#not in a scenario like this one where they'll be at their most strategic

[krakenartificer]

Who wants a really sad Leverage headcanon?

Was re-watching the Gimme a K Street Job -- Season 5 Episode 5 -- and a couple of things stood out to me.

1) Nate says "Let's go steal some congresspeople", and then sends everyone on the team (except Parker, who's being a cheer coach) out to con one of their targets. But it feels like there's a profound mismatch in who gets which mark.

For the "not like other girls" feminist congresswoman who's inclined to dismiss cheer as worthless and demeaning, you need Eliot to come in looking like a man who very much knows what does and does not count as a sport, and be his tiny angry respect-women-juice self about how regardless of what you think of their choice of clothing they are working as hard as any other athlete and they deserve safety as much as anyone else. But instead they sent Hardison.

For the "Yes I am very busy and important; admire me" chairman, you need Sophie, who is better than anyone else on the planet at making you feel admirable when you're doing what she wants, and scummy and low when you're not doing what she wants. But instead they sent Eliot.

For the "Look I am trying, but I need corn subsidies or I won't be able to do anything else" newbie congressman, Hardison could happily have gone on an infinitely recurring series of fetch quests until he sees the place where they loop around and bottom out and every problem solves every other problem. But instead they sent Sophie.

2) Eliot struggles the most, so Nate works with him the most, but he doesn't help him out hardly at all; he just keeps saying, "So what's your next play?" and then revealing that he's already anticipated Eliot's next play and has all the materials in place to enact it. And of course, they do eventually get the dude on board, and it all works out, but afterwards, Eliot tells Nate, "I trust that some time soon you'll tell me why you had me slogging through all that when you already knew how to hook him."

And of course, knowing what we now know about how season 5 ends, it makes sense that Nate is trying to train the OT3 to work without him, looking for his replacement.

Except.

If the plan is to fuck off into the sunset with Sophie, then why did he throw Sophie into this uncomfortable not-my-wheelhouse scenario?

No, Nate's preparing the entire team to carry on without him. He's forcing them to learn how to plan, learn different ways of approaching problems, to think about bigger pictures and approach them strategically.

...

I think Nate just got the first diagnosis of the disease that's finally going to kill him. And again, we -- the audience -- now know that he's going to live for many years after that initial diagnosis. But he doesn't know that, at this point. He knows he's tested positive, and he knows it's eventually going to kill him, and he has no idea how long he has.

And in some sense, it doesn't matter how long he has. Three months or thirty years, that kind of revelation makes it stunningly clear that taking care of the people you love means making sure that they can take care of themselves.

So that's what he does: he throws them into new, uncomfortable situations where they'll have to grow and support each other without him, so that no matter what happens, they'll be able to keep going. Because he's not a nice person, Jimmy Ford's son, but by God does he know the importance of protecting your family.

[jewishvitya]

Saw an interview with the Israeli ambassador in the UK where she openly rejects the idea of a Palestinian state at all. Including in a two-states scenario. Which, I knew this is the position of our government, Netanyahu was recently trying to push the "I'm the only one who can prevent a Palestinian state," but she was unusually open and explicit about it for an international interview.

And I didn't realize it at first (because I'm awful with faces... and names) but that's Tzipi Hotoveli. She's so right-wing that she was a popular name in the settlements when I lived there. And this is something I can say about many politicians currently running the government, they are the names that aligned politically with the most extremist community. And this is why she's so bad at being diplomatic about it - the people with that mentality rarely care about watering down their goals.

A mutual of mine on a different platform, an American anti-zionist Jew, talked about a trip they took to the West Bank. It was organized to show the occupation, the checkpoints, etc. Someone asked in response if they visited settlements too, and said that he was glad they enjoyed the trip, but it seems to be all one color.

This was a weird comment. What can you see in the settlements to change your mind, if you care about human rights. What can you see that would erase the suffering of Palestinians there, or give context to justify it. Even if settlers knew to say all the right words, this shouldn't be enough to make you forget what Palestinians are living through.

But they don't say the right words. Especially there, the people openly dehumanize Palestinians. And if you talk to them for a while, they will do it to your face. And they will be open about wanting no Palestinians living on any part of the land. Israeli Arabs are often seen as a different story, as long as they accept Israeli sovereignty. Still not fully trusted, though.

I saw someone confusing the electric fence I mentioned in a few posts, with the separation fence, which is the wall around the West Bank. Not the same thing.

