#instead of engaging with a ship involving a woman

[obligatory-name-change]

what some of the undertale fandom did with grillby fucking fascinates me like my god

[trexiejan]

Friendly reminder that DC and Dickbabs writers are gaslighting you into thinking Dickbabs are childhood sweethearts that are always in love with each other since day 1.

Dickbabs is the most superficial manufactured by retcons ship.

Babs was deaged for this crap to work.

Here is Original Barbara Gordon working as a congresswoman in the Senate when Dick was just the little kid Robin.

She was much closer to Bruce and Clark's age than Dick's.

Barbara refers to Dick as a "kid" and "little brother.

Dick had a small puppy crush on her but it was seen as a precocious crush. It was controversial when they first kiss (to make Dick shut up) because it involved a grown ass woman kissing a teenager.

Dickbabs was hated the same way modern Brucebabs is hated today.

Even the writer of that book admitted he never intended for them to become a couple.

Babs was more into older guys.

- she was viewed as an equal love interest to Batman

- she went out on a date with Superman

- then got engaged to her coworker Jason Bard.

Dickbabs shippers always try to deny that Babs was deaged and her history was altered for dickbabs in an effort to defend their ship.

They say it's not true because according to them Babs has been deaged long before dickbabs became a couple.

Here's the thing though:

Babs has been deaged twice.

Just because she wasn't deaged to be with Dick in her 1st deaging doesn't change the fact that she was deaged to be the same age as him in her 2nd deaging which happened in dickbabs content.

The 1st time she was deaged was in Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was so Jim could be younger but they only decreased her age slightly because she's still written as older than Dick, here is a panel from Secret Origins #20 that was published in 1986 exactly 1 year after she was first deaged in Crisis on infinite earths (1985) she said Dick is too young for her and that batman is always the one on her mind. So Dickbabs during this time still couldn't work because they still have that age gap and Babs was still into Bruce.

The 2nd time she was deaged is in dickbabs comics and tv shows where she was finally made the same age as Dick so dickbabs can finally work as a romantic pairing.

Instead of being older, she's now written as a part of Dick's generation.

From a congresswoman to a young girl who went to highschool prom with Dick.

Even Tom Taylor had the two first meet when they were young little kids so he can also portray them as childhood sweethearts in his run.

Tom Taylor claims Barbara still has a law degree but isn't it sad how instead of using that degree to find an actual job, she wasted her time following Dick around like a dog in Bludhaven ?

She has no job of her own, no friends of her own, no hobbies of her own outside of Dick.

She's just Dick's clingy lovesick girlfriend who is a total standby for him in his solo books.

Dickbabs shippers who deny this and get mad at people who point this out are the people who don't care about Barbara Gordon as an individual.

They don't care that Barbara lost her PHD degree, lost her own career, lost her own agency, lost her history, lost her self identity for the sake of shipping.

Their only concern is defending dickbabs and making it look better.

Because if they truly like Barbara separately from Dick, all these valid anti-dickbabs criticisms wouldn't bother them.

What's even funnier is that they are the very same people who accuse Starfire of being reduced into Dick's love interest despite the fact that Starfire hasn't been in a relationship with Dick in the comics for 20+ years due to the fact that dickkory's history was ignored and erased in favor of dickbabs. NASTY HYPOCRITES.

At least Starfire wasn't deaged to fit Dick and you can never see Starfire following Dick around like a dog in his solo books 💀

[ahoyakosi-kape]

EDIT: Seeing all of this pointless nonsense like "a lot of people hate het ships because they aren't willing to engage with fictional relationships that involve women" gives me headaches. I hope you can acknowledge that mlm ships are still important because THEY'RE QUEER, THAT CONSERVATIVES ARE SEEKING TO CENSOR. While also noting that certain "fujoshis" are presenting sexist trash. After decades of heterosexual ships being the norm, it's now "if you hate het ships, that's because you hate women" instead of "hehe, het ships are awesome when they're bi4bi / t4t." The idea that watching men kissing men wears you out is simply embarrassing. Especially if you complain about it publicly. You suddenly sound like a right-wing jerk who hates Pride Month updates on games, even if they have been around longer than their ejaculation. If you see mothers in their 80s watching gay porn, you guys would faint. And no, whining about White homosexual guys cosplaying as Black women isn't the same as being "uncomfortable" with the amount of mlm fanfiction—the former is a real problem because it hurts Black women and the community. It's also a serious situation that White gay men would evoke their Whiteness first and last. Women drawing gay porn should be the least of your problems. If you told me that gay men aren't legitimate because they're males, I wouldn't be surprised at all. Stop propagating radfem talk. As a girl participating in fandom like millions, I acknowledge that it can be challenging to see female characters examined engagingly. It just stings that all the focus is placed on male characters with similar motifs. There are harmful clichés thrown around, like "disposable girlfriend" or "jezebel." It's evident in Arcane fandom. "They make the woman be a fujoshi/cuck so it's accessible to ignore them" is something I've read, and I agree. It's questionable; it's unwarranted. Nonetheless, it's simple to overlook half of their content without coming across as hostile. I know it's absolutely tempting to educate them, to lash out, to call them a "stupid bitch"—but if they're that idiotic, nothing can be pursued. You do not want to waste your IQ. I block some fujoshis that piss me off because it's just common sense. Yet, I keep wondering if there's an appropriate solution for it. Unfortunately, everyone's answers include "ban BL content so fans would be put to shame!" and the fact that it tolerates conservative and puritanical discourse, which backfires into endorsed homophobia (yes, it always does). You struggle to ensure civility in the face of your hatred for yaoi—yaoi that incels and dudebros despise—and are prepared to eradicate it because it is "woke trash." How much are you willing to redefine fictitious heterosexuality as a "feminist empowerment" concept? Is this not insane to you? Are all the discussions about heterosexuality being 'a tool of patriarchy' meant nothing to you? Are all those repugnant comments from dudebros in a Facebook anime fanpage that fuel your spite to create gay shit—gone? Are you really gonna woke-ify heterosexuality? The same material that's weaponised to hurt queerness? It's exasperating that many fans are driving fictional women/of colour away from romance just for White men's yaoi to be the spotlight. I know the problem, it's not for nothing, and we want to provide solutions. But, I'm begging you, with clasped hands and kneeling, there's a suitable method to talk about this without coming out as your reactionary grandfather who despises communism. Don't be soft, but be stern. Don't insinuate yourself with tactless bullying. Be clever. It's not an excuse to indulge homophobia. You have to know when to recognise intersectionality. Some fans are rancid, I know, but queerness is still queerness. Fiction and reality. Saying something like that is literally anti-gay with progressive language. Performative activism has hurt you enough.

Anyway, I think we should all just inject fentanyl into our veins for progressing like this. It's really embarrassing. I think queer people in the 90s would have a stroke seeing us with this behaviour.

