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sgiandubh · 10 months

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Why do you think all of a sudden they are showing so much bts before the season ends ? They used to get into so much sh!t. And SC? They want to show they are besties now ?

Do you think what the actors post need to be approved first ?

Dear Interjection Anon,

So many questions, all of a sudden. Panic much, in Mordor?

So be it. Let's unpack:

I wouldn't go as far as saying we're flooded with BTS "all of a sudden". This is a rather decent rhythm of release in my book, with a clear double objective:

1) keep people engaged/interested, as this bumper season has been split in two by some marketing Einstein at Starz (someday, I might write something about the sadistic streak of their sales strategy, to cool off)

and

2) boost audience ratings, during this summer season when people usually go to the beach/host barbecues in their backyards/fall in love/whatever.

No comprendo "they used to get into so much shit".

Besties now, huh? Let me count the ways, Anon: tweetheart, #1 in my book, single occurrence, bubs, boo, babe, S's name heard from Pretoria to Vladivostok in The Reckoning (don't bother to retcon that, she confirmed), hubby, wifey, me wife, give her all the prizes, etc. etc. etc. But also and more so after the Great Schism of 2016, tele-wifey, tele-hubby, sister (ugh, no), co-star and yes, best friend. This I will not deny: it is on record and I don't deal in mystification. I do remember, however, my feisty, diminutive grandmother telling me after Grandpa died suddenly: you know, I lost my best friend. She meant feelings, there. But I digress: I should hope only your blind faith in what is said, not in what you see or in what your instincts tell you, is prompting this question. As far as I am concerned, I didn't allow anyone, ever, to tell me what to think. So no, I don't believe that poorly conceived propaganda, delivered with the cheer of oral surgery. S&C don't mean anything new. They simply parrot those talking points. And if you think these people are just best friends, I pity you, Anon.

This is 2023, not 1950. These two are Executive Producers, with complicated personal lives and a (by now internalized) self censorship reflex. I would therefore suppose that what they post is not necessarily/always vetted by TPTB. What secondary players post is far more valuable to me. Less spotlight means more freedom to be yourself and this is where we did find the biggest nuggets during this promo season.

#Anon

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quietlyimplode · 10 months

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Black Widow Fest - Day Six

Stay Alive.

Warnings: broken bones and car chases, swearing?

Word Count: 2047

Pairing: Clint/Nat

@broken--bow asked - and I should have replied to the ask box rather than making a post, but we’ve come too far now - for a fic where (as in the hunger games with Peeta and Katniss) a simple thing is asked, to stay alive, even though it turns out to be one of the harder things to do. Ty for sending in solid asks, my friend, they are ⭐️.

“How is this the first time you’ve ever broken your collar bone?”

Clint shrugs, regrets it and pouts.

“Do broken collarbones always need surgery?” Natasha asks the doctor.

The doctor looks to her clipboard and then back to Clint.

“No, not always, but if you leave these things for a week and keep…”

She looks back down and quirks her eyebrows

“Keep shooting arrows and guns?”

Clint smiles, easily.

Natasha stands in front of him, knowing his fake smile hides the worry of questions he won’t ask.

“He’ll be able to shoot again, right? No problem?”

He peeks out from behind her to watch the doctor nod.

“Yes, of course, but he needs to let this heal, 4 weeks in a sling. And physiotherapy - the you need to follow - otherwise, you’ll always have pain and it will always not feel straight.”

Natasha smirks, sharing a look with Clint.

“Guess I won’t be coming with you then,” he says, holding her hand with his good one.

“Surgery is scheduled for around 1.30pm, don’t have any more to eat or drink.”

She turns to Natasha, “you’ll be here to pick him up?”

Natasha’s face turns sour.

“Uh, no actually. Maria will be here, um a friend. I’ll leave my number and her number here though, in case you need anything, or if he’s not being cooperative.”

“Hey,” Clint pipes up, “drugged me is delightful.”

The doctor puts her clipboard away, and nods.

“I’m sure Mr Barton. No food, no drink until we come and get you. Ms Romanoff, you can stay until he goes in if you want.”

Natasha nods, sighing softly as she sits down next to him

“You’ll be okay here without me?” she asks, guilt on her face.

“Of course,” he tells her, “it’s a simple operation, no gunshot wounds, no knife wounds, no complex broken bones or head injury. It’s easy in and out.”

Natasha smirks again, “that’s what she said.”

Clint laughs and winces.

“Where are they sending you?” he asks, knowing she’s now going alone.

“Vladivostok.”

“You’re not.”

His stomach drops.

“Nat, you’re going into Russia, alone?”

She swallows and nods with a small smile. More of a grimace, he thinks.

He wants nothing more than to talk this through with her, tell her not to go, and hug her tight.

“I’m the only one that knows the dialect.”

He hates this.

He also hates that if he hadn’t asked, she wouldn’t have said anything, not complained, just gone.. Whilst he was under and couldn’t do anything.

He still can’t. He’s going into surgery, and she’s going to Russia alone.

The laughter from seconds ago is now abject fear for her.

The small peninsula town.

Anyone could spot her.

Know her.

Take her.

“It’s only for a day, not even. More like hours. In and out,” she tries.

He tries too.

“That’s what she said.”

Except this time, they both don’t laugh.

He moves over in the single bed and motions for her to sit.

Hesitating slightly, she crawls next to him.

Using his good arm he encircles her and kisses the top of her head.

“You’ll be okay?” he whispers.

The nurse comes in and cocks her head at the way they’re curled.

“I need to put the drip in, Mr Barton,” she tells him.

Natasha starts to move away, the nurse stops her, tells her to stay.

“I can move around you, don’t move, hun.”

Clint looks away as his vein is pierced.

“All done,” she says, moving away.

“They’ll be back in fifteen minutes to take you up, okay?”

She turns to Natasha, “you can stay in the waiting room, but it may be a while.”

Natasha looks at her watch.

“No, it’s okay I need to leave soon anyway.”

The nurse nods and leaves the room.

He continues to hold her, bring her head down so that it’s touching his.

“I have to go,” she sighs, not moving a muscle.

“When exactly will you be home?”

“Tuesday 11.20pm, the flight should land.”

She really is counting down the time.

“Stay Alive,” Clint tells her, looking at her directly in the eyes.

Slowly she manoeuvres her body out, kisses him softly and breathes him in.

“Maria will be here when you wake up, and I’ll be fine, I promise.”

He growls, the sound low and guttural.

“Promise me again.”

“I promise.”

One last kiss and she finally stands.

“Stay alive, Natasha,” his voice commanding.

Head butting him again, and one last peck, she waves off his worry and leaves the hospital room as the nurse returns.

She says something to the nurse that he can’t hear but he lays back in his worry and prays the next two days go quickly.

Vladivostok is not what she expected, or remembered.

Slightly removed from the mainland, Natasha sighs and pushes down the apprehension.

The last time she was here, she has visited a widow and his daughter, made them give her information. It had been a pleasant trip, ending with some candy.

The hire car is slow, white and generic and the gps guides her to the meet with the man Fury had deemed worthy of her time.

Clint would be out of surgery now, she hopes anyway. She wants to message Maria and make sure they’re all okay, but her cloned phone doesn’t have the level of security and her own phone is in the locker at the airport.

