#the one that works for the government and can turn into a leopard? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

everlasting-rainfall · 2 years

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Pages Keep Turning: The Fan

MINORS DNI

!-Potential Trigger Warnings-!

Delusions, Stalking, Manipulation, Technical Noncon, Lying, Kidnapping, Isolation, Violence

MINORS DNI

!-Potential Trigger Warnings-!

Imagine that your book accidentally falls into the hands of somebody outside of either classification like he isn’t technically a Marine or a Pirate but he is working with the world government

Imagine if he decides that he thinks neither option is good enough for you so he decides to write his own sort of sequel story to yours about the main character winding up with a world government agent instead of the Marine or Pirate Love Interests

It’s given to you by this man with black hair and glasses who looks rather pathetic, it’s not well written but it’s not the worst thing in the world either and for some reason that’s beyond you. The new Love Interest can turn into a Leopard

Still to be nice, you tell this fan of yours that they did a good job and to be proud of the thing that they made as they clearly spent a lot of time on it. They try to tell you to keep it but you hand it back to him telling them to keep it as they could add onto it if they wanted to, make more of it

You probably shouldn’t have said that as you leave and walk away with them standing there, the reflection of light off their glasses making their expression unreadable as you go

The rest of the day is normal, you walk about and mind your own business but the next day. There that fan is again, he walks with you and has a conversation with you trying to appear as friendly as possible and you indulge him for a while before you have to leave and take care of something

In the days that follow though, you keep running into this man who strikes up conversations with you and there was once even a moment where he attempted to join you for dinner at a restaurant while you were on a date with someone...

Safe enough to say that kind of screwed you out of any potential relationship with that person as the fan kept acting oddly affectionate with you like placing his hand over yours when you rested it on the table or when you asked your date to pass the salt, this fan doing it instead

It was starting to get ridiculous, you didn’t even know this man’s name and yet they kept showing up in your life like they were part of it... You couldn’t stand it anymore so one day, you snapped at him and shouted at him

You spent like ten minutes telling him to leave you alone every possible way that you could with him standing there the whole time looking stone faced as you shouted at him and made a scene in public before you finally stormed away leaving him standing there

Days passed and things were oddly peaceful as you didn’t see hide or hair of your fan anywhere, he had completely disappeared from your life and you were finally at peace again being able to go outside without risk of him showing up to bother you

Articles and videos about your public freak out on the fan were posted but they oddly got removed fairly quickly with the fastest that one had disappeared being as soon as you had clicked on it to see what it was all about

It was weird, sure but it was nothing to worry about at least in your opinion and besides you had other concerns like where was all of this strange cat hair coming from and why was it all over your clothing and floors?

A few more days passed and eventually the cat hair stopped and the stuff about your public freak out started to fizzle out and no longer be posted in the first place which you were grateful for as you returned to your normal life and started planning out your next series

Summer turned to fall and you had nearly completely forgotten about your fan until one night when you were awoken by something strange, you felt as if your pajamas had changed materials and was it just you or was your hair styled?

You open your eyes and find that not only are you laying on a different bed but you’re wearing a long white dress with your hair done up into a style that you would personally never do it up into

You’re of course shocked and you started looking around the room only to see a man that you’ve never seen before, a man in a white suit with a bird resting on his shoulder. He’s reading a book and the cover makes it look like it’s your story but it’s not, it’s different in the sense that the pirate and marine are gone replaced with a singular character that you don’t recognize

He notices that you’re awake and closes the book, he sets it aside neatly and comes over to see you. You lean away from him as he sits on the edge of the bed and looks at you only to ask how you slept

You of course demand to know just who he is and where you are only for him to introduce himself as your husband, Rob Lucci. The one who took you away from that Pirate and Marine so you could marry the one that you’ve always wanted to marry, the Cipher Pol Agent

You’re confused to hell and back about this as there is no Cipher Pol Agent in your life as far as you know and you’ve certainly never wanted to marry one either and what the hell is Cipher Pol anyways as you’ve never personally heard of it

You may try to tell him that you don’t have a husband but he’ll point out that you both have matching rings on your fingers and you’re wearing a wedding dress, he’ll tell you that you simply passed out during their wedding due to some unchecked exhaustion and dehydration causing you to fall and hit your head fairly hard so it seems you’ve lost your memories

