#basically the only way what WE would deem a war crime is being stopped is if someone in-universe takes offense to it and MAKES it stop

[butterflydm]

wot reread: towers of midnight (chap 14-19)

spoilers for towers of midnight

1. Egwene has gone into TAR to attend some important dream meetings; first up is meeting with the Wise Ones. She lets them know that Elaida was abducted by the Seanchan and Egwene has been raised as full Amrylin.

2. She asks them about how Rand is doing and they tell her that he’s doing better. Yeah, I feel like there would be so much more tension in this plotline if Rand hadn’t yet had his epiphany and we were still dealing with ruthless!Rand, and so the Wise Ones weren’t able to reassure Egwene here about his state of mind. It would be better if the audience were also unsure about the wisdom of his plan.

3. Egwene does make a tentative arrangement that they can send Accepted to train with the Wise Ones for a time, but Amys and Bair make it clear that the Wise Ones have no interest in becoming Aes Sedai (Egwene hopes that, in time, she can change their minds; I deem this possibility Extremely Unlikely).

4. Her next meeting, after the Wise Ones leave, is with Nynaeve. Egwene puts Nynaeve, Rand, and Gawyn all in the same category of people who frustrate her because she feels like they don’t trust her/show her loyalty. She thinks here on how she hasn’t seen Nynaeve for ‘months’ - I guess the last time they saw each other was pre-ACoS, because I remember Nynaeve asking Egwene about Lan, I think? But Nynaeve was deliberately avoiding meeting Egwene in the dream for months because of the way that Egwene had traumatized her (back in... TFoH?).

5. Nynaeve finds out here that the Seanchan attacked the White Tower! I wonder if she’ll tell Rand. I really am trying to keep track of Who Knows What when it comes to the various Seanchan-related crimes. Egwene notes how uncomfortable Nynaeve is while talking to her and decides that instead of berating or scolding Nynaeve for avoiding meeting with her, she will ask her advice on being a young leader. Also, just to note another Egwene & Rand similarity: she notes how it feels like she has to do everything herself because people will stop obeying her once she’s out of sight. This is the same thing Rand was lamenting back when he was trying to get grain handed out in Arad Doman.

6. Egwene then uses the advice that Nynaeve gives her as a way of leading into telling Nynaeve that she needs to begin truly treating her as Amrylin and to call her ‘Mother’ instead of ‘Egwene’. Then Elayne arrives, all sparkling and chipper over the White Tower’s reunification.

7.  They begin discussing Rand. Egwene wonders here (just in her head) if Elayne has bonded Rand, and if that’s the secret that she feels like Elayne is keeping from her. Much as the Wise Ones did, Elayne and Nynaeve both tell Egwene that Rand has changed recently and is doing much better than before.

8. Nynaeve notices that Elayne is pregnant here. Is she... is she going to tell Rand when she wakes up? There are now five things that Nynaeve could tell Rand:

a. the sul’dam secret (key to any war effort against the Seanchan)

b. that Mat was left behind in Ebou Dar during the Seanchan invasion (would explain to Rand why ~Fortuona~ knew who Mat was)

c. that it was the Wondergirls and not the Dark One who changed the weather (would ease his mind somewhat)

d. that Elayne is pregnant (important emotional news!)

e. that the Seanchan attacked the White Tower (key to knowing how far the Seanchan have been willing to go, and that they now likely have access to Traveling; while Rand would have seen that the White Tower was damaged, it would have been easy for him to assume it happened when the rebels took the Tower, since he has no idea of anything that was happening in Egwene’s plotline)

WILL she tell him any of these things? I guess we’ll find out. So far, the only time she’s been willing to tell him anything (what happened with Lan) was when he basically already knew that something had happened and hounded her about it until she gave in. At this point, I feel like we can safely say that Nynaeve is more secretive with Rand than Moiraine ever was.

9. Note that Nynaeve does realize instantly that Rand is the dad, so all her ~omg Rand and Min need to get married~ ~omg Min is THE ONE who shares Rand’s heart~ ~omg we should talk to CADSUANE, why would I think of trying to talk to Elayne about Rand~ is all in the context of her apparently NOT having taken a blow to the head off-screen and forgotten about the love confessions, and forgotten about RandxElayne in general. She just bafflingly hasn’t thought about Elayne at all when interacting with Min and Rand x Min for no discernible reason. And, here, Nynaeve doesn’t appear to think of Min at all. She’s just instantly “oh Rand is definitely the daddy, don’t be coy with me, Elayne”. So when Nynaeve is around Min, she’s 100% RandxMin but when she’s around Elayne, she’s 100% RandxElayne. I guess if she ever spent time around Aviendha, she would probably be 100% RandxAviendha, lol.

10. Both Elayne and Nynaeve are way more noncommittal than Egwene expected on the whole “Rand has lost it in thinking that he needs to break the seals” deal that Egwene is selling. She blames Nynaeve’s reaction on her being ~influenced~ by Rand being ta’veren. I really do think that everything about this Egwene plotline would make more sense if Rand were still ruthless!Rand tbh. Egwene tells Nynaeve and Elayne that they need to come to the Tower to swear the oaths, but Elayne wiggles out of it because “we don’t know what it might do to the babies!” lol, it’s funny that Egwene is so 100% that everyone MUST take the Oaths but she’s all “eeeh, idk if it matters” when it comes to the Testing for being Aes Sedai. Anyway, Nynaeve says that if she’s going to do it, then she’ll do it right and take the Testing. Egwene says it will happen the next day then, and Nynaeve is startled at how soon Egwene expects her to come.

11. Oh, Egwene (very casually) mentions “before the Seanchan attack” here when Elayne is in the room, and she’s about to talk about the Black Ajah purge, when they get attacked by a two Black Ajah Sisters. Ah, that’s not really enough for Elayne to know what/when all that happened, especially since the attack happened so soon after. It’s Alviarin and... Talva? idk who Talva is, lol. I think this might be her first mention. After the attack, there’s a brief mention that Egwene tells about ~about what they missed~ but the narrative doesn’t go into detail, so we’ll only know how much she told Nynaeve and Elayne if they happen to think about it in their own narration. I wonder how much she told Elayne (and if any of that information will filter through to Mat).

My theory here is that Mat is going to be kept out of the loop of information about how much Tuon/the Seanchan have acted against his friends, to make it slightly less disgusting for the reader that Mat continues to fawn over an active danger to his loved ones who has, in the time since she left him, already assaulted his people once (meanwhile he’s been pushed into an emotional place where he felt guilty talking about standing up against her invasion -- another yikes pieces of characterization left to us by Jordan and another way the Mat x Tuon relationship is painfully lopsided; Tuon clearly feels no guilt about attacking MAT’S people).

12. Nynaeve has an Asha’man guard, Naeff, who... I think has not been mentioned before? He seems to be here as an illustration that though saidin is cleansed, any damage that the taint did to the men’s minds before it was cleansed remains intact (implying that the same is true for Rand). While she’s waiting for Rand to return (so she does plan to say goodbye before she leaves), she and Naeff are investigating a bubble of evil that turned a part of the city (people included) into dust. There’s no life left there. Things are getting Real Bad.

13. Feeling frustrated at her failure to help any of the people who were turned to dust, Nynaeve asks Naeff if she can take a look at him, and she attempts to heal the wounds that the taint left on his mind. She finds a darkness, with thorns poking into his mind. She pries the thorns free one-by-one and heals each small wound left behind. And it works, and his feeling that he is always being watched by Fades vanishes. This reminds Nynaeve not to give into despair and believe that the situation is hopeless.

14. Rand returns and he and Nynaeve talk. He thanks her for helping the Tairens and blames himself for things getting so bad, because of how he has delayed. He and Nynaeve talk a bit about Rand’s plan and it does seem pretty clear that Nynaeve sees his point about not waiting until the seals break by themselves. Better to break them and attack before the world gets worse. She tells him that she has to go back to the White Tower, and he asks her not to let them ‘ruin’ her. The most interesting thing to me here is that zen!Rand is WAY more like the Aes Sedai (in general) than ruthless!Rand, but Rand THINKS that how he previously was is like them -- forcing himself to be cold and uncaring to stay in control.

So... it is condescending for Rand to be saying this but it’s more interesting to me that he’s just flat-out WRONG (at the start of the book, when he arrived in the White Tower as zen!Rand, the people there were saying he was coming across as ‘Aes Sedai’ in vibe). But I think it makes sense (from Rand’s various Aes Sedai traumas) that he might think this -- the main Aes Sedai that he’s been around for the last several books has been Cadsuane, who is a bully and a hypocrite. Before that, he was literally tortured by a group of Aes Sedai, not all of whom were Black Ajah, some of whom were definitely using him to work out their anger issues. So I actually get why he might feel this way? But he’s incorrect. Aes Sedai are not constantly battling the taint the way that he was, so their need for control over saidar is profoundly different than Rand’s. That being said, idk if the text realizes that he’s incorrect, because Nynaeve agrees with him here (but otoh, there were the onlookers in the White Tower who straight-up said he was acting like an Aes Sedai). Rand does mention here that MOIRAINE always cared passionately but this was not something that he saw in her during the first four-ish books or so. It wasn’t until TFoH that he really began to see that in her.

I think the main thing is that Rand doesn’t have enough experience with “the average modern Aes Sedai” or “accepted White Tower training” in order to actually talk with authority.

15. Also, no. Nynaeve tells him none of the five big secrets that she is currently keeping from him, lol. She does not even CONSIDER telling him that he knocked up Elayne and she should know that he doesn’t know because they literally left Caemlyn TOGETHER back in Winter’s Heart. Being as communicative with Rand as she is with Elayne or Egwene isn’t even an option that she considers, even though she’s very fond of Rand.

16. On the plus side, she does examine his brain and we find out that his own taint-thorns are being held back by a coating of Light, which is interesting. Rand also says that he’d like it if she came back again once she’d able. Rand does mention here potentially having Elayne or Aviendha as the other woman in the circle with him if he uses Callandor with Nynaeve. We get no thoughts from Nynaeve re: the love confessions when Rand mentions Elayne and Aviendha. She also doesn’t think at all about how Elayne is pregnant when Elayne is brought up by Rand. I mean, at least she does plan to Heal Narishma and Flinn before she leaves but... jfc, she just Will Not Ever tell Rand anything, will she?

17. Faile and Perrin are finally having that big talk in private. Faile tells Perrin that he’s a good leader, and Perrin says he’s worried about how callous he’s become and that sometimes he wishes that he hadn’t gone with Rand on that night back at the start of TEotW (of course, they didn’t know that Rand was TDR at that point, so Moiraine never would have let that happen anyway lol). After that, Faile and Perrin have a meal for their one-year anniversary, their shanna’har. So that tells us how long it’s been since the battle of the Two Rivers. We then spend nearly two whole pages on reassuring Perrin that he’s a Great Leader (TM).

18. So, the thing is... Perrin’s fear about what killing those two Whitecloaks means for him as a person... that it makes him a monster and a killer, we saw a similar reflection in Rand, when he went to Falme in the last book. He thought about how that was where he first killed someone, how that was where he learned he could be dangerous to those around him. But Rand seemed to have more perspective about the situation that it occurred in. The first person Rand killed happened to be a Seanchan Lord but that doesn’t lead Rand to believe that morally he should to prostrate himself in front of ~self-proclaimed empress Fortuona~ to ask her to judge him, because Rand is capable enough of self-reflection to see both that he dislikes that he is capable of killing but also that he was in a situation where the other person was fully capable of killing him back.

But the actual connection here between Faile and Perrin is sweet, even if Perrin continues to frustrate and annoy me.

19. It’s fascinating/heartbreaking how Mat and Aludra’s relationship has changed into her treating him as an “unruly messenger boy”. It’s yet another relationship that got destroyed by Mat hooking up with Tuon. That’s one of the parts of the Mat x Tuon relationship that make it so unpleasant for me to read -- the fact that it is so inherently destructive to so many of Mat’s other relationships, leaving him much more isolated and vulnerable. And it’s just so lopsided! Mat loses/gives up so much due to the Tuon relationship and Tuon gives up nothing at all. How unbalanced the relationship is between the two of them is definitely one of the major reasons that I personally can’t get into it at all. That is not my vibe, lol.

20. Juilin comes over to talk to Mat to tell him that he plans to leave with the Aes Sedai to go to the White Tower. Very interesting that Juilin frames things in terms of Mat “giving permission” to the Aes Sedai to leave (which makes Mat wince). Juilin also hesitates before shaking Mat’s hand goodbye (and he mentions that the reason he’s not going back to Tear is because of the Seanchan). So, yeah, yikes. Looks like that’s another relationship that Mat torched by marrying Tuon.

21. Seta and Bethamin ALSO see Mat as “allowing” the Aes Sedai to leave and are somewhat surprised that it’s happening. So it kinda seems like the anti-slavery crew was unsure whether or not Mat would betray them and throw them back into the collars of the Seanchan (or basically were considering him the unofficial ‘owner’ of the three Aes Sedai Sisters). Yikes either way. And Mat winces here at being called “Highness” but doesn’t realize the deeper issue at hand. When Seta talks about how she wonders if it might not be better to die rather than to live as proof of the Empire’s lies, Mat tells them... that maybe someday after they learn to channel, the two of them (Seta and Bethamin) can convince Tuon that she’s wrong. Bro, she would stick them in a collar in a heartbeat. You KNOW this. Mark another tally in the “Mat in Willful Denial” column. This is also where he says the line, “Help me find a way to fix this without causing the Empire to collapse” and the line isn’t as awful in context as it is in isolation, because he’s clearly trying to find a way to make Seta feel less suicidal (and Seta cares deeply about the Empire). And the implication is that he means “fix this” in terms of fixing how fucked-up the damane system is, because of who his audience is (an ex-sul’dam who is scared of what it means to be able to channel).

The problem is that Mat is in such willful denial about Tuon’s character, because he wants to believe he isn’t married to a horrible person (like there are some great evil4evil pairings out there but it seems clear that is not the situation here and Mat is entering into this relationship with an “I can Fix Her” mentality, which rarely goes well -- though it does make the show’s change in his background painfully appropriate). Also, it seems clear that Mat believes that convincing Tuon that she herself is a channeler is THE key element to her having a breakthrough that would make her lead the charge to fix the damane system but... again, he deeply underestimates her ability to be a hypocrite, imo. Mat really really wants to believe that he’s married to a person who is fundamentally good but is just mistaken in her beliefs. Like I said above, I think that the narrative is going to deliberately keep information from Mat in order to let him continue to choose to believe that (if he knew that Tuon had sent assassins after the Aes Sedai, who include Egwene and his sister Bode, one would hope that he would have second thoughts about forcing himself to believe that Tuon must be fundamentally good underneath her toxic cultural beliefs).

In general, going into a relationship with the goal of changing the other person is... not such a great idea. For me, Jordan really botched the execution of the 'courtship' in CoT & KoD but when I try to not think about that part and just take what Sanderson was given, I do understand why he took this approach -- if we take it as a given that Mat has given up fighting his fate, Mat needing to justify WHY he’s gotten stuck him with Tuon makes a lot of sense. "The Pattern must have forced me into this marriage to convince Tuon that she can channel and that this doesn't make her evil, thus leading to her realizing that the damane system is trash" is a rationalization that makes sense for him to decide to believe, if we've already accepted that Mat has given up fighting.

22. Huh. Okay, that’s interesting. Mat explicitly compares the ex-sul’dam to RAND here, in terms of how terrified they are by the idea of channeling. *tilts head* I’ve talk a little bit about how Tuon is essentially a ~funhouse mirror~ of the Dragon Reborn (basically all the bad parts, lol, but she gets rewarded for it) but now I’m wondering how much MAT is projecting his feelings about Rand onto Tuon? Because Rand forced himself to be cold and in control in order to survive his destiny; Rand chases after prophecy like Tuon chases omens. But while Tuon might have a lot in common with the shell of the Dragon Reborn, we haven’t seen any evidence that there’s a good person inside that shell. In her own PoVs, she seems to be a hollow suit of armor.

I hadn’t remembered that Mat directly compared sul’dam (and thus by implication, Tuon) to Rand in the actual text of the book. Because Mat’s train of thought here goes from sul’dam to Tuon back to sul’dam and then to Rand very quickly. I still dislike that Jordan decided to have Mat’s sympathies swap from the oppressed in WH to the oppressors in CoT, but this is a very interesting justification in the text for that characterization change (one that did not appear at all in CoT or KoD, lol, so this may be an example of Sanderson trying to make sense out of the characterization change). Mat knows that there’s a good person who is frightened of what they’re capable of becoming underneath Rand’s cold shell, so he’s projecting that onto Tuon.

23. Doman and Leilwin née Egeanin are leaving to go to the White Tower too. So the entire “disapproves of the Seanchan” crew is heading to the White Tower in what feels like a fairly direct refutation of Mat’s choices (except Aludra, who is staying in Caemlyn for War Effort reasons). Oh! What Leilwin née Egeanin says to Mat when she’s leaving! “I don’t envy the place you’ve put yourself in. In some ways, I think the winds that carry you may actually be rougher than the ones which have buffeted me, recently.” Leilwin née Egeanin speaks nothing but the truth.

And the only person who wants to stay with Mat is also the one who flipped the most soundly over to the pro-slaver side: Setalle Anan, who Tuon had trained to fetch and carry for her by the end of the circus journey, and who amused Tuon by being willing to ~civilly debate~ over other people’s rights without trying to make Tuon feel bad for thinking that some people are less than human. The person most willing to coddle Tuon, in other words. That’s the only person who actually wants to stick around Mat after he’s thrown in his lot with the slavers.

(and Thom, of course, who needs Mat if he wants to save Moiraine; and Noal who is basically just a plot device)

24. Mat’s goodbye prank to Joline is... very childish (though tbh I feel like she could probably fix that with some minor channeling? I feel like this might be an annoyance to her for a handful of minutes at most). But it’s interesting here that Mat compares the ~predatory look~ in Joline’s eyes to Tylin’s even as he is desperately thinking that he needs to find some way to keep Tuon from enslaving him as da’covale (he’s “half-convinced” that she plans to enslave him at some point, though he once again tries to dress it up as ‘servant’ and not ‘slave’, just like he constantly did with Selucia back during CoT/KoD, where he kept insisting on thinking of her as a ‘ladies’ maid’ even though he knew damn well that she was a slave).

So, in the text, Mat is still operating under the deep fear that his wife is going to enslave him. Hmm. One of the other weird things that I noted happening during the circus journey is that it often seemed like Mat sublimated the anger/fear that he felt he couldn’t express towards Tuon and redirected it towards the Aes Sedai instead. In some ways, Joline was almost used as Tuon’s whipping boy during the circus journey, though I don’t know if that was intentional on Jordan’s part. Joline was the person that Mat was “allowed” to be angry at, essentially, even as Tuon behaved much more poorly.

Mat feeling wary and disliking that Joline is reminding him of how predatory Tylin was towards him -- Very Interesting. I will note that for later.

Also #JolineDeservedBetter.

25. Mat is very aware here of the connection that was formed between Setalle Anan and Tuon, and thinks that he wishes Tuon was here to distract Setalle Anan from trying to be the manager of his camp’s cooks. Strike seven-point-one. Mat notes Setalle Anan’s “plunging neckline” and how it works particularly well on “buxom” women like Setalle Anan. Not that he noticed. (the ‘not that he noticed’ is literally in the text, lol) And, once again, it is full breasts that Mat is trying to convince himself that he’s not noticing here, once again bringing attention to the lie he told himself a few chapters ago about preferring women with flatter chests these days. That’s at least three different women where it’s been the breasts in particular that grabbed Mat’s attention and that he lied to himself about. Mat is full-on trying to gaslight himself about his preferences in women’s appearances to convince himself that he’s more attracted to Tuon now than he is to anyone else Because Wife.

