#much worse

[houseswife]

I love how they set taub’s biggest issue up to be the fact that he cheats on his wife. like that’s the only thing wrong with him really. and everybody dunks on him for it. meanwhile wilson has been causally dropping the fact that he’s a serial philanderer since season 1 and nobody bats an eye because there’s just so much else to unpack that it might be the most normal aspect of his personality

[bethanydelleman]

Common misconception about Mr. Collins in Pride & Prejudice is that he's sucking up to Lady Catherine to retain his position in the church. This is not true, the living is his for life, he's sucking up for more, as Elizabeth observes: Very few days passed in which Mr. Collins did not walk to Rosings, and not many in which his wife did not think it necessary to go likewise; and till Elizabeth recollected that there might be other family livings to be disposed of, she could not understand the sacrifice of so many hours. (Ch 30)

It was possible at the time for a rector to hold multiple livings, they would install a curate for about £50/year and pocket the rest of the income.

Also, it was nigh impossible to remove a clergyman once he was installed at a living. This example is from the book Fashionable Goodness, Christianity in Jane Austen's England by Brenda S. Cox (TW: violence against pregnant women):

Dr. Free seduced his housekeepers, resulting in five illegitimate children; caused one of the women to miscarry; let his pigs desecrate the graveyard, and kept cattle on the church porch; sold the lead off the church roof; cut down and sold trees not belonging to him; left the parish for long periods of time; and refused to marry and bury his parishioners. Eventually, when he offended a gentry family over a burial, they lodged a complaint. This led to seven years of expensive trials, at the Bishop of Lincoln's personal expense. Finally Dr. Free was removed from his living, eventual dying as a beggar. (Ch 10)

(And now you can see why Darcy really didn't want Wickham to be given a living!)

Mr. Collins and Charlotte are not being irrational in their devotion to Lady Catherine, a second living could double their income without adding very much at all to their work. Charlotte might have the added benefit of Mr. Collins spending some time at his other living during the collection of tithes. Now I do think Jane Austen found this kind of behaviour repugnant, but it isn't ridiculous, it's highly motivated.

[serenxanthe]

After Ziost, a SWTOR Story

Part 2 (Chapters 4 - 5): In which Theron learns something disquieting during his obsessive efforts to get his job back.

Part 1 (Chapters 1 - 3) is here.

Chapter 4

Theron had been on Coruscant now for more than two months, and he still didn’t have his job back. He’d met with Trant several times, at Theron’s own insistence, but his position seemed to have gone from somewhat sympathetic exasperation to impatient dismissal.

Theron guessed he had more important things to worry about than the career of one of his more reckless agents. But Theron could help with those important things! If only the SIS would give him another chance.

This was all Saresh’s fault, like he’d told Seren. It was clearly Saresh blocking his reinstatement, using him as a convenient scapegoat to disguise her own catastrophically bad decision to deploy Republic forces to a world in the thrall of the Sith Emperor. Former Emperor he reluctantly acknowledged, thinking of Lana’s insistence on that.

Saresh had summoned him to her presence once, purely to berate him in public, not to hear him out. Theron had kept quiet and let her do so, acting entirely against his own nature; he didn’t want to burn any more bridges while there was still a chance he could get his damn job back. Satele and Jace had been there too, standing at either side of Saresh, looking on like… well, like disappointed parents. He knew they were in fact there in their capacity as Jedi Grandmaster and Supreme Commander respectively, but the fact that they were also his actual parents added to Theron’s humiliation.

That had been weeks ago, and he hadn’t spent time with anyone other than Jonas Balkar and an increasingly reluctant Director Trant since then. Theron was getting nowhere, and he knew he needed to change tack. He considered Jace and Satele. Which one was more influential with Saresh, and which one did he have the greatest chance of explaining himself to; bringing them round to his way of thinking?

Jace was probably the most likely to hear him out; he’d been pretty reckless himself as a young man. His own existence illustrated that point thought Theron, nobody sensible got entangled with a Jedi after all.

Theron’s mind drifted briefly to Seren, but he pushed the thoughts out of his mind firmly. He didn’t have time for any of that relationship stuff now, with his job on the line, and if he was honest with himself, he knew he had a worrying tendency to lose track of time in sentimental daydreaming once he let himself start thinking about her. 

Yes, Jace was the most likely to listen sympathetically, given his own nature, but maybe Satele was a better choice for that very reason. He knew Saresh respected her clear headed unemotional take on things. Maybe that damned maddening Jedi impassivity could be made to work in his favour for once, reasoned Theron.