The separation fence is built within the territory of the West Bank, but it's a large wall all around that cuts them off from other areas of the land.

The electric fence is smaller, and it's specific. The one I'm referring to is in Kiryat Arba, near Hebron. That's the settlement I grew up in. It's one of the more established settlements, and it's basically a small town. Right behind the apartment building I lived in, there was the electric fence. And in a distance of maybe a couple of traffic lanes past the fence, were Palestinian homes. They could see us, we could see them.

The fence was there for our sake, not for the Palestinians. But sometimes the settlers would tear it down, forcing the border police and the military to guard that spot and rebuild it. I wondered why, because a hole in the fence near my home scared me. And then I learned they were protesting against the feeling that they're being contained. The settlers, with how they're constantly expanding, felt that they're not given enough. Settlers treat "we can't expand as fast as we'd like" as if that's oppression.

They would regularly get into conflicts with border police and with the military over this. They'd go out to claim another hill, and their temporary homes would get torn down. Individuals from the West Bank settlements would have the Shin Bet keeping track of them in case they'll do something that could provoke an escalation of violence. And this isn't to claim that Israel was being fair to Palestinians or protecting their interests. It just means that Israel tried to be strategic to an extent, and the settlers are inflammatory. Their stated goal, openly talked about, is to establish a presence on the ground, so that any agreement that gives land to Palestinians won't be possible. I kept hearing sentences like "not even a square centimeter." Meaning that they want to leave nothing for Palestinians. They aren't trying to think about what Israel can get away with, they feel entitled to everything.

And these are the people that the current Israeli government aligns with. Which puts a lot of things out in the open, and pushes a lot of other things into further extremes.

[beardedmrbean]

Hey Grunkle Nunya, I was wondering if you could explain to me how people are seeing Israel as the good guys in the Gaza situation, because I can only ever find Palestinian civilian body counts and blown up hospitals and stuff, and it honestly does look like a genocide from the standpoint of someone who generally doesn't research politics and conflict. I know the way I worded this looks like I'm being inflammatory but I mean it genuinely. What am I missing?

Asking anonymously because currently, asking questions about the Gaza conflict makes me either pro-genocide or anti-jew to the people with no critical thinking skills. I can't physically handle the toll of being accused of supporting genocide (Israeli or Palestinians) because of a mental disability I possess.

I apologize if this still sounds like bait, I am just poor with words and you are rich with knowledge.

It's war so everything gets muddy, especially with the body counts the gaza health ministry puts out.

I do not believe those at all, they put them out faster than should be possible even at the best of times, they also make no distinction between hamass militants and civilians so that's another issue with them.

We're going to make up a scenario here.

If you're looking for why Israel went in, imagine if New Jersey were another country, one that regularly sends people into the surrounding US states in order to kill Americans and generally sow chaos, and they've been doing it for 15-20 years with no sign of stopping at all ever or even dialing it back.

No real rhyme or reason to most of their attacks, occasionally they'll get pissed off about something or other and fire off a few thousand unguided rockets, just point the at the surrounding states light the fuse and hope they land somewhere where they kill people, no specific targets just anything they can hit and cause damage with and blaming the US when their own rockets fall back down on them.

Again doing this continually with no indication that it's ever going to stop or anything will convince them to tone it down.

Instead they do a coordinated invasion and just start killing everyone they see, which they went to Sesame Place right near the border with them and Pennsylvania instead of anywhere with any military value because the plan was to kill the most people they could while encountering the least possible resistance.

The US finally says, ok we're done with you and all of this and the organization behind most of the previous attacks and this current one which happens to also be the elected government of NJ is now in the crosshairs and we're going to keep shooting till they're gone one way or the other.

That would also be where Israel said we're done with you, hamass is going to cease to exist after we're done one way or the other.

So then it's full scale invasion time.

24 hour notice was given, saying this is where we are hitting, get out, 24 hours turned into several days, couple weeks I think, there were some air raids and strategic bombing and what not, a hamass rocket hit a hospital and Israel got blamed, the usual.

Obviously mistakes were made at times on both sides at the start and continue to be made, incredibly fluid thing wars are, things change on a dime.

And then we run into issues with the fact that hamass uses civilian buildings as weapons caches, staging grounds, command centers, pretty much anything you can thing a building would be useful for if you're fighting a war, which is a massive violation of international law as well as a war crime because they're hiding behind civilians.