26. We’re reminded here that Setalle Anan knows about Mat’s protective medallion ter’angreal. She does NOT tell Mat that she told Tuon about the medallion, just regrets that she asked to look at it because that life is lost to her now. The fact that she so completely betrayed Mat to Tuon is really the thing that sticks out to me the most, of course. Setalle Anan was the one person who actually heard Tuon’s pro-slavery arguments (the reader certainly didn’t get to) and yet she gave away personal secrets to Tuon anyway. She’s the one person who should have the least amount of illusions about how deeply buried in Empire propaganda Tuon is, and yet (but she’s operating under Mat’s same delusion belief that she can ~reasonably debate~ Tuon into wanting to end slavery).

Apart from Mat himself, Setalle Anan is the character who got screwed over the most by whatever changed in Jordan’s ideas about the Seanchan story arc between Winter’s Heart and Crossroads of Twilight, going from being gutsy enough to hide an Aes Sedai in her cellar even as there were Seanchan in her very own inn... into being Tuon’s willing lacky and betraying the secrets of her former comrades. And as a result of that, Setalle Anan does feel like the most obvious evidence that Tuon is likely ta’veren.

27. Elayne strolls the Sunrise Gardens (which are on the roof of a building) and thinks about meeting Rand for the first time down in the lower gardens. We learn that her pregnancy is just beginning to show. It sounds like Elayne is getting an echo effect of Rand’s ~anti-Dark One~ bubble? The flowers bloom more around her and the little stream in this garden only runs when Elayne visits (apparently Perrin is also creating an “anti-food rotting” field as well, in his own chapters; I haven’t mentioned it because I didn’t really care, lol).

28. Oh, the deal that Elayne sets up here with the Kinswomen. I love Elayne so much. Seeking to create a place in Caemlyn where anyone who is hurt or ill can travel to be Healed free of any cost, in a lower-stakes environment than going to the White Tower. Elayne has such a good heart. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

And, of course, there are political and military considerations as well, because our girl is SMART. Having the Kin stationed in Caemlyn gives her a firm base to hold firm against the Seanchan, especially now that she knows they likely know Traveling. It is... fascinating actually, the post-War setup we have here of how much Elayne clearly plans to prepare in case of a potential Seanchan invasion post-The Last Battle, because Elayne and Tuon are on a post-canon collision course and I’m not sure how much any potential temporary truce will hold. That is a powderkeg.

Tuon is also Elayne’s foil in a lot of ways (I was talking about this with @markantonys in the comments of my last post).

They have many things in common:

we meet them both as heirs to a throne (who literally have “daughter” in their official title)

watch them ascend to power due to the reported death of their mother

they’re both capable of channeling

both are involved in love-based prophecies with ta’veren

they both have roses in their imagery (rose crown of Andor vs the raven & roses)

that one AMoL Spoiler Thing that they will have in common in the future

But there are also some strong contrasts that show the differences between them:

Tuon married without loving her husband while Elayne loves Rand but is not married to him

Elayne embraces being a channeler while Tuon rejects the idea

Tuon is the main slaver while Elayne has been the main person helping the freed slaves in the narrative

Tuon plans to force Mat to be ~full Seanchan~ while Elayne is incredibly selfless as a lover and has never tried to force Rand into being something else for her sake

Tuon uses other women as slaves, while Elayne is probably the female character who has the most connections to other women as friends and allies in a wide variety of different groups

while they both ‘claim’ lands outside their homeland that belong to them because of their ancestors’ blood, Elayne’s waiting country (Cairhien) actually IS prepared to have her as their ruler and has literally been waiting for her, while the Seanchan’s claims on the Westlands were pure propaganda on the Empire’s part based on an extremely distant past

A minor AMoL spoiler on this side too. I’ll try to point out the two spoiler-based things when I get to them in AMoL.

idk it’s interesting.

Elayne also wonders here if laying claim to the Black Tower (which IS on Andoran soil) would give her the post-Last Battle edge against the Seanchan that she would need.

29. ...Sanderson points out a massive plot hole from the Faile kidnapping arc -- that Perrin never considered using the wolfdream to scout out Malden. Yeah, that was pretty foolish of you, Perrin. It’s almost like you’re not a good leader and you don’t know how to use the advantages that you’ve been given. Bad Leader Perrin is such a hilarious contrast to Good Leader Elayne that we literally just had last chapter. I mean. On a certain level, sure, Perrin has had no training. I can’t expect him to be as good as Elayne. But on the other hand -- people (in the story) keep trying to tell me that he IS a good leader, because he makes Tough Decisions. Oddly enough, when RAND makes scorched earth Tough Decisions, the narrative understands that this is maybe not such a good thing; and part of Egwene’s whole leadership plotline was her putting her own skin on the line to AVOID doing a scorched earth approach. But Perrin doing scorched earth Tough Decisions is a-okay. For some reason.

30. ...I feel like this is the third or fourth time that Perrin has told Hopper that he’s ready to learn since we opened TGS. I think he can stop saying it, lol. Anyway, Perrin gets a lesson in keeping himself in the wolfdream even when someone is trying to force him out of it. They also run across a violet wall of energy in the dream that they cannot cross. Then Sanderson rids us of the terrible Berelain love triangle nonsense in this scene with Berelain and Faile, where they come to terms and decide that they will pretend to be friends in order to convince everyone that Berelain didn’t sleep with Perrin. Thanks for finally killing that subplot.

31. The Band of the Red Hand has been bragging to all the mercenary groups that they are led by a personal friend of the Dragon Reborn. That does track with how Talmanes behaved when he caught up with Mat in KoD.

32. Mat hears about the rumors about him -- one of them is that he “never loses at dice or love and his spear never misses his target” and he says that he wishes the second two were true. So he, uh. Doesn’t feel like he won in love. He also wishes that he’d dressed a little more fancy to see Elayne.

33. Oh, wow. Before he goes in to see Elayne, his hands are shaking. And his description of her is SO glowing. “His eyes found Elayne immediately”; “Radiant in a gown of deep red and gold”; “Beautiful, full red lips that Mat would not have minded kissing”; “Her red-gold hair seemed to shimmer in the hearthlight and her cheeks were full of color”; “She was a pretty thing.” She’s distracting.

Strike strike strike! Mat forcibly interjects Tuon/his married status into his gushing thoughts over Elayne twice here which only makes the gushing stand out more.

lol, the comparison to how he reacts to seeing Birgitte again is so telling:

“She looked the same. Always did, with that golden braid and high boots, like the hero from the bloody stories." lol, amazing. go girl give us nothing. The contrast between his gushing over Elayne’s appearance vs Just The Facts about Birgitte is hilarious. Mat is so attuned to Elayne’s appearance that he’s picked up on her barely-showing pregnancy weight (though he doesn’t realize it’s due to pregnancy) and with Birgitte he’s just like “eh I guess she’s Birgitte-shaped idk”.

Strike seven-point-two (and the third time he’s had Thoughts about Elayne so far in this book).

And Mat is expecting her to be an asshole noble (like Tuon is) and he’s bracing himself against that... and is completely taken off guard when she is warm instead, thanking him for returning Thom to Andor. She tells him that he doesn’t have to call her “Your Majesty” in private! Of course not! But it would be good to do it in public for appearances’ sake, and Mat readily agrees. I do think Sanderson missed a beat here -- if Jordan were writing this, Mat definitely would have mentioned Elayne’s dimple. Jordan’s Mat was OBSESSED with Elayne’s dimple.

34. Thom mentions Elayne’s future children and Mat is just gobsmacked that Elayne is pregnant (and that it’s Rand’s kids -- I mean, Mat has been watching Rand bang Min against every available surface for the past few months in his rainbow visions so... can’t blame him for being somewhat confused since he DOESN’T know about the love confessions). Mat also thinks in some befuddlement that Elayne is agreeable now (...and then admits that she could be agreeable before too sometimes).

Interesting here -- Thom tells the story of their escape and “capture” of Tuon, and somehow manages to make Mat sound like a hero in the story (focusing on Mat saving the Aes Sedai and helping the Atha’an Miere escape, maybe? the WH stuff before CoT destroyed Mat’s character?). And then Mat cuts him off before he gets to Tuon saying the marriage words (or, for that matter, before he gets to Mat handing Tuon back to the Seanchan Empire to continue her invasion of their continent). Given... Elayne’s understandably strong feelings about the Seanchan, I am EXTREMELY CURIOUS about how Thom managed to relay this story in a way that was amusing rather than disturbing. Though I guess some of the worse bits were things that Thom didn’t see.

35. Okay, Mat deliberately trying to make sure that Elayne doesn’t know he’s married to Tuon is... hmm. Is it because he’s so attracted to Elayne and doesn’t want to have Thom remind her that he’s married or is it because something in his hindbrain is telling him not to let Elayne know that he’s married to someone who enslaves women like her? Given the uncertainty here, I won’t give this a strike point. But, yeah, he and Elayne are getting on so well right now, that even discounting his attraction to her, I can see why he wouldn’t want to mention that he’s now married to a slaver, specifically.

36. “[Elayne] laughed, the pretty sound ringing in the room. He felt himself blushing.” OKAY! Strike seven-point-three. Mat is so fucking gone over Elayne, wow. I am so deeply curious if anything about this was in Jordan’s notes or if Sanderson was just going off of his own vibes of Mat & Elayne from ACoS. Mat is coming across as having a massive MASSIVE crush on Elayne. And when Elayne realizes the gravity of the offer that Mat is bringing with Aludra and her dragons, she declares, “Mat, I could kiss you!” and Mat blue-screens for a moment.

If Elayne HAD kissed Mat here, he would have 100% kissed her back. Like, I have zero doubt in my mind. Wow, that crush can be seen from orbit.

37. Haha, after all that getting along, Elayne and Mat do run into some conflict when Mat realizes that Elayne is planning to have Aludra build the dragons for Andor and not for the Band. To make it so that they are one and the same, Elayne offers for the Band to be an official part of Andor. And Mat is tempted. But he’s stuck with Tuon so...

“He did not think Elayne would be happy to have him in her realm once she knew of his relationship with the Seanchan.” and “He had no intention of giving the Seanchan access to these dragons.” So Mat has maintained an awareness that the Seanchan are, in fact, hostile and also that he would likely not be able to maintain his friendship with Elayne once she knows that he’s married to a slaver. Sanderson also has Mat focus on how he wants to clear up the uncertainly over how Tuon views him -- everything with Mat & Tuon really is tainted by the prophecy, of course, because how much of Mat’s desire to ~find out the truth of Tuon’s feelings~ is a genuine desire, and how much of it is because he believes that he’s trapped with Tuon regardless?

They do come to terms -- the Band will sign a contract with Andor for now. Andor gets 3/4 of the dragons and the Band gets 1/4. And, in order to sweeten the deal, Mat offers to lend his medallion to Elayne for one day, to do whatever she wants with it. Man, the give-and-take and the general... equality of the relationship. My brain is currently constructing a fantasy of THIS being Mat’s noble romance instead of the trash ones that we got stuck with. *sigh*

They bargain some more, with Elayne getting the medallion for three days and Mat getting a new serving man (MAT’S suggestion, which is key). After we had Tylin forcing fancy clothes on Mat against his will, that Mat wants and trusts Elayne to pick out someone to help him care for his clothing just... wow, that really gets to me.

38. He learns that the reason that Elayne wants the medallion is to make copies -- he finds that worrisome for a moment, but then finds himself settling on being relieved and intrigued by her plans. He also tells Elayne about the gholam. Communication! Mat learns that Elayne wants to use the Band to secure Cairhien and he’s absolutely fine with it, just as long as the Band is free for the Last Battle, “however Rand wants”. The little exchange that Elayne and Mat have here:

Mat: “I’ll do what’s right.”

Elayne: “What you see as being right.”

Mat: “Every man should have that option.”

Elayne: “Few men use it wisely.”

That is probably a conversation that will ring in Elayne’s ears in the future, once she DOES find out what really happened at the end of Thom’s story, and learns that Mat considers “marrying a slaver” in the realm of “what’s right”.

Also, Elayne spits in her hand and shake Mat’s, to copy him. Another (much more minor) mirroring moment between Elayne x Mat and Tuon x Mat.

39. Elayne mentions that she wants the FULL story at dinner that night, including what Mat meant about being a “married man” and wow, the regret that Mat feels over putting that in his letter. He notes here that he dropped it in to hopefully make her curious enough to actually meet with him, which tracks with my speculation. Mat says here, to Thom on the way out, that he wonders if maybe Elayne can give him a pardon too (after finding out that Elayne has given Thom one). It’s interesting, again, in terms of what I was wondering about re: whether or not Thom actually still likes Mat, that Thom is finding the idea of Elayne learning that Mat is married to a Seanchan slaver to be amusing. That doesn’t seem like the reaction of a friend. And, of course, Mat feeling that he might need a pardon speaks to an interesting level of guilty awareness on Mat’s part that he doesn’t want to admit to.

40. I had so much to say about Mat! And about Mat and Elayne! But that was all fascinating, especially how flustered Mat was over talking with Elayne. And it’s also interesting that, even as attracted to Elayne as Mat was, he was capable of dealing with her as an equal when it came to his people. But Mat is also very very aware that all this warmth and trust that Elayne is currently extending to him could vanish in a heartbeat if she found about “his relationship with the Seanchan”.

I do wonder how much of Mat’s reactions to Elayne are based on a (subconscious and unintentional on Mat’s part) comparison to Tuon. That maybe Elayne’s behavior is a pleasant surprise partly because of how much better she’s treating him than Tuon does.

[skelechuuchuu]

Angels in Bungou Stray Dogs.

〈Manga spoilers〉

Each of the Decay of Angels aims to bring destruction to whomever they consider to be “angels.” This idea is centralized in the fight between Fukuchi and Tachihara, wherein Fukuchi details that the “angels” are “those who hold the reins over the people. Never dirtying their own hands, unstained by mud… sending those below them to the battlefield, taking fortune and pleasure, but none of the responsibility. A lofty presence, ever out of reach” (Ch. 91).

Essentially, angels are those who stand above society, and control others through such power. The Decay of Angels aims to destroy this power, one way or another.

I believe we can take each of the Decay member’s goals and attach them to this ideal.

Fukuchi

Fukuchi stated that politicians were the angels he was after. It is unclear if this is his true motive, since Fukuchi (later on in the same chapter) replied to Tachihara, who asked if that was truly his motive, “For now, it is. By next year, it’ll be the prologue of my autobiography, thanks to the Page.” So, we can’t truly say for certain that his underlying motive is truly to kill politicians (and some of his actions even contradict this, I may argue, but that’s for another time), but that’s what we’ve been told thus far.

Dostoevsky

We are led to believe that Dostoy is after ability users. Although less canonically secretive than Fukuchi’s, I say “led to believe” because Dostoy is, essentially, a little bitch, and I don’t trust him. But his motive in canon has remained consistent in the scenes where he appears. I have previously theorized that his motives to abolish ability users is because they are allowed to wield enough power to functionally place them on another plane from non-ability users (cue Ranpo and others saying an ability user is always stronger than one without an ability) (also the entire concept of Aya, which I feel might be related to all this… anyways!). Dostoy may well wish to kill ability users because they stand above and often control and oppress non-ability users. Having read Crime and Punishment, this potential motive would somewhat fit with similar themes in the novel. There are other possibilities, and of course this isn’t confirmed anywhere, but it sounds cool to me personally thanks bye.

Gogol

Gogol desires freedom over his own soul (and sometimes mentions all homo-sapiens? so maybe he wishes to prove the existence of free will for everyone? who knows), which entails that something is currently controlling it. In this case, to put it shortly and highly simplistically, the entity controlling Gogol is his own emotions and primal instincts/desires. In joining the Decay, Gogol is able to break free of the oppression his own brain has over him.

Sigma

This one is perhaps simpler. Sigma wants to not be used or controlled by anyone else. It’s sort of his whole thing. His goal in joining the Decay is to end the oppression he himself has faced, and to create an environment wherein no one can ever control him again.

Stoker

Bram’s goals are slightly amiss, because he didn’t choose to be a part of the Decay of his own volition. The only times we ever really see a drive to action shine through is in regards to Fukuchi’s control over him, and ending that control. He’s already aided Aya in this goal several times in the vampire outbreak arc. Basically, Bram desires to stop the forces controlling him.

Some extras on angels

I think we can push this idea of angels being above others and having control over others a bit further.

Yosano, for instance, is deemed the "Angel of Death" due to her ability being able to control the death (or lack thereof) of soldiers during the war. Her power was used to sway the tides of the war, in a sense, controlling the outcome.

The play in Untold Origins is another example, which details a group of angels cast out of heaven. The play mentions ability users in the play, and commonly equates them with angels. I'm fuzzy on the details (haven't read the LN in a while) and I can't be bothered to look rn.

In the prison escape arc, Dazai mentions how an angel whispered in his ear to relay information. He's most likely either referring to the Time Cat Lady or Ango, both of which would fit into this angelic narrative. Time Cat Lady is an ability user, and specifically is using her ability to relay such information to Dazai, whereas Ango is a politician, who is actively using his power as a government personnel to communicate with Dazai.

That's all bye.

[clonecumber]

The fact the Star Wars universe doesn’t actually have an equivalent of the Geneva Conventions or really any sort of actual law of war really fucking shows sometimes.

I rambled a bit so I’m cutting it here.

I mean, it makes sense in-universe. Not even getting into that the last(?) major major conflict the Republic had to deal with was against Sith and that would definitely leave a mark on their approach to warfare, I’d imagine, the Republic around the time of the prequels and a bit before that period probably wouldn’t really see the need for international (you know what I mean) laws mandating conduct in warfare. War up until the Clone Wars was sort of treated as...well, very “what happens in your house stays in your house” and you could be as awful as you wanted to each other on your own planet provided it didn’t go spilling out on the street to bother the neighbors.

Inter-planetary conflict just didn’t happen in the form of traditional (”traditional”) warfare (when it did happen, it seems like it was almost all economic volleys, targeted mercenary jobs, and the occasional angry insurgent group that made its way off-planet), and the Jedi were really the only ones who cared to go wandering around and sticking their noses in to single-planet problems. There’s no way in hell the Senate was going to regulate warfare. “Why is your mess my problem,” was probably their thinking.

(Palpatine did his job way too well.)

Which means we roll into the Clone Wars with zero Republic-wide systems in place to mitigate the damage what-so-fucking-ever. The Separatists sure as hell aren’t going to open “let’s not be total fucking animals about this” talks that might lead to a universe-equivalent of at least the Geneva Conventions, after all. They have droids. They don’t care. The ones who would have to open those talks would be the Republic, which they maybe might have if they’d had to draft their own citizens into the shiny new GAR beyond some officers and a bit of the supporting staff, but.

I don’t even think I need to continue that. We all know not a single person in the Senate is required to give a single flying fuck about the clone troopers, which of course means they don’t, and they’ve already been conditioned to think of civilian casualties as someone else’s problem, which means The Clone Wars is a literal fucking free-for-all. 

You literally can’t commit a war crime because the laws defining a war crime don’t exist.

this just in: star wars is a literal dystopian hellscape i fucking

[mittch22]

Rod Redline Headcanons:

(He's such a beautiful boi!)

He's not dead! (Duh!)