Chapter 5

Sitting awkwardly on Satele’s luxurious sofa in her Coruscant apartment, Theron swallowed. He wasn’t sure where to begin. He took a sip of the tea he hadn’t felt it polite to refuse, and was reminded of Seren again. Again, he pushed her from his mind, he had to focus. “How’s Master Surro?” he asked, relieved that he’d remembered that he and Satele did have something in common. 

Satele’s expression softened slightly. Even as a spy practised in reading body language and facial expression, Theron doubted he would have spotted it if he hadn’t spent so much time with Seren. Not that she guarded her emotions like this when they were alone, but they so often weren’t that he’d had to get used to interpreting the slightest of changes in expression.

“Surro is improving by the day, Theron, thank you.” Satele hesitated then added with unaccustomed openness, “I’m not sure she’ll ever return to active frontline duty, but I hope that one day she’ll at least be content again, maybe even happy.”

Theron nodded, the guilt he’d been suppressing rearing its head again. 

Satele must have seen something in his face, because she added gently, “She made her own choices, Theron, she would have known the risks when she headed down to that planet.”

Theron nodded again, mechanically.

Satele sighed, “Not everyone is as resilient having been possessed by the Sith Emperor as Seren and Kira, Theron. I wonder if it’s because they were both born Sith, or whether that’s a complete coincidence.” 

That just made Theron feel even more guilty, if he’d asked Seren, Kira, and Scourge to help instead of the Sixth Line…

“How is Seren?” Satele suddenly asked him.

Theron frowned, he didn’t really know, but Satele definitely didn’t need to know that. “She’s fine.” He told her. “Do you mean after Ziost?” he clarified.

Satele nodded, “It must have been awful, to feel all that death at such close range. I felt it from here, a great wound in the Force…” she stopped herself and said, “Sorry Theron, Seren tells me you don’t like to talk about the Force.” 

Theron shook his head, demurring, trying not to mind too much that Seren had discussed his feelings about the Force with his mother. She’d obviously meant well.

Something else was nagging at him, and he thought about it. Why had Satele said ‘at such close range’? Seren had left Ziost at the same time he and Lana did, hadn’t she? Ashamed, Theron realised he hadn’t even thought about, let alone asked her about, her plans after the events at the People's Tower. He’d been so focussed on getting Surro and the other Masters to Tython. He concentrated on Satele again, she was still speaking.

“Thank the Force that Lord Scourge’s lightsabre hilt broke though.” Satele said, and Theron frowned at her in confusion. 

“I’d like to think it was the will of the Force that took them up to the space station for repairs,” Satele continued, “It’s strange how the most seemingly insignificant events can mean the difference between life and death. Maybe I’m just looking for meaning where there is none, but they'd been on the surface literally just a few minutes before the cataclysm happened…” Satele trailed away as she noticed Theron’s white face and look of horror. 

“Theron, I’m so sorry. This is the last thing you want to be reminded of I’m sure. I can’t imagine how you must have been feeling until Seren made it back to Carrick Station.” Satele patted his arm awkwardly, but Theron barely felt it.

She’d been on Ziost? On the surface itself mere minutes before every single person on the planet had been killed? How had he not known until now how close he’d come to losing her? He knew how. He hadn’t bothered to ask her whether she was leaving Ziost, just assumed; all his focus was on Surro, and his own overwhelming guilt. 

He thought back to seeing Seren in his former office on Carrick Station. She’d come running in, uncaring of her Jedi dignity and who was watching. Her face, the face he’d barely even looked at at the time, had been alive with some sort of emotion he realised now, her eyes wide as she fixed them on him. 

He… he hadn’t even hugged her in greeting, hadn’t even made the most superficial enquiries as to how she was. He hadn’t known how close she’d come to death, but that was no excuse; he hadn’t even shown the bare minimum of basic courtesy to his own girlfriend. Theron’s insides cramped with remorse.

What if… was she even still his girlfriend? He’d talked about Surro and his job, and she’d seemed sympathetic, she’d let him kiss her, but… she’d asked him to go for a drink with her to talk and he’d said no, hadn’t he? He couldn’t really remember the conversation properly, he hadn't been focussing at all. 

