#Exorcising and Exercising Demons

[langwrites]

[image description: a picrew-generated image of a tear-eyed, dark-haired person with yellow eyes and one hand raised as though to grasp an injured shoulder. the shirt is a nondescript gray. end description]

Look at this sad, pathetic creature. There's no way that blood isn't hers!

...Right?

What do you mean she splatted two people.

(this is a less-bloody version of how Kei appeared to the initial responders.)

picrew is here.

[kimberleyjean]

Good Omens S1 Parallels - 1/?

Saturday Morning Funtime is a particularly interesting episode for me, because it suggests something about the structure of parallels Season One. Also, it's easier to start with a single episode than trying to cover the whole show at once. I'm going to show you six different scenes from Saturday Morning Funtime and how they link together.

Let's start with the pun pointed out by Danny Motta in his video (link here to relevant timestamp if you haven't seen it). Danny made the link between this scene near the start of E4, where Aziraphale gets exercise:

And this scene at the end, where Aziraphale was exorcised (according to Shadwell, at least):

Cool, seems like a funny pun. But there's no way to know it was intentional right? Well, I think I can argue it was. Let's look at another scene.

We have this scene where Hastur destroys 3 Erics on the plains of Megiddo. Since each demon has a corresponding animal, I'm going to go ahead and place bets on the Eric's being rabbits, and Hastur destroys 2/3 of them.

And then later we have this scene where Hastur again destroys 2/3 rabbits, but this time they're cartoon bunnies - the first one he beheads like a costume, the second he rips out it's throat.

Ok, but again, why am I linking these two scenes? No deep character insights, or thematic elements are being displayed here... Except that's a key reason I'm pointing them out - they're seemingly pretty pointless, so why bother to make them? Well, maybe the sum is bigger than the parts. One more example and then I'll show you how this comes together.

Here's a scene which I think is pretty good foreshadowing of something that will happen later in the episode - Hastur and Ligur talking about the dripping pipes down in Hell. Hastur has a little bucket he's collecting water in, which he uses in a toast:

And later, we have this particularly gruesome scene of Ligur becoming toast at the hands of a bucket full of (holy)water:

Ok, so six scenes, three sets of parallels... now's where the magic happens... I take E4 as a whole... loop it over on itself like a piece of trick rope from Goldstein's magic shop and....

Tada! Here's the episode laid out in 2 minute increments.

Some pretty interesting places to have parallels, no? That two minute block at the start is a lead in before the opening credits, so the Exercise and Exorcism scenes are coming directly before and directly after the open and close sequence (shown above in blue).

I'd be lying if I said it didn't remind me of the overall chiastic structure that some people have worked on, such as this one by @drconstellation, just on a smaller scale.

It's also interesting to note that each of these parallel pairs relates to someone getting discorporated - Eric, Ligur and then Aziraphale.

What's the point?

So, I promised that I would share a little on why this might be important. In my opinion? It appears like there is some detailed structure to Good Omens, at least in S1.

It should also be noted that these scenes were added only for the show in order to produce this effect - Aziraphale exercising with Gabriel, Hastur and Ligur talking about the pipes, the three cartoon rabbits in the theatre - they were all newly created for the show.

Why go to the bother of creating these little parallel moments at corresponding points along a mirrored structure? Especially when these don't necessarily have ramifications for characters or plot? Is it just good story telling or is it something more? These are all questions worth asking in my opinion. I think it relates to how this show treats words and language in a very Pratchetty fashion. The whole show is a dedication to Terry, after all.

Of course, if things were so simple, I think we would have figured it all out long ago. Parallels, puns, wordplay... they're all quite slippery things. There are things I would consider to be parallels which don't line up with this same structure. For example, the scene from earlier with Gabriel and Aziraphale exercising? The "lose the gut" gut-punch foreshadows this other gut punch scene in E4 too:

Despite examples to the contrary, the presence of parallels and wordplay that do line up along a mirrored structure makes me want to explore this further. If you're also interested in this and want to collaborate, please let me know.

This will be a continuing series, as and when time allows, because parallels seem to be absolutely everywhere. Future posts will look at parallels at different levels (within scenes, across episodes, and across seasons).

