#she’s not on the firing squad no. she’s the one being executed

[cherrycola27]

Red, White, and Rooster

Series Warnings: Language, alcohol consumption. Frenemies to lovers, relationship of convenience. Political situations. Allegations of affairs, military and political inaccuracies. Smut. 18+ Minors DNI. Banner Credit: @thedroneranger

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Chapter 16: Executive Orders

After Bradley threatened to steal an Air Force One plane, it was like a fire was lit under Dante and the rest of the security team. Units were immediately moved. Boots would be on the ground in twelve hours, and forces would move in in less than twenty-four.

Bradley, Maverick, Penny, Jake, and Jaycee were on a plane to North Carolina. Bradley was on the phone with Nat and the rest of the Dagger Squad the entire time. He briefed them on how important this mission was and how they were there for air support and surveillance.

They all assured Bradley that they would do whatever it took to get you back.

After coordinating with local law enforcement, a command center was set up just outside the property line of the farm Preston has brought.

At 0700 hours, the Dagger Squad led by Captain Trace departed from the U.S.S. Bush in Virginia.

At 0900 hours, Phoenix made contact with Maverick, who, even though he wasn't flying, still wanted to be a part of the mission. He was corridinating from the ground along with Bradley.

"Mav, everything seems to be clear. There are no signs of movement around the perimeter. Daggers Two and Three, do you confirm?" Phoenix says.

"Confirm Dagger One. No signs of moment to the north." Coyote says. "South is clear too, Cap." Payback." Echos. "Copy that, Daggers. SEAL team Alpha, you are clear to move in from the north. Bravo team move in from the south. Air coverage will let you know if anything changes." Maverick radios.

Bradley grips the arms of the chair he is sitting in. "Mav—" He breaths out. "What if we're too late?"

"Bradley, stop. You can't think like that. She's going to be okay." Mav tries to comfort him.

"Sir. Some of us are going in behind the SEAL teams to provide support. We'll let you know as soon as the First Lady is secure." Dante tells Bradley.

"I want to go with you, Dante. I need to be there." Bradley urges. "Mr. President. With all due respect, we don't know what is waiting for us in that house. We don't know if the Baxter brothers are armed. I can not allow you to go. You need to stay here. It's safer." Dante says.

"Dante, do you enjoy being the head of the secret service?" Bradley asks him.

"Yes, sir." Dante responds.

"Would you like to continue to be the head of the secret service?" Bradley asks him. Dante nods.

"Do you think you can continue to be the head of the secret service if you tell me no, Dante?" Bradley states. Dante doesn't respond.

"I'm going with you. I'm the president, and I'm not asking you for permission, I'm telling you what I'm going to do." Bradley tells him.

Dante looks past him to Maverick, who just shakes his head. "Fine. But you need to stay in the SUV, sir." Dante sighs before the two of them exit.

Maverick continues to listen in to the Daggers flying above. "Maverick, there is movement in the northwest sector. Make sure the Alpha team is advised." Bob radios in. "Copy Bob. Alpha team, be advised there is movement on your left flank." Maverick relays the information.

"Copy that Admiral." The leader of the team replies.

"Alpha team, you are still clear for breech, but stay vigilant." Maverick warns them.

"No signs of moment near Bravo team, Mav." Fanboy states.

"Copy that Dagger Three. Bravo team be ready in case they try to escape in your direction." Maverick commands.

"Copy that, sir. Bravo team is ready."

"Sir, we have eyes on the building. The surrounding area is clear. Are we a go for extraction?" The captain of the Alpha team asks. Maverick sends up a silent prayer and plea to Goose and Carole before speaking. "You are a go for extraction."

....................

The sound of a door bursting and shouting jolts you awake. Voices fill the house, and you aren't sure what's going on. You're disoriented from the mental and physical torture Preston has been putting you through. You barely register him, uncuffing you and dragging you towards the door of the room. Once your mind catches up to the fact that your body is free, you attempt to fight him off. You claw and slap and punch at him, ignoring the pain in your limbs. But you're weak, and your effort seems useless.

A bright flash and a loud bang stun you. Your ears are ringing as white spots cloud your vision. You don't register the sea of uniformed men and women who fill the small room.

You're vaguely aware that they are yelling. Soon, a strong pair of arms wraps around you, and the adrenaline kicks in. You're determined to break free. You struggle like a crazied animal until they grab your shoulders and force you to look at them.

"Ma'am, my name is Lieutenant Xander Finley with the U.S. Navy SEALs. We are here to take you home." The young officer tells you. "H—home?" You stutter out, afraid this is some sick delusion your mind has concocted.

"Yes, Ma'am. You're safe now." He assures you. You collapse against his chest and cry as he and others escort you out. "Admiral Mitchell. We have her, sir. We've got the First Lady." Lieutenant Finley calls into his radio.

Maverick lets out the breath he has been holding and cheers. "Daggers, we have her." He tells the pilots who cheer.

He grabs the other radio and calls into. "Rooster, Mr. President, this is Maverick. Do you copy?" He asks.

"I copy Mav." Bradley says into the radio he has been holding onto for the past half hour as he waits for news. "They have her, Bradley. They've got your girl." Maverick smiles as he realys the news to Bradley.

"Thank you." Is all Bradley can manage to say as tears fill his eyes.

Dante and the rest of the secret service team are waiting with guns drawn. An ambulance is parked close by with a medical team in standby. No one knows what shape you're in.

Bradley exits the vehicle as the first SEALs start to make their way down the dirt road. He stands beside Dante, waiting to catch a glimpse of you.

He holds his breath as more uniforms emerge. They all seem in good spirits.

Then, it happens. He sees you. Two SEALs are helping you walk. Bradley breaks out into a sprint towards you, ignoring the yells of the people around him. He doesn't care. It's been eighteen days, twelve hours, and thirty-six minutes since he's held you in his arms. He doesn't want to was another second.

"Sweetheart." He gasps as he wraps his arms around you, holding you close to him. He let's go of the sob he was holding in as he feverishly kissed your hair. His large arms hold you snug to him, as his scent and fills your nostrils, enveloping you in a sense of safety and comfort.

"Bradley, Dearest." You mumble against his chest as you bury your face into him and cry.

Bradley held you close to his chest as you sobbed. He kissed the top of your head and stroked your hair as his arms tightened around you.

You pulled back to look at him. He cupped your face in his hands. You didn't miss the tick in his jaw as he took stock of you.

You were bloody and bruised and broken. His heart ached for you, knowing that you must be in so much pain right now. But through it all, you smiled at him. He smiled back at you, but it quickly faded as he caught sight of two members of the SEAL team escorting Preston towards your location.

"You piece of shit!" Bradley screamed as he released you and ran towards Preston. The men holding onto him didn't know what to do as Bradley charged at them. The jump from his side just as Bradley's fist made contact with the other man's face and knocked him to the ground.

"You fucking bastard!" Bradley raged as jumped on top of Preston and delivered blow after blow to his face. Everyone stood there frozen as they watched the scene unfold. No one was sure what to do, and no one moved to stop him.

"You son of a bitch! You tried to take her from me! You tried to take my everything from me!" Bradley screamed.

Bradley continued to hit Preston over and over again. He didn't stop when he heard the crunch of his nose breaking. He didn't stop when his knuckles were bruised and bloody. He didn't stop when Preston was no longer struggling to fight him off. He didn't stop when Maverick and Jake tried to pull him off because they were afraid Bradley would kill him.

He only stopped when you called out his name and grabbed his arm. You looked at him with tearful eyes. "Bradley—he's not worth it." You whispered.

Bradley sighed and shook his head. He knew you were right. He looked at the people who were around him before locking eyes with the captain of the SEAL teams. "Mr. President, sir, as far as I'm concerned, we didn't see anything. Mr. Baxter sustained these injuries as a result of resisting arrest and attempting to flee the scene. Everyone here agrees." The man speaks while others nodded their heads. "I wanted to let you know that Alexander Baxter surrendered peacefully and is willing to cooperate with us." He finished. Bradley nodded and thanked him for his efforts.

He quickly helped you over to the EMTs who were waiting for you. Bradley held your hand as they assessed and treated you. Maverick came over to comfort both of you. He offered you the radio that was connected to the Dagger Squad. Each of them cheered when they heard your voice, and you told them they were clear to head home. Bradley phoned Jake and Jaycee, who were waiting back at the makeshift headquarters and let them know you were alive and being transported to the nearest hospital.

He held your hand and whispered how brave and smart and strong you were the whole time. He looped his fingers with yours, and you placed both of them on your stomach. You shared a silent understanding and worry. Neither of you said anything, but you both knew what news could be waiting for you once you arrived at the hospital.

.....................

You felt like you had been waiting for hours once you were admitted to the hospital. They quickly set your broken fingers and broke arm that you had acquired. They treated the wounds on your face and iced it to help with the swelling. They also had to stich a laceration near your hairline. You would be able to hide it with your hair, but you joked with Bradley that the two of you would have matching face scars.

You were given more fluids because of dehydration and a liquid nutrition cocktail. Several vials of blood were drawn from you. Everything came back normal for you and your baby, but an obstetrician was needed to confirm

Soon, Dr. Fraser came in to perform an ultrasound and an exam. You and Bradley held your breath as you were waiting for something, anything to appear on that screen.

"Ah, right there. Do you see? There's Baby Bradshaw." Dr. Fraser smiled before clicking a few things and turning a dial. Soon, the whooshing sound of a heartbeat filled the room.

"Heartbeat is nice and strong. Baby seems to be in good shape, all things considered. You're measuring about twelve weeks and a few days, which puts you due around late January or early February. We'll know know for sure in a few more weeks." The doctor tells you.

You and Bradley breathe a sigh of relief as the doctor exits and gives the two of you some privacy.

"I'm so glad we—I got you back. Both of you. You're my everything, Sweetheart. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you." He says as he rests his hand on your belly. You grab his hand and bring his bruised knuckles to your lips and kiss them.

"You need to have someone look at these." You tell him. He rolls his eyes and tells you'll that he'll be fine.

You let out a yawn, and the overwhelming feeling of exhaustion fills your body. You're tired and weak, but you're terrified to close your eyes. Afraid that this is a dream and that if you fall asleep, Bradley will be gone when you wake up.

As if he can hear your thoughts, Bradley says. "Sleep, my love. I'll be right here when you wake up." He assures you. Another yawn escapes you as your eyelids become heavy. Bradley strokes your forehead as sleepover takes you.

He sits in the hospital room and watches the rise and fall of your chest as you breathe. He sends up a silent thank you to whatever higher power it was that brought you and his child back to him. He also thanks his mom and dad because he knows that Goose and Carole were definitely watching over you.

He lets out the breath he has been holding as he squeezes your hand. He takes your rings out of his pocket. He'd put them in there when you'd gotten to the hospital. He slipped them back on your fingers. His thumb traces over the bands as he thinks to himself that the two of you really are better together.

The long awaited rescue is here! Hope you guys enjoy it!

Taglist: @daggerspare-standingby @shanimallina87 @teacupsandtopgun @hecate-steps-on-me @roosterscock @roosterbruiser @roosterforme @seresinsbabe @startrekfangirl2233 @soulmates8 @xoxabs88xox @avengersfan25 @blackwidownat2814 @loveforaugust @mak-32 @cottagecori @amysteryspot @heyimmadisonn @princess76179 @bradshawseresinbabe @sunlightmurdock @lewmagoo @cassiemitchell @die-cunt @shipinabluebottle @malindacath @violyn20 @imawkwardlysoc @books-for-summer @blackroseboulevard @recordblues @desert-fern @luckyladycreator2 @katieshook02 @samhapner6 @sebsxphia @roosters-girl @diorrfairy @je-suis-prest-rachel @mizzzpink @a-linabean @amklibrary @gretagerwigsmuse @jstarr86 @actuallyazriel @krismdavis @bradshawsbaby @wkndwlff @dakotakazansky

[bbsmuts]

Party In The Barracks ft. TWICE Chaeyoung A/N: This is an ask from a now deactivated account, so I’m doing my best with no more details than “Chaeyoung gangbanged by military cadet onces”. Enjoy!  -상훈

Length: 2.4k

It was a carefully planned operation. 

Chaeyoung and the rest of her squad were deployed to find and kill an international serial killer called Kyong Dong-min. He had been eluding the Korean military, even the ROK-SWC, for years, and this mission was to be the last time Kyong would see the light of day without being behind bars. Or from the end of a noose, hanging to death, Chaeyoung thought as she sat down in a chair in the meeting room.

The rest of the squad filed in silently, waiting for the squad leader to come in and go over the plan one more time before the perfect execution they had been plotting for weeks.  

Kyong was on a private boat out in the middle of the Sea of Japan, probably drinking and having a good time with some sluts he brought with him. The squad would be flown out by a stealth jet and parachute down to the boat, where they would locate and detain their target. The serial killer was currently holding hostage the daughter of a rich business executive, and reports said the girl was undergoing rape and torture. The situation could continue no longer.  

“So,” said the squad leader, snapping Chaeyoung out of her thoughts, “when that happens, Son, you’ll be where?”

