#this is the scale of bad rich person we are talking about here. do not fucking support the guy who houses them

[asgardian--angels]

Talking on the phone with my mom I finally broke down and cried thoroughly about the cancellation. I think I'd been holding it in for the last two days, or two months. And honestly I've been wondering all along why this show means so much to me. I am not queer, I am not neurodivergent, I am not POC or disabled or any of the groups that this show has been so important for in terms of representation and being treated with respect and dignity. I understand and completely empathize with all of you, and fight for this show and your rights worldwide alongside you, but it still left me wondering why I myself have latched onto Our Flag Means Death. I suppose part of it is that despite being white and cishet and the privileges that have always come with that, I have been treated like an outsider and ostracized my entire childhood and teenage years, for being ugly and having "disgusting" interests (primarily liking insects, reptiles, other creepy-crawlies - aka the thing I literally do for my career now). I was bullied relentlessly from preschool through early college and became a very lonely introverted person - I still am. Undoubtedly Our Flag Means Death gave me renewed hope that I haven't missed some key window for finding love or relationships of any kind that matter, as I sit here typing this at age 28 having never dated anyone.

But it had to be more than that. And with everything that's happened the past couple of months, and the last few days, I think it finally clicked for me.

Followers of my blog may or may not know that I am a conservation biologist, or pollinator ecologist, whichever hat fits best on a given day, they're quite close. I don't make many original posts like this anymore on here because my job is so busy. Basically, I do a variety of things - academic research, habitat management & restoration, and public outreach - to try and preserve biodiversity and ecosystems on our planet. I'm just going to say it: it's a thankless job. Nothing we do ever feels like it's enough, and burnout is common in our field because we sit with the guilt of feeling like we are the only thing between survival and utter destruction of planet Earth, and work ourselves to exhaustion. It's one of those jobs where your work is your life, and your passion is your work, and it's inseparable from who you are on a molecular level. We are often faced, on a large scale, with hostility, from people that don't believe in science and are more than happy to pull a shotgun on us, or rich old men in power who are content to watch the world burn for another penny in their bank account. There are days when sometimes it sinks in just how bad things are, and it's terrifying, and I feel like we will never be able to do enough, to change enough, before it gets catastrophic. It's paralyzing.

My ability to do my job is dependent on hope. Unwavering, unrelenting hope. Hope beyond hope. We have to believe what we're doing matters, otherwise we'd fall down and never get back up again. I'm no big-shot, I give talks to a few hundred people at a time, and make urban pollinator habitat on a local scale. Is any of that going to make a difference compared to the ramifications of a single oil mogul deciding to cut corners and cause an oil spill that kills millions of seabirds and damages ocean food chains for decades to come? If people in my field let thoughts like that linger, we'd be paralyzed to inaction. I have to hope that the people I teach choose to do something good with that knowledge, and go on to inspire others, or that the patch of habitat I make allows a declining species to maintain a foothold instead of going locally extinct. You just have to keep going.

And Our Flag Means Death got wrapped up in that for me. The Stede Bonnet effect, if you will. He set out to do pirating differently, treating his crew with respect and helping them grow. In return, they internalized that mindset, and it spread to how they interacted with others. It changed the trajectory of individual lives, and also at least began to change how the society of pirates operated as a whole. It was a beacon of hope that choosing small acts of kindness did matter, even if you yourself could not see the ripples it made. It renewed my faith that love persevered and would win. That we could all make life a little better for each other and ourselves through kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and mutual support. I think a good chunk of that is from Taika - these are running themes in his projects, and his films move me deeply for that. This show became in some, perhaps subconscious way, a source of strength for me to keep putting myself out there in my line of work to do whatever I was capable of to help the cause.

The cancellation was devastating, but the second cancellation (turbohell cancelation?) was even more so. Because now it's so clear that this is largely the work of David Zaslav and the regime he's built. It's petty, it's greedy, and more than anything, it's cruel. Indifferently, indiscriminately cruel, when one person at the top can have such power to make or break the lives of thousands, millions, beneath them, and though it would have been barely a drop in the bucket, a hand wave, to renew our show or let it pass to another streamer, he actively chose to shackle it to this sinking Titanic of a company WBD has become. I have always operated on the belief that you can do anything if you work hard enough at it, and believed deep down that there was some order, some justice in the universe, atheist though I be. We as a fandom did everything we possibly could, we loved this show harder than anything. The numbers were there, the awards nominations were there, the critic praise was there, and we were loud and loyal every single day. I felt like we could do this - how could we not win when we've done so much, and the show deserves it so much? Surely cause and effect will prevail.

This fight seemed small, though really it wasn't; we fought for the right of artists and creators to make quality, original stories and have them told to their natural end, we fought for diversity representation to be more than a token character - OFMD raised the bar so much higher on all fronts, we fought to shed light on the chaos and impending collapse of this industry silencing art and exploiting writers, actors, and all manner of production workers. It was a small fight from the outside, one that I really felt we could win. And I put my heart and soul into it, because if we could win this, if we could save this simple, kind love story about two guys on a boat, then maybe there was hope for the bigger, badder stuff too. It shouldn't seem an insurmountable task for several thousand fans to convince a streaming service that they'd turn a tidy profit to give our show one more season.

Yet we lost - through no fault of our own. I am so proud of us. But that really struck deep for me. If one peabrained CEO of a media company wouldn't budge on greenlighting a show that was in his every best interest business-wise - perhaps enough to even save Max from going under in the not-too-distant future - my god, what hope was there for changing anything bigger? The 'real' problems of the world? When no amount of ethos, logos, or pathos can penetrate these men at the top, where's that hope to fight? Lately the world seems like it's just going belly up all over. If we gave everything we could, and it still wasn't enough - if it could never be enough - what hope is there? It's like chaining yourself to a tree and the bulldozer plowing right on ahead. And I think that broke something in me. It shook me to my foundations because it broke my rules of how things are supposed to work. We believed hard enough, we worked tirelessly, and we deserved it for how important this show was to so many people. And it didn't matter. Our best wasn't enough. And that caused an avalanche of all of the horrible, scary things piled on my shoulders - we're losing the Amazon rainforest too fast to save, climate change is going to turn the corn belt into a dustbowl by mid-century, a border wall is going to devastate imperiled wildlife in Texas, deforestation and hurricanes on songbird wintering grounds could lead to entire species extinctions, saltmarshes are our lifeline and they're shrinking and we're still building stupid concrete stormwalls, invasive diseases will completely alter the composition of our forests to be unrecognizable to our children, and if you don't make every slide of this powerpoint utterly perfect and you fail to convince every single person in attendance to get rid of their lawn then you've failed and the world is doomed.

I've struggled with being a perfectionist my whole life. This didn't help.

That's where I was a couple hours ago. But I took some deep breaths. I know the world isn't fair. But I really thought if we could win this one battle, then we could win the war.

But here's what I realized. Everything we did mattered. It mattered so much. Because there's the show, and then there's everything that was birthed out of that show. The community, so many of us around the world who have been uplifted by Our Flag Means Death in a real and lasting way that we will take with us and spread to affect those around us. The Stede Bonnet effect goes global. We raised thousands and thousands of dollars for charities around the world, real people whose lives have been improved, or maybe even saved, because of us and this silly pirate show. We brought a hell of a lot of attention to WBD and their shitty practices, keeping the momentum going in a way that I think is only going to build - and I sure hope it leads to Zaslav getting deposed. We have demanded more queer stories, more BIPOC stories, more disabled and autistic and middle-aged stories, stories with exquisite costumes and award-worthy wigs, dear lord, and we are being heard. We have expressed such love and support for the cast and crew, showing them that we appreciate their hard work and that we will be behind them in their future projects. So many of them have told us how the show and its fans have changed their lives. We convinced Rhys that his career isn't winding down but winding up, and to be unapologetic about his wonderful weirdness - we've proven to everyone through this show that your weirdness is what someone out there is going to love you for, not in spite of. We rallied to help writers and actors during the strikes in a way that was taken to heart and remembered. We have been out here talking it through as a crew, and turning poison into positivity, for over two years now, and that impact is permanent. They can cancel our show, they can try and slap copyright notices on our fan merch, and spew bullshit excuses about the numbers not being there. But Our Flag Means Death sparked a movement, the biggest pirate crew the world has ever seen, using our power for good.

We may not have any more new material for our show for a while, or ever. But I maintain hope that when the dust has settled and streaming has entered its 'new era' that they'll remember us and throw us a lifeline. Because hope is a part of my genetic makeup, and even in cancellation my hope has been renewed that the fight is worth fighting, that our individual choices of kindness are having an effect, and making the world a little easier to live in bit by bit. No one can take from us what we have built out of this show. And thanks to pirating, they can't take the actual show from us either. Despite this, no matter the outcome, I am so happy we got two seasons of this wonderful series. That was more than almost anyone expected. The story belongs to all of us, and it will always live on. We did not truly lose this battle, because in the process we gained more than we could have ever imagined. And I know there's still so much more to come. That gives me the strength to keep doing what I do, every day.

To me, Our Flag Means Hope.

#our flag means death #ofmd #this is a very long post but I need to write it for me #seeing the outpouring of love on twitter today has really been so needed #also realizing after i finish this that my blog name is literally 'There is always hope' #so i mean. this really has been my brand since i started here #personal

[marlynnofmany]

There’s No Aggression Like Passive Aggression

“So is this a food plant, or a decoration plant?” I asked, adjusting my grip on the clear case as I walked. “Or do we know?”

Zhee flicked an antenna. “Not my business.” He faced forward, businesslike, but with bug eyes that size, there was no need to turn his head.

Paint looked up from elbow height. “I think it’s food,” she said, giving the package a discerning stare. The alien flowers were a similar orange to her scales. “I’ve seen these at markets before. They’re expensive.”

“Makes sense,” I said. The private estate that we’d been walking across for some time now was covered in the most rigidly cultivated berry bushes I’d ever seen. Even the pathway was paved in thick moss, pruned to within an inch of its life. The owner of this place had both money and a fondness for plants. Especially edible-looking ones.

A berry dropped to the path ahead of us, then was snapped up by something that darted out of the undergrowth. I couldn’t tell you if it was an animal or a robotic gardener.

“Don’t ask the client,” Zhee said. “Keep that curiosity to yourself. Best behavior and extreme politeness.”

“Right,” I agreed. “Soooo… any tips on what that means for this particular culture? I haven’t met them before.”

Zhee walked stiffly, with only his shiny purple legs moving. “I haven’t either.”

I blinked. “What? I thought you were the expert.” I looked to Paint, but she was shaking her head.

“None of the crew has met them in person,” she said. “I think this whole area usually gets deliveries from a specific company, or individual, or something — anyways, it’s not us. We’re the last-minute replacement.”

“Uh-huh.” I held the bio-shielded case full of expensive plants a little tighter. “So they’re rich, probably important, and if we do anything to displease them, we’ll never make another delivery in this part of the system again.”

Zhee clicked a pincher arm. “Accurate.”

Paint spread her scaly hands in what was probably a calming gesture. “It shouldn’t be that bad,” she said. “We’ll just hand the package over quietly, and not make a fuss. We know some things about the client.”

“Do tell,” I said. “I wasn’t up front when the captain took the call.”

Paint ticked off points by counting on her knuckles. “The client is the only one who lives here, though she throws big parties. She didn’t seem to like talking more than necessary. She has very fancy fur patterns. Prey species.” Paint looked up a bit guiltily. “I misses the name of the species, but they eat plants, and evolved with some big predators that aren’t a problem anymore. Captain Sunlight said so.”

Zhee made a quiet noise that I interpreted as confidence that they wouldn’t have been a problem for him anyways.

“So I guess we’ll be polite by keeping quiet and not making any sudden movements,” I said. Then I looked at Zhee, with his shiny exoskeleton and natural blade arms. “If she looks afraid of you, hang back.”

