#canard white star

[rmsqueenmaryonthisday]

On this June 1, 1936, the RMS Queen Mary arrived in New York, ending her maiden voyage. Though she failed to win the Blue Riband from France's Normandie due to heavy fog, that didn't stop thousands of onlookers and swarms of harbor craft, boats, and even planes from welcoming her to the United States for the very first time.

#rms queen mary #cunard #maritime #history #transatlantic travel #on this day #steamship #ocean liner #maiden voyage #canard white star #British Pathe #Youtube

[fdelopera]

A Jewish Analysis of Moon Knight Online as We Approach Hanukkah

So, I am a Jew. I am a Moon Knight fan. And I need to address an elephant in the room.

Over the past month on Tumblr, I have seen people making some of the most blatant antisemitic statements I’ve ever seen in all my life.

And I say this as a Jew who lived through a Nazi mass shooting on my Jewish community back in 2018. I say this as a Jew who used to have Evangelical Christians call me “Christ-killer” when I was younger. I say this as a Jew who grew up in the Midwest near a chapter of the KKK. The KKK would hold regular rallies against Jews, only a few miles from my house.

So when I tell you the antisemitism online has been bad, I’m saying it’s as bad as what the KKK does during their rallies.

Unfortunately, some of the antisemitism I’ve seen online has come from some people who are in the Moon Knight fandom, a community built around celebrating a Jewish system.

And as a Jew, I need to address this directly, especially as we approach Hanukkah.

I am putting this next section under a Read More, with a Trigger Warning for antisemitic language and mentions of SA.

This may be painful to read. But I am asking you to please read it.

Let me preface what I am about to say by reminding you that antisemitism is NEVER okay. Full stop. No matter the situation, no matter the conflict, antisemitism is NEVER justified. Antisemitism solves nothing. All it does is gets Jews harassed, attacked, and killed. If your response to any conflict is to respond with Jew-hatred, all you are doing is exposing yourself as an antisemite and a bigot.

And yet, I have seen people in the Moon Knight fandom reblog and say the most horrific, antisemitic things about Jewish people.

I have seen people in the Moon Knight fandom say that Jewish people deserve to be raped and murdered, specifically because we are Jewish. .

I have seen people in the Moon Knight fandom say that they think we Jews are like Nazis. This is called Holocaust-inversion. It is an antisemitic canard that started with the KKK (one of the major white supremacist hate groups in the US), and it is a form of Jew-taunting. Antisemites find the thing that is the most hurtful to Jewish people, and then they compare Jews to that. The Holocaust is our greatest tragedy. So by comparing us Jews to Nazis, you are intentionally degrading us. .

I have seen people in the Moon Knight fandom call Jews slurs that originated with the KKK and Neo-Nazis. Some people in the MK fandom have called Jewish people “Zios,” “Zio scum,” and “Zio rats” (among other slurs). These are antisemitic slurs from white supremacists. .

I have seen people in the Moon Knight fandom harassing me and other Jews to demand, “Are you a Zionist?” This is the “Good Jew/Bad Jew” antisemitic canard (or more accurately "Useful Jew/Bad Jew"), most notably used by the Nazis. You are sorting Jews into camps of “Good Jews” and “Bad Jews,” which puts ALL Jews in danger of attack. Antisemites use the "Good Jews" to attack other Jews, and then eventually antisemites label ALL Jews "Bad Jews" to justify attacking and even murdering us. This is what happened in my Jewish community in Pittsburgh, where a Nazi murdered eleven of us. He barged into Tree of Life synagogue and opened fire on two different congregations of Jews who were there for Shabbat. .

I have seen people in the Moon Knight fandom desecrating the Magen David and comparing it to a swastika. Again, this is another form of antisemitic Holocaust-inversion and Jew-taunting. You are comparing one of our most sacred symbols (the Magen David, or Star of David) to the swastika, the symbol of the Nazis. .

I have seen people in the Moon Knight fandom say that they want millions of Jews to die.

Let me put this clearly. If in some hypothetical scenario, you met Steven Grant on the street, would you go up to him and say, “Fucking die, you Zio rat!" or "Hitler should've killed more of you!” or “You’re a fucking Nazi!” Of course you wouldn’t. So don’t say this to REAL LIFE Jewish people, either.

If you are treating a FICTIONAL Jewish character with more respect and care than REAL LIFE Jewish people, you need to do some serious soul searching.

There is a term for the act of obsessing over a fictional Jew while at the same time disrespecting and harassing actual Jewish people: It’s called fetishizing Jewish people.

Here’s the thing that you maybe fail to understand. This is a VITAL lesson we Jews learned from the Holocaust: If you are a Jew, you are a Jew. Our fates are linked. It doesn’t matter what country we were born in. It doesn’t matter if we are Orthodox or non-practicing. It doesn’t matter what our political stance is on anything. Antisemites don’t care. They want us all dead.

There are only 16 million of us in the entire world. We’re 0.2% of the world’s population, and we were nearly all murdered several decades ago by the Nazi Holocaust in Europe and widespread ethnic cleansing by Arabs in the Middle East. Not to mention widespread pogroms in Eastern Europe a generation before (that is when my family came to America). And the 2000 years of antisemitic persecution and mass murder before that.

An attack on one Jew is an attack on all Jews. This is why Jews collectively mourn the eleven Jews who were murdered by a Nazi in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Jews across the US and around the world say Mourner’s Kaddish for them.

And if you say you want Jews thousands of miles away to be mass murdered, you are saying that about me, too. You are telling me that you want me to be killed in the most brutal, vile, degrading way possible.

.

And now, Hanukkah is coming up. And there is about to be #MKCember (an art challenge like Inktober) within the Moon Knight community. And some of the art prompts relate to Hanukkah and to Shabbat.

And I think I’m one of the only Jews still involved in any capacity within the Moon Knight fandom on Tumblr.

Most of you in the Moon Knight fandom are gentiles (people who are not Jews). And you are about to create art that will relate to a Jewish holiday about Jewish perseverance in the face of annihilation. Hanukkah celebrates Jewish hope when all seems lost.

You are about to create art that relates to the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 164 BCE, after Jews fought a bloody war for Jerusalem against the Seleucid Greek Empire. The Seleucids had defiled the Jewish Temple by slaughtering pigs on the altar, so the Jews, led by Judah Maccabee, had to purify the Temple. That is where the origin of the Hanukkah tradition comes from.

You are about to create art that relates to the Hanukkah Miracle, the Miracle of the Oil, that is recorded in the Talmud, one of our most sacred texts.

Hanukkah is NOT a communal holiday. It is NOT a gentile holiday. Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday. It is for Jewish people. Gentiles can participate, but only if you are respectful. And some people in the Moon Knight fandom have been horribly disrespectful to Jewish people.

And I remember last year, when many gentile artists created weird, culturally insensitive approximations of Hanukkah. Things like the hanukkiah (Hanukkah menorah) having the wrong number of branches, and being lit incorrectly. Things like MK System being dressed up in a Christmas sweater. Things like the Magen David (Star of David) having 5 points instead of 6.

Last year, I could laugh it off as people being ignorant.

But this year, after seeing the barrage of antisemitism that has come from some people in the Moon Knight fandom, this kind of poorly researched Hanukkah art will feel like a slap in the face.

So, what are some things that you can do if you are a Moon Knight artist, and you want to draw Hanukkah-related Moon Knight art for this challenge?

Here are 5 very strong recommendations:

NUMBER 1:

FIRST AND FOREMOST. If you are NOT going to be respectful of Jewish holidays, culture, and traditions, DO NOT make ANY art that depicts Hanukkah, or any Jewish holiday.

If you cannot respect Jewish people, you are NOT QUALIFIED to make art that relates to Jewish people.

I do NOT want to see someone posting Moon Knight art they’ve drawn next to a post comparing Jews to Nazis. In the words of Gene Wilder, a Jewish actor, “You get nothing. You lose. Good day, sir.”

Draw something else.

And if I see any antisemitic art posted online by supposed Moon Knight fans, you best believe I will be calling you out, and so will other Moon Knight fans.

NUMBER 2:

If you are prepared to be respectful of Jewish people and Jewish traditions, DO YOUR RESEARCH. For instance, there are lots of videos on YouTube where Jewish people show you how to light a hanukkiah (Hanukkah menorah).

MyJewishLearning.com, for example, has an explanation of Hanukkah candle lighting: click here.

These are two simple tutorials of how to light the hanukkiah (Hanukkah menorah): click here, and here.

This is an artistic example from last year of how to draw MK System lighting Hanukkah candles: click here.

Since there are also artistic prompts relating to Shabbat, this is a page that describes the blessings and customs for Shabbat: click here.

NUMBER 3:

Don’t depict Moon Knight using Christian symbology. Don’t depict MK System as a Catholic knight. Don’t depict MK System wearing a Christmas sweater, or opening presents from under a Christmas tree. This is antisemitic. It is Jewish erasure.

If you are going to depict MK System in a holiday-related context, honor their Jewishness.

This is an artistic example from last year of how to depict MK System festively, without erasing their Jewishness: click here.

NUMBER 4:

If you are friends with a Jewish person, you might have the idea to ask them to review your art. BUT. Big caveat here. We Jews have just been through a month of utter HELL. Judging at least from my inbox, each of us has likely received dozens of death threats and hateful messages from antisemites over the past few weeks, just because we are Jewish. We are EXHAUSTED. So if you are friends with a Jewish person, do not be offended if they tell you that no, they don’t have the spoons to help you. And really, it’s best to just do your own research, and not ask Jews to do any more emotional labor than we already are doing.

NUMBER 5:

MOST IMPORTANT. Again, Be respectful. If you are a gentile, Hanukkah is not a holiday that belongs to you. It belongs to Jewish people. It celebrates thousands of years of Jewish perseverance. It celebrates all the times Jewish people were driven to the brink, but managed to hold on by the skin of our teeth. It reminds us that we are still here. It tells us that we will survive.

Respect Jews. Respect our holidays. Respect our culture. Respect our traditions.

Thank you.

#moon knight #marc spector #steven grant #jake lockley #mcu moon knight #moon knight comics #mkcember2023 #antisemitism tw #NOTE: I block and report antisemites. If any antisemites comment on this post you will be reported and blocked. You have been warned.

[leonvarcas]

Guide to The City: Chapter 2: Fixer Associations

A sequel to This Post where i catalogued The City's workshops, this time covering the fixer associations! Please note this will contain unmarked spoilers for Library of Ruina and Limbus Company.

1: Hana Association

Language: Korean Specialties: Fixer grading and management, threat classification, elimination of Impurities. Uniform: White and gold-trimmed long coats over a white suit with a black tie, emblazoned with Taoist trigrams on the shoulders. Equipment: Black crystalline weapons that can be reformed instantly to different forms, making Hana fixers dangerous and unpredictable in close combat. Most often wielded as Crystal Spears (Mirinae, Olivier, Hana Association Fixers) but also as a Crystal Gauntlet (Harold) Known Fixers: Mirinae, Harold, Olivier (Library of Ruina) Hana handles the grading and licensing of fixers and fixer offices, grading them from 1-9 (1 being the strongest, 9 being the weakest). They also handle the classification of threats to the city. from least to most dangerous, the classifications are: Canard Urban Myth Urban Legend Urban Plague Urban Nightmare Star of the City Impuritas Civitatis Impurities are special threats, classified by The Head themselves for immediate extermination or removal. Hana only personally fights against Impurity level threats.

2: Zwei Association

Language: German Specialties: Defense, peacekeeping, and bodyguard duty. Uniform: Blue and yellow coats and suits. Equipment: One-handed swords (Zwei Crew), two-handed swords, or Zweihanders if you will (Julia, Isadora, Walter, Zwei South Section 4 Faust, Zwei South Section 4 Gregor), and stun batons (Zwei South Section 6 Sinclair, Zwei South Section 5 Rodion) Known Fixers: Julia, Isadora, Walter (Library of Ruina), Faust, Gregor, Rodion, Sinclair, Heathcliff, Ishmael, Don Quixote (Limbus Company, mirror World of the Zwei Association) Affiliated Offices: Streetlight Office Zwei will handle peacekeeping within their territory, but don't mistake them for police, you will need to pay them for their protection. They specialize in defense, of people, places, whatever you need them for.

3: Tres Association

Language: Spanish EDIT: thank you to josieblueart, i had completely forgotten! Specialty: Testing and licensing of Workshop products Tests and approves all products made by the Workshops of The City, likely also in charge of "dealing with" any unauthorized distribution.

4: Shi Association

Language: Japanese Specialities: Assassination Uniform: Black and Red (varies) Equipment: Red katana (all) Known Fixers: Yujin, Valentin, Tenma, Thelma (Library of Ruina), Don Quixote, Heathcliff, Ishmael (Limbus Company, mirror World of the Shi Association) Affiliated Offices: Full-Stop Office Shi specializes in stealth and assassination. If you really want someone dead, you pay the Shi. Due to the nature of the job Shi is frequently understaffed, and thus terminally overworked and injured.

5: Cinq Association

Language: French Specialties: Dueling Uniform: Blue cape over a black suit, with a feathered cap Equipment: Rapier (All) Known Fixers: Don Quixote, Outis, Sinclair (Limbus Company, World of the Cinq Association) Have a dispute with someone, but you're too weak to duel them yourself? Hire the Cinq association to duel them for you!

6: Liu Association

Language: Chinese Specialties: War Uniform: Black suit with gold accents and red coats Equipment: Swords (Liu Fixers), Gloves (Cecil, Mei, Chun, Miris, Liu Association South Section 4 Ishmael), Guandaos (Lowell, Xiao), and Gauntlets (Liu Association South Section 6 Gregor, Liu Association South Section 6 Meursault, Liu Association South Section 5 Hong Lu) that cause fire via friction, requiring skill to use effectively. Also their signature red coats, made with Moonstone, singularity of M corp, that defends against psychological attacks. Known Fixers: Cecil, Mei, Chun, Miris, Lowell, Xiao (Library of Ruina), Ishmael, Gregor, Meursault, Hong Lu (Limbus Company, World of the Liu Association) Liu Association specializes in open combat, having great numbers and skilled fighters wielding fire. Liu are called in when you need to fight an army... or a monster.

7: Seven Association

Language: English Specialties: Information gathering, detection, hunting Uniform: Green coat, brown suit Equipment: Swords (Seven Association Fixers, Dante(LoR), Seven Association South Section 6 Yi Sang, Seven Association South Section 6 Ryoshu, Seven Association South Section 6 Director Outis, Seven Association South Section 4 Faust, Seven Association South Section 4 Heathcliff) and at least one bladed cane (Seven Association South Section 6 Director Outis) Known Fixers: Dante (Library of Ruina), Yi Sang, Ryoshu, Outis, Faust, Heathcliff (Limbus Company, World of the Seven Association) Han Hee-Joon (Distortion Detective) Affiliated Offices: Moses Office If you want to know something, you pay Seven Association. They specialize in information gathering, and if you pay extra, they'll also hunt down whoever you wanted to know about.