She was now Rosa Tuttle for all intents and purposes, and so she acted as such.

Blonde wig.

Long nails.

Make up to change the structure of her face.

She was not Natasha Romanoff.

And she was not worried about her partner.

The café is a small hole in the wall.

Posters line the walls, maybe to cover some holes, the corners peeling and old. The old woman approaches her, scarf covering her hair as she shuffled around.

Natasha orders the strongest coffee she can think and the woman nods with a gentle smile.

She faces the door, eyes on the two exits and waits.

The man that enters afterwards is dishevelled; her mark clearly.

“Hello,” she smiles.

He hands her an envelope and looks around in vigilance.

Natasha has seen this before, the skittishness of man who is too stupid to follow the basic instructions. They think they’re smarter and can be better at basic espionage than the people they’re informing on.

“You didn’t follow the rules, did you Igor?”

He looks behind him, and the car he’s parked haphazardly out the front.

“It’s fine. We do this quickly. This is the information. Where is my money?”

Natasha shakes her head.

“No, it is not fine. You think you weren’t being watched? That the Komutet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti, don’t have eyes everywhere, even here in Vladivostok?”

He looks guilty, shocked and scared, and knows she’s right. Especially when a large black car pulls up next to his blue one.

Natasha sighs heavily, looks to the back exit and pushes him towards it.

She apologizes to the woman and tells her to tell them which way they’ve gone. She doesn’t want the elderly woman’s blood on her hands.

Natasha’s car is old, but the fact that everyone here has a similar one, she’s confident of losing the tail they’ll surely have.

“Get in.”

The words are said harshly as he moves slowly, fear locking him up and making him move slow.

He does eventually and she drives away carefully.

The KGB knows though.

She sometimes forgets how much autocracy it is here, and how closely the citizens are watched.

“Igor. How long have they been watching you for?”

“They aren’t. They’re not, they..” he stutters, looking back around at the cars that surround him.

There’s two options Natasha can think of.

Run and hide.

Fight.

Neither are good options.

If they hide, she’s not making her flight.

Not going home to Clint and spending another day in a country she feels least safe in.

Fight.

Well there’s an option that she’s not getting out alive if she does that.

“Igor, you’re not helping yourself.”

The first shot ricochets off the car, and Natasha’s mind is made up.

Fight it is.

Calling quickly off the sat com phone, she puts the distress through, finding Fury on the other end.

Whilst not strange in itself, she knows there are others who could be on the night phone for this.

“Ah, we are coming in hot, the idiot didn’t follow procedures, and we have the KGB on our tail. Any exit plan?”

Fury’s silent and considering as she hears him typing and then..

“There’s a boat, the contact will meet you in 15 minutes if you can get there.”

Natasha looks down and nods.

“Affirmative, we’ll be there.”

Igor looks terrified.

There’s cars around them and although there’s still bullets flying, Natasha’s mind is clear.

“What did he say?” Igor asks.

She ignores him.

The side street she turns down is narrow enough that only one car can follow and she tells Igor to get ready to move.

He doesn’t need to, the car is hit on the side at full speed and it flips into the nearby building. Natasha is held by her seatbelt, but Igor, who never wore his, is thrown out of the car through the windshield.

Natasha assumes he’s dead on impact, not moving, his body brokenly laying on the asphalt.

She has bigger issues.

Held by a seatbelt that didn’t release, upside down and a dripping blood nose, she works at wiggling out.

Clint’s voice echoes in her head.

Her knife finally cuts through the seatbelt and she’s dumped upside down onto the ceiling of the car.

Pain pulses through the her left arm.

Ignoring it, she crawls out, grabbing the files she came for.

She needs to disappear, get out of here and get to the rendezvous point in less than ten minutes.

Natasha wipes her face.

Her wig now askew.

If she takes it off, there’s a greater chance of being recognised for who she is.

If she doesn’t, they’ll find her quick.

If only she had time to go back to the airport.

Natasha rolls her eyes, remembering. Her phone and her jacket.

Fuck.

Wiping the blood from her nose, she hopes Fury can send someone for them.

She hates starting a new phone again. In reality she shouldn’t have taken it but she was worried about Clint being in surgery. It feels stupid now. It was just resetting the bone.

Deciding on removing the wig and tying her hair up, she changes her appearance quickly.

Her arm hurts.

Quickly checking, she finds the quickest way to the port, and moves.

7 minutes.

At 3 minutes she finds the boat.

At two minutes, she’s on the boat.

And as time is up, they’re moving out of the port and she’s in the cabin, with the captain by the name of Ned steering her away.

“Broken collarbone? You’re kidding me.”

Clint laughs, arm in a sling.

“She what?”

The doctor points to the break and tells them again.

“When you landed, you must have landed on your shoulder because it looks like it’s a kind of green stick fracture. Unlike his, which needed surgery, it’s likely yours will just heal with immobilization and a sling.”

Clint laughs again, gleefully.

“Matching slings!”

Natasha rolls her eyes.

“How long am I benched for?”

The doctor looks to Clint, and then back to Natasha.

“You’ll probably be going back at the same time.”

“Six weeks?!” Natasha exclaims incredulously.

The doctor nods.

“If you both immobilize it, do the rehab and take care of it.”

Clint smiles.

“Don’t worry, Doc. She has a good right hand and I have a good left one. We’ll be a good team.”

The doctor remains straight faced, then can’t hide her smile as Clint helps Natasha back up.

She sets Natasha up with a sling and teaches her how to strap it.

Watching the two spies leave, the doctor watches as Clint readjusts their positions so he can half hug her.

Even though she hopes to never see them, she knows it’s likely they’ll be back before she knows it.

#bwfest2023 #natasha romanoff #clintasha #black widow #clint barton #my fic #natasha romanoff fic #clintasha fanfiction #clintasha fanfic #hawkeye #marvel fic #clintasha fic #ask away

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theseventhoffrostfall · 3 months

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Can I come out and say most of the Based Mongolian people are only 1 step above Based Russia Savior Of The West people? (Unless you only mean Russia, the city state sized entity of St Petersberg and Moscow and not the entire rest of the country who is so non western it'd make Heinlein write another Starship Troopers when he saw a soldier from Vladivostok but I digress) I can admit as a unique culture and force of worldwide change they are interesting but they are some of the most bloodthirsty and destabilizing invaders in world history. Their "cool" and "respectful" tolerance is only literally because they'd rather go around killing more people more quickly and having to enforce rule on their areas instead of just extracting tribute like a criminal organization means that at best, they were a societal band-aid over a stab wound they created.

The destruction of Baghdad, the ass raping of the Russians, the sheer amount of violence in the millions means while I find them interesting as a quasi force of nature and bringer of change to Eurasian History, they are deserved of nothing but death. I respect their tactics and bravery but that doesn't mean I would actually want them to win in any situation and the eternal contrarians who think Mongolia is some sort of cool place and not flat-Appalachia where the quality of living is akin to a slow cultural death when they aren't reliant on developed societies for all the technology they use have gone from "ok yeah the Mongolians are kinda unique" to "shut the fuck up, you live in the suburbs of Ohio and have never even so much as ridden a horse."