It’s clear to you that it’s bullshit so you keep trying to demand answers from this man but he’ll simply keep filling your head with his lies, he’ll manipulate you as hard as he can and refuse to let you go outside because “doctors orders”

He’ll keep doing it and doing it until finally you begin to believe him and your reality becomes that you’re the loving spouse of Rob Lucci, I mean all the evidence is there so it has to be true

He doesn’t let you leave the house and keeps you at home at all times even after you’ve seemingly recovered because now you have to stay home as someone might try to attack you because of him and he can’t have that happening so you stay home as his housewife always greeting him when he comes home with dinner being ready and a semi reluctant kiss

He’ll tell you that you’ve never had a friend that isn’t him and that all of your family is dead or doesn’t want to see you and you believe it because what else is there to believe? He can show you evidence if you want and it’s extremely convincing

You’re eased into this life of being his wife as you take care of most of the housework as Lucci is out all day doing his job as a Cipher Pol Agent, he’s occasionally gone for quite a long time and those are the times when you’re loneliest but he always makes up for it when he comes home

Eventually when this becomes your entire reality, he decides that you can both now enjoy your wedding night together as he takes you to the bedroom and pounds you into the mattress for hours on end listening as you tell him to go harder and moan out his name

He completely dominates you changing positions quite a lot but never having you be the one on top unless he’s holding your hips and making you ride him as you cry out from overstimulation

He fucks you in both human form and his hybrid form which causes his more animalistic side to come out so you have quite a few bites along your shoulders and neck that are slightly bleeding, his animalistic side almost wishes as well that you were like him covered in fur with a tail and ears

At the end, he cums inside of you one last time while in his hybrid form and lets himself knot inside of you to ensure that none of his cum slips out of your body. He licks at the bites on your body as you pant and submissively kiss at his neck and tell him that you love him

He knows that you’re going to swell up soon with his babies and he has absolutely no problem with it as he imagines coming home to you heavily pregnant with his children and greeting him with a kiss as he takes it upon himself to make dinner that night after you’ve created another craving food

Maybe someday you’ll disobey him and go into the room that you’re not meant to go into but if that happens then he’ll just have to induce actual amnesia in you especially if you find his story

It’s your own fault in the end as you not only went in there when he explicitly told you to not do it but hey...

You were the one that told him to add onto the story...

Also for those of you who don’t get the disguise thing, this is something he wears in the school spinoff

#yandere male #yandere smut #yandere one piece #yandere rob lucci #yandere #pages au #minors dni

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wlw-webcomic-bracket · 1 year

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I followed your advice and submitted Vladia before the deadline with the infodump incomplete, so he it is in full:

Background Lore required to understand Valdia:

Uryuom are an alien species (imagine standard little grey alien but with antennae & a tail) that has single anatomical sex but uses minor shapeshifting magic to present their different gender identities, and each lays half an egg that can be fertilized by the DNA of 2+ donors from any species (recorded max number is 12 donors). When all of the DNA donors are Uryuom, and Uryuom is born from the egg. When none of the DNA donors are Uryuom, a Roaisol Seyunolu (Lesser Chimera) is born from the egg. When the DNA donors include both an Uryuom and a non-Uryuom, Tulougol Seyunolu (Greater Chimera) is born from the egg. Seyunolu can shapeshift between the forms of their different DNA donor species (except with furry antennae), and Tulougol Seyunolu can also shapeshift into the form of any transformation enchantment that has been used on them (because of their Uryuom DNA).

About Vladia:

Vladia is a Tulougol Seyunolu (Greater Chimera) who in addition to being part Human and Uryuom, has DNA from several bats, owls, hawks and even a leopard. Unlike the other Seyunolu of the created by Project Lycanthrope (a secret project that attempted to use Seyunolu as assassins), Vladia (then known as "Vlad") was permanently stuck in her (amab) hybrid form because her extremely high number of different DNA donors made shifting into full (amab) human form too complex/dangerously to pull-off without potentially killing her. As a result, Vladia was unable to interact with society due to her monstrous appearance, and felt constantly numb due to the pain of attempting to turn full human desensitizing her to all other forms of pain. Needless to say, none of this was good for her mental health, and she was previously manipulated into working for a charismatic super evil magical monster/cult leader.

