#So naturally I assumed it was a link to a list of commands

[pirefyrelight]

I love troubleshooting it's my favorite activity

[thefandomsfervent]

Viktor x Reader Personal Pigments (Part 8) - Burnt Sienna

Mostly reader and Jayce perspective today! Find my imagine that inspired it here. Previous and next chapter will be linked at the bottom. Thank you for reading <3

╔═*✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*.·:·.✧-✦-✧.·:·.*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧*═╗

It had been a couple days since your accidental nap. When you had come back that first night Jayce made you explain “what the hell beetle juice” was to him for the two hours you had spent there. Viktor had already heard your explanation but he listened again anyway, nodding along. The two of them asking questions about the process and noting things down. Viktor had shown Jayce a passage he had noted, something about human nature. Apparently it led them to some potential new use for Hextech although you had no idea how it was all connected. They had thanked you for talking with them, and thrown themselves back at their work.

It was sweet that they cared about what you were doing. And it was so good to see them get over their slump. It inspired you to do the same.

You hadn’t been to your studio much in these past weeks. Or. At all, really. You had been at the Institute for years, your old studio had a chaos that you loved and knew. It wasn’t wrong to assume that you missed it, you did. But it was more like you were scared of the provided one. This new one was daunting. All white walls, glass tables, furniture sets that had never seen paint a day in their lives.

Was it nice? Yes. Was the frivolousness of how they provided you with everything just rubbing you the wrong way? Also yes. You had no doubts that once your assignment here was done that they would throw it all out, not even donate it. But you had work to do. And it was work you didn’t want to commandeer the lab for. Building and stretching canvas was a tough job, and one you got embarrassingly loud in. You had enough funds set aside to buy a pre-built canvas. And you absolutely had in the past. Yet this project just demanded a fresh start. You wanted to use every skill set in your arsenal. “I mean, this thing is going to be sitting in an actual art hall.” Once it was built you’d move it to the lab, somehow.

So when early morning came you loaded up your coin purse with assorted cogs and set to the markets. You'd left a note on the lab door, today would be the first day you wouldn't be in at all. A faint blue light under the door and an electric buzzing in the air told you that someone,  likely Viktor, was still working.

You needed wood, a new mallet, and nails. Lots of nails. The last two on the list you got pretty easily. A mallet you could get at almost any craft stall, the nails at the same place, but the wood? You were picky.

The frame needed to be big. The Academy and Institute had given you a set of dimensions to choose from and of course you had gone with the biggest one. 60in x 50in. You needed a wood that was soft enough that you wouldn't be hammering in nails all day, and that would keep the canvas taught but not so tight it was bouncy. You needed a wood that was strong enough it wouldn't bow under pressure from stretching, but also wouldn't collapse on itself after years of display either. Another thing is that whoever sold it to you needed to be willing to cut and deliver it. 

You're at a Café enjoying a drink and going over your notes. You've hit four carpentry stalls today, six if you're counting the two arbor stalls, and you're realizing no one is going to cut it for you and deliver it. It would have to be one or the other. It wasn't that they didn't want to, but couldn't if you wanted them today. You were impatient. The idea of scheduling a pickup sets a dull throbbing behind your eyes. Especially if that meant dealing with Enforcers. Adding a saw to your list, you decide to just bite the bullet. You'll go back to the second stall. That one had the widest selection of wood, and something tells you that if you bring the older lady at the counter a treat she may give you a discount. Plan made, now you just had to buy the wood and have it delivered in time for lunch. It'd give you time to do the math at the very least.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Jayce is excited. He and Viktor have several new theories surrounding travel for Hextech. At the rate they were going they could present these to Heimerdinger by the end of the week for grants. He almost misses your note on his way in. The yank he gave the door makes the paper flutter.

"Best of luck in your studies ventures today,  I'll be on my own for a bit (maybe a couple days) putting together the canvas for the painting. If you guys need me for anything I'll be in my studio or my room.  Feel free to leave me a note back if you don't find me :D

P.S. if the pigment "beetle juice" looks FULLY dried please let me know!!

-y/n"

When he turns it over he sees that you've left instructions on how to find your studio and room. He didn't realize your writing was so emphatic. It makes him think of his own note taking, constantly scribbling out and pointing things in different directions to circle back on later. He tucks it in his pocket, he'll let Viktor see it later, after he's slept some. He's been as high strung as ever and Jayce wasn't sure what was going on. 

He takes a moment just to look at him. The fellow scientist was standing at a table, chalk in one hand, cane in the other. Viktor was making notes on the board, equations rubbed out and rewritten. His hair was tousled beyond belief. Jayce half wonders when he brushed it last. 

“Hey V.” He keeps his voice soft, slow. 

“Jayce, what do you think about these?” Waving his hand at the chalkboard, dust falling off his sleeve. Attention unwaveringly focused on the next correction he makes. 

“I think we can talk about them more later.” The wrong thing to say, apparently. Viktor doesn’t even turn to face him. His spine stiffens, finger tapping against the chalk. “After you’ve slept, is all.” He turns at that. A half-turn, that has his waist twisting, his face barely visible. Those amber eyes narrowed in annoyance, his nose scrunched, lips pursed. They were chapped. 

“You do not have time to review them now?” 

“I do, but if I do now we’ll get caught up and you won’t sleep.” Viktor faces him fully at that. Jayce does his best to hold his stance.

“Do you not want to get caught up with me?” He ignores the goosebumps on his arms at that. 

“Vik, please.” He gets a huff. “I’ll bring you a sweetmilk latte later if you go. 6 hours, you’ll be back here by noon and we can go over them then.” Viktor hums at that. He smiles. 

“5 hours.” He’s walking to the door, patting Jayce on the arm as he passes. “And one of those ginger crumbly things they sell too.” 

“If they have one, it's yours.”  Another hum, and the lab door is closing. 

“I’m working with a toddler that hates nap time.” Jayce is rubbing his face as he walks to the board. 

“That also expects results.” He’s pulling out his pen from his pocket, and he feels crinkling. Right. Your note. He pulls it out to look at it again. He should get you something too. It’s always Viktor bringing drinks and you bringing pastries. Smoothing out the paper, he makes a mental note to visit your studio soon. Maybe drag Viktor with him to get him out of the lab for more than just sleep. You’ve been watching them work for almost two months now, it only seems right to see what you get up to. 

╚═*✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*.·:·.✧-✦-✧.·:·.*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧*═╝

--------------.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ Part 7-.-Part 9.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙　✩　*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .-----------------

------------‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ♡ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙· Master Fic List *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ♡ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊--------------

[riansdiary]

Hi! I'm new here and idk whether you answered this already but can you please give me some steps on how to manifest?

Hello darling! Sure! 😊

Okay but I just wanna let you know first that there are so many ways to manifest and you just have to find what works for you!

My best tip for beginners is to go with the basics! I'm gonna link some videos that I watched when I was starting with this but for you in the simplest way, manifesting is just thinking/assuming/deciding that you have your desire. I'll also include the way I manifest so you can try it for yourself!

Here's the videos I recommend!: 👑 👑 👑

For the way I manifest now:

1. I think of what I want. Let's use my crackers manifestation for this that I already manifested as an example.

I wanted this specific brand of crackers that I was craving.

2. I did the techniques that have always worked for me. I decided that I'm gonna get those exact brand of crackers. I also commanded my subconscious mind to get that for me. I just did that in my head and said, "Subconscious mind, I command you to get this brand of crackers that I'm craving and I want a whole pack of it. I affirmed to remind myself and kept deciding that I have it now every time I thought of it. "I have the crackers now. It's already done."

I was contemplating on adding the problem I had but this might help you so you wouldn't make this mistake I did. I basically wrote it in my manifestations list in my notes app and thought of it as a process because of that. I was finding it in the 3d. ⚠️ Which we shouldn't be doing because we're focusing on the old story, on the 3d which is really just an old moving newspaper like the one in Harry Potter. It's reflecting our thoughts and assumptions so why focus on that when technically whatever we say is true in the 4d already and then if we persist, the 3d then reflects and follows the 4d. The 4d is our mind. Manifestations happen instantly in the 4d. I was finding it in the 3d especially when my siblings came home from the supermarket. But I already have the crackers because I said so so why am I reacting to the old story?

3. This is just as important as step 2. Do not pay attention to anything you don't want in the 3d because it will stick in your reality so why not focus on the fact that you already have it? Just keep persisting that you have it and remind yourself when you think of that desire.

4. Relax in the knowing that you have it and it's done. Do what makes you happy because that will distract you from finding it in the 3d. Leave the 3d alone. It's not our job to change it. We only decide we have it and we do. Watch movies, play games or hang out with friends. Do your hobbies. Just go and do what you think will make you happy. It's what the version of you who has all their desires would be doing. What would happen when we have our desires? We'll be happy, won't we? Why not feel that now naturally? It'll make you feel good and stop you from worrying about your manifestation. You could say "I have it, it's already done" every time you think about your desires and force yourself to think of something else. It's called the distraction technique. It stops you from thinking negative thoughts about your desires.

I love what @remcycl333 said in her post that I linked with the word distract:

"i have found that it’s not about letting it go, it’s about leaving it alone. i planted my seed, i watered it, now i just need to relax and wait for it to grow. i can’t keep digging it up and checking on it and then complain that it hasn’t sprouted yet. it’s mine, it’s always been mine, but if i focus on the lack all of the time, all i’m gonna see is lack reflected back to me in my 3d."

Here's a link to her amazing distraction technique: 💖

Okay, to continue the story, I realized I was thinking of it as a process and not that I have it now so what I did was say this in my mind. "I have the crackers, it's in the pantry" I assumed or thought that it's already here in my reality and you know what I did after? I just lied down and watched a Disney movie to relax because it's now here and it's already done. I just relaxed because I have it now. I had a lot of fun watching something from my childhood instead of getting anxious or worrying about that manifestation. I highly recommend this way. And guess what happened a few hours later? Yup, my dad and brother came home from where they went to and they bought the exact pack of crackers I wanted and another brand that I really liked!

That's it and I hope this helps you! 💖

[the-ancient-forlorn]

Deconstructing "Alter Programming"

I'm going to be deconstructing some of the myths and ideas around programming as it pertains to RAMCOA. If you haven't seen my previous post (linked here) I recommend you check it out to know my perspective. This series of posts will not be intended to mock anyone with the symptoms that are found within these supposed forms of programming. I merely wish to dispel some of the harmful rhetoric around them and describe how these things do occur in people who weren't purposely induced via conditioning to have those responses.

Much of programming is normal responses to trauma. I believe that over reliance on these terms and ideas is ultimately harmful to people with very real trauma and actively lessens the ability or at least ease to heal. Rather than fear monger I will use this as an opportunity to discuss the symptoms that many people have after abuse. A lot of programming comes back to that. There is something to get out of these ideas even if they are not good.

I will not deny that conditioning exists and that one can be forced into certain behaviors through it. I am not so brash as to ignore the reality. However, it is unrealistic to assume that conditioning of any kind will be capable of sticking with you decades into the future. If you grow up in a cult or trafficking or gangs, or even a genocide- you will be changed more by it than an adult. Children who grow up in these circumstances have no self unrelated to the trauma- that is something deeply ingrained into their personality and very sense of being. However it is not the same as distinctive programs being implanted for each alter and lasting over a decade after the abuse. Most of these programs are again normal reactions to trauma and mental illness.

What is programming (as in RAMCOA)?

I'll be using community resources for this subject as I believe it is the best way to discuss this.

According to this CARRD made by someone in the community

Programs are essentially behaviors that are forced into the victims mind, these often being obedience, sexual, violence onto others or self, etcetera. Programs are associated with mind control, and are often if not always activated by a cue. Cues are almost anything you can think of, images, words, phrases, videos, books, items, just a lot of things in general. Individuals with DID may be victims of RAMCOA trauma, it is easier to tell with cues or a constant overwhelming thought that you may never be believed if you ever attempt to share about what happened, or that you may be forced to inform your abuser/handler about what you had shared.

According to another CARDD

MC - Mind Control. A shortened form of TBMC, standing for Torture Based Mind Control. MC is also known as programming, where victims are repeatedly tortured starting at a very young age to intentionally cause a system of dissociated parts that function perfectly to suit the abusers' needs. Triggers will be implemented to bring certain parts out at certain times and cue different behaviors. The amnesia inherent to DID will be used to the abusers advantage, and manipulated to help hide the system from itself. MC, unlike RA and OA, cannot be properly started on teens or adults, as it is reliant on the nature of DID to function.

According to the controversial site PluralPedia

Programming is the process of using trauma-induced dissociation to implant commands and structure in a system by an external group. Programmed members may involuntarily perform commands when triggered with a cue, usually out of severe fear or an overwhelming compulsion.

And this by a very controversial man...

With all of this together I believe you can understand what this idea means quite well. And with the last entry you can see some of the cracks in how this idea originated.

Specific Programs

Programming is purported to have specific types under specific names. I have drawn from various sources for this list and from years within the community.

Alpha, Beta & Omega + Addendum

Delta, Epsilon, Eta, Zeta & Theta

Sigma, Gammo, Iota, Chi/Callback & Kappa

Mu/Scramble, Nu/Narco, Xi/Flood, Rho/Shell & Upsilon/Duality

Psi/Hierarchical Programming

An old community member who was big in the space before essentially trafficking a real child and all her lies of having done massive activism and acquiring land for trafficking survivors to be able to live in for free came crumbling down made this document that sometimes is still referenced today or at the very least can be used as a look into the community as it was while she was more prevelant.

I will deconstruct these individually on their own posts or perhaps in groupings in their own posts.

[improbablescience]

Zelda of the Yiga Clan, Chapter 2: Filtration

Summary:

Purah gets kidnapped and won’t let King Link interrogate her suspicious new research assistant. Link goes to the library to look for clues, but he comes back with smutty books in lieu of answers.

[Read chapter 2 on AO3][Start at the beginning]

Excerpt:

King Link pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “How exactly did you not notice that you’d been kidnapped by the Yiga Clan?”

Purah looked as happy and healthy as usual. Until Link had burst in, she’d been busy ordering her latest crop of research assistants around. She didn’t even look slightly concerned, not even when he showed her the ransom note in red ink he’d received that morning demanding a laundry list of Zonai parts be brought to the bottom of Mount Nabooru Well if he ever wanted to see her again. He’d been so angry at the thought of them capturing his friend and leaving her stuck at the bottom of a well in the desert that he’s still reeling from the reality of the fact that she’s not only unharmed but seemingly pleased with her current situation.

“Well, this nice young man came by and told me I was needed to improve water quality. He had some initial plans and the lab already set up, then he promised you’d be by with more Zonai parts. I need 15 more hydrants, 8 more shock emitters and 3 more flame emitters than we originally estimated, by the way, so you’d better go out again.”

