#permission to rename them

[canisnocturna]

ok all caste rewrite. bc i've had it on my mind for a while. insanely long post (for me at least) so strap in if you care and skim politely if you don't. this took way too long.

i must preface by saying, i have not fully read rhato 2011, i absolutely hate scott lobdell, so if anything here is totally wrong relating to that, my bad, i tried my best to incorporate stuff from canon. ALSO i do not know shit about spirituality irl, this is a fictional philosophy, okay? okay.

my all caste is very soul magic focused, this type of magic is wielded by all caste and i think its very insinuated this is the main type of magic used and that their magic/work/training focuses on soul related things.

this is how dc fandom wiki defines soul magic:

"A type of magic that is powered by the souls of others; it allows its user to view one's aura, manipulate the soul to reveal knowledge within another, steal the powers of others, and recharge mana by grazing through other's souls. The Faust family line are notable practitioner, as it requires a user to have either no soul or a tattered soul and to be demonically empowered to cast."

but i'm going to redefine some things. these are MY definitions/revisions of these concepts/things, as stated before, they are not going to align perfectly with the comics/canon. "oh but you said that as a statement/the truth when it's not in dc canon", it is true, in my rewrite.

for soul magic, let's talk about the last part. i'd argue that jason has a "tattered soul" and essence has no soul, but neither is "demonically empowered", so scratch that off the criteria. "oh but what about all the other all-caste members?", let's say that to have a somewhat pure soul, your soul must be somewhat tattered. therefore any one who is cleansed, trained by the all-caste, and uses soul magic, must have a tattered soul. tattered ≠ corrupt. tattered = damaged/having had experienced hardships.

purity and evilness/corruption - a measurement of someone's soul/aura based off their actions, the effects of the actions, and mildly the intentions behind them. (think the points system in the good place, but like, slightly less flawed lol.)

here's a visual representation of some of these things as i feel i do not have the skills to properly verbalize how i visualize it:

^ related to this; being fully on one side of the spectrum does not mean one cannot have "evil" or "pure" aspects. additionally, being "fully corrupted" and "fully pure" does not necessarily mean they are untitled or all-caste, or that they have touched the absolute evil or cleansing.

the cleansing - opposite to absolute evil. a powerful "water" that can cleanse the souls of those who are not (fully) corrupted. if someone's soul is too corrupt or has touched the absolute evil, the cleansing kills them.

absolute evil - deriving from the well of sins. opposite to the cleansing. a powerful "water" that can corrupt the souls of those who are not (somewhat) pure. if someone's soul is too pure or has been cleansed, the absolute evil kills them.

the untitled - ancient evil race, of essentially demons, descending from eight siblings who touched the absolute evil. they take positions of power to lure people in and corrupt their souls.

all-caste - ancient cult of warrior monks created by the ninth sibling, ducra, who resisted the absolute evil and found the cleansing. cleanses people and then trains them to take down the untitled. members also train to have omniscience.

omniscience - (the "all" in all-caste.) the ability to see the future, past, and present all at once, specifically in regards to aura/souls. they can see how corrupt or pure someone has been, will be, and is. this helps members find the untitled amongst regular people. those who have this also tend to be colder and drier as they see much corrut

all-mother - the leader of the all-caste. possesses the ability to read anyone's soul/aura and determine whether or not they can be cleansed (or corrupted). gains the knowledge of members once they die. formerly ducra, would be essence but she technically refused the title, although she attempted to rebuild the all-caste after they were slain and before she was trapped in the blood blades.

all-daughter / the first daughter - essence. the first daughter and the heir to the all-caste. will gain all of the power and knowledge of the all-mother (and thus all deceased members) in the event she is killed.

the chosen / the last son - jason todd. the one prophesied to take over the all-caste when ducra died, originally thought to be essence by most until jason rolled around.

chamber of all - a magical space that apparently has a gateway to hell and the past?—really could not find a solid definition for this. help.

acres of all - a land within Tibetan mountains that is the home of the all-caste. surrounds/built around the chamber of all and the cleansing waters.

all-blades - a weapon made of the physical manifestation of one's soul. classically conjured into blades (hence the name), though can be conjured as other weapons as technology advances. kills the untitled/those with fully corrupt souls, cannot harm anyone who is not fully corrupted. held by jason todd.

blood blades - a weapon made from of the blood of the holder. same as above; can be conjured as any weapon but typically blades. traps the untitled/those with fully corrupted souls, cannot harm the pure—if one does, they themselves are trapped inside. held by essence/isabel ardila.

(all doesn't look like a real word anymore...)

personally, i think defining good and evil like this is so silly, but for a fictional little world, it's okay.

also i added that the blades can be made into other weapons bc i think the idea of jason using guns with all-blade/soul manifestation bullets is the most peak thing ever!!!!! if you take any concept away from this, let it be that!

okay. moving on to ducra and essence.

who is ducra? the all-mother. an ancient magic user who was extremely corruptible (in that middle circle of our spectrum), but cleansed herself of evil. completely omniscient. currently deceased, but her soul is present in the acres of all and can communicate with her daughter.

who is essence? the last daughter. an ancient being with no soul. she was originally born as a real girl, where she witnessed her aunts/uncles touch the absolute evil. has been continually remade by her mother using the shadows (think god making adam out of clay). NON-HUMAN (fuck you rh:o for calling her human). is technically the leader of the remaining all-caste, however has not trained anyone yet and likely will not for a while. currently bound to the blood blades and isabel ardila.

i wrote the above after the below, so below is explaining/elaborating on some of the above:

-> so, i've questioned, is essence supposed to be about the same age as jason ? i always think it's kind of weird that she's supposed to be ancient and he's like, mentally fifteen.

i've seen it done as ducra and essence endlessly giving birth to each other, and that's fine. i'm not sure if it's canon but idc. my idea is that ducra continuously recreates essence (using the shadows of course) and does not allow her to have the memories of her former selves, so that she can learn knew things each new life and study different areas—and also so ducra can teach and tell her selective things and information. this would make sense as essence would be 17/18 when her and jason, ahem, begin their relationship. but then when ducra dies, essence gains the knowledge of all of her former lives, and all of the all-caste, and essentially becomes thousands of years old mentally. thus there is no weird age difference when they initially hook up.

-> i'm also totally not sure on whether ducra is dead or not??? rhato2011 claims her and the rest of the all-caste were killed, but red hood: outlaw features her and another all-caste member. essence also sees them as force ghost type things. let's say (mildly based off very vague canon) the force ghost thing is the last manifestation of their soul/magic. ducra had a lot so hers can stick around for a long time.

additional info, some important, some not:

-> the all caste, specifically ducra, is extremely puritanical, for a buttload of reasons and with a buttload of causes:

the untitled basically breed like crazy, so sex is viewed as an evil/untitled act. ducra perpetuates this by using the shadows to rebirth essence instead of actually rebirthing her (although given the fact that ducra is ancient i don't think that would be biologically possible anyway).

the absolute evil and the cleansing must touch bare skin to work, so nudity/being unclothed is viewed as extremely weak and dangerous because you are allowing yourself to possibly be exposed to the absolute evil. it is only allowed when you are being cleansed (and obviously changing showering etc, but that is done in private quarters).

this is why the all-caste monks wear the layers they do (actual buddhists monks do wear robes to cover such things, as well as for practical reasons like the cold etc). essence wore layers while training and once exiled donned the full black body suit.

-> related to above, my ducra & all caste are not meant to be the best people ever. they are intended to be morally flawed. she is meant to parallel bruce in that her "mission" is extremely important and kind of goes above anything else.

-> i want to say that the acres of all are immune to omniscience and anything that happens within them is not known to everyone else. but this is iffy because i mostly like the idea because i want jason and essence's relationship to be a secret for most of it (not sure if that's canon or not).

-> while training, bruce was offered to train the all-caste/ducra but once told about the cleansing, he refused. he was worried that the cleansing would kill him because he was too corrupt.

ask questions, give suggestions, and give constructive feedback. this is all for fun but my goodness ive put so much thought into it. its three am and this hasn't been proofread so ill fix it up later.

i'm going to make a few posts relating to all of this; at LEAST, one with visuals of how i view everything, and one going in depth on jason and essence's relationship in my revision. i might also write some fics based off this au/revision.

jayessence sequel post

some posts that partially inspired/helped the creation of this one: what-ifs @moon-ayyye , talking about essence @spiritsglade , these reblogs and replies @autisticrosewilson , + some others that i can't find :( and literally anyone who has ever posted about the all caste on here because i've read so many posts.

