#for any lawyers reading this it didn't actually happen!!!!

[littletinyscribbles]

Ephialtes 

Leaning in. Widening eyes. A soft press of lips. 

He pulls away with her hand on his chest and her eyes are reproachful. He sighs. 

"Well." 

"Well," she echos, pushing more pointedly against him. He steps back and she tries to breathe, ignoring how their heartbeats race in tandem.  

She lets her hand fall away and steps back herself. She can't meet his eyes. 

"Look, look, it's not like I'm not a little bit in love with you-" 

He chokes on nothing. "What?" 

She rolls her eyes. "Don't let it get to you. I'm a little bit in love with everybody. You started this" 

His mouth flattens into a thin line and it's his turn to look away. 

"What? Did I read this wrong?" 

Another eye roll. "You're not that dense. Except maybe you are. Why would you cross that line? Office affairs always end badly." 

"There have been plenty of office romances that worked out here." 

She scoffs, aggressively. "Not when one of them is married with child. Romances and affairs are not the same." 

He flicks his eyes towards her, then looks away again. His throat works but nothing comes out. She waits.  

He deflates and crumples against a table. His hands come up to scrub at his face and he doesn't see the way she softens. 

"Sorry. I'm sorry." He muffles a scream into his palms and looks at her with an air of dejected acceptance. "You're very-", he can't find the words. 

She saves him from it. "I am aware." If she could, she would raise an eyebrow. "and yet no one else has been compelled to kiss me out of wedlock." 

"Maybe I'm special." 

"Maybe you are." 

He laughs, then hums. "No one at all?" 

She laughs too. "That's not the part to focus on right now." 

He actually can raise an eyebrow and does so now, the bastard, "would you rather I focus on my deteriorating marriage?" 

"Yes." 

"My terrible job?" 

"Yeah." 

"The fact that I can't find happiness in anything anymore?" 

"Mhmmm, that would be great actually." 

He laughs and laughs and doesn't stop laughing until he's flat on the ground gasping for breath.  

"Fuck." 

He lolls his head toward the sound of her voice to find her settled into a chair, head propped on her fist gazing serenely down at him. "Do you have any idea how disgusting those floors are?" 

"I pay the cleaning bills so yes, I do." 

"As long as you're aware." 

"Wanna join me down here?" 

"You'd have to kill me." 

That surprises another bark of laughter out of him. There's a pause while he looks at the ceiling. She's the one to break it. 

"Is your marriage really deteriorating?" 

He sighs and closes his eyes. "No. Not it's not. That's the worst part. We're fine." He catches her eye, "really, we're fine." 

"Ok," she says easily, "ok." 

"I don't know what this is." 

"A mid life crisis, is what this is," she mutters, and still yanks her leg away when he tries to swat at it, entirely too far away to be a threat. "Hey!" She squawks anyways. 

"I'm not that old!" 

"You're cradle robbing." 

"You're not that young." 

She laughs. "I've never even met your wife." 

"Is that better or worse?" 

"I don't know," she admits, "but that's what got me right now. We've never even met." 

"Do you want to?" 

She holds his trembling gaze. "I don't know." 

"That's fair," he says, and his eyes skitter away. 

"Do you hate working here?" 

"No. No, none of that was true. My marriage is great and this job is great and I don't know what's wrong with me." 

"That would be the depression my guy." 

He jerks up, "I don't have depression." 

"Says the guy who kissed an intern?" 

"What?" She points to herself. "You're not an intern?" 

"Shush. Dramatics are how I handle stressful situations. You know that." 

"Being mean is how you handle stressful situations." 

She flicks her hair. "How dare you. Anyways." 

He sits up properly, scotting until he's back is against the table leg and his side is against her chair leg. 

"Have you considered a therapist?" 

"No." He leans his head back. "I didn't think I needed one." 

"You can't find happiness in anything anymore and you didn't think you needed one? Or was that a lie too?" 

He thinks it over. "Fuck. No, I think that was real. Fuck." 

"Language," she says. 

He angles his head towards her, "Do I need a therapist?" 

She looks taken aback, "bro, obviously." 

"You're going to 'bro' me right now?" 

"Would you rather I call you sugar pea?" She drawls. 

"Ah fuck." 

She nudges him with her leg. "What did I just say?" 

"Fuck," he says, just to hear her laugh. 

He reaches out gentle fingers and she shifts her weight to let him circle her ankle. "I really am sorry." 

She brushes the back of her fingers against his cheek. "I know." He leans into the gentle pressure of her knuckles and closes his eyes. 

"I think I'm a little bit in love with you too," he confesses, quiet like a vow. 

"Obviously. Like you said, I'm very alluring." 

"I don’t think I said alluring." 

"Then what did you say?" 

"I don't think I said anything." 

"Then what would you say." 

He strokes just above her ankle bone. "I don't think I should say anything right now." 

She sighs and says, "I think you're right." They sit for a while in that. 

"Ask your question." 

He stares at a spot on the floor. "What happens now?" 

"I don't know. What do you want to happen now?" 

"I don't know. What do you?" 

She gives him a crooked smile. "I don't know. I don't know if you know this, but I really had no ambitions of being a homewrecker." 

"I know. This one's not on you." 

She hums, "well, I'd says it's like twenty percent on me." 

 "Cause you're so alluring?" 

"I thought you weren't gonna say anything?" 

"You said that. Not me." 

"Cause I was in love with you first." 

"Really?" 

"Not on purpose. Like I said, I'm a little bit in love with everyone." 

"Are you now?" 

"I guess I have really low standards." He laughs and she doesn't think about why he hasn't let go of her yet. 

"You know this isn't gonna work out, right?" 

"You don't think so?" 

She shakes her head.  

"Why not?" 

"I might be a little bit in love with everyone, but I'm very lot a bunch in love with one specific person. Not that he- never mind. My point is, I have very clear and specific hang ups that have persisted despite literal decades passing. So. Really, nothing every really works out." 

"Decades?" 

"Tell me about it," she grouses. 

"Tell me about it" he counters. 

She tugs on his ear, then sticks her tongue out at him. "No." 

"Your life's also a shit show, huh?" 

"Hah. I wish the Calypso vibes would stop, that's for sure." 

"I don't know what that means." 

"It's ok, I didn't mean for you to." 

"Ok." 

"Ok." 

[lazycats-stuff]

Remember when u wrote batbro who's Australian? Now u HAVE TO do Italian! This time with Italian toddler batbro, please little Italian people with their small hand gestures are so funny and so fricking adorable to me I'm tearing up just thinking about it

Yeah, Italians are funny and adorable, but I think it would work better if it's a teen instead of a toddler, so I have to modify that part, I just think it would fit better. Also, 1.3k, thank you guys and yes, I know this is a little bit short, but I do want to get this out for you guys. Also, Italians are my neighboring country lol, so if any Italians are reading this, hi!

Summary: (Y/N) is Italian. The family can't deal with him.

Warnings:

Bruce, yet again, found out he had another biological child. Another son. Bruce loved his sons, but he could get a daughter for once. Someone who was less chaotic to a certain degree. Turns out, when Bruce had a one night stand with an Italian model, she got pregnant and she didn't say anything to Bruce about his son for 13 years.

Bruce found out when she was put in jail. Bruce didn't know what happened, but he was more numb from the news that he has another son. Not to mention, man with a heavy Italian accent calling him in the middle of the night telling him about his son and Bruce having to call his lawyers...

The amount of paperwork that it took for Bruce to bring (Y/N) to America is nuts. Sure, you have to make sure that both governments know where the child is. The amount of connections Bruce had to pull just to get (Y/N) to the USA is actually insane. Thankfully, (Y/N) would soon get his citizenship and he would be able to keep his Italian citizenship.

Thankfully, both the US and Italy allow people to have multiple citizenships so (Y/N) could go back to Italy without any problems. Bruce and the others need to get visas. (Y/N) laughed at them when he heard that.

But hey, when they go to Italy, they will have a translator. And it's incredible to listen to (Y/N) not knowing English really. They weren't mocking him by any means, but they were crying of laughter a few times when there was some English problems.

But there were another things they didn't know about Italians. For example, (Y/N) was touchy in conversations. And he was closer to them, more in their space. None of them minded them, it was actually nice how closer he was to them because Americans prefer to keep their distance it seems.

And a thing that seemed like are they European or gay thing is the fact they have their little pecks on the cheek. It wasn't anything intimate by any means and it's a way to say hi to guests. Men do it as well so it wasn't gay per say... But then again... Bruce knew that Italy had a different way than Americans.

And by God, (Y/N) had so many cultural shocks. So many. The sizes of food in America... And (Y/N) will forever fight the notion that pineapple belongs on the pizza. He shall defend his Italian heritage and cuisine.

Also, while on the topic of the sizes, everything in America is huge. Cars, buildings... (Y/N) thought that in a way it lacked warmth. And (Y/N) didn't even want to think about the prices of medication and healthcare here. He knows that Bruce is rich, but still... My God.

Another thing was the fact that kind of annoyed Bruce and Alfred was the amount of espressos that (Y/N) can drink in a day. Tim loved him a lot for it, but Bruce and Alfred weren't so happy. So many espressos wasn't really helpful. But hey.

But one iconic thing that can make you tell who is an actual Italian or not, is the famous hand gesture. They still remember the time when (Y/N) was talking on the phone with a family member who lives in Italy and it seemed that the entire family was on the other side of the phone.

He was talking fast, phone on his ear while he was going to the kitchen to drink some water and get some snacks. They all watched in silence as (Y/N) talked loudly, even as he was opening the fridge for some snacks.

And that's when they saw it. The famous hand gesture, in between some passionate talk about something and yelling over the phone. He seemed annoyed, but there was a smile on the teen's face as he was talking.

Once he was finished, he joined his family at the table. Jason has decided to learn Italian. Bruce has silently agreed. Damian was already prepared to learn. Basically, the entire family has decided to learn Italian and help (Y/N) with English in return.

Another thing that made adapting to the American culture more difficult was the fact that talking and kind of interrupt one you are talking too. In Italy, that is not really considered rude since they are passionate about talking and just overall talking over.

In America, that is considered rude. He didn't like it that much, but understood. People won't like him that much and he would be considered a rude person if he interrupts other people. His family understood that it's not easy, but hey. You adapt to the culture and move on.

But still, it hurt a little bit.

And (Y/N) never understood one thing as well. Something called Italian Americans. He couldn't comprehend calling yourself Italian American, but you don't speak Italian and you are not connected to the culture of your other part. It was weird to him. No hate towards them, but to him it was weird. How can you call yourself a person who belongs to a certain culture if you don't know it?

But hey, no hate. As long as they don't insult Italy and the Italian culture, no hate.

And one more thing that no one prepares you for is the fact that you miss your home country. Despite Alfred doing the best Italian dishes known to men, but it just didn't taste the same. It didn't have that taste of Italy. Yes, it sounds weird, but it's true. Italy is one hell of a country with a rich history.

Oh the nostalgia is a worst feeling ever. Sure, it makes you feel happy and remember the great times you had., but sad at the same time. Bruce saw it, he wasn't blind.

He was sad for his son. So what does Bruce do? Summer holidays are approaching and Bruce had one great idea for everyone. 2 weeks in Italy, all paid for. He just needed to tell (Y/N) when and where they will be going.

And Bruce told him a few moments later, (Y/N) screamed from happiness and jumped into Bruce's arms, hugging him like a koala bear.

" Grazie Bruce! " (Y/N) screamed. Bruce didn't mind the use of his first name because (Y/N) was still getting used to the fact that he has a dad.

" Ti amo Bruce. " (Y/N) said as he stood back down at the floor. Bruce smile widely as he knew exactly what first two words meant.

" Love you too son. "

(Y/N) let out a woo as he went back to his room. Oh he will stuff himself with all of the Italian food he can eat and find. And he will go to Rome and the Vatican. No one is going to stop him. And not to mention, he will have to visit his family. They would never forgive him by any means and you don't want to piss off an Italian family.

