#i don't have a degenerative disease like him or anything

[shawolsos]

They removed Ricky's disability from the script? Fuck.

[us-the-voices-and-more-voices-2]

Conner and bizarro finally meet

on a random lonely day in the Kansas country side, Conner is rocking in a rocking chair reading a book lex got him. it's a big fat comic collection about this guy who works with the FDA for some reason and he's honestly just enthralled. there's a whoosh sound and suddenly Jason and bizarro appear, Jason has his arm over the shoulder of bizarro as he waves over to Conner. Conner is pretty confused who the other guy is.

Conner: hi Jason, who's with you?

Jason: oh this is bizarro, he's kind of my son.

Conner: since when?

Jason: since ages, lex basically was going to kill him but we accidentally broke him out of his containment. long story short he's here he's my son.

bizarro: *waves* bye! I'm bizarro

Conner: hi bizarro

Jason: don't mind him he's words are a bit backwards, something about the programming didn't quite work. all negative verbs and such are positives and all positives are negatives. we are working on it right buddy?

bizarro: I'm resting on it!

Jason: speech therapy is hard, he's perfectly normal he just has some mixed up brain functions. lex actually managed to reverse alot of the degenerative disease problems, so you know bizarro is just struggling with a few things. he's doing way better than before though right buddy?

bizarro: I'm not fine, I'm doing bad! red is doing a bad job

Jason: aw, thanks. I try, we really have to work on the negative verbs, but it's fine we can try again later. anyway I wanted you to meet your brother bizarro!

Conner: *holds out hand* nice to meet you bizarro, what do you like to do?

bizarro: I hate… reading books and watching movies, it’s not fun.

Conner: oh! I love reading books, I have some if you want one.

bizarro: I’m not interested, I hate reading. No thanks!

Conner: wait here I’ll go get one!

Conner runs into the house to go grab some books, he didn’t really know he had a brother but this was kinda cool. Even if it came out of nowhere.

Conner: I have.. Julia Gillard’s cookbook, pride and prejudice, moby dick, and.. bionicules? Honestly I don’t think I’ll read them again so you can have them, my gift!

Bizarro looks at Conner and smiles, he takes the books and starts reading them on the floor of the patio.

Jason: I know I should have called you, but we never have the chance to meet up.

Conner: it’s fine, honestly. I was just reading some comics, been a long week. Just wanted to soak up some sun, since Lex was nagging me about it.

Jason: Lex??

Conner: oh I didn’t tell you, yeah we are kinda trying to fix things between us. I think it has something to do with the whole kryptonite induced cancer, thing. He surprisingly actually does not mean any harm to me, it's so weird.

Jason: damn, even Lex of all people is trying to mend his relationships. Never thought I’d see the day.

Conner: oh it was weird, he came up to the house and actually apologised to me. Lex. APOLOGISED

Jason: NO WAY, I don’t believe you *crosses arms*

Connor: I wish I had it on tape, but no he did. It was so weird, then he told me he actually was pregnant with me.

Jason: wait… *murmurs* when would that have been.

Conner: oh a couple years ago as I’m about 4-5 now.

Jason: oh yeah he did basically disappear for a whole year one year, kinda thought he had some sort of horrible injury or assassin on his tail. Didn’t really think he was having you?

Connor: honestly I would not know, because again didn’t exist yet.

Jason: that’s actually around the time bizarro was made actually, well a year or 2 beforehand.

Connor: yeah makes sense, wait. bizarro is older than me?

bizarro: I'm younger than other superman.

Connor: true I do think your older than me, does lex keep saying anything about dissolving DNA to you guys?

Jason: on yeah that's what originally happened to biz over here, right buddy?

bizarro: me DNA re- reconsti- reconstituted.

Connor: oh damn, that most be why he is motherhen'ing so bad. "you really should be checking for it every 2 weeks" as lex says to me fortnightly now. ugh annoying.

Jason: really? guess I'll take his advice that does unironically sound like a good idea. Connor, well this has been nice. but we have to go or we are going to miss family dinner. see ya

Connor: honestly nice that you dropped by, nice to meet you bizarro!

bizarro: hi other superman!

Connor: you can call me Kon if you like

bizarro: hi Kon!

Connor: see you both enjoy the books! I'm sure bizarro will enjoy them

Jason: oh totally pride and prejudice is my favourite, I was looking for a copy for biz actually it's a wonderful gift, nice seeing you! see you next time for the space pirates?

Connor: always, those fucking space pirates though

bizarro: I love space pirates, they are the best

Connor: lol you're so right, bye guys!!

bizarro + Jason: bye!!!!

prev | current | next

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

The Eyes Have It: Final Part

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2k

Summary: Hotch is stepping down, giving Derek the opportunity to rise in his place. Derek wants to fight for you but is forced to deal with the case at hand. You, on the other hand, are forced to deal with the ugly side of prison.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Season Five Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

x

Even as the officers take all day to scour the streets for the unsub, they don't find anything. It's not until the next morning that two more people are murdered. A male and a female. He's back to murdering two people. However, there is something different about this crime scene compared to the other ones. He murdered them at their house, so he cut the wires in the electrical box and killed all the lights. If they can't see then they can't fight him back. He probably used some night vision aid of some kind in order to kill them.

The perfect hunt.

The woman's carotid was severed and her eyes were missing, just like the others. However, the man's eyes are still intact. He didn't take them. Why? Why is he different? Upon closer examination, there is a laceration on his left eye but not his right. He probably fought back trying to save the woman and the unsub ended up cutting him accidentally.

They theorized that the unsub could be collecting them but what if he needs a set? An injury like that ruins the collection. They're trophies. Someone who collects eyes could be into taxidermy, and that is something the team can use as a lead.

"A taxidermist?"

"Morgan might be onto something. The unsub's collecting sets of eyes that need to be flawless because he's preserving them as a trophy of some kind."

"We said he was a hunter. What do hunters collect for trophies?"

"What if we're wrong about him being a doctor?" Spencer asks. "It makes sense. A taxidermist has all the skills and supplies needed to preserve eyes and other body parts."

"Do they know how to surgically remove eyes like this?"

"Yeah, they have anatomy knowledge. They have to cut through muscle, tissue, and nerves to remove hide. It's the same thing for eyeballs."

Penelope calls JJ who places her on speakerphone.

"Garcia, you're on speaker."

"Comrades, I cross-referenced John with Okie City animal stuffers. Turns out, he wrote a $250 check as some sort of deposit for Lloyd's Wild Game Shop six weeks ago. Now, this place is scant miles from the farm road where our first victim was dumped."

"Does Lloyd have a record?" Phil asks.

"Lloyd Bulford has one recent record from the city, and it's a death certificate. He died four weeks ago of emphysema."

"Did he have any employees with criminal records?"

"He's got no employment records at all. He has a twenty-eight-year-old son named Earl who lives with him. He has a petty crime record and counts of animal cruelty."

"Garcia, get everything on the son."

"Okey-dokey."

Penelope takes a few moments to look the information up.

"Is there any record of mental illness?" JJ asks.

"No, but his mom had a degenerative eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa which would eventually lead her to go blind. Considering his crimes, that's super weird, right? Anyway, she died in a car accident when he was eight. Then, he gets expelled from school for getting in a fight with a kid and trying to gouge the kid's eyes out. I have no record of him returning to school, he has no employment records, he's never filed for taxes, and he doesn't have a credit card in his name. Besides his driver's license, there's no record of him at all."

"That's probably why he didn't show up on any of our lists," Derek says.

"Sounds like he's totally dependent on his dad. When his dad died, there's no one left to check up on him."

"Okay, his dad drove a 1990 dark brown Chevy cargo van. Looks like creditors took the house this week and a lien was put on the business."

"He lost his dad, his house, and is about to lose the family business. Care to choose a stressor?"

The team heads straight to the store but Earl isn't there when they arrive. It's a taxidermy store in the front with a few small rooms in the back where he's been sleeping. Without a house to stay in, he's been dependent on his father's business to keep a roof over his head. When they look into the windows, they immediately see a pool of blood on the ground.

"Hotch, I see blood. We're going in."

The front doors are locked but the back doors are open. They walk in one by one with guns trained in front of them, clearing out the place.

"That's gotta be John's blood," Emily says. If John was the first one to be killed and only had a dumpsite, then he must have been killed. It wouldn't make sense if the blood were the other victims. "He comes here to see his animal, they argue, and then this happens."

"He's been sleeping here," Hotch announces when he finds the back room where the cot is. "If he's not here then he's out hunting again."

