#How can there be peace when war is an industry?

[nando161mando]

"How can there be peace when war is an industry?" (EN: English)

[rin-may-1103]

Biggest Regret. (Part Two)

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Bruce had finally found a peaceful moment to sit down and go through his work emails; there were no sibling homicide fights, prank wars, and thankfully no vigilante-related headaches.

Just a peaceful afternoon; normal polluted Gotham skies, the usual city ruckus of honking horns and shouting, and the constant footsteps back and forth past his closed office door.

taking a sip from his old mug, Bruce opened his laptop. Quickly typing in his password for the hour, he made his way to his email. surprisingly, less than 90 emails were waiting for him. Usually, he had hundreds to go through.

hmmm. Another check for this being a suspiciously good day then, it just made him more anxious for when the other shoe would fall.

peaceful for Gotham, for him, never meant anything good. It always happened right before a tragic event or large-scale Arkham breakout. he could hope for it to just be a peaceful day, but he knew wishful thinking was useless.

taking another sip, Bruce started scrolling through his emails, reading the subject lines to sort through which ones were more important. After a few minutes of reading, Bruce stopped and reread the second to last email's title, his eyebrows furrowing:

A Video From Your Son.

Now, Bruce was truly confused; Why would one of his kids email him? let alone through his public work email? They've been told multiple times to email him through the bat-email if it contains anything important or time-sensitive. Heck, they've been told to just text him it if it was important, he always answers a text faster than an email.

His Bruce Wayne email was notoriously ignored for multiple days; mostly for his cover story, but also because he spends most of his time doing Batman stuff. (Reading Wayne Enterprises emails usually wasn't something at the top of his list, the kids know this.)

so, then why would one of them email him?

hmm. maybe? maybe one of the boys set up a long-term prank or something. They know how long it takes for him to read his emails, so maybe they sent it knowing it would take a while, which means they had plenty of time to set something up.

yes, that's it. it makes total sense.

Clicking on the email, he was greeted with a boy (who looked a lot like Damian, but who most certainly wasn't) sitting gravely on a wooden box in some dark warehouse.

sitting up straight, Bruce set his mug down and studied the paused video. the boy looked so much like Damian that Bruce almost wanted to believe he was a clone. but his bright stern blue eyes and and apparent freckles pushed the idea away.

Yes, clones can have imperfections, especially when made in a rush, but never something as drastic as the wrong eye color or a genetic quality the one being cloned didn't have. Unless, the one making the clone had no idea what they were doing, but Bruce doubted Talia would have allowed someone to take Damian's DNA before he was given to Bruce.

and the boy on screen had scars, lots of scars, meaning if he was a clone then he was made before Bruce even knew of Damian.

hmm.

there were no clues provided in the kid's surroundings; the warehouse was surprisingly empty of anything important or telling. the kid had even chosen a spot where Bruce couldn't tell if it was day or night, or if the lights were on. which took away the usual ways of figuring out where the boy was.

No sky meant he couldn't calculate the general area based on season and celestial bodies. And because he couldn't tell if the light was from industrial lighting or daylight, he couldn't cross out warehouses with electricity. The kid was smart. smarter than the average citizen at least.

he was also wearing discreet clothing; which meant Bruce couldn't trace him through that either.

leaning forward so he could rest his elbows on his knees, Bruce pressed play and gave the video his full attention.

The boy on screen sat in silence for a moment, seemingly gathering his thoughts. his hands rested in his lap, his poster rather relaxed as he sat on his wooden crate.

"This is video eight." the boy spoke, his voice rough with sleepless nights and yelling. Did he yell at people often? or had he gotten into a fight previously? there were seven other videos, but this was the first one Bruce saw. he'd have to go back and see if he had somehow missed them.

"don't worry, you didn't miss anything." the boy chuckled humorously, running one of his hands through his hair. Bruce noted that it shook, the kid was probably nervous, or hungry. the kid looked too skinny to be healthy...

"no, this is just the eighth time I've had to record this." the boy continued, dropping his hand back into his lap as he slumped forward, his black hair falling into his face.

"this video," he continued, not glancing up, "is for Bruce Wayne's eyes only."

there were still no visual tells on where the boy was, not even audio cues for Bruce to study. frowning, Bruce rested his head on his hands, taking in everything the boy said.

"Hi Dad," Bruce sucked in a breath, tensing up as the kid finally glanced back at the camera.

"I'm Danny. you likely don't know I exist, and if you're receiving this; I'm already dead." he chuckled like the thought of his death was laughable. "well, more dead than I already was." he snorted, shaking his head in a way that reminded Bruce of Damian when he was exasperated or disappointed.

"Maybe it's cruel of me to send you a message post-mortem," Danny, the kid's name is Danny, looked away. He rubbed his neck awkwardly as he continued, "But you deserve the truth, and telling you earlier would've put you in danger."

Danny let out a breath as he pulled his legs up onto the crate, "this email is set to automatically send if I haven't opened my laptop for three days. I sometimes set it longer if I'm expecting trouble or going to be away for a while, but I've most likely been away from home for a bit over three days if you're receiving this."

Danny looked so tired as he looked back at the camera, the dark bags under his eyes worse than even Tim's after a week-long investigation.

"I don't know who killed me. Obviously, I'm recording this in advance... I have my suspicions though. it was most likely either the GIW or my adoptive parents, the Fentons." Danny reached beside him and held up a two pictures, "This is Maddie and Jack Fenton, and this," another picture, "is some GIW agents."

Danny snorted as he glanced at the GIW agents, their startled faces slightly blurry as Danny stood in front of them and took a selfie. bruce wasn't sure if he was amused or not that the kid took a selfie with his potential murderers but then again, Bruce could see all of his children doing it too. (Bruce could also see himself doing it.)

"i half-died at 14," Danny suddenly added, tossing the pictures to the side. "became the local ghost superhero..."

he stared off to the side for a moment, "but they never realized I was trying to help and kept talking about tearing ghost me apart molecule by molecule." Danny glanced back at the camera before his eyes widened, "my parents! I mean, my parents and the GIW wanted to tear me apart, not the town! though they probably wouldn't have disagreed with it if asked..."

"anyway," Danny shook his head, "my money's on that being what happened..." Danny looked down at his hands like he was seeing them for the first time, "there will be nothing left of me to bury..."

"Sorry about that!" he suddenly added, a bright smile on his face. Bruce could tell it was strained, forced in hopes of not upsetting him.

"you'd probably have to cremate me if there was, it'd be a waste of wood to get me a coffin... though I'd really prefer if I wasn't set on fire," Danny chuckled, trying to hide a full-body shiver.

He sat in silence for a moment before Danny continued, "The rest of the story is this: I was raised in an assassin cult, eventually escaping at the age of nine. they sent me on a mission and I just had to take the opportunity. I successfully faked my death."

Danny sat up now, fully focusing on the camera, "My biggest regret is that I escaped alone. And that's the reason I'm reaching out to you."

Danny let his feet fall off the edge as he grabbed something from next to him, keeping it out of view for now. "you're a civilian," Danny stated like it was a fact he knew to be true.

Bruce clenched his jaw, trying to keep himself still so he could focus on what Danny was telling him. he wished he could reach through the screen and hold the boy, whether he was his son or not, he obviously was talking about the league which meant Talia hadn't told him.

Talia hadn't told him, and if he was anything like Damian, then he would have no reason to believe otherwise.

"If you know too much about the League of Assassins you'll be in danger, but I need you to save my twin Damian." Danny's words were like a final nail in the coffin, the final straw to keeping his heart from breaking again.

it was true, it had to be. How would Danny have this information otherwise?

"he's likely still there after all these years. he never wanted to escape; he took pride in being the heir to the league. he's probably going to be stabby: he's an assassin after all, but it's not his fault. Ra's, our grandfather, indoctrinated him a lot more successfully than he did me. Damian was more susceptible to it... it's not his fault." Danny repeated, clenching the object he had grabbed.

"Please," Danny pleaded, "save him. I'm begging you. My biggest regret is leaving Damian in the league. You have a chance to save him. Please, please take it."

Danny bit his lip and glanced down at his lap, "I w-," he quickly glanced around before shaking his head, "I long for a time when it would have been safe for me to get to know you. You seem like a cool dad, from what I've seen of you on the news with your oldest kids."

he looked up with a water smile, "I bet you're like that with the youngest you hide from the public too. I still don't know how you managed that, it's been six years." Danny chuckled, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"This is my, um, my old league sigil." Danny held up the object he had been holding, revealing a golden disk with thick rope connected to it. it had the demon head's symbol on it.

"A coat of arms. I'll leave it somewhere for you. hopefully, you can use it to get to Damian." Danny gently placed it back on the box. "I'm keeping it in a box in the walls of my room. You should be able to find it."

"I wish you and your family the best," Danny sniffed, looking back at the camera. "thank you for listening. From your long lost almost certainly dead by now son, Danny Fenton."

Bruce stared at the paused video for a minute, just trying to process everything he just saw. he needed confirmation, he knew it was true, it had to be, there's no way Danny could fake this. but Bruce needed to confirm. make sure he isn't seeing things.

absently, Bruce pulled out his phone and dialed his youngest's, was he still the youngest? or was Danny? number.

the tone didn't even ring longer than five seconds before his son's voice echoed into the silent office, "Father."

"Damian, did you have a twin named Danny?" Bruce asked, not cutting around the bush.

dead silence, he couldn't even hear Damian's breath.

then, "...Who told you?"

Damian's voice wasn't angry or fearful, it was sad and confused and wavered like the last leaf on a tree clinking on for dear life in a blizzard. it cemented the break in Bruce's heart as he stared at the tearful face of his son, his son who claimed to be dead already.

hanging up, Bruce quickly sent the video to Damian and waited. he needed a minute to process what just happened. Clicking play, Bruce rewatched the video, hoping to find another clue.

Damian called back a few minutes later, the sound of Danny's voice echoing in the background telling Bruce his son had watched and rewatched the video just like he had.

"Father. I do not care what state he is in, even if there is only a single molecule left. I'm going to bring him home. We must discover exactly what happened to Danny, the truth."

"I couldn't agree more, Damian," Bruce grunted, standing up. Pushing his chair in, he turned his laptop off and made his way to his office door. "I'll be home soon, gather the others. tell them all hands on deck."

"yes, Father," Robin replied, hanging up not even a second later.

Shoving his phone in his pocket and opening his office door, Batman started making his way home.

Next

[embersofhope-if]

What interactive fiction would you recommend (besides this one)?

oh anon i follow over 150 if blogs let me get you some of my favorites😊 This is very long so all of them are under the cut🫶

some of these you'll probably already have heard of bc of how popular they are, but trust me, they're popular for a reason, lmao

these ones all have demos (if i messed up and some dont uh ignore that)

@infamous-if - "You're going to be a superstar, no matter what it takes." genuinely one of my favorites ifs (seven lawless my beloved please come back home the kids are asking whats taking so long)

@coeluvr - "You play as the only remaining member of the royal family of Vesphire; living in the home of the man who took away everything from you." another ive been obsessed with recently. i will forever love revenge stories (and my pookie helios)

@merrycrisis-if - "As a late 20-something year-old fresh from a recent break-up and struggling to pay rent in New York, life throws up more questions than answers."

@ramonag-if - "When your village is razed to the ground, you're left fleeing with an exiled prince. You can trust no one but each other. Your father's dying wish was to protect the prince, but can you really trust a man who was exiled from his kingdom?"

@nyehilismwriting / Project Hadea - "Set in a distant future, you play the role of an elite operative of Scytha Industries, a private contracting firm. ‘Contracting’, in this case, refers to anything from political assassinations, to private security, to bodyguard services."

