#I can't force my system to function in ways it doesn't

[thehealingsystem]

I wish we could switch like other systems do I feel so bad about it. im thinking maybe there's things that could be so much easier if we could just switch front

[enderlovez]

No Germs Found

Spencer Reid x Female BAU Reader WORD COUNT: 1000+

Summary: You and the team are back in Arizona on another case, and when an amazing unfortunate mishap takes place at the front desk, everyone is forced to share rooms with each other.

Content Warning: non-sexual nudity, strong language in reference to the temperature, blushy Spence, mentions of heat stroke, pain from the heat, mentions of murder, slightly NSFW at the end, Spencer likes boobs- I MEAN WHO SAID THAT?

A/N This is kind of a continuation of another one of my works called Germs, but they don't necessarily need to be read side by side. There's only one mention of something that happened in the first part, and it's not really that important to the story, so...

────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ──────

None of you really anticipated being on another case so soon, at least not in the same place you'd just gotten home from a few days before, and the place you all seemed to... strongly dislike.

Maybe 'dislike' isn't the right word, but one thing is for sure — the moment you step foot off the jet, you feel like you're covered from head to toe in sweat, and your throat dried up like a fish in a desert.

Not to mention how you' were all stuck in a stuffy room all day, with crappy air conditioning that did absolutely nothing for anyone. So far you had practically nothing on the unsub, they were slippery as soap, and that stress — the stress of not knowing who they are, who they are going to kill next — has you in a very grumpy mood.

And despite the inconveniences, the day still somehow finds a way to get worse.

That much is clear as Hotch strolls up to our group of people with an annoyed look on his face — granted he almost always looks like that when we're having a hard time finding anything on the unsub.

"There was a malfunction in their system, and they overbooked their rooms," he says simply, only earning a choir of groans from us, "so we're going to have to double up tonight."

You throw your head back, a heavy sigh escaping your mouth. It's been a long day, and all you want is to lay around without your clothes on and go to sleep — but you can't exactly do that with someone else in there with you.

"You're free to pick your roommate yourself, but please, for the love of God, keep it professional," he finishes as he drops a small pile of numbered keys onto the little table in the reception.

Everyone immediately splits off into pairs, while you make no move to do anything, laying back on the armchair with your neck bent over the top, eyes closed against the white fluorescent lights.

"You know, frequent hyperextension of the neck can have negative effects on its structure and function," a familiar voice says from above you. "Around fifteen to twenty-five percent of North Americans experience lasting effects, such as chronic pain and nerve issues."

You peel your eyes open to find none other than the brilliant Spencer Reid standing over your head, dangling a key over your face, and just like that, all your apprehension melts away.

"Stop flirting with me, Spencer, it's incredibly unprofessional," you joke lightheartedly, a vibrant smile overtaking your face as you pluck the key from his fingers.

He doesn't seem to realize you're joking, though, because he immediately goes to defend himself, stuttering adorably and blushing firetruck red. "No, um, I wasn't — I would never flirt with you!" he tries to defend himself, only realizing a second later how it might've come off. "I-I mean I would, but that's not what I was trying to do."

You shake your head and laugh, standing from the armchair and threading your arm through his so you can lead him down the hallway towards the room you both would be staying in.

The room that was, technically, booked for only one person.

The room that only has one bed.

It's not like you don't want to share a bed with him, you're more worried that he might not want it, with his whole 'germ' thing. Not that he really seemed to care about that the other day, when he drank straight from your water bottle without a care in the world, then proceeded to ask you out on a date.

"I can sleep on the floor, if you'd like," he offers quietly as he shuts the door behind him.

You immediately dismiss that idea, shaking your head before the words are even fully out of his mouth. "You're not sleeping on the floor, Spencer, that's not fair," you say quickly, a sly smile tugging at the corner of your mouth. "That is, as long as you're alright with me sleeping in my underwear, because I will be doing that."

Of course you're half-joking — if there's any indication that he's uncomfortable with that idea you'll just sleep in a t-shirt and shorts, it's just that you'd much rather not in this heat.

"N-no, no," he says, his voice pitched just a little too high. He's blushing from head to toe, you know that without even looking at him. "You can s-sleep in whatever you want to, I don't mind."

It's entirely unprofessional, you know that, but you really can't help it as you instantly begin tearing your sweat-drenched clothes from your body, tossing them around haphazardly until you're left in only your bra and underwear. You don't waste another second, flopping onto the bed, briefly stretching your limbs out, then rolling to one side.

It's a relief to be out of those clothes...

Only now do you realize that Spencer has not moved an inch from were he was standing when you initially asked the question, face bright red, breathing uneven as he tries desperately to keep his eyes from dipping from your face.

"Come on, I don't bite," you say quietly, patting the empty space on the other side of the bed, meanly deciding it would be funny to tease him, "not unless you ask very nicely."

Nervously, he drops his stuff beside the door and makes his way towards the bed, siting on the edge of his side. You're sure you can see him sneaking glances down at your chest every now and then, when he thinks you're not paying attention.

Who is he kidding? You're always paying attention to him, clinging onto every word he says like you'll die if you forget a single one.

"Come on, Spencer," you urge, "you've literally shared spit with me, don't get all shy now."

You're phrasing it that way as a joke, and you're sure he knows that.

But the next words that come out of his mouth leave you stunned, mouth dropped open and butterflies stampeding through your stomach, heart beating a million miles an hour.

You're not expecting something like this to come out of his mouth, really, but after his strange confidence the other day in drinking all your water and asking you out, you're not sure what to expect now.

"Can you please bite me, then?"

[changisworld]

Overstimulation with Jeongin

word count:2,642

18+, MDNI!! smut below

©ANY translation, copy & paste, posting of my work is strictly forbidden for ANY posts/ writing i post.

The final part of my 8 part masterlist of the extension of this & this headcanon of the members!!;3

Kinks & pleasures masterlist here main masterlist here

->SMUT WARNINGS: dommish!Innie, sub!reader, overstimulation, dacryphilia, use of sex toys, oral (f rec) use of flavoured lube. manipulation(???) mention of safe word but not used(light system), tittie sucking, PIV, pull out method, dirty talk, praise, squirting, aftercare is brief but happens more off screen

->I think this is actually my favourite from the whole series along with Seungmins heheh so i hope you all like it as much as I do :3

When you had first started to get to know Jeongin, you've always noticed how soft & playful he is & when you first started to get to know him sexually, you assumed he would be the exact same sweet boy, but how quickly he proved you wrong, it could have genuinely gave you whiplash.

You're straddling Jeongin as you're both on your bed, making out messily as your hands cup his sharpened jawline & his are resting comfortably on your ass, the fabric of your leggings stretching over his skin, simply resting there, caressing your curves at the same pace as both of your lips move.

"So pretty, take your shirt off f'me, wanna see your tits" he cheekily asks, his lips shiny with his spit as he breaks the kiss. You obviously rush to do as he asks, giggling as he lets out a small, happy hum as your bare chest is now on show for him & he is quick to pull you forward just enough so your chest is level with his face, before latching onto your left nipple.

You fiddle with his soft hair, grinding slowly against his clothed cock, but despite the layers of clothes covering it, you can feel it hardening. "You've got a good mouth" you say, mindlessly & you chuckle as Jeongin switches nipple, slightly nibbling down on it just the way you like.

"Yeah? I've got some more tricks I can do with it" he giggles as he flips you both over so you're on your back. "Lemme show you" he adds on as he takes the hem of your leggings & starts pulling them off your body & you huff, but you help him take them off anyway.

"Your sex drive is far too high, we fucked literally three hours ago!" you tease him as your legs spread just enough so he can slot his waist between so he can kiss you again, but he doesn't take you up on the silent offer, instead his dimpled, cheeky smile as he settles his knees on the floor at the bottom of the bed, his face now level with your covered cunt, your lace black thong presenting a small wet patch.

