#and then telling her about the military industrial complex

[jonathanbyersphd]

⭐️

Hi Faith, tysm for the ask bc I get to talk about my baby.

OK so I LOVE everything about we'll be a fine line, we'll be alright like it's one of my favorite fics I've ever written but ANYWAYS SPECIFICALLY this part:

"No uh I'm going to the Wheelers for dinner" he rattles off. "Oh" "Yea" he smiles hesitantly. "You're not going to the Wheelers too?" She asks Will. "Can I???" Will exclaims, lighting up like he's getting away with something. "No" Jonathan answers gravely. "Jonathan!" She scolds. "Mom, seriously?" He begs. "What I'm sure Karen-" "Can't I just" he starts before stopping himself to rethink his words "I can bring Will next time I promise but tonight I'd like to go alone if that's ok" His eyes are flitting around the room but can't seem to meet hers and she wonders if he's lying about his dinner plans. For a minute, she's about to tell him that she knows about the vodka. And then ask what else he's lying about. She’s pretty sure she’s smelled weed on him a couple times. She’s dying to ask how stupid he thinks she is. To pick a fight, just to feel something. But his expression is so soft and concerned. And she recoils, remembering that she swore she'd never be as cruel as her mother. "Ok honey" she concedes. Jonathan nods, ruffles Will's hair, and kisses her on the cheeks before leaving the kitchen. "Jonathan" she calls after him. "Yea" he responds, stopping dead in his tracks in the living room. "Why don't you put your black sweater over your shirt. It matches better" she advises.

Like we've got Jonathan (You're on your own kid coded) nervous as HELL for his first dinner at the Wheeler's as Nancy's boyfriend. We have Will (precious angel bby) being a complete SHITHEAD about it. And lastly, we have Joyce (Mother) who is completely overwhelmed/feeling like she's failing as a parent wanting to fight with him just because she can but pulls back.

And what I especially love about this whole sequence of first dinner events. Is that Joyce is SO close to understanding what's happening. Like she knows he's off, but she thinks it's because he's drinking. And then there's this part of her that wants to be mean but the thing that holds her back is her own generational trauma. (and I imagine also a little unconscious fear that if she pushes him too far she'll lose one of the few supports she has, bc themes of her unintentional parentification of him u know?) Like???

AND THEN because the inquisitive, smart, "always right" Joyce that we know is still there just below the surface she tells him to put something else on that makes him look better. (It's the sweater he wears at Murray's btw) Like she knows that this dinner is important, that he wants to go alone, and she tells him what will make a better impression to the point that there's also this line after he leaves:

She hears him pop into his room and then he's out the door. His car turns over just as she sits down. It's only then that it registers how weird a dinner invitation without Will is. Maybe he and Nancy are more friends than study buddies, he is teaching her how to drive after all. Then again maybe they finally… but no. No, no, that’s just her old fantasy talking.

Like subconsciously she KNOWS they're together but she's so filled with grief, depression, etc. that she deep in denial.

This is also one of the scenes that I wish I wrote from Jonathan's POV in a separate fic. Because I imagine that he hasn't been able to go to 'Meet The Parents' dinner this whole time and he feels so guilty. But a couple days before he promises Nancy he can finally do it. (and she's so happy and he's so in love with her) Because Mom's doing better, surely they can get on without him for a couple hours. And it's important to him, like he wants to be a Good™️ boyfriend. (that boy is desperate for parental approval I know it in my heart) But then he comes home and Joyce is hiding in her room, and he's like fuck. So he makes an easy dinner for her and Will, while he's getting ready but he can't figure out his tie and he can't ask Joyce because she has her own problems. (Jonathan feeling like a burden for needing to parented is so important to me) BUT HE STILL GOES TO DINNER. Like it's such a beautiful moment of Jonathan struggling with what he feels like he has to do and what he wants to do and picking what he wants. (a little independence as a treat). There's also a very cute moment of Nancy (who's been watching from her window) cutting him off before he rings the doorbell so she can frantically put a tie on him before Ted can start shit.

ANYWAYS, clearly I could talk about this fic for a while

Send me a fanfic director's cut ask

[waffowo]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[kanmom51]

JK Radio Stationhead 1 October 2023

And a little more as well...

cr./and huge thanks to the translation accounts I used in this post.

I think this was the most interesting Stationhead we've had so far with JK. JK was chatty, informative (well, to an extent), I would maybe even say combative? Maybe that's a little too strong a term to use, but I do think he came to show that he is unbothered by the shitstorm going on and clap back just a little bit. And he knows about that shitstorm, make no mistake.

I see Jikookers falling for this hateful campaign against JK. Not only are they perpetuating it, but they are also adding to it, embellishing it, and spreading it.

By now JK has had several girlfriends named, he's a baby daddy (she was pregnant in Feb, so...), he's going on double dates with his mate Tae, trucking (censorship issues had me change that - you know exactly what it's meant to be) her with the windows and curtains open for all to see (after telling us he's aware he's being followed around including home). All this he managed to get done before he sat down and did hours on end of JM dedicated lives, calling him his fan, flirting with him online while in bed for all of us to see, and going on a 4 day private trip with him.

A very wise blogger once said: (@ourwinterspring, hope you don't mind me quoting your wise words):

Rumors are created by haters accepted by fools and spread by idiots

That. Just that!!!

People that called themselves Jikook supporters (I'm not talking about shippers, they are in this for their own self gratification, while supporters are supposed to be looking out for JM and JK and supporting them both individually and their relationship, which btw is still considered tabooed in their own country), they are rushing to conclusions, and aiding in the spread of these lies.

K-army laughed them off.

Chinese army are fighting them off.

And I army are just spreading them like wildfire.

Why this long winded introduction?

Because Jikook are in an impossible position really. They are a closeted queer couple in a country and industry that would not accept their relationship if it would become publicly known. As long as the door is open for deniability they are ok. Taking that step through that door and out of the closet, that is one hell of a step with many consequences, to them and to those who surround them.

JK is about to release his 1st solo album, and he's in the midst of trying to infiltrate the American and Western music market. To do so they are selling a very certain image, and being queer is not part of it.

They are also both before enlistment to the military.

Them going: "hey bitches, the stories are untrue, we're in a long term loving relationship", is not a realistic expectation. And no matter what JK would say otherwise, the rumours they are just gonna keep coming, cause this train, this coordinated smear attack, it's not finished. And if and when that would be done, we'd be back to Yubi and Rose and Lisa (oh, oops, she's with Freddie), and Miju. Ehm, she's married. But wait, since when has that stopped anyone, eh? It didn't stop the Nicole stories, which, btw, are still rampant, including among some Jikookers (?) - what the actual truck is wrong with people???

So, no Jikook announcement.

A company one? Kind of feel that one won't come either. Again, JK 3D promotions and upcoming album in mind. Not to mention, and this my friends is me being super cynical right now, other than the harassment claims, the company doesn't have a problem with these rumours, given it solidifies his bad boy, truckboy, heterosexual image they are selling right now. There, I said it.

But Jikook, JM and JK, they aren't happy with this. They can't be happy with this. As much as this image is a price to pay, on the way JK is sending us constant hints that it ain't all that you see. That he's a complex being. That he might appear one way in 3D, but another in Seven and another in his CK and Vogue photoshoots (the latter with him being the artistic designer and bringing along some outfits and/or accessories that he wanted himself), not to mention someone else all together in his long lives with us. He tells us this is him. Who we see. But those that only see that image in 3D are just not looking at the full picture he's painting.

This is him:

But also this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

They are all pieces of the puzzle that is one Mr. Jeon Jungkook. And I'm sure there are pieces we have yet to see.

It's funny that JK is singing 3D (basically having phone sex and wishing for more) but at the same time he's telling us "this is me in 3D". Not one dimensional. A complex grown up human being.

Btw, I kind of feel like I need to link this post again, seeing that so many are still thinking that having muscles, tattoos and piercings makes you heterosexual or at least bi. Cause, I mean, you must be sexually attracted to women if you are super masculine, and get tattoos or pierce your body, right?

Oh boy, this is a long one. I haven't even started with Stationhead, lol.

So, JK is trying to show us he's a complex human being. This is him. Not one MV or song he chose to sing. The full picture. The shoots he chooses, the concepts for his songs (do I have to remind of his Seven concept shoot?), his lives, what he shared with us (as in past tense cause Idk how much more he will with everything that's going on).

And in the midst of this, knowing you are in a committed relationship, having your integrity, your good name smeared, being with the person you love and knowing that the world not only doesn't see how dear you are to each other but also thinks you're being sexually intimate with multiple others. Not to mention, having to deal at this young age with the knowledge that there are people out there that hate you enough to want to hurt you on such a level, to ruin your good name, your career. It can be paralyzing. And they put on a brave face. JK says he knows people hate him and good for them, he'll continue to live his life. But it's hard, it's hurtful, and these two, they are the kindest sweetest people out there, they don't deserve this.

OMG, when will I finally get to the point?

I think about now would be a good time.

So, no speaking up. No announcement. But at the same time they don't want to just sit there and take it.

Phew, here we go?

JK came today, 1st October (or more so 1st Jimtober) to Stationhead after his 3D dance practice video landed (same day).

And by some strange coincidence (no coincidence at all), JM released his second #ThisisJimin dance clip to Dominic Fike's Phone Numbers with these lyrics, coincidentally:

Woah, Kenny! Why you not here with me? Can you break bread with me? Why you switch phone numbers like clothes? Why you can't answer me? (Yeah) 'Cause I got more coming

(Not a love song)

Using a prop. Wait for it...

Oh, and the outfits that happen to be kind of similar and sticking to the black and white.

I feel like I'm repeating myself here, but you know, sometimes you need to in order to hammer the message in.

And JK, well he also posted a selfie on Weverse (while on Stationhead).

1st Jimtober with his fave Jack Skellington.

So yeah. The little things. Those little codes that say "we are here, we are ok, all is well, this will definitely not break us."

Yes. I get all of that from those little things, lol.

But, it didn't end with that.

And here we are.

Finally at the precipice.

Well, not precipice per say. That's being a little dramatic. But I am finally going to get to JK on Stationhead, as in what we got from him during the show.

I guess with this long introduction I should start with the Jikook related, right?

Let's start with JK repeating the endearment JM used in his IG post for 3D.

And then JK basically confirmed that he and JM were together when drawing the cloud whale drawing JM shared with us on IG telling us JK drew it.

Making sure we know that they drew the whale together.

You don't have to understand Korean to hear the amusement in his voice. We don't know when this was taken (CT or perhaps more recently... although my initial thought was CT I'm kind of leaning to it being more recent, like very recent), but we know they were together. We thought so and now JK confirmed it.

Enjoyed confirming it.

He also brought up JM's birthday being this month. Yes, he could be reacting to comments, but we've discussed this multiple times in the past. You know. Choices. And in this case, his choice which ones to answer, right?

Once again, it's all in the way it's all being said. The "I know something you don't" tone of voice. The "a-ha, yeah, Uhah" while supposedly looking up if he's doing something on the day. The "I'm going to be busy...I see I have a schedule..?" ending with a question mark? As in "do I really?" Lol.

The way he was talking, the man has something planned. I really don't want to have any expectations here. But man, he's making it hard for me not to have them. Lmao.

And another JM related comment he chooses to answer:

This time you don't get the sassiness or teasing in his voice like we did with the JM birthday answer. Idk why they aren't doing each other's challenges. It's for them to know. We know JK was showing/teaching JM Seven moves. We know that JK knew SMF pt. 2 moves. I guess it's something they just decided between them. Or perhaps schedules didn't and aren't aligning. Who knows. And who knows, we might just get a surprise. Next phone song JM does could be 3D, lol.

Ok, so he saw his parents. He goes on to also talk about his mother's cooking (oh, that man is so in trouble with his mom calling her cooking bland, lmao). Kind of gathering from it all that JK was in Busan for the holiday. Could that photo JM shared, you know, the one JK made sure we know they both drew the whale on, have been taken when they were both down in Busan for the holiday? I wonder...

