#yes of course antonio still exists

[foreveranevilregal]

If it’s no trouble, could you please do Prompt 25 : “I want an answer, godammit” (smutty Pepa and Felix)???

Send me a prompt.

Of course! I decided to write a follow-up to a prompt I'd written previously for a really angsty AU. You can read the original prompt here and some additional lore here. The second post isn't necessary, but it does give some more context for this sequel. Since it ended up being very long, I decided to post it straight on ao3. I hope you enjoy!

@caramella116, here's the The Winner Takes It All piece you wanted!

Pepa wandered aimlessly up and down the cobblestoned streets. Although she’d been gone for a decade, the encanto was virtually unchanged. Sure, some new houses had been built to accommodate the growing community, but the school was still on the street to her left, the church in the plaza to her right, and the river surrounded it all. It was… familiar, comforting. After a decade away, it was good to come back to what she knew.

Speaking of familiar…Pepa’s eyes fell upon someone she had known very well. Known, past tense. Past. It was in the past. Still, butterflies fluttered in her stomach at the sight of the man she loved (past tense, right?) and she couldn’t help the rainbow that sprang over her head.

“Shoo!” She swatted at it like it was a pesky bug. It was bad enough not having her own feelings worked out without broadcasting them to everyone in the vicinity. She’d gotten so much better at this. Granted, controlling her feelings had been easier outside the encanto, where her gift didn’t work. Come on… She squeezed her eyes shut and breathed deeply. Clear skies, clear skies.

To her relief, the skies did clear, but not before someone could notice.

“Pepa!”

She never expected to hear his voice calling her name again. Yet here he was, approaching her, all too suddenly.

“F-Félix.” Pepa’s fingers flew up instinctively to rake through her hair but met nothing but air. Right. She’d made the impulsive decision to cut it a few months ago. She was tired of feeling weighed down, of hiding. Living in the city had opened a whole new world to her, and, feeling brave, she chopped off her mane. At the time, she felt lighter, free, but now… Now she wished she had a long braid to toy with instead of hair that only came a couple inches below her shoulders. Thankfully, she was spared the burden of responding.

“You’re back.” His eyes ran over her, taking her in.

Feeling exposed, Pepa crossed her arms over her chest. “I am.”

“I didn’t think I would ever see you again.” Félix sighed, shifting the shovel he had slung over one shoulder to the other.

“Me neither.” She gave him a once over. Neither one of them had remained unchanged. His afro had begun greying around the temples, and the years had made him softer around the middle. But he still had the same infectious smile and warm eyes that had made her tummy turn for so many years. “I wasn’t planning on coming back,” she found herself admitting. He’d always had a way of getting her to reveal more about herself than she’d wanted.

“Well I’m glad you changed your mind.” He beamed at her. One hand came up to wipe the sweat off his brow.

The action snapped Pepa out of her trance. “I’m sorry, am I keeping you from something?” She wrung her hands together in the absence of her long locks. “I should let you go.” She swept a tendril of hair behind her ear, the sensation still foreign to her.

She wasn’t expecting his hand on her arm. “Pepa, I approached you,” he pointed out. “Fuck, I haven’t seen you in so many years and all of a sudden you’re back.” He let out a low whistle, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I bet Emilia loves it when you use language like that,” Pepa muttered under her breath, but unfortunately Félix caught it.

“It doesn’t really matter what she thinks about it.”

[continue reading on ao3]

#pepa madrigal #felix madrigal #felix x pepa #pepa x felix #feliepa #tia pepa #tio felix #writing encanto #writing answered prompts #writing feliepa #sorry i hijacked this to write my own idea #i hope it's good #pepa is in for a surprise when antonio happens #yes of course antonio still exists #i'm not a monster #foreveranevilregal writes #anonymous #asks

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Fossil Novembirb 15: Oasis in the Desert

Xenerodiops by @iguanodont

We FINALLY get to an ecosystem that isn't in Europe, North America, Antarctica, or Oceania - it's Jebel Qatrani Time!

(If you are as appalled as I am at the low sampling rates of fossil localities in Asia, South America, and Africa, welcome to the club, and support paleontologists who are from and work in countries from those continents!!!)

The Jebel Qatrani Formation is an ecosystem from Egypt at the end of the Eocene through the early Oligocene. It showcases the tropical forests, swamps, and marshes that existed at this time, emptying into the Tethys Sea. A wet and humid environment, it would have been a weird mixed ecosystem, with both the old and the new coexisting on the riverbanks. And, like in the forests and plains of Oligocene Europe, we see many modern bird groups show up for the first time here - and also very similar to their living relatives! This is a departure from the mammals in the region, which were unique and weird for the time period (though early members of modern groups are found here, too).

Palaeoephippiorhynchus by Bubblesorg

Being a wetland and humid environment, the main feature of the avifauna here are aquatic birds - many of which have close relatives today. Palaeoephippiorhynchus is the oldest known fossil stork, and was remarkably similar to the living Saddle-Billed Stork - even having the same upcurved bill. While it's uncertain if they're close relatives or not, it is possible that living Saddle-Bills are similar to this ancient form. There was also a mid-sized heron, a bird extremely similar to living Black-Crowned Night Herons, and Xenerodiops - a heron with a pointed and strong bill, curved downward - good for grabbing onto prey. It was a very sturdy, robust bird - even for a heron.

In addition, there was Goliathia - the fossil Shoebill! This bird had legs much like the living shoebill, and was similar enough in the limbs that it might be in the same genus! It probably lived very similarly to living shoebills, feeding on fish in the wetlands around it. What its beak would have looked like is uncertain - the closest living relative to the Shoebill is the Hammerkop, which has a very different skull. What their ancestral skull was, or what Goliathia's was, remains a mystery.

Goliathia by Antonio Rares Mihaila

But if you think I'm done with the water birds, you're very wrong - this is just the beginning! There was also an indeterminant cormorant, which had a very hooked and tapered beak; birds similar to living crowned cranes and others like living flufftails; early jacanas like Janipes which was bigger than all living jacanas but still had the large feet for floating on vegetation, showcasing the vegetation in these wetlands was sturdy enough to hold it up; other early jacanas smaller in size as well like Nupharanassa; and of course -

The Flamingos! Well, yes and no. There was an indeterminate crown-flamingo (ie in the group that all living flamingos are in), a bit bigger than a living lesser flamingo. But there was also Palaelodus - one of the "Grebe-Flamingos" or "Swimming-Flamingos", a long-lasting group of birds that first appear in the early Oligocene and lasted until possibly the Pleistocene! They looked superficially similar to living flamingos and were more closely related to them than to grebes, but they did have some similar characteristics to grebes as well - specifically having less of a kink in the neck, shorter lower legs, and flatter limb bones like those in grebes. They also had webbed feet, which would have allowed for diving or swimming. It also had a straight, conical bill, very unlike the bill of living flamingos.

Palaelodus by @alphynix

There were also perching birds, such as an early turaco very similar to the living genus Crinifer; and early eagles, ospreys, and other birds of prey that haven't really been named - mainly because they are very similar to living species, but so distant in time it seems unlikely they'd be in the same genus still... right? One, very similar to the living sea eagle, was found near the shore - indicating a similar ecology to its living relative. Another was almost identical to the living osprey, just smaller in size. And another was similar in size to living ospreys, but more robust than them. This place was filled with raptors!

Of course, I can't ignore the metaphorical elephant in the room. One of the most mysterious birds of the Jebel Qatrani is Eremopezus, a bird that has similarities to so many different groups of birds that its exact position is still a mystery. At this time it is thought to be a Palaeognath, possibly closely related to ostriches or maybe elephant birds - as the volant Lithornithids start to disappear, ratite-like Palaeognaths become more and more common. It was flightless, and probably lived similarly to modern ostriches and other ratites - as a a large herbivore, probably taking advantage of the wetland landscape and the abundance of food.

Eremopezus by @thewoodparable

Jebel Qatrani is such an important formation because it sheds light on the evolution of even more bird groups than those we see in former Laurasia (North America + Eurasia). And it is possible that many lineages we still have in Africa today have been around for thirty million years - and may have been very similar in ecology and appearance during that whole time. Given living birds react to changing climates by shifting with the ecosystems, it's possible that these lines of birds similarly followed the migration of wetlands and other habitats during the climate change to come, persisting to this day across the continent.

Sources:

Kampouridis, P., J. Hartung, F. J. Augustin. 2023. The Eocene-Oligocene Vertebrate Assemblages of the Fayum Depression, Egypt. The Phanerozoic Geology and Natural Resources of Egypt. Advances in Science, Technology, & Innovation. 373-405.

Mayr, 2022. Paleogene Fossil Birds, 2nd Edition. Springer Cham.

Mayr, 2017. Avian Evolution: The Fossil Record of Birds and its Paleobiological Significance (TOPA Topics in Paleobiology). Wiley Blackwell.

Rasmussen, D. T., S. L. Olson, E. L. Simons. 1987. Fossil birds from the Oligocene Jebel Qatrani formation Fayum Province, Egypt. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 62(62): 1-20.

#Fossil Novembirb #Novembirb #Dinovember #Dinosaurs #Birds

[expirisims]

Hello All!

So...I've been on a bit of a hiatus once again! I have been super busy in my personal life as always. I am hoping to get some play time soon, I've been really itching to open my game especially while my manuscript is still with my betas for a few more weeks. Anyway, I have some plans!

For my Sims game, I have been really wanting to make another world, or maybe more...I don't know, I'm too indecisive. I have been toying with the idea of making a roadless village type island, possibly resurrecting my old Pickerling Cove world I started ages ago and did not complete, and a new idea that ties into my real life a little bit. I started a world years ago and it corrupted so it was never completed, however, I found some of the old builds for that world from before the corruption that I have tested in game. I'm thinking of remaking the original concept and using those old builds where I can. Some of them unfortunately will be quite impossible to use because of the terrain, however, I am wanting to incorporate interiors that I am planning to make in 1/6 scale for my little one's doll town. Yes, I have an entire hidden doll city planned in our playroom...and I've been watching too much Youtube in my free time lol! Anyway, I'm thinking that building the various cafe's, apartments ect in Sim World will help me make design choices for the compartments I have planned in the window seat, coffee table and bookshelf in our playroom.

I have also started sewing some clothes for my kiddo's dolls because we have mostly rags left over from my childhood, modern Barbie clothes are simply not the same as they were when I was a kid and let's just say it's a good thing the majority of my kiddo's Ken dolls have molded on underwear! That being said, I would love to share pictures with you all, but I don't want to clutter up Simblr's with non sims stuff so I am planning to open a second page for sharing my crafts! As long as Tubmlr still exists that is.

I know this is already long, but I wanted to at least share my last played day in Redwood Harbor (from months ago) below the cut as I haven't shared pictures in a LOOOONG time! Thanks for sticking around to read this and I hope everyone is doing well! Now on to the pics!

I don't remember exactly what was going on, but I do know that Antonio is still working nights and Joanna is getting VERY pregnant so once I get back into game she may go into labor by the end of this rotation!

Woohoo! Jody has learned to walk! I'm going to be honest, the Sims toddlers wear me out so I have never really tried to get their skills accomplished until my Redwood Harbor save, lol! Quite proud of my little sims!

