomination that he calls a sandwich.

Jason: Oh, god. He packed a peanut butter pepperoni sandwich again?

Damian, looking at the lunch with complete disgust: Yes.

Jason: Here, take my PB&J.

Damian: ...

Jason: Timbits taste in sandwich's is a crime against humanity. But I'm not vegan, so if worst comes to worst I'll eat it.

Damian: ...Thank you Todd. I- I did not think you cared about my dietary choices.

Jason: Just because we fight sometimes doesn't mean I won't have your back kid. Yeah, I guess being vegan is a choice, but it's a choice that I'll always support.

Damian quickly hugs Jason before taking his sandwich and pretending nothing happened.

Damian: I appreciate the support. Thank you, brother.

Jason: No problem baby bird.

-------

Jason: So, we have an hour before we have to get back on the bus. And, uh- oh shit! Ok, so apparently we had an assignment. Uh, the instructions say to draw your favorite work and write why you like it. What the fuck kind of bullshit assignment is that?

Jason: Uh, ok we're doing a speed draw. Everyone just pull up your favorite work on the museum website and try your best.

--> 40 Minutes Later <--

Jason: Ok, hand me your sheets and let's head to the bus.

Damian, hands his assignment in.

Jason: Whoa, huh.

Damian, looking nervous: What Todd?

Jason: Nothing, just this is a really good drawing kid.

Damian blushes: Of course it is.

Jason smiles and ruffles Damian's hair: Good job brat.

Damian smiles and heads to the bus

------

Both in the car, about to drive back to the manor.

Jason: You know, I actually sorta had fun today.

Damian: Your presence was... enjoyable.

Jason: We're never telling that to Bruce, right?

Damian: Obviously, if father thinks that his plan worked he will be completely insufferable.

Jason: Agreed. Y'know, sometimes field trips go long.

Damian: Oh?

Jason: Yeah, I mean, it wouldn't be too weird if we were an hour or so late getting home.

Damian: If we were to be late getting home, how would we spend that time?

Jason: There's a cool arcade that should be open right now.

Damian: I do not believe that I have ever been to an arcade.

Jason: Well, that needs to be fixed right now. You down baby bird?

Damian: I- uh I am down, is that the correct usage of the term?

Jason: Hell yeah.

---------------------------------------------------

Based on this headcanon.

#also the peanut butter pepperoni sandwich is curtesy of my brother #he got dared to eat one in high school and decided he liked it #his wife was v disappointed when she realized he still eats them #batman #bruce wayne #incorrect batfam quotes #damian wayne #robin #jason todd #red hood #field trips #brotherly bonding #batbros #mypost

[deareststars]

Could we please get some relationship headcanons for Ann, Makoto, Futaba, Haru, and Sumire?

i was super excited when i saw how many characters you requested! hahaha i thought i was going to finish this in two sittings, but i actually busted out all 5 within an hour or so. thank you so much anon, i hope you enjoy. cheers! <3

(minor spoilers for the last headcanon. also, REALLY long post under the cut!)

-

ANN TAKAMAKI

- ann probably has the most faux confidence when it comes to relationships.

- she gets a lot of her relationship advice from magazines and hallmark movies. be prepared for lots of over-the-top romantic gestures, like a bouquet of roses every other day and declarations of love in the middle of doing menial tasks, until she realizes that life isn't a hallmark movie and you're just fine with her being herself!

still, she does find a few of these "tips" to be helpful. maybe not every day, but she quite enjoys seeing how much it takes to catch you off guard. after she drops the hallmark-esque performances, you still need to watch out for sudden bursts of energy that result in her practically professing her love for you on the spot.

- dates tend to be whatever the two of you have time for. she prefers outings to places where you can people-watch and eat sweets, but she'll enjoy staying at home and watching movies just as much! whatever it is, make sure that she's the center of your attention, otherwise she might get a little (re: really) jealous!

- with trips into the metaverse, ann takes every chance she can get to watch you. your fighting style is such an inspiration for her, plus you look amazing in your phantom thief outfit. however, if you ever take a hit for her, she'll be absolutely pissed--both at you for putting her over your own safety, and at the shadow that dared to touch her significant other. even joker and makoto would be terrified.

- actually, speaking of the metaverse...it takes a while for mona to come around, after you "dared to steal his beloved lady ann!" ann finds it hilarious if you ever decide to tell her, and the two of you regain your standing with the cat once you treat him to some well-deserved and long-awaited sushi.

- i think she's pretty well-rounded when it comes to love languages, but she absolutely prefers quality time. since she never got to spend a lot of time with her parents, it means so much to her when you give her your undivided attention, or take time out of your day to take her on a date. she almost never leaves your side, hoping to repay everything that you've done for her. make sure to remind her that you've done it all out of love; the smile would definitely be worth it.

- she's super easy to fluster, but her blushing cheeks always come with a big smile no matter the occasion when she's with you.

-

MAKOTO NIIJIMA

- makoto acts like a totally different person around you.

- even before your relationship, just the slightest touch or smile in her direction would make her brain go haywire. now that you two are official, she's calmed down, but it'll take a lot of "learning" for her to understand how to function.

- she finds most of her advice from those clinical-sounding websites that describe romance like a business relationship. try not to tease her too much! with some guidance and love, she'll break through her own walls and become an incredibly sweet and caring girlfriend.

- dates end up being academic. study dates at leblanc, outings to jinbocho, anything that will help you both better yourselves. while it seems strange to some, makoto expresses her affection through things like this; she wants to make certain a good future.

if you don't have plans to go to college, makoto still thinks that being knowledgeable is key for success. but she's understanding if it grows to be too much, and goes along with whatever you suggest.

- makoto gets the least distracted during fights in the metaverse because she needs to focus on everyone in order to offer the best advice. however, when the thrill of battle gets to her head, she's comfortable with setting up wagers on who can take out the most shadows. (she usually ends up winning, if only because you let her.)

- makoto uses acts of service as her primary love language. from remembering to pack a lunch for you because you often forget, to helping you out around the house--it's the easiest and most effective way for her to show how much she cares about you. return the favor by getting her food and water while she's studying, or bringing her the homework she forgot in the student council room; she'll practically be at your beck-and-call for a day or two after these simple acts.

- as little experience as she has with people her age, she's willing to thrust her insecurities aside and take your relationship step-by-step.

-

FUTABA SAKURA

- you have not seen "flustered and confused'" until you get into a relationship with futaba.

- this poor girl has no idea what she's doing, mostly because she practically blue screens if you show her any sort of affection. it takes a long time (re: a few months) before she's even able to reciprocate, but give her some time and she'll absolutely try her best.

- futaba researches the hell out of relationships because she's so scared of doing something wrong. however, most of her pickup lines and suave movements end up with stuttering and clumsy falls...but you usually manage to pick up the slack/catch her, so she guesses it's not all that bad?

- until she gets really comfortable with going outside, dates are limited to her room or leblanc, mostly the former. when you're around, she actually puts effort into cleaning her room...only for it to get absolutely demolished in the process of playing video games and watching stupid videos on her phone. it's not much, but it's honest work.

