#i’m don’t think i need to justify why this ship is bad

[coffeeisfortheresponsible]

thoughts on greenstorm/greenghost?

i mean, it’s just obviously bad/abusive/weird. i don’t feel like i really need to get further into this.

#ninjago #lego ninjago #ciftrchats #sorry for being so blunt i just #i’m don’t think i need to justify why this ship is bad #lloyd makes it very clear that the most traumatic thing that ever happened to him was being possessed by morro #please don’t ship this guys #greenwind #greenstorm

[this-is-gonna-hurt-me-inside]

Codywan POTC AU ideas

Ok so people seemed to like the idea (and my lack of experience in actually making posts that reach people showed when I tried to make this post through reblogging and it didn't appear anywhere :') ) so here's what I currently have with some rough drawings!

Here's the original post I made about it

Ideas and drawings for AU below, please feel free to use!! No idea if I'll actually write something for it, the creature in charge of driving my brain will decide I guess.

Ok so, Obi-Wan fills the role of Elizabeth and Cody is Will in terms of who’s the governor’s child (or grandchild/ward here) and who is found floating at sea with a mysterious medallion and becomes a blacksmith. Going to deviate from the story a lot but needed Cody to have that blood importance link - you will see why later.

Dooku is governor who takes in his grandson Obi Wan as his ward after Qui-Gon’s death, then brings him with him to port royal (feel like Dooku is a good fit for all the colonisation/sugar plantations/definitely not the good guy the films presented him as considering Caribbean in the 1770s.) Obi-wan and Cody grow up keeping in contact and obliviously infatuated with each other as per films.

Not sure if there’s a Norrington equivalent here. Satine would probably be the easiest fit in terms of romantic triangle but couldn’t be an exact match as she’d never be a soldier even if we ignored period accuracy (no idea if I will or not) and a lot of his actions would be an insult to her as a character. Think it would probably be that Satine and Obi-Wan are dear friends who aren’t interested in each other romantically but are being pressured to marry because advantageous match etc. (Possibility of both getting into Methodism and abolitionism through that and that being their points of discussion, and the clash occurs when from start of events of second film Obi-Wan goes and begins to take a much more active route to abolition eg. Killing slavers and boarding their ships to liberate those inside. Satine being against the killing and violence etc but thats later on!)

For Captain Jack Sparrow, who better than the greatest space pirate of them all, Hondo Ohnaka! (Was considering having Quinlan Vos for it but feel like his moral compass is too strong honestly)

As in the films, black pearl (possibly renamed) attacks the port and Obi-Wan is taken aboard with medallion when he invokes parley and, when he gives his surname as Fett, is taken away as they leave. Barbossa I’m currently thinking is Maul (which ties in beautifully and absolutely not completely accidentally with the clone wars episode where Hondo’s crew mutiny him to join Maul) who is going to manage to get singularly obsessed with Obi-Wan by the end of the events of the first film where he is not actually dead/possibly reincarnated like Barbossa in the films but blames Obi-Wan for everything (which would honestly be more justified than the root of Mauls obsession in canon).

Cody breaks Hondo out to help him rescue Obi Wan, they assemble a crew on Tortuga. Various Jedi characters will be appearing as part of a large network of escaped slaves and outlaws (for various reasons) who want to help people in similarly difficult and/or dangerous situations. The Jedi have had dealings with Hondo before and essentially have a similar reaction to him as ghost crew in rebels - don’t trust him as far as they can throw him but often forced to work with him against their better judgement.

Plot progresses as first film but more oh the real villains are the colonisers (though Maul and his crew are giving them a run for their money). Find out that not only is Fett blood needed to break the curse since Jango was involved with initial treasure taking, but there’s a mysterious extra reason why people are wanting to get their hands on a son of Fett. Murmurs of gaining favours with others saying it’s bad luck to have one on the same ship as them. Jedi and Hondo who have known Fett are also reluctant to give their opinion when Cody asks what Jango was like.

Movie accurate romantic and sexual tension between obi-wan and cody, gonna say period accurate homophobia also playing its part in stopping them acting on it.

After being rescued from being marooned Obi-Wan promises Dooku he will marry Satine if they rescue Cody, then sneaks out of ship to help take the Pearl and then on to rescue Cody. If it is Jedi in the crew they may well go with him but otherwise same as film. Hondo persuades Maul that he should become a commodore and Mauls crew “take a walk”. Then events as film but Obi wan kills Maul.

When they’re back at port royal, Cody saves Hondo from execution and Obi Wan saves them both either through really banking on his power as Dooku’s ward/heir or sneaking them away with distraction (possibly even before execution date). I quite like the second option as there’s an opportunity for using smugglers tunnels and a first, desperate kiss as Cody escapes with Hondo to join the crew on the Pearl.

So ends first film as it were. Here’s some more rough drawings of Cody and Obi-Wan start of first film vs third film. I absolutely used a reference for that first drawing of Cody and I nabbed the obi wan base for the drawings from another piece I’m working on so sorry about style discrepancies!

Second film! Satine and Obi-Wan’s wedding is taking place the next day and Cody, who has been writing letters back and forth with Obi-Wan , is waiting in the smugglers cave for him so they can run away together. But Obi-Wan never shows. Cody either hears at port or through Satine directly (who knew the plan to run away and was banking on the scandal meaning she could avoid marriage for a good while afterwards) that Obi-Wan has been taken into captivity by a Lord Palpatine/Sidious working for the interests of the East India Trading Company. The charges are for aiding and abetting pirates, his role in helping Hondo and Cody escape has been discovered apparently (maybe yes maybe no, Palpatine doesn’t give a fuck he just wants the compass). Cody somehow finds out about the compass being the wanted trade (Satine as a go between perhaps? Saying she’ll send hired men to get the thing that will save her fiancé?) and heads off in search of Hondo.

Hondo’s meanwhile been visited by an old friend to tell him it’s time to pay his debt, and the black spot appears in his hand. Surprise it’s not Jango! It’s Either Fox or Rex! Hondo scared shitless and runs ship aground on an island which is where Cody finds him and his crew at that time. (Do the Jedi help him get there??) Anyway think the island scenes will be more OFMD vibes than actual events of dead man’s chest.

Hondo tricks Cody into going onto shipwreck to search for key he’ll trade in return for compass. Flying Dutchman arrives and with it it’s captain, Darth Vader.

Another very rough drawing I added extremely rough shading to! Vader is combined Davy jones style with a vampire squid because 1) on brand 2) the membrane sections reminded me of the his mask. He’s wearing a bicorn hat which wouldn’t actually be the trend for another couple of decades but let’s just pretend Vader is incredibly fashion forward.

Cody is alive and so not of interest to Vader, until Hondo, who Vader has sensed and has appeared in front of on the Pearl, tells Vader that he’s a Fett and so part of his payment of 100 souls. Vader scoffs that a Fett son is payment of another’s debt and can’t be used by Hondo, but Hondo replies that Jango Fett died on land and so has no need to settle his debt anymore. Vader finally accepts when Hondo tells him Cody is in love, giving him a fortnight to find the other 99 souls.

Cody hasn’t heard this on the other ship so first he hears of it is Vader basically telling him and welcoming him as another son of Fett. Cody is confused when Vader tells him he can join his brothers on deck, figures he means crew mates, but instead comes face to face with dozens of men who look near identical to him in various states of ‘fishification’.

More rough drawings! I spent too much time on these but they’re still rough so heck it. Only did Alpha 17, Rex and Fox for these ones.

Alpha has been part of the crew for the longest time, as the first son that Jango Fett ‘paid his debt’ with. Torn between hair styles, but he’s turning into a great white shark. Alpha hasn’t known any life outside of the ship as he was barely walking when Jango took him to Vader. Jango essentially decided to settle his debt with Vader by making the souls to give himself because he’s a full out bastard. Mostly this meant one night stands and then showing up a few years down the line and promising to the mother he’d take care of the child.

Fox actually managed to live his life without Jango taking him as a child but it was still a hard life and he’s actually encountered Lord Palpatine/Sidious before. He doesn’t talk of that time but he has the brand on his neck from it (the pirate P). Either Palpatine killed him or eventually he either ran into Jango or those who knew of sons of Fett and believed that sending one to Vader would grant you favour from him/gain you a wish or something. It doesn’t, Vader just subtracts one from Fett’s debt. (Possibility of Palpatine killing Fox hoping to gain communication/favour with Vader?)

Rex is the most recent addition to the brothers in the crew aside from Cody. He’s only a couple of years younger and only a bit of fishification has started. He’s the most hopeful still of the brothers. He’s the one Cody trusts most and has as a confidant for his plan to steal the key.

Meanwhile Obi-Wan has escaped and disguised himself as a pirate. Manages to find Hondo and various Jedi. They may their way to island with the chest on it and Cody, who has managed to escape the Dutchman (name change pending) appears and fights Hondo.

Feel it would be kind of funny if Maul were to appear at this point and go all KENOBI, just to add to the chaos.

Vader is Anakin and fulfils the role of Davy Jones with Calypso being Padme (fun bit when they go to see her in her human form and they’re met by the handmaidens). Not a perfect fit as padme isn’t flighty and wild like the sea but hey ho. So Vader locked away his heart and trapped Padme in human form.

I honestly have no idea if the twins are running around somewhere or not and what they’re doing. Ashoka is definitely around somewhere as is Ezra and other rebels.

Had an idea of reincarnation or believed to be of Obi-Wan as someone Vader viewed as his in some way. Can either actually be reincarnation of just that they look similar/obi-wan is a descendant but Vader ends up obsessed with him which helps add validity when they pretend he’s Calypso/Padme.

Satine has been facing off with Palpatine and his cronies from a legal stand point but Palpatine isn’t playing fair or legal (particularly when he gets Vader’s heart (possibly delivered by Maul?)). Bo Katan would be sick to turn up and fight anyone and everyone.

Not sure if Jango is actually dead or not, but he had Boba and since he stuck around and loved his mother he thinks of him as his true child and has amazing cognitive dissonance to not be horrified and trying to rescue the others. But think he’s probably dead and boba’s running around somewhere not even aware how much danger he’s in (but possibly told by Jango not to tell people his real surname).

Oh also! Note on initial drawing - so I imagine that occurring with Mace Windu filling the role of Barbossa in the wedding scene!

Anyway hope there’s something in here that intrigues people!

