#160 Years and Counting; | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

zarvasace · 6 months ago

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Description and a bit more info under the cut.

A series of green, blue, and red graphics using a nice sans serif font and a Zelda display serif font with white and gold as accents.

First picture. 2024 Linked Universe Fandom AO3 Wrapped, presented by Mina, @zarvasace. (That's me!)

As a fandom, we wrote 2,273 fics in 2024

That's over 6 a day every day this year!

In smaller text below: Counting only fics tagged with “Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda)” on AO3. Counting all fics last updated from Jan 1, 2024 to Dec 31, 2024. Data pulled by hand on Jan 1, 2024 at ~2:00 AM GMT-7.

Next picture. Our favorite tags this year were:

1, Hurt/Comfort with 432 tags

2, Fluff with 352 tags

3, Angst with 335 tags

4, Not Beta Read with 260 tags. Here there is also a brief exchange in two handwriting styles. One arrow points to this tag with the remark, “perfectionists, much?” Another cursive hand replies “Be nice.” to which the first says, “no”

5, Legend-centric with 251 tags

At the bottom of this image is a piece of parchment. The scratchier handwriting says, “Ha, I'm the favorite. Take that.” and the curlier handwriting replies “Not so fast, Ledge… we aren't done yet.”

Next picture. Favorite tags continued:

6, Blood and Injury with 230 tags

7, Wild-centric with 204 tags

8, Whump with 215 tags

9, Emotional Hurt/Comfort with 181 tags

10, Good Older Sibling Warriors with 163 tags. Legend's handwriting says “Din give me strength—” to that.

Section break, and a bit more: An average of 7.46% fics every month were tagged Whump. Except October, which saw a spike to 29.5%.

Next picture. Our favorite Links. This info is presented in a table, with names on the left and number of tags on the right, organized from most to least.

Warriors, 1408 (his handwriting says: HA!! I won something!)

Legend, 1398 (his handwriting says: BY TEN.)

Twilight, 1371

Time, 1323

Wild, 1217

Hyrule, 1151

Wind, 1143

Sky, 1137

Four, 1027

At the bottom is another piece of parchment. Legend says: “JUST TEN.” Warriors says: “Jealous?” Legend replies: “I don't know if being the favorite is a good thing.”

Next picture. Our favorite secondary characters were Malon (176 tags) and Racio (160 tags)

Section break. and the most popular pairings were Malon/Time (161 tags), Legend/Racio (89 tags*), Sky/Sun (66 tags).

At the bottom is the asterisk footnote: it's no secret that our fandom tags are a little wonky sometimes. This number adds together the works tagged “Legend (Linked Universe)/Ravio” and “Link/Ravio” where the work was also tagged “Linked Universe,” assuming that people would only tag one.

Next picture. 2024’s longest fic was: This is an Adjuration by @not-freyja (linked below).

Editor’s note: linked here!

With a total of 312,547 words. That's almost 971 a day!

Began July 14, 2023, Finished May 30, 2024.

Screenshot of the tag summary from AO3, showing a Mature rating, Gen, an archive warning, and complete.

Significant tags: Time Travel, the Chain as Family, Time Loop, Multiversal Time Travel, Temporal War Crimes, Chain Meets Chain, Chronically Ill Sky, Four Splits Into the Colors, Fairy Hyrule, Hyrule Has a Blood Curse.

At the bottom, Legend’s writing says: “That sounds like a lot of time travel…”

Next four pictures are a set titled Fandom Trends by month. Each month has, in order, a Popular Link, Popular Duos, Popular Genre, and Unique Tags, along with occasional handwritten commentary.

January: Twilight. Twilight & Wild. Hurt/Comfort. Crack, Soft Legend. Commentary: Warriors says “aww.” and Legend responds “I'm going to poison your milk.”

February: Warriors. Twilight & Wild, Twilight & Warriors, Legend & Warriors. Angst. Febuwhump 2024.

March: Twilight. Twilight & Wild, Time & Twilight. Fluff. One Shot, Linked Universe Discord Server’s 5th Birthday Gift Exchange.

April: Legend. Twilight & Wild, Twilight and Warriors. (Commentary from Legend: “wow Twi”) Fluff. Humor, Canon-Typical Violence.

May: Twilight, Warriors. Hyrule & Legend, Twilight & Wild. (Commentary from Legend, circling Hyrule’s name: “Finally some good taste.”) Fluff. Other Additional Tags to be Added.

June: Twilight. Twilight & Wild, Time & Warriors. Hurt/Comfort. June of Doom 2024, Sky-centric, Twilight-centric. (Commentary from Warriors: “Wait, doom?! Oh, there's Sky”)

Editor's note: congratulations to @somer-writes who singlehandedly got June of Doom in the top 10 tags of June. :)

July: Warriors. Hyrule & Legend, Time & Twilight. Hurt/Comfort. Twilight-centric. (Commentary from Legend: “leave some for the rest of us”)

August: Legend. Hyrule & Legend, Legend & Warriors, Time & Twilight. Hurt/Comfort. Crack, Fluff and Angst. (Commentary from Warriors: “I'm concerned.”)

September: Legend. Time & Twilight, Twilight & Wild. Hurt/Comfort. Sicktember 2024, Legend Has a Bad Time. (Commentary from Legend: “Excuse me?!” Warriors says: “I suppose your immune system is awful now.” Legend responds with: “ha ha.”)

October: Warriors. Time & Twilight, Time & Warriors. Hurt/Comfort. Whumptober 2024, Warriors Has a Bad Time. (Commentary from Warriors: “oh no…” To which Legend responds: “HAHAHAHAH”)

November: Warriors. Time & Warriors, Hyrule & Legend. Fluff. Crack, Good Older Sibling Warriors.

December: Legend. Hyrule & Legend, Twilight & Wild, Warriors & Wind. Hurt/Comfort. Families of Choice.

Parchment at the bottom has Warriors saying, “That's a nice note to end on.” Legend responds, “Not so bad I guess.”

Thanks for coming along with me on this fun stats journey! It's been a privilege to add to this fandom.

I thought about adding a section for ratings or prevalence of Gen fics, but I think you can guess that we’re a Gen- and Teen-heavy fandom. You can see my raw data and some more charts over on the Google sheet right at this link. Ha, link. :)

#linked universe #my art #sorta #ao3 #linkeduniverse #Lu #fandom meta #fanfiction #lu fanfiction #Lu fandom #lu fandom ao3 wrapped #archive of our own #I stayed up too late making this #long post

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bbokicidal · 2 months ago

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Joyride | [B.C]

Synopsis: You hear a familiar voice line coming from your boyfriend's phone.

Notes: Thought this would be a fun little drabble between my 4K event posts! I thought of this while playing this month's Hunter Challenge or whatever they're called lol. Pairing: Bang Chan x GN!Reader Warnings: None Genre: Fluff Word Count: 646

Just as you had passed the living room to head into the kitchen you'd caught sight of your boyfriend sitting on the couch with his feet on the coffee table, his posture as horrendous as it could possibly get. His chin is tucked down against his chest, his thumbs tapping away at his phone screen when it's turned sideways in his hands.

He's focused, eyes darting across the colorful landscape displayed on his phone - and you automatically assume he's playing Genshin Impact from the noises coming from his speaker.

"Two stars," Chris huffs quietly under his breath, making you giggle as you open the fridge door and reach in to grab the juice. Shutting the door, you unscrew the cap with your free hand and set the bottle on the counter, continuing to listen to the sounds emanating from his phone.

"Whatcha doin', baby?" You coo, knowing it'll be at least a few seconds before he answers when he's caught up in his game. "Do you want to help me make lunch or should we order in?"

Chris lets out another breath before he answers, blinking rapidly at his screen as a white light flashes over it and the 'Victory' title displaying as the battle comes to an end. "I can help - Just give me one sec."

Just as you're about to reply and offer up some ideas for what you could cook together, something from his phone catches you off guard; A voice line you were all too familiar with.

"Are you up for a joyride, later?"

"Where do you want to take me?"

"Guess."

You whip around at the counter, one hand staying on it to keep you stable when you stare over at him. "Are you playing Love And Deepspace?"