“On the ground, ready to strike if needed,” Chaeyoung supplied tonelessly. They’d gone over the plan so many times, she could have recited every action in her sleep.

Preparations were made. Chaeyoung went with the rest of her squad to the barracks to get her things. Backpack, check. Bulletproof vest, check. Cargo pants, boots, gloves, belt, pistol with holster, fixed-blade knife with sheath, radio, elbow and knee pads, cuffs, escape tools, and M16 assault rifle with sling and spare mags. Check.  

Mind and body prepared, ready to kill if necessary. 

And thus, she found herself sitting in a seat in the hatch of a plane with a parachute strapped to her back, assault rifle in hand.  

The hatch opened at the captain’s command, and Chaeyoung took hold of a pole to stay in.  

“Jumping on five!” The squad leader shouted into his radio, for the benefit of the pilot and his squad.  

“One, two, three, four, NOW!”  

Next was the sensation of wind rushing past her ears as she leapt out of the plane.  

She waited. She had to reach 2000 altitude before deploying her parachute.  

“Deploying in five seconds,” the leader shouted into the radio, “Four, three, two, one, deploying now!”  

Chaeyoung pulled the ring on her parachute and it unfurled above her head, spreading out and slowing her momentum.  

Silently, the squad bore down on the boat like raining death and landed on the roof.  

“You three,” whispered the squad leader, pointing to Yang, Kim, and Jeon, “you go and make sure the hostage is safe. Do not engage enemies until my signal. Son,” he said, turning to Chaeyoung, “you go with Kwon and locate Kyong. Report back when you find him.”  

Chaeyoung led Choon-hee away from the leader, who was directing the other squad members in different directions.  

Black shapes moved in the darkness as the squad split up and headed out with their instructions. The bedrooms were near the front end of the boat, so Chaeyoung and Choon-hee sneaked towards the area. The cruiser was about two hundred feet long, and it didn’t take long to reach the front. Kyong’s window was facing them as they crouched on the bow, and Choon-hee took her AW50 sniper off her back.  

“Not yet,” Chaeyoung murmured, pushing the barrel of the gun away. “I’m going to go in. If he attacks, fire at will.”  

She got up and sneaked silently around to the door of the bedroom.” 

“We found the hostage,” her squadmate said on the radio. “I repeat, we found the hostage.”  

“Copy that.” Chaeyoung confirmed. “We’ve located Kyong, closing on his position.”  

“Affirmative.” Replied another squadmate.  

“Boss, a woman has entered the room,” Choon-hee said over the other radio channel. 

“Do not open fire yet. I’m heading in.”  

Chaeyoung kicked the door open, which swung right off its hinges, taking both people in the room by surprise.  

“Get down on the ground, now!” Chaeyoung yelled, aiming her gun at Kyong and pressing the stock to her shoulder, as the woman screamed.  

Kyong cursed loudly and flung himself to one side, diving for his pistol and pointing it at Chaeyoung.  

“Kwon!” Chaeyoung yelled into the radio, throwing herself out of the way. “Shoot now!” 

The sound of the first sniper round shooting through the window mixed with the sound of the pistol firing, and Chaeyoung flung herself away just in time. Kyong looked around for the sniper and then fled from the room.   

“Kyong is loose, fire on sight!” Chaeyoung told the squad, pursuing Kyong away from the room. He turned a corner and disappeared. Chaeyoung approached the corner, Yang covering her. She poked the barrel around the corner and then her head.   

“Kwon, where are you?” She asked into her radio.   

“Other side of the deck, boss. Kyong is up those stairs across from you.”   

Chaeyoung motioned for Yang to follow her.   

She climbed the stairs silently, waiting for any noise. A scuffling came from over head, and she clutched the grip on her gun tighter.   

“Keep him in your crosshairs, Kwon.”   

“He’s moving, boss. He’s approaching the stairs.”   

Chaeyoung pointed her gun at the head of the stairwell.  

“You’re surrounded, Mr. Kyong.” Chaeyoung said formally, carefully inching up the stairs. “Come out with your hands up, or I will come in there. Do not attempt anything, or I will shoot.”

Silence from upstairs. Chaeyoung moved a couple of steps further up the staircase. Still no noise came from the room, and she stepped up a couple more. 

“Come out with your hands up,” she repeated, “or I’m coming in there.” 

No response came. She stepped up the last stair and flung herself around the corner to see Kyong pointing a gun towards her head. 

“Get down!” She shouted at Yang, who had followed her. Kyong, in a last stand, had taken up his pistol and pointed it at her. “Kwon, shoot him!” 

Kyong’s head exploded as the sniper bullet blew it apart. Blood and brains splattered the walls and windows. 

“Well,” Chaeyoung said to the team over radio after a few moments of silence, “that could’ve gone a lot better.”

…

After returning to base and informing everyone of Kyong’s death, Chaeyoung and the squad went to the barracks to put their gear up. She stripped off her uniform and, after removing the badges, put it in the washing machine. Eyes followed her form as she walked back across the room. She was wearing nothing but a white lace bra and matching panties, but she didn’t really care.

Tension was in the air as they went to bed. It was the kind of tension Chaeyoung had come to know well over her years, that of sexual tension. The others in her squad were honorable, respectable men, but instinct was instinct. 

The lights were off and Chaeyoung was in bed when Choon-hee got out of her own bed and slid under Chaeyoung’s blankets, as planned.

“So,” she said briskly, rolling the edge of the blanket down past her bra. “You had to kill Kyong.”

“Yes, otherwise I and Yang would have been shot. I had to. Had it been up to me, he’d be behind prison bars right about now.”

“And how about what we discussed earlier, boss?” The younger girl asked, voice suddenly lower, quieter.

Chaeyoung remembered well what they had discussed earlier. That morning, before they’d been called to the conference room. The talk had turned very suggestive, as the two of them liked it. Choon-hee hadn’t been with her boyfriend in more than a year. Chaeyoung hadn’t been dating anyone, but was dirty minded anyway. So they liked to sprinkle the conversation with a little dirty talk. 

“No, I haven’t forgotten,” intoned Chaeyoung amusedly, “and I haven’t forgotten my promise, either.”

Choon-hee had never experienced sex with another girl, and Chaeyoung, however resignedly, had promised to show her. Very physically. 

“So?” Choon-hee said expectantly, “are we going to?”

Chaeyoung reached behind her colleague’s back and unhooked her bra, answering the question.

Eyes lit with excitement, Choon-hee slipped her panties down along her slender legs and off her feet, carelessly tossing them to one side. 

Chaeyoung, having experience in the area, brought her own face up to Choon-hee’s and pressed her lips against the younger girl’s. They both moaned into the kiss, and Choon-hee slid on top of Chaeyoung and straddled her. Chaeyoung could feel the heat emanating from her colleague’s pussy.

“Damn, you really wanted it that much?”

“Yeah,” Choon-hee replied, giving another moan as Chaeyoung reached up and squeezed her naked breasts. “I wanted it the whole time we were gone. You looked so sexy in your underwear, boss.”

Chaeyoung chuckled and unhooked her own bra, pulling off her panties as well. 

“Okay, so you want to move down.” She instructed, guiding Choon-hee down on the bed and positioning Choon-hee’s hips between her own, their pussies an inch from each other. 

But before either of them could do anything more, Chaeyoung felt her face being tilted back. Her jaw was pushed open and she willingly let the expected cock slide into her mouth. And the realization that she and her squadmate were surrounded by horny men who knew exactly what they were doing hit her. This was going to turn into a gangbang.

The cock in her mouth slid back and forth, poking the back of her throat. Choon-hee, having gotten the general idea, moved forward and started grinding her hips against Chaeyoung’s pussy. 

Moans left both of their mouths, but Chaeyoung’s was absorbed by the shaft of the man facefucking her, who groaned at the sensation. The men around her waited patiently, but after a minute or two removed Choon-hee from Chaeyoung’s bed to use her.

Immediately, two more cocks penetrated Chaeyoung, and another guy slid under her, his dick in her ass. She gave a cry into her facefucking as one man’s finger found her clit and toyed with it. Choon-hee was presumably being used similarly; moans, groans, and Choon-hee’s high pitched whines of pleasure sounded from Chaeyoung’s neighboring bed. 

It had probably been a while since any of them had been able to enjoy something like this, and they were living it up to the fullest. Chaeyoung found herself starting to feel an orgasm building already. So many nights she had tried and failed to masturbate to orgasm, and finally she would get the release she so desperately toiled for. Her continued moans were enough to set the man facefucking her off; he rammed himself deep down her throat and shot his cum in thick ropes into her stomach. His place was immediately taken by another, who wasted no time in shoving himself down her throat. She gagged and choked on the thick rod penetrating her throat.

One of them who was facefucking Choon-hee while she was being double stuffed in doggy also had his orgasm triggered. He buried himself in her throat and groaned loudly. 

“Oh god yes, it’s so good, I’m cumming!” Came the yell from next to her, followed by a splattering sound and several obscene wet claps of soaked skin on soaked skin.  

Chaeyoung held her pleasure in, waiting for the other men to cum first. The one fucking her ass did, and with a moan he gave a final thrust before cumming into her asshole. Shortly after the man fucking her pussy reached his peak, the overwhelming tightness proving to be too much. 

“Fuck!” He bellowed. Chaeyoung moaned at the sudden torrent of warmth flooding into her womb. The moan turned to a scream of pleasure as she lost control of her building orgasm and let it go, squirting on the two men on her.

A cacophony of pleasure sounds filled the room as various squad members achieved their climaxes. Chaeyoung and Choon-hee were the only two girls for a couple of miles around, and these men had been cut off from any kind of sexual contact for more than a year. They fucked the two girls with animalistic passion.

Everyone crashed onto the cots after they had all finished, spent for the day after the mission and their more recent activities. 

The others went back to their cots and collapsed for sleep, but Choon-hee was on the pill and not done yet. She silently approached and climbed back on top of Chaeyoung. They hadn’t had their fun with each other earlier, and Choon-hee wasn’t one to give up so easily.

Straddling Chaeyoung, Choon-hee mashed her lips against the former’s with passion and neediness, then moved down and copied the position Chaeyoung had shown her earlier. 

“Mmm,” Choon-hee moaned, rocking her hips against Chaeyoung. 

“You like that?” Chaeyoung whispered, still panting from the exertion of her orgasm. “Let me show you something else.”

She grabbed Choon-hee by the waist and moved her up until her pussy was hovering inches from Chaeyoung’s lips. Then she let go and started ferociously swiping at Choon-hee’s wet folds.

“Oh yes!” She cried, arching her back in pleasure, “Oh fuck yes, it feels so good! I’m cumming again!”

Her voice temporary failed her as she rode out the waves of pleasure emanating through her, the feeling too much for her to bear. 

Chaeyoung got up and made Choon-hee lay with her leg up in the air somewhere around her ear. She lowered her pussy to her squadmate’s and started ruthlessly bucking her hips against her. 

Choon-hee’s blissful moans turned to squeals and cries at the new sensation. 

“Fuck, this is so much better!” She tipped her head back and let out another cry as her clit was struck.

“Fuck, I’m gonna cum,” Chaeyoung moaned, feeling the same sensation. “Oh, it’s coming, SHIT!”

They both came at the same time, and Chaeyoung slammed her hips down into Choon-hee as their gushes of cum met each other and splattered both of them.

Choon-hee let loose a helpless moan as she collapsed in a heaving, sweaty mess.

“That was so good,” she said breathlessly. “Imagine what would happen if we’d been caught.”

Chaeyoung laughed. “I’d prefer not to.”

[faceofpoe]

Let's talk about that scene in the brig after they go back for Omega in the pilot. Crosshair's been getting more and more worked up - he's just finished blaming Hunter for ignoring orders and getting them locked up when Omega comes to sit with him.

To this point he's criticized Hunter's leadership but hasn't yet broken with the squad. He's not happy but there's still a general "in it together" vibe he's grudgingly following along for.

And then his "you can't help it" conversation with Omega is cut off by the guards ordering him out of the cell. He doesn't move - Hunter puts himself in the middle and, "We stay together." Once they show they're willing to use force, he gets up and cooperates.

Is he demonstrating that he's still a good soldier, unlike the rest of them?

Or is he falling on something of a proverbial sword (what ends up being his own sort of protracted torture version of Plan 99?) to stop this moment from escalating, and counting on the whole 'they'll come back for me' thing when he gets up and walks out?

Faced with only the few blasters left in the room vs when they're first intercepted in the hangar, would they have normally taken their chances fighting their way out this time once the barrier is dropped?

Except now Hunter has thrown this curveball priority in with this damned kid?

If Bracca "aim at the kid" ruthless weaponizing of what he's seen is Hunter's first priority/ 'fire the engine they're hiding in' Crosshair is peak 'hyperactive inhibitor chip' Crosshair, then this post-chip (??) Crosshair is a reversion to his baseline attitude of Omega - which is simply that she has no business being in this fight/in this squad at all.

Part of what makes the whole "you weren't loyal to me" thing so delightful is how sticky it is. You've got a skilled sniper willing to kill gunning for you, what are you going to do?