Emily and Derek inspect the animals out of curiosity but become concerned when they see some of the animals don't have any eyes.

"This one doesn't have eyes," Derek says.

"Neither does this one."

Derek inspects more and comes across an animal with a realistic-looking set of eyes.

"Oh, my God. This one has eyes. I know what he's doing with the eyes."

With a little bit more snooping, they come across pictures of Earl and his father. They're not great pictures because they tell the story of a boy who wasn't given what he needed to succeed in life.

"Look at these. He's been hunting since he was a kid. He never went to school. He probably spent his entire childhood here. Somebody this socially isolated no doubt has mental issues. Looks like he only knew two things--hunting and taxidermy which was fine as long as his dad was supervising him."

"Now his gatekeeper's gone and he's loose."

Hotch finds the customer book he has everyone sign when they want him to provide services. He flips through the pages at every single customer that has ever bought from him.

"Wait, this address is familiar," Phil says. "It's on Junction Road where the teenage girls got killed."

"I think he's attacking all over town close to where his customers live."

"I know the customer on Dry Creek Road which is close to where that jogger got killed in the park."

"What about where the couple was murdered last night?" Derek asks.

"Close to this address here," Phil points.

"Okay, so he's delivering these animals to his clients' homes and then sticking around the neighborhood to find victims. Looks like there are two more addresses after the last murder."

"Alright, we need to split up," Derek decides.

"I'll get units to both locations," Phil says.

The entire team splits into two with Hotch going with Phil and Emily and Derek going with a few other armed officers and Rossi. Hotch finds the van Earl is using, and with a little patience, he saves a woman who is about to get her eyes gouged out. Earl is taken away, the woman is looked at, and all the animals fit with human eyes are taken in for testing. There are tens and tens of animals with human eyes which means there are tens and tens of victims waiting for justice to be served.

When the team touches back down in Virginia, Hotch busies Spencer enough to not allow him to visit you. When he told you he'd try his best to keep Spencer away from you, he meant it. Derek, Rossi, and Emily leave to visit you since they miss you dearly, but you're less than thrilled to see them. Of course, you're happy to talk to people you know and cling to some sense of normalcy, but you hate that they have to see you with a bruised face.

The bruise didn't settle well so your jaw is covered with a dark purple bruise that has spread up to your eye on the same side. The trio is excited to see you but eyes turn wide when they see your injury.

"Oh, my God," Derek whispers to himself.

You sit down across from them and pick the phone up at the same time as Derek does. Emily is sitting next to him while Rossi is standing behind them. The place can only fit two people at a time but Rossi doesn't mind standing.

"It looks worse than it feels," you white-lie.

"I hate that you're sitting here right now. You shouldn't even be here." All you can do is shrug. "Hotch says he's working on your case but it looks like nothing is being done for you."

"I'll be fine, Derek," you sigh. Derek opens his mouth to say something else but you're quick to cut him off. You really don't want to talk about that because then you're forced to think about who killed those seven men and how they're free right now. "I hear you got Hotch's job."

"It's only temporary. The board is coming down on his ass pretty hard. He gave it to me to keep himself on the team."

Even through the thick glass, you can feel the waves of guilt coming from him. He feels guilty for taking the job knowing Hotch wanted to give it to you.

"Derek, don't do that to yourself. I'm glad it's you. You have strong leadership skills. You'll knock it out of the park, I'm sure," you wince in pain.

"Y/N, you're not okay."

You look down and let the tears fall freely. You hate that they're seeing you this way but what can you do? You look up with your eyes wet and your face even more puffy.

"I'm fine, Derek," you cry. "I'll be fine."

"Spencer--"

"Don't bring him here," you panic. "Please keep him away. You have the power to keep him busy." You're crying too much to make sense but Derek understands you through your cracked voice. "I love him and I miss him but I do not want him here. He can't see me like this. He has an eidetic memory. He won't be able to forget this. Please promise me you'll keep him away."

"I promise," Derek whispers.

"Let me talk to Emily." The phone is passed onto her, and she gives you a sad smile. "Don't give me that look."

"It's hard seeing someone you care about like this."

"I know. It's not forever... I hope not. I have faith that I will get out of this. Whether or not I still have a job, that's up to Strauss."

"You didn't kill them. She can't fire you because of this."

"I think she can. Not for killing someone but for going to prison. Anyway, can you do me a favor?"

"Anything. You name it."

"I can only imagine what seeing my empty chair is doing to you. Distract them enough to get them through the week. I know it's a lot to ask of you but knowing you're worried about me won't do me any good in here."

"Okay, I'll try," she nods.

Rossi taps Emily on the shoulder and gestures to get the phone. She passes it to him and looks you right in the eye. He says something to Derek and Emily and they both get up to leave. He must want to talk to you privately.

"Hey, kid."

"Hey, Rossi," you sniffle.

"I know how hard it is in here for you. I can see it in your eyes."

"Don't tell the others but it's so hard for me," you cry. "I feel everything. I don't know how I'm sleeping at night. I get nightmares all the time because of other people's pain. Please don't tell the others."

"I won't. Listen to me. I know it doesn't seem like it, but things will get better. We are not going to give up until you're back in that briefing room with us. You fake as much of it as you can and push through until the end. Hold your head up high and don't let anyone dim your light."

"Okay," you nod.

"I mean it, Y/N. I know it doesn't seem like it now but I think you're the only one of us that could survive prison and come out okay."

"Thank you, Rossi."

Rossi's words stick in your head well after he has left. Even when you're lying in your bunk bed, his words echo in your head, and you use it to help you get some sleep.

"Dwell in peace in the home of your own being, and the Messenger of Death will not be able to touch you." - Guru Nanak

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[macgyvermedical]

Okay so I have a really specific question. Baseline stats? Except my character is already pretty sick, he's got room to get much much worse but right now he ain't great. He's in a fair amount of pain because he keeps having adverse reactions to painkillers from previous drug abuse and yeah. So what would normal baseline be? And then what would a normal baseline for him bc since he's got this illness. It's idk what you call it but one of the illness that get worse with time... degenerative. Except in this world he can be fixed with enough treatment but he keeps refusing said treatment. Yeah I don't really understand vitals and things so I didn't wanna botch it but based on the info what would you assume would be good? Also what's like the worse someone's vitals could be with them still awake and alive although the mental state can be real messed up. (: thanks hon

So our understanding of normal adult vitals include:

BP: 100/60- 140/90 mmHg (a measurement of pressure)

Pulse: 60-100 beats per minute

Respirations: 12-20 breaths per minute

Temperature: 96-100.4F or 36-38C

SpO2: 95-100%

Level of Consciousness: Alert and Oriented times 4 (can answer 4 specific questions about themselves and their environment)

Now, all these "normals" pretty much assume a healthy, white, 20-something male who has a BMI of 18-25 and who has been sitting quietly for at least 5 minutes. So basically very few real humans.

It's very normal to vary from these somewhat if you are exerting yourself, in pain, sick, or otherwise different from the above demographic. So if we're taking vitals, we want to control what we can (generally asking the person to sit relatively quietly for 5 minutes). If we do this and you're out of range, but we have no other data to work with, we will try to get you back into this range. Because again, it's assumed that to get out of these ranges, you must have something going on medically that needs addressed.

For example, if your blood pressure is 160/90 with a heart rate of 110 because you're in a lot of pain, we can correct that by treating whatever is causing the pain.

Now, there's not always an identifiable (or fixable) reason why someone might be out of range, and sometimes we just correct the vitals themselves because chronically high or low vitals may cause problems. For example, as far as we know right now, living for a long time with a blood pressure in the 180s/100s will eventually cause heart failure, stroke, or heart attack, regardless of the reason. So if we can't get that person back into range by fixing something else, we'll give medications that directly lower blood pressure.

But let's say someone's heart rate is in the 40s because they're a runner. That's normal for them. It doesn't cause them any problems, it's not caused by a disease process, as far as we know won't cause them problems in the future, and their other vital signs are in normal range. They are said to have a "baseline heart rate of 40bpm". That tells other medical providers who are working with them that there's nothing to correct there- ignore that weird reading and just fix anything else that needs fixed.

Baseline can also be used if someone has a chronic illness that is as controlled as it can be, but it still has an impact on their vital signs. Say someone has a heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation with RVR and their heart rate without medications is in the 190s or 200s. This may cause symptoms, but if we medicate to control that rate to between 60-100, it may also cause symptoms.

So we might give enough medication to control the rate to 110s, which minimizes the symptoms they experience but still puts them technically out of range. Their baseline, then, is in the 110s. Again, nothing to correct there, it's just normal for them to be out of range on that vital.