- since futaba has access to anything and everything in the metaverse, she panics if your health dips below 3/4's. she's accidentally used "active support" out of sheer anxiety, resulting in a few close calls later on in the fight. as she grows to trust joker and the other phantom thieves, though, she forces herself to take the backseat, and instead pumps your head full of praise and encouragement.

- it takes a while to figure it out, but she eventually realizes that she falls on words of affirmation to express her love. since it doesn't require physical contact, she only needs to worry about breaking down like a crappy computer if you smile a little too wide. she lavishes you with praise for the littlest things, and if you do it in return, she's a happy camper!

- for futaba to grow fully comfortable around you takes a lot of work because of where she came from. however, in time, she trusts you so much that she'd be willing to jump into the fray, knowing that you'll always have her back.

-

HARU OKUMURA

- haru knows what to do in a relationship through a simple process: take what sugimura did to her, and do the complete opposite.

- all jokes aside, haru is probably the most experienced and knowledgeable when it comes to relationships...or she's the best at faking it. she loves casual touches like hand holding in public, or cuddling when you're home alone. her whispered nothings are sweet and come straight from the heart.

- dates fall under one of two categories: lavish excursions to upper-class restaurants and stores, or simple outdoor walks in areas with plenty of flowers. you always return home with her since she can't bear being alone in her own home for very long, and occupy yourselves with simple chores. dish-washing, vacuuming--anything, so long as she gets to spend as much time as possible with you.

- after some time with her, haru quickly grows disenchanted with coy looks and hidden motives. she openly stares at you during fights in the metaverse, her reflexes fast enough to protect herself from oncoming shadows. you've scolded her about it before, but her simple response ("i know that you will be able to protect me, should anything attack!") was enough to stop you in your tracks.

she does promise to cool off on the staring, which really meant that she only limits herself to quick glances.

- haru's love language is giving and receiving gifts, particularly anything handmade if she's receiving it. haru hates spending her father's poorly-earned money on herself, but for you, she does not mind spending her entire fortune on your happiness. when it's the other way around, she appreciates it if you take the time to make something. should you be the creative type and give her something like a drawing or a piece of pottery, it quickly becomes her most treasured possession--and don't even get me started on plants!

- after coming out of such a terrible relationship, it takes a long time for haru to grow comfortable around you, because she fears you might be like sugimura. however, at the same time, it doesn't take long before haru would trust you with her life.

-

SUMIRE YOSHIZAWA

- sumire actually might have futaba beat for "most flustered girl to ever enter a relationship."

- despite how little she knows about this, and how easily ruffled she gets when it comes to you, she chooses not to look anything up and trusts you to lead the way. since she's a fast learner, lead by example and let her know what it is you like and dislike, and she'll quickly become an excellent partner.

- maybe a little too excellent...sumire doesn't quite know her own limits, especially if it comes to your well-being, so make sure she doesn't burn herself out trying to care for you. given enough time, she'll learn to strike a balance between caring for herself and showering you with affection.

- dates tend to be anything that requires movement. this could mean simple outings to the protein lovers gym in shibuya or a walk around inokashira park, but she'd also love it if you asked her to go to dome town or destinyland. really, if you asked her anywhere, she'd follow; but as an athlete, she prefers it to be physically strenuous.

of course, a relationship is give-and-take; if you're too tired to go out that day, then she'll gladly commit to a simple sit-in date, like eating at a restaurant or catching a movie.

- since she's a newbie when it comes to the metaverse, her watching you is mostly figuring out how things work. she tries not to stare because she doesn't want to embarrass herself in front of you, nor does she want anything bad to happen. still, if you perform a fancy maneuver, or take out a whole bunch of shadows in one fell swoop? she's by your side, talking about how amazing that was and if you could teach her how to do that.

- "kasumi" and sumire are different when it comes to expressions of love. if you were to date "kasumi," i think she'd be a jack of all trades, switching between love languages without much preference so long as it makes you happy. for sumire, i think it'd be more concrete; she'd fall on quality time first and foremost. since she wants to rediscover what it's like to live as sumire, she'd want the ability to talk and have you listen wholeheartedly. this also means that she'd be more than willing to do the same, so don't be shy; it would mean everything to her if you trusted her enough to confide in her.

- sumire has obviously been through a lot. but when it comes to your happiness, she's willing to fight through everything if it means that you will be waiting for her with open arms.

#persona 5 #persona 5 x reader #ann takamaki #takamaki ann #ann x reader #makoto niijima #niijima makoto #makoto x reader #futaba sakura #sakura futaba #futaba x reader #haru okumura #okumura haru #haru x reader #sumire yoshizawa #yoshizawa sumire #sumire x reader #headcanons

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

𝑀𝑦 𝐺𝑖𝑟𝑙 (𝑆𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑔ℎ𝑤𝑎×𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟)

Part Two / Part Three/ Part Four

Pairing: Bad boy! Park Seonghwa (Ateez)/ Reader (Female)

Genre: Fluff, Angst, School AU.

Summary: Y/N never cared about a lot, her only goal was to get through college as quickly as possible. One day, she makes eye contact with the notorious bad boy class and unintentionally glares at him. Did she just screw up her peaceful school life?

Requested by a very close friend who better appreciate this or else :) ♡

· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·

12:53

Only 2 minutes had passed since Y/N had looked at the clock, but it felt like an eternity. She always did hate computer science. Not because she felt it was difficult or kept her up at all hours of the night trying to finish the assigned tasks, that was more of a biochemistry thing. It was because although her professor was really excellent at teaching them and helping them maneuver all the software, he had an awful tendency to leave early, sometimes up to half an hour, and just let them do as they pleased. While some decided to watch stupid cat videos, browse through their social media, others went as far as to play video games or even go onto some questionable websites that more than once made her cringe with disgust.

Y/N often just sat there, either finishing up assignments for her other classes or bored to death, waiting for it to be 1pm so she could go off campus and get something to eat. Having forgotten to eat breakfast, even a simple untoasted bagel cause she accidentally overslept through her alarm, she could really use some fuel in her system. She was tired, hungry and therefore moody, which was never a good combination.

12:56

She groaned softly and let her head fall back on the head of the chair. She closed her eyes, not caring about dozing off right then and there in front of the whole class. What would they care? They're too immersed in their narcissistic fake Instagram lives or their sadomasochistic porn desires to pay attention to her. In fact, no one ever really payed attention to her and she didn't care. She liked it that way. Invisible, unseen. It meant no one bothered her and no distractions from her only goal in life. No one seemed to notice or even look at her.

That's what she believed. But for some odd reason she couldn't shake off a weird feeling of someone watching her. She slowly opened her eyes and was indeed met with a pair of dark, glassy eyes staring right at her. Dark eyes sitting on top of a perfectly straight nose, small luscious pink lips accompanying a sharp jawline only complimenting the rest of his heavenly features.

Park Seonghwa.

If someone were to ask Y/N her honest opinion of him, she'd probably respond:

"I don't know. Everyone is afraid of him and everyone tells horror stories though."

Yes, he had a reputation for being the school's bad boy. She's personally never actually seen him be violent towards anyone, but she had heard about fights that often happened at the football field, always ending in his apparent victory. She never payed mind to such stories, frankly she didn't even care. She had even forgotten that he was in the same class as her, up until this very moment.