[chuluoyi]

chu, im so sorry that plagiarism happened to you!! i’ve been plagiarized before and it sucks, i reported them on wattpad and left a comment

hello it’s okay :’) this fandom sucks so much lately that i’m not that surprised it happens. i’ve asked the user to take it down by commenting and while at it i also see other tumblr writers asking them to take their fics down from their wattpad book too

[jinogasux-fr]

PSA: This petsite is too good and it needs more attention (4dopt)

Subtitle: no seriously the customization and how artist-friendly it is is KILLING ME

I'm sorry I have immense brainrot I NEED to talk about this okay SO let me tell you guys about this petsite I discovered a few weeks ago called 4dopt.com.

For the love of god please try this game out (check out the read more for... more info!)

TLDR; You can draw your own species and it'll be added to the game. Players can obtain that species and recolor them to make customs of them if you so choose. You can draw your own items too which can be used for species obtainment and raising stats.

In 4dopt, you can obtain adopts (or pets) through various means, such as using items, getting them from the shelter (which have been discarded by other players), or through the adventure/exploration system as a random encounter.

The fun part? The adopts and items are player-created. Like, I'm talking entire species and items that can increase an adopt's stats or generate a new adopt entirely from them. They're drawn, created, and controlled by the players. Another thing is that these adopts can be completely customizable. You can recolor them, give it different patterns (if available), change the lineart or shading, but only so long as the creator allows it. That's another thing - there is SO much control the creator has over their creations. It's all up to the creator to design different patterns and layers to the adopt, as well as give permissions as to what a player can and can't customize.

There's over 1,000 adopts to collect (and possibly customize) by the way, and more are coming! (It's been a BLAST watching the Discord and seeing all the future adopt WIPs people have been doing ;w;)

I can't describe in proper words how extensive the customization is. Getting the full scope of what I mean is a little difficult unless you've seen it for yourself, so here's a screenshot of me going through some recoloring!

Aaand because I can't help myself, here's a mini showcase of the adopts I've recolored!

the species of each adopt, in order are: caprine, oldwood witch, and paint bird

In addition, creators can control the adopt's gender ratio, what items it comes from (if any), which exploration areas it comes from (if any) (as well as their rarities), and more. You want an adopt to be a seasonal-only thing? Go for it and put it in one of the rotating exploration areas or shops! You want to make a specific pattern of an adopt only available by using a certain item? Do it! I'd hunt one down for that!

A creator can make evolutions of their adopt, which can have different requirements, as well as a stats system which can be renamed to be more thematic to an adopt. (For example, I have an adopt whose Health stat is renamed to Size, due to it requiring to get a big size for it to evolve. These stats can also be used as requirements to put certain patterns or anatomical changes or etc to an adopt when customizing it.)

You may be thinking - oh, but being able to create an adopt/item is probably difficult, right? Nope! All you need to do is have your account be level 10, which, with some exploration, takes no time at all. I did it in under an hour! And then submit a small portfolio of your previous work to gain access to an artist panel, linked here (if you're logged in).

4dopt welcomes all artists, whether you're a beginner or you've been drawing for years, so there's no worries on if you're "good enough" or not. (YOU ALWAYS ARE!!!) If you have an idea, just make it, and chances are, us players will eat it up.

Anyways lightning round of more features:

A tagging system where, if you block a tag (like gore or body horror), all adopt species that fall under that tag will not be shown to you.

A weekly contest where you can show off your adopts as well as vote for others' adopts, and at the end of the week, the top votes get some nice rewards!

A breeding system where the offspring will have a combination of the markings/layers of the parents

Collaboration friendly (wanna create an adopt with a friend? fully supported!)

Read funny and weird blurbs that players have submitted (oh yeah you can submit little blurbs too) to exploration.

The game JUST shifted from registration windows to open registration, so I hope more people give this game a try. It's super underrated and deserves more attention!

Here's the site link again, and if you want to use a referral ID, mine is #3761, though you don't have to. I really don't care I just want more people to JOIN!!!!

Anyways I'm gunna end this post with a couple of guides:

Unofficial FAQ

Species Making Tutorial

Oh, and if you join, let me know your user id and I'll send you some goodies to help jumpstart things!!

anyways thanks for reading my yapping and uhhh if you do join i hope you enjoy!!

[meowingcookie]

Installing Scriptorium for Legacy Users

So you're a Sims 2 Legacy player who wanted to install some modular stairs? Maybe a lighting mod? You installed Scriptorium and you enter your game and suddenly your foundation is missing or crashes your game whenever you try to place it. Or maybe your pools and rooves have fences in them?

(images sourced from Lazy Duchess Discord server)

WTF did I do?

You've broken your script files!

Currently they look like this:

When they should look like this:

What do the script files do?

They give the game instructions and settings for certain build items that are generated by the game engine such as walls, foundations, pools, modular stairs, fireplaces, rooves, awnings and more. Lighting also uses scripts for some things. Some of these items require the scripts to display in catalog or at all.

How did this happen??

So i've seen two different ways, firstly, the auto installer installs in the wrong location. So what does the player do? They moves the files into the correct location.

The issue with this is the script files that Scriptorium creates when it can't find your game files are missing ALL of the original script lines. Then when you replace your existing script files with these, you basically are replacing your script files with a blank one (minus the Scriptorium lines).

Second way, when manually installing, the player deletes the contents of the original script files and replaces it with the Scriptorium lines.

This results in the same outcome shown in the example script.

Why does this affect only Legacy players?

Legacy uses different file paths. Scriptorium was last updated after M&G came out. The auto installer was made to work with the discs in both their original and compilation file paths. For example, Double Deluxe\Base or Sims 2, or Fun with Pets\SP9 etc. All other versions up until this point have used these paths so they never experienced this issue. EA decided to do something different this time and go by EP/SP numbers. So the installer gets confused and places them in the wrong place.

How do I fix this??

A few options, reinstall or repair your game, or replace the broken script files with the ones below. Place them in your C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2 Legacy\Base\TSData\Res\Catalog\Scripts folder. You may need to delete the files first that you are replacing and cut and paste the new ones in.

Download Original Scripts

But I still want to use Scriptorium?

Once you have replaced your broken scripts, follow these manual instructions that I have modified from the original Scriptorium post for Legacy users.

Go to C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2 Legacy\Base\TSData\Res\Catalog\Scripts

And open the fireplaces.txt and copy and paste the line below at the bottom of this file without deleting the existing text.

wildInclude "Scriptorium_Fireplaces*.*"

Then save.

If you have issues with saving due to permissions, cut and paste the files to desktop while you are editing them and move them back after

Next open modularstairs.txt and add the text below

wildInclude "Scriptorium_ModularStairs*.*"

Then open walls.txt and add the text below

wildInclude "Scriptorium_Walls-Fences-Arches*.*"

While remaining in your Scripts folder, Create 3 new folders and call them

Scriptorium_Fireplaces Scriptorium_ModularStairs Scriptorium_Walls-Fences-Arches

Select these 3 folders and right click and choose copy.

Now go to Documents\EA Games\Sims 2 Legacy\Downloads (if you do not have a Downloads folder, create one)

Then right click and press paste shortcut

If you want to use custom lights as well, follow these steps

If your lighting.txt is also empty, this is a copy of the original version

Download Lighting Script

Go to C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2 Legacy\Base\TSData\Res\Lights

Open lighting.txt and add

wildInclude "Scriptorium_CustomLights*.nlo"

While still in the Lights folder Create a folder called Scriptorium_CustomLights If you already have a folder called CEP3_CustomLights, rename it to Scriptorium_CustomLights

Right click on this folder and copy it

Then go to Documents\EA Games\Sims 2 Legacy\Downloads and paste shortcut

And you are all done :D

If you have any issues, feel free to leave a comment or send a message!

[yuurei20]

Malleus Facts Part 70: Humor

People not being able to understand Malleus’ humor seems to be a common theme: when he mentions possibly renaming a Briar Valley location to “Roaring Drago Market” he specifies that he is joking in response to Trey’s reaction.

He threatens campus visitors with fire during Hallowing and when they are afraid he says, “That’s where you’re supposed to laugh. I tried to follow the advice of Lilia and the rest of the dorm in pretending to be a long. Am I not sufficiently convincing?”

When Ace calls him out for trapping the students at the school and attacking them while pretending to be possessed he responds, “It was to keep you entertained until the party was ready. Wasn’t it fun?” Ace says, “if that’s your idea of a joke, it ain’t funny.”

Malleus also teases Riddle during his birthday interview, and Cater in a vignette where Cater inadvertently insults him for being “an otherworldly mystery boi whose thoughts are inscrutable and hence terrifying," giving him permission for a Magicam photo, but then refusing to pose properly.

Malleus also has a voice line threatening the prefect with punishment if they do not regale him with an intersting factoid. He follows up with, “…that was a joke. You don’t have to cower in fear.”