Looks like it was off to the winter festival the next day! Antonio works nights and Joanna is on maternity leave already...aaand of course, they left Jody to fend for himself while they went ice skating!

Left over salad it is for dinner...Joanna what are those shoes you're wearing with that outfit!!??

OMG!! Really!!?? I'm pretty sure these two are going to break up again so I'm not sure how this is going to work out!

Time for bonuses! Better luck next year Joanna, maybe you won't be on maternity for most of the next year so you can progress in your career, fingers crossed the sims in this save seem to be very fertile.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE playing this save?

#sims 3 #ts3 #ts3 world stories #sims3 gameplay #ts3 worlds #ts3 gameplay #updates #redwood harbor #joanna mccabe #antonio mcallister #jody mccalister #terrell thigpen #alyson farrell #upcoming projects

[rosesandalfazemas]

Hi!! Do you mind an angsty prompt?

Antonio is alone with Martín and asks "You really don't like me, huh?"

Or course my dear! Thanks for asking and hope you like the drabble!

Resiliencia

[Argentina - España] - Versión en español aquí

"You really don't like me, huh?"

Argentina blew out the smoke from her cigarette, his gaze fixed on the sunset horizon, and looked at the dark-haired man next to him, who had finished his a while ago.

"Why do you say that?”

"Your children," he answered, green eyes clouded with sadness. “When my committee arrived at the Ezeiza airport yesterday, the press dynamited them and the social networks exploded. I don't even want to reproduce the insults I read.”

"...I didn't know you read things about humans." the blonde raised an eyebrow. “You taught me that their business is not ours.”

"True, but they interest me because their moods affect; especially to you, who are still so young”

"The Europeans are more concerned about the matter than the Latin; when, according to you, they are from another ‘category’ " he smiled sarcastically, smoking again to remove the gray smoke from his mouth and nose ". But what are you worried about? You have a thousand of these in your house, with your brother and your neighbors.”

"Yes, but... it hurts even more." he looked at him shyly. “Because I know that it comes to you and you are my son, so...”

Martín gave a loud sigh, cutting off the speech. He straightened up to his full height and sat on the ledge of the balcony with one leg in the void, leaning against the wall; without fearing death that was never going to reach him. Not the human one at least.

"That's it dad, let it go.”

"No, I can't let him go, Tincho." Antonio looked at him with anguish. “It's just that centuries have passed by and I know I did wrong, but I tried to amend it " he touched his chest ". And yet, the only one I couldn't quite make peace with was you.”

"... it's not that simple, we are not people who forgive or not.”

"Well, you behave like one who never will."

"Look, it's not entirely up to me, you know. I do feel that anger on my skin, like a tingle; and once burned my eyes. But today it's softer, I don't know. I am only aware of the reality in which the world put us, and how it is.”

"And what is it like?"

"Do you want me to tell you?"

"Please.”

"Well, here it goes: you never stopped thinking like masters of everything, and you will never stop seeing us as colonies. Deep down, beyond diplomacy, manners and good intentions, it weighs on you, you still feel it as a boldness on our part, breakers of a "natural" order.”

Antonio looked towards the horizon, thoughtful.

“Yes, that's true. That's why your anger worries me so much, and it hurts me to see you in the eyes with that resentment.”

"That's where you're wrong." Argentina looked at him seriously. “It's not resentment. It is conscience. Conscious of being who we are.”

"Do you know who you are?”

"Almost. I know I'm not like you " he shrugged ". In the meantime, I appreciated our treatment and received good gestures. Someday, perhaps, you will feel that it is like before; although it will never be like before.”

Spain turned his face towards the horizon, his eyes brimming with tears.

"It is the most frightful thing of my existence; a crow that does not stop leaving my shadow.”

"That's blame. Too human to be so far from mortals " Martín half smiled ". But make no mistake, viejo. I love you, as a father loves his son.”

He walked towards him, and hugged him.

>>"Grandpa told me, and I understood it much later " he mentioned Pampa, making the Spaniard blush. “If you hadn't done everything you did, I wouldn't be me. And, in part, I thank you. You gave me a reason to exist even before you found me. Otherwise, I would never have been born from the roots of the pampas land, nor would Piare have found me " he searched his eyes, to convey what he wanted to tell him ". I was something different because you were going to make me different. Thanks to you and because of you, later I wanted to be different by my means. I made it. At least nominally, we all make it here. How did you ever free yourself from Al-Andalus once, or when you began to feel different from Rome.

He released it.

>>"But we are what we are because you set foot on this earth.”

Antonio smiled sadly, resigned.

“And even so...”

“Even so.”

The European pulled away from the embrace.

“I'll go back to the embassy. I appreciate your time with me, son.”

"You're missed, old man. Believe it or not.”

“I want to believe.”

“So, learn something from mortals: resilience.

They stared at each other for a long time, in silence.

“I'll try.”

The father and son parted ways once more.

Maybe not for so long this time.

--000---

#hetalia #latin hetalia #lh argentina #aph spain #hws spain #fanfiction #drabble #angst #rosas headcanons #spanish fanfiction #SpArg #antonio fernandez carriedo #martin hernandez

[muraenide]

He wakes up to the sound of drills and metal clinking in his head. They were like thunder, like the storms out at sea, nearly deafening. Jade did not personally find them a favourite, but he knew they were Antonio’s, especially if the subject of the matter was pertaining to building the world he wished to gouge into existence in the Coral Sea.

A no-man’s land. Unless, of course, Antonio would eventually crown himself its founder, and invite all the fishes in the sea which he thinks worthy enough to partake in this new era of the fish people. 

“It’s the concept of an underwater city I have been working on for decades, Jade.” Jade could still remember feeling a strong arm slips around his shoulders, pulling him close into its embrace. His hands had unwittingly balled up in dislike when Antonio did it, but outside, he had said nothing. “And eventually, you’ll run it. Just as I have planned. See why I’d like for you to see it into execution, son?”

He knew it wasn’t a dream, no matter how much it felt like one. Jade knew that it happened just as clearly as what he’d had for dinner the night before. He can’t help but wished it was a dream. 

Getting up from the bed, he abandons the warmness of his sheets for his desk and picks up the coin that had been sitting there in a strive for comfort. On the other side of the wall, he could hear Floyd yelping in happiness as he has successfully terrorized yet another student. Further from Floyd, perhaps two meters across, Azul yelled at him for breaking a plate. 

Mixed with the sound of hammering iron and smell of grease that had been haunting his dream since they came back from home two days ago, Jade absent-mindedly twirls the coin between his fingers as he mentally battles the noise away, instead trying his best to focus on Azul and Floyd’s bickering. 

It’s no use. It’ll come. 

The fact that Floyd is oblivious about it mattered less. Azul, meanwhile, is out of the question. Perhaps things are better this way; he rather they didn’t know, that, Antonio had every intention to tip the scales of the world and shuffle the ecosystem to his liking, playing with blot and thinking that they would be a source of power rather than something one ought not to mess with.

Jade thinks of himself as someone rather ambitious, but he liked to think that he hadn’t crossed the line and turn himself into a fool.

Placing the coin on the table, he spins it around, and then he watches.

Perhaps he should take a leap of faith.

In that instance, the door opens and in a flurry of anxiousness Jade’s hand comes to slap the coin down onto its desk as he looks up, Floyd waltzing into their room as he tosses his bag onto his bed. 

“What’cha doing Jade?” He asks, stretching, tired for the day.

“I just woke up.” He smiles back at Floyd, turning so he faces his brother with his back straight and his chest heaved with confidence. As Floyd continues to talk about something else, Jade’s listens to him happily while his fingers drummed along the surface of his desk. The coin is tucked underneath his palm. For the time being, he didn’t mind  to delay knowing whether it was a head (yes) or a tail (no).

#:: drabble #// I got possessed for two seconds -runs- #𖦹 ⋆꙳ ⁄ ic.

[swords-of-a-soilder]

i will say even as a semi q!Forever fan...I can say with his lore ending up at a stopping point due to his already planned hiatus, it does to me seem actually pretty easy to write him out. Yes, he had more lore/a planned return, but it could have been 20x more jarring. As it is...he was corrupted in the lore and then...suddenly no one talks about him. Could have been worse.

Though I admit I only watch VODs 12 weeks behind and recap/clip vids. Work + adulting not very good for streams.

I actually appreciate a reset/deletion of things if lots of the server members are uncomfortable talking about him/or uncomfortable with the drama it could cause, Q made it a lot easier for them not to. Even if behind the scenes some are still friends, even if behind the scenes, some keep in touch--no one wants to be forced to have to explain themselves. It's their personal lives.

I also think admins like fanfic writers/artists, did have their own grief about plots they had to abandon, but likely at least they had each other to talk to about it and maybe a few of the streamers.

In the history of SMPs...unfortunately having to abandon plots and having BTS extreme drama is...par for the course. One SMP I watched featured a writer for it flipping tf out causing big lore changes because the streamer didn't go along with the romance he showed no interest in the whole time.

I don't agree with you on most points but I will say I've seen the argument that the mare existence of things in the server in realtions to him can trigger bad feelings for people who aren't comfortably around him.

Makes me wonder how cc Philza will feel when he eventually goes through his ablum again like he usually does even 15 or so streams is he gonna avoid it entirely, go though it and not say anything?

If he remove all Forver related images, it'll leave a heavy dent in his album.

And the creators that do want to acknowledge (as a pervious anon stated) but can't what about them?

Like I get the agurment it will make things easier for people who don't want to think about him, I know bagi and Antonio (I'm not sure how to spell his name you know who I'm talking about) activitly disowned him but that's 2% of his friend group publicity stating disinterest while the rest seem to just silently unfollow.

But I'll give the benefit of a doubt it's more than we think, is it worth it?

No like actually is it worth it? erasing changing the story confusing new viewers, to avoid walking past a building you don't have to acknowledge or interact with in anyway?

Is it worth removing half you lore and leaving a gapping hole in your story?

Also I don't consider the admin on the same level of fan artist, they are above us let's be honest. They help create the lore we love so much, they are responsible for so many of the characters we enjoy.

I feel like them watching their work get remove would hurt a lot more for them than someone us who can just choice to draw the character anyways no matter what out belief about them is.

Also there is a possibility of just doing the removal for damage control over the comfortability of players; I want you to think of what happens when you make a complaint to HR about a worker.

They may suspend that worker or move you to a different department away from that worker, but that doesn't necessarily mean they believe you over that worker.

Simply put even if they think you're lying if they don't act after you've made your complaint they could be liable for reputation damage if you decide to publicity bash them, so they may remove the worker not because they believe you but to protect the company.

So it's honestly up in the air why it's being done but how much can they really remove, without ruining everything?

Also while I get not wanting to be force to make a statement these people make content creator their job, you would want your company to make a statement about something as important as such.

they are human beings with emotions yes but at the very least the owner/boss of the server should make a statement to clear the "companies" progression.

Using corporate speak but you get the point I'm Trying to make, when you invited the guys it'd your responsibility.

#not answering anymore today #wont answer all of them tbh because repetitive im not gonna repeat myself a million times #but #I read them #i really do #ask #qsmp #qsmp discourse

[extreme-investor-network]

Is The Housing Crash Starting?

