#some would consider me a war veteran also

[thatdeadaquarius]

Okay so-- i was reading some sagau posts and came across this one where the reader was an army vet and my brain just Did Its Thing--

So now I'm here to inflict this on to you--

Would guns be considered as catalysts. And would they only do Phys Damage.

Me reading this ask:

😶 😐 🤨 🧐 🧐 😰 🥲 😭😭😭 💀

STOP YOU'VE INFLICTED ME WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL DMG FROM THIS ASK 😭

(Also srry took so long to respond, when i didnt realize how short this was/was just sitting over here 😓)

^ For the sake of gun imagery being a lot/maybe staff might hate me for it,

we'll put this gay shit instead (i almost mispelled to "gay shot" lmao)

☆

Sun: Army Veteran Reader, Gender neutral Reader (you/they/them)

Orbit: SHORT Headcanons

Stars: everybody bc i think itd be funny

Comets & Meteors: Content Warnings: gun stuff, mild violence, mild cursing & Trigger Warnings: Gun fun everywhere

THIS ASK HAS ME GIGGLING TO MYSELF LIKE A MANIAC

You're out here having a whole gun they let you take for off-base

And u ofc have a license so u can conceal carry

(idk how non-american gun laws work, but tbh ours are so fucked idk how they work here either, just that an army guy i knew once could have his gun when he got back home)

And ofc ur just paranoid enough (more like it just makes u feel safe)

That when u get yoinked into a portal to a silly little brightly colored gacha game fantasy world, the gun comes with 💀

Id like to add in my silly little "ur in a video game, so video game rules" AU version of genshin so:

The only other gun (ish) wielder (Mika) has unlimited bolts

Sooo I'd think your gun would be the same jfc lol

NO BC YOUD SCARE THE ACTUAL SHIT OUT OF EVERYONE IN UR VICINITY IN A BATTLE

BC GUNSHOTS ARE A DIFFERENT TYPE OF LOUD

When u first stumble into abyss monsters/hostile creatures of the realm, u nearly scare off a Lawlachurl bc every shot's like thunder to these bitches😭

So not only the monsters but the vision holders think u fucking summoned lightning

OMG THE BULLETS ARE SO FAST THEYD PROBABLY NOT SEE IT

ESP BC DISTRACTED BY GUNSHOT LOUDNESS

SO U AIM THIS LITTLE BLACK CROSSBOW (???) AND THINGS JUST DIE (OR GET RIDDLED WITH HOLES) WITH NO CLEAR ARROW STICKING OUT

STOPP- you're becoming a witchy god or smth to all of Teyvat bc it just looks like hella high level magic atp to them LMAOOO

Rumors of you get out of hand and say u just point or snap ur fingers and things get wounded/just die on the spot 💀

Oh another difference between Teyvatians seeing ur gun vs. crossbow (what they know)

Is that guns are wayyyy more destructive

Like an arrow would get shot but it'd bounce off of things like rock or wood or metal, maybe dent a little depending on how close

But a bullet goes thru that shit so easy, and leaves a whole little explosion behind, once again depending on range

(I once saw a Mythbusters episode? of them proving bullets would definitely go thru car doors, like movies lied to u, this is why drive-bys acc work like for gangs)

Lmao, the image of you in like full armor with a Teyvat made automatic gun after showing it to blacksmiths

Makes u just more convincing as a god, esp bc military training

(Ppl like Gorou and Kokomi begging for military tactics/training ur world has done)

...

....Ok.

I'll address it.

But only so u dont think im stupid later.

Yes, the Fatui have guns.

No, this not the same as having a glock LMAO

End of story.

(Also, urs runs on bullets, whereas the Fatui rely on magic/delusions to power theirs, plus they dont seem as fast or destructive as urs, more "explosions aimed at you" than real bullets)

Which,,, u leave the managing of ppl copying ur gun to ppl like the Qixing or smth, but make sure to give them advice on good gun laws if teyvat accidentally revolutionizes bc of ur advanced gun that anybody can wield (non-vision users)

Thats the best ive got abt that

Oh, also enjoy being praised as a War god now.

:)

☆

... dammit i had smth i was gonna tell u guys-

Uh what tf was it, it was important

OH

Next post is the Eldritch God Oneshot! Look out for it :) !!

☆

Safe Travels Kid,

💀♒️

♡the beloveds♡

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist / @thedevioussmirk / @the-dumber-scaramouche / @chocogi / @fallen-starr / @areaderofbooks

If you wanna join a taglist, DM me what for! "Pspspsss, please tag me for [All SAGAU posts, Only SAGAU Language AUs, diff fandom, etc.]!"

(If you ever wanna drop, just DM me! "No more taglists/[specifically this AU/fandom] please!")

#lookie i made my first border image guys!! 🥺 #a little rough but eh #i used a stock image and then added that little moon #also this gun shit takes me out i could write just a whole crack oneshot abt ending up in teyvat with a gun lmao #genshin sagau #genshin impact #sagau #genshin isekai #genshin imagines #my asks #gender neutral reader #genshin impact sagau #self aware genshin #✨️forgot all my tags again✨️ #uh #genshin harem #i mean what #genshin x reader

[bogleech]

been reading up on your old Silent Hill Prompts and the fanart people drew of them, and not I kind of want to see what you'd come up with if you could the later games. Like what would you do for a War Veteran or a Lonely Trucker Who's Maybe A Bit Too Into True Crime?

Okay so for people not really up on Silent Hill or my opinions on it, the second game (series-defining and still considered the all time best) established that no two people have the same Silent Hill and that the town manifests vague nightmare forms out of their memories. Despite this, most of the series kept repeating monsters designed specifically for SH2's protagonist, and modeled all other monsters loosely around how his looked. In Homecoming you play a war veteran, and it has some cool monsters honestly, but none of them feel remotely war themed. In fact they're mostly themed around sexuality, which was also already the theme for a lot of 2's monsters.

The only one that feels like "war imagery" is the Smog, but it's kind of bland. The only thing that really sticks out about it to me is that its fleshy tumors kind of look like an explosion. I think that's what I'd have run with. Creatures that look like they're exploding or even look themselves like "blasts," roiling and moving like fireballs and gas clouds but they're solid, meaty things. Maybe some with vague figures writhing inside?

Not mangled gory Hellraiser haunted house stuff but abstract impressions of destruction hastily formed from flesh, burning and dissolving everything they touch.

Environmentally, instead of the rusty look of all the other silent hills I'd made his look like everything is the inside of a military vehicle. This is the interior of a tank apparently:

So other SH games indicated your proximity to the other world by the degree of blood, rot, rust and arbitrary metal stuff, and arguably that still fits in with war, but I'd define this guy's nightmare realm by extreme claustrophobia and convoluted mechanical bits. At first perhaps just a couple more buttons and dials than you'd expect, and in odd places like the outsides of houses. When he's fully immersed in his Silent Hill it looks like that photo and all that stuff is pulsing and churning and threatening to swallow him up.

This went on longer than I thought so I'll have to think on the Lonely Trucker game a bit more.

For those who don't know though, there's an upcoming brand new Silent Hill (not the shitty Bloober remake of 2) that actually does finally test out a radically new and different visual theme and that looks VERY promising, exactly how far I always wanted the games to vary:

#silent hill #art

[nekropsii]

“Bad Representation” is actually a topic I’m really passionate about and interested in, I could talk about it for ages. The way people handle “Bad Representation” as a concept is genuinely fascinating, too, so this is both an analytical fascination and an anthropological one.

For clarity, I thoroughly do believe there is such thing as “Bad Representation”, especially when it comes to expressions of pure bigotry from the person doing the representing… But I personally think everyone’s bar for what counts as “Bad Representation” is set a little bit too strictly, has no real account for capitalistic and/or historical restrictions - For Example: Language and common understanding of queer identity being far different in the 1950’s than it is now, and Studio Meddling - and also, interestingly, tends to take no account for the opinion of those getting “represented”, or the idea of individual satisfaction.

There’s been many, many times where a character is objectively pretty bad representation by modern standards, but discussion surrounding it takes no account for the concept of Resonance. Sometimes a character is not “Good Representation” as an objective concept, but they are relatable, likable, and quite fun to watch. I’ve seen quite a few instances of people talking down to the mentally ill or disabled for enjoying a Slasher in part because of their disorder/disability, or queer people for enjoying Hays Code villains. Sometimes a character isn’t written kindly, or isn’t written well, but they really resonate with you… And that counts for something.

One of my favorite characters - one who has helped me come to terms with my cPTSD and OSDD - is a representation of PTSD + DID that is objectively not very good. He’s basically a Vietnam War veteran, who gets an Alter in the middle of the war that is basically a self defensive Murder Mode. It’s literally the PTSD from The War and Evil Alter cliche, but there’s just some aspects that really hit for me, like the fact that he’s considered the nicest, kindest person in the cast, and the alter is portrayed clearly as being in constant self defense mode, thinking he’s still in the middle of the war, and also being quite silly. There’s several details I view as being done pretty well, a whole arc about him grappling with his mental health in a way I find quite fascinating and visceral, and I enjoy him quite a lot! But many would agree that he’s “Bad Representation” because of the War PTSD and Evil Alter tropes. Even I agree that those things kinda suck, but that’s not stopping the fact that this character has meant a lot to me, and that I really would not be the same level of okay with myself if I hadn’t discovered this character.

I’ve caught flack for this. I’ve seen many other people latch onto a character who is not executed very well because they find them personally relatable, or are using them to figure some things out about themselves, and also catch flack for it because the character is not “Good Representation” for a group as a whole. No account for Resonance, no account for Individual Experience. It’s a fascinating lack of a sense of nuance.

I think people have forgotten - or perhaps do not realize - that criticizing a base concept, or base execution of a concept, is different from criticizing individual experience. It’s like the difference between criticizing the makeup industry vs. criticizing someone’s personal choice to wear makeup. It is good to point out when something is written or executed poorly, but you do not know the reason why that one individual disabled person enjoys a poorly written character who shares their disability. I would even say that they probably know more than you do that it’s written badly, because they have lived that character’s disability and you likely have not. I think you should maybe step off if a blind person really likes Terezi or something. You do not need to patronize them by telling them that she isn’t “Good Representation” because her quirk isn’t screenreader friendly, and that her blindness has a magical workaround. I think they already know that these are facts about her that are true. They like her for a reason, and that reason is Resonance.

#homestuck #media analysis #disability #representation #bad representation #good representation #nekro.pdf #nekro.txt

[factorialsotherfandoms]

They're back at that one bit of woodland again, with the strangely cut trees and the avocado sapling and an unusual number of birds. Fit hates it here, he hates what it does to his friend. He sees the distant look in Philza's eyes, the way his movements become softer, slower, almost floating. He sees the warpstone, and takes it, and knows it means that sometimes Philza comes here alone.

He sees the way Philza puts his parachute away too high, and does not bucket clutch when he lands. Hears the crunch of his ankles, too.