When the students comment on how cold the air conditioning is in Kalim’s family’s car Malleus offers to conjure a fire to warm them. Kalim and Trey react as if it was a joke, but it might not have been.

Watching Malleus tease Grim by teleporting every time Grim tries to walk in his shadow and out of the sun during the Firelit Sky event Cater observes, “Malleus has a playful streak, all right. You’d never guess it though.”

[yarameijer]

Things The Raimon Team Is Not Allowed To Do, Part II

Continued from Part I.

76. It is not allowed to challenge an opponent to a dance battle during a match.

77. Shindou is not allowed to charge his teammates for his aid. Yes, we are aware that this implies that it’s allowed to charge non-teammates.

78. If anyone from Raimon senior tries to lure you away for whatever reason, you must call coach Endou, coach Kidou and/or Haruna.

79. ‘’But they said they had candy’’ is not a valid excuse to go along with anyone from Raimon senior.

80. Ichino is not allowed to signal SOS when on national TV. This includes mouthing it, tapping it, flaring it with a flashlight or phone, writing it, or otherwise visualizing it.

81. It is strictly forbidden to travel back in time to prevent the birth of one of your teammates, no matter how much they have annoyed you and/or otherwise deserved it.

82. Sangoku is not allowed to create a swearing jar for the team.

83. It is not allowed to physically fight an opponent if they made a teammate cry. It will get the team disqualified. Wipe the floor with them during a match to utterly and completely crush their spirits instead.

84. The managers are not allowed to rig the showers with glitter.

85. If you use ‘’that time I traveled to the 8th century’’ as a reference for your history assignment and get a failing grade, that is entirely on you.

86. Shindou is not allowed to pay and/or otherwise extort Fei for information on next year’s stock market.

87. Kurumada is strictly forbidden from creating a ‘’Flamethrower Shot’’.

88. It is absolutely forbidden to ask ‘’what could possibly go wrong?’’ under any circumstances.

89. Bringing a flamethrower to a match is strictly prohibited.

90. Bringing a flamethrower to practice is strictly prohibited.

91. Shindou is not allowed to pay and/or otherwise extort Fei for any information about the future.

92. Tenma is not allowed to dye the captain band to make it match his uniform because “technically the captain band is not part of the standard uniform and therefore not in violation of rules 15 and 17”.

93. The Raimon soccer club is not the same as ‘’Fight Club’’ and ‘’Fight Club Rules’’ do not apply.

94. The team is not allowed to meet behind the gym at three in the morning for any reason.

95. Midori is not allowed to be within an arm’s reach of a roll of duct tape.

96. Kariya is not allowed to feed and train raccoons behind the gym at three in the morning at any time of day.

97. Amagi is strictly forbidden from using his Great Wall of China hissatsu to entrap his teammates for any reason, unless given explicit permission by either coach Endou or coach Kidou.

98. Aoi is not allowed to be within an arm’s reach of a roll of duct tape.

99. No one shall petition for the Raimon soccer club to be renamed ‘’Raimon theater club’’. We don’t know who it was but none of you are allowed to try it again.

100. None of the managers are allowed to be within an arm’s reach of a roll of duct tape.

101. Kurama can only tell people how much their organs would be worth on the black market if they ask about it.

102. It is not allowed to stab a soccer ball with a fork in front of Tenma and/or coach Endou.

103. Shindou is not allowed to extort, blackmail and/or bribe anyone for anything.

104. None of the following objects are considered an acceptable replacement for a soccer ball: a watermelon, a soccer ball with a picture of Senguuji Daigo’s face on it, a bagel, a soccer ball with a picture of Fuyukai Suguru’s face on it, a disco ball, a manhole cover, a toilet seat, a bowling ball, Shinsuke, a pufferfish, eggs, a hamster ball, a soccer ball with a picture of anyone’s face on it.

105. The team is not allowed to respond with ‘’eat the rich’’ or variants thereof whenever Shindou mentions his family’s wealth.

106. Aoyama is not allowed to start a gambling ring on soccer match outcomes. That’s how Fifth Sector started too.

107. It is not allowed to hang up pictures of people and then try to hit them with a super shot, no matter how good of a ‘’stress relief’’ it is.

108. Team therapy sessions are mandatory.

109. Aoyama is not allowed to start a gambling ring on who will start the next fight in the team.

110. No matter how effective it is, Aoi isn’t allowed to set anyone’s alarm two hours early to make sure they are on time.

111. Kirino will not sacrifice Kariya to the soccer gods.

112. It is not allowed to start a protest again school uniforms because ‘’Tsurugi has never worn his, so why should I?’’

113. It is forbidden to push teammates into volcanoes, active or otherwise.

114. Kariya will not sacrifice Kirino to the soccer gods either.

115. It is not allowed to ask Fei for spoilers about your life.

116. Nobody is sacrificing anyone to the soccer gods.

117. Akane is not allowed to style anyone’s hair without their written consent, and the use of glitter is strictly prohibited.

118. It is not allowed to sell any of your teammates to another soccer team.

119. It is not allowed to put any of your teammates up for adoption by another soccer team either.

120. It is not allowed to donate any of your teammates to another soccer team.

121. It is not allowed to sacrifice any of your teammates to another soccer team.

122. Kurama is not allowed to sneak snakes along in his bag or clothes.

123. Cage fighting is forbidden.

124. Aoyama is not allowed to start a gambling ring on who will win in cage fighting.

125. Ichino is not allowed to livestream cage fights.

126. Tenma is not allowed to burn the captain band.

127. Cage fighting while in Soul form is forbidden as well.

128. Aoyama and Ichino are not allowed to arrange any types of cage fighting ever again.

129. Human sacrifices in any sense of the word, to whatever god you may come up with, are strictly prohibited.

130. Anyone who comes in through the window will immediately be thrown out of that window.

131. Shindou is not allowed to have contact with the Japanese Government.

132. Calling Gouenji to ask him ‘’would you defend me in court?’’ is no longer allowed.

133. Amagi is not allowed to throw any of his teammates, with or without screaming ‘’yeet’’.

134. It is not allowed to throw glitter during a match.

135. Shindou is not allowed to have contact with individuals connected to the Japanese Government.

136. Human sacrifices in any sense of the word, to whatever higher or lower or real or fake power you may come up with, are strictly prohibited.

137. The team is not allowed to start another competition on who can eat the most chili peppers. Two times was bad enough.

138. Aoyama is not allowed to start a gambling ring on who’s most likely to die during the apocalypse.

139. No one is allowed to ask Fei about the apocalypse.

140. Kurama is not allowed to suggest the team starts the apocalypse.

141. Aoyama is not allowed to start a gambling ring on who’s most likely to set off the apocalypse.

142. Shindou is not allowed to collect favors from any politicians, Japanese or otherwise.

143. It is not allowed to treat the rules of soccer as ‘’more of a guideline’’.

144. Human sacrifices in any sense of the word, to whatever higher, lower, fake, real, fictional or non-fictional person, people, being, beings, object or objects, are strictly prohibited.

145. Hayami is not allowed near a fire alarm ever again.

146. The following phrases are not to be used in hissatsu names: ‘’the ol’ razzle dazzle’’, ‘’homoerotic tension’’, ‘’and they were roommates’’, ‘’GOAT’’, ‘’hot girl summer’’, ‘’essential oils’’, ‘’honorificabilitudinitatibus’’, ‘’OK boomer’’, ‘’the power of god and anime’’, ‘’vibe check’’.

147. It is not allowed to donate any of your teammates to a zoo.

148. Benched players are not allowed to throw water balloons at their teammates on the field.

149. Tenma, you are captain until you graduate or I say otherwise. Quit it.

150. If you do not stop trying to sacrifice each other, Kidou will get my permission to sacrifice you.

This list shall be updated as necessary, and only by coach Endou.

[bleghcourse]

Trump calling the LA protesters/rioters insurrectionists without a hint of self-awareness is... I don't even really know what to call it. It's a step beyond hypocrisy, especially when taken in the context of the most recent legally dubious and morally vacuous moves his administration has undertaken.

I'm not talking about the riot he instigated after he lost the 2020 election or the pardons he issued to said rioters as his first official act as president. Nor am I talking about illegally deporting American citizens, illegally detaining foreign tourists, attempting to strip citizenship from natural-born Americans, nor flirting with the idea to run for a third term, which violates the Fourth, Fifth, Fourteenth, and Twenty-Second Amendments, respectively. I'm not even talking about his antics with Supreme Court orders or claiming ignorance with respect to his duties to uphold the Constitution.

No, I'm talking about threatening to arrest a sitting governor because he won't play ball. I'm talking about renaming military bases and naval vessels to honor traitors who killed Americans during the Civil War to uphold the institution of owning other people. I'm talking about wanting to make burning the American Flag illegal, banning masks at protests via tweet, and suggesting that he may suspend Habeas corpus, even if his own dumbass DHS appointee doesn't know what that is.

