#;interrogation methods

[tearlessrain]

kind of wild how much fiction still treats torture as something that objectively works when every study has shown that it does not work at all and is possibly the least effective way to get correct information

[ew-selfish-art]

DPx DC AU: Danny learns that he can change his summoning ritual and decides to go chaos mode with it i.e. A viral tiktok trend.

Danny ascends the throne and it's honestly pretty alright as far as new jobs go. He states a few opinions, makes sure no one goes to war and is slowly integrating a community service sentence to Walker's prison. It's not a bad gig, and considering the troves of gold he's now owner of, it doesn't pay too shabby either.

His main problem with the job isn't even his constituents (he likes to think they would vote for him over pariah), it's all these loony death cults! They keep summoning him with Pariah's old cold sign and it's driving him insane- After a very unhelpful smirk by CW, a long study session in GW's library and some help from Ember (she knows drama like no one else) Danny finally has a new summoning ritual.

Of course he swapped out the blood and bone for like, sour gummies and random shit he had in his backpack at the time. A TI-84. And yes, the Latin chant is that one super-fast bit of Rap God preformed to a BTS dance at speed.

But rather than keep this to himself, he gets Sam (who has a thriving plant and protest community following) to record her completing this ritual and Danny being summoned. Why? Cause it was a very specific to Sam skill that they didn't know if people could replicate and it gives Danny some plausible deniability that he tried to make it difficult when CW asks.

Posting it makes it very quickly go viral as people attempt to call it fraudulent but sure enough, Danny is now traveling the world at a moments notice.

Which is great cause it's summer and he's bored in Amity anyway (He's going to change it before he starts university in September, duh), and its even better because the second a lame ass death cult brings him forward to, like, destroy the planet, a slumber party or influencer has already summoned him away. Shit, he even met a few celebrities this way! Plus, turns out that most death cultists aren't able to rap!

Reality hit him pretty hard when he got summoned to an office space that is clearly a base of operations and the summoning spell locked him in. Literally, he has no idea how to get out of this binding spell- Danny definitely hadn't realized that was an option. Taking in the Justice League members in front of him, plus one trench coated menace, Danny groaned for a moment before thinking to ask:

"Wait- Which one of you was able to do Rap God? And the dance? Please tell me someone thought to film that!!"

[varpusvaras]

Senator Organa is already in the interrogation room when Vader arrives.

He doesn't look afraid, either. Vader can almost respect it. He would've, in different time. He had liked Senator Organa, back then, and he had thought him to be a man with sense. He had thought that he had understood the situation and accepted it, and had done his part in the Empire.

Instead, he had been deceiving them all. Most of all, he had been deceiving Vader. Stealing from him. Taking what belonged to him.

He should've been very afraid. But he isn't.

That is not bravery, nor is it even integrity.

It is merely stupidity.

"Senator Organa", he greets him first. He shouldn't have. Everyone should be bowing their heads when he walks into the room, if not out of respect, then out of fear.

He has a feeling that Senator Organa feels neither towards him.

"Lord Vader", Senator Organa greets him back. Voice level, if not a little tense. He is awaiting some news, but he doesn't now what they are, yet.

Vader is not going to give him anything.

"Let us get straight into the point, Senator", Vader says. "You were hiding a Force-sensitive child in your home. A Force-sensitive child that belonged to Anakin Skywalker."

The name feels strange to say out loud himself. Foreign. Like he is speaking a different language altogether.

Senator Organa lifts his head up a little. A defiant little gesture.

Vader waits for him to answer. To see if he is going to try and deny it.

"If I may, my Lord", Senator Organa says. "I wouldn't say we were exactly hiding her. She is the Princess of Alderaan. She has been a public figure since she was brought into the family. I, at the very least, was under the impression that both you and the Emperor knew of her."

"But you were hiding her true identity." Senator Organa may have been able to circle around his first point, but he can not do it for this one.

"She was legally adopted", Senator Organa says. "She is an Organa, now. That is her true identity."