[e-nonsense]

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟'𝗦 𝗞𝗜𝗧𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗡 - 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵. 𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘰

pairing. batfam x batsis!reader + platonic!matt murdock x batsis!reader

warnings. swearing, child neglect, mentions of an accident that makes you blind, canon/typical violence, nothing goes with comics

series masterlist

You got to Gotham city when you were five, you didn't want to go but you had no choice your mother was dead, and had left you in the care of your father.

But even at five years old your father had no time for you. Always busy with the public, or with Batman.

At the time Dick was fifteen, he had no reason to care for a little sister, but Jason. Oh Jason Todd, to you he was an angel.

Your big brother who at eight years old you deemed cooler than Dick Grayson.

Everyday after patrol, he'd come up and check on you, tell you a story usually a more child friendly version of his missions.

You kept him grounded, you made all his anger go away, an anger you blamed Bruce for because when you two first met he wasn't angry he was a happy kid. Everytime you called his name, the soft mutter of "Jay" would knock some sense into him.

But after the accident, the one you went blind, you were nine nearly ten and Jason would stay fifteen, in that year you had lost two things.

Your sight, and your big brother

You were often met with pity than concern because of it. Everyone always asking if you were alright, but never truly caring about the answer.

You heard about the headlines when it happened, "Y/n Wayne, gone blind" or "Gotham's little princess now Gotham's latest victim"

It's not like they actually cared, no of course not they only gave a shit about the publicity they'd get from selling stories like this.

You were only nine years old, you'd think five years would be enough to adjust.

Apparently not..

"Miss Wayne" you heard a gentle knocking at the door of your father's office- well it's your office now. Bruce signed Wayne Industries off to you, because it would make everyone's lives easier if you (someone they deemed quite useless) were actually doing something important, it gave them more vigilante time. Besides you finished school already, you were a smart kid, always top of your class you managed to skip a couple of grades and graduate early like super early.

You were a disappointed when nobody but Alfred turned up, then again you'd stopped caring about that a while ago. Jason - your beloved zombie brother - wouldn't stop apologising, and he took you for ice-cream and hung out with you for the rest of the night as an apology. You couldn't stay mad at him.

"Yes?" you'd been running the company for a few weeks, Alfred was usually helping you. Reading out things that weren't in braille, but since the first thing you did when you got Wayne Industries was buy braille embossers mainly 'cause you knew Alfred would always be there to help you with everything.

"Sorry to disturb you Miss, but y'know that guy that you fired last week?"

"Yeah, the one that was caught uh- having sex in the storage room right?"

"The very same Miss" if you could see right now Tani's face would be littered with pink on her cheeks, "He wants to sue"

"And?" you groaned, that came out harsher that you intended, you could sense that she understood.

"Well he's got a pretty compelling case against the company. When your father owned it that is, very incriminating"

"shit" you muttered under your breath, mentally thanking any godly being out their that Alfred wasn't there to hear you.

"how hard is it to get a good lawyer?"

"No" Matt's voice was firm, he didn't want to take the case and nobody could make him.

"no what do you mean, no" Foggy didn't get it, I mean he sort of did but you were offering a nice pay- like more than what's in their pay grade- but it had nothing to do with criminal law, sort of.

"I don't want to do it Foggy, it has nothing to do with my job or qualifications"

"I'm going to do it then"

"No" Foggy wasn't even listening, he had already walked out of the room and went to reply to the email your secretary had sent to him and various other lawyers.

Foggy stepped up to Tani's desk- Matt beside him- and smiled, eying to the elevator that led all the way up to your office, two security guards on each side. You had put them there for Tani because when she didn't let people up they'd harass her.

"Hi, we're here to see Miss Wayne" Foggy's voice only slightly louder than the crappy music in the background. Tani looked up, "name?"

"Nelson, Foggy Nelson"

For the first time since they arrived Matt talked, but only to utter his name.

"Through the elevator please"

They walked as silently as possible, neither in the mood to talk to one another. Once they were inside and going up Matt was talking.

"Y'know kids probably just gonna be another spoilt rich kid, who's daddy running the business behind their back because they can't do shit"

Foggy only let out a sigh, and walked through the elevator doors when he saw it open, only to reveal another door, one he assumed led to your office.

He was shocked to hear laughter coming from inside the room, what ever happened to professionalism?

"Alfie, I swear this guy was high-"

Matt heard a this 'Alfie' guy chuckle "Miss Wayne you can't say that about them, they're lawyers that came hear to help you"

"I know I know, but you should've seen them" you exaggerated the word seen and it made Alfred laugh.

But the laughter stopped when Foggy knocked on the door and Alfred cleared his through smiling while gesturing for them to come in.

"Oh my god, she's blind Matt" Foggy whispered, as he watched you move from leaning on the desk and stood up straight.

"Sorry I'd shake your hand but I'm not exactly sure where you are"

Matt smiled at that "Don't worry 'bout it, 'cause I don't know where you are either"

"He's blind" Foggy not so discreetly whispered to you.

"I can see that" you whispered back with a chuckle, you cleared you throat "now onto business then?"

"Of course"

Okay maybe Matt was a little wrong about you, alright very wrong about you. You were nothing like he imagined, but then again he hadn't put much thought to what you might be like.

He could tell that you could handle yourself, and that impressed him a lot. He could also tell that you were still grasping the ropes of being blind.

And well he wanted to help you, to train you. He thought it was funny, him training someone but he wanted to try. Maybe you could be the next Daredevil.... scratch that he didn't want that for you.

Now how is someone supposed to reveal a secret identity to a complete stranger?

ᴛᴀɢ/ꜱ: @fandxmslxt69 @jaguarthecat @bxdbxtxh15 @byebyeeye @8-29pm

© ʜᴇʟʟꜱ-ᴇꜱᴄᴀᴘᴇᴇꜱ. ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴄᴏᴘʏ/ꜱᴛᴇᴀʟ/ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛᴇ

[spectersgirl]

hi! can you do one where harvey and the reader had a thing and it ended badly and they end up in court against each other or something like that? maybe they end up together after all? thanks!!

Loveeee flexing my angst muscles!

Ready for a Battle

Harvey Specter x Reader

-------

"You've gotta be fucking kidding" you muttered under your breath as you read over the paperwork for your latest case, noticing the attorney on record listed just so happened to be Harvey Specter. You'd dated a few years prior, but the ultimate killer to the relationship was that you and Harvey were very similar in stubbornness, causing you to fight and argue more than spend any actual time together.

You'd been lucky enough not to cross paths in all the time you'd been a lawyer since the breakup, but it seemed that your luck was running out. You placed your head in your hands in frustration, sighing before getting back to work on preparing for your case.

A few days went by of normalcy before you heard a knock on your office door, and they didn't wait to hear you answer before entering.

"Harvey, you know normally people knock to get permission before coming into a room." You said dryly.

Harvey smirked before striding to your desk, leaning on the corner before looking around appreciatively.

"I knew you'd tell me no, and I wanted to see this fancy corner office they gave you."

"Not too bad, huh? Don't worry, I'm sure Jessica will give you one soon enough." You replied, sarcasm dripping from your tone.

"I have one of my own, I just wanted to see how much better mine is than yours."

You rolled your eyes at the cockiness, setting the file you'd been focused on aside, finally giving the man your full attention.

"Is there something I can do for you, Harvey?"

"No, but you can do something for you. You can settle this thing so it doesn't get ugly in court."

You narrowed your eyes at him, trying to figure out what he was trying to pull. "Since when do you care about things getting ugly?"

"Since I noticed you were the attorney of record on this case. I don't want to see you get hurt." He replied, a hint of something in his tone that you couldn't identify.

"I think I can manage. Plus, it's not like it wouldn't be the first time you've seen me get hurt. I'm ready for a battle. Now, if there's nothing else, you can see yourself out. I've got a case to prepare. "

He paused for a moment, clearly taken aback by the sharpness of your tone, before shaking his head and heading for the door.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, Y/N." He said before opening the door and leaving you to stew in your own thoughts.

The verbal banter continued throughout the trial, each argument met with a counterargument, every objection with a swift rebuttal. The tension between you two was undeniable, the courtroom atmosphere simmering with unspoken history.

Days turned into weeks, and the battle intensified. You won the case, barely, based on a technicality that you were thankful Harvey didn't catch during discovery. He'd come to your office later that day, clearly pissed about the verdict. The energy in the room turning nothing short of intense the moment he stepped foot inside. The arguing began immediately, the two of you throwing jabs left and right until Harvey took it one step too far, making it personal.

"You always were too blinded by your own stubbornness and ego to ever see the truth," Harvey retorted, his voice carrying an unexpected edge.

The words hung in the air, a sharp sting piercing through the facade of rivalry and through the high you'd had from winning the case. It was a line crossed, a jab that hit closer to home than intended. The hurt flashed across your eyes, and anger surged within, a tempest of emotions brewing beneath the surface.

"MY ego? MY stubbornness? You're one to talk, Harvey. You know why this didn't work out all those years ago and you know it wasn't all my fault. At least I never let my arrogance overshadow my competence," your voice, usually composed, held a hint of hurt.

Harvey's facade wavered, regret immediately swirling in his stomach as he realized the depth of his words. "I didn't mean... I'm sorry,"

But the damage was done, the rift between you widening with each passing moment. His apology hung in the air, sincere yet inadequate in the face of the pain it had caused.

It was later that evening when yet another knock interrupted the silence of your office. As you turned, Harvey stood in the doorway, a mixture of determination and vulnerability on his face. Without a word, he crossed the room, closing the space between you. His gaze was unwavering as he reached out, his hand cupping your cheek gently. You couldn't move, and you hardly breathed as he began speaking.

"I messed up. I messed up today when I got pissed and opened my mouth, and I messed up years ago by letting you walk away. I know that now, I guess I always have but I couldn't admit it. I can't let you walk out of my life again." Harvey's voice was earnest, devoid of the usual brashness.

Before you could respond, he leaned in. His lips met yours in a tender yet passionate kiss, one you'd been craving since the moment you left him all that time ago. In that moment, words became irrelevant as the depth of his regret and affection poured into you through the kiss.

As you pulled away breathlessly, the weight of the moment hit you both.

"I'm so sorry, Y/N, I... I shouldn't have done that, that wasn't fair to you. I just-" He stammered, but you stopped him with a gentle hand to his chest.

"Don't. Just come here" You replied, pulling him in once more and guiding his head down to yours for another kiss. You felt him smile as he ran his hands down your sides.

"I always hoped you'd come back." He whispered against your lips..

"I fought myself every day to not come running."

"Wish you would've"

"Me too"

[mariii1]

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ Who's Coming Towards You? (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

TUMBLR FINALLY ADDED READ MORE ON THE APPP anyway sorry for the delay I went to Portugal then got all my wisdom teeth removed AND im sick 😣🦷 Regardlesss im here and i might do a mini tarot game since I reached 400 FOLLOWRRS 😱but yeah we'll seeee, have fun wit this pac thoo 😜

1-If you're currently dating around or on dating sites, a fuckboy is coming towards you. They may not present as one, but they are. At first, you might think that this person knows what direction they're taking their life in or that they're just very driven in general. But this is just a facade that they put in order to lure girls in. They want a situationship and the don't want commitment. Even if you're not dating or looking to date, this is somebody who might try to ask you out, but it's kind of obvious that they only want kewchie. This could happen during your job, it could be a coworker or customer/client. They could try to hit on you and act like they're super deep or they genuinely want to know about you. There will be very wishy washy when it comes to their intentions, they don't like giving the straight answers.

2- Speed drive by Charli XCX. You might be in a Barbie/girlboss energy. What's coming towards you is some sort of opportunity. If you felt had you had a bunch of options you felt neutral about, youll have another one and I see you going straight for that. This one is really going to stand out to you and I see you when this opportunity is finally offered you're not gonna be hesitant any more and you're gonna be able to make up your mind. Specifically if you been waiting to hear back from somebody, you're going to hear back from them very soon, and it's going to help a lot.