[raiseyourbarkid]

when i first started watching 9-1-1, i was so excited to join the fandom.

s3 had just finished airing, so there was already plenty of fan content available, and i hurried over to ao3 and started reading the fics with the most kudos.

one of the very first ones i read involved Hen reaming Buck out for rescuing someone who didn't have a chance of surviving afterward. it felt oddly familiar, and then i realized—they basically copied the speech Gerrard gave in Hen Begins when she saved that woman in a landslide. they took the abuse that Hen endured because she was black woman, and gave it to Buck. took the words out of a racist misogynist's mouth and put them in Hen's, made her the abuser, just so Buck could be the victim.

that was one of the most popular fics at the time. that was my introduction to the 9-1-1 fandom. and unfortunately, it set a precedent for what to expect from it.

one of the next fics i read involved Buck's relationship with his father. this was before Buck Begins aired and we learned what his actual backstory was, so people liked to invent tragic backstories for him. nothing wrong with that in itself. except as i read this fic (another of the most-kudos'd at the time), i started to realize—they hadn't invented a backstory for Buck. they'd just stolen Chimney's and given it to him. because apparently the story was more tragic or meaningful if it happened to Buck instead of the asian man. (and as i recall, Chimney was made out to be a real jerk in that fic, too.)

and so it continued.

after that introduction, i always stayed on the fringes of the fandom. i still read some fic—obviously, not everyone was like that, and there were a lot of really good fanworks! but i didn't really engage beyond that. as i read more fic, another pattern was emerging: the fandom's treatment of women.

9-1-1 is far from the only fandom to have this problem. in several fandoms with popular mlm pairings, there is a lot of mistreatment of female characters, especially ones who are viewed as a "threat" to the pairing. but the way people reacted to these characters—namely, Abby, Taylor, and Ana—was somehow astounding to me. obviously none of them were perfect people—what character is?—but i couldn't imagine anything they'd done warranting the reaction i saw from fans. i had liked them as characters for the most part! i didn't see those romantic relationships working out in the long term, but i didn't see that as a reason to hate them, much less reach the levels of loathing the fandom seemed to. you'd think these women were cartoon villains, the way fandom portrayed them.

honestly, it had been YEARS since i'd seen a fandom with such bad misogyny, if ever. and somehow, i was surprised again. i'd foolishly believed that fans had been getting better about that kind of thing, about hating women over a ship. so many other fandoms managed to be kind to the women involved with the men they shipped, why was it so hard for this particular fandom?

and now all this.

Buck's finally in a queer relationship, but it's not the one people wanted, so the response is to be hateful and homophobic towards the other character involved? in what world does that make sense? how do people rationalize that to themselves?

i'm just exhausted. i'm realizing now that this fandom has never felt like a safe space and maybe never will.

in over 20 years of being in fandoms, i have NEVER been in one that was so determined to be hateful. and over a show that's predominantly about love and the power of human connections? it's downright baffling.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Deleted/altered Monsterverse scenes in Godzilla & Kong: The Cinematic Storyboard Art of Richard Bennett

Kong: Skull Island

There's a longer opening sequence, with Marlowe discovering Gunpei's camp instead of them both crashing at around the same time.

Conrad stows away on the expedition instead of being hired as a tracker

Weaver and Conrad meet at a Philadelphia train station (no clue what the context was).

Kong swings around a helicopter while the gunner is still firing and the bullets hit another helicopter, which I think is the closest he's ever come to using a gun.

Packard's group watches Kong fight the Mire Squid instead of Chapman.

Very different take on the Iwi village, with smaller lost ships/planes incorporated into the architecture.

The big one: Conrad flashes back to an encounter with King Ghidorah in Vietnam. The three-headed monster's silhouette is basically just the Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah version, but he has at least five prehensile tails he uses to snatch up soldiers.

Conrad and Weaver are tied to a tree during the napalm plot against Kong. Another character sets them free and they go wild on a few soldiers, with Weaver hitting one on the head with a rock. The Skull Devil emerges in a separate scene.

Kong uses a plane wing as a weapon in the final fight.

The Skull Devil has a grappling tail similar to that of Otachi in Pacific Rim.

The Iwi fight Conrad's group (I think) as the Gray Fox is lowered down a waterfall with a pulley system and something ambushes Kong in the background. This one was especially hard to make any sense of without dialogue.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Jonah spies on Emma and Madison as they drive to Mothra's temple.

The video montage in the Senate hearing is done via hologram. A mushroom cloud is displayed while Serizawa argues with a senator.

Mark bows to a wolf that approaches him in a nice bit of foreshadowing.

Mothra arrives in Boston alongside Godzilla instead of turning up later.

Godzilla vs. Kong

In an alternate opening, the Iwi retell the history between Godzilla and Kong's species using highly-elaborate puppets. There's a horned character loaded with weapons who briefly traps Godzilla in a cage and transforms into a Rodan-like figure. An ancient mecha?

Text mentions that "the Pensacola/Florida Godzilla attack scene was going to be much longer, involving a mall stampede."

A massive explosion takes place on Skull Island (I believe coming from the Vile Vortex there).

Jia is first shown signing with Kong just before the fleet engages Godzilla.

In true kaiju kid fashion, Jia messes with the controls of the ship to set Kong loose.

Nathan discovers his brother's crash site in the Hollow Earth and gets into a fight with several guards. This scene was definitely filmed.

Bernie was at one point a woman (drawn with ultra-short hair, although in general the human characters in these storyboards bear little resemblance to their screen counterparts).

Kong finds a skeleton of another member of his species sitting on the throne. He breaks off the skull, stares at it, and throws it aside.

Ground troops engage Godzilla and Kong during their Hong Kong fight; neither even notices.

Mechagodzilla coils into a semi-sphere to deflect Godzilla's atomic breath.

Echoing his fight with Kong, Godzilla tries to outrun Mechagodzilla's Proton Scream through the streets of Hong Kong.

[selfinflictedgunshotwound]

i feel like it's worth mentioning that, for people who view the ortbo sex scene as a "rape scene", mark isn't the only one who is being "assaulted". i just saw someone say that people don't view men being raped the same way they view it with women (funny thing to say when most women aren't believed anyways but. Lmao) and that's why ppl who ship markhellyna don't see it as a "rape scene" or helena as a "rapist". i feel like it's crucial to remind these people that helly is also having this happen to her body against her will, if you count that. she didn't consent to it. neither did mark scout. technically that turns it into an assault on three people instead of just one (by deception). and here's where it gets slippery lmao because when you factor that in, then mark and helly's very consensual sex scene would also count as a rape scene because helena and mark scout are unable to consent and i doubt that mark scout, at least, would've consented. HOWEVER, then you also have to factor in how the ortbo scene plays into the plot/dynamics of the characters and, while it clearly bothers both helly AND mark s (apparently the sole victim), it's not specifically because they viewed it as rape. helly, of course, views it as something akin to that since her body was used for it without her permission AND it transgressed upon her relationship with mark. mark, however, is more concerned by the fact that helly and helena were so similar that he couldn't have possibly told them apart. his whole concern is that he thought he was having sex with the woman he loves but the woman he loves also contains a stranger he knows nothing about. in the very scene that people consider rape, he tells this stranger that it doesn't matter who she actually is because he only cares about who she is when they're together and, for all intents and purposes, helena WAS helly when they were together. not helena. and then you get into bodily autonomy and helena's very regimented and structured life that she has virtually no actual control over. it blurs the lines so much because helena has more freedom in the least free place in this world (the severed floor) than she has in her own personal life. yeah, she's kind of a manipulative weirdo but i think you would be too if the only people you were allowed to be around were people who work for your father or support your father finanically.

