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thru-the-grapevine · 2 years

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[4:52 PM] You were prepared for a lot of things on your walks home from work, but being clotheslined by a seven-year-old learning to bike with no training wheels wasn’t one of them.

“Sorry!” The little girl screeched as her bike continued to careen haphazardly down the sidewalk. “Daddy, how do I stop?!”

“Use the brakes! We’ve talked about this!”

The girl squealed and tumbled purposefully into the grass next to the sidewalk about ten feet away from you. “I did it! Come get me!”

“Just a second, honey!”

You sat up slowly, taking quick inventory. You could still feel all your limbs, although you were going to have the mother of all bruises on your right hip and thigh.

A set of running footsteps pounded towards you. “Shoot, I am so, so sorry. Are you hurt?”

“I’m fi…” You paused, blinking up at what had to be the prettiest pair of eyes you’d ever seen. Belonging to the prettiest man you’d ever seen.

You cleared your throat and finished your sentence. “Fine. I’m fine.”

The man didn’t look convinced, but knelt and began scooping up items from your bag that you hadn’t realized had scattered. “I’m seriously so sorry. I try to make sure we’re practicing bike-riding on quiet streets so there aren’t any casualties.”

“I usually take a different route, so,” you said, taking the items the man picked up and putting them back into your bag. “No harm done.”

“Are you sure you’re okay? She took you out pretty hard.”

The man’s sweet look of concern made a cloud of butterflies take off in your stomach. “I promise I’m fine. I’m sturdier than I look.”

“I hope so,” the man said, smiling as he offered a hand to help you to your feet. You took his hand and stood back up slowly.

“Daddy, Daddy, let’s try again!”

The little cyclist came bounding up to the two of you, grinning.

“Just a moment, love,” the man said, giving the little girl a stern look. “What do we say when we knock someone over?”

“Oh, yeah,” the little girl said, turning to look up at you with nearly-identical eyes. “I’m really sorry I hit you. I’m not good at steering yet. Or stopping. Just going. Going’s my best thing.”

You bit back a smile. “I can tell.”

“How can I make it up to you?” The man asked, and you realized he still had a hold of your hand.

You shrugged, letting go and pulling your bag up your shoulder. “No need. No harm done, promise.”

“Please, I insist,” the man said, smiling, and you felt that cloud of butterflies in your stomach again. He had a very nice smile. “Doesn’t have to be today, but I feel bad just letting you go your merry way when my daughter nearly killed you.”

“She didn’t nearly kill me,” you said just as the little girl said “I didn’t kill anyone, Daddy!”

He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “Then maybe just…for my own benefit? Let me?”

You must have been looking at how pretty he was for too long, because you heard yourself say, “Sure.”

His smile really did light up his whole face in a way you really admired. “Excellent. Yang Hongseok.”

You gave him your name, taking his offered hand and shaking it. “So how do you want to do this?”

“Wanna, like–I mean, if you’re not busy…we could get lunch? Or even just coffee if you don’t have a lot of time?”

“Maybe this Friday?”

“Great.” Hongseok pulled his phone from his pocket. “Let me get your number and it’s a date. A time, I mean! Not a…unless you…no, just a time.”

“Why’s your face all funny, Daddy?” The little girl giggled.

“It isn’t,” Hongseok insisted, face flushed as he handed you his phone with a contact page pulled up.

If you were unprepared to be bowled over by a kid on a bike, you were even less prepared for someone who looked like Yang Hongseok to ask you on a date on your walk home from work. But you thought it might not be so bad, every once in a while, for the unexpected to happen.

#hongseok fluff #hongseok x reader #Pentagon fluff #Hongseok drabble #pentagon drabble #Hongseok timestamp #Pentagon timestamp #Yang Hongseok fluff #Yang Hongseok drabble #Yang Hongseok timestamp #hongseok #yang hongseok #Pentagon #admin ellie #ellie writes #ellie’s fluff #i miss him okay i miss him i miss him pls come home from war king #also idk why the idea of him being a dad took me tf out but boy howdy it sure did

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sweetdejun · 2 years

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summer of '22 drabble game

I haven't done one of these in a while but, since I have enough free time this summer, I wanted to put this together for everyone!

RULES:

I write mainly for nct and bts, so I'll take requests for them, but other groups I'll take requests for include: exo, seventeen, ateez, stray kids, day6, pentagon and sf9 (I don't really listen to new gen groups much, so I don't know anything about them)

I will write either angst, fluff or both. NO SMUT PLEASE!!

I will stop taking requests on June July 1 at midnight EST! this is hopefully enough time for people to send in their requests

FOR SENDING REQUESTS: send the prompt number + member from group (ex: 1 + nct jaehyun)

here are the prompts (most inspired by @creativepromptsforwriting, thank you!)

"it's too hot, maybe we should take our clothes off"

"I won't be participating"

"I never liked summer anyway"

"let's go get ice cream"

"why are you busy, it's summer!"

"I know what you're thinking"

"are you jumping into the pool, or should I come out and push you in?"

"I can barely keep my eyes open"

"I could kill for a slushy right about now"

"is that for me?"

"who's genius idea was that again?"

"how does painting and a picnic sound?"

"don't promise anything you can't keep"

"I have two weaknesses: apple pie and you"

"you're absolutely insane, do you know that?"

"I haven't stopped thinking about it since then"

"funny how things turned out, huh?"

