#the best and worst (best) reaches of law and crime

[leverage-ot3]

neal caffrey and peter burke are nate and sophie in a different font and here’s why- *gunshots*

[dicenote]

Death Note characters ranked on how good they are at driving, from worst to best:

Near: I'm sorry, but he's not reaching the pedals. Like, if you could strap his brain to a car and make him psychically drive it, he'd do better than most people on this list. But in a regular car he'd unfortunately struggle. Maybe he can control the gas/brake while Rester steers, or vice-versa.

Matsuda: I just know that he gets distracted by every little thing. Funny road sign? New song on the radio? Discussing murder notebooks with his passengers? He suddenly forgets that he's in the middle of changing lanes.

Ide: Better than Matsuda because at least he keeps his damn hands on the steering wheel. He's considerably worse if Matsuda and/or Aizawa are bickering in the car with him, though.

Misa: Her placement can be shifted up/down a few spaces depending on your definition of "good". She will get you to your destination 10 minutes earlier than you expect, but multiple traffic laws will be broken on the way.

L: Look, I know he piloted a helicopter in canon without a license, but the sky doesn't have lanes or traffic lights. He can figure out how to drive the vehicle, sure, but his driving is chaotic and only marginally better than Misa's overall.

Light: Like L, he probably doesn't have a license and could work his way around a car. Unlike L, he wants to look like the perfect law-abiding citizen and will try his best to drive like one. He ends up going a bit under the speed limit because of this. L finds his behavior highly suspicious.

Aizawa: Completely average driver, other than the occasional bout of road-rage. Or Matsuda-rage, if a certain idiot is messing with the AC again.

Mogi: Also completely average, but goes completely silent while driving (except when working as Misa's manager). Is he focusing on the road, or does he just not feel like talking? Nobody knows.

Mello: Prefers motorcycles, but is shockingly capable at driving a wide variety of vehicles just fine. He'll even obey the law if he isn't actively committing a crime in said vehicle.

Soichiro: We saw him smash that car into Sakura. Dude managed to make that look cool as hell. When not breaking and entering TV studios, though, he's probably very good at going the speed limit and following traffic laws and all that boring stuff (he is a cop, after all).

Matt: Roughly half of his experience driving is from Mario Kart and GTA, but he can still somehow Tokyo Drift IRL. Theoretically, these could be points against him (see L's placement), but he's so bafflingly good that Rule of Cool makes him the best by default. My point is that he could drive normal, but where's the fun in that?!

[olderthannetfic]

Being a trans man and not being an anti is also isolating, which is part of why I think trans guys gravitate towards either being an anti or reposting anti posts. If you're not an anti, you get booted from discord servers, blocked on social media at best or sent misgendering rape threats, death threats and suicide bait by other trans men at worst, and now that I'm in college I've found IRL that not being an anti makes a lot of people in queer spaces available to the average college student incredibly uncomfortable. So you have to either be entirely alone - which is very difficult when you're young, queer, and just coming into your own identity - or you have to be around it a lot without saying a word. Agreeing with it at first wouldn't even be necessary. You just have to not say anything against it, and then you'll be able to be around other people.

It doesn't help that most trans men who get sucked into anti circles are teens at the time. There's 501 proposed anti-LGBT laws right now, not counting everything that has passed, the majority of it anti-trans. If you're a teenage boy seeing all this transphobia on the rise, you're going to feel powerless. Bullying people like antis do makes you feel power over at least a few people. Being told you can consume your way into being a good person via media intake makes you feel like you have power and control over at least that.

I was sucked in incrementally because I wasn't exposed to the more violent antis who fantasized about murder and hurting people for writing fiction, I met my only friend - who was an anti - after my dad had beaten me for coming out as trans, and I was sixteen. I got out when I was eighteen because once I went to live with my mom, a psychologist, she gently corrected me when I would say things that aren't based in fact. She pointed out how upset these people were making me. She taught me how to fact-check claims and look into the veracity of claims.

And when I tried to convey to my friends that no, what they were saying wasn't supported, they turned on me. Including the only person who had been there for me when I was hatecrimed, who had reached out to me specifically because she met me what day. I lost every friend I had in roughly 30 hours.

If I hadn't had a really great mom, a very intelligent rabbi who's well-versed in psychology and is a former lawyer who saw the "fiction made me do it" excuse used to defend heinous crimes and doesn't buy it, and an older half-sister who lived through people calling her a psycho lesbian because she's a lesbian who played D&D, listened to metal and dressed Goth in small-town Montana in the 80's/90's, I would have probably killed myself. Having those three people who accepted me and did not accept this extremist rhetoric kept me sane and repaired my self-esteem enough to keep me going.

But a lot of people don't have three adults who are intelligent, supportive, and know better than to fall for this faux-psychology. A lot of people don't even have one. Often, they have unsupportive people who also believe firmly in the faux-psychology of "if you watch a thing you'll do that thing IRL". So there's not only no one hauling them out of this, it's getting reinforced.

Being a non-anti who is a trans man gets me a lot of shit from a lot of people online and offline. (As other anons have mentioned during the ace discourse, online talking points come up on college campuses and in real life, because the internet is not an alternate dimension, it is something being used by the people around you who exist in the same physical space as you.)

A reality that I don't think people want to discuss is that trans men, just like all other people of all other genders, suffer a lot of psychological distress if they're put in a position where they have no support. I sure as fuck wasn't happy being in a position where I went from having tons of online friends, discord servers I could hang out in and fandoms I associated with good vibes to none of that, plus harassment, plus massive misgendering.

It's a lot less awful of an existence to be a trans man and an anti when you're young and need community and support than it is to not be an anti and be isolated. And humans gravitate towards the least awful option 99% of the time.

--

Yuuup.

Having some kind of real support network, usually offline but at the very least not randos you met a day ago on discord, is vital and is the difference between not only whether you rot in a pit of antidom forever but in stemming the massive flood of trans teen suicides. The overall queer rates aren't great, but the specifically trans rates... they're bad. They're so, so bad.

[aziraphales-library]

Hey y'all, first off, thanks for the great work you're doing!

I'm looking for Aziracrow fics with like,, one of them as an FBI agent and the other as art consultant or something like that. I already checked if there's anything in a possible art heist tag, I also looked for crossovers with White Collar, which has a similar premise, and I didn't really find anything. Maybe there's nothing, but I thought maybe you'd have an idea :) Thank you!!

Hello! So, the best I can do is fics in which one of them works in law enforcement of some kind, and the other works in either a different department or completely different job, and they work together in some way. Hope this was the kind of thing you're after!...

Containing Seeds of Destruction by feathereddino (T)

Lower Tadfield is a rural, sleepy little village that is trying to be a town. The crimes that Police Constable A.J. Crowley usually responds to are mundane but never evil. His husband, police psychologist Dr. A.Z. Fell appreciates that their combined caseload reflects that banality. That all changes in 2008 with a call about an abandoned baby. Adam Young's surrender will spark a series of events that will impact their village, their careers, and their personal lives.

What Will Destroy You by EveningStarcatcher (E)

London, 1888 Police Inspector Aziraphale Fell forms an unlikely alliance with Reporter Anthony Crowley to investigate the Whitechapel Murders. Can they solve the mystery and stop the so called Ripper before he strikes again?

Tadfield's Finest by angelsnuffbox (E)

The sleepy town of Tadfield is thoroughly shaken by the arrival of DI Crowley. Where barely anything ever happened before, there is now a bustle of low grade criminal activity, and everyone knows where to point the blame. Gabriel thinks he's a bad omen for the town, many others are quick to agree. Meanwhile, Aziraphale from SOCO just thinks he's hot. Ridiculously so.

and salt the Earth behind you by sunrisesinthesuburbs (E)

Detective (well, Profiler actually, not that anyone seems to care) Aziraphale Fell should have dropped his one and only Criminal Informant the moment he realized he was already falling in love with the man. Alas, he's never had good ideas regarding his self-preservation: when Anthony Crowley calls, he always comes. He will always come. If this wasn't already very bad, his feelings are apparently reciprocated and, in the meantime, his unit has to catch the worst serial killer Washington D.C. has probably ever seen. Crowley has no intention of leaving Aziraphale to deal with this on his own; Aziraphale has no intention of letting Crowley do something stupid just for his sake. Ah, if only love could ever be something easy. “Sometimes I wish I’d met you in a park.” Crowley’s hands move lower, down, down until he reaches Aziraphale’s palms and intertwines their fingers. There isn’t a single chance this gesture can fall under the umbrella of ‘plausible deniability’. Though nothing about this sort of impromptu confession could. “A park, uh? Nice.” A squeeze. “I always imagine something like a library. Or a bookshop or, not sure, whatever place is full of books.”