Zhee scoffed, but paused to let Paint and me get a single step ahead.

We reached an archway woven with multicolored vines and dangling pea pods. The hedges on either side were crisply trimmed to an absurd degree. And through it was a sprawling meadow of lounging spots, fountains, and flowering trees. Dozens of locals socialized there in absolute silence. I hadn’t heard a thing aside from the fountains.

I froze at the archway, with Paint and Zhee right beside me. A couple of the closest partygoers glanced our way, then ignored us with body language that felt pretty rude, honestly.

They all had elaborately-patterned fur: mostly spots and swirls, in the gold-to-brown range. Proportions that seemed just as comfortable on all fours as on two. Tall ears like many a prey animal that I’d known, very mobile and expressive, speaking a language of tilts and twitches that I could only guess at. Big eyes.

Paint whispered, “That’s her by the big fountain, with the starburst swirl patterns.”

“Which? Oh, there. You’re sure?” Those definitely were some fancy patterns — did she get her fur dyed? — and the cushy spot surrounded by red berries did seem like a place of honor.

“Yes, I saw her on the call,” Paint said firmly. “Oh, and that one too! The captain said they’re having some sort of feud.” She pointed at an especially bright-furred party-goer who was approaching the host.

I shifted uneasily. “Why isn’t the captain doing this delivery?” I muttered.

“Busy,” said Zhee.

Paint sighed. “Busy. But look; I think they made up. We should be clear to approach.”

The golden-blonde local had strolled over to within a few lengths of the host, then flopped down to lounge in the sun, looking just as relaxed as anyone there.

Anyone but the host. I saw her nostrils flare, and thought of rabbits.

“Wait,” I said urgently, holding out a hand. Paint and Zhee stopped. “That might be a ‘I’m a happier rabbit than you’ move.”

“A what,” Zhee said, just as the host scrambled to her feet with an angry thump to the ground.

Every head there whipped around to watch. The blonde offender was also getting to her feet, but not fast enough; the host tackled her into a vicious tumble of fur and angry screeching.

Others dashed over, but the fight ended quickly, and the offender was ejected from the party. A half dozen others escorted her towards the archway with tense body language of their own.

We were still standing there like idiots. Paint and I jumped to one side and Zhee to the other, letting the procession pass. Once they had, everyone was looking at us instead.

Not my best entrance, but here goes, I thought as I stepped forward with the plant held front and center. I heard Paint and Zhee fall in behind me.

There was an unnerving amount of silent staring as we approached, but nothing outright hostile, and nobody seemed afraid of Zhee. Good enough.

The host of the party was back on her mossy cushion, plucking berries and eating them one at a time with an air of deliberate haughtiness. She’d smoothed her fur, though there were a few damp spots. She looked past me as I set down the case.

Normally I would have said something cheerful to the client at this point, a friendly greeting, maybe a compliment or two, but this time I just held out the ID pad. With hardly a glance, she pressed her delicately clawed hand onto the screen. The beep of confirmation felt loud.

I nodded, stood smoothly, then backed up a couple paces before turning away fully. The three of us made our careful way back through the archway.

“Whew,” I whispered once we were out of sight. “All the friendliness of a firing squad.”

Zhee walked ahead, muttering about mammals and unnecessarily complicated social rituals.

“I’ve seen worse,” I told him. “This was just a bit of passive-aggressive ego drama.”

Zhee waved an arm in disdain.

I didn’t comment on the kind of ego drama that he himself was fond of.

“I’m just glad we didn’t walk out into the middle of all that,” Paint said.

“Seriously,” I agreed. “Might have dropped the package. And then what would we do?”

“Pee, scream, and run,” Paint declared.

I thought of that many gnawing teeth aimed in our direction. “Yeah, probably.” I held up a hand and pointed out a tiny pale scar. “I got bit by a rabbit once. Well, more than once, but this one left a mark. She was much like these guys, just a lot smaller. Every inch the princess, mind you, but I have known some very nice rabbits too.”