the ortbo scene doesn't read as a rape scene to me because that's literally just an oversimplification of the subject matter. it doesn't function as a rape scene in-universe because no one involved treats it with the severity that would justify. in fact, mark scout was angrier about "mrs. selvig" invading his personal life/privacy than mark s. was about having sex with helena. it was confusing for him and definitely complicated their relationship, but it wasn't because he felt disgusted or taken advantage of. it was because he couldn't tell the difference between the person he cares about most in his life and a version of her that is a stranger to him. that's simply because he, and the audience, weren't supposed to be able to. helly in particular grapples with the similarities between her and helena the most because she's only ever known helena as a domineering face on a screen who denies her any agency (because she herself is denied agency by her father/the company) but, by the end of s2, she seems to have recognized that they are the same person. just an extension of one another. i don't think she fully (if at all) sees it as a positive but she definitely recognizes it.

and... anyway... i don't understand how you can see how helena is forced to live (in the few glimpses we have so far) coupled with helly's personality/attitude and see her as a villain. helena has clearpy been warped by the system she is forced to live under, just like the innies. if you can't have sympathy for her because she's rich and "powerful", that sounds like more of a problem of a viewer not engaging thoughtfully with the material rather than helena not being "sympathetic enough". she and gemma are presented as narrative foils for a reason.

that's another thing about that scene i think people forget is that i don't think mark s consented to seeing flashes of ms. casey/gemma over his ACTUAL lover's face, but ofc people see that as more of a "love transcending severance" thing than the actual scene it's contained within and that is actual proof of love trancending severance. the gemma flash was simply because mark scout started reintegrating and he probably thinks of gemma a lot. i feel like the show, while it definitely sets up complex situations irt bodily autonomy, personhood, relationships, etc... it's not actually too complex to fully comprehend. people either overcomplicate tf out of it or simplify it to the point where they get mad the show isn't treating the subject matter with kid gloves. no one seema to care about nuance anymore and the ortbo scene is one of the most layered and nuances scenes in the whole show (along with the final scene - big surprise people hate that scene too when they oversimplify tf out of the whole concept of the show lmao)

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

I've come to the conclusion that, in my humble opinion, Higashide is the writer in TYPE-MOON who makes the best ships involving Heroic Spirits.

Which might sound really weird. After all, the central couple in Fate/Apocrypha is Sieg/Jeanne d'Arc, and it's a pretty divisive one. No offense to those who like it, but it's always a dynamic I thought made no real sense narratively and didn't have much chemistry. Sieg on his journey of self-affirmation and personhood didn't need a romance (except maybe with Astolfo, with whom the dynamic is much more fun). Jeanne, the historical figure who rejected a marriage proposal, wore male clothing, and whose famous nickname refers to her celibacy, getting into a romance just never vibed with me (especially when it felt like the parallels/relationship between her and Shirou Kotomine were far more relevant). Add to that the ending copying Last Episode without what made LE have a strong impact, and it makes the whole even less appealing.

But despite that, Apo is also the work where there is the surprising ship of Shirou Amakusa and Queen Semiramis of all people: the semi-legendary Assyrian queen credited with making one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world falling in love with the young charismatic Japanese Christian who rebelled against the shogunate and failed. It's a very strange crossover ship between two people who never could have met if not for being brought back and it somehow works in being endearing.

(Achilles and Atalanta kinda count I guess, but it's a one-sided ship with little reasoning, that I care so little about, and is eclipsed by the more compelling foils each get, Chiron for Achilles, Jeanne for a Jackie the Ripper-driven mad Atalante.)

Higaside having grown and improved as a writer by the time of FGO, what followed this growth was him not doing a repeat of Sieg/Jeanne, but writing better ships mostly involving Servants. Asterios the Minotaur and Euryale the Gorgon; last Byzantine emperor Constantine IX and fictional Popess Johanna; heck, you can even see the relationship between Mordred and Dr. Jekyll this way (it also works as simple close friendship). Being characters from usually completely different mythologies and historical cultures, there is care done to make it clear why they fall for each other and as a result these couples are very different from one another instead of being the same formula everytime. In a game where a lot of (female) Servants are made to fall for the last Master of Chaldea for sometimes very little reason, these are a breath of fresh air.

For all my problems with her, Sakurai does something similar, though her ships are usually people who canonically were together in their legends: Sigurd/Brynhild, Aslaug/Ragnar Lodbrok, Julius Caesar/Cleopatra, Ozymandias/Nefertari, Tomoe Gozen/Kiso Yoshinaka, etc. They can be one note and there is a repeated thematic tendency of hers of writing "inhuman woman discovering humanity by falling in love", but they tend to be very cute and I easily understand that these people are in love even beyond death, so I root for them to reunite. Higashide also has "canonical" pairings, but the results are more muddled here: Siegfried and Kriemhild are adorable as a divorced couple where there are clearly still feelings, no matter what the tsundere wife says. But Rama and Sita are just...there. I understand the point of their separation, but it's not very engaging and Rama essentially disappeared after the American Singularity, while Sita was yeeted to Arcade. A mark against Higashide, but not as bad as Sieg/Jeanne and overshadowed by the numbers of better ships he wrote in FGO.

And there's Orion and Artemis, where I'm split. Super Orion and LB Artemis was really good and poignant. Orion the teddy bear and ditzy Artemis are a realy bad joke that overstayed its welcome.

FGO prioritizes Master/Servant relationships, both because the last Master of Chaldea is a blank slate for players to self insert into, and also because human×Servant is the type of ship Nasu specializes in (Shirou/Saber, Rin/Saber, Kuzuki/Caster, Caren/Angra Mainyu, and to a lesser extent Bazett/Cu, Yukika/False Assassin, and Ayako/Medusa in FSN; Fate/Extra as a whole; Ritsuka/Castoria in FGO). But even there Higashide made better choices than when he penned Sieg/Jeanne. Charlotte Corday is a surprisingly well-done choice for her archetype, it seems like it's going to be another Kiyohime but no, he actually makes her a good character you get attached to.

And then there is Kadoc and Anastasia. Words cannot describe how much I love them, how their personalities clash and complement each other in the best way, how aesthetically good they look put next to each other, etc. And it's not even just that we got a MasterxServant relationship outside Ritsuka, though that helped.

Basically, Higashide has become my go-to source for good ships, especially intra-Servants ones where Ritsuka is not involved and characters are allowed to not orbit around their Master. Sakurai also provides in that last aspect, but Higashide is doing that and also giving that crossover flavor you see in things like that one Cartoon Network ad with Johnny Bravo and Velma, and that works really well for me.

[vickyvicarious]

You know, Villefort is really introduced as a very intentional contrast to Edmond, isn't he?

They are both relatively young, stepping into the role of a superior (the former captain who died, and the crown prosecutor who is away)

They are both about to be married, and in fact both are celebrating their betrothals when Dantes is arrested

They are both facing some disapproval from their fiancee's family

They both have a relationship with their father that dictates a lot of their actions

But of course, despite all these similarities their personalities and the specific circumstances of each are almost opposite:

Edmond's acting captainship was driven largely by duty, which is what gets him involved in the letter business to begin with. While his time spent captaining the ship went well, the actions outside of the typical duties he took (stopping at Elba, getting the letter) were for other people's request without much thought of how it looked for him. He was more focused on this being his duty as an honorable person. On the other hand, during his interview with Dantes, Villefort was looking for ways to please others initially (his fiancée asked for mercy and he wanted to get on her good side) but it was still self-serving motivation in the end (he wanted her pleased for what it got him, not just to make her happy). He also abandoned that plan, and the idea of justice altogether, as soon as he realized the letter Dantes carried could injure him. His motivations were selfish throughout.