It's not the first time Fit's seen it either, though its novel in /Phil/. In the wasteland, in the many wars... Yeah, he's seen this before. People who can't face what they've done - what the world did to them - so their minds fade into a dream until reality crashes in with a knife through their spine. Nobody wastes an end crystal on someone who got lost in a dream, at least not the quiet ones.

(To kill those lost in a nightmare you want a bow, anyway - even if you dress in their colours, they might still consider you a monster in their dreams. Fit's almost glad Philza's brain cracked quietly - its safer, less likely to draw the Federation's ire, but it also means the pain goes unnoticed. He wonders, just how many islanders' suffering has been missed?)

The doubt in reality even when present Fit has seen less of, but it's not unheard of. In the wasteland people tend towards killing and being killed, but sometimes someone gets a grand idea into their heads.

Well, no, a lot of people do. Even if Fit only considers grand torture he can think of a good number of people, they're just not often met with success.

He has seen it, though, between one incursion and the next. There had been this one asshole up in the north eastern quadrant who took a delight in fucking with people's heads. One of the Veterans - Fit can't remember his name, why can't he remember even his allies-of-occasion's names? - had been caught. The guy managed to break himself out in a few days, but even that had been enough to have him clarifying reality for months.

Philza...

Well Philza was gone for at least twice as long, and, old crow that he might be, he doesn't have nearly the training against mind games and /human/ bullshit a Wastelander has.

He's still quick with the scythe whenever monsters appear, so at least the Feds haven't stolen that from him too.

"The birds are here, right?" Philza eventually asks.

"Yup," Fit pops the word a little, wanting to go home but not wanting to leave a trauma-fucked friend at ground zero too long. "Still here, still the wrong biome. The avocado sapling is still here, too. There was something here, they just took it down."

Philza squints at that sapling, and hums under his breath. Fit doesn't expect to be believed. It's just, despite everything, he has his own fucking eyes. This place is clearly fucked up, the Federation builds in an instant so why not destroy, and not /once/ has Philza asked him if something is real and the answer was no. His perception wasn't fucked with, just his faith in it.

Which is, in some ways, harder to deal with.

Fit would wonder why he's dealing with this, but he knows everything Philza has done for him and how, when its down to the wire, they're about the only friends either of them can really rely on. Seasons change, alliances are betrayed, lovers fight, and in the middle of it all is always black wings and Philza.

If after all these years all the man needs is an occasional reality check then, gods damn him, Fit won't even charge him for it.

He's nice like that.

"Alright," Philza eventually says. "Let's go home."

They warp back to his home - an empty home, but a home - and Philza hesitates at the hatch.

"Look," Fit says. "If you want to go out there again, or you see something you're not sure about? Just ask me. If I'm not about, take a photo and ask me later."

"Thanks mate," Philza says, with a smile reading 'I'll never do that, but the offer's appreciated'. "Sleep well."

"You too," Fit calls back, and really, he did expect that to be the end of that.

---

It is not, of course, the end of that. There's a few more times in the coming days when they're together, and Philza asks his opinion on the reality of a bird - almost always a bird, sometimes a shrub, and Fit is lining up what triggers he can to try convince his friend to avoid.

He knows Phil, and he knows people, and he knows that most people would rather claw their own eyes out than ask for help. Philza included. Himself included, to be fair to the man.

It's what makes what happens next more horrifying, and more of a surprise.

He is out with Pac and Mike when it happens. Mike is still acting a little odd, but so far he has attacked nobody, threatened nobody, and made no creepy comments about the eggs - Fit will take what he is given and call it a success. Mike is even acting a little more normal, herding Pac and Fit onto a picnic rug and serving them drinks.

Pac laughs and smiles, and Fit slips poison test strips into every single glass he is handed but laughs along with him.

So far, no poison - Fit knows better than to think doing nothing will have fixed the brainwashing (possession?), but maybe the level of control varies. It seems reasonable, then, to expect a chill day for the morning crew; Tubbo is offline, Philza is tens if not thousands of blocks out exploring, and Fit has a date with his two favourite scientists.

... A social engagement with one of his favourite scientists, chaperoned by the other.

Fit sits and listens as Pac explains some additions he and Mike wish to make to the Murder Mystery Arena, occasionally offering his admittedly uncreative takes. Fit knows what he's good for, and it isn't interior design. He just... did not quite expect his thoughts to be so bad that they managed to trigger a laughing fit in the still somewhat out of it Mike.

If only he could also help Mike like he tries to help Pac and Philza, but whatever happened to him, his green-eyed scientist no longer trusts him enough for that.

It's a shock, then, when Mike speaks over Pac, scowling at his communicator. "I don't think this message is for me," he says.

"What message?" Pac asks, already moving to look.

Fit leaves him to it - probably Aypierre asking about some newfangled machine, or Cellbit wanting some answers - before realising Philza is the only person both awake and not at the picnic. That has him standing, grabbing his own communicator, even as Pac is already reading it.

"It just says 'can you come over here a second'?" Pac frowns. "From Philza. Do you think he's okay?"

"He probably just hit the wrong name and didn't realise," Fit tries to keep his voice easier than he feels. Even while he's speaking, he types out a quick 'sharestone?'.

Almost immediately he gets a reply 'thanks mate' and then 'red, named parrot'.

Fit's brain clicks in as to exactly what that might be.

"Yeah he meant me. Mind if I just go check in with him? I'll be right back."

Mike shuffles a little closer to Pac, who in turn waves him away. Their sharestone today is blue, not red, but he takes it to Spawn, and then heads out again.

Sure enough, there's a new red sharestone connected to the network. It's named 'prart', however, and Fit really has to wonder just how badly Philza must be doing to let that happen.

---

Arriving across the link, Fit finds Philza sat on the grass next to the sharestone, knees curled up and hands shaking. It is the middle of the day, but he still quickly checks around for threats. Swamp, no crocodiles, sharestone and Philza tucked close to a tree. The only other living beings he can see are birds - hummingbirds, parrots, and a grey one pecking at Philza's trousers.

Given Philza is in a swamp, Fit has a good idea as to what he might be doing.

"Oi Philza," Fit calls, tossing himself onto the grass beside his friend. "You were missing me?"

"Hit me," Philza replies, still curled in the ball. "You're real, right? Then hit me."

Fit knows the queries about birds well enough by now, but the query about his own presence makes dread settle in his stomach.

"Alright," is what he actually says, before backhanding his friend across the arm.

At the contact Philza's breath stutters for a moment, before his fingers reach out and trace where he was touched. It's a slow movement, one alongside which he mouths words without sound, before the fingers dart out and grab Fit's hand. He clings, tight, for a long moment, and then lets go with an exhale.

"Thanks mate," Philza's voice shakes, far too quiet for comfort. "... You can see the birds too, right?"

"Yeah," Fit frowns - for all he doubts reality, Philza has /never/ said he's seen a bird that Fit couldn't also see. "Let me see. Five or six blue parrots over there, three hummingbirds, another parrot in darker blue, pair of red ones, I think there's a green one in that tree over there... Four chickens, and then there's a grey bird by your ankle."

At the mention of the grey bird, a shaky hand reaches out, and Philza begins to pet its head. Fit knows of some people back in the wasteland who take animals to help with the trauma, but he can't help but think a bird is, right now, a terrible choice for his friend.

"So you are real," Philza speaks so gently to the parrot, though. "Here you go, come on up."

Fit watches quietly as Philza uncurls, sprinkling a handful of seed on his lap to tempt the bird up. Sure enough, it goes.

"What do you see in this photo?" Philza then asks, handing something to Fit.

It's a photo of a tree. It's not a tree that Fit can see nearby, but it is one for sure. A single black bird sits in it, watching.

"I thought crows had been banished from the island," Fit frowns. "Wild ones, anyway."

"Okay, okay," Philza runs one hand through his hair, and another over his bird's head. "I'm only going a bit crazy then."

"They're fucking with you," Fit frowns. "Else I'm somehow reliably hallucinating the same as you."

Philza shakes his head - Fit wonders just what happened in that birdhouse, that his friend's brain would rather deconstruct reality than face that it could have happened, and just what purpose it serves the Federation to try.

"This bird... You remember the parrots by the museum?"

"The ones that vanished?"

"When I got back to the bunker, he was in a cage right next to the trap door." Philza's eyes are wide, a little wild.

"Well shit." Fit frowns at it. "Same bird?"

Philza gently lifts one of the bird's wings, showing Fit a very distinctive pattern on it. Same bird, else the Federation did something extremely fucky.

"I have to cage him to bring him places. Dumbass doesn't understand ladders, let alone warps. I don't like caging him. But keeping him in the house is just another, bigger cage. I can't do that to him, Fit, I /can't/." Philza's fingers twitch as he says it. "But I can't let him go either. What if the Feds take him again? What if they hurt him? They hurt our children, why wouldn't they hurt him?"

"He sure seems happy enough to me." Fit doesn't actually know much about birds, but its eating out of Philza's lap and has never made any attempt to get away. "Likes you well enough, too."

"But its a /cage/, Fit," Philza emphasises the word. "I know he's only little, but the cage is small too."

It's not about the bird. There is no way in hell that this is about the bird. There is no universe, here or anywhere else, where this is actually about putting a bird in a cage for five minutes while Philza teleports.

Fit just isn't sure if Philza actually knows it isn't about the cage, though, and with him teetering on a full breakdown, decides its better not to ask.

Instead, he offers an arm. Philza collapses against his side.

"They were just fucking with you," Fit tries to reassure him. "Everything you're asked about has been real, your reality is fine, I'm here, you're here, we're both real. So are the birds. The eggs? Real. Missing, but real, and we will get them back."

"I wish they wouldn't despawn my withers so I could blow the fuckers up."

Fit gives a laugh, noting how Philza's own wings fluff up a little at the words.

"Same," he says. "I want to see it."

"Do you know how many I tried to spawn?" he asks. "And they just erased them from existence."

"Yeah, we noticed," Fit agrees. "Assholes."

Philza is still shaking a little, but laughs as he falls against Fit's side. He's managing to talk normal enough, but Fit's been around both him and the mentally fucked long enough to recognise the way his fingers cling and eye flitter. It's not the usual paranoia, he's looking at all the wrong things to check for danger - not the swamp, but the birds, Fit's hand, the sharestone...

Fit's communicator pings. Looking down he finds a message from Pac, 'how much longer will you be?'

'Not long. Can I bring Philza?' he replies. Then, a moment later, adds, 'Feds are fucking with him.'

There's a longer pause than Fit expects before he receives 'yes.' and then 'is he okay?'

"Hey Phil," Fit says, rather than immediately reply. "I was having a picnic with Pac and Mike. Do you want to join us?"

"I shouldn't-" Philza looks up.

Fit raises an eyebrow.

"Fine," Philza sighs. "I need to get rid of some toast anyway."

"That's the spirit!"

It really isn't; Fit tilts his communicator away from Philza as he types back. 'Not really. I'm worried.'

