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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 months ago

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Premature Internet Activists

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me TOMORROW (Feb 14) in BOSTON for FREE at BOSKONE , and SATURDAY (Feb 15) for a virtual event with YANIS VAROUFAKIS. More tour dates here.

"Premature antifacist" was a sarcastic term used by leftists caught up in the Red Scare to describe themselves, as they came under ideological suspicion for having traveled to Spain to fight against Franco's fascists before the US entered WWII and declared war against the business-friendly, anticommunist fascist Axis powers of Italy, Spain, and, of course, Germany:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/In_Denial/fBSbKS1FlegC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22premature+anti-fascist%22&pg=PA277&printsec=frontcover

The joke was that opposing fascism made you an enemy of America – unless you did so after the rest of America had woken up to the existential threat of a global fascist takeover. What's more, if you were a "premature antifascist," you got no credit for fighting fascism early on. Quite the contrary: fighting fascism before the rest of the US caught up with you didn't make you prescient – it made you a pariah.

I've been thinking a lot about premature antifascism these days, as literal fascists use the internet to coordinate a global authoritarian takeover that represents an existential threat to a habitable planet and human thriving. In light of that, it's hard to argue that the internet is politically irrelevant, and that fights over the regulation, governance, and structure of the internet are somehow unserious.

And yet, it wasn't very long ago that tech policy was widely derided as a frivolous pursuit, and that tech organizing was dismissed as "slacktivism":

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell

Elevating concerns about the internet's destiny to the level of human rights struggle was delusional, a glorified argument about the rules for forums where sad nerds argued about Star Trek. If you worried that Napster-era copyright battles would make it easy to remove online content by claiming that it infringed copyright, you were just carrying water for music pirates. If you thought that legalizing and universalizing encryption technology would safeguard human rights, you were a fool who had no idea that real human rights battles involved confronting Bull Connor in the streets, not suing the NSA in a federal courtroom.

And now here we are. Congress has failed to update consumer privacy law since 1988 (when they banned video store clerks from blabbing about your VHS rentals). Mass surveillance enables everything from ransomware, pig butchering and identity theft to state surveillance of "domestic enemies," from trans people to immigrants. What's more, the commercial and state surveillance apparatus are, in fact, as single institution: states protect corporations from privacy law so that corporations can create and maintain population-scale nonconsensual dossiers on all the intimate facts of our lives, which governments raid at will, treating them as an off-the-books surveillance dragnet:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/16/the-second-best-time-is-now/#the-point-of-a-system-is-what-it-does

Our speech forums have been captured by billionaires who censor anti-oligarchic political speech, and who spy on dissident users in order to aid in political repression. Bogus copyright claims are used to remove or suppress disfavorable news reports of elite rapists, thieves, war criminals and murderers:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/27/nuke-first/#ask-questions-never

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who'd describe the fights over tech governance in 2025 as frivolous or disconnected from "real politics"

This is where the premature antifascist stuff comes in. An emerging revisionist history of internet activism would have you believe that the first generation of tech liberation activists weren't fighting for a free, open internet – we were just shilling for tech companies. The P2P wars weren't about speech, privacy and decentralization – they were just a way to help the tech sector fight the entertainment industry. DRM fights weren't about preserving your right to repair, to privacy, and to accessibility – they were just about making it easy to upload movies to Kazaa. Fighting for universal access to encryption wasn't about defending everyday people from corporate and state surveillance – it was just a way to help terrorists and child abusers stay out of sight of cops.

Of course, now these fights are all about real things. Now we need to worry about centralization, interoperability, lock-in, surveillance, speech, and repair. But the people – like me – who've been fighting over this stuff for a quarter-century? We've gone from "unserious fools who mistook tech battles for human rights fights" to "useful idiots for tech companies" in an eyeblink.

"Premature Internet Activists," in other words.

This isn't merely ironic or frustrating – it's dangerous. Approaching tech activism without a historical foundation can lead people badly astray. For example, many modern tech critics think that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (which makes internet users liable for illegal speech acts, while immunizing entities that host that speech) is a "giveaway to Big Tech" and want to see it abolished.

Boy is this dangerous. CDA 230 is necessary for anyone who wants to offer a place for people to meet and discuss anything. Without CDA 230, no one could safely host a Mastodon server, or set up the long-elusive federated Bluesky servers. Hell, you couldn't even host a group-chat or message board:

https://www.techdirt.com/2020/06/23/hello-youve-been-referred-here-because-youre-wrong-about-section-230-communications-decency-act/

Getting rid of CDA 230 won't get rid of Facebook or make it clean up its act. It will just make it impossible for anyone to offer an alternative to Facebook, permanently enshrining Zuck's dominance over our digital future. That's why Mark Zuckerberg wants to kill Section 230:

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/zuckerberg-calls-changes-techs-section-230-protections-rcna486

Defending policies that make it easier to host speech isn't the same thing as defending tech companies' profits, though these do sometimes overlap. When tech platforms have their users' back – even for self-serving reasons – they create legal precedents and strong norms that protect everyone. Like when Apple stood up to the FBI on refusing to break its encryption:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%E2%80%93FBI_encryption_dispute

If Apple had caved on that one, it would be far harder for, say, Signal to stand up to demands that it weaken its privacy guarantees. I'm no fan of Apple, and I would never mistake Tim Cook – who owes his CEOhood to his role in moving Apple production to Chinese sweatshops that are so brutal they had to install suicide nets – for a human rights defender. But I cheered on Apple in its fight against the FBI, and I will cheer them again, if they stand up to the UK government's demand to break their encryption:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20g288yldko

This doesn't make me a shill for Apple. I don't care if Apple makes or loses another dime. I care about Apple's users and their privacy. That's why I criticize Apple when they compromise their users' privacy for profit:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones

The same goes for fights over scraping. I hate AI companies as much as anyone, but boy is it a mistake to support calls to ban scraping in the name of fighting AI:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/17/how-to-think-about-scraping/

It's scraping that lets us track paid political disinformation on Facebook (Facebook isn't going to tell us about it):

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/05/comprehensive-sex-ed/#quis-custodiet-ipsos-zuck

And it's scraping that let us rescue all the CDC and NIH data that Musk's broccoli-hair brownshirts deleted on behalf of DOGE:

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/how-to-access-important-health-info-thats-been-scrubbed-from-the-cdc-site/

It's such a huge mistake to assume that anything corporations want is bad for the internet. There are many times when commercial interests dovetail with online human rights. That's not a defense of capitalism, it's a critique of capitalism that acknowledges that profits do sometimes coincide with the public interest, an argument that Marx and Engels devote Chapter One of The Communist Manifesto to:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/31/books/review/a-spectre-haunting-china-mieville.html

In the early 1990s, Al Gore led the "National Information Infrastructure" hearings, better known as the "Information Superhighway" hearings. Gore's objective was to transfer control over the internet from the military to civilian institutions. It's true that these institutions were largely (but not exclusively) commercial entities seeking to make a buck on the internet. It's also true that much of that transfer could have been to public institutions rather than private hands.

But I've lately – and repeatedly – heard this moment described (by my fellow leftists) as the "privatization" of the internet. This is strictly true, but it's even more true to say that it was the demilitarization of the internet. In other words, corporations didn't take over functions performed by, say, the FCC – they took over from the Pentagon. Leftists have no business pining for the days when the internet was controlled by the Department of Defense.

Caring about the technological dimension of human rights 30 years ago – or hell, 40 years ago – doesn't make you a corporate stooge who wanted to launch a thousand investment bubbles. It makes you someone who understood, from the start, that digital rights are human rights, that cyberspace would inevitably evert into meatspace, and that the rules, norms and infrastructure we built for the net would someday be as consequential as any other political decision.

I'm proud to be a Premature Internet Activist. I just celebrated my 23rd year with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and yesterday, we sued Elon Musk and DOGE:

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-sues-opm-doge-and-musk-endangering-privacy-millions

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/13/digital-rights/#are-human-rights

Image: Felix Winkelnkemper (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acoustic_Coupler.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #eff #malcolm gladwell #section 230 #copyright #copyfight #privacy #code is speech #napster #creative commons #premature antifascist #trustbusting #antitrust #al gore #nii #national information infrastructure hearings #demilitarization #information superhighway #clicktivism

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shiftchii · 9 months ago

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U.A. High in my DR !

Basics

Students are separated randomly into specific departments and classes sectioned by the letters A-K.

These departments are:

Department of Heroics (A - B): Students in this department learn everything they need to know in order to become excellent heroes in service to the community. They are trained in battle, first aid, rescue, support, and all manners of heroic-related lessons.

Department of General Education C - E): Students who don’t make it to the hero course are included here. This department supports students aiming for college and other pursuits. It’s also possible for students with good grades and exceptional strength and quirk skills to be transferred into the hero course (And either the support or business course mind you). Basically regular HS but they get to say that they went to UA on their resume.

Department of Support (F - H): Students here focus on developing support equipment that helps heroes out on the battlefield. With a workspace stock to the brim with all sorts of special tools and their own studio to build things, this department provides an unmatched creative environment.

Department of General Management (I - K): This department focuses on all aspects of heroic business, from the founding and managing of hero agencies to the promotion of public opinion regarding heroes. They even do hands-on lessons in venture capitalism. They have a lot of free time.

Each class is usually comprised of 21 students. That means that the total student population at UA would be 693.

We stay in the same class with the same teacher for all 3 years.

Since UA is a highly prestigious school, we get a lot of funding and benefits for the dorms and when we go on trips and whatnot. (Food we buy for the dorms is paid for, we get free snacks/concessions in the sports festival, free hero costume updates and renewals)

The school curriculum is way less loaded than here. The school system is much better.

The Hero Teachers are actually good at teaching.

Since U.A. is famous, it has many sponsors with support and hero merch companies, so some hero course students (usually 3rd years) have their own hero merch already. Students are sometimes sponsored and do photoshoots and are invited to red carpet events. (Following the School Festival, Class 1-A gets loads of sponsors and stuff!)

The teachers and students are encouraged to decorate their classes and most of them do so.

U.A. has a popular school website.

Staff and students are recommended to have Twitter to update the public events, the majority of the students obviously don't take this seriously, there's always someone who has beef and makes it public (Monoma) and it always ends up like those MHA Tweets, it’s the funniest thing ever.

Schedule

School is Monday - Friday and starts at 8:25 and finishes at 15:10. Regular classes take place during the first half of school, then the afternoon (for the Dept. of Heroics) you will have hero training. Only Dept. of Heroics students have an additional 7th period.

The teachers move between classes while the students stay in 1 class (besides electives).

Wednesdays are half days and only consist of hero training (so no typical school work), though sometimes it's replaced by FHS. You also don't have to wear your uniform on Wednesdays.

We will always have some kind of free time for school despite our somewhat busy schedules.

Not all school days are the same (emergency drills, other schools coming to train with us, etc.).

Classes

Core Subjects for Dept. of Heroics

Homeroom: Taught by Aizawa. Acts as a study hall. The class reps will often give a small meeting with the class about important events during this period.

Japanese: Taught by Cementoss. Focuses on reading, writing, and literature.

Mathematics: Taught by Ectoplasm. Covers algebra, geometry, and calculus.

English: Taught by Present Mic. Emphasizes reading, writing, and conversation skills.

Home Economics: Taught by Midnight. Cooking and other aspects of household management.

Foundational Hero Studies (FHS): Taught by All Might, Aizawa or Midnight. Hero related studying: hero laws, safety precautions, first aid, jsl, media training, dividing hero and civilian identity etc.

Hero Training: Taught by various teachers, usually Aizawa or All Might, it changes every week and we are informed about the activities during homeroom. For example: Quirkless Combat, Rescue Training, Combat, Quirk Training etc.

Elective Subjects

Thought by various teachers. This is the only class where students move instead of teachers, these are shared, so you could end up with classmates from other classes. Students get to completely choose what electives they have. If they don’t choose, they are placed in extra training or study hall.

Options:

Foreign Languages (e.g., Chinese, Korean)

Journalism

Art Foundations

Photography

Ceramics

Psychology

Choir

Band

Orchestra

Woodshop

Metalshop

Chemistry

Poetry

Cooking

Baking

Biology

Physics

Film Analysis

Computer Programming

Animal Work

Volunteer Work

Theatre

Student Council

Literature Analysis

Forensics

Study Hall

Class 1-A Timetable

Around UA campus

The updated UA security system is really good. The sensors are so good, you don't even need to have your ID out. They can scan it anywhere on your person. If you lost or misplaced your ID, the gates also have facial recognition software, so it's fine. If you're not a student or staff, you NEED a visitor pass or the school will go into lockdown on you.

We can use our school IDs to get snacks and drinks from vending machines around the school hallways. It’s free and they are replenished daily.

UA has a courtyard where we can eat outside. Most of the 2nd and 3rd years get food from places outside of the school campus and eat outside in the courtyard. Because of this, the cafeteria isn't as crowded and when we eat lunch we can sit and enjoy our food comfortably. The cafeteria is also luxurious and looks like a fancy mall café.