Or, someone might have dementia and be unable to answer all the questions that would make them A+Ox4, but maybe can only consistently answer 2 of them. We wouldn't necessarily be worried about that because we know that it's normal for them to be A+Ox2- their baseline, but we would be worried if suddenly they were A+Ox0.

You can also have other measurements besides vitals that are considered baseline stats. Like pain, or blood sugar, BMI, electrolyte levels, or pretty much any other lab value.

As far as what you are describing I don't know that I can give you specific baselines, as I don't know what his symptoms are or how they relate to vital signs. With chronic pain generally vitals eventually go back to normal (say someone rates their pain at a 5/10 consistently, over time their body normalizes around that pain level and other vitals may only go out of range if they have an acute spike in pain).

What I can give you is a few of the following:

Pain: All vital signs go up

Dehydration/blood loss/shock: BP and LOC goes down, everything else goes up

Kidney problems: BP and HR can change but in what direction is due to the specific problem.

Opioid overdose: RR goes down.

Heart problems: Change in HR and BP but directions can change depending on specific problem.

Lung problems: Usually RR and HR go up

Throwing up: everything goes up

Drug abuse and withdrawal: depends on the drug

[torchwood-99]

Adrift Musings

Of course, the message for this episode has been coloured by too many shitty Gwen bash takes, but I'm still puzzled over what (or if) the writers were trying to say about Gwen in this episode.

Gwen bashers loved this ep because Gwen got so much shit thrown at her from different people.

They love that each person is complaining at for her conflicting stuff and she's in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation doesn't really matter. That she's got Andy telling her she's being too cold and Jack hinting that she's too emotional to deal with Stockholm (according to fandom interpretation) and Rhys saying he hates her because he thinks she's forgetting what matters like family but when she tries to respect a victim's family member's wishes by giving the family member what she asked for she turned around and changed her mind and treated this as Gwen's fault for some reason.

Ok that reason is grief and anger and the desire for someone to blame and while that's human and instantly forgivable, it's not just. In fact, if anything, it's terribly unjust. Out of everyone involved, Gwen was the person putting Nikki and Jonah's wishes first.

The message I really got from Adrift was that there are some problems that cannot be fixed, some situations which has no solution. But there's still this attitude that Gwen is somehow to blame for what's happened, although that may be the Gwen bashing view seeping in.

Of course, Gwen bashers will say Gwen should have learned to follow orders (while also not letting Andy down/forgetting the importance of normal people/not being "too good" to help out with Andy's case). I can't agree with this. Jack's orders went against every sound moral judgement. To blindly follow orders is rarely a lesson you want to encourage in anyone.

Because take away the sci-fi stuff, what you get is a missing son with a degenerative disease. And that's awful, for him, for his mother. But it's basic decency to tell a person that their loved one (who has been asking for them) is unwell and needs their support.

Except Gwen didn't know about Jonah's screams. She knew he had been aged and traumatised and he wanted his mum and his mum wanted him, and using that information, she made the best possible decision. A decision she made with her boss's go ahead.

You know who did fuck up? Who did have an obvious decision to make and somehow ended up not making it? Jack. Even if you agree or understand with his earlier decision to keep the patients secret, once he knew that the mother of a patient was about to be informed, he obviously should have given Gwen a full briefing, so that Nikki could be forewarned. There's literally no good reason for him to not to come forward with that.

The only possible explanation (that doesn't make Jack look like a dick) is that he thought Gwen knew. And even there, as Gwen's superior, anyone who works with vulnerable people knows that it's basic safeguarding to make sure that everyone's on the same page and all the necessary facts have been gone over to avoid situations such as these. Although here we're getting to a point of competency and that's fine, everyone on the show has an oopsie now and then, Gwen included. But in Adrift, the oopsie wasn't Gwen's. It was Jack's.

TLDR: Gwen was in a no win situation in Adrift, everyone was kind of mean to her, she was trying her best with what she knew, Jack should have told her about the screaming.

[thefloatingstone]

I give you garass for the unhinged bingo cus I know you want to

hdkfjdshjk My power is off right now so SURE WHY NOT. I GOT NOTHING BETTER TO DO

Sadly I didn't get bingo because Garrus is not like me really 😂 And he's not a "pwecious widdle" anything despite having permanent OwO face

Fun notes!

I haven't tortured them (yet?) so no checking off that box

"Cradling gently in arms" makes me go /////// so I didn't check it

"WHY are they like this???" no no. I know EXACTLY why he's like this. That's the appeal. It's also why "GO TO FUCKING THERAPY" is checked.

Mommy issues is a ? because Garrus doesn't have mommy issues the way he has daddy issues. But his "mommy issues" is his mommy has a degenerative neurological disease and from the sounds of it has been sick for a WHILE and there is no talk or expectation of it getting better. To the point that him leaving C-SEC greatly affected the family income which in large part went to medical expenses. Not to mention his mom was the reason he didn't follow through with his scholarship because his dad worked off world and his sister is 10 years younger than him so he gave up the scholarship to instead remain home while his dad was away to help out at home.

AND I DON'T KNOW IF ALL OF THAT COUNTS AS MOMMY ISSUES OR NOT.

[pomegranarchy]

By the way for 'Have You Any Faith?' I am SO curious on it, and it's relationship to the original, because I've read through the original, and the sequel. I'm very curious on whether anything of the sequel will come through, or will you make your own sequel for it? What will the Wordsmith and THK's relationship be by the end? How will it all end, will the finale be just a shifted to fit this universe's version of the original? Or will it be an entirely new one? Will the lore of Hoops' be kept, partially part of, or just replaced/ignored in this story? There's SO many other questions to ask, and honestly I don't expect you to answer any of the ones I just said. But basically, very excited to see how things play out! I need to do a re-read and entire search through your tumblr for all the stuff sometime soon but... later.

Oh and on Fionna and Cake, which you seem to like, I have a few ideas. I kind of assumed before watching or learning about the Winter King that he was an elemental or something related to the ice elemental was surrounding him, which, probably not. Or at least, that elemental thing that happened in the mini-series, is what happened to kid Marcy. Also, BETTY???? She can't have ever returned to disappear, and Winter King knows she's dead... I think he straight up killed her in that madness and sadness the crown first induced, which is why things turned out different later on, like the butterfly effect. Also, headcanon/idea on the Fern in the FaC universe, which I'll just call Fauna because it sounds good enough, and I heard it elsewhere. Basically, I imagine she's Fionna's half sister on her dead beat mom's side, because that seems in character for OG Martin, so why not for the gender bent version. But also, because... angst, Fauna has some kind of chronic degenerative disease, because, well... Fern seemed kinda bound to a not great fate... Also, angst. I imagine though that Fionna and Fauna have 0 idea about being half-sisters.

-Sincerely, a fan of yours who HAS asked before but is worried this will come off too strong

I'm writing roughly as I go, so there's no backlog. (Perhaps a mistake on my part, given the current pause...)

If I feel the need for a sequel, I might go for it! As it stands I have very different plans for how HYAF will end. The lore and worldbuilding is already pretty separate from Hoops, since I've got drastically different ideas on Hallownest's history. You can see that enough in how I've characterized the White Lady and Pale King so far.

There's some aspects that will be the same or similar, but I feel outright stating them would be a bit of a spoiler!

[myuphrid]

A Needlessly Long Essay About Fallout 3: The Pitt

I just finished playing through The Pitt, Fallout 3's second DLC, for my YouTube gameplay channel, and I have thoughts I'd like to talk about for a few paragraphs. I doubt I'll be contributing much insight to the discussion, but it's my blog and I can post whatever I like. So there.

Anyhoo, the plot of the DLC: the Lone Wanderer, protagonist of FO3, meets a shifty, shady guy named Wernher who tells them about a city of slaves living under the oppression of a warlord named Ashur and his gang of raiders. This city, the remains of Pittsburgh (hence the name), is not only the site of perhaps the only working steel mill left in the Wasteland, which the slaves are forced to keep running, but is also a breeding ground for a degenerative mutational plague that turns many of its victims into feral monsters called Trogs. But there's good news on that front: Ashur has recently discovered a potential cure for the disease, and some of the slaves have formulated a plan: steal this cure from under Ashur's nose and free the slaves. So that's where the player comes in: you disguise yourself as a slave to smuggle yourself into the Pitt, do a fetch quest, then indulge in a spot of gladiatorial combat to prove yourself worthy of an audience with Ashur. But when you do meet him, a few things become clear: 1: Ashur isn't just some moustache-twirling slavelord arsehole, but an intelligent man with grand visions of rebuilding the city as a bastion of civilisation and industry, 2: Wernher had previously attempted a coup against Ashur and failed, implying that his allegiance with the slaves is nothing more than an attempt to get back at Ashur, and 3: The "cure" is in fact Ashur's baby daughter Marie, born with a unique immunity to mutation that, properly researched, could lead to the hoped-for cure.