Last week, we shared extensive empirical evidence that the US housing market is starting to crack when we quoted regional managers from John Burns Real Estate Consulting, all of whom agreed on one (or more) of three things: i) Demand is slowing, namely entry-level due to payment shock; ii) Investors are pulling back, and iii) Ripple effect of rising rates starting to hit the move-up market. Here are some excerpts: - Dallas builder: “Interest lists are shrinking or buyers are truly pausing.” - Houston builder: “Many first-time buyers simply no longer qualify with the increase in interest rates, as their debt-to-income ratio gets out of whack.” - San Antonio builder: “Traffic has been cut in half since the hike in rates.” - Raleigh builder: “Investor activity has slowed dramatically.” - Provo builder: “Investors are evaluating the investment more critically than in the past.” - Washington DC builder: “Traffic half what it was in March. Worried about first-time buyers. Many fewer REAL buyers than the number of people collected on the interest list last 6 months. Certainly more attempts to negotiate.” - Seattle builder: “Pause by a large population of buyers. To achieve our desired pace, we had to make price adjustments. Rates starting to knock people out of qualification.” Needless to say, a housing crash would be a bad thing for the US economy for which the housing sector is of paramount importance: a house is usually the biggest asset in American’s savings, comprises a large chunk of the labor force, and is a large contributor to inflation indices. That's precisely why the Fed, hell-bent on tipping the US economy into a recession as fast as possible to reverse inflation, would want nothing more than a housing recession. But what if Powell instead gets a housing crash on par with 2007? If that's what is coming, we may be able to sniff it out soon in this big week for housing data in a US housing market that has been, until now, red hot. As DB's Jim Reid writes, today’s data showed that building remains strong, with houses under construction hitting an all-time high, even if pending home sales tumbled as did mortgage applications. Tomorrow it gets even more interesting: on Thursday morning we get a look at how new home construction translates to sales, which, given the precipitous climb in mortgage rates, could start facing some demand destruction. This brings us to today's Chart of the Day from Reid, which shows that mortgage rates have taken off with the Fed’s pivot, and the post-Covid boom in existing home sales has started to wobble. Meanwhile, consensus expectations marked by the X show they will decline further tomorrow. If the chart is correct, Reid warns that "it will be a very painful few months ahead" (for homeowners, not so much for investors as the stock market will sniff out the coming recession and soar, as it front runs the Fed's next easing). Of course, the bulls will still point to the strong fundamentals which underly housing: like other sectors, there is a big supply versus demand imbalance as inventories available for sale are still near historic lows, labor in the construction sector is constrained with immigration down, and millennials are aging into their peak earning and home-buying years. All while consumer balance sheets are strong. So, as Reid concludes rhetorically, will the Fed need to lift rates such that mortgages are far above levels most home buyers have grown accustomed to, ultimately slowing blistering price growth? Or will the cracks appear much sooner (spoiler alert: yes). One thing is certain: Housing, and its fate, will serve as the earliest guide to the Fed, rates, and the US economy. Original Article Here: Read the full article

[suzukiblu]

Some Bruno and Camilo headcanons for @betterweirdo. Did they even speak on-screen or so much as exist in the same frame for longer than two seconds? No, no they did not, but since when have I ever let that stop me.

Camilo was definitely messing with Mirabel during his share of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” but he also DEFINITELY remembered Bruno as being bigger than he actually is. Like, very definitely. The fact that they are basically eye-to-eye is so baffling to him. Also, due to said not talking about Bruno, ninety-nine percent of Camilo’s original impression/opinion of him came from random townspeople accidentally saying something around him while he looked like someone else. That is the SOLE reason he had any more idea what to expect from him than Mirabel, and obviously said ideas were still all warped and wrong.

When Camilo was five, Bruno mostly avoided him and the other kids because he’d already semi-unwillingly dumped prophecies on preteen Isabela and Dolores and didn’t want Luisa/Camilo/Mirabel asking for any of their own anytime soon, especially after Dolores’s was depressing. This would have worked better if Camilo had not been SUPER FASCINATED by all the creepy stories everyone in town was telling and had not been constantly demanding to know whose goldfish was gonna die next. Bruno s u f f e r e d. And also hid from the whims of small children, because of course he did. Of course.

Bruno really does not understand how Camilo got such a creepy mental image of him, but it was definitely not from him being a normal and well-adjusted person around the kid. Like, literally nothing he did when Camilo was five made Camilo think that he was not exactly as weird and creepy and doomsaying as the townspeople thought. Literally NOTHING. Bruno was, actually, kind of a terrible uncle but not on purpose whatsoever, he just had no idea how to handle kids. He continues to have no idea how to handle kids but now Camilo is old enough to be like “oh you’re just very, very bad at this, aren’t you”.

Bruno likes rats and bizarre little stageplays. Camilo likes not being the only performer in the family anymore. Yes, yes, everyone Performed to certain expectations, but Camilo PERFORMS. He is delighted to find out that Bruno has similar interests and very happily watches all the rat plays. The rat plays are weird and nonsensical and his new favorite thing. He absolutely and entirely shamelessly recruits Antonio to help Bruno with them, because now they are his STORIES and he MUST know what happens next.

Bruno’s favorite is Mirabel, because of course it is, but he does appreciate Camilo’s overall interest in him. Really of all the grandkids Camilo is probably the most interested in Bruno save Mirabel, because again the acting/performer thing and also he delights in the weird and creepy of him and the big epic myth the townspeople built up around him. Bruno wishes Camilo thought he was SLIGHTLY less weird and creepy, probably, but isn’t going to look the gift horse of a family member enjoying his presence in the mouth. Also, again, he really does appreciate the interest. He is not used to people being interested in him or his hobbies, people being interested in him and his hobbies is a real novelty in his life.

#bruno madrigal #camilo madrigal #encanto #encanto spoilers #betterweirdo #meta ecetera

[voiceless-terror]

I mean, I don’t believe in the predictive power of dreams, obviously, but still, it’s a deeply unsettling thing to find. I had Tim look into it, as I don’t entirely trust the others not to have written it as a practical joke and slipped it into the archives. - Episode 11, Dreamer

Jon stares down at the paper in his hands.

He’s had many an unkind thought towards Gertrude, his predecessor, the woman responsible for this mess and the current bane of his existence. She’s been the topic of most of his grumbling as he sorts through piles of nonsense and decaying cardboard boxes. He’s got no love lost for her, but that doesn’t mean he’s happy she’s dead. Or, specifically, to have a statement apparently predicting it through the medium of some prophetic dream. Ridiculous. He wants to feel detached, unaffected, but he can’t help the sickly sense of dread that creeps up his spine and lingers in his throat. 

It was your face and the expression upon it was far more fearful than any I had seen in eight years of wandering this twilight city.

Jon doesn’t know Antonio Blake and has no reason to believe him. But he’s known something’s wrong for a long time now.

He’s never admitted it aloud, never within his assistant’s hearing range, but he can feel it, as foolish as that sounds. This miasma of wrong, of being watched, of becoming...something else, that happens every time he records a statement. Despite the academic detachment he aspires to, he does attempt to empathize with each statement-giver and get into their mindset. But what he’s doing here...it’s different. He can visualize it so perfectly, the terror in their words sticking in his throat and setting his own heart pounding, as if he were the one experiencing it and not just regurgitating it to an ancient recorder. He’s always had an ‘overactive imagination,’ as his grandmother would say, but this is relentless in its manifestation. The fear is real, not imagined. Each statement draws him further and further away from the safety he used to cling to, where the only real cases were few and far between and the most sinister things lurking out there in the world were books and the monsters within them.

And as much as he wants to linger on the false accounts and take comfort in tearing them apart, his hands automatically seek the real ones, the right ones. It’s frightening, the ease with which he finds them nowadays. Perhaps he’s a better archivist than he thinks. 

She died and you’ll be next, something whispers to him. He’s being dramatic, as he’s wont to do, but it feels true. Every statement that doesn’t record correctly, every follow-up he has to qualify with an ‘I would dismiss this, but-’ is starting to add up. His nights have become restless. He often lies awake regretting that he ever took this job, that he left the relative safety of research for a position he’s not sure how to fill, his only reassurance Elias’s occasional emails that he’s ‘moving in the right direction,’ whatever that means.

Jon assumed he’d be more removed from the dangerous aspects of the job that research entailed- following up, going to locations, field work. And it’s true, he has assistants to do that for him now. Dependable, for the most part. And while he should feel safe in his tiny office with nothing but dust and paper and cobwebs (good lord, the cobwebs) he feels more unsettled and exposed than ever. He once joked he’d die of old age before getting the archives in order. But now a stroke sounds much more pleasant than whatever happened to Gertrude. If it’s true.

Perhaps it’s a joke, he thinks. Planted by one of the others, designed specifically to unsettle him. Well, it worked. 

It wouldn’t be surprising. He’s...not had the best start. The promotion was a surprise, but not wholly unexpected; he knew he’d been on Elias’s radar, though he wasn’t expecting it quite so soon. He’s young and unfortunately, it shows. The way he stutters through department meetings, talking about digitization while the others, all of whom have at least a decade on him, shoot pitying looks. He stays later and later, the desire to show some sort of progress even as he discovers more mess by the day. The permanent scowl that now graces his features becomes his armor as he walks the halls and feels himself becoming the uptight, unlikable curmudgeon everyone believes him to be. The one time I measure up to expectations, he can’t help thinking.

A joke. There’s a comfort in that. At least it’s familiar.

But it didn’t record to the laptop, his traitorous mind supplies. It's a bit sad he would prefer it to be a mundane attempt at bullying rather than a real expression of the supernatural, but he supposes it’s par for the course. There were many nights as a child he wished for the same thing, for that boy to go back to taking his lunch money and the occasional beating or two instead of…still, he dismisses it from his mind. You don’t know there’s a correlation. Follow up. Disprove it. 

He’s interrupted from his musings by a knock on the door and the vague outline of Martin through the frosted glass. “Come in,” he calls, attempting to inject some irritation in his voice to cover up the shakiness. “Did you need something?”

“Ah, I finished my write up for the Herbert case, was wondering if you had anything else for me?”

His hand hovers over the statement on his desk. He opens his mouth but then closes it, thinking better.

“Can you send Tim in, actually?”

______

“Sorry boss, I couldn’t find anything on this Antonio Blake fellow- well, at least with the details he provided, which were next to none. Proper spooky, though.”

Of his assistants, he trusts Tim the most with this sort of thing. 

On a surface level, it wouldn’t make sense to some. Tim can be loud and gregarious: the typical, charming extrovert. But he’s not unkind and he’s a hell of a researcher, especially when something grabs his interest. He digs into statements and doesn’t let go- not unlike Sasha, though he’s a bit better at empathizing and handling things...sensitively. Easily attuned to Jon’s moods, Tim’s always been willing to lend an ear whenever he gets too in his head about cases, helping him talk things through or on several memorable occasions, go down the rabbit hole with him. He’d taken the statement from his hands with an easy smile, though his face grew serious with the nervous look Jon shot him.

And if Tim couldn’t find anything, well. Maybe it was a prank after all.