Vader clenches his fist. The hand and the glove make a harsh sound in the otherwise quiet room.

Senator Organa does not look afraid.

Vader hates it.

"You hid her true parentage", he accuses. "She belongs to the Empire, not to you. You had no right to take her."

There is a shift on the Senator's face, finally. He still does not look afraid. No, instead, he just looks a little frustrated, or perhaps exasperated.

"She is a baby", he says. "She had barely taken her first breaths when she was placed in my arms. She had no one else at that moment. I did what was right."

"You should've only done what you needed to do", Vader says. "And what you should've done was to bring her to the Empire."

"She is a baby", Senator Organa repeats. "She needed to be taken care of. She needed to be fed and clothed and loved. I did what was right for her."

"That was not a decision for you to make."

"Whose was it, then?" Senator Organa stares right into Vader's eyes. "Whose decision was it, then, Lord Vader? She had no one else. And certainly, there were no Imperial officers around to tell me what to do, either."

He sounds accusing, now. Like he is accusing Vader of not being there.

Like he is accusing Vader of-

Vader leans over the table. He is taller now than he had been before, and if he had garnered respect back then, he definitely does now.

Still, Senator Organa does not look afraid. Just like the Queen had not.

There is a look in his eyes as he watches Vader. Like he is trying to see through the mask. Like he is expecting to see something behind it.

Like he knows.

But he cannot know.

Everyone who had known who Vader had been before, and had known Senator Organa as well were dead.

Vader had seen to that himself.

Apart from one person.

The person who is responsible for what Vader is, now.

"There is, now", Vader says. "The truth is out. And still, you continue to hide her."

"She is still a child", Senator Organa says. "She has barely taken her first steps. She is just starting to speak her first words. All she still needs is someone to take care of her. Not the Empire."

Vader had once thought Senator Organa to be a wise man.

Now he thinks he is only a fool.

"I am choosing to ignore your platant disrespect towards the Empire for a moment longer." It is a warning, one that Vader hopes the Senator will heed. For his own sake. "Though I must admit, you are correct on one thing. She is just a child. A child that needs someone to look after her. A child you are putting ahead of yourself and your wife."

Vader leans closer, as much as the table between them allows.

Senator Organa does not look afraid.

Fool.

"You would need someone you trust to hide her." Vader watches Senator Organa's face carefully. "Someone you know would care just as much. Someone you know would put her ahead of themselves as well. Someone you know, who knows exactly what they are up against. Someone who knows."

He bores into Senator Organa's feelings as he asks the next question.

"Is she with Obi-Wan Kenobi?"

There are many feelings swirling inside the Senator's mind. Together they create a whirpool that is trying its best to keep anything and everything from Vader's grasp.

"No", Senator Organa says.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi was there when she was born." Vader reaches towards the rushing waters. "He needed a place to hide as well. A place I would never know to search. A place that was too close for me to see. You hid him on Alderaan as well, and now that we have discovered you, you gave her to him to hide away."

"No", Senator Organa says.

Vader plunges his hand into the water and seizes it.

"Is the girl with Obi-Wan Kenobi?"

"No!"

It is the first time Vader has heard Senator Organa break at all after they had been taken from Alderaan.

Still, he speaks the truth.

Vader can feel it.

It is not the entire truth, though.

There is something else. Something Vader can not quite grasp yet.

He will find it out eventually.

There is nothing that will be kept from him.

Not about this.

Vader pulls away. He leans back and watches as Senator Organa draws in a deeper breath to center himself again.

He looks slightly shaken, but still not afraid.

"Why continue this?" Senator Organa blinks as he focuses back on to Vader. "Why draw this out unnecessarily? We both know that eventually, the Empire will get what belongs to it. You could make this all a lot easier for yourself and everybody else."

"She is a child", Senator Organa says. "We are doing this for her own good. She needs to be taken care of-"

"The Empire will take care-"

"She needs to be loved." Senator Organa interrupts him. There is a righteous, irritating tone in his voice as he continues to speak. "She needs to be loved. The Empire cannot do that. She needs people to love her, to hold her, to nurture her."