But what would they have risked for him upon grasping the full implications of the inhibitor chip, upon seeing what it does to Wrecker, if Omega weren't adding this whole new dimension and dynamic to their decisions?

Anyway, my musing is that this scene in the brig is when Crosshair actually went along with Hunter in prioritizing Omega over leaping into action that would put her at risk, and this is at the root of all of his episode 1.15 bitterness/1.16 sticking with the Empire/having stuck with the Empire after having the chip removed(after Bracca??) more so than just a vague 'you should have found a way to save me from the chip/from myself/reunite us once more.'

Making the progression in season 3 from "there is no we" to "did they teach you Plan 72?" the key to unlocking Crosshair's side of reconciliation. When Crosshair opted to stay behind on Kamino, he was still in full "just because you're a clone doesn't make you one of them," mode with Omega in their second side-by-side scene that mirrors the brig.

They chose her, who isn't even one of them, over him, after he fleetingly chose her too for Hunter's sake.

When they cross paths for the first time on Tantiss, "there is no we/I'm not them" - he's still viewing her as this foolish sidekick his one-time brothers saddled themselves with. But he's also trying to optimize what he views as her chances for success, at the cost of his own hope for freedom. Her safety matters to him, Plan 88 - for her own sake, or perhaps more likely, for Hunter & co's sake (hearkening back to their first stuck-in-prison/averting the fight theory).

But then we get their third side-by-side scene once her plan has dead-ended.

Acknowledging "we," neither of them could have done this alone; acknowledging her finally as one of them; perhaps even acknowledging that he still could be, too (see: their flawless execution of Plan 72; the continued cooperation in the next ep; continuing to prioritize getting her to safety over what he views as their best shot after she tosses the credits at him).

(We don't leave our own behind, even when your squad is now a dog you didn't want and a girl you've been noisy-sighing at for the past several hours).

Anyway all of that to say BOY am I looking forward to episode 5 and the messy messy situation they're all in now and the messy messy conversations they need to have.

[fortunelowtier]

One of the things that's always fascinated me abt Vivzie as an artist is how her artstyle has almost “regressed” over the past like 10 years.

Like lets take Helluva Boss for example. Every character, be they imp, demon, hellhound or otherwise, all follows the same basic template for their specific race.

this is made painfully obvious with the introduction of this design in the most recent episode, which is supposed to be Beelzebub, a deity usually associated with flies/insects (I bold “usually” because while yes people usually associate Beelzebub with flies, this is because their title/description is being the “Lord of the Flyers”, which people usually see as “Lord of the Flies” So technically Bee doesn't even need to be a fly, she just needs to fly)

Now normally that wouldn't really matter, creative freedom in stories with inspiration from mythology/religion is what makes them interesting. But what FASCINATES me about HBs depiction of Beelzebub specifically is that Viv already went through the trouble of designing the Gluttony layer to have a hive/bee aesthetic, which makes the whiplash of seeing Bees design so much more severe, because you see the hive designs and honeycombs and go “Oh! they’re gonna make her a bee, yknow like BEElzebub, that's interesting” but then nope, just a 4 armed hellhound

And the fact that the layer seems to have been specially designed with insects in mind begs the question of why the fuck even bother making her just a 4 armed hellhound, you already were halfway there because you had enough foresight to give her 4 arms why not just, yk, make her a fucking bee, or a wasp, anything that ISNT just a 4 armed hellhound is my point

And like...have yall seen Vivs old artstyle?? That shit lowkey oozed character. Like just look at this comparison here, the ones on the left are from before Hazbin (to give a specific date, you're looking at around the range of 2013-2017, Proto-Charlie and Proto-Vaggie I know are from at LEAST 2013), the ones on the right are from the recent redesigns for the A24 pilot

Now am I saying that ALL of the old designs are better than the new ones? No, I still prefer the new Cherri and Pentious over their old designs. the point I’m trying to illustrate here is how interesting it is to me how much Vivs style as gotten noticeably less “unique” over the past few years

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk, I will now sit back and await the Vivziepop Designated Firing Squad to come and execute me 

[alexissara]

Sonic Fighting Game Dream Roster!

Me and My Metamore messed around to make a sonic fighting game roster and I wanted to share kinda like the roster and the thought behind it and stuff for fun since this was a silly little fun thing. Our limitations where only including canon sonic characters in the main roster, the roster was going to be 24 characters because that was the base Dragon Ball Fighters Z roster size at launch, we were assuming the game would be an another Arcsystem Works Tag Fighter. I elected not to go for an even gender ratio like I normally would since we were aiming for a realistic roster but obviously when between viable options I favored a woman. 10/24 of the base roster are women so pretty close to half and like do Mecha Sonic, Chaos or Omega even really have genders? This game would also be one that focused on a more modern control style given Sonic is intended for children but also that modern controls are becoming simply the norm.

The team play is important for this game since sonic is not really a fights alone guy. Since Sonic 2 Sonic has been a serious about working together to overcome evil and it's been that way since with Sonic 3 adding another playable friend, Knuckles Chaotics having a whole squad, leading to the eventual adventure games and that eras bigger rosters. Like Skullgirls you could pick between having 1, 2 or 3 people in your team and have the characters enhanced on the smaller team number but lose access to the full sweet of abilities being teamed up gives you.

It's one thing to make a roster but another thing to try and think about how the characters would play. I have minor concepts on many of the playable characters, one requirement we had for putting someone on the not DLC part of the roster was having an idea of how they played.

Sonic obviously establishes the Foundational parts of the game being a rush down character to stay true to the archtype but one with a bit more resilience, he'd have just a tiny bit of everything to teach people while staying true to the speed focus. Blaze gets a mild zoning game with fire balls but is more aggressive being more of a combo focused character with the ability to further her combo potential with her blazing blade super similar to Juri in Street Fighter. Surge would be a character who was able to damage herself to increase damage to others, reckless in her desire to prove her strength and get out of people's shadows. Metal Sonic would play like sonic with a few different moves and a tankier set up but lower combo potential. Shadow would have the most advance moveset of the rushdown characters. having tricky moves that result in high pay offs but require solid execution.

The Balanced characters present most of the games features in the movesets. Honey the Cat being from Sonic Fighters makes her the perfect character to be the most basic fighting game character having basically just Ryu's moveset with no frills but some additional girly flare to give her some personality. Trip is a transformation character like Hellsing from Blaze blue with her dragon mode providing her a more aggressive style but a bigger hit box and body while still working off the more fundamental gameplay. Tails would have a bit of it all but with a bit of a stronger zoning game as a charge character. Emerald being from Sonic's second fighting game and copying movesets would be like Seth from Street Fighter 5 and other similar characters giving them a diverse moveset using moves from other characters.

Amy Rose would be a perfect midrange character wanting to not be too close or too far, her hammer being the distance away she wants to be. Tangle would have some command grabs she could preform further away and in general she wants to be fighting with just a bit more room than the average fighter. The deadly six are summon type character who work at any range but average out to about wanting the same distance as Amy and Tangle. Each of the six bring different abilities to the table similar to Captain Ginyu in DBFZ.

Chaos is a tricky grappler with a lot of strange movement tools. Big the Cat is our big time joke character where he is just trying to find froggy in battle and your just in his way accidently getting boddied by his long distance fishing hook grabs and friendly hugs as Froggy is set up on opponents allowing Big to hit with bigger damage. Omega is a more classic big body, get the fuck out my way or I'll kill you zoner with a weak projectile it can use to discourage running away from him.

Rouge is our iconic trap setter allowing her to steal wins from opponents who aren't ready to deal with the puzzle game she throws before them which includes inflicting some debuffs that remove options from your opponents for a particular amount of time like tagging out. Starline has his warp topaz for movement allowing him a more zoner focused gameplay style with a command grab that is styled after his hypnosis and otherwise his inventions being little traps on the field to control where the foe is and their approach. Nights and Cosmo would be characters more focused on the assist role creating items that their team mates can use with buffs. Nights would have a higher risk reward where the opponent could also use them where Cosmos would be locked to benefiting the player. Finally Eggman is tanky with all the traps and annoyances of a zoner. He can't do big damage but he is hard to take down and there is probably a boss version of him that is even more annoying.

Fang/Knack had the name sniper, their an archetypical zoner. Whisper's whispeon allows her to customize her shots by switching which whisp she has loaded into the gun, this allows her a diverse arrow of zoning options allowing her to always keep her opponent guessing on what is the best way to approach her. It's no use trying to beat Silver when he can yet you away to keep his ideal distance having a weak command grab that allows him to toss his foe full screen and keep up the aggressive physic assault.

Cream is our Puppet character with a special twist on being a puppet character with a puppet that evolves over time from Cream to Cream + Cheese to Gemerald building a meter to have a stronger puppet to use but stage 2 having some reasons to use it over stage 3. That can be paired with one last appearance in her ultimate attack allowing her mother Vanilla to get mad at the foe for attacking her daughter and finish off the opponent in a motherly rage. Knuckles would function like most boxing characters only having punches and being a bit of a bully in battle who is hard to handle but his special ability to glide would allow her far more air mobility then most other characters in the game. Espio would be a classic ninja character with all that entails having lots of moving and plenty of tricks to serve. Jet wouldn't be fighting alone coming in swinging with his crew able to dive in from the air like a hawk and take opponents into large air combos where on the ground he is pretty lacking.

While this is typically the type of thing reserved for Youtube videos but I felt like idk writing out this kind of thing and if you enjoyed it please let me know. I had a blast doing it and I would love to make more dream rosters with my lesbian edge where I am gonna favor women. I think these are just fun ways to nerd out about a series I enjoy and I'd love to go even more in depth I stopped myself from being extra indulgent on this one but I'd have loved to go into how I imagine a single player mode would work, talk more about universal mechanics and everything else.

All I want is some feedback if you enjoyed it but if you wanted to I am always happy to get support on making my own original queer art over on Patreon and Ko-fi which includes my current ambition to make an SRPG along with my for sure going to happen TTRPG projects.

[otmaaromanovas]

OTMA's personalities according to Colonel Evgeny Stepanovich Kobylinsky

Kobylinsky is a fascinating inividual, here is a short summary of his life: Colonel Kobylinsky was employed by the Provisional Government and oversaw the Romanovs during their captivity in the Alexander Palace and Tobolsk. He was eventually replaced due to being viewed as not strict enough, and enabling their desires for activity and entertainment. Unusually, he went on to join the White Army in 1918, until he was captured and sent to a concentration camp. In order to escape the camp, he traded his freedom for a position in the Red Army. He eventually married Klavdia Mikhailovna Bitner, friend and tutor to OTMAA. Together they had one son. In 1927 he was accused of being part of a 'monarchical conspiracy' against the Soviet State and was executed by firing squad. Bitner was also arrested under a similar charge ten years later, and executed. Their son, Innokenty Evgenievich, was orphaned aged seventeen. He was drafted into the Red Army, and fought against the Nazi invasion.

"The Grand Duchess Olga was a nice looking young blonde, about twenty-three; her type was Russian. She was fond of reading, capable and mentally well developed; spoke English well and German badly. She had some talent for art, played the piano, sang, (she learned singing in Petrograd; her voice was soprano), and she painted well. She was very modest and did not care for luxury.

Her clothes were modest and she restrained her sisters from extravagance in dress. She gave altogether the impression of a good, generous-hearted Russian girl. It looked as if she had had some sorrows in her life and still carried traces of it. It seemed to me that she loved her father more than she loved her mother. She also loved her brother, and called him "The Little One" or "The Baby.

The Grand Duchess Tatiana was about twenty. She was quite different from her sisters. You recognised in her the same features that were in her mother — the same nature and the same character. You felt that she was the daughter of an emperor. She had no liking for art. Maybe it would have been better for her had she been a man. When the emperor and empress left Tobolsk nobody would ever have thought that the Grand Duchess Olga was the senior of the remaining members of the imperial family. If any questions arose it was always Tatiana who was appealed to. She was nearer to her mother than the other children; and it seemed that she loved her mother more than her father.

The Grand Duchess Maria was eighteen ; she was tall, strong, and better looking than the other sisters. She painted well and was the most amiable. She always used to speak to the soldiers, questioned them, and knew very well the names of their wives, the number of their children, and the amount of land owned by the soldiers. All the intimate affairs in such cases were always known to her. Like the Grand Duchess Olga, she loved her father more than the rest. On account of her simplicity and affability she was given the pet name by the family of "Mashka." And by this term she was called by her brother and by her sisters.

The Grand Duchess Anastasia, I believe, was seventeen. She was over-developed for her age; she was stout and short, too stout for her height; her characteristic feature was to see the weak points of other people and to make fun of them. She was a comedian by nature and always made everybody laugh. She preferred her father to her mother and loved Maria Nicholevna more than the other sisters.

All of them, including Tatiana, were nice, modest and innocent girls. There is no doubt they were cleaner in their thoughts than the majority of girls nowadays.

The czarevitch was the idol of the whole family. He was only a child and his characteristic features were not yet worked out. He was a very clever, capable and lively boy. He spoke Russian, French and English, and did not know a word of German.