Rod is incredibly intelligent, although not in the conventional method of measure. He failed every one of his final high school examinations, but was more than adept at sport and martial arts, along with having incredible abilities in problem solving. He was pretty good at drama too. It allowed him to get away from himself for a bit. 

He was often suspended from high school, on the basis of the amounts of fights he would get into. 

Although it got him into a lot of legal trouble a couple of times as a young man after he left the army, he was amazing at forging new identities and transforming into a new person. It was when he was arrested for the second time that the agency that hired him on as a spy formed an interest in him. They got him out of prison and into the world of international espionage.

He’s fluent in Russian. Hardly surprising since he fought in the military during the cold war. It served him very well. 

Rod didn't have any close family or friends. His family were… not pleasant shall we say, and friends only ever seemed to get him into trouble. So he kept to himself, ensuring no relationship ever passed the point of acquaintance. 

He’s never been one for socialisation, but get a couple drinks in him and he’ll be more than happy to regale anyone who asks with crazy stories from the past of his current deep cover persona.

He thrives in stressful situations. Lives for high speed chases and relishes the thrill of near death experiences. Although this is useful in his job, it's very much a deep rooted pain he refuses to face. He’s never been close to anyone, and the loneliness is sometimes crippling to him. But he knows he needs to keep it that way, if anything to protect other people from the dangers of his work.

After the interrogation in the warehouse, Rod was left for dead. He had felt himself slipping a few times, edging in and out of consciousness and in excruciating agony. He was rescued, to his surprise by two of the lemons that had a change of heart after seeing what had happened to Rod. They helped him recover and got him back to his agency. They were arrested for their crimes, but Rod pulled some strings, getting them an early release. 

Rod was deemed permanently and horrifically disabled by the torture he endured. Although there was hope for him to have a slow recovery, it would never be a full one. And he would never be able to return to work or even perform certain basic tasks. And the thought of that destroyed him. 

The lemons he got released from prison contacted him to thank him, one of them going to visit him. He ended up staying with Rod as his housemate and eventually carer and then unlikely best friend. He keeps Rod sane and helps him with everything he needs, and he takes Rod to all of his hospital and therapy appointments with no complaints. Although full trust took awhile, they both have it between each other now. And they are completely inseparable. 

Rod now enjoys being able to just wind down. It felt wrong at first, since he was so used to not stopping. But since it's pretty much all he can do now, he's learned gradually to love it. 

There isn’t an atom that makes up his body that isn’t full of sarcasm.

He can be incredibly grumpy when caught on a bad day. 

He is eternally grateful for his best friend and often wonders how on earth he can put up with him. But he does, utilising his eternal patience for him. And Rod loves him for it. 

Rod often gets incredibly frustrated with not being able to do much. But he tries anyway, and never gives up until he's managed to do it. Much to his friends' concern. But he never coddles him. Instead he simply helps to find ways to make it easier for Rod, or simply encourages him to continue. If anything, it helps him regain mobility and makes him feel accomplished, even with the little things. 

Rod is a sucker for a lot of B rated feel good films and shows. But he’s taking that to his grave.

Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell occasionally drop in to check on Rod. They feel responsible for what happened to him, but Rod doesn't pass them any blame. Although he shouldn't really, Finn gives him updates on what's going on in the their world and the missions they undertake. It makes Rod feel like he's still a part of the action and he's grateful to the both of them.

[aspoonofsugar]

What series have the best worldbuilding in your opinion? You have mentioned that it is a major flaw of several of your favourite series, so it would be interesting to hear what you consider to be good worldbuilding.

Hello anon!

Actually many of my favourite series (even if not all) have good worldbuilding :''')

Here are some examples divided into categories to make different points about worldbuilding.

WORLD-DRIVEN STORIES

They are stories whose basic idea is rooted into the world, rather than the characters. In these narratives the characters are usually made to explore the world and not the other way around. Moreover, many twists are linked to revelations about the world itself and the themes emerge symbolically or practically from the universe.

This does not mean that the characters are not good. Actually, the two series I am putting into this category have great written characters.

1) Psycho Pass (first season)

Psycho Pass is set in a universe where a system (the Sybil System) is able to “read” people’s interiority through data.

What they are good for, the partner that will make them happy, their talents... Sybil sees everything and can give each member of society the best role to fulfill for the good of themselves and of the community.

The system is so good that it can also see when a person is dangerous for others and can stop them and give them treatment before they even commit a crime. If they are deemed impossible to cure, they are removed from society.

The basic idea behind Psycho Pass is this: What if technology becomes able to determine if a person is or is not a criminal, even  before they commit a crime?

This question has been developed in a universe. Then characters have been put in this universe to explore it.

2) Witch Hat Atelier

The universe of WHA is one where everyone can do magic if they have the right tools and if they put in enough work. Specifically, magic is linked to drawing. Through combining different glypsh you obtain different effects. So, in order to do magic, you must become good at drawing glyphs, but also know how to combine glyphs in original ways.

Despite this, not everyone does magic in the WHA world. This is because magic itself is considered dangerous hence why only the kids of witches are taught this discipline. The other peole think that magic is hereditary and something you are born with.

Moreover, there are strict rules to the kind of magic you can use. Once again, these rules are not about using magic in certain ways being impossible... but it is rather society imposing this set of rules to keep itself safe. However, even if these rules are understandable, they also create social disparity and problems.

The basic idea behind WHA is this: What if there is a magic system linked to drawing? How would that work?

The answer to this simple question has created a multi-layered magic-system and a world full of interesting questions.

SINK UNIVERSES

A sink story is a story where you put in several fantastical elements that have nothing to do with each other. So, for example in a sink story you can have vampires, but also aliens. You can have people resurrecting and a magic sport.

They are all fantastical elements that the readers won’t link to the same cultural source material.

Sink Worlds are the same.

So far, we have seen world born from a specific premise. In this section, we see a world wich lacks a unifying principle or idea, but that is still good.

3) HxH

In HXH, there is a magic power with a complex power system, but there is also technology. There are arcs where the characters are lost in nature and others where they must deal with mafia and criminality. There is an arc set in a virtual game and one set in the mansion of a family of assassins. There is an arc where the characters must fight monsters in a country ruled by a dictator and one where they are on a boat with a royal war going on.

In all these arcs the world is full of details and complexity to the point that each arc and setting could honestly be its own story and universe.

Another minor example of a sink universe is RWBY’s one. There is magic, technology, combat school, proper lady school, criminal underground, survival in the forest, survival in the desert, two different magic systems and so on.

WORLDBUILDING THAT MATTERS

Good worldbuilding is a worldbuilding that matters to the story. It can matter either because well integrated in the plot or because it is linked to the themes

4) Made in Abyss

Made in Abyss sets up a series of rules and mysteries surround its setting.

There is this abyss which has never been fully explored and that is apparently cursed. You can go down easily, but when you climb back up you experience a series of side effect and they are worse the deeper you go into the abyss. This worldbuilding element is used to rise the stakes and to create problems to the characters. Finally it is solved with a minor twist that explains why these effects happen.

This is an example of worldbuilding that matters to the plot. (Made in Abyss worldbuilding is important also for the themes, but this was a good example of how even minor worldbuilding details, if well developed, can further the plot)

5) The Silt Verses

https://www.thesiltverses.com/

The premise of this podcast is that the universe is full of Gods. There is a God for anything as long as there is someone believing in it. At the same time, Gods need human sacrifices.

These simple rules are used beautifully as metaphors of our modern society and to explore themes of religious existentialism and faith.

TIME-TRAVEL

This is a category I made simply because time-travel is a specific trope, which is often criticized when done poorly. However, good worldbuilding helps time-travel stories that can actually be very rich thematically.

6) Steins;Gate

Steins;Gate TT does not happen just because, but it is the result of the characters trying to understand how it works, making experiments and learning from their mistakes.

Such a good plot built around characters having to travel in time is possible in the series because the worldbuilding is good. The authors have thought about the idea of time and how time and different time-lines works and have come up with problems and solutions the characters can face and use.

The concept of time-travel itself is also not there only because it is cool, but ties into the main theme of destiny, existentialism and choice.

REALISTIC WORLDBUILDING

7) Finding Nemo

So far, I have talked about fantastical worldbuilding, but there can be worldbuilding that is realistic and born from a great research on a specific environment/society.

Finding Nemo is an invented story, but the universe the characters move is modelled after the real ocean. We see how different aspects of the ocean are integrated to the plot and used in the protagonist’s journey to find his son.

Similarly, even the aquarium Neo is in is an environment used well both thematically (it is similar to a hospital with all the fish there having a different problem - Nemo is in a palce safer than the ocean where he can test his own strength and limits) and integrated in the plot (the fish come up with a plan which is based on the place they are in... also Nemo learns there the trick that will free Dory at the end of the movie).

So, here you have... basically good worldbuilding is... worldbuilding that fits your story. If your story idea is based around a worldbuilding element you must be sure to spend time developing your world either trhough pianification or research. If it is not you can focus more on other aspects, but you can still come up with interesting ways to use the place your characters are to challenge them.

Thank you for the ask!

[maxwell-grant]

What would a spider man: life story look like for the shadow?

Now that I've actually read Spider-Man: Life Story I can give this one a response. I'm gonna obsess about this question for a while because man what a ride Life Story was.

To those not in the know, the premise of Spider-Man: Life Story is: "In 1962, in AMAZING FANTASY #15, 15-year-old Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and became the Amazing Spider-Man! Fifty-seven years have passed in the real world since that event — so what would have happened if the same amount of time passed for Peter as well?" and basically it tells the story of Spider-Man as one continuous narrative spanning 57 years, from his beginnings to a potential future, allowing Peter Parker and his cast and world to age in real time and factor in elements from the character's major stories over the decades.

And it's got a lot into it that the premise doesn't convey and there is no way I can even begin tackling a project like this for the 90 goddamn years of The Shadow's history without seriously just writing an entirely different fanfic continuity (and I already have 5, plus multiverses, possibly more) and tipping off way too much about my own plans for the character. Even I have my limits.

So instead, what I'm gonna do is go over the broad strokes of The Shadow's history as it would look like if you could try and condense it all under a consistent narrative, if you could focus on each decade's highs and lows, what kind of story would arise if a deranged Shadow maniac like me were to try and build a basic skeleton for a The Shadow: Life Story story.

Basic rules first: I'm sticking to the idea of Life Story and spanning every decade from the beginning of the character's life to the end of it. The aging and death parts are important so I’m sticking to those. The character's canonical birth date is 1892, so he's not making it intact to the 2000s. We're capping this off in the 90s, although it doesn't mean no further stories can be told. I will avoid mentioning specific historical events like Vietnam and 9/11 for this post to instead focus on The Shadow's trajectory. I will also not be including other characters, only somewhat referencing whatever aspects I deem relevant. I'm not sticking to any continuity, I'm pulling literally everything I can for this one

And putting this one below the cut

The 1930s: The golden years. In 1930, after a long line of life experiences in the Great War and traveling around the world under dozens of names, the man formerly known as Kent Allard has taken to fighting crime in the Great Depression. This chapter would be more of a standard narrative showcasing the trajectory of The Shadow's 30s career, how he's started off as a urban myth fighting gangsters and then progressed to urban avenger with dozens of allies fighting spies and supervillains. Despite being in his home element, he is restless. Another war is on the horizon. We gotta know where he starts, to get a clue of where he's going.

The 1940s: Despite it being the "family friendly American hero" Shadow era, shit gets very, very chaotic in the 40s, way more so than The Shadow could have anticipated. The pulps were relatively tame for this period, by this point instead you have the radio with it's constantly rotating writers and sensibilities, and comics that had far less reservations about either being really boring or really wacky. Far more encounters with the supernatural than before and with supervillains like Devil Kyoti and Monstradamus and Solaris, plus Khan is still around. The Shadow is forced to spend a lot more time traveling the world to deal with the war, spending a prolonged period establishing headquarters in Japan to aid Japanese underground organizations opposing the military. The agents perform rescue missions on concentration camps, and this is the period where you could have the "real" Lamont Cranston start filling in for The Shadow a bit while he's overseas.

There's a particular blurb that got released during this period that explains The Shadow acquired the power to cloud men's minds not by training, but by journeying to Tibet in an unrecorded adventure that forced him to beg the monks to grant him assistance in saving the world. I have some very mixed feelings on this whole backstory but I think there's something to this idea. Some shit went down in the 40s that was way beyond what The Shadow could have anticipated, and to protect the world from it he had to tap into forces that perhaps should have been left untouched.

The 1950s: The Shadow has dissappeared from America alltogether. He gathered up his agents and announced he wouldn't return for at least a decade, and left them with enough money to last a lifetime and retire should they feel like it. Burbank and Cliff Marsland dissappeared with him, and this chapter would probably be told from the Agents's perspective as they face the 50s while we get snippets from Marsland on what The Shadow's been up to. Some of it involves The Shadow helping protect Tibet after Mao's takeover of China. The real Lamont Cranston doesn't put on the costume anymore and instead operates as a fairly regular detective, although he's training on the skills and powers he's picked up overseas. Whatever fantasy madness haunted the 1940s is all but gone.

The 50s had basically nothing in Shadow content other than the last legs of the radio show, which are 200 episodes from 1950 to 1954 that currently don't exist anymore outside of a few scripts. During this time, The Shadow's sole appearence in US content was a parody in MAD Magazine. Overseas however, there were original Shadow novels published in Norway (a story for another day), as well as a Mexican radio and film series, which also featured Cliff Marsland. I have little information on either.

The 1960s: The OG Shadow is still embroiled in conflicts overseas, but the rise of the criminal organization CYPHER forces him to mobilize Burbank and agents old and new alike to deflect CYPHER away from where he's at, although most of them have retired by now. He still cannot return, but he has been secretly instructing Lamont Cranston on furthering along his own latent abilities if he intends to take over in his stead, and Cranston's powers have grown and developed to a point that, although he is pushing 60, he is able to do things even the original Shadow could not. He also invests a lot in merchandising and costume changes, which...doesn't pan out. Nothing in this era really pans out. It's just a really, really frustrating period of bad luck and supervillains that the aging superpowered detective Cranston is able to stop. Lamont Cranston seems to die in this decade.

The 1970s: Inspired by The Shadow's DC series, and most importantly Michael Kaluta's spiffy redesign.

The original Shadow returns to a crime-torn America, intent on starting anew, and sets to rebuilding his network. But something is off about him. He's leaner, meaner, less compassionate and trusting. Just as what happened the first time he returned to America following years abroad, what happened in his sojourns overseas has fostered something inhuman in him, another sacrifice of his own identity for the sake of a world where the weed of crime has only proven more insidiuous. His powers have grown and so have his resources, but despite that, he's bordering on 80 years old by now, and cumulative trauma deep within his bones hampers his effectiveness. He's doing a lot better than he should, by any rights, but he can't keep this up and he knows it. And so, as before, he starts planning for it.

The 1980s: This was the decade where Walter Gibson died with his final Shadow story incomplete, all the movie plans from the 70s were canned, and Howard Chaykin happened, plus the other DC runs. It's the SHIT decade, basically, where everything goes to hell. Whatever plans The Shadow had blew up, dipshit copycats start ruining everything, his network crumbles, and this is probably the ideal decade to kill off Kent Allard.

But this is also the decade where something weird started happening outside of the story: The Ghost of Gay Street hauntings, where visitors on the hotel Gibson wrote the stories in repeteadly claimed to see a ghostly visitor looking exactly like Lamont Cranston, and Gibson himself claimed that to be a tulpa he created by accident.

Kent Allard may have died. But death can never claim The Shadow.

The 1990s-onwards: Somehow, The Shadow is still active. Still elderly, in a much more limited fashion, but still as sharp as ever if not more so. His powers have grown more so than ever before, even blossoming into a limited form of telekinesis. Is he a ghost? Did he somehow survive the events of the previous decade? Somehow, both Lamont Cranston and The Shadow linger on, but is it Kent Allard or Lamont Cranston? Is it someone else?

Who knows?

This is the decade in particular where he's going to be interacting with more prominently with a new generation, whether it's descendants of the original agents, or new heroes that have found themselves in his orbit. Inspired mainly by the Dark Horse Shadow comics, Ghost and The Shadow, and Peter Straub's Mystery and modern takes on the character like Batman x Shadow and the 2017 mini that play up the miserable immortal and ghost teacher aspects, also inspired by my recent realization that The Shadow's ideal future in-universe may be getting to age and mentor the next generation in some capacity.

Anything beyond that, only The Shadow Knows.

[user-2-electric-boogaloo]

A Comparison of RTD and Steven Moffat: Saving The Day

So for this analysis I’m going to compare when Moffat and RTD save the day well and when they save it poorly. There are a few bits of criteria I need to explain.

 First I will only be including main series, no Torchwood, no spin-offs, and no mini episodes.

Second, I have to define what makes a good and a bad ending (my examples will come from episodes written by neither of them): 

Bad endings include when the sonic saves the day (see The Power Of Three) (there are exceptions, see below), when a character spouts some useless technobabble that doesn’t make any scientific sense/when it doesn’t make logical sense in general, when the Doctor invents/presents a machine/equipment that miraculously stops the baddy and is never referred to again (see Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS), and any other ending I deem to be bad (see The Vampires of Venice)

Good endings include when the sonice activates a device that has been well established to save the day, when technobabble is used that actually makes some scientific sense, and just generally when the baddy is destroyed in what I deem to be a creative manner that makes sense with all the things that had been set up in that episode (see The Unquiet Dead).

There will also be cases where there isn’t really a day to be saved, however this happens more often with Moffat.

Let us begin (obviously there will be spoilers but the last episode in the list aired nearly 4 years ago so what you doing with your life).

RTD:

Rose: Bad

What even is anti-plastic?! Like seriously, he’s faced the Autons loads of times and has never thought to use it any other time.

The End Of The World: Bad

The Doctor just goes up to the appearance of the repeated meme (ha meme) and rips its arm off. He then just summons Cassandra back by twisting a knob which apparently everyone can do if “you’re very clever like me”.

Aliens Of London/World War Three: Good

Just nuking them all was a bit dodgy but I’ll give it to him purely because it had been set up earlier in the episode and it is a genuine option that could have been taken.

The Long Game: Good

The heating issue was set up within 2 minutes of the episode starting. It’s always good to see the Doctor using his enemies weakness against them.

Boom Town: Good

Only just. It’s technology that hadn’t been showcased ever before and came out of nowhere, but I’m allowing purely because it was setting up The Parting Of The Ways.

Bad Wolf/The Parting Of The Ways: Good

See above. It was set up the story before so it works.

The Christmas Invasion: Bad

This was so close to being good. If RTD had just let the Sycorax leader be honourable then everything would have been fine. Instead he had to let him be dishonourable and then the Doctor through the Satsuma at a random button that for no apparent reason caused a bit of floor to fall away.

New Earth: Bad

It only makes sense if you think about it for less than 10 seconds as just pouring every cure to every disease ever into a giant tub and then spraying said supercure onto them all, then having them hug each other to pass it on. That is suspending my disbelief just a bit too far.

Tooth And Claw: Good

Everything is set up in the episode so I’ll allow it but I fail to see how Prince Albert had the time to ensure that the diamond was cut perfectly.

Love And Monsters: Bad

It’s Love And Monsters. Need I say more?

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday: Good

It was very clearly set up throughout the episode.

The Runaway Bride: Bad

I don’t like how a few bombs can supposedly drain the entire Thames.

Smith And Jones: Good

All the events were well established

Gridlock: Good

It’s a fairly bland way to save the day, just opening the surface to all the drivers. But how else could he have done it?