He sort of wanted it to be true, frightening as the implications were. Because then it would mean this terrible, heavy feeling on his shoulders was real, and not just the byproduct of his own mediocrity. He doesn’t want to be scared, he doesn’t want to be in danger, but at least it would provide a real reason for panic, and not just his own inability to measure up.  He doesn’t want to prove them all right, collapsing under the stress of a job poorly done and so easily crumbling at a stupid, made-up statement, targeted as it may be. 

“A joke, then.” Jon says, rubbing a hand at his temples, trying not to let the hurt seep into his voice. Tim makes a commiserating noise.

“You know how people are, the institute isn’t exactly popular. You remember last Halloween, when-”

“Yes, I don’t need a reminder.” Jon sighs. He’d rather not relive that day, stressful as it was. “But that wasn’t quite what I was thinking.”

Tim stares at him for a moment, uncomprehending. Jon continues, attempting to make his hands busy as he pointlessly shuffles papers.

“It’s rather pointed, isn’t it? I doubt someone off the street would create such a detailed account of the death of an...archivist as opposed to the usual ghostly drivel.”

A look of pity flickers in Tim’s eyes and Jon has to turn away. “I don’t really think anyone here would-”

“Really? You don’t?” Jon lets out a mirthless laugh, rubbing a hand across his face as he stares down at his desk. “I’m not blind. Or deaf.” The derisive snorts if he goes off on ‘needless tangents,’ how Rosie pretends to be busy whenever he approaches Elias’s office, the way his name badge still reads ‘researcher’ after months of asking for a new one. He’s basically become a pariah.

“Jon, did someone say something to you?” The words are carefully chosen and he’s leaning forward now, making as if to stand up and god forbid, do something comforting. It’s not that Jon doesn’t want the comfort; he craves it more than anything. But he’s gone without for so long he doesn’t trust himself not to break at the gentlest of touches. Being on the receiving end of Tim’s protective streak is nothing new, but he shouldn’t need his assistant looking out for him like he’s some sort of helpless infant. 

He snorts derisively instead, covering up the insecurity and hurt with a sardonic, self-effacing smile. The kind he knows Tim hates. “They don’t need to. I’ve walked in on conversations, I’ve seen the way people go quiet, the looks they give me-”

“Hey,” Tim’s voice is low, like he’s dealing with a frightened animal. Jon wonders how he looks, if Tim’s going this soft. “Don’t listen to them, alright? You inherited a mess, we all did- but we’re doing our best, yeah? Study and record, like Elias said.” Jon doesn’t dodge the hand that finally lands on shoulder, and he’ll deny to anyone that he leaned into it. 

“Study and record.” He repeats listlessly, slumping back down into his seat. He’s let himself get too worked up, acting like a child instead of a boss. He’s not sure when he started wearing his heart on his sleeve, but Tim’s always been good at reading him. Though he’d rather people think him an arrogant ass than the seething mess of insecurity he truly is. 

“Atta boy.” The pat to his shoulder is purposefully light, devoid of Tim’s usually friendly force that sends him stumbling forward. “Now get out of here at a normal time, alright? We can grab lunch tomorrow. Just the two of us, if you like.”

Jon makes a noncommittal grunt, though the thought is nice.  He entertains the idea for just a moment, remembering their occasional outings back in research. Tomorrow he’ll make his excuses. He hasn’t been much of a friend as of late, and he’s not sure he deserves the kindness of company.

“And if there’s anyone that needs a stern talking to from me, I-” Tim wags a finger and Jon rolls his eyes, ignoring the pang of warmth the words send through his chest.

“Don’t, please. It’s fine.” It isn’t. “But...thank you, Tim.”

“Course.” A wink and a sloppy salute to lighten the mood, and Jon feels the tension in his posture ease minutely as Tim shuts the door behind him. 

He lets out a breath and reaches for the tape recorder. He’s wasted too much time already.  

Be careful. There is something coming for you and I don’t know what it is, but it is so much worse than anything I can imagine. At the very least, you should look into appointing a successor.

Good luck.

He fights a shiver as the man’s voice leaves him and the last vestiges of that twilight world fade back to his dimly-lit office. In his follow up, he tries to play it off as a joke. A bit of hazing for the new boss. And yet the uneasiness still creeps into his voice, and he ends another tape on a stilted, half-believed note.

If this is genuine…

Jon prays that it isn’t. 

And like most of his prayers, it goes unheard and unanswered.

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32165071

reblogs > likes

#tma #the magnus archives #my writing #jonathan sims #tim stoker #season one jon feels #with added tim #in which rye has feelings about jon 'dismissing' statements and thinking it could be a joke and TRUSTING TIM #what else is new #reblogs appreciated <3 #a light bit of #jontim

[vinceaddams]

What would your ideal outfit for a ball at Lost Hope be?

Ooh that's a good question! In the book they all wore very up to date fashionable clothing there, but 1810's is later than my favourite eras of fashion, so I'll assume I can dress more like they did in the mini-series where everyone's in fashions of various different eras.

(Not the most accurate, but hey, they're mostly extras and it's a fantasy scene so I don't mind, especially since the main characters have such good costumes.)

With the lighting it's hard to tell what the colours are, but it looks to be a lot of pale greenish greyish colours, which I quite like. I am very fond of lichen-y greens.

My first instinct would be to say a 1740's or 50's suit with frogging on the coat, kind of like this one, but in foresty colours to give it a mossy appearance.

(Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, by François-Hubert Drouais, 1753.)

I'm not sure if that would be appropriate for a ball though. I don't know for sure, but I get the impression that these frogged coats tend to be more informal? And quite a large portion of them are fur lined ones which I think are more for at-home wear.

It would be so much fun to make frogging that looked like little clusters of lichen and mushrooms, on a fabric that's.. hmm, maybe light brownish grey silk brocade that's woven to look like stylized tree bark texture. And I'd have a contrasting waistcoat in lichen green, with a lichen and mushroomy pattern either embroidered or woven to shape.

And of course the usual accessories - shoes with pretty buckles, white stockings, queue bag, plain white neck stock. I'd have my hair nicely styled like this (or Maybe a wig, since my hair is getting quite thin and harder to style):

(Maurice Quentin De La Tour, Self portrait, 1751)

But if propriety forbids my possibly informal frogged coat then I think I'd have go 1730's. I do love love love the fashions of 1785-95, but I'm honestly not so keen on the court dress from that era. That particularly popular style of polychrome floral embroidery on dark velvet with little woven geometric patterns just doesn't do it for me. Late 80's-early 90's is my long time favourite, but more for the fun mix and match stuff, and all the wacky patterns and embroideries. I'm also not quite as fond of the cuts of late 18th-early 19th century court suits as I am of everything else.

But the 30's! No weird mixing of dark geometric velvet and bright florals! And the fuller coat skirts would look nicer while dancing. (I don't know how to dance at all, but I'm assuming I'd learn pretty quickly if I was kidnapped by fairies and sent to dance at a ball all night every night.)

I'd want a suit that's cut basically the same as this 1730's one I finished last year.

But with the breeches and the coat in plain velvet in either green or brown, and the coat cuffs and waistcoat in a contrasting brocade in mostly pale greens and greys. I like it when the coat has contrasting cuffs made of the same fabric as the waistcoat, and it continues well into the 18th century in some capacity, but was much more popular earlier. Which makes sense, since it works so much better with those bigger styles of coat cuff!

(John Vanderbank - John Bourchier, 1732)

Yeah I could just use a plain contrasting silk and embroider it instead, but I'd prefer to do that thing where you've got a gorgeous brocade with an absolutely enormous asymmetrical pattern and the repeat is so big that you can't see the whole design on your waistcoat, and certainly not on your coat cuffs, so you've got unique and varied little chunks of the design.

(Young Knight of the Order of St John by Antonio David, c. 1730, detail)

(Portrait of a Gentleman, Louis-Michel Van Loo, 1734, detail.)

So a big brocade like that, but in a more whimsical pattern depicting twisty old trees and mushrooms and lichen and such. It's a good thing the fabric I'm describing doesn't exist to tempt me, so I can't add this to my already horribly long "to sew" list.

And with the buttons and buttonholes all done in silver thread, like the ones above. Not this layout though, I'd want mine evenly spaced and I wouldn't put those extra buttons on the buttonhole side.

The shirt would be pretty much like the one in the above portrait, just a normal fancy shirt for the 30's with some nice lace. And as long as I'm describing fantasy textiles for a fairy ball, I also want a pattern of little mushrooms woven into the lace itself. Ohhh now I'm sad that I can't have some nice cotton or linen lace with a pattern of little mushrooms in it :( Maybe I could do some whitework embroidered ruffles like that someday...

Ok, yes, that is what I'd wear! 1730's suit in muted brown or green velvet with a waistcoat and coat cuffs in pale green/grey brocade with a huge woven pattern of forest-y things, and with silver buttons & buttonholes. Same accessories as I said for the one with the frogging, because stocks and queue bags and buckle shoes are in fashion for quite a long period of time. Normally the shoes and queue bag are black, but for this maybe I'd soften them down to a nice grey. Early 18th century men's shoes aren't nearly as cute as late 18th century men's shoes, but oh well! I'd still feel darn cute in such an outfit, with my big swishy coat and my hair in nice little poofy curled sections at the sides.

That was really fun to think about, thank you for asking!

#ask #carpe-mamilla #fashion #There is to be a ball tonight at Lost Hope #Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

[zettaiunmeis]

HI THANKS TO @raventrigonsdaughter LETTING ME KNOW THAT OG GAME CARMEN AND JULIA USED TO BE PARTNERS BEFORE CARMEN WENT ROGUE, LET ME PROPOSE: VILE!JULIA.

details under the cut because this got Long

jules is part of the either the same class the ~infamous~ black sheep

and they don’t? really like each other? like julia is still kinda Serious and she doesnt really appreciate the vile squad goofing around and tossing water balloons or whatever and black sheep finds julia a little too uptight even if she’s interested in a lot of the same things (history, etc.)

black sheep’s speciality is Being SLick, as we know, but julia’s is patterns (and also historical artifacts)

ok but the important part of this is that bc julia’s is patterns, she ends up being like a scout or smth along those lines bc she can analyse patterns and report back to help plan the caper

and that basically means that when she graduates, she ends up in far more long cons than any of the others

anyway, after black sheep gets in trouble for the water balloon thing, the faculty decide she’s far too mischievous, and so, they assign her a partner — julia

(side note: its kind of the same thing that ends up happening to jean-luc and antonio a bit later on, but thats more because they work well together, and less bc either one of them needed a grounding influence)

anyway black sheep and jules again. do not like each other. but that doesnt mean they dont work well together — julia’s got an eye for patterns, and black sheep has every thieving trick in the book ready and waiting up her sleeves (alongside an instinct for thievery)

slowly, as they are forced to work together more and more, they kind of reach a less tense partnership and then one day black sheep makes a history joke and thats how they become friends

like julia is still very pointedly Not friends with the rest of the vile squad bc they’re still very reckless and immature, etc

but shes sort of seen black sheep when she’s been more grounded and less hyper/feral and she?? kind of doesnt mind??