Link looked around the “lab” and had to admit that it did not look like a trap. Or perhaps it looked like the kind of trap that would only work on Purah. At the bottom of the well was a cave where the “Sheikah” researchers were carefully cataloguing and stacking up the parts he’d provided on a platform over one of the many small pools of water carved into the rock. They’d set up some kind of command station for Purah that included a nice display that was showcasing what he assumed was water quality data. The cave seemed to be filled with many smaller natural pools, terraced at different heights. Most of them had probes in them and researchers examining the readings. Some of them had larger devices built out of Zonai parts in them, humming away ominously. One zone had a huge number of carefully labelled water samples on racks. Another area of the cave, marked with hazard symbols, had a number of barrels of what appeared to be very toxic substances. He was pretty sure if he passed through the curtained area on the side, there’d be a nice sleeping area set up. The only evidence that it was a Yiga encampment was the kitchen area, which seemed to contain an inordinate number of bananas. King Link’s immediate thought was that the “Sheikah” here were all actually Yiga, but no one was trying to kill anyone, and while a few of them looked a little frustrated with their results, they all seemed to be legitimately working on the problem. He wasn’t even sure they’d have tried to stop Purah if she wanted to leave, which she clearly did not.

“Did you catch the name of this ‘nice young man’ that brought you here?”

“He said it was Sheik. You know, like the shadow who worked with the Hero of Time? Had blonde hair instead of typical Sheikah white but I’m not one to judge.” Purah gestured at her own red streak.

Link could feel a headache coming on. “And you just believed him?”

[Read chapter 2 on AO3][Start at the beginning]

[rosiewitchescottage]

I think all this sounds perfectly fair.

I can resonate with much of it.

Celtic Christianity certainly has a lot more involvement with The Natural World, than other branches of The Church.

So I'm drawn in that direction.

But it doesn't seem like the involvement goes far enough.

I don't quite feel the sense of communion between ourselves and the rest of Creation, that comes from the Animism that's an integral part of Paganism.

There is such a thing as Christian Animism, and I'm drawn to many aspects of it.

But there's the insistence that we're not called to even the position of Responsible Stewardship of The Natural World.

And that feels ludicrous to me.

A role that puts one into position of carer and protector, is quite another matter from believing that one can use and abuse a 'lesser being' at will.

Being in a position of responsibility, that acknowledges only that we have a particular type of intelligence and a moral sense that demands we be sensitive to the needs of other species.

We are capable of knowing how we impact the rest of Creation, so of course we must use that ability for mutual benefit with othercspecies.

I'm always very wary whenever I see terminology that comes from Green Politics.

I have absolutely no time for it. Not now that I realise that it's far more Anti Western Society than it is Pro Conservation.

I'd sooner concentrate on Conservatiion whilst thinking about what we can do better in Western Society.

Surely it's more beneficial to Love Nature, Love Our Fellow Humans and Lovingly Improve Western Society than to attack it from within?

Those who want to Tear It Down certainly don't have something that's guaranteed to be better as a replacement. In fact all indications suggest the reverse.

I wouldn't trust a single one of them to be in charge of it all.

Besides which. Not a thing that Jesus says about helping The Poor, The Prisoner and The Stranger, suggests that it should be The State in charge of it all.

Jesus is talking about Us Helping One Another.

That's not Socialism. That's 'Caritas' Mankind Helping Each other, our of Love.

According to St Thomas Aquinas it 'Unites us to God'.

I'm absolutely in favour in having Social Safety Nets in p!ace for the most vulnerable amongst us.

But there are good reasons for not wanting them to be the only means of help available.

It's cold, clinical and impersonal. Getting help requires becoming just a number on a list.

People should also be able to have help that's given with Love and embraces theim in their humanity.

The exhortation of Jesus to help The Stranger comes from a Culture with hospitality deeply embedded.

The dangers involved in travel, hotels being expensive. It was a matter of honour that a community would offer hospitality to those passing through, and a guest in one's home was to be taken the best care of possible.

And doesn't hospitality also imply that being a good host is balanced by being a good guest?

I think many of us have got the concept of Pagan Deities all wrong. We mistakenly assume that they should be treated the same way as The Creator in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism.

But from what I can gather. This is way off course. They were more likely The Spirit Essences of different Forces of Nature. So we're back with Animism again.

Thor, for example, for the Norse people, didn't simply make thunder with his hammer.

He was The Universal Heartbeat of All Life. His golden haired wife Sif was The Harvest, so the thunder association came from her husband also being linked with the weather, which could assure his wife either had a bountiful crop or ruined it.

I listened to Dr Jordan Peterson, in conversation with religious scholars about The Book of Exodus.

Talking about The Ten Commandments, they came up with the amazing observation that these deities are part of Creation.

As opposed to the God of Moses, Abraham his Sons. and Jacob.

He's The Creator.

So whilst we can have respectful interaction with these powerful aspects of Creation, our Worship and Veneration belongs to The Creator.

Really made me think.

[blindbeta]

Hi! I'm writing a blind character who uses (among other accessibility aids) a seeing-eye animal. This is science fiction, and they're on an alien planet, so I don't want it to be a dog exactly, but I also want to make sure it could conceivably fill the same role. My ideas are ranging from "generic four-legged mammal" to "scampering lizard beast" to "literal alien bird." Is there anything I should avoid? Anything I should be sure to include? Any tips are welcome!

Title: Creating a Guide Animal a.k.a. Way More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Guide Dogs and Guide Horses Specifically

Hi! Thanks for the fun question! I wanted to apologize for the length of this answer. Take your time with it. Even if you already know most of the extra information I provided (which you probably do), I hope it can give you some idea of what might need to be emphasized or explained in your story. I wanted to be as thorough as possible for you and anyone else reading. Understanding more about guide animals will help you create one for your story.

Note: I use Service Animal and Guide Animal in this post. All Guide Animals are Service Animals (they are trained to provide a service to disabled people), but not all Service Animals are Guide Animals.

Okay, as always, this is going to be split into parts for easier understanding. Also, note: This is the perspective of someone who does not use a guide animal and is from a Western country. If someone who uses a guide or service animal AND is from a non-Western country with different laws, feel free to share them. Due to the nature of this question, I only want other blind people and/or service animal users to reply with information. I mostly focused on Western links and laws, as I feel these were easier for me to find sources for when I searched.

The Seeing Eye (trademarked) in an Alien World?

Fun fact! Seeing Eye dog is a specific type of dog trained in The Seeing Eye Inc in New Jersey, USA. The generic term is guide dog or service dog or service animal. I would stick with one of the generic terms, as Seeing Eye dog is specific to Earth. Not all guide dogs come from The Seeing Eye Inc. It would be inaccurate, possibly culturally strange, and take viewers out of the story if you use it. Unless you want someone to establish a Seeing Eye Inc on the new planet, although you could call it something else to avoid confusion, or address it in the text. The Seeing Eye is, thankfully, not the only training school for guide dogs. Although Vision Australia does call them “seeing-eye dogs”, I wanted to include this just in case it tripped a reader up. People will recognize the “seeing-eye dog” term if you decide to use it.

Question 12 on the Seeing Eye website says:

Only dogs trained by The Seeing Eye, Inc., of Morristown, N.J., are properly called Seeing Eye® dogs. The Seeing Eye is a registered trademark. The generic term for dogs trained by other schools is "guide dog."

Guide Dogs and Canes

This may not seem as fun to readers, but your character should follow most Earth rules when training. This is to avoid confusion for a public that tends to know little about service animals. You specificied the character would use other aids, which is great, so I’ll assume you already know this. Your character should already know how to use a cane before getting their guide animal. They will need to use these navigation skills because while the animal can help somewhat, they cannot replace the ability to navigate. For example, when crossing the street, the guide dog waits for the owner’s command to cross. In order to do this, the person must have experience with crossing safely.

Guide animals are also more expensive than canes, which can be free and easy to replace. Animals require food, toys, medical bills, and time.

My source on this is also the Seeing Eye website, which you’ll want to peruse because they have helpful information.

Other Helpful Research Tips

I have two links below about choosing to use a cane vs. a guide animal. They will provide you with information about the advantages and disadvantages of a service animal compared to using a cane. As I said before, blind people must know how to use a cane in order to qualify to get a guide dog. Therefore, it would be appropriate and helpful to have your character also know how to use a cane and to keep a cane on them often, such as in a backpack.

Reasons one might want to use a cane while having a guide dog include:

They want to interact with their environment more, particularly if it is less familiar or has changed

They don’t want to use the guide dog that day because it is too hot, the dog is sick, they don’t want to have to clean up after the animal, etc

They are between guide dogs

Those are some of the reasons someone who already owns a guide dog may want to use a cane. Some people even use a guide dog and cane simultaneously.

For more information about the pros and cons of getting a guide dog, read these articles, one of whom is by a guide dog user. You’ll want to keep these advantages and disadvantages in mind while writing.

White Cane vs. Guide Dog: Why or Why Not?

Guide Dogs vs. White Canes: The Comprehensive Comparison

Things Your Guide Needs

This is not a comprehensive list, but I wanted to include things your animal needs and general tips on how to treat the animal in the story.

1. It needs the ability to follow commands. How you do this is up to you. For research, watch YouTube videos with service dogs. Pay attention to the commands they give.

Here is a list of some commands taught by a school for service dogs, which you can probably use as a base.

Command Central: Guide Dog Commands

2. It should be trained to avoid obstacles, like benches or people

3. It should not be touched or distracted by other characters or animals - people will probably try to do so, and your character should explain that the animal is working and should not be distracted

4. It should be taken care of an given time off-harness, such as at home. It should be well-behaved as well.

5. It should be able to go anywhere. Transportation, hospitals, royal courts, sports centers, whatever is on this planet. Service dogs can go anywhere and saying they aren’t allowed somewhere in a story would be a problem. Some people do try to bar service dogs, such as restaurants, but they do so out of ignorance and not because the law is on their side. Some countries do not have protections in place, true, but because you are creating your own planet, service dogs— or in your case service animals— being allowed anywhere should hold true no matter what. Why? Because even in Western countries where dogs are seen as culturally favorable, service animals are turned away illegally, particularly at restaurants, hospitals, doctor’s offices, and public transport. This differs from an Emotional Support Animal, who are allowed only in housing, dorms, and airports. For more information on the differences between where Emotional Support Animals and Service Animals can go, read the article below.

Where Can I Take Emotional Support Animals?

Who Can Be a Service Animal?

I wanted to discuss this as well. Again, there is a lot of misinformation out there and this leads to a lot of anger directed at people with service animals.

Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals are not the same. They do not serve the same purpose, cannot go to the same places, and are not bound by the same rules. You have probably heard at least one irate person claiming someone tried to bring their service monkey into a restaurant. That person is misinformed.

To start, Emotional Support Animals can be any animal. A dog, a cat, a bunny, a bird, a turtle. There is no limit as to what the animal can be, although it must provide comfort and be beneficial to your mental health. It should be easy to train and not harmful to others. It should also be able to live in a house or be otherwise domesticated. Emotional Support Animals need a letter from a Licensed Mental Health Professional in order to qualify as an Emotional Support Animal, which should hopefully keep people from trying to keep wild or dangerous animals as pets and claim them as Emotional Support Animals.

Here is an article that goes over things what an Emotional Support Animal does, what qualities and qualifications it must have, and examples of good ESA’s and what they can do for you.

Types of Animals As ESA’s and Their Benefits

Remember, Emotional Support Animals are only allowed in any kind of housing (such as apartments or dormitories) and airports. They are not allowed in other public places where animals would not otherwise be allowed. ESA’s also need to be registered through a letter of support by a mental health provider. This letter should be shown to a landlord, as Emotional Support Animals require proof.

Next, Service Animals. Let’s get it out of the way. Service Animals (usually dogs) provide services to people with disabilities. This means a guide dog, medical alert dog, psychiatric service dog, etc. Service Animals are owned by individuals and are not therapy dogs or other working dogs. For example, dogs you are providing therapy to children in hospitals are therapy dogs. Search and Rescue dogs are working dogs. I don’t know much about either of these, but here is an article that goes into more detail about the differences.

Service Dogs, Working Dogs, Therapy Dogs, Emotional Support Dogs: What’s the Difference?

Dogs and Miniature Horses

Service animals can only be dogs OR miniature horses. Many people only think of dogs, as dogs are more popular and common in public than horses. However, a miniature horse has the same rights as a dog when in a service animal role. In the United States, Federal law recognized miniature horses as accepted service animals in 2011.

Service dogs or service horses can:

-enter any public place dogs and horses are not usually allowed

-can be trained to guide the blind or provide services for other disabilities

-can go on planes without a pet fee (provided they can fit by the owner’s feet and not block the aisle)

If we take a look at this article again:

White Cane Vs. Guide Dog: Why Or Why Not?

we’ll notice that “being denied access” is not under the disadvantages of a Guide Dog section. I think it should be. Is denying access illegal? Yes. Does it still happen? Yes. And it would probably be even more likely when someone is presented with a miniature horse - at least in countries where dogs are more popular. On top of lack of knowledge about service animals, people are not often aware that miniature horses can serve in these roles as well. Vision Australia discusses this denial of rights and laws protecting blind people with service dogs.

However, The Guide Horse Foundation reports that many people expirience better acceptance of horses as opposed to dogs. This is because a dog may be perceived as a pet or be an animal that was denied access before. A horse may not have this problem.

Some Places Service/Guide Horses Are Recognized

Canada - with laws and protections varying by province and definitions differing slightly from the U.S and Australia. However, this site specifically mentions guide horses as service animals.

Australia - with laws varying by state, but wider protections in place, which you can read more about at Vision Australia and Australian Human Rights Commission. Australian Human Rights Commission also defines a service animal as a dog or any other animal, leaving horses as an option. According to this page, miniature horses are catching on in Australia, where people generally prefer dogs. The page lists similar reasons to those I included below that someone might want a miniature horse over a dog.

The U.S - According to this page, miniature horses are the one animal that is allowed to be a service animal other than a dog. They are required to be trained and are expected to behave as well as a service dog would. The requirements listed differ little from those required of service dogs.

The U.K - This page reports that miniature horses are making their way as service animals, but I could not find any other sources about this topic, such as official recognition.

I tried searching and could not find proof that miniature horses were catching on in other places, though I found many, many places where guide dogs were popular. The point is that guide horses exist as well, and I think this can help people understand what makes a service/guide animal with more clarity.

Why a Miniature Horse?

Here is an article that discusses this in detail:

A Brief History of Miniature Horses And the ADA

According that article, a major reason people might prefer a horse to a dog is for balancing purposes. The DeafBlind community often includes people with balance difficulties (which I discussed a bit in my last ask) and miniature horses are better able to provide support, having more strength than a dog. They can steady someone when walking or help someone stand from a chair.

Other reasons someone might prefer a horse:

They live in a rural area

They or a member of their household are allergic to dogs

They live in a place where dogs are not favored, seen as dirty, or religiously unacceptable

They or a member of their household has a fear of dogs

They want a guide that lives and works longer than dogs (who work for about 6-8 years)

According to the website for The Guide Horse Foundation, horses have high stamina, do not get fleas or shed as often as dogs, and are conscious about safety.

Qualities Your Guide Animals Should Have

Using the dog and horse guides as references, here are some qualities I think your creature should have:

Trainable, both for commands and so they don’t pee where they aren’t supposed to

It should be specifically trained for this purpose, preferably by a group of some kind - this is your equivalent of a guide dog school

Good eye sight, good hearing, and strong memory at least

Relatively small, but not too small (you can use Labrador dogs and miniature horses as a reference

Good stamina for walking

Not territorial, aggressive, or dangerous- dogs can possess these qualities so I think it is okay if a wild version of your guide has these qualities. However, your guide specifically should not have them. For example, wild dogs may be aggressive, but a trained guide dog would not be.

Your guide should not be used for protection, hunting, or attacking others who may be a threat. While the presence of the animal can certainly act as a deterrent in real life and in the story, that is not the animal’s function.