The library is huge and has many resources with much to explore. There are many different levels with varying types of quiet floors and study halls. It's also open 24/7 so students who are fighting to finish a project can pull all-nighters.

There’s a little shop that has U.A. and hero merch and school supplies including books for courses. You can also buy the merch on the online website.

UA has extracurricular groups and clubs for those who aren't in the hero course such as other sports and things like cheerleaders, debate, theater, music, cooking, ballet, and much more. I mean, hero course students CAN do those things but they WILL have a hard time doing so all while dealing with said hero responsibilities. As mentioned before, business course students have a lot of free time and general ED students are basically regular HS students who just so happen to be going to UA and for support course students, it really depends on how much work you choose to take on for yourself.

There is a study center where students who need extra help can go. Students with failing grades must go here for a set amount of hours to get the help they need. It’s strictly work, and talking about anything other than school is basically prohibited. It’s usually run by Ectoplasm and his clones or Hound Dog.

Work studies & Internships

All first years do an internship, it’s required. This is usually after the sports festival when students have had a chance to show off their skills.

Work studies are basically experience-oriented off-study programs that allow students in the hero course who have Provisional Licenses to work with pros at their agencies. Students will be able to use their quirks under the guidance of a pro, and can even be dispatched to fight villains and help out in disaster areas. If you do well, you can be scouted to become the hero’s sidekick.

Work studies are a more serious version of internships. They entail helping pro heroes on the streets and with investigations. They are usually reserved for 2nd and 3rd-year students, who usually have their licenses. 1st years didn't do them in the past. However, with the rise of villain activity, the school decided to open up work studies to 1st years as well, albeit a very small and select few of them. If they didn't find a good agency with a proven track record they wouldn't do it at all.

Events

U.A. has seasonal dances and a lot of events, like Halloween, Hero Day and other festivals.

Uniforms

Color palette

The uniforms the students receive consist of 4 sets of each clothing (besides the coat and varsity jacket):

Shirts

Long sleeve

Short sleeved

Sleeveless

Blazer

Long sleeves

Sleeveless

Cardigans

Sleeveless (two color variations)

Long sleeved (two color variations)

Sweaters

Sleeveless (two color variations)

Long sleeved (two color variations)

Pants

Shorts

Below The Knee

Classic

Skirts

Mini

Below The Knee

Maxi

Ties

Necktie

Bow Tie

Socks

Quarter

Crew

Knee High

Thigh High

Tights

Shoes

Coat

Varsity Jacket

Gym Clothing

Tank top

Loose Zip-up Sweatshirt (long sleeves, short sleeves, sleeveless)

Cropped Zip-up Sweatshirt (long sleeves, short sleeves, sleeveless)

Shorts

Below Knee Shorts

Sweatpants

Swimwear

Sleeveless, Short sleeved and Long sleeved

Lanyards

Uniforms aren’t required on Wednesdays

Students are allowed to accessorize their uniforms however they want and wear their own jackets

Piercings, colored hair, nails, makeup etc. are allowed

The uniforms aren’t gendered - all students receive all versions and are allowed to wear whichever one they prefer

For students with mutant type Quirks, custom made uniforms are made

Button and sleeve/lapel stripe differences between the department uniforms [1-General education, 2-Hero, 3-Support, 4-Management].

School Bag

Along with the Uniforms the school hands out bags. You can return them and use your own if you’d like.

A standard deep blue nylon matching the uniforms. The U.A. logo sits at the right bottom corner.

Class

If you’re standing at the front of the classroom looking out at the desks, the seating arrangement starts at the leftmost side of the room (“A” names), going front to back and then going to the next row to the right, and so on. keep in mind that the alphabetical order here is based on the Japanese alphabet. My number is 10.

Here's how I laid out the desks for 21 students:

Since we stay in the same classrooms for most of the days we can leave out stuff at our desks. They have shelves underneath with 2 outlets and lots of space.

Class 1-A Friend Groups

Everyone is actually really close, but those are what groups spend the most time together. Of course we hang out in different groups or all together too.

We have frequent movie and game nights, 1-A has a group chat and it’s always active, there’s always someone wanting to do something. Sometimes we invite people from other classes.

DekuSquad

Izuku

Ochako

Tenya

Tsuyu

Shouto

Haruka

Hitoshi (after he joins our class)

BakuSquad

Katsuki

Eijirou

Mina

Denki

Minoru

Hanta

TokoSquad

Fumikage

Mashirao

Mezou

Tooru

MomoSquad

Momo

Kyoka

Yuga

Kouji

Rikido

I hope this was helpful! <3

#mha dr #mha shifting #bnha dr #bnha shifting #shifting #shifting realities #reality shift #reality shifting #shifters #reality shifter #shiftblr #shifting community #desired reality #shifting motivation #shifting blog

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aixeko · 9 months ago

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──────‹𝟹 SINNERS SAVAGERY ༄ Ѽ✧

IF I'M YOUR SALVATION, WELCOME TO HELL.

2024 Halloween Event | Art credit: Efferwescent on Twitter

𖤐 SINNERS SAVAGERY | or ERISETOBER is an event that is a mix of Kinktober, Whumptober and Flufftober in a nutshell SMUT, ANGST & FLUFF with Halloween aspects. All prompts are made by me but some of the ones that inspired me are whumptober ofc, and this list.

𖤐 ONLY HONKAI STAR RAIL AND GENSHIN WOMEN For this year

𖤐 This will be my first time doing the October prompts stuff + I have another event going on so bare with me haha.

𖤐 !! WEEK 1 starts 6 to 13 !! !! WEEK 2 starts 13 to 19 !! !! WEEK 3 starts 20 to 26 !! !! WEEK 4 starts 27 to 31 !!

WEEK 1 | MONSTER AU | | ONESHOT

| Film | TILL DEATH DO US PART | Starring | Kafka as alien symbiote “Venom” x Host!Reader | Synopsis | A livelihood ripped away by the greed of humankind and faced with impending doom, an alien symbiote by the name of "Kafka" entered your life and made you her host. Originally, the monstrous being harbored one goal: to destroy everything planet Earth had to offer, but plans changed upon meeting you and thus, with her power, you both do whatever it takes to save the planet. Loathing was all that was bestowed toward the extraterrestrial parasitic, but as time passes, a long-lost feeling resurfaces, one that hasn't manifested since your heartbreak; of course, you would rather be brutally killed than confess your endearment. Unbeknownst to you, the woman has suspected you of such intimacy and, with her incredible adaptability to the complex human emotion, has a ploy to make you profess those three special words.

| Film | YOUR LORDSHIP | Starring | Yelan as Leviathan x Mortal!Reader | Synopsis | When the tempestuous waves crash against the shore and the sky turns a foreboding grey, human shells cower in fear as the mighty lord of the seas, Leviathan, awakens from the darkest pit of the deep, seeking for a human companion to aid her lonely voyage.

WEEK 2 | MYTHOLOGICAL AU | | ONESHOT

| Film | BEYOND THE IMAGINABLE | Starring | Clorinde as Medusa x Blind!Reader | Synopsis | Despised and misunderstood by the world, she was a victim of a scandalous man's wrongdoing, unfairly punished by heaven despite her innocence. During one fortunate day, the woman whose heart had turned to stone melt under the accursed spell of love, wholly captivated by a blind mortal who fell in love with her for who she truly was; even without sight, the virtuous human saw the very essence of her, the beauty within her soul.

| Film | OFFERING OF PURITY | Starring | Raiden Ei as Hades x Mortal!Reader | Synopsis | The townsfolk tell tales of a legend that speaks of how, once in a century, the moon would adorn itself in a deep crimson hue and illuminate its shade onto the world. Under its wrathful light, the god of hell emerges to wreak havoc, and the only way to banish such evil is to offer a youthful virgin mortal; only then will humankind live in another century of prosperity and peace.

WEEK 3 | ANIMATRONICS AU | | SMUTSHOT

| Film | FIVE NIGHTS AT STAR RAIL | Starring | Kafka, Himeko, Blackswan, and Acheron as the FNAF Classic Animatronics x Night-guard!Reader | Synopsis | A newspaper arrives at your doorstep, featuring a job opening for a night guard position at the famous Star Rail Pizzeria. Struggling financially, you quickly seize the golden opportunity. The job's only requirement is 5 nights of work, and if you succeed, you'll be hired as an official employee; what could possibly go wrong?

WEEK 4 | SLASHER/SERIAL KILLER AU

| Film | MINDFUCK | Starring | Slasher!Arlecchino x Investigative-Psychologist!Reader | Synopsis | Demons linger where shadows play; in silence, hearts betray, whispers echo, and desires catch fire in the haunting depths of the night. With every kiss, a scythe may cut, in which terror envelops one's gut; together they dance on the edge of fate, finding beauty in a love that is too late. So let the night weave its spell, for in the dark they know so well, and though demons are whispering fright, in their twilight, the lights are ignited.

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scary-grace · 1 month ago

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Enough to Go By (Chapter 27) - a Shigaraki x f!Reader fic

Your best friend vanished on the same night his family was murdered, and even though the world forgot about him, you never did. When a chance encounter brings you back into contact with Shimura Tenko, you'll do anything to make sure you don't lose him again. Keep his secrets? Sure. Aid the League of Villains? Of course. Sacrifice everything? You would - but as the battle between the League of Villains and hero society unfolds, it becomes clear that everything is far more than you or anyone else imagined it would be. (cross-posted to Ao3)

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Chapter 27

It’s bizarre to be so close to All Might. He’s the object of so much of Tomura’s hatred, and you’ve laid your fair share of blame on him, too – the Number One hero, the strongest and the fastest, able to save everyone except the person who matters most to you. But that’s not who he is anymore. Right now he looks so thin and fragile that even your hatred could break him in half.

The words leave your mouth in a whisper. “What are you doing here?”

“Present Mic left you in the interrogation room to teach you a lesson. He was not authorized to do so. When we came to retrieve you, you were unconscious.” All Might coughs into a handkerchief. “There is an unusual amount of strain on your heart.”

You don’t want anyone thinking about that. “Is this some kind of good cop, bad cop thing?”

“No,” All Might says. All Might’s not a good liar. “If you choose to view it that way, perhaps. Your relationship with Present Mic is adversarial. I have hope that you can help me with something else.”

“With what?”

“You said something to Present Mic before he terminated the interview,” All Might says instead of answering you. “You appeared to take the blame for Shigaraki Tomura’s ascent as a villain. I’m interested in why you said that.”

You clam up. All Might doesn’t look worried. “You were unconscious for quite some time,” he says. “It gave me the opportunity to compile some research I’d been conducting. You see, it didn’t strike me as an accident that the first town Shigaraki destroyed when the war began was your hometown. The destruction was telegraphed enough in advance that most of the residents were able to evacuate, and I took the opportunity to interview them, to see if any of them could tell me something about you. The picture that emerged was similar to the one that emerged when I spoke to your friends, family, and coworkers, with one important difference. Nearly everyone in your hometown who spoke of you spoke another name in conjunction with yours.”

He sets a tablet down on the bed in front of you and presses play on a video. The woman speaking looks vaguely familiar to you. You don’t know why until you hear her voice, and realize with a jolt that she’s your preschool teacher.

“Oh, she and that Shimura boy were always together. You couldn’t separate them,” she’s saying. “I never saw a pair of students as close as those two.”

So it was obvious from the beginning, what you and Tenko were to each other. Someone prompts the interviewee from off-screen. “What was he like?” your teacher repeats. “A little emotional, but the sweetest boy you’ve ever seen. It was terrible, what happened to him.”

She keeps talking, you think, but All Might swipes to another video. This one is from a neighbor on your same block. “I saw them walk home together from school every day. They lived across the street from each other.”

All Might swipes again. Your kindergarten teacher, now. “— worst case of puppy love I ever saw. Kids are all or nothing at that age, but things weren’t the best for either of them at home. They probably felt like it was them against the world. If what happened had happened to her instead of him, he’d have gone just as insane as she did.”

“We’ll return to that in a moment,” All Might says. He lifts the tablet out of your lap. “There are no official records of the fate that befell the Shimura family, and the memories of those who lived on the street are clouded. They do remember, however, how you reacted to what you found in the Shimuras’ home, and that allowed me to piece together a likely course of events. Everything points to Shimura Tenko’s quirk awakening unexpectedly, and the surprise combined with a child’s lack of control led to his family becoming casualties.”

He consults his folder. “The neighbors reported shouting from inside the house earlier that afternoon, and some stated that they could hear a child crying in the yard. Late-breaking quirks are known to activate in states of heightened emotion. It seemed likely to me that Tenko did not intend to kill his family members — and the reports from those who knew you both do not describe a child with an innate desire to harm others. Quite the opposite, in fact.”

You catch yourself nodding. “To me, this answers two of the questions that have been plaguing us with regard to a psychological profile of you,” All Might says. ��How you first encountered Shigaraki, and why you would choose to side with him. And it bears out a theory that I have held for some time — that it is possible, in fact, necessary, to save Shigaraki Tomura.”