I told Paint comforting stories on the walk back to the landing pad, with Zhee pretending not to listen, and both of us pretending that we didn’t notice.

~~~

The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come!

#my writing #the Token Human #humans are weird #haso #hfy #eiad #thanks to that post a little while ago about rabbit body language #ideas come from everywhere

[cer-rata]

Can we talk about Catwoman, Bruce Wayne and maybe a little about the concept of crime?

Just gonna get it out of the way: Yes Gotham war is bad for many clear, obvious reasons. It reads like like crack fic, though I personally believe that's more on editorial than Zdarsky, as this is perhaps one of the most clearly top-down, artificial, corporate plots since Civil War II.

But I'm not going to focus on the genuinely hilarious ideas here, and instead talk about the original sin: Selina's big idea.

It immediately falls apart under any basic scrutiny: How is she convincing all of these wildly different people to become cat burglars? That's not an easy skill set to teach, especially at this scale. If the whole issue is as simple as a lack of work skills, why didn't she teach them anything else? Literally anything? If she has this level of reach and status to be able to convince 75%(!!!) of the underworld to throw in with her why would she use it this way?

On a level Catwoman has always had her nose closer to the ground that Batman could ever. She lives in the gray areas of Gotham. She gets, on a personal level, the ways that society fails the little people and she's been pretty consistent about going to the paint to help people in bad situations. So her wanting to really support people and get them a better shake is very in line with her character.

But she's never been dumb or blindly idealistic and certainly not naive. In fact if anyone should be able instantly suss out the logical problems with this concept, it would be the woman who probably understands Gotham's underbelly better than anyone else. She understands how the business works and would know that you can't support an entire criminal economy on stealing from the homes of the wealthy. Selina has been so successful because she's the BEST at what she does, and because her style is uncommon enough that most people aren't expecting to get hit by her. Suddenly there are what, thousands of cat burglars just running around every night? Then the rich just increase their security, and then what? The idea that it worked at all is such an assault on the suspension of disbelief. And it implies a fundamental misunderstanding of crime and what Bruce/Batman is even trying to do.

See there's an implicit suggestion here that Selina is trying to take care of people while Bruce only cares about penalizing offenders, and that's just...a really bad fanon take honestly. It stems partially from the problem of using "criminal" to describe a class of people. The idea that some people are just criminals to be stopped because all they can understand is crime. That's not a helpful or realistic way to look at crime. I think we understand that people turn to crime for many diverse reasons. We flatten their narratives because there's no time to go into the complex motivations of each Two-Face grunt, but in better written works it's implied to be there regardless.

On numerous occasions, it has been made very clear that Bruceman understands this. How could he not? He's one of the most intelligent creatures on the planet, and his autistic special interest is criminology. Like, he knows, he obviously knows, especially at this point in his career. A lot of damage has been done by the idea that Bruce Wayne and Batman are fundamentally separate people. there's plenty of drama in the discussion of being torn between a normal life and the obsession, but the obsession is always there, mask or not. Batman isn't supposed to be some bizarre divergent personality, and no I am not going to talk about Zur and you can't make me! He has historically used his money and influence to support less fortunate Gothamites since always. He's not some out of touch uber-wealthy person who thinks that beating poor people is the only answer. He's been written like that before by people who wish he was Rorschach instead, but that is not the overarching norm of his character. It's a sin comparable with forgetting that Clark Kent is an actual investigative reporter. Bruce Wayne works to counter the structural inequality that leads to common crime, and Batman steps in to protect people from violence, and uncommon, existentially different criminals. Penguin, Black Mask, Falcone--sure Batman will stop a mugging, but he really exists to punish the people who are benefiting off of the suffering of others. Even then, he'd still prefer if they redeemed themselves and moved on.

This is from the 2004 The Batman cartoon tie-in, but I think it illustrates the point really well.

Like I've said before in other posts, violence is a tool in his belt, but he knows it's not the solution. Batman dissuades, Bruce Wayne offers support and options. Unfortunately, popular discussion on Bruceman has lost a lot of this plot, and focuses on the eye catching brutality that the movies and popular dark adaptations have championed. So what we get is this weird meta commentary that is supposed to make Batman look like a violent totalitarian punching down on people and missing the point when in reality, he gets the point! He super gets the point! The reason he doesn't kill is that he believes everyone deserves to try to be better, that concept makes no sense with a Batman who doesn't see criminals as people! Selina doesn't even have a point! She's supposed to represent a more socially conscious, compassionate, realistic perspective, but she's just not correct! It's an insane nothing-burger even before he completely loses his mind because of the plot. There are legitimate ideological issues to be pulled out between he and Selina. If she had become a crime boss like Jason tried to (and once did herself if I remember correctly) and used that to suppress the worse actors in a way he couldn't, you could really have them reckon with what they're willing to do to keep people safe and where the line actually is. Because they're all criminals in the end, what matters is where they draw the line. Batman works with plenty of dangerous and formally dangerous criminals actually, Harley and Ghost-Maker and Jason and Damian and--he's not some stupid inflexible hardliner cop. Stories where Batman is zealous about crime as like an amorphous concept are insane because they suggest that he doesn't recognize that his extrajudicial nature already complicates matters. That's another reason he doesn't kill by the way! He doesn't think he's the law! He's just a guy! Why should he get to decide the value of someone's life? But even then, the idea that the whole family would fall into civil war over Bruce and Selina having an ideological tiff is such an affront to all of them as individual characters. None of them are stupid enough to deal with things this way. It's not an exploration of character flaws if you're just making them stupid.

There's a problem about writers coming onto Batbooks and revealing that they have done no research into why people commit crimes and it creates narratives where Batman also doesn't understand the point, when he has and should!

Tldr,

Writers, stop pretending that Batman doesn't understand the social/systemic aspect of crime, and also maybe look into how it actually works yeah?

#dc comics #dc editorial answer for your crimes #batman #bruce wayne #selina kyle #bad writing #meta analysis

[branzinos]

The ending of Sarah Z's new video essay about queerbaiting articulated so much of what I feel about fandom's need for things to be canon to be legitimate that I really needed to transcribe a copy of it here:

The more I think about the concept of queerbaiting, the more I think we should just retire it. When we come to the point where the term has come to encapsulate like, 500 things – real people being closeted, real people being bisexual, censored gay relationships in TV, ships people like that aren't canon, the actual use of queerness as a marketing tactic with the intent to decieve a queer audience, etc. – I think the term has ceased to be useful. [...]

I think the deeper root of this issue is this concept of "representation". A lot of young people, my age and even younger, teenagers and whatnot, have really grown attached to the phrase "queer rep": "Is this Marvel character good gay rep?", "I want to support this lesbian singer because I want more lesbian rep in media", "I don't like this character because they're bad bisexual rep."

I do think it is very good and natural to want to see people who are like us. I don't think I need to make a case here for the myriad reasons it's good to see prominent gay people in real life and in fiction. But I do think we've lost the plot a bit when we talk about these things only in terms of how well they "represent us". What we're looking to, in the vast majority of cases, are for our own lives to be reflected back to us by large corporations and the art they produce, or by celebrities. And I think that's never going to happen, because we're looking in the wrong places.

When we assume that for a story to be given value it needs widescale legitimacy, we're assigning too much importance to corporate entities to determine what is meaningful.

So, for instance, we've come to believe that a fictional relationship being recognised as "canon" somehow elevates it above all the rich interpretations and personal resonances readers can draw from it.

Like, think about people hassling Neil Gaiman for decades about whether the guys in Good Omens are gay or not. Why do we need this answer to make the readings we do legitimate? Why would some official stamp of canonisation from an author hold more weight than the myriad connections audiences have made with the work?

Is the middle-upper-class gay couple in, say, Modern Family, a more meaningful queer story than queer readings derived from other stories [in other media] by fans simply because it's canon? Why do we let corporate or authorial validations dictate the value of our personal connections to art? [...]

I'm not saying these stories aren't valuable, or that they don't reflect queer life to some extent, but in the end we're going to be disappointed if we keep looking to massive media outlets and rich celebrities for meaningful reflections of our lived experience. There is such a massive wealth of queer art out there that I think does something more meaningful than be "queer representation". Instead, they are queer stories: indie webcomics, smaller scale novels, games, things made by individuals that reflect their own lived experience without corporate oversight or any particular need to be palatable to a whole audience so that it can be used as marketing material.

In my opinion, there does not exist any hypothetical Marvel movie with a bisexual woman character that could meaningfully "represent" me in the same way independent art not made to be distributed by like, Amazon, would. That's not to say the latter shouldn't exist, or has no value whatsoever, but should celebrities and large-scale corporate art be the sole yardstick we look to in order to tell our stories? I don't think so. And I think this whole notion of desperately looking for validity through celebrities confirming their sexualities and TV networks deeming gay couples "canon" is somewhat misguided.

Beyond the harm that the queerbaiting narrative can do to closeted people, I think it reflects that we're looking to the wrong people to give our experiences value.

Sarah Z: I Was Wrong About Queerbaiting

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Naomi Novik Has Never Written a Bad Book in Her Life. Let's Talk Temeraire.

*THIS POST HAS SPOILERS. BE WARNED*

I think at this point, it's very, very clear that in this blog, we stan Naomi Novik--and the personal and professional levels of jealousy that she has never written a bad book in her life are real, but do not stop us from celebrating the absolute majesty that is the Temeraire books. If you love a good ensemble cast, then I promise you that the ensemble that Novik builds in these nine books exceeds any other. Yes, even that one. *ducks literally every ensemble fandom yeeting things at my head*

For anyone who hasn't encountered these books before, the tagline is basically "A Napoleonic Wars Travelogue With Dragons," but that does not do justice to the geopolitical, interpersonal, and institutional tour de force that are the different threads of this series. I'll try to avoid mega spoilers, but I'm talking about an entire series, so tread with caution. There MAY BE SPOILERS here.

I belive I was an undergrad when I first discovered this series--as you can perhaps tell from the very, very loved trade paperback copy of His Majesty's Dragon. This first book opens with Captain William Laurence, rising star in his majesty's navy, beating the tar out of a French man-of-war. Except whoops, there is a dragon egg on board, and most inopportunely, it's about to hatch. The aerial corp is...looked down on at best at this point in Novik's alternate fantasy history, and having to harness a dragon means the complete and utter destruction of a naval officer's career. When Temeraire hatches, Laurence ends up harnessing him while trying extremely hard not to think about what he's doing and what the implications for his personal and professional life will be.

This first book is very much all about Temeraire and Laurence finding their footing in the aerial corps and with each other. Laurence has to learn to let the navy go, and yet is in the unenviable position of being just enough of an outsider int he aerial corps to question things the other aviators take for granted. This is gonna be a theme.

Then there is Temeraire. It's easy, so so easy, to forget how young Temeraire is throughout this series. He's just a baby, really, in this book, but is nevertheless yeeted into the Napoleonic wars, where he is entirely unafraid to demand both fair treatment and answers to questions. This will also become a theme.

We also meet the formation of dragons and captains in this book that we will follow throughout the rest of the series, and the sheer amount of personality Novik packs into them makes this world and ensemble absolutely rich. There are--thankfully--not as many named characters in these books as there are in The Wheel of Time or Game of Thrones, but in many ways, these captains and dragons are more fully human the secondary characters in those worlds. *ducks the WoT and Jordan fans' rage*

His Majesty's Dragon is the smallest scale book of the series, and really spends time immersing you in the covert and the aerial corps. This is the smallest the world ever feels in the series, and it doesn't feel small.

The world and dragon lore expand rapidly in Throne of Jade, which is unequivocally my favorite book in the series, despite my favorite dragon of the series not appearing in it. This book's catalyst is the consequences of Naval Captain William Laurence defeating a French ship and taking a Chinese dragon egg--which turned out to be a Celestial, or Lung Tien--as a prize. Turns out, the Emperor of China and his former heir don't love that Temeraire was not only harnessed but also subjected to the brutalities of war. In China, Celestials are first and foremost scholars. Oh, and China and England have diametrically opposed philosophies on dragons as indidivuals and their rights. So in chapter one of this book, we are already dealing with global politics, philosophies of personhood, civil rights (or lack thereof) for dragons, and themes of nationalism, imperialism, colonialism, and isolationism. And that's just the plot.