However, after said monster/cult leader was defeated, Vladia was hit with Ellen Dunkel's magical beam of turn-you-into-a-hot-girl. Because Vladia is part Uryuom, she absorbed the magical enchantment, making it permanent unless she purposefully shapeshifted out of it. With the transformation being the first time in her life her body was fully human (not even having the furry antennae she would have had if she was capable of shifting into human by herself), and also seeming to have undone her body’s extreme desensitization, Vladia had no desire to try shapeshifting just to appear male again when there was no absolute guarantee that her previous problem with shapeshifting nearly killing her wouldn’t persist (despite the fact that theoretically the magic beam should have stabilized her shapeshifting powers).

Furthermore, in her own words: “So what?! I’m Human now, and I’m not risking death so I can be more similar to the way I was! I hate what I was! I’ve never been a man in my life as far as I’m concerned!”. Happy in her new form, she took on the name Vladia and mellowed from being borderline-murderously violent to just being grumpy and a bit antisocial, having formed a found family with the other survivors of Project Lycanthrope. She is currently a trainee with the paranormal division of the government agency that helped defeat/rescued her from her old evil boss.

Thank you for the propaganda! Vladia was one of several characters from El Goonish Shive who only got one or two nominations, so unfortunately she won't be in the tournament.

Enjoy a Vladia from the EGS sketchbook:

#el goonish shive #propaganda #asks answered #not polls

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mariacallous · 1 year

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Through a rare, hydra-headed blend of government sanctions and the historic stampede of 1,100 multinational firms out of the country, the economic blockade of Russia has proved highly effective. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war campaign struggles onward, however. This is due, in part, to his ability to cannibalize the 70 percent of the Russian economy that he controls. It is also because the advanced Russian weaponry and Iranian drones he uses are dependent on a stream of U.S. advanced electronic components trickling across the border. The good news is that the U.S. government and U.S. chipmakers can curtail the flow of these gadgets that enable Russia’s instruments of slaughter and destruction.

The Ukrainian steppes have become an arena for a distinctly modern form of warfare, dominated by drones and fortified by Western technology. The reinvigorated Ukrainian military leans heavily on an arsenal that includes Western tanks and drones—which we see in sorties against Russian targets integrating advanced electronics, sensors, and communication systems. Russia finds itself in a tough spot modernizing its military hardware. Striving to achieve technological parity on the battlefield, Russia’s T-90 tanks require substantial amounts of complex electronics, and even then are a far cry from Abrams or Leopard tanks. Russia is also turning to Shahed-136 drones, as unmanned aerial vehicles play an increasingly important role on the battlefield. It is not revelatory to say that all this runs on chips. The tech race reveals a stark divergence, though: Russia’s semiconductor industry is a laggard, choked by Western sanctions and years of disinvestment. Operating at a 65-nanometer chip technology—approximately 15 years behind the curve—the nation struggles to keep pace with the United States and China.

The Kremlin’s aspirations to go it alone technologically aren’t just optimistic; they’re borderline delusional, not least because Russia has been cut off from the global financial system. Even Chinese financiers are rolling up their welcome mats, while industry titans such as Taiwanese TSMC and Dutch ASML have slammed their gates. Nonetheless, Russia has found enablers both in the East and West. Even as companies like American Nvidia have severed their ties with the sanctioned Sberbank—the leading Russian lender—and Russian tech conglomerate Yandex’s AI ambitions have been mothballed, something curious is happening. An increasing number of Western-made components are finding their way into Russian military equipment.

After a drop in 2022, Russian imports of critical components, from simple transistors—the building blocks of electronics—to microchips and more specialized microprocessors, have reverted to levels commensurate with what we saw before the war. Moreover, a staggering 98 percent of these components are routed through third countries, compared to 54 percent the year prior, often manifesting in military equipment ranging from Kalibr missiles to T-72 tanks.

Companies like Intel suspended direct shipments to Russia early into the war in a wave of business departures, but they did little to prevent their products from being reexported to Russia through third countries. Texas Instruments shipped 36 shipments directly to Russia, with six additional shipments by one of its authorized distributors, in late February and early March of last year. But Reuters found out about almost 1,300 more shipments made by intermediaries. It is notionally legal—though morally abhorrent—for the intermediaries to reexport components outside of sanctions purview.