Your guide should be calm, docile, and able to bond with your character

Your guide animal should generally not be seen by the people in your world as frightening, dangerous, or religiously unclean. Note that sometimes guide dogs fit these qualities in certain cultures and so they are not used there. If possible, give your world and its cultures a good working relationship with a few different animals. Pick one or two of these as possible guides people can choose from. You can possibly draw from your own culture and history for this if your culture has had good working relationships with animals.

Your guide animal should be able to be harnessed (a leash is not enough) and possibly wear something that alerts others that they are working (such as a vest)

The animal should have good navigation skills and possibly natural guiding skills. Because you are creating a species, you can possibly make these qualities innate. From what I read, horses guide by nature, able to act as guides for other horses in the herd if they are blinded.

Your guide animal should probably not fly, unless people fly or float in your world. Since it should be small enough to enter buildings and not accidentally crush children, I don’t know if having it be big enough to fly on would be a good idea anyway, as fun as that sounds.

Small enough to enter buildings and sit at the character’s feet, such as at a restaurant if your world has those

It should be able to be trained in “babyhood” and work into adult life. Dogs typically work 6-8 years and horses have a much longer lifespan and thus work longer. Create an animal that can live at least as long as a dog and thus work for some, but not all of that time. Give it a retirement phase in life, if your book ever got to that. Basically, use dogs and miniature horses as a base and work from there.

The animal should be domesticated on your world and not strictly wild (such as a lion in our world).

The animal should be comfortable on land. The ability to swim is fine, but it should of course be primarily a land animal.

The animal should have a common, available food supply and vet care even if you don’t go into this. If your guide is domesticated and possibly kept as a pet in your world (or a neighboring world, however your story is structured), this will be much easier and being easy to care for will probably be implied.

It should be allowed anywhere, including hospitals, and it should be well-behaved in those areas

It should not run away from your character and leave them alone

That’s all I can think of at this time. Generally, I think if this were set on Earth or an Earth-like fantasy place, I might suggest creating a dog- or horse-like creature, or possibly another domesticated animal that the culture favors in real life. However, since this is on another planet, I feel okay with getting creative with the type of animal, provided it has the same qualities and can serve the same purpose as a real-life equivalent. Some of this you can create with your world-building and some with research on real-life animals to use as inspiration. If anyone with a service animal disagrees, please add your opinion. It would be beneficial to me and hopefully to the asker as well.

Thank you again for the question and if you need more help, feel free to send me another ask or a message. I hope this can benefit you in some way. Good luck with your story!

Edit: I wanted to add this sensitivity reader, who can read for working with guide dogs and other blind stuff.

[lifewithdavefarts]

DaveFarts - Episode 7 “The Noisy Roommate” [Episode List] Tim spends the night at Dave’s house and they have to share the latter’s full-sized bed. As they go to sleep, Dave soon makes sure that it’s gonna be a noisy night.

The episode is inspired by TheFartingWolf’s video/premise of the same name. I had a similar idea sometime ago but I figured I could just combine my story and the video for, I don’t know, a real 4D experience? With that said, I’m ready to delete this story should TheFartingWolf want me to do so.

Also keep in mind that this is not a story about the IRL person who made the video linked above, but rather two fictional characters.

The Noisy Roommate

“Thanks for having me over, bro.” I thanked Dave, while rummaging through my backpack.

This was not the first time I slept at Dave’s house of course, not even the first during our 20s, but this time it truly was a last-second solution. This is not like the shower emergency from sometime ago, though water is involved again somehow.

“No problem dude. I needed someone to help me finish this case of beer anyway.” he said, cracking one open and throwing the can at me, which I managed to catch.

“Always up for it.” and I took a long sip of that cold nectar.

“I’m sorry you almost drowned.” he joked.

“Yeah it was terrible.” I played along.

Truth is that some pipe in my house literally exploded and water flooded the entire apartment. It’s not as bad as it sounds: the leak was already fixed but I still needed a place to stay for the night. I didn’t even have time to call anyone as Dave simply showed up at my place and drove me here.

We sat on the couch to watch some bad movie as we kept chatting about some random stuff and having beer. We were both dressed casually, Dave sporting a pair of grey shorts and a black t-shirt, outfits that doubled as our pajamas, even though Dave was probably gonna sleep shirtless as he usually does.

And again, as usual, I felt some familiar vibrations going through the couch. I rolled my eyes and chuckled.

“Straight to the point, I see.” I commented.

He laughed and slightly leaned, ripping the rest of the 7-seconds rip towards me, without the couch muffling the sound now. I always appreciate how my bud is so casual about my kink and that fart, needless to say, was impressive, despite being “small” for my bro’s incredibly high standards. Also, he basically almost always farted like this even before he knew about my fetish which, again, led me to appreciate more how his attitude towards me didn’t change at all -and he knows very well the “side effects” his blasts give me.

I pitched a tent in my own shorts but I managed to hide it by adjusting my position, crossing my legs. Whether Dave noticed that or not was irrelevant, as he kept ripping a couple of more loud toots.

We resumed watching the TV for like one hour until we both decided it was time to turn into corpses for the rest of the night, so we went upstairs, the beers making us a bit dizzy but nothing serious.

I was familiar with Dave’s house so I headed directly to the guest room, my bud right behind me.

I stepped into the dark room, turned the light on, and I saw it, staring at me from the bed.

Brave Dave was the first one to run away, pulling me outside of the guest room as I hastily shut the door. Team work!

“Okay, Tim. Were you cursed or something?” he asked.

On the bed we both just saw a huge spider, the biggest we’ve ever seen in real life. While we’re not properly arachnophobic, it’s not like *we like* sleeping with spiders hanging around.

We were both manly adult men and so we were both very afraid of the eight-legged monster sneaking out to murder us in our sleep, or simply existing, so the two of us rushed to the kitchen and came back with tons of duct tape to block up every nook and cranny of the guest room door.

“Alright.” I said. “I’ll just use the couch downstairs.”

“Nah bro.” Dave commented. “My bed’s full-sized. You can join me.” and he walked towards his room.

I needed some time to process what he just said. Me and Dave shared a bed many times but that was always before I came out to him. I wonder how-

“Look, I hate to interrupt your inner monologue about self-pity and all” he said, kind of annoyed. “But can we just for once skip your awkward bullshit and head to bed? Thanks.” and then disappeared into his room.

I chuckled a bit as I realized how “formulaic” I was being lately when he more than once proved to me that he had no issues with me, so I followed him. 

The bedroom was dimly lit and he was already lying on his side of the bed, shirtless, showing off some mild pecs and an overall nice-looking figure.

“I gotta warn you: I’m a screamer in bed.” I jokingly said, lying down on my side of the bed, just by the window.

“Oh yesss, scream harder, daddy.” he played along, laughing.

We were both lying down, mindlessly scrolling stuff on our smartphones and reading articles. That only lasted a couple of minutes.

“Well, time for your goodnight kiss” Dave announced, quickly wrapping his legs around me and planting his butt in grey shorts in my face.

I was still lying down as the fart erupted, almost making me deaf for how loud it was, so up close and personal. I couldn’t see the ceiling very well as Dave’s hairy legs mostly obstructed the view. The blast didn’t even smell that much, which made me assume it was on command rather than fully natural; not that it didn’t stink at all of course.

The beer-powered fart lasted about 10 seconds. He wiggled his ass on my face a bit and then let me go/breathe. “I thought you were a screamer.” he teased and went back on his side of the bed, which almost looked queen-sized.

I didn’t say anything and I simply turned my back to him, trying to be annoyed and failing miserably, feeling a faint scent in my nostrils every time I breathed.

“Looks like there’s a leak in my house as well.” he said, right before ripping another thunderous blast, this time far from me. I tried to ignore that, but I still pitched a tent anyway. I didn’t even turn around: I’m not going to let the teaser win!

After a couple of minutes, Dave turned the lights off and the room fell into darkness, the only source of light being a digital alarm clock inches from my face. 1:34 AM, not as late as I thought, but my body didn’t care and I fell asleep almost immediately.

2:44 AM I hear a loud noise and I woke up, only opening my eyes, the alarm clock greeting my sight in a room of pure darkness. Took me a couple of moments to realize that, of course, it was Dave farting, this time in his sleep. I turned around, noticing Dave’s grey pants as my eyes adjusted to the dark.

3:01 AM I was almost asleep as another fart snapped me back to reality, this time even louder. Again I instinctively turned around and stared at my bud’s butt as the blast erupted. Those felt very airy and pretty much odourless I think. I thought whether I should wake him up but I didn’t want him to think that I was listening to his sleep-farting, which is literally what I was doing sadly.

At this point I was playing the jump-rope between being asleep and awake, every time fully waking up because of Dave farting like crazy. After many farts, the blast at 3:59 AM felt particularly powerful and “meaty”, which made me look again at my friend’s butt, somehow noticing his pants moving because of the air being blasted out. A powerful rip that lasted around 11 seconds I believe. Was I dreaming? Similar farts then followed.

4:59 AM This one almost scared me as when I thought it was over it instead became louder and louder, as if it was a train passing nearby. It had a great sound and flow, one of the best I ever heard from my bro.

5:32 AM Another peak in farting activity. Falling asleep at this point was impossible. Each moment of silence was just the quiet before the storm and I completely gave up on the idea of resting that night.

6:21 AM This one was so loud and powerful that even Dave woke up for a moment. He simply sighed in relief though, but when even the farter wakes up, you know the fart was incredible.

6:36 AM A similar blast greeted the first lights of the dawn. 

Even more powerful rips were heard at 7:16 AM and 7:33 AM. At around 8:01 AM, Dave finally woke up by himself, one of his loudest farts acting as natural alarm clock.

That was a long night and as I heard Dave going downstairs to do his morning routine, I figured it was finally time to catch up some sleep, but ironically enough the silence made it more difficult as I was now so used to his blasts that they felt like white noise, fetish or not.

That teasing bastard won and wasn’t even done.

After merely 30 minutes, I heard him jump on the bed. I was facing the window, pretending to be asleep, but I knew he was standing on the bed, towering over me.

“Rise and shine, roommate!”

He squatted over my head, still sporting those grey shorts, and ripped a huge, loud and proud natural morning fart all over my face. I’m kind of glad I was already awake, ‘cause I would have been scared to death by that gas thunder. Where was all of this gas coming from? How was he not done?

I screamed, annoyed, and pushed him on his side of the bed, my hands touching his still-farting ass, the stench being this time unbearable. I heard him laugh like an idiot as he lied next to me, keeping one of his legs up as he finished ripping that loud, long fart.

“So you are a screamer!” he joked.

“And you fart in your sleep.” I replied.

“As if you’d mind me doing that.”

Whether he was aware or not of what happened during the night, Dave was as usual so comfortable around me that he just didn’t care and it was all just a big gassy prank for him. So I just lied there, awake, chatting with my bud about my house looking like Venice, so tired and so exhausted that I didn’t even bother about the spider staring back at us from the ceiling.

End of Episode 7

[ellasadventuresinfandoms]

Okay, back in May @isolatedphenomenon asked me if I had an les mis fic recs and I went "oh boy do I !" and then promptly fucked off and disappeared from tumblr for like 6 months...

Anyway on the off chance people are interested, here is my vastly too long list of  my favourite les mis fanfic (that I'm almost 100% sure I'll have accidentally missed some of my favourites off of...)

The vast majority of these are main pairing Enjolras/Grantaire, so I've put those first, divided into multi-chaptered and then one-shots. Below that will be other pairings!

Multi-chaptered

• Witch Boy Series : magic AU, starting with Grantaire solving Enjolras' curse - this is just Incredible world building which gets better as it goes on - my favourite is the Babet interlude

• World Ain't Ready : you know how fandoms tend to have a fic that is just associated with it ? in my experience, for les mis this is it - and well deserved ! High school, fake dating AU with some of the most engaging writing

• BE : Enjolras is dragged back into theatre production, helping Eponine put on a production of Hamlet - really love the characterisation in this, and this is really one of those modern AUs that actually feels like real life - really good writing

• After the End : the definitive apocalypse AU in my eyes - les amis are an underground resistance to the dystopian government - really wonderful characterisation of Grantaire and the amis

• You never have to wonder; you never have to ask. : I tend to find fic by scrolling through bookmarks of a pairing, which means I often see repeats; this is a fic that if I see I just re-read cause I know I'll enjoy it - the amis sparked a failed rebellion, and now 18 months later Grantaire ends up staying at Enjolras' after returning to Paris for Marius and Cosette's wedding

• Your Heart on Your Skin : Soulmate AU with flower tattoos marking important emotions and events - wonderful concept and world building 

• Impatient to Be Free : Daughters of Bilitis AU - if that doesn't make you excited I don't know what else to say to convince you (aside from saying the author is a simply wonderful writer)

• You Dance Dreams : Okay. Not to be over dramatic, but this fic did genuinely qualitatively change my life, in that it was the first thing that got me looking up contemporary ballet and now that's like one of my favourite things and big hobby So. Also its really great writing; music/creative arts school les amis with Grantaire choreohraphing the ballet for Combeferre's opera, with a heavy emphasis on Grantaire realising he really never actually got over Enjolras

• philia : this one is an absolute classic to me, but not given nearly enough recognition - one of the more realistic college AUs ever written, and the writing of Grantaire is so good because it hits the perfect balance of sympathy and annoyance about his behaviour (that's a genuine compliment) 

• Coffee Hooligans : fucking tragedy this never got properly finished, Enjolras leads the amis as social justice vigilantes and tries to hide the criminal bits of his life from R

• Fighting the Hurricane : Pacific Rim AU that's less an AU and more just placing the les mis characters in the Pacific Rim universe. Really good and riveting read, also super interesting depiction of Grantaire

• Weaving Olden Dances : Fairy AU - Grantaire "claims" Enjolras to prevent his execution - really good writing, love Grantaires characterisation 

• Paris Burning : canon era (sort of) where cities have a physical being - Grantaire is Paris and becomes entangled in Enjolras' revolution - oh the world building is truly *chefs kiss*

• Euphoria is You For Me : Enjolras and Grantaire keep meet cuting in a wonderfully written Brooklyn - feels like a love letter to Brooklyn at times, and I really like the characterisation of Grantaire 

• so please just fall in love with me this christmas : Enjolras works for the environmental company Grantaire volunteers at, and keeps getting secret gifts at Christmas - I sound a little like a broken record but the Grantaire characterisation is very good

• You Are the Moon : Wild West esque Space AU - Grantaire has to call on the amis to help rescue Valjean and Cosette, despite Grantaire leaving the amis 6 months before. On re-reading the Enjolras characterisation feels a little rushed, but overall fantastic story telling and the Grantaire arc is a Delight 

• Pandemos : Enjolras is aphrodite, and seeks peace from all his suitors in R/Hephestus' cave

• Pining for You : Hallmark christmas romance - Grantaire returns home to work on his father's tree farm, and Enjolras is the lawyer helping prevent the farm being sold - cute as shit imo

• Once We're Kings : Fantasy AU - a country hosts a ball to marry Prince Enjolras and the rival country sends Grantaire as a fuck you - one of the best ways of doing Enjolras as a prince in a fantasy and just really nicely written

• Never Bitter and All Delicious : Fairy Godmother AU - yes really, yes its genuinely a very good read

• On One Condition : Fantasy AU - Enjolras is a bored knight who finally goes to check out the local dragon, which turns out to be Grantaire - I really like how they capture Enjolras' stubborn nature and it's such a well written soft growth of love between them

• That's How Easy Love Can Be : Les Amis work at a primary school; and its secret santa time! very fun portrayal of Enjolras

• The Lark and Her Lieutenants : re write of canon where Cosette is the leader of the revolution - just *chefs kiss*

• If You Tickle Us, Do We Not Laugh : Grantaire is Enjolras' secret android - really good at writing a relationship that's incredibly loving but just keeps being antagonistic and coming off wrong 

One Shots

• True Colours : AU where you leave colours on the people important to you - Enjolras and Grantaire falling for each other is so soft and gently written its lovely, this is genuinely one of my favourites

• Keep It Kind, Keep It Good, Keep It Right : this one is so good to me, because it builds off my pet hatred of everyone assuming Enjolras doesn't care about (or at least actively show he cares about) his friends

• blooming : very soft post-dystopian utopia that has just a really wonderful sense of hope and light to me

• and the wall leaned away (or: The Pros and Cons of Tilling) : perfectly realised characterizations of the amis, Grantaire needs a date to her final year art exhibition - deals with anxiety over protest in a way that actually hits for me

• not just one of the crowd : R helps run a leftist bakery and bike repair shop - very cute characterisation, and I think more les mis fanfic should link to anarchist essays

• Lovesickness : Enjolras is an idiot and thinks he's sick rather than having a crush - the writing of Joly and Combeferre in this is some of my favourite depictions of these two

• If there's a rocket, tie me to it : absolutely heartbreaking sci-fi AU about the amis as doomed mecha pilots

• Where I Fall is Where I Land : Enjolras is a Roman commander as Rome's power is leaving England, and then meets the pict Grantaire (+ fun soulmark stuff !)