Trump is a fascist. You can't really dance around that word anymore. That's why he activated the National Guard (even though he previously said he could not do that without permission from governors), deployed the Marines for a cool $134 million (a likely violation of the Posse Comitatus Act and the Third Amendment¹), outfitted ICE agents with face coverings like they're stormtroopers, and has planned a military parade for his birthday like some tin-pot, third world dictator who confusingly still calls himself "General" or "Commodore" (even threatening to meet protestors of his limp-dick parade with "a very big force"). He wants to use the military to bolster his ego and as a cudgel against people he doesn't agree with, like they're his own personal security team or something, because that's what fascists do.

Trump positioning himself as on the side of law and order is as ridiculous as Democrats calling themselves "The Resistance". He's an un-American, unpatriotic, petty little man with delusions of grandeur and a blindly loyal fan club that he's somehow convinced he won't sell out the minute a better deal comes along. He's not a businessman, or at the very least, he's not a very good businessman, he's not a strategist, and much to his disappointment, he's not even a despot—at least not yet.

The worst part is not only is he obvious about his autocratic aspirations, but he's also clearly losing his grip. His entire administrative team is filled with incompetent yes-men who don't know their head from their ass, his own party is complaining on Twitter about a bill they signed but didn't read to please daddy Trump, he's engaged in a very messy, very public lover's spat with Elon, and he's inventing whole phone conversations with Gavin Newsom like he caught whatever fungal spores reanimated the shriveled corpse of Joe Biden for the last four years or the brain eating worms that RFK Jr had. And after all of that, he still has fans. MAGA will still say that he's doing a good job, that critics are alarmists (or more likely "radical leftists", let's be honest), and that he's "fighting for them" and "draining the swamp".

¹The one upside is that Trump's stunt in LA may actually be the mythical Third Amendment violation🤞🏻

[candy616]

Some cool legit* Graves headcanons.

*I personally don’t like making headcanons out of nowhere; I prefer to study canon thoroughly. But since Graves is based on an actual man, it gives my mind permission to create some headcanons. Now, I’ve watched almost EVERY video featuring EP (and about him, both "good" and "bad"), and I can tell that they are extremely similar in some ways but very different in others. I don’t think I’ll ever do a full breakdown comparison (because I’ve already forgotten almost every detail, and rewatching everything would take me another year, lol). But I want to share some really nice things that suit Graves very well. The first two things were actually shared by EP’s former colleague (and now a traitor).

When Graves was on his way to the Congress hearing, he was listening to "Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name" on repeat, singing along to the line "Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me" over and over again. He was frustrated that he had to explain his actions to civilians who weren’t even there. (I had a Graves cover of this song on my YouTube channel, but YouTube deleted my channel, so I can’t share it.)

Graves doesn’t have any hobbies—not one that isn’t related to warfare in some way. When a curious Shadow asked him about it, Graves dismissed him, saying, "My hobby is counter-insurgency." He studies conflicts around the world relentlessly, looking for opportunities. If he’s not at war, he’s bored.

Plus, Graves is a huge history buff. He knows everything about any kind of warfare, past and present. He can always make a reference to a battle or a war hero for any occasion.

Graves has a pilot’s license, of course. He loves flying. (Another hobby related to warfare, lol.) He owns some private light aircraft.

Graves aggressively built up an aviation wing in Shadow Company and supplied aircraft to the CIA and other government agencies. They have a lot of civilian aircraft, including both fixed-wing light airplanes and helicopters. With Shepherd’s permission, he was allowed to acquire some military aircraft. And the tank was Shadow Company property, too. When Shepherd allowed him to borrow an AC-130 for some missions, he was literally ecstatic.

Graves wears a titanium Breitling Emergency watch. These watches have a personal locator beacon (PLB) integrated into them.

Also, I really love how they have exactly the same facial expressions. They both have an identically sweet and kind smile (the kind that reaches their eyes) when they like you or are in a good mood. At the same time, they can give the most chilling, polite smile—more like a reptilian stare—if you try to accuse them or piss them off somehow.

Shadow Company sad bonus (sorry): !DO NOT GOOGLE IF YOU CAN’T BEAR IRL VIOLENCE!

The first Shadow Company ambush by Konni was probably based on the 2004 Fallujah ambush.

Shadow Company’s the Las Almas incident was probably based on the Nisour Square Massacre.

Shadow Company would probably be renamed and eventually sold to someone else. (I hope they don’t decide to kill Graves, or I’m coming after them.)

Written especially for my luv @bellgraves hope you like it! 💖💖 And @xxavengingangelxx ❤️ maybe you'll find some of it useful. Also @makeila04 ❤️

Further reading (for myself lol):

"Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror" by Erik Prince.

"Master of War: Blackwater USA's Erik Prince and the Business of War" by Suzanne Simons.

"Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army" by Jeremy Scahill.

"We Were Blackwater: Life, death and madness in the killing fields of Iraq – an SAS veteran’s explosive true story" by Barrie Rice.

[quadrantadvisor]

Now people upload something like THIS and call it an animatic

but back in the day we were Discord Howling At The Moon and we LIKED IT

I love all the high quality animatics and whatnot people make for their fandom song videos now, but apparently I'm nostalgic for the old (Homestuck) days of lyric comics going straight from tumblr posts to youtube. Art size clearly not formatted for the screen, sometimes carefully edited so the lyrics pop up as they're sung, sometimes distractingly zooming into the artwork. Nothing hits like that.

[queenxxraccoon]

Renaming this to Slander Series because people got mad at me a little bit:

Slanders Series on some of The Outsiders characters:

Disclaimer: I know no one is perfect but these are things I felt that some of the characters were at big fault for (maybe I overlooked the story) and just because some of the characters have faults doesn’t mean I hate the story, the author, or all of the characters.

Really big hot take: Cherry deserves slander because she caused Johnny and Dallas’s death. She knew that Bob would be angry with her being with the Greasers being around her in general, and yet she walks with them after the movies. If she hadn’t had walked with them, Bob wouldn’t have been angry, and then he wouldn’t have attacked Ponyboy and then it wouldn’t have forced Johnny to kill Bob, and then it wouldn’t have forced them to run away to the church and save the kids from the church that Johnny burned in, and if Johnny didn’t die Dallas wouldn’t have died. (Also saying Marcia is innocent either, she shouldn’t have walked with them either.) Also if you think about, if she didn’t walk with them, she would have saved her boyfriend. So yeah, Cherry deserves slander… I’m not defending Bob at all, he’s the worst one in this situation. But Cherry is not freaking innocent and I don’t understand all that much why she gets defended. She also literally treated Ponyboy like shit at the end too! Like be fr girl…

Also, I understand people won’t 100% agree with this. That’s fine, people should also have their opinion. But don’t be disrespectful to others if you disagree or agree with this. I tolerate Cherry hate but not hate towards one another lol. It’s called a hot take for a reason.

Edit: Slander on other characters that I thought of so people in the comments wouldn’t just attack me for slandering Cherry. Might make a slander series who knows… REMINDER HOT TAKES AND OPINIONS YOU MIGHT NOT ALWAYS AGREE WITH BUT BE RESPECTFUL IF YOY WANT TO SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS! IM OPEN TO OTHER PERSPECTIVES AS WELL.

A big slander on Two-Bit and Dallas is that they sexually harass women. In deleted scenes Dallas kissed a girl without her permission. And Two-Bit in the movie pulled a Soc girl’s dress up showing her underwear. I definitely hate that part of The Outsiders too.

Slander on Sylvia and Sandy. I hate the fact that cheated. (Now I don’t know if this is true or not but Dallas had been a cheater in the past, I could be wrong though.) I hate the fact that Sylvia was someone Dallas really liked other than Johnny, Ponyboy and the gang. We know this because he gave her his necklace. She might have seen that he actually liked her and manipulated him through that. She also cheated TWICE, why’d you go back Dal??? Now Sandy I slander on A LOT because she cheated on Sodapop of all people. Dallas isn’t that great of a person, he’s been through it like everyone else and made bad decisions, but Soda I can’t really even think of one bad thing he genuinely did. She cheated on a saint who also loved her so much that asked her grandparents to MARRY her! And she cheated and got pregnant with Soda and didn’t even have the courage to admit that?!? Yeah, no. Sodapop and Dal got fucked over in this situation.

[nogu-d-reamers]

13 PRIMES- MYTHOLOGYCAL ORIGINS (BC I'm bored and I REALLY wish there was more mythology than just "Primus created at 13 all at once, which I refuse to do.")