Interpersonally, we have Temeraire learning to live with both his love for and partnership with Laurence and the heritage and birthright that would offer him an education, civil rights, rank, and possibly the chance to make real changes to how his friends and colleagues in England are treated. Mix that with Laurence, who has the curse of having an open enough mind to be a realistic match for Temeriare's exuberance and idealism and who is dealing with turning his entire life on its head for the second time in less than two years. Then, just to twist the knife, Novik gives us an entire angsty subplot about Laurence freeling giving Temeraire the choice to stay in China, and having to decide if he will stay or not, in the face of massive personal and political pressures. You guys, I love this book so much.

We also meet Lung Tien Lien in this book, and y'all need to remember that name, because this albino Celestial--considered bad luck in China--defects to Napoleon after her companion is killed and that has ramifications through to the final book in the series. Lien and Temeraire honestly do not get along, although this book sees Laurence collect the first two of what will become a freaking rolodex of international connections. De Guinges, the French ambassador to China, has an absolutely delightful amicable sparring relationship with Laurence, and he pops up throughout the series like that dickhead friend who is fantastic for a night out, but would grate if he stuck around much longer than that. The other connection is Prince Mianning, who becomes Laurence's brother when the Emperor adopts Laurence to sever a political Gordian knot. That's also going to have some ramifications down the road.

Black Powder War is essentially the consequences of Laurence's decision to haul ass to Istanbul via a land route to take custody of three dragon eggs England has purchased from the Ottoman Empire. For the geographically savvy of you, yes, this means a desert trek. It also means a guide, who is rapidly but reluctantly added to Laurence's rolodex of connections: Tenzing Tharkey. Tharkey is in and of himself absolutely freaking fascinating--he could be his own post. The son of an English officer and a Nepali woman who was educated but literally always on the margins of every society he interacted with, Tharkey is savvy about basically everything, and SUS AF in this book. I'm going to put a pin in this, however, because Tharkey will absolutely return in the series and literally never fail to be a complete BAMF.

Generally speaking, Black Powder War is my least favorite of the series. It's by no means a bad book, and we meet characters who become crucial and some of my favorites, but the desert trek and brief stay in Istanbul are the bits of the book I tend to forget because with the exception of the introductions of Tharkey, Arkady, and Dragon Queen of the Series Iskierka, it doesn't have the lasting consequences that their time in Austria in the latter sections of the book does.

Prussian dragon treatment is--it's rough, you guys. And the fact that Temeraire and Laurence STILL end up single-handedly evacuating the Prussian royal family and the entire garrison at Danzig as Napoleon's army is literally banging at the fort door and the book ends as a fully-loaded Temeraire is hauling ass into the sky as the defeat turns into a rout means that the last third of the book is the most memorable.

Empire of Ivory picks right up on that frantic flight from Austria, and they make it back to England where Laurence is rightfully furious that their screams for help on their horrifically dangerous aerial channel crossing went entirely unanswered. Poor Temeraire is too exhausted to be anything more than confused as to why his friends didn't come when he called. The heartbreaking truth? There was no one to send.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a plague book.

Let me back up for a second. In Throne of Jade, Temeraire briefly runs into his formation, and they're all a bit coldy. Temeraire catches the cold too, but is dosed with a mushroom acquired by the dragon doctor as they passed Africa on the way to China. Temeraire recovers, and literally nobody thinks twice about getting a cold on the long journey to China. It's a ship, people get colds.

It's only once Temeraire and Laurence return home that the trifling cold has turned into a wasting disease that the aerial corps has no way to cure and really no way to treat. Once the dragon surgeons get together and theorize that whatever that mushroom Temeraire ate was a cure, Temeraire and his entire formation are loaded onto a dragon transport with their captains and crews to find the cure. This bit is genuinely heartbreaking guys, because the entire vibe of Maximus getting on the ship is that they either find a cure or they bury him in Africa. Berkeley so desperately needs a hug for like two thirds of this book.

This is quite possibly my favorite book after Throne of Jade, because I am here for a good plague book--and I know that might be a weird take in the year of our lord 2022--but especially a good plague book that shoves English officers' noses in the consequences of colonialism and the slave trade and actually includes the yeeting of slavers and colonizers from their settlements with the help of Kefentse and the other dragons. Seriously, this book is SO GOOD.

The best part of it though, is the last couple of chapters. Laurence, Temeraire, and co. make it back to England with the cure only to find that England has sent a plague carrier into France to infect Napoleon's aerial corps. Laurence--and the crucial thing is that this is Laurence's idea, from start to finish, he wasn't prompted by Temeraire--commits full-on bald-faced treason by taking a tub of cultivated mushrooms to Napoleon himself. An entirely floored but immensely grateful Napoleon offers Laurence and Temeraire asylum in France, but the final chapter of the book is Laurence and Temeraire taking a quiet moment before they cross the channel back to England to face the music. Y'all, I cried so hard finishing this book. I was just grateful that I caught the series at a point where I didn't have to wait a year or more to read the next book.

Victory of Eagles, of all the books in this series, is for the dragons. Laurence is so deep in self-loathing and probably actual depression that he briefly ends up as Wellington's personal dirty job doer, which just exacerbates the problem, because what Laurence is truly deeply wrestling with is the clash between his honor and the whole "I would do treason again because it was the right thing to do" thing.

We spend most of this book with Temeraire though, as he single-handedly empties the breeding grounds of dragons and wrangles them into a massively effective army. He then proceeds to strong arm Wellington into paying the dragons, feeding them, and granting them civil rights. It's not a perfect system by any means, and it's deeply influenced by the Chinese perspective on dragons, so it's a hard sell for Temeraire, but he pulls it off. The other thing Temeraire pulls off is showing Laurence that he can reconcile seeming oppositional worldviews and come to an equilibrium with himself. It's messy as hell, and you bet your ass it has consequences, but this is a real turning point in Laurence and Temeraire's relationship, and their own personal journeys. This book is absurdly well executed.

The consequences of Laurence reconciling his honor and personal philosophy are explored in Tongues of Serpents or Laurence and Temeraire Take Australia or Iskierka Wants an Egg From Temeraire and Really Can't Believe Everyone Isn't Automatically on Board. This is another book for the dragons, really. We get to meet Caesar and Kulingile, and if y'all thought Maximus was the ultimate dragon himbo, my big regal copper baby is about to get dethroned by our Cheequered Nettle/Parnassian hybrid. Regal Coppers in general have himbo vibes, but they're also adorably grouchy old men. Kulingile is basically Kronk in dragon form, with none of the grumpy old man that Regal Coppers have.

What kills me about this book is that Laurence was *THAT CLOSE* to successfully breaking up a smuggling ring and disappearing into the outback for a quiet retirement with Temeraire on their own land in Australia, where they could be left alone and happy.

Then Crucible of Gold starts. Arthur Hammond, who Laurence added to his rolodex way back in Throne of Jade, shows up to Laurence's half-built dragon pavilion and house in the Australian outback to drag him back into global politics. Laurence was *SO CLOSE* to being left alone. He had a BEARD, for crying out loud. He was HAPPY. He and Temeraire were building something. But Hammond manages to talk them into running off to Brazil--by way of a shipwreck and psuedo rescue by the French and a subsequent marooning--to stop them from allying with Napoleon. That mission ends up being a hideous failure because of a combination of the consequences of colonialism, Iskierka being an objectively terrible matchmaker, and Napoleon showing up to put a ring on it.

And to top off the whole ill-fated mission, Gong Su, Laurence's trusted cook, turns out to be working for Prince Mianning, which Hammond wastes zero time leveraging to drag Laurence and Temeraire back to China.

Before we manage to get back to China, however, Blood of Tyrants opens with another shipwreck and Laurence waking up in Japan missing about eight years of memory. And guys, let me tell you, watching Naval Captain William Laurence get suuuuuuuuuper traumatized by everything aerial corps Captain Laurence has done is both hilarious and heartwrenching. The other captains in the formation literally have a "do we tell him about the treason?" conversation that is just on point. And in the background of all of this, Iskierka finally gets the egg she has been frankly harassing Temeraire for for the last like three books. So they're dealing with Laurence/Temeraire drama, geopolitical drama, and Iskierka egg drama.

At that point, finally getting to China and uncovering a false-flag rebellion orchestrated by the conservative party to smuggle just *so much* opium and discredit Mianning felt pretty darn straightforward. Then it all got complicated again, because somewhere along the line, 300 Chinese dragons were promised to support the Russians against Napoleon, and Laurence and Temeraire end this book literally trying to stop Napoleon from conquering Russia in winter. None of this is actually *good* for the character, but I was hanging on each setback and just going "WHAT HAPPENS THEN?"

Well, what happens next in League of Dragons is that Laurence does the most emotionally constipated British Officer thing I have EVER seen and challenges a Russian officer who had a little too much to drink because both his adopted and biological fathers died in the span of like a month or two, and Laurence cannot deal with feelings that big. That duel goes exactly as well as you'd expect, and both men end up very shot, but they also manage to survive, barely. Then we spend the rest of the book wrapping up the plot threads from the preceding eight books, and watching Iskierka and Temeraire realize why the two of them making an egg was both the best and worst possible idea.

This series is just supremely well plotted and well executed, and there will never be any other dragons in the world with this much personality.

#naomi novik #temeraire #his majesty's dragon #in his majesty's service #captain william laurence #throne of jade #black powder war #empire of ivory #victory of eagles #tongues of serpents #crucible of gold #blood of tyrants #league of dragons #iskierka #john granby #maximus #berkeley #lily #captain harcourt #jane roland #emily roland #books & libraries #fantasy #fiction #book recommendations #books and reading #dragons #napoleonic wars #napoleonic era #alternate history

[wandawillkill312]

Batman #125 *Spoilers*

Hey, I know everyone is mostly reacting to what happened to Tim; but let's not forget another important aspect:

...we just lost another major Batman villain- and one of the main ones, at that!

First Deadshot and Manbat- though I'll resurrect them to full health, in my RP'S-, then Anarky, Hugo Strange, Ra's Al Ghul and now Penguin?!!!

He**! In her new series; even Poison Ivy states that she's either dying or is planning to commit suicide by mass genocide- probably the latter.

Man; Batman's rogues are dropping like flies, out here!

I'm not gonna bring up any deaths from "Task Force Z"; because as far as I'm concerned, it's an unofficial "Black Label" series.

But back to the topic: DC you need to stop killing Batman's Rogues, okay?

They are one of the handful of aspects, that makes Batman an interesting Superhero.

And while you're at it; bring back some of Batman's old Gold-Silver Age Rogues, as well- with new looks, of course.

But back to the main topic; a moment of silence for Oswald Cobblepot.

You were a great Batman villain and you gave us great stories.

You will be missed- assuming that you're actually dead!

You probably are, though.

Mercury poisoning is no joke.

Maybe next time, have your chef cook your fish, before you eat it!

I mean; just because you're named after a water bird that eats raw fish, doesn't mean you have to do it too, Ozzie! You Knob!

I mean look at Catwoman! She dresses as an animal that eats raw fish; but she still has the common sense, to eat her seafood cooked- most of the time.

Sushi is a thing; and you can bet that she occasionally indulges, in it.

But you have no excuse, Penguin!

Sorry...had to say all that.

It's tragic that he died, but still!

And for him; it wasn't even sushi, either!

Dude would straight up take a whole raw fish and actually chomp down on it- scales and all!

And in large amounts, as well!

Honestly; I'm actually surprised that he didn't die from Mercury poisoning, sooner.

Come to think of it; I'm also surprised that he wasn't dying from long-term Hypothermia- assuming that the temperature of his Iceberg Lounge was always freezing, which it probably wasn't.

I'm also surprised; that it wasn't diabetes, sirois, lung cancer or a clogged artery, that was doing him in.

Or even a combination of all four- with both Mercury Poisoning and that Cyanide capsule, added at the end.

Talk about a "Sinister Six" XD - oh right, DC Comics.

Not to mention; he also had a short fuse, brought on by his many complexes- including his Napoleon Complex! XD

So it is mindboggling; how anger-fueled strokes and aneurisms, weren't even a death factor for him, when #125 was being made.

But seriously. Penguin should have been dying from those four, that I listed , considering how Ozzie indulged in so much rich and fatty foods, copious amounts of alcohol and excess tobacco, over the years...

Not to mention; I don't think we ever saw him do any form of excercise, in the comics- not to lose weight, but to make sure his ticker and joints, were still working, perfectly.

And now that I'm thinking about it; he probably never brushed his teeth, after stuffing his face, either...🤢

No wonder his lips and saliva were always black, in the movie Batman Returns and in later comics...

Oh God! And he probably forced all his female workers and escorts to kiss him! 🤮

I'm pretty sure they all contracted something, afterwards! 😂

And he was supposed to be "The Gentleman of Crime?" 🤣

Ozzie; you were a gross Human being, with a short fuse, a vindictive attitude and a penchant for physically, mentally, emotionally and socially disfiguring anyone, who had the misfortune of crossing your "Socio-Path"- shout out to Rick Sanchez, for that term-, and doing anything, you saw as an attack, on your fragile ego!

You made a number of bad choices- especially in terms of personal health-, and all of Gotham City won't miss you, one bit- the citizens may remember you a lot and some may even finally get to safely mock you and produce a lot of stuff, in the media, to make you a fixture, in Gotham and cement your legacy...but they most certainly will not miss you!

