#My motto for US elections at this point | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

undercityrezident · 2 years

Text

Alright... that’s a lot to unpack... good grief... what an episode.

Ok, where are we? I guess the start is as good a place as any to begin.

So, here we are in part four of Leon vs. Ash. At least one of my predictions came true: Eternatus helped solve the problem that Ash and Leon’s Gigantamax and Z-move created. I’m glad that, in that sense, Eternatus didn’t interfere in the match so much as to have them call it off. I could’ve very easily seen the writers doing that as a cop-out not wanting to break Leon’s winning streak while not giving Ash another finals loss.

I do wonder what exactly changed such that Eternatus is now trying to actively keep away another occurrence of the Darkest Day, aside from just being a captured pokemon. Maybe that’s all it really takes. I might’ve appreciated more hints and scenes on this change in behaviour aside from the one we got the episode before the battle, but I can’t ask for too much more for such a one-off thing, I suppose.

Anyway, the lesson here we learn here is don’t mix your battle enhancements. Z-Moves and Gigantamax moves apparently have violent, explosive, world-altering chemistry.

I think the best thing we got out of that encounter was Team Rocket narrating the events to the same rhythm and rhyme as their motto. Considering I don’t really care for TR always butting into the match and eating up valuable screen time, that’s saying something.

That all aside, we can’t say that Eternatus didn’t do anything to influence the match. They apparently gave Leon and Ash another use of Gigantamax, which Leon elected to use on Cinderace this time while Ash could only use it with his lone contender, Pikachu. In retrospect, I should’ve expected something like this because we’d also been exposed to Gigantamax Pikachu far earlier in the series. I’m surprised I didn’t think of it, but I guess it’d been long enough that I forgot about the big round Pika-friend and his extra-long lightning-tail.

Strangely, we only got one move out of each of those Gigantamaxes with a cool pairing of move impacts that each tried to hold at bay. The announcer said the impacts forced them back to normal size, which seemed like a really conveniently mundane answer. I would’ve gone with something along the lines of the fact that Enternatus only provided so much power for their second Gigantamax, but that’s just me.

That said, the visuals in this face-off were pretty cool, and I love Cinderace trying to repeatedly kick the damn lightning bolt back up into the sky. That said, Cinderace must be quite frail since I’m reasonably certain it took little to no damage in its other appearances in the match. Meanwhile, Pikachu took that giant fire-soccer-ball like a champ and went on to stand up against Charizard.

I do appreciate that, in the end, after all those battle enhancements through the match we do come down to a classic pokemon battle. No Mega Evolution. No Z-moves, no Gigantamax or Dynamax. Just Pikachu vs. Charizard.

And after all that, after we finally... finally... got some screens of Ash’s past travelling companions that we’ve been missing! Another shot of the ranch crowd; Misty; Brock, Cilan, and Alexa all in the same room, May and Serena in contest garb with Max and bonus Lisia! I’m not sure why we haven’t been able to get them until now, but thank god we finally got them in before it was all over.

Now, I’d be here all night if I were to narrate every move exchange between the pair of battlers because damn, there are a lot, and damn, some of them work great on screen. Pikachu using an electroweb to delay a fire blast long enough to dart away. Charizard taking an iron tail in the chest to be able to use a dragon pulse at point-blank range. Pikachu jumping from ancient power boulder to ancient power boulder like in his gym battle with Grant back in XY to get to the fucking ceiling of the arena. Dueling moves as the pair fall back to the ground. The raw displays of power between the two pokemon as they try and intimidate each other and show off their strength.

I won’t lie, I was captivated. This is the kind of battling I love to see. This is why I come back to this anime time and time again. For these moments. For these battles. I swear, for a few minutes there, I forgot about all the critiques I had for the rest of the battle in the previous three episodes leading up to this. I might’ve even forgotten my all-to-often-displayed annoyance for Leon’s character too.

This was just raw, high-octane, amazing battle and animation fueled by rad music and peak emotional investment from the trainers, the pokemon, and even me.

Then Pikachu took a nasty fire blast hit, beginning, for me, the most poignant and powerful part of the episode. All to the tune of Pikachu’s heaving breaths, we got to see the looks on everyone’s faces as we waited to see if the little yellow mouse would continue to stand:

Dawn and Chloe; Team Rocket; our favourite badass ladies, Cynthia and Diantha; Misty; May and Serena holding hands, and Max is there too; the two mentors in Cilan and Brock; Iris on her iPad; my precious lemon siblings, Clemont and Bonnie; the whole fucking Alola gang, and then the Alola adults too; the Oak Ranch crowd; and finally, Goh.

Then, from behind Pikachu’s own eyes, we saw the moment he fell over. This next part of the episode that made me actually choke up a bit.

For Pikachu, all in its own mind within presumably fractions of a second--though stretched out for us and him--a reunion with all his friends: Ash’s pokemon. All of them. From every region. Kanto. The Orange Islands. Johto. Hoenn. Sinnoh. Unova. Kalos. Alola. And the latest team too. And even pokemon Ash released, traded, or otherwise left with others: Butterfree, Pidgeot, Primeape, Ambipom, Goodra, and Nagandel.

I’m a sucker for nostalgia, I won’t even try to hide that. I love when the anime acknowledges the past sagas. And this was wonderful for me. The feelings that welled up for me had me clutching my chest.

And then finally, Ash comes up and tells him, “That’s right Pikachu! Everyone’s at our side!”

That’s when Pikachu gets up and lets out a frighteningly powerful thunderbolt that even has Charizard and Leon recoiling.

That’s when Ash turns his cap back when we know things are really hitting their peak.

That’s when Leon throws his cap off and does his goofy, though I suppose now quite appropriately timed, pose as the two contenders finally meet in their final clash of the match.

Pikachu meeting Charziard in the middle, shrouded in pure electric power contrasted against red-hot flame, was a powerful feat of animation...

...and made me wonder why we ever gave up Volt Tackle.

Cut to Pikachu on a bed in the local Pokemon Center, us as audience members supposedly clueless as to who won. It was a strange way to delay telling us who won, since they really didn’t make us wait long to show it anyway. But all said, the finale of Charizard getting domed on the head by Pikachu, letting out one last frustrated gout of flame before keeling over, was pretty neat.

Then, to my surprise, an actual moment of character development for Leon! We’d been teased, very lightly, with flashbacks to Leon as a kid. This culminates here in the completion of those scenes with us seeing none other than a young (and hella adorable) Sonia beating the young new trainer, Leon.

I actually really love the idea of the unbeatable champion having actually lost to someone before, and that someone being Sonia. Sorry Ash, you weren’t the first!

But that’s ok! Because you beat him when it counted, Ash! You got there, to that champion podium, with that damn trophy that’s almost as big as you (you really gotta grow up soon already Ash... you’re not going to be able to carry these home if they keep growing at the rate they are and you’re growing at the rate you are...).

We got another moment with the gang back at Oak Ranch, our phaesporia crumbs with Diantha and Cynthia pining for another match (so why not each other... heheh), cuts to Ash’s supporters in the crowd (aww why no cuts to our lovely companions watching from afar again? Aw... oh well...) and then, finally, to the next morning for the segue into Goh’s own finale to come next week.

So...

What do I think of this episode?

Once Charizard and Pikachu got to be the only ones on the field, it was absolutely stellar. This was a great moment for both him and Ash and I’m extraordinarily happy for their accomplishment. For me, I could end the series here and be satisfied (if only we’d wrapped up Goh’s arc before this).

What did I think of the overall battle?

It had its moments. There was some wonky and/or lazy excuses for maneuvers that made little sense to me, but there were also some clever executions of strategy or improvisation from either side. The fact that Ash got a leg up to use 2 Gigantamaxes, a Z-move, and a Mega-Evolution over the two Gigantamaxes that Leon got makes me feel a bit annoyed in thinking that people in and out of universe might claim Ash didn’t truly earn that victory. It also still makes me roll my eyes at Leon for him thinking he was hot enough shit to still win if Ash did that... but look where that got you Leon.

But the end of the match, the way it was presented, and the moments and emotions it elicited in me make up for a lot of those criticisms. Goes to show if you can stick the landing, it helps a lot. Could’ve done without the nursing bed flashback reveal. But, overall, nicely done.

I still think Cynthia vs. Ash was a better battle in its entirety. But I was more invested in that match, though this battle is very much rooted in a solid 2nd place in this tournament.

But Ash ain’t second! He’s first! Hooray for him!

Now, Goh’s plot aside, where do we go from here?

Honestly, I’m not sure. If any moment felt right to introduce a new protagonist to the anime, it would be now. Or maybe we could actually age up Ash and have him deal with some real, major threats as the World Champion. Who knows! I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.

#Rez Rambles #Pokemon #Pokeani #SwSh #Pokeani Spoilers #I won't lie #Shaky start but it came out as one of the better pokeani episodes in a long while #And the final match between Charizard and Pikachu was one of the better one-on-one's I've seen in the whole series #It's not quite Infernape vs Electivire but it's actually not terribly far away either #Phew that was a lot #both writing and emotions...#I'm exhausted XD

13 notes · View notes

bopinion · 2 years

Text

2022 / 40

Aperçu of the Week:

“Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end.”

(Mr. Spock from Gene Roddenberrys "Star Trek")

Bad News of the Week:

No one knows Yemen. Sanaa? Myrrh? Gulf of Aden? Saltah? Agame? Wayla? Cholera? Sorghum? Kath? Honestly, the only thing I personally associate with Yemen - which I barely know where it is - is civil war and starvation. And it's been going on for years. To be exact, it was in June 2004 , that the Shiite minority Huthi started an uprising against the Yemeni government. Since then, the country has basically been the site of a proxy war between two Arab ideologies of Islam: Sunni Saudi Arabia versus Shiite Iran.

Since then, Yemen, which is having a hard time anyway due to its geographic and climatic location, has been lost. Health, education, human rights, security and practically all other things a society can take for granted have fallen by the wayside - there isn't even enough food. At least the few charitable organizations that dare to enter the country have been able to rely on a fragile ceasefire. Until now. It expired a few days ago and the warring parties could not agree on an extension.

The UN considers the war and its consequences for the population to be the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Nearly 400,000 people have already lost their lives in the conflict, and several million are displaced within the country. Infrastructure and culture have practically ceased to exist, state institutions operate only on paper, and Yemen qualifies as a "failed state" in every respect. But somehow no one is interested. Because it is only a regional crisis in which (in contrast to the Middle East, for example) no major geopolitical power sees its interests threatened. After all, it's only a matter of life and death.