For His Eyes Only by AFrenchFanWriter (M)

Anthony J. Crowley has been an MI6 spy for 10 years, completing successful mission after successful mission under the guidance of his quartermaster, Aziraphale Fell. But this life is starting to take its toll on him as he is getting older; and when, one day, his past comes back to haunt him, Crowley realizes that it might be time for him to hang up his gun and face all the things he has left unaddressed… (Yep, it is basically a James Bond/Q AU!)

On Espionage and Prophecy (or How to Accidentally, but Wholly, Fall in Love With a Soho Bookseller) by RockSaltAndRoll (E)

1941 is the London Blitz and the year that MI5 really comes into its own with the now infamous ‘double cross’ system. The service keep tabs on suspects, root out enemy agents and try to turn them into doubles. Anthony J Crowley is fucking great at this job. He can be sneaky, underhanded and damn ruthless but also charming and kind. It’s what makes him good at turning. Aziraphale is just a regular Soho bookseller who loves his shop and books and good food and wine when he’s approached by a woman claiming to be MI5, wanting to recruit him for espionage. The poor man is too trusting and gets the shock of his life when he’s approached by a charming but dangerous-looking man also claiming to be MI5. Crowley recruits Aziraphale to double cross a double crosser and Aziraphale takes to espionage like a duck to water. Danger, hijinks, and sex ensue.

- Mod D

[justsomerandom-nerd]

Alfred taught Bruce how to drive and it was the worst experience of his life. He had less of a heart attack when Bruce decided to fight crime dressed like a furry.

Bruce tried to teach Dick but backed out after the car ended up wrapped around a tree. Dick was only fourteen but come on Bruce, you let me fight crime on a school night but you won’t teach me how to drive.

Alfred picked up the slack and within a couple weeks, Dick was a better driver than half of Gotham. There are no traffic laws in Gotham, so it’s not hard, per se.

Jason had the best understanding of how a car worked. He could barely reach the brake, but he could Hotwire a car in ten seconds flat and Alfred didn’t ask questions. Still, he needed hours to get his license, and Bruce wouldn’t just sign the form. (No Jason, driving the Batmobile doesn’t count.) He didn’t really need any guidance, he never so much as blew a stop light, and it was really just an excuse for them to talk. Jason died before he was old enough to get his license, but he had more than enough hours. Alfred has the log, crumpled and faded, stuffed in a box under his bed, signed, alongside Jason’s forgotten drivers permit. It’s got a little heart on it, he was a donor.

Tim learned to drive from Jack Drake, and Alfred almost regrets not getting to teach him. It was something he wanted to bond with him over. But then Tim goes to Alfred, sheepishly, can you teach me to drive standard? It only takes a couple sessions, and Alfred has a heart attack when they roll backwards, but they get a laugh out of it after. Tim’s not half bad at it, after all.

Steph is no protege. She never has been. Her mom is too shakey to drive, still recovering, and her dad, well it’s hard to teach a kid to drive from blackgate. She won’t ask Tim, he’s only fifteen, and Bruce she despises. But she needs hours and she needs someone to sign her log. Alfred agrees, a little hesitant, but hey, she needs help. It’s the first chance he gets to know her. They make a sudden stop, and her arm curls around her stomach, scared for a child that hasn’t been born. At some point she says, some days I have to stop myself from buying a car seat. I know if I did, I wouldn’t be able to let go.

Cass comes next, and it’s not like she’s never driven before. She’s just never driven with rules before. She blows past stop signs with shakey apologies, but he never yells. It takes her a couple days to get used to not driving like she’s in a high speed chase, and when she does, it’s so relaxing. She drives Alfred around Gotham on errands and they go out to lunch, and even when she has her license they make it a thing. She’s his only granddaughter after all, why shouldn’t they?

Duke isn’t half bad. Alfred shows him the ropes, and he’s a little more nervous than the others. Duke makes less mistakes, and finally, he relaxes. He points out places around Gotham he knows from being a kid living in the city, and Alfred hears how lovingly he speaks about it. They drive a lot at night since Duke patrols during the day, and Gotham at night is a very different story. It’s more alive. And Duke knows the streets like the back of his hand, because it’s his city. He belongs there, just as much as he belongs with the rest of the Waynes.

Damian is a difficult story. He’s known how to drive since he was a literal child, so he’s understandably pissed when Bruce still makes him get practice hours off the vigilante clock. Dick is conveniently stuck in Bludhaven, and Damian simply wants to get it done as soon as possible. Alfred is his second choice, the only person he can think of spending forty unbearable hours driving with. It’s quite pleasant, Alfred lets him pick the music and they bond over a love of classical music. Alfred’s errands take excruciatingly long but after, they grab lunch, and oh why don’t we stop and see the knew exhibit at the Gotham Art Museum. Damian spends hours ranting about his siblings and Bruce, and Alfred tells him stories of how insufferable Bruce was as a child.

(I just think it’d be funny if Bruce was like, I know you could drive at 11 but you should probably get your required hours in out of costume, but I’m busy and you’re grandpa wants to spend time with you)

[moongothic]

The worst part about trying to figure out what Crocodile's deal is that because he's so fucking irredeemably evil in Alabasta... Like... Yeah he's just irredeemably evil. Like I love him but he did cause countless casualties, a ton of pain and suffering and literally attempted to blow up a million people

Like no amount of theoretical "trying to do it to save his son from the Government" or "trying to stop the Government from hurting anyone else" or just "doing it for the greater good" is going to make him any less of a mass murderer

But also Robin absolutely 100% helped with all of that shit simply because she wanted to read the Poneglyph for herself.

No amount of her intending to betray Crocodile from the begining and sabotaging his plans erases the fact that Robin also caused countless people to starve to death and die in the civil war. Her sabotages only succeeded out of sheer luck, and only spared the lives of the people at the final battle. She has the blood of countless innocents on her hands. Because she wanted to read history.

But her crimes were swept under the rug because she has a sad backstory and her sabotages worked out just at the nick of time by sheer dumb luck

So Croc??? Just??? Is there a chance??? At all???

But also he did literally intend to sell Buggy into slavery

Like, fuck Buggy, but jesus

What's also killing me is that we like. Don't know what Luffy thinks of Crocodile right now. Which really is like. The thing that will decide how we, as the readers, are supposed to feel about Crocodile. Luffy is our POV

Like we don't know what Luffy's opinion of Crocodile is after he helped save Luffy (and spared Ace once) during the Summit War. Like Luffy clearly fucking hated the man in Impel Down and the two interactions they had during the War weren't like positive (in the sense that Luffy himself didn't think of the interactions as particularly positive. Defending Whitebeard from being attacked once and then being like "wait what HIM?!" when Crocodile defended Ace. To be fair, in the midst of the chaos, there wasn't much time to spend on Pondering On Such Things because Ace needed to be saved, and Oda goes out of his way to not show us what's going on inside Luffy's head, because it's all meant to be out in the open anyways. Regardless, these weren't like "yay it's Crocodile! :)" moments for Luffy is what I mean)

But also Luffy was very grateful of Law for saving his life and was willing to put his trust into Law for their alliance- of course, they weren't explicitly enemies to begin with, rivals at most, but still. Luffy respects those who help him.

But also Luffy grew during the timeskip. Like he's not that clueless anymore (like he finally understands Hancock is in love with him etc), and similarly Luffy gets that Buggy is an absolute loser now. But also Buggy did also help save Luffy's life (even if it was by accident), and while IDK if Luffy is aware of that, I don't think that helped improve Luffy's impression of Buggy

So like. The fuck does Luffy think of Crocodile, at this moment? Even with the Cross Guild reveal, he didn't even really comment on Croc and just focused his energy on being confused about Buggy being "the leader" of CG. IDK it feels almost intentional or something, that we don't know what Luffy thinks?? Especially since we did get Zoro's opinion on Mihawk in the situation?? Or am I delulu?? (Sidenote. I'd love to know what Robin would have to say about Crocodile helping save Luffy's life. What Jinbei might think of the final words Crocodile left him with before blasting them out of Akainu's reach. But mainly just Robin's thoughts)

Like IDK my best guess would be that Luffy still hates Crocodile just the same but is like grossed out by technically owing him one??? In the classic

-kinda way, you know? And that he'd be just kinda confused about it?

Because I can't fucking imagine Luffy being like "oh we're cool now" with Crocodile, let alone "Yay Crocodile :) He saved my life!". But also like. Luffy does kind of owe Croc one. Kind of. And Luffy is usually very respectful of that kind of thing. Aaaaaaaa???

