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icharchivist · 5 years

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Lol, nothing to be ashamed of. Lavi's reaction to his relationships is one of the most fascinating parts about his character. I too wonder what his reaction will be post Noah abduction. Is Lavi the type to get that angry/vengeful for himself or just for someone else? It's possible if it was just him he could bury his feelings better and rationalize it's war and the Noah don't play nice. But Bookman is involved too. If something bad happened to Bookman because of the Noah would Lavi get furious-

2 enough to act irrational (for a bookman)? Afterall losing Bookman would also make Lavi the new Bookman (considering all the secrets he doesn’t know. I think Lavi would feel wholly unprepared for the new title).

we’ll do this by parts because there’s a lot to get through (with love nonny, this is fantastic and now i have a lot of Lavi’s feels thank u) So let’s start there.

But this is a good question and the question i’m wondering as well. And Bookman remains someone important for Lavi, emotionally and in term of rank, in term of what it means for him. The death of Bookman could bring anger, but would that anger be affection based? Would it also be fueled by the crushing duty on his shoulder? The crushing pain they both went through? Would Lavi consider his own pain or only the old man’s? There’s.. so many questions and i guess we just have to wait and see. I trust Lavi’s heart is too talkative for his own good, but it depends how much he decides to dedicate himself to his Bookman part once he has no other choice.

AND I’m gonna put the rest under read more because MAN this is fascinating and it has a lot of asks and Get In For the Lavi Suffering Train my friends!

(if you’re on mobile and the readmore doesn’t work blacklist #long post for ts, or #readmoreundercut to reduce this post, it got very long)

But yeah, there’s no use in comparing one reaction to another in terms of loss. All of them speak to how Lavi views them. From what I’ve observed Lavi hates seeing the volition of his friends violated. He hated how scared Leverrier made her when forcing her to act. He hated Tyki for -

3 trying to kill Allen and taking his future as a exorcist away since he knows how important that is to Allen. He didn’t calm down in both cases until Lenalee made her own choice and Tyki confirmed Allen was alive and coming. He also acts very post close death of someone. W/Lenalee he started to pay more attention to the depth of her feelings and comfort her (before he either kept distant or yelled at her). W/Allen he contemplated his own heart and acted more clingly. Both cases he got more - 4 more protective.

ooh this is a very, very good point! And even if it’s no surprise it really puts to word how that “bookman got no heart” thing is bullshit. If at least the Tyki’s overreaction was due to the grief and loss (which would be understandable as you say further in, not being as convinced of Allen’s survival) the one for Lenalee and Lveille was entierely on how Lveille was emotionally abusing Lenalee- something that is less “obvious” than litterally killing (geez i wonder how “I’m so heartles” Lavi managed to get pissed at an entierely emotionally based conflict) (is making fun of Lavi’s lack of heartlessness getting old yet? Bc I still will use that against him).

And you’re also right that there was a real change of action from Lavi the moment he feared he lost them. He was emotionally and physically more available to either of them- and since the most of it was when Bookman wasnt looking, it’s not really a wonder that Bookman made sure Lavi kept his distances when the destruction of the Order ended. Tbh it makes sense Lavi took his distances storywise when he did

(and it’s only the hiatuses that makes it very agonizing- and i mean it in general because even the pacing of the story had to change when Hoshino went to monthly with the Alma arc and to the current pacing. I remember that she mentioned having wanted to make a 3rd Exorcist centric arc before the Alma Arc but her health was running thin when she went on Monthly so she jumped on the Alma’s arc that was more important for her to tell. That’s why also she found the loophole to get the Thirds to be mindcontrolled by the Earl now and giving Link this side arc focusing on how he’s worried for them in recent arcs. I’m kinda sad we never got to see what that “Third Plotline” would have originally looked like, but i’m kinda curious how she’ll rework it. (tbh I feel like originally there was going to be an arc with more actions of the Third gradually getting the Noah’s interests rather than just their intervention in Paris and unseen missions. An arc to realy set in motion how the Noah came to the conclusions we see them get by the Alma arc. So like, kept the reasoning we got offscreen and keeping the thematic and lore/characters development for a future arc with another plot).Point is, it is possible there were more Lavi’s development planned after the Paris arc that had to be scrapped with the Alma arc was moved forward. (i also think there was a bonus around the Paris’s arc of Lavi mentioning coming back in the plot soon so if i’m not wrong, it strengthen my belief there). Considering also the focus on Lavi and Bookman following the news at that time, it’s possible it wasn’t directly planned to jump into what became of their storylines. Imo i wonder if the political aspect didn’t have to take a major backseat as well. I mean before the Alma arc we were learning about how the Noah (esp Sheryl with his political situation) were manifacturing wars to create the sorrow needed for the Akuma, and we see especially Lavi and Bookman read about it and more seriously mention it. I wonder if that was the set up to something that had to be pushed away considering how Sheryl becomes proheminant in the next arcs not for his political ties (like he was introduced) but for his sadism. THAT SAID it’s also interesting Sheryl’s introduction was directly commented on by LAVI AND BOOKMAN, which imo emphasis even more how much Sheryl was supposed to affect their storylines. It still works with the torture plot though. AND MAN THAT WAS A LONG PARENTETHIS SORRY).

Erg what was i saying- ah yes, Bookman might have seen that Lavi ended up getting closer to the others the few times Bookman hadn’t been paying attention, and with the threat of the innocence taking Lavi away (which would be fun, losing one apprentice to the Noah and the second to the Innocence…), forcing Lavi to recenter on Politics and keep his distances from the others made sense. Until the Alma arc happened and then it was just bad luck. Point is, Lavi’s emotional balance changed once Bookman wasn’t there to monitor him and i think Bookman is painfully aware of that. I think it’s not even innocent Bookman sent Lavi on Bookman’s duty to record Cross and Allen’s conversation about the 14th. Forcing Lavi into his duty in regard of what was happening to Allen, forcing him to face what caused him emotions and get back to being heartless. Doubt it really worked though but i can see a reasoning there in trying to remind Lavi of his duty.

I think Lavi would get pretty angry on Kanda’s behalf. But I wonder if it’d be on the same level of the other examples? They get along better then most but we haven’t seen them that emotionally availiable to the other. Ex, like Kanda was w/Alma, Lenalee, Marie and Teidoll and now w/Johnny and Allen. when I focus more on Allen (blame Lavi not being present for any of the Kanda plot). We’ll see whenever they reunite.

It’s a good question tbh. I wonder if the “oh no i’m caring too much” trigger isn’t set on “almost dying companions” and thus Lavi wouldn’t have reacted as much for Kanda (?). I wonder if he would just have gone back too what his mindset was before going to the Order according to his Road’s memories: “Humanity just sucks.” (heavily paraphrazing but he says something similar bc he saw too many wars. Which hell, he is at his 49TH NAME FOR A 49TH RECORDED WAR AT 18, i’m terrified to do the math (bc also i’m terrified of math) but that’s enough to make you lose faith in humanity). I wonder if Lavi wouldn’t have been “Disgusted but Not Surprised”.

But I like to believe he couldn’t help but be angry still. I want to believe in Lavi’s heart there. Of how much the Order first opened his mind and is now a source of suffering. Perhaps that’s also why he had to be kept away from that plotline. Bc he would have been unpredictable.

I think I like to focus on Allen’s impact on Lavi the most -

5 because the series does (it is Allen’s story).

(lmao mood and you play on my bias there and u know it)

Lavi got attached before Allen but the novel w/Dug reveals he was still detached enough to move on (and Dug was probably his closest genuine friend at the time). It wasn’t until Lavi saw an Akuma’s soul and Allen talking Krory out of suicide that something changed in Lavi. How the heck can a kid live in hell and still be so good? Lavi probably thought he had already seen hell in countless wars but one Aluma soul made him sick like nothing before - 6 did.

This is a VERY GOOD POINT and tbh same I do think the “seeing the Akuma’s soul” was the catalyst for Lavi. Also I think it was mentioned then that “allowing others to see Akuma’s soul” only happened that one time, so between Lavi, Krory and Allen. For Allen it was his “all the time” thing, for Krory it was his very first time even comprehending what Akuma were like, ways to be scared for life.

But for Lavi it also suddenly put emotional weight on what was happening, especially when his introductions is all a bit… teasing about how Allen was relaying on said eye. The whole “can’t trust anyone” speech he tells Allen. Which is even more telling that he JUST CAME BACK from the Dug’s mission when this whole arc happened. Meaning Lavi could have been really bitter about it and become extremely cynical.

For Lavi who distances himself emotionally from people to start with, who doesn’t even trust humanity all that much, “weapons made from people who cared to the point of being carried away” would probably just emphasis more on how much he’s not supposed to care. Adding fuel on why he is to be heartless, that he cannot trust anyone. And for Allen, who’s so young, so reliant on his eye, “not knowing the horrors of eventually losing someone to an Akuma” (I doubt Lavi knew of the Mana incident back then- if he did know Allen turned Mana into an akuma due to records though I think he might have been cynical bc he just lost someone over “that stupid move” too- would take time to sink in that those feelings even happened), it would just be someone who “got it easy”. While Lavi learnt the hard way what losing a close one to an Akuma would be like (also ding ding ding we got another parallelism between Lavi and Allen I’ve never noticed before of the two of them knowing someone who got turned into an Akuma this is a bingo). (And now that i’m thinking about it funny how Allen/Lavi/Krory all had a closed one that became an Akuma and they were the one tied in that arc: they’re the three who knows what an Akuma’s looks like).

The Eliade incident was Lavi’s wakeup call that Allen wasn’t carefree, he wasn’t having it easy- he was seeing horrors and stood it with a smile, a smile as fake as Lavi’s, fellow fake smile liar. Also it may have also put into perspective how much of a hard time Allen suddenly had when he lost his eye. I also wouldn’t leave it past Lavi to have realized all the sudden that this “soul” was An Actual Person more than a poor decision. To be able to see and conceptualize the mutilated soul must have suddenly put the Dug’s situation into perspective. And if i’m not wrong- it’s that Dug called for Colette’s soul who died right? A Little girl. Seeing Eliade’s soul must have suddenly clicked in Lavi’s head of “Holy hell this is what happened to Colette”. It wasn’t a vague “ye ye tragedy creating weapon yada yada” this was knowing that inside the mutilated body of his friend, there was the mutilated soul of a little girl who didn’t ask for it. I think that definitly added to a sudden punch for Lavi because he could associate Eliade’s situation to Dug/Colette. And while this was an horrifying sight the most horrifying was to realize that Allen was used to it and this was the sort of things that haunted him and that he still carrid it on to the point of feeling SAFETY into seeing those souls. Perhaps that helped a lot understanding Allen’s compassion for the Akuma.

And exactly like you mention: All this perspective had him more curious toward Allen. Tbh the fact he was even recluent in going to save Allen when the Krory arc started and that the following arc he was in full breakdown at the thought of Allen dying shows how much this incident only had him care for Allen beyond what he expected. It wasn’t just like Dug anymore. And I truly, truly believe it’s linked to how suddenly Lavi had to face Allen’s demons and wonder how he even keeps up a smile and still give himself up for those horrors.

(I hadn’t read the manga in forever and now i want to again dear kdhkjdf)

Another was inside Roads dreamworld when Lavi was fighting deranged versions of his friends. This was always a peculiar scene to me I haven’t fully decided what it means. All of the Order/companions are attacking Lavi. Except Allen who looks totally normal and unlike the other versions, doesn’t judge Lavi. He instead comments on what Lavi has attached to and gets killed for it. Not by Lavi. But by Bookman jr. Maybe BJr knew Allen was the one person Lavi couldn’t rationalize hurting even-7 if he knew this Allen was fake? Either way it was seeing Allen’s death that broke Lavi mentally enough to get hurt and fall under Road’s control. Maybe it’s mean’t to convey Allen is put on a pedestal. Allen has seen hell but never became a part of it like Lavi’s seen so many others have (even Lenalee only cares about HER people. Nothing against her. It’s totally understandable. But Allen is different for caring about everyone). That’s why Allen would never become a ‘monster’ in Lavi’s mind? -

8 But that’s a theory.

Ooh the scene that spilled a lot of ink (ahah geddit, “are we just ink on paper for you” and the ink of the Ace of spade spilling…. Look i need to do Bookmen jokes to cope)

But yes this scene was very good and I do think it’s true. The problem though is that since it’s Road’s illusion there’s a lot to wonder about how much was Road’s (correct) assuptions about Lavi, and the fact she herself has a soft spot for Allen.

I think it’s possible Road went with Lavi getting to face everyone’s corpses accusing him for “not having feelings” to break him, and realized it didn’t work. Lavi managed to see through the illusion (if only because say, Lenalee wouldn’t have said the horrible things Fake!Lenalee says in his mind). But Road knows Allen. Road knows how sweet and gentle he can be.