According to estimates from the Yermak-McFaul Working Group, Intel alone saw its exports of critical components to Russia rise to $700 million in 2022, up from $500 million the previous year. Not all of these components fall under the purview of sanctions; according to the Royal United Services Institute, the Russian military uses more than 450 different types of foreign-made components, and only 80 of them are subject to U.S. sanction controls. One legal loophole allows Russia to acquire these goods under the veneer of dual-use—referring to items with both civilian and military applications—whereby foreign-made components are deployed in the supposedly “peaceful” project of space exploration at Roscosmos. This is only one of the many methods Russians are using to import advanced electronics.

On the ground, the scheme depends on Iran’s involvement. It is more than just a drone supplier to Russia; it’s a technology partner. Iran is actively assisting Russia in setting up manufacturing lines for drones at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan. Despite efforts to mask the Iranian origins of these drones with Russian labels by the Tatarstan producer, a Washington Post investigation into leaked documents from Alabuga reveals the reality that Tehran has essentially franchised its drone technology to Moscow. This franchising includes specialist documentation, project know-how, and even sending Central Asian workers to Iran for training. Notably, these drones feature at least 13 components from Analog Devices. Even though said components are not exclusively used in military drones and are not listed as sensitive technologies, they would fall under a near-blanket ban on electronics exports recently imposed by the United States.

China, too, emerges as a linchpin in this convoluted network, accounting for more than 87 percent of Russia’s semiconductor imports in Q4 2022, a staggering leap from 33 percent in the same period in 2021. Yet over half of these components are not even Chinese-made, but rather rerouted through Hong Kong and mainland China-based intermediaries—shell companies such as Agu Information Technology, established only in 2022, shipped over $18 million worth of chips to Russia. Other shell companies, some involving Russian nationals in their establishment, sell to equally obscure importers; some are based in areas near Moscow, while others had no prior business activity before the war. It’s notable that exports of U.S. chips from Hong Kong and China to Russia increased tenfold comparing a pre-invasion period in 2021 to post-invasion period in 2022, reaching about $570 million that year, according to a Nikkei Asia report.

Hong Kong’s status as a transshipment port has contributed to volumes of dual-use items getting into Russian hands. It is notoriously hard to detect from high-level trade data because it requires visibility throughout multiple stages of the supply chain. Given China’s open defiance of Western sanctions, it is hard for export control officials to conduct pre-shipment screenings of said items.

Another route that microchips are taking is through modernized port facilities in Georgia. Cargos with shipping labels for Central Asia are transported to Russia by various trucking companies. Similar ghost trade routes have been discovered for the Baltic States. Other countries of the region that are members of the Eurasian Economic Union are also convenient intermediaries, as they do not have a customs border with Russia. Kazakhstan is also a key player in the scheme; in 2022, it exported $3.7 million worth of highly advanced chips, up from $12,000 the prior year. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) follows along in chip shipments. Reports show that exports of electronic parts from the UAE to Russia increased sevenfold within a year to almost $283 million in 2022, while microchip exports rose fifteenfold to $24.3 million from $1.6 million in 2021.

Turkey’s role in Russia’s labyrinthine semiconductor supply chain adds a Byzantine twist to an already complex narrative. From June to December 2022, a dozen shipments of drone technology threaded their way through the Netherlands, Turkey, and the UAE to Russian soil, according to Russian customs data analyzed by the Free Russia Foundation. This was not garden-variety gadgetry but included high-end GPS systems with antijamming capabilities, shipped by a Canadian firm through CTL Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi—a company conveniently founded by a Russian national, Pavel Pertsov, in 2022. Moreover, Turkish firm Azu International has piped at least $20 million worth of components, including coveted U.S.-origin microchips, into Russia. Although Ankara has tightened its customs controls under EU pressure, this has not severed Turkey’s role as a vital intermediary. Instead, it merely inflates Moscow’s cost for accessing these restricted components.

Even though we cannot be sure that what we see in export statistics on a macro level are U.S.-made chips, it would be foolish to assume that Armenia’s sudden 515 percent surge in the import of chips from the U.S. compared to 2021, and a no-less-spectacular 212 percent increase from the EU, are signs of the creation of a Silicon Valley in Yerevan. According to a U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security report seen by the New York Times, 97 percent of those components were later exported to Russia.

Three patterns can be discerned across the entire parallel import supply chain—a term that the Kremlin’s official communication team uses to describe what are in effect decriminalized smuggling schemes used to bypass Western sanctions. First, using intermediaries that haven’t been put under sanctions; second, restructuring existing companies to conceal entities; and third, purchasing components and moving final assembly to Russia instead of buying finished sanctioned goods. On top of that, Russia disguises customs data, sets up illegal networks and one-day shell companies, and orchestrates fake transit operations.

