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sunsburns · 8 months ago

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not you too

pairing: jason todd x ex vigilante!reader

summary: for the first time in a long time, you're hurting, deeply. an old wound that's reopened, the knife that was once there finding its place back between your ribs. jason todd comes to you in the middle of the night, bleeding all over your floor, rubbing salt to an old wound.

word count: 3.5k+

warnings: mentions of violence, blood, angst, the good old cleaning the other's wounds after a rough patrol but this one has a little bit of plot and spice to it ngl.

based off of this request

You always try to keep your nights as simple as possible. Working under Commissioner Jim Gordon had its perks, but peace of mind wasn’t one of them. Between juggling case files, analyzing crime scenes, and trying to stay ahead of Gotham’s ever-growing list of threats, your days were more than chaotic.

Gordon, a mentor as much as a boss, trusted you with sensitive information that only a few had access to—and you took that responsibility seriously. What he didn’t know was how deep your connection to Gotham’s vigilantes truly ran.

While Gordon believed in the power of the law, you knew sometimes it wasn’t enough. That’s where Batman came in. Your dual role—an officer of the GCPD by day, and a secret informant for Batman by night—had become second nature. You fed him intel and helped him stay ahead of Gotham’s worst, all while maintaining the facade of loyalty to the department.

You weren't proud about it, but he gave you enough hush money that you don't question it whenever he appears by the office as you leave your later shifts.

Friday nights were your escape. After a week of handling reports, dissecting evidence, and sidestepping questions from Gordon about your mysterious late-night absences, you let yourself disconnect. You skipped the gym after work, came home early, and cooked yourself a proper dinner. By the time the sun set, you were showered, dressed in your comfiest pyjamas, and settled on the couch with a movie.

Tonight was no different. You’d just closed a case with Gordon’s team, a robbery ring, criminals now behind bars, but Gotham never truly rested. Tomorrow would bring another wave of crime, another set of challenges. Still, for now, you had this moment of peace.

The movie droned on in the background as you finished dinner, exhaustion from the week creeping in. Your eyes fluttered shut halfway through, the comfort of your quiet apartment lulling you to sleep. By the time the credits rolled, you were completely out, wrapped in the safety of your little corner of the world.

That is until a faint creak from your window broke the silence.

You stirred groggily, blinking at the clock. It was well past midnight. Gotham was still alive outside—sirens in the distance, the occasional rumble of a motorcycle passing by—but your apartment had fallen into stillness. You stretched, ready to drag yourself to bed, but something wasn’t right.

The creak came again. Your blood ran cold.

Someone was in your apartment.

You froze, your breath catching in your throat as your eyes darted around the dimly lit room. The faint sound of creaking had stopped, leaving an eerie silence behind, but there—a shadow moved. Your heart pounded, adrenaline rushing through your veins as you reached blindly for something, anything to defend yourself. The remote was the closest thing at hand. You gripped it tightly, feeling foolish but unwilling to let go, and scrambled to stand.

In the faint glow from the streetlight filtering through the curtains, you finally saw him—a large figure by the balcony door, hunched over, struggling to quietly close the glass behind him. He moved slowly, cautiously, as if he didn’t want to be noticed. But you had already seen enough.

The silhouette was unmistakable.

“Jason.”

His shoulders stiffened at the sound of his name, freezing in place for a second before turning to face you. Even in the darkness, you could feel the weight of his gaze through the red-tinted visor of his helmet, his expression unreadable beneath it.

You lowered the remote slowly, heart still racing, but now for a different reason. “You can’t—you can’t just break in like this,” you stammered, your voice tinged with frustration and worry. You’d seen him do this too many times, yet it never got easier.

He let out a gruff, annoyed sound beneath the helmet, shoulders sagging as he took a step closer. “Not like you were gonna answer the door.” His voice was rough, and the bitterness in his tone was impossible to miss.

Your irritation flared, but then you noticed something—a slight tremor in the way he moved. His steps were sluggish, almost hesitant, and he favoured his right side, trying to mask it.

He wasn’t just annoyed.

He was hurt.

As he stepped out of the shadow, the dim lamp light caught the outline of his armour. That’s when you noticed it—dark stains creeping across the front of his suit, and the way his hand pressed against his side, the faint sound of a pained breath slipping past his otherwise guarded posture.

“You’re bleeding,” you muttered, the frustration quickly giving way to concern. He didn’t respond, his gaze avoiding yours as he leaned back against the wall, clearly uncomfortable with being here. Jason never wanted anyone to see him like this—least of all you.

“You weren’t supposed to wake up,” he grumbled, the words tinged with a mix of guilt and exasperation. “Go to bed. I’ll be out in a minute. Just needed some stuff. Still got that first aid kit?”

You shook your head, taking a cautious step closer, your heart sinking at the sight of him in pain. “Jason, you can’t just—”

“Don’t,” he cut you off sharply, pushing himself off the wall, wincing as the movement aggravated his wound. His stance was defensive like he was already preparing to run before you could offer to help.

But the moment his knees buckled slightly, the tough exterior he was trying to maintain cracked. You could see it in the way his breath hitched, the way he clutched at his side like he was barely holding it together.

He wasn’t here because he wanted to be. He was here because he didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Jason pulled the mask off his head, his breath coming in sharp gasps as if the helmet had been suffocating him. He tossed it carelessly onto your dining table before glancing at you, his expression tight. “You got it or not?”

His voice startled you into action. “Uh—yeah, I’ve got it.” You scrambled down the hall toward the bathroom, hands shaking as you rifled through the drawers for the first aid kit. His footsteps echoed faintly in your living room, boots heavy against the hardwood. Now that he’d been caught, his presence filled the space in a way that made it impossible to ignore.

You tried to steady your breathing, but it was no use. No matter how many times you’d imagined running into Jason again, it was never like this. In your daydreams, you hoped you’d bump into him on the street, or maybe during work.

There were even moments where you’d foolishly fantasized about seeing him at Wayne Manor, handing over files to Bruce as a favour, only to lock eyes with Jason from across the room. But this? Jason bleeding out on your floor, breaking into your apartment in the middle of the night? This wasn’t what you wanted.

When you returned to the living room, he had already shed his jacket, revealing a deep gash along his side. It was messy, and the blood soaked into the fabric of his suit, leaving dark stains that made your stomach drop.

He’d settled into something uncomfortably familiar—boots kicked off by the door, sitting against the wall like old times, but this time he kept his distance, his body tense.

He didn’t want to be here.

You hesitated as you approached, the kit in your hand. “Jason, let me—”

“I’ve got it.” His voice was sharp, cutting you off as he took the first aid kit from your hands without so much as a glance. His glare kept you at arm’s length, and it hurt. The way he shut you out, even when he was barely holding himself together.

He didn’t trust anyone—not entirely.

Not after everything.

Still, seeing him like this made something twist in your chest. Bleeding and worn down, but too stubborn to ask for help. There was a heaviness in the air, lingering in the silence that stretched between you both. It wasn’t just about tonight—it was everything that had been left unresolved before, all the words that had gone unsaid the last time you’d seen each other. But now, with Jason sitting right in front of you, neither of you dared to speak.

You crouched a few feet away, sitting on the floor across from him, watching as he tried to clean the wound himself. His hand shook slightly, though he tried to hide it, his jaw clenched as he gritted his teeth against the pain. It was bad—worse than he was letting on.

“Jason, stop,” you finally said, your voice softer than you intended. “You’re gonna make it worse.”

“I don’t need your help,” he bit out, refusing to meet your eyes. “I’ve done this a thousand times.”

He huffed, annoyed, but when he tried to move again, his breath hitched—pain breaking through the cracks of his tough exterior. His hand slipped, and the antiseptic bottle nearly fell from his grip. You didn’t wait for his permission this time. You slid over, taking the kit from his hand.

“Just let me do it,” you murmured, your voice firmer now.

Jason didn’t argue this time, though his jaw was still set in that stubborn way you knew all too well. You could feel the heat branching off him as you gently touched his arm to move it out of the way and clean the wound. His whole body stiffened at the contact like he wasn’t used to being taken care of—or maybe he just didn’t want it.

His eyes shifted to the far wall, jaw clenched even tighter, refusing to meet your gaze, but you caught the way his breath hitched ever so slightly when your hands moved over his skin.

He wasn’t saying anything, but his body told you enough. Every time your fingers brushed a sensitive spot or when the antiseptic stung, his lips pressed into a thinner line. He didn’t flinch exactly, but his posture—rigid, unmoving—betrayed how uncomfortable he was.

You weren’t sure what was harder for him: the wound or the fact that he was letting you help. His pride had always been a barrier, a wall he rarely let anyone get through. Yet here he was, in your apartment, wounded and unwilling to admit just how much he needed you.

As Jason shifted slightly, wincing, you took the moment to observe him. It had been a while since you last saw him, and for a second, you searched for something—anything—that might’ve changed. But he was still Jason. Still, the same stubborn man who couldn’t stay out of trouble. Even that white strand of hair was right where it had always been. He looked older somehow, but not in the way time ages people. It was something deeper, worn into him from the life he led.

And then his eyes flicked up, catching you watching him. For a brief moment, neither of you moved. His gaze softened, just barely, before the guarded look returned as quickly as it had slipped away.

He shifted again, his body tense, and glanced around your apartment—anything to avoid looking directly at you. His gaze lingered on your desk, the files from your latest case scattered across it, and his expression darkened. You could see it in his eyes—a mix of suspicion and something else.

“You’ve been busy,” he muttered, his tone gruff, though the edge in his voice told you there was more to it than a simple observation.

You didn’t look up, keeping your hands steady as you applied pressure to the wound. “You know how it is.”

Jason’s jaw twitched. “Yeah,” he said, his tone sharp. “I know how it is.”

It was a jab, even if it was subtle. You could feel the accusation hanging between the lines of his words. He wasn't just talking about your busy schedule—he was digging at the gap between you two, at all the things neither of you had addressed. Your loyalty to Batman. Your work with Gordon.

A little fucking traitor to everything Jason worked for.

You sighed, pressing a little harder than necessary to make a point. “You’re not here for that, Jason.”

He winced, and you almost felt bad. Almost. But the look in his eyes—calculated, like he was searching for the truth behind every move you made—made your chest tighten. His silence was louder than anything he could’ve said.

“You’re not going to ask why I’m here?” His voice was softer now, but there was a bitterness to it. He knew you weren’t stupid. He wasn’t here by choice, and you both knew it. You wanted to ask, but what was the point? Jason never came to you for help, never came to anyone unless he had no other option.

“I figured you’d tell me when you’re ready,” you replied quietly, not daring to meet his eyes. His presence in your home felt heavier than the blood on your hands.

He scoffed, shifting to take the bandage from your hand. “Don’t hold your breath.”

Your hand stilled for a moment, hovering just above his skin. You could feel the heat radiating from him, a reminder of just how close you were to crossing a line neither of you dared to acknowledge. He was still the same Jason, still stubborn as hell, but the space between you felt like it had grown into a chasm. One you weren't sure either of you could cross without everything falling apart.

“Why are you really here, Jason?” you asked, giving in. He was a wanted man, or at least Red Hood was. If you were up to it, you could have him arrested within seconds.

His eyes snapped up, the guarded expression faltering for a moment before his usual defiance returned. “It’s not like I had a lot of options,” he admitted, though the words felt forced like he was offering you an excuse instead of the truth.