In general, I could say about the whole imperial family that they all loved each other and were so satisfied with their family life that they did not need nor look for intercourse with other people. Never before in my life have I seen, and probably never again shall I see, such a good, friendly and agreeable family."

SOURCE: The Last Days of the Romanovs, published 1920, George Gustav Telberg, Robert Wilton, Nikolai Sokolov, ch. Examination of E. S. Kobylinsky

PHOTOS: Colonel Kobylinsky, dates unknown. Arrest photograph of Klavdia Mikhailovna Kobylinskaya, formerly Bitner, shortly before her execution

[ang-900]

The Original Voltron Adaptations Vs Their Original Japanese Counterparts.

Beast King Go-Lion:

Go-Lion/Voltron's backstory is that he got split due to his hubris after thinking he could take on the space goddess.

Voltron is a sentient being who lived long before time.

Voltron's title is king of the beasts.

All the pilots, save Fala/Allura, are from Earth.

All the boys are effectively in the same boat as VLD Shiro and have the gladiator backstory.

Earth is dead and gone, consumed by World War 3 by the start of the show.

Allura is canonically 16.

Raible/Coran's a strategist.

Altea/Arus's people were assumed to all be destroyed (especially the royal family), but they're all hiding out.

Allura's parents and siblings are executed by Daibazaal/Zarkon's hand while she was a year old baby. Zarkon didn't know she existed.

Hiroshi Suzuishi/Pidge is descended from Ninja.

There's so much blood and gore. People get cut in half vertically and horizontally. We get the privilege of watching people drop dead on screen with these horrifying faces and screams. Zarkon and Sincline/Lotor drink blood, too.

Honerva/Haggar has this bs called occult science.

Akira Kogane/Keith and Allura are so slowburn to the point it might not exist between them.

King Raimon/Alfor's ghost comes back from the grave to tell the paladins how much they suck.

Pidge threatens to eat the space mice twice.

Shirogane Takashi/Sven dies and and a later episode introduces his younger brother, Ryou/Sven, who was captured as a slave among others before Earth was fully destroyed.

Cannibalism

A tragic side character commits suicide at the end of an episode

Amue/Romelle's older brother is willingly turned into a robeast. Her older brother and father are both murdered by the Galra during a battle with Voltron.

Earth is completely destroyed and uninhabitable. The boys become honorary citizens of Arus.

A scene depicting Pidge's mother shows her seeing him off his mission. It's the last time he sees her.

Lotor has a dream about his mother where it suggests Zarkon had a hand in her disappearance. A flashback occurs showing us she was a good person and was killed for moral differences.

Coran's son, Saint/Garret, died as an infant while he and his mother were escaping from the castle. They are buried by a local group of people. The Galra dig up this grave to clone him.

Hys/Nanny is shot by Garret and dies.

A father-daughter bond is implied between Coran and Allura when the latter comforts the former after the Garret incident.

The Galran foot soldiers are living beings.

Romelle almost died via firing squad.

One notable robeast involved a snake like being who survived a civil massacre amongst her people and was introduced burying her deceased child. She adopts Pidge within the same episode. She dies at the end from blood loss.

Another notable side character was a sand person. Allura befriends this one by giving it her bracelet. The sand person is turned into a robeast. It's implied the sand person dies at the end, though it is unclear why.

During the final battle, Lotor sends out trapped prisoners in bubbles as bombs so Voltron can't move without killing them. Lotor also shoots them as missles. Haggar also shoots at the prisoners so Voltron can move and end Lotor's career.

Haggar's motive in helping Voltron lies in that Lotor killed Zarkon.

Haggar is Zarkon's mother.

Ryou dies fighting Lotor.

Honerva dies. Zarkon dies. Lotor dies.

Voltron: Defender of the Universe:

"We don't need clothes." Keith, 1984.

Arus is still alive, they just get attacked.

Voltron's backstory is that Haggar disguised herself as said space goddess and wrecked Voltron into five pieces.

Coran's a diplomat.

Voltron's title is King of the Robots

Galaxy Garrison exists here.

Allura grew up an only child and seldom saw her parents because they were busy.

Sven is severely injured and is, instead, sent to another planet to recuperate, but gets captured as a slave on planet Doom and thinks he's crazy.

Zarkon disrespects Haggar likes it's nobody's business.

King Alfor built Voltron.

Zarkon has a nephew

Pidge has a sister who's stated to be training as a pilot.

That same tragic side character is said to have returned to her home planet offscreen

Romelle's older brother is willingly turned into a robeast. He swims out to see in the middle of a battle with Voltron. Romelle's father in consequence goes mad and is implied to have died as a result.

Balto is ravaged by Lotor's forces. Pidge becomes an honourary citizen of Arus.

Pidge is an orphan and the scene of his mother depicts his adoption

Lotor has a dream about Allura instead. Allura's nightmare shows us she's afraid of Zarkon.

"Lotor, my beloved son, you're a nitwit." -Zarkon, 1984

Doom/Drule council.

Coran's son, Garret, and his wife are said to be alive in another dimension they were beamed to when the Galra attacked them. The clone is robotic like.

Allura when comforting Coran after the Garret incident, calls him a good man.

Lance is a country boy.

The Doom foot soldiers are robots.

Romelle was sentenced to be shot by a firing squad with stun guns.

Lotor and Haggar look for a new robeast victim among the Medusans. Audibly noting that they're all in a deep rest. That Medusan lady chooses to adopt Pidge. She also gets hurt, but it's implied she lives.

The episode about the sand people goes relatively the same way. However, the sand person is stated to be exhausted, but alive.

Sven is injured and sent back to planet Pollux to heal.

During the final battle, Lotor sends out robots in bubbles to trap Voltron. Keith can't move him because the bombs would blow up in their face. Lotor shoots them as missiles. Haggar shoots them down so Voltron can end Lotor's career.

Zarkon lives. Haggar lives. Lotor lives.

Pidge has a brother, Chip.

The same:

The Robeasts sometimes have unique tits (long, metallic, and spiky).

Lotor has three different kinds of chins and noses he alternates between.

Allura's only living relative is her aunt.

Armoured Fleet Dairugger XV:

The show begins with a strong theme linked to the lifestyle and aspirations of young sailors staking their life on the sea.

The Galaxy Alliance's goal is to create a star map of the universe, explore planets, and potentially colonize one.

Shinji Ise/Commander Hawkins is unsure if there are any lifeforms other than the three species in the Galaxy Alliance.

There are three planets in the Galaxy Alliance: Earth, Mira, and Sala.

Miranda Keats/Krik has telepathy.

Barros Karateya/Zandee is possibly from New York.

The cook can sing and cook.

Krik and Moya Kirigas/Cinda are Mirans.

Shota Kreutz/Wolo and Saruka Katz/Tangor are Salans.

The main fleet has spent 7 months in space.

Manabu Aki/Jeff hates spicy food.

Tatsuo Izumo/Shannon has no deeper reason to hate the Galveston/Drule other than they've been fighting one another recently.

Sim/Sandu dies as a pilot with his ship.

Wolo's brother dies.

Haruka Kaga/Lisa's singing when the force is stalled on the weather planet.

Murder

Captain Barataria/Brak kills himself.

Walter Jack/Cliff's brother's name is Jimmy.

Cliff has a magic hobby. He wants to be a member of the Magic Castle in Hollywood.

The Dairugger crew/Vehicle force sing the theme song when sending off Captain Dick Asimov/Stanley.

The planet Hawkins saw blow up was a consequence of the Galra not wanting a base to be built on that planet - Planet Apollo.

Krik on his shift as commander simply orders the teams to head to their vehicles.

The Vehicle Force are observing the artifact they collected in a previous episode with hopes and doubts the civilization survived.

Commander Hagi/Kernel Klaus dies.

Director Wakasa/Marshal Graham is peeved the people aren't taking Drule threat seriously.

Drake/Mongo dies. Teles/Hazar has a devastating reaction to it.

Graves

Krik is implied to be a prince.

Sirk/Dorma has no biological relation to Hazar and instead is his adjutant.

Hazar's father is a Homeworld secretary socrat and he's immediately dismissed from this position when Hazar returns to Galveston.

Planet Mira has flowers similar to purple orange-spotted flowers.

The Vehicle team learned space combat at the space fortress.

The queen of Eldora states the Galran frontline base is east of the planet Eldora, in the area where the blue light shines.

Earth gets attacked, and are fending off the Galra.

Yasuo Mutsu/Chip trained really hard at the space fortress' juvenile school in terms of science.

The pendant Lisa gives Jeff is what her mother gave her before Dairugger's departure from Earth. Lisa considers this a souvenir.

Commander Date/Kernel Kerbert* and crew die due to how damaged the ship is.

Patty Ellington/Ginger planted a seed she found in her room. She compares the growth of the plant to their perseverance.

A sunset reminds Cliff of his hometown.

Hazar gets promoted to commander of the attack fleet.

Pidge dreams of driving his mother to Mt. Fuji. We see her physically in the back seat.

Krik's letter is from his father who states harvest is good on Mira. Cliff's letter's from his father who sends his greetings to Ginger.

The photo of the baby is Jeff's newborn nephew. He has at least one sibling.

Chip is a lonely single child.

Lisa and Chip are childhood friends. They were in the same class in juvenile school, and they trained together at the space fortress.

Kazuto Nagato/Hutch and Tasuku Izu/Marvin insult the three girls. They're mad because Kai Shinobu/Rocky previously talked about Emma/Twyla continuously, whilst Hutch says he grows tired of the three. Ginger trips Hutch and he cries.

Commander Twyla dies.

The crew of the Space Explorer play rugby with a squad of Galra soldiers. They all die.

Both the buck and the fawn die.

The two dolphins die. One was a calf. The mother swims head on to a bomb.

Ginger is grievously injured, and is piloting her machine while fighting off sleep medication. She is dedicated to fighting by her team.

Hazar hesitates to land a killing blow and his gun is shot from his hand. Dorma shoots the body guard and in pain he shoots about wildly, accidentally striking Emperor Corsair/Zeppo - who dies.

The date by the time of the Drule evacuation is Feb 9 in the space year 2203.

Commander Newley agrees the Drules should have the third planet of the 26 system as they have nowhere to go.

Commander Hazar is assassinated by three Galveston soldiers. One of whom is Sandu's younger brother.

Jeff gives Lisa's necklace to Hazar's corpse.

Voltron: Defender of The Universe - Vehicle:

The Galaxy Garrison's motive is to find a second planet because Earth is suffering overpopulation.

It's implied the Vehicle Team and crew already encountered Hazar. He is described as a pirate.

The Vehicle Force call themselves the Voltron Force.

The Vehicle Force can only stay combined for five minutes.

Lisa is implied go be an alien.

Wolo's planet has seven moons.

There is a spy aboard the Galaxy Cruiser for the Drules. This is never touched upon again.

The food is crap.

Krik's from a water planet and it was at one point saved by Voltron.

Krik has ESP abilities.

The Drule have a confirmed child soldier among their ranks.

Shannon's brother was taken prisoner and is currently being held on Planet Doom.

Commander Hawkins pours hot chocolate from kettles.

Wolo's brother is implied to have survived the encounter with the beast.

Lisa talks about past African civilization when the Force is stalled on the weather planet.

Commander Brak says he'll move to another planet if the Galra choose to be peaceful.

Cliff is a country boy. Has a confirmed younger brother named Ginny* and two other brothers.

The Voltron Force are singing "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" for Captain Newley's farewell party.

Commander Hawkins saw a planet, Orus*, get blown up. The reason for its destruction is unknown.

Krik on his round as commander gives orders with great enthusiasm which is noted by his teammates.

The chef paints as a hobby and the Vehicle Force spend an entire scene roasting his painting.

Kernel Klaus lives and wants to continue building bases.

Marshal Graham is down in the dumps when people joke about him and other high ranking personnel.

Mongo took an experimental time travel ship 😭 and left the empire for good because he no longer wanted to be a part of war.

Hazar drops the photo of him and Mongo because he's clumsy. He looks at it and wishes the latter luck.

The Drule are searching for a new planet due to a transient sun while the Galaxy Garrison are searching due to overpopulation.

Commander Hawkins and Jeff's relationship is funnier than it needs to be.

Ginger got run over twice by joggers.

Lisa invented a carrot and cabbage cocktail she calls 'C & C'.

Pidge and Chip are twins.

Jeff's favourite food is spaghetti.

Jeff has been intentionally skipping Professor Page's plant seminars.

We see Krik's family photo.

Hazar and Dorma are brother sister and he has a good relationship with her.

Commander Nerok escapes in an escape shuttle.

The crew drinks hot chocolate in their downtime.

Earth gets attacked and wins against the Drule.

Ginger brought an unknown plant seed aboard ship and is growing a small plant.

Jeff explains a learned philosophical viewpoint to Commander Hawkins, and the latter's answer is that Jeff would make a great politician.

Lisa bought a good luck charm from a wizard on Planet Korb*. Jeff doesn't believe in that, but he wears the necklace the following episode.