Chris looks up, eyes wide and mouth pressed into a thin line as if caught red handed. "Maybe," He quips, giggling shortly after when you begin to approach him. His smile pulls at his cheeks and makes them dimple, the couch cushion creasing under your weight as you kneel beside him.

"Show me what outfits you have on the boys!" You grin, reaching to tap at his screen to try and get back to the main page. You want to see what guy he has to greet him, what outfits he puts the guys in, and how many Kitty Card badges he's collected! "Do you have any 5-Star Memories?"

Chris giggles, this time a little more sheepish as he taps into his Memories and tips his phone to show you four out of the five from this year's Valentines Event; The Event where the boys were all dressed up in chains and black leather outfits; The Event that introduced everyone to the characters with deliciously styled mullets. "I have these? But I don't have that many other ones," And he's a liar; Lying right to your face when you can see how many memories he has for Rafayel. Your jaw drops in disbelief and you grin, laughing out breathily at the sight of just how into the game your boyfriend was - and the fact that you had no idea.

"I cannot believe you," You breathe out, clicking through his memories while leaning into his side to see what all he has. And he welcomes it; Truthfully, he loves how into mobile games you are. It makes him feel better knowing sometimes he can spend hours on Genshin while you ogle pretty men in LADS while you lay in bed next to each other.

Chris smiles down at you while you're distracted, watching you go through his game to see all of his collectibles. Though, he's not going to address the fact that he's already level 93 - Nor is he going to mention why his affinity level with Rafayel is Devotion: 160.

He's wholeheartedly devoted to you, of course; But... come on; It's Rafayel.

Permanent Taglist :

@dwaekkicidal @possum-playground

@thatonedarkskinnedsiren @oc3anfloor @theyadorevalerie

@jeonginsleftcheek @pixie-felix @hwangjoanna @skzophreniic

@silly250

#skz x reader #skz imagine #stray kids x reader #bangchan x reader #bangchan fluff #skz fluff #stray kids fluff #stray kids fic

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callsign-swan · 15 days ago

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i just wanna knit bob reynolds a sweater.

i wanna sit with him while the rest of the team is on a mission. at first, it's hard to find something to do. bob is happy to read alone, you sitting with him.

but you can't just sit with him and do nothing. like, sitting still, your hands not doing anything, is like a modern form of torture. your phone stopped being interesting a while back and you weren't one for drawing.

god, it had been years since you picked up a pair of kitting needles. you didn't know anything about needle sizing in comparison to yarn thickness or how to construct a knitted piece.

youtube became your new best friend.

while bob sat on in the armchair and read his book, you were sat with your legs folded beneath you, headphones connected to your phone as you watched a youtube video on how to knit.

(you'd started with a video that needed a basic understanding of knitting. a basic understanding that you didn't have. the video looked good, though, something you would enjoy watching without that understanding of knitting. you saved it to come back to later)

it was hard to get the sizing right. you didn't know how many inches bobs waist was. so, you guessed. it was either gonna come out so big that you could fit inside of it with him, or it was gonna be so tight, he wouldn't be able to pull it over his head.

the fifth time bob watched you unravel the knitting you had done (with each new attempt at the ribbing along the bottom, it got neater), he put his book down. "what're you doing?" he asked you, leaning forward in his seat. his hand was in his fist as he looked at you.

he couldn't understand it. the way you held your thumb and your finger apart, yarn twisted around them. as you moved them, the yarn went onto the needles. to bob, you looked like an expert.

"nothing, bobert," you mumbled and held up your needles, carefully counting how many stitches you had. (160)

(that was all you had. your needles and your yarn. you didn't have anything else you needed, stitch markers or measuring tape. but this was the start of a new hobby, a new obsessin, you could tell).

you were happy with it, happy with how many stitched you had on your needles. they were bunched up at the end just from the sheer amount of stitches you had.

to bob, it didn't look like you were doing nothing. especially not when you started moving your needles. for a few more minutes, just until you got to the end of the row, he watched you. it looked fucking complicated, that he was sure of.

it was a good couple of hours later that you walked over to him. "stand up," you said to him. bob obeyed and stood. he was still has you held the needles up, pinching the ends to stop the stitches from sliding off. "perfect, i think," you mumbled and wandered back to your chair.

in silence, you worked. a comfortable silence that stretched between you and bob. he tried his best to keep on reading his book, but he was damn distracted by you. you as you knitted, wrapping the yarn around the needle and then pulling it off. you repeated the process again and again.

it was late into the afternoon when you stood up again. wandering over to bob, you took his hand and pulled him to his feet. you held the almost finished panel of the sweater up. "hold it," you mumbled and bob did just that.

you counted the amount of stitches that would make up his shoulder. you were so close to being done, just a few more hours and this panel would be done. (you just had three more to go, but you wouldn't need bob for that. it was just that his waist was narrow and his torso was long, you never could have worked out the measurements without him there).

"what're you doing?" bob tried again.

"nothing, bobert, i swear!" you insisted and took the panel of the sweater back from him.

the way he looked at you, you knew he didn't believe you. but it was obvious, wasn't it? it was so damn obvious what you were doing, he just wanted to hear you say it.

you returned to the chair and began knitting again. the team returned but you didn't notice. you were too busy knitting, and bob was too busy watching you. it was so damn sweet.

now, the sweater was nowhere near finished. you had a lot of work to do, the making and the stitching together. but it was well on the way, your sweater for bob.

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bogleech · 1 month ago

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Mortasheen is going to be four years late but so far every backer who's seen the preview book has loved it, compared to countless projects I've followed that went even further overtime and were disappointments. POST-KICKSTARTER TIMELINE SO FAR:

2021: spent on tons of new artwork of my own while organizing art from all the other illustrators I hired on, while also building, writing and formatting a prototype book myself. A lot of old material had to be redone, and a lot of brand new material was necessary. The team who had previously been developing gameplay took to the end of the year to get together the lore and worldbuilding materials on their end, which I didn't realize they had so heavily modified and expanded on from what I wrote a decade prior.

It had strayed a bit far from my concept of the setting, but had lots of good ideas as well, so I had to start a massive rewriting project to integrate everything together myself and make sure it all had a consistent tone and logic.

2022: I was still waiting on the actual gameplay mechanics themselves, which had been finished, but the dev team wanted to work out a new contract before sending them over. Their life schedule interfered with communication for months at a time, and I only got the mechanics later in the year. This contained the framework to build monsters and all their possible abilities thus far, but no builds for any specific monsters besides a sample for the player's guide. They were unable to confer with me regularly enough to stat the 100+ monsters I'd need, but I had shared the mechanics with a trusted enough friend who was really into the setting. By I think the end of fall, @gutsygills had already been playtesting and statting tons of creatures, so I made the decision to just hire her.

2023-2024: 160 monsters needed to be built from scratch while gutsy and others started running campaigns and playtesting vigorously, during which hundreds of things came up to edit, modify, add or remove about the system, specific monsters or specific abilities. Many issues coming up in the mechanics required new creatures or characters I had never thought of, especially a logical middle ground between completely defective "junk" monsters and powerful ones. I had essentially made too many of them too cool and grand, so we needed to give almost every monster class a few little mooks and goombas.

More worldbuilding, lore and fluff also needed modifying along the way to interplay with the rapid evolution of the system, which also necessitated me meticulously going over what I'd already written to scrap what wasn't working or wasn't that interesting.

2025: final playtests, massive final read-throughs and editing marathons to catch every last error or inconsistency, final polish on the last new monsters, gutsy writing a final guide to actually running a campaign with everything we've now developed, finishing the last necessary chapter on the setting's non-monster villains, and once we know the final page count for certain......we have to build the indexes, which is going to be pretty tedious, but that is going to be the very, very last thing to do. It's basically been entirely me doing an amount of work usually done by a larger team, until I hired one assistant whose job had to default to being just as huge. It's eaten so much of my time I feel like I aged at 5 times the normal rate...but I do feel like the end result is going to be worth it.

Once the book is out, we have to start working right away on the promised bonus book of all the backer-original monsters, and also start planning for the next book, which will be almost entirely more monsters.

