#i listen to this quadrillion times a day

[tanoraqui]

S&D Tier fic inspired by this video. unedited.

“Kiddo, we need to talk about something,” Alex said, and thought, Oh god, I’m turning onto my father. Parenthood was a mistake. I should scrap this all right now and pretend it never happened.

But Hawk was already abandoning its legos and scurrying over to where Alex stood in its bedroom doorway, looking up at them all expectant and a little nervous. (It didn’t project except deliberately; Alex had given themself zeranid-specific telepathy during the space war, for army-directing purposes, and only ever partly turned it off because being able to read your kid’s moods was really helpful in parenting, especially when your kid was an insectoid war machine that didn’t visibly emote like a human).

(Yeah, it was way too late to scrap this all and pretend it’d never happened. It’d pretty much been too late since Morgan first phrased “keep an eye on my core hivemind war machine” as “babysitting.”)

Hawk had scrambled up their body to perch on their head and peer down at them through bent eyestalks. It loved doing that with Alex, because most people couldn’t hold forty pounds of chitin and lethal claws on their head without wobbling.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re adorable.”

Alex patted it on the shell, then walked over to its bed, gently pried its claws out of their hair, and set it on the skateboard-patterned duvet beside them.

“Now, I know you were eavesdropping on my call with Diego earlier—”

I wasn’t! Hawk insisted, projecting innocence and injury.

“I’m an expert eavesdropper and I saw one of your spy drones in the vent,” Alex retorted. “Learn to spy better if you don’t want to get caught!”

Hawk drew its limbs in a couple inches, sulking. Alex scratched the base of its eyestalks reassuringly. This was why they planned on leaving this sort of Real Conversation With Our Kid mostly to Morgan—Morgan was better at reassuring! But obviously, Morgan couldn’t take this Real Conversation…

“I’m guessing you didn’t hear what Diego was saying too much, though?”

They kept scratching as Hawk begrudgingly shook its head.

I could hear her being angry. Do I still get to play with Ducky today?

Alright, time rip off the bandaid.

“Yes,” Alex promised. “But— Listen, you know how Morgan woke up screaming in the middle of the night last…7am today?” Which was like midnight for Morgan; even parenthood hadn’t changed that.

Uh-huh, said Hawk.

“And you know how you showed them that cool trick with the squirrel a couple days ago, you know, the one you told me about over dinner?” While Morgan looked faintly queasy and didn’t finish their food, man, Alex was kicking themself now; at the time they’d been too busy laughing and enthusing at the gory details and the little dance Hawk did to show how it had puppetted the squirrel corpse.

Yeah! Hawk’s limbs stretched back out and its eyestalks waved excitedly. I’m going to show Ducky at our playdate! I’m going to make one do the Macarena. That’s Ducky’s favorite dance.

“That’s hysterical,” Alex informed it. “Okay, but here’s the thing: you can’t let Ducky’s parents know, and you need to pay attention to if Ducky is getting scared while you show him—you remember what people are like when they’re scared?”

Hawk rolled their eyes both internally and externally. They smell nicer and I want to kill them more slowly.

“Hel– heck yeah,” said Alex. “So, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if Ducky is getting scared, you should stop your super cool squirrel trick. Even if you haven’t made it dance yet. Because otherwise, Ducky might be the next one waking up with screaming nightmares, and then Diego really would cancel your next playdate, instead of just talking sh– trash.”

What?! Hawk reared up in dismay and affront, hissing in the way quadrillions of people on thousands of worlds had learned to fear. Why?

But it was a smart kid, so it immediately connected the dots—the really important dots in this conversation; no offense, Ducky. It curled back in on itself unhappily. Did I make Morgan have a nightmare?

“Yeah,” Alex said bluntly. “And Morgan is never, ever going to admit it, because they love you so, so much, and they’d literally rather die rather than make you feel bad about anything you can do or want to do.”

Don’t kill Morgan’s parents, they reminded themself reflexively, to counter the other reflexive thoughts. Do not kill Morgan’s parents, do not kill Morgan’s parents, do not—

They gathered Hawk onto their lap and booped it just above the mandibles, to remind it that it was cute and loveable and to make sure they had its full attention.

“Morgan is stubborn like that, but Morgan is also squeamish,” they explained, in terms suited to a six-year-old. “Literally and morally. That means that when they see too much blood or wiggling internal organs or corpses used as toys or…any sort of killing, really… If they see that stuff up close, they start to feel sick. It’s very lame, I know it’s very lame, but that’s just how they are. So, because we love Morgan, there are rules of thumb—rules of claw, for you, I guess.”

Hawk projected rapt attention. Alex had noticed at some point years ago that every random monster they manifested now—not a power they used often, but it could be fun, eg, for space armies—instinctively adored Morgan as a default feature of their existence. It wasn’t a feature they felt any need to change.

They enumerated on their fingers.

“One, try not to take more than about fifteen seconds to kill a single living creature in front of Morgan, and no more than a minute for a group. If you want to take longer than that, or if it seems like you need to take longer than that, either drag your victim out of sight or drag Morgan away and come back later.

“Two, don’t play with or otherwise weaponize corpses for more than, like, casually throwing them at your enemies, in front of Morgan. Otherwise it’s fine! And Morgan doesn’t even mind if they’re watching you fight on tv. It’s just when they have to see it up close that they start to feel sick.”

I don’t want to make Morgan feel sick. Hawk wasn’t quite at the stage where a human child would be in tears—they were a ruthless killing machine, albeit one who was functionally a six-year-old with an increasingly healthy upbringing with loving parents. But it radiated distress, and hid its face in Alex’s midriff like Alex could shield it from every possible bad thing in the world. Which Alex could, obviously.

Can’t you just make them not get sick?

“Believe me, I’ve thought about it.” Alex sighed, and scratched it gently between the eyestalks again. “But then they wouldn’t be Morgan, you know?”

No! said Hawk, confused and annoyed.

“You will when you’re older,” Alex promised, with another mark on the Turning Into My Parents list.

Hawk critter-grumbled against Alex’s stomach. And Ducky will get sick, too?

“He might, he might not,” Alex said truthfully. “He’s pretty young, so he probably can’t conceptualize that you’re killing people yet, defiling their corpses, all that stuff. In which case, it’s way better to show him now, so he’ll get used to it early!”

Hawk sat back on Alex’s lap with a thoughtful twist of its eyestalks. And I can still show you, right?

“Oh fuck yeah!” said Alex. “I can’t believe you haven’t shown me yet! I love flesh puppets! No matter how your playdate with Ducky goes, you and I are going to the park again tomorrow so you can kill as many squirrels as you want.”

Hawk brightened even to the non–zeranid-telepathic eye. It mentally ran through the list of people who were in on the secret of their identity.

Can I show Barnaby and Ohio?

“Totally,” said Alex. “I want to watch you show Barnaby and Ohio. Please let me be there.”

Okay.

“Okay!” said Alex. He scratched the base of Hawk’s eyestalks again, briskly. “Good talk, champ.” Oh god, that was a pure Mom-ism. “By the way, Rule Three is all bets are off if you or Morgan, or Ducky, is in real danger. Then you should kill whoever and however you want until you’re safe—and full! No skipping meals!”

Hawk both telepathically projected and physically dramatized the rolling of eyes again. Alex and Morgan were raising one sarcastic kid. To be fair, the idea of skipping and not skipping meals did come up a lot in their household.

Speaking of…

“Speaking of, you’d better eat lunch before you go to Ducky’s, or Diego won’t get you guys ice cream at the park.” Alex scooped Hawk up in their arms and headed toward the kitchen. “How’s raw hamburger sound?”

Hawk chittered. With the blood of my enemies!

“Absolutely not,” said Alex. “And don’t try to tell me Morgan lets you drink that stuff—even they wouldn’t give Red Bull to a six-year-old.” Plain coffee, maybe, but not that monstrosity.

Yes they do! Hawk insisted.

“No they don’t.”

Yes they do!

“No they— This is a stupid argument.” They planted Hawk on the kitchen counter and spoke firmly. “You can have chocolate sauce on your hamburger, but no caffeine until you’re older.”

Okay! Hawk wasn’t the least bit dismayed by this result. In fact, it was outright satisfied.

Alex hid their proud grin by turning toward the fridge, wherein lay meat and chocolate sauce both. Their intuitive talent for slaughter and Morgan’s cunning—even if its best friend was a baby hero, their kid was going to fuck up so much shit!

#S&D tier #alex stewart #alex s tier #hawk the zeranid #fanfiction #my fic

[serowebs]

ok listen hear me out i have talked about this a quadrillion times especially amongst my friendgroup and yada yada but like

holy fuck I cannot believe I worked with this clown in [the person ponder is talking about in the following video]

I literally like.. saw a lot of the situations from the video go down real time and I even had beef with this person myself back in the day on DA I cannot bro :sob: I am sorry

I remember making them so much fucking art nd having so many iffy moments with this guy and generally speaking I always nowadays just feel like none of this truly happened but then sometimes it just hits me in the face again that yea no this actually happened and I am just *explodes*

and bro I was literally about to post but like.. while in the background the video plays on my end I have to remember the whole ghostdoggos shenanigans aswell and I remember literally owning one myself AHJDHASJHDJKHFASF

and then after one of the fights I had with the owner I just changed the species casually

and then I just.. let the character die lmao like i always do :skull::skull:

#sero's rambles #Youtube

[the-firebird69]

It's only been 10 minutes since you fell asleep and people are bothering him here and they will not stop it's incessant and I'm sending people to stop them. I got to have peace here these people are nuts I need to go in there and rip them out and he's saying please do you must. And so I'm sending it in you can care less take the whole neighborhood I don't give a s*** so we're going to go in and fix the problem I do understand what you're saying they're not helping me at all, I'm making ridiculous demands stupid skits and talk threats all day long and I don't want him here in the first place or else to God serve no purpose except to increase my course hole levels and almost getting a fight with them every few minutes bring them in and and show no mercy on these people so I actually hear something someone get rid of them and I'm ordering people now give these people the hell out of here he's ordering it and my son says we're receiving it and we're going to go find them and pull them out he's sick of it too he says.

So we have this going on I understand it's a pain here and we're going to make sure that it's better shortly there's too many people bothering him all day long there's too many people stuck to him be a huge pains it's an incredible scene and he says that we should have half the people here if not nobody's doing a job that's worth doing regarding me. It too I said it I want him out of there I don't want him surrounded by all those people who are evil I'm tired of it you're going to make a change this is ridiculous so a lot of people are doing it this is obscene just stupid villages have seen is obscene I'm ordering people to take them out.

Thor Freya

They actually didn't even pull a few out but really this is sickening I'm tired of you people you're bothering the s*** out of me too go somewhere else you know pulling everyone's short hair every few seconds you're freaking nuts he's doing it for a reason and you just started copying them and you're you're insane and you're mentally retarded he's trying to see who people are and now you're telling him who you are it's like what the f*** are you doing trying to torture someone to kill you all the time everyone's killing you you don't have any AI or a bunch of pussies you can't write any AI at all in the beginning and you didn't any fooled you and it's very simple give some of you a program and it works a little it's like a toddler program I mean you have to you have to leave we're doing the best we can to pair them down so we can move them out he realize your bosses but thinks that you're complete absolute fools cuz you are to him you just sit there complaining so what's your f****** jackasses it's not going to help you cuz you're complaining is that the complaints department heap of idiots here just listen to my instincts this is garbage and this is removed it needs to be I'm sending orders now

Mac

What a decent night we had a lot of these idiots kill themselves the front line it's about 30,000 morons out of 300,000 and we need the rest of them to do it it's time for them to go there I have a fighting we are fighting there are thousands of quadrilloons that are trying to get an hour into Charlotte county. Has been five waves since midnight and all of them crushed and the population of Florida is down by a big percent of marlock. There's a lot of people in this time 8 points has loaded up again and they lost about 400,000 quadrillion last time. It's going to be another load of them could hit that's a lot of people though. Sus is there getting riled up here or something, I actually just see what it is they're reduced in population

Well they lost more people in the woods about 30,000 more and already lost 30,000 bring them to $240,000 until it was 20,000 so it's 250,000 and there are several more ways coming from Florida and they're getting erased here fairly soon there won't be anybody in the in the state and he says no big loss this guy is a hefty a****** next door and we agree

In Florida morlok had like 30, 000 and it's not trillion but it's after that in Florida to begin with including clones and they have spent about 20 of that. I'm told that they spent just over 10 approaching 15 though

And they're expecting people here through sickness and having them attack from the rear they also keep questioning Trump did you take the device like a million times have since it's not even said way to keeps that airtight. And they laid into him I said nobody would ever tell you if you told me what you're telling me and then he said there might be a device and he means computer and I tried to tell him where he couldn't it was exhausted and then he woke up and he said why would I tell you where. Then he say this what if it's moved. They all got up and said that's why I'm asking where and the moon's not really that small so looking around for it where he said and there's no inlet and they can see in the scanning I just said this is it really appear to be anything here and while we are here already they looked at one spot actually starts to dig. They have a hole yes like 45 ft deep eyes 50 ft doesn't appear to be anything and there to get my hand. The scanning and digging. And it's as if it was for something sensitive.. they are digging in and checking it out

Thor Freya

Wow

Zues Hera

Olympus

[suicideourstory]

Suicide; Our Story

authored by Joseph M.