What in the rat fucking hell could possibly have prompted this

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mazm-imagines · 6 months

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Final entry for MazM Week!! Day 7 CATS EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. its kinda shit but its better than some of the other ones so . im rlly tired dawg... 524 words under the cut

“Has anything notable happened today?” Pyotr inquired before giving a sneeze. He gave a strained smile, attempting to hold in another one. Those damn cute cats…

“Nope! Not even little Hayashi has heard anything. Tough luck Mr. Belov!”

“I see… Thank you for looking for me either way.”

“Of course. How can I turn down my most valuable customer? You’re the only one that doesn’t call me a Japanese freak! Well, I am one, but still.” Not like Makoto actually cared for his lonely life. He had his cats’ company. His numerous, numerous cats.

“They’re foolish to overlook you then. Your intelligence isn’t any the least hampered by your status… I truly do wonder sometimes about your full potential.”

“Don’t start that ‘potential’ nonsense on me! You sound like my father. Just pet Hayashi alright?” Makoto outstretched Hayashi to Pyotr’s face. He in turn covered his face at the offer, already feeling his nostrils flare up in the beginning of a sneeze.

“I apologize Mr. Kimura… and you know I can’t pet her.”

“Ohhhh right you are.”

Pyotr was very rarely scared of much. However he couldn’t deny that once Makoto was angered, something inside of him reacted as well. Such an unassuming man was the silent threat of Vladivostok Harbor, even if it’s not a direct threat. Makoto never wanted to touch a firearm again, and Pyotr wouldn’t ever plan on making him either.

“Cats live such wonderful lives, don’t you think so too Mr. Belov?”

“What do you mean?”

“They roam wherever they want! Just live their lives. No need for comfort. And yet they still get doted on and adored! As they should! Although I don’t care too much about that part- anyways! It must be nice to have that freedom.”

“You’re right… It must be nice.” How Pyotr wished he could just turn into a cat and run from his problems. Perhaps run away on a nice ship like the ones Liza told him about when they were children.

“If I were to be a cat… hmmm. I’m not sure what breed I would be! What do you think, Hayashi?” He asked Hayashi on his lap. She was grooming her tail, only giving him a ’mraow’ before continuing. Makoto nodded furiously.

“You’re right… I didn’t think of that at all!”

“What did Hayashi say?”

“A Russian Blue! How about you Mr. Belov? What would you be if you were a cat?”

“E-eh? Let me think…”

“I think you would be a normal black cat.”

“Is it because of my hair?”

“Black cats are seen as omens of misfortune… very spooky and mysterious!”

“...”

“But, they’re just misunderstood, no? The sweetest cats I’ve met were all black cats!”

“T-thank you?”

“Not for you!” Makoto gave a harsh stare before loosening his knit eyebrows. A smile indicated that he was merely making a light hearted joke.

“Black cats are unassuming, merely coming and going in the shadows. Just like you Mr. Belov.”

“That does sound like me, yes.”

“Well! That settles it now! Thank you for visiting again. You really spare me from this monotonous routine.”

“Of course. I’ll be by again soon.”

#mazm #mazm pechka #makoto kimura #pyotr sergeyevich belov #mazm week #mod gwaaaaar #gwaaaaar art #gwaaaaar writing

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jacobsneed · 10 months

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So this little cutscene rewrite has become such a comfort/passion project for me :'D So yeah please enjoy the first couple chunks of this :')

tw: mentions of death/suicide

Playlist

Niko's hunger gnawed at his insides, a ravenous beast desperate to be sated. As he attempted to quell the aching void with a hot dog, his cellphone interrupted, vibrating on the dashboard like a relentless itch, displaying: 'U.L.P. Paper.' With a sigh and desolation surging through his veins, he traded the untouched hot dog for the device, dreading the encroaching omen.

"Belić," the voice of 'Agent ULP' reverberated like a ghost's breath through the speaker, "I have your man. He's been flown in." Niko's body froze as if ensnared by invisible chains, thrusting himself upwards—his knees colliding with the steering wheel while a sensation both inexplicable and profound washed over Niko's frayed soul. "We're going to drop him in the airport cargo area for you." A maelstrom of emotions swirled within him at these portentous words, still, an electric excitement charged his response, concealing his internal torment. "No more jobs, is that it? Am I out?" His pulse danced like a caged animal alongside an eerie film of sweat encroaching upon his palms. "You're out. You've done good things for us, and we are grateful," ULP echoed hollowly before delivering a stifling finality: "That said, I've given you a lot of protection. From here in, you're alone. Goodbye." Abruptly severed from their discourse, an uncanny silence swallowed Niko whole. Glancing at the forsaken hot dog on the dashboard – a futile offering to the inexorable march of time. He dismissed it once more as he frantically dialed Roman's number with trembling fingers, consumed by impatience as he awaited an answer.

"Roman," he clipped darkly, eschewing pleasantries and slicing straight to their grim reality. "They've brought Darko Brević into the country for me. This is almost over. I'm going to finish it." With unwavering determination lacing each syllable, Niko jammed the key into the car's ignition. "Niko, you can't do this alone." Roman's voice, a blend of authoritarian concern and brotherly compassion, "I'm coming with you. Come collect me from Firefly Island." Grumbling like a tempest set free, Niko submerged himself within the rain-drenched streets, discarding the now meaningless hot dog that has long gone cold. "Alright," he sighed in resignation, "Wait there for me." With a dismissive flick of his wrist, Niko cast the phone aside onto the dashboard. He tore through the rain-drenched labyrinth of Liberty City, forging a path towards Firefly Island. The night's oppressive symphony rang out, marrying the relentless drumming of rain on metal with the shivering howl of thunder, and Vladivostok F.M. murmuring through crackling radio speakers, the distant melody of Splean’s ‘Линия жизни’ playing through–

Гни свою линию

Горят огни

Сверкают звезды

Все так сложно

Все так просто

Мы ушли в открытый Космос

В этом мире больше нечего ловить

Emerging into Broker, Niko discovered Roman, cloaked beneath a sanctuary from the downpour, and honked quickly. Roman tumbled into the waiting car with nerves tingling electric. "Cousin, there you are." he breathed. "They are bringing him to the cargo bay at Francis International." Niko intoned mechanically, "I do not want to be late after I have waited so long." Their gloomy journey like a funeral march.

Roman nervously broke the heavy silence: "Well, this is the big moment," he started, attempting solace. "What you have been waiting for for so long. I hope you will not be disappointed." His words fell like calming petals around Niko, but thorns lingered beneath them. Niko murmured hollowly, "Disappointment is not a consideration." He faltered before resuming: "I have not been the same man since the day that Darko betrayed us." After a heavy beat, he mumbles painstakingly, "Since I saw those things." Roman inhaled sharply and muttered: "You lost a lot of friends that day, Niko. We both did." With a sardonic half-laugh, Niko sneered: "In some way, our friends from the village were lucky." Pain coiled within his every syllable as he admitted: "I lost myself that day, too." Roman sat unmoving; never before had such raw confessions stirred dread deep within him. "Everything that was good and innocent in me died along with them." His own revelation twisted like entrails. "If I could live those hours again," Niko continued,

"I think I would have preferred to be buried in the pit along with everyone else."

