#but also i was recently handed the anger issues question during a party game

[its-tortle]

i'm fairly certain that my tumblr vibe is super sweet and kind and cinnamon roll, and i honestly don't know how that happened? i fear i may be a bit of a bitch sometimes irl. please don't let the internet fool you 🫠

[a-dumb-simp]

Hey! I have a request that might be triggering, there aren't any rules I could find but please forgive me if I have not looked hard enough. May i please have headcanons of the demon brothers finding mc (gn) unconscious from suicide attempt? It's okay if it's not doable as I know the struggle, please take care of yourself in these tough times. I wish you well. Love, anon.

⚠️TW⚠️

IM BACK

Also I'm gonna leave these a bit open ended and maybe make something else with it later!

It's perfectly okay! Personally I find a lot of peace in asks like this or reading fics/headcannons with angst because I love the emotions themselves and the coping process!

Thank you for the ask, I haven't done anything in over 2 weeks so this kinda helped me get back on track and I hope you have a lovely day!

⚠️The more I wrote the more into I got, so it just progressively gets more and more gruesome and horrible! So warning⚠️

Each have a different form of suicide

Lucifer

Self harm

He was waking back from a meeting with Dia when he found you

He went to check on all his brothers, and you in your rooms

Yours was the first he entered, he had missed you that day and felt bad he couldn't say goodbye in his rush to leave

He of course knocked on your door gently and found it odd when it pushed open with his touch

He almost left

He almost turned around, assumed you were still a bit angry about the morning

But he missed you

He started to walk faster to the other side of the room where the bathroom connects

He saw the light on, and again knocked, maybe you were just in the shower and couldn't hear him before he came in?

Again no response

He was genuinely worried

You're a fragile human for fuck sake, you can't survive here without him...

He frantically got out his key and pushed the door open, only to find you

In the elegant pristine silver bathroom, covered in your blood.

You body twisted and a look of pain and fear in your tense muscles, nearly looking asleep during a nightmare

He stood shocked for a moment, all his memories of Lilith subconsciously coming back, his memories of seeing the blood and pain on his brothers faces after the fall.

He reached for you without noticing

His eyes filling with tears and not breathing

finally got a hold of your wrist and felt the warmth in your body

You blood smearing around his fingers

It gave him hope and shocked him back to where he was

He calmly picked you up, didn't let his tears fall and walked you to his room

He bandaged your wrists tight and secure, and sat by the bed reading a book

He couldn't even bring himself to wipe the blood off his hands forever staining the pages with this memory, with you

He couldnt get passed the first page, not be able to concentrate for a minute on anything

Once again he was lost

And he refused to let anyone in again, he couldn't take it

Mammon

Hanging

He had a modelling shoot and left you at home by yourself, he never regrets anything more

He was walking back into the house his sunglasses falling off his nose as he yelled for you

As he walked in his glasses completely slipped off his face

He attempted to grab them on instinct but just dropped them immediately

He ran to you

Your body limp and slightly swaying from the ceiling, he reached for your arms and pulled you down

He would give up everything he owned at this moment for you to be okay

He gently laid you down on you bed and looked you over

Thankfully you were still breathing, albeit rough with a minor hitch

You were okay

You were okay

You were okay

He couldn't stop repeating it

He reached out to touch the mark now deepening in shade on your neck and moved back like it burned him

The rope burn only searing in his mind what had happened

did he cause this?

did he make you want to leave so badly?

He can't stand to just sit in this silence

He ran and told Lucifer and immediately walked out of the house

He had no idea where he was going but he couldn't be there without your voice

He couldn't be there

Leviathan

Overdose

He had left his room for the first time since yesterday

You usually cane to join him and sit with him when he got a new game so you could still enjoy each others company but you didn't

He noticed pretty early on but thought maybe you were just busy

He decided to take a small break, something he would only do for you, and found you in your room

You were convulsing on the floor with a puddle of blood around your mouth

A pill bottle rolled back and forth, recently dropped from you hand

Eye slightly rolled back and whimpering

Small twitches in your hands and legs

He just fell

He fell to his knees and screamed

Scrambled on the floor to grab you

He felt so helpless and knew it was unfair that he couldn't do anything

He screamed until his throat burned and he was hyperventilating

More blood came up and couldn't help but cry

His brother of course heard and Lucifer came running in

He took your body running to get you to either Solomon or Diavolo, maybe even a human hospital

while Levi struggled in Mammons arms

He just wanted to help, it was unfair he couldn't help you

It was all his fault really if he had just checked on you earlier

If he hadn't been a disgusting piece of shit and somehow put a game over you

If he had just maybe never met you

Never saw you again

That would help right? He's the one that made you do that yourself...right?

Mammon was the one to carry him back to his room when he passed out from the panic attack

Satan

Gunshot

He had anger issues and you knew that

Dammit you knew that going into this relationship

So why when he found you with a gun to your head did you say you couldn't take it anymore?

Did you mean him? Did you mean that you couldn't take him anymore?

He understood to some degree he truly did, he just wished you were pointing the gun at his head instead of yours.

He grabbed your arm right before you pulled the trigger and the shock of the bullet hitting the mirror behind you caused you to pass out

He caught your body and felt the overwhelming rage again, but he couldn't actually feel it

He was numb to whatever else he felt other than regret

Because obviously you regret him, you regret this, what you have

He couldn't find any other reason

other than him

So he picked up the gun

Spun the fucking chamber and pulled it to his chest

He would have done the same as you but he felt it was more fitting to be shot through the chest

His heart stopping would be better for you right? This would be best for you!

Lucifer found him, and kicked the gun from his hand

Satan didn't even put up a fight, he just slumped to the floor

And let Lucifer carry both yours and his bodies elsewhere

He didn't care

Asmodeus

Drowning

He went to take a relaxing bath, he had a tiresome day with all those people flirting with him

He saw you at the small party at the beginning but got somewhat lost in the eyes of Solomon, they had fun of course but he would always be loyal to you

It was just a bit of harmless fun, right?

He got ready, put on calming music and opened the door to his luxurious bathroom

Only to find you already in the water

At the bottom of the tub

Turning blue

He didn't hesitate to pull you out

Already screaming questions and accusations at you as he realised you were already passed out

You were cold in his arms shivering and twitching constantly

He started doing CPR as he screamed for his brothers

He did mouth to mouth and all he could think was that he hoped this wasn't your last kiss

He couldn't let you go like this

The image of you in his bath sunken and blue, cold and icy sent more chills up his spine

He didn't even notice his older two brothers rushing in, taking you from him until he woke up a couple hours later

He wanted to find you he wanted to search for you, he wanted to apologize because he knew what he had done but all he could do was stare at his wall and cry

For once he let himself fall again, fuck his beauty he just wanted you

He had nothing left except himself and right now he felt as cold as you own body had

Beelzebub

Falling

I'm so sorry

He came back from the gym ready for you to attack him with hugs and was confused at first why you didn't

He instead gathered some snacks for you, assuming you had a bad day and wanted to make you happy :)

He got to his room and still couldn't find you, every day you two would come back here and hang out so what happened?

He heard his phone go off and was going to ignore it but thought it might be you

fuck he almost wished he would have ignored it

”I’m sorry, I love you, I know this is going to hurt both of us but I'm done. Goodbye.”

He knew where you were and what you were doing immediately

You had told him before of your attempts and he had reassured your crying and hugged you all night

Belphie joining in at one point

He found you at the edge of the Devildom, a cliffside over the city

Beautiful really, but at the moment is was Beelzebubs worst nightmare replaying itself

As you turned to fall you caught his gaze and smiled a bit

All he could see was Lillith, a flashing image of his sister smiling while falling replayed as he couldn't move

He couldn't scream, he was frozen just like last time...

When he saw the smile on your face turn to fear as you made your final decision he reached out

He felt the fear wash over him, he knew this moment, he replayed it in his head every fucking day

Saw her falling backward and failing, failing to grab her...

He ran once again, not caring if he died just wanting to save you, wanting to take your place

If he could switch places with Lilith he would have, and he would have done the same for you

Wanting to finally do good

Wanting to redeem himself for what he did to Lilith

He caught you arm, his wings making a faint buzzing noise and pulled you back up

Neither of you spoke

He eventually pulled back and found you to be sleeping, drained of all energy after that

He fell asleep with you, and you both stayed there for the night.

Belphegor

Stabbing

He woke up to a gagging noise, horrible and painful

Reaching over to feel you against him and only felt the cold bed

He saw the light in the bathroom and nearly fell back asleep, until that awful gagging noise came back

It was ironic really seeing you choke on your blood the same as before

Instead of his hands around your throat your own blood coming up...cutting off your breathing

He would have been glad to witness this a while ago

Would've probably paid to watch the show

And now,

He was stunned, reached up to his own throat and squeezed a bit subconsciously

He can't remember how many times he's apologized for it, can't remember how many times you've said it was alright

Did you do this because you thought it would make him happy? is that why you would do something so fucking stupid?

He ripped off his shirt and torn a piece to wrap around your torso, the blood from the stab wound already bleeding through

You stupid fucking human, he knew this was a bad idea, he was idiotic for letting you fool him.

He picked you up and carried you to Divaolo himself, personally begging him to help you

He pushed everything aside because of you and this is how you repay him?? This

He can't go in to see you so sits outside the room you're in and prays

He prays

To whoever can hear him that you survive

Because if you don't, he will burn Earth himself.

[bonjour-rainycity]

Odin’s Ward ~ Chapter 2

Link to previous part: https://bonjour-rainycity.tumblr.com/post/629921660092514304/odins-ward-chapter-1

Pairing: Loki x Reader

Word count: 2545

Warnings: None

Y/n: 8 // Loki: 10 // Thor: 14

Loki’s POV

“Come now, brother, surely you can do better than that!” Thor laughs and swings his sword in my direction.

I roll my eyes and parry, taking a few steps backwards as I do so. “You know well that this area of fighting is not my forte.”

“And it is my job as your older brother to remedy that.”

I swing towards him this time, a blow he blocks easily. “Then why do we pay the trainers so generously?”

Thor chuckles. “It shall be one of the first things I fix when I am king.”

My grip on the sword tightens. “Perhaps Father will choose me as his successor.”

Thor laughs heartily, as though the idea is preposterous. To him, it surely is. “Brother, you must understand. Father has every intention of picking me. I am the firstborn, I am known as the golden son, and I am the strongest of the two of us. I mean no offense, but surely you must see how I am the clear choice.”

Despite the lack of malice in his voice, I cannot stop the anger that rushes through me. I reset my stance and prepare to attack again with the sword.

“Forgive me for interrupting, Your Majesties, but I am afraid I am growing quite hungry. When do you propose we return indoors to take lunch?”

There’s a silence as Thor and I stare each other down, neither quite willing to give up on the coming fight. However, Lady Y/n is waiting for an answer and we both know it would be terribly rude to ignore her.

It’s so nice out, and I very much dislike the idea of wasting the day inside. So I suggest that we have our meal brought to us and eat here.

Having grown much more comfortable with us over the past months, Lady Y/n openly protests. “Here? Your Majesty, we are on the training grounds. Surely soldiers will come here soon to practice.”

I take her words into consideration and realize that she’s right. I think through an updated plan. “Very well, then. I know of a better place. Thor, Lady Y/n, return to your rooms and change into clothing suitable for a ride. Meet back here as soon as you can. I’ll take care of the preparations necessary for lunch.”

Thor grumbles at taking orders from his little brother, but Lady Y/n’s eyes sparkle with excitement. She turns and skips back inside. Thor follows with a little less enthusiasm.

{***}

About half an hour later, everything is set. The traveling party is bigger than I would have liked, but I suppose it is necessary to correctly adhere to protocol. Our party is made up of two kitchen servants, two guards, Nanny Idsol to attend to Lady Y/n, and Nanny Freydis for me. Thor was recently fortunate enough to graduate to a manservant (who is also accompanying us), but I must continue to put up with my insufferable nanny. Hopefully soon I will be rid of her. The thought makes me smile.

Each of us is to ride on a horse, with the exception of Lady Y/n and the nannies, who have a carriage. Upon hearing this, Lady Y/n frowns. “Your Graces, would it be possible for me to ride? I was used to doing so at home, and am sufficiently skilled.”

“Don’t argue with the princes,” Nanny Idsol intervenes.

“She’s not arguing.” Although I’m young, I know well how to infuse my voice and presence with authority. Nanny Idsol backs off immediately. “If you feel comfortable,” I continue, addressing only Lady Y/n, “you may certainly ride to our destination.”

She beams and curtsies her thanks. Thor sends his manservant to the stables to procure an additional horse, and soon we are on our way.

We traverse through the city and allow the people to praise us as we go. Lady Y/n looks a little uncomfortable with the attention, maybe even frightened, and I notice Thor ride closer to her, probably offering his protection. Lady Y/n frowns a little, straightens, and seems to force herself to seem more at ease. Interesting.

After about twenty minutes, we reach the edge of the main city which allows us access to the forest.

“Oh, Your Grace, what a wonderful idea,” Lady Y/n exclaims, and Thor nods in agreement. My heart soars at their approval.

Soon, we find the spot I had hoped for—a flat space nestled in the trees on the bank of a river—and the servants set up our picnic. When we eat, they give us our space, taking up residence a few hundred feet back. The guards, however, stay close to our sides. Can’t have the three most important children in the world be killed all at once, now can we?

“Lady Y/n, forgive my curiosity,” Thor starts during the second course, “but I seem to have forgotten the name and title of your father. Could you remind me?”

I fight the urge to roll my eyes. They told us this ten months ago when she arrived. Was he not paying attention?

Lady Y/n’s answer is polite, but I can tell she is tired of recounting this information. Truly, at least once a week, someone questions the reasoning for her presence. “He is Yoldstadt, former diplomat to Alfheim and now rules as Alfheim’s regent in your father’s absence.”

Thor’s gaze sets, and I can tell he his about to say something rash. “Lady Y/n, are you sure there is not something more you can remember? I am unable to see what conditions are strong enough to assure you a spot nearly equal to Asgardian royalty.”

I literally stop breathing.

I try to communicate with my eyes how much Mother will scold him for his comment should she find out. And I’ll make sure she finds out. How fun this will be for me!

Lady Y/n’s face contorts in what I presume to be embarrassment. Quickly though, I realize it’s in anger.

“I am sorry, Your Highness, that I am not important enough to share your environment. Please, give me the resources necessary and I will quickly remedy the issue. It would be silly to ignore the significant role excessive wealth plays in your upbringing. As far as the royalty part goes, while I may not have the blood, I can learn all I need from you! Where shall I start first? Consuming an entire boar by myself? Or expanding my muscles to rival the size of my head? No, I think I’ll start with cultivating an obscenely arrogant attitude! That should make me worthy of this life. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your invaluable council.” With that, she stands up to her full height of possibly four and a half feet, shakes out the skirt of her dress, and stomps to her horse.

Thor’s face turns a lovely shade of purple and makes into all sorts of fun shapes. I grin widely and can’t help but bounce in my place.

Thor speaks through gritted teeth. “That girl—”

“—is fantastic,” I finish, getting up and running after her. “Lady Y/n, would you allow me to accompany you back to the castle?”

She purses her lips, thinking. Finally, she nods, and I offer her my arm.

Y/n: 10 // Loki: 12 // Thor: 16

Y/n’s POV

“Lady Y/n, what are you reading?” Prince Loki’s voice travels to reach me from the other corner of the room. Deep in my book, I decide to answer him after I finish the paragraph. Without warning, I hold only air in my hands. The book begins to float!

“Hey!” I stand to reach for it, but it’s climbing higher and higher, until finally, it hits the ceiling.

I glare at a chuckling Prince Loki. “It’s rude to take other people’s things.”

He grins haughtily. “It’s rude to ignore your prince. What are you reading?”

I continue to glare at him. “I was reading a history novel, but now it’s on the ceiling.”

“Hmmm, I suppose it is.” He doesn’t try very hard to sound concerned.

“Your Highness—” my teeth clench in an attempt to restrain my anger. He’s only teasing, after all. Reacting badly would make me into the rude one, and I mostly know better.

A shield hits the ceiling strategically and knocks my book to the ground.

“There.” Lady Sif had paused her sparring match with Prince Thor to cause my book to fall back to me. I curtsy and smile gratefully, then rush to grab my book.

“Thank you, Lady Sif!”

“A-ha-ha!” Prince Thor’s booming laugh fills the room, and I can’t help but smile myself. “Brother, your magic has been thwarted by Lady Sif!”

Prince Loki rolls his eyes but otherwise ignores the jab. He begins to walk away. “Enjoy your book, Lady Y/n.”

“Although he showed it indelicately, Loki does have a point, Lady Y/n.” Thor ends his sparring match with a quick nod to Lady Sif. “It would do you well to move around a bit. In fact, come over here, I could use some help with my exercises.”

I know better than to argue with Prince Thor, but I find myself stifling a groan. I don’t want to help him with his exercises. I shuffle towards the center of the playroom.

“Got you!”

I shriek in surprise as Prince Thor picks me up and holds me high above his head, beginning to run around the room. My scream quickly turns to a laugh as delight runs through me. It’s like I’m flying! Lady Sif and Prince Loki cheer us on as Prince Thor continues his course, holding me above his head as he goes. I gain courage and extend my arms to the side as if I was a bird. I gasp and a yelp escapes me as the prince takes it upon himself to throw me high into the air. He catches me with ease, and I relax, once again enjoying myself. The cheers from my friends increase as Prince Thor continues the game. Soon, I’m laughing so hard that tears come into my eyes. I’ve never had this much fun!

As if sniffing out the impropriety, Nanny Idsol stalks into the room. “Children,” she scolds. “What is all this commotion about?”

My laughter dies as do the cheers as Prince Thor carefully puts me down.

I gulp and step forward. “Nanny Idsol, we were just playing—”

“Do not interrupt me, young miss,” she snaps, fury flying into her eyes. I look at the ground, properly embarrassed. “You know much better than to behave like this!”

“If I may, Nanny Idsol, the fault lies with me,” Prince Thor comes to my defense. “I began the game. Lady Y/n was truly just going along.”

Nanny Idsol’s face softens as she looks upon Asgard’s golden boy. “My dear prince, do not feel as if you must defend this insolent girl.” Her gaze snaps sharply to me before turning sweetly back to Prince Thor, though her voice remains hard. “I have taught her better, I am sure.”

“Evidently not,” Prince Loki scoffs under his breath. Everyone chooses to ignore him.

“As for you, young lady,” Nanny Idsol sneers, “it is time you learn to act as a young lady should. Beginning tomorrow, you will spend your mornings learning the art of embroidery.” She looks incredibly pleased with herself for having conjured up this new idea.

I do not look up from the ground. “Yes, Nanny Idsol.”

“Now, to your chambers! I think you have had quite enough excitement for this day.”

I don’t look back as I leave the room, but I can feel the eyes of my friends on me. How embarrassing.

{***}

An hour or so after the playroom incident, I hear a quiet knock at my door. Quickly drying my tears, I shuffle to open it. Prince Loki stands before me, an impish grin on his face.

“Your Highness, what—”

“Shh!” He cuts me off, grinning. “May I come in?”

Mutely, I step back and allow him to enter.

He assesses my chambers, still devoid of decoration besides the standard Asgardian design. “Lovely room. Could do with a bit more personality though.”

Still stunned by his presence here, I answer automatically. “I don’t have many personal items since my father sent me away so quickly.”

“Ah,” is his only response. Once he’s done glancing around my living space, he turns to look at me. Upon focusing on my face, he leans in and furrows his brow. “Have you been crying?”

“No,” I answer defiantly, loathe to admit to my tears.

He straightens and nods sharply. “Good. That dreadful woman isn’t worth crying over. I don’t know why Mother and Father continue to employ her. She’s just so unpleasant.”

“She is,” I agree emphatically before reminding myself that it is rude to speak badly of others. Even if they are mean old ladies.

Prince Loki takes a seat at one of the tables in my room and I’m drawn back to the situation at hand. “Your Highness, might I ask…how are you here? There are guards in the halls at all times and Nanny Idsol would be horrified to know that we are in each other’s presence unaccompanied.”

He grins, his eyes alight with mischief. “Don’t worry, Lady Y/n, no one will find out.” He leans forward conspiratorially. “I slipped by the guards quite easily due to this new teleportation spell I’m learning.”

“Teleportation?!” My eyes shoot open and I plop into the chair across from him, my excitement effectively erasing any notions of following protocol.

His expression turns smug. “Yep. I’ve been working on it for a few months, but it wasn’t ready to show you. But now…” His eyes light up again. “Would you like to see?”

“Absolutely!”

His smile widens and he grabs my hand, pulling me to the center of my room. He takes a place about three feet in front of me. “Ready? Don’t close your eyes.”

I nod and work hard to keep from blinking. He squeezes his own eyes shut, mutters something unintelligible, and within the next second, he’s gone. There’s a tap on my shoulder. I whirl around to find him standing nowhere near where he was a second ago, arms spread out wide as if saying ‘ta-da!’

“Oh, wow!” A delighted laugh bubbles from my mouth.

He walks back to the sitting portion of my room and I follow dutifully. “I can’t do it too often because it makes me tired,” he explains, slumping into a chair. “I just thought you ought to get to see it.”

I beam. “I’m so glad you decided to show me.”

“Mother says that as I get older and become better at magic, I won’t get as tired and I’ll be able to just think the spell rather than saying it aloud.” A wistful look crosses his face. “I can’t wait for then.”

I cross my arms over my knees, wanting to reassure my friend. “You’re going to be amazing, Prince Loki.”

Surprise colors his features. “What makes you say that?”

I shrug. “I just know.”

A/n Here’s chapter 2! Let me know what you think and if you would like to be added to the tag list :) I also have another Loki x Reader up called The Queen. You can find it on my page or on my masterlist! 