3- So like the pile above clarity is coming towards you. This could be about a specific person, but I'm specifically getting a situation. There could have been some sort of drama in your life and you didn't know which side to take. There could have been a lot of stories and rumors involved. This could have been something really serious that affected you or somebody else financially. I'm getting that this has to do with somebody who's close to you or at least has some sort of influence on you directly or indirectly. You may have had to go to court, had to look up laws or contact a lawyer. But I'm seeing some sort of clarity not a final decision but just some sort of clarity. I think you might find the right lawyer for you if that's what you're supposed to specifically looking for. If not, I still feel like this heavily has to do with finances. Even if you are seeking out something romantically, maybe you want a sugar daddy, you're going to find someone who's going to help you in which you exchange some sort of money with them.

4- the number 4 could be important for you maybe you keep seeing it everywhere or you keep choosing pile 4 in pick a cards. Apply it to your situation but im predominantly gettting that someone you wanted or liked is coming toward you. I think you're still attracted to this person. For some, you could have felt dejected by this person even if they didn't outright reject you. You'll be surprised by how thoughtful they come across when they come towards you and I think they've been thinking about you for awhile. This is someone you've had a crush or attraction to for a minute. Your dreams of dating them will be reborn and may actually happen this time.

5 - HEY BIG SPENDEEEERRR the moment you walked in the joint, I could tell you were a man if distinction a real big spender.... Loveeee that scene from that movie (Sweet Charity). Okay so a few scenarios this could be somebody that presents like they have a lot of money or they could present like they're going to give you a lot of money even if they don't seem to have a lot. But I'm getting you're going to find out that they are broke very quickly and the only thing they have is dick to offer which doesn't pay bills. They probably fought for your attention and this may be somebody who glorifies struggle love. I'm getting they could actually be rich, but they're very stingy. And possibly after fighting for your attention they'll probably ghost you or just go to other people who aren't as naive. A lot of you could be sex workers and specifically getting strippers and this is just another man at the club trying to act like hes some sort of crypto mogul. If not, maybe you're on dating apps, and this is something that might happen.

6- Ooop so apparently this is my pile. I NEED A HERO I'M HOLDING ON FOR A HERO 'til the end of the night and he's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be fresh from the fight..... Anyway this is someone who presents as a fuck boy but in reality, they're just a normal person. So I feel like this is a misconception you're going to have about them when they genuinely have good intentions. I think this person will sort come as some sort of hero in your life. This could come in the form of them giving you a financial opportunity. However, I feel like for most of you they're going to help you financially or be a co-worker that's really helpful. They could give you a really good idea for something financially. Even if you're in school, they could present some sort of job opportunity to you. I think they could also be good to you in general. But at the end of the day, you might actually end up sucking their dick fr like literally HAHAHA I don't think it will be a bad thing. Yeah, you might think that they're coming to ruin your life, but they're really not. Aka opposite of pile 5 🤭.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Hi, what do you think about this news?

BBC News - Climate: NFU Cymru opts out of farming scheme over tree planting

Interesting, isn't it?

Here's the thing: it is a fact that we need more trees than we currently have, that Wales is under-forested, and that decades of inaction mean we now have to make big changes fast rather than incremental changes safely. Given that the Welsh Government is actively trying to base modern Welsh identity on environmentalism (we are the only country in the entire world with dedicated sustainability legislation in the form of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act, and we're third in the world for recycling rates), it was inevitable that they were going to seize the bull by the horns, so to speak, and set a strict target.

In fact, they have past form for this - there's a reason we're third in the world for recycling. I am simplifying this massively and going to make any lawyers reading this wince, but the way EU legislation works is that the member states agree something should be legislated for, the EU makes a directive, and then the member states each interpret and apply that directive how they want into their own laws (sorry lawyers). In the case of recycling, the EU member states collectively decided we needed to get serious about diversion from landfill in 2008 with the Waste Framework Directive, and then the UK chose how to go about that.

But, waste management is a devolved area. So Wales, Scotland, NI and England all got to implement it themselves how they wanted to. England didn't set any specific targets; it was more like "endeavour to be recycling 50% of waste across the country by X year." But the Welsh Government went "Right, lads, here's the targets: 58% by 2015/16, 64% by 2020, and zero waste by 2050. We'll let you pick the recycling bag colours."

(In Swansea it's green for paper, cardboard, metal and glass, pink for plastic, white for garden waste, and you get a special dark green bin for food waste with a locking lid to keep the seagulls out.)

But that meant Welsh councils had to actually move on it, with the result that we smashed those targets. We're now aiming for 70% recycling by 2025, and zero waste might be brought forward to 2030, because the government likes the model of "Shoot for the moon and land among the stars."

So like. It has worked, in the past.

BUT, the problem with setting arbitrary targets like that is that it doesn't always work, and what happens to people who get caught in the gears, so to speak?

In this case, this is a subsidy scheme. It's still in consultation, but if it goes ahead, farmers get money from the public purse for doing something "for the public good" - they need to tree plant 10% of their land, and manage another 10% as wildlife habitat. Currently, this is true for every farm, regardless of its nature. 20% of productive land removed, and you'll be paid to do so.

But, will that work for every farm? No. No it won't. The smaller your set up, the more that 20% is going to bite into profits that the subsidies won't compensate; and what if you only have productive land? A flatish farm, somewhere in Powys, used for crops rather than livestock? 20% of that is very, very different to 20% of an upland sheep farm with sections that are almost impassable and very difficult to round up the sheep from anyway, where you can simply fence off and plant up the slopes to create ffridd and woodlands. It's a one size fits few policy. I fully believe the government saying plenty of farmers are all for it - this will work for many. But for many others, it's simply not financially viable.

But what I find REALLY interesting about that article, actually, is the way the farmers are framing their objections:

(NFU Cymru) president Aled Jones said farmers were prepared to integrate more trees into farming systems - from "shelterbelts, streamside corridors to field corners". "But we will not take our productive land out of food production for tree-planting," he said.

SHELTERBELTS. That is the Pontbren effect. Pontbren taught us that farmer-led environmental schemes work, and provide additional unexpected benefits including in revenue (it was designed to simply allow the sheep to stay out year round, but the flood control and soil conservation that came with it brought their own benefits - silvopasture, how I love thee.) Now it's there as proof-of-concept, farmers want a piece of that action. They want to be more environmentally sound. But, those trees have to serve an economic purpose, not a solely environmental one; otherwise, it's not going to work for farmers.

And it's very frustrating that the Welsh Government have forgotten that crucial lesson in trying to implement this. But then, as I say, it's true that we need big changes now, and are running out of time for the soft incremental changes. I just think the two could have been married better.

[lokisprettygirl]

Utopia (Modern! Daemon Targaryen x female reader) (Non Canon AU) (18+)

Read chapter 6 here // Series Masterlist

Chapter 7

Summary: Daemon eases your fears and worries.

Warning: 18+ sex ,period sex (if it bothers you skip the scene) death and destruction that comes from a ship wreckage, smut, sex, menstrual sex, unprotected sex. Some inconsistency with ship sinking, i researched as much as I could

“Are you alright?” Emma's voice was filled with concern as she asked you if you were okay, noticing the distress that was evident on your face. The two of you had just left Lily's house, and Emma could sense the negative effect it had on you.

“I'm fine..just want to go home” Emma sighed as you said that. She could tell that you were not alright, but she didn't know how to help without you opening up to her.

“Y/n I know you have always liked him but him and Lily have always been this way..they fight, fuck other people and then get back to each other.. don't you remember how he treated you on the ship after he slept with you?” you turned your head to look at her as she said that. Emma's words had struck a chord in your heart, reminding you of the awful morning when Daemon had completely dismissed you post the one night stand .

“Yeah? Always huh? How many times have they survived a ship sinking incident before? How many times before Daemon was left stranded on an island with someone else? This is not the same thing..why it's so hard for you guys to understand” you got visibly agitated as you finished your sentence, your voice raised as you tried to express that you and Daemon weren't just a fling.

“I'm just trying to protect you..” she mumbled softly so you sighed.

“I know but I also know what I'm doing..do you have any idea what I have been through with Daemon on that Island? You can't just get over that stuff and move on with your life as if nothing happened. He …he knows me..I know him..six months ..we were .. everything to each other” your eyes teared up and you hated how weak you felt in the moment. You always felt this way whenever Daemon was in the picture.

“But he's not on that Island anymore and neither are you..he's back here in the actual world where Lily is”

You didn't say anything as she said that. After what Lily had said about him fucking her last night and seeing things from Emma's perspective you felt hurt and worried. You asked him clearly if he had fucked her and he said no, did he lie to you? Why would he lie to you and hurt you like that?

“Do you want me to find a job for you? Dalton was asking about you” she said as she pulled the car in your driveway so you took your seat belt off, you just wanted to go home and cry.

“Not right now, last time you hooked me up with a job ..things didn't work out so well”

You heard the literal gasp she let out as you jabbed at her. That was mean and uncalled for but anger was bubbling inside you at the moment and Daemon wasn't there to take it.

You entered your bedroom, exhausted from the emotional upheaval. As you collapsed onto your bed, you noticed a missed call and a few text messages from Daemon on your phone. Taking a deep breath, you picked up your phone and opened the message.

You didn't want to ignore him and you certainly didn't want to hurt him by making assumptions about him, he told you something and you wanted to believe him but insecurities from the past ran deep and this wouldn't be the first time a man would cheat your trust like this. Instead of wrestling with your thoughts you dialed his number instead,

“Am I being ignored?” He asked as soon as he picked up so you sighed.

“Why would you say that?”

“What did she say to you..love?” his tone of voice made it clear that he was genuinely concerned.

“Where are you?” you asked him nonchalantly, your voice didn't really hold any emotion at the moment.

“I'm with my lawyer, had to discuss uhhh.. some fortune related complexities..are you back at your place?” He enquired so you barely hummed in response “Can I come see you?”

“You don't have to ask me” he chuckled as you said that,

“I'm trying to be more civilized and less of a caveman”

“Don't you want to go see Lily?” you asked him with sarcasm and envy dripping from your tone.

“Not right now, I want her to move on.. darling.. whatever she said to you that's making you all squeaky and snappy at me .. I will fix it yeah? And then you're going to fix me” you couldn't help but bite on your lip as his words made you feel slightly bashful.

“Okay” you could hear him smiling on the other end of the line as you mumbled a short response again.

Half an hour later as you opened the door and saw Daemon standing there, with his arms behind his back and a mischievous smirk on his face, you felt your heart skip a beat. The peach ribbed shirt he was wearing just added to his charm, it made you want to snuggle against him. Despite your feelings for him, the idea of him breaking your trust and lying to you was breaking your heart in ways you couldn't even begin to imagine.

The only reason why you weren't crying yourself to sleep for the past two days was because of him, the past month when you both were avoiding each other was difficult to say the least. The nightmares about drowning in the ocean had become a frequent occurrence, leaving you feeling frightened and restless. The fact that he was the only thing preventing you from giving in to the emotional distress that had been haunting you was both a comfort and a burden. But he was the only one who truly understood you because he was there suffering with you.

“Flowers for the beautiful lady” he held one of his hands forward to present you with a bouquet of beautiful flowers so you grabbed it and took in their scent “Chocolates” he then brought his other hand forward so you grabbed the box and went into your room, acting like a petulant child, it didn't do anything to deter him, he actually found you adorable like this.

He was expecting a kiss and a hug but this morning when you had told him that you were tagging along with Emma to visit Lily, he was terrified, not because he had anything to hide from you but because he knew as a matter of fact that she'd try to fill your head against him to drive wedge between you both. He was well aware of her vindictive ways when she was scorned like this.

“We need to stop meeting like that at your door” he mumbled as he entered the bedroom door and you were already on the bed with your face down into the pillow.

You felt his lips trail up from your calves to your hamstrings and he spent a good minute on your ass cheeks before he kissed up from the small of your back very slowly. Shivers ran down your spine as he moved up and pulled your hair aside to kiss your nape. You turned around to look at him and your teary eyes rendered his heart, your delicate features always softened him.