Had she said, “Maybe another time.” with a polite smile? That couldn’t be good could it? And that had been… two months ago? More? And he hadn’t contacted her, deliberately putting her from his mind so he could focus on getting his job back. She hadn’t contacted him either, obviously, but he could kinda understand why given how their last conversation had gone.

Satele watched the emotions play across her son’s face, but not having any idea how their conversation just now had exposed how little Theron knew about Seren’s life at present, and assuming he was just missing her, she said, “It must be hard, after all that, with Seren being away now in wild…”

“I’m not here to talk about Seren!” Theron interrupted her angrily. He took a deep breath straight away and said, “Sorry.” His apology was short but sincere, it was himself he was angry with not Satele after all. “I was hoping you could help me? Talk to Chancellor Saresh for me? About my job.” 

Satele looked at him, disappointed but not surprised that this was what he was here for. “Your reinstatement is in the hands of Marcus Trant, not Saresh.” she said evenly. Theron snorted in disbelief, and Satele sighed and relented. “All right, we both know that’s not quite true. But Theron, I’m probably not the best person to help you with getting on Saresh’s good side.” Theron frowned at her, surprise and scepticism on his face, and Satele continued, “She still doesn’t quite trust me after I formed the coalition with Marr on Yavin IV.”

Theron snorted again. “That just goes to show her lack of judgement doesn’t it? You acted for the good of the Republic, and the galaxy, not for the good of Saresh. The two things rarely, if ever, coincide from what I can see, despite Saresh’s propaganda.”

Satele was surprised, that was probably the most positive thing Theron had ever said about her. To her face anyway. Satele felt guilty for the jolt of happiness she felt at Theron’s usual spiky bitterness being directed at someone else for once, and in her favour no less! 

She put her hand on his forearm again, more confidently this time, and said, “You should try Jace, Theron. Privately, I know he’s sympathetic to your actions, and he’s currently in better favour with Saresh than I am.”

Theron thanked her, his tone polite if not quite warm, and after finishing the tea she’d made him, said his goodbyes. At least he’d arrived and left through the front door this time, Satele thought. Maybe they were making progress.

[blacksapphhicmaddonna]

im something worse than a munch i fear

[happytragicgirl]

Headcanon: Jax can’t focus on shit without Family Guy funny moments playing in the corner of his vision at all times

[imalsohisheartguard]

Eddie the Banished

[lollitree]

My reaction to game Lysandre: this guy is so dramatic what a dummy

My reaction to anime Lysandre, not 5 minutes after his introduction: wow I hate this man with all my being

[gay-edwardian]

Falling face-first into Frida's fluffy 1978/79 hair could Fix Me I think.

[br1ghtestlight]

yes i love and appreciate nickel as a character and his development through the series yes he absolutely fucked around and found out w/ suitcase and balloon in season two

[peculiary]

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Two #17

[violentviolette]

ive cut my hair and showered for a second time in a week i need a fucking nap

[ruiniel]

Thank you for the tag, @batsyforyou !

Tag game says: "You have to marry the last fictional character in your camera roll: how screwed are you?"

Would never work out *sigh of relief*

[serenxanthe]

After Ziost, a SWTOR Story

Part 3 (Chapters 6 - 7): In which Theron is unaware of a catastrophe.

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 is here.

Chapter 6

As he headed round to his father’s apartment, Theron tried to call Seren on his communicator. He still hated having serious conversations over holo, but he was aware that the number of times he’d almost ruined their relationship by avoiding calling her so they could talk in person was… Theron thought about it; it probably had to be approaching double digits by now, he concluded. 

The call wasn’t connecting, Theron realised in frustration. It wasn’t that she wasn’t picking up, which, well, he’d fully understand at this point; but rather that his communicator somehow wasn’t finding her frequency. Had she blocked him again, like after the Teff’ith incident? No, there’d be a different error tone, he reassured himself. His taxi pulled up at his father’s apartment, and Theron jumped out, vowing to sort out the issue with his communicator as soon as they’d finished talking.

Theron had only been there a few minutes when it became clear that Satele had been right, Jace was sympathetic to his actions back on Ziost; telling him that he’d probably have done the same thing in his position, and pointing out that nobody could have predicted mass mind control on that scale, let alone the cataclysm that followed. There just wasn’t any precedent for it that they’d known about.

Theron was beginning to relax a bit now, feeling hopeful about his job for the first time in weeks.

Jace noticed that he kept looking at his communicator. “Expecting a call?” He asked Theron. 