Your eyes well up before you can stop them. Your breathing hitches, and no matter how hard you dig your nails into your palms, it doesn’t help. You flip your left hand, sink your nails into the back of it, and pull hard, trying to ground yourself, but All Might snatches your hands away. “Please don’t hurt yourself,” he says anxiously. “You are not in trouble. You are among friends. I understand that this is likely the first time anyone has expressed the idea to you that Shigaraki can or should be saved —”

“Stop saying that!” Your voice cracks, shatters. “You don’t want to save him. You want to kill him, just like everyone else! I’m not going to help you hurt him! I don’t want anyone to hurt him ever again.”

Your heart rate is escalating. All Might is gesturing anxiously, trying to calm you down, but you talk over him, struggling to catch your breath. “You want to know why I made the bullets? That’s why! So the next time one of you tries, I can take away the only thing any of you care about! I’m not stupid. I know what you want to do! If you want to kill him, you’ll have to kill me, too!”

You regret the words the instant they leave your mouth. It’s a clue, the biggest one you’ve ever left, but All Might doesn’t react even slightly. He keeps your hands separated so you can’t scratch and speaks calmly. “Do you believe his current state is your fault because you couldn’t save him when you were children? If my research is correct, you tried harder than anyone else. While there’s no record of his disappearance, there’s a lengthy record of your efforts to find him in the form of police reports, school incident responses, and medical records. Your efforts didn’t cease until you were placed on a not insignificant dose of risperidone.”

That’s an antipsychotic. Your parents put you on an antipsychotic so you would stop looking for Tenko — and as if that wasn’t enough, they wiped your memory, too. Fury begins to bubble up within you. All Might keeps talking. “You were a child. It was not your job to rescue him. It was my job, and I failed him,” he says. Your chest goes tight. “I’m tired of failing him. I believe he can be saved, and so do you. Will you help me do it?”

“Why do you need me?” Your voice is hoarse. You can’t be fooled. You need to be careful. “I’m not a hero. I’m nobody.”

All Might shakes his head. “You know Shigaraki better than anyone else,” he says. He rises from his chair. “Get some rest, and think about what we’ve discussed. In spite of what some of my colleagues may have said, it’s not too late — for either of you.”

All Might is tricking you, or trying to trick you. You’re almost certain of it. There’s no reason why a hero would conclude that you could be saved, let alone that Tenko could, and there’s no way they’d ever ask you to help them save him. You’re a villain. There’s nothing redeemable about you at all in the eyes of heroes. You deserve to rot in Tartarus forever. Why is letting you die a step too far? Society’s made their decision about you; that’s why you’re here. You aren’t worth saving.

Except Midoriya Izuku saved you, didn’t he? And All Might took the time to learn about Tenko’s past through you, to see that he hasn’t always been the way he is now. Should you have spoken up more, explained how much of the boy you knew is still present within the person he is now? Maybe. As long as they aren’t trying to trick you. As long as it isn’t all a ploy by the heroes to learn as much as they can about Tenko. To make him easier for them to kill.

You don’t know what the right thing to do is. How is it that it was easier for you to choose to step into your role as Tenko’s sidekick than it is for you to try to save him? Was it because it was just you, because the only people you had to trust to do it were the same people you’ve always trusted — yourself, and your best friend?

But you’ve learned to trust other people, too. You trusted Kurogiri to protect Tenko along with you. You trusted Kazuo to tell you the truth, even when you didn’t want to hear it. You trusted Mitsuko and Ryuhei to help you, not to sell you out. You trusted the League, some of them more than others, into wanting some of the same things that you want. You even trusted a few members of the Meta Liberation Army, by the end. Trusting people hasn’t been a mistake. Yet.

Your heart is racing again. You can’t tell if it’s because something’s happening to Tenko or because your own anxiety is driving it onward, but you press your hand against your chest and try to take deep breaths. All Might left the call button on the bed. You can press it if something goes wrong. In the mean time, you need to calm down. And by the time someone else comes to talk to you, you need to have made a decision.

All Might comes to talk to you the next day, but he’s not alone. You don’t know who he brought, but they want to talk to you by themselves first, and All Might asks if that’s okay with you, like you have any kind of choice in the matter. You say yes. Of course you’re going to say yes. All Might leaves, and someone else slips in through the door. Someone you recognize. “Midoriya.”

Midoriya Izuku’s gaze is flat as he looks at you. “It’s Deku.”

“I’m not calling you useless,” you say.

“What I call myself is my business,” Midoriya says. “That’s my hero name. You’re a villain.”

“I still don’t call people useless,” you say. “Does using your real name feel like that much of an insult to you?”

Midoriya’s eyes flash, and in them, you see the echo of an anger you recognize, a moment before he forces it down. You recognize that, too. “You took away Kacchan’s quirk,” he says. “Why did you do that?”

“So he wouldn’t blast me in the face,” you say. Midoriya’s expression twists. “I was supposed to let him hurt me?”

“You were trying to take away Aizawa-sensei’s quirk, too. Why?” Midoriya asks. His voice pitches upwards, cracks, and you remember all at once — he’s just a kid. “You know what it’s like to be quirkless. How could you do that to someone?”

“Because I don’t think that being quirkless is the worst thing that can happen to someone,” you say. “It’s not even close to the worst thing that’s happened to me.”

Midoriya looks like he thinks you’re out of your mind. Like he can’t imagine why any quirkless person wouldn’t hate every second of their life. An impulse boils up within you, an impulse to twist the knife, but you crush it. You’re a villain, sure. You’re not that kind of villain. “Do you have other questions for me?”

“Why did you decide to be a villain?”

That one pulls you up short. “You can’t save people unless you understand them,” Midoriya says. He looks tired. Way too tired for a fifteen-year-old. His hands are laced with surgical scars. “I don’t understand Tenko. I’ve tried, and I can’t. But you do, so maybe if I understand you — and you understand him — maybe I can make him stop.”

Your stomach clenches, and it’s not just because you’ve heard someone else use Tenko’s real name. “You want to kill him.”

“No!” Midoriya visibly recoils from the idea. “I want this to stop. I want my friends to stop getting hurt. I want people to be able to go home, if there’s anything left of home. I just want this to be over fast, and killing Tenko won’t end it. Just like letting you die wouldn’t have.”

He looks at you, holds your gaze. “I want to make it stop, but there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way, and I want to do it the right way. So tell me why you became a villain.”

You want to tell him, but you also feel like this is above his grade level. Midoriya looks like he’s trying not to roll his eyes. “I know you guys are in love. I heard it.”

That strikes you as weird. “What do you mean, you heard it?”

“In One For All.”

You sit there with that for a second. “Tell me about what happened after I fell. Then I’ll tell you why I’m a villain.”

After you fell, Midoriya caught you. As soon as you were on the ground, heroes took you away, hid you from Tenko. Not that Tenko had a chance to look for you. He was taking critical hit after critical hit while the heroes tried to overwhelm Super-Regeneration and kill him, and according to Midoriya, something was wrong with him. “It didn’t make sense,” he says. “Based on what he’s able to do now, he should have crushed us. But it was like he was fighting himself.”

Your heart sinks. “We knew he’d gotten a bunch of quirks, and we knew one of them was probably All For One,” Midoriya continues. “I knew he wanted One For All, so I left the battlefield, hoping he’d chase me, and he did. When he tried to take it from me, we wound up in the world of One For All.”

“The world of One For All?”

“Where the vestiges of the past wielders live,” Midoriya says. You don’t know what to say to that. “Tenko was there, but it wasn’t just him. There was something else in there, like a shadow, and it was talking to him. Telling him you were dead and nothing mattered anymore.”

That breaks through the cloud of despair your failure’s left you suspended in. “I’m not dead.”

“I tried to say, but I can’t talk in that world yet,” Midoriya says. That makes as much sense to you as everything else Midoriya’s said so far, which is to say it doesn’t make any sense at all. “The shadow looked like it was Tenko’s, but it wasn’t him. It it kept trying to move without him. And then it moved him. Like he was a puppet or something. I was right there, but they weren’t fighting me anymore. They were fighting each other.”

Your chest goes tight, shortening your breath again. “Everybody had caught up to us by then,” Midoriya explains. “When I woke up, I knew it wasn’t Tenko fighting. I could see the shadow — Tomura. And I guess Tomura didn’t like how the fight was going, so he withdrew, and the rest of the army went with him. If he hadn’t —”

“It would have been the end of hero society,” All Might says from the door. “The end of Japan as we know it. We couldn’t defeat him. And since then —”

“We know which one of them is in control when a battle happens,” Midoriya breaks in. “You can tell when it’s Tomura because he’ll — hurt himself — while he’s fighting. We think it’s to stay in control of Tenko’s body, but we’re not sure. When it’s Tenko, he fights different. He destroyed the city where UA was, but we’d thought he was headed somewhere else, so the evacuations were still going on when they got there. The whole city fell apart from Decay, but none of the refugees died from it. He destroyed everything but them.”

“In short,” All Might says, “The alternate personality – Tomura – cares nothing for life. Tenko appears to.”

Of course he does. Tenko’s killed people — a lot of people — but he doesn’t kill indiscriminately. Thousands died in Deika City, but Tenko was defending himself, defending the League, defending you. The deaths of the Creature Rejection Clan were on Spinner’s behalf, the murder of Overhaul’s minion one piece of revenge for Magne. Tenko doesn’t take joy in killing people. Even when you played games as children, he just wanted to win. He never wanted the villain to die. All Might leaves the doorway and comes closer. “We need to know how the alternate self came to possess Tenko’s body. And if there’s any way to help Tenko regain control.”

“It’s really important,” Midoriya says earnestly. “If there’s anything that — um, are you crying?”

It’s kind of a dumb question. You’re absolutely crying — head in your hands, headache already building, struggling to breathe while your eyes stream and your nose runs. You know what’s happening here. “Tenko and Tomura are the same person,” you say. “The shadow is All For One.”

There’s a split second where Midoriya and All Might simply stare at you. Then they both start talking, talking over each other, trying to get you to explain. But there’s nothing to explain. It’s all so simple. You thought you’d saved Tenko by swapping out All For One, but it didn’t work. Some part of All For One escaped, or snuck through, or something — or maybe it’s your fault again, because All For One came back after you let yourself get captured and almost killed. Either way, you screwed up royally. You lost your best friend, again, and this time the only person who could have stopped it is the same person to blame. You.

It takes a while for you to calm down enough to speak, to remind yourself that it’s not over until both of you are dead, that as long as you’re both alive there’s a chance. Midoriya and All Might want to help Tenko. All Might seems to want to help you, too. You’re locked up here, unable to reach him, but the two of them could. And that means you need to tell them what they need to know to save your best friend.

It takes explaining. A lot of explaining. Neither of them are getting the details, but they pick up enough of the big picture to understand what you tried to do. Mostly. “All For One is still in prison. How could Tenko have been given the original quirk?”

“All For One has a copy, so the doctor could give the original to Tomura. They had extra copies of it, too. And a Nomu that could make copies of things,” you say. Midoriya scribbles something in a notebook. “I swapped the original for a copy.”

“Could the doctor have swapped it back for the original without your knowledge?” All Might asks. You shake your head. “How do you know?”

“I destroyed it.”

All Might coughs. “What?”

“You destroyed All For One,” Midoriya repeats. “How?”

“The quirk factor is in his hands. His palms. They had them on a slide. I tested them to make sure they weren’t copies and then I cut them up.” You’re not sure why they’re looking at you like that. They asked. “It was the only way I could think of.”

All Might nods briskly, but he still looks supremely creeped out. “Since you made the switch, and you were present during the entire process, what is your best guess as to what happened?”

“I think –” You can’t burst into tears again. You dig your nails into the back of your hand. “The imprint of Sensei’s personality was still there. It couldn’t take over unless Tomura let his guard down. Now it won’t go away, but it doesn’t have full control over him. Tomura is still there.”

“What if we cancel his quirks?” Midoriya asks. “That would get rid of All For One, and we’d win.”

“It won’t be so easy. Remember, his speed and strength were sharply increased even when Eraserhead canceled his quirks,” All Might cautions. “We’d be better off if we could simply target All For One. You said it’s in his hands?”

“If we can’t land a good hit on him, there’s no way we’d be able to cut both his hands off,” Midoriya says. You feel like you’re going to be sick. "Besides, he’s got that regeneration quirk now. If we cut them off they could grow back just like they were.”

“He had the quirk for several weeks before the attack,” All Might says, “and the takeover occurred at a moment when Tenko was vulnerable. What would it take for him to regain control on his own?”

You think you have an answer. You don’t want to say it. It’ll sound really self-serving, and you don’t need to, not when Midoriya’s in the process of getting there on his own. “We’ve noticed that Tenko’s more likely to be in control when members of the League are present. Which might be why All For One’s been sending them away when he’s not. As of the attack in Yokohama the only member of the League who’s still with Tenko is Spinner. All the others have been sent elsewhere, or — um —”

He glances at you, guilty and uncomfortable, and somehow you know what he’s trying not to say. “Was someone hurt?”

“Giran was killed,” All Might says. He looks like he feels bad. You feel worse. “By Endeavor, in the battle for Kyoto. Compress was badly injured during an ambush of Shiketsu High. It’s unclear if he’ll survive.”