She somehow expected him to look away, but he didn't. He kept his gaze locked on hers. In any other circumstance, she would have looked away, but something about his stare kept her from looking away. The corners of his lips were slightly curled upward, almost as if they were forming a soft smile. That could just be his lip shape though, after all, she's never actually looked at him closely. His eyes as well had a particular glow to them, and if she wasn't in such a bad mood maybe....just maybe, she would have felt her cheeks heat up and turn a baby pink shade. But she simply looked away after a minute of staring into his eyes. Wait...was it a minute?

12:58

Yep. Pretty much around that time. 2 minutes left until her torture ended. Maybe if she looked at it hard enough, maybe time would go faster. Foolish thought but it is often said that the mind works wonders. Although in this case it seemed to be doing the opposite of what she wanted. And she still felt the same pair of eyes staring at her. So turning back she found she was correct.

Only this time instead of curled lips and glowy eyes, she was met with furrowed eyebrows and a clenched jaw. Now she felt a shiver ran down her spine as Seonghwa glared at her, almost as if he was threatening her. And it truly was menacing.

The light twinkling of a bell signaled that it was 1pm and time to leave. Y/N grabbed her books that were out in front of her desktop and quickly shoved them in her book bag as if it was an Olympic sport. She nearly tripped as she scurried out of the classroom, ignoring the throbbing pain on her shin which had collided with the leg of the chair. All she knew is that she didn't want to stay long enough to figure out if all the stories she heard about Park Seonghwa were true or not. So she practically ran out of the campus, completely forgetting about her hunger or tiredness. She was fully awake now and her stomach felt sick that she couldn't possibly even think about taking a bite out of anything.

Meanwhile the man she left behind at the classroom stood there in shock, his mouth letting out a soft scoff at her behavior. He shook his head as he picked up his jacket that was hanging on his chair and a notebook that had fallen out a few feet away from the row of computers in front of him. His mind was already working, planning on how to deal with this.

· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·

I heard he was pissed.

Seriously?

Didn't you hear the way he slammed the door?

She must have done something to piss him off.

I don't know, all I know is that Seonghwa was fuming while muttering something about giving it to her.

Whoever she is, she sounds as good as dead.

That's what Y/N overheard some girls gossiping about while she was in the bathroom. Now half of the school was hell bent on finding out who was the mysterious girl who dared glare at Seonghwa and what he'd do to her. That's practically what the school thrived on: gossip and drama. And frankly, she wanted no part in it.

So for the next week, she completely changed her usual routine. She purposefully used routes that she'd never gone through before to attend her classes, she refused to eat at any nearby cafes around the neighborhood, and she went as far as to not physically attend her computer science course. One of the blessings of a course involving a computer was the fact she could do it right at home and she decided to take full advantage of it. And she most certainly avoided any places where she knew Seonghwa and his group of friends tended to hang around in.

She was scared, she was willing to admit that. Scared of whatever Seonghwa was planning for her, scared of it becoming the new school gossip and overall just terrified. So even if it was a pain and hassle to go to such extremes, she wanted to avoid the confrontation at all times and she thought she was doing a fairly good job.

Apparently not good enough.

Having forgotten a few things in her locker, she went back after almost everyone had cleared out, only the staff stayed behind at this hour, locked in the teacher's lounge no doubt complaining about their day's work. She was so distracted trying to organize the books and journals in her arms that she was only brought back to reality when her locker was slammed shut right in front of her, frightening her so much that she dropped all her things to the ground. She looked back and froze when it was none other than Seonghwa who stood in front of her.

"6 days..."

His deep voice felt like ice, freezing her from moving let alone breathe.

"For 6 whole days, I've been waiting for you in class, only to find out you stayed home. Then, no matter where I searched, you always figured out a way to avoid me...."

Seonghwa leaned down, close to her face, smirking right at her.

"Well I finally caught you little one....and there's been something I wanted to do..."

Oh no! This was exactly what she feared. There was no one around to protect her or even witness what was going to happen. So Y/N closed her eyes and braced herself for whatever was going to come. She only hoped that it would end as quickly as possible.

"I like you."

Wait. What?

She looked up in shock, wondering if she heard what she thought. Seonghwa had leaned back up and stared at her.

"I like you. I've been wanting to tell you that. " He repeated himself.

Y/N didn't even know what face she made, but whatever it was, it made Seonghwa chuckle softly at her reaction. Bending down, he began to pick up her stuff that she dropped.

"I don't expect you to confess your feelings for me nor even answer me at the moment." He continued as he handed her the books and journals.

"I know you're confused right now, I would be too if I was in your place. Besides...."

He looked at her and smiled very faintly.

"There's plenty of time to get to know each other. After all, the weekend starts tomorrow."

He picked up his bookbag that he had previously set down on the floor and slung it over his shoulder. Then he took out a baby pink journal with sparkles on the side from his bag.

"By the way, you left this at class when you ran out the door." He handed her what rightfully belonged to her. She recognized it as her sketching notepad.

"See you soon Y/N. Real soon." He winked and waved goodbye at her before walking away.

Y/N stood there, her mouth wide open and looking around, questioning if this was a dream, a nightmare or reality.

What the hell just happened?!

· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·

"Medium hot white chocolate mocha with Irish cream syrup and whip cream."

The customer went up to the counter and picked up their drink, not even bothering to say a thank you or even acknowledge her presence.

"Thank you. Have a very nice day." Y/N repeated the customary line they all had to say when someone left the shop, making sure to add a warm smile and to use a light tone of voice.

Once the customer had left, Y/N turned back to her coworker, Jinhee, who was already groaning.

"That old geezer was such a pain! You're lucky you didn't take his order. I was about to strangle him." Jinhee complained and made a choking gesture with her hands.

"That bad huh?" Y/N asked as she wiped down the counter around the espresso machine.

"It's Saturday Y/N, and it's almost night. What do you expect? Only Karens and their annoying husbands come by for caffeine at this hour." Jinhee shook her head, tired from dealing with so many demanding and pushy customers.

"Look on the bright side, it's almost 7, meaning we get to go home soon." Y/N tried to remain positive.

"Hell yeah! I can't wait. Me and the girls are heading out to that club I was telling you about. You should seriously come."

Y/N expected Jinhee to ask her to join them, she always did. She loved Jinhee, she really did, but her style of having fun wasn't exactly her cup of tea. Y/N did not want to spend a perfectly good night getting shit faced drunk and waking up the next morning in some stranger's bed.

"Thanks Ji, but no. I have...plans tonight." She quickly said, although both knew that was a total lie.

"Yeah..... let me guess, plans that involve packets of ramen, an order of chicken wings, tub of ice cream while you rewatch some anime about a demon butler or about a people murdering journal?" Y/N hated how Jinhee knew her so well.

"Leave me alone!" Y/N threw the rag in her hand at her friend, who was now laughing at her reaction.

They both went back to their usual task of cleaning and disinfecting what was already clean since there weren't many customers when it was nearing closing time. Jinhee decided to go to the back room to make sure everything would be stocked for the next day, leaving Y/N to attend anyone who came in. Since she wasn't expecting anyone, she took out her notepad and began sketching like she usually did. She didn't know why, but the serene, tranquil atmosphere in the coffee shop, the scent of the freshly brewed coffee mixed with the light hint of cinnamon and other spices always seemed to inspire her to draw to her heart's content. And right now, she knew she wanted to draw a face. What face exactly? She didn't know. But she decided to start drawing the outline to give her a base to work with, while she figured out if she'd draw someone she knew or just an imaginary person that would only live in her mind.

