#Deeper Introspection

[bluebuddhacanada]

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[wizardofahz]

A Very Parker Christmas

Fandom: Leverage: Redemption Compilation: Moments in the Life of Leverage Fam A/N: Catatonic_Dwam on ao3 wanted to see Astrid experience a Parker Christmas, so here is Astrid being repeatedly flabbergasted.

Astrid strides down the hallway, eager to get to her hotel room.

Her time in Singapore thus far can be described by one word: wet. It's very like England in a way, except that it's also warm, which feels strange. The moment Astrid opens her room door, she can feel herself relax with the promise of a quick shower and dry clothes.

"Sophie said you're not coming for Christmas."

Astrid jolts at the sudden voice. The room is still dark, and she has her gun in hand before she realizes what's happening.

"Parker." Astrid exhales sharply, trying to come down from the spike of adrenaline. She puts her gun in its holster and her card in the slot by the door, so the lights turn on. "What are you doing here?"

"Sophie said you're not coming for Christmas," Parker repeats.

"I'm working a big case," Astrid explains. "I don't have time to fly to America, and--"

"Yes, you do," Parker interrupts. "I had Breanna hack a few computers. Eliot punched some people. You're free now." She speaks so casually as though she's not skating over so many crimes.

"And did that get me any admissible evidence?" Astrid asks skeptically. "Because I can't use..." She trails off as Parker pulls a handkerchief from her pocket.

"Do you want to be conscious for the plane ride back or not?" Parker asks.

Astrid eyes the handkerchief warily, knowing it's probably laced with chloroform or the like, and accepts her defeat. "You want me there that badly?"

Parker scoffs. "I don't," she says, but Astrid doesn't believe her. "It's my Christmas gift for Sophie."

"I think you want me there," Astrid says, unable to stop herself from needling her former nemesis.

"No, I don't," Parker insists.

"I think you do," Astrid persists. When Parker lifts the handkerchief once again, Astrid sighs. "Okay, okay. Do I at least have time to pack?"

"I already did it for you," Parker says as if that's a totally normal thing.

Astrid is still processing that weird statement when she suddenly finds her holdall flying towards her face. She twists quickly, grabbing the bag from the air before it can hit her.

"Parker!"

...

"Astrid, you made it!"

There's not a hint of surprise in Sophie's tone, and Astrid realizes that even if she didn't have a hand in it, Sophie must've known what Parker was up to. That does nothing to diminish the joy in her voice, and Astrid decides that makes being kidnapped in the middle of a big case well worth it.

"Happy Christmas," Astrid says as she steps in for a hug.

The tender moment is broken by a scoffing laugh.

"Happy Christmas." Parker laughs again as she shakes her head. "Don't be silly. It's 'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy birthday, Jesus.' You can't just smoosh them together."

"Happy birthday, Jesus?" Astrid mouths to herself, slowly digesting the words. She supposes it's technically not wrong, but it's also not something she's heard people say. Although one could never know for certain with Americans. Astrid looks at Sophie in confusion.

"When in Rome, darling," Sophie says with an indulgent smile.

"Steal a painting," Parker finishes. "Or an antique, or a statue. Or all three. Why limit yourself?"

"Parker!" Astrid says before stopping as she remembers she's outnumbered.

Sophie's smile somehow manages to simultaneously be supportive towards Parker and sympathetic towards Astrid. She puts a hand on Astrid's back and leads her to the bar area. In the background, Parker flits up and down the stairs. Astrid does her best to ignore all the activity and concentrate on her stepmother.

Sophie explains that Harry Wilson is away with his daughter for the holidays. Hardison, Breanna, and Eliot have gone to Nana's. Parker is sticking around for some reason that is "definitely not Astrid." Sophie says the last bit with the winking sort of tone that indicates Parker is lying but doesn't want to admit it.

Briefly Astrid wonders what Sophie's plans would have been if Parker hadn't kidnapped her. Had she made any, or had she known what Parker would do from the beginning? Of course, that was all predicated on the fact that Astrid was busy with her case. Or did it not matter? Was Astrid going to end up in New Orleans no matter what? It's enough of a headache that Astrid stops thinking about it.

Finally, the reason behind all of Parker's activity is revealed. "Help me with the tree," she says, which is a perfectly normal statement coming from just about anyone else.

Astrid should've known better. She stares, jaw dropping at the boxes filled with millions of dollars of loot.

Parker haphazardly begins placing her loot on the tree. Astrid picks up the Lion of Gilgamesh and feels wrong, complicit somehow. She cannot bring herself to place it on the Christmas tree, tempted as she is to slip it into her pocket and smuggle it back to its rightful place. But there is so much loot. She can't do it with all of them. And besides, does she really think she could steal from a thief?