(Also does. Does Luffy even know it was Crocodile who yeeted him and Jinbei out of Akainu's reach to begin with. 'Cause he was unconcious. Knocked the fuck out. Does. Does Luffy even know. Did anybody tell him???)

I just.

There's the reasonable part of me that knows Crocodile is an irredeemable evil dickbag and everything he has ever said and done up to the most recent chapters support that. He is too far gone.

And then there's the absolutely delulu part that loves a tragic villian who gets a heartwrenching redemption that's looking for any fucking sign that could indicate Crocodile could maybe be one

[velnna]

I want to know more about your butterfly bug man so bad im eating DRYWALL 👀👀👀

Name’s Ashton Rose (he adopted that last name from his stage name Crimson Rose bc he’s that extra). Grew up in a broken home, loads of abuse, substances and material struggles. Used music as an escape and was exceptionally good at it but life kept getting in the way of his pursuits.

For some background, yes he’s technically a bug inspired person. Lives in the outskirts of a vaguely industrialised metropolis that brings together many a fantasy species (we got some good old elves, more bug people, people with horns, wings, you name it). His species in particular isn’t very common or well known, and most of them go under the radar as unremarkable slimey 4-armed cryptids with your average human lifespan and below average consitution score.

The education system there isn’t too bad and Ash manages to graduate what would be something of a highschool equivalent, all the while trying to make ends meet for himself and his deadbeat parents and getting himself into trouble constantly. His musical talent gets noticed by a specific professor during this time (who also happens to dwell in magic shenanigans and there’s a link to the music there but I’ll leave it at that), and this dude does his best to try and steer Ash in a good direction, covering higher education tuition fees and getting him glasses bc the bug’s eyesight is godawful actually

Unfortunately he keeps getting into more and bigger trouble + struggles with substances himself and there’s only so much the professor can do. At some point in his late teens he meets Dahlia, who has a different but comparable background, and they become partners (in crime?) pretty quickly. They both harbour a lot of resentment for their own families and the systems they were brought into and it pushes them further and further away from a lawful path.

In their early 20s Ash reaches a breaking point and then comes into play a thing his species can do but which is regarded as taboo: cocooning lol. Essentially there’s a time slot in their youth when the butterfly ppl can trigger that process, after which that’s no longer possible. It turns them into more beautiful, stronger, better (and sometimes venomous) versions of themselves, with wings that in principle are functional. Not a lot is known about this outside their own communities so after this Ash effectively gets to come back as a different person. He and Dahlia orchestrate a whole heist to take the underground criminal net of the city by storm. His music magic and Dahlia’s venom (she’s a spider hybrid of sorts) play a big role there.

Now they’ve got a drug empire of sorts amongst other nefarious things and Ash is on a mission to unlock a specific sort of power/formula to address things (spoilers?) that pose a threat to his life and ruling. He’s one of the BBEGs btw in case I haven’t made it clear lol

I love them but they’re the worst make no mistake

[a-roguish-gambit]

How's Evan in your au?

Doing ok for the most part. Could be better but he's not feeling god aweful. New York was still fairly racist in 1912 but a far cry from the Jim Crow South.

According to the Tuskegee institute, there's only one reported lynching of a black person from the 1880s-1960s. (That's not to say that racial violence of other sorts didn't happen or that unreported lynchings didn't happen, just shows how compared to the South, where people literally had little festivals around lynchings at times and sent postcards about it, hate crimes were generally looked down upon and well...considered crimes) and he has the added benefit of being from a wealthy family that didn't come from an enslaved background. Because Ororo is a recent expat from egypt canonically, so is his family. They run an import/export transport business to the United States which is why they are living there at all. Granted that makes the racism he sees very very obvious to him compared to how he used to live, but the status helps avoid some of the worst of it by avoiding a lot of the financial barriers that prevented black people from escaping poverty and segregation. Segregation in New York, while there, was more financial barrier focused. A lot of places up north had laws against segregation in schools after the civil war, but segregation was often enforced via redlining and such. Cost of living, job prospects, school funding, etc, ect ect. Jim Crow laws didn't start reaching the north in a big way until after wwI.

So cause he comes from money he's able to attend the same school as his friends. He...is not too fond of the kids there and does not fully trust them. They are harmlessly ignorant at the best of times and he doesn't want to get to know them enough to see them at the worst of times. They have a nasty habit of talking down to him and certainly don't act like he's their equal, despite the fact that he is more well traveled and can speak more languages than any of them. (Evan knows French, Arabic, Swahili ,and English in this AU) So he mostly sticks with the institute kids...who absolutely adore him and will not let anyone give him shit. They will avoid places that do segregate to the best of their abilities (you can only avoid public restrooms so much in an emergency), step up to anyone saying something they don't like to him, and generally have his back no matter what, particularly rogue and gambit, who know exactly how bad treatment of black people can get in America at the time. Rouge has basically adopted him as a second little brother at this point, despite him being only a few months younger than her, and as a result, Kurt has also practically physically attached himself to evan. Gambit and Scott both have a no questions asked ride pass for Evan if he needs to go anywhere, Kitty and Evan have bonded over their own shared struggles, and the teachers especially storm have his back no matter what.

He does have some friends outside the institute he plays baseball and basketball at the YMCA and goes on bike riding trips and has made some friends that way. Life isn't easy but he's finding ways to make the best of it.

Also despite their rivalry, or maybe because of it, as of late he's been seeing Pietro a little bit in private to....have chats with him. Friendly ones. Alone. .... I am a sucker for Rivals to lovers okay.

Just to make sure we're all clear I don't want to try and whitewash history, this was not the average experience for black people, even in New york. They experienced a lot of awful shit. I just really like Evan as a character and know how shitty this time could be for black people so I'm giving him the best opportunities I can given in the period. Because Evan deserves the best and he doesn't get enough love in this fandom as is. If anyone has better historical knowledge and would like to critique me on this, particularly black life in New York state at the time, please feel free to I am open to listening because this is not a subject that I am the most knowledgeable on.

[frary-us]

"Emily, naturally, immediately ran to tell her about seeing the portrait of Aphrodite with Clara's face as soon as possible. She's upset and furious about her sister's behavior. Not, of course, because Clara might be publicly shamed or ] her marriage might be irreparably damaged should Frederick find out, though. No, Emily's worried that Clara's scandalous secret and/or imminent shame might reflect poorly on her, somehow damaging her chances at...whatever shot she thinks she still has with the good reverend, I guess. Keep dreaming, Em.....

Speaking of Frederick having a normal one, it turns out that what it takes to get the elder Trenchard son to visit his estranged younger brother is if that brother is beaten within an inch of his life in a combo black-mail/hate crime incident. Yes, the good Reverend James tries to tell his blackmailer he won't be giving him any more money. Still, all he gets for his troubles is more threats and so many injuries that it's only by the timely intervention of the Trenchard valet Fletcher that he doesn't expire on the street. (Fletcher, having experienced a similar beating as a youth, is unable to turn a blind eye to a gay man getting assaulted as a result of his sexuality.)

It is, unsurprisingly, Emily who forces her way into the rectory after several days of James being missing and who bullies him into finally seeing a doctor for his many wounds. The prognosis isn't great, though, and when James begs her to reach out to Frederick for him, she can't exactly refuse. This episode is, hands down, the most I have ever liked Emily Dunn, as she finally deploys her powers of nosiness and nagging for a good cause, determinedly staring down her brother-in-law when he tries to stonewall her and doing everything short of physically dragging him to James's bedside herself. 

Unfortunately, the Trenchard brothers' reunion didn't go as well as we hoped. James, who wants nothing so much as to free his brother from some of the emotional burdens he carries where their father is concerned, decides that the best and most helpful way to do that would be to reveal that their dying mother told him Frederick is illegitimate and not Oliver Trenchard's son at all. On paper, James means this as a kind gesture. After all, Frederick doesn't need to be so obsessed with the fact that his father was hateful and abusive if he wasn't even his real dad, right? Just insane levels of Guy Tapping His Head meme energy at work all around here. How is James so sweet and yet so dumb?

Because, of course, Frederick takes this in the worst way possible, assuming that James is telling him to be cruel, yet another step in his allegedly lifelong quest to destroy his life. He storms off, but not before accusing James of trying to ruin and humiliate him or maybe even steal the title Lord Trenchard for himself, you know, as the realheir. James insists this isn't what's happening and looks pathetically ill. Still, Frederick is nothing if not a champion of hearing what he wants at any moment, and the brothers look farther apart than ever.

Can't wait till Clara finds out about that."

[mozukumi]

a mother's love

Nico & Naomi, Nico/Will. Fluff and humor, no TSATS spoilers. 1.2k words. Read on AO3 or on here!

“If you want a piece of my son, you’ll have to get through me first, ya’ vermin!”