Link to next part: https://bonjour-rainycity.tumblr.com/post/630010330649706496/odins-ward-chapter-3

Tag list: @80strashbag @dark-night-sky-99 

[iaintyourbro]

Talking about FFVII and FFVIII

I started writing this a while ago - probably around June. It’s based off of this article:

Theory: FFVIII’s Squinoa was Square Enix’s Appology to Cloud and Aerith Fans

Alright, so, I came across an article stating that FFVIII’s Squinoa was Square’s apology for Cloud and Aerith. I don’t know why, but this one brought up some anger within me that I can’t explain. Mainly because it’s ridiculous.

However, it’s also an opinion article. This means Square Enix never said this. The title of the article also says “Theory” meaning there’s nothing saying this is real. You know there is a reason I’m writing this finally - well, finishing it. 

This is also gonna be long. FFVIII was my favorite FF game up until Remake came out, so it’s still very special to me. I hate that it’s treated as some type of apology for a ship. Its a game on its own. A fun one, a lighthearted one, and one that I really enjoyed replaying as an adult. 

It just so happens that I had started to replay FFVIII when I came across this article. It was recently written. I have noticed some official source articles that are leaning heavy on the C//erith side came out after Remake, even if it was regarding old content. 

Rinoa is Rinoa. Comparing her to Aerith or Tifa frustrates me, because you should just do that for all of the other main FF female characters, but if we want to do this, then we can say Rinoa is a mix of Tifa and Aerith. 

So with FF8, FF7 OG, and FF7R fresh in my mind, I thought it may be a good time to do this one. There are heavy spoilers for FF7, FF8, and FF

One of the lines in this article that threw me was saying that Rinoa was a manic pixie girl. I never got that impression from her. I’d say at times she was a bit forward, a bit flirty, and a bit immature, but they ALL were. They were 17 and 18. They were written like 17 and 18 year olds on purpose. I actually liked Rinoa, but didn’t like OG Aerith. So I definitely never compared the two. 

For the record: I LOVE REMAKE AERITH

FF7 had characters in their early 20s up to their 30s (and Vincent, but he went to sleep at like 27). FF7′s characters also had extremely tragic backstories and collectively enough mental trauma to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool. The world was dark and cruel. 

FF8 was a bit lighter on the whole tragic backstory. All of the main party members, minus Rinoa, grew up in an orphanage. Yes, you could say it’s sad that they were in an orphanage. It was war time, their parents were most likely killed. In Squall’s case, we know his mother died shortly after he was born and his father had just sent their “adopted daughter” back to Winhill, so both of them were sent to this orphanage. 

But honestly? Compare this to the orphans in Advent Children. They’re homeless, dirty, and sick. The orphans in FF8 were well fed, clothed, and had a loving “home” with Edea. 

Rinoa grew up as a rich girl, pretty much. She lived in a mansion, her father was high up in the military, and her mother was a famous singer. I’d say she had a pretty good life. Her mother does die when she’s younger, and her relationship with her father falls apart.

Here’s a Tifa parallel: Rinoa’s father is a highly regarded figure in the Galbadian army. Brian Lockhart is a highly regarded person in Nibelheim. Rinoa’s mother dies when she’s young, Tifa’s mother dies when she’s young. Tifa had a pretty good life until Sephiroth decided it was time to ruin everything.

She joins a rebel group (oh - hey another Tifa parallel) and honestly seems pretty good at what she has to say when you first meet her in Timber. She has a strategy, a plan, and explains this plan. 

Tifa was also in a rebel group. 

In Remake, Tifa was always the one to have a solution on what to do next when Cloud and Barret were scratching their heads. She was good at strategy, but she was modest about things.

Rinoa is much more forward than Tifa, by far. So, you can say that’s her “Aerith quality”. However, Rinoa also has her moments of shyness. Asking Zell about Squall’s ring for example. And honestly, the interaction between Rinoa and Zell during that scene is exactly what you’d expect with teenagers. 

The biggest thing with ALL of the FF8 characters is their severe lack of worldly experience and their immaturity. Which makes sense, they’re 17. You do get to see them all grow. Rinoa and Squall, in particular, mature quite a bit as individuals throughout the game. 

Rinoa’s affections towards Squall initially are purely based on how he looks, it seems. He’s the hot guy at the party she dances with to kill time while trying to find her target (Cid) to ask him to help The Forest Owls. Obviously her feelings grow way past just “hot dude” as the game progresses. 

In fact, Rinoa and Squall fight quite a bit in the beginning. Mainly because Squall is definitely a bigger dick than Cloud, initially. You luckily get insight in to Squall’s thoughts, so some of these dick moves make some sense. Cloud, you’re left to “interpret” what he’s thinking. Hello LTD...

Then they go on to say Quistis is like Tifa. For one, Quistis and Squall DID grow up in the same orphanage until Quistis was adopted. Quistis was “bossy” and saw herself as a big sister. With Squall, she wanted to replace “Sis” after she disappeared.  

Squall and Quistis don’t even remember each other until Irvine reminds them all. Selphie, Zell, and Seifer were all there as well. The major difference between Quistis and Tifa from a childhood friends trope perspective... Squall at no point seems to have really interacted with Quistis heavily. 

He says that Seifer and him went to Garden at around the age of 5. There is absolutely no indicator that the two of them even really interacted much. So Quistis was around until Squall was 5 - not his entire childhood. She then ends up in Garden a few years after being adopted due to issues. So during their teen years, it was her, Seifer, and Squall.

Cloud and Tifa, on the other hand, have quite a childhood trope story. His entire subconscious becomes a Tifa shrine. He makes a promise to her, takes this promise very seriously, and then they reunite in Midgar after a lot of really fucked up shit happens to both of them. 

In addition, it’s blatantly stated that Cloud has feelings for Tifa in the Lifestream. And they are deep. 

Quistis herself even questions her feelings for Squall as romantic love or more big sister love. Squall is never shown to have any interest in Quistis. We know this is not true for Cloud in regards to Tifa.

Tifa and Cloud do end up BOTH confirming their feelings for each other. Remake it making the mutual attraction very obvious early on. It’s much more slow in OG and much less obvious until you get to the Northern Crater and he starts to crack. Then it’s fully realized in the Lifestream.

If you want to say FFVIII was an apology for something, I’d say it would be for the incredibly dark plot that FFVII had in comparison. Though, I don’t think an apology was needed. I definitely don’t think there was a thought for FFVIII as apologizing for a ship. 

One thing they DID make sure to do was make the canon romance more obvious going forward. There was no more ambiguity - Squall and Rinoa, Zidan and Garnet, and Tidus and Yuna were all made obvious by the end of the game.

Oh wait, Cloud and Tifa were too... I guess the difference is there wasn’t an illusion aspect or a major character death for the future titles. FFX is one you could say there was, but that gets wiped out in X-2 when they bring Tidus back. 

[florenceandthemachine]

BROKEN TUMBLR ASKS PART ??: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO

@boys-love-or-bust-19507 asked: I LOVE your buddie fics! Can yo write a fic where Buck has a really tough day and Eddie and Chris take care of him?

“Alright, Special Agent Christopher, target is almost in sight. Are you ready for action?”

“Yeah!”

Eddie grinned down to his son, basking in the childlike excitement mirrored back at him for a hot second, knowing that very few things would ever compare to these moments again. He had never seen Chris click as well with anyone as he had Buck—even Carla was a close second to that, not that Eddie was about to tell her that—and honestly, there should have never been any question in his mind as to what Chris would say when Eddie told him Buck needed some help.

His smile only softened as he looked around the house—there was dinner in the oven (courtesy of Carla) and Chris had taken the initiative to pull out some of his favorite board games, stacking them neatly on the counter. Eddie had asked Bobby to rearrange their schedules for the week, and they were both going to be off the next two days, to give Buck plenty of time to recover; Chris had pulled nearly every pillow and blanket they owned into the living room, creating a huge nest with surprising skill.

The past few months had been… rough on the 118, between the bomb, the lawsuit, the accidental robbery, the list just kind of went on and on. As bad as things were for the house, though, they all weighed ten times heavier on Bucks shoulders—not for no reason, but fuck if it felt like the poor boy couldn’t catch a break.

The most recent issue had resurfaced about a month ago. They had just been wrapping up a 24 hour shift, idly shooting the shit, and Chim had mentioned that he and Maddie had a group therapy appointment. The 118 were no stranger to therapy as a whole—Eddie had gone through it, Bobby was still in it, Hen and her old life coach still met once a month after they re-connected.

“Eh, therapy doesn’t really work for me.” Buck had said, kicking his feet up and over Eddie’s lap, a move that Eddie secretly loved even if he wasn’t about to mention it. “But then again, the one session that I actually had wound up with the both of us on her couch before she would clear me to return to service, so…”

You could have heard a pin drop in the moments that followed, and Buck’s easy grin was quickly tightened into something more serious, more nervous, like he wasn’t aware of what he had said.

“Buck…” Hen spoke first, her voice low and slow, like she were talking to an animal about to flee—and if the sudden tightness of Buck’s legs beneath Eddies hands meant anything, it showed how close to the truth that analogy was. “Buck, are you saying that your therapist made you sleep with her before she cleared you?”

Buck looked honest to god confused, and Eddie just wanted to shake him.

“I mean, she didn’t force me, it just kind of… happened. That was during my Buck 1.0 days, though. You guys know I’m better than that now, Buck 2.0 is here to stay. Right? You… You guys know I’m better now, right?”

“Buck, he, no.” Eddie spoke now, his hand gently squeezing Buck’s good leg, shaking his head slowly. “If I’m understanding this, that is not on you. She took advantage of you like that, that’s… that ain’t right.” he said simply, shrugging his shoulders. Before he could speak again, offer some reassuring words, Bobby spoke up, his face tight with concern.

“Buck, why didn’t you tell any of us about that?”

Which, apparently, was the wrong thing to say.

Eddie felt Buck tense up like a snapped rubber band before he pulled himself back into an upright position, and though he missed the warmth across his lap, he was far more concerned with bracing for whatever was about to happen. Buck snorted, shaking his head, his voice clipped as he stood up, a sure sign he was in defensive mode. “Bobby, you had fired me the week before for… my indiscretions while in uniform. Forgive me if I didn’t feel like I wanted to risk my job again.”

“Buck, hang on, I didn’t mean—Buck, come back! Eddie!”

Buck had turned on his heel and almost ran out of the loft, and Eddie was quick on his tail, keeping a safe distance until they were both in the locker room. Buck whirled on him when the door closed, the anger drained out of his face, leaving a shell of panic in its place.

“Eddie, cmon, you know that I’m not like that anymore, right? I don’t do that! I’m good, I promise, I—“

Any other words were drowned out when Eddie pulled him into a hug—a risky move in and of itself, but he knew that Buck was one of the most tactile (and touch starved) people on the planet. His gamble paid off, thankfully; he immediately felt Buck’s arms encircle him, body going lax against his chest. “Buck, no one is blaming you. I’m sorry that it might seem that way. I wasn’t even here for Buck 1.0 but I still know that was not your fault, okay?”

Eddie paused, waiting until he got a muffled sound out of Buck to pull back from the hug, looking at him dead in the eye.

“Listen… Buck, I really think you should report this. She’s a doctor, she can’t just continue on like that. What she did to you wasn’t just bad, or wrong, it was illegal.”

--

In the end, five other men and two women had stepped forward after Buck made his complaint. Two cops, four firefighters, and one paramedic, all with similar stories and similar outcomes.

The only good thing about it was because they were all state employees, they were able to opt for a closed door hearing, investigation, and trial.

Buck had spent the day behind closed doors, giving his statement to a camera, then to the prosecutor, then in a closed courtroom, in front of a jury, a judge, and a very unhappy looking Dr Wells… well, Ms. Wells, now that she had her license revoked.

Eddie knew that a lot had happened, but he also knew Buck and knew that the last thing Buck would want to do all day would be continue to talk about it; so between he and Special Agent Christopher, Eddie felt sure they had a way to keep Buck’s mind far from the past all night long.

“Target inbound!”

Eddie shook away his thoughts as he heard Chris’ little voice wavering with excitement—sure enough, Buck’s Jeep had parked out front, and while they were both fully obvious from the curtains, Eddie still turned his head and made a big shushing gesture to Chris, who started to giggle.

Once they heard Buck’s key turning in the lock (yeah, Eddie had given him a key, so what?) they both pulled back, and Eddie almost burst out laughing at the faux look of shock on Buck’s face when he and Chris both yelled “surprise!”

The shock may have been fake, but there was no pretending when Buck smiled at them, the sheer joy on his face making Eddie’s shoulders sag in relief. He looked a little tired around the eyes, maybe, but he was glad that Buck was still Buck, and that this hopefully wouldn’t be weighing on him for much longer.

Chris was off, immediately, talking a mile a minute while he started to set up one of his favorite board games, and Eddie had to smiles he took Buck’s coat, resolutely ignoring how good the other male really looked in a suit. “Sorry. The only way I could really get him on board without telling him the full details was telling him you needed a surprise party to make you feel better.”

Buck put his hand up on Eddie’s shoulder, and while Eddie could have basked happily in the glow from his smile for an age and a half, he lit up like the Fourth of July when Buck leaned in, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.

Fully aware he looked like a love struck teenager, Eddie rose a hand to his cheek when Buck pulled away, the smile on his lips shocked but pleased all at once. “What was that for?”

“For this. This is perfect, Eddie. Thank you for… well, just thanks.”

--

They had made it a few rounds into whatever the card game that Chris had picked out—Eddie still couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it, but Chris and Buck seemed to be having a good time—when the oven chirped, signaling the start of dinner; and just like that, the game was forgotten. Chris basically launched out of his chair and into the living room, announcing that it was Movie Time, and far be it for Buck or Eddie to disagree with him.

Eddie scooped out some of the baked pasta in to three different bowls while Buck raided the pantry for movie snacks, and by the time that they made it to the living room, Chris was 90% buried in blankets and pillows on the floor.

It wasn’t easy to get settled in behind him, but by the opening credits to The Incredibles were rolling, Eddie and Buck were wedged in behind Christopher in the blanket pile, relaxing against the couch, snacks disbursed between them. Chris was lost to the world outside of the movie, but Eddie could almost feel Buck tensing up beside him, winding himself back up like a spring, and well... that wouldn’t do at all.

It was amazing how much they could say without saying anything at all. Eddie raised one of his arms and gave Buck an expectant look, to which Buck shook his head, looking at Eddie like he was crazy (and blushing too, and wow, that was a treat). Eddie only rose a brow, gesturing to his now open side, and Buck stared at him, before giving up with a sigh, slowly rearranging himself as to not disturb Chris.

He slotted himself in against Eddie’s side like he fit there, and Eddie felt more than just a smug sense of victory as he put his arm around Buck, tugging him closer, gently leaning their heads together. Once Buck started to relax, he leaned in—knowing full well that Buck’s attention was anywhere but the movie—and kissed his temple, right above his birthmark.

“You did a really hard thing today, and it brought a lot of good into the world. I’m really, really proud of you, Buck.”

Buck didn’t respond—not verbally, anyway, but Eddie could feel the thousand degree stare Buck gave him when he turned his head, like he was going to stare directly into Eddies soul, search for any sign he was being sarcastic, or patronizing, not that Eddie cared. He was being completely honest, and he could see Buck’s expression falter as he realized that.

Eddie’s smile only grew as Buck scanned over his face again, though it was his turn to look surprised when Buck pulled a hand up to rest against Eddie’s cheek. Eddie leaned into it instinctively as he felt his eyes half lid, because Buck was moving again, pulling himself closer, and it was all Eddie could do to remain perfectly still, give Buck the chance to move closer or pull away, even if he wanted to flip them over right now and kiss Buck within an inch of his life.

As it was, their first kiss was perfect—Buck in his arms, Chris buried in blankets, and Edna Mode in the background. And even if the road to get there was rough, Eddie wouldn’t have changed it for the world.

[fruit-teeth]

The Doctor

He was fifteen, and in his mind, he was destined for nothing short of greatness.

Hans combed his hair in the mirror, whistling to himself as he thought about what he was going to do that day. He’d recently been accepted into a medical program at his school, and to celebrate, he would attend a party held by one of his classmates. Excitement flared within him at the thought of finally being invited to a party, and as he pulled on his day clothes, he felt as though he could take on the world.

“Hans!” His sister called from downstairs. “Hans, are you ever coming down? Your breakfast is getting cold!”

Hans huffed, stepping down the stairs. “Here I come, Johanna! It hasn’t even been that long...”

Johanna was seated at the table, drinking her hot tea as Hans approached. “Oh, you dressed up,” she noticed, quirking an eyebrow. “What for?”

“What else?” Hans accepted his bowl of porridge, taking a seat. “To celebrate getting into the medical program, of course!” He grinned, his eyes shining with excitement. “Oh, I’m so happy! This will get me into a good college, just like mother says!”

Johanna looked Hans up and down, before going back to her porridge. “Whatever you say...”

Hans pouted at his sister’s reaction. “You’ll see!” He insisted. “I’ll do great things— I’ll prove myself!”

“Hans,” Johanna set her spoon down, giving her brother a look. “You failed all of your science classes, so how you even managed to get into that program is a miracle. Once they realize you don’t know what you’re doing, they’re gonna kick you out,”

“You don’t know that!” Hans countered, taking a big bite of porridge. “I might do really well— I might get a job from it!”

Johanna rolled her eyes, standing up and clearing her dishes. “Whatever you say...” she repeated. “You might just end up being a bartender, like mother,”

Hans grunted in annoyance. “No...you’re wrong,”

Despite this, Hans went to school that day with a spring in his step. He did not have many friends, but he met up with the other medical students during the lunch hour to discuss the party that night.

“My parents will be out,” Stephan, the boy who was hosting the party, explained. “So we will have the house to ourselves. I have fresh sausage and bread to eat, but we cannot get into my father’s liquor cabinet,”

Ivan, a broad-shouldered boy with a thin mustache above his lip, just smirked. “Your father doesn’t need to know— he won’t notice there’s a little bit missing!”

Laughter rippled through the group, and Hans piped up, “He’ll notice! My mother noticed when I used some of her perfume, parents always know...”

The laughter died down, and there was an awkward silence. After a moment, Elisa, the only girl in the group, asked, “Will you need a ride, Hans? Or will you walk?”

“I will walk,” Hans affirmed. “Stephan’s house is not far from where I live!” He grinned, elbowing Stephan a little. “I see you out in the fields sometimes,”

“Oh— yes, I help my father with the wheat,” Stephan chuckled, clearing his throat and looking to the clock. “We should get back to class...”

As everyone dispersed, Hans called out to the others, “I will see you all tonight! We’ll have fun, I know it!”

The day ended, and Hans went home to get ready for the party. As he put on a fine vest and combed his hair again, his mother, Mila, stepped into the bathroom, getting his attention by knocking on the wall.

“Oh,” Hans turned around, glancing up at his mother. “Mother? You’re back early!”

“I wanted to say hello to you before you go off to your party,” Mila explained, tucking some hair behind his ear. “Oh, look at you...you are so handsome,”

Hans smiled, looking away a little. “Mama...”

“You are,” Mila insisted with a chuckle. She looked him up and down for a moment, clearing her throat. “Are you...sure you want to go to this tonight, son?”

“Huh?” Hans tilted his head, confused. “What do you mean? Of course I’m sure...”

“Well...” Mila wrung her hands a bit, taking a breath. “It’s just that...you don’t know these people. They’re not...” she shook her head, composing herself. “Maybe I’m being silly, but I just have a bad feeling,”

“Mama,” Hans took his mother’s hand into his own, giving it a squeeze. “I will be fine! I’ve never been to a party before, and I’ve never really had friends until now...I just want to have fun, to celebrate!”

Mila sighed, but she smiled, squeezing her son’s hand in return. “Well...all right, son. I know you’ll do well...”

As Hans walked along to Stephan’s house, he felt a strong sense of giddiness and pride. For most of his young life, he had been ignored and shoved to the sidelines in social settings. He’d had friendships before, but they had been fleeting, and it wasn’t often that he could have friend groups or even a best friend. But now, he knew that would change— not only that, but he would prove his family wrong. This group and program were his ticket to medical school: never again would he have to worry about not being able to succeed.

That was why he never could have anticipated what would happen that night.

When Hans first arrived, things seemed all well and good. There were snacks on the table, games to play with the others, and the atmosphere felt warm and relaxed. As he took a bite of sausage while playing a game of Bridge, he felt as though nothing could go wrong, like it was everything he dreamed and more.

As the radio played commercials, the games and laughter subsided for the time being as everyone relaxed in the living room. It was then, though, that Ivan looked at Hans, scanned him up and down, and then asked a question.

“How did you get into this program?” He wanted to know, propping himself up on his elbows.

Hans glanced up in surprise, not expecting the question. “Oh! Well...” he shrugged. “I just applied. They had the form, and I filled it out,”

“We know that, but...” Elisa tried to phrase it nicely. “How did the teachers let you?”

Hans paused, his brow furrowing. “What...what do you mean?”

Stephan sighed. “Listen...Hans, we’ve heard the teachers talk. You’re failing everything.”

Another boy, Oscar, spoke up as well. “We didn’t want to listen in, but we did. We heard you dissected a frog wrong,”

“Yeah!” Ivan affirmed. “How do you dissect a frog wrong?”

Hans groaned, covering his face. “No, no! I am smart, I am!” He let his hands drop, taking a breath. “I’ve just...wanted this for a long time,”

When everyone else went silent, Hans continued. “My father died when I was very young, and my mother had to work hard to provide for us,” he paused, listening to the ramblings of the commercials on the radio, feeling his heart ache. “I...did not like seeing her struggle. So, I wanted to be a doctor, because I know doctors make lots of money. Also, I just...” his eyes glinted with excitement for a brief moment. “I like to learn about bodies, how they work, what they do...everything! So, I want to be a doctor,”

There was a hush among the group. After a moment, Elisa spoke up again. “You want to be a doctor just so you can make money?”

“And so you can study bodies?” Oscar asked with a grimace.

The others murmured amongst themselves, though Hans did not understand what the issue was.