Good News of the Week:

Everyone knows Brazil. Samba, Amazon, Capoeira, Rio de Janeiro, soccer, hummingbirds, caipirinha, bossa nova, feijoada, carnival, churrasco. We think we know the biggest Latin American nation. Always in a good mood, open-hearted and communicative, deeply relaxed and positive. So it came as a shock to many when Brazilians, of all people, elected Jair Bolsonaro as their president in 2018. A far-right ex-military man who has always openly stood by his misogynistic, homophobic, neoliberal, anti-environmental, racist and anti-scientific positions - not for nothing was he called "Tropical Trump."

And he delivered reliably, so to speak: from a threatened judiciary to unprecedented environmental destruction to Corona denial, Bolsonaro stayed true to himself. And the rest of the world could only shake its head. But fortunately, that could now be the end of it. Because large parts of the population are not doing well economically - "It's the economy, stupid!". That's why the political revenant Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva scored points in last weekend's elections. For during his presidency from 2003 to 2010, the country was doing better - even if one can doubt the authorship of this. And the rather left-wing co-founder of the Workers' Party was able to pick up where he left off, even though he could not avoid corruption allegations and court cases.

Even if Bolsonaro made it to the runoff with 43% (Lula came in at 48%), there seems to be a sufficient will to change. And there is some hope - also parallel to Trump in the U.S. in this respect - that at least some of his fatally flawed decisions can be corrected by the incoming government. The world simply can no longer afford such erratic despots with the motto "After me, the deluge." It's good that this seems to be over in South America for the time being.

Personal happy moment of the week:

For months we have been forbidding my son overnight guests. Always with the same argument: you can't let anyone into this mess, you have to clean it up first. Didn't work for a long time. Until we - well, let's put it diplomatically - agreed on a compromise. The worst construction sites are eliminated (toilet bowl and sink, used clothes or dishes, garbage ...) and we then turn a blind eye or two. And it actually worked. Also because the short one sacrificed a Boba Fett evening with his father to achieve just those minimal goals. Work in progress...

I couldn't care less...

...about the current discussion about a "gas price brake", which an expert commission is working on this weekend. In fact, energy costs significantly more than consumers and industry are and were used to. Whether the population pays this directly via the billing of heating costs or higher product prices, or indirectly via taxes or subsidies, is actually beside the point. In the long term, it would have made more sense to invest the money in a special fund to promote sustainable, independent and climate-neutral energy sources. But politicians would rather win elections in the short and medium term than in the long term. And everyone is so stupid to play along with this game.

As I write this...

...I try to imagine the "physics of the unimaginable". Because this is what the Austrian Anton Zeilinger - together with the Frenchman Alain Aspect and the US-American - won the Nobel Prize for in the week that is coming to an end. Albert Einstein already spoke of a "spooky action at a distance" in quantum physics: so-called entangled particles that behave as one - even when they are several thousand kilometers apart. And as early as 1977, Zeilinger succeeded in doing just that, namely transferring the state of one light particle to another. In effect, the birth of - hold on! - teleportation. Which is why he has been called "Mr. Beam" ever since. The treckies among us will assign this right away. Unimaginable. At least for me.

Post Scriptum:

Yes, there were pandemics before Corona. And there will be some after. And at the same time, of course. And what SARS-CoV2 is to humans, bird flu is to: Birds, you guessed it. And if birds read the newspaper, they would feel just as queasy as we humans do. Because bird flu is on the rise: this year alone in Europe (by which I mean in this case the European Union and Great Britain. Norway , Switzerland and most of the Balkans remain so even outside) had to be 51 million farm birds, ie chickens, turkeys, ducks, etc, because of a bird flu infection "culled". So killed and burned. No good for anything anymore. Because of the pandemic, there are already warnings in the UK of an impending shortage of turkeys over the Christmas period. Which should leave us mainland Europeans rather cold. Because I personally, for example, have always doubted that chicken nuggets really contain chicken meat - and not just sawdust with an artificial flavor.

3 notes · View notes

mi6014ikepearson · 1 year

Text

SLOGANS - “MEMORABLE TAGLINES TO TAKE HOME THE MESSAGE”

from “got milk” to “I’m lovin’ it” - slogans are an integral part of branding; and as such, I wanted to make a blog post exploring some alternatives to the in-place “No rules. Great Scotch.” that encapsulate the spirit of William Lawson’s brand - in an attempt to showcase a further understanding in the brand; beyond the required expectation.

though the final film will be using the initial slogan; as asked

SHORT, SWEET AND EMPOWERING TO A FAULT - “WHAT IS A SLOGAN?”

A slogan is short, yet memorable motto or phrase used as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group into following the influence of the speaker, or in the case of our module - the company.

youtube

politics are one of the most influential forms of modern day slogans; with candidates desperate to sway the public into voting for them; as this is what will win them the elections they run in, respectively.

but as a casual audience, with more things going on beyond elections in their day-to-day lives: the public aren’t going to necessarily have the luxury to pool through your campaign in detail - checking the data, and information that supports your elective..

this is where slogans become a powerful tool.

there is an attempt to encapsulate an entire ideology in a condensed package that attempts to be all sorts of juxtaposed combinations such as simple yet memorable, catchy yet true, etc.

for the sake of this blog post - I wanted to direct my attention towards the more brand-centric version of this ideology, and in order to do this it was important to first find our footing with political slogans as some of the ideas at play are shared:

youtube

WILLIAM LAWSON’S SCOTCH - “NO RULES. GREAT SCOTCH”

fun fact: a slogan is actually also a Scottish Highland war cry.

I figured rewording the slogan would allow me to showcase an understanding of the brand;

William Lawson’s Scotch: a bottle of [ BLANK ] (hope, mindfulness, etc. )

“About being a confident, strong and honest individual who is uncomplicated; always ready to act and react in a straightforward way. no matter your age, gender or race.

It’s an attitude.”

William Lawson’s Scotch: “life tastes better with an open mind”

“remaining instinctively open-minded, questioning commonly accepted social norms and therefore acting in an unceremonious, daring yet honest way that is impossible to ignore.

Do things ‘your’ way.”

William Lawson’s Scotch: “scotch. with teeth.”

“We have a witty sense of humour that makes people laugh because of how unexpected and/or smart our jokes are. we look at the world through the highlander’s point of view.

never use toilet humour.”

William Lawson’s Scotch: “Forged, not crafted.”

implies the process is not as delicate or refined as most crafts - while forge is to shape a metal by heating and hammering: much more outdoorsy, and extreme to match brand identity

William Lawson’s Scotch: “This scotch is for drinking.”

a simple fun statement that further enhances the idea of that “witty sense of humour” the brand so proudly names itself with..

0 notes

brevetchronicle · 2 years

Text

Brevet is going to the dog

Brevet has faced a lot of challenges. That means Mayor Harrell Wilty’s has too. It started with Brevet’s stagnant growth in our tax base. This fact was met with the sudden resignation of Deputy Mayor, Earnestine Tidalbaum, which according to our sources, caused a virtual shut down in the Mayor’s office. Then the pandemic hit. But Mayor Wilty is optimistic. One could say that he needs to be. He faces a tough challenger in his “former mentee” Tidalbaum [his phrase not ours]. Mayor Wilty believes he can turn Brevet’s hard times around with man’s best friend. A town mascot to be precise, by a very recognizable name.

We caught up with Mayor Wilty to ask why he chose Finni the Westie as the town’s mascot.

Immediate identification and relationship. Everyone knows Finni. He was the brother of our town’s unofficial mascot Henri the Labrador (DECD.) Finni embodies our town! He’s cute all the time. When the Shelton-Walczak’s finally get around to having him groomed, he’s down-right show dog material. Brevet is competition worthy too (despite what Country Living has got to say about it!). He’s also got an edge to him. Just like Brevet again! We’re edgy. Did you know he once just started biting the shoe of a valet just because he was there? He had never done that before! It makes me laugh every time I hear that story and think about that valet looking down and seeing the Fancy Feast dog trying to gnaw through his leather with each bite. We know in this town people have the ability to bite also, despite our reputation for being Minnesota “nice.

We asked Mayor Wilty what he thought an official town mascot would do for Brevet?

Finni is something all Brevetarians can bond with and rally around. Finni also has great editorial presence and appeal. Once we pair him with the perfect town motto our brand will be set. We’ll be ready to market for the tourism we so desperately need.

We asked Mayor Wilty when he would release the town motto entries and when we would know the process of how the town motto would be chosen .

Your generation always wants to know about process. When I was growing up, we trusted our leaders to make the right decisons for us. Where has our collective trust gone? You should ask yourself that, instead of implying that I have something to hide. Because that is what you are doing. Frankly, it’s insulting!

We could tell that we were going to get no where with this current line of questioning so we asked about how big a role tourism will play in November’s election.

I don’t know. But what I do know is that I have been working on my thirty-five point tourism plan well before Earnestine [Tidalbaum] decided to Judas and run against me. It would not surprise me if she took her campaign “ideas” to increase tourism from me, since she was privy to my plan when she was deputy mayor. That reminds me. I need IP protection on that.

Wow. There still remains no love lost between the Mayor and his opponent Earnestine Tidalbaum. What do you all think about Finni being the town’s mascot? What do you think about the non-democratic way Finni was chosen? Let us know on Twitter at BrevetChronicle.

#mayor harrell wilty #earnestine tidalbaum #town motto contest #country's best small towns #Henri Louis Shelton Walczak #Finni the Westie #November 2022 election #town mascot

0 notes

danishmuseuminterns · 2 years

Text

I Like Kansas

Recently I had the chance to visit the Midwestern state of Kansas. Located in the heart of the United States, Kansas is sometimes considered flyover country for many tourists – those places you see from the airplane while you travel between the metropolises of the West and East Coast.

The state of Kansas is much more than just a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. With the Latin state motto, per aspera ad astra, meaning “our aspirations take us to the stars,” Kansans has across time and place repeatedly shown what they are made of.

Just to mention two famous Kansans, who reached out for the stars and defined the times in which they lived:

The first was a farm boy raised in Abilene, who later became the main architect of D-Day. As Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War II, he saved Europe from the evilness of Nazism. Later, he became the 34th president, a Cold War warrior, and an icon of 1950s America.

The other famous Kansan I would like to highlight was a female pilot born in Atchison. She used to explore her town; later she would explore the world by becoming the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean – the very definition of a trailblazer.

I had to opportunity to experience the places that shaped both President Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower and Amelia Earhart, both honoring their state’s motto.

As I crossed the border to Kansas, I arrived in Atchison, which is the birthplace of aviation symbol Amelia Earhart. She grew up in a beautiful all-American home on top of a hill with a direct view of the Missouri River. Growing up next to the longest river in the United States must have ignited her early interest for exploring and her adventurous life, which led to triumph, as the first solo female pilot to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 1932, but also to deadly tragedy, as she disappeared in 1937.

Following my short visit to Atchison, I went to Topeka to see the state capital. As mentioned in an earlier blogpost, I am very fascinated by visiting state capitals in the United States as I think they are good way to understand how unique each state is politically, historically, and culturally.