You swallow hard. “What about Toga?”

“The PLF fighters we’ve captured indicated that Toga’s gone underground. We’re not sure why, or where she is currently. If we could contact her —”

“Twice has gone missing, too,” Midoriya interrupts. “Nobody’s seen him since the battle at your headquarters.”

“And Dabi?”

“We don’t know,” All Might says. “All For One may have sent him on a mission, or may have had him killed. He hasn’t been seen since Kyoto.”

The League is scattered, or dead. All For One wants Tomura to feel hopeless, to feel alone. Tomura can’t fight back against him because All For One’s taking away the things he fought for. If you can give him a reason to fight back again — “I think we have to,” Midoriya is saying to All Might. All Might nods. Then they both look at you. “What do you think?”

You think you missed something. “What?”

“If the problem is that All For One is taking away Tenko’s friends, we need to give them back,” Midoriya says. “And since you’re his oldest friend — and the only we have who isn’t, like, dying — we need to give him you.”

Your heart leaps into your throat, lodging there painfully. He can’t mean it. He can’t be thinking of letting you go. “Hiding you was an error,” All Might says. “If our theory is correct, your perceived loss cemented All For One’s control. If we are able to return you to Tenko’s side, and if you are able to help Tenko reassert control, then perhaps we can bring this to an end.”

“You mean — negotiate?” You want more than anything for them to let you go, but you can’t lie to them. “Even if he’s himself, there’s no guarantee he’ll do that.”

“No, but there is a chance. Which is more than we’ll have from All For One.”

You can’t argue with that. “It shouldn’t just be her,” Midoriya says quietly. “He needs all his friends. As many of them as we can get.”

Your heart is beginning to race. You recognize the feeling of your body speeding up to try to match Tenko’s needs and force yourself to take deep breaths, to lie still. The less energy you burn yourself, the more you’ll have to send. You wonder where he is. What’s happening to him. If he’s injured because of a fight with the heroes or if it’s because of something All For One has done to try to maintain control of him. He’s alone there. All For One’s gotten rid of everyone except Spinner — Spinner, who you were able to warn months ago that something might go wrong with the quirk transfer. Spinner, who definitely knows Tomura well enough to know when Tomura’s not in control. The plans All Might and Midoriya are making are a vague buzz in your ear. You need to let them know that it’s Spinner they have to get a message to, Spinner who will help them get you back to Tenko. You open your mouth to speak, but your chest feels tight, and spots fill your vision. Before you can say a word of warning, everything goes black.

<- Chapter 26 Chapter 28 ->

taglist: @frog-fans-unite @enyaaa2222 @tannyr98 @atspiss @baking-ghoul @boogiemansbitch @handumb @agente707 @warxhammer @shikiblessed @cheeseonatower @koohiii @xeveryxstarfallx @stardustdreamersisi @lacrimae-lotos @aslutforfictionalmen @evilcookie5 @issaortiz @lvtuss @f3r4lfr0gg3r @shigarakislaughter @deadhands69

#shigaraki x reader #shigaraki x you #tomura shigaraki x reader #tomura shigaraki x you #shigaraki tomura x reader #shigaraki tomura x you #tenko shimura x reader #tenko shimura x you #shimura tenko x reader #shimura tenko x you #x reader #reader insert #man door hand hook car door #please hold

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81emily71 · 1 month ago

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man i love these homos. also this was written february last year, please don’t judge im SO not bothered to rewrite it lmao. anyway, as per, fic under the cut!

warnings: idiots in love, first kiss, love confessions, implied bdsm, attempt at comedy

wc: 1,473

description: McLaren employees have to do their CPR and First Aid course once a year. Normally drivers do it with their trainers, but what happens when they do it together in a big group?

First Aid +

Once a year, most McLaren employees - especially drivers - had to undergo First Aid and CPR training in case of an emergency, and the medical team couldn’t come. Usually, Mclaren drivers did it with their trainers who were also certified instructors and never in big group settings; it was normally easier. However, this year McLaren decided to do it with their drivers in one big group with other garage-based employees. It was held in the MTC in between Baku and Singapore, disrupting Landos plans to fly with Max from one race to another, but that was ok.

Oscar arrived at the training a few minutes late, apparently from oversleeping; Lando, however, was nearly half an hour late. It was unclear as to why. The course had to be done while everyone was present unless taking a day off work, so it was delayed said half an hour, severely inconveniencing Oscar’s dinner plans with his mum.

The first thing they had to remember was the acronyms DRSABCD, COWS, and RICER. It seemed simple enough to the both of them, having done it many times in their careers. By instruction of the trainer, they had to pair off to demonstrate the ‘R’ of DRSABCD - Response by using the other acronym, COWS. WIth Lando and Oscar paired together, Oscar lied down on the ground pretending to be unconscious as Lando circled him, still looking for any dangers (the first ‘D’ of the same acronym).

“Can you hear me?” Lando asked, getting no reply.

“Open your eyes.” Again to no reply.

“What’s your name?” Silence followed.

“Squeeze my hands.” There would be nothing wrong with the notion of Lando holding Oscar’s hands in a scenario like this, but the older had decided that it would be a great idea to perch himself on the younger’s lap, literally straddling him. That was not ok. He was then balling a half-stiffie while the Brit was still on his lap, definitely able to feel it, but neither said anything about it.

After Lando climbed off and they completed section 1 of the course, they moved on promptly to head and spinal injuries. At random, Oscar was chosen to lie on the spinal board as a demonstration, and to make matters worse, his half-hard had not been willed away. The instructor, however, decided to make this the perfect opportunity to enlighten everyone in the room that in the event of a spinal injury, a man can become hard and not be aroused, simultaneously alerting everyone that Oscar was bricked. This day could not get any worse for him.

After the neck and spinal section, they moved on to slings and splints. Nothing bad could happen with this one right? *Loud incorrect buzzer* WRONG. They had to get with their old partners again and copy the demonstration given, starting with a shoulder sling. As Oscar wrapped the sling around Landos neck, giving him next to no room to move as instructed, the Brit decided to whisper:

“Do it as tight as you like, baby.” He froze, What the fuck??? Who just says that??? Was the only comprehensible thing going through the Aussie’s mind at the time.

When his mind finally registered what the hell had just happened, he had around 2 seconds to finish the sling before someone noticed that he was taking too long.

Then Lando’s turn for the sling came. While having the next way to tie a sling was being demonstrated, the younger saw Lando (presumably) fidgeting with the rolled up sling from the corner of his eye, when all of a sudden his hands were yanked away from him. Confused as to what was going on, Oscar whipped his head around to see what the older had been entertaining himself with. This has to be a joke. Genuinely cut the cameras, cause what the hell. Lando had made handcuffs. Handcuffs out of a sling and put Oscar’s hands in them, rendering him immobile until when if Lando was to let him free. Thankfully, he did when the sling was to be used again.

Interlinking in with the splints was section 3 - venomous bites, as if you were to be bitten by a venomous snake or spider on the foot, your other leg would act as a splint if one was unavailable. However, this meant another opportunity for Lando to turn this first aid course into some rope bunny/rigger type BDSM.

While the curlyhead was lying in the ground with a PIT bandage on his leg, Oscar was strapping one leg to the other with some rigid fabric (likely the sling again, but he wasn’t quite sure). The taller boy was doing it quite loose as this was just a training exercise, and it was unnecessary to go too harsh when the other whispered in a voice so low only they could hear:

“Come on baby, tighter,” and put a hand in his unruly locks, toying with the hairs on the back of his neck. This sent a chill down his spine and to his nearly fully hard dick. Well, fuck.

When they finally finished the partner work for severe injuries, it was time for commonly-found medical issues, such as allergies, diabetes and asthma. They started promptly with allergies and injecting an epi pen into someone’s thigh. They were given a training version without the needle and were instructed on the steps to follow when administering an epi.

Just when Oscar thought this was the only section clear of something out of the ordinary, Lando leaned over and whispered in his ear mid-exercise: “I don’t have any allergies, but you could stab me anytime, darling.” Someone really needs to murder Oscar before he does it to himself, he swears to god, because this shit cannot be made up.

After this section they were (thankfully) given a 30 minute lunch break, where Oscar whisked Lando away from the long-awaited canteen line and into an empty meeting room.

“What the fuck did you think you were doing?” Oscar led with, visibly annoyed.

“Whatever do you mean, Osco?” He replied, acting all innocent.

“You know exactly what I mean, you little brat. You just just do or say things like that in a work setting!”

“And what are you going to do about it?”

Oscar surged forward and kissed Lando, suddenly. As their lips moved as one, the younger managed to tangle his hands into the curly locks of the other’s baby mullet. Lando’s head dipped to the side as his mouth opened, allowing more room for Oscar to kiss him when he stepped back to reach the table. Their lips parted for a moment of air before continuing with their previous endeavours as Oscar’s hands left the older man’s hair to hoist him onto the meeting table. The Aussie leant forward to place a hand behind the Vrit and the other on his thigh, stabling them both as they kissed with all the pent up emotions they’d had for the last few months. When they broke apart, their chests heavily rose and fell when Lando broke the silence.

“If I knew all I had to do was tease you, I would’ve done it back in Austin ‘23,” He let out a cute little giggle at the end.

“If you said something, I would've been yours in Miami, mate.”

“You did not just call me mate after we just had a very heated make-out session in a work meeting room, you douche.”

“Sorry, would you prefer Lan, or Sweetie?”

“Yes, actually. Yes I would.”

“Duly noted. But just before you say anything, I don’t want this to be casual. At all. Because I really love you and I want you to be my boyfriend.”

“Jesus, I’m not that much of an idiot. Of course this isn’t casual, I love you too, and I would very much like to be your boyfriend, Osc.”

“Thank god. But now, let's get some food, I can bet we’re both hungry, and we’ll talk more tonight, I swear.” Oscar proclaimed as he fixed his appearance in the reflection of the meeting room windows, then Lando’s so it wasn’t obvious they’d just been kissing.

“Yippee, you're paying, by the way.”

“At this point when do I not?” For that comment, the younger received a pinch on the arm as they made their way back to civilisation.

Thankfully, there was only one section left for the course: uncommon conditions. That was fairly simple; just look for any dog tags or bracelets, no big deal. This, however, caused the worst one-liner Oscar’s ever heard. “Wanna test my circulation? I’m sure the blood’s going to all the right places.”

Shockingly this was the only thing that really caught any attention, because Oscar let out a howl of laughter at his stupid boyfriend. But Lando was his, and that's all that mattered

#lando norris #oscar piastri #landoscar #f1 #f1 rpf fanfic #f1 rpf fic #f1 rpf #f1 fic #mctwinks

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justinspoliticalcorner · 4 months ago

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Simon Williams for Time:

It’s hard to believe it's been five years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2020, the disease has killed more than 1.2 million Americans—more than in any other country. That accounts for more than 1 in 7 reported COVID-19 deaths in the whole world (although the true global death toll is likely much higher due to under-reporting). Don’t be fooled by some social-media revisionist historians who would have us believe that COVID-19 was “mild”—it was one of the most lethal infectious disease outbreaks in human history, ranking only behind the 1918 Spanish Flu and the Bubonic Plague (not including the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic). Advertisement Thankfully, in 2025, the days of lockdowns and quarantines now seem a distant memory for many—even though the physical, mental, and emotional impacts of the pandemic persist in many ways. However, the question remains: Are we better prepared for next time? Sadly, if anything, we are less prepared than before.

Pandemics are not necessarily once-in-a-lifetime events. We already saw in 2009 a swine flu pandemic that killed up to half a million people globally. H5N1 bird flu continues to spread in poultry, wild birds, and mammals in the U.S., with each case increasing the risk of further spillover into humans—making the U.S. a possible epicenter of any new flu pandemic, should the virus evolve further to spread easily among humans. MPox, MERS (another coronavirus with a high fatality rate), and Ebola are just some of the currently circulating pathogens with pandemic potential. And, of course, "Disease X" (a potential virus that could emerge in the future that we don't yet know about) is always a possibility.

What should we be doing that we’re not? First, we should be making investments, not cuts, in pandemic preparedness. The U.S. has withdrawn funding from the World Health Organization. Working alongside local and national health authorities, the WHO is a key “first responder,” identifying and containing infectious-disease outbreaks before they spread. The U.S. contributed approximately $120 million in 2023-2024 on responding to acute health emergencies and to preventing pandemics and epidemics, so our step back leaves a massive hole in resources designed to tackle emergencies and stop outbreaks from spreading. Also, recent funding cuts or freezes to agencies like USAID are already having ramifications on the ground, with public-health professionals concerned that progress in tackling diseases like tuberculosis will stall or regress. With less funding, pandemic preparations also slow down, and the U.S. ceasing negotiations for the Pandemic Agreement and amendments to the International Health Regulations makes matters worse.

5 years ago this week, COVID mitigation measures started to be implemented in various aspects of our lives.

On March 11th, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. On that same evening, multiple COVID-related news items broke out, including the positive COVID test of Tom Hanks, the NBA suspending its season due to Rudy Gobert’s positive COVID test, and Donald Trump announcing a travel ban from EU countries.