Let me know if you spot any others - I'd love to hear about them. They might be hidden in the visuals, wordplay, puns and more...

----------------------

With thanks to all the detectives for keeping me clue hunting @embracing-the-ineffable, @theastrophysicistnextdoor, @noneorother, @somehow-a-human, @komorezuki, @maufungi, @lookingatacupoftea, @havemyheartaziraphale, @251-dmr, @dunkthebiscuit, and @ghstptats <3

[crowleysgirl56]

YES! It’s Good Omens episode four react time by Danny Motta.

This episode’s highlights include:

- Danny being unimpressed and confused about the whole Angels/demons dancing on the head of a pin sequence, then completely changing his mind when David Tennant turns up in his 70’s disco outfit.

- saying that he can’t believe Crowley is just going to “David Tennant his way out” of the confrontation with Hastur. Amazing.

- wishing Aziraphale would just go off with Crowley when he talks about leaving for Alpha Centauri and that they are 100% in love (Danny gets it).

- Danny spending WAY too long trying to figure out the avocado joke and just deciding “must be a British thing”.

- his facial reactions to Crowley melting Ligur, and when Newt and Anathema have sex are just the best!

- Danny realising in real time the amazing pun and foreshadowing of exercise/exorcise.

- Danny losing his shit at the end when Aziraphale’s shop starts to burn down.

- Danny saying this is his favourite show (correct answer).

Cannot wait for the next episode when he gets to watch Crowley’s reaction to the bookshop burning down.

[idiomagic]

A Partial List of Commonly Misused Words

Using the wrong word, or misusing a phrase, can have a huge effect on your life. It can keep someone from hiring you, cause you to fail a test, or make readers of your fics lose interest. Words matter. Here are some of the most common mistakes, so you can avoid them in your writing:

The phrase: dog eat dog world The meaning: people will do harm to others to get ahead themselves Incorrect: doggy dog world The phrase: bear with me The meaning: bear, here, means 'to carry' not 'a furry ursine' Incorrect: bare with me (this means 'let's get naked together') The word: conscious/conscience The meaning: conscious means awake and aware, conscience means an inner sense of good vs bad Incorrect: His conscious told him not to do the thing. He regained conscience after being asleep. The phrase: free rein The meaning: loosening your grip on the reins so a horse has more freedom of movement/direction or allowing a person/character freedom from restraint so they can do whatever they want Incorrect: free reign (to reign is to rule. a ruler already has freedom to act) The word: lightning/ lightening The meaning: lightning is an electrical discharge from the sky, lightening means to make lighter or brighter Incorrect: thunder and lightening The word: tidbits The meaning: small pieces of food or gossip Incorrect: titbits The word: breath/breathe The meaning: breath is what you exhale, to breathe is the verb form Incorrect: she took a deep breathe The word: spade/spayed/spate The meaning: a spade is a digging tool or a suit in a deck of cards or a slur, spay means to remove the internal genitalia of an animal to prevent pregnancy, spate means a torrent or multiple things happening in quick succession Incorrect: he couldn't make sense of her spade of words The word: tenet/tenant The meaning: a tenant is someone who lives in a rented space, a tenet is dogma, a principle or religious belief Incorrect: the tenant of her philosophy, landlords are cruel to their tenets The phrase: tough it out The meaning: to carry on with a task despite pain or difficulty Incorrect: touch it out, thug it out, tug it out The word: regiment/regimen/regime The meaning: regiment is a military formation, regimen is a strict plan of action related to health, regime is a period of dynastic rule Incorrect: my health regiment, the Trump regimen, etc. The word: exercise/exorcise The meaning: exercise is to work out, exorcise is to banish Incorrect: exercising one's demons, exorcising one's muscles The word: deprecating/depreciating The meaning: deprecating means disapproving or speaking poorly of, depreciating means lowering in value financially Incorrect: self depreciating, his stock portfolio is deprecating The word: heroin/heroine The meaning: heroin is an opioid drug, heroine is a female protagonist Incorrect: he is addicted to heroine, she is the heroin of this story Special note: a heron is a bird, not to be confused with either of the above The word: ulterior The meaning: hidden, something beyond what is obvious Incorrect: alterior motive (alterior is not a word) The word: weary/wary The meaning: weary means exhausted, wary means cautious Incorrect: she was weary and paranoid about his motives, he hadn't slept for days and was very wary The word: palette/pallet/palate The meaning: a palette is what an artist uses, a pallet is a wooden platform for loading goods, a palate is the roof of your mouth and is used idiomatically to refer to your taste for food/sensitivity to taste Incorrect: the gourmand had a sensitive pallet This is only a partial list, but hopefully this will help you be a better writer and reader! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you like what I write, I'm going through terribly hard times right now. Please reblog my pinned post, or toss a coin to my kofi if you can https://ko-fi.com/idiomagic