“I thought you always had a plan,” you said, words sharper than you intended. “Or is that just another thing you’ve changed your mind about?”

He flinched, and for a second, you regretted saying it. But the hurt between you two had been simmering for too long. His loyalty was always a wild card, and yours? Well, Jason had never forgiven you for staying close to the people he had walked away from.

Jason’s lips twitched, not quite a smirk, but close. “The Bat keeping you on a tight leash?” he asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Or is it Gordon now?”

You stiffened, the accusation hitting home more than you liked. “It’s not like that,” you muttered, knowing it sounded weak but unwilling to offer more. It was always the same with Jason—he pushed, prodded, and pulled at the places you tried to protect.

“Yeah, right. Because we both know where your loyalties lie,” Jason snapped, his tone harsher now. His eyes bore into you like he was searching for something—anything—that would confirm his suspicions. That you’d chosen Batman over him. That you were still working with the people who had crossed him.

“I didn’t betray you,” you said quietly, though even as you said it, the words felt hollow. You didn’t know if you believed them anymore.

Jason let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head. “Could’ve fooled me.”

You opened your mouth to argue, but the words caught in your throat. There was too much between you, too many things left unsaid, and no amount of stitching his wounds would ever fix that. He was right, in a way. You hadn’t chosen him—not when it counted.

Not when he needed you. And for what? For comfort? A little bit of safety? An alliance with Batman? A raise at work? The questions ran through your mind like jagged edges. It wasn’t that simple, but neither of you had ever really said the things that needed to be said back then, too busy trying to fix things that did not need fixing.

His breathing had become more laboured as you worked, his chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven breaths. The wound you were treating was deep, and too close to critical areas for comfort.

Jason’s hands twitched at his sides, fingers curling into fists as if he was fighting the pain, refusing to show just how much it hurt. But you could see it in the way his body trembled under your touch—he was reaching his limit.

“Let me finish,” you said, your tone softer, more insistent. "Stop fighting me."

For once, he didn’t argue. His jaw unclenched, his shoulders slackened slightly, and his eyes—usually so guarded—softened just enough to show how exhausted he really was. Physically, emotionally, all of it. He wasn’t invincible, and tonight, that truth was catching up with him faster than he could hide.

You moved closer, hands brushing against his skin as you worked quickly, trying to keep your focus. His skin was warm, slick with sweat and blood, and the faintest tremor ran through his frame as your fingers traced the edge of the wound. But the closeness was unnerving—both of you acutely aware of each other in a way that made the room feel smaller.

You caught his eyes as you reached for more gauze, and for a split second, neither of you looked away. His gaze burned into you, full of unspoken questions, of things he couldn’t—or wouldn’t—say. And for the first time, you wondered if you weren’t the only one who had felt betrayed.

But you’d both been wrong. You could see it now, in the way his eyes darkened with unsaid accusations, in the way your heart ached with unresolved regret. You thought you were protecting him by walking away—by choosing the safer path, Batman’s path. And Jason, with all his reckless defiance, had been too far gone in his need for vengeance to understand why you couldn’t follow him down that road.

“You don’t get it,” he muttered, barely loud enough for you to hear. “I can’t trust anyone anymore.”

Your fingers stilled, hovering just above his chest. The weight of his words hung heavy in the air between you.

"I never asked you to trust me," you whispered, the words hanging precariously on the line between honesty and regret.

But the truth was, you wanted him to. More than anything.

Jason’s lips tightened into a thin line, and for a moment, you thought he might push you away. His muscles tensed beneath your touch as if bracing himself for another fight. His hand twitched, lifting halfway like he was going to shove you back, but he stopped.

The strain was written all over his face now, and you could see his breathing growing more ragged. His eyes were slipping out of focus, and you noticed the faint green glow flickering at the edges of his irises—Lazarus. It was always there, a reminder of how far he’d gone, how close to the edge he still was.

“Jason…” you said quietly, watching the pain ripple through him. He was losing consciousness, slipping into the darkness despite his stubborn refusal to admit it. His hand finally dropped, brushing against your arm before it hit the floor, the strength leaving him in waves.

“Just… get it over with,” he rasped, his voice cracking.

You pressed the final bandage into place, your hands gentle now, more careful. For a moment, you let your fingers linger, brushing against the rough skin of his shoulder as you finished. His breathing was shallow, but steady, his eyes fluttering shut. The tension drained from his body as the exhaustion finally won, leaving him vulnerable in a way you hadn’t seen in a while.

It reminded you of when he used to sleep beside you. Jason had always been restless, even in sleep, twisting in the sheets, his mind never fully at ease. But there had been nights when he would finally relax, his hand instinctively reaching for yours, his head resting against your chest like he found his peace there, with you. You remembered how you’d stroke that same shoulder, feeling the warmth of his skin as you whispered for him to rest, that you were there, watching over him.

And yet, here you were, caring for him again.

He stirred slightly, a soft grunt escaping his lips as he adjusted, trying to find a position that eased the pain. His face softened with the kind of weariness that came from more than just the physical strain. You watched his chest rise and fall, the quiet sound of his breath mingling with the hum of the city outside.

Jason’s hand twitched again, brushing against your knee, his fingers grazing your skin with a familiar yet distant touch. It made your heartache.

There was a time when you would’ve done anything to keep him safe, to protect him from the world—and from himself. But now, all you could do was sit there, hands still resting against his skin, wondering if either of you could ever come back from this.

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dellieghtful · 3 months ago

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LADS: Under One Roof

🍓A/N: No thoughts at all! Wrote this thru free-will and solely based on a video I saw on instagram lol hope you'd like this one! Banners (?) were all edited by me, kind of rushed since the idea for this was a spur-of-the-moment as well lol

p.s.: some scenes here are suggestive so ‼️MDNI‼️

SYNOPSIS: In which you left for a top secret mission and left them to handle a few of your household chores. Simple and easy enough, right?

📍Characters: Xavier, Zayne, Rafayel, Sylus, Caleb (separate)

I'll be out for a couple of days on a secret mission! I'll contact you guys when I get the chance! See you soon!

Was what the note plastered on your apartment door had written. Although they all knew you'd be out for a couple of days on a top secret mission, what they didn't expect was that you'd asked a specific favor for each one while you were away.

"So, that leaves," Caleb starts, flipping through the little piece of paper attached to your fridge about chores that had to he dealt with while you were away. "Laundry for Caleb, groceries for Rafayel, general cleaning for Zayne, water plants for Xavier, and bills payment for Sylus. Sounds just about right, and everyone's got their own spare keys to this place, right?"

Caleb asks, raising his gaze and eyeing each man, who were sharing the now-small living room space, to which each one pulled out their spare keys to affirm they've received theirs. "I'm surprised everyone had the free-time to show-up," Sylus says, as he leisurely makes his way to the single-couch near the apartment's entrance. "Just goes to show kitten's got us wrapped right around her little finger. Well, some more than others". He continued as he had taken his seat, crossing one leg over the other and carefully resting his arms on the couch's armrest, calm and relaxed as he should be. After all, who would Sylus be if he wasn't both of those things?

Caleb couldn't help but narrow his eyes at the comment, already understanding there was a hidden meaning behind Sylus' words. As Caleb was about to retort, Zayne cut himself in-between the conversation.

"She's been gone for less than a day. Surely, we can all agree that it is in our best interest to follow through with our roles without hassle" Zayne states from across the room, sitting on the right edge of the couch situated in the middle of the room while wiping his glasses clean. "After all, it's just five days without her presence. I'm sure we can all find a common ground".

"Right, and we don't exactly have to be living under the same roof. We have the keys so we don't have to go running after each other just to access her apartment." Caleb pointed out, walking towards the fridge and putting a magnet on top of the paper to keep it in place. "Plus, doing laundry for every single one of you isn't my ideal picture of a week-long break from duties."

"I can barely even tolerate living on my own, how much more with four other people?" Rafayel grumbled, not seeming to care with the on-going conversation as he taps and swipes on his phone, seated in-between Zayne and Xavier. "If this is done, I'm heading out. I'm dying to paint out a new piece to give to cutie once she comes home."

"Then it's settled, we won't stay here far longer than we should and just get on with what we're supposed to do." Xavier concluded, getting off the couch and preparing to take his leave. "We'll get along just fine as long as we don't get in each other's way."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Sylus' responds, eyeing Xavier with a smirk plastered on his face. "Jail sounds likes a shallow place for my time and taste. I mean, if you could hold enough power to take me in."

Xavier felt a twitch in his body, already prepared to pick-up a fight with the other silver-haired man who sat right across from him. Zayne couldn't help but sigh and rub both sides of his temples to somehow ease the incoming headache of having to deal with all four men within a span of a week. Even as a doctor, his patience and level-headed coolness could only span so much within a day.

"I'll make a group chat for all of us to share. It should be a lot easier to reach out that way. I'm sure we'll take our responsibilities with upmost care". Zayne finally spoke, cutting through the growing tension in the air as he also prepares to leave, slowly getting off the comfort of the couch and reaching towards the coat rack near the entrance of the apartment.

"Besides, what would be the worst possible outcome that will come out of this small truce?" and he opens the door and closes it shut, leaving the four other men on their own.

XAVIER

Water the plants, simple and easy right? Wrong! Xavier actually spent HALF THE WEEK watering the fake and plastic plants. Now, Xavier's got crusty-dusty pot plants and a well-watered table ornaments. Didn't even bother checking if the plants were fake or not as long as he finished the job.

"Xavier, are you sure you've been watering the plants right?" Caleb called on the phone while Xavier was out for his morning run.

"Yeah, why? The one's in the bathroom, kitchen, and living room. Those are the plants I've seen her tend to while I visit".

"Dude. Oh my God," As Caleb runs through the apartment checking the places where Xavier mentioned the plants he watered were located. "Those were fake. Those were table ornaments. Come on, didn't you even bother to check?"

"Oh."

"And wait, you visit her here? Since when?"

Xavier didn't think twice and ended the call, quickly running towards the direction of Jeremiah's flowershop.

Xavier did manage to replace the plants but, unfortunately not the exact same plants you had kept BUT it belonged to the same plant family. So, that counts right? Surely, you'd never tell the blues from the greens...right?

To salvage his sins, he tried to learn as much as he could about horticultural techniques in hopes he could salvage what was left of your original plants. Even had gone as far as using his evol to initiate photosynthesis. But, of course, nothing ever goes as planned.

"Caleb".

"Xavier." Caleb replied on the other end of the phone.

"Do you think your evol could fix up broken pieces of, let's say, an apartment building?"

"No, why? Did something happen? I'll be right there. Just give me-" But before Caleb could continue, Xavier ended the call and dialed a different number this time.

"Jeremiah."

"Xavier?"

"As a florist, is rebuilding an apartment part of your skill sets?" Xavier asks as he stares at the now-very open portion of what's left of your kitchen wall. Surely, he'll figure something out before anyone gets here.

ZAYNE

Zayne stays committed to the work he's assigned regardless of where he's placed. He makes sure to clean your apartment and arranges everything in the right place such as your paperworks, books, food cans, and basically anything he can sort by color, size, and shape.

On occassions if any of the other guys would visit, he'd somehow end up cleaning after them too. Jackets and coats on the couch? Folded. Leftover snack packs? Tossed out. He makes sure everything in your home is clean and organized.

BUT Zayne should have definitely kept his mouth shut, he should have never offered to create the group chat, and he should have definitely chosen to ignore strings of messages and the numerous group chats he has somehow tangled himself into. Besides, what would be the worst possible outcome that will come out of this small truce? For the love of God. How did he even end up in this situation?