What impressed me most about the Kansas state capitol was a magnificent sculpture named ‘Ad Astra,’ placed on the top of dome. It depicts a Kansa Native American with a bow and arrow pointed at the North Stars – a reference to the slogan of the state. Politically, Kansas is also very interesting. Original a hub for Midwestern populism, as described by historian Thomas Frank in his 2004 bestseller ‘Whats the Matter with Kansas,’ it was actually one of the first states to demand direct election of senators to the United States Senate.

Also, the building has a lot of interesting murals, including the famous ‘Tragic Prelude,’ created by first-class artist John Steuart Curry. The mural shows the period of internal fighting in the Kansas Territory between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions, a period known as Bleeding Kansas. This conflict is considered a prelude to the following American Civil War.

Next, I went to visit the OZ Museum in Wamego to pay my respect to another important, but fictive, Kansan, the loveable Dorothy Gale.

Dorothy Gale became immortal when Judy Garland portrayed her in the beloved film ‘The Wizard of Oz’ from 1939 and made cinema history when she uttered the iconic words: “Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.” The town of Wamego has transformed itself into the Land of Oz with a yellow brick road filled with Oz-linked murals – and as a visitor, you can enjoy a taco from Toto’s Tacoz, try some wine from Oz Winery, and visit the OZ Museum, the crown jewel of Wamego, featuring a collection of over 25,000 artifacts related to author L. Frank Baum’s world of Oz and the film from 1939.

My third stop was in Abilene, where I visited the presidential library and boyhood home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a quintessential American hero, who despite being born in Texas, considered Abilene to be his hometown (the family moved to Abilene when he was two years old.) I found the Place of Meditation Chapel with quotes from Eisenhower’s speeches to be a very interesting place and I also really loved the gift shop filled with ‘I Like Ike’-related stuff, such as hats, t-shirts, coffee mugs, and even socks – had myself a souvenir there.

My final and last stop before heading home was a historic burger joint located in Salina. Operating since 1922, the Cozy Inn has been in business for 100 years. I was served their acclaimed sliders, a bag of cheddar Doritos, and delicious A&W Root Beer. I was introduced to root beer by a colleague at the Museum of Danish America weeks ago and I have been hooked ever since.

I had a great trip to the Sunflower State – and luckily, there’s still way more to explore in the great state of Kansas, where dreamers continue to rise and reach out for their slice of the American Dream as past Kansans did, as presents Kansans do, and as future Kansans will.

Best from Anders Tornsø Jørgensen

#kansas #eisenhower #amelia earhart #wizard of oz

0 notes

loverboyromanroy · 2 years

Note

if roman is gonna be exploring his sexuality w men in s4 do you think that means romangerri is dead for good 😭😭

i'm gonna start by saying it is so so way too early to speculate on full storylines in season 4 considering the writers just barely got back in the room and i'm guessing they don't have the full season figured out...but for funsies let's do it anyway lol

short answer: i don't think j is going anywhere and i think roman and gerri's stories and character development are too tied up in each other to suddenly go to nothing. there will be things in season 4 for them together and in regards to each other. that being said...no happy endings is the motto!

long answer about a couple things i think we could possibly see for roman and gerri in season 4 below the cut. and when i say long answer, i mean long answer lmao sorry!

first and foremost, i think they're gonna have to acknowledge the fracture that results from the way season 3 ended. they've had minor tiffs (shareholder meeting, dick pic convo), but i think it would be very sexy delicious for them to have a proper fight about it. kieran and j have both said something to the effect of "gerri wanted to help him, and roman knew she wanted to help him, but there was just nothing she could've done", so what is the outcome of that? i think even if roman knows gerri's intentions weren't to hurt him, he could very well be embarrassed/hurt by how it all went down, and we've seen that when he's embarrassed/hurt, he runs and/or shuts down. or, alternatively, he could confront her about it, they could argue, but it would be a moot point because, again, there's nothing she could've done. i think if they have a real argument about it, they hit an impasse and decide to put some distance between themselves slash take some time apart from their relationship/alliance/whatever you want to call it.

then there's the mencken of it all...

so in rewatching the roman/mencken exchange in 3x06, i think it makes sense that he may became a major player in roman's season four storyline. one of the things that stood out to me when it aired and again when rewatching was the way he does the "i wanted to talk to you about something" line that he does to gerri in 3x02. it's not the same kind of conversation and he's not really asking the same thing of mencken that he was asking of her, but the familiarity of the way he so easily finds himself conspiring with jeryd (sp?) from that point is obviously reminiscent of the way he is used to conspiring with gerri.

i also think the whole pick the president thing will come back big because, if we're following the show's timeline and caroline's wedding was in june, a theoretical "republican national convention", which they reference frequently in 3x06, would likely take place in august, and obvi election would be november. if they lean on needing the president's help to get the deal done, or to keep the regulatory antitrust stuff from stopping them, whatever, then yeah maybe the focal point (because for two and half seasons the focal point was the shareholder meeting lol) is the election.

it's also like...we're moving past the point where the titular succession is about succeeding logan. i think if they hone in on the politics of it all in season 4, it would be about "succession" in the sense of who will be next to succeed the role of president

all that to say MY idealized roman/gerri season long arc for season 4 would be that they have a little fight and take a little "break", roman gets in too deep with the politics/mencken of it all, becomes a little bit enamored with him, tries to fuck him and gets fucked over because of it. i think if something went disastrously with mencken, especially if it had to do with sex or something he was embarrassed/ashamed of, he wouldn't look to his siblings for advice, he'd come back to gerri looking for help. alternatively, maybe it looks like roman going down the politics rabbit hole and gerri, realizing that she does genuinely care about his wellbeing and seeing that he's going a little insane, tries to pull him back out of it.

and that's really more if it goes down the roman/mencken route! i think there's a case to be made that he goes in that same direction but with lukas – he's like i'll endear myself to the new boss because i've got good ideas and he likes me and instead of taking over for dad i'll just take this all over from him in a few years, things goes haywire, he comes back to gerri for help or gerri has to save damsel-in-distress roman

all of that also to say that doesn't factor in a lot of other show-wide things! like sibling stuff – i genuinely don't know what the writers have in mind for the three kids and the fallout of logan deciding to sell, which could also dramatically shift all of their storylines. what about logan and gerri's relationship in the wake of her sexting with his son? do we come back to that at all? where does tom's thing come into all of this? who knows!

#gerri kellman #roman roy #jeryd mencken #answered #anonymous #s4 speculation #this is...a big ol mess #and i'm sure i will come back to this in the future and be 100% wrong about most of this...but this is just where i'm at right now!

27 notes · View notes

sleepyowlwrites · 2 years

Note

from the sts, 🥭,🫐, and 🍉!

🥭 what are your favorite tropes to write?

-found family - more specifically: found family where they all didn't really get along at first and at least a couple of them REALLY DIDN'T -curses - maybe they're not curses exactly, but any kind of vaguely magical reason for a thing to be a certain inconvenient type of way -siblings who are the opposite of each other - hey that sounds familiar -disparate friend groups - goes along with the found family -antagonists that aren't people - because writing villains is not fun for me -vaguely chosen ones - from plot-armored miserable chosen ones to elected by others haha chosen ones to they're special and have problems chosen ones -this baby can fit so many issues -sunshine and raincloud -a wizard did it - might not actually be a wizard but eh -dying is just tuesday -local dumbass has decided they're not up to dealing with emotions - and spends the whole story dealing with emotions -hurt/comfort - it's in literally all my wips, my fics, my headcanons - I love to receive comfort, I love to give it, thus my characters shall partake -is banter a trope? I write so much banter

🫐 what's a song that has inspired a recent scene? What was the scene?

besides lonely nation, I don't think there was any other one. but switchfoot has so many dirt in the doing vibes that I am inspired to keep writing it once I'm not so oomph-drained by overnights.

🍉 how do you handle criticism?

I think about it. I consider it, and if it's made in good faith and has a point, I process it and think about applying it to my practice. I don't always, because even if the criticism has a point, it may not be directly applicable to what I'm trying to accomplish or how I like to write, or what I like to write about. someone once made a very good point about how one of my characters was a terrible friend and didn't deserve so many second chances and was toxic and abusive and they were right, absolutely. his friend SHOULD stop giving him second chances. but it was part of the story that the one character was toxic and the other couldn't bring himself to give up on him. and I wasn't going to change that trajectory just because it would've been healthier to dump the toxic friend.

I have yet to receive criticism that is more serious, about something I wrote that was genuinely offensive or problematic, but if I ever did, I hope somebody would tell me. of course, my writing is done by me, and has a lot of my unconscious bias in it, a lot of which is extremely superficial like my love of dark curly hair. and I won't change my writing to fit anyone's agenda, or go against my own ethics, not that I've ever been asked to.

good faith criticism is very important, and as long as I give myself space to receive it and think about it, it doesn't hurt me. it might bother me, but then I can take it in and use it to better my writing. so it's good.

this is leagues away from when I was a baby writer and absolutely could not handle it because I had no differentiation between failure and a waypoint on the road to success. like with everything else, once I gained awareness, I had to practice the habit of taking it in stride.

practice, rioters and gentlefolk, really is key. (this is one of my new mottos and I adore how dumb it is)

thanks for asking, Aster!

#sleepy answers #wip asks

7 notes · View notes

scabopolis · 3 years

Note

Ummm because my brain could never come up with something as genius as yours, I will ask—nay, BEG—for more LoVe Vampire AU from Day 1 AU week.

Title: do not engage (part two of this little ficlet) Rating: PG-13 (some swears…because girl is still stressed) Pairing: Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars, Additional Tags: Secret identity, vaguely vampire hunter related things, filed under: relationship obstacles, sharing of bagels, vampire Logan is probably far too schmoopy, tried to write angst but whooops I think it's fluff? Word Count: 1,800

For you, dear, @ayy-ohh? Anything. This one really got me stuck because...like...world building? What is that? And would vampires eat bagels? And why DOES Logan have a cell in his basement? So many questions. Anyway! Here it is! *** That she can’t remember ever seeing Logan Echolls in the daylight should have been Veronica’s first clue.

It’s just, given the nocturnal demands of her profession and thus her morning grumpiness, it was easy to miss. Easy to be grateful for. Easy to be relieved that Logan wasn’t like her college boyfriend—the kind of guy who insisted they wake up at 6:00 AM to go running and felt a day spent inside with the shades drawn was a day wasted.

There were, of course, other clues she missed.

Weirdly cryptic statements and obfuscations. (Given she was also prone to said crypticism, she didn’t press for fear he’d do the same.) His reticence towards beach days. (It seemed logical! Who doesn’t hate dodging tourists?) The weird way he’d linger at doorways of unfamiliar houses. (Again, given her own antipathy to socializing, his hesitation was something she understood.)