"There is a good chance the lieutenant could be damaged." & "You're a brave fool." -Krik, 1985

Pidge and Chip studied solar energy as a hobby.

Kernel Kerbert* and his crew survive by fleeing in escape ships.

Jeff has a dog named Rover. He named a planet after said dog, an idea Commander Hawkins shoots down.

Krik's father bought another hydro bionic farm that he will inherit one day.

It's implied Cliff writes about Ginger to his brother as they want to meet 'that smashing Ginger'.

Jeff's family sent his baby photo. He thinks he's still cute.

Lisa and Chip are close enough she recognizes his hand writing.

Chip dreams about Pidge. He worries greatly about his brother after the lack of a letter.

Hutch insults the three girls based on their looks implying Twyla is hotter. Ginger trips Hutch after he, Marvin, and Rocky insult all three female members of the Voltron Force and he cries.

Commander Twyla escapes in an escape shuttle.

The Voltron Force play football with the Drule. Jeff finds Lieutenant Antor seriously hurt under rubble, but they heal him and he lives.

The buck dies but the fawn lives.

The dolphin is a single dolphin who somehow managed to disable a missile and survive.

"We just signed an important peace treaty right at this table. I've agreed to let Ginger slurp up her spaghetti, and she's agreed to let me slurp up my soup." -Cliff to Jeff, (Ginger present).

"Well I didn't sign and I want my own table away from you." -Krik to Cliff and possibly Jeff, (Ginger present).

Episode 45. Episode 45 is way too funny. Krik and Cinda crave coconuts out of the blue, ask Commander Hawkins if they can stop at a planet for some, and Krik salutes to his commander that it was a 'dumb idea'.

Ginger has PTSD from an experience as a child where she survived a ship blowing up.

The Drule home-world had destructive material buried under the surface.

Hazar spares Zeppo, but the latter's body is slumped on the throne.

Captain Newley relocates the Drule to a planet in the fourth quadrant in the far galaxy.

Hazar lives.

Krik is passive-aggressive.

The Drule blow up perfectly good planets they can't have.

The Same:

Krik has ESP abilities.

Krik can possibly play an instrument. He holds it the entire time, however.

Jeff, when he takes the first shift as Commander, is disgusted and reluctant to sit beside Commander Hawkins much to the amusement of the man.

Commander Hawkins is passive aggressive.

The Drule homeworld is getting hotter. All the residents have moved below ground, and starvation is prominent.

Krik pilots Voltron when Jeff is out of commission.

Krik shoves a whole gun into Jeff's pants.

The Sky Team ft. Krik drive a tank/enemy patrol car.

Dorma is kidnapped and asked to join the resistance which she steadily accepts.

Original Japanese:

All the foot soldiers are organic.

Consequences. Consequences everywhere.

A good portion of one note characters die.

Adapted Shows:

Stun guns. Stun guns everywhere.

All the foot soldiers are robots.

Bonus Voltron season 3:

King Alfor's ghost can bend the fabric of space. He can also shoot lasers without a gun.

Nanny lives.

Pidge has formed murderous intent towards the castle mice.

Fifth castle mouse.

Commander Cossack a.k.a. Cossack the Terrible.

Lotor drinks something called a mean potion that increases his meanness.

Queen Merla.

King Deus Ex Machina Alfor.

Lotor gets put in jail and has his allowance revoked.

"You don't know Zarkon like I do." -Lance, 1985.

Bonus Bonus Fleet of Doom:

Chip is taller than Pidge.

Hunk is buddies with Modac.

Wolo and Lance used to lightly "bully" Cliff.

Keith and Jeff are competitive with each other.

6 year-old Keith got lost in a forest.

Haggar has two wolves within her (not literal wolves).

*Not sure what the confirmed spelling is but I did my best to spell it like it sounds.

[thatonelesbianfander]

The Ghost and the Reaper Chapter 1

Fandom// Sanders Sides

TW// Blood/Gore, Death mention, Murder mention, Weapons, Yelling/Screaming, Swearing, Strong emotions, Fire, Homophobia

Word count// 2242

Description// Janus is one of the many reapers whose job it is to reap the souls of the dead and help them ascend to the afterlife. After one assignment, the spirit they reaped, a 23-year-old nonbinary person named Remus, refused to ascend. Now, Janus is stuck with them following it around wherever they go.

Characters// Remus Sanders, Janus Sanders, Roman Sanders, Patton Sanders, C!Thomas Sanders

Pairings// Slight Demus/Dukeceit mention

AUs// Found/chosen family Creativitwins & C!Thomas, human!sides, they/them Remus, it/they Janus, he/she Roman

Masterpost // Next

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Janus looked at the sight in front of them, a solemn expression on their face. In front of them laid a man, multiple bullet holes in his body. Around them, people walked off, their voices clashing together. Janus didn’t really worry about the other people that much though. Silently, they took a handle out of the pocket of its pants, the handle extending itself out and turning into a scythe. Janus raised the scythe above their head, about to strike the man’s body before they were interrupted.

“Whatcha doing, JanJan,” a voice asked. Janus backed up a little, startled by the sudden unexpected noise. They looked back to find Remus, a spirit they had reaped a few months earlier. The sight of Remus wasn’t really a great sight to see. Their whole body was covered in scratches. One of their legs was covered in blood with only a few pieces of skin visible, and the other leg was practically all gore. The one side of their head was covered in blood and a part of their brain was visible. Their one eye socket was missing an eye, blood dripped out of it instead. It was not pretty. Remus floated behind Janus, seemingly sitting on thin air.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Remus! What the hell?! Don’t do that!” Janus yelled, startled.

“Jesus! Sorry!” Remus said. Remus looked off behind Janus, seeing the guy behind Janus.

“Woah, what happened to him? He has to have like 20 bullet holes in him,” Remus said, looking at the guy.

“Execution via firing squad. Apparently, this guy abused his wife and kids and then snapped at a party they were having for his eldest daughter’s birthday. Ended up murdering everyone at that party except for his eldest daughter, and a few of the cousins before being arrested,” Janus said.

“Damn, what an asshole,” Remus said.

“Yes, I agree. Now, go away and let me do my job,” Janus said, swiping his scythe at the guy’s body. The guy’s spirit rose from his body, the guy stumbling back a little before regaining his balance. He looked at Janus, falling to his knees and clasping his hands.

“My lord, Jesus! It is an honor to be in your presence! Though, you do look a little different from how I thought you would look like…” The guy said. Remus started to laugh, Janus glaring at them.

“You really think, they’re Jesus?! This dork, with their stupid suspenders and nerdy glasses!” Remus laughed.

“Remus, shut the fuck up,” Janus said, glaring at Remus.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” the guy asked, looking over at Remus.

“I’m his boyfriend~” Remus said, making kissing gestures towards Janus.

“The fuck you aren’t?! We’re not even friends?! Besides, both you and me don’t even identify as male?!” Janus said, annoyed.

“Ew! Gay people are disgusting! You two are sinners! I-” the guy started.

“Alright, enough of this. I’m not going to listen to the rants of a disgusting murderous homophobe. Go to hell,” Janus said, swiping the guy with his scythe. The guy immediately burst into flames, screaming in pain as he disappeared. Janus adjusted its hat before turning towards Remus.

“Now, why the hell would you tell him that?!” Janus asked.

“Because, annoying you is funny?” Remus said. Janus sighed, retracting their scythe and putting it back into its pocket. The two looked at the guy’s body.

“This is pretty messed up,” Remus said, floating over to the guy and kicking his arm with their foot.

“Eh, your death was probably worse, considering all the screaming and crying and shit,” Janus replied, pulling a screen up and swiping through a list. It crossed the guy’s name off their list.

“Besides, after doing this for 5 years now, you kind of get desensitized to everything,” Janus continued.

“Oh yeah, I forgot you became a reaper after you died at 18,” Remus said, “Damn, that’s crazy to think about.”

“Died at 19, but yeah, I guess it is pretty crazy,” Janus said, looking at the screen and swiping through the list of names.

“So, where to next?” Remus asked.

“Well, I need to visit the graveyard, apparently a few spirits are having trouble ascending. I also have one more spirit I need to reap before I can break for the day,” Janus replied.

“Then, let’s head over to the graveyard,” Remus suggested.

“You mean, let me head over to the graveyard, and you just follow me to annoy me?” Janus replied.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Last one to the graveyard is a loser!” Remus said, fading out of view.

“Oh, you little-” Janus started before also fading out of view.

Janus reappeared in the graveyard, Remus floating in front of it.

“Lmao, loser. I win,” Remus said, Janus glaring at them.

“Fuck off, you cheated,” Janus said, adjusting its suspender straps. The two heard talking off in the distance.

“That must be them. You stay here, don’t get in my way. Just let me do my job, so we can get out of here,” Janus said.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Remus replied, rolling their eye. Janus walked off, out of Remus’s sight. Remus leaned back, crossing their legs and looking up at the sky. The sun shined brightly, but it didn’t affect Remus’s eye. Clouds moved throughout the sky. Remus looked around at the clouds, seeing what shapes they could find. They smiled sadly to themself, thinking about their twin sibling, Roman. Nothing could describe how much they missed him. He was basically their other half, and they never really felt full without her. Remus looked over to the side, seeing a person wearing a green vest walking towards them. They jumped a little, the person walking right through them and sitting next to a nearby grave. The person put the flowers they had been holding down in front of the grave, sighing.

“Oh, Remus… I’m so sorry…” the person said. Remus floated down, standing on the ground and walking towards the person.

“Roman…” Remus said under their breath. They walked closer to Roman, reaching their hand out before they heard Janus yell.

“Remus! What do you think you’re doing?! You know the rules! You don’t touch the living!” Janus yelled.

“Oh, so what?! I can’t comfort my sibling when she’s in distress?!” Remus replied back, annoyed.

“Literally, the whole point of that rule is so that the dead doesn’t interfere with the living! There would be drastic consequences if you did!” Janus said, walking over towards Remus.

“And what if the people who told you that are wrong or lying?” Remus asked.

“And what if they’re not?” Janus replied, glaring at Remus with their arms crossed.

“Whatever. You said so yourself, you’re not my friend, so why should I listen to you?” Remus responded, rolling their eye.

“Because I’ve been doing this longer than you! I know things,” Janus said. Remus rolled their eye, starting to float again.

“Now, come on. Let’s go get this last assignment over with, so I can go back to my apartment and chill,” Janus said, fading out of view. Remus looked down to their sibling, tears falling down their cheek. Remus plucked a leaf from the tree nearby, letting it fall down in front of Roman. Roman picked the leaf up, looking around while holding the leaf. Remus smiled softly, looking at their sibling while fading out of sight. They reappeared behind Janus, Janus talking to the spirit in front of them.

“So, what happens now?” the spirit asked.

“Well, it looks like you have some unfinished business, so you’ll need to finish that before you’re able to ascend. I would recommend starting with the smaller tasks first, and working your way up,” Janus said, handing the spirit a slip. Remus floated over to the two, hovering behind Janus.

“Alright, thanks,” the spirit said.

“No problem. If you ever need me, you can just call my name on that slip, and I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Janus replied.

“So, who’s this?” Remus asked.

“Oh, I’m Patton, and you are?” Patton responded.

“Remus, nice to meet you!” Remus said.

“You too!” Patton replied, smiling.

“Alright, we better go. Have a nice night,” Janus said, waving and fading out of view. Remus followed suit.

The two reappeared in the living room of Janus’s apartment. Janus put its scythe on the table near the door, walking to its room.

“I’m getting changed. You find something to do,” Janus said, closing the bedroom door behind them. Remus floated over to the couch, sitting down and turning on the TV. They watched the TV as Janus changed into more comfortable clothes. Janus walked out of the bedroom, sitting down on the couch next to Remus. Remus looked away from Janus, watching the TV.

“Hey, I…” Janus started.

“What?” Remus responded, cutting Janus off.

“I’m sorry about yelling at you in the graveyard, it’s just…” Janus started again before trailing off.

“Yes?” Remus asked, looking at Janus angrily.

“Look, you know the rules. You know why we can’t interact-” Janus said.

“AND WHAT IF THEY’RE LYING?!” Remus cut Janus off, Janus looking towards Remus, “ALL I WANTED WAS TO COMFORT MY SIBLING SO HE DOESN’T END UP LIKE ME! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?! OUR FATHER ALREADY LOST ONE SIBLING, I DON’T WANT HIM TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE EMOTIONAL DISTRESS OF LOSING ANOTHER AFTER ONLY A FEW MONTHS OF LOSING THE FIRST!” Remus’s eye teared up. They put their hands on their head, curling up. Janus frowned.

“Remus…” Janus said, reaching over to Remus.

“Why did I have to be so stupid… I died and I couldn’t even say goodbye to them… I had to watch as my twin sobbed in the back of that stupid ambulance and begged me to stay, and I could do nothing to comfort her! I had to watch as his whole world was shattered to pieces, and all I could do was lay down on that stupid cot and bleed to death,” Remus sobbed, rocking back and forth. Janus frowned, moving closer to Remus. They put an arm around Remus as Remus sobbed.

