#IT Systems Performance

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[zillychu]

get MOLTED, idiot

[pinecavity]

Caleb is a good man.

At least, that’s what he tells himself, as he washes the blood from his knuckles in the academy’s communal bathroom. His reflection stares back at him, hollow-eyed and exhausted, water running pink down the drain.

He is a good man. 

Because good men don’t just sit there and listen when other pilots talk about their younger sisters like that. Good men don’t turn the other cheek when someone speaks about her with filth coating their tongue, testing, just to see how deep the rumors run. Good men don’t let their hands shake with the urge to do worse.

Good men do something.

So Caleb did.

His knuckles throb where they connected with bone. He flexes his fingers under the cold water, watches as the bloom of red swirls and fades, disappearing down the drain like it was never there.

He tried. He really did. The first few weeks, it was easy enough to ignore. The rumors were just noise, empty words from guys with too much time on their hands. He told himself they didn’t matter. As long as you wouldn’t hear them. As long as they wouldn’t touch you.

But they crept back in anyway, curling under his skin like smoke, thick and suffocating.

He sat there nursing his drink, jaw tight, hands curled into his lap as the other pilots ran their mouths. He’s used to their talk by now—the crude, restless way they pick things apart, looking for cheap entertainment, something to ruin just because they can. 

But then they said your name.

"She’s cute, though, right? You’ve seen the pictures.”

A sharp laugh. Someone knocking back a shot.

“Bet she’s reaal close to you, huh? Real attached. She follow you around like that back home, Caleb? All doe-eyed, waiting for a pat on the head?"

He knew where it was going before the words even landed.

"That sweet little face… heard she’s a real whore for you under that shy act. Bet she calls you big brother reeal innocently, huh? Wouldn’t blame you if—"

His restraint snapped so fast he barely remembered standing. One moment, he was gripping his glass so hard he thought it might shatter, and the next—

The guy’s head snapped sideways with the force of his fist. A sickening crunch, the scrape of a chair legs skidding back, and then the sharp intake of breath from the others as the laughter died.

Caleb didn’t say a word. Just stood there, fist still clenched, chest rising and falling steady and slow. He could’ve done worse. He wanted to do worse. But he was a good man. And good men knew when to stop.

So he did.

[rocksaltpaperscissors]

one scene i cannot get over in System Collapse is murderbot and ART, both barely functional, staggering their way onto the shuttle to leave the 2nd colony. MB getting ART-drone strapped into a seat, worried about how damaged it is. doesn't even notice Iris getting it strapped into its own seat (as she worries about how damaged it is). MB and ART-drone, their humans' first and last lines of defense, destroyers of hostile secunits, sniping back and forth as they try to keep each other from shutting down. their humans, once again just barely Not Dead, looking after their extremely badass and very nerfed defenders. at least 15% of my brain capacity is dedicated to this scene at all times

[chiperti]

mettamay day 2: stage

[hellspawnmotel]

rokuro makube gay images

[corasparasol]

Lenore Dove isn’t a retread of Lucy Gray, she’s an evolution.

Lucy Gray is close enough to the war to know that the Covey once lived independent to the Capitol or Districts, and as such has no loyalty to either. She has opinions on the state of things, but ultimately she views herself as an outsider to the conflict entirely, and is focused on self preservation and freedom. This is why I couldn’t see her becoming Coin, regardless of the logistical reasons that wouldn’t work. If she did make it out her concerns would be leaving Panem, or at least evading its authority.

Lenore Dove is so much more engaged in the larger struggle between district and Capitol, and even takes risks to rebel against the Capitol’s authority. I see this being partly because of the generational difference, where the boundaries between Capitol and Districts have been drawn more clearly and the Covey have already started to become absorbed into the population of 12.

Add to that that Lenore Dove is much less concerned with self preservation than Lucy Gray, and you have two very different personality types who if they did live together in 12 would probably butt heads often.

[steddieas-shegoes]

Steve and Eddie go through the whole adoption process in 1996, despite how difficult it was to find somewhere willing to help them at all and despite their conflicted feelings on adoption.

The way they saw it though, providing a loving home for a child who needed one was better than the alternative. Eddie had enough experience with temporary foster homes to know stability was better than constant moving and questionable foster parents.

They get a foster placement almost immediately, a six year old girl named Amelia. She’s quiet, but not in a way that worries them. She’s very focused, and enjoys going to school more than any regular children’s hobbies. Neither of them know what to do with that other than keep encouraging it.

She stays for months, months turn into a year, and the agency finally gives them the go ahead to complete the adoption process.

But they don’t do anything without talking to Amelia.

She’s happy there, her therapist signs off on it immediately and explains that Amelia has shown more personality development and less signs of trauma with them than she had even living at home. Not to mention they actually brought her to appointments, unlike her previous guardians.

To celebrate, they throw a party with all their friends and family and tell Amelia she can invite anyone from school she wants. She invites everyone.

Turns out their daughter is a social butterfly and is friends with everyone.

At the party, Eddie pulls out his guitar, plays a bunch of popular kid-friendly songs after a very scathing look from Steve as a reminder to behave.

Amelia walks over to him after a few songs, on a sugar high like he’d never seen on her before, and asks to play the guitar.

He’s hesitant, but not because he’s still protective of his guitars, more because he doesn’t want her to embarrass herself in front of her friends. Kids are cruel, even and especially at seven, and the last thing he wants is this to be the thing that kids talk about for the next ten years.