#Coronavirus #Pandemics #COVID-19 #Public Health #Epidemiology

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kattsmuse · 2 months ago

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Wholesome Activities with TF141 pt 2

It's cold and rainy today and I miss the sun, so I'm in the mood for some beachy fluff. (Maybe some not so wholesome beach day activities coming soon?) Possible expansions on these thoughts later as well.

Part 1: Staying in

Part 2: Beach Day

John Price

It doesn't take much convincing for John to go to the beach with you. He doesn't mind some time relaxing. Before you go, you make sure you're both ready. You've washed your favorite beach towels, gathered up sunnies for both of you, made sure you had plenty of hair ties for yourself, and packed up both of your books. You've triple checked that you have sunscreen and your little emergency first aid kit (you always have one). You're over prepared to stay the least. John and you made lunches and put them in a cooler with some drinks. Of course, John can't go to the beach without his tackle box, a fishing pole, and some bait.

You wade out to the water with him. The gentle ripples sit at his hips and your waist, and you just stand beside him. It's calm, and you've never understood why he loves fishing so much. That's until he puts the rod in your hand and stands behind you, showing you how to do it. His body shielding your back from the sun as he whispers in your ear when to jig the line. You simply feel safe in his arms as he teaches you how to be patient enough to wait for the bite.

Once on the sand, you're enjoying the sun (after John frets over your use of sunscreen, he wants to make sure you won't burn) and watching John wade out to his hips, casting his line out. You always make sure to get an area on the sand closer to the 'border' of the beach, or where the sand gets a bit marshy. That way John can fish while you swim, and he doesn't disturb other people. You love seeing him do what he enjoys, but you also acknowledge that you should spend a bit of time together.

Kyle Garrick

Going to the beach together was actually his idea. He adores the sand on his skin and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. When packing up, you make lunches while he grabs some things for you to do while you're there. Your beach dates are usually consistent. You both lie on the large blanket Kyle had brought, soaking up some sun. You want to get a tan, but Kyle insists on lathering you both in sunscreen first. At least an SPF 15.

After an hour or so of tanning, you slide into the water and splash around. At some point, Kyle lifts you up and tosses you into deeper water, only for you to crawl back onto his back to drag you back down. It's so chaotic every time but you'd have it no other way.

When you're done swimming you have lunch, then probably toss a Frisbee or join another group's game of beach volleyball. You stay until it's nearly dinner time, just repeating these activities and enjoying being in each other's company. You don't get to do this often, and even though when you do it's the same general agenda, it's special every single time.

Simon Riley

Straight up, Simon greatly dislikes going to the beach. The sand is scratchy, there are too many people, and he usually walks away with a burn, no matter how much sunscreen he puts on. It's rarely fun for him. But when you casually mentioned that it would be nice to just go relax on the beach sometime, though he disagrees, he would plan it. You come home for work and one of your bags are already filled with sunglasses, hair ties, sunscreen, snacks, drinks, all kinds of things. You even see a brand new swimsuit sitting beside it.

You question it but he insists because it'll make you happy. You get there and because it's the afternoon, you struggle to find a place to put your things. This is a nightmare for Simon. But, thankfully for him, you're not there long before it starts to clear out. The sun isn't so blazing and people who've been there all day begin to go home.

You two end up lying on a blanket watching the clouds pass for a while before you take a swim. He didn't want to stay all day, but you do stay long enough to see the sun begin to set over the water. You didn't even get there until almost 6 p.m. because of work, anyway.

He's standing beside you, his arm wrapped around your body as you lean into him, the water gently waving up your torso as the singer paints the sky in magenta, navy and amber colors. At this moment... The beach is quiet, you're in his arms, and he's got the most beautiful views before him. Maybe it's not so bad after all. He presses a kiss to your temple, your faces bathed in the golden light.

Johnny MacTavish

Similar to Kyle, Johnny was pumped at this idea. He took you both shopping the day before to get some new towels and swimsuits just for the occasion. You get all kinds of summery snacks and drinks and you're on your way.

Immediately after setting up, Johnny picks you up over your shoulder and laughs as he runs to the water. You're screaming but there's a very clear jovial tone in the pretend terror. Once he's in, nearly to the drop off he flops back into the water, pulling you in. You come up and splash him laughing, before you jump onto his side, dunking him. Neither of you hold the other under long, just playfully dipping one another in. At some point, you end up on his shoulders, playing chicken with another couple (if Kyle is there, it's definitely him and his girl).

Once you're both worn out, you lie on the sand, soaking up the sun. He pats your bottom to see the sand ripple off it just for fun before he leads you to the concessions stand to get some ice cream.

You were both so excited and giddy to go, you didn't put sunscreen on at home. And because Johnny kidnapped you from the safety of the sand before you could apply any, you both burn. Once you're home and indoors, you see how red you both are and spend the night in the living room gingerly applying aloe to your bodies.

#kyle gaz garrick #john soap mactavish #john price #cod #task force 141 #simon ghost riley

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corrupted-inkwell · 4 months ago

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DP OC PARADE: Day 1/ INTRODUCTION

Name: Dionysia Nova

Half greek half american Female

Nickname: Dia (dubbed by Danny)

Birthday: 24th of April

Age: 15-16yo

Species: Halfa

-Vegan metalhead, kickboxing champ

(Listens mostly to nu metal and power metal, her guilty pleasure is emo bands and refuses to admit it.)

MORE LORE UNDER THE CUT:

-Parentified eldest daughter so she takes the Mom Friend™ role of the friend group very seriously. Always there to lend a hand and support. Proactive and prepared for emergencies with a first aid kit (for Danny and herself), tissues, disinfectant, extra snacks (Sam's fav vegan protein bars), painkillers, water, screen wipes (for Tucker's glasses) etc in her backpack. She's very open with expressing physical affection to her loved ones but she kinda short circuits when others express it towards her.

-Generally very timid and doesn't take much personally, she conserves her limited energy for important manners but she absolutely won't hesitate to punch, kick or bite anything and anyone if provoked. Especially if her loved ones are threatened.

Human Lore: she transferred to Casper High after her mom and dad separated. Her mom took a proposal for her dream job back to her homeland and Dia decided to follow her after getting expelled from her old school, unfortunately leaving her brother behind with her father and abandoning her athletic career. Sam ecstatic to see another alternative girl like herself in the school urges the boys to adopt her in the trio. As 15 year olds, the boys are hesitant at first, thinking that Sam was the only girl capable of hanging out with them. They are quickly proven wrong when Dia turns out to have a lot in common with them so they quickly develop an affinity for her and embrace her in the friendgroup.

After hanging out with the group for a whole semester and accidentally finding out about Danny's secret identity, she takes on the role of ground support for him alongside Sam and Tucker. Using their combined wits, talents and ofc Fenton tech/weapons. She's accumulated plenty of martial prowess due to her experience as a kickboxing champion so her close range weapon is the Fenton Gauntlets and for long range damage she utilises her sharp aim with the Fenton Ecto-Sniper.

Halfa Lore: Months pass and missions are going quite smoothly with everyone's contribution, that is until a particular recon mission in the Ghost Zone. While Jazz and Dia were providing insights to the Specter Speeder via the lab computers, an unforeseen threat chased after the Speeder damaging one of it's thrusters in the process, the Speeder came crushing through the Fenton Portal, damaging it's ectofiltrator panel, lightly injuring Danny, Sam and Tucker on board and almost dragging Jazz in it's collision path into the lab. The damage to the portal caused it to have a small combustion. Unfortunately Dia's back was facing the explosion while trying to help Jazz up and away from it, it caused a huge burn on her back and contaminated her all the way to the nerve with ectoplasm. The team panicked and desperate to save their friend, asked for Vlad's assistance since he seemed to have experience on this type of ecto-injury. With his help the contamination turned Dia into a halfa within a weekend (the Fenton's were away visiting Aunt Alicia). Of course Vlad sees this as the perfect opportunity to once again try and acquire a halfa child of his own after his last failed attempt with Dani. While Dia is recovering and slowly manifesting her ghost powers Vlad tries to manipulate her away from the team, weaponising her insecurity as the new kid who's having difficulties fitting in. After the team catches wiff of his plan they are quick to pull Dia back to their side. Sam designed Dia's suit to help her feel part of the team.

Ghost Powers: a water core manifested due to her ability to adapt in situations. Her powers are violet hued and include the basic ecto-blasts, rays and shields. Her water powers work as a reinforcement to boost Danny's ice powers and if used incorrectly, also as a conduit to Vlad's electrical powers.

Fighting Style: Close range kickboxing with ecto-charged limbs and short shields, for long range she uses beams, shots and waves. She has the ability to change the temperature of the water she casts. She can also create fluid ecto-constructs like weapons. Fighting style similar to Danny's since he's the one training her but she prefers working as his cover and defence while he goes on the offence.

Instead of a ghost wail she develops a banshee scream that shuts down most electronics in the vicinity and stunts enemies and allies alike. The Fentonphones have the ability to minimise the affects on the wearers. She scarcely uses this power since it can also damage her allies.

Her ghost sense manifests as a release of a steamed sigh instead of a frosty exhale like Danny's.

The burn from the explosion healed into a scar that resembles cracked glass and covers most of her back, back of neck and back of upper arms. The scars light up when ecto-energy runs through them.

Ghost Alias: Supernova (might change it later idk still workshopping it) Phantom's support and defence, started out as his sidekick until she evolved with training to be his equal ally.

Relationships: Sam's best galpal. Very close friends with Danny and Tucker. The 4 of them hang out all the time trying to have fun like regular teens but also find themselves constantly tangled in ghostly shenanigans. Dia helps Sam realise that they're both just like other girls and that's okay. Through that Sam, Dia, Dani, Valerie and Jazz start having girl-nights to strengthen their friendship. As an eldest daugher/sister she finds a lot of common ground with Jazz. She tries to not make the same mistake as Danny by developing a crush on Valerie but she loves their sparring sessions as seasoned martial artists a bit too much. Sam, Val and Dia also become gym buddies and constantly push each other to get stronger and more adept in different martial arts.

Dia's mother travels a lot for work so she's mostly alone in the apartment, she can't stand the silence so she first adopts a stray cat she found behind the school dumpsters and named her Liz. After meeting Dani in the Ghost Zone and having a while rescue mission arc with her, she then also proposes to "adopt" Dani so she can have a stable roof while the group tries to figure out what to do with the whole clone situation. She acts like an older sister to her mostly because she empathises with the girl and cares deeply for her but also because she misses her own younger brother back in Greece.

Her unsupervised apartment serves as a good hangout spot for the group's gaming sessions, sleepovers, movie nights and ghostly research.

Character traits: Her gloomy appearance works as a shield of assumption, it makes people hesitant to mess with her, she's actually a sweetheart when you talk to her, but also lowkey feral under the surface. Same interests as the rest of the trio more or less. Passionate and loud about her beliefs, sharp wit and street smart but as child of two renowned academics she doesn't hold up to their expectations, she's not a great student. Compassionate and crafty, has the ability to look at a situation from multiple angles and uses her insight to be a good negotiator and to find the best compromise for everyone involved. Very self-sacrificing. Doesn't open up easily and when she does it all comes spilling out.

She loves doodling away in her sketchbook while listening to music or binging animated series during her free personal time. As a balkan kid she's kinda desensitized to underage drinking and breaking rules, if her patience runs out she will recommend the most chaotic unhinged course of action.

She feels deeply and her main objective is to ensure her loved ones are always safe and happy.

The original draft of her introduction HERE

I decided to name this AU Squared Disaster and it takes place before the canon season 3 of the series. I love this OC like she's my own daughter and I can't wait to put this lil BLORBO through situations™

Can't wait to see everyone else's OCs and their lore I'm so thankful for this event and I hope we all have a good time here!

P.S: a HUUGE THANKS to the @/theillustraitor for the DP renders they literally saved my life while working on this character sheet. Thank you for your contribution to the phandom.

Also sorry for any grammar/meaning errors, english is not my native language and I'm also wee brainfogged these days (lol always but anyway)

#danny phantom #dp oc parade event #danny phantom oc #dp oc: dia #dionysia dp oc #dionysia nova #corrupted inkwell art #squared disaster dp au #dp oc parade 2025 #dp #dp oc

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gothams-silver-reaper · 2 months ago

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Kage Argyros - Harbinger

.˳·˖✶-✶˖·˳.

"I am neither judge nor executioner, merely the whisper that reminds you... Your time is short. Spend it wisely."

Kage, while trying to be dramatic on a rooftop when they were 15.

.˳·˖✶-✶˖·˳.

-Y'know... Everyone always bad-mouths demons and blames them for everything... It's true of course, but that's Hell's fault more than anything else.-

➜ Kage 'Azrael' Argyros

╰┈➤ Pronounced as "Kah-gay"

╰┈➤ AKA Harbinger, Gotham's own reaper

➜ They/Them

╰┈➤ Appearance wise, Kage has dyed their hair a dark navy blue with streaks of pale blue highlighted throughout. Their eyes are teal and almost seem to glow when they get upset, a side effect of their arm. Their build is on the leaner side, being more suited for lighter, more agile movements compared to larger Bats like Bruce or Jason.