From 2014

Great line toward the end

There is no indication that Israel deliberately targets civilians, as Hamas does. But

The argument is brought out that this kills civilians too, which yes it does, it shouldn't unless there's a misfire from one of the guided munitions in use by Israel, for one simple reason

Which they don't need to do, not if hamass has made the place into a valid military target by keeping rockets in the school.

They try at least.

In the first couple weeks before the ground invasion started there were reports coming out of gaza where the residents were saying that hamass had either taken the keys to their vehicles or disabled them making civilian evacuation that much more difficult, on foot and such kinda screws things up.

Allegedly threats were made to civilians as well.

As for the numbers, the side that's getting invaded is going to have more of those, as for the accuracy of those numbers, there's a reason why every news agency that cares even slightly about credibility includes 'according to the gaza health ministry' to the number.

As to the genocide question, there is no genocide, mass casualty attacks =/= as genocide and someone saying they'd like to wipe gaza off the map does not indicate a official government stance regardless of if the work for the government or not.

It's a war, innocent people die in war, it's a unfortunate reality of a even more unfortunate situation, especially if your on the side that's on the defensive folks in Israel have less to be worried about it's a lot harder for hamass to get to them, true at the best of times for hamass anyhow since it's not like they have a air force of any sort.

This whole thing did not need to happen, if it weren't for the fact that there's a group that has refused any reasonable offer and some that were incredibly slanted in their direction as well people at a music festival would have gone home when it was over and had great stories to tell.

Neither side is innocent, but at least for the one Israel complete and utter annihilation of everyone in Gaza isn't the goal, they just want hamass gone.

Not to say there aren't shitheads that want everyone in gaza gone in Israel and in the IDF, but that's not the stated goal of their mission.

If it was gaza city would look more like stalingrad after the nazis were done with it.

Choice of location is made purely because 99% of the area was razed, that is all so.

As for all the ceasefire stuff, the one they had going ended because hamass couldn't manage to keep their end of the deal up even though they were given several do overs, they just had to keep launching rockets and shooting civilians at bus stops.

No reason to think they would do anything different if another one were declared, they tend to be the ones that start off the shooting when it happens.

I don't know if I've made anything clearer for you or not, jumble of information and I've tried to leave politics and religion out of the whole thing setting it up as just 2 groups of people, and it's late so my brain is going a bit slow so I likely missed stuff.

When it's all over there's probably going to be enough war crimes to nitpick over on both sides.

I just hope there's also a lasting peace

[misc-obeyme]

FOR FLUFTOBER,,, domestic satan content, where you finally get to adopt some cats with him. the preparation hed do would be more than most people do for their literal babies

Hello there, anon!

SO. I spent some time thinking about the scenario here, but in the end I decided not to describe the setting. That way you can kind of insert Satan, MC, and the cats into whatever setting you like. At first I thought it could be the House of Lamentation in a situation where Lucifer finally lifted the cat ban. But then I also thought it could be that Satan and MC had their own place somewhere. And then I thought it could be interesting if Satan decided to move into Cocytus Hall only so that he could circumvent Lucifer's cat ban lol. I actually really like that last idea, but knowing me it'd end up with too much Solomon in it.

As for the cats, I dunno I just made some stuff up. Which to be fair is what I do for most of the stuff I write lol. I find that shelters tend to give cats ridiculous names that are either just regular human names or something completely out of left field. I also realize that the cats might've been scared and decided to hide upon being in a new environment. However, I based this quite a bit on the day I brought my own cat home. She wasn't scared at all and in the end she fell asleep on my lap.

Anyway, it's a bit cheesy, but I liked the prompt 'cause I'm always happy to write about cats.

Thank you for submitting a prompt!

FLUFFTOBER 2023

GN!MC x Satan

Warnings: none!

"Satan. Did you move the cat tree again?"

You were looking at the cat tree - a piece of carpet covered furniture that was taller than you. It had certainly been in a different spot before, but now it stood in front of the window.

Satan came up to stand behind you. "Of course," he said. "But this is the last time. Don't you think they'll want to be able to look out of the window?"

You cocked your head a little bit, trying to imagine the cats perched upon the tree. He was right. They probably would appreciate being able to look out the window from a tall vantage point.

"All right," you said. "I agree. But you have to stop moving it around."

"I won't have time to move it again," Satan said, glancing at the clock. "We have to go."

You turned to look at him. He had a calm expression, looking relaxed, but you could see the trembling behind his green eyes. He was excited and nervous, his feelings all in a jumble. He tried to smooth them out, keep them below the surface, but you had learned to read him long ago.