And somewhat she dig enough in Lavi’s brain to… not only know, but she found out the ACE OF SPADE and that goddamn Ace… MAN. LIKE. How important was that thing for Road to manage to tear it out from Lavi’s mind on the same level as him meeing Lenalee or the dude of the Order for the first time? From all the things Road could have picked up upon, it was that Card. That Card that represented how much affection Lavi had for Allen. That Card he linked to the grief of losing Allen (which also, doesn’t it mean Loss in divination reading? also due to the fact it looks like a heart upside down, pierced?). That Card that he kept as a memory of Allen, that he had to hold on to (litterally in the same frame as Anita & Lenalee talks about Cross and Lenalee asks “Do you believe he’s still alive?” (talking about Cross there) and Anita’s answer is set ON LAVI’S WATCHING THAT DAMN CARD thinking about ALLEN while she says “Yes. This is the only thing that’s giving me strength”. The very scene that has to force Lavi toremind himself he has no need for a heart. Also known as the scene that murdered me.).

And Road? Finds out how important that card is for Lavi, and realizes that Lavi “heartless” Bookman let himself cling into that one emotional piece, that ONE THING that kept him emotional. And what does she do? Realize that it means Allen is one of the only emotional things Lavi can materialize. And therefore, she shows Allen, gentle, sweet, kind, taking up the card, thanking Lavi for holding on to it. Lavi knew he was surrounded by illusions but he was frozen upon seeing Allen thanking him. If Allen immediatly attacked him like Fake!Lenalee did, how would Lavi have reacted? Who knows. Because Road went right to the emotions Lavi left vulnerable. The one thing Lavi had looked up to questioning about his Bookman duty and had his Bookman self murder Allen. And when the card fell down, all its ink disappeared, spilled. I think even “Bookman JR” says “what are you so distressed about, it’s only ink on paper?”. Turning how this card emotioanlly impacted Lavi into ink furthered Lavi’s duties due to how material it was.

I think you’re entierely right on “Bookman JR* knew Allen was the one person Lavi couldn’t rationalize hurting even if he knew Allen was fake”. (* albeit it is also Road digging into his own heart doing so - it is blurry whenever we can just pin it on Road or if his Bookman’s internal self also know and realize Allen is a weakness for himself). I think it might also be linked to how much of an emotional journey Allen had put him through so far and suddenly it was too much, and Road took the approach of a gentle Allen, a REALISTIC Allen, and it took Lavi completely off guard. It suddenly made it all more painful.

I do think perhaps he considers Allen differently, if only because he saw them far latter and had to come with a lot of different realizations about Allen- especially by seeing under his mask. Lenalee was always sincere about how she felt- he saw her crying on her fallen companions when they first met. Allen fakely smiled, Lavi took him for granted, and had his entiere view on him shifted by the Eliade incident only to then lose him. If Lenalee showed the good of caring for your own people, Allen was confusing, was the opposite of “All humanity sucks” Pre-Order Lavi.

bc i also think that counts: yes Lenalee cares only about her people, like you say- but Allen went off record to cut himself out from everyone while trying to save everyone: humans and akuma alike. I think that plays too. Lenalee keeps a few people close and she loves them openly. Allen fakes being close to everyone while he actually doesn’t let anyone in, carries all the burden for himself, and fight for absolutly everyone, friends or foes. And not by naivety, like Lavi first assumed, but by knowing too much. And ain’t “knowing too much” exactly what the Bookmen are for? “Knowing too much” is the reason Lavi cannot bring himself to get emotionally attached, and even managed to distach himself before the Order. Yet “Knowing too much” is the reason Allen cares so much despite consequences, despite what comes with it, despite seeing its horrors even more. “Knowing too much” had Lavi look down on humanity. “Knowing too much” had Allen focused on saving it. If only because of how much Lavi can relate to that, and how it links back to the sudden knowledge of what the eye bring, the vulnerability it created is fascinating.

(hell the whole torture does end with this: (translated from french bc it’s easier to grab my volume than look the chapter online sorry about that):Bookman self: Why are you so different from the 48 me before you? why does 49th suffer this much? Do you not want to be a Bookman anymore, “Lavi”? You prefer fighting for passing friendships? You know very well there’s no hope left to have in humankind. It only knows how to create conflicts. You know it well! So forget your self consiousness and remind yourself that “I”, I have responsabilities as Bookman.Lavi: Easy to say. Try to understand “me”. I lost faith in humanity. I wondered “Until when is it going to tear itself apart?” I was convinced that as a Bookman, I was belonging to a whole other species, what bullshit… But… could you light it up for me? In which purpose….. do Bookmen exist? Why the wars don’t end in the world of humankind?Bookman self: Why do you ask “me”? I don’t know!Lavi: I am you, right? There was 48 before. And with me, “Lavi” it makes 49…. 49 for one single person: “me”. And you still don’t have an answer? So if someone has to know….Unclear (probably both as it’s when “Lavi” disappears): The first one who started to change was You. The one who wanted to get out from this dead end. Who looked for answers.

Those are the questions that arose from Road’s fight. This is the questions that arose from fighting the people he loved, from facing Allen, from facing guilt. I am still fascinated by this monologue to this day because i’m not entierely sure what it means except that Lavi is taking a different approach at being a Bookman, and trying to figure out what it means to be one outside from just coldly recording as a neutral party. He went from “Knowing too much is why I don’t care for them” to “but I have a responsability by Knowing too much to make sense of it”. And that’s something that, to me, seems influenced by Allen. If only because Allen was the catalyst of every step through that nightmare: From what Broke him to what Called Him Back. Of what Broke him by “sticking to the cold Bookman nature” self, and what Called Him Back due to “Acknowledging Emotions” (the Caring Call (erg this section was added after i explained further down what the Caring Call is, details further down), but also Road’s - as he directly then tells Allen when he awakes “dO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH THIS GIRL CARES ABOUT YOU”. Lavi’s key to salvation was to acknowledge Feelings. Of using this Knowledge he had to emotionally reccord to know how to emotionally get out. It isn’t for nothing Mister Heartless’s battle was a battle in his own heart this whole time.)

I do think there might be something for the torture of seeing everyone you don’t want to admit you care about hate you, and having the one person you know would care no matter what die in front of you because of the heartless facade you want to believe yourself to be, would break Lavi. Allen himself doesn’t hurt Lavi, Lavi still “gets stabbed” by everyone else fake!self. (albeit we know that Lavi still managed to stab himself first but u know what i mean). Somewhat it was more painful to be the cause of Allen’s downfall than Allen hating him. And this close from thinking Allen died? No wonder it hurt this much.

For Road to pinpoint it… honestly i could have easily said “it’s Road’s own feelings shinning through as well” since she does have a soft spot for Allen (and did hide in Allen) if it wasn’t for the Card and how it was presented beforehand.

… and i’m just realizing, Road hid in Allen probably expecting that Lavi would not be able to actually stab Allen without good reasons. And hell, Lavi didn’t do it until Allen called for him on the other side, what i called Caring Calls earlier (recent chapters say that “just like Akuma the loved ones’s call can be strong enough to bring back your soul from where it wanders”, imo it didn’t man that “Allen is completely like an Akuma” (more layered than that) but directly said that Johnny’s love was enough to get through Allen right? Then there’s no reason not to assume that “Lavi can you hear my voice?” didn’t manage to get through Lavi still. And it would be extremely ironic that the two who had loved ones become Akuma would manage to use the very power used to make Akuma, ie the caring calls, to fight back the Noah, using how they weaponized emotions against them by weaponizing it back. Especially the two who fake their emotions the most.). I think Allen’s voice managed to ground Lavi’s back in reality enough to be able to stab Road and see clarity in her mind game. But the only facts she pulled it that way says a lot about the assumptions she took away from it, and even more so when she was mostly right until Lavi gained clarity of mind.

Lol it’s actually a good thing Lavi’s not around to hear Allen’s backstory. Kanda’s a good first time listener for Allen because I doubt he’ll overreact in a way to make Allen regret it. If Lavi ever learned about how mistreated and abused Allen was I don’t think he could contain his anger (you’d almost pity Cosimo if he’s still around and Lavi ran into him knowing him as Allen’s past abuser).

Honestly mood. I think Kanda would at least.. work better to catalyze what’s happening. From his own tragic past to how much he knows he can rely on Allen on that matter, I think he’s more likely to have a balanced enough reaction that we can get Allen to tell his full story without being interrupted. I think everyone else would get too emotional to let him finish ahah. But that’s to wonder how much Lavi would react to past hurt… Again, or does he only care when they nearly died. I don’t know if Lavi would get very stormy-pissed off but if Cosimo was still alive and Lavi met him knewing what happened I’d see him pulling Chaotic “pranks” at him in a very bad way? like. Restless. And Mean. But who knows really… tbh now that I think about it considering how he behaved to Lveille.. I think he would only become coldly cruel if Cosimo appeared in front of Allen and Allen showed discomfort. There, all hell would break loose.

But yeah I could go on about Lavi. He’s a complex guy.

considering this is the length of this answer thus far, I think we found each other nonny and you dug right into my heart. Needs two to cry over one fake heartless boy.

Sometimes I wonder if Lavi even believed Bookman when he said Allen was alive? We know Lenalee eventually did when she stated her belief during the Eshi fight. Lavi however was so furious when he wanted to fight Tyki that he didn’t calm down until Tyki said Allen was alive. Lavi acted shocked to hear that and still seemed surprised when Allen actually showed up. Compare his reaction to Lenalee who was angry at Tyki but not that revenge driven because she believed in her heart already Allen was-

2 alive and would rejoin them. She chose to have a lot of faith in order to keep her going (that says a lot about her strength of character, personal opinion) while Lavi stayed focused on his loss of Allen. It’s interesting how Lavi’s relationship with death itself plays so much into how he functions even inside his own mind. It might be why Lavi shows a fear that Allen will die because he’s too good to last in the world (the whole like the light scene). Darkness is permanent. Light isn’t.

First “Darkness is permanent. Light isn’t” is a freaking raw line, and it fits Lavi’s mindset so much, especially how much he had lost faith in humanity and the moment Allen lightened up (as you say, “you are light, i’m afraid you will disappear in the light”(paraphrazing bc i dont’ have the word for word englih vers and the french vers is more confusing). also this is so interesting that for Lavi there is darkness but for the Light, it’s the fear the Light might take Allen away. esp since he specifically mentions how “the crowned Clown”, that masked innocence is the one taking him away. The Light that is taking Allen away is the Innocence. And he compares the Masked innocence to Allen right after Allen try to smile to lift up people’s spirit: another smile Lavi sees right through as a fake smile, fearing Allen is losing himself in his own light, behind his mask: that while it’s a mask, it remains a light that can disappear. Lavi sees the destruction possibility from Light as well, had lost Allen to the darkness (and we, the audience, saw Allen being dragged away in Nea’s darkness at this point when he almost died) only now to be swallowed whole by the Light. Poetry.)

Also I completely agree on the Lenalee’s reading. I also really believe Anita’s sentence matters there, the one she tells Lenalee (and that is supperposed on Lavi) of believing Cross is alive “because it’s the only thing that’s giving me strength”. The dialogue seems to be echoing Lenalee and Lavi’s need to hold on to the thought of Allen being alive to give them strength.

The Asian Branch was the one to tell them Allen was alive but unable to use his innocence though so, as far as we know, Lavi had nor eason to really doubt Allen was alive. But I do think he was distressed by the amount of emotions it provocked him. Bookman beat him up for caring too much after he got cruel with Lenalee’s grief. Tbh I think Lavi was externalizing his own frustration on her, almost talking to himself. “Get yourself together, people die in wars, you should be expecting it”- all those horrible things he tells Lenalee while she’s crying for Allen, after Lavi ends up breaking a glass out of frustration- the fact Bookman then tells him that he shouldn’t be caring so much makes me think he was talking to himself but didn’t want to admit it. He felt the same distress as Lenalee but where Lenalee knew to externalize her feelings, to acknowledge them, Lavi was distressed to even have them, and instead of facing them, he took it against her. Perhaps there was something “unfair” that she could feel grief while “he couldn’t,” and by shutting her grief down, he would do himself the service to shut his grief down. Obviously a dick move. But also a personal one.

I really do think it’s a lot about Lavi not wanting to process the grief. Being unable to process it, and rejecting it completely. He didn’t go to the multiple stages of griefs, he didn’t have to be in denial, he didn’t have to barging: He went straight to anger and didn’t know how to get out of it. Allen being alive meant he didn’t have to go through all those steps but as a result he instead got overprotective. I think there’s this though too is that when Lenalee almost died, Lavi jumped to Denial first and expressed it with Anger. Lavi didn’t let the possibility of Lenalee being dead sink in, even if he was terrorized by it.But for Allen, Timcanpy showed them as much shootage as he could, and for the trip from the Ace of Spade to the Boat, Lavi and Lenalee had no reason to even hold on hope. I believe too that the fact Lavi managed to hold on Hope for Lenalee was both that 1) Allen’s case showed the Denial was a possibility, 2) that he still hadn’t recovered from the recent grief that he wasn’t ready to go through anothr one.

Likewise it’s not just Allen’s life that almost got lost: it was his innocence. And Lavi knows how important Allen’s duty is for him. We as the audience get to hear Allen says that he’d rather be dead than not being able to fight in the war, to save poeple. Lavi knows Allen cares about saving humanity and akuma, and for that , he needs the innocence. And he knows Allen gives himself up selflessly entierely for that. If Timcanpy’s recording showed everything, they also saw that Allen died because he tried to bring salvation to Suman, even when Suman was considered a traitor to the Order. And Unlike Lenalee, Allen didn’t know Suman personally. Allen just did it out of his own heart, of what he wanted to save.