Utopia/The Sound Of Drums/Last Of The Time Lords: Bad

As much as I like the idea that he tuned himself into the archangel network, he basically turned into Jesus. It is arguably the least convincing ending in modern Doctor Who history.

Voyage Of The Damned: Bad

Why was he the next highest authority? If he’s the highest authority in the universe why didn’t they default to him in the first place? If not then why not default to Midshipman Frame? And if he’s somehow in between them then why? Also Astrid killed herself for no reason when she easily could have jumped out of the forklift.

Partners In Crime: Good

It works in the context of the episode, but I don’t see why they needed two of the necklace things.

Midnight: Good

It’s human nature, you can’t get more well set up than that.

Turn Left: Good

It works logically

The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End: Bad

Donna just spouts a load of technobabble whilst pressing buttons and then the Daleks are magically incapacitated.

The Next Doctor: Bad

Why do the infostamps sever Hartigan’s connection with the Cyberking? As far as I remember it ain’t explained.

Planet Of The Dead (co-written with noted transphobe Gareth Roberts): Good

A good couple scenes are dedicated on getting the anti-gravs set up.

The Waters Of Mars (co-written with Phil Ford): N/A

The day isn’t really saved cause everyone still dies anyway.

The End Of Time: Good

Using a gun to destroy a machine is much better than using the sonic to destroy it.

Summary for RTD:

Out of 24 stories written by him, I deem 10 to be bad endings with 1 abstaining. That’s 41.7% of his episodes (43.5% if we don’t count any abstaining).

Steven Moffat:

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances: Good

You’ll see this a lot with Moffat, he knows how to explain things without stupefying levels of technobabble. “Emailing the upgrade” is a perfect example of this.

The Girl In The Fireplace: Good

Some basic logic, the androids want to repair their ship, but they can’t return to it, they no longer have a function so they shut down.

Blink: Good

Always loved this one, getting the angels to look at each other, however they do look at each other sometimes earlier in the episode.

Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead: Bad

This is more of a problem with the setup of the episode, I don’t like that he can negotiate with the Vashta Nerada. I’d rather see them comprehensively beaten, but I guess it’s good for the scare factor that they can’t be escaped from.

The Eleventh Hour: Good

He convinced the best scientists all around the world to set every clock to 0 all in less than an hour. In the Doctor’s own words “Who da man!”

The Beast Below: Good

The crying child motif pretty much ended up saving the day (well for the star whale, life went on as normal for pretty much everyone else).

The Time Of Angels/Flesh And Stone: Good

The artificial gravity had briefly been set up earlier so I’ll allow it.

The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang: Good

Everything had been set up perfectly, the vortex manipulator, the Pandorica’s survival field thingy, the TARDIS exploding at every moment in history.

A Christmas Carol: Good

Literally the entire episode is the Doctor saving the day by convincing Kazran not to be a cock.

The Impossible Astronaut/Day Of The Moon: Good

The silence’s ability to influence people is their whole thing, so using it against them is a good Doctory thing to do.

A Good Man Goes To War: N/A

The day isn’t really saved, Melody is lost, but River shows up at the end so is all fine? I love the episode it’s just the day isn’t really truly saved (yes I know Amy was rescued but she still lost her baby).

Let’s Kill Hitler: N/A

There isn’t really a day to be saved. They all get out alive but no one is really saved other than maybe River but we all knew she was gonna live anyway.

The Wedding Of River Song: Good

Whilst opinion is divided on the episode, the ending still works. the Tesseracta was established in Let’s Kill Hitler, and the “touch River and time will move again” was established well in advance.

The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe: Bad

I don’t like how the lifeboat travels through the time vortex for no reason but to rescue the dad. It don’t make no sense and I don’t think it’s explained

Asylum Of The Daleks: Good

Oswin had access to the Dalek hive mind so of course she should be able to link into the controls and blow everything up.

The Angels Take Manhattan: Good

Paradoxes really do be something powerful, and they even acknowledge how nobody knows if it’d work so I’ll let it slide.

The Snowmen: Bad

Lots of people cry at Christmas, why are the Latimers anything special?

The Bells of Saint John: Good

The whole episode is about hacking so why shouldn’t the Doctor be able to hack the spoonheads

The Name Of The Doctor: Good

It was the story arc for the season pretty much, so of course it was explained well in advance.

The Day Of The Doctor: Good

Both the storing Gallifrey like a painting and the making everyone forget if they’re Human or Zygon works in the context of the episode.

The Time Of The Doctor: Bad

Since when were the Time Lords so easily negotiated with?

Deep Breath: Good

I like the dilemma over whether the half-face man was pushed or jumped.

Into The Dalek: Good

It’s set up well with this new Doctor’s persona of actually not being too nice of a guy (at first).

Listen: N/A

There isn’t a day to be saved. It’s just 45 minutes of the Doctor testing a hypothesis and I low-key love it.

Time Heist (co-written with Steven Thompson): Good

It works logically so I’ll allow it however it isn’t very well set up at all.

The Caretaker (co-written with noted shithead Gareth Roberts): Good

The machine to tell the Blitzer what to do was set up well in advance so I’ll allow it.

Dark Water/Death In Heaven: Good

The fact that Danny still cares even as a cyberman is set up fairly early on after his transformation.

Last Christmas: Good

He does use the sonic to wake up Clara but he convinces the others to wake up through talking so I’ll allow it.

The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar: Good

It’s set up well with that little scene from actually inside the sewers.

The Girl Who Died (co-written with Jamie Mathieson): Good

IDK why the vikings would randomly keep electric eels but they’re set up well so I’ll ignore it. 

The Zygon Inversion (co-written with Peter Harness): N/A 

Not including this one as it’s only the second part and I’d argue the ending is most likely Harness’.

Heaven Sent/Hell Bent: N/A

Again there isn’t really a day to be saved, yes Heaven Sent really is amazing but it’s only the first part and, being completely honest, he dies several billion times before finally getting through the wall.

The Husbands Of River Song: N/A

Again there isn’t really a day to be saved here.

The Return Of Doctor Mysterio: Good

He gets Grant to catch the bomb which is good. But he does just sonic the gun out of Dr Sim’s hand and says UNIT is on its way which just sort of wraps it up very quickly.

The Pilot: N/A

No day to be saved here.

Extremis: Good

You could technically call it the sonic saving the day, I consider it to be the Doctor emailing the Doctor to warn him of the future.

The Pyramid At The End Of The World: Good

The fire sanitising everything makes sense and it’s in character for Bill to love the Doctor enough to cure his blindness in return for the world

World Enough And Time/The Doctor Falls: Good

Yes it is the sonic just blowing the cybermen up, but it’s blowing them up with well established pipelines so I’ll allow it (also the story is amazing).

Twice Upon A Time: N/A

No day to be saved here. Just Doctors 1 and 12 getting angsty about regenerating.

Summary for Steven Moffat:

Out of 39 stories written by him, I deemed 4 to be bad with 7 abstaining. That’s 10.3% of his episodes (12.5% if we don’t count any abstaining).

Conclusions:

Moffat was much better at saving the day than RTD

Moffat liked telling stories where the day didn’t actually need to be saved

I’ve spent way too long on this and I need to sleep

If I spent as much time on this as my coursework I’d probably pass

If you’re still reading this, you probably need to get a life

[smolbeandrabbles]

Innocence - Andrew ‘Pope’ Cody x Reader (Animal Kingdom)

@mandy23b​ @wltz-bby​ @happyskywhale​

GIF CREDIT: X

‘This is gonna be one hell of a night, I know you want it...’ ~ Kim Petras, There Will Be Blood.

Author’s Note: Basically, this is a fic in response to #ThatOneFic on AO3. I got a little bit of ‘if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em.’ syndrome and then decided I was better than that.  Could have written the one that’s in my drafts, but doing my Director’s Cut and then talking to everyone about it really got me like... 

Why not start some probably not very good smut with murder, after all? 😉

Can I disclaimer myself? The notes for this (written, as tradition states at like, 3am) are just pure filth. And I was horrified reading them back. So yeah, you’re not... getting that, but you’re getting remnants of what it could have been...

Added 800 words during the editing process because he needed it. I’ll fight for my vision of Andrew one fic at a time...

Innocence - Halestorm

Disclaimer: AK nothing to do with me / Part inspired by my own Director’s Cut analysis of Andrew & further fic research / lyrics & gif not mine

Small ‘need to know’ info: David is a policeman, and readers oldest brother.

Premise: When a drugs deal goes awry on the wrong side of town, and the police on the case, Andrew has one place to go. You’re used to this behaviour, but there is something about that dangerous side of him you just can’t resist - and you don’t want him to hold back...

Words: 5639

Warnings: Swearing / Sex / Sinday/Sunday Smut / Drugs references

____ You see it from the outside You're running toward the wall Swinging from your blind side But you don't know me at all I've been here too many times before And your tears don't mean a thing I only come when you scream Is this what you wanted Did I make your dreams come true? You're sitting in a corner Wondering what you got into And you ache for things you don't understand That your tears don't mean a thing And I only come when you scream, I told you Child, don't follow me home You're just too perfect for my hands to hold If you choose to stay, you'll throw it all away And I just want to take your innocence There's no such thing as fate Only yourself to blame You never walked away Child, don't follow me home You're just too perfect for my hands to hold If you choose to stay, you'll throw it all away And I just want to take your innocence

---

The scent of bleach filled the apartment; opening the front door gave you nothing more than an instant headache. You were lucky it didn’t make you gag, and you stood blinking for a few minutes – surely the feeling of your eyes stinging was only phycological?! Slipping your bag from your shoulder you exhaled deeply, followed by an inhale you instantly regretted, groaning and dragging a hand over your face. There could only be one culprit. What the hell had he done this time? He was probably long gone by now, tidied away and back home “ANDREW!” This was certainly more a cry of frustration to yourself; it wasn’t like you’d actively get mad at someone so volatile. This time you were met by an answer, coming from vaguely the direction of your bathroom. “Okay. But it wasn’t my fault this time.” You jumped immediately, dropping your bag, hand to your heart. “Geez! Are you incapable of giving me anything other than a heart attack!?!” Instead of being verbally answered, the man himself appeared; the white shirt and black slacks were ill fitting. Like he’d just grabbed the first possible thing he could from some shelf or other. Judging by the sizing, they were likely your brother David’s. Your eyes instantly narrowed; only one reason Andrew wouldn’t be wearing his own clothes. “What the fuck did you do?” He held both his hands up, the attempt to stop you from jumping to conclusions clearly not working by your unimpressed face: “Got caught in the crossfire, that’s all.” You folded your arms, daring him to pull the other: “Oh yeah, my whole apartment smells like bleach because you got caught in the crossfire.” His face was deadly serious: “You can’t expect me not to retaliate now, can you.” Your body’s instant reaction to that was to move away from him, but your jerk away was not followed by a step back, “So you did kill someone.” His eyes flicked over your shoulder for a split second, “Not exactly.” “Andrew!” “Would you rather I was dead?” He touched his hand to his chest, immediately making you defensive. “Don’t say things like that--!” Of course not, you never liked thinking that it was a distinct possibility. The corporate world of the men you used to date – of the man you almost married – was a million miles from the one standing in front of you right now. Andrew turning up here unannounced was not unusual, but it usually meant something had pushed him here. It was that thought that prompted your next question; “What happened?” “Drugs run gone wrong.” Too blunt. You opened you mouth, eyes going point a-z - you weren’t really looking at anything, you just didn’t want to look into his eyes when you knew all they’d show was how deadly serious he was – “You know, sometimes I wish you’d be just a little more subtle with me, Andrew.” You shook your head “But, I know that’s not your strong suit.” He gave a shrug, “You asked. Usually you don’t want to know.” “Yeah well, now I wished I hadn’t.” You indicated to your bathroom, “What state is it in?” “It’s fine.” You pushed passed him with a huff; “I’ll be the judge of that!” You couldn’t actually stand in there for more than a few seconds at a time, but when finally you deemed it safe, you couldn’t help but conclude that he was right. Even if he was on thin ice. “How much damn blood was there for you to need that much bleach?” Andrew gave you a single slow blink; “I like to be thorough.” There was an edge to his voice that sent a shudder up your spine that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. Yeah, you knew that. “Did you come all the way up to my apartment in blood stained clothes?!” “Not exactly.” “This I don’t want to hear.” “I know there’s cameras. I know the blind spots and trust me, no one saw me.” That was about the only thing he’d said so far you did trust. Andrew was far too good at this – if he said no one saw him, then no one saw him. Or they were already sworn to silence. “And your clothes are where?” Because if they weren’t in a dumpster about 6 miles away, you’d throttle him yourself. “Oh no, you-” “It better not have been a shirt I liked!” This blink meant nothing, and his face remained stoic. So it probably was, now doused in someone else’s blood. Vital evidence, of course. You sighed and stepped towards him, “The police?” “Drug land wars. It’s gonna look like exactly what it was.” “Promise me this isn’t traceable?” “It wasn’t our side of town. But you know that means nothing.” “A…Andrew…” You took his face in your hands, beneath your fingertips the tiny litter of scars you could still feel, but not see. His body was littered with such marks – you doubted he’d ever consider healing properly before he was off to the next big ‘adventure’. “Tell me you’re gonna be okay?” He placed his hands gently on your waist, but shook his head, “I can’t. You know that.” Andrew would stretch the truth, perhaps even lie by omission; but never blatantly. Not to you – not to someone who cared about him in the way you did. You shook your head, fingers holding him a little firmer before you placed your forehead to his: “I’m just glad you’re safe.” It was all you could say, but you meant it. It could have been his blood all over someone else’s clothes, with their significant other now holding them the way you were holding him. Instead they were likely getting news that the person they loved was dead, and you got to feel Andrew Cody breathe. He wasn’t holding you like a man who loved you, you weren’t even close. You weren’t about to unpick his feelings right this second, but you knew exactly what that meant.   “You can’t stay, can you?” He shook his head again, slowly, detaching himself from you. “Not today.” Not I’m sorry, not I love you, just not today. His brothers were at the scene, but Andrew was the one that was in trouble. You wondered if that meant he should be staying – or if he thought staying would put you in danger. This was meant to be his safe house… then again, maybe he needed to get back to his family. Andrew had a knack for disappearing by coming to you – for exactly that reason, no one would think to look for him in this part of town – if the Cody’s didn’t know where he’d got to, they’d be facing chaos. You weren’t about to tell him that his presence god-knows-how-long later dressed in someone else’s clothes probably would only add to that. “If you need me…” “I’ll come back.” He only gave a single nod, those blue eyes telling nothing but the truth. Andrew let you steal a single kiss before he was heading toward your front door, he opened it without a word, pausing only to half raise his hand to say goodbye. You wanted to tell him you loved him, it didn’t seem like an appropriate moment, and with a last lingering look your apartment door closed, leaving you alone. You let out another breath, this time loud as it built into a groan, hands running into your hair: ‘What the fuck am I doing!?’

***

You weren’t exactly in the know on this type of thing, and living across Melbourne in your apartment, you saw Andrew by arrangement, or when he chose to see you. Crime in Melbourne didn’t interest you until it had to – and half the time it was only because he forced your hand. A shoot out on the wrong side of town attracted the attention of the police. The Cody’s weren’t in favour with the police at the best of times, so this only made the cops go haywire. You were none the wiser, but the boys knew it. The law would be all over them – Baz was surprised that they weren’t already, and to counteract this, quickly managed to set a plan in motion. Although it was enacted with an air of panic. “Alright! This time we take no chances, its lockdown. We can’t go anywhere; we move slow and cautious and don’t do anything.” Baz stilled and thought for a moment before turning to his friend, the most likely candidate to get into the wrong kind of trouble. They’d all been there, sure, but it was Andrew the police would come down hardest on. “If we do, we gotta stay put – if necessary, hide. Pope, that means you-!” Craig and Darren immediately began arguing about “How can the house be safe!?” and Baz had the job of reasoning about alibis and how they usually got out of this with help from Ezra, commonly - without evidence - nothing went anywhere… and trying to knock some sense into their panic. Andrew wasn’t hearing any of this, instead he just sat calmly, eyes on a fixed spot – staying here wasn’t his only option. In fact, it was an option he’d rather not take. He stood, wandering off to his bedroom, exiting barely a minute later with a bag. At this point the others realised that he was in fact, leaving, and their yelling after him didn’t cause a turn back. Andrew Cody left without a word. “Andrew!! POPE! Where the HELL do you think you’re going man?!” Baz was too preoccupied with his friend to bother holding the other two back, and yet they didn’t attempt to chase their older brother. He knew the answer that Andrew wouldn’t give; “Y/N.” Darren turned to him with wide eyes; “Is that even safe-!?!” Baz thought that was doing you a disservice as a head strong city girl, you knew what you were getting into. You knew who Andrew was. “Man, I don’t even know where she lives. It’s perfect. After all, who is gonna ask a girl - who barely knows the names of three drugs - where the hell Andrew Cody is. She’s the last place you’d think to look...”

They all heard the car engine start, and as it pulled from the drive they were left in silence. “Should we stop him?” “Nope. It’s not worth it. Pope’s made his choice, best he lay low and out of it for now.” Craig tipped nearly his entire body as he mused his thought; “How did he even get her anyway!?!” Baz frowned, “It’s not about how he got her,” Although he was sure he knew the answer to that,  “it’s about how he’s keeping her.” “Fear?” Baz was almost worried that that was Darren’s gut answer and shook his head firmly. “No. No that’s not it. Pope wouldn’t hurt her.” “You sure about that. He’s got pretty violent tendencies...” This particular incident was a case in point. “No. Because she really WOULD leave.” Unless it was truly accidental; you’d kicked him out for drugs – he lay a hand on you (in a way you didn’t like; he’d seen the scratches and bruises that often adorned your hips that you seemed to like showing off sometimes) Baz wouldn’t think you’d be incapable of calling the cops yourself. That wasn’t a thought he liked. “Oh, she loves him, dearly…” “So what is she to him?” There was a tone of disgust in Craig’s voice, Baz gave him a significant look, “At the very least, a safer space than he’ll ever have here.”