In retrospect, given that not pressing Logan on his vague answers landed her here—in a weird cell gnawing at the ropes her ex-boyfriend tied tightly around her wrists—she supposes she should have tried harder. She hears Logan’s footsteps on the stairs into the basement but doesn’t stop her attempt to undo the knots.

“I hope you have a good dental plan,” Logan says. She rolls her eyes and continues to work at the strands with her teeth. “Is there even a vampire hunter’s union? Might be something worth looking into. Though, given the general mistrust the position requires, electing a president might prove tricky.”

“God, staking you would have at least gotten you to shut up.”

“But then there’s the crushing guilt.”

“I would have managed.”

Do not engage. In the 36-ish hours she’s been in this cell, that’s been her motto. The secret to coping with the fact that your boyfriend is a vampire and that you and your dad are vampire hunters is to remain detached and cold.

Except it hasn’t been easy. Because her wrists hurt, she smells bad, and oh yeah, apparently she’s not as out of love with the bloodthirsty monster wearing the hell out of a henley and holding a bag of takeout as she thought.

“I got bagels,” he says.

As soon as he says it, the scent of cinnamon raisin wafts from the bag. He doesn’t wait for her to stand; simply slips the paper bag containing her bagel through the bars and slides it to her. Much like he’s done for their previous shared meals, he sits on the ground a safe distance from her and settles into eating his own.

She tears the paper bag and sees that not only has Logan brought her a bagel, he’s also brought her some sort of sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie. God. What an asshole.

What is his endgame here? If he wanted to kill her, he would have done it by now. It’s only a matter of time until her dad begins to question whatever story Logan texted him from her phone. Her dad will show up and he will have questions. What will Logan say then?

“What will I say to who?” Logan asks.

Shit. Detachment is also easier when inside thoughts remain inside thoughts. “No one.”

“If you’re talking about your dad, he’s out of town for the rest of the week.”

She concentrates on the pattern of the cinnamon swirl laced throughout her breakfast. “What do you mean?”

“According to the text he sent you last night, he had to go to Vegas. Vampire gambling ring of some sort?”

“You’re lying.”

“Takes a liar to know a liar.”

Veronica rolls her eyes and takes a large bite of her bagel, surveying the interior of her holding cell. And yes, fine, she technically has a policy of not engaging with the pointy fanged one, but she has questions.

“What is the point of having a cell in your basement? Is it for weird sex stuff? Or weird vampire stuff?”

“Who says those two things are mutually exclusive?”

She rolls her eyes. “Spare me, please. I’m eating.”

“I’ll tell you but you won’t believe me.”

“Try me.”

“My friend, Mac?” He extends his legs out in front of him. “Once a month, this is her guest suite.”

Veronica frowns. “For weird sex stuff?”

He raises an eyebrow in amusement which, fair, she should probably stop using the phrase weird sex stuff.

Wait. Is he saying—?

“Logan,” she says carefully, “is Mac a werewolf?” He nods, and Veronica’s bagel drops to the floor. “Could you be more of a vampiric cliche? Honestly! Does a zombie do your taxes? Does a ghoul trim your hedges?”

“I trim my own hedges, thank you very much.”

Maybe it’s the lack of sleep, or it might be the remaining vestiges of adrenaline leaving her body, but Veronica laughs. Just a little bit. At best it’s a chuckle. Still, it’s enough to make Logan smile in that way he sometimes does—like he can’t believe his luck that he even gets to be in the same room as Veronica. It makes something feel heavy and uncomfortable in the pit of her stomach. Do not engage.

“You really didn’t know?” she asks.

Logan’s answer with a slow nod. “I didn’t know.”

“Then how—?”

“It wasn’t an ambush, Veronica.” He pinches off a small piece of his bagel. (Sourdough, she guesses. Probably with jalapeno cream cheese because the man added jalapenos to everything.) She watches as Logan rolls the bread between his fingers. “The date was real but one of Dick’s friends recognized you somehow.”

“You were the one who threw me into a tree.”

“Yeah, and as far as they know, you’re dead. As far as they know, I was so enraged a vampire hunter tricked me that I took you home to finish you off.”

“Which means if you let me go—”

“They’ll know I lied.” He shrugs. “Either they kill me or your dad does. This way you’re safe.”

“Logan—”

“Sorry,” he says. “You called dibs on the killing?”

“Poor little vamp with a death wish.” She doesn’t mean for it to sound so fond. What is wrong with her?

The corner of his mouth twitches with a fleeting smile. There’s a ticking clock on their time together and now they both know it.

“I’ve never seen a vampire eat as much food as you,” she says.

He sets his bagel aside. “Dine with a lot of vampires?”

“Enough to know you eating that bagel is like me eating a bag of sour gummies.”

“Meaning?”

“You might like the taste of a lightly toasted sesame bagel, but an hour later you need to puncture the carotid artery of a single mother to really satisfy yourself.”

“You know sesame seeds get caught in my teeth. And single mothers come with too much guilt.”

“Hedge fund managers?”

“Now you’re talking.”

Veronica has questions, of course she does. More questions than she can properly express—wonders how old he is, who turned him, who gets him blood and how, why he’s friends with Dick Casablancas, if Logan is safe with Dick as a friend—but she doesn’t ask any of those. Because he asks the most important question first.

“What are we going to do, Veronica?”

She stands up, brushes cinnamon raisin crumbs off of her pants. (She catches a whiff of her unshowered self and cringes. So much for their farewell existing as a perfectly preserved memory in the mind of her undead ex-boyfriend.) “There’s no we, Logan. There can’t be.”

He can’t let her go, he can’t keep her locked up, and she can’t stay.

Logan pushes himself up off the ground and comes to meet her at the bars to the cell. “Yeah.”

“First, you’re going to let me out of here.” She wraps her hands around the bars. Logan does just like she’d hoped and does the same, his pinkies barely grazing her knuckles. “And then I never want to see you ever again.”

“That’s what you want?”

God. What a fucking idiot. Of course that isn’t what she wants. What she wants is to go back two days. To return to that night when Logan made pancakes for dinner, and they got drunk on rum and cokes, and then he kissed down her spine as they lay in bed.

She nods anyway. Presses her head against the bars.

“Fine.” Veronica squeezes her eyes shut. “If you ever need anything?” She nods again and she feels the gentle touch of Logan’s lips to her forehead. How is he always so warm? It never made sense.

“I won’t.”

And then, much to her surprise, he walks away. Without letting her out.

She opens her eyes. “What are you doing?”

“Oh,” he says, a portrait of portrait insouciance once more. “You didn’t expect me to let you go now did you? What if this show of emotion is a long con? I could wake up to find you standing over my body poised to pull back my black out shades.”

“You son of a bitch.”

“Nighty night, Veronica.”

Logan doesn’t return to the basement and eventually she falls into a fitful sleep, waking up sometime before the sun rises. She definitely needs to pee and she’s so sick of the ‘toilet’ in her cell. Logan should still be awake. Maybe if she yells really—

Finishing that thought proves to be unnecessary because as soon as Veronica’s eyes adjust to the dim light, she notices the door to her cell is ajar. She’s barely thinking as she jumps from the bed and races up the stairs.

“Logan!” she calls out.

Her first stop is the kitchen, where she maneuvers a knife in between the strands of the ropes around her wrists and works to free herself. Her cell phone is waiting for her on the wireless charger Logan keeps in the kitchen. No messages from her dad, but she sends one to check in. She rubs at the tender skin on her wrists as she searches each room of Logan’s house.

As far as she can tell, there isn’t much missing. Some of his toiletries are gone (her toothbrush is still beside the sink) and she thinks maybe some of his clothes too. His motorcycle is still in the garage but the BMW is gone.

So. That’s it? He’s just gone? What about his house? There’s a housing crisis in southern California and this asshole thinks it’s acceptable to simply abandon a perfectly good home? He didn’t even leave a note.

It’s really the irresponsibility that—

Her call rings through to his voicemail. Rolls her eyes at the Dylan Thomas quote that greets her. That’s new.

“If you think I’m watering your plants for you while you’re gone, you are completely delusional.”

He responds while she’s in the shower. (What? She’s really supposed to put up with shitty water pressure at her place when he has a rain shower and heated bathroom tiles?)

Miss me already?

She responds with a garlic emoji.

#vm fanfic #lv fanfic #logan x veronica #veronica mars #logan echolls #still all the way out of my comfort zone!#but here we are! doing the damn thing anyway #never stories #otp: the one person #c: veronica mars #c: logan echolls #p: logan x veronica

52 notes · View notes

aliciadelaplaya · 3 years

Text

So what should TRF do, exactly?

Yet again there have been almost defeaning calls on SM for TRF to DO SOMETHING about the Sussexes. So, I’d like to address this question, maybe throw in something of a reality check.

Most people should know by now that it is not in HMTQ’s power to remove the Sussex titles. This can only be done by an Act of Parliament, and primary legislation at that.

This means that the “motion” has to be debated by both the House of Commons and House of Lords.

Now, just think for a minute, a debate, in the house of commons, with all those Black Female Labour MPs banging on about removing the titles from the, supposedly, first bi-racial member of TRF. Goodness, if people thought that the Sussexes incoherent and contradictory mud slinging about “conversations” about the colour of Archie’s skin was damaging to TRF, how much worse would it be to hear elected representatives of the British people (however ignorant, biased and downright stupid) accuse TRF of racism in The Mother of Parliaments. Now that would be seriously damaging.

And of course The British Government has far more important things it needs to Parliamentary time for.

Also, there is some sort of notion floating around Social Media that if HMTQ asks Parliament, then it will immediately be given. Anyone who knows anything about the hundreds of years that it has taken the UK to go from an absolute to constitutional monarchy knows damn well that a) HMTQ would never dream of asking and b) HM’s Government would in no way automatically acceed to any request made by the Sovereign.

Some people seem to think that we live in some sort of medieaval kingdom with an all powerful Monarch.

Yet, there are still those who are jumping up and down, calling HMTQ and PC fit to burn because they are “Not Doing Anything”

OK, so put your money where your mouth is?

What should they do?

Exactly.

Go on,

tell us.

What would you do if one of your sons or brothers, daughters or sisters had got themselves ensnared with a dangerous narcissist? When every word of warning, every well-meant piece of advice does nothing more than drive them further into the arms of their addiction.

What would you do if their mental state before they met this person was a matter of family concern and now, far from your care, deaf to your entreaties, was publicly deteriorating to the point that they have become a world-wide laughing stock?

Tell us. What would you do? They are an adult, one who has not been sectioned, free to make their own choices, to lead their own life. They are your family. What do you do?

How exactly are you going to stop him talking about you, spreading lies and gossip? Go on, tell us, we’re dying to know.

What would you do if your beloved family member had made it clear to you that if their spouse leaves them, they will kill themselves? Go on, what would you do?