Ohhh, I like how minutes ago; I was "soft-mourning" Ozzie's death, and now I'm just taking a massive dump, on his grave...

But considering what just happened to Tim- and right after Pride Month, too-; I'm probably the first of many, who will be doing that.

I guess you could say that we'll all be roasting him!

His goose has already been cooked, so why not. XD

Nevertheless; R.I.P. Oswald Cobblepot. AKA, "The Penguin"- "Detective Comics #58, 1941" - "Batman #125, 2022".

Thank you for being a great Batman villain and for making an umbrella of all personal items, one of the many symbols of fear, in Gotham- Oh! And for helping keep the top hat, monocle and tuxedo outfit, in fashion.

Diamond Jim Brady, would be proud:

Also P.S.; in the backup story, with Catwoman...

...yeah.

Silver lining, though; we may get to see Ethan Cobblepot, again- assuming DC remembers, that he exists.

(( To the following accounts:

@multi-muse-transect

@darkknightofgotham

@yellowskinnedwackyman

@trenhead

Please reblog this makeshift eulogy/roast, so it can be shared around the Batman/Comic Book community, on here.

Thanks. 😁👍))

#batman 125 #oswald cobblepot #the penguin #tim drake

[phdmama]

Hello there, so what would you advise a newbie like me that is up for anything to do here on this site lol 👀😎

Hello hello hello, pal!

Okay so first, take this FWIW, which is, you know. Possibly not a lot!

I think of tumblr as kind of like a mosaic where the borders bleed into each other, so fandoms overlap. There are many different tumblrs.

Probably the most important thing to remember (IMO) is that you are 1000% in control of your own experience here, so curate the fuck out of it.

I think it depends a bit on what you're looking to get. If you're looking for community (fandom based, I guess I'm assuming), it's important to interact. Reblog stuff, that's how we get a rich ecosystem. I personally LOVE when people reblog with tag commentary! Don't forget that unless you're a girlie porn bot, there are real people on the other end of these URLs.

Here's how I do it. When I get something stuck in my head, I tend to search out some blogs to follow. My bar to following is exceedingly low but, and this is key, so is my bar to unfollowing (and blocking). I'll mass follow and start weeding out as I go. I also make VERY VERY liberal use of filtering both tags and content (on desktop, click the lil person top right, then settings and scroll down and it will have a list of what you've got filtered and you can add things there - just know that it's very literal. So for example. I've filtered the word 'cum' but that ends up filtering every post that talks about, say, a documentary - there's probably a fix for that? I just haven't bothered to work it out).

Learning to let shitty takes scroll by is an important skill here. I cannot tell you how many things I see that make me roll my eyes. But, I also do not engage with content that I don't like, which is a personal philosophy as I do not have time, like on the cosmic scale, to hate-read and hate-interact. If I see things I really don't like or make me uncomfortable, I unfollow, and maybe block. Filter the word or tag. I'm all about letting people follow their hearts, this isn't about judgement, but it's my job to take care of myself

tumblr search sucks horribly, but you can directly search for things tagged in a specific way. So like, say I want to find posts tagged as "my writing" - I put in this URL (on desktop): https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/my%20writing (you can just type the tag with a space and tumblr will put the space formatting in) and then you can sort by latest or top. I've never had luck clicking on a tag - like I've literally posted something, clicked on a tag and tumblr's been, like, WUT NEVER HEARD OF THAT BRO TOO BAD SO SAD.

At the end of the day, for me anyway, this is about having fun and choosing where I spend my recreational time. Not to say it's not real life, I've learned a ton here and made some of my closest friends in the world here, but also. Fandoms are just that, fandoms. You're in control of your experience here!

Good luck and happy tumbling! xox

#tumblr meta #this is just how I do it #YMMV

[lover-girl-estxx]

Throw in the Towel

(22) Part 1

8 weeks before the fight

I woke up early 5 to be for sure I hop out of the bunk in the gym where Rich was letting me stay while I was in camp. I grab a bar from the small fridge before getting dressed for a morning run. As I opened the gym door open the two Diaz boys were standing there I moving for them to come in but they asked "where you going?" "morning run." I said flatly "can we come?" Nick asked "sure" I shrugged.

"you have a coach? its a big main event" Nate asked running next to me "don't need a coach" "everyone needs a coach" "all seven of my wins I didn't have a coach" "who was in you're corner?" "whoever Dana put there" "let us coach you" I shook my head "one week you hate us we'll leave you alone" Nick said "one week!" they nodded.

7 weeks before fight

"WAKE UP!" Nate yelled pulling the blanket off me "stop.." I tried to grab it "COME ON!" Nick yelled grabbing my legs, I groaned "Diazs stop".

4 weeks before fight

I've knocked two chicks out in sparring "Nate come on spar me" I laugh as Nick wiped my face "I don't want to hurt you" he said "somebody's scared" I tease Nick laughed "i ain't scared" "come on just for fun" he sighed putting his gloves.

We hit back and fourth "come on" I yell he hurts me pretty hard in the stomach making me fall "Shit!," he took his mouth guard out "are you okay!?" I laughed getting up "yeah i'm fine" I jumped around "No More go for a run" Rich said "you're no fun" I sighed getting out.

Two weeks Before fight

"we've seen on twitter that you have a coach this fight Y/n would you like to talk about that?" a reporter asked "i've been training pretty hard with the Diaz brothers and they're coach Rich" "why have coach's now?" "well she's gonna be one of the hardest fights i've had so better be safe than sorry" I shrug "next question" Dana said.

"I have one for Y/n and Taylor is there any bad blood between you guys?" "no not at all, I respect Y/n" Taylor said "yeah I feel the same.. I wish I got somebody I didn't like, like that new girl whatever her name is I don't like her think it would've been a better fight" I shrugged.

As they we're still asking questions for other people I stood up, walking behind Dana "you can't leave" he said " I've done like 10 questions" I grabbed my mic "any for me that aren't from reports?....no you y'all at the fight" I shook Taylor's hand before walking off. "you're done?" Nate asked I nodded "I got to cut two more pounds rather than sit here" he nodded wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

Day Before fight

I took my sweats and shirt off handing them to Nate, going over to the scale "Y/n Y/l/n weighing in at 145.5". When I got off and was doing pictures she pushed my back making me slap her "hey! Hey! hey!" Dana said pushing us apart, Nick wrapped his arms around my waist "Fuck you!" I said giving her the finger, Nick moved me off stage.

Day of the Fight

I was walking around the locker room jumping around and shadow boxing, "Ariel wants to do an interview" Nate said "really?" he nodded I sighed "come with me?" "come on" he wrapped his arm around my shoulders "don't fuck my braids up" I wrapped a arm around his waist "their gonna get messed up anyway" "Nathan".

"what's it like going from no coach to three and what made you want to do that?" He asked "I didn't want coach's, I was staying at the gym and Nick and Nate convinced me I don't know why they wanted to couch me I'm kind of a bitch" I laughed Nate chuckled behind the camera "do you feel better going into this fight?" "I do! I feel better trained and..it's nice having people root for you, you know so I'm definitely ready".

"give me a piggy back ride to the locker room" I said he sighed "please!" I smiled, he got down in front of me I hopped on his back wrapping my arms around his neck.

Nick was wrapping my hands "you okay?" he asked I opened my eyes "yeah i'm okay" I gave a slight smile.

| 3rd Person POV |

Y/n fixed her black shorts waiting to hear her song, Nate tapped her shoulder she turned and he put the mouth guard to her lips she put it in. Nate watched as she moved her head from side to side rolling her shoulders, Her song started playing Daywalker by Machine Gun Kelly. She stopped at the start of the octagon for a minute before going in running around, leaning on the cage. "IT'S TIME!" Bruce said making Y/n smile widely "in the red corner fighting out of Stockton California. Hold a record of 7 wins 0 loses and 1 No Contest, Y/n 'The Psycho' (that may be dumb) Y/l/n!" Y/n flexed and pacing back and fourth.

Round 1

Y/n sat down on the stool "you did great she's bloody and tired, keep doing what you're doing" Nick said as Nate put ice on her back she nodded.

Round 2

"you're fine, all she did was cut you're brow?" Nick told Y/n "is it bad?" he shook his head wiping the blood from her face "try and make a take down" Nate said "no shit" she sighed and he laughed. Round 3

Y/n got beat to holy hell she sat down out of breath "Y/n I may have to throw in the towel" Nate said as Nick again cleaned her face "Fuck you! you do that I swear i'll kill you do not throw that towel in! i'm fine!" she looked hard at him. "Beat her with every thing you have" she nodded.

Round 4

the other girl came out and hit Y/n with a flying knee kick making Y/n fall on the canvas knocked out, the Girl hit Y/n twice in the head. the ref showed no moving to stop it. Both Nick and Nate were standing. the girl kept hitting her pounding her elbow into Y/n's ribs. Nate threw in the towel, everyone was yelling even Dana "STOP THE FUCKING FIGHT" Nate slammed his hands down. After the boys ran in so did others, Nick pushed the ref yelling things Nate couldn't hear. Nate was right by Y/n "Y/n.." he said softly while pulling her mouth guard out "move" the medics told him pushing him out of the way. Nate stood watching her still not open her eyes "we gotta go get her stuff Rich is gonna go with her" Nick grabbed his brothers arm pulling him to the locker room though the people.

Nate was sitting on a bunch staring at nothing "Nate come on grab her shit" Nick said going around grabbing things "she wasn't moving" he shook his head, Nick looked at his little brother who's eyes were glossy. Nick dropped the bag and got down in front of Nate "Nate i'm gonna really tell you something she may not be okay so get her stuff so you can go be with her for as much time you can" "I shouldn't have let her go into the last round" Nate ran his hands down his face "don't do that..." Nate bit his lip and stood up starting to grab things.

Nate grabbed Y/n's phone, "her mom's texting her" he said "whats she saying?" Nick asked "she was watching the fight" "i'll call her give me the phone.

| Y/n's POV |

When I woke up, I didn't know where I was I looked around the room. Nick was asleep on a couch and Nate by my side holding my hand. When I pulled the breathing mask off I hissed, feeling pain in my side. "Be careful" Nate said softly standing up "so I lost" he smiled "yeah" "whats wrong?" "the nurse or whoever are gonna tell you" I nodded "have I been out long" "it's just the next afternoon....You're mom and your siblings are on their way""how'd th-" "I took care of it" "thank you" I smiled weakly.

"you have two broken ribs, chipped jaw. Broken wrist from when you landed on it and due to the many hits to the head your going to find it very very hard to walk and you're ankles are very weak. You'll more than likely have to go to rehab...the swollen jaw should be away in a few day" the Nurse said "when can I train and fight again?" I asked "training as soon as 3-8 months fighting....it's very likely that if you fight again you'll be be paralyzed" "wh-what would the odds be?!" "9 times out of 10" "wh-when can I leave" "they're working on moving you out of Vegas to a place in Stockton...about a week here then how even long there" I nodded "can I have a minute?" I asked looking to Nick then Nate they nodded and left the room with the nurse.

I cried till the door opened and my little sister Mia came in "hi" I sighed wrapping an arm around her. Nate wouldn't leave by side the whole day, got me anything I needed. "you want us to stay?" my mom asked "no," I shook my head "go rest i'll be here in the morning" I smiled "you sure?" I nodded "you boys can go to" I told Nick and Nate "i'm not leaving" Nate said "you can" he shook his head "i'm not tired" "i'll walk them" Nick said "thanks" I smiled lightly.

"you didn't have to stay" I said "I wanted to" "..so much for being my coach right" I chuckled before putting my hand on my ribs "yeah," he gave me a sad smile "will you show me the fight?" I asked "it's-um" "please?" he nodded and grabbed the remote, I gave him a look "it's all over sports TV" I sighed as he went through Channels, I scooted over "sit with me," he looked down at me "I don't bite" he rolling his eyes "yeah right". I sat next to me wrapping his arm around my shoulders, "it happened in the fourth round. I mean if you were watching the fight was smooth through to this round. Taylor comes out with a flying knee kick knocking Y/n out. Taylor keeps hitting no sigh of stopping even after as you can see Y/ns corner throw in the towel. Still no stopping till the Diaz brothers jumped in along with others and Dana White" the commenter said while play the video of the fight "we'll play it back" they added "you can change it" I said and wiped my eyes. He pulled me in softly and kissed my head "you'll be okay" "I can't fight anymore how am I gonna make money?" "fighting is the last thing on how to make money list" "I really liked it..." I leaned more into him "I know".

a/n: I have no idea where this is gonna go lol...if you want to tell me what you think I would like that

#nate diaz #nate diaz imagine #nate diaz x reader #nate diaz imagines #ufc #nick diaz #Nate Diaz by est

[rtubtub]

Duvet

Part 2

Im thinking of posting this story in ao2 instead because its kinda long but im so happy for everyone who liked the first part i am so nervous writing this 😭

You get up bringing your backpack and books heading towards the empty sits near Eddie “If it isn’t the party animal of Hawkins” a smug look spreads across his face as he leans back in his chair. “Party animal? Please i threw up at a couple of parties if anything that makes me a buzzkill” your screwed Valerie is usually the one who leads the projects while you just follow. “Listen Munson i need you to take this serious my ass on the line here. This is a major grade remember.” you have a C in this class already cause of Mrs. Williamson strict rules, so far you feel like she has a personal vendetta on you from the way she grades you. “Yea yea yea Mrs. Hargrove i get it ill pay attention.” He threw his head back as if he was dreading this already, but you ignored him so you sat your stuff down pulling your history book “first its Y/l/n and second where is your book? Our project is about Julius Caesar so we need to look at information.” He nervously started to drum his fingers on his desk while chewing his bottom lip “Yea so about that” here we go…..”i sorta don’t have one” i mean were you really that surprised tho? We are talking about Eddie ‘third time repeating senior year’ Munson “We can share my book i don’t mind.” You push your book in the middle so that way he can get a better view of the chapter. You take out your notebook and start writing down ideas about the project “For a party bimbo you look like your having fun studying” he grinned from ear to ear “Haha who exactly is the bimbo here? Plus history is just old juicy gossip and rumors if you think about it.” You smile at your own sarcasm as he puts his hand on his chest looking offended “Okay ouch and I don’t think George Washington having musty wooden dentures is juicy gossip. Thats just straight up sad.” You stop writing down facts about Julius Caesar and look at him. “Look at you and here i thought you didn’t know who our first President was.” you both start laughing. Talking to Eddie seemed so natural but you know Valerie is probably having a stroke right now because ‘his a bad influence and we shouldn’t associate ourselves with people like him’. You loved Valerie and she had a good heart but her rich influence gets the best of her. “Ill make a list of topics i need you to look more information on.” he grunted something along about ‘how much a pain in the ass this is’ “Um how am i supposed to look up these things if i don’t have a textbook princess?” He wiggled the paper you wrote. You pushed the paper out of your face “its Y/l/n and what haven’t you heard of the library before?” He looked at the paper looking at your handwriting