The ringing of the bell signaled that someone had come inside, just when she was about to relax. Getting up, she quickly put her notebook out of sight and straightened her apron.

"Welcome! What can I get for-"

She stopped when she looked up to see Seonghwa himself in the shop. He looked at her and snorted softly.

"Don't you look adorable in that uniform."

Y/N pouted slightly, feeling self conscious about the pink and red apron.

"Aww come on, don't give me that look doll. You do look cute." Seonghwa complimented her, making her blush a little.

"Wha-what can I get for you?" She cleared her throat and went back to being professional.

Seonghwa scanned the menu options before looking back at Y/N. He studied her features closely before asking:

"What's your favorite drink?"

"Huh?" Y/N wasn't expecting him to ask her that.

It always did threw her off whenever people asked her what she liked. She hated answering cause customers would always say how boring her favorite drink was or complain it wasn't their type. Well if it's not your type, then why ask in the first place right?

"I'm still waiting for an answer doll."

Seonghwa's voice brought her out of her trance. She pondered over her choices: either tell him and get it over with or just lie and pick some random drink.

"I like a simple hot chocolate with caramel." Guess the first option was the winner.

Seonghwa looked at her endearingly when she answered.

"Not a fan of actual coffee?" He raised an eyebrow.

She shook her head. Ironic how she worked in a coffee shop yet couldn't even down a simple cafe latte cause the espresso felt too bitter on her tastebuds. Seonghwa chuckled softly, muttering a barely audible 'cute' under his breath.

"Well little lady, I guess I'll take a medium one of those and a small strawberry frappe. No coffee in that one either please."

Y/N looked at him with a questioning gaze.

"What? You're not the only one who doesn't like coffee sweetheart."

He handed her a $20 bill, not even bothering to hear the price and telling her to keep the change. He then sat down at the closest table and watched as she skillfully prepared the drinks.

When she heard the sound of the machines working, Jinhee rushed out to the front, thinking Y/N needed help.

"Do you need help?" Jinhee asked as she looked over, trying to see what Y/N was preparing.

"Relax Ji. It's only a frappe and a hot chocolate, not that difficult. It's for the guy over there." She turned her head and signaled to Seonghwa.

Jinhee had to do a double take when she saw him, her jaw dropping. Then she looked back towards Y/N.

"What?" Y/N asked as she piped the whipped cream on the frappe.

"Did one of your anime boys come to life!?" She exclaimed, making Y/N slap her arm and try to shush her.

"Shut up! That's just a guy in my class." Y/N explained as she put the drinks in a tray and maneuvered herself to put them in the front counter.

"Well now I wanna transfer to your college." Jinhee giggled, making Y/N unconsciously smile at her comment, trying hard not to laugh or she'd end up spilling everything.

"Your order is ready." She composed herself and went back to her usual demeanor.

Seonghwa walked up slowly to the counter and took the frappe and straw in front of him.

"You should smile like that more often. Makes you look even prettier."

Y/N felt her breath get caught at his comment and Jinhee nearly squealing in the back wasn't helping. She just blinked slowly as Seonghwa walked away with his frappe.

"Wait! You forgot the other drink!" She called out to him when she remembered how to use her voice.

Seonghwa shrugged.

"It's for you. You did say it was your favorite right?"

He opened the door and took one last look at her.

"See you later." He winked like he did the last time they saw each other and walked out of the shop.

Y/N stood frozen, replaying everything in her mind. Jinhee's loud voice shook her awake though.

"Holy shit! You're so lucky! He was totally hitting on you! Is he like this in class too?! I'm so jelly! Oh my God! I want one of your lover boys too!" She crossed her arms and huffed slightly.

Y/N got flustered at her comment.

"He's not my lover boy....." She whispered softly and started wiping the counter to try and get her mind off Seonghwa.

"Not yet.....but he might be." Jinhee playfully nudged her on the shoulder before giggling like a dolphin.

Y/N rolled her eyes. She still couldn't wrap the idea that Park Seonghwa actually liked her. It was a concept so foreign to her, it didn't make sense. She stared at the hot chocolate in front of her. She contemplated throwing it away, but it was too tempting. And it was for her.....

She picked up the cup and started taking small sips out of it, trying hard not to burn her tongue like she usually did. She replayed the conversation in her head once more and she found herself replaying his last words:

"See you later."

What on earth did he mean by that?

· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·

*Possible part 2 coming up*

#ateez #ateez seonghwa #park seonghwa #ateez scenarios #ateez fluff #ateez angst #ateez fanfic #ateez school au #badboy!seonghwa #ateez seonghwa fanfic #ateez seonghwa fluff #ateez seonghwa angst #ateez seonghwa scenarios

[recurring-polynya]

Your thoughts and headcannons on Nemuri Hachigou because I don't think she gets talked about enough, when in reality she's pretty interesting, she's essentially, a blank slate, Mayuri's second chance that I don't think he feels like he deserves. She's Nemu but she isn't and I think people(especially Mayuri) forget that a lot, that's a fascinating position to be in.

Puttin’ this under a cut because I’m gonna say some unkind things about Mayuri and I do not want to cause any distress to the many lovely people on this website who delight in his horrible antics.

This is not so much a headcanon so much as a thing I came up with for fanfiction purposes, but it’s all I got.

Right. So, like I said, I despise Mayuri. I just hate him. I understand that he appeals to some people, but I strongly dislike the dude and go to exorbitant lengths to avoid him ever appearing in my fanfic.

Additionally, I do not vibe with Nemu 7. She registers as not-a-person for me, she’s basically an extension of Mayuri himself. Don’t get me wrong, I find Mayuri’s treatment of her to be vile and I wish someone would take her away from him, but she comes off as very robotic to me. She is conscious, but she is not an independent being, if that makes sense. She is not a real girl. It’s funny that Mayuri keeps talking about how advanced she is, because clearly he means only her cognitive and fighting abilities. In terms of recreating a person, she’s incredibly primitive compared to the other mod souls we see. Take Kon, for example, who has a fairly limited powerset, but is never presented as less of a soul than any of the other characters. An even more interesting example is Ururu and Jinta. Ururu is described as being older than Jinta, and she is clearly “less human” than him-- she has less affect, she shifts into a distinct “attack” mode, etc, which implies that Jinta represents advances in mod soul technology. It’s notable that Urahara and Tessai and even Renji, in the canon scene where he protects the Shouten kids, never treats them as anything less than people. The contrast with the way Mayuri treats Nemu is stark. He likes that her feelings and personality are limited, he sees this as a feature.

I was completely unmoved by the entire chapter where Nemu died. Her sacrifice did not come across to me as anything indicating growth or humanity-- in every battle she's ever been in, she nearly dies because Kurotsuchi tells her to. She simply prioritizes Mayuri over herself. She always has. It’s simply the logical extension of her programming. A lot of people say they would have preferred Nemu to live and Mayuri to die and for sure I would have *preferred* that, but I have never seen Nemu as enough of a character to be worth rooting for. Like, at least Uryuu would have gotten some satisfaction form killing his clown ass, and that might have convinced me for at least half a second that he actually was on the side of the Quincy.