This here is, I feel, JK clapping back a little at the haters. But also telling us, once again, that he's an adult and does adult things. Knows how to work hard when needed, and when to "play hard", as in relax and have a good time, when allowed.

This one isn't about Jikook (well in a sense maybe it is, as it's about shooting down TKKs hopes and prayers, lol). JK clarifying Tae's story about him recording a song at JK's place and JK directing him.

So, no pre-planning, JK's reply "and I was like "suddenly"? And also letting us know Tae didn't record the final at his place. Burn, lol. Also answers (again - like in the Inkigayo live) a question about karaoke with Tae. More or less same answer. More or less "that's a no"?

And this I already shared with you guys:

This is basically JK. Again, when he says I'm showing you my true self. It's not the image of the hunky guy with the sexy expressions doing that sexy choreography with the female dancers hands on him. Well not only. It's the shy introvert that feels awkward when these women are touching him. And just to be clear here. This isn't me saying anything about his sexuality. But it's definitley me saying he is not this careless truckboy people are so badly wanting him to be. Being an adult and having sex (let's call it rex from now on), a lot of it, enjoying it, doesn't make it the core of who you are as a person, doesn't mean you are having rex with multiple people for the only pursual of physical gratification nor does it mean that the rex you are having is necessarily with a female even if you are singing a song saying girl in it, to which the lyrics were not written by yourself. JK also sang a song about having rex 7 days a week, but with that one person, in his words, wanting to be all the time with "the love of my life". See, that was a little slip of the tongue by him, lol. But very revealing. Thank you ever so much for that one JK.

Do you understand the difference here?

One being lyrics to a song he's performing, him being a singer. Lyrics he didn't write himself.

The other is his explanation, his take on the meaning of the song he is singing (also not written by him). Inserting that little very personal touch.

Do we get it? JK isn't the lyrics, the lyrics aren't JK.

Oh, and by the by, JK's lyrics aren't referencing multiple partners. If we are being all about "but he's singing it, so it must be who he is". The multiple partners, the truckboy image, that's Jack Harlow's bit. JK is still talking to one person.

But again, I stress, the song doesn't represent JK as a person or his character. And those that are making that leap are simply...

Moving on.

JK's asked which he prefers more? 7 or 3D. Very diplomatically makes sure we know that at the time he liked Seven and now it's leaning more towards 3D. Well duh, this is him promoting it. Then he combines the two to 7D.

"What's your favourite part of 3D?" Him asking the listeners.

JK talked about eating chicken, being busy practicing all the time (I am curious to know what for), finishing up and going home to workout, shower and sleep.

He also talked about GCF and his appreciation for Army.

Asked about music or variety show, and the answer is probably not, it's hard for him (this is where the shy introvert part of him wins, I guess). It's easier to be alone on a stage in front of thousands performing than have to interact one on one with people that you aren't as familiar or comfortable with. On stage you go after much practice. Small talk and interviews and socializing means having to be focused (neuro divergent prince here) and it's so so hard for a shy introvert to deal with. Key word ALONE.

Although he's asked about further plans he's adamant not to give spoilers (well, more so afraid he'll be told off by the company, lol).

He misses the old days I guess. Of Kakao Fancafe. The intimacy of it. The safety of it perhaps.

He also wants to cook for army.

I feel like him telling us he is pulling back on the lives, allowing for the mystery, well he's also missing those lives. He needs that connection with his fans. Maybe even more so with this path he's going down, disconnecting from the idol and becoming the mega star. He needs that emotional connection with his fans. But at the same time, a more intimate setting, where he can really connect with them, is something he prefers.

And again, the connection with Army.

About the members:

F u c k , this is getting way too long. I can't talk about it all. I will add a couple more things and leave it at that. My apologies.

So, this is another clap back from JK:

Oh, and this was curious.

Ooh, one last thing.

He finally tells us where he got the scar on his shoulder from. Well, not too glamorous, lol. He slipped and fell while running in the car park shooting the CK ad. Hurt his finger as well, but that has healed already by now.

JK ending with:

Funny how the little things just added up. All very little perhaps inconsequential actions as of themselves, but add them together and you get a message.

One you will see if only you wish to.

Oh, and end comment. This is utterly disgusting and childish and I'm at a total loss for words here.

We have 2 more of these coming, if I'm not mistaken. Will be interesting to see what we get next.

[kendrixtermina]

Boom

Ok, this one FUCKS right out of the gate.

Seems like we’ll be talking about the evils of the Military Industrial Complex, currently all over the news. Im here for it.

There’s a lot of worldbuilding packed in the opening sequence conveyed through the characters’ interactions.

I like how they take a moment to have Ruby be stunned at the sky even after she’s been travelling with the Doctor for a while. (*war flashback of Yaz & Ryan just going ‚alien planet man‘ & moving on.*) That’s how you make phantastic things land, you show ppl reacting.

& the Doctor needs a while to realize that it would be stunning to her cause he’s pretty used to this but then rattles off facts about the planet. Like… this is what characters who aren’t plank of woods is like.

Wow, Ruby is a very for realsies ride or die real one, isn’t she?

Like, you see why the song she picked in the last episode was the one she wrote for supporting her friend.

That’s quite the knife twist to have the little girl show up at this point, though i wonder how she left the camp undedected.

Very like the doctor to think of asking how the mine works when cornered

Ah, that’s a neat callback, remember back in series 1 how in ‚Dalek‘ it was said that time travellers carry around atron energy?

Or, another anglican Marine episode, big soace time event can plug the time crack?

Only in this case it’s a downside.

Turns out the mine explodes harder for time travellers and the guy who happened to step on it has probably travelled in time more than anyone else in that universe.

Ruby continues to be a quick thinker with the distractions.

OH FRICK

...well. Took no more notes until the end of the episode, which speaks for it, even though I found the whole romantic subplot between the two soldiers a bit flat, unsubtle & cheesy, as is the thing with using the father’s AI duplicate to stop the machines, even if I get the message that was intended.

But I like the twist that they were fighting air &it was all due to the AI activating that the company had rigged in its favor, and the emphasis on puzzling things out.

& the recurring motif of the Doctor talking to the companion to ‚think out loud‘.

It’s interesting to have reached a point in history where rather than getting, like, skynet or something speculative, the evil AI here is is based on the way that it’s actually used by greedy companies IRL in reckless ways.

(This is how you actually do the aesop of ‚its not technology that‘s evil but how ppl use it’, rather than whatever kerblam was supposed to be.)

You gotta commend them for how relatively small stakes the episode is and how much of it is just juicy character drama (the moment with ruby telling the computer to tell her about her "next of kin" in desperation was quite emotional), how it’s almost all in one location, & like… since the Doctor’s thing is talking his way out of situations, it’s an interesting experiment to have an episode where he’s stuck in one place & has to try & solve the plot by talking.

[numinousmysteries]

Dancing the Tandava (9/10)

[on Ao3] @today-in-fic

Princeton, New Jersey 1993

On the drive up to Princeton, Scully listens to Mulder and William discuss classic science-fiction movies and their 21st century reboots. She wishes she could share their easy connection but her shock and disbelief intervenes. It feels unfair that William has this intimate knowledge of her as a mother but she knows so little about him. He is the product of her body and years of her nurturing and yet she feels a gap separating herself from him that she can’t quite bridge.

William is intelligent, kind, and curious. He’s soft-spoken and patient, but confident with a sense of humor. He’s exactly the type of young man she’d be proud to have as a son thirty years from now. The DNA test she ordered and reviewed herself proves William is her son and Mulder is his father, which means that at some point in the future, she and Mulder get together. And, since it seems like they’ve been parenting William as a couple, they manage to stay together. It’s a possibility that intrigues and terrifies her.

On the highway, she closes her eyes and tries to imagine Mulder as her husband and William as their grown son. As William describes the expanded universe of Star Wars prequels and sequels to Mulder who peppers him with questions, she can see the three of them naturally easing into these roles. But she and Mulder have never even kissed, let alone done anything that would result in the conception of a child. As much as she finds herself drawn to Mulder, she can’t imagine this single-minded man leaving his quest behind to live a quiet, domestic life.

“Scully, can you believe this?” Mulder asks, calling her back into her body. “George Lucas bastardized the entire metaphysical beauty of the Force with these, what are they called, William?”

“Midi-chlorians,” Williams says from the backseat.

“Midi-chlorians,” Mulder says, shaking his head dismissively. “You sure you want to go back to the future? It sounds pretty grim.”

“It has its ups and downs,” William says. “There’s someone I want to see.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mulder asks, flashing William a grin in the rearview mirror.

“My friend, Hannah. I mentioned her,” William says shyly. “I just miss her I guess.”

Scully peeks in the mirror and sees a blush spreading across William’s cheeks. He may have Mulder’s nose and lanky frame, but with her light coloring he can’t hide his embarrassment any better than she can. She turns to smile at Mulder and finds he’s already giving her a toothy grin. He’s proud of his son, she thinks, and she’s starting to feel pride bubble up within herself.

***

A flash of their badges grants Mulder and Scully access to the building that houses Princeton’s physics department. Scully catches William smiling, clearly impressed by how willingly the building’s security guard yields to his parents’ authority.

As soon as the elevator opens to the floor of Bellona’s office, they hear a man and woman arguing. Mulder raises a hand to hold Scully and William back from stepping forward so they can listen without being noticed.

“This is insane, Samita,” the man shouts. “Why would you want to give up the research you’re passionate about to work for the government on something so secretive they can’t even tell you what it is?”

“That’s exactly why I need to do it,” the woman responds. “This is the cutting edge of quantum research. What I learn on this project could revolutionize the entire field. It could be detecting dark matter, or even finding ways to utilize it. We’re making such small steps now, imagine if we could take a giant leap forward—what we could possibly learn if we had unlimited resources.”

“Resources from the military-industrial complex! You came here to unlock the mysteries of the universe, the origins of why we’re all here. And now you want to leave to work on what’s most likely a weapon that could kill millions?”

Their argument continues but their voices are lower now and Scully can’t hear what they’re saying. She looks to Mulder but he’s just as focused on trying to make out what Bellona and his wife are discussing. Scully wonders what line of questioning they’ll actually take once they get to Bellona. Knowing Mulder, he’ll probably come straight out and ask if he has plans to craft a time machine thirty years from now.

“I’m not going to let you hold me back,” Shah cries out. Her shout is followed by the sound of a door slamming.

Ballona huffs and heads toward them in the hallway. He’s a slight man with dark hair and glasses. As he makes his way to them, Mulder whispers to William, “Is that him?” and William nods.

“Dr. Bellona?” Scully says. “We’re Special Agents Scully and Mulder with the FBI and we have some questions for you.”

“Samita,” Bellona calls back. “Your friends the feds are here!”

With an exasperated sigh, Shah reopens her office door and comes to meet them in the hallway.

“Dr. Samita Shah,” she says, reaching out her hand to Scully. “How can I help you?”

“You don’t know them?” Bellona asks incredulously. “I assumed these were some of your government pals.”

Shah glares at him with ice in her deep brown eyes.

“Are you working on a government project?” Mulder asks.

“I’m considering it,” Shah says guardedly. “I was offered a contract by the department of defense. Are you here on their behalf?”

“No, Dr. Shah,” Scully says. “We’re actually here to speak with your husband.”

“Well, this will be a quick conversation,” Bellona snaps. “No, I’m not interested in collaborating with you.”

“Dr. Shah, do you know the nature of the project you’ve been asked to assist on?” Mulder asks. “Or where you’d be stationed?”

“I haven’t been fully briefed yet, no,” she says. “But I’d be working at Camp Hero on Long Island. It’s an older military base that’s being recommissioned for this project.”

Scully freezes and locks eyes with Mulder. She can see William looking at her wide-eyed in her peripheral vision.

“We need to visit that base,” Mulder says. “Would you be able to get access?”