#art #mortasheen

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dronningreid · 6 months ago

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All the times I knew you

↳ A seemingly ordinary case turns into something more when reader returns to Reid's life. Forcing him to tell something that he never told, the beginning of a story that broke his heart fourteen years ago.

change the ending series masterlist | main masterlist

who? Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

category: angst/fluff

warnings/content: reader jealous, reader is a little mean to jj (nothing personal, i love that queen), mentions of maeve, allusion to bullying, special appearance of alex blake, reid is a little mean to reader, very vague mentions of a case and reader and reid appear aged 12, 15 and 31. English is not my first language.

word count: 3.1K

a/n: Hello this is the first part of my series 'Change the ending' I hope you enjoy this as much as I loved writing this. There are a couple of references to the song cardigan (because that is my most personal song and also Spencer's)

14 years, 160 days, 33 minutes and 13 seconds. That was all the time that had passed since Reid last saw you.

It is said that there are always more questions than answers and that has never made more sense than today.

Today's case promised to be average on the Reid scale, of course.

Today promised to be just another day, like the rest. Just an irrelevant Wednesday where he would miss the Sunday of talking to Maeve, which was still fresh in his mind.

As fresh as you, a memory he should have let burn away fourteen years ago. But it wasn't that easy, even without his eidetic memory you attached yourself to his cerebral cortex as if you had been there since the first time he opened his eyes.

If there was one thing he had learned all those years ago, it was that the memories most want to forget are the ones hold on to the most tightly.

"Earth calling Reid." JJ waved her hand in front of his friend's face.

He blinked a few times. “Yeah. What’s up?” He tried to keep his gaze on JJ, but his eyes kept drifting to your shape. So close and so far at the same time... Just like the last time.

Maybe it was a mistake in his mind and it wasn't you, fourteen years had passed. How could he even recognize you? He didn't even know if you were still alive.

Maybe this time it was like when everything ended and he thought he saw you everywhere. In the grocery line, at school, at home...

As if you were a phantom he couldn't get rid of.

He knew those shadows weren't you and yet every time he thought he saw you it was like such a simple activity like breath became complicated out of nowhere. You used to have that effect, honestly you still have it.

Jennifer frowned before turning her gaze to you. But a couple more eyes weren't enough for you realize what was happen. "You know her?" The question caught him off guard.

How should he even answer such a question? Yes, more than anything. No. Of course. Maybe. Neither was a sufficient answer because on the one hand of course he knew you, at least that's how it was before and that's why he didn't know you, at least not now.

He shoved his hands into his pockets before finally looking at JJ. “She looks like someone I used to know.” 100% true? No, but pretty close.

"I was hoping so, it would help us if you met her." Reid frowned. "Bertram is our most viable suspect, if we lose him we're going to hit a wall." JJ explained something that Reid should already know, should.

"And what does that have to do with her?" Reid raised an eyebrow.

JJ was the one who frowned this time. "Spence, she is Bertram's lawyer. Are you okay?"

When he was about to answer, you approached him, increasing his questions, doubts and clumsiness.

"I'm Bertram Harris' lawyer." You introduced yourself before continuing, answering at least one of Spencer's questions. "What is the imaginary evidence against my client? Because if there was real evidence, charges would have already been filed." He knew that harsh tone so well...

"We have 48 hours before we file charges." Reid replied seriously.

"46 hours." You corrected so casually. He recognized you, but you didn't recognize him? Ouch.

"Well, we have a profile-" You didn't let Jennifer finish speaking.

"Profiles." You let out an exaggerated sigh. "I bet a lot of people would fit in your profile, so that's not enough to prove my client guilty in court." You spoke firmly, fierce as a defense lawyer, and you weren't in court yet. And even though he didn't exactly like your attitude, he had to admit that you were good.

Reid crossed his arms. "Out of so many people, it's amazing that the evidence will lead us right to your client. So we'll take advantage of the 46 hours we have left."

You snorted. "Fine, but when time passes and all of you have nothing against my client, he'll be upset about the time you made him waste." You pulled a pen out of your bag. "Give me your names."

JJ and Spencer shared a look before sighing and agreeing to your request. "Jennifer Jareau." You jotted the name down on your palm.

"Spencer Reid." A hint of mockery crept into his serious tone. Yes, you probably didn't remember his face, but his name was something you'd never forget.

You barely wrote the S on your palm and it was like the ink turned to poison when it came into contact with your skin. You immediately rubbed your palm against your trousers before looking up. "Spencer Re...?" The last few letters died in your mouth.

Of course, no one else had those beautiful eyes with hazel colors and golden flecks. So bright, so honest, so innocent. But now in those eyes there was nothing more than severity.

JJ's gaze traveled from Reid to you and back to Reid, using her profiling skills to determine why the air had suddenly become so thick.

"You look... Different." You whispered as he suddenly decided that silence was his best friend.

The wall he had built so long ago was still as strong as the last time you saw him. The last time he saw you he was so serious but this time after fourteen years he made you feel like you were seventeen again.

"You too." Rather than stating the obvious, that sounded like an insult.

JJ cleared her throat. "Spence." He looked away from you. "You know her?" Jennifer whispered in a failed attempt to get you not hear her.

"No." You were surprised at how quickly the letters that came out of his mouth took shape.

"Liar." You pointed out before looking at Jennifer. Though your attention wavered to the ring on her finger. "He knows every inch of me." You lifted your chin.

JJ raised her eyebrows and the way she looked at Reid it seemed more like gossip to her than a tease...

You thought. <<Yeah, maybe she doesn't>>

"Her husband's name is Will. It's not me, she's just my friend." He clarified, though it's not like you were entitled to clarification. At least you hadn't had that right for a long time.

Even when he was just a student he also had that ability to read you like an open book.

"And as for what you said, I'm not a liar." His tone was painfully stern. "I knew you before, fourteen years ago, but that's too long for anyone to remember." That's what he wanted to repeat to himself, because honestly the memories that were about you had no expiration date. "Now and maybe even then I have no idea who you are."

He gave you one last look before turning on his heel and walking off to somewhere where he couldn't sense your presence.

"I'll talk to Bertram about not pressing charges." JJ looked at you in confusion and to be honest even you couldn't believe that a stupid teenage love affair was enough to affect your work. At least you weren't the only one going through something like that.

"And I'm sorry..." A lump formed in your throat. "Maybe I shouldn't even ask you this, but could you deliver something to Spencer?" You then pulled a card out of your bag and handed it to Jennifer.

She studied the black card in her hand for a few seconds, carefully looking at your name and phone number. "Of course, I'll give it to him." She smiled slightly at you.

You gave her an awkward smile before turning away. God, you felt so stupid now for thinking she was his wife. Besides, what would be wrong with him having a wife? Spencer Reid deserved to be happy.

As soon as you left the police station, JJ pulled out his phone. "Penelope, you won't believe what just happened."

∗⋅✧⋅∗

Reid was in a small office going over all the evidence again for a reason he wouldn't admit out loud.

But he had already checked everything three times and had hit a wall all three times. The time it took him to figure things out could vary, but this was different.

What he didn't know was that the answer was there, it's just that his mind was too clouded at the moment to realize it.

And all that mental fog had a name: yours.

He loosened his tie, taking a deep breath to regulate his racing heart. Apparently you still had that effect on him, you, the protagonist of a story so old that it must have already had cobwebs. But unfortunately for him, that wasn't the case...

Spencer gripped the edge of the desk before taking another deep breath.

But his attempts to relax were cut short when his worst enemy: his own memory made him relive the last time he kissed your lips...

The soft skin against each other, the mingled breaths, your hands in his hair and the way he didn't see that those would be the last kisses.

"Another disadvantage of eidetic memory," he told himself. But now that he thought about it, did it have any benefit? Of course it did. But all the tangled threads in his mind didn't allow see the reality.

Someone knocked on the door and he jumped slightly in place before looking towards the door. "Blake..."

Blake smiled slightly at him. "Hi." Her eyes scanned the papers scattered across the desk and then Reid's disheveled appearance. "Is everything okay?"

He nodded quickly, taking his seat back behind the desk. "Yeah." But the way Alex looked at him made him say something else. "Not really."

She sat down in front of him. "Yes, we all know about the pretty lawyer."

"Jennifer..." Reid huffed before running his hands over his face.

