#OSHA cannot stop me

[hellsite-trickster]

Posting nsfw because I can

[rhythmic-idealist]

The attitude among my coworkers of “I’m gonna get cancer anyway” is insane. I know how many of you have wives. Do none of you ever for even a second think about asbestos moving from your hair into the bedsheets

[darklinaforever]

To those who say that The Acolyte cannot be the victim of racism-related hatred because of the main actors of Andor, Mandalorian and Ahsoka make me slowly laugh.

Diego Luna may be Mexican, but he's sort of white-skinned. Pedro Pascal is under a fucking mask the majority of the time, and Ahsoka may be an Afro Latina actress is a character who was basically one in the animation, being part of an alien race. Natasha Liu Bordizzo also plays a person who was originally in animation with a fanbase that already existed.

You may think that all this does not play a role in public perception, particularly racist in terms of their tolerance, but you are wrong (especially in the reception of an animated character compared to live action like with Sabine). On the contrary, it plays a huge role in their criticism. And precisely, thanks to that they can hide behind the excuse of not being racist.

Amandla is a black woman who play a completely new character. She pulls the triple hat for the worst of the worst in Star Wars fandom. Namely the sexist criticisms and the misogynistic criticisms, and criticizes of the untouchable Lore / what they think Star Wars is supposed to be, which all combine together.

Without forgetting that the one who makes the show is also a woman, a lesbian on top of that, who inevitably infuses her vision into Star Wars.

Stop acting like it doesn't matter.

And hiding behind the fact that many love Qimir and want the continuation of his story to make people believe that there is no racism linked to Amandla forgets some details on this subject.

Literally, these people completely remove the female character, Osha, from Qimir, while you can't tell his story by removing the girl. The characters work together and not separately. They don't understand that the essence of Qimir's character is linked to Osha. And obviously they don't understand that he's more complex than a Sith either.

These people who only focus on Many don't understand the character at all. Most also have misogynistic remarks towards Osha / Amandla.

So, frankly, taking those who specifically focus on Qimir as a standard to prove that there is no racism, only shows their incompetence in analysis and understanding of media, without forgetting the other horrible side that this show has had to face ; misogyny.

Be realistic, the show suffered a huge hate campaign well before its release and therefore the slightest trace of the storyline !

And yes, the storyline of The Acolyte is not perfect, but that is far from the main reason why the show is criticized ! A little realism and objectivity, please !

It's to the point that there is a counter-petition to prove that people don't want The Acolyte to be renewed, and sorry for the haters, but the numbers painfully prove you otherwise.

[pythoness94]

of course you're a little shit. You're writing a fic with the biggest genocide supporter in the fandom. Noah Schnapp is a zionist who cheered on child murder. And you support that. You sick fucking freak.

once again, AWW THANK YOU FOR THE ASK AND KIND WORDS. Also, Noah isn't a zionist, people who say that should really do their research instead of just being a follower. In the wise words of Eddie Munson "you're a sheep, and not the good kind." Stop being a follower and open a fucking tab. Google bitch, because Noah wasn't the one holding those stickers, he isn't the person killing those people, he isn't supporting Jack Shit. Honestly, you people get so easily offended.

Do you wanna feel like a good person? Is that? You want to get the brownie points for doing nothing? Well let me lay it out for you. I help old and disabled people, I clean their houses, fill up their planners, help them with day to day tasks, and I just talk to them. I know someone who cannot physically move their body, only their hands and feet, and I have to wash them because they physically can not do it themselves. I know someone who is mute and has Alzheimer's so bad that they try to follow me home, they're in a home now because they ran out in the street naked and screaming. These are the lightest cases. I've seen so many people die, its not funny. I am waiting for the day I am allowed to volunteer at the hospital. I go out of my way to tell people I'm proud of them when they post of chapter, I make Google docs of media for people of things they like who feel bad and need something to cheer them up. I'm medically certified so I could help people, I have OSHA safety training so I can help people, I do everything I can to help PEOPLE.

You write words on the internet anonymously on a topic you don't even know about. We are not the same so don't you DARE even try to tell me what I am when you're to pathetic to say something with your chest. You're the sick freak, not me. I'd suggest you look in the mirror and evaluate what you've done with your life so far because it is never to late to change, and I would still be proud of you for doing so..just like I'm am proud of your accomplishments now, even if I only know you from this ask.

[meowmeowmeowmeow4x]

Supersons +1 propmt fill Part3 Tr3s

The sprinklers activated in an instant and covered the centre in a deluge of water. Whatever scientists remained scrambled to recover what remained of their creations before the water could irrevocably damage them. In a hidden corner, one Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent made knowing glances to each other, a mutual agreement reached in seconds after decades of friendship. With the help of a crowbar, the men quickly pry open one of the exit doors, making way for panicked civilians to exit the premises, 'Brucie' giving comfort to those distressed by the recent events. It wasn't long before they had to make themselves scarce. They had their sons to rescue, there was no time!

As Bruce and Clark snuck out into the empty hallway, having been quickly evacuated by a Gothamite's natural self-preservation instinct and discipline from years of attacks. They nodded, and went their seperate ways. Clark to go change into his Superman outfit, and Bruce to calm the inevitable deluge of reporters before changing into his own costume.

Cameras flashed over the front entrance to the event, blinding the last few stragglers to leave, and Bruce, standing tall against the crashing sea.

"Mr Wayne! What can you tell us about the new villain that Joker has teamed up with?"

"Mr Wayne, how does Wayne Industries intent to secure future events from attacks on this scale?"

"Where is Damian Wayne? Sir how can Wayne Industries secure the future of Gotham if you cannot protect your own children?"

"Mr Wayne is it true that you allowed Jack Fenton to attend the event despite knowing he was a quack?"

And on and on and on. Bruce never intended to give these people what they wanted. He had children to save, and investigations to conduct. Before he could excuse himself, however, a roaring boom echoed down the street like summer thunder. Reporters screamed as they trampled over each other to escape the path of a silver behemoth charging down the road. Thick metal plates lined its exterior. A large satellite dish adorned its top, and jutting out from the sides were massive guns. The van sported too many OSHA violations to be anything less than a tank on four wheels than any civilian vehicle. Batman will have to crack down on whatever corrupt whitecollar criminals allowed this monstrosity on the roads.

The van charged right up to where Bruce was standing on the pavement, before coming to a terrifyingly rapid halt, so sudden that the entire vehicle jerked forward from its momentum. It would have been cartoonish if it hadn't stopped cleanly right in front of him. The front door slammed open, and a pair of black-gloved hands grabbed Bruce by the shoulder. In public surrounded by cameras, Bruce was helpless but to comply.

"BRUCIE WAYNE! I'VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER FOR YOU!"

Bruce scanned the interior of the van in an instant, clocking in the undignified Clark Kent clinging to his seat like a child to their parents leg, tie messed up and suit creased. His classes were crooked on his face. "He just scooped me up like I was paper mache, Bruce!" The man's voice was shaking.

"Strap in Brucie, because the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle cares for no trivial matters like traffic laws, or even physics laws!"

What kind of branding was this? "The Fenton Family wha-" Jack slammed the gas. The GAV rocketed into max gear in an instant. The force threw the poor man off his feet. Bruce went hurtling into the backside of the GAV and crashed with a bang. The G-forces kept him glued to the wall like a black-suited starfish, at least until Clark extended an arm to peel him off.

"I'm starting to think you might be right about him being a supervillain." Clark whispered.

Bruce grimly nodded.

"Alright so now that we're all together, here's the plan folks!" Jack said, tone all too cheerful for the chaos he was creating on the road. Innocent cars swerved out of the way of the advancing war machine. Pedestrians clung to lampposts and fences as gale force winds blasted them from its wake. "Let's start with the bad news: Our kids have been spirited away by suffering spooks! The good news: The Fenton Radar works!" Jack tapped on a screen on the van's console, showing two beeping dots on a radar map.