So here's where the plot's Big Moral Choice(TM) comes in: do you follow Wernher's plan to abduct a child and kill her parents in order to liberate the slaves, or do you accept Ashur's offer to kill Wernher instead and leave both Marie and the slaves where they are? If you're anything like me, you're probably raising an eyebrow at this "moral quandary". Given the choice between freeing slaves and not freeing slaves, I would hope the right choice would be obvious. This is, I suspect, why Bethesda threw in the whole "abduct a child" part. After all, you can't really have a shades-of-grey morality decision when the choices are as black and white as a zebra crossing. And yes, orphaning a child is bad, don't get me wrong. But there's nothing in the game to indicate that Marie will be treated any worse by the freed slaves than she will by her mother, and also… well, slavery. The needs of the many 'n' all that. About the only thing I can conceive of that might cast the "side with Ashur" option in a more positive option is the character of Ashur himself. As mentioned above, he's not the typical violent thug that most raiders in Fallout tend to be. He's an ex-Brotherhood of Steel Paladin who was left for dead when the BoS stormed through the Pitt a few decades earlier, slaughtering mutants and recovering technological goodies as they are wont to do. When he awoke and got his bearings, he recognised the potential of an operational steel mill and set to work building up his army of raiders and slavers so he could make use of it. When you talk to him, he expresses regret for all this, but believes it necessary for the sake of the greater good. He also insists on referring to the slaves as "workers" and claims that they can eventually earn their freedom.

However, the observable facts of Ashur's regime don't really match his noble ethos. None of his raider underlings seem to regard the slaves with any degree of sympathy, even the ones who are themselves former slaves, and only treat the player with any real respect once they prove themselves a useful worker or a capable fighter. All of them seem perfectly happy lording it over the slaves from their restored apartments and catwalks suspended over the filth and squalor the slaves live in. Ashur claims that he maintains discipline over his troops to keep them from abusing the slaves, but if this is the case, then it doesn't seem to be working: no-one other than him ever mentions it and the raiders still treat the slaves like dirt.. Ashur himself seems to have no actual engagement with things other than handing out orders and standing on a balcony to deliver grand speeches from time to time. He refers to himself once or twice as "Lord of the Pitt" without a hint of irony, and all in all seems perfectly content to lean into his image as a god-king.

As for the raiders themselves… well, there's not much to say. They seem to be the same violent thugs that they are in the main game, differentiated only by the fact that they're under orders not to shoot you. None of them express any doubt or regret over their literally elevated position, and don't even make the effort to draw the veil of euphemism over the whole business as Ashur does with his insistence on the term "workers". Even the fact that a handful of them were once slaves themselves doesn't seem to elicit any sympathy or solidarity from them. Having earned their freedom, they seem quite content to kick back and enjoy their new role, and everyone they left behind is just shit outta luck.

The "earned the freedom" part also deserves elaboration here, I think. Ashur touts this repeatedly in his dialogue, making quite a big deal about how "workers" can one day prove themselves worthy of a better life. Judging by the events of the DLC, the only way a slave can earn their freedom is by fighting for it in gladiatorial combat: shoved into a smallish pit with whatever weapons they happen to have on them with a handful of other hopefuls and several barrels of radioactive gunk to fight to the death. The winner gets a shot of anti-radiation drugs and a chance to fight a couple more rounds against nastier opponents, and the losers probably just get dumped in the river. In the end though, one thing is clear: a slave can only become free by proving themselves to be an effective killer. This is, by all indications, the only way a slave can become free, and suggests a distinct hierarchy at play in Ashur's realm: you're either a slave, a raider, a target, or dead.

But enough about the raiders, eh? What's there to say to say about the slaves? Well, they're unpaid labourers forced to work by their oppressive masters, and needless to say they're not exactly happy about it. They have slightly more dimension than the raiders, with the addition of characters such as a snitch who benefits from tattling on other slaves' resistance efforts and one slave who has accepted their lot in life thanks to an old philosophy book he found and had read to him, but other than the major players in the story the slaves aren't much more developed than the raiders. They're forced to work, live in abject squalor, and don't want to do either anymore.

Wernher himself is the main driving force behind the slave revolt, but from the start it's shown that he's not exactly invested in the cause of freedom. Part one of his plan involves getting you a slave disguise so you'll blend in, so he directs you to a nearby slaver camp to find one. If you bring up the possibility of freeing the slaves while you're at it, Wernher's response is an impatient "Whatever!" and an insistence that you keep your objective in mind. It eventually becomes apparent that Wernher only became a slave after trying to overthrow Ashur and usurp his rule, and the plan to kidnap Ashur's daughter and thus liberate the slaves was his idea from the start. He regards this more questionable act without remorse; in his own words: "If you aren't getting your hands dirty, you aren't making a difference". But by all indications that I can see, the primary difference that he wants to make is for Ashur to be brought down, and freeing his slaves is ultimately just a means to that end. So that's the moral battlefield as the story presents it: do you side with an intelligent visionary who uses brutal methods in the pursuit of order, or a shifty, under-handed mercenary who foments revolution for the sake of revenge?

Once you complete the mission, nothing much changes either way. Even if you take down Ashur and his raiders, the slaves keep slaving away. If they have any long-term plans other than just carrying as before without having an army of raiders breathing down their necks, there's no real indication of them. If you don't declare yourself the new Lord of the Pitt when talking to him, then Wernher implies that he's planning to take charge of things, but there's nothing to suggest what his reign might be like. In the end, what happens next seems to be up to player interpretation.

In my mind though, despite Bethesda's attempts to paint the morality of the situation in shades of grey, it's a straightforward black-and-white choice. Ashur may be perfectly polite and civil in conversation and he talks a big game about what he's trying to accomplish, but th fact of the matter is that he's built an oppressive slave city with his law enforced by brutal thugs. He and his cronies live in relative luxury in partly restored towers with all the booze, drugs, and scavenged food they can eat, while the people doing most of the actual work live in filthy conditions, subsisting on food that the game literally calls "slop", with no access to medicine or any kind of comfort, and the only ways out for them are either to kill, to die, or to succumb to the plague and mutate into a trog. He can talk all he likes about "earning freedom" and building a new city, but there's none of that vision or nobility in the world he has actually built.

As for Wernher, he's a self-serving weasel who will gladly resort to questionable actions to get what he wants, but he does lead the slaves to freedom. Doing the right things for the wrong reasons is, in my view, a damn sight better than doing the wrong things for the right reason. And even if he intends to become just as much an autocrat as Ashur, will he even be able to manage it? By the end of the story he's surrounded by a city of former slaves who have just cast off the shackles of one man's oppression… what would make Wernher's shackles any less cast-off-able? Without Ashur's army at his back, any powerplay by Wernher, should he choose to make any, could be stopped with one judiciously applied Auto-Axe.

Anyway, that's what I think of Fallout 3's second DLC. I guess this 14-year-old bit of Bethesda's lacklustre writing just got up my nose a bit. Thanks for reading!

[personalramblingsofmine]

Bummer

Fair warning, this one is really sad. Also trigger warnings for degenerative diseases, cognitive decline and such age-related stuff.

My Dad is Fucking Gone

He's sick, and he's been sick for something like 6-7 years now. And every time I think it has gotten really bad, it just keeps getting worse. He's just not there anymore, there's an ancient old man puppeteering his body, he's only meant to be 55. He moves so slow that the flies on his arm don't even fly away when he reaches for his glass. Most of what he says is nothing, and even then you can only hear a third of the words, and those don't mean anything. He's lost so much weight, and he can't keep himself upright anymore. I'm only supposed to he 5 cm taller than him but he barely reaches my jaw most of the time. He hasn't looked straight-forward, let alone anywhere upwards for over a year. When he's eating, we have to remind him to eat, he sets his fork down, but by the time he's managed to let go of it he's forgotten why he put it down, so he just grabs the nearest thing before realizing there's no reason for him to grab it. I watched him fail to pick up a sandwich today, watched him begin bringing his empty hand to his mouth before realizing something was wrong, and then he did the same thing again. He walks around like a zombie, barely able to get the bare necessities (like going to the bathroom and lying down in bed) done. And he's only getting worse. It's so tiring, having to help him with everything, and trying to figure out what he wants when he doesn't even know himself. Above all else I just want my dad back, but he's gone, he doesn't remember anything that's happened the last few years properly, and even with the old stuff he can't tell more than two sentences of a story before losing his place and then he's forgotten the story. He used to tell so many stories, he used to joke around with words like I do, now there's just a shadow of him left and he can't do anything at all. He's only meant to be 55. Why is he 100. Why is he older than my grandmother. Why is he going away. Why did he have to get this shit. Why so early. Why can't I just be mad at the world, that seems so much easier, I'm just sad. I'm not even scared of my future anymore, I can't change it, I'm just sad for him. Why is he gone. He's only meant to be 55.