• You Started Foreign to Me : Enjolras moves to america and R is the overnight grocery clerk who helps her learn Spanish - cute fluffy lesbians with a wonderfully written driven Enjolras

• Love Is Touching Souls : very cute soulmate AU - and one I really love for really truly considering the implications of soul marks and creating historical lore around it

• Ten Years : R is a musician, and it non-linearly charts his relationship to Enj from high school to 10 years later

• put up with me then I'll make you see : Grantaire lives above Enjolras, and its christmas - I find it to have a very fun interpretation of pining Enjolras

• A Cat Called Trash Can : this was one of the first les mis fics I ever read (yes I know it says it was published in 2020, but I think it has to be a re-upload or something?) and it does still have a special place in my heart - Grantaire rescues a cat, but Enjolras is the only one with an apartment free to look after it 

• Still I'm Begging to Be Free : inception AU where les amis have to rescue a sleeping R from his own brain

•I'm in it for You : cw: illness, cancer - R has cancer and is being a martyr about telling his friends so Enjolras drives him back from chemo

• walls come tumbling down : sky high au - a very good high school AU with the perfect level of campy superhero powers

• This brave new world's not like yesterday : Enjolras needs a job, so ends up working in a bowling alley with Grantaire and bonding

Enjolras/Grantaire/Combeferre

• In Defiance of All Geometry : les amis are a student co-op house, Enjolras and Combeferre are pining friends and Grantaire is the newbie

• Still the Same : this is very good writing and very compelling - if you can get over the (imo) plot hole of Enjolras working for the FBI. R was an art thief Enj put away and is briefly helping the FBI out, and Combeferre is Enjolras' husband

• To Kingdom Come : cw: war and PTSD from that, Enjolras and Combeferre are part of a group of refugees that have crossed into a more fantasy land, and Grantaire is a lone traveller from that land that attempts to help - that was a shit summary of this very emotional, wonderfully written fic about war and love in all forms

• Gonna need (a spark to ignite) : I always love a twist on a classic trope, and this is a very fun take on the soulmate AU - Enjolras loses feeling in his soul mark as a child, falls in love with Grantaire and then his soulmate, Combeferre, turns up

Eponine/Cosette

• Pretty Girls Don't Know the Things That I Know : simply stunning writing - perfect example of soft writing about a harsh world

• she knows her way around : Eponine and Cosette bond, ostensibly so Eponine can find out about her for Marius, and their interactions are so playful and realistic, its wonderful

• always find me floating on oceans : Cosette stows away on Eponine's pirate ship - I do always have a soft spot for eposette fics (not just cause I ship it) because they truly characterise Cosette in a really considered and interesting way

• There's No Making Love : I'm putting this under eposette even though there is some significant enjolras/grantaire content, because the Cosette characterisation is so fun and cute

• round and round again : this fic really beautifully translates Cosette's bad childhood and then isolated teenage years, and the impact that would have on her as an adult into a modern AU

• Underwater Thunderheards : this is based off the book The Scorpio Races, and is just a really nice short fic  about longing

• How To Change The World Without Taking Power : Marius has a crush on Cosette and she's tried being polite and subtle in turning him down, so just ends up fake dating Eponine instead

• blood red fruit and poison's kiss : Snow White AU - Cosette as Snow White

• The Winters Cannot Fade Her : Snow White Au 2.0 - Eponine as Snow White - this was written as a pair to the one above which is just so cute to me

• marriage à la mode : Cosette and Eponine run a bridal shop together and it's very cute !

• Temporary Hold : I personally find this a really fun and very unique take on Cosette - with exams coming up she decides she needs to get laid on the reg and so hits up Eponine to act as if they're already long term girlfriends

Combeferre/Courfeyrac

• better than you had it : fake dating but kick it up an emotional notch - Courf and Ferre pretend to still be together after breaking up for a family event

• take flight, come near : nice and cute low fantasy, where Combeferre runs a dragon sanctuary and Courf finds an injured dragon

Rare Pairs

• The Future's Owned by You and Me : cute Enjolras/Feuilly with actual radical politics and real life organising difficulties and wins

• First Dates and Other Dangers : Combeferre and Grantaire agree to go on a blind date and it's awkward until it isn't - just cute !

• after midnight : Combeferre has insomnia and meets Grantaire in various all night fast food chains

• as you are : Bahorel and Jehan getting ready together

• Almost Romantic : Jehan works at a museum, and takes Combeferre on a little tour

• Understudy : Jehan/Combeferre, with Combeferre's insecurities regarding being seen as second best to Enjolras

• Here There Be Dragons : Courf/Enj/Ferre - Courf and Enj are superheroes and Ferre is the doctor that patches them up

• To Let it Occur (Laisser Faire la Nature) : Feuilly has a stupidly long stopover in Paris and meets Enjolras

• rule of three : Courf/Enj/Ferre as spies and loving boyfriends

• Good Rhetoric : snapshots of cute cuddly courf/enj/ferre

• subluxate, dislocate, replace : found family and chronic illness with Joly/Bossuet/Musichetta

• Strike stone, strike home (like lightning) : so this fic took one minor piece of lore about Tolkien's dwarves and made a beautiful j/b/m fic from it

• Almost Inevitable : Bahorel/Feuilly friends-with-benefits

• god only knows (what I'd be without you) : Bahorel/Feuilly with a closeted Feuilly and a beautiful Feuilly and Eponine friendship

[defensefilms]

Defense Films Lists His Favorite TV Characters Of All Time

5. Chris Partlow- The Wire

The ending of The Wire paints Chris Partlow as something closer to a serial killer. 

He wasn’t. None of his hits were done out of pleasure, curiosity or even impulse. Every one of those bodies helped the Stanfield organization become what they became, even the one on Michael’s stepdad.

What Chris represents is reliability and capability. The ultimate “get shit done” guy. Out of all the characters on the show, none were more dependable or crucial to the success of the institution they served. 

Lester Freeman was capable but not a good politician and ultimately a nuisance to his superiors. Bill Rawls was incredibly capable at his job but he was power hungry and ambitious. In season 5, Gus Haynes is the most capable man in the news office but the problem was that Gus questioned authority and didn’t “go with the flow” when the office decided the paper needed a “refreshing” of how they cover the local news.

Chris didn’t have any of these handicaps impeding the people he served.

He recruits the foot soldiers for the Stanfield crew, even training them himself and Marlo had something akin to a small army at his disposal as a result. He organized his sub-ordinates, handled all surveillance when Marlo’s crew was under investigation at the start of season 5 and took care of incoming shipments after they established a direct line to the Greeks. 

When the task required finesse or subtlety, like the time he stole Sergey’s picture from the court office, he was more than capable of that too. When Marlo is questioning how to address the murder of one of his dealers, he listens to Chris and chooses to retaliate on the perpetrator directly rather than targeting everyone on his corner. 

Marlo truly comes to rely on Chris in matters concerning Omar Little. Every step of how Marlo wants to get back at the near mythical larcenist, is first passed by Chris. Chris takes this as his number one job throughout the show. Anything concerning Omar is handled with brutal efficiency, tact and an almost out ouf place  sense of professional pride. 

That’s Chris’ most endearing quality. Through all the blood, guts, scheming, lying, betrayal that comprises Baltimore’s underworld, all of which Chris is very much a part of, he has a pride in how he approaches the day to day business aspects of what he does. 

Stringer Bell is arguably the best second-in-command in the show’s run but he was dishonest, ultimately harming the survival of the institution he served and damn near going rogue. 

Chris doesn’t share such qualities as blind ambition or selfishness. He understands that trust is all he has in this game. When the indictments eventually come down and Chris is facing a life sentence he doesn’t complain or even raise the possibility of turning state witness. Instead he ends up on the yard along side Wee-Bay. Marlo in turn makes sure that Chris’ people are taken care of financially.

Many of the men that serve in the various institutions depicted in the show could learn a thing from Chris Partlow. When the time came, he fell on his sword and did so in full acknowledgement that this is where it all leads. There’s a kind of honor in that.

4. Tony Soprano- The Sopranos

One of the biggest misconceptions about The Sopranos was that it was a story about a gangster. It wasn’t, or at the very least, that would be an over-simplification of what the story actually contained.

What it was was a story about a man and his family, both biological and criminal. That’s the tie the binds all of the story’s narratives together.

Another way of looking at Tony’s story is one of leadership. Having ousted his Uncle Junior from the seat of power, season 2 and onwards, as far Tony’s criminal life is concerned, focuses on what happens once you get to the top. 

While the show’s creators gave you plenty of grizzly, violent scenes, what leads to those is the story of a man struggling and failing at leadership. 

In every season, Tony has to deal with a problematic figure, employee or subordinate. 

Season 1 was his Uncle and the idea of old fashioned leadership. Then in season 2 it was the ever-acerbic Richie Aprile, representing a generation older than Tony’s, that still feels entitled to something. Seasons 3 and 4 gave us Ralph Cifaretto, the only one among the men I’m mentioning that actually earns his status and then in season 5, it was his cousin Tony Blundetto.

Each of these problems is uniquely stressful for Tony because of how they pull at the threads of both his family and criminal life. With the exception of his Uncle Junior, he kills all of them.

By that metric, Tony is in fact a very poor leader. 

He doesn’t really deal with the Richie Aprile problem because his sister beats him to it. He doesn’t willingly promote Ralph Cifaretto even though Ralph earns it and is the only one among the candidates with any real intellect and business savvy. In both the cases of Christopher Moltisanti and cousin Tony Blundetto, Tony allows favoritism and nepotism to cloud his judgement and ironically both those men die at Tony Soprano’s hands.

This paints a picture of a tyrannical man, slowly devouring everything around him because he’s got to be in control. Worse yet, his need to be in control doesn’t actually lead to smarter long term decisions or better people management.

Tony’s relationship with Ralph in particular is built on professional envy. He feels entitled to Ralph’s race horse winnings because “why should his subordinate benefit more from anything than he does?”. He then proceeds to take ownership of the racehorse itself without assuming any of the costs of owning the animal. Then to top it off, he steals Ralph’s girlfriend purely because he has the status to do it, even digging in to Ralph’s personal life in order to justify doing so.

Textbook mismanagement. Every type of managerial violation you could imagine.

So how does Tony handle it when an employee is actually being a problem on a criminal/business level?

He rewards Tony Blundetto’s deception after the Joey Peeps killing by letting him run an already profitable gambling joint. He promotes Christopher to “made guy” even with his drug problems being well known, and he promotes Bobby Baccalieri, partly at his sister’s behest and partly out of spite.

 It was fun to watch on screen but you’d hate to work for Tony Soprano.

How does that translate to his family? What kind of leader is Tony at home?

Season 3 does well at examining Tony as a father/paternal figure starting with his relationship with Jackie Jr, which is built on concern at first. Then later it starts to make Tony anxious. Before Tony decides to push nature towards taking it’s course, when Jackie runs afoul of men in Tony’s charge.

His relationship with AJ is also a bigger part of the show as the seasons go and it’s not much better in as far as the leadership or guidance that Tony offers. We can waffle on about AJ’s failings as a spoilt teenager but the real problem is that Tony doesn’t see himself in AJ. 

That’s the first step to any failure of leadership. An inability to find common ground or identify with the people you’re leading.

We won’t go in to how hypocritical it is because the entire way that Tony entered the mob life is because he himself was a mob prince and his father’s status definitely paved the way for him. 

Hypocrisy. That’s the other key to failure in leadership. 

All these negatives added up to make the most fascinating television character in over 20 years. A constant stream of contradictions and watching a man say one thing but do another was it’s own experience and you didn’t realize what a horrible human being you were watching until you saw the show over and over again. A scary observation that implies people are either blind or really comfortable with evil and narcissistic behaviour.

3. Noah Solloway- The Affair

Out of all the characters on this list, this one was hurt most by writers hitting a ceiling in how much they could say about the character or how much they wanted to say.  Divorced men don’t really have that much representation, so if you’re writing a character that so strongly linked to that one particular event in his life, you may hit a ceiling if you don’t actually have real life examples to work with.

They had the right actor, the right story and it was the right time in human history to tell this story, it just felt like they didn’t follow through on really speaking on the plight or rise of guys in Noah’s situation.

Anytime I watched The Affair, and unlike most, I was pretty loyal to it despite what reviews told me, I identified with Noah. All those other characters didn’t make sense to me the way Noah did.

The story begins with my man being stuck in a rut, the kind of middle age funk  married men tend to fall in to, so he drives out to visit some folks and while he’s there he happens to meet a baddie. Story of every man’s life. Only he does what you’re not supposed to do and sacrifices everything he has so he can be with the bad-bad. 

Then my mans starts popping off with his book writing, gets a publishing deal and in his 40′s, he starts achieving his highest career peaks. See this is important because it shows that the writers understood the subject matter really well, as well as the demographic they were talking about.

Then the next season, they go in to some murder mystery plot, Noah ends up in jail somehow, almost as if the writers and producers didn’t feel confident that they could tell Noah’s story without the theatrics/murder mystery element. 

The other danger that the writers probably didn’t want to indulge was rewarding the character with any kind of happy ending or positive outcome. Noah’s infidelity serves as the jumping off point to all of the story’s unfolding plots, mostly depicting the impact on the lives of his immediate family, a handful of which play out in sad dramatic fashion. So the writers likely felt like Noah couldn’t win at the end. 

In the 1930′s when gangster films were first being made, they would commonly feature PSA messages at the start warning against criminal behaviour. 1931′s “Little Caesar” starring Edward G Robinson, features a warning at the end that makes it clear the film’s producers and writers needed the character to go down in flames at the end, to prove the moral point that “crime doesn’t pay”. 