You took his hand and smiled. "Everything is going to go perfectly. You'll see."

He really didn't have anything to worry about. Satan was nothing if not thorough. He had stocked up on high quality cat food and the finest of fancy cat treats. There was a box that was overflowing with cat toys of all shapes and sizes. Several cat scratchers were placed strategically around the room. The floofiest cat beds you'd ever seen had been procured. He even purchased a robotic litter box.

All that was left now was to get the cats themselves.

The two of you walked to the adoption center, picked up the cats, and brought them back. Satan was practically vibrating with nervous energy as you put the carriers on the floor, opening the doors, and allowing the cats into the room.

The first one to come out of his carrier was a handsome long haired tuxedo cat. He sat down in the middle of the room, looking at you and then Satan and then at the cat tree.

"You know, I was surprised when you pointed this guy out to me," you said. You were sitting on the ground with a pile of cat toys nearby, waiting to see what the black cat would do. "He reminds me so much of Lucifer."

"Me, too," Satan said.

This surprised you enough to look up at him, but Satan's eyes were on the cat.

Before you could inquire further, the second cat poked her head out of her carrier. This was a calico cat with a sweet face. She came over to sit beside the black cat. They were already friends from their time in the shelter.

"And this one reminds me of you," Satan said.

Another surprise, but he still wasn't looking at you. Satan hadn't told you any of this before, simply bringing each of the cats to you for your approval. You had loved them both instantly. The black cat was a little aloof, but sweet once he got to know you. The calico loved everyone and was always rolling over for tummy rubs.

You laughed. "Really? She reminds you of me?"

Satan met your eyes then, as if he was startled by the fact that he had said anything about it at all. He blushed and looked away again. "Her agreeable personality and ability to befriend anyone is similar to you, that's all."

You tried to hold in another laugh because you didn't want to embarrass him. "They named her Kitchen."

Satan sighed. "We can change her name."

"Beel would like it," you said.

"He would. Are you suggesting we keep it?" Satan asked.

You shrugged. "It is kind of funny. But I think we should keep Maurice."

"Maurice is a good cat name," Satan agreed. He bent down and picked up one of the cat toys, a long pole with a string and a stuffed mouse on the end.

The black cat, Maurice, instantly jumped at it, catching it easily in his claws. He meowed and swished his tail as Satan pulled it away only to dangle it near him again.

The calico sauntered over to you and pressed her head into your hand. You rubbed between her ears and she began to purr.

"She's so sweet," you said.

Satan looked over at you. "Sugar."

You frowned. "Huh?"

"Her name," Satan said.

You grinned. "It's perfect. And I think Beel will still like it."

Satan chuckled. "I'm glad you approve."

The cats eventually found their way to the cat tree. Satan sat down to watch them inspect it and you sat beside him. For some time, the two of you sat in silence, watching the cats as they climbed the tree, finding all of its toys and spaces.

Eventually, both Maurice and Sugar came over to the couch, apparently having decided that curling up together on Satan's lap was preferable to remaining in the cat tree. You scooted closer, leaning in against Satan as he put an arm around you. How both cats managed to fit on his lap, you weren't sure, but they did.

You kissed Satan's cheek. "Are you happy?"

Satan looked over at you and the way his eyes shone with joy answered your question. "More than I've ever been. I have these two. And I have you."

Satan kissed you, gently and softly, the cats purring in his lap. It was a moment that you would hold in your heart for the rest of your life. It was the moment you thought of when you heard the word home.

flufftober | kinktober | masterlist | Thank you for reading!

taglist: @anxious-chick @t0tallycoolname @libidinous-weeb

[bluegekk0]

So..

what would be the reaction to either being injured even slightly?

like would they send a full-on flurry of attacks to who hurt them or would they fix it and just stare down the enemy?