Vader hates him more and more with every word.

If Senator Organa had been a wise man, he would've stopped there.

But he isn't.

"I watched her mother take her last breath, at the same time as she took her first." Vader has never hated anyone as much in his life. "She spoke to us about the life she had planned, about the nursery with sunlight and the crib next to a window. About the life she would've given to her, had she had the opportunity. She told us about that all because she was my friend. I had known her since she was barely an adult. We could've given her daughter everything she wanted to give her. To give her the life she wanted for her."

Vader knows nothing but hate as Senator Organa looks at him, through the mask, right into what is beneath it.

"She would've wanted her to be loved", Senator Organa says. "You know that."

If he had planned to say anything more, he cannot do it, as air is being seized from his lungs as his throat is being crushed. He does not even make a noise as Vader tightens his grip.

It would take just a little more. Just a little twitch of his fingers. That is all that Vader would need to do to.

He does not do it.

Instead, he releases his grip. Senator Organa does make noise now, as he gasps raspily, his body falling forwards towards the table as he does so.

"Consider yourself lucky, Senator Organa." He looks up at Vader as he speaks, and tries to halt his gasping. "That I still have a need for you. Perhaps you speak the truth when you say that the girl is not with Kenobi. But there is still something more you know, and I suspect that it is Kenobi's location, even if the girl is not there. I'm sure that we will come to an understanding about this all sooner or later. Perhaps the Emperise shall be merciful towards you and your wife at the end of it."

Senator Organa does not say anything, too busy to trying to breathe through his battered throat.

"Though I must tell you", Vader says. "That the same mercy will not apply to the one who has the girl. They will be tried the moment they are discovered, and it will lead to their end."

Senator Organa looks at Vader, and he looks afraid.

Interesting.

Vader turns, and leaves the room without another word.

[letthestorieslive]

Derek + 11 - scenerygasm, requested by @oldefashioned

(from this ask game, you still can request one too !)

[leavemeal0newithmym0ss]

*Literally less than 1 second later*

🤨 📸 

[piracytheorist]

It's in the nature of being in the fandom of a spy-themed medium that you'll see takes from fans that go like "torture is an effective method of obtaining information".

That said, it doesn't mean I'm gonna shut up about it. Cause it's not, a lot of media that portray it as such do it as a form of copaganda and of making torture more acceptable to the general public. High criminal organizations (including police and military) are very aware that torture doesn't work for information. They use it as a form of punishment, setting examples, and control. Also, the people shown to be tortured in such media are, in real life, usually much harder to crack, super loyal to their cause and when tortured they can spew any kinds of lies that will make the pain stop. And so the criminals tortured someone just to get a flat out lie out of them. Negotiations and bribes can actually be effective, because through discussion you can fish a truth out of someone, and no one is immune to the promise of a better life.

And with media perpetuating the narrative that torture is effective, it only makes torture more palatable to the general public and thus giving such organizations a "pass" to torture people, including innocents. Cause hey, in the tiny case that by torturing this person we can get how to save other hypothetical victims, torturing them is worth it, right? Even if we don't have concrete evidence that that person knows something, right?

[they-hermes]

‘tex design

[spiderwarden]

Y’know… *stirs tea* For all of those Drow OCs out there I hc that the Paladins of Lolth were culture and religion enforcers… for those who want to write secret follows of Eilistraee or anyone thinking of rebelling in the Underdark, that means they can shit their pants when a literal rebel hunter like Minthara shows up. (Let alone the LEADER of said rebel hunters.)

[befuddled-calico-whump]

If each of your whumper ocs were to get whumped by another of your whumper ocs, who would be the most effective whumper for whom? (Assume they're all separate situations, so the answers don't affect each other.)

Mercury would probably be most affected by Peter, due to his general unpredictability and not having much reason behind anything besides "I'm bored". She enjoys structure, dammit.