"BUILDING!" Clark yelled. They were rocketing right into a townhouse.

Jack yanked the wheel to the left. The GAV turned 90 degrees in about half a second, turning both passengers into ragdolls thrown across the side. On the outside, a subtle Superman-shaped dent was visible. "Thanks for that, Clarkie! Now I'm sure you guys aren't as experienced as me and my lovely wife Maddie are in hunting ghosts, but don't worry! I can give you a crash course."

"Please don't say crash course." Clark quivered.

"Could you maybe slow down?!" Bruce yelled over the roaring engines.

"No can do, Brucie! Any slower and the GHOSTS will leave the Fenton Radar's range, and then we'll never get our kids back!"

"I think I'm going to be sick." So Kryptonians can get nausea from high-speed vehicles, interesting. He'll have to update his file.

"The Joker and his associates entered your portal and set it to blow, how can we even get the kids back if they're on the other side!"

Jack turned around with a smile. "That's what the Fenton PortaPortal version 2 is for! Never leave home without a spare, my grandpa Fenton always said!"

"Dr Fenton, that bridge was destroyed in a gang fight!" Bruce shouted. Construction workers were already scattering, but a thick concrete barrier stood in their way.

"No need to worry, Fenton engineering can handle a little hole here or there!"

"The entire bridge was destroyed, we're going to fall off!"

"I love your sense of humour Brucie, but even if we did it wouldn't matter!"

"I really think it does, Dr Fenton!" Clark gripped the bottom of the nearby seat hard enuogh to dent.

"Nonsense, watch this!" Jack pushed the gas even further, as if that was even possible. The GAV reduced the concrete barrior to smithereens. "Go go Fenton Famliy Ghost Assault Vehicle: Aerial Mode!" The mad scientist's shouted in glee. He pulled another lever, activating a pair of wings from the sides.

Clark would deny screaming like a girl to the end of his days.

~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, in the Zone...

Danny shifted nervously in his position, atop the swarm of Lydia's bats, and flanked by the freaking Joker of all people on one side and Freaking Freakshow on the other. What did he do to deserve this?

If It was just the Joker and Freakshow, he would just happily transform and kick the snot out of these clowns, but sadly he's not alone.

Also tied up with rope both human and ghostly were one Damian Wayne and Jon Kent, the former of which looked none too pleased about the current situation. While Damian spat vitriol upon the Joker and his "D-list half-rate assisstant," with man himself largely ignoring his words to fawn over the chaos of the Realms, Danny contemplated his options. Good news: Freakshow hadn't blown his secret yet, which was cold comfort for the moment, seeing as if he had, he'd just be able to punch these suckers and be done with it, but nooo. Maybe he could overshadow the other boys and hypnotise them into forgetting? Was that a thing that can be done? Would've been convenient, and because of that, Danny suspected it's wishful thinking. If it worked, great, if it didn't work, well Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne have ties to the Justice League, who have ties to the government, who hire the GiW, so there's a non-zero percent chance such a stunt would end up with him on a dissection table.

Which means he's left playing the waiting game, spectating the Joker jumping up and down like a fangirl over all the green, and purple, and fighting, and death. First day in Gotham, guys.

"Psst." Jon whispered to him.

Danny said nothing, but leaned a little on Jon's side.

"Don't worry, we're gonna be ok, I'm sure the J-J-Justice League will be here. Just sit t-t-tight, ok?"

Wow, that was really touching that he was trying to comfort Danny, but the ghostly part of him didn't even need to feel Jon's shaking, or hear his stutter to know the kid was absolutely terrified. Now that he thought about it, it really should be him doing the comforting.

"Eh I wouldn't hedge my bets on it." Causing the other boy to squeak in fear. Curse you, snark instinct. Why can't you be heroic and reassuring instead.

"Neither would I, boy." Freakshow said, almost like he was rubbing in just how much danger his secret was in.

"You will unhand us, or you will know the meaning of pain in every sense of the world. This I tell you. I will feed you to my chickens. I will cut up your flesh and grind it into paste and then fertilise my vegetable garden with it. You will regret crossing me."

Jon let out the faintest whisper, something Danny would've never heard if he wasn't a ghost, and a master of quiet sounds. "Really selling the normal kid act here, Damian."

"On the contrary, lovely chlidren, I believe it is you who will soon become ghosts. NEYEHEHEYEHEH" Oh god here comes the gratuitous laughter. "I can't believe such a t~~tttttTANTALISING opportunity has been out there for me this whole time! AHAHAHAHAAH. And for you, my little children, to have come to this wonderful little science expo alongside your dear old daddies only to become part of the exhibit?" The Joker cracked into laughter, slapping his knees and collapsing in fitful giggles.

Each of the free boys gulped, each of them considering how to save the apparent civilian(s) among them without exposing themselves...

@impyssadobsessions

[thefallenangelsgang]

I'm losing my fucking mind

Or: I just saw Lord of the Rings the Musical at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and my brain chemistry has irreversibly changed

I'm too genuinely scrambled at the moment from travel to make a solid post (I am multiple states away from Illinois and I hate city driving) but I cannot shake the life-changing experience that was.

SPOILERS AHEAD

(Spoiler free tldr: story is changed sometimes severely to make a sub-3hr runtime or to simplify, but the message doesn't get completely lost. Tolkien fan approved)

First issue I can see everyone having is how much the story changes because it does change a lot. Rohan and Gondor being merged is probably the most glaring. I think it works because the show is more focused on the Hobbits (specifically Frodo and Sam). Personally I can look past it. My one issue is the missing Sam monologues (mount doom is a rather swift sequence, I'd have liked to see Sam give his devotion speech and his speech about the shire while waiting to die) those would have made insane songs but alas. The ending still was a gut punch though so it's more a personal preference thing.

First thing that blew me away was the technical aspect. The lighting and set design was GORGEOUS and EVOCATIVE. There were multiple times lighting alone drew me to tears.

The puppetry is immaculate. The nazgul chase is singularly some of the most beautiful choreo I've seen and I'm a slut for puppetry

The cast play all of the instruments live on stage, sometimes while doing choreography (nothing will prepare you to see Legolas holding a fucking trumpet or Boromir strapped into a goddamn accordion)

The costuming is more accurate to the original editions' illustrations which I found endlessly charming. One difference is, for safety (probably OSHA), all the hobbits (and Gollum) wear Sandals. This is never discussed. I love that.

BOROMIR IS KILLED BY HIS OWN SWORD WHICH I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW PERFECT THAT IS NARRATIVELY

GOLLUM PLAYED BY TONY BOZZUTO IS NEARLY INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM ANDY SERKIS

(I am not joking about this. Somehow he has mastered Andy's physicality and voice work. It truly was a sight to behold.)

Saruman/Elrond's actor (dressed as a hobbit) was hanging out in our section during preshow and was having a grand old time.

Bilbo and Frodo were in the main audience bothering people. Frodo was playing a stick and ring game and got absolutely shown up by some 10 year old he invited to play.

The Entmoot took literally 2 minutes (the way I had to stop from HOWLING at that)

I was SOBBING at the end, like actually.

Somehow this production managed to keenly make me feel the ending of Frodo leaving for the Grey Havens more than the movies did. The Irony of Frodo leaving being both a hopeful prayer that there is a place where people bound with trauma and wounds too deep to heal can live in peace without pain and also a grim acceptance that sometimes people cannot recover was STARK

Frodo and Sam really push the narrative of this show up until the end and it hits HARD. God bless this cast with steady work, they all deserve it.

[bloopitynoot]

Reading TGCF: Chapter Twenty-Seven

For those who don't know, I am reading TGCF for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag Bloopitynoot reads TGCF. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read BUT if you followed along with my SVSSS read, the rules and vibe are the same.

I cannot believe it's only a Tuesday. This is the longest fucking week my guys. Simultaneously the longest week but also somehow I feel like I'm moving non-stop.

I was in a group chat with my virtual "colleagues" today, and it feels like this is the universal vibe; sleepy and yearning for the thaw.