Shah squints. “I believe I could. Let me make a call.”

She turns around and walks back to her office, leaving Mulder, Scully, and William with Bellona in the hall.

“Dr. Bellona, are you familiar with the Hindu god Shiva?” William asks. Scully looks at him nervously, unsure where he’s going with this.

“You’re better off asking Samita than me. Her family is Hindu,” he says. “But I’m familiar with the broad strokes. Lord Shiva is one of the religion’s three primary deities. He’s known as The Destroyer, but he’s associated with creation as well. You’ll often see him depicted dancing the tandava, a brisk choreography that has the power to create or destroy the universe.”

“I’m sorry,” he pauses. “Who are you? And what does this have to do with me and Samita?”

“Um, my name is William,” he says. “I’m…assisting on this case.” Bellona gives Mulder and Scully a questioning look but they don’t dispute William’s claim, so he goes on. “Is there any connection you can think of between Shiva and your research? Or with the project Dr. Shah is working on?”

“No, not really,” Bellona says. After a pause, he adds, “Well, in a very abstract sense, the tandava mirrors the dynamic movement of particles in quantum mechanics. Heisenberg even said quantum physics will make more sense to those who’ve read the Vedic texts. But, in practice, no, there’s no link.”

“What about if you were working on a particle accelerator? Would it be relevant then?” William continues.

“I suppose you could make the leap to connecting an accelerator’s capability to recreate the original conditions of the universe’s formation to Shiva’s role in the cyclic creation, destruction, and re-creation of the universe, but it’s quite the leap. And even the world’s largest particle accelerators haven’t even been able to confirm, yet alone re-create, the existence of subatomic particles such as the Higgs boson that are essential to that theory. Besides, it would take a real megalomaniac—or someone with nothing to lose—to want that kind of power for himself.”

Someone with nothing to lose. The words echo in Scully’s mind. “Dr. Bellona, could you give my colleagues and I a moment?” she asks.

“Sure,” he says. “I’ll go check on Samita.”

Once the three of them are alone in the hallway, Mulder turns to Scully and asks what’s on her mind.

“William, you mentioned in the car that Bellona and Shah aren’t still married in 2023, right?” she asks.

William nods.

“And have you heard of a Dr. Samita Shah working in the field? She already has an impressive resume and it’s hard to believe that she wouldn’t be leading a world-class quantum mechanics lab thirty years from now.”

“No, I’ve never heard of her. And I do follow this stuff pretty closely,” he says.

“Then I wonder if something happened to her at some point, something terrible that led Bellona to become the very type of megalomaniac he’s describing. With the advantage of an additional thirty years of advancements in the field of quantum physics plus a far more powerful particle accelerator, he could be dangerous.”

Mulder and William both stare at her and she can see them processing her theory.

“So you think Bellona, in 2023, either sees himself as a modern-day Shiva or is trying to harness Shiva’s energy to destroy the world?” Mulder asks tentatively. She realizes it’s typically the type of theory he would posit but the pieces are starting to fall into place. Besides, the results of the DNA test can’t be denied.

“I do,” she replies. “And I think our best hope for stopping him is making sure nothing happens to Dr. Shah.”

“How can we do that?” Mulder asks. “What do you think happened to her?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “It might have to do with William, or Camp Hero. There must be a reason he appeared when and where he did.”

“I think we all need to make a trip to Camp Hero,” Mulder suggests. Scully and William nod in agreement.

They hear a door open and Shah and Bellona return from the office.

“Okay,” Shah says. “I spoke to my contact at Camp Hero and I can go up and meet with them today. I didn’t ask about bringing any visitors, but I can try to get you in.”

Mulder, Scully, and William follow Shah and Bellona downstairs. “Follow us,” Shah says before they separate and head to their cars.

Scully trails behind Mulder and William, watching them walk in step. Nearly equal in height, their strides match and their mannerisms are almost perfectly mirrored. The doubts she had about William’s origin are evaporating, even if she didn’t have concrete DNA evidence to prove his parentage. She’s desperate to know what changes in her life over the next thirty years lead her to becoming the mother of this bright young man—and Mulder’s partner in more ways than one. Learning that information, though, she knows, won’t replace the experience of living through it all. Her only hope of getting to see firsthand what the future holds is to ensure William’s safe passage back to his version of 2023, even if it means having to say goodbye to him now.

***

As Shah’s guests, Mulder, Scully, and William get a much warmer reception at Camp Hero than they did on their first visit. As they drive through the gate behind Shah and Bellona’s car, Mulder smirks at the guard in his post. Scully smiles but keeps her eyes focused in her lap in embarrassment.

They follow Bellona and Shah to a squat, square building next to a taller one that’s capped by the radar dish. The walls of both buildings are tagged with bubbly graffiti letters and it appears as if the site hasn’t been active in years. Except for a few military vehicles, the parking lot is abandoned. Weeds poke through gaps in the pavement.

A uniformed man in his 50s greets them at the door. He’s stocky and solid, built like a refrigerator, with a thick, but neatly trimmed mustache.

“Dr. Shah, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he says. “I’m General Jenkins, we spoke on the phone. You’ll have to excuse the desolate atmosphere around here. We’re just starting to get the base up and operational again, but we should have everything you need to begin your work.”

They follow Jenkins through a concrete hallway with a lingering mildew smell. Switch boxes and rusted-over equipment line the walls. Jenkins leads them to an unmarked door that he opens by keying in a four-digit code. Inside are rows of workstations with computers, but no people.

Jenkins guides Bellona and Shah to one of the desktop computers, booting it up to demonstrate something to them while Mulder, Scully, and William survey the scene.

“That’s the door I came through,” William says, pointing to a thick, metal door with a round vault closure at the other end of the room. “There’s a tunnel behind there.”

“The Phoenix III tunnel,” Mulder says. “That must be the entrance to the wormhole.”

Mulder and William glance at Scully, waiting for her to debunk the theory. In light of everything she’s seen, though, and as much as she doesn’t want to admit it, Mulder’s explanation makes more sense than anything else she can think of.

“Any idea how we can reopen the wormhole?” William asks.

“There must be a localized disruption in spacetime,” Scully thinks aloud, trying to reconcile her understanding of the laws of physics with William’s unbelievable appearance. “Two, actually. One here caused by whatever military technology—”

“Extraterrestrial technology,” Mulder interjects.

“—whatever technology they’re using, and one at CERN in 2023 that Dr. Bellona created with the large hadron collider. If they’re both activated at the same time, the wormhole will open and William, or whoever is in the tunnel at that time, will be able to travel between the two locations.”

“Bellona is going to try it again,” William says. “I just remembered he said he was doing a ‘test run,’ so it must have been for another experiment, possibly even a more powerful one.”

“Then we have to get them to activate the time tunnel here,” Mulder adds.

“But how?” William asks.

“Dr. Shah,” Scully says. “They want her to work on this project. She can ask them to demonstrate the technology before she commits.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Mulder says.

They agree it’d be best for Scully, as a scientist, to appeal to Shah and ask if she’ll go along with the plan. She takes a deep breath, then goes to pull Shah away from Bellona and Jenkins. Without explaining her time travel theory—she doesn’t want the other woman to think she’s insane—she manages to convince Shah to request a demonstration from Jenkins.

“I don’t know what you’re expecting to see,” Jenkins says after listening to Shah’s request. “I’ve seen the technicians run the experiment a few times and it just looks like gibberish on a computer screen to me. Of course, we can’t declassify any sensitive information until you’ve signed the necessary paperwork, but if you want to watch a technician press a few buttons on the computer, be my guest. Let me get our technician.”

Jenkins leaves the room and returns a few minutes later with a tall, thin man with a goatee. The man nods at William, who gives him a look of recognition in return.

“You know him?” Scully asks.

“He was here the night I turned up,” he says quietly to her.

“How can I help?” The man asks.

“Whatever experiment you were running the night William appeared, I need you to recreate those exact conditions and repeat the coordinates,” Scully instructs him.

“I just push the buttons,” the goateed man says, resigned, and takes up position at one of the desktop computers.

“And I’ll go in the tunnel,” William says.

“No one goes in there,” Jenkins barks.

“Sir, with all due respect,” the technician says. “I think it’d be in our best interest if he does go. He’s the one I told you about who turned up here the other night? If your concern is maintaining the secrecy of the project, I don’t think you’d want him hanging around.”

Jenkins nods. Scully thinks that it ultimately doesn't matter whether the technician truly cares about William’s return or only in hiding any evidence of time travel. Either way, their only chance of getting William back where he belongs is getting him in that tunnel.

William heads toward the vault door and Scully instinctively walks beside him. Even if she can’t understand or explain how he came to be, she’s suddenly acutely aware that she doesn’t want to lose her son. She feels the need to hold him in her arms and protect him.

When they’re directly in front of the door William turns to her and says, “You have to convince Shah not to work on this project. She has to stay at Princeton or else something will happen to her and it’ll send Bellona down the path to destroy the world in 2023.”

“I don’t know if I can do that,” she says.

“Yes, you can, mom,” he insists, taking her hands in his. “Explain to her that she isn’t going to find any answers here. These researchers only want to use her for her abilities and then they’ll dispose of her to keep their work secret. You and dad told me you’ve seen things like this over the years. Shadow government projects with no respect for human life. I have a feeling that’s what’s going on here. She’ll listen to you.”

“I’ll try,” she says, squeezing his hands. Even though his eyes are as blue as her own, she sees so much of Mulder in his gaze—his desire to believe, even in her, and the trust he puts in her.

William lets go of her hands. He twists the vault door open and peers into the darkness.

“Wait,” Scully hears herself say the word before she thinks it.

She feels both William and Mulder’s eyes on her now. Mulder crosses the room to stand beside them.

“What if something goes wrong and you end up not returning to 2023…or never existing at all?” She steps closer to William and grabs onto his hands again. “I don’t want to risk losing you.”

“Mom,” William's voice catches in his throat. “It’s going to work. You figured everything out yourself. I need to get back. I’ll see you…in the future.”

She takes him into her arms and hugs him tight, closing her eyes to allow the smell and feel of him to surround her. Her son is brave and loyal like his father. For the first time since she saw him, she senses a deep bond between them that transcends time and logic. It’s an instinctual love like she’s never felt before. Like a birth she has no recollection of, she feels a physical pain as their bodies separate and she releases him from her hold.

She watches as Mulder hugs him next, knowing the link between them is just as strong. “You’ve got this, buddy,” Mulder says to his son, tapping him on the back before letting him go.

“We’ll see him again one day,” Mulder whispers to Scully, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. His weight feels warm and safe against hers, and she eases into him.

“I can’t wait,” Scully murmurs. Despite her fears, she smiles. Tears stream down her face as William disappears down the tunnel.

[lost-technology]

Blank Tickets and Open Roads

So, I was looking up Youtube clips of Trigun Stampede to get my mojo going in starting to edit my major WIP, which is something I want to do before making a new chapter. Correct a few things in it that I am annoyed with. And there is the scene where little Vash is communing with Ship 3's sick Plant and Rem has a voiceover on her last recording for the twins / Ship 5's black box. She talks about the "story of a man who found a blank ticket in his pocket, which could take him anywhere he wanted to go" and that "this is what all people have" the blank ticket philosophy that is crucial to all forms of Trigun. Having read the manga, I feel a little cheated. I mean, it's better than how it was portrayed in the 1998 anime, which is just "I'm excited that the ticket I was handed on the day of my birth was blank." It is more clear here. However, in the manga... Rem recounts to Vash a dream that she had when she was grieving the loss of Alex. It is clear from the little scene where she wakes up in her mess of a room that she was going through The Horrors. (Having lost someone very dear to me unexpectedly in 2023 really makes me feel that when I go over that again). In her dream, she found herself on a train, the sole passenger and when the custodian came to punch her ticket, the destination was blank. She had a flashbang of inspiration that she could just go anywhere and it gave her hope. She woke up and had a realisation of the dream's meaning and found a new direction in life. Her dreams of being with Alex gone, she turned her thoughts to SPACE! When her life was crap, she had a dream that gave her hope to carry on. How it is portayed in the manga is VERY IMPORTANT to me, entirely for personal reasons, as I treasure a similar dream. Annoying Shadsie-lore under the cut.