#codywan #commander cody #my art #obi wan kenobi #alpha 17 #captain rex #commander fox #obi wan x cody #codywan au #star wars #star wars au #potc au #Hope I'll actually be able to find it this time in the tag! #codywan art

[perseephoneee]

rosy cheeks and scott mccall please. for ficmas

꒰ ࿁ ˙ ˖ ໑ happy day 7 of ficmas!

a/n: AGHHH i'm sorry for the delay and because of that delay i feel like this is very lame :(( i'm very sorry to the people of the universe. i will now bury myself in a hole and cry.

↳ masterlist  ↳ ship exchange ↳ taglist ↳ ficmas 2023

Located about an hour south of Mt. Shasta is your sleepy town of Beacon Hills, California. Beacon Hills was most known for the burgers on 9th Street, Christmas tree lights downtown, and the werewolf population. It was also a place that tended not to get very cold, just slightly chilly. It didn’t stop the residents from wishing they could enjoy the type of winter seen on their TV screens, with big fluffy snowflakes and subzero temperatures. So when it was announced that the lacrosse tournament would be held near Mt. Shasta with a surprise trip up the mountain for all winter activities, almost all the students signed up. 

You had signed up for the trip and the rest of your pack before you started avoiding Scott. Everyone in the pack could notice your tension, but no one said anything. Since Thanksgiving break, when you had almost kissed at Lydia’s party. You were interrupted by the usual werewolf drama. Now, there was something unspoken between you guys, and instead of addressing it (like adults), you have resorted to ignoring the problem until it eventually blows up in your faces.

Currently, you were standing with a duffel bag outside the bus waiting to load on. Climbing the stairs, you averted your eyes as you noticed Scott perk up at your entrance. The last thing you wanted to do was spend an hour on a bus with the guy you had an unestablished thing with. Quickly, you sat down next to Malia, who jumped at your sudden movement. 

“What’s up with you?” Malia asked, pulling out her earbuds. You shoved your bag under the seat and curled up into yourself, ignoring the question. “Hello?”

“Just sitting next to a friend,” you smiled. Unfurling, you grabbed your book out of your bag. Malia was still looking at you. 

“Is it because of Scott?” Malia inquired. You choked at the question. Malia rolled her eyes. “Everyone knows, I’m just the first to say anything.”

“Not surprising,” you mumbled, earning a jab from Malia’s elbow. “But yes, it might be about Scott.” Malia seemed to think about your answer, a pensive expression on her face. 

“Why don’t you talk to him?” Malia waited for your answer, but you couldn’t give one. Not when you were too cowardly to admit anything. So, instead, she just offered you one of her earbuds, and you graciously accepted it, listening to music for the rest of the ride. The drive to the mountain wasn’t too bad, and you spent most of it asleep with your head on Malia’s shoulder. She was aloof but recently had become a good friend to you. You recognized her struggle in adjusting to real life again, and she appreciated that she never felt the need to justify things to you. It’s how you knew she would be blunt about Scott but never pressured you too much. 

The lacrosse tournament happened at the beginning of the trip, so that whatever the outcome, the team could either celebrate or destress depending on the outcome. Coach Finstock wasn’t excited to deal with a bunch of teenagers for four days, but there were at least other teacher chaperones to help him. This was great for the students and Coach– neither had to deal exclusively with the other. You and Malia went to the closest cafe to get refreshments before the game. Malia had been on the journey of discovering if she liked coffee or tea, and so far, she hated all of it. She opted to get a Diet Coke while you treated yourself to a white mocha to stay awake for the game and the rest of the trip. When you finally left the cafe, you were happy that Lydia had saved you some seats. She refused ever to have a wrong view and scared off multiple sophomores. Lydia took a glance at Malia’s drink.

“Gave up on tea and coffee?”

“Why does it taste so bitter?” Malia grumbled, earning a smile from you and the redhead beside you. You saw Scott run onto the field, throwing on his helmet as he did so. Your eyes were glued to him, and you felt yourself wringing your hands anxiously as the game started. Fun fact: you had no clue how lacrosse worked, but based on the chants from the stands, you could surmise when things were going well. Scott appeared to score a goal, and you found yourself shooting up and hollering just as loudly as the rest of the Beacon Hills kids. Malia gave you a pointed look, which you happily ignored. Forgetting for a second that Scott had super-hearing, he turned to look up at you in the stands, and you felt your breath catch as he sent you a smile. Great, so he could hear you being a lunatic. He didn’t look at you for the rest of the game, but Beacon Hills won. 

There wasn’t much time to assemble on the field and congratulate the field, so everyone was sharing compliments back on the bus. Squeezing through the aisles, a hand grabbed you as you tried to walk by. You made eye contact with Scott and felt a claw grip your heart. 

“Hey,” he whispered meekly, as uncomfortable as you were. He looked at the hand holding you still and immediately let go. His instincts beat out his brain. 

“Nice game,” you smiled, running away before he could respond. You shoved in next to Malia again, who gave you an annoyed look. You silenced her before she could make any comment. 

Half an hour later, you ended up at the lodge where everyone would be staying. Forgetting your troubles, you happily glanced out the window at the beautiful brown lodge looming ahead of you. It was covered in snow, but faint lights twinkled from the archway. Everyone ran inside quickly, not wanting to be caught in the snowdrift. The inside was even more beautiful. It looked straight out of a storybook. Beautiful wood is finished, and multiple levels boast stone fireplaces and windows looking out at snowcapped trees. Coach gave out room keys to assigned pairs (you were stuck with some junior girl before Malia bullied her into changing assignments). Coach Finstock also lectured about not bothering him at any point, even if you were dying. Not even a good game could change his attitude on helping children. 

You got up to your room on the third floor with Malia and smiled at the log beds with red and white quilts. There was a view of a ski lift out of your window and an en suite bathroom with tiny bottles of shampoo and lotion. You dropped your bag by a bed and happily jumped on it, turning into a starfish as you sighed heavily. 

“You slept for most of the bus ride. How are you still tired?” Malia asked, catapulting onto her bed. 

“Sleeping in a vehicle is different from sleeping in your bed,” you mumbled, your voice muffled because of the sheets. You both sat silently, enjoying being on a warm bed. “Scott looked sad.”

“How would you know?” you inquire, rolling over so your face is unobstructed by the bed. 

“I saw him,” Malia picked up a loose thread on the quilt. “He looked sad. Probably because you’re ignoring him.”

“I am avoiding a potentially disastrous situation,” you argue.

“You’re being chicken,” Malia said, throwing a pillow at you when you made a noise in disagreement. “He likes you, or at least cares about what you think, and you’re avoiding him because of your fear.” You stayed silent, not denying her words. “I’m about to kick you out of this room to go and find him.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would,” Malia raised a brow, gesturing with her hands for you to leave. You grumbled about her being maybe right, something that she smiled at. She was right, and you resented it. You hid from Scott because admitting feelings was hard, and you liked him a lot. Leaving the room in a huff, you wandered the hall, harassing various students about where Scott was staying. Unsurprisingly, he was sharing a room with Stiles. Unfortunately, he was not in that room. After carefully investigating, you found him outside in one of the hot tubs. You paused on the threshold, holding your coat closer to yourself as you saw him lean his head back against the lip of the tub. Water droplets gathered on his chest, and his hair was flattened against his forehead. He looked gorgeous, and it frightened you how much you liked him. You found the strength to put one foot in front of the other, ending up in front of the hot tub and capturing the werewolf's attention. 

“I was told I could find you out here,” you said, wrapping your arms around yourself. 

“You’re talking to me now?” Scott said, his voice sharp. 

“I’m…yes,” you stumbled, sitting down on the rim of the hot tub. It was a rough Norwegian wood that you ran your fingers over as you refused eye contact. 

“Y/N,” Scott sighed. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no,” you turned to face him, hating the sad puppy eyes he seemed to have constantly. “I just…I’m not good at being emotionally available, and what almost happened between us was enough to make me the least communicative person in the universe.” 

“I wanted it to happen,” Scott whispered. “I missed talking to you.”

Your heart broke at his words. You always loved how kind Scott was how loyal and careful he was with people. You hated that you hurt his feelings. Without giving much of a second thought, you peeled off your jacket and shucked your jeans, standing in a t-shirt and underwear as you got into the hot water. Scott jumped back from surprise as the water splashed around. The warmth seeped through your bones, and you almost sighed as the cold left your body. Instead, you waded closer to Scott, close enough that you could grab his hand under the water. 

“I like you,” you admitted. “I…missed you too.” You leaned in, not letting your doubt stop you as you kissed Scott. It’s what you meant to do weeks ago, and now that it was happening, you didn’t regret it. Your hands ran up his chest to his shoulders, enjoying the feel of his muscles under your hands. He kissed you back, gripping your hips and bringing you closer. You liked the slight growl he made when you tugged on his hair. You lifted your knees to straddle his lap, letting his chest press against yours. Scott let his lips trail down your jaw to your neck. 

“I’m glad you’re talking to me again,” Scott mumbled against your neck, nipping the skin there as you gasped. 

“I’m sorry for not talking to you,” you gasped, feeling Scott's hands tentatively under your wet shirt. You kissed the corner of his mouth, feeling his jaw underneath your lips. You could’ve lived the rest of your life in this moment, in Scott's arms with Scott’s lips. Except much like everything in Scott’s life, Stiles was always there. 

“Woah, finally,” Stiles laughed, appearing out of nowhere and scaring both of you. You fell to the side of the tub, still gripping Scott’s shoulders. Scott glared at Stiles. “I was waiting for you two to stop tip-toeing around each other.”

“Stiles,” Scott growled. 

“Aww, you guys have such cute, rosy cheeks. Is it from the hot water or the hot makeout?” Stiles teased. Scott carefully put you aside so he could run out of the tub and attempt to tackle Stiles. You couldn’t stop the laugh escaping your throat as you watched the two boys try to wrestle each other to the ground. At least, you could call one of those boys yours.

#scott mccall #scott mccall x reader #scott mccall imagines #teen wolf #teen wolf imagines #teen wolf fic #my writing #ficmas 2023 #12 days of ficmas

[pupmkincake2000]

So, I never thought that I'd play Baldur's Gate 3, since turn-based RPGs are not my thing. But I was literally persuaded to play this game and I just have to share my impressions.

I did watch shorts and videos on YouTube, so I was aware of the world and characters before playing. That's why I decided to start Gale's origin

and I think if I decide to replay the game, I will choose him again, since he is the best. Yes, I think he is. I love good characters, kind, sympathetic, a little ambitious, gentle and loyal. And Gale fits my taste standards perfectly. He kind of reminds me of a sweet Hank Anderson from Detroit: Become Human. Noble, kind, gentle and faithful.

And, the funniest thing is that I decided to romance Astarion. Playing as Gale.