For some reason, Zayne also became everyone's designated driver? For a man who spent YEARS learning about the human anatomy to save lives, who would've thought he'd be demoted as everyone's designated driver.

Between going to the hospital, his home, and travelling towards your apartment, Zayne already has his day packed. So much to his surprise (well, not really), he comes to see your apartment's kitchen with a huge hole in the wall. Great, one problem piling over another.

"No, I don't even want to hear it." Zayne says, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes tightly, hoping what he saw was just a trick of the light. But, no. There IS a huge hole in your kitchen wall.

"You know what, no. I don't want to know how or why, Xavier. I'm going to get coffee, I need a really long break. Fix, whatever you can fix." And Zayne storms off to the nearest convenience store to buy the strongest dose of coffee money could buy at 10:00AM.

RAFAYEL

Does he even do his own groceries? Not entirely. More or less, Thomas would do half the work with Rafayel following nearby (if he decides to not entirely abandon Thomas at the supermarket in pursuit of better things). Unfortunately, despite the main occupation as being "Rafayel's talent agent", Thomas works for multiple roles in Rafayel's life.

"Okay, that's milk, chips, and vegetables..." Thomas pauses over the phone as he skims through the handwritten list from Rafayel. "What kind of vegetables do you need?"

"Oh you know," Rafayel pauses on the other end, busy adding final touches to his new piece that he plans to give to you as soon as you return from your mission. "The ones with colors".

"Be more specific Rafayel, you know vegetables have tons of colors".

"The ones with shapes, you know what they are". Rafayel says on the other end, brimming with joy as his work is finally getting together. "She likes all kinds of fruits and vegetables".

"She? You mean I'm just doing your errands? Rafayel, when I-" The call comes to stop as quickly as it begun as Rafayel ended the call with one press of a button.

Thomas, on the other hand, rubs his fingers over his right and left temple, trying to ease the will to combust in that moment. Taking in long and deep breathes, Thomas pushes the cart over the vegetable isle and says: "One of everything, please".

When Rafayel (Thomas) had accomplished the grocery shopping, he decided to take his newly-accomplished art piece and bring it over to your apartment. Rafayel had already informed the others via text beforehand about his visit just in case anyone else was staying over.

"This would look perfect in her kitchen, cutie will definitely love it!" Rafayel says as he grabs your spare apartment keys and unlocks the door. What he did not expect to see was a part of your kitchen's apartment wall blown to bitz and Xavier standing in the middle of the pile.

"Well, I don't know what blasted itself in here but," Rafayel steps closer towards Xavier and hands him the art piece "if this helps, maybe cutie won't notice if you cover up the wall."

"Do you think you could make maybe 10 more of these?" Xavier asks, lifting up the art piece and matching it to the large hole in the wall and see if it could patch it up miraculously.

"Are you crazy? My art isn't some sort of wall-paste. But, give or take maybe 4 might do? I don't know. Did you call Mr. Spaceman?

"Yes."

"Did you tell him you blew up the wall?"

"No."

"Oh, damn."

Rafayel ended up making additional rushed-pieces while Xavier worked with what he could to patch up your kitchen wall. The hole wasn't too big, sort of? Anyway, it'll depend on your reaction when you get home.

Although, Rafayel loves your home decor, he decided upon his free-will to put his creative mind to work and re-arrange a few of your household furniture. Surely, you wouldn't miss a few or two curtains, sheets, and even pillows. Right?

SYLUS

Sylus rarely stays around your apartment but, when he misses you a little, he'd find time to stop by and leave small trinkets and gifts near your bedroom for you to find when you get home. He'd also find time to actually make and store ready-to-eat food in your fridge when he knows you're date of arrival is nearing. He loves to make sure you're well-taken care of and fed.

AND Of course, out of all the sane chores you could have given the crime boss of the N109 zone, you just had to give him "bills payment". Sure, it was easy but not until the servers crashed which leaves Sylus no other option but to visit the bank. And it's not just any bank, it's the Linkon City Bank.

So, naturally, Sylus had to pull out a fake name and identity to avoid unwanted attention. Unfortunately, today's fit was definitely giving off "crime boss".

Straight up went ahead of the lines and directly to the teller. Unfortunately, his killer charm didn't do him any good as he was told to: "get back in line" and had to wait for a whole 2 hours before being catered. Only to be told to line up again because he didn't fill out any of the forms and paperworks to submit the payments. Well, that's another two hours down the drain.

To top it all off while waiting as a past time, Sylus could be seen polishing his gun in the middle of the bank. Sylus was warned about a couple of times before being asked to leave the premises. Hence, Sylus could be seen hopping from one bank to another.

After the 5th attempt, he finally gave up.

And true to his word, Sylus did keep his promises towards you. Although, maybe next time he would have to beg off from this chore ever again.

CALEB

Going back to his roots to when you were kids, Caleb is once again stuck with laundry duty. But, he's not complaining as long as he's doing yours. Unfortunately, Caleb chose the wrong day to put up with this chore.

It was a day before your return when the guys decided to surprise you with a small "welcome home" party. The truce was still there but of course, living under the same roof for a day does things to a man.

"There's a bin! Look," Caleb starts as he gets into position. "You pick-up, shoot, and toss. It's so easy".

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Don't think too much about a pair of tidy-widies". Rafayel waves off, focusing his attention towards the baked goods on the table. The plan for today was to decorate and prepare a bunch of sweets for your return.

"Well, then stop mixing in the whites with the colored!" Caleb yells out, holding a pair of purple boxers and a now-pink shirt (which was white before Rafayel tossed his colored clothes into the washing machine). "Nobody wants to see purple boxers on a man! It mismatches the whole fit."

While doing the rest of the laundry (which doubled in number for unfortunate reasons, thanks to the guys sleeping over), he finally got to your pile, the clothes he was actually tasked to wash. He was arranging and dumping piles by color when he came across a pair of red lacy thongs and a bra to match.

caleb.exe stopped working!

Wow, she is definitely a big girl now. I remember back then whe she used to wear those cute white undies with the animal prints. Time does flyby really fast as you grow older. And now she's a big girl and-fuck-fuck-fuck! Stop.

Caleb quickly pushes out all thoughts aside and focuses on doing your laundry. Afterall, it's Caleb: mr. man-with-a-plan, mr. I-got-everything-covered, mr. I'm-going-to-shove-this-thong-on-my-

The thought never finished as Caleb quickly smacked his head about these unholy thoughts. To make matters worse, the whole basket he took were full of your lacey underwear.

After breaking down, Caleb was quick to work with folding your clothes in a neat stack inside your drawers. Despite Caleb seeming to be in a razor-sharp focus mode, he can't shake off the feeling of his early encounter with your underwear. Who would've thought his pipsquek would grow up to become a woman with refined tastes and fuck-fuck-fuck! No. Don't go there. Caleb has to fold laundry, just fold the goddamn laundry. Fold laundry, fold laundry, folds...And then Caleb malfunctioned again.

Even if Caleb is only assigned to one chore he makes sure to double-clean the apartment with Zayne. Despite being apart for quite some time, that childhood-bond they both shared as children still continued to hold them together.

Caleb also prides himself as your main meal-provider. So, when he discovers pre-packed and ready-to-heat meals in your fridge from Sylus, so he did what any sane man would do: toss is into the trash. Because if it's not made by Caleb's hand then it's not good enough for you.

AND of course Sylus found out, which is why Sylus changed the passcode and took the spare keys Caleb had hidden under his jacket. Which is why, from a bystander's point-of-view, you could see a grown man climbing up your apartment window trying to get inside.

Sylus could only laugh and watch as Caleb struggles to get through your kitchen's window. "I'm going to come after you, and when I do-" Sylus didn't even bother letting Caleb finish talking and shut the curtain blinds.

"Oh don't be like that Colonel," Sylus starts, opening his phone and skimming through the accessible cameras of the building until he finally spots what he's been looking for. "You could warmly welcome our guest now, she's just right there."

Without needing other hints, Caleb knew what he meant and as he looked towards the building entrance, he could see you with a more than displeased look as you cross your arms over your chest.

"Well, fuck."

part 2? yes, no, maybe so? :3

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motomamita · 11 months ago

Text

old!moviedirector!könig × actress!reader

warnings: +18, smut, manipulation, abuse of power, sex on camera, no condom, age difference.

Imagine old!moviedirector!König who loves being part of the casting for each of his successful films. He is not only known for his success but also for how perverted he becomes with his actresses.

This time, his next film has as its protagonist a woman who is everything that is known as a femme fatale. Obviously, König was not going to miss the auditions to find his ideal leading lady.

Several girls passed by and tried their best to try to leave a good impression on König and his assistants, but none of them succeeded. Then you arrived. You look totally innocent and naive despite having done everything necessary to look like the main character. You were wearing a tight dress, red lips, and eyeliner that highlighted your look.

König quickly put your presentation folder aside, putting it away next to his belongings. You had no experience in acting and much less idea of how film productions were handled. That's why you didn't find it strange when König called you on your phone and invited you to his house to chat about your audition.

You arrived dressed as the main character because König requested it. He welcomed you into his luxurious home and you shared a couple of drinks. You talked about your life and your desire to act in Hollywood while König only paid attention to your breasts that protruded from the tight dress. Soon he invited you to sit on the couch to talk more comfortably about what he expected of you.

"You know... When you came in for the audition you totally blew me away." König began speaking, your heart racing at his words.

"Thank you. I really want the role of the protagonist, I have worked hard." You explained excitedly, watching as he put his glass aside.

"Yeah? But I have to tell you that I'm not entirely sure you're going to get it..." your worried look forced him to continue talking. "It's a very risky character and I need a girl who is really willing to give it her all."

"Please, sir..." you interrupted him, moving a few centimeters closer to him. "I feel capable of achieving it, I can give everything and more..." you also assured, leaving your glass aside.

König looked at your face and couldn't help but smile at your need, it excited him to know the power he had over you. He slowly placed his hand on your bare thigh, caressing your skin with his rough hand.

"I need you to prove it. I need you to show me that you are capable of anything for the role." He spoke softly, moving his hand up a little towards your center. "Look, there are risque scenes in the movie..."

"I will do it, I will do whatever it takes." You nodded your head, sure of yourself.

"Show it to me. Show me that you're not afraid to suck a good cock on camera." He quickly took out his home video camera and turned it on, recording your face in the foreground.

You hesitated for a few seconds at his direct request but in the end you agreed. You kneel in front of him and König opened his legs giving you access between them, he wanted you to open his pants. Determined, you went to his zipper and soon noticed the hard erection it hid. His cock was thick, uncut and precum glistened at the tip.

"Come on, darling, win the lead role." He encouraged you by pointing his camera at your face and at his cock that was centimeters away.

You started by giving him a few kitten licks while jerking off his cock. König moaned loudly and stretched out even further on the large sofa, enjoying your wet tongue. You soon took him into your mouth, breathing through your nose and trying your best to make him feel good. König brought one of his free hands to the back of your head, forcing you down to the base of his cock.

"Come on, take it all in your mouth.. What a good girl.." he encouraged you as you noticed how your throat squeezed his cock.

When you felt like you were about to faint, König grabbed your hair and pulled you away from him. Your saliva was dripping down your chin and your breathing was labored. König laughed lightly at seeing you like that and made sure he had filmed your expression.