"And who is she?" Blake asked in her usual calm tone.

<<Good question>>

A short time ago he was telling her about Maeve, he never thought he would tell Blake about another girl again and not so suddenly... But honestly you weren't another girl, you were THE GIRL.

Reid sighed. "She's nobody." He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It must be someone if the smartest guy I know hasn't already given us a big revelation that will help with this case." Blake looked at him with understanding eyes. "Go ahead Reid, talking about it will help."

Reid rubbed his knees with his hands. "Well I can't tell you who she's, but I can tell you who she was."

∗⋅✧⋅∗

Spencer took a deep breath. "I don't even know where to start."

"The beginning is perhaps the easiest." She gave his hand a gentle squeeze, encouraging him to continue.

"We had a lot of beginnings, if that's possible." He ran a hand through his hair.

His mind traveled back to the first interaction he had with you, when you were both 12. But before that, something else had to happen for him to get to know you, something very bad.

He was in the library when Harper Hillman approached him.

"Alexa Isben wants to meet you behind the field house." She said.

She was there. So was the entire football team. They stripped him naked and tied him to a goal post. So many kids were there, just watching...

He begged them to stop, but they just watched. Then finally they got bored and left.

He had told that story to Morgan years ago, but he had completely erased you from it. Until now.

Alex looked at him with compassion. "It got dark and I thought I would stay there forever. But then she appeared..." He looked away, remembering it as if it were yesterday.

A little twelve-year-old you ran towards the goal post. "Oh my god. Who did this to you?" You kept your eyes fixed on his defeated face.

He had never seen you before, did you even study there? Because you didn't look the same age as the guys he was going to graduate with, the ones who had done this to him...

You looked much younger, like him.

You weren't discouraged by his lack of words, instead you considered how to help him. "Wait here, I'll go get some clothes and some scissors to cut the rope." You didn't wait for an answer, you just ran off to find what you told him.

The cold of the night was beginning to seep through his skin, freezing him. He didn't even think you'd come back, but then. "Be careful with the scissors, if I sting you, let me know." So you put all your effort into cutting the rope, at that moment you regretted not carrying a knife for ease.

Luckily, a single cut was enough to release the rope. You then spread the clothes you had found over him and covered your eyes with your hand.

"I hope it fits, it's my brother's so it might be a little big on you." Spencer took the clothes from your hands.

"Thank you." He whispered as he hurriedly put on each item of clothing. "You can look now." He said once he finished putting on the shirt.

You pulled your hand away from your eyes. “Oh, I forgot the jacket. You must be freezing cold.” You said as you hurriedly unbuttoned your loose black cardigan.

"Oh, you don't have to..." Embarrassment seeped into his words but you still put your cardigan on him.

"It's okay. You need it more than me. By the way, I'm..." Then you told him your name.

He watched as you finished buttoning the cardigan. "Spencer. Spencer Reid."

"You should tell me the names of those who did this to you, then I can tell my mother to expel them. She's the principal." You let your hands fall to your sides.

"It's not that bad..." Yes it was.

"Of course it was!" You exclaimed. "Give me names and I'll beat them up myself. I hate bullies."

Spencer let out a light laugh that quickly disappeared at the bitter feelings bubbling up inside him. "They're the older guys, you can't handle them. Besides, this could have been worse."

"Don't underestimate me." You tried to joke. "Worse? How long have you been tied up there? It's almost midnight" You looked at him with concern.

"Midnight?" His eyes widened. Surely his mother was worried that he hadn't come home.

So you grabbed him by the sleeve of the cardigan and dragged him along. "Come, I'll ask my dad to take you home."

∗⋅✧⋅∗

"So her dad drove you home?" Blake asked.

"Yes. It was like midnight when I got home. My mom didn't even realize I was late. She was having one of her episodes..." He sigh, how could something that had happened so long ago still have such a negative power over him? "I know I shouldn't get into a stranger's car and technically nothing bad happened to me, they helped me. But I did it... Because I felt like I could trust her but maybe it wasn't a good idea from the start."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that to meet her."

Spencer sighed and looked down. "I regret about both."

"Both?" Blake looked at him in confusion.

Reid looked up. "Yeah, what happened that day and meeting her." He replied with a seriousness too cold to be true.

Blake stared at him in silence for a couple of seconds before speaking again. "What happened next?"

"I don't saw her again, it was like she just vanished." He sighed. "Then three years passed and there she was again..."

"I was studying for my first PhD at MIT so I decided that over the holidays I wanted to go home to visit my mother. But instead of taking a flight I decided to travel by train."

It's funny how a single decision can affect our future.

∗⋅✧⋅∗

"The last train to Las Vegas leaves in five minutes." A voice announced through one of the speakers.

"One ticket, please." The woman at the ticket office handed him his ticket once he gave her the money.

Reid was about to board the train when you crashed into it.

"I'm so sorry." you continued to apologize as you helped him up from the floor.

He brushed off his clothes once he was standing again. "It's okay, don't worry."

You tried not to look at him, not after you had thrown him to the floor. But he did look at you which made his heart skip a beat when he recognized you.

He stared in your direction for a couple of seconds before deciding to continue and board the train.

"Oh, I, I had my money here." You patted your jacket pockets. "If you could just help me I'd pay you right away... It's just that it's very important for me to have that ticket because it's the last train to Las Vegas and I really need to go." But the woman at the ticket office didn't take pity on you.

Then Reid came over. "I'll pay for the ticket."

The woman didn't say anything, she just accepted Reid's money and handed you the ticket, which you immediately took.

"Thank you so much, you just saved my life." You followed him to board the train together.

"Okay, we're even now." He smiled slightly at you.

You hadn't planned on sitting next to a complete stranger but you followed him. "We're even?" You asked as he placed his luggage in the compartment.

"I'm Spencer." He hope that will refresh your mind.

You opened your mouth in surprise. "Of course! Spencer Reid, I remember you well." You scanned him from top to bottom. "The answer to where I left my favorite cardigan three years ago." You tried to load your luggage into the compartment but couldn't.

He helped you out, like a true gentleman. "I'm sorry I didn't see you again after that. Do you want it back?" He asked after closing the compartment door.

"You still have it?" You asked in disbelief.

"It's my favorite too." He whispered.

∗⋅✧⋅∗

"I didn't plan on things being like this, but she and I were together the whole trip. Just chatting and-" He looked down as nostalgia washed over him. "Marked me like a blood stain..."

"She seems pretty nice so far." Blake commented. "What went wrong?"

"She was really nice." He sighed. "At that time, nothing bad had happened. In fact, after that incredible trip I lost track of her again and didn't see her again until two years later."

He looked up. "But I didn't really know her until our third beginning, when everything started to go wrong..."

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project-sekai-facts · 10 months ago

Text

Project SEKAI 4th anniversary: Brand New Your World - recap post

Much like last year, I thought it would be useful to make one long post recapping all of the information about the 4th anniversary updates. Even if there won't be as many major updates and changes as last year, we still will be receiving news about other related projects like the movie during the anniversary thanksgiving festival, so I'll be recapping that too.

Note that all of this applies to the JP server only.

Official site link

Before we start, the next Broadcast Station episode will be held on the 27th, featuring Isobe-san, Jiena, Imai-san, and Daichan. It will be broadcast live from the Thanksgiving Festival. Related event speculation will be done in a separate post, and the stream itself can be found here.

Section 1 - Game Updates

Most game updates will be announced during the aforementioned Broadcast Station stream, but some things have already been announced, such as:

Virtual lives (after lives/holiday lives) will now be held every hour, cutting the long wait times between some showings.

You will now be able to collect character rank XP for an entire unit in one go, rather than going to each member's page individually.

Calendars for songs and events will be released in advance, so we finally will actually know in advance what days songs are being added and what days events will run (though by the sounds of things, event lineups will be kept a secret outside of the unit).

Broadcast Station News

A new game mode has been added, called MYSEKAI. It's an Animal Crossing-esque side game that will be available through the main app. More details on this will be in section 6.

A story completion progress tracker will be added. You can earn crystals and gacha tickets based on your progress

You can now earn gacha tickets through Clearing and Full Comboing songs on different difficulty levels. These can only be claimed on the first time you clear/FC a song of each difficulty from 15 to 37. Autoplay doesn't count and you can earn up to 140 tickets.