@vapolis - "You’re a mercenary, gun for hire, assassin, information extractor, delivery person – call it what you want, because the people that hire you for your services don’t give much of a shit what you call yourself as long as you actually get them what they want."

@godsandvillains-if - "As the only metahuman with the ability to wield the powerful Chaos Magic, your very blood holds the answers to unlocking the secrets behind the control of time and space, but it has the drawback of being almost completely volatile."

@hvllowheart - "LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER is a spy game where you take on the role of an agent under the codename Wraith, who up until two years ago was one of the best agents TERRA has ever made. now the agency returns into your life and pulls you back into the field as agents go missing by the dozens."

@eyesofshan-if - "Years ago, you were uprooted from the only home you had ever known and captured to be sold as a slave. Now, war is at your doorstep once more while you are left in a delicate position — as a commander of the country that invaded your homeland. While investigating a case of illegal human trafficking, you come across a plot that threatens to rip this tentative peace apart."

@apt502-if - "Moving from your small home to New York City was supposed to be a dream. You were supposed to start your new life with your long-distance partner and dive headfirst into full-on adulthood. Everything was supposed to be perfect. How can you not love being in your mid-twenties in the Big Apple?That is until your put-together, white collar partner dumps you the same day you arrive. Fun."

@acourtofserpents - "As the only human in the Kingdom of Faerie, you're no stranger to shining eyes that hold looks filled with hatred, lips painted in the color of forest fruits whispering your name, heads with pointed ears turning at your every step. Though you long for their approval, for a place amongst the wicked immortals, they remind you with every breath you take that as you came from dirt, to dirt you will return."

@softlyopulent-if - "All of King Adder’s children are a mystery to the common folk, but you—you are nothing but a ghost. A ghost, that spends eighteen years locked away in the deepest part of the palace, so that no eyes may lay upon you.And those that do—they do not treat you kindly.And when you are finally of age, at last, you are betrothed to the child of the King of a far away kingdom, to secure an alliance that your father has been seeking for years.And you are swept away to a place even more foreign than your own land, to be wed to a stranger that looks at you with contempt. To live in a kingdom of citizens that despise you. And perhaps, just perhaps, fight a war."

@heromaker-if - "Stories of heroes, legends and chosen ones are commonplace. But you'd never thought it was your child who would have to save the world from the Demon Lord's clutches."

@theabyssal - "In The Abyssal, you assume the control of a powerful deity that was betrayed by their fellow gods. Imprisoned against your will for all eternity, you had a long time to plan your revenge."

@milaswriting - "By birth, and association, you are one of the most famous people in the big city of Lehsa. Your father's the mayor, and you're from a bright, vibrant, bustling city... and yet, until recently, you didn't realise all the secrets yourself and the city held."

@zico-if - "You were supposed to be a sacrifice in order to bring an eldritch god to your realm, a sacrifice that was never supposed to live. Instead of dying and summoning the god intended, you find yourself face to face with an ancient being that was chained and locked away for the horrors they once committed."

@collegetennisoriginstory - "Experience the ups-and-downs of life as a freshman on the Cargill University varsity tennis team amongst a colorful cast of characters."

@disenchantedif - "You used to be a beacon of hope. Now they only know you as the failure, the Unchosen. Will you rise above them? Will you become better or far worse than they could ever imagine?"

@bouncyballcitadel - "Play as a first-year surgery intern at Citadel Health. Will you become the star intern and curry the favor of the chief? Or will you uncover Citadel Health’s secrets and break a story or two? This will be the best and worst year of your life. Don’t forget to save lives and break some hearts along the way."

@leoneliterary - "You play as a thief pressed into the employ of a mysterious nobleman. With the your life, the fate of your guild, and your honor on the line, you'll have to navigate the perils of the royal court and combat a more mystical threat. The story is set in Cusmo, the naturally fortified, desert capital of Hashind, and will showcase the much praised Upper Cusmo, the crime ridden Lower Cusmo, and much more."

@doriana-gray-games - "Play as your version of Sherlock Holmes in this romance detective game!"

@fallenlightsif - "You are the half-sibling of High General Ezrah Rhys and have lived the past twelve years of your life in Kesdon, the capital of Ebia. You've spent most of your time training and honing your skills for the future that awaits you. A future that is entirely your own."

@shai-manahan - "They call you Ripper. It’s a horrendous name to give to a detective like you, and definitely not one you chose for yourself, but you suppose it’s to be expected given your reputation for putting powerful people behind bars. Businesses feared you. The other cops hated you. Local gangs despised your entire existence. Yet, despite all of that, you remained untouched. Until that day, when all the lies and the deception and the foolish mistakes turned your life upside down."

@larkingame - "someone is after you. for over a decade and a half now, you’ve traveled up, down and across the country--running schemes and hunting fiends with your mentor, con-man-by-day, vampire-hunter-by-night, Wyatt Abrams--the prolific vampire slayer and the living descendant of Gregory Abrams, founder and prophet of the Abrams Family, the nomadic vampire-hunting cult that raised you--and was wiped out years ago. carrying the abrams name means also means carrying on it's enemies--but that isn't to say you haven't forged a couple of your own along the way. now, it seems someone is trying to make good on old threats and promises. they've placed a bounty on your head. so you and wyatt do what you do best: you run away. to some little town, out nevada ways, where the title of town preacher is unexpectedly thrust upon you--bringing back years of trauma you thought long tucked away."

@evertidings - "you are a bounty hunter. responsible for taking in rogue supernaturals, you work for IAOS—the international agency of supernaturals—where, alongside your best friend and partner, you two have quickly become the best hunting duo of the branch. after a particularly tricky hunt, you brief your boss, Caine Atheron, and come back to work the next day to find that he has mysteriously disappeared overnight, the company is now in the hands of his best friend, Sebastian Mai. and though no one else seems to question it, something tells you that there's more to the story."

@rotten-games - Regrets Of The Traitor: "You are the Ruler of Hadaria after killing the previous Queens and betraying all who once trusted you. Sat upon the throne with all the power available to you, one would be forgiven for believing you finished with your quest. With a strange figure in your dreams speaking vague prophecies of magical artifacts, a mysterious cult moving into the city, and a group intent on unseating you from your place, perhaps you’re way in over your head for a farmer’s kid. City of Immortals: "You follow a pair of siblings worlds apart as they get accustomed to their new realities in two very different worlds. One trapped in an unnatural desert wasteland where every resource has a scarcity, not knowing if they’ll be the only one left when everything turns to dust, the other working as a private investigator in a sprawling underground metropolis of the undying. Each not knowing the other is alive, will they unravel the mysteries that somehow connect their two new homes?"

@shepherds-of-haven - "Shepherds of Haven is a dark fantasy interactive fiction game. In it, you play as a Mage living in a world where magic is outlawed and your people—those possessing supernatural powers—are oppressed and reviled. The world is ruled by humans who believe in science, technology, and industry: at best, you and your kind are nothing more than a fairytale, and at worst you are the state’s greatest threat."

@someoneverypretty-world - "As a child, growing up in the slums of Hvinir without any guardians, you believed you would not live to see 30. Until Haven, a thief guild, took you in and taught you how to survive. Facing hardships, the guild leader tasks you to sneak into the castle with the mission to take."

@northern-passage - "The Northern Passage is an 18+ horror fantasy CYOA, where you play as a hunter sent up north to investigate a series of missing people along the border of your home country and in the port cities of the Blackwater. Working with your handler, Lea, you will travel north and discover that things are far worse than you ever could have imagined, and that there is something powerful lurking out in the deep, dark sea…"

@thedecoy-if - "♔ The Decoy is a dark fantasy that follows you, a 21st century normal human, kidnapped to an alternate magical universe to play the part of the missing heir to a powerful throne...who also happens to be your doppelgänger. ♔"

@ripperplague - "You are a doctor, a prodigy in hiding. Deep in the underbelly of Valeris, you hide among the shadows. You work hard to wring the blood stains off your palms, your face...your soul. Redemption and revenge are parallel goals, the flames of rage and disgust mingling. How could anyone ever love you?"

These ones dont have a demo yet, but im still absolutely obsessed

@pavedinashes-if - "You're only 20 when suddenly your life goes bam! Throwing you into a whole new city, a different country even. Wasn't part of the plan, but you know how life loves to mess with plans. People happened, stuff happened, and suddenly you're on the move. The new chapter ahead? Buckle up, 'cause it's not gonna be all sunshine and rainbows. And guess what? Your step-mom? Yeah, she's right there in the same city. She's always had this knack for trying to steer your ship, like every decision's a GPS checkpoint. But hey, there's this one thing that's never let you down—your skateboard. It's like the buddy that's been with you through thick and thin, the one that never bails. Among all this craziness it's like your anchor. So, the big question is—can you break out of the loop you got in? Find your place in the world and restart or lose yourself in temptation? Time to find out."

@riptide-if - "Your dad has always said you swim as if your were born to be in the water; the rest of your family has always said that he is the whole reason you turned out like that. So, it's not really a surprise when you had used all the money you got for your 7th birthday to buy a surfboard. And even less of a surprise when you started joining small surf competitions by the time you were 10, later followed by bigger competitions. It seems you are the only one surprised when it turns out you're able to compete in the World Surfer's League's Ultimate Tournament Tour*. Thrown into a mix of fellow surfing prodigies, rookies, and pros, do you really have what it takes to win?"

@weepinwriter - "You are inmate No. 1441, incarcerated in Tartarus, the most notorious prison on the continent. You find yourself imprisoned for a crime that you do not remember committing, leaving you in a state of uncertainty about your own identity and purpose. The first memory you have is awakening to the sensation of a gun being shoved into your mouth."

@whatawaitsus - "Despite being one of the most expensive schools in the nation, nothing particularly interesting has happened at the school in the nine years you've been here— aside from the occasional accidental possession caused by a ghost or the common room getting flooded after a nixie gets too frustrated over their homework. That is until students start to go missing."

@evermount - "Blue-suited guards stand in every corner, but they're no threat—you're under threat. And this is how you keep safe. It's necessary; the council said so themselves. Under no circumstances shall Evermount be left, ever. So, no one has, and no one intends to. Why would you? It's peaceful—you're at peace. You have your spouse, and you have your house; everyone's happy. This is all you've ever known."

@forsakensword-if - "When the Deathless, an Ancient Evil that hasn’t been seen in over two million years, returns to Earth, it threatens the extremely precarious peace that has settled between the warring factions of Heaven and Hell. God, in an effort to protect Humanity from the consequences of a war between the Angels and Demons, sends Heaven’s best warriors to banish the Deathless once more. When that ultimately fails, it is declared that God’s Sworn Sword and Heaven’s Chief Angel will be charged with finding a way to destroy the Deathless once and for all. That Angel is you. The Archangel Michael."

@velena-if - "You wake up in a dark, cold place with no memories of yourself, save for one: the memory of your death. It becomes clear soon enough that you are in the Nav, the domain of the goddess of death, Morana, and the sanctuary of all the evil spirits and monsters. For you, Nav will be the place where your life changes forever."

@countdown-if - "Three months ago, life took a sharp turn. Your mother found herself entangled in a situation so bad, she couldn't dig her way out of it, like usual. This time, the hole was way too deep. She needed help, and the only people capable of aiding her were the same ones she had vowed never to allow back into her life, let alone introduce to you and your younger sibling. Who were they? Your grandparents—a powerful and well-established duo. In short, they did manage to help your mother back on her feet, but not without strings attached—never without strings. Now, you're facing a senior year in a private school, fully funded by none other than grandma and grandpa, dearest. The only task at hand: do what your mother couldn't—graduate."