So, back in the ancient year of 2000 or so, about 1999 or 2000, I suckered myself into joining the U.S. Air Force. I'd been to community college, but did not think I was able to get the kind of grant to pursue the kind of degree I wanted to pursue, as most of those go to people who want to become doctors or business people or someone important, not to people who want to pursue the arts. I wanted to get into graphic design. I didn't want to be in debt forever with loans. The military had worked out for some friends of mine, with the Air Force being a godsend for my once best childhood friend. I was desperate to get out from under the thumb of my parents, as most teens on the cusp of full adulthood are, as well as away from my abusive older brother, living with us after getting out of prison. (My father once told me that he thought that my brother was going to, in one of his temper-losses, murder us all one day and bury us in the desert, it was that bad)... So, I signed up, signed my life away with the idea that I was going to earn some college money, see the world and serve my country. This is how the U.S. Military-Industrial complex works: It takes people who never dreamed of joining before, but who are in desperate circumstances and promises them the world for a few years of service. Any kids out there thinking about it? Don't. Please. Do not give them your life, they do not deserve it. Fate had other plans. It turns out that I was too much of an "individual" to work out in a military setting. I had mental health problems come up in boot camp that I never knew I had. I went through discharge-process after a self-harming incident. They did not want me and I learned that I did not really want them. I was a failure. I came home to live with my parents and sulked around for a while until my Mom insisted that I go back into college - a different community college than I went to before, where I could get an Associates in my chosen field, not a Bachelor's like I'd wanted, but something more affordable, a step up. I felt like an utter failure, though. I distinctly remember my father telling me, when driving me to the military processing station to go off to Basic in Texas that I had to "Not fail" because my brother was watching me and he wanted me (the little sister, youngest child) to be a positive example for my loser brother. In other words, even though I had a lot of support, I had a lot of guilt for not making it, for wussing out, as it were. And, of course, the military itself drills into your head "if you don't pass, you're a failure at life." When in this dark place, I had a dream that I remember to this day. The setting was vivid because I lived in Arizona at the time and knew what the desert looked like. I had a dream that I was suddenly on an open country highway in the middle of nowhere. It was paved, but it was just... this road in nowhere, like many you will find driving across some of the more desolate parts of the state. I think the family Cocker Spaniel was with me (Rest in Peace, Buster). I started walking down this highway, going off across hilly desert, blue desert mountains in the distance. I realised, suddenly, that the road had no particular destination and that I could just go down it and see what's next. I remember having the dream again at another juncture of my life, but I do not remember what juncture - just the first time when I was transitioning from being a part of America's brutal war-machine off to pursue a peaceful art-degree. I was hopeless and the dream gave me HOPE. It's been over 20 years and I still remember it. So, Rem's dream in the manga... I relate - starkly. Now, my life didn't turn out as planned from there, either. I got the graphic design degree, but the jobs I got in the field chewed me up and spit me out. I experienced The Horrors and currently work in a grocery store. Rem got her blank ticket and died in a spaceship crash, not what she expected, either.

[grandwretch]

there's literally multiple genocides happening and you're more worried about voting for the guy sponsoring them?

sorry do you think Trump is going to stop supporting the genocides? I don't like Biden. I wish I didn't have to vote for him. I didn't want to the first time. Fuck, I didn't want to vote for Hilary either. But Trump has literally threatened the lives of my friends and family. What the fuck do you want me to do? I live in the fucking South and I worry every day about my little sister being murdered and Trump wants to take away what little safety she has. What the fuck do you want me to do? Tell me. Tell me what the fuck you want me to do. Tell me how I get out of this choice without hating myself. You want me to just watch my little sister and my best friend have their rights taken away? I can't make American politics give us a viable candidate that doesn't support the industrial military complex. I'm just one person. I can't do anything but try and help convince the least evil guy be less evil next time. I don't know what else to do. Do you? Do you know what I should do? Tell me then. Tell me what the fuck I can do that doesn't mean I watch my sister die while the rest of my family cheers her murderers on. Tell me.

[amyunshader]

Tokyo Ghoul x Harry Potter x Fullmetal Alchemist prompt (1)

okay, so I’mma start throwing this here. This is a fic idea I might or might not end up writing fully, or if someone would be willing to help writing/be beta reader, do tell me. Anyway, here’s the little monster.

First, let’s incorporate HP & FMA!

• The Promised Day shenanigans weakened the barrier protecting the FMA continent till they break a few years after canon: the continent appearing out of nowhere create an uproar in both Muggle and Magical worlds. Because this Continent (without talking about the fact that it used to be protected by magic barrier) use alchemy, which is a form of magic, and all these countries are opening diplomacy with the Muggle without hiding the alchemy, so the idea that the Unplotable’s alchemy will end up causing the breach of the Statute of Secrecy.

• So wizards also enter in contact with the Unplotable countries to exchange about ties of their (very advanced) alchemy and magic, and to make sure the reveal of alchemy wouldn’t cause the reveal of the wizarding world.

• on FMA’s side, it’s like five to seven years post canon: Gal Mustang is competing with Gal Armstrong for next Furrer, Ling has become the crown prince but not yet emperor, he’s being weaseling cunningly in the Court while astutely keeping his father from actually getting to use the philosopher stone Ling brought back.

• Mustang and Ling lead allied diplomacy for Amestris and Xing facing the outside world embassies, with joint Eastern and Western alchemist prowesses. All that majorly thanks to Amestrian alchemist studying Eastern alchemy in Xing Alphonse Elric (who so happens to have close ties to both princess Mei Chang, and by extension crown prince Ling, and the Amestrian high military) being the ambassador and bridge between the two countries.

• Xing and Amestris get agreement with both Muggle and wizard Britain for scientific exchange. A team is sent to London to study Muggle technology (yeah, Winry is in there), tho part of it will secretly take the Hogwarts Express to exchange knowledge with the Wizards.

• So Mustang goes to Resembool to explain to Edward (married with one daughter, another kid on the way) that not only his wife is officially invited on the scientist team, but he too (unofficially) should come, because fucking wizards.

• the plan is that a team of experts of both Eastern and Western alchemy go to the magical school to exchange with the wizard teachers there on comparing wizard alchemy and theirs, and the ties of their science to magic, and they would hold a lecture for the magical students somewhen at the end of the year. The Hogwarts team would be Mei Chang and Alphonse mainly, with Ed too because even tho he can’t perform alchemy himself he’s still an expert on Western alchemy and a brain guy + Alex Louis Armstrong as a bodyguard for Ed.

• Also turns out there’s an event-tournament something at the school this year, so they can watch that to be wowed by the wizards, Mustang and Ling will come for the event too (for all task or only the last one).

• Ed ends up on babysitting duties while Winry is busy having the time of her life being a mechanic geek, so his daughter comes to Hogwarts too, on the (understandable) assumption that a school would be less dangerous than an industrial complex of a place to bring a child.

• for now, let’s leave the team in London at the Amestrian and Xinese ambassy, waiting for the 1st of September to take the train to the magic school.

What. Could. Possibly. Go. Wrong.

next part

[prettyvintageafternoon]

Daily reminder that the anti-abortion position will never be a feminist, left-wing or progressive position, and the pathological need of pro-lifers to tokenize minorities and certain experiences that we have needs to be studied.

First off, I find it very funny that an organization known for having its white members engage in physical violence, trespassing and digging in the trash for fetal remains is now trying to lecture black women about intersectionality with regard to pregnancy and childbirth.

Reproductive justice is both a term and an ideology that black women specifically came up with in order to acknowledge how race and economic class play a role in reproductive access and decisions. The fact that an organization run and represented by white people pretending to be progressive is trying to check the women who came up with an actual progressive framework of beliefs to better represent their own interests is hilarious to me.

Second, PAAU is not a progressive organization. Its founder, Terrisa Bukovinac, is on the board of the Leadership Institute, a politically conservative training organization, and has gone to events hosted by the Heritage Foundation - a right-wing conservative think tank helping to drive anti-abortion legislation around the country by supporting conservative Republican politicians in various ways.

You even have members of this organization like @secularprolifeconspectus on Tumblr who will do interviews with people like Sebastian Gorka, who has had ties to the Order of Vitéz - a Hungarian order of merit which allied itself with Nazis during WWII.

(BTW, the IRONY of spending time talking about how Planned Parenthood is rooted in eugenics while talking about how conservatives are so much nicer than leftists to someone who has ties to a Nazi-sympathizing organization. Ma'am... 😬)

Then again, @secularprolifeconspectus also likes to spread lies like Abortion Pill Reversal™️, which isn't real, and repeats quotes from Abby Johnson, the famous anti-abortion activist who had two abortions and said that the police would be smart to racially profile her black sons in the wake of the Black Lives Matter Protests of 2020 following George Floyd's murder. 🙃

@secularprolifeconspectus has me blocked, but I'll just say this.

The irony of pretending to care about the interests of black people while rubbing shoulders with far-right political figures and reposting words from racist white women but also being confused as to why leftists don't like you is very telling.

Third, the information posted is wrong. It's very convenient that PAAU is "worried" about maternal morality in the DMV area when the U.S. states with the highest maternal mortality rates are Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina (CDC, 2023) - states with higher concentrations of black people that are also dominated by white, conservative political leadership which puts anti-abortion legislation in place. The DMV area is actually lower in comparison to these places, yet PAAU conveniently ignores that im order to paint a false narrative.

Source: Which states have the highest maternal mortality rates?, USA FACTS

Fourth, I also find it very funny that "progressive" pro-lifers have the audacity to accuse organizations run by minorities of hijacking progressive principles when that's all pro-lifers do by...

Using terms like "Abortion Industrial Complex" after anti-war advocates have been discussing the Military Industrial Complex for years

Acknowledging how finances and money plays a role in people choosing to get abortions but only every criticizing pro-choicers for supporting abortion access (*and conveniently never holding the very conservative anti-abortion movement accountable for the policy-making role they play in making people not want to have children in the first place)

Saying that abortion access is a part of Big Pharma, when forcing women to have children they don't want literally creates another patient pool for Big Pharma to subsist off of

Arguing that affordable healthcare, housing and clean water and nutrition - things that pro-choice activists have spent years advocated for (*and that conservative pro-lifers have spent years voting against), somehow cannot co-exist with abortion access

So yeah, removing abortion access from people who want it will never be progressive, and the fact that pro-lifers still try to tokenize minorities (and chastise us when we don't support their worldview) shows how little they actually care about those of us people of color.

[aegor-bamfsteel]

It's almost funny how anti-feminist fire and Blood actually is. All the female characters either have cartoonish characterization (the evil stepmother, the tyrannical queen), or have no personality whatsoever. Rhaenys is the "Queen who never was" but actively supports the murder of her son and the daughter of her 'usurper' cousin? Laena is the rider of Vhaegar and... brave? Baela and Rhaena love their stepmom and stepsiblings, have no ambitions, character defining traits or resentments.

GRRM actually goes out of his way to mock American feminism in Fire and Blood. He has Mushroom, a crime and sex addicted (male) jester, refer to the Maiden’s Day Ball of 133–in which Aegon III was to choose a bride amongst the maidens of the Kingdoms—as “the Maiden’s Day Cattle show”. This is a reference to the radical feminist protest of the 1968 Miss America contest at Atlantic City, which included signs such as these:

Although maybe not as well known today especially outside the USA, the protest had a profound effect on the image of second wave feminism. The protesters claimed in a 10 point manifesto that the pageant judged women like animals at a county fair (to the point they mockingly crowned a sheep Miss America), was racist (having only crowned white women so far), supported the military-industrial complex, was consumerist, led to double standard stereotypes (“both sexy and wholesome, delicate but able to cope, demure yet titillatingly bitchy”), celebrated mediocrity by elevating beauty rather than intelligence/ambition as the goal for girls to aspire. They also set up Freedom Trash Cans in which to throw away makeup and bras (the inaccurate report that they’d burned these items gave rise to the stereotype of feminists as bra burners), among other tactics.