"you're too cute"

"did you just call me 'dude'?"

"get your butt over here and kiss me"

"are you nervous?"

"you look good in that"

"I did think of one thing we can do.."

"I wish I never told you about that"

"it's only a matter of time"

"when will we ever see each other again?"

"can you believe summer's almost over?"

"I'm what?"

"take a picture, it'll last longer"

"I'll see you soon, I promise"

BONUS: free prompt! send me whatever you want (but keep the rules in mind please!!)

I'm so excited to finally put this out! I will be awaiting requests from you all!

update: extended the deadline in case people still wanted to send requests!

#sweetdejun #kpop writing #kpop #kpop fluff #kpop angst #kpop drabbles #kpop timestamps #summer of 22 drabble game #bts x reader #nct x reader #exo x reader #seventeen x reader #ateez x reader #stray kids x reader #day6 x reader #pentagon x reader #sf9 x reader

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sreegs · 8 months

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I reblogged it earlier but I'm glad the Something Awful Forums 9/11 thread was archived because it's an incredibly important slice of internet history. For the record I think 9/11 was thousands of personal tragedies for the direct victims of the attacks but one big national farce that led to America's ongoing slide into fascism, and the nationalism and remembrance around it is a joke especially in the wake of the same amount of deaths every fucking day in the US during the height of coronavirus.

Nevertheless I think it's important that if you do not remember because you were too young or just didn't exist on Sept 11, 2001 to read the Something Awful 9/11 forums to get an idea of what the internet was like at the moment when America changed to 24 hour news cycles and renewed hyper-nationalism not seen since WWII.

This all happened before Twitter, Facebook, before Discord. Before smart phones. Before most people had cell phones. When a lot of people still had dial-up internet, even. Some people in the thread were relying on radio because internet and TV weren't keeping up.

It was a live event of internet denizens reacting to the biggest national event (and among the biggest international events) of the past 25 years. It was also a slice of what the internet was like at the turn of the millennium. Not only that, but people accurately calling out who was responsible, and what would result before the attacks even finished.

Keep in mind that the links that follow contain images of the event, lots of Islamophobia, people calling for the Middle East to be nuked, people blaming Palestine, casual racist and homophobic language (this was Something Awful after all), etc etc. They preserved the first 17 pages which spanned about 24 hours during the events. It's the origin of the "WATCH BUSH START A FUCKING WAR" screenshot.

Links under the fold. I've also annotated the pages with notes regarding the timeline and any posts of interest. Note the thread was preserved in Pacific Time even though the page says times are Eastern. That's incorrect. Post timestamps are 3 hours behind Eastern Time, which is the time zone where the attacks occurred:

Page 1 - Note the first post was edited to include images of the second attack. The thread started after the first plane hit. Second plane hitting the WTC happens here too.

Page 2 - Poster accurately calling out Bin Laden was responsible at 9:14 AM EST

Page 3 - "WATCH BUSH START A FUCKING WAR"

Page 4

Page 5 - First official acknowledgement it was a terrorist attack.

Page 6 - Pentagon hit

Page 7

Page 8

Page 9 - Commercial flights grounded by FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)

Page 10 - First mention of towers collapsing at end of page

Page 11 - More reactions to collapse of first tower. People thinking it was a bomb or yet another plane. Rumors about a fourth plane just missing the White House (these are false and predate the actual 4th plane crash by minutes)

Page 12

Page 13 - By this point there's just rampant speculation about more bombs at the WTC, the US Capitol building being hit, etc (all false). Remember this is all just people reacting to TV news and radio and the rumor mill via phone, AIM, IRC, and maybe text messages.

Page 14 - By this point internet news sites are overwhelmed

Page 15 - Second tower collapses. First acknowledgement of the fourth plane that crashed in PA.

Page 16 - There's an abrupt time jump in the threads, I think it was the result of admins pruning the activity or the SA forums going down. This page starts on 9/12 even though it is page 16. American flag signatures and ribbons start appearing.

Page 17

#9/11 #something awful

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indynerdgirl · 1 year

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Topgun AU Ideas

As I was scrolling through the Topgun tag on AO3 the other night, I realized that I was starting to see the same tropes and AUs over & over again. And while not a bad thing at all, personally, I'm just starting to get a little bored of reading the same story over & over.

So I started thinking about what kind of AUs I would love to see in the Topgun fandom and then I started making a list and it kind of spiraled out of control. Oops. 😆

I now present to you all my somewhat organized list of AU ideas! And feel free to use them for any fandom, I was just thinking about Topgun as I came up with them all. It's also by no means an exhaustive list so I probably missed some obvious ones.

Military AU ideas: Pentagon/Joint Chiefs/White House Advisor (think The West Wing but for the military - this is the one I've been dying to see someone tackle!) Navy JAG NCIS Blue Angels Air Force Instead of Navy Astronauts/NASA Test Pilots Naval Academy Instructors Adversary/Aggressor Squadron Office of Naval Intelligence Sailors Instead of Pilots Submariners Instead of Pilots Naval Flight School Instructors (Aviation Preflight Indoctrination, Primary Flight Training, Intermediate Flight Training, and/ or Advanced Flight Training)

Character AU ideas: Natasha is Maverick's daughter/niece Bob is Maverick's son/nephew Natasha is Ice's daughter/niece Bob is Ice's son/nephew Maverick is Amelia's father Penny Is Also a Pilot Penny’s Father Is An Air Force General Obligatory Goose/Carole/Ice Lives AUs Maverick’s Dad/Mom Lives Any of the younger pilots is the kid of one of the other 86 boys

And a whole lot more under the cut!