╰┈➤ Clothing wise, Kage prefers to present as more androgynous albeit with a slight lean in favour of being more feminine on good days. They have a weird fascination with trench coats (they like the pockets) while out and about but at home you'd be more likely to catch them in one of their many rainbow hoodies and some jeans.

╰┈➤ Kage's Batsuit on the other hand, exposes nothing. Their cowl is similar to Bruce's albeit with shorter ears and a mouth guard to fully conceal their face, aided even more by the hood covering their head. Similar to Dick their primary colour scheme is black and blue, including a blue bat symbol on their chest. Gauntlets cover both of their forearms, concealing their demon arm (can't have anyone linking Harbinger back to "the hybrid weirdo" Kage after all). Flowing behind them is a cape that's tattered at the bottom to add to their whole 'reaper' aesthetic, and dangling from their hip is a sheathed katana - they don't draw it often but it's too dangerous to leave lying around somewhere.

➜ 19 years old

╰┈➤ Their birthday is January 20th, closest to Cass' and they're generally around her age.

╰┈➤ Kage has been fighting crime since they were 14, largely as Harbinger although they have donned the Batgirl suit once or twice to act as an emergency substitute.

◯ ☽ ◑ ● ◐ ❨ ◯ ☽ ◑ ● ◐ ❨ ◯ ☽ ◑ ● ◐ ❨ ◯

Basic Origin: Kage was born in Greece and raised there for ten years before moving to Gotham with their father and twin sister after their mother died. When they were 12 a small demonic incursion of downtown Gotham resulted in their remaining family being killed and Kage's left arm being transmogrified into a demon claw. Seeing yet another child lose their whole world and knowing nobody would take in what they see as a hybrid abomination, Kage was adopted by Bruce Wayne.

When they were 14 Kage took on the vigilante name 'Harbinger' and most of Bruce's protests were silenced when they found that Kage regularly fighting crime actually made their demonic limb easier to control in their daily life.

While close (or as close as Bats can get) to the rest of their family, as the only one who was actually raised with a sibling for their whole life, Kage is closest to Cass given their nearly-shared birthday, close ages and initial struggles with communication (Kage's first language was Greek, not English, so that was a learning curve for them). On the other end of the spectrum they would happily push Tim down the stairs for no reason at all.

The more in-depth version is in their character profile doc:

◯ ☽ ◑ ● ◐ ❨ ◯ ☽ ◑ ● ◐ ❨ ◯ ☽ ◑ ● ◐ ❨ ◯

My bsfs are: ☆

My Timezone: GMT+1

◯ ☽ ◑ ● ◐ ❨ ◯ ☽ ◑ ● ◐ ❨ ◯ ☽ ◑ ● ◐ ❨ ◯

(DM or send an ask if you wanna be added to the family and/or friends lists)

Family:

🦇 Cass Cain ( @ccassandra-cain )

🐦‍⬛ Tim Drake ( @redlostrobin )

🏥 Caroline Hill ( @car0line-hill )

🔦 Duke Thomas ( @irl-batsignal )

🤖 Wiley Wayne ( @f41l3d-s4f3 )

⚠️ Azina Al Ghul ( @demonsnever-cry )

Friends:

💜 Stephanie Brown ( @stillnotawayne & @spoiler-of-war )

💚 Barbara Gordon ( @babsggordon )

⚡ Bart Allen ( @speedywithadhd )

🦸‍♀️ Kara Zor-El ( @last-sun-chaser )

🪽 Cecil Winnox ( @holding-the-skies )

🍳 Boston Vitale ( @bostonvitale )

👹 Karly Westfield ( @satanwishshewasme )

🖤 Sariel ( @blackmargin )

.˳·˖✶-✶˖·˳.

OOC:

• [𝙰𝚗𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝! 𝚁𝙿 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚜, 𝙽𝚘𝚗-𝚁𝙿 𝙱𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚜, 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝙱𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚜! 𝚂𝚙𝚊𝚖 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚜! 𝚁𝚎𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚏𝚏! 𝙸𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚜 𝚖𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 know what I'm doing ehehe.]

• ((DC RP Acc -- Don't be afraid to message me in dms about a rp you wanna start. Nor should you feel scared to send me an ask!))

• Kage is my OC and as such all their lore and characterisation is up to me. Occasionally I may draw from their AU, which is separate from this RP account, by coincidence or accident so if something seems out of place? Just roll with it - I'll likely explain it down the line if it's important. Most of those things will be nicknames that Kage uses or smaller things in their past that didn't warrant being added to this post.

Main Acc: @dredgensolis

Entire list of my other rp accs:

@queenofarchery

@last-sun-chaser

@the-heartless-armed-angel

@thebestbatgirl

#dc rp blog #dc rp #oc rp #kage's chats

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fictionalreads · 1 year ago

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9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 4

Buck

Buck is like “why are you throwing me under the bus?”

He’s so excited when he gets to use power tools.

Buck. Calm days at work are normal.

LMAO They way he mentions Eddie out of nowhere.

Eddie? Why are you here?

LMAO They’re flying to Vegas.

Buck looks so jealous. It’s adorable. The little golden retriever has FOMO

Buck fishing for information.

HAHAHA YOUR WORDS ABOUT NATALIA ARE COMING BACK TO HAUNT YOU

Sir. You found him an aid a few days into knowing him.

LMAO Buck you have to stop 😂😂 I can’t take it!

At this point, Eddie has to be messing with him.

Buck you can stop lying. Chim knows the truth.

BUCK WE DON’T BREAK EDDIE

Awe he just wants his Eddie back.

Buck I thought we were over the isolation because of a fear of being left behind.

God. I LOVE BUCK

Tommy? Not who I expected at the door.

Yes Buck. Why are you so surprised you’re loved?

Is Buck about to kiss Tommy? Why are they so close?

IS HE FLIRTING WITH TOMMY?! ITS SO BLATANT

THEY FUCKING KISSED HOLY SHIT BUCK BI IS HAPPENING!!

Tumblr is about to lose their shit.

Maddie

LMAO MADDIE AND JOSH FANGIRLING IS HILARIOUS

“Is it circled with a heart around it?”

Chimney

Of course Chim fangirls too!

The fact that Chimney is willingly going along with Buck’s ruse is peak brotherhood to me.

Athena

LMAO “I was just sleeping”

HARRY! They recast Harry.

Bobby knows something.

Damn Harry. Why you running? It couldn’t have been that bad.

LMAO Why was the music so loud?

Damn you broke his jaw?! You box or something?

Boy you better stop cussing at yo mama!

Harry’s coming back to LA? Wow. Thanks ABC!

Emergencies

So I don’t watch the bachelor somebody tell me. Are these real girls from the show or are these paid actresses? I mean I figured the girl who’s gonna be the emergency I’d an actress but the rest?

Bitch really? Anthrax?

THE REAL CONCHATA Is she okay?

THIS IS A CALLBACK TO THE FIRST EPISODE WHERE BUCK FOUND A BABY IN THE PIPE

Ah shit. Watch the guy be someone she knows.

I KNEW IT

Miscellaneous

ITS THE 100th episode bitches!

I should mention I’m a lowkey Buddie shipper. As in I’m rooting for them but I’m not the one to read into every little interaction or come up with theories. If it happens, great! I’ll celebrate. But if it doesn’t, I’m not going on an angry rant here blaming the writers and actors and saying the show has gone to shit.

RAVI!

Hey, where’s May?

Tumblr is about the lose it’s shit.

#911 abc #evan buckley #evan buck buckely #eddie diaz #maddie buckley #maddie han #chimney han #howard chimney han #henrietta wilson #henrietta hen wilson #harry grant #athena grant nash #athena grant #bobby nash #ravi panikkar #tommy kinard

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mariacallous · 4 months ago

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THIS ARTICLE IS republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

On Valentine’s Day 2025, heavy rains started to fall in parts of rural Appalachia. Over the course of a few days, residents in eastern Kentucky watched as river levels rose and surpassed flood levels. Emergency teams conducted over 1,000 water rescues. Hundreds, if not thousands of people were displaced from homes, and entire business districts filled with mud.

For some, it was the third time in just four years that their homes had flooded, and the process of disposing of destroyed furniture, cleaning out the muck, and starting anew is beginning again.

Floods wiped out businesses and homes in eastern Kentucky in February 2021, July 2022, and now February 2025. An even greater scale of destruction hit eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina in September 2024, when Hurricane Helene’s rainfall and flooding decimated towns and washed out parts of major highways.

Each of these events was considered to be a “thousand-year flood,” with a 1-in-1,000 chance of happening in a given year. Yet they’re happening more often.

The floods have highlighted the resilience of local people to work together for collective survival in rural Appalachia. But they have also exposed the deep vulnerability of communities, many of which are located along creeks at the base of hills and mountains with poor emergency warning systems. As short-term cleanup leads to long-term recovery efforts, residents can face daunting barriers that leave many facing the same flood risks over and over again.

Exposing a Housing Crisis

For the past nine years, I have been conducting research on rural health and poverty in Appalachia. It’s a complex region often painted in broad brushstrokes that miss the geographic, socioeconomic, and ideological diversity it holds.

Appalachia is home to a vibrant culture, a fierce sense of pride, and a strong sense of love. But it is also marked by the omnipresent backdrop of a declining coal industry.

There is considerable local inequality that is often overlooked in a region portrayed as one-dimensional. Poverty levels are indeed high. In Perry County, Kentucky, where one of eastern Kentucky’s larger cities, Hazard, is located, nearly 30 percent of the population lives under the federal poverty line. But the average income of the top 1 percent of workers in Perry County is nearly $470,000—17 times more than the average income of the remaining 99 percent.

This income and wealth inequality translates to unequal land ownership—much of eastern Kentucky’s most desirable land remains in the hands of corporations and families with great generational wealth.

When I first moved to eastern Kentucky in 2016, I was struck by the grave lack of affordable, quality housing. I met families paying $200 to $300 a month for a small plot to put a mobile home on. Others lived in “found housing”—often distressed properties owned by family members. They had no lease, no equity, and no insurance. They had a place to lay one’s head but lacked long-term stability in the event of disagreement or disaster. This reality was rarely acknowledged by local and state governments.

Eastern Kentucky’s 2021 and 2022 floods turned this into a full-blown housing crisis, with 9,000 homes damaged or destroyed in the 2022 flood alone.

“There was no empty housing or empty places for housing,” one resident involved in local flood recovery efforts told me. “It just was complete disaster because people just didn’t have a place to go.”

Most homeowners did not have flood insurance to assist with rebuilding costs. While many applied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for assistance, the amounts they received often did not go far. The maximum aid for temporary housing assistance and repairs is $42,500, plus up to an additional $42,500 for other needs related to the disaster.

The federal government often provides more aid for rebuilding through block grants directed to local and state governments, but that money requires congressional approval and can take months to years to arrive. Local community coalitions and organizations stepped in to fill these gaps, but they did not necessarily have sufficient donations or resources to help such large numbers of displaced people.

With a dearth of affordable rentals pre-flood, renters who lost their homes had no place to go. And those living in “found housing” that was destroyed were not eligible for federal support for rebuilding.

The sheer level of devastation also posed challenges. One health care professional told me: “In Appalachia, the way it usually works is if you lose your house or something happens, then you go stay with your brother or your mom or your cousin … But everybody’s mom and brother and cousin also lost their house. There was nowhere to stay.” From her point of view, “our homelessness just skyrocketed.”

The Cost of Land—Social and Economic

After the 2022 flood, the Kentucky Department for Local Government earmarked almost $300 million of federal funding to build new, flood-resilient homes in eastern Kentucky. Yet the question of where to build remained. As another resident involved in local flood recovery efforts told me, “You can give us all the money you want; we don’t have any place to build the house.”

It has always been costly and time-intensive to develop land in Appalachia. Available higher ground tends to be located on former strip mines, and these reclaimed lands require careful geotechnical surveying and sometimes structural reinforcements.

If these areas are remote, the cost of running electric, water, and other infrastructure services can also be prohibitive. For this reason, for-profit developers have largely avoided many counties in the region. The head of a nonprofit agency explained to me that, because of this, “The markets have broken … We have no [housing] market.”

There is also some risk involved in attempting to build homes on new land that has not previously been developed. A local government could pay for undeveloped land to be surveyed and prepared for development, with the prospect of reimbursement by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development if housing is successfully built. But if, after the work to prepare the land, it is still too cost-prohibitive to build a profitable house there, the local government would not receive any reimbursement.

Some counties have found success clearing land for large developments on former strip mine sites. But these former coal mining areas can be considerable distances from towns. Without robust public transportation systems, these distances are especially prohibitive for residents who lack reliable personal transportation.

Another barrier is the high prices that both individual and corporate landowners are asking for properties on higher ground.

The scarcity of desirable land available for sale, combined with increasingly urgent demand, has led to prices unaffordable for most. Another resident involved in local flood recovery efforts explained: “If you paid $5,000 for 30 acres 40 years ago, why won’t you sell that for $100,000? Nope, [they want] $1 million.” That makes it increasingly difficult for both individuals and housing developers to purchase land and build.