All right, so I think it’s obvious that GRRM intended the “Maiden’s Day Cattle Show” to be a reference to the 1968 “Miss America Cattle Auction”, since women were judged based on their appearance and perhaps a brief interview for the ultimate benefit of a young man, Aegon III. There are a few things I found annoying about the reference. One, is that the narrative does not criticize the pageant, quite the opposite; the great lords forced the cruel Lord Peake’s hand in letting Aegon get a chance to choose his new bride, rather than be betrothed to Myrielle and thus give the Peakes long-lasting power. Two, is that it’s Mushroom—who, as mentioned, delights in telling us about the sexual exploits of especially noblewomen—who mocks the ball as a Cattle Show, rather than a woman of any social class; this takes the criticism of beauty standards and women reduced to objects for the pleasure of a male audience (as it was in the original protest)….and turns it into a sassy remark by a man who loves to talk about women as sexual objects. It’s not the families or House Targaryen being criticized for having the ball take place (in fact, Rhaena and Baela presenting Daenaera with a “found your queen” is presented as a dramatic, triumphant moment over the grasping Lord Peake) and parading their daughters around, it’s Mushroom mocking the women as objects only worth their carnal beauty and riches (“Each maid seemed lovelier than the last…. It would be hard to picture anything more beautiful, unless perhaps all of them had arrived naked”. Btw yes, he does wax lyrical on Daenaera’s beauty even though she’s 6). GRRM was so proud of this reference that he partly named the chapter after it: War and Peace and Cattle Shows. Knowing that it comes from an iconic USA feminist protest against beauty standards for women, and how he used it as a joke for his favorite character Mushroom to mock women, I can’t find it funny. Just annoying, and maybe a little insulting.

tl;dr yes I agree, F&B wrote many female characters lacking in nuance (either evil stepmothers, Mary Sues, or tragic victims. Not to put the blame on victims, but that GRRM uses these types of characters to just suffer and then die horribly, with little attempt to treat the issues they face from their POV). The author mocked feminist iconography in a few instances in this book. Not just with the “Maiden’s Day Cattle Show” (though that just seemed the most obvious) but with his one-note stand-in (whose role in the story is to get hundreds of Faith Militant killed in an unsuccessful rescue from a public execution) for Joan of Arc “the Maid of Orleans”, who has been an icon of Western feminism since the contemporary writings of Christine of Pisa; as well as naming a Green-Allied pawn who gets unceremoniously killed after William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman.

[riverthylacine]

MASSIVE CW: Vent, suicide mentioned, Drug and alcohol addiction, Caffiene addiction, Accidental Overdose, child abuse mentioned, mental health neglect, medical malpractice, mental hospitalization, police brutality, prison mentioned, AND THIS IS A VERY POLITICAL POST (FAR LEFTISM (I am a anarchocommunist)) PLEASE ASK ME TO ADD MORE CW IF NEEDED,

It really bothers me how I will never relate to or feel nostalgic to late 2000s to early 2010s post about elementary school.. I see picture of the inside of buses, school activities, and all of that, I can’t relate to any of it.. I didn’t go to elementary school and I only did 2 months of 7th grade and 1 week as a freshman and 1 fucking day as a sophomore, the rest of my schooling was at alternative schools that sucked and homeschooling which I can’t remember most of it cause at the time I was still actively being abused, I see my three youngest siblings and how they are still in school, how they got to learn and have friends, and I have none of that.. my two older siblings also have been to and completed high school, I have nothing.. I was too autistic and weird and mentally Ill to have done anything, I had been hospitalized twice and fucking spent my whole summer of 2018 (my last year in my home state) in a fucking residential program that said they were duel diagnosis BUT THEY ONLY FOCUSED ON THE KIDS THERE THAT HAD DRUG AND ALCHOL ADDICTIONS AND THEY COMPLETELY IGNORED MY CAFFEINE ADDICTION AND DOWNPLAYED IT SO MUCH THAT I GAVE UP ON QUITING they had FORCED me go to NA, MA, and AA meetings WHEN I DIDNT HAVE TO GO and they ignored my mental health, I LITERALLY HAVE BEEN STRUGGLING WITH SCHIZOAFFECTIVE DISORDER SINCE I WAS FUCKING 4 YEARS OLD AND IT TOOK 17 FUCKING YEARS TO GET A DIAGNOSIS CAUSE NO ONE WANTED TO DIAGNOSE A CHILD AND CAUSE OF THAT I WASNT ON ANTIPSYCHOTICS INTIL I WAS FUCKING 18!!!!! I WAS IN CONSTANT PSYCHOSIS AND I WAS PARANOID ALL THE FUCKING TIME AND I COULDNT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!! AND MY AUTISM AND ADHD WERE NEGLECTED CAUSE MY PARENT WERE TOO FOCUSED ON MY MENTAL ILLNESS AND MY TWO BROTHERS WHO WERE DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM EARLY ON!!! I WAS DIAGNOSED AT 12 AND THEY DIDNT TELL ME INTIL I WAS 15!!!! I WAS CONSTANTLY DRINKING ENERGY DRINKS SO MANY IN A FUCKING DAY THAT I FUCKING OVERDOSED AND WAS UP FOR 3 WHOLE FUCKING DAYS AND MY MOM STILL DIDNT TAKE ME TO THE FUCKING HOSPITAL AND I WAS DOING ALL THAT TO SELF MEDICATE MY ADHD AND I DIDNT GET PUT ONTO STIMULENTS INTIL I WAS 18 AND THEN MY PSYCH TOOK ME OFF CAUSE I DIDNT DO WHAT SHE TOLD ME TO AND I SPENT MONTHS TRYING TO GET A NEW PSYCHIATRIST AND WHEN I DID SHE PUT ME BACK ON THEM WITH NO STIPULATIONS CAUSE ITS FUCKED UP TO DO THAT!!!!AND I MISSED THE LAST 4 APPOINTMENTS WITH HER CAUSE THEY ARE ONLINE ONLY APPOINTMENTS AND I HAVE MEMORY FUCKNG ISSUES CAUSE OF LONG FUCKING COVID SO NOW IVE RUN OUT OF MY FUCKING RITALIN AND I HAVE TO SELF MEDICATE WITH ENERGY DRINKS TO FUNCTION PROPERLY BUT I HAVE A FUCKING HEART CONDITION AND SO NOW MY HEART RATE IS HIGHER THAN AVERAGE (USUALLY ITS 100 AND NOW ITS BEEN AROUND 150) CAUSE I DONT HAVE PROPER STIMULENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUCK THE MENTAL AND MEDICAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN THE FUCKING UNITED STATES OF FASCISM CAUSE NOW I HAVE FUCKED UP TEETH AND CAUSE I CANT GET THEM FUCKING FIXEX CAUSD I DONT HAVE FUCKING DENTAL INSURANCE CAUSE MY STATE INSURANCE DOSENT COVER DENTAL OR OPTICAL AND GUESS WHAT? BLINDNESS RUNS IN MY FAMILY AND MY VISION HAS BEEN SLOWLY DETERIORATING AND I JUST HAD TO PAY 80$ FUCKING DOLLARS TO SEE AN OPTRISTION AND I ONLY RECEIVED 628$ A MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUCK THE SYSTEM FUCK CAPITALISM FUCK CHRISTOFASCISM FUCK THE GOVERNMENT FUCK COPS FUCK THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX FUCK THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX FUCK IT ALL

I AM FULL OF SO MUCH FUCKING RAGE I SWEAR I COULD TAKE ON THE WHOLE POLICE FORCE HERE BUT I KNOW I CANT AND THAT IT JUST BE POLICE ASSISTED SUICIDE!!!!!!!

[shadyruinskryptonite]

Titan Bending Chapter 17 - The Beach

Warning: Violence consistent with cannon, NSFW so MDNI, language, major character death (both consistent with canon of both AOT and ATLA as well as diverging from canon), so much trauma literally everyone is so traumatized, very much slow burn, a little enemies to lovers, SO MUCH ANGST, hurt/comfort, hurt and delayed comfort, AFAB reader

Chapter Warnings: guns, loaded gun is pointed at y/n, wishing Flock was dead, threatening Flock’s life

A/N: Okay so listen, I know that in the show they wait a year after retaking Wall Maria to go to the sea but I had the timeline wrong in my head for, well, forever and didn’t realize that until doing my deep episode-by-episode analysis for this fic. It works much better in my self-created timeline for them to go right away so that’s what I’m doing. I know this diverges from canon but hey, the entire existence of y/n technically diverges from canon so it is what it is.

WC: 3202

Previous Chapter, Next Chapter

Masterlist

Tags: @mochminnie @sseleniaa @naruwitch

A meeting to discuss the findings from the basement. A meeting to tell Historia and the heads of the military industrial complex that this slice of the world is, in fact, not all that remains of humanity. 

I obviously knew there were people outside of the walls since I myself wasn’t from their confines, however, even I was taken aback by the sheer amount of information about another country that I knew nothing about.

Just like Historia’s coronation, I had to be dressed appropriately so Hange let me wear one of her spare dress uniforms. 

After Levi and Hange got Eren and Mikasa out of their cells, we all went over to the meeting room together. In the front row, a chair was saved for Erwin out of respect. I noticed one lone seat at the back and took it. Levi gave me a strange look but there was no opportunity to question him about it.

It’s only right for me to sit at the back, I’m not even a real soldier.

The meeting was, all things considered, fairly uneventful. Everyone was stunned of course to find out that there was an entire world outside of this one and moreso that that world wanted us dead, but other than a brief disagreement about next steps that Historia quickly put an end to, there wasn’t much noteworthy that occurred. 

A date is set for the medal ceremony for everyone that fought in the recent battle, and Historia dismisses the meeting by instructing Premier Zachary to have 10 medals prepared.

10? But there’s only 9 soldiers. Are…are they counting me?

Before everyone can leave, I approach Historia. The guy from the previous meeting, Nile, immediately readies his weapon and points it at me. I’m unphased by this, but I seem to be the only one.

Over my shoulder, I hear Levi practically growl, “If you like having fingers to pull that trigger I suggest you lower your weapon.”

Hange slightly speaks over Levi and says “Nile what’s gotten into you?”

“With everything that’s come out I don’t trust that bitch! And then she has the audacity to approach the queen?!” Nile grits out.

I slowly turn towards him and as I move he takes the safety off of his firearm. I jump when Historia’s voice cuts through the tension.

Banging her hand on the table and standing up, she shrieks, “Commander Nile Dock, stand. Down.”

He looks at her dumbfounded, and begins to try to argue but she cuts him off. “Y/n is someone I’ve had the pleasure to work and fight alongside. I trust her as much as I trust any of my advisors. If you have a problem with her continued involvement both as a Scout and as my friend, feel free to dismiss yourself.”

Her massive blue eyes hold ice in them, challenging him to talk back. Defeated, he places the safety back on his weapon and sits down. Turning to me, still clearly aggravated but trying to get over it, Historia calmly says, “What is it, y/n?”

It takes me a moment to gather my thoughts, but when I do I say, “I think you made a mistake. You requested 10 medals and there’s only nine soldiers.”

She looks puzzled. “How do you figure?”

Now I’m confused as I say, “Well, Hange, Levi, Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Connie, Jean, Sasha, and Flock. That’s nine.”

A dazzling smile breaks across her face before she giggles a little bit. “You’re forgetting yourself.”

Now I’m completely stunned. “I…I thought I wouldn’t be eligible for anything like that. I’ve said 100 times that I’m not a soldier, I don’t just mean that when there’s things I don’t wanna do. Are…are you sure it would be fair to give me a medal?”