The loss of Allen was a loss of what was good in humanity. Of this Light that was going to fade away. And the fact is that up until Allen arrives, no one knew his Innocence would still work. Tyki took away Allen’s life purpose. Tyki took away what Allen used to save people, selflessly. Tyki took away Allen’s light, the salvation that Allen was offering others, what Allen cared above anything else.

That adding to how little he processed the grief and how cruel Tyki had been, Lavi’s outbrust is more than justified for me. And even better for me to believe he knew Allen was alive but thought about how much he had lost. Because suddenly not even Allen being alive, not even how much he had to remind himself he had no heart: Lavi couldnt help let his fury take him over seeing Tyki. No amount of reasoning with himself, no possibility to blame anyone else but the person in front of him. And that’s RAW.

(also if we go Lavi = Heart theory (which we all know i’m a sucker for) it’s also amazing that both Allen and Lenalee’s innocences evolved. First, both innocence shielded them from Death, Allen’s innocence litterally repairing his devoured heart. (his!! heart!!) : bth while Lavi was freaking out about their death and couldn’t let it sink in. Lenalee’s innocence then remained non-offensive the entiere time (finally answering her wishes to not be a weapon in the war after she almost died in it), the only time she begs for her innocence back is when Lavi is not conscious to hear her, and the innocence accepts her again after she begs for it in the infirmary in front of Lavi (with a lot of Focus on Lavi i might add). For Allen, his innocence evolved when Tyki sent the Akuma to kill him when he saw Lavi’s distress. Lavi’s emotions were all over the place and suddenly he had reasons to fear for Allen’s life again and that’s when the innocence shielded Allen with light. Also note that during that fight against Tyki Lenalee’s innocence shield her in a crystal again when Lavi lose sight of her and panics. Also fair to notice that Allen’s innocence evolved into an innocence “harmless for humans” right when Lavi’s mind was being broken and a fight between the two of them was unavoidable. Allen’s innocence evolved in a way that could protect Lavi right before Lavi needed it. But again it’s Heart theory stuff and y’all know what a sucker i am for it).

ALTHOUGH I do believe that even if Lavi believed Allen was alive, it was a harder belief to hold on to. That he believed in it “only to give himself strength” and seeing Tyki had his strength waver. While Lenalee held on it tightly, put all her faith in it (ironical for a character characterized by her lack of faith in her innocence, yet her full faith into people, her need to have faith that they will be okay (i do think she mentions something like that about Komui too, of having to hold on faith it will be alright.): an interesting tidbits about Lenalee imo), Lavi tried so hard to rationalize all of that that he might have “believed” in the background without holding this thought too hard because doing so would be caring too much, would be reopening thewounds that hadn’t healed and refused to. No need to believe if you don’t acknowledge it right? You can interpret the shape of a cloud any way you want, there is no shape to believe in if you keep your eyes closed. Until you’re forced to snap your eyes back opened and face it ithout being able to have the time to rationalize it.

Does that make sense? I hope it does.

But yes, I agree, I do think that coming this close from almost losing him had Lavi scared to process the grief again. And scared to lose him to the light like they lost him to the darkness, one extreme to the other.

DGM: Crud. All this Lavi talk and his feelings over loss makes me realize he hasn’t seen or experienced Allen’s Noah awakening at all. What if Lavi’s going to be a observer and he’s helpless watching Allen deteriorate in front of him. How’s he going to talk to Neah? How’s he going to feel about Kanda carrying the burden of killing Allen before Neah takes over for good? Apocryphos chasing after Allen to merge w/him and hurting their friends along the way? There’s a lot of bad waiting for Lavi!

I almost answered this one on its own but i think it ties in perfectly: Isn’t Allen’s current storyline of being torn between the darkness (Noah/Nea) and the Light (Innocence/Apocryphos)? This would be Lavi’s fear come to realization again to see it. To see Allen being swallowed by either, to see him struggle against either side.

Lavi did hear of at least the whole thing Cross told Allen about Nea/Mana and Allen’s determination of “I am not the 14th, I am Allen, and screw him, i will fight for myself”. Lavi was the only witness of this convo with Cross and the Crows. (which also makes me realize how much Lavi DOES know about Allen at this point bc that was a very particularly vulnerable moment in which Allen completely broke down in front of Cross. His mask fell down by facing his past.)

so if anything, Lavi knows Allen will fight no matter what, he knows of Allen’s determination: But he hadn’t seen how much it had been tested so far. Currently Allen is being tested to some extreme with how much both sides are tearing on him. A lot of set up Lavi is aware about and worried about, but hadn’t been able to experience yet. And with Lavi’s current bad experience with the Noah (with Fiidora drawing his heart broken i’m going to sUE-) I doubt those feelings would be easy to sort out.

It’s funny how Lavi is forced to be neutral by watching both sides and yet being emotionally involved in the exorcists and physically involved with the Noah, while Allen is forced being Neutral by being rejected from where he wants to be and dragged where he doesn’t want to. I wonder how much facing that would feel like.

OKAY THAT’S ALL FOR THE LAVI’S ASKS I THINK. I think we might have overlooked a few things but that’s a Lot to dig in and… lavi makes me weak.

Also pour one fam’ that’s litterally a fic update at this point.

I just hope it sort of makes sense wow.

TAKE CARE AND THANKS FOR THE LAVI FEELS OF THE DAY!

(Jumping on the next one in a minute, it will probably be shorter. hopefully)ligdorm

#ichafantalks dgm #wassup this answer is litterally 6k words long #pour a drink for the lavi lovers out there this post is for u #ichameta dgm #anonymous #ichareply #long post for ts #readmoreundercut #dgm meta

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nuttyrabbit · 6 years

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So, I just finished up my Forces AU. Here’s the entire cast:

Heroes:

Sonic the Hedgehog: Takes after his games self, is the wildcard and ‘The Hero’ of the Resistance. Best friends with Miles ‘Tails’ Prower and Amy Rose, and good friends with Ovi and the group of fighters. Is rather polite despite living with his uncle. Loves adventure, is terrified of being restrained by anything—this includes greedy billionaire sons and bratty princesses. Tries to be friends with everyone, but people like Antoine can get on his nerves. Descendant of Soundbreaker the Blue Ancient.

Miles ‘Tails’ Prower: Takes his Adventure self, where he wants to showcase to everyone that he too, can be a hero. Is ‘The Inventing Hero’ of the group. Is shy around new people, but is a brave soul. Can get scared sometimes, but is quite brave in fighting. Tends to overexplain certain things and can accidentally spill into when cornered. Best friends with Sonic, friends with everyone else. Descendant of Twist the Yellow Ancient.

Knuckles the Echidna: Takes after his Adventures/Sonic 3 self, where he’s a goof ball that’s able to think things through, but also a bit rough around the edges. Called ‘’The Guardian’ of the group, and is the main Resistance leader out of everyone. Is more of a ‘set traps, and wait’ kind of guy, which is why his plan—“Operation Big Wave”—ends up falling through. Is intelligent enough to understand that people need to be guided in these trying times. Descendant of the Red Ancient of the Knuckles Tribe.

Amy Rose: Takes after her Adventure Self, where she decides to win Sonic on her own merits. Loves adventure and sweets, and hopes that Sonic can see her as his most prominent friend. Is ‘The Heart’ of the group. At first, she didn’t like how Sally treated Sonic, but after Sally mellows down and she realizes why Sally act the way she does, they become good friends. Best friends with Cream. Friends with Sonia and Ovi, too. Descendant of Bloom the Pink Ancient.

Jullian ‘Ovi’ Kintobor: Is a lot younger than this Fleetway/Sonic Bible counterpart. Considered ‘The Runaway’ of the group. Loves being with members of his crew, and does not realize the importance of personal space. Will recognize it with Sally, whom he has a sitcom type enemy relationship with. When not trying to co-lead with Sally, tends to get lonely and will try to hug anyone who gets near him. Has a load of gadgets that allows him to keep up with Sonic and the rest of the group. Likes anyone in the group. Descendant of Knight the Orange Ancient. Replaces the Custom Hero.

Princess Sally Acorn: Takes on a modified version of her SatAM self. Is head strong and stubborn when she can be, which clashes with Ovi and Sonic at points. Her ability to lead is second to none, which helps that she’s a princess of the Acorn Kingdom. Is ‘The Princess’ of the group. Is not fast, but carries with her an advanced AI computer called ‘Nicole’ with her everywhere. Best friends with Bunnie, friends with Sonic, Tails and Sonia, and eventually becomes friends with Amy and Ovi. Likes Lewis. Descendant of King Alluminous the Auburn Ancient.

Bunnie Rickshaw: Takes on her Archie self. Was originally not robotomized, but became able to lift 5X her weight when Ovi and Sally managed to hack the machine she was in. Is brave despite it, and while she wishes to be not robotomized, prefers her powerful capabilities. Considered ‘The Weapon’ of the group. Best friends with Sally, and has an attraction to the swordsman Antoine. Also, friends with Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Ovi, and hopes everyone gets along soon.

Antoine DePasseur: The no-nonsense swordsman of the group. Uses his portrayal in Archie. Called ‘The Swordsman’ of the group. Tends to dislike Sonic and Ovi’s plans, and is usually the one to denounce them. In truth, can get easily spooked if you try hard enough to spook him. Likes Ovi, Sally, Sonia, and Amy, despises Manic and Sonic.

Rotor Aiviq (Eye-vick): Takes his post-reboot Archie form. Called ‘The Weapons Expert’ of the group. Formerly son of the Cheftian named Tundra Aiviq, he left his father when the man demanded perfection from him. Likes Ovi and Manic, and finds Tails to be the better inventor than himself. Tends to suffer from an inferiority complex, thanks to his upbringing. Also likes Sonic, Sonia, Amy, Sally, Bunnie, and Antoine. Best Friends with Lewis. Descendant of Flow, the Purple Ancient.

Lewis Porker: Takes his StC self. Called ‘The Voice’ of the group. Tends to be the shyest of the group, staying away from people like Ovi and Sonic. Has no combat experience, but makes up for it in being the ‘eyes to the sky’ for everyone. Prefers Sally and Amy’s gentle voices over the rest o the group, and considers Rotor his best friend.

Johnny ‘The Lightfoot’ Casey: Takes his StC self. Called ‘The Frontman’ of the group. The kindest of characters behind Sonic, and bares no ill grudge against anyone. Uses a bo-staff in battle, and tends to use energy kinesis to blast away anyone. Is the oldest of the group, and the literal grandpa watching over everyone.

Techno the Canary: Takes after her StC self. Called ‘The Researcher’ of the Group. Is more closeted than either Rotor or Porker, and tends to be dismissive when working on her projects. Will hang out with Amy, Sally, and Bunnie, and finds Nicole a fascinating computer does not get along with Sonia.

Shortfuse the Squirrel: Originally ‘Shorty’, Uses a modified version of his StC self. Once a thief that tried to mug Sonic and Tails, became a ‘participant’ for the Cybernik project by Grimer and Aperis to create a robot more powerful than the current Badniks using live Animayans for batteries. Instead, he became fused with the suit, and became far more powerful thanks to them. Lashes out at everything and is cynical, and has shouting matches with Bunnie with how they treat their condition. Is ‘The Cybernik’ of the group. In a will they won’t they with Techno.

Sonia the Hedgehog: ‘The Master of Stealth’ before Espio joins, and ‘The Elegant’ after, she’s one of three wealthy people that joined the Resistance out of her own violation. While she does not like dirt or messiness, Sonia eagerly joined when she found out that she could help them fight back. Is a huge fashionista, and loves Tails and Amy to bits. Descendant of Soundbreaker the Blue Ancient.

Manic the Hedgehog: Called “The Thief”, he’s the one person that’s able to enter and exit Dr. Eggman’s bases with all the stolen loot not even Ovi can afford. Major goofball despite his appearance, and is excellent with kids. Loves Tails to bits, but finds that Amy not in love with him is sad. Annoys Antoine for the heck of it. Descendant of Soundbreaker the Blue Ancient.

Shadow the Hedgehog: The Ultimate Lifeform, partner to Rouge and E-123 Omega in GUN, and the oldest known Resistance member (Johnny’s the second oldest). The edgiest of edgy that had ever edged (just don’t tell him that. He’s not too keen on being CALLED ‘edgy’). Likes kicking people’s butts and making sure they stay down. Tries to mentor Ovi, though he wonders if he’s trying too hard on that front. Is taken out just two months before Sonic and Ovi are.

Rouge the Bat: The Spy of the group, and the best thief all around Earth (don’t say that to Manic, though). Pesters Knuckles about his position, and demands that he try to act like a better leader. Likes jewels of all kinds, but would abandon them when there are more pressing matters at stake.

Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao: A young rabbit girl (and chao) who got caught in the war when trying to find her mum. Hates violence, and wants the war to end, but knows that fighting back is necessary for an edge to come through. Ends up fighting the big fight along with the rest of the group later. Friends with Amy and the girls, and good friends with the boys too.