8: Eight? (Speculation based on the languages of the sinners and their numbers corresponding to the languages of the fixer associations, other instances of speculation will be marked with a ?)

nothing is currently known

9: Devyat Association

EDIT: Credit to truboo42, i'm bad at remembering limbus tidbits lol Specialties: Delivery Devyat employs courier fixers to deliver packages around The City, it is assuredly a dangerous job requiring skilled work.

10: Dieci Association

Language: Italian Specialties: Research, accumulation of knowledge Uniform: Priestly robes with a yellow sash Equipment: Gloves that somehow grant power the more knowledge the wearer has (Dieci Association South Section 4 Rodion) Known Fixers: Rodion (Limbus Company, World of the Dieci Association) Not much to go off of yet, but it seems like the Dieci specialize in accumulating knowledge, and are somehow able to use that knowledge for power. (curious why they never went to The Library, who also claimed to accumulate knowledge. perhaps they didn't want the library to have any of their knowledge?)

11: Öufi Association

Language: Swiss German Specialties: Trades and Deals Edit: thank you project moon very cool Uniform: Purple and black outfits similar in style to that worn by the Landsknecht of 15th century Germany Equipment: Ornate Halberd (Öufi Association South Section 3 Heathcliff) Known Fixers: Heathcliff (Limbus Company, World of the Öufi Association) Not much to go off of yet, but the Öufi seem to specialize in contracts and the enforcement thereof.

12: Dodeka?

nothing is currently known

And that's all, hopefully we'll gain more info later on the associations we haven't seen yet, expect future posts covering the Wings of the World and the Backstreets Syndicates!

#project moon #limbus company #library of ruina

[judgeanon]

Plastic Skies - Model 5: Su-37 Berkut

After that last, highly-demanding build, I made a conscious decision that my next kit would be something simple. No hyper complex camo schemes, no funky weird tools, just a cheap little palate cleanser. At first I thought about getting another of those baby models, but I was lucky enough to find something that not only checked all the boxes, but was also one of my all-time favorite weirdo planes. This, at last, was going to be just fun, dammit.

For those who haven’t had the pleasure, the Berkut is an experimental plane built around the idea of forward-swept wings and other technologies like thrust vectoring. The project was started in the 80s, but the plane itself first took flight in 1997, and while its test results were pretty impressive, it was eventually scrapped for more conventional airplanes. Still, the sole working prototype remained in use as a test bed for further technologies, and along the way, it gained a pretty strong following. Japan in particular seems to adore the Berkut, and it has appeared in pretty much every Ace Combat game since 3. In fact, an amusingly sizeable bunch of online articles about it just straight-up use game renders of the Berkut, even if they feature markings from Ace Combat’s various fictional countries.

But anyway! Beloved weirdo plane. 95% black fuselage. No missiles because it never saw actual combat. And according to online resources, the model had the simplest landing gear doors I’d seen yet. It was fate. Especially at the price the online reseller I bought it from was asking: less than half the price of the last model. Sure, I could tell it was an old kit, but how bad could it be?

The Berkut’s construction was every bit as easy as I imagined it to be. So easy, in fact, that I built it in literally a single day. Although I did make a few ugly mistakes along the way. The biggest one, which is hard to notice unless you see it very up close and/or with the light right over it, was the paint. Thinking I’d need a lot of black, I went overboard on the paint and ended up with some really ugly brush strokes covering most of the model. The glossy varnish I picked for the finish hid some of it, but it was a lesson I’m trying to keep at the forefront of my mind for next time: chill with the paint.

I did, for once, enjoy doing the landing gears. Not just because they were hilariously easy compared to pretty much every other one I’d built, but because it (and the thrusters) gave me a chance to break out the metallic paint. Seriously, I fucking love that stuff. I’m thinking about building another MiG-21 or a Sabre or even another P-51 Mustang just so I can give them the shiniest coat of metallic paint I can find.

The white details were a bit of a problem, but that’s because white paint in general kinda vexes me. For some reason I end up needing at least twice as many coats as any other paints. Maybe it’s a matter of priming, another thing I’ve yet to try with models. But in any case, before I knew it, the Berkut was complete, moving canards and all. It was time to get my decalling on.

I dunked one of the red stars that are supposed to go on the wings on warm water, took it out, removed the excess water, put it on the fuselage and gently poked at it with a toothpick like I’d done with dozens of other decals before. And then it happened. The star shattered completely inside the paper, its points snapping off like twigs. Grimacing, I tried to hold it together, but that just obliterated it further. Before I could do anything else, the star was just a mangle of red decal on a damp piece of paper.

So that sucked, but I knew I had five more stars to use. At worst, I could just not use one of the bottom ones. But I needed to do some testing. I wanted to check if this was a freak accident or if there was something worse going on. I picked a different decal and tried again. It disintegrated even faster than the star. And I gave up on the decals.

A quick online search confirmed my fear: this model kit was released in 2000. It is old enough to drink. Surely, the protective plastic coat around the decals was a hundred times weaker than the toothpicks I used. And while I did find a few ways to solve it, they all require products that I’m not entirely sure what their local equivalents would be. So while I’m definitely gonna be doing some more research about this to try and find a solution, for now, this poor Berkut is gonna remain un-decalled.

Also, one of its tailfins is a bit curved, but ehhhhh. I got what I paid for. It’s still a nice model, and it’ll probably get a little better once I find some gray panel line/wash to really bring the fuselage out, but as it stands, I’m just happy that a couple of sellers have more modern and bigger kits of this plane available.

Like in real life, this Berkut deserved better.

#My Stuff #Hobbies #Journals #This is also the latest model I've built #So far #So it might be a while #Until you see another one of these posts #So hey! #If you have any comments or suggestions or feedback #Now's as good a time as any! #And if you want to show off some of YOUR models #That'd be awesome too!

[the-perfect-scientist]

Ducktales AU

Will play both Classic and 2017 Ducktales verses!

Carlos is named Carlos Piñònª (he doesn’t use his mother’s Gansolesⁿ name, but it’s in his middle name after Juoaquìn). He’s from Oregington*, which is home to the Oregington U football star Mallard Drakeº (No relation to Doofus. Mallard however is a typical meat-headed athlete and a bit full of himself. Carlos never met him).

Eduardo Piñón (Carlos’ father) is a fulvous whistling duck. Julietta Gansoles (Carlos’ not-mother) is a pacific greater white-fronted goose.

Carlos and Mikey (his brother) however look more duck than goose, each looking very much like their dad. Though the boys both have orange beaks while Eduardo has a charcoal-colored one.

Carlos has a daughter named Angela, whom he’d had with another whistling duck named Carlotta. However, Carlos had been broken up and separated from Carlotta when Angela was hatched and he did know about the baby until afterwards through a mutual friend, due to interference from Carlotta’s parents. He was unable to sign the birth certificate until much later.

Carlotta died in an accident and Carlos sought to have his daughter with him, as he was certain he was the biological father, but Angela’s grandparents blocked him at every angle. It took over a year of legal battles before Carlos and his family had the baby with them. Once Angela was with him however, her maternal grandparents cut off all contact and did not pursue visitation.

Carlos is keen on the sciences and especially in engineering and invention. There are many contract opportunities for him in Duckberg and St Canard that he is more than willing to take advantage of.

ª = the word for the pinion feather in Spanish ⁿ = Ganso is goose in Spanish. Similar to her name Gonzales * = Oregon/Washington (like the California/Minnesota mashup in the show) º = Mallard Drake: a contending mascot for Oregon State, but was beaten in a vote by Donald. Yes, that Donald.

Tag: 'ducktales au'

#carlos the scientist #ducktales au #angela ramon #angie #ducktales promo

[rockhyrax]

Spectacle Radio ep.99 :: 04.13.23 :: How can I comprehend time if I can't comprehend eternity?

Ryuichi Sakamoto - NHK Newswide (NHK television, 1980) Orson Welles conducting a satanic Ceremony (Necromancy, Bert I. Gordon, 1972) Jeanette - Porque te vas - (Cría Cuervos, Carlos Saura, 1976)  Maria Vincent - Rififi in the City (Jess Franco, 1963) Yonatan Yudkovitz & Adir Dadia - This Little Light of Mine (MaLo Sutra Fish, 2021) Jane Arden & Mihai Dragutescu - Figures in White (Anti-Clock, Jane Arden & Jack Bond, 1979) Necromancy (Bert I. Gordon, 1972) Yonatan Yudkovitz & Adir Dadia - This Little Light of Mine (MaLo Sutra Fish, 2021) Franco Micalizzi - The Tough Ones (Umberto Lenzi, 1978) Amen Corner - Scream and Scream Again (Gordon Hessler, 1970)

Tree Spirit - Time to Know (Ganjasaurus Rex, Ursi Reynolds, 1987) … Dschinghis Khan // Ghengis Khan (used in Jia Zhangke's Platform, 2000) music from The Ring Seller (Youssef Chahine, 1973) Kishore Kumar, Amit Kumar, Ahsa Bholse // Aati Rahengi Baharen (from Kasme Vaade, 1978)

Imants Kalnins - Four White Shirts (1967) Xuefei Yang // cover of the theme from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (RIP Sakamoto) theme from King of Beggars (Gordon Chan, 1992) Sawadika // Detective City Town (from Detective Chinatown, 2015) bed: Ryuchi Sakamoto // music from Alexei and the Spring (2002) … Ryuichi Sakamoto - Iceskating (Proxima, Alice Winocour, 2019) Michael Gordon - Decasia 3 (Bill Morrison, 2002) Glenn Branca - Gloria, First Movement (Antigone/Rites of Passion, Amy Greenfield, 1990) Steve Reich - Plastic Haircut (Robert Nelson, 1963) Herschel and the Music of the Stars (Percy Adlon, 1983) Takuro Iwa - Canard à l’Orange (Patrick Bowkanowski, 2002)

Meredith Monk - Turtle Dreams (Waltz) (Ping Chong, for WGBH-TV, 1983)

[collymore]

Anyone can love anything, particularly when they’re not paying for it!

By Stanley Collymore The Daily Mail quite ad nauseum tells those who’re enthused by what it has to say as well as authentically academically qualified and essentially quite professional journalists like myself for whom it’s part and parcel normally in a day’s work to undoubtedly monitor, what these Nazi rightwing rags do always say, just how unquestionably talented Kate Middleton is, equally how she was discernibly very destined to be a world tennis playing star but basically naturally very selflessly, of course, quit this clearly enthralling career pursuit to raise her three children instead - rather than pursue glory on the tennis courts! Dream on! Unquestionably, Kate is simply another, but actually younger Camilla! And literally speaking of the Devil, how much more taxpayers money are all these Windsor multi-millionaires going to spend essentially propping up their egos with really pointless junkies? And please just for once, intelligently desist from the lying drivel about tourism revenue which they supposedly bring in, as that literally unfounded canard, has been repeatedly also, similarly, distinctively, authentically and irrefutably discounted, innumerable times before. The veritable truth is, that your Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Mountbatten, alias Windsor family, has manifestly so been an absolute drain on financial, as well as other crucial diverse resources. Moreover, they have routinely and unduly interfered with the UK’s political processes, like for instance when Liz Windsor restricted the then British government in 1965 and too all subsequent ones from basically ever including either her, her Klan members, their entire households and chosen on the sole basis, of them being distinctly white Caucasian, their employed staff from ever being subjected in any way to the Race Relations Act. While also ensuring that their deeply embedded distinctly effective white supremacist mind-set, and convivial Ku Klux Klan philosophy stayed intact, and clearly unaffected to this distinct day, within this 21st Century. But seriously, why should they care, as it is merely the citizens: very few of us basically, as it happens and who rightly insist on been distinctly regarded as such in evidently class infested Britain and not the toxic, surfeit of sycophantic serfs making the UK look pathetic! (C) Stanley V. Collymore 7 July 2023. Authors Remarks: The British monarchy has actually successfully exploited the mass media of Britain, principally through undoubtedly hugely financially bribing them, to specifically in the very process of doing so, convince the gullible and easily manipulated British public that like toxic verminous scum swarm all over the place, that the Windsor members are someone special and unquestionably so considerably better than everyone else; when in reality these unremarkable Saxe-Coburg-Gotha- Mountbatten-Windsors do nothing but actively represent the continuity of inequality!

#Greed #contempt.

[robertreich]

Trump is History. It’s Joe Biden Who’s Changing America

While most of official Washington has been consumed with the Senate impeachment trial, another part of Washington is preparing the most far-ranging changes in American social policy in a generation.

Congress is moving ahead with Biden's American Rescue Plan, which expands health care and unemployment benefits, and contains one of the most ambitious efforts to reduce child poverty since the New Deal. Right behind it is Biden’s plan for infrastructure and jobs.

The juxtaposition of Trump’s impeachment trial and Biden’s ambitious plans is no coincidence.

Trump left Republicans badly fractured and on the defensive. The Republican Party is imploding. Since January 6th, growing numbers of Republicans have deserted it. State and county committees are becoming wackier by the day. Big business no longer has a home in the crackpot GOP.

Republican infighting has created a political void into which Democrats are stepping with far-reaching reforms. Biden and the Democrats, who now control the White House and both houses of Congress, are responding boldly to the largest social and economic crisis since Great Depression.

Importantly, they are now free to disregard conservative canards that have hobbled America’s ability to respond to public needs ever since Ronald Reagan convinced the nation that big government was the problem.

The first is the supposed omnipresent danger of inflation and the accompanying worry that public spending can easily overheat the economy.

Rubbish. Inflation hasn’t reared its head in years, not even during the roaring job market of 2018 and 2019. “Overheating” may no longer even be a problem for globalized, high-tech economies whose goods and services are so easily replaceable.

Biden’s ambitious plans are worth the small risk, in any event. If you hadn’t noticed, the American economy is becoming more unequal by the day. Bringing it to a boil may be the only way to lift the wages of the bottom half. The hope is that record low interest rates and vast public spending generate enough demand that employers will need to raise wages to find the workers they need.

A few Democratic economists who should know better are sounding the false alarm about inflation, but Biden is wisely ignoring them. So should Democrats in Congress.

Another conservative bromide is that a larger national debt crowds out private investment and slows growth. This view hamstrung the Clinton and Obama administrations as deficit hawks warned against public spending unaccompanied by tax increases to pay for it. (I still have some old injuries from those hawks.)

Fortunately, Biden isn’t buying this, either.  

Four decades of chronic underemployment and stagnant wages have shown how important public spending is for sustained growth. Not incidentally, growth reduces the debt as a share of the overall economy. The real danger is the opposite: fiscal austerity shrinks economies and causes national debts to grow in proportion.