Pac doesn't reply again, or at least not immediately; Fit shoves his communicator back in his pocket, before untangling himself from Philza and hoisting himself up. "We have a blue sharestone set up; meet you at spawn?"

Philza doesn't reply as he collects his own sharestone and returns it to his inventory. He does, however, raise his portable warpstone as he traps his bird in a cage.

Fit waits to make sure Philza is actually leaving before raising his own as well. Spawn is far from beyond the Federation's influence, but its a hell of a lot safer than a random swamp... Fuck, 300,000 blocks out. Someone's always passing spawn, the Federation can't mess with it easily.

"Here," Fit points out the right sharestone as he arrives. "Mike hasn't even poisoned any tea yet! Or threatened to murder anyone today."

Philza's laugh is a little nervous, but he follows through anyway. Fit checks the map to make sure he got there, and follows.

He isn't surprised to get there and find the bird already free, sitting on Philza's shoulder, but how quickly he let it out...

It isn't about that bird and that cage at all.

"Fit!" both halves of Tazercraft at least are excited to have him back.

"I have wine!" Pac seems very excited about that, despite the concerned glance he throws at both Mike and Philza.

Fit does his best to give a reassuring one back - impossible given Philza's very quiet 'hi mate' before silently curling up under a tree. "Great! Sorry about the disruption, the swamp had crocodiles."

"Multiple?" Pac pulls a face - Fit would be Philza is convinced that Pac believes it, but Fit knows the tells. "Eesh."

"Bad luck," Mike passes Philza an entire bottle of wine before Fit can even think about subtly stopping him.

Philza does pour some into a glass before downing it. Right now, Fit will take what he can get. And if that is just he's going to need to play up his separation anxiety to keep Philza close and safe... He just hopes Pac and Mike understand, because he's not sure Philza will survive to see his kids again otherwise.

#qsmp fanfic #qsmp philza #qsmp fitmc #hurt/comfort #dissociation #angst #its a bit heavy on the dissociation but from an outsider perspective #also vague references to Fit's memory problems #a cage for a cage #or rather its aftermath #pac and mike are also here because I love them #oh god this got too long save me

[pokeberry5]

i'm not really sure what the main thrust of this post is, but this yj98 arc has been haunting me literally since I read it months ago, so I've put together a brief(ish) overview of the salient points and the questions it's left me with

aka

that time young justice was sent to a literal intergalactic war front

aka

young justice has even more complex ptsd than you probably thought!!

yj98 #35

the premise is that there's a global war against imperiex, spearheaded by president (blech) luthor. as minors, they can't be drafted into it

(i hunted around and apparently Our Worlds at War, with Imperiex as the big bad, is the broader context, which i didn't feel like reading for this)

instead, they're going to be attached to a "sort of super medical unit" called the "paradocs"

the way they're persuaded to accept their role (instead of?? fighting on the front lines?? jeez kon) is to conceive of themselves as saving active-combat superheroes for their children they're leaving at home (creating an implicit distinction between those children and themselves, which i find sad)

yj is specifically a "search and rescue team"

with a civilian cissie king-jones as their qualified emergency medical technician (so her public persona is an olympic champion, actress, and volunteer veteran of an intergalactic war???)

is cissie the only one performing medical services then? do any of the others pick anything up from her, if these missions last long enough? (do tim and cissie bond as the only non-powered people they know going into a space war?)

yj98 #36

they've run "a couple" successful missions behind enemy lines: what does this mean for the duration of this role?

(i'm not sure if reading Our Worlds at War would help determine how long this all lasted, but if someone who has read it has answers, i'd love to know)

also, were they in space the whole time or going back in between? (i also really really want to know what batman thinks of his protégé being part of a space war. related, did cassie tell her mom??)

---

Superboy Vol 4 #91: War Letters gives some context to this

(kon putting on a brave face!!)

but also:

even as paramedics they were participating in active combat, fighting off scavengers

the lack of specifics, the mention of the fact that he's met "a lot of interesting cats in the field," and of "things" he's seen—there's a sense that he's seen a lot but not enough yet for it to no longer be shocking. or, that what they're seeing is so savage that it never ceases to be shocking.

this also implies that they've met and rescued a slew of people from across the universe. does yj have intergalactic connections? do random alien soldiers remember this small group of earth children that saved them?

this panel also shows kon (and likely the rest of them) amidst recovering jl members. what does the broader jl think of this group of kids in an acknowledged war zone, seeing them beaten down like this? (it's unclear whether kon actually went and rescued kyle rayner here or is just helping him around the medical area, but there must be some sort of lasting impression from this)

they get diverged from their rescue mission and end up on apokolips

bart experiences death when one of his "scouts" is killed—this has a lasting impression on him (addressed later) and kon blames himself, since it was his decision to chase after steel that landed them here. do the two of them ever talk about this? (they don't in yj at least)

---

yj98 #36 contd.

kon's accusation shows that this arc happened right after the drama between batman and the jla during tower of babel (the secret contingency plan drama)

and after batman's betrayal of tim's identity to spoiler (rip tim being betrayed on multiple fronts)

(tim putting on a strong front :'))

i find it interesting that tim considers his state "a world of grays" in contrast to kon's "black and white" attitude. balancing a multitude of considerations is a "world of grays?" anyway, tim staring death in the face and admitting he's scared :')

and then tim gets to watch lil lobo die (he does technically come back but!) and says explicitly that another part of innocence he didn't know he had died with lobo. this can't be his first time witnessing a death given gotham's everything, so is it because this is the first time he's watched a comrade die (and so brutally too)?

yj98 #37

and then! we get extended(?) mental torture on apokolips, enough to drive to tim to attempted homicide (both in the dream world and out of it)

(he was made to watch kon and cassie get murdered brutally in front of him jsyk)

and once he's out:

(does this ever haunt tim? that he almost broke batman's one rule? also parallels with dick beating the joker to death later on tim's behalf)

yj98 #38

the fallout:

we see that after experiencing his scout's death on apokolips, bart's been left with a fear of death strong enough to get him to leave yj (i don't actually know how this gets resolved?? it must happen in his solo bc he just sort of reappears a few mini arcs later...)

("i quit for a bunch of reasons ... but not a single one of them had to do with being afraid i'd get killed," cissie you're sooooo well-adjusted. she doesn't think bart's valid rip)

this is the moment where tim quits yj because he can't deal with their lack of trust (oof) and because“i don’t need the grief of young justice,” referring to everything else going on in tim's life (batman betraying his identity to spoiler)

(he'll lose them later on anyway—does it haunt him that he came back?)

(it's sweet that kon has someone he feels he can talk to and ask advice from)

i'm not sure if tim ever gets that apology

tldr: i kind of want one or more of yj to end up as a paramedic

#also i lied it's not brief #dc #yj #yj98 #tim drake #conner kent #cissie king jones #cassie sandsmark #anita fite #greta hayes #lil lobo #red talks #also this is def biased in its focus on tim but hes my favorite what can you do

[thepinklink]

Have some fluff ✨

The sun took it’s time in rising, and now seems to hang motionless in the middle of the sky, baking the earth—and nine certain Heroes of Hyrule—relentlessly.

“Goddesses, it’s hot,” Legend complains for the seven hundredth time in thirty minutes.

“Vet,” the Captain says from where he lays on the ground nearby. “I swear to Hylia I’d strangle you if it didn’t take so much effort.”

“Guys, please. Argue literally any other time.” Sky sighs, exasperated.

“No, let ‘em duke it out. I could use a distraction from the pain,” Wind says blearily, looking up from where he’s sprawled. “Fight, fight, fight.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be pumping your fist?” Hryrule asks. Wind shakes his head.

“Too hot to do both at once.”

“Ah. I’ll pump my fist and you can chant.”

“Good idea.”

Legend glares at the two as they begin their chanting, and then turns to Wars.

“As much as I’d love to fight someone right now, and as easy as it would be to beat up the Captain, it’s not going to be worth it.”

Warriors scoffs, but evidently can’t find in within him to really argue.

Hyrule and Wind’s efforts are quickly aborted, and the group falls into silence once more.

“We’re back!” Wild’s voice, way too cheerful considering the dire heat, announces his and Time’s return from the town. “And we brought a surprise.”

This piques everyone’s interest.

“Please say it’s hydromelons,” Winds sighs.

“Even better,” Wild says. He picks up the Sheikah slate off his belt. Everyone waits in suspense as Wild taps the screen, until he eventually extracts—

“Ice cream!” Legend, Warriors, Four, and Hyrule all shout, accompanied by visible confusion from Sky, Wind, and Twilight.

“What’s ice cream?” Wind asks, blinking blearily as the white substance in wooden bowls that Wild begins to hand out.

“Frozen milk, flour, and sugar.“ Wild supplies, giving him a bowl. “You’ve really never heard of it?”

“No.” Wind says curiously.

“I haven’t either,” Sky says. Twilight nods.

“I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never had it,” Hyrules says excitedly, eyes glittering as he is bestowed a bowl of the creamy treat. “I never had enough time or money to stop for some.”

Legend is halfway through his bowl before he speaks. “Haven’t had any of this stuff in years,��� he mumbles.

“It makes sense you wouldn’t have any,” Wild says as he gives the final bowl to Twilight. “It’s made in Hateno because they can use snow right off Lanayru Mountain, but I mean…the Sailor lives on an Island, Skyloft…I have no idea if ice cream has even been invented on Skyloft. And from what we’ve seen of Ordon, you aren’t close enough to…anything cold, really.”

Twilight sniffs his, clearly growing more comfortable with this concept. He takes a bite, savoring the taste. He is the slowest to eat, his smile growing with every bite.

“That was amazing!” Wind declares, and those who look over find his bowl to be licked clean. “I want more!”

No one seems very willing to give up their portions. Most of them are well on their way to finishing theirs. Wind turns back to his bowl, once again licking the bottom for traces of the sweet flavor before Time takes pity on him.

“Alright, you can have the rest of mine,” the Old Man chuckles. It turns into a deep laugh when Wind pounces on the bowl hungrily.

There’s another minutes of silence as everyone finishes off the ice cream, and another moment of quiet afterwards as they all seemed to mourn the loss of the sweet distraction from the unbearable heat.

“Perhaps we can make more?” Time suggests. Everyone looks at him.

“We don’t know how to make ice cream.” Wind says. “Also, maybe I’m crazy, but the last time I checked, we don’t have snow. Or ice. Or anything cold.”

“Sure we do,” Warriors says. “The Veteran’s right here.”

“Ha ha,” Legend says. “Very funny.”

Warriors looks at him. “No, seriously. You have the ice rod.”

Everyone is silent. Legend scowls.

“The heat makes me slow, okay?”

“I’ll allow it. Now, Champion, let’s see if we have the ingredients…”

The following endeavors include an extra trip to town, which yields yet ore milk, sugar, and tabantha wheat, as well as several somewhat failed (but no less delicious) attempts at making ice cream. Reasonably distracted, no one notices the sun seems to have resumed it’s journey across the sky, until the heat begins to dissipate. Of course, by that time, most everyone is occupied by stomachaches of varying degrees. But if you were to ask any of them, no one would have any regrets.