“W-want your son?” The monster sounded… oddly like a teenage boy – and a flustered one, at that. “He’s a good friend, but it’s not like - that’s not the point! Will is in trouble, Miss Solace!”

-

Will catches a cold. Nico assumes the worst. Naomi receives a surprise visitor.

Naomi Solace was having a good day.

Not a great day. It really couldn’t be great, not with Will sick as a dog and stuck in bed. He assured her that it was just a common cold – he used his powers to check – and that it was important for him to try and fight it off naturally. And she trusted his word on that matter. What a funny life she led, where she could let her fifteen-year-old son take charge of his own medical care.

But if there was one benefit to having a sick son (yeesh, saying it like that made her seem terrible!), it was that she got to have complete control over the TV.

She loved having Will over to visit, of course she did, she missed him something awful whenever he was gone – but the boy just couldn’t stand her favorite genre of television: crime procedurals. Battlefield medicine? He could put up with that just fine. Criminal Minds? That, for reasons beyond her comprehension, just perturbed him.

So, with Will fast asleep and on the road to recovery, Naomi got the living room all to herself. She had the latest episode of Law & Order on, a bowl of popcorn, and a fluffy blanket. She was going to make the most of this day. Feeling all mopey wouldn’t help Will get better any sooner, after all.

That’s how her afternoon unfolded, quietly but contentedly, until she suddenly heard a loud thud from up in the attic.

She paused her show, her body immediately tensing. Could it be a monster? Will rarely attracted them – and she thanked her lucky stars for that – but it had been known to happen. One time, just a few weeks before Will went to camp for the first time, she had to fight some of the damned things off herself.

She heard more noises from above – distinctly footsteps this time. Well, that about confirmed the worst. She got up from the sofa and made her way to the entranceway closet, where she stored Will’s old little league bat. Why did she keep it there, anyway? The thing hadn’t been used for nearly a decade. She really ought to do some spring cleaning. That’d be next on her to-do list, right after killing this monster.

She had to reach up onto her tip-toes to pull down the drawstring for the attic ladder, but just managed to grab it. After unfolding the ladder, she took a deep breath.

If she could play Coachella, then she could do this, surely. This was nothing to be afraid of. Will had to face these things constantly. She could do it just once.

She began her climb, but before she made it up far, a figure loomed above the entranceway. That must be her monster. The silhouette was humanoid, but completely encased in shadow – she couldn’t make out anything else.

“If you want a piece of my son, you’ll have to get through me first, ya’ vermin!”

“W-want your son?” The monster sounded… oddly like a teenage boy – and a flustered one, at that. “He’s a good friend, but it’s not like - that’s not the point! Will is in trouble, Miss Solace!”

Huh.

That didn’t sound like something a monster would say, but she knew she had to keep her guard up. “And just how do you know my son?”

“From camp. My name is Nico di Angelo, and-”

Everything clicked into place.

She laughed, because how could she not? Oh, Will was gonna give her so much grief for this once he woke up. She thought his best friend Nico was a monster! She’s heard so much about the boy (he couldn’t seem to say enough), including about his unique shadow travel ability. That explained his sudden appearance in the attic.

“This is really no laughing matter,” he said gravely. “Can you, uh, please get off the ladder? I think Will has been kidnapped, and I need to search for clues.”

“Kidnapped?” She asked, all of the laughter ceasing in an instant. Just why would he think that? Still, she obliged with the request, stepping off the rungs to allow Nico to descend.

“He’s not answering my Iris Messages. We agreed we’d do them every other day. Just so I can uh - give him updates on the state of camp.” Huh. So that’s why he had been scurrying off to his bedroom all trip. “But ths afternoon, he didn’t respond. And I know he wouldn’t ignore me all of a sudden, he’s just… he’s not that kind of person. So he has to be in trouble.”

It takes all of her willpower to stop herself from laughing again, with the answer to this mystery being so obvious to her. But that would be cruel to this poor boy, who still thought Will was in danger.

“Nico, I think you’ve gotten all worried for nothing. He’s just sick, dear.”

“Huh?”

“He’s been in bed all day, trying to sleep it off. That’s why he didn’t answer your message - he just slept through it. But if it’d give you peace of mind, we can go check on him.”

To be honest, it’d give Naomi some peace of mind too. After that monster scare and the threat of a kidnapping – she really would like a reminder that her little boy was in one piece.

Poor Nico looked mortified about the entire misunderstanding, but muttered out an agreement. The two of them tiptoed their way over to Will’s room, Naomi gently opened the door, and –

There he was, fast asleep. Safe and sound.

He looked like a mess. His blankets were crumpled and his hair was mussed up. But he was alive, and that was all that really mattered to Naomi.

She spared a glance down at Nico, and saw that her sentiment was shared. Relief was visible all over his face.

Quietly, she shut the door. Outside of her sleeping sons room was no place to have a conversation, so she gestured for Nico to follow her into their kitchen. Her good day had turned itself around into a great day after all – she was finally getting to meet one of Will’s friends. Or perhaps ‘friends’ wasn’t the right word…? She had her suspicions, but she wasn’t going to push it. Maybe they weren’t out yet, or maybe Will hadn’t worked up the courage to ask him in the first place. It wasn’t her place to pry.

He was clearly very important to Will. And knowing that much was enough for her.

“I’m… so sorry, Miss Solace. That was really stupid. I’ll shadow travel back now, so -”

“Uh uh uh,” she tutted. “No you aren’t. You think Will hasn’t told his Mama about his favorite infirmary patient? Oh no, he’s told me. And he’s made it clear that you are - in no way, shape, or form - supposed to shadow travel multiple times without getting some rest and calories first. We’ve got Gatorade in the fridge and some snacks in the pantry. And if that’s not reason enough – I’ll sweeten the deal and show you some of Will’s baby pictures. Does that sound good to you?”

Nico gave her the slightest smile. “Yeah, that does sound good.”

BONUS:

Nico: Why can't you use your own healing powers to stop being sick?

Will: Well, demigod-level healing is like, super strong stuff. So overusing it is kind of like overusing antibiotics, it'll just cause the viruses to mutate and become stronger, which would only put the mortal world at risk. So I can suffer a few days of the sniffles for the greater good.

Nico: What are antibiotics?

Will: Oh my Dad he doesn't even know what antibiotics are...

[avidrawsthings]

What IS vytarian magic :0 It sounds really fascinating! Reminds me a little of my own different magic system I made for my hphm canon

Hi there!

Shortest version: Magic that you get that’s completely based on your personality and interests, with some limits, of course!

Wanted to make note that I’m currently in the process of introducing some new things while revamping and redesigning some older things, like the spellbooks. In time, I’ll compile everything together into a single post. I already went off on some tangents as it is lol.

Vytarian Magic is a system I created several years ago for another story I’ve been working on called Earth 14, which is also where Reina’s from! Since I brought her over to my HPHM au, I figured I’d bring over a few more elements to have some fun with it. The backstory for this magic system was changed slightly to better fit the HPHM setting.

It was created in the BC era by a young Mage named Vytaris, who felt that the existing magic of the time was far too restrictive and horribly uncreative and uninspiring. Vytarian Magic deliberately broke the rules of the standard magic, which is why it’s so vastly different. It’s divided into 8 Aspects: Creation, Truth, Balance, Knowledge, Identity, Emotions, Ideals and Destruction. The explanations for each one are in this post here if you’d like to take a look at it!

Much how people don’t always fall into just one category, Mages aren’t limited by just one Aspect, and it’s completely normal for such Aspects to overlap. You have things like Rainbow Magic and even Food Magic, as well as Crystal Magic and even Tech Magic.

The type of magic users get are based on their personality, goals and interests. They’re not bound to the types they get initially, and are free to explore other types that catch their attention. Most Mages will settle on the types they vibe with the best.

Rowan got Paper Magic thanks to her love of books and studious nature. Ben got Lightning Magic thanks to his desire to always be a step ahead of Merula to avoid her. Reina got Rose Magic because they’re her favorite flowers.

There’s so many varieties that it’s easier to list what this system can’t do:

Bring the dead back to life. The Laws of Life and Death are absolute.

Create currency. Any attempts will only result in obviously fake money. This was done to prevent potential economic ruin.

Vytarian Magic is also Contract-based. In order to reach full access to their magic, Mages must form a contract at the age of 10 with a higher being known as a Denizen. The rules they need to follow are very straightforward and there aren’t any strings attached.

Never fall into corruption or evil.

Never use the power with malicious intent.

Killing can only be allowed as a last resort and if it’s in the defense of yourself or another.

To deliberately break any of the rules above will resort in your power retaliating and cursing you. The severity of the curse depends on the severity of the crime. Refusal to heed the warnings will result in death, and the curse remaining with you in the afterlife.