Chapter 9: Are We There Yet?

Two masked robbers on all fours had crashed into my bedroom window, holding batons, almost like wolves prowling through the darkness, in the woods and all alone, but because of their stature, I couldn’t make out their blurry faces, despite their awkward, revealing masks. Their pockets were lined with grenades, but I couldn’t make out how many, and I couldn’t react quickly enough, because the loaded shotgun was still pressed to my chin. I got off the bed quickly and panicked and pointed it all around, and though I could see my target, I was still indecisive on if and what to shoot. The two masked intruders promptly removed their wolf masks, and I saw their grizzly, bruised faces, as they got off the ground and surrendered.

Them and I trembled for a good moment, before I asked the unmasked burglars, “What are you doing in my house?” One of them got to their feet and explained everything; they were part of a mob and their name was Beneze and the other one was Fenozio, and when they heard my father died their mafia was in shambles, and they were searching for the money my father had allotted them to put the pieces of their mafia back together.

The other one, Fenozio, said, “Listen, kiddo. Your father’s relationship with you was complicated. Support your local crime gang, and let go of your father’s belongings; money, jewelry, bullion, companies, properties and finances go to us, and you’ve brought closure to yourself.”

“This isn’t his house,” I explained. “This is mine, and I am trying to kill myself. You’re by fifty miles.”

“Damn it,” cursed Beneze. “It was a bad idea coming here; this is the wrong address, and I told you so, and we nearly robbed a depressed kiddo. Call the boss. We’re going back home.” He produced an iPhone 5, persistently buzzing, like an excited bumble bee as it fluttered around the surface of the beehive, preparing itself to bow humbly before the queen bee. Like the humble bee was going to bless the queen with lavish amounts of jewelry and bullion.

I could imagine what he was saying into the phone, like, we couldn’t get the money, or, we won’t be bringing back anything you’ll like, or something I’d imagine a gang guy would say to their boss, but he didn’t say that. Instead, the other intruder, Fenozio, yelled, “Listen boss, we got all the money ever.” I couldn’t believe he would lie, but what could I do? If I did something, I would be found, shot in the chest; a better death than the one I was planning, to be fair.

“Listen, kiddo,” Beneze said, pocketing the iPhone. “The police are on their way, bringing a helluva lot of backup, but hear this before we report back to Mrs. Jones: coming from two adopted gang rats born and raised on the streets, you’re worth it; every hour of every day, you matter more than what your mom or pop thinks, or what your local school bully says about you for that matter, bud. That’s because you matter, kid. We wouldn’t be here if you didn’t matter… well, you matter for the cash at least, ha.”

Fenozio said to him, “Whadda ya know, kid? Gang duty calls, because the cops are outside. We’re gonna die or end up in solitary confinement if we don’t make it to the getaway car in time.” The burglars bucketed down the porch; the incoherent mess of loud, airy police car sirens, electronic devices trembling nervously, glass windows splintering into quadrillions of multiplying fractals, and receding and impending, scurrying, police officer trampling the lawn, armed; the orchestra of disarray sung a frightening melody, overloading my senses, and I teared up.

When the last flashing, sparkling embers of strawberry and blueberry fizzled away with the receding chatter of sirens and glitchy radio murmurs, I buckled onto the sofa cushion, dabbing away tears from my eyelids with a moist tissue, questioning myself on what I ever saw in my boyfriend that made me think he was worth it, reminiscing on old memories, seeing the red flags and doubting myself, and blaming myself for the murder of the guy skinned and tossed into the dumpster bin, or of the principal, diced to meat cubes and stuffed into a raggedy sack, left on the alleyway for the dogs to feast on his insides, or the other murders reported on the new. My boyfriend stood on the patio door in the backyard, repeatedly knocking. The nearby resting crow fluttered away.

Pounding on the glass, muttered Jasper, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“He’s not sorry,” I reminded myself, sniffling. “He’s a criminal. Better call the cops on him now than suffer the consequences.”

“I’m not a criminal,” Jasper mumbled, crumpling to his knees before the backyard door. “Please don’t turn me over to the cops. I still love you.”

“I love you too,” I said, quietly scratching my nose. “and I want you to be the best person you can be. That’s why I’m turning you over to the police.”

“Please don’t call the police,” said Jasper. “What if my parents find out? They will be heartbroken; do you want to upset them?”

“I don’t want to break their hearts,” I said. “but you will only break their hearts even more if I don't bring you in.” Jasper begged as I reached for the landline phone, because my iPhone was dead. He pounded on the door, but I couldn’t put down the phone. Because I was already saying to the operator, “I found the criminal; he’s in my backyard.”

“Justin is a snitch,” blamed Jasper. “Justin, my boyfriend, is a good-for-nothing snitch, and when given the chance, my terrible boyfriend, an all around good-for-nothing guy, will maroon me in prison for murder. When he makes mistakes, he gaslights his friends, his family; even random strangers become the enemy in his victim mentality. My boyfriend only loves himself; to him, everybody else isn’t a good guy in this part of the narrative that he, a control freak, crafts in his head, because he wants to control the story.”

Spluttering, I murmured, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

“You want to control the story; you have to be the victim, and life revolves around you,” Jasper said. “When it doesn’t, you throw tantrums, and threaten to kill yourself, because you know deep inside that you are a mistake, a glitch in the matrix, a toxic disease to those around you. Everybody avoids you, and those who try to live with you can’t. That’s why you’re like a toxic disease: because everybody around you dies.”

As the police cars pulled into my yard, I kept whispering, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

TO BE CONTINUED

[thisismytrashok]

I'm batmobile2022sexual

#i listen to this quadrillion times a day #batmobile #the batman #batman #robert pattinson #zoe kravitz #paul dano #colin farell #dc #car #engine #meme

[imetyouonljpodcast]

I MET YOU ON LJ: A Fandom & Nonsense Podcast

Episode #002: Origin Stories

It’s a ten-year retrospective! Follow Maggie and V’s introductions to fandom, from their childhoods through 2008 or so, and you’ll see why it’s a miracle that they’re friends at all. After falling hard for River Phoenix, Maggie does a deep-dive on guitarist John Frusciante and the Red Hot Chili Peppers; V takes us on a rollercoaster journey with the members of bubblegum boy band Dream Street.

This Episode Covers…

harry potter • american girl • smallville • river phoenix • stand by me (1986) • dream street • chris trousdale • greg raposo • jesse mccartney • frankie j. galasso • matt ballinger • red hot chili peppers • john frusciante • flea • anthony kiedis • fandom •  fanfiction • rpf • josh klinghoffer • bob forrest • the bicycle thief • warpaint • katie cassidy • real-person fiction • bandslash • boy bands • bubblegum pop • alt rock • the 1990s • the 2000s • blood sugar sex magik • emily kokal

LISTEN ON… Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, LibSyn, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or your favorite RSS podcatcher!

Show Notes & Resources behind the cut.

River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton in Stand By Me (1986) 

John Frusciante and Anthony Kiedis (in the hat) in 1991 

John Frusciante looking like very much like Jesus, photographed by Nabil Elderkin in 2009

John Frusciante performs “The Will To Death” at the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival in 2005. 

If you liked this, I highly recommend listening to the full performance. It’s a great primer for his back catalogue before electronic music fully took over.

Dream Street - “It Happens Every Time”

This is the TV cut of the “It Happens Every Time” video. For the full director’s cut, click here.

Dream Street’s Valentine’s Day mega-feature in Popstar! Magazine, Feb/March 2002

V has four copies of this magazine: one to put the A4s in her locker at school, one to put the pull-out posters up in her bedroom, one to read, and one that’s still in mint condition.

Our very own V with Greg Raposo in 2008

V: “This was after one of the approximately seven quadrillion shows I went to between 2008-2009. Greg said “we’ve taken too many smiling photos, let’s make serious faces for this one,” and this is how it turned out. The matching shirts were an accident. This was one of my favorite shows of all time even though the audience was tiny and it was in a bar that really didn’t have a good area for an audience – it was so energetic and so much fun anyway!”

Greg Raposo/RAPOSO - “Nothing” (Ready To Go, 2008)

V: “The photoshoot for this era of Greg’s band (called RAPOSO, and then STEREOPATH, and then Greg Raposo Band, and then RAPOSO again) was done by one of my best friends out in New York in 2008, while the band and us groupie squad were at a show for the Fresher’s Week at the university of one of our other best friends/gals in the groupie squad. The four of us really poured our entire hearts, souls, and every ounce of energy into Greg and his band for those two years! I designed the group’s 2008-2009 logo and MySpace page, for which this photoshoot served as the header. This song was never considered one of the band’s leads or singles, but it’s among my very favorites.”

#episode #dream street #boy bands #chris trousdale #jesse mccartney #greg raposo #matt ballinger #frankie j. galasso #red hot chili peppers #john frusciante #flea #anthony kiedis #river phoenix #harry potter #american girl #warpaint #fanfiction #smallville #bob forrest #the bicycle thief #02. origin stories

[babydotcom]

hiii tay!!

how are you??? hope your taking care of yourself and enjoying the rest of your summer!! i hope you drink lots of water, have plenty of showers and brush your teeth.

hope that the rest of your summer is as painless and as relaxing as possible!!

i recently bought the giant shark plush from ikea and ive named him sage.

i was wondering what shows/animes your watching???? summers kinda dragging for me and i wanna take the time to catch up/get into new shows before i go back into further education. 🥰🥰😘😘😍😍😍💞💞💞💓💓💓💋💋

jingyi!!!! i am mentally cutting a love heart out of red construction paper for u 🥰😚

i am well! i'm pain free most of the time and am adjusting to adhd treatment! it's interesting because i've been up for thirty hours which under normal circumstances would be Very Bad but it's common and i've a medcheck in a few days to see how things are goin (so don't worry about lil ol me hehe).

rn i'm cleaning my room and listening to music and having a funky good time! haven't genuinely enjoyed cleaning in a while so i'm kind of super ecstatic abt that AND i'm listening to new songs!!!! (currently listening to be steadwell's entire discography- would 100% recommend she's got a really cool beatbox-percussive r&b style that tickles me and it's all queer!)

as far as stuff to watch.... i haven't really been Watching anything consistently lately but my friend recommended a swedish (?) romdrama called Young Royals, i'm slowly getting through The Mysterious Benedict Society on Disney+ which is just a wonderful show and a great adaptation! the obligatory The Good Place and New Girl rec, and The End Of The Fucking World is good but mind tws. For anime specifically...i'm considering an OHSHC rewatch and Children of the Sea has been on my watchlist for eons. Sorry I don't have more!

i've got films too! Derek DelGaudio's In & Of Itself (hulu) was really great, and The Mitchells vs The Machines is a must watch! I also am always going for comedy specials and Dirty Dancing and Legally Blonde!

anywho this is a long ass answer! give sage a quadrillion hugs and kisses for me! <3

#one thing about me is no media exists outside of my hyperfixations #so sorry if those were basic/silly but i did like them! #i hope you have a good rest of your summer too you deserve it!!! <3 #jingyi tings #moots <3 #asks

[iraqdinar]

Wikileaks Email Shows Man Emailing Intelligence Contractor to Ask About Iraqi Dinar, Vietnamese Dong Revaluations (RVs)

What documents has Wikileaks published relating to the rumored IQD/VND RVs? (Part 1)

By: Peter Egan Jr.

A 2010 email published to Wikileaks’ “Global Intelligence Files” shows what appears to be a random man emailing an employee of a Texas-based intelligence contractor to inquire about what his firm knew or didn’t know regarding the long-rumored revaluation (”RV”), essentially a massive and instantaneous change to the foreign exchange rate of a national currency. Technically, a country can revalue its currency to either increase or decrease the value of the currency, however in this context, with these two particular countries it’s typically discussed in the context of an upward trajectory being the bullish position among speculators. This is the case even as Iraq just this past couple week devalued the Dinar relative to the US dollar.

The dinar trade on third-party sites like eBay, where users buy and sell Iraqi Dinar at generally inflated prices, is alive and as healthy as ever. At one point in July and August sellers were fetching nearly 300% of the actual exchange rate, and are still selling for much more than IQD has traditionally traded for on secondary markets, although the price has subsided a bit, largely due to a giant increase in supply after word made its way around the Dinar forums and YouTube shows about how much IQD was selling for, while demand has dipped with many investors and speculators possessing a common misconception that the 2020 Presidential election was won by the candidate who actually lost (badly). Dinar speculators have a very large faction who believe that the Iraq currency’s relative worth is to be decided in large part whether the incumbent US President remains in office. Even still, comparing the exchange rate Xe lists against the market rate as determined by the amount IQD is actually trading for againt various other currencies leaves a surprisingly wide gap that begs the question of why the market is willing to pay so much more than it (the market) is being told the high-risk, speculative investment is worth.

If we take the email Mike Whims of the now-defunct Rare Buyer LLC sent to Solomon Foshko of Stratfor, which Wikileaks described as a “global intelligence firm” headquartered in Texas, it likely has something to do with a long-rumored revaluation of one or both of Iraq and Vietnam’s currencies.