All Kizuna ranks will be added! All of them! However, the new ones will not have specific titles or unlockables for levelling up the rank. Instead you will be given a title that says "X & Y Fan". The unlockables will be implemented when relevant.

You can now autoplay during Challenge Show. You will also be able to get CH show rewards up to a score of 2.5 million, as well as increase CH rank up to level 150

Project SEKAI is opening a store on their official website. You will be able to buy gems and get some freebies by using it. You will have to use your apple/google account to sign in. By the sounds of things this will replace the in-game crystal shop

Max character rank has been increased to 160, and as always new titles for max player rank and daily login will be added

As per the norm, character rank missions will be increased

Live bonus has been reworked. You will now be able to recover up to 15 bonus energy naturally (the limit is currently 10), and you will be able to overfill the meter to 999 instead of 99. Bonus energy's effect on event pts will also be reworked, refer to the chart below for the new bonuses

It will now be easier to obtain another vocal tickets. Their cost has been reduced in the event exchange and wish piece exchange, and two tickets will be given out from character rank and birthday lives. However, to balance this, the cost of a solo alt vocal has been changed to two tickets. The amount of another vocal tickets you own will be adjusted accordingly in the update.

Fes cards will now count as event bonus towards the event they were released alongside. E.g, the Rui and Rin Bloom Fes cards will count as event bonus for the upcoming Nene event.

The rewards earned from completing the tutorial will be increased. Existing users will be compensated accordingly.

You will now be able to exchange limited gacha tickets for wish pieces

All stories will now be fully voiced, even for faceless NPCs. Currently unconfirmed if this will apply retroactively

Starting from October, the number of random rerun limited gachas will decrease to one. This is because they ran out of gachas to rerun.

Birthday gacha reruns have been reworked. Rather than rerunning all past birthday cards separately, they will now be lumped into one gacha.

Kizuna rank for Honami/Mafuyu, Saki/Mizuki, and Haruka/Len implemented

Section 2 - Campaigns

Here's a list of all the campaigns and gachas that will be running over the next few weeks.

Fortune Flower Parade

This campaign will be held from September 30th for one month

You will be able to collect Fortune Flowers and Petals from event exchange, live missions, and stamp missions.

You will be able to exchange those items for some other special items, such as costumes, skill up scores that will instantly max out your skill, Character Rank XP vials, and some special wish jewels (i'm not exactly sure of their purpose but they have a unique design)

There are six different colours of petals and each can be obtained through different methods and be exchanged for different items. Refer to the chart below

Present 4 You

To celebrate the fourth anniversary, four presents will be given out to players

Present 1: Five 4* guaranteed gacha tickets will be given out to all players. These will also replace the 3* tickets for any new players.

Present 2: All another vocals will be released on youtube for two weeks. You will also receive two another vocal tickets for every character.

Present 3: There will be an in-game survey asking players to pick their three most wanted prizes from a list for the next couple days. The three most picked prizes will be awarded at a later date.

Present 4: There will be a prize giveaway on twitter. For following their twitter and retweeting the campaign post, there's a chance to win some prizes (they're really random like a gopro and a coffee machine lol).

Other campaigns and gachas

Operation Welcome to SEKAI will run again

Special Prize gacha: a gacha where you can earn prizes the more you pull in it. This will run between the 28th and 30th of September. It will also have doubled 4* rates.

Stamp missions and paid costume gachas as per the usual

Happiness Package gacha

Limited edition select list and memorial select list (same as last year)

Section 3 - Songs

Anniversary Song

The fourth anniversary song has been announced! The title is Neppu and it was produced by kemu! Below is kemu’s comment on the song (via @/pjsekai_eng on Twitter).

Song Campaign

The song campaign hint sheet has been revealed, and actually has hints again for the first time in a while. The answers will be revealed during broadcast station on the 27th.

Note: blank tiles include special characters

Answers

Mozaik Role -Reloaded- by DECO*27 (L/n cover + 3DMV)

Mesmerizer by 32ki

Kisaragi Attention by JIN (MMJ cover)

Main Character by *Luna

Call Boy by syudou (BAD DOGS cover)

Kimi to Boku no Resonance by nanameueP

Tensei Ringo by PinocchioP (WxS cover)

Blackjack by YuchaP

Shadow Shadow by Azari (N25 cover + 3DMV)

Outside of the campaign, we also have Cat Food by doriko covered by MMJ + Miku.

This year's high-difficulty commission has also been announced. The song is called Seimeisei Syndrome and was produced by Camellia. It will have a master difficulty of 33 and an append difficulty of 36. A preview can be viewed in the livestream archive (for some reason it was not uploaded to Twitter).

Section 3 - Lives

4th live

Project SEKAI's 4th live was announced last month, titled Unison!! The live will be held in two locations: Osaka on December 13th-15th, and Tokyo on January 24th-26th!

A PV can be found here!

The official account for all information about the live is, as always, @/pjsekai_live on Twitter.

Here are some close-ups of the group artwork above, as well as some chibi artworks. The costumes used as the ones that will be available from the Fortune Flower exchange.

youtube

A video teaching player the glowstick movements and chants for I'm Mine has also been posted to Youtube!

Connect live

A connect live to celebrate the fourth anniversary has been announced. It is titled Brilliant Stage and will be held on the 6th of October! There will also be a "meet and greet" session after the two performances of the live, similar to Resonance Beats. A short login story to commemorate the live will be available on October 5th & 6th.

A medley of previously unperformed songs will be performed during this connect live. The songs were given as Aioi, Hug, Hitsuji ga Ippiki, CYBERPUNK DEAD BOY, and I nandesu.

Section 4 - Event and gacha

The next event will be Carry These Feelings! Dream Stage, a Nene-focused event. Shiho, Airi, and Toya will be the other rateups! The 3* is Ena based on the event logo. Rui and Rin will be featured as the Bloom Fes cards.

The bfes gacha will be Dream Pick, utilising the same system as last year (you get two extra slots to fill). You will also be able to get Fortune Flowers as a reward for pulling on this gacha.

As mentioned earlier, there will also be paid costume gachas. You will be able to earn Fortune Flowers from pulling in these gachas. Here's a preview of the costumes.

Section 5 - Project SEKAI: The Movie

youtube

A Project SEKAI movie animated by P.A.WORKS was announced back in July. More information on that can be found here. A new trailer was shown during Broadcast Station, which can be found linked above. Some new character visuals will be posted below, but aside from that, please refer to the linked post which will go into the new information in further detail.

Section 6 - MY SEKAI

youtube

MY SEKAI is a new gameplay feature that will be added during the 4th anniversary. It's an Animal Crossing-esque farming/life sim game that you can play using your Virtual Live avatar. You can build you own SEKAI and house and decorate it however you like! You will also be able to talk to chibi versions of the main characters and interact with them, as well as visit your friends' SEKAIs!

Your MY SEKAI will also have a new feature called the transformation machine! This is where you can exchange some of your excess resources into things that are more useful to you (that's right they finally made the materials exchange).

I do not know how much storage or power this will take to run. I am very sorry for your devices.

Section 7 - Misc News

A livestream leading up to the 4th anniversary has been scheduled for 29th September at 11:30pm JST (2:30pm UTC). The stream will feature Chiruriin, Honchan, Akina, Daichan, and Ruirui.

A digest video of the previous Colorful Lives will be shown on Youtube on the 5th of October at 6pm JST (9am UTC). This stream will not be archived, so make sure to catch it!

#project sekai #will be updated as new information is released #(also!!! updates will probably be slow on the stream day because i have uni induction stuff literally right after the stream lol)#Youtube

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happybirthday-unusannus · 7 months ago

Note

List of years/anniversary dates of when unus annus first came out, counting by tens:

2029: 10 year anniversary

2039: 20 year anniversary

2049: 30 year anniversary

2059: 40 year anniversary

2069: 50 year anniversary

2079: 60 year anniversary

2089: 70 year anniversary

2099: 80 year anniversary

2109: 90 year anniversary

2119: 100 year anniversary

2129: 110 year anniversary

2139: 120 year anniversary

2149: 130 year anniversary

2159: 140 year anniversary

2169: 150 year anniversary

2179: 160 year anniversary

2189: 170 year anniversary

2199: 180 year anniversary

2209: 190 year anniversary

2219: 200 year anniversary

Most, if not all of us will not be alive bh the 200 year anniversary, so to that I say. Memento Mori.