The third canard is that generous safety nets discourage work.

Democratic presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson sought to alleviate poverty and economic insecurity with broad-based relief. But after Reagan tied public assistance to racism -- deriding single-mother “welfare queens” – conservatives began demanding stringent work requirements so that only the “truly deserving” received help. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama acquiesced to this nonsense.

Not Biden. His proposal would not only expand jobless benefits but also provide assistance to parents who are not working – thereby extending relief to 27 million children, including about half of all Black and Latino children. Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah has put forward a similar plan.

This is just common sense. Tens of millions are hurting. A record number of American children are impoverished, according to the most recent Census data.

The pandemic has also caused a large number of women to drop out of the labor force in order to care for children. With financial help, some of them will be able to pay for childcare and move back into paid work. After Canada enacted a national child allowance in 2006, employment rates for mothers increased. A decade later, when Canada increased its annual child allowance, its economy added jobs.

It’s still unclear exactly what form Biden’s final plans will take as they work their way through Congress. He has razor-thin majorities in both chambers. In addition, most of his proposals are designed for the current emergency; they would need to be made permanent.

But the stars are now better aligned for fundamental reform than they’ve been since Reagan.

It’s no small irony that a half century after Reagan persuaded Americans that big government was the problem, Trump’s demise is finally liberating America from Reaganism – and letting the richest nation on earth give its people the social supports they desperately need.

#Trump #Biden #Jobs #Pandemic #american rescue plan

[astrodances]

So do you have other planets in your au so fare the only one you put up (that I know of anyway) is Canard and that colony that boyd and Borg attacked new Tokyo

DuckTales - Star Trek AU Map of the Galaxy

The following three images are the same hand-drawn overview of the Milky Way Galaxy that I did (which was really fun to draw!), with the first being the drawing itself, the second being a quadrant map, and the third being a details map, followed by a list of the corresponding points on the map, and then by some categories of locations that didn't make it onto the map for one reason or another (followed by some ending notes!).

The map + lists highlight most, if not all locations I've mentioned in previous answers (here's the AU tag), plus some other important locations that I haven't mentioned yet (some from Trek, some of my own design ;)). For everything else (especially the "Regions of Space"), it should be safe to assume that it's the same/AU version (or just doesn't exist/isn't mentioned in the AU) of the Star Trek maps, unless I say otherwise.

For this map/lists, I referred to NASA illustrations + data and Star Trek maps + info, especially the game map for Star Trek Online. That said, please note that the map and locations are definitely not to scale in terms of galactic distances between each point, but it should still provide a good general idea of where places are in relation to each other.

(Lists are under the cut after the images!)

Locations + Corresponding Points on Map:

Sector 001 - Sol system (Earth + Moon), AU Vulcan system - Earth: Klondike + White Agony Creek cabin, Dawson City, Starfleet Academy, Castle McDuck

Canard sector - Canard system (Canard), Deep Space 87 (DS87), Canardian wormhole* to Gamma Quadrant - DS87: Goldie's/Louie's Bar, Vic's Lounge, USS Thunderquack * The wormhole also serves as the "natural route" to the mirror universe, under the right conditions.

Canardian wormhole - Gamma Quadrant terminus

AU Cardassia sector - AU Cardassia system (AU Cardassia), Badlands

Risa sector - Risa

Sigma Iotia system (Sigma Iotia II)

AU Farius Prime, an Orion Syndicate planet

AU Ferenginar

New Tokyolk colony planet

Memory Alpha

Omicron Aquarioon III, an aquatic world **

Fiendish Nebula (F.O.W.L.'s homeworld) **

Lucy's Prize - option area 1 **

Lucy's Prize - option area 2 **

Regions of Space:

Federation space (primarily Alpha and Beta Quadrant)

Moonlander space

AU Cardassia space (Alpha Quadrant)

F.O.W.L. space (originally in Gamma Quadrant, extended to Alpha)

AU Klingon space

Neutral Zone(s)

AU Romulan space?

AU Borg space?

Extra-dimensional + Unknown/Unspecified + Classified Locations:

Shadow Q Continuum

Mirror universe

Areas of galaxy supernaturally explored by Magica and Goldie (primarily in the Gamma Quadrant)

Della's last known location (presumably "lost in an ion storm out in the middle of space"; possibilities for actual reason include (but aren't limited to): finding the Canardian wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant before its official discovery, or getting lost in the Badlands and pulled to the Delta Quadrant (à la Voyager))

Della's possible whereabouts (possibilities: Gamma or Delta Quadrant; an unexplored world that belongs to the Moonlanders)

Della's return blue signal location

AU Vagra II (Phantom Blot's possible origin planet)

AU Camor V (possible Dickie Duck storyline planet)

AU equivalent of Internment Camp 371 (for possible storyline where Webby is kidnapped and imprisoned, and replaced by changelings aboard the Klondike)

various asteroids for mining and aquatic worlds

location for the AU equivalent of the Mount Vesuvius battle

Beagle Boys' space junkyard

Known Ships of the AU:

USS Klondike, Federation starship, Starfleet flagship

Klondike shuttlecraft, including the Selene shuttle (other shuttles all named after Greek deities, except Zeus)

USS Thunderquack, DS87's starship

space version of Iron Vulture

Space Duck, a cargo freighter ship

Beagle Boys' scavenger ships

USS Southern Cross

space mining ships

Goldie's various ships

cetacean science vessel-classification starship

____________________

Some random end notes:

** About those last 4 (technically 3) points on the map - these are cosmic objects specifically of my own design! :D Omicron Aquarioon III is an aquatic world that Fethry and Mitzy would definitely visit with their cetacean vessel + crew, but also...Aquarioon! A little nod to Huey's favorite water spectacle from "The House of the Lucky Gander!" The Fiendish Nebula (F.O.W.L.'s homeworld) is very special to me, and I'll explain why in a post I'll make after this one (it'll be my art of the nebula, and another artwork of a constellation - it originally wasn't meant for this AU, so that's why I'll keep it separate from this, but I'll use the AU's tag, so they'll still be close together). But I am very excited to share them. :) (And I hope to draw some art of my other two space creations here eventually, though it might be a while.) Lucy's Prize is very much a secret, so much so that I'm not probably not going to reveal much about it until I draw it and/or write the corresponding storyline for it. But I will give some teasing hints about it (and guesses are certainly welcome ;P): - Its possible locations being near the galactic center have to do with the region of older stars there. - I based it on a very, very cool bit of science I read on an old NASA site, and even without the AU, I would still want to draw/imagine it. It's just that cool. - Besides a certain group of the main cast of the AU, I'll say that specifically my AU version of the Iotians would be interested in it, if they know about it. - I named it "Lucy's Prize" mainly to honor Lucille Ball, the godmother of Star Trek (and I grew up watching I Love Lucy), but there's also an indirect connection to NASA's Lucy mission that recently launched to the Trojan asteroids. If you can find that connection, you'll have a major hint for what the Prize is. - It's just gonna be such a cool, legendary, almost mythical concept in the AU, with an equally-daring and epic adventure needed to get to it. I'm so excited! :D

About Goldie and Louie's bar name - I miiiight have mentioned this in some tag or note before (or just thought of it, but never wrote it down), but ok. I know I mentioned in the first post about their bar that Louie will pull out a sign with his own name and charge double whenever Goldie's away, but otherwise, the bar is just called Goldie's. Well, this works for a while, but after that, Louie starts wanting a little more recognition in their partnership and business, and things might escalate between them for a bit. (This might happen during/after the whole Morn death thing, especially if the will is in Goldie's name.) But then after some specific "episode" where they come to a new understanding (and/or after they use all that "useless gold"), maybe they change their bar's name to "The GOLD Bar" - The Goldie O'Gilt Louie Duck Bar, where their initials form the acronym! :D

About AU Camor V (possible Dickie Duck storyline planet) - on Memory Alpha, they say this about Trek's Camor V: "The planet was badly affected in the Cardassian Wars with a large number of the adult population killed in the war, leaving many orphans behind." I know I said in the answer about Dickie that Goldie and/or Scrooge would be tricked into thinking they're related to her, but what if in reality she's one of these orphans? (She'd be more grown-up when they meet her, but still.) I still need to rewatch that episode, but this is food for thought.

#Astro answers #DuckTales #Star Trek AU #space art #my art #long post #sorry for the wait but I got really into this one and it was really fun to do research for it and put it all together! :D

[skyfire85]

-A B-52E armed with two Hound Dog missiles at an airshow/open-house, sometime in the 60's. | Photo: AF GlobalStrike

FLIGHTLINE: 111 - AGM-28 HOUND DOG

The Hound Dog cruise missile was carried by B-52 bombers from 1960 to 1977, and (fortunately) was never fired in anger.

Developed in response to USAF General Operational Requirement 148, issued in 1956, the Hound Dog cruise missile (variously designated B-77, GAM-77 and finally AGM-28) was produced by North American Aviation (Later Rockwell International, now a part of Boeing) from 1959 to 1963 and was carried by B-52s from 1960 to 1977.

-Orthograph of the Hound Dog missile. | Illustration: North American Aviation

STAND-OFF WEAPONS, OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB

During the 1950s, the US became aware of rapid developments by the Soviet Union in surface to air missile (SAM) technology. SAM sites soon began to proliferate around Moscow and other key sites, threatening SAC's B-36, B-47 and B-52 bombers. As the SAMs were located at fixed sites, easily discernable from aerial recon or satellite photos, the USAF determined that the best counter would be to develop "stand-off" weapon that could be fired from the approaching bombers and destroy the SAM site before they could threaten the attack force.

GOR-148 therefore called for a supersonic missile, to be carried in pairs by a B-52 Stratofortres, capable of flying to a predetermined target outside the SAM's range and to destroy the target with a nuclear bomb, allowing the bombers to then attack their main targets with impunity. In July of 1957, Chance Vought and North American submitted proposals, both based on existing weapons. Chance Vought's design was based on the SSM-N-9 Regulus II SLCM, while the NAA proposal was adapted from the SM-64 Navaho cruise missile. One month later, NAA received a contract to develop their design, which had been christened the GAM-77.

YOU AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT A HOUND DOG...

-Cutaway drawing of the GAM-77, later redesignated the AGM-28A. | Illustration: North American Aviation.

The GAM-77 was nicknamed the Hound Dog, a reference to a song made popular by Elvis at the time of development. The missile featured a canard and delta wing, with single vertical fin and rudder. It was powered by a version of the J52 turbojet, which also was used in the A-4 Skyhawk, A-6 Intruder and EA-6 Prowler, and, in its civilian form as the JT8D, propelled the Boeing 727 and 737-100/200, as well as the DC-9 and MD-80. Unlike with the other planes, the Hound Dog's engine was run at 100% output for its entire flight, resulting in an operational lifespan of only 6 hours (not an impediment to a missile expected to be destroyed by its own nuclear bomb well before reaching that run time, mind you). The Hound Dog’s fuel tank could be topped off from the B-52's own fuel supply, allowing the larger plane to use both missiles' engines to assist on take-off. Hound Dogs were guided by an inertial navigation system, which was updated by a star tracker mounted in the pylon. The B-52 would launch its missiles from an altitude of 5,000' or more, and from there the GAM-77 could fly at high (+5,000 feet) or low altitude (under 5,000 feet), though at the cost of decreased range; early models were not capable of terrain following/terrain avoidance, and thus no obstructions could be present along the flight path. A dogleg could also be added to flightpath to draw off interceptors. Later models of the GAM-77 added a radar altimeter, allowing flight down to 100 feet. This would allow the missile to hide in the radar clutter of low altitude. The Dog had a CEP of 2 miles, though with its W28 warhead, which had yields ranging from 70kt to 1.45mt, would effectively destroy its target even with a near-miss.

-A Hound Dog missile under the wing of a B-52. | Photo: USAF

TESTING, TESTING...

The first drop test of a dummy GAM-77 occurred in November 1958, and between April 1959 and August 1965 fifty-two missile tests were conducted at Cape Canaveral AFS, Eglin AFB and the White Sands Missile Range. Even before the drop test, the USAF had awarded NAA a production contract, with deliveries beginning on 21 December 1959. Late in 1961, production switched to the upgraded GAM-77A model, which included a upgraded INS with integrated star tracker and radar altimeter. The A model also had increased fuel capacity, and incorporated radar-absorbing materials into the nose cone, engine inlet spike and the intake duct to further reduce its already low radar cross-section.

-A Hound Dog separates from its B-52G launch aircraft during a test shot some time in the 1960s. | Photo: AF GlobalStrike

-Color photo of another B-52G carrying two GAM-77s. | Photo: AF GlobalStrike

A SHORT BUT UNEVENTFUL SERVICE...

Under the 1962 Tri-Service system, the GAM-77 was redesignated the AGM-28A, while the GAM-77A became the AGM-28B. In 1971, one Hound Dog was fitted with a prototype terrain contour matching (TERCOM) system. Had the USAF chosen to proceed with development of this version, it would have been designated the AGM-28C, but instead the technology continued in development until the AGM-86 ALCM was accepted for service in 1982. In 1972 Bendix was awarded a contract to develop a passive radar-seeker for the Hound Dog, which would have turned it into a long-range anti-radiation missile. At least one test flight occurred in 1973, but the type was not approved for conversion/production, and the last AGM-28B was retired from alert status on 30 July 1975.

-SAC crews scramble to man B-52s equipped with Hound Dogs. Despite (or perhaps because of) exercises like this, no Hound Dog was ever fired in anger. | Photo: USAF

SENT OFF TO A FARM...

Even after retirement, approximately 300 Hound Dogs were retained in storage between 1975 and 1977, but by 1978 they had mostly been scrapped. A large number of missiles, stripped and demilled, have been preserved in museums and air parks across the country.

-An AGM-28, along with its mounting pylon, on display at the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton. | Photo: USAF Museum

-Another Hound Dog on display in its earlier all-white paint scheme. The black cylinder is a simulated nuclear warhead, while the silver object to the right is the INS. | Photo: Cliff

#aircraft #aviation #avgeek #cold war #airplanes #cold war history #airplane #usaf #coldwar #aviation history #b52 #boeing b 52 stratofortress #buff #hound dog #gam77 #agm128

[pidayforpi]

“Mister McDuck?” “You have wings, right?” “Can you fly for me?”

“W-what are ye talking about, lad?”

“Your hands. Your wings. Can you fly? Fly for me?”

“I...these...hands, lad. They can’t fly. We don’t call them wings.”

“But you are a bird. You can fly, right?” “You just don’t know it.”

“I...”