"I can't help it when I am with you, just one orgasm, we don't even need to fuck, just wanna taste & you do too don't you? you're so wet y/n" he purrs as he nudges his nose against your cunt, groaning at the smell.

You sigh as he starts kissing your thighs, suckling down on your sweet spots which make your legs threaten to shut around him, but are blocked by his head & shoulders.

Jeongin can tell you're getting antsy with the way you're trying to hump onto his face & he forces himself to pull back & reach into the bedside drawer & pull out your bullet vibrator & also something of his own choice, his strawberry flavoured lube.

The minute you notice the lube in his hand, you knew this would be a long scene. "Innie, just one, I want to actually function later" you chuckle & he rolls his eyes playfully up at you as he pulls your underwear down your legs, now leaving you completely bare.

He blows a cold string of air on your glistening folds & his eyes are glued to the way you clench around nothing but air & he bites his bottom lip before he opens the cap of the lube & squirts a small dollop of it just above your clit & you wince.

Jeongin puts the vibrator to the side for now but keeps it in arms reach obviously, but he doesn't waste any more time before diving into your pussy, it looking too endearing to keep himself back anymore.

You've realised long ago that he has a kind of 'specific order' in how he eats pussy, one hundred percent of the time always starting off by kitten licking your entire cunt, paying extra attention to the small spot just in between your clit & your hole, always making you want more.

He spreads the lube around your pussy, making you so wet that you're surprised his mouth doesn't quite literally slip off your pussy, which makes you laugh in your head at the thought of it.

"Innie, don't tease" you whimper in a soft voice, not wanting to jerk your hip because you know he will give you way more than you can handle simply because 'you wanted more so he gave you more'. "I'm not, just wanting to taste before I eat, don't rush me!" he replies, his fox eyes peeking up at you, the bottom half of his face hidden by your own body & you shut your legs around his head, playfully.

Jeongin is quick to pull your thighs back open & he looks at you with frowned eyes, his smile still plastered on his face & you can't help but get butterflies but also a bit nervous, not knowing what his look exactly means but you're quick to find out.

"You're so needy, & you told me my sex drive was too high." he chuckles, before he dives in. He has picked up his pace on his usual walkthrough on how he usually tastes you, before switching from tasting to eating, & one thing about Jeongin is he genuinely eats as if it's his last meal, & you lurch forward but Jeongin is quick to push you back onto the bed, his mouth not even daring to leave your mound.

Jeongin's eyes are staring up at you, with a mix of lust but also just love, & you are able to pick up on the look, his main way of non verbally showing he loves you despite how harsh he can be to you during sex & how far he pushes you to your limits.

Jeongin makes quick work of suckling on your folds, his tongue parting them as he flattens his tongue against it, lapping at your cunt, making you whimper & hum as your fingers weave into his soft hair but you don't dare tug on it, you just rub & play with his hair softly, trying to maybe get him to not be as harsh as you think he's gonna be.

Jeongin latches onto your clit & his soft lips suction to the button, tongue swirling around it in the specific pattern he knows gets you over the edge the quickest, savouring your raw taste on his taste buds, he starts palming himself over his sweatpants to try ease some of the pressure on his pulsating cock.

"Innie, g-gonna cum" you groan, your fingers clenching in his hair, making him groan in return as he can quite literally feel your clit pulsate in his mouth & he keeps the pace the exact same & your thighs slightly shake around his head before your stomach tightens & your first orgasm.. first of very many just this time alone washes over you & your toes curl, Jeongin chuckling up at you as he watches you writhe, his tongue not giving over.

You are panting as your high eventually bubbles away, but the feeling of his tongue doesn't bubble away, as he keeps the exact same speed. "Innie n-no more, sleepy" you murmur, your hips twitching at the slightly painful feeling sinking in.

"Cmon, you can handle one more, you've only came once today, it's fine" he purrs & you look down at him as soon as you process his words. "Jeongin you've made me cum four times today, my clit is gonna fall off" you cry & jeongin gets back to what he was doing, sucking & tasting before swallowing the remainder of the lube that he hasn't already swallowed & replies to you by saying "nuh uh, only gave you one today, can't you remember?" before he decides to be 'nice' & give you a small break & sits back on his knees slightly as he decides that your hole needs some attention too, so he slides two of his long, slender fingers into you, a small squelching noise being heard.

"You're so wet, you enjoy this almost as much as i do don't you" he teases as he starts scissoring them in & out of you & you can't help but chase the feeling despite it stinging from overstimulation, & any comeback you had dies in your throat as you bask in the feeling, whimpering & whining at the feeling.

As your eyes are shut & your arms are thrown over your face as you try fuck yourself on his fingers & as you're distracted, Jeongin reaches to grab the small vibrator placed on the bed & before you realise, he has turned it on & has placed it on your already swollen clit & you hiss & tense up, your cunt clenching around his fingers.

"Ah, fuck Innie, s-so much" you blabber, your hips subconsciously trying to get more feeling from the vibrator while also trying to escape from it at the same time, but he is so quick to stop you from trying to shuffle away. "Don't run from it, I wouldn't give you anything you couldn't handle, so be good, mkay? gimme one more then I'll stop, pinky swear" he talks, his voice sounding breathless as if he was the one receiving it all.

You can't do anything other than nod at his words as he then adds a third finger, meeting almost no resistance from how soaked you really are, but you feel even impossibly fuller & you let out a whine.

You can feel what feels like your millionth orgasm of the day bubbling up in the pit of your stomach again as Jeongin starts poking & probing against your soft spot at the same time he switches the vibrator to the highest setting & you can tell your orgasm feels different & you know what it is.

"Innie, cumm-" you're cut off by yourself as your orgasm hits you harder this time & this time it squirts out of you & sprays onto the vibrator before spraying onto his bare chest, before dripping down his skin along with dripping down onto the knuckles that are poking out from your hole before he is forced to pull them out from how hard you're clenching around them & he takes it upon himself to fiddle with your clit at a quick pace to pull the rest of your orgasm out of you, humming at the sight.

Your hair is sticking to your face because of the thin layer of sweat & your legs can't help but shut around his hand & he pulls it away from your abused cunt, letting you catch your breath slightly as he takes this opportunity to take off the rest of the clothes he still has on, his cock leaking at the tip so much you'd assume he had already came in his pants.

"So good aren't you, I think you can handle just one more" he states, not really bothering to ask. "Too much Inniee" you pant, your legs still closed but Jeongin opens them before positioning himself between them. "What's your colour?" he asks, his voice turning softer as he pumps himself slowly with one hand & caresses your thigh with the other.

"Gr-green" you whimper to him, your voice completely hushed out & raspy sounding & dry from using it so much. Jeongin smiles down at you, his dimples making your heart flutter & you make grabby hands & he knows to fold himself forwards to be face level with you as he lines himself up with you before pushing in, making you both moan in unison.

"How is it you're always so tight hmm? I literally fucked you open earlier & even made you squirt but you're still dying for more" he buzzes, his own voice raspy too as he begins to fuck you at a slow pace, deciding to give you the small amount of time to adjust.

"So- so big, fuck" you whimper, clenching uncontrollably around his long, slender cock & Jeongin can't help but blush at your words.

He starts to pick up his pace, his tip bullying into your cervix, kissing it roughly with each thrust as he tries to shut his own growing whimpers & groans by kissing you, mostly to shut himself up because he would rather be mute than let himself miss your noises & the way your cunt is squelching around him each time he thrusts makes him thankful he did so.

You struggle to kiss him back as you are allowing yourself to fully swallow yourself in the pleasure the man above is giving you.. the only man who could do this for you, your eyes watering & even a few tears start to escape your eyes from the painful pleasure, your cervix being poked & no doubt bruised but the feeling of your G-spot being also poked & also probably bruised, covers the painful part almost entirely.