But not because I like Astarion.

On the contrary (and now hear me out), the more I played, the more he annoyed me, and I didn’t understand why people were so crazy about him. I mean, if you want him to like you, you need to do morally questionable things. Not to mention he is absolutely not my type, I never liked characters like him. That is, Astarion is the embodiment of everything that disappoints me in characters.

And you can talk as much as you like about his life being difficult. Because this does not justify many of his actions.

However, the ship itself works surprisingly well. I mean, I really like Gale and I don't like Astarion, but their ship surprisingly works. And now in a ship Astarion seems much... likable?

Basically, they are a perfect complement to each other, which is exactly the type of relationship I love. They help each other, they do not “fix” each other, but complement each other. They heal each other. Their relationship is not abusive if both work on this relationship, and the love between them is that type of love that happens probably once in a century. And to be honest, I don't want to make Astarion an ascended vampire (I haven't finished the game yet), I'm sure Gale will find a way for him to walk in the sun without the ritual.

Well, now to the other characters. Karlach and Wyll

are just two incredible sunshines. I tried to build friendly relations with them, I didn’t choose flirt while answering their lines, but for some reason they still ended up offering me sex, and it was really awkward and painful to turn them down.

So I just started shipping them together because it's another type of relationship I enjoy. It’s a pity that their couple is not popular (is there such a pairing at all?). This is the perfect “enemies to lovers” ship and it’s a shame that they can’t, like in some games, flirt with each other if they don’t have any affair with the main character .

I have almost nothing to say about Shadowheart, I’m not particularly interested in her (my party consists mainly of Astarion, Karlach and Lae'zel), but I think she has enough fans.

Halsin… oh, he is a magnificent man, and I would have romanced him if not the reasons. But I want you to know that he is also an incredible sunshine too, kind soft teddy bear who I wanted to hug and never let go.

And finally, HIM. Mysterious Guest. I knew this was an emperor, but I really liked the look I've created for him! I made him look like Hank Anderson, of course he didn’t look exactly like him, but nevertheless… I think he turned out very beautiful.

Let me scream about this beaty for a while!

In general, apart from problems with the gameplay (it took me a long time to get used to it), the game is really nice. The only thing that, it seems to me, would be worth changing is the permissiveness of choices when you go through the origin of any of the main characters, as was done with the Dark Urge. I mean, Wyll, Karlach and Gail are sunshines, so I absolutely can't believe that they are capable of doing bad things. If you can't avoid bad deeds when playing as the Urge, why can't you make it so that good characters are unable to do bad deeds? Would you really believe that Gale, Wyll or Karlach would be capable of slaughtering the whole village of children? For example, I believe that Astarion most likely would not have saved Shadowheart in the first act; he behaves selfishly throughout the entire first act. But I don’t believe that Karlach, Wyll and Gale would be capable of leaving her caged.

So, yeah, that's it.

#baldur's gate 3 #astarion #astarion ancunin #bloodeweave #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #bg3 #karlach #misterious guest #baldurs gate astarion #bg3 gale #wyll ravengard #bg3 wyll #halsin #bg3 halsin

[poledancingdinos]

Hostile Territory - Chapter 19

Pairing: Captain Syverson x OFC (Leah Coleman)

Word count: 2.9K

Warnings: past injuries

Catch up: Series Masterlist

Taglist: @amberangel112 @utterlyhopeful-fics @marantha @kebabgirl67 @littleone65 @omgkatinka @luclittlepond @persephonepraxidikechthonios @enchantedbytomandhenry @narnianaos @geralts-yenn @peaches1958 @avengersfan25 @sillyrabbit81 @summersong69 @identity2212 @liecastillo @lena-banena @mrsevans90 @confessionbrain-writings @eclecticfashionbookszipper @happydistraction @hannah9921 @valacircareads @toooldforobsessions

Masterlist

Day 203

It was the smell of coffee drifting up from the kitchen that pulled Sy from his light dozing. He jerked upright thinking he’d missed his alarm and overslept but it was not yet five in the morning.

“What the hell?” he muttered, running a hand down his beard. Should he shave it off completely before going to see Leah? She’d never made any comments about it, unlike a few of the older soldiers who had earned the right to bust his balls.

He threw the blanket off, rising from the bed. A shower would be in order but first he needed to investigate who else was up.

Shirtless and wearing only loose shorts, he stumbled down the stairs in search of the black gold he’d missed while he was away. The distinctive sound of bacon hitting a hot pan was followed by the blessed greasy, salty scent and Sy definitely did not groan aloud as he stepped into the kitchen.

“I figured after your mother came to bed announcin’ you would be leavin’ this morning that it would be my only opportunity to cook ya a proper breakfast.”

“I’m sorry I’m not stayin’. I’m sure Ma explained why.”

“Yes, she did. She couldn’t get back to sleep with her excitement.” His father added eggs to another skillet before turning to face him. “Had to tire her out,” he added with a smirk.

Sy rolled his eyes with a smile but didn’t comment. Had he been ten years younger, he might have made a disgusted sound but he’d come to admire the way his parents so clearly loved each other even after all their years together.

“You should head back up and shower then I’ll drive ya to the airport when you’re ready.”

Sy had long since mastered the art of two minute showers so he was back down the stairs within ten minutes with his bag packed and ready to ship out. As he sat at the table, his father delivered two steaming hot plates of food and equally hot coffees. They ate in silence for the first few minutes until Sy worked up the nerve to speak.

“Any advice?” His words were almost a whisper, but his father heard him all the same.

“Whatever ya have to say, make sure ya don’t leave any room for doubt. Sometimes us men ain’t so good at sayin’ what we really mean. Oh! And don’t let them flowery movies your mama likes so much fool ya. Showin’ up at a girls doorstep without an invitation ain’t all it’s cracked up to be—especially not when that girl knows her way around a gun. Make sure you’re not too disappointed if things don’t go as planned.”

Though unconventional, that particular piece of advice was completely justified. Leah more than knew her way around a gun. She knew her way around several types of guns.

“Fair enough.”

It was almost eleven by the time Sy made it to the small two story house in a quiet suburb. His attention immediately went to the crotch rocket sitting in the driveway. He’d always loved taking the old dirt bikes out as a teen and couldn’t help but wonder if it was Leah’s or her brother’s.

His question was answered when Leah walked out of the house holding a full-face helmet and wearing a protective jacket. She froze with the door half closed, staring at Sy. Her mouth opened as if to speak but she seemed to have changed her mind when she shut it again.

“Bad time?” He felt stupid asking but he didn’t know what else to say.

“How did you know where to find me?”

Sy walked up the old concrete path to where Leah still stood. He put his hands in his pockets looking a little sheepish. “I called BJ.”

Leah hummed in understanding. She’d given BJ a few of her sketches before they left and had put them in an envelope from a letter Caleb had sent her.

She wasn’t angry with BJ. He would never breach her privacy without good reason and giving her address to Sy was not a breach as far as she was concerned. However, she sort of wanted to see Sy squirm.

 “What did that intel cost you?”

Stepping closer, Sy trailed his knuckles over her cheek before cupping her cheek.

“It cost me nothing but it was worth everything.”

Leah could have sworn she felt literal butterflies fluttering in her stomach but the moment was interrupted by an alarm going off on her phone. She cursed under her breath and pulled it from her pocket as Sy stepped back.

“I need to be somewhere in twenty minutes and I’ll be gone all afternoon.” She pursed her lips, chewing on her cheek. “You umm… You’re welcome to follow me.”

Sy didn’t hesitate to accept. “Lead the way.”

Leah nodded once, locking the door and heading down the walkway towards her bike.

“Did you drive here?” she asked, looking around for Sy’s truck as she zipped up her jacket.

“Not quite. I caught a flight then rented that sardine box over there.” He gestured towards the tiny hatchback that looked like a clown car next to Sy.

Leah straddled the bike, watching as Sy crossed the rest of the distance to his rental. Realizing she’d been so stunned to see him that she hadn’t even said “hi”, she called out to him.

“Sy wait!”

Leah climbed back off the bike, leaving her helmet on the seat before running over to Sy who’d frozen at the sound of his name. He turned just in time for Leah to pull him down into an eager kiss. His surprise only lasted for a second before he pulled her flush against his chest, holding her there with a hand on the small of her back.

Leah was first to break the kiss, sporting a deep flush on her cheeks as she took a few steps backwards. “Think the sardine box can keep up?” she smirked.

“It’ll manage,” he called back, feeling relief and excitement in equal measure. 

When she’d straddled her bike once more and strapped her helmet into place, Leah waited just long enough for Sy to get in the car then led them through the empty streets and onto the main boulevard. Despite her jokes, she drove safely, following speed limits and constantly checking for surrounding traffic.

Sy guessed their destination as soon as the sign became visible in the distance and his suspicions were confirmed when her blinker turned on. They pulled into the lot in front of the tattoo shop. Leah squeezed into a spot next to a custom Harley and Sy was glad it wasn’t his truck he was forced to back into the last spot at the end of the lot.

For a moment, Sy was a little disappointed that he wouldn’t get to be alone with Leah but that sentiment was outweighed by the curiosity of finally seeing her relaxed and in her element. A bell chimed as he pulled the door open and held it for Leah to walk in ahead of him.

“Look what the fucking cat dragged in!”

A man looking to be a few years older than Sy jumped the counter, not seeming to realize there was a perfectly good opening a few feet away. He pulled Leah into a tight bear hug, keeping her against him long enough for Sy to start getting envious before finally releasing her.

Rationally, he was aware that Leah had known this man a lot longer than she had known Sy and that she was allowed to hug him if that was what she wanted but the alpha-hole part of his brain hated that the guy had his hands on his woman.

“You should have told me you were the one who booked my afternoon, I’d have dressed up or something.” He looked down at his all black outfit consisting of baggy jeans, an old band tee that showed off his fully tattooed arms and running shoes. “It’s not every day we get to welcome home our favorite pain in the ass.”

“Hey,” Leah punched him in the arm, “I gave my name to your receptionist when I called. It’s not my fault you don’t know how to read.”

“I was off yesterday, I didn’t know my other client had canceled until you walked in.” The man finally tore his focus away from Leah long enough to acknowledge Sy’s presence. “I’m Ash by the way.”

“Sy.”

Ash motioned for them to follow him to the back of the shop where metal music was playing through the overhead speakers. Sy had never been in a tattoo shop before but if he’d had to make a guess at what one would look like, it would be exactly like the room in which he was standing.