Roman recoiled at this grotesque ode of survivor's guilt spewing forth from his cousin. Enshrouded in his gory confession, Niko persisted: "This is all that is left of me." he resigned himself hoarsely. "What am I good at, Roman?" He choked on desperation: "What is my trade? I deal in death because that is all that is open to me." Roman stared resolutely at his cousin. "I will tell you what you are good at, Niko." he proclaimed, "You are a good cousin, a good father, and a good friend." punctuating each assertion to sear them into Niko's mind: "You still have integrity. No matter what you say, there is still humanity in you." Roman's voice swelled with conviction, "You still have the power to be good. It's important that you believe that."

"Hah, maybe I will start to believe it when Darko is dead." Niko uttered with vindictive fervour, as though each word bore the anguish of a decaying existence. "That might give me some perspective." A decade's torment echoed through the biting sting of his words. Roman, burdened with existential anguish, beseeched his cousin, "This killing must stop sometime, Niko." Roman's voice trembled with palpable desperation, "Once this is done, then you must begin to forgive." He implored. "Think about your future instead of the horrible things that have happened to you, to us, to all of us, in the past!" Roman pleaded. "After this is done," Niko retorted harshly, a flicker of genuine emotion piercing through his bitter exterior. "Then we can talk about forgiveness and redemption." His words echoed the darkness within, a testament to the weight he bore within his tortured soul. "Now is not the time for such conversation." And so, the two remained in a somber silence that stretched beyond its physical conception as they journeyed towards inevitable confrontation.

Their unspoken communion was shattered by Niko: "It was weeks after the massacre that I realized that we must have been given up by someone in our group." Roman, caught off guard, bewildered by Niko's sudden admission, his eyes meeting his cousin's sorrowful glare. "Given up by someone from our own village." Niko flatly revealed. Clutching the wheel until his knuckles turned ghostly white, he continued, "I had to go back to the pit where the bodies were dumped. I had to count the ripe corpses and see who was missing."

"Niko, I know." Roman muttered in response, nausea crawling within him. "That wasn't something the old me could have done," Niko admitted, sparing Roman a fleeting glance before resuming focus on the road before them. "But losing those friends, seeing them cut down in their prime," Swallowing a lump grotesque with sorrowful memories, "It hardened me, it made me cold." Empathetic despair weighed on Roman's voice, "I know it did, Niko. But that was a long time ago! I'm not saying that Darko should be forgiven - it is not our place to do that." He implored, seeking a crack in Niko's stone-cold resolve. "But the Darko you are going to meet might be very different from the one who led our friends to their death."

"He will be enough of that man to justify what I have to do to him." Niko snarled, the abyss within him yawning wider as his grip upon the wheel intensified. "Be assured of that, cousin." With each mile they traversed, hope receded into an ever-distant mirage, bitterness laced in his words as the loading bay emerged from behind the shroud of rain. "This is it. This is where it all ends." Niko murmured frigidly, abandoning the vehicle to face his the awaiting van.

#david writes #wip: zašto #might delete later idkidk djhjsdkhf

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darkthingshappen · 2 years

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May 21st “Are you cold?”

@themerrywhumpofmay

Burning | Faked love | Winter

Masterlist

Ben whimpered, bound to the X-shaped beams outside Volkov’s mansion in the Vladivostok winter. All he’d done was ask for a blanket. A fucking blanket. He had nothing on except his boxer briefs. He’d give anything right now to be wearing his thin scrubs in the cocoon of his covered cage. And he hated that cage. But, it was definitely warm compared to this horror.

Ben let out a frustrated cry, loud and raw, in his own ears. The ice beneath him singed his feet. Every part of him ached and burned with cold.

In the back of his mind, he recalled a line form a tv show he’d seen years before, ‘Nothing burns like the cold.’ He giggled hysterically at the memory, mind threatening to shatter at the very true statement.

He pulled at the leather holding him stretched out so that he couldn’t even curl in on himself. Every bit of exposed skin stinging. Bone deep tremors ran up and down his body causing his muscles to knot and spasm.

His fingers were going numb, at least they didn’t ache with the cold anymore. His lungs burned from breathing in the cold air and having to fight for every breath in his stretched-out position.

I hate it here. I hate being here. I hate it. I hate. I want to go home! Tears began to flow down his cheeks and turn to ice.

Ben’s head lolled, if he was out here much longer, he was going to die. He was certain of it.

Tired. He was so damn tired. He closed his eyes. The collar on his neck erupted in electrical fire. Ben writhed and screamed, once again fully awake.

“Fuck! ‘m sorry. Please. Le’me down. Pl’se!” Ben slurred, energy to fight waning completely. He knew they were listening. And watching. His bare toes curled in the snow in an effort to keep the blood flowing.

Ben wasn’t sure how long he was ultimately left out in the frozen wasteland surrounding Volkov’s compound, but he knew his hands and feet had gone completely numb. His nose and lips were also numb. His teeth had stopped chattering. His body had finally stopped shaking with cold and a strange warmth seemed to be spreading over him.

He must have legitimately passed out, because then next thing he knew, Dmitri was undoing the restraints on his wrists. He sank forward into Volkov’s arms.

“There, there, Malyshka. I think you’ve learned your lesson and will be grateful for the things you have, hmm?”

“Y-yes’sir,” Ben breathed, barely above a whisper. He clung to Volkov for the man’s warmth and it was not lost on him that to anyone looking in from the outside, they would look like lover’s wrapped in love’s embrace. Ben’s mind recoiled at the thought, the implications, but his body refused to let go of the warmth. “‘m sorry,” he whispered against Volkov’s neck. “‘m sorry.”

“It’s alright, little scholar. Let’s get you to Andrei and get you warmed up.” Volkov wrapped his heavy coat around Ben as he carried him back towards the building, pleased at the contented sigh that Benjamin gave against his neck.

Ben closed his eyes and drifted in Volkov’s warm embrace.

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getaway-gatsby · 2 years

Text

A Spot of Bother - 2/6

Originally posted on AO3 as getaway_gatsby

“You look as if you’re dying.”

Lifting your head up from where it rested on the table, you saw that Sulu had entered the breakfast hall, taking the seat next to yours. Raising a sardonic eyebrow, you stared the helmsman down. “Why, thank you. You really know how to compliment a lady.”

Undeterred by your sarcasm, he continued. “Honestly, Y/N, you were looking at your pancakes like they’ve offended you in some way. Are you alright?”

At the mention of pancakes, your stomach turned uneasily.

“I’m fine. Just got a slight migraine. Guess the mission the other day really took it out of me.”

This was the understatement of the year. In addition to the nausea and pounding headache, your muscles screamed in agony every time you moved, and, with every passing moment, you could feel chills setting in. However, if you admitted this, Sulu would march you straight down to the med bay. You had managed to escape the over-protective clutches of the CMO once - there was no way he'd let you go twice. Luckily, Sulu seemed to buy your excuse.

“Yeah, you look tired."

You were beginning to feel affronted. "Are you done? Or do you have any other insults you want to throw my way?”