Vytaris had these put into effect as they didn’t want this power to fall into the wrong hands and be misused. Users that are going down the wrong path will receive 3 warnings from their Denizen. Refusal to heed these warnings will lead to the contract being severed at best, and horribly cursed at worst.

Younger students that break the rules by bullying others will be mildly cursed but still properly punished. Their contract will be broken if they refuse to learn their lesson. They’ll be offered another chance once they’ve proven themselves worthy.

The Contract method is the biggest reason why a majority of the outside wizarding communities won’t go anywhere near it. The same goes for Voldy, the Death Eaters and anyone else that shared their ideals. Others refused because they actually looked down at Vytarian Magic for a variety of reasons, while some folks felt it was far too unreliable and chaotic.

Merula would claim that she refused to try this magic because of what it represented (beings such as Elves, Goblins, Giants and Werewolves are treated as equals in that community). In reality, she was rejected by her would-be Denizen because she had malicious intent from the start.

It’s possible to form another Contract later on in order to receive more power, but they don’t just hand this out all willy-nilly. There has to be a good reason for it. A good example would be needing to get stronger due to the Second Wizarding War, which is what Reina and a few others end up doing when things get dire.

All Mages receive their spellbook at the age of 5. Known as an Infinitus, it’s bound to them for life. The book is enchanted to contain endless pages within while maintaining its base size and weight. In addition to storing and unlocking their spells, it also acts as a reliable source of information by answering whatever questions the user provides. It can also provide the necessary functions for users that are hearing or visually impaired.

The books float near their user at all times, and unless permission is granted, the contents within are illegible to anyone but the owner. When dueling, the books will open up and automatically move to pages containing their desired spells.

At the age of 10, the Infinitus creates a wand for the user. These wands are made out of pure crystal and don’t require a core. They’re also far more durable than the standard wooden wands. Wands are mostly used by younger Mages that don’t have complete control of their powers yet. Wandless magic is the norm, and can be achieved at any time.

At age 15, the user’s wand becomes a staff. This is both a rite of passage and the next step on their journey, as this gives them access to more powerful spells. The staff always matches the height of the user.

********

Hopefully this wasn’t too much to take in lol If there are any additional questions you have, feel free to ask away! My inbox is always open!

[reds-ramblings]

Hope in Tragedy - Part 24

I'm not making it any better by continuing to edit it and I'm mad at myself for it being so short but here it is.

Jake's P.O.V.

I open my eyes and look at the clock on my phone. It's not even six a.m. and we don't have to be awake for over an hour so I turn over, pull MC close to me, and attempt to go back to sleep. After a little while, it's clear sleep is not going to happen so I decided to get up and make a pot of coffee and let her sleep.

After finishing my first cup of coffee I get up and pour myself another. I take MCs favorite coffee cup out of the cabinet and pour her a cup making sure to use her favorite creamer. I walk back into the bedroom and set the coffee on the bedside table. As I'm about to wake MC up she starts to move frantically in her sleep and mumble to herself. I reach out and gently put my hand on her back.

"MC," I whisper to her causing her eyes to snap open.

"Jake?"

"I'm here, it's ok."

"Oh thank God. I was having the worst dream." She scoots over and I sit on the bed next to her.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" I ask.

"It was Parker. He was alive and testifying against you and then the jury said you were guilty and I lost both you and Chase. It was awful."

"Hey," I cup her face and force her to look up at me. "You're not losing anybody."

"You don't know that! Stop pretending everything is ok when we have no clue if anything is ever going to be ok again." She begins to sob.

I grab her and pull her close so that her head is resting on my chest. I wrap my arms around her and let her cry. How can I assure her that everything is going to be ok when I'm not even sure myself? After a few minutes, she pulls away and wipes her face and then it's as if nothing happened.

"We have to get ready we have a big day ahead of us." She says as she gets up and starts rummaging through the closet.

On the drive to the courthouse we talk about what it will be like when thus is over. I so want to make her wishes a reality. In the courtroom we both find our seats and wait for closing arguments to begin. The DA walks up to the front and begins to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury your job here today is to determine if a crime was committed. I just want to remind you that it is not up to you to determine if their actions were justified or whether or not the punishment fits the crime. No, your job is to determine if Mr. Duval and Mr. Austin committed a crime. In the testimonies you've heard from the defendants not once have they denied committing a crime. The defense will ask you to acquit based on their reasoning for committing a crime. Nobody is above the law but they want you to believe the law shouldn't apply to them due to the circumstances of the case. Do the right thing and find them guilty of the crime they have admitted to committing."

I immediately think about our testimonies. We didn't even try to hide the fact that we did it. I think about MC on the stand. She had to relive all of the hell he put her through and she gladly did it to give us a chance at freedom.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," Mrs. Hines begins pulling me out of my thoughts and back to the present. "I want you to think of the person who means the most to you. It can be your significant other, your best friend, your sibling, or maybe even your mom. Now imagine they were in danger. What would you do to save them? Would you break the law if it meant no harm would come to them? I know I would and I would be willing to bet some of you would as well. If your answer is yes then I am begging you to find my defendants not guilty. You heard from Ms. MC about the danger she was in and how she had to defend herself. She survived but if my clients hadn't broken the law would that have still been the case?"

Soon court was over and we were ushered to the hallway just outside to wait for a verdict. After several hours the judge said he was sending everyone home as there was no verdict today.

One by one the days passed by until it had been a week since the trial there was still no verdict.

MC is pacing back and forth in the hallway of the courthouse. I can tell she gets more worried with each passing day. I walk over to her and place my hands on her shoulders and rub them up and down her arms.

"MC, can you stop pacing you're making me nervous."

"Really? That's what is making you nervous not the fact that they've been deliberating for days?"

"Look at it this way the longer they take to reach a verdict the more time we have together," I say trying to help calm her.

"I don't like not knowing. It's killing me not knowing what's going to happen to you. Their decision will affect the rest of our lives."

"MC, I'd rather be uncertain about the future and be by your side than to know what the future holds and not be here with you." I wrap my arms around her pulling her close to me in a tight embrace.

"The jury is back." A voice says behind me causing MC to pull away from me.

"Well let's see what they have to say."

"Has the just reached its verdict?" The judge asks.

"No your honor we are unable to reach a verdict."

"Do you believe with more time you will be able to come to a decision?"

"No, your honor."

"Your honor may we poll the jury?" My lawyer asks and the judge nods.

"Not guilty."

"Guilty."

"Not guilty."

One by one they state their vote.

"Not guilty."

"Not guilty."

"Not guilty."

"Not guilty."

"Not guilty."

"Guilty"

"Not guilty."

"Not guilty."

"Not guilty."

In the end, the verdict is right o two. If only those two jurors would change their minds.

"In this case I have no choice but to declare a mistrial." The judge says and MC gasps behind me. Court is dismissed and I let out a sigh. This is not at all what we wanted.

MC grabs me and hugs me close and I hear her sniffle.

"Hey," I say pushing her away from me so I can look her in the eyes. "It may not be the outcome we wanted but it's not a guilty verdict."

"The only reason we didn't get a guilty verdict was the DA screwed up. He won't make the same mistake in the retrial."

I look at her and try my best to keep my emotions from showing. I want to say something to reassure her but I know she's right. We got lucky and that won't happen next time.

I hear footsteps approaching and turn to see the DA. "Mr. Duval, Mr. Austin can you step into my office for a moment please?"

Chase and I look at each other and then at our lawyers who nod. He's probably going to offer leniency in exchange for pleading guilty or something ridiculous like that. I kiss MC on the forehead and walk across the hall with Chase. Once we're in his office he shuts the door and quickly makes his way around his desk to his seat.

"I'll make this quick, in light of recent events we have decided not to move forward with another trial and we will be dropping the charges."

"Is this some sort of joke? What's the catch?" Chase asks.

"This is not a joke and there's certainly not a catch. We've just decided it wouldn't be worth our time and resources to retry the case."

In the hallway MC, Lily and Hannah are anxiously waiting for us. I rush to MC and wrap my arms around her, pick her up off the ground, and spin her around. "They dropped charges!"

"What?!" She squeals.

"We're free MC!"

I look over at Hannah and she has tears in her eyes. She walks over and wraps her arms around both me and MC. I see Lily hugging Chase and decide to get her attention.

"I want to thank you both for coming and being with me during this trial. You don't know how much that means to me but I think it's time you both go back to Germany. After all, you do have a wedding to plan." I say causing Hannah to smile.

"Yes, and you get to be there to walk me down the aisle." She says.

"Umm actually," Lily says nervously, "I think I'm going to stay here for a while."