“Hey. It’s going to be okay! You’ll see them again eventually!” Janus said, trying to cheer Remus up.

“You’re not helping,” Remus said, pushing Janus away.

“I-” Janus started.

“Don’t start. I’m just going to go to the graveyard for the night. I don’t want to be around you right now,” Remus said, fading out of view. Janus sighed, putting a hand to its face. They pulled the screen back up, scrolling through the list of names again and crossing Patton’s name off the list of names that needed to be reaped. It pulled up another list, writing Patton’s name down. They looked at Remus’s name, tapping on their name to pull up a little profile.

“Remus Sanders-Kingstone, Aged: 23, Death date: June 4, 2023, Reaper on duty: Janus, Ascension status: not ascended” the profile read. Janus sighed, scribbling a note down on the notes section of the profile before swiping it away. They put the screen away, turning the TV off and laying down on the couch. They closed their eyes, drifting off to sleep.

Remus reappeared in the graveyard, angrily kicking at a tree.

“Stupid Janus! Stupid rules! I wish I had never died in the first place!” Remus said angrily beating against the tree until they had let their emotions wear out. They looked over towards their grave to find their sibling, who still sat at their grave. Another man walked up to Roman, sitting down next to him.

“I figured I would find you here…” Thomas said, looking towards Roman. Roman looked over to the man, looking back down at the ground.

“Hey, Pa…” Roman said.

“Roman, you’ve been out here for an hour now… Why don’t you come back home? It’s almost dark out…” Thomas said, putting a hand on Roman’s shoulder.

“What’s the point of going back home, if they’re not going to be there?” Roman said, still looking down at the ground.

“Roman…” Thomas replied. Tears started to fill Roman’s eyes. Thomas pulled Roman into a hug, Roman sobbing into the man’s shoulder. Thomas rocked the two back and forth, holding Roman in his arms.

“I miss them so much, Pa! It’s so difficult without them here!” Roman sobbed.

“I know, buddy… I know… It’s okay… I’m here…” Thomas said, holding Roman close. Remus stepped closer to the two, a sad expression on their face. Thomas stood up, holding a hand out to Roman.

“Come on, buddy. Let’s go home,” Thomas said. Roman took Thomas’s hand, holding it as the two walked away. Remus floated above their grave, watching as the two walked out of their view. Remus looked down at the flowers Roman had placed at their grave. Green roses, Remus’s favorite. They picked up one of the flowers, holding it close as they floated in the air. They leaned back, closing their eyes and falling asleep with the rose in their hands.

Masterpost // Next

[tomorrowusa]

North Carolina seems to be the vortex for MAGA extremism this year.

We thought that the GOP candidate for governor Mark Robinson was off the scale.

Meet North Carolina’s GOP Governor Candidate: A Hitler-Quoting Extremist

But Michele Morrow, the GOP nominee for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction, makes Mark Robinson sound almost mainstream.

In other comments on social media between 2019 and 2021 reviewed by CNN’s KFile, Morrow made disturbing suggestions about executing prominent Democrats for treason, including Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Hillary Clinton, Sen. Chuck Schumer and other prominent people such as Anthony Fauci and Bill Gates. “I prefer a Pay Per View of him in front of the firing squad,” she wrote in a tweet from May 2020, responding to a user sharing a conspiracy theory who suggested sending Obama to prison at Guantanamo Bay. “I do not want to waste another dime on supporting his life. We could make some money back from televising his death.” In another post in May 2020, she responded to a fake Time Magazine cover that featured art of Obama in an electric chair asking if he should be executed. “Death to ALL traitors!!” Morrow responded. In yet another comment, Morrow suggested in December 2020 killing Biden, who at that time was president-elect, and has said he would ask Americans to wear a mask for 100 days. “Never. We need to follow the Constitution’s advice and KILL all TRAITORS!!! #JusticeforAmerica,” she wrote. CNN reached out to Morrow and her campaign multiple times but did not receive a response.

But wait, there's more!

Morrow also promoted QAnon slogans and tweeted that the actor Jim Carrey was “… likely searching for adrenochrome” – a reference to a conspiracy theory shared by QAnon believers that celebrities harvest and drink the blood of children to prolong their own lives. Media Matters, a left-leaning publication, was first to report the QAnon tweets. All together, Morrow tweeted “WWG1WGA” – the slogan that stands for “where we go one, we go all” and is commonly associated with the QAnon conspiracy – more than seven times in 2020. Central to QAnon lore is the notion of the “Storm,” a belief there will be a day when thousands will purportedly be arrested, subjected to military tribunals, and face mass executions for their alleged crimes, with Donald Trump leading efforts to dismantle them alongside other QAnon “patriots.”

Morrow seems to get off on executions a lot. Her addiction to QAnon (who hasn't been around for years) is not at all out of character.

Sadly, such Republican candidates are hardly unusual these days.

To defeat such MAGA fascist extremist psychopaths it will be necessary to become more politically active in real life this year. That means volunteering, donating, and being more visible as pro-democracy Americans. And not just in North Carolina but nationwide.

My new favorite slogan this year is a classic rallying cry from civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson:

Nobody will save us from us but us.

[demifiendrsa]

Persona 3 Reload — The Hero Character Trailer

Japanese version

Yukari Takeba Character Trailer

Japanese version

Iwatodai Dorm Life

Japanese with English subtitles version

Junpei Iori Character Trailer

Japanese version

■ Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (New S.E.E.S. Combat Uniform)

This remake updates the classic combat uniforms worn by the party members when exploring Tartarus. Check out all-new character art of the Protagonist, Yukari Takeba, and Junpei Iori in their new gear!

strong>Protagonist (voiced by Aleks Le in English, Akira Ishida in Japanese)

Weapon: One-handed short sword

Initial Persona: Orpheus

Theurgy: Cadenza, Best Friends, and more.

His weapon of choice is a one-handed short sword, and the first Persona he summons is Orpheus.

Normally, a person can summon only one Persona, but he holds the power of the Wild Card—a special trait allowing him to handle multiple Personas and different types of Theurgy.

—Orpheus

Orpheus is the first Persona that the Protagonist awakens. In Greek mythology, Orpheus was known as a heroic poet and master of the lyre.

Yukari Takeba (voiced by Heather Gonzalez in English, Megumi Toyoguchi in Japanese)

Weapon: Bow and arrow

Persona: Io

Strong Skills: Wind, Healing

Theurgy: Cyclone Arrow

An expert archer with the unique Persona Io.

She specializes in wind and healing abilities, and her Theurgy skill Cyclone Arrow ignores an enemy’s natural affinity to deal heavy wind-type damage.

—Io

Yukari’s unique Persona is Io. In Greek mythology, Io was known as a priestess in service of the goddess Hera, favored by Zeus.

Junpei Iori (voiced by Zeno Robinson in English, Kosuke Toriumi in Japanese)

Weapon: Two-handed Sword

Persona: Hermes

Strong Skills: Fire, Slashing

Theurgy: Hack n’ Blast

A hard-hitting attacker with a two-handed sword.

He specializes in fire and slash attacks. His Theurgy, Hack n’ Blast, deals heavy slash damage to a single enemy regardless of affinity.

—Hermes

Junpei’s unique Persona is Hermes. In Greek mythology, Hermes was known as the messenger of Zeus, revered by travelers and merchants.

■ Social Stats

As you go about your daily life, you may be challenged to meet a certain standard of aptitude in three Social Stats: Courage, Charm, and Academics. These can be improved through activities like studying and part-time jobs. Without sufficient Social Stats, you may not be able to use certain facilities or develop Social Links, so be proactive in self-improvement.

■ Dorm Life

While living in the student dormitory, you can spend time with friends in the common areas. Together, you can cook, study for tests, read books, watch movies, tend to a rooftop vegetable garden, and more! Doing so can raise your Social Stats and teach your friends passive skills called Combat Characteristics, which you’re sure to find useful.

By experiencing dorm life together, the Protagonist and his friends will grow as people. As these bonds grow stronger, they may reveal new sides of themselves.

Public Computer

You can use the public computer in the dormitory lounge to study with software or gather intel. In addition to raising Social Stats, you may also learn useful skills for combat and exploration.

Acquire Special Characteristics

When you spend time in the dorm with fellow students, they may acquire special Characteristics with effects like increased critical attack rate, reduced cost for healing skills, and more. These are sure to come in handy during battle, so try to make time for your friends.

■ Schoolmates

Through student life at Gekkoukan High School and being a member of SEES, you’ll get to know all kinds of people. These bonds are called Social Links, and by raising their ranks you can experience special scenes with them. You’ll be able to find a number of fellow students to hang out with after school hours. Interacting with them will also strengthen your Persona abilities, so be proactive in building these relationships! For this remake, Social Link characters have received all-new portrait illustrations, and their scenes are now fully voice acted.

Classmate: Kenji Tomochika (voiced by Joe Zieja in English, Wataru Hatano in Japanese)

A second-year at Gekkoukan High—one of your classmates. A good friend of Junpei’s who wastes no time asserting himself as your friend as well. He professes his love for older women and soon turns to you for advice on dating.

Gourmet King: Nozomi Suemitsu (voiced by Paul Castro Jr. in English, Fukushi Ochiai in Japanese)

A third-year at Gekkoukan High known as the Gourmet King. He has toured restaurants all over Minato Ward, eating everything on the menu—including secret menus. He appoints you as his bodyguard after helping him escape a dispute with a shadowy figure.

Track and Field: Kazushi Miyamoto (voiced by Mark Whitten in English, Eiji Miyashita in Japanese)

A second-year at Gekkoukan High—one of your classmates and a fellow member of the track and field team. He’s a star athlete who has ranked highly in competitions thanks to his hard work, spirit, and perseverance. He recognizes you as a worthy rival who can go toe-to-toe with him.

Track and Field Manager: Yuko Nishiwaki (voiced by Shelby Young in English, Emiri Katou in Japanese)

A second-year at Gekkoukan High and the manager of the track and field team. She’s childhood friends with fellow track team member Kazushi, referring to him by the friendly nickname “Kaz.” Kind and caring, she watches over you as a new member of the team.

Student Council: Hidetoshi Odagiri (voiced by Austin Lee Matthews in English, Masaya Matsukaze in Japanese)

A second-year at Gekkoukan High, vice president of the student council and head of the Disciplinary Committee. He’s known for his ruthless enforcement of rules, earning him the ire of the other students. Once you join the student council on Mitsuru’s recommendation, he seems to take an interest in you.

Student Council Treasurer: Chihiro Fushimi (voiced by Kelly Baskin in English, Aya Endou in Japanese)

A first-year at Gekkoukan High and treasurer of the student council. She tends to have trouble expressing herself to others, and is particularly uncomfortable around men. Overcoming this struggle is at the top of her mind.

Art Club: Keisuke Hiraga (voiced by Griffin Burns in English, Yuuichi Iguchi in Japanese)

A third-year at Gekkoukan High and head of the art club, where the two of you meet. As the son of a doctor, those around him believe he will follow in his father’s footsteps—but he himself is torn between medical school and arts study abroad.

Foreign Exchange Student: Bebe (voiced by Jeff Berg in English, Mitsuhiro Ichiki in Japanese)

His real name is André Laurent Jean Geraux. An exchange student from France who loves and admires Japan, from kimonos to historical dramas to Japanese gardens. After the two of you meet, he encourages you to join him in the fashion club.

Persona 3 Reload will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (Steam, Microsoft Store) February 2, 2024 worldwide. It will also be available via Xbox Game Pass.

[pancake-breakfast]

Ooooh, I'm actually trying to get ahead of the game this week! Look at me goooooo!!!

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 4, Chapters 3-5 below.

Chapter 3: Bottom of the Dark

Meryl title page! Hooray!

LOLOLOL, didn't these boys just get out of the hospital?? Now they're back in for, what, dehydration??? Shouldn't have snuck off without the girls.

Are the girls eating steam buns? Steam buns are awesome! But a pain to cook in hot weather.

Looks like they're sorting through their own things.

GIANT HAND!!! Noooooooo

Dude. This fake big-hands man is a creep. He needs to let Chun-Li go.

Ohhhh, he's doing that thing they do where they add weird suffixes to their speech. SIGH. English speakers don't understand these things.

THIRTEENTH!??!? What happened to the other 12??? Fly up into heaven??? What, does he throw them in the sky???

Stun-Gun Milly, here to save the day!

And Meryl as backup!

She is very tiny. It's unfortunate they're in a world where her being small makes such a defense a necessity... but it's also a nice parallel to her character. Small, but sufficient for the task at hand. Maybe even more than sufficient.

WORM

Yup, it's Zazie!

AJL:FJ:LALJ:DSF:H:KJh:LKASJ WHYYYYY IS ZAZIE LIKE THIS?!?!?! D: D: D: Friggin... 15,000 worms in a meat suit.... *shudder shudder shudder*

LOL, the boys both look like they've checked themselves out of hospitals AMA before and aren't too thrilled about being caught this time.

Vash, just giving away their money so they can leave. TBH, not a bad plan considering how inadvisable him lingering anywhere is.