@dropout-if - "This is your first summer home since you began studying in Stanford. That is what everyone thinks. This is your first summer home since you dropped out of college, thus becoming the biggest disappointment in your neighborhood. That is what only you know. "

@stonewall-if - "Stonewall Military Academy: the most brutal, merciless, and unforgiving boarding school in the country. Most recruits either desert or die by the end of their first year. It is where the fiercest and deadliest killers are trained and molded to be the military's steel fist. And it is not for the faint of heart."

@viperdove-if - "You are the Dove, the heir to one of the most powerful crime families in your country. The grip your family--your father--has on their side of the land is tight, and now that you've reached adulthood it's time for you to be fully absorbed into the machinations of gang warfare. That means opium, mercenaries, assassinations. In this ancient world, blood moves people just as much as money does."

@fallen-if - "You are an individual that has been known by many aliases over the years. Child of the dawn, the original sinner, star of the morning. But no matter the name, your identity remains the same. You are the one that defied the heavens, the one that cast aside the shackles of tradition and broke free from the constraints of the divine. You are Lucifer Morningstar - The Fallen Angel. "

@maboroshi-if - "Maboroshi is an Interactive Fiction Game based in the world of Naruto, however, all events within the story span during the end of the First Shinobi War and the beginning of the Second Shinobi War."

@greatprotector-if - "Forced out of your family's farm against your will, you are now an ocean away from home, and you have somehow been chosen to be the main protector of the heir to some kingdom you’ve hardly even heard of. The spot's only open because the former protector died of old age, so that's probably a good indicator that it won't be as strenuous as it sounds. But despite that, you pour yourself into your work. You can't help it. You feel safer decked out in armour, and you like having something you're trusted to look after. Protect some royalty, cover all your blind spots, and try not to worry about all you've left behind."

@retribution-if - "Retribution, He Cries is a revenge story set in the Dark Ages of the fictional world of [REDACTED] and other realms."

@thescarsilivewith-if - "You were a kind monarch once. After your mother’s brutal reign, you thought your people needed respite. Evidently, they didn’t think the same since their bloodthirst only increased. Three years after your coronation, your mother’s favourite consort dethroned you with the army and the clergy’s support. As you fled from the palace together with your spouse, from an arranged marriage celebrated only three months earlier, you were found by slavers. You managed to save your spouse but not yourself. Four years later, your spouse finds you, though you’re not the same person they knew. You are not changed in spirit alone, however, for your magic grew in your captivity and now you’re unbound. When the crown chose you as its owner, you wanted peace for your kingdom. Now the only thing you crave is revenge."

[dailyadventureprompts]

Monsters Reimagined: Bandits

As a game of heroic fantasy that centers so primarily on combat, D&D  is more often than not a game about righteous violence, which is why I spend so much time thinking about the targets of that violence. Every piece of media made by humans is a thing created from conscious or unconscious design, it’s saying something whether or not its creators intended it to do so. 

Tolkien made his characters peaceloving and pastoral, and coded his embodiment of evil as powerhungry, warlike, and industrial. When d&d directly cribbed from Tolkien's work it purposely changed those enemies to be primitive tribespeople who were resentful of the riches the “civilized” races possessed. Was this intentional? None can say, but as a text d&d says something decidedly different than Tolkien. 

That's why today I want to talk about bandits, the historical concept of being an “outlaw”, and how media uses crime to “un-person” certain classes of people in order to give heroes a target to beat up. 

Tldr: despite presenting bandits as a generic threat, most d&d scenarios never go into detail about what causes bandits to exist, merely presuming the existence of outlaws up to no good that the heroes should feel no qualms about slaughtering. If your story is going to stand up to the scrutiny of your players however, you need to be aware of WHY these individuals have been driven to banditry, rather than defaulting to “they broke the law so they deserve what’s coming to them.”

I got to thinking about writing this post when playing a modded version of fallout 4, an npc offhndedly mentioned to me that raiders (the postapoc bandit rebrand) were too lazy to do any farming and it was good that I’d offed them by the dozens so that they wouldn’t make trouble for those that did. 

That gave me pause, fallout takes place in an irradiated wasteland where folks struggle to survive but this mod was specifically about rebuilding infrastructure like farms and ensuring people had enough to get by. Lack of resources to go around was a specific justification for why raiders existed in the first place, but as the setting became more arable the mod-author had to create an excuse why the bandit’s didn’t give up their violent ways and start a nice little coop, settling on them being inherently lazy , dumb, and psychopathic.   

This is exactly how d&d has historically painted most of its “monstrous humanoid” enemies. Because the game is ostensibly about combat the authors need to give you reasons why a peaceful solution is impossible, why the orcs, goblins, gnolls (and yes, bandits), can’t just integrate with the local town or find a nice stretch of wilderness to build their own settlement on and manage in accordance with their needs. They go so far in this justification that they end up (accidently or not) recreating a lot of IRL arguments for persecution and genocide.

Bandits are interesting because much like cultists, it’s a descriptor that’s used to unperson groups of characters who would traditionally be inside the “not ontologically evil” bubble that’s applied to d&d’s protagonists.   Break the law or worship the wrong god says d&d and you’re just as worth killing as the mindless minions of darkness, your only purpose to serve as a target of the protagonist’s righteous violence.  

The way we get around this self-justification pitfall and get back to our cool fantasy action game is to relentlessly question authority, not only inside the game but the authors too. We have to interrogate anyone who'd show us evil and direct our outrage a certain way because if we don't we end up with crusades, pogroms, and Qanon.

With that ethical pill out of the way, I thought I’d dive into a listing of different historical groups that we might call “Bandits” at one time or another and what worldbuilding conceits their existence necessitates. 

Brigands: By and large the most common sort of “bandit” you’re going to see are former soldiers left over from wars, often with a social gap between them and the people they’re raiding that prevents reintegration ( IE: They’re from a foreign land and can’t speak the local tongue, their side lost and now they’re considered outlaws, they’re mercenaries who have been stiffed on their contract).  Justifying why brigands are out brigading is as easy as asking yourself “What were the most recent conflicts in this region and who was fighting them?”. There’s also something to say about how a life of trauma and violence can be hard to leave even after the battle is over, which is why you historically tend to see lots of gangs and paramilitary groups pop up in the wake of conflict. 

Raiders:  fundamentally the thing that has caused cultures to raid eachother since the dawn of time is sacristy. When the threat of starvation looms it’s far easier to justify potentially throwing your life away if it means securing enough food to last you and those close to you through the next year/season/day. Raider cultures develop in biomes that don’t support steady agriculture, or in times where famine, war, climate change, or disease make the harvests unreliable. They tend to target neighboring cultures that DO have reliable harvests which is why you frequently see raiders emerging from “the barbaric frontier” to raid “civilization” that just so happens to occupy the space of a reliably fertile river valley. When thinking about including raiders in your story, consider what environmental forces have caused this most recent and previous raids, as well as consider how frequent raiding has shaped the targeted society. Frequent attacks by raiders is how we get walled palaces and warrior classes after all, so this shit is important. 

Slavers: Just like raiding, most cultures have engaged in slavery at one point or another, which is a matter I get into here. While raiders taking captives is not uncommon, actively attacking people for slaves is something that starts occurring once you have a built up slave market, necessitating the existence of at least one or more hierarchical societies that need more disposable workers than then their lower class is capable of providing. The roman legion and its constant campaigns was the apparatus by which the imperium fed its insatiable need for cheap slave labor. Subsistence raiders generally don’t take slaves en masse unless they know somewhere to sell them, because if you’re having trouble feeding your own people you’re not going to capture more ( this is what d&d gets wrong about monstrous humanoids most of the time). 

Tax Farmers: special mention to this underused classic, where gangs of toughs would bid to see who could collect money for government officials, and then proceed to ransack the realm looking to squeeze as much money out of the people as possible. This tends to happen in areas where the state apparatus is stretched too thin or is too lighthanded to have established enduring means of funding.  Tax farmers are a great one-two punch for campaigns where you want your party to be set up against a corrupt authority: our heroes defeat the marauding bandits and then oh-no, turns out they were not only sanctioned by the government but backed by an influential political figure who you’ve just punched in the coinpurse.  If tax farming exists it means the government is strong enough to need a yearly budget but not so established (at least in the local region) that it’s developed a reliably peaceful method of maintaining it.  

Robber Baron: Though the term is now synonymous with ruthless industrialists, it originated from the practice of shortmidned petty gentry (barons and knights and counts and the like) going out to extort and even rob THEIR OWN LANDS out of a desire for personal enrichment/boredom. Schemes can range from using their troops to shake down those who pass through their domain to outright murdering their own peasants for sport because you haven’t gotten to fight in a war for a while.  Just as any greed or violence minded noble can be a robber baron so it doesn’t take that much of a storytelling leap but I encourage you to channel all your landlord hate into this one. 

Rebels: More than just simple outlaws, rebels have a particular cause they’re a part of (just or otherwise) that puts them at odds with the reigning authority. They could violently support a disfavoured political faction, be acting out against a law they think is unjust, or hoping to break away from the authority entirely. Though attacks against those figures of authority are to be expected, it’s all too common for rebels to go onto praying on common folk for the sake of the cause.  To make a group of rebels worth having in your campaign pinpoint an issue that two groups of people with their own distinct interests could disagree on, and then ratchet up the tension. Rebels have to be able to beleive in a cause, so they have to have an argument that supports them.

Remnants: Like a hybrid of brigands, rebels, and taxfarmers, Remnants represent a previously legitimate system of authority that has since been replaced but not yet fully disappeared. This can happen either because the local authority has been replaced by something new (feudal nobles left out after a monarchy toppling revolution) or because it has faded entirely ( Colonial forces of an empire left to their own devices after the empire collapses). Remnants often sat at the top of social structures that had endured for generations and so still hold onto the ghost of power ( and the violence it can command) and the traditions that support it.  Think about big changes that have happened in your world of late, are the remnants looking to overturn it? Win new privilege for themselves? Go overlooked by their new overlords?

Art

[determinate-negation]

“The magnetic power exerted by patently threadbare ideologies is to be explained, beyond psychology, by the objectively determined decay of logical evidence as such. Things have come to pass where lying sounds like truth, truth like lying. Each statement, each piece of news, each thought has been pre-formed by the centres of the culture industry. Whatever lacks the familiar trace of such pre-formation lacks credibility, the more so because the institutions of public opinion accompany what they send forth by a thousand factual proofs and all the plausibility that total power can lay hands on. Truth that opposes these pressures not only appears improbable, but is in addition too feeble to make any headway in competition with their highly-concentrated machinery of dissemination. The extreme case of Germany is instructive of the general mechanism. When the National Socialists began to torture, they not only terrorized the peoples inside and outside Germany, but were the more secure from exposure the more wildly the horror increased. The implausibility of their actions made it easy to disbelieve what nobody, for the sake of precious peace, wanted to believe, while at the same time capitulating to it. Trembling voices persuade themselves that, after all, there is much exaggeration: even after the outbreak of the war, details about the concentration camps were unwanted in the English press. Every horror necessarily becomes, in the enlightened world, a horrific fairy-tale. For the untruth of truth has a core which finds an avid response in the unconscious. It is not only that the unconscious wishes horrors to come about; Fascism is itself less 'ideological', in so far as it openly proclaims the principle of domination that is elsewhere concealed. Whatever humane values the democracies can oppose it with, it can effortlessly refute by pointing out that they represent not the whole of humanity but a mere illusory image that Fascism has had the courage to discard. So desperate have people become in civilization, however, that they are forever ready to abandon their frail better qualities as soon as the world does their worse ones the obigation of confessing how evil it is. The political forces of opposition, however, are compelled to make constant use of lies if they are not themselves to be completely wiped out as destructive. The deeper the divergence of an opposition from the established order, which ar least affords it refuge from a blacker future, the more easily Fascists can pin it down to untruths. Only the absolute lie now has any freedom to speak the truth. The confounding of truth and lies, making it almost impossible to maintain a distinction, and a labour of Sisyphus to hold on to the simplest piece of knowledge, marks the victory in the field of logical organization of the principle that lies crushed on that of battle. Lies have long legs: they are ahead of their time. The conversion of all questions of truth into questions of power, a process that truth itself cannot escape if it is not to be annihilated by power, not only suppresses truth as in earlier despotic orders, but has attacked the very heart of the distinction between true and false, which the hirelings of logic were in any case diligently working to abolish. So Hitler, of whom no-one can say whether he died or escaped, survives.”