Today, for maximum coziness I went with a non caffeinated apple and apricot tea.

Let's go chapter 27!!!!!!!!!

"I know all of them, but I have never seen this child before" said, Mu-of-the-streets-Qing. p361

"also note the needle work on his clothes" said, detective-agent Mu Qing. p362

LOL Feng Xin is 100% that meme. "It's only a flesh-wound". Bro said, even if both my arms are broken, I still have my teeth. p363

(Actual- not really- image of Feng Xin)

That's sort of sad. Xie Lian and his retainers assumed the townspeople wanted to harm them when it was the complete opposite. This is giving religious guilt/trauma. p363

"Little Red" wait pls, if this little guy is actually Hua Cheng I will weep. p367

This line screams MDZS to me, "Right or wrong is important. If I must choose, then I choose the third path" p370

The entirety of page 371 is so damn good. The conversations on the role, nature, and relationship people have with gods (ascended people) is just brilliant. I don't know if any of you watch critical role, but the current campaign revolves around this. The role of the gods, their control and power, and if their actions are justified. I love this shit so much. p371

This entire room is an OSHA violation. Why the fuck would they put ALL of the very dangerous and cursed souls in one place together. p374

I mean choking out the strongest ghost with your bare hand is one way of dealing with the situation. p376

I feel so bad for this kid, just him being born was his crime. They said, yup, you, you tiny baby, you're a pestilence. p379

"When humans ascend, they are still human...when they fall, they are still human." p386

Holy shit, book two is done!

I am glad we ended on this high note because with the rise there will inevitably be the fall. I am stoked to start book three tomorrow! Friday I will order book 4 as my little treat :)

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s6 episode 10 "tithonus" thoughts

hmm… scully seems to be black and white in the image for this episode. maybe she has had this power to turn greyscale the whole time and she has simply never chosen to wield it until now. how fascinating of her!

ah, i see that the one after this is likely a two-parter, based on titles alone. so i had better focus now before things get crazy.

the description here emphasizes that scully will be the one pursuing this photographer!! i hope that bodes well for our girl!! i need lots of scully time!! or else terrible things happen to me!!

post-episode thoughts: we need to release the cut of this episode where mulder and scully team up to destroy this ritter fellow. i know mulder had to physically restrain himself from choking that dude out. frankly, he usually has FAR less self-control, so this was a big step for him.

but first and foremost, this was a scully episode. and there is so much i want to say. about living!! and dying!! and loving!! and what scully wants for herself!!! and i am sad, but i am pondering!!! and i want her to be happy!!! and in the process of editing my notes, i got myself so worked up over the whole thing that i simply cannot articulate anything!!!! which is such a shame, because if i had words, i would use them!!! at length!!

we open in new york city, where a woman gets help pushing a shopping cart out of an elevator to deliver some mail. mail time!!! wait. who is behind her?

get away from her. she is working. STOP FOLLOWING HER. I’M SERIOUS. now the elevator is taking too long to come get her…. and the creepy guy gets in. GET OUT OF THERE. YOU’RE MAKING ME ANGRY.

why can creepy man see everyone in black and white? until he steps out of the elevator, and all of the color returns.

oh shoot. he gets out and then the elevator starts breaking. so he takes the STAIRS. and it falls!!!! 

he’s taking a picture of the collapsed elevator?? with the bodies in it??? 

now who does that help….?

why is he documenting it… is he working for OSHA or something…..? 

shortened intro, you will not sneak your tricks past me.

someone else is doing a background check here at the FBI!! are scully and mulder free?? well, they’re stuck on the same floor, so probably not. mulder is on the phone and fiddling with his pen.

no; they, too, are sadly stuck performing background checks. this is so sad!!! she can save lives!!!! and they use her for this!!!

she asks if mulder is ready to quit and he says “no. that would make way too many people way too happy” <- LMAO well, that is entirely understandable

ohhh, she gets a strange call and is on the move. she was asked to go to kersh’s office!! this cannot be good!! he hates her!! and she was the only one called!

OOO, WE SEE HER FILE. she’s 5 foot 2!!! i didn’t know that!!! but i figured she was somewhere in that area. and she lives in annapolis, maryland. like learning that mulder lives in alexandria, i do not know enough about geography to know what that means.

seems she was brought on in 1990 as an instructor of forensic pathology, and she was recruited right from the university of maryland. i did know this. but not the years during which it happened. 

ARGH, i wish this screen wasn’t so dark so i could SEE. it says something about physics. BA in physics?? ARGH! this is so frustrating. mulder had described her thesis as her “graduate thesis”, so maybe she did physics undergrad, physics grad school, then med school, then FBI. 

well. it’s not focusing other than that, so i can’t make any conclusions unless kersh announces what he sees inside. because he is the one reading her file.

some agent named ritter is here from new york. who are you, man? he found an old crime scene photo of a woman who passed away from an overdose. but the clock in the photo is 45 minutes earlier than her listed time of death. scully points out that a clock can be wrong. why is this ritter man, like, quizzing her?

hmm!!! from the newspaper, the other photograph of the body shows a totally different time, an hour and a half later!!! that is very weird. from the same photographer, too. i’m guessing he wasn’t just hanging there for 2 hours and spacing out his picture taking.

alfred fellig is the photographer. ritter thinks that maybe he poisoned the woman and photographed her for personal pleasure, then came back later to do his job for the police and photographed her AGAIN. and while scully says that is “quite a theory”, there are 3 other photos of fellig's that show very different times according to different negatives.

she says there’s no consistent MO, and he says there is no consistent anything. and he wants her help. kersh asks him to leave. what is afoot here….

“i would say he has a promising career ahead of him. so did you… at one time” <- OH MY GOD??? 

(furious scully face)

“AGENT MULDER and i will begin immediately” <- OH!!! she stood right up for him!!! what a good friend!!

but kersh says he is a lost cause. and that he hopes she isn't as well.

so now she has to go to new york city with this RANDOM GUY. oh, i’m pissed off FOR HER!! kersh must be trying to separate them….

fellig is getting off a bus and watching some guy have what appears to be a heart attack. heart attack (or coughing fit? chest pain?) guy is in black and white!! 

he goes somewhere and gets some mail, patting his head with a cloth while fellig watches out the window. and he grabs his arm!! and falls!!!! AND FELLIG COMES CLOSER TO WATCH????

he pulls out his camera and takes a bunch of pictures of the dying guy, who he sees in black and white. very weird.

mulder is looking through a bunch of photos on his computer. ohhh, it looks like he found the pictures from fellig. “mulder. what are you doing?” “being nosy. eating my heart out. they’re sending you on an x file” <- OHHH, HE LOOKS SO SAD AND LEFT OUT :(

“it’s not an x file” “that’s not what i’m reading”

“i’m thinking murder by telekinesis. i’m thinking maybe a shamanistic death touch. i’m thinking about the muslim superstition that to photograph someone is to steal their soul” <- OHHH, LET HIM ON THE CASE :( 

fascinating look into how he starts gathering leads based on the little information he knows about the case and his wealth of memorized strange facts....

he thinks they’re splitting them up!!!! and he’s so sad!!! oh!! she tries to tell him it’s a one-time thing, but he isn’t buying it.

she bites her lip, closes his tabs as agent ritter walks in, and introduces them. he very visibly wants to beat the guy with a hammer. and makes a point of calling him by his first name.

jump to new york city. ritter and scully are asking some cops about fellig. he has yearly renewals for his job a very long time, and he’s been doing it since 1964!!! he doesn’t seem to have aged. 