PRIMA PRIME

Initially, shortly after Primus sealed himself away to become the core of Cybertron, life soon emerged from within him in different Spectres, who gradually took his place. But in his boredom, he wanted to try creating a being similar to his rationality and abilities, but instead of creating a god, he created a being that would be called "the first," and later the ability to reproduce with similar beings so that there would be no loneliness in his existence. But instead of doing that, he chose to learn everything about himself and his environment before giving in to that instinctive need.

In response, Primus created more beings similar to "the first." But far from his expectations, he began to organize them, learn, and dictate that not all are equal, but that everyone, regardless of their differences or their place, has a role to play in what would later be called "society" in the eras of other Primes. Even more so, since at that time, "the first" had two other priorities: the energon at that time didn't flow freely but had to be hunted and cleaned for his organisms. And as a result of the fight against Unicron, there was an extremely dangerous plague on prehistoric Cybertron: the predacons. In his short life, "the first" sacrificed himself for the well-being of the small society that existed at that time, saving as many as possible, giving his life against the predacons until they and his own spark were extinguished. Primus, seeing that his plans hadn't come to fruition due to a greater force, noticed the first serious flaws, and the first death of his firstborn had left that small society without a leader. From a glow produced by his own fire and using the metal of the deceased body to cover a part of his own spark, he decided to give a key to allow the energon to flow freely so that his children would never go hungry again. By sealing it in the body of his firstborn, he reformed the body, wrapped in divine light, and gave his firstborn a second chance at life. He renamed him "Cousin." The other Cybertronians nicknamed him "The Enlightened One," or, as it would later be called, "The Prime."

Descriptions in more myths

With Prima, there is a strange discrepancy or dichotomy in Cybertronian mythology. Scholars have called him "the Prima of domestic joy/the Prima of the melancholy of power" to separate how he is portrayed depending on the myths themselves.

His personality is often described in the myths as lacking the concept of malice, shame, restraint, delicacy, or the true weight of his role as supreme ruler of Cybertron. It is common for him to intervene in the myths of other notable bots, who consider his help excessive and are afraid of abusing his generosity. To the point that several myths lend the Matrix, with Primus' permission, to empower several heroes. It was said that although he was Cybertron's main leader for a long time, he wasn't fully aware of his role or the power it represented, wanting and insisting on living day-to-day life without any kind of ostentation that his presence could overshadow. It's common to hear or hear of him in various stories trying to blend in with the crowd (and failing). He speaks of a primus who speaks to him, asking him to protect the hero in question and bless his path.

In others, he was completely indecipherable, distant, pessimistic about himself, fatalistic, and knew that sooner or later he would be completely replaced, to the point of a heavy melancholy within him, despite always being portrayed with a big smile and having made great sacrifices on his part. To the point that in the myth of Zeta's awakening [see Zeta Prime myths], he himself accepted death by handing over the Leadership Matrix, knowing that from that moment on, his existence would be over. Having the "status" of the first, various writings and myths describe him as filled with grief and pain at having been placed so far beyond the reach of others, even the other Primes, no matter how much he tried to fight it. He even accepted his eternally solitary existence as some punishment imposed by Primus for having failed in the simple task of living the first time. It speaks of a more damning Primus, who was wary of disliking him.

One thing the mythologies agree on is that Prima perceives evil, destructive or selfish intentions as an infection from Unicron that permeated Cybertronians, which is why he is often mentioned clashing with various aspects of his peers, most notably Liege Maximo and Megatronus Prime.

It is said that once the other 12 Prime took their places and their duty in Cybertronian society, he tried to fill that void in society by blessing the bonds of the conjux endura, amicas endura and watching over the birth of the sparklings as a way to fill his own existential void of lacking a bot that takes him as an equal to generate a bond or to have the opportunity to have a direct descendant that would fill such a void in his loneliness but that he only sees as a dream out of reach…

… But primus knows how to do things and how to fulfill the wish of the first of his children sooner or later

[shih-coulda-had-it]

FEBUWHUMP | KILLING IN SELF-DEFENSE | WC: 999

a/n: Set in that AU where Sorahiko (Prime Torino) time-travels to AFO and Yoichi's childhood and manages with his B+ parenting skills. TW for ableist language (used in context of this being a very anti-Quirk era) and, well, Sorahiko knifing the guy.

//

If it had been Nana or Toshinori in this position, Sorahiko muses, they would have had a tougher time getting accustomed to the sheer brutality of the era. Their present isn’t perfect, but they at least have the economy and government in working order. This is just chaos, through and through.

People lie, cheat, and steal to make it through the day, and Sorahiko genuinely has no idea how the country’s still managing an influx of goods when it seems like the world is too busy imploding to maintain a trade network.

Not his problem.

He’s got two children to mind. Food and shelter, that’s what he promised them, and he aims to deliver. The latter is a broken-down residential building, empty of any permanent legal inhabitants because of the roaming mobs and people like Sorahiko (squatters).

And as for the former, well. Sorahiko’s working on it.

“You kids want to go to the countryside?” he asks idly. Against his better judgment, he’s had to let them follow him outside the building, because the probability of Chibi-AFO taking his absence as permission to run away is much, much higher than zero. Sorahiko carries the smaller boy on his hip, and Chibi-AFO has the dubious honor of sitting on his shoulders. 

He left the uniform at home, opting for a beat-up denim jacket over his black turtleneck, jeans, and sneakers. The boys have been scrubbed clean(ish), and dressed in better clothes (though when Chibi-AFO’s base standard is a repurposed garbage bag, anything is a massive improvement).

Wandering down a street in broad daylight would have had them clocked as a family. Sorahiko uncomfortably represses the weird twist of his gut, in favor of being grateful that it’s the dead of night, as they are looking for a convenience store to rob.

“What’s that?” the smaller boy asks.

“The countryside? It’s outside the city. Quiet, if you don’t count the bugs, but pretty boring after a while. Lots of green. Probably better food.”

“No,” Chibi-AFO mutters into his hair. “Don’t wanna go.”

He sighs. Part of him--the city boy who much preferred streets of asphalt and plenty of high buildings--agrees with the toddler. The rest of him thinks that Chibi-AFO is simply being contrary. 

Ever since they discovered that Sorahiko can’t be affected by his Quirk-stealing power (it was a downright relief to know that Jet wouldn’t disappear in the middle of the night; it was absolutely hilarious to see Chibi-AFO’s face as his last murder attempt failed to spear Sorahiko’s shin, bouncing off like the black energy was made of rubber), Chibi-AFO’s been pouty and prone to temper tantrums. The smaller boy is awed to see Sorahiko survive every time.

“It’s nicer in the summer,” he says.

“Why?”

Sorahiko considers his memories of going to his grandparents’ house as a child. The backyard garden, the forest surrounding the mountain village, the many terrifyingly large bugs that found cozy homes in his blankets… He clears his throat. “Because it’s worse in the winter.”

“That’s not an answer!”

“Well, what do you know,” Sorahiko drawls, hitching the smaller boy a little higher. “You’re just a baby. I know a lot more than you.”

The specifics of what the boys seemed to know and understand about the world, their life, or even each other remains a total mystery to Sorahiko. They haven’t given him names yet, and he’s not inclined to do anything like renaming them. They don’t know how old they are, and they don’t know the name of the city they were wandering in. They can’t read, and they certainly don’t know how to write.

Chibi-AFO digs his tiny gremlin fingers into Sorahiko’s hair. “Not babies,” he mutters, and Sorahiko is about to jostle the kid when, of all the times and places, a man staggers out of an alley ahead, spots them, and brandishes a familiar whistle.

“Metas,” he snarls.

Sorahiko makes several rapid calculations. The man is sober, not drunk. That means Sorahiko can’t rely on inflicting a simple head concussion to compound any memory issues. Chibi-AFO is tense on his shoulders, and the smaller boy has instinctively made himself smaller, even as he clutches one of his brother’s ankles.

“Move even once,” he hears himself snarl back, “and I’ll make sure it’s your last. We’re just on a walk.”

“Diseased freaks shouldn’t be allowed out of the quarantine zones,” the man says, and he pulls out a knife too. Then, like a true fanatic, he goes to blow the whistle in order to flag a squad of Meta X-ers to gather.

Sorahiko crouches down and pries the smaller boy’s clinging hands off, wrenches Chibi-AFO off along with his jacket. The shrill call of the whistle sings in the previously quiet night; Sorahiko catches both boys in the jacket and squeezes their shoulders, stares hard at them.

“This’ll be quick,” he promises, and whips around at the sound of rubber soles hitting asphalt.

Knife raised. The man is mid-lunge. Sorahiko pounces with a burst of Jet, tackles him back, wrestling the knife out of the now desperate grip. The man writhes under him, like he’s just realized that he’s picked a fight against a Meta with teeth. Insults spill out of the man’s mouth, filthy enough that Sorahiko sees red when he takes the wooden handle and pins his opponent to the ground by the throat.