She continues to smile and pats my shoulder. “From what I’ve heard, you fought just as hard as everyone else. While you might not be a soldier, that doesn’t mean you did any less than your comrades.”

I smile a little, still in disbelief, as I thank her and turn to walk away.

As we all leave the conference room, Jean flicks the back of my head.

“Ow! What the hell was that for?!” I say.

“For being the only person stupid enough to try to get out of getting a royal medal.”

“Oh shut up, Horseface. I was just making sure there wasn’t a mistake.”

Hange laughs a little. “Looks like you’ll be borrowing my uniform for an extra event.” I smile in response and wait for the day to arrive, hiding the entire time just how excited I am.

Between that meeting and the day of the awards ceremony, the news broke to the public. Much to my surprise, when Hange and Levi had to meet with the press, they invited me to the meeting as well.

As the three of us walked through the barracks to the room where we were going to sit and chat, I finally said, “I’m happy to be here, but why exactly did you want me to tag along for this meeting? I feel like I won’t really have anything to add.”

“Well,” Hange starts. “We figured with the awards ceremony coming up it’s going to have a lot of coverage and your name is going to be put out there. Erwin soft-launched your, well, existence not too long ago and we thought now that there was proof that there is life outside the walls that we could finally tell people about you.”

The entire time Hange speaks, Levi looks straight ahead. He seems unhappy about the situation.

Is he mad that I’m joining? Especially after the last meeting where I bent?

We stop outside of the room and Hange softly says, “Are you okay with going public? We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

I shake my head. “It’s not that I have a problem with it it’s just…aren’t you worried that there will be backlash? Especially this soon after we’ve just told the public everything we just learned?”

Before Hange can say anything, Levi answers with a very pointed, “Yes.” I turn to look at him but he doesn’t immediately clarify what he means. After a moment he says, “I raised exactly that concern but Hange doesn’t seem to think it will be a problem.”

She huffs, and I can tell they must have had a long conversation about this already. “It’s not that I don’t think it will be a problem,” she explains. “It’s that now that we’re dropping so much information this is the perfect time to slide in that y/n has been working with us and gloss over the fact that we’ve hidden it. If we wait it will only snowball out of control.”

“Like I said,” Levi responds, clearly sick of the conversation. “I don’t see a reason to make it public knowledge in the first place.” 

Then, they both look at me for an answer. “Frankly, I don’t know what’s best. But for all anyone knows I’m just another soldier, especially when I’m wearing your uniform. I don’t think it’s totally necessary to be completely public.”

Hange’s lips tighten but she gives a tight nod. “Very well then. I see no reason why you should have to sit through this then.” 

I’m taken aback but I nod and part ways. I’m gone so fast that I don’t overhear the conversation between Hange and Levi.

“There, are you happy? You got your way,” Hange says acridly.

“Why are you so hell-bent on making her go public anyway?”

Hange bites back, “I didn’t think it was a good idea to keep her a secret in the first place! If people find out the Scouts are hiding something this big they’re going to be outraged! Then, the violence you’re so worried about will happen ten fold!”

Levi, finally losing patience, says, “She was kept a secret to keep her to ourselves and to keep her safe. That still stands.”

“Why are you so worried about it anyway?” Hange asks. 

Levi quickly looks away, the tips of his ears suddenly pink telling Hange everything she needs to know. Before she can interrogate him, he mutters, “Let’s just get in there already.”

---

We all gather in a beautiful grand hall in the palace for the award ceremony. There’s a bunch of people from the other branches there to watch. But, despite it being a monumental moment in these soldiers’ careers, no one is excited.

Standing with everyone before the ceremony begins, I recognize the girl that approaches us as Hitch, the girl that helped us in the woods when we were outlaws.

Before the mission, it was clear to everyone with eyes that Hitch had the hots for Marlow, the bowl-cut kid. Everyone except for Marlow, that is. Since Flock was in the group of recruits with Marlow, Jean suggests Flock talk about how brave he was in his final moments. He has really nice things to say, up until he ruins it at the end.

This kid has got to be one of the most annoying-

“Hey, why did you tell her that?!” Jean whisper yells at Flock.

With a pointed glare at Armin he says, “Because, somebody has to speak the truth around here.”

That’s enough to put me on the defensive, standing a little taller and moving more in between Armin and Flock.

Ever the empath, Armin tries to extend an olive branch by saying, “Listen, I heard about what you did, Flock. How hard you fought to ensure that Erwin would be revived-”

“That’s right!” Flock cuts him off. “You should be dead and Erwin should stand in your place. I’m not alone in thinking that. All of us do. Everyone that read that report had the same thought. Why wasn��t Erwin the one that was saved?”

Eren jumps in, “What do you know about Armin to justify saying that? Not a damn thing!”

With a smug look I want to smack right off, Flock says, “You’re right, I’m not a childhood friend of his. Hell, I’m not his friend at all! But I can tell you why he’s the one standing here right now. It’s because you two got emotional and Captain Levi did the same! You-”

“I didn’t get a chance to do that on the roof to shut you up, but I’ll be damned if I stand here and listen to you make a mockery of any of my squad!” I cut him off by freezing his spit and I now step fully in between him and Armin.

While he’s quiet before the ice melts, I forcefully say, “You were right talking to Hitch, you’re not a leader you’re a coward. All you’re able to do is hide behind someone better than you telling you every move you should make. You don’t understand the Captain’s choice because you don’t have enough foresight to take your head out of your ass, let alone make an important decision. Levi did exactly what Erwin would have wanted: he took a gamble that will pay off one day. I’ve said it to everyone that will listen at this point, but Erwin was the past and Armin will be the future. In case you didn’t notice, Erwin was deferring to Armin throughout the entire battle and even went so far as to leave him in charge of Levi’s squad. He’s got more leadership in his pinky finger than you do in your whole body.” I step in to get dangerously close. I want him to feel the venom dripping from my every word. “And if I ever hear you degrading Armin for a choice he played no part in or speaking ill towards the decision Captain Levi made - a choice you will never understand having to make - so help me, I’ll make you wish the Beast Titan obliterated your sorry ass.”

With a wave of my hand I melt the remainder of the ice in his mouth and he coughs for a moment before Levi appears around a pillar to call us all to line up. From where he appeared, I can tell that he must have heard my entire spiel but he doesn’t have time to say anything.

We line up and kneel down and I’m the first person in the back row, directly behind Hange. When Historia gets to Eren, there’s a horrific pause and I can’t see clearly but it looks like Eren makes a terrified face. It takes him a while to come to his senses but he quickly apologizes once he does and Historia moves on. But the entire situation was more than a little odd.

When Historia gets to me, she places the medal around my neck and tightens it, and when I go to kiss her hand I give it an extra little squeeze which she returns as the corners of her mouth twitch with a hidden smile.

After the ceremony, the rest of the day is filled with mostly nothing. Just lounging around and catching up on some much needed rest and relaxation. Especially considering that the following day we would be taking off to find the sea. 

---

It was just Levi’s Squad and Hange that went on this bit of exploration, not that there really was anyone left to join us otherwise. 

We take off riding and go for what feels like forever. We don’t encounter a single titan for a very long time, and when we do it’s a pathetic little abnormal that can’t even really move. It came in handy though, because we could follow the trail that it clearly blazed years if not decades prior based on how overgrown it had become. We followed it until the grass turned to sand and it was at this point that I started to get excited.

Looking at the kids, there was wonder on everyones’ faces except for Eren. Something drastic has changed about him, even though I can’t quite place what it is. 

As we come around a large dune, I’m hit with the unmistakable scent of salt water and we’re faced with another wall. Eren calls out that he’s sure that’s what he remembers from his dad’s memories.

“If you take a deep breath, you can also smell the ocean!” I inform everyone.

It’s cute watching all of them breathe in after I say this, even Levi does it.

The wall isn’t very long, so we’re able to find the end fairly quickly and ride up a steep embankment. I race ahead, not because I want to beat everyone there, but because I want to make sure I’m in perfect position to see all of their faces.

And it’s a moment I’ll never forget. As each person finally crests the hill, the ocean breeze catches their hair and the look of pure amazement fills their faces. I wouldn’t trade being there for that moment for anything in the entire world.

No one knows what to do, and I think they’d be content to just look at it forever. I certainly wouldn’t be happy with just that though, so after taking it in for at least 10 minutes I finally say, “Well? Are we going to go down there and get in it or are we just going to stare at it forever!”

I lead the charge down, kicking my boots off as I practically run into the water. It’s crystal clear and a perfect temperature. As the waves gently crash across my feet and ankles, the sense of peace that washes over me is unlike anything I had ever felt.

I’m home.

The kids waste no time playing in the water. Sasha, Connie, and Jean immediately start horsing around and learn the hard way not to get salt water in your eyes. Armin finds a shell and I swear I saw the moment that he wanted to start collecting them. Hange doesn’t even know where to look and Levi keeps imploring her to be careful. 

Since I can dry myself off with a flick of my wrist, I start going deeper. From the shore, I hear Levi yell to me, “y/n! Don’t go so far!”

I turn and grin at him mischeviously. “I’m the only one here that knows anything about the ocean from experience, I’ll be fine!” 

Knowing it would freak him out and wanting to be cheeky, I jump up and fall backwards into the water, completely submerging myself. I make a little bubble of air and swim for a bit, admiring the fish and foliage that are still completely foreign to me.

When I come back up, Levi looks like he’s going to rip his hair out. I walk back to shore to give him some kind of reassurance.

I pat him on the shoulder before calling to everyone else. “If anyone would like to, I can make air pockets so that you can see the ocean floor and what it looks like underneath the water!”

Of course, everyone wants to but I tell them that they have to take turns because an air pocket wouldn’t hold enough oxygen for all of us at the same time. So one by one, I show everyone the ocean. The last person on the list being Levi, who wanted nothing to do with my little adventure but whom I forced to do it anyway.

Despite not being very interested on land, he clearly enjoyed himself once he got under water. I honestly didn’t even know his eyes could go that wide. 

That’s…cute.

While we’re in our literal own little bubble, he quietly says, “Is being back everything you had hoped it would be?”

I grin so hard it almost hurts. “And then some.”

When we reimerge, I notice everyone staring off into the distance. When I follow their gazes I see a white shape moving towards the horizon. Shielding my face from the sun, I shake my head after a moment of looking at it.

Hange inquires, “What is it y/n?”

I turn to look at her, kind of embarrassed. “Oh, it’s nothing. I guess being back at the ocean has made me a little homesick because I thought it looked like Appa.”

We keep an eye on the strange unidentified flying object, and I could swear it was getting closer. Even so, I couldn’t shake away the hope that maybe it was Appa. 

It’s a cloud, y/n. There’s no way or reason it would be Appa. What are the odds that anyone from the Gaang would come to find you the one time you’re at the beach, anyway?

Given the time of day, we all set our things down to get our pre-packed food out. While everyone sets up, I start drying off everyone that might need it. As I’m doing so, Levi suddenly yells “Y/n! Look out!” 

I turn around just as I’m clocked by something flying full speed at me. I stumble backwards. I’m dazed for a moment until I hear a familiar chittering sound.

“Momo?!” I exclaim.

In disbelief, I hear Jean say, “What the fuck.”

I turn again to see Aang gliding down.

So it was Appa!

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Alright we're gonna do our first big compilation of my longass notes for a friend of the blogs fic, obviously we mUST start with The Thunder Answered Back by @spicymiilk

Fair warning, I would read the whole fic before reading my notes and laughing/crying along with me. I do think you can go chapter by chapter if you wish. Also a fair warning, I usually cull my notes before posting a fic comment; I really let myself go wild here. Proceed with caution.