oh you mean grimm and fpk? that's a fun question

fpk would be far more likely to attack the enemy right away, just like in the incident with xero. however, after that whole shebang, he tries his best to keep himself under control, and so his attacks would be less of a blind rage thing and more... strategic, i could say? he would do his best to drag the enemy away from injured grimm, even if realistically grimm would most likely be able to handle himself (and if by any chance it goes very wrong, it's just temporary for him, since the physical body can easily be replaced)

now, from grimm's side, it's a whole different story. he is terrified of losing fpk (well, losing him again), he knows that even if fpk can't die of old age, injuries are still a threat to him. and so he is incredibly protective of him, at times to a fault. and in a scenario where someone injures him? well, whoever is responsible can say their goodbyes. they'll soon be found dead in a ditch, and if they're lucky they'll be in one piece. he would avoid doing it in front of fpk, however, so in the moment he would prioritize getting him away from the attacker, and then dealing with them on his own. but he would not let it slide and would find great enjoyment in making sure they never harm his loved ones again

funnily enough, i do have a plot point in mind for the au that goes something like this, involving a disgruntled grimmkin novice. let's just say they learn their lesson in a rather unpleasant way hahaha. i have it written down in fpk's notes, so i'll share more once i finish it and decide to post it

but yeah, thanks for the ask! i hope my assumption was correct and you meant these two, but in case you had other au characters in mind (or just want to hear about those too), feel free to send me another ask!

[therealvinelle]

What if the entire human cast were turned into vampires? (those who stay human throughout the saga)

Well, the first question we must ask ourselves, is who’s turning them? Who would do such a thing?

It’s a very stupid thing to do, after all, and a surefire way to earn yourself a visit from the Volturi.

Now, who in the post-Breaking Dawn world would want to turn all the humans near the Cullens into vampires, ensuring another confrontation between the Cullens and the Volturi?

Answer is, drumroll-

The Romanians.

As of Breaking Dawn, the Volturi are extremely vulnerable. Jane, Alec, even Chelsea have all been neutered. Renata is Schrödinger’s shield. She might work, might not. The more time they’re given to regroup after this, however, the worse news for their would-be usurpers.

Now is the time for a rebellion, but there’s no rebellion without Bella. Bella, unfortunately, is in a coven led by ultimate pacifist Carlisle, and Carlisle isn’t going to greenlight storming Volterra with an army. It’s time to get creative.

This could go many places, but the path of a biting spree in Forks and La Push is certainly one of them.

So, Vladimir and Stefan bite the entire human cast, and open Pandora’s box.

One of the first things to happen, I think, is that Billy, Quil senior, Emily, Kim, and Rachel are killed, maybe even before their transformations can complete. They would not want to live as vampires, to them vampirism is a fate worse than death. A mercy killing before they can hurt anybody would be the only way out.

As for the rest...

This would break the secret.

In this globalized age of internet, viral videos, and live TV, several hundred people all falling mysteriously ill with the same inexplicable symptoms, screaming and begging for death for days, slowly turning into something else as baffled doctors watch, before becoming massacring demons that tear the hospitals they’re in to pieces within minutes and proceed into the streets, killing everything in sight-

Aro hasn’t had a headache like this since ever.

This doesn’t even have to do with the Cullens anymore, though they’ll have to testify that they had nothing to do with this. Caius will be out for blood, though, any blood, and his ire will fall upon them.

This, of course, is the part the Romanians did it all for, because everyone knows that the Volturi are corrupt and would execute them regardless of guilt, so the Cullens will have to bring a new set of witnesses to this confrontation. And this time, of course, the Volturi are showing up to get massacred. Stefan and Vladimir high five each other.

And this time the odds are entirely in their favor.

In Breaking Dawn, standing by the Cullens was a suicide mission. No one knew Bella would be able to pull off what she did, none of the arrivals even knew she even had a gift when they agreed to come. Carlisle gathered only his bravest and most devoted friends.

In this scenario, now that everyone knows Bella’s gift neuters the Volturi, every single vampire who’s ever wanted the Volturi gone are going to want to be there. From random nomads to Maria with her newborns, everyone who’s anybody is going to want to be there, and they’re likely already squabbling over who gets to be top dog as soon as Aro’s a pile ashes.

And Aro can’t avoid this.

He can’t barricade himself in Volterra because there are hundreds of newborns loose in Washington. If he does nothing this will mean that the Volturi rule is officially void. They can’t enforce their law anymore, they may be alive down there in Italy but the era of the Volturi is over in all the ways that count.

If he goes to Washington, he can’t avoid the Cullens for the same reason as above. If he doesn’t collect their testimony to ascertain their innocence it’ll mean they’re now above the law, which in turn means that the Volturi don’t have the strength to punish them.

He has to go to Washington, and he has to deal with the Cullens.

Now, Carlisle may think the best of everyone, but even he would know the plot of the movie 300 when he sees it. The Romanians showed up at his doorstep, they totally didn’t create all those vampires wink, oh and here are eighty thug vampires who are already drawing straws on who gets to kill which Volturi.

More, what happened in Forks and La Push is only a taste of what’s to come.