There were six workstations, three on each side of the room. Each had a different set up of chairs and metal tool boxes. The walls were covered with framed art work and pictures of finished tattoos. On some stations there were racks with hundreds of bottles of ink in different shades whereas others had mostly black ink. A woman with pink hair and a half dozen facial piercings greeted them on her way to the receptionist’s desk.

“Leah doesn’t normally bring anyone to these sessions. She’s more of a ‘suffer-in-private’ kind of person.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed.”

Sy realized how cryptic that response had sounded when Ash raised a questioning brow as he dropped onto a rolling stool. It seemed that Sy had lost his ability to communicate like a proper human being after so long away. Thankfully, Leah filled in the blanks.

“Sy and I are deployed together. He’s my CO.”

“No shit? Thank you for your service.”

Sy tipped his chin in acknowledgement, never knowing what to say when he heard those words. Luckily, Leah and Ash immediately got down to business, saving him from having to come up with an answer.

“Iʼm so stoked we are finally getting this piece done. Iʼve had it ready and waiting for months.”

Ash rolled across his work station to the desk. After a bit of shuffling around, he held up a piece of what looked like trace paper cut into some strange shape. In purplish ink was an outline of a fantasy style dragon.

Sy couldn’t quite tell what the final piece was supposed to look like but Leah seemed excited to see the image. They immediately launched into a discussion about some technical term or another which Sy did not understand. He simply watched Leah’s face light up as she and Ash compared the purple outline to an image on Ash’s tablet.

“Okay, strip.” At those words, Sy’s head snapped towards Ash. “I need to see if this still fits or if I need to resize the stencil.”

“What, are you saying I got fat since I last saw you?”

Ash wisely knew better than to answer that sort of rhetorical question but Sy couldn’t contain his scoff, drawing both Leah and Ash’s gazes.

“If anythin’, ya lost weight since your first day on base but your curves are still killer as ever.”

Had he not been watching Leah so closely, he would have missed that cute blush creeping up her cheeks before she looked away. Ash’s brows drew together in suspicion as he looked Sy up and down but he didn’t comment.

When Leah began to remove her pants it was Sy’s turn to blush. Looking back at the stencil, Sy realized the weird shape was meant to fit her hip and thigh.

Before he knew it, Leah was left in nothing but a shirt and a string bikini bottom. Obviously this wasn’t her first rodeo. She used a hair band from her wrist to tie the hem of her shirt then she did some twisty hand movement to make it look almost decorative. Ash busied himself with pulling on black latex gloves and handed Leah a roll of medical tape.

“Use that to hold the fabric so that I can undo the ties when I work on the upper half.”

Leah proceeded to cut strips off to tape the waist of her bikini to her stomach but when she got to her back, she couldn’t get it to line up properly. Seeing Ash was busy setting out little plastic cups of ink, Sy stepped forward instead.

Wordlessly, he took the roll from her hand, cutting a fresh piece. He made a conscious effort not to let his hands linger as he traced the small of her back, securing the fabric in place. He thought he heard Leahʼs breath hitch but the moment was interrupted as Ash began prepping Leah’s skin.

Once everything was ready, Leah curled up on her side as Ash instructed and the pixi-haired receptionist showed up as if out of nowhere with a second chair for Sy. He expected to be ignored for the rest of the afternoon but Ash seemed more than happy to include him in the conversation as he worked.

Once the outline was done, Ash suggested that it was time for a break. Not wanting Leah to have to wrap up the half-finished piece, Sy offered to run to the store across the street to get them both some snacks.

Ash had said to get something that was easy to eat and would keep her blood sugar up so Sy picked up two containers of pre-cut fruit and a few different sports drinks that had spouts so Leah could easily drink while lying down.

After Ash changed his needles for the second time, it seemed the pain was finally getting to Leah. She closed her eyes and didn’t speak except when asked a direct question. Throughout it all, she remained  impossibly still.

“Now I see why ya barely flinched when ya got your head stitched up.” Ash had been running the machine over the same patch of skin for what felt like forever.

A small smile pulled at Leah’s lips but her eyes stayed closed. “What’s a few stitches when you sit through hours of getting stabbed repeatedly by multiple needles?”

That was a very valid point, indeed. 

“How did you get injured?”

“I wanted to experience what it was like to be a victim in a slasher movie.”

Ash looked up from his work, cleaning away the excess ink and blood. “What are you talking about?”

“That’s her way of sayin’ she almost got killed by an ax wieldin’ lunatic.” Ash went pale, his face losing all its humor. He’d no doubt never realized just how risky their job really was.

“But you’re okay, right?”

“Yeah, Sy saved my ass. I walked—well, limped—away with a busted knee and a couple stitches.”

All things considered, that was far from the worst of what their team had seen out there but those were the things no one ever wanted to speak of. It did no good to make close friends or family more worried than they already were when there was nothing they could do about it.

After the sixth hour, Ash put down his machine and declared Leah officially done. She blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the bright lights. Rolling off the table, Leah made her way to the mirror.

Using the excuse of the new tattoo, Sy allowed himself to fully study her legs. On her hip was now a black and gray dragon that followed the curve of her body to her mid thigh. On the same leg was the leshen she had mentioned all those months ago. The other hip had flowers leading down to a wolf’s head which was also in black and gray but not quite the same style. It almost looked like a contrast of nature’s good versus evil.

“I finally got to mark you with one of my own designs,” Ash commented as he pulled out a roll of cling film. “Even Niki came in with one of your drawings.”

“Niki?” Leah turned, allowing Ash to wrap her leg. “What do you mean Niki came in with my design? When did he get a tattoo?”

“Guess you didn’t have Insta out there.” He snapped his gloves off and reached for his tablet, pulling up a picture of a familiar cerberus tattoo.

Leah’s hand covered her mouth as she looked over the pictures.

“He said he got it because he liked the idea of something watchin’ over him.”

Tear brimmed eyes locked onto Sy’s. “You knew?” she asked, sounding almost betrayed. Ash seemed to think it was best if he left the two of them alone.

“I saw it in the gym and knew it was yours.”

Leah looked back at the screen, running her fingers over it. When she felt Sy at her back, she leaned against him, relishing his quiet strength. His hand found her hip, holding her as he kissed her temple.

“I’d say it had the desired effect.”

Seeming to realize she still had no pants on, Leah cleared her throat, putting down the tablet in favor of pulling on her jeans.

“Where umm… Where were you staying tonight?”

“Hopefully wherever you are.”

That put a smile on Leah’s face.

“So there’s that southern charm people keep telling me about.”

“Is it workin’?”

“We’ll see.”

Chapter 20

#captain syverson #captain syverson fic #captain syverson fanfiction #captain syverson fanfic #cpt syverson #cpt syverson fic #cpt syverson fanfiction #cpt syverson fanfic #cpt syverson x ofc #captain syverson x ofc

[ashsostrange]

i’m (not) sorry to say, but miles is better off by himself.

idk if i’ve ever written a post this long, but i got energy tonight. y’all have been sucked into the black hole of shipping, so let me ground you and remind you of this amazing thing called being single. i’m gna talk ab margo and gwen, but mostly gwen bc she’s obv miles’ (main) love interest. i’ve said more than enough about why miles and gwen don’t work/make sense. if you wna be enlightened then feel free to click the links.

thoughts on ghostflower: here!

reblogging a moot's post w/ added thoughts: hereee!

i love ranting so let’s get it! 😛

i don't have much to say about margo bc sadly, she's barely there. what i will say though is that as cute as miles and margo would be together, there’s one more movie left lol. the third movie’s gna be busy as hell. there’s literally no time for romance, and to rush miles and margo (two people who just met) into liking each other in, like, a three hour timespan would just be terrible writing. plus, we all know she’s there for some bs having to do with miles nd gwen, which is literally soooooooo very lame, words can't describe. one, where are you finding the time to cram in jealousy/all this angsty romance mess when miles’ dad is ab to die and the universe is ab to collapse bc of a nigga that looks like the lovechild of a cardboard box and a cow?? two, is this really all margo is here for?? to make gwen jealous or “help miles realize he’s in love with gwen” ?? shameeee, like summer said. 😐 i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: margo could be SO much more than a disposable love interest!!!

gwiles/ghostflower fans, i’m going to tell you something that will make you upset. i said i was coming for you and i meant it 🗣️‼️

before you yell at me and push smoke out of your ears, i need you to put your right hand on your chest and close your eyes. you feel your heartbeat? good. now, count to three while taking deep breaths and remember that none of this shit is real so you’d look stupid af trying to attack me. 🙃 some of y’all are getting TOO comfortable being unnecessarily disrespectful and ion like that lol. don’t try it here bc i’m on another level of not gaf!

listen, even if (when?) gwen and miles team up to save his dad, it won’t change the fact that gwen was keeping some hefty info from miles, yo. she was smiling in jeff’s face and cracking jokes like she didn’t know he was bout to die. y’all gotta be so very real with yourselves. you wouldn’t wna date, let alone be FRIENDS with someone who kept something that big from you, regardless of the circumstances or lack of ill intent. one of the most important people in your life concealing the fact that you’re about to lose another important person in your life is insane.

i’m aware that gwen didn’t tell miles about his dad because she genuinely thought it’d cause mass destruction if he saved jeff. thing is, even if miles knew that, i think he’d still feel betrayed. that’s 100% valid because this is his dad we’re talking about. he just lost his uncle not too long ago, too. i wouldn’t blame miles if he never wanted anything to do with gwen again. i wouldn’t blame bro if he got sick to his stomach every time he saw her. it’d be justified, bc if he never followed her that night, then he wouldn’t have had the chance to save jeff.

my point is that you can be a “good person” and still fuck up bad enough to make someone never wna speak to you again. miles is a sweetheart so he’ll probably forgive gwen. my thing is, miles forgiving gwen doesn’t mean the two of them are obligated to be friends again. they can handle it maturely, go their separate ways, nd never speak again. it’s really not even gna hurt y’all cuz it’s the last mf movie anyway??? 😭😭

if it isn’t clear by now, i don’t want miles and gwen together at all. they have no business being around each other frl 🙃 not as friends and definitely not as lovers. like, sure, that one scene where they’re swinging/talking on the bank was my absolute fav. it was cute. i shipped them before i really thought about it. that scene is still my fav, but my adoration for it isn’t gna stop me from keeping it real.

i really don’t care what anyone says or how in love they think these two are, this isn’t a “forgive and forget” situation. if the writers truly wanted gwen and miles to be involved romantically, then not only should they have structured their dynamic better, they shouldn’t have made gwen the person she was in this movie. love, love, LOVE redemption arcs because it’s a reminder that we're human and we're flawed, but you can’t redeem yourself from that. sorry. (not) i say miles should leave that girl alone 🤷‍♀️ leave all potential girls alone ffs.