Whims in a 2010 email to “[email protected]” that ultimately made its way to Foshko, who appears to have no prior connection to Whims and whose position reads “Global Intelligence,” wrote the following: 

Email subject: “STRATFOR Group Sales - Inquiry”

Email Body:

“Interested in foreign currency revaluations. My current interest lies with Iraq and Vietnam. Do you have any analysis that might help determine when a currency revaluation may occur such as what happened with the Kuwaiti dinar?”

The message made its way to Mr. Foshko, who replied with the following:

Mr. Whims, I have forwarded your question to our analysts. They may contact you. I did a search of current analysis available on our site, but did not find anything related to the Kuwaiti dinar. Regards, Solomon Foshko Global Intelligence STRATFOR T: 512.744.4089 F: 512.473.2260 [email protected]

I reached out to both parties via email (this is New Year’s Day so I am reluctant to call until Monday) to request comment and additional information and clarification. Neither has replied as of this story being published. That said, I don’t expect either to reply on New Years Day, and will update this story with any replies should either or both respond to my inquiry.

Stratfor knew (or thought they knew) something regarding an IQD RV by 2011

Another Stratfor email exchange published to Wikileaks references a plan by the Iraqi government to remove three zeros from the currency, a plan which ultimately failed and for which the then-Iraqi government suffered heavy criticism.

Kamran Bokhari writes in an email to Stratfor analysts:

There is a plan to drop the three zeros off the current Iraqi Dinar as part of an effort to raise its value. So if someone has the old currency (the one printed after the fall of the Baathist regime in 2003) and turns it in will he/she get the same amount of dinars or will they get less as per the difference in value?

Bokhari was speaking of the plan by the Iraqi government as described by Albawaba as: “a plan to remove three zeros from the dinar, replacing current banknotes with new ones.“

The article touches upon the inherent difficulties and challenges faced by a nation the size of Iraq in a project of such a massive undertaking as a total currency revaluation.

According to Mazhar Mohammad Saleh, an expert in the Iraqi Central Bank, in a speech with the ALHAYAT of London, “our problem lies in the timing of the currency exchange, as we need to select a suitable time for implementing the project without obstacles.”

The Central Bank planned to remove three zeros from the Iraqi dinar, after suffering from inflation and the decline of the currency during the nineties, due to economic sanctions.

The following quote from the story is also noteworthy:

The most important change after deleting the zeros, is to reduce the number of banknotes in circulation, simplifying the payment system in Iraq.

In the second paragraph quoted, the article claims (accurately, IMHO) that the decline of the Iraqi Dinar is directly tied to economic sanctions stemming from Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Then in the final paragraph quoted, the article states that the most important step once “deleting the zeros” is to reduce the number of banknotes in circulation.

That last part is significant. If the United States Treasury does in fact hold untold trillions or even quadrillions of Iraqi Dinars from the initial postwar “currency swap,” and/or all of the USD auctions and USD cash pallets delivered to the Central Bank of Iraq, a number known to be at least $40 billion USD as of 2008, and that number has only increased in the 13 years since, although the US government has not revealed by how much or even how much IQD it holds period; then untold trillions could be removed from circulation just by the US exchanging their Dinars back for US Dollars and/or digital currency assets following a revaluation. Iraq could repossess those Dinars and have a giant bonfire with them, at least in theory. Then there are all of the American, Canadian, British and Australian currency speculators who hold IQD in their portfolios who would be looking to swap their suddenly valuable IQD for a currency they can use to buy and sell. While that number surely pales in comparison to the US Government’s holdings, it’s still likely nothing to scoff at, particularly in 2020 with Americans having nearly two decades of hearing about how the Iraqi Dinar would experience a rate change that would lead to windfall profits for American currency speculators. The Dinar is trading at 2.5 times its value (as defined by exchange rate) in US-based secondary marketplaces. One such marketplace where American consumers buy Iraqi Dinars is eBay. Compare those prices to the prices listed at Xe when you look up the formal exchange rate.

It’s been three decades since the economic sanctions that crippled the IQD were enacted and there seems to be a growing global consensus that it’s time to revisit the sanctions and review whether or nor they’re still appropriate and still serve a purpose that isn’t entirely punitively enacted against people, many of whom weren’t even alive when the events that provoked the enacting of the sanctions occurred.

To recap, we know that in 2011, Iraq did plan to at a bare minimum redenominate its currency. Some would argue that the 2011 plan constitutes a revaluation. Semantics aside, if the sanctions are what crashed the currency and have hindered it for three decades, if those sanctions are lifted simultaneously with a major rate change accompanied by Iraq repossessing hundreds of trillions of Dinars from citizens and countries across the globe and presumably removing them from circulation, there’s definitely an argument to be made that the concept of the “Iraq Dinar revaluation” is anything but a scam, and may not only be very real, but also very plausible despite the fact that elements within the media will tell anyone who will listen that Iraq’s situation with its currency bears no resemblance to the 1990-1991 Kuwaiti currency situation and that the same outcome is not possible in Iraq.

If it does finally happen in 2021, and there’s a lot of smoke that would seem to suggest that 2021 might be the year of the Dinar, the “Dinar Scam,” as it’s come to be known, will be remembered as all the people, publications and networks who for the better part of a decade have tried their best to convince anyone who will read or listen that investing in the Iraq Dinar is something only stupid people do, and that smart intellectuals like those in the media like to ridicule such simpletons while at their cocktail parties in their ivory towers.

It would be an end to the saga all too fitting considering that the same people calling the Dinar RV a scam are the world’s premiere pathological liars and have a proven track record of being among the most intellectually dishonest people in all of humanity.

#iraqi dinar #iraq dinar #iraqidinar #iraqdinar #iqd #iqd rv #dinar #dinars #dinar rv #iraq currency #currency #currency revaluation #global currency reset #GCR #vietnamese dong #vietnam dong #vietnamese currency #vietnam currency

[lazaefair]

Cleanin’ out the ol’ WIPs folder

Another Baze x Chirrut scrap for @benevolentbridgetroll:

Four hundred billion stars, one billion colonized star systems, one hundred quadrillion sentient beings, and Baze Malbus is still the only thing on this plane of reality (and the next) who can hold Chirrut Îmwe down.

He performs this miracle with little more than a few kisses on the neck - soft at first, then more firmly. By the time he gets around to biting down, Chirrut is fully lost and gasping, entire body strung tight and shaking. But that’s getting ahead of the narrative. “Who the kriff are you?” The snarl places the speaker a little to the right, closer to the ground, bent over a sack stuffed full of kyber crystals. The crystals blaze in Chirrut’s mind, tiny localized novae, drawing him to them as strongly as they did thirty-five years ago when he took his first stumbling steps into the Temple caves. 

He grins. “I am one with the Force.”

“Hey, he’s blind,” a different thief observes, ignoring him. Ten blasters are drawn and armed, a small cascading symphony of clicks and electronic whines. “Not gonna be much of a problem for us, are ya?”

“The Force is with me,” Chirrut tells them, but they’re not listening. Beings of their type, on their mission, usually don’t.

The first blaster shot splatters against the back wall. If Chirrut had been standing where he was when the shooter squeezed the trigger, it most assuredly would have splattered his brains on that wall. Fortunately, he isn’t.

*

“Ten against one,” Baze says as he follows Chirrut into their tiny apartment. His tone is light and conversational, and the hint of an ominous undercurrent is still only a hint, so Chirrut feels justified in shedding his robes and heading straight to the ‘fresher. This isn’t a serious conversation, after all. A serious conversation would merit going to the kitchen and making tea instead. 

“I saw a single being go against ten once,” Baze continues in the living area, over the noise of buckles unsnapping and cloth sliding down muscled arms - how Chirrut appreciates those arms, and may yet appreciate them again tonight - and the thunk of a heavy repeater cannon and its power cell being set next to their sleeping pallet.

(None of them sleep far from a weapon these days.)

“Master Lalla? Of course. I was there too.”

#spiritassassin #baze x chirrut #chirrut x baze #rogue one #by lazaefair #I am so good at intros #the absolute worst at middles and endings #star wars fanfiction

[enragedbees]

Does He Make You Happy?

Updates Saturdays 6pm EST!

Pairing: Logicality, side Prinxiety

Summary: Logan remembers a date he had with Patton. Patton tells James he reunited with Logan. Logan meets James at a party. Patton remembers one of his earliest dates with James.

Warnings: mild swearing, mild anxiety (If I missed anything, please let me know!)

Words: 2963

Song rec: Saturn by Sleeping at Last

A huge thanks to the exquisite @xionbean for being my beta reader!!

Taglist: @xxpeach-bobaxx @starwarsdestroyedme @faded-paper-colours @nafsbluebery @cass-isdumb  @fall-sunflowers @darkstrange-son

I love reading your guys’ comments! Please let me know what you think! :)

First Previous Next

——————————————-

Chapter 3: The Courage of Stars

        The date was Patton’s idea.

        The weather was perfect, clear skies and chilly temperatures. Neither of them had anything to do the next morning, so they could stay out as late as they wanted.

        They took a picnic basket, a blanket, a handheld telescope, and a bottle of wine and drove out to the natural hills of the region, to escape as much light pollution as possible. They ate dinner at sunset. Then, when the stars came up, Logan searched the sky for what they were looking for.

        Apparently, that night was supposed to have the best conditions for seeing Saturn in months, and the last time it would be that good for years.

        Logan always thought his fascination for astronomy was the nerdiest thing about him, so he generally avoided letting people know how much he enjoyed it. But, having spent so much time with Patton over the past few months, it soon became evident.

        Patton didn’t seem to think Logan was nerdy. He didn’t particularly share or understand all of Logan’s interests, but he let Logan rant about things he was passionate about, or did little things to make sure Logan knew he wasn’t weird.

        Things like planning a stargazing date so Logan could see Saturn before it disappeared.

        The sun sank behind the horizon. The sky faded from a gradient rainbow, enveloping the world in a blue sheet. Logan’s heart sped with excitement as the night got darker, and he couldn’t seem to stop himself from talking. Patton stared at him, mesmerized, as Logan went on and on about the rarity and beauty of the universe and life.

        “…so not only is the chance of the universe existing infinitesimal, the fact that we are here to see it is absolutely unbelievable,” he said excitedly. “The odds of your parents meeting, staying together, and having a child with your precise genetic sequence is one in four hundred quadrillion. The chances of all of your ancestors going through that pattern, just for you to be here, is one times ten to the two million, six hundred forty thousandth power. That’s a one with over two and a half million zeroes behind it!”

        Logan, eyes wide and smile bright, looked at Patton, who was still staring at him amusedly. “The chances of us existing are so tiny, and yet, we’re still here. And we’re able to see this.” He gestured up into the sky, where the stars had begun to rise.

        Patton linked his arm around Logan’s and grabbed his hand. “So we don’t just get to exist, but we get to exist together. And at the same time.”

        Logan grinned. Of course Patton would find a way to make science romantic.

        Patton looked up. “What else can you tell me?”

        “Hm?”

        Patton giggled. “I want to hear more. What else can you tell me, about space, or astronomy, or…existence?”

        Logan cocked his head, smiling. “You want to hear more?”

        “Well, yeah. I don’t really understand much of it, but I really like seeing how excited you are when you talk about stuff like this.”

        Logan looked into the sky, which was finally starting to be blanketed in stars. After a moment, he pointed up. “That constellation is called Draco, it’s one of my favorites. According to legend, it’s representative of the dragon Ladon, which guarded the golden apples in the gardens of the Hesperides.”

        Logan continued to point out constellations, leaning back against the ground. Patton laid down under Logan’s arm, resting his head on Logan’s chest.

        “So, where’s Saturn?” asked Patton after a couple minutes.

        “It’s supposed to look like a bright golden star. If I’m correct, it should be about…”

        Logan searched the sky. After a moment, he pointed straight up.

        “There.”

        Patton looked up, astonishment written across his face. Then, he squinted.

        “Where is it?”

        Logan chuckled and sat up. He handed the telescope to Patton. “Look right up there,” he pointed, “And you should be able to see the rings.”

        Patton put the telescope to his eye and looked again. After a moment, he gasped lightly.

        “Wow.”

        “I know.” Logan laid back down, and after looking at the planet a moment, Patton put the telescope down and went back under Logan’s arm. Logan pressed his lips to the side of Patton’s head.

        Logan whispered stories and facts about stars and planets, until Patton finally fell asleep, curled up on Logan’s chest. Logan couldn’t sleep. He watched the stars overhead, listening to Patton’s breathing and stroking his hair, struggling to breathe in the best way possible.

~

        “I’m home!” Patton unlocked the door to his apartment and walked into the kitchen. From around the corner, James walked into the room.

        “Hey.” James smiled warmly and leaned up to kiss Patton hello. Patton leaned his forehead against James’, and a few moments passed in silence before they broke apart.

        “So, you’ll never guess who I ran into today,” Patton said as he opened up the refrigerator and grabbed a soda water.

        James sat down at the couch and shuffled some papers. “Was it that guy from the supermarket?”

        “No, but I almost wish it was.” Patton cracked open the top of his can. “No, it was Logan, actually.”

        James’ head snapped up. “You mean Logan Schlenke?”

        “Yep.” Patton sipped his drink.

        “The Logan Schlenke you dated for four years and took you months to get over? The one you had just broken up with when we first met, who you told me you hadn’t been able to stop thinking about for weeks after we started dating?”