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #lu legend #lu time #lu sky #lu twilight #lu warriors #lu wind #lu wild #lu four #lu hyrule #ice cream #plink writes

[thefloatingstone]

How would you compare Presley's racism vs Ashley's racism. Although now that I type this at least Presley never compared them animals. Hmmm...

Honestly it's all down to "root cause" and "how they express it".

Pressly is a veteran of the first contact war who was shooting at these people less than 30 years ago. His racism has its roots in a perspective forged during wartime and all the baggage THAT drags up. But we get clear and straightforward addressing of Pressly growing out of his racism by his own words, remarking in his log "Reading back on my older entries, what a damn fool I've been."

Ashley on the other hand may have similar baggage, as her grandfather is a disgraced military man and caused her entire family to be blacklisted because of the First Contact War with the aliens, and that would be a similar place to draw her prejudice from and help her grow out of by realising her true feelings of anger and resentment are misplaced. But the way she voices her racism is full of venom and true, deep seeded contempt and hatred. Comparing them to animals is the big one, and ME2 itself mocks her for this comment if she died on Virmire. But it's more than that. Ashley's entire personality is that of "High School Mean Girl". The second Liara steps on board of the Normandy Ashley is GUNNING to bully her. Not just because she's an alien but ALSO for being "one of those lesbian sluts". (reminder, in ME1 Liara is an extremely shy and awkward historian and archaeologist)

When Shepard tells Ashley to NOT bully Liara for being an Asari, Ashley straight up says "No fun, Commander >:("

Also there's this line which some people miss because it requires you to have the discussion with Liara about the Prejudice and racism Asari face galaxy wide and then going directly to Ashley and speaking to her)

(the clip starts at 2:44)

idk if I said it here or if I said so in discord to a friend, but I see kaidan and Ashley as being written as the answers to Bioware's handling of Renegade and Paragon options. Kaidan is more geared to reflect a Paragon playthrough and Ashley is more geared to fit a renegade playthrough. Possibly the thinking was whichever way the person is playing, it would affect who they decide to spare on Virmire.

(also I have a good relationship with my family but Ashley going "WHAT DOES SHE MEAN SHE DOESN'T LIKE HER MOM???? THAT'S STUPID." comment also makes me really fucking angry considering how many irl friends I have who have moms who suck ass)

Pressly's racism is problematic (same as Garrus' racism in the first game) but he outgrows it and openly says "I was wrong."

Garrus has a full on conversation with Tali in ME3 and directly says to her "I'm sorry and I was wrong."

Ashley never apologises or excuses her early comments and behaviour. She just at some point stops doing it so overtly and comments how "no I like Tali a lot" (Everybody likes Tali) as if this somehow undoes everything she said. More than anything, she tries to justify and excuse her past comments and opinions while also saying the most hateful things about the crew.

She's a racist bully from a heavily religious traditional military family who makes no effort to understand people from family structures or upbringing she doesn't understand, alien or otherwise, who immediately started picking on the shy nerd the SECOND she stepped foot on the ship and never apologises for any of her actions, racist or otherwise.

The racism is a symptom of a much nastier whole.

She's a VERY well written character. I just heavily dislike her.

#Mass Effect #C-Puff answers #ask me to tag if you need me to #Also not putting this in the character tag because I got raked over the coals for that last time

[always-is-always]

Jimin-💜-Jungkook

This IS a LONG share, so have a seat, grab some coffee or tea, and bear with me....

Where to begin is a question... where to begin? My Heart is filled with so much right now that it is hard for my mind to translate it all.

The Heart Knows All.

When they went live the other day with Joonie and Tae, I could sense and feel(emapathically) that Jimin and Jungkookie were already in the energy of "companionship" in regards to the military. It was already in their field. This is in addition to their already established energetic connections that span all other aspects of their lives.

The energetic signature of the military is new and foreign. And, it is also distinct.

In that short time on the live, it was very clear to me that JK & JM would be okay. Everything was in place, energetically. That means that their bond, their commitment to one another to navigate the enlistment together was rock solid. It was palpable. And, there was the love that they share that clearly fuels this for them. However an observer "sees" that Love that flows between their hearts. Love is Love.

So, after watching that Vlive, I felt some peace. My Heart felt more settled, after that. I'm grateful for that peace, as I had been feeling some concern about them. My concern was not about them being bullied or something of that nature. It's been more of a concern about their emotional and mental wellbeing, while facing the challenges of going through the training and beyond.

This is where I get a little wobbly in my words.

I know without a doubt that Jimin and Jungkook will be each other's rocks, for the duration of the enlistment. They will have each other's backs. They will support each other in every way, on every level. That I have total confidence in.

Here is where concern creeps into my heart. Here is where I bear all in my own way, in putting into words what needs to be said.

When I watched the short video of their enlistment day what I saw, felt and sensed in both Jimin-ah and Jungkookie was VULNERABLILITY.

Yeah. Vulnerability.

Yeah.

Something that I had not seen in them, in quite this way. Or, at this level...

That broke my heart.

What we were seeing in both of them is vulnerability. An unease. Like they were stepping out to the precipice, and about to take a huge step off, into the unknown.

Seeing that reminded me that this experience is life-changing, beyond anything that a civilian can understand. Truly. Especially considering their choice of path, to enter the training for front line duty.

{{{A side story here- My bestie is a Veteran. She served in two wars, jumped out of airplanes, gave everything she had to serving the US. We have had many conversations about JK & JM enlisting. Some of what I know and understand comes directly from things that she has shared, her understandings (she's lbgtq), and such. I am not a Veteran, and have not had direct experience in the military.}}}

While watching the livestream waiting for Jimin and Jungkook to arrive, I noticed and felt some things about the military base, and I also realized some things about what JM & JK were stepping into.

.....that livestream was literally 4+ hours long.

As I sat with the volume on, I began to notice a man's voice shouting (it seemed) through a loud speaker (megaphone?), and then voices responding to him. There was a specific cadence to his words, and a specific crescendo in tone and volume, every time he spoke. He would get louder and louder, and the voices that responded would shout out the exact same words every time, and they repeated the response 3 times. What really caught my attention was the voice of a woman that was high-pitched, and louder than all of the others.

I began to listen to this, and after about 5 minutes I began to feel really uncomfortable. That kind of twisting in the solar plexus type of uncomfortable. I wound up turning the volume off, as it was really bothering me, and I began to feel anxious.

After several more minutes, I turned the volume back on and they were still going at it. Call and response. Over and over and over again... The same man shouting out and the same response back to him. That same woman's voice.....

Drill Sergeant. It finally dawned on me that the man was a Drill Sergeant. He was "drilling" instructions into the psyches of those soldiers , and who knows what else.... This type of repetition is designed to mold minds, to instill compliance, and to establish the foundation of training that follows.

That call and response lasted for an hour. They had a break for maybe 30 minutes, then it began again and continued. (It was still going on when JK & JM's vehicles arrived.) That same female voice calling out above the others...

So, my discomfort intensifed as my empathic and intuitive hits just made it hard to bear witness to what was happening. Even with it being something I was hearing and not seeing. So... I turned off the volume again, and then really looked at the base energetically. What dawned on me was the biggest awareness that brought me to tears, and it also sent me into prayer. (not religious prayer, just simply communicating with the Divine, and Benevolent Beings)

(What followed that prayer could be described in another post, but it will never be written. All I can say is that some big work was done, to clear that base of all nefarious energies, and to establish a clear Foundation of Light. To support everyone there.) (a tiny digression here!)

In those moments what I realized, is this: As soldiers they are taught how to take the life of another Human Being. Jimin and Jungkook would be learning this, in a way that also instills a commitment to do it, if they were to ever participate in an armed conflict.

Going back to my Bestie, I spoke with her about this. She said, "yeah, it's totally de-humanizing".

My thoughts then turned to what is and has been happening in this world for thousands of years. How and why we are still in a position on this planet where Human Beings have to be trained and prepared for war is something I just cannot understand. (Again, another rabbit hole!)

Jimin and Jungkook are enlisting because they have NO choice. Just like citizens of all 34 countries on Earth that have mandatory enlistment. This brings one more awareness into this.

There is a stark difference between a person enlisting by choice (like my Bestie), and a person enlisting because they do not have the right to choose otherwise. The experience is beyond difficult either way, but for those who are forced to go into the military it is another level.

Circle back to vulnerability. Circle back to Jimin and Jungkook, and their obvious state of being when they were enlisting. Especially in those last moments when we saw them marching off with the other enlistees.

What we have witnessed is beyond sad. There are no words that can adequately express this. That we live in a time where Human Beings are forced to enter into military service. That we live in a time where Human Beings are still being trained and taught to kill.

And, those beautiful Hearts that are Park Jimin and Jeon Jungkook (and the others, too!) have to somehow get through their “training” and “service”, intact and unscathed. They have to make it through, maintaining their Innate Human Essence, and Heart.

Yeah.

All we can do on our end is continually send them clear energies of Love and Support. All we can do is hold Space, while they navigate through each day, each week, each month....

What will help them most is to Love them through this experience. In every moment. See them as being carried by Love and Grace, surrounded by Love and Grace, and held in Love and Grace. Every single moment of every single day.

What they are going to face is something that will impact them in ways that are yet to be known. I am just grateful beyond words that they have each other, to walk side by side, through this experience.

Bless their beautiful Hearts and give them Deep Strength, as they take each step along the way.

June 2025 cannot come soon enough. 💜

#jeon jungkook #park jimin #jk #jm #jungkookie #jiminie #jikook #kookmin #jungkook and jimin enlistment #surround jimin and jungkook with love #why is the world still at war #time for humanity to wake up #is it 2025 yet #conscription is inhumane

[garyroachsanderson]

i love your hcs sm!! do you think you could write 141 best friends hcs with reader getting hurt?

HI YES SORRY IVE BEEN ILL

141 best friend hcs— reader is injured

(requested) cw for blood, injury, near death, stuff like that

GAZ

when i tell you this man would scream at the top of his fucking lungs

he would do his best to stop the bleeding, but would also make fun of you as your face paled

“big strong y/n couldn’t handle a bullet, huh?” (this is the man who sat down and buried his head in his hands and hyperventilated after scraping his knee during a night out drinking)

he’d be there the entire time, but wouldn’t try to fight medical professionals from taking you off

“bitch, wake up”

he wouldn’t be allowed in the hospital room, and get pissed off, and proceed to tweet angrily outside. he knew you wouldn’t die, but he was scared you would, and it would be without him there to help you.

once you were awake, you’d probably send him some shit like this ^

he would then proceed to immediately run to your room and violently noogie you before hugging you

GHOST

now.. something is wrong with this man. he wouldn’t scream, he wouldn’t start crying out of anger or anything healthy. he lets out a guttural wail inside of his head as soon as he sees you’ve been downed.

if you’re near him, he’d drag you to a closed part of a building and desperately but calmly try stopping the blood. he’s learned a lot of tactics, and making himself appear like he’s staying calm is one of them.

his heartbeat is about 500 beats per minute rn. your flesh is now pale, which is unnerving considering your usual skin tone. he’s not trained in patching others up, and he doesn’t know how to fix that. he says something and you don’t respond so he raises his voice and goes “Stay with me, kid.”

incoherently mutters into comms, just completely trailing off

just cradling you the entire time until evac arrived, which he tried to follow but went with price and soap

if he was not by you, he’d keep asking questions until he got answers or he didn’t

“ C/N, come in. Do you copy?”