"Enough, now lie down."

You obeyed and lay down on the large sofa. König finished taking off his pants and then focused his attention on you.

"Look at what a beauty.." he commented, bringing one of his hands to your chest, massaging it over the fabric of your dress. "Show me those tits, come on!"

You obeyed and left your breasts exposed for the camera and for König, of course. He brought his hands to you again and caressed your breasts, pinching your nipples making you moan.

"Let me see what you're hiding here.." Now he record your pussy covered by small panties that showed how wet you were. Without waiting for orders you took them off, showing your wet pussy. "This pussy is the pussy of the next Oscar winner."

König massaged your clit with his thumb making you moan at the sensation of his touch. Then, he slowly inserted his index finger into your pussy, pumping it and listening to the dirty sounds due to your wetness.

"You want this job, huh? You're going to let me fuck this pussy?" The camera came to your face, recording your expression and how you nodded your head. "Let me hear you, use your words.."

"I want you to fuck me, please, fuck me!" you begged, hugging him around the waist with your legs.

König placed the camera in a position where only you were in the image. He spit in his hand and masturbated, looking at you with total desire, he was finally going to fulfill his fantasy.

"This is going to hurt a little.." he murmured placing his cock at the entrance of your pussy. Slowly he entered inside you, feeling how your wet walls received his thick cock. "Shit, you're so tight.."

You placed your hands on his shoulders and bit your lip trying to cope with the pain between your legs. When König was inside you, he moved slowly while massaging your clit. You moaned his name loudly and dug your nails into his shoulders, turning him on even more.

"Do you like it? Uh? Fucking your boss to get the lead character?" He asked, bringing his mouth to your ear and sucking on some of your sensitive skin there.

"Yes! I love it, fuck me harder!" You moaned, hugging him even more with your legs and feeling how his cock moved against you.

König obeyed you and increased the speed of his thrusts, hitting his skin hard against your pussy. Your moans increased in volume and you hugged him even tighter, feeling his balls slap against your ass.

"Fuck, baby. I'm going to cum, I'm going to cum!" König moan and, without stopping moving, grabbed the camera again and pointed it at you. "Show me, show me that beautiful face while I cum inside you!"

You made your face look more pleased and you let yourself be carried away by his hard thrusts. Soon, König came in front of you, filling you with his thick, hot liquid.

After a few weeks, you received a call from him. You had earned the role.

#könig cod #könig call of duty #konig call of duty #könig smut #könig x reader #könig #konig fanfiction #konig x reader #konig smut #konig cod #old!könig #old!konig #moviedirector!könig #actress!reader

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literaryvein-reblogs · 2 months ago

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Writing a main character who’s a bartender… except I’m a minor with zero experience on alcohol or bars/bartending etc

Do you have any resources that could help me out?

Thanks so much, I love your blog !!!

Writing Notes: Bartender

Bartender - specializes in the art of mixing and serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in bars, restaurants, hotels, or other establishments.

In addition to mixing drinks, bartenders also play an important role in providing excellent customer service.

They engage with customers,

take drink orders,

suggest beverage options, and

create a welcoming and enjoyable atmosphere.

Bartenders must have good communication and interpersonal skills to interact with customers of diverse backgrounds and handle various situations that may arise during their shift.

They may also be responsible for managing the bar area,

ensuring cleanliness,

organizing supplies, and

handling cash transactions.

Types of Bartenders

There are various types of bartenders, each specializing in different areas of the hospitality industry. Here are a few common types:

Mixologists: Highly skilled bartenders who focus on creating innovative and artfully crafted cocktails. They have an extensive knowledge of ingredients, flavor combinations, and mixology techniques to design unique and visually appealing drinks.

Flair Bartenders: Known for their entertaining and acrobatic style of bartending. They incorporate flair techniques such as juggling bottles, performing tricks with bar tools, and creating visually captivating presentations while preparing drinks.

Craft Beer Bartenders: Have a deep understanding of the craft beer industry. They are familiar with various beer styles, brewing processes, and flavor profiles. They assist customers in selecting beers, provide recommendations, and may curate a rotating selection of craft beers on tap.

Tiki Bartenders: Specialize in crafting tropical and exotic cocktails associated with tiki culture. They are skilled in using unique ingredients, tropical fruits, and elaborate garnishes to create visually striking and flavorful drinks.

Hotel/Resort Bartenders: Cater to guests' needs, providing a range of beverages and maintaining high standards of customer service. They may specialize in classic cocktails, signature drinks, or be responsible for managing bars in various areas of the hotel.

Common Personality Traits of Bartenders

Based on a survey of 19,176 bartenders:

They are enterprising and conventional (according to the Holland Codes)

Bartenders tend to be predominantly enterprising individuals, which means that they are usually quite natural leaders who thrive at influencing and persuading others.

They also tend to be conventional, meaning that they are usually detail-oriented and organized, and like working in a structured environment.

They have high levels of extraversion and openness (according to the Big Five)

Bartenders score highly on extraversion, meaning that they rely on external stimuli to be happy, such as people or exciting surroundings.

They also tend to be high on the measure of openness, which means they are usually curious, imaginative, and value variety.

The Workplace

The workplace of a bartender can vary depending on the establishment they work in. Bartenders can be found in a range of settings, including:

bars,

pubs,

nightclubs,

hotels,

restaurants,

resorts, and even

cruise ships.

A typical bar environment consists of a well-equipped bar counter with a variety of spirits, mixers, and bar tools.

The bar area is usually designed to be functional and efficient, with shelves or cabinets to store bottles, refrigeration units for chilling beverages, and sinks for washing glassware.

Bartenders have access to a wide array of ingredients, garnishes, and utensils needed to prepare drinks.

The atmosphere within a bar can vary significantly.

Some establishments may have a lively and bustling atmosphere, especially during peak hours or on weekends, with music playing and customers engaged in conversations.

In contrast, other bars may have a more relaxed and intimate setting, catering to a specific clientele or offering a more sophisticated ambiance.

Bartenders often work as part of a team, collaborating with barbacks, servers, and other staff members to ensure smooth operations. Communication and coordination are essential, as they need to relay orders, share responsibilities, and support each other as needed.

Some previous related posts:

Cocktails ⚜ Literary & Hollywood Cocktails ⚜ Liqueurs

Mixology Tools & Popular Cocktails ⚜ Wine Terminology

Whiskey ⚜ Describing Intoxicated Customers

Words related to Drinking

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Glad to hear, thank you! Sounds like a challenge, but could be quite fun. Choose which of these details you would like to incorporate in your story. For more on the actual drinks, tools, other terms used, and possible behaviour of customers when they become intoxicated, I included some links to older posts. And you can find further information in the sources. All the best with your writing!

#anonymous #bartender #character development #writing reference #writeblr #literature #dark academia #writers on tumblr #spilled ink #writing prompt #creative writing #light academia #writing inspiration #writing ideas #writing resources

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queerholmcs · 27 days ago

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bbc sherlock episodes ranked based on their mycroft holmes scenes 🌂

14. unaired pilot. zero mycroft holmes. thank god they transitioned to the 90-minute format for the real thing. 0/10.

13. the blind banker. no mycroft holmes screen time. sad! (the text conversation with M at the very end, however...) 1/10.

12. the hound of baskerville. his baby brother breaks into an army base using his id card and his response is to roll his eyes, send a handful of questioning texts, and then give him 24 hours unrestricted access anyway. it's sweet! but the jim-mycroft bit at the end should have been fleshed out a bit more. who cares about about a glowing rabbit when jim moriarty is scratching sherlock's name into the walls of a cell that mycroft put him in. come on! 4/10.

11. the abominable bride. this one would be higher but the fatsuit thing is weird. but at least we get "did you understand it? the murderous jealousy." and all of his "i care so much but i'm really not very good at showing it" on the plane and don't even get me STARTED on the state of his tie! 5/10.

10. the empty hearse. he puts on his silly little outfit and learns serbian to go bring his little brother back home! and then pretends to be surprised that sherlock is interested in the current state of john watson and literally nothing else? okay. and then they play chess i mean operation and he can't handle a broken heart (how very telling!) and then they play deductions because secretly he is pleased to see you, underneath all that. 5/10. WAIT no sorry i almost forgot about the les mis phone call at the end. 6/10.

9. the sign of three. yes i know he's technically barely in this one but the phone call at the start of the reception is fun and the treadmill/sex/filing joke is silly and his role in sherlock's little mind palace scenes is exquisite! like yayyyyy there he is, guiding people to the right answer, one leading question at a time! 7/10.

8. his last vow. christmas dinner is the highlight of the episode tbh. i mean i'm kidding but only sort of. we get to see him having domestic little moments with his parents and then he's standing outside smoking with his brother asking him to refuse a suicide mission in eastern europe and "here be dragons"... it's literally sooooo..... and he gets thrown out of baker street by force teehee! and that's before we even address his appearance in sherlock's mind palace as he's attempting not to die. "what was directly behind you as you were being murdered?" and "don't go into shock, obviously." and that little bit more insight into sherlock's relationship with him. and he gets an actual on-screen interaction with greg lestrade, so that's fun! 9/10.

7. the great game. this is where the show really kicks off when you're watching from the beginning imo. soooo many fun little moments with him... turning up at baker street after that explosion to try and get sherlock to look at a case and so we get to see them interact as brothers but that's nothing compared to what we get to see between mycroft and john... "what's he like to live with? hellish, i imagine" and "sherlock's business is booming since you and he became... pals" and then john gets all dressed up to go and see mycroft about the case because sherlock puts his best man onto it and. it's all just very fun for me. 10/10.

6. the lying detective. could use more mycroft tbh but what we get is absolute top-tier stuff... the little scene where they're all tracking sherlock's phone and he comes in to see for himself and makes a comment about how he needed the excuse to stop talking to the prime minister, and then he calls john up in the middle of the night about it because everything's about sherlock and there's his little "the fact that i'm his brother changes absolutely nothing. it didn't the last time and i can assure you it doesn't with—" and i think it's super fun! and then the spooks scene in baker street where the skull is replaced with a black box and he detests conversation in the past tense and mrs hudson hisses at him to "get out of my house, you reptile"... once again, top-tier stuff! 10/10!

5. a scandal in belgravia. we get the really fun sibling rivalry stuff at buckingham palace and on top of that we get that brotherly warning of "all lives end, all hearts are broken. caring is not an advantage" and then jim sends him a text and we get a gorgeous little diva down moment and then there's still the flight-that-never-takes-off "a damsel in distress. in the end... are you really so obvious? because this was textbook. the promise of love. the pain of loss. the joy of redemption. then give him a puzzle and watch him dance" speech??? AND he makes john cancel his christmas plans (and get dumped) because he's worried about sherlock??? 11/10. i'm going to throw up.

4. the six thatchers. where do i even begin... the episode opens with the hlv flashback to "my brother is a murderer" and then two minutes later mycroft is in a secret office handing out secret files saying "a d-notice has been put on the entire incident. no-one [but us] will ever know the whole truth." and then there's the agra wikipedia quote my beloved and that entire scene is just. MWAH! opens with a mirrored shot and he's got his feet kicked up on his desk and he's twirling a pen in his hand and "i love an acronym. all the best secret societies have one" with that stupid smirk on his face. and then he just sort of stands there and watches while mary dies at the end! so it's fun. 10/10. i might have to write a book about it.