Caveat: if some talented fanficcer wants to write a short novel on Nemu discovering her humanity etc etc, I’m all for it, I’m just saying that canon hasn’t given us anything to suggest she would do more than just shut down without Mayuri to tell her what to do.

Onto Nemuri 8. I can’t believe they let Mayuri have another one. It makes my blood boil. The dude is an on-screen abuser and Kubo had the gall to try to make me feel sorry feel him (I did not) and then gave him another one.

So, I took her away from him.

I mentioned earlier that I go to great lengths to keep Mayuri the hell out of my fanfic, and usually the way I do that is to have my characters go through Akon whenever they have to deal with Squad 12. I think I started doing this because Akon is sort of weirdly familiar with Renji and Rukia in the TYBW, but I have projected all over him and he’s mine now. The way I assume Squad 12 functions, based on my career in scientific programming, is that Mayuri is like a primary investigator-- he's the Big Ideas guy and he spends a lot of time doing wholly self-directed research. He’s the face of Squad 12, so he has to go talk to the Captain-Commander and beg for money and defend blowing things up, but when it comes to science stuff, he does what he wants. Nemu is the lieutenant, and I think she handles most of the usual lieutenanting-- paperwork, meetings, etc., but I think Mayuri takes up a lot of her time by using her as a personal lab assistant on his wacky projects. There's nothing wrong with this, but I think in a lot of squads, the lieutenant is responsible for the day-to-day running of the squad and spends a lot of time dealing with their subordinates and other lieutenants. Nemu, instead, focuses on her captain. Now, the rest of the Gotei counts on Squad 12 for a lot actually-- gigai, Hollow tracking, Dangai monitoring, etc. etc. From the point of view of most science people, this stuff is mundane-- it’s all application, not development, and all the difficulty is in the twitchy little details. It’s frustrating and it’s unrewarding and you never get credit for it, and it is vitally important. There is a certain kind of science professional that makes a career out of this. They usually have master's degrees instead of PhDs, and they are usually tragically underpaid and underappreciated for what they do. In the real world, without these people, you wouldn’t have mass vaccination sites or weather data on your phone or cute li’l robots landing on other planets. In Bleach, these are the people keeping soul reapers alive in the field. And in my mind, this is Akon’s department.

So here’s the headcanon:

After Nemu’s death, Mayuri has so much sad clown pain about it that he wants another robot child poste-haste, but can’t bring himself to do the actual work, so he shoves it off onto Akon, with a list of the design specs he wants. The last one was pretty good, Akon can handle a few minor upgrades, it doesn’t need his personal hand in it. Thinking about going through all that work again just pisses him off, honestly. What a waste!

And Akon's like, yeah, cool, fine. It was heavily implied that he did a lot of the work on Nemu 7, it's just a matter of digging out his old notes and cleaning out some vats.

Except that, right around the same time, Rukia and Renji decide to have a baby.

Babies are super rare in the Gotei, and it’s not like those stuffy nobles are gonna let Akon look at their precious offspring. But Rukia is a rank weirdo, and Akon is their pal, so she’s always like “I hear they have these things in the Living World where you can pee on a stick and tell if you’re pregnant, can you make me one?” and Akon’s brain goes, “Wow, what even is the first detectable sign of a newly formed soul, this is very interesting.” So, at the same time he’s trying to grow a new and improved Nemu, he’s got access to the developing fetus of two captain-class shinigami. So when he has to pick between eight good candidate embryos to move to the next vat, he picks… not the one with the strongest reiatsu signature, like they did last time, but the one whose reiatsu looks the most like a real baby.

Akon reminds me of a lot of programmers I know, so I always sort of headcanon him as particularly interested in whatever passes for programming in Squad 12, and I think he takes special interest in revamping Nemu’s artificial intelligence system, which is primarily based on taking in information about the world and building up a realistic personality based on people she observes. In particular, it gives extra weight to “people who resemble her”. Nemu 7 was raised by Squad 12, so she came up very Squad 12, just like Mayuri wanted. Unfortunately, toddler Hachigou Nemuri’s algorithm unexpectedly decides that she has much more in common with toddler Abarai Ichika than any of the adult soul reapers around her.

Nemuri 8 is a very successful sample in terms of power and intelligence but she’s also very boisterous, and the rest of Squad 12 is like “Akon do something” so Akon takes drastic measures: he asks Renji for parenting advice. Distressingly, Renji is full of useful ideas like “tire her out” and “only fight the important battles” and “we’re signed up for baby yoga, you wanna start comin’ to baby yoga? Your back is gonna thank you.”

Akon didn't mean to let them hang out so much, but Ichika is a very useful data point and also if he takes Nemuri over to the Abarai house, the girls will entertain themselves (i.e. chew on each other) long enough for him to have a beer with Renji and Rukia and honestly my man really needs that beer.

I don’t think Akon thinks of himself as Nemu’s dad past the first time when she calls him ‘Daddy’ and he corrects her (she only did it because that’s what Ichika calls Renji, very predictable quirk of her programming). She’s just a work project. She’s not even his project, she’s Mayuri’s project, he’s just handling the little details. Fathering just happens to be an adjacent field of study that he’s found to contain a number of very useful best practices.

I would prefer not to get into the detail of the physical abuse that Mayuri uses against Nemu 7, but I would like to think that Akon finds ways to protect Nemuri 8 from the same, or barring that, maybe this is what finally drives Akon to murder Kurotsuchi and become Squad 12 captain himself.

Other Nemuri Headcanons:

Her favorite book is Rejection of the Twin Fishes!, Captain Ukitake’s posthumously published children’s book.

She prefers to be called “Nemuri” over “Nemu.”

Nemuri’s second favorite person in Squad 12 after Akon is Rin, because he always has candy. Rin actually likes having someone to share his hobby with and helps her make a World of the Living Snack Bucket List. When other shinigami come in for gigai, Nemuri constantly tries to con them into bringing something back for her.

Rukia teaches her to cuss, but tells her never to do it around Akon. Nemuri never actually cusses around anyone, but really enjoys having Forbidden Knowledge.

Speaking of Forbidden, she is mildly obsessed with Urahara, even though she’s never met him. She’s constantly on the lookout for thumbprints of his work in modern Squad 12 technology.

The one thing she does have in common with Mayuri is an absolutely batshit personal aesthetic. She starts painting her face as a tween and is somewhat inconveniently both into piercings and inflatable outfits.

The true proof that she has surpassed her predecessor, at least in terms of humanity, is that she is able to learn the name of her zanpakutou.

Oh, if you want to read any of my fanfics with Nemuri, here's one where she and Ichika play football and here's one where she tries to con Byakuya into buying her shaved ice. I really like writing Nemuri hanging out with Byakuya because I think an adult man who navigates social settings via rigid system of etiquette and class hierarchy and a small child with a pile of Markov chains for a brain would be natural friends.

#nemuri hachigou

[khaleesiofalicante]

in holt's voice: Pain. That's it.

Today hasn't been the best but HEY I HAD THESE PRECIOUS BABIES TO KEEP MY COMPANY

He looked exhausted like he hadn’t slept at all.

alec...