A writer’s moral obligation and the times in which they live can lead some to write the ending that makes a moral point rather than writing the most dramatic or honest ending. I think Noah Solloway kind of suffered from this.

I don’t know. 

There was a chance to explore modern men in a way that most stories fail to. They had the foundation. They knew enough about who and what they’re talking about. However it didn’t manifest in the telling of the story. 

I’m not saying Noah needed a positive ending, it’s just that the one we got was not the most fitting nor did it wind up ending the story honestly or even dramatically.

Noah Solloway should have got the Tony Soprano treatment in as far as how much the writers explored his inner world but instead the show’s creators decided it didn’t matter. They didn’t answer the question of why this happens to modern men.

If nothing else Noah Solloway can be a blueprint or foundation for those telling this story in the future.

 2. Ciro Di Marizio- Gomorrah

About as slimy and as low down as a television character can possibly be. Ciro represents Machiavellian criminality pushed to it’s extremes. 

When writers plot a character’s trajectory, they often fill it with moments that make the character more endearing. Exploring the relationship the character may have with a child, friend or spouse that makes you see the character’s more genuine/compassionate/likeable side. The writers of Gomorrah did plenty of that with Ciro.

However, they didn’t hesitate to show you just how off-the-rails and downright evil Ciro could be. 

What’s funny is that Ciro is defined by loyalty and servitude when the story begins. He is a capable captain and rises to 2nd in command when the Savastano family needs him to. However the death of his close friend and mentor changes him for the worse and he goes ham. 

What follows is betrayal and Ciro basically masterminding a coup of the Savastano clan but the levels of paranoia that his new found power push him to, make him question whether it was all worth it. The world burns around him and a kind of justice is restored when Gennaro is able to take back power and restore the Savastano name. 

That’s one aspect of the show that Ciro truly exemplifies in that he rises to the top but the throne never truly feels like it’s his.

He is Iago-like in his ability to understand the weaknesses of people around him. He proves himself more cunning, capable, strategic, murderous and even business-minded than almost every other character. Every character except for Pietro Savastano (the man he betrays) and Gennaro Savastano. 

The show goes to great lengths to put forth the idea that crime families in Naples are on the same level as the pope. True modern day monarchies. Royal families that have the power to benefit or harm anyone around them. People bow their heads to them when they walk in public and use reverential terms when addressing them. They will often have salons, jewelers  or restaurants cleared out so they can enjoy the establishment in ostentatious privacy. 

When you look at it like that, Ciro was always an outsider. The difference between just sitting on the throne and being born of the throne. 

In that way maybe Ciro’s story is about redemption. 

He eventually sides with Gennaro Savastano again, helping him get his wife and daughter back after they’re kidnapped. He does this by essentially lying to/duping a crew of young dealers from Florence to fund this hostage rescue and then he offers himself as a sacrifice when the Florentines demand blood.

At his best Ciro served the clan and went to great lengths to restore what he had destroyed. 

1. Marlo Stanfield- The Wire

Is there any greater?

Sure there are characters like Tony Soprano whose world and whose inner thoughts the audience gets more familiar and intimate with. Within the same shared universe as Marlo is a character like Stringer Bell and the writers of the Wire go to great lengths to understand and convey his moral conflict as a drug kingpin turned wannabe real estate tycoon. 

Marlo is something purer though. 

You don’t need to know his inner-most thoughts like Tony because his utmost desire is simple, he wants to be the top kingpin of Baltimore. What more do you want?

He does not share Stringer’s moral complexity because unlike Stringer he is not conflicted at all. He’s not a drug dealer playing businessman, he’s just a drug dealer and that’s all he ever wanted to be.

From the start of season 3, it was fascinating watching this man move about on the screen with a confidence reserved for the richest and most talented. Indeed Marlo proves he has both in bundles. 

He outwits the older drug kingpin in Stringer Bell by maintaining independence from the Co-Op. He matches Avon Barksdale’s war effort step-for-step after Avon comes home from prison. He outsmarts the wily, Proposition Joe in order to learn how to launder his money and then get access to the Greeks.

It was fascinating watching Marlo avoid pitfalls, monopolize Baltimore, out-think his older counterparts and grow his empire to the scope that he did. 

There’s a youtube video that compiled all of Marlo’s scenes from his 3 seasons on The Wire and it pretty much plays like a feature film. Watch it here if you dig Marlo as much as I do.

You’re not watching a drug dealer become a kingpin, or at the very least that’s what I believe. It has more to do with watching the younger generation upset the order, and in a lot of ways that’s what Marlo represents. From the moment Marlo shows up, all old agreements are null and void. He does this over and over again throughout his story. Constantly upsetting the order and establishing his own. 

Indeed Marlo isn’t aware that this is what he’s doing. He’s acting on ambition, arrogance and naivety. 

It speaks volumes that most of the characters on this list have on-screen relationships that explore their personalities, like the aforementioned Ciro’s relationship with his daughter. Marlo has none of that.

Marlo’s most revealing relationship is his rivalry with Omar Little, a man he only ever encounters once. The continuation of their feud happens because Marlo refuses to let any perceived slight towards him slide. One way of looking at what this shows is that Marlo is both egoist and perfectionist, the latter of which is actually very prized personality traits in today’s business environment. The combination of the two is actually commonly seen among CEO’s and top executives.

Marlo shows every weakness and drawback of youth while exposing the follies of the more seasoned and experienced in his field. A walking contradiction in that way.

[hb-pickle]

Frozen 2: Myths & Rumors

Before I start, here is an awesome post made by @greatqueenanna about the more popular Frozen 2 rumors. It debunks popular myths such as early drafts of F2 including Elsa dying for real in Ahtohallan and Anna getting magic powers. This post is meant for more small scale rumors that GreatQueenAnna did not address ♥ 

I’m not an expert, so if anyone has any hard proof (screenshots, links, tweets from directors, etc) that any of this isn’t true, please show me!!! Most of these rumors are pure hearsay, with no actual evidence (from what I’ve seen), so I’ll just be using canon sources to disprove them. 

-

+ Honeymaren and Ryder are 16/17 years old + FALSE

This rumor apparently comes someone who saw the June 2019 F2 character bios, which stated that Honeymaren is 16 and Ryder is 17. I’ve never seen any evidence of these early character bios, but the current ones that exist (from storybooks, and the fan wiki) do not confirm or list either Northuldra’s age. Their ages are also not confirmed in film.

Honeymaren’s Bio & Ryder’s Bio

Also, if we use our context clues, we can assess that Honeymaren and Ryder are both adults, at the very least. The 1st time we see the Northuldra siblings, they ambush the Frohana gang. Not only that, but they are front and center, Honeymaren dropping down right at the front of the attack team, with Ryder standing a little behind her. Honeymaren is also the first to speak, commanding Anna to “lower her weapon”. Surely the Northuldra wouldn’t send actual children to go ambush and attack the mysterious strangers. And the fact that Honeymaren is 1st to speak, shows that she must hold some sort of important position of power/authority in her group, which wouldn’t be given to a young, inexperienced girl. ((Also if you look at the crowd of Northuldra that attack the main heroes, they are all adults))

-

+ Honeymaren and Ryder are Elsa and Anna’s cousins + FALSE

This rumor comes from the same mysterious June documents from above. The only other ‘evidence’ that supports this rumor is that all four characters come from the same tribe, which only means they’re of the same ethnicity, not blood related. Canonically, Honeymaren and Ryder’s only established familial relationships are to each other, as brother and sister. 

Context Clues - When Honeymaren and Ryder identify Iduna’s shawl as Northuldra, they say “This is from one of our oldest families”. People don’t refer to their own family in the 3rd person like that, and if this was their family shawl they would’ve said “my family”(1st person). Also, if this was Honeymaren and Ryder’s family shawl, they would’ve immediately recognized it as their own and would’ve said so. Not to mention, seeing outsiders with their family shawl would’ve probably provoked them to mention the tragic disappearance of their mother/father’s baby sister (young Iduna).

-

+ At the end of Frozen 2 Elsa goes to lives in Ahtohallan + FALSE

This rumor apparently comes from a tweet from either Jennifer Lee or Chris Buck. If anyone has these tweets, please show me, but otherwise it’s just a funny rumor. Canonically Elsa's current home is the Enchanted Forest, confirmed by the fan wiki and by the movie’s ending.

Elsa’s Character Bio showing that her current home is the Enchanted Forest.

Enchanted Forest Bio showing that Elsa is a current inhabitant.

Context Clues - Honestly this rumor just doesn’t make sense. Like... why would Elsa live in Ahtohallan when there is nothing in there but ice and murder magic? At the end of the film, Elsa’s new goal in life isn’t explicitly stated, but it’s almost universally agreed upon to be protecting the forest/watching over the spirits (Anna even tells Elsa to “keep looking after the forest” in her paper airplane note). All four spirits live in the Enchanted Forest, so logically she’d chose to live amongst them. At the end of the film, Elsa is also shown happily standing in the Enchanted Forest, right next to the Northuldra’s village (you can see them in the background with their reindeer, houses, campfires, etc). After this establishing shot, she summons Nokk, rides around the Enchanted forest, interacting happily with more Northuldra, and then heads to Ahtohallan across the sea. She explicitly did not refer to Ahtohallan as her home, choosing to say “We’re going for a ride,” not that she was “going home”.

 Also in many post-Frozen 2 children's books and comics, Elsa and Anna both state that Elsa lives in the forest and depict Elsa living in and enjoying the forest.

((There is also no canon evidence that Elsa visited Ahtohallan again after the events of Frozen 2.))

-

+ In the deleted song ‘See The Sky’ the Northuldra want Elsa to die for them + FALSE

I assume this comes from a simple translation error. You can see the full lyrics for ‘See The Sky’ HERE. In this song, the Northuldra and the Arendelle soldiers both blame each other for the mist and the fighting. But, they also recognize Elsa as their only hope of escaping and believe she is a gift from nature. The song is supposed to make Elsa (and Anna) feel uneasy because of the immense amount of pressure it puts on them, but the Northuldra nor the Arendellians expect Elsa to die for them or anything. At the end of the song Elsa even says “I want to give this to you!” so she is explicitly accepting the responsibility both sides are asking of her.

This deleted song was showcased in the Disney+ Frozen 2 documentary, and no other context was given for before or after the song would’ve taken place, so we don’t know if Elsa/the forest folk knew of the potential danger ahead.

-

+ The scene where Honeymaren and Elsa hold hands was removed in some countries + TRUE

Honeymaren and Elsa touching was just too spicy for some countries I guess lmao. PROOF (very bottom of the page in the trivia section)

(I wanted to end on a nice note)

[croose]

Power Down part 2: Power Up

Request/Summary: Upon waking up after your most recent mission, you're immediately thrown back into the fray of things, not entirely sure what you're up against. And Rex doesn't seem entirely ready to watch you risk your life yet again.

Pairings: Captain Rex x Reader

Warnings: None

Author's Note: Protective Rex. Babey. Also, this is part two, but part one is pretty much the only other recent post on my account, so it shouldn't be hard to find. If my Tumblr gets more crowded I'll make a Master list and link previous parts in the author's note. Til then.

When you woke up, you were very careful not to reveal you were awake. It was a habbit you had long since gotten into.

Worst case scenario, you now had an advantage that your kidnappers didn't know you had which you could use to get out of this jail. Best case scenario, you were in your bed being woken up by your protcol droid who was reminding you that you had a council meeting in about an hour.

This day was something in between.

The first thing you noticed was the noise. It wasn't particularly loud, but it was busy.

The next thing you noticed was the scratchy blanket and the beeping of machinery keeping people alive. You were in a medbay.

Now you slowly opened your eyes, noting the clones and jedi in other beds, along with medical droids moving about to care for the patients.

You lightly closed your eyes and immediately saw, once again, the flash of the hallway roof collapsing in on you while Rex was forced to do nothing but stare.

Remembering the mission, you suddenly had no interest in remaining in the medical bay. You had needles shoved into your arm, but you wasted no time in pulling them out and clambering from your bed.

No one tried to stop you as you grabbed your jedi robes from the bedside table and left the medbay, heading towards the councilroom.

You only stopped once, in a refresher, to change, and so you made good time to the council room.

You weren't entirely sure what you expected to see, sitting on the benches outside, but it wasn't General Skywalker, Commander Tano and Captain Rex.

At your approach, the three of them (All battered and bruised, sitting on a bench with their heads hung in shame) looked up, thoroughly shocked.

"General?" Anakin asked, trying to process the fact that you were up and moving about.

"General." You responded, nodding politely.

"How are you?" Rex asked, his voice so quiet you thought he spoke with the intent of not being heard.

"Fine, thank you, Captain. However, I don't remember what happened."

The three seemed to deflate a bit at this. It was Anakin who told the story. He started with the events leading up, including the collapsing roof. Then he got to what you truly didn't know.

Dooku, of course, had escaped. But not before he managed to plug into a central computer and download all available information about Kamino, which struck you as odd.

Anakin speculated that he had let himself get caught, that he had a plan revolving around the planet. Then for the past three rotations (During which, you had been unconscious in the medbay) the three of them had been petitioning for extra security on the planet, but the Council seemed to think this was unnecessary.

"Even if it was," Mace Windu had apparently said, "We simply do not have the resources."

Anyways, the three of them were here to plea one last time to the council, hoping they would see reason before it was too late.

"You should come too, (Y/n)!" Ahsoka said, clearly testing out your name, seeing what you would allow her to have. "You know Dooku better than anyone! You've studied his moves, his attacks, you managed to track him down from across the Galaxy!"

You elected to ignore that it now seemed as though Dooku had wanted you to track him. Instead you paused to think, tapping your fingers to the side of your leg as you often did while thinking.

"Well, I wouldn't be opposed, Young Tano." You, similar to her, were testing out a nickname, exploring what she would let you get away with.

"Then it's settled!" Ahsoka said.

You laughed a bit but said nothing before the doors opened and a master and her Padawan walked out, nodding at your group as you passed, your group walking in, hers walking away.

Upon seeing you, Obi-wan Kenobi said, "Ahh, Master (Y/l/n), welcome back."

"Master Kenobi." You nodded, politely at him.

Anakin then launched into his plea for increased security around Kamino, which caused some groans and eyerolls.

"I thought we talked about this, General Skywalker." Said Plo Koon (Or, the hologram of him, as he was out on a mission.)

"Yes, okay, we did talk about it!" Anakin said. "But you all seem to think this isn't as important as it is!"

"Kamino is both safe and well-guarded, General." Shaak Ti said. "We have the protection we need. Dooku would never attempt an attack."

Anakin opened his mouth to protest, but this Master Windu cut through with, "Is there anything else any of you need?"

"Yes, actually." You said, brining the room's attention to yourself. "Where's The 307th?"

"They are with me." Plo Koon said. "You were out for three rotations and I needed a large attack force for my current mission, so it seemed only natural."

"Recovery time, you need anyways, hm?" Said Master Yoda. "On another mission, we will not be sending you until better you are." Master Yoda said this while pointing his cane at you.

You were pretty sure you saw Windu roll his eyes, but you couldn't be entirely certain, so you dropped it. Instead, you nodded, respectfully. "Yes, Masters."

"If that is all, then you're dismissed." Windu said, dismissively.