Adorno, ‘Pseudomenos’ (1945) from Minima Moralia

[gothhabiba]

An Appeal to Our Food and Hospitality Community to Take Action Now for Gaza

Dear Industry Friends, 

We have come together as chefs, farmers, media makers, business owners, beverage professionals, and food workers from across our industry to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to U.S. support for Israel’s war crimes. We must break the silence around the genocide in Gaza. As of today, more than 7,000 Palestinians have been massacred in less than three weeks. Nearly half of them are children. Over 8,000 bombs have been dropped on Gaza, killing a Palestinian every 5 minutes. After hospitals run out of fuel,  the death toll will rise exponentially. Every second we choose to stay silent, without demanding that our government stop arming Israel with billions of our tax dollars, we allow another massacre to take place. 

We can prevent this violence by refusing to allow our government to fund and arm Israel’s decades-long military occupation. History has shown us that peace and safety for all in the region cannot come from the violent subjugation of Palestinians. We grieve the loss of all innocent life. However, violence begets violence, and we know this latest eruption did not occur in a vacuum. For 75 years, Palestinians have been killed, imprisoned, tortured, and robbed of their land and homes. In Gaza, 2.2 million people — more than half of whom are children — have been living under an inhumane siege for almost 17 years, and are cut off from the world, without access to water, food, or basic amenities needed to live a dignified and healthy life. For those living in Gaza, the last decade has been a slow genocide. 

As cultural stewards in this country, we have the power to counter the dehumanization of Palestinians. Israel has long weaponized food, erasing Palestinian people while claiming their cuisine. Here in the U.S., the appropriation of Palestinian foods as “Israeli” has led to more than Israelis profiting off of Palestinian culture; it is an erasure that has had real implications for Palestinians. It allows us to negate their cultural currency, and turn our attention away with more ease when we see Palestinian death. 

We must join our voices with Palestinians pleading for justice and protection right now. The situation is dire, and no amount of media coverage has discouraged Israel from its policy of ethnic cleansing and land theft as the U.S. government continues to protect Israel from global pressure for a ceasefire. We have been called upon by Palestinian civil society to join their struggle for freedom by joining the global movement for divestment and cultural boycott of Israel until it ends its horrific human rights abuses.

We ask our fellow food and beverage community to take a stand against genocide and ethnic cleansing and commit to three actions with us:

Call your congressional representatives to demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to unconditional U.S. funding of Israel. 

Divest from products, events, and trips that promote Israel until it dismantles its apartheid system and military occupation. 

Invest in events and projects that promote justice for Palestinians, whether connecting to a local organization to learn how to support, or amplify Palestinian voices and support them to share their food and culture on their own terms.

We recognize that this may be difficult given the frightening pressure put on us to remain silent. McCarthyist tactics cannot marginalize and divide us – we know we are not alone as the whole world is rising up against injustice and genocide. Thousands of artists worldwide have publicly endorsed BDS and the cultural boycott of Israel, including musicians, DJs, filmmakers and actors, visual artists, Black artists, Latin American artists, and countless others across all fields and continents. This is in spite of efforts made by Israeli government-linked lobby groups to suppress this solidarity. 

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We are all in this industry to affirm life and dignity for everyone. As those who care for others, it is our moral imperative to actively contribute to the care that Palestinians need right now as they struggle to survive and get free. Food and beverage colleagues – it’s time for our community to extend our hospitality and join the movement for a Free Palestine.

Add your name – sign the pledge

[waffowo]

I cannot stop thinking about how Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain ironically fits as the missing link of the Metal Gear Solid franchise by being this ambivalent and spiteful text that could only be possible because it exists after Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots.

Like think about it. MGS4 is Kojima’s perfect farewell in how it encapsulates his complex relationship towards his own series, his own cynical but still very much hopeful take on The Irishman (2019) if you will. The game simultaneously reveals Kojima’s hope and affection by pulling every known idiosyncracy to a hyperbolic degree but also his exhaustion and suspicion through Snake being not a hero but an old killer and his reflections on his role as a pioneer of the military-stealth genre within the gaming industry. It even seeks to tackle the behemoth of closing at least the majority of the loose narrative threads. As a consequence, any future game is attacked with the question of purpose since Kojima has already said what he needed to say. 

Through this question is how MGSV can even be allowed to exist because it affirms that the question is rhetorical. The game chronologically exists in a liminal space in the middle, neither here nor there. It even narratively exists as a structural ouroboros, a almost completely closed system which begins and ends on a mirror. Kojima elevates this sentiment to an extreme level by denying any kind of player satisfaction (or nostalgia) by still being an encapsulation of a lot of overarching themes now filtered through a lens of condemnation. 

 There is at least this sense of valour found in the main cast of MGS4. There might not be any heroes but you can tell that at the end of the game, there is a sense of dignity. MGSV works completely opposite to that. The central cast of MGSV is so pathetic that the game plays like a tragicomedy as they aimlessly wander about, overdosing on some serious fucking copium that taking revenge will bring peace. A particular venture you know that’s doomed but can’t help but watch. Phantom Paz expresses this so unsubtly yet so perfectly in her final cassette tape. Peace Day is always going to be a mirage and has been even since the Peace Walker days, it’s just that Kojima doesn’t always focus on the other reality that these people are all still terrorists and war criminals. 

People who expected Big Boss instead got a confused, empty and depressed war criminal who can be found roleplaying as a cowboy. His other hobbies include non-stop vaping and managing war criminal spreadsheets. Mission 43 doesn’t feel like a descent into evil because Venom is already kind of evil but instead works by acting in perfect opposition to Chapter 1 where you sort through your digital files to identify patterns and promptly send them to death in the quarantine ward. He’s so high up the military hierarchy that of course he can’t help but have a crisis when he is directly confronted with the physical reality he used to be able to meet with mechanical detachment. 

Venom Snake also serves as a perfect way to comment on the overarching theme of agency. However, there’s no final monologue to tell you to think for yourself, no Raiden throwing away the dog tags, no Naked Snake refusing to shake an official’s hand. Instead all these typical moments are denied in every way possible to the point it’s very funny. Venom is not only a castrated protagonist but is also basically a preprogrammed AI with no hope to break free because he’s narratively doomed. Your actions don’t really matter. Even funnier, the ending is perfect by hitting you with the “you, the player, were the war criminal all along” that heightens the tragicomic beats through recontextualisation. What is more mortifyingly funny than realising that you’ve just been playing as Raiden AGAIN but instead of someone that exists beyond the player you have become canonised as an in-world character complicit in perpetuating imperialism. This works so well with how if you listen to the tapes and mission briefings closely, you realise that there are so many contradictions that no one are bringing up. Everyone is lying to you and everyone is telling the truth but it doesn’t matter. Venom just captures the disorientated position of the player, caught in this Pynchonesque paranoid labyrinth that it leaves you confused and speechless. What other choice do you have but to smoke a fat one, it’s not like you can actually resist the game if you’re completely out of the loop. 

Aside from Venom, there is of course Huey who has descended into full on pathological lying and delusion. Even if he didn’t cause the second outbreak, he’s so overwhelmed by guilt and paranoia by his other crimes he’s most likely guilty of that he’s able to beat the truth serum. When you’re rescuing Huey, he literally blames you for the destruction of the MSF. Like literally as you’re hauling ass to get him out. Even more pathetic is Kaz who makes these grand statements alongside Venom about taking revenge that you know doesn’t mean shit. His monologues are so passionate and are so depressing and yet he is met with awkward silence constantly that it’s depressingly funny. 

There’s this amazing usage of comedic timing, after you rescue Kaz and bring him back to Mother Base, where he monologues and says, “Dogs of war for nine whole years…that ends today. Now you’re not sleeping, and we’re not junkyard hounds. We’re Diamond Dogs.” The swelling of the music at the last moment is instantly followed by Kaz being shut the fuck up by a medic who puts an oxygen mask on him and lies him down. No one responds to the speech. Ocelot merely only talks to stop the medic and allow Kaz to get a few more words in out of pure pity. Likewise, Kaz’s extreme cognitive dissonance as he believes he can return to the good old days is so pitiful and poignant you can’t help but to stare with sympathy. 

The end of Chapter 1 shows how far gone he is with a very clever cut as Venom turns away from a vision of Skullface where Skullface is replaced by Kaz himself. Chapter 2 then logically shows him becoming full on paranoid, going full on 1984 Minister of Truth because what else does he have left if he doesn’t have an object of revenge anymore? I remember a moment, where he’s calling you, with this sense of manic fanaticism as he rambles to Venom that it’s time to dig up dirt on Huey and finally get him out for good. It becomes so absurd that even OCELOT tells him to shut the hell up. 

Ocelot is maybe the only normal person on board but that title means nothing in-universe. He’s thriving because he’s happily going along with War On Terror 2. He’s normal because he flat out embraces this and even goes out with his crush dressed as a cowboy. Of course there won’t be those moments where he’s of central dramatic focus here, he is simply here for the ride, his true goal to win the game of 8D chess for the man he’s down bad for. 

This band of losers are completely devoid of real purpose and are so…beta and it works because of how it both confronts an equally important reality of the characters not usually as overt and how MGS4 already closing off the franchise sets up how MGSV’s narrative and characters are already and should be dead. Peace is only possible in the case of war criminals when they’ve been buried. Evoking dissatisfaction might not always be intentional and is sometimes accidental but it works because there is no real satisfaction in beating a dead horse just to see your faves perform one more song. Especially if they already aren’t good people.

[m0thgutzzzz]

PIZZA HEROES

Peppino Spaghetti is the owner of a failing pizza shop. His coworker, Gustavo, seems to be the only person in his life that cares about him. One day he is called to a warehouse for a pizza delivery. Inside he finds four people surrounding a high tech device. A rat snatches up his box of pizza and runs into the device, causing an explosion. Peppino is able to escape the rubble of the building, and the other four caught in the explosion escape as well.

Peppino finds one day that he now has the ability to control and create pizza ingredients. Gustavo reveals to him that he is a superhero, Pawprint, and that the two should work together. Peppino takes on a new superhero identity to take down the people behind the recent crimes that have been sprouting up around town.

Name: Peppino Spaghetti

Super/Villain name: Chef Raider

Age: 39

Species: Human

Pronouns: He/Him

General story/Background: Peppino was born in Italy. When he was in his twenties, he fought in a war, then was discharged due to his violent tendencies towards other soldiers. He eventually moved to America and was able to start a restaurant with the small amount of money he had.