        “That’s the one.”

        James nodded slowly. “…That’s cool.”

Patton cocked his head to the side, smiling a little. “James, are you…jealous of him?”

        “I’d say I feel a little more threatened than jealous,” James said, cringing. He turned completely towards Patton.

        Patton shook his head, laughing a little. He walked over and sat down right next to James, touching his shoulder lightly.

        “James, we haven’t been together in years. He left. And you were here for me, and you always have been.” Patton trailed his fingers over James’ arm as he talked. James looked at him intensely, a tiny smile forming. “You don’t have to feel threatened. After so long, it was just…nice to see him.”

        James held onto Patton’s hand, playing with his fingers and smirking. “I just know how much he meant to you. And I hate how much he hurt you.”

        “He used to mean everything to me. He doesn’t mean anything to me now,” said Patton. “And besides, if he hadn’t left, I never would have met you. You have nothing to worry about.”

        James touched his lips to Patton’s knuckles. Patton remembered that he hadn’t asked James before asking Logan to come to their wedding. He never even considered the idea that James would have had some reservations.

        “James…would you mind if I invited Logan to our wedding?”

        James furrowed his brow. “You want him to come to the wedding?”

        “Well, yeah. I’d hoped that we could be friends if we ever reconnected, and I thought the wedding might be a good way to start that off without any awkwardness,” said Patton.

        James sighed. “Would it mean that much to you?”

        Patton nodded.

        James nodded back. “Then absolutely. I want you to be happy.”

        Patton smiled. He decided James wasn’t hurt by not knowing that Logan had already been invited, so Patton figured it wasn’t something he needed to know.

        James glanced at his watch. “Damn, I have to go.” He filed some papers into a bag and stood up.

        Patton grabbed his hand and gently pulled James towards him, pressing their lips together. Patton breathed in and let himself be absorbed into the kiss. He laid his other hand on the side of James’ neck and curled his fingers into James’ hair. After a long moment, they broke apart.

        “I love you,” whispered Patton.

        “I love you.”

        James smiled, picked up his bag, and left. Patton stretched out on the couch and closed his eyes, grinning.

~

        Logan sat in his car, trying to calm himself down. He idled in the parking lot of Virgil and Roman’s apartment building, deciding if he should go in or if he should just drive away, text an apology to Patton and Virgil and go home.

        A few days after he had seen Patton, he got a text from Virgil, saying Patton had given him Logan’s number. Logan was grateful to be able to catch up with Virgil after losing touch over the years he’d been gone. But Patton thought a good time for Logan to meet James would be at the party Roman and Virgil were hosting that night.

        “It’s just a casual get-together, mostly in place of a wedding shower or something,” Virgil explained.

        Logan was absolutely dreading it. Of course, he was excited to see his friends again. He was somewhat glad to get to meet James. But he knew it would be unbearably awkward.

        After about ten minutes, Logan knew he had to go in. If Patton wanted him there, he had to be there.

        He walked into the building and found the apartment number Virgil had texted him. Logan sat in hesitation for a moment, before finally knocking on the door.

        It swung open almost immediately. Virgil stood in the doorway with a big smile, and Logan felt almost better just seeing him.

        “Hey!” Virgil stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Logan. Logan grinned, returning the hug with equal excitement.

        “It’s so great to see you!” Virgil said as they broke apart. “I’m so glad you could come.”

        “Me too,” Logan lied as Virgil led him into the apartment. There were a few other people around, some of whom Logan recognized as old friends of Patton’s. From across the room he saw Roman talking to someone. For a split second, Logan was scared Roman was still mad at him, but Roman broke into a big smile when their eyes met, and he made his way over to Logan.

        “Hey, man!” Roman hugged Logan, clapping him on the back. “It’s great to see you again.”

        “You too,” Logan smiled, genuinely happy to see Roman. “How have you guys been?”

        “Pretty great, actually.” Virgil smiled as Roman reached down and laced their fingers together. “How about you?”

        Logan opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by someone else knocking on the door.

        “We’ll talk later,” Roman smiled apologetically as he went to answer the door.

        Virgil put a hand on his arm. “We’re waiting on a few people, Patton and James should be here any minute. There’s food and drinks over there, let me know if you need anything.”

        Logan smiled at him as Virgil left to help Roman host. He looked around the room, nausea rising in his stomach. A girl he had met through Patton once smiled politely at him from across the room. Another guest he didn’t recognize looked away and started up a conversation with someone else when Logan saw them staring at him. Logan went over to the corner and pulled out his phone, continuously refreshing his Instagram feed.

        A total of about a dozen guests showed up. Virgil and Roman split up and started making rounds. Finally, Patton opened up the door to the apartment, pulling James in behind him.

        “Hey, sorry we’re late!” he said, giving Roman a hug. “Traffic was awful.”

        James smirked and greeted a couple people near him. He spotted a table with some envelopes and small packages on them. “Wait, what’s this?” he asked, smiling.

        “Guys, we said no gifts!” Patton laughed.

        Logan couldn’t take his eyes off of them. Patton and James had such an easy dynamic between them, and it was clear everyone else knew that already. Logan couldn’t stop thinking about when he was the one whose hand Patton held, who everyone knew fit so easily with Patton.

        He tried not to focus on those thoughts. No good would come from dwelling on the past. Patton was engaged, Logan could get over it.

        Patton’s eyes swept the room, and when he landed on Logan, he smiled excitedly. Logan smiled politely back. Patton leaned over and said something to James, and James looked up, settling on Logan. He started making his way towards him as Patton started talking to someone else, glancing over to keep an eye on Logan.

        Logan’s heart rate increased. He was hoping for some kind of distraction, but he knew eventually, he’d have to face James.

        “Hi, you must be Logan,” he said, sticking his hand out. “I’m James. It’s nice to finally meet you.

        “Likewise.” Logan forced a smile, shaking James’ hand. He had to admire James’ commitment. There was no way it was easy or comfortable to have Logan there.

        Patton continued to eye them from across the room. James made polite conversation, and even from how little they talked, Logan could tell how much he cared about Patton. When James left to greet some other guests, Logan was glad to admit he liked him. It would have been really hard to be happy for Patton if he didn’t like his fiancé.

        But throughout the night, Logan could feel eyes on him. Everyone on Patton’s side knew who he was and was wondering why he was there. Anyone on James’ side who didn’t know who he was found out as the night went on. Patton, Virgil, and Roman came up to him as much as they could, but they had to interact with everyone. It didn’t help that Logan was the only one who hadn’t thought to bring a gift, although he tried to tell himself that it was unlikely anyone noticed.

        The night went on, and people started leaving. As Logan was looking for Roman or Virgil to thank them so he could go home as well, he bumped into James again.

        “Oh, hey, I was looking for you,” he said.

        Logan raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

        “Yeah.” James smiled. “I wanted to thank you for coming. I know this probably wasn’t a whole lot of fun, but Patton was really happy you came.”

        Logan sighed. “Good.” A beat passed. “I’m sorry, though, for whatever discomfort I might have put into the evening.”

        James waved it off. “You’re fine. I don’t think it was as bad as you might have thought.”

        Logan smiled. “Thanks.”

        James smiled again and walked away. Logan said goodbye to Roman and Virgil, and they made him promise to connect with them again soon, before the wedding. Logan laughingly agreed.

        Logan drove home in silence, the half-processed thoughts rolling around in his head too deafening to address.

~

        Patton laid on a blanket on the roof of James’ apartment, breath fogging in the crisp air as he looked up at the stars. Next to him, James was playing music out of his phone. He kept making up ridiculous constellations, pointing up to draw them out and explaining their equally ridiculous origins to make Patton laugh.

        Patton stared into the sky as James grew quiet.  He was content, they had had a nice night. A nice date. They mixed easily, and after only a few months, Patton was comfortable around him. But his chest felt tight, and he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, think about why. He blamed it on the cold.

        James took a deep breath. “I just can’t get over how pretty the sky’s been recently. It’s so great to be able to come up here and watch the stars.” He turned to Patton. “I’m glad I got to show you.”

        Patton didn’t respond. He kept staring into the sky, searching for a constellation he recognized. “You know, it’s actually really cool that we exist. There’s such a tiny chance that we do.”

        James smiled. “Just how tiny?”

        “There was a one in four hundred quadrillion chance that your parents would have gotten together and had you for a child,” Patton said, smiling, even though the squeezing in his chest was getting tighter. “The chances of that happening with every one of your ancestors ends up being one to a number with more than two and a half million zeroes.”

        “How do you know that?” James chuckled.

        Patton sighed. “Logan told me that.”

        And that was it. The contentedness Patton was holding onto by ignoring the obvious slipped away. The squeezing finally ceased and was replaced with a cold, lonely, emptiness. Patton sat up and squeezed his eyes shut.

        The smile slid off James’ face. He sat up as well, and put a hand on Patton’s shoulder.

        “I’m sorry,” Patton mumbled. “I really, really want to make this work. It’s just…hard. Getting over him.”

        “I get it.” James rubbed Patton’s shoulder gently. “You don’t have to be okay yet. He was a huge part of your life for so long. Nobody’s going to expect you to get over him so soon.”

        Patton turned towards James as he kept talking. “Listen, I really like you. I want this to work, too. Nothing has to happen until you’re ready. I’ll be here for you when you need me. And I’ll wait for you.”

        Patton almost cried as a surge of gratitude flooded through him. He nodded, worried he would break if he spoke.

        James smiled. Patton laid back down on the blanket, and took a deep breath. James laid down beside him. After a moment, Patton reached over and took hold of James’ hand. He laced their fingers together, and James squeezed his hand.

        Patton let the wave of sadness wash over him for a few minutes, James’ hand keeping him grounded. When the torrent was over, Patton still felt the warmth in James’ grasp, and he found the sadness washing away to reveal contentment once again.

#ts #thomas sanders #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #logan #logan sanders #patton #patton sanders #logicality #logicality fic #roman #roman sanders #virgil #virgil sanders #prinxiety #prinxiety fic #my writing #dhmyh #does he make you happy

[gffa]

(1/2) Hey GFFA question for you... I haven't read "Master and Apprentice" yet, but I've been following your metas avidly. I agree that Qui-Gon's half-baked desire to just start running around unilaterally fixing every injustice in the galaxy by force is CLEARLY not the way to go. Obviously there was lots of interesting discussion in "Queen's Shadow" as well about the ethics of working within a flawed system and accomplishing less vs. the dangers of going rogue as Padme grappled with her choices.

(2/2) In one of your metas you said something interesting about how the New Republic’s failure to thrive and fix the galaxy’s pervasive problems also showed the pitfalls of radically trashing the old system instead of affecting change from within. My question is: DO you think the Republic could have been saved/successfully reformed through internal activism (given the sheer scale of corruption, greed, and impotence near the end of the Clone Wars) and if so, HOW?