Anakin grumbled to himself and Ahsoka made a face as the group turned to leave. Rex, though, on the outside seemed perfectly fine. But you reached out into the force and, easier than you could with anyone else, you felt his emotions.

Again, you weren't entirely sure what it was, but it felt sort of like defeat. And while you were reaching into the Force you saw something else. A room on a Kamino lab... Or how to get there.

"The Council's probably right." Anakin grumbled. "It's not like we even know what he wanted from Kamino, or which cloning lab - if any - he was going to attack."

Ahsoka said nothing, but her face said it all. And Rex also tried not to show his emotions but he failed when he kicked a lose piece of trash across the floor.

"Awe, cheer up, Guys. It's not like the Resident Dooku Expert is dead!" You gestured to yourself, merrily, pretending to be unbothered by the choices of the Council.

"What, you?" Anakin asked.

"Yep! And as the Resident Dooku Expert - My official, legal title, by the way - I can safely say that Dooku is going to attack Kamino. And he is going to attack a cloning facility. And I know which one!"

The group stared at you.

"How?" Anakin said.

You shrugged a bit. "Lucky guess?"

"We don't really know if it's lucky, though. You could be completely wrong." Ahsoka muttered.

"Awe, psh! Go round up any clones willing to disobey the Council's orders - Though if it's to protect Kamino, I assume there will be a few - And meet me on your Republic Attack Cruiser as soon as possible." You were already disappearing down the hall as you spoke, leaving the group little choice other than follow your orders, or don't.

You didn't wait to find out, but you knew Anakin and Ahsoka well. They would listen. You, however, went to your dormitory and began packing basic provisions. You were just about to head out when your door buzzed, signaling a guest.

You checked the screen to see who it was and startled to see Rex standing on the other side. But for the first time since you'd met him, his helmet was off. Though his face technically looked the same as the other clones, something about him was just so much... More.

You opened the door and stepped back to allow the Captain to enter.

"General." He nodded at you.

"Captain." You responded kindly as the door shut. "What can I do for you?"

Rex took a deep breath and set his helmet down on your table. When he finally spoke, his voice was a bit shaky and he refused to turn and face you. "I don't think you should come." He whispered.

"Captain?"

He slowly turned from the table revealing a pleading expression on his face. "Don't come. Please don't come."

You spent a moment deliberating your words, but when you spoke, it was careful, precise. Your tone firm. "That's not a very fair thing to ask of me, Captain."

Much to your shock, Rex reacted with anger. His fist slammed down on your table, causing you to jump and his voice raised dangerously loud. "I don't care!" He bellowed. "Don't come!"

"Enough!" You snapped, your tone equally loud, though your body much more still than his. "First of all, you do not order me around! Second of all, you need to control your emotions!"

You weren't sure if it was because he was so used to only battling enemies and you weren't sure why you allowed it, but in a split moment, Rex had backed you into a corner and was now standing firmly in front of you, plasticore chest piece seemingly on display.

"I'm not like you!" Rex shouted. "I can't always control my emotions, but I don't always need to!"

This, you felt, had some underlying tones of something you didn't understand. That for some reason, the fact that there were no rules against him experiencing emotions was something upsetting him. But you didn't have time to unpack it, because you were also growing in your emotions.

Instead, you yelled, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't come!"

Rex slammed his hands into the wall, effectively blocking you in and yelled, "BECAUSE I COULDN'T PROTECT YOU!"

Now you faltered.

You had thought it had been about you, but... It was about him?

As you stared at him, his eyes reddened and he furiously blinked back tears.

"You were right there... Beside me. You saved my life." His voice cracked with emotions. "And I - I couldn't return the favour... You were lying there, trapped under the ceiling and... Everything I did just made the situation worse... And Dooku was killing my brothers. So I had to do the worst thing imaginable. I had to leave you.

"You only got out alive because Commander Tano..." Rex looked away and now tears did fall down his face. "I failed you, General. And I can't do that again."

You gently raised your hand to cup his face and scoop the tears from his cheek. "You didn't fail me, Rex. I made my choice knowing the consequences it would have, but I... I couldn't deal with losing you. That doesn't mean you failed me."

Rex sighed and lowered his head, similar to how he had on the ship, his upper forehead resting against your lower.

You moved your other hand to cup the other side of his face in order to pull Rex's head back just enough for you to place a gentle kiss to it.

"Please don't come." He whispered.

"Rex... I'm going to come. But I'm going to be fine."

"Promise me, General." It was technically an order, but he said it more like a request than anything.

"I promise, Captain."

You didn't know then the horrible truth that try as you might, that promise would be broken.

[thelordofdarkreunion]

Magnificent Scoundrels- Messages

Short message up here.  A bit of showing exactly what is going on, who the various Scoundrels are reporting to, and what their motives are.  I own nothing except Drake and co.  Enjoy.

From: Thomas Drake

To: Martin Crossgrow

Mr. Crossgrow,

Enclosed within this message is one from the Citadel Council, the galactic government from what we have labeled Galaxy 4.  They wish to establish diplomatic relations with the Merchants’ Guild.  I have also included a data package of whatever other information I could find on the other galactic governments, and links to the internets of other galaxies.  I will accept my usual fee for this.

Regards,

Thomas Drake

From: Martin Crossgrow

To: Thomas Drake

Captain Drake,

Your work has been invaluable.  The Merchants’ Guild has been able to surpass the Empire and Federation due to this.  Your fee has been transferred to your account, with a bonus.  We will continue to utilize your services, so please send any new information to us.  Also, have you passed on any information to the Empire, Federation, or Union?

Crossgrow

From: Thomas Drake

To: Martin Crossgrow

Mr. Crossgrow,

I will continue to send any other information I can get my hands on.  I do want our galaxy to be in a good position, so I have passed on information and messages to the Empire and Federation, for a fee.  However, I have delayed said information to give you an advantage, as was stipulated in our agreement.  The Union has nothing, because they pay nothing.  Their loss.  

Regards,

Thomas Drake

________________________________________________________________

From: Commissar Ciaphas Cain

To: Inquisitor Amberley Vail

Amberley,

I still don’t understand why you chose me for this task.  I know nothing about exploration or politics.  That being said, I have met and made contact with this group.  All but two of the others have xenos in their crews, and are comfortable around them.  Those who do have xenos in their crews say that the xenos are peaceful and co-operative with humanity.  Apparently they don’t know anything about the nature of aliens.  I have done nothing yet.  Please advise.  Also, the man who sent the message, Thomas Drake, stole weapons and information from a long lost Inquisitorial supply cache.  He is also in a position to blackmail me with the manuscript, and I would assume he knows something of the inner workings of the Inquisition.  

Ciaphas

To: Commissar Ciaphas Cain

From: Inquisitor Amberley Vail

Ciaphas,

The Emperor himself has decreed to the High Lords that we should establish diplomatic relations with any peaceful governments of the other galaxies, as we will need allies.  Throne knows we don’t need more enemies.  Therefore, you should do nothing.  Give me updates on as many xenos species as possible, but remain peaceful to whomever does not wish to fight us.  In regards to the cache, we will look into it.  Don’t fear Drake.  We control what is said and not said within the Imperium.  He can do nothing.

Amberley

________________________________________________________________

From: Master Chief Petty Officer John-117

To: Fleet Admiral Terrance Hood

Admiral Hood

You order me to write reports directly to you.  I have information about all of the other galaxies, which I have sent to you directly.  The group I am with seems to be very good at what they do.  I think this is a good sign.  

To: Master Chief Petty Officer John-117

From: Fleet Admiral Terrance Hood

Master Chief,

I appreciate what you’ve sent me.  Hopefully, these governments and your group can help us in our war against the Covenant.  You’ve been with this group long enough to judge them.  If possible, send me a notice of who would help us, and who would not. 

Admiral Hood

From: Master Chief Petty Officer John-117

To: Fleet Admiral Terrance Hood

Oddly enough, or maybe not, the more militaristic and pro-human groups would be more likely to help us than the more liberal and diverse ones.  I’ve had Cortana do an analysis, and this is what she’s come up with.  

Would probably help:

-Imperium of Man

-Cerberus

-Systems Alliance (part of the Citadel Council, so could be a conflict of interest)

-Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation

-Galactic Empire

Would probably not help:

-Frontier Militia

-Citadel Council

-New Republic

-Galactic Federation

-Kree Empire

-Klingon Empire

Unknown:

-United Federation of Planets

-Galactic Assembly 

-Empire of Prosium

-Avengers

-Nova Empire

To: Master Chief Petty Officer John-117

From: Fleet Admiral Terrance Hood

Thank you for the list.  We will send out our diplomats and do our utmost to convince people to help us.  

Admiral Hood

________________________________________________________________

From: Pilot First Class Jack Cooper

To: Commander Sarah Briggs

I have made contact, as ordered.  Included with this message is an information package, including information about the new galaxies.  The problems I have figured is that the IMC owns Earth and the Core Worlds, giving them a degree of more legitimacy than us.  We should try to establish diplomatic relations as soon as possible, which should be helped that the fact we are closer to the edge of the galaxy, which puts us in closer proximity to the new galaxies.  Without establishing relations quickly, the IMC will claim that they are the rightful rulers of the Frontier and we are the terrorists who wrongly took it from them.  We must act quickly.  

Pilot Cooper Out

From: Commander Sarah Briggs

To: Pilot First Class Jack Cooper

Understood.  We’ll try our best, but our forces are overstretched.  Continue with the mission.  

Commander Briggs Out

________________________________________________________________

From: Admiral Vir

To: Fleet Admiral Kelly

We have made contact with the people of the other galaxies.  Oddly enough, several of them are actually, so far as I can tell, exact copies of old sci-fi stories from our reality.  See Star Trek, Star Wars, Halo, and Guardians of the Galaxy for further details.  Apparently, these stories do not exist in the other realities, thus giving us an advantage over them.  I have included information about all of them within this message, and a message from one of the governments from the unknown galaxies, the Citadel Council.  This is addressed to the GA.  I await further instructions.  

Admiral Vir

From: Fleet Admiral Kelly

To: Admiral Vir

Why is it always you who gets mixed up in the weird stuff?  The first to find extraterrestrial life, now the first to meet the people of the new galaxies, some of whom are from 2,000 year-old fictional stories?  I am going to have one hell of a time presenting this to the GA.  I require you to come back to the Rundi capital to brief the GA with me.  

Admiral Kelly

From: Admiral Vir

To: Fleet Admiral Kelly

A bit of a problem.  A group of soldiers from one of the governments is onboard my vessel.  They are, to put it mildly, xenophobic.  I’ve managed to get them under control, but I don’t think it would be good to expose them to a galactic government where all alien species live in relative harmony.  Please advise.  

Admiral Vir

From: Fleet Admiral Kelly

To: Admiral Vir

You could drop them off on Earth.  There aren’t many aliens there.  Or leave them in your ship, if you think they could cause problems.  But you are our new expert on these people, so we need you to get back here as soon as possible.  

Admiral Kelly

________________________________________________________________

From: Han Solo

To: Leia Organa

I’ve done what you’ve told me to do.  All of the information you need is inclosed within this message.  It seems as if most of the governments of these other realities will recognize the New Republic’s ligitamancy.  There are a few notable exceptions, which I have noted.  

Han

From: Leia Organa

To: Han Solo

Thank you, Han.  We will be sending our diplomats over effective immediately.  You are still authorized to speak for the New Republic, even though I know you don’t want to.  

Leia

________________________________________________________________

From: Samuel Wilson

To: Peter Quill

Goddamnit Quill, you’re supposed to be reporting on what is going on with all these new places!  Were you able to join the group?  If so, what are they like?  What are their governments and home realities like?  You are supposed to give us something.

-Falcon

From: Samuel Wilson

To: Peter Quill

I know you’re getting these!  Read them and respond, or we’ll send someone in your place!

________________________________________________________________

From: Captain James T. Kirk

To: The United Federation of Planets

I have given you a complete update on my findings.  Included is all of the information I was able to get my hands on.  Some of these new governments could pose a major problem to us, so I advise to tread carefully.  I will continue with my mission.  

Kirk Out

________________________________________________________________

From: Councilor David Anderson

To: SPECTRE John Shepard

The council wants you to come back to the Citadel for a mission debrief.  They didn’t tell me anything beyond that, so expect trouble.  I’ll try and do everything I can to help you.

Anderson

Short, hopefully fun.  If you have any comments, concerns, questions, criticisms, or requests, feel free to ask.  Have a great day!

[etherealwaifgoddess]

One In A Million - Chpt.1

Summary: Project Traveler is ready for its first test subject and you volunteer for the position, unwilling to risk any of the other brilliant minds who have been working on the project from the beginning. 

Word Count: 1.6k

Author’s Note: Hello lovelies! Who’s ready to get this started!? I’ve been sitting on this fic a while now and I finally feel like it’s ready to be out in the world. I’m so excited to share it with you all. Hope you enjoy! XOXO - Ash

Chapter One

“Send me.” you offer, causing the room full of scientists and PhD’s to turn and stare at you. “I mean it.” you continue, “You guys need someone you can trust who knows the science behind this if it goes wrong. The only one who will miss me is my cactus.” 

Chelton, the head of SHIELD’s Traveler project, looks at you thoughtfully. You’re young, still working towards your PhD after completing your masters a few years ago. It’s hard for him to believe you have nothing tying you to the world, but thinking back he can’t remember you ever talking about family or friends or anything personal. He assumed you were just taciturn by nature but he realizes now it was more than that. “You realize this is test number one?” he asks you, “We’re pretty sure it’s ready to go but if we’re wrong....”

You waive him off, ���I know, I know. Death, dismemberment, permanent brain damage, yada, yada, yada. I’ve watched you guys work on this for two years now, it’s as ready as it’s ever gonna be. And someone needs to be the guinea pig, so it might as well be me. I’m still learning, if you lose me there’s still enough brains to keep things going and try again. If we lose one of you the project could end permanently.” You know it’s calloused but you made up your mind as soon as you had seen them putting the finishing touches on the transporter a week ago. 

“Don’t discredit yourself, Y/N.” Chelton admonishes, “You're a valued member of this team. I want you to take the weekend and really think about this. Make preparations if you’re still serious after thinking it over. When you come in on Monday if you’ve changed your mind, no one will think any less of you.” 

You give him a soft smile, knowing you need to assuage his concern, “Okay, thanks Chelton. I’ll think about it. Now, who’s ready to get out of here?” You pick up your files, ready to pack up for the day. It’s been a long week and you’re suddenly eager to get home, this will be your last weekend in the twenty-first century for a while. 

Your apartment is a small studio over top a corner shop and it’s just big enough that you’re not constantly bumping into your furniture. Definitely an upgrade from the shoe box you lived in at college with two roommates. When you had moved to the city to work on the project recreating Tony Stark’s time machine it felt like a luxury just to have a place of your own. You water the little cactus who sits on the window sill in your living room, and settle in with your laptop to pay a few bills online. If things go as planned and you come back, it will be important to still have a roof over your head. 

Your evenings are quiet with none of your friends living in the city. You email a few of them to let them know you’ll be away on a work trip and that you miss them. The picture of your parents sitting on the bookshelf makes your heart ache for a moment. You wonder if they would be proud of you if they were still alive. They’ve been gone for a decade now but it doesn’t do much to dull the pain of their loss. 