OH! this ritter guy seems fine enough, but he called her "dana", and that made me flinch. he doesn’t seem to think it’s that weird fellig hasn’t aged at all.

meanwhile, some other dude is being chased and calling for help. whoever is chasing him pulls out a knife and kills him!!! and fellig is there to take pictures of the scene!!

but the murderer finds fellig and starts stabbing him…… he steals fellig’s camera as the blood pours everywhere. but fellig gets up!!! and pulls the knife out of his own back!!! ack!!!! 

the blood from his body is red and didn’t cause any gassing, so i don’t think he’s one of the shape-shifting aliens, but maybe he’s some sort of vampire or vampire-like creature?? maybe he sucks energies from the photos of dying people he takes??

ritter and scully find the knife with fellig’s prints on them.

“what’s this?” “a whole lotta blood” “yeah, i got that” <- LMAOOOOO, do not separate her from her bonded pair or she will be mad. scully clearly does not think there is a second victim because there is no second body.

ritter says it is “january 4th”. so does this take place BEFORE rain king, somehow? or did we jump ahead a year? you know what? i’m gonna try not to think about it. 

that seems like a weird detail to include for it to just prove the timeline wrong.

(i'm still annoyed about this 24 hours later btw)

they’re interviewing fellig. scully watches from the corner. he says he saw someone stealing a kid’s shoes and tried to run him off. he claims he touched the knife after the murderer left. 

OHHH, she picks up on the fact that he is in pain and is closing in on him like a shark smelling blood. yeahhhh, noir detective. ritter seems fascinated by this but like, come on, we all are. he’s not special.

fellig confesses to being cut. and she helps take off his shirt to see the gashes. ritter says to get his blood drawn and take pictures.

“hey, i’m confused. i thought we were trying to bust this guy, not look for reasons to let him go” “i thought we were looking for the truth” <-YEAH, YOU TELL HIM 🔥 

he gets pissed and leaves

AWWWWW, MULDER CALLS HER AND SAYS IN A STUPID VOICE THAT THEY USED TO SIT NEXT TO EACH OTHER AT THE FBI :,) AWWWW, LOOK AT HER TIRED SMILE!!!

WAIT, WHY DOES HE KNOW ABOUT THE STABBING, LMAO????? “i told you, i’m nosy” <- WHAT DOES HE KNOW??

they found another murderer’s prints on the knife and fellig’s blood all over the place… yeah. so fellig probably isn’t killing these people outright.

DID HE HACK INTO THE NYPD DATABASE SOMEHOW?? LMAOOOOO???

NO, HE GOT THE FILES FROM KERSH SOMEHOW, AND HE SEES THAT FELLIG HAS A HEALING FACTOR. LMAOOOO, oh he is gonna get in TROUBLE!!

but he says kersh has (mostly) nice things to say about her. which is kind of him to add.

he whines his way into doing a background check on the murderer, saying it’s what he does now. and you can tell she wants to say no, but also knows that saying no to him won’t do a damn thing, lmao.

why does he have access to kersh’s files….?

scully is joining ritter in a car at 1 am. seems he’s doing a stakeout on fellig. ritter tells her to have a LOVELY evening in a way that seems like he really hates her. man. i thought he was kinda chill at the start of this episode. except for the way he was quizzing her. and ignoring fellig not aging. maybe he was a jerk all along and i simply tried to be kind.

time for scully to flip through some more murder photos. OH NO!! she hears the camera clicking in the distance… and ritter just walked away!!! IS HE GONNA BE DEAD???

she knocks on fellig’s door and says “explain this” LMAO, get those answers!! how did he take a photo of a murder an hour before the police arrived?! 

she says he needs to explain himself or he will not know a moment’s peace. and trust that she means it.

fellig says to take a ride with her, which has me scared. and then he drives her around for an hour!!! he says he is looking for the shot. 

he finds a woman on the street corner, saying she’s about to die, could be a minute, could be an hour. scully grabs her gun, thinking he’s going to do something nefarious. he says the way they die is always a surprise- he just always knows when. 

“you want me to believe that?”, she asks

but then a man comes toward the woman on the side of the road, and they start fighting. scully gets out of the car! and she grabs the dude!!! he is under arrest!!! i fear she may only fulfill the prophecy somehow… 

she takes a gun off of him, and when he claims it isn’t his and calls her “red”, she slaps him on the face, omfg…. just a little slap…. but it was enough

BUT NO!!! when scully goes to ask the lady on the side of the road if she’s okay, the mystery woman gets hit by a truck!!!

OMG????? and fellig comes in to get the shot…

ritter is mad as HELL with scully when she rolls up with this random dude under arrest. she is also very mad at him!!! she does not need his permission to do her job!!! but he says he has something to show her. 

the murderer who killed that kid over the shoes claims that fellig did it. and scully accuses RITTER of making the STORY UP, OHHHH!!!

“fellig is a murderer. whether or not he did this specific one, i don‘t care-“ WELL, YOU SHOULD???

omfg… is this some sort of moral test for scully? is kersh torturing her like this is the good place? he says he knows the judge and he’ll get the warrant

OHHHH!!! “you know, kersh warned me about you.” “uh, he did?” “yeah, you and your partner. god knows his reputation precedes him, so i guess i should have seen this coming. you muck up my case, and kersh will hear about it. are we clear, dana?” “scully.”

WHEW!!!! THE WAY SHE SAID HER NAME ALL CLEAR AND QUIET GAVE ME GOOSEBUMPS

you tell that pathetic rat.

“and we’re done with this conversation” YES MA’AM 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

wow. still playing this on loop in my brain, 24 hours later. the implications... the defining of herself... the resistance... yeah.

phone call time!! it’s mulder!!! she admits that it is an x file, which prompts him to sound worried. “what happened?”

mulder says that fellig is 149! under the name henry strand, someone applied for a press license way back in the day, and henry’s prints match fellig’s!! and before henry, there is an L.H. rice who was born in 1849 and has the same fingerprints!!

how did he track the fingerprints down… get mulder out of this office and into a research lab, maybe!

“i’m not good at math, but i figure that’s a whole lot of candles on the cake”

! MULDER LORE REVEAL ! he doesn’t think he’s good at math!!!

man, i haven’t gotten to do a lore reveal text format like that in a while. that felt nice.

scully finds fellig's age hard to believe, but mulder says she should find him before he vanishes again. she turns up at his apartment and looks so scary, LMAO. 

but she warns him that he will be arrested in 2 hours and charged with murder. which makes her seem to be the the good guy here, and not as scary as her angry face would suggest.

fellig says he just takes the pictures, but she hits him with “what you showed me was a contemptible lack of compassion for another human being. you showed me that you profit off of people’s deaths” <- OHHHH, GET HIM!! that strong moral code kicks in again!

“now, why shouldn’t you go to prison?” <- oooo, she’s playing hardball. but he says they’re lucky!!! and he doesn’t take them, “he” does. girl, who the hell is "he"?

fellig must be jealous that these other people can die… 

scully follows him into his darkroom. i feel such fondness for her as she moves the curtain. 

he points to someone in the photograph and says “he’s the one who takes them” BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! 

it’s a glimpse of death itself. he’s trying to photograph death!!!

“mr. fellig, i know you know more about photography than i do, but this is just a lens flare” “you’re right, i do know more about photography than you” <- LMAO, okay, that did make me laugh.

she asks him why take a picture of death, and he says he wants to look into his face so he can die. nothing will kill him. he's tried it all.

hey man, i’m unfortunately really distracted by the terrible feelings of tenderness that scully has sparked in me right at this very moment. yeah, idk. i don’t really want to focus on this guy right now. it’s very sad, genuinely, but look at her face. 

he says he doesn’t want to be here, and he got left behind. 