“What?” He asked, his brow furrowing. “Doesn’t everyone want money?”

“Don’t you want to help people?” Ivan questioned, suddenly seeming annoyed. “Don’t you want to make a change?”

Hans frowned, thinking about it. “Well...yes, of course I do. But—“

Stephan suddenly wanted to change the subject. “Hey, everyone! I forgot, my mother left us a cake in the icebox! Let’s go cut some slices, yeah?”

The others agreed, getting up and following Stephan to the kitchen. Hans stayed behind, though, watching them, before sighing and getting up.

He headed to the back porch, closing the door behind him to have some time alone. He hugged his arms, already feeling as though he’d made a mistake...but what had he even done?

Hans stayed outside for a few minutes, trying to calm down, when he heard the door behind him open. He turned around, seeing Ivan standing there.

“Oh...” Hans gave a little wave and nodded. “Did you get cake?”

“No.” Ivan replied, approaching Hans, crossing his arms. “What was the reason you said you wanted to be a doctor?”

“Uh...” Hans swallowed, looking down. “To...make money? And...to...explore—“

Ivan cut him off. “That’s what I thought. You don’t want to be here for the right reasons, you just want money!”

Hans glanced back up in alarm. “What? Right reasons?”

“I’m in this program because I want to be a helper,” Ivan informed Hans, jabbing a finger into his chest. “I want to help others and save lives, I want to be known as a hero! That’s what we all want! You just want money and to play with organs like they’re toys!”

Hans suddenly felt anger bubbling up within him, and despite being significantly smaller than Ivan, he stood up to him. “That isn’t true! I never said I did not want to help anyone!”

“Please,” Ivan scoffed. “We know you, Hans— you never hand in work on time, and you have no idea what you’re doing! I’ve heard what the teachers say about you. You’re just lazy, and you’re using this program to take a shortcut!”

“I’m not lazy!” Hans snapped, his hands balled into fists. “Shut up!”

All of the sudden, Ivan raised his hand and slapped Hans across the face. “You know I’m right! Don’t tell me to shut up!”

Hans flinched when Ivan’s palm made contact with his skin, and he stood there for a moment, unsure of how to process what had just happened. He felt his body tense up, and tears started to prick at his eyes as Ivan began to taunt him.

“What’s the matter?” Ivan shoved him, glaring daggers down at Hans. “Are you crying? Are you crying because I’m right? Is that it?”

Hans clenched his fists tighter, and feeling the anger fill him more and more. He thought about his sister, how she had told him she didn’t understand how he’d made it into this program. He thought about his mother, having to work a job she couldn’t stand just to provide for her family. He thought about the teachers, who never gave him a chance or actually listened to why he was failing their classes— it infuriated him, all that was within him at that moment was pure, unfiltered rage. Ivan shoved him again, and without thinking, Hans leapt up and tackled him.

As Hans began to beat him, Ivan yelled and struggled to his feet, trying to pry the smaller boy off of him. He managed to shove Hans to the ground, but Hans jumped up again and pounced on Ivan, only to knock him down the porch stairs this time, winding up on top of him as the two fell to the dirt in a heap.

Hans caught his breath, sitting up, only to realize that Ivan was still laying there, not moving. After a brief pause, Medic leaned over to look at him, only to pull away with a horrified gasp. Ivan’s eyes were wide-open, and a quick feel of his pulse confirmed that he was dead.

Hans just sat there in the dirt, feeling shock and panic. He looked all around, glancing up the porch steps to the house, realizing that no one had seen them as they hadn’t come to check. After taking a few deep breaths, Hans stood up, trying to plan his next move— he could run home, act like this never happened, but of course the others would find Ivan eventually. What then? Hans would surely be found out, since they had both been outside at the same time...oh, how stupid this was! A fight of all things, leading to a death! If only there was some way to just reverse death—

Wait a moment.

Hans stared down at Ivan’s body, his mind reeling. Could he do it? Could he bring back the dead? He hated Ivan, but he didn’t want to get into any trouble, and this had been an accident...

After confirming that no one had seen the altercation, Hans grabbed Ivan and dragged him into the garage, setting to work.

He checked Ivan’s neck, finding that it had been broken on the way down. There was no way to fix that...or was there? Hans got up and looked around the garage, trying to find something, anything that would give him some kind of answer.

Finally, after opening a drawer, he discovered things that could be of use: a motor, jumper cables, and a canister of lighter fluid. He also gathered some water out of the bathroom sink, which he managed to sneak into while the others were busy playing games inside.

With everything assembled, Hans poured the water and lighter fluid into the motor and hooked it up the jumper cables. He then hooked the cables up to Ivan’s body, hooking one to his finger and one to his ear. However, when he started up the motor, nothing happened.

Hans cursed to himself, frantically searching for something else. He then spotted a wrapped-up, half-eaten sandwich on the garage bench, and somehow, he knew that was the missing piece. Hans snatched up the sandwich, shoving it into the motor and turning it back on again.

This time, something miraculous happened: electricity flowed from the motor and down the jumper cables, accompanied by a hazy red light that seemed to fill the room. Hans watched in awe as the light seemingly popped Ivan’s neck back into place, and the sparks of electricity flickered just above his chest. The light faded after a moment, but before Hans could even do anything, Ivan suddenly sat up and gasped, his eyes wide with terror.

Hans nearly dropped the motor in shock, and he ran over to feel Ivan’s pulse. “You’re alive!” He exclaimed, laughing from the overwhelming shock and triumph of it all. “You’re alive— you were dead, you were dead but I brought you back and you’re alive!”

Ivan, however, did not share the same excitement. He trembled, his eyes filled with fear, and after a moment he started to sob, curling up into a ball onto the table. Hans watched him in confusion, before realizing that the whole experience probably shook him up in a way nothing else would for a long time.

The garage door opened, and Hans felt himself jolt with alarm when he heard Stephan’s voice. “Hey— what’s going on in here!? Ivan? Ivan, are you crying? Hans, why do you have our lawnmower motor?”

Without thinking, Hans bolted, escaping the house and rushing away into the fields behind Stephan’s house. He ran as fast as he could, the motor and jumper cables still in his hands as he followed the path and eventually ended up at his own house.

It was late at night by this point, and Hans entered through the back door, his body thrumming with anxiety. He slammed the door behind him, catching his breath and sinking to the floor.

He’d killed someone, but...he’d also brought him back. He looked down at the contraption in his hands, wondering if all of this was a dream. He didn’t even know what to make of what just happened...in any case, though, he knew he had to keep it a secret.

Hans went upstairs, shoving the device beneath his bed as he cleaned up and got ready for bed. Somehow, he managed to fall asleep, though it was a feverish and anxious sleep, one that was accompanied by fits of nightmares and strange mental images of battles...

The phone rang, startling Hans out of his sleep. It was still early in the morning, and when the phone rang a few more times, Hans knew he would have to be the one to answer.

His hands shaking, he walked into the adjacent hallway and picked up the receiver, swallowing. “H...hello?”

A woman was on the other end, though she spoke in an unfamiliar accent. “Hello. Is this Hans Ludwig-Humbolt?”

Hans froze. Not many people knew his full name...

Despite his panic, he responded, “Yes?”

“Hello, Hans,” the woman greeted. “My apologies for calling at such an unusual hour of the day, but I wanted to let you know that I saw what you did last night,”

Hans felt his heart thudding against his chest. “D...did you? But...how did you—?”

“Don’t worry about that, that’s none of your concern,” the woman insisted. “What I’d like to know is what you did with that contraption you put together, that device you used to bring your classmate back to life,”

“Oh...” Hans shifted nervously from one foot to the other. “I...I have it, it’s with me,”

The woman sounded relieved to hear that. “Oh, good. Well, keep it with you in a safe place, all right? My associates and I would like to stop by tomorrow and take a look at it,”

“Associates...” Hans repeated, confused. “But...but why?”

“Hans,” the woman began. “I work for a company called Mann Co., which is stationed in America. We have interest in purchasing this formula of yours, and if we like it, you will have an opportunity to come and work for us someday,”

Hans felt everything stop for a moment. He considered this offer...it sounded far too good to reject, though he was still scared.

“How much money would you give me for it?” Hans wanted to know, fiddling with the hem of his pajama shirt.

“We will work out a price once we all meet,” the woman explained. “But, rest assured, this company will pay handsomely for such a formula,” she cleared her throat. “So...what do you say?”

Hans turned over the offer in his mind a few times. He could hear his mother snoring down the hallway, blissfully unaware of what was taking place. She would have to get up in a few hours to go to work, to that job she hated...Hans did not want that for her, and he did not want that for himself, either.

“Yes,” he agreed. “Yes, I’ll sell it to you...but I want to work for you, one day,”

Hans could almost hear the grin in the woman’s voice. “Good...I think you will find that you’ve made the right choice today, young man...”

[millennial-ring]

Can we get more info on 5-7?

             5. Dear God

So this one is ANCIENT (2012!!!) and idk why it’s still in my WIPs folder because I do clean it out/reorganize it every few years or so (which is why that unfinished powershipping christmas fic wasn’t on the list, cause I moved it to a different folder). Sadly the title makes it seem more interesting than it actually is - it’s just a few paragraphs and nothing really happens at all. 

Russet eyes were glazed over as they watched the rain pelt the ground, each drop making tiny indents in the dirt, puffs of the still-dry earth floating up with each splash before settling down again, the process repeating over...and over... Rain drummed against the body of a beaten up jeep, the only prominent sound within miles, save to the sound of the rain falling in the grass, and the dirt, and the leather jacket Bakura wore. 

The man blinked as water ran down his face, following the curve of his brow and rolling over the crease of his eyelid, flowing into his eye. The water pooled between his lids, blurring his vision for a few moments until he blinked again, and the water was squeezed out to mingle with the rest on his face, like a single, solitary tear. He inhaled slowly, then let the breath out in a quick huff, turning away from the long stretch of dirt road in front of him. Behind him, another long chunk of drivable desert. He growled under his breath and began to pace, wet sand squishing under his boots, gravel shifting with each step. 

How could be trapped here, in the middle of fucking nowhere, with a flat fucking tire and no spare? 

It was inspired by this Avenged Sevenfold song and I vaguely remember that it was going to be thiefshipping, about the various trials Bakura goes through to get back to Malik after a fight or something but... 🤷

              6. Domestic Disturbance

This one is also super short, more fleshed out in my mind than on paper, and I started writing it after we had to call the cops on our neighbors because they were having a very loud and long argument (like, over an hour of yelling). Inspiration comes from the dumbest places with me, haha, but this is another one of those “why is this still in my wips” documents because I don’t have any intention of finishing it. After writing what I did I kinda had a “maybe these kinds of situations shouldn’t be your inspiration for fanfics, weirdo” moment and I scrapped it. But anyway! 

The story goes that Bakura was playing some Wii game, lost grip on the controller, and accidentally chucked it and broke a vase because he wasn’t wearing the wrist strap. Malik hears the crash and comes around the corner, lecturing him about “how many times have i told you i s2g bakura why are you like this” even as Bakura’s already beginning to clean up the mess. Bakura gruffly tells him to chill out because nothing important was broken anyway, just “that ugly ass vase” and he holds up a piece for Malik to see. The tension thickens immediately and Malik speaks with measured anger instead of the usual screaming, so Bakura knows He Fucked Up. “That was a gift from my sister.” Bakura panics a bit on the inside, but outside he scoffs and he’s all like “even better, tell her she has awful tastes” because ykno. He’s like that. Doesn’t wanna admit he fucked up, doesn’t wanna take responsibility or acknowledge he hurt Malik’s feelings. At this point I’d stopped writing it, but still have the basic outline. The regular bickering becomes a super intense all out screaming match about basically anything and everything, all the tiny little things they’d been burying for as long as they’d lived together finally coming out, start demanding why they ever thought this would work and they’re just about to get to that great crescendo where they're about to break up (”Well then maybe you shouldn’t have brought me back!” “At this point I’m inclined to agree!” Bakura’s shocked. “Well...then is this going where I think it’s going?” “I think it is.” “Then say it.” “...” “Say you want to break up!” “I...Bakura, I...” when someone knocks on the door. Heyo, it’s two cops, saying someone called in a domestic disturbance. Malik snaps that they’re fine, still pissed from the fight, but obviously like no Malik that’s not gonna help. So one officer brings Bakura out into the hall to question him and the other stays with Malik. Cop asks if they’re together, how long, what the fight was about, etc etc, and then if the fight had been physical at all. Bakura recoils in shock and practically screams “No!” “You never hit Malik?” “I would never!” “And Malik wouldn’t hit you?” There’s a few things there, bc I wasn’t sure how I wanted Bakura to respond; make an “only if he asked wink wonk” joke that the cop rolls his eyes at, or stammer that “i mean he’s smacked my head once or twice but it never hurt and i was being super annoying at the time and it was more like playful slapping” but either way the cop asks for a more direct answer or for Bakura to elaborate and Bakura gets pissed, says Malik would cut off his own hand before he hit Bakura because obviously. Cop seems taken aback but nods, and then lectures Bakura a bit about volume, tells him maybe one of them should pack a bag and stay with friends or family for a few days. Their partner comes out soon after and the two cops leave. Bakura goes back inside, where Malik is standing with his arms crossed, looking shaken with red rimmed eyes. They look at each other, feeling awkward, but then they make tea, sit down, and have a calmer “are we really like that?” conversation. they admit a lot of their fights are pointless and stupid and they’re just fighting to fight because it’s Their Thing and aha, aren’t we so cute and quirky, arguing is our foreplay - which it is, but they admit they’ve taken it too far, gotten too used to snapping at each other when something happens, and some of their issues (like Bakura disrespecting Malik’s siblings, and Malik’s control freak attitude) really need to be sat down and talked out, not screamed out. They apologize, foreheads pressed together, and Malik thumbs a tear from Bakura’s cheek. Bakura strokes his fingers through Malik’s hair. Malik makes a “well you know the best part about fighting, right?” and Bakura laughs, and then it ends.

               7. But he came back

So if y’all didn’t know I recently commissioned a(n amazing) fic from @/sitabethel (not properly tagging cause i don’t wanna bother them). In it, Bakura promises Malik he’ll come back after his final showdown with Atem, but ten years pass and Malik gets engaged to Seto. It’s corporate theifshipping and obviously I recommend reading it - but it’s based on an RP I did with a friend of mine years ago. In the RP, Bakura was pissed Malik hadn’t waited for him and does the whole “why did I even bother coming back I literally only came back to be with you?????” and Malik being like “Sorry? But you took a long fucking time and I had to do something to stop the loneliness.” We never finished it, but when we dropped it Bakura was starting to heal and move on and we had plans to end it powershipping and tendershipping - and Bakura catching the bouquet at the wedding and Ryou immediately being like >:) but anyway. The concept stuck with me and I really liked the idea of Bakura coming back to that situation and more so rolling with it - maybe a touch bitter at first, but hey, he’s nothing if not adaptable, and he absolutely invites himself into the relationship in the clunkiest way possible. 

“But he came back” was the start of my own attempt to write something with that kind of plot. When I write a fic, I start with a vague collection of ideas or scenes I want to write, and then when I have enough to work with, I begin organizing them into an outline. This doc is just a very small collection of ideas and dialogue, mixing some things taken from the RP and my own ideas. It’s mostly things like how Malik and Kaiba get to the marriage point, starting with an impromptu kinda tipsy make out session hidden away in the kitchen during a party Yugi’s throwing, and how they navigate each other’s trauma and fumble their way into a genuine romance despite everything. I’ve never managed to sit down and work it out into an outline of any kind, and the way I wanted to explore Malik and Bakura’s relationship before the show down, Malik and Kaiba’s relationship building afterwards, and then the relationship building with all three of them meant 30 chapters, at least (the original rp is over 2,500 pages and again, we had only just started with Bakura wanting to ask Ryou out and going to Malik for advice adjklj, when we dropped it) and well. yall know i’m bad at writing multi fic chapters 

[phylophe]

100 Warm-Up Roleplaying Questions for Players

Character: Amur Universe: Pathfinder Gender/Race/Class: Male human Paladin/Holy Vindicator Alignment: NG/CG Questions source: here

Full (long) post under the cut.

1. If your character wasn’t an adventurer, what livelihood would they lead?

His parents were peasants who worked as labourers, so probably that. If he ever receives charity from any organisation, he’d strive to work for them.

2. Who in the party would your character trust the most with their life?

If it’s strictly his life, Niyooshan - for some reason the alchemist seems to refuse to let him die or even get too hurt. Maybe it’s a healer thing. 

If it’s about making decisions based on his best interest... he doesn’t trust anyone in the current party with that at the moment.

3. What are your character’s core moral beliefs?

People are essentially good. 

Mercy and compassion is no less important than justice and righteousness. 

Any good is worth doing. 

Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity.

4. What relationship does your character have with their parents and siblings?

He left home at the age of 8, and his parents were largely absentee in those years. He honours them out of societal expectations of filial piety, but that’s about it.

He’s the second child of five. His older brother (1st) and younger sister (4th) passed when he was 7; he depended a lot on the former, and got along well with the latter as they have the most similar personalities amongst the siblings at the time. 

For his surviving siblings, he is very close to his younger brother (3rd, only a year his junior), and they still exchange letters frequently. He and his youngest sister (5th) barely knew one another until they reunited recently as adults.

5. Does your character have any biases for or against certain races?

Having the privilege of being human, he has the common in-universe biases but he tries his best to check them. He does this especially consciously when it comes to race/ancestry (i.e. species) - one of his friends from his apprentice days was lynched for being a drow. 

6. What is your character’s opinion on nobility? On authority?

He respects nobility who is responsible in their post, and righteous authority. 

Otherwise he tolerates them and tries not to cause trouble... unless they do something with which he greatly disagrees morally.

7. Describe your character’s current appearance: clothes, armour, scars they’ve picked up along the journey, etc.

(Skipping the part about scars - addressed in #21)

He dresses in full, heavy plate armour complete with a kite shield when out in the field or in battle. 

During downtime, he wears simple tunics with trousers and boots, usually with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Sometimes he wears a gambeson on top or a leather cuirass for more formality. 

8. What location encountered in the campaign has your character felt the most “at home” in, or just generally liked the most?

(Answering the second part - first part addressed in #40.) 

The small towns and villages they’ve passed through with down-to-earth folks. Though he also likes cities with rich histories and culture.

9. What deity, if any, does your character worship? What’s their opinion on other people’s worship?

Sarenrae - the goddess of the sun, redemption, honesty, and healing. 

He respects most other gods and religions on the good or neutral side of the good-evil axis. With evil gods, he tries not to judge their believers until evil actions based on such beliefs are actually taken.

10. If your character had time to pick up any artisan’s tools, game set, instrument, etc., what would it be?

Some sort of sculpture, maybe pottery or carving. He’s a very tactile person.

11. Describe your character’s current relationship with the player character sitting to your right.

(Rolling 1d3 between 1. Amalli, 2. Mawari, 3. Niyooshan)

AMALLI: It’s complicated - he trusts that she means well and has his best interest in mind, however what she considers “best” is rather... unusual. He teeters between having faith that she is kind by nature, and being annoyed at her messed up values and principles ingrained by nurture. 

12. What is your character’s current goal, summed up in one sentence?

Save the sun, keep his uncle alive, vindicate his friend’s honour.

13. Does your character ever want to “settle down” with a spouse, children, house, etc.?

He’s a sojourner who feels uneasy if he has to stay in one place for an extended amount of time. At this point he’s accepted the single life; it makes it easier to travel.

14. Has your character ever been in love?

He’s aromantic/asexual and can’t really distinguish between romantic and platonic love very well. He does love his friends and found family deeply however.

15. What battle in the campaign has been most memorable to your character?

Against a dragon turtle which is also a divine guardian of sorts. The party angered it and was having trouble hurting it at all; he used Greater Angelic Aspect for the first time to speak to it so it would stop attacking them. It eventually involved taking a massive hit for it and dying (for the first time since level 1), but it ended the battle with no further damages to the party.

16. If your character wasn’t whatever class they are, what would they be instead?

A cleric. Arguably with his temperament he’d have turned out better as one.

17. What is your character’s favourite season?

Spring - the sun gets stronger, the day gets longer, the plants and animals become livelier. 

18. What would your character’s Zodiac sign be, following stereotypical astrology?

Pisces.

19. Where in the world does your character most want to visit?

If it’s only Golarion and the material plane - the Padishah Empire of Kelesh.

20. What is the biggest mistake your character has ever made?

Boy where do we begin. A few months ago he’d have said “going to pee alone that one time”, but he’s okay with that now. 

He thinks his biggest mistake was to give in to despair and as a result fell from grace and lost his god-given powers. He counts the lives lost that could otherwise be saved as his fault.

21. Does your character have any noticeable scars? If so, what are their stories?

A scar on his neck from a time when he wanted to kill himself, and a stigmata in the form of a sunburst brand on his right hand from when he became a Holy Vindicator.

22. What animal best represents your character?

Bison - sometimes peaceful and absentminded, other times temperamental; bull-headed, tough and hardy, and stubborn.

23. If your character could go back in time and change one thing about their life, what would it be?

Aside from not falling from grace as per #20... pick a more common language to learn in school. See #95.

24. Which other player character does your character find themselves having the most in common with?

Those in the first adventuring party he’s had - with Adeline, Mirele, and Kebarong. Simple people with simple needs. Their personalities may be very different, but at least they live in worlds that are relatable.

25. Does your character regret any particular choice the party has made?

Anything that involves the deaths of innocents, even/especially if it’s for the “greater good”. 

26. What would your character say their best trait would be?

His faith in humanity.

27. What is your character’s greatest fear? Deep, irrational?

Having his soul doomed in one way or another. Presently the most plausible method by which this can happen is to have it torn asunder and destroyed.

28. What is currently motivating your character to stay with the party?

He knows he can’t do much of anything alone - not only does he play a supportive role in combat, he needs his companions’ skills, qualities, experience, and expertise to achieve the massive goal they all share (to a degree) - see #12.