“If it wasn't for us being stranded on that Island you'd never date me would you?” You asked him as you caressed his cheeks with your fingers, you always feared that your connection with him was rooted in the shared trauma of the island and would fizzle soon.

“Yeah that might be true but not because there's something wrong with you or that you're not insanely attractive but because I wouldn't really get to know you like this..so intimately in every possible way”

You felt his fingers brush lightly against your chest, resting right above your heart, and you couldn't help but feel the burst of emotions.

His hand then drifted under your skirt as he leaned down to kiss you lovingly, palms wrapped around your hips as he pulled you into him so you sighed and closed your eyes to feel him close.

“You used to visit Paradise with Emma ” your eyes snapped open as he mentioned that.

Paradise was the name of the club The Dragonriders played at frequently and you used to go there on weekends before you even took the job on Utopia. “I'd often watch you dance from afar..you never even looked at me back then you know.. didn't even notice me” he mumbled softly in your ears so you cupped his cheeks again.

“I didn't know you..you were just a stranger”

“Exactly darling.. sometimes you have to learn the person inside out to truly appreciate them. I know i was unfair and cruel to you after that night we had spent together but it was my immaturity speaking..now i know better” you sighed as he said that, your hands sneaked inside his shirt as he leaned into you for a kiss again. He was irresistible at all times but especially when he was on top of you like this.

“You look cute in your pretty little skirt baby, my brave girl ..now are you going to sulk some more or you'd tell me what it is she said to you that is messing with your head?” he asked you, his voice was still gentle but firmer this time. You didn't want to beat around the bush either.

“She told me that you made love to her last night after you dropped her off and then later on she went into detail about how magical it was for both of you”

He looked at you intensely for a moment before he chuckled slightly as if he had it coming..

Somehow that reaction eased your fear, it was Lily's words against the man you had faced the worst of life with. If he was going to tell you that he hadn't fucked her then you'd have to believe him.

You'd have to put your faith in him because he deserved that much from you..

“Do you know why I came so hard inside you last night?” he asked you softly as his thumb brushed over your lips before he kissed you again.

“Whyy?”

“Because it has been a full day since I had done that.. since I had felt you around me so intimately. I might be an uncivilized animal at times but I'd never hurt you like that. Especially not you ..not after everything we have been through together”

You cupped his cheeks and your fingers ran through his scalp as he said that, his words felt sincere and a part of you believed him wholly, something made you believe that Daemon would never hurt you like that no matter what.

“You're not an uncivilized animal…just my big burly Cavemon” a smile graced his features as you cooed at him.

“Believe me yeah?”

“Okay.. sorry”

“Shhh it's not your fault..”

“No I'm sorry she said that about you and i believed her because I'm afraid and insecure”

“We all are at times..i fixed the problem..now you fix me” you giggled as he tickled your stomach with his fingers.

“Stahp ..it's almost my second day now..there will be clumps and stuff coming out of my goodies” he looked at you intently as you said that, his eyes darkened with consumable lust.

“If you intended for that to disgust me..it's not working”

“Your kinks are kinky..have you always had this one?” you questioned as you lifted your head up to kiss his neck.

“Not until you..”

“But you fucked your ex on her cycle”

“Not for the kink”

“It's just strange for me…my ex was disgusted just by me mentioning my period clumps”

“What an imbecile huh?

You giggled as you wrapped your legs around his waist and he made you sit up along with him.

“We are doing this my way today” you mumbled as you took your crop top and skirt off, Daemon got off the bed and he quickly undressed himself with the speed of lighting, when he climbed back on the bed you removed your underwear and threw it on the floor,

“You won't mind if I bleed on you right?”

“Fuck darling …noo” he almost moaned at the picture you had painted for him, you climbed on his lap and sat yourself down on his cock slowly, inch by inch, he wasn't really an average man in length or girth so you needed to go slow for your own sake, his legs splayed out on the bed as you submerged him completely and he placed his hands around your hips as you moved in circles slowly. His head swayed backwards and moans spilled from his throat as you worked your hips back and forth.

“I noticed you..” you mumbled against his mouth as you kissed him so he opened his eyes and looked at you all perplexed. He looked cute like this, all fucked out and pleasured the way he deserved to be pleasured.

“Mmm?”

“In the club..i noticed you..but you always had your eyes on her”

“Darling, do you believe in fate?” his voice came out in whispers as the sensation grew in the pit of his stomach,

“Not really”

“I do”

“Why?”

“I just do..I think it was fate that brought us together. Why do you think we were accommodated right next to each other when all the people we knew were a deck below from us?”

“Duuh management”

“Was it management that left us stranded together on that Island?” his fingers dug into your hips as he helped you hop on top of him.

“No it was my stupidity”

“Mmm really? You want to tell me that those strong waves somehow managed to bring us together on that very same island where we collapsed not even six feet apart from each other because of you? And both of us miraculously lived through it while none of those other people survived?”

“I don't know what to say..you're romanticizing the tragedy” his fingers curled into your hair and he pulled you closer to kiss you before he spoke,

“I have earned the right to do so ..now be a good girl and fucking cum with me”

You kissed him hungrily and the rest of the rebuttals you had didn't really come out as you fell apart in his arms as soon as you felt his warm cum filling you up to the brim. He placed his head on your chest as you both recovered from the euphoria but it lasted a good while.

Your head felt fuzzy as you had never been fucked this good, sex had never been so satisfying before. It was as if your body connected to him on a much deeper level than just physical, sex with him transcended you and filled you with intense emotional and mental release.

“If you pull out right now I'd ruin my bed so take me to the shower alright?” He chuckled briefly before he dragged his shapely arse off the bed and took you to the bathroom. He turned the shower on and as soon as he pulled out, his cum mixed with your blood spilled out of your freshly fucked cunt. His cock was absolutely bloody as well and you heard him gasp as he glanced at it. His fingers immediately caressed your lips as he cleaned the mess between your legs so you fisted his cock and returned the favor.

“I missed one therapy session and I was a major bitch to Emma this morning” you mumbled as you came back to reality from the mind numbing orgasm you had experienced just now..

“What did you do?”

“You know how they keep telling us in therapy to not blame other people for what happened as it was nobody's fault?” He nodded as you said that while he rubbed the body wash between his palm and turned you around to scrub your back.

“I think I did just that and I feel awful”

“Mmmm then apologize sweetheart and talk it out…these things happen amongst friends. I called Cole this morning to wish him for the birthday and we had a chat, he understands me better now”

“It's his birthday today?”

“Yup and we are invited, I'm sure he'd text you about it”

You hummed as he said that, as you placed your head down on his chest he wrapped his arms around you while you two enjoyed the hot shower in the comfort of your bathroom. Sometimes when you closed your eyes you imagined yourself being back at the island with him but you were only thinking about the times that weren't so awful, like bathing with him in the sea and walking around the woods in search for fruits, and most of all sleeping all huddled together on the bed of leaves every night.

You missed that, you really did miss it at times.

“Daemon?’

“What would you like for your birthday?” you asked him as you realized it would come soon as well, you were on the island when you turned 27, he had gone out of his way to collect fresh coconut water and had made a fruit platter for you which was more than enough on that forsaken place.

“I want your trust and faith in me” you turned around as he said that and kissed him softly.

Besides he was planning something to surprise you with instead, he had a meeting with his lawyer for the same reason and his lawyer certainly didn't think it was a great idea to go forward with this but he knew he wanted to do this, for both of you.

“And i want to take you somewhere with me” he said to you

“Mmmm where?” You giggled as your heart skipped a beat. You just hoped he wasn't going to take you to meet his family just yet. It felt too soon for that.

“It's going to be a surprise, hence the trust and faith demand“

“I trust you baby” his lips curved into a sweet smile as you said that.

The plan moving forward was to take a nap with him and it was very cozy until he began shivering in his sleep, telltale sign of a nightmare and you knew what it was about, it was about that night in the woods that he had spent all alone without you, he deeply struggled with the memory of the night and it was very hard on him so you know he was reliving the same trauma in his sleep. Or that's what you thought.

You didn't know that he was having a nightmare but not about being stranded in the woods but about you being bitten by that spider, he always had a nightmare about that night where instead of you being alright the next morning he saw your dead lifeless body and he was left all alone without his brave girl by his side.

When he woke up he pretended as if he wasn't affected by the nightmare in the slightest and asked you to get ready as you were both invited to the Paradise for Cole's birthday. Luckily Lily wasn't there because of her injury but the group had decided to visit her post drinking.

When you reached hand in hand with him, it felt a little awkward, people who recognised you kept staring and you felt like an animal in the zoo. The attention was uncomfortable, as you just wanted to blend in with the other people and enjoy the evening without the scrutiny.

Life had changed in more ways than one, at times you were not even Daemon or y/n, you were just that couple that was stranded on an island for six months. Whenever you were out in public, people would inevitably make reference to your story, and you found yourself being treated like a celebrity. You felt objectified though as if there was nothing more to you anymore than what you had suffered.

After greeting Cole as you spotted Emma you walked towards her.

“How's D?” She asked you so you looked at her confused for a moment.

“Daemon? He's doing okay umm-”

“No the Dick..how's his dick..is it as good as rumored?” she asked you as she crossed her arms so you pulled her into a hug.

“I'm sorry em.. I'm so sorry for being such a bitch when you were just looking out for me”

Your eyes teared up as you spoke to her so she hugged you as tightly as you were hugging her.

“It's okay..I get that..they tell me not to take it personally..you both have been through something none of us can imagine living through” you looked down as she said that.

“That's not an excuse to lash out but I'll be careful i promise..now let's get drunk..it's been a while and you're going to reveal every tea about Aemond” she blushed bright red as you whispered the last part in her ear. You were happy for her, she deserved someone making her happy and gleeful like this.

A band was performing in the club and you noticed how Daemon kept looking at them while they played as if wondering about his own time on the stage, you knew he missed singing and being up there.

Afterwards when the group decided to go see Lily you chose to opt out but Daemon insisted and pleaded until you gave in, perhaps seeing him with you would finally make her back off a little bit and she'd realize that Daemon has moved on from their toxic relationship.

However as you all turned up at her place you saw a man leaving her house, you recognised him even though nobody else did, it was one of the major crew members at Queen Utopia, Danny something, you didn't remember his full name but he was the man Lily was with that night. He handled the maintenance of the cargo area.

As he walked past you he looked you right in the eye, you saw something in those eyes but you couldn't put your finger on it.

They always told you to not put blame on anyone as the tragedy was nobody's fault but what if it was somebody's fault? And what if it was Danny who had something to do with it?

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤��❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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@mcufan72 @123forgottherest @shuichiakainx @stupidthoughtsinwriting @tmlbdv

@ammo23 @anukulee

[ottogatto]

I would like to submit two ideas because I think I'm poking something but not going in fully, so I would very much like your opinions and additions about it (of course, as long as they remain in good faith *side eyes possible antis viewing my post*).

Marauders and surface-level rebellion

I've finally put to words something that really bothered me with the Marauders, though I don't know the name for it.

It started when I read a reblog that said:

I remember Brennan saying “laws are just structured threats made by the ruling socioeconomic class” during an episode of D20 and we truly just had to stan immediately

This is something dear privileged white woman Rowling didn't realize/understand well, since she held a high socioeconomical status even during her """poverty""" stage. It's known that, despite seeming to be defending ideas of fighting against fascism and "pureblood" supremacy in favor of acceptance of the other, her books reek of colonialism/imperalism. The story of the Marauders, a gang of privileged boys like her, is an in-world replica of that problem where Rowling betrays yet again her actual mindset.

The Marauders adopt the "bad boys who break rules" to get style, while completely losing/staining the moral sense in it.

Let's take piracy.

Some people pirate stuff because they consider that the stuff they'd like to get comes from unethical companies that abuse their employees or use modern slavery, or people who spread harm against certain minorities (like Rowling against trans people and thus the LGBT+ community), so while they may want to access the content, they don't want to give them money and might even encourage pirating their stuff to make them lose money.