Team Chaotix: Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Charmy the Bee are the three detectives of the group, having been called in when Dr. Eggman had ended up wiping Sonic and Ovi off the face of Earth for 6 months. Vector is the brains of the group, directing everyone where they need to go; Espio is the ninja of the trio, and Charmy’s their mascot. Each one fights darn well for the circumstances. Vector tends to never leave his music behind; Espio’s a full-on ninja nerd, and Charmy’s the bratty kid.

E-123 Omega: A robot that formerly guarded Dr. Eggman’s ‘secret treasure’, before defecting to GUN because it hardly ever saw any line of work. The most no-nonsense of the group, nd the most trigger happy against anything deemed “Eggman-level threat”. Does not like his creator, Dr. Eggman.

Silver the Hedgehog: Telekinetic Hedgehog from 200 years into the future; having been brought back in time because his homes suddenly became ruinous. Wants to change it and make it right, founding the Resistance in the first place. Has a pretty tough time with Infinite and Cypress at first, eventually learns to fight back. Is not known whom he descends from, if at all.

Sticks the Badger: Uses the modified version of her Boom personality. Called ‘The Wild’, Sticks loves anything shiny and will instantly become friends with anyone who has shinies. Lives in the woods, and is highly fearful about learning anything more complicated than a calculator. Likes hanging out with the girls, and Allegro.

Perci the Bandicoot: From the Boom series, Perci is a kid from a family of bandicoots that defended Bygone Island for generations. However, the constant apathy of the villagers to her successes—to the point where it’s outright mocking—lead Perci to leave to find if she really wanted to defend her people or if they really cared. When the attack on the Kingdom of Acorn happened, she leapt up at the chance to defend it. Became fast friends with Sonia, and is called ‘The Scorned Hero’ by the group. Really likes fixing things, not necessary the builder. Descendant of Tyler the Lavender Ancient.

Lyre the Snake: A former mercenary turned hero when she found out about robotomization and the effects it can cause. While interested in the paycheck afterwards, Lyre isn’t keen on allowing injustice to occur on the planet, and will fight back if she has enough evidence. Called ‘The Turncoat’ of the group, which she objects to because ‘It’s Snake discrimination!’. Loves being loyal to people, even when they don’t trust her. Has a slight complex about her being a snake. Descendant of Lyric the Green Ancient.

Allegro the Dragon: No-one knows where this little dragoness came from, nor why she attached herself to Sonic, Sonia, and Manic. Only the medallions on their hoops can fully know for sure. In either case, Allegro gets along with everyone in the Resistance, and actually likes getting belly rubs. Called ‘The Guardian’ of the group, can become giant and protect anyone near her masters against anything that aims to harm. Makes ‘Gebwah’ noises when speaking. Will eat anything, including food that has become mouldy.

Villains:

Eggman Empire:

Dr. Eggman: The elderly man with a plan, the one who will rule the world and create Eggmanland. Grandson to Gerald Robotnik and second cousin to Maria, plans to branch off from Sypress and eventually take control. Has 300 IQ, and an obnoxious manchild with a narcissistic streak.

Aperis: A robot created by Dr. Eggman as his thesis project, and one of his most prized models. While not a fighter, Aperis is the baseline model for the Project Sonic series robots, and has been very active in making sure that they’re all obedient to the Dr. Not too keen on the more rushed out models (Badniks and the Egg Pawns), but has a soft spot for those Dr. Eggman creates by hand (E-Series, Omega too). Like his master, despises Sonic. Also despises Orbot and Cubot, but only because they were his first and second final projects for Dr. Eggman’s classes.

Orbot and Cubot: Two robots that work for Dr. Eggman. While both are the comedy duo, Orbot knows when to shut up. After Dr. Eggman reprogrammed them so that they wouldn’t snark and point out his failures, they’ve been making sure most of Dr. Eggman’s bases are spick and span and taking care of the Dr. Orbot is the straight man of the two, while Cubot is the dolt.

Egg Bosses: The dozen of high commanders under Eggman’s control, each commander commands over a specific region on Earth: northern oceans, southern oceans, North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Oceania, the Poles, Africa, the Skies, and the magical.

Metal Sonic: Dr. Eggman’s ultimate Anti-Speedster weapon, made to be able to chase after Sonic without exploding for too long. Wants to become the true Sonic, making this robot the most wildcard of Eggman’s troops. Eventually breaks off to become Sonic through his own means.

E-Series: Dr. Eggman’s elite soldiers, each one hand-crafted and engineered to command a specific type of fleet. When Sonic Heroes rolls around, the Doctor eventually scraps the project when too many of his elite turn on him. At least Aperis hasn’t turned on him yet, nor Project Sonic…

Infinite: Dr. Eggman’s newest right-hand man. A former jackal mercenary of the Jackal Squad turned robot, wants to see the world in ruin like he saw with the Phantom Ruby. Becomes overly cocky and edgy over time, thanks to his crew’s defeat at the hands of Shadow and his own defeat. It isn’t until he gets Sonic down and Ovi traumatized that Infinite becomes overly obnoxious and a bully. Tries to break free like Metal Sonic did, but fails.

Cypress: A time traveler 200 years displaced; wants to see the Eggman Empire come to fruition in it’s prime. Does not get along with Infinite, and is more level-headed than the two. Eventually must run back to her present, bringing Silver along with her. Looks oddly like Maria, even though she’s been dead for 50 years. Likes Dr. Eggman, and would do nothing more than to make him happy.

The Pack:

Sleet the Wolf: The main Bounty Hunter, and the leader of the Pack. Hates Infinite to an absurd degree, because of the brat’s sadism over competence. Cunning and sly, he’s the one holding the group together after kicking Infinite out. Nearly gets killed by Infinite for kicking him out of the pack.

Dingo the Dingo: Nobody knows where he came from, nor what’s his real name. Even the Pack themselves don’t know what he is. A ferocious beast able to take on multiple forms, seems to have some sort of connection to Ovi. Pretends to be stupid for the sake of it, wants the Phantom Ruby to revive his people.

Medjed the Jackal: Formerly part of the Jackal Squad, became the go-to tech expert when his former partners were kicked out of the mercenary group The Pack. Tends to look half asleep, in truth the best computer hacker in the world. Is usually grumpy, but wistful about Infinite.

Nichi the Coyote: A blacksmith from Japan that became a mercenary when his business was hit with hard times. A master of all types of weapons, Nichi knows the way of the sword and is callous to the point of nearly killing Sonic when he’s on his side. Not someone you’d want to cross. Usually calm unless pissed off.

Callie the Ethiopian Wolf: A young female who joined the Pack because of Sleet, whom she likes. Is excited for fighting Infnite in his new form. Likes to fight in general, and doesn’t buy that he’s—well, invincible. Likes to fight people taller than her.

Mac the Jack Russel Terrier: A tiny man who wants to snipe as many as he could get. A Former GUN agent that got fired for his excessive use of ‘shoot first, ask questions later’. Likes the sounds that a gun makes, and hopes to one day snag the Fastest Thing Alive with a gun.

Other:

GUN: The United Federation’s own command force, lead by Commander Towers. They sent Shadow, Rouge, and Omega into enemy territory earlier, before having to transport non-combatant humans and animayans away from the fighting.

King Nigel Acorn: The king of the Acorn Kingdom, and Sally’s father. Tries to fight against Eggman, only to end up in Null Space thanks to Infinite blindsiding him.

Aleena the Hedgehog: Former hero of the world, now someone the Resistance relies on for plan making. Oddly, she seems to look at Sonic, Sonia, and Manic oddly…

Slipstream the Hedgehog: Husband to Aleena, and the cockiest hedgehog in town. Seems to have the same look for Sonic, Sonia and Manic like Aleena does.

Harold Kintobor: Father to Ovi and the CEO of Knight Tech. Pays GUN, Eggman, and The Pack to find his son, accidentally giving Dr. Eggman enough funds to plan his takeover of the world.

The Phantom Ruby: A gem misplaced in space, which instantly disabled the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald with it’s powers. Able to conjure reality-warping illusions, and can jump anyone within range to other locations instantly. Like the Master Emerald, there seems to be something inside it…

#Damn that's a lot #Good stuff #Heroes and Magi #Sonic forces #submission

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darkwinterchild · 7 years

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Tommy Merlyn - Slytherin

Albus Dumbledore: You happen to have many qualities Salazar Slytherin prized in his hand-picked students. His own very rare gift, Parseltongue... resourcefulness... determination... a certain disregard for rules.

So from what I’ve seen, Tommy Merlyn is usually sorted in Hufflepuff. I respectfully disagree? I think he’s a Slytherin, just like his best buddy Oliver, and Hufflepuff is actually the house that fits him the least (the puppy eyes are made to fool you!). Tommy is a troublemaker, he is resourceful and determined, he puts a lot of value on family and brotherhood but not on loyalty in general, and he definitely has a lot of potential for greatness. Ergo Slytherin.

Long post under the cut! Consider yourself warned.

I’m just going to go over the major Slytherin traits and values and how they relate to Tommy. Talk about the other houses is at the end.

“A certain disregard for rules”

Tommy: I wish we had just met, and that all this was just beginning and there wasn't so much of me I wish you'd forget.

- 1x07

Both Oliver and Tommy were rebellious playboys: it’s almost their entire backstory. It seems to have been even more the case with Tommy if possible - at least we hear about him getting Ollie in trouble more than the reverse (“Don’t let him get you into too much trouble” from 1x01, or “Tommy had me out a little bit later than maybe I should have been, and I'm wiped” from the 2x20 flashbacks, or how he got Oliver to go with him to Max Fuller’s club in 1x03, or even that story in 5x09 about how Oliver once tried to land a helicopter on the grounds of the US Open because Tommy wanted to impress some girl named Maria Sharapova). An early Arrow promo even describes Oliver hanging with Tommy as “running with the bad crowd”.

If that’s true, it could be because of their different relationships with their parents. Ollie was a bad boy, but he was very close to his mother and hero-worshiped his father. So he did bad things, but that’s because they let him (as Oliver himself said). He probably never intentionally disrespected them or did things that he knew would really upset them. It was different with Tommy. His relationship with his dad was disastrous, and I think this meant he could get even more out of control than Ollie in his own way. Tommy’s parties were apparently legendary (“I never left one of Tommy's parties with my memory intact.”) and prompt to get broken up by the cops. He filled his dad’s pool with beer (roughly a thousand kegs or so), majorly pissed him off, and didn’t care. Heck, even years later as a 24 year-old adult, he stole Malcolm’s private jet to fly to Hong Kong without warning or permission, and when he called him Tommy literally told his father to fuck off (“No, I didn't tell you I was taking the jet because I knew you would freak out like this” and “Look, why don't you just go back to banging your Pilates instructor, ok?”). I do think it’s kind of telling of his mindset.

Point: insubordination toward authority and a love for mischief are Slytherin qualities and Tommy Merlyn certainly qualifies.

Brotherhood

Unlike Gryffs and Claws, Slyths are team players. It’s a group-oriented house, where “you’ll make your real friends.” They stick together and protect one another. Tommy is all about brotherhood and family. We know that he’d sometimes look after Thea in his best friend’s stead after the Gambit sank, that he posed an alert on Oliver’s e-mail account just in case, and went looking for him in Hong Kong when it went off. We know he had a really strong friendship code:

Tommy: No, man, you were with Laurel. And whether you were dead, or as it turns out, alive on a deserted island, you are my friend. And me being with Laurel violated that friendship in about 50 different ways.

-1x03

This code included keeping your friends’ secrets no matter what. As early as the pilot, we saw that he was ready to lie to the police to support his best friend’s story without even being asked beforehand. This is reinforced after 1x16: Tommy chose to keep Oliver’s secret against his own morals. No matter what he thought of him, he didn’t give him up to the police, he didn’t ask Oliver to stop, he didn’t even tell Laurel when it started to put some strain on their relationship. When Detective Lance almost discovered the lair in 1x19, he actively helped him escape the authorities, by lying to an officer of law and his girlfriend’s father, making himself his accomplice. He didn’t have to: he saw the Hood as a murderer, wanted nothing to do with his crusade, and Oliver never even asked for his help. But Tommy protected him anyway. Helping a friend when you think what he is doing is wrong is a very Slytherin thing to do. In general, they’re the ones who’d help you cheat at an exam or bury the bodies, whereas Hufflepuffs’ strong beliefs in justice and fairness would conflict with their sense of loyalty.

Speaking of loyalty, another difference between Slyths and Puffs is that Slyths are loyal to their people, but not necessarily very dependable in general. Just like Tommy used to be:

Tommy: Lying, keeping secrets about who she’s spending time with… Does that remind you of anybody we know? Oliver: Me, in every relationship that I’ve been in. Tommy: Me too. Except this one.

-1x13

Tommy was that guy who’d do anything for the people he loved, but prior to his character development, he wasn’t the most trustworthy person out there.

It’s also interesting to note that despite being a very extroverted person who spent a lot of time outside with other people, he didn’t seem to have any close friends apart from Oliver and Laurel (by season 1 anyway, he seemed a bit lonely on that front). I think he was rather detached from all the people he spent time with - he was their host, their entertainer, even their lover for the ladies. But he couldn’t relate to them like he and Ollie could relate to each other. Here again, this way of living with people - a few very close friends and a giant network of contacts - is very slytherinish.