29. What are your character’s hobbies and interests outside of their class?

Animals (especially felines), writing letters, pleasant long walks somewhere outdoors.

30. What would most people think when they first see your character?

Big, shiny, clangy, scary-looking, heavily-armoured man. He himself is completely unaware of this perception.

31. What stereotypical group role does your character play in the party? (The Mom, the Mess, the Comic Relief, etc. Optionally: What role would your character play in the “Five Man Band” structure?)

Often he’s the Heart. In a Five Man Band he’d be (conditionally) the Leader, the Lancer, or the Chick.

32. What is your character the most insecure about?

His terrible schmoozing skills.

33. What person does your character admire most?

His benefactor, mentor, and mother figure - a cleric who gave up her peaceful life and comfortable home to travel the world as a missionary and healer. 

34. What does your character admire and dislike the most about the player character sitting to your left?

(Rolling 1d3 between 1. Amalli, 2. Mawari, 3. Niyooshan)

NIYOOSHAN: He admires the alchemist’s resourcefulness, calm and analytical mind, general intelligence and skills in what he does. 

He dislikes his cold rationality and ability to make brutal decisions without hesitation... but what he dislikes more is his own feeling of envy for such a quality. (See also #67.)

35. Why is your character’s lowest stat their lowest (the in-character reason, not “because there’s no reason for a wizard to have 16 strength, duh”)?

Strength and dexterity (I know). He grew up poor and missed out on some bulking up as a child. He’s hardy though.

36. What would be your character’s theme song/favourite band/favourite genre of music?

Folk music with lots of wind instruments.

37. What stereotypical role would your character play in a high school AU/if they attended a normal high school? (Nerd, jock, bully, goth, etc.)

Looks like a jock, acts like a nerd. Probably would get bullied if not for protective friends.

38. What treasure/item/artifact that your character has collected during the adventure is the most important to them?

His standard issue shield given by the Church (with which he shares a Divine Bond, and he has had various upgrades attached to it), letters from friends and those he considers family, a feather from the Vermillion Bird.

39. Is there any particular weapon, item, etc. that your character longs to find?

Right now, as the campaign demands - the Chronicles of the Righteous. Otherwise he’d love to come across any of Sarenrae’s divine artifacts.

40. Where does your character feel the most at home?

BACKSTORY: the Sarenite church grounds in Absalom, where he grew up.

IN-GAME: Falcon’s Hollow, despite its cursedness, where he met people he grew to trust with his life.

41. Does your character care about how they’re perceived by others? How do they change themselves to fit in with other people?

He cares how his loved ones see him insofar as he wants them to trust him, but he doesn’t compromise easily on the kind of person his principles make him.

42. What does your character think is the true meaning of life?

To find something worth loving in everything and everyone.

43. What is your character’s scent? (Bonus points for a description that sounds like it could be from a bad [or awesome] fanfic.)

Sun-burnt vegetation and a faint but unmistakable hint of metal.

44. Does your character think more with their heart or their brain?

Heart.

45. What is your character’s most recent or frequent nightmare?

His most frequent nightmares all involve fire - a child being incinerated, a pile of bodies being cremated, a gigantic flaming wheel in the sky overlooking chaos befalling a city.

46. What opinion does your character have on [CERTAIN ESTABLISHED GROUPS/AUTHORITIES IN THE GAME WORLD]? (Dragon-marked Houses, royal crown, etc.)

CHURCH OF SARENRAE IN ABSALOM: It was his home once; not anymore. Maybe it can’t ever be home again now that he’s seen how deep the corruption runs.

EAGLE KNIGHTS: They mean well, but they have a ruthless murderer in their own ranks and after all these years they haven’t sorted that out. Helpful to a point, at least. 

HELL KNIGHTS OF THE SCOURGE: They’re more reasonable and likeable than he’d expected, and he’s not sure how to feel about that.

PATHFINDER SOCIETY: Crazy resourceful, shamelessly shifty.

JADE REGENT: Shit.

47. How did your character spend their childhood? Where did they grow up/who were their childhood friends?

He lived in poverty in a backwater town (Railford) in southern Taldor until the age of 8, when he was brought to the Church of Sarenrae in Absalom. His years there as an apprentice were the happiest, most peaceful of his life - he had his mentor and her companion as pseudo-parents, and made some close friends when he was training to be a paladin.

48. What aspect of your character’s future are they most curious about? (If they could know one thing about the future, what would it be?)

Whether or not he can redeem Shasriel. See also #52.

49. What colours are associated with your character?

Green, yellow, brown.

50. Who in the party would your character prioritise rescuing, in dire circumstances?

Among his current party of Amalli, Niyooshan, and Mawari, he’d prioritise Amalli because she’s been with him the longest and he knows her best out of the three.

51. Is your character the most swayed by ethos, pathos, or logos?

Pathos.

52. If your character was granted a single use of Wish, what would they use it for?

He’s wary of the repercussions and unforeseen consequences of such a powerful spell, so he’ll restrict it to wishing that the wraith feeding off of his soul be saved from undeath and her uncorrupted nature restored. See also #48.

53. What is your character’s favourite spell? If they don’t use spells: what is their favourite personal weapon/combat manoeuvre/skill/etc.?

Lay on Hands, with mercies and feats.

54. How does your character feel about keeping secrets from the rest of the party?

He doesn’t like it but he does it with people he’s not close to, out of fearing judgement. With close people he only keeps secrets if he himself doesn’t want to confront those things, which actually happens quite often.

55. What type of creature in the world is your character the most intrigued by?

Benevolent creatures that should be evil by nature - devils and undead for example.

56. When they were a child, what did your character want to be, or think they were going to be, when they grew up?

Before he went into paladin-specific training, he wanted to be a missionary cleric - just like his mentor. 

57. The player character to your left admits that they’re passionately in love with your character. How would your character respond?

(Rolling 1d3 between 1. Amalli, 2. Mawari, 3. Niyooshan)

MAWARI: He’d think she’s ill, making a bad joke, or trying to curse him.

58. If somebody (an NPC, someone from their backstory, etc.) your character trusts/loves asked your character to do something against the party’s best interest, who would they side with?

It would depend of course, but at this point he doesn’t really trust his current party, so he would probably side with his loved one.

59. Does your character value their own best interest more than the party’s?

Definitely not, to a fault sometimes.

60. What decision would the party have to make in order for your character to consider splitting off from the group?

Something unequivocally cruel and undeniably evil.

61. How does your character imagine the way they will die?

In battle, protecting others with all that he can give.

62. What is your character’s greatest achievement?

Aside from the battle described in #15, being vindicated by his goddess at the exact moment he defied an order from his religious superiors.

63. Is your character willing to risk the well-being of others in order to achieve their goal?

Not at all, unless his goal also happens to be the greater good.

64. What is your character’s opinion on killing others?

He understands the necessity of killing in the kind of life he’s chosen to live, but he tries his best to avoid killing innocents, and even those who are guilty - so long as he thinks they have a chance to be redeemed.

65. What is your character’s favourite food? Beverage?

He doesn’t have single favourite, but he likes homey, hearty meals. Potatoes make him think of Kebarong, one of his closest companions. As of late he seems to have suddenly developed a constant craving for almonds. 

66. How generous is your character? Especially to those they don’t know?

Very. He’d fall for any sob story; even if he knows he’s been cheated he wouldn’t change his ways, because his generosity being abused is not his problem, but the abuser’s.

67. What is your character the most envious about, regarding anyone in the party?

As addressed in #34, he’s envious about Niyooshan’s ability to make cruel but rational and/or necessary decisions. He is also sometimes envious of Amalli’s blissful ignorance of some realities of the world, but other times he feels sorry for her.

68. The player character to your left and the player character to your right are both telling your character two different versions of the truth. Who does your character believe?

(Rolling 2d3 between 1. Amalli, 2. Mawari, 3. Niyooshan) 

MAWARI & AMALLI: This is a toughie. On the one hand he trusts Amalli more than Mawari, since he’s known the former for a while and became acquainted with the latter only recently; on the other hand Amalli has a way of viewing and interpreting reality that he really doesn’t understand sometimes. Ultimately he’d take Amalli’s word for it if he has to.

69. What is your character’s sexuality/relationship with sex?

He’s aromantic and asexual, although he does enjoy intimacy with friends (i.e. he’s quite touchy-feely). if someone were to pursue him romantically/sexually and he already likes them a lot, he’d do what they request if he thinks that it improves their bond. 

70. What is your character’s biggest pet peeve?

People using doublespeak, especially if it’s for politics.

71. Describe how your character feels about the party’s current situation/objective/etc.

It’s a big job and he can’t even fathom how they’ll get there, but it has to be done and it seems like he and his companions are the ones who need to do it, so he’ll just have to take things one step at a time. 

72. Who in the party would your character trust the most to keep an important secret?

Niyooshan - he trusts the man to exercise discretion. Amalli means well but tends to run her mouth.

73. If your character knew that they were going to die in a month, how would they spend the rest of their life?

Write heartfelt letters to his friends and family, write strongly-worded letters to his Church and the authorities-that-be, and do his best to further his and his allies’ mission.

74. What makes your character feel safe?

A nice home-cooked meal, a warm fire, knowing people he trusts and loves are close by. 

75. If your character had the chance to rename the party/give the party a name, no questions asked, what would it be?

“Not-Rebels”. Because they’re totally not rebels with massive bounties on their heads. 

76. What memory does your character want to forget the most?

Technically he’s already forgotten it - the process by which his soul was bound to an ancient Azlanti wraith was traumatic enough that his memory of it is now repressed. 

For his intact memories, he’d very much like to forget about the time he watched a child be incinerated in an instant, or the time he’s had to mercy-kill a group of innocents who’d been afflicted by the curse of undeath... or maybe he doesn’t because he thinks he needs to carry his “mistakes” with him.

77. If your character had to multiclass into a class they currently aren’t the next time they level up, what would it be and what reason would they have for doing so?

Fighter - so he can be more flexible with gear, be more effective at controlling the battle, and - most importantly - use tower shields. 

78. What television/book/video game/etc. character would your character be best friends with? (Or: what media character is your character the most influenced by/similar to?

Take all the usual Knight Templar tropes and subvert them.

Additionally, my GM compares him to Anders of the Dragon Age franchise. I created Amur way before I knew who Anders was, and some of the similarities are frankly uncanny. 

79. What unusual talents does your character possess?

High pain tolerance, and (is this a talent?) diminished self-preservation instincts.

80. How does your character feel about receiving/giving orders? Are they more of a leader, or a follower?

He’s much happier receiving orders than giving them, but he can’t help but question or even defy those he considers immoral. He wants to be a follower but is ultimately too headstrong and impulsive to be a good one.

81. What does your character’s name represent to them? (Or: why as a player did you choose your character’s name?)

His name is one (of the few) ties he has with his birth family, but he’s fine if he has to use a different name temporarily for a good reason.

I named him after the Amur River. As a geomorphologist I sometimes name my OCs after landform features. All my original PCs and NPCs in this universe are named after real-world rivers.

82. Is your character more of an introvert, or an extrovert?

Introvert.

83. How far is your character willing to go to pursue the “greater good”? Do they believe in a greater good at all?

He believes in the greater good, he just doesn’t believe in having to sacrifice innocent individuals to pursue it.

84. What does your character want to be remembered by?

Kindness and compassion.

85. What would be your character’s major in college?

Humanities - more precisely, something along the lines of Anthropology or Cultural Studies.

86. Does your character consider themselves a hero, villain, or something else?

Something else - he sees himself as one who helps someone else become a hero, or turns someone away from villainy. 

87. What major arcana tarot card best represents your character?

Strength.

88. Where does your character see themselves in 20 years?

Dead. Still travelling around, with or without a name, finding trouble, and doing whatever needs to be done.

89. What is your character’s relationship with magic? Are they scared of it, wish to know more about it, indifferent to it?

To him, in general magic is just another ability or talent, as much as someone can be gifted physically, intellectually, or artistically. His own magic is granted by his deity, so he sees it as a blessing and not really belonging to him. 

90. Who is your character’s biggest rival?

He doesn’t consider anyone his rival, but he does have a nemesis of sorts by the name of Geminus Nero Rugatonn. The guy’s been hounding him and his friends since something like level 6.

91. What is your character’s guiltiest pleasure?

Playing with cats.

92. What does your character hope for the afterlife?

To have his soul intact and actually see Sarenrae in all her glory, and to meet those he thinks he’s failed and apologise to them.

93. Who in the party does your character trust the least?

At this point, Mawari - she’s only just joined them, is a witch with creepy curses and hexes, and is their ally only because their goals align with her being a traitor to the Jade Regent.

94. What is your character’s biggest flaw?

Impulsiveness, and being a bleeding heart who is way too forgiving.

95. How did your character learn the languages that they speak?

TALDANE: His first language, and the common tongue across most of the Inner Sea region.

TERRAN: Learned it as part of the curriculum in his apprentice days. Why he didn’t pick something less obscure is anyone’s guess. Maybe he just doesn’t want to use it much.

NECRIL: Started to learn this after being possessed (?) by a wraith.

TIAN: The common tongue in the continent of the current campaign, Tian Xia.

MINKAI: The local tongue in the country of the current campaign, Minkai.

SIGN LANGUAGE: Learned this after Niyooshan lost his speech. 

96. What is your character’s favourite school of magic/type of weaponry?

MAGIC: Healing (conjuration) and harm-negating spells (abjuration).

WEAPONRY: Do shields count?

97. What is most important to your character: health, wealth, or happiness?

Happiness.

98. What advice would your character give to a younger version of themselves?

“Don’t ignore the urging of your conscience; act on it. It’s better to regret what you’ve done than what you haven’t.”

99. Are there any social or political issues your character feels strongly about?

Any sort of persecution or discrimination that is based on some neutral and often unchangeable part of someone’s identity, e.g. being slaves, low-born, or of a particular race.

100. What, currently, is your character the most curious about?

What part he has to play and how he will end up by the end of this whole deal involving nations, religions, legacies, curses, spirits, gods, and Great Old Ones.

[inmyownlittlecorner5]

Moonlight Chapter 11: Rumination

A fanfic Novel by la-topolina

Rated for Mature Audiences

Warnings: Language, Violence, Sexual Content

Chapter 11/26

Moonlight Masterpost+

<< Chapter Ten+

Chapter Twelve+ >>

------------------------------

Trigger warning: Brief allusion to miscarriage.

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Twilight was falling as Miranda slowly approached the beautiful Scottish Deerhound. It was loitering near an ancient ring of stones scratching itself and, as yet, unconcerned about its human observer. The air was cold but, as there was no wind, the temperature was not yet so unpleasant as to make outdoor tracking uncomfortable. Miranda started to ease her wand out of her pocket and the dog started, skittering a few feet and halting by another stone. She froze and waited for the dog to settle again, then she pulled a baked pig’s ear out of another pocket. The dog sniffed the air and began warily circling back towards the temptation.

Miranda squatted down and held out the treat, motionless except for her breathing. Little by little the dog came closer to her, until finally it snapped up the pig’s ear and bounded a few feet away from her. It stared at her for a moment and then plopped down on the ground to chew at the morsel. When it was fully engaged in gnawing and ripping the pig’s ear, Miranda managed to draw her wand. She waved it at the beast, lips pursed in concentration as she attempted to force the possible animagus into human form. Nothing happened. She sat back on her heels and sighed. She knew she was wasting her time and it irked her. She felt as though she had tracked every large black dog in England, Scotland, and Wales. Now she was on the Isle of Man and she was planning to cover Ireland next. She had no idea how long Albus Dumbledore expected her to keep up this charade, and she was starting to lose her patience with the game. She was also growing concerned about the state of Lucius Malfoy’s patience. He had decided to be amused by her performance at his Manor rather than admit that she had outwitted him. She suspected from their most recent meeting that his amusement was gradually turning into anger. He’d made a few passing remarks about how numerous and exposed her family was. She knew that America was only a port-key away and that he had the power and the resources to do whatever he wanted to them. True, the Rose clan was more dangerous than your average No-Maj family, but she knew that if Malfoy decided to take them out, there wouldn’t be much they could do to stop him. She couldn’t be everywhere at once. She had thought of asking Aaron for help putting some sort of MACUSA detail on them, but she trusted MACUSA to be about as competent as the Ministry of Magic. She also knew her family too well to imagine that they would be any good at being baby-sat. She would have to play this game out to the end. The dog finished its treat and padded over to her, hoping for more. She held our her hand and it sniffed her, cautiously at first, but soon it decided that she was a friend. She scratched it behind its ears and then fished out another pig’s ear for it. This time it sat down at her feet, happy to have company during its chew. She obligingly continued to pet the animal, and tried unsuccessfully to keep her thoughts form turning yet again to Severus Snape. He was on her mind constantly these days and it exasperated her how much she missed him. He was a spy. He was an ass. He was the most irritating man of the face of the earth and, if he were suddenly to appear and crook his finger at her, she would fall back into his bed, no questions asked. She missed his hands. She missed his body. She missed his dry humor and their verbal sparring. She missed his rare smiles and the way he studied her when he thought she wasn’t looking. She didn’t completely understand why he had ended things so abruptly at Prospero’s. She found it hard to believe that he had only just become aware of the risks of their association, but maybe that was the case. Or maybe he was just afraid that she would blow his cover. She knew him well enough by now to understand that he hated not being in control of everything. And she knew herself well enough to understand that she wasn’t very good at taking orders or being predictable. At the end of the day, maybe that was the real issue. She was probably too wild for him. She had thought there was some part of him aching for freedom but, even if that were the case, he was firmly resolved to see out his mission to the end. If she had been more to his taste, maybe he would have been willing to put up with the risk. As it stood, whatever fleeting pleasure he had had with her simply wasn’t worth the cost. It was a bitter pill, and she was doing her best to swallow it. She gave the dog a final pat and stepped away to Apparate back to the mainland. She was due to have Thanksgiving dinner with the Lees and she was looking forward to Aaron’s complaining about the difficulties of procuring proper supplies in England. They had insisted she come by frequently after that night at the club, supposedly to ‘cheer Rachel up.’ She knew it was more about them trying to cheer her up, but she was happy to have the company all the same. It was good to have a pair of familiar faces in this sea of strangers. Severus’s memory would fade in time. She just needed time.

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“Do you know how hard it was to find canned pumpkin?” Aaron said with a laugh as he distributed pie and rye-laced coffee after dinner. The three of them sat companionably around the farmhouse table in Lees’ airy kitchen. Aaron and Miranda had stuffed themselves with turkey, cornbread, sweet potatoes with bacon, cranberries, and rice. “I had to go to five No-Maj grocery stores. I finally found a can in the back of a Waitrose and I had to elbow three No-Maj grannies to get it,” he added. “I’m glad to know you’re not above elbowing old women in your pursuit of comestibles, Aaron,” Miranda quipped. “Aw, they were armed. I was black and blue from their canes and umbrellas by the time I got home.” “He was,” Rachel agreed, smiling wanly. She had only managed to eat a few bites of rice at dinner. She declined the pie and nibbled at a piece of toffee from the tin Miranda had brought. She had dark circles under her black eyes and her face looked rather sallow. “He earned that can, no doubt about it.” Miranda smiled at Rachel but she was a bit worried about her friend. She hadn’t seemed herself these last few weeks. “Are you feeling any better?” Miranda asked. “I know this gloomy English weather can get anybody down.” Rachel exchanged a look with Aaron and he said slowly, “Well, about that. We’ve got something to tell you, Miranda.” “Yes?” Miranda sincerely hoped this wasn’t going to be bad news. Aaron’s face became very serious. “We’re going to have a baby.” “What? Really! Congratulations!” Miranda cried. “To be fair, I’m going to have the baby,” Rachel clarified. “Aaron’s going to try not to faint during the process.” “I’m so happy for you! When are you due?” “In the spring.” “And, is everything going…” Miranda’s voice trailed off. She was well aware that the Lees had been having a rocky time trying to start their family. “Everything is going fine,” Rachel said firmly. “I’m exhausted and can barely stand the sight of food.” “That’s wonderful! I’m ecstatic for both of you. I can’t think of two people more suited to being parents than you both.” “And we were hoping you’d agree to be godmother,” Aaron said. “Of course! It would be an honor. I’ll even go to confession first.” “I would expect no less,” Aaron said mock-seriously. “And there’s one other favor we’d like to ask.” “More than looking after your child’s immortal soul? Do tell.” “There’s this party I have to go to for work at the end of December. I know that’s a long way off, but it’s a highfalutin pure-blood shindig and I have to answer the invitation now. Do you think you could behave long enough to be my date? Rachel wants to take it easy gestating this time and you know she hates this sort of thing.” Aaron took his wife’s hand and smiled kindly at her. “Are you sure I’ll fit in?” Miranda asked, her eyes twinkling wickedly. “You know how to behave when you choose to,” Rachel said. “And I really would appreciate it. I’m in bed by eight o’clock most nights and this thing doesn’t even start until nine.” “You know I’d do anything for the two of you. When and where?” “It’s on the twenty-eighth of December,” Aaron said. “We can meet here at say eight-thirty, tuck Rachel into bed, and head over to Malfoy Manor together.” Miranda dropped her fork. “Did you say Malfoy Manor?” “Yes. It’ll be about as exciting as watching grass grow, but the house is something else. We can snoop and see how many priceless works of art we can admire while everyone else gets sloshed.” Miranda swallowed hard and forced a smile. “Sounds divine. I’ll be there with bells on.” *****