Sulu was spared from answering by the arrival of Chekov, who with his usual inelegance, threw himself into the chair opposite you. You sighed. Although you liked the young Russian, today you didn’t feel a match for his relentless brand of optimism.

Chekov eyed you cautiously. “Y/N, you look – “

“Not you as well”, you cut him off with a groan. “Unless the next words out of your mouth are “extraordinarily radiant this morning”, I suggest you zip it.”

Taken aback by your hostility, Chekov looked to Sulu for assistance.

“Migraine”, Sulu supplied.

“Oh. Sorry.” Chekov appeared deep in thought for a moment, then brightened. "Does that mean I can have your pancakes?"

"The replicator’s right there. Get your own."

"Yours are closer."

Lacking the energy to argue with this - admittedly flawless - logic, you simply watched with disgust as he reached over and grabbed the nearest pancake. After a brief moment's hesitation, Sulu followed suit, leaving you with an empty plate and a strong desire to make new friends – preferably ones with basic manners.

“"Where did you two learn your table etiquette? A Klingon warship?"

At least Sulu had the grace to smile apologetically; Chekov merely shrugged. “Klingons don’t like pancakes”, he replied through a mouthful of his - your - breakfast. As you returned your head once more to the cool refuge of the table top, you heard Chekov ask Sulu: “Did you know, pancakes were invented by a little old lady from Vladivostok?”

You groaned internally. This was going to be a long day.

#leonard bones mccoy #leonard mccoy x reader #mission gone wrong #hikaru sulu #pavel chekov #star trek #star trek aos #star trek tos

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tunaafishyy · 1 year

Text

The Beginning of Elysia

The Arrival

Narrator: At first, the world was at chaos.

Narrator: It was without light and darkness; It was without beginning and end.

Narrator: Only an absolute void remained.

Narrator: In this void, she was born.

Narrator: Sound came first.

Narrator: A thud fell into the chaos and made silent ripples, as if calling someone, as if honoring someone.

???: …?

Narrator: Then light appeared.

Narrator: That light was good, for it divided the chaos, illuminated the darkness, and dispelled the void.

Narrator: That light was so faint.

Narrator: That light was so bright.

???: Ah…

Narrator: Light motes flooded into the darkness, bringing in colors, sounds, and a gentle warmth.

Narrator: Those rays of light spilled in, raising waves in the calm waters. Like a seed, a seedling, a bud, slowly sprouting in the hollow chaos.

Narrator: Consciousness grew clearer. Toward the light growing brighter, she opened her eyes —

???: Ah…

Narrator: What she saw were lush trees, cool springs, floating clouds, and chirping birds.

Narrator: The world was reflected in her eyes, and she was reflected in the world.

Narrator: A breeze brushed past her cheeks, welcoming her. She opened her mouth, as if to respond to the earth's expectation.

???: Wow…

Vladivostok 51

Narrator: That was a rural village called "Vladivostok 51".

Narrator: A hardworking gardener found a little girl with pink hair under the tallest ash outside of town. There, she slept peacefully like the daughter of nature.

Narrator: The gardener brought her back with him, and sent her to the orphanage by the church.

Narrator: She was truly a bundle of joy. She loved to smile and being pampered. Everyone in the town adored her.

Narrator: When the snow began to melt, she stood in front of the church to give the flowers she picked to every passer-by.

Narrator: When the sun began to shine, she weeded the orchard with the children from the orphanage in anticipation of a bountiful harvest.

Narrator: When the leaves began to fall, she learned to speak, so she glued colorful leaves into pictures and told them as stories.

Narrator: When the snow began to thicken, she drew musical notes in the snow and hummed in the forest.

Narrator: The girl was a gift from the forest. They did not know where she came from, but they accepted her. Her innocent smile could always hit the softest spot.

Narrator: It was a shame that she did not have a name. They all wanted to give her a nice name, but never found the perfect option.

Little Girl: Have you not decided? It’s so inconvenient to be nameless.

Nameless Girl: Ugh… but these names aren’t cute enough.

Little Girl: But I think that “Atalasia” or “Tia” both sound good.

Nameless Girl: No, names are very important. I must have a name that I like the most!

Nameless Girl: Ah, Marianne, you are sneaking biscuits again. You’re not going to grow taller!

Little Girl: Eh? Y-You’re mistaken, I didn’t eat any biscuits!

Narrator: As days went by, the girl still anticipated her name.

Narrator: Until one year later, on the day she was brought into town, the owner of the orphanage gifted her a cake and a picture book.

Nameless Girl: Wow, thank you, Mama Celia!

Narrator: The girl hugged her first present tightly, reading it under the winter moonlight.

Nameless Girl: Wow…

Narrator: It was a fairy tale based on an ancient legend.

Narrator: Legends said that at the end of the world was a paradise. The protagonist embarked on a journey to find it, but nobody believed it existed.

Narrator: The protagonist did not give up. He traveled and searched tenaciously. After braving countless hardships, he finally reached his destination.

Narrator: Nothing was there. That fabled paradise truly did not exist.

Narrator: But the protagonist did not give up. He stood at the end of the world and shouted —

Nameless Girl: “If paradise does not exist, then I will create one myself!”

Narrator: Then he set off on an even more arduous journey.

Narrator: His objective was uncertain, and his course was tortuous.

Narrator: But as a result, more and more people gathered by his side.

Narrator: With the same will, they headed for the destination of their dreams, until the end…

Nameless Girl: “They cheered, hugged, and sang for the dream they are all realized.”

Nameless Girl: “They had finally reached paradise. It was right there, at the end of their journey. Everyone cheered with joy, shouting it’s name—”

Nameless Girl: Ah…

Narrator: The girl widened her eyes.

Narrator: The quiet moonlight shine upon the last word of the story.

Nameless Girl: This is it…

Nameless Girl: Pristine paradise… Eternal Elysium…

Nameless Girl: Yes… yes! Name… Name…

Pristine Girl: My name is… Elysia!

To be continued…

#honkai #honkai lore #HI3 #hi3 lore #elf elysia #honkai elysia #elysia hi3 #herrscher elysia #honkai impact #honkai impact the 3rd #honkai impact lore #honkai 3rd #elysia honkai #flame chasers

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yeet-wolf-in-the-stars · 2 years

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Okay one thing I dislike about the canon (it's written in wiki so I'm calling that thing canon) and Kaidanovskie is specifically the fact that Alexis (Alexei) has anger management issues

Sorry, i know that many russian men are toxic and probably there's a stereotype about them being aggressive and staff. But I'm tired of it tbh. And IT DOESN'T GO WELL THAT HE WORKED IN PRISON.

Okay, for starters russian prisons are awful. And prison guards can regularly inflict violence on prisoners even if they did nothing wrong. They could do it for fun or just to release some stress. And I deeply dislike that combination of "anger management issues" and "prison guard". In the context of Russia it isn't going to work well.

I'd say that he's hot-headed but calms very fast and controls himself well. But he's extremely protective towards his wife and some people who are important to him/treated poorly for no reason. Just a big, serious and frightening guy with big heart.

He would kick anyone's ass for Sasha who has experienced A TON OF SEXISM EVERYWHERE. (She can kick anyone's ass herself but it doesn't stop Alexis). He would engage in the fight because it's his wife. (Just believe me, russian men hate women. And powerful women specifically). He'd also very loudly stop any shit-talks looking very serious and scary.