[softgrungeprophet]

not kidding when i say i accidentally keep just adding to kaine's list of problems

clone degeneration kind of warren's catchall term but is ultimately meaningless because it basically just means "anything wrong with a clone that isn't also (visibly) wrong with peter" ("wrongness" being how warren thinks of it obv)

in reality for kaine encompasses like

GvHD-like multiorgan autoimmune disease (systemic) w chronic pain

hyperemesis and IBS (see previous)

possibly motion sickness but it's very specific to like... enclosed vehicles on static platforms (not motorcycles) because of spatial processing disconnect wrt movement and shit, aka "my brain and my body cannot agree on whether or not i am in motion"

gout/hyperuricemia (arthritis and kidney stones)

dysfunctional spinnerets + flammable adhesive secretions (spikes + mark) (failed attempt at organic web-shooters)

autism + mild intellectual disability w some developmental delays (peter is also autistic though)

faulty spider-sense w/ absence seizures (looks like spacing out/lack of focus)

possible temporal lobe (?) epilepsy which overlaps w/ clairvoyant visions and the faulty spidey sense*

some memory impairment w multiple causes (semantic and whatever the other one is that deals with active memory recall of autobiographical details -- edit: episodic!) (i certainly don't have any memory problems myself...)

migraines

genetic mosaicism (46,XY/47,XXY)

hand tremors for specific fine motor tasks like writing

he also develops a cataract and goes blind in his left eye but that's partly due to a medication he was taking+physical trauma, not genetics

plus mental illness but that's things like ptsd and depression because of past abuse

all of this is obv just based on like... his Symptoms etc. and me trying to make certain things concrete so i can be as consistent as possible. i think the gvhd-like autoimmunity is the most supported outside of AU, though i also think the possibility that canonical clone degen was meant to metaphorically represent HIV is Likely.

obviously in au i did not make him HIV positive though.

but for everything else obviously drawing from canon's severe chronic pain, skin lesions, white eyes in redemption, etc

*treating faulty spider-sense and visions w power suppression doesn't get rid of the epilepsy it just makes the hallucinations stop being prophetic, he needs anticonvulsants (but most of his seizures are atonic and look like fainting to observers)

peter and ben are both predisposed to lowered seizure thresholds in general but are not epileptic. which is similar to kaine's gout. he got the genetic variant directly from peter, he just is the only one affected by it. even his curly hair is like that.

[catznrobotz-blog]

shouting into the abyss

I don't know what to do or feel or say anymore and i just need something to make me feel a little bit more okay. I don't even need anyone to read this, I just need to get it out somehow.

For the last five years, in the midst of a bunch of other bullshit, my right leg has slowly stopped working. I need a cane to walk. My knee hyper-extends. I've had a bunch of falls. I was so desperate to have an answer. I used to yell at god and the universe to just tell me what this is so I could deal with it and adapt and hopefully fix it. All this time something inside has been nagging at me that this time its different than Endometriosis or chronic pain or just me being nuts. Part of me always knew that whatever it was, it would be life changing. It would be another thing that separates my life into a before and after. I tried everything to fix it and make it okay but nothing would. I just wanted it to be something dumb like a vitamin deficiency or a medication mix up or something that could be solved and fixed and done with.

A month a go my neurologist told me he thinks I have a progressive, degenerative disease called Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia. It only affects a small fraction of people and contrary to the name, it's not always inherited and can be caused by some mutation. Everything matches and fits and this is it.

My leg will not get better.

My other leg will have the same fate.

I might need a walker, a rollator or a wheelchair.

My gait will get worse and worse and if I can walk, I will have a very visible and identifiable disability.

I'm not a stranger to disability. I had a very common illness that was treated incorrectly and as a result, I have a permanent disability and chronic pain. My life became very small after that. I had to stop working a job I loved so much and go on disability. I couldn't drive my car because of all the medications. I stayed home living with my mom. I haven't dated in years. I never had kids. I never traveled to the places I want or do the things I want to do. I don't get to work at a job I was so good at, that made me feel like I was on top of the world.

Now I'm 35 and my life is over. My life will just get smaller and smaller and smaller until theres nothing left. I will never achieve my dreams or help people and will end up falling down and pissing myself instead. This wasn't supposed to be my life. I shouldn't be crying silently in the middle of the night in a twin bed.

All my life, I wanted kids desperately. If I could only do one thing in life, it would be that. Now time has run out. No one will want me like this. It wouldnt be fair to have a child and risk it getting this. I couldn't play on the playground or go on a hike with them or run on the beach.

Everything is gone now. I will never have anything I wanted or dreamed or just fucking needed to do. I can't stop thinking about it and crying about it and being so goddamn angry that I'm going to explode. I can't tell my mom how much this hurts because it will just hurt her even more. My brother doesn't care. I shut out all my friends except one. I see him once or twice a year and I'm so happy for him but it hurts to see him going through life and accomplishing things I never will. I can't ever use an exit plan because my mom can't take another one.

I just want to lay in bed and cry and scream until I have nothing left in me. This is ripping me apart and I dont know what to do anymore. I don't want to do this anymore. I just needed to scream this into the abyss just to get it out somehow or some way.

Fuck.

[silkiemae]

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

My Rating: 4.25/5

I'm gonna get a little emotional with you here. This book hit me in the feels a lot. I grew up in a house full of Stephen King books. My parents love him. My dad usually enjoys anything he writes. The Shining is his favorite movie. I'm 30 years old, and this is the first book of Stephen King's that I've managed to read all the way through. Parts of this book are super dear to me, and it feels like this came at a very serendipitous time. Last November, we lost our family dog to cancer and it was super hard for me and my dad cuz he was our guy, our buddy. My dad is actually the one who recommended this book to me too. 

While this book doesn't really do anything special or unique as far as typical fantasy stories, it hit the spot for me for personal reasons. I really enjoyed the beginning portion about Charlie kind of befriending this old man purely because he falls in love with his dog but then also growing to love the thorny old man too. I also enjoyed all the world-building of Empis though I didn't exactly love the ableist undertones of how the degenerative disease is discussed. I don't think that was the intention but I feel like it needs to be mentioned. I do think this book is a fun read if you like quest-based fantasy adventure-type books. Just be aware of that before you go in. There is also an instance of Charlie calling the only Asian character in the book Yellow Peril though Andy(the character) does call him out for being racist the second time he says this. There's also the m-slur mentioned super casually. 

Also, question. I'm kind of confused about why the disease doesn't affect Charlie or didn't seem to affect Mr. Bowditch. From what the prisoners in Deep Maleen said, those who are immune to the degenerative curse making everyone gray and melty have royal blood. And while Charlie does become the promised prince that was foretold, does he actually have royal blood? Or are people from our world immune to the disease? I feel like that's the only thing that wasn't super clear to me.

[millenialfanfictionaddiction]

🦅Being Shiratorizawa's Manager 🦅

Manager with a Progressive

Degenerative Eye Disease

Shiratorizawa x GN manager

Warnings: none

AN: This is an Anon request!