Some pirate stuff because otherwise it's lost due to unfortunate "terms of use" -- see video games companies like Ubisoft (deletes gaming account after a while), Nintendo (does not bring back old games), etc.

Others pirate stuff because they just don't have the money but they still want to try the stuff that might make them happy and forget that they're poor -- reasoning that the company isn't losing any money anyway, or not much, since they wouldn't have been able to pay for it in any case.

Others pirate stuff because they consider the price ridiculously high or they consider it shouldn't be something to pay for at all. (Like education stuff -- isn't education supposed to be free for all, so that it can actually uphold everyone's fundamental and unconditional ( = not conditioned by wealth...) right to have an education? Oh and before anyone asks: I've DEFINITELY bought the ~15 expensive books that's roughly worth 500€ in total and that my uni asked I buy to study and get my degree...)

Rowling's Marauders is a group that would pirate stuff just because they'd think it would give them an edge, because they'd think it would make them cool to be seen as "talented" hackers who "defy" companies. Companies... that their own friends and families would own, and as such, would find that kind of behavior funny and entertaining (while they would trash other people around for considering it).

Another example. In society, in history, it's been proven time and again that breaking rules -- going against the law -- is an eventuality that's important for everyone to consider, if they want to defend their rights. Anti-racism, feminism, LGBT Pride, etc, advanced because people broke rules. In USA states where abortion is currently being banned, women and minors (+ their close ones) must now consider breaking the rules to get an abortion. (Privileged people don't give a fuck about those people, and if they suddenly decide that (moral) rules don't apply to them and they will get an abortion, they will just take a plane ticket to a country where abortion is legal, fiddling with legal stuff if necessary thanks to the lawyers their fortunes can afford and the lobbies that they're instituting.)

Revolutions happened because people broke rules too. I particularly like the 1793 Constitution in France Because it asserts that the people have the right to break rules and riot if the power in place threatens their fundamental rights:

Article 35. - Quand le gouvernement viole les droits du peuple, l'insurrection est, pour le peuple et pour chaque portion du peuple, le plus sacré des droits et le plus indispensable des devoirs. Article 35. - When the government violates the people's rights, insurrection is, for the people and for each portion of the people, the most sacred of rights and the most essential of duties.

(Of course the power in place would state and enforce and make use of propaganda to say that it's completely illegal and illegetimate and that those who riot for legitimate rights are terrorists!)

Breaking rules is at the core of anti-fascism, anti-dictatorship, anti-totalitarianism. Breaking rules is essential when those rules are abusive. Too often, those who put those rules in place really are only setting their rules of the game to establish their power over the others. Or as the reblog says: "laws are just structured threats made by the ruling socioeconomic class".

Rowling's Marauders break rules because they are the socioeconomical class in power. As such, no one can do anything about it, no one will really tell them down for it. They get excused and justified and romanticized by their peers, just like billionaires & politicians are excused by their peers and notably mainstream media (which is owned... by other billionaires). They break rules -- not because they think it's necessary and the morally right thing to do despite the dangers it puts them in -- but because it makes them feel powerful, important, invincible, which for them is very fun. As Snape says: James and his cronies broke rules because they thought themselves above them:

“Your father didn’t set much store by rules either,” Snape went on, pressing his advantage, his thin face full of malice. “Rules were for lesser mortals, not Quidditch Cup-winners. [...]”

They break rules because they're allowed to.

Which is why, in reality, the Marauders aren't really breaking rules or defying anything or opposing an actual big threat. They're a bunch of jocks who are having fun in the playground that's been attributed to them thanks to their status and family heritage (others wouldn't get the same indulgence because they don't get that privilege).

They break rules because they want to look cool, to be the "bad boys". The message has been compleyely botched. Especially with Lily actually finding this hot.

Because Rowling finds this hot:

[...] I shook hands with a woman who leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, 'Sirius Black is sexy, right?' And yes, of course she was right, as the Immeritus club know. The best-looking, most rebellious, most dangerous of the four marauders... and to answer one burning question on the discussion boards, his eyes are grey.

(Anyone has an eyes washing station?)

Another quote:

"Sirius was too busy being a big rebel to get married."

(Nevermind the eyes washing, anyone's got some bleach instead?)

Stanning James Potter for being the leader of a gang that prides itself on breaking rules and always getting away with it -- it feels like stanning Elon Musk for being "innovative" and "a daring entrepreneur" despite being a manchild who exploits workers and modern-world slavery to play with his billions while always getting away with it.

They're not being "rebels" -- they're being bullies and flexing the fact they can get away with it thanks to abundance of privilege. Those are the tastes of a posh British white woman. She wanted the facade -- not the substance (that is, if she ever understood it).

You might say that they did oppose a big threat, the Death Eaters, but again, it's botched because:

they target a lonely, unpopular boy who's best friends with a Muggleborn Gryffindor, rather than baby Death Eaters like Mulciber, Lucius, Rosier, Avery, Regulus, etc.

The leader sexually harasses the Muggleborn Gryffindor because he's sexually jealous of the unpopular boy who dared not take the insult about his chosen House and shut up. Lily is treated as an object, they don't listen to her, and they barely speak about her later. (Lots to say to show that, which I won't do here because this is not the main subject.)

When the Marauders do join the Order, they do it... because they primarily want to adopt a rock-n-roll style and play the "bad boys" again. Or at least that's the message that's given to the reader:

They seemed to be in their late teens. The one who had been driving had long black hair; his insolent good looks reminded Fisher unpleasantly of his daughter's guitar-playing, layabout boyfriend. The second boy also had black hair, though his was short and stuck up in all directions; he wore glasses and a broad grin. Both were dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with a large golden bird; the emblem, no doubt, of some deafening, tuneless rock band.

(God, the Prequel is so cringy.)

They don't choose Dumbledore as the Secret Keeper, they don't tell him they changed to Pettigrew -- even though he literally was their war leader -- James uses the Cape to fuck around even though he was supposed to be hiding with Lily and then Harry (until Dumbledore takes the Cape from him)... and eventually, their group exploded, with James killed off, Sirius thrown to Azkaban, Peter (the traitor) hiding as a rat and Lupin going off to find jobs to survive.

Why did that happen? Because they thought of playing their part in the Order like going on a teenage adventure rather than engaging in a resistance organization. It was, first and foremost, about playing "the bad boys" and having fun.

(Harry half-inherits this. While he doesn't break rules just to look cool, and actually has several moments where he does break rules because it's the right thing to do -- like under Umbridge or, of course, when Voldemort takes power -- he does often get pampered when he breaks them in his earlier years. By Dumbledore, but also McGonagall, however much Rowling tries to sell her as a "strict but fair" teacher. Or by Slughorn, now that I think about it. That's something that enraged Snape, as it brought up memories of Harry's father -- Snape's own bully -- getting the same treatment.)

It's not a coincidence that Rowling not only failed to properly convey through the Marauders the true value of breaking rules, but also lusted over them for adopting that "bad boys" trope. It speaks to her own privilege -- she who never had to put herself in danger and go against the law in a risky attempt to protect herself or other less privileged people.

(Here's a useful read to expand on those worldbuilding issues.)

2. Dark Magic, obscurantism and conservatism

For context: Opinion: The Dark Magic/Light Magic Dichotomy is Nonsense (by pet_genius).

The idea of "Dark Magic" as something that's repeatedly told to be "evil" magic and where you cross the line of the forbidden, while hardly putting in question that notion that was (for some reason) enforced by wizard society, is another blatant example of Rowling betraying her mindset of privileged British white woman.

Rowling couldn't put herself in the minds of a society of "outcasts (witches & wizards) deeply enough to consider they would not see any magic as "Dark" at all (being a ""Muggle"" concept), or that Dark magic is only magic that requires something unvaluable to be traded off -- like one's soul or health or life or sanity. Instead, she has Dark Magic defined as "evil" magic, even though her own books show that you can do evil stuff with normal magic, and that you can do morally good stuff with Dark magic. This thing happened because Rowling could not think past her own little world and instead she poured a conservatist mentality (+ typical "Muggle", anti-witch prejudice) into the HP (wizard society) worldbuilding without considering that there could, in fact, be fundamental differences between the two worlds that include thinking of magic differently. (This has a lot to do with Rowling's wizard world being a pro-imperalism fest.)

"Dark Magic" feels like a lazy, badly-executed plot device to tell the reader who's a good guy and who is not. Because of course, that's how things work in real-life, huh… (Did she ever hear of "don't tell, show"?) It's used as an excuse to define who's evil (teen Severus) or not (James), who's worthy or not -- not how their magic was used. Which is a BIG problem:

“I’m just trying to show you they’re not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are.” The intensity of his gaze made her blush. “They don’t use Dark Magic, though.” / “Scourgify!” Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape’s mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag, choking him —

Even worse, Rowling doesn't follow her own in-world moral framework. Dark magic is acceptable for some people (Rowling's partial self-inserts: Dumbledore, Harry, Hermione to Marietta...) but not for those that Rowling hates (Snape, who ironically represents the closest thing to rebelling by unapologetically obsessing over the Dark Arts). Again, this is at best unadressed in-world hypocrisy, at worst an expression of in-world and out-universe privilege (I get to do this and stay a good guy, but you don't).

There could have easily been rightful criticism of whatever could be defined as "Dark Magic". What if Dark magic was just something defined as "Dark" usually because the power in place doesn't want the people to touch it? Is abortion or contraception or a sex-altering or a goverment-threatening spell, Dark Magic? Is foreign or ethnicity-specific or female-centered or queer-centered magic, "Dark"? How about showing why (Muggle-raised but also neurodivergent) Severus thought Dark magic was so great, showing his point of view, while also establishing where the true limits are? If Lily can't be the one who sees past the "fear-mongering anti-intellectualism/propaganda", how about Harry being the one who does, thanks to him relating to Snape on a personal level? How about making Hermione go from someone who condems Dark Magic, to someone who entirely changes her point of view and understands that this is all bullshit -- effectively showing the dangers of only following what the books say, without putting them into question or thinking by yourself? How about a nuanced view of Dark magic as something that requires a significant sacrifice, which is conceivable for something they see as equally or even more important [Lily's life for Harry; Snape's soul integrity for Dumbledore]? How about making the Death Eaters, people who deviate that legitimate interest, rather than just evil guys who thrive in Dark magic for its supposed added evilness? How about showing that Dark magic was just a notion invented by Muggles to throw "witches" (real or not) to the burning stakes -- later taken by the witches and wizards in power to define, in the magical community, what was okay or definitely forbidden because it's the trademark of those who represent a threat to the magical community (understand: people who riot or strike or protest against the ruling socioeconomical class' politics)?

But there was none of that.

"Dark" magic in HP merely seems to be a weird concept that at best accidentally takes the form of an in-world obscurantism, at worst is just the trademark of someone who cannot imagine a "hunted, ostracized" community with a different culture and mindset than her own. Aggravating is the fact that she used "Dark magic" as a plot device to magically cast some people as good and others as never bad – again, probably reflecting her own questionable mentality.

The fact Rowlnig invented the notion of Dark Magic and had her world consider it seriously as an evil thing instead of being open-minded seems to be less telling of her wishes to show a wizard society that can be as prejudiced as the muggle one, and more of her own bizarre world where you must be evil if you are knowledgeable in or interested in certain "taboo" things (RIP neurodivergents).

Rowling glorifies the Trio and the Marauders for breaking rules. Yet when it comes to actually breaking expectations and norms, notably in the wizarding society -- like the use of another magical species as slaves, or the blatant anti-Muggle prejudice held by everyone including "good guys" (or anti-centaur while we're at it), or stupid anti-knowledge prejudice like "Dark magic is evil" -- there is none of that. At best, it's surface-level opposition that comes out as white savior syndrome. At worst, the protagonists make it their noble code to enforce those norms, and "sinful" characters (Snape, for one) are punished for not conforming. Too often, those sinful characters are punished by the "good guys" with the very thing that they apparently oppose so fervently.

Without ever adressing the fact that those characters were ("morally") allowed to do that because it was just, in the end, a matter of who gets the privilege to do that, and who does not.