Not only are the Volturi needed to help stop this madness, but if they should fall then what happened in Forks and La Push will only be a blip on the radar against the chaos that will be unleashed. It’ll be a genocide of the human species.

And Carlisle will have a culpability in that. The reason why this mass vampire creation tragedy is happened in the first place is precisely to see the Cullens go to war against the Volturi.

Last problem, it would be a massacre of the Volturi. Carlisle is a pacifist who cherishes life, even if it there would be no repercussions to the Volturi falling, forty-something vampires would still be killed.

I think at this point it would be unconscionable for Carlisle to allow this confrontation to happen. Question is, how to prevent it?

I have no doubt that the Romanians would be filling Bella’s head with conspiracy theories and what have you, for starters, explaining how her family will never be safe while Aro lives. It would be effective, even if Bella is told by Carlisle what this means for humans she’s not necessarily going to internalize just how bad that would be. Bella also has the problem that she romanticizes her love for Edward, to the point where she i Eclipse would let his family die if it meant she could keep him. Letting civilization fall to protect her lover would be acceptable to Bella.

More, the Cullens like humans well enough, but they’re not altruistic.

Likely, they would be convinced by the Romanians and the other vampires there that this was a fight for liberty, the human population would be fine, this is really no worse than Heidi fishing 40 people a week, we’re just more honest about it! The Cullens would want to be convinced, because the Volturi are scary and have proven evil in the past. If they’re not overthrowing them, they’re not just agreeing to live in danger, they’re agreeing to be slaughtered. It’s been established, to them, that Aro’s just itching for an excuse to kill them.

Carlisle can make his plea that they fuck off to Isle Esme while he alone stays behind to testify to Aro, so there’s no Bella at the confrontation. They’d refuse both because there’d be nothing stopping Aro from killing their allies and then coming after them when they’re alone, and because there’d be a real chance they were leaving Carlisle to his death.

Besides, with Bella’s gift they can hold the Volturi hostage, act nice or she’ll let these 80 vampires kill them. Nevermind that the vampires would just attack the Volturi anyway, and Bella couldn’t not shield them.

Bella and the rest of the Cullens aren’t going to go along with Carlisle.

Now, if Carlisle were Aro, the hard but effective solution here would be the Didyme route. Kill Bella, one life to spare the many.

Carlisle is not Aro.

What options does he have, then?

He could sneak away to intercept the Volturi, speak with Aro, hope to in some way initiate talks. It’d be a desperate, futile gamble, one where even if he gets Aro to listen it still won’t make their army-shaped problem go away, because Bella will never believe it if Aro says “we’re friends now! No quarrel! I’m definitely not going to kill you at first leisure if you let your army go.”

It’s an empty lead.

I think, given everything, Carlisle would swallow down the bitter taste of irony, call up his old friends whom he can still rely on, such as the Irish and the Amazonians, and ask very nicely if they would - sigh - like to witness that the newest Cullen-Volturi encounter goes over peacefully. The shapeshifters should be on board as well, after what happened to their loved ones and the countless other innocent humans killed or turned, they’ll never forgive the Romanians and not Bella for standing with them either.

So Aro shows up, and there’s Bella and the Romanians with an army of thugs, and there to the side is Carlisle with his tiny squad of witnesses. Who, should a fight break out, will try to defend the Volturi and get themselves killed in the crosshairs.

There’s a long silence.

Everyone is giving Carlisle their most exasperated eyerolls, his own squad included. Carlisle wishes he was rolling his eyes too, but the situation is a bit too serious for that. He just stands there feeling very uncomfortable.

Quite damningly for Bella, if she now allows the fight to happen that means the shapeshifters will be killed. None of the Cullens are particularly keen on the fight now that Carlisle’s likely to die.

Frankly, I think this would be an unbearably awkward encounter where absolutely nobody acknowledges aloud the reason why they’re there, or what was supposed to happen, and act as if it’s a normal trial, for the several first few minutes.

The Romanians know this is it, this is their chance, so right about the time where Aro is saying “How excellent that we’ve established the Cullens didn’t do it! Who, then, could the culprits possibly be?” they launch their attack.

All, at this point, depends on Bella’s reaction. If she keeps up her shield, then a glorious battle occurs, and most if not all Volturi die, the Carlisle squad are also goners, and most if not all of the Romanians’ army die as well.

The thing is, to win the Romanians don’t have to win - they just have to make the Volturi lose. So, even if they’re wiped out, if they can take out the key members of the Volturi then the Volturi will still have lost.