“The sky is so far away for us.” “These hands...they can never touch the clouds, nor reach the stars.” “To us, the sky is such an unattainable happiness.” “But this is different for you.” “You have wings. All of you. All citizens of Duckburg. All residents of St. Canard. All people of your world.” “You all have wings. You can fly. You have everything in the world. You have everything we don’t have. Everything we can never have.”

“Lad...”

“So please: Carry our wishes and fly. Up to the blue sky, up to the white clouds. Fly to wherever those wings can take you.” “For me. For us.” “Please...promise me...”

“......” “Sure, laddie.” “I promise you.”

(20-2-2021)

#story #short story #storyteller #scrooge mcduck #technically not a short story but a...preview of something I don't think I have time to do so in the short run #I want to slowly post things I have done while in hiatus #also want to slowly get back to creating stuff... #or maybe continuing my many wip stories orz #this is an ending to a long project i really want to do...really hope to realize that story one day #really...really want to do. one day...

[thefantasygirl3]

Negaverse stories: You're gonna have a bed time

Genre/warnings: Comedy, Slice of life, Action.

Word count: 5 287

Summary:  The Darkwing Ducks are having a bit of a family dispute, with half of the team refusing to sleep at a proper time. An argument breaks out but is quickly interrupted by a villain attack. Now they will have to fight crime with only two heroes on top of their game.

Notes:  I decided to continue writing some fun little adventures for my negaverse boys, because I refuse to let this hyper fixation go. I hope it’s a fun little read for you all. Edit: Gonna link my fanfiction.net as well, which might make it easier for some to find my stories.

Night was falling over all of st. Canard as people were already tucked in tight to sleep. Midnight was getting closer and closer. Quackerjack was fast asleep on the couch, snoring and drooling as he laid sprawled out cartoonishly. But as he was snoring loudly, a loud noise suddenly woke him up and he rolled off the couch and face planted on the floor. He let out a low groan and pushed himself up off the ground, his attention directed towards where the noise was heard, which happened to be the workshop. The duck headed over to the door and peeked inside. He saw Megavolt, sitting by the workshop table with the dismantled stereo he had started working on getting fixed earlier that day. Quacks gave away a soft yawn as he entered the room, walking up to the distracted man and stood beside him. "Hey, Sparky. How long have you been working on this?" He asked as he tilted forward to get a peek at his work. Megavolt gave his wrist watch a quick glance before he answered with "since 6 I think". "What?! You've been working for 6 hours?! When were you planning to go to bed?!" He huffed angrily and leaned in close to the rat, making him move away so he could see what he was doing again. He got angry that the stubborn rat just ignored him and kept working. "Sparkyyyy! You can't keep doing this! You need to go to bed at a reasonable hour and actually SLEEP!" He scolded him while he took the tools out of his hands and put them back into his tool box. "Hey! I'm busy, ok!? If I get into the zone, I can't just break my concentration! I need to finish it before I can stop!" He responded frustrated as he tried to take the tool box back, but Quacks moved it out of the way. "No! You need to go to bed! Now!" He demanded and put the tool box on top of his work shelf. "I'm not a kid! You can't make me!" He growled as he walked over and took it back down. "Wanna bet?" Quacks said with an annoyed squint, grabbing a hold of the box as well. 

Meanwhile Bushroot was laying in his bed, sleeping soundly. Until he woke up, muttering under his breath "... I'm thirsty". He pushed himself up from his bed and wandered out into the hallway so he could grab a glass of water. That was until he noticed some light escaping the bottom of Liquidator's door. He cocked his head a bit and decided to take a peek inside to see what was going on. Liquidator was sitting by his computer, editing some ad he was tasked to make. Bushroot slipped inside and walked up beside him. "Hey. Bud. What… um… are you doing there?" He asked him softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. The dog turned his head around and gave him a tired smile. "Ah. Hey Reginald. I'm just finishing this ad before I call it a day" He explained as he looked back at the screen to continue his work. "You know it's almost midnight, right?" The plant asked and looked at him curiously. "... oh. Oops" He muttered as he saw the time in the corner of the screen. 

Bushroot sighed and crossed his arms, shaking his head and muttering "Oh bud. We've discussed this!". "It was a mistake! I swear!" Liquidator tried to excuse himself as he turned around to the other man. "Liste bud. I know how you feel. You want to make sure it's perfect. You want to impress the rest of the guys so they will respect you. It's a totally legit feeling to have. But overworking yourself and tiring yourself out isn't going to solve anything" he told him as he put his hands on the other's shoulders reassuringly. "But… it needs to be good. I can't send in something bad" the water man replied with a frown. "You won't! You're too self critical. It was good the way it was, doesn't need 10 reworks" Bushroot sighed and gave his shoulder a light pat. Liquidator gave a small smile and muttered "you're right. Maybe I should get some rest". "There we go. Now, save your work and get to bed" the other man said with a grin and watched as his friend started turning off the computer, before he quickly added on "Oh! And I'll be taking the power cord". "WHAT?! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" He suddenly yelled as he turned around to face the still calm plant. "It's just to ensure you don't turn it back on in the middle of the night. And don't use the 'what if I need to start early' excuse. You're the only one who's putting that stress on yourself" he told him off with a stern voice, as if speaking to a kid. But they were then interrupted by a loud sound from downstairs. 

The two rushed over to the stairs and saw the other half of the Darkwing Ducks pulling and tugging at a screwdriver. "LET GO OF IT! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME SLEEP!" Megavolt yelled as he struggled to pull the tool loose. "Oh yes I can, if I knock you out cold!" Quackerjack replied as he tightened his grip on it. Then the two noticed the other men by the end of the stairs, staring surprised. "... workaholic refuses to sleep?" Bushroot asked with one raised eyebrow. "Overgrown baby throwing a tantrum" The other duck answered as he got distracted enough for Megavolt to take the screwdriver back, making him give the rat a hard glare. "Alright guys. This is getting ridiculous! You two need to get a hold of yourselves and get working on a proper sleep schedule! These sleeping problems are going to affect our work!" He groaned and put a hand to his face, letting out a big sigh. "Yeah. I agree. You guys can't pull more all-nighters. You need-" before Bushroot could finish, a small alarm went off, signalling that something bad was happening in town. The dog and rat grinned and ran over to the couch that would get them to their secret hideout, taking the opportunity to escape the discussion. "Sorry! No time to discuss this! Justice awaits, chuckles!" Megavolt said with a satisfied grin, plopping himself down onto the couch beside Liquidator. The other two just sighed and walked over to sit down with them, pulling the lever that was disguised as a statue which spun the couch and transported the four to their base.

They emerged from a secret entrance, already dawning their hero outfits as they landed stylishly. Megavolt rushed over to the computer and started to tap away at it. "According to the drones, there is a big collection of police around the tool shop. Though on closer inspection, most of the officers have been knocked out cold. And there appears to be some sort of white smoke coming out of the entrance and windows" he informed the others as he tapped away at the keyboard. "I think those are clouds" Bushroot added as he walked over to get a better look. "Aha! That's it! This must be the work of King Dreamland! He's putting all those cops and security to sleep so he can rob the store undisturbed!" Quackerjack announced as he pointed at the light, soft looking clouds, already rushing towards the van so they could get going to stop the crazed criminal. Liquidator let out a yawn and dragged himself over to the van and hopped into the back, muttering "right. Then let's get dangerous!". Bushroot groaned as he stepped inside it as well, grumbling annoyed about how neither he or the rodent should be doing anything dangerous in their state. Megavolt sat down in the passenger seat beside the clown, glancing over as he got the car started. "You know I can still drive. You don't gotta-" as he tried to convince him he was perfectly fine to drive, the duck gripped the wheel tightly and hissed like an angry cat, shutting up any further argument. He then hit the gas and they drove off downtown. 

They soon reached the store, parking right behind the cluster of police cars and unconscious cops, floating around on soft, fluffy clouds. "Definitely the work of King Dreamland" Megavolt remarked as he watched a sleeping officer drift by the car. "And it seems his work is almost done!" Bushroot exclaimed as he pointed at the figure inside with a big bulky bag of things in his hands. This caused the Darkwing Ducks to hop out of the van and rush the building while pushing clouds out of the way. 

As they got inside, they spotted the hazmat suit wearing villain with cute cartoon stickers of clouds and stars on it, still loading up the bag with wire cutters and a sledge hammer. "We are the terrors that flap in the night! We are the alarm clock that wakes you up one hour late!" Liquidator started talking as purple smoke began to fill the store, causing him to swing around and stared at the cloud of smoke. "Ah! Darkwing Ducks!" King Dreamland yelled in surprise as he backed up from the voice. "Aw come on! At least let us finish our intro!" He groaned frustrated as he reeled back and launched his fist towards the villain, knocking him back into a shelf of nuts and bolts. Quackerjack quickly grabbed a hold of his toy wind-up teeth and threw them at him, causing them to bite down onto the suit sleeve and pinning it to the shelf. He started tugging harshly at the captured sleeve, grunting as he couldn't get it loose. "How dare you?! I'll have your heads for this!" He yelled while using his other hand to pull as hard as he could. "Zip It, snore fest!" Megavolt mumbled as he aimed his finger at him. His view suddenly got a little blurry and he let out a soft groan, feeling a bit of tiredness take over for a short moment until he shook himself back to reality and fired a bolt of lightning. Dreamland gasped and covered his face, but took a peek after he heard the bolt miss him, bounce off of a circle saw and shoot right back at the group and knock Bushroot to the floor. "GHA!" He yelled as he hurt his back upon landing. "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry, leafy!" The rat exclaimed in shock as he ran over to help him up. 

King Dreamland took this opportunity, while the hero team was distracted and reached back to his backpack tank and grabbed the hose nozzle on the side. He pointed it at the befuddled green man and whispered "night night" before he fired a white puff of cloud at him. Megavolt heard the noise behind him and suddenly shouted "Watch out!" And pushed his friend out of the way. The cloud then completely engulfed him, making him disappear within it. Quackerjack gasped and covered his beak in disbelief, shouting a weak "No! Megsy!". He soon came back out from the cloud, lying lazily on top of it with a big, relaxed smile. "Hey… this is… pretty nice" He mumbled with a soft yawn. "You terrible tired tyrant! Hope you enjoy the prison beds!" Liquidator growled and ran at the suited man, hardening his hand so it would give him a hard smash. But the villain noticed how slow he was seemingly going and swiftly redirected the punch towards the teeth holding him stuck. As soon as he was freed from the shelf, he hopped back and pointed the nozzle at him. "You seem tired, doggy! Isn't it past your bedtime?" He said in a cocky voice before he fired another cloud at Liquidator, capturing him as well. "Well this has been fun, but I gotta get going. The night is still young!" The villain yelled back as he ran out the door and left the remaining two heroes with their friends now out of commission.

Bushroot ran over to Liquidator and gave him a light shake. While laying on his stomach on the cloud, he curled up into a ball and murmured "just five more minutes please, Reginald". "No! Liquidator! We need to catch that guy! Don't give in to your sleepiness!" The duck yelled while trying to shake him awake. Quackerjack, on the other hand, gave the rat a curious look. "... how are you feeling, smart guy?" He asked with a twist of satisfaction to his voice. "Sooooo… good… I think I'll take a little power nap" he answered his friend as he closed his tired eyes and let his leg dangle lazily over the edge of the cloud.

"Quackerjack! We have to get them off of these clouds! Come on! You've got to have something in your pockets that will help!" Bushroot ran over and shook the jester's shoulders violently. "Oooor! We don't do that! Think about it for a sec, spuds! These two finally WANT to go to sleep! We just got our little domestic issue solved for us! King Dreamland just did us a favour!" He said with a smug grin on his face, removing the leaf hands off of him.

Bushroot lit up from that realization and glanced between the two sleeping heroes. "You're right! They're sleeping like babies! But… what now? How are we going to stop King Dreamland?" He asked with a worried expression. "Pfffff! We've taken down villains separately before! The two of us can take on this one weirdo!" Quackerjack said confidently and put an arm around his fellow duck. "Yeah! You're right! Let the sleepyheads rest while we handle the hard work!" The plant nodded and chuckled, grabbing his friend's arm and pulling him out of the shop, in the general direction of the villain.

King Dreamland was walking down the street, cackling to himself as he flung the bag of tools over his shoulder. "Wow! Those guys were having an off night!" He mused to himself while speeding up his pace. But he was soon caught off guard by a tree branch suddenly appearing in his way and knocking him over. "Good job, tree friend! Now, you better stop whatever you're planning to do with those tools right now!" Bushroot yelled as he and Quackerjack were rounding the corner, starting to approach him. The villain pushed himself up from the ground and rubbed his head, quickly reaching for his nozzle and firing it at the two. The clown duck pushed his friend back and pulled out a gun from his endless supply of toys, firing it at the cloud. It caused an umbrella to pop out of the barrel, blocking the white puff from consuming them whole. "Darn!" Dreamland yelled as he turned right around and escaped the two while they were distracted. "He's getting away! After him!" Jacky said as soon as the umbrella was closed, pulling his co-hero along to give chase.

King Dreamland ran as fast as he could from the heroes, making a sharp turn into the mall. The two chasing him were slowly catching up, spotting him as he dashed into the mall and quickly following after. As they got inside, they scanned the area to determine where he went. "... There!" Quackerjack yelled and pointed at the bad guy, just entering into a sports shop. They ran inside and started looking around for him. They didn't spot him immediately, so they searched around the place. After a second of looking, Bushroot bumped into him. He screamed in fear and began to run. The plant man yelped surprised and started to run after him. "What are you planning to do with those things, you fellon?!" he yelled after him as he was right on his heels. "You'll see! Once my scheme is put into action! Ahahaha!" he laughed diabolically and held up the bag triumphantly. "OOOH! When I catch up, you'll pay for what you did to my friends!" Bushroot growled angrily as he just kept running, starting to pant a bit as he was getting exhausted from running. Quackerjack just stood beside them both, giving a quizzical glance between them. "What are you doing?" he asked as the other two looked at him confused. They then glanced down and saw that they were just running on a treadmill. "Oh. Well that's embarrassing. Anyways, I'm off!" King Dreamland jumped off the treadmill and ran out the shop again. "We got to catch him!" Jacky said and pointed towards the door. "Get me off of this thing first!" his friend yelled as he was still running and panting. "Oh. Right" he muttered and reached over to push the first button he saw, hoping it would turn it off. It just sped the treadmill up and shot Bushroot back into a wall of jump ropes. He was dizzy for a second, until the other duck pulled him up off the ground and dragged him along. 