American Historical AU ideas: Colonial/Revolutionary War Post-Revolutionary War Lewis & Clark War of 1812 Mexican-American War/The Alamo Wild West (good guys or bad guys) Organ Trail The Gold Rush (California or Alaska) Pony Express Civil War/Reconstruction Transcontinental Railway Cattle Drives Industrial Revolution/The Gilded Age WWI Bootleggers/Rum Runners/1920s Jazz Age Great Depression/Dust Bowl WWII Korean War Vietnam War 1950s/Greasers Moon Race/1960s NASA 1980s/The Cold War

Other Historical AU Ideas: Ancient Greece/Rome Middle Ages Renaissance Tudor Elizabethan Georgian Regency Napoleonic Victorian Edwardian

Fandom AUs: The West Wing Firefly The Avengers Agents of Shield Star Wars Star Trek Harry Potter Percy Jackson Ocean's 11 Mission Impossible Bourne Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan Jack Reacher John Wick Friends New Girl Supernatural How I Met Your Mother Chuck Downton Abbey CSI Jurassic Park Indiana Jones The Office Parks and Rec Pacific Rim

Other Profession AU ideas: Coffee Shop Book Shop Bakery/Candy Maker Winery/Distillery Restaurant/Chef Bartender/Bar Mechanic/Car Repair Shop Doctor/Medical/Hospital Firefighter/Police Officer/Detective Wildfire Firefighter Florist Tattooist Gardener/Gardening Horse Racing Motorsports (NASCAR/F1/Motocross, ect) Professional Sports (baseball, football, hockey, soccer, basketball) Rodeo/Bull Riding Olympians Air Racing (it’s a real thing!) Actors (movie or stage)/Celebrity Ballet Dancers Teachers College Professors Lawyers/Judges National Park Ranger Cruise Ship Pet Groomer/Veterinarian Farmer/Rancher Banker/Financial Bodyguards Zoo Museum/Living Museum Musician/Band Mall (everyone works at different stores at the same mall) Marketing Archeologist Spies Reporters/Journalist News Anchors Lifeguards Assassins Criminals/Thieves/Heist Bounty Hunter

Misc AU Ideas: Royalty/Lost Royalty Time Travel Fae/Fairy Mermaids/Selkies Witch/Wizard Werewolves/Vampires Fantasy/Magic (including modern/urban settings) High Fantasy Dragons Soulmates (color blindness, first words, timestamps, matching marks, can share emotions, Red String of Fate, can share dreams, can see/talk to each other in dreams, can write on each other's skin, telepathic, Soulmate Goose of Enforcement) Omegaverse/ABO (not everyone’s cup of tea, just putting it out there!) Roommates Pirates High School College Mob/Mafia Fairytale Arranged Marriage Accidental Marriage Fake Dating/Engagement/Marriage Superhero/Villain Apocalypse/Post-Apocalypse Forbidden Love Boarding School Space/Sci-Fi Road Trip Summer Camp Immortal/Reincarnation Hallmark Movie Amnesia Pen Pals Resurrection Animal Shapeshifter May this list inspire all of you amazing fanfic writers out there! 💜

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ed89 · 2 years

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when the s5 finale ends with the timestamp September 11th, 2001 and a now grown up will byers turns on the tv and starts screaming MIKE WAKE UP THEY HIT THE PENTAGON

#byler

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accessible-flatland-art · 7 months

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Pinned post.

[ID: The icon for this blog, which is a black right triangle on a brown square background, with text following the diagonal of the triangle, reading, "Let irregulars enjoy fandom too.". End ID.]

Please copy and paste the image description I write into the original post for your art, rather than simply reblogging it from me.

The image description should go directly below the image being described, above comments, and stay in normal sized, black text, without italics, bold, or colors. It may be indented (like above) to make it easier to distinguish from the rest of the text in the post. This is in fact more accessible.

Once you add the ID to the original post, I'll delete my reblog and reblog the original again once I have time.

This blog is run by @rjalker so it's easier to keep track of which Flatland art has an ID already, and so people have an easy place to find it all.

The blog theme is now Account Settings, since I like that it shows timestamps and makes it easy to reblog and go to the original post.

___

Posts on the blog so far: 160 Posts still in the drafts waiting for image descriptions: 455 Blog created on September 18th, 2023 Numbers last updated: September 21st, 2023

(The drafts consist of all of the undescribed Flatland art I could find in the whole tag going back to January 2022, at which point tumblr started giving me random unrelated posts instead. Not sure if it ran out of Flatland posts, or just stops actually keeping track of tagged posts after a year...?)

___

The tagging system for this blog is under the cut so this post doesn't get too long. More tags will be added as I find more art to reblog.