bc grounded black sheep isnt constantly trying to prove that she’s The Best and grounded black sheep isnt trying to prove that she’s more than just the teacher’s pet — she’s kind of just having fun with julia and julia’s been so serious about her training that she hasnt really made any other friends and…. its nice

its nice to have black sheep loudly slip into the seat next to her and and tease julia about whatever recent historical discovery she’s researching and pull her out of her own head once in a while

and its nice to have black sheep glance over in the middle of class when sheena — sorry tigress — whines about something or the other and roll her eyes in the same way julia feels like doing, even if something strange sticks in her throat when carmen does the same with gray

she can’t pinpoint the exact moment, but at some point, she starts thinking of black sheep as her friend and it’s an exciting enough thought that she’s got a little smile on her face next time black sheep slips into the seat next to her in professor maelstrom’s class

and at some point julia stops being just julia to black sheep, and starts being jules because we’re in a school for thieves, but we’ve already got plenty of ~jules~ right here and thats sincerely the worst joke i’ve ever heard and oh really ~jules~? bet i could find an even worse one

and like all the usual stuff is still happening in the background — shadowsan-black sheep rivalry, gray and the Squad being black sheep’s friends, the phone and player, etc.

its just that now, black sheep has a bit of a calming influence and that does help!

and they work well enough that most people assume that julia and black sheep will be partners after graduation 

even crackle acknowledges it — despite the jealousy he feels at the knowledge

so things continue and all this happens, but then comes finals.

things go the same. black sheep gets perfect scores in all of her exams, except stealth 101

julia — now the historian — can’t help but check for whether black sheep graduated too and just as she does, she hears crackle say it: she didn’t pass

and she wants to go to black sheep and ask if she’s okay because everyone knows how much black sheep’s wanted this, how much she’s been working for it, but by the time gray’s been dragged off by tigress, black sheep has disappeared and julia has no idea where she’s gone

so she waits for a bit in the cafeteria and in the dorms and anywhere else she thinks that black sheep would be and she sees… nothing

and about twelve hours after the results, the faculty pulls her for her first mission (for context, this is before the whole,,, hear the true name of vile thing) which is basically being a plant for the morocco mission, by pretending to be an archaeology phd student from oxford who’s come to study the findings in the excavation

and she’s busy enough with that that she barely gets to think about black sheep or graduation or anything other than the near-overwhelming anxiety that comes with the horrifying ordeal of potentially being Known but she just manages to figure out like,,, guard rotations, as well as the exact objects that are at the site for the vile squad to steal

and then she’s out before they even get there — julia’s pattern recognition and historical knowledge made her pretty useful when it comes to planning capers so it meant that she’s always travelling around the world ahead of each caper, but would also make her a pretty invaluable asset to vile, so they can’t afford to get her caught

julia doesnt hear about black sheep nearly messing up morocco until much later, and even then, she doesn’t have all the info

all she can do is wonder why the hell the faculty would fail someone who somehow managed to sneak out of vile island without anyone realising until much later

and yes, maybe a part of her misses her old partner, but she knows that it wouldn’t matter anyway — she was the mole, and she’d barely get to work directly with carmen so.

but then cut to a year later, when a vile counterfeit operation in boston is suddenly sabotaged

cut to the moment when, julia, despite not having seen her in a year, is still able to somehow recognise black sheep’s work

its Slick. its the Slickness that tips her off, and part of her is reluctant to tell the faculty who it is, but her allegiance demands it and she tells the faculty and she hates herself for it when she sees the murderous rage on each of their faces

and somehow, that — her ability to recognise this carmen sandiego — gets her in a new position, as a mole in interpol, passing on the information they get as they try to track the scarlet super thief as well

and then one day, in poitiers, julia sees her

its black sheep. it’s undeniably black sheep under that red trench coat and julia wants to go and talk to her capture her and bring her in to vile but her new partner ~chase devineaux~ is everything that once made her turn away from her interest in law enforcement and he orders her to call for backup while he tries to stroke his own ego

she does, of course, but maybe she delays it a bit, if only because she’d rather let carmen sandiego get away than have devineaux’s ego get any bigger

and the rest of the season goes much the same except after julia ends up in acme, she reports to vile about everything that’s going on, and they no longer suspect devineaux of helping carmen etc etc

and she can’t help but somewhat sympathise with what carmen’s doing — she’s returning invaluable historical artefacts and julia’s always loved history and- it’s just… altruistic. and that’s admirable. and that’s the only reason i feel so torn about helping vile. that’s it, that’s the only reason.

and then comes the chasing paper caper

what was originally the first real conversation between julia and carmen goes completely differently

(note that most vile operative outside of jules’ graduating class do not know of her existence bc she barely interacts with most of them since she’s more a spy/mole who’s out of the picture by the time anyone else gets on the scene)

carmen still needs to be able to spy on paper star without anyone noticing, so she still goes for the seat right in front of the cute short-haired girl sitting alo- and oh my god jules?

and its the first time julia has heard that nickname in over a year and oh God they were just friends this should Not hit this hard what the Heck

and carmen still sits down and just quietly grills her as to what the hell is going on bc she Knows that jules is a always a mole and never an active part of a caper and she doesn’t?? understand??

and jules is kind of in a daze, but she’s been Trained so she feeds carmen her cover story:

she defected from vile when she saw how they were treating historical artefacts — melting down gold, selling priceless works of art to the highest bidder, etc. etc. — and that since then she’s been silently helping interpol with taking down vile ops, etc.

and it takes a bit but carmen kind of starts to believe it — she knows julia loves history with all her heart, and she’s… well, she’s never been the kind of recruit that carmen’s expected to see in vile anyway, so. it’s not out of the realm of possibility, is it, for julia to be a defector working against vile? after all, isn’t she the same?

so she starts looking around, while waiting for paper star to make a move, and she ends up noticing the briefcase in the seat next to her, and for some reason, those initials — clearly chase devineaux — make her want to scowl

“new partner?” “oh… its… well, work. work... partner” “oh.”

uhhh anyway i might actually. write this? idk don’t count on anything lmaooo.

#carmen sandiego #carmen sandiego (show) #carmen sandiego (character) #julia argent #carulia #carjules #julethief #my au #this took SO long to write out but it was so Worth it

[votederpycausemufins]

haha brain go nyoom

here’s a reminder of the Ao3 link for those who want to go there and leave comments! (the more comments i get, the faster i write. it’s science. I wrote it down so it’s science. don’t even try to argue. if you want to argue, then test it yourself with comments)

@petrichormeraki

Over the next few days, things with the two worlds improved. Xisuma removed the time displacement on Hermitcraft which a number of the Hermits were glad about, having friends in other worlds. Tubbo had returned to the smp and was no longer admin, or rather, he was no longer the only admin. He didn’t want to just push the responsibility to someone else and had been conflicted about what to do until Xisuma spoke to him and informed him that multiple people could share the powers. Since Tommy wasn’t coming back, Tubbo’s next choice was Ranboo.

While Tubbo was in the smp, Ranboo came to visit, panicking a little at the fact that the portal was just sitting above an ocean. Of all the hermits, Zedaph was the one to create a redstone machine to push the infinity portal elsewhere. Scar followed along to create an island for visitors, now regretting he has used up his superfast buildmode for paperwork and had to wait for the magic to charge up again.

A few people from the smp came to visit and Scar was right there to hand them the paperwork they needed to sign. Grumbot arrived after the first two contracts were signed to help the smp members from not noticing the fine print. When someone nearly killed Scar for having added a secret clause in the paperwork, he was finally convinced to listen to reason.

After the island was blown up for the twelfth time, Cub and Scar ended up getting some vex to watch over the island. If only blew up four more times after that. Five if you counted the vex helping one time.

Tommy hung out at the island trying to help keep things under control. While he did much better than the other hermits were with trying to reason with the smp members, it still helped emphasize how much of a hermit he had become.

Philza regularly visited to try and see Grian, but he had been out of it since his first nightmare, having a few more since then. Mumbo was one of the few people able to safely stay around Grian as not even the bots could easily see their dad. Grumbot was of course able to stay distracted running damage control on Scar. Jrumbot had followed his brother along to the island, but for a different reason. He still had Techno’s braid and a child selling it looking unscathed caught people’s attention. 

The bidding had finally reached five diamond blocks when Techno came through the portal and snatched it back, getting Scar to use his magic and reattach it. The warrior walked back to the smp, only returning to drop off Jrumbot who had tried to sneak back with him.

A few hermits also went to visit the smp, trying not to make those members feel too bad about how the place was compared to Hermittown. Iskall stayed the longest, travelling around until he found a distant savannah with a village near a jungle. He got there just as Hbomb returned, surprised to see the hermit. 

The two of them chatted for a bit, reminiscing of when they had all been swept away to the land of the vault gods for three months. Iskall added H to the vault boys chat, making the other four people in the chat get excited. The redstoner invited his friend to hermitcraft for a get together two days from then. Hbomb gladly accepted, glad to see some old friends again.

The day before the meet up, Ranboo returned to the smp and Tubbo came back, immediately finding Tommy to hang out with. The two ended up playing a few small pranks on the hermits. Tommy taught Tubbo how to glide with an elytra, strategically avoid any questions about how to do something other than just gliding. Tommy also had to run damage control on Jrumbot after the child heard Tubbo wanting to really fly and proceeding to sell something that would help that was definitely not fireworks.

As the day ended, the two friends retreated to Tommy’s tower. He finally gave a proper tour before setting up some beds in the apiary and used an armor stand trick Cleo had taught him to make them a campfire that wouldn’t hurt any bees.

Tubbo was the first of the pair to wake up from their communicator buzzing. He tiredly opened it up to read the message, laughing at the antics that were going on in the chat.

<CaptainSparklez> But do we really want her finding her way into redstone?

<Iskall85> Can’t be worse than a potato.

<Hbomb94> :O

<Hbomb94> :OOOOOOO <StressMonster> Who did you find now?

<HBomb94> HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS WITHOUT HACKING!!!

<Crumbl> sprimkl soo many punkims

<Rendog> That doesn’t help narrow it down.

<CaptainSparklez> Alright Crumb, what else can you see?

<Hbomb94> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

<Crumbl> bedrkrok. Ngrothogm bderock!

<Iskall85> That’s Impulse <Hbomb94> WHY IS THERE JUST A THRONE OF DIAMONDS?!

<GoodtimeswithScar> Hey, that’s my throne

<Hbomb94> WHY DOES IT EXIST?!

<CaptainSparklez> Who can take me to Crumb?

<Iskall85> On my way.

<TommyInnit> What’s going on?

Tubbo looked up to see Tommy awake and looking at his communicator. As Tommy typed away, Tubbo looked back down to see the message.

<TommyInnit> And H, the explanation is that they’re hermits. There is nothing else that can be said

<Iskall85> remember how I told you about the time I disappeared for 3 months along with Stress and Ren

<TommyInnit> ye

<Iskall85> H was one of the people who showed up with us. I invited Antonio and Sparklez over along with H for a meet up, but Antonio couldn’t make it. But Sparklez brought his kid.

<Hbomb94> WHAT IS THAT TOWER?! WHY IS IT SO BIG! AND WHY BLUE BLOCKS?! AREN’T THOSE HARD TO GET?!