"Oh my gosh are you guys officially a thing now?" MC asks practically jumping up and down.

"Wait, you're staying here with Chase?" I question her.

"Yeah, so? You're staying here with MC." She says as if it's the same.

"Yes but that is-"

"Don't you dare say that's different because you know damn well it's not any different at all."

"Yes, it is Lily! MC and I have been through a lot together we've known each other for almost two years. You just met Chase!" I say letting my anger and worry for my little sister get the best of me.

"Oh really? How long had you known her when you two first made plans to be together? You hadn't even met her and you were planning a life with her. You hadn't even met her when you told her you loved her Jake either. So please tell me how different your situation is."

I look over at MC who is blushing slightly. "MC, you told her about that?" I ask.

"She's my best friend of course I told her and she didn't say one thing against it. Do you know why? Because she wants her best friend and her brother, two people she cares deeply for, to be happy. Just like I want my brother and my best friend to be happy. She's your sister you should want her to be happy and Chase is your friend you should want the same for him."

"What if he hurts her?" I ask even though I realize I'm on the losing side of this argument.

"Well, then we'll both kick his ass just like I'm sure they'll do the same to you if you hurt me."

"Well, I suppose it could be worse. She could be dating Phil." I say causing all three girls to erupt in a fit of laughter.

"Come on let's all go celebrate our victory." She says while wrapping her arms around Lily and Hannah's shoulders pulling them to the exit. Knowing how close the three of them are makes me smile. I pull my phone out of my pocket and instantly that smile fades as I see three missed callsand a text from agent Morgan. The terms of my deal are now at the front of my mind as I open his text.

Congrats on your victory today. Now that that's over we need to talk about our previous arrangement and where we go from here. I'll be by tomorrow to discuss this with you. I think MC and Chase should be there to hear the details too.

[izumisays]

dear yuletide author

Thank you so much for reading this and taking part in this wonderful annual conspiracy!


First of all, I hope you have a lovely time! If any of the fandoms below pique your interest, I’m delighted already, and ready to hear all the stories you want to tell.

Fandoms: Hunting (猎狐), Thunderbolt Fantasy (東離劍遊紀), Link Click (时光代理人), Extraordinary Attorney Woo (이상한 변호사 우영우)

As for reading preferences, I’m happy with a wide variety of tones and genres, of any rating, ranging anywhere from lighthearted antics to dramatic casefics. But the core of all the stories I love has always been character interaction and interplay of their competences.

How the characters play off each other and bring out their best/worst, how they’d react to a divergence of events, how true they’d stay to themselves in a different setting – I love fanfiction for allowing us to reconnect with our favourite stories time and again by asking these questions. And there are so many ways to do it! To name a few favourites, I’m always game for POV hijinks, a missing scene, a casefic, canon expansion, backstories and what-ifs.

You may notice that some of my requests lean towards shipfic – those, too, are welcome in a variety of tones – but I also tried to include openings for gen ideas if that’s your jam. Additionally, while it is not usually my top interest, I don’t have anything against AUs if there is something that you are itching to explore: I tend to enjoy them for a new aesthetic that fleshes out the favoured character dynamics in a new light, or a fusion that redefines the playing ground to allow the characters to exhibit their core competences in new and exciting ways.

I would be very grateful if you could avoid a/b/o and associated kinktropes, played-straight soulmate fic, and character interpretation that runs contrary to their core values. If in doubt, please reach out to me on anon - the askbox is open!

猎狐 | Hunting - Xia Yuan, Wu Jiaqi

Don’t get me wrong, I love me a good white collar crime, especially one that busts a few capitalist myths. But let’s be real, the best parts of this TV show were Xia Yuan and Wu Jiaqi’s overseas 💕dates💕 I mean business trips, which mysteriously required they be outfitted like a well-matched pair of ridiculously long-legged models that strutted right out of the Vogue pages and into the metaphorical fire. The kind of fire that, in turn, required them to fake date, or dress up even more glamorously to impersonate filthy rich celebrities and their butlers, or deployed other similarly logical methods of tracking down runaway fraudsters.

I would eat up more of such adventures with a spoon, nay, a SHOVEL. Just like the epilogue showed, I’d like to imagine their adventures post-canon be a series of bright postcards (bang bang from Russia with love) capturing their antics in various capitals of the world.

Some ideas for inspiration could be:

Competitive not-dating. Xia Yuan and Wu Jiaqi just happen to contrive the circumstances in a way that makes the next operation seem conspicuously like a date, and the other one simply cannot let this slide and ups the ante.

I’m totally on board with some commentary or scheming from the peanut gallery of the Economics Crimes Division (I love you, Xiaolei!) to set them up faster. I don’t know if I love more the idea of the two of them giving in to the gang’s attempts to set them up, or the gang continuing to set them up completely unaware that the two of them are already dating, thus amplifying the comedy. 

As mentioned above, every city needs a pair of scarily competent and scarily beautiful law enforcement agents (who are also derps) descend on it to charm the pants off the local police forces and then solve some crime while they are at it. It’s also incredibly cute that Wu Jiaqi is the worldlier (or nerdier?) of the two, and can dispense funfacts and trivia at Xia Yuan’s incredibly soft face. I’m a simple girl and I like simple things.

ALL THE TROPES ever, as essential and completely logical ways to solve economic crimes. All the dress-ups. All the role-playing on the job with bae.

The show is available on viki.com.

THUNDERBOLT FANTASY (東離劍遊紀): any characters

I LOVE THIS SELF INDULGENT WUXIA NONSENSE AND I CANNOT LIE!

Sanfan is a mixture UTTER GLEE and deep fondness for the genre staples, self-aware and masterful playthrough of all the wuxia tropes in the book, and one goddamn well-constructed story. It plays the tropes straight, calls them out with a knowing wink, walks the tightrope between the two with panache, and just as you are relaxed and enjoying this trapeze show, it grins cheekily at you, sets the hat on fire and pulls a bunny out of a discoball.  It’s DELIGHTFUL and fun and lovingly crafted, just like a good passion project should be.

I want anything that capitalizes on the absolutely hilarious dynamics between Rin Setsua and Sho Fukan (and while personally I end up using the Japanese versions of their names more often, please feel free to go with the Chinese names if you prefer). Sho Fukan does not want any of those heroic quests, he’s the human equivalent of been there, done that mood, and he just wants to REST and hopefully dump a bunch of magical murderswords someplace safe. Rin Setsua is a Totally Respectable and Non-Villainous Member of Society, of which he will inform you firsthand in the most high spoken and verbose way possible, and maybe even produce paperwork that has definitely not been tampered with. He harbours no ulterior motives, ever, and does not trail behind Sho Fukan for any reason beyond the pleasure of his company, and his mission to personally victimize and cockblock every morally derelict villain in two countries, by no-one’s request.

Whether you go shipfic (yiss!) or canon levels teamup circus (also yiss!), don’t hold back your horses. Everything about this is Extra, and should continue to be so <3

I am okay with both expanding the canon and playing with AUs/crossovers/fusions for this one, provided they retain the character dynamics. I love the extended cast as well: any characters including the Seiyou gang (and on that note, if you want to write the Seiyou backstory for Shou’s gang that has no Rin in it, you’re welcome as well), reappearance of the familiar faces from Touri (read: Rin’s victim list, past, future and present), original characters lined up and waiting to be screwed over (guaranteed) and rescued (the administration does not bear any responsibility etc etc).

Season three, god bless Urobutcher, just went and upped the ante by 9000 -- time and space travel! Magical walkie-talkie pocket-sized boyfriend dolls! Dramatic daddies and villains literally yeeted into literal space, jjba-style! The sandbox has expanded exponentially, and if you think this is a good excuse to open the door wide for any perceivable AUs and still remain canon-compatible, well, then you have the right audience in me.

This year I’m not limiting my request to just the two main characters (though as you can see my fondness for them is great) because I think season three especially kicks the doors wide open for various kinds of hilarious team-ups, confrontations, family dramas and peanut gallery commentaries about one another’s delusions of grandeur. If you would rather write about characters in the demonic realm, or have been wanting a good match-up for characters that never met on screen, or bring back some dead faves — well, then s3 labyrinth invites you to play with it, and I’ll happily read it.

Thunderbolt Fantasy is available on Crunchyroll.

이상한 변호사 우영우 | Extraordinary Attorney Woo (TV)

I was ABSOLUTELY charmed by this show, with its kindness and compassion in choosing an autistic woman as a protagonist and letting her have a whole spectrum of experiences and relationships, not limiting it to any one thing. I love the tone, not flinching away from the difficulties but glowing with Ghibli-levels of wholesomeness and inspiration. I love Woo Young Woo and all the people who support and challenge her, and who get changed in turn. I really love the ridiculous, over-the-top cases they have to solve. They just bring me so much joy!