Name: Gustavo Fungo

Super/Villain name: PawPrint

Age: 38

Species: Gnome

Pronouns: He/Him

General story/Background: Gustavo was born in a gnome village deep within the forest. When he was young, he was gifted with the ability to control and communicate with plants and animals. He soon left the village and entered the city where he took up a job at Peppino’s Pizza. Gustavo often disguises himself as a human so people don’t recognize him as his superhero alter ego.

Name: Brick

Super/Villain name: Rattail

Age: 6

Species: Rat

Pronouns: She/Her

General story/Background: Brick was a lab rat mutated by a scientist. She soon escaped to the sewer where she started to grow! Giant rat! Gustavo heard her cries one day and took her in. Now the two work together as a superhero duo.

Name: Theodore Noise

Super/Villain name: The Noise

Age: 37

Species: Human-Rat hybrid

Pronouns: He/They

General story/Background: Theodore was a well known news anchor for the city. Totino convinced him to come to the warehouse, promising him that this new device could make him a lot of money. He was fused with the rat that caused the explosion and was shunned from the television industry because of how he looked. Now he resides with Totino and Phil, planning out heists so Totino can assemble a device to turn them back to normal.

Name: Phil Kalee

Super/Villain name: Pepperman

Age: 40

Species: Human-Pepper hybrid

Pronouns: He/Him

General story/Background: Phil was an artist trying to get his work off of the ground. Totino promised him that the device would get him famous. He was fused with the peppers on the pizza, and now helps carry out heists. The brawn of the group! Phil often fumbles missions because he insists he plasters each crime scene with graffiti as a calling card.

Name: Vigert Ebeneezer Lante

Super/Villain name: The Vigilante

Age: 41

Species: Human-Cheese hybrid

Pronouns: He/Him

General story/Background: Vigi moved from his hometown in the south after his grandfather passed. He vowed that he would bring justice and make the world a better place. Totino told him that this device could do just that. He was fused with the cheese on the pizza. Vigi soon confronted Totino about the changes, and Totino tried to deny them. Vigi was so outraged by his betrayal that he shot Totino, triggering his toon transformation. He is now one of the main targets of the gang (besides Peppino). Vigi isn’t afraid to kill in order for there to be peace. He seems rather neutral towards Peppino, and can either be fighting with him or against him.

Name: Toto “Totino” DiGiorno

Super/Villain name: Pizzahead

Age: 36

Species: Human-Pizza-Toon hybrid

Pronouns: Any

General story/Background: Totino and his older brother were adopted by a very wealthy couple, who only wanted the best opportunities for them both. Totino always had a big interest in science, so his parents arranged for him to have a job in scientific inventing when he grew up. After his parents passed, he quickly grew dissatisfied with how professional and “toned down” he had to be, and wanted more out of his inventions. Becoming a toon gave him the chance to be his true self, but also dialed up his behavior to a dangerous level.

(art by tinybubble330)

Name: Pɘqqino Ƨqɒϱʜɘtti/Fake Peppino

Super/Villain name: Anti-Raider/Fake Raider

Age: ???

Species: Dough Clone

Pronouns: He/They

General story/Background: After Totino went off his rocker, he became obsessed with defeating Peppino. So much so, that he created a clone to rival him. The clone was stable at first and resembled Peppino exactly. But after their first defeat, the clone began to melt. They now constantly follow after Pizzahead and are hell bent on one thing. Destroying Peppino and taking his place.

—

THIS IS AN AU I’VE BEEN MAKING WITH @tinybubble330 !!!! i couldn’t fit everyone in this post, so expect a part two… eventually if people show enough interest in this

[gusty-wind]

“It does not actually articulate or force the articulation of a strategy for how to end the conflict to begin with. So you basically have a blank check — or a near blank check — for a strategy that’s completely gone off the rails.”

Lee called out his Republican colleagues for sending aid to Ukraine at the expense of America’s own interests.

“By voting yes and passing this bill now, it empowers drug cartels, it dissolves our borders, it spends insane amounts of money that we don’t have on the priorities of foreign countries all at the same time,” he said.

Lee also slammed the bills’ proponents for defeating an effort led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to increase accountability and oversight of the aid to the notoriously corrupt Ukrainian government through appointment of an inspector general.

“These are not choir boys,” Lee said. “These are not Boy Scouts. These are not Girl Scouts. These are people who have really set world records for corruption. It’s an art form over there.”

Vance laid out the arguments from Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for rushing the aid through without further accountability measures.

“The basic argument is that we have to rush resources to Ukraine immediately, or they’re liable to fall to Russian aggression,” he said. “And it’s all basically an argument made under the gun that unless you approve this appropriation of resources and weapons, then you will allow Russia to win. So it’s a kind of moral blackmail.”

Supporters of yet more aid to Ukraine can not admit the reality that the war is not winnable for Ukraine, Vance continued. “They can’t admit that this isn’t going well because if they admitted that, it would cause too much psychological harm, and they’d have to cut bait.”

Johnson added that proponents argue that it is in politicians’ naked political interests to support the aid because “it’s helping build our industrial base, and so it’s creating jobs in your state. And I call that a depraved justification.”

Musk, who noted his contributions to Ukraine’s war efforts, echoed the assessment of the trio of senators that the war is ultimately not winnable and that a peace deal is in their best interests.

Ukraine is “losing people every day,” he said. “And if you’re going to spend lives, it must be for a purpose.”

Musk continued:

There is no way in hell that Putin is going to lose. If he would back off, he would be assassinated. And for those who want regime change in Russia, they should think about: Who is the person that could take out Putin? And is that person likely to be a peacenik? Probably not. They’re probably gonna be even harder, even more hardcore than Putin if they took him out.  Ramaswamy detailed additional “unacceptable” risks to American and global interests from continued “endless funding” of the fighting in Ukraine, arguing that Americans see “daily strengthening of the military alliance between Russia and China, which, when combined, is the single greatest increase for the risk of World War III that we’ve seen in the post-World War II era.”

If the foreign aid passes the Senate, as is expected, the House must still act. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) would likely face a rebellion from members of the Republican conference if he brought the bill to the floor.

Monday night, after the conclusion of the X Space, Johnson seemed to throw cold water on the Senate’s package, echoing earlier statements that Congress must address American border security first.

“In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” a Johnson statement read. “America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.”

The timing before Monday night’s vote is important, sending the message to any on-the-fence Republican senators that a vote on the unpopular aid package would imperil their political standing for legislation that will not become law.

Some Democrats have insisted they will use all the parliamentary tools at their disposal to bring the bill to the floor, although a path forward for the legislation in the House is unclear.

Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.

[ikroah]

I have reached the breaking point, the point of no return, it’s very clear to see a fool like me will never, ever learn. I have reached the breaking point, I hear the drums of doom, I’m gonna flip my wig in one great big atomic boom! —“The Breaking Point,” Bobby Darin (1966)

It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’ #27 - Ring-a-Ding-Ding VI

Collaborative Issue! Guest Artist: @sas-afras

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Read IKROAH on Archive of Our Own

Notes / Transcript:

Notes

Huge thanks to Monty over at @sas-afras for getting this one done! I handled the original layout and lettering, but the rest was all them. Layouts like this can seem simple and easy because of how straight-forward and repetitive they are, but when all you've got are a dozen and one reaction shots, every single one of those reaction shots needs to be as perfect as you can get them. And Monty did a hell of a job. Especially on the coloring! Monty, if you're reading this, you're a hell of a good colorist (on top of everything else). Thanks again!

Another note about this issue is that it, along with the previous one, were some of the most difficult to write in this whole damn comic so far. I really hate repeating in-game dialogue verbatim without good reason, but there's really not much else I could do here. It's a very necessary part of the story that is also literally a part in the game where your character is fixed in place listening to a monologue. I took some liberties, did some punch-up, not just for its own sake but to really drive home what I find most interesting and vital here about Mr. House as a character.

Anyway, Agnes is in trouble. And there's only one issue left in Volume 2! The next one closes out this arc of the story, at long last. Stay tuned.

Transcript

INT. LUCKY 38 BASEMENT. From an observation deck of sorts, AGNES SANDS watches several SECURITRON robots position themselves in a testing area, containing several sandbags, dummies, and makeshift fortifications. A voice booms from an unseen speaker.

MR. HOUSE: You're well familiar with my Securitron police force. But have you ever wondered: what exactly makes them the marquee option in perimeter security and pacification?

AGNES glances in the direction of the voice, uncomfortable.

MR. HOUSE: Well to start, the reinforced titanium alloy housing of each unit, which protects its electronic core, easily deflects small arms and shrapnel.

MR. HOUSE: As for its offensive capabilities, its X-25 gatling laser—produced to spec by Glastinghouse, Inc.—is deadly against soft targets at medium range.

SFX: BZZTZZTZZTZZTZZT

AGNES recoils as a red glow washes over her from the testing area.

MR. HOUSE: And then for close-range suppression or crowd control, the Securitron is also armed with a 9mm sub-machinegun.

SFX: DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA

AGNES shuts her eyes, wincing from the crack of gunfire.

MR. HOUSE: These features have been sufficient for keeping the peace within Vegas, but with the NCR and Legion closing in on Hoover Dam, and sizing up my city like a piece of prize cake, more than ever we need to be prepared for, well...external conflict. Policing is one thing, but when geopolitical powers are involved, my Securitrons can only pose so much of a threat.

MR. HOUSE: That is...if they're forced to rely exclusively on their secondary weapons--as they have been, all this time!

AGNES looks upward, surprised.

MR. HOUSE: Remember, the Great War interrupted a pivotal moment for RobCo's work. Consequently, all extant Securitrons have been stuck, running on a mere Mark I operating system—the first production version of the OS—which has simply lacked the software drivers for the use of their primary weapons all this time!

AGNES looks around, as if HOUSE were in the room somewhere and she could find him, in a panic.

MR. HOUSE: The platinum chip, you see, was never just a token. At a time when industrial espionage ran rampant, it was minted as a high capacity, proprietary, and uniquely irreplicable data storage device. In a way, it's more like a computer chip. And now—with the data from the platinum chip finally installed onto my nextwork—it's time for a very crucial software update. Behold: the new Mark II Securitrons!

AGNES gawks downward at the testing area, eyes wide. Oh no.

MR. HOUSE: Their newly accessible M-235 Missile Launcher gives them the ability to engage ground and air targets at significantly longer ranges...

SFX: PSSSSSHHH KTHOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM

AGNES flinches, covering her face for protecting, and screams as explosions rip apart the testing area below.

MR. HOUSE: ...and their rapid-fire G-28 grenade launching system, another part of the Mark II, makes them much more powerful in close-range engagements as well.

SFX: THMP THMP THMP KRRSSH KRAKTK KABOOM

AGNES, nearly frozen, watches the bombardment with horror.

MR. HOUSE: It also includes rewritten drivers for the Securitrons' auto-repair systems—although always sophisticated, the new optimizations render them inexhaustible in even the most protracted and attritious of engagements. Altogether, the Mark II upgrade confers a 235% total increase in combat effectiveness per unit—and it's all because of you!

AGNES lowers her arm slowly, jaw slack, mortified.

MR. HOUSE: Vegas finally has an army—worthy to protect not just the city itself, but the best interests of all of mankind, at home and abroad. Which is to say: this simple display of might remains a mere teaser for what I can, and what I will, accomplish, in an illustrious new epoch.

AGNES sinks further into a paralytic terror.

MR. HOUSE: What we will accomplish, Agnes—should you accept my offer, of employment. Ah—but I digress. I'm certain that you've had a long day. You can rejoin Miss Cassidy in the presidential suite for the night, if you'd like to, as they say, "sleep on it."