Theron jumped and put the communicator away, he hadn’t realised he was being so obvious. “Kinda.” He told Jace. “I haven’t seen my, er, friend for a couple of months now, and I really want to speak to her.” 

Jace nodded. “Seren, right? Don’t screw this up, son, she really loves you.” 

Theron was stunned. His father knew? And had somehow formed an opinion on Seren’s feelings for him? “How did…” he began, then, “Did Satele tell you?”

Jace’s eyes widened, “Satele knows?!” He asked Theron, incredulously. “What were you thinking? This puts her in an incredibly difficult position as Jedi Grandmaster, you know that right?”

“She put herself in an incredibly difficult position when she decided to walk into my tent without warning back on Yavin IV.” Theron retorted acerbically. He really had no idea why his father continued to be so protective over his mother, despite her treatment of him.

Jace’s eyes widened again, and he bit his lip. Theron clocked it, and warned him, “Don’t!” 

Jace shook his head, trying to contain his laughter. He cleared his throat and managed to ask, in a vague approximation of his normal tone of voice, “What were you doing? Er, so to speak.”

Theron shot him a look that told Jace he wasn’t amused. “Not that!” he clarified quickly, his colour high. “Just sleeping. But I guess it looked pretty… intimate.” Theron sighed, now that they’d started on this topic, he had a strange urge to keep talking to his father about it. “Seren woke up,” he continued, “I didn’t. The first thing I knew about it was when Seren told me she’d spoken to Satele and told her she’d be leaving the Jedi Order to stay with me.” 

Theron suddenly realised that it might be painful for his father to hear how Seren had made the exact opposite decision for him to the one Satele had made for the Order almost thirty years ago. “Sorry.” he told Jace, “We don’t have to talk about this.”

Jace shook his head, he was just happy that Theron was opening up to him for once. “No, it’s fine.” he told Theron, “My situation with your mother was… different to what you have with Seren. And it was a long time ago now.”

Theron nodded awkwardly in acknowledgement.

Jace suddenly frowned in realisation, “But she’s still a member of the Order. What changed?”

“She and Satele made an agreement that Seren would stay on board as part of the Order until we’ve dealt with… whatever is going on with the Sith Emperor. His essence, I suppose.” 

Jace was nodding, “Yeah, that makes sense.” he told Theron, “Satele has always been nothing if not pragmatic.”

Theron knew he could stop this conversation now; this was the perfect opening to do so politely, but for some reason he felt compelled to keep talking. “I tried to get Seren to break up with me, stay on as a Jedi. Basically told her I didn’t care enough about her to make leaving the Order worthwhile.”

Jace was staring at him with what looked almost like… anger, realised Theron. He really should have stopped talking when he’d had the chance. Theron shrugged defensively, “Look, I didn’t know they’d come to that agreement.” he told Jace, “I thought our relationship was literally going to put the future of the galaxy at risk!”

Jace looked flatly at Theron, “And you really thought that Satele and your Seren would do that? You had so little trust in them you thought you needed to resolve the situation because they couldn’t?” 

How did his terminally single father come up with  this type of insight so easily, when he’d been in a relationship with Seren for literally years and still continually messed up, wondered Theron.

“I… I’m not great at trusting anyone.” Theron admitted. “And yeah, somehow Seren keeps forgiving me every time I pull shit like this. Like you said, she really loves me.”

Jace took a deep breath and said, “I’m still not sure you know how lucky you are, son.”

Theron was frowning, but in confusion, not annoyance. “How do you know she loves me, anyway? And actually, how did you find out about us?”

Jace shrugged, “I was outside his office when Marcus told Seren about your mission on the Ascendant Spear, and how he expected, or feared, it would go. I didn’t hear their conversation, but when she left… I’d never seen someone so beside themselves with shock and grief before, and you know I’ve had to deliver my fair share of bad news to bereaved relatives. I asked Marcus about it, I was really curious, especially as the girl I’d seen was obviously a Jedi. For whatever reason Marcus decided to be honest with me about who she is to you.” 

“But if you’ve known about me and Seren this long, why didn’t you ever ask me about her? We’ve met up to get to know each other better several times since then.” Theron asked Jace. 

Jace laughed, “You never mentioned her until today, so I assumed you didn’t wanna talk about her. You’re not exactly… open to personal questions, you realise that, right?” 

Theron laughed slightly awkwardly, he did know that, he guessed, but he didn’t feel great that it was so obvious it had become a source of amusement to his father. “Go ahead then, ask me anything!” he told Jace in a fit of bravado.