Also a little hc. If we agree that Newt and Hermann were transferred several times and were in Vladivostok too, then many men would discuss Newt specifically. For his tattoos, manner of talking and everything else. (It's the military structure and people there in Russia are more awful than anywhere else).

I can't stop thinking that at some point, he's done with listening all these conversations specifically in the canteen/cafeteria. I mean, Newt definitely noticed that something is wrong and people are staring, talking and it annoys him. He probably wants to come to the table, ask what's up. But Alexis is the first to stand up and come up to these guys. He states clearly and coldly that if they continue discussing "these new scientists", he won't hesitate to beat the shit out of them. And Sasha loudly agrees with him. The guys gulp together and shut up, apologizing for the disturbance they've caused.

Later, he comes to Newt and Hermann and says (with strong russian accent) that if someone disturbs them again, they should tell him because neither him, nor his wife will tolerate any bulling in any form.

#pacific rim #pacrim #alexis kaidonovsky #sasha kaidonovskaya #both sashas!!#newton geiszler #newt geiszler #hermann gottlieb #i wont shut up about kaidanovskie

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xieyaohuan · 1 year

Note

7, 15, 17, 18 for travel asks please

7. Tell me about your dream trip

Ok, this isn't going to work anymore because war, BUT I was going to travel to Tokyo by land and sea. Basically the idea was to take the Transsib from Moscow to Vladivostok, get on a ferry to Donghae (South Korea) from there, maybe see a couple of places in SK, then take a ferry from South Korea to Japan, and then a train to Tokyo. Had it all mapped out a couple of years ago. Some day...

15. Is there somewhere you'd like to visit but are hesitant about? Why?

A bunch of places. First is North Korea. I've been wanting to go for a really long time (a couple of friends have been, but I missed the right moment I guess). Right now is definitely the wrong time, and at any time, I'd probably feel guilty for going, but I'm curious. I was too young to visit China in the 80s, so NK (at least before the pandemic) seems like the next best thing.

I also REALLY want to go to Goma and Bukavu in the DRC. It's not super safe because terrorism, kidnapping, etc., but I'm considering dipping across the border from Rwanda on my next trip to East Africa if pandemic regulations allow it.

17. Tell me a travel horror story

I was staying in Beijing for a month in 2006, living in a military compound for retired PLA soldiers on the outskirts of the city with a friend of a friend of a friend, doing archival research for a class I was taking. One evening, I was stressed out from I don't even remember what exactly and decided to grab a quick dinner at a dodgy place near Beijing train station. I knew it was a bad life choice at the time (eating near train stations = almost always a BAD idea), but I didn't realize HOW bad until a couple hours later. I got pretty bad food poisoning and had to stop on the way home multiple times because I was throwing up and shitting out my guts. Finally made it back to the PLA compound and collapsed in the apartment. My roommate found me there in the middle of the night, passed out, and took me to the hospital. I don't remember much from that trip, but I do remember the taxi driver (yeah, no ambulance lol, basically Beijing for normal ppl in the early 2000s) telling my roommate I was going to die for sure, he'd bet his life savings on it. Yeah. Not super reassuring. I didn't die, obviously, but I did require treatment for a full week, and my kidneys did take a bit of a hit.

18. What is the first big trip you remember?

California, 1997, with my family. We basically toured the entire state in 5 weeks. It was glorious. The Northern Californian coast is still one of my favorite places in the world.

#travel asks #asks #anon #thank you so much!!!

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birdylion · 1 year

Text

I was tagged by @somename thank you!

Favorite colour: green

3 favourite foods: crêpes, dark chocolate, bulgarian yoghurt

Song stuck in my head: Soul Tamashek by Lakal Kanay

Dream trip: I would have loved taking the Transsiberian Railway all the way to Vladivostok but ... well. Not in the cards anymore for the forseeable future

Time: around 9:00

Something I really want right now: my throat to stop hurting, looks like I do have to pay the price for going ballroom dancing last weekend

I'm not tagging anyone in particular this time. If you follow me, I want to get to know you.

#a game is on

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thenamesofthings · 1 year

Photo

How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline

The New York Times called it a “mystery,” but the United States executed a covert sea operation that was kept secret—until now

…Something like this had been done before. In 1971, the American intelligence community learned from still undisclosed sources that two important units of the Russian Navy were communicating via an undersea cable buried in the Sea of Okhotsk, on Russia’s Far East Coast. The cable linked a regional Navy command to the mainland headquarters at Vladivostok.

A hand-picked team of Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency operatives was assembled somewhere in the Washington area, under deep cover, and worked out a plan, using Navy divers, modified submarines and a deep-submarine rescue vehicle, that succeeded, after much trial and error, in locating the Russian cable. The divers planted a sophisticated listening device on the cable that successfully intercepted the Russian traffic and recorded it on a taping system.

The NSA learned that senior Russian navy officers, convinced of the security of their communication link, chatted away with their peers without encryption. The recording device and its tape had to be replaced monthly and the project rolled on merrily for a decade until it was compromised by a forty-four-year-old civilian NSA technician named Ronald Pelton who was fluent in Russian. Pelton was betrayed by a Russian defector in 1985 and sentenced to prison. He was paid just $5,000 by the Russians for his revelations about the operation, along with $35,000 for other Russian operational data he provided that was never made public.

That underwater success, codenamed Ivy Bells, was innovative and risky, and produced invaluable intelligence about the Russian Navy's intentions and planning.

Still, the interagency group was initially skeptical of the CIA’s enthusiasm for a covert deep-sea attack. There were too many unanswered questions. The waters of the Baltic Sea were heavily patrolled by the Russian navy, and there were no oil rigs that could be used as cover for a diving operation. Would the divers have to go to Estonia, right across the border from Russia’s natural gas loading docks, to train for the mission? “It would be a goat fuck,” the Agency was told.

Throughout “all of this scheming,” the source said, “some working guys in the CIA and the State Department were saying, ‘Don’t do this. It’s stupid and will be a political nightmare if it comes out.’”

Nevertheless, in early 2022, the CIA working group reported back to Sullivan’s interagency group: “We have a way to blow up the pipelines.”

What came next was stunning. On February 7, less than three weeks before the seemingly inevitable Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden met in his White House office with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who, after some wobbling, was now firmly on the American team. At the press briefing that followed, Biden defiantly said, “If Russia invades . . . there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”

Twenty days earlier, Undersecretary Nuland had delivered essentially the same message at a State Department briefing, with little press coverage. “I want to be very clear to you today,” she said in response to a question. “If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward…”

—Seymour Hersh, “How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline,” 8 Feb

#Nord Stream 2 #CIA #NSA #Nuland #Blinken #Biden

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sizzlingpatrolfox · 2 years

Note

The double standards in this fandom are INSANE. People are praising Taehyung left and right for being “iconic” at that after party while they were disrespecting Jimin and calling him every name in the book for going to a party in Paris and Jungkook as well for hanging out with his female tattoo artist and army have the guts to say “it was in 2019 now we have a much more positive voice”. Positive voice where ? This fandom has become even more unhinged since the pandemic started.