What would you do if you believed that anything your family did could be the cause of anger on the part of the narcissist and put your loved one in danger. What would you do, exactly, to stop them? Please tell us. There are a lot of people out there who would love to know.

“Cut them off” many people are crying! But that is what we know PC has done, albeit after providing his younger son and his wife with a substantial gift to help set them up in their new lives, as per the Megxit agreement.

Tell the truth about the surrogates? Yes, we would all like that, we know that niether of those children were born of her body, that they are not entitled to a place in the line of succession. Yet, however much we jump up and down and say that TRF is “public property”, the fact is, they too are still entitled to basic human rights, and one of those is privacy. It is not for TRF to tell the truth about the surrogacies, it is not their story to tell. It is for Harry and his wife. One day the truth will come out, it always does. The TRF can not be the ones to let the cat out of the bag. They just can not.

OK, so people jump up and down saying that HMTQ and PC are showing weakness by not responding to all these attacks. So tell us, what exactly would you do? Exactly, what would you have done when?

They said that you don’t own the rights to the word Royal (which is true)? When every single speech that woman made duing lockdown by Zoom has a dig at your family. Would you respond? How? Exactly.

When they set up a photoshoot trampling over war graves, insulting the memories of both the US and the UK fallen? What would you have done to stop it? Go on, do tell?

I can’t be arsed to dig out the list of all the insults, swipes etc that these two have levelled at TRF, HMTQ, PC etc. Geniunely because I’ve forgotten most of them, there have been so many, they have lost their currency, they have been devaluted. Even the massive fall out from the “bombshell” whineathon with OW, was overtaken by more whinging, it’s a deluge. How could the sitatuation have been helped if, as it was rumoured PC wanted to do, each accusation was thoroughly challenged. Can you imagine?

How many of you own or run companies? How many of you have had, in any shape or form had people complain to you about products or services? How many of you have received unjustified/maliciious/ignorant complaints - 100% I would guess. And what is the best way of dealing with these? Do you engage and argue with every minor point, do you want to “win” the argument. Does it make you feel better to win by beating the complainent over the head with your greater wisdom, teaching them a lesson, showing them for the stupid, ignorant people they are? What happens if you engage? It never bloody stops. But if you reply thanking them profusely for the incredible amount of time they have taken to give you feedback, if you thank them for their custom, if you offer them a discount/money back. If you ARE NICE TO THEM. Guess what? THEY HAVE NO WHERE TO GO! NOWHERE. Believe me, I’ve done both and I can tell you hands down which is the most satisfying and, ultimately the most productive in the long term.

The situation is the same here, if TRF engages in any shape or form it will be playing directly into the Narcs playbook and the Sussexes will push back, it will excite them, thrill them, give them power. It will be more fuel for their global whinging and victimhood. It will be more interminable articles in Hello and Page Six (Does anyone read these publications) Look at the few times TRF have pushed back and H has come in, all guns blazing with legal letters (and what happened to all that, we wonder). Have you noticed that since the word got out that TRF were not going to stand by silently, the BS stories about HMTQ having zoom calls with the mythical child, buying waffle makers have stopped?

They are much more careful now when they try to bring HMTQ into their lunacy.

“Love me, hate me, but NEVER ignore me” is the Narcs motto and it will be driving Harry’s wife mad that they have been completely iced and are not rising to their constant baiting. But some of the Megxiteers are. Effectively, the Megxiteers are doing the Sussexes work for them. That sure is some fuel for the narc.

It makes me laugh when the MSM and SM get their knickers in a twist about the latest fuckwittery coming out of Montecito (or whever they don’t live). They want the child to be christened in Windsor with HMTQ present. Don’t make me larff! That is never going to happen. This is absolute kite flying at it’s worst. It’s poking the bear and all these ridiculous Royal Reporters nod their heads and make seemingly wise podcasts about the prospect of this happening (and they can do it with - mostly - straight faces), as if it was actually a possibility when I’d like to think that they, like me, believe that H and his wife have been well and truly iced, they are personas non grata.

When the wife buggered off back to Canada after the Commonwealth service leaving her useless husband to tell more lies on his own, rather than with her at his side, I was convinced then that she will never set foot on these shores again and I stand by that view now as I did then.

So, the latest stick with which the megxiteers have chosen to beat TRF with is that the second child is now on the website as being in the line of succession. Yes, it is an absolute abomination, yes, it offends every fibre of my being, yes I want to expose these two evil hypocrites for this egregregious fraud that they are perpetrating on TRF and the rest of the British people. Of course, like most of you, I want to see justice done, and I want it done NOW. But life isn’t like that. and just as Caesar’s wife has to be above suspision so do our (much loved) RF. Look how we all noticed the careful wording of the Baby congrats on the birth of the second child, they know, we know, but TRF have to play a staight bat, they just have to.

While, in the SM bubble we can all get ourselves wound up, upset, angry, sure that the monarchy will fall etc etc outside, in the real world, most people don’t give a flying fuck about Harry. He’s an idiot, an ex-royal, gone, finished. He is not important either inside or outside TRF.

HE IS IRRELEVANT.

And, if anyone is wondering while all this stuff about book deals is coming out now. I give you this:

The Mail on Sunday appeal - will probably run into next year The Bullying accusations - will probably run into next year. Tom Bower’s book (this is a biggy) - to be published next year?

The Sussexes are aware they are losing popularity, that is why each pronouncement is more and more ludicrous and each Hello article more and more desperate.

The Sussexes are aware they are under attack by forces outside TRF, and they are making their pre-emptive strikes at the low hanging fruit, the soft underbelly of his family.

TRF are doing exactly the right thing. Keep Calm, Carry On and while ignoring them won’t make them go away, it will make them look increasingly ridiculous.

This is true strength, not to rise to the bait, to carry on regardless. Remember our Queen has a strong and deeply held Christian faith, turning the other cheek is part of that, whether we like it or not. TRF should not, under any circumstances sink to the level of Harry and his wife.

Let’s just enjoy the H show for what it is, a mentally unstable ensnared fool doing everything he can to ensure he continues to receive the favours (sexual and otherwise) of the narcissist he married. Because, imho, that is what it’s all about.

Remember the engagement interview. “I hope she loves me as much as I love her”.

Sorry mate, that ship has sailed and nothing, nothing you can do will bring it back.

7 notes · View notes

neednothavehappenedtobetrue · 3 years

Text

okay. this is a post about a new character, who is a person in the same 'verse as the main one for Robert and Isabelle, sci-fi and spaceships. she is a pastor in the one specific "limits on technology" religion I made up, but also, she is very cool. she does not live on their main terraformed colony, she lives in another colony with some definite cultural differences.

I am mostly posting this for my own future reference. there are definitely people who will enjoy Gwendolyn a lot, even with the extensive trigger tag situation here, but I think "a short story that has space for more nuance" would be a better venue for her than "my thoughts from Skype at 4AM"

if you do decide to read this, check the tags first, please

shoutout to @anonymus-maximus-er for being my thought partner on this.

but as I understand it now, there are, like , degrees of Intensity in Church Of Man

like, even their chillest followers are kind of intense about it because it's hard to be real, real chill about "god said we were only allowed to use these specific fifteen technologies" or whatever the exact rules are

but as far as incubators go, Aimee's community, the one you saw, would definitely have been like "well, too bad God wants that baby to die" and there are some other communities which would be more like "okay, probably make sure your baby does not die, do what you've gotta do there, but don't come back and talk to us afterwards"

and also for sure there are communities like "do literally whatever you have to do to make sure your baby does not die, we will be here with whole-made casseroles when you're home again"

and like, could some of those kids have benefitted from subsequent quality-of-life stuff they didn't get? probably, yes

to varying degrees

but hopefully Aimee finds a nice community where she can be like "this is so important to me but my babies and I experienced a bunch of technology in order to not die and we got excommunicated."

and they're like "wow that sounds like a lot of Not Your Fault would you like some whole-made casseroles and toddler clothes?"

and she's like "I got excommunicated" and they're like "did you know, perhaps you didn't, that there is no Central Authority for every Church Of Man church in the galaxy? there for sure is not! the people from New Maryland often pretend they are, but we didn't vote for them! your old pastor is just not at all the boss of us, is the thing"

that is the future epilogue I want for Aimee

I feel like the Tau Ceti Church of Man community is small and some people think they're weird, but they're nice neighbors. their pastor is a woman named Gwendolyn or something who is just constantly mad about Richard Brinton That Fucking Asshole

she has never called him any of those words because of decorum, she has just spent a lot of time talking to new people like "wow you seem very traumatized did you know he is not the boss of us?"

"we don't have a pope!"

"we've tried to have a council a few times, but it's logistically complicated"

"every church is supposed to make its own rules in accordance with the texts"

"yes, I have read every single one of his missives to the world, I know which bits of the Texts you probably have memorized, here are some bits I like a lot"

Gwendolyn has some opinions

like, churches are supposed to set their own rules about "necessary" technologies and she has quietly labeled almost all life-saving medical technology "necessary"

meanwhile, Brinton thinks it's necessary for him to have access to telecommunications equipment to he can send his editorials all over the galaxy, so people can be Educated

huh

of course, he does not actually physically touch the telecommunications equipment, he keeps like four people who know how to use it around so they can spread his word, but also, huh

the thing about Gwendolyn is that she has spent a long time watching traumatized New Marylanders join her community, many of them quite young and quite traumatized

also, she was never a New Marylander, she is fourth-generation Tau Ceti, which, crucially

means that her first set of principles is "Church Stuff, Misc" and her second set of principles, right there after the first is "you're not the boss of me"

even if somebody could point to actual scripture that said they were the boss of her, she would have some trouble with it, but some dude! who cannot point to anything at all! no justification whatsoever! nothing in the texts even a little bit! keeps trying to be the boss of her! and also keeps traumatizing all of the people in his community pretty badly! and making everyone else look like jerks!