Heh, Vash is calling Wolfwood out again. He trusts the girls. Even if it might make the situation a bit tricky. They're more resourceful than they look and he knows it.

Ugh, he's so lonely and so grateful that they care about him enough to stick with him. And Wolfwood here sounds like his overly cautious wife.

Midvalley and Hoppered, having a heart-to-heart. I'm starting to see why they get along so well.

Ohhhh, Hoppered has a beef with Vash.

Unsubtle metaphors about walking into darkness. I'll allow it.

The worms really are pretty at night.

Did Meryl just get abducted by worms?!?!

Chapter 4: Den of Evil

Milly title page! Always good to see more of the girls!

Milly found the boys.

Oh, no! Someone take care of her!

Dang, Stampede just straight up took that elevator inspiration from here, didn't they?

Mmm, delicious delicious worms.

Hahahahaha, Zazie doesn't understand "hostage." Zazie understands "bait."

Vash the Stampede's followers? Rude. Just because she's literally following him doesn't mean she deserves so distant a title.

Props to Meryl. She has this twisted monster looming over her, a weird worm-controlling kidnaper, and a shady man in a fancy suit all surrounding her, and what does she do? She starts DEMANDING ANSWERS from them. This woman has a serious pair.

Awww, Milly is soooo upset. They're keeping guard on her while she's supposed to be sleeping, but she's just can't manage it.

Zazie, creeping outside of windows....

Vash doesn't even wait to hear the other side of Zazie's deal.

Gods, they are such dorks.

That's one big worm.

I don't know what the Japanese characters are for ryutsu or juukei in the original here, but I just want to note that one possible definition for "juukei" is "execution by firing squad." (No, I didn't know that off the top of my head. I got curious and looked it up.)

All these imposing city shots, and then at the bottom, Vash and Wolfwood.

Not great. That means there are more hostages here than just Meryl.

Lower and upper class crammed together means something went wrong.

Milly may not have been featured in the shot above, but she's tagging along, too!

Wolfwood's looking forward to a bit of murder today, I see.

Hahahahaha, <3 Milly. She will not be sidelined. Her and Wolfwood are giving Vash a headache. Personally, I have mixed feelings on the matter. Like, Milly is super-competent, and this is important to her, but if they spend more time protecting her than rescuing Meryl, it's worse than useless for her to come along.

Holy hell. Did not expect girl to pull her gun on Wolfwood.

Vash has a point. Leaving her behind does not, in fact, guarantee her safety here.

Hoppered, that looks painful. Your body looks painful. See a better chiropractor, please.

Chapter 5: Wild Crying Bullet

Three? I thought there were... hmmm... *goes back to check* Ok, so: - Monev the Gale (1) and E.G. Mine (2) went down before they made it to Jenora Rock. - Dominique the Cyclops (3) went down right before Fifth Moon. - After Fifth Moon, they ran into Rai-Dai (4), then Leonov the Puppetmaster (5) and Gray the Ninelives (6). - Then we have Zazie the Beast (7), Midvalley the Hornfreak (8), and Hoppered the Gauntlet (9) here right now. - And we have Wolfwood (10). That means we're missing two out of the 12. So there's a good chance that either Wolfwood doesn't know about the other two, or they were brought in after Wolfwood was sent out. Wolfwood's not an idiot, but it's not like he was privy to Livio's conversation with Vash about there being 12 coins. I suppose one could assume Livio and Knives are the last of those 12, but the way the coins are presented implies both those two are exempt from Gung-Ho Gun status. Also, those who've watched Stampede might be able to take a guess at who we're missing.

Oooof, Midvalley's gonna be a rough fight.

Hoppered might be a bullet, but Vash is a gun. Hehehehehehhhh...

Heh, Wolfwood can't call anyone by their actual name.

He looks genuinely concerned when he catches sight of Midvalley.

Epic Midvalley shot.

Oh, no. Wolfie, that's gotta hurt...

Not good. Wolfwood's already down.

Vash knows.

?? Hoppered is just... giving him the coins? Who is the second coin from? Midvalley??

Oh, no, Milly! Get it together, girl! You can do it!

Yeah, Vash was never very keen on Legato's weird fetch quest.

AAAAHHHHH, EPIC WOLFWOOD SHOT!!! OUR BOY'S NOT DOWN YET!!!!

(When I talk about trying to gnaw off my own limb over fandom stuff, that two-page spread above is basically what my heart looks like.)

Heh, Midvalley didn't expect this.

I honestly don't know how Hoppered concluded that Vash is enjoying what he's doing right now. He's mostly looks focused and angry to me.

LOL, Zazie just chilling, watching the fireworks.

Oddly, Meryl is probably in the safest place she could be right now.

Meryl is getting caught up on Vash lore.

Oh, no. News that Knives is nearby is very not good.

Yusssss, gives us the exposition, Zazie!!! Next time, I mean. I'm good for tonight.

Archive

Trigun Volume 1: Covers + 1-3, 3 Detailed Thoughts, 4, 4 DT, 5-6, 5-6 + DT, 6 DT, 7-8, 9-10 || Volume 2: Covers + Extras, 1, 1 Supplemental Research, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8

TriMax Volume 1: Covers + 1-2, 2 DT, 3-4, 3 DT, 5-6 || Volume 2: Covers + 1, 2-4, 5, 6-7 || Volume 3: Covers + 1-3, 4-5, 6-7 || Volume 4: Covers + 1-2

[heartofmontana]

Mata Hari, the archetype of the seductive female spy, was a professional dancer and mistress who became a spy for France during World War I. Suspected of being a double agent, she was executed in 1917 under charges of espionage for Germany.

 Known more for her sensuality and eroticism than for her beauty. She had relationships with high-ranking military officers, politicians, and others in influential positions in many countries. After the outbreak of World War I her catalog of lovers began to include high-ranking military officers of various nationalities.  One journalist in Vienna wrote after seeing one of her performances that Mata Hari was “slender and tall with the flexible grace of a wild animal, and with blue-black hair”.   She was seldom seen without a bra as she was self-conscious about being small-breasted. She wore a bodystocking for her performances that was similar in color to her own skin.

 In February 1917, French authorities arrested her for espionage and imprisoned her at St. Lazare Prison in Paris. In a military trial conducted in July, she was accused of revealing details of the Allies’ new weapon, the tank, resulting in the deaths of thousands of soldiers.  She was convicted and sentenced to death, and on October 15 she refused a blindfold and was shot to death by a firing squad at Vincennes. Allegedly she blew a kiss to the firing squad before being shot. 

"I am ready."

Mata Hari was awakened in the early morning of October 15.  Never once had the iron will of the beautiful woman failed her. Father Arbaux, accompanied by two sisters of charity, Captain Bouchardon, and Maitre Clunet, her lawyer, entered her cell, where she was still sleeping - a calm, untroubled sleep. The sisters gently shook her. She arose and was told that her hour had come.  Then she drew on her stockings, black, silken, filmy things, grotesque in the circumstances. She placed her high-heeled slippers on her feet and tied the silken ribbons over her insteps.  She arose and took the long black velvet cloak, edged around the bottom with fur and with a huge square fur collar hanging down the back, from a hook over the head of her bed. She placed this cloak over the heavy silk kimono which she had been wearing over her nightdress.  Her wealth of black hair was still coiled about her head in braids. She put on a large, flapping black felt hat with a black silk ribbon and bow. Slowly and indifferently, it seemed, she pulled on a pair of black kid gloves. Then she said calmly:  'I am ready.'

The party walked straight to the spot, where a little hummock of earth reared itself seven or eight feet high and afforded a background for such bullets as might miss the human target.  As Father Arbaux spoke with the condemned woman, a French officer approached, carrying a white cloth.  'The blindfold,' he whispered to the nuns who stood there and handed it to them.  'Must I wear that?' asked Mata Hari, turning to her lawyer, as her eyes glimpsed the blindfold.  Maitre Clunet turned interrogatively to the French officer.  'If Madame prefers not, it makes no difference,' replied the officer, hurriedly turning away.  Mata Hari was not bound and she was not blindfolded. She stood gazing steadfastly at her executioners, when the priest, the nuns, and her lawyer stepped away from her. The officer in command of the firing squad, who had been watching his men like a hawk that none might examine his rifle and try to find out whether he was destined to fire the blank cartridge which was in the breech of one rifle, seemed relieved that the business would soon be over.  A sharp, crackling command and the file of twelve men assumed rigid positions at attention. Another command, and their rifles were at their shoulders; each man gazed down his barrel at the breast of the women which was the target.  She did not move a muscle.  The underofficer in charge had moved to a position where from the corners of their eyes they could see him. His sword was extended in the air.  It dropped. The sun - by this time up - flashed on the burnished blade as it described an arc in falling. Simultaneously the sound of the volley rang out. Flame and a tiny puff of greyish smoke issued from the muzzle of each rifle. Automatically the men dropped their arms.  At the report Mata Hari fell. She did not die as actors and moving picture stars would have us believe that people die when they are shot. She did not throw up her hands nor did she plunge straight forward or straight back.  Instead she seemed to collapse. Slowly, inertly, she settled to her knees, her head up always, and without the slightest change of expression on her face. For the fraction of a second it seemed she tottered there, on her knees, gazing directly at those who had taken her life. Then she fell backward.   She lay prone, motionless, with her face turned towards the sky.

[samasmith23]

The dualistic rivalry of Wolverine & Mystique

While the majority of X-Men fans have listed Sabretooth (aka, Victor Creed) as the perfect rival for Wolverine (aka, Logan), I've personally always considered Mystique (aka, Raven Darkholme) to be a far superior dualistic foil to the fan-favorite berserker-rage mutant.

A lot of my fondness for the rivalry to the rivalry between Logan & Raven can be primarily attributed to the Wolverine: Get Mystique storyline by writer Jason Aaron & artist Ron Garney from 2008. Here, Wolverine was determined to get revenge on Mystique after she betrayed the X-Men to Mr. Sinister during the Messiah CompleX crossover event (Mystique had briefly become a member of the X-Men prior to her betrayal), tracking Raven down to the Middle East where the two engaged in a deadly game of cat-&-mouse pursuit.

But what elevates Get Mystique beyond a standard chase story is that Aaron uses the premise to intricately explore parallels between the two characters that had not yet explored by previous writers. Throughout the 1980s-2000s it was heavily implied that Logan & Raven had known each other for a long time, and might have even been romantically involved at one point, which does make sense since the two are both over 100-years-old. Aaron himself even elaborated on this in an interview from Marvel Spotlight: Wolverine:

The present-day chase in Get Mystique is simultaneously told in conjunction to flashbacks showcasing how the two first met each other way back during the 1920s. Specifically, Logan & Raven encountered each other by sheer coincidence when they were both scheduled to be executed by a firing squad in Mexico. The two escaped though, and Raven offered Logan to join her gang of two-bit grifters up in Kansas City, where he would serve as their muscle and protection.

These flashbacks showed how Logan was very hesitant about the idea of settling down since similar to Raven, he too was an outcast who had learned not to trust anybody over the years.

However, Logan's sense of mistrust came to a head when Raven and her gang attempted to rob a high-security Federal Reserve Bank, and Mystique suddenly fled during the middle of the heist when it was revealed that she allegedly sold her gang out to the police, who consequently gunned them all down.

But in a dramatic twist, when the police surrounded Logan it was revealed that he was actually the one who sold their gang out, NOT Raven, as he believed that she had been lying to and manipulating him the whole time, even though his only evidence to support that claim was that the cops weren't being paid off like Raven originally told him.

So while it is still very well possible that Raven would have sold them out later down the road, it was a pretty dickish move on Logan's part to sell out her gang simply due to mistrust based on a hunch.

These flashbacks are contrasted against the present-day chase in the Middle East, where Logan took Raven's most recent betrayal of the X-Men on a personal level since he views the team as both a family and a chance to atone for his past sins. Conversely, Mystique does not deny and even openly embraces her sinister nature, as she uses her shapeshifting abilities to manipulate, deceive, and murder others in order to survive and fulfill her own agendas.

So when Logan accuses Mystique of cowardice for hiding behind and sacrificing the lives of innocents simply to avoid a confrontation with him, this pisses her off. Essentially Mystique views Logan as a hypocrite since he has committed similar sins as her in the past, but he's too afraid to admit that about himself. Mystique yet again escapes Wolverine, but she steals a U.S. military truck and finally decides to engage Logan in battle. Confident & heavily armed, Mystique fights Logan completely naked as a statement of both her pride & lack of shame in her actions (whilst also emulating Rebecca Romijn's portrayal of the character from the then-recent live-action X-Men movies...).

During their climatic bloody showdown, Mystique continues to call out what she sees as hypocrisy on Logan's part. Raven questions why Logan wants revenge for her betraying the X-Men for the umpteenth-time, and she tells him:

"I’ve used the X-Men whenever I’ve needed to but they’ve never been my family. Much as you want it to be true, they’re not your family either. People like us don’t get to put down roots and play nice. I betray the X-Men because it’s in my nature, and someday Logan, whether you want to admit or not, you’ll do the same damn thing. You’ll turn your back on them because that’s who you are. Oh don't act so offended honey. After all, we both know you've done it before."