Astrid does feel a hypocrite, standing there as she is with a stolen diamond hung around her neck. But still, she had declined, quite vehemently, the stolen ring that Sophie had tried to give her for her birthday. She still has limits.

Doesn't she?

Sophie hasn't joined in. She remains seated at the bar, watching the dilemma clearly playing out on Astrid's face. "It's your choice, darling," she says.

It's not the first time Sophie has said as much to her, and it certainly won't be the last. Reconciling with Sophie had been one thing. They have enough history to build a bridge between their two sides of the law. But now here she is being adopted into Sophie's family of criminals. Astrid takes in Parker's expectant look and sighs.

She places the Lion of Gilgamesh on the tree.

...

Christmas, it turns out, is a big deal to Parker.

She's not being over-the-top and in-your-face to mess with Astrid. She treats Christmas like someone reclaiming the childhood wonder that was stolen from her and is apparently determined to have Astrid do the same. At one point, Astrid checks her phone for any updates on her case. Parker hisses at that. The next thing Astrid knows, she can't find her phone or her laptop anywhere.

On the night of Christmas Eve, Astrid literally gets roped into doing a rooftop tour of New Orleans. Parker claims they are scoping out the best routes for Santa. Astrid yelps a few times when Parker pushes her off a roof, but she's pleased that she never outright screams.

Later when Sophie asks, Astrid admits it was fun, certainly more adrenaline-inducing than the Christmas crackers of her youth.

They don't exchange gifts on Christmas morning. Apparently the crew had already planned to do it when Hardison, Breanna, and Eliot return on Boxing Day.

Astrid feels woefully unprepared. She hadn't known she was going to be in New Orleans for Christmas.

"You're here," Sophie says as if that's enough.

Astrid and Sophie don't quite manage a turkey, which Parker insists is a Thanksgiving dish anyway, but a hearty stew makes for a decent substitute along with some roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding. Parker contributes a surprisingly accurate gingerbread replica of the Tretyakov Gallery.

When Hardison, Breanna, and Eliot return the next day, Parker finally decides that Astrid is allowed to resume working on her case. Along with her laptop, Astrid finds some intel that Breanna had found during her hack. She settles down at the bar and gets to work while the others do their gift exchange.

Parker sidles up beside her. "January 17."

"What?" Astrid looks back and forth between Parker and her laptop, wondering how it's relevant to her case.

"That's your Christmas present to me," Parker says. "I'm going to steal a Caravaggio from the Uffizi on January 17."

"And you're telling me because?" Astrid asks, all thoughts of her case now gone. She very much doubts Parker wants her to help in any way.

"I want the full works," Parker says as if she's ordering a pizza. "Thermal scopes, guards on overlapping and rotating schedules, everything. Do your best. Gotta make it epic for the hat trick." She slaps Astrid on the shoulder and then hops off the stool to go re-join Hardison by the Christmas tree.

Astrid rubs her shoulder--Parker is strong--and starts thinking about the Uffizi Gallery. There are three Caravaggio pieces there. Then Parker's words register.

"Wait, hat trick? You've stolen two?"

[tuupii]

too catholic to reblog memes about the pope's death but not catholic enough to not read gay priest fanfictions

[genericpuff]

Why is the art so unappealing in lore Olympus now Persephone looks like a highlighter and maybe it’s just me but the proportions like the fingers in arms are soul over the place I don’t think they used to be this bad. Am I just looking at it with nostalgia or am I crazy ?

Honestly, nostalgia does play a huge part in it, even to this day there are times I look back on old S1 panels and go-

Actually here's a great example that literally just happened yesterday in the ULO Discord that nearly had me on the floor LOL This is from Episode 70:

Like I didn't even believe that that was real until I was told what episode it was from and I was just. Astounded and flabbergasted. The over-shading of the blanket that just makes it look like a really bad edit. Insane.

And yeah, there are a lot of old panels that hit different now that the rose-colored glasses have been removed, crushed, and thrown into the trash compactor.

I think that's why it makes it all the more amusing when people come into my inbox and ask me "wait, why did you like LO to begin with?? It's always been ugly as shit, I think you're just romanticizing it" because like... there's something to be said about art and subjectivity, even if something is ugly to one person doesn't mean it isn't beautiful to someone else. It's why I try not to be too mean towards the fans of this comic for still enjoying it, because while I definitely have strong opinions about how "LO has gotten worse" and what kind of following Rachel has cultivated (cough cough), there are also just as equally valid arguments that LO has never begin good to begin with that I can't necessarily disagree with now that I'm looking back on it with a more critical eye.