I HAVE BEEN TURNING THIS OVER AND OVER IN MY HEAD because it’s a really fascinating question to ask and, at the end of the day, I’m not sure there’s really an answer, partly because it’s complicated and we’re missing so many huge pieces of Star Wars and also, if there were easy answers, god knows we’d be doing them IRL already.I’ve been turning over the question, “How do you effect and keep actual social change?” and I keep coming back to one thing at the heart of it–you have to have a general public that has a majority of people onboard with it.  Without that, if the majority of the public doesn’t care or disagrees with a social change, eventually it’s going to fall through and revert back to the way it was before.  You can leeroy jenkins it all you want, but if there’s no system in place to support those changes, if there’s no public widespread demand for it, it’s going to revert within years, if not months.That’s the big problem with the Republic, that the general public was apathetic about holding senators to responsible law-making and law-enforcement.  There were pockets of people who were protesting things like the clones being a slave army (as the Propaganda book showed us) but they were not the majority, the majority of people seemed apathetic on it, so long as they didn’t have to fight.  I mean, even with Padme’s big speech to the Senate, slavery wasn’t a part of the conversation (despite that it was the perfect place to bring it up and she says nothing about this, show how little a part of the conversation this was), but instead about how “buying people is making us poor”.As important as Palpatine was to this whole process, he didn’t invent the corruption that was in the system.  I do tend to believe that the Republic could have been saved if he hadn’t been there, that the war polarized everything and took the good-hearted politician’s jobs from difficult to basically impossible, that the sheer scale of the war kept everyone from having the time or resources to do more than put out immediate tire fires and never getting time to address deeper roots of problems.  But, had the general public reached a consensus on an issue and been willing to hold the government to it, not even Palpatine’s manipulation of the system could have held up against the uniting of quadrillions of beings.This isn’t to say that individual action had no place, because people like Bail and Mon and Padme and the Jedi are working with the system, bettering it or helping people when they can, which is important to do.  Queen’s Shadow was fascinating because it did bring up the idea of going rogue politically (which was a much gentler version of what Qui-Gon seems to be suggesting), that she did basically do exactly that during TPM, she went around the Senate after they didn’t immediately act, and Padme pays for it for years, which stymies her ability to actually get anything done or help anyone, because she’s put on the outs for it.  It sets her back and she has to work really hard to gain trusted allies--and this is her full time job, to work on this kind of influence and policy-making.  And it’s difficult, but she does make some progress, she does make the galaxy a little better, through using the system so that their can actually stand.Without Palpatine’s influence, I think more instances of this could have helped steer the Republic back from the brink.  It would be harder towards the end of the war, once everything was so fucked up, but the whole point of the war was that everyone was pouring their energy in the wrong directions and becoming increasingly unwilling to listen to anyone else, so the Separatists just kept digging in their heels as much as the Republic did.  And that wouldn’t be easy to change.  For example, you know it was his influence that had the Senate voting for making negotiations with the Separatists illegal, which meant that both sides got further entrenched in their arguments.  You take Palpatine out of the equation and it doesn’t magically get fixed, but Padme and Bail and Mon’s efforts suddenly have a chance of reopening negotations, which has a chance of settling things with the Separatists.It does make things further complicated by some of the things happening in the war, though, like, a lot of people joined the Separatists because of disenfranchisement with the Republic, but they’re also part of a group that’s literally enslaving entire planets and murdering rulers.  They try to murder King Katuunko, they try to enslave Mon Cala, they funnel support to the Zygerrians who start up their slavery again, etc.  The Separatists don’t want to just be left alone, they planned to have war from the beginning, that’s how they were found out on Geonosis in the first place.Basically, once the war started, it got a hell of a lot harder to clean this mess up because the corruption got so much worse.  But I do think it was possible to have reformed the Republic through internal activism and working within the system, had Palpatine not been there.  We see glimpses of how people start to make a real difference through it (like Padme in QS, as a most recent example, or how the Jedi help free the people that the Separatists want to enslave), but the problem is that nobody knew Palpatine was evil.  We, the audience, through hindsight, foresight, and omniscient point of view know it, and sometimes it’s easy to forget that it’s not super obvious in-world, that the vast majority of people were entirely fooled by him, so their point of view looks like they have a chance to reform it through internal workings, they have a chance to make real, lasting help to people through crawling forward in progress, but they have no idea that Palpatine is roadblocking them and making it impossible.So, ultimately, the answer is yes and no.  The Republic was worth saving from the point of view of those who were in it, because the alternatives were far worse, there was no feasible alternative, the Separatists were oppressing more people, the Empire was the ultimate in oppressing people, even burning it all down and starting over DOESN’T FIX ALL THE PROBLEMS.You have to get widespread public sentiment (and willingness to actually enforce) onboard, you have to make sure the entire thing isn’t falling apart around you, you have to get the politicians to actually do their fucking jobs, and all of those are different roles done by different people and all of them need to be in place.  And, like, radical activism does sometimes have its place, but that’s when democratic options are off the table, which can be complicated to figure out when that is, but widespread public sentiment still has to be on your side for that to actually hold--like the worlds that don’t elect a senator and get a corrupt one, then, yes, radical activism might be your only option, to rebel against the non-elected government, but if the public of that world doesn’t really care, then all the leeroy jenkinsing it in the galaxy isn’t going to hold it in place and it’ll just revert right back to where you started.Without public sentiment being onboard, you’re doomed to fail.  And I think that was ultimately the far more difficult problem that never got fixed, because there’s no easy answer to it.  If there were, we’d already be living in a utopia, we wouldn’t have gone through the shit we went through in 2016 onward.  And who the public listens to, who they should listen to, who they’re willing to listen to, who has the experience to avoid a full on smear campaign, who has the experience to speak of these things and who should be governing the people, is a hell of a complicated thing.

#kingofattolia #republic #meta

[straykidmagines]

hatstall ; han jisung

❝ for the nth time, my patronus is a squirrel!! ❞

➱ synopsis: you have rather got stuck with jisung, the one and only guy who boiled your blood, in making parchment scrolls, a.k.a essays, and who knows, he might not be a bad guy at all. ➱ pairings: gryffindor!hanjisung ❥ slytherin!reader ➱ genre: fluff, harrypotter!au, slight enemiestolovers!au ➱ word count: 5k ➱ warnings: profanities

han jisung is a quite known gryffindor himself in hogwarts, of course, because of his loud, proud, boisterous and friendly self; everyone likes him

he's like the actual representation of a lion; a quite brave and strong of a man himself, and he although knew that

and that side of him made the sorting hat decided that if he would be the best if he could be put in the gryffindor house

not to mention it took the hat about 4 minutes of debating where to put him clearly making him almost a hatstall

jisung is a proud, cunning and an ambitious man and the hat could see it very clearly, which could fit him in the slytherin

honestly it doesn't bother jisung the slightest where he was going to be storted at, he was just too happy that he is studying at hogworts now

besides of his friendly attitude that everyone likes about him, he is also a troublemaker if you wouldn't mind (which adds up a little but of a slytherin trait)

he would pull up pranks here and there, to students he known or not known of — not the teachers of course, he's too scared to be expelled or get detention either

but the students didn't bother a bit for his pranks we're totally harmless and it is humorous

did i mention that everyone really likes him?? that everytime he passes through the hallways or the great hall like everyone greets him?? and most certainly girls swoon over him

well, except you

you didn't loathe the guy that much, nor like the guy neither — it just that you don't prefer his guts, but it distraught jisung

bloody hell what has the boy even done to you?

well, perhaps he did something, numerous times that you cannot count it anymore

you were also one of his victims for his pranks, quite certainly, his favorite

yeah, everyone wasn't bothered by the pranks that jisung has set up to them, aren't they? but you, oh no, you were beyond pissed since there is not a day he won't boil your blood

it's just that their pranks differ from you, yours are, to put it this way, horrible. by mean horrible it is really horrible

not to mention, one time he made you eat slugs and it totally made your whole system gag to the sensation of those disgusting creatures making its way out of your mouth

scratch that — you really despise him

it wasn't really intentional or anything, he was just goofing around and forgot that he's holding his wand

"HAHAHAHAHA try eating slugs y/n!"

poof, you vomited one, after another, after another and so on. bad idea

since that day, there wouldn't also be a chance that you won't throw him your deadliest glare every time you cross paths

ok but jisung regreted he did that, and the other pranks he's done to you, like really he couldn't stand someone hating him because duh?? he's used to people liking him and smiling at him, not staring at him angrily

especially it was you, and he found you very cute and was totally not whipped for you— oopz toTaLLy nOt

you we're a slytherin, and you we're baffed as of why you were put there like "oh wow i'm slytherin?? thAnKs sorting hat i might as well slide there in to the slytherin table— you get me? hAh nO  bYe"

"i change my mind, you're not in slytherin"

ok but maybe because of your stubbornness, or something within you that you can't draw but the hat could see through it brought you to slytherin or whatever that is — you didn't mind anyways, slytherin is cool yeah you like snakes hiss hiss

you were just like jisung actually, the sorting hat were confused which house to put you as well, mind that you were this close to be a hatstall, closer than jisung; slytherin or gryffindor

you we're brave and all yet there were strong sparks of dexterousness glistening into your eyes so oof— slytherin it is

like wow?? you soulmates or what

any who, you and your disinterested slytherin ass are in defense against the dark arts class alongside jisung and his enthusiastic gryffindor ass — yeah, the sorting had did a great job

you boredly doodle onto your notes in which you would likely to regret later for not actually taking notes as jisung would keep on pestering you to pay attention to what madam kim is babbling about — probably nonsense for you

you didn't really want to sit with him, honestly. he was late for a few minutes and there wasn't any vacant seat left besides you and there's nothing you could do about it, even if you would protest — probably you would end up scolded by madame kim so, nope

but probably sitting besides him was the most worse canvas you could ever paint of, like his gryffindor ass won't stop bothering you until you pay attention to class

"ppPpSSstT snake pay attention to the class!!"

"shut it you uncultured chipmunk"

"for your information my patronus is a squirrel not a chipmunk!!"

"is there anything you would like to share to our class, mr. han and ms. l/n?" uh oh, your bickering went to an end as your teacher abruptly slammed your book on your desk making a loud thud

"oh of course not ms. kim, we were just—" you paused, unable to think of one, however jisung manage to continue your statement "very enlightened with the lesson, yes,"

madame kim didn't bought it, probably smelling fishes fresh from the lake but shrugged it off anyways. you let out a sigh of relief, but oh boy you thought that would be just it but nope

"so as i heard, my class is very interesting," she paused to look at the two of you who gulped at the sudden attention "well then, i want you all to write three parchment scrolls about inferius and dementors,"

then there were groans and complaints reverberating in the room from the crowd of students, much more to jisung hence he complained the most, muttering curses — he loathes writing essays

"the due is in the next two weeks, and the good thing is that you and your seatmate will partner up to finish that so i expect no one slacking off, class dismissed,"

wow pretty great!! you could get to have a partner to work it with, oh goodie, less work to do — ding dong you are wrong, especially jisung, your seatmate, is your partner for this essay and you knew you were doomed

"man, i should have sat with seungmin, that would be less shit work, with his ravenclaw ass, that could've done it"

"now won't you just go back in time using a timeturner and say to your past self to sit besides seungmin"

"good idea, han, but where could i possibly get one?"

"i don't know, lee know, aren't they all broken?"

"broken who? my bones? yeah that was a tough quidditch match we got there last year" minho, a friend of jisung's and someone from your house that you are quite fond of, says as he punches his arm slightly before strutting away

anyways, as minho mentioned, yes jisung is also a quidditch player — honestly him and his other 8 friends were

despite of them 9 being sorted into different houses, they were still good friends, yeah. but when quidditch comes, oh boy, friendship who? idk that bitc

and jisung's position beater, a very tough one perhaps

he's very good at aiming oh wow, like one time when they were battling against with the slytherin — the bludger went straight at minho even he was on the other side of the field

that wasn't intentional, honestly!!

not that minho minded about it, he was cool about it, actually he was used about it, especially he tend to do it as well to his other opponents (even though he's a chaser)

ok so let's go back, as i was saying you went to your other class which is transfiguration

but before that, you told jisung that you should finish your shit ton paper work already as soon as possible cause duh 6th year is the most tiring year

and he was like "oh ok" and left you for his next class

which made you really pissed cause?? does he expect you to do all of the work? you think dumbledore not

ok so you are double pissed at him now as of this day and quadrillion times more if you add up the other times he made you

ok so days are fast aproaching and you barely even wrote a letter on your phat blank parchment and you literally do not want to fail because you do not want to go back to 6th year again

so when you saw your partner goofing around the hallways as usual, you grabbed his collar in first instincts

ok totally a bad idea because his friends, acquaintances, or basically who is fond of jisung (but he barely knew about them) stared at your disappearing figure in awe like — they thot u hate the guy?? like they basically knew you do!!

but you didn't mind them because grades are more important to you than your pride

"whoa i thought you don't like me—"

"shut it, chipmunk,"

"for the nth time, my patronus is a squirrel!!"

so you dragged him towards the library where you stayed before trying to at least start a thing but, you sucked at writing?? so oh no

"wow are we friends now or what? you know you could've just told me that you wanted to talk — i mean i aways free, for you!"

did he just lowkey flirted with you??

you roll your eyes at him "listen, assthwat, i'm only dragging you here at the library because we need to finish that essay and we only have a few days left and i totally don't want to get low grades at dada especially ms. kim is very generous of low grades,"

right, so you both started to work at it but oof it didn't do well because half of the time he was making up puns or jokes while you hissed at him to stop

but thankfully you finished one scroll already but the contents of it could not make your grades exeed like, half of it is probably rewinding words, rewinding ideas cause bruh you've run out. so you gave up

then you both packed your things up, since time has already passed and wow it's almost dinner time!! and you just spent three hours with him in the library like ok

and you decided to go to the great hall together cause bruh you two are going there anyways

so when you arrived, you totally shivered from the stares that you got

lmao but ok, you didn't gave a single shit and went to your slytherin table and jisung to his gryffindor

"ok spill the tea, so does that mean that you didn't hate him now, you friends already?" minho nudged you form your side, an irritating smug smrik plastered on his cherry lips

you roll your eyes at him and gave him a look, "first and foremost, no i still despised him — he didn't even apologize and for your information we just made our essay cause ms. kim was being a bitch ok shut it and eat,"

you heard minho scoffed and didn't continue to tease you more and now is immersed in eating the food on the table

on the next few days, you both agreed to work on that shitty essay faster so you both could do your individual assignments and projects already. you spent time more on the free times

then one time he finally had his gryffindor courage to ask you as of why you hate him

"so uhm, y/n, i was just wondering..." he hesitated for a bit, biting his lower lip due to nervousness

and you totally did not found that cute :)) tOtally not!!

"yeh?"

"why do you hate me?"

you stared at him, about to throw another insult or whatnot but he looks like a sad squirrel like he's so cute!! and he was pouting and all!! him pouting is cute!! and you cannot resist it like sisjhusjvss ok calm down

"i-i well, i don't really hate you, i was just uhm... i don't know, maybe a little but annoyed and pissed because you keep on pulling up pranks on me and didn't bother to apologize one bit,"

oH OH OOHH

"IWVWIWGEUEV NGHHHH Y/N I'M SO SORRY FOR BEING AN ASSHOLE!! I'M SO SORRY I EXCHANGED YOUR PUMPKIN JUICE TO A NASTY SLIME DRINK!! I'M SORRY I MADE YOU EAT SLUGS!! I'M SO SORRY!! AND SORRY FOR THE OTHER PRANKS I DID TO YOU, PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"

ok but he was about to cry really loud (ᵂᴴᴬᵀ ᴬ ˢᴼᶠᵀᴵᴱ ᵁᵂᵁ) but the librarian and the other smart-ass ravenclaws sushed him

you can't really just cannot forgive the guy since he looked very sincere (even he shouted his appology) so oof you went uwu

"lower it down jisung! and ok fine, i forgive you,"

"i'm s-sorry i know you can't forgive me at all i really did a horrible thing to you — wait what?"

ok but he was just the happiest person now because yay no one hates him now!!