* Julius Caesar joined the military

* His secret alliance

* His enemies

* Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony, Cleopatra love triangle

* Need any questions or help 317-90–

He smirked while pointing at the last thing on the list “Woah whats this? You trying to hit on me Y/l/n? What will Billy think about us?” You rolled your eyes snatching the paper back and pointing on the phone number “This! Is for project emergencies only, if its not project related i’ll hang up“ you give him back the paper, just as he grabs it his smirk drops. “WOW you weren’t lying about the buzzkill part huh. Speaking of buzzkill how is the Misters? Still using defenseless nerds as stress punching bags?“ You lean your head to your hand closing your eyes, the last argument Billy and you had was about him to stop beating up other students. You knew how Billy can be and even though he never put his hands on you, you tried your best to make sure he didn’t put his hands on others too. “Why do you ask? Trying to apply for part-time punching bag?” You open your eyes to see him put his hands like a scale “Jason Carver or Billy Hargrove?” You and Eddie start laughing while you slap his hands down. “Here i thought you were gonna be pissed the entire time.” You turn back to your notebook to continue to writing but stop. Does he think I would be mad at him for that rumor going around that his in a cult? Who even believes in that? “No? Why would I be mad its just a stupid rumor thats not even true.” He turns to look at you shocked “Oh so it’s not true?” Your face scrunches up in confusion “Wait what? What are we even talking about?” Eddie turns his head looking around then back at you “I thought you were gonna be pissed cause of that rumor going around that Billy was with another chick last ni-“ you interrupt him before he finishes “who told you that.” Your mind goes blank yet your blood is slowly boiling “Gareth but everyone was talking about it I thought yo-” The bell rings and you quickly get your stuff speeding down the hallway towards the girls restroom leaving a confused Eddie at the classroom. You hear Valerie calling out your name telling you to wait for her but right now you need to think properly before you do something stupid. That skinny jean, mullet haircut, daddy issues having motherfucker is going to pay. After pushing a group of girls your finally in the restroom and head towards the stalls and locking it. You drop stuff on the floor and in a moment of exasperation you take off Billy’s denim jacket and scream in it. Why do i keep letting him treat me like shit? You would think some how some way he would actually change seeing how hard he tries to get my attention after he fuck ups. You hear the door open and footsteps stopping in-front of the stall your in. “Valerie I’m not in the mood right now.” You look down to your lap fidgeting with the jacket, I should fucking burn this- “I’m sorry” you left up your head confusion quickly replacing your intrusive thoughts. “Earlier you asked me what the other classmates were talking about…..and i didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to see you upset. I’m sorry i should have told you.” You slowly open the stall door to see Valerie grabbing her long black denim skirt and looking down. Valerie may be classist, stuck up, snob and a big fat know-it-all but she has a sweet heart that only you have the privilege to see. You wrap your arms around her “I’m not mad at you Val. I’m just upset that he would do that to me….again god Im stupid.” Valerie broke up the hug and looked at her watch and grabbed your hand “Lets go” but you pull back staying in place. “Val listen I don’t want to go to the next class right now.” She turned to you with that straight face she always has on “Who says we’re going to the next class?” She goes back to the stall to pick up your stuff you dropped and grabs your hand heading out the restroom door. “Then where are we going?” We stop infront of her locker while she gets her keys “To the mall.” Your eyes pop out, did Miss. ‘Never Missed A School Day’ just say mall? “Woah woah woah! If your mom finds out she will kill ME. Not you me!” She continues to drag you out the school with a smirk on her face “What can i say? Your a bad influence y/n”

#eddie munson x female character #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson x you #billy hargrove x female reader #billy hargrove x reader #billy hargrove #billy hargrove x y/n #stranger things

[rutadales]

I normally don't give Actually Opinions on drama, but seeing as some of these conversations are delving into the American politics side of things I wanted to give my two cents. to be incredibly clear I am in no way calling anyone a bad person, but im seeing what is, in my opinion, some misinterpretations of why Kick, and streamers joining the platform is a bad thing.

First things first I want to dismantle the idea that Twitch and Kick are equivalent to each other. They aren't. If Twitch goes down tomorrow, Amazon still is going to exist. If Kick goes down, then the crypto gambling website the streaming service exists to promote will have a lot less traffic.

Here's an excerpt talking about Stake.com playing a role in Kick.

and here's Stake promoting crypto.

Kick literally exists to promote crypto gambling. (If you don't know why crypto is bad watch Dan Olsen's video "The Line Goes Up" or if you don't have time to watch a 2 hour long video tldr crypto is horrible for the environment, is a more or less a scam, and functions to make the rich richer. the video explains it better and has sources I just don't have time to write a crypto manifesto here okay)

Not to mention Kick's poster boy is a transphobic pos who showed porn to his child audience.

Yes, Kick recognizes this is bad for PR but Adin is still on that platform and still making them money. By giving legitimacy to that platform we are putting more eyes on that kind of rhetoric.

I am not saying that every streamer on that platform is bad, or that Sapnap is bad and going to streamer hell or whatever. I am saying Kick, and Stake, is an unethical website. Yes, so is Twitch, and Amazon! But Twitch and Amazon are already legitimate websites with strong influence in the industry. Kick isn't, at least not nearly on the same scale, and what they're trying to do by adding content creators like Sapnap is add legitimacy to their, again, crypto gambling website. This is a bad thing.

And I think it is flat out wrong to compare the two websites. Just because one bad thing exists doesn't mean we try to make an even worse bad thing just because. Yes, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. This doesn't mean it's time to start buying oil drums and throw them into the Pacific, ya feel me?

#root talks #discourse #again I don't think anyone is a bad person or morally bankrupt or going to hell or whatever #I just wanted to explain why I think this is a bad move #I am also not saying everyone should not watch Sapnap I don't believe that #but I am saying that I think this is a bad move and hopefully I explained my self concisely

[kitkatabasis]

On Cornwall, Lear, and the Reality of Evil

(Or, Local Nerd Hates Main Character of Play)

Now, if you’ve read any of my recent posts, you’ve probably realized I am currently reading King Lear (I mean, I’ve finished reading through it, but I’m still reading it), and that I feel a burning hatred toward the character of Lear and more than a little sympathy towards the villains, even though some of them do objectively worse things, Cornwall. Partly to defend my opinions against people who think I’m kind of insane for having the preferences I do, and partly because I’ve noticed that other people (at least on tumblr) have those same preferences, and I’m curious enough to want to know why.

Now, I mean, just to get the obvious out of the way–man who loves his wife and does war crimes is like, one of tumblr’s favorite characters, so no surprises there. And you know what? Maybe that’s as far as it goes for some people, but I don’t think it’s that simple. So, let’s dig in.

So, I’m going to start with something that is seemingly completely unconnected to what we’re talking, but I promise it’ll all come together in the end, just stick with me for a moment. 

Sometimes when you’re writing, critique partners will recommend that you raise the stakes. What people often think that means is to make them “bigger”--like, if you fail the whole town won’t get destroyed, but the whole world–but actually what it means is that you have to make them more personal to your characters, more emotional. Furthermore, “bigger” and “more personal” are very often opposed, because the human mind is frankly not really built to be able to fully comprehend the existence of 8 billion people–a town tends to, emotionally, feel as big as a planet. Even beyond that, it’s much more easy to relate to things on a smaller scale, because you’ve probably experienced them, or something like them. Even if your mother is alive, you’ve likely lost someone, even just in the form of your best kindergarten friend moving away, and thus can map the latter experience onto the former. But it’s much harder–obviously not impossible, that’s sort of the entire point of writing–to empathize with someone dealing with the possibility of the end of the world; that’s why so many characters’ internal monologues focus on how that loss would affect things they care about (which I don’t, for a record, think is a bad thing). 

So, here’s where it connects back to King Lear: this is the reason that, I think, Lear’s villainy is so much more real to us than Cornwall’s. I–and, I am assuming, most people who read King Lear–have never actually had to see torture or its effects outside of fictional media (unless you did, in which case that really sucks for you, and I’m sorry about that and hope you’re doing as well as you can). We know torture is bad in the abstract, and maybe if you’re particularly good at empathizing and/or imagining you can get a better sense of it, but generally speaking: it’s an evil that’s hard to conceptualize, to relate beyond “yeah that’s bad and fucked up”.

Lear’s evil though–that is an evil, I would wager, that most either know someone who has experienced or have experienced it themselves. More broadly, as a rich ruler who has seemingly never taken care of or considered the peasants of his kingdom, thus resulting in a largely impoverished country (until he is literally brought face-to-face with a hovel), he is a very recognizable figure in our modern world. But really personally—and I think key to my grudge against Lear (and probably yours too, because if you’ve read this long with a positive opinion of the winner of the 1606 Worst Fictional Dad Award, frankly I’m surprised, but thank you I’m supposed, unless you’re reading this in order to write an angry response detailing why Lear Is A Good Person Actually, in which case please don’t) is that he is an absolutely dogshit father. We don’t get actual details on how he raised his children, but his open favoritism, unpredictable behavior, belief in his entitlement to complete obedience, raging temper, and repression of his own “feminine” emotions create a figure that is, I think, very recognizable. I’m not saying that Lear is almost certainly an abusive father…but fuck it, that’s exactly what I’m saying. At the very least and most generous he is an incredibly bad one. And that sort of evil, that sort of harm, is one much more palpable to me than Cornwall.

#Shakespeare #king lear #lear #cornwall #cw torture mention #cw abuse mention #cw child abuse mention

[temmes]

Everything’s i have draw is like shit.

Few days ago I talked with my collage buddy and we had a little chat about how is each other’s life going,of course we Asian when asking”how is everything goin”we don’t talk about how crazy the party we had last weekend or “my father just passed away”those kind of deep personal stuff,in short we don’t really care whether we have good of bad days,we mainly talk about how much money we made now,have we had a promotion yet,are we going to get engaged,buy houses etc of those kind of big boy topic,maybe that’s why some professors said the overall mindset of East Asian tend to be like adults.and Americans are more like kids,living freely from pressure,only live for present,not the future.

Back at the main course,he indirectly bragged about how much salary he got,started from when he asked me about a toy like Marvel sculpture on eBay that costed over 5k from Germany without shipping fee.the price is crazy to me,for a toy spending this amount of money in these days means he gotta be rich.

finally he said he got 5k monthly after tax,that’s a Huge amount of salary in china probably he’s at top 15% of the whole country’s income ranking. i truly felt happy for him but on the other hand i kind of want to be like him.i gladly flattered him something like”if i could just be this cool like you doing white collar management job, working in a good company making big bucks i would not come to the states,i should stay at school and keep on drawing just like you.I’m not doing good here every first gen immigrant dont have much choice to start here”and i truly meant it.

After that conversation i lay my back on the floor where i usually sleep at.I got my mind twisted again,i mixed up one important thing, the point is not how much money and fame i want to achieve.not going down into the vicious endlessly comparing hole,maybe it’s a match,is a match with my own self,the older self. I almost forgot why i chose to drop out and moved to the states, because here is a bigger place with new events,more opportunities and chances waiting If you’re qualified to get your hands wet,its a better place formed by better people.

old Asian folks tale said only those carps that went through all the adversity and finally jumped through the dragon gate could evolve into sea dragon,that feels true to me,life is not collecting colorful scales(wealth)and become a high and mighty carp king flashily waiting for admiration and acceptance from the lower ranks.life is finding a meaning for yourself and slowly but steadily work your way to it. What kind of man you really want to be,what labels you want to have,what kind of responsibility you need to carry.as long as you make values to the society,you are fine.just keep walking to your goal.

Make the right choose and keep on grinding,i might still drawing like shit,but i shall not give up.

09/05/2022

[conceivablefutureproject]

Sustainability Director hops off the fence Massachusetts, Age 32

I originally posted a version of the story below to the Reddit's forum, r/fencesitter, for people "on the fence" about having children. A raw, vulnerable discussion followed, then several commenters and I were permanently banned from the sub with no explanation.