The tags in use so far, which I have saved to a notepad so I can just copy and paste them as needed.

please copy and paste the image description into the original post when you get the chance, no credit needed, please also feel free to add in more details likes names or pronouns or fix any mistakes i made

described images, described art, Flatland, Flatland art, Flatart,

Flatland a Romance of Many Dimensions Flatland Illustrations

The Color Revolt, Configurationism, Circularchy,

Flatland anatomy

Stylized form, Literal form,

Flatland animals Flatland rabbit Flatland bees

Flatland technology

A Square, A Sphere, The Grandson of a Square The Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather of A Square

memes, Flatland memes,

Family Trees Comic

Flatland OCs, Original characters, Flatland original characters,

Character reference

Disabled characters, Neurodivergent characters, Physically disabled characters, Characters with mobility aids, Characters with disability aids Characters with canes, Characters with walkers Characters with swimmers Characters with glasses Characters with wheelchairs, Characters with chairs Characters with sleds Characters with crutches, Characters with rollators, Characters with scars Characters with facial differences Characters with visual impairment Blind characters

Werestars, Stellanthropes,

The Arts of Being The Breaking Point Flat Dreams Flatterland Flatland the film 2007

Esther Flat Dreams Nora Vigenere

Pollux Codex, Madelyn Schwarz-Carver Hunter Schwarz Marianne Smith Michael the Misogynist Pentagon Providence, Nature, Providence and Nature Germs Mr Square

A Shape Oblisi Liam A Son of A Square Cy Frau Line Lily Cipher, Ruth Galton Liz Orbis

Rutabega,

Hauntlight the Irregular Line Cenotaph the rabbit daemon

Flyssa of Ib-Wa Dearg of Ib-Wa Lieutenant Kellite the Configurationist Grandna Tuokeli

Vikki Line, Victoria Line, Lee Line, Jubilee Line,

Bill Cipher, Gravity Falls, GFcrossover, The Axolotl Andrew Kryptos The Mosaic

Spacelanders

Video, autoplay, GIF, Autoplay WIP animation Unnamed Animation 001 Animation

Flatland Merch Art you can buy Art you can print

Art templates

Ty for adding it to the original ID added in reblog ID in original

#pinned post #Flatland #accessible art blog #accessible art #described art #accessible art blogs #image descriptions #accessability

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ceoyjw · 2 years

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how to request !

📂 what i write !!

↳ fluff, angst, social media aus, timestamps, head cannons and many more !

📂 who i’d write for !!

↳ enhypen, the boyz, seventeen, omega x, txt, stray kids, sf9, oneus, golden child, nct, verivery, monsta x, to1, pentagon, ateez, victon, treasure, monsta x, cravity, woodz, kang daniel, wonho, hur hyunjun, demian

↳ bold groups/soloists are my most comfortable persons to write about, since i know quite a lot about them.

↳ but i am willing to write about other groups/soloists that are not mentioned ! (but please keep in mind that i’ll only write about them if i’m comfortable enough and know something about them ^^)

📂 requests ! (open !)

↳ feel free to send me requests of scenarios, timestamps, head cannons or anything you want through sending me an ask ! just make sure to include these: prompt + genre + member/s ^^

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esonetwork · 1 year

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Timestamp #278: Extremis, The Pyramid at the End of the World, & The Lie of the Land

New Post has been published on http://esonetwork.com/timestamp-278-extremis-the-pyramid-at-the-end-of-the-world-the-lie-of-the-land/

Timestamp #278: Extremis, The Pyramid at the End of the World, & The Lie of the Land

Doctor Who: Extremis Doctor Who: The Pyramid at the End of the World Doctor Who: The Lie of the Land (3 episodes, s10e06-08, 2017)

All shall love and despair.

Extremis

A long time ago, the Doctor confers with an executioner named Rafando about a method for destroying a Time Lord. After the execution is completed – a process that stops both hearts, all three brain stems, and the ability to regenerate – the body will be placed in a quantum fold chamber for a millennium to prevent “relapses“. The process also requires that a Time Lord be the one to pull the lever.

The prisoner slated for execution is Missy. The Doctor has been selected to kill her. Missy begs for her life, promising to do anything in return.

In the present day, the Doctor confides in Missy about his blindness through the vault door. His discussion is cut short by an email, sent via the sonic sunglasses that he uses to get around, with the subject line of Extremis. Always curious, the Doctor opens the message.

The Doctor stands in a darkened lecture hall as fifteen men enter. They claim to be from the Vatican, and a cardinal named Angelo asks for the Doctor’s help after a series of suicides. The Pope descends the stairs and personally asks the Doctor for help. In his office, the Doctor is given a parchment that reads Veritas – literally, and not subtly, truth – but the resulting text is in a language lost to time. A later translation contains a secret that drives the reader to suicide. All of the bodies have been recovered except for one.

The Pope asks the Doctor to read Veritas to help. Because he has lives to spare?

Bill brings a girlfriend named Penny to Moira’s home, but the romantic interlude is interrupted by the TARDIS and the Pope. Penny runs out in fear as Bill chastises the Doctor for dropping the Pope and his assembly in her bedroom. As Nardole briefs Bill on the task, Cardinal Angelo offers a friendly ear for the Doctor.

Back at Missy’s execution, Nardole arrives dressed as a monk with orders from River Song to stay the execution. After the conference, Missy begs for mercy with tears in her eyes.

In the present, the TARDIS materializes in Vatican City. Nardole confers with the Doctor about the secret of his blindness before the Pope bids farewell. Cardinal Angelo shows the travelers to the Haereticum, a labyrinthine library that reminds Bill of a fictional wizarding school. Angelo leads the group to the heart of the library where a bright light shines through a portal with a man inside.