I can’t even fathom 10, much less 200.

#unus annus #not happy birthday #ask reply #jackiesdragoncastle

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kanmom51 · 1 year ago

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A little math in the morning

You know how it is when you're at work and you don't really feel like being at work cause all you are thinking of is Jikook (obsessed much? Oh, most definitely!!)?

This is one of those mornings.

And I figured, if I'm going down this rabbit hole, well, why not ask you to join?

And who doesn't love to do some math in the morning, right?

So yeah, math.

But wait a sec.

This math is the good kind.

The kind that tells us just how much Jikook we'll be getting.

The kind that makes us realize that we are going to be getting more Jikook than we have ever had before. More interactions. Longer moments. Like a full on show.

But just how much of it? Well, this is where the math comes in.

Now that the intro and explanations are done, let's get going:

We talked about the meaning of the 8's in my previous post, so I will forgo that in this one.

What I will be doing here is a little counting. You know. To put things into perspective. Because I feel like sometimes we lose that.

8 episodes of Jikook bliss is what we will be getting.

A show that will most likely be 20 to 25 minutes long. This is a starting assumption. I will be grateful for this, and every single minute added to that will be a blessing.

But if we take 20-25 minute episodes, that will give us:

20*8=160

25*8=200

Between 160 to 200 minutes.

And even if we cut out 10% of that as whatever (intro, outro, anything that doesn't have them in it), we will get:

144 to 180 minutes of Jikook.

Do you get that?

Do you register that?

A minimum of: 144 minutes.

That is over 2 hours of Jikook!!!!!

I don't think we can even imagine what that means.

We, who have been living on little few seconds to couple of minute increments of those two. The longest interaction we got was the live they did back in 2020 and that was them being totally vigilant and aware of the live camera (and yet...).

As much as the editing will probably be brutal, cause put those two together and more so add some alcohol into the bidding (we know there was alcohol) and you will get wild wild Jikookery that may end with bed nets being torn to pieces. But as brutal as it may be and as much as they might want to water it down (which I'm kind of wondering if they even are wanting to do this at this point - long train of thoughts going on here in that matter), you just can't do that with over 2 hours of exclusively Jikook content.

You just can't.

Boy, we are going to be rolling in it. This is going to sustain us for years to come. RB left behind. Hickey forgotten. TTU - what's that even? 'Are you sure' is going to be IT. That reference point. Can you even process it? I'm still trying to.

You don't need to have them making out on camera to recognize a certain type of dynamic. Just saying.

8 EPISODES

144 minutes

MINIMUM!!!!!

Over 2 hours!!!

AT MINIMUM!!!!

Of Jikook just having pure fun.

With each other.

TOGETHER

ALONE

JUST THE 2 OF THEM

Swallow that HATERS!!!!

Or just choke on it. Who cares? I don't.

Happy dance incoming.

#Jikook #Kookmin #minkook #Jungkook #JK #Jimin #JM #Jikook Are you sure

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polaritydisturbed · 1 month ago

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"NEXT WEEK: Wish World. Enemies old and new unite as the Doctor faces the Unholy Trinity. This is only two thirds of the Trinity, the two Ranis count as one, cos I say so 😑 The third is lying in wait, exactly 160 years away 🤔 So stand by! This is the big one! First of a two-part finale! The Pantheon is stirring. Old friends are helpless. And the whole of reality is in danger as we hurtle towards May 24, in the Ranis’ most terrifying experiment yet. Pity the fate of poor Frau Zufall! And remember, a message is calling across time and space… “Tables don’t do that.”" — Russell T Davies, Instagram

#doctor who #doctorwho #the doctor #fifteenth doctor #15th doctor #doctor who spoilers #dw spoilers #Doctor Who #rtd #rtd2 #rtd2 era #Doctor Who spoilers #dr who spoilers #dw s15 e06 #dw s2 e6 #s15 e06 #spoilers #The Interstellar Song Contest #the rani

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invaderoli · 4 months ago

Text

You know. As the second biggest zadr shipper to ever zadr I never actually made an "in defense of zadr" post.

So. Uhm. Time to justify zadr and show why I think Zims a child!!!!

. . . . . . .

DISCLAIMER!!

This post is not intended to spark a debate or rebut against anyone's personal views of ZaDr and Zims age. I believe it's fine to interpret him as any age you want, and something as small as a cartoon characters age should not be reason for harassment or arguments. This is just how I view Zims age and me explaining why. With that all being said, please don't start a debate/fight over this, just keep your personal opinions!! Any comments trying to start harassment or debates will be deleted.

. . . . . . .

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

╰┄ °❀ In defense of zadr

╰┄ °❀ A slightly long ramble post that I really didn't need to make

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

. . . . . . .

1. Zims age

Yeah baybee we're starting with the big guns...........

I'm not gonna mention the whole 160 OR ten years is one irken year thing since I can't find any source for that, but I want to talk about the main thing zadr antis source.

This interview.

As read above, Zim has no definitive age, but is older than any living human being, perhaps older than any being who has ever lived on earth.

This, at the very least implies we're counting Zims age in earth years.

As canonized in the frycook what came from all that space, time moves differently in space in the invader Zim universe. So if we're counting by earth years, yes. Zim would need to be older than any human. A few seconds in space is, like... Years on earth. He could have only lived twelve years, but that'd be considered billions of years to earth. Does that make any sense???

And if we aren't counting by earth years, then... We don't know how irkens age. So he can still be a child.

Some may argue that Zim doesn't act like a child, that he's intelligent and even has a job. But, like... To an extent, so does Dib. He works for the swollen eyeballs, and is extremely intelligent. Does that mean he isn't twelve?? No!! Infact, Zim is a teensy bit dumber than Dib imo. I just feel like he Does think and act like a child, but that's really just personal opinion.

Some people also cite the "I've been flying ships since before you were born!" Clip as proof that he's an adult.

But... He was a smeet when he started working.

The empire doesn't care for it's children. It is VERY likely that there are smeet invaders out there. So who's to say that Zim isn't just a year, or a few months older than Dib and started flying ships extremely young?

That's all I need to contradict off the top of my head. Now it's time for..

Zim being called a child!!!

These are all from the show bible.

Dont focus on what i didnt highlight bc i cropped it weird but LOOK!! THIS IS FROM THE FUCKING. SHOW BIBLE!!! THE SHIT OUR GOD JHOHEN SAID.

They say "his FELLOW SCHOOLCHILDREN", calling him apart of that group. And to deny that they didnt just mean classmates, they go on to call the schoolchildren KIDS and CHILDREN. They called that boy a fucking child

They call him another different KID to beat up.

He can seamlessly blend in as an old man.

Hmmmm. Gonna be real, I think being older than any human that has lived or is alive would qualify you as an old man, no?

That's all I can think to say off the top of my head :3

. . . . . . . .

2. The ethicality of shipping fictional children

I've seen a few people use this against ZaDr, and GOD does it straight up ruffle my feathers. Does it GGGRIIIND MY GEARS.

In the DVD commentary for the episode "Tak: The Hideous New Girl", it was referenced that Gaz may be Zim's love interest. How is that fine to be implied and all cool if the creator says it, but it isn't fine if they. Aren't the creator???? If shipping children is really bad, then why isn't there chaos in the streets over like. Jimmy neutron and that one blonde bitch they were implied to be into eachother right

This is just a small thing that few people have used as an argument, but I just wanted to go against it.

. . . . . . .

And finally..!

3. The morality of NSFW ZaDr

One big complaint I've seen from our zadr antis down south is that a lot of zadr shippers draw..

Drumrollllllllll...

Porn.

They make a lot, and a LOT, of porn about them.

Now, I'm not gonna get into the part where they make porn with them being canon show age since, well.. it's the internet, what do you expect? That's fucked up, but it'll be there no matter what.

But I am gonna get into the problem of people being against NSFW where they're aged up.