And this is where Aro’s planning enters into the equation.

Would he bring his key players to what was certain to be a slaughter? Would he even come himself?

Is it not perhaps wiser to send the twins, who in a fight without their gifts would be the first and easiest to be killed, to a secret location? Hope that, should the Volturi fall, then they can at least hope to take Bella down with them so that Jane and Alec will be able to keep the world from succumbing to a fiery hellpit?

And Jane and Alec couldn’t do this alone. They’re kids, for one thing. More, there are no men like Aro. His gift and personality both have been how he kept the vampire world under control for over a thousand years. It is a romantic notion to go down with your ship, burn with your empire, but it’s an impractical one. And Aro is nothing if not practical.

If he doesn’t show up to the trial it’ll just be sending his Volturi to be slaughtered, and as I explained above, not going at all isn’t an option either.

I think the twins would be safely whisked away to some faraway place, while Aro arrives with plans for an effective escape for himself and the core members, and as many vampires Chelsea was able to get to redshirt themselves.

This, in turn, means that even if Bella doesn’t use her gift, it’ll still be a slaughter. Alec and Jane aren’t there.

In the scenario where Bella doesn’t use her gift, this forces the Cullens to fight alongside the Carlisle squad and the Volturi. The odds are not so uneven as they originally were. Could be Aro still escapes, or given the tipped balances he could try and luck it out, to increase the odds of his side winning.

There are many outcomes this battle could have, but the Volturi would not escape unscathed from this. No coven would, the fighting would only end when there was only the victor remaining.

I, personally, like the outcome where Carlisle and Aro both survive, and find themselves living with a new world order. The secret is out, the Volturi are a shadow of what they once were, and the Cullens can never live as humans again. The two form a tentative alliance (because at no point has anything been cleared up between them) to keep this new world from descending into interspecies war.

Edward, now a Volturi, wonders where it all went wrong.

(There’s also the outcome where Renesmée joins her grandpa’s squad as a teen rebellion thing, and since no one wants to harm her the fight is cancelled. 

Aro repeats his ramble about nukes and missiles, the vampire community needs him to smooth things over and have Chelsea make all world leaders adore vampires or it’s over for all of them. Carlisle supplies in that poorly scripted random member of the audience says exactly what the magician needs him to way, “Yes absolutely the humans have weapons that can take us out!”

It’s awkward for everybody.)

[cogentranting]

Come Daredevil season 3, how do you think Matt's gonna reveal to Karen and Foggy he's alive? I don't think they'll learn at the same time, and to be honest I actually kinda feel that Karen will know by the end of the first episode, while Foggy and Marci will probably learn much later.

Here’s the thing about how I speculate about tv shows and movies and whatnot: I don’t really come up with one theory and stick with it. Instead, I tend to spin out all the different options as I see them. it’s like a flow chart type thing that splits into a bunch of different branches.  So let me give you a little run down of some of the different visions I see for it: 

- First question: how long is Matt “gone”? Does he A. return as soon as he’s conscious and able to walk out the door or B. Stay with the nuns for X amount of time? 

-If A. Does he still need medical attention? If yes, I can see a version where he stumbles up to Claire’s doorway and collapses into her apartment. If he’s still in bad enough shape, it might end up being Claire contacting others to say that Matt’s alive. If so, Claire’s gonna call Foggy, because she doesn’t really know Karen. If Matt is making the calls, I still think he calls Foggy first. I’ll address why below. 

If he does NOT need medical attention, I say he chooses to go to Foggy first because he and Foggy ended Defenders on slightly better terms. Also I think Matt has, at this point, had Foggy help him out enough times while simultaneously hating it, that he knows how to weather Foggy’s anger. So no matter what the emotions going on in the reception, Foggy will ultimately have his back. And Foggy really occupies a place as the brother, while Karen is currently the Ex-girlfriend. If you need a place to crash, go with the brother. But in this scenario Matt is back pretty quickly, after meeting up with Foggy, I think his reunion with Karen will be pretty quick. 

In this branch, the reunions are basically just Matt calls them up or shows up on their door and they have a happy reunion. Yay Matt’s alive! They’ll work out their issues later, but right now they’re just happy he’s not buried underneath a building. 