The portal vanishes and Angelo checks the security while the travelers proceed to the cage where Veritas is kept. Angelo is soon abducted by a mysterious claw-like hand. A priest scares the group and reveals that he sent the email before running off. While the Doctor investigates the Veritas, the mysterious priest commits suicide. When Bill and Nardole investigate the body, they find another mysterious portal and take a look.

I realize that I said mysterious a lot. This whole story is full of it.

As the Doctor begins scanning Veritas with a device that will temporarily fix his eyesight, he is approached by a mysterious peculiar figure.

Back at the execution, the Doctor pulls the lever and activates the machine. He promises to guard Missy’s corpse for one thousand years.

In modern day, Bill and Nardole emerge from a closet into a Pentagon operations center. They climb back through the portal into a strange hub. They walk through another portal to CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) and meet a scientist.

The Doctor finishes his work and tries to read the book as the mysterious curious figure with a zombie-like face locks him to the chair. The figure takes Veritas but the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to turn off the lights and escape with a laptop containing a translation. He later tries to read the screen but is interrupted by more of the figures and his failing eyesight. He runs off and finds another portal.

At CERN, the scientist leads Bill and Nardole to the cafeteria where a five-minute countdown has started. The countdown is leading to a mass suicide explosion. The scientist explains that the explosion will release them from this world, a world that doesn’t truly exist. He tests Bill and Nardole by having them pick a series of random numbers. When each choice matches exactly, they both run and dive through the portal at the last second.

Bill and Nardole find a trail of blood in the hub as Nardole realizes that each portal leads to a holographic simulation. He soon realizes that they are also part of the simulation and he steps outside of the projectors, thereby vanishing. Bill follows the blood trail to the White House and finds the Doctor and the President of the United States in the Oval Office. They both have read the Veritas and the President has committed suicide. The Doctor explains that a demon is trying to conquer the world but has created a “shadow world” to practice. This simulation assesses the abilities of the human race throughout history. The key to understanding that one is in the program is a string of numbers, the same ones that Bill and Nardole recited.

Once a simulant understands their role in the program, they escape back to reality by ending their program.

With that, Bill disappears, leaving one of the mysterious strange figures behind. It tells him that they have killed many times before, but the Doctor replies that they have fallen into their own trap because the simulation is too good. Since he is linked to the sonic sunglasses, they are a recording of the last few hours. Before he vanishes, the Doctor emails the recording to the Doctor in the real world.

The Extremis email was that recording. The Doctor finishes watching it and then calls Bill. He tells her to call Penny and ask her on a date.

In the last flashback to Missy’s execution, the Doctor reveals that he sabotaged the machine to knock her out instead of killing her. The Doctor scares the executioners away by asking them to look up his list of fatalities, then he and Nardole load Missy into the vault.

Outside of that vault, the Doctor asks Missy through the door how he can save his friends when he is blind.

The Pyramid at the End of the World

Following the Doctor’s recommendation, Bill takes Penny back to her home. During the date and walk home, Bill relays her experience in the alien computer simulation. Once they reach Bill’s home, the United Nations Secretary-General arrives and demands that Bill take them to the President. Bill denies knowing the President of the United States – she wouldn’t have voted for the “orange” man anyway – but the Secretary-General clarifies his request. Because the world is in danger, he’s looking for the President of the World.

He’s looking for the Doctor.

The Secretary-General takes Bill to an airplane while explaining their interest in a 5,000-year-old pyramid in Turmezistan. It’s a fascinating site because the pyramid literally appeared overnight. Meanwhile, the Doctor meditates with his guitar while he monologues about how each person’s death is predestined and each step takes them closer to the event. To punctuate it, a woman named Erica breaks her reading glasses as she leaves home, suggesting that a minor event can lead to a series of larger ones.

The Doctor is surprised to find that his TARDIS has been hijacked by the secretary-general’s plane. His university office apparently has much larger windows now as well. As the Secretary-General explains what he needs, Erica delivers coffee to her lab partner at Agrofuel Research Operations. The lab partner, Douglas, is hung over, but since Erica can’t see without her glasses, she asks him to mix the next stage of their experiment. As they work, the mysterious aliens Monks watch through a lab camera.

The travelers arrive and meet United States Army Colonel Babbit – a man who is out of uniform since he’s wearing the rank insignia of a four-star general – before investigating the pyramid. The structure opens for the Doctor and he is greeted by a Monk. After a brief interaction, the Monk retreats and everyone’s clocks around the world are set to 23:57:00.

Three minutes to midnight. Three minutes left on the Doomsday Clock.

Sure enough, Douglas miskeys a value in the experiment. Not recognizing the mistake, the scientists leave for lunch and let the computer take control.

The Doctor assembles Ilya Svyatoslavovich (the leader of the Russian military in Turmezistan), Xiaolian (the leader of the Chinese military in Turmezistan), General-Colonel Babbit, the Secretary-General, Bill, and Nardole in the UN base. They discuss the reasons for the Monks’ arrival, settling on the relative weakness of humanity at this time. Despite his companions’ objections, the Doctor recommends a coordinated attack to demonstrate strength.

The Doomsday Clock advances to 23:58:00. Nardole and Bill become concerned for the Doctor.