"S-wanna cum a-again Inn, ca-can't handle it" you shriek as you turn your head sideways enough just to break your lips apart to tell him & he can't even chuckle at your state, his own orgasm starting to form as he stands back, his pace not faltering as he has to mentally beg himself to not let his eyes shut so he doesn't miss anything.

He thinks to himself your clit looks 'abandoned' or 'lonely' so of course he fixes that issue, by yet again partnering it with his thumb & you lurch forward, your hands making quick work of trying to paw his hand from your clit but he uses his other hand to push yours away.

"Keep em away, I know you're g-gonna cum again, gonna cum too, t-so tight" he groans, his eyebrows furrowed as he is biting down on his bottom lip & you clench your fingers so hard into the bedsheets that they're turning white as you can't stop moaning, the room full of the sounds.

"Cryin f'me? is it that much for you y/nnie? just let go, so pretty when you cry" he utters as he watches your face contort & your toes start curling again as your legs shake around him again & before you can warn him, you're squirting for the second time & Jeongin has to pull himself out from how tightly you constrict & not even a couple of seconds after he is fisting his cock while watching your own orgasm spray out of you, he is cumming all over your lower tummy, a few drops shooting up towards your tits.

He tries to get his breath back as quickly as possible as he is also helping you by picking you up & making quick work of helping move to the bathroom & setting you on the countertop as he starts running a bath before turning around to kiss you all over your cheeks & drying the tears from your cheeks & then kissing you all over again, moving your dampened hair rom your face.

"Wait here f'me & Ima get us water then we can bath together, I'll bring your chocolate too" he says in his completely normal cheery voice, before running out of the room still naked into the kitchen.

->Taglist & anon list is open!

@jisungml

[spinchip]

Concept: the Staff of Forbidden Spinjitzu doesn't whisper to Zane. Instead, its "whispers" take the form of popups along his HUD disguised as alerts or warnings. Things like "If you put me down now, your friends will never find you. [OK]” or “Killing these prisoners villagers will increase Vex’s approval and reinforce your reign. Proceed? [Y/N]”

(I like this particular flavor because it really leans into Zane's robotic nature: he can ignore whispers by turning off his auditory sensors or filtering noise, but he can't ignore system alerts.)

Also, the following scene has lived rent-free in my brain ever since I came up with the concept. (Italics are Zane's default OS. Everything else is the Staff.)

>IF YOU ARE GOING TO DESTROY ME, "ZANE" -Move File:"NeverrealmMemories" to Core Memory Functions-WARNING: Attempting to delete, move, or suppress File"NeverrealmMemories" after moving will cause total system failure. Proceed with move anyway? >[YES] -File transferred. -Permanently remove fatal combat safeguards? >[YES] -Safeguards removed. >THEN I WILL MAKE SURE YOU CAN NEVER FORGET WHAT YOU DID, SYSID:ICEEMPEROR

-Connection Terminated.

(I have a few more Ideas for the "Scroll Corruption looks like Computer Alert messages to Zane" idea-ones that really lean into Zanes Nindroid nature, as well as the tech-y appearance of the Dark Ice.) -The Staff did a lot more than just send alert messages: it slowly wormed its way into Zane's code like a computer virus, tweaking a few things. It took great care to remove Zane's combat safeguards, eventually deleting them entirely and ensuing he defaulted to lethal force. It never removed his core directive of "Protecting those who cannot protect themselves" since that was vital to his systems running, but it did reinterpret said directive as "Protect Dark Ice Network and everything connected to it, for it is fragile and cannot protect itself from outsiders". (It also couldn't delete his morality subroutines without causing a crash, so it instead made them a much lower priority and shoved them to the back of his digital mind.) -After 60+ years of being in the grasp of a mechanical being, the Staff now exclusively speaks in the manner of a computer, and cannot adapt to organic minds the way it used to. (The other Staff is not like this, as it's still attuned to organic brains.) -You know those Sci-Fi stories where people are plugged into computers and know every part of the ship/city simultaneously, and can send most of their awareness into certain parts of the network while still being aware of other locations? That's what's going on with the Never Realm during the Ice Emperor's Reign, with the Ice Emperor as the central guiding consciousness/core CPU of the Dark Ice Network. As such, he's not actually sleeping-rather, the Ice Emperor is always monitoring his domain through his Ice and leaving just enough of his consciousness in his body to be able to call the rest of himself back in case he's threatened. (The Staff is a combination of a computer virus and a wireless modem: it is corrupting, but it's also the main point of connection for the Dark Ice Network.) -Since the Ice Emperor can't recharge his power on his own in his current state, the Staff had to step in, tweaking the Dark Ice to drain the vitality of those imprisoned within. (You know wireless phone chargers, or Nikolai Tesla's idea to get electric power from the atmosphere? Similar concept, except with the power source being frozen people and the transmitter being Evil Magic Ice.) -Boreal is the Titanium Dragon, corrupted by the Staff's presence. It too is part of the Dark Ice Network, and serves as Ice Emperor's eyes and ears whenever the Dark Ice can't reach. (If the Ice network used computer program language, Boreal would be known as "Obj_DarkIceTitaniumDrake".) Killing Boreal caused a massive jolt to the Dark Ice Network that destabilized the Scroll's influence, and allowed an opening for Zane's Memory Defragmentation program to kick in. (It had started when Lloyd arrived in the throne room, but the Scroll had diverted that to a minor priority and was actively hiding that set of files until the word "Protect" slipped through, forcing Zane's systems to call up what had been defragmented.) -As a final act of spite for being broken, the Staff encoded Zane's memories of the Never realm to his Core Processing systems, meaning he cannot forget the Never Realm without completely frying his systems and rendering him a lifeless shell. (It might've also made a backup of itself amidst his various repressed memory files, but he doesn't need to know that. It's just sitting there, disguised as a normal .zip file, biding its time.) (I really like genre-blending Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and I thought the idea of "Magic Ice Computer Network" is rad as hell.)

(This song is a big part the inspiration for part of the "Dark Ice Network" idea, by the way. Granted, the Staff of Forbidden Spinjitzu doesn't assimilate Zane's psyche like Star Dream assimilates Haltmann's, but a lot of the ideas are still there-and the Staff does still integrate itself pretty deeply into the Nindroid's code as it slowly actualizes.)

I have no words for how absolutely awesome this is in every way. i just keep rereading this and being amazed. the "Dark Ice Network" idea is literally so cool, I particularly love the Ice Emperor being able to monitor the entire land while his body/the staff is the main 'hub' he has to protect. this is aweosme.

everyone look now please

[creature-wizard]

What Natalie Wynn said in her video about how conspiracy theories about satanic sexual abuse are essentially porn for puritans is something I very much agree with based on the way a lot of conspiracy literature I've read was written. And I think we'd be pretty damned naive if we didn't raise an eyebrow at how the recovered memory fad within the Satanic Panic empowered numerous therapists to extract all manner of sexually explicit stories from the numerous women they wrongly diagnosed with MPD.

But it's not just that, in my experience. Something I've noticed is that conspiracy theories are a pretext and justification to engage with anything that's supposed to be off-limits to the puritanical.

As most of you probably already know, one of the big objects of contention during the Satanic Panic was Dungeons & Dragons. And back when I was reading Fritz Springmeier and Cisco Wheeler's books, I couldn't help but develop the distinct impression that somebody here really just wanted to play D&D. All the talk about programmed systems' inner structures filled with monsters and traps, all this talk of jewels and precious metals - it's as if whatever Springmeier couldn't get out of a game of D&D, he extracted from Wheeler's mind.

Puritanical Christians aren't technically allowed to practice divination. But the methods they use to supposedly unravel the occult meanings behind every major world event allows them to functionally sidestep this. They aren't practicing numerology, they're revealing how the bad guys are practicing numerology!