"really?! so we friends now?" you nod

much as you hate to admit to minho, you and jisung are in a good terms now

then he flashed a grin and went to your side and hugged you, the little contact made you blush cause you were not used to it! you let him anyways but as you noticed he won't let you go, you cleared your throat and he was back to his senses

he pulled away, chuckling nervously as he scratched his back "yeah, sorry 'bout that"

you really expected minho to tease you about it but what you didn't expect is that he started saying "ya'kno, lee know, you two could make a good couple" "you two look cute together, honestly"

ok you literally just lost your shit likE wHat?? you just made friends with jisung but he had this idea of you both dating? — pfft bloody hell no

"minho shut it,"

and minho (and their other friends) teased jisung about it as well because bruh he is whipped for you even before the day you made up

he was cool about the teasing and all, actually he won't stop shoving to his friends' faces that you two are friends already and well they had enough of that sheit m8

but the thing that he didn't like at all is that they would literally push him towards you if you are around or near them

"bLoOdY heLL gUYs sTaPh" and they wont stop lol as if

"han jisung man up, i thought you are brave, not some wimpy chicken; what a disgrace to the gryffindor,"

"shUt iT sEuNgmiN aLsO yoU'rE a rAveNcLaw wDym??"

yeah jisung has a teeny tiny phat ass crush on you, ok??

so he was really determined to be, at least, your friend and he was really sad that you hated him

honestly he did those pranks to you because he thought that that would get your attention and would probably make you smack him (w̶h̶a̶t̶ a̶ m̶a̶s̶o̶c̶h̶i̶s̶t̶)

and he didn't expect you to avoid him and throw death glares everytime you cross paths, which made him very sorrowful

any who, he was ok now since you two are good yeah and that's what matter to him — at least you don't hate him now!!

ok so for you it felt really weird when jisung's friends would try to push him to you — of course you ain't oblivious, you knew something is up and suspected jisung that he has a crush on you??? but you don't know or were sure about that lolol

maybe it was just because you don't hate him anymore, yeah maybe. but it's just weird that they'll only tease him about you when there are other whom they could tease him with?? uh you don't know really

so you decided to confront minho cause he's like the president of y/nsung fan club

"ok minho you snake, spill, why do you guys always push jisung towards me??"

"excuse moi, you're also a snake and a magician never tells its secrets" he shot a wink at you

you weren't fazed by his answer a bit and smacked his head which made him wince "you dumbass, you're a wizard, minho"

"i'M a WaHt?? :o??" another smack oof —

probably not a good idea since he won't really tell you, wow you could really trust him your secrets

so now, you are currently sitting at the garden practicing your transfiguration spells, preferably alone because your friends are doing some shit (probably supporting your team, they're practicing for the quidditch since it was fast aproaching) or in their own classes; you didnt mind anyways

and han jisung was there, walking around plotting some good ol' prank to do since he is bored then saw you there

he scanned the area, trying to find his friends in sight. he is going to approach you, but he is too embarrassed if one of his friend sees it cause maybe they'll tease him and that would lower his charms

he sighed in relief seeing some students he didn't knew and then marched towards you

as he went to you, he whispered things to himself like "uh what should i say— should i say hi or should i say that she is pretty or—"

"oh jisung hi"

he leaped, a little bit of startled

"o-oh hi y/n" that came out like a squeak and you cant help but giggle because that's just cute??? and he can't help but blush because your giggle is cute too???

he sat besides you, examining the apple resting ontop of your transfiguration book, "what'cha doin?" he asked

"oh, just practicing some spells" you say, focusing back to whatever shit you're doing

"oooh i see"

so basically jisung just sat besides you as you kept on practicing very well, and the atmosphere were really really awkward kka kka kka

then minho walked on the corridors, then spotted the both of you

he had this look on his face ready to tease the bloody hell outta jisung but he saw the cute squirrel scratching his head and opening his mouth as if he was about to say something, a multiple times

he didn't continue his plan, he doesn't want to cockblock incase jisung's gryffindor ass would give him courage wink wonk

"uh— y/n—"

"yes! finally i did it! i'm sorry you were saying jisung?"

he froze in his spot, his mouth unable to mutter out any words because?? this boy?? is nervous?? kagaisvdj

anyways, he gulped the large lump on his throat, sighing 'it's now or never jisung!!'

"uh i j-just want to say tha—"

"y/N THERE YOU ARE C'MON I GOTTA SHOW YOU SOMETHING"

jisung almost flipped the fuck out of him for your bff/n has cockblocked him and dragged you off to somewhere

"sorry jisung, maybe next tiimmmeeeee—"

he had this big ass pouty face as he watched your figure disappearing :< like he's really disappointed

"aww little sungie's y/n has been stolen from him, ouch" minho dramatically said, hands in his heart for more effects as he plopped down besides the boy who got startled as his friend's sudden apearance

"khkwtjwykjdnzkbe i was tHIS NEAR MINHO, THIS NEAR BUT FOR NEVILLE'S SAKE BBF/N JUST HAD TO—"

"is there anything that concerns you mr. han?"

how do we even say khkwtjwykjdnzkbe irl??

"oH— ABSOLUTELY NONE PROFESSOR LONGBOTTOM!"

then night time came, and you are in your dormitory, basically throwing your shit everywhere because you just lost your wand

"bloody hell where is that damned wand!" you hissed, throwing your hoodie on your bed aggressively

"y/n, maybe you left it in the great hall? i heard f1/n saw an abandoned one on the table," your roommate, f2/n, said as she entered your dorms

(i'm too lazy to name them what even)

"thanks!" you nodded at her before scurrying out to the slytherin common room

"where do ya think you're going, y/n?" your house prefect asked and blocked you from going to the entrance

“doyoung, i forgot my wand please please let me just get it!" you pleaded

the boy sighed, "just be careful not to get caught by the teachers, it's almost curfew,"

"thanks doyoung!!"

so you ran out of the slytherin common room but you didn't expect only having some faint light which only supported your eyes to see anything on the hallways, which creeped you

you walked slowly, as you came to the part of the hallways where it's very very dark where you cannot see a single thing

"lumos!" you say instinctively beacuse you thought you have your wand in your hands but nope??

“oh right, how stupid of me,"

you began to be scared cause what if you just bump into one of the teachers?? and they would give you detention?? out into the dark forest??

you gulped, shrugging those nasty thoughts, you really need to find your wand, you can't have that missing or else you'll fail your transfiguration test which you had been mastering for a while now

i mean just walking slowly towards the great hall is pretty easy right? without anything at your sight? and with a high chances of encountering a teacher? right?

"oh sh—"

"ow!"

suddenly you bumped onto something, rather someone

you were dropped on the floor, butt aching from the impact from the fall

your heart then stopped, mind began to cloud your thoughts once again from the probability that you have bumped to a teacher

you were about to stand up and run but it beats you when the person's lumos lightened on their wand

"y/n?"

"j-jisung?" thank dumbledore

"what are you doing here?" you both asked in sync and jisung laughed at this

he stood up, dusting his cute squirrel patterned pjs as he offered a hand to you

you accepted it, your stomach churned slightly from the contact

not to mention jisung literally screamed internally because!! that was his first hold-hands with you!! although it wasn't really a holding hands or whatnot

"why are you here, y/n? isn't it past curfews?" jisung asked again in a whisper tone, his voice soft

"i lost my wand in the great hall, how about you?" you chuckled in embarrassment, light pink tinted your rosy cheek which made the boy uwu because he really finds you cute in any ways

"i usually sleepwalk,,, hehe and let me help you find it" he inquired, with a shy smile

your eyes glistened with hope, probably relived that you aren't going to roam around the hallways alone, light-less

"really?! tha—"

the both of you heard faint footstep noises which made jisung's lumos disappear and he grabbed you to the nearest room to hide

thoughts haunted you once again. what if you get caught?? what if that is a teacher??

you were just lucky that you encountered jisung, not some barbaric teacher that would definitely give you detention no questions asked

your heart raced loudly as if it was about to burst out of your ribcage, and you felt the same thing at you back, which is probably from jisung's

you are basically trapped at jisung's grip, his hands on your mouth preventing your heavy pants from being heard and the other was securely holding on your waist and jisung was leaning against the door

you could literally feel his breath hitch your neck for you two are so close

this adds up the abnormal beating of your heart, which is not good

you could be lying if you didn't find the gryffindor boy to be attractive, hell he was hella(v̶a̶t̶o̶r̶) damn fine

well you could, you would've liked him — if he wasn't just an ass that decided to mess up with you

but now he apologized and you are cool about it now

to be honest, spending time with him during the writing of your essay made you uh let's see, want his company more?

like even though he's annoying as hell for not really focusing at times, he could made you crack a smile on your lips when you are hella stressed on what paragraph to write next or basically stressing out for o.w.ls

and that's pretty great cause you're not that kind of person who is easily pleased

plus the numerous times he flustered you — not to mention he offered you a lot of chocolate frogs (which is your absolute favorite) when he figured you messed up your potions class based on your burnt eyebrows

now, that you kind of took the hint that he likes you based from his friends' weird antics, you still didn't believe it though, you just don't want your hopes up high

cause for you bruh your pride is more important than looking like an idiot from believing he liked you

which is true because who are you to not to like? ;(( ok?? shut up

also, it was not very ok for jisung's heart that you were this close at him,, like seriously?? he would've just straight out hugged you in place but he was afraid that you would hate him again and you are not friends anymore which is more painful than you not liking him back

"i-i think it's gone?" he whispered softly into your ear, removing his hand from your mouth "sorry,"

you nodded, blush creeping onto your cheeks, kind of missing his warm touch "i-it's okay,"

so the both of you just stood there in awkward silence kka kka kka

but jisung broke it by deciding to check if the area is clear, so he opened the door, making a light creaking noises

"lumos" he casted, light illuminating the tip of his wand

he sighed in relief, seeing nothing peculiar then he turned to you mouthing a "let's go"

you followed him eagerly, feets tiptoed in a rhythmic way and before you knew it you are now outside the great hall

you were about to open the door yet noticed it was locked, then you borrowed his wand since he didn't knew the spell how to unlock doors and it's a good thing you knew cause bruh this ain't the first time you sneaking out of the dorms past curfew so unlocking doors are quite handy

"whoa your wand is quite similar to mines," you say in amusement as you handled his wand back

"maybe it's because we're soulmates"

did he just flirted with you?? again??

"b-bullshit, mr. han" oops you stuttered

"HAHAHAHA just kidding, anyways where did you left it"

you shrugged, making your way towards the slytherin table and to the spot where you ate at dinner "just here?" you point

he nodded, crouching down to check the floor beneath the table in hopes that the wand fell off

through out the searching, you both we're just silent, probably immersed from finding your wand — not to mention jisung was really determined to find it aww

it didn't took you 5 minutes before you found it and you nearly cried when jisung handled it to you

"kagsisgshgs thank you so much jisung isvjisvjd i don't know what to do if it wasn't for you!!" and oof you hugged him — scratch that, you squeezed him really tight like he wasn't able to breathe anymore but he didn't care cause it was you?? who hugged him?? it was totally not fine for his heart

"i- i cah-an' br eat Hh eez"

"oops sorry hehe,"

"soooo.."

"let's just head back to our dorms before someone catches us," you suggested, grabbing his arm and made your way out of the great hall

he halted abruptly, which made you stop your tracks as well for you are holding his wrist - which didnt made him fluster, totally not!!

you raised a brow at him, even though he could not see it from the dark and only your lumos illuminating the huge hall

"uhm y/n, uh before we go back i just want to say that..." he trailed off as his eyes wondered elsewhere besides your soft gaze at him, not sure if he should continue his words

you chuckled, "we don't have all night, sung, what is it?"

so he took a mount of air and breathed in "UHIREALLYLIKEYOUY/NI'MTOTALYNOTBLUSHINGRIGHTNOWOHMYGOSHWHATAMISAYIN—"

you shushed him by cupping his face, placing your thumbs on his rambling soft lips and pecked the back of your thumbs swiftly — which made him redder than your mom's lipsticks

how bold of you y/n and your slytherin ass, how bold of you

you giggled at his reaction, eyes wider than a saucer and cheeks resembled freshly grown red tomatoes

this was so uncalled for, poor heart of jisung's

"this is real right? am i dreaming? tell me i'm not — oh merlin's beard please slap me,"

you rolled your eyes, "oh c'mon you uncultured piece of acorn, get your ass back to the gryffindor comon rooms already or else i'll obliviate you,"

so the next day rolled on, you were just casually making your way to potions class yeah casually then he came and bitch he did not

"heya babe" he slung his arm on your shoulders and pecked your cheek which is now currently tainted in beet red

not to mention everyone in the hallways saw it, like everyone has this wtf someone pls explain ??? look on their faces

and you could totally see minho's eyes wriggled teasingly at you

"what the fuck jisung" you pried him off of you, and he giggled at thiss

"that's for interrupting my confession,"

then he pecked your lips like really quick "and this is for not really kissing me, like seriously y/n why your thumbs— uh oh"

and he ran for his life

#idk this is shit basically #ugh the cringe #i am so sorry #well i tried at least #stray kids #stray kids han #stray kids han jisung #stray kids jisung #stray kids imagine #han jisung #jisung #han #han jisung imagine #jisung oneshot #han oneshot #stray kids oneshot #lee minho #minho #stray kids minho #harry potter au #hogwarts #fluff #oneshot #stray kids fluff #lee minho imagine #stray kids seungmin #kim seungmin #seungmin

[hollowempire]

Stars || The Brigadier x Reader

Request: Reader keeps appearing every time there's some alien threat and The Brig is getting Suspicious™ until The Doctor reveals that she's completely human, but just REALLY GOOD at science, and she starts Talking About Stuff™ and The Brig is just like "wow smart??? nice???? pretty???? aaaaaa??????"