Jace’s face lit up with amusement and he rubbed his hands together with exaggerated glee.

“Within reason!” Theron warned him, his face flushing.

“Do you love her?” Jace suddenly asked Theron, with unexpected seriousness.

“What kind of a question is that?” Theron was annoyed, and not bothering to hide it, “Of course I do!”

Jace shook his head, “I mean, do you really love her? The way she loves you?”

“Like I said, of course I do!” Theron answered automatically, his temper still high.

But then he thought back to the way he’d treated her for the past two months, and all the times before that he’d taken her for granted, the times he hadn’t trusted her, hadn’t talked to her even. Over the course of their relationship it was… a lot. “Maybe I’m not always great at showing it though.” he finally admitted to Jace.

Jace nodded in satisfaction. “That’s what I thought. Like I said, don’t screw it up. You… deserve happiness, son.”

Theron nodded his own head, the sudden lump in his throat making it impossible to acknowledge his father’s words in any other way.

Chapter 7

After the men had said their goodbyes Theron stepped blinking into the bright sunshine of the formal communal gardens outside his father’s apartment. A lot of people lived there, and the gardens were busy. After a moment Theron’s skin prickled. He looked around, listening to the crowd. Something was off. The atmosphere was odd; a mixture of excitement and… fear? People stood around in clumps, discussing something very seriously. 

Once a spy, always a spy; Theron tapped a likely looking man on the shoulder and asked him what was going on, what they were talking about. 

“Haven’t you heard?” The man looked incredulous, and Theron shrugged impatiently, waiting for him to enlighten him. “Darth Marr’s flagship, his whole fleet, was destroyed. Just now. They’re saying Marr is dead.” the man continued.

Theron hid his shock, he’d really respected Marr, for a Sith. “What happened?” he asked the man.

“That’s just it!” the man continued, that strange mix of excitement and fear in his voice, “Normally we’d celebrate that, right?” 

Theron nodded assent. Hopefully this man would get to the point sometime soon. 

“But it wasn’t us that did it!” the man told Theron. “Apparently some alien fleet popped out of nowhere at the edge of wild space and just… destroyed everything, Marr’s whole fleet, in minutes! It’s all over the holonet!”

Theron’s forgotten communicator suddenly chimed, and Theron nodded his thanks to the man then turned away to answer it. It was Satele, and she looked… odd. He peered at her indistinct face in the holo image, and narrowed his eyes in confusion. If Theron didn't know better, he’d say she looked… upset? 

“Theron, thank the Force!” Satele started, “You need to come back to my apartment straight away, now!”

Theron automatically started to question her as to why; his objection to being told what he needed to do was clear in his tone of voice. 

Satele interrupted him, which was very unlike her. “Theron! Please don’t argue! For once… Just come back. Please.” she begged him.

Theron huffed but then agreed. Satele’s voice and demeanour were so… odd. She couldn’t be distressed over Marr could she?!

Satele let out an obvious breath of relief, then said, “And Theron, don’t call anyone, don’t speak to anyone, don’t look at the holonet, just get here as fast as you can. Please.” 

Satele cut the call, and an icy shiver of foreboding scuttled down Theron’s spine. He decided to do what she’d asked and headed straight to the nearest taxi rank, across the square.

Minutes later Jace stumbled into the gardens, looking around desperately but fruitlessly for any sign of Theron. Having just switched his communicator back on, he’d received the last briefing he’d ever wanted to hear.

He needed to head straight to the Senate Tower to take part in the emergency meeting being convened to determine the Republic's response to this new galactic threat. But he’d hoped that he could catch his son first, that Theron could hear the news from someone who cared for him rather than from some mindless chatter in the street.

At the same moment he and Theron had been sitting comfortably in his apartment, discussing how much he loved his girlfriend, how he’d do better at showing her that in future, she was… Jace swallowed the sudden bile that rose into his throat. He hoped that Satele was wrong about the Force; he hoped that the Force didn’t have a will of its own, because if it did, it was fucking vindictive.

[oceanmoss]

ok another bad day at school ummmmm forget about cracking the code im just cracking underrrr the pressure of having three very veryyyyy challenging kids in my class :)))

[pinktwinkiezoppo]

I apologize to any Danny Phantom fans looking through my blog only for them to find out that I ship Danny with Ben 10

[angelbvn]

i feel worse