That said, there's tons of media that I enjoy that is objectively awful. Like y'all, you don't need to take my opinions about a dumb pink x blue fantasy romance comic seriously, I like Starfox Adventures-

Like yeah it's a badly made rushed piece of shit that was developed right on the ass end of Rare's glory days and was really an original IP (Dinosaur Planet) that got Frankenstein'd into a Starfox game so it could "sell better" for Nintendo, but I don't give a fuck, I love Starfox Adventures and some day I wanna be in the top 10 speedrunner leaderboards for it, which I know doesn't mean much because no one is speedrunning Starfox, but I do and no one can take that away from me dammit-

Anyways. Lore Olympus has, in many regards, always had "bad art". But "bad art" can and should still be enjoyed by those who find joy in it.

And in LO's case, the world it existed in when it launched was a lot smaller than it is now - more specifically, the world of Webtoons. We can look back and see how 'bad' LO looks and reads now because there are genuinely way better comics surrounding it. It was unique and refreshing and experimental back then... now it's just "that stupid blue and pink comic for horny teenagers".

In most cases I would consider that "cringing in hindsight" feeling a good thing because normally it means something has grown and that it seeming "bad" in hindsight would mean that it's outgrown itself and moved onto bigger things. But LO has the more unique problem of "its current stuff is shit and it's making us want the old stuff more, even if the old stuff wasn't good either". In that regard, LO is closer to being like Harry Potter. Remember when The Cursed Child came out at the height of Rowling being exposed for being a TERF and even people who liked Harry Potter didn't like The Cursed Child because it was just objectively worse overall (with or without Rowling's bullshit attached)? It made a lot of people go back and re-read / rewatch Harry Potter with a more objective lens and go "wait a minute guys, I think we only adored these books so much because we were 12 when we read them". Often times it's the good memories we have surrounding certain things that make us have the opinion about them that we do.

Of course, LO is definitely not as politically weaponized as Harry Potter is, so that's where that comparison ends. But my point is that LO is definitely in a situation where it's been riding off the same privileges it had back in 2018 - having an 'experimental' art style while also utilizing tropes and characters that were VERY popular at the time (remember that 2017-18 was when Tumblr was at its height of H x P "Hades was a chill accountant guy who wore socks and sandals and didn't cheat on his wife like Zeus did" fantasizing) - and thinks that those same tricks and tropes will still work today.

Because of this, the art in LO really, really hasn't aged well, even the stuff that we look back on fondly. But I think it's the panels that we specifically think of when remembering "old LO" - the ones that stuck in our memories the most - that are the ones that make us miss or just not care about the panels that don't look good (the panels that make people question why we ever liked it to begin with).

We liked it because of how it made us feel to look at panels like these-

Those genuinely wonderful panels that we think back on the most don't exist separately from the bad panels, they exist in spite of them. Even if we can look back on panels like these and pick out problems in the lineart or the proportions or the color travelling outside of the lines, that can't and shouldn't change how those panels made us feel at some point or another. And that's why when people ask me "why were you even into LO in the first place" I don't have any one answer, because I can't fully explain how something made me feel to justify why it's good to someone who can see from the outside - without rose-colored glasses - that it evidently isn't. It's very much a "you had to be there" type of thing.

Unfortunately, nowadays even the 'best' LO panels in S3 still don't come close to what the S1 panels accomplished - because for many of us, the rose-colored glasses are gone, we can't appreciate the good among the bad because we know now how bad it truly is and so the good just feels like wasted attempts at trying to recreate something it can no longer be. It "came back wrong" so to speak.

LO came back just regular. But our journey to resurrecting it changed us to such a degree that even its closest intimacies are now foreign to us. Sorry dude.

This is still probably one of my favorite panels out of the entirety of S3 for being as close to "old LO" as I've seen since S2, and even it feels like a mistake, an accident, how could a panel like this exist in S3 when so much of it is a dumpster fire? It's like a flower growing in the ruins of an apocalyptic wasteland.

But wasn't that always the case? Isn't that 'always' what LO has been, since the very beginning? A poorly cobbled together mess of writing and panels that, every now and then, manages to leave an impression that makes you feel something? Did we ever truly know LO? Or have we just been relying entirely on an idea of it that we've built up in our heads that when it does do exactly what it's evidently always done (even if not made apparent until looking back on it in hindsight) we think it "came back wrong"?