Edmond is engaged to a poor woman with almost no family who he loves deeply and sincerely. Villefort is engaged to a rich woman with an important family who he loves 'sensibly' for what he will get out of the marriage in the long run. He doesn't hate her but he isn't in love with her romantically, really. When Villefort realizes the coincidental timing of this arrest pulling them each away, his reaction is brief sympathy quickly superseded by him planning out how to make this a witty story impressive to his guests on his return. He doesn't tell Edmond the similarity between their situations.

Fernand dislikes Dantes because he wants to marry Mercedes instead; a deeply personal motive. Edmond dismisses any suspicions suggested about the man and chooses to see him as a friend, trusting Mercedes. Villefort faces some reluctantance from his fiancee's mother, but it's due to his father's political reputation and how that might look, more than anything. Villefort plays along really well and deliberately, greatly emphasizing his political zeal in order to better ascend higher in society. When he talks about his harshness as a judge he is doing so in front of a group of people with a mind to their opinions, giving a speech calculated to impress.

Edmond loves his father very much and the two are very close. He acts to protect his father's pride, and works to bring in money to support him. At his wedding, his father was a major presence, the most excited person there other than the bride and groom themselves. Villefort has denounced his father publicly, given himself a new name to completely separate them in the world's eyes. He wasn't at the betrothal feast except as a name talked badly of, and Villefort only acts to protect him (by burning the letter and arresting Dantes) because the bad publicity/shame would rebound onto himself.

All in all, Edmond is very focused on personal matters. Personal honor, true emotions... even his enemies are driven by feelings of jealousy and envy and hatred. He's emotion-driven and while he works hard and has ambitions, they come second to his love, his honor, his pride. When political considerations intrude on his life it is due to the actions of others (the former captain) and even the way politics is used against him by Danglars and Fernand is motivated by their feelings for him, not their own beliefs.

Villefort is very focused on public perception. He wants a good reputation, he wants more power, he is climbing that social ladder and politics is his way to get up while distancing himself from his father. He is very calculating, and while he does have emotional moments (affection for his fiancée, sympathy for Edmond) they come in second every time to his ambition and self-interest. His life is built largely around politics and reputation, and his personal feelings of sympathy for Edmond are brief and easily overshadowed by his worries about the connection to his father's politics getting out and harming him. Not to mention his ambition when he realizes he can use this to further his career.

Where Dantes trusts those around him and says he has no enemies, Villefort worries deeply about the consequences of the letter getting out. He assumes the people around him will shun him easily if his name is dirtied by this affair. (He's probably right, but it's a very different view of people than Edmond.) He is willing to send Edmond to prison rather than trust him to never mention the letter to anyone, placing his suspicious and self-serving nature above any sense of honor.

[onepiecereactions]

Marine Academy, chapter 13

Note: Chapter 13 on 28. Akainu X OC. OC is called Murphy.

This chapter is SFW.

Marine Academy Part 2 Chapter 13

Akainu had accompanied her to the port, taking care to keep a suitable distance from the young woman. In any case, the goodbyes had already taken place in the house of the now rear admiral, in complete privacy...

However, he had insisted on accompanying her to the ship that would take her away from him for two months.

The blonde had finished her internship in the emergency service with honors but now had to continue her studies by going to an internship on a warship.

This time, there was no question of staying on the four seas, she had to embark for the New World, in a critical combat situation.

An island, previously under the protection of the World Government, had been decimated by Big Mom's crew. When she left, a civil war had ravaged the kingdom to elect a new leader. The two main political parties were now engaged in a bloody war for power, with the emperor's crew, who had run away once all the island's money had been stolen, completely uninterested.

Her mission was simple: the soldiers on the warship would fight to restore order on the island, and the medical team was ordered to stay behind and provide emergency care as soon as the soldiers returned to the ships. A second medical team would have to heal the civilians on site and would remain on land for another two months.

The entire mission was led by Vice Admiral Garp, seconded by Rear Admiral Kuzan. Sakazuki hadn't said a word about Kuzan when the blonde had briefly mentioned him, but she had felt a cold anger rising in him. He had quickly understood his colleague's little game but had sworn to the young woman that he would not get involved as long as she was still in training and had not obtained her diploma.

Only then would he have the right to burn whoever he wanted.

"Be careful. The high-ranking officers of this mission are not the most competent..." He mumbled as he tried to hold back yet another impulse of anger while he observed the iceman sleeping on his folding chair.

The blonde smiled at him, kissed him briefly out of sight and joined her fellow caregivers on the ship.

[...]

"What the fuck is this!" the young woman screamed, her scalpel in her hand, her body shaken by the anarchic rhythm of the waves.

The patient in front of her, barely anesthetized, was losing a monstrous amount of blood. The operating room was covered in blood and soaked compresses, shaking the caregivers who were trying as best as they could to keep their balance to the rhythm of the explosions outside.

She absolutely had to amputate the soldier's leg before he bled out completely, but the explosions of the cannons outside were flying away the tools in all directions. Her nurse colleague was trying as best she could to place the catheter to which she could attach the vital blood bag.

BOOM.

"Fuck, can't they go fight on land instead of getting in our way? How many are we waiting?" the intern shouted at the anesthesiologist who regularly received the situation update.

BOOM.

"The four operating rooms are full, about twenty patients at regulation, five of which are in vital emergencies." The anesthesiologist quickly replied between two cannon detonations.

"Shit." The blonde grew impatient.

BOOM.

The medical team froze for a moment when they heard the main mast creak and collapse onto the ship. While everyone hoped that the mast would not fall on their heads, they felt the temperature drop drastically, ice penetrating the floor and roof of the room.

BOOM.

"Cover his extremities with the anti-hypothermia blankets." She ordered again, her heart racing under the stress.

BOOM.

"I just have to close it and..."

BOOM.

A cannonball slammed into the wall with force, racing across the room, ending up through the wooden floor. The impact tore a gaping hole in the wall. The medical team could see the rough seas on the other side of the ripped wall, coming into the operating room.

As Murphy gripped the operating table firmly fixed to the floor, she felt her body leave Earth's gravity.

"THE SHIP IS GOING TO REVERSE WATCH OUT!" The anesthesiologist yelled as they felt a powerful wave hit the other side of the ship, pushing them straight towards the ocean, just a few degrees away from capsizing.

Muprhy closed her eyes as the raging ocean came dangerously close to her. She then felt the cold of the sea pull her towards the wall, making her lose her grip on the operating table. In just a few seconds, the intern crossed the hole in the wall and felt the current drag her towards the abyss.

She had time to see the rest of the team and the patient also being swallowed up in the depths, the ship continuing to reverse towards her.

In a last survival reflex, she swam as fast as she could to get away from the carcass of the ship. The coast was only a few meters away, but the sea current and the freezing cold of the winter island complicated her task. She swam with all her strength and arrived at the cost of an incredible effort on dry land. She got up with difficulty, her white coat freezing against her skin.

The young woman turned around and could see the warship completely overturned, its hull eaten away by ice. She made signs to the soldiers and caregivers of the ship to guide them towards land and helped them get out of the water.

In shock, she didn't even feel the throbbing pain in her right arm. She thought of all her patients who were stuck in the ship, but the freezing cold didn't allow her to put a foot back in the water to try to save them, it was risking drowning in a few seconds.