** Weekends alone were nice. You liked waking in someone’s arms, you liked wasting your time on nothing, maybe you’d be treated to a walk somewhere, but it was likely that if Andrew was staying the weekend, you’d not leave your apartment. But alone you could very nearly sleep the whole thing away, eat whenever you wanted – maybe do a grocery store snack run, see your friends at all your favourite Melbourne coffee bars, take your car up to your parents for the weekend to see the kids… but staying under the covers with nothing but your dreams was the priority.   And given that the smell of bleach was finally completely dissipating from your apartment, tonight was the best you slept in days. However, when you woke this morning you weren’t alone. Which was fine either way, your boyfriend had a key and this behaviour wasn’t uncommon, but he was not beside you in bed. Rather, standing at the foot of it staring at you. Andrew Cody wasn’t even blinking, and the only thing that would indicate that he wasn’t a statue, was the rise and fall of his chest for every breath he took. He’d been here for a while, simply observing your sleeping form, your movements and your breathing; Andrew didn’t want to wake you when the dreams seemed good. He didn’t scare you, or make you jump. If anything his presence made you feel a little safer, but by the indication of your clock it was nearly midday… what was he doing here? You flattened yourself out onto your back as you stared right back at him, but his eyes didn’t hold yours very long, raking themselves down your body. The fluctuation of his breathing changed, and you could read that like a book. This man was clearly DTF. And although you couldn’t possibly believe that Andrew would make the journey across the city just for that, it wasn’t out of Andrew’s remit. “What?” Your voice was still soft as you pushed yourself up with your arms so you sat. “Andrew? Baby, what?” Your pulse was elevating to meet the look on his face, the hunger in his eyes. Clearly your body was more than happy to read the signals of his and be roused from its dreams to give signals of its own. Your tongue danced across your bottom lip as you lowered your gaze to the rest of Andrew’s body. You couldn’t deny that you could feel the rise in your arousal and this time, as his eyes came up to meet yours again, your body tingled under the weight of his stare. You wanted him right now too. “C’mere.” You encouraged him, tipping your body back to rest on your hands, head inclined. Andrew didn’t need more than that invitation, crawling onto the bed, hands either side of you. You could hear his breathing now, and he was close, but still not touching you. You continued watching the way he was still staring at your body, the change to the colour of his eyes – he was putting too much thought into this and it was torture. Andrew inhaled you, and you could almost feel the heat coming from him. For a moment you realised you’d been forgetting to breathe, and as you did so your body gave a throb, stomach knotting deliciously. The scent of him covered you. With Andrew this close you didn’t think there was any going back from that. “Do you want me? Andrew? Babe? Do you want me? You can say it...” He still wasn’t looking at your face, and although his head movements were neither confirmation or denial, they were indecisive. With no verbal reaction, but consent certainly needed in order to continue, you closed that gap, grazing your lips to his cheek you nudged his head back just enough to ghost his lips. “I want you, too. Baby, I need you.” If he wouldn’t consent verbally, you would simply let him know you did. He immediately let out a growl, pushing you back into the sheets. Even if you expected kisses, you didn’t expect them to be this harsh and it was very nearly shocking – was Andrew only trying to hold himself back? He pinned you down; knees by your hips, feet between your legs. But you didn’t struggle against him, hands shooting to his shoulders and through his hair – Andrew didn’t pin your wrists. You could feel your hips widening for him – knowing immediately that you wanted him to do whatever the fuck he wanted to you. Shifting himself so that you were still pinned, Andrew pulled your underwear down your legs, discarding them. All the while his lips were still on yours and he wasn’t affording you much breathing room. Some would say this was too close, but this was just where he liked to be. His hands ran smoothly back up your thighs and your hips wiggled underneath his, looking for anything. Andrew answered you sooner than expected, clearly he wasn’t in the mood to wait for this, and slowed his hands to part your thighs just that little more. You immediately moaned into his kiss as Andrew ran his index finger teasingly through your folds. You knew he wouldn’t stop there, and you had to leave his lips in order to draw enough breath to whine as he circled your clit slow. Andrew freed you from being pinned just so you could feed your legs into a more comfortable position whilst still giving him access to you; already flushed, you knew he wouldn’t have to do much to work you up. Dipping his fingers into your arousal as he brushed his thumb across your clit, it wasn’t long before he pushed a finger inside you and even shorter before another joined it – widening you for him. You weren’t even sure you were fully awake yet and your mouth to brain filters hadn’t kicked in, hands shaking as you undid the buttons on your own shirt. “Fuck baby, I need you inside me. Oh, baby please, fuck me, hard. Harder. Edge me, tease me, make me yours.” Clearly neither of you were quite sure where that had come from by the look on his face, but if Andrew thought that was what you wanted, that was what he would give you. Andrew knew what the way you were talking was doing to him as he undid his belt and jeans; it was weird to hear out of your mouth sure, but you were only succeeding in turning him on even more. He removed his fingers from you and thrust in with more force than you expected – causing you to cry out again; not entirely in pain. He growled, lips to your neck as his nails dug into your hips, you pulled his body closer, locking your legs behind him. You drew Andrew deeper; but that was exactly where you wanted him. Here we go with another set of bruises I luckily never have to explain… No trips to the beach for another week, then. If this was back at his, if he’d have called you and asked you to come over – which wasn’t often but it did happen - then this would have to be quiet, and you got the feeling that he was going to be so rough with you that it would be impossible to be silent. But also Andrew liked it when you weren’t – he liked hearing the sounds that he was capable of drawing from you. For just a second he placed his head against yours, and that single kiss was gentle; you thought you were already breathless, perhaps in anticipation, but still managed to say it: “Baby, I will be as loud as you want.” It didn’t take long before you were blissfully sighing his name, moaning and arching you back into him and the travel of his hands. You had to admit you were insanely turned on, but also, in your house you could turn the volume to 10, because that’s what he enjoyed. Andrew didn’t hurt you when you had sex, it wasn’t something that occurred to him; sure he held you tight enough to leave marks and scratches, but he wasn’t actively hurting you. So him being this rough was an unusual experience. But Andrew also didn’t usually talk, beyond the occasional phenomena of his own quiet sighs, and his whispers of your name. So, you weren’t sure if you had unlocked or awakened something in him that was always there, but he never knew you wanted, or Andrew was simply playing into your request – but the threatening growl in his voice as he spoke basically had you doing as he commanded on the spot, “I’m gonna make you cum over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and then when you can’t take it any more I’ll finally cum for you.” You whimpered your ‘what!?’ in such a way that it didn’t even sound like a word – your fingers clinging onto him and tangling into his shirt for dear life as he continued his reckless rhythm inside you. You felt too high on the feeling of him fucking you, but you would take him at his word – that was exactly what Andrew was going to do, unless you told him to stop. And he would, if he didn’t want to hurt you, he would. He'd be out the door faster than he could apologise if not. Did you want him to stop, was the question? Instead you responded in kind; “Fuck me Andrew. Do whatever you want with my body, it’s yours.”

Andrew didn’t say anything unless it was worth saying, unless he meant it (at least sober) - that was like an unwritten rule. Although maybe with you like this he wasn’t entirely sober, ever. But it felt so heat of the moment and foreign to him - what he was telling you wasn’t calculated… it wasn’t even truly blunt information but it turned you on. And that clench of your muscles around him was something that he could feel. The same way he could feel your pulse under his fingertips, and your warmth: that was your life, your heartbeat and it jumped with your excitement. The sound of it with the ticking of his watch; everything was suddenly so sensory to him. It ran wild the harsher he was with you and the harder you panted; desperate to take on more air. He didn’t have to associate that sound with life, either, he knew that noise when taking it. Andrew wasn’t sure if he was supposed to find that sexy or not; but he thought he did.

Every little sign of your body was all he needed; Andrew could pay attention to that minutia of detail, whether it be the sounds you made, or the shake that you fought so hard against, the movement of your body under his, how it felt to have your fingertips glide over him, for your lips to press into his skin, smaller tensions of resistance… but also how it felt to be inside you - how being a little rough and talking a little dirty seemed only to make you wetter, a little tighter, a lot more desperate for him - as if suddenly all your senses had heightened too. Maybe this was just something you both needed. But all of this was bringing you pleasure - that’s what mattered most. That Andrew was bringing you something positive; HE was doing this to you. He didn’t know why you stuck around; he gave you plenty of reason to leave. But you proved a point, even if really you knew you were only proving it to yourself; that Andrew Cody could make a positive impact on people’s lives. You wanted nothing more than to desperately confirm to him that he wasn’t just some tool his family could use for violence without mercy. Andrew could be this for someone; a life partner, needed, wanted, loved... And it wasn’t just you - but the way your whole family felt about him; Andrew deserved a real family.

He watched the sweat dance on your skin for a minute, acutely aware of the way your nails were digging into him; “Andrew, PLEASE, give me more-!” You weren’t just a someone though. You were you. You of all the damn people in this city, let alone the world. You could have anyone you wanted - you almost got married. Whether that man be long gone or not, occasionally it crossed Andrew’s mind that if it wasn’t for him coming into your life, your absolute fascination with him, the fact that this was practically an affair… you would be married right now; in some extravagant mansion in some fancy part of Melbourne. But you weren’t, you were with him - having loud rough sex in your apartment in a moment where you were thinking things didn’t get much better than that. Andrew proved to you that you didn’t have to settle for what you thought you wanted - but you could just as easily find what you really needed, even in the most unexpected of places. For Andrew, he couldn’t help but admit there was an excitement about the potential of corrupting someone not from his world, nor should have ever crossed the line into it. And yet here you were, beneath him.

He didn’t go back on any of his growled promises; and every time you came it felt different. Because this wasn’t just about one thing – not just the physical act; it was how you were feeling about him, and how Andrew felt for you. How he listened intently to what your body was telling him and changed it up - how you vocalised what you liked (and maybe when he got a little too rough). Emotions might have been hard to find in Andrew Cody but they were buried there somewhere, and they were real, and sometimes he gave you a glimpse of them. Even if it was just the look on his face right now, as you came for him again, and again, and again… The slight sympathy in his features as you begged him to cum for you, in short sharp breaths that he could really barely register as a sentence: hot and flushed and sweaty and spent… but his; completely his. Heart, Body, Mind and Soul. And Andrew didn’t need to look at the marks across your skin to know it.

By the time he did finally come undone inside you, your energy was completely drained, body shaking beneath his. You were both drenched in sweat and breathing hard – but every second had been worth it – and your body was singing from every single high you were still on. You couldn’t be sure you were even down from the first yet. You weren’t sure if your mental note should be: we should really do this again, or, we really should never do this again! So you’d put a pin in it for now, far too tired to do more than sift your fingers through his hair as he lay quietly on your chest listening to your heartbeat. Whatever that decision would be, you couldn’t help thinking on the fact that you wanted this more often, you would keep Andrew here if you could… If you thought that was ever possible. One day you’d work up the nerve to broach him moving in, for now you lay still and quiet. Now wasn’t the time… Now you just wanted to get lost in the way he made you feel. ** You had barely left the bed all weekend, if only to shower. (Which hardly ever turned out as innocent as it sounded). Usually exhausted, but hardly something to worry about. Andrew took good care of you. But he really had worn you out and after he’d set you on the sofa, so that he could change your sheets and tidy up, Andrew returned to your sleeping form. He tilted his head to watch you; remnants of that afterglow remained, smile on your face as your body curled up. Although you were tired you looked content, no worries.  Exactly how Andrew wished he could keep you. You were with him though, so that certainly wasn’t easy. He stooped, arms under your body as he pulled you into him. You groaned gently as he tipped you, head against his chest. Andrew gave pause again as you immediately sought the warmth of his body with a sleepy hum. His head gave an involuntary little shake as he carried you back to your bedroom. Depositing you back on your bed to curl up once more, Andrew stopped in the doorway only to make sure you had settled, before he closed the door on you and continued his tidying. *** Andrew thought about simply leaving, maybe it would have calmed down at home, maybe he could find somewhere else to lay low… But, although you’d talked this weekend you’d never quite broached the subject of why he was here. It wasn’t something important to you, he supposed, it wasn’t something you’d ask probably because usually you’d get a blunt answer. You didn’t need to know. And yet maybe this time you did. You were still sleeping when he re-entered your bedroom, and Andrew settled on the bed to watch you this time. However, your body didn’t stir, as it had when he’d arrived; you were relaxed and peaceful. Andrew knew you enough to know that you slept pretty light usually, but you seemed a lot deeper in this time around. He was right, you were exhausted. Through good things, at least. He placed his fingers gently to your neck, searching for the run of your pulse… when he found it Andrew applied increasing pressure, it changed under his fingertips; manipulated by his exertion on you – but when he did this, he could feel it stronger. That was your life under his fingertips; something that he could so easily take from you. And that thought almost scared him, you walked a razors edge - balanced constantly - and yet never seemed to let it faze you. You stood up to him without fear that he could turn around and kill you, even though Andrew knew how aware you were of that possibility. Andrew supposed you just never let it cross your mind. That you wouldn’t allow yourself to believe that your relationship could ever end that way. He would keep it to himself, of course, but Andrew had an uneasy feeling this relationship would only end when one of you was dead. Uncomfortable with the applied pressure, your body woke you; Andrew withdrew his hand fascinated with the way you took on more air as you awoke. It really would be that easy… You stretched slowly and turned to him, “Oh… my god. I-” you glanced to the clock, “…I’m sorry.” “You needed it.” Andrew gave a nonchalant shrug. “I thought you might leave.” “I considered it.” He was still being blunt, you weren’t all that sure Andrew would recognise the difference and let you down softly: “…I might need to overstay my welcome.” You pulled yourself up, taking his hand in yours, “You are always welcome here. What happened?” He would take his leave, if there wasn’t a reason he couldn’t return home. “You know.” “The same as before? So the police are after you?” You said it with an undertone of ‘I told you so’. “Appears that way.” “And you’re gonna tell me what it’s about?” That was a rare event. “…I told you.” He indicated, “But-” and shuffling over to his things he presented you with a large polished wooden box. You were immediately unsure you were going to like this, and opened the lid cautiously, only at the last second realising now your fingerprints were on this thing. ‘David would scream at me!’ You blew out a breath at the contents, unable to quite raise your eyes to his. The entire box was filled with drugs, of various types, surely you couldn’t name them all, but pills, needles and powder were all present in various shapes and colours. Spoils of war? The darker patches of brown you could see around the edges of the box were saying blood to you. You were silent for a long while, before you said the first thing you could really think of, “This... is a lot.” A lot for me. “I know.” You weren’t sure he let your sentence settle enough for him to really know. You became sad for a minute, fingers dancing across the surface of the box as you closed it, unsure of what to do. What you were supposed to do with this information now. Andrew continued, deciding to take the leap of: “I can’t be what you want me to be.” You raised your head, with a blink and looked at him; clear and true, dead in the eye: “I don’t want you to be anything.” You had never wanted him to be anything, you knew exactly who he was. “You might be what they say you are, Andrew.” Not that you would know, being so out of the loop. But you’d seen enough, in your opinion far too much, “But that is not ALL you are.” I know you... I. Know. You. You could think of nothing else than to gather him to you, you didn’t care if he reciprocated or not – it was something you needed to do. Even if it was only for yourself. You buried your head in his shoulder, lacing yours fingers with his. Andrew wasn’t looking at you, he wasn’t even really giving you anything back. But he wasn’t pulling away from you either – and that was just as important. You rubbed his arm affectionately, running up to his collar. Those blue eyes trailed to yours; and you held him there. Your voice was gentle, voicing the only thing that really mattered to you in this moment – his own safety. “Stay as long as you need, we’ll get through this, we always do.”

You always would.

---

Thank yoooooou for reading! 💙💜

[salty-ironstrange-shipper]

I got this thought caught up in my head earlier and now I must unleash my thoughts on you.

Basically, I had this question: why does Tony fight in his suits himself?

As of Iron Man 3, it’s clear he doesn’t need to. He’s shown controlling suits from afar and more than 20 suits are controlled autonomously by Jarvis in the final battle. At any point after that, he’s only needlessly putting himself at risk whenever he goes into battle himself.

So, two explanations:

Easy explanation - the suite are hackable and he needs to control them personally. I’m not too sure about this one since we see in Iron Man 2 that even when someone actually has an Iron Man suit in their possession, if they’re not Tony Stark, they just can’t make it work. They can only add onto the War Machine suit, they’re never able to produce another one. In the same movie, Vanko is able to control the WM suit from afar, but he’s a genius on Tony or near-Tony levels and had access to information about the arc reactor from his own father and about the WM suit from Hammer. And even then, Tony regains control of it with relative ease. In AoU, Ultron gains control of the rescue bots, but those are non-combatant suits that never pose much of a threat on their own. Ultron needs to make an army of his own bots to fight them. No one is ever able to completely gain control of Tony’s suits. So while this is a logical concern, it doesn’t have a lot of evidence within the context of the movies, and no one ever brings it up.

Meta explanation - the second explanation, and the one I personally think is true, is that Tony’s guilt drives him to put himself in the line of fire to make up for his crimes.

This one tracks all the way to Iron Man. I want to call attention to the scene after Tony’s confrontation with Obadiah at the party. 

At this point in the movie, Tony has seen the direct consequences of his own carelessness, naivety, greed, and selfishness. And it completely shakes who he is. As soon as he gets home, what’s his first priority? Recovery, rest, getting back to his old life? No. The very first thing he doesn’t, before even getting looked over by a doctor after spending months in a cave with only one person to trust, being manipulated and both psychologically and physically tortured, is to announce that S.I. will stop producing weapons. He does not take the easy route, he does not try to shift blame to the people who were selling the weapons under the table, he does not ignore it, he does not even try to do this quietly. 

But getting back to this scene (because it’s a really good scene, guys). Tony has just learned that despite his efforts, Obadiah, who he considered a trusted friend and ally, is scheming to remove him from his position in his own company and was the one selling weapons. And there’s another detail that’s easy to miss, but the town that the terrorists took control of with his weapons? It’s Gulmira. The same place Ho Yinsen - the man who saved his life and inspired him to keep fighting in the cave - was from. 

And Tony hates himself.

When Tony sees his reflection, he can’t help but destroy it. He has truly seen the person he was, and the image isn’t pretty. 

And this is the moment that he really becomes Iron Man. Because what does he do now that going the slow way and discontinuing weapons hasn’t worked?

He puts himself in the line of fire to personally get rid of his weapons. 

If you want to argue that the risk to him is not high here, I’ll remind you that the suit has never been tested for combat at this point (and in fact, the repulsors weren’t even originally meant to be weapons at all but were for flight) and they have Tony’s weapons, possibly the only thing at this time and point to stand a fair chance against what we know the suit can do. And, when flying home, he’s almost killed by U.S. planes who don’t recognize him and deem him hostile. This is where Tony starts being a hero.

And it is not the last time. The montage at the beginning of Iron Man 2 tells us that in the six months following the first movie, Tony has continued retrieving his weapons and personally fighting terrorists. He’s also doing it himself, partially for practical reasons - he emphatically does not trust the U.S. government with his weapons after seeing the truth of war in his first movie - but also because he feels he needs to. Even a slow death from palladium poisoning isn’t enough to put him out of commission. 

In The Avengers, he personally gets into the rotors to fix them, which ends up throwing him around a very dangerous set of what is essentially giant spinning metal blades that he has to wait for Steve to fix, and in the climax, he takes the nuke through the portal to the Chitauri. He never hesitates to make the sacrifice, but he also doesn’t try to slow down to come up with an option that is safer for himself. He doesn’t try to launch or throw the nuke through the portal (which is safer for him, but has a lower chance of working) but personally carries it through. He does not expect to survive this and nearly doesn’t.

Come Iron Man 3, his fighting has started to cause him real, severe psychological issues, including vivid nightmares and anxiety attacks that are triggered by mentions of the New York attack. But he doesn’t stop, even though this is the movie where we see that Tony has suits that he can control from a distance, which would allow him to protect people without harming himself. But Tony can’t do that. The option isn’t even brought up as a possibility. Because Tony does not feel like he has been redeemed. He never does, not really. Tony cannot take himself out of the line of fire because he put other, innocent people in the line of fire before Iron Man and he considers this his penance. And I honestly don’t consider his viewpoint to be wrong because he did cause innocent deaths, and just because it happened without his knowledge does not mean the responsibility is not his. (this is a common problem with us Tony stans; we get so caught up in countering antis that we lose sight of the fact that Tony is a flawed person, he’s meant to be, and he did do terrible things and needs to make up for them, although where we think the line to that redemption is and where Tony thinks it is are drastically different)

Tony’s guilt and need to fix things is only intensified in Age of Ultron. I’ve argued in the past that Ultron was not his fault, but rather a combination of Wanda and the Mind Stone (which does seem to have some sort of consciousness of its own), but Tony clearly does not see it that way. He considers Ultron and the people killed by him to be his personal responsibility, and not one he shares with anyone or anything else. His guilt here leads to his strong support for regulation and the Accords in Civil War - Tony no longer considered even himself to be the best judge for his redemption, even though he is his own harshest critic. 