🌠 Please Like, Reblog and/or Share to help support my writing 🌠

Can we say "Support System?" 👏🏻

Ok, I totally believe SHIRATORIZAWA 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 is one of the most, if not the most, supportive teams

Please 😫 they totally would lay down in a puddle for their manager to walk over them

Seriously tho, this team is very capable without the help of a manager

So with you YN

Boy are they unstoppable 🙌🏻

You've always been open with these boys about your condition

It's important that they know YN, trust me

If it's anything that could possibly lead to you getting hurt, we 👏🏻 want 👏🏻 them 👏🏻 to 👏🏻 know 👏🏻

Your eye condition is being monitored and followed by professionals

Trust me, Tednou will ask numerous times 🤣

"How was your eye doctor visits YN? Did your prescription change again? Wow your glasses must be so expensive!"- Tendou, trying to be supportive

Yes Tendou, they are very expensive 😅

Seriously Tendou thinks glasses are so cool

Case in point, his rival Tsukki wears them 🤣

You require glasses all the time to see

I totally understand YN, I'm blind without glasses/contacts

You have to be careful you don't get hit in the face or try to receive any balls on the court

But it's ok because Yamagata has got you 💅

And Semi is totally going to make sure you don't step foot on the court when Ushiwaka is spiking

"Don't even think about it YN!"- Semi

"YES MOM"- You 🙄

"Semi Semi lay off YN!"- Tendou

"He'd watching out for YN"- Reon

"He never watches out for me!"- Goshiki

"Future aces shouldn't need babysitting"- Shirabu

Seriously, everytime 😅

You even have special glasses to wear when you are on the court

Like Tsukki's glasses but cooler 😎

"YN can you do a handstand in your glasses?"- Tendou

"Why would YN need to do a handstand?"- Ushijima 😐

"Why NOT!" -Tendou

"No Tendou I can't even do a handstand to begin with"- You

"I can do a handstand watch YN"- Goshiki

Goshiki could not do a handstand 🤣

Most days, you are so prepared

But unfortunately, that's not how MY headcannons work 😏

Because you see YN, today you forgot your sports glasses at home 😙

And so you were stuck wearing your regular glasses during the prelims

Ouch 😬

Semi totally scolded you for forgetting your glasses

Ushi did not help

"I don't see how you forgot them YN. They are your eyes"- Ushijima

"Yn has so many eyes tho! It must be hard to keep track of all of them"- Tendou

"YN can just stay on the bench then"- Shirabu

"It's not like I'm not capable guys!"- you

"Yeah but YN we are up against Seijoh"- Kawanishi

"Like I'm afraid of Oikawa!"- you, yelling

"I HEARD THAT- OUCH IWA-CHAN!!"- Oikawa, being ever the Oikawa

"Just be careful YN"- Reon

I feel like saying those words is an automatic jinx

Because "being careful" is exactly what you did not do 😅

You decided to help gather balls after the Seijoh practiced to get ready for your team

Unfortunately for you, you turned around go grab a lose ball and a missile shot your way 👀

Missile as in an Oikawa serve

Everyone saw it happen in slowmo and it was spectacular 🤣

Tendou 👉🏻😶😳😵

Semi 👉🏻😳😕🤦‍♂️

Oikawa 👉🏻😳😢😰

Ushiwaka 👉🏻😐

Iwaizumi 👉🏻😳😑🤬

*SMACK* down goes Yn

And down goes your glasses

Oops 😬

And because you're just that lucky, your glasses break 😃

Goshiki panics first

"OH MY GOD WHY CANT SEE ANYTHINF YN HOW MANY FINGERS AM I HOLDING UP?"

"If they can't see how would they be able to tell idiot"- Shirabu

"Yn I told you to watch out!"- Semi

Ushiwaka is staring at Oikawa 😑

Iwaizumi has already pelted him with 3 volleyballs

"Guys I'll be fine, I just need to get to the bench"- you

Reon helps you to the bench

"Yn are you going to be ok for the rest of the match!"- Semi

"Yn will be fine!"- Tendou

"Umm they don't have their glasses Tendou"- Kawanishi

"Well it's lucky for you guys that I happen to keep a spare set of YN's glasses on me at all times"- Tendou

He literally emerges from his duffle with a spare set of your glasses 😃

Everyone 👉🏻👁👄👁

You 👉🏻👁👄👁 whet

"You have like 5 pairs YN! I just borrowed one the last time I was in your room because I was worried this would happen- Tendou

"Omg Tendou!"- You 🥺

"Are we just going to ignore the fact that Tendou stole YN's glasses?"- Semi

"Or that Tendou hanga out in YN's room?"- Yamagata

Yes, yes we are 🤣

[mad-hare]

Okay I'm gonna try to do this once. I need to rehome a few retired show rabbits/breeders. I'm too sentimental to just get rid of them and not know where they end up so they need to go where I can get an occasional update.

None of these rabbits are fixed. There is no fee to the right place, you are free to fix or not fix the rabbit. Some rabbits have a show tattoo in their left ear.

These rabbits I can meet up with future owners along the 401 highway corridor from Trenton, On - Montreal, Que

1. Black Polish doe - no name - no tattoo - born May 5th, 2017.

Experience needed? Nope.

This rabbit came from a judge in Massachusetts. She is the sweetest doe I have ever met, a pure angel, has never done anything wrong. She has the BIGGEST eyeballs ever and occasionally you gotta get a goop out of them. She loves to cuddle, easy nail trim, plus she gets super excited to run on the grass and is amazing. Clean, never growls, doesn't make a big mess or eat a lot. Probably 2lbs, smallest size for an adult bun. She's not named because I never had a name stick to her. I think she would bond to another rabbit if you fixed her.

2. Black Polish buck - no name - tattoo# 831 - born November 7th, 2018

Experience needed? No.

Son of the above. This guy is a lot of fun, same story as his mom in terms of how friendly he is. He's way more active, and has a fatal vice around me- horniness. Like I was cutting his nails holding his front paw and he wrapped his little body around my hand and was humping me. I don't think he's a big sprayer or messy so I think you could keep him as a solo unfixed pet and he might be fun. If he was fixed he would probably easily bond to a female rabbit. He is also 2lbs.

3. Black agouti satin angora - Swipe Right (name tattooed in ear) - born Sept 13th, 2018

Experience needed? You should have experience with rabbits. She is not very friendly, you need to be comfortable to manipulate a very powerful 12lb rabbit to trim her bum area and cut her nails.

This rabbit came from a breeder in Georgia. She has a ton of attitude, hates to be held, and she's very big and strong. She will be more than a handful between her size and need for grooming. She makes a ton of wool though so could be a good wool supply. I am done breeding her but don't have the heart to just cull her. But she's also pretty scary. She would be a pretty formidable house rabbit and probably be fun to have around once she's settled with you. No idea if she would be bondable upon being fixed, she's pretty headstrong.

4. Black chinchilla satin angora doe - Mad Hare's Lullaby of Birdland - #920 - born July 2nd, 2019

Experience needed? Yes, again you need to be strong enough to manipulate a 9/10lb rabbit to keep her groomed and nail trimmed.

Daughter of above. She was born here last year and briefly shown, but I had a nicer chinchilla born this year I would rather keep, and I don't think I am going to be breeding or showing angoras much now. Her wool is very nice and would be fun to spin. She is more nervous but I think she'd adapt well. Again, not sure how bondable she'd be if fixed.

5. Black agouti male rabbit - Wheat Thick Grandson - no tattoo - born April 25th, 2020

Experience needed? No.

This was supposed to be a meat litter but he was the only one who lived past a few days. He is 25% Wheat Thick rabbit and 75% Belgian hare. He will probably be around 8lbs. He is active and silly and fun to watch. Like most young hares he's friendly but won't want to be held long, though around 2 years they start to get more relaxed. His balls are down so he could be fixed and bonded as he's still got baby brain mostly. There is a chance he could get degenerative myelopathy after 3 yrs, a painless disease where his back legs will slowly lose function and he would need to be PTS once quality of life goes down too much, some hares get this and there's not much way to know if he will. Still a silly cutie if you are okay with the chance. Better to know ahead of time than be surprised I suppose.

Best to message me on here with your general area, which rabbit you want and why, and then we can discuss off Tumblr further.

[five-rivers]

Oh God, imagine the social media reaction to tinyMight, the feral adorable badass. Imagine his bullies and unfortunate small-time villains from 40+ years ago finding out who they tried to beat up. Imagine those few who have seen Yagi but don't know he's All Might wondering if skeleton man is All Might's twin or something. Imagine the shenanigans if the de-aging takes longer to undo. Interactions with Gran, Izuku, the other teachers.

Sequel to this.

.

Toshinori felt his smile grow progressively more fixed the longer the detective stared at him with that haunted expression. Was he in some kind of trouble? It sounded as if the villain had swapped him for another rookie hero, one named All Might (cool name!), but that shouldn't be Toshinori's responsibility. Maybe the quirk also linked them, somehow? That would explain why the villains had been trying to kill him, and why the banana hero- Present Mic didn't want him to leave. On the other hand...

Oh, he should just ask. That would be easier.

He opened his mouth to do just that when the detective spoke instead.

"This is going to be so much paperwork," he said.

"I'm sorry?" said Toshinori.