She then felt a hand grab her head to force the blonde to bend down.

A second later she felt a cannonball fly above her and end its course in the ocean.

She finally heard the screams of the political anarchists behind her. A wave of men was charging towards the port, weapons in hand. The Marine soldiers were completely outnumbered. The fortress at the top of the island throwing cannonballs every second.

One by one, the Navy ships sank into the icy ocean, taking with them the caregivers she knew so well.

Murphy was frozen in place, as she saw a civilian charging at her, axe in hand, a veil of ice enveloped her and made her lose consciousness.

[somebodytoundress]

I think every Santos ship is cute because I support the lesbian Santos agenda but Garsantos is home. I don’t think it’s at all dangerous or a slippery slope as someone warned, to be wary of people who prefer Santos with a white woman when her love interest is clearly a black woman. Especially since Garcia gets a lot of unnecessary hate for flirting with Santos. god forbid a woman makes her attraction known and now she’s a predator. Or how she handled the Langdon situation which I have my criticisms, but there’s a lack of interest in Garcia’s perspective. She was wrong but why is a disagreement enough to write her off? The idea that Garcia is bad for Santos?? We joke about the flirting a lot but it really is special to see Santos have someone in her corner, Garcia has done nothing but support her and try to guide her even after Santos made mistakes.

I’ve read a few Mentos fics and stopped when I peeped that it enters microaggression territory real quick implying that Garcia is too hard/tough/aggressive/mean but Mel is a better fit because she’s “soft” & sensitive. As much as I love the characters & relationship, the ship just seems like a wholesome/pure alternative. Ships are supposed to be fun but black people/POC in fandoms always have to deal with casual racism, so it’s not the end of the world if someone understands the racial implications of favoring a white woman over someone who is afrolatina. instead of trying to be combative when someone shows little criticism, maybe Mentos fans should interrogate why it’s easier for them to see “softness” in a white woman?

this is long but I hope you don’t feel discouraged from speaking up about fandom racism even if it feels small!!! This is just my musings because honestly I just pushed down my opinions on Mentos cause I didn’t think it was that deep but your post made me articulate my thoughts. It’s not at all a trivial discussion. We all should think more about others. If Garsantos weren’t WOC they would be bigger for sure.

i don't think i have much to say to your point, esp since i haven't ventured into any fics involving santos that aren't garsantos, but i totally hear what you're saying and would not be surprised to see what you're talking about. the sad part is i don't even think it's a conscious realization people have? an example i think is the way jayvik stans treat mel medarda but also arcane fandom is like final boss of racist fandoms it's so gnarly over there i try not to get involved.

overall, totally ship what you want to ship!! but as someone who just got a degree in english lit which is pretty much a degree in "yes it is really that deep" it's super important to always engage critically with facets of media you enjoy and facets you don't and think about why that may be!

totally unrelated but not really, but i think about dr. ally louks who wrote her thesis on the ethics of smell in contemporary literature. someone was like "oh so we can never call people stinky ever again" and louks was like "well no, but you should be thinking about and willing to engage with why you feel the need to assign those traits in the first place" anyways. everyone should think and engage deeply with media they consume !!! promise you'll be better off for it

[fredricwertham]

the WHAT

Oh boy. So the tom//greg neo//liberal block//list (TGNB) was something that happened in the early HBO Succession fandom. Way back when the 2nd season was airing in the distant year 2019, a bunch of tumblr users were shipping tomgreg, or Tom Wambsgans—the only daughter of the core family’s bizarre midwestern husband—with Greg Hirsch—the core family’s weirdly tall cousin, who’s also Tom’s personal assistant. Because of the dramedic nature of the show and the total absurdity of these two characters even when compared to the rest of the cast, a lot of the shipping was very tongue-in-cheek. The overwhelming majority of the people in the tomgreg community were lesbian, bisexual or trans women, most of whom were in their 20s or 30s. Many of these people were also, significantly, post-Soviet Jews with low tolerance for tankies.

A different group of tumblr users didn’t like any of this. These people decided that the unifying factor between all tomgreg shippers—or tomgregs—was that they were “neoliberals.” I’m not going to define neoliberalism here, because these individuals sure as shit did not know what that word means, and I think that an archaeologist working to decipher it a millennium from now based on their posts would conclude that it indicates a person or group of people who strongly dislikes political repression, or possibly really loves abortion and other forms of bodily autonomy. In any case, the tom//greg neo//liberal block//list was born.

Charges brought against tomgregs include:

Fetishizing gay men

Shipping problematic yaoi (power imbalance, age gap, abusive, so on)

Not adequately engaging with the show’s ultimately pretty rudimentary satire of capitalism and the ultra-wealthy in order to focus on shipping problematic yaoi instead

Making Tom cheat on his wife (who’s already cheating on him in the show)

Being too old for Leonardo DiCaprio to have sex with

Careerism

Definitively viewing the man-made famine that took place in Soviet Ukraine between 1932-33 as genocide (yes, all of this took place not too long before the current Russian regime launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine; thank you for noticing)

Being ‘suspiciously’ concerned the American right’s extremely well-documented long term plot to force women back into the home by overturning Roe v. Wade (which—yes—has since been overruled; nobody has ever been further from the money than these dumb chucklefucks)

Valuing the right to freedom of speech and expression (I’ve noticed that many of these people have since come around on this one, for some reason)

Liking Taylor Swift music

All of this was very funny and the blocklist quickly became a joke, but I should note that there was actual harassment involved. One woman (who had the kind of public-facing job you could really get in trouble over posts at) was eventually even doxxed either by the original YouTube phenomenon S@r@h Z or one of her followers, who Z endorsed on her tumblr. Ms. Z has of course since been doxxed herself and made a video about the horrors of it [curbyourenthusiasm.mp3].

Anyway! Don’t worry about it.

[borgialucrezia]

i feel like it goes without saying that juan is a deeply closeted incestuous-only bisexual and lucrezia, whose first real kiss was with giulia, is obviously bi and out and proud of it, but i cannot for the life of me figure out what cesare's sexuality is (besides him being lucreziasexual obviously lmaooo). like, to me he kinda gives the straightest man you'll ever meet but confident enough in his own sexuality that if he did something with a guy it wouldn't send him into a panic vibes?? would you agree or could you see him as bisexual or some other all-inclusive sexuality?

well it's very accurate about juan! considering how he's generally portrayed as a flamboyant brat who experiments and overcompensates with womanizing. i think this rumor stemmed from his very close relationship with prince djem as they traveled together, shared each other's clothes, etc + juan's refusal to consummate his marriage with maria until cesare sent him a letter urging him to get on with it as the delayed consummation distressed their father lol. he was portrayed as openly gay in alejandro jodorowsky's 'the borgias' comics where we see him arguing with rodrigo over a marriage proposal to maria, with cesare frequently using homophobic slurs against him (rip). in 'the vatican princess: a novel of lucrezia borgia' by c.w. gortner, juan is depicted as being in love with prince djem also incestuosuly in love with lucrezia, and lucrezia witnesses a scene where juan, djem and giulia engage in a threesome (yeah ik it's wild). in 'borgia f&f,' he spends a a chunk of screen time kissing various men including cesare, showcasing both incestuous and fluid sexuality. and in showtime's 'the borgias,' i kinda immediately sensed that juan's portrayal wouldn't be heterosexual even before seeing anything yet, considering the casting of an actor well versed in playing gay roles (david oakes). his attraction to his siblings was subtly portrayed on the show but his constant sexual gestures towards both siblings would be discernible to those adept at interpreting symbolism and subtext, revealing how he unconsciously acts upon his incestuous feelings. the actor also confirmed that juan desired to be part of cesare and lucrezia's incestuous affair so…lol