Uriah... man, he wouldn't hold up against any of these guys lol. The Interrogator would probably be the worst. Just being brought to the brink of death over and over again, only to be healed and thrown back into the cycle.

Vic would be most affected by Mercury, hands down. Being dragged through bad memories and, once she's gotten enough practice, having his mind and memories altered, would be terrible for him due to how far out of his control it is.

The Interrogator... Probably also Mercury lol, for the same reason. They also wouldn't thrive with the Lex Treatment (borderline solitary confinement for a year, then forced to obey an arrogant twat)

Peter would probably have the hardest time with Vic. He's died plenty of times already, and in variously horrifying ways, so pain doesn't faze him too badly. But under Vic, he'd probably be constantly drugged/sedated (which he would hate), would probably be physically violated (hasn't experienced that before) and would be forced into a strict schedule/pattern of behavior (he hates having to follow rules or structure)

Greer is a tossup between Mercury and The Interrogator. Doubting his own memories would not be great, but neither would the repeated, unrelenting mutilation

[angst-is-love-angst-is-life]

…

The ever persistent need to hurt Barry won’t leave me alone until I make this post SO

Remember that scene in Coex when everyone’s planning how to break into the base? When Barry runs off to do recon and comes back telling Oliver there are dampeners around the whole facility? Can you see where I’m going with this :)

Welllll my gremlin brain has been thinking about this for years. It’s a wonder I haven’t written it already quite some time— how easy would it have been for him to ~accidentally~ run too close to said dampeners and get caught? :)) and of course he would be interrogated for information since there’s a bunch of other heroes running around (including the resistance that’s what they were called right? It’s been a bit) and obviously the bad guys would assume he knows something…

[arthurlightstar]

I think a big milestone in Gortash and karis’ relationship is like . They need to get information out of someone and Gortash is preparing himself to have to talk Karis out of torturing this guy. He’s preparing himself for a really long arduous explanation where he’s going to have to explain to a bhaalspawn who loves to kill and maim that torture is actually a really bad interrogation method and they can’t use it to get information. And Karis without prompting walks up to Gortash and is like “yeah so I think you should talk to this guy not me. I think he’ll like your vibe more. give him the old Gortash razzle dazzle if you need backup let me know and I’ll try chatting him up” and it’s instant heart eyes moment

[stairset]

Love the idea here that the other rebels' problem with Saw is just that he blows shit up and not the whole "torturing prisoners and endangering civilians" thing

[iridescent-glitter-dragon]

Absolutely living for how badly Nate and Sophie annoy Sterling in the Frame-Up Job

[dandelion-wings]

Razor is, as you can see here, still unbuilt, but I decided to test out the other three now that I've got Fischl built and they're a pretty solid team all on their own! Oz + Diluc is an amazing Overload combo (Bloodtainted Greatsword seems to be working out well despite being a 3-star weapon, since it really fits an Overload-specific team), and Bennett is as always a great support/healer. I do have the same problem I have with my Jean's Harem team, which is that I am always reluctant to use burst heals "too early" and then let characters die before I actually heal them, but that's something I need to train myself out of, so maybe having two teams where the only (significant) heals are bursts will help with that. I don't know exactly how Razor's gonna play with this group once he's built, but I have high hopes! Right now there's a gap during Diluc and Fischl's cooldowns where I peck at the enemy with Bennett in longer fights, and I could definitely see Razor filling that role as a backup DPS with his Pale Flame set and Wolf's Gravestone, or Bennett and Razor kicking Overload back and forth with their short-refresh skills. Plus all that Physical will give this team a little extra variety in damage types!

[kkoraki]

this variety of person fascinates me:

introduces self & communicates with you via email & voice call for several weeks regarding an event starring you, including getting a professional bio and photo

sees you in person for the first time right before the event

upon being introduced immediately asks for your pronouns (doesn't give theirs)

"I usually ask everybody that right away I don't know why I didn't before!"

proceeds to introduce you at the event using pronouns you didn't say