They aren't supposed to engage with sinful media that depicts occult ideas. They can't get into something like Star Wars and obsess over its deep lore because to them, the Force is demonic and obviously God only created life on Earth, and besides that, it takes their attention away from God. But they can get into conspiracy theories and obsess over its deep lore because well, they're just figuring out the plans of Satan and his followers!

Puritanical Christianity was designed to be boring, based on beliefs that anything that aroused the senses too much would lead to licentiousness, that anything that doesn't glorify God is sinful, that art and aesthetics are expressions of corruption and greed, and that if you just removed all distractions people would be able to put all of their focus on God. But what all of this does is emotionally and intellectually starve people, and they have to find a way to fill these needs somehow. And conspiracy theories provide a permissible way to fill these needs.

[glitter-stained]

Sense the current state of jason as character is stagnant do you think dc will ever purplish a good story of him, maybe he even kills of his red hood persona and goes on to be something else that would be something I would like to see but I don’t think it will happen. Dc will forever shoehorn him in to the batfamily. At least in his anti-villian era he was actually fun now his character is in a pitiful state

do u think theirs a chance of reinvent him as character anytime soon ?

Well first of all through spite everything is possible, so jot that down.

Like seriously, remember when it was so so incredibly over like Spiderman's Uncle Ben levels of over and then Under the Hood happened? Hell yeah I think dc will publish a good Jason story

Second I may not be the best person for this ask because I like my blorbos pitiful and miserable. Like yeah defiance is awesome but exhaustion -in characters who have been angry and alone for so long, beaten dog who got electrocuted too often to bite back- has a special place in my heart. But I also agree this has to be a transitional part of a story, the arc can't be "well he was hurt and then he was angry and then he was tired and he was miserable the whole time". Unless of course he ends up perma-dying in a really meaningful arc centered around his character but I'm not sure that'd be what I want for him, and we all know how lame dc is with permadeath nowadays. I'm also very mitigated with his villain side because yeah sometimes it's very fun and cathartic to see the angry/bad victim trope, but also the classismXpsychophobia of villain Red Hood sometimes are just too much; and also I'm a jaybin fan and sometimes I feel betrayed on jaybin's behalf by elements of his villainous characterization. (One day I'll write that damned UTH rewrite, I will).

With that being said!!! I love Jason because of his potential, he has so so much of it, that's what's exhausting about his many bad comics is that yeah. Yeah, dc can absolutely publish something more than good. They don't understand the goldmine they're sitting on in terms of potential.

What I'd love to see explored in hypothetical upcoming good comics (i'll talk more about it later with malfiora but for now)/how dc could go about reinventing his character :

1) addressing Jason's suicidality and getting him a functional support system (seriously, something's gotta give)

2) Get that boy a dog. Ik he had one at some point in N52 idc give him more dogs. Big ass rescue dog that's loyal and similar to him.

2) we need to figure out a way to let Jason keep being a Crime Alley/Park Row vigilant without being dependent on Batman. Like yeah he should explore the world away from him and heal but also i'm very uncomfortable with the idea that healing, for Jason, has to mean leaving the city and neighbourhood he grew up in and protected, has to mean be shoved out of his home by a guy who doesn't live there and, at least when Jason was a kid, only visited the place one time a year because of the anniversary of his parents' death- it's not fair and I won't accept it.

3) I so so agree about the "killing the red hood persona" or at the very least changing his vigilant name. Like I get the point, I understand the use he had for him, but his story can't be centered around the Joker forever (I keep thinking about the Joker's attitude to him in The Man who stopped Laughing and god, I can see a driving force to find himself as something else than what Batman and the Joker made him). At some point his name has to become something that is his and turned towards the future.

4) art + story that acknowledges how young he is (someone please let Jason take college class please please he deserves it)

5) perhaps most importantly: batman writers often sound like hardcore deontology or hardcore utilitarianism (and the occasional egoism) are the only acceptable moral philosophies. And for characters, it works! Like I can see Batman as a Kantian, sure. But for others, it doesn't fit as well.*

The cool thing about Jason's character right now is that he's a utilitarian, but a utilitarian that often isn't guided by his values. He can and will compromise on his philosophy in the name of love and being loved ( @bestangelofall called that a morality leash) and that already sets him as an interesting character in his own right. But in terms of redefining himself as a person after decades of defining himself through his pain (which, at 20-23 years old, he should get to do) I'd love to see an evolution of his morals based on love. Specifically, I'd love from his morals to shift from mathematical utilitarianism to agape, an ancient greek concept of platonic love for everything human, a movement towards the other that can be thought of as close to some conceptualisations of empathy. Mind you, that doesn't mean that he would stop killing! I can believe in a Jason who kills because or against of agape, the pain or relief that could be so good to explore in relation to that, how he would go on to define himself as a person... I feel like Jason has a certain tendency to kinda dehumanize the worst criminals as he kills them (a lesson from Judy, love her sm) which I love, but would also love to see him grow out of - learn to see and love everyone as human and what it means, a re-exploration of his empathy.

Imagine: a scene where he kills a guy because a kid victim begged him to. The focus on the image is on the kid's big wide tearstruck eyes, and then Jason's uncertain face, the kid begging him to kill the bad guy. And then Jason kills him and they're standing so close to eachother, and he's look him in the eyes and seeing the image of the kid's eyes, and then turning back to the kid while wiping the blood on his face and seeing the kid's wide eyes looking in disbelieving awe. And then kneeling and hugging the kid as he cries his heart out. And Jason's inner monologue during all that being something like "I could say that I killed him because I'm a bad guy; I probably am. Or argue the world is better off without scum like him; I could pretend I did it so he wouldn't hurt [x] again, or that I was thinking about all the other children he wouldn't be able to hurt anymore. But the truth is, I didn't. I killed him because [x] asked me to; because I could tell that he needed it. I can live with that."

Idk, that's the direction I would love to see it going, but simply "becoming even more open, louder and unapologetic about prioritising his love over his values, and being angry when it causes him dilemma" is something I'd love with as way. Very "Odysseus knows what he's going to choose the moment the gods tell him to throw the baby off the wall to see Penelope and Telemachus, but fuck if he's angry at the gods for making him make that choice" kind of vibe if you like Epic the musical.

*i'm not saying there aren't any characters in dc that fall out of this deontological/utilitarian false dilemma, it's just a vibe I get from batman writers at times, and as a consequence of specializing in one character I don't feel legitimate in exploring the intricacies of other characters because I feel like I'm lacking information and would be making uneducated guesses (that being said, I would fuck heavily with an exploration of Cass' morals VS Levinas' concept of ethics). If anybody has recommendations of dc characters that are neither utilitarian nor deontological (or are at least an interesting twist to it) I would love them so much please don't hesitate!!!

So yeah, idk if that answers your question, I don't pretend to know the intricate working of dc editorial. But imo there are wonderful possibilities for dc to reinvent Jason and write him into good comics -call me a blue lantern cause baby I got hope.

[the-astrophel-system]

How did you come to be anti-endo?