with lucrezia...i don't like how they don't lean into sapphicism often. i feel like we were robbed of a lot of sapphic!lucrezia material, especially when it really had a place for storylines. i don't think there's anything hotter than having some action with your father's new young girlfriend, giulia, or sometimes kissing your sister-in-law, isabella d'este, having a toxic yuri moment with caterina gonzaga. like there's so much rich material, but instead they always give her so many boring men lol. that being said, there was only a sapphic moment in alejandro jodorowsky's 'the borgias' comics, but rather in a male gaze, you know what i mean? like i didn't enjoy it much rip

hmm yk i've always perceived cesare as heterosexual tbh like the allegations of homosexuality seem one-sided often involving either machiavelli or da vinci. showtime's 'the borgias' explored the homoerotic subtext of cesare with both micheletto (his assassin) and juan (his brother). but for some reason françois arnaud denied any romantic involvement between micheletto and cesare as the ship started to get popular in the fandom (it seems like françois is a hardcore and bitter ceslu shipper as he should tbh lol), but that doesn't negate the presence of homoerotic undertones even if françois doesn't acknowledge them/play into them. cesare is also consistently depicted as engaging in an incestuous affair with lucrezia in various portrayals whether emotionally or physically…considering the fluidity of sexuality during a period when same-sex relationships were publicly condemned yet privately tolerated, i wouldn't dismiss the possibility of cesare's sexuality being more complex. idk he gives off vibes that suggest he might be willing to do a 'favor' for a man to achieve his tasks even if he's not romantically or sexually interested in them idk something like that ig?? lol

[brknsails]

[  nathalie emmanuel, cis woman , thirty-six, she/her ] for the crimes of piracy DELILAH DUARTE / THE BELLADONNA is hereby wanted. those who surrender them dead or alive to the crown will receive ONE HUNDRED  pounds. they’re famously known to be part of the THE HARBINGER as their SHADES. before engaging be warned as they can be TEMPERAMENTAL AND FLEETING, but if you’re lucky they’ll be CHARMING AND COURAGES. legends say that when you speak their name you’re reminded of GOLDEN FLAME FLICKERING IN A CRUMBLING CASTLE, UNTETHERING YOURSELF FROM EVERYTHING YOU LOVE, GASPS AS SOFT AS FEATHERS.

basics.

name: delilah durate

nickname: lilah (reserved), belladonna

age: thirty-six

gender & pronouns: cis woman & she/her

sexuality: pansexual

occupation: one of the shades of the harbinger

relationship status: single

children: none.

song: you don't own me -lesley gore

appearance.

hair: dark brown, naturally curly, short

eyes: dark brown (in dimly lit and brightly lit settings)

tattoos: her mark as a pirate, that is all

scars: none (yet)

piercings: one earring on her left ear

biography.

murder tw, baby loss tw,

like many that came before you, you were born on the sun-bleached, lawless speck called tortuga. you're born a wild child with a wild heart; daughter of a pirate and a siren. the air that reeks of rum, salt, and gunpowder runs been in your veins. but in you a garden grows, one that blossoms a natural curiosity to explore and to love.

you have a touch that is as soft as the petals of a flower, while you’re trained to strike with the ferocity of a lioness. you’re mother teaches you how to use your voice as a weapon, to achieve what you desired, and your father teaches you the ways of the sea. you grow up learning about the ocean and the different tides that it creates. you learn about the stars and which ones will guide you when you’re lost. a tiny blade becomes your closest companion from childhood until you reach womanhood. even though you grow up in a town covered in muddy streets, you become an untouchable flower growing amongst chaos.

you’re twenty when one night an invasion occurred in your home while you and your mother were laying down to rest. she tells you to stay hidden beneath the floorboards, to stay as silent as a phantom, no matter what happens. and you bare witness to the senseless act of murder, created due a rivalry that involved your father. they searched for you, but no avail. you don’t see your father again and you figure he must have received the same fate. a few days later, you find a new home in the siren’s nest; it becomes your sanctuary for a handful of years.

then one day, you flee. you leave the only shores you’ve ever known in exchange for a freedom you did not want. the sea becomes your home now, aboard a ship named the harbinger. your purpose is her, your loyalty becomes vidar’s, and your blade is used to slay in their name.

headcanons

worked as a siren for the nest for a couple of years, before it was taken over by dorian salazar. to this day, everything with dorian feels like it was just a fever dream. there was a passion and intense intimacy between the two of them that set delilah's soul on fire, but ultimately, she flees to the sea. all because there was a chance that she was pregnant with his child.

she gets on the first ship out of tortuga without even leaving a note explaining her actions. all she could think is that he would be upset or she would be the reason that he would be trapped in an unhappy life with her. and even after she discovers she isn't pregnant [anymore], delilah does not return to his side. instead she finds a home on the harbinger and has been serving vidar loyally for two years now.

her spirit is eternally locked in a flame that engulfs her with the vibrant light of life. she’s not afraid to flirt with someone, nor afraid to dance in a crowded room alone, to sing when she thinks no one is watching, to smell the flowers if they are there, and she loves every ounce of life. the good, the bad, everything. she loves the stars as much as she loves the laughter of those around her.

[elin-moon]

Recently, I've invested myself into developing Barnaby's wife, Joan Eustace, into an actual person rather than just a name on a page. It's a bit rough, since there's so little on her at all, so I ended up researching her family instead, and what I've found is quite interesting.

Her family is devoutly Catholic. Her father, Rowland Eustace, opposed the entire Reformation and disollution of the monastries, he sat in the first Parliament of Elizabeth I in 1558 but also strongly opposed her Act of Uniformity, and in general held tight to his Catholic beliefs, which ended up in him almost getting arrested in 1567, but the order was never carried out. We don't know much about how his wife, Joan Butler, felt but we can assume she shared some of her opinions with her husband when it came to religion.

And if you thought her father was something, just wait till you hear of her siblings. Her brother, James, was a rebel through and through. He regarded Elizabeth I as an illegitimate heretic, in 1576 he openly complained about her persecution of Catholics and the illegal taxation of the Lord Deputy, and he was imprisoned in 1577 but soon released. He took part in the Desmond rebellion in 1580, his partner being Feagh Mac Hugh O'Byrne, which is funny because their fathers had been enemies. When the rebellion failed, James escaped to Spain and tried to convince Philip II to provide troops and ships for invading Ireland to support the Catholic cause, and he ended up dying in Spain. Another brother, Edmund, was also involved in the Desmond rebellion, and similarly he escaped, first to Scotland and then to Spain. He served against England in the Spanish Armada and died in Portugal. Another two brothers, Thomas and Walter, were executed, presumably for their involvement in the Desmond rebellion. Another brother, William, was believed to be slayed in battle, but some accounts argue that he hadn't been engaged in fighting at all and had lived a peaceful life. The last brother, Richard, was in Paris during the rebellion, arranging for supplies and ammunition for the rebellion. He ended up going to Rome and becoming a priest.