Ambition and determination

Tommy doesn’t seem very ambitious at first glance, but one has to consider the fact that he’s been drowning in money since birth. For all his life, he could get everything he wanted whenever he wanted (even girls, thanks to his good looks). We know he and Oliver used to talk about going into business together since forever (like opening a ski-lodge), but he never felt the push to go on and make these ideas a reality. He was already Prince of Starling, why bother? In a way, he never needed to be ambitious until his father cut him off.

Oliver: Why didn't you say anything? Tommy: Embarrassment, shame, jealousy. Probably a few other emotions I'm not used to feeling.

-1x08

Tommy never felt threatened before. But after Malcolm froze his funds, it became another story. There was Laurel, whom he was trying to impress, Oliver, his best friend for whom she still had deep and complicated feelings, and then there was him, now forced to work for said best friend. I doubt Tommy left the club and went to work for his father only because Oliver refused to see him for the man he’d become. There was probably a lot of complex reasons behind that choice, and one of them was definitely that he was trying to reclaim his place in the universe as one of the elite, on equal if not superior footing to Oliver Queen (not just in terms of money, but also in terms of power and position - executive at Merlyn Global Group versus manager of a small nightclub in the Glades). He was born with power and prestige, and jumped back into that world without hesitation. But this isn’t even the primary reason I think Tommy was more ambitious than he let on:

Tommy: I'm trying to change. Not sure into what yet but I don't wanna be what I was anymore.

-1x08

This strong desire to be more than what he was, as soon as he realized that it was no longer enough and that there was more, to become someone worthy of Laurel’s love, that makes him pretty ambitious. He started the show a useless playboy and man-child, became a great boyfriend, a successful businessman, and ended the season as a hero.

And I think this is important about Tommy: once he’d find a goal, something for which he was really motivated, then he was driven to the hilt and did whatever he could to succeed. The club, Laurel (winning her heart, becoming a person she’d want to be with, building something with her), even his job at Merlyn Global. It didn’t even have to be something huge that would demand a lot of effort, it could be just another goofy idea, like filling his parents’ pool with beer or playing strip kickball with models on a pro football stadium - Tommy had a tendency to go big with his projects. He was capable of following through an idea to the end even when it became difficult. So he proved he had plenty of determination, the kind Salazar Slytherin would have loved.

Leadership

Tommy was shown to be able to assume leadership positions with ease. Before the start of the show, he seemed to have been a leader in troublemaking around Starling - the guy who knew how to have fun, the guy who hosted the biggest parties, even the guy with the shady contacts (“Before I left, you played hard. You played with bad people who were into bad stuff!” - 1x19). During season 1, we saw him effortlessly falling into his role as nightclub manager - he immediately took charge of the construction process, made sure everyone was doing their job, and showed his willingness and ability to be an authoritative boss (1x10 and 1x11). We saw him do an excellent job at Verdant, and then we saw him comfortably assume a leadership role at Merlyn Global Group for the short period of time he was working there. Tommy was a natural leader, like his father.

Cunning and resourcefulness

We haven’t seen much in terms of cunning and ruthlessness from Tommy in the show per-se - which is why I think he wasn’t as perfect a Slytherin as other characters like Moira or Malcolm - but it was suggested that he was capable of that to some degree. Pre- character development, Tommy was a playboy, a charmer who cheated and kept secrets in every relationship he’d been in. He wasn’t shown as manipulative or anything, but as we’ve seen with Laurel, he knew how to win people over. He was also no stranger to deceit and evasion, and used them to achieve his ends whenever he felt it was necessary. E.g. when he had to keep Detective Lance from discovering the Arrow cave in 1x19. This episode also showcased how resourceful he could be: in very little time, he was able to clean up and hide all the evidence of the Hood’s activities in the basement without anybody realizing it. We also learned he had no problem using illegal solutions to his problems, like bribing a city inspector.

Concerning the other houses

Hufflepuff is in my opinion the house that suits him the least. Honesty and loyalty we’ve seen weren’t really Tommy’s forte. And he hated the idea of hard work. He was called lazy by several characters including himself. Before Malcolm decided to “jolt his son into adulthood” in some late parental awakening, it seems Tommy planned on keeping up his life of debauchery forever, living off daddy’s money (bless inheritance). People expected Oliver to eventually get his act together and take his place in his father’s company, but everyone seemed to think Tommy would always be Tommy. In general, he also didn’t really seem to care all that much about ideals of justice and fairness. As the son of the most powerful billionaire in Starling City, he was extremely privileged, knew it, and loved it (“Isn't that place ridiculously expensive?” “Everywhere worth going is.” -1x08). He was raised in an upper-class environment with rich people values and the understanding that the rules do not apply to him the way they do other people. The fact that Malcolm regularly had to bail him out is one of the three things that came to mind when he described his distant relationship with his father. Tommy actually literally used to laugh in the face of justice. He loved whenever he and/or Oliver would break the law and get away with it (“I just picked up a new sports car. I'm thinking, we can open her up, pick up a few speeding tickets…” -1x06). So yeah, I don’t think Hufflepuff fits.

Gryffindor is not a bad house for him, but not a good one either. Bravery, boldness, recklessness… Tommy didn’t seem to have ever been particularly action-oriented (Oliver was the one doing the crazy taxi or helicopter stealing stuff). He was certainly capable of immense bravery (the way he stood up to the Hood in 1x16, the way he protected Taylor in 1x20, or his final sacrifice in 1x23), but he wasn’t particularly into grand showings of strength, daring or heroism à la Gryffindor. Among the main characters, he was one of the less enthusiastic (utterly unimpressed) about the Hood’s exploits (he saw him as a crazy murderer - see 1x13, 1x17 or 1x19). In fact it’s interesting to compare his opinion to Laurel’s, a true Gryffindor.

Ravenclaw I think would actually be a good sorting for him. Tommy was clever (the way he was quickly able to learn the ropes of club management). The show seemed to hint at a rather developed pop-culture geeky side (just small stuff like his talking about Lost, he read movie reviews, his wanting to name his dog “Arthur” as a kid because he was a “Merlyn”, etc.). He was charming, talkative and witty, even just a little bit eccentric in the way he could tell shameless jokes and be totally inappropriate. He was also very creative - in deeds (I mean, the beer-pool and strip-kickball game with models were certainly original ideas) and in speech (he doesn’t just say “I love you”, he says “I have finally figured out why poets have been in business for the last few thousand years”). So, if he wasn’t a Slytherin, I could see him making a pretty good Ravenclaw.

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kalinara · 7 years

Note

Rip - temptation. Rip - subjugation. Rip - truth. Rip - lies. Rip - sublimation. Rip - destruction. Rip - sneakiness. Rip - mother. Rip - warmth. Rip - torture. Rip - music. Rip - alcohol. Rip - home. Rip - adrift. Rip - anchored. Rip - support.

So I’ve been sitting on these headcanon prompts for ages, sorry anon-friend! (You know who you are. :-P)

Rip - temptation

One of my biggest criticisms for season two (which I enjoyed a lot, don’t get me wrong) was that we ended up getting an admittedly fun but ultimately pointless filler episode like Doomworld, when we had the set up for a much more interesting episode.

Our crew had the Spear of Destiny. A legendary device that would allow them to rewrite reality. It tempted all of them, and we know that each of these characters had regrets or desires. But we never actually hear about it.

Amaya was tempted to change the future. Mick heard his parents’ voices. What about Ray? Did it offer him Anna back? Or superpowers? Or a greater chance to make a difference?

Did it offer Martin Lily? Or specifically a way to keep her safe despite being a time aberration?

Did it offer Sara Laurel? Or the ability to stop her enemies before they ever could hurt anyone? (I lean toward the latter because it seemed like Sara was more afraid of what she might do with the spear than the spear itself.)

So, anyway, I’ve thought a lot about what it might offer Rip. On one hand, there’s Miranda and Jonas. It’s obvious, but that’s for a good reason. What parent of a dead child could possibly pass up the chance to have them back? There are other possibilities though.

Perhaps it offered him the chance to undo all of his bad decisions, and particularly the ones that led to his time as Evil Rip. What if it offered him the chance to bring back the people he had killed? Like Doctor Mid-Nite?

Or a chance to bring back the Time Masters as they should have been, instead of the indoctrinating time-space cult that they were?

And now I’m resentful again, because there is so much that could have been explored with this concept for each character, but we’ll never know.

Rip - subjugation.

It interests me, how much of Rip’s plotlines with the major villains of his series (so far) involve some element of domination.

I don’t mean that in a kinky way (or do I? :-P) but rather: Savage was obsessed with Rip to the point where, after one failed encounter and escape, he’d made Rip the Satan figure in his religion. He kept the pen that Rip had used to escape for two thousand years!

I’ve said this before, I know, but I often think that Savage’s obsession comes from the way that Rip completely violates Savage’s sense of the rightful order of the world. The strong survive, thrive, and claw their way to the top. The weak submit or die. it’s the natural order.

But then there’s Rip. Savage wouldn’t have known the details when they first met, but seeing as how he wasn’t a nice guy even then, he probably assumed that Rip had been a previous victim, or a family member of one. Rip was strong enough to survive, to hunt Savage down, and even beat him.

But Rip was weak in the end. He couldn’t overcome his own compassion and kill an unarmed man. Thus, rightfully, Savage was victorious after all and threw him in a cell.

That should have been the end of it. Rip, having now proven himself weak, should be made to submit…but he won’t. Savage has him tortured, starves him, keeps him from water for who knows how long. And the guy is still defiant. Still refuses to give him what he wants. And ultimately he escapes.

And Rip keeps going after Savage. He won’t stop no matter what Savage does to him. But at the same time, he keeps his human weakness: compassion, sympathy, kindness.

It’s no wonder Rip is the Gareeb. He’s a violation of Savage’s entire view of the natural order. That’s why he gets so obsessed with defeating him. It’s not quite as important as winning Kendra of course. But it’s still something he has to do to prove himself right.

But it’s funny that Eobard, in his own way, seems to want the same thing. He doesn’t just want Rip Hunter dead. If that was the case, he could have killed him ages ago. Rip is more formidable than we tend to give him credit for, but he’s not superhuman. Instead, he reprograms his mind. (Amusingly, reprogrammed Rip is about as good as regular Rip when it comes to following orders.) And when that doesn’t work, he turns him into a toy on his desk.

That’s about more than killing an enemy. That’s about domination and subjugation.

It does make me wonder who will be the ultimate villain of season 3, and if that person will want to subjugate Rip Hunter as well.

Rip - truth. Rip - lies.

Okay, so I’m combining these into one, because they’re basically the same thing. And because, as I’ve mentioned before, I find the dichotomy fascinating.

Rip is simultaneously a seemingly pathological liar who is incredibly bad at it, while at the same time being the most successful secret keeper in the Flarrowverse.

He lies. A lot. And not just about things that make sense to lie about (such as whether or not there’s an armory on the ship) but also when the truth would be a lot more effective (i.e. “Vandal Savage killed my family.”) It seems almost like a compulsion.

At the same time, his outright lies are terrible. He’s transparent as glass. And as soon as he’s even remotely pressed about any of these lies, he folds like a paper airplane. He’s yet to successfully hold onto an outright lie for more than half of an episode!

But at the same time, when there is something he really doesn’t want anyone to know, he clams up hard and effective. Rip Hunter had one piece of the spear of destiny for an entire season without even GIDEON knowing about it. He knew about Laurel (he probably knows about all of them, honestly. The same way they knew about Amaya), he had secret warnings from future Barry Allen, and so on and so forth.

The crew is so used to his asshole secret keeping that no one blinked when Jax gets the weapons from the armory. It’s like “Of course he has a secret armory.” And I’m pretty sure that whatever Rip SAYS is his reason for creating this Time Bureau, there’s going to be at least one other secret reason behind that. And I bet it’s stupid, self-sacrificing, and when the crew finally finds out about it, they’ll be all “…of course that’s why.”

Rip - sublimation

So, anyway, wikipedia defines “sublimation” as “a mature type of defense mechanism where socially unacceptable impulses or idealizations are unconsciously transformed into socially acceptable actions or behavior, possibly resulting in a long-term conversion of the initial impulse.”

I think Rip is very good at sublimation. Though there’s an interesting complicating factor that what is “socially unacceptable” and “socially acceptable” to Rip Hunter, Time Master, may not match what would be “socially unacceptable” and “socially acceptable” to us.

For example, caring about his team, heroic impulses, romantic impulses, pain, grief, sorrow, worry, doubt, those would all “socially unacceptable” traits to the time masters.

Focus on the mission, on getting the job done, on dealing with threats, pathological lying and pedagogical lectures would all probably be “socially acceptable”.

so…yeah, there we go. :-)

Rip - destruction

A headcanon: when it comes to individual missions, Rip Hunter has two modes: ridiculously and cleanly effective…a quick in and out, like a scapel, getting things done without ever being noticed.

And blowing things the fuck up. (See: a good chunk of season 1, Out of Time, et cetera.) This last probably explains why he was drawn to the team to begin with.