MR. In fact...say for as long as you'd like. However long you may need, to think everything over. And you'll be very well provided for in the meantime, consider it a taste of what could be...should you make the right choice before you.

MR. HOUSE: That reminds me—I've already sent Victor to collect your belongings from the Vault 22 Hotel, so no need to exhaust yourself further by making that trip on your own, hm? There's much about your future to consider, Agnes—and I would like you to think of it as our future.

AGNES stares straight ahead with a deadened expression.

The testing area in the basement has been reduced to smithereens. Fires rage on the rubble of obliterated structures, gnarled steel, and collapsed walkways. The dummies have been dismembered entirely.

MR. HOUSE: ...Goodness, what a mass. With friends like these, I sure wouldn't envy my enemies.

MR. HOUSE: Wouldn't you agree?

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

Animaniacs VS Crunch: WHY are they insane-y?

Despite being the creator (in-universe) of the main trio of Animaniacs, Lon Borax himself is a relatively obscure, and more often than not, absent character.

In "The Warners' 65th Anniversary Special", it's revealed that before he drew the Warner siblings, he created Buddy (again, only in-universe).

Buddy (both in-universe and out) was seen as a boring character, suggesting that Lon Borax himself perhaps wasn't the most creative person. In that case, isn't it strange that he went from creating a character as unremarkable and bland as Buddy to characters as boisterous and bizarre as the Warners? Especially, as it turns out, in such a short amount of time:

"Congratulations, Borax, you’ve discovered a cure for insomnia. That’s the most boring cartoon I’ve ever seen. Do you realize we have to show this cartoon to the front office tomorrow?"

This was Weed Memlo's response to the Buddy cartoon. When Lon tried to defend himself, claiming that is wasn't "that bad", Weed was having none of it:

"No! It’s worse! Fix it! Add more characters! Poof it up! Stay up all night if you have to! I want funny! If you need me, I’ll be at the smokehouse."

Weed Memlo (a director at WB) demanded that Lon work overnight, all the while he would be lounging around at a restaurant. Now, if you know even the slightest bit about how to make a cartoon, you'll know that it takes time...ALOT of time. As in, it takes over half a year to make just one episode of most cartoons, amount of time. So you'll also know that, even if he wasn't starting from scratch, expecting Lon to create new characters and heavily modify an existing cartoon in just one night is absurd.

link

What Animaniacs is depicting here is an overt example of an animator being forced to partake in crunch culture. And how did this affect Lon? Well, in his own words:

"I worked all night on that cartoon. I was exhausted, and then...and then I remember it was exactly 2:43 a.m. on the morning of February 30th, I-I started drawing these weird characters!"

What seems to be heavily implied here is that the stress and exhaustion he experienced due to crunch drove Lon mad, and that's why the Warners are as insane as they are.

As we know, the Warners go on to appear in more Buddy cartoons, then get their own shorts to star in (even if they didn't make any sense), but end up locked in the water tower once the studio didn't want to deal with them anymore. After a few brief escapes or instances of the studio temporarily letting them out (either to loan them out to other studios to make more money or to have them star in war propaganda short films), they escape in 1993 and end up starring in their own TV show.

But Lon Borax?

He went nuts.

Yeah he doesn't get better, they just put him in a home.

This is all portrayed comedically, but unfortunately crunch culture actually does have harmful affects on animators and people who work in the video game industry in the real world. 100-hour weeks, cases of sickness and depression, just really awful stuff. However, I don't think this was the writers necessarily making light of crunch, quite the opposite.

Weed Memlo got so fed up with the Warners he quit directing their cartoons. They constantly annoyed everyone who worked at the studio. Pulling pants down, scaring their crushes, playful teasing, stuff like that. They never did anything too harmful, in fact sometimes people just ran away screaming before they even did anything. This was their response to Wakko simply asking "Can we eat with you?":

Still, the studio certainly wasn't peaceful with them around. Most of the human actors were clearly bothered by them (although toons like Bugs and Daffy seemed to be more lenient to the Warners). It wouldn't have been like that if the Warners were sane. Sure they're kids (toon kids on top of that) so they probably still would've ran around and misbehaved here and there regardless, but not to the extent that they're known for.

The Warners made people afraid of going to work, and probably stalled if not halted production of a lot of what the studio was working on (Plotz even says "The Warners had single-handed brought this studio to a screeching halt.") The studio would've saved themselves a lot of trouble if they had given Lon more time, prioritised their worker over money.

But they didn't.

Watching this episode, it feels like writers were trying to get that message across. That the studio deserved to have to deal with Warners; that they were the consequences for partaking in crunch culture. The Warners had been serving large doses of karma for almost a full season at that point, only this time, their "special friend" wasn't just one person.

It was the corrupt industry that birthed them in the first place.

[fairykazu]

NO REMORSE ! FT. DAN HENG contents // modern au, uni au, friends to lovers notes // umm finals week 4 me, finals week 4 you guys too. we r in this together, dividers made by @/cafekitsune, this is kind of lazy, im sorry. masterlist

one more day and it's finally over, finals week or your final week? find out next time to know if name's status is alive or dead!! you dialed dan heng on your phone, "dan heng, did you have miss cocolia's history of belobog's final yet?"

"no, it's tomorrow."

"oh my god, i swear, that test she piled together is like hell. how am i supposed to remember how did belobog's demise went down?" you complained, digging your face closer to your pillow. hearing dan heng stifle a laugh, "huh? what's so funny, dan heng?"

"well..." thats when you knew that dan heng knew something you didn't. man, why didn't you take up on the offer to study with him.

"well what?"

"it's because when the war of gods was over, their aeon, jarilo-vi welcomed a long period of peace, allowing them to develop from a hunter-gatherer society to one that could conduct spaceflight. however, since their resources couldn't have had kept up with the industrial era of belobog. therefore, the descent of eternal freeze became along and destroyed the glorious yet short-lived civilians."

"why didn't you make me take up the offer to study with you, dan heng!" you complained.

"i did. you were the one persistently-” he changed his voice to be pitched to mock yours. "-saying, 'oh dan heng, i dont need help. i can do this myself. here i'll prove myself."

"ok. dan heng... no need to rub salt into the wound."

"do you want me to help you next time?"

"yes please."

[bogkeep]

it was always a strange dichotomy. every middle school classmate i had told me i'd be a millionaire when i grew up, a Famouse Artisté. it's easy enough to imagine as a teen, i suppose: skill equals fame equals money. i was doubtful about this prophecy, not because i wasn't confident in my ability to draw, but because it was hard to imagine a world where i'd be paid for it.

it was an ice breaker game at summer camp. horrible one, really - everyone in a group were given a character profile. now we had to imagine that it was the zombie apocalypse, and the helicopter to safety was two seats short and we had argue why we deserved a spot. the character i got was an asshole doctor of some kind. i don't remember if i argued my way into the helicopter or not, but i do remember the feeling that's been hanging over me my entire life - if the apocalypse happens right now, i have nothing to contribute.

there's something really painful about it. i have cultivated a skill for my whole life, i can make art and tell stories that are entirely unique to me, there is no way to get someone else to create in the exact same way i can, and yet - i've contributed more to capitalist society by sitting in an empty hotel reception for eight hours a day.

which made me develop anxiety, to boot.

i illustrated two children's books. they're some of my best work. the contract i signed was industry standard and the indie author who had hired me was incredibly kind... but even after stock sold out i had earnt little more than some pocket change.

in high school we had an outing to dig our own snow caves that we would spend the night in. in teams, thankfully. i have so little physical strength to speak of, most i could do to help was clear away the snow rubble and toss it outside. i know, i know, my classmates reassured me it was an important job to do, i was an invaluable member of the group, sure - but it's that feeling, you know?

what would my task be in the communist solarpunk commune?

a person cannot be useless. it's a human being. they just exist, no ifs and buts about it. one can only be useless in the eyes of an ableist, capitalist society that sees no value in being alive beyond production and profit.

sometimes i receive messages from internet strangers to tell me something i said - often several years ago - was helpful to them. maybe it was a throwaway comment on a forum. maybe it was replying to a question they could've googled the answer to. maybe it was an encouraging reply to someone's artwork. turns out it mattered to someone. huh.

of course you can learn new skills. i have learnt plenty over the years! i have also learnt that there are limitations to what i can do. that some of the obstacles i face are not in fact obstacles everyone faces. it's not that i can't break tasks into smaller steps, it's more that half of those steps are going to be "rinse your hands because you Touched a Thing and now you're going to have to touch Another Thing." i wonder if that's adding to my cognitive load or something.

i was never raised to be a man, so by all accounts i do not understand why i'm so haunted by the spectre of toxic masculinity - what would i do if i was a medieval peasant and a war broke out? what if i was in a pre-historic hunter gatherer society and i was expected to hunt? what if i was a humble farm boy discovering the sword of the chosen one and the world depended on my non-existing courage to face certain death?

look, it's stupid. these are not scenarios i will find myself in. besides, pre-historic humans depended on community and taking care of each other. that's how we survive.

i'm not useless and i decided to make peace with being useless anyway.

we're surrounded by digital clocks. we can't really escape them. do we need watchmakers? would they save me a spot in the zombie apocalypse helicopter? no, don't answer that. i'm just happy i found something that requires a light touch and an observant eye.

[wanderinginksplot-writes]

Gar Cyare Chapter Thirteen

You and Alpha have a conversation with the Null ARCs.

Word Count: 3,700

Warnings: minor descriptions of peril, minor descriptions of threats, continued threats, descriptions of a city under lockdown

Previous (SFW) | Next | Masterlist Previous (NSFW)

---

Morut (Stronghold)

General Shaak Ti did not seem surprised to see Alpha the next morning, a sentiment that Commander Colt shared.

“Captain,” General Ti greeted with a graceful nod. “Welcome back to Kamino.”

“Knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away for long,” Colt told him, grinning. “Hope you didn’t get your fill of excitement out there.”

“Seems like there’s plenty going on here,” Alpha said. He didn’t sound entirely put out by that, either. “I’ll be glad to help any way I can. How sure are we that it wasn’t Pender?”

“Alpha!” you chided.

“That was my thought, too,” Colt admitted. “But I looked into every angle of his story. It all checks out.”

“I thought we had already decided that?” you asked.

General Ti looked thoughtful. “I was under that impression as well.”

Colt shrugged, remorseless. “I had nothing better to do on lockdown. Seemed like a good idea to recheck our work.”

“You didn’t look hard enough,” Alpha muttered.

You didn’t bother admonishing him a second time, trusting that your displeased look would do that for you.

“What is our focus for the day?” Alpha asked, and you tried not to gloat. Your face must have worked if he was trying to change the subject.

“Unfortunately, we can do nothing at all,” General Ti said, a hint of regret in her peaceful tone.

Colt nodded. “The kaminii have locked us all out of the system while they work on analyzing their data. They can track what was copied. Until they have a final tally, we’re on standby waiting for an attack.”

Alpha’s eyes slid to you, the motion so quick that it was nearly imperceptible. “How likely is it that the Separatists will attack?”

“There is no evidence that the Separatists are behind this infiltration at all,” General Ti reminded.

Alpha and Colt both gave a derisive snort at that, and in such quick succession that it could have been timed.

“Respectfully, General,” Colt said, “Who else would try to infiltrate Kamino? There’s nothing of interest here for anyone but the Seppies.”