Summary: The Brigadier is confused by the smart girl that randomly appears sometimes. He runs into her out of work one day.

Word count: 1,221

“It’s simple really,” y/n announced, causing the Brigadier and the others with him to turn around. Y/n stood there with her arms crossed, having been watching the Brigadier, Yates, Benton, and the Doctor trying to figure out why their plan wasn’t working. She had only been there for five minutes, but it’s likely that it had been going on for at least an hour.

“Miss l/n, what are you doing here? This is a private facility!” the brigadier started sternly.

Y/n raised an eyebrow, shaking her head. “Mr. Brig I don’t have time for your scolding. I’m here to help you so get over yourself and let me through so I can take a look at what you’re doing wrong.”

The Brigadier opened his mouth to answer but y/n pushed past him and leaned against the table, saving him from making the situation worse and embarrassing himself by stuttering.

The Doctor chuckled, Yates and Benton holding in laughter so as not to get in trouble with the Brigadier. Y/n may not fear him, but they do.

He then went on to explain what was happening, the Brigadier, Yates, and Benton watching as y/n listened intently.

The Brigadier eyed y/n with suspicion, observing her actions as she sorted through papers and other things. She always managed to show up at the right time. Every single time a problem came up in UNIT when there was an invasion about to happen, y/n was there with all the answers.

She made eye contact, winking at him and smiling. Y/n left the room without another word, gone until the next time she was needed.

The Brigadier turned to the Doctor. “There’s something of about that girl, I don’t think we should trust her.” he said.

“You’re just upset she made you look like an idiot,” the Doctor responded. “and I trust her fully. She’s a friend of mine who I’d say is quite the expert on these matters.”

The Brigadier sighed, the Doctor leaving before he could say anything back.

Days later, the Brigadier was walking down a sidewalk on his way home from picking up some items he had forgotten to grab earlier that day. He shivered slightly in the cold of the late night, having underestimated just how low the temperature could drop and not bringing a jacket. It was dark and clear, many stars visible unlike most other days when it was too cloudy to even see one. His eyes weren’t trained on the stars, though. Instead, his attention was draw to a figure laying in the middle of the large field he was passing. Both confused and worried, he cautiously approached it, ready to attack of need be.

Now closer, he realized it was y/n. She stared up at the sky, a small smile gracing her lips.

“What are you doing?” he asked bluntly, staring down at her.

“Sit.”

The Brigadier hesitated, but sat down. Y/n gestured for him to lay down and he listened once again, still hesitating. The grass was slightly damp and would certainly stain his clothes, but if y/n wasn’t saying anything about it neither was he.

“Basically, stars. I like to come out here and study them, it’s calming to me. You see that one? It’s bigger and brighter that our sun, and so are many others... we just don’t realize that because they’re so far away. We can see at least 20 quadrillion miles!”

The Brigadier watched as she rambled on, not understanding a single word. He had a weird feeling that he couldn’t place and looked up with concern on his face.

“Are you even paying attention?” Y/n asked after a couple minutes of her rambling on.

“Not really.”

She pouted, rolling over onto her side so that she wasn’t facing the Brigadier. She instead glared at the forest that framed the field with her arms crossed.

He sat up, leaning over her to try and look her in the eyes. The Brigadier noticed her back was almost entirely green and brown from having been on the ground so long and he had to hold in a laugh. “You’re acting a bit childish for someone who’s supposedly supposed to be a genius.” he told her.

Y/n say up immediately, now facing the brigadier. “Now listen here you little-” she stopped mid-sentence after realizing how close their faces were.

“Is there a problem, Miss l/n?”

She smirked. “This is actually the opposite of a problem.”

Before the Brigadier could say anything in respone, they were both laying on the ground again after y/n had knocked them both over with a very enthusiastic kiss. He wasn’t really complaining, though, eagerly kissing back.

Y/n rolled off of him, her back hitting the ground once more as the two lay side by side in silence.

“What do you think everyone else will say after finding out you let the woman you thought was conspiring with every alien threat kiss you?” y/n asked, chuckling.

The brigadier sat up. “They’re not going to find out.” he stated, giving y/n a pointed look.

Y/n suddenly tore a fistful of grass out of the ground and threw it at him. Some landed in his mouth as he tried to speak again, which he spat out immediately. She grinned, her mischievous gaze meeting his angry one. He just sighed and lay back down with his arms crossed, his demeanor resembling y/n’s from a few minutes before. He would never be caught pouting, though.

Instead of insulting him, y/n poked the Brigadier’s cheek repeatedly. This was considerably worse than getting called childish, and only added to evidence for his statement saying she was childish.

The Brigadier huffed in annoyance. “Can you do anything without getting on my nerves?” he asked.

Y/n scoffed. “And here I was thinking we were finally getting along... I mean that kiss must’ve meant something.” she said the last part with a wink.

“It’s not that I don’t like you, I actually do quite a lot, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re annoying.”

“Right...” y/n said, raising an eyebrow. “Prove it.”

“Prove what?”

“That you like me!” she explained.

“How am I supposed to do that?”

Y/n laughed. “You really are as stupid as the Doctor says,” she said, the Brigadier just staring at her. “Kiss me again, you fool!”

It took him a moment, but he eventually did it. It took y/n by surprise, because she assumed he still didn’t understand. When he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers, she gasped. It took her a moment to relax and stop flailing her arms around like an idiot. The Brigadier places his hands on her face and y/n set them on his shoulders.

“We should get going. It’s late and we’re technically not supposed to be here.” the Brigadier suggested. “Would you care to come over for dinner? It’s a bit late for it, I know, but considering recent events we haven’t really had time to eat lately.”

“Of course!” y/n exclaimed, jumping up and standing. The Brigadier began walking towards his house, y/n quickly following with her hand in his.

This was going to be an interesting night. Y/n made sure she could continue talking about stars and other things she was amazed at, the Brigadier trying not to show that he found it cute.

#the brigadier x reader #the brigadier #classic who #doctor who

[the-firebird69]

Watch "Swedish House Mafia ft. John Martin - Don't You Worry Child (Official Video)" on YouTube

This is not a crowd of retarded people but this is what they're doing tonight. And they have their own version of swedish House Mafia they want to burn everything and go take ships some of them have actual plans in bunkers most of them are stupid some plan to go back to the areas to the bunker and after sitting fires and we'll be there but the bunkers won't and we ripped out some tonight and we're feeding them and by tomorrow night this day tonight and they will be up and it's really ripped about last night but this song is too our people and we say but no it's really the max saying there's a place there and they didn't listen so you want to use the invite and that suck too so it kind of mad about it cuz it's a waste of time and I figured out what happened sort of and Joe wants the screw around and some other people. They don't like it but really doing stuff but this will be on the repertoire to sing tonight and they're going to do it all over the place and lots of them are going to be doing the Ellie Goulding song more so and there's all sorts of fire songs are going to be doing the god of hellfire and things like that and it's not right and we're going to stop them Wellesley and we're going to use it to get rid of bugs and them too and we here too have them running to the zapper and really there's not that many left it's like 1 million octillion no it's like 10 octillion in total and they go out and half of them are gone and the rest traps around living on a few bombs here and there and drag the people around and they're gone shortly And our son gets to sit there until the last of them are gone it's horrible.

She started handing bja some invisible gun tips and he's going to follow them.

So you getting dumber huh they're BGA it's like pulling that lawn mower that we had at the house you wouldn't let them get a decent one f****** fruit

We are selling some raw because most people want to take out the stuff and put new in and the price for the car goes to about $1,400 plus a little tax a 50 bucks and that's delivered and the panels come painted and the car comes operable it just doesn't have seats in it or any interior finishes everything else is there even the safety equipment and that's pretty cheap off of 1700. We played around with just having a two-door and no hatchback and it's smaller but it still is wide and it still looks pretty cool it's not as good as crash tests but it's not that bad and we got some 1200 interior finishes included and we tried selling a few and way too many people wanted it so go through a few crash tests more and really it is so cheap because the motor is smaller it's like 50 horsepower and the drivetrain smaller you made a little longer and it fits more in the trunk and it's still $1,200 and we're starting to sell it and the truck version is the same price as a car that's about 1600.

Thor Freya

This sucks we've made fun of okay so two prices and a dirt bikes and they're really selling these things some people have to see if they are because the two prices on the dirt bikes it is for a full-blown car that runs better than the Toyota and it's almost the same and they're making fun of us cuz we can't seem to figure it out and this new edition is ridiculous $1,200 but he can't afford the 1700 one. It's coming down to this we did this to them and they're mad Mac Daddy says that we pumped out about 700 quadrillion no it's octillion of the first version and we're going to make about a thousand octillion of the pickup version and a thousand octillion of the new version it's just out this morning and we worked on the crash test to get it the same and everybody wants one and the storage is pretty big it's about half the hatchback when the seats down but when the seats up it's a little bit more storage and you can put things in the back seat if you have to but really for a couple who are driving around anywhere it's ideal car and this is how it goes there's a lot of couples out there who need a car and this car is cheap cheap it does not get any cheaper and the selling them in Africa and they're cheaper than the used cars that come from the states that don't run and really they can be outfitted for out there they're doing the same price local labor had actually the car is cheaper out there in Africa and it's cheaper in China and some people want to buy them there and sell them here it's like $300 cheaper so like $900 for a car it looks like the Toyota Corolla GR

I'm putting this up on the board he had to get this to work and he had to get the crash test to work we made him and it's okay and it works but really it's too much work to go through for one person but he did it and we see why this car is selling like madness. I'm going to make his dream reality and your stock a vending machine or at least you stuck below and you can order a particular car or you can get one that's displayed and we'll have the truck version the car version and the hatchback version it'll probably have an SUV pretty soon for those have money hatchback it's a bigger hatchback but it's SUV and people are calling for it but not that many so we're going to put the vending machine up somewhere and we know where the seller comes with them in places like California and it's just like the one you saw in Japan it's square looks like a real vending machine and it's so inexpensive and you can use your credit card and your license and you slide your license and you slide your credit card and you picked your insurance company or you have one and it just bills your monthly and it goes and runs your driver record and your credit and Bank your car comes out actually it doesn't run your credit because if your credit card can afford it it clears it and the insurance goes on it and you just pick your insurance options so it's really simple and we have several insurance companies no we don't have Geico or progressive or Aetna but we have reputable reputable companies there are tons of people who are buying these cars. And have interiors but yeah the price for the smaller vehicle at 1200 it has an interior and 1600 for the pickup version has an interior. It's a really cool vehicle and the pickup version of square edges because rounding makes it kind of useless you can put plywood on top if You carrying plywood and wood underneath here's a decent load of about 800 lb before it starts losing the ability to not flatten out it's pretty good it's a hefty load there's a lot of people looking into it. This is going to be a lot of fun

Thor Freya

Wow I'm having a great time this is the car that he wanted to make and we're pumping them out you're asking if other manufacturers have any manufacturing time or space and they don't so we have to make her own they're making huge factories and giant packaging factories to send them out to people this is the weirdest thing I've ever said but this guy's ideas are so strange sometimes I feel like I don't know I'm 100%, but I do cuz I have weird ideas too and he has to ask me about them. And he's making the face he makes but very pronounced. That's great so we are going to town now. And the smaller version is selling ridiculous numbers especially in China $900 he will get up and say I have something to do and then put the car together like half a day people don't know what they're doing at all for all the instructions are driving around telling people they put it together and they show the video of them doing it and yeah we had way too many more luck for too frustrated to do it and they couldn't do it but a bunch good but really it was kind of half-assed and a lot of those got taken yeah by Max and it's starting to buy them all over the place.you say he wants to try and purchase structure in Florida see how it goes devise something you can get a discount here tons of people are interested. It says it will heat it up and preempt and we're going to hear what they're up to all at the same time so we're going to just put it out there and say Florida only at this time and will show them discounts and it's not much but they do buy them because of the The cutt in price

#Youtube

[fishmech]

this whole thing is super dumb and i’ll never know whether the dude was trying to be serious or trying to parody overwrought grimdark worlds, but i want to make sure its somewhere i can find it

In the last 500 years, the Fourth Stimpire has dominated four systems, which it has united into one starzone, Stimsis. The Fourth Stimpire has origins from the Ten Empire War in which 10 of the United Stimpires revolted against each rules. All empires except for the fourth swore freedom upon their citizens. There is no free speech in the Fourth Stimpire, and all self-controlled transportation has been made illegal without undergoing painful medical verification methods, in which arteries are severed without pain resistant, operated entirely by machines.