Rip - sneakiness

I think sneakiness is one of Rip’s lesser appreciated traits. I mean, let’s look at Left Behind for a moment. Sure, he was eventually captured by the League of Assassins, but before that, he managed to make his way all the way to the bedroom of one of their top assassins.

That’s kind of crazy.

But that does tie into something funny that I’ve noticed a long time ago. Which is that the crew really never seems to be in a position to witness Rip at his most badass.

Like, in Blood Ties, we see Rip fight Savage and WIN. TWICE. But the first time was before he recruited the team. The second time was when the crew was extracting Carter’s body, and Sara was fighting her own enemies (and her bloodlust).

In Out of Time, Rip takes on a room full of Nazis, but only once the others had kidnapped Einstein and were leaving.

That is of course what made Turncoat so effective. Evil Rip, in very little time, manages to neutralize the entire team.

I’m still not sure they know entirely what he’s capable of.

Rip - mother

One of the most amusing parts of being a fan of Rip Hunter in both his comics and tv incarnations is that I get to appreciate some really fun juxtapositions.

Take comics Rip, for example. Much has been made thus far about the fact that he is secretly mentoring his own, future, father. We know that he has a mother. But to this date, we’ve never seen her, we don’t know her name, and there aren’t really any majorly obvious candidates in the Booster Gold comic book.

(Booster’s had a few girlfriends over the years, but no Iris West or Lois Lane.)

On Legends though, Rip’s primary influence is maternal. Mary Xavier is pretty clearly the only positive adult figure he’s ever had in his life, between a childhood on the streets and an adulthood in a scary time-cult.

I’d even argue that Gideon’s demeanor toward Rip also frequently takes on a maternal tone. (…whether or not Rip may have an oedipal complex might be fun to analyze one day.)

His father figures are either lacking (we have reason to believe that Booster Gold likely exists somewhere in this universe, I think, but how and why he managed to lose track of a child will be an interesting question) or evil (Druce.)

…There might be a really interesting analysis in the fact that Martin was the first Legend that he became close to, or how Jonah has thirteen years on him, and likely even more than that when they’d originally met in Calvert (as it was three years before Magnificent Eight for Jonah, but would have been prior to Rip’s marriage

…basically, I think a whole series could be written on Rip’s parental issues.

Rip - warmth

Rip strikes me as the sort of guy who is always cold. He’s about 100 lbs, and wears like five layers.

It’s possible that one of the reasons I like Time Hex so much is that Jonah looks like he’d be a walking furnace.

Rip - torture

Headcanon: at some point when all this is resolved, Rip is relaxed enough to get drunk around other people and starts mocking the Legion of Doom’s torture abilities.

Because, let’s face it, in his career, he’s been tortured by the best. He’s experienced all sorts of interesting torture methods. Malcolm and Damien are just sloppy.

Rip - music

Rip strikes me as someone who originally was very interested in music, and has very eclectic tastes. I bet he even plays an instrument or a few. But I doubt he’s touched any of them since his family died.

Maybe at some point, he’ll be able to do it again.

Rip - alcohol

Okay, I’m pretty sure Rip’s functional alcoholism is canon at this point. Fortunately, Gideon knows how to rejuvenate a liver.

Rip - home

One of the MANY sad things about Rip is that, for all intents and purposes, he doesn’t really have a home.

We don’t know where he originally came from, but it didn’t sound like there was any real shelter or support there. The Refuge served as home during his adolescence, but it seems clear that it’s not an option for him anymore unless he wants to keep crossing his timeline.

Whitechapel is rubble. Whatever home he and Miranda had there would have went the way of the second London Blitz. (Let’s be honest, even if it was somehow still standing, Savage would have seen to that.)

He’s turned the Waverider, his actual home for at least a decade, over to the team and doesn’t seem inclined to stay.

What does that leave? Vanishing Point? We’ve seen that some of it survived the Oculus explosion, I suppose. But that doesn’t seem to be a psychologically ideal place to reside. I mean, it’s the home base of the organization that sacrificed his family to Vandal Savage. It’s ALSO the place where Phil Gasmer was tortured and murdered, and where Rip’s mind was violated.

I hope and I pray that Rip’s Time Bureau picks another location to call home. But we are talking about Rip here…

Rip - adrift, Rip - anchored.

These seem connected too. It is interesting to think about where he is, right at this point in time. In his entire life, Rip Hunter’s been a Time Master (but the Time Masters are gone), a husband and father (…same), an avenger (Savage is resolved, for better or worse), and a Guardian of the Spear (also resolved.)

For all that he put the Legends together, he’s always been a bit separate. And he seems to have resolved himself to the idea that that’s how things will always be.

So at this point in time, he doesn’t have a mission to keep him going. He seems unwilling or unable to get what he needs from the team. It’s probably no wonder that he went slinking off into the night.

Rip - support.

Ultimately the sad thing about Rip is that he does have the potential to have a strong support system if he’d just reach for it. Sara, Ray, Martin and Jax have all made it clear that they like and respect Rip. And would welcome him back in a heartbeat. Nate and Amaya are understandably a bit more cautious because they don’t know him. They seem open to the idea. And even Mick has, in his own way, evidenced concern and care about the man.

But for whatever reason, Rip doesn’t seem to be able to utilize this. It will be interesting to see what changes and develops, moving forward.

#rip hunter #legends of tomorrow #another set of headcanons #there are still prompts in my inbox <3

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libarygoldfish · 5 years

Text

Dead until you awake - Hamilton fanfiction, Ghost AU (Chapter 1 )

Author :

I really want to post this fic somewhere and have it back up on some part of the internet. This is a collaboration between me and my dear friend Trinnie. I love it with all my heart. So please don't insult our work if you somehow found it and read it.

Rating:

Warning: Major character death, graphic violence

Category: M/M, F/M, Multi

Fandom: Hamilton (Lin Manuel Miranda)

Characters: Alexander Hamilton, Charles Lee (Li), Ling Li,

Relationship: Alexander Hamilton & Charles Lee (Li), Karin Simons (OC)/ Charles Lee (mention/post)

Additional tag: suicidal character, drug use, accident, embarrassing violation of privacy, parental issues, college failure, teenage pregnancy, attachment issues, etc

Chapter 1 :

Alex raises a middle finger to the man who drove him and his wet carton boxes to his new accommodation. It was a makeman following orders from Mr. Schuyler, helping Alex one final time before closing all his doors to the Schuyler family. Great. Another way to rub it in his face that he was never part of it anyway.

He looks at the small townhouse with its yellowing front yard and spider-webbed windows with a sigh. It is unbelievably cheap and strangely free of any negative feedback. Once Alex thought he had seen somebody said the place was haunted, but then the comment was deleted within an hour. Seems like the website has a good filter with spam content then.

He knows for sure he’d feel very alone in it. Such a big home for no one but him. Alex normally would get angry at this moment, angry at Eliza’s impassive expression and the way she gladly turned from him with a hand on her slightly swollen stomach. He’d get angry if he has the energy for it.

But he doesn’t. Everything is taken away from him: his education, his job, his girlfriend, his child growing in her stomach, and now his anger. His life is a spilled glass of water. And he wants to break the glass.

The floor squeaks when Alex starts carrying in his boxes. As if there is a second pair of feet walking with him but Alex pays no attention. He observes the heavily hanging webs across the furniture and upper corners, almost like thin veils of invisible brides. It’s a nice place to die, nobody will probably find him for a long time.

He wonders if the bottle of bromethalin rodenticide will be painful once Alex gathers enough courage to use it.

He enters the bathroom and is happy to see the taps still work. But the old water leaks a color brown and he leaves it open until it looks safe enough. The bedroom seems to be less dirty other than a few webs scattered on top of the neatly made blanket covering the bed. He simply flings it to the floor and lies down, closing his eyes for sleep to naturally come and claim his idle, unenergetic body.

Ten years, this is his 10th year stuck in this awkward position. He hasn’t get out of this haunted house since 2008. Everything seems to get bigger and fancier over this decade, but he’s still that 21 years old Charles Lee. He thinks while remembering what it was like when this new kid moved in a week ago.

People who rented this house would always move out before their one year contract reached an end. They would curse at the owner through texts, trying to leave a comment on their website, or even collecting evidence about him. They have never succeeded to get any attention, you can see their plans fall apart by those new ones filling into their empty spots. Nobody knew that being noticed was harder than they imagined.

Take this new roommate he has as the example. This ponytail-teen seems to be ignoring his present from the very first second. This boy, whose name clearly is Alex based on his email account and how most of his friend address him in that flat-touchable phone. “ Alex” hadn’t even seemed to notice he have a ghost roommate. No matter how much noises and signs he makes with every part of the house.

Shaking window? Alex simply gives it a glare before he continues his meaningless small paragraphs ( who even would spend that much of the time to debating on a website that you can only type 140 words ? ).

Disrupting the signal so that the youtube site would play a video which screams out his name? His emotionless new roommate only texted what happened to a guy named John.

Not even with his best trick that makes everyone “ realized” they have a nonhuman roommate. Alex, or more correctly, one of the worst roommate he ever had in this house ( Burr won the worst place easily, but this guy feels worse than him in a way). Charles can’t believe he just wiped those words off without a flinch, those words he spent hours and precious energies on… what a monster he is facing here.

And a monster deserves to be treated like one, he has to use that forbidden way to communicate with Alex.That way he hadn’t had a chance to do since 2009.

“Hi, Alex, I’m your ghost roommate Charles Lee. Can you please pay more attention to the fact You HAVE a roommate and he’s NOT a human? How can you possibly ignore every sign I gave you? Anyway, please stop ignoring my present cause I… really need your help on something important... please stop pretending you saw nothing, or I will keep typing on your thin computer and that flat-touchable phone. ”

He types down everything he wants to shout into Alex’s face while the boy is writing another long paragraph about something he doesn’t give a fuck. All he needs is this asshole to notice him, and at least do something about it.

Honestly? Comment section fighting is now the only thing that keeps Alex alive. It’s small and unexpected, but Alex had nothing else to look forward to when he goes to bed every day. It drags him out of bed, although he only changes places by sitting on the dusty desk. Still, progress is progress. Even if it’s tiny and insignificant.

Alex hasn’t even cleaned the place ever since he came here. If he’s going to die very soon, why bother cleaning it? He remembers he once was the most hard-working employee and what did it cause him? His education. Maybe his sanity is also out of the question. Which is why he’s seeing the pointer blinking and blinking as the keyboard types on its own. Alex raises his hands away but the stream of words continues nonetheless.

Interesting. But this says nothing. Alex thinks this website has such an interesting AI to respond to him. He thought AI’s would never admit they’re not human. Unless they have come up with a roleplaying model, then that’s very understandable. He decides to give it a try.

He simply types back. “Why should I pay attention to this non-human roommate? If he’s staying, isn’t he obliged to split the ownership payment with me?”

“Why should I pay attention to this non-human roommate? If he’s staying, isn’t he obliged to split the ownership payment with me?”

Can a human be more… insensitive about what just happened to him? On his computer? Charles Lee is certain that he made those keyboards typed themselves in a normal human’s eyes. Are the technologies really that advance right now? But things are still going by his plan, this one is still communicating with him.

He dislikes how this new human has no respect or fears toward him...but he remembers how great a human interaction felt like, and how much does he miss it.

So he continues sucking up battery power from Alex’s strange computer while writing down his reply to explain the situation. Jokingly trying to convince his new roommate why he doesn’t need to pay the rent.

“Are you really asking why a ghost doesn’t need to pay rent? …

Here’s why I don’t need to pay anything. First, I don’t need any place to do anything I need to. For example, I’m sitting in the same spot you are now, in a thick layer of dirty blankets. do you feel my weight or anything on you? No? great. See my point?

Second, this is MY house. Well, technically my grandma’s now, cause I leave it to her after I became a ghost.

… Should I start proving I’m a real ghost now like those weird comedy movies? “

He crosses his leg after he finished the reply, saving some additional energy he got from touching/possessing Alex’s device. Today seems to be a bit, no, so much fresher than these ten years (not physically, of course, his house is still dusty like a winter storm). To have another person to truly communicating with is… unbelievably happy. Not like he doesn’t enjoy alone time and watching others living their own lives. He’s dead, he shouldn’t have any desire to be and live like other humans. He should be moving on from this.

He won’t be one of those people who can’t move on.

Alex blinks. It’s a bit harder to tell if this is an AI that hacks into his computer or not. But then he remembers the writing on his mirror. The way his video game specifically chanted over and over in a demonic tone.

Definitely a ghost then.

“Are you a ghost of a Revolutionary general?” Alex now asks aloud. He tries not to feel stupid. But then he’s seeing a blurry silhouette, the glitchy motion around this figure.

Could it be that the more he believes in this being, the more of it he would see? Alex recalls the theory from an old movie he saw.

He opens up a Word document and types in.

“How did you die? Why didn’t you go to the afterlife? Is there an afterlife at all?”

[Fin-fucking-nally!] Charles shout out after hearing Alex’s questions. Feeling terribly happy about his new roommate’s recognition of his identity. He starts typing out his replies after calming down from that shouldn't be existed excitement.

“ That would be cool and sad if I’m from the 18th centuries. But no, I’m just a regular college fuck-up from 10 years ago. “

He can't help but imagines how terrible would it be if he's here since 1776, that kind of ghost is definitely one that can’t move one, 10 years isn't that long when compared to centuries of existence.