[shares-a-vest]

@flufftober Spring Edition Day 3: Spring Cleaning

wc: 518 | Rated: T for Canon-Typical swearing and language | cw: None

Tags: Spring Cleaning, Eddie Munson is a Menace, Steddie Dads, Discarded Toys, Childhood Toys

'Goodbye, Mr. Furby'

Steve opens his daughter’s double-doored closet only to be greeted by her demonic Furby. A formerly beloved and sought-after plushie that also terrorised the family with late-night chirping for far too long until he had worked out how to remove the batteries.

He shudders at the thought of the manual Eddie had managed to track down, filled with faceless Furbys being exorcised and deprogrammed. He reaches forward with giddy glee and plucks the toy from its quiet resting spot.

“We can finally get rid of this thing,” he beams, turning to Eddie who lingers at the door, “Goodbye, Mr. Furby.”

“That’s Abernathy Furby, to you,” Eddie quips, frowning.

He takes a swipe for the toy but misses when Steve swoops his arm out of reach.

Eddie stumbles back in, clutching his proverbial pearls and his eyes glisten with worry. He stands there shellshocked, utterly scandalised by the prospect of cleaning out this mess of an apartment.

Steve knew this wasn’t going to be easy. He had to gently suggest such a task throughout the winter months, exercising pain-staking patience until Eddie and Joanie would at least hear him out.

“Eddie,” Steve begins, pinching his nose with his free hand, “You promised you’d let me do some Spring Cleaning this weekend. Besides, you hate this thing as much as I do.”

He plays keep-away just to be safe, watching his partner intently as he palms around to open the designated donation box he hopes to fill today.

“Adios,” Steve grins, taking one last look into the soulless, mechanical eyes of the plush before he drops it into the dark abyss of the labelled cardboard box.

That cursed thing can be some other parent’s problem...

“What’s happening?” Joanie yells, poking her head in from the hall.

Steve freezes, his arm now midway between reaching back into her closet for another forgotten toy – this time a grey tabby cat that got chewed up by a very real cat mere moments after Nancy had gifted it back when Joanie was two.

He glances at Eddie for backup, only to be met with a raised, judgemental brow. His partner pointedly folds his arms and leans against the doorframe in defiance.

Steve can’t help but roll his eyes at himself because, yeah – of course, his family would put on a united front against him. And he was foolish to think Joanie’s homework obligations would outweigh her infinite curiosity that borders on nosiness.

“Uh…” he hums, floundering immediately as his heart races a mile a minute.

He watches as his daughter walks to the box and peers inside. She gasps and dives in head first, her haste almost tipping her into the box completely.

“Not Abernathy!” she shrieks, holding the demon spawn up as she rocks herself and the box back upright.

The toy chirps and blinks away earning a high-pitched yelp from Eddie.

“St-Steve...” he stutters, whimpering as he points a shaking hand at the sentient being.

Steve grimaces at the toy held firm in his daughter’s grasp, looking like it has risen from a cardboard grave, readying itself for the kill.

[plague-doctor-who]

Hey. hey idk when you'll be seeing this or whatever but it's late for me rn so if it's late for you as well (like after midnight or smth) then you should sleep.