Severus grated the Snakewood meticulously, careful not to waste a speck. Several cauldrons bubbled next to him, each filled with the base for a healing potion. He’d completed the anti-venom and had turned his thoughts to something more global. He had read through the book of American magic that Miranda had given him in September, and he was incorporating some of the ideas he had gleaned into his repertoire. He began adding specks of Snakewood to the first cauldron, recording the amount and the number of times he stirred on the scroll next to him. Fortunately, he was quick enough to duck as the potion exploded out of the cauldron, shooting into the air like a geyser. “Evanesco,” he muttered, vanishing the mess and making a note on the scroll. He moved to the next cauldron and a memory came to him, unbidden. …….“Nice one, Sev” Lily was giggling as his potion exploded. They were in their fourth year, and Professor Slughorn had allowed them extra time in the potions room for their own projects. Severus couldn’t remember what he had been working on that day, but he vividly recalled the shade of the green scarf holding back Lily’s hair and the way she had smelled of cinnamon and pomegranate juice. “It will work next time,” he had muttered as she vanished the mess……. How he hated this room. It had not been so unbearable when he had first started teaching, flush with the importance of being the Dark Lord’s spy and creating a brave new world for wizards. He had enjoyed terrifying his students and playing at creating a new world order. After Lily’s murder, there had been a long period during which he could go no where at Hogwarts, especially the potions room, without seeing her before him. Eventually, that had faded with regards to most of the school—but here—-she was always here. It had been particularly awful since Harry Potter and his friends had come to Hogwarts. There was Ron Weasley with his ridiculous red hair—as though Severus had not had enough of teaching Weasleys to last several lifetimes. Hermione Granger—the muggle-born witch brighter by far than any of the other students and bold like Lily had been. And, of course, there was Harry Potter himself—strutting about the school like a second James Potter, just as arrogant, just as unteachable. Except, once in a while, when Harry would be focusing intently on his work, and his eyes would gleam like Lily’s had when she was working. It was in those moments that Severus hated Harry Potter the most; when the child unwittingly crucified him with Lily's eyes. Severus finished adding the Snakewood, stirring, and taking his notes. It was Saturday evening and he would come back in the morning to take the first cauldron off the flames. He packed away his supplies and went to his rooms to sleep. His rooms had been the one place at Hogwarts where he was not constantly assaulted by memories of his youth. They had been the one place in the world that he considered his, the one place that was private and safe. Now, however, they were filled with memories of Miranda. It had been more than a month since he’d left her at Prospero’s. He knew it had been the the sane thing to do, but sometimes it was almost impossible to resist the urge to find her and drag her back to his bed. He told himself that she had probably returned to America and would soon forget him. It had been a mad fling, and it was best that it were over. The logic of this reasoning did not stop him from hoping that she would suddenly appear. Every time he entered his rooms he half expected to find her sitting in his armchair. He could almost see her, looking up from her book and smiling at him; saying something that would make him want to smile and kiss her. Frequently, when he woke from sleeping, he would be sure that she was next to him in the bed. He would keep his eyes closed, dreading to open them and see that he was alone. But eventually he always did open them, and he always was alone. Soon it would be the Christmas Holidays. Usually he looked forward to this break from most of the students and many of the teachers. He could stay at Hogwarts, work on his own projects, and not have to return to Spinner’s End. This year he was dreading them. They stretched before him as ominously as the summer had, full of idle time and memories. Why was this his life? Why had he never been anywhere but Cokeworth and Hogwarts and London? He had never even been to the Continent. He sat down in his armchair, intending to read until he nodded off. He couldn’t seem to focus on his book and found himself staring into the fire, brooding about Lily and Miranda. He had loved Lily so much that losing her to James had felt like dying. He knew, however, that he had lost her before that. She had been horrified by his interest in the Dark Arts and that, combined with his own brutish behavior, had driven her away. He still loved her so much that it took his breath away. That was why he continued on this path that Albus had set for him. If he kept Lily’s child alive, if he helped to vanquish the Dark Lord, then—-someday—-Lily would forgive him. Thinking of Lily always caused him a comfortably familiar feeling of pain and guilt. He had carried it so long that not feeling it was unnerving. Thinking of Miranda though, that tended to make him dizzy. She had burst into his life and he had felt off kilter since the moment he had met her. She was like a force of nature and he had been swept up in her madness. Even his fevered adolescent sexual fantasies about Lily had paled in comparison to the carnal pleasure he and Miranda had shared. He sometimes thought that Miranda understood him better than Lily had or at least accepted him. She saw his dark side and did not seem to be bothered by it. Many of the qualities that had driven Lily away from him seemed to draw Miranda to him. Part of him envied Miranda her freedom; her ability to accept the uncertain without anxiety or complaint. She seemed completely unconcerned for her own safety, but not because she was unaware of the risks that she faced. She was intoxicating, but he did not want to bear the guilt for her death if, or when, it came. Sometimes he would let his thoughts roam, creating fantasies of a more perfect life. A life where he had avoided all of the many mistakes he had made. In his younger days, he would imagine that Lily had forgiven him his callous words, and that he had won her long before she'd married James, or he had made the desperate choice to join the Dark Lord's circle. Since he had met Miranda, the fantasy had mutated into one where he had never heard that blasted prophesy in the first place. Lily had her perfect little family and they had all grudgingly reconciled. Severus dreamed of having met Miranda the first time she had been in England. She would have swept him up in her madness again and, because this was a dream, the Dark Lord would be dead and buried. Severus felt that Lily and Miranda would have liked each other. And Miranda would have hated James with him, and he would have quit teaching and joined her in her ridiculous bounty hunting business, and….. Severus shook his head to stop his idiotic flight of imagination. His life was what it was. Nothing would change that. Dreaming was a waste of time, and Severus hated waste

------------------------------------------

Moonlight Masterpost+

<< Chapter Ten+

Chapter Twelve+ >>

[miraculousagentsofkrypton]

Summary:  When Kara reabsorbed Red Daughter after her sacrifice, Red Daughter and all her memories didn't just disappear into a void. It just takes a bit for Kara to realize what reabsorbing might actually mean. 

--- (Bold italics are Russian)---

The day after Lex’s defeat, Kara sat in Noonan’s typing away on her followup article about the whole debacle. There was so much work to be done from all the chaos that she found she was working during her lunch break. Her lunch break. It was a tragedy. Soon after she’d started, a familiar waitress put Kara’s usual order of a dozen sticky buns down on the table beside her computer. Kara’s gaze flickered to the source of the delicious smell, and she snatched one, still typing away with her other hand. But then she took her first bite. Holy fudge bucket. The most amazing tastes flooded her senses, and all thoughts about Lex came to grinding halt. What is this? Before she knew it, she’d scarfed down the entire plate, all thoughts about eating at a human pace thrown out the window. Once done, she could only stare blankly at her empty plate.

She was actually reeling at how good they were and couldn’t help wondering if they were a new recipe. It was the only explanation for how astounded she felt after eating what should have been normal Noonan’s sticky buns. Noonan’s had great food, but it wasn’t usually awe inspiring.  But when she’d called down the waitress, all she’d received as an answer was a confused look and a hesitant shake of the head from the woman who had served her buns hundreds of times. Kara sat there befuddled for a moment before shrugging it off. It must have just been an especially good batch.

Later that night, Alex came over hauling some big bags of takeout. Kara could smell the amazing scent before Alex had even reached her door and was buzzing in excitement by the time Alex had raised her hand to knock. Kara whipped open the door, dragging her inside quickly, and grabbed the bags right out of her hands.

“A, ‘Hello dear sister, how are you? Thank you for this delicious food that you have so thoughtfully brought me’, would be nice before you stuff yourself,” Alex deadpanned.

Kara brought the containers right up to her face, taking in a deep breath, “This smells beyond delicious! What is this?!” she exclaimed happily, not even noticing Alex’s comment.

Alex actually staggered back a step in surprise. “ What?! What do you mean, what is this? It’s potstickers! Your all time favorite food?” She waved her arms around wildly, trying to convey just how crazy she thought that question was. “You could follow the scent of potstickers to the source from across the city!”

Kara’s eyes widened, and she whipped open the first container to see the should-be-familiar dumplings. A nervous laugh escaped as she racked her brain for a reason why it took a moment for her to even recognize the sight. “Um, I guess they just smell extra good today. I wasn’t paying close enough attention.”

Alex narrowed her eyes at her for a moment before shrugging it off easily, “Given what’s happened the last few days alone, it makes sense why you’d be distracted. But right now its sister night and I finally remember who you are, so we are going to put all that away for the moment and just relax with some delicious takeout.”

When they settled down and dug in, Kara struggled to hide her reaction to the food, biting down a gasp of surprise at the taste. They were so much better than the sticky buns she’d had earlier. A brilliant warmth spread through her chest as she listened to Alex, her sister, talk about her day, complaining about all the issues the DEO had had to work through. Kara found herself melting into the soft couch, unable to recall ever feeling so comfortable and safe as she did at that moment. So this is what it’s like having the true Alex with her. The strange thought slipped like water from her relaxed brain. Why had she never appreciated just how beautiful all this was before? She’d obviously never felt properly grateful for all the miraculous things in her life.

For the following days, Kara found herself having moments like that more and more. It was as if she were seeing the world in an entirely new light, making it feel brand new itself. She found herself entranced by the randomest of things. Such as a child’s birthday party in the park for example. She found herself switching course when she’d noticed it, taking in all the laughter and joy of the group of kids playing games. When they started a game of soccer, a strange bittersweet longing filled her. She ended up joining them. But when their parents eventually called them back to start getting ready to leave, a sudden sense of loss overwhelmed her. She collapsed on a nearby bench, taking in deep breaths in an attempt to divert the sobs threatening escape. She didn’t understand what she was feeling, but it was intense. The feeling lingered for the rest of the day.

During her research for another article on Lex, she came across an image of the AmerTek symbol. Pure rage pooled in her chest. Heat quickly pushed at the back of her eyes, aching to be let loose, and her hand involuntarily clenched around her mouse so hard it shattered into pieces. Kara’s mind raced and she purposefully breathed in slowly, letting herself fall into the seldom used kryptonian meditation practices. It took many minutes of concentration before she was able to release most of the inexplicable anger that held her so tightly.

But it all flooded back once a thought struck her, as if a new revelation. aLex owned AmerTek. Of course he did. Who else could have. That awful company could be lead by no one else. As soon as that fact really registered, a sick feeling took anger’s place. Her head felt really foggy. She couldn’t quite remember why she felt like that, her thoughts hard to grasp, but the feelings were crystal clear.

The first time Kara actually recognized the source of the strange feelings was a few weeks after Lex’s defeat. Alex and her were headed for one of their favorite food trucks near Alex’s apartment, when a small head of hair caught her eye. She didn’t know what it was about this boy that had so suddenly and completely captured her attention, but she couldn’t look away. But then he turned around and all the breath left her body entirely. Their gazes locked, and utter joy and shock ripped through her soul. Mikhail!! He was alright! He was alive and breathing and right in front of her. Suddenly Kara found herself sprinting towards him, barely containing herself within human speeds.

She pulled him into an impossibly tight hug and found herself tearfully rambling into his shoulder, “Mikhail, you’re okay! I missed you so much. I thought you were gone. How did you escape the blast? I’m so happy you’re alright. ”

Mikhail stood still for a moment in shock, before quietly mumbling, “Snowbird? ”

Kara’s head nodded against his shoulder. Small hands hesitantly came up to hug her back. A small voice of confusion whispered in the back of her mind, but was drowned out by the pure joy sweeping through her. Mikhail was alive!

A warm hand settled on her shoulder, a concerned voice asking, “Kara? Who’s this?” Alex. Her Alex.

Her two favorite people in the world were here together. Kara couldn’t keep the grin from her face as she pulled out of the hug to introduce them, “Mikhail, this is Alex, my sister. Alex, this is Mikhail. ”

Alex’s face scrunched in confusion. “Kara, what language is that?”

Kara blinked. What. What else could she have been speaking, other than english? She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Mikhail’s gaze flickered between the two sisters, his brows furrowed.

He hesitantly spoke up in accented english, “Russian ma’am.” Kara’s breath hitched at that revelation. “You are American? But you are Snowbird sister? I do not understand.”

Kara’s mind was racing, connections suddenly being made at an impossible pace, recent feelings suddenly taking on a whole new meaning. Meanwhile Alex just stared at the two of them, trying to understand the situation.

Suddenly one vital connection was made, and Kara gasped, “ Red Daughter. I - you’re her friend. The boy who died.”

Alex stepped back at the mention of her, on high alert.

Mikhail instead questioned, “I still do not understand. Her friend? Who is Red Daughter? Are you not Snowbird? ” He sounded tense, uncertain.

Kara’s face softened. She wrapped a comforting arm back around him. Her thoughts were still racing, sorting everything out, but she felt she understood enough of the situation. She’d reabsorbed Red Daughter and it’d affected her far more than she’d realized. Of course Red Daughter hadn’t just disappeared completely, she’d been naive to think otherwise.Now that Kara recognized the truth, unfamiliar memories started slipping from the cracks of the previously unnoticed wall between Kara and Red Daughter.

Kara softly explained, “It’s complicated, but I am Snowbird .” She turned to her sister before she could panic or do something drastic. “But I’m also Kara. It’s I- I’m both?” She started rambling. “I don’t know how it works. I didn’t even realize until just now, but it explains so much. I did reabsorb her when she sacrificed herself for me, to defeat Alex -er, um, Lex. I remember Kaznia, and also Midvale and Krypton.” Kara curled in on herself, the memories flooding in faster. “I remember Mikhail’s death, or what I’d thought at the time. Killing Supergirl, myself. Alex’s betrayal.” A sob broke through, the wounds all feeling so fresh as she remembered them. “I can’t believe I was so stupid.”

Alex pushed through her confusion, falling to her sisters side and hugging her tight, with an arm also around Mikhail. Mikhail stayed at Kara’s side. He obviously had no idea what was happening, yet he stayed and comforted his best friend.

“You’re not stupid Kara. You just didn’t have all the facts. Lex took advantage of Red Daughter’s lack of memories,” Alex reassured.

“I could have found them if I’d just looked! I trusted him blindly. Lex owned AmerTek Alex!” Kara’s voice rose in hysteria as she spoke.

“What does AmerTek have to do with anything?”

Kara was shaking. It was all too much at once. She couldn’t handle that yet, and found the only response she could manage was a shake of her head. So instead she pulled both her favorite people closer, drawing comfort from the fact that they were both there, and alive. The warmth soaked into her bones, helping stave off the freezing lead that felt like it was expanding within her. It’s fine. Mikhail is fine. Lex didn’t kill him.

Wait.

“Mikhail, how are you here? I saw what happened to your house!”

Mikhail haltingly explained how a man came and took him away from home before the missile could come, and how the man arranged for his passage to america so that a dangerous bald man couldn’t find him. Both Alex and Kara were startled when he revealed that the man’s name was Otis.

“I guess he had a bit of a heart left in him after all,” Alex joked quietly.

“I’m just so happy you’re here. I really missed you. Visiting you was the highlight of any week.”

“Mine too. ”

A voice called his name from a few meters away, “Mikhail?! Where are you?”

They all turned towards the source, spotting a middle aged woman, a group of children behind her.

“That’s Mrs. Malwak. I have to go.” His eyes were suddenly intense as he looked pleadingly at Kara. “You’ll visit me won't you?”

“Of course.”  

He broke out in a grin. “Good .” He turned to Alex, giving her a small smile as well before running back to his teacher.  Both sisters watched him go till he was out of sight.

Alex rubbed her temples. “Well today took a turn I certainly wasn’t expecting.”

Kara let out a watery chuckle. “No kidding.”

“We have a lot we need to talk about.” Alex added as they finally stood up, “But not right now.”

Kara nodded. “But not right now.” The corner of her lips turned up. “Let’s go get those burritos. You have no idea how excited I’ve been to try them again.”

[bloodfromtherock-blog]

KAVANAUGH & THE CORONATED CREEPS

Daniel Hutchens October 10, 2018

"It would be naive to depend on the Supreme Court to defend the rights of poor people, women, people of color, dissenters of all kinds. Those rights only come alive when citizens organize, protest, demonstrate, strike, boycott, rebel, and violate the law in order to uphold justice." -Howard Zinn **********************************************

Kavanaugh repeatedly lied to the US Senate under oath during his job interview for Justice of the Supreme Court. These lies have been well-documented at this point, and aren’t even being contested; the essence of the reply from the Republican oligarchy is, “It doesn’t matter.”

And American women at this point have been demoted to second-class citizens by the Trump administration. This is clearly observable. Trump’s attacks on women are relentless; his push toward more restrictive policies on contraception and abortion, his rollback of gender equality pay laws, removal of paycheck transparency, forced arbitration clauses for sexual harassment, sexual assault or discrimination claims...for me, as the father of an 11 year old daughter, this is all a sinister slap in the face. But more to the point, Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court now puts Trumpsters firmly in control of the move to strike down Roe v. Wade. Understand this clearly: female American citizens are considered nothing more than property by the Old Boys Club, and women’s voices regarding reproductive rights and their own bodies are considered irrelevant. In Trump’s eyes, women are cattle to be branded and used as deemed appropriate.

Kavanaugh is staunchly anti-abortion and has no intent of ruling objectively on this issue. When Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, shadily swung her support to Kavanaugh during the hearings, she apparently felt compelled to grandstand dishonestly for the cameras, maybe in deference to the power of the #MeToo movement, considering her stature as a female Senator. Her behavior reeks of a back room deal, after her previous assertions that if Kavanaugh lied he should be disqualified. She helped Republicans by putting a woman’s face on their warped campaign to shame and discredit survivors of sexual assault, thereby aiding Trump’s shitty backlash against #MeToo, and his brain dead catch phrase, “It’s a very scary time for young men in America.” #MeToo is so powerful that people like Susan Collins have to pretend to support it. She said that Kavanaugh would preserve Roe v Wade and legal abortion. Bullshit. “Operation Rescue,” a group working since the ‘80s to “make America abortion free,” and the rest of the extremist anti-woman crowd have all supported Kavanaugh’s nomination right down the line.

The looming abortion showdown is grim news for American women and those who care about them, alright. The notion that there’s some religious or ethical justification behind returning to back-alley amateurs and economically-selective access to these medical procedures is a sleazeball scam. And just for the record, the “religious right” who have supported Trump have completely forfeited all claim on morality, forevermore, end of discussion. Their previous hand-wringing over opposition candidates for sexual scandals, affairs etc.—then their ridiculous postures that “God chose Trump,” and they “weren’t electing a Sunday school teacher,” their transparent indifference to his cheating on all his wives with porn stars, scamming American citizens with rackets like Trump University etc., his history of racist business practices, his shady record of tax fraud and his whole laundry list of decidedly unChristian behavior, in the most basic sense of spirituality and genuine concern for others, which some of our parents actually schooled us about...yeah, those evangelical hucksters are exposed and discredited and can shut their mouths permanently about abortion and everything else. There are people with genuine soul convictions about these issues, but there are also plenty of imposters and their servility to a snake like Trump spotlights their insincerity. Ye shall know ‘em by their fruits, I’ve heard tell.

Of COURSE Trump wanted Kavanaugh on the Court. Kavanaugh has confirmed himself as a “get out of jail free card" should Trump ever be charged with any crime. Not to mention that Trump and Kavanaugh are plainly fellow members of a perverse fraternity we might as well call “The He-Man Woman Haters Club,” with apologies to the Little Rascals. They both have histories of a predatory mindset, insulting attitudes toward women in general (and no, hiring a few females or minorities does not erase acts of bigotry, and none of us fail to understand the concept of “making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, especially by recruiting a small number of people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality”)…and Trump’s recent sideshow of mocking Dr. Ford was one of the most jaw-droppingly ugly little political performances this nation has witnessed in many years. (Excepting other Trump tantrums, of course.) Not so long ago, such a warped demonstration would have dropped like a stone any American politician from favor by both parties, immediately and with extreme prejudice. Not so in today’s world of Trumpian “alternative facts” and low-rent bullying.

Also revisit the whole Justice Kennedy/Deutsch Bank scandal, and put the pieces together. Plenty of in-depth and sobering articles are available on this subject, and the bottom line takeaway is that Russian money and influence indeed are swaying American policy and elections, and the whole thing is directly tied to the slow-moving Republican/Russian takeover of everything from our Supreme Court on down. By all means, don’t take my word for it, but by all means do your own research and do your own thinking. But these topics expand and branch out mighty far. Let’s snap focus back onto Kavanaugh.

******************************** “The politically convenient, scientifically baseless theory that sexual assault so traumatized Christine Blasey Ford she mixed up her attacker is now something like common wisdom for many Republicans… less than three weeks ago, when the mistaken-identity theory was first formulated, it was so widely ridiculed that a pundit who advanced it on Twitter subsequently apologized and offered to resign from his job.” -Avi Selk ********************************

October 5th Dr. Ford cover Illustration by John Mavroudis for TIME. © 2018

Some of Kavanaugh’s defenders have criticized Dr. Ford for being “coached” and otherwise manipulated. I have no doubt she got some advice from lawyers, etc., nor that the timing and presentation of her complaints were orchestrated through Democratic channels. That’s the name of the game in Big Time American Politics, folks. But her testimony was believable and compelling, and she retained adult composure through her emotions (it’s tough to imagine the storm of criticism she would have received from Republicans if she had behaved anything like Kavanaugh.) But the implication that Kavanaugh wasn’t also coached (with a professional eye toward manipulating opinion) is high-grade bullshit, or else a stunning level of naivete. Kavanaugh’s TV appearance in which he portrayed himself as a meek little virgin til long after high school, etc., was harshly disapproved of by Team Trump, and they coached him up with specific instructions for the Senate hearing: their advice was that he needed to unleash his anger. And Kavanaugh ran with the “anger” bit and it got away from him; that much-reported nasty temperament of his glared through the cracks in his public facade, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Kavanaugh’s face...God have mercy. Now in addition to Trump, we have another bitter, hideous visage to haunt our collective dreams. Understand we’re not discussing aesthetics. I’m referring to that old notion that eyes are the windows to the soul, and that intuitive interpretation of facial displays gives us significant information about an individual’s attitude, sense of humor, empathy...or the lack of it. And we were burned by flashes of Kavanaugh’s inner demons during the hearing. Much like Trump, Kavanaugh’s features contorted into a repellent mask of childish temper, ill-mannered impatience and lurking malevolence. It was a freak show that could have taught Hollywood’s monster make-up artists a trick or two. To the extent that Kavanaugh was moved (instructed) to write a quasi-apologetic op-ed piece after the hearing. But we all know what we saw.