in conclusion, it’s okay for miles to be single. he's 15 anyway, it's not like he'll die without a girl. i’m the suckiest sucker for anything to do with romance, but characters in film/animation don’t need to have love interests for a project to be considered good. if you feel like it does, then maybe ts you’re watching just sucks, lmao. a girl and a boy can be friends without one having feelings for the other, or both of 'em having mutual feelings. (in the media idk ab irl..) it’s time to stop forcing ts. please.

and it’s okay y’all, i promise you. it’s okay if miles and gwen don’t end up dating. it's okay if they reconcile and stay friends. it’s okay if they reconcile and don’t stay friends. though unlikely, it’s also okay if miles doesn’t forgive gwen at all! resolutions like these go to show that you can “forgive” someone without letting them have access to you anymore. that’s what miles needs to do. straying away from the “happy ending” everyone is expecting would be nice. it’d be a different approach and a realistic way to complete the franchise. (i’m not just saying this bc i love angst)

but before the gwiles (ugly ass ship name btw) fans start throwing up and telling me to end my shit, it’s 99% unlikely that anything i just stated will actually happen. we’re more than likely getting a kiss between miles and gwen, nd that’s bc the writers are probably high off the same dope they were on when they wrote gwen sneaking in thru miles’ window, j for his parents to be way more calm about it than any other normal parent would be. i could say some more about certain scenes but that's for another night.

miles doesn’t need to be with anyone. especially not gwen when it comes down to it.

oh and i HATE peter b. fuck that nigga. he was nun but an extra in this movie and i know he’s an opp in the next. 🙎‍♀️

that’s all! if you read allat then thanks, cuz i wrote a lot. if you're feeling angry, then go for a walk. this isn’t a place for any typa criticism bc i am right, therefore, i am not requesting confirmation. 🙌 i said what i said. have a good night.

#ash spills 🌺 #ghostflower #gwiles #ghost flower #atsv #itsv #btsv #beyond the spiderverse #miles and gwen #miles molares #gwen stacy #into the spider verse #accross the spiderverse #don’t inbox me bc idc #it’s never too late to edit the script #oh and FUCK PETER B #I HATE THAT WHIGGA #i hope peter b passes away #useless mf fr #spiderman #spiderverse

[lover-of-mine]

just saw a take so irritating….. a post waxing poetic about how tommy is kind about buck being nervous and gentle and patient with buck’s rambling and willing to just listen and that makes him perfect for buck etc etc….. soooooo eddie? that’s literally what eddie does in canon?? why is this fandom suddenly kicking eddie to the curb and pretending his friendship with buck is just surface level coworkers and the last 5 seasons don’t exist, but his relationship with tommy is this deep meaningful built up thing where tommy is the perfect guy!! why are they making eddie’s personality and the way he treats buck all about tommy instead ahhhhh i’m going mad

Honey, something I learned is that people who wobblify Buck, make him this baby who has never done anything wrong in his life and needs to be protected and cuddled, don't really see Eddie for who he is. They wanted Buck to be in a grumpy/sunshine relationship so bad they made Eddie this broody, uncommunicative, bad at love person that's just not who he is, and now they can project that into Tommy while making Eddie seem like a horrible friend to justify jumping the ship when Eddie has done nothing Buck love Buck since he met him. Eddie was repeating Buck's facts back to him 2 episodes in, we have MULTIPLE instances of Eddie being the only person paying close attention to Buck while he rambles (I actually have a set on that that I keep forgetting to finish), and yeah, Eddie is more teasing about it, but it's not like Eddie is ever mean about it. I think there's a portion of the people who are this aggressive about Buck and Tommy are just grabbing on to whatever m/m couple the show puts in front of them, and look, not saying I'm anti Buck and Tommy, I'm sure I'll enjoy Buck stumbling through this is this whole first queer romance way, but if you put me to vote "new guy who makes Buck flustered" vs "Buck's literal partner of years", I'm not voting Tommy, yk? Eddie has proved over and over how much he loves Buck and you can even argue that the way Tommy knows how to defuse/reassure Buck before the kiss is because of things Eddie told him, because we don't see Buck with Tommy alone besides the hangar and no one would catch on with Buck's abandonment issues that fast. Love that Buck seems to be in a romantic relationship with someone who's kind to him, considering his past, that's a HUGE win, but they have been building Buck and Eddie for 6 seasons, to say they're not it for each other is just wrong. But honestly, you should protect your peace and blog the tags. You can even block words so if people are bad at tagging you still won't see it, and just block and move on, is what I'm doing when I see a take that makes me realize me and someone fundamentally see the show in too different ways. The blacklist and block buttons are your friends.

#i feel you i do #but my 911 bubble is ridiculously small so im quite sheltered #im just avoiding the tag like my life depends on it kspaksoksoaka #911 #i really need a tag for asks #911 spoilers #anon 😌

[sissa-arrows]

is there anything we should know about the “barbary slave trade”? am i right in thinking the western nations went to war twice over white slavery and ended it before they abolished atlntic african slave trade?? Also what abought Tamazight/ Amazigh nationalism? Sorry if this is too much

TLDR:

Barbary slave trade did exist it was different from the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism actually didn’t happen to stop it. They used it as an excuse long after because it sounded better than the truth.

The majority of what people identify as Amazigh nationalism is actually not nationalism but legitimate demands that are nothing more than simple rights. The rest is complete bullshit that often comes from diaspora kids in Europe (especially France) who are filled with internalized racism and have an identity crisis.

More details below the cut it’s long beware 😂

First thing first when one think about slavery the first thing that comes to mind is the transatlantic slave trade so I will start by explaining how the Barbary slave trade was DIFFERENT. Different does not mean good it means different.

The Barbary slave trade wasn’t based on race and the majority (not all) of the slaves were sailors whose ship had been seized by the Barbary pirates. The pirates would then decide if it was a better option to sell the prisoner or to ask for a ransom and go ahead with said better option. The Ottoman Empire had a rule forbidding taking a fellow Muslim as a slave, the « Barbary coast » aka the North African coast was part of/allied with the Ottoman Empire depending on the time and region so the pirates respected that rule. Those who reverted or those who were already Muslims were automatically freed. It was approved by the local rulers for two reasons they didn’t mind and the pirates were not people you should anger they would totally organize coup against the rulers they disliked.

Now the West especially France LOVES to pretend the colonization of Algeria happened to stop the Barbary pirates to take white slaves. This is a fucking lie. They colonized Algeria for two reasons first and main one is that they owed a ton of money to Algeria. During the Egyptian campaign Napoleon’s troops ended up lacking in food/wheat at the same time the south of France was lacking in food/wheat so bringing the wheat from France wasn’t an option. Algeria was the granary of Africa so Napoleon asked for some wheat Algeria was like « okay we can sell you wheat » Napoleon was like « meeeeeh I don’t have the money right right now give me a loan » Algeria said no. A family in Algeria decided to not mind their business and get into it. Algeria accepted to give the loan. 29 years later Algeria still didn’t have the money. France refused to pay saying that the debt was contracted by Napoleon not the current king (Charles X) anyway so why should he pay. It wasn’t even the same regime… France sent a consul with the order to NOT accept any deal. The Dey of Algeria got angry and he gave a slap with his fan to the consul (he used a fucking feather fan meant to fan away flies… even with ALL his strength it wouldn’t have been painful). France takes it as an opportunity to call it a declaration of war and attack Algeria. The second reason is that Charles X was losing power he needed a win on top of it the British empire wasn’t doing that bad so Charles X thought Algeria could be that win.

So they didn’t even colonize North Africa to stop the Barbary slave trade. It’s just that later they figured it sounded better to say it was to stop slavery than to admit it was about trying to save a dying reign and to avoid paying a debt.

I’m mentioning specifically Algeria and France because that’s what I know best AND because to my knowledge only France tried to justify colonialism with that argument and I know for sure it’s bullshit. It’s common knowledge that it started with the « coup d’éventail » but somehow France managed to rebrand it as a fight against slavery because it sounds better.

As for Amazigh nationalism. I’m an Arabized Algerian. I do have an Amazigh culture but it’s mixed and Arabized. So I am not the best to answer. That being said there’s two types of « Amazigh nationalism ».

The first one is not even nationalism in my opinion but it’s often wrongly identified as such. It’s not really Amazigh nationalism because their demands are just legitimate obvious stuff I don’t call that nationalism and because Imazighen are composed of multiple tribes with similarities and differences. While people often support each other their demand are specific and different. This first group is the more common the ones that just want to be recognized as such they don’t want to be Arabized they acknowledge that the ones who have been Arabized are not actual Arab colonizers. From what I saw and know those are the majority. I 100% support them. I’m friend with many of them some are my family members. I learned a lot with them. Honestly regardless of my personal experience and opinion what they are asking is perfectly normal and I would be a fucking bitch if I denied that it wasn’t nothing more than a simple right. Having the option to fill paperwork in their language, having classes in said language… it’s totally legitimate.

Then there’s the second category. Those are a small minority but oh boy how loud they are. They often live in France. They know nothing about their history and culture they just spit bullshit out of nowhere to calm their identity crisis and internalized racism. Very often the first category of Amazigh nationalists joke and ask them « do your parents even know that your Amazigh? » because they often come from Arabized family.

Basically France labels all North Africans as Arabs and France hates Arabs. So when they have an identity crisis the non Arabized North Africans resent that forced Arabization imposed by France and they resent the Arabized because he is either an Arab colonizers or he is a traitor who labels himself as Arabs and is the reason why they get labeled as Arabs themselves and get hated because of it. The more common one in this second category is the one who is Arabized he internalized all that racism and then one day he realized his ancestors were most likely not Arabs and he ran with it. They mix everything their parents don’t even know their child is amazigh. They be like « Us Imazighen people do X » and it’s something very specific from one tribe but if you have the audacity to say « hey just a heads up it’s not all Imazighen who do that it’s only these tribes » they feel insulted and say you misunderstood them and start being super condescending. Nobody likes them and they are only popular in far right western space who want to use them to absolve themselves of colonialism and to destabilize North African countries and in white liberal spaces who think they are representative of their region and will then turn around and attack OTHER NORTH AFRICANS who disagree…

Anyway it’s long and I’m rambling at this point. So I’ll stop I don’t even know if I answered your questions.

#ask #don’t know how to tag this

[alexa-crowe]

Here is a nice ask: Why do you ship msr so much? How do you deal with the theme of guilt throughout their relationship?