Yea that's right I'm taking care of you it's take care of yourself time. Go love yourself. Go honk shoo and have a good night and the sweetest dreams and all the things. kiss on the forehead for you <3

And if it isn't bedtime then you should still love yourself, ok?? Go drink water, eat food, exercise, shower, exorcise a demon or two, brush your teeth, feed your pet(s), kiss a cute guy or gal or whatever else floats your boat, wash your sheets, go talk to a friend you haven't seen for a while, check the locks on the lost skeletal souls in your closet, fluff your pillow, love yourself, or whatever other self-care you might need right now.

I love you so you should love you too. it's important. so Do It. plz. idk I'm not your mom this is all optional but just think about it at least. ok bye gn byeeeee

[insanescriptist]

So Izzy is blaming Umei for this bit of inspiration

There's so many other things Jason should be doing at the moment. Breakfast, dishes, exercise. He's got things to do today: patrol, check-ins with the gang, weapon maintenance in the arsenal stored in that bitch of an attic.

Instead, he writes a line on a piece of paper. Then with a shaky exhale, writes another and sticks it on the fridge.

Two simple sentences.

Thanks for doing the laundry. Do you have a name?

Once upon a time, Jason Todd died. He had a funeral and then six months later, he crawled out of a grave, without even the decency to become a proper zombie.

He probably could have, he mused as he dissemble and reassembled his favorite gun without opening his eyes. He probably could have, if someone hadn't kidnapped him.

What Talia's plan had been at the time, Jason wouldn't care to guess, but she drowned him in a Lazarus Pit and then set him up with League tutors and tossing him at the monks of the All-Caste.

Fuck he'd still been such a stupid teenager. But well, aren't all teenagers?

Most teenagers manage to not land themselves a chronic anger management issue.

Jason kept a handle on it. Most of the time. He hadn't had black-out murder rages in months. His murder and crimes were mostly premeditated.

He kept in contact with his friends, occasionally chatted with his family and was slowly reconciling with them. Some more than others. It was awkward when he started noticing all was not well on the personal front.

The thing is, when you know you've blackouts before, have lost time and were trained by Batman in being a detective? You notice patterns and changes real fucking quick.

The mob was being more polite. He didn't remember meeting them lately.

His closet ended up with tailored suits. A tailor was on his payroll now. He didn't remember doing that.

He had mystically enhanced ammo and the exhausted fugue state after making it. He didn't remember ordering the equipment to make his own ammo.

His bathtub smelt strange. 12 fucking hours on laundry. His dryer had been used but not the washer. Nothing was damp.

The pits still seethed under his skin.

He did not need more crazy in his head. If he was getting a split personality, he wanted to know. Since clearly other-him was smart enough to spend money and do shit he had no idea how to do. The mystical ammo mocked him with its existence.

Two tense days later, as he checked the note on the fridge he had his answer.

Xanxus, the name read.

Written in bold strokes, the sort of calligraphic handwriting he had never learned. Jason wrote in cursive, but not like that.

That was a statement of a name.

Xanxus.... the name of the pit demon that lived under his skin. Which would explain why Jason still got bouts of Pit Madness. He was possessed.

Jason should be doing so many other things at the moment. Breakfast, dishes, exercise. Getting an exorcist. Seeing if a Pit Demon could be exorcised.

Instead Jason wrote another note.

And started a friendship with the demon under his skin.

[cyb-by-lang]

Chapters: 14/? Fandom: Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Naruto (Anime & Manga) Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Gekkou Keisuke (OC) & Tim Drake Characters: Gekkou Keisuke (OC), Tim Drake, Sanbi | Three-tails | Isobu, Bruce Wayne, Barbara Gordon, Dick Grayson Additional Tags: Movie: Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Specifically that flashback section that gave me nightmares as a kid, the joker dies, Barbara Gordon is Batgirl, Tim Drake is Robin, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Animal Death, Aftermath of Violence, Blood and Gore, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Segues into a Justice League crossover Series: Part 2 of Ash and Dust, Part 8 of The B-Plot

Chapter Summary:

Wherein Kei is too caught up in her own head to notice that the Justice League is genuinely Concerned(TM), and the medbay is again busy.

[cyb-by-lang]

wrong blog again, whoops

[image description: a picrew-generated image of a tear-eyed, dark-haired person with yellow eyes and one hand raised as though to grasp an injured shoulder. the shirt is a nondescript gray. end description]

Look at this sad, pathetic creature. There's no way that blood isn't hers!