-if B. (Matt is gone a longer amount of time) the reason becomes important. Is Matt 1. unable to return immediately after he’s better because the people who found him are not allowing him to leave? or 2. is he choosing not to leave? I actually think B is a little more likely, because they probably want Matt to be able to fight and stuff at some point this season and if they pick up too quickly he’s got a lot of healing to do. Also, this allows for a bigger gap between Defenders and season 3. That bigger gap gives Matt’s “death” more impact because people have to live without him longer, allows them to push everyone’s story lines a little further along, let’s it fit more naturally within the timeline for the Netflix MCU in general and jive better with real world passage of time, creates more drama between the characters when Matt does return, and the more spaced out big take-over-New York/destroy-Hell’s-Kitchen type events are the more realistic it feels (as opposed to The Hand tries to rule the world and the next month here comes Fisk again). 

- Option 1. Matt’s rescuers also holding him captive to some degree makes a certain amount of sense to me because: they saved this guy from an impossible-to-survive situation but kept it a secret; Maggie Murdock is there and there is definitely something sketch about her so why not this? If this is the case, then Matt doesn’t have to just return, he has to escape, and is potentially being pursued when he comes home. This narrows his options. It probably prevents him from breaking the news gently and more likely means he shows up at someone’s house and is immediately asking them to hide or arm him. It also means that Matt may not even be choosing who he goes to, just whoever is nearest. Or, what would be really fun, he goes straight to someone who can help him out in his situation: Jessica. I don’t think a Jessica appearance is likely, but boy I would love one. But between the others, I think it’s a toss up who he goes to first. The picture I have in my head though is night time, person here’s banging on the door, opens it, Matt comes rushing in, person is in shock but before they can even ask questions he’s telling them to take cover, or something like that. 

-Option 2. Matt chooses not to leave and return home right away, but why? There’s a possibility that he either goes chasing off after Elektra or stays for some out of the box reason (like they’re a secret cult and he decides to join because it sounds fun) but I can’t predict anything about these possibilities so I’m just gonna leave them at that. Most likely, if he’s choosing to hang around and let everyone (aka Foggy, Karen and Claire. Matt needs more friends.) believe he’s dead, it’s because of his mom. I’m sure comic readers have more information (I don’t read comics, I don’t want your information in this case, let me be surprised) but for those of us just watching the show, we know next to nothing about Matt’s relationship with Maggie. We don’t even know if he’s ever met her. If he has, when did he last see her? Did he know she was alive all these years? What does he know about her? Did he ever try to find her? Why didn’t she step in when Matt’s dad died? Matt probably has questions he wants answers to. OR Matt is angry that she let him grow up alone (and possibly for stuff from before, because his dad knew she was alive and didn’t make any move to connect her with him in case of emergency so it could be that he was keeping Matt hidden) and Matt tries to push her away but she has some specific information or something she offers to get him to stay. 

Matt hanging around to bond with his mom potentially has major implications for his eventual return. While in the other options Foggy and Karen get to mostly just be happy that Matt’s alive, this option introduces a betrayal of trust in that Matt is apparently choosing to let them believe he’s dead at least for a time. So they’re gonna be mad. Which brings us back around to, why does he choose to return? Was he always planning on coming back and just delayed it for a bit? In which case his reunions probably look about the same just with more anger thrown in. Or was he planning on using his “death” as a chance to get away from everything and just start over until something (Fisk?) made him feel like he had to come back? If that’s the case I can see him like leaving cryptic messages for Foggy and Karen that get them to meet him someplace and Matt being his dramatic self and stepping out the shadows and their reunion doubling as a strategizing meeting. Or it might be that Matt returns while trying to still hold onto the idea of keeping his “death” in tact and leaving when this all over. In which case we might have an episode or a couple of Matt sneaking around Hell’s Kitchen trying to avoid everyone and never actually telling Foggy and Karen he’s back, but instead they just discover him. And then they’re really really mad that he didn’t come to them. 

In any of the given situations, I think there will be a little bit of trepidation, particularly from those who knew more about the whole Hand bringing people back to life situation (I think Claire and Foggy both knew at least a little). The characters should be asking the question: did we really get Matt back? or something else? And really that’s a question the audience should have at least a little– was Matt saved from the brink of death, or brought back to life? I think it’s the former, but it could be either. And even if he never actually died, there is the question of whether he recovered completely naturally or whether something shadier and more magical was involved. Questions that characters and audience need addressed before they can fully celebrate Matt’s resurrection. 

tl;dr: I hope Matt shows up at Foggy’s door in the middle of the night, exhausted or injured, and just goes “surprise! Not dead!”