Their guilt has much less to do with each other and everything to do with how they view themselves. Mulder thinks he’s a failed brother and a failed son and a failed father, Scully thinks she’s a failed mother and a failed daughter and a failed sister. Because they hold those views so deeply and can’t refute them because they don’t have the evidence—which is held by family members who they have broken relationships with or who are gone—those guilts fester.

The one guilt they both hold but can help each other with is feeling like a bad partner. Mulder will say that he needs to do more than pray at Scully’s bedside with Missy and then Scully will tell him that she got better on the strength of his beliefs. Scully will tell Mulder that she’s only ever held him back and he will tell her that by caring for him she taught him how to be a whole person and that her grounded nature is the perfect contrast to his... unmoored one.

Their love was born among the ashes of the relationships that came before, and they built each other up because they cared about each other that much, even when they were just friends. In a morbid way, the end of season nine makes sense, because their ultimate guilt is a tangled, conjoined failure as parents. And they run from it from motel to motel, hide from it in a sequestered house, afraid that this is the one thing that will undo them. Because, deep down, they know that they’re not really a failed child or sibling. But as parents, they were 100% responsible for William’s safety and happiness. A parent is the ultimate defender, the person a child is meant to be able to trust the most.

And they couldn’t do that, in their views. Even with the other guilts, they could at least tell each other with confidence that they weren’t failed siblings or failed children. But they can’t look each other in the eyes and say that they didn’t fail as parents. Even though they believe that of the other, they can’t even say it because it’ll just be a circle of trying to comfort the other while putting themselves down.

It becomes the new thing Mulder sacrifices himself on the blade of—pretending to be stoic as if it doesn’t eat him up inside. Scully tries to find absolution in her work as a pediatric doctor. I’m not surprised that they broke up in the Revival at all. I mean, there’s only so long you can go with not actually talking about it. And with colonization not happening, then all those things they suffered didn’t mean anything, and Mulder is all about justifying suffering—not sadistically, but as he asked Skinner when Scully was abducted in season two, if he knew the risks of the work and didn’t tell Scully, is he then responsible for what happened to her?

The short of it, though, is that they simply love each other so much that guilt can’t ruin that. It’s probably the one relationship guilt can’t ruin for them. Even with Skinner and Maggie, they were cut off from them, and I’m willing to bet that even when it was pretty safe (probably before Scully got her job or they got the house), they still didn’t get in contact. But they’re so obnoxious about being in love that they can’t bear to be apart. And they could never stand the other thinking that they didn’t want to be with them (“I wouldn’t change a day” & “Of course I was [being territorial]”).

The beauty of MSR is that the worse their guilt gets, the stronger their bond gets, because they lean on each other greatly—they trust each other immensely. They make each other happy because they’re in love. It’s a big ode to the fact that guilt doesn’t have to stop you from having meaningful relationships or being happy. You just learn to live with it and in spite of it.

#txf #ask #i was feeling more coherent/organized last night damn it! #txf meta

[clocks-are-round]

tbh i get more emotional thinking about omega and tex’s relationship than church and tex or epsilon and epsitex or director and allison

i’m just weird like that /j it’s probably because he is my beloved blorboest blorbo

he needed to be with her. he couldn’t figure why he still did after she abandoned and betrayed him so he justified it as wanting her power and strength and skill

i don’t have the energy rn to transcribe every thought and vibe (because i have lots of omega thoughts i have shared and might not have) but i’ll try to lay down the big parts

omega was rage. he was furious and he was never sure why or at who so the rage was directed by the project to their own benefit. they couldn’t stop him from abandoning other hosts in favor of tex so they finally let them be a team. omega didn’t know why he needed to be with tex he just did. i don’t think it was romantic, but it might’ve been a dependency. and tex started pulling him when she realized there may be codependency and also disliking how he affected her with his rage

she was the only person he could depend on. gamma was fickle and fled to avoid capture, sigma had his master plan that didn’t interest omega, so he stayed with tex. he trusted her. he needed her. she was his best friend. and he was hers, by default since she wasn’t allowed to interact much with other agents. she was the only certainty he had, his constant in his aimless pain and loneliness. but she had decided she didn’t want him in her life and that he should not only be cut out of her life, but terminated as soon as she found a way. he had no one. no one was left for him

so he tried to find direction to his rage and pain by playing the blood gulch big bad. tex probably filled him in on what the project had done to alpha— not that church was him but the rest (omega didn’t seem to know it was him and likely thought church— considering his name—was a fragment he hadn’t met before). and omega told tex his role in that, torturing the alpha simply because he was told and had nothing better to do (needing an outlet for his rage and boredom and loneliness). she was not happy about that and that was when she turned on him. and of course she did, she made it clear how evil and despicable he was. he was a villain, wasn’t he. everyone hated him, they must. that must be why he hated everyone back. this was all the director’s fault. he was why omega was so angry, so lonely, in so much turmoil and pain. he wanted omega to be a weapon fueled by his pain? oh he’ll get that. he’ll get taken down by omega, and omega will use freelancer’s resources to do it.

teaming up with gamma and vic, he played out the cartoon villain with mild satisfaction. and finally the ship came. the ship he would convince gamma to redirect to the director’s hidey-hole to finally get revenge. but then there was an explosion and they were blown off course.

when they crashed omega desperately tried to latch onto the sim troopers there but he wasn’t subtle and they panicked and massacred each other in fear. what option did he have left? he joined the meta. the last and only place he was wanted.

oh. huh guess i had more energy than i thought. i just love him a lot. yes some (a lot maybe) of this is speculation but i’m still sad about it

yeah this was ‘cause i listened to hunter by ken ashkorp. in my omega feels rn

#i love him (platonically) your honor #red vs blue #//*evil laughter* #//badass bitch in black #rvb omega #rvb tex

[yourdeepestfathoms]

idk if anyone else has said it yet, but i’m feeling bitter right now, so i will (also it’s just always bothered me)

has anyone else ever noticed the difference in fan opinions between Michael and Vanessa?

in many ways, they are VERY similar characters.

they’re both night guards, have been fucked over by William, killed kids, and barely actually show up in the games.

however, Michael is treated like a goddamn king by the fandom, while Vanessa barely gets scraps. she’s regarded as a bitch so often, is hated on constantly, and/or is sometimes flat out ignored or erased from stories entirely.

oh no! a woman is grumpy! she MUST be a bitch!

Vanessa isn’t a bitch. she’s an underpaid security guard that has her entire career on the line throughout the whole game. there’s a loose child in the Pizzaplex. she’s literally trying to do her damn job so she won’t get fired.

more than that, Vanessa is clearly under a severe amount of psychological stress. she’s being mind controlled by a serial child killer to murder people. you’re telling me you also wouldn’t be in a constant bad mood if that was your life?? and even if you don’t think Vanessa is Vanny, Vanessa STILL has mental health issues. that much is proven by the therapy tapes (i think it’s canon that she has depression and anxiety? and maybe PTSD? i can’t remember; it’s been awhile since i was hyperfixated on this game). god forbid a person, a woman no less, shows the negative aspects of their mental illness!

like, depression, anxiety, AND PTSD all cause irritability and anger issues. anxiety literally triggers your fight or flight, and not everyone automatically cowers into their flight instinct. PTSD has a little something called “hyperarousal,” which is a constant state of anger.

but okay, mental health issues can’t be used as an excuse for things, alright. it’s still late at night. people get irritable and cranky the more they stay up. lack of sleep causes aggression.

but really, none of that matters because Vanessa is justified in her grouchiness through the entire game since, again, she’s doing her job.

and it’s not even like she says or does anything that bad! i’ve seen people treat her like she’s some kind of monster, and for what? because she made a hollow threat about scrapping Freddy?? it was, like, two in the morning, people! people say things they don’t mean when they’re 1) tired and 2) emotional. and we all know she doesn’t have the authority to do that, so she wouldn’t actually go through with it.

also need i remind everyone that Vanessa is treated poorly by her OWN CREATOR?? she’s grossly sexualized. we all know what the Vanny suit looks like. it’s skintight. it’s very obviously designed in a way to highlight ALL her curves. Scott did that on purpose. and like,,, why?? she’s a murder bunny. why does she have to be “attractive”?

don’t get me wrong, i like the design for Vanny, i just hate the suit. i love the idea of her looking all patchwork, like Vanessa tore apart different articles of clothing to make the costume because she couldn’t get enough fur, so she could have been this big mess of thick white fur with splashes of a bunch of random materials in between the pelt. that could have easily shown how, like, “unpracticed” she is. it’s a shoddy suit made by someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.

but NOOOO, Scott had to go, “how can i show that she’s a woman who has boobs?!?!??!? how can i bring her boobs into this?!?!?! what about her boobs?!?!?! we can’t forget about her boobs!!!!”

like, dude, we know she has boobs. she’s a killer bunny, not a playboy bunny. let’s not blur the lines, Scott.

you know, it’s really saying something when the plush of a character is less sexualized than the design itself. i own a Vanny plush (it look, like, three months for her to ship), and she looks great! she’s super cute! but, GOD, the DUALITY between her and the actual Vanny is GLARING.

but also, this isn’t anything new. most of Scott’s female characters get the treatment of being sexualized.

it’s just so goddamn frustrating to see male characters get held up on a higher pedestal than female characters. this is an issue in most fandoms. the women are treated like shit. and it’s infuriating.

just— if Vanessa were a guy, people would NOT treat her the way they do. and if she were a man, Vanny’s suit would have been less sexualized and more like an actual animal suit.

#i have. many thoughts #defending vanessa on the internet takes too much effort. i need a gun #she deserves better than what she gets #and i will defend her until the day i die #fnaf #fnaf security breach #five nights at freddy’s security breach #five nights at freddy's #fnaf vanessa #fnaf vanny #fnaf micheal #michael afton

[deddd-l]

The Critical Issue of People not Understanding Bakugou’s Sacrifice and why this Fandom is Doomed

The other day, I was reading an article all about “why Bakugou’s death [chp 362] adds no real point to the story” and was absolutely blown away by this take right here:

and although I am a certified BkDk shipper, I feel a strong need to defend and explain exactly why this Article and the majority of the fandom is dead wrong about Bakugou’s character and his place in the story. Take my words with a grain of salt, however, as of course my opinion isn’t gospel. This is just my analyzation of the story of MHA and my take on the character of Bakugou Katsuki.

Let’s start from the core of all this commotion— the hate around Bakugou’s character.

i. Bakugou Katsuki

We know him, we either love him or hate him, and we’re all aware of his importance to the story. Or…are we?