3. a study in pink. we bring the plot to a screeching halt halfway through the episode (thank you so much hbomb for that insightful analysis) to introduce sherlock's older brother who's only even in like two stories from the canon and who is here portrayed by none other than the programme's co-creator himself so that he can stand in front of you and tell you that john watson is a little liar and that sherlock holmes and dr watson are freak4freak. 10/10 no notes.

2. the reichenbach fall. truly the episode of all time. no it's still not enough to top tfp but come on. my man gives jim moriarty sherlock's life story and has to confess all of this to none other than john watson himself and then has the audacity to say "tell him i'm sorry. would you?" and after the fall itself they show him reading a tabloid paper in the diogenes club. because god forbid he put himself in a place where silence is not tradition, where he might be asked to use his words to discuss that which has just transpired. 10/10, no notes. (i mean. hm. actually i have rather a lot of notes on this. but we don't have time to get into that here.)

and coming at number 1: the final problem. he's got an old-school cinema room in his house and an umbrella-sword-gun and "who was it said, truth is rarely pure and never simple?" and "say thank you to dr watson. he talked me out of lady bracknell. this could have been very different." and "memories can resurface. wounds can reopen. the roads we walk have demons beneath, and yours have been waiting for a very long time" and "heaven may be a fantasy for the credulous and the afraid, but i can give you a map reference for hell." and "colloquially it is known as the patience grenade" (and he's authorised the purchase of quite a number of those but he'll still retch at the sight of blood) and i think i need to go and lie down now so everyone say thank you mark! 13/10. absolutely delicious. mwah!

#bbc sherlock #mycroft holmes #jones blogging #i'm going to realise I've forgotten something super important as soon as i post this but whateverrrrrr #sherlock #mh

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qqueenofhades · 1 year ago

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Hi! This question has been noodling in my head for a few weeks, and I’ve been really curious to hear your opinion. I’ve appreciated your very thoughtful commentary on the ways the online left in particular have hurt the real and concerted efforts that have been made to navigate through the Gaza war in support of Palestine. I’ve seen a lot of outrage online about Biden bypassing congress in order to make another emergency weapons sale to Israel, which does indeed read as counter to helping to the Palestinians facing endless and indiscriminate violence. I understand that you might not want to answer this ask, because the work that you already do in your life offline and the work that you do here on tumblr to respond to and explain these issues is exhausting enough. Thanks so much for your time and your thoughtful contributions! It’s always really helped me remember to slow down and think critically about the media I consume.

Because you have asked this thoughtfully and in good faith, I will return the favor and give you a careful and extensive answer to the best of my ability. However, obligatory top-of-post disclaimer that I will disable reblogs at the first hint of any wankery in the notes and I will not answer any follow-ups or secondary asks at this time (unless I decide to do so, but I engage with this topic sparingly, judiciously, and only in small doses, so don't count on it).

First, let me say that the moment, I disagree with substantial portions of how Biden is handling the two main foreign-policy crises (Ukraine and Gaza). In regard to Ukraine, I think he's backed off, taken his foot off the gas, and otherwise given Republicans ammunition to keep delaying or watering down a new aid bill, is refusing to disburse military aid packages from the $4 billion of funding remaining that was previously approved by Congress, hasn't sent long-range ATACMS and other critical military hardware that might bring the war to an end sooner, and is not (as of the moment, though recent reporting suggests this might change) pushing hard enough for frozen Russian assets to be transferred to Ukraine for military and/or humanitarian financial assistance. However, I am also aware (unlike, it seems, much of the left-leaning internet) that I am basing these judgments only on my personal impressions, on what is reported (or not reported) in the media (which has plenty of its own problems) and otherwise what is formed in my role as an ordinary American citizen without any kind of special, classified, high-level, or government access. I know nothing more than any of you, and I also know that a lot of what goes on behind closed doors does not appear on Political Twitter and/or the Washington Post or the Guardian or Daily Kos or whatever other aggregate sources of information I or any left-leaning person typically consumes. So it's highly possible (and this is my cautious academic instinct speaking) that I do not, in fact, have a full picture of events. There are also contributing factors that Biden cannot simply handwave aside, even if he did, say, dip back into the $4 billion pot in the meantime. Congress will need to pass a new funding bill for Ukraine aid and the MAGA Republicans have been enthusiastically blocking it to the point where Putin's cronies on Russian state TV praise them effusively for it. We all know about the Republicans and Russia's mutual love affair. So.

The same goes for Gaza, and even more because we have already had reporting about how the Biden administration is walking a behind-the-scenes tightrope in a number of seemingly impossible tasks: keeping the war from spreading to a larger theater, pressuring Netanyahu to dial down, y'know, the rampant genocide (when Netanyahu notoriously doesn't like Biden, was very close with Trump, and would be happy to keep the war going in order to boost Trump's chances of being re-elected and save Netanyahu himself from his own criminal prosecutions), and pursuing a complex policy toward the state of Israel that does not follow the antisemitic Western Online Left's fever dream of "Israel suddenly disappears overnight and falls into the ocean and all Jews die or disappear." We have had multiple credibly sourced reports about this. Blinken is back in the Middle East right now trying to keep the war from spreading. The US under Biden has criticized Israel's essentially empty policy document for post-war Gaza as not being remotely feasible (because it's so vague) and gone so far as to voice support for a two-state solution with Palestinian self-determination (which is itself quite radically different from previous administrations). However, they have also vetoed UN ceasefire resolutions and other essentially meaningless political theater (the UN as a whole has been ruthlessly exposed in the last few years for being completely useless) that are easy to gin up outrage about, and that's what the internet focuses on, rather than any of the other complicated actions taking place.

All of this is to say that no, in fact, I don't blindly support everything the Biden administration is doing in regard to either Ukraine or Israel right now, but I actually have a sense of real-world perspective about it and understand that there are certain immutable realities that we are working with and which will not be erased by some absolute jackasses yelling at Biden in a historically black church at the commemoration of an anti-black terrorist attack. Likewise, as I've said it before and I'll say it again, and as plenty of other people have noticed and pointed out, the Western left is using this as an orgy of pseudo-revolutionary fervor that focuses on using Hamas as a proxy for their own fantasies of violent uprising against their own governments. Because while yes, anti-zionism and antisemitism are two distinct things and represent different aims and goals, it's become more or less irrelevant in allegedly pro-Palestine Western leftist spaces. It's just increasingly rabid, accelerationist, and nihilistic antisemitism all the time, or the obvious usage of "Zionist" to mean "Jew." It's not good. There is no concept of actual restorative justice for Palestinians or other people, such as Ukrainians, Syrians, Uyghurs, Taiwanese, etc, either undergoing genocide or facing the threat of it, because Western leftists have latched onto this cause solely as a stick to beat the Democratic Party with and have no actual moral interest or concern in stopping genocide elsewhere in the world or repudiating it as a method overall. They just want the state of Israel (which they characterize as a "proxy state for white western colonialism" despite the many, many things historically, religiously, and politically wrong with that statement, because it means it now Contains the Right Buzzwords to Oppose It) to be destroyed altogether in the name of "opposing colonialism," but it really seems to be all about opposing Jews. Hmm.

Simply put, Biden is not ever going to pursue a policy of "let's totally abandon Israel tomorrow, never sell it any weapons or allow it to defend its own civilians, and agree that Hamas is actually a good representation or advocate for the Palestinian people" in the way a number of Western Online Leftists seem to think he should do. There is still the fact that Israeli civilians do exist and that Hamas has continued to launch missiles at them daily, inconvenient as that fact might be for the Hamas fanboys (and fangirls) who now populate much of what passes for Western leftist discourse spaces. (Either that or they don't care, because in their view, Israeli civilians are fully acceptable collateral damage by virtue of simply living in Israel in the first place, which -- yikes. Fucking yikes. That is all.) The number of people professing to be lifelong leftists who are Just Shocked at all the antisemitism, or thinking that any and all antisemitism is just artificially introduced into leftist spaces by bad-faith right-wing/Nazi psyops either has not spent any actual time around leftists, or (more likely) simply does not listen to what they openly say. The antisemitism is virulent, constant, and only getting worse. On the most basic level, regardless of the other difficulties around the founding of Israel as a state in 1948 and the fact that doing so on some of the most bitterly religiously, politically, ethnically, and culturally contested territory in the world for over two thousand years was always going to be a massive clusterfuck, the fact of its immediate post-Holocaust creation simply cannot be ignored the way many Online Leftists do. Israel exists because of the worst antisemitic mass murder in recorded history (and that's a high bar). That fact must be incorporated into any actual discussions about its right either to exist or to protect its own civilians. But this gets turned into "Israel exists only as a puppet state of white western colonialists" which is just bad on so, so many levels.

The collective Western Online Leftist feeling seems to be that Hamas are innocent and wronged freedom fighters who are begging for a ceasefire and the cruel Israelis aren't granting them one. This is not true. Hamas has rejected multiple ceasefire opportunities, and continued to launch missiles and retaliatory attacks, because they are terrorists and they do not want or represent any serious opportunity to negotiate in the framework of western liberal democracy. They are treated as helpless woobified blorbos by much of the Western leftist-leaning internet. They are not. In that case, Biden bypassing Congress to sell Israel weapons (which was just something like 100 million of artillery shells, which is not nothing but still not a huge systematic thing like, say, Reagan's Iran-Contra scandal) is not great. I do not support anything Israel is doing to Gaza. It is abhorrent. However, there are reasons for Biden to provide some limited amount of weapons to Israel without congressional approval that do not automatically and mindlessly equate to BIDEN SUPPORTS TOTAL GENOCIDE IN GAZA!!!!!!1 Especially when as I've said, the Online Leftists only care about stopping genocide when it fits their political self-righteousness, and absolutely not at all the rest of the time.

This is representative of the fact that Western Online Leftism has now completed its all-out descent into blind Noam Chomskyism. Chomsky has never met a "leftist" or "anti-Western" genocide he couldn't deny, excuse, or openly cheerlead (going all the way back to the 1970s and Pol Pot/the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and going up to the minute with Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Palestine). Noam Chomsky is the leftist Henry Kissinger. His ethics and morals are equally abhorrent, he's just as willing to justify total genocide in the name of advancing his preferred political ideology, and while there were (justifiably) celebrations and gloating memes across Tumblr when Kissinger finally bit the dust, Chomsky's beliefs are replicated with slavish adoration in many other Tumblr spaces and spread in some form or another to the rest of the website, which now takes them as leftist gospel (and let's not even talk about Twitter). This represents my absolute frustration with the fact that Western Online Leftism has devolved to such a degraded, mindless, useless, and malevolent level that "cheerlead for any anti-western/Leftist TM terrorist group or state" is taken to be the be-all and end-all of their moral philosophy. Someone remarked that ISIS peaked too early; if they were still at the height of their powers today, they would have a legion of devoted white so-called progressive Twitter users shilling earnestly and angrily for them, and Christ, isn't that the fucking truth.

I know we live in a hard, frightening, complex, and difficult world, and it's hard to sort out what our moral responsibility and action should be at any given time, especially since the answer is always so frustratingly partial and incomplete. Nobody of basic good sense and decency wants to see Gaza leveled while the Israeli state continues to apply a number of violently cruel collective punishments even outside the actual daily bombing of civilians. But for the love of god, let's get rid of the idea that the continued mindless violence doesn't benefit Hamas (because it does; unsurprisingly, sympathy for their cause has soared in Gaza) as much as it does Israel, or that Hamas is some kind of benevolent peacemaker that is being thwarted by the cruel imperialist US/West. And going back to the incident that prompted you to send me this ask: white leftists have often and repeatedly demonstrated their withering disdain for black people, Democratic voters, "mainstream" Americans, and anyone else doesn't buy into the twisted tankie fantasy land where getting rid of Biden would somehow be a massive coup for social justice (by getting Trump, now openly announcing at every turn that he will be a dictator, back into office! Very praxis, much justice. Wow.)