“you know, i don’t believe you” “yes you do. that’s why you’re here” <- OHHHH, he called her out…. the cracks in her disbeliever facade keep growing… is it that she doesn’t believe him, or that her greater commitment to needing to know the truth and therefore do the morally correct thing in handling this murder case brought her here?? can they be separated???

she flips through his photos, touching one of a young flapper. she asks how he knows when they’ll die, and he says he knows.

scully has to step outside. and she calls mulder, asking if louis brady (name on the flapper photo) was also one of fellig's names. he says no, but there is a big gap before 1939, so it could be.

but somehow, fellig disappeared!!! just kidding, he’s back. he wanted to get his film. i thought he vanished for a few seconds there.

mulder is in the FBI archives at 9:30 am. ahhh, i wish i could go there. and he finds fellig’s photo!! it shows him wanted under the name louis brady for double murder!!!

mulder calls ritter when he learns of this news, because he cannot get ahold of her. he tells him about how fellig killed two patients and walked away!!! he tells him to find agent scully NOW. and ritter, of course, is shocked that this murder happened like 80 years ago, but whatever. you better go check on her, ritter.

meanwhile, scully is still with fellig. she asks “how can you have too much life? there’s too much to learn, to experience” and this hits hard because she, of course, was very recently dying.

(moaning in pain as i think about scully wanting to experience and learn everything there is this world has to offer.......)

he says you start to wonder what everyone else gets to know

OH, SHE ASKS ABOUT LOVE??? he wanted to look up his wife 40 years ago. and he couldn’t remember her name. 

(scully, you damn romantic...)

“love lasts 75 years, if you’re lucky. and you don’t want to be around when it’s gone” <- oh stop… you’re going to make her cry…

but, is he actually going to try and kill her…..?

WAIT! she turned black and white… and tells her to count her blessings.

IS HE GOING TO KILL HER BECAUSE HE WANTS TO HELP HER???

(author's note: no)

she wants to know how to prove his thing- that he can live forever, and that he can sense when people are going to die before they do. fellig says someone took his place. he had yellow fever. and he’s getting his camera around…

he saw death back when he was sick. and he saw him dancing around the room, taking people. but death didn’t take him. 

a nurse sat with him, and when death came, he looked away. she looked at him instead. and the fever broke, and she was the one that died. 

he tells her she’s very lucky. she gets in his face and insists she is NOT going to die. she tells him to turn it off. he took her phone!!!

he says death is coming and he needs to make her peace…. 

but it’s ritter!!!! he fires his gun at fellig!!!

SHE COLLAPSES???? WHY IS SHE BLEEDING??????? there is blood coming from her throat???? did ritter miss and shoot her instead???

fellig tries to take a photo of her with his other camera, and asks if she sees "him". he says don’t look, close your eyes. and he holds her hand in his. AND HE LOOKS INTO DEATH INSTEAD. and he gasps softly…. oh my god…. he finally dies.

scully is in bed in the hospital a week later. mulder is waiting, telling ritter he’s a lucky man. which is better than i expected.

OH, he grabs her hand. and he sits on her bed. and he smiles, saying her doctor says she is making an amazing recovery. but she seems so sad, and in so much pain

he says “death only looks for you once you seek its opposite” <- OHHHH my god…

and we fade to black.

so i rewatched the scene where scully gets hurt because at first i couldn't tell what was happening, and this DUMBASS ritter shot fellig, and the bullet went STRAIGHT THROUGH HIM and INTO SCULLY???? like. what the HELL WAS HE THINKING????

holy fuck, if i were mulder i would have done a lot more than tell him he was a lucky guy. look at her enduring ritter's presence while she’s in her hospital bed and he was such an awful person the whole time they worked together. i would have told him to fuck off and let me recover from the bullet YOU put in me in peace.

and mulder grabbing her hand. and the flowers in her room. and his smile at her news. but she’s so sad. people don’t live forever. 

she wants to live, and she wants to have a life, and holy HELL need to lay down.

oh my god… this episode was super dark. and usually i don’t really like the dark ones. but it has scully, so i liked it better. because we got to contemplate her worldview. 

and she wants to LIVE. she wants a LIFE. she wants LOVE. the way she got in fellig’s face and REFUSED to let him take her picture… the way she tried to understand how he could be jealous of death, because she always wants to understand and to learn and empathize… the way she helped fellig, and fellig helped her by telling her to look away from death, so he could look instead… oh my god.

we need to do something about this ritter guy. hopefully, he will simply be fired. you can’t go around shooting your own agents. OH! and the way he didn’t care about justice at all- how he got the warrant because he knew the judge, and he told scully that if she got in his way he’d go to kersh… and how she told him her name is SCULLY and this conversation is OVER…

oh!!!

and mulder helping over the phone; mulder using her sleuthing skills to find out that fellig WAS a murderer and she WAS in danger, and he called ritter immediately and said you had BEST find her. and i can only imagine how he went to bed that night thinking of all the ways he wanted to kill ritter. how he sat by his phone for her. bouncing his basketball until the hospital sent him word of her recovery. 

now, i’m still puzzled as to why he has access to kersh’s files. perhaps this is some sort of clue. but to what? i cannot say.

i just love scully SO MUCH. she saw that the woman on the side of the road was going to die, and she stepped right in and did everything she could, even if it was ultimately doomed. she couldn’t sit back. and she wants a life. she’s in love and she wants a life and she wants a house and a dog. and to save people. and to do work that is satisfying. and all of these things she has been denied.

(screams into my hands)

she’s been slowly starting to believe- maybe not in the traditional sense, but in the sense that she recognizes something she cannot understand is afoot, and she finds herself curious about how and why. i found it very interesting that fellig called her out for this and gibson did as well. and we know that gibson can read minds, so we know it to be true. i don’t think “believes” in the same use of the word that mulder does, but she is finding it harder to compartmentalize, maybe. and can you blame her? i mean, she is miss "there HAS to be a scientific explanation for this". belief not in the supernatural sense, but in the sense that there is so much more to learn and understand and experience. be it love and life or the guy who lives forever and can somehow sense death. maybe the spiritual and the scientific aren't that separate.

god. this really was a scully episode, and i am so grateful. i deserved this. even though it wasn’t one where she laughs and enjoys the gift of being alive, we still got to dive into her thoughts and emotional state. AND we got bonus angsty mulder- angst about them being separated, and angst about nearly losing her. is this not the ultimate kind of mulder angst? 

i shall go to bed a bit sad this evening, but content. 

as i edit my notes to make them readable the day after watching this, there is still so much on my mind. in the sense that i want to write a thinkpiece on what this means for scully's character. maybe this will be a turning point, when she once again confronts her own mortality. how easily death can come. maybe she'll tell him how she feels because she realizes that now is all she has. maybe she'll confront kersh and tell him to get them off of their nonsense assignment so she can go back to saving people. maybe she'll think about all of the times she felt so certain that she was going to die in the past and once again try and make a meaning for why she didn't.

i am also thinking about how sad mulder was when kersh separated them and then how horrible he must have felt when he heard that she was SHOT in his absence. and there was nothing that he could do for a week while he could only wait to hear if she was okay. and then he drove up there as soon as he could. and he KNEW that it was ritter's fault she was lying in that bed fighting for her life, but he somehow managed to say only how lucky he was instead of slamming his head through the drywall. and how he held her hand, smiling, so happy to see her, taking his spot on her bed, thinking of how he loves her and how many times her has nearly lost her. and her thinking the same thing. and neither of them saying anything. just touching.

the feelings i am experiencing are large and difficult to put into words, which is frustrating because, like AUGH! (gestures wildly) do you get what i mean?! do you SEE what i am saying?!?! (grabs your shoulders and shakes them vigorously)

please share your thoughts with me, especially if you are a scully girl like myself. to me, this felt sort of like scully's version of paper hearts, in a way. at least, i see some parallels. even if i cannot elaborate at this time because my brain is flopping.

[weregonnabecoolbeans]

I am so happy with how this week’s episode went down.

I’ve been so worried that the point of the show was just going to end up being: Sometimes the Jedi are the Bad Guys and maybe the villains have a point! or The witches were Evil and Deserved to be killed!!

Because those would be such boring stories to tell.

We all know the jedi have flaws and that they make mistakes. We don’t need a show to use that as some dramatic reveal. I wouldn’t enjoy star wars as a franchise if the jedi were perfect.

The idea of their innate goodness being exploited and manipulated and used against them has always been really interesting to me. I’ve always believed the jedi as a whole are good and that the problems come from individuals.