Your stomach rumbles, reminding you that you haven’t eaten since breakfast. Normally you’d just scrounge up something from your cupboards, whatever you had leftover from earlier in the week. But a sense of fatalism hits and you realize that if you don’t make it back in one piece on Monday it doesn’t really matter if you blow a day’s worth of pay on a five star restaurant or not. And you have been dying to go to Peter Luger Steak House since you moved to Brooklyn. You put on your nicest looking dress, dark blue silk that accents your curves without making you look lumpy, and throw on a little make up for the hell of it. This might be your last weekend alive and you’re going to make the most of it.

xxXxx

Monday comes far too quickly and you’re a little ashamed to admit you’re not feeling your best. You’ve decided it’s easier to accept the idea that you’re not walking away from the test run so that you’re not devastated if and when something goes awry. You spent the entire weekend doing all the things you usually put off for more practical endeavors. The queue on your Hulu and Netflix accounts are clear and you’ve eaten a lifetime of fancy foods. You also learned what good, twenty year old scotch tastes like and it was worth every cent. You probably didn’t need to finish off the whole bottle over the course of three days though. 

You drop your bag into your bottom desk drawer and hand Chelton an envelope when he comes over to greet you. “This is everything,” you tell him, “Passwords, account information, a list of people to contact. If things go sideways I know I can trust you to take care of things for me.”

The older man accepts the envelope but pulls you in for a brisk, uncharacteristic hug. “I’m so proud of you.” he says roughly. 

“Oh come on, pull it together old man.” you tease, “I’ll be back in all of a minute if we’ve done our jobs right.” 

“That’s right, and you’ll have some wild stories for us I’m sure.” 

You join the rest of the research group, letting them know test number one for project Traveler is a go. The room erupts into happy chaos, everyone working at their stations getting the machine up and running. You run through the processes, double checking it for full functionality, and for the first time you start to feel genuine excitement that you might actually be about to go back in time. 

Harris, one of the other original scientists on the project, gives you a run down for a second time, as if you didn’t assist with creating the protocols yourself. “You will have three jump points back to our time once you get there. One month, six months, one year. If for whatever reason you can’t get back on the first jump you still have two more shots to find your way back to us. You have to set up these three devices in the basement of the Strategic Scientific Reserve headquarters when you arrive to keep the link open for the jump points. You cannot lose this brooch or you’ll have nothing to pull you through. When you get there write down the exact time and date so you can ensure you’re at the jump points in time, it’ll be down to the second so be sure you do that first thing.” 

“I know. I’ll be just fine.” you assure him while straightening out the neckline of your smart looking dove grey suit. The team had rustled up a vintage suit for you so that you didn’t stick out like a sore thumb when you got back to 1940. You fasten the antique looking brooch to the breast of it, knowing you’ll need to carry it on you always to ensure you have a way back. The team had decided against wristbands due to how obvious they would be in another time period and had settled on a tie tack or a brooch depending if it were a man or woman going back. 

Harris nodded but carried on, “When you get there ask for Agent Wilson right away. Show him this card and he’ll get you access to one of the SSR aliases and bank accounts. You’ll be set up for as long as you need to be there. But remember, if you make any drastic changes to the past you’ll be forming a split in realities and creating a new timeline. We don’t know what kind of effects that could have. You need to stay under the radar and keep your head down.”  

“Will do. It’ll be okay. I’ll be back in a minute, maybe six if I’m having a good time. You just worry about where you’re taking us all for dinner to celebrate tonight.” 

Harris nods and lets you past him to take your place on the transporter. It’s been five years of tireless work for most of the people in the room trying to recreate and improve upon the machine Tony Stark and Bruce Banner used to send the Avengers back for the infinity stones. You learned so much in the past two years since you joined them. It was the opportunity of a lifetime and you are so grateful to have been given it.

“Okay guys, this is it. Nobody better eat my yogurt in the fridge before I get back.” you say with a wry smile, getting into position in the middle of the machine. 

A few of the guys chuckle while they begin flipping switches on the control panel, readying the transporter.

Chelton returns your smile despite deep worry lines creasing at the side of his eyes, “We’ll see you in a minute.” he says and then he presses the final set of command keys.

You don’t close your eyes, not willing to miss a moment if they’re your last. Everyone’s faces are broadcasting varying mixes of fear, excitement, and hope as you look around your team. It starts out slow, a faint tingling of the hairs on your arms. Like you had rubbed a balloon along them and static electricity had built up. The tingling increases until your whole body is thrumming with a buzzing energy and then the world goes white.

[hopeless-nostalgiac]

with all appliances and means to boot: ncis/tiva fic

for this challenge, @loudlooks​ requested Tiva + "I didn't know you could do that." thank you for the inspiration!! *hugs*

set summer between S3-4 w/ team dynamics & tiva (a LOT of tiva—they took over the fic, basically, and I’m not sorry about it) 

also, this turned out like eight times longer than I expected & was the most fun and freeing thing I’ve worked on in years, so

enjoy:) 

FFN

“I didn’t know you could do that!” 

McGee’s voice filtered over news-chattering televisions, incessantly ringing phones, and chicken-clacking keyboards to reach Tony at his desk. 

“There was no reason to mention it earlier. It is not exactly a useful skill, my friend.” Ziva’s full-throated chuckles were wind chimes amidst the office drudgery.

Tony shook off the eruption of gooseflesh on his arms. It was way too early for that. And McGee was babbling again.

“I’ve just never met someone in real life who could do it.”

“Really?!”

A boom of shared laughter enveloped them.

Glancing at the digital read-out on his monitor, Tony silently cheered. 9:07. Totally busted. Then he pretended to be busy with paperwork, so his attention was occupied ahead of time. 

The agents’ conversation lowered until it faded completely, coinciding with their entrance into the squadroom.

Tony had that effect on them now. The tables, as the saying went, had turned. They were the class troublemakers to his super-strict teacher. They, the unruly cadets, and he, the veteran drill sergeant. They were Agents; he was Boss. 

“Agent McGee. Officer David. You’re late.” 

McGee froze while swinging around his desk. Ziva froze after dropping her gear. Tony continued to stare yet not see the file in front of him, but he didn’t need visual confirmation to know the teammates were exchanging glances, coordinating their plan of counterattack. 

“Well, technically we were in the building on time.” The opening lob courtesy of McGee. 

“Technically, that’s not good enough, McTardy.”

“It was when you were wearing our shoes.” 

Tony fought an eye roll. “You can’t throw me off the scent with a well-timed idiom blunder, Officer David.” 

“Can’t I, Tony?” Ziva’s voice was louder, closer to him. 

Out of his peripheral vision, he spied her leaning on the divider between their workspaces. So close now, he caught a whiff of her lavender mint shampoo as she flicked at a cascade of curls that had fallen over her shoulder. If this was their strategy, well, it wasn’t the worst angle. 

But Tony DiNozzo was better. 

“No, you can’t,” he reiterated, finally gracing each of them in turn with his steady gaze. Calm, yet intense. Everything rumbling beneath the surface. “And it’s Agent DiNozzo. Or Boss.” 

Ziva stared back, golden-brown eyes matching his intensity, but not the calm. She rattled off a string of heated Hebrew, ending with a sharp snap of her teeth before spinning around on her heel and dropping heavily into her desk chair.  

Crazy chick.

“So, anyway. Just to be clear: If you’re here after me, you’re late. Period.” Tony slapped a case folder closed, causing his desk to tremble; he could emphasize his words, too. “For today, you can make amends by telling me whatever it is McGee didn’t know Ziva could do. I’m thinking it involves lots of stretching, but if there’s a video game reference, leave it out. Go!” 

And like that, authority forfeited for curiosity. 

McGee did roll his eyes and muttered something that suspiciously sounded like waste of time under his breath. Ziva scoffed, typing noisily at her computer and decidedly not looking in Tony’s direction. 

“That’s an order.” Even he didn’t buy the command. 

9:10. The day was shot. 

. . . 

If someone asked Tony how his first weeks as leader of MCRT were going, he’d say, “Good, considering the circumstances,” with a flash of white teeth. He didn’t like to lose face, sure, but he was pretty confident it was the truth, too.

Because when your boss quit and ran off to Mexico, leaving you in charge of a team that for years affectionately regarded you as The Class Clown, the circumstances weren’t on your side and ‘good’ was the most you could hope for.

. . . 

“What did you do?” 

Passing through the automatic doors, Tony came up short—as much due to the always assaulting antiseptic stench as the accusation. “Why do you assume I did something wrong? Can’t I come see my favorite Autopsy Gremlin with no ulterior motive?” 

“Sure you can,” Palmer called from the freezer section, where he was sliding a corpse home. “But I already talked to Abby, who talked to McGee.” 

Fantastic.

“So before, with the ‘what did you do?’...that was kind of redundant, huh?”

“Guess so.” A dorky chortle escaped the assistant. “I mean, seriously, they were only late by a couple minutes, Tony. Sorry, Agent DiNozzo.” Another hiccup of laughter. 

Great. Just great. 

“Gee, I was hoping I could escape some of the ridicule down here....” Tony pressed his palms against the cold steel of an autopsy table, shoulders hunched, depositing weight into the defeated stance. All his course-correcting tactics, including buying his team lunch, had done little to reverse the morning’s death blow. McGee and Ziva were ignoring him aside for a lone campfire, and then their interactions were clipped—aggressively so where the ex-assassin was concerned. Now the damage was spreading to the sub-basement, it seemed. 

“Look on the bright side, you’re the team leader. It’s what you’ve always wanted, right?” Palmer mirrored Tony on the other end of the table, adjusting his glasses before adding, “This is a bump in the road, but no one ever achieved greatness without first overcoming resistance.” 

“That’s wise, Palmer. For a man who talks to the dead. You wouldn’t happen to know—”

“What McGee didn’t know Ziva could do?” 

Tony blinked. Maybe they’d been underestimating the Autopsy Gremlin all along. “Yeah. Know anything about it?” 

“It’s not a big deal. We were at the bar last night and first the waitress got Abby’s drink order mixed up, but it was super busy, so I suggested that—”

“Sometime today, Palmer.” 

“Well, it turns out Ziva can knot a cherry stem with her tongue, and then...” 

Oh, it was more wondrous than he’d guessed (and that list was long).

Palmer’s rambling dissolved to the background of Tony’s thoughts. He couldn’t get to the audacity of everyone going out for drinks without him because the dexterity of Ziva’s tongue was front and center. As he was recently familiarized with that very tongue and the talented mouth it resided in, it was all too easy to lose himself in a sexy daydream of the alleged feat.

Until he remembered how pissed she was at him. Bubble, burst. 

. . .

If someone asked Tony how his first weeks sleeping with Ziva, his former partner and current subordinate, were going, he’d say, “What? I’m not—we’re not—how dare—what?!” 

Because when your boss quit and ran off to Mexico, some of his rules haunted you. 

. . . 

“Rough day?”

Tony looked up right away. It was best not to play games with the director, who emerged stealthily in the dim, empty squadroom. He’d dismissed McGee and Ziva at regular quitting time, unable to make eye contact with either of them—for different reasons—but stayed behind to catch up on last week’s case reports. Him, voluntarily completing paperwork. 

Rough was an understatement.  

“I see my shortcomings are making the rounds.” 

Jenny’s smile was beautifitic, the one she wore during news interviews. “Don’t worry. I wasn’t seeking it out. I was speaking to Ducky on a separate matter, and he happened to mention talking with Mr. Palmer, who—”

“Got the scoop from Abby because McGee blabbed to her,” Tony finished, barely restrained. “Yeah, I’m well acquainted with the watercooler daisy chain.” 

It didn’t slip his notice that Ziva was the missing link. The text he’d started writing to her the second she disappeared through the elevator doors was unfinished and unsent on his phone. 

“Did you also hear they went for drinks after work without inviting me?” It came out as a whine.

Jenny didn’t mask her amusement. “Did you always invite Gibbs for drinks? No, because he was your boss and you were probably venting about him.”

Touché.

“I’m trying, ma’am.” This he intoned with every fiber of professionalism and sincerity he could summon in the moment. The problem was that this wasn’t his first mistake since taking over—wouldn’t be the last—but he was trying. He wanted that noted. Also, there was an insane learning curve, and yes, big shoes to fill. Could he be blamed for that?

The redhead stepped forward, switching her smile for an expression of...not quite pity. Understanding? “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, Agent DiNozzo.”

“Robin Hood: Men in Tights?” 

“Shakespeare.” Jenny chuckled, her fair eyes sparkling in the light of his desk lamp. Tony could see why Gibbs was once head-over-heels for her, back when they were partners. He knew something of those complicated emotions, of which the text draft on his phone contained damning evidence. 

“It’s the nature of being in charge,” she continued. “You’re going to have crappy days and plenty of nights when you can’t sleep. My advice, from experience? When you screw up, apologize and do better next time.”  

“Isn’t that a sign of weakness?” It was a reflex, after so many years. 

Jenny caught his eye and held it. “No. It’s a sign of respect.” 

. . .

He was sober when he showed up on her doorstep. Stopping off for some liquid courage briefly flitted through his brain, but flitted out just as quickly. McGee, he could buy a NutterButter, eat some humble pie himself. All would be cool again. Ziva was a different story. 

Namely, a story with a lot of sex in it, and it’d barely been a month yet. That he spent a large portion of the day envisioning her tongue doing erotic dances with a red cherry stem wasn’t helping. It also further convinced him of a brutal truth: Things were changing. Things had already changed. 

Ziva, outlined by the glow from inside the apartment, crossed her arms over a baggy workout t-shirt. Curls piled in a messy bun. It was Tuesday, kickboxing night. “If you are here for a booty call, you will be sorely disappointed.” Each word was wrapped in her delicious Israeli accent, momentarily distracting him from their sum meaning.

He’d expected as much.

“See, when you want to get them right…” Tony’s attempted humor and roguish smile failed to earn him leniency. 

“Goodnight, Boss.”

The door hurtled toward him, closing on his chance to repent—and more than that, his chance with her. His left hand flew up, catching the wood with a few inches to spare. 

“Hey, whoa. Wait. I’m here to apologize, all right?” Breath whooshed in and out of him; sweat beaded instantly on his forehead.  

Okay, so it wasn’t just about the sex. He was enamored with her, and it hadn’t been a full month yet.

Ziva yanked the door back, though the arrangement of her features maintained dubious feelings. She raised her eyebrows in a way that said, Yes, and?

“I was an idiot, Ziva.”

A corner of her delicate mouth pulsed. “Good start.”

The heaviness in his chest released. He dared another smile, softer-gentler this time, and the door stayed open. “I was too hard on you and McGee.”

“You will apologize to him as well, yes?”

“Yes. McSweetTooth will wet himself with glee, I’m sure of it.” Tony shuffled his feet, bringing him onto her brown doormat, never dropping her gaze. “But seriously, Ziva, I know I messed up, especially, you know...I mean, you should be able to call the guy you’re sleeping with by his first name, even if he’s your boss. That is,” he sheepishly tagged on, “if I’m still the guy you’re sleeping with, after today.”

For a bloated handful of seconds, Ziva froze, as she had that morning in the squadroom. Eyes like lasers, drilling through him. It lasted long enough for doubts to creep in. Then—

“Are you?”

So simple, but coupled with her head tilted to expose honeyed neck, her popped knee, and the slight part of her plumped lips, the challenge was clearly set for him. 

This would be fun. 