And then there's her only sister, Eleanor. Similarly, we don't know much about her opinions, but we do know she was married to a rebel. Edmund Butler, her husband, started the Butler revolt in 1569 over a land dispute with the Lord Deputy, and while he was excused by Elizabeth I in 1573, he remained remembered for this moment until he died.

So, with such a riveting family, Joan ought to be pretty interesting herself. First, there's the thing of her whole family being Catholic. That would mean that she's a Catholic as well most likely, and that she's indeed married to a Protestant man. That makes for an interesting dynamic, because it opens up the possibility of "how did this happen?"

Did she perhaps hold differing opinions to her family, and favoured the Protestant faith over the Catholic faith? Was Barnaby perhaps more open to Catholicisim than he appears? Did they love each other so much that they were willing to overlook their religious differences? Did they even love each other, or was it a marriage of duty? We don't know. We will never know.

I have made my own interpretation of their relationship though:

Joan is indeed a Catholic woman to the bone, and Barnaby is quite sturdy in his Protestanism when he first meets her, although he doesn't hate anyone who is Catholic. When they first meet, they aren't in love, but they are fascinated with each other. Joan is interested in this Irish man who is so familiar to the men at home yet so different, molded by his time in the English and French court into a whole new specimen. Barnaby is interested in this woman who is somehow equally guarded and clever yet caring and optimistic.

The both of them are naturally optimistic in nature, but all the losses in Barnaby's life up to the point when they first meet have jaded him slightly, although he refuses to quite let his light die. Joan is able to help keep the light strong with her brightness, and the two compliment each other and bring out the best in each other. At first they're friends, then they are lovers, and then, after Barnaby returns from the Siege of Leith, they wish to be married. The matter of religion is brushed to the side by both of them in favour of genuine desire to live together as husband and wife happily.

Surprisingly, they don't clash on it too often, but they still do, harshly at times, especially when Joan's family starts acting up. In my opinion, I think towards the later part of his life, Barnaby started dancing around Catholicism and the idea of it. He wasn't fully Catholic, but he appreciated parts of it, took them up as a part of his faith, and Joan had a huge influence upon that. But in the end, he stayed Protestant, and Joan stayed Catholic, and their marriage did not suffer for it. Their love was more important to them than their faith.

Away from religion and from her relationship with Barnaby, Joan is an optimistic person to the core. As mentioned before, she always looks for the best in things, even when everything seems incredibly negative. Of course, as her life experiences add up, you'd expect her to lose that sparkle, but she doesn't. She manages to hold on to it even in life's worst moments.

If I had to describe her, she's like the sunrise. Not the sun itself, but the sunrise, the soft glow as the sun breaks away the night and starts to awaken the world slowly, bringing a sort of quiet beauty to the world around her. She's not blinding, but peaceful and calming, and promising of a better day ahead.

Being optimistic also turns Joan into a generally happy person, always holding a smile, always moving, skipping, dancing, letting the world's delights consume her. She'll happily experience all her emotions with a fervour, she rarely feels like she has to hide how she feels. In the rare instances when she does, she knows she's in danger, and one wrong move could mean disaster.

Of course, she's still calculated and careful, she lives in Ireland in the 16th century, an unstable place promising constant danger. She knows how to protect herself, how to navigate a situation where it could mean life or death for either her or her family. People are often fooled by her sunshine demeanour to think that she's weak and childish, but she's hardly so. She's strong, mayhaps not physically, but mentally and emotionally. She's good in social situations, and she's good at reading people, which of course would help her plenty of times. She knows when not to push a person, and she knows when it's time to flee a situation. She's a happy and positive person, but she's not stupid.

Yes, I have grown attached to a historical individual which has an entirely fictional personality that I've made to fill in the void of the lack of knowledge on the actual person.

[badbatchposts]

Quiet Corners of the Galaxy, Chapter 7

While on a routine mission for Cid, the Bad Batch encounter a woman fleeing from the Empire. Crosshair suspects her seemingly free-spirited, nomadic existence is actually a cover for something else, but struggles to keep his attraction toward her in check as their personalities and ideals clash.

Relevant tags: Slow Burn, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut (it finally starts getting spicy in a couple more chapters!), Canon-Typical Violence, Alcohol Use

Chapters posted 1-2x weekly!

Read the full fic so far on AO3

Read previous chapters on Tumblr: Ch. 1 l Ch. 2 l Ch. 3 l Ch. 4 l Ch. 5 l Ch. 6

Chapter 7 summary: Dara joins them on a mission. She performs a little too coolly under pressure.

“I don’t want her staying on the ship alone,” Crosshair insisted. The Batch was huddled together in the cockpit as they began their approach to the red planet which loomed largely through the Marauder’s viewport. Dara had returned to her makeshift room in the cargo hold just as they were exiting hyperspace, and the sniper meant to take advantage of her temporary absence to continue to voice his protestations against her involvement.

“We need someone to remain behind to provide a pick-up when we make our exit,” Tech insisted impatiently. “And our infiltration strategy requires five.”

“That won’t matter if she takes off with our ship and leaves us stranded,” Crosshair replied angrily. The others considered the dilemma; he had a point.

“Why didn’t you bring that up before we made this plan?!” Hunter protested.

“Why did you insist on bringing a complete stranger with us to break someone out of jail?!” the sniper shot back.

“Hey!” Echo, as always, stepped up to mediate. “Think this through first, fight about it later. Tech and I are needed to access the back entrance. Crosshair is setting up decoy fire at the landing pad and front entrance. Hunter and Wrecker are setting the charges to first draw their attention and later cover our escape. How about Hunter stays with the ship and Dara helps with the charges.”

Dara returned before the issue could be debated further. “Change of plans, boys?” she asked.

Hunter nodded. “Just a small one. How do you feel about helping Wrecker instead? You shouldn’t have to engage with anyone directly. Just a bit of sneaking around and property destruction to keep them occupied while we go after the real target. Not that we doubt your piloting skills, but the Marauder’s a complicated ship, and if things go sideways it might be a bit chaotic getting us out of there.”

“Oh, sure,” Dara agreed affably. “That and you don’t want to have to worry about someone you just met stealing your transport and leaving you for dead.” She chuckled at the squad’s vaguely embarrassed expressions, ignoring Crosshair’s sneer. “It’s okay, I get it. Trust is built, right? I’ll just go with Wrecker.”

“Yeah!” the giant clapped her on the back enthusiastically, nearly knocking her over. “This’ll be way more fun anyway!”

Tech set the Marauder down some distance away from the prison to avoid detection, and Hunter handed Dara a comm before they began the trek toward their destination. The Sergeant looked sternly at Crosshair as the sniper made to exit. “Watch their back,” he instructed.

Crosshair’s expression was disguised behind his helmet, but his voice had lost some of the hostility of their earlier discussion, and now sounded more amused. “Don’t I always?”

“That includes her,” Hunter called insistently after his retreating form.

***

After a short hike, the sniper, dug into position, watched through his scope as the others approached the prison, flanking it from the west. The team moved stealthily amid the gathering dark, pausing only momentarily for Tech to easily bypass the perimeter sensors. Inside the prison, no one would even notice a glitch on their screens as they drew nearer to the building, and the next foot patrol wasn’t due to pass by for another 20 minutes. In the meantime, the group separated, Echo and Tech heading to the back of the building, Dara to the landing pad, and Wrecker to the main entrance. He had no concerns about Wrecker; while he wasn’t the stealthiest among them, Tech had already overwritten any camera feeds with a loop, and his brother would be able to easily stun anyone he came across while planting the first set of explosives, which would draw all attention to the front of the building as Echo and Tech entered and retrieved their target.