Come Infinity War, Tony would chase after Stephen and Peter on the Q-ship and suggest the plan to fight Thanos on his own turf when it’s just the three of time. Some people have questioned this, but I think it’s pretty clear why - turning around and leading Thanos back to Earth will mean more civilian deaths, and that is something Tony refuses to accept. Casualties are unacceptable to him no matter that they’ll have more help if they turn back and recruit the other Earth-based heroes.

In Infinity War, Tony would rather have died than have Stephen sacrifice the Time Stone for him (Tony himself obviously not knowing what this would lead to). Look at his face when he tries to tell Stephen to stop-

He is literally coughing up blood as he tells him to stop, but he’s too weak from the stab wound in his stomach to even move.

It’s only in Endgame that Tony allows himself to be redeemed. Now, when he has a family he loves dearly, he still chooses to put himself on the line because if he sees something wrong - especially something he links to himself - he has to try to stop it. And he does. His contributions (creating the new gauntlet, fixing time travel, figuring out a new way to get the Tesseract, and ultimately destroying Thanos’s army) are vital to the Avengers saving the universe. Tony’s redemption may have been complete years ago for many of us (myself included), but this is the moment it ends for him. He helps bring half the universe back, saves the entire universe by destroying Thanos and his army (who would have destroyed the entire thing because the guy only has one plan, it just goes up in degrees), and then he dies lives happily with his family content in the knowledge that he really has made it up to the world. He is Iron Man.

[palestudenttoadbailiff]

Muslim Lives Matter TOO

An issue, no it is world crises that never gets mentioned, that does not even cross anyone's mind and it happens on a daily basis it has been happening for years, even before civilization. The violence that is unleashed upon Muslims every single day is unbearable, unacceptable and unprecedented but does anyone speak up against the monsters who tortures, murders and rapes innocent Muslim children and women, the answer is no. NO not a single person does a thing to stop this, why because the rest of the world thinks we deserve it but in reality nobody deserves this kind of treatment it has to come to an end.

  As the world defends Asian people for the hate crimes acted upon them which is good people need to defend those who can not do it themselves, but we have also seemed to forget that the same Asians we are protecting are also keeping millions of Muslim people in concentration camps. A sad truth is that the Muslim people of Palestine has been in war since 1948 and it is still ongoing lets face it this is a one way war but if we stand up we might just have the power to stop it. These people have no weapons to defend themselves so many innocent lives being lost and for just some political ploy that the people who are in power oversee, do you not see this is part of a much bigger plan the people in power are trying to everyone against each other. Just like black lives matter campaign and the all lives matter campaign, shouldn't Muslim lives fall under the category of “All lives matter” because we are just as much part of “ all lives” like the rest of the world is. But yet we choose to be silent about this , why? Look at China and how they are trying to ban Islam in their country, authorities are removing crescents from the mosques because according to them Islam is an extremist religion. The Imam and the boy responsible for the call to prayer from a local mosque without any reason at all got arrested. On one occasion the Chinese authorities beat an elderly Muslim lady for wearing hijab, for representing what she believes in she got beat mercilessly. People do not even respect the elderly Muslims. The authorities even went as far as confiscating prayer mats and many copies of the Quran. What is even more sad is that Muslims are not even allowed to wear the clothing that represents our religion, they are not allowed to have long beards and women are not allowed to wear veils or anything that is viewed as “extremist” attire according to the Chinese authorities. Even the children are not even allowed to be educated about Islam even in the comfort of their own homes. These people are having their human rights violated and nothing is done about it.

A variety of repressive tactics are used on an unprecedented scale.Muslims in China are being monitored on a daily basis and their have their privacy invaded without cause. Each and everyday they are questioned about anything that could be seen as “extremism” in the eyes of Chinese laws.Islam is basically outlawed in China.Having a Muslim family member is enough to get you interrogated in an inhumane way. Now for the bigger issue, about the Muslim people who are disappearing in China on a vast scale, where are they you might wonder, oh they are just being held in so called” political education camps” until they are deemed qualified to reside in the country, they have no freedom of movement they have to qualify in order ot moves around from town to town. And proving my point once again there has been little to no international outrage over what may be the world's most draconian and comprehensive control over Muslim life throughout history.

What do you imagine when you hear the word “terrorist” you would imagine a man in a long thobe with a beard right? Preferably a Muslim man but my question is why do we associate Islam with terrorism. First of all you should know the correct meaning of terrorism. According to the United States government Terrorism is: the unlawful forceful violence against persons or property to intermediate for political or social objections. Now listen to this in 2013 a Caucasian Christian male killed three Muslim students known as a hate crime. Did he use an unlawful forceful violence yes he did, was it targeted at against persons or property yes it was, did he want to intermediate for a political or social segments yes he wanted to because it was a hate crime. So i ask this question why was this not considered an act of terrorism it clearly fits the description, was it because he was white i think so. We need to stop associating terrorism with Islam because there is a major difference because anyone could be a terrorist not just Muslims. 9/11 was when the world hated Muslims even more than they did because 15 Arabs hijacked one plane why should the rest of the 1.8 billion Muslims suffer their consequences. Within every religion there exist a spectrum of attitudes and behavior and extremism is not unique to one particular belief system. There are people who view themselves as Muslims who have committed these horrible crimes in the name of Islam but they do not represent the rest of us, they are a minority within Islam and have the wrong interpretation of what Islam is. A vast majority of Muslims around the world reject their violence. Terrorism is not what Islam is check your facts.

 Why is it so easy to stand up for every other injustice in the world, but when it comes to Islam everyone goes silent. Its incredibly sad to see that the how war ridden Palestine is and what is the rest of the world?And its a one way war because all those innocent people have no physical weapons to retaliate, lives are being lost as we live our lives and nothing is done to stop it. Yes i agree all lives matter but when are we going to realise that Muslim lives should matter as well. The same Asians that we are protecting is holding our Muslim brother and sisters in concentration camps raping Muslim women, killing our babies , physically and mentally abusing them day in and day out. And yet we are silent standing up for Muslims should not only be on social media platforms for two days, it is something that should never fade and what is more sad is that our own Muslim brothers and sister are afraid to speak up against these wrong doings, because we fear offending the Christian friend we have or the Jewish friends we have and so on. But we forget that Allah has told us” to not take the enemy of Allah as a friend and do not take the friend of Allah as ur enemy”. We want to the live the modern lifestyle and i am not speaking of everyone , i myself have not done my part. So many Muslims are not allowed to walk in the streets because they will be exposed to attacks threats and discrimination and we are mocked for our religion. So i will ask again why, why all of the hate that turns into violence , so many innocent lives lost and for what , what could these people possibly gain. ALL this violence is just wrong we are all human we all have our own beliefs so you tell me what is wrong with Islam its a religion based on peace how can you not see that. Everyone who is not Muslim ask yourselves would you want this to happen to your religion, would you want to be killed like dogs in the streets , no you would not so why is is okay for it to happen to a Muslim, ponder about that. More Muslims will stand up and fight for what is right as they should, and this, this is only the beginning, not all of us can be strong that is why we are an Ummah

Written by: Imraan Hardien With help from Yusriyyah Latief 

[aelaer]

☕ I AM totally cooking you up in this ask on how much you know about the Accords and the way they relate to the US's federal law 👀👀👀

Ahhh, yeah, I was due an ask like this. It took a while to get to, so hopefully you eventually see it, md. Note that all regulations are directly from the Wiki, which drew from the canon of Agents of SHIELD, which had huge plot points around the Accords. Possibly the other old Marvel TV shows too, I’m not sure. And without this expansion, we’d know literally nothing about them, but they fit a lot of what was in the comics so I’m cool as accepting them as canon. Your Mileage May Vary.

This is super long so I put it under a cut.

Any enhanced individuals who agree to sign must register with the United Nations and provide biometric data such as fingerprints and DNA samples.

Nothing breaking current US law. You’re expected to get fingerprinted if you do certain things for the state in certain states in the US. For instance, when I took a tutoring job for underprivileged children in my early college years, I was fingerprinted. I wouldn’t be surprised if higher-security jobs also require something similar.

However, to my knowledge these are all state or nationwide databases, not international. There may be some argument to be made about which officials from which country have access to your fingerprints, as it is with the Accords.

In this fictional universe, DNA samples may be more of an issue due to how meta-humans may have altered DNA and we alllll know that of those 117 countries that signed, at least a dozen of them would try to weaponize it in some capacity. If I were a meta-human in the MCU, this would be my largest concern.

Any enhanced individuals who sign are prohibited from taking action in any country other than their own unless they are first given clearance by either that country's government or by a United Nations subcommittee.

This makes complete sense and should have been established long ago. If it wasn’t already established, then the world governments of the MCU are... well, just as slow and dumb as the real world’s.

Any enhanced individuals who do not sign will not be allowed to take part in any police, military, or espionage activities, or to otherwise participate in any national or international conflict, even in their own country.

The UN does not have the authority to dictate what an individual country does or does not allow their population to do, for better or worse. The atrocities carried out across the world by various world governments against their people is the best evidence of that.

That said, in this case, I don’t think it’s any of their business to dictate this. If France wants meta-humans in their police force regardless as to whether they’ve signed the Accords or not, that’s France’s business. If Japan wants to bolster their army with meta-humans who didn’t sign, that’s Japan’s business. The rest of the world may not be happy with that, but the UN is not an elected ruling body and just doesn’t have the authority to make regulations like that. A lot of countries will play nice with sweeping calls such as that and go along with them, but they’re under no obligation to follow them (and certainly not with US law - the UN’s rulings have zero legal ramifications here until they’re passed in state or federal legislatures).

Any enhanced individuals who use their powers to break the law (including those who take part in extralegal vigilante activities), or are otherwise deemed to be a threat to the safety of the general public, may be detained indefinitely without trial.

Hahaahahhahahahahah. No. Breaks the Fifth Amendment in the Bill of Rights, which is a part of the Constitution (which equals the backbone of American law -- things that go to the Supreme Court are there to basically see if something is constitutional or not. It’s a lot more complicated than it sounds, though).

Unfortunately this is a real situation that’s being dealt with now with specific people of the “aiding terrorists” category throughout the last 20 or so years of presidency (both the left and right with politicians signing it, and both the left and right with American activists opposing it, according to my brief study on the issue - you can look up indefinite detention if you want to read more).

Regardless, super super breaks the Fifth Amendment. While the amendments were written for specifically American citizens or folks on American soil, I personally think it’s important it’s a value that is upheld with everyone, no matter what they’ve been accused of. But that’s all I’ll say on that real world topic. This UN mandate hits very close to home - kudos to the writer who put that in for that touch of reality.

The use of technology to bestow individuals with innate superhuman capabilities is strictly regulated, as is the use and distribution of highly advanced technology (such as Asgardian and Chitauri weaponry).

Doesn’t break any known laws to my knowledge. Regulation of dangerous things is pretty common.

The Avengers will no longer be a private organization and will operate under the supervision of the United Nations.

I don’t think the UN has the legal ability to do that. The US government would need to do this as this is a private organization operating within the US on US soil. The US government has acquired private organizations in real life (like GM during the financial crisis of 2008), but they quickly find how much that sucks and sell them off as soon as they can, lol.

Again, the UN is operating under the supposition that they actually have the legal wherewithal to do this when, in reality, they don’t. There is no such thing as international law in the real world and I sincerely doubt in the MCU verse.

What would very likely happen, should Thanos not have ruined this exciting political drama, is that the US totally agrees to do this. Then a new administration or legislature comes in and reverses it 2-6 years later, assuming that all of the lawsuits from various countries didn’t cripple the Accords sooner.

Those with secret identities must reveal their legal names and true identities to the United Nations.

Hahahahaha. Under whose authority? We’ve established there’s no international law. It’d be up to every single individual country to agree to not only do this, but *share* this list with every other country. If I was the decision maker in the US or China, there’s no way in fucking hell I’d do that. Israel or Iran? Fuck no! Do I *want* all my meta humans to be assassinated by other countries?

The MCU has this little fairy tale (that sometimes the real UN carries on with) that everyone gets along just great when, in reality, that’s really, really, really unlikely.

Those with innate powers must submit to a power analysis, which will categorize their threat level and determine potential health risks.

I could make an argument that this breaks the Fourth Amendment (unreasonable searches and seizures). You cannot forcefully take DNA from someone unless they’ve been convicted of a crime (and in, I think 20 states I just read, if you’ve been arrested, but even that’s been challenged under the Fourth Amendment in those various states the past decade).

If they’re already having a legal argument about this for DNA of people who were arrested, they’re going to have a hell of an argument for this requirement just for *existing*.

Those with innate powers must also wear tracking bracelets at all times.

Oh that’s nice, the UN thinks meta-humans are animals! Likely breaks the Fourth Amendment. Found an interesting article about Amazon and their little tracking bracelets from two years ago that is semi-relevant, and those are employees. Imagine if you required everyone of some minority race or nationality to wear a tracking device because they’re statistically more dangerous due to the prevalence of crime amongst them, or something inane like that.

Yeah, it’s something like that bad. Definitely breaks the privacy protection that previous rulings regarding the Fourth Amendment have established.

Governments are forbidden from deploying enhanced individuals outside of their own national borders unless those individuals are given clearance as described above. The same rule also applies to non-government organizations that operate on a global scale (including S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers).

International law doesn’t exist. This is done via treaties and agreements, but again, the UN has no legal leg to stand on (and countries -- US included -- often just ignore them). If China wants to take over Nepal with meta humans, who the fuck is really gonna stop them? I mean, really? If the US wanted to take over Baja California from Mexico, same question. The UN just doesn’t have the authority (or frankly put, the manpower). Countries often play nice, but there’s plenty of times where they don’t, either.

(But you know who would try to prevent the US/China from taking over Baja/Nepal? Meta humans. That likely aren’t allowed to fight under Accords mandates but do so anyway, all the while flipping the bird towards their nearest UN building :D)

As a corollary, they will not be allowed to participate in any active missions undertaken by private or governmental law enforcement/military/intelligence organizations (such as S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers).

See “international law doesn’t exist and it’s up to each individual country to determine this for themselves” as explained in previous sections.

If an enhanced individual violates the Accords, or obstructs the actions of those enforcing the Accords, they may likewise be arrested and detained indefinitely without trial.

As established, breaks the Fifth Amendment of the US. And fuck, we saw this in action in Civil War-- or so it seemed. Ross definitely looked like he was leaning that way. I wouldn’t put it past Ross. He’s been bad news ever since he was hunting the Hulk.

The creation of self-aware artificial intelligence is completely prohibited.

Heh, not really applicable to the current world, but not necessarily something I’d like to see in the real world either. I’m afraid we’re gonna get a Skynet or HAL rather than a JARVIS or WALL-E.

This was fun, in a weird way.

[like-that-one-weird-dog-thing]

And I’ll Shut Your Dirty Mouth

[1] . . . [2] . . . [3] . . . [4] . . . [5] . . . 

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Ngl, I’m reeling by how many notes my other post got. And it’s only been like, a day. That’s insane. I don’t get those kinda notes. I expected there to more notes then my other posts since Dream SMP is a more popular/active fandom right now but I wasn’t expecting this. ty to all y’all, if any of you ever want to discuss it more with me, you can @ me in a post, you can dm me, or you can send me an ask

This one will be more focused on the siblings as a whole, since I realized when I woke up that Tommy wasn’t just ‘basically Wilbur’s brother’ he was Willbur’s brother and that just. Has so many things attached to it. Also a post about how canonical deaths work was brought to my attention(here) by @insert-chaotic-enby-name so hell yeah to them, ty my dude

Hopefully this will be less of a disjointed mess the other one was, but I personally don’t have that much confidence in that. It’ll probably just fall into the same almost-fanfiction type formatting

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So, three siblings. Wilbur, Techno, Tommy. Two traitors and one left to rebuild in the other’s footsteps of carnage. I don’t know how I forgot about it being canon last night, but now my thoughts are in full swing.

[“I wonder, did Tommy ever see Techno and think of Willbur?

Did Willbur ever see Techno and think of Tommy?

Two siblings, seeing something that could have been(Tommy, lets be the bad guys) and something that will never be(Willbur, do you hear yourself?)“]

Do they ever see each other in their third sibling? It makes sense, now, why Techno’s betrayal would be painful for Tommy, why it would hurt him so goddamn much.

Techno’s his older brother. He’s meant to protect him, to keep him safe. He was meant to fall into Willbur’s place when Willbur abandoned Tommy. 

He didn’t, though. Instead he chooses Willbur, chooses destruction over rebirth- the death of a nation instead of the revival.

(Tommy, if you want to be a hero...

Then die like one)

I wonder, has Techno always been like this? He seems to like history(Theseus slays the minotaur, he saves his land, he’s cast out), does he relate to it? He seems so inhuman, have others always shied away from him? Did he only have his family? He hates government so damn much, does he have experience with watching it fall, outside of Schlatt’s administration? 

Was he ever cast out himself? Exiled from a land he may have called home?

Is his story of Theseus not only told to illustrate to Tommy why heroes never get happy endings, but also to remind Tommy of something else?

I wonder, was Tommy so in denial about Techno’s inevitable betrayal because of hope, or because he’s never truly seen what Techno’s like? I wonder, in the past did they part ways, Willbur with Tommy and Techno alone, only to reunite, Tommy unaware of how unstable Techno can be?

He’s so focused on Willbur, after all. Willbur’s been with him since the start, he’s been there with him through everything. Was he so blinded by Willbur’s spreading madness that he was unable to see the festering madness Techno also held?

Willbur and Techno sparred as children. Did Tommy? Or was he the sheltered youngest, only allowed to see slivers of the real world when they deemed him ready?

But in the pit, he sees his defeat at Techno’s hands as inevitable but he still goes through with it. He isn’t surprised when he’s defeated, but he’s still angry at Techno- angry enough to fight him. Has he watched Willbur and Techno spar as children? Did he spar with Techno himself? Did he just not care(he killed Tubbo, he can’t let that go, he killed Tubbo), because he couldn’t let Techno’s crimes at the festival stand?

Was that his first taste of Techno’s cruelty, his crumbling sanity?

Was he reeling when Techno did it, did he view Techno as the one who get out of every situation(Your Technoblade! You could’ve fought your way out!), was he so angry not because Techno had just killed Tubbo, but because he’d killed one of their own(we found Tubbo on the side of the road), was he angry because if Techno could kill Tubbo, couldn’t he also kill him?

And he does, later on. Stands before Tommy and snarls and snaps at him and kills him.

Three deaths, you get three deaths before your gone. Tommy has lost two, one at the hands of Dream and one at the hands of Techno- at the hands of his brother.

One at the hands of enemy. One at the hands of blood.

I wonder, was he relieved when he discovered Willbur to be dead? Relieved, because then Willbur couldn’t kill him, too. Relieved because if Techno could kill Tubbo, could kill him, then couldn’t Willbur do the same?

(you sure want to risk it? That’s an awful lot of tnt potentially attached to that button)

I wonder, did Tommy ever think that the blast would kill him, if Willbur ever hit that damned button?

Did he ever think he was about to die again, when the lands underneath him went up in flames?

I wonder, did Tommy ever think it would be his brothers that would be the end of him? Or did the thought never even cross his mind, something unthinkable- because, after all, they’re his family. His brothers.

Unthinkable, even as Willbur spiraled further and further. Did Tommy ever truly give up hope for him? Did he still have Hope that Willbur would join them, till the very end?

Hope that this dream of theirs wouldn’t have to end, that the great symphony that was L’manburg would continue on, Willbur and Tommy at the head.