Other threads have since raised concerns about climate change, and the comments allowed to remain focus on reassurances and optimism. I'm testifying here out of frustration that we have no better outlet for honest discussion.

For years, I identified as a fencesitter for the common reasons of not wanting to lose freedom, not wanting to compromise my body, not really enjoying spending time with other peoples' kids, not feeling that pull toward motherhood, fearing social isolation, only feeling equipped to raise a neurotypical child, enjoying sleeping in, etc. The negatives are tangible and social media posts about parental exhaustion were very in-my-face. After years of teetering on this fence, I've concluded that these are mostly fear-based aversions that I could work out.

Until recently, I struggled to envision the actual benefits of parenthood. I have a responsible, communicative husband who is incredible with kids, who wants children but could see a fulfilling life either way. Bizarrely, these points have risen to the surface as the most compelling reasons for me to want kids:

We got a pet last year, and watching him learn the basics of gravity/mirrors/water faucets, playing with him, and caring for him with my partner has made home life SO warm and fulfilling and fun. I once heard someone compare watching their toddler develop to watching a dog learn to talk. (Then this dog--who you already love so much--dresses up as a teapot in a play, then learns to converse, tell jokes, write letters, cook creative recipes.) I think the experience of raising a child with my partner (him, specifically!) would bring an intense richness to life.

My family is very small and I don't have a lot of close relationships in my life. I cherish the idea of having years and years of time together, building up inside jokes, building a new close relationship with family that is mine.

Based only on my personal situation, I'd like to have a child. However, my personal situation exists in a broader context.

My career is focused on climate change. I'm drained professionally and personally from dealing with people who don't take it seriously enough. I do not believe we'll see the policy and technological advancements that we need to avoid catastrophic impacts. Every day I encounter reminders that we are not on track to meet publicly touted goals. Energy utilities greenwash their "carbon neutral by 2050" plans reliant on nonexistent technologies on infeasible timelines.

The IPCC report last year called climate change a "code red for humanity" and the next phase of the report concluded that impacts are worse than expected, and happening more quickly. If every country achieves the carbon reductions they promised (spoiler: they won't), we're still on track for too-high emissions. 60% of scientists that contributed to the IPCC reports believe we'll see more than 3 degrees C of warming--this is extinction level shit.

Climate change is not about a few inches of sea level rise and more storms. We're on track for widespread, chronic water and food insecurity, on a scale that is hard to fathom. Among the devastating ecological impacts, our inability to consistently grow enough food or access water will lead to large-scale resource conflicts.

It's been difficult reading misinformed advice on Reddit. Example: "the world needs the next generation to fight climate change" is a fine idea, but by the time any new baby is a teenager, we'll have blown past fast-approaching ecological tipping points.

More comments from this forum: "there have always been bad times" and "you don't know what the future will bring" and "we'll figure it out--you have to have hope" and "make decisions on your personal situation, not based off what the news media tells you."

Climate change is different. Climate change is not "news media" -- it's science, and we need to face the reality that the world that any new human enters today is going to be inconceivably different, even for wealthy babies in western countries.

This poses an ethical question. Do I want to be a parent so badly that I'll knowingly bring life into an increasingly inhospitable planet?

(Another ethical question relates to introducing life that will contribute more greenhouse gas emissions to the planet. I put this point in parentheses only because I'm first trying to work things through from a personal level. And because folks are quick to blame who is at fault, which is irrelevant to this decision.)

While I'm not alone in reaching this conclusion, I'm so sad that climate change is why I think I'm stepping off the fence as childfree. Part of me wants the (blissful? Willful?) ignorance to assume humanity will simply prevail, and have a child. Because it's a "doom and gloom" topic, it's been an isolating experience to worry deeply about climate change in the real world around people who assume life will more or less go on like it has been. When I get the confidence to confide in friends, I'm met with ill-informed counter-arguments and dismissed as pessimistic. Every new baby announcement has me all at once judgmental, grieving, and yearning for hope.

I want to change my mind and have a baby. I will, if we find a magical technological solution to decarbonize in the next five years. I will, if ecology adapts faster than we expected and our oceans and soils can be healthy. I will, if I can find honest hope for the future of life on our home planet.

#testimony #childfree #climate crisis #climate change

[e-vasong]

I’ve already talked about a Leverage crossover where the Hargreeves are conmen but I'm. losing it thinking about. a Leverage AU where the Leverage team sees these kids on tv, and they just go.  oh shit, that’s just fucking wrong.  (I know the timelines don’t match up but let’s pretend the umbrella kids were born a little later, or that Leverage takes place a little earlier, or something like that.  I don’t know.)

But these fucking umbrella kids show up on TV, and at first none of them are paying much attention. Not right away.  They’re busy running cons, and none of them except Hardison watch TV for fun very often.

So they’ve all heard bits and pieces about this Umbrella thing, and aren’t quite sure what to make of it.  Superhumans, huh? Eliot mutters at one point. Whatever. Our lives are already so goddamn weird.

But eventually they catch a broadcast while they’re home in between cases.  it’s playing in the background while they’re enjoying a meal together at the brewery.

The Umbrella Academy saves the day yet again! the broadcaster declares cheerily. We go now to a statement at the Louvre from their leader, Sir Reginald Hargreeves.

It’s just novel enough to catch their attention--being who they are, they all perk up at the word Louvre--and it gets them half-watching as they chat over breakfast.

It’s Parker that sees it first.  She’s Parker, so what catches her attention is actually not the fact that one of them is covered in blood, nor is it the fact that their father is calling them by numbers instead of names.  It’s the way that they stand, tense and upright.  It’s the way that the one covered in blood is trembling minutely, so fine that it’s almost imperceptible. But she notices. And she notices the way that the one to the bloodied boy’s left--the fifth one in line--leans over ever-so-subtly when their father is looking away. Whispers something with the barest movement of his lips. And then, after a moment of hesitation, he links hands with his shaking brother, twining their fingers together.  Parker knows that whisper, knows what this is. She used to do that with her brother.  Used to hold Nick’s hand, just like that, when their fosters were scaring him, trying to provide comfort even despite the fear of being caught.

It’s not long before the others follow her gaze. She’s stopped engaging in the conversation entirely, is just staring at the television with a death glare, nose wrinkled.

“Parker, baby,” Hardison says.  “That’s your angry face.”

“I’m angry,” she says, and doesn’t elaborate.

“Got it,” Hardison takes it in stride, as he always does.

Eliot’s frowning at the TV.  Unlike Parker, his eye does jump to the most obvious thing first.  To the boy, no older than eleven or twelve probably, drenched head to toe with blood.  There’s no rips in his clothing; Eliot’s pretty sure the blood isn’t his. He’s standing up straight, but his shoulders are slightly hunched.  Like he’s injured.  Broken ribs, maybe?  And he’s been taught to hide them too. He’s also not the only one with that too-stiff posture. These kids aren’t standing up straight. They’re standing at attention.  Number One, their father calls one of them, and what are those? Fucking callsigns?  

Sophie and Nate are watching too.  Their faces are carefully blank.  They aren’t happy, Parker’s pretty sure, but they’re trying not to react.

“What the hell?” Hardison says slowly.  He’s the last one to catch on, though only by a very narrow margin.  He lacks Sophie and Nate’s cynicism, and the years of personal experience Parker and Eliot have, but he’s still too smart to not figure it out almost immediately.  And he is first one to abandon the stunned stillness that’s fallen over the rest of them, pulling his laptop out of his bag, already quickly tapping away at the keys.

“This ain’t right,” Eliot says, voice a growl in his chest.  “This is--this is--it’s televised child abuse.”

Sophie makes a quiet noise of agreement then. “It is,” she says, quietly disgusted. “Those poor children.”

Nate is still staring at the screen, lips pressed flat.

“This Reginald guy looks rich,” Parker says.  Then: “Can we kill him?”

Eliot chokes on his drink.

“How is this even legal?” Sophie asks.  She sounds curious, though not particularly surprised by the grievous violation of child protection laws before her. “It’s so...blatant.”

“Sir Reginald Hargreeves,” Hardison says, no longer typing.  “He is--oh shit.” And the typing resumes, faster and a little more panicked than before.

“Hardison?” Nate prods after a moment, giving Hardison a sidelong glance.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s all good,” Hardison says.  “The INTERPOL files on this guy are locked up tight though.  Almost tripped their security system there.  I didn’t, of course, but--”

“You couldn’t get in?” Eliot says, smirking.

“Yet,” Hardison says.  “Dammit, man, it’s been less than five minutes.  Give me a couple hours and that thing is mincemeat.  Metaphorically speaking, of course.  But I do see what’s going on here and,” he clicks his tongue, shaking his head in disappointment.  “Y’all, this is hinky.”

“Yes, I think we got that,” Nate says.  The corner of his lip twitches up.

“Yeah, yeah,” Hardison says.  “This guy has got friends everywhere.  No one knows how he got the kids, but it looks like he technically bought them--”

“He what?” Sophie sounds like she’s been suckerpunched.  Parker can’t think of the last time she heard Sophie sound so shocked.

“Oh yeah.  You think that’s bad?  The numbers aren’t code names  The numbers are their name names.  Like, legally.  I just found an article that said he ordered them by how useful he thinks they are, but judging by the adoption papers it was actually in the order he, uh,” Hardison coughs, “acquired them.”

Eliot is swaying where he stands.  “Common tactic.  He’s pitting them against one another so they’ll be easier to control.  It undermines the self worth of the ones lower on the scale and makes the ones that are higher up feel obligated to do what he wants.  Son of a bitch.”

“...And it looks like he leveraged their powers as excuse to gain exemptions from child protection laws,” Hardison continues like he hasn’t been interrupted.  “Claimed their abilities meant they don’t need the same safeguards.”

“That’s bullshit!” Eliot sounds thunderous.

“I know, buddy,” Hardison reaches over blindly, waving his hand around vaguely until he finds Eliot’s shoulder.  He gives it a comforting squeeze.  “I didn’t write it.”

Eliot heaves in a shuddering breath.  “That’s just--”

“Evil,” Sophie finishes.  

“I’m inclined to agree,” Nate says.  He’s not watching the TV anymore.  He’s staring off into the middle distance, arms crossed over his chest.

“Oh!” Parker perks up.  All the grief and distress that had been brewing on her face vanishes like storm clouds parting for the sun.  “Nate! Nate, are you scheming?  You look like you’re scheming.”

Nate makes a noncommittal grunt.  “It would be dangerous.”

“They’re in danger,” Sophie says softly, jerking her head in the television’s direction.

Eliot’s long-since gotten to his feet.  He’s pacing, and that’s how Parker knows he’s furious.  When Eliot is too angry to stand it, he has to move, has to find some way to handle the rage roiling under his skin.  Usually he cooks, chopping vegetables with furious aplomb.  And when he can’t cook, he paces.  

“They’re fucking child soldiers,” he says.  “I can’t--” he cuts himself off with a furious shake of the head.  I can’t believe, he was about to say, Parker thinks, but he had to stop because that’s not true.  Eliot knows better than anyone what the government--what the world does to people they find useful, whether its skill or power that makes them so.

“Y’all are behind,” Hardison says in sing-song.  “I’m already trying to burn this motherfucker down.”

“Hardison, do not tip our hand,” Nate says, snapping into his leader-voice automatically.  Parker grins.  He’s already got a plan, then.  She knew all that reluctance was just for show.  Sophie laughs, as clear and bright as the ringing of a bell, and even Eliot perks up.  

Hardison grumbles, closing his laptop and stuffing it back in his messenger bag.  

Nate is grinning a little too, though it’s that angry smile he gets sometimes when Parker knows he’s thinking about hurting bad people.  She understands.  She's wearing hers too right now.  Nate glances them all over, and for all the malice dripping off the knife’s edge of that smile, his eyes are soft.  Maybe even a little proud.

“Fine. Fine. You guys win,” Nate says, lifting his hands in defeat.  He’s putting on a show of being beleaguered, but Parker can hear the sparking anger in his voice, and oh, how could she have forgotten?  Sophie is so gently righteous, Hardison so achingly distressed, and Eliot so full of fire and fury that she almost didn’t notice Nate’s seething wrath, nearly forgot that Nate looks at every injured child in need of help and thinks of Sam.  “Everyone, get your things.  Hardison, get us some plane tickets.  Let’s go steal some children.”

“Okay, okay.  I ain’t complaining cause, like, fuck that guy,” Hardison says, slinging his bag over his shoulder.  “But stealing children?  Could you have made us sound anymore like kidnappers?”

“Hardison!”

“I’m just saying.”

#tua #the umbrella academy #leverage #my writing #this is kind of garbage but i cant stop thinking about it!!!

[uniquethingtastemaker]

Has everyone listened to each character’s theme in Tears of Themis?? They’re so good, and I love them. I do think that my favorite is Marius though, which is a little surprising, just cause he’s not my favorite character. Anyway, I wanted to talk a little about each theme and how I feel like it fits each character really well. I’ll also link each song for convenience for those who don’t know which BGMs I’m talking about. (Please note that I’m no music major or anything, I’ve just grown up around musical theater and having to occasionally analyzed music, so this is just my interpretation and I’m by no means an expert) 

Artem: Artem’s theme is fairly traditional and safe. It uses a lot of thirds, which is a safe, pleasant, and comfortable interval that’s commonly used in music. This fits Artem well as he is more of a traditionalist in terms of pursuing someone romantically and tends to stay on the safer side of things while trying to court MC. The music is calming, relaxing, and tender much like Artem’s nature towards MC. However, one of the musics distinct characteristics is that it continuously grows. This reflects Artem's ever growing admiration and affection towards the MC, as he continues to work by her side. He sees her grow as a person and that makes him love her even more. 