It’s been pretty obvious from the very first chapter that Bakugou was gonna be some sort of important figure in the overall story. From his introduction, to his body language, and even his speech— he was a shithead AND unavoidable.

His presence is obliviously the first obstacle to our protagonist, Izuku, as both a bully and a source of insecurity (both to Izuku and Himself)

Believe it or not, this immediately sets the bar for what we’re to expect from Bakugou throughout the entirety of the story. This is His character, and this is his story line.

Proving himself, and being a source of importance to Izuku. First as a bully, then a rival, and finally… 

“The most important figure to Midoriya Izuku”— someone who matters so much to Izuku, he has to die.

And guys, I REALLY need to stress how much his death matters. BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL BEEN BUILDING TOWARDS. From the very first moment he was introduced, to his supposedly final words. Bakugou has always been intertwined with Izuku.

And THAT is where all the animosity and confusion lies.

ii. The red string of fate

Now, this is somewhat the part I get a bit preachy. Only because I view these two as having a connection SO powerful, it’s beyond any sort of friendship imaginable. However, if you view their relationship as more platonic, you’re 100% justified in thinking as such.

Like I mentioned earlier, Bakugou’s death has been the main point all along, because he matters so much to Izuku.

I have a very strong theory as to why people refuse to see it as such.

You see, not everybody likes to dig below the surface. Sometimes, the average viewer just wants to enjoy some sappy romance, or quick punches thrown back and forth, or even some quick and painless jokes to make you chuckle softly. Basically, people don’t like having to think while enjoying visual entertainment. I know this because rarely I actually pay attention to media I’m watching, too busy working on something else to use it as anything more than white-noise.

Bakugou and Izuku have a relationship that requires deeper thinking. It’s not like any other relationship in MHA, where you see two cute characters and harmlessly ship them together. They have history, and a dark one at that. 

The average viewer ALSO rarely views the world as anything more than Black and White at first. Which is normal, we always assume a side before learning about all the nitty gritty details in a situation.

Bakugou has a character that isn’t Black or White. He’s the deuteragonist. Not quite the protagonist, and not quite the antagonist.

He’s a troubled kid, with a troubled past. And guess who has ALWAYS been with him through his darkest moments? Izuku.

People see this as something bad, when it’s the entire point of BOTH their character arks.

To Izuku, Bakugou is his symbol of Victory. To Bakugou, Izuku is a constant and possibly his symbol of hope. Their relationship is so complex, so deep, and filled with many, many layers. It’s vital to both of them, as we see most prominently through Izuku’s reaction to Bakugou’s death.

Their loses hurt. Because they’re so intertwined.

Like losing your other half, literally. Save to win, win to save.

Bakugou was more than just cannon fodder to get Izuku Angry. His death took a piece of Izuku away. His sense of self and his vision of Victory. There’s a reason we haven’t cut back to the Shigaraki vs Izuku battle. He’s not truly ready, not without his sense of victory with him.

But people can’t accept this. People instead take it an entirely different way.

iii. Once a bad guy, always a bad guy

This is my biggest problem with the MHA fandom. I don’t actually consider myself a part of it. I’m a little too embarrassed about my so called peers that believe they understand or appreciate the story. I mean, you’re allowed to dislike whoever you want or like whatever you want, but the hate around Bakugou makes no sense to me. 

You guys… realize people can change, right? There is no such thing as a purely good/ evil character or person. We can try and pretend there are, but there aren’t.

There’s something called character growth, too. Not sure if you’ve heard about it, but Bakugou has gone through it a lot. So has Izuku. Because THAT’S WHAT THEIR RELAITONSHIP ABOUT. FUCK IT, THAT’S WHAT THE DAMN STORY IS ABOUT.

Izuku’s a quirkless kid who wants to be a hero? Fuck it! He gets a super powerful power and is said to become “the greatest hero ever”. Good for him!

Villains want change to the hero system because it’s not fit for everyone? They’re right! Let’s allow them a revolution and give the story more perspective and depth as more than just a hero story. Good for them!

Bakugou, god forbid, wants to reimagine himself as someone more than their past mistakes and turn a new leaf alongside his childhood friend/ most important figure? …Let’s make fun of his death instead.

I GENUINELY DONT UNDERSTAND. YES, SOMETIMES HE SAYS MEAN WORDS. WHAT ELSE?

MHA is so much more that the silly shipping, memes, or backlash it gets. Is it perfect? Of course not! Is it detailed and complex? Absolutely!

Yes, people are allowed to not like a character. I’m not trying to force anyone to love Bakugou. He’s certainly not my favorite, but I at least understand his importance. Yes, not everybody has to grasp the deeper meaning behind a story and simply enjoy it for being a cool anime with memorable character. The problem arises when there is literally NO critical thinking and everyone just agrees with what is at the surface level.

(let it also be known that I feel most of the hate stems from people watching the DAMN ANIME. No offense if you like it, but I can’t stand to watch it. It’s lazy, frankly kind of ugly, and butchers almost every character SO BADLY (*cough, Bakugou, *cough) people are apparently pretty adamant to be anime watchers only, so this could be another reason they dislike Bakugou, because the anime is GOD AWFUL. Again, no offense :))

uhhh, merry Christmas!! 💥🎄

#Bakudeku #dekubaku #katsudeku #cannonrant #Essay #rant #rant post #analyzation of a character and a fan base #bkdk #MHA #bnha #bnha manga #bnha manga spoilers #bakugou katsuki #pro bakugou #Midoriya Izuku #Merry Christmas #deep dive

[heathersproship]

If you ship Chansaw, you ship toxicity. :)

If you ship Jdronica, you ship toxicity. :)

If you ship Mcduke, you ship toxicity. :)

If you ship Chanduke, you ship abuse. :)

If you ship Dukesaw, you ship toxicity. :)

If you ship Kurt/Ram, you missed the point. :)

I don’t make the rules. I didn’t make the ships. I’m just stating facts.

There’s not a single pair up there that passes the pure wholesome healthy relationship challenge. Yet, people (antis) still ship them, and ship them very aggressively. Funny that. If what you ship reflects your morals, then why are you poisoning your blessed soul by consuming such filth? What are you trying to say about yourselves?

If you feel the need to justify why it’s okay to ship [X] beyond “because I like it,” you need to take a hard look at your relationship with the concept of shame.

As someone who understands fiction is not the same as reality, I can ship any one of these ships without worrying about compromising on my morals. Because I don’t attach morality to shipping. Scandalous, I know! Liking is not the same as being. My liking a het ship as a queer person does not make me any less queer. It doesn’t straighten me out, if you will. And shipping “healthy” ships does not a good upstanding moral person make, especially if you’re just doing it to appear better than those who ship “unhealthy” bad problematic ships. Who are you sticking it to? Because it’s not the people who ship badwrong, they’re not the ones looking for brownie points. I promise, they don’t care. That’s the same as doing good deeds with the express purpose of getting into Heaven, and not because it makes you feel good to just be nice to people. Ulterior motives show your true intent. And in case you have’t noticed, none of the ships in Heathers are healthy. At all. With the possible exception of one. But it barely counts because it features an extremely minor character.

There shouldn’t be any antis or anti-leaning people (or minors, but overlap) in the Heathers fandom as a whole because Heathers has always been about problematic things with problematic people, which WILL spill over into their ships.

If two individually fucked up people get into a relationship, you can’t expect them to never showcase unhealthy behavior toward each other. Not only is that highly unrealistic, but that’s toxic in and of itself. Even healthy couples fight sometimes, that’s just how it is.

Veronica only sees the Heathers as a means to an end. Chandler sees Veronica as a disobedient doll, and Duke a nuisance. J.D. thinks the answer to Westerburg’s bully problem is murder, and tricks Veronica into taking part twice; he even intended to kill her if he couldn’t win her back. Duke turned on McNamara the first chance she got (in the movie she was ecstatic about it). McNamara explicitly set Veronica up for date rape in the musical (it doesn’t matter she was too dumb to realize it, she still did it), and both she and Duke took part in slut-shaming Veronica after (Off-Broadway only; in West End it’s all Duke now). Veronica left McNamara, who we saw clearly trying to fight off an explicitly drunk Ram, alone to get slushies with her boyfriend in the movie. Worse: she left her with TWO drunk and horny high school guys. Also in the movie, Veronica slapped Duke and then tried to slap her again the very next day. Kurt and Ram are assholes to everyone and the JOKE was that they were gay. Even Fleming, the one adult who looked like she wanted to help, was really just in it for herself.

“But I don’t ship the canon dynamics of the characters, I’m just here for the AUs!”

That’s valid and all, but listen. Just because you toss the characters in an AU where nothing is toxic and everyone is happy and no one dies does not mean the original portrayals of the characters and their unhealthy dynamics in canon suddenly cease to exist. You had to take those characters from somewhere in order to change them to suit your sanitized happy fluffy funtime world. Consider the Ship of Theseus thought experiment: if you change enough about the character, is it even the same character anymore? Ascribing a certain sexuality to the characters (Veronica is bi, Chandler is lesbian, Kurt and Ram are gay) doesn’t make it true if they don’t explicitly say so in the source material. Conversely, that doesn’t make it not true either, but what looks gay to you could be bi to me, or pan to someone else. Individual interpretations are not universal.

We can watch the movie over and over looking for the smallest of details to support our headcanons or spark new theories as to what’s really going on, and we can continue to put on the musical all over the globe with changes as needed for the times, but those fun little headcanons AUs we love are just that: alternate universes. Fanon. Canon only in your Head, not canon to what we got in the movie or the recordings of the musical or to anyone else if they choose not to accept it. Hell, we can still ignore the word of the actors playing the characters if we choose to. We got what we got and we won’t be getting anything new. We tried getting something new and look how well the TV show went over. (Btw that shit was fun. Stupid, trippy, and absolutely insane, but fun once you turn your brain off lol.)

I love Jdronica both in spite of and because of their toxicity. I love how he encourages her to be bad and she encourages him to be better. I love how clever they both are, how in spite of their individual intelligence their love made them stupid and reckless. I love how they’re two lonely people who made it work for a while because they were willing to try for each other, and how absolutely futile it is because she realized she deserved better and so does he, but he just couldn’t let go because he’s finally found something to believe in, something good and solid and real and she’s taking away his purpose. I love how he started off with the fierce desire to protect her from the monsters, and in the end he realized he had to protect her from him. It’s fucked up, but it’s also fucking beautiful.