Bill later asks the Doctor what’s bothering him, but he says that fear rules him to the extent that he cannot even reveal what scares him. As they speak, the pyramid emits a bright orange beam into the sky that consumes the bomber en route to the pyramid. The crew are replaced by Monks and the plane is gently deposited on the desert floor. Several members of the coalition military emerge from the pyramid as a Russian submarine lands in the desert. The Monks have stopped all of the attacks against them, but they are ready to talk now.

The world leaders join the Doctor and his companions in the pyramid. The Doctor tells Bill that traps provide a chance to learn about their enemies. The assembly meets with a Monk who explains that the chain of events is in progress that will destroy the planet at humanity’s hands. They witness the Monks working on the simulation from the outside, weaving strands in a tapestry. The Monk shows the group a vision of the future, then offers to help humanity survive, but to do so will enslave the human race.

The Doomsday Clock advances to 23:59:00.

The Monks must be wanted and loved because ruling through fear is inefficient. With the vision of the future in his mind, the Secretary-General consents to help, but since his consent was based on fear, he is immediately destroyed. The rest of the group leaves the pyramid.

At Agrofuel, the experiment goes awry. Erica and Douglas begin analyzing the problem, but Douglas breaches containment in the process. In Turmezistan, the world leaders consider their position and decide on peace. But since they are not the source of the end of the world, the Doomsday Clock doesn’t budge. Sure enough, the experiment at Agrofuel is the source and creates a deadly microorganism. The world leaders come to the same conclusion, and the Doctor responds by placing every top secret document online so that they can all start searching. Meanwhile, Douglas collapses from exposure to the virus and immediately decomposes into a puddle of goo.

General-Colonel Babbit wants to negotiate terms with the Monks, but the Doctor suggests that the price is way too high. Bill agrees with them because she sees no other choice, and the military leaders decide to surrender. As they leave, the Doctor almost reveals his secret to Bill but then decides on a different course of action.

Leaving Bill to watch the military leaders, the Doctor and Nardole use a list of biochemical labs on the UNIT watchlist to narrow the possible targets. They turn all of the CCTV cameras off, and when the Monks restore the feed, the Doctor takes the TARDIS to Agrofuel. The Doctor asks Nardole to monitor him from the TARDIS but Nardole has already been exposed. Meanwhile, the Doctor briefs Bill and the military leaders on the situation.

The Doomsday Clock advances to 23:59:40.

Since the lab’s filtration system has been compromised, the Doctor decides to incinerate the microorganisms. While he works, the military leaders are killed since their consent is based on strategy, not love. The Monks offer the deal to Bill since she is the representative of the Doctor. She must truly want their help in light of the consequences.

The Doctor sets the incendiary device and the Doomsday Clock begins to reverse. As the Monks panic, Bill leaves the pyramid. Unfortunately, since the lab is locked down, the airlock is secured by a combination lock. Since the Doctor is blind, he cannot see the numbers and therefore is trapped with the bomb.

He tells Bill about this problem and she decides to save his life by asking for help. She asks the Monks to restore the Doctor’s sight by consenting to their rule. Her consent is pure. The Doctor can see again. He spins the numbers and leaves the lab just in time.

As the fires rage, Bill asks the Doctor to get her planet back.

The Lie of the Land

As the Monks take control of humanity, they cultivate the lie that they have always been by humanity’s side. Their propaganda is spread by television broadcast messages delivered by the Doctor. Any dissension is punished by imprisonment and execution.

It’s only been a few months since the Doomsday Clock event at the pyramid but it feels like an eternity.

Bill prepares two mugs and concentrates, apparently summoning another woman to sit across from her. This woman is her mother. Bill reveals that she can’t remember escaping from the pyramid but she can see how the people of Earth have been brainwashed. Every day is harder than the last as the memories threaten to invade, but Bill believes that the Doctor will come back and save the world.

Her monologue is interrupted by Nardole, and after verifying that he is real, she welcomes him. Nardole recovered from the microorganism after six weeks and has done some research. He has traced the broadcasts to their source, a prison ship that is regularly resupplied by small boat. The captain of the supply boat hates the Monks since his son has been imprisoned for possession of comic books.

Nardole also points out that the Monks have altered the perception of human history for a good reason: However bad a situation is, if people think that’s how it has always been, they’ll accept it.

Nardole and Bill access the prison ship and are almost caught immediately, but an appearance by a Monk distracts the guards. They sneak into the bowels of the ship and find the Doctor in a room surrounded by speeches. The Doctor calls for help and the room fills with guards. He places a call to the Monks and then explains that human society is regressing, but Bill argues in favor of free will. They argue philosophy and Bill’s actions with the Monks and his eyesight. Bill tries to use a coded message regarding their trip to the Thames, but the Doctor deflects.

Bill finally breaks, talking about her personal rebellion while waiting for the Doctor’s return, and eventually pulls a gun on the Doctor. Seeing him as the enemy, she shoots him several times. The Doctor stands and appears to regenerate, then reveals the entire thing as a ruse. From sneaking on board to Bill shooting the Doctor (with blank ammunition), the last six months have been a plan by the Doctor. He even de-programmed his own personal guards.

Now he needs an ally nearly as smart as himself. So, the Doctor drives the prison ship to the mainland. They return to the university to find the Monks in wait, so they head to the vault and open it, finally revealing Missy inside. Bill is astounded to see who she thinks is just a woman, but the Doctor reveals her true form.