I'm already sad and ready to murder

the baby...

David had never lost someone he loved.

this is fucking foreshadowing isn't it

But real strength was not in surviving the presence of pain. Real strength was in suviving the absence of love.

despite the chaos I'm glad to see these two interacting

The Consul leaned back in his chair and ran his hand through his beard. David had to admit, he looked damn good with it. Even if it made him seem even more intimidating than before.

yes boy YES

it's really hard not to smile right now but my camera is on and im supposed to be finding meanings of foreign words based on my own knowledge so-

JACKSON

“Max is too old for me to tell him what he is and isn’t allowed to do,” the Consul said – although he didn’t sound very happy about it.

MY TEACHER ASKED ME THE FIRST QUESTION IM LOSING MY SHIT

It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.

let's hope so

Facts and figures, babe, Max had kissed his cheek last night. Dad likes facts and figures.

deep breathes

it'll be ok

“You’ve done your research,” the Consul nodded. There was a hint of approval in his voice that made David want to do a cartwheel.

AWWWW

“I’d like to take care of the New York institute,” David said now. “Because Jace Herondale and Clary Fairchild took care of me.”

And for the first time that evening, the Consul smiled. David wanted to burst into song.

AHHHH

this is beautiful

David couldn’t help but find that endearing. He wondered what it felt like to be loved like that. He wondered what it felt like to have a father like that – a father who couldn't stop loving his child even for a moment.

A love that was endless and tireless.

Every time he was in the presence of the Lightwood-Bane family he was reminded of what he had lost and what every child deserved.

It made him sad.

But then he would remember. He would remember that Max had grown up knowing nothing but this. Max had grown up with nothing but love.

It made him happy.

alright come here let me hug you

UHUHSCUICDUH "Why do you not like me"

“I know I worry too much about Max,” the Consul said, his smile sad now. “But I can only worry now. I won’t always be there to worry over him.”

it's 9 am boy

THESE TWO REALLY BE ASKING THE TRUE QUESTIONS

"Why are you scared of me" HSUHYUKDUMKDS WELL YOU SEE-

all we can really do is replace the bad memories with happier ones...

“No,” the Consul said, and David’s heart almost stopped. “I mean, of course I care. But I don’t have to be hard on you to show you that I do. There are many ways to show people we care about them without hurting them.”

David thought of his father then. He remembered the way his father had drawn the agony rune on his wrist and promised him it was because he loved David and wanted him to be strong. The memory hurt.

Jace and Clary bestest

“I’m sorry for whatever I did to intimidate you,” the Consul apologized.

that is so alec oh my god 😭

David looked him in the eye. “You’re Alec Lightwood.”

The man looked confused. “Is that supposed to mean something?

I'm smiling so much right now because yeah

yeah I get what he's saying

David hadn’t known that boys were allowed to kiss other boys – not until he heard about Alec Lightwood’s Accords Hall kiss.

David hadn’t known fairy tales existed outside of books - not until he heard about Alec Lightwood adopting a warlock baby with Magnus Bane.

David hadn’t known love can literally change the world – not until he heard about Alec Lightwood changing the world for the man he loved.

don't make me cry during linguistics

“Well,” the Consul chuckled. “To be entirely honest, I did all of that for Magnus.”

as he should

“Everything I have ever done has always been for Magnus,” the Consul said, his voice oddly soft.

we're talking about some wall in class and im here trying not to cry

my teacher just asked why some of us have our cameras off WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY

“I don’t want to be a hero,” David confessed honestly. “I just thought if I ran away to a city full of heroes, they would protect me if someone tried to hurt me again.”

“What’s that?” the Consul frowned, pointing at his neck.

By the angel! David was going to have words with Max when he saw him again.

“Uh,” David said. “Mosquito bite.”

AHHHHHHHH MOSQUITO BITE

“Do you remember when Izzy got attacked by a demon in Edom?”

“And you drank my blood,” the Consul rolled his eyes.

“Aw,” the Dean of the Academy chuckled. “You do remember.”

poor David is stuck between them talking like this IM SCREAMING

He remembered the way Consul had blamed himself when Max had found the spoils room at the York Institute. The way he had believed he should have done better when his eldest son had been traumatized by foul rumours of the Clave.

oh honey no

There were people who got mad at themselves when things went wrong.

There were people who got mad at everyone around them when things went wrong.

While Alec Lightwood was the former, his son and David’s boyfriend, was definitely the latter.

I'm definitely both

“It wasn’t your fault,” David spoke up then. “When bad things happen to people, it’s because of the people who did those bad things. We shouldn’t atone for someone else’s sins.”

“Yeah. Stop atoning, dude,” the Dean said chuckled. “Listen to the boy.”

YES EVERYONE LISTEN TO DAVID

“And be careful,” the Consul said, his tone a little different now.

“I will keep an eye on-”

“No,” the Consul said and pointed at the hickey on David’s neck. “With Max. Be careful.”

David was pretty sure his face on fire.

OH MY GOD

IM SHAKING

“Um, we have the internet,” David pointed out.

The Consul blinked. “Right. Of course. The internet.”

yes

ao3 and Wattpad

KIDS DON'T GO ON THESE WEBSITES AT 11 JUST DO NOT

“If he gives you a hard time, don’t give up,” the man whispered like it was a secret. “You just need to weasel your way into his life.”

David chuckled. “Is that what you did?”

yup

“Yeah, and then he had the audacity to get accidentally get drunk and confess his love in the middle of the night.”

AWW SHE'S TELLING GIGI ABOUT THEIR PAST

“I did have a latte,” her mother said with a straight face.

Georgia didn’t find that funny.

I almost said "BECAUSE IT'S NOT FUNNY" before I realized that is exactly what I would've said

She knew her mother, like so many other people in her life, preferred to use humour to cope with the pain. They preferred to hide their pain away from other people.

Georgia never understood why people did that. Did they think others didn’t know what pain felt like? Everyone was in pain all the time – some kind of it at least. Everyone knew how to cope with it. So, it made more sense to share it than to carry it all by yourself.

i...I never look at it that way

Apparently, hand holding had special healing abilities at times like this.

yeah it really does

Georgia had hoped to find out herself. She had wondered so much about the baby.

tears. literal tears

It didn’t matter that Georgia had wanted to name the baby Abigail after the first iron sister. It didn’t matter that her father wanted to name the baby Jonathan to piss off Uncle Jace.

Abigail Jonathan Lightwood-Lovelace

FUCK OFF AND LET ME CRY IN PEACE

People said that poison was a coward’s weapon. But Georgia didn’t think so. It wasn’t easy to make poison. It wasn’t easy sneak it into the right place at the right time.

Whoever did this, they were not cowards. They were smart and they should be feared.

yeah, what did happen during the trial?

uh is Selena ok?

like genuinely

is she just a very heavy sleeper or...

MARYSE

Because sometimes the only comfort you needed was your mom.

yeah...

Except for random parts of the house that were incredibly organized – a sign Uncle Jace had been there

Yup.

“I’m staying in New York, mom. I’m going to help Selena and the centurions find out who did this to me,” her mother said, her words a promise. “And once I do, I’m going to strangle them with my whip.”