...Right?

What do you mean she splatted two people.

(this is a less-bloody version of how Kei appeared to the initial responders.)

picrew is here.

[thenighttrain]

i always hear “hire a priest to come and exorcise my demons” as “exercise my demons” and i get a mental image of demons exercising like

[narrators-journal]

Ryomina pregnancy headcanons

Decided to give myself a little treat again. A little self-indulgent brownie. Something specifically for me. And this is it! Some headcanons to explore more of that pregnancy au I cooked up! Are they coherent? Probably not. Are they entertaining? I think so! And, I hope you enjoy them as well, because simple writing of the ideas doesn’t always exorcise the demons. I must share, even if it is nothing near serious.

Also btw, yeah none of this is meant to be taken seriously in relation to canon, characterization, or a known au outside of the one fic so far. This little ditty is built specifically out of shit I like about my Ryomina thoughts and mashed together for my own enjoyment when I feel like crap. Just take it as a laugh and maybe some fun food for thought for anyone who wants it.

CW: Pregnancy

Minato

He is stuck in a female presenting form due to magical horny shit, it is not legitimate mpreg.

Despite not normally caring about gender presentation, Minato grows very uncomfortable with being perceived as a woman while he’s pregnant.

Thanks to years of emotional repression and mental illness, the addition of out of control hormones is the equivilent of taking a sledge hammer to very thin glass.

Minato is insanely emotional while pregnant. From crying, to anger, to horny, he can swap on a dime and he tends to feel them pretty fucking strongly.

The pregnancy was nowhere near planned, and to some degree is mostly kept out of curiosity.

Mina does end up attached to the baby, though, so it doesn’t stay purely curiosity for him. Though he might go to his grave before he admits any enjoyment in the pregnancy in any way, shape, or even vague form.

Since Ryoji is not human, so much stronger than him already, and simply used to being attacked for his job, Minato is not at all scared to smack, punch, or bite his partner. At least when the mood swings first start. He ends up mellowing out on the attacks as the emotions are vented.

That being said, he is more often than not wracked with guilt for the outbursts.

Minato is in fact a spoiled brat during this entire thing, though.

As much as he might snap and make demands of Ryoji, Minato struggles to sleep without his partner there. Not only because he hates having to roll himself over or get up on his own, but because he simply enjoys being held.

Ryoji grows very, very, derangedly protective of Minato, and you can bet your sweet ass the wildcard is into it for multiple reasons.

Despite this territorial, homicidal level of guarding, Minato all but threatened his own health for Ryoji to let him stay with the SEES members in one of Mitsuru’s many side homes so that Ryoji didn’t end up completely isolating him.

He ends up getting extra therapy in preparation for the child.

While pregnant, Minato will resort to petty shit to get forbidden treats.

A few of his favorite petty tactics is to effectively stab a stick into Ryoji’s sexual appetite knowing full well his partner is too damned scared to screw him while he’s pregnant, hiding in the house, or simply talking to someone like Junpei knowing very well how territorial ryoji can get.

If pettiness fails, he can always cry on a dime until Ryoji gives him whatever junk food or weird craving he desires.

Ryoji

Thanks to being Death, Ryoji is an insanely nervous father to be.

Not only in his own capabilities as a parent, but also Minato’s general safety during the process.

Because of this, Ryoji will outright kill people for so much as looking too long at his partner, if he’s allowed.

Minato does not let him actually do it, obviously, but it is a very thin leash he’s kept on.

Outside of the anxiety, though, Ryoji is quick to adore and be happy to have a baby. Even if it was an accident, and born out of pure horny whim. Not like he’s going to tell his baby the method in which they were created, after all.

Ryoji nests.

He is also very strict about things like Minato’s diet, amount of sleep, or exercise.

Part of it is because he’s worried for the baby’s and Minato’s general health, the other part is simply out of his own desire to not share Minato with anybody.

Ryoji does know the general basics of how pregnancy works and how breeding works. That being said, the knowledge does jack shit against his fear that his attraction to his pregnant partner is universal, and that if any man so much as flirts with his partner, the baby will no longer be his.