#Heathers #Veronica Sawyer #Jdronica #Chansaw #proship #Jason Dean #Heather McNamara #Heather Duke #Heather Chandler #Ram Sweeney #Kurt Kelly #chanduke #mcduke #dukesaw #mcnamawyer #heathers the movie #heathers the musical #antis dni #proshippers please interact #antis don’t interact #proshipper safe #anti anti #anti harassment

[rex101111]

I keep thinking of an Arknights Side Story where RI hires a psychiatrist. Like on the one hand Amiya has shown some pretty good skill at managing mental health and dealing with trauma victims in Children Of Ursus, but on the other hand she already has to deal with So Much Shit so it would only be fair if they actually hire someone who’s actual job is to be support for any operator that feels like life is getting a bit too heavy lately.

So yeah I’m making an OC for AK because why not:

They get into work with the best intentions, they’re pro-infected and recognize how the recent events RI had gone through would be traumatic for just about everyone on board. They’ve suffered major casualties to their senior staff and new recruits alike, so they get into work ready to deal with some Real Heavy Shit.

They were not ready.

The psychiatrist, let’s call them Councilor, underestimated the sheer glut of disfunction even a landship this massive could contain. Between the Ursus’ Kids PTSD, Spector being functionally catatonic half the time, Nightingale’s nightmares, Nightmare’s DID, the many operators with anger issues, the whole medical wing’s odd habit of constantly depriving themselves of sleep to the functional biological limit, Warfarin being an entire thing onto herself, the entire Rhine Lab crew having a medical textbook’s worth of mental illness and disorders between them, Lappland...well being Lappland, and Rosmontis’...everything, they have their hands full to the brim on a daily basis.

Councilor is the highest paid non-combat employee on RI, but its still only barely enough to justify having to stick their head into the piranha tank that is the general state of mental health of Rhodes Island.

They’re here because everyone on this thrice damned ship needs their help, its a minor miracle, they think, that this crew of weirdos hasn’t torn itself apart before they showed up.

And that’s without getting into the senior and commanding staff of RI. All the Elite Operators are bad enough on their own. Each a heady cocktail of survivors’ guilt, PTSD,  and Gods know what else. But the three at the top are another kettle of fish altogether.

Amiya is the most well put together, but that’s speaking relatively. The girl spends half their sessions trying to council Councilor, suggesting that she take on some of their patients to lighten their load. Forgetting the fact that Amiya’s habit of absorbing other people’s trauma to help them was the whole reason Councilor was brought in to begin with, the fact that this child, and it doesn’t matter what crazy bullshit magic prophecy rumors going around say that’s what she is, is attempting to shovel more responsibility onto her already nearly spilling plate is very destressing.

Kal’tsit is....Councilor doesn’t think there exists a word suitable to describe Kal’tsit. Or, at least not any word that would make sense without an actual degree in psychology. Detached is the closest, and even that seems lacking. She scares them, honestly, but they’re here to help, help everyone, so as underqualified as they are to deal with the hot, immutable mess that is Chief Medical Director Kal’tsit, they’re gonna give it their all.

And Doctor? Oh hell. If Kal’tsit is a hot mess, Doctor is volcanic. The amnesia is the absolute least of it. The first few sessions went pretty much no where, since the Doctor just rambled on about random things that seemed to pop into their head without letting Councilor get a word in edgewise before the time ran out. But one day, they ask a question, “...ever felt like you weren’t...real?”

“...care to elaborate, Doctor?”

“...like, you’re just a big, empty cloak with a name someone came up with on the fly, that you’re only meant for the people around you to pour themselves into to see what shape they take?”

“...how long have you been feeling like that, Doctor?”

“....since I woke up, I think.”

“....you people don’t pay me enough, Doctor.”

“We really don’t, don’t worry though me and Amiya are gonna bring up a pay raise for you in the next budget meeting.”

“Joy.”  

#Arknights #A non-binary skink Operator who isn't being paid enough but is gonna help everyone anyway #skink specifically because that's the animal im still waiting for #say hello to #Councilor (Arknights) #everybody!

[violexides]

there have been a few times on this website where i’m torn between making a post about an actively discussed issue while people’s opinions are still forming on it, and waiting a few months to let the information marinate and then talking about it when people are done frothing at the mouths. but the decision has been called: you all have HORRIBLE takes on oceangate. 

in my opinion i think the large swarth of discussion and criticism levied against oceangate and the people lost in the tragedy are falling into the same pit that we are attempting to criticize. which i’m enabling here and i apologize but: the fixation on oceangate, and rather the callousness people are treating the deaths of the billionaires, isn’t the anticapitalist critique you think it is. because this isn’t about the billionaires (not to mention that to my understanding they were not... all billionaires on the vessel) themselves; it’s about the attention their status levied, and it’s about the structure of the ship itself and why it fucking failed. if you’re critiquing the capitalism of the situation, you’re talking about the framework of the media spotlight it’s been put under (why is oceangate discussed more than the boat of refugees, should these events be comparable, should we be romanticizing these deaths) and the lack of precision that the constructor of the ship put into the ship-- because it was an act out of profit. while it’s tempting and in all honesty partially justified to take this as a “fuck the billionaires, i hope their next ship sinks too”, it objectively was not the billionaire who made the ship sink, and it could have been ANYONE-- an example being a researcher, or a historian, or someone malinformed by the corporation that made the ship-- on that ship. would it have garnered the same media attention, and would we actually be able to criticize the right things? who knows. 

this could be a hasty or controversial opinion of my own, and i recognize that. but i think it’s important to separate the emotional aspects of anticapitalist critique with the rational aspects-- neither are bad, neither should be vilified. activism needs initial outrage; i apologize if this deprives you of that. you are right to be outraged at how billionaires are able to do such things. and personally, as a second generation child of immigrants, there are no words for the rage i feel at how little attention internationally is being given to the boat of migrants compared to this stupid fucking billionaire (which, too, can be dissected rationally, but an example of the emotional component). but if you’re going to meaningfully learn a single damn thing from this circumstance, and what this means for the state of technology right now-- you’re going to want to drop this performative callousness and actually treat this like a tragedy, which it is. 

(and to pull out the second-generation iraqi card again: this is just like how you fuckers treat 9/11, claiming that you understand the trauma its aftermath dealt while you prance around in these false skins of being the oppressed arab-american, and use this costume to treat the deaths of those to 9/11 like they were just puppets (unsurprising, you leftists and anticapitalists treat arabs and muslims themselves like objects and monsters, when the dime is right, because some of you never meaningfully internalized that treating people with humanity is punk, is anticapitalist, is leftist). it’s all the same. you’re hopepunk until there’s a scapegoat, a pretty billionaire obscuring the corporation that stole his life and the lift of others.)

of course, you don’t have to make this a critique. you can do whatever the fuck you want, as far as i’m concerned, and you could just be in this for the memes. but if you’re doing that, reconsider whether or not this is going to be an activist venture for you. because the way y’all are trying to play this both ways is fucking embarrassing. 

#ides.txt #okay to reblog #oceangate #throwing myself into the tags. fucking scared. #by the way i know some people are unfollowing and shit because of people's opinions #i'm not doing that. i don't really fucking care #i havent' blocked the tag for a reason #but christ. are we false liberals now for not wanting people to horribly die #i admit it guys. i a person who has done activism work for going on four years now. i am a false liberal. so sorry.

[autcnomy]

I’m really fuckin angry about “Shattered.”

Lionel Luthor is like some kind of mestastacizing cancer. 

He manages to make Clark feel guilty for being loyal to Lex, and blame himself for Lana’s injuries, which are wholly an accident ultimately caused BY Lionel. 

He makes certain Lex will never trust ANY form of psychiatric care (which he desperately needs) because the person could (quite plausibly!) be tied to Lionel.  Which, whether Lex stays in the “looney bin” that he already mistrusts, or is released and then slowly erodes under the force of (justified!) paranoia, will ensure that his son has a psychotic break that’s REAL, and then externalize it onto others.

This was the perfect opportunity for Clark to come clean to Lex.  The look on Lex’s face, when Clark busted Edge’s car, is one of almost rapturous, tearful awe.  He is happy to know Clark isn’t human; he is grateful that Clark stood by him and convinced Chloe and Lana to help.  But instead Clark chooses to run.  

I also think Jonathan and Martha are the least likable they’ve ever been. Harboring Lex would not have put Clark in danger anymore than letting Lex go  Edge wasn’t even after Clark.  It seems like bad writing that they’d just stand there looking sorry for Lex and not fucking HELP him. Where the hell are their parental instincts??? I mean, even Jonathan had finally caved and accepted Lex at this point, and he just bought them their entire farm back! 

It’s also bad writing that everyone would think Lionel trying to drug his son was implausible. Like, that’s Satan’s ballsack, folks, hair and all.  Why the hell would you think him incapable of that? 

Anyway Michael Rosenbaum is the best actor on that show and he broke my heart with his amazingly nuanced performance in this episode.  I remember the “Hurt” Johnny Cash number to this day, and I don’t  care if Lionel is having misgivings while watching his only child walk around in a padded cell with the belief that he is so completely alone in the world, putting him there because that child took his own teachings and applied them TOO well.

I fucking HATE him. 

Other observations: 

1) Do we ever find out exactly how Lex “hurt” baby Julian and “caused him to die”? (I don’t think Lionel was lying about this, but I have to fucking hate him even more because he then weaponizes that childhood trauma to make Lex feel guilty and falter--”Be careful, Lex, I can’t lose another child”r ead: like you made me lose Julian and Lucas already. AGH!)  Can we also acknowledge the school belltower incident a little more because....god... “You know I cant take it when he cries, dad.”  What does that mean. Does that mean he accidentally smothered Julian? Does that mean he held him too tightly when singing a lullabye and “can’t take it” was a compassion response? Is Lex actually autistic, and did he panic because he was in sensory overload? 

2) I remember now that this episode is why I was never hugely on board with Clex. I can completely see why people ship it.  But I’ve had a longtime headcanon that, once Lucas didn’t pan out, Clark more fully became Lex’s second chance at raising a baby sibling, and Lex uses the only love language he knows--gifts--to express his need to be important to Clark.  This got even more pronounced after Helen’s betrayal, and Lionel’s (latest), and certainly was always brewing because Lex was close to Lillian, and Julian’s death had to profoundly wound her.  Lex has been carrying that guilt around for nearly two decades, and it’s VERY significant that when he was feeling the most vulnerable and afraid, his mind went to what his psyche still deems his worst and most shameful mistake. 

#Lex Luthor #Smallville Lex Luthor #Michael Rosenbaum #smallville s3 spoilers #meta #i mean kinda #lately i'm just screaming lol #ooc