Missy tries to haggle over her role in the process, then works through the mystery of the Monks with the Doctor. The Doctor eventually comes to the conclusion that they use Bill as a linchpin through a psychic link. To keep themselves in power, the statues around the world act as transmitters to boost the signal. The link would be passed down genetically through millennia, so Missy suggests killing the linchpin and ending the chain.

Bill, obviously, has problems with that proposal.

Of course, Missy’s plan requires ages since the memory of the Monks would fade over time, so the Doctor and Bill offer a counterproposal at resistance headquarters. They decide to break into the Cathedral, the place where the Monks power their transmission, and replace Bill’s brainwaves with his own. Through reconnaissance, they determine that there are only a few Monks on the planet, but the transmissions make people believe that the Monks are everywhere all at once.

Using headphones playing a recording of their mission objectives, the resistance members infiltrate the Cathedral. Two of them are killed and one is turned when his tape player is damaged, but the turncoat is dispatched by Nardole. The team reaches the broadcasting chamber – Fake News Central, the eye of the storm – and finds a Monk wired into the antenna and sending the message. The Doctor attempts to override the transmission but the Monk is too powerful. The Doctor is knocked out.

When the Doctor comes to, Bill has tied him up to a pillar. She says her goodbyes and thanks the Doctor before walking to the antenna. The Doctor breaks free just as Bill places her hands on the Monk’s head. The Monk’s power overwhelms her and starts overwriting her memories, but the one that they cannot touch is that of Bill’s mother.

The Doctor sees this and persuades Bill to fill her mind with images of her mother. The pure, uncorrupted, irresistible image is broadcast to the world and overrides the control signal. The people of Earth are free and the Monks leave the planet in their Cathedral.

Sometime in the future, at the university, Bill and the Doctor muse about how humanity doesn’t even remember the Monks or what they did. The Doctor leaves Bill to her studies and sits with Missy as the prisoner expresses remorse for all of the people whom she has killed.

I mused about it in the slug line, but this story reminds me of Galadriel from The Lord of the Rings. When the elder elf is tempted by the One Ring, she compares herself to various forces of nature and declares that people would love her, fear her, and despair ever having liberty under her rule as a Dark Queen. Her subjects would love their slavery.

Galadriel passes her test by rejecting that vision of the future, but Bill takes an alternate path by accepting the Monks to save the world and her friend.

Episode by episode, this trilogy experiences several ups and downs. I found Extremis to be equal parts confusing and clever, especially how the flashbacks to (re)introduce Missy betrayed the main story’s existence as a virtual reality simulation. It’s a fascinating setup that slowly unravels as plot points don’t quite line up. The whole “practice invasion” scenario is quite reminiscent of The Android Invasion.

The Pyramid at the End of the World starts with a decent mystery surrounding the titular pyramid, but the intrigue is drowned by the snail’s pace of the story. The cardinal sin behind this second part is boredom, broken in parts by gallows humor (as scientists with hangovers create a pathogen that can destroy the world) and the absurdity behind the apparent inability to check United States Army rank insignia when the internet literally sits at the world’s fingertips. The story also returns to the fictional Turmezistan, which I called out not that long ago for Orientalism.

In better news, the Doctor gets his eyesight back, but The Lie of the Land makes me wonder why it was even a plot point at all when he can regenerate at any time. All I can think is that it doesn’t count unless the Time Lord starts healing, like the Eleventh Doctor giving up a small bit of energy to River Song. This episode moves a little better than Pyramid, but it still takes forever to establish a brainwashed world that won’t be remembered. The final solution is touching, but the idea that the world chooses to forget the whole earth-shattering experience is a bit much to swallow. The entire world was under their control for months and people across the globe were subject to horrors during that time.

Of course, the sonic screwdriver was easily fixed before this whole trilogy started. That should have been a clue about consequences and how long they last.

Rating: 2/5 – “Mm? What’s that, my boy?”

UP NEXT – Doctor Who: Empress of Mars

The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.

#Doctor Who #Timestamps Project #twelfth doctor

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americanmysticom · 1 year

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new details about events that lead up to Sept. 11 and how new pentagon lawsuits show the CIA may have been involved

Col. Tony Shaffer: Russia HITS Ukraine With DESTRUCTIVE FORCE

Stephen Gardner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laiE01XSMes

Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer goes over the realities of the Russia Ukraine war. Colonel Shaffer lays out how dominate the Russian army is right now, what Ukraine should do next in Bakhmut, he covers new details about events that lead up to Sept. 11 and how new pentagon lawsuits show the CIA may have been involved. We talk president Biden and his plans for Ukraine and the US. LTC Shaffer shares where he agrees and disagrees with Scott Ritter and Colonel Douglas Macgregor.

TIMESTAMP: 0:59 Putin had to get Xi's permission to attack Ukraine

3:30 China is focused on global dominance and Russia on protecting Russia 5:00 China helped Russia escape US sanctions 6:40 China wants the war over so China is the winner 7:30 Will Russia attack Finland now that they have joined NATO 10:30 Lloyd Austin heading to Finland to coordinate military efforts 11:00 The truth about Bakhmut 13:30 Why did it take 20 years to admit the Iraq war was a waste and a tragedy 17:40 Col. Shaffer and his dark ops team knew an attack was coming on US 19:40 If they prove higher ups in US were aware of 9/11 attacks it will be a big headline 21:30 Operation Able Danger knew an attack was coming and knew about Osama Bin Laden 24:00 US government turned a blind eye 25:20 President Bush and his team shut down any look into pre attack actions 27:20 9/11 commission lied to fit the government narrative 30:00 The documents Clinton aid stole when Clinton left were the Able Danger documents

https://www.secretdonttell.com/shop/

Indirectly related;;

[The latest propaganda attack on the Dali Lama only demonstrates the ‘Spirit of Folly’ once again poisoning minds across the globe.