There.

Do you have anything to say to develop on those ideas? I feel like I'm reaching my knowledge limit and I'd like to see if those ideas can be expanded.

[panlight]

I just read your post about how easily Bella was able to adjust to vampirism, and do you think it was has something to do with she had already tasted human blood before she turned?

like if we go for the eternal damnation angle, where after you're turned you're supposed to drain the life of the kind you belonged to but that doesn't happen to Bella nor does she suffer through it as she had already tasted Blood and thus had already damned herself therefore making her immune???

I mean I know Smeyer didn't go for that angle but this adds an added layer of depth and darkness to the whole "Eww Bella drank Human Blood and LIKED IT" and " Wow, Bella has adjusted so well to being a vampire" like i feel like it ties the whole thing up in a neat lil bow

I could get behind this! She's already tasted human blood, "screwed her total," as she said, before she even becomes a vampire, and so she's primed for it, she's already doomed. There's no angst because the vampire essence had already taken root. I could also accept that the James bite did something to her, or even the pregnancy had changed her in a way that made the adjustment to vampirism less of a shock to the system.

I still wouldn't love that it was such an easy, non-event though. I don't, personally, feel like becoming a supernatural creature with an insatiable blood thirst is something you can really "mentally prepare" for. Like sure, making the choice beforehand and being informed might take the edge off; it could remove a few of the layers of chaos and fear, and that could help. She's not waking up in a strange world surrounded by strange people like the others were. But it should still be hard. You're still dealing with all-new senses, all-new instincts, all-new painful bloodthirst. "I just thought about it and made up my mind not to eat people!" is such a boring explanation.

And also, for me, the whole thing I found compelling was this sort of impossibly difficult and painful self-denial the Cullens had going on. It's only interesting if it's difficult. Newborn!Carlisle banishing himself to the woods and trying to starve himself for months and then spending centuries perfecting his self-control enough to be a doctor is just WAY more interesting to me than Bella hanging out with her human dad on day 2 of vampirism. Alice wandering alone and trying to make sense of her visions and having only "sporadic success" at not eating people is a hundred times more interesting to me than newborn!Bella dressing up all sexy and going to meet a lawyer. The mental image of Carlisle, Edward, Esme and Rosalie ALL having to tackle newborn!Emmett to try and keep him from eating someone because he's so outrageously strong is way more compelling (and scary! and sad!) than Bella just getting "distracted" by Edward and not eating the hikers. Jasper still struggling with the bad habits he picked up in the vampire wars; Rosalie killing her attackers without spilling a drop of blood because she knew she wouldn't be able to resist that; lovely gentle Esme slipping up and killing people and having to come home to Dr. Perfect Record with red eyes. Edward going on his rebellion because he didn't want to be in pain any more. THAT's the stuff I find compelling, that's the stuff that sucked me into this series.

But totally! At least explain her success with some actual lore. She's already tasted blood, she's already been bitten, she's been somehow changed by the nightmare pregnancy. All of that is better than "mentally prepared." Or at the very very very least really make it clear her success was about her circumstances. It was easier for her because she was informed and supported, not because she's innately magic or unusually self-controlled.

[malichev]

Attention: This publication has sensitive topics, talking a little about the current situation of CC Forever and my position in relation to future posts. If you don't feel comfortable, please skip it.

------------------------------ I confess that, because I wasn't on Twitter VERY much, I wasn't up to date, but I started seeing posts here and decided that I needed to update myself a little on the situation. Apparently, tweets were unearthed, with comments and interactions'' from Forever with a minor, for those who don't know, in Brazil, under 18 you are a minor. At the time he must have been 19 or 20 years old. Despite understanding that people change over the years, technically, he committed a serious crime for which, it appears he never received a type of punishment, it appears that it was kept in the closet'' and has now been unearthed. So, it's a delicate topic, so I understand those who no longer want updates on it. Now, for those who were waiting for a statement, he opened a live to talk about the subject, but people were disappointed, especially the way he dealt with the topic, he said that they distorted his tweets, so he deleted them (in fact more than 900 tweets disappeared), and then said that he will sue the people who made a thread on Twitter with his posts. Honestly, I decided to go after these supposed tweets, and to be honest, the things I read were a bit…bizarre? I understand why people are not comfortable, I don't know how the case will go, but apparently the ´´victim´´ exists, he made strange tweets and she was indeed a minor. So I think Forever saying they distorted his tweets wasn´t the best argument. Overall, I didn't find it a really satisfactory statement. And honestly, some of their fanatics, because it's not a fan thing, it's a fanatic thing, are making the situation worse by trying to erase the problem, wanting to use other CCs' mistakes to defend Forever, they just forget that if the other CCs have already recanted, or even ``paid for their mistakes''. They are not going to save Forever by using other people as a shield, especially since the Forever case happened years ago, BUT it has now been discovered even by the Brazilians themselves, and it is something that is STILL open, there has not been any kind of resolution and, the worst part, is that it can still be considered a serious crime depending on the justice system, because apparently there will be a legal fight.He said he hired lawyers.

What will this result in and how will it affect his presence in the QSMP?

Let's find out, I just ask that you be patient with Quackity, the team and even the others CC´s, many of them probably don't know anything because they are on vacation, and even if they don't want to get involved that's their right since, because currently, they are not actually involved in the problem. I honestly don't even know how the information will reach them, especially those who were closest to Forever. I believe that, just as the community is in shock, not wanting to believe, whoever is his closest friend will also be in denial. In conclusion: Because I was also uncomfortable, I'm going to avoid talking about qForever and Forever as much as possible in future posts, unless there's no way out, after all, the sad thing is that he made a memorable character in Lore, and it seemed like he was going to have more about him. Now I don't know what happens. Anyway, I hope you take care of yourselves, don't stress, and if you want to take some time off social media, I recommend it.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

But there was an anon - I don't remember where I saw the comment - that speculated Meghan is going to hang in there until they've been married 10 years because of the joint property/asset laws that kick in at the 10th anniversary. That sounds pretty plausible to me, but with two major caveats:

What difference does the joint assets make? all Harry's asset was his mother's inheritance that he put in the mansion, she'll get it anyway with the custody, Spotify was hers, Spare was his and Netflix mixed

So first, I goofed. I didn't do the due diligence to look into the 10-year-rule. I thought it was about joint property but it's not. The 10-year-rule is actually about alimony and financial support. I think the thread there that my brain latched on to is how community property can be used as a bargaining chip in deciding alimony.

Also, I am not a lawyer. This is all stuff I've read about. If any lawyers want to chime in here, feel free!

So in a community property state, which California is, both spouses own everything earned, acquired, gained, lost, debted during a marriage equally. It doesn't matter whose name is on the paperwork. If it was acquired during the marriage, it belongs to both spouses. So the house, Spotify, Netflix, Clevr, Roop, speaking engagements, cars, any debt accrued, etc. They share that equally and when they divorce, it's going to be split in half. (And I suspect they'll fight over which half of the deals and how much money is half in the divorce.)

Now, also in a community property state like California, there's no prescribed length of marriage to earn half of everything earned and acquired in the marriage. The only instance in which assets are not divided 50/50 in a community property state like California is when there's a prenuptial (or a postnuptial) agreement in place outlining how the assets would be divided in case of a separation or divorce.

It's my understanding that the BRF doesn't do prenups like that so it's probably a safe assumption that Harry and Meghan don't have a prenup and they're going to be splitting all of the assets/properties/finances acquired after May 19, 2018 equally.

You mentioned Montecito Mansion being paid for with Harry's Diana inheritance. That makes Montecito Mansion commingled property - meaning it is both community and separate. So probably what would happen in that case is if there's a divorce and the divorce requires them to sell the house (which could happen), then the court would first award Harry a lump sum from the sale proceeds equivalent to the amount of Diana's inheritance that he paid, and if there's any money left, it's split equally between him and Meghan.

That's the community property side of it. Now for the alimony piece where the 10 years is important.

California has a 10-year rule for alimony:

For marriages lasting 10 years or less, alimony is usually awarded for half of the mariage.

For marriages lasting more than 10 years, alimony can be awarded on a permanent basis, with indefinite jurisdiction for modification (or termination).

So if the Sussexes divorce next month with after six years of marriage, alimony can be awarded up to, and no more than, 3 years. If the Sussexes divorce in 2029 after 11 years of marriage, there's no expiration date on the alimony. For example, a court could award it for 11 years or in perpetuity or for 8 years.

How much alimony someone is awarded is based on their financial need and stability. If Meghan wants alimony from Harry (aka Charles), it's possible she could agree to less of the community property to better her chances.

Will it happen? I don't think so. I don't think they're going to get alimony unless their situation changes very drastically. The only reason Sarah and Diana got alimony in their divorces was because they were dependent on their husbands/the BRF. (They took alimony in lump sum payments as part of divorce settlements versus recurring payments.) That's not Meghan's situation because a) she's in a community property state so she gets half of everything automatically and b) she has the ability to provide for herself in a way that Sarah and Diana could not.

And by "situation changes very drastically" I mean like the Sussexes lose all of their money and Charles takes them back as fulltime working royals. In that case, Meghan has become dependent on the BRF again so she would most likely get alimony.

What's more likely to happen is child support. Child support in California is assigned based on standard of living the children are used to. So if Meghan can prove that the children have a standard of living that's $2 million per month (mortgage, private school, nannies, drivers, chefs, gourmet food), she could very well end up getting $2 million a month in child support from Harry. Will that happen? Probably not, and that's her own fault because of all the PR she's done about her net worth and earning power. But it could happen.

But the TL;DR of it is that I goofed. 10 years is about alimony, not joint assets. California is a community property state so they split everything 50/50 unless they have a contract (usually a prenup), which I doubt.

And that's also why Meghan must tread carefully when it comes to Roop. She could very well end up owing Harry if it's successful and she leaves him. Not only could she owe Harry alimony or child support (if he/his lawyers can prove he's the main caretaker for the children since Meghan's working all the time - as her own PR has sometimes suggested), she could also end up being forced to give him the company entirely or having to buy out his ownership.

(Which is also something that could happen to the house. Because it's community property and belongs to both of them and probably has both of their names on the deed, someone is probably going to be buying the other one out of the house to keep it for themselves unless they put it up for sale together.)

Remember, I am not a lawyer. Everything I learned about California divorces came from Google and Celebrity Divorces.

[courtforshort15]

Less Than 5 Minutes

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Reader

Summary: Whoops, Matt drops the L word for the first time on accident.

Trigger warnings: none. Enjoy the fluff.

Masterlist

"What?"

Matt froze above you, hand still in your hair, as if your sudden question had startled him. For a second it looked like he was going to respond, before he snapped his mouth shut, eyes briefly shutting.

Your grip on the coffee cup in your hands faltered ever so slightly as you stared up at him, eyes squinted in confusion. You lowered the cup from your mouth, your mind struggling to comprehend what he had just said.

He shook his head jerkily and didn't say anything, instead choosing to quietly take a step back from you, panic plain across his face.

"What did you just say?" You asked, louder this time.

Matt swallowed loudly, his hand finally lowering from your hair before he briefly ran it down his face, scratching his jaw.

"Uh...nothing. I didn't say anything."

"You definitely said something."

Abruptly, Matt took another step back from you, turning sharply on his heel and reaching for his cane that he had put on the table next to your door the night before. He slipped his glasses on, the red lenses cutting off the vulnerability in his face from your view, probably knowing that you were becoming a near expert at reading him. Snatching up his briefcase, Matt gave you a bright smile, one that you knew was false and lacking the warmth of the smiles he normally sent your way.

His reaction to your innocent question was curious, and your head tilted to the side as you observed him from your seat at the kitchen table.

"Goodbye. That's all. I was just...I was just saying goodbye," Matt mumbled as he unfolded his cane. The pieces snapped into a straight line in front of him. You eyed the way his knuckles whitened as he grasped it tightly, but you didn't say anything.