During that hearing he raged at those who had questioned his nomination and he hinted not-so-subtly at retribution. He was prodded by White House counsel Don McGahn, who sat directly behind Kavanaugh during the hearing. The whole performance was sickeningly indignant, unashamedly entitled and arrogant, and stunningly partisan in a way that would have disqualified any nominee from previous years—but again, not so in today’s atmosphere of Trumpian distortion and pettiness.

Plenty of us out here recognize Kavanaugh for who he is. We’ve all known “that guy” in our lives; the spoiled, sneering little punkass who talks differently about women as soon as they walk out the door, and who suffers delusions of superiority, and who no one wants to hear any more shit from down at the corner bar.

Kavanaugh’s appointment was questioned or condemned by vast numbers in this country, represented by such organizations as the American Bar Association, Yale Law School, over 2400 Law Professors nationwide, many former classmates and friends, and the National Council of Churches (which represents 100,000 churches and about 45 million churchgoers.) Not to mention the many womens’ groups, the #MeToo movement, etc. Such outright opposition to a nominee for the Supreme Court is extraordinary, and the fact that said opposition was mocked, belittled and outright ignored by the Republicans determined to ram this nomination through come hell or high water—“we’re going to plow right through it,” as Mitch McConnell claimed without shame—yeah, such utter disregard for mass portions of the population is ominous. (And by the way, Trump’s dumbassed claim that Kavanaugh was “proven innocent” indicates a farcical, childish lack of legal comprehension.)

And of course, the meager FBI “investigation” allowed was nothing but a front. The whole circus was rushed and hushed, with zero perceivable interest in knowing the real truth. If team Trump had any interest in uniting the country or in general fairness, they could have trotted out any of a dozen other nominees, all of whom would even have satisfied the wish list of the conservative right, without all the unnecessary baggage. But there are higher priorities for these particular elected officials than fairness or the genuine best interests of the nation.

To pretend Kavanaugh isn’t a partisan shill now planted in the land’s highest court is preposterous belief in “alternative facts” and simplistic hype. The only ones who are fooled by Trump’s blather at this point are those who want to be fooled. His outright nonsense and habitual lies are easily spotted from miles away, but the sad fact is that his supporters don’t give a fuck. They don’t care if he lies, or demeans women or minorities or stirs up international diplomatic firestorms with “shithole countries”-style verbal diarrhea. As Trump himself famously said, he could “shoot somebody and not lose voters.” It’s strangely, sadly true.

It’s also true of Trump’s new handpuppet, Kavanaugh. To whom the idea of “a personality that is even-handed, unbiased, impartial, and dedicated to a process, not a result” in no way applies. Certainly not at this point, after he ranted about “the revenge of the Clintons,” and openly attacked “the Left,” “Democrats” and (for Crissakes) “the media” during his whinefest in front of the US Senate…beyond the pale, folks. We live in a strange new land, in strange new times.

Post-American, by many accounts. The much-revered and much-hated icon of the Left, Michael Moore, predicted Trump’s election in a written article in 2016. The prediction was often reprinted and ballyhooed as campaign-banner fodder by the Far Right. But they missed the warning flash of Moore’s article, and the unnerving prediction: “And now you’re fucked…When the rightfully angry people of Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin find out after a few months in office that President Trump wasn’t going to do a damn thing for them, it will be too late to do anything about it…Goodnight America. You’ve just elected the last president of the United States.”

Pretty dramatic words, but unfortunately the further we sink into the era of the Trump regime, the less incredible such sentiments sound. We’re witnessing an active dismantling and attempted discrediting of institutions ranging from public education to the Free Press. And the schemed attack on the Supreme Court, again, has proven successful for far-righters who don’t give a damn about being even-handed or protecting an independent judiciary.

Trump said that Dr. Ford seemed “a very credible witness”and “very compelling” on one day. Then a few days later he openly mocked her like he was a dimwitted schoolkid. He gushed about what a great man Kavanaugh is, then the next day said, “I don’t even know him!” It’s all topsy-turvy and bizarre, the truth is treated like a curious artifact from a long-dead age, and Trump’s supporters act like it’s all “normal.” But it’s not. And the glimmer of hope is that there are plenty of us out here who understand perfectly well that Emperor Trump ain’t wearing any clothes. We see very clearly what’s happening in this country, the legitimizing of white supremacy, misogyny, homophobia, and bigotry of every stripe. We see you. We see you and know you and so does the whole world, and so will the history books, baby.

“I know Brett Kavanaugh but I wouldn’t confirm him,” wrote Benjamin Wittes, who had previously published and even admired Kavanaugh. “I cannot condone the partisanship—which was raw, undisguised, naked, and conspiratorial—from someone who asks for public faith as a dispassionate and impartial judicial actor. His performance was wholly inconsistent with the conduct we should expect from a member of the judiciary.”

And the message to women in this country, again, is sadly obvious. “Shut the hell up. Because if you ever dare to speak up about this kind of thing again, we will openly ridicule you and no one in power will ever take you seriously.”

******************************************** “Kavanaugh, though, has a distinct honor: He will be the first justice nominated by someone who lost the popular vote to earn his seat on the bench with support from senators representing less than half of the country while having his nomination opposed by a majority of the country.” -Philip Bump *********************************************

CODA: Yeah. The country is divided in a way it hasn’t been since Vietnam. Extremists are multiplying, and they’re nurturing diseases that were seething under the surface for many years before Trump. And indeed, we’re witnessing a perverse resurgence of tolerance for fascism and white supremacism worldwide. But here in America, Trump is the ringmaster of the new Ugliness; his lowering the bar of public discourse, his smug approval of greed and cruelty, his nod-and-a-wink okey-dokes to racism, misogyny and all manner of bigotry—he has legitimized, pardoned and coronated the creeps, the rotten underbelly of our society, the very worst we have to offer.

Let’s vote some of these bastards out in November, folks.

[statetalks]

What If The Republicans Win Everything Again

The Mail Ballot Factor Is A Wild Card

Saagar Enjeti: Trump WON The GOP Civil War, But Can They EVER Win Again?

Early on, California election authorities decided to proactively send mail ballots to all registered voters, just as they did in the pandemic general election of 2020. They can be returned via enclosed postage paid envelopes or dropped off at voting centers on September 14. So, if California Democrats do become motivated to vote, it wont be hard for them to do so. And you do have to wonder if Donald Trumps demonization of mail ballots during and after the 2020 presidential election might still inhibit Republicans from voting that way, even if there remains an option for turning in ballots in person.

Newsom Is Embracing A Risky Message Telling Voters To Ignore The Replacement Race

Without question, the 2003 recall election haunts todays recall opponents. There is a strong belief that Davis lost because his lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, jumped into the replacement race and drew voters into supporting the recall without mustering enough support to beat Schwarzenegger. So, Team Newsom not only kept credible Democrats from running to replace him; theyve also tried to discourage Democratic voters from answering the second question on the ballot about their preference among replacement candidates. As Politico noted recently, this one-and-done messaging may be confusing or even angering the very voters Newsom needs:

Its kind of counterintuitive to forgo your right to vote,;said;Barbara OConnor, director emeritus of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at Sacramento State. Everyone is in a conundrum about what they should do.

What makes the pay-no-attention-to-the-replacement-candidate-behind-the-curtain instruction to Democrats especially confusing is a new round of anti-recall ads attacking replacement front-runner Larry Elder as to the right of Trump. If Elder is so evil, shouldnt Democrats vote for someone else in the field of 45 other candidates, some of whom identify as Democrats? Its unclear.

What If Trump Wins

For many people, the prospect of what might happen if Donald Trump wins a second term is too awful to contemplate. But, as we are witnessing with the coronavirus, not contemplating scenarios that have at least some chance of happening is a grave mistake. Indeed, its a mistake that helped elect Trump in the first place.

Ideally, the press corps would be hard at work exploring this question. Alas, it is not. In the thousands of presidential campaign stories that have been published this year, you will be hard pressed to find much reporting or informed speculation about what policies Trump might pursue if hes reelected, or what the consequences might be if he were successful in enacting them. Thats not because such things arent knowable in advance. If that were the problem, political reporters wouldnt have spent the last six months gaming out which candidates were, say, likely to win which primaries. The real reason campaign journalists dont do this kind of work is that its not what theyre trained to doand, perhaps, its not what most people want to read.;

Read Also: How Many Registered Republicans In Texas

The Gop Would Rather Nation Crumble Than Give Democrats Political Win On Infrastructure

Politics in Washington is full of playacting, but few recent charades have been as absurd as the extended negotiation between Democrats and Republicans over whether they can agree on a bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Now it seems to be approaching its inevitable end: Republicans now say they’ll be making a counteroffer to the latest White House offer, even as everyone tells reporters how poorly negotiations are going.

All of which provides an excellent case study in how the two parties are motivated and constrained by their political incentives, regardless of what they might think about the substantive issue at hand.

Let’s start by considering three possible outcomes of this effort. First, Congress could pass a meaningful infrastructure bill with support from members of both parties. This is what both sides say they want .

Second, Democrats could pass an infrastructure bill with zero Republican votes. This is probably what will end up happening, provided that Sens. Joe Manchin III and Kyrsten Sinema , self-appointed guardians of bipartisan compromise, can be persuaded that the effort to win the support of Republicans was performed with sufficient enthusiasm.

Third, the bill could fail altogether, either because Manchin or Sinema pulls their support, or because a Democratic senator falls ill and can’t vote for it in the 50-50 Senate, or for some other reason.

Bipartisan passage of the bill Democrats-only passage of the bill Failure of the bill

What Motivates The Republican Party

The GOP seems wildly hypocritical and unprincipled, until you understand its guiding idea.

In the fall of 2014, the Obama White House was busy trying to stop the spread of Ebola. The administration sent advisers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assist the afflicted countries health ministries, and it sent troops to West Africa to build emergency hospitals. It began screening people arriving in the United States from at-risk nations. It isolated and treated several American medical personnel who contracted the virus abroad and brought it back home.

Toward the end of his new book, The Imposters, Steve Benen reminds us of what the Republican Party was doing while all of this was happening:

As Election Day neared . . . Kentucky Republican eagerness to exploit public anxieties started to spin out of control. Paul publicly questioned Ebola assessments from the actual experts, blamed political correctness for the Ebola threat, and traveled to battleground states questioning whether Obama administration officials had the basic level of competence necessary to maintain public safety.

He added soon after, describing a hypothetical flight, If this was a plane full of people who were symptomatic, youd be at grave risk of getting Ebola. If a plane takes twelve hours, how do you know if people will become symptomatic or not?

The Impostors:How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politicsby Steve BenenWilliam Morrow, 384 pp.

Ed Kilgore

Read Also: What Is Trump’s Approval Rating Among Republicans

How Far Can A Governor Take Emergency Powers

Republicans have criticized Newsoms use of emergency power during the coronavirus pandemic, saying hes exerted too much control without the usual checks and balances. As the pandemic sidelined normal work in the Legislature last year, Newsom issued as many executive orders in 2020 as his predecessor did in eight years.;

Assemblymember Kevin Kiley a Rocklin Republican now running in the recall election sued Newsom to try to limit his emergency power, but ultimately lost in court. With that ruling that a governor has broad authority to change or rescind laws during an emergency, GOP candidates are now talking about how theyd use such power themselves.

I would not use executive authority to create new laws and new policies, as this governor has, Kiley said in an interview with CalMatters. But I would use it to unwind things that never shouldve been there to begin with.;

Kiley said he would end Newsoms pandemic emergency declaration, which would set the stage for reversing related public health rules, such as the requirement that children wear masks at school and that state employees and health care workers get vaccinated against COVID-19 . Other GOP candidates also pledge to reverse Newsoms mask and vax orders.;;;

But the major Republican recall candidates are talking about using emergency powers for a lot more than the pandemic.;

Kevin Faulconer, the Republican former mayor of San Diego, said he would to speed up prevention efforts to clear trees and brush.;

Republican Party Faces Rage From Both Pro

By Peter Eisler, Chris Kahn, Tim Reid, Simon Lewis, Jarrett Renshaw

13 Min Read

WASHINGTON – After riots at the U.S. Capitol by President Donald Trumps supporters, the Republican Party is facing defections from two camps of voters it cant afford to lose: those saying Trump and his allies went too far in contesting the election of Democrat Joe Biden – and those saying they didnt go far enough, according to new polling and interviews with two dozen voters.

Paul Foster – a 65-year-old house painter in Ellsworth, Maine – is furious at party leaders for refusing to back the presidents claims that the election was stolen with millions of fraudulent votes. The party is going to be totally broken if it abandons Trump, Foster says, predicting Trump loyalists will spin off into a new third party.

I just wish he would run away with his tail between his legs, Cupelo says.

Though Republicans have now lost control of the White House and both houses of Congress in just four years, Trumps base remains a potent electoral force in the party. That base helped him capture more voters some 74 million than any Republican in history. The vast majority of his supporters, including 70% of Republicans, remain loyal, according to new Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted days after last weeks riot at the Capitol, and many activists say theyre willing to abandon the GOP for any perceived slight against their leader.

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Theres Even More Drama On The Horizon

Sparse polling of the recall election has shown a tightening contest on whether or not to remove Newsom. Elder also has a growing lead in the replacement race, though at least one poll has YouTube financial advisor and self-identified Democrat Kevin Paffrath actually topping the field. Team Newsom probably has mixed feelings about future polling, fearing both confirmation of the trend favoring Newsoms removal and less alarming numbers that might let Democrats relax back into complacency and indifference.

The anti-recall effort has the resources to dominate paid advertising down the stretch , but it will need to settle on a consistent message and combat the growing word of mouth among Republicans that this is the moment theyve all been waiting for. Another variable involves the internal dynamics of the replacement race. With no general election on tap , Elders Republican rivals have no reason to hold back from savagely attacking him from one angle as Democrats attack him from the other. If late polls show a rival catching up with the talk-show host, it could have a hard-to-predict effect on turnout or might even vault Paffrath into the governorship should Newsom fall.

What If 19 Alternate Histories Imagining A Very Different World

Caller: Can Republican Party Ever Win Again?

Alternate history, long popular with fiction writers, has also been explored by historians and journalists. Here are some of their intriguing conclusions.

1. What if the South won the Civil War?

Effect: America becomes one nation again in 1960.

Explanation: In a 1960 article published in Look magazine, author and Civil War buff MacKinlay Kantor envisioned a history in which the Confederate forces won the Civil War in 1863, forcing the despised President Lincoln into exile. The Southern forces annex Washington, DC renaming it the District of Dixie. The USA moves its capital to Columbus, Ohio now called ;Columbia but can no longer afford to buy Alaska from the Russians. Texas, unhappy with the new arrangement, declares its independence in 1878. Under international pressure, the Southern states gradually abolish slavery. After fighting together in two world wars, the three nations are reunified in 1960 a century after South Carolinas secession had led to the Civil War in the first place.

2. What if Charles Lindbergh were elected President in 1940?

Effect: America joins the Nazis.

3. What if Hitler successfully invaded Russia?

Effect: The Fuhrer is revered in history as a great leader.

4. What if James Dean had survived his car crash?

Effect: Robert Kennedy survives his assassination attempt.

5. What if President Kennedy had survived the assassination attempt?

Effect: Republicans win every election for the next 30 years.

6. What if Christianity missed the West?

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‘combative Tribal Angry’: Newt Gingrich Set The Stage For Trump Journalist Says

All these factors combined to produce a windfall for Republicans all over the country in the midterms of 1994, but it was a watershed election in the South. For more than a century after Reconstruction, Democrats had held a majority of the governorships and of the Senate and House seats in the South. Even as the region became accustomed to voting Republican for president, this pattern had held at the statewide and congressional levels.

But in November 1994, in a single day, the majority of Southern governorships, Senate seats and House seats shifted to the Republicans. That majority has held ever since, with more legislative seats and local offices shifting to the GOP as well. The South is now the home base of the Republican Party.

The 2020 aftermath

No wonder that in contesting the results in six swing states he lost, Trump seems to have worked hardest on Georgia. If he had won there, he still would have lost the Electoral College decisively. But as the third most populous Southern state, and the only Southern state to change its choice from 2016, it clearly held special significance.

Trump Says Republicans Would Never Be Elected Again If It Was Easier To Vote

President dismissed Democratic-led push for voter reforms amid coronavirus pandemic during Fox & Friends appearance

Donald Trump admitted on Monday that making it easier to vote in America would hurt the Republican party.

The president made the comments as he dismissed a Democratic-led push for reforms such as vote-by-mail, same-day registration and early voting as states seek to safely run elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Democrats had proposed the measures as part of the coronavirus stimulus. They ultimately were not included in the $2.2tn final package, which included only $400m to states to help them run elections.

The things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if youd ever agreed to it, youd never have a Republican elected in this country again, Trump said during an appearance on Fox & Friends. They had things in there about election days and what you do and all sorts of clawbacks. They had things that were just totally crazy and had nothing to do with workers that lost their jobs and companies that we have to save.

I dont want everybody to vote, Paul Weyrich, an influential conservative activist, said in 1980. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.

The urgency of getting election officials those resources should not be lost in the political fighting, said Myrna Perez, director of the Brennan Centers voting rights and elections program.

Also Check: What Do Republicans Think About Healthcare

Reality Check 2: The Fight Is Asymmetricaland Favors The Gop

While Democrats gesture on Twitter at building new systems, Republicans are working the current one with ruthless effectiveness.

The threats to a free and fair election that have emerged since last November are realand require nothing more than the willingness of state legislators to use and abuse the existing tools of government. Arizona, whose two new voting rules were just validated by the Supreme Court, also took the power to litigate election laws away from the Secretary of State and gave the power to the Attorney General. In at least 8 states, Republicans are advancing legislation that would take power away from local or county boards. Many more states are moving to make voting harder. It might be anti-democratic, but it falls well within the rules.

Also within the rules: How McConnell helped build a federal bench almost certain to ratify the power of those legislatures to pass laws far more restrictive than the Arizona rules upheld last week. He creatively eviscerated Senate norms to keep Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court and hand Donald Trump an astonishing three nominations in a single term. And hes recently suggested that, should a Supreme Court vacancy open, hed block even consideration of a Biden nominee if the Republicans take the Senate back in 2022. This is abnormal, anti-democratic and a cynical abuse of powerbut its legal within the existing rules.

The Plausible Solution: Just Win More

Whether the public sees Democratic demands for these structural changes as overdue or overreaching, the key point is that they are currently exercises in futility. The only plausible road to winning their major policy goals is to win by winning. This means politics, not re-engineering. They need to find ways to take down their opponents, and then be smarter about using that power while they have it.

They certainly have issues to campaign on. In the few weeks, we have learned that some of Americas wealthiest people have paid only minimal or no federal income tax at all. Even as the Wall Street Journal editorial writers were responding to a Code Red emergency , the jaw-dropping nature of the reportfollowed by a New York Times piece about the impotence of the IRS to deal with the tax evasions of private equity royaltyconfirmed the folk wisdom of countless bars, diners, and union halls: the wealthy get away with murder.

Of course this is a whole lot easier said than done. A political climate where inflation, crime and immigration are dominant issues has the potential to override good economic news. And 2020 already showed what can happen when a relative handful of voices calling for defunding the police can drown out the broader usage of economic fairness.

Filed Under:

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Can Democrats Avoid A Wipeout In 2022

Bidens plan: Go big or go home.

The good news for Democrats who watched Joe Biden unveil a historically ambitious agenda last night is that newly elected presidents have almost always passed some version of their core economic planparticularly when their party controls both congressional chambers, as Bidens does now.

The bad news: Voters have almost always punished the presidents party in the next midterm election anyway. The last two times Democrats had unified controlwith Bill Clinton in 199394 and Barack Obama in 200910they endured especially resounding repudiations in the midterms, which cost Clinton his majority in both chambers and Obama the loss of the House.

Theres a very different strategy this time, David Price, a Democratic representative from North Carolina and a former political scientist, told me. Theres an openness now to the sense that a bolder plan, ironically, might have greater appeal for independents and others we need to attract than trying to trim and split the difference with Republicans.

There is this recognition of this moment and how fleeting it is, and an evaluation that, absent the trifecta of control, it is very hard to move big policy, said a senior official at one of the partys leading outside advocacy groups, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategizing. So you have to take your shot. I think thats part of what undergirds Go big.

source https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-if-the-republicans-win-everything-again/

[patriotsnet]

What If The Republicans Win Everything Again

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-if-the-republicans-win-everything-again/

What If The Republicans Win Everything Again

The Mail Ballot Factor Is A Wild Card

Saagar Enjeti: Trump WON The GOP Civil War, But Can They EVER Win Again?

Early on, California election authorities decided to proactively send mail ballots to all registered voters, just as they did in the pandemic general election of 2020. They can be returned via enclosed postage paid envelopes or dropped off at voting centers on September 14. So, if California Democrats do become motivated to vote, it wont be hard for them to do so. And you do have to wonder if Donald Trumps demonization of mail ballots during and after the 2020 presidential election might still inhibit Republicans from voting that way, even if there remains an option for turning in ballots in person.

Newsom Is Embracing A Risky Message Telling Voters To Ignore The Replacement Race

Without question, the 2003 recall election haunts todays recall opponents. There is a strong belief that Davis lost because his lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, jumped into the replacement race and drew voters into supporting the recall without mustering enough support to beat Schwarzenegger. So, Team Newsom not only kept credible Democrats from running to replace him; theyve also tried to discourage Democratic voters from answering the second question on the ballot about their preference among replacement candidates. As Politico noted recently, this one-and-done messaging may be confusing or even angering the very voters Newsom needs:

Its kind of counterintuitive to forgo your right to vote,;said;Barbara OConnor, director emeritus of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at Sacramento State. Everyone is in a conundrum about what they should do.