<TommyInnit> pog

<Crumbl> thsers a birdd

<Iskall85> probably a pesky bird Grian left behind.

Tommy got up from his bed and started putting things away. “Hey big T, you want to go find this Crumb kid?”

Tubbo smiled as he got up. “Sure!”

Grian woke up with a start. It hadn’t quite been a nightmare, but it wasn’t really a dream either. Mumbo was still asleep next to him with a combination of bed head and bed ‘stache. He pulled the redstoner a little closer with his wing and tried to go back to sleep, but buzzing from his communicator didn’t help.

Finally, Grian pulled the device out to see what was going on, only to find a flood of messages that he couldn’t find the start of. He saw the names of two players he didn’t recognize immediately. But based on the reactions from other hermits, they were guests. 

Grian chuckled at the first of the two players who seemed to be freaking out at everything the hermits had built. The second seemed to be lost and a third player named Sparklez was looking for her. As messages kept pouring in, Grian switched his communicator to silent before curling back up with Mumbo.

#hermit!tommy au #hermit!tommy #tommyinnit #tubbo #ranboo #grian xelqua #grian #avian!grian #xisumavoid #goodtimeswithscar #grumbot #jrumbot #iskall85 #captain sparklez #hbomb #help how to i tag crumb #crumb #crumbl #cuptoast

[shera-dnd]

Cupid’s Kiss

Took me way longer than expected curse the whims of my mental health but the winner of this month’s 3k fic poll is finally here!

In which Carmen and Julia have a lovely totally not date in Paris while in search for two thieves who are certainly also not having a date

if you’d like a chance to get your fic ideas written by me, or just want to support me, you can feel free to donate to my ko-fi (rules over here)

and here is the ao3 link if you’d rather read it over there

also this fic was brought to you thanks to the help of @cantdrawshaw

NOW ON WITH THE FIC

Carmen Sandiego was the best at her job. She had bested trained assassins and killer robots, evaded the world’s most advanced detective agency, and destroyed the largest criminal organization. All in her early twenties.

Yet there was one task she was not prepared to face. One that escaped her skills, both martial and technical. One that she had failed to plan around. One that existed entirely beyond the range of her skills. A foe that she could not beat.

“Come on, Carm,” Zack called, “it can’t be that hard. If even Ivy could score with the girls, you can do it too.”

“Even Ivy?!” His sister replied, furious, “I’ve been with more girls than you, jackass.”

“Guys, guys!” Carmen interrupted, “you’re not helping.”

Mentioning her interest in spending more time with Julia Argent had been the biggest mistake she had made in weeks. This was supposed to be a peaceful day at their old home base, but now here she was.

Her friends were trying so hard to help her and she couldn’t even be mad at how poorly they were doing, because she knew she wouldn’t fare much better were the roles reversed.

“Sorry,” the siblings replied in unison.

“I appreciate the support,” she assured them, “but I’m not trying to ‘score’ with anyone. I just wanna get to know Jules a little better.”

“So this is not a date?” Ivy asked.

“No!” She replied, a little too quickly, “me and Jules aren’t like that. She’s more of a… professional acquaintance. A coworker.”

“Carm,” Zack replied, “we’re coworkers and you’ve never had a bouquet of roses delivered to my door.”

“It was just a thank you for handling all those precious artifacts for me,” she explained, “she’s a hard worker, she deserved it.”

“Sure,” Ivy nodded, unconvinced, “is that why you take time to chat over coffee with her every other caper?”

“Not every moment of our lives has to be a chase, you know?” she countered.

“Or why you keep finding excuses to dance with her?”

“It’s the easiest way to speak privately at those parties without garnering unwanted attention,” she recited as if from a textbook.

“Or why-”

“Cease this!” Shadowsan’s stern voice commanded and the siblings fell silent, “VILE has trained her to never cave under interrogation. You’ll have a better chance extracting information from a rock.”

Carmen smirked at them, proud to have her skills of deflection recognized.

“Do not be so full of yourself,” he added, making Carmen flinch just a bit, “I have taught those lessons for years and I know how to see through them.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she deflected, looking away.

He walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder with uncharacteristic gentleness.

“I have seen the happiness Miss Argent brings you,” he said, “and I wish you the best of luck should you wish to pursue it.”

That meant a lot to Carmen. More than she could really express in words. But after she had been so thoroughly embarrassed by her friends, all she could really say was,

“Not you too.”

She looked up at the smirking siblings and braced herself...

“Hey, Red,” Player’s voice called, just in the nick of time.

“Player!” She jumped to attention and grabbed the laptop from their desk.

“Woah!” he exclaimed, “everything okay, Red?”

Zack and Ivy snickered as they sat by each side of her, so they could see Player.

“I think Carm would rather you sent her on a crazy chase instead of sitting here talking about her crush on Jules,” Ivy teased.

“Well it looks like you might get to do both,” Player replied, to Carmen’s dismay, “look who our cameras just found walking around Paris.”

The screen cut to a video feed of one of ACME’s hidden cameras over the streets of Paris. None of the people on camera seemed particularly conspicuous… until a particular pair walked on screen. Even without their costumes Carmen could always recognize them.

“Tigress and Paper Star,” she noted, “those two can’t be up to any good.”

“Looks like we’ll be going to Paris, eh Carm?” Ivy commented as she playfully nudged her side.

“City of love,” Zack added as he joined the nudging.

Carmen groaned. This was gonna be a rough mission.

Chase had grown a lot over the past few months. His deductive reasoning had vastly improved, his mood was far more amenable, and he actually stopped to listen to Julia nowadays. What hadn’t really improved with time was his overall clumsiness. 

“Miss Argent, I’ll be fine,” his insistence was interrupted by a powerful sneeze, “This is nothing.”

“Agent Devineaux, please,” she pleaded, “you’re in no state to continue this investigation.”

Devineaux had landed himself into his fair share of rivers over the months he had worked for ACME, and it seemed that so many cold baths had finally caught up to his health. Not that he would ever admit to that.

“Nonsense,” he claimed, “I’ll be back in perfect shape by the time we land in Paris.”

The sneeze that followed said otherwise.

“Chase, please,” she asked again, “rest. I can handle this.”

“I refuse to send my partner on a mission by herself.”

“As sweet as your concern is,” she countered, “I doubt I’ll be by myself for long.”

“Ah yes, I’m sure La Femme Rouge will make for good company,” he agreed and she was glad he did, but it sounded like there was more to his words. “Were you anyone else I’d worry this was all a ploy to have some private time with Miss Sandiego.”

She shot him an unamused glare.

“Apologies,” he said almost immediately.

“Accepted,” she sighed, “but I do not appreciate any insinuations as to the nature of me and Miss Sandiego’s relationship. We’re good friends, nothing more.”

“Of course,” he nodded, but Julia could tell he had more to say.

Truly his detective skills have improved considerably as of late. It had become harder and harder for Julia to pass her excitement for those missions as simple passion for her work. Not when she had abandoned that work as soon as it conflicted with her passion for… something else.

Chase was her friend and she knew he’d understand her feelings for Carmen. She was also sure he’d do his best to keep it a secret until she was confident enough to bring these things to light. She trusted him and she didn’t fear anything of the sorts.

What she did fear was Chase trying to wingman for her. Just the thought was enough to fill her with dread. Enough dread to keep her mouth shut about her feelings in the vicinity of Agent Devineaux. Even if it felt bad to hide this from her friend.

Thankfully the Chief chose that exact moment to call her to give her updated information on their targets. 

Now she could just shut off all these awkward feelings and focus on her work.

The Louvre had been an obvious target. The world’s most famous museum, home to thousands of priceless works of art, including the Mona Lisa itself. It was so obvious in fact that VILE had never bothered to consider it.

But VILE was gone now and its escaped students no longer had any faculty to dissuade them from this target.

That’s why Carmen now walked its halls, diligently searching for any security flaws that could be exploited and any sign of the two master thieves on the loose.

She still took time to appreciate the art of course. This was the most famous museum in the world for a reason and she wasn’t gonna let this unique opportunity escape her, even with the evil duo to watch for.

Carmen had her attention split in every possible direction, her mind juggling its many tasks as she wandered hall after hall. Until, that is, she found something that pulled her focus into one singular point.

A shorter woman in a nice fitted suit, standing before one of the statues.

“Jules,” she greeted as she walked up behind her.

“Miss Sandiego,” Julia smiled as she greeted her, utterly unsurprised. She must have been expecting her, “it’s nice to see you here.”

“It’s nice seeing you too,” she replied, “and we went over this before, Carmen is just fine.”

“Carmen,” she said, in a way that warmed Carmen’s heart, “I take it you’ve been enjoying your time in Paris.”

“Hard to go sightseeing while I’ve got work to do, but I’m making do,” she shrugged, “how about you? What caught your attention today?”

Julia turned back to the statue she had been appreciating until then, “Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss.”

Carmen smirked, it was her time to shine.

“Sculpted by Antonio Canova, commissioned by welsh art-collector John Campbell in 1787,” she recited from memory, “its prime version was acquired by the Louvre in 1824 after the death of its previous owner, Joachim Murat.”

“Very impressive,” Julia praised, “I wish my students put half as much time as you do into their research.”

“I’m just good at memorizing trivia,” Carmen shrugged, trying to hide her pride at earning that praise, “I’m sure you know so much more than me on the subject.”

Boy was Carmen right about that. That seemed to have been the cue to send Julia into a long lecture about the neoclassical and romantic periods, as well as an analysis of the sculpture’s mythological origins and the many interpretations of the myth.

Many people would probably find this amount of information unspeakably tedious. But for Carmen, who was always hungry to learn about the world around her (and could never get tired of Jules speaking so enthusiastically,) it was exciting and endearing.

Carmen had realized then that she wanted nothing more than to spend her every waking hour listening to Julia talk on and on about anything she wanted, as long as it was passionate like this. Maybe someday soon.

Right now they had the whole rest of the Louvre to scout.

“Alright, alright, victory is yours,” Carmen playfully interrupted, “I guess you really are the biggest history nerd here.”

“Oh I’m sorry, it seems I got a bit carried away,” Julia cringed in shame. Damn it Sandiego! “I didn’t mean to bore you.”

“You couldn’t bore me if you tried,” Carmen assured her as she placed a hand on her arm, “I mean it. It’s nice hearing you talk.”

“Unfortunately I no longer teach,” she replied, “otherwise I would have given you an open invitation to any of my classes.”

“Well, how about you show me around the place?” she suggested, “we can call this a private lesson.”

At that Julia smiled again, “then I hope your memory is as good as you say it is, Carmen Sandiego, because I’ll be quizzing you at the end of the tour.”

They both laughed as Julia led them along to the next art piece in what was clearly a meticulously planned tour of the museum. Jules kept her teacher face on for all of her little lectures, but as they walked from room to room it felt so simple and casual.

For once Carmen felt like there was no rush and that she could just enjoy her time with someone she cared about. Maybe that was the moment. Her chance to make something out of this and let Julia know how she felt.

“Hey, Jules,” she called, walking a little closer to her.

“Yes?” Julia turned to look at her, she seemed surprised by the sudden closeness, but did not move away from her.

Carmen decided to take that as a good sign.