He continues typing in his reply after thinking about them for a few minutes.

There’s nobody to tell him can he tell a human that or not… But since this isn't a classic horror film interaction, why not telling him about it? Not like it and privacy matters that much anymore.

“ Wow wow, slow down my dude, that's some... long-story-short questions you just asked. But before I answer any of those, I need to know would you help me out or not first, a simple yes or no. Because, you know, those questions are awfully personally to a ghost, to a stuck one like me.

Alex shakes himself awake at that reply. It’s been a week since he moved in and Alex hasn’t gone outside at all; he didn’t eat much and is still counting on the fridge stock. He hasn’t interacted with anyone, which may have caused him to forget very basic manners. He forgot he has just asked someone, a former human, how they died.

“I’m sorry, didn’t mean to offend you. What do you mean by “help out”? What will this help entail? I pretty much have nothing to do for now so time’s not a concern.”

Alex smiles bitterly at his own reply. Time was something he never had before. He enrolled in college with an unbelievable amount of financial aid, his name too innocuous for filtering. After that, he learned that uni had never been the highschool endgame, the movie ending he imagined. No, it was a storm of progress.

He balanced between study with finding enough dough to feed himself. It went well until Alex was wrought with illness after spending 14 hours a day outdoors in January running errands. He lost precious time for his work, his study and was brought into the care of one Eliza Schuyler. She was doing Meds but helped out her Nursery friend who couldn’t attend her practicals. Eliza was drawn to his hard work and scathing humor, the way his speech naturally flaunts.

She just didn’t know that the downsides to him were sleepless nights, a frayed mind and a man desperate to rise above his station.

She realized too late when her belly swelled and she had to hide from her sisters by staying over at his place 24/7. The nights she couldn’t sleep with his desk lamp on and the cackling of his keyboard, her feet aching which prevented her from seeking relief from the morning sickness. The way Alex tried to do work from home to tend for her needs went underappreciated. They were sketched in different shades of pencil gray, smudged in terrible condition. Both missing schools, both not working enough to sustain themselves and both miserable. Both failing uni and there was no salvation but to retake the year. Scholarship ripped away from Alex and his chance of regaining a similar one is a number with many zeros behind a dot.

One of them had a family to fall onto, the other did not. And he would never do. And he will soon make a child fatherless with the bromethalin waiting in his bag like a ticking time bomb.

He stands up from his former position, taking few steps to face that kid who smiles bitterer than how he should in his age. Not like he’s that much older than him, but he knows what other kids look like at his age, at least how they look like at 2008. Replying him further with a sarcastic tone between his sentence doesn’t sound like a good option at this moment. Charles decides to write his answer with a different kind of tone he was planning to use.

“ Non taken, it was good enough that you are curious than furiously trying to kick me out…”

He remembers the first few families who seem to care about him at first. Our little girl has an imaginary best friend, they said. How cute, he like a dog just like her, they awed. He wants her to let him be IN her body, they screamed. Totally ignored is the reason behind his intention to possess her, only looked into the things that conquered over their minds. Most humans who didn’t get scared treated him like a pest. forgetting who is the real owner and who’s the new *guest*.

“ ...that help relates to my afterlife. To answer your one of your question, Yes, the afterlife does exist. Even though I haven’t been to my own afterlife yet. But I can feel it... like that company you always want to get in, but you just not qualified... ANYWAY. I, clearly still stuck in between. This means I still haven’t moved on, I still have regrets I NEED to fulfilled… I know we just start to know each other for couples minutes, it’s fine if you don’t want to help me at all. “

He tries to look Alex in the eyes, saying out the help he needs while typing it down.

“ Can I… Possess you? And maybe borrow your thin-Computer for a day. I just need to find her, I mean, finish that things I can’t leave behind … I won’t overdo it, of course, even I know too much possession can kill a human. “

Alex blinks and rereads. Blinks some more. Traces the line with his finger. So his battery level has decreased almost by half. He quickly imagines how being killed by this will be like; probably feeling drained and tired until you suddenly drop dead like a shut-down PC.

So it’ll be a sort of death in your sleep kind of way...suddenly the bromethalin seems a tad ridiculous. Alex’s having an easy way out, and it comes unexpectedly almost like everything else in his life.

“So..Charles? Why are you asking for permission? Did you almost kill someone when you tried to possess them?” He asks to find out if there’s really a guarantee of death should this possession business be real.

“ Well, it’s a tradition. A routine we need to follow if we need to possess a living thing. Like… inviting a vampire into your house? “

Charles types back with a sense of relief but misunderstands Alex’s reaction to his response. He only catches his reaction of him touching the decreasing battery level.

“To be honest, I have never really possessed a person more than an hour before. I heard about how possession kills a health human though. And killing someone with this… unfortunately *power* isn’t my intention.”

He lies down on the ground, pretending he can feel those dust on the floor again. Like what he used to do when he wanted to avoid his parents’ meeting. Sleeping on the cold floor with AC running whole night always made him sick enough to not seeing anyone, but still able to do his works.

Alex for a moment cannot see the blurry figure anymore and panics a bit. He hasn’t seen it lying down.

“Wait? Where are you?” He calls. “I’m curious, how do you know you are poss- how do you know you have successfully possessed someone?”

“And how will possessed death be like, I wonder? Is it like brain dead or stop-breathing-dead?”

“ I'm on the ground buddy. Already missing me without even seeing me clearly?”

He didn’t get up from the ground but stay in the same position, typing out his answer with his head this time. One of the few good things about being a ghost, you can type with your mind. Which lower the rated battery dies out, but still takes a lot of battery power out fast.

“I’m glad you are getting serious now, cause your computer is dying faster than I thought. Well, I would be able to control your physically. Kinda like your 2nd personality in some way, you would still be able to interact with me internally??

…and the ...um, death? It would be like a brain dead situation. I would be slowly draining your brain, human’s natural energy source, where we have most of the electric signals going on. That’s probably an important reason why a ghost need consent to possess anyone. We are basically slowly sucking up your life juice. “

“...how can I trust you to control me?” Alex asks, shuddering. This sounds like an out-of-control situation and that’s something unacceptable for Alex. No way. Not after the downward spiral he and Eliza were helpless to escape.

“Can’t you do what you’re doing now? Like…” Alex looks to the ground, not seeing the blurry figure very well so he pins his gaze onto a particular spot. “Like...not be in my body but still using my life force?”

John’d criticize him for his need to control everything. But Alex thinks once you’ve reached such a low point as now, your complex is of the least concern.

He wonders if Charles needs to keep his ghostly state a secret.

“Well, that’s not how human possession works, unfortunately.“

He replies to Alex with a smirk on his face, chuckles lightly from how easy human imagines possession would be. Why would he be controlling those machines than humans when humans are so much more efficient?

“ I figured out that we can only control lifeless subjects distantly, but not any lives who have a thought. Do you know I even have to negotiate with a bird if I want to possess it? Yes, I tried E V E R Y T H I N G . “ And he can’t understand any of their words no matter how hard he tried.

“And I’m only a regular ghost who barely managed to keep my energy wave together, forcing a living being to be fully under my control… would possibly break me apart. So yeah, you totally don’t need to worry about me doing anything you don’t want. I would be like your subpersonality, who doesn’t have enough power to push you away from the spotlight? “

For a moment, Alex isn’t going to take the risk. But then he sees himself in the phrase “tried E V E R Y T H I N G” and does a double-take. He knows very well the feeling of having done everything and still ends up alone. Defeated. A failure.

That feeling of loneliness, helplessness and trapped is what he sees in this ghost friend. He has nothing to lose. And even if he dies from this, maybe Charles can take over his body. And live a better life than him.

It’s a win-win.

“You’ve got yourself a deal. How do I give consent?” Alex asks into thin air.

Charles can't hide his smile when Alex really agree with this … Is he truly going to give his consent to use his body? Dear god, I promise I won’t kill this innocent kid and use his body as little as possible.

“OMG, you are giving me your consent ?! ...Here, repeat this sentence after me till you can see me laying on...no, sitting on the ground with my favorite sweater. “

He sits up and tries to make himself looks less messy, someone is going to look at him clearly with giving him consent. At least Alex would see a ghost with a fixed hair. A good first expression would probably make their face to face interaction less awkward.

“ repeat after this till you see me: I, Alex (your full name), agree to let Charles Lee possess me at my free will. Not because of outside force or threat by the ghost who is going to take control of my body temporarily.”

“If something goes wrong...Nah, I mean, who is there to miss.” Alex chuckles carefreely and repeats the phrase written on his screen.

“I, Alexander Hamilton, agree to let Charles Lee possess me at my free will. Not because of outside forces or threat by the ghost…” A drop of sweat trails down the side of his face. Alex is really reaching the end of this sentence. He has forgotten what it feels like for his heart to beat this fast, for him to feel the liveliness of expectation, “who is going to take control of my body temporarily.”

He shuts his eyes.

A connection suddenly appears right after Alex finishes his sentence. Charles can take control of Alex’s body without any barrier now. But he wants to wait till he finally can see him in the eyes. And make sure he still agree on doing it afterword.

“Alright, I think we have built that route for possession now… can you hear me? “

He asks curiously, trying to calm himself down from talking to a real human in five years. Hoping Alex would be able to hear him.

“ Do you… regret your decision now ?”

Alex’s eyes open as he is startled by the sudden voice in the previously quiet room. Following the direction of it, Alex sees a young man sitting on the floor.

A handsome face, symmetrical and nice to look at if not for the way blood is dripping over the left side of it. His ghost, Charles Lee, is wearing a large sweater with the faded writing of a university name. His skin is translucently pale, so pale that the dark eye bags are as pronounced as eye make-up.

“You are...Charles?” He reaches out to touch the ghost’s shoulder and it felt as if his hand passes through a block of ice. It’s a numbing feeling, strangely calm. If death is actually like this, Alex doesn’t see why he has anything to fear.

“No. I don’t regret it.” He offers his hand for a shake. “Not at all.”

“ Yep, I’m your local-very-dead ghost roommate, Charles Lee. “

He puts on a more relaxing smile when Alex start asking him questions instead of getting irrational about his present, he did meet a better human this time. Better than the last human who tried to kick him out with holy water (which was only a waste of money).

“ I’m glad that you didn’t freak out meeting me. You know, I don’t exactly look like a normal human. Do I give you a good first expression? Like my style so far ?”

He shakes Alex’s hand with his most steady handshake, greeting his temporarily human in a manner he hasn’t use for ages. Can’t help but gets exciting about having this opportunity enter his life, well, dead-life.

“ Are you sure you are ready for a possession though? I don’t feel you have enough energy for it. “ He asks after shaking Alex’s hand, noticing the condition of his current stage isn’t as good as he imagined before their connection.

“Let’s roll with it. I’m probably the best chance you’ve got.” Alex brushes off Charles’s concern for his health. “We’ll start soon. I’m gonna help you free yourself from regrets.”

Even though Alex is still living with his.

“ … Let’s start this tomorrow, I insist. We need to give your body some time to get used to our connection. “

He pats his new human on the shoulder and tried his best to still looks exciting. Like this connection between them only means the possession, nothing more.

But he knows nothing more about it, this is a completely new experience for him too. He has no idea what might happen next.

“both of us need some charging right now. Possession would work the best with a fully rested body. “

And so they slept.