Mystique's words here allude to the aforementioned 1921 Bank Heist where Logan sold her and the rest of the gang out. Fundamentally, Raven views Logan as being ultimately no better than herself.

It's worth noting that some readers have criticized Mystique's words about her "not having a family or putting down roots" as contradicting her previously established relationships with her wife Destiny and adopted daughter Rogue. Except I can still see Mystique having this attitude since at this point in continuity not only had Destiny been dead for several years (she wouldn't be resurrected until the modern Krakoa Era), but during Messiah CompleX Mystique deliberately shot Rogue to subdue her when she outed herself as a traitor to the team. Rogue was already dying from a mysterious virus which caused her mutant powers to go haywire and made skin-to-skin contact immediately fatal. Mystique believed that both Mister Sinister’s resources and the infant Hope Summers (the first mutant baby since M-Day) were capable of curing Rogue from the virus. Mystique not only murdered Sinister by pressing his face against Rogue’s but also risked the baby’s life in the exact same manner in an attempt to cure Rogue. But while the baby fortunately survived, Rogue was so angry by what Mystique had done that she disowned her foster mother, and tried to kill her with her touch, though she only rendered Raven unconscious due to Hope curing Rogue of the virus. Mystique did all this in Messiah CompleX because these events were all foretold in the late Destiny's personal diaries. Essentially, Mystique believed that her own pursuits of maintaining a family were meaningless since her wife was dead and her daughter wanted nothing to do with her.

Which is potentially another reason why Raven despises Logan and his familial bonds with the X-Men so much.

These are all elements that I really loved about the dualistic rivalry between Wolverine and Mystique. Both characters undeniably have blood on their hands, but what ultimately distinguishes them is Logan's acknowledgment of his past mistakes and efforts to redeem himself, whereas Mystique continues to make the exact same mistakes.

Despite Logan's desire to make amends for the sins of his past, Get Mystique simultaneously emphasizes Logan's present-day failings which have severely negative consequences throughout the rest of Aaron's run. At the end of the arc when Mystique is mortally wounded following her battle with Wolverine, she is left to die alone in the desert with nothing but a pistol (in case she decides to take her own life), with Logan telling her to reflect on her life decisions while stressing that he now has a family in the form of the X-Men, whereas she's all alone due to the decisions she's made.

This controversial decision is ultimately proved to be Logan's undoing as Mystique not only managed to survive her injuries, but during Aaron’s later Wolverine Goes to Hell storyline Raven joins forces with an organization known as the Red-Right Hand (a cult comprised of various individuals who’s loved ones died by Logan’s hand) to get her revenge on Logan, helping them banish Wolverine's soul to Hell. However, Mystique would later betray the Red-Right Hand when she learned about their true plan for Wolverine to eventually climb his way out of Hell and try and get revenge on them, only to have him slaughter several of their elite assassins that were secretly children whom Logan had unknowingly fathered over the past century.

This plan was too horrible even by Mystique's standards. Even though she was not sorry for helping banish Logan’s soul to Hell she still tried to warn him about the Red-Right Hand's true plans out of respect for his friendship with her own son Nightcrawler (who was dead at the time in continuity). However, Logan ignored Mystique’s warnings and cut her down (she was resurrected a few issues later in Aaron's run), which unfortunately resulted in Logan doing exactly what the Red Right Hand wanted him to do by unknowingly killing his own kin. And it nearly broke Logan!

Mystique would appear a couple of more times during Jason Aaron's respective runs on Wolverine & Wolverine & the X-Men, with her shape-shifting powers enhanced following her resurrection by ninjas from The Hand (including her scent now being undetectable by Logan).

Overall though, if Destiny is the person whom Mystique loves the most, then in my opinion Wolverine is the person whom Mystique hates the most.

Both Logan & Raven are very similar yet very different to each other on so many levels, which combined with both of them being unique and fleshed-out characters in their own respect, makes their rivalry one of my personal favorites in all of comic book history!

From my perspective, Mystique is a far more interesting and nuanced arch-nemesis for Wolverine than even Sabretooth!

[multishipper-baby]

Finally decided to publish all the executions for my DR AU, with names and all! General trigger warning for violence and death.

Ultimate Seamstress Execution: The Tailor Shop of Death.

Chica is in front of a table covered in fabric, seamstress tools and a clock. There's a shackle around her neck with a chain that extends upwards. Maipet hands her a piece of paper with measurements and instructs her to make a dress before the time limit runs out.

She gets to work, trying to finish the dress as quickly as possible. However, as she works, the chain slowly starts pulling her upwards, choking her. Just as she's about to do the finishing touches, the chain abruptly moves faster, making her accidentally rip a part of the dress. With the time limit now over and no way to fix her mistake, the chain finally chokes her to death.

Ultimate Copycat Execution: Funhouse Mirrors.

Loon is put in the center of a room whose walls are made from reflective glass. The walls slowly start closing around him and, in a panic, he starts trying to break through one of them with his body. After throwing himself against the wall various times, the glass shatters, making him fall to the floor.

As he takes a second to look over the many cuts he received from the the glass, movement catches his eye, and he notices that he's surrounded by more walls of glass closing in on him. Frustrated, he tries to break through them again, only to find out that this glass is much more resistant. Not being able to break the walls, he's quickly crushed by them.

Ultimate Hypnotist Execution: Newton's Cradle.

Cami is hung upside down, with both her legs and hands restrained. At both her left and right, various spheres hang lined up from the ceiling, the same size as her head. The rightmost sphere is slowly lifted and then released, hitting the others- which lands a blow to her head, causing her to strike the ones at her left. With every cycle of this happening, the spheres pick up speed, striking her head harder and harder, until they eventually run out of momentum. By the time they stop, Cami's head is completely covered in her own blood.

So, this, but with a human head in the middle:

Ultimate Basketball Player Execution: Flagrant 2 Foul- Suspension!

Fox is attempting to climb out of what appears to be a giant basketball net. There's only an abyss below the net, with no indication of how low the drop is. As he struggles to climb, Meg appears at the top of the net, visibly worried about him. Wanting to get to his sister, Fox tries to climb even faster.

Eventually, he's close enough to almost reach her... But just at that moment, the net catches fire. Feeling the burning in his hands, he instinctively lets go of the net, falling down. He tries to make a grab for another part of it, but the net disintegrates due to the fire, and he's left plummeting to his death.

Meg, who tried to reach into the net to save him, ends up badly burning the right side of her body.

Ultimate Bodyguard Execution: Explosive Firing Squad!

Eak is left at the top of a tall building, with no way to get out except for a door at the bottom of a long staircase. As he starts going down, a bullet grasses his face, and he quickly turns to his side. Various Maipets with guns surround the building, and are firing at him through the windows. He begins to descend as fast as possible while more bullets grace him, some even managing to hit his arms, which he's trying to use to protect his head.

Finally, as he's reaching the bottom, a bullet hits him on the side head and he falls down the last set of stairs... But it's not strong enough to kill him. Painfully, he crawls until he reaches the door and grabs the handle. As soon as the handle is pulled down, a loud beeping sound starts playing, and he barely has time to react before the whole bottom floor explodes. The building collapses in on itself, completely burying his body under rubble.

[simplynotcapable]

in honor of the end of my english class, here is a compilation of quotes from my english professor

a love poem about her first cousin! tantalizing! scandalous! kentuckian! my apologies carter i know you are from kentucky and i am sure you did not have relations with any of your cousins

please do not tell me about your UTI i am not held by HIPPA and i will tell my wife

i actually have a 100% pass rate because the students that fail are executed by firing squad. HA. i kid, i kid

and if you miss class five times, i take your head. HA. i kid again. i should stop joking about murder, i can’t lose my job in this economy

(after jumping repeatedly behind a glass screen and them back out) viruses are like birds, they can’t understand glass

(while in a karate position) get vaccinated padawan

if you do it this way i’ll pass you but i’ll think you’re boring and that’s worse than failing and having me think you’re an idiot

my friend is in a wheelchair and his plan was just to run him over with said wheelchair and so i said “gary that’s a damn good idea” but i was inebriated and we were in fact asked to leave

do you guys see the line on the wall? no? ignore me, i am obviously hallucinating because of the Illness

northerns mock us for shutting down the state for a little snow but i frankly think they need to be deported

some people think teachers should have guns. imagine me with a gun. (finger guns at the window) BANG BANG. see? that’s a stupid idea

i think the best way to prevent crime is to get rid of doors

i put this on the reading list because it’s basically about seventeenth century fuckboys and i thought you guys would resonate

this one is one the reading list because i like polar bears

i use the word dave instead of terrorist because statistically they’re probably white men

charles i has diehard fans even today! my friend travis got into a fistfight in his behalf

men named colombus are always “discovering” things that people already knew about. the guy who discovered the clit was named colombus

i like to look men who subscribe to the alpha male mindset in the eye and go “so you think there’s more than one kind of man” because yknow realistically they probably are also the type to think there are only two genders because spectrums confuse them and then when they get angry i just do the (does a little dance and starts talking in a king candy voice) you wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses would you

there’s a chemical spill in the—what kind of chemical? the toxic kind. obviously. keep up for the love of god

obviously eve was framed (points threateningly at someone who just raised their hand) don’t get catholic about this jason

but MOM!!! ALL the kids are crucifying the messiah!

(while telling us that we’re a week behind so it’s fine no one did the assignment) except one person. not to name names. (long pause as he turns to look at my classmate) do you not have hobbies buddy? go on a date or something

(while squealing and clapping) cookies!! (freezes mid movement, clears throat) apologies. i lost my cool

i’m supposed to talk to you guys about how to prevent sexual assault so uh…don’t assault people! it’s that easy. mind blowing i know

i think women should have rights but that was a radical take at the time

she is, how do you say, serving cunt?

there is no heterosexual explanation for being jealous of a tree

do you guys mind if i step outside i miss my wife and if i don’t call her right now i might weep and that would be awkward

it’s like if andrew tate could read and write

joseph svetnam was a bitch and that is the moral of today’s class

my most american trait is my disdain of the british

[recurring-polynya]

Does Byakuya ever take a day off? I can imagine him taking one day off to see how Renji handles the squad while he's away lol

I guess there's no citation on this, but the Bleach wiki's descriptions for the role of captains and vice-captains rings pretty true to me, based on my reading of the source material and my own work experiences:

[Captains] function as Chief executive officers, and they determine the course, organization, tactics, and policy of their division. 

Lieutenants function as executive officers for their division, taking care of or supervising day-to-day operations. [...] In the case of a division captain's death, departure, or other circumstances making them unable to perform their duties, the lieutenant acts as the "substitute captain" until another can be assigned.

In other words, Renji better be able to handle the squad because that's literally what he's there for.

Captains have a lot of discretion in how they do things-- I suspect there are captains (in my mind, Kensei) who are really hands-on and like working with their troops directly. Hitsugaya does a lot of hands-on stuff, too, but it's some combination of the fact that he's kind of young and insecure in his own authority and has a lazy vice-captain. You also have captains like Kurotsuchi and Unohana who have a very specific subject-matter expertise related to the squad's specialization, so I think they function more like a primary investigator and a chief surgeon, respectively.

On the other hand, I feel like the CEO metaphor fits Byakuya and Renji's work relationship pretty well. Furthermore, there's an entire command structure under Renji, so even when the two of them get sent off on a mission together (which is obviously a thing that happens with some regularity), the place is designed to run itself without constant micromanagement.

To get to your question about does Byakuya ever take a day off: unquestionably yes.

I have worked with a lot of Important People in my time, let me tell you: they take their time off. People like you and me think about our lives in terms of "at work" and "not at work". Most of the big wigs I have known just have "their life" in which going to dinner with other big wigs and flying across the country and writing proposals or orbital analysis code in the middle of the night and showing up to morning meeting with the team are all just things they do.

I think that Byakuya tends to keep standard office hours when he doesn't have other pressing matters, but I feel like being Clan Head is like an entire second big wig job. If he has to go put on his extra fancy haori and schmooze in the middle of a weekday, he just does it. I think he also takes time off for his important hobbies, like the Orchid Show, or when he needs to go out to West Rukongai to buy a new banana koi or something and he literally does not think twice about it. It doesn't matter whether he works 40 hours a week or not, because he's very important and 1 hour of his time is worth 10 of Renji's. There are certain things only he can do and it's not like there's a line out the door of people who can make giant glittering domes of swords when some ancient eldritch entity shows up, needing to be lectured on their fatal flaw, arrogance, now is there?

There's some amount of stuff around the squad that requires Byakuya's attention, but it's usually approving things more than anything else. I think he is an enormous stickler for documentation and he actually reads everything Renji puts in front of him, but if he didn't fundamentally trust Renji to run things, he would simply fire him.

I think he hates going on vacation and frequently tells his relatives that he can't leave work, but this is a lie. He does not usually take time off for the purposes of relaxing, although I think in latter canon times, he will take a day to do something with Rukia if she asks him to. He took a lot of days off for Hisana, and does not regret any of them.