(radio silence)

“C/N, do you copy?”

“ . . . “

“..Fuck.”

moves through rooftops to find you, scouring the city like some kind of demented superhero.

would use his scope to try and spot you through any of the windows

he’d send out like 5 calls for an evac when you didn’t respond, but he’s searching in his spare time

NEARLY broke down crying when he found you slumped in a tiny apartment

he definitely thought you were dead and the anxiety in his voice was real. a tear and a sniffle or two might have been shed before he found the weak pulse in your neck

doesn’t move from your side ONCE, he stays up for days straight until you wake up or is slumped in a barstool

SOAP

thinks you’re joking for the first 2 minutes after you say you’ve been hit

SPRINTS to your location

you’re always together so of course he blames himself that in the 5 minutes you were apart a bullet tears through your chest

when panicked he just starts speaking heavily accented english or full out scots gaelic (he learned it from an old teammate), not out of choice but he noticed it keeps your mind moving when he does so he keeps doing it

one time while injured you went “gaelic more like GAY LICK” and then passed out and he laughed then cried

always thinks he’s going to end up in a vietnam war veteran position holding you

while carrying you to evac you repeated one of ghosts shitty jokes and he nearly dropped you out of fear/temporary resentment

the last words you hear before you die are going to be a mix of “hells fuckin bells” or “sweet baby jesus”

PRICE

this man’s friends are all dead. he’s had men die in his arms before and he’s scared every time that it’s going to be you

NO NO NO NO SOAP SOAAAPPP

absolutely silent, just trying to keep you awake and alive

this man will never leave you alone, you are ALWAYS with him and if you’re not you’re to be looked over by gaz. and if you get injured on gaz’ watch he’ll never hear the end of it

has definitely thought “if y/n dies im killing everyone in this room and then myself” but wouldn’t dare say it out loud

he’d drop everything he was doing, doesn’t matter if it was in the middle of a mission

STAY WITH ME SOLDIER

he puts his hat on you just to shield your eyes from the absolute liveleak that is your abdomen (or the sun, depending on the weather)

you wear his hat until you wake up. if you don’t, you’re being buried with the hat on your chest. that’s your god damn hat now

doesn’t understand what you’re saying but will pretend to laugh if you make a joke

ROACH

would kill everything in his path until he found the one who hurt you

you like to shout “GOOOOOOOD MORNING VIETNAM” just to scare the living shit out of him

141: “i fear no man, but that thing..”

(bloodthirsty roach)

“it scares me.”

he’s nervous and it shows. he’ll cry

he’ll stand outside the door until the doctor lets him know you’re stable (he wants to give you privacy of course)

if you’re afab then he’ll literally pause before taking the gear off your chest because he doesn’t want to invade your privacy. he just shuts his eyes and hopes for the best

he will carry you through hell in order to get you to evac

lays his head on his arms on your legs when you’re in a hospital bed

“i didn’t sign up for this”

that one audio that’s like “oh my gosh.. what do i do?? euuGGGHHHH”

#call of duty modern warfare #john price #kyle gaz garrick #gary roach sanderson #modern warfare #cod #simon ghost riley #simon riley #soap mactavish #call of duty

[peppinofucker69]

thots

i read at least somewhere that mcpig considered peppino was a pizza delivery man in war, not an active participant. combine that with mcpig saying hes not a veteran, merely thinking he is one, it sounds like hes just trying to dismiss headcanons but the idea he was just a pizza delivery man in a war is honestly the kind of cartoon shenanigans peppino would get up to, and more importantly, it makes sense that a deranged man like peppino would delude himself into thinking he was a veteran for it.

generally i think pizza tower is a cartoon and peppino's role must be analyzed within the boundaries of cartoon logic. a prominent aspect of many cartoons is no overarching plot, but also, a return to status quo after each episode. it doesnt matter what gets destroyed or who is immesurably injured in the course of an episode, all is forgiven (and forgotten) by the next.

and, to me, the idea of peppino being in a war delivering pizza sounds exactly like the kind of episode pizza tower, if it were a cartoon, would have. the irony here is that peppino ends up traumatized by this, what should be something routine and something he exists outside of the confines of an episodes consequences. it shouldn't happen, but it does-- and i think that's really interesting. so peppino's trauma kind of breaks the line between episodes, establishing some kind of meta existence outside his roles in an "episode" that he is affected by. isn't that interesting? he is a cartoon character, but he's not as resilient as a cartoon character is, mentally. he exists outside of his role as a cartoon character and hes traumatized and scared and fed up. makes you wonder, then, if pizza tower is merely just an episode in his life, or an escalation of cartoon shenanigans vs his own ability to exist outside the confines of the cartoon narrative.

#rambles #pizza tower

[mollysunder]

How the Medardas Ran Afoul of Noxus (Probably)

The more I think about the Medarda Family, the more I realize how obviously they were all going to end up on Swain's shitlist. One of the more relevant things to know about Noxus next season is that Swain's coup will not just depose the current emperor, but he's also going to purge a number of old Noxian noble family. Swain will get rid of not just those who betrayed him, but those he considers a detriment to the empire. These are supposed to be families that enjoy unearned positions or, in general, betray Noxus and its ideals.

First, we have Kino. The most defining aspect that we know about Kino is that he believes that "war is a failure of statecraft". War IS Noxus's state craft! It's the reason the empire exists, it's the mechanism to how it's meritocracy functions. Where anyone can advance in society, nobleman or former slave, everyone is supposed to start at the bottom on the battlefield and work up. I'm curious how Kino could have navigated Noxian society and all its veterans with that kind of attitude. Obviously, he wielded a good deal of political influence to a cross a man more powerful than Ambessa, but did he have to go on the battlefield for it? Even if he did, these kinds of comments would only inspire suspicion in him and to his allegiance to Noxus.

Then there's Mel, obviously she was exiled, but in the eyes of many she's still under the Medarda family. Like Kino, Mel abhors the brutality of war, which is why she's comfortable building a future for a place dedicated to establishing a focus on "progress" and "peace" like Piltover. But there's another aspect of Mel that doesn't align with Noxus that isn't as highlighted. Mel thinks of power in terms of crowns.

In Mel's flashback, when she shares her idea of who could replace the recently deposed regime, she calls the figure a "queen". When Ambessa offers her the opportunity to rule, Mel says, "You'd give me a throne". That's not how any of that is supposed to work in Noxus.

One of the most interesting aspects of Noxus is that they explicitly do not subscribe to the rule of kings. Under Noxian principles, their rule is unearned because they inherit their titles and impose a system where every citizen remains stationary despite their ability and skill. This isn't to say Noxus doesn't have high ranking nobility, they even technically had an emperor. But they're all supposed to earn their place through service to the empire. All captured territories are supposed to belong to the EMPIRE, not be one noble family's personal fiefdom. If any high-ranking officer of Noxus is assigned a territory, they're called a steward, and someone from the previous regime who swears loyalty to Noxus are designated governor. No one is supposed to be called king or queen to avoid any association with the divine right of kings and the way it stagnates the people. Even the emperor is actually titled the Grand General because he's (in concept) supposed to extend Noxus's border and build its strength first and foremost.

But here's Mel, who as smart as she is, should know better than to play with the idea of queens and crowns for others and herself. And it's not like she ever really let that go. In Piltover, she managed to find a space where she can hold court with all the self-titled "Great" houses. A place where the interests of the state and the interests of Mel's inner circle are essentially interchangeable. Just like the monarchies Noxus criticizes, Piltover offers no upward mobility and expects its citizens to respect their inherited titles.

You could argue that Mel does still integrate some upward mobility into her court by uplifting House Talis. It's technically true. It's mostly inoffensive to move an upper-middle class, factory owning family to the highest echelon of society under her own patronage. But to people like Swain, he'd probably see someone moving a key ally closer to power for their convenience while creating clear access to a source of possibly unlimited power in Hextech. All the while, you're about to have this woman's family executed for treason, and this surviving member would truly not understand how they failed Noxus.

Finally, there's Ambessa. You would think Ambessa would only be guilty by association since she very much seems to epitomize the ideal Noxian warlord. Ambessa's well versed in battle and the politics of Noxus. She uses her strength and cunning to expand Noxus's borders.

The common theme for both Kino and Mel's stories is that when it really mattered Ambessa didn't correct their behavior. Despite how often Ambessa hammered the cruelty of the world, she never corrected the way Mel saw and talked about power. More precisely, she didn't tell Mel that playing royalty gets you at best disparaged by their army and, worse, killed for it.

When it comes to Kino, I imagine that while Ambessa may not have been fully abreast of everything he was doing, she likely had general knowledge of it. Ambessa didn't stop Kino's scheming, and if it's true that he was a part of the Black Rose, a secret society of nobles in Noxus that work to spread their influence in Noxus and beyond for power, and she knew about it, that's a death sentence. For Swain, it's not about crossing him, it's about threatening the empire, if one person or a group of people put themselves above it for their own gain, they're the worst traitors.

And that's Ambessa's true failure to Noxus. She puts her family first. No matter how little her children could fit the mold for Noxus, Ambessa does what she can consider her best at "protecting" them. For Mel, it was sending her away because she couldn't handle Noxus's violence. We still have yet to find out how much she knew about what Kino was doing, but it was interesting that Ambessa focused on the fact Kino "crossed the wrong man" instead of what he was doing to cross him in the first place. It's what makes Ambessa an interesting opposite to Swain, a man who values the survival of Noxus so greatly that he would condemn his parents and family to death for betraying it.

#mel medarda #ambessa medarda #kino Medarda #jericho swain #noxus #arcane #arcane meta #arcane speculation #piltover

[liaswritesrobots]

I can't find that one post that was going around about making a tf series without Bumblebee, Optimus, or Megatron but I think it could be an easy thing to do. Maybe it's cause the niche tf continuities have such a grip on me that I often forget Bee has a main character problem to begin with but there's so many characters that are considered "Japan only" or comic only that we have an entire cast and then some of characters that a lot of people have never heard about.

Anyway, my idea for a show without using those three involves also getting rid of a lot of the "main" characters too like Soundwave, Prowl, Arcee, Grimlock, pretty much anyone easily recognizable to people who only watch American tf shows/movies.

Cast: Autobots

Yellow Splendid Convoy (or just Yellow Convoy, Splendid Convoy, Splendid, or SC) is fresh out of training and ready to make her mark on Autobot history by protecting peace throughout the galaxy. Unfortunately her crew's ship crashes and they get stranded on Earth, a planet of many autobots learn about from history of the war. She is very kind and courageous and tries to live up to the legend of the Primes before her time, which can be pretty stressful at times.