“This has been really nice, you know?” she tried, her usual confidence failing her, “just spending time with you like this.”

“I guess it was,” she replied with- Wait, was that a blush? No, that had to be wishful thinking.

“Yeah,” she agreed, awkwardly scratching the back of her neck, “and I just feel like-”

It was then that she was rudely reminded of what she was here to do.

“-you have got to be kidding me!”

“What?” Julia jumped a little in surprise.

“5 o’clock, behind you,” Carmen instructed.

She turned to look and there they were. Tall, blonde and scheming, and short, monochromatic and homicidal. The two thieves they were here to catch. Two thieves that had also noticed them.

They both smirked at them for a moment, before Paper Star whispered something into Tigress’s ear and they both bolted in separate directions.

“I go for Tigress, you go for Paper Star,” Carmen ordered as she bolted after her target.

Tigress was the fastest of the two, and the one most likely to pull dirty tricks on them. Unfortunately for her, Carmen was well-versed in all of those tricks, and of course had all her equipment on her. It’s amazing how much she could hide in just a red hoodie.

Soon Tigress had led the both of them out of the main building, ready to make a run for it and disappear into the city. Her mistake though, was going somewhere Carmen could use her grappling hook without worrying about damaging priceless works of art.

She swung after her, quickly closing the distance and knocking her down with a kick to the stomach. Tigress groaned as she forced herself back up, but instead of running again or getting ready to fight Carmen, she simply shouted.

“Come on!”

“Done running around?” Carmen taunted.

“Yeah yeah whatever,” she replied. Well that was unusual, “did you girlfriend catch Paper Star already?”

“What!?” She nearly jumped in surprise, “She’s not- we’re not- that doesn’t matter! You’re going to jail, for good this time.”

“For what?” she replied.

“Trying to steal from the Louvre!”

“Ah yes, because that’s the only reason we’d be enjoying some time together in the city of love,” she mocked and rolled her eyes.

Was she implying what she thought she was implying?

“Aww, babe,” a voice above them called. Paper Star leaned out of a nearby window and openly teased her partner in crime.

Babe?

“She caught you already?” she continued

Tigress groaned again, “not my fault you got easy mode.”

Paper Star jumped down and casually hooked her arms around Tigress’s neck.

“Well I’ve won,” she declared, “now where’s my prize?”

The last thing Carmen expected was for the two of them to kiss right there in front of her, and yet that was exactly what they did.

“I did not need to see that!” She complained.

“You were the one who interrupted our date!” Tigress complained back.

“Do you seriously want me to believe that you two were just spending the evening together in the Louvre as a date?”

“Was that not what you and your little agent were doing too?” Paper Star teased.

Carmen’s reflex was to say no, but… was that what they were doing? They had been walking around, sightseeing, talking and laughing and enjoying each other’s company and- oh god Carmen almost confessed to her back there. 

This was her chance to have a proper date with Jules and it got ruined right at the finish line because of a mission that didn’t even exist in the first place!

She would have time to figure all of this out later, right now she had a job to do and two smug assholes to put in their place. Thankfully she already knew just how to do that.

“You’re right, it was very rude of me to interrupt your romantic evening,” Carmen raised her hands in surrender and backed away, “how about you two get back to what you were doing and I can arrest you both tomorrow?”

“What?” Tigress challenged, “no romantic chase over the rooftops of Paris?”

“I’m sure your girlfriend would love that,” Paper Star added.

“Actually I think Julia would rather just have you behind bars,” she shrugged.

Right on cue the ACME’s blue sleep gas finally reached the both of them, making them both drop on the spot. It was kinda cute how they were put to sleep still holding each other. Carmen almost felt bad for arresting them. Almost.

She pulled her grappling hook again and launched herself through the open window above, landing right next to a very proud Julia Argent.

“Two for one,” Carmen praised, “at this rate, pretty soon you won’t be needing my help anymore.”

“I appreciate the compliment, but I had my partner down there to keep them in place,” Julia replied playfully. Carmen’s heart skipped a beat at the word ‘partner’, even though she knew she meant it as coworkers.

“Always happy to play distraction for you, Jules,” she played along.

Taking another step forward, Carmen felt her sense of balance completely leave her as she accidentally inhaled some sleep gas fumes. 

She tumbled forward, but before she hit the ground she felt Julia’s arms holding her up. It took her a second to shake away the effects of the gas, and another second to process the position they were in. How Julia was holding her like she had just dipped her in a dance.

For a moment they froze, staring into each other’s eyes as they held onto each other, until finally Julia helped her up again.

“I’m so sorry about that,” Julia apologized as she tried to fix up Carmen’s scuffed clothes.

“It’s fine,” Carmen assured her, “I should’ve been more careful around the sleep gas.”

Still Julia fussed over her, readjusting Carmen’s hoodie as she muttered a few more apologies. It took her a moment to notice just how close they were both standing now. The realization made her jump back a bit on reflex, but still she remained considerably close to Carmen.

She took a moment to collect herself before finally asking, “so uh- you had something you wanted to tell me?”

Carmen sighed in relief. Good to know those two hadn’t completely destroyed her chances.

“I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed our time together today,” she admitted, “before we got interrupted that is.”

Julia gave her a genuine smile that made her heart stop, “I enjoyed our time too. It’s nice to be able to talk about these things outside of work.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, feeling her confidence return bit by bit, “wanna do that again sometime? Maybe over some coffee.”

Jules seemed surprised at first as she caught on to what Carmen meant, but that expression was quickly replaced by a playful smile.

“Carmen Sandiego,” she called, “are you asking me out on a date?”

“Nothing escapes ACME’s best detective,” she joked, “I guess I am.”

“Then I’ll have to ask you to wait a little for my answer,” she asked.

Carmen opened her mouth to say that she was more than fine with waiting however long she needed, but she was frozen mid motion when Julia’s lips met her own. A quick, sweet little peck. 

“I want to finish our first before we plan the second.”

#carmen sandiego #julia argent #carulia #julesthief #fanfic

[kim-ruzek]

The unit beyond Hank Voight: or how Intelligence should look if/when Voight is written out

Finally, part two. This was very fun to write and I'm glad I actually did it before season nine airs (I'm cutting it late I know!!!). I've had how I'd want the show to do this in my head for the longest time-- although, I'll say, I technically get to the root of this further into the meta, after the second header. So if you don't want to read it all and just my general thoughts, you can just skip on down to that! But I hope you read it all!

In this fandom, as a whole, no matter what ship or characters are our faves, we've all be debating whether or not it's right to still have Voight as the lead, or if they should write out his character.

If we break it down, take out all the nuance and the external and internal factors, I say yes. But if we don't, it's much more complicated than that.

I watch Chicago pd primarily for Burzek, that is why I decided to emotionally exhaust myself with a new show. But I liked that it was set in Chicago, and it lent into all the bad/darkness of Chicago, and not just on the streets, but the cops (even if they can and should do better there, because it's still very much on the side of bad cop propaganda).

And like it or not, Voight is a big part of that. People call him an anti hero, and by definition, he is, but I struggle to like addressing him as such. But the way that he is, his characterisation, it is woven into the very essence if the show, into the unit, into their dynamics and group chemistry.

This is why it's a complicated matter, that should Voight be written out is not a simple question with either yes or no as the answer. Or, at least, not just a yes or a no.

Taking Voight out of the unit isn't like taking out Jay or Kevin, or any of the others. The other team members are easily replaced. Of course, their specific dynamics and chemistries will never be replaced, it's a sign of a badly written character and storyline if it is. But they are, in the grand scheme of things, replaceable. It is as easy as having Jay transfer one episode and introducing a new detective the next. (The only other exception, I should mention, is Trudy. You get rid of Trudy and you'll just get a desk sargeant as a replacement, with none of that chemistry in any way).

Voight is different. He's the lead-- and leads are always harder to move out a show without it crumbling-- and he's the literal leader of the unit. Every dynamic within the show is interlinked through Voight's character even if Voight has no impact on the dynamic. And so you can't just write him out one episode and then introduce a sparkling new sargeant the next-- especially if the sargeant is a pre-existing character.

A lot of this fandom wants Voight gone asap and Jay as sargeant immediately after. That's just unrealistic and honestly it would be a bad move on the show's half to do so. In general, I don't want Jay to be sargeant. Not even for the reasons I'm about to list-- well, not just them-- but for personal ones. However, if it's in a few seasons time, I'd be more up for that, if the show gave time to improving his character-- even if I'd still grumble to myself about it!

As I said, removing Voight's character and immediately replacing it would already be a bad idea because of how much the show's dynamics are mixed up in him. Jay being the replacement would fuck this up even more, because he's already got his own dynamics with his unit.

Jay is definitely a leader type character. He was brought in to be. I could see him being a sargeant, and he's definitely the 'big brother' of the unit, even if they're all around his age. He definitely can have a clear head and is tactical and has that aura that people would be comfortable following his lead.

But he's also ignorant, impulsive and selfish. People say he'd make a good sargeant because of his morals-- but they're very much surface level morals. It's actually why I can see what drew him to joining the military, not just that want to leave, but he's clearly got a good-bad black and white line drawn in his head and this is what makes the military attractive to him.

Jay always thinks he's in the right. And technically, on the surface, he is. But he misses the nuance and he gets very caught up in his black and white view. This is what also makes him impulsive. He mentally, clearly, orders people into the good and bad categories in his mind and then he's pretty rigid in them-- jumping to conclusions.

He's got a good heart, but he doesn't take much time to stop, think and learn. Like with the racial issues prevalent and blm, he's only got a surface understanding and he does not make any effort to get a deeper one. Mainly because he doesn't realize-- because he thinks a lot of himself, in his black and white view. He is "good" and he cares that people suffer and therefore he thinks he understands.

He does not.

Say what you want about Adam-- and I'll be leaving my own personal biases out of this-- but even if you say he has a worse understanding than Jay, he's better because he makes more of an effort. He gets that he doesn't understand, and he's brash and vocal when he shouldn't be, but he also listens. And he tries to learn, he really, really does.

Jay doesn't. And Jay's also from canaryville. He went to Catholic school, Catholicism was clearly very prevalent in his life growing up. His father was an emotionally closed off man. He went to war. He's got his own biases but he's got this basic understanding and thinks that's that.

It's not. And it's barely okay with his current position in the unit, and it would be definitely not okay if he was their leader. Especially if he did what the greater part of the fandom wants, and leans on Hailey. Which let's face it, he would, because Jay doesn't think he has anything to learn and what he may think he does he thinks he can do it on his own, that he doesn't need to ask Kevin for guidance.

And yeah, Kevin is "only" an officer (and I'll get back to this point). Jay's got the higher role. But Kevin has been a black man, living in Chicago... Oh yeah, all of his life. That trumps promotions and titles, especially when Kevin has also been a cop for a lot of his adult life and has raised two kids in this racially charged city.

And then there's the fact that-- and most of this is because the show refuses to show the team bonding-- he's actually quite isolated from the team. We rarely get to see his supposed friendships with them, and this would affect how he can lead them and how they can follow. The dynamics would be off and it would be filled with conflict and, at times, be like a herd of sheep without their shepherd.

So, Ree, you ask. How should the show move on from Voight?