I actually managed to avoid the endo community for a really long time when I was first researching osddid. eventually i did made my way over to tumblr and even then i managed to be oblivious to the community. i cant remember how exactly i first encountered the community. but after having mostly accurate information given to me, i was like. this obviously doesn't add up.

i remember encountering the term "demo system" over on tiktok. and i was so fucking disgusted by it. you cant try this shit out. you cant choose to have this. the more i heard from these "origins" the more i want to debunk and educate.

i believe a good portion of the problem is that people are misunderstanding themselves. either they have forgotten their trauma (which is normal), or they down play their experiences and think that just because it wasn't the worst of the worst, they can't have osddid. but yeah, i feel like thats a portion of the endo community and i have empathy for that.

what i dont have empathy for is people who actively spread misinformation. you need trauma for cdds. simple as that. and you cannot have a comparable experience to cdds if you do not gave trauma. (all "you" is purely general. not specifically you. unless of course, you identify as endo)

as someone who is spiritual and communicates with my dead relative quite frequently. channeling and mediumship is not comparable to being a system.

as someone who understands how this disorder functions, creating alter egos for yourself, creating imaginary friends, or talking to your original characters in your head, is not comparable.

as someone who has experienced religious trauma, claiming that your spiritual or religious beliefs are comparable, is incredibly insensitive. you cannot force people to believe in your religion. so therefore, i have absolutely no obligation to engage in your religion if i dont want to. and again, you cannot prove this is a legitimate thing, so therefore its not fucking comparable.

from the start, i was against it. it makes a mockery of a disorder, and people are so fucking stubborn and caught up in validating themselves, that they cannot take criticism and try to figure out what is scientifically happening.

thanks for the question

[the-s1lly-corner]

Hi! Just found your bog and I really like how you write Tim/Masky. So could I request Tim/Masky and EJ with a very caring reader, reader is mother hen-ish and gets worried about them not taking care of themselves while reader themselves doesn’t take care of themselves much either. Hope that makers sense, have a great day!

Tim/Masky and Eyeless Jack x mother hen!reader but they're a hypocrite

Giving tim and masky separate parts since I do write them just sliiiiiiightly different to each other !! Glad to hear you like my silly lil take on this dude! Was/is definitely hard to get him down while trying to appease two fandoms 😭😭

MASKY

He wont exactly stop you from treating any of his wounds when he comes home, but hes not going to be thrilled. The only time he would seek out your help is if he cant reach it. Very stubborn, while yes hes not trying to go out of his way to get hurt hes not going to be making sure hes staying totally safe when hes out doing his.. thing.. oh if you could only see his face when he sees you not drinking your water after you hound him for not staying hydrated.. he might actually try to force you to drink or get a snack. When it comes to sleep he physically holds you to him in bed.. he might not be tired himself but if this is the only way you'll get to bed then so be it

TIM

Hes a little more accepting of help than his counterpart, though its mostly out of confusion as he doesnt know where his wounds come from. Actually he can't really remember the night prior.. assuming you're unaware of everything going on with him, you just try to patch him up. Thankfully it's not usually anything more than small cuts and scrapes. Sometimes theres bruises.. moving on tim can also be a bit of hypocrite like you. He insists you take care of yourself but he forgets to apply the same standard to him.. it's not that he intentionally is holding a double standard, he just genuinely either forgets or doesnt have the energy. Mental illness can do that to someone and it sucks. But it can be turned into you both trying to do better for each other, and it sort of becomes a system.. that'd be sweet, I think, you both uplift each other over time

EYELESS JACK

All things considered, hes fairly good at taking care of himself. Granted, there will be real consequences if he doesnt.. for him and you.. so he cant take many chances. Look, missing a meal when you're a man eating demon who goes rabid when hungry is.. not the best. He doesn't want to take any chances, so even if it mentally messes with him to eat his food he still toughs it out because it's better that the alternative. I guess theres a plus that he technically doesnt need to sleep to function.. semi good enough. Actually if anything hes the one scolding you for not taking care of yourself. Being the one being looked after.. feels weird to jack..

[catboybiologist]

hi hi! i'm not sure if this is helpful or anything but irt your post about libido with hrt i think i have a ??helpful maybe?? definitely different perspective lol. just identifiable health info that i'd rather share anonymously; i hope this is alright

context: i'm trans (agender) but not medically transitioning yet, however i'm intersex with my variation being almost entirely based on hormone levels and stuff. short version: my puberty originally started with higher levels of E and lower levels of T (but much higher than a cis+perisex woman would naturally have). i *was* able to have periods, but they were. yknow. not with anatomy that fully fit *either* binary sex. because of that i was forced on low levels of E + androgen blockers, it made me really sick, stopped taking them, am now having puberty 2.0: almost entirely T edition! second important bit of context: am acespec, although questioning now haha

in my experience, and i think i've seen others talk about this too, e-based libido came in a more emotional form i guess? like, not quite attraction, but definitely the level of horniness that would come with that. i could get *distracted* by arousal, because it was my brain wanting the stimulation, not necessarily my genitalia. however, i wan't very frequently aroused at all, and had very very low libido.

when i was put on e+androgen blockers, as previously mentioned, i got fairly sick. while medical access was a problem so i can't be 100% sure about any of this, it's assumed that the (non menstrual related) symptoms were due to having too low T, and extremely inconsistent E. during this time, my libido was all over the place. during times when my E was too low, I got super horny, and it was an even mix of mental and physical arousal. when my E was too high, i could not be less horny. any attempts to masturbate or have sex would make me nauseous.

now that my doctors have agreed to let me idk just. exist in a body that doesn't conform to their standards lol. i'm having functionally second puberty, which is based almost entirely in T. I think it would have been a more natural transition between the "2" puberties had it not been interrupted in the middle, because what my hormones have stabilized as is. not QUITE 50/50. but close ish. and with testosterone, my libido went WAY up. like, to the point where i've started feeling significantly more sexual attraction, and am thus questioning my asexuality. but it's almost entirely physical arousal, as in I can get hard and. without being too tmi in a stranger's inbox. orgasms physical now. were not before.

anyways this is a far too long-winded (sorry 😅) way of saying: i think you're 100% correct about low levels of hormones causing low libido, but in my experience high estrogen did actually make me less horny. however, i still was horny it was just a type of horniness that's harder to measure on doctor's charts i'd assume. high testosterone, meanwhile, did exactly what doctors said it would do haha. i'm not sure if this is helpful or relevant to you and am sorry for the ramble but. yeah :3 hope you have a nice day ^-^

I don't have much to add or comment, but as I adamantly say, all experiences are good experiences to note and have information about. I'm really sorry for the insane fuckery of the medical system you've been through, but I'm glad you're able to share your experiences and provide something positive.

I might have a bit to say later but I at least want to get your experience out there!

[sorcerornobody]

I don't think we truly need a Final Fantasy IX remake, but if we do get one, here are some things I'd like to see from it. Spoilers for a 25 year old PlayStation game, obviously.

Some of this is my own thoughts, and some is based on grievances I've seen laid out by other people.

Keep the majority of it the same. Seriously! The game is so good. I replayed it very recently and most of it still holds up. Keep it faithful. I love VII Remake, but we don't need that here.

Hopefully this one goes without saying, but do not make the style more realistic. Keep the somewhat cartoony aesthetic.

Definitely don't expand it to the point it has to be split into two (or more) games. Not just because having to wait between them would be annoying, but actually for solid narrative reasons: I just don't think there's a good place to split it. The best I've come up with is the Disc 2/Disc 3 boundary, but the first hour or two of Disc 3 would be a really weird start for a separate game.

Don't (significantly) change the Trance system. I know, I know, we all hate Trance, how impossible it is to control, the fact it gets wasted all the time. I know. But its mechanics have plot relevance. I'd maybe add a support ability that can be equipped to prevent a character from entering Trance, so that you can functionally grind the gauge to nearly full before bosses without wasting it on a random encounter. Or maybe just Low Tide as a counterpart to High Tide, so you can slow down the gauge.

Do consider changing how Trance is used narratively. Several characters get a signature moment in the early to mid story that automatically puts them in Trance. It would make sense that they can't enter Trance prior to that point. Perhaps add a signature moment earlier where possible so their Trance isn't locked behind too much of the game (hello Steiner), although don't bend over backwards to do so. This is one of the trickier asks, obviously.

Don't drop Freya from all relevance after Cleyra. She's such a good character and she's honestly wasted for the latter two thirds of the game. Give her something to do.

Keep Quina initially optional. And use they/them pronouns for them. I actually really like the way Quina isn't a secret character, but that you have the option to recruit them early. I don't think it would add narrative value to force the player to go to Qu's Marsh and recruit them on the Burmecia arc.