L’manburg was Tommy’s safe space, it was where his friends and family was, it was where they belonged. Willbur may have created the idea of L’manburg, but Tommy was the one to secure it’s freedom and was the one to begin to breathe life into it.

Tommy saw L’manburg as something that would keep them all together, something they needed. 

But L’manburg was what started all the hurt- it was the cause of Tommy’s first death and it was the cause of the loss of two of his most prized possessions. It was the cause of a war and it was the cause of everyone turning against them.

Willbur saw L’manburg as something that lead to pain(so many injuries, we’ve lost so much), something that would continue to hurt unless it was gone.

And L’manburg also shouldn’t exist. It couldn’t exist, not without violence. It was built on the blood of those dying and hurting for it and it was built on the blood of those trying to stop them from creating it. The foundation of L’manburg is one of bones, and that is unavoidable.

Techno saw L’manburg as something that would rule, that would be built on top of tyranny and continue with that tyranny(you just got L’manburg back with a hostile take over! Your just replacing one tyrant with another!), something that couldn’t exist for there to be true peace.

So, when it’s the end, when Schlatt is dead, when Techno sits and watches, when Tommy stands behind Tubbo to support his presidency, and Willbur is at the button?

It’s three siblings, and the eldest two have seen too much, done too much. Their ideals line up and Willbur slams his fist to the button. His father stands before him. Techno kills Tommy, kills others, then die a hero.

Techno wasn’t the traitor, not really. He’s a wildcard that was thrown in with the hopes that his ideals align with one side or the other. Instead, while Willbur may be the traitor, he’s also led to believe he’s not. (there was no traitor, Tommy. I lied) So, when he hears the sound of Techno killing everyone, the all too familiar sounds of fireworks being launched, hitting their target?

Maybe he feels relieved in a way. He’s not the traitor, it’s Technoblade. His brother is on his side. Someone agrees with him.

He’s not alone.

His father stands before him, afraid(he doesn’t trust him either, does he?), and his brother stands at his side.

He might not have Tommy or Phil, no, but he has Techno.

And so, Tommy is betrayed twofold.

The tnt blows. (There’s screams and cries of those caught up in the blast and Willbur laughs)

Phil kills his son. (with the sounds of his eldest son’s weapons firing above, with Willbur’s vicious whispers echoing in the air, I wonder. Did he imagine he would have to kill another of his sons that day?)

Techno unleashes his whithers. (he watches them go towards Tommy, making no move to intercept. Tommy, already injured by the blast, by Techno’s onslaught, tricked into wearing bad armor, dies immediately)

And I wonder, here. Phil said it himself in his most recent Dream SMP stream- he appeared to be the traitor.

As the world blew up beneath their feet, Phil kills Willbur and walks away.

(your my son! Even if you’ve- if you’ve...

Kill me, Phil)

Did Tommy ever think everyone had betrayed him?

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You know what I can’t stop thinking about? How Willbur only really remembers the happy times, and Phil is included in that. Phil killing him is included.He truly sees his own father killing him as a good thing.

He might not remember it, but that smile after he’d gotten Phil to stab him? That satisfaction? I wonder, does he remember it? Did he think I am a bad person and this is the best ending, for everyone. Because he blew up L’manburg, he did it, and so he’s done, finally. He’s allowed to forget the bad, only remembering the good. He remembers raising Fundy, remembers the taste of bread, he remembers sparring with Techno as a kid.

All happy memories(Philza killing me).

An attempt to continue the list(-I don’t remember), is watching all the others reference things he doesn’t remember make him want to get his memories back? Does it hurt for him to only remember so little? (Bullying Tommy(he’s a child)) does he even remember that Tommy is his brother? Is he left wondering, constantly, why everyone hates Techno so much, his brother? If he does remember that Tommy is his brother, is he left confused as to his fury when it comes to their eldest sibling? Does he want to find out what Techno did, or leave it forgotten just like Schlatt? Has anyone tried to tell him?

Does it hurt, for him to know that they’re all so much more happy now that he’s dead? Does it hurt for him to know that they prefer him dead, and don’t want to bring him back even if they find out that there’s a way?

Is there any part of him that aches at the knowledge that Phil doesn’t regret killing him in the slightest(or does Phil regret it?), or is he happy that way, knowing that there’s no guilt- does it make it more justified, for him to have it as one of his happy memories, because, surely, if even his father is happier when he’s dead, that must meant that it was meant to be.

Right?

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Was Willbur’s body ever recovered? It should have existed, if Schlatt’s did. They’ve got Schlatt’s bones, after all. Did they retrieve it? or was it left to rot in the button room? Did Phil ever go back to bury his son? Is that where Ghostbur woke up? did he come back, standing over his body, or did he come back later, when his body was already gone? Was it disorienting? If they did bury his body, was he there? Was he tangible from the moment he became a ghost or did that take time? Did he ever search out Tommy, Techno, or Phil when he first woke up?

Did he have any memory at all, at first? He’s said that he didn’t remember who Tubbo was till he was called Mr. President. Was it like that for the others, too? Tubbo was someone he grew up with, if he didn’t remember him at first did it take even longer for the others? Did they have to sit there, watching as he tried to help them and didn’t remember any of them?

Did any of them attach him, when he first showed up? Did any of them yell at him, scream about his fuck ups, as he just sat there, not even knowing who they were? Did he ever seek any of them without real reason, just knowing that he had to be there, or does he only go out when he feels he has to help, or that he can contribute something?

Do his memory and go- constantly fluctuating as he tries to better the world around him(I don’t want to be a ghost, all that’s left is suffering), do pieces come and go as he wanders, lost? He’s said he’d rather be dead than a ghost- rather have nothingness over the suffering that was being there, does he ever get flashes of times far worse?

Can ghosts feel any sort of pain? Does he ever get phantom pains, aches from he was alive and injured, does he ever feel like he’s being, again? He’s died three times, each death stacking one atop the other, even if he can’t remember them is there any sort of phantom-muscle memory burning at him? Does he really only remember just the good, or is he lying?

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So, this was a thought that I had before I realized it’d become canon that each character only got three respawns before they actually died, but I still think it holds up decently now.

So, with how flimsy the idea of death must seem to them(would it even matter? some of them probably think, the ones that haven’t died yet. would it even matter if they died, since they’d just come back?) do any of them really give much care into how their life goes? Or do they put more value into material things, such as Tommy’s disks, since those are constant that can’t be destroyed then brought back?

Is the ‘three deaths only’ thing even widely known? Has anyone even bothered to figure out why Willbur and Schlatt died, instead of respawning? Or is it just something you know, a concept that you have known since your very first breath into the world?

Maybe they all latched so hard onto L’manburg not just because it had become their escape from the harsh world, but because it was the perfect blend of there and real, and also filled with hope and happiness and memories. Things that don’t come back must seem all that more precious to them, when they have extra lives to their names. 

In a world where violence is the only way to get what you want, do they ever look at the things more fragile than them and decide that that one, that one will be the thing I keep safe?

Is the loss of L’manburg not tragic because it was the loss of a dream and a hope, but tragic because it was the loss of the things they held dear to them? Buildings can be rebuilt, sure, but they won’t have the same scuff marks as the old one, won’t have the same items and design as the old one. They’re starting from scratch- building the nation in a crater, the leftover destruction of stacks upon stacks of tnt and two whithers.

You can hide your most precious items in an ender chest, sure, but an ender chest is small and some of the items they held dear must gone down with L’manburg when it toppled. A house of cards stacked too high with too much riding on it.

[mk-wizard]

Transformer Factions Part 2

Hello, fans.

A while ago I did an entry on the Transformer factions we all know of and are most popular in Transformers lore. Today, I am now giving information on the factions that have fallen into obscurity or are very recent. This is part fact and part theory mostly because the following factions don’t have clear cut information about them. The data on them is either varying or bare bones depending on the continuity. All of the data I could find on them and go by is what you see and keep in mind, most of it is fan lore or theory that seems to make the most sense. Anyway, here it goes and hope you all get enlightened;

Junkions - They hail from the planet Junk and the designating traits of Junkions is that they always have predominantly orange or rust colouring, an orange insignia, reddish orange optics and the ability to heal almost instantaneously. Their most common body type is data and they have the natural ability to build or fix anything which is something that must have come naturally to them from living on planet Junk for so many years. Their culture consists of engineering, role playing or watching copious amounts of television. They are governed by a king and/or queen of which their firstborn is designated as the main heir to the throne of leadership of their planet and faction. Despite how they speak and act, Junkions are in fact one the most creative and resourceful of all Transformers. They are also very xenophobic and prefer to stay neutral as well as undisturbed especially when it comes to the war between Autobots and Decepticons though in the recent reign of Rodimus Prime, they have become open to getting involved in Cybertronian affairs as long as their ways and faction are treated respectfully. It is theorized that Junkions are the descendents of defective Autobots who were literally dumped onto the planet that would become Junk and over time, these misfits reclaimed dignity by forming their own faction, culture and society who would eventually banish all other Transformers from their planet. Since then, they have remained in isolation. Morally, Junkions are good, but just wish to be left alone or at the very least accepted and respected as equals to all other Transformers.

Predacons - While they were originally just a subset of Decepticons who had alien type frames who then became beast types with incredibly unique frames looking almost akin to mythological beasts, with time, Predacons became their own faction. The designating trait of a Predacon is that they are always beast types with doll or alien like qualities and their insect like navy blue insignia. Their alt modes are solely beasts though they tend to be most drawn to lizards, dinosaurs, arachnids, insects or predatory mythological beasts. Their society is split into several different communities which are mostly in disarray with no single leader so their society is mostly consumed by chaos and crime. The one community that is even closest to being orderly is the one that follows many of the Decepticon ways though with some differences and the Tripredacus Council which plots to control everything. So far, the Predacons have made little social progress and often still find themselves needing to rely on if not take orders from the Decepticon community. Depending on the generation, the Megatron/Megara either looked down on them or treated them like valuable members. It is very possible that in data, Predacons and Maximals (more on them next) are in fact the same because they both are essentially the same in appearance and optic colouring scheme needing only to change their insignia in order to convert from one faction to the other.

Maximals - Their ancestors were Autobots who beast types, but with time, they became their own unique faction. The designating traits of a Maximal is that they are a beast type with doll or alien qualities and their wolf like red insignia. Their alt modes are solely beasts though they tend to be most drawn to mammals, birds, fish and sometimes ethereal mythological beasts. Their society is democratic, tight knit and orderly. They are not warriors though they have basic combat training namely in the martial arts as they tend to be researchers, artists or clergy. They are also second class citizens to Autobots and while there are some seats in the Cybertronian senate for them, they have no real political or social power that equals Autobots meaning that by law, Autobots have dominion over them. This division extends to where Maximals are permitted to go or what they can use similarly to how humans at one time divided one another by colour. While they avoid war, it is no secret that their wish is to be treated as equals which has driven most Maximals to leave Cybertron, but during the reign of Rodimus Prime, it is very possible that their wish may get granted as he intends to change if not abolish many of the Autobot ways.

Pretenders - Possibly the most obscure faction of them all. They seem to be mini-cons, but their transforming ability acts more as the bot being within a disguise rather than in disguise. The bot themself doesn’t transform, but rather, they have a special highly evolved technorganic shell which transforms them from their skin to their muscle tissue as though they are wearing a suit. They also don’t need to scan anything to gain their “alt mode”. They need only to touch a subject and they don’t even need to share the same gender to start mimicking. And even with that single bit of genetic data from touch contact, they can change things little traits in their shell such as hair colour, optic colour, colour scheme, the clothes they wear and even appear older or younger. They even can change parts of their shell from appearing organic to technological or vice versa individually rather that their entire body all at once. The most unique trait of a pretender is that they cannot mimic the appearance of anything that isn’t alive or a person, and they are limited solely to their shape and size meaning they cannot become taller or shorter, or slimmer or wider at will. The designating traits of a Pretender is their unique transforming ability, they are always a doll type mini-con and their insignia looks like the very ancient version of the Autobot symbol (the one that used to smile as opposed to the current one that looks as though it is weeping). Like GoBots, they don’t rely on energon to live. Any fuel source including the organic kind will do. At one time, Pretenders were Autobots who merely transformed in a different way, but after the Autobot way became more corrupt and rigid over the years, they began to demand that all who identified as Autobots would transform in one specific way and reject all things organic. Since Pretenders were unable to reject their organic matter as it was literally a part of their biology, they were forcefully exiled as they were deemed as monstrosities. Currently, Pretenders can be found scattered all throughout the universe living among the people of the planet they inhabit in their own private communities practising their ways in secret. Their greatest wish is to be able to have a planet of their own to call home, and while they appreciate and accept Rodimus Prime alliance, they have politely declined his offer to return to Cybertron as they have long since stopped considering that as their planet.

Insecticons - They are a hybrid faction of Autobots and Decepticons who were beast types specifically insect types who with time evolved into their own faction entirely. The designating trait of an Insecticon is that they either have blue or red optics (sometimes both), they are always a beast type of insect nature, they always at least change into a robot and an insect, and their silver. Contrary to what people believe, there are no arachnids among Insecticons, and their insignia. They also tend to be complete wild cards depending on the type of insect they have the nature of. They can either be very friendly and pacifist not being warriors at all, complete barbarian who will attack anyone who invades their space or at times, just completely and entirely neutral just keeping to themselves to the point of coldness. They have been known to ally with almost every faction with the exception of Junkions who do not welcome anyone who isn’t a Junkion into their society and while they mostly inhabit Cybertron in today’s day and age since the beginning of Rodimus Prime’s reign as he lifted the exile on them, they can be found scattered throughout the universe. While some Insecticons consider Cybertron as their home, they do not have a designated planet to call their own nor are they interested in having one as they will accept any space they occupy as satisfactory. Usually, they will answer to any government on that planet or in close proximity, but sometimes, Insecticons have been known to follow a queen. They have no set culture or society and tend to be agnostic or atheist on average, though some tend to believe in Primus and follow the Cybertronian code.

[safetypinkerton]

Hollywood Propaganda by Mark Dice 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hollywood-propaganda-mark-dice/1137833508

Christianity Under Attack

In order to destroy America, the conspirators are determined to eradicate faith in God and dismantle organized Christianity. Attacking Jesus and Christianity is a sacrament in Hollywood because the far-Left hates Jesus and everything He stands for. It’s not an overstatement to say that many in key positions of power in the entertainment industry (and politics) are Satanists who will someday openly embrace Lucifer as the rebel angel kicked out of Heaven for defying God.

  “I’m glad the Jews killed Christ,” ranted comedian Sarah Silverman in one of her comedy specials. “Good. I’d fucking do it again!” she declares, as her audience agrees in laughter.158 While accepting an Emmy Award one year Kathy Griffin said, “A lot of people come up here and they thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. He didn’t help me a bit…so all I can say is suck it Jesus! This award is my god now!”159

I’m not saying people shouldn’t be able to make fun of Christians, but no mainstream celebrity would dare make such insults or jokes about Muhammad because Muslims (and Jews) are vigorously protected against any criticism or mockery and only wonderful things can be said about them. Even a slightly edgy joke ignites a barrage of attacks with cries of “Islamophobia” or “anti-Semitism” and gears start moving in the well-funded and massive smear machines like the ADL and the SPLC which quickly move to destroy the person’s career before they can utter another word.

Hating Christians is almost as necessary as believing in climate change if you’re going to be a mainstream Hollywood celebrity. There are very few open Christians in Hollywood, most of them are has-beens like Kevin Sorbo and Kirk Cameron who have been basically blacklisted since being open about their faith.

  Kevin Sorbo was banned from Comicon because he’s a conservative and “pals with Sean Hannity.”160 He and other Christian actors are stuck doing low budget films that get little attention. They’re allowed to exist (for now) as long as they never point out the Bible’s teachings on homosexuality. Only watered down and generic Christian messages are allowed to be said.

After Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and happened to discuss his “spirituality,” many online began attacking him for being a Christian and attending a church. Actress Ellen Page (a lesbian) from the X-Men and Inception tweeted, “If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group of people, don’t be surprised if someone simply wonders why it’s not addressed. Being anti LGBTQ is wrong, there aren’t two sides. The damage it causes is severe. Full stop.”161

Singer Ellie Goulding threatened to back out of her scheduled performance at the 2019 Thanksgiving NFL halftime show if the Salvation Army didn’t pledge to donate money to LGBT causes. She got the idea after her Instagram comments were flooded with complaints from her fans because the Salvation Army was sponsoring the game to announce their annual Red Kettle Campaign (bell ringers) fundraiser for the homeless.162 Since the Salvation Army is a Christian charity, Goulding’s fans freaked out, accusing them of being “homophobic” and “transphobic.”

They quickly bowed to the pressure and “disavowed” any anti-LGBT beliefs, which basically means they’re disavowing the Bible because even the New Testament denounces homosexuality in Romans 1:26-27 and 1st Corinthians 6:9-10. Many critics claim that only the Old Testament does, but the Book of Romans makes it clear that just because Jesus came to offer salvation doesn’t mean God’s law regarding homosexuality changed.

The Salvation Army also removed a “position statement” from their website that had made it clear “Scripture forbids sexual intimacy between members of the same sex,” and replaced it with one saying “We embrace people regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”163 One of the world’s largest Christian charities whose very name “The Salvation Army” refers to the salvation of Christ, cowardly bowed down to the Leftist activists out of fear they would be branded “homophobic.”

Christians are easy targets since they’re much more passive than Jews and Muslims when attacked, and Hollywood loves to stereotype them as a bunch of superstitious bigots who don’t know how to have fun. In the rare case that there is a movie favorable to Christianity that gets widespread distribution, that too is attacked.

Passion of the Christ was deemed “anti-Semitic” because it depicts the story of Jesus’ arrest, sham trial, and crucifixion.164 It was the most popular film about the events to be made and wasn’t a straight to DVD release like most others. With Mel Gibson behind it, the film became a huge success, which caused a tremendous backlash.

The ADL [Anti-Defamation League] denounced the film, saying it “continues its unambiguous portrayal of Jews as being responsible for the death of Jesus. There is no question in this film about who is responsible. At every single opportunity, Mr. Gibson’s film reinforces the notion that the Jewish authorities and the Jewish mob are the ones ultimately responsible for the Crucifixion.”165 That’s because that’s what happened!

Technically, the Romans did it, but at the behest of the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem at the time. The Bible makes it very clear what led to Jesus being crucified. Pontius Pilate is quoted in Matthew 27:24 saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” and “It is your responsibility!” meaning the Jewish Pharisees. They were the ones who conspired to have Jesus arrested and killed for “blasphemy” and being a “false” messiah. Pontius Pilate even offered to release Jesus, but the crowd demanded he release Barabbas instead, another man who was being detained for insurrection against Rome, and for murder.166

A critic for the New York Daily News called The Passion of the Christ, “the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of the Second World War.”167 Many others angrily denounced the film when it came out in 2004. Some in the media even blamed it for a supposed “upsurge” in anti-Semitic hate crimes.168

When the History Channel miniseries The Bible was released in 2013, the same cries of “anti-Semitism” rang out.169 The New York Times opinion editor Bari Weiss went so far as to say that it’s a “conspiracy theory” that Jews killed Jesus.170

Even though most Christmas movies aren’t overtly Christian and instead focus of the importance of families reuniting and spending time together, that doesn’t mean they’re not going to come under attack. As the war on western culture continues, the Marxists have set their sights on Christmas too.