- The double standards of this fandom. Like I’m happy armys are chill about tae being at a club but I’m salty and upset bc when jimin did armys turned their back on him. I legit saw someone say the reason they hate jimin is bc of that moment? I wasn’t here when it happened but I heard it was hell. But why tf did jimin get so much hate for having fun just like tae was? They always say tae gets the most hate but nah this fandom sided with him more

---

I guess people had a thought or two about double standards these past weeks 😅

It's a bit hard for me to try and think about how I felt in 2019, which is why it's taken me so long to answer this. It was really stressful and frustrating but it's been a while since I've just given up and accepted that's how it'll be. I don't get riled up about these things like I used to.

First, the easiest statement to deny: Taehyung never was, never is and probably never will be the one who gets the most hate. He doesn't get hate at all. Period. His fans think me saying he likes pussy is hate. Just go figure.

Even jikookers turned against Jimin during the three days (THREE DAYS 😭) he was in Paris because they thought he wouldn't be with JK for Jungkook's birthday. There was some Korean Jikooker (one who posted a photo of Jimin at the airport when coming from or going to Russia) who later said Jungkook was hanging out with mijoo because Jimin had been travelling. Did she think they were together and Jungkook couldn't keep his dick in his pants for a week or what? Make it make sense.

I want to point out a slight difference. We had almost real time "news" of Jimin. Let's say he arrived in Paris on a Tuesday, pictures of him were tweeted on Wednesday. And so on. This happened when he was in Vladivostok too, pictures and videos were posted almost inmediately after being taken. The only place where he actually wasn't seen a lot was Hawaii. Meanwhile with JK, it was all past events. The CCTV photo, the tattoos, we all found out about that a couple of weeks after they had actually happened.

I can't explain why but yes, there is a difference in reacting to real-time developments vs. reacting to "old" news. Personally, because it was real time and I actually saw the situation escalating from one minute to another, the way people reacted to Jimin in Paris was worse for me. It felt like a snowball getting bigger and bigger for absolutely no reason.

Now that I think about it, I think I literally blocked out of my mind what people were saying about Jungkook those days 😭😭😭😭 #darktimes it feels quite close to a literal trauma ngl. I remember thinking about him and everything, so much.. so so much my head hurt. My friends and I would talk on the phone trying to put together a timeline and connect the dots and try to discover if we were being lied to or what actually happened. I'm also pretty sure another reason I don't remember much is because I stalked a lot of japanese and Korean Twitter accounts, because they were posting lots of photos and tidbits of "info", some of it made sense and some were a stretch. But of course I didn't exactly understood what they were saying, so maybe that's why I don't remember much of what people said about Jungkook. It just wasn't in my language. People from my region were sooooo incredibly okay with the whole thing btw, they kept making jokes about it, they really took it so well. I don't remember seeing a lot of negativity in my language. So yeah, the backlash I saw was mostly from Japanese/Korean speaking antis because those were the accounts I was checking. I honestly didn't look or see tweets in english talking about it.

In hindsight, I wonder if there was so much mess because it was BTS first "break". So people were curious about where were they, who were they with, what were they doing. It still doesn't justify the way they tried to control Jimin.

Jikookers tho, masters at deflection, just stayed quiet and acted like nothing had happened.

And I guess that was another element to the whole thing: shippers. Why would Jimin go travel across the world without his partner. Why would Jimin hang out with random girls at a bar if he has a boyfriend. Why would Jungkook hug a woman if he's in a relationship with a different person. Why, why, why. Even if Namjoon had the same amount of fans Jimin and Jungkook have, the fact that he's not in any ship like that would've "protected" him from having his every move so scrutinized.

For Jungkook, the way I experienced the whole thing, it was a clash between the idea people had of Jungkook, and the real life Jungkook. Think of 2018 - early 2019 up until even June, the personification of baby star candy and the contrast with September 2019 Jungkook. The tattoos, the people he hung out with, the "type" of girl (!!!!!!!) he was hugging and rumoured to be dating. It was a lot. It's not surprising that he got the most backlash from Japanese and Korean people, even his own fans. I have two friends, both are Jungkook biased jikookers, we weren't surprised about the tattoos, we knew he was to get them one day; but I remember both of them saying stuff like "I would've never imagined he would date someone like her what happened to IU?!?!?" but I promise none of it was said or thought in a bad way, we were all just seeing a "new side" of him.

And then, probably (in my opinion) the most damaging misconception, the thing that really backfired against him, was that he was so casual about skinship with a woman when, according to the fandom, he was always terrified and disgusted of girls!!!!!!!!

As for Jimin, I think the fandom (international, at least) has this weird idea of him being a manwhore or whatever the word is, so that was also a factor in the whole thing. They thought he possibly couldn't be in a different country unless he was looking for people to have sex with or up to something shady. I know, he's irresistible. It was almost as if people were actively looking for reasons to "cancel" Jimin. Again; if people had this misconceptions of Namjoon, he probably also would've been scrutinized and people would've tried to prove he's a certain way like, "see what he's doing, i knew there was something shady about him."

Now with Taehyung, first of all, yes, the fandom is extremely different. Many of the people who were here in 2019 have left the fandom and the rest, we already know better. Secondly, I don't see many preconceived ideas of Taehyung that would make the fandom react in any of those two ways they reacted with Jimin and Jungkook.

They think he's queer, he was at a "queer" party ☑️

We all knew he's interested in fashion, he went to a fashion event ☑️

His friendship with Bogum was of public knowledge ☑️

Even him not waving or smiling to the fans was celebrated because the fandom already associates this "savage" and idgaf personality with him. ☑️

So pretty much all the boxes were ticked. It all checked out and that's why nobody had anything bad to say about him and why nobody cared.

If it had been Jimin, of course he was at a party with naked women. He probably went back to the hotel with all of them and they had sex while drugged.

If it had been Jungkook, no, you probably confused him with someone else, he wouldn't be at a party with girls, much less naked ones. Boobs are gross to him.

Once again, it also goes to show who's running the narratives in the fandom. Jimin went to a bar almost four years ago and the story has been so twisted and changed, it turned into him picking up minors, paying escorts, doing cocaine, who knows what else. I can't believe they're still lying about it to this day.

Anyways, I'm really tired of Taehyung stans. They don't have a moment of peace in their hearts. The way they just act as if Taehyung doesn't chain smoke even while being on schedules, but God forbid Jimin ever gets drunk in his free time. Let's not even get into how nicotine IS a drug, so by their own rules I should be allowed to call Taehyung a drug addict. He most likely smokes weed, too. Reality checks are already all lined up and up and coming for them, I'm afraid.

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legacyofacat · 4 months

Text

So, not sure how many of you know this, but the Arpeggio characters got character songs! This isn't new information to me, but since I recently started cross-posting my fanfiction Arpeggio of Hurt Steel I remembered one of my headcanons/theoriese I view as confirmed and wanted to tell you guys about it! Spoilers from here on, in case you haven't finished the anime!