That could mean individual jedi who struggle with what being a jedi requires. (Anakin and Sol with their clear struggles with attachment) Jedi who have experienced certain trauma that inevitably affects their decisions. (Anakin, Barriss, Reva, and so many more) Or those who shouldn’t’ve been jedi in the first place (pong krell🤬)

It also means basically anyone else who believes and/or has gone through similar things. (the martez sisters blaming the jedi for their parent’s death, the people of the republic who believed the jedi were responsible for the war etc.)

And of course there are the actual villains who intentionally cause problems.

These things are all unavoidable and thats what makes star wars so compelling to me. The fall of the jedi was the result of Palpatine amplifying these factors to bring forth something that was always going to happen and that nobody could stop.

On the other side, I am so relieved that the witches weren’t revealed as the true villains or something because that would’ve also been so boring, and also kinda dumb.

Introducing this beautiful group of women with their own unique history, culture, and way of using the force…only to turn around and be like

Ha ha nope! The jedi are the only good guys and everyone else is evil!

Yeah I would’ve hated that.

I feel like this episode did a really good job at showing that what happened was a combination of everyone’s fears, biases, and hubris clashing in the worst way imaginable.

Neither the Jedi as a whole, nor the witches were 100% responsible.

The council told the jedi to leave the witches alone but they didn’t listen. The order cannot be blamed only those who were apart of that mission.

You can blame either side for their choices but both sides had their reasons and both sides were neither right nor wrong.

Sol was wrong to prioritize attachment to osha over following orders. But he was right to want what was best for her.

Torbin was wrong to run back and infiltrate their home. But he was made to believe it would mean completing his mission.

Mae was wrong to lock the place down and start a fire. But she just wanted her sister to stay.

Koril was wrong to go straight to violence. But she wanted to keep her children, and her past has led her not to trust.

I could go on and on but I’m getting too lazy to type more.

Basically what I’m saying is I am happy that the show didn’t chose to be fully anti jedi.

And I am happy that the show didn’t introduce a badass GORGEOUS black lesbian witch as the ruler of this coven only to make her a villain for loving her children

[atopvisenyashill]

do you think jon will have a dark turn? i think about what the meereenese blot guy said about him stopping caring about innocent people dying and wonder...

i think basically everyone is going to take a "dark" turn in the winds of winter to be honest - which is why its called the winds of winter. i think basically every single character we get a pov from is going to meet their moral event horizon, and either blink or keep pushing. more than the books previous, i think we'll really get a sorting here of who is on the right (if not livable) path and who is on the path of destruction.

but what does jon's dark turn look like? well first of all, i think his leaving the night's watch is going to be significantly more controversial than it was in the show. it's not going to just be dolorous edd mentioning his vows in a single scene, it's going to be a whole big issue because i don't think the "well he did technically die" excuse is going to go over well. especially if he deserts, as i suspect he will, to help crown one of his siblings - when you look at it from an outsiders' pov it looks really bad that he's deserting to immediately go play politics. and the thing here is that jon does love his brothers in black, as much as he loves his blood cousins siblings. he thinks to himself that the night's watch was much more of a home than winterfell ever was to him because of how much of an outsider he felt like due to being a bastard and i think some of that is him coping but some of that is very true. at the wall, jon can make a name for himself without too much stink over being baseborn, something that is all but impossible outside of the watch. he does love sam as much as he loves robb, bran, arya, sansa, and rickon, and i would posit he loves ed, grenn, pyp, aemon, and jeor just as much as well, and likely feels a similar sort of fondness for cotter pyke, denys mallister, and the rest of the old guard as he did for people like jory, rodrik, luwin, mikken, etc. they are in his heart and he cannot abandon them anymore than he can abandon his siblings.

but he'll try! just like he tried to abandon his identity as a stark bastard, he will (imo) throw himself into being a stark bastard when he wakes and abandon his identity as a man of the night's watch. i've seen a lot of takes about how he will be ruthlessly engaging in a campaign claim winterfell to fight the Others and I think that comes from the right place but it has it the other way around - in an echo of osha's warning about "marching the wrong way" I think Jon is going to more or less abandon his fears of the others in favor of helping his siblings reclaim Winterfell, and he's going to be very ruthless in trying to crown them. sort of like a brynden/aegor/brandon snow parallel here, of a bastard sibling ready to take on the "necessary" violence to get their true born sibling the crown.

but as this is happening, there will be several factions that grow around the starklings - sansa and the valemen, rickon and the manderlys, arya and the brotherhood....and jon and the wildlings. i don't think he's going to accept a crown from them but i do think they are going to offer it continuously and look to him as their king in truth if not in name. It's noteworthy to me that the wildlings have yet to coalesce around another King Beyond the Wall; some have flocked to mother mole, and Jon thinks that they would flock to Tormund but that's only because he himself likes Tormund and would follow him. I think in conversation with Mance as King, Mance who was a kneeler who came over and proclaimed himself King to save the wildlings, the wildlings will proclaim this former kneeler as their king to save themselves over Jon's wishes - but since when do the wildlings care about shit like that lol. And that gets into the other way I think Jon is going to be more ruthless and dark; I think he's going to use the wildlings as canon fodder for a hot minute. Eventually he will come to accept his role within the wildling community - whatever that may look like - but in the winds of winter, I imagine it's going to be uncomfortably bleak as they stalk him across the North and he feeds them into the frontlines to protect his siblings without a care for the damage he's doing to them.

So yes there's a lot of room for darkness in his character! But rather than becoming militant about the Others, I think it's going to be because he rejects the threat of the Others, and starts focusing on getting his siblings a crown, to the detriment of the Watch and the wildlings.

[greyjoy-girl]

Salt and Snow: Part VIII

Summary: After Balon Greyjoy's uprising fails, a young Theon Greyjoy is taken to Winterfell as a ward and hostage. Within the castle's looming stone walls, he meets Lord Stark's bastard daughter, a sharp-eyed girl who seems to look straight through him. As the years pass, their shared loneliness transforms their childhood rivalry into a complicated bond forged from shared loneliness and feelings of isolation. As tensions rise in Westeros, war breaks out and Theon is pulled between Pyke and Winterfell, testing the strength of their bond.

Pairing: Theon Greyjoy x Snow! Reader

Warnings: Brief descriptions of battlefield violence, execution

Length: 2k words

Notes: Still staying mostly in line with canon for now, probably will begin to change things soon (I cannot deal with the Reek stuff those chapters make me so sad, I cannot imagine writing them)

Masterlist

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━─━────༺Part VIII༻────━─━

299 AC—Late Winter, Winterfell

The ravens come less often now. You feed them anyway, scraps of gristle, oats, whatever’s left over at the end of meals, just in case. No news comes. You’re desperate for word from somewhere, anywhere. Anything would be better than the stillness.

Winterfell isn’t empty, not really, though it certainly is the most abandoned you’ve ever seen it. Servants still scrub the hearths, boys train in the yard under Rodrik’s watch, clothes hang on lines to dry. Bran sits in the high seat now, his crippled legs to small, hanging there, unmoving. Rickon grows wilder by the day, his moods as flighty as the wind.

You tend to Bran most mornings, read letters for Luwin when they give him headaches, keep Rickon out of trouble. He’d bit your arm the other day, pretending to be a wolf, he’d even drawn blood, wouldn’t stop growling until you called him Shaggydog. At night, Rickon crawls into bed with Bran and listens to Old Nan as she tells stories of the Others, dead things beyond the wall. You don’t like the stories, don’t understand why Bran insists on hearing them, so you use it as an excuse to return to your chambers.

Osha watches you sometimes. She’s still got the chain around her ankles, and you don’t quite trust her yet. You don’t like the way her piercing eyes seem to wait for you to snap.

“You’re not what I expected,” she said one day as you pulled nettles from the Glass Garden. “For a noble girl.”

“I’m not noble.”

She smiled, showing her teeth. “That’s what I mean.”