The show has been incredibly short sighted when it comes to Voight. He's been a problematic character from the literal start, and now we're reaching a point that a lot of the fans want him gone. And since the most vocal are the upstead and Hailey stans, I do believe the show will be thinking of ways to do this.

In my opinion, this should've been built up from season five, from when the reform storyline began. Instead, the show just shaved some aspects away from Voight's character.

He has changed a great deal, has grown a lot. I don't see what happened with Roy as a sign he can't change, because everyone's journey has back and forths. Especially when Voight likes to have control when people are hurting his family, he sees himself as their protector, but not as a bodyguard, but as an executioner.

And so I think the show will do two things to eventually write him out-- either promote him, or have him retire. But even this isn't simple and needs a lot of build up and work.

The show should've seen that Voight's days are potentially numbered and set up things so it's easy to slot his exit in place. For example, they should've kept consistent with having a captain in the precinct, even a lieutenant. This would have pre-existing roles for Voight to slot into easily, so they can still have his character around but let other characters get promotions or take on more work.

This would also help set up for retirement. Because even if he just retires as a sargeant, we already have other leader characters in the show for the others to bounce off-- instead of just introducing someone new. This would also help a sargeant Jay storyline, because then he'd have bosses to report too, making it very much seem that he is just the next link in the chain and would help balance out those dynamics.

Although, in a way, I don't blame them for not having foresight in season five. For other reasons but also-- because back then we also had Antonio and Al. We had a more layered and diverse unit. Instead, now we have the dad and the five children. Antonio would've made a good next sargeant, especially if we introduced a lieutenant role. Because I can see him aiming higher and helping to groom Jay into his replacement. Especially if Al was still around as a nice wall to bounce off, although it'd still be okay if we didn't.

Antonio would also be a good stepping stone because he had well developed relationships with every member of the unit. Well, apart from Hailey, but if they went down this route, they could've nurtured a dynamic there.

It would've also helped if they replaced their characters when they wrote them out. I get why they didn't. Al leaving made the partners even numbered, Rojas was after Antonio. And I wonder if covid affected their ability for season eight. But it's still the massive problem-- they keep trimming the fat, when it's unnecessary and not believing that maybe they should fix that.

And of course. They're all young. Even when they did bring in others, they're still young. And officers. And that would be okay, if they actually bothered promoting Kim, Kevin and Adam.

The unit's dynamics and feel is already off because of the lack of diversity in characterisation, race and age. And the show is doing nothing to fix this, and Voight should not leave until they have. Especially when against popular belief, history actually shows that Voight doesn't like blank slates, but people whose core characteristics fits what he wants his unit to be.

So: what does life after Voight look like? Well, hopefully, a more racially diverse group, with more age differences, different dynamics and friendships explored, Jay (and Hailey) being called the fuck out on their biases, more out of unit bosses dynamics to stop it being so insular and a happy ending exit for Voight. Because let's be real here-- Voight is not going to be written out by going to prison.

Even if he deserves it because one-- the unit would not survive that and they'd be repercussions for all and two-- realistically, as he was in prison once, the brass would not let this happen because how it would reflect on them.

In this day and age, they'd rather force him to retire quietly than publicly admit they got him out of prison and now is putting him back in. It may not be right, but realistically, they'd cover their ass first.

#ree has thoughts #that no one asked for #chicago pd #hank voight #jay halstead #<- bc i talk A LOT about sargeant jay

[yanderefantasies]

𖦹BACK BY UNPOPULAR DEMAND, ME!!! ON TODAYS EPISODE OF "WHAT TF DID DUMB-LITTLE-IDIOT WROTE TODAY" IS:

𖦹Frankeinsten!Au(??)

𖦹Au introduction➢

Death

A concept that for some may bring fear

To others, it brings questions

Some even felt happy when the topic was brought

But why were they happy for?

Why they were so afraid of the day where their body would stop functioning?

Oh there were so many questions

Questions that nobody wanted to answer

Questions that nobody wanted to be answered

But we shouldn't dwell on those questions at the moment

You had an experiment to execute

Some days had passed since one of your experiments had come to life

Even if just for some minutes, your years of research finally paid off

So many years studying the human body

So many years accidentally electrifying yourself

So many years of the gods stopping you from reaching your goal

But now

You had done it

You had finally done it

You had brought the dead to life

Oh you longed for the answers for what happens after death that the once-dead body would tell you

Was there a God out there?

What was their name?

Were the Greeks right?

Or the Egyptians?

Or maybe the atheists?

Are we just a rock floating out there in the vast space?

Oh so many questions and oh so many answers

But happiness doesn't last for long

Of course, the experiment had to go back to their eternal sleep

Bloody hell

Why cant those people stop being so selfish

It wouldn't hurt to stay alive for some bloody hours, or even minutes

You had so many questions

But so little time

And all of these people were so ungrateful

You brought them to life

You gave them another chance to live

And yet not even a simple "thank you" exited their dry and slightly rotten lips

Even the youngest people seemed to become rude after death

They were so ungrateful

So disgusting

So...so-

UGH!!!

Then a sudden pain stopped your line of thought

The scalpel that you were holding penetrated your calloused hand

You would have to remember to clean it soon

Soon after you disposed of your anger that had been accumulating since your fourth experiment

And now, you would make sure to not hold back

You knew that nobody could recognize the body

Or else they would probably come to you

But you would make sure that not even the gods that watched you wretched figure disfiguring the body of the poor unfortunate soul that had the sad destiny to end up in your experiment table were unable to be recognized by them

They would call you a madman

Just like your professor Diruse had called you

He said it was dangerous

That it was an insane wish

Nobody should interfere with "god's plan"

"God's plan" your ass

You would show them that you weren't insane

You would show them all

You would open their eyes for the secrets that were hidden from them for centuries

And then

Nobody had to suffer anymore

Nobody would have to see their loved ones die

Nobody would have to accept death

Nobody would ever suffer

Just like you did on that unfortunate day

The day that death took everything from your

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

𖦹➢

→on this Au!, the reader takes a similar role as Victor Frankenstein

→after the mysterious death of their now-dead partner, the reader lives the rest of their life searching for how to bring someone back to life

→Luchino in this Au! is on his human form, he works as the science professor where the reader studies

→Luchino understand the distress that the reader is going through at the moment, but he keeps trying to convince the reader to stop with their experiments that, in the worst case, could end up in their death

→Ouroboros(Antonio) though, is very interested in Reader's experiments, even going as far as support them financially so they wouldn't give up on their experiments

→after discovering about Luchino, Ouroboros keeps trying to make the reader stop talking to Luchino, as he sees him as an "obstacle" to the reader's progress

.

→I am VERY tired right now sadly, I don't have a lot of ideas to keep writing but here are some of the roles of some characters and the relationship that they have with the reader( I'm only putting the ones that have A LOT of importance in this Au, I didn't put everyone or else it would be too long)

.

(Note:  They are still yandere for the reader depending on how the reader sees it, this is not how the characters see the reader, but yes how they see them)

→Luchino Diruse: Luchino is the reader's science teacher, he considers the reader as one of his best students, but since the death of their lover and the start of their research on how to bring the dead back to life, he has been extremely worried for the reader. He tries to convince them to stop but his warnings seem to fall on deaf ears( relationship: Questionable, because of Ouroboros influence, the reader started to see him as an obstacle)

→Ouroboros/Antonio Paganini: Ouroboros liked to see himself as one of the most powerful scientists to exist, sometimes, he also saw himself as a god, but that was only his gigantic ego talking, the moment that he saw the reader buying some items at the black market, Antonio decided to follow them home, "What would that simple mortal do with all of these things?", he asked himself. It took some days of Ouroboros stalking the reader until they noticed the presence of the tall men following them around, and when they did, they had already fallen for his trick( relationship: Very good. Ouroboros helps the reader with his experiments not only financially but also gives them a lot of knowledge that they couldn't learn in their class, which only helps Antonio to manipulate them and make them abandon the outside world and only focus on their research, also making it extremely easy for Antonio to keep them all to himself, he already has them on the palm of his hand anyways)

→Aesop Carl: Aesop also has an interest in the dead, even wanting to pursue the career of an embalmer when he finishes his studies. After the reader tells him about his experiments, unlike some of the other students that heard about his ideas, Aesop liked that idea, even though he preferred the dead over the alive, the idea of bringing someone who was once dead back to life seemed very interested, so interesting that he volunteers himself to help the reader on their little "project", to Antonio's dismay of course.

→Andrew Kreiss: Andrew is kind of the provider for reader's experiments, at first it was kind of weird how this stranger came almost every week to buy one of the graveward's bodies, but with time, the stranger became some kind of comfort on the lonely nights where Andrew guarded the graveward. Though he didn't like to admit it, he always got a little sad when the stranger's " assistant" was the one to come. (relationship: Neutral)

→Robbie White: He is not very important to the plot but you know that I had to put him here, my boy sells newspapers to people and he works with Victor, the reader really likes(PLATONICALY) him so he always buys a newspaper when he has a chance

.Extras

→Lucky Guy, Norton, Eli, Naib, Freddy, Xie Bi'an, Fan Wujiu, William, Eli, Edgar and Ganji are reader's classmates

→Jack is a local murderer, he knew reader by their frequent visits to the black market

→Burke, Bane, Joseph and Leo are teachers at the reader college/school

→Polun is a street performer, they knew readers because, when their(reader) lover was alive, they used to go to their performances

→Percy works as a Hitman(??), he was the one who killed the reader's lover they were involved with some...'   nasty' things, he meets redder because they have been contracted by Antonio to 'keep an eye on them' *cough* make sure they are working on the experiments and not slacking off *cough*

→Kurt works as a librarian on reader's college/school, they've each other by reader's constant visits to the school/college library

→Servais, Murro, Mik,e, and Smiley work at a circus in the center of the town where the reader lives, they know each other because the reader and their lover used to go there a lot

→ Jose and Kevin work at Demi's bar, they know the reader because of their frequent visits to the bar, especially after their lover's death

→Victor works to the town's mail, he meets the reader by Robbie, who managed to sell a lot of newspapers to them

→Luca was one of Ouroboros little specimens, before Ouroboros meets the reader, he used to "help" other people on their projects and then steal them, accusing the real creators of stealing from him and forcing him to pay for their things, which ends up on his victims going to jail, Luca meets the reader by trying to kill them out of rage, after knowing that Ouroboros is helping them, but gives up on the last second

→Emil is a patient in the asylum that the reader goes to get some of the bodies for his experiments, Emil doesn't know that the people that the reader takes out of there are dead, so he thinks that the reader is saving these people and taking them out of that hell

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

𖦹➢This was rushed af and probably sucks bc I'm writing this for some time now and I have tucked or any calligraphy errors (Grammarly is doing it for me lol). Also sorry for putting a lot of characters as classmates or teachers, I didn't know what to make them and I am exhausted today, (once again, sorry for the bad writing, this one was the most rushed one that I made)

My fingers are hurting help

Babes/p this is absolutely amazing oh my god- I’m so sorry I didn’t get to this before- I was setting up something for my rabbits lmao

I love how this plays out though, it’s really good!!! Tysm for sending this

#idv harem discussion