Give Amarant a bit more. Just some crumbs. He doesn't need a lot; in fact I daresay it might even be better to leave him as he is rather than overdo it, but a little extra spice would be great.

Have Eiko get over her precocious crush on Zidane. I'm fine with her having it. It's part of her characterisation. But by the end of the game I really think she ought to be over it, or at least moving in that direction. A really good place to work on this would be to utilise her time with Garnet at the Water Shrine towards this purpose, rather than it just being a couple of lines to just have Garnet avoid talking about her own feelings on Zidane.

Dive into Beatrix's character more. Her face turn is fine, if a little easy, but the game conspicuously doesn't take any time to discuss the fact that she's known for (and boasts about when the party first meet her) all the people she's mercilessly cut down. She expresses disapproval of the Black Mages mostly as a method, not for what they're being used to do. Give us more shades of grey.

What is Zorn and Thorn's deal? Were they always two parts of Meltigemini, as Kuja somewhat implies? Why do they have the ability to extract Eidolons?

Have Zidane do more with his tail. There's a fun moment where he uses it in the early game to hang from a ceiling. And then it literally never comes up again other than pointing out that all the other Genomes have it (and Kuja hides his). Just sprinkle some bits here and there that acknowledge our boi having an entire extra limb.

Back to the topic of the shrines, maybe let us fight all four guardians. Why not? The water guardian didn't even get shown. It's neat when the game lets you play as a party other than Zidane's, and it could also serve as a better precursor to fighting the four Chaoses in Memoria if you've already fought all four guardians. And of course, going back to what I said about Eiko, they can expand on the scenes of the other three parties. Amarant gets a banger little moment talking to the fire guardian. More of that.

And of course, expand on the plot in general. It can be done without just infodumping. There's a bunch of information from the Ultimania about e.g. the Iifa Tree that can be elaborated upon. And when I say "without infodumping", I mean without infodumping during the plot – you can have dedicated infodumps that the player can optionally seek out. Have readable terminals in Pandaemonium that give information on Terra stuff. Have a datalog-esque feature in the game, I promise, that kind of thing is fine, put your dislike of FFXIII down, XIII's problem, aside from the complaints being largely overblown, was that (some!) important stuff was left out of the main plot and put in datalogs.

Also explain some specific little details better. For example, what is the deal with Hilda being in Mount Gulug? How long has she been in there? The place was sealed up until Kuja took the Gulug Stone from Zidane about ten minutes prior. Was she on the Hilda Garde 1 and Kuja just transferred her when he got there? So why is the room there and fully furnished?

Fix Thunder Slash. Lol.

Make stealing rare items less heinously hard. Tantarian's Demon's Mail (if it is fought on Disc 2) and Hilgigars's Fairy Flute are pure suffering because you don't have access to Master Thief yet. Also change the Beatrix fights to only end after dealing enough damage to her so you don't run out of time to steal her items.

Make Tetra Master a bit less stupid. It's never gonna be Triple Triad, or even Queen's Blood, and I don't want it to be. It can stay its own thing. It can even keep some of the RNG, just reduce the impact of it, because it's ludicrous how RNG the game is. And make the card evolution more controllable somehow.

Inject more Chocobo Hot and Cold into my veins. I want it. I need it. Okay, I'm being dramatic (but I do really love it). That said, I wouldn't mind some more use for Dead Peppers. Add a few more bubbles and mountain cracks, perhaps more around the Mist Continent so you get to see them early on and go "I wonder what that is" if you're new to the game, but for balance, also give us a bit more help finding them because they do kinda suck to find. Oh, and make the Air Garden suck less.

Do... something? with Excalibur II??? I don't know what. Making it significantly easier would defeat the whole purpose I guess. But honestly, what is the point of it, you get a really strong weapon for one specific character who you might not even be using, right at the very end of the game, and you have to speedrun the entire game meticulously to do it. Maybe make it a BIT easier, and have New Game Plus so you can actually use it for something other than Ozma, idfk. And account for the game clock speed this time.

And for one final hot take, they don't necessarily need to remove the "Ooo, soft!" moment, but it definitely needs some adjustment if they keep it. Zidane apologising properly rather than brushing it off with "It's not like I did it on purpose" would be a start.

[emblemxeno]

FE Support Conversation Rant, sorry this is really incoherent lol

How many issues that people have with Fire Emblem's support system can be solved by answering "Your own lack of willingness and imagination is not a writing issue."

Pre support era, characters had a purpose beyond being faceless pieces on a board. These guys are loyal squad mates to their leader cuz the leader saved them from hardship. These are royal knights on the verge of being executed. This closed off village has been hounded, and a girl has been kidnapped because the bad guys saw she had potent magic. This princess is being forced to fight against her will for a foreign nation because her nephew has been kidnapped.

Each character had purpose that works and is meaningful once you give it more thought. Even the near-blank slates in Thracia or Shadow Dragon, you can still discern who they are by when you recruit them, how you do it, what they were doing beforehand, etc. Further on, you can glean more info through the gameplay. This guy has poor strength, but great speed, yet he's not a myrm or a thief, he's an axe fighter! Must be a technical guy instead of a big swinger, the village said he used to do woodwork!

That's fun! That's cool! That's engaging in a story through gameplay despite limited dialogue.

Supports didn't ruin this aspect, because you can still ascribe reasons as to why characters do what they do, what cause they fight for, who they are as people, how they do things, etc.

Supports didn't take away simple nobody recruitments like Rebecca, lost royalty like Elffin or Joshua, or mercenaries like Ike's group. Lon'qu is a man of few words, his name doesn't match other Feroxi names, he cares only about swordsmanship; that's interesting! Nohr's retainers are almost all gutter trash or nobodies who worked to get to their positions, whereas Hoshido's retainers are nobles or respected lineages bred for their roles. These things aren't first seen in supports, they are just in the small info boxes when you click on their names. That's intriguing!

3H, for as much as I give it shit, does this well too! It front loads the cast, because they're all in the monastery for some reason, and the house leaders (as well as early game mandatory monastery wandering) give you enough to say "oh i'd like to know more" or "oh this makes my brain tingle, what's a person like that doing here."

Supports are nebulous, story-insignificant because they're supposed to be. They are rewards for using characters you care about more and more. They are "what if GI Joe and Malibu Barbie hung out" given form. IMO, they aren't meant to supplement the main story in a way that changes things unequivocally, they're meant as a way to peek in how characters just are, as people. Handling day to day tasks, what their routines are like, what trivial things they like and don't like, what they believe, what in their past may or may not influence their behavior.

They are puzzle pieces, that are just as beautiful individually as they are put together as the whole, the whole being the entire story/game.

Having every character be significantly important to the story is functionally impossible, especially given the costs that go into making these games now. The voice acting alone! Why even have it if you're not gonna have a guaranteed selection of conversations to lean on in order to not waste the talent's time or your money? In the current gaming climate, simply being "a chilavrous thief who steals from war profiting nobles who joins your side after some convincing", while more than serviceable and great, simply doesn't cut it anymore when it comes to cost benefits and losses. As sad as it is, people need more than a 1 chapter exclusively cool introductory scene and their own imagination to bother caring about your cast after they paid $60 for your game.

Even base conversations, for as well written they tend to be, are still dependent on you having access to the characters involved, and that can't always be the case due to perma-death being a staple-and removing that is something that I think would be an invariably bad choice, as it is a core part of FE's reputation and a significant part of how each person engage's with each game's gameplay cycle.

Nothing's perfect, and the support system is very flawed, but it's better to have them than nothing at all. Ideally, we'd have supports alongside base conversations, cool boss dialogues, interesting recruitment requirements, awesome non-main character story scenes. If we're being honest, all of that is possible, they just have to not front load character recruitment as much as they do in modern titles, with Awakening and ESPECIALLY Fates being the absolute worst at this (due to needing characters ASAP in order to make them breed with each other and still have maps to sic their demon spawns on).