One reason for this scarcity is the amount of land that is still owned by outside corporate interests. For example, Kentucky River Properties, formerly Kentucky River Coal Corporation, owns over 270,000 acres across seven counties in the region. While this landholding company leases land to coal, timber, and gas companies, it and others like it rarely permit residential development.

But not all unused land is owned by corporations. Some of this land is owned by families with deep roots in the region. People’s attachment to a place often makes them want to stay in their communities, even after disasters. But it can also limit the amount of land available for rebuilding. People are often hesitant to sell land that holds deep significance for their families, even if they are not living there themselves.

One health care professional expressed feeling torn between selling or keeping their own family property after the 2022 flood: “We have a significant amount of property on top of a mountain. I wouldn’t want to sell it because my papa came from nothing … His generation thought owning land was the greatest thing … And for him to provide his children and his grandchildren and their great-grandchildren a plot of land that he worked and sweat and ultimately died to give us—people want to hold onto that.”

She recognized that land was in great demand but couldn’t bring herself to sell what she owned. In cases like hers, higher grounds are owned locally but still remain unused.

Moving Toward Higher Ground, Slowly

Two years after the 2022 flood, major government funding for rebuilding still has not resulted in a significant number of homes. The state has planned seven communities on higher ground in eastern Kentucky that aim to house 665 new homes. As of early 2025, 14 houses had been completed.

Progress on providing housing on higher ground is slow, and the need is great.

In the meantime, when I conducted interviews during the summer and fall of 2024, many of the mobile home communities that were decimated in the 2022 flood had begun to fill back up. These were flood-risk areas, but there was simply no other place to go.

Last week, I watched on Facebook a friend’s live video footage showing the waters creeping up the sides of the mobile homes in one of those very communities that had flooded in 2022. Another of my friends mused: “I don’t know who constructed all this, but they did an unjustly favor by not thinking how close these towns was to the river. Can’t anyone in Frankfort help us, or has it gone too far?”

With hundreds more people now displaced by the most recent flood, the need for homes on higher grounds has only expanded, and the wait continues.

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gumnut-logic · 1 year ago

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Along the Way (Part 3)

Sweetapple | Dear Mr Tracy | Along the way - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Oh my goodness, September last year! Early September last year - was the last time I posted a part of this fic. I didn't forget it! Here is Part 3!

Thank you to @onereyofstarlight for her amazing support and for listening to my whinging and my migraine as we proofed this together. Also to @womble1 and @idontknowreallywhy for their contributions to this universe :D I had much fun rereading the whole series over the last couple of days - enough to get me writing again :D And, of course, Thunderfam at large - your support for Alexander Sweetapple as an OC has been overwhelming and I love all of you :D

Anyways, here's an answer to my evil cliffhanger from Part 2 :D I hope you enjoy it.

-o-o-o-

He woke in the dark.

Damnit, he’d fallen asleep at his desk again.

A few disconnected seconds and he realised he was not sitting at his desk - but something equally as hard was in his lap, jammed into his belly. There was grit under his fingertips.

His head hurt like that time Erica had conned him into drinking with her and Fred.

He blinked. Erica and Fred. The big Scotsman was very polite around her, and she did smile often around him.

But then Fred was always polite and Erica smiled all the time.

Somewhere water was dripping.

Alex groaned.

What the hell happened?

He reached up to touch his head and amongst the grit and dirt a sharp source of pain explained clearly why he didn’t remember.

Really, lying down and going back to sleep felt like the right thing to do.

His head drooped.

But…

What remained of his brain started putting things together and the sum of his circumstance did not add up well.

Blink.

Orientation at Tracy Industries had a mandatory safety class. It involved first aid and a huge list of things to remember in an emergency, symptoms and things to look for in situations. Alex had paid a lot of attention as part of the course was delivered by a holographic recording of Mr Scott Tracy, and the fanboy in him had lit up like a Christmas tree. Of course, that was before he actually met Mr Tracy, and Gordon…

And Virgil’s eyebrows.

Blink.

Disorientation was a symptom.

Sleepiness was a symptom.

Pounding headache was a symptom.

Darkness and dirt were likely a cause. Darkness and dirt. He clenched his fingers on the surface in front of him. Grit caught in his fingernails.

Light. He needed light.

His phone.

He fumbled for his back pocket. Found it empty.

A whimper to his right.

Blink.

The whimper became a sob and he found himself twisting in that direction.

He still needed light.

“Are you okay?” Apparently he had a voice, cracked and dry, but a voice nonetheless.

“I’m stuck.” High-pitched and frantic.

“I’m coming.” He shifted, pushing out from under what was trying to pin him. The movement set off a cascade of creaking and rumbling, dust puffed into the air and he was coughing.

Ow.

But then everything began to shake. Tremor!

Screams around him spoke of several distressed people he couldn’t see. The shaking was intense and the structure around them groaned and creaked, dust clogged his lungs. Somewhere in the distance something snapped with a sharp crack and his world moved sideways.

Shit!

But then everything stopped almost as suddenly as it had started.

All that was left were the sounds of water, and crying, terrified people.

It was startlingly sobering.

Something crucial must have moved in the chaos because there was now the faintest of light in the dark, as if someone had turned on a desk lamp down the hall and around several corners. Not much, but enough to see shapes, barely.

Something above creaked alarmingly.

People were still crying.

“It’s okay, I’m coming.” He shifted his body, ignoring its twinges and complaints. His ankle caught on something but he pulled it out of the dark and ended up on his belly, crawling towards the closest person in distress.

“Hey.” He reached out and found what felt like a shoulder. “I’m here. It’s going to be okay.”

Was it?

“I’m stuck.” She, because she sounded like a she, moved and the whole world around them groaned and shifted.

Dirt fell in Alex’s hair.

-o-o-o-

“Hold still, big bro.” Calm and reassuring, Gordon was running his hands over Virgil’s tangled limbs, scanner in hand.

“I’m fine, Gordon. We have a job to do.” There were so many more lives to save. He tried to sit up, but found himself still entangled in his exosuit.

“You can afford to stay still for a moment, Virgil, and let Gordon check you over.” John’s voice was calm but a little threatening. Virgil knew the routine. Behave yourself or the Voice Who Answers will tattle-tale to the Commander Who Frets and will kick Virgil’s ass if he doesn’t stay still.

He let out a sigh and closed his eyes a moment.

It would be so nice to just sleep.

But then Alex smiled at him and Virgil’s heart wrenched.

There was no time. Lives needed saving.

He engaged the exosuit and its hydraulics whined.

“Virgil!”

But Virgil wasn’t listening and no brother could prevent the exosuit from moving. Gordon scurried back, scanner flickering and beeping, and Virgil rose into a scene of destruction.

The centre of Gisborne was little more than piles of rubble, a few random buildings still standing, but so many not. He could see clear to the fork in the Tūranganui River.

GDF forces were finally landing, their rescue experts deploying equipment. No doubt IR would be coordinated shortly.

“Sit rep!” Virgil’s voice was harsh and grated across his throat.

Gordon glared at him. “Bruising and a stubborn ass.” He slipped his scanner back into his kit. “Aftershock. We got targets one through fifty-two. Alan’s working on the rest.” Gordon turned back to his pod, stomping off his worry as anger.

Virgil sighed and straightened his shoulders. Bruises bitched in reminder. “Thunderbird Five, targets to my HUD.”

His space-bound brother’s voice was about as pissed as Gordon’s. “Sending now.” A grunt of frustration. “Take it easy, Thunderbird Two.”

Virgil grunted at him and went back to doing his job.

Refusing to ask the status of Scott’s situation.

He couldn’t afford it.

-o-o-o-

Scott’s situation…was getting more dire by the moment.

They were down to one lifesign and his big brother heart was aching.

All but Erica and Alex were accounted for and if he was honest with himself, he was terrified

He had worked with both the engineers…well, not extensively, that was more Virgil’s area. But he had seen the smiles on his brother’s face regarding Alex, and Erica reminded him of Gordon, except with more pink…or blue…or…hell, one of them was probably dead!

The Commander stepped in and shoved the emotion into that box he kept at the back of his mind. What happened, happened, and he would deal with it as it came.

The lifesign blinked on his HUD.

“Ready to lift!” Fireman Fred had a crane attached to the final slab of concrete.

The team of TI Māhia was formidable and Scott couldn’t help but feel proud of them. They were a great group of people.

The slab began to lift and he held his breath, body poised to move.

The team had made it abundantly clear that they didn’t like their leader diving into the rubble, but today he was International Rescue and there was no way he was risking anyone else.

“Clear!”

Acknowledgement from Thunderbird Five and Scott was moving. Nimble on winged boots, he leapt over the rubble and beneath the hanging slab.

Darkness, dirt, broken furniture, a smashed laptop…and a small figure curled up in a fetal position.

Too small to be Alex.

Too pink-haired to be Alex.

His scanner out, he waved it over a prone and injured Erica Stoltz as his heart both broke and burst with guilt at the same time.

Bruising, broken arm, she blinked up at him, dirt falling from her hair. “Mr Tracy?” Her voice was whispered terror.

No spinal threat, possible head injury, safe to move. “Hey, Erica.” His voice was soft, aimed to reassure. “Let’s get you out of here.”

He reached down and gently scooped her into his arms. Dirty pink hair rested on his shoulder. “Inter…national Rescue.”

“Yeah.” He shifted into a crouch, balanced her weight in his arms and stepping over the remains of the lab, climbed up and out of the rubble. “We’re here to help.”

A cheer met him as the crowd caught sight of Erica. Tia was smiling through the tears in her eyes.

Alex…

An image of the engineer letting go of an exhausted Virgil on the beachfront of Whitianga, eyes wide as he stared up at Scott. Virgil smiling over a shot of whisky in the evening air on their balcony, Alex’s name on his lips. Alexander dropping his computer in heroic reverence over Scott himself and later Scott’s father…again.

As he strode towards the TI team, triumphant at another member found safe, Scott’s mind was roiling over the member they had lost.

They were friends. Only friends.

Friends forever.

Fuck.

The medical team swooped in and Scott gently deposited Erica on a hoverstretcher.

He smiled down at her. “You’re safe now.”

She stared up at him wide-eyed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He turned away to face both Fred and Tia and what now must be done.

His HUD had no more lifesigns to give any hope. “Thunderbird Five, confirm rescue complete.”

There was silence for a moment, an unusual hesitation in the air. “Confirmed, Thunderbird One. All lifesigns accounted for.”

Perhaps he still had hope because those words dashed whatever was left.

Tia looked up at him and Fred looked down. Both faces spoke reality.

Scott cleared his throat. “We need to find Mr Sweetapple. Where was he last seen?”

Tia blinked and it was her turn to clear her throat, but she straightened, as professional as he. “Mr Sweetapple had just returned from visiting his mother in Napier. He was still technically on leave, but I suspect he returned to his lab anyway.” She drew in a breath. “He loved his work.”

Past tense.

Past tense always hurt.

He straightened again, his hand reaching out to touch Tia’s arm. “We will find him.”

She stared up at him, tears welling in her eyes again. “I know.” Her lips pursed. “Thank you.”

He turned back to the rubble that had taken so much. Beside him, the medical team finished their examination of Erica and activated the hoverstretcher, ready to take her to the ambulance waiting…

Scott blinked.

Spinning on a heel, he pushed his way towards the engineer. “Erica, do you know where Alex was before the quake hit? We need to find him.”

Wide blue eyes look up at him…and frowned. “Alex?” She looked out over the remains of the labs. “So glad I kicked him out. He could have-“ She hitched in a breath.

Scott froze. “What?”

“He is going to be so pissed. All his work…” She blinked as if suddenly realising exactly she who she was talking to. She moved to sit up. Both Scott and the medical team hurrying to stop her.

“Erica.” Scott crouched down, his heart missing beat after beat. “Where is Alexander Sweetapple?”

“In Gisborne. With his mother.”

-o-o-o-

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #virgil tracy #scott tracy #gordon tracy #alexander sweetapple #nuttyfic #I wrote more Sweetapple!#yay!#stupid migraine can go away though #I'm posting regardless

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soapy-soartp · 1 year ago

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Trying my hand at Whumperless Whump Event of July by @whumperless-whump-event

(Pls be nice this is my first writing event)

Day: 1- EMERGENCY FIRST AID

Prompt: Self-done stitches / Alcohol as sanitizer / "It's just a scratch, I've had worse." -> different meeting Hualian AU, by a twist of fate HC stumbles upon his recently injured and very disheveled god, he invites his god to his house, naturally Xie Lian accepts

Fandom: Heaven Official's Blessing, TGCF

Characters: Hua Cheng / Xie Lian

His highness collapsed.

Hua Cheng has finally found him again and he collapses. The ghost rushes forward to stop him from further injuring himself. He hooks his beloved's arms above his own and slowly lowers them both to the ground, his highness’ back to his chest.

Never has Hua Cheng felt as worthless and unworthy as he does at this very moment.