As we all know, Maya was a surveillance unit reporting to I-400 and I-402 (why they decided to monitor Kongou is something we can explore in a different post) and only a "Mental Model without emotion emulator". However, I always thought that was strange. Now, I don't mean this in the "bad writing" way, I think that 400 and 402 genuinely were of that opinion and thus stated it, BUT it just didn't seem right, so I started thinking. I was pretty sure that, "hey, maybe Maya actually did know what was going on, but just couldn't do anything against it and had to watch shit go down".

My reasons for that thought are as follows:

Strange dialogue

400 and 402 stated that Maya runs on a very simple logic routine that responds in accordance with whatever you throw at her (so essentially like a chatbot), but when Iona sank Haruna and Kirishima, Maya, of her own will and without good reason, came to her in the Concept Communication System and asked "Hey, what happened to you?"

Iona answer this and the resulting reply of Maya is "Because she was able to save her friend, right?"

Maya's second sentence is one of the things she says when the subs shut her down, so I think that that is the point where the Chatbot takes over again - however, said Chatbot doesn't have a good reason for initiating the contact.

"But what if someone ordered her to ask that?"

Illogical, in my opinion:

Kongou wouldn't have since she feared interacting directly would damage their Cores and took precautions for her and Maya when they went to meet.

Iona's sisters only developed a will & curiosity about 4-6 episodes later and had therefore no reason to ask something like that.

And the theoretical factor of Musashi? Not either. She doesn't care about the "doll" Iona, only about the real Yamato, and that "awakening" is something Musashi only begins triggering in Vladivostok.

At some point, Kongou asks Maya "And what about you?" in reference to whose order she follows and wether she considers deserting. Maya replies the following:

Why mention Kongou extra? "I just obey the Admiralty Code" would have been more than enough since that includes obeing her flagship and that very flagship is Kongou.

My theory is that the "and Kongou" was sneaked in by the actual Maya.

Furthermore, there are various moments where Maya's speaking just seems... stranger than usual. Especially in situations where she assures Kongou that following the Admiralty Code is the right thing. Her words are delievered in a way that makes them unnatural - almost as if the Chatbot had been content with letting Maya babble away and then jumped into action when Kongou started potentially doubting their cause.

It's not a big shift, so one has to actually pay attention to it to notice and it is sadly near impossible to take a series of screenshots that captures the shift.

Shutting down the system & Mental Models

I'm not sure wether 400 & 402's statement of having "shut down the program" refers to the Mental Model itself or just the Chatbot, but in any case, this is absolutely a butchered shutdown. The system you just tried to quit via Task Manager resulted in audio distortion and repeats of past executions? That doesn't seem like something that should happen.

I-400 and I-402 should not have such problems shutting down "a simple program", especially not as highly developed AI and the very people who most likely implemented that program to begin with.

Yet, what happened there should not have happened under the conditions of a normal shutdown. If you stop a program, it just stops running, it doesn't start glitching around unless something is wrong.

The manga has shown us that even ships without Mental Model can communicate and have a certain range of emotions (see: Vampire). Of course, anime and manga are completely different universes, but they share many things - as such, I see things that aren't outright stated as impossible in the anime as possible to existing there as well.

Conclusion: it is very much possible that the "something" that went wrong is the actual Maya fighting the shutdown.

"Why didn't I-400 and I-402 do anything about that, then?"

I can only speculate. This happens after Iona resurfaces, so they could have had different priorities and decided that an surveillance program with an undangerous glitch was just not important at the moment.

Character Songs - Tremolo

So, why did I mention the character songs at the beginning?

gombi grace over on YouTube actually sat down, transcribed & translated Maya's character song, Tremolo, into English.

There are a handful of lines that are just Maya typical hyper cheery nonsense, but if you cross them out, you gain the following text:

"The sound continues The speed that reaches your heart Hello, heading towards the world's best today Making the town sloppy to clean it, it's ok My favourite music is flowing Look at me, move with the music, it's ok Somehow i feel that I had stopped Finishing off those meaningless words Voices replace them like magic The sound continues The speed that reaches your end Hello, heading towards the cowardly tomorrow I could not see the good in it, As it is held back Oh, the things that I want to tell you It is ok to tell it when we walk I wonder if my pitch is slightly off Who had decided it The breath resounds in my body The sound continues The speed greater and stronger than anything One sad sound one gentle sound I connect and stretch them Again, I could not hear them It is like the flower that sways in the wind It is like the blue waves The sound continues the speed that reaches your end it continues"

This is what confirmed my theory for me. Let's interpret the snippets a bit:

"The sound continues The speed that reaches your heart"

The sound could be many things; a voice, a message, feelings. Mayhaps things Maya whishes to actually communicate.

The "You" in not just this case but every other point in this song could be Kongou.

"Hello, heading towards the world's best today Making the town sloppy to clean it, it's ok My favourite music is flowing Look at me, move with the music, it's ok"

The second line could be interpreted as "if you break something to make it (the situation?) good, then that is alright" and could potentially refer to Kongou's dependency on the Admiralty Code. "Move with the music" essentially means to move with the flow - whatever happens, happens - and is something I could absolutely see Maya wanting to tell Kongou.

The "it's ok"s are the only instance of these words following each other so closely and the two of three times they appear at all. Could be intended as extra reassurance.

"Somehow i feel that I had stopped Finishing off those meaningless words Voices replace them like magic"

The first two lines could refer to Maya's own words. They are not meaningless, but it sounds like a small moment of self-deprecation.

The last line most likely refers to I-400 and I-402 taking over with their program and surpressing whatever Maya meant to say.

"The sound continues The speed that reaches your end"

Could be interpreted as Maya noticing that Kongou is Not Doing Well™, that the current scheme is not really helping and maybe even having a premonition about how this will end.

"Hello, heading towards the cowardly tomorrow I could not see the good in it, As it is held back Oh, the things that I want to tell you It is ok to tell it when we walk"

The "cowardly tomorrow" being "held back" might be a future where both Maya and Kongou can speak freely and do whatever they wish.

"Oh, the things that I want to tell you" is obviously Maya not having the ability to speak her true feelings

"I wonder if my pitch is slightly off Who had decided it The breath resounds in my body"

Her pitch was, in fact, off when the program shut down and the one who decided such were essentially I-400 and I-402.

"Who had decided it" could also be a hint towards Maya not being fully aware of who is responsible or not knowing fully what is happening, but instead that she has a general gist of the situation.

"The sound continues The speed greater and stronger than anything"

In this case, I would interprete the "sound" as the approaching end, but also carrying the double meaning of the aforementioned feelings coming to powerfully descend upon someone (Kongou? Maya herself?)

"One sad sound one gentle sound I connect and stretch them Again, I could not hear them"

I interpret the sounds to be words Maya connects into a sentence, wishes to utter but cannot speak in the end due to the program - thus, again, she herself can't hear them.

"It is like the flower that sways in the wind It is like the blue waves The sound continues the speed that reaches your end it continues"

The situation is continuing, it cannot be stopped and the violent end is still approaching.

And that is why I believe that the character of Maya is actually very tragic, that Maya actually did know what was going on, but just couldn't do anything against it and had to watch everything from a prison that was her very own body and mind.

#aoki hagane no arpeggio #arpeggio of blue steel #kongou #kongo #kongō #蒼き鋼のアルペジオ #コンゴウ #maya #マヤ #theory #long post #headcanon

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