Luke: (I don’t know Luke as well, but I have heard somethings and can make a reasonable analysis I believe.) The beginning of Luke’s theme starts out a little differently from the rest of his song. The left hand starts out playing one bass note continuously, while the right hand flutters around on the higher keys, before going into the main melody. This is significant, because it could be interpreted as a mellowed out version of Luke’s internal situation. From what I’ve gathered, he’s on a time limit and has romantic feelings for MC, but since he’s not going to be around much longer, he doesn’t want to burden her with his feelings. He also doesn’t reveal this to anyone, which is why the darker notes fade let the higher, more hopeful notes come out and carry the melody. He seems to let himself go when he’s around MC. He can forget about the bad things for awhile while he’s with her. The main melody is genuine, inspiring, and uplifting. He’s a great tinker and inventor, so it makes sense that his music is inspiring and uplifting. He creates some little gadgets for her later on, so this music is just showing the listener that he’s having a good time while he’s with her. She also gives him hope. I’m not sure why he feels this way, but it makes sense to me. It also has a bit of a tender aspect as well, which is nice. He’s soft towards her.

Marius: (I also don’t know a ton about Marius, but here we are.) Marius’s theme fits him so well (...it always makes me smile whenever I hear cause it just sounds so much like him). It has so many jazz chords and grace notes that gives the music much more character. It’s definitely not conventional like Artem's or Vyn’s, and it makes sense that Marius’s would be a little more creative. He’s an artist after all, and he’s not your typical average rich boy. Although he enjoys the finer things in life, he can appreciate the value of those things much more than the average rich boy. While he’s not obnoxiously flirty, he still likes to have fun and tease the MC. The music makes people want to sway with the music and enjoy the moment. It’s a comfortable feeling, but also edges on flirty, which he does exactly with MC. He can be very flirty and playful. 

Vyn: Vyn’s song makes me want to cry. It’s very hesitant, but the music slowly and steadily continues on and begins to climb. This mimics Vyn’s emotions about the MC, as she gives him hope. Vyn tends to unconsciously fall into the thought process of all or nothing; the “if you can’t save everyone, then what’s the point of trying at all?” kind of mindset. MC, however, always casually comes in and ends up gently reminding him (without her truly knowing how much she’s effecting him) that the two of them might not be able to help everyone, but she can’t just ignore an injustice going on right in front of her. She tells him that even if she can change just one person’s life, then that’s enough for her. His music reflects the hesitancy, but bravery to put his trust in her and to have a little bit of hope again. It’s also very tender, showing that he cares so much about the MC because she’s helped remind him that not all hope is lost. (I can relate to Vyn a lot cause often times when I see a big problem that seems too large scale for just me to resolve, I loose hope too. It’s nice to get a reminder that just helping the people in front of you is good enough. And somehow, in extension, that you’re good enough by just being you.) 

#tears of themis #tot #vyn richter #tot vyn #tot artem #artem wing #marius von hagen #tot marius #tot luke #luke pearce #bgm #music analysis #character themes #character music #tot analysis #character analysis #Otome game #Otome games

[min-jpg]

Hi!! Can you do they boys getting kidnapped but its Diluc, Childe, and Kazuha? Thank you!!💗💗

Note: I just want to point out that there's no actual reason on how I choose for the reader to beat up the kidnappers since part 1,, it's totally random as long as I'm trying out different ideas whatever fits ehe. Enjoy! 💖

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Kidnapped Genshin Boys x Fem Rich!reader pt.2

Part 1 (Kaeya, Zhongli, Xiao)

Characters: Childe, Diluc, Kazuha

Genre: fluff, established relationship, some woman kicking ass action, (TW: mentions of blood and violence)

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CHILDE

Your boyfriend would definitely try to go head-to-head against the shady group of people who abducted him. The gang accountable must be living under the rock for even considering one of the most dangerous Harbingers as their prey to carry out their schemes.

However, Childe learned that there would be ramifications if he tries to be rash without gathering solid intel first. Having no knowledge of your current circumstances and whereabouts troubled him to the core. They could have already sent out a corresponding group towards you and endanger you if he failed to listen.

Being wealthy is not a foreign concept to Childe as he is also a wealthy man himself. That said, the premonition of being a target for a ransom would not be unrealistic to him. For now, he is glad that he is the victim here instead of having to witness you kidnapped.

"You know, you could've asked me nicely for some money. I might just give it to you, instead of doing all this for my girlfriend's money." Despite being in a position far from desirable, Childe leisurely sat on the chair that he was bound to, crossing his legs. He was making small talks to push away the worst scenarios happening to you. Are you safe? Are you crying? Did they hurt you?

"I don't know who you are to be running your mouth, but you should value your life a little more." Their leader emerged from the group.

Childe's ocean eyes squinted as menace casts upon his pupils, his voice lowered, "Is that so? Ironic, because you guys seem to value money more than your lives."

The head stepped back slightly, "Enough with your empty threats! You should be aware of the current situation you're in. We're not fooling around here."

"I'm not fooling around either."

As sparks were thrown back and forth, you made your way in through the main entrance. Tapping the shoulder that belongs to one of the men, "Excuse me, I need to get to my boyfriend." Your fist sunk into the side of his face when he turned towards you. He collapsed on the ground with a few broken teeth and blood spewing out of his mouth. Moving on to the next adversary in your path, you fought with full faith in your abilities no matter how intimidating they were.

Soon, the leader and people further ahead finally took notice of it. You pave your way towards your boyfriend and eventually, both your eyes meet each other. Childe puffed out a breath of relief when he finally saw you, but also registering the fact that you just took down most of the men with your bare hands.

Kicking away the men who tried to grab you, you then waved enthusiastically at Childe, "Hey girlie, hold still." Rushing right ahead to the leader, you brought your arm near your face, elbow pointing outwards. The sharp edge from your elbow jabbed his throat, causing him to choke and lose balance.

As his reaction dulled, it was your chance to strike again. Thus, you gallantly overthrew their leader and the entire gang by yourself.

After helping Childe, he stood up abruptly and placed his hands on your shoulder with eagerness written all over the face, "I never knew you could fight so well! How about a spar with me right now?" Expect your boyfriend to continuously bug you to indulge in his rampant itch to fight anyone that comes across as a worthy opponent. Though, the real takeaway from this experience was the way your hair clings to your face with sweat as the adhesive and the triumph look in your eyes. It was a rather attractive sight to relish in his taste.

DILUC

Your boyfriend would be infuriated that crooked people like these exist, much less target him to extort money from you. Just another validation to add up on how incompetent the Knights of Favonious is, he thought. Someone will have to clean up their mess, that someone being him. What better way to do that than to follow them to their hideout to seek out the whole organization?

Diluc is renowned for being one of the richest men in Teyvat. Naturally, the group thought they hit the jackpot on not only holding him for ransom, but potentially garnering some money from him as well.

The only concern he carries is your wellbeing. Diluc fears that this incident will affect you mentally. His head started filling up with formulations on ways to resolve this matter without causing any uproar to guarantee your safety.

When the head was introduced to him, he gritted his teeth to suppress every ounce of his might to not reach for his claymore. Diluc still has to prioritize gathering information first regarding the gang. His patrons at Angel's Share are usually the ones providing him with promising intel of any evildoers, but some things are just meant to be obtained by himself.

"Is this the only hideout you have? Quite in a shambles, don't you think?" Diluc's eyes shifted around the dilapidated building, observing the surroundings to know his enemies better.

The leader rolled his eyes, "It wouldn't be so bad once we get some funding from you and your girlfriend." Diluc hummed. Judging from his answer, it is safe to assume that the organization is rather a small scaling one. Defeating them right now will result in uprooting the source once and for all.

As Diluc was about to do so, a lackey of the gang ran frantically towards them, panting labored when he reached and trying to catch his breath. "What is it?" The leader question.

"T-there's... there's someone." He pointed towards a direction with fear layering his voice.

"What? Why are you so scared?" They all glanced towards the spot.

"I swear there was a woman! I don't know who it is, but she took out some of our guys on guard outside."

In disbelief that a woman could have done anything so reckless, the leader trudged to said location. As it is a spot lacking light, the darkness and shadow made it challenging for him to pinpoint if anyone is there. When he moved closer, you crept out behind from his blind spot and kicked the back of his head, causing his head to spin. Your arm lunged forward, gaining a tight hold onto his nape. You put everything into pushing him, his forehead hammered down to the floor. Creating a loud thud, it gave him a concussion.

"Looking for me?" Your foot stamped onto his back, just making sure he stays down.

Everyone, including your boyfriend, had their pupils dilated at the scene. You sighed at the silence, "All of you just messed with the wrong couple." Lifting your foot away, you stomped forward without giving them a second thought. Your arms and legs are all warmed up for many rounds against your foes.

Diluc watched you from afar as you drove your way towards victory. Although he could step in to help, he admits silently to himself that he would like to observe you a little longer. Putting his trust in your calibers to carry you far, his eyes never left your brave figure.

Once you cleared the group, the next thing to do is checking on Diluc. Already unfastening the restrains himself, he walked to you, "That was well executed. Your abilities shouldn't be underestimated. Don't join the Knights though." He stressed the last remark, scoffing. You chuckled and held his hand to guide him out of here, "Thanks. Glad to impress you, Master Diluc. Let's go home."

KAZUHA

Your boyfriend is a rather hard target to impose on for their plans of kidnapping him. His senses are just too refined for an ordinary person to challenge. Basic tactics, such as overthrowing him with the element of surprise have proven to be futile. Thus, Kazuha will always be able to evade falling prey into their hands.

The only way Kazuha could have been kidnapped is through falsifying evidence of you being in a life-threatening situation. Although he has successfully saved his own skin, not the same could be applied to you. Feeling his resolve shaken, what other choices could he have? Prioritizing your safety is the most important thing right now.

Kazuha may have faced similar situations in the past when out in the sea, encountering pirates of other crew aiming for the Crux Fleet's fortune. Being in the position as a captive for ransom is new. He actually found it amusing, rather than having thoughts of blaming you. It is not your fault that you are blessed with wealth. It is the fault of the criminals.

"Ain't you that the kid who's with Beidou? You're part of her crew." The leader questioned his target, to which he was greeted by Kazuha's silence. "Tell you what. You're just like the rest of us. We want to be rich. How about you ask your girlfriend to bring some more money and we'll give you a share as well?"

Kazuha's face darkened, "I don't know what you've heard, but it must be really valiant of you to assume to worst out of the Crux Fleet and myself. I'd appreciate it if you cease lumping me together with criminals like you."

The Crux Fleet does put up with an infamous reputation amongst the Qixing. Perhaps the abductors concluded that Kazuha has a negative conscience just like them, as in upholding a relationship with you to have a taste of your assets. Still, if he tried to talk his way out of it, barbarians like them will never reach a mutual understanding with him. Kazuha shut his eyes, ignoring any further confrontations to preserve his energy as he contemplates a plan.

He was interrupted when he thought he heard your voice nearby, carried by the wind. The others around him did not hear it since it was just something only Kazuha could pick up. Applying full concentration, he managed to form what he heard, "Get out of my way, please, while I'm asking nicely."

Opening his eyes, he turned to stare at the entrance. As if on cue, the door swung open when you kicked it down, announcing your presence. Some men fainted below your feet.

The others instantly reacted by storming towards your direction to stop your advancement. You stood still in your position, taking a mindful deep breath. One thing you learned from Kazuha is to always remain cold-headed before engaging in a fight.

Kazuha wanted to get out of the restraints to rescue you, but instead, you started dishing out few moves against the men.

When you thought you finished with the remaining numbers, their leader was about to declare his victory, "I got you!" Encircling his arm around your neck in an attempt to strangle you, you huffed and grinned towards Kazuha to signal him you have it under control.

You elbowed his stomach and felt him loosen his grip when he winced. Making enough gap between his arm and your neck, you slipped away and swiftly kicked in between his groins. The color drained from his face and tumbled to the ground, passing out in pain, "Hmph, this is what happens when you touch a lady without her permission." You brushed away the hair from your face after an arduous fight.

Jogging towards your boyfriend, "Kazuha!" He brisked towards you as well and held you in his embrace, softly rubbed your nape, "You're giving me plenty of inspirations for a haiku after such a wonderful performance." Kazuha would appreciate you refraining from such a heedless approach next time. He was comforted to see you safe and knowing the threats were nothing more than to use you, his weakness, against him. After witnessing that, Kazuha will be slightly ashamed he even doubted you in the first place, so he trusts that you can watch out for yourself next time.

#childe x reader #childe genshin impact #diluc x reader #diluc genshin impact #kazuha x reader #kazuha genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact headcanons