Online liberal cesspool Salon.com ran a headline reading “Hallmark movies are fascist propaganda,” and complained they promote “heteronormative whiteness” because there aren’t enough LGBT characters or people of color in them.171

“Hallmark movies, with their emphasis on returning home and the pleasures of the small, domestic life, also send a not-at-all subtle signal of disdain for cosmopolitanism and curiosity about the larger world,” Salon said, “which is exactly the sort of attitude that helps breed the kind of defensive White nationalism that we see growing in strength in the Donald Trump era.”172

The article went on to say that because the Hallmark Channel airs so many Christmas movies, it is promoting, “a set of patriarchal and authoritarian values that are more about White evangelicals defining themselves as an ethnic group, and not about a genuine feeling of spirituality…The very fact that they’re presented as harmless fluff makes it all the more insidious, the way they work to enforce very narrow, White, heteronormative, sexist, provincial ideas of what constitutes ‘normal.’”173

The article wasn’t satire. Salon.com has a deep-seated hatred of Christianity, conservatives and families, and is another cog in the Cultural Marxist machine working to destroy the United States.

Comedian Whitney Cummings was reported to the Human Resources department of a major Hollywood studio after she wished the crew of a TV show she was working on “Merry Christmas” when they wrapped up for the year. She made the revelation while speaking with Conan O’Brian the following December. “Last year, I was working on a TV show, [and] got in trouble with Human Resources for saying ‘Merry Christmas’ to an intern,” she began.174

Conan asked her if she was being serious and she said it was a true story, elaborating, “I was leaving, like on the 18th or whatever…and I was like, ‘Bye guys, Merry Christmas.’” When she returned from vacation after New Year’s she was called to HR and scolded. She joked, “I don’t even care how your Christmas was. It was just a formality. It’s what you say when you leave.”175

Conan O’Brien then replied, “In these times we’re in, that could trigger someone or offend them if it’s not their holiday.”176 She didn’t say which network it was, but she’s been involved with some major shows like NBC’s Whitney (where she played the main character), as well as the CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls, which she created and was a writer for.

While today it may seem impossible that Christmas movies may become a thing of the past, nobody could have ever guessed that reruns of the classic Dukes of Hazzard would get banned after the Confederate flag was deemed a “hate symbol” in 2015, or that Aunt Jemima pancake syrup, Eskimo Pie ice cream bars, and Uncle Ben’s Rice would be deemed “racially insensitive” and pulled from production a few years later.177

Once someone reminds liberals that the word Christmas is derived from Christ’s Mass and that it is actually a commemoration of the birth of Jesus, they may finally go over the edge and deem Christmas just as offensive as Columbus Day or the Fourth of July. And with the Muslim and Sikh populations increasing in the United States, the American standard of Christmas music playing in shopping malls and retail stores all month long every December may one day come to an end because it’s not “inclusive” and leaves non-Christians feeling “ostracized.”

[alexsmitposts]

In America, Privilege is Far More Fatal than COVID Yesterday, I received a report from Syria. It told of blistering heat and no electricity, of fuel lines, of food shortages and economic suffering by the Syrian people. This is an excerpt: “I wonder if people in EU, US and UK had to deal with the repercussions of their government sanctions on Syria, would they fight harder to get sanctions banned as a hybrid war, sadistic strategy. It is 41 degrees in Damascus, the cloud cover makes it heavy and oppressive. Electricity where I am is on for an hour, sometimes two before it cuts for three or four hours, just as the air conditioning makes your environment bearable. For some living close to me, they were without electricity for 14 hours in this sweltering heat. I wet my clothes to keep me cool while I am working, it is the only thing that helps. Mobile phones do not have time to charge. Food goes rotten because the fridge is off much of the time. Syrians traditionally store enough food in their freezer to last them two or three months. They are having to throw much of it away. At the same time, food prices are sky high. Nobody can afford to eat luxury items like chicken anymore. Lemons have become a luxury item, the price of one kilo has trebled in a few months. Parents do not know if they can feed their kids every day, they are living hand to mouth. All the roadside kiosks are seeing their livelihood go down the drain, literally, as everything in their freezer section melts or goes bad. The queues for fuel, while not as bad as before, are still a stressful scrum with cars lining up to take their ration. These are only a few of the effects of sanctions. Sanctions are designed to hurt, to deprive, to depress and, ultimately, to kill slowly and more painfully than the swift ending of life by a mortar or a bullet. Sanctions strip people of their dignity and leave them beggars in their own home.” Syria is but one nation targeted by the Trump regime, there are others and the stories like this are in the millions, told by those who still live. When Syria was attacked, it was not just starvation, it was terrorism as well with up to 400,000 dead and 5 million refugees. Iraq suffered a far worse fate, 2,000,000 dead. Both nations are still partially occupied by the United States, the nation that engineered this suffering. Now it is all coming home to roost, as here in the United States, what was done to Syria and Iraq, to Yemen and Iran, and to the best of Trump’s ability Venezuela’s people as well, is being deployed against the most vulnerable of Americans. We had another police killing yesterday, one we know of, there may well be others, in fact it is likely. This was in Los Angeles, another African American, his crime was riding a bicycle “improperly.” To understand how privilege applies, Dylan Roof, white mass murderer who killed 9 a the Emanuel AME Church was arrested with considerable care and, before being processed, was taken to the local Burger King for lunch by police as Dylan told them that murdering so many people “made him feel hungry.” As American humorist Jim W. Dean so often says; “You just can’t make this stuff up.” This is not unusual, this is the norm, this is how things work but you will not know unless you ask people, people who trust you with the truth. Problem there, the divide in America is so profound that the victims of insanity and brutality that started long before the current epidemic under Trump don’t want to talk to the media, such as it is and have no faith in political process. You see, political process in America reeks of corruption and privilege as well. Privilege, as with exceptionalism, is a form of corruption whether it is state sponsored apartheid as in Israel or the other version of apartheid, the American one, with walls and children in cages and bodies in the streets. Let us be clear about something else, while the media tries to smear the most well know victims like Beonna Taylor, every person of color in the United States is victimized unless “hand selected” like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a despicable human being reviled for his love of all things fascist. We might take a moment to discuss Breonna Taylor as well. This is a young woman of color living in Louisville, Kentucky, employed as a paramedic/first responder. Police broke into her home and killed her based on a false warrant. This is someone who had never committed a crime of any kind, police simply kicked down her door and murdered her for being black skinned, there is no other explanation. Yesterday, according to reports in the Washington Post, local prosecutor Tom Wine, a Trump backer, offered freedom to a number of drug suspects, if they would falsely incriminate Beonna Taylor, in order to aid Donald Trump in his election chances. Sources tell us Wine would then be nominated as US Attorney by Trump appointee William Barr. This level of corruption is seen every single day, even reported every single day but as the victims are of color in a land of “white privilege,” those who protest being falsely imprisoned or murdered by police are “violent hooligans.” Again, “you just can’t make this stuff up.” To understand the violence that is sweeping America today one can easily look at the violence that has swept the world, not just after 9/11 but long before. There are two words that are one in the same, one personal, one far greater, both are fatal. They are privilege and exceptionalism. The nature of “privilege” is insidious. For those who do not have COVID, for instance, who are not on a respirator or mourning the hundreds of thousands now dead, the disease is “fake.” This is privilege, denialism of the suffering of others because they are “others.” An unreported fact, nearly 4,000,000 older Americans live in nursing homes or residential facilities. None have been visited by family for nearly 6 months. Over 150,000 have died of COVID but reports that are creeping in speak of malnutrition, bed sores and widespread abuse and there is no one to help as families are not allowed to see their forgotten elders. The result of this, of course, is that older Americans have now become defacto “people of color” and reside in defacto “cages” like little brown babies ripped away from their mothers to amuse Trump’s political “base.” The insidious nature of privilege is that it can infect anyone, whatever their race or ethnicity. Privilege has become a hallmark of some religions, such as Christian Evangelism, infecting 35,000,000 Americans who attend church, pray continually but bask in a belief system that feeds exceptionalism and hatred. Privilege and exceptionalism are most often driven by fear. For some inherited money drives the unearned feeling of superiority, though Trump has, to a large extent, destroyed this concept through his bumbling ineptitude. Even the drooling Baron Rothschild and his carriage drawn through London by a team of zebras was not able to do that. If you are poor and white in America, “at least you aren’t black.” Thus, those who are otherwise the most marginal and vulnerable, not in all cases but some, perhaps many, take solace in having someone beneath them. “The humbleness of a warrior is not the humbleness of the beggar. The warrior lowers his head to no one, but at the same time, he does not permit anyone to lower his head to him. The beggar, on the other hand, falls to his knees at the drop of a hat and scrapes the floor to anyone he deems to be higher; but at the same time, he demands that someone lower than him scrape the floor for him.” – Carlos Castaneda Turning to Castaneda, whose “Way of the Warrior” defined excellence for so many during the 60’s and 70’s, in a way defines the failures in America’s culture today. “The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.” – Carlos Castaneda What can safely be generalized about how things really are in America? Yesterday I spent time with one of my friends, a painting contractor, American born Hispanic who speaks no Spanish, highly successful, and we discussed local police in my own affluent community. His experiences with the same police who are to me beyond polite and helpful, not so helpful mind you that I would ever depend on them for protection, are quite the opposite of mine. I now know there is a problem. Will I do or say nothing and if I find our community subject to disorder because of our collective indifference to the rights of all, will I be surprised? Am I privileged and exceptionalist? Were it not for time I spent as a police officer decades ago, a miserable job, his words would seem unreasonable but anyone who has worked in law enforcement knows that the greatest stress isn’t from the public, too often referred to as “potential suspects,” but rather from corrupt and ignorant coworkers. It does not take long to see that they are the real criminals. As a former police officer, one is typically never stopped by police or if one is, one is immediately not just released but usually engaged in friendly banter. To be clear, some departments are better than others, but none are perfect and some, like Kenosha, Wisconsin, are brutally incompetent and dangerous. What we have also seen at mass killing like Columbine or during the fear driven killings that are sending hundreds of thousands into the streets, many police are quite simply cowards with guns, a very dangerous combination. Many, however, are not. Many are competent, polite, professional and often end up sacrificing their lives for others. The problem there is that if you are one of these, working with the others is a nightmare. In many cases, “good police” are ostracized and threatened for failing to be corrupt, which is my own experience. This makes the job impossible and the victims are many, certainly good police suffer as they invariably are commanded by the most corrupt and incompetent but the communities they supposedly serve suffer as well. This is the case with Kenosha. There, the police department, as a whole, is generally seen by other police as very poor quality, highly corrupt, racially biased and a very bad place to work. For the community, if you are white, you won’t be arrested unless you do something exceptionally bad and if you are a powerful “insider,” you can never be arrested at all as police are likely to aid and abet in any criminal acts. In the post George Floyd world, however, it is the community that has allowed its police to degenerate into a “blue gang” that is suffering now, subjected to violent protests which are, quite frankly extremely well deserved. Each community has a choice, to stand for justice for all, which should be equal enforcement of the law and, if need be, strong but fair and legal crackdowns on criminal elements even if such elements are people of color. Police are there to investigate and take potential offenders into custody, based on reasonable procedures, where fair courts administer laws. The truth is everything, but this happens. Police administer punishment, too often based on hatred driven by misguided privilege and institutionalized corruption and extremism. As cohorts in “blue gang” violence, prosecutors and many judges throw law, justice and the constitution aside to the extent that any attorney representing a criminal defendant feels overwhelmed. Time and time again, trials are a mockery and lying police and fake evidence rule every process, all openly accepted not just by insiders but the media and the privileged and exceptionalist community as well. Worse still, in many cases those of color who manage to rise into “the system” become the worst of the worst, almost accepted by their white brethren, which is why we included the Castaneda quotes. The disease, as we define it is privilege. The byproduct is dehumanization and indifference. This is a disease so powerful that very few can stand up to it and fewer still can admit it exists or if they choose to do so, go to great lengths to misdefine it. We began by discussing Syria but what is happening there, engineered by “privileged exceptionalists” driven by extremism, is terrorism in its purist form. American policing may well be described as institutionalized terrorism as well. Every child in America can at some time be caged, certainly if of color or if one’s parents are of questionable ancestry. Every American can be murdered by police with impunity. In fact, the massive ownership of assault weapons by Americans is driven by a fear of police. Rural and suburban communities, where gun ownership is greatest, are not subject to even the rumor of “racial violence” that the media stokes with every word. Every spectrum of politics from right or left shares one thing with those of color, distrust of government and fear of assault not by armed criminals but by armed criminal police. The sad thing is that too many take solace in the fact that they will be the last to go, not the first. From Martin Niemoller: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” And so it goes…

[harry-sussex]

A note about the lawsuits:

Now that we know Harry is suing a small handful of magazine publications for a breach of privacy related to the personal lives of himself and his wife, there are a few things that I think need to be spelled out right now.

I’m seeing a lot of comments about Harry and Meghan and their privileges as a royal couple.  There is no denying that they lead a very privileged lifestyle that people like us could only dream of.  That, however, is absolutely no reason for the treatment that the Sussexes (particularly Meghan) have been facing in the press since their engagement.  None whatsoever.

Now, I’m seeing a lot of people saying something akin to the following with respect to the lawsuits: “Harry and Meghan are funded by the taxpayer.  They’re public servants.  They don’t have a right to privacy.  The media has an obligation to their readers to report whatever they deem relevant.  If Harry and Meghan don’t like it, they can cease any and all royal work, recuse themselves from receiving funding from the Duchy of Cornwall and the Sovereign Grant, and move back to America/move to Africa/move away from England and everyone will leave them alone.”

There are about five million things wrong with that statement.  Funded by taxpayer does not immediately equate to being required to share intimate details of their public lives with the public, for one - but that’s an argument for another day.  Everyone is entitled to privacy - public figure or not.  My primary issue, however, is the final italicized clause, one that I’ve read in similar veins on many forums since the first lawsuit and statement dropped the other day.

Right now, Harry and Meghan live in Frogmore Cottage, a royal property, which has some of the best security money can buy.  They are constantly surrounded by taxpayer-funded security - during both official and private business.  They obviously fund their private lives - clothing, vacations, etc. - privately, but the funds from the Duchy and the Sovereign Grant allow them a sort of peace of mind, safety, and comfort in their lives that they may otherwise be lacking.  

Private security is expensive, people.  Obscenely so.  Especially for three (or more) people, and especially for the next sixty or so years.

Now, let’s say Harry and Meghan have had enough.  They’re tired of the bowing and the curtseying, the “Your Royal Highnesses” and the strict rules, the dog-and-pony show that is being a member of the British Royal Family.  Let’s say, for argument’s sake, they want out.  They’re renouncing their right to taxpayer or otherwise royal funding, moving out of Frogmore, ceasing the use of the HRH, and bailing on royal life to get away from the institution and its confines.

Do people really think that would be it?  “Oh, they’re not getting money from the taxpayer anymore, so we’re not interested.”  Do people really think that it wouldn’t be an absolute witch hunt?  Assuming they basically were to say “that’s it, we’re out, we don’t owe you anything anymore so we’re not telling you where we’re going,” which, to be fair, sounds like something they’d say in that situation.  The press would use every resource they had to track down Harry and Meghan and their family.  Stalk their children - just like they did with George.  Terrorize them in their private lives - just like they did with Diana.  Except without the protection afforded to both George and Diana.

Now imagine the hysteria... but remove the taxpayer-funded security.  Remove the protection officers at all hours of the day and remove the royal residence with built-in features to protect them.  The press is hungry for them.  They stop at nothing to get what they want now... imagine if there wasn’t an institution or a system in between.  Imagine if there was nothing getting in the way of the press getting what they want.  No royal favor, no funded security, no secure home, nothing.  It’s just the press, Harry, and Meghan.  Fair game.  Imagine what it would be like for them?

Why should Harry and Meghan be forced to change their lives?  They have a position in life that frankly most people would die for.  Why should they be forced to give it up?  Why shouldn’t they do whatever they can to force the external forces to back off?  Demanding that Harry and Meghan change their lives punishes them for crimes they did not commit.  Forcing the press to back off punishes them for crimes they did commit.  The only way to do this, of course, is to file a lawsuit.

People forget, I think, exactly what William and Harry have gone through.  Spin it whatever way you want, but the press, like it or not, directly contributed to the death of their mother.  Their mother who could afford private protection, who did hire private security... security that, ultimately, failed to protect her.  Because of the press.  The same press stalking their children outside of schools, the same press printing malicious and cruel lies about their wives... is the same press that killed their mother.  Do you see?  Do you know why they are the way they are with the press?  That’s why.  The press killed their mother (however accidentally it may have been) and now, god forbid, they’re coming for their wives and children, too.  God forbid.  No wonder they are the way they are!  William and Harry are only looking to protect that which they now hold dear, after the press violently ripped the same from them a lifetime too early.

If the press was smart, they’d work to improve the relationship that they destroyed.  The onus should not be on either of the Wales boys to rectify that relationship - they’re not the ones who destroyed it.  Before Diana’s death, we got videos of the cousins, mini-interviews, photocalls at the palace with the babies... now, 22 years later, we get the occasional photograph.  A handful of public appearances in total over the course of all four kids’ lives.  That has to be a direct result of the contributions of the press to Diana’s death.  Like it or not, William and Harry’s secrecy and general reluctance to share any private moments publicly is a direct consequence of the role the press played in their mother’s untimely, violent death.

If the press wants access, then they need to prove they’re once again worthy of access.  They need to prove that the Wales boys can trust them, more than 22 years after the death of their mother.  The press needs to prove that they have changed.  The Sun, the Daily Mail... they’ve done nothing to earn Harry and Meghan’s trust.  Piers Morgan profits exorbitantly every time he posts a negative word about Meghan.  The Daily Mail and the Sun make absolutely insane amounts of money, printing the stories that they print.  The press, in reality, hasn’t changed at all since Diana’s death.  Not at all.

Don’t you see?  The press is taking advantage of the Wales boys and their families to make money.  Literally for the sake of the almighty pound.  They did the same to Diana, and look how that turned out.  If anyone else did that, there would be an uproar.  But all of a sudden, it’s okay because it’s the press?  Absolutely not.

If Harry thinks it’s worth the battle to go to battle for himself, his wife, his child, his brother, his sister-in-law, his niece and nephews, and for the memory of his late mother, then who are we to criticize it?  If Harry wants to go to war in order to preclude the press from taking vile advantage of him and his family for the sake of revenue, then who are we to decry him?  This is his life we’re talking about here - his life, and the lives of his family, who has already suffered enough because of irresponsible journalism.  If this is what he and his team think needs to be done to prevent another Diana-esque tragedy, then who are we, you know?

Another Diana-esque tragedy would undoubtedly hurt every single one of us here blogging about the Wales boys and their families.  God forbid, it would hurt the Wales boys and their families, though, infinitely many times more.

If Harry (and his undoubtedly well-endowed legal team) thinks he can prevent such a thing from happening, then we should all be for it.  Period.  If these lawsuits could potentially save the life of even one person to whom the press craves access (royal or not), then we should stand with them.  

The public does not have the right to know each and every little thing about their representatives.  The press seems to think they are entitled to private information, and will stop at nothing to get the information they crave.  This is not the case, and a lawsuit is a great way to squash that entitlement.  A lawsuit is the only way to force the press into submission, into following a set of rules that protects the targets involved.  

If similar litigation was presented prior to Diana’s death, who knows what would have happened to her.  Who knows if such a lawsuit could have protected her?  We’ll never know, but it’s worth considering in light of recent events.

If this is the chance Harry is willing to take, then I - as an anonymous person who has never and will never face the type of hysteria he has - have to stand with him.  Stand with Harry, and Meghan, and Archie, and William, and Kate, and George, and Charlotte, and Louis.  That’s the way it should be.  That’s the way it has to be.