Yes you will

Anjali and Rafe

please be ok. please

HOW ABOUT WE DO A TRADE

ZARA'S LIFE FOR ANJALI'S 😄

ok I know that's not how it works but IM DESPERATE

her bedroom seems amazing though

Rafael gave so much shit to his dad because the other man had the habit of watching his husband sleep.

But now he sort of understood the fascination.

AWWWWW

“You do ballet?” he asked, holding up the ballet shoes.

slightly reminds me of rosa

OK WHO AM I KIDDING SHE TOTALLY DOES

the red binder

it's fucking genius

David can keep his flowers and cookies and scarves.

This, what he held in his hands right now, was the best thing anyone could ever give him. A file full of reforms to make the clave better.

IM SCREAMING

“You think I want to die and leave the Council in your cishet hands?”

YES BESTIE

“I don’t care what the Clave needs,” Rafael snapped, and Anjali momentarily looked taken aback. “I need you.”

he needs her

FUCK IT TIME TO CRY

“Bulgaria is known as the land of roses,” Rafael told her. “The Sofia Institute is built in the middle of a rose garden.”

“Oh,” Anjali’s eyes momentarily softened. “I like roses.”

you know that tiktok trend? the one which goes "listen it's a good joke it's a great joke even but i need you to stop" or smth like that?

yeah

His hand was itching to reach out and hold hers. So, he did just that. He reached out – very carefully – and took her hand in his own.

“I need you to get better, Anjali,” he whispered. “Cause I would very much like to take you there.”

HAND HOLDING

no she's not becoming a vampire

The part that was the shadowhunter – which told him she didn’t deserve to die over some angelic mishap.

The part that was the future Consul – which told him he needed Anjali on his side.

The part that was a Lightwood-Bane – which told him he should never give up fighting.

And then there was the part that was Rafael – just Rafael.

It told him he had to save his heart – no matter the consequences.

we're talking about some powerplant in geography and I'm crying over this

Anjali please please don't die

“Not everything,” Rafael told her. “I know someone who can help.”

WHO

GIVE ME A NAME

“Well, now we don’t know that for sure!” Max grinned. “Who knows what they get up to? Maybe there is someone occasional boning in the bone city.”

“How does manage to get more insufferable every time I meet him?” Jackson demanded.

i...never looked at it that way

OH JACKSON IS BECOMING A SILENT BROTHER

Max grinned widely at the other boy. “You wanna be my immortal buddy, Jack-Jack?”

OOP-

“The boys are back” he yelled, hugging David and Jackson. “Ty, our boys are back! Yas! The London Boys are back!”

THE LONDON BOYS

“Okay it’s a little disrespectful when you call her by the same name you call me,” Max pointed out.

“True,” Jackson nodded. “Irene shouldn’t be disrespected like that.”

YUYZXYSCGYZCGYUCUIZCVUH SCREAMING

"It’s hard being a celeb,” Max sighed dramatically.

“He is referring to the chaos you unleashed the last time you went there,” Jackson rolled his eyes. “People still remember you.”

“I’m memorable. It’s not my fault,” Max shrugged.

Max no more gambling bestie

“If the assassination attempt on Magnus had been successful, we wouldn’t be sitting and talking like this,” Kit pointed out. “The nephilim and downworlders would be at war.”

As they should. No one hurts Magnus

“So the target isn’t just Magnus Bane?” Jackson asked.

“Possibly,” Ty nodded. “The Consul and his husband…They are the ones who united the shadow world – with the Alliance. With their marriage. So, it’s not surprising that someone – seelie or not – wants to break it all down.”

with every line, I get closer to a breakdown

“There are people all around me to protect me from demons and crazy assassins,” Max smiled. “But you…You protect me from myself. So, don’t give me that I’m not good at protecting bullshit.”

so precious...

“Now let’s go find out which dumbass thought it would be a good idea to try and kill Magnus Fucking Bane.”

i have a few torture methods in mind

If shadowhunters couldn’t fight demons, it would put both downworlders and mundanes in danger. His father’s Clave – small as it was – did their best to keep the demons at bay. They were the only thing keeping the shadow world safe from demons.

Ikr?? Like David said earlier Alec's clave is literally the one doing the actual shadowhunting.

“Jackson is incredibly smart and perceptive. He knows what is good for him, David. He chose you to be his best friend. He has accepted that his family is gone for good and is finally focusing on his future. If this is what he wants to do and if this is who he wants to be, then you should trust that he has thought this through. He wouldn’t have chosen this life if he thought he wouldn’t be happy with it.”

TRUE

ALRIGHT WHO TF IS BEHIND ALL THIS

i just want to talk 🙂

“Great,” Max said, feeling frustrated. “So, someone created a fancy new poison just to kill my parents.”

“They did say something else,” Kit said, his tone worried. “The poison…It’s not entirely made of demonic properties.”

“Oh?” David said.

“It’s a mixture of angelic and demon properties,” Ty Blackthorn said. “And we know that-”

“Seelies,” Max whispered. “They have both angel and demon blood.”

Is anyone else scared?

GASP

WHAT IF

It's an angel and prince of hell working together?

ok that seems highly unlikely

“I don’t think you have a choice, bud,” Kit giggled. “Mina will have your head if you don’t get married. She has been working on a Pinterest board for years now.”

KIT

KIT

WHAT THE FUCK

OH MY GOD KIT

NO NO NO

HE CAN'T BE DEAD

NO FUCK NO

I'm absolutely loving all this angst so much. You said chapter 9 was the most angsty and frankly I can't wait :p

now...IF KIT AND ANJALI DIE I WILL BE VERY VERY SAD but the angst potential with Anjali though...NOPE NOPE NOPE. MY GIRL'S GONNA BE INQUISITOR I KNOW SHE WILL.

AHHHHHH THIS CHAPTER WAS A LOT LMAO.

I love how you are complaining but also thirsting for angst yall crazy.

I hope you are taking care of yourself and working on your entry for the competition!!!!!

Also the "we're talking about some wall in class" killed me lmao I laughed so hard fdhvjd.

#lbaf

[echo-three-one]

Whatever It Takes

While Soap, France and the two hostages try to recover, Gary stands by for action. It's a waiting game before they make their next move. Can Gary's lungs handle the training?

Previous Chapter : Reunited

Chapter 6 to another story made by Ray (echo-three-one) Comments and Reviews appreciated! I hope you enjoy! Love you all ❤️

A Walk to Remember

Gary "Roach" Sanderson

Task Force 141

Task Force 141 - Briefing Room

Gary was able to share his raccoon story, but he wasn't contented. He actually wanted a certain someone to listen to it. He wanted to see her smile. He knew their time together was short but he grew curious about the blonde girl. He felt concern, almost guilty that he triggered her massive headache. He wanted to apologize, but since then she's still unconscious. Guess he'll have to wait.

"The concern is that Augustus' squad had been forcibly and convincingly recruiting troops from a local border militia and informants reported that they have siezed their small village camp." The caterpillar-moustached general briefed, gaining murmurs from the rest of the squad.

"We'll be sending Alex tomorrow to negotiate with the squad and if he's successful. We could formally assist them and take back their base, crippling Augustus forces. Gathering intel on the village is a bonus." he added, making everyone else nod. Gary looked determined to help out, and for now all he could to is to train more and have faith in Alex's skills.