She sits on the couch and holds it, arranging her fingers…correctly. Eddie watches.

Steve is watching from across the room.

She starts strumming, very quietly at first, not as confident as she’d been a moment ago. And then she starts really playing.

It’s one of the songs Eddie wrote. He played it for the last four months nonstop as he perfected it, and she’d apparently been watching.

Eddie’s jaw is on the floor and he quickly looks over to Steve, who has a similar look of surprise on his face.

He doesn’t interrupt her. She makes it through the entire song.

She looks up.

“When did you learn to play guitar?” Eddie asks.

“When I was watching you.”

“But have you played before tonight?”

Amelia shook her head, looking down. “Didn’t wanna touch it without asking.”

Eddie pulls the guitar from her hands and sets it aside, then pulls her into his lap and hugs her. Steve sits down on the couch next to them, hand on her back.

“You can always ask, sweetie. And if you’re this interested and this natural, we can buy you your own guitar if you want. I didn’t think you were interested in playing.”

“I wanna be like you,” Amelia admitted against his shoulder.

Eddie was done for. He looked at Steve, half-panicked, trying not to cry in front of these people, but Steve wasn’t faring any better.

“Then we can go get you a guitar tomorrow. You can get your own picks, too. They might even have purple ones.”

“Can I have red? Like yours?”

“Of course, sweetie.”

It only took them two days after that to realize she could play by ear, just like Eddie.

And then it only took another day after that to realize she had taught herself to read music too.

They spent hours and hours every week playing together while Steve cooked dinner or checked her homework or just watched them.

When Eddie’s band decided to record another album and go on tour when Amelia was 12, Eddie insisted that she get to be on it.

She ended up helping write one of their songs, played on the track on the album, and with a lot of work, convinced Steve to let them homeschool her for the entire 8 months they’d be on tour so she could perform on stage with her dad.

“Can’t believe she’s not even genetically yours. Are you sure you didn’t have an affair?” Steve asked the night before they were leaving for Europe.

“When would I have had an affair? I came back to the tour bus or hotel with you every single night,” Eddie kissed him softly. “She’s amazing, huh?”

“She is. What happens when she wants to be a full blown rockstar like her dad too?”

“Then we make sure she’s protected and has good people around her like I have. She could be a rockstar easily. She’s got the talent and the presence,” Eddie smiled. “And she’s got me to make sure no one takes advantage of her. But she’s only 12. We’ve got time to worry about that later.”

“You’re bringing her onstage every single night all over the world for the next eight months, baby. I think later is now.”

Eddie sighed. “She’s gonna blow them all away. I’m proud of her. Let’s focus on that for now.”

And she did blow everyone away. The fans and the media had nothing but good things to say, and Steve didn’t have to go into overprotective mom mode at all until she was 15 and signing a record deal of her own.

But between Eddie and him, the entire industry knew better than to fuck with her or them.

They made rules, of course. School still came first, she still had required family events to be at, she still had regular friends at home. She wasn’t allowed at any parties, not even the events for award ceremonies.

But she didn’t really need those rules. She had no interest in parties or abandoning her friends or family, and she was a straight A student who still had hopes of getting into Brown for Journalism like her Aunt Nancy. She had a passion for music and wanted to share it, but not at the cost of the rest of her life.

And Eddie and Steve did everything they could to make sure she got to have everything. That’s what they’d promised her from day one.

[thelaurenshippen]

okay, but, like, THAT'S how you do a villain story. in the FIRST scene, you watch him shoot a man in cold blood. the show tells you right away "this man is not a good man".

but then it gets you to sympathize - look at how much the world has stepped on him. look at how terrible the whole of gotham is. and even when he kills more people, does more terrible things, you still root for him. because it's fun to watch someone be terrible to terrible people. you root for sofia too, because if anyone deserves revenge its her, but you're rooting for both of them somehow.

and then the show tells you "when he was a boy he killed his brothers". but even still, you want to see what he'll do. the show is called the penguin, you want to see the penguin rise. when he lets his mother's finger almost get cut off, you pity him. he's a sad, broken thing. how could he be anything but bad? but he loves, so there must be something else there.

but then. but THEN

the show always told you: "this is the devil". but you thought, maybe the devil can make hell a little more bearable for some people. the devil is so often nuanced, sympathetic, complex. maybe he's like that.

you're wrong. there's nothing good within him and YOU rooted for him to succeed. you wanted to watch the destruction. and now you have to live with the consequences of thinking, even for a second, that he could be redeemed.

[melonalemonade]

hey crowley, I came back for you. You can wake up now, i’m here

[itseghost]

sketch of my warden :] really enjoying origins so far

[gojoest]

[vatt1vv]

I’m being a hater real quick. You trans women sy truthers have your fun I too enjoy imagining sy with tits…. HOWEVER it’s way too simple a solution to sy’s gender weirdness. He has way too much of a complicated relationship with gender for it to simply be ‘Teehee estrogen would save him’ break free from the gender binary embrace genderqueer sy

[rocks-in-space]

That was one of the best d20 episodes ever <- me, about Misfits and Magic 2 every single week

[always-a-joyful-note]

To Be Hero X, the most idol donghua that isn't an idol donghua that there ever was....

[kris-performs-surgery]

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