That irrational type of fear, though this time surrounding his role as death god and shadow, is also what keeps Ryoji damn near celibate during the entire pregnancy. Minato hates it.

Ryoji may or may not have a slight bit of a breeding kink.

He puts on a bit of extra weight during the pregnancy that he can’t shape shift away, and the running theory as to why is that Ryoji’s some type of bird and putting on the extra weight for incubation.

That last point is mostly a joke for the SEES built on Ryoji having wings and liking to nest.

[prowishpriest]

How often does Scarab threaten to exercise Prismo per week and was it effective at first?

Another question, does Scarab need those glasses to read and how often does Prismo catch him with them? (Referring to the open ask post)

He didn't exorcise Prismo at first, because Prismo escaped. Scarab has aspirations to be an exorcist but he wasn't trained, so all he knows comes from his own research. He's not trying to exorcise Prismo anymore, he needs him.

He needs the glasses but usually wears contacts. He wears the contacts even more around Prismo because the demon tends to act weird about the glasses.

(Prismo likes them)

[liroyalty]

I know it’s a typo in your last post, but you sounded like someone who was nonchalant but happy to no longer be possessed by a demon. (exorcise vs exercise)

I can write a great story, but my grammar is dog shit.

But if someone would like to exorcise this demon within me, that would be great, his name is depression.

[mariacallous]

Domestic deployment of active-duty U.S. military, as is now taking place in Los Angeles, is both rare and perilous. Not since the 1992 riots in that same city has the country seen such a use of the armed services.. But that was a one-off. The more relevant, and worrying, parallel may be the period from 1957 to the end of 1968, when military forces actively patrolled U.S. soil on eight separate occasions. Perhaps the recent deployment is just the beginning—not a one-off, but a wave.

Those eight deployments resulted in just one fatality—a testament to remarkable restraint by the military. But many of the norms that fostered such restraint—bipartisan consensus, respect for institutional expertise, and well-planned rules of engagement—are today weaker, or gone altogether. What’s more, whereas U.S. marines were previously accompanied by Army military police trained in crowd control and de-escalation, they are now deployed alone, an unsettling break with past practice.

The 12 years spanning 1957 to 1968 were a period of great societal tumult and revolution, especially over race and the Vietnam War. Of the eight deployments, two were to enforce desegregation court orders, most famously at Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. Four were to quell riots, three of which were part of the numerous outbreaks across the country that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. And the remaining two were in response to protests: one to protect a famous 1965 march of civil-rights activists in Selma, Alabama, to push for the Voting Rights Act, and the other to tamp down a forgotten and chaotic attempt by anti-Vietnam protesters to blockade the Pentagon in 1967.

That 1967 deployment was perhaps the most extraordinary. In a surreal prelude to the confrontation, as the rock band the Fugs played, Abbie Hoffman and Allen Ginsberg chanted to levitate the building, turn it orange, and exorcise its demons—a ritual humorously sanctioned in the protest permit. (The General Services Administration did, however, stipulate that the Pentagon could be levitated no more than three feet, to protect the building’s foundations.) Although roughly 50,000 demonstrators marched to the Pentagon, about 2,500 took part in a direct assault on the building. They surged up the steps—some smashed windows and tried to force open the doors, while others hurled objects and splashed paint on the soldiers stationed inside. Military police from the 503rd MP Battalion formed the first line of defense inside the entrance, physically blocking and repelling protesters who briefly breached the glass doors and entered the foyer. As pressure mounted, commanders deployed paratroopers from the 1st Battalion, 325th Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division, who engaged demonstrators outside the entrance and helped stabilize the scene. By day’s end, 21 civilians were reported injured—seven treated at the scene and 14 hospitalized—but, remarkably, no fatalities had occurred.

Indeed, this absence of lethal force proved typical: The only fatality caused by active-duty soldiers during this 12-year period occurred during the 1967 Detroit riots. The low number of deaths is at least partly why, except for the 101st Airborne’s deployment to Little Rock, most Americans barely remember these earlier domestic military interventions. Even in moments of widespread turbulence, the active-duty military exercised restraint overall. By contrast, people remember the Kent State massacre of 1970 because it was a bloody failure by the National Guard, during which four students were killed. Indeed, during this period, many police and National Guard units responded to unrest with heavy-handed tactics that resulted in many civilian injuries and fatalities.