Chapter one I didn't have too many notes bc I was deep in it and also there wasn't too too much cringe. Idk if this is well known about me, but I can watch like, hardcore porn or gore and not flinch. I used to watch Animal Planet vet shows while eating cheese its when I got home from school, just munching away while they did surgery on little puppies. But if you write even a tiny bit of cringe it takes me like 5 business days to recover. I fully cannot look at the screen. I will leave the room if an awkward conversation happens in my tv show. I also can't not react to cuteness as well. These notes were mental escapes a lot of the time in this fic, like mother of GOD I want to die even imagining these conversations. Mortifying. Anyways.

Unhinged things I would say on the google doc but here!

DIALOGUE, dialogue, dialogue, dialogue. It can make or break a piece and it CARRIED in this one. It's so very cringe and realistic lol. Dialogue is usually the hardest for writers but I don't think our man here has this problem lol.

Great setting as well, I can feel the heat. A setting you can physically feel is so immersive, it sucks you right in, and my ass has never been to Italy but I've been on a dock and I've been in a hot thunderstorm and I can feel it all.

Obsessed with the way Spider steps into the house and Neytiri's like "dinner, gayboy??" like she was on his ass instantly skskskks. HER LITTLE SLIGHTS AT HIM?? EXPLAIN, LOL. WHAT DID THE CHILD DO? Reminds me of the time my friends mom asked me to stop calling her Chris and I didn't understand why and just blurted back "Okay, Chris." It's just so funny to me when she hates Spider in modern fics, because there's no systemic context it's just her beefing with a small child oddly lol. Having read the whole fic now, it's just Quarich's racism connection, I believe.

I am obsessed with the plight of the boys. Obviously Spider needs to leave, but I'm hoping Lo'ak escapes the military industrial complex lol. I'm so torn. I had Sully fam on the brain, and I wanted Spider's continuing relationship with them all so badly. Maybe I simply need for them to ask Spider to stay with them? Like "live with us for a year buddy, get yourself ready for college. You can do anything king but also ur part of the family, now go deflower our son."

Here is that clarifying question I asked: Did Kiri and Spider have sex??? Or did Mandy tell her about Spider's dick? OR BOTH? I simply could not figure that out. Also missed opportunity to name that character Ninat for the lols. The next generation of Ninat's beefing with and over Sully men.

Now that you've given me my answer, truly hilarious comedic content for everyone around.

Kiri, at night: want to hear about Spider’s dick?

Lo’ak, charcoal and paper out, ready to create an impressive sketch: ew, no, go ahead.

Chapter two, FUCK OFF Jeytiri flirting karaoke is adorable, that’s hilarious. The whole scene made my heart happy bUT NOT HAPPY ENOUGH not enough comfort I need more of it.

Spider turning to Lo’ak who's aLREADY LOOKING AT HIM cause they’re both like “oh you mentioned love, let me look at my best friend,” I’ll die.

Lo’ak literally BEGGING Spider to sing so he can swoon in the corner. I love this headcanon that seems to be cropping up of Spider being like a really good singer, it's very interesting to me.

JAKE UNDERSTANDING SPIDER I’ll die. Jake’s adopted that child you can’t convince me otherwise. Dude, even Neytiri fucking sees him as part of the family, I’ll scream. The tooth gem thing??? Iconic. Loved it. She’s giving Spider specifically cookies??? I’ll die. She's included him in all their shit. Not just anyone can do family game night karaoke. The karaoke, I am obsessed. Adorable. The Kiri and Lo’ak banter means the world to me. Their limp wrist agenda, the limp wrist bullying. What will he do when he can’t hold that against her? She must be unbearable to him in return when Spider isn't there. We love a homophobic gay. It's like what I said about my roommate i slept with twice (who follows me on here and we all better hope doesn't perceive this post); "I only get offended when SHE calls me slurs because I know then it comes from a place of true homophobia."

Kiri is literally begging Spider to understand Lo’ak wants him. BEGGING LO’AK TO UNDERSTAND SPIDER WANTS HIM. Kiri trying not to die at how obvious they both are. Kiri, going to beat the shit out of Lo’ak for asking about Mandy of all people bc of how far he's gone to avoid learning about that. I STILL AM UNCLEAR AS TO IF HIS ASS ACTUALLY DIDN'T KNOW SPIDER BROKE UP WITH MANDY OR HE WAS JUST BEING AN ASS.

Also fuck u for underestimating the importance of Tuk to Spider, he wants Tuk to remember him please I swear.

Also I have noted you have hinted at Spider’s praise kink. I can see it clearly. Nothing more will be said on that topic, but sometimes a praise kink simply makes sense for a character.

'IT COMES OUT MORE LIKE GAY' that was just for me, I know. So was Ninat's kid, obviously. Now that it's cONFIRMED for me I love to know that I am the target audience of all locorro fics ever.

Spider: *calls Lo’ak baby and gets embarrassed*

Lo’ak: *rebooting*

Lol Spider punching Lo’ak for saying slurs is so funny. Lo’ak's like if I say it I ain’t it, and that's on falling for the guy that is punching me for saying the slurs.

This little "I knew" reveal was CERTAINLY not what I was expecting. Not at all. A delightful little twist huh? A little trope subversion? AN EXPLICIT DRUNK CONFESSION IS SO HEART-WRENCHINGLY AWFUL OH MY GOD. WHAT HAPPENED THEN WHAT DID THEY D O I MUST KNOW. "It’s not a big deal bc I… like u too obviously lol." That's the end of the sentence and the end of the communication. I was driven insane by that, I just finished XO Kitty, worst show ever, and I was reminded how much I despise when communication would solve legit every problem but it's handled realistically here. Communication is so hard for the boys Kiri will throw hands. And I brought your inhaler with me obvs cause I’m in love with you.

I’m sad about an asthmatic fist fight but it’s so appropriate. I am sad tho. I am a hurt/COMFORT bitch where is my COMFORT. I don't think my body is ready for a nocorro fic from u @spicymiilk my blog is about to become all comforting headcanons and we're going to ignore the plethora of Hunger Games ones I got today.

Now we have to sit here in this world where Lo'ak thought Spider was emotionally(?) cheating on Mandy with him if he thought they were still dating, the fucking clown idiot fool.

FINALLY, for the third and final chapter, with some bonus answers Andrei has given to my demanding all caps questions.

I’m so mean, I’m laughing at the idea of Kiri waking up at an ungodly 7:34am to Lo’ak ugly crying over Spider’s fake bed on the floor like he’s gone off and died in the war. She’s just like the pizza box community meme like uhhhh. Now I know this must happen oFTEN so I again figure that she must have gotten really good at sleeping through his ugly sobbing.

JHUST FUCKING LEAVE QUARITCH THIS IS SO ANNOYING GET OUT OF MY PLOT I’M TRYNA SEE KIRI’S TEXTS, ugh I'm so biased I despised how much he was in this chapter he should choke I wish asthma was contagious. Although, for some reason Quaritch calling Spider Lo’ak’s wife did things to me personally, The sweet homosexual love line then took me out back and popped me (I mean this in a like, Italian mafia putting me down outside way and not like, doing poppers outside a club although for some reason both are giving the same energy).

Neytiri murdering Spider for both turning her son gay and also making him sad can be something so personal. I still am in denial of every universe where she doesn't like him, and in this one I just love the idea of them slinking back to Italy having eloped or some shit where Spider now has to build that relationship but now having deflowered and stolen her son in the night. Hilarious. They must bond over talking about how stupid he is. They're so similar, how can the people with Jake and his clone not be.

Lol I also forgot Lo’ak got a black eye, that makes Kiri’s texts earlier so much funnier. Kiri was like they made out so hard he was struck with love. Developed a bruise. His gayness punched him in the face.

SPIDER KILL YOURSELF IM IN YOUR ROOM KICK YOUR DAD OUT IS SO FUNNY TO ME THE KYS SPECEFICALLY KILELD ME.

Oh my god the crying was all a lie, a fantasy, I’m so disappointed. More realistic, sure, but still. I am unclear as to if it was rEAL.

I had the cunt thing spoiled for me when I was catching up on posts I missed; never did I imagine lol. Almost as hilarious as Lo’ak telling Spider to die because he didn’t look at him, gay.

Spackle covering the hole in the wall, hmm, I wonder who punched that there?? Also abusive Quaritch giving romantic advice is making me want to puke up all my organs. I know Andrei says say the hole in the wall was nothing, but you can't have an abusive dad character and then mention a hole in the wall and nOT have us thinking that Quaritch punched a hole in the wall. Every reader is gonna think that.

Lol those Kiri texts and what she says is sO MEAN god I totally get why she did it but omg way to ruin a man over something that is not his decision or his fault. She’s just so so mad about the gays being dumb. Can’t believe she finally coughed up this info. Also the way Quaritch could probably hear all this through the wall makes me wanna die.

Speaking of Quaritch, what an interesting portrayal of their relationship. As a Quaritch hater, there's very few fics where I don't just fully skip long interactions with him. I gotta have really been sucked into the world, and I was with this one. I can't tell what of my feelings on the characters have made me biased on the relationship and what are my feelings on what the text portrayed. The feeling of too late in their relationship is there, overwhelmingly and devastatingly, but part of me found myself unconvinced by the attempts from Quartich. I literally can't tell if it's my own bias (most likely) or if it's my own lack of explicit background knowledge.

What we do learn of the past we learn in fragments, passing lines from Spider's internal monologue. They aren't the focal point of the story, but they are deeply important to the world created, and it leaves me with a feeling like I'm in an unfinished paint by numbers; I don't quite have the full picture. (Again, as I always say to you in my beta notes Andrei, these are incredibly harsh comments for fic. It's just good enough I'm treating it as though it's more lol (bc it can be)).

As to why everyone is finding Kiri mean; yeah she's neurospicy and we do clearly get the vibe that they talk to each other in this way, this casual banter that doesn't really mean anything. That being said, casual "kill yourself" or like "this is all your fault" and shit like that when the character is clearly upset and angry comes across as serious. Knowing Kiri as a character I didn't think she was, but reading it took me aback because as a standalone I don't have that context. In arguments and serious moments those words pack a punch, especially to a reader in such close third as we are with Spider in this one. We are WITH him and seeing only his thoughts and perspectives, his hurt is front and center so it's easy to feel hurt and defensive as a reader. I digress.

Lo’ak’s like every man in a crime show calling his wife to hear her voice one last time before he goes to to the dangerous mission and almost dies. He's like "I'll hear Spider's breathing and then know the US military is the way for me." Spider, the barrier between Lo’ak and the goddamn US military. That’s so funny to me. This is another reason to feel confused by Kiri's vitriol; it's not Spider's fault what Lo'ak chooses to do with his life and it is unfair to blame him. One line of her doing it I get, but she does it several times and the only excuse we get for her is from Spider.

Kiri is better than me I’m an awful secret keeper. But also maybe she could’ve coughed that bad boy up earlier, huh?

Tbh tho, on a serious writing note; it’s so well written because from the beginning we know exactly what is happening. They both like each other and Kiri knows both sides. That was obvious to me. You tell us from the get go that Spider is leaving when he turns 18, and that Lo’ak is leaving to join the military, WE KNOW WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN. And yet the train chugs on and each event sets it in motion instead of derailing it, leaving us with an inevitable tragedy we all saw coming. Well done. If I was giving line edits on a publishable work, I’d say speed up the timeline. Make the whole fic (so excluding prior events like the party) all happen like. A few days before Spider leaves. I want to feel it all in real time, up close, as it happens. No breaks in time. I also want that memory convo with Lo’ak earlier lol, so that the realization of it can hit later. And honestly, if it wasn’t fic I’d leave it with the Kiri and Spider convo. No happy ending. BUT NOW LET ME GO READ MY WELL DESERVED HAPPY ENDING. U would've been SICK for not including one.

Extremely uncommon fanfiction Jake Sully W here. It should be more common I am an unapologetic stan.

Them going to find each other is so funny to me. Kiri was personally sending them on a wild goose chase as revenge.

OH THERE IT IS THE COMMON JAKE SULLY L. Although driving your gay ass son to do an airport rom com moment at 5:45am is actually quite the parenting w, where the fuck was Neytiri she would’ve been much more efficient. I mean she wouldn't have let him go, but she would've been efficient about it.