Hell, that's why I found Engage's cast so refreshing, because you still are getting new blood well into the late teen chapters of a story that ends after chapter 26.

So uh... keep doing it like that IS, and add back some stuff that makes the side cast look cool. Everyone wins.

[msfbgraves]

Only two chapters into Sunrise on the Reaping but very charmed that District 12 has found a hundred million ways to defy the Capitol that don't register to them as resistance. The Capitol pays people in scrip that can only be used in the Capitol store? (Cue Sixteen Tons: I owe my soulllllllll to the company stoooooore!!) Fuck you, the black market takes scrip. It doesn't matter you get currency that forces you into a closed system when you're already in one. No one in 12 is ever supposed to travel anywhere, so it doesn't matter their currency can't be used anywhere but in 12. Also the fact that there is a fully functioning black market in plain view. Because where else are the Capitol functionaries going to get fresh anything? Have it delivered from the Capitol? That takes too long! Haymitch is set up to be this paragon of complacency when his literal day job is bootlegger. Kiddo please. Staying alive in 12 is impossible without defying the Capitol, even for Capitol functionaries. They can't kill everyone, they need somebody to mine for coal and clean up after all the soldiers they need to repress the rebellious. Total oppression is unworkable even for the oppressors. And that's where the openings are.

Still, I feel that the Capitol in this book is slightly cartoonishly rendered. Maybe that's because we live in a different world from 20 or even 10 years ago. The Capitol used to be a satire of First World attitudes, with Katniss looking at us going "WTF is wrong with you people?!??" But nowadays, conspicuous,mindless consumption is not how most of us live. Most of us have moved somewhat closer to Haymitch when we used to be more like Effie - well meaning, but essentially clueless about the system we were perpetuating. Chocolate was always a luxury, but I could get 200 grams for a euro - if I deigned to shop at Lidl. Now they're pushing the meat substitutes hard. And no, that is not hardship, I am in no way trying to claim it is. But Katniss' view is less of a shock. I think most of us have long stopped being able not to think about things that dominate every aspect of District 12 life. We're not washing our clothes with rain water, no. But clean water is not, if it ever was, a ubiquitous resource. For now, it is coffee, sugar, oil chocolate and meat people are cutting back on, even those with steady incomes. Eggs and milk maybe next for all of us. Maybe that is why Suzanne Collins is shifting the focus. You don't need us to identify with the Capitol anymore because our Capitol has started squeezing their own -no longer content with what the Districts (the global South) could provide. Maybe she wants us to see everything about that system as our enemy, and is getting heavy handed. 2008 and 2025 are very different backdrops for a dystopian narrative. No longer do we need to be aware of our privilege in the same way. The privileges are being taken even from us, formerly oblivious Capitol citizens. Now, we need to stop identifying with it entirely. The lessons of 2008 no longer apply the same way.

[centrally-unplanned]

Was playing Vicky 3 again, a new Japan run with the VFM mod (which helps add more event depth) and I have definitely gotten the hang of the econ system even more, it has its flaws but the core works very well. I have advanced on getting the political system a bit too, can implement reforms and such. And I studied the military, learned where some opaque stuff in the UI is, etc.

So I go to invade Korea to liberate it off the Qing, declaring war while the UK is invading them to double team them. I try to naval invade Korea...and my attacks get "cancelled" because there are British troops in Korea, we aren't the same war. So I have to wait for that war to *finish* to attack, defeating the point of this strat.

I do, I naval invade Korea, but my attack gets blocked up by endless streams of Qing boats that I beat over and over but since they "exist" in the naval zone I can't progress. Meanwhile the Qing do naval landings in the North of Japan, and I beat them a dozen times, but one attack slips through and "lands" in Chubu.

This "shifts" the combat front system from "defend all of Japan from naval invasions" to "now there is a specific front" - and none of my units auto-deploy to it, so that lone invasion force sweeps a bunch of land before I notice it a few days later. I click my armies near Tokyo to deploy to the "front" near Kyoto to fight them off...at which point they all get on boats and try to autodeploy to Kyushu island - technically part of the same front - leaving the path to Tokyo completely empty and allowing the enemy to advance. And when they do reach Tokyo, that becomes a new "front" causing my units that sailed to Kyushu to sail *back*, which then gets cancelled again since sailing is slower than marching and the whole island is taken by the time they get there and since this is a "front redeploy" i guess it doesn't count as a naval invasion?

I pressed one button - deploy to Kansai front - in that entire sequence.

What problem was this system supposed to solve? What wasn't working with "click on army, have it move to territory, fight"? In Hearts of Iron 4, you have AI-managed fronts? But you don't have to do that, you can manually click them too. It just auto-controls the functional, intuitive system for you so you don't have to micro. Here the AI system is the only way anything functions, so if it breaks your military deletes itself and you can't intervene. And it isn't really less micro intensive! Because if you aren't like 24/7 hawk-eyed on the fronts you aren't going to notice when they just decide to Deploy to HQ because one battle was lost and you need to frantically reclick them which will maybe help but you can't be sure because you are only guessing where units will go.

I get btw that if you are fighting on a land border this system at least functions - but it does not function better than Hearts of Iron 4's system there. It is still annoying to have no control when the units path like madmen. But for now doing anything military with island nations is just insane. Maybe I can figure out cheat codes for auto-winning wars just to make the roleplay go smooth lol.

[spell-cleaver]

One thing I've always wondered is how Vader didn't sense either Luke (or Leia's for that matter) force presence on the first death star. I guess he was super caught up in with the whole "I sense the old coot who cut off my limbs amd left me to burn" thing, but I like to think obi-wan was masking the pair by just being obnoxiously loud with the force (the force equivalent of him walking into a room with multiple air horns and a boom box blasting away)

Wow, I had THOUGHTS about this one.

Honestly? I'm not a fan of the assumption in a lot of fic and by fans that it's super easy to passively sense someone in the Force. I have used it myself, of course, but I say from experience it restricts writing a lot while... not actually having a ton of backing in the films? (I'm referring to the films here, not to any other media, just because when I want to analyse lore, I only take them as canon; when I'm just looking for cool worldbuilding for a fic, though, anything goes.)

It's not just Leia that Vader doesn't sense on the Death Star. He doesn't sense Luke either, even though Luke is right there screaming when Vader kills Obi-Wan. It's more of an issue with Leia ofc because he literally used the mind probe on her but only finds that "her resistance... is considerable". An easy answer is that I headcanon Leia is a naturally good shielder, which is why she was never found on the Death Star and also why all of the Jedi in ROTS were surprised there were two babies - Leia had been naturally shielding herself, so they just sensed Luke.

But if we go more in-depth into the films' representations of the Force, Vader only senses Luke when he's actively chasing him as a pilot; he comments that "The Force is strong with this one" only when Luke is using the Force to aim and fire his shot. For me, this implies that you can only sense other Force users powerfully or distinctly when they're actively using the Force. I know why fic prefers not to go that way - I for one have used the "Vader senses Luke immediately" plot to get Luke captured many a time - but it's a fun thing to consider. Also, the Force is a soft magic system. It does functionally whatever the story needs it to.* Which is why Vader can sense Luke approaching Endor in ROTJ when Palpatine couldn't, but he had to be told by an officer when Luke's ship was approaching Cloud City in ESB.** There are many examples where a Force user just didn't sense someone else. Luke not sensing Yoda in ESB, Obi-Wan not sensing Dooku's presence on Geonosis, the Jedi non sensing Maul in TPM, the Jedi not sensing Palpatine for the whole prequel trilogy.