They ran into the next store, which was a music store, and saw the villain trying to sneak out the back door. Bushroot extended his arms and grabbed a hold of an electric guitar, slamming it into the hazard suited man and launching him into a drum set. He emerged with a big, broken drum around himself. Quackerjack started laughing and pointing at him, finding the slapstick hilarious. Dreamland growled angrily at being humiliated. It was then he spotted where the hero was standing, right underneath a hanging piano. How cliché, but perfect. While bushroot approached to apprehend him, he wriggled his arm loose and sprinted over to the violins, grabbing one of the bows and using it to cut the rope holding the piano and sending it plummeting down onto the jester's head. Bushroot gasped in horror and stared at the broken mess of a musical instrument. The suited man took this opportunity to bolt out the front door with his bag and ran as fast as he could. "Quackerjack?! Are you ok?!" the duck ran over to the piano and asked worriedly, rummaging through the debris until he found him. He sat up straight and swayed slightly, spitting out some piano keys before he could crawl out of the wreck. "Just fine" he muttered before heading out with his friend and pursuing the villain again.

They were soon walking through a hobby store, looking through the isles to find the bad guy. They headed down an isle with different types of paint lining the shelves while darting their eyes all around them. They kept completely quiet as to be able to hear him. It made the entire place eerily silent, like a ghost house. King Dreamland was spying on them from the other side of the shelf, watching them draw closer and closer to his position. As soon as they were near, he gave the shelf a hard shove and made it topple over towards the two. Bushroot looked up at the falling shelf and gasped in shock, giving Quackerjack a push out of the way before he was buried in pain bottles. The other duck yelped surprised before he gave away a growl and looked up at the villain, who ran away and started climbing a shelf. He bolted after him, pulling out a yo-yo from his pants and swinging it around as he got ready to attack. As soon as he reached the bottom of the shelf, Dreamland had already made it up there and picked up a big jug of pink paint, dropping it right down on top of his head. It made a painful indent into his noggin and he fell back onto the floor, getting a thunk on his beak by his own yo-yo, just for some salt in the wounds. "Ha ha ha! Wow! You guys suck! Guess you're nothing without all your team! You better just give up, I can see the bags under your eyes from here! I'm off to blow off some steam… all over town! See ya!" He taunted the two, blowing a raspberry at them, which stained his visor with spit before he hopped down and rushed out the back.

Bushroot managed to wriggle himself out from under the shelf, being completely covered in different splashes of color. He rushed over to Quacks and helped him up off the ground concernedly, looking at the jug that was still lodged into his head. The jester pulled it off of himself and straightened himself out with a proper tug on his hat tails. He then looked over at the plant man, starting to giggle quietly. "Wow. You're looking even more colorful than Megavolt during June!" He joked and snorted into his hands at the rainbow colored duck, who just rolled his eyes and pulled his friend off the floor. "Come on, Quackerjack! We gotta go and find where he went!" He grumbled and rushed both of them out the mall. "But where would he go to "blow of steam", huh?" The other asked as he got no chance to even put back the jug of paint before they were off. "Blow of steam… hmm… all over town! He's going to release his clouds all over town! Probably from a wind turbine! We got to hurry!" Bushroot realized quickly as he pointed towards the nearest wind turbine and headed towards it at top speed.

They arrived at their destination after a bit, immediately noticing that the lock on the door had been cut. "So that's why he got tools!" Bushroot growled angrily and stared at the wide open door, thinking over what their plan of attack was. His head was a little cluttered at that moment, having received a real beating earlier and been running around a lot, so he just shook his head and tried his best to focus. Quacks, on the other hand, just walked right inside. But he then saw the long stairwell leading up to the top and stopped right in his tracks. "... UUUUUUGH! Why STAIRS!? I'm tireeeeed!" He whined and leaned back in defeat. "Come on. We'll make it up there. We need to. For our friends!" The other duck sighed exhausted and began climbing up the stairs, determined to get the bad guy.

A few minutes later, they had reached the top. They were both huffing and puffing heavily, eyes bulging out of their heads as they stopped to catch their breaths. "After this… I'm removing the top floor… of our house!" Jacky groaned and hunched over while leaning on his knees. Bushroot leaned back against the door behind him to rest his tired legs, but was surprised as it started to slowly slide open and make him fall backwards out of the doorway. He looked up with a surprised look until he saw their target a bit away, carrying and setting up a smoke machine. "Hey! Stop right there!" The jester yelled and hopped out beside his friend, pointing at their enemy with a pissed look, mostly because of the pain he had caused them. 

King Dreamland turned around and looked at the two weary heroes, grumbling a flippant "geez, do you guys ever give up?". He then set down the smoke machine and pulled the nozzle from his backpack, aiming it at them both. "Alright. You found out my plan. So now what? What are you planning to do to stop me? I mean look at yourselves! You're going to pass out any second" he spoke casually to them as he lightly waved his weapon around, showing how nonchalant he was about all of it, clearly not taking the whole situation seriously. "Don't underestimate my stubbornness-" "determination" "DETERMINATION! We'll put a stop to you right now!" Quackerjack yelled at him and pointed a firm finger while glaring irritated. "Alright. Put a stop to this" he shrugged and shot a big cloud at them. The jester gave away a shriek and covered his face, preparing for the collision. Bushroot shot up from the floor and extended his arms, wrapping them around the other's waist and janking him out of the way. 

King Dreamland growled in rage and stomped his foot. "Why won't you lay down and die?!" He shouted as he glared at the two with absolute fury. Quackerjack looked down at his pockets and started rummaging through them to find something he could use to stop the villain on a rampage. He then felt something in his pockets that he didn't expect to have. It gave him an idea and he looked over at the plant holding onto him. "You have to toss me!" he told him hurriedly. "Huh?" he just responded to the cooky duck's request, not sure he heard him right. "THROW MY BODY AT HIM!!!" he then shouted, startling his friend into just doing as told and throwing him as hard as he could. Quackerjack flew straight at the villain and before he could fire another cloud, he was tackled and had a crazy clown climbing and scuttling all over his body, like a racoon who was also an expert climber. He stumbled around while he was being jerked left and right from the whirlwind of a hero. "Get… OFF ME YOU TIRED LOON!!!" He shouted as he finally managed to rip him off and toss him towards his co-hero, knocking him to the ground. 

Bushroot quickly pushed Quacks off and got up to rush at the king, ready to whoop his butt. He picked up a sledgehammer from the ground that his enemy brought and swung it at him. But he dodged out of the way and backed out of yet another swing at him, avoiding every attempt at knocking him down. "Man. You guys really suck at this! Can't even land a punch!" He chuckled and grabbed a hold of the hammer, janking it out of his hands and aiming the hose in his face. "Time to visit dreamland."

He shot him right in the face. But he was not greeted by a soft, fluffy, sleep inviting cloud. He was instead splattered in the face by a load of pink. "H-HUH!?!" Dreamland exclaimed, bewildered as he looked into the nozzle and only saw pink. He then looked towards his back to see what went wrong, to discover that his usual tank had been replaced by a jug of pink paint. He then looked up at the other hero and saw him holding up the actual container, giving them both a thumbs up. Dreamland stared at him in shock, unable to believe he was outsmarted by two extremely exhausted dummies. This was unbelievable! He couldn't accept this! But as he was starting to have a breakdown of rage, bushroot looked over at Jacky and yelled "Rubber band!", Which he was tossed quickly and snapped it around the villain, finally capturing him. They both walked up to each other and jumped up and down in joy, cheering about their victory until the tiredness finally started to set in and they fell over onto the ground. "... Let's just get the other two." "Yeah. Let's go" they concluded while laying limply on the ground.

They had finally made it back to where they first had fought King Dreamland and helped the cops wake up before they handed him over to them. They then went inside and spotted their friends, peacefully floating around and sleeping soundly still. They looked so much better than they did earlier, well rested and happy, having these relaxed smiles spread out on their faces. "Ha… They must have had a nice nap" Quackerjack muttered with a fatigued smile as he stared at the sleeping Megavolt, then made the cloud disappear with this tool he took from Dreamland, causing the rat to fall down onto the floor with a thud. "Huh?! Whu?!" he suddenly woke up and looked all around him confused, not sure what had just happened. Quacks handed over the tool to Bushroot, who used it to get rid of the cloud from under Liquidator. But unlike the other duck, he gently caught the dog before he fell onto the floor. "Huh? Hey! How dare you?! I- Uh… Wait. Where did he go?!" he asked puzzled as he looked around, helped back onto his feet by the guy holding him. Megavolt got back up again and rubbed his neck a bit. "Hey… I'm feeling pretty refreshed! Huh!" he pointed out and stretched his arms, letting out a small groan. "Glad to hear it, sparks" Quackerjack grumbled and patted his shoulder. As the rat turned around to him to say something, he immediately stopped himself and looked shocked at his friend. He looked HORRIBLE! Baggy eyes, tired expression, slouchier posture than usual. He was looking absolutely EXHAUSTED! Liquidator thought the same as he got a good look at Bushroot. "Uh… hey… Reginald… Feeling ok?" he asked nervously and put a hand on his shoulder. "You two look like trash!" Megavolt just said, pointing at them both. "Well I was trying to be nice about it, Elmo" he grumbled at the straight forward remark. 

"It's ok! We're fine! We captured King Dreamland and everything is good now!" Bushroot told them while trying to look like he wasn't currently dying. "Yeah! We are totally fine!" Quacks added on and grinned at their friends. "... Clearly you're not. You're zombies!" Megavolt sighed and walked over to them, starting to lead them outside towards the van. "Yeah. You two need to go to bed immediately!" Liquidator added in and opened the back of the van for his friend to hop in. Quackerjack opened the driver side door to get inside, but was pushed to the side by the rat, who sat down in the seat. "No. You are not driving like that. Get in the passenger side!" he demanded, pointing to the other side of the car. The duck grumbled angrily and walked around to the other side. He got in and sat down while glaring at his friend. Bushroot looked at Liquidator and muttered "It seems the sun is starting to rise… I'm worried I won't be able to go back to sleep." "Yeah! I don't even feel that tired! It's so early anyways now, so I probably won't be able to fall asleep anyways!" the jester noted to Megavolt, but was completely ignored by him so he could drive.

As they made it back home, Quackerjack was fast asleep in the passenger seat, snoring and drooling onto his shoulder. Liquidator looked over at Bushroot, who looked like he was about to faint as well. "Hey. We're home. Let me help you inside" he spoke softly as he gently put his arm around his shoulders, helping him out into the garage. Megavolt walked around to the passenger side and opened it up, picking the sleeping duck up and just carrying him inside without complaint or snarky comment. Gosalyn was just walking down the stairs, hearing someone coming home. She was in her pyjamas, holding onto Mr. Banana Brain and rubbing her eyes. "Another mission?" she mumbled sleepily, then noticed her two dads, one half asleep and one completely knocked out. The dog hushed her softly, nodding a little towards Quacks. He let out another gentle snore and leaned his head into Megavolt's chest. She nodded and smiled, walking over to him and laying the doll into his lap. "Night daddy" she whispered to him before she turned around to Bushroot and whispered "Night papa" to him. "Good night, my little apple seed" he murmured sleepily. Liquidator and Megavolt both grinned and started heading upstairs to put both the dorks to bed, finally. 

#Megavolt #quackerjack #bushroot #liquidator #darkwing duck #negaverse #Gosalyn Mallard #nega megavolt #nega quackerjack #nega bushroot #nega liquidator #nega gosalyn #fanfiction #fanfic #friendly four #dwd fanfic

[popculturebuffet]

Darkwing Duck: My Valentine Ghoul Review aka A Bad Episode Even by Valentine’s Day Episode Standards

Welcome back Darkwings of the Night. It’s time to go back to St. Canard for the very review that got me to finish up my look at the episodes that should’ve lead up to Just Us Justice Ducks and the episode itself last month. While I probably COULD have reviewed this one before finsihing that as continuity’s pretty loose here, I wanted to see Negaduck’s proper introduction first. So was it worth it?

Yeah while I was glad to get one of my retrospectives done and free up some room for other stuff, this episode..was an objective disapointment and might be even worse than “Brush with Oblivion”. If your curious to know why and aren’t already lobbing a harpoon at me for bashing an episode you liked, join me under the cut. 

On PAPER this episode sounded really good. Negaduck trying to seduce Morgana back to crime and in general after Darkwing once again neglected her is not at all a bad premise and the in episode conflict of Darkwing’s obnoxious supscioson of his girlfriend being an ex con, COULD’VE been really interesting. But there’s a reason Could’ve was in all caps folks: This episode is not very well put together and it’s gender politics have aged like fine santa liquor left split in a bathtub surronded by toxic waste for 20 years, and tastes just as bad. Trust me I know. My colon still hasn’t recovered. So let’s get into WHY shall we? 

So we open with a date in a graveyard with Darkwing and Morgana, unsuprisingly though Darkwing isn’t the fondest of their meal which... look like someone scrambled the Star-Spawn of Cthulu. He’s going to be pissed.. especially once I try some. Look i’m very curious and very hungry. 

But things take a turn when Darkwing brings up diamonds, because he’s fully insensitive enough to bring them up in front of his girlfriend. She does take the truth in stride: he’s not proposing he’s simply hung up on a case of diamonds going missing, and no solution and thus might have to cut the date short. She offers to go with him but he shoots her down, saying the last time she helped she turned him into a rutabega.. instead of you know TRAINING her and helping her on her aim.  Then the episode looses me.. and about how long into the episode are we exactly? Not taking the theme song into acount?

Yup. It takes around 2 minutes, with some change. for the episode to become absolutley terrible. But first off Morgana suddenly flies off the table claming he dosen’t trust her for being a former criminal and zaps him in vengance.. which is assualt. Cartoony assault sure but it still hurts and his reactoin is STILL pure feer as he’s turned into some kind of ball... I mean.. it’s not like he can’t fight crime like that. Some of the best have done it. 

But still she goes to physical violence at the drop of a hat this episode and Darkwing seems more than a little afraid of that happening again. Just... wow.  I thought, having finished the Legend of the Three Cablleros, i’d be done with writing so poor a character comes off as a domestic abuser, mental in that case phsyical here, but here we are. Now this is untetional so I don’t blame the writers as much.. but I still heft some blame on them for being SO bad at writing a woman that she can’t get angry without phsyically attacking her partner or grasping the implications there. 

Oh and it gets worse. Yes, it somehow gets worse from “Morgana attacking darkwing for upsetting her”. Darkwing proves to be pretty vile himself, as when Morgana accuses him of not trusting her due to her criminal past.... he says “You know what they say once a crook always a crook. “

My.. fucking.. god.... the show is stacking unfortunate implications on top of itself like lego bricks. And yes attitudes towards prisoners were much worse back then, I get that. Dosen’t make it tolerable to HEAR someone spouting that bullshit, let alone our protaganist. And while it doesn’t make her right to shoot lighting at him, as she does after this or attack him before... it does mean he’s a massive, mentally abusive dick who refuses to trust his partner who reformed FOR HIM, just because she used to do crimes. It takes a special kind of bad writing to screw up so badly that two of your heroes are immensley unikeable in the span of minutes but they did. CONGRADULATIONS DUMBASS!