Dara, however, was another story. Crosshair watched her closely, his keen eyesight still able to easily detect her shadowy form through his scope even in the failing light. He was not much happier at the decision to bring her along than to leave her with the Marauder, but at least here he could keep an eye on her.

But, of course, there was already a problem. The landing pad was supposed to be empty.

“Dara, you have company. Maintenance tech and a couple of droids just exited the building and are headed to the landing pad. Abort,” he instructed. It wouldn’t be ideal—the landing pad explosion was meant to cover their exit—but they would have to make do.

“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.” Her voice over the comm was perfectly calm. He felt annoyance bubble up in him; the landing pad was well-lit, and they couldn’t afford to alert anyone to their presence before Wrecker set off the first set of charges.

“That’s an order. Turn the kriff around.”

“I don’t take orders from you.”

Infuriated, Crosshair could only watch as she turned her comm off. He briefly shifted his scope to Wrecker, who had just reached the main entrance. The nearby guard station was empty, apart from the crumpled forms of the two aliens who had been staffing it—at least, up until the moment that Wrecker snuck up behind them and knocked them out. His brother began setting the charges.

“Status update?” he requested over the open comm channel.

“Approximately 1.5 minutes to get the back door open,” Tech reported.

“Front’s gonna go boom in one.”

Crosshair moved his scope back to the landing pad, where Dara was crouching by a cabinet out of sight of the maintenance tech. She opened it, pulling out a vest and hat that matched the worker’s uniform, then stored her larger blaster in the cabinet and pulled the clothing on before straightening up. He grinded his teeth together as she headed straight for the maintenance tech, a look of confusion on her face. After a brief, animated discussion, the tech headed back inside, followed by the droids. She strolled leisurely about the landing pad, placing her own charges at regular intervals.

Wrecker’s explosion at the main entrance rocked the building, and Crosshair returned his attention there. Alarms began blaring throughout the prison, and only minutes later, a wave of guards cautiously filed out of the front doors, guns drawn. It was time for him to make them think they were under attack by nothing short of an invading army. Calmly, he let out shot after shot, letting each of them narrowly miss. From the position he had retreated to, Wrecker did the same, occasionally lobbing stun bombs. The guards scrambled, looking for cover. By now, Tech and Echo were well on their way to the target’s cell.

“Landing pad charges set,” Dara’s voice reported over the open comm channel.

A few minutes later, Echo indicated that they were on their way out, and a second explosion drew the attention of the guards. Even more of them exited the building in the direction of the landing pad as Crosshair alternated his shots between there and the entrance. Now thoroughly distracted on two fronts, the others would be able to make their exit from the prison nearly unchallenged.  

“Coming in for a pickup at the rendezvous,” Hunter piped up. First Dara, then Echo, Tech, and the prisoner, and finally Wrecker all converged on Crosshair’s position. He kept the guards pinned down until Hunter landed the Marauder behind them and everyone was on board, then made his way up the ramp himself. They were leaving the atmosphere before the guards even realized it was all over.

“So…who’s this guy?” Wrecker asked. The Rodian they had picked up at the prison stared at them with wide, glassy eyes as they entered hyperspace. He didn’t seem to speak Basic.

Hunter shrugged. “Cid didn’t say. Just said he was scheduled to be transferred from the local authorities to the Empire and her client wanted us to get him out before that happened.”

Dara raised her eyebrow. “You guys just broke someone out of jail without even knowing why he was in there?”

“Yeah, well…Cid isn’t always the most forthcoming about what her jobs entail,” Echo responded, his resentment toward the Trandoshan palpable.

“Mmmhmm…” Turning to the fugitive, she spoke to him in Rodian. They exchanged a few sentences before she reported back in Basic to the squad, pursing her lips critically. “He’s a bounty hunter. Works for the Hutts. They apparently weren’t interested in letting him undergo interrogation.” Crosshair thought she looked like she had more to say, but she bit her tongue.  

“You speak Rodian?” inquired Tech, with polite interest. He himself spoke several languages, and had developed his own translation program to help communicate in those he did not.

“Among a few others. I was a linguist, in another life.” A pang of sadness flashed across her eyes before she could tamp it down. “Didn’t work out.”

“Well, hey,” Wrecker announced cheerfully, “you could be in for a long career with us! You did great today!”

Crosshair’s anger, briefly forgotten amid his focus on completing their mission, flared back up. “Actually, what she did was disobey a direct order and put the whole team at risk.”

“I had everything under control. It was just a maintenance tech, not a guard. All I had to do was tell him there must have been some sort of scheduling mix-up because I was already assigned to repairs at the landing pad, and by the time he was inside trying to sort everything out Wrecker’s explosion would have made him forget all about me.”

The sniper pointed angrily at her with his toothpick. “That wasn’t your call to make.”

Her eyes flashed, but her tone remained calm. “Well, it wasn’t yours either.”

“Enough.” Hunter’s serious tone shut them both up. “Dara, that was good thinking on your feet, but next time, listen to Crosshair. We have more experience at this than you. If he says to play it safe, it’s for a reason. We said we���d take your help on a few jobs, but you’re not a soldier. We don’t want to put you in harm’s way if we can avoid it.”

Dara looked chastened. “Of course.” But when Hunter turned her back on them, she glared at Crosshair before retiring to the cargo hold, leaving him there to stew.

Next chapter

Tag List: @stardusthuntress @skellymom

[inchidentally]

Not to be that person but did Williams and McLaren forget that Lily is a pro golfer and Alex also golfs...

*gonna reserve the faint possibility she MIGHT still be involved tho not actually getting hopes up but maybe !!

while I fully agree they missed a big opportunity crossing over w Lily - and Williams have had her in their sm before so it's not a clash with branding or anything! - but lbr no way were they going to mess up the carland0 gay baiting/bromancing by including a woman !! half the fans won't even allow Rebecca to exist as a real human woman girlfriend so they certainly don't want the pro golfer human woman to mess up their m/m ship dynamic during a golfing challenge about a pro golf event, anon like let's not be insane ok

tho tbh the exclusion even applies to Alex since including him would also screw up the 1D-BTS pipeline fans pretending that Carlos and Lando are Special Best Friends instead of them actually having a very normal typical same kind of friendship that they have with like half the grid ajaklgfsagfls and you can say how Alex has known Lando longer and he's literally a childhood poster on the wall idol of Lando's and their dynamic is fully as hilarious and adorable as Lando's with Carlos buttttt that doesn't appeal as much to the targeted fanbase yk

but mostly carland0 is the biggest engagement cash cow in literally all of F1 anon, so there's like a requisite amount that always gets delivered every season I still mostly enjoy it but I'm still completely avoiding those fans

what I selfishly wanna know is if we're going to get similar Oscar/Alex content since they've consistently sought each other out more than even Carlos and Lando have this season ?? like I know they're not the big PR fan faves but hopefully one of the teams realizes a lot of us would love to get some official content of the two of them <3 and they could even do the McLaren/Williams padel match that never happened if they won't do anything with just Oscar and Alex

*oh and no one say 'she wasn't around for it' bc they plan stuff like this months in advance and she's fully been available and at races

EDIT: I also want credit for not saying that I think carcar golfing content would be absolute gold bc I know it wouldn’t happen but still