Nautica is the ship's tech specialist and scientist. She's often working on a new invention or found doing maintenance on the ship. She has a natural curiosity for everything around her and can often help brighten her teammate's day by trying to help them look on the bright side. She does struggle a bit with self confidence in areas that do not pertain to science though, and has trouble reading social cues.

Ambulon is the ship's old and somewhat grumpy medic. He used to be a Decepticon but defected mid war after watching the atrocious his fellow cons were ok with committing on civilians. He and Nautica have what Earthlings would call a sibling like relationship as the two are close, but she often teases him to his dismay. Being a veteran medic from the war his teammates hold a lot of respect for him and Splendid likes to hear him talk about the days of old.

Lander is the ship's sharp shooter and self identified "ladies man and mans man". He often flirts with people of all genders no matter where they go. He even flirts with sapient organic races, which some older set-in-their-ways bots might consider scandalous. Despite his carefree attitude and jokes he's quite the warrior! He's got amazing blaster skills and can hit a mosquitobot from a mile away! Ambulon finds him obnoxious most of the time. He is third in command.

Holi is the ships scout. Cute, tiny, and fast, he can quickly find places that are good for hiding or good vantage points. He tries to come off as serious and more mature so his teammates will take him seriously, but it rarely works. He has a girlfriend back on Cybertron, which Lander often teases him about. He has a bad habit of letting Lander talk him into doing stupid things with him.

Roadmaster is the teams powerhouse. When they need something big and heavy moved then she's the girl! She's a bit quiet at times as she's unsure if her input would be appreciated, but if asked she's more than happy to give advice. She's a gentle soul that enjoys long drives through nature, and most people find her easy to get along with, but if you make her mad (like hurting her friends) then she very well could rip you in half. She seems to want to get closer to Nautica but is a bit timid around her.

Delta Magnus is an intelligence officer that volunteered to come along on Splendid's journey to record data. He may be a talkative nerd at heart that's a stickler for the rules but rest assured, he can hold his own in battle. With a might that could rival some legends of old, he's a fierce opponent for any Decepticon. He's often found taking notes and overusing the word "glorious". He is second in command

Cast: Decepticons

Despite being a Decepticon, Esmeral is fair and willing to negotiate with anyone that isn't an Autobot. The Empress of Destruction holds a deep grudge against all Autobots for taking her husband from her, and has vowed to wipe them from face of the galaxy. Still, even with a rage burning brighter than the sun she treats her subordinate fairly, especially Lyzack, her second in command. She is also very doting mother! She is currently in ruthless pursuit of Yellow Splendid Convoy's ship.

Lyzack lost her twin brother Leozack thanks to Autobots. Lost as in she literally has no idea where he is. She isn't even sure if he's alive or dead, so she's searching far and wide for any sign of him. She acts mostly as a scout and medic for the Decepticons but she secretly yearns to be able to hold her own on the battlefield by herself like her idol and leader Esmeral, so she's secretly training to fight all by herself.

Solon is Esmeral's adopted human son. Before he was taken out by Autobots, Deathsaurus brought home a human baby and he and Esmeral officially adopted the boy. Solon is now 14 and he holds the same kind of grudge his mother does against the Autobots for taking his father away from him. He is often looked after by Lyzack when Esmeral can't tend to him and he trusts her and considers her to be like a big sister to him. He's never actually been to Earth so he's excited to finally visit the planet he came from and meet more humans.

Overlord isn't the most welcome guy amongst even the most ruthless of Decepticons, but Esmeral knows he's good at exterminating Autobots beyond repair, so she grits her teeth and deals with him. She at least knows her position as leader is safe from him since he "has no interest in leading, only destruction". He's also a warrior from later on in the war so she values that kind of experience. He absolutely loathes Delta Magnus, finding him annoying, and often targets him in fights. Shockingly enough, he actually likes Esmeral's son Solon, and often tries to mentor the boy in the ways of the Decepticons.

Sixshot. Sharp shooter. Intelligence agent. Mercenary. Bot of few words (unless he likes you). Sixshot is a mystery to even most of his comrades, but he gets the job done. He always gets the job done. His temper is something most Decepticons fear and they have nightmares of finding themselves staring down the end of his blaster. He seems to have a soft side though, one that's usually only seen towards Lyzack, Solon, and surprisingly enough, Nautica! He also seems to have a deep warriors respect for Roadmaster.

Double-Dealer is such a good spy, that you have to wonder whose side he's really on. He's cunning, intelligent, and a smooth talker. He can easily manipulate people around him into trusting him. He's currently eyeing Esmeral's position as leader, but he tries to make sure she's none the wiser of his schemes. He's also rumored to be older than he looks, and is said to have not only fought in the war, but to even fallen in love with an Autobot during that time! He considers Lander to be his greatest enemy.

Road Pig is kind of dumb, which makes him easy to manipulate and push around. He's usually going along with whatever scheme Double-Dealer has hatched. Lyzack takes pity on the guy a lot, knowing it's not easy being a Con of such standing. He enjoys taking Solon on joy rides for the two to cause trouble on.

Cast: Predacons

Magmatron is a multi-beast-changer that leads the Predacons in their quest to conquer the galaxy. He is well versed in the ways of the Decepticons but also notes their failures. This led him to make his team of Predacons "follow in the footsteps of the Decepticons. But Better." And better he can be. He's a power house that isn't injured easily, and being able to split into 3 different dinosaurs helps him have an evasiveness advantage. He's surprisingly rather relaxed about his ship rules, allowing the Predacons to do whatever they want most of the time. Though any that try to rise against him are quickly struck down. It's rumored that he had another team of Predacons once, but they all left him for a currently unknown reason.

Budora is second in command in Megmatron's team. He is a stern, serious soldier trained in many fighting styles. He's also easily envious, and longs for power and leadership over all Predacons. Despite this he works under a code of honor and never uses underhanded tricks in a fight. In dragon mode he breaths fire.

Judora is often underestimated by his opponents because of his prim and proper attitude, but make no mistake, he is still a very dangerous Predacon. While he prefers not to escalate things to brutish force he can still be a fierce opponent in a fight. He's as quick on his feet as he is with his wit. He prefers more intellectual and sophisticated things in life. In dragon mode he breaths a poison mist. He is very close to Gaidora.

Gaidora has tremendous physical strength. He may not be smartest Predacon in the group but he's still able to catch onto things going on behind the scenes rather quickly. He's rather quiet and reserved most of the time, and is often going along with whatever Judora is doing. He is fascinated by Earth ants. In dragon mode he breaths lightening. He and Judora are very close.

Bakudora is the youngest of the dragons. He's fast but he's also arrogant and brash, which is often his undoing. He gets easily excited for a fight and goads his opponents on. Upon meeting the Decepticons he and Solon become become friends despite the Predacon-Decepticon rivalry. In dragon mode he breaths ice.

Cast: Others

Anode is an explorer and treasure hunter that came to Earth a couple years ago to explore it with her wife. The two are traveling the planet in search of treasure and having a lot of fun meeting the locals. She's also a bit of a prankster, and upon meeting Splendid's group the first thing she does is play a joke on Ambulon, much to his dismay.

Lug is Anode's wife and travel companion. She's also adventurous at heart but takes more care on the paths they tread. She really has a thing for rocks, being a geologist, and is excited to make an expansive list of all the rocks and gems she finds on Earth. She's actually made it her mission to find and observe every type of rock on Earth. She turns into a backpack so she's often hanging onto her wife's back with whatever loot they've found.

Sky-Byte is an ex-merc for hire that used to run with both Predacons and Decepticons. Now he's a defector for both, wanting nothing to do with either faction. He's instead found his true callings in life, poetry and sea conservation. He works with some local human scientists to preserve the ocean and the wildlife within it. He also utilizes his shark altmode to scare away poachers that try to fish for endangered species. He's often wary of Autobots and Maximals and tries to avoid Decepticons and Predacons completely.

Lio Jr. is a young Maximal that ran off on his own after his father refused to bare responsibility for him. With Lio Convy often denying he was his son, Lio Jr. had enough and decided to head out on his own quest to help as many people as possible to become a great leader. His travels led him to Earth a couple of years ago, where he's been helping humans ever since. He won't talk about his father often, but he secretly yearns for his praise and wants to prove to his father that he can be a good leader like him someday. Once Splendid's crew arrives on Earth Lio Jr. becomes fast friends with Holi and Nautica. Lio Jr. and Sky-Byte are also good friends, with the shark often looking after and mentoring the young maximal.

#Transformers #maccadam #macaddam #I'll add more later I just wanted to get the general idea out

[sixminutestoriesblog]

poppies

In Flanders Fields the poppies grow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

In Flanders Fields by John McCrae

I have always found the excerpt above, and the rest of the poem that comes after it to be pleasant to the ear, sweetly melancholic and, to be honest, more than a little creepy once you hit the threat at the end. The mental image of mostly desiccated World War I soldiers clawing their way out of the upturned soil, spilling flecks of half rotted uniform and red flowers from their bodies as they drag themselves forward after me just because I don't feel like holding a grudge against another country for a war nobody really should have been in in the first place isn't exactly what I suspect Lt. Col. McCrae was going for but its sure the picture he painted in my mind. Not cool, John. Not cool.

In other news, the poem did help make the poppy a popular symbol for war veterans that died in battle, especially overseas. These days red paper poppies are worn in jacket lapels and sold on street corners in multiple Western countries during Remembrance Day, Anzac Day and Memorial Day. Today that's pretty much the only association most of us have with the flowers but for the soldiers that lived during that time, the red corn poppies were a familiar sight, being some of the first and hardiest plants to grow in the churned up soil around trenches, the morass of no-mans-land between and yes, the freshly dug graves that grew almost as quickly as the poppies themselves across the battlefields.

Poppies were associated with the dead long before WWI however.

Hey, August babies! Let's talk about one of your birth month flowers (and keeping corpses in their graves)!

Did you know that poppies have been found in graves and carved on tombstones all the way back to Roman times? The Greeks and the Romans associated the poppy with forgetfulness and sleep. Giving the dead poppies was supposed to help them sleep in peace, though I did see one article speculating that the poppy seeds found in some graves was more akin to the old legend that the undead have obsessive-compulsive disorder and will be compelled to stop whatever they are doing to count scattered small items like seeds.

GIF by gifs-of-puppets

Who knew Sesame Street was so in touch with its darker side?

Back to the point, the Greek gods Hypnos (sleep), Thanatos (death), Nyx (night) and Morpheus (dreams) all have poppies as their flowers. Pappa means 'milk' in latin and the milky sap as well as the seeds of poppies have been used since ancient times to grant forgetfulness, peace and sleep, tracing as far back as the early Egyptian empires. Multiple opioids are made from the poppy with some of the most famous being opium, heroin, codeine and morphine, named after Morpheus for its dreamlike effect on the human brain and body. The opioid crisis has been with us since at least Victorian times and for many of the same modern reasons back then as well.