What makes the pay-no-attention-to-the-replacement-candidate-behind-the-curtain instruction to Democrats especially confusing is a new round of anti-recall ads attacking replacement front-runner Larry Elder as to the right of Trump. If Elder is so evil, shouldnt Democrats vote for someone else in the field of 45 other candidates, some of whom identify as Democrats? Its unclear.

What If Trump Wins

For many people, the prospect of what might happen if Donald Trump wins a second term is too awful to contemplate. But, as we are witnessing with the coronavirus, not contemplating scenarios that have at least some chance of happening is a grave mistake. Indeed, its a mistake that helped elect Trump in the first place.

Ideally, the press corps would be hard at work exploring this question. Alas, it is not. In the thousands of presidential campaign stories that have been published this year, you will be hard pressed to find much reporting or informed speculation about what policies Trump might pursue if hes reelected, or what the consequences might be if he were successful in enacting them. Thats not because such things arent knowable in advance. If that were the problem, political reporters wouldnt have spent the last six months gaming out which candidates were, say, likely to win which primaries. The real reason campaign journalists dont do this kind of work is that its not what theyre trained to doand, perhaps, its not what most people want to read.;

Read Also: How Many Registered Republicans In Texas

The Gop Would Rather Nation Crumble Than Give Democrats Political Win On Infrastructure

Politics in Washington is full of playacting, but few recent charades have been as absurd as the extended negotiation between Democrats and Republicans over whether they can agree on a bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Now it seems to be approaching its inevitable end: Republicans now say they’ll be making a counteroffer to the latest White House offer, even as everyone tells reporters how poorly negotiations are going.

All of which provides an excellent case study in how the two parties are motivated and constrained by their political incentives, regardless of what they might think about the substantive issue at hand.

Let’s start by considering three possible outcomes of this effort. First, Congress could pass a meaningful infrastructure bill with support from members of both parties. This is what both sides say they want .

Second, Democrats could pass an infrastructure bill with zero Republican votes. This is probably what will end up happening, provided that Sens. Joe Manchin III and Kyrsten Sinema , self-appointed guardians of bipartisan compromise, can be persuaded that the effort to win the support of Republicans was performed with sufficient enthusiasm.

Third, the bill could fail altogether, either because Manchin or Sinema pulls their support, or because a Democratic senator falls ill and can’t vote for it in the 50-50 Senate, or for some other reason.

Bipartisan passage of the bill

Democrats-only passage of the bill

Failure of the bill

What Motivates The Republican Party

The GOP seems wildly hypocritical and unprincipled, until you understand its guiding idea.

In the fall of 2014, the Obama White House was busy trying to stop the spread of Ebola. The administration sent advisers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assist the afflicted countries health ministries, and it sent troops to West Africa to build emergency hospitals. It began screening people arriving in the United States from at-risk nations. It isolated and treated several American medical personnel who contracted the virus abroad and brought it back home.

Toward the end of his new book, The Imposters, Steve Benen reminds us of what the Republican Party was doing while all of this was happening:

As Election Day neared . . . Kentucky Republican eagerness to exploit public anxieties started to spin out of control. Paul publicly questioned Ebola assessments from the actual experts, blamed political correctness for the Ebola threat, and traveled to battleground states questioning whether Obama administration officials had the basic level of competence necessary to maintain public safety.

He added soon after, describing a hypothetical flight, If this was a plane full of people who were symptomatic, youd be at grave risk of getting Ebola. If a plane takes twelve hours, how do you know if people will become symptomatic or not?

The Impostors:How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politicsby Steve BenenWilliam Morrow, 384 pp.

Ed Kilgore

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How Far Can A Governor Take Emergency Powers

Republicans have criticized Newsoms use of emergency power during the coronavirus pandemic, saying hes exerted too much control without the usual checks and balances. As the pandemic sidelined normal work in the Legislature last year, Newsom issued as many executive orders in 2020 as his predecessor did in eight years.;

Assemblymember Kevin Kiley a Rocklin Republican now running in the recall election sued Newsom to try to limit his emergency power, but ultimately lost in court. With that ruling that a governor has broad authority to change or rescind laws during an emergency, GOP candidates are now talking about how theyd use such power themselves.

I would not use executive authority to create new laws and new policies, as this governor has, Kiley said in an interview with CalMatters. But I would use it to unwind things that never shouldve been there to begin with.;

Kiley said he would end Newsoms pandemic emergency declaration, which would set the stage for reversing related public health rules, such as the requirement that children wear masks at school and that state employees and health care workers get vaccinated against COVID-19 . Other GOP candidates also pledge to reverse Newsoms mask and vax orders.;;;

But the major Republican recall candidates are talking about using emergency powers for a lot more than the pandemic.;

Kevin Faulconer, the Republican former mayor of San Diego, said he would to speed up prevention efforts to clear trees and brush.;

Republican Party Faces Rage From Both Pro

By Peter Eisler, Chris Kahn, Tim Reid, Simon Lewis, Jarrett Renshaw

13 Min Read

WASHINGTON – After riots at the U.S. Capitol by President Donald Trumps supporters, the Republican Party is facing defections from two camps of voters it cant afford to lose: those saying Trump and his allies went too far in contesting the election of Democrat Joe Biden – and those saying they didnt go far enough, according to new polling and interviews with two dozen voters.

Paul Foster – a 65-year-old house painter in Ellsworth, Maine – is furious at party leaders for refusing to back the presidents claims that the election was stolen with millions of fraudulent votes. The party is going to be totally broken if it abandons Trump, Foster says, predicting Trump loyalists will spin off into a new third party.

I just wish he would run away with his tail between his legs, Cupelo says.

Though Republicans have now lost control of the White House and both houses of Congress in just four years, Trumps base remains a potent electoral force in the party. That base helped him capture more voters some 74 million than any Republican in history. The vast majority of his supporters, including 70% of Republicans, remain loyal, according to new Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted days after last weeks riot at the Capitol, and many activists say theyre willing to abandon the GOP for any perceived slight against their leader.

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Theres Even More Drama On The Horizon

Sparse polling of the recall election has shown a tightening contest on whether or not to remove Newsom. Elder also has a growing lead in the replacement race, though at least one poll has YouTube financial advisor and self-identified Democrat Kevin Paffrath actually topping the field. Team Newsom probably has mixed feelings about future polling, fearing both confirmation of the trend favoring Newsoms removal and less alarming numbers that might let Democrats relax back into complacency and indifference.

The anti-recall effort has the resources to dominate paid advertising down the stretch , but it will need to settle on a consistent message and combat the growing word of mouth among Republicans that this is the moment theyve all been waiting for. Another variable involves the internal dynamics of the replacement race. With no general election on tap , Elders Republican rivals have no reason to hold back from savagely attacking him from one angle as Democrats attack him from the other. If late polls show a rival catching up with the talk-show host, it could have a hard-to-predict effect on turnout or might even vault Paffrath into the governorship should Newsom fall.

What If 19 Alternate Histories Imagining A Very Different World

Caller: Can Republican Party Ever Win Again?

Alternate history, long popular with fiction writers, has also been explored by historians and journalists. Here are some of their intriguing conclusions.

1. What if the South won the Civil War?

Effect: America becomes one nation again in 1960.

Explanation: In a 1960 article published in Look magazine, author and Civil War buff MacKinlay Kantor envisioned a history in which the Confederate forces won the Civil War in 1863, forcing the despised President Lincoln into exile. The Southern forces annex Washington, DC renaming it the District of Dixie. The USA moves its capital to Columbus, Ohio now called ;Columbia but can no longer afford to buy Alaska from the Russians. Texas, unhappy with the new arrangement, declares its independence in 1878. Under international pressure, the Southern states gradually abolish slavery. After fighting together in two world wars, the three nations are reunified in 1960 a century after South Carolinas secession had led to the Civil War in the first place.

2. What if Charles Lindbergh were elected President in 1940?

Effect: America joins the Nazis.

3. What if Hitler successfully invaded Russia?

Effect: The Fuhrer is revered in history as a great leader.

4. What if James Dean had survived his car crash?

Effect: Robert Kennedy survives his assassination attempt.

5. What if President Kennedy had survived the assassination attempt?

Effect: Republicans win every election for the next 30 years.

6. What if Christianity missed the West?

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‘combative Tribal Angry’: Newt Gingrich Set The Stage For Trump Journalist Says

All these factors combined to produce a windfall for Republicans all over the country in the midterms of 1994, but it was a watershed election in the South. For more than a century after Reconstruction, Democrats had held a majority of the governorships and of the Senate and House seats in the South. Even as the region became accustomed to voting Republican for president, this pattern had held at the statewide and congressional levels.

But in November 1994, in a single day, the majority of Southern governorships, Senate seats and House seats shifted to the Republicans. That majority has held ever since, with more legislative seats and local offices shifting to the GOP as well. The South is now the home base of the Republican Party.

The 2020 aftermath

No wonder that in contesting the results in six swing states he lost, Trump seems to have worked hardest on Georgia. If he had won there, he still would have lost the Electoral College decisively. But as the third most populous Southern state, and the only Southern state to change its choice from 2016, it clearly held special significance.

Trump Says Republicans Would Never Be Elected Again If It Was Easier To Vote

President dismissed Democratic-led push for voter reforms amid coronavirus pandemic during Fox & Friends appearance

Donald Trump admitted on Monday that making it easier to vote in America would hurt the Republican party.

The president made the comments as he dismissed a Democratic-led push for reforms such as vote-by-mail, same-day registration and early voting as states seek to safely run elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Democrats had proposed the measures as part of the coronavirus stimulus. They ultimately were not included in the $2.2tn final package, which included only $400m to states to help them run elections.

The things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if youd ever agreed to it, youd never have a Republican elected in this country again, Trump said during an appearance on Fox & Friends. They had things in there about election days and what you do and all sorts of clawbacks. They had things that were just totally crazy and had nothing to do with workers that lost their jobs and companies that we have to save.

I dont want everybody to vote, Paul Weyrich, an influential conservative activist, said in 1980. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.

The urgency of getting election officials those resources should not be lost in the political fighting, said Myrna Perez, director of the Brennan Centers voting rights and elections program.

Also Check: What Do Republicans Think About Healthcare

Reality Check 2: The Fight Is Asymmetricaland Favors The Gop

While Democrats gesture on Twitter at building new systems, Republicans are working the current one with ruthless effectiveness.

The threats to a free and fair election that have emerged since last November are realand require nothing more than the willingness of state legislators to use and abuse the existing tools of government. Arizona, whose two new voting rules were just validated by the Supreme Court, also took the power to litigate election laws away from the Secretary of State and gave the power to the Attorney General. In at least 8 states, Republicans are advancing legislation that would take power away from local or county boards. Many more states are moving to make voting harder. It might be anti-democratic, but it falls well within the rules.

Also within the rules: How McConnell helped build a federal bench almost certain to ratify the power of those legislatures to pass laws far more restrictive than the Arizona rules upheld last week. He creatively eviscerated Senate norms to keep Merrick Garland off the Supreme Court and hand Donald Trump an astonishing three nominations in a single term. And hes recently suggested that, should a Supreme Court vacancy open, hed block even consideration of a Biden nominee if the Republicans take the Senate back in 2022. This is abnormal, anti-democratic and a cynical abuse of powerbut its legal within the existing rules.

The Plausible Solution: Just Win More

Whether the public sees Democratic demands for these structural changes as overdue or overreaching, the key point is that they are currently exercises in futility. The only plausible road to winning their major policy goals is to win by winning. This means politics, not re-engineering. They need to find ways to take down their opponents, and then be smarter about using that power while they have it.

They certainly have issues to campaign on. In the few weeks, we have learned that some of Americas wealthiest people have paid only minimal or no federal income tax at all. Even as the Wall Street Journal editorial writers were responding to a Code Red emergency , the jaw-dropping nature of the reportfollowed by a New York Times piece about the impotence of the IRS to deal with the tax evasions of private equity royaltyconfirmed the folk wisdom of countless bars, diners, and union halls: the wealthy get away with murder.

Of course this is a whole lot easier said than done. A political climate where inflation, crime and immigration are dominant issues has the potential to override good economic news. And 2020 already showed what can happen when a relative handful of voices calling for defunding the police can drown out the broader usage of economic fairness.

Filed Under:

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Can Democrats Avoid A Wipeout In 2022

Bidens plan: Go big or go home.

The good news for Democrats who watched Joe Biden unveil a historically ambitious agenda last night is that newly elected presidents have almost always passed some version of their core economic planparticularly when their party controls both congressional chambers, as Bidens does now.

The bad news: Voters have almost always punished the presidents party in the next midterm election anyway. The last two times Democrats had unified controlwith Bill Clinton in 199394 and Barack Obama in 200910they endured especially resounding repudiations in the midterms, which cost Clinton his majority in both chambers and Obama the loss of the House.

Theres a very different strategy this time, David Price, a Democratic representative from North Carolina and a former political scientist, told me. Theres an openness now to the sense that a bolder plan, ironically, might have greater appeal for independents and others we need to attract than trying to trim and split the difference with Republicans.

There is this recognition of this moment and how fleeting it is, and an evaluation that, absent the trifecta of control, it is very hard to move big policy, said a senior official at one of the partys leading outside advocacy groups, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategizing. So you have to take your shot. I think thats part of what undergirds Go big.

[pepperoniwhirlwind]

~Honesty Hour~

     I was asked by @lovelynhiddenkittens to do all 150 questions in the Honesty Hour tag! 😮 Thank you, lovely and curious stranger~! 😆 But since that’s a lot for one post, I’ll break it up into chunks of 50 questions so it’s easier for all my blogging buddies to digest. 😊 Starting... now! 😝

1. Who was the last person you held hands with?      That would have to be Alex. He was warming my hand for me because it was ice cold. Though he doesn’t know that’s because I intentionally held my super cold drink for a really long time with that hand, then casually mentioned how cold my hand was so he’d try to warm it... >//> Introverts are sneaky flirts, what can I say? 😆😏

2. Are you outgoing or shy?      Shy, definitely. Though there are alters in the system much more outgoing than me.

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing?      Tyler! 😄 I’ve been staying over at her apartment every weekend this past summer, and always enjoy our movie and gaming marathons. 😝

4. Are you easy to get along with?      I think so. I’m not very easily angered, a pacifist at heart, and a people-pleaser at my core. 😂 So it’s pretty hard not to get along with me.

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you?

     I don’t know, Alex is a sweetheart so he’d probably help, and Tyler cares but she doesn’t do bodily fluids. 😆 So, it depends. And considering I’ve never been drunk, and seem to have too high a tolerance to get drunk without having to rob a bank to fund the sheer volume of alcohol needed, I doubt this problem will ever arise. 👌

6. What kind of people are you attracted to?

     Kind and funny people. 😊

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now?

     I have no idea, but I won’t rule it out. Alex has kinda been cute and flirty towards me lately, so maaaybe~? >//>

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind?

     Uh, well, the subject of the last question was Alex, so, him. 😆

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?

     A wee bit, yes. 😅 I put up a good facade though, but being asexual, sex is kinda... bleeehhh~ for me. e~e

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with?

     That would have to be Tyler. :3 She’s my bestie from my ASL classes~ 💜 We have a looot in common, so we talk for hours at a time, in between movie and game marathons that is. 😆

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say?

     Context: I was spamming Tyler gifs of adorable animals earlier today.

     The Text: “Aaand now I gotta get ready for therapy, so this shall be the crowning gif of adorable goodness!”

     Followed by a gif of two golden retrievers fighting over a tennis ball, with a third retriever (being shoved into the frame by a fourth, offscreen, retriever) resting his head on the two dogs feuding over the aforementioned tennis ball. 💖

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?

     This is rather hard... so I’ll just list the songs that I listen to on repeat a lot.

     1. “The Cure” by Lady Gaga

     2. “Insomnia” by IAMX

     3. “Middle of the Bed” by Lucy Rose

     4. “All the Rage” by Allie X

     5. “Wires” by The Neighbourhood

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair?

     Yes. No. Kinda? It depends... If I’ve just had a shower and my hair is clean, I love it. ^w^ But if it’s been a bit and my hair isn’t all that clean I just feel embarrassed if people touch my hair. e~e

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles?

     Ehhh... Depends which alter you ask really. Me, personally? Not so much. My family has always told me our family line is cursed to have bad luck, so if I believed in such things, I guess I’m doomed. 😂

15. What good thing happened this summer?

     I’ve started working on myself and my social life, strengthening friendships irl and online, or, at least attempting to. 😅 Sometimes I’m just bad at not isolating. But this past summer I’ve been spending basically every weekend at my friend Tyler’s apartment and hanging out with her core group of friends. It’s been a nice break from the chaos of the school semester. 😊

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

     Well, considering she’s on the other side of the country back in my home state, probably not. She was a lovely first kiss, but I’ll leave it at that. 🤭

17. Do you think there is life on other planets?

     With how many planets there are in the galaxy; the universe? Not to mention how many planets within The Goldilocks Zone that share a similar atmosphere to earth within the observable universe alone... How could I not think other life exists? At the very least, in some kind of bacterial form, though, I dare to dream a little bigger. ✨

18. Do you still talk to your first crush?

     Well, I’ve never really had a crush, per se, though plenty of squishes. :3 But my first squish did not turn out well, so, no. :c

19. Do you like bubble baths?

     Yes, especially if I go all out and light candles and play music on my phone. 🕯️🎶😌 However, I don’t do that very often. I take showers mostly.

20. Do you like your neighbors?

     Yeah, they’re chill people. The neighbors with the overly-territorial pitbull that kept us prisoner in our car for hours and broke into our fenced-in backyard to take massive doggie dumps out of sheer hatred for us moved away because their dog kept terrorizing the neighbourhood and was going to get put down if it didn’t stop breaking out to chase children on trikes and joggers onto rooftops. So, the neighbors we have now are awesome! 😆

21. What are your bad habits?

     Sometimes I’m too honest and don’t know when to stop talking, other times I’m so socially anxious I might as well be a feature of the wall at parties. 😂 I also have trichotillomania, a compulsive disorder related to OCD, in which I get really strong urges to pull out my hair sometimes, so definitely a bad habit... Just talking about it kinda... ehhhh... moving on. e~e

22. Where would you like to travel?

     A lot of places. Though Scotland is at the top of my list. Scotland is a huge part of my family’s heritage, and some of my family still lives there. So I would love to visit and spend some time in nature there~  💕

23. Do you have trust issues?

     Yes.

24. Favorite part of your daily routine?

     Well, anytime I get to de-stress is nice. I know wiping down my face with a face wipe always feels nice and refreshing after a day out running errands and attending classes. It’s the little things that are the most help~ 😊

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with?

     All of it. If I could edit my body, that would be nice.

26. What do you do when you wake up?

     Hit snooze on the alarm a couple times, get up, walk to the bathroom... you can imagine the rest.

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker?

     Nope, I’m quite happy with my vampire pale skin, and even my dirty blonde, curly lion’s mane of hair, and my blue eyes ain’t so bad either. I’m not completely hideous, just 97% hideous. 👌😂

28. Who are you most comfortable around?

     Myself. My alters. Tyler. Alex. My Tumblr fam~ 💞

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up?

     No, because I usually cut them out of my life after they break my heart. Some have tried to stay friends with me or become friends with me again years later, but... no. I don’t need backstabbers in my life.

30. Do you ever want to get married?

     Maybe, someday. When the time is right, I’ll know, until then, I’ll enjoy my singledom~ :3

31. Is your hair long enough for a ponytail?

     Yes, it’s in a ponytail right now actually. 😆

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with?

     NONE.

33. Spell your name with your chin.

     gtlo nhy (Oh gawd... What a name. 😂)

34. Do you play sports? What sports?

     Mi-Suk used to play on tennis and basketball teams, but our spine is a little too deteriorated nowadays to attempt such things.

35. Would you rather live without TV or music?

     Without TV, hands down. I’d die without music. I bleed music.

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them?

     Yep. I had a bit of a squish on this kid named Travis in elementary school and never told him. My frenemy told him I had a crush on him, and he never talked to me after that. 😭

37. What do you say during awkward silences?

     I either make a joke or just enjoy the silence. Depends what mood I’m in. Sometimes I’m more introverted and just want to sit in silence or listen to music instead of talk. Other times I just wanna connect with people and I tend to crack a lot of darker, self-deprecating jokes as a way to break the ice, or tension if I feel some.

38. Describe your dream girl/guy?

     I want someone who is genuinely kind, patient, and funny. It also helps if they are neurodivergent like me, and have similar enough interests, sense of humor, etc. to my own. c: Overall, I just want to feel comfortable and safe with someone. 😊

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in?

     I buy food at Fry’s... so... Fry’s?

40. What do you want to do after high school?

     I’m already out of high school, bub. Now I’m in college, and I still have no idea. I have dream jobs, dream homes, dream lives. But none of them seem realistic.

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?

     Depends on the crime, really. If I hired someone to babysit my hypothetical children, and they forgot to tell the children to clean up their toys, I believe a second chance is in order. If they, however, ditched the job to mack on Paul Puffy Lips next door, leaving my children to starve, I don’t believe I’ll be giving them another call.

42. If you’re being extremely quiet what does it mean?

     It means I’m probably really socially anxious at the moment and would prefer to not be made the center of attention. o~o’

43. Do you smile at strangers?

     Yes, sometimes to spread cheer and joy, other times because I’m worried they’ll think I’m an up-to-no-good deviant or zombified by depression, which is how I feel at least 80% of the time, and worry everyone notices, even strangers, who probably would not assume such things, but that’s social anxiety for you. 😂

44. A trip to outer space or the bottom of the ocean?

     Why not both? However, humans are so preoccupied with space that we’ve only explored 5% of our oceans. I don’t want the oceans to feel lonely, so I’ll visit them first. 💙

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?

     Sometimes the looming responsibilities in my life, other times I just don’t get out of bed. 