"I'm more conservative than you, therefore, I am the boss of you"

NOPE

not for Gwendolyn

Gwendolyn votes in every local election and votes for her Senator, who she has met and quite likes. she occasionally goes to protests when the local government does some dipshit thing, but the Tau Ceti local government is pretty well-behaved because if it's not the citizenry will absolutely be like "fuck you, you're not the boss of me" at its government

she has some Very Big Opinions about debtor employment. she's not thrilled about the like, severity of the gang situation in her city, but she doesn't have a lot of optimism that the Government is gonna fix it, so she does community groups instead

also, in recognition of the fact that she can't just throw these traumatized New Marylanders right off into the personal autonomy deep end she is like "okay, if you need someone to tell you what to do sometimes, I will be the temporary boss of you until you are ready to be the boss of you"

she does not Love that aspect of her job, but sometimes you gotta

you can't bring people from "obedience all the time" to "you must make every choice in your life with no backup" overnight, they'll just collapse in on themselves or become targets for worse people

so she does the thing

she and Brinton have a <very> passive aggressive correspondence going as church leaders

there are many many long letters back and forth

they are very polite and also, if any of them are preserved, historians will find them fascinating

"wow these people just fucking loathed each other"

Anonymus, 5:05 AM

your obedient servant, A. Burr

5:05 AM

if they did not live on separate planets, legitimately maybe

like, if she could get to Brinton's house on a horse to yell at him in person, she would have by now

she didn't swear a lot in real life, but sometimes she wanted to

she got real good at saying "that man" or "sugar" or "nonsense" in A Tone, but you could tell

I can't decide if she has a husband or a wife

Aimee's church definitely thinks gay people are Modern and therefore Wrong, but like

I feel like probably their specific religious texts don't even have that much on being nice to people? like, there's definitely a few pages on like "kindness is an ancient value, we hold fast to ancient values, these are them"

but it's like 70% Rules Minutiae

it's also not a super long book

so everybody has very different opinions about how to interpret the Rules Minutiae in light of the 30% of the book that's like "here are our actual values"

"modesty" and "fidelity" are both in the Ancient Values bits for sure

and I feel like different denominations went in different directions on the "modesty" and "fidelity" implications of "gay people"

no, I've decided, Gwendolyn definitely has a wife

show her in the actual rules where she can't have a wife

yes, fidelity, that thing she has with her wife

Anonymus, 5:13 AM

can the wife be a very proper rebbetzin?

organises all the casserole chains

5:14 AM

yes, she can definitely organize all of the casserole chains

5:18 AM

right

Gwendolyn's wife's name is Tara and she came from an Earth Church of Man community where they were like "technically it's not illegal for you to be gay, but, like, ehhhh? we'd rather you didn't and also you definitely cannot have children if you're gay"

5:20 AM

and she got to Tau Ceti and met Gwendolyn who even in college was like "show me in the texts where it says I cannot have a wife."

"show me."

Anonymus, 5:21 AM

sounds like excellent breeding ground for Very Textually and Theologically Conversant, but not actually a religious authority

5:21 AM

the thing is, Tau Ceti is Bad At Authority

if they had a motto on their coins it would just be "you're not the boss of me" but maybe in Latin

but maybe not even in Latin because people who know Latin often think they are the boss of you

Anonymus, 5:22 AM

WHO MADE U KING

5:22 AM

for real

I think there is a dude who is technically the "boss" of Gwendolyn and they take turns giving the sermons and calibrating which parishoners they support based on like, communication styles in a way that often ends up with just all of the women and queer folks being Gwendolyn's people

she is smarter than him, he handles all of the Local Politics things that require you not to go "EXCUSE me, where is the LAW ABOUT THAT"

Anonymus, 5:24 AM

different type of smart

5:24 AM

if he ever tried to pull rank on her, she would either be so startled that it would work or she would unhinge her jaw and eat him

so he's never tried

he doesn't want to! very few people on Tau Ceti even want to be in charge, both because it's like herding cats who will hate you if they catch you herding them and because the finely honed distrust of authority doesn't go away when you become authority

Anonymus, 5:26 AM

"I'm pretty sure I'm up to some bullshit"

5:27 AM

yeah, Gwendolyn spends a lot of time with these sad transplants from other communities, nearly all of them women (because for SOME REASON women tend to get excommunicated WAY MORE OFTEN. HUH. are there ADDITIONAL RULES for WOMEN? I DON'T SEE ANY)

and they're like "please I am so sad and scared just tell me what to do"

and she wants to be like "I am not the boss of you, you have to be the boss of you" but they often are not ready for that, so she just tries to get a sense of what they want to do or what might be healthiest for them and tells them her strong recommendation is that they do that thing

everyone in her community knows she is passionate and can get fired up about some of this stuff, she doesn't hide that, but also, there are some conversations she (a only has with her wife and also (b has had with her wife a number of times

they are basically "our community is like 55% traumatized exiles from other communities and like 30% traumatized people from This One Dude's Community specifically. he traumatizes women and girls and girls he calls women and gay people and parents with sick babies!"

"we have so so many people we take care of now who are so so shaken and traumatized and sad"

"and we only get the people who don't leave the faith entirely!"

"it's not fair! it's not fair that he gets to do that! it's not fair!"

because when you carry the faces of like twenty good people all traumatized by the same garbage person and all you can do is try to take care of them and send passive-aggressive letters, sometimes it sucks!

if they lived on the same planet and she could get there on a horse, she would have done something ill-advised by now. yelled, certainly

but then again, if she had been born on New Maryland she would be a super different person and if he had been born on Tau Ceti there would have been a hard upper limit on how much he could get anyone to listen to him

like, bad bullshit happens on Tau Ceti, but the first time he married a fourteen-year-old girl off to her rapist, his neighbors would have set him on fire

church of man neighbors, regular neighbors, possibly neighbors who are criminals, just all the neighbors

5:37 AM

so her wife listens to her cry and reads over her letters to Brinton to make sure she doesn't actually say anything Too Impolitic (I think her boss also reads them, but he's less invested)

and her wife has these new folks over for dinner and helps them find clothes for their kids and adapt their modesty rules to the thing where it's like, as hot as it is possible to be in Tau Ceti

5:38 AM

like, most of the summer it's like 120 degrees, on a brisk day in December it drops into like, the low nineties

5:39 AM

sometimes people from other communities are like "we do modesty more modestly than they do" and they have to be like "okay, your choices are us dressing this way or us using air conditioning, because people do die in real life of heatstroke sometimes, that is a thing that can kill you"

also, even before Gwendolyn came along, her previous pastor was definitely like "we're gonna make electric fans permissible. we're just... heatstroke sure does kill you in real life"

"particularly in Modest Dress"

she liked him. they had meetings like twice a month when she was young because she had A Lot of questions and her parents were less invested in the answers than she was

when she was like twelve, he was like "maybe they'll give you my job one day" and she was like "I don't want your job! you're the boss of people!" and he was like "they very much would not give you my job if you wanted my job, kiddo"

(even 50% of the organized crime leaders on Tau Ceti are like "hey, I'm not the boss of anybody, I'm just a guy you don't want to fuck with because of all of the friends that I have got"

"I am not the boss of you, but I do have this gun")

5:49 AM

final thought on Gwendolyn: she had a real hard time when Robert Thompson died, because that dude thought her faith was a good reason to murder a husband and father.

and like, that dude is a fucking asshole, obviously, but it's hard

and then Brinton puts out an editorial about it and it is the only time Gwendolyn and Tara's children ever hear one of their mothers swear

because she is usually super meticulous about that

but also, sometimes

there is a limit

she makes several attempts before she writes him her next letter and the subtext of the entire letter is just "fuck you SO much, I do not generally believe in Hell, however, I will make an exception"

there is a limit! a man is dead and his wife and daughter are grieving and then a dude who everyone thinks is, like, the pope of her puts out some bullshit like "of course we don't do hate crimes but also that dude who got murdered deserved it" bullshit

there is a limit she is past it!

5:53 AM

also, they have seven adopted kids

#rape for ts #religion for ts #religious abuse for ts #there is a bit about babies dying in here #because their religion does not always allow for medical technology #I don't know what the succinct tag is for that #hate crimes for ts #organized crime for ts #is that a thing?#guns for ts #briefly #the ghost and the machine #as inappropriate as the gun #her tag would be #show me in the texts #I might legitimately need to write this

3 notes · View notes

chaoskirin · 3 years

Text

Dear GOP members of the US Congress,

I see you saying that you don’t know how this could have happened. That this isn’t America. I see your confusion, and I’ll help you understand.

It’s because instead of representing your constituents, you made this your motto: Keep My Head Down, Stay in Power.

In 2016, you failed to fight against a candidate who’d ridden the wave of fear, xenophobia, and quasi-Christianity right into the White House. It’s clear by your words on January 6, 2021, that you always understood the 45th president was dangerous, but you supported him anyway.

You said: Keep My Head Down, Stay in Power.

Rather than denounce this president when he encouraged violence and desecration of the very foundations of democracy, you said that you “couldn’t comment.” Rather than make clear to the people who voted for you—who trusted you to represent them—that they were being misled, you allowed the 45th president to lie to them over and over, while you said nothing.

You were supposed to be their voice. You were supposed to stand up for their best interests. That’s the way a democratic republic works. You were supposed to represent them. Instead, you represented the president and his interests, and the public followed your example. You said “this is right, this is okay,” and they trusted you. They were supposed to.

You said: Keep My Head Down, Stay in Power.

There is money in being a United States representative. There’s power in it. You write the laws that govern millions of people. There’s a huge salary. You receive health care for your whole family. You never need to worry about whether or not you’ll be able to afford life-saving medical intervention. These are the perks that come with being a senator. If you want to keep that job—If you don’t want the president of the United States to disparage you to a public eager to savor his every word—you must fall in line.

You said: Keep My Head Down, Stay in Power.

You sacrificed the interests of your constituents for a paycheck. When the president was impeached, only one of you had the courage—many years too late, mind—to stand up and say “yes, this president grossly broke the law and should be removed.”

You knew that even at this point, even if you voted to impeach, your constituents now treated the president as their very own Golden Calf. That if you voted to impeach, he would attack you so viciously on Twitter than you’d never be elected again. Because your constituents had already made him their god and if you stood against him, you would be their god’s enemy.

You said: Keep My Head Down, Stay in Power.

This is the America you created. You had multiple opportunities to protest, to course-correct, to even remove a demagogic president from power. You refused to do the right thing every time, and this culminated in the insurrection at the capitol building in January of 2021. And… It happened while you were attempting to undermine the election at the president’s behest.

You caused this. You, who invoke the Founding Fathers and proclaim what you think they would have wanted despite their time being long-passed. Not since the war of 1812 has the Capitol building been breached. Your fellow congresspeople could have died. This group of terrorists was prepared to take hostages. They were looking for Vice President Pence to assassinate him.

Yet you have the nerve to be confused as to how this could have happened in America.

This is the result of keeping your head down. May you never forget it this lesson.

#american politics #not bestiary

14 notes · View notes

haiyuta · 4 years

Text

Study Session || Felix

Summary: Failing Transfiguration was not what you expected in your 7th year or having to be tutored by a Gryffindor named Felix.

word count: 4k || Hogwarts au, lots of felix rings, accent, fingering, hj, kissing, teasing,

a/n: I promised a abo chan but here is a felix smut cause he does things to me...I HAD TO look at this boy hes amazing. I do hogwarts au no justice

Placing your bag on the desk you let out a small huff sitting next to your fellow Slytherin housemate and friend. Minho glanced at you taking out your Transfiguration book 7th-year edition. The only subject you were failing at a rapid pace it was almost comical.

"Well good morning to you I didn't see you at breakfast," he hummed taking out his book.