The way they work claim to be the most hygenic and healthy way possible, but these machines often rub against pain points, causing great deals of pain to patients. The heart is then extracted from the body and placed into a glass grinding machine. Various energy centers are also dissected and replaced with dangerous transplants. After the painful, 52 hour surgical procedure, patients will then have to use a fused guidance tool, which pumps painful resistors into the body every 2 hours. The pain they have caused is so bad, the victim would freeze in a tense position. They would then collapse afterwards. Sexual stimulation in any way within the grounds of the Fourth Stimpire is strictly prohibited, and anyone detected even touching their sexual organs will be subjected to a penectomy or if the offender was a female, they would then have a razor inserted into their ovaries. They would pump a blue solution into the womb until the stitchings burst. Offenders would also be forced to show their operated areas in public, and they would always harass and punch them to a pulp, against their will. Otherwise, offenders would be tazed with the worst type of electricity in the systematic district, causing so much pain, the victim would scream and flail in madness. The pain would also triple every second, but no death would be incurred. This is also used in combat against enemy units, which is why all UEE forces must wear the upgraded suit to block this effect. However, enertainment is also questionable in UEE grounds. Sporting events end with the losing team being rounded into a grinder and shredded on live television, boxing matches end with the loser having their hands removed without anasthesia, flight races would end with the losers having their arms and legs removed, then being injected with insanity, for entertainment. People are also forced into these events, by undergoing a painful 127 hour procedure which involves tweaking the muscles so they will not listen to brain commands, and then having a painful drug injected which also causes madness if the player is not sporting. This is all for entertainment, and anyone not watching any of it during sporting times and cheering for the winning team, they will be imprisoned into galactic camps. Snuff films are also broadcast, and actors are actually murdered just for entertainment. Stealth droids also guide these forced actors into behaving exactly as the director dreams, otherwise they will be punished by being placed into a macerator and having their execution written into the film. Any film that does not feature someone being murdered will be burned and the entire crew behind it will be executed in the most grotesque way possible - vivisection. All executions are broadcast, and anyone who misses even a millisecond, even by blinking, will be executed. All citizens must boo to the person being executed, and the family is gathered to be injected with eternators, which cause pain forever, making them immoral but feeling the pain tenfold every millisecond. They cannot pass out, but they will feel like it forever. Conquests by this Stimpire end in the planet being razed, and all the citizens being executed in the same way as their citizens are. The planet is then destroyed and all remnants of it are removed, and any memories of it will be erased instantly from civil minds. People who are also killed are also erased from memories, and all memories of them, including toys and pictures, are destroyed. Prisoners undergo 40,000 years of relentless and endless labor, and anyone not complying is sentenced to the eternator injection. All prisoners injected with eternators are placed into capsules and launched into far space, then the room is closed tight to ensure maximum insanity. Some prisoners are also subjected to the removal of blood, the lungs, the liver, the genitals, the skeleton, the muscles, the eyes, and even the injection of pressure. Prisoners sentenced to pressure chambers are locked in until they are inflated to a high level. The decompression is then stopped to make sure they are inflated and uncomfortable. Children born on the 14th of July are subjected to the removal of their skeleton and an implant of a silver liquid to replace it. The nervous sysem is also injected in various parts to ensure it is five times more sensitive than the average. Restaurants also are ordered to serve civil meat, and anyone attending must give themself up to be cooked into a grotesque meal. They are cooked alive, undergoing extreme pain, and are then subjected to industrial grinders and blenders. The Stimpire orders at least 1 million citizens to be dispatched every day, as they are afraid the population may overthrow them. But only one planet is cared for, and the rest are banned from eating, drinking, talking, using technology, touching anyone, wearing unauthorized clothes, touching buildings, or walking a centimeter out of designated routes. Civil enforcers are on every planet, and they are engineered so that they are 40 times larger than the 300 quadrillion population. At least 7 billion die every 12 hours under this rule. Thoughts are also surveyed, and anyone who does not think anything to loving the Stimpire with more than their capabilities will be sentenced to a prison. Prisoners who are punished for this violation will meet their greatest fear, only to have it amplified so they will turn insane as they imagine it exactly as they fear it. They then undergo a painful extraction of all fluids, to be replaced by a toxin which causes permanent irritation. The unknown substance keeps the subject aging normally, except they will never die. Prisoners punished in this way are unable to be reverted, despite many efforts, and they will never be able to be disposed. The sickening truths have been revealed only today, and invigilation teams are still investigating the truths without setting foot in the galactic space of this sickening empire.

#text post #long post #grimdark #star empire #gbs

[aardvark-123]

Gensokyo Festival day 15: Memory

~Author’s Note~

This was originally going to be a heartfelt story about Mokou and Kaguya reminiscing, but things happened, so what we have instead is a comedy. Enjoy.

~Memories to Last a Quadrillion Lifetimes~

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your face around here, you scrawny tosser!"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me, goat-brains!" Kaguya strode into the clearing with a big, round cactus in her arms. "Prepare to die!"

"Um, do I know you?" Mokou shifted nervously. "I'd really rather not die if it's all the same to you..."

Kaguya scoffed. "As if I'm going to fall for that."

"B-but it's the truth! Really!" said Mokou. She backed away until she hit a stalk of bamboo. "Are you sure you haven't got the wrong person, black-haired lady? I've never even met you before!"

Kaguya narrowed her eyes. "Whatever you're trying, it's not going to work. I see through all your lies, Mokou!"

"Is that my name?" said Mokou, looking rather lost.

"No, your name's Baroness Emptyhead Dipstick of Ladygarden Avenue. What do you think?!"

Mokou's eyes widened. "I'm a baroness?!"

"Yes, and I'm a princess, so don't get any funny ideas. Now are we fighting or what?!"

"I'd really rather not, um, Your Highness... Couldn't you fight somebody else?"

Kaguya shook her head "I'm not falling for it, Emptyhead."

"I'm not lying! I swear, I have no idea who you are!"

"Shut up!" Kaguya threw her cactus at Mokou. She screamed as it smacked into her stomach, poking her in several places.

"Stop it! Stop it, you crazy princess!" screamed Mokou. "What have I ever done to you?!"

"Took it personally when I humiliated your father?!"

Mokou reflected on that for a second, then turned and ran for her life. Kaguya watched her leave with a mixture of amusement and contempt.

Later that evening, Keine showed up outside Eientei and hammered on the door with considerable urgency. She continued hammering on Reisen for several seconds after she opened it.

"Um, can... Can I help you?" said Reisen nervously.

"Oh, you're here! Thank heavens!" Keine blushed a little and stopped knocking. "I need to see Ms Yagokoro and the princess urgently. It's Mokou, she's lost her memory! She was so frightened, and she didn't even recognise me!"

"Ah, right. You'd better follow me." Reisen led Keine along several brightly-lit corridors to Kaguya's chambers. Keine waited patiently while Reisen rapped gently on the door.

"Princess? Is Lady Eirin with you? Keine needs to see you both!" Reisen called. "She has some bad news about Mokou!"

"Can it wait?! We're having our bath!" came the tetchy reply.

Reisen sighed. "Probably best to wait."

"Um, Reisen? What did she mean by 'our' bath?" said Keine worriedly.

"Oh, you know..." said Reisen vaguely.

Keine sighed. "Well, this is important, so can't I just go in?"

"I wouldn't," said Reisen.

Keine kicked the door down and stepped around a magnificent four-poster bed to the en suite. "Eirin! Eirin! Help me, Eirin!"

"Don't come in!" wailed Eirin.

Keine came in. She wasn't too surprised to see Eirin completely naked with her hair dangling in the warm, bubbly water.

"For pity's sake, can't you see we're busy?" sighed Eirin, lowering herself a little further into the bath.

"Yes, this was supposed to be our private time!" Kaguya emerged from the water behind Eirin. "You wouldn't like it if we came and watched you having a bath, so don't-"

"MOKOU HAS LOST HER MEMORY!" roared Keine.

"Um," said Eirin, "has she?"

"She hasn't," Kaguya reassured her. "Mokou was pretending she had no idea who I was this morning, but I saw through her act. Keine, don't tell me she's still at it!"

"You saw her?"

Kaguya nodded.

"Oh, for flip's sake...! Why didn't you do something?!" What was left of Keine's patience evaporated. "Mokou's forgotten who she is, who I am, where she lives, what she likes to eat, everything! Are you seriously telling me you met her earlier today and you didn't think to check?!"

"Yes...?" said Kaguya patiently. "I mean, she has pretended to have amnesia before. Don't you think she might be lying?"

"She didn't recognise ANYTHING, Kaguya! I showed her the painting of her family she's kept since the Asuka period and she acted like she'd never seen it before!" ranted Keine. "Don't you understand?! This is real! She's lost her memory!"

"You really think so?" Kaguya was starting to look worried. "How could Mokou have amnesia? She took the elixir just like we did..."

"It is possible," Eirin piped up. "Being a Hourai immortal protects you from any permanent injury, but amnesia is simply enhanced forgetfulness."

"Oh, no... We have to help her!" Kaguya leapt to her feet, showering Eirin with sweet-smelling bubbles. Reisen and Keine blushed and looked at their feet while she wrapped herself in a towel.

"We... We have dressing gowns, Princess," Eirin reminded her.

"I knew that," said Kaguya.

"Mokou? Mokou, are you home?"

"Baroness Dipstick? Baroness Dipstick, are you home?"

Keine bashed Kaguya over the head with a chronicle of the early Tokugawa shogunate. "I've only just convinced her she's called Mokou, you idiot!"

The foursome filed into Keine's sitting room. Slumped over a plump cushion, Mokou took one look at Kaguya and dove under the kotatsu.

"It's all right, Mokou, she's with me," said Keine reassuringly. She knelt down beside the heated table. "I've brought my good friend Eirin to see you. She can help you get your memories back."

"Can she?" Mokou poked her head out from under the table. "I'm not sure I want my memories."

"What?!" Kaguya shot Eirin a worried look.

Eirin cleared her throat. "Mokou, why wouldn't you-"

"From what Keine and the princess told me, it seems I wasn't always the nicest of people," said Mokou. "I mean, I feuded with one woman for years! I killed her over and over again! All because of something that happened a hundred years ago."

"It was actually more than a thousand years," said Keine.

"That long?!" gasped Mokou. "Then I really don't want to go back to who I was."

"But Mokou," began Keine.

"Don't you understand?! This is my chance to start afresh! I can become a new, better person, one who doesn't waste her time on meaningless quarrels!" said Mokou fervently. "I'm not going back to the sad, lonely, vicious woman I allegedly was. I am going to be a kind and responsible baroness and lead my people with, um... With responsibility and kindness!"

"But... What about us?" A tear rolled down Keine's cheek. "You won't remember me."

"Listen. You may be a historian, but the future belongs to all of us, and I've decided what future I want," Mokou insisted. "That said, since we were such good friends before, I'm sure we will be able to make new memories together. Happy memories we'll both want to keep."

"Oh, Mokou..." sniffed Keine. "I'd love to make more memories with you, but I'm going to miss the old you."

"I hated her so much! It won't be the same without her!" Kaguya burst into tears. "Mokou, please don't do this!"

Mokou stood up. "I'd be happy to spar with you, if that makes you feel better, but the old Mokou is dead. I don't want to hear another word on the subject. Is that clear?"

"A-all right..." sobbed Kaguya. "I'll never forget you."

"That's your prerogative. Now, I was thinking I should learn some useful skills, such as sewiiiIIIING?!" Mokou tripped over a rug. She hit the wall head-first with a terrific thump.

Kaguya ran to her side. "Mokou! Oh, Mokou, speak to me!"

Eirin and Keine waited with bated breath to see what would happen.

"Oww..." groaned Mokou. She rose shakily and rubbed her head. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Kaguya standing over her. "Are you somehow responsible for this, you ugly daughter of a bamboo shoot?"

Kaguya fell on Mokou and smothered her with kisses. "Oh, Mokou! Mokou, you're back!"

"W... was I gone?" said Mokou faintly.

"I love you so much! Don't ever leave me!" Kaguya sobbed. "Oh, Mokou... I've been such a fool, wasting my life on hatred and more hatred. Well, that changes now. I'm never leaving your side again!"

"Oh, I'm so glad you're back!" Keine ran over and hugged them both. "I missed you, Mokou."

"What would life be like without you? You keep us all on our toes!" Eirin could stand on her dignity no longer. She found a piece of Mokou the other two weren't already cuddling and gave her a kiss. "Don't ever leave us, Baroness."

"I-I don't understand! What's got into you all?! You're scaring me!" wailed Mokou. "Stop it! Stop! GET OFF!"

#Touhou #gensokyofestival #Fujiwara no Mokou #Kaguya Houraisan #Eirin Yagokoro #Keine Kamishirasawa #writing #my writing #fantasy #comedy