In short: if you, a white person, stand up in Mother Emanuel AME -- one of the most sacred sites for Black churchgoers, who are indeed often heavily Democratic voters -- in the middle of a remembrance service for victims of white supremacist terrorism, after the Black pastor has asked you not to protest inside the church out of respect for the Black community coming together to relive its trauma -- just so you can heckle Biden and feel good about yourself, then Jesus Christ. You don't care about restorative justice for people of color, or literally any justice at all, much less "stopping genocide." You just want to use them as props for your Chomsky cosplay revolutionary fantasies and your sense of self-righteous superiority over literally everyone else, regardless of the real-world consequences. So I have no hesitation whatsoever in telling those people to get fucked. Often and repeatedly.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts #israel hamas war #russia ukraine war #history #long post

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mareastrorum · 1 year ago

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These are just initial thoughts, and perhaps I’ll learn something that changes my mind on it, but I’m glad to see Critical Role making the leap to their own subscription service with Beacon.

As a lead in: I’m an attorney that has some background in IP law, though it isn’t what I practice currently. I’ve kept in contact with several active practitioners, particularly those that represent small-time creators either in their own independent practice or via nonprofits. I do not have an extensive Rolodex of IP peers, nor do I spend the money to keep up on IP CLEs. I’m just someone who used to know a ton because I did heavy research and work in that space, and that hasn’t been the case for years.

So here’s my thoughts a bit on the IP angle:

The primary reason I’m happy to see this leap is that CR is taking active steps to keep control over its IP. It’s a boring thing to most people, but when I start paying attention to a specific creator (authors, directors, companies, etc.), I tend to be very attentive to how they use their IP. How freely do they license their marks to partner with other creators to make merch? How often do they allow others to make adaptations or derivatives of their copyrights? What is the quality of those products? What is the supply chain like? Are those third parties objectionable in some way? Were the other parties faithful to the original works or marks? Was this a cash grab or an earnest effort to make something worth the price tag?

Honestly, I like how CR run their business. They have a history of tapping fans and fellow small businesses when making new merch or spinoffs. They embrace the culture of fan-made derivative works, both by featuring fanart/cosplay and by sharing their success. Do you know how rare it is for a company to pay fan artists for their already-made and freely posted work and then sell books of it? Let me be clear: CR bought a limited license from each artist so they could print and sell each work in a physical book, then paid the cost of publishing that book with no guarantee that CR would make that money back, let alone profit. I have a copy of the collector’s edition art books: they’re actually very well made and the packaging definitely cost a pretty penny. That’s not a rainmaker idea, that’s genuinely risking financial loss to sell something people could access for free if they wanted to.

The art books aren’t a one-off either. Darrington Press is CR’s separate LLC for tabletop games. (It’s good business practice to split off companies that handle products in different industries.) CR has also made shows based on those games, and the Candela Obscura series has quite a dedicated audience. Everything about Candela belongs to them: the game itself, the rule book, all the art in the book, the web series based on the game, and merch. It’s so successful that they invested in scheduling a live show for Candela later this month. That’s HUGE.

Contrast that with the distribution of Campaign 1 and the first 19 episodes of Campaign 2. CR cannot host those videos themselves; Geek & Sundry still exists and still holds what I presume to be distribution rights (but I don’t have the contract to review). So G&S gets to host those videos on YouTube and reaps the advertising. I can’t speak to whatever share CR gets from that, but considering that CR is locked out of hosting their own copies of those videos, I doubt it’s much, if any, revenue. (If you’re wondering why CR just didn’t buy those rights back, I ask: what incentive does G&S have to sell something that’s making them money for no cost?)

Knowing that background about G&S, I was wary of CR choosing Amazon to host and distribute The Legend of Vox Machina. Originally, TLOVM was not the plan; CR had a kickstarter for an animated special based on C1. It was only because they blew past the goal that CR was able to make an entire season. The reasonable assumption is that choosing Amazon had to have secured CR additional funding for future seasons of the show, which seems evident from how quickly season 2 was announced, Mighty Nein Animated is also going to be a thing, and that season 3 of TLVOM is scheduled for fall 2024. CR had the option of just doing 1 season and keeping it purely in their control, but going with Amazon meant they could animate more of their works. Animation is expensive. I cannot stress enough how doubtful I am that CR would have been able to afford this many episodes and both campaigns if they had not gone this route. As wary as I was in the start, it paid off, and it’s going well—so far. Hopefully CR doesn’t regret that decision if Amazon tries something sleazy. But, as before, we don’t have the contracts and can’t know how secure CR’s position is if any dispute came up.

CR also partnered with Dark Horse Comics to make Vox Machina comics and Might Nein Origins comics. What’s especially surprising is that each of the cast had a hand in writing the MNO comics for their characters, with Matt listed for multiple. That isn’t very common with comic adaptations. Often times, IP owners let comic companies go ham with minimal oversight. Being listed as one of the authors comes with IP rights that have to be negotiated. That means that Dark Horse had to talk with CR about whether that warrants more or less revenue going to which party in exchange for that—or, alternatively, whether the comic gets made at all. That’s a ballsy move. You think people can just demand to write the comics that a publishing company is going to pay to print? Pffft. CR wanted some creative control, and that is a big ask. However, Dark Horse still has the distribution rights, both digitally and for physical copies. You couldn’t buy the comics from CR until they came out with the library edition, a book bound compilation of 4/8 comics. But the publisher is still Dark Horse; CR is just allowed to sell the book directly from their own site as well.

Contrast that with the novels about CR characters. CR partnered with Penguin Random House to publish novels about Vex and Vax (Kith & Kin), Lucien (The Nine Eyes of Lucien), and Laudna (What Doesn’t Break). Liam and Laura were vocal about having some say in K&K, whereas Madeline Roux said in an interview that she had full control over TNEOL. Both of those novels were narrated with CR voices, but narrating a book doesn’t come with IP rights, it just brings in a paycheck. There’s a lot less IP control in there compared to the comics, but this isn’t abnormal for book publishing. To be blunt, I doubt PRH would have agreed to publish the novels if anyone from CR had been a co-author or had heavy oversight over the author or the editing. I don’t think PRH even considered that as an option. Either an author that has already managed to sell X number of copies or nothing. Creative control over a book a huge ask, asks come with reduced revenue, and switching to books from a web series is already a leap. The fact that Laura and Liam had any say is surprising, really.

That was a long meandering tour of what we’ve seen CR do with its IP. The reason I bring up each of these things is that navigating the way to protect an IP in this space is rife with challenges. Different types of IP warrant different strategies because of the cost involved in creating each medium and the challenges placed by industries that have already sprung up around them. Any time that a third party is tapped to create an IP, it’s usually because they already have the funds and resources to create the work, and CR has to negotiate for revenue, creative control, distribution, and—the big one—who gets to be the owner. These are not easy, quick, or fun conversations, and CR is always going to be the smaller company at the table.

Knowing that, I’m not surprised or worried that CR is creating its own independent subscription service with Beacon. It tells me that they’re being careful with their IP whenever they can. A subscription service means they don’t have to trade away distribution rights or give up ad revenue to a third party. They’re in this for a long term investment, and that requires solid income not tied to third parties that can definitely outspend them in litigation in the event of a dispute. A subscription for bonus content is one of many parts in a diverse revenue stream.

(All that said, this isn’t meant to criticize creators that cant afford to do this type of thing. It took 9 years for CR to get to the point where Beacon is financially feasible and a desirable business decision. They have enough ongoing, popular content to warrant paying for a subscription, and they’ve built sufficient trust with their audience that more will be added. That takes time and an awful lot of money.)

As a final note, I take this step as a sign that CR definitely intends to stick around. This isn’t a move people make when they plan on ending the business after the current campaign. I’m glad to see CR is taking steps to secure their foundation and keep making new content.

I’m sure people will chime in on other issues (cost, content exclusivity, etc.), but I hope my perspective gives an idea of why this sort of thing is good for business generally and why it would be good for CR.

#critical role #beacon.tv #don’t trust me I’m a lawyer #I’m not your lawyer #I’m not CR’s lawyer #none of you paid me for shit #I do what I want

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vintagerpg · 26 days ago

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What a fun and welcoming box set! This is the second edition of DC Heroes (1989) from Mayfair games. I’ve never encountered the first edition, but my impression of this box is as an attempt to make a fairly tricky system as welcoming and accessible as possible without, you know, tossing out the original system. Which is a clever system, based on logarithms — the same thing is under the hood of Underground. I understood it for a brief moment in time despite my deficiencies in math (but lordy, no, I did not retain it, nor do I wish to re-learn), and it struck me as a clever way to handle the divergent power levels present in a superhero game. It is, however, clearly not as user-friendly as, for instance, TSR’s Marvel RPG.

There’s a lot in the box — a brief intro pamphlet with a solo adventure, a rulebook for the GM, a player’s guide, a screen, a group adventure featuring the Justice League International, a little wheel that makes resolving rolls much easier (not quite so easy as the Universal Table in Marvel, but close). There’s a beefy dossier of characters accompanied by a stack of full-color character cards, which are a nifty, fidgety addition that doesn’t really add much to play.

The 15-page chapter on running games has some of the best advice I’ve encountered from the period — focused on collaborative play, encouraging roleplay and generally putting fun ahead of rules. One section has the header “You are the Player’s Senses” and I think that might be one of the best summaries of the GM’s role I’ve ever read. It certainly feels miles ahead of just about anything else from the period that comes to mind, with the possible exception of Rolemaster’s Campaign Law.

This box wants so desperately to be a game anyone can play. I don’t think it quite gets there, but I think the way it tried was influential — over the course of the ’90s, we’d start to see more and more supportive text in RPG books that sound like they spin right out of this GM’s section.

#roleplaying game #tabletop rpg #dungeons & dragons #ttrpg #d&d #rpg #podcast #Mayfair Games #DC Heroes

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suzukiblu · 4 months ago

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do you have any wips w/ tim/cassie/bart/kon ??

Nice to meet you, friend, I can tell you're new around here, haha. 💙💙

These are mostly Kon-slanted in one way or another, given he's my fave blorbo, though he's not the POV character in all of them and in a couple of them he is only TECHNICALLY an involved on-screen character, hah.

a pocketful of Kons (( chrono || non-chrono || AO3 )) - A Pocket soulmates AU where Tim, Cassie, and Bart all wake up to their own tiny "Superman", which seems pretty weird, given that Superman is, like, super-old? And also super-DEAD. Like, he's definitely super, super dead.

Cassie gets a Pocket (or three) (( chrono || non-chrono )) - Another Pocket soulmates AU. Cassie wakes up after the first campout with YJ98 to find out she's got some tiny pocket-sized soulmates and has a crisis about it. ( Technically a prequel to Damian gets a Pocket, which itself includes Tim and HIS tiny pocket-sized soulmates in a guest-star role, but just in the sense that it's another entry in a series about different people in the same AU meeting their Pockets; there's not a strongly-linked narrative/plot going between them. )

it's not fine anymore (( chrono || non-chrono )) - Tim, Cassie, and Bart decide it is OBVIOUSLY time for the Core Four to all start dating each other and Kon and his internalized acephobia/Cadmus-designed ED have a whole-ass emotional crisis about it.