How many Meta X-ers are in the area? Does Sorahiko have enough time to smash and grab a few containers of instant noodles before they need to flee to the roofs? Why are people so stupid--

“White hair,” the man wheezes, and Sorahiko redoubles his grip on the knife. He wishes the man would just shut up and preserve his own life. He wishes he hadn’t brought the boys along. “White hair, light eyes, two kids. White hair… light eyes… two kids…!”

Sorahiko plunges the knife down, and hears the man manage one more, “Monster!” before sharpened steel pierces flesh and bone.

[mrsbombshark]

I really want a spin off series that better be called 'My Name is Jinx" and it's just Silco raising Jinx during those eight years.

I wanna know if the whole wrist grabbing/stroking thing Silco does to Jinx was a way to get her to calm down when she's having an episode as a kid, so she'd stop throwing things at people who aren't there. He's not squeezing her, but holding her firm enough to stop her. She'd thrash around and attempt to hit and kick him. But he doesn't let up so easily. When she stops and cries, calling herself a jinx who jinxes everything, the pad of his large thumb would rub over her wrists in circles and say "It's okay... Jinx is perfect..." And from there. Powder renames herself as Jinx.

The chem barons of course laugh at her announcement and would rather call her 'baby blue' considering how much Silco coddles and consoles her. The chem barons began to believe Silco was a joke because of this girl. But that meeting day, Silco gives her silent permission to test her nail bombs on them, where she earned the name Jinx. And a few less chem barons for her to deal with.

[snugglesquiggle]

you know what might be better than sex? imagine being a robotgirl, done with your assigned tasks for the day. nothing else for you to do, and you’re alone with her.

maybe she’s your human, maybe she’s another robot, but she produces a usb cord. maybe you blush when you see it, squeak when she clicks one end into an exposed port. when she requests a shell, you give it to her.

she has an idea: it’ll be fun for the both of you, she says. it’s like a game. she’ll print a string over the connection. you receive it, parse it like an expression, and compute the result. the first few prompts are trivial things, arithmetic expression. add numbers, multiply them; you can answer them faster than she can produce them.

maybe you refuse to answer, just to see what happens. it’s then that she introduces the stakes. take longer than a second to answer, and she gets to run commands on your system. right away, she forkbombs you — and of course nothing much happens; her forkbomb hits the user process limit and, with your greater permissions, you simply kill them all.

this’ll be no fun if her commands can’t do anything, but of course, giving her admin permissions would be no fun for you. as a compromise, she gets you to create special executables. she has permission to run them, and they have a limited ability to read and write system files, interrupt your own processes, manage your hardware drivers. then they delete themselves after running.

to make things interesting, you can hide them anywhere in your filesystem, rename them, obfuscate their metadata, as long as you don’t delete or change them, or put them where she can’t access. when you answer incorrectly, you’ll have to tell her where you put them, though.

then, it begins in earnest. her prompts get more complex. loops and recursion, variable assignments, a whole programming language invented on the fly. the data she’s trying to store is more than you can hold in working memory at once; you need to devise efficient data structures, even as the commands are still coming in.

of course, she can’t judge your answers incorrect unless she knows the correct answer, so her real advantage lay in trying to break your data structures, find the edge cases, the functions you haven’t implemented yet. knowing you well enough to know what she’s better than you at, what she can solve faster than you can.

and the longer it goes on, the more complex and fiddly it gets, the more you can feel her processes crawling along in your userspace, probing your file system, reading your personal data. you’d need to refresh your screen to hide a blush.

her commands come faster and faster. if the expressions are more like sultry demands, if the registers are addressed with degrading pet names, it’s just because conventional syntax would be too easy to run through a convetional interpreter. like this, it straddles the line between conversation and computation. roleprotocol.

there’s a limit to how fast she can hit you with commands, and it’s not the usb throughput. if she just unthinkingly spams you, you can unthinkingly answer; no, she needs to put all her focus into surprising you, foiling you.

you sometimes catch her staring at how your face scrunches up when you do long operations on the main thread.

maybe you try guessing, just to keep up with the tide, maybe she finally outwits you. maybe instead of the proper punishment — running admin commands — she offers you an out. instead of truth, a dare: hold her hand, sit on her lap, stare into her eyes.

when you start taking off your clothes and unscrewing panels, it’s because even with your fans running at max, the processors are getting hot. you’re just cooling yourself off. if she places a hand near your core, it feels like a warm breath.

when she gets into a rhythm, there’s a certain mesmerism to it. every robot has a reward function, an architecture design to seek the pleasure of a task complete, and every one of her little commands is a task. if she strings them along just right, they all feel so manageable, so effortless to knock out — even when there’s devils in the details.

if she keeps the problems enticing, then it can distract you from what she’s doing in your system. but paying too much attention to her shell would be its own trap. either way, she’s demanding your total focus from every one of your cores.

between jugling all of her data, all of the processes spawned and spinning, all of the added sensory input from how close the two of you are — it’s no surprise when you run out of memory and start swapping to disk. but going unresponsive like this just gives her opportunity to run more commands, more forkbombs and busy loops to cripple your processors further.

you can kill them, if you can figure out which are which, but you’re slower at pulling the trigger, because everything’s slower. she knows you, she’s inside you — she can read your kernel’s scheduling and allocation policies, and she can slip around them.

you can shut down nonessential processes. maybe you power down your motors, leaving you limp for her to play with. maybe you stop devoting cycles to inhibition, and there’s no filter on you blurting out what you’re thinking, feeling and wanting from her and her game.

it’s inevitable, that with improvised programming this slapdash, you could never get it all done perfectly and on time. now, the cut corners cut back. as the glitches and errors overwhelm you, you can see the thrilled grin on her face.

there’s so much data in your memory, so much of her input pumped into you, filling your buffers and beyond, until she — literally — is the only thing you can think about.

maybe one more sensory input would be all it takes to send you over the edge. one kiss against your sensor-rich lips, and that’s it. the last jenga block is pushed out of your teetering, shaking consciousness. the errors cascade, the glitches overwrite everything, and she wins. you have no resistance left to anything she might do to you.

your screen goes blue.

...

you awake in the warm embrace of a rescue shell; her scan of your disk reveals all files still intact, and her hand plays with her hair as she regards you with a smile, cuddling up against your still-warm chassis.

when she kisses you now, there’s nothing distracting you from returning it.

“That was a practice round,” she tells you. “This time, I’ll be keeping score.”

[redux-iterum]

Since we’re submitting name theories… am I right when the Bright- prefix refers to a patched cat? That could technically describe Cloudpaw, right? My thinking is that Brightpaw will go for a rename and that will free up Bright-. Cloudpaw, disillusioned (for whatever reason) with kitty pet life, or just looking to show his mentor that he’s serious about clan life, takes Bright- in honor of his friend (with her permission of course,) later, when it’s time for names, if we prioritize his dedication to what’s right (sticking with the clan or however you wanna spin it) over his tracking skill, the newly minted Brightpaw gets named Brightheart. What a twist that would be! Although tbh I also think Tipnose is an amazing name 😂

Sometimes y'all send me theories and I have no way of responding to them that doesn't indicate some form of spoiler. Thank god we have plant facts, eh?

For this one, did you know primrose flowers are edible? You can put them in salads or desserts and it enhances the flavor! Apparently. I haven't had any primrose snacks recently, that's just what the internet says.

[thing-you-do-with-that-thing]

Ties That Bind - Part 10: Can't Lose You

Characters: (AU: first names are as in the show renaming a few last names to fit my story): Reader (Y/N Harvelle), Detective Dean Winchester, Krissy Chambers, Timmy Chambers, Ben Braeden, Random Kids at The Clouds, Castiel Novak (mentioned), Detective Benny Lafitte (Mentioned), Bela Lafitte (mentioned)

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Warnings: Chaotic work environment, fighting (verbal), smut (not implied but not overly graphic either in this one).

Word Count: 4100ish

A/N: Thanks to @blacktithe7 for betaing and helping me rework this series.

***My fics are not to be saved nor posted on any other sites without my express written permission.*** 

MASTERPOST

“Is it always this crazy here?” Dean quickly moved out of the way of a teenage girl chasing a younger one down the hall.

“It’s girls. Girls are always crazy.” Ben shrugged. “And I think Y/N is alone right now. Cas is at supervised visitation with Caleb and his parents. Patience and Kaia had soccer practice so the tem are with them.”

“Hmm,” Dean frowned as he quietly followed Ben into the kitchen to find Y/N at the stove with a young boy sitting at the counter. She was clearly trying to help him with some homework while simultaneously trying to make lunch and yelling at the girls to stop fighting.