"Yeah I slept in I was studying all night," you replied. The class hummed with talking from your fellow classmates. "I want to get good marks on my newts I just," you huffed leaning back your mind racing.

"Hey maybe I can help you," Minho said pushing his arm at the back of his chair.

"Maybe," you trailed off looking at the group of red robes that entered the room. Gyfindors you rolled your eyes. Pretnigous and cocky. A dark brown hair one Chan he was loud, to say the least, a captain of the quidditch team he boosted often how much they won. Next to him with dyed blond hair the quieter one Felix next to him.

Blinking you rolled your eyes when Chan gave you a small nod toward your direction. His motto this year was trying to get houses more 'together'. Yeah right.

"So full of themselves," Minho whispered under his breath. You grinned agreeing with him. "But I heard that Felix kid has amazing marks recently," he added.

Class dragged on slow you tried to understand how the more advanced Transfiguration worked but it felt like a block like you couldn't understand.

"Make sure to do your 2 feet essay by next week," the teacher said. Huffing you got up putting away your books and papers.

"Miss Y/n could you please stay back," the teacher spoke. Eyeing Minho you clenched your fist already knowing what was coming.

"Save me a seat at lunch," you whispered to him. You went to her desk her hands folded glaring up at you.

"Well miss y/n I've seen your essays and your struggle with this more advanced material," she stated.

Folding your hands in front of your skirt you nodded. "Yes professor I just need to work harder it's almost fall I know I can get back on track," you affirmed.

"As you know this is class is important for the newts I wouldn't like to see you fail this subject," she said. You nodded agreeing silently. "So I asked my best student to help you he didn't have any extra electives and always very helpful," she said.

"Like a tutor," you asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes Felix is a great student and took an interest in tutoring some of the younger students you'll be his first in his year to tutor," she explained.

"Felix," you said his name out loud. The blond that's always with Chan.

"Yes I believe he'll teach you well," she said.

You frown your brows remembering what Minho said "actually Minho said he would be interested in helping me since he's in my house we probably can work better," you quickly made an excuse.

"Minho is almost at risk of being tutored himself now he'll meet you in the library at 7 and I hope to see some improvement," she eyed you.

You rolled your shoulders "I'll try," you said going back to your desk.

"And Miss.Y/n Felix is quite nice don't let house rivalry stop you from learning something new," she said. Nodding you quickly left hoping Felix would just tutor you and leave.

"So after dinner, you have to study," Minho asked picking at the food.

You looked at your close friend "yeah the library at 7 she said," you told him. Eyeing the table Chan was facing you his friend across from him. Even though you've been at Hogwarts a magical school Felix didn't come here till 6th year making him even more of a mystery.

Eyeing the large clock it was already 6 45 seeing Felix wave bye to his house walking out of the great hall.

"Be optimistic," he laughed grabbing a cupcake taking a bite out of it.

"Yeah I'll you see back in the common room," you huffed grabbing your bag. Walking through the halls you eyed the paintings and the movement going down one hall then another till the library came into view.

The library was quiet as you walked in eyeing the large halls looking for Felix. A few rows in you spotted a red tie and blond hair. He was concentrating on the book he was reading a book. Your mind racing for no good reason as you approached him "Hi you must be Felix," you said clutching your bag to the side.

Facing you he had a smile making his brown eyes go into small suns "Yes I am and you're Y/n right," his deep voice made your spine shiver. You noted he had an Australian accent just like Chan you will ask about that later.

You felt heat crawl from the back of your neck up to your ears "Yeah," you said slipping in the chair next to him.

"Okay well I heard you're failing in Transfiguration," he said in concern.

Rolling your eyes away "Not by much it's just," you huffed suddenly feeling inferior under his gaze. "It's a little confusing," you replied.

Nodding his head his deep eyes slide to you to the book "okay well we'll go back to the basics of last year and see where it's all going wrong okay," he spoke fluidly nodding.

Felix spoke smoothly explaining everything with delicate detail. He was amazing at explaining the more difficult system willing more magical power.

"So you see when you use it it's important you reread each spell a few times these are completed any mispronounce or missed word will make it fail," he said pointing to the book. You noted he had a large silver ring on his middle finger. Your heart leaped a little seeing how small they were. You bite your lip trying not to gush at him and focus on his words. "Since we are transforming harder items it takes more will to make them what you want we'll go over actual spells later," he explained.

Staring at him intently you nodded stretching a little you've been in the position for an hour going over the more important topic. "Yeah we should," you agree.

"Now I know we have our essay due soon if you want you can write and I can look over it," with a charming smile on his lips.

"That sounds good I don't have to meet Minho until later," you said taking out some paper.

Working in mostly silence he helped you fix some parts and made sure you kept the essay on track. "Thank you," you mumbled actually learning a lot from this small study session.

"You're welcome how about we study on Saturday," he said.

Giving a small smile back clutching your book in your hands. "Sure thanks again," you said waving bye. Your stomach slightly fluttering for an unknown reason as you quickly walked back to the Slytherin dorms.

The next time you met Felix was night. Browsing the shelves you spotted him sitting by a window seat his blond hair pushed back and his robes were fitted and clean.

Looking up he smiled he waved over to him you blush realizing you were staring at him. Sitting next to him he smoothly opened the conversation up.

"Well good Saturday to you," he said his voice deep slightly groggy it seemed he just woke up. By the wave he had a small red mark on his face he was probably sleeping. His voice and his just woke up voice made you shiver.

"It was the one day we got to go to Hogsmeade so I'm happy," you grinned gliding in the seat next to him.

"Oh yeah here," he said handing you a small wooden case.

Eyeing it you raised an eyebrow "for me," you asked.

"Well I didn't know 7th years still use sugar quills I think this better one will keep you writing better," he winked handing you the box. He looked away going back to his work.

It was a quill inside the box a nice one, to say the least. "Thank you," you mumbled feeling the back of your neck heat up.

"You're welcome," He quirked an eyebrow "I actually wanted to review your essay before class if that's okay," he said.

"Yeah sure," you said still in a daze from the gift, pulling from your bag your essay.

"Oh wow when she said two feet you took that super literally," he hummed his deep voice chuckling as he looked at you two-page essay. You spotted his that was at least 4 pages.

Felix reviewed it making a few notes on the paper. You tried not to stare but he was reviewing your work and he looked so focused. You hope he thought it was good. "I think you should look up more on the human-animal area it's a little unclear but overall good," a wide smile lit his face.

"Um, where would you think I should cut out," you asked wondering where he meant.

Felix scooted closer to you pointing at the area "here," he said. Suddenly he was close to you in your bubble but it felt so good. The scent of him so strong you couldn't place his cologne as he was explaining his mouth had a minty smell.

"What book would I reference," your voice broke out. Realizing your stomach was turning at how close he was.

Felix reached over grabbing a book "I like this one it's the best one for the subject in my opinion," he spoke looking down at you. It was like slow motion as you drunk in Felix's features. From his lightly dusted freckles to his one cute crooked tooth.

"Um," you trailed off wanting to speak but couldn't. All you wanted was for him to capture your lips in a kiss wanting to see if his lips felt as soft as they looked.

"Y/n there you are," Minho said breaking you from your trance. You pulled back looking over at him.

Glaring "this is a library," you whispered yelled at your friend.

He huffed pulling out a chair plopping himself in it "sorry I was looking for you the party in the Hufflepuff dorm starts soon," he grinned leaning back. "They won their quidditch game and invited 5th years and up from all houses," he explained.

"Sorry I can't Felix was looking over my essay," you gently turned down your friend hoping you could spend a little more time with Felix.

"Oh it's fine I know parties are more fun than this," Felix spoke a tightly closed mouth smile he pulled.

"See even your tutor wants you to party," Minho said. "And I think that guy from Ravenclaw Seungmin is going," he teased causing you to glared at him. You knew Minho wouldn't let up if you didn't go.

"I'm sorry Felix cutting our tutoring short I'll finish up my essay tomorrow okay," you said.

Felix gave a look but a smile "It's fine I'll be here all day tomorrow if you have any questions," he said. Grabbing your bag a string of apologies came out as Minho took you by the arm dragging you out the room.

Felix sighed watching you walk away his tight smile slipped into a low frown as the moonlight from the large castle windows filled the area.

"So you like like him," Minho said as you walked to dinner on Friday night. You puffed your cheeks heat rising slowly.

You learned a lot about Felix as he tutored you. He was from Australia and came to Hogwarts in his 6th year, he had freckles a nice laugh and welcoming.

"I just get this fluttery feeling like when I kissed the exchange student Lucas at the Yule Ball," you explained.

"We're friends for now," you added. And it'll probably stay that way you added in your mind.

"Let's eat I have a study session for the newts," you hummed.

"Newts already we're almost out of Hogwarts, he whined sitting down.

You let your thoughts linger You're time at Hogwarts was almost done which was almost done it was a double edge sword. Going and being a wizard getting to work in different world departments. Then the reality of leaving weighed on your mind. Would you a Felix still be friends?

Gazing at him your eyes widen to see Felix facing you eating across was Chan but next to him a female by his side. She had a sparkling look in her eyes as she listened to Chan and Felix but more Felix.

Your stomach turned in distaste at the scene. Felix smiled at both of them as you looked on. You looked at your food trying to ignore the scene.

"So Minho what were you saying about Hogsmead," you said.

Minho gave you a look at you and back at him but decided to not question it "well I was saying," he continued.

Dinner ended and Felix walked out saying goodbye to his Chan and the girl his eyes searching for yours he gave you a small nod in your direction. It was common for him to do this but something about him just cuddling with the girl making you bubble with irrational anger.

"Time to study," you said grabbing your bag heading toward the library. Entering it was quiet only a few people around. You searched through the rows for Felix until you found him sitting in a back row by a window.

"Hey," you said breathlessly,

He gave a small smile back "hey," he responded.

You felt your heart clench looking at his arm where that girl touched him. You wanted to ask him about it but you stopped yourself. Felix isn't yours to claim.

Felix opened up some papers "I have the test newt so we'll go over this," he said putting the paper down.

It was nice to go over the newt the more you studied the more you realize how really hard it'll be.

it went well but as you went you slowly went downhill as you started to get them wrong and wrong. "Y/n you seem distracted," Felix said stopping.

You gazed up at him "More than normal," you joked lightly feeling your heart clench at his handsome face.

"Funny," he gazed at you with those gentle eyes. The moon illuminated his blond hair making it look lavender.

"Is it your boyfriend," Felix asked staring at you.

You straighten your back confused by his statement "what boyfriend," you questioned back.

He pursed those plump lips up "Minho I think," he stared at you. His lips were in a fine line.

"Oh he isn't my boyfriend he's just a really good friend," you defended yourself. A small teasing smile lifted to your face "and what about you Mr. I have a girl cuddling on me at dinner," you teased out your words biting back at jealously.