"Yagi," continued the detective, "I love you like a brother, but ever since I met you, my paperwork load has tripled. Tripled."

"I've only just met you?"

If possible, the detective looked even more haunted.

Luckily, at this point, Present Mic opened the door to the car and slid into the seat next to the detective. "Thanks for coming, Detective Tsukauchi," he said. "Anyway, we have confirmation on the quirk that did this to you, and, well. It isn't time travel."

"Thank god," said Detective Tsukauchi.

"Um. I thought it was teleportation...?"

"You've been de-aged by about forty years," said Present Mic, all in a rush.

What. What?

The car started up in the silence.

"Are you telling me that I'm in the future? Oh my gosh, that's an amazing quirk."

"No, no, you're in the present. You're not-- It isn't going to send you back to the past when it wears off. You'll just, you know, go back to your normal age."

"Wow. That's still a really cool quirk. Does it have to be forty years, or can he adjust the amount of time? Like, he could use it on people with degenerative mental diseases, give their families one last time with them. Or, or for witness statements! It would be pretty good for a hero, too, you could de-age villains into kids and then they couldn't fight anymore... but maybe it'd be a little unethical... Hmm..."

"You don't seem very, uh, alarmed?" said Present Mic.

"What would I be alarmed about?"

"All of your friends and family being forty years older?" suggested Present Mic.

"Haha, I don't have any of those," said Toshinori, smiling as large as he could and giving the hero two thumbs up.

Present Mic and Detective Tsukauchi just stared at him.

Then Tsukauch turned to Present Mic. "You said it'll wear off? When?"

"Uh. The quirk registry wasn't entirely clear about that. But it does wear off."

"The press is going to be a nightmare," said Tsukauchi, rubbing his face.

"Why?" asked Toshinori.

The hero and detective exchanged another glance. Toshinori could practically hear them mentally screaming you tell him, no, you tell him at each other.

Tsukauchi coughed into his fist. "Well, Toshi- excuse me, Yagi-kun, you're... You've realized those two were trying to kill you?"

"It was... sort of hard not to, honestly," said Toshinori. "Is it because I'm a hero or something?"

"How did you-?"

Toshinori silently pinched the fabric of the overlarge jumpsuit leg between his fingers and raised an eyebrow.

"Right. Well. You're the Number One hero."

"Wow," said Toshinori. It seemed to be something he kept saying, today. "How did I do that without a quirk?"

"What?"

"He's a late bloomer," said Tsukauchi, quickly. "A late bloomer. You're a late bloomer."

"Uh. Okay?"

.

"UA is so cool," said Toshinori, shielding his eyes against the sun as he looked up at the building.

"Haha, yeah," said Tsukauchi.

"Did I really go to school here?"

"You teach here, too!" said Present Mic.

"That's so cool," said Toshinori. "I can't believe I'm going to be a hero for over thirty years. That's like, the longest any hero has ever served."

"There are a couple who've served for longer, now, actually," said Present Mic. "Like Yoroi Musha, Recovery Girl, and Gran Torino."

"Yoroi Musha is still a hero?" asked Toshnori. "Like, actively? That's so long."

The gate behind them beeped, and Toshinori turned around just in time to take the bottom of a boot straight to the face. Needless to say, he fell over.

"Gran Torino!"

"Holy crap! I thought he'd dodge! Toshinori, you idiot, are you alright?"

"Ow," said Toshinori, trying and failing to recognize the voice that was referring to him so familiarly.

"Gran Torino, you really can't go around kicking people like that."

"Yagi-kun? Are you okay? Should we get Recovery Girl?"

Toshinori raised a shaking hand, thumb up. "I think I have a concussion."

.

When they got to the infirmary, it was already occupied by a couple students and... a strange homeless-looking man, but that didn't make sense. Maybe an undercover hero was stopping here for some reason? But why?

The students, one small and green, other with a mix of red and white hair, stared at him openly.

"Oops, sorry," said Present Mic. "Didn't think that anyone would be here before noon."

The homeless man sighed deeply. "Neither did I," he said, "and yet..." He fixed a baleful glare on the two students.

"I-I'm sorry, Aizawa-sensei," squeaked the green one. "I tried to get out of the way of the door, but I didn't want to run into Todoroki-kun, and-"

"It isn't your fault, problem child," said Aizawa with a sigh heavy enough to crush an elephant, who... was a teacher, evidently. Man. Standards for teachers' dress had really fallen in forty years, hadn't they? "The first year support class shouldn't have been doing anything with explosives of that caliber. Anyway, who's-"

"Are you Midoriya-kun's secret brother?" asked the red and white student.

"Who?" asked Toshinori.

"Todoroki-kun! You can't just ask people that!"

"You have to admit, he looks just like your father-"

"All Might is not my father."

"Riiiiiight," said Present Mic, guiding Toshinori to a bed with a hand on his back. "Now, why don't you just relax here while I go get Recovery Girl?"

"Coward," whispered Tsukauchi.

Present Mic shrugged and disappeared.

"So," said Aizawa, exhibiting a well-practiced air of boredom. "Are you related to All Might?"

"Eraserhead-san," said Tsukauchi, through clenched teeth, "may I introduce you to Yagi Toshinori? Yagi-kun, this is Aizawa-san. He's in charge of class 1-A."

Aizawa went pale. "Please tell me it isn't time travel."

"If it was time travel, we would be in an underground bunker or something," said Tsukauchi. "No, it was an age-regression quirk."

The green student inhaled sharply, then let off a small, "Oh."

"Wait," said the red and white student- Todoroki?- narrowing his eyes.

"Don't say it," urged the green haired boy.

"What do you think about quirks, Yagi-san?"

"Quirks are great!" said Toshinori. "I sure wish I-"

"Had a note book to write about them in!" interrupted Tsukauchi, loudly.

Toshinori frowned up at him, confused. What did he say?

Todoroki rubbed his chin with a finger. "To... analyze the quirks in?" he asked.

"Um," said Toshinori. "Yes?"

"See, Midoriya-kun?" said Todoroki, turning to the other boy. "He's just like you. You're the same." He touched his pointer fingers together.

Midoriya, for his part, looked extremely flustered.

"The same," repeated Todoroki. He looked back at Toshinori. "Do you happen to have a brother? A twin, perhaps?"

"Uh, I don't think so? But, then, I was a doorstop baby, so..."

Todoroki nodded sagely. "So you must have reunited with your long lost brother, the skeleton man, later in life-"

"Stop calling him that!" hissed Midoriya, yanking on his friend's uniform jacket.

"I wouldn't have to, if you'd just tell me your uncle's name-"

"He isn't my uncle."

Both Aizawa and Tsukauchi looked like they wanted to die. Or at least be somewhere else.

"Uh," said Toshinori, wanting to change the subject even with his concussion. "What are your quirks, anyway?"

"My quirk is called Half-Hot, Half-Cold," said Todoroki. He raised his hands. "It allows me to make fire from my left side, and ice from my right."

"Oh, neat," said Toshinori. "There must be so many applications like that! I mean, combat is obvious, but it might be even better for rescue work- Lots of casualties in natural disasters are because of exposure, you'd be ideal to counteract that in any weather. Or if a victim is going into shock! Plus, it'd be useful to have in everyday life, if they ever change the public quirk usage law- Did they change that?"

"No," said Aizawa.

"Actually, yes," said Tsukauchi, "but probably not in the way you're thinking..."

"Don't use your quirk in public," said Aizawa.

"You don't have to worry about that, because-"

"Don't use your quirk in public," said Tsukauchi, interrupting again. "Please."

"He does have a hero license, though, so technically-"

"Problem child."

"Sorry."

"Oh, oh, and what's your quirk?"

"Please do not fall out of the bed, To- Yagi-kun," said Tsukauchi.

"I'm not going to," said Toshinori.

"Well," said Midoriya, who had a very complicated expression on his face, "my quirk is, uh, a strength enhancer..."

"Just like yours," said Todoroki, as if he had just made an irrefutable point.

Oh, yeah. Toshinori's older self had a quirk. Maybe that's what Tsukauchi was trying to keep him from talking about? He wished they had told him beforehand if it was some kind of secret.

Also: was Todoroki implying that Midoriya was Toshinori's son? That'd be, like... Wow. If this was forty years in the future, and Midoriya was about the same age as him, that meant he'd had Midoriya when he was forty? Hm. He wasn't sure how to feel about that...

Luckily, before he could start in on a spiral about whether the idea of himself at forty or the idea that he had kids was the thought that was bothering him, Present Mic came back with a little old woman who was, apparently, Recovery Girl.