[woodlaflababab]

Currently thinking about Aang and Zuko in the NWT cave scene except instead of anything actually meaningful, I'm just realizing, Aang 100% could've gotten further/done more with his airbending then scooch across the snow like a worm.

He didn't actually have a full plan for getting away from Zuko, I think he legit just had a 'fuck you' moment and blasted Zuko into a wall for tying him up (same as he did to Zhao) before realizing, oh wait, I'm surrounded by snow and have no idea where I am. But he had to at least put up the pretense of continuing to try to get away because, again, Fuck Zuko for tying him up. But he really doesn't try past that. Zuko literally just tosses him aside and Aang's just like 'oh sure Ill lay here'.

That air blast was 100% a petty attack he disguised as an attempt to escape.

[finalfantasyandnerdiness]

Epilogue

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIII Pairing: Hope/Light Rating: G Words: 2.5k Summary: The epilogue and its aftermath told through Hope's point of view.

Hope’s heart was already pounding in his chest when the train he’d been waiting for finally came to a stop. He’d been standing outside the small station for about thirty minutes, and his pulse had been completely out of control the entire time. His emotional state kept switching between joy and terror, rarely landing on anything in between. He’d been dreaming about this moment for an entire millennium. If he screwed it up, he would never forgive himself.

A gentle breeze played with his silver hair, most likely ruining his weak attempt to turn the gravity-defying mess into something more presentable. He’d spent an embarrassing amount of time in front of the mirror that morning, navigating the fine line between too formal and too casual. In the end, he’d left the house in a button-down shirt and slacks, which was a decision he felt somewhat comfortable with. His hair, however, was a wildcard. He didn’t usually care all that much about his appearance, but on a day like this, he’d prefer looking like an independent researcher rather than an eccentric scientist.

At least it wasn’t raining.

The train doors opened, and there she was. Hope watched as she crossed the platform with confident steps, his surroundings fading away until all he could see was her. To him, she’d always shined as brightly as her nickname, but the inner glow she was currently radiating had to be visible to anyone. Her outfit was similar to his, leaning more towards casual but worn with far more elegance.

Warmth bloomed in Hope’s chest. Just by looking at her, he could tell that at some point during her travels, the seasoned soldier had finally put away her sword. When she gazed up at the sky and smiled, he knew that it had all been worth it. He’d nearly sacrificed his life, his soul, and his very existence to make this reality come true, and for that smile alone, he’d do it all again.

Read on AO3

[poorlymadesockpuppet]

A woman I work with, who is from Britain, just got her US citizenship. It took her and her husband, two fairly well-off people with savings and financial stability, a year to complete her citizenship. She said it was expensive and incredibly complicated, and something she was so relieved to finally have behind her.

When people say that illegal immigrants need to "get legal or get deported", they are speaking from a place of absolute ignorance as to how (intentionally) broken the system has become. For a "respectably" employed white British woman who speaks fluent English and has a degree (someone people may be more biased toward admitting in the first place), the process still took a year. Imagine a family struggling to learn a new language, a new job, new social expectations, trying to get on their feet so that they can even afford to begin that costly and time-consuming process. Without resources to help them untangle the complicated paperwork in a language they may not be fluent in or speak at all. Trump is getting rid of the few resources that did exist to help them enter LEGALLY, because the first elected felon does not care about the law, only that there are brown people in "his" country that he wants out.

Please don't speak out of ignorance. Have compassion for the courage these individuals and families have to venture into something so dangerous and uncertain for their futures and the futures of their children. The united states is not the promised land. These people are risking death to be humiliated and looked down on by people who haven't ever been asked to do something so brave for their own families.

I have never been asked to do anything half as courageous as my abuela did when she was fifteen years old traveling to a new world all alone. Can you imagine being looked down on, screamed at, talked to as if you're stupid simply because of the color of your skin or the language you were speaking? All of these things, she endured, and I wouldn't be alive if she hadn't. The courage of immigrants is a gift from God, a beautiful reminder of human perseverance. We see others who are willing to work hard and to fight for their families futures and it makes us ashamed of our complacent selves. Trump took advantage of that shame and fear and said to put it on our neighbors instead, but I will never be ashamed of the courage of the people who came before me, and I want to tell you that you shouldn't be ashamed of them either. Be proud to have so many beautiful languages in your streets! Be proud to have so many kinds of people in your cities! That's a gift from God, and nothing less.

"The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."