The Army’s conduct during these deployments was far from flawless. In addition to credible allegations of excessive force, the Army carried out extensive domestic surveillance, often tracking civilians and protest groups without legal authority or oversight. And although its own use of force was generally restrained, its involvement helped blur the line between military and police roles. That blurring contributed to a long-term shift in civilian law enforcement—one that encouraged the adoption of military-style equipment and tactics, and helped lay the groundwork for the sort of aggressive police force that is common today.

What accounted for the Army’s restraint? Although society was as divided as it is today, political elites were not yet polarized and still placed trust in apolitical expertise. Leadership and lawyers at the Justice Department and the Pentagon, and leadership in the armed services, worked closely with senior officers in the Army to develop standing operating procedures and situation-specific rules of engagement aimed at minimizing the use of force.

Notably, that restraint came from the Army specifically, especially the military police. Historically, Army military police and infantry have often been deployed together during civil disturbances, but with distinct roles. Military police typically formed the first line of engagement with crowds, given that their regular duties—law enforcement, making arrests, and maintaining order on military bases—most closely resembled domestic policing. Infantry units, by contrast, were positioned as backup. After these deployments, the armed forces updated their guidelines to reflect and summarize the practices they had been implementing. That document, Operation Garden Plot, stated that troops were to use “minimum necessary force,” be courteous, and “avoid appearing as an invading alien force.” Military personnel were prohibited from loading or firing their weapons without the direct authorization of an officer, except in cases of self-defense where lives were in immediate danger.

The Marines—who have a reputation for lethality—were deployed only twice during this period: once during the 1967 protest at the Pentagon, where they appear to have played a minor role, and again amid the violent unrest in Washington, D.C., following King’s assassination. President John F. Kennedy considered sending them to help desegregate the University of Mississippi in 1962 but ultimately declined. And the Marines were held in reserve on several occasions: after MLK won his battle against Bull Connor in the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama, campaign for desegregation of downtown stores, during which firebombings of a civil-rights headquarters and King’s brother’s hotel room had sparked riots, and during the 1963 March on Washington.

The reasons for the rareness of Marine domestic deployments are debated, but one likely factor is that past administrations may have considered the Marines’ reputed lethality ill-suited to sensitive domestic operations. Although Marine training is broadly similar to that of the Army infantry, the Corps has long cultivated a more aggressive combat identity. One of its unofficial slogans, once seen on bumper stickers and still available as a magnet, bluntly puts it: “United States Marine Corps—when it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed overnight.”

More mundanely, the explanation may come down to logistics. The Marine Corps is a relatively small force and has rarely been stationed near sites of domestic unrest. However, Camp Pendleton—home to the largest concentration of Marines in the continental United States—sits just a few hours from Los Angeles and is far closer than the nearest viable Army unit, 45 miles south of Seattle. There may have been practical reasons to deploy the Marines. Still, the deeper question is whether this administration seriously weighed those trade-offs—or simply found it convenient that a force with such a fearsome reputation, one viewed by past administrations as a liability in domestic missions, happened to be nearby.

Most important, though, is this: Since 1945, no branch of the armed forces has ever been deployed for a domestic mission without military police as the initial line of contact. In that regard, what’s happening today in L.A. is truly extraordinary.

The political conditions surrounding the current deployment are dramatically different from those during that prior wave. Polarization has spread from society to the political elites, who now, more than ever, seek to use the military for political gain. On the Republican side, Donald Trump appears eager to deploy the Army against left-wing protesters. He has stacked the Justice Department and the Pentagon with personal loyalists, and has tended to bypass the Office of Legal Counsel—the institution traditionally responsible for vetting the legality of executive actions. Although the standard guidelines and procedures for past domestic deployments remain on the books, there is substantial reason to doubt that the civilian leadership will follow them.