The idea of Lo’ak making his final decision to go to the military earlier in the day and then not actually doing it until he wakes Jake up at 2am makes me cackle. Jake: you go get that dick son, your mother can kill us both later.

ALSO WHY’S HE PULLING HIS SHIRT COLLAR SO HIGH, HMMM, ANDREI??? Showing up to meet his grandmother absolutely dEFILED. Does Lo'ak even have a change of clothes, that monster.

It’s 2:18am (when I originally write this), I have work tomorrow as I do literally every day of the week, and I’m just smiling to myself at this shit. Criticism: not enough of them being happy and also I didn’t get to learn what depraved things Spider wanted to do to Lo’ak that he drunkenly told him about that Lo’ak then had to live with torturing himself (and Kiri) over for months.

Andrei's response on what Spider drunkenly said to Lo'ak for the people: The depraved things are as follows— spider sat his ass in Lo’ak’s lap, completely and utterly gone, and waved poetry about Lo’ak’s long and strong fingers for at least ten minutes. He also made sure to mention his borderline tank top kink. Lo’ak definitely did not internalize that

I just have to say; I should've expected that. Those two gay ass losers to simply lose their minds over tHAT, which is like nOTHING. A REGULAR CONVERSATION I'D DARE SAY. ONE OF THE FIRST CONVERSATIONS I HAD WITH ONE OF MY ROOMMATES WAS ABOUT HER HAND KINK, SO I RECIPROCATED BY SAYING I THOUGHT THE DWARVES IN LOTR HAD GOOD HANDS. LO'AK WAS DEAD, SIMPLY MURDERED, A BLUSHING FOOL OVER THAT.

Lo'ak, stumbling into his and Kiri's room: Spider confessed his love for me and said... depraved things.

Kiri: OH MY GOD WHAT DID HE SAY.

Lo'ak: He said he likes my tank tops... I can barely speak of it out loud.

Kiri: Oh. 🙄

Also lowkey Kiri has to be enraged they’re normal now that they’re away from her. ALSO DOESN’T THAT BITCH LO’AK HAVE SCHOOL?? Hilarious all around. Lo’ak brings Spider back because they cannot be apart and then keeps him in his and Kiri’s room for the next year until he finishes high school. They see how long they can go without Quaritch finding out Spider’s nearby. Kiri hates them so much, especially now that they fuck in her space.

Andrei said in response to this: Lo’ak finished school in Florida!! Pulled a fast one on the school system and said hey I’m smart enough to finish like two classes here. Kiri didn’t speak to EITHER of them for months. Neytiri would call to check up and Kiri would be whining in the background about how she’s betraying her

They make up when Spider saves up to get her a ticket to visit them for a summer 🤸

The idea of Lo'ak never returning is so funny to me in so many ways. First of all, Spider dropping him off and picking him up like he's the sexy older boyfriend in every romcom ever. Second, the idea of Spider bullying him for having to go to school still. Three, they just squat with Spider's grandma, and she's like god I expected one gay loser not TWO. Four, Neytiri calling to check up just resulting in her and Spider both bitching about Lo'ak and Kiri respectively here is how the Neytiri and Spider fanboys can win-

Also, the idea of someone having to tell Neteyam about this makes me want to cry real tears of laughter. He’s in his first semester of college someone free him.

Andrei said: Let neteyam live in blissful ignorance. He knew Lo’ak was a raging homosexual for their entire lives and the second he saw spider he was like. Oooohhh okay. And then he never looked again the mental strength required to deal with it was just too much

Kiri, on facetime: so Lo'ak followed Spider-

Neteyam, opening a textbook in his Harvard dorm room or some shit:

[chevelleneech]

I’m circling back to say I’m also happy Felix’s queer fans, particularly his non-binary and androgynous fans get to be into a Kpop artist who can no longer be shoved into the, “Wait until he says the words!” closet. It’s out there now, and no matter how other people feel about him, these fans can and have been encouraged by him to discuss his androgyny and unisex clothing choices.

I also want to say it sucks that so many people also have picked up on his androgyny for years, seeing as he has said before he enjoys wearing women’s clothing because they look good on him and allows him to express himself more, yet were harassed into not speaking on it, only for it to have been things he was genuinely feeling.

Which I’ve spoken on numerous times. Fans think they’re defending and protecting their faves, yet are not realizing just how upsetting it can be to read someone say its weird and disrespectful to speculate on their identity involving queerness in someway, just because they didn’t put it in a headline first.

Now, I’m not saying Felix is on the path to coming as anything, because who knows, right? But he also isn’t beholden to the same expectation as his fellow group members aside from Chan, so it’s possible he simply has more freedom to discuss certain topics. The same freedom some male idols seem to feel more comfortable in once they’ve completed their military service. So there are many complexities to the topic, main one being, Felix doesn’t have to be attracted to men to be androgynous. It’s just the matter of him likely being, given he’s also already said he has a type in guys and girls.

Point is, I applaud Felix greatly. I think he’s taking a big step in being in a popular idol group and stating he is intentionally presenting himself in a unisex fashion. He wants to look like whichever gender someone assumes him to be, both in the things he wears as well as with his body. He doesn’t think he’s manly, and to him short hair is less fun to have. So no matter how inconsequential some people may feel his words are, they are important.

Especially because idol fans have it in their heads that femininity and androgyny are wholly accepted in South Korea, refusing to listen to anyone who tells them it’s not. They ignore how many male idols leave the androgynous style behind as they get older. They even ignore how many female idols essentially come out and then backtrack or who have “masculine” clothing preferences, claiming these women are just tomboys or whatever the new term is, and that her crush on another girl was a friendship crush or jealousy.

Idols do not have it easy and cannot come out just because they feel like it, just because their industry capitalizes off of skinships and encourage men to lean into a prettier aesthetic. They do it, because sex sells. Yes, it’s a different sort of seduction, but it still sells. Which is why idols still to this day are looked at sideways if not flat out hated for being queer. It’s why fans are still able to claim any of them writing songs about queer sex, is them writing songs for their fans or from an outside perspective.

The majority of Kpop fans do not want their favorite idols to be queer, as it pops the bubbles they’ve built up in their heads. Even the ones where their fave is queer until they somehow meet them and become straight again.

That’s why Felix saying in clear words he doesn’t think of himself as manly and is striving for an androgynous/unisex look, is good. It doesn’t mean people can state for him he is non-binary, nor does it mean anyone should start assuming his pronouns (not that I’ve seen anyone do that), but it does mean his non-binary fans get to celebrate this win of sorts. They get to experience this new (to us at least) version of Felix who they can refer to in softer terms without anyone coming at them for “babying” or “feminizing” him, given his androgyny appears to lean more feminine than masculine.

Anyway, I’m dragging on, but I hope what I’m saying is coming across well. I make my jokes about my faves and analyze things until I’m blue in the face even if I don’t always post it here, but still. I think real people taking real steps to be comfortable in their skin, is a huge deal. Particularly when these people are famous or surrounded by (in Felix’s case, adored by) people who either pretend to love unconditionally or who are upfront with their bigotry and expect everyone to conform in the end.

[nostalgia-tblr]

i mean, loki literally tortured a prisoner? he did so in order to find sylvie because... he saw her in the tva elevator? he didn't know whether sylvie could help with the loom issue, it was just an excuse to look for her. this should tell us that if loki is given the access to the absolute authority that is the tva... then it's not the last time he is going to abuse his power.

at this point, it's hilarious really, the way sylvie is the only character making points against the dictatorship, yet being framed as a hysterical bitch for it.

and i really, really wonder if anyone in this fandom realizes that loki's entire argument in this season can be seen as a defense of the military-industrial complex???

i have more than once had to stop myself typing out the words "team loki: multiverse police" and not just because that reference is probably too dated for people to know what i'm complaining about with it D:

with great power comes a great ability to convince yourself that you are doing the right thing when you abuse it. in fact, you have a responsibility to make other people do what you want them to! no one else has the power needed to impose peace upon all of creation so it's up to you to invade iraq colonise india carpet-bomb the reds do that. for the sake of those who are lesser than you.

[jupitermelichios]

so this is, as far as anyone can tell, not a joke. this is an actual list an alt right dipshit gamerTM made of 'conservative core' games and posted on a 4chan clone, and it's the greatest self own I've seen online in a while. guy is just out here boasting about his own lack of media literacy

I'll put the full list below a cut for anyone who wants it, but i just want to highlight a extra few special entries here first (minor content warning for mention of forced pregnancy, nothing explicit):

Toho Project: it's almost certainly on here because it contains anime waifus, but I've literally never met a toho fan who wasn't trans. technically i guess cis toho fans exist, but they're definitely not the ones keeping the franchise afloat

The 3 different Warhammer 40k games: 40k was created as a critique of reactionary conservatism generally, and margaret thatcher specifically.

Doom: just gonna quote the creator of doom here. "Trans rights are human rights, important rights, critical rights and society needs to do more to make this the case for everyone."

Sniper Elite: this is a game about shooting nazis in the balls. literally, that is the game. there are nazis, you shoot them. usually in the balls. that feels like a pretty firmly anti-nazi stance to me, idk

Persona 4: this game is about how conservative japanese society mistreats teenagers and denies them physical and emotional agency. gonna go out on a limb and guess it's on here because dipshit fancies one of the female characters

Silent Hill 3: silent hill three is about a teenage girl who is impregnated against her will and desperately wants to not be pregnant but a powerful religious organisation tries to force her to carry the baby to term and as a direct result the world nearly ends. in one of the endings, it does end. because of the lack of an abortion. i cannot believe the game about the importance of reproductive rights isn't even the stupidest entry on this list

Fallout 3: it is, granted,one of the less political fallouts. it's still a game about how the U.S. gonvernment destroyed the entire world by declaring war on china and then nuking the planet, and also about how unchecked capitalism and the replacing the social safety net with corporations will inevitably lead to those corporations abusing people, and how that is very bad actually.

Bioshock: literally the first thing that happens in this game is you are told libertarianism is a stupid ideology that will always fail and ayn rand was a moron. and then the game goes on telling you that. at length. in a variety of creative ways. for the next 15 hours.

Metro Last Light: see fallout, this is a game about war-hungry governments who don't give a shit about their people end up nuking the planet and nearly wiping out all life.

and finally, to end on the highest possible note:

Metal Gear Rising Revengence: not only is this an entry in a franchise which is entirely and exclusively about how awful the military industrial complex is, this game specifically is about a soldier who was abused by the military killing the president of the united states because his use of private military corporations to fight wars is morally indefensible. literally. that's the plot. it's entirely possible raiden just says those words in that order out loud in the game because hideo kojima knows writers who use subtext and they're all cowards.

anyway, the alt right are fucking morons and media studies needs to be a compulsory subject in every school on the planet.

full list below the cut:

Toho Project

Warhammer 40k: Darktide

Doom

Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Sniper Elite

Mortal Kombat

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Persona 4

Rimworld

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Quake

Silent Hill 3

Resident Evil: Parasite Eve

007: Goldeneye

Perfect Dark

Battlefield 4

Dino Crisis

Fallout 3

Counter Strike: Global Offensive

Arma III

Squad (no, I don't know what this one is either, it appears to just be called squad? it looks like a rainbox six knock off)

Ready or Not (disappointingly, this looks like a Call of Duty knockoff and not a game based on the film ready or not, which is about killing the 1% with a machete)

Company of Heroes

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Devil May Cry 2

Fire Emblem: the Three Houses

Megaman Zero

STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl

Bioshock

Halo 2

Battlefield 3

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War

Ninja Gaiden II

Metro: Last Light

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine (fun fact, at the end of this game your character gets executed for heresy because they saved lives, but i'm sure that's not commentary on anything at all)

Killzone 2

Dead or Alive: X-Treme Beach Volleyball 2

God of War (the original, not the Dad of Boy reboot)

Metal Gear Rising Revengence