"OK, Matt. I hope you have a good day at work," you shrugged, confused at his abrupt departure. You didn't miss the way he yanked the door open, nearly ramming the corner into toe of his shoe. He definitely wasn't someone you would classify as clumsy, and yet here he was, almost stumbling on his own two feet, trying to escape your apartment as soon as he could.

"I'll see you later, sweetheart." And then he was gone, door latching tightly behind him, your apartment now silent except for the air conditioning running quietly in the background.

What on Earth....?

You stared at your door, blinking in utter bewilderment, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Less than 45 seconds ago, he had been teasing you about your lack of ability to function before 7am, quickly adjusting his tie before leaning down to kiss you on your forehead goodbye while you sipped on your second cup of coffee. You had grumbled out something that didn't even begin to resemble a word, and he had laughed quietly into your hair.

Have a good day, sweetheart. Love you.

Oh.

Oh.

He had said...love.

Such a small, simple sentence. Such a small, simple sentence, that actually wasn't simple at all, when you thought about it.

You hadn't exchanged the words yet, but he had pressed them into your skin without a second thought. He had changed everything without even thinking about it, as if the words had always fallen naturally from his lips.

This...was huge.

And you had ruined the moment with a sleep-addled brain that had struggled to comprehend what he had said until he was already out your door.

The words had been sudden and unexpected, even on his end, it seems, as you recalled the shock on his face. But that didn't make them any less welcome, any less treasured. A wide, beaming smile broke out across your lips, the warmth of his words spreading through your chest like wildfire.

Of course your fearless vigilante would run away from the shock of his own feelings spilling from his lips. Of course your smooth-talking lawyer would become tongue tied, unable to form a coherent sentence after blurting out the words that you, yourself, had been wanting to say since the first time he kissed you.

God, he was such a dork.

Still grinning like an idiot, you slammed your coffee mug on the counter, liquid splashing out, as you raced over to your window. With shaking, excited hands, you wretched it open and stuck your head out.

"I love you, too, you ridiculous man." You didn't bother shouting it, knowing his ears would pick it up as clearly as if he was standing right next to you.

Matt's startled laughter floated up to you from the sidewalk below, his head turned in your direction from where he stood at the crosswalk on his way to work.

Two minutes later, you were throwing your door wide open, leaning into him as he stepped over the threshold and pressed his lips fiercely to yours.

His cane was folded up and placed back on the table next to your door, where it remained the rest of the day.

[that-ari-blogger]

Pay Off

One way of analysing stories is by asking a question about a question. By which I mean "what question is this series answering about its plot".

For example, in the third Pirates of the Carribean film, the question is "has Jack Sparrow changed enough to give his life away?" And this isn't unique to the Pirates of the Carribean franchise, it's applicable to a ton of other stories as well. It's a question of whether or not the character development has happened, not just which side has stronger magic or bigger weapons or a better lawyer.

But if you were to apply that analytical framework to a season finale? Say, for example, The Battle for Bright Moon, the season one finale for She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. What question is that answering?

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD

In my reading of the first season of She-Ra, the series asks two questions, one focused on Adora and Catra's psychology, and the other on the rebellion as a whole. The story gives the audience the illusion that they are linked, but I'm not quite sure that they are.

A few months ago, over Discord, a user going by Emerald9D gave some insight that has been on my mind ever since:

season 1 is a lot of "ha-ha here's this happy little positive message" seasons 2 and 3 are like "oh god nobody internalized any of the lessons from the first season"

She-Ra is about breaking cycles, and one of the clever ways it does this is through its format. Each season of the series is a self-enclosed tragedy, with the exception that the last season manages to change direction at the last possible moment (season four does something interesting as well, but we'll get there when we get there). The stereotype of this is death and destruction, but it doesn't have to be.

She-Ra achieves a repeated tragedy through separating the war from the psychological story it is telling, letting victory be achieved in one side and not the other. Season One focuses on the character development of both Adora and Catra, but has it come crashing down on both of their heads in a carefully laid tapestry of misfortune. It could have easily worked out well, they could have all been friends, but the story didn't play out that way.

Catra's character progression in this season is actually the simplest she gets in the entire season, at face value. I despise the term "character arc" for reasons too complicated and petty to articulate here, but it is applicable with Catra in season one, mostly.

On a surface level, Catra's arc deals growth and failure. She rises out of the abuse from Shadow Weaver and strikes her away, she very nearly joins Adora in the rebellion, but then Light Hope happens. I already have a post about that episode but suffice to say here that it changes the trajectory.

This scene doesn't have Catra directly in it, but symbolises that trajectory shift so succinctly, and it is fundamentally about Catra. Adora reaches out for a hand to hold, and if the series had gone even slightly differently, Catra would be there. But she isn't because Light Hope tore the two apart. And now Adora's hand closes on empty space.

But, Catra doesn't regress in season one, not yet. Instead, the perspective shifts, and it is revealed that Catra has been developing in an unhealthy direction. She-Progresses past Shadow Weaver, but without any closure. She believes that her mother figure made her strong, and recognises the abuse for what it is, but she can't recognise any of her own behaviours that were instilled in her by her upbringing.

"I already made it a lot further than anyone thought I would."

Shadow Weaver taught Catra that she was a failure, and Catra's attempt to fix her own self-worth issues was to lash out and remove Shadow Weaver from the equation. But removing a knife from a wound doesn't heal it. It's a step, but there are others that might be helpful that Catra hasn't recognised.

Instead, Catra devotes herself to the war above her own mental health and assumes that will fix all of her problems. Hold on to this thought.

Adora has a hero complex, a psychological condition defined by PeopleSkillsDecoded.com as:

"a psychological construct which makes a person feel the need to save other people. This person has a strong tendency to seek people who desperately need help and to assist them, often sacrificing their own needs for these people."

Five By Five Takes has a video on Adora's psychology that goes into more depth than I can in a post about a single episode, so I highly recommend you watch it. In said video, the idea is proposed that Adora's heroic attributes are caused by her abusive upbringing, which reframes her actions here.

Adora thinks incredibly quickly, which is a character strength, but also a weakness. It means she is easily the quickest responder to almost any given situation, with one exception that I will get to. But Adora's speed also means that things get lost in translation. She sees someone in danger and thinks "I need to save them", and she sees a loss and thinks "I caused this".

Adora had so many chances to internalise the lessons of the series. Glimmer and Swiftwind explicitly tell her on separate occasions that she is important not because she is She-Ra, but because she is Adora, and people like Adora. But No Princess Left Behind throws her off balance, and in her weakened state, who sweeps in to push her in their own direction, but Light Hope.

"Light Hope said that I'd endanger my friends by coming back, and she was right"

Adora is convinced that she caused someone to die, and Light Hope agrees with her. All she has to do to save people is stop killing them. She just needs to let go, because she did kill Entrapta. It was her fault. Light Hope can help her.

Glimmer, Bow, and Swiftwind bring Adora away from the beacon and into the war. They try to dissuade Light Hope's words, but Adora has already thought through the situation. Now she is confused and trying to reconcile her perceptions. She doesn't understand unconditional kindness, so she is tempted to agree with Light Hope because that makes sense to her. But the kindness makes her feel good. There is a cognitive dissonance there.

So, Adora ignores the problem. Instead, she devotes herself to the war above her own mental health and assumes that will fix all of her problems.

That sounds familiar, who else is doing that? Oh, right, Catra. And remember the thinking quickly thing? I mentioned that there was one exception. There is one person who processes information faster than Adora, and that, once again, is Catra.

Adora and Catra are the same person with one primary difference, expectations. Everyone has thought the world of Adora and expected her to save them. Nobody cares about Catra.

Alright, they aren't the same person. Catra is a cat, Adora is a seven-foot-tall sword lady. But does that not play into this? She-Ra is just another purpose piled upon the rest, and Catra is treated as a pest, a stray cat that wandered in and is kept around because the child of the house likes it.

What this means is that Adora internalises everything as her fault, even failures that have nothing to do with her, and Catra internalises everything as someone else's fault, even her own achievements.

The season has been trying to teach the pair that this is a problem, but the events of the season only serve to reenforce them.

"Did you really think this was about you?"

Yes. Yes she did. And so did you, Catra. That's why you lured her away from the castle, that's why you are doing this. This is very much about Adora.

The season is a victory for the rebellion. The princesses do get together and win the day, and this is one of the benefits of separating character arcs from the overarching story. It means the characters can win a battle and lose themselves at the same time.

Deus Ex Machina.

The term means "god from the machine" and originated in Ancient Greek theatre, where heroes would often be saved by a literal god interposing themself into the story. This happens too many times in the Iliad and Odyssey to count and isn't a bad thing there. They are elements of the setting. You don't need to set up gravity in a modern story for it to kill someone, the audience understands that falling kills. Likewise, in Ancient Greece, the gods were understood to just exist. So, Hermes popping into save someone because he happened to be in the area isn't unheard of. This tangent isn't really the point of my blog, so if you want more information, Overly Sarcastic Productions has a video on the subject.

This isn't really a deus ex machina. It's more of a checkoff's gun, an element set up earlier on that pays off later. I feel the need to remind everyone that Entrapta dies less than a week in universe before the finale takes place. This means that the princess allegiance needs to recover, and the fact that they get up and come back to save Adora in time is a miracle. The season is about the coming together of the Princess Alliance, so it was hinging on them coming together at all.

As a side note, I feel it is important that Mermista was the first one to arrive, because of how emotionally distanced she is. This is a character who doesn't let herself care that much, but she is taking steps to remedy that. Also, the fact that the least caring person and the bard (the guy whose job is cheering people up) rock up to save Adora is pretty heartwarming.

But I brought up the concept of a Deus Ex Machina for a reason, and that is this: The trope has a habit of undercutting character arcs. For all my love of The Legend of Kora for example, the giant spirits at the end of season two feel like a Deus Ex Machina because they aren't really set up too much. You are free to like that element, but to me it felt flat. The Princess Alliance rescue is what happens when that undercutting is intentional.

Adora is so close to character development, but then someone does the end goal for her, and she is left thinking that all the character development was a waste of time. It's not true, but again, she thinks quickly, and things get lost in translation.

The first season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power asks two questions. "Will Adora and Catra get over their flaws?" and "Will the Princess Aliance work out?"

The answer to one of those questions is a resounding yes. The other is more complicated and leans into the series as a whole's themes of tragic cycles.

Final Thoughts

I love this episode. Despite it being my least favourite finale of the bunch, that is more a testament to the skill behind the show itself than the flaws in this episode.

The idea over discord about internalisation framed my entire rewatch of this season, as it felt so naturally true, but I wanted to be able to point to why that was. Why did nobody learn anything from season one? And people did learn things, Glimmer and Angella got brought closer by the events of the series, and friendships definitely got made. But in terms of the core character drama, this season was very intentionally a failure.

Adora and Catra got so close but fell short at the end to catastrophic effect.

Next week, I am continuing on to season two and The Frozen Forest. We'll see how things go there.

Previous - Next

[kittyprincessofcats]

What measures the ICJ actually ordered

When my post about the ICJ ruling blew up, some people in the notes were praising me for "summing up the ruling", which I didn't really, not in full (if I'd known the post would blow up like that, I probably would have).

I'm also seeing way too many people (German media (and one Germany lawyer WTF), but also international media, as well as people on here), spin this ruling completely the wrong way around and act as if "the court ruled that Israel's offensive in Gaza could continue" or even "the court ruled that Israel has a right to self-defense", which... no, they very much didn't!!! I even saw several people say "they court ruled it's not genocide" and uhm... WHAT? Did any of you actually watch or read the actual ruling or are you just spreading lies on purpose? Stop doing Israel's propaganda work for them FFS!

So, let me break this down for real: They did NOT decide at all whether what Israel is doing is or isn't genocide. That's not what this stage of the case is about. All South Africa had to do for now to get their case accepted is to prove that what Israel is doing could plausibly be genocide. And the court ruled that yes, it could be, and the situation is urgent enough to warrant provisional measures. That's the freaking opposite of "they decided it's not genocide"!