YJ accidental baby acquisition (( chrono || non-chrono )) - Cassie, Tim, and Bart all get speed-cloned into one metaweapon built to take out intruders in a dubiously-ethical lab they're investigating. Kon decides to throw a wrench in that and interrupts the process, and now there is a four year-old Greek demigod with Speed Force access and a Bat-brain that they have to explain to the Justice League. Mazel tov!

nsfw:

come on barbie let's go party (( chrono || non-chrono )) - Kon gets magically shrunk down to action figure-size for a day or so and they're all weird and horny about it. That's it, that's the fic. [ nsfw ]

the Core Four gangs up on Kon's objectification kink (( chrono || non-chrono )) - The Core Four accidentally trips over a new kink of Kon's and REALLY leans into it in, like, borderline-gangbang fashion. [ nsfw ]

honorable mentions, as being YJ polyam with the whole YJ98 team:

YJ packs up and gets pupped (( chrono || non-chrono )) - Omegaverse fic where Kon presents his secondary gender while stray and is emotionally unwell about it but DEFINITELY totally FINE handling it on his own, DEFINITELY, he is SO FINE ABOUT THIS, which ( eventually ) features the OG six in a polyam situation. Kon-centric.

gender? I hardly know her! (( chrono || non-chrono )) - This is actually I think kinda all over the place in its tag, ngl, so not really in proper chrono/all-together order, but neither is its file in my WIP folder so that's just authenticity, baby!! It's literally just "Young Justice is sliding into a situationship and Kon finds out that Kryptonians can cisswap based on the physical sex of the prospective partner that they're currently most attracted to", and also Slobo being incredibly shameless and a little bit of Tim's "I really thought I was straight and I don't know what Kon turning into a girl over me means for that" sexuality crisis. OG six plus Anita and Slobo polym. [ nsfw ]

#anonymous #rintalk

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theweeklydiscourse · 1 year ago

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What Makes Feyre’s Pregnancy Plotline in A Court of Silver Flames so Upsetting?

The answer is that the events and outcome concerning Feyre’s pregnancy speak to a fear of one’s loss of autonomy, specifically one’s reproductive autonomy. Furthermore, this plotline demonstrates Maas' consistent prioritization of her male characters at the expense of her female characters. Multiple factors make this subplot feel particularly uncomfortable and upsetting, but I can condense them into three main points that converge to create one frustrating scenario.

1. Rhysand and the Question of Choice

From ACOMAF onwards, the reader is made aware of Rhysand’s unusually progressive politics and his attention to the autonomous choices of women. This is demonstrated through his selection of counsel, appointing Mor and Amren in roles of authority, and eventually crowing Feyre as High Lady of the Night Court. In addition to this, we are shown his emphasis on choice through his interactions with Feyre. Rhysand repeatedly reminds Feyre that she can choose, that she can make an autonomous decision that he will respect. So, it is these positive features of Rhysand that make the pregnancy subplot of ACOSF so disturbing.

He, and the Inner Circle by extension, purposefully omit the information that Feyre’s pregnancy will turn deadly and never volunteer the information to her. During Cassian’s meeting with Rhysand and Amren, we are shown their thought process behind withholding information from Nesta (and Feyre by extension) According to Amren, it is not lying because they are technically not telling lies in the traditional sense, only withholding information.

While this is about Nesta, the reader can see the parallels between both cases. The choice to lie by omission reveals that both Amren and Rhysand are aware of the dishonesty of their actions, choosing to mitigate it slightly on a technicality. It feels distinctly like a loophole in Rhysand’s previous promises to Feyre, making this act feel more deceitful while demonstrating Rhysand’s willingness to undermine Feyre’s authority as High Lady. If Rhysand had a condition or illness that would eventually kill him, informing him of it would be certain, you wouldn’t even consider the possibility of not telling him. However, because Feyre is pregnant, she is not afforded the same autonomy.

Wanting to keep Feyre in blissful ignorance is not a sufficient reason, especially when Feyre is still of sound mind and can advocate for herself. Rhysand’s reasoning sounds noble, but in reality, it is just benevolent sexism. It doesn’t matter if he thinks it will cause Feyre stress, she NEEDS to be aware of what’s going on and the fact that the news will ruin her peaceful pregnancy is of little consequence when her life is on the line. Rhysand prioritizes his feelings and implicitly gives himself executive authority over Feyre’s pregnancy, demonstrating his disregard for her autonomy and choices. This action directly contradicts the progressive beliefs Rhysand stated in previous books and is a betrayal for the reader as well as Feyre.

2. The Infantilization of Feyre

The omission of this critical information, good intentions or not, is based on a belief that Feyre would not be competent enough to handle such a pressing situation in her pregnant state. Amren claims that the stress and fear could have physically harmed Feyre, but such a claim assumes that Feyre would not have the fortitude or ability to handle the situation.

Amren's explanation demonstrates a belief that Feyre's input on the matter would be irrelevant and pointless because it prevents Feyre from offering any. It is a plan that assumes Feyre will not be able to add anything meaningful to the solution and that it would be less harmful to her if she was kept out of it. This is infantilizing and paternalistic because Feyre has proven herself to be capable of coping under pressure and happens to be an unprecedented magical anomaly. Feyre’s access to pertinent medical information should not be revoked and it is insane that Madja her physician, actively misleads her with Rhysand’s consent.

This infantilization of a pregnant character echoes how pregnant women have been infantilized throughout history. It is a terrifying thought to imagine that your bodily autonomy could be stripped from you in the name of serving your supposed best interest. Rosemary’s Baby is one of the most famous horror movies of all time and it explores this exact topic, the same is true for the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, both stories capture the horror of reproductive/medical abuse that still happens to women today.

3. The Aftermath & Prioritizing Male Rage

Lastly, one of the most disturbing elements of this subplot is the way the text consistently prioritizes and coddles the violent rage of male characters at the expense of female characters. This is on full display when Rhysand flies into an intense rage after Nesta reveals the truth to Feyre. Although Nesta can be faulted for her harsh phrasing, let it be known that even Feyre felt that she did the right thing and was expressing her anger at the paternalistic and unjust practices of the Inner Circle. However, Nesta is still subjected to severe physical and emotional punishment in the form of a grueling hike where she is left to stew in her guilt and suicidal ideation despite Feyre ultimately not faulting her.

Feyre admits that Rhysand “majorly overreacted” and that she wanted Nesta back in Velaris. And yet, Nesta is still punished. But why? Will Rhysand or any of the Inner Circle be punished for betraying Feyre? Why, if Feyre agreed that Nesta was right to tell her, would she ever need to be subjected to a severe punishment when she was justified in what she did?

This is a particularly telling detail that compels me to ask: is this punishment about Feyre’s feelings or Rhysand’s? Why is it that Rhysand’s “overreaction” needs to be assuaged by punishing Nesta? What I observe from this passage is the characters prioritizing the feelings of a male character and placating him with the suffering of a female character, even when he wasn’t the one who was hurt in that situation. Feyre asks Cassian to tell Rhysand that the hike will be Nesta's punishment as though it isn't truly a punishment, but it undoubtedly is.

Throughout the hike, Nesta is in a silent spiral of guilt and self-hatred, Cassian never tells her that Feyre is alright and that Rhysand overreacted, letting her dwell in it alone. He hardly speaks to her, he pushes her to the point of exhaustion and is somehow surprised that Nesta shows signs of suicidal ideation.

This isn't constructive at all, it is not evidence that Cassian cares about Nesta's well-being, and the scenes of Nesta internally repeating that she deserves to die and that everyone hates her are nothing but gratuitous and disgustingly self-indulgent. The text basks in Nesta's suffering, even when she was in the right and this hike only happened to placate Rhysand who wronged Feyre in the first place.

Hindsight am I right? Fuck off. A more productive resolution to this matter would be for Feyre and Nesta to talk it out ALONE. Feyre could express her feelings to Nesta directly and they could find a solution together, that way Feyre’s situation could be centered on the two sisters working together. Cassian can see that Feyre is alright, she’s obviously upset, but she didn’t crumble like he expected and that makes it completely baffling that he would punish Nesta anyway. It’s a solution that prioritizes his and Rhysand’s feelings as opposed to Feyre’s, making it not about a perceived transgression against Feyre, but against Rhysand.

In Conclusion

This topic has already been discussed at length by many people in the fandom, but it is a topic that still stays on my mind with how upsetting it is. It is a stunning example of the misogynistic undertones in Sarah J Maas’s writing and makes reading a very straining experience due to her obvious bias towards certain male characters. Not even her main character matters when Rhysand is factored into the situation, his emotions are always centred by other characters and is permitted to betray his wife and get off scot free.

Feyre’s reproductive autonomy is violated, and Maas doesn’t bat an eye. But when Nesta rightfully reveals the truth to Feyre, everyone loses their mind. Both Nesta and Feyre have their autonomy stripped away from the, by way of the Inner Circle’s paternalism, and when Nesta advocates for herself and Feyre, she is punished severely. Being put in her place as the hierarchy is strengthened.

#a court of silver flames #acotar #nesta archeron #acotar meta #feyre archeron #amren #rhysand critical #rhysand #cassian #sarah j maas #acosf meta #anti nessian #close reading #acotar analysis #anti sarah j maas #anti sjm #anti inner circle

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elvenchevalier · 2 months ago

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Armored Core 6

Got a job for you, 621.

Wow. What a game. Now, I’m not very good at action games. I’ve always been a platformer kinda guy myself; where my friends would excel in the high-octane thrill of battle, I was honing my ability to get the funny Italian man to go wahoo really well.

So, as a result, Armored Core 6 was a challenge to start with. The first few missions went well enough. The tutorial mission’s boss is every bit as tough as it needs to be to convey to the player that you ARE expected to get good. If you can’t handle the tutorial boss, then the rest of the game will grind your bones to make its bread.

Of course, after the tutorial, you aren’t left with zero options. The shop opens up near immediately, and you can start building your mechs. The nice thing about Armored Core 6’s shop is that you buy and sell parts at exactly the same rate, so you never lose money if you decide you don’t like how a part or weapon functions. If the rifle cost 50k credits to buy, it will sell for 50k credits.

You can also save different loadouts, and if you sell a part that one of your loadouts uses, it prompts you to repurchase missing parts when you go to load it, with a single button press, so you don’t have to remember what parts you’ve sold or where in the ever-increasing shop list they’re hiding.

The loadouts are a fundamental part of what I believe is the main strength of the game: the wide variety of parts allows you to swap between different loadouts whenever you need to, and you will often need to because different parts are better-suited for different situations. Often, when you hit a wall and none of your current mechs seem capable of climbing it, the solution is to build a new mech.

The above fight gave me a ton of trouble until I built Bottlecap there. (She remained one of my best mechs for the rest of the game.)

Armored Core 6 is the first game in the series where each leg type fills a different niche. Quadrupedal legs can hover. Tank legs are bulky and can hold a lot of weight. Reverse-joint legs allow for high-mobility ground combat and ease of transitioning to air. And then you have your general-purpose bipedals. It’s generally wise to have one mech for each leg type at least, as between the four leg types you can cover basically anything the game has to throw at you. (I also recommend the smaller, miniature tank legs; they can’t hold as much, but their mobility outshines even reverse-joints on the ground—though unlike reverse-joints, their aerial capabilities are limited.)