Felix glanced at you and chuckled "I wish I knew I know she's a 6th year I just couldn't tell her to fuck off," he responded. The tension between you two was growing you could feel it even your magic could feel the underline motive of your words.

"What a gentleman," you smirked but continued "I wouldn't let that happen often people will think she's your girlfriend." Both of you were so close your knees were touching while his face felt so close to his.

“Are you jealous,” he asked leaning closer his eyes so intense.

You hitched your breath deciding to be upfront with him “Kind of,” you quirked an eyebrow.

You felt your hand go to his knee staring at him "May I kiss you," he breathed out he was staring at you he was so close. You felt your cheeks warm wanting to kiss him so bad.

"What a gentleman," you breathlessly said leaning in to capture his lips. It was gentle Felix's hand reaching over to cup your chin into his hand as he tested the kiss. It was soft moving your lips against his moving close. He let out a small moan as you massaged one another in the kiss. Your body slowly heating up from the kissing. Your body responds to his message he wanted you and you wanted him.

You gasped allowing his tongue to lightly enter your mouth ever so delicately you moaned tasting the strawberry shortcake we had for dessert in the kiss.

His other arm wrapping it around your waist pulling you closer to him as you to made out.

His fingers danced around your waist holding you tight. As fast as it happened you heard another Australian accent calling for Felix. You jumped from his touch to see Chan whispering Felix's name.

"There he is," Chan said still clad in his uniform. You blushed gazing at Felix his face flushed and his lips were tinted red. "Oh hey Y/n," Chan greeted.

Biting your lip you gave a small hi back. "I have to show you this new set we did its amazing," Chan said a little too loud.

"Dude don’t you see,” Felix palmed his face.

“Oo sorry,” he said looking at you and slowly getting what you both just did.

“Come on let's go," Felix huffed packing his stuff. Suddenly it hit you what we did you made out with Felix crap you thought. Was he going to stop tutoring you? You hoped he didn’t find you a bad kisser. Self-doubt filled you as Felix and Chan chatted. You got your answer "Hey um Y/n,” Felix paused “wanna go to Hogsmeade with me and then we can study next Saturday," he asked.

Chan raised an eyebrow at the scene "I'll love that," you blushed watching Felix pull his overcoat on giving you a wink picking up his book.

"Dude nice," you heard Chan say lightly bumping his friend's fist as they left. Felix ears a deep red color like his lips.

Touching your lips you grinned you just kissed Lee Felix.

Its been almost a month since you kissed Felix you weren't technically together but it still felt good. You were lucky you got to kiss him when you wanted. You liked this a lot. Nothing too serious yet with the perks of affection.

Currently, you were sitting in the library the spot you always met Felix next to you reviewing for the newts in a month. "What animal is extremely hard to transfigure?" Felix asked pointing to the question

You let out a light laugh "A dragon," you declared. "Come on Felix try a little harder than that," you said.

He nodded "okay okay," his deep voice vibrated out. You felt his hand go to your knee making you straighten you back.

"Okay next question what does vanishment actually do," he asked from the booklet.

Pressing your legs together you lightly bounced the knee his hand was on "its to make things go into non-being" you stated looking at the handsome blond. After a few months, his dark roots shining through.

"Good," he hummed his hand slipping from your knee to the inside of your thigh. Your body buzzed from the warmth of his hand.

Leaning on your arm you shyly looked at him "Felix what are you doing," you asked.

He flashed a handsome grin "giving you a reward for being so smart," he smirked.

"Now the next question "The opposite of vanishment is," he gently rubbed the exposed skin before you got to your skirt.

"Conjuring of course," you said wanting his hand to travel to its destination.

"Good job princess," he mumbled your nickname you glared at him even though you hated when people like Chan called you that something about him made you wet with want at the name.

His hand traveled up past your skirt limits till it reached under panties the slight lace pair at the rim of it.

Placing his pointer finger right at your folds. A small gasp you let out at the new feeling of someone else's fingers and not yourself touching you. The only person who slightly got to this base was at the Yule ball but you stopped him.

"Is this okay," he leaned over and whispered to you. Your heart throbbed at the question.

"More than fine," you replied reaching for his lips for a quick kiss.

"Okay Conjuring being a big part of the newts give me the short definition," he asked his face was twisted with want but also a cute kind of giddy at what his fingers were doing. His ringed middle finger was lightly just lightly stroking your slit causing more wetness to seep through them.

"Conjuring is to "bringing things into being," you stated opening your legs more for him.

He smirked allowing his fingers to move your panties and into your soaking need. He lightly teased with his fingers gently but it did so much to you. Your stomach twisted with want as heat building in you.

You felt Felix come closer and gently kissed your neck. His fingers lazily rubbing your folds in a rhymic manner. "Fuck Felix we should do this here," you whispered turning your head to catch his gaze. Of course, you were worried this was a library and someone could catch you at any time.

"That's why everyone is at the last quidditch match of the year," he hummed in your neck "if you catch two students making out oh well."

Grinning you let out another breathy moan feeling him cup you his rings cold against your heat. "No more questions please," you begged just wanting to let loose on his fingers.

"I think you deserve this Y/n you worked so hard," his deep voice broke out. You leaned over capturing his lips as his fingers went to work. His middle finger found your wetness lightly pressing into you. Your body was warm and his lips were warm and all this was so warm you were addicted.

Your hips pushed onto his fingers wanting more of his touch. "Fuck your wet," he whispered into your ear his warm breath hitting your neck.

"Who are you wet for," his husky voice asked out.

"For you of course," you moaned.

"All for me yes," he groaned his fingers were clumsy looking for the right areas but it all felt good. He circled your wetness making you gasp for me. "Fuck are you close," he hissed. You eyed his slacks they had a small wet mark on them.

"Can I," you asked reaching for his slacks touching the area of where his soft bulge was.

Felix gasped staring into your eyes "please," he barely got out.

Your fingers found his button and zipper greedy to touch him. His black boxers outline a small bulge. Touching him gently he moaned his fingers stopping for a moment.

"Touch me," he moaned. It was probably a site to see two students cuddled up close you would guess we were making out more than touching one another.

Jerking him off lightly you felt his warm dick harden under your touch the tip getting wetter every time you reached the tip. Felix lightly petted you long swipes up and down your slit.

"Fuck Felix," you panted reaching for his lips capturing him trying to keep quiet. "I can't hold it," you panted.

“Let go princess let go on my fingers,” he whispered so sensually. Taking out Felix's warmth you gently pumped his dick as his fingers found his pace. Your heart thudded your mind-melting with pleasure. The heat inside your lower stomach was building and building. Your pumps on Felix were getting sloppy and you were trying to focus on helping him out.

Suddenly you felt yourself let go your legs clench around his hand as you came. A soft moan let out as you clutched close to Felix. Your body buzzed with pleasure as you came just from his fingers.

"God that was hot," Felix deep voice whispered as you leaned on his shoulder aftershock flowing through your body. Wrapping his hand over your he gently moved it up and down stroking himself. The scene itself was hot as you watch him moan.

Between his warmth and his hand, you watched how his dick twitch as he came a second later. Fuck he moaned he was twitching and squeezing himself as he came.

It was silent for a moment as you placed your lips over his. It was a tender kiss one of want and need.

"We probably should get back to work," you hummed in disappointment.

Felix sighed "I think the match will be ending soon want to debut as my new girlfriend," he asked a shy smile on his face. God, he was handsome. "Only if you want," he paused.

Your heart bloomed "I would love that," you smiled back.

#stray kids smut #kpop smut #stray kids scenarios #felix smut #kpop scenarios

382 notes · View notes

somethingusefulfromflorida · 4 years

Text

TLDR: Kamala can control the Senate even if Mitch remains majority leader

The Vice President is in a constitutional gray area; nowhere in the document does it say whether the Vice President is part of the executive or legislative branch. All it says is that they are the “president of the Senate,” which would imply the legislative, but most VPs are given executive authority via statute and precedent. In practice, the Vice President does very little in their role as president of the Senate; the constitution gives them the authority to preside over its sessions (the president presides, makes sense so far), but that power is often deferred to the President pro tempore of the Senate, which can be thought of as the vice president of the senate; when the Vice President is unavailable, the constitution gives the president pro tempore the authority to preside over senate sessions. In practice, neither the vice president nor president pro tempore do much presiding. The president pro tempore, although third in line for the presidency, is a ceremonial job given to the longest serving member of the majority party (which usually means they’re the OLDEST member, putting an 80 or 90 year old dinosaur just 3 heartbeats away from the nuclear codes). In practice, the Senate picks its own presiding officer, rotating through a number of junior senators to give them some experience. This is all just set up for my point.

The Senate writes its own rules of operation, called the Standing Rules, of which there are 44. None of them actually give any power to the senate majority leader. Their power derives from attitude and respect for precedent, not actual statute or law. Technically no senator is more powerful than any other, and any may speak and bring legislation to the floor for debate, but the majority leader has co-opted this power all for themselves because 100 years ago a presiding officer decided that party leaders should have seniority when it comes to speaking. The rules before this were that the presiding officer had to pick whoever stood up first, so if two people stood up at once it was up to the presiding officer to choose who got to speak; the seniority precedent said that if the senate majority leader stands, they get the floor no matter what. But this isn’t part of the rules! This isn’t written down anywhere in the constitution, and the Senate never voted to make it statutory!

The Vice President could decide to undo the precedent set all those decades ago, and set NEW precedent, allowing them to pick whoever stood up first again, OR giving seniority not to the leader of the majority party but to the leader of the Vice President’s party instead. The Vice President is constitutionally allowed to preside over every senate session, so they could decide that, in their role as president of the senate, their party gets to be senior over the other party, regardless of how many votes they have. This would stop the majority leader from holding legislation hostage by allowing anyone within the VP’s party to propose legislation, which could then be voted up or down by the full senate. Whether the legislation passes is up to the American people electing their senators, not the senate majority leader. If the Democrats don’t win both Georgia senate seats, they could still open up the floor for votes, and with moderates like Romney and Collins who would vote how they feel instead of voting for how McConnell wants them to, the Democrats could have a chance of getting their agenda passed with a slim majority vote.

This would be seen as a partisan power grab, but then how is that any different to McConnell’s modus operandi? This would prevent him from holding Supreme Court justices hostage (though it’s not a guarantee that any given justice would be confirmed, just that they would get a vote), this would prevent him from holding cabinet secretaries hostage as he has threatened to do.

Joe Biden chose not to use this power when he was Vice President because he didn’t want to step on any toes, make any enemies, or defy and precedents. Kamala Harris though has stated that being a senator under McConnell’s “leadership” is boring because they don’t DO anything, so she might have the audacity to shake things up. The Democrats have options, they just need to learn to play hardball. If it’s not illegal, then it’s legal; that’s the Republican motto, and the Democrats need to start playing by those same rules!

9 notes · View notes