Tony launched over the doorway, literally sweeping Ziva off her feet as he plowed into the apartment. An honest-to-goodness squeal filled his ears, then that wind-chime laugh took over and his knees wobbled in their sockets—nevermind her 100-something pounds hanging on his torso. 

It was the first time he’d carried her this way—any way—but her arms and legs wrapped around his body with an ease he would have analyzed if not for the supple give of her breasts against his chest, or her frizzy hair tickling his chin. Her mouth alternated between whispering the dirtiest promises in his ear and nibbling on his neck. Thoughts would have to wait. 

How they shut the front door, how they maneuvered the hallway to her bedroom, how they undressed and (eventually) found the bed was a haze of details that didn’t matter. The shudder that coursed through her at his every touch, mattered. The inverted bridge her back made when his lips and tongue met her center, mattered. His name on a gasp, woven into a sigh, lifted to a shout...

In this area, Tony DiNozzo excelled. He was damn well going to prove it. 

. . . 

It took two rounds to sate her. The first go was part of the apology; the second was because he had a young, hot lover who could run eight miles at the crack of dawn, kickbox for an hour after work, and still have energetic sex with him—twice. Who wouldn’t take advantage of that? 

“Guess I got that booty call after all.” He love-tapped her ass, which was bare to the air. He braced for retaliation. 

None came.

Hair mussed and cheeks flushed, Ziva glanced over, fixing him in her line of sight. A smirk hiked up the side of her mouth not buried in the pillow. “As did I, Agent DiNozzo.”

“Never going to live that down, am I?”

“Give it a few months.” Her smirk widened as her eyelids drooped, each blink taking longer and longer to pull back up. 

. . .

They dozed together in the dark of her bedroom. They weren’t cuddlers, per se. Their connections left them too sensitive, sticky and unspooled. They stayed close, though. Touching random pieces of her to him, him to her. His head resting on her bicep curled closest to the mattress. Her ankle molded to the arch of his foot. Sometimes as conventional as their hands laid one atop the other, fingers loose. 

. . . 

He began talking while they ate cereal in the kitchen at quarter to eleven. He was talking as she cleaned and put away their dishes and led him to the front room, his body going where she steered and nudged. What he voiced was nothing new to either of them. All the same issues that overwhelmed him on a cool May night, that propelled him to Ziva’s door in what would become a habit. He was drowning; she was refuge. 

For that, and so many other reasons, he trusted her without question. 

Ziva allowed him to talk now because that was how he worked out problems. They both knew that, too. 

“I think it comes down to the fact that...I don’t know how to be a team leader that isn’t Gibbs.” The admission floated and settled on the sofa cushion between them. It wasn’t often they said his name anymore. The memory was sore to the touch. 

“We have been over this, yes?” Ziva tossed a leg across his lap, the other tucked beneath her. He immediately claimed the tanned skin of her thigh, rolling it under his hands. “This is a chance to be your type of leader, make your own rules.” 

“Every time I do that, it blows up in my face.”

“Not every time,” she corrected, her eyes darting to his lips and lingering. 

His heart rate ticked up. Very true. They might not have happened if Gibbs hadn’t left. But… “We’re one thing, Ziva. The team is another.”   

She turned his chin with her hand, locking his gaze with her steady and fervent stare. An imposing combination. “Tony, you either keep trying or you quit, just like Gibbs. What will it be?” 

It was Tony’s turn to sneak a not-so-subtle glance at her lips. When she put it like that, the answer was undebatable. What he’d told Jenny wasn’t a lie. And giving up wasn’t an option. 

Didn’t mean he’d hand her the win that easily. 

“How about we make a deal?” While his eyebrows waggled, his hands roamed farther than her thigh. “I persevere with the team leader thing. In exchange, you show off your fancy cherry stem tying prowess for me.” 

Her mouth gaped, eyes narrowing. “Who told you?”

“Palmer. The guy’s actually not a bad sounding board.” He’d have to remember that for future thorny cases. 

Ziva deflected, “I do not have any cherries in the fridge.”

Tony returned, “That wouldn’t stop a true parlor trick magician like yourself.”

Her face reformed in an expression that always intrigued him. A cat devising the perfect trap for her prey. It didn’t surprise him when she stretched her leg out, straddling his lap properly. He circled her low back, drawing her hips over him and generating a spark of friction. There was extra verve in her fingers burrowing the short hairs at his nape, tipping his head upwards. 

“You must really want me to—”

Ziva covered his lips with hers, swallowing his words as they melted to moans. Instead of continuing hot and heavy, everything slowed. Each kiss long and needy, a continuous caress. Her heady spice invaded his senses. The tip of her tongue slipped by his teeth, running the roof of his mouth before pushing in further.

Tony’s spine straightened at the sensation of tongue against tongue, the rough texture, the strokes and flicks. He gripped whatever part of her was in his reach, would likely leave marks. She didn’t flinch. She was all around him, practically tying him in a knot. 

It was exactly how he imagined it, but also superior.

He was smiling when they broke apart, breath imperative for them both. “Your ingenuity is an inspiration, Ms. David.” 

Ziva winked, leaning forward to kiss him again, a casual closed-lipped peck in the wake of such an intimate encounter. And he knew, no matter what came of leading the team, he wanted this—them—to survive. 

“Now you must honor your part of the deal, Tony.” 

“Whatever you say,” he agreed, flipping her onto the cushion and following her down for round three.

. . .

The next day, Tony waited at his car in the parking lot for his team to arrive. He walked into the building with them, and didn’t check the clock in the mornings ever again. 

He apologized to McGee, which just freaked out the newly-appointed Senior Field Agent. As Tony predicted, the Nutter Butter made all the difference. 

By the end of the week, he brought Special Agent Lee onto the team because there was symmetry in four and they needed a probie to act as a buffer. Plus, she was good at meeting case report deadlines and Tony wasn’t.

He doubled-up on campfires and went to Jenny for advice more often. Palmer, too. 

The team went out for drinks, occasionally inviting him to join. Occasionally not. 

A month later, he and Ziva started keeping their love in each other’s hearts along with spare clothes in one another’s dressers. Soon, there would be no sense hiding them anymore. 

And when someone asked Tony how leading his own team was going, he said, “Our results speak for themselves,” and meant it. 

Because when your boss quit and ran off to Mexico, leaving you in charge, you wore the crown and made it your own. 

fin

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: Rules of war vary between species

Shortly after humanity obtaining faster than light travel technology the species began a massive colonization drive to the far reaches of the universe.  Their own system was quickly filled to the brim as every habitable planet was settled with dozens of new outposts, cities, and ever growing metropolises; but this was not enough to quench the ever present drive for more within each human.  Once jump points had been established on the outer edges of the Sol system, numerous colonization ships funded by the various nations of the human home world began setting out in every direction in search of new planets to claim.  Lacking more technologically advanced terraforming machines did not inhibit the colonization effort as much as the rest of the wider species had first assumed as the average humans level of endurance was staggeringly high to the point that they could carve out a living on nearly any planet. Planets strewn with volcanoes and rivers of lava were converted into metal refineries, ocean worlds with no landmass saw floating cities coasting the waves and bio-domes nestled deep beneath the waves, even on worlds were the temperature was dangerously low humans established colonies and would often go outside for recreational activities.  Within five years what had once been a backwards species had turned into a intergalactic spanning network of established colonies bringing a new age of prosperity. But this age of exploration did not last long as humanities sudden outburst onto the galactic stage had upset several species who had already obtained galactic power. One of which, was the Havara.  The Havara were a caste based species resembling humans with body type with a few exceptions. Havara head appeared as a large fin turned upwards and arching backwards which had but a single eye placed right where the bridge of a human nose meets between the eyes. Their mouth was another oddity as instead of being on the front of the face it was situated on the neck that connected the head to the body.  The caste system had divided the Havara into soldiers, workers, scientists, leaders, and into another of other classifications that from an outside perspective see little to no difference at all. This system was strictly enforced and ran smoothly enough to the point the Havara had grown a substantial ego that their way of life was how all life should be ordered.  The appearance of humanity, with all its chaotic nature and tendencies came as an unintentional insult to the Havara. Human’s able to choose their own path at will was caused such outrage that upon the first human colony reaching Havara territory they declared war right there and then with the intention to drive back the madness that was humanity. Much like Havara’s culture, the Havara military fought under equally restricted and regulated rules of war. Such rules included fighting only during daylight hours, fighting face to face with the enemy in regimental formations that resembled ranked formations fought between humans with early age firearms,  and announcing intentions for war some thirty bogals before actually attacking. (Bogals the Havara measurement of time that translates roughly to 1 bogal = 1 human day.) The announcement was proclaimed and the Havaran military gathered for a full assault on the closest human colony. While they despised human customs they had no desire for genocide and hoped that by taking this colony it would scare away future human attempts to settle near Havara territory.   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (30 Days later) The Havaran fleet took orbit above the human colony world New Horizon. They had experienced little to no resistance upon entering the system and the planet itself lacked any orbital defenses or space docks, a side effect of being the farthest human colony, they lack the resources to build let alone maintain such installations. The colony itself was perched on top a mountain range overlooking several grass plains, city streets and blocks already taking shape with more buildings under construction with a total population of roughly 1,000 humans now looking skyward at a fleet of 270,000 Havarans.   From the flagship the Havaran military  leaders opened a communication to the colony below.  “Humans of New Horizon, your thirty bogal has come to an end. Surrender now, or witness as we descend upon you and wipe the stain of your chaotic culture from the face of this world.”  No response came back. An deafening silence filled the war room as the leaders patiently waited when the communications system detected a signal. The translators began working feverishly to decipher if and quickly played it for the commanders to hear.  “Come and get us. We’re not going anywhere.”  With that a thousand drop ships launched and began burning their descent to the lush world below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “I don’t think they liked that sir.” Hogan shrugged. “You know diplomacy has never been my strong suit.”  Lucas looked at his radar display. “We’ve got inbound contacts, hundreds of them all making a b-line straight for us sir.” “I can see that with my own eyes son, I don’t need any radar to tell me that.” Hogan was looking out the command centers window. The bright sunny day would have been perfect were it not for the burning streaks of fire from the Havaran ships descending through atmo. The spectical was something to behold that would have made any man’s blood run cold; but Hogan was a seasoned commander and were others saw doom all he saw were visible targets.  Soon after the declaration of war the government of New Horizon sent communications back to the homeworlds asking for assistance. The governments of humanity accepted that war with the Havara was unavoidable now, some even smiling as they had long desired it, and began mobilizing forces. They would not be able to reach the planet in time before the thirty day limit expired but a small detachment was sent ahead to secure the planet and hold it until reinforcements arrived. This detachment, lead by the nearly retired commander Hogan, made all haste to New Horizon scavenging any military hardware they could from planets they passed. He scratched his chin before turning back to Lucas. “Rather bold move to send in their bombers un-escorted like that.” Lucas shook his head. “From the information we received those do not appear to be bombers sir.” “Large fighters then?” No sir, not fighters either. They are listed as troop transports.”  Hogan just looked at Lucas dumbfounded. “They sent troop transports in the first wave without even softening us up or even basic air protection?” Lucas checked the radar again to confirm. “It appears that way sir. We’re not reading any smaller craft escorting the troop transports and the larger ships do not appear to have weapons that can effectively perform orbital bombardments.”  Hogan shook his head in disbelief and pulled out a cigar, lighting it with a snap of his prosthetic fingers. “They pulled me out of retirement to this backwater world saying it was to be the fight of our life, and now that I get here I find out I could’ve gone to a turkey shoot back in Texas and had the same experience.” He dabbed the cigar into a nearby tray before returning it to his mouth before slouching into a chair. “I feel rightly jipped son. I came out here for a heroic death, like you see in the movies. Now what the hell am I going to do?” Lucas shrugged. “I’m told the local planet life can be brewed into the strongest alcohol known to man.” Hogan perked up at that. “Really now?” His positive demeanor returning. “Well let’s rap this up then and go get a drink.”  Hogan flicked open a com to his forces. “All units deploy, repeat, all units deploy. Enemy is attempting a landing with no fighter screen or protection. Concentrate fire around the ones nearest to the colony and then begin working on any that are close to landing.”  “Roger.” A chorus of acknowledgements came back as the anti aircraft brigades that had been laying in wait in hidden dugouts slowly rolled out, their tracks churning up the streets and grass plains as they deployed. Crews hurried to attach cooling tubes and double check the ammunition feeds to the gatling guns as their turrets already started tracking targets.  “Happy hunting kids.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first signs that the Havarn pilots had that something was wrong was the sudden explosion of one of the leading dropships. At first they assumed that it must have been a technical malfunction until the second leading drop ship exploded, then the third, then the fourth, then the fifth.  Soon there were dropships exploding left and right across the sky sending thousands of Havarn soldiers waiting in the bays falling to their demise.  A wall of anti aircraft fire rose up from the surface to meet the Havarn who had yet to finish passing through the atmosphere. The descent was carefully laid out so the ships would not burn up on reentry but that meant that they could not out maneuver the incoming fire. A few of the pilots panicked and attempted to only for their heat shields to fail and instantly flash burn the ships and all those on board while others lost control and span directly into other dropships setting off a chain explosion.  Watching from their flagship, the Havaran leaders looked on with surprise an anger at the human actions. Attacking their warriors when they couldn’t even fight back was most disgraceful!  Within minutes 3/4 of the landing force had been decimated midair and those that had landed on the surface were quickly surrounded by human forces.      The Havaran demanded a communication link be established with the human commander.  “You humans shame yourselves!” They spat into their communicator. “How dare you attack our soldiers when they are defenseless!”  A long pause came before the reply followed by another pause for translation.  “Your soldiers were defenseless because you left them that way. Do not blame us for exploiting your own incompetence.”  One of the Havaran commanders threw a chair into the wall of the war room at the translation being read aloud.  “You have broken the rules of war! All combatants must touch the surface before the fighting can commence!”  This time the response came sooner as the translators were adapting.  “No such rule exists for our rules of war. Our rules protect individual soldiers from being attacked should they perform an airdrop with a parachute or jetpack, but they do not protect aircraft that are carrying them which are fair game.” “We are not using your rules human! We are using ours!” The translator retreated at the outburst from the Havaran commanders. “Our culture is the pinnacle of existence! Why would you not use our rules!?” “Pinnacle? Now that’s a laugh.”  “You declared war on us for no other reason besides our way of life and then act surprised that when we didn’t lay down and die for you. So listen here you little shit bags. Come at us all you want, you’ll either end up dead or captured like your friends here; doesn’t matter either way to me.” The Havaran commanders stopped their outrage at the last sentence. They had assumed that their soldiers that had landed had all been killed, but if they had been taken alive they could be used again.  “You captured our soldiers?”  “The ones that were still breathing at least.” “We demand that they be returned to us.” “In exchange for what?”  The Havaran paused, they did not understand what the human was saying.  “In exchange for nothing, you must return them to us.” “To be used against us again? How stupid do you think we are? If you’re not giving us anything then these fine strapping doom looking fuckers are going to be kept as our prisoners until this war ends.”  “Have you no honor!?!?”  The link went quiet for a moment before the human continued.  “You attacked a colony of what you expected to be defenseless civilians. Do not speak to me of honor. This discussion is over.” Before the Havaran could reply the link went dead. The battle of New Horizon had just begun, but the war machine of humanity was now turning to full motion and their retribution was forth coming.