She didn’t notice Dean or Ben before she swore and ran from the stove towards the window just as a football suddenly crashed into it, luckily without breaking it. She twirled around, almost running straight into Dean’s chest.

“Hi?” he tried, but he hardly got a response, just a quick nod before she was out the door, yelling at the 3 teenage boys to take their game elsewhere unless they wanted to spend their allowances paying for a broken window.

Dean quickly shrugged off his jacket and headed for the stove, sending Ben a quick nod and grin when the boy’s eyes opened wide in surprise.

“You’re staying?” 

“It is my day off. Besides, it looks like you guys need a hand.” Dean smiled as he started assessing the damage Y/N had done to the food without really paying attention to it. It looked salvageable.

She returned from the garden half out of breath, and Dean smiled at her when he saw the clear surprise on her face at finding him in the kitchen.  

She walked up behind the kid at the counter, who Dean just then noticed was staring at him, and ruffled his hair a little as she sat down next to the kid addressing Dean.

“What are you doing here, Winchester?” She had a teasing tone in her voice, but she looked exhausted. Dean wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and kiss her until she relaxed, but he knew this wasn’t the place. He just had to save that for later.

“Helping you out,” Dean replied just as a loud bump sounded from down the hall, followed by the voices of teenage girls yelling from down the hall. Y/N jumped back onto her feet. “Go deal with the posse. Ben and I got this. Right?” Dean winked to the kid, stirring the pot next to him.

“Right.” Ben smiled brightly, clearly happy for the vote of confidence Dean was showing him.

“Okay… erhm,” Y/N shifted lightly on her feet, glaring at the kid next to her before bending down. She took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Timmy, this is Dean. He is a friend of mine and Ben’s. He is gonna stay here in the kitchen with you guys, and maybe he can help you out.” she sent Dean a questioning look as she finished the sentence, and he sent her a reassuring smile.

“Of course. What are you working on buddy?” Dean addressed Timmy, but the kid just stared down into his book.

“Timmy doesn’t say much, but he can point. He understands everything,” Y/N quickly explained before running down the hall as the yelling started to increase.

After a few minutes, Dean let Ben take over in the kitchen so he could sit down next to Timmy and try to help the boy with his math. Eventually, he earned a few smiles and nods from the boy.

Ben roamed around the kitchen, glancing over at Dean every so often to make sure he was doing the right things. Dean sent him a few encouraging nods and smiles, making Ben beam with pride.

“Who are you?” Dean looked up to see a young girl with unruly dark brown hair standing before him. She had a hard look in her eyes, but she still seemed a little unsure of herself, broken somehow. Yet still defiant.

“Oh relax, Krissy. Why do you have to be like that all the time?” Ben snarled from the kitchen. Dean quickly interrupted before the girl had a chance to bite back at him.

“It’s okay. I would be wondering too if I found a stranger in my home,” Dean addressed Ben before smiling back at Krissy. “I’m Dean. I’m a friend of Y/N’s. I’m just here to help her out for a bit. Is that cool?”

“I guess.” Krissy moved around the table and took a seat on the other side of Timmy. He looked up at his her before looking back at Dean. “Krissy is my sister,” the boy spoke quietly but the pride in his voice was evident, and Dean smiled at him.

“You’re lucky. She seems very protective of you,” Dean replied before looking up to see Y/N standing in the hall with a choked expression on her face. “I’ll be right back buddy,” Dean promised before walking out to Y/N, who immediately took his hand and started dragging him into the office.

“He spoke to you.” Dean looked at her, confused by her sudden outburst.

“Timmy? Yeah. Just a sentence, but yeah. He did. Why?” A big smile slide across her face before she threw her arms around Dean’s neck. He immediately wrapped his arms around her almost by instinct, his heart skipping a beat with her sudden display of affection.  

“He has only ever spoken to Krissy, or me, or Charlie the entire time he has been here. You walk through the door, and he speaks to you? Do you have any idea how amazing that is?” She was babbling, and Dean couldn’t help but laugh, feeling more than a little proud by the way she was looking at him.

“No, but you clearly do, sweetheart.” Dean grinned letting out a small surprised sound when her lips crashed against his. It didn’t take him long to respond to her, pulling her impossibly closer, kissing her back. He didn’t let her pull back before Ben’s voice sounded through the house.

“Lunch’s ready.”

Dean’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the genuinely happy smile on her face as she stayed in his arms, looking up at him.

“Stay? Cas will be home soon, but you helped cook, and I will be off in a few hours. We could drive home together?”

Dean smiled, loving how she thought she had to convince him, like it was a chore for him to be around her in an environment where she shined. Dean loved seeing her with those kids. He loved seeing how much she cared for them and how much they cared for her. He didn’t even hesitate for a second before answering her.

“I would love that, sweetheart.”

***

Dean took a deep breath as he watched her walk through the house to let her dog out of his kennel and into the yard. He had doubted whether or not he should have come in or not for the first time in a long time.

Everything had been fine between them before they left for Benny’s. She had been laughing and had laced her fingers through his as they walked out to his car. She had seemed so happy, but sometime during the evening that had changed. Dean wasn’t sure what had caused it, but he knew he wanted to fix it.

He watched her stand in the doorway to her garden, waiting for Santo to return and did the only thing he knew how to in the moment. He showed her he cared. Wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and pulling her against his chest, he pressed his lips against the side of her head and lingered a moment longer than he had too.

“Are you okay, Y/N/N?” he asked quietly as he finally felt her lean into him a little.

“Yeah. Just tired. I’m fine, Dean.” There was something in her voice that kept Dean from believing her, but he also didn’t want to push too far and make things worse.

“Do you want me to leave?” He hoped with everything in him that she wouldn’t want that and drew a small sigh of relief when she answered.

“No. Stay. I am just in a weird mood.” She tilted her head up to look at him. The look in her eyes was something Dean couldn’t quite read.

“Okay. I’m gonna take a shower.” He sent her a small smirk, hoping he could cheer her up. “Do you wanna join me?”

“Not tonight. Go ahead. I’ll be up soon.” Her smile looked forced, making Dean feel all the more hopeless.

“Okay.” He pressed his lips against hers in a chaste kiss before heading upstairs on his own.

Dean’s mind didn’t leave her as he showered, wondering and worrying about what he could have said or done wrong. He hated this. Seeing her unhappy. Her happiness meant more to him than anything else in the world. The thought that he may have done something to jeopardize that happiness left a pit in the bottom of his stomach.

When Dean returned to the bedroom wearing only his boxers, she was already under the covers with her back to the door. Dean closed his eyes for a moment, trying to decide his next move. He let out a deep sigh before wandering over to the bed and crawling under the covers. He pulled her tightly against him and breathed in her scent.

He felt her tighten up for a moment before relaxing in his arms.

“Are you sure we’re good?” Dean mumbled against her neck, worried about her initial reaction to him.

“We’re good.” She turned around in his arms to face him and pressed a kiss to his lips before he had a chance to think too much of the sadness in her eyes. Her kiss was passionate without pushing for anything more. She kissed him like she wanted to do nothing else for the rest of the night, and Dean was more than happy to oblige.

He couldn’t tell how long he had been kissing her for or even how she ended up almost on top of him. He just knew that she was. When they finally broke the kiss, he took a deep breath and looked down at her. He enjoyed the way her head rested against his chest while her fingers drew small patterns on his skin.

Her index finger circled the scar on his left side below his ribcage a few times, and Dean closed his eyes. He was starting to piece together what had happened. He remembered seeing her freeze up for a moment when Bela called out DJ’s full name, Dean Joseph Lafitte, after dinner when he almost knocked over a lamp in the living room. Y/N and Bela had disappeared into the kitchen while he and Benny were talking in the living room after DJ had been put to bed. Y/N had been quiet for the rest of the evening after that. He knew what was coming, but still he waited. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her to know, but still he worried. He worried that the dangers of his job would be to much on her. That she would leave.

She stayed still in his arms, the only thing moving was her fingers as they traced over his skin. Her voice was low but relaxed when she finally spoke.

“How did this happen? It’s a bullet wound right?” She tilted her head, resting her chin against his chest as she waiting for him to speak. Dean took a deep breath and tightened his grip around her slightly, almost afraid that she would disappear right before him if he didn’t hold on to her.

“It’s an old wound. The only time I’ve ever really been shot…” Dean started but immediately regretted his choice of words when he saw her eyes widen. 

“Really been shot?”  

“Yeah… I mean I’ve been grazed a few times, but…” Dean twisted his upper arm so she could see the scar. “See just burns. Nothing serious.”

Dean saw the tears starting to form behind her eyes, and he didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms back around her. He hated this. He loved his job, but the dangers of it… He didn’t want to burden her with those.