The smallfolk come to you more now. With Robb, Sansa, and Arya gone, the only real Starks left in Winterfell are children. Now, they treat you like a member of the Stark household, regardless of your origin. You help patch torn clothes, rock crying babes while their mothers are busy in the kitchen, tend to the livestock.

Sometimes, when no one’s paying attention and you find a free moment, you walk in the Godswood and stare at the heart tree. It stares back. You ask the gods to tell you something, give you a sign, but they’re as silent as the ravens.

You still think of Theon. More than you like. Less than he deserves, maybe.

You’re under no delusions about him. You’re certain he’s lying with another girl while you sit in Winterfell, wondering. He’d be stupid to miss you as much as you miss him.

You don’t send him any ravens. They aren’t meant to carry messages that don’t have answers.

═══════════════

299 AC—Late Winter, Camp on the Banks of the Green Fork

         The camp stinks of sweat, smoke, and damp wool. Rain had poured down a week ago, leaving everything soaked through. Even now, days later, the ground still squelches under boots and every time a wind comes through, piss and mildew assault Theon’s nose. He sits by the fire, picking at a skewer of roasted—burned, more like—meat. It’s weeks since he’s had a proper meal, not since he left Winterfell.

Still, his place at the fire was near center, not on the outskirts with the bannermen’s squires or the men-at-arms. Right by Robb, his tent pitched close, his name called when they met to discuss plans.

That counted for something, didn’t it?

Besides, he’d earned it. Ridden through mud at the boy’s side, supported him even when the lords doubted him. He’d watch him raise his sword in battle for the first time, bringing it down and cleanly slicing through the shoulder of a man twice his age. He’d watched as Robb grew from a posturing child into a half-decent commander. For all Robb’s victories, Theon Greyjoy was there at his side.

It should have filled him with pride. And it did, mostly. Except for that place deep inside him, where his father’s voice echoes, screaming at him where he’s from, how the Starks killed his brothers, took him from his home. He ignores it, when he can, focuses on the pride sitting uncomfortably in his gut, like a meal that’s just a bit off. He sits up straighter around the lords, speaks louder, holds his reins tighter when he rides. He’s got to keep hold onto the pride.

He hates how much he cares. He hates when he thinks of Winterfell. Of her.

There are girls in the camp. Washerwomen, they call them. Camp followers. Whores, more like. Men would take one of them by the arm, stumble into a tent, and walk out, smiling wide. Theon had done it too, a few times. More than a few times. It’s be easy, no names, no emotions, no promises.

But every time, he’d close his eyes, imagine it was her in his arms instead—her furrowed brows when furrow when he got under her skin, how her flushed cheeks in the cold, the way her lips looked, tasted—and every time, he’d push the thought away. Out. No place here, not when he’s two hundred leagues away. He shouldn’t think about her here, amidst the rot, the blood in the grass, ash in the wind. So he doesn’t.

That night, Theon goes with a washerwoman. Towheaded with fast hands, quick to laugh but never letting it reach her eyes. Leaning against a cart, she’d smiled at him as he passed, shawl wrapped loosely around her shoulders, leaving a window of flesh he knows he shouldn’t look at. “Can I help you, my prince?” she’d asked, voice low and coy. He could’ve walked on, could’ve sneered and acted above everything. But he doesn’t.

He wants warmth. Temporary warmth is better than sitting in the soggy dirt, thinking about things he can’t have. Warmth for silver sounds like a fair trade to him. He takes what was offered.

His tent was cold and smelled of damp leather. She was well-practiced, efficient. Touched him like she’d been trained for it. And he let it happen, closed his eyes and tried to pretend it was her, but no matter how hard he tries, he can’t. And he feels all the worse for trying. When it’s done, she rolls away and leaves him alone, breathing heavy and sweat sticking to his skin.

He stares at a spot on the black fabric near the top of the structure, clenching his jaw. He feels nothing. Hollow. That’s what he tells himself, at least.

It’s easier that way.

═══════════════

299 AC—Late Winter, Winterfell

         The raven comes at first light.

You’d been unable to sleep, decided to tidy the woodpiles in the yard when you heard it. You run towards the rookery, watch it land in the roost, its black wings slowing to a stop. You can feel your stomach drop. Ravens don’t come this early unless they carry something cruel.

Maester Luwin descends from the tower, gripping a scroll tightly in his hands, his arm still bandaged from Shaggydog’s attack in the Crypts. You follow him to the Great Hall, looking at the black wax seal the whole way.

Rickon and Bran are already there, accompanied by Osha and Hodor. Shaggydog growls endlessly but no one stops him.

Luwin clears his throat and reads the letter aloud.

“The traitor Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, was executed at the Great Sept of Baelor on the orders of King Joffrey Baratheon, First of His Name.”

The words echo in your ears. Luwin keeps speaking, but you don’t hear it. Bran starts yelling something, Rickon runs off somewhere, you can hear your heartbeat pounding in your ears.

You don’t cry. Not yet. You just walk out of the hall, stand in the shadows of the walls, your head light.

It’s your fault, you think. You’d wished for ravens. For news. You hadn’t said what kind of news you wanted. You didn’t realize you should’ve. And now, everything is ruined. You’re silent for the rest of the day.

When you bring Bran willowbark tea for his headache, you don’t say Lord Stark’s name. You’re not sure you have the right to. He had been your father, everyone knew that. But he hadn’t been your Father, the way he was for Bran. He’d never comforted you when you fought like he did for Sansa and Arya, never trained you in lordly duties like Robb, never lifted you on his shoulders like Rickon. To you, he was just a presence, like a northern wind, cold, distant, and constant.

Still, the grief was there. A strange dull knife pressing against your ribs. You don’t know what to do with it. So you work.

You keep yourself busy, rubbing wet clothes over a washboard until your hands are raw, pounding herbs into fine pastes, sweeping in corners of kitchens where no one will know to find you. Inventory the food stores, patch the bed linens, organize supplies for the holdfasts, promise frightened children things will be ok. You don’t know if it’s true. You’re not sure you believe it yourself.

Maybe if you keep saying it, it’ll be true. But for now, you distract yourself, focus on the present, on what you can do here. You don’t have time to think about things that hurt.

═══════════════

299 AC—Late Winter, Riverrun

The torchlight flickers in Riverrun’s great hall, casting dancing shadows. Smoke hangs in the air, mixing with the scent of ale and food long gone cold. Theon leans on a pillar near Robb’s seat. Not quite beside him, not equal, but close enough. Close enough to matter.

Robb’s changed. Sits straighter, talks in a deep voice like his father once had. Hasn’t smiled since they got the news. The boy he’d grown up with was gone, replaced by a battle-hardened commander, sword slick with blood. Theon had helped make that happen.

He’d been there, seen Jaime Lannister’s face when he’d realized he’d fallen into a trap, the way his golden smirk fell. He’d watched the lion struggle in his cage, glory crumbling before the Stark and Tully armies. The songs would say Robb had outwitted him, and maybe it was true.

But they wouldn’t mention Theon. They wouldn’t sing about the arrows he’d loose, how he’d ridden by Robb’s side, the man he’d gutted in the mud.

They’d only remember Robb. Still. He had been a part of it, and that had to count for something.

The Greatjon interrupts his thoughts. “Your Grace,” he calls, voice thundering and full of heat. “We’ve bent the knee before. To the Targaryens. But it was the dragons we submitted to , and the dragons are dead.”

Murmurs spread across the hall, hushed agreements and conversations. The air is electric with anticipation.

“We let them rule over us from their flowery seats in the South,” he continues. “With their new gods. But no more. I don’t know the Lannisters. I don’t know the Baratheons. But I do know the North. I know Stark blood. And I know the boy who won this war.” He slams his fist into the table, his stein spilling onto the ground.

“The King in the North!” he yells, pointing his massive sword towards Robb.

One by one, the other lords follow. Lord Karstark, then Umber. Glover, Mormont, Blackwood, even the river lords. They chant, “King in the North,” a disorganized chorus filled with hope and pride.