His highness is here! In his arms! How dare he lay a hand on him without asking. How dare he put his unworthy hands on his highness. He has no right to, he’s worthless. After all, why did it take him so long to find him? He should apologize-

His spiraling thoughts were cut off by a barely heard wince and the person in his arms shifting ever so slightly.

“Your hi- erm Daozhang? Are… are you alright?” He asks, concern clearly coloring his tone and face as he peers down at his god.

Stupid question of course not- if he was alright why would he collapse!

“Ahaha… I’m alright! It's just a scratch, I've had worse!” Was the response and his beloved turned a concerning shade of red.

“A scratch?- You’re hurt?! Your- Daozhang!! Please allow this humble one to help!” He pleads, beginning to panic in his own right looking over the man in his arms.

That's when he notices the other’s very disheveled and filthy appearance.

“Daozhang-“ The ghost starts, obviously distressed, but he was cut off by the man in his lap trying to get up on his own.

His god must have suffered and lived in squalor for who knows how long! The thought has the ghost’s heart heavy with grief and guilt.

“I'm fine! I'm fine! I patched myself up!” The man in tattered robes says as he shakily tries to stand, but he falls again with a low hiss.

The ghost swoops in to steady the other and he says earnestly, “If this Daozhang wouldn’t mind, it would still make this one feel better if you allowed him to check your injuries… I fear you may have reopened a wound or something got infected, so if you could?”

“Ah… No no! I couldn’t possibly trouble you, um?” The other insists, but it’s obvious he could definitely use the help.

“This Daozhang can call this humble one San Lang and it is no trouble at all!”

“San Lang…” After a moment of deliberation the fallen god nods and whispers an embarrassed, “Thank you”

He helps his highness settle on a relatively clean and flat rock and he motions for him to show his injury. The fallen god nods and pulls up his dirty and distressed robes to reveal a nasty looking cut on the inside of his calf. True to his word he did try to patch it up but…

The ghost king can’t help the grimace that appears on his face, he hates seeing his beloved, his god be hurt. He would’ve liked to be more subtle in his approach but there's no time for that when his god is suffering so.

“… That looks bad, this honorable Daozhang did a fair attempt at patching it up but I’m still concerned about infection and whether it’ll reopen again…” The ghost king explains then his hands twitches, “May this one touch…?”

His god nods, face still a light pink, and expression sheepish, “Ah, yes well I did use some wine to sanitize it before I started stitching? And please no need to be so formal, San Lang.”

“…Wine-“ A flicker of despair flits over the ghost's face before he smooths out his expression and looks up at his god, “Gege…? Would you allow this one to take you to his residence? It’d be much better for you to recover there.”

He can’t help but invite his god to come with him, after all with him in ghost city it would be much easier to ensure his well-being and happiness. And his beloved looks very much worse for wear, his white robes tattered and dirty, his cheeks and eyes a bit sunken, skin pale and obviously he’s had quite the experience while Hua Cheng wasn’t with him.

“I couldn’t possibly-“ His god begins but in a moment of bravery he earnestly interjects, nearly pleading with the other to let him whisk him away to a better life.

“Gege please… This one swears it would be more troublesome for me if I were to just let you go without providing proper aid!”

The god stares at this strange youth (who is suspiciously finely dressed for being so deep in this forest). He stares down at those earnest eyes that seem oh so familiar, and makes his decision.

“Alright San Lang, take me away?”

#Hualian #my writing #tgcf spoilers #Slight character Injury #Xie Lian having no self preservation skills #Panicked thoughts #Self hating thoughts #Hua cheng being hua cheng #Hualian au #hualian moving waay to quick for two people who 'JUST' met #as usual #Xie Lian's lack of care for himself

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theratandcatshow · 1 year ago

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Episode 1: prologue

??? Pov:

"Your order will be initiated immediately with a focus on achieving the target."

That was all I heard. At least until a door was opened for me and I was left standing in the middle of the door frame. In front of me stood a man, about 6 feet tall. He had brown hair, a narrow nose, and a mouth whose outer corners barely moved. He was wearing a white lab coat.

"Here's your Backpack, I think it's clear that none of them are allowed to see it, isn't it?"

"Yes" Why does my voice sound so strange? Is that even my own voice? What the fuck is going on here? Who am I?

"Didn't you read your plan?"

Huh? Of course I read it, you've told me that hundreds of times, was that wrong?

"You mustn't talk, you little rat. You nod and otherwise you don't open your filthy mouth. Got it?"

Does he have to speak to me in such a disgusted tone? Who is that anyway? My head feels so strange, as if I've just got out of bed. I've been awake all day for the last few days and haven't slept a wink.

"Well, it contains pens, a notebook, a map, a small monocular, a flashlight for the dark forest. A few food supplies for the next few days and a first aid kit in case of emergency."

I try to memorize everything, after all, these items are of crucial importance to me.

"And you know the rules, every evening at 8 p.m. sharp, i.e. when it gets dark, you come into the Dark Forest. You place the sheet filled with your observations on each critter in front of the spot marked in red and then fuck off."

He pushed the Backpack in front of my face and stared into my eyes. The Backpack is heavy, at least five kilos. 'Are there really only the things listed in there?

He analyzes me for a few more seconds and I take a step back, after all, I'm still standing in the middle of the door frame. He seems to see it as an opportunity and slams the door in my face.

In the last few days, I've learned everything I need to know for this job. Everything about the surroundings: the so-called Critter Valley. There were roads, large meadows with hills, a lake and even a small beach. But there are also borders. To be on the safe side, I have a map in my Backpack anyway. This whole place here is bordered by a forest, the Dark Forest. You can hardly see there, navigating here is "completely impossible" according to the man in the smock.

This is exactly where I've just been let out. I can't even see the door that has been slammed behind my back. The only sign that I'm still somewhere is when I hear the click of the flashlight in my right hand. But it doesn't help much, I now only have a small circle in front of me and visibility is no better. I can see a few trees, grasses and a formally flat ground beneath me.

'This is where I'm supposed to bring my observation report at the end of each day?

The Backpack I've been given is heavy. I'm still holding it in my hand, so I'd better put it on. I set off first, according to the map I just have to walk straight ahead and then enter the normal forest.

Vines and leaves are everywhere, although they are not all the same color...

But that's understandable, after all, this world isn't real and only exists for the Smilling Critters

This is logical, the world is not just a place of lush grass, permanently good weather and a group of friends who think they are animals. War, disease and darkness are everywhere, this world is not exempt.

I stop for a moment and take the notebook out of my Backpack. It's black and has lots of little red squares in it. I take it in my left hand and stand up. Then I pull the Backpack over my shoulder and put it on my back.

I continue to stand still and shine the yellow flashlight on the notebook as I open it. I have already made notes about my situation and my mission over the last three days. I take a quick look at the first page.

I woke up in a completely white room with doctors and people in lab coats. About 15 of them walk around outside my room from 8am to 8pm, 5 women and 10 men. I can't remember my name or anything else, plus I don't know if I've always looked like this...I don't feel human.

I scroll on, after all, I have already read this page 23 times.

'Bobby BearHug, Bubba Bubbaphant, CraftyCorn, DogDay, Hoppy Hopscotch, KickinChicken, PickyPiggy, CatNap.'

I've written the name DogDay in bold, it's important. The funny guy in the lab coat said it was a boy. DogDay seems to be the leader of the Smilling Critters, so he's very important for the observations. I'll have to bury him most every day and write everything down. My Backpack jolts briefly on my back at the thought, the monocular seems to have fallen on its side.

'DogDay, the sunny, strong and determined leader of the Smilling Critters. Everyone seems to trust him to find the positive in every situation and to have a word of encouragement when someone is feeling down. He'll always keep an eye on all his friends and look after them.'

It was written by me, but the last sentence still bothers me. Since he always has his friends in mind and takes care of them, he'll be quite a stone in the way.

But I will have to introduce myself to the group, that was the very first instruction from the scientist guy. His words go straight through my mind.

'I want them to think that there are other people in Critter Valley, too, otherwise it's all getting too absurd.

To be honest, I think this whole idea is fucking stupid. If the Smilling Critters are getting too close to the truth. Which is: This whole world isn't real, you're in a giant place that's been designed for you and you can't escape.

Plus the whole idea that they get scripts in their letterboxes and have to play episodes for the TV show. You already know from the event that something is not right in this world. Plus the fact that their fridges magically turn off at night.

This all screams conspiracy, doesn't it?

Or are they really that stupid? Well, maybe they are, except for one, Bubba Bubbaphant, the supposed genius of the group. His name is underlined on my person page, after all, he could be just as annoying as DogDay. In the event that he really is as clever as he is in the series, he could cause me problems when I'm shadowing him.

'They currently suspect that something is already wrong. Our camera analysis has shown that they sometimes meet in the forest, but we don't know what they discuss there. They have already refused to film the script once as a group. That was a couple of weeks ago, let me put it this way...The Red Poppy Gass taught them a lesson.

I always take only the most important things from the scientists' statements. So for starters, they already know about the sort of conspiracy, I'm sure this Bubba guy had something to do with not filming the script. Most likely its his idea to Begin With. In case it was, I'd have to keep a special eye on him too.

I look slightly away from the side at my right hand and notice something straight away. It was faded brown in color. The shade reminded me of a wilted apple, but it actually felt completely normal. On the contrary, when I feel my individual fingers, there are even claws sticking out, about 2 centimeters long.

I've almost forgotten that I'm still standing here in the pure darkness of the forest. I close the notebook and hold it in one hand as I walk on. Thinking that I have to come back every evening at 8 pm sharp or when it gets dark is pretty annoying. 'Do I have spare batteries in my pocket?

And suddenly it's light.

I turn around and look into the endless darkness that turns its back on me. I'm finally out of the Dark Forest, now it's time for the Normal Forest.

Green grasses, trees bursting with color and rays of light threatening to burn down the trees whose path it blocks. I take a look around, but all I see is the forest, the trees and everything else that is here.

My steps become a little heavier, as does my breathing. The air here is stuffy, but I'll have to get used to it. I should think about what my next step is now.

Is it day or is it night? Will I have to write a report for today? What happens if I just don't write a report? Will I be taught a lesson like the Smilling Critters? No, I have more important things to think about. How much longer until I'm finally in the goddamn neighborhood? Wait, do I even want to go there? No, I have to watch them from afar, maybe from a tree? Will I be able to climb a tree? Maybe with my claws. But how much do I weigh? Can I even hold myself up? Or...How do I look?

Wait... what am I?

My eyes wandered to the floor, I overlooked it at first, but there was a sheet of paper. It was lying next to a support, but this was uninteresting for the time being. Several rays of sunlight were shining on the sheet, separated by all the leaves above me. I don't need to get any closer, I've already noticed over the last few days that my vision has improved.

It was a painted picture of Kickinchicken and Hoppy Hopscotch. The Green Bunny was terribly painted, crooked legs, a much too big head and her Green Bunny ears take up almost a third of the page. Kickinchicken himself was painted bigger than Hoppy, although according to my information both are the same size. He also had his beak painted in different colors, yellow, red and a strange shade of gold.

But the most important thing in the picture was neither of them. It was the sun in the top right-hand corner. It had just under eight rays of light between it and Hoppy. But the sun had an eye in the middle. It was a black eye, a shade so dark it was probably ink. The pupil of the eye was on the bottom left, looking straight down at Hoppy and Kickin. It looked like he had put most of his Little Power into the sun, for detail. The Eight Beams of Light as an attachment for the party members and the eye as a metaphor for the observation that the critters had already noticed.

It was clear that this picture was painted by Kickin. In my opinion, Kickinchicken is the most unnecessary member of the Smilling Critters. He doesn't seem to have as much stamina as Hoppy, is not as sensitive as Bobby, not as clever as Bubba, not as creative as Crafty, has no idea about food and nutrition unlike Picky.

And is definitely not leader material like DogDay

I can't compare his incompetence with CatNap. After all, CatNap was in almost none of the episodes I saw, he's a mystery. The only thing I know about him is his ability with the Poppy gass. And even that I only know from eavesdropping on a coworker's conversation.

'No, when he was extremely stressed, that's when the gas happened'

So CatNap is dangerous, in case he notices me in some way or other I have to watch out for this alley. But he won't see or notice me, none of them will.

But now that I was looking next to the picture, at the support, the thought came back.

Wait a minute, what am I?

I slowly take a step forward. Time slowed down, the sunbeams on the ground stopped moving, as did the leaves on the trees above me. Now I stand in front of the Kleine Fütze and see it.

It is a hideous view, a rat. The dark reflection of the dirty water matches my form. Pointed nose with a brown dot on it. My ears are not on the side of my head like normal, they are set much higher. In addition, my left ear is only half full, it looked terrible. There is fur on my body, most of it looks like it has been burnt off or badly glued on. I can hardly feel the lower half of my body.

So I'm like the rest

No, I was already born a rat.

My eyes rise up from the pillow and I see it...

Clouds, a sun that shines brighter than anything else and a few houses and streets in the distance. So I'm at the beginning of the forest, now Critter Valley begins.

"Ah...I'm one of those experiments now"

#poppy playtime #dogday #poppy playtime 3 #smilling critters #villain reader #catnap #stalking #bubba bubbaphant #alternate universe

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