It isn’t easy to make a true all-rounder mech that can do everything—indeed, I would argue that’s actually impossible, and you *are* necessitated to create multiple AC loadouts. But, again, I am not the best at action games, so maybe it’d just be impossible for me who knows. At any rate, I ended up making almost a dozen ACs and swapped between them regularly, based on my whim and on which mech would suit a particular mission—although by the endgame I was really focusing on my four top-performing builds (one with each leg type, natch).

These screens look intimidating, but the numbers—while important and should not be ignored outright—aren't the be-all and end-all of your build design. Your own skill as a player play an equally important role.

One thing that’s worth noting is that some missions are simply not viable on the first run. There’s an early mission where you have to fight a ground-based mech called the CATAPHRACT, and it’s next to impossible with the parts you have access to by that point in run 1. Building a new mech doesn’t help simply because you’re really meant to do missions like that in run 2 or 3.

Oh yeah, I didn’t mention: You have to beat the game three times to see the true ending. It’s absolutely worth it and not as much of a slog as it sounds, as the early missions do not increase in difficulty unlike the Souls formula games, allowing you to take your previous endgame mechs and steamroll them, and missions that seemed impossible become almost trivial.

Now, that all being said, unfortunately the game is not very clear about what’s a new or altered mission in NG+ versus what was already there. I had to follow a guide written by my friend to make sure I didn’t miss anything. And by “not very clear”, I mean it simply doesn’t tell you in any capacity that I could determine.

Think it’s about time I talk technical stuff before moving into spoilers.

The presentation is gorgeous. Graphics and music. And it should be, since half of the fun of creating an AC is painting and adjusting its look to your taste. You can adjust weathering, luster, reflectivity, each part has five distinct color segments and they can be colored individually or as a group with the entire frame. The same applies to the weapons any given mech uses. Five color segments, luster, all of it. You can also color those separately or as a group. With customization at that level, the graphics absolutely should be—and are—gorgeous to match. And then there’s the music—also incredible. Every NPC boss theme is jam-packed with emotion and they really serve to drive home what it means to be fighting them.

A notable thing about Armored Core is that you never actually see any of the characters. You see their mechs, and they talk to you a lot, but the characters themselves never make a single appearance. What this means is that each character needs to stand on their own two feet and can’t rely on appealing design to get by. This is, I believe, to the game’s benefit; imagining what these characters must look like is far better than having that knowledge. Walter is gruff and serious, so it’s easy to imagine him as a grizzled war vet type with a full face of hair. If it turned out Walter was a balding middle-aged guy with a goatee and a bad toupee, it would ruin him completely.

I’m a big fan of how the story ramps up the stakes over time. It never really feels like a huge jump up, but it always increases. I was kept thinking about the implications from basically the start of run 2. It’s very well-done, very organic.

[Here there was talk about endings and character stuff that I misinterpreted badly. I apparently missed some of the narrative being shoved into my face. so I deleted it because it was mostly wrong and misinterpreted nonsense. Gonna go lament the fact that my brain refuses to work before I get to my next game, I guess lmao. Next time I'll do my research and make sure I didn't miss anything before doing my writeups.]

All in all, Armored Core 6 was an amazing time, and for any fans of mecha or action games it comes completely recommended. I will for sure be sticking with the series going forward, and I may even go back to play others.

Rusty is best boy.

And because I am proud of them, here are my four top-performing mechs:

They are called Spiderlock, Pious Hammer, Sweet Tooth, and Bottlecap. View them, for I love them.

またまた～

#orion's media reviews #what a GAME #armored core #armored core 6 #Honestly I wasn't sure I'd be able to play this at first #because again I'm not great at action games #but i proved myself wrong! i loved this damn game #highly recommended #see you next time! not sure what i'm gonna finish next! we'll seeeeee

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emblemxeno · 1 year ago

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FE Support Conversation Rant, sorry this is really incoherent lol

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#rant #fire emblem #fire emblem discourse #fire emblem engage #fire emblem awakening #fire emblem three houses #fire emblem fates

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gx-gameon · 4 months ago

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I already did the DM cast but here’s what I think the Gx cast would be in DnD or in a Fantasy au. There is going to be a lot more multi-classing in this one

Jaden

I have agonized over Jaden because whatever he is, Aster is to.

Part of me wants to just make them fighters. They have the super hero decks (Aster’s basically Batman). Just let them be the people swinging it out without magic.

But that doesn’t feel right either. Jaden is so connected to spirits and the magic or Yugioh that it feels wrong to just send him out there with no powers.

And part of me was like make them Monks. And that is an option. Very spiritual, still has the fighting aspect. Even has elemental abilities depending on which way they go.

But (and maybe this is my bias showing) what about Druid.

Druids can shape shift. If you think about it what is polymerization other than changing one’s form. Jaden also has the elemental hero’s, the druids have elemental powers, he also has the Neo-Spacians many of which are based on different animals.

Jaden is a circle of the moon Druid and he absolutely abuses it.

He’s casting lighting and then transforming into panther to just take full advantage and scare the bejabers out of any opponent. At a high enough level he can just become an elemental beast.

It’s so broken and over powered it’s not even funny. Yes he is still physically fighting. But I feel the Druid matches Jaden’s use of spell cards in the show while also making him over powered enough to handle most of the groups problems.

Yubel

Is also a Druid, not really but listen to me. Yes they are a fiend or spirit Jaden speaks to. Yes they are an antagonist at some point

But when Jaden fuses with them he gains access to circle of Dreams. This is a replacement for the general darkness ablities.

He’s can command shadows to hide himself and the party. He can pass between dimensions to get from one place to the next (it functions like teleport) He’s able to communicate with people in their dreams, or torture them with nightmares. He can move people around during fights and heal other party members.

Circle of Dreams is very support heavy. Keeping yourself and party safe and healed and feels like a protector like Yubel would be.

Should Jaden be allowed to be part of two circles, no. Is he going to be anyways since he has two souls in one body. Yes.

Hasselberry

Barbarian

He already goes into a blind rage when his Dino-DNA kicks in.

He’s a little too perfect for the role.

Alexis

Cleric.

She’s got the religious theme already with her Cyber angels.

She’s also in a support role. She’s making sure her brother and friends can keep fighting.

Zane

Artificer

Uses a mixture of tech and magic. Creates weapons to fight/support the ‘team’

He’s working on making a Cyber Dragon. It’s his ultimate goal.

He just can’t seem to make a powerful enough dragon. Everytime he tries to make Cyber End Dragon, he just can’t do it.

He comes to the conclusion that this is because he does not have enough magical power.

Instead of asking for help he looks for a new way of gaining power

Multi-classing into a Warlock. He makes a pack with a Dark entity. They give him more power but at the cost of his heart.

Syrus

Artificer

Just like his brother he loves to work with magic and Machines. He was inspired to become an Artificer because he looks up to Zane.

His creations are more childish, and he is often mocked for them. Zane tries to convince him to create more serious creations

Once he meets Jaden and the others and gets more comfortable with his own powers he gains confidence and his inventions start working.

In the end him and Zane (after breaking his deal with the Dark entity) work together to create Cyber End Dragon.

Chazz

Sorcer

He’s overly proud of his bloodline and thinks he’s superior because he was born with magic. Only to be shown up by a guy who likes to live in a hut (Jaden)

He can’t study to gain new powers he’s locked into his birth magic. So how does he improve?

Say it with me, Multi-classing.

I think it would be funny for him to become a bard to follow in Atticus’s footsteps but I also think he’d make a great rouge.

Starts as an overly proud magic user and then switch to someone who only wears black, and relies mainly on the skills he’s learned when traveling with his friends. His magic still comes in clutch but he’s grown past thinking he’s superior for just having it.

Bastion

Wizard!!!!

This boy loves to study. He loves to learn. A wizards whole thing is they have to study to learn how to do magic.

At first he feels very out of place because everyone else is so good at their branch of magic or their skills and he feels like he’s falling behind.

But over time he starts to amass a large collection of spell books (the gang defiantly looks for them anytime they are in a new environment)

Over time he’s able to master high level spell and stand next to his friends in his own power.

Atticus

There is an obvious answer to this one and I will get there but first

Paladin (stay with me)

Sworn to the Red Eyes Black Dragon

Something about him and Alexis being Cleric and Paladin siblings just feels right.

Maybe by becoming Nightshroud he broke his oath and that is why he is so much weaker.

Throughout the story he’s working on atoning for his crimes as Nightshroud to restore his oath.

During this time, to become more helpful to the crew and just because he wants to (he’s trying to do things he enjoys after his time as Nightshoud) he multi-classes as a bard.

Until he can restore his oath he’s mostly doing bard magic.

Aster

He’s also scoring in as a Druid.

I don’t know if he should also be Circle of the Moon and him and Jaden have a rivalry over who does it better. (Aster cares way more than Jaden does. Asters pulling off powerful spells and transforming into powerful creature and then turns to Jaden like “top that” Jaden transforms the enemy into a mouse, transforms himself into a hawk, scoops it up and throws the mouse off a cliff. The fight is over in seconds. Aster thinks he’s a genius Jaden thinks of himself as funny)

But I’m also thinking about making Aster a different form of Druid, Specifically a Star Druid.

Circle of Stars. Allows you to make yourself or opponents glow. Transform into constellation forms; the archer (combat) chalice (healing) dragon(fortitude/concentration/movement) at high levels you can easily switch between forms and be flying around as a comic thing.

They have a whole relationship with the stars which feels more like Jaden with the Neo-spacians until you realize it’s all related to divination and Aster and his relationships with Destiny fits it much better.

Jesse

Either a paladin or ranger

If he’s a paladin his patron is Rainbow Dragon. He has an oath to protect the Legendary Crystal Beast

He is more than their protector he has become part of their family and the Beasts are just as protective as him as he is of them.

He’s a ranger. Instead of having 1 companion he has 7. The Crystal Beast are connected to Jesse by 7 Gem stone he keeps with him at all time.

Maybe he finds the Crystals throughout his life. The legendary creature choosing him as their companion and family member.

His goal is to find all the Crystal beast (maybe he starts the campaign with only Ruby and has to find the other crystals through the story) and the final goal is to find and free the Rainbow dragon

Both are great options. One has him coming in as a powerful paladin and the other has him growing as the story goes

Maybe make him multi-class. Start as a ranger and then once he find all 7 crystal beast he specks into paladin to better protect his family and search for rainbow dragon.

Make him Druid 3 this time a circle of Shepard allowing him to command an army of animals. (Funny that he Jaden and Aster are all Druids) but I think I like the Ranger plan.

Jim

Again a ranger

His companion is Shirley the Crocodile.

He’s a tracker and hunter. He definitely has a fascination in legendary and ancient creatures

Axel

I have three thoughts; Artificer to bring in his guns or a pure fighter or monk.

I don’t think he’s an Artificer. He’s tech savvy but it’s not a passion.

I kinda like him as a pure fighter.

Coming in to this group of heavy spell caster and being like “That’s great. How many of you know how to throw a punch.” And just whips them all into shape.

#yugioh gx #jaden yuki #judai yuki #jesse anderson #johan andersen #alexis rhodes #atticus rhodes #syrus truesdale #zane truesdale #tyrano hasseleberry #bastion misawa #jim cook #axel brodie #chazz princeton #aster phoenix

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