Theon’s throat is dry. He’s seen what happens to lords who declare themselves kings. He’s seen what it did to his family.

Robb stands, the light catching his face and setting his auburn hair aflame. He nods, once, and the cries grow louder.

Theon joins in a beat too late. Just enough to be noticed. He doesn’t look at Catleyn Stark, not wanting to see the suspicion and grief in her face.

Later, when the hall empties, Theon steps outside for air. He looks up at the sky, a strange red comet streaking through the black. A flaming arrow. A bloody sword. The men call it an omen, saying it’s welcoming the King in the North.

 He stares at it for a long time. Who cares what they call it. Let them hail Robb. Let them kneel, and fight for him, and beat their fists for Northern pride. Theon had fought beside him too, bled beside him, killed for him.

If there’s glory to be had, it’s his too. Greyjoy or not. He smiles his crooked smile, always smiling, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. Let them have their kings. He knows what he’s worth. And someday, they would too.

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[darklinaforever]

Me pressing the block button soon as I see someone saying that Ben is always gaslighting and manipulating Rey in their interactions, infiltrating her head / mind to play with her insecurities and mold her into his perfect companion.

Seriously, wtf ?

And I had to come across this in the tag dedicated to Oshamir... (with obviously the mention of the fact that it is easier to ship Oshamir than Reylo, because Oshamir unlike Reylo does not contain these things...)

It's so paradoxical to me that Oshamir shippers don't like Reylo and can say such stupid shit about Ben's character who literally doesn't do any of that ?

Kylo Ben is very bad at manipulation and is an open book in terms of emotion, and even when he succeeds in fooling Snoke, we clearly see in his face the moment when Snoke is sentenced to death after he has caused suffering to Rey.

This is also why he wears a mask, to hide his emotions that he cannot hide.

He also simply has trouble expressing himself properly (not very social, the guy) and is brutally honest with Rey, hence the fact that he says things that she doesn't like but which are no less true and being things that Rey actually needs to hear in order to move forward.

How can we twist the Reylo relationship to this extent ?!

And then, Kylo Ben is not trying to mold Rey into his perfect companion, she already is. They are two who become one.

It's a fact.

If it's because he's trying to get her to join him on the dark side, I guess you also think that Rey is trying to mold Kylo Ben as her ideal companion by bringing him back to the light ?

You have to stop the bullshit after a while.

Especially if that's it, well Qimir is also trying to get Osha to join his side, so wtf is the argument ?

And if it's not based on that, well when would Kylo try to mold Rey into his perfect companion because these kinds of scenes objectively simply don't exist.

[dapurinthos]

also i had to stop the episode and write a mini-essay on that scene

qimir deliberately being nude when osha confronts him is a fantastic power-play. the power dynamics of clothed person vs nude person. given the ease with which he later knows what she’s thinking while not actually ‘reading’ her mind, you cannot convince me that he didn’t know she was there, following him. western society sees the clothed person as less vulnerable, as protected, because they have something between their skin and the world. we’re taught that a nude body is not a neutral one. it’s something that needs to be hidden, covered up, unless in special circumstances. art. medicine. sex.

(‘everything is about sex, except sex; sex is about power.’ a quote often attributed to oscar wilde, usually with regard to the picture of dorian grey. it’s way too freudian to actually have been said by him. this particular wording of the concept is actually from a communication from robert michels to robert alan glick, recorded in constructing and deconstructing woman’s power, published in 2002. it’s also shows up as ‘[…] is about aggression’ in a couple of other places as a definitely freudian phrase.)

the nude body has a power that the clothed one does not. it’s abjection. it’s a taboo element of the self. it disturbs the ‘proper’ order of the body ('proper' meaning that it must be clothed), and resides in a strange, liminal state reinforced by the concept of sentient persons (human beings, in the regular conversation, but this is star wars so it’s not just humans) as different from animals, which are nude all the time. the abject is a part of us that we exclude, and nudity is excluded from ‘polite’ society while being real—the pre-lingual in kristeva's work on abjection, pre-social in an anthropological sense, shoring up the binary of civilised/uncivilised in lévi-strauss’s structuralism where one of the pair is definitively favoured over the other (which led us to post-structuralism because this inequality is laden with pre- and misconceptions).

‘if you’re not going to join me, i’d like to put my clothes back on.’ there it is, performing nudity as weakness, as a test of osha’s character. good job, leslye headland and jocelyn bioh.

[nsfwitchy2]

Yknow what I’m gonna take this moment specifically to remind everyone that progress takes fucking work. It is long and it is slow and it takes fucking work - but it IS possible.

And trust me I know in this day and age everything is instantaneous - so we want progress to be too. That’s why we have people saying, “Bookers filibuster didn’t do anything” “this was so performative” - because we want instant change. We just want Trump to be gone, out, and we want this to happen NOW. But we are also, at the same time, seeing attempts at instant change and it fucking SUCKS. That’s why we NEED checks and balances, so people like Trump don’t fucking kill everyone. Thats actually WHY Trump hasn’t killed everyone, because people are stopping him.

But that’s also why progress takes so long, and why we have to keep fighting. It’s why we can’t be defeatist.

Like if I have learned anything in my adult life so far it’s that change is slow and takes fucking work. You have to put in the work, or nothing will happen. You can want things to change till the cows come home but it won’t matter if nobody tries.

Just, all I can think of is how many shitty jobs I’ve had where I’ve asked my coworkers if anybody’s made any reports to ANYONE - HR, OSHA, NLB - and they’ll say one person did it one time, but nothing happened so they never bothered again. Except, they need a paper trail. And that’s good - nobody should have their life ruined over one complaint - but if nobody ever complains again, how are they to know the issue is still going on? How are they to know it’s even a real issue? They need a paper trail to follow - and if nobody ever tries to change anything again because there wasn’t an INSTANT result, then no change will happen at all.

I am holding your hands. I am looking you in the eyes. You have to try. You have to be a nuisance. Change takes fucking work, and it is slow and it is exhausting and annoying. It’s fair to wanna critique these systems and point out how they could be more efficient, but you cannot give up entirely. You cannot just sit down and take it. Nobody is coming to save us, there is no hero coming in to firebomb the White House. There’s just a bunch of people doing what they can and trying their best.

[the-maddened-hatter]

Low-key cannot stop replaying a kind of weird interaction I had with a genetic counselor at one point when I got tested to see if I had any known syndromes due to having one bigger weird medical thing and a lot of smaller medical things and technology advancing since I was born.

(turns out I do have some slight mutations bc my parents both have the same but slightly mutated gene, but with slight variations as to how on each one, and the big weird medical thing was apparently just a random biological fuck you)

But that's not really the part that's weird, what I found weird was when she began reading the results she was like "Ok, so you're female you're definitely female. Definitely female..." And it's just like.

Ok, like I mean yes I was curious because I'd read some people can be intersex and have no idea because they never have any reason to find out, and I certainly can't say I was shocked to find out I'm a perisex AFAB, like yeah that pretty much tracks with everything that has ever occurred, but like why are you telling me three times????

You don't know I'm in any way weirdly gendered, like yeah I had a breast reduction since the last time you saw me but I would have had to do that anyway even if I was cis, I'm not even 5 feet tall ffs, those things were not OSHA approved.

She seemed nice and liked me fine from what I could tell so I don't think it was to try and "make the queer cry", and even if she wasn't I'm very not out so it's not like she would know, maybe she though I was "worried" about potentially "secretly not really being a girl" or something???

Like I totally get telling me what you see on your paper, and it's really not going to bother me on any of those facets I'm ok with who and what I am, but like what bothers me because it was weird is why did you tell me 3 times???? Back to back to back?????

[science-bastard]

the venn diagram of things that make a mad scientist lab sexy and things that OSHA would have a field day with is a circle. however, this cannot and will not stop me because my dedication to erotic and sensual laboratories does not stop.