So yeah Morgana breaks up with him and he tries to go after her  and Gosalyn, who was there the whole time with eek and squeak,  decides she needs to get the two back together. 

I mean at least Gosalyn MEANS well. As a result despite her helping them not being a good idea, she’s one of the most likeable characters in the episode. At least for now. The most likeable?

Yes. REALLY. Now granted he’s as much of a bastard as always; After seeing Morg’s tantrum he wants to seduce her back to evil to help with his diamond scheme, unsurprisingly he’s the one stealing them and his plan to do so.. is not all that bright as he fakes being good to get into her good graces.. forgetting that he’s going to need to show her he’s bad again for any of his plan to work, as during the climax i’ts revealed he’s using a candy company as a front for diamond smuggling. Now granted that.. is actually really clever as no one’s going to think to check a shipment of choclate boxes for diamonds unless their tipped off and he even mentions starting a candy company earlier, so that being his scheme dosen’t come out of left field and i’ts  a clever misdirect that you’d THINK he was lying about the Candy Company.  But while Negsy doesn’t’t escape the contagious case of stupidity everyone’s got this episode, he’s still entertaining as ever and Jim cummings manages to make saying “Well be the best of pals” pants crappingly terrifiying. So Negaduck is a delight as always even if his plan makes little sense, as his way of going about it is still clever: he fakes being good and both uses this to make darkwing jealous, thus making him seem irational, and to provide a shield and also forces himself on their valentine’s date. He even gets past Morgana rightfully beign supsicous by playing to her past. So yeah not the best plan OVERALL but damn if he still isn’t awesome.  They visit a carnival, ah feels like home, though this one has a freak show where MORGANA feels like she’s home. After trying to fry Darkwing and making him look like the bad guy Negaduck manages to seperate the two in the tunnel of love then use darkwing’s own jackassery against him by claming he left saying once a crook always a crook. He hten.. comes on way too strong, first asking if she’s thought about going back to crime when they get back to her place and then isn’t resceptive when he just tries to fully turn on the charm. Oh and Darkwing walks in and thinks his gilrfriend is cheating despite her not returning Negaducks affections because he’s a douchebag.  Gosalyn is in the house at the same time as after Negaducks earlier deception, Eek and Squeak flew her back to Morgana’s house to use the Necronomiduck, which talks like he just walked out of Beast’s house because of course he does, and gets a love potion.. which they accidently spray on Darkwing instead. So we do get one of the few GOOD parts of the episode where Darkwing acts all buddy buddy to negaduck and Negaduck even gets rid of him just by telling him to go jump off a cliff. And the combination of Drake acting all sachrine again, much like posiduck, and Negaduck’s clear annoyance and confusion is just comedy gold. 

Sadly that ends and Drake returns and a fight breaks out with Morgana accidently freezing darkwing and when trying to freeze negaduck, he simpy reflects it back the obsconds with her ice cube. 

While Gosalyn and co thaw her dad out, Negaduck explains the whole choclate scam and Morgana refuses and they fight, with Negaduck covering her in chocolate.. then darkwing when he shows up as you’d expect. Darkwing however has buzzsaw cufflinks, a wonderful 60′s batman type gag, and saves them both.. btu the love potion ends up on Gosalyn who covers her dad and possible step mom in frosting

Thankfully it wears off fast, and morgana gets the idea to put the love potion, which is air born into the gas gun, finally getting Darkwing to trust her and blasting Negaduck, then suckerpunching him when he gets close. Oh and despite her plan being VERY obvious , Darkwing STILL questions her flirting with the guy. 

So the day is saved and we end with him questioning her order at dinner that night and her .. attacking him. And Gosalyng saying “Well you always hurt the ones you love”

Final Thoughts: .I do not like this episode. I do not like it on a moat, on a boat or with a goat or in any way shape or form even though that breaks the ryhme. Reviewing it only had me finding MORE problems with it. Morgana and Darkwing are so unsympathetic here, with her violence towards him making it seem like “Aw all couples are just the woman chasing the man around with the frying pan.. or lighting bolts in this case” even though that’s sexist as hell at BEST and makes light of domesdtic abuse towards men at worst.  Darkwing gets off no better, being THAT kind of asshole who assumes just because someone used to be a criminal they always will be. Which even in pastiche makes no sense as I can name tons of superheroes, a who USED to be criminals or villians: Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, Luke Cage (Before becoming a superhero), Scott Lang Ant-Man, Hal Jordan Green Lantern, Cassandra Cain, Simon Baz, Mach 10, Songbird, Quicksilver, Rogue, Wonder Man, and Emma Frost. And that’s not getting into the number of heroes, including many on this list, who went evil fo ra bit and came back from it.. some of whom are on this list. Usually his black and white insanity schick works but the episode does nothing to punish him for it and instead makes Morgana seem just as irrational by attacking him. 

While this episode dosen’t use the love potion badly, thank god, with morgana even calling it a bad idea.. i’ts all I can give it outside of negaduck. The love potion and negaduck gags are both great.. but everything else is just so toxic and odious it makes it very hard to enjoy. And so.. this wins the DUBIOUS honor of being the worst Darkwing Duck episode i’ve seen so far. The plot’s weak, filled with horrible outdated ideas even by the time this was made, and no one is likeable, even Negaduck wears out his once he starts getting a bit too pushy with morgana. All in all a waste of potetial and a good episode. Until the next rainbow, this episode can step on a rusty railroad spike and get tetnus. 

#darkwing duck #drake mallard #gosalyn mallard #morgana macawber #negaduck #jim staring #disney #disney plus #valentine's day #ducks

[ducknotinarow]

Idk I want this in writing I guess lol I felt like giving my oc some tattoos and I posted them earlier to my twitter but I kind of wanna explain them as well. So this just me dumping stuff again lol. 

He has Seven all together but here are just the six for now I haven't finalized the sevenths design cause I'm debating where it’ll go and that will effect the look so i’ll update this when I do that and I want it to be a surpise just cause of the reason he dose it and for who lol uwu

Also putting when he got them cause leave me alone I been thinking about this too much. 

 Butterfly: 2nd

Stars: 1st

The set of black and blue stars is his very first tattoo Richard got a bit of a rebellious teen thing so there isn’t really a meaning behind it he just picked it out because it was the one he liked. It was more prompted by his late Brother Zane who was good at egging on Richard and such. Their parents are the type to find tattoos distasteful and as brothers do a dear was made Zane didn’t actually think he would go through with it but well Teenage boy and prideful are mix that leads to a stubborn person unwilling to back down. Loved that his parents hated it but Richard also kind of took a liking to the idea from there. I decided this is actually going to be on his right arm on his bicep.

Is the second one he get a bit later, this one was purely choice and Richard sort of worked with the artis to make the design himself. Its on his inner thigh because it can be more hidden that way and to Richard is more personal that way. Since it’s sort of him start on the path of being who he wants to be. Well also making use of a talent he kept hidden from his parents. It’s not too deep its more that this is when Richard is learning who he is embracing it in a environment he felt was suffocating (home/parents) The reason he picked a butterfly is because of their meaning of freedom, confidence (so it being on the inner thigh is also me showing a confidence in his sexuality and such. I think i may even use the bi flag coloring on it for that labeling too.) This one is more personal for Richard since it was more conscious d making going on. 

So you know people get tats to mod their appearance? like freckles or moles? that what this next set is.

Tail: The black and white markings are the tattoos on his feathers. As said before he likes butterflies actually so the design is meant to reflect the wing pattern on their wings.  

These ones are more like in plain sight since it can easily be thought that these are just natural markings on Richard’s feathers. And I feel explains why he looks different from when he was a kid as well, so sure some vanity in play with these since it’s him messing with how he looks. But these are also for  Richard branching out on his self expression it’s also him wanting to separate himself from his parents more by even going so far as to change his appearance in a way. He gets these two at about the same time. He gets these after Zane has passed but before he moved to St. Canard. so these are the 4th and 5th. 

Coffee cup: 3rd

 So this is actually his third tattoo he gets it in remembrance of his late brother Zane, since his brother encourage his coffee love and even idea for having his own café one day. This one is on his wrist is pretty small so easily missed. Even has his brothers initial on the cup he designed this one himself wanting it to just be simple. After the butterfly the rest are ones he came up with himself. Flexing his art skills and even displaying them on himself. He has the class ring but this is another personal way to remember his brother for him and keep him part of him in death. 

Lotus: 6th

Lotus flowers represent new begins which I love for Richard. He gets this after moving to St.Carnad once again he factors a butterfly into the design as well. He just moved away to a new city, to start on his dream after the failed attempt and falling out with his ex. This one is on his lower back (i may move the butter fly to the bottom and add more stars between the petals.) Richard’s reason on this was a way to tell himself to stick to what he wants to achieve unwilling to let set backs hold him back even if he was hurting, so in sense you can say he littler was covering up his past uwu (that's why its on the back XD)

7th

Eyes: He has two triangle marking by his eyes sort of like beauty marks, or even could be seen as eye liner when people do that trend of the design by the eyes with it.

I know up top what I wrote imma leave it and say while working on this post I did decide on some things for the last one. 

Richard is going to be getting another one I just like I said haven't finalized the design just yet. Buuuuuut I will say this I think I'm going to put his by his scare, because well it’s like his biggest insecurity and I think him doing that will be symbolic or something idk I like the idea mostly. But that's all I'm saying for now.    UPDATED

Bailey: 7th most complex one A heart both cause he love his husband and for Bailey’s like for hearts. Flowers and music notes for Baileys talent and hobby. Placed by his scare because Bailey is the one who seen his bad, his ugly and such but stays. And makes it easier to face those things. 

#muse bio: richard evans #Richards tattoos #((I put too much thought into them XD)) #muse| richard evans alder

[ducktales-wco-oo]

If NegaDuck were the that type of guy, he would call Drake’s demeanor as cute, dorky or even adorable. While the younger man was all of those things, the older duck would never say it aloud, instead calling him a “needy whore”, “pretty cocksleeve”, or a “delicious lamb”, all ready and heedy for the wolves to come and feast upon him. Fortunately for NegaDuck, the only wolf that will dine on the Superstar at the moment, is him and him only.

While Drake talked, the wheels in the villain’s mind turned, looked to the window of the balcony in the corner of his eye, then rested the red gaze back at Drake’s ass. NegaDuck began to get closer and closer to his prey. Without a beat, the older male tackled the Superstar to the ground while the younger was in mid sentence. Ripping off the fur-trimmed coat, a gray hand reached out grasping the back of the younger’s neck, pulling him up to the window, exposing him to the rest of St. Canard.

“I’m gonna show you to the rest of the city what a fucking stupid slut you are and I’m not gonna hear any complaints! If you do, I’m fucking you raw.”

Taking out a tube of lube that looked halfway used; the gold suited duck used his entire body weight to keep Drake underneath, regardless of the other’s struggle, if there was any. He enjoyed it when his victims did to a point. With a squelching sound of the tube; the white, watery substance poured into his hand, taking it he covered his dick, making low, guttural noises. 

Without any warning, NegaDuck forced his prick into Drake’s entrance, keeping his hold, pinning Drake to the cold, glass window.

- ✩ { @infinitexdarkwings } ✩

{ ☆ } Drake is accustomed to Negaduck’s rough treatment; it’s one of his favorite parts of the older male’s voracious appetite. A hunger that Drake prides himself on being so good at satiating. Because even with all the demeaning names, the harsh treatment and exhausting sex... there IS a sense of pride in it. More than Drake has felt with a lot of things, if he’s being honest. Because here’s this ravenous beast, this prowling rabid wolf... and he’s got his sights firmly set on a certain violet-eyed rabbit.

One who can get mauled and mangled within an inch of his life and not only handle it, but enjoy it. Who else can claim that? And even if there is another... Drake wouldn’t hesitate to declare himself the BEST. Draped in Negaduck’s ‘gift’— even if the coat is stripped off within seconds —Drake is feeling pretty damn important.

Only seems right that the city gets to know it too.

Drake slips into the role like second nature, this one feeling more natural than anything he’s played before. Hell, maybe it can’t even be considered one anymore... Negaduck might have approached ‘Superstar’ for his services, but Drake Mallard is feeling more than happy to indulge in the other’s twisted fantasies. Grunting at the impact, small growls slip through his throat as Drake begins to struggle. Nothing too intense, although he doesn’t doubt Negaduck’s strength. Just enough to jostle the other male, so it’s a bit of a challenge for Negs to get himself ready. He’s learned that Negs enjoys a struggle... and Drake often gets a more RIGOROUS fuck when he’s a little difficult before surrendering into the needy mess they are both looking for.

❝  Is that a promise?~  ❞  Drake cheekily growls at the threat, roughly pushing his ass against Negaduck’s hips to emphasize the statement. However, there’s no denying the shudder that wracks his body at the sound of Negaduck preparing himself. Those low sounds draw forth choked whimpers from the porn star against his will, cheeks dusting with betraying warmth that he feels pooling to his gut, making his body flush with a heat that makes the cold glass feel BITING against it. Muttering a soft  ❝  Fuck  ❞  under his breath at the sensation, breathing grows quicker as heart starts to pound with impatience.

Internal mantra of hurry up, hurry up, hurry the FUCK UP— is broken by a gasp when Negaduck enters him, eyes widening with shock and body tensing for a moment at the harsh thrust. Pain assaulting his ass at the forced introduction, tears prick at his eyes even as a shaky moan tears itself from Drake’s throat, pleasure rushing over him in tandem as fingers curl against the smooth glass, futilely trying to fid something to grab onto and steady himself.