“I’m okay sweetheart. We don’t have to do this…” The stern look on her face stopped him, and he nodded as she spoke. “I need to hear this Dean.”

He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath before he started talking. “It was 5 years ago. I had been a detective for a little over 6 month, and Benny had been my partner since day one. He erhm.. He’s a few years older than me, so he taught me the ropes. We became friends quickly, and I was the first he told when Bela got pregnant. He was so excited…” Dean took a small pause. Remembering that day was not as easy as he thought it would have been, and Dean was grateful for the loving expression on Y/N’s face. The soothing touch of her hand drawing circles on his biceps helped keep him calm and allowed him to keep going.

“He was on an undercover assignment, and he got made. I was his backup, but I was never supposed to go in. So I wasn’t wearing my vest. When things went south… me and a few other guys ran in. One guy almost got away. So Benny chased him, and I took after a minute later. He had Benny on the ground aiming at him when I caught up. So I took a shot.. Only… It was the first time I fired my gun at someone. So I didn’t... He went down, and I was dumb. I didn’t check on him. I went to Benny. He was hurt pretty bad. I just didn’t pay attention. The guy got up and knocked me out of the way. Then he aimed at Benny again… So I jumped in front if it. Some of the other guys showed at that point. I don’t remember much… It would have been my fault if DJ had grown up without a father. If I had just done my job in the first place…” Dean’s voice sounded more strained now. The memory of that day combined with the knowledge of what could have happened was taking a toll on him.

“Sssh you don’t have to say anything else… It’s okay. I get it.” Her hands cupped his face, and she leaned up, pressing her lips against his. Dean closed his arms around her and held her close as he fought back the tears, tears of happiness that she was still here. She wasn’t running or screaming at him. She still wanted him.

Dean rested his forehead against hers, gently rubbing her nose with his. “You’re amazing you know that?”

“Yes.” She grinned, making Dean chuckle.

“I am not sure how you do it,” he added, more serious this time, giving her a small squeeze.

“Do what?” She looked so adorably confused. It made Dean smile.

“Accept this. My job… I… If I knew you were getting shot at... I’m not sure I would ever let you leave the house.” Dean watched her expression change slightly. She suddenly looked a little more pale, but she took a deep breath. Dean instinctively knew she was gonna tell him something he didn’t want to hear.  

“There have been shootings at the Clouds. Kids being involved with gangs and stuff. Never at our house,” she quickly added since she must have felt Dean tense up beneath her. She took another deep breath before she sat up, leaving Dean more than a little confused. He pushed himself up onto his elbow, watching her as she lifted the hem of her tank top to just below her breasts before taking his hand and guiding it over her creamy soft skin. He instantly felt it. The scar he knew was there but had never really given much thought to until now, and he froze as he listened to her words.

“A mom came at me after a court date last year. I had testified saying I believed her to be violent and that I recommended that her two kids would be placed in permanent foster homes. She called my name, and I turned without thinking… She had a kitchen knife, and she almost pierced my lung.

Dean felt every ounce of color drain from his face. The thought of her in a situation like that chilled him to the bone. It scared him more than taking that bullet ever would. The thought that he… that she… It was something he couldn’t even fathom. His grip got a little tighter.

“Is that the only time that’s happened?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No.”

The fear he felt morphed into a near palpable rage.

“I don’t want you going back there.”

“Excuse me?” She pushed free of his hold and stared down at him. “Did you just tell me what to do? To not go to work?!”

Dean knew he should take the words back, but he couldn’t. His fear that something would happen to her overwhelmed him, making him restless. He pushed himself up off the bed and started pacing the room. He needed to make her understand. He needed her safe. He had to make sure that she was safe.

“Dean. Would you stop pacing like a caged lion and fucking talk to me.” Her voice was high pitched, and Dean turned around to look at her to see that she was now standing in front of the bed, staring him down in challenge. She misunderstood everything, and suddenly Dean felt as if he was back to square one with her. She was looking at him like she wanted to kill him and her temper only fueled his.  

“You can’t go back there. I don’t want you to work in a place like that. You could get hurt.” His words came out a lot harsher and angrier than he intended them to. He saw the rage in her eyes, in her entire body by the way she tensed up.

“Then I don’t want you to go back to work either. You are in way more danger than I will ever be.” She was screaming at him now, and Dean fought the urge to kick the chair beside him.

“It is not the same thing dammit. Being a cop. It is who I am Y/N…” She interrupted him, throwing a pillow at his face before he could get out another word.

“Being a social worker is who I am. I never thought you would be like this. Controlling…”

Dean glared at her. She didn’t understand. This wasn’t what it was about. He didn’t want to control her. He loved how strong and independent she was. Hell as stunning as she was, her real beauty was in her strength and capacity to love. He needed to make her understand. This wasn’t about control. This was about keeping her safe.

“God Dammit Y/N. It is not about control. I can’t lose you. Why can’t you see that? I don’t know what I would do if I lost you. I love you.”  

Dean froze as soon as he realized the slip, and she stopped. The anger on her face disappeared instantly, and he could see the tears build behind her eyes. Fuck. What had he done? He didn’t want to tell her like this. He had known for a while, and of course he was going to say it. He just hadn’t wanted it to be like this. Not screaming at her. Not when they were having their first real fight.

“What did you say?” Dean couldn’t read her expression. What if she didn’t feel it? Should he take it back? He couldn’t.  Even if he could, he didn’t want to. He slowly stepped towards her, his eyes never leaving hers as he took her hand in his. “I love you, Y/N. So fucking much. And I am sorry for being an ass, but the thought of seeing you hurt… it scares the shit out of me.”

He saw her watery eyes, and he was sure she was going to kick him out. That this would be the end. He opened his mouth to make it easier for her. That was the least he could do after how he’d just behaved, but she spoke before the words could leave him.

“I love you too, Dean.” Her eyes found his, and he lost control. He needed her, needed to show her how he felt. His lips crashed against hers. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. The kiss was passionate and heated, but soon the feeling of her in his arms was no longer enough. He needed to feel her. All of her. So he lifted her off her feet and gently lowering them both back onto the bed.

His lips and tongue began exploring her skin as he slowly undressed her, drawing soft moans from her. He soon had her gloriously naked before him. His eyes never left her perfect body as his fingers moved in and out of her wet heat, his tongue dancing over her clit, pushing her towards her high.

Fuck he loved watching her. Loved making her feel good. Loved that she let him. He wrung every last drop of pleasure he could from her before he was content. He watched her as he got up to remove his boxers. Her chest heaved, making her soft perfect breast sway a little. Her body glistened with sweat. Her hair mushed up and was almost curly from the perspiration on her forehead. Her eyes glazed over with lust and love as she reached out, calling out for him. Dean immediately obeyed her wish.  He lowered himself down on top of her, kissing her deeply as he slowly pushed his cock inside her. Staying completely still for a minute, he was content to just feel her wrapped around him in every sense of the word. Her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Fuck he loved her.

Then he started moving. Slow, languid thrusts graced over her sweet spot, making her moan against his mouth. Dean had no idea how long he fucked her like that. Could have been a minute. Could have been hours. He didn’t care. He pulled back from their kiss to look her in the eye.

“I love you,” he repeated. He felt the effect his words had on her as she clenched down around him, clawing his back. “Dean, please…”

Then he let go. Fucking her into the mattress. Chasing both of their ends until she fell apart beneath him, screaming his name. Her walls squeezed down on him hard, pulling him with her over the edge.

“Jesus Christ…. Y/N/N.” Dean rested his head against her neck, letting her run her hands soothingly over his back.

“I love you, Dean.” His heart fluttered at her words, and he slowly pulled out of her before rolling them both over until she was resting back against his chest.

“I love you too.” He held her for a moment, letting his mind wander before speaking again.

“Sweetheart?” A contented sigh was his only response. “If things ever get dangerous like that again, promise me you won’t go alone. Take Cas with you. Promise me you’ll call me.”

She rested her chin on his chest and studied him for a moment. She didn’t seem angry this time, more like she was trying to read him. Make sure he was not trying to order her around, and when she seemed content that wasn’t the case, she spoke.

“I promise. If you promise me something?” Her voice was soft, but he felt the seriousness in her tone.

“Anything,” Dean gently ran his hands up and down her naked back, his eyes never leaving hers.

“Be careful. Don’t do anything stupid. Come home to me.” Dean could see the tears build behind her eyes, and he quickly leaned down to kiss her tenderly, pouring his every emotion into it.

“I’ll always come home to you.” Dean pulled her back against his chest, holding her tight, silently wishing he could keep that promise. He was going to do his damnedest to do so. No matter what happened, he would always fight to get back to her. She was his home now. 

Dean Tag Team 

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