Speaking of escape from pain, Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, is associated with poppies as well. It was said that after Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, Demeter was so distraught that the gods gave her poppy seeds to help her sleep and escape her grief for a time. Afterward, the flower would spring up wherever her footsteps fell. The ancient Assyrians also associated poppies with agriculture and in fact, even today, poppies seen growing in cornfields are considered lucky and a sign of a good harvest to come.

Poppies in China are also considered lucky, or at least the smell of them is and they are a melancholic symbol between lovers too. The story I read claims that the poppies growing on his lover's grave gave a Chinese hero the inspiration he needed in battle.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz employed a poppy field to put its heroes to sleep.

Poppies should only ever be given in bouquet of thirteen. Any other number of poppies is considered unlucky.

Greek athletes would mix poppy seeds, wine and honey for an invigoration drink.

In Wales, sleeping with poppy seeds under your pillow will show you the face of your future lover or give you the answer to whatever question you were thinking of when you fell asleep. The seeds are a ward against forgetfulness.

#poppy #poppies #august #Demeter #morpheus #folklore #superstition #herbalism #cottagecore #birth flower #birth month #wizard of oz #vampire #flanders fields #anzac day #remembrance day

[mywifeleftme]

363: R.E.M. // Murmur

Murmur R.E.M. 1983, IRS

Some Short, Disconnected Statements on the Matter of Murmur

1. Insert the following into Waring blender

The Velvet Underground, Pylon, the Byrds, Gang of Four, Patti Smith, the Feelies, Joy Division, the Method Actors, Big Star, the dB’s, the Monkees. Press “Blend” button. (I’ve never owned a blender; I don’t know what the buttons say.)

2. Easy formula for a great band

Having one temperamental genius songwriter guy sounds kind of hard to maintain. Have you considered simply getting four people who are really excellent and distinctive at the respective things they do (at least three of them great singers), who all write well, get along, lack substance abuse issues, have good taste, and modest egos? Why don’t more bands do this?

3. Notes on the early discourse

A lot of the things people wrote back in the early ‘80s to champion this band were dumb as hell. R.E.M. weren’t good because they didn’t use keyboards or synths; pop music didn’t need to be returned to its "honest" folk-rock roots; giving them a thumbs up for not wearing flashy clothes and makeup is dork behaviour.

They were good because they made weird music that derived organically from their time (early ‘80s), place (a college town in the South), and selves (bright, independent, adventurous, sincere, ¼ gay).

Anyone who listened to Chronic Town or Murmur, with their post-punky murk and lyrical references to Laocoön and Marat, and thought to themselves, “As yes, the second coming of Roger McGuinn, this will put those effete new wavers to flight,” was an idiot.

4. Veteran of the psychic war

Somewhere around age 22, R.E.M. took over the mantle Metallica had held as My Favourite Band in the World Forever and Ever, and I proceeded to be almost as annoying about them as I had been Hetfield and the boys. I posted a lot about them; rigged “best music” polls on random message boards I didn’t even post on in their favour; cornered people at parties; crowbarred them into playlists; grumpily chose to dislike bands I saw as stealing their shine; etc. etc. Some (some) of this is maybe cute in retrospect, but really: don’t be like this about music. If you love a band this much, learn how to play their songs on an instrument; write a few poems; paint something. Worst case: review them.

5. Learning nothing, 2024

6. Athens: Lyrics & Enunciation

The matter of what exactly Stipe was singing on the early R.E.M. records was a subject of intense speculation, and eventually, parody. Some of the mystery’s in the mixing, some’s in his Georgian accent, and some’s in his enunciation (never quite as mushy as people claimed, but not exactly Ella Fitzgerald either). But most of it’s in the arbitrary decisions he makes with regard to syntax that cause even accurate transcriptions to seem implausible. Stipe is probably a little bit autistic, which goes some way to explaining the impressionistic intuitiveness of his words, and also went to art school, which fetishizes that sort of thing, but he was always shy of people seeing the words to something like “Sitting Still” on the page because he thought he might be exposed as a nincompoop. “Up to par and Katie bars / The kitchen side, but not me in / Sitting top of the big hill / Waste of time sitting still,” goes the chorus, according to at least one gnostic sect, but the important passage is the one everyone agrees on, when the stream of impassioned babble releases into a howled “I can hear you / Can you hear me?”

Later on, when he would sing more clearly over airy arrangements, with the lyrics neatly printed in the booklet, he’d occasionally try one of those old sound-over-sense moves and embarrass himself (“Leaving New York was never my proud” still rankles). But Murmur’s eternal elusiveness is in the way fragments of sense catch your ear from out of its sleeptalk glossolalia:

“The pilgrimage has gained momentum” “Conversation fear” “Lighted, lighted / Laughing in tune” “Hear the howl of the rope / A question” “A perfect circle of acquaintances and friends / Drink another, coin a phrase” “Shaking through / Opportune” “Take oasis” “Heaven assumes / Shoulders high in the room” “Did we miss anything?”

7. Permission to be arbitrary

I remember sitting in the basement of my college house with my old hometown buddy Brad (mostly a metal/classic rock guy), playing him “Shaking Through” and explaining one of the things I love about old R.E.M. is that it’s great music to yell to. I don’t know how much he really got it, but we were drunk and it’s a catchy song, so we howled and made keening, wordless, Stipean noises along with it and the next few until one of my roommates came and asked us to keep it down.

Also: one theory for why cats purr when they’re injured is that the vibrations somehow reduce pain and encourage healing. From many experiences humming these songs while wrapped up in headphones and bedsheets in the middle of a day that’s passing like a kidney stone, I can confirm.

8. Note on the modern discourse: Influence?

Black Francis, Kurt Cobain, Bob Mould, Steve Malkmus, Bob Pollard, and Thom Yorke loved R.E.M. So did, to his own apparent consternation, Metallica’s Cliff Burton. Still, you sit down with someone and listen to those musicians with the goal of showing them the R.E.M. influence (don’t do this, why would you do this?) and it’s honestly pretty oblique. Most of the bands who directly aped aspects of R.E.M.'s early sound were at best pleasantly minor (see Captured Tracks’ Strum & Thrum comp), and the ones who seemed to be listening most closely to their ‘90s efforts were not who you want.

Their ultimate influence was probably simply showing what an art-first, indie-adjacent rock band could accomplish by sticking to their guns and bending the system to their desires instead of being bent by it. They were like a Velvet Underground for the college rock era, except everyone talented who heard them was inspired to start a band that didn’t sound much like them. They always used their spotlight to introduce people to other bands and, when they really got huge, they modeled how to deal with success. There don’t seem to be many R.E.M. stories, Peter Buck’s airplane incident aside, about them being anything other than kind. That’s a fundamentally less exciting type of influence than most other “great” bands have. But I do think it’s kinda cool they were the wise old heads for an entire national movement of alternative music.

8b.

Of course, it still bugs me people don’t think they’re cool. Murmur at least, should be considered cool. And Reckoning, mostly. Chronic Town for sure. Some of Fables. Am I crazy for saying some of Monster and New Adventures even? I’ll stop. I’ll go on.

9(-9). The music

They were a pop band, they were an art band; they sounded like children, and like craggy old men buried in kudzu weed; natural and pretentious; date-stamped and timeless. Decide yourself. Happy 41st birthday Murmur.

363/365

#r.e.m. #rem #michael stipe #peter buck #bill berry #mike mills #murmur #mitch easter #jangle pop #athens music #athens #'80s music #college rock #alternative rock #indie rock #perfect circle #self indulgence #music review #vinyl record

[exoticalmonde]

Part I. Phantom and Crimson Solitaire but the part where Dr. Eve is reading where the mission is situated + history + collectibles

Instead of Dr. Pinkie being the actual loremaster that I expected given their superiority in everything that ever happens with the game, I have reclaimed the role (at least when it comes to IS2) and that includes all my assumptions about whatever has happened and is happening in it.

First of all, while re-reading the previous post I made about Shalem and Phantom, I realized that, wait a minute, where the hell is this even situated?

Apparently, Gaul. Which I have been able to understand is basically France, but gone because they were too sassy. Something of that sort. My understanding before versus now.

Second of all, it's not Gaul itself, the place we stumble into is a castle in Calais-Blason. That is a part of Gaul formally, now it is a part of Northwestern Victoria. After the war nothing was left of it because of devastation and because all the people either fled or died.

Phantom was told by the Crimson Troupe that he was born in Calais-Blason and was taken by the Troupe after a flood Catastrophe swept through the area.

We don't really know if that's true or not though.

Then there is a description as we enter the loading screen of the castle that states:

A castle hidden within the woods constructed under the auspices of a Gaulish noble who perished in the war a few years after its completion, leaving it derelict. But a mysterious group has been calling it home recently...

I'm about to eventually figure out who the noble is and we know that the mysterious group is The Troupe. Their 'Blood Diamond' is Phantom and during some investigating of his memories, he was attracted my goodness knows what machinations to re-visit his old home. Our job is to, you won't believe it,

Gaul's story in general is as straightfoward as it can be based on the Wiki. It was an empire ruled by a family of Liberi located between Victoria, Ursus, and Leithanien. Gaul was so influential that its grand nomadic capital, Lingones, was nicknamed the "Capital of Terra".

Gaul was primarily known for its expansionism, and it reached its peak during the reign of its last Emperor, Corsica I, following the implementation of the "Second Economic Reform Act," a new codex that drastically strengthened Gaul's military.

No surprise there, since Corsica I came to lord over the country because of his military prowess and the rewards he's gained over the years of serving. He was putting all of his military power into expansionism when demand had grown more than what the land's riches could produce. Like any time in history, he thought that it's time to knock on their neighbours' doors and tell them their time is up.

Big mistake. What kind of professional, a military veteran looks at this man and in return says 'I can take him'. Like any monarch, outraged by the Gaul's proposition to become a vassal state, the Witch King refuted by turning all Gallic envoys in Leithanien into lifeless statues. That's how we ended up with the Gallo-Leithanian War.

---

Pinkie: "I'm starting to believe you didn't read the story of Lingering Echoes." Me: "Which... I didn't." Pinkie: "There you go!" Me: *Appalled* Pinkie: "We will pick up the pieces left during Zwillingstürme Herbst."

---

That wasn't enough. Gaul also attempted to invade Victoria – which almost resulted in a complete defeat and annihilation of the latter, forcing Victoria to give up its northwestern colony that would later become Columbia.

In 1053, Victoria, under the leadership of King Frederick III, formed a coalition with Leithanien and Ursus to oppose Gaul, leading to the Battle of the Four Emperors. The war ends with Gaul's total annihilation, Lingones (the Capital) is wiped off the map, and the victors taking over Gaul's former territory.