Swallowing thickly at the sudden feeling of being filled, muscles clench around Negaduck’s prick in an instinctive want, his own member already attempting to slide from snowy feathers. Chest heaving in a gasp for breath, Drake arches his back to further press against Negaduck’s hips, trying to force the duck in even DEEPER despite the burning sensation. If anything- he welcomes it.  ❝  FUCK... W-Warn a guy, next time...  ❞  Drake breathes, still trying to showcase some semblance of composure... even if the trembling of his legs undermine it. { ☆ }   

#ducktales-wco-oo #⭒ ˙ ˖ ✧ — ˗ˏˋ ❝ ʙᴜᴛ ɪ ᴋᴇᴘᴛ ɢᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ᴜᴘ ❞ ¦ 「 Drake IC 」 #⭒ ˙ ˖ ✧ — ˗ˏˋ ❝ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀɪɴ ᴀᴛᴛʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ: ʟɪɢʜᴛꜱ; ᴄᴀᴍᴇʀᴀ; ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ❞ ◌ ᴘᴏʀɴ ꜱᴛᴀʀ ᴀᴜ ¦ 「 Drake 」 #⭒ ˙ ˖ ✧ — ˗ˏˋ ❝ ᴄʜᴀɪɴꜱᴀᴡ-ᴡɪᴇʟᴅɪɴɢ ᴄʜᴀʀʟᴀᴛᴀɴ ❞ ¦ 「 OG!Negaduck 」 #infinitexdarkwings #⭒ ˙ ˖ ✧ — ˗ˏˋ ❝ ᴅɪᴄᴋᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ-ᴡᴄᴏ-ᴏᴏ ❞ ¦ 「 NSFW-Lemon 」 #⭒ ˙ ˖ ✧ — ˗ˏˋ ❝ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴅᴀʀɪɴɢ ᴅᴏ ʙᴀᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ʟᴜᴄᴋ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ! ❞ ¦ 「 RP 」 #⭒ ˙ ˖ ✧ — ˗ˏˋ ❝ ꜱᴡᴏᴏᴘꜱ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱʜᴀᴅᴏᴡꜱ ❞ ¦ 「 Queue 」 #♡ ˙ ˖ ✧ — ˗ˏˋ ❝ ʙɪᴛᴇ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ ʜᴀʀᴅᴇʀ; ꜱɪɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛᴇᴇᴛʜ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍʏ ꜰʟᴇꜱʜ ❞ ¦ 「 Drake and Negaduck 」

[harebrainedscheme]

Soft Edges, Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Fethry in FOWL AU courtesy of Zara 2148

A03 Link

Same warning tags as in the previous chapter, but the violence and implied child abuse is a bit more detailed this time around.

He learned how to take a blow before he learned how to deal one.

In a house with fragile and brittle air, that could be shattered at any moment- by one wrong move, one wrong word,-he learned to watch the movement in a shoulder, to predict where the blow would land, learned when to steady himself in preparation and when to go limp, learned how to tell by feel and pacing when the hits were coming to their end or when they were going to start up again.

Curled up in his best hiding spot, beak clamped shut, fists balled tight, he spent hours staring at the peeling wallpaper decorated with flowers bending to a non-existent wind. In that small and dusty space between the wall and couch, he’d squeeze his eyes shut, trying to force back the hot burning tears, choking on the dust coating the floorboards, swallowing his own shaky breath because he couldn’t let himself cry out or else he’d be found and his best hiding space would be ruined. He'd pull his knees to his chest resembling a small, trembling ball, pressed into himself, trying to make himself disappear entirely.

“What are you, stupid???”

The shout that shattered the walls.

He had spilled a purple drink, adding the newest stain to the already splotched carpet.

“What are you, stupid???”

They ran out of laundry detergent, so he tried using dish soap instead. The result was a flood of soapy bubbles spilling from the washing machine.

“Worthless! Ruined! How could you be so stupid???”

His shoes had become too tight but he was too afraid to ask for a new pair so he cut a slit in the back so at least his spur- which he realized was growing longer, stronger, and sharper- wouldn’t cut into the rest of his foot.

"What are you, stupid???"

The question rang out, harsh and sharp, shattering the air, shattering the walls, sending a rain of broken bits of crystal, all down on him.

The question echoed through his skull, sending tremors up and down his body, aching like the bruises blossoming under his feathers.

Every inch of him trembled. His hands were balled into tights fists, squeezing so hard as if what he was feeling was physically manifest in the palms of his hands. As if, if he squeezed tightly enough, he could squish it out of existence, crush it, kill it.

“I’m not,” he risked a hoarse whisper, voice thick and raw, edged with everything he was trying so desperately to contain within himself.

“I’m not,” he whispered again. He felt a large hot tear slide across his beak.

He memorized the pattern of the floral wallpaper. It would permanently be tattooed to his mind..

He used to not mind school. He liked it because it wasn’t home. But then the teachers started making them read aloud. He couldn’t unhear the snickers and giggles sneaking in the corners of the classroom as he stared at a block of text that became a wall of words torn by slippery rivers of white space. No matter how hard he tried to zone in on a single word, break it into parts like the teacher said, the letters seemed to shift before his eyes, to jump from one space to another.

After that he stopped raising his hand during class. Stopped sharing his ideas and strategies on how the revolutionary soldiers should have fought the Birdish in 1776, or how he would have defeated the villain of the stories. His teachers always deemed his ideas as “very creative” or “how imaginative” through a tight, wavering smile. That was probably just code for stupid. Everyone thought he was stupid now.

He wasn’t sick this particular day he decided to stay home from school. But Rhodie Barkley hadn’t gone to school the day before. Which meant Rhodie Barkley wasn’t there to bully into doing his homework for him after school. Which meant he had no complete homework assignments to turn in this morning.

Rhodie Barkley always got gold stars on his homework assignments, Rhodie Barkley was adored by the teachers. Rhodie Barkley always brought a brand new soccer ball, to share with the other kids at recess, or a new video game, or a comic book or whatever new treasure his parents had bought him. Rhodie Barkley always got a new backpack every school year, never came to school with his books in a grocery bag or with shoes with holes in the bottom. He wasn’t a particularly big kid but Rhodie Barkely was a particularly small kid.

But yesterday Rhodie had been absent from school. So there was no point in going today.

He was thinking about stupid smart Rhodie Barkely and his stupid smart glasses and his stupid fresh, brand new backpack when he kicked the rock. A second later he heard the crash. The large jagged edges of glass lay there in the grass, glinting in the sunlight. The gaping hole in the window stared at him.

He knew he would be punished for it. Even if he hid all the broken pieces, even if he boarded up the window with cardboard , or better yet plastic wrap, it was only a matter of time- a handful of hours- before his mistake was discovered, and he’d be punished. So, instead, he ran away and never looked back.

He would find someplace better, travel the world, get rich on treasure hunting. If Scrooge McDuck could do it why not him? He just had to keep running and he’d find his palace eventually.

Instead, he found himself in the slums of St. Canard.

He wasn’t the only kid on the streets but he might have been the youngest. They weren’t a gang. Not exactly. There was no misunderstanding of loyalty or trust between the rag tag group of hoodlums. They just knew it was easier to survive in a community. Easier to pick a pocket if someone was the distraction. Easier to scavenge if the scouts could split off and report which neighborhood had the best haul for that day. Easier to evade the cops if someone was playing lookout.

It was there on the streets when he first learned how to throw a punch. Being the smallest in the group made him an easy target. But because he had spent so much time learning to prepare for them, he was good at predicting when and where the punches would be thrown. And that made him good at dodging them. He noticed when his opponent shifted their weight, when they pulled their shoulder back, took into consideration the length of their arms.

The first time he hit someone, it was another street kid, three years older and probably a good head taller than him.

He used to hide in the space between the couch and the wall, with nothing in view except for the floral wallpaper. He used to curl into a ball, staring at the flowers in the wallpaper, squeezing his fists tight, trying to hold everything in. And now, with his fists curled the same way, he let everything out.

It felt good. Really good.

Pretty soon, he became known for never shying away from a fight. Even if it was 5 to 1. Pretty soon, he became known for picking fights, even if it was 5 to 1, with the odds against him. And pretty soon, he got good at throwing punches, really good.

Brutal. Ruthless. That’s what they called him. When he eventually found his way to the fighting ring, like so many in the street gang wound up, he learned to be quick, learned to use every tool in his arsenal, including his beak and spurs. The spin kicks didn’t come naturally. For someone of his size, they took hours of training before he could perform them with the dangerous efficiency needed. But that made them all the more of a surprise advantage when he did use them in the ring.

Using his beak though, that was second nature, came as easy as breathing. It became his signature move. Left hook, right hook, and finish it off with a peck straight to the skull. The goal wasn’t to actually do damage to the skull, bone was stronger than beak after all, just to hit the other guy with enough force that the brain rammed against the skull and the opponent dropped like a fly. It was his finishing move. Instant knockout, every time.

It’s how he won the title rank. It took years of training by day and competing by night but eventually he became the reigning champ. But his signature move was also how he lost his beak.

He took the title from a badger. She was a heavy hitter but a lousy dodger. He tired the badger out with evasive movements, leaned out of reach, and struck mostly with kicks. Until he finally got her against the ropes. Then it was lights out.

A year later, the badger came back to reclaim the title. He should have known something was wrong from the start.

The badger wasn’t striking with the same ferocity, wasn’t doging like she was trying to reclaim her title. When he finally got her where he wanted her-left hook, right hook-and was rearing back in preparation for the final blow she smiled at him. He didn’t think anything of it though, he went in to deliver the finishing blow. But at the last moment, she reared up and lunged herself towards him, meeting his beak with the front of her skull.

CRACK.

Pain laced through his entire body. He stumbled backward, hand reaching up to protect his beak but the slightest touch sent waves of white hot pain flaring across his nerves.

He would later overhear the cops say that since their last fight, the badger had a titanium plate surgically implanted in her skull.

He had felt the beak split when they made contact. He knew it had to be fractured. He had to regain his footing, had to get through the blinding pain, he was able to focus his vision just in time to see the badger advancing on him, something metallic around her knuckles caught the light.

He swung at the badger, but his footing was no good. Still backpedaling from the hit, his beak still splitting with the worst pain he ever felt, he didn’t stand a chance. The badger easily blocked his swing before advancing, shoving her full weight on top of him. The badger had him pinned to the floor, an illegal move, even in the underground ring, but no one was rushing in to stop it. The badger was delivering blow after blow. Blood spewed from his beak as the brass knuckles came in contact with his already fractured beak, he felt it split further, felt it cave under the force of the badger’s fist.

His vision swam as he teetered on the edge of consciousness. He probably would have died that day, if the cops hadn’t chosen that day of all days to bust the place. They hauled him away, kicking, screaming, injured, and bleeding... but alive.

Prison, the more he thought about it, wasn’t all that different from the underground ring. Sure his freedoms were limited to one hour of outside rec time, but other than that, the concrete walls, the absence of natural lighting practically made it homey. He even had plenty of his former competitors- those who hadn’t been lucky or quick enough to fly the coop once the feds busted the place- under the same roof with him.

He stared at the gray concrete ceiling through the darkness of his cell, trying to figure out which of his former fighting rivals had set him up. Someone had to have paid off the bouncers so they didn’t intervene when the badger pinned him against the floor, an illegal move, or smuggled in the brass knuckles, another illegal item.

Maybe the badger worked alone, to get revenge for her loss of the title, or maybe any one of his prison bunkies was waiting for the right moment to send a shiv in his belly.

“Hey you’re not allowed to be in h-” a guard’s voice was cut off by what sounded like the low buzz and crackle of raw, unfiltered electricity. The sound was followed by the satisfying thud of a body hitting the floor.

“Sorry man, we’re just going to have a quick look around,” came a woman’s voice, one he didn’t recognize as belonging to any of the guards. “What exactly are we looking for Heron?”

A second voice, an older, annoyed voice responded, “The buzzards seem to think, despite my reasoning to the contrary, that F.O.W.L needs more muscle lurking around the base. If you ask me, there’s already too many pea-brained goons in proximity of my lab and research.”

“Ugh. Tell me about it,” the first voice cut in “one of those egg heads barged into my lab thinking it was the bathroom. Walked right in on my light-sensitive nano tech experiment. Cost me an entire morning’s worth of work.”

“Why they sent us to this cest-pool of imbeciles to collect I’ll never understand!” The second voice responded. “Just find a couple of meatheads willing to work on F.O.W.L.'s dollar. Shouldn’t be too hard. This place stinks of desperation.”

The clack of footsteps echoed off the concrete floor, a figure appeared outside his cell door. Beyond the bars, he could make out the silhouette of a woman with short choppy hair wearing ripped and baggy jeans. He glowered at her, even pulling back his mangled maw, what was left of it, into a fearsome snarl, he imagined that without the bandages to hide his mutilated horror, he must look pretty monstrous.

But this girl had nerves of steel. Didn’t even flinch. Instead she smirked.

“Hey Heron, I think I found your next pet project.”

“What on earth are you talking about,” came the second voice more annoyed than before.

“Just get over here and look. You can thank me later.”

The first figure stepped away only to be replaced with a second, older woman, dressed in a red dress and flashy white boots at least three decades out of style. But what captured his attention was the shiny robotic arm hanging at her side.

He shot her the same scowl he gave the first woman, if not with a few added degrees of malice. But this woman in red met his glare with a sharp and devilish grin that would have turned a lesser man’s nerves to jelly.

“Well, well, well,” her words rolled polished and sharp, “what do we have here?”

The choice she gave him wasn’t much of a choice. Join them in their plot to steal the world or be left behind in the hole.

He was a lousy poker player. He knew because sometimes when there was a delay in fights because of a sting operation the underground circuit barely caught wind of in time, fighters would pass the time by playing cards in the backroom of their secondary location.He often took too high a risk for too little reward. Sometimes he had trouble remembering which hands were the good ones.

“You don’t know when to fold kid,” a one-eyed boar had told him as he raked in a pile of chips after his pair of sevens and jack high hadn’t delivered the victory he was banking on.

Maybe the boar had been right. He had learned a long time ago to never let your opponent know when they had an advantage over you. Even if you were clueless to the situation, never admit your ignorance. Any advantage of your opponent was a weakness of yours and weakness got you killed. Play along, bluff your way to the bitter end and maybe, just maybe, you’d make it out alive.

So when this cyborg lady stood outside his cell, extending an invitation to ditch the hole for something else, he weighed the situation. As far as he could tell, she had every advantage over him. She was the one on the other side of the bars, she was the one with the robot arm. He on the other hand, was left with a gruesome, gaping, grimace in place of what used to be his livelihood. He was in no position to be bargaining.

And yet, he recognized he had one, and only one advantage. For some reason, this cyborg lady wanted him. She took one look at him, and smiled with that wicked grin. She wanted him as her “pet project” whatever that meant. So, he decided to leverage the only advantage he had. Play hardball. Make her up her ante.

He wasn’t entirely sure how he did it to be honest. He didn’t follow half the things the lady in red told him but he did understand that they were looking for some guys to play the role of muscle. He could do that sure, better than any other guy in the hole. Any one of his prison mates could play the part of a low-level stooge, but he knew he was worth more than that. So, he took the gamble. He wanted better and he was willing to bet, the punk rock and disco duo had it up their sleeve.

She threatened to leave him to rot. But he didn’t fold. It looked like she was about to storm off without so much as a glance behind, but her eyes lingered on the stump that used to be his money maker. She frowned, glared, conflict crossed her features before she finally snapped “Fine!”

Next thing he knew he was trading in his orange jumpsuit for personally tailored suits, wrist shackles for mother-of-pearl cufflinks, and a broken and bloody stub-his trophy for a lifetime of violence- for something fierce and gleaming.

They never asked for his name and he didn’t mind. Standing in front of the mirror, admiring the foreign metal object welded to the center of his face, he decided ‘Steelbeak’ was as good a name as any he previously had.