Yet some institutional checks continue to function, even if unevenly. The federal judiciary has been a source of significant pushback against the administration. Already, a federal district court judge in California has ruled that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in California was illegal (though the ruling was almost immediately put on hold for further review). But the Marines remain deployed, the legal authorities and precedents granting the president power over domestic deployments are broad, and the Supreme Court tends to be highly deferential to the president in this area.

Within the armed services, trained and principled leaders remain in place and prepared to navigate these challenges with discipline and integrity. However, they face an uphill battle against increasing pressure from above and must continue to respect the principle of civilian control of the military. The recent dismissal of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the judge advocate generals has sent a chilling message to the military: Disagreement with the administration’s edicts may come at a steep cost.

In the past, military deployments have been forgotten because the wave of unrest broke gently. This time, however, the wave may crash violently, and the wreckage it leaves behind could be substantial: to the Army’s legitimacy, to the health of American democracy, and to the civilian lives it may cost.

[brown-little-robin]

1, 5, 18 :]

1: What is a scene that really got to you?

in the anime it's right before Mogami arc, there's this scene where Mob is supposed to exorcise a peaceful ghost family, and he doesn't want to do it so bad that he starts shaking. and that GETS me. the social pressure of the people who cant see the ghosts snapping at him. Reigen trying to be nonchalant, just wanting to get out of there and eat soba. Dimple trying to get the ghosts to go evil to give Mob an easier choice (sir??? can we talk about that???). and Mob in the center of it all, standing quite still, shaking. hhhhhh

this is Doesn't Express His Emotions And Rarely Does Things Of His Own Will kid. and he speaks up. he speaks up (quietly) (voice shaking) and says he doesn't think these ghosts have to be exorcised, in front of kids who can't see the ghosts and a master who claims the ghosts are too weak and inconsequential to see. Mob looks at those ghosts and he sees something like himself, invisible, peaceful, people just wanting to exist for a little while, and the "normal people" present are calling them creepy and demanding that he erase their existence. like. no wonder he's so shaken???

5: What battle shook you most?

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but the first time I tried watching mp100, when I was little, I fled the show on episode five (Teru fight) because I was so scared of ???%. I thought Mob was possessed. Looking back on my reaction... profoundly disturbs me. I literally demonized him. It's so easy to dehumanize people, especially people who behave abnormally in daily life (like Mob), when they're doing something scary. I had to become more mature—more familiar with mental illness and neurodivergence, and more intentionally gentle with myself and others—before I came back to mp100 and saw ???% as an aspect of a person, not as a Scary Thing. sorry, Shigeo.

The battle that shakes me the most now is the one against Touichirou Suzuki, because it's so complex and just a bit morally ambiguous. Mob goes from emotion to emotion so fast, and he's trying to put his resolution to use his powers to protect people into practice but he's not used to it yet! he's trying to accept being hard on people and he slips! he stumbles he enjoys it too much he despairs he twists Touichirou like a rag (EXACTLY WHAT MOGAMI DID TO MINORI'S BODY, BTW,,) and he nearly gives up and he can't find a way to "win"! it's!! !!!!! YIKES

18: What headcanons do you have for (character)?

feel free to give me a specific character if you want but!! here's a really specific headcanon for you

I think Teru enjoys horror movies because his nervous system doesn't know how to relax. literally. when you've been traumatized and on edge for a long time, relaxing starts to feel like being unsafe because if you relaxed in your former situation you were unsafe. so Teru is fleeing from relaxation; his mind HAS to be occupied at all times he HAS to be exercising his brain's "how do we strategize a way out of Dangerous Situation" capability all the time, otherwise he feels like he's Missing Something and Going To Die. watching horror is a way for him to safely put himself in a position of feeling like he's in danger again and allowing his brain to cycle its familiar pattern of fear -> creative planning under pressure -> feeling of power and safety again. critically, Teru is COMPLETELY UNAWARE that he is doing this. all he knows is that it feels nice to watch horror movies.

[cobalt-axolotl]

Chloe: gammamon have you been exorcising your demons?

Gammamon: no I’ve been exercising them

Chloe: what?

Gulusgammamon: now they’re stronger than ever.

Chloe: dear god!

Arcturusmon: god cant save you now.