“Cloning technology,” you countered. You paused briefly when everyone turned to look at you, but you pressed on. “Kamino is leading the galaxy where cloning is concerned, but there are others working on the same process. Yes, Kamino is the only lab with a government contract, but this could have been industrial espionage. Especially since the Kaminoans are trying to exempt themselves from fees associated with belonging to the Trade Federation.”

“How do you know all of that?” Alpha asked, frowning deeply.

“I read the news,” you told him, frowning right back. “There hasn’t been much else to do for the past two days and it’s good to know what’s going on in the galaxy. Other than the war, of course.”

“Wise,” General Ti remarked, cutting off whatever Alpha may have said. “Whether Dengar was a Separatist spy or an agent of industrial espionage, we must be prepared in case of an attack. When the Kaminoans have finished reviewing their information, we will meet to hear what they have learned. For now, we must be certain that the cadets are prepared and that all incoming troopers know where they can be of the most use.”

“Yes, General,” Alpha agreed. Colt gave a nod as well. The general smiled at all three of you and swept gracefully from the room.

When Colt moved to do the same, Alpha stopped him. “Keep an eye on the Nulls, ner vod. They’re here for a reason, and I don’t think that reason is keeping the planet safe.”

“You’ve never been their biggest fan,” Colt said, a wry smile crossing his face, “but I agree. Skirata’s never been one for having them protect Kaminoan interests. They’re here for something else. Between the three of us, I’m sure we can keep an eye on them.”

“I don’t want her around them,” Alpha argued. “They’re dangerous.”

“I can hear you,” you reminded helpfully.

“Or you’re feeling overprotective,” Colt countered, ignoring you other than the wink he directed your way. His comlink rang and he waved a quick goodbye before turning away, answering the call even as he walked off.

Alpha muttered something that sounded uncomplimentary. “Let’s get you to your office.”

“No.” Alpha’s brows shot upward, but you held firm. “I can be more useful helping with the cadets and troopers. Besides, the best way to keep the Nulls from getting to me is to make sure you and I stay in the same area.”

Alpha’s forehead creased. “I don’t-”

“I don’t want to get pushed to the side, Alpha,” you admitted quietly. “I want to help.”

“Hey.” Alpha took a step closer, close enough to take your hands in his. “Neverd’ika, I never want to make you feel like you’re not capable. I’m worried, yeah, but I want to go check out your office. Then I promise, we’ll go help with the other preparations.”

“Oh.” You relaxed as Alpha’s thumbs skimmed over your knuckles. “What do you think is happening with my office?”

He sighed. “I think there are good odds that the Nulls went there as soon as you and I had left. They probably went through your datapads to see if you had gotten any information from Ko Sai’s files.”

“I told them that her records were unduplicatable.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he told you. “They probably thought you were lying. Or, if they did believe you, they might be trying to retrieve any trace data left from when you viewed the documents. Either way, I don’t want you going to your office until I check it out, and I figured you’d rather be there when I do.”

“You figured correctly,” you agreed. “Let’s go.”

A lesser man might have said something along the lines of ‘I told you so’, but Alpha just looked grimly understanding as you slowly realized that your office had been carefully combed through.

Oh, they hadn’t left anything a mess. Your datapads and notes and personal belongings were roughly where they had been before. They just weren’t quite right.

“They’re not making a secret of their investigation,” Alpha remarked, rotating your favorite mug back to face the right direction.

You took it from him, glancing at it briefly as you wondered if you should clean it before you used it next. “Do you think they’ll be back?”

“No way to know for sure,” Alpha said. “I wouldn’t be surprised, though it seems like they got a good look at everything in here. And you’re sure you don’t have copies of anything from Ko Sai’s notes?”

“Don’t tell me you’re fascinated with her work, too.”

It came out more waspish than you meant it to, but Alpha only gave you a look. “No. But if you secretly have a copy of something, it’ll make the Nulls harder to keep away.”

You sighed, rubbing at your forehead. “No. Like I said, Ko Sai locked the records - no edits, no copies, nothing. The only reason I spent as much time reading over them as I did was because I though about adding those records in as part of the clone trooper report.”

“You actually read her notes?”

“What did you think I was doing with them?” you asked. “I didn’t understand much of it. She wrote with a lot of scientific notations and concepts I’m not familiar with. I just scanned over most of what I read.”

“Do me a favor,” Alpha suggested, folding his arms. “Don’t tell anyone else you read those notes. If anyone asks, you saw the files and exited out.”

“Having read them makes me more of a target?” Your tone was probably overly skeptical, but you couldn’t help it. “I told you, I don’t remember much of anything.”

“Still.”

There was a polite knock on the door and Alpha went to answer it. You had just the right angle to watch his face darken in thin profile. “Go on. Tell me this is a coincidence.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Komr’k replied innocently, trying to step around Alpha.

Alpha blocked him with one shoulder. “No. You can’t come in, not after everything I heard last night.”

“I’ve come to apologize,” he explained, glancing past Alpha to look at you. “We crossed a line.”

“So you brought two of your brothers to apologize?” Alpha asked, peering out into the hallway without moving away from his spot between you and Komr’k.

“We’re all sorry.”

Alpha hummed skeptically. “You want to speak with them, administrator?”

It took you a moment too long to respond. Alpha never called you ‘administrator’, and you wasted time wondering who he was talking to. “Uh…”

Komr’k snorted. “Administrator? Not neverd’ika? Yeah, we’ve heard plenty about your new little soft spot.”

“Go on,” Alpha invited, straightening as he pushed his shoulders back. “Think you see a soft spot? Ne shab’rud’ni.”

“Alpha,” you entreated, rounding your desk. “I’d like to speak to them. One of them. Preferably Jaing, if he’s out there. He seemed to be the most level-headed last night.”

Alpha gave a sharp whistle. “If you’re looking for an invitation, Jaing, that was it. Get in here. Komr’k, ba’slanar.”

Komr’k sent Alpha a dirty look, but left without further argument. A moment later, Jaing was inside your office, waiting patiently as Alpha closed the door between the three of you and the other two Nulls standing outside.

“Please, come in,” you invited when Alpha had finished, gesturing Jaing toward the chairs on the other side of your desk.

Jaing inclined his head, settling in one of the chair as Alpha loomed behind him.

“Alpha, you can sit down, too.”

Alpha shook his head and you sighed. He had that tightness in his jaw that said he wasn’t going to let you talk him down. You sent an apologetic look at Jaing, who looked mildly confused.

“What can I do for you?”

Jaing studied you for a long moment before he answered. “I want to apologize for last night.”

“Of course,” you acknowledged with a nod.

Jaing exhaled slowly. “No, really. We spoke with our sergeant last night and he explained that civilians operate on a different set of rules.”

You believed him, oddly enough. Not that the Nulls didn’t understand civilians - that was clear nonsense - but that his apology was sincere. Behind him, Alpha looked distinctly grumpy, so you decided to cut through whatever civilian comedy of manners might be happening.

“Was going through my office part of the apology?” you asked, keeping your tone and expression steady. “Or is it one of the things you’re apologizing for?”

Some of the tension eased from Jaing’s brow. “You noticed.”

Alpha snorted. “Lemme give you some advice: she notices more than you think. More than most civvies and more than some troopers I’ve trained.”

“High praise, from you,” Jaing noted. He looked back at you. “Yes, we did search your office. There was a chance we could have recovered some of Ko Sai’s notes from the device you used to access them, but none of your datapads showed signs of recent use.”

You nodded slowly, thinking about the datapad you had taken to your quarters. You felt a surge of guilt at first, but then you remembered that the Null troopers had intended to get rid of you and the guilt disappeared.

“But we did find your report,” Jaing added. You glanced at him in shock and he nodded slowly. “We read it. At first, we meant to check whether you were really sent by the Senate. We were all under the impression that the official report was submitted months ago.”

Your lips flattened into a thin line. Your voice was tight when you said, “I’ve been busy.”

Jaing nodded. “I saw why. It was much more in-depth than any of us expected to find. Are you really going to add in a ‘specifications’ section?”

“It was a concept I was developing.” Jaing was talking about the section you had outlined when you were reading Ko Sai’s notes. “I was going to display the Kaminoans’ original designs for the clone troopers, then contrast that with examples of times that troopers went above and beyond those specifications.”

“Was?” Alpha asked.

“Was,” you confirmed, gesturing at the datapads on your desk. “My source material has self-destructed.”

If you were expecting Jaing to look sheepish, you were disappointed. “That’s the other thing we wanted to talk to you about.”

“I knew it,” Alpha growled.

You exchanged looks over Jaing’s head. Both of you had known full-well that the Nulls didn’t want to apologize. Or, if they did, it was just so that you were more likely to agree to whatever else they needed from you.

“Well, I am utterly shocked,” you countered dryly. “What else did you want to ask?”

“We still haven’t managed to recover any of Ko Sai’s files,” Jaing told you. You nodded - the file deletion had been on the lines of a total purge. There would be no recovering the documents that were lost. “But we think it’s possible that someone made copies of some of the documents.”

“No,” you denied. “Like I told you, the files couldn’t be copied.”

“The data couldn’t be duplicated,” he pointed out. “But that doesn’t mean that someone couldn’t have written down pieces of the information in hard copy format to keep it from being deleted when the rest of the files were. In fact, we believe that happened at least once.”

“And what makes you believe that?” Alpha asked, sounding bored. You had never wished to share a psychic link with someone quite so desperately as you did just then.

“Because we found a partial trace indentation on the administrator’s desk,” Jaing answered, holding up a piece of flimsi. It had been carefully shaded to reveal part of the code from Ko Sai’s files. “We’ve already managed to decode some of this, but we need the rest of the message for it to make sense.”

You kept your face as expressionless as possible as you weighed your options. Alpha kept his eyes trained on Jaing, but they occasionally darted to you.

You only had one copy of the code. You had made sure to take it down on flimsi so it couldn’t be erased, but you hadn’t thought to write it down in another place. Admittedly, you had been more than a little distracted between the Nulls and Alpha, but you were still kicking yourself. Giving Jaing the code would mean losing any chance to work with it yourself.

A refusal started forming on your lips, but then you saw a flash of expression on Jaing’s face. You could have ignored disgust. Anger had long ceased to bother you. Even suspicion, wariness, disappointment… all were easily pushed aside. But the microsecond of hope on Jaing’s face was something you couldn’t brush off.

With a light sigh, you rummaged in your bag and found the piece of flimsi. Jaing’s expression was shuttered by the time you offered him the page, but his eyes were gleefully anticipatory.

When his hand reached for the paper, you paused, holding it out of his reach. Jaing’s jaw set and you understood. He probably expected you to demand something.

Instead, you gave him a firm look. “I need you to understand that you haven’t scared me into this. I’m not giving this to you because of the threats you and your brothers made or because you went through my office. You can have this because it means so much to you. I don’t know why you want Ko Sai’s notes so badly, but I’m not going to stand in your way.”

Even when you offered the flimsi again, Jaing sat still. His gaze was trained on you, intent as he analyzed you posture, your body language, and every expression on your face. Slowly, he nodded and took the flimsi.

“Anything else you can tell me?”

Alpha scoffed, but you hummed thoughtfully. “Ko Sai’s files didn’t allow for duplication, but there were vague references to physical copies that had been stored somewhere safe. I think this code is a reference to where that safe place is.”

Jaing nodded, briefly scanning the coded message and glanced up at you. “You were on the right track with your decryption. Ordo and A’den have been working on the part of the code we did have.”

It was a little offensive that he sounded so surprised, but you shrugged that off. “Thanks. Feel free to work on the rest of it. You already know my door code.”

He stood, but paused halfway to the door. When you looked at him curiously, he said, “The Kaminoans don’t like us much.”