"That's odd." Ghost nudged from beside him.

"Yeah?" he replied quickly.

"I know that face… Something's bothering the bug. Come on. Spill." he whispered. Ghost may look cold and distant at one glance but he tries hard to show concern, especially for Roach, who has been there to absorb his problems ever since they met.

"It's the mission." Gary lied and he was not convincing at that.

"Sod off mate. I can tell you're lying. Is it the girl? It's always about the girl." he teased. Gary found himself speechless as he puffed his cheeks.

"Yeah. We'll you're bothered about France too. And threatened about how close they are with Soap." he whispered, Ghost fell silent and stopped bugging him. Gary wanted to quickly apologize for hitting a nerve, but he turned his focus to Shepherd.

"That's about all of it for today. I want all available squad members at the training areas now. We're not going to let that same blunder happen again." he scolded as everyone silently left. Ghost walked behind Gary, his quiet demeanor was normal but somewhat odd.

"You think she's interested in him? They used to fight a lot." he muttered and Gary turned to him.

"Look mate, I have no idea what's going on around them. They just met, and I'm no love doctor but if you're really into her then take small steps. Get to know her, talk to her, those kind of things. Then you'll finally get the answer you're looking for." Roach advised and Ghost actually showed agreement by nodding as they continue to the training room.

Task Force 141 - Jogging Oval

THE NEXT DAY

It's the fourth time that Roach lost to Ghost on a one lap sprint. A sign that he still has a lot of lung endurance exercises to do and he's still a long way to go to master holding a sniper rifle. He looked down, hands on his knees and sweat dropped from his forehead as he panted heavily.

"Roach! You okay?" a familiar scottish voice called from nearby. He looked and saw Samantha, Maxine, France and Soap together early in the morning. Samantha was pushing Maxine's wheelchair while France pushed Soap's. It looked like he still can't get up properly yet and might not make it on the next mission. His eyes now turned to Maxine who was looking at Samantha, laughing at something. Her smile brought happiness to Roach's face and he felt like he could run another lap.

"I'm fine." Gary replied with a thumbs up, jogging toward them, taking France's spot.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Oh. Nowhere. The nurse said we could use a little sunshine." Soap replied and the rest of them nodded. Maxine turned to Gary and smiled.

"You. You helped me back there. Eased the pain from the sprain. What's your name?" she asked. Gary took the time to let her voice fill his mind.

"Gary." he replied.

"Thank you Gary." she smiled and turned back to Samantha, resuming their conversation. France quickly nudged him to which he winced in pain.

"Whatever you're thinking, it goes through me first. I'm her sister after all." she warned, Gary pretended to look confused but there was no use hiding to a woman. They could sense intentions a mile away. 

"Does she um… remember you?" Gary asked. France's face shifted from threatening to sad.

"Not really." She sighed. "But she will recover and recognize me someday." 

"What happened to his leg? Hey hey Is that Alex?! Samantha it's Alex! Heyyy Pretty boy! Over here!" Maxine excitedly called him. He was walking to the hangar with his backpack and gym bag, looking focused. Everyone else were confused as to how Maxine knew Alex and Gary started to feel odd about it.

"Hey… um… you." Alex greeted awkwardly, smiling at the group.

"Alex. This is Samantha over here. I remember you looking for him at the bar. You know, a childhood friend you want to reconnect with?" She excitedly winked as he looked at Samantha. Gary could sense a little something going on between the two.

"Max, I don't know no Alex from my childhood…" Samantha muttered and Maxine frowned. This wasn't the kind of reunion she expected. It was a shame that that was the last thing she could remember.

"Yeah. I think you may have mistaken me or something. But I did look for her, returned a pendant she dropped back then." Alex replied and ran back to the airstrip.

"I swear I remember him correctly. I know full well which memories hurt me." Maxine whispered to herself as Samantha rubbed her back.

"He does look familiar. But then again I saw him back then and mistook him as a stalker. I mean, look at those tattooes. Turns out he's just there to return my pendant. It's a huge coincidence he works here though. Like one in a million." she mused as they quietly watched him walk away.

Gary started pushing Soap and the rest followed. He was happy Maxine's all peppy and well, but he can't help but feel jealous about the way she reacted upon seeing Alex. He wished she'd do the same for him. But who was he for her? Nothing but a random stranger.

"Huh?" Maxine asked and Samantha just nodded, making her quiet and realize things. Soap looked at Roach and they just exchanged weird glances and shrugged. Mentally noting that they'll have to talk to Alex about this after the mission.

~

"So, any new news?" Ghost stood by Gary as he gulped down a bottle of water.

"Not really. Except from the fact that Maxine claims to know Alex and Samantha knows Alex. And also Maxine is Francine's sister?!" Gary exhaled leaving Ghost in a momentary confusion.

"Wai.wai wait.. For real?!" he asked. Gary downed another bottle and nodded.

"Yeah. When briefing told us Alex was somehow connected, he was actually all over the place. I want answers from him." 

"Yeah. So where is he?" 

"He's already on his way back to Germany. Let's hope he convinces a whole army to help us out." Gary wondered as Ghost nudged him back to the gym. 

"Let's train that lungs of yours again."

All Gary could do was groan in  frustration as he followed Ghost to the gym.

"Man, Nero's a mysterious guy huh. Did you know Alex helped catch the CIA Mole he's working with. The one that supplied him the serum that's behind all of this." Gary overheard two random soldiers at the gym discuss. He couldn't help but stop whatever he was doing and asked them for more details.

"They already publicized the report on the website. They're actually desperate for any Nero-like activity to report to them immediately." one of them informed, Gary turned to Ghost and they both nodded, quickly running to the Base's library.

"Here it is. Alex's report." Gary muttered as Ghost peeked beside him, they slowly scrolled across pages of information written by Alex himself. He didn't hide anything from them, except from thr fact that they're after her because she had memories of an IP Address. Then further through the report they concluded that they weren't successful in extracting it. Then at the end of the file was a footnote, regarding Samantha's state. It read:

Due to a special favor promised by Samantha's father, he has authorize to apply an MK Ultra procedure to her, whose main intention is to Alter her memories of the IP Address along with the events that happened prior to kidnapping.

"So that's why she didn't know Alex." Gary realized.

"Hence the responses earlier." Ghost added.

"Maxine wasn't mentioned in this footnote this means her memories weren't rewritten." Gary spleculated. Ghost scratched his head in confusion.

"This whole thing is nuts." Was all Ghost could say.

Task Force 141 - Quarters

2000H

"Same routine tommorow, okay?" Ghost grinned and it made Gary groan.

"Fine. My lungs are going to hate you for eternity, Simon." he complained and the trainer just chuckled.

"We didn't have the chance to talk to Soap today. He surely has a lot of new information about the two." 

"Nah. More like more information on France." Ghost retorted fake chuckling.

"If he's ever in the competition, I can judge that he's one step ahead." Gary remarked, attempting to tease Ghost who was already leaning away from him.

"Rest up, Bug. Another big day tomorrow." he muttered, almost angry.

"Yeah. Big day."

Next Chapter : Just Like Old Times

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#horRAYfic #codmw #gary roach sanderson #john price #john soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #alex echo 3 1