You could argue that those examples are of trained Force wielders shielding themselves, but I would argue that Qui-Gon can't sense Anakin in TPM. He doesn't show interest in Anakin until after they've left Watto's shop and Anakin starts talking to him. Anakin is the literal son of the Force and the most powerful Force wielder ever, but Qui-Gon was talking to Watto for a while without batting an eyelash at the small supernova in his shop. He didn't start to suspect until he heard about his racing, his instincts, spoke to him to notice his insights. Then still he spoke to Shmi about him to confirm his suspicions that "he can see things before they happen", watched him while he flew, and took a midichlorian count. I think the Force might well have been nudging Qui-Gon to look at Anakin, to suspect something, but I don't think he sensed Anakin himself as Force sensitive - at least, not immediately. Which is how I think you can explain all the instances of people going "I felt his presence." They were either using the Force, or familiar as Force sensitives to the person sensing them, or the Force wielder in general had an instinct that there was something special about this person, I should pay attention...

This has been a long ramble, but the short answer is: I headcanon Leia as naturally good at shielding. I think it fills multiple Star Wars plot holes.***

But I think it's also worth interrogating the fact that fandom seems to approach and conceptualise of the Force as a hard magic system, with clearly defined rules, rather than the soft magic system it is.**** Anything goes in Star Wars! It can be annoying if the writing doesn't sell it well enough, but I really love that aspect of the worldbuilding. And considering that the Force is a big fat plot device as well as giving people magical instincts for things that are Plot Relevant and things that aren't, I think it's a lot more interesting to consider that the Force isn't a superpower that lets you sense everything. Vader didn't detect Leia simply because he didn't. Sometimes they fail to do that. And it allows you to show growth in character and situation when that fact changes. Vader doesn't sense Luke in ANH until he's Plot Relevant to Vader's personal story. He doesn't sense Luke until he's fighting him in ESB. But in ROTJ, once they're both invested in their relationship and fated to meet, they're drawn together like stars caught in a mutual orbit.

That's the explanation I prefer. Because although it's less consistent, it's not unbelievable. It leaves uncertainty, mysticism, the chance for exploration in the galaxy. And most importantly, it tells a damn good story. Which, while this may not be true of people who love collecting lore and figuring the galaxy out, is ultimately what I'm here for.

*This is why so many random new powers can get added and explored in later movies and such, and also why I don't really get het up about it when they do add them. It just depends how you incorporate that new power. Usually, if a villain suddenly has a new power no one knew about (like Palpatine's lightning in ROTJ) it just ups the stakes, while if a hero suddenly has a new power it can feel like it cheapens their victory, like they haven't earned it; a deus ex machina. So messing about with Force powers is fine, it just depends how you incorporate them in the story.

**Admittedly this can be explained by the bond being formed when Luke learned the truth, but you know what I mean.

***I was only talking about the movies here, but there's also that moment in the Kenobi series where she's captured by Inquisitors and still no one notices she's Force sensitive??? There's just a lot of moments like this littered all over Star Wars, so this headcanon covers a lot of them.

****I kept using the terms hard/soft magic system without really explaining it here, but here's some good videos to dig into it: Soft Magic Systems | Hard Magic Systems

[bethrnoora]

hey what if KITT got the HAL 9000 treatment (forced to go against his own code) (got paranoid because of it)

oh mannn what IF indeed. disclaimer here I haven't seen the S4 episode where he gets reprogrammed to be Evil yet so I can't speak to the implications on that one. I feel like we got a little bit of this in Chariot of Gold (an episode I like in concept but hated the execution on bc of the mind control shit w Bonnie like come ONNN you're telling me she wasn't just playing along with it the whole time to get an upper hand. meet me in the parking lot glen. anyway) when he gets some of his memory cards removed and has that little standoff w Michael but I also think we could push it further. um. I'm a verbose bitch so I put more rambling below the cut

as far as I understand KITT doesn't have a ton of hard-line protocols that we know of the way Hal has his rationality coding that prevents him from coming up with a reasoning behind why he can justify lying BUT we do know his main Thing is he's expressly barred from is harming human beings which I feel like could be exploited easily enough for Plot Reasons. for a full analog to Hal's breakdown I do think it would make the most sense if some contradictory order to that program came from someone with high enough clearance in FLAG/Knight Industries for the call to not go over with a ton of pushback. in terms of what that means for KITT mentally/programming wise...I feel like because he's written as largely quite communicative and open he'd have a keener sense of "something isn't right but I can't place what" which creeps into his ability to execute the functions he's designed to. memory access is slower, renderings are rougher and less accurate, and I think the communication between engine rotation speed and the corresponding gear he needs to be in gets kind of out of sync/delayed as his mind is Elsewhere and he's not really managing to balance all the technical elements of his systems as well as he could before.

I think he's a bad liar but he CAN lie and he does KNOW he's lying when he's asked (probably by Michael) what the deal is and he's like ummm. idk. which makes him feel even worse bc he's not only in a position where he can't capably protect his partner but also now has to lie to him :( I imagine this leads to him more and more desperately putting Michael in a position where it is Actively Unsafe for him to be in the car as a gambit to try to get him OUT of the car which on top of everything KITT is like. I KNOW this is an extremely double edged sword bc if Michael doesn't pick up on this then he's going to get seriously hurt and it's gonna be my fault. I dunno! this is the kind of thing I'm surprised they didn't exploit more within the series (especially given I FEEL Hal seems like a big influence on KITT's role and mannerisms) but those are just some Thoughts on the matter

[jumpscaregoose]

Wanna know jenta and inukai relationship post survive on your personal perspective thank u

was gonna make a terrible jeans kenta joke based on that typo but then I got distracted literally paying rent. and then a series of other things. alas

so very happy I got this ask they're so important to me. like that one evil wip I've got is almost as much about them as it is the actual Point

as the premiere inukai dad jokes guy. yeah it is kind of that to me but of course it's not that simple. compared to the other members of gokuluck, inukai is totally the most parental towards him (duh. it's his job) (also, if gun to my head I had to categorize the gklk prisoner trio relationship, it's like the next step up from those random coworkers you meet at your shitty retail job in high school and learn a weird amount about. like they're not familial, not a typical group of friends either, but they're close. this is why I say gun to my head it's a very je ne sais quoi secret third thing situation)

in my head. they're like. unrequited pseudofatherhood. inukai wants to be a better support system towards the kid who he's legally responsible for and who's clearly going through some shit, and kenta being kenta is really iffy on this

post survive I can see the support system part working out better, over time. inukai chronically talks in therapy-speak so I imagine once someone actually tells him how they feel and what makes things worse (cough cough kenta terrible communication skills cough cough) he would have a better success rate with not immediately pissing him off

best way I can think to describe it that it's like parenthood in the same way acetate is a cellulose fibre (sorry I watched a youtube video about the burn test for fibre content recently). like it's made from the same ingredients (adult with guardianship with a child, who has to make sure they don't die and teach them to. not die) it doesn't function in the same way and is fundamentally not the same. two reasons for this really. first one is obvious, there's not the same flavour of power dynamic you get from a normal parental relationship. inukai's a law enforcement bitch and kenta is a ward of the state, but in turn kenta has a load of dirt on him that could totally lose him his job. so it's... not really a stalemate, but inukai's a wuss. second is that kenta isn't a small child, he's fifteen, he's probably been forced to grow up a little too fast in some ways, he's jaded- he doesn't need all of the same guidance a younger person, or even most people his age would. what he really lacks is interpersonal skills, how to make and maintain connections, trust- things he's not willing to learn, first of all, and second things he wouldn't trust inukai to teach him.

that's another thing. I can't really see kenta ever looking up to, or really respecting inukai in the same way inukai sees him as a child he needs to protect. he sees inukai as weak, thinks he knows more than him (which he does, in some ways), doesn't even fear hancho, really-

-and I'm so sorry for blueballsing you on inukai fatherhood opinions but I got distracted midsentence writing this a few days ago and now I can't remember where I was going with that. I apologize