Wow. Yeah. That was sure a change in... everything. Yep. Really driving home the whole 'forty years in the future' thing. It sure was.

Recovery Girl sighed deeply. "What did you get yourself into this time, Toshinori?"

"Gran Torino kicked him in the head," said Tsukauchi.

"I'm going to skin that man alive one of these days," said Recovery Girl. "But I was talking about the other thing. Although, I suppose that's rather obvious. Do you mind if I heal you, dear? It will probably knock you out for a little bit."

"Sure," said Toshinori, who was beginning to strongly desire an escape from the increasingly awkward conversations around him. "Knock me out. Please."

"Alright, then."

And then she did.

[anonymous-swiftie]

If you are on twitter, please retweet this:

https://twitter.com/ASwiftie00/status/1334245577933148164?s=19

Dear #Swifties,

I'm new on tumblr, and I really don't know how to use it.

I know you are the best supporters of the music industry and I'm here to ask your help.

I'm fighting with a crippling depression, that due this covid situation just got worse.

I'm at my lowest, I truly don't know if I will make it through this time.

I always dreamed to talk to Taylor, since I was a teenager. She is the only one that make me feel like I do fit in this world.

I've created this account because I know she is very active here, and I'm trying to reach her with this part of my story.

You can read everything below.

I didn't write any personal information because I don't want this to be seen by my family or somebody that can recognise me.

I don't want upset anyone.

I know that everyone hope to meet or chat with her, and so you are probably wondering why you have to share this here.

You're totally right, maybe it's a stupid idea to ask you this, but I haven't anything left in my pocket to fight this situation, and you're my only hope right now.

Thank you.

#taylor #swift

*******************************************

Dear Taylor,

I keep writing and deleting this, over and over again.

I feel so dumb to write my personal story here, but this truly is my last chance to feel better and try to overcome this giant monster called depression.

I genuinly don't know if I can make it through this year. It's the worst period of my entire life and i don't even know if it's worth living this hell anymore.

I know you have millions of supporters (that probably write you every single day, and they are all better fans than I am, that's for sure) but I know that you proved, time after time, to be so down to earth and to use your time to read your fans messages.. so, in this moment, I'm just trying to share a part of my story with you.

You are the one that make feel understood, since I was like 13teen.

I'm so sorry if my English isn't very good but I'll do my best.

I'm not very active on social media , because I'm very shy when I have to talk about myself.. but If this could work, I must do it.

I will try to send a letter, If I can find the strength to mark this feeling on paper.

**IF I'M WRITING TO SOMEBODY FROM HER STAFF, PLEASE JUST LET THIS MESSAGE REACH TAYLOR**

I'll try now to resume, because I don't want to bother you too much.

This has been a crazy year so far, and the all the time I spent by myself during the lockdown didn't help at all.

This situation brought me back to childhood.

I spent a lot of my days back and forth in hospitals, due to my allergies.

I had to wear a mask all the time I wanted to go outside to avoid severe allergic reaction (that's why this Covid thing awakened some hurting memories)

I didn't have real friends back then, 'cause I've spent most of the summers at home, watching other kids playing around, from my window, or from the windows of my classroom.

It was so hard to make new friends, because the only thing that other kids saw was my mask.

I was the masked kid.

I was the strange kid.

I couldn't play with them.

Everytime I tried to play with them, the only thing I heard was "oh you are ill , I don't wanna be like you so stay away".

This situation made me start to write things in my personal diary.

I wrote small sentences, as a kid, and that was the only thing I could do alone inside an empty classroom during all summer.

This situation continued  for many years.

I wasn't the cool kid before, I wasn't the cool guy after.

The only things that let me enjoy those days were writing and listening to your songs.

I started to listen to your music thanks to my English teacher. She was a fan of folk and country music and she gave me a pic in which you were singing near a lake (I still have that photo somewhere, I strongly remember the white banner with your name written in red on it) and told me to listen to the cd she gave me that day.

I immediately fell in love (I think I still have a crush on you, I'm sorry).

I loved your album. I loved your voice. I loved the lyrics.

I remember having a "test" in school: each one of the class had to write their favourite lyrics and let the others guess the song.

If the someone guessed It, We could play the cd.

I chose Love Story and I translated it in Italian.

The class guessed the song, and I played it.

After the lunch break I went back to my desk and I saw some bullies that were breaking my cd-album and they started to laugh at me because I loved your music an I loved writing poems.

I was a boy so I was a loser because I enjoyed those things.

That felt terrible, but I continued to love your songs even more .

Those were my inspiration to write and to study english.

I felt so good when I listened to your album and this still happens.

Then I went to a private high-school.

Nothing changed, I still was the nerd guy that always got good grades and I have to say that the first year was quite good, but the second year was the start of the apocalypse.

I choose that school because two girls that I knew from childhood went there.

One of the cool new guys started to spread a fake "news" about me.

He said to everyone that I was the boyfriend of one of the two girls that I mentioned before.

So he was the cool guy and one of the girls believed him and told me to f*** myself.

The other girl was her best friend, so you could imagine by what happened next.

After 14 year spent together, I was nobody.

I didn't have "friends" in that class anymore.

I didn't say hello to anybody for 4 years, and nobody would say anything to me.

Nobody to talked with me.

That's great when you're a teenager.

I hated to wake up every morning.

I had an eating disorder, I lost like 22pounds in less than a month. Got hospitalized twice. I kept vomiting for 3 years, every single morning before school.

During that time I only talked with one of my cousins, who lived like 2 hours by car from me.

He was older than me but he always tried to help.

He knew that I loved to write poems so he started to give me guitar lessons.

I made it through a lot of things thanks to him.

I'm sorry, It's hard for me to write this part of the story.

I still get emotional when I think about this.

On the 10TH of December 2013 (some days after his birthday) we received a phone call from his mother: She warned us that he didn't return home after the last working shift.

I wrote a message to him like 3 hours prior to that phone call.

Never had the opportunity to get a reply again.

This year is the seventh year that he is missing.

That destroyed me.

I felt empty.

I felt like nothing couldn't help me.

I still feel that everytime I care about someone in my life, it will disappear someday.

This have happened several other times.

You know when ignorants say that men don't cry, is real bullshit. Men cry. I cried a lot.

I wrote so many poems , lyrics, thoughts in that period of time, that I destroyed my hands.

That was the only way to close my eyes and let me reach another reality because the real one was way too much for me.

Be a sensible man in this world is somehow a curse.

All these things made me afraid  even to hug someone 'cause I feel I'm too ugly or just to scared to be refused.

I will stop here my story, but there's so much more to tell.

I make it through all of these things and memories because I keep dreaming that one day I could meet you and we could talk together.

Dreaming about the fact I could spend a day with you made me find the power to battle my depression.

I'm 25 now and this year I'm not dreaming anymore.

I was going to start again university, I wanted to get a degree in marketing and have the chance to live in the us.

For years I believed that I would make it and hopefully be part of your marketing team.

I'm so stupid. All these years I kept dreaming to avoid pain.

I wanted to pursue my passion and continue to write lyrics but all I was doing was putting myself in unrealistic realities.

This covid situation made everything clear.

When everyone had someone to facetime (or video call) I was alone.

When everyone had someone asking them "how are you?" I only had myself looking in the mirror saying: "Will I ever feel better?"

I've never been the one for anybody, and I think I'll never be.

I won't be the one among all your fans to realize his dream.

Nobody likes me, and I'm exposing myself once again just because I want the opportunity to smile at something that could happen to me.

I'm tired to smile only for others best moments.

I've always seen the sun through a window.

I want to feel happy.

I want to burn my face with the sun.

I'm so sick of hiding my pain,

sick to cry when I'm alone in my car before going to work,

sick to let my eyes rain on my pillow every night.

I'm sick to say to my mother that I'm fine, just because I don't want to make her feel bad.

It's not her fault.

She is battling with a degenerative autoimmune disease, why I should put other weight on her shoulders?

I didn't give up to my weakness before because I don't want to hurt her.

I always say to her that soon she will feel better, that's why your song It's stuck in my head.

But when she won't be here anymore, how I can go through all of that?

I don't even know if will ever get better for me.

Will this pain ever stop?

Sometimes it's so hard to live and so easy to die.

Hope that my dream to spend some time with you can become true.

Thank you for everything, you gave me the strength to go on for many years.. But this time is so hard to put on my armor and continue this battle.

But is this even worth if thy I try to surround myself with people and I always feel lonely?

D.

@taylorswift @taylornation @jackleopards-thedolphinclub