Basically all of these points I'm gonna make is in animatorfuns post so go check that out here but my defense against this is that... If it's aged up, it's obviously not weird pedophilia shit, right??

If I make, like... dib an adult in an au, I'm changing his maturity and him as a person. A fucking 34 year old has obviously developed more since they were 12. Right???

They change as people. If everyone who used to not be mature couldn't have sex then I think you wouldn't be??? born??????

Idk. I just find it stupid to call it weird that people AGE UP. MAKE THEM ADULTS. AGE UP two characters and draw porn of them.

. . . . . . .

Errmm uhm. That's it. Bye :3

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strawwritesfic · 9 days ago

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Matt Murdock x Reader: Introspection

Summary: A long day of soul-searching leads you right to the offices of Nelson & Murdock.

Rating/Tags: G (Gender of Reader Is Not Specified; Second Person POV; Lawyer!Reader; Secret Identity; Beginning of Romance; Not Canon Compliant)

Word Count: 2,110

Challenge: 160 Collective Drabbles

Prompt: Seductive

Tag List: @imaginesfire

Notes: And now I have quadrupled my output from last year. Wow!

I actually work in a courtroom (I'm not an attorney), but I'm nowhere near New York. I did look up a few things to double-check legal stuff for the county this should be set in and whatnot. Still, if you happen to know I got a detail wrong, please let me know! I am always eager to learn and correct. Also, I've never seen anything beyond Daredevil season one, and it's been so long that the voice I had for Matt was based more on Samuel Brewer's performance in Terminal Degree.

Titling this one was a real pain. It's still not great. They've all been pretty bad lately, haven't they?

Ao3 Version Here

Introspection

Most of Hell's Kitchen was shrouded in darkness when you stepped out of your taxi in the wee hours of the morning. The businesses lining the streets loomed empty around you. Surely those living in the apartments nearby slept as best they could—though how, with the bass pounding from the still-hopping clubs a block or two over, you didn't know. Your driver must have heard those siren calls himself, because you barely had time to pay his fare before he sped away. You stood stranded in the island of light coming from the streetlamp above your head.

Well, what was the point in catching a ride all the way out here in the middle of the night only to chicken out when you got there? This would not be the first time you ate crow, nor did you suspect it would be last. You tried not to anticipate the taste too much as you took a deep breath and forced yourself to face the shadowed entrance to the offices of Nelson & Murdock.

You wavered for a moment with your arm outstretched, hand nearly grasping the bar across the door. Yes, it was dark inside. Not a single light on in the entire building as far as you could tell. And why should you think anyone would be here at 2:00 in the morning? Just because you'd been stuck at your office this late didn't mean the same for everyone else working the case.

No. No excuses. You'd just steeled your resolved to press forward when you heard a commotion above your head: the clang of something hitting metal, followed by rapid footsteps. You grabbed at once for the canister of pepper spray in your purse, but when you looked in the direction of the sound, you saw nothing that might have caused it.

Probably just a stray cat.

This time, you really did force yourself to push on the door. It opened easily. Damn. Now you had to go through with this, or at least check for signs of a break-in—not that you were likely to see any in the pitch-black you now stood in.

Your call of "Hello?" broke in two after its first syllable, interrupted by a series of thumps issuing from the ceiling.

What it was was absolutely too big to be a cat.

You should have called the police. Obviously! What could you do to stop someone with the balls to rob a defense attorney's office? Your pepper spray wouldn't do a thing to stop someone like that. But your feet took you up the stairs before you could reach for your cell phone instead. Somehow, someway, you managed to bound all the way up the incline without tripping on something in the unfamiliar territory.

There. The nearest door. You could hear beyond it. With as much force as you could muster, you slammed the door open. At least if you could startle the intruder, that would give you the chance to —

"Counselor. What an unexpected surprise."

—the chance to look like a complete buffoon. Matt Murdock sat at Matt Murdock's desk in Matt Murdock's office, looking entirely unruffled in the light coming from the window behind him. Well, maybe not entirely unruffled. It looked as though he had hat hair, although your jobs being what they were, you'd never actually seen him wear a hat.

You must have waited too long to speak, because Matt cocked his head slightly to one side and asked, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Uh," you said, in a desperate bid for time. But the second it took you to say that didn't give you any grand ideas for answers. "I was in the neighborhood."

"This neighborhood? Really?"

How did this man always manage to sound so polite and so condescending at the same damn time? You stalked up to his desk and slammed your palms into its surface. Matt didn't even flinch. "Listen, Murdock. I was nearby, I heard something up here, and I rushed in to help at risk of my life. And this is the thanks I get?"

"I take it by your attitude that you were not 'nearby' to offer apologies for your earlier conduct," he observed in that same infuriatingly mild tone.

"What I was nearby for isn't the point!"

"On the contrary, Counselor. I think what you're doing breaking into my office when you didn't believe anyone would be here is the point."

"I—" You bristled, cutting yourself off as you realized Matt had you dead to rights. After your performance that morning, people weren't likely to believe you had good intentions being where you were when you were. You wouldn't believe it, had the roles been reversed. So you forced yourself to inhale slowly and step away from his desk.

"I only lied about why I was here. I did come to see you. But I didn't break in. The door was unlocked."

"And you decided to keep going even though all the lights were turned off."

"I told you I heard something up here!"

There was just something about Matt's demeanor that pushed all your buttons, and you weren't known for your even temper to begin with. Then it dawned on you:

"And you are here. Why are you here sitting in the dark?"

One corner of Matt's lips twitched up. "Well, it isn't as though I need a lamp. It keeps the bills down, which in turn keeps Foggy's blood pressure down."

"Do you often say here in a completely dark building so late after closing?"

"No. Our discussion today raised some questions for me. After all this time, I'd hate to see my client in chains over a technicality." He tapped on the thick, hard cover of a tome sitting closed in front of him. "And you're lucky I did tonight and that I have no plans to press charges."

"And if you did, I'd never try to prevent someone from stealing from you again."

"I'll be more careful to lock the door when I'm here alone late. At any rate, I'm afraid all you heard was my fumbling through my case files. I'm sorry for causing you concern."

"Are you sure? I swear I heard someone on the fire escape before I came in."

"Must have been a stray cat," he said as he moved to switch on his desk lamp. Doing so could only be for your benefit. You took the hint and collapsed into the chair across from him. God, even just talking to this man made you tired. "Not that I don't appreciate a purely social call from a person of your caliber, but I do have a lot of reading to do before I file in the morning. Why don't you just tell me what brought you here to begin with," he said.

Your hackles raised automatically. It took some willpower to lower them—willpower and a reminder that you'd already admitted to wanting to see him. The fight left you as you sighed.

"I came to say...I'm sorry," you said.

A long paused followed your statement. Matt appeared frozen in place. "Excuse me?"

A spark of frustration seared inside your chest, but you stifled it before it could grow. You'd spent most of the day consumed by that fire. Time to let it go.

"I'm sorry for my behavior in court this morning. The judge should have held me in contempt. I was out of line."

There was more, and Matt must have known that. He said nothing while you mentally prepared to continue.

"We've both been on this case for a long time. It's been my life for months now. And the suggestion we might be on the wrong track..."

"Stung?" Matt offered pleasantly.

"It's ludicrous! My investigator couldn't be that wrong. All my witnesses can't be lying. The evidence leads us directly to your client. But..."

Matt's eyebrows folded into one long line above the frames of his glasses. "But?"

"You were right," you said softly. "Maybe I've been living this too long. Maybe I want this to be over more than I want the truth."

It was a difficult thing to admit. The implications of doing so would have far-reaching consequences. But as long as you said it out loud, one of those consequences wouldn't have to be losing your soul in the slow-grinding wheels of justice.

"Thank you for saying that," Matt said, and oh no. You recognized that note in his voice. If you let him go on in it, you'd regret it. "I—"

"Which is why tomorrow I'm going to request to be withdrawn from the case."

"What?"

"It'll be better for everyone involved. We can get some fresh eyes on it, let someone new take a look."

"You getting taken off the case is the last thing I wanted."

"Why? It's not as though you've invoked your right to a speedy trial."

"You know the case. You know my client is innocent!"

"I don't know that, Matt!"

"But you admit it's a possibility."