46. What are you paranoid about?

     A lot of things, but the most pressing concern of mine is that everyone will inevitably leave me because I’m a terrible, horrible human being who doesn’t deserve friendship. 😅

47. Have you ever been high?

     Every day, if I can help it. I have a medical marijuana card and have for a couple years now.

48. Have you ever been drunk?

     No.

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about?

     No, not really. Nothing is coming to mind. 

50. What was the color of the last hoodie you wore?

     Well, I’m wearing a hoodie now, and it’s gray, with the Nirvana emblem on the front. 😝 It’s my favorite and coziest hoodie of all.

[courtneytincher]

Trump Is Coming for Europe’s Most Important Alliance

(Bloomberg) -- In the end, they papered over the cracks.After months of increasingly acrimonious sniping, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel set aside some of their differences last month, pushing through a deal on the next head of the European Commission. The rapprochement arrived just in time, with Donald Trump coming to Europe this week for the Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France.The U.S. president has a knack for finding the pressure points in the Franco-German relationship and has been looking to drive a wedge between the two leaders as he turns his focus toward the U.S.’s terms of trade with Europe. “Trade is a risk in their relationship,” said Enrico Letta, the former Italian prime minister who has worked with both Merkel and Macron. “France as a country has protectionist tendencies. Germany relies far more on industrial exports, and is keen to defend them. It’s another asymmetrical situation.” European Union diplomats fear that once Trump has rammed through a trade deal with China, he will turn his attention to Europe. While trade isn’t on the G-7 agenda, it’ll come up in one-on-one meetings if the president’s recent rhetoric is any guide. At a fundraiser in the Hamptons this month, Trump raised the prospect of imposing 100% tariffs on French wine, according to two people familiar with the conversation. The U.S. Trade Representative is also completing a probe into a French tax on internet giants like Google and Facebook that could pave the way for retaliatory tariffs, while the EU is braced for the World Trade Organization to give a green light for U.S. tariffs on up to $7 billion of EU goods after a ruling on illegal aircraft subsidies.“The European Union is worse than China, just smaller,” Trump said at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, last week. “It treats us horribly: barriers, tariffs, taxes—and we let them come in.”The prospect of a fully blown trade war is already sowing distrust between Berlin and Paris. The problem is that Trump’s demands are causing most resistance in France, and he’s mainly threatening punishment for Germany. The U.S. wants more access to Europe’s agricultural markets—a red line for the French—and the president is mulling tariffs on cars, the backbone of the German economy, unless he gets it. So Merkel’s aides are watching the French president nervously.German officials already feel that Macron has been playing a double game on trade. France, along with its allies, persuaded Germany to keep agriculture out of the EU’s trade talks with the U.S. in April but still cast a symbolic vote against opening trade talks.  Such a blatant sop to rural voters at home on an issue so vital to Germany greatly annoyed Merkel. She’s not convinced she can rely on Macron on trade, according to a person familiar with her thinking.The policy differences mirror the contrasting backgrounds of the two leaders. One is the 65-year-old daughter of a pastor who grew up in communist East Germany, the other a child prodigy who was writing plays at age 15. She’s cautious, he moves fast. He likes grand declarations, she works behind the scenes. At the October 2017 Frankfurt book fair, Macron gave a sweeping talk about the French 20th century philosopher Paul Ricoeur. When he was done, Merkel said “I didn’t understand what you said, but it sounded so beautiful.” She then launched into a discussion of the intricacies of German copyright rules.And yet when Macron came to power it looked at first like they might strike up a truly effective partnership—the previous three occupants of the Elysee Palace had failed to deliver the sort of reforms Germany has been hoping for. When Macron tried to answer politely, Trump cut him off and called her a “loser,” according to a diplomat presentMacron promised a long-overdue modernization of the French economy and, in exchange, he bet that Merkel would persuade German skeptics to accept greater financial integration of the euro zone. Both sides quickly wound up disappointed. Macron’s advisers say he hoped Merkel would show greater courage after more than a decade in power. But they also recognize both sides were unlucky with the timing. Germany’s inconclusive September 2017 elections touched off months of political gridlock and eventually left the chancellor’s hands tied by hardliners in her party leery of Macron’s proposals. Into this increasingly frustrating relationship, stepped Trump. At a White House meeting during Macron’s state visit in April 2018, Trump began with a tirade about German trading practices and then asked Macron what he thought of Merkel. When Macron tried to answer politely, Trump cut him off and called her a “loser,” according to a diplomat present.Trump’s monologues, sometimes premised on basic factual errors, can leave Macron lost for words, the diplomat said. But the president’s reading of the big picture can make a lot of sense all the same, he added.Macron’s relationship with Trump has deteriorated since then, and he’s stood firm with Merkel on both Iran and climate. But the French leader has also shown that he’s prepared to exploit the same pressure points as Trump and on occasion to leave Merkel isolated when she stands up to the U.S. A month after that White House encounter, Macron delivered his harshest rebuke yet to Merkel. Invited to Aachen, Germany, to receive an award for serving European integration, Macron lectured an audience including the chancellor for obstructing his plans, even echoing Trump’s critique of the Berlin government.  “Germany can’t have a perpetual fetish about budget and trade surpluses, because they come at the expense of others,” he said. When Germany blocked arms exports to Saudi Arabia last year after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Macron, like Trump, sought to shield his relationship with the Saudi regime and dismissed Merkel’s stance as “demagoguery.” That fight put a question mark over French-German plans to jointly develop tanks and a fighter plane.Macron even threw a spanner in the works of German plans for a new gas pipeline to Russia, a project that enrages Trump. Officials in Berlin were furious when France persuaded the EU to demand greater regulatory oversight of the North Stream 2, labelling it a threat to German interests. A compromise was found, but the bad taste remained. The Germans’ anger flared up again in May when Macron shot down their candidate to head the European Commission. Manfred Weber was the head of the biggest group in the EU parliament, a party ally of the chancellor, and officially the winner of the EU elections. But Macron demolished his credentials at a dinner in front of EU leaders. Merkel herself had been lukewarm about Weber, and acknowledged his inexperience. But the German camp saw Macron’s move not just as a European power play, but an attack on the European party system that has been a key element in their influence.  What followed was like a replay of the all night crisis summits of 2015 with an added element of farce. The 28 EU leaders were called back to Brussels for endless negotiations, though this time it wasn’t the fate of the euro that was at stake, just the identity of the bloc’s top bureaucrat. Macron settled the crisis with a call to the chancellor, proposing German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen as a compromise candidate who could win broad support. Macron describes their jousting as “productive confrontation.” Merkel accepts that they have “differences in mentality.” People who know them say they aren’t close, but manage to work together.Their alliance has been fundamental to reining in the U.S. leader at previous G-7 meetings. They were at the center of the push that persuaded Trump to sign the communique at last year’s summit in Canada, even if he then ripped it up on the plane home. And any tensions this weekend could compromise efforts to wring concessions from the U.S. this weekend. As Air Force One begins its descent into Biarritz on Saturday, both will know the relationship is in for another stress test. \--With assistance from Jennifer Jacobs, Arne Delfs, Shawn Donnan and David Wainer.To contact the author of this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines

(Bloomberg) -- In the end, they papered over the cracks.After months of increasingly acrimonious sniping, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel set aside some of their differences last month, pushing through a deal on the next head of the European Commission. The rapprochement arrived just in time, with Donald Trump coming to Europe this week for the Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France.The U.S. president has a knack for finding the pressure points in the Franco-German relationship and has been looking to drive a wedge between the two leaders as he turns his focus toward the U.S.’s terms of trade with Europe. “Trade is a risk in their relationship,” said Enrico Letta, the former Italian prime minister who has worked with both Merkel and Macron. “France as a country has protectionist tendencies. Germany relies far more on industrial exports, and is keen to defend them. It’s another asymmetrical situation.” European Union diplomats fear that once Trump has rammed through a trade deal with China, he will turn his attention to Europe. While trade isn’t on the G-7 agenda, it’ll come up in one-on-one meetings if the president’s recent rhetoric is any guide. At a fundraiser in the Hamptons this month, Trump raised the prospect of imposing 100% tariffs on French wine, according to two people familiar with the conversation. The U.S. Trade Representative is also completing a probe into a French tax on internet giants like Google and Facebook that could pave the way for retaliatory tariffs, while the EU is braced for the World Trade Organization to give a green light for U.S. tariffs on up to $7 billion of EU goods after a ruling on illegal aircraft subsidies.“The European Union is worse than China, just smaller,” Trump said at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, last week. “It treats us horribly: barriers, tariffs, taxes—and we let them come in.”The prospect of a fully blown trade war is already sowing distrust between Berlin and Paris. The problem is that Trump’s demands are causing most resistance in France, and he’s mainly threatening punishment for Germany. The U.S. wants more access to Europe’s agricultural markets—a red line for the French—and the president is mulling tariffs on cars, the backbone of the German economy, unless he gets it. So Merkel’s aides are watching the French president nervously.German officials already feel that Macron has been playing a double game on trade. France, along with its allies, persuaded Germany to keep agriculture out of the EU’s trade talks with the U.S. in April but still cast a symbolic vote against opening trade talks.  Such a blatant sop to rural voters at home on an issue so vital to Germany greatly annoyed Merkel. She’s not convinced she can rely on Macron on trade, according to a person familiar with her thinking.The policy differences mirror the contrasting backgrounds of the two leaders. One is the 65-year-old daughter of a pastor who grew up in communist East Germany, the other a child prodigy who was writing plays at age 15. She’s cautious, he moves fast. He likes grand declarations, she works behind the scenes. At the October 2017 Frankfurt book fair, Macron gave a sweeping talk about the French 20th century philosopher Paul Ricoeur. When he was done, Merkel said “I didn’t understand what you said, but it sounded so beautiful.” She then launched into a discussion of the intricacies of German copyright rules.And yet when Macron came to power it looked at first like they might strike up a truly effective partnership—the previous three occupants of the Elysee Palace had failed to deliver the sort of reforms Germany has been hoping for. When Macron tried to answer politely, Trump cut him off and called her a “loser,” according to a diplomat presentMacron promised a long-overdue modernization of the French economy and, in exchange, he bet that Merkel would persuade German skeptics to accept greater financial integration of the euro zone. Both sides quickly wound up disappointed. Macron’s advisers say he hoped Merkel would show greater courage after more than a decade in power. But they also recognize both sides were unlucky with the timing. Germany’s inconclusive September 2017 elections touched off months of political gridlock and eventually left the chancellor’s hands tied by hardliners in her party leery of Macron’s proposals. Into this increasingly frustrating relationship, stepped Trump. At a White House meeting during Macron’s state visit in April 2018, Trump began with a tirade about German trading practices and then asked Macron what he thought of Merkel. When Macron tried to answer politely, Trump cut him off and called her a “loser,” according to a diplomat present.Trump’s monologues, sometimes premised on basic factual errors, can leave Macron lost for words, the diplomat said. But the president’s reading of the big picture can make a lot of sense all the same, he added.Macron’s relationship with Trump has deteriorated since then, and he’s stood firm with Merkel on both Iran and climate. But the French leader has also shown that he’s prepared to exploit the same pressure points as Trump and on occasion to leave Merkel isolated when she stands up to the U.S. A month after that White House encounter, Macron delivered his harshest rebuke yet to Merkel. Invited to Aachen, Germany, to receive an award for serving European integration, Macron lectured an audience including the chancellor for obstructing his plans, even echoing Trump’s critique of the Berlin government.  “Germany can’t have a perpetual fetish about budget and trade surpluses, because they come at the expense of others,” he said. When Germany blocked arms exports to Saudi Arabia last year after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Macron, like Trump, sought to shield his relationship with the Saudi regime and dismissed Merkel’s stance as “demagoguery.” That fight put a question mark over French-German plans to jointly develop tanks and a fighter plane.Macron even threw a spanner in the works of German plans for a new gas pipeline to Russia, a project that enrages Trump. Officials in Berlin were furious when France persuaded the EU to demand greater regulatory oversight of the North Stream 2, labelling it a threat to German interests. A compromise was found, but the bad taste remained. The Germans’ anger flared up again in May when Macron shot down their candidate to head the European Commission. Manfred Weber was the head of the biggest group in the EU parliament, a party ally of the chancellor, and officially the winner of the EU elections. But Macron demolished his credentials at a dinner in front of EU leaders. Merkel herself had been lukewarm about Weber, and acknowledged his inexperience. But the German camp saw Macron’s move not just as a European power play, but an attack on the European party system that has been a key element in their influence.  What followed was like a replay of the all night crisis summits of 2015 with an added element of farce. The 28 EU leaders were called back to Brussels for endless negotiations, though this time it wasn’t the fate of the euro that was at stake, just the identity of the bloc’s top bureaucrat. Macron settled the crisis with a call to the chancellor, proposing German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen as a compromise candidate who could win broad support. Macron describes their jousting as “productive confrontation.” Merkel accepts that they have “differences in mentality.” People who know them say they aren’t close, but manage to work together.Their alliance has been fundamental to reining in the U.S. leader at previous G-7 meetings. They were at the center of the push that persuaded Trump to sign the communique at last year’s summit in Canada, even if he then ripped it up on the plane home. And any tensions this weekend could compromise efforts to wring concessions from the U.S. this weekend. As Air Force One begins its descent into Biarritz on Saturday, both will know the relationship is in for another stress test. \--With assistance from Jennifer Jacobs, Arne Delfs, Shawn Donnan and David Wainer.To contact the author of this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

August 20, 2019 at 05:00AM via IFTTT

[arrowreport7-blog]

White House revokes CNN reporter Jim Acosta's press credentials after Trump's post-election press conference

WASHINGTON --

As Washington came to grips with its new divided reality, President Donald Trump on Wednesday reveled in his party's Senate victories, mocked members of his own party who lost after not seeking his support and even suggested he may be able to govern more effectively after losing a chamber of Congress.

Trump faces the prospect, starting early next year, of endless investigations after Democrats formally take control of the House, along with stymied policy efforts and fresh questions about the resilience of his unorthodox political coalition. Still, he celebrated Republicans' success in retaining the Senate and seemed to blame losing GOP candidates for distancing themselves from him and his unorthodox methods.

He took an unabashed victory lap and, despite the split decision, declaring in a free-wheeling, combative, 90-minute White House news conference that "I thought it was very close to complete victory." He also belittled the number of high-profile Democrats, including his predecessor, who crisscrossed the nation to support their candidates, while suggesting that he alone was responsible for the Republican triumphs.

"I only had me. I didn't have anybody else," Trump said.

But the White House news conference was also quickly overtaken by Trump's ongoing attacks on the media, as the president repeatedly flashed his temper as he insulted several reporters by name, interrupted their questions, ordered some to sit down and deemed one inquiry "racist."

WATCH: CNN's Jim Acosta, woman struggle for mic at Trump press conference

Trump sparred with CNN Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta, who asked him questions about the migrant caravan headed for the U.S. and the Russia investigation.

"That's enough, put down the mic," Trump said to Acosta, as he tried to ask more questions. Acosta struggled with a woman in a maroon dress tried to take the microphone from him. She eventually succeeded and handed it to another reporter.

"CNN should be ashamed of itself, having you working for them. You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn't be working for CNN."

Acosta tweeted just before 8 p.m. Eastern Time that Secret Service denied him entry to the White House grounds for his live shot.

Press Secretary Sarah Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of physically assaulting a White House intern and saying his press credentials had been revoked until further notice.

"President Trump believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his Administration. We will, however, never tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable," Sanders wrote in the statement.

The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. "Pardon me, ma'am," he told her.

Acosta tweeted that Sanders' statement that he put his hands on the aide was "a lie."

The post-midterm election news conference marked a new low in the president's relationship with journalists.

"It's such a hostile media," Trump said after ordering reporter April Ryan of the American Urban Radio Networks to sit down when she tried to ask him a question.

The president complained that the media did not cover the humming economy and was responsible for much of the country's divided politics. He said, "I can do something fantastic, and they make it look not good."

His exchanges with CNN's Acosta and NBC News' Peter Alexander turned bitterly personal, unusual even for a forum where the nature of their jobs often put presidents and the press at odds.

"I came in here as a nice person wanting to answer questions, and I had people jumping out of their seats screaming questions at me," said Trump, who talked for nearly 90 minutes despite the run-ins with reporters.

Acosta asked Trump why the caravan of migrants was emphasized as an issue in the just-concluded midterm races. Acosta questioned Trump's reference to the caravan as an invasion, and Trump defended the term.

"You should let me run the country," Trump said. "You run CNN and if you did it well, your ratings would be much better."

After Acosta asked about the investigation of Russia's involvement in the 2016 election, Trump tried to turn to Alexander, but Acosta continued to ask questions.

"CNN should be ashamed of itself having you work for them," the president said to Acosta. "You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn't be working for CNN. The way you treat Sarah Sanders is horrible. The way you treat other people is horrible. You shouldn't treat people that way."

Alexander came to his colleague's defense. "I've traveled with him and watched him," Alexander said. "He's a diligent reporter who busts his butt like the rest of us."

"I'm not a big fan of yours, either," Trump replied.

"I understand," Alexander said, attempting to ask a question. Acosta stood back up and began mentioning, without a microphone, the explosive devices that were recently sent to CNN and some of the president's political opponents.

"Just sit down," Trump said. "When you report fake news, which CNN does a lot, you are the enemy of the people."

After the exchange, CNN, through its public relations department's Twitter feed, said Trump's attacks on the press have gone too far.

"They are not only dangerous, they are disturbingly un-American," CNN said. "While President Trump has made it clear he does not respect a free press, he has a sworn obligation to protect it. A free press is vital to democracy, and we stand behind Jim Acosta and his fellow journalists everywhere."

Sanders' statement claimed, without evidence, that Trump has "given the press more access than any President in history," and concluded, "As a result of today's incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice."

Trump's post-election press conference focuses as much on himself as candidates

Though boasting that Republicans appear likely to hold the highest number of Senate seats in 100 years, Trump was quick to distance himself from his party's failure to maintain control of the House. In a remarkable scene, he called out defeated Republicans by name - "Too bad, Mike" at one moment, "Mia Love gave me no love and she lost" at another - and blamed them for not embracing his agenda.

"Candidates who embraced our message of lower taxes, low regulation, low crime, strong borders and great judges excelled last night," said Trump. "On the other hand, you had some that decided to, 'Let's stay away. Let's stay away.' They did very poorly. I'm not sure that I should be happy or sad, but I feel just fine about it."

The president's rebuke was felt on Capitol Hill. Rep. Ryan Costello, a Republican from Pennsylvania who announced his retirement earlier this year, tweeted his displeasure with the president's diatribe, writing that his colleagues have had to "bite ur lip more times you'd care to; to disagree & separate from POTUS on principle & civility in ur campaign; to lose bc of POTUS & have him piss on u. Angers me to my core."

Trump suggested there could be room for bipartisanship, declaring that Democrats - who made opposing him a centerpiece to their campaign - would, in fact, be eager to work with him on issues like infrastructure. But the olive branch he extended was studded with thorns as he declared that Republicans would retaliate if Democrats use their control of the House to issue subpoenas to seek his tax returns and investigate his business dealings, his Cabinet's conduct and his campaign's ties to Russia.

"They can play that game, but we can play it better. Because we have a thing called the United States Senate," Trump said. "If that happens, then we're going to do the same thing and government would come to a halt and we're going to blame them."

On Tuesday, the president telephoned House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, a conversation that her office said included congratulations and a nod to her pitch for bipartisanship. And on Wednesday, he said she deserves to be House speaker.

"I give her a lot of credit. She works very hard and she's worked long and hard. I give her a great deal of credit for what she's done and what she's accomplished," Trump said.

Widely viewed as a referendum on Trump's presidency, Tuesday's results offered a split decision that revealed deep tensions in the American electorate - a rift that could easily widen during two years of divided control of Congress. Trump's aggressive campaign blitz, which paid off in some key victories, suggests he is likely to continue leaning into the fray.

Control of the House gives Democrats the ability to launch investigations into the president and stifle his agenda, but White House aides called on them to reach across the aisle.

"I don't know that there will be much of an appetite for Democrat lawmakers to spend all of their time, or most of their time or even a fraction of their time investigating, instigating, trying to impeach and subpoena people," said Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway.

In addition to his conversation with Pelosi, Trump called Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as other candidates he backed during the race, the White House said. And he downplayed reports of voter irregularity and suppression, particularly in Georgia, instead saying, "I heard it was very efficient in Georgia." Trump had aggressively campaigned in the closing days of the race, his focus on boosting Republicans in states he carried in 2016.

In the three races he targeted on the final day, Trump's picks won Tuesday night, with Republican Mike Braun defeating Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly in Indiana, Republican Josh Hawley defeating Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri and Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine defeating Democrat Richard Cordray in the race for Ohio governor.

The White House for days has stressed the historical headwinds it faced: In the last three decades, 2002 was the only midterm election when the party holding the White House gained Senate seats. And only twice in the past eight decades has the president's party picked up House seats in the midterms.

Trump's shadow loomed large over the results. Nearly 40 percent of voters cast their ballots to express opposition to the president, according to AP VoteCast, a national survey of the electorate, while about 25 percent said they voted to express support for Trump.

Overall, more voters disapproved of Trump's job performance than approved - a finding that is largely consistent with recent polling. Voters scored Trump positively on the economy and for standing up "for what he believes in." But the president received negative marks from voters on temperament and trustworthiness.

Still, about one-third of voters said Trump was not a factor in their votes.

Trump's scorched-earth campaigning came to define the 2018 campaign. In the final days, he sought to motivate supporters with the battle over the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Returning to his immigration-heavy 2016 playbook, Trump went on to unleash his full fury on a caravan of migrants slowly making their way to the southern border. His take-no-prisoners approach troubled many Republicans seeking to appeal to moderate voters in suburban House districts, but Trump prioritized base voters in the deep-red states that could determine the fate of the Senate.

WLS-TV contributed to this report.

(Copyright ©2018 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Source: https://abc7chicago.com/politics/trump-revels-in-victories-revokes-cnn-reporters-press-credentials/4640053/