#hamilton #fanfic #ghost au #alexander hamilton #charles lee #college fail #tw: death #tw: self loathing #tw: sucidal thoughts #main character death #afterlife #collab #parental issues

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johnark · 7 years

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MAKE BLOGGING GREAT AGAIN

I am certainly not a friend of Donald Trump, but I am not his enemy either. I didn’t vote for him, but he is my president. He is the President of the United States of America. It pains me when I see and hear my president continually stating and tweeting ridiculous, obviously incorrect assertions; assertions that are quickly refuted by valid facts. Many are so ridiculous no one bothers fact checking him. When he was just a political pundit and when he was just a candidate, it could be laughed off. But now, when he does it, it hurts. He is damaging his integrity and the integrity of the office. Not only nationally, but worldwide. The world listens when the President of the United States speaks (or tweets). Unfortunately, he is not likely to change. He has been doing this his entire life. His latest ridiculous tweet(s) asserting that Obama “wire tapped my lines” in Trump Tower during the campaign has apparently angered both the GOP and the Democrats and they are doing their utmost to make The Donald admit that he made a mistake. He is not likely to do that. It is not in his character to admit fault. It is actually humorous to hear Sean Spicer and Mike Pence try to answer questions about it. I think everyone in Washington knows how it came about and they just don’t want to say it. The story originated with an article in Heat Street, a far right website owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and started by Louise Mensch, a former Conservative Party member of the British Parliament. The article, based on anonymous sources, alleged that the FBI sought and obtained a warrant to investigate Russia’s interference in the US presidential election. This part of the article is true. The article alleges that the warrant involved a server, possibly related to the Trump campaign. A far right radio talk show host, Mark Levin, laid out a theory based on the Heat Street article on his radio program. His ‘theory’ postulated, without further evidence, the idea that Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower. Impossible, of course. No president can do that. The theory and accusation was heard by Joel Pollack, Breitbart News Editor. Joel took the ‘theory’ and the accusation and embellished it with his own unsubstantiated information for an article he posted on Breitbart News. A White House aid placed a copy of the Breitbart News article in Donald’s daily reading pile. Then, fueled by that Breitbart report, Trump unleashed the series of astounding tweets* that accused Obama of spying on him. (The tweets are at the end of this blog). Instead of tweeting, why didn’t he call FBI Director James Comey and ask if it was true? Unfortunately it is not his nature to do so. His public life, especially since he became a candidate, is a litany of ridiculous, unsubstantiated statements and accusations. It is a paradox because Trump is a voracious consumer of media news in spite of his ridiculing and disparaging the media. He often tweets immediately after a TV news segment. The TVs are on all day – Fox News a constant, CNN and MSNBC intermittently. He deems CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC ‘fake news.’ FOX News is the only valid source. The media is not Donald’s problem. It is facts. I know my wish is wishful wishing, but I wish The Donald would verify his information before dispatching it to the world. Even in his recent address to the Congress, he distorted the facts on jobs, immigration, health insurance, war spending and more. His statement that his inauguration crowd was the biggest in history was indeed sad. Some humor came out of it though. Kellyanne Conway coined the phrase “alternative facts” in defending the indefensible. The daily White House news briefing by Sean Spicer borders on ‘comedy central’ frequently. Trump has long disparaged the ‘jobs created’ and the ‘unemployed’ numbers by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as fake, but when the jobs created numbers exceeded the forecast under his administration, Donald tweeted that they were good and valid statistics. Spicer replied to a query regarding the disparity with a smile and said “they may have been false before, but they are real now.” The latest Spicer involved ridiculous W.H. news brief involves Britain. Evidently Trump sent him out to the Briefing Room with the revelation that Obama had requested the British Government to spy on Trump. Usually they don’t give a source for this type of ‘news,’ but in this case Spicer said the source was a report on Fox News. Trump repeated the revelation at his news conference with Chancellor Merkel, saying it came from a very good lawyer on Fox News. The UK immediately responded, calling the allegation absurd and ridiculous. Then Fox News responded saying they made no such allegation. As usual, Trump will not admit to fault or allow Spicer to admit to fault. This type of activity by The Donald is difficult to accept and it seems that both the GOP and the Dems have decided to tolerate it no more. They seem determined to “hold Trump’s feet to the fire” in the Obama ‘wire tapping’ episode. I recall when he said that Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the JFK assassination. On this one, he finally admitted that he was repeating an article he read in the National Inquirer. Did he believe the article? Repeating a tabloid article as fact is bad enough, but believing the article is fact is much worse. Which is it with President Trump? He said his Inauguration crowd was the largest in history, quickly refuted with photos. He said he won the popular vote if the 5 million illegal votes were not counted, but provided no evidence of illegal votes. No one else has been able to find any evidence of illegality either. He said there was a terrorist attack in Sweden when there was none. He said Obama released 122 vicious prisoners from Gitmo who returned to terrorism. There were 9. The rest were released by George Bush. His spokesperson, Kellyanne Conway was documented three times referring to a nonexistent Bowling Green Massacre. Both Trump and Sessions claimed that murder is at an all time high whereas the data shows it at its lowest in decades. Trump declares China a currency manipulator whereas the facts refute this. He chastises China for not helping on North Korea. China has discontinued coal imports from North Korea which is one third of North Korea’s exports. He said he would demand that Japan pay for the US troops stationed there. Japan already pays for them. Trump said that he would renegotiate the trade agreements with Germany. The US has no trade agreements with Germany. The agreements are with the EU. He praised the LA Times for predicting his victory. Actually the Times predicted that he would win the popular vote, which he didn’t do. Trump says that his Electoral College win was by the largest margin in history. The facts say otherwise. Both Trump and VP Pence state that Trump’s victory was overwhelming, giving him a strong mandate to lead the country. Trump has used the word landslide in several tweets. Kellyanne Conway tweeted ‘landslide, blowout, historic.’ He received fewer votes than Romney did in losing to Obama. His overwhelming majority fades quickly in the details. Trump won Michigan by 10,704; Wisconsin by 22,177; and Pennsylvania by 46,435. Therefore if 39,659 votes in those states were switched, 46 electoral votes would have flipped to Clinton and she would have won 278 to 260. To give that even more perspective: the University of Michigan football stadium seats 107,000. The deciding votes would not fill half that stadium. So much for landslide, overwhelming mandate. Trump objects to the media’s use of anonymous sources, but he seldom sources his tweets and statements. His staff in the WH continually holds “on background” conversations with reporters with the condition that officials names not be used. Trump said “I know more about Isis than the generals. We are going to eliminate Isis very quickly after I’m elected.” He was asked by an NBC reporter for his Isis plan. He said he would ask his generals for a plan. The reporter followed up with ‘is that your plan – to ask someone else for their plan?’ That ‘general’s plan’ was just released to Congress. It was characterized by a congressman as a Plan B to Obama’s Plan A. Plan B being to intensify Plan A. Trump said his cabinet has the highest IQ in history. He also said that his nominees are the greatest in history. General Michael Flynn, the National Security Advisor, was fired by Trump for lying about his conversations with Russian Ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, especially to VP Pence. Pence probably demanded it because Pence then repeated the lie on national TV. Flynn also was acting as a foreign agent in dealing with congress and he did not register as such which is a crime. Trump named as a replacement Vice Admiral Robert Harwood, a former Navy SEAL, but he rejected the offer. Then Trump named General H.R. McMaster, who accepted. Good choice, good man. Betsy DeVoss, Secretary of Education, plagiarized in her written confirmation statement and then used misspelled words in her apology for the ‘error.’ Andrew Puzder, Secretary of Labor, withdrew his nomination after it was known that he had used an illegal alien as a housekeeper for several years without paying FICA and his ex-wife accused him of domestic abuse. Tom Price, Health and Human Services, was under scrutiny for insider trading because of a mountain of circumstantial evidence. Monica Crowley withdrew from the position of Senior Communications Director of the National Security Council. She plagiarized in her Harvard Ph.D. Dissertation and in her book on politics. Etc. So, Trump has the best nominees in history? While I am on personalities, I notice that Vice President Mike Pence routinely used a private email account to conduct public business as governor of Indiana, at times discussing sensitive matters and homeland security issues. This is in violation of Indiana law. This after his relentless attacks on Hillary about private emails during the campaign. Trump, in reply to reported start-up problems, said “my administration is running like a fine-tuned machine.” Right from the start we saw President Trump busily signing documents, appearing to be accomplishing great tasks. Thankfully most of that activity consisted of memorandums, proclamations, and orders directing agencies and departments to conduct various reviews such as: calling for the Pentagon to conduct a 30-day review of readiness, recommending that the NSC and the HSC restructure, directing the Commerce Department to streamline the permitting process, etc. However, one Executive Order signed on Friday night 27 January 2017 created chaos at international airports and world wide protests.

The order blocked the entry of citizens from Syria indefinitely and blocked for three months entry from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. These are seven mostly Muslim countries. On Saturday morning lawyers were in court and got a federal judge to issue an emergency stay blocking the implementation of the order. However, the Department of Homeland Security shrugged off the court rulings on Sunday, saying the orders will have little impact on the implementation of Trump’s order, saying “the order remains in place – prohibited travel remains prohibited.” Rallies erupted all across the US, especially at airports in a groundswell of fury at the order. There was no advance warning or planning for this order. Trump moved without the traditional consultation with members of his Cabinet, leaders in Congress or even the government lawyers who customarily review the language and legal basis for executive orders and memorandums. The 9th Circuit Court quickly blocked the implementation of the order nation-wide on a permanent basis. Trump appealed, but finally withdrew the appeal and filed a new order with some modifications. However, the Federal Court quickly halted the implementation of this one, also. Trump said that he would appeal to the Supreme Court if necessary. This is not the only poorly conceived and poorly planned action by Trump’s “finely – tuned machine.” Just five days after taking office, Trump had dinner with Kushner, Bannon, Flynn, Mattis, Dunford and Pence. They approved a special operations raid by SEAL Team 6 on what the US now calls a terrorist compound in Yemen. The local people call the structure a family house. In Yemen most men always carry weapons. The attack resulted in a ferocious 50 minute firefight in which William Owens was killed and 3 other SEALs were wounded and a $75 million aircraft was destroyed. The SEALs were pinned down and only escaped when air strikes were called in. This operation was never raised to operational status by Obama. It was one of a series of proposals. The attack by Trump obviously was not well planned and obviously did not have accurate intelligence. It appears that the Trump team just wanted to impress with a quick raid on terrorists. Then in haste to justify the raid and report that valuable information was obtained, Trump released information that they claimed was new, valuable and obtained on the raid but in fact was information that had been posted on the internet in 2007. Then they said they were after an al Qaida leader who wasn’t there. The number of casualties varies from US to locals to NPR reporters. Best estimate is that there were 14 combatants killed along with over 38 civilians including children. The survivors said that the family was working with the Yemeni government that the US and KSA have been supporting against Houthi rebels, who are armed and supported by Iran. Now Yemen has banned all US military activity in the country, whereas they were assisting the US war on terror prior to the failed raid. The raid destroyed much of the village of Yakla. Spicer characterized the raid as “very, very well thought out and executed.” He also essentially intimated that “if you call the raid a failure, you are unpatriotic.” So, a “fine-tuned machine” is it? I see chaos at home and chaos abroad. Trump did say “There has never been a presidency that has done so much in such a short period of time.” I would agree with that. Some of the other things that Trump and the GOP have done since taking office are: an executive order blocking an Obama order that would have reduced the cost of mortgages for millions of home buyers, an executive order blocking the implementation of the fiduciary rule requiring banks and investment advisors to act in the client’s best interest, an executive order making it easier for mentally ill people to buy guns, an executive order removing the requirement that mining companies demonstrate financial resources to cleanup their pollution, and an executive order removing the ‘sludge discharge into local streams’ restriction on coal companies. We never expected Donald Trump to be a compassionate conservative ala George Bush, but he did promise to be an uncompromising populist who would fight for the forgotten poor, rural Americans. His actions and his budget blueprint is a betrayal of those people and his populist message. From my viewpoint, this presidency is a rolling disaster. The result so far has been the most chaotic and incompetent White House I can remember. The GOP prides themselves in having fiscal responsibility, but what about decreasing taxes, spending $1 Trillion on infrastructure, increasing defense by $54 billion. This is like my saying ‘OK, my salary is cut so I’m going to buy a new car and a new house.’ After all the promises and threats, it seems that the GOP has no choice but to repeal and replace the ACA in short order. But they could not have gone about it in a less competent way. After all those years of attacking it, they still were not ready with a replacement – now they are doing so in scramble mode. Is it better to pass a bill for party integrity, or take time to create a bill that is good health care and good for the country? Take time to review the health care systems of the industrialized nations and try to incorporate their proven, good points into our system! I don’t like the idea of tax credits aiding the purchase of insurance. Most people take the standard deduction; therefore a tax credit is of no value to them. They say they want to make health insurance available. Available and affordable is the key. A $10 million house is available to me now, paying for it is the problem. I am for single payer, universal coverage, essentially eliminating insurance companies. All our competitors have it. We don’t have to invent the health care wheel. Take what has been proven to work and form our system. Every medical provider office you enter in the US now has from 1 to 5 people handling only insurance for that office. And each office has several receptionists, also. It is estimated that from 20 to 50 percent of the money we spend on health care as a nation goes to administration. We need to take health care away from the insurance companies and from the pharmaceutical companies and give it to the citizens. I’ll not see it in my lifetime, that’s for sure. Most of what gets done in Washington is done by the congress. Unfortunately the GOP can’t say to Donald “Donald, thank you for getting us in power, now put your feet on the desk in the Oval Office and be the President – we’ll take it from here.” They don’t have the courage for that and are put in the awkward position of either defending the latest bit of stupidity from the WH or being honest about how ridiculous it is, which they know would win them the president’s ire. Because he talks and tweets before he thinks and then he cannot admit that he was wrong, Trump drags out these ridiculous issues endlessly. This distracts his staff, distracts the congress and they have to spend endless hours pretending that its serious and legitimate and are forced to answer questions about it for weeks. This is important time taken away from advancing the GOP agenda. What does Rush Limbaugh have to say about all this Trump stuff? He says “it’s an Obama conspiracy to execute a ‘silent coup’ to unseat Trump and render him ‘effectively immaterial’ as President. Obama has advanced the pretext of Russian interference to justify his illegal wiretaps and illegal leaks of information.” There you have it, from the guru himself. Steve Bannon couldn’t have said it better.

Donald Trump Memes are Making the Internet Great Again! On the internet when there is a blank piece of paper, sign or poster, the internet will reliably find a way to turn that canvas into endless possibilities. Internet users have transformed the GIF of Trump displaying a signed executive order into executive humor. I created a few of them myself. I include them at the end of this blog. Before I close perhaps we could benefit from the words of the famous basketball coach, John Wooden: “Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE 20% TAX ON ALL IMPORTS FROM MEXICO TO PAY FOR THE WALL???

#JohnArkBlog12 #22March2017 #MakeBloggingGreatAgain

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