Your hesitation to disagree answered for you. Matt half-rose from behind his desk, leaning across it to whisper, "Don't you want to know? Don't you want to find out why they've all been lying to you?"

You shook your head. "I think all I really want is to be done."

The unasked question of done with what? rang in the air. An unexpected lump in your throat made it impossible for you to speak. Then Matt opened a drawer, and the sudden noise of it made you jump in your seat.

"You know what we both need?" That strangely impish smile of his had returned.

"A straitjacket and a white room?"

"A break." He stood with his briefcase in his hand. "You said it yourself. We've been working this case a long time. A few hours of time to ourselves won't ruin it."

You nodded again as you dragged yourself up out of his chair. That was all you had the energy for. "I'll get out of your hair. I should probably try to get some sleep before I talk to my boss anyway."

A faint touch on your elbow kept you from moving very far. When you glanced back, you found Matt's hand grasping you there. "Come with me," he said.

Great. Now you'd been mulling things over so much you were hallucinating. You jab about the straitjackets sharpened into a nearing reality. In an effort to save the miniscule amount of dignity remaining to you, you laughed a little hysterically during your attempt to shake him off.

"I'm not going to your house with you, Murdock."

"You wound me, Counselor. What sort of cad do you take me for?"

"Then what are you suggesting?"

"The bars are still open for another or so. Let me buy you a drink. We can talk."

You recoiled far enough to get his arm to drop. "And what will people think of us out colluding in public?"

Matt shrugged. "We won't talk about the case, so we won't be colluding."

"We can claim that all we want. The judge will be concerned with what the witness thinks they saw."

"If someone accuses us of colluding, what's the big deal?" Here, he looked over his red lenses directly into your eyes; you felt goosebumps prickle up your arms at the feeling Matt could actually see you. "You're already talking about stepping back. I happen to know a defense firm that might be interested in someone of your talents if you get forced out."

He shifted his cane and his case to offer you his arm in silence, the obvious ghost of a smile pulling at his lips. You paused. His offer sounded good—better than it should have, considering all your bombastic meetings in court up until then. Then, before you could change your mind, you bent over to switch off Matt's lamp. Your arms hooked together, and his smile widened before he tugged you gently in the direction of the exit.

Matt Murdock was an infuriating man. Equal parts charm and sarcasm, you always found yourself thinking about him long after any hearing where you tried to tear each other apart. At the same time, you couldn't deny that he was honest and good, and, you thought, while you locked the door to the office behind you both with the key he passed to you, more than a little seductive when you got him alone. If things didn't work out with your boss later that morning, taking Matt up on his offer didn't seem like an awful idea after all.

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zvaigzdelasas · 1 year ago

Text

[BBC is UK State Media]

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has funded politically-motivated assassinations in Yemen, a BBC investigation has found, exacerbating a conflict involving the Yemeni government and warring factions which has recently returned to the international spotlight following attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

Counter-terrorism training provided by American mercenaries to Emirati officers in Yemen has been used to train locals who can work under a lower profile - sparking a major uptick in political assassinations, a whistleblower told BBC Arabic Investigations.

The BBC has also found that despite the American mercenaries' stated aim to eliminate the jihadist groups al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) in southern Yemen, in fact the UAE has gone on to recruit former al-Qaeda members for a security force it has created on the ground in Yemen to fight the Houthi rebel movement and other armed factions.

The UAE government has denied the allegations in our investigation - that it had assassinated those without links to terrorism - saying they were "false and without merit".

These are largely between the two parts of the "real" "legitimate" "internationally recognized" coalition govt of Yemen you've been scolded so much about over the last month btw [22 Jan 24]

Continued after the cut

The killing spree in Yemen - more than 100 assassinations in a three-year period - is just one element of an ongoing bitter internecine conflict pitting several international powers against each other in the Middle East's poorest country.[...]

In 2015, the US and the UK supported a coalition of mostly Arab states led by Saudi Arabia - with the UAE as a key partner - to fight back. The coalition invaded Yemen with the aim of reinstating the exiled Yemeni government and fighting terrorism. The UAE was given charge of security in the south, and became the US's key ally on counter-terrorism in the region - al-Qaeda had long been a presence in the south and was now gaining territory.[...]

Under international law, any killing of civilians without due process would be counted as extra-judicial.

The majority of those assassinated were members of Islah - the Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. It [...] has never been classified by the US as a terror organisation, but is banned in several Arab countries - including the UAE where its political activism and support for elections is seen by the country's royal family as a threat to their rule.

Leaked drone footage of the first assassination mission gave me a starting point from which to investigate these mysterious killings. It was dated December 2015 and was traced to members of a private US security company called Spear Operations Group.[...]

Isaac Gilmore, a former US Navy Seal who later became chief operating officer of Spear, was one of several Americans who say they were hired to carry out assassinations in Yemen by the UAE.

He refused to talk about anyone who was on the "kill list" provided to Spear by the UAE - other than the target of their first mission: Ansaf Mayo, a Yemeni MP who is the leader of Islah in the southern port city of Aden, the government's temporary capital since 2015.[...]

Mr Gilmore, and another Spear employee in Yemen at the time - Dale Comstock - told me that the mission they conducted ended in 2016. But the assassinations in southern Yemen continued. In fact they became more frequent, according to investigators from the human rights group Reprieve.

They investigated 160 killings carried out in Yemen between 2015 and 2018. They said the majority happened from 2016 and only 23 of the 160 people killed had links to terrorism. All the killings had been carried out using the same tactics that Spear had employed - the detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED) as a distraction, followed by a targeted shooting. The most recent political assassination in Yemen, according to Yemeni human rights lawyer Huda al-Sarari, happened just last month - of an imam killed in Lahj by the same method.[...]

Mr Gilmore, Mr Comstock, and two other mercenaries from Spear who asked not to be named, said that Spear had been involved in training Emirati officers in the UAE military base in Aden. A journalist who asked to remain anonymous also told us he had seen footage of such training.

As the mercenaries' profile had made them conspicuous in Aden and vulnerable to exposure, their brief had been changed to training Emirati officers, "who in turn trained local Yemenis to do the targeting", the Yemeni military officer told me.

Through the course of the investigation, we also spoke to more than a dozen other Yemeni sources who said this had been the case. They included two men who said they had carried out assassinations which were not terror-related, after being trained to do so by Emirati soldiers - and one man who said he had been offered release from a UAE prison in exchange for the assassination of a senior Yemeni political figure, a mission he did not accept.

Getting Yemenis to conduct the assassinations meant it was harder for the killings to be traced back to the UAE.

By 2017, the UAE had helped build a paramilitary force, part of the Emirati-funded Southern Transitional Council (STC), a security organisation that runs a network of armed groups across southern Yemen.

The force operated in southern Yemen independently of the Yemeni government, and would only take orders from the UAE. The fighters were not just trained to fight on active front lines. One particular unit, the elite Counter Terrorism Unit, was trained to conduct assassinations, our whistleblower told us.

The whistleblower sent a document with 11 names of former al-Qaeda members now working in the STC, some of whose identities we were able to verify ourselves.

During our investigation we also came across the name Nasser al-Shiba. Once a high-ranking al-Qaeda operative, he was jailed for terrorism but later released. A Yemeni government minister we spoke to told us al-Shiba was a known suspect in the attack on the US warship USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors in October 2000. Multiple sources told us that he is now the commander of one of the STC military units. Lawyer Huda al-Sarari has been investigating human rights abuses committed by these UAE-backed forces on the ground. As a result of her work, she would frequently receive death threats. But it was her 18-year-old son Mohsen who paid the ultimate price.

He was shot in the chest in March 2019 while on a trip to a local petrol station, and died a month later.[...]

A subsequent investigation by Aden's public prosecutor found that Mohsen was killed by a member of the UAE-backed Counter Terrorism Unit, but the authorities have never pursued a prosecution.

Members of the prosecutor's office - who we cannot name for safety reasons - told us that the widespread assassinations have created a climate of fear that means even they are too afraid to pursue justice in cases involving forces backed by the UAE.

Reprieve has received a leaked UAE document that shows Spear was still being paid in 2020, though it is not clear in what capacity.

#quite a piece

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