There are a many things I’d love to see explored in a story — all focused on these relationships with and around WYW. I think the one would care least about is straight-up romance she has with Lee Jun Ho, though I find him absolutely adorable — but I definitely welcome that as a background for any other story. I just am interested in things other than that for example:

my wonderful, honest Choi Su Yeon, with her stubborn integrity and willingness to call people — including herself — out on things that grate it. Her friendship with WYW moves my heart so much, the fact that she will grumble and complain to WYW’s face but never fail to offer a small kindness that will make it easier for WYW, and how she would whine about her misspent youth but put in as crazy hours into work as anyone else, and her willingness to claw anyone’s eyes out if they are being an asshole. And her own bewilderment at her growing interest in Kwon Min Woo! I want so much more of everything with her: backstory, a day in the office, a glimpse of the future, what have you.

The PARENTS generation. Oooh boy. What kind of relationship did Woo Gwang Ho have with both Tae Su Mi and Han Seon Young? In fact, what is the relationship between the two CEOs now and what was it back then? They have barely met on screen but the absolute tension that’s crackling in the air when they pit against one another… Fantastic. I’d ship it, for the rivalry or friendship gone bad or the legacy of being locked in an inter generational business competition.

WYW and the budding relationship with her brother. I liked him so very much! He had a very different upbringing to hers, and yet his heart seems to be in exactly the same place. I would deeply want for them to have a chance to know each other better — something that would be deeply unsettling for both their parents but so important for the siblings.

I’m sure there are other angles you could take to look at the network of people around/supporting WYW that would delight me, these are just a few things that came to mind first.

Link Click (时光代理人)

Now if there was a sandbox that was just begging to play with it!

There is so much of the set up that is left unexplained — it gives us the world building in bold brushstrokes but leaves the whole thing up to us to explain. There are some rules, but how did they come about, and how did they learn about them? How did they find one another, and what new adventures await? What happens to the bonds between the two main leads once the tensions of the fallout wind them tight? Backstory, a new case, “a day in the life of” — I’d be happy to read any of it. I’m happy with both shippy and gen fic for Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang— because the tension, trust and intimacy is there either way — but I do not see Qiao Ling in a romantic context with either: she is their friend/manager/sibling figure, and I prefer to keep it that way.

I’m also open for treats for any of the above — it was a surprise to me that the settings changed this year, but to me, dropping stories into other’s stockings and finding some surprises in your own is definitely a highlight of the true Yule experience :)

Thank you for taking the time to read the letter, and I’m greatly looking forward to reading your story — and hopefully, getting to chat about these ridiculous and wonderful characters post-reveals :)

[tallmantall]

James Donaldson on Mental Health - Suicides are at an all-time high in America. One of the best ways to reduce them is gun control

Gun control laws not only help prevent mass shootings, they also reduce suicides, experts explain By MATTHEW ROZSA Staff Writer Anti-gun demonstrators protest at the Tennessee Capitol for stricter gun laws in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 3, 2023. Editors’ Note: This article discusses suicide and contains details about mental health crises. If you are having thoughts of suicide, or are concerned that someone you know may be, resources are available at https://www.speakingofsuicide.com/resources/ If you are in need of help, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Hours of operation are 24/7 and it's confidential. The ongoing mental health crisis in America is coupled with an escalating suicide crisis that reached record highs in 2022, with nearly 50,000 deaths. Almost 55% of these deaths involved firearms. While gun control is usually discussed in terms of ending mass shootings, it will also stop a lot of self-inflicted violence. One of the best strategies for addressing this issue can saves lives, though it has an intimidating name: lethal means counseling. "The link between gun control policies and firearms is strikingly clear — less gun control correlates almost perfectly with higher state firearm deaths overall." Lethal means counseling is when — for the safety of a person in acute distress — firearms and dangerous medications are voluntarily and temporarily stored in secure areas. Many people undergoing mental health crises are at risk of hurting themselves, whether suicidally or unintentionally. Dr. Kurt Michael, the senior clinical director at The Jed Foundation, has seen many cases in which "a person’s access to lethal means is often a primary contributing factor as to whether death is the outcome of a suicide attempt," he said. Perhaps the best way to illustrate lethal means counseling is through two morbid scenarios: In the first, a 20-year-old person in distress went to their father’s gun cabinet, removed a loaded firearm and shot himself in the head, dying within seconds. In the second scenario, he went to the gun cabinet and couldn't find any weapons. So he used a razor to open up his wrists and was found an hour later, rushed to the hospital and survived, agreeing to seek help. While this trolley problem is indeed dark, it's a choice many people face every day. Lethal means counseling is a way to make the worst outcomes less likely. While it is voluntary at first, lethal means counseling still requires a person to lose some of their immediate personal agency. Nevertheless, lethal means counseling seems justifiable because the temporary loss of freedom has the consequence of prolonging their lives. A similar argument can thus be made for mandatory waiting periods, which have been linked by the nonprofit think tank the Rand Corporation with lowered suicide rates as well as lowered violent crime rates. If a person wishes to shoot themselves but cannot easily obtain a gun, it is reasonable to assume they will have more time to reconsider that terrible decision. Dr. Jacob Smith, an assistant professor of political science at Fordham University who has studied how gun control and mental health policies correspond to firearm fatalities, suggests this does indeed happen quite often. "In our paper, we mostly looked at overall gun control policies and access to mental health rather than specific policies," Smith said, explaining that most states which implement gun control laws do so more with more than one, making it difficult to assess which laws have caused what specific effect. Despite this challenge, Smith and his team still found a definite pattern in terms of how gun control laws impacted suicide rates. "What we do find in our research is that states with more gun control laws have fewer gun deaths (including those who die by suicide from guns) and for non-suicides (homicides and accidental discharge together), a combination of more access to mental health services and an overall stricter climate for gun control laws correlates with a particularly lower rate of gun deaths," Smith said. Specifically, the team found that more access to mental health care did not correlate with lower rates of suicide by gun; stricter gun control laws, however, had that desired impact. "This relationship is perhaps due to the fact that many mental health treatments take time to have an effect, while the effect of removing a gun (or preventing one from having it in the first place) is immediate," Smith said, adding that more access to mental health care is still good for other reasons. "It is also very difficult under existing law to remove a gun due to mental illness, but having stricter gun control laws generally can either prevent (assault weapons ban) or delay (through background checks) when one has access to a gun." The suicide crisis has hit young people especially hard, with suicide rates increasing most among children between the ages of 12 and 17. Magic Wade — an associate professor of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield whose 2023 study for the journal Homicide Studies found small cities have higher rates of gun violence than large ones — says that this is one reason to consider expanding child access prevention laws and increasing purchasing age requirements. "These also enjoy broad-based support," Wade said. "According to a recent study by Crifasi et al. examining gun policy opinions of Americans from surveys conducted in 2017 and 2019, over 70% of respondents of any ethnicity (white, Black and Hispanics were compared in the study) support, 'Requiring by law that a person lock up the guns in their home when not in use to prevent handling by children or teenagers without adult supervision.'" "I have observed that many clinicians are hesitant or fearful to talk with their patients about firearms." In fact, the data suggests that even purchasing a gun can be risky if one is predisposed to suicidality. Wade cited a 2020 study in the New England Journal of Medicine that studies gun owners in California over three decades. It revealed that new gun owners are at an increased risk of suicide first in the initial month and then for a full year after they acquire a firearm. One popular solution among policymakers is to implement an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) for people experiencing mental health crises. An ERPO allows law enforcement to remove firearms and ammunition from the home of an individual in that situation. "21 states and the District of Columbia had enacted ERPOs, mostly since 2019," Wade said. "Such policies are still in the implementation phase where they need to be studied and potentially retooled or bolstered to maximize their intended effect. Notably, they are also typically geared toward preventing mass shootings, not suicides, although the latter is a welcome and logical byproduct." She added that RAND conducted a systematic review of the research which found that ERPOs have “uncertain” effects on suicides and violent crime, although there is currently not enough time to accumulate evidence on their effectiveness. Despite this, Wade pointed out that as of 2023 "over 49 grants totaling roughly $200 million had been allocated for 'the creation and implementation of extreme risk protection order programs, state crisis intervention court proceedings, and related gun violence reduction initiatives'" While the effectiveness of ERPOs is an open question, experts are more decisive about the effectiveness of other well-established gun control policies. "If you look at overall gun deaths the link between gun control policies and firearms is strikingly clear — less gun control correlates almost perfectly with higher state firearm deaths overall," said Dr. John J. Donohue, a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research who has done extensive research into gun control policy. "Part of that is gun control itself, part is that states with no gun control tend to have lots of guns in general, and part is poorer states tend to have less gun control." He added, "Waiting period laws clearly reduce suicide and red flag laws can help if they are used. Beefing up background check systems and moving to universal background checks should also help. Safe storage laws have also been found to work. Not adopting right-to-carry laws also restrains violent crime as RAND has confirmed." Yet gun control policies alone will not be enough to stop the rising tide of death. As Michael observed, mandatory waiting periods are most effective for first time gun owners. In many states the average household has seven to ten firearms, and therefore mandatory waiting periods cannot realistically prevent people in crisis from obtaining weapons. "That is why as a first step, I urge individuals (or parents/guardians of minors) who have firearms to secure all of their firearms voluntarily with family or friends (or trusted others who are not legally prohibited from accepting a transfer of firearms) until the suicide crisis has subsided, especially for those deemed at imminent risk," Michael said. "If out of the home storage is not feasible or preferred, especially for firearms designated in the family’s self-defense plan, a work firearm, or for veterans who are very familiar and comfortable with firearms, I consistently recommend that families store those guns in a locked device, such as a small, push button safe to prevent access from unauthorized users." Simply put, one does not have to be anti-gun to support policies that save lives. Michael described himself as "both a gun owner and a suicidologist" and as such "comfortable talking about both issues as they are inextricably linked." He says that as long as conversations about firearms are conducted in an apolitical, culturally respectful way, people can be saved on an individual level without government policy. That is where practices like lethal means counseling come into the picture. "I have observed that many clinicians are hesitant or fearful to talk with their patients about firearms," Michael said. "They either don’t think that they have the qualifications to bring it up or believe that bringing it up will not make any difference in that person’s life. But in reality, culturally-affirming, honest, and empathy-based conversations that are respectful of an individual’s way of life can be life-saving." The goal for health care providers is not to confiscate the patient's guns, but to make sure they will not be used to harm themselves or someone else. In a compassionate system, this should be done in a way that consistently respects the patient's dignity. "The focus is first on voluntary and temporary secure storage of firearms and respecting the family’s agency and right to self-determination in the matter," said Michael. #James Donaldson notes:Welcome to the “next chapter” of my life… being a voice and an advocate for #mentalhealthawarenessandsuicideprevention, especially pertaining to our younger generation of students and student-athletes.Getting men to speak up and reach out for help and assistance is one of my passions. Us men need to not suffer in silence or drown our sorrows in alcohol, hang out at bars and strip joints, or get involved with drug use.Having gone through a recent bout of #depression and #suicidalthoughts myself, I realize now, that I can make a huge difference in the lives of so many by sharing my story, and by sharing various resources I come across as I work in this space.  #http://bit.ly/JamesMentalHealthArticleFind out more about the work I do on my 501c3 non-profit foundationwebsite www.yourgiftoflife.org Order your copy of James Donaldson's latest book,#CelebratingYourGiftofLife: From The Verge of Suicide to a Life of Purpose and Joy Link for 40 Habits Signupbit.ly/40HabitsofMentalHealth If you'd like to follow and receive my daily blog in to your inbox, just click on it with Follow It. Here's the link https://follow.it/james-donaldson-s-standing-above-the-crowd-s-blog-a-view-from-above-on-things-that-make-the-world-go-round?action=followPub Read the full article