The fall of Gaul is often considered the most tragic event in Terra's history. During its time, Gaulish culture was considered influential, but are now slowly fading to obscurity. Some collectors sought to preserve Galic relics while bakers and wineries tried to replicate the original Gaulish formula, but the latter are unable to match the original. With their homeland lost, many Gauls were scattered across Terra, and their nobilities were forced to serve the victors. Still, there are some Gallic restorationists who attempted to steal Gallic relics on display in museums in order to rally the surviving Gauls and bring the empire back to life.

Which leaves a lot of questions for where the current Victorian storyline is going to go, because I think most of the land and the people now consider themselves victorians. Granted, their descent remains marked, so here's a list of Gaulish people.

... Clément.............

To note before I go reading the collectables, here's the most metal thing I have ever seen being done in Arknights so far.

The Last Empress-Consort of Gaul: The wife of Corsica I, also known as the Natator. She chose to stay in the Gaulish imperial palace upon hearing the news of Corsica I's death and killed the invading enemies in a suicide attack by plunging an Originium shard into her body.

---

Pinkie: "So can we assume all catboys are Victorian?" Me: "Uh-- Well, I think so?" Pinkie: "Because, we already know all Perro are from Bolívar, and Ursus is a thing." Me: "Yeah, sounds the part actually. Officially, all Felines are Victorian."

---

Collectables I found cool, so i want you to know.

Banshee's Kiss

Outsiders make extraordinary displays of bravery that far surpass their normal abilities. However, as one of the few male Banshees out there, this has become a far too common sight to Logos.

You could lie to me and tell me that belongs to Logos and I will believe you. I don't understand a lick of what this signifies though. Maybe it is connected to death, maybe it is connected to music, or to the fact this is a relic of the Death Cult (The Troupe).

---

Actor's Jewelery Box

A box containing all kinds of shattered jewelries. The young lead actress wore these jewelries and stepped onto the stage, in the end falling from its highest point.

Absolutely terrible, actually. Nobody will understand the reference but this reminds me of how Lumine fell off the stage in Off-Script by Jules and Amarettiii. Great scene, wonderful timing in what is happening before that. Genshin brainworms shall always swarm me when Arknightsing and vice versa.

---

Fissured Restraints

It seems this sturdy band was once used to restrain something terrifying… Help…

????????????????????????????????????????

---

Godmother's Token

A laurel of bones, the token of a Sicilian noblewoman. This symbol of order will smooth the turbulence of all desires, for conflict is not allowed. Genuine or counterfeit, it still demands you to kneel.

Laurel. Of. Bones.

Dude...

---

Worn-out Group Photo

Do you know someone in the photo?

These are Gopnik and Hellagur as far as I can see.

---

Writer's Tongue

The playwright penned his creations with a quill and his own blood, and for himself he devised an ending in which he perishes in a sea of flames.

Something something it has to do with the ending but I have not gotten to any ever thus... I will be reading that later.

---

'The Whisperer in Darknight'

A black vinyl. DO. NOT. TOUCH. IT.

I played Darknights memoirs, you have no excuse to keep me away from it. Unless it's... who collected Vynil out of the Penguin Logistics? Was it Emperor himself? Croissant? I don't remember but my hands are up, you can see them.

---

Gold-Plated Dice

The gold-plated die has one side representing life. As for the other nineteen sides…

---

Emperor's Favor

A very sharp letter opener. It was one of the favorite possessions of the last Ursus emperor, and as such it was very rarely used to actually open letters.

---

Silver Forks

One for dealing with actors who botch their performances, one for dealing with incompetent playwrights, and one for anyone who needs it. The Chief will not tolerate any mistakes on the table.

The more I learn about the Troupe the worse it just gets.

---

Damaged Revolver Cyllinder

She never capitulated, even after enduring countless trials and tribulations. Her muzzle belched tongues of flame that burned like an angry sun, and the glow above her head was brighter than the daylight itself. Buried here is Outcast, our friend.

Outcast? Who is Outcast? *Googles*

Oh.

---

Kryo: "She is past tense." Me: "She is a 'was'."

---

Rusted Razor

If you cut yourself with this, you know what will happen.

Is this allowed? Is... Is this allowed? What do you mean- Yes we all know what happens with a-- goodness me.

---

'Brilliant Lament'

His blood yet flows. He has never left this place.

Whose...? Whose???

---

White Flower Crown

A floral veil used in Vampire rituals. Its once vibrant redness has been sucked empty, leaving nothing only a pale white color.

Oh, pretty!

---

Dancer's Bracelets

The audience breaks into applause as the well-trained dancers waltz around the traps on stage. None of them are aware of the brushes with death the performers have just been through.

The trauma just continues. Thematic.

---

This is just a set of pastries without context, I love the food in Arknights.

---

Broke Mask

He’s wearing the mask. Is he the one who’s speaking or is it the mask?

Oooo it's Phantom. We Phantom enjoyers know when we see the mask.

#arknights #doctor of ri shenanigans #arknights event #Arknights IS2 #Arknights Crimson Solitaire #phantom and crimson solitaire #Arknights Doctor #Phantom Arknights #Arknights Lore #Arknights Art #arknights operators #lore and stories #Arknights Victoria #Eve's Exploring #Dr. Eve is also terrified

[plagues02]

War and Cats

Summary: Wash agreed to keep an eye on Caboose during the war on Chorus, but Caboose seemed to disappear on him. Characters: Agent Washington, Micheal J. Caboose Word Count: 1222 Note: I wrote this for my friend @mirror-mariposa. You should check him out!

War was tough for everyone. The Doctors, the soldiers, the civilians (how little there were nowadays). Chorus has so few people now that only the youth, elderly, and terribly injured were considered civilians now.

For some people, this wasn’t their first war, and it was slowly taking its toll on them. Wash and Carolina were once freelancers. Being a freelancer became all they knew for the longest time. Their time in the Great War defined them. The siblings spoke often about those times to each other, but they rarely spoke about it with others. It felt more comfortable that way. They rarely mentioned their lives before joining the Reds and Blues to others. No one pushed them; it wasn’t their place. They all knew the two had a hard time.

However, a lesser known fact about the team, Wash and Carolina weren’t the only members who fought in the Great War. No one would expect that someone from Blood Gulch would have fought in the war; none of them were fit to be in the war in their current state. Yet, the Reds and Blues knew about Caboose’s past. They knew of his purple heart and why he had it. They had an ex-Spartan on their side.

War took its toll on them, mentally and physically, the first time, and it was taking its toll the second time as well. Everyone’s body ached from the almost constant training and battling they took part in, and their mental states had seen better days. It was reopening old wounds for the Great War veterans.

Wash fell back into trying to force people to see him as a leader. He found himself being bossy and a little too harsh towards the younger soldiers without meaning to; Carolina was always there to snap him out of it. Carolina would start spending more time alone, pushing herself further than she should be. Church did all he could to stop her from doing that and to take a rest, and when he couldn’t, he would get Wash’s help.

However, Caboose was different. He acted like his usual self from before they joined the war, and it seemed like nothing was bothering him. He was as air-headed as always, maybe even more so, but only people who knew him very well would be able to tell that. Tucker and Church had mentioned that he seemed off a few times. This led Wash to agree to keep an eye on Caboose the best he could with how much the ex-Spartan moved around.

Wash started to wonder why he was the one to agree to this one day when it seemed extra hard to find Caboose anywhere. He wasn’t in his room. Nor was he in the training room, nor the weapons room, or with any of the Red and Blues. There was nowhere else he could look, or so he thought. Stepping outside to clear his head, he heard Caboose’s voice nearby.

“You know, it’s not that bad, really. I mean, what would John say if he saw me freaking out now? I fought in worst battles.”

Wash’s eyebrows furrowed at the words. He was talking to someone? Everyone who it could be was inside; Wash knew everyone was from looking for Caboose. He also didn’t think Caboose would be one to talk so casually with an enemy like he was, unless it was to mislead them.

The ex-freelander’s steps were as quiet as he could make them, following the sound of Caboose’s voice. He wasn’t too far from the main building, but he was near a smaller building that they didn’t use. Wash stopped at the corner of the building and peeked out at the other man.

Caboose was sitting on the ground with his helmet off, resting on the ground by his side. His hair was getting too long, falling into face, and his eyes looked tired. Wash finally saw who he was talking to.

In his lap, there was a small cat. It didn’t look like a kitten, but it definitely looked undersized for a full grown cat. It had long orange fur that was dirty and part was matted.

“Meow”

“I know, I know,” Caboose smiled softly, reaching into one of his armor’s pockets. “I brought something for you.”

The man held out his hand flat towards the cat. The cat sniffed whatever it was before stepping closer, tilting its head down. Food, he was feeding it.

“That’s all I could bring you this time, Garf. I’ll try to bring some more later.”

The cat looked up at Caboose and mewed before rubbing its head against his hand. It finished the food before starting to make circles in Caboose’s lap, curling into a ball.

The blue armored man ran his hand over the cat and started to speak again, “It’s not so bad… Church is still here to yell at me for my screw ups.”

His words sounded forced, like he was trying to convince himself of these. “It reminds me of Blood Gulch… I miss it there.”

“You would like it there,” Caboose tilted his head a little, looking down. His eyes softened. “I would keep you nice and fed, and you could come inside, and you could sleep in my bed, and… and we wouldn’t be fighting a real war.” His shoulders drooped a little as he went on. A sigh left his lips.

Wash decided it was time to make himself known. He slowly walked over, still trying to make his footsteps as quiet as possible. The ex-freelancer pulled his helmet off.

“There you are.”

Caboose’s head snapped up, taking a moment to realize who it was. He made himself smile at the other man. Without his helmet, Wash could tell it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Washington!”

Wash forced a smile back. “Hey, Caboose.”

The older man sat on the ground in front of the other. The cat, Garf, lifted its head to look at the newcomer. Wash reached his hand up to allow the cat to sniff him. The cat did before mewing and laying its head back down. The man smiled softly before looking up, pulling his hand back.

“You doing okay, buddy?”

Caboose opened his mouth to respond, but Wash first added, “Caboose, don’t lie. Do you need to talk?”

The ex-Spartan hesitated, rubbing the cat’s head with his thumb. “...I don’t like this, the fighting and the noises and killing and…”

A sigh left the ex-freelancer’s lips. “I know, I don’t either,” he glanced back down at the cat in the Blue’s lap. “Hey, why don’t we go back inside? That cat could use a bath, and I think I could help sneak more food to it.”

Caboose perked up at this, eyes widening. He stared at the other man, wondering if he was telling the truth. Wash nodded at him. The Blue’s smile became genuine as he got off the ground, holding the cat in one arm. He grabbed his helmet with his free hand before starting to rush towards the main building. Wash smiled to himself as he got up to follow.

War was hell, and it was taking its toll on them all. But maybe with a cat around base, it would help at least one get through it all, and that was better than nothing.

#wash fic #red vs blue #rvb #red vs blue fic #rvb fic #red vs blue headcanon #rvb headcanon #michael j caboose #rvb caboose #red vs blue caboose #agent washington #rvb wash #red vs blue wash #chorus #chorus trilogy #rvb chorus #red vs blue chorus #headcanon #fanfic #fanfiction