Leviticus 19:34

"‘Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’"

Deuteronomy 27:19

I am a Christian, and my conviction is that we as Christians are meant to follow this message, it is the word of God. Loving our neighbors and dying to your own desires daily has never been easy work; nevertheless, God did not give us permission to ignore His commands and deny the humanity of His children, made in His image just because loving them the way he told us to love was too inconvenient.

[phagodyke]

in a hilarious turn of events my flatmate didn't even know I use any pronouns....

[famewolf]

made stew and brownies to leave at my friends' house for their return tonight! I've been watching their cat this weekend while they're away ... and if I wasn't obsessed with her before, I am now.

[multishipper-baby]

Random Onnie gender thoughts because they came to mind.

[chelleisamazing]

I finished the Pairing! 🩵🧡

[lavenderjewels]

Spoilers/Leaks for JJK 247❗️

I read this when I saw the fan translation was out and have been SO busy since, so my thoughts are everywhere. But Yuuji!!

Liked this chapter, although very sad over Higuruma (my favorite new character of the culling games ;-;). I expected many deaths with the Big Boss fight and unfortunately he had a lot of death flags and not much of a future :( Despite the Nanami comparisons both from fans and in the manga, he’s been a huge comparison to Yuuji for me too, with their guilt, “death wish,” and desire to fulfill their role. Not a mentor like Nanami or Todo, but closer to an equal in their attitude and approach. His fate makes me curious to what Yuuji’s will ultimately be.

I actually think Higuruma’s death was fairly well done. It’s clever that Higuruma thought of using curses from dying to his advantage. One of the better (side character) deaths in JJK, although I’m slightly confused on how RCT works since Higuruma got it. Are Sukuna’s slashes too deadly and quick for Higuruma to heal from?? If it wasn’t for his last words being a way to strengthen Yuuji, I’d say there was a chance of survival, but that’s extremely unlikely.

I’ve only quickly looked online and have both seen comments that Yuuji isn’t fast enough to defeat Sukuna and also that the blood technique was Yuuji’s??? I’m not a powerscaler so I’m possibly missing things, but I don’t know what sprung up those???

Expecting Ino (part of that new gen.) and Choso to survive this fight. At least with Choso, he needs to live long enough for Yuki’s sacrifice to not be thrown completely in the garbage.

I’m enjoying this fight SO much more than the Sukuna vs Gojo (although not as much as the recent Takaba vs Kenjaku or Yuki/Choso vs Kenjaku) especially from the protagonist side, but I mostly want Sukuna lore soon. There needs to be something else to make his character more captivating if this fight will continue. Or else it might feel repetitive and uninteresting to have the same routine of characters dying to him. There were a LOT of fans making fun of Sukuna being a cursed or neglected child, but I don’t mind having backstory, especially if we get more into his whole thing with cannibalism. On top of that, the protagonists need a small victory or perhaps even an update on Megumi for the same reason.

I’m not sure if Yuuji has RCT, but I’m inclined to think that him being unaffected by Sukuna’s attacks was a result of either being a cursed object from Sukuna’s CE or (possibly) eating his brothers (also cursed objects). Love seeing Yuuji fight and I hope Higuruma’s death isn’t in vain.

Honestly, the way this chapter ended was very cliffhanger-y and I’m expecting something to go wrong OR a classic shift of perspective. I don’t have much else to say because the direction of this chapter depends more on what I see following it. Sukuna still hasn’t used his fire powers, revealed what the hell allows him to have those powers, etc.

Hoping for some good stuff in later chapters (sooner rather than later), mostly with Sukuna’s character or the fight progressing. At least there’s around a year left in JJK—need that to be enough to conclude this and Kenjaku’s backup plan (along with character conclusions).

[practically-an-x-man]

warm bodies my beloved <3333

[denniisa]

this probably means nothing but i find it really interesting that in dtamhd they focused so heavily on dennis' distaste towards new technology/apps. like. dennis has always been the one member of the gang that has wanted to embrace new tech. he got the flat screen tv, the fancy new blackberry, the new smartphone, the ipad, introduced everyone to streaming services. but in dtamhd he's so "i don't need another app". it's just clear to me that the app was referencing dennis' guilt towards the whole johnny situation ( the app that controlled the you know what with mac ). also the frustration towards new technology replacing old things like car keys referencing dennis' difficulty operating outside of a system that he created and how difficult it is for him to adjust to life after that system has been changed or altered in some way.

[painted-blackbird]

Look at him. Look at my new edgelord son, I LOVE him <3 <3 <3

(His outfit isn’t finalized yet but basically everything else is lol)

[hungry-hobbits]

i wanna write a 00silva fic where silva is like doing all this psychoanalytical work on bond and bond's just sat there like "nope. who cares"