When you didn’t answer, Alpha said, “Can’t imagine why.”

Jaing smiled ruefully. “They don’t take kindly to products that don’t die quietly when asked. But that’s not the point. If what you say is true, Ko Sai has another set of notes hidden and I’m willing to bet it’s on Kamino.”

“You could be right,” you agreed. “Ko Sai probably couldn’t imagine a future when she didn’t have a secure place here.”

“They aren’t going to let us stay, but we need those files,” Jaing reiterated, lifting the flimsi slightly. “If this is any indication, we could use someone like you helping us on the inside.”

You gave him a skeptical look. “Four translated characters and you’re willing to bring me into your super-secret mission? Either there’s something more going on here or your mission isn’t going to stay secret for long.”

Jaing laughed softly, glancing at Alpha. “You weren’t exaggerating.”

“I never do.”

“I’m not offering based on some half-finished decryption,” Jaing agreed. “But we weren’t working on that all night. We spent a lot of that time digging into everything we could learn about you.”

You stayed silent, simply tilting your head at him in mute question.

“We spoke with Sergeant Skirata.”

“I don’t know who that is,” you admitted freely.

“You will.” Jaing moved on quickly from that ominous promise, and started to tick off sources on his fingers. “He told us to dig into your records. We spoke to Omega Squad and a few brand-new ARCs. We read your report. All of it backs up what I said: We could use someone like you staying here on Kamino and helping us.”

“Alpha?” you asked, looking over at him.

His expression was disgusted. “Do you think you can trust these kyramude?”

“I trust you,” you said. “And I trust your instincts. Is this a trick or a trap of some kind?”

Alpha walked a tight circle around Jaing, ending in front of him. A slight duck of his head was all Alpha needed to stare Jaing in the face. Jaing watched him steadily.

The quiet stretched longer than you were comfortable with, but Alpha eventually shook his head. “If the Nulls wanted you dead, they'd do it themselves. Skirata didn't train them to do anything by halves.”

“Jaing, may I have some time to consider this?” you asked politely. Manners never made a situation worse.

“Yeah,” Jaing agreed, finally breaking eye contact with Alpha. “Just try not to take too much time. Like I said, the kaminii won't let us stay on their planet for long after the lockdown is over.”

“I will get you my answer as soon as possible,” you agreed.

“One last thing,” Jaing said, starting toward your desk. Alpha was in his way before he had taken his third step. Jaing held up his hands. “Udesii, Captain. I just want to make sure you both get to keep a copy of the message.”

You took the sheet of flimsi from Jaing. “You can keep the original if you want. I'll work on this as much as I have time for.”

“If you have time, that would be helpful. If we both decipher the code, we can compare to double-check the results.” Jaing tucked the flimsi into a pocket and was at the door in a moment. When he turned back a final time, there was mischief in his dark eyes. “Just be sure not to shirk your assignment with General Ti and Commander Colt.”

Alpha growled, taking a single step forward before Jaing disappeared down the hallway.

You sighed, scrubbing at your eyes. “Is there anything the Nulls don't know?”

“They got a triple helping of the trooper gene for being meddling pains in the shebs,” Alpha confirmed. “And Skirata didn’t help get them under control.”

“I feel like I’ve heard a lot about him, but I still don’t know who he is,” you admitted. “Jaing called him a sergeant. Is he the one in charge of the Nulls? Their commanding officer?”

“That was the idea at first,” Alpha told you, sounding weary. “He came here as one of the original Mandalorian bounty hunters meant to train the troopers. But one thing led to another and now, he’s their father in every way that matters.”

“Excuse me?” You were flabbergasted. Not that someone would adopt some of the clone troopers - you had considered it more than once with the Bad Batch - but that the man everyone spoke of with such great respect wasn’t another clone. “He adopted them?”

“Sure.” Alpha’s shrug was far more casual than you would have expected for the topic. “Adoption is a lot easier in Mando culture.”

You shook your head, standing from your desk. That was a lot for you to take in at once, and you needed to do something else. “Enough about the Nulls. Let’s go help with the lockdown.”

“Sure, neverd’ika,” Alpha agreed. “But you’re going to have plenty more to do with the Nulls. You’ve just agreed to work with them.”

“I only said that I’ll think about it,” you protested. “I haven’t decided anything yet.”

Alpha gave you a skeptical look. “Haven’t you?”

That was difficult to argue, so you kept your mouth closed.

---

Author's Note - I've read the Republic Commando novels, and Jaing always struck me as the most chill. Also the kindest (he offers to adopt Mird if it's owner dies in battle or otherwise can't continue to be a good pet parent.

[slitheringghost]

I think you may have turned me into a rabid Lilypad shipper. Do you have any fic recs? 😻😻

I'm so glad, they are The Best ship and deserve all the love. I've recced most of these before and there aren't that many because it's such a rarepair, but here you go:

a meeting of the minds by @slashmarks (Sirius/Lily, 3.6k, E)

Sixth year, surrounded by political chaos and grieving the loss of her best friend, Lily says yes when Sirius asks her out.

"And I remember you wear green when you're out of uniform a lot, and most Gryffindors don't, so I thought that might be your pillow case from home." "You remember what I wear?" Lily said. "I always notice," Sirius said, and blushed. Lily suspected this of being a line but he'd pulled it off well. - Would it be so bad, really, she thought, hazy with arousal, if he got her pregnant? --if she had him not just for a few weeks, but for the rest of their lives? --if he stayed?

we're already in the aftermath by slashmarks (Sirius/Remus/Lily, 15.8k, T)

Lily's plan to defeat Voldemort forever and leave her and Harry safe succeeds - and leaves her struggling with guilt over James's death even as she has no one left but James's best friends. In the meantime, the Ministry carries on as usual. The war is dead, long live the war: they're losing the peace instead.

Loyal, industrious Sirius. Lily didn't deserve him, but she wasn't going to turn his service down. Anyway it wouldn't be helping him if she did; Sirius had been born and raised to serve an ideal, had only managed to substitute it out and not break that programming, and wouldn't have the faintest idea what to do with himself with the war over if she wasn't willing to substitute.

flickering light in an endless night by @gracelesslady23 (Sirius/James/Lily, Pre-Relationship, 4.5k, M)

Harry Potter is dead, taking Voldemort with him. While the rest of their world celebrates, Lily, James and Sirius struggle with their grief.

“Stop playing with him, Sirius.” She was surprised by how clipped her tone was, when she felt only moments away from falling apart. Sirius’ vicious expression fell as he turned back to her, contrite and obedient once more. It struck again her how wrong that expression looked on Sirius’ proud, aristocratic features.

Unwanted Reflections by zeldadestry (Sirius/Lily, Sirius & Lily & Regulus, 1.2k)

Lily is married to Sirius instead of James.

“I’m just as good as you in a duel, and you know it. It’s safer if we go together.” She knows what he’s going to say next, so she pre-empts him. “Don’t you dare mention the baby.” Horrible as it might sound, the baby, although it’s alive inside her, still feels like a far off possibility. Sirius is already here, already hers, and the intensity of her concern for the baby is nothing compared to the fear of losing him.

I'll never leave if you keep your eyes on me by camichats (Sirius/Lily, Sirius & James, 5.3k, T)

Sirius is falling for Lily, but he knows that it can never happen. She's not just James's ex-girlfriend, she's his ex-wife. There are rules about this sort of thing, no matter how great Sirius and Lily get on.

Lily raised her eyebrows at him. "Sirius, are you in love?" "Are you going to answer the question or not?" "I didn't do anything. He's not interested, and it's nice to be interested in someone again. After falling out of love with James, I was sort of worried that I didn't have it in me anymore. Now answer my question. Are you in love?"

The Kind of World Where We Belong by @shaggydogstail (Sirius/Lily, 21k, E)

A teen elopement to defy the new Decree for the Protection of Wizarding Purity seemed like a great prank at the Ministry’s expense. As time goes on, though, both Sirius and Lily might well have reason to wonder if the joke’s really on them.

‘I… you what?’ Lily flushed a little redder and mumbled a vague, ‘You heard me.’ As proposals go, it wasn’t the grandest or the most romantic.  Sirius kept staring at Lily like she was a Quaffle short of a Quidditch match, and Lily wondered, not for the first time, if this wasn’t the stupidest idea she’d ever had.  She must’ve been desperate to think this was a good idea. 

Fics I haven't read yet but I know will be good

defector of a kind by slashmarks (Sirius/Lily, Lily & Marlene, Sirius & Orion, 7.8k, T)

Lily encounters Orion Black at a Christmas party, settles one miscommunication, and sets herself, Sirius, and the Black family on a very different path.

the deception of the thrush by slashmarks (Sirius/Bellatrix, Sirius/Lily, Bellatrix/Voldemort, 12.7k, E)

Over eight years after Sirius Black stayed Secret Keeper and an unvanquished Voldemort took the Ministry late in 1981, James has left the country to draw the search for the prophecy child away. Meanwhile, Sirius struggles to balance helping his other best friend, trapped under a Fidelius Charm, and his cousin, trapped in the Dark Lord's bed. But Lily and Harry can only survive in hiding for so long.

Scandalous by @annabtg (Sirius/Lily, James/Lily, 4.9k, M)

Sirius Black attends Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black's wedding, with a controversial choice of a plus-one and the explicit intention of stirring up drama.

If anyone has any more recs feel free to add on!

[worm-on-my-way]

honestly i feel like when people say noel should have been the angriest boy in town or smth i feel like they deeply misunderstand what they meant by that or what the romantic ideologies even were.

when they call him a romantic they mean it as in the romantic era so i just wanna list some of the stuff cos i have been learning about it and its super interesting

the romantic movement was a protest of sorts towards society moving towards a more modern world, it countered industrialism (factories and big office buildings), urbanization (cities and the removal or changing of land for human habitation), consumerism (the process of buying and selling at large rates) and secularization (lack of spirituality or religion)

the romantics main beliefs centered a lot around the idea of the self, innocence, the deification of untamed nature and a sort of manic expression of emotion, they were artists and poets and writers and musicians who made pieces criticizing the afformentioned topics or praising what they deemed good. (fun fact the romantics actually created the word "sublime" as a way to describe the awe of nature and how it compares to humanity, they were very big on the humans being less than the world around them type mindset)

so to link some of their beliefs to noel,

again they were big on the sense of self so a story that was basically a self insert works very well

monique is a very emotionally driven character, the story was very much focused on the drama of her suffering, every action she made was emotional

the idea of the tragic hero is very much pushed for in moniques story i think because we mainly get to see her side of the story and a lot of sympathy is put on her tending to make her flaws or bad actions justified (the romantics were exremely egotistical)

the setting of the story being post war france and focusing on the grimey dark side of the city that isnt always shown, france is portrayed as a very mournful and angry place with a lot of suffering and that very much alines with the romantic mindset (but also if the positive sides of paris were to be shown it would also make sense refrence 'composed of westmister bridge' by william wordsworth)

the scene of the priest leaning down to monique while she was on her death bed and asking her if she wished to say something to god and her choosing to basically challange or insult him was a good representation of the romantic beliefs towards the christian church, while the romantics were supportive of religion and spirituality they had a lot to say about the church mainly of its corruption as back during that era the church had much higher influence and some of the blame for that could be shoved onto the church.

the idea of innocence also comes up but this time as the lack of it being a negative thing, monique selling her child may also be used as an analogy here

the idea of nature and its basically godly status does not seem to be present in the life of monique but we will take what we can get i suppose

ok my little essay is over i just wanted to rant about this because its so cool anyway go read 'London' by Blake peace out