He had a name back in the house with the flowery wallpaper, but that was seldom used, not as often as ‘Stupid’ anyway. But those memories weren’t visited anymore. They were tucked away, wrapped in cellophane and hidden in the recess of his mind.

He had been a nobody. A nameless, unidentified street urchin nobody was looking for, and then a nameless, rookie in the ring. He was either “hey kid” or “hey you”. In the ring he was either the winner or the loser. When he started winning consistently he was “the returning champ.” When he started getting more attention and more bets, he was brutal, ruthless; Not a name, a description. In prison he was given a number, but more often than not the guards referred to him as “the guy with the busted face”

His entire life, summed up in one crummy phrase. He had punched and clawed his way to the title, to the top. Fighting guys as desperate as he was. But in an underground fighting ring, the summit only reaches so high and the view at the top isn’t nearly as sweet as you hoped.

It almost wasn’t a loss when the cops broke it all up. At least from behind bars, the air was cleaner. But what was his victory? Caged off from the rest of the world with only the memory of being the best of the lowest, the champion of the gutters to keep him afloat?

But the lady in red, Black Heron, had told him he was going to help them steal the world from those who didn’t deserve it.

The world. It sounded like a good start.

The name Steelbeak could mean something, could strike fear into the hearts of anyone who heard it. As an agent of F.O.W.L. he could be somebody.

But he wasn’t stupid.

He had been around long enough to know how groups like this one worked. You were either useful, or you were dead.

He had thought that Black Heron was his partner. But she had made it clear to him that wasn’t the case and he was not about to make that mistake again.

Just like the gang of street kids, just like the underground ring, just like prison. No misunderstandings of friendship or loyalty. You don’t trust anyone farther than you can throw them. If you form an alliance, it’s because each has something they can gain from the other. Lower your guard and get a knife in the back, maybe literally.

So no, he wasn’t about to let his guard down.

And then he met Fethry Duck.

After the intelli-ray incident, Steelbeak and Heron were suspended from field duty. Heron sulked and withdrew to her private lab. Steelbeak was left to wander the halls aimlessly before the glorified babysitting duty was his newest form of punishment. His job was simple. Keep the asset clueless and make sure he didn’t stick his beak anywhere it didn’t belong. It was a mission so simple, that, according to Director Buzzard, not even Steelbeak could screw it up.

He hadn’t known what to expect from this obscure McDuck nephew. He knew from all the F.O.W.L. briefings he had been forced to sit through that all members of the McDuck family were threats, dangerous in their own way, even the little ones.

And then there was Fethry.

Fethry Duck, dismissed as a non-threat and an idiot by Director Buzzard. Stupid enough to hand himself over as an oblivious hostage. Fethry Duck, the subject of Heron’s under-the-breath mutterings, something about “playing into the stereotype” and “you sure that guy is only half loon?” Fethry Duck, who bought the cock-and-bull story of lab security being present to protect pending patents and unlicensed intellectual property or whatever the buzzard had come up with.

Fethry Duck, who hummed while he worked. Fethry Duck, who bobbed his head while he hummed. Fethry, who named each specimen he brought into the lab and spoke to them in a kind, reassuring way.

Steelbeak had tried to come off as menacing at first.

He was less than pleased to be forced to sit in a lab all day when Agent G or ghost guy were out doing who knows what, causing whatever havoc to the McDuck family. Meanwhile, he was being benched, reassigned to idle work that any egghead could have done in their sleep.

He retreated to the corner of the lab, arms crossed, glaring as the little guy from his metal stool as he rambled on about whatever he was working on. Steelbeak had tried the occasional interjection, cutting in with quips, borderline insults, or vaguely aggressive remarks. But they seemed to go right over the asset’s head. His persistent sunniness kept him buoyant, like an unsinkable battleship.

That was...a first. Steelbeak knew was an intimidating guy. His intimidation tactics were usually either met with cowering or matched aggression that usually ended in a brawl. Even when Steelbeak tried kicking it up a notch, casually dropping the fact that he had once dislocated the jaw of a grizzly with a single uppercut, or that he had been in prison prior to his current employment, the McDuck nephew responded with his characteristic smile and babbled on about something to do with the formation of pearls.

After weeks of being unable to get a rise out of the hostage, Steelbeak retreated to silence from his corner across the lab. But boredom overtook him in a matter of days and he eventually ventured over to the lab table where a shallow touch tank had been set up to cover most of the table.

“So what’s this mess?”

“Oh Mr. Steelbeak!” The duck beamed up at him, surprised but welcoming of his sudden interest. “I was just cataloging my newest specimen, say hello to Mr. Steelbeak, Angeline!

In his hands, the asset held a...well he wasn’t sure what… a weird, spikey looking ball. Steelbeak wouldn’t have guessed it was alive but the needle-like spikes shifted slightly, as if waving hello.

Fethry cupped the creature gently in his hands.

“You did fantastic Angeline! Thank you for your help, you can go back to your friends now,” and with that, he lowered his hands below the surface of the water, parted his palms, and allowed the small thing to slowly sink back down to the bottom of the touch tank.

He was always like that, Steelbeak had noticed. He always spoke to his lab specimens encouragingly with a gentle voice and moved with an even gentler touch.

Black Heron didn’t use live specimens very often in her lab. But even when she did, he couldn’t remember her ever speaking to them, never moving them with any consideration beyond getting them from point A to point B. Where Heron was all sharp angles and pointed glares, Fethry was all rounded edges and soft smiles.

Fethry gestured to the table behind him where more of the spiky balls sat unmoving in the touch tank.

“Magenta, Henry, Spike, Yolanda, Franklin, Gilbert the Gallavant, Rocky, and Rostia are deep sea urchins from the the Atlantic trench,” he said as he pointed out each one. “I’m trying to understand the effects of a mutanant agent on deep sea creatures.”

Steelbeak was a good deal taller than Fethry, so the duck had to look up to meet his eyes as he spoke. But that did nothing to hinder the enthusiasm of his voice.

“You see, these guys live on the ocean floor by hydrothermal vents. Those are cracks in the sea floor where superheated fluids and toxic minerals escape through. It’s a harsh environment but species like Angeline and her friends still find a way to live there. I think that the hydrothermal vents mutated them, that’s why they’re a different color and their spines are shaped differently from their cousins.”

He said this while gesturing to a cluster of bright red urchins Steelbeak hadn’t noticed earlier.

“They’re all part of the same family, but they’re different from each other. I’m trying to understand how and why the vents made them different.”

“So you’re trying to figure out what’s wrong with them?”

For the first time, Fethry’s smile slipped.

“Well, nothing’s wrong with them. They just changed,” he said softly. “Sometimes living things have to change to survive their environment. It’s called adaptation. Sea urchins can live almost anywhere, in tidepools where they’re close to the sunshine, in coral reefs where they have lots and lots of fish neighbors, or even in the deep, deep, total, absolute, very, very, bottom zone.”

“Adaptation?” Steelbeak repeated, “Is that good or bad?”

“Well…” Fethry rubbed the back of his neck as he picked his next words, “Just because something is different doesn’t mean its bad. And just because something changes from what it used to be doesn’t make it bad, but it doesn’t always make it good either. If Angeline and her friends wanted to move back to the tidepools, they might have a hard time adjusting. Does that make sense?”

Steelbeak shrugged.

“So what about this thing over here?” Steelbeak said, leaning in to stare at the slippery looking creature in a separate tank.

“That’s Noodle!” Fethry’s voice chimed from behind Steelbeak. “Usually electric eels live in shallow and murky waters, but Noodle here is a real marvel! You should see him when he sparks up! His natural bioluminescence lights up as he generates his electricity.”

Steelbeak frowned. Fethry had to be pulling his leg. But the genuine awe in his voice made Steelbeak hesitate.

“An electric eel? Even I know that water and electricity don’t mix. How could a fish make electricity without frying itself?"

“That’s a great question!” Fethry exclaimed, guileless enthusiasm rising to the surface again. Steelbeak waited for the snarl of laughter, waited for the duck’s features to twist into annoyance followed by a harsh bark of laughter at Steelbeak’s expense. But it never came.

“Scientists have been asking that same for years! The truth is that we don’t know. Electric eels can produce electricity to help them detect what’s in the water around them and even stun their prey. But for some reason, they’re not affected. Scientists don’t know if it’s a special coat of proteins on the eel’s skin or if they’re just resistant to their own shocks. ”

Steelbeak made the mistake of looking down at Fethry. He was surprised to see the duck was gazing back at him, with a soft, light smile brightening his features.

Steelbeak was caught off guard by a sudden...something. Some kind of movement, some kind of twist in his chest like a wet cloth being wrung out to dry.

“Yeah, w-well, I got electrocuted once. No big deal. Maybe all the other fish are just a bunch of wimps, ” he said crossing his arms.

“Were you okay?”

The duck peered up at him with wide, round, eyes, brimming with a gentle, genuine concern Steelbeak could not remember ever receiving.

And he felt it again, a sharp...pain?? Bigger this time, spreading like a jagged tear ripping at his ribcage.

He averted his eyes.

“Uh, yeah, yeah. It was no big deal. You should have seen the other guy.”

‘The other guy’ being a tiny plane flown by a group of dumb rats turned smart. But Steelbeak chose to omit that detail.

“Was it your beak? Is that how the other guy hurt you?”

“What? Why would you-” Steelbeak only then realized that at some point he had lifted his hand and began lightly rubbing his beak.

He tore his hand away. “This trap!” he snapped, a pointed finger gesturing towards his face “is the best on the block! I use it to hurt people who get on my nerves, not the other way around!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

But Steelbeak didn’t wait for Fethry to finish. Not wanting to deck the asset in a fit of sudden anger, Steelbeak stormed away, back to his usual corner. He slumped into his stool and let the asset continue to work in silence. At least that was his intention. But for the next few hours the asset kept glancing up in his direction while Steelbeak pretended to be staring across the room towards the door.

Steelbeak was content to ignore it, but as the hours passed and the day drew near its end, the McDuck sighed and looked up at Steelbeak.

“Mr. Steelbeak, I really am sorry. I always did have a bad habit of sticking my foot in my mouth.”

He rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke, eyes jumped from Steelbeak to the floor.

“And uh, well that just makes it all the more likely to start off on the wrong foot with someone.”

Steelbeak kept his arms crossed and his eyes forward.

“But uh- I don’t want to do that with you. I really do like having you around the lab and...I would never want to do something to upset you.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“But I do! And-and I’m going to!” The duck said with more force than Steelbeak was expecting.

He turned his head, channeling a glare like the kind he was used to receiving. The asset didn’t waiver, despite the perturbed look displayed across his face.

“What’s your deal?”

Umm...sorry, how do you mean?

Steelbeak leaned forward in his seat and locked eyes with the strange McDuck nephew.

“I mean, I tell you I get into fights, bad ones, the kind where you get electrocuted and maybe almost die. I tell you I spend time in prison, you know, where they throw away low-down criminals? I tell you that my face can be used to hurt people, and...and…”

For a moment, Steelbeak’s beak gaped for words, “and you don’t even flinch! You treat it like I just told you I pick daisies on weekends.”

To his credit, Fethry Duck didn’t seem to whither under his gaze as Steelbeak was half expecting him to do. Maybe this McDuck nephew was made of tougher stuff than he had been led to believe.

“Well, I-umm…” Fethry’s beak opened and closed as he searched for words. Open and honest in his nervousness as he was in all things. He lifted one arm to rub the sleeve of his oversized sweater.

Slowly, thoughtfully, he said, “I learned a long time ago, from someone important to me, that...that people are complicated...and its not fair to judge them before you know them.”

He chewed his lower beak before continuing. “My, um, my brother spent some time behind bars too...but well, no one is all good or all bad.”

“You have a brother?”

Steelbeak raked his mind trying to recall every member of the McDuck family tree they had been briefed on at those endless FOWL meetings. There was sailor nephew, lucky green nephew, lady nephew, the four mini-nephews.

Fethry nodded absently.

“My brother, Abner, he’s...he’s not a bad person. Everyone always said he was trouble, always glowering, kinda had a gruff way of talking to people but..”

Fethry’s voice had become softer, “He did some bad things but…”

He sighed and lifted his eyes back towards Steelbeak. As disarming as it was, Steelbeak forced himself not to look away.

“It doesn’t bother me that you were in prison, Steelbeak. I know that detail isn’t enough to make a fair assumption about someone.”

He looked up at him with such a clarity, eyes wide and clear like polished glass.

Steelbeak felt something catch in his chest. He fished his brain for something to say, but it felt like someone had taken a fork to his thoughts and whisked them like scrambled eggs. Fethry beat him to his next words anyhow.

“We’re going to be around each other a lot, and if it's alright with you, well, I hope we could start over, on the right foot.”

He was unguarded, Steelbeak realized. Not just in this moment, but all the time. That’s how he would describe him. Unguarded enthusiasm when he worked, unguarded sincerity when he spoke, unguarded softness in his smile and warmth in his eyes.

And for some reason, he didn’t want to shut that down.

“Yeah, sure,” he rasped, far lower than he had intended.

And Fethry smiled. That bright, beaming, smile that seemed to light up the rest of the underground lab.

It took an unfairly short time for Steelbeak to realize he enjoyed the company of Fethry Duck.

Weirdo, oddball, Fethry Duck.

Fethry Duck who sang to a jar of shrimp-no krill. Steelbeak remembered, Fethry had told them they were krill.

Fethry Duck, who always smiled when Steelbeak entered the lab. Fethry Duck, who always nodded and listened, really listened, whenever Steelbeak was talking, who never glared like he was waiting for Steelbeak to finish speaking, and who never, not even once, called any of his questions stupid.

Fethry even interjected with “great question!” or “I like the way you’re thinking!”

Talking to Fethry was easy, in a way Steelbeak had never experienced with anyone before. He never felt like he was in over his head when Fethry explained sciency stuff. He always did it in a way Steelbeak could follow with ease. Steelbeak never felt the need to bluff his way through the conversation, it always felt like they were on the same page and could build off the other’s train of thought.

What’s more he liked talking to Fethry. It wasn’t strategic, there was no underlying motive to try to get information out of one another.

Well other than the whole secretly-holidng-you-as-hostage-to-get-the-upper-hand-on-your-uncle thing. But Steelbeak tried to think about that as little as he could.

He liked listening to him ramble on about the social behaviors of arctic krill, he liked watching the way he would bob his head and flail his hands when he got really excited while describing strange-looking barnacle formations he’d come across.

He looked forward to seeing him in the lab every morning and at the end of the day, he replayed the conversations in his head long after they had ended. He could remember every detail of Fethry’s expression while he gave a rambling lecture on carcinisation and the way he tilted his head and softened his smile when Steelbeak spoke.

And that scared him, more than anything.

#fethsteel #tw implied child abuse #tw some violence #hare brain writes