[omniversentertwined]

cynicallyscorned asked:

“Just, just hang on...” fuck it i know i'm going to regret this but. for ellen.

ㅤㅤIt was never something that they could have prepared for -- something he hadn't expected had been denied of her during such important developmental years, and something she'd never known she needed, to begin with. While she would have been a little difficult to replace, after all, it wasn't impossible -- if a simple sickness were to take her, it hardly would have mattered to the woman who used starvation as a means of punishment.

ㅤㅤTaken far away from the prison she'd been forced to call a home, a full year had gone by with her new caretaker -- the true adoptive brother that she could never refer to by title, as he deserved far greater than such a tainted thing, in her eyes. She gained experiences she never would have been given the chance for, was ensured a more regular access to food, was given the taste of freedom and shown incredible sights. She was being taught to read, how to properly speak -- and less law-abiding things like how to deceive others or distract effectively so that her partner in crime could more easily swipe what they needed.

ㅤㅤEventually, she'd grown more confident, and had gone further and further away from their established homes -- memorizing the area by scent each time they were forced to find a new place to live. It's during a point in which where they "live" was under one of the city bridges, however, that things began taking a turn for the absolute worst.

ㅤㅤIt started with a high fever and a persistent loss of appetite -- a regular, rough cough that occasionally produced a darker-colored mucus. Breathing steadily became more difficult, and though it was possible to take down food without nausea forcing it back up, the small amounts she was able to keep down left her with very little energy.

ㅤㅤAfter a week of suffering through it, however, she seemed to start making a slow recovery. Though the loss of appetite and nausea persisted, the fever had died down and the coughs were much less aggressive. The false flag of surrender that her illness waved summoned forth a sudden, rapid decline roughly a month later. The fever returned in full swing, chest pains making breathing even more difficult. True panic arrived on the worst of the days, however, when an inability to breathe paired with a sudden coughing fit that ended in her collapsing.

ㅤㅤShe could remember hearing her name being shouted, rapid footsteps approaching, and surprisingly careful hands lifting her up into equally careful arms. She can hear the distant sound of someone telling her something -- to just hold on, she thinks. Fingers weakly reach towards a jacket she recognizes, tips curling and taking hold as best as she could.

ㅤㅤIt felt like she was being held underwater -- and if not for how hot it was, she might have believed someone had dunked her. Everything felt so muffled, vision blurring -- darkening. Ah..right, she had been told she should get some rest, if she wasn't feeling well, before.. Maybe she was just tired, still -- she was just falling asleep.

ㅤㅤVoice barely carrying a whisper, she closes her eyes. " G..ood..night... S..S onic.. See..you.. t ommorrow...... "

[sentrient]

How Can Modern Slavery Training Help Fight The Worst Forms Of Child Labour

The definition of modern slavery includes more than one form of human exploitation. Women, children, migrants, refugees, and people working with inadequate legal protection are at high risk. Children are often the easy targets as they can hardly fight back or confront their oppressors. Also, children are rarely aware of the laws and protection against modern slavery.

Supply chains in many industries wrongfully practice child labour. Every organisation must ensure there are no children involved in slavery within their operations or supply chains. One way to achieve this is by implementing modern slavery awareness training. Let us discuss the worst forms of child labour and how training can help prevent them.

What are the worst forms of child labour?

The worst forms of child labour include situations where children, under the age of 18, are exploited physically or involved in activities that limit their freedom, right to education, and growth. Some of these situations are when children:

Are trafficked or forced into servitude, debt bondage, or labour

Are exploited sexually through child prostitution or production of pornography

Are involved in the production or trafficking of drugs

Are engaged in work that will likely harm their health, safety, or morals

Are made to work in hazardous environments or industries such as mining, quarrying, and construction.

How can modern slavery training help fight the worst forms of child labour

Effective elimination and prevention of the worst forms of child labour require immediate and comprehensive action.

1. Empowering learners

Knowledge and awareness are the best weapons to have when fighting against child labour. Employees need to be aware of the actions they can take and the procedure to be followed when faced with such issues in their organisation or supply chain. Modern slavery training provides employees with this knowledge and thus empowers them. They can then stay vigilant in their areas of work and raise issues when required.

2. Faster identification

Modern slavery awareness training can help your employees understand and identify behaviours and practices that are child labour. Without training, these practices are not always easily identified and will continue.

3. Increased reporting

One of the most empowering pieces of information that can be relayed through modern slavery training is the procedure for reporting such incidents. Training employees on modern slavery incidents and how and whom to report incidents can help put an end to child labour within your organisation or supply chain.

4. Better support

Taking an effective approach and contacting the right authorities when reporting the worst forms of child labour can achieve positive results. Unawareness or misinformation can lead to gaps in reporting and resolving modern slavery cases. Modern slavery training educates employees on what to do and who to report incidents of child labour. When employees or volunteers reach out to the right authorities to report incidences of child labour, better support can be expected from the authorities.

Conclusion

Promoting child labour in any form is a punishable crime. Child labour in its worst forms can be devastating and many children may not even live to see the future. To stop any form of modern slavery, organisations across Australia must foster a safe workplace that does not include child labour. Providing modern slavery training is one of the best ways to enhance awareness.

If you are looking for modern slavery training to stop the worst forms of child labour in your workplace, contact Sentrient today. Our 15-minute online learning course will help your employees know how to identify and report such incidents.

This blog post was originally published here.