The three poisons are Ignorance, Hatred and Greed.

The ‘Spirit of Folly’, ill wishing spirits, are daemons that only seek to further inroads of selfish behaviors that erode the development of wholesome cultures.

Those qualities of culture with religions that expound virtues, to therefore develop the character of our children, with the very light, and life, of Holiness.

The Tibetan People were overrun by the very people whose culture once . espoused .. Virtue.

Just so, as the government, sworn to protect the Sovereignty of its own people, has succumbed.]

https://www.secretdonttell.com/shop/

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puzzle-paradigm · 1 year

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32 for the wrestling ask!

ohhhh this is so hard though! There are a lot that I really adore. One that has a special place in my heart (despite being, admittedly, a little cheesy) Is right at the end of this match (conveniently timestamped):

youtube

And like. I know this isn't anybody's best match, but tbh it's not even about the match, it's about the buildup and the reveal and the way Vampiro demands that Pentagon breaks his arm. Maybe I have bad taste idk lol.

Also I showed one of my friends this whole arc and she fell off the couch in excitement so at least I'm justified in enjoying that lol

#ask games

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ultadachi · 4 years

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[4:02am] you didn’t always stay up late when hongseok didn’t come home. he typically was out anywhere from 10pm to 7am, but that night, you just couldn’t sleep. maybe it had something to do with the energy drinks you had out of pure boredom, but you were still awake and sitting on the couch watching TV when the front door opened and slammed shut, followed by heavy footsteps dragging on the hardwood down the hall.

your boyfriend was home.

“babe?” you called out.

the footsteps paused before you heard hongseok sigh, “why are you still up?”

“couldn’t sl--” you stopped your sentence as you took in his disheveled appearance -- notably the way he was holding his arm with red soaking around the bicep of his white button-up shirt. “so...who patches up the medic when he gets hurt?”

despite your playful smirk, hongseok could see the worry in your eyes. he rarely ever came home injured, but he was also rarely ever sent out since he was their go-to to get fixed up when they were injured.

“his beautiful, wonderful, caring significant other,” he smiled his perfect smile at you despite the pain he was in.

you laughed softly, shaking your head. you knew if he was sent home, it wasn’t too serious. otherwise hui would’ve kept him at headquarters and sent someone over to the house to update you and keep you calm.

“come on,” you told him as you led the way to the bathroom down the hallway.

hongseok followed behind you. he seemed to have just bruised his knee which was why he was walking the way he was, but the biggest issue was the cut on his left bicep. he leaned against the sink while you got the first-aid kit and laid it out on the counter beside him.

“alright, first you have to clean the wound,” he instructed as he began to unbutton his shirt.

“i can clean around the fabric, y’know,” you pointed out.

he shrugged with a slight smirk, “yeah but where’s the fun in that?”

you were convinced that if hongseok were on the verge of death, he’d make his final words some way of flirting with you.

as he dropped his shirt to the floor, you grabbed a cotton pad and let your eyes scan over the supplies. for someone who was dating the medic of a mob, you really had no idea what anything was for.

“this,” he pointed to the bottle of distilled water, “is to clean wounds.”

"i thought peroxide was--”

“that’ll make it worse. plus it stings like a bitch.”

“aren’t you supposed to be a manly man who laughs in the face of pain?” you teased as you dampened the cotton pad with the water.

hongseok pouted, “don’t tease me when i’m hurt.”

“sorry, you big baby,” you giggled as you cleaned the wound. “i don’t have to stitch anything, do i? i don’t like needles.”

“ah, who’s the big baby now?” he chuckled, brushing your hair out of your face with his other hand before pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “no, just a big bandage should be fine.”

after his cut was clean, you wrapped a bandage around his bicep a few times, though you huffed in annoyance on your third time around, “can you stop flexing, you weirdo?”

“i’m not!” he insisted with a laugh. “i just have big arms, okay?”

“hongseok, i know the difference.”

“fine, fine. sorry.”

you finished wrapping up his arm, so you cut the bandage and taped it securely so it wouldn’t unravel. hongseok examined your work before smiling proudly at you.

“you’re a natural, baby! you get it from me.”

“considering you literally coached me through it,” you snorted, rolling your eyes. then you reached out for his hand and began leading him out of the bathroom. “okay, bedtime. that’ll help you heal faster or something.”

he laughed softly as he followed along with you, “yeah, something like that.”

the two of you made it to your shared bedroom, not bothering to turn the lights on as you made the straight shot from the door to your bed. you climbed in with hongseok getting in after you, both of you crawling under the covers.

“y’know, _____,” your boyfriend began, “cuddling speeds up the healing process.”

“no it doesn’t,” you scoffed. “i’m not dumb.”

“who’s the medic here?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into his chest.

“yeah, alright, doc,” you yawned, suddenly feeling much sleepier than you did a minute ago, “whatever you say.”

(kinda sorta for @dreamjunhui and @neverknewgrey2016)

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