Next, about the provisional measures: They never said "Israel can continue"! They didn't even say "We're not ordering a ceasefire". All they did was avoid talking about self-defense and ceasefires as a whole. That's literally all. They didn't adress the question of whether Israel has a right to self-defense, because that's not a part of their job here and that question is being discussed elsewhere in the UN if I'm not mistaken. And they didn't directly order a ceasefire, but the measures they did order are practically unenforcable without one.

The measures they ordered (also just to have this as a summary for myself):

Israel must do everything in its power to prevent all acts of genocide against Palestinians, so they must stop any of this:

How are you supposed to "stop killing or seriously injuring Palestinians" without a ceasefire? How are you supposed to "stop inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about Palestinians' destruction" without letting in humanitarian aid?

2. Israel has to ensure that their military doesn't do any of the above^. Again - how, without a ceasefire?

3. Israel must prevent and punish public incitement to genocide. As Owen Jones summed up:

4. Israel must immediately enable basic services and humanitarian assistance. They and many western countries are currently already violating this order by cutting funding to UNRWA.

5. Israel must prevent the destruction of evidence for genocide.

6. Israel must submit a report in a month about all the measures they've taken, which South Africa will then be allowed to comment on.

(Does anyone know what will actually happen if Israel very obviously doesn't comply with these orders and South Africa notes as much in their commentary? Will that make it more likely for Israel to be convicted of genocide in the long run? (Since they're obviously not interested in preventing it?) Obviously Israel will now claim that they're already to doing all of this, but that's obviously bullshit - they literally doubled down a day later, and even the court already called their current supposed measures to prevent harm "insufficient" in their ruling, sooo... ?)

[thickenmyblood]

maca this chapter was insane i was kicking my feet the entire hour I took to read it!!

but can I just say as much as I was team damen in the beginning cause I didn’t fw laurent’s whole approach to the breakup…..I don’t get why damen was so upset with laurent abt the needing a lawyer reveal when he immediately recognised that it was obvious that laurent continued to stay with him because he genuinely loved him.

Don’t get me wrong I definitely love that you took that approach cause your writing is so REAL and Damen recognises he’s being an idiot sometimes!!But I didn’t expect Laurent to not push back abit in some sense like he was just a traumatised kid barely a year older than nicaise is rn when they met (if i got the math right on that).

anyway I think I just wanna hear more about your thoughts on Laurent’s headspace if it’s not spoiler-y ofc. Thank you for such a brilliant chapter and happy holidays ♥️♥️

hello! i was actually talking to @savoytrufflephd about this the other day. this is terribly long but we're reaching the end of the fic and i will never get the change to speak on these things again, and so i hope this answer guides your reading experience and helps clear any doubts you might have going into the last chapter.

about damen:

during their argument, damen is gutted to find out that laurent approached him because he needed a lawyer and money, and, indeed, damen doesn't have an absolute "let's berate laurent" meltdown right then and there, but i wouldn't say he "immediately recognized" anything.

there are three main emotions at play during the reveal scene.

sadness: damen feels deeply hurt by laurent's confession.

There is nowhere to go. There is no other sound in the world but Laurent’s voice, tearing him open.

They should be doing this in the kitchen, Damen thinks. For old times’ sake. For symmetry. There must be a reason why Aimeric keeps picking kitchens as his bleeding spot.

anger and/or self-righteousness: damen makes comments to hurt laurent and express the hurt he's feeling himself and how he feels cheated and wronged.

(...) Was a live-in nanny so expensive that you had to spend the next four years forcing yourself into bed with—”

“You were nervous. Before. I remember the—was the bathroom break so you could vomit in between—”

(...) So you stayed up all night, going through that—that shit, and you had ten liters of coffee this morning so you could be brave enough to sit here and tell me that I was your pimp for a while. (...)

“I wouldn’t blame you,” Laurent says, “if you—” “Don’t play the martyr card.” “I’m so—” “Fuck you,” Damen says.

defeat: damen slowly realizing this is the worst case scenario. there can't be anything worse than this, and so it's almost a relief to hear it because he 1. didn't have to ask 2. can't imagine any other blow hitting him harder (which... i mean, he did have a heads up from nikandros). now what he wants is to understand how this happened and why.

Something is leaking out of Damen now, except it isn’t blood. He feels it by its absence, by the relief it leaves behind. This, he thinks, as he looks at Laurent. This is everything they have done to each other. There is nothing left but this: the wound, drained; the wound, re-dressed. This is what he wanted to know, what he asked for. This.

He might as well lay down on the table and pass Laurent the knife.

He wants to feel stupid and can’t, wants to lather himself up in hatred to slip away from this with ease. He can’t. He’d thought in those first months at Nikandros’s that he knew what hating Laurent was—annoyance, mostly, and contempt, slightly—but now he knows that wasn’t hate. He could never hate Laurent. Maybe he could learn, could train himself to do it, but he doesn’t want to. He wants to understand. He wants—

damen is not the best when it comes to understanding his own emotions. later on, when analyzing this argument with neo, this happens:

“I don’t know how it made me feel,” Damen says. “I was angry yesterday. At him. And I know I should be angry now, or earlier when he said—when he told me.” “But you weren’t.” “I wasn’t sad either. It was like…” “Like?” Damen smooths over the sheets beside him. The bed is cool and neatly made on that side. “Like I’d been waiting for him to say it for so long, that when he did, it wasn’t… I don’t know.”

he did feel all those emotions in the argument, but when asked to talk about them, he holds onto defeat instead of anger or sadness. i wrote him this way because i wanted a version of him that was tired of arguing with laurent, that didn't want to do that anymore, that wanted things to be fair between them. plus, i wrote very early on that he's just not very creative when it comes to (active) cruelty. it just doesn't come naturally to him.

now, about laurent:

i agree that this laurent reads very passively. he doesn't strike back, doesn't argue that he was desperate, that it wasn't his fault, etc. this is because:

he's being self-hating. this is him basically telling damen "look at what i did and hate me for it. i don't deserve the way you've always helped me, the way you're STILL helping me. i'm not a good person. i'm not who you think i am." this is why, in this fic, laurent also allows nicaise to treat him like shit. it's the reason laurent did not tell agnes about the verbal abuse he was being subjected to. he thinks he deserves it. it's the reason he tells damen having sex with maxime was a chore and still he kept doing it.

like damen, he's also tired of arguing. in fact, i would say he's MORE tired than damen. he's getting the worse of nicaise's ire and has been for months. he knows damen is upset with him bc of that 10 minute conversation he had alone with nicaise in ch18. the day before, damen looked him in the eye and told him it was all his fault, that everything wrong that happened with nicaise was on him, that he was to blame because he was too busy having fun and being stupid to take care of the one person he was supposed to look after. he's emotionally drained. he spent the entire night looking through nicaise's phone, analyzing dates and punishing himself for everything that happened. after almost 400k words of fucked up situations, he's finally reached this strange limit of "whatever, just let it end".

the self-fulfilling prophecy aspect of his relationship with damen. in a way, laurent never dared to hope what he had with damen would be forever. in fact, he believed in order to keep damen, he had to sacrifice many, many, many things and aspect of who he was and is as a person, because otherwise damen would not and could not love him. things like his mental health, his own abuse, his views on sex... but also small, stupidly vulnerable things, such as letting your partner know that you fucking douche!!!!!! letting him know you do things every other human does. laurent wanted damen to love him, but he didn't think damen ever could if he showed him all his cards and baggage and whatever you want to call it, and so he made himself palatable. and this was, ultimately, the downfall of their relationship (along with damen's obvious ignorance, emotional issues, repression, etc.)

this is all i can say on laurent's end. ch20 will give you some more details to help you look at his actions and thought process throughout the fic in a different light. i hope this answer made sense and wasn't just me babbling for seventeen thousand words.

thank you for your time!!

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 9/19/2023

unknown flu-like-symptoms-but-not-the-flu-or-COVID problems

listening

no one particular thing has been stuck in my head so here are two short little things

new release Strike by La Femme is a delightful synthy one-minute sketch of a car chase in the pouring rain. spotify

Trumpet Sketches - Remastered by Janko Nilovic is a 1:40 doodle. when the organ hits... spotify

i have been following La Femme ever since i loved their credits song for As Above So Below, and the trumpet sketches are off the spotify recommended

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reading

actually finished this book last tuesday, still reading berserk, but i don't have coherent berserk thoughts bc im still stuffing my entire elbow into my mouth and screaming about it.

The Stolen Coast, by Dwyer Murphy, has a lot of problems. the first problem is that the publisher bills it as a "noir jewel heist" novel when it is in fact a vibes novel about being sad and trapped in massachusetts. which, mood! but very much not what i or any other goodreads reviewer signed up for.

ABOUT THE STOLEN COAST Adrift in a sleepy coastal Massachusetts town, a man who ferries fugitives by day gets twisted up in a plot to pilfer diamonds in this Casablanca-infused heist novel.

Casablanca is a real fuckin goddamn reach. this is like saying Home Alone 2 and The Taking of Pelham 123 are similar bc they both have pivotal scenes in subways. when you are expecting a cool noir jewel heist and you get a vibes book, it feels very meandering and indecisive with exceptionally poor pacing and very light on the plot. dwyer knows how to put a sentence together, and there is a high degree of aesthetic polish, but i lived in mass and found myself filling in a lot of the vibes from lived experience. this is a book that expects you to already know *extremely* minute regional accent differences.

i often found myself more interested in the antagonist lawyer and his wife (who has a standing weekly appointment to fuck her bodyguard at the region's finest wedding destination hotel, and orders champage afterwards every week) than the protagonists of our story. the femme fatale loops all the way back around to manic pixie, which i didn't know was possible for a woman to do. as an example of the aesthetic polish but editorial disarray of the book, wherein we know so much about our protagonists but so little of it is relevant, i was convinced that "our main man Jack is a Harvard lawyer" was a long running gag for most of the book (a la "our good for nothing son is actually Very Important and just slumming it here") and was actually quite anxious to see if the actual lawyer would ferret him out, but no. jack is actually a real lawyer but it simply does not fucking matter.

there are a. number of happenings that mr murphy tries to pass off as luck and just like Ha Ha Things Just Break Like That Sometimes but it really just feels like acts of god. their planned heist breaks bad for them with no consequences and then breaks very well for them with very few consequences. this is not a long book. the actual heist felt like filling time.

it's a book that's very very good at capturing the New England depression and sense of stagnancy, for want of a nail etc, the bizarre little self-important snow globe everyone lives in, but everyone has such small ambitions. this is sort of the point of noir, that the rot never actually changes no matter what you do, but the protag is the perpetrator of the rot? this is largely a personal crisis that he’s choosing not to address. perhaps most unforgivably, for such a short book it dragged a whole fuck of a lot.

i have been betrayed by whoever did this npr book review

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watching

Forty Guns (1957, dir Fuller). this is the most movie reviewer ass section ive written in a minute. this one is for sickos only. it is not an interesting movie by itself (choppy and kind of messy) but it is an interesting movie if you know the limitations of the genre and the hays code it's slamming up against.

there is simply So Much that happens in this movie (from the very good Criterion Collection essay):

While the story sounds rather tidy in summary, the plot of Forty Guns is rife with intrigue and action—juggling political corruption, theft, betrayal, an unwanted pregnancy, a serious maiming, three romances, four murders, and a suicide. 

there's some oddly dorky but endearing straight people visual and verbal double entendre. visually unique but does not stick its landing, and i don't know that i love the original ending as opposed to the studio ending either.

it gets a solid B on the "westerns i would let other people watch" list. not one of the top three movies to convince someone that some westerns are good actually, but a fun little weird offshoot of the genre.

why did i watch this: surely by seeing a post from another cowboyblogger? it was fairly recently added to my letterboxd watchlist, but the why of it i could not tell you

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playing

im convinced theres a bug in the Court of Fontaine region in g/enshin bc i have been stuck at 97% for several weeks now. tick over to 100% godddamnit.

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making

acquired all the stuff to dye a couch cover, have not actually dyed the couch cover, due to being down with some sort of sickness