In spite of this labyrinthine system, there still exists a real shortage of high-end chips in Russia that need to be replaced with their lower-quality equivalents, according to experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. For instance, an S-300 missile, originally designed for a surface-to-air role, fares much worse when repurposed for a surface-to-surface role since it often explodes hundreds of yards from an initial target. To build enough precision-guided missiles, Russia would need many more chips than it is able to supply for its military.

So why do we see so many leakages in the system, which, on other fronts, such as the oil price cap, is so incredibly effective? Several fissures are to blame. For starters, the list of dual-use goods is inadequately aligned with international harmonized system customs codes, creating ambiguity ripe for exploitation.

Much can still be done to strengthen the tracking of chips across supply chains, thereby enhancing the efficacy of sanctions. We propose a five-point solution that would address the glaring deficiencies of the sanction regime.

Transparency and public accountability have an unambiguous power to induce change, as has been demonstrated by the corporate exodus from Russia. The U.S. State Department must increase transparency regarding the intelligence that it possesses regarding U.S. chips ending up in Russia. Backroom pressure does not provide enough incentive for the companies to move in and stop those glaring sanction evasion cases. There is an ongoing discussion surrounding the use of blockchain in supply chain traceability, with a recent report from the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development offering a blueprint for its implementation. So far, the EU has come the closest in requiring transparency along the supply chain with its corporate sustainability due diligence directive, even though it is far from storing trade data on blockchain ledgers. As we navigate the contours of a burgeoning technology-centered cold war, an outright embargo on chip exports to countries seen as facilitators in Russia’s supply chain is neither desirable nor prudent. But regular reporting mandates, rewards programs for whistleblowers, and publicly acknowledging violators will trigger a self-policing mechanism within the industry.

Advanced tracking mechanisms should be an integral part of new procedures. Efforts should be redoubled in employing technologies like radio frequency identification, barcodes, and data matrices for tracking chips across their entire lifecycles. These technologies, enhanced by immutable blockchain ledgers, would offer a powerful way to prevent chips from slipping through the cracks. Furthermore, GPS technologies could be utilized to monitor shipments in real time, especially those rerouted through third countries. Manufacturers could be required to implement these measures as part of their licensing agreements.

Secondary sanctions must be imposed on repeat violator countries. Countries serving as layovers on the semiconductor route to Russia are vulnerable to pressure and should be coaxed into playing ball. A formalized process must be put in place to identify and notify countries acting as intermediaries—and failure to comply should result in escalated sanctions that could go as far as restricting access to the Western financial system.

Criminalization of sanction evasion is still put on the back burner in a curious display of legislative lethargy in some parts of the EU. Soon, if the EU manages to get through its trilogue process, there will be an EU law that introduces criminal offenses and penalties for violation of EU sanctions. But then again, there remains a question of judiciary independence and whether Brussels will put enough pressure on leaders cozying up to Putin, such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Harmonization and simplification are also much needed. Currently, different types of chips are banned for export across the entire Western coalition, which creates possible loopholes. There exists one internationally recognized standard that classifies all the exportable goods and is used by customs officials around the globe. Banning entire categories of electronic components would align export control regimes across countries, thus increasing the efficacy of sanctions—and most importantly, removing exceptions that are used as loopholes by nefarious actors. Simplifying and harmonizing laws would not only make them easier to follow but also easier to enforce.

As the saying goes, “Chips are the new oil.” The West holds the advantage in this crucial sector. It’s time to tighten the screws and turn off the spigot for Putin.

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namelesscreat0r · 3 months

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Ok, so, heeeey! It's late night and i have no one to talk about It, so i'll this shit to go Crazy and be a happy kid for about 20 minutes.

Soooooo, do u all know precure? Like, smile precure and dokidoki precure? Aka glitter force? Yeah, this shit. I was bored, so i decided to make my own precure for no reason!!(????)

So, this AU (can i call this an AU if I'm just using the concept?????) would be "Hapiness precure". Why hapiness? Well, at first, it just seems like a cute name and stuff. BUUUUUT, with U search a bit, you'll find a manga called Hapiness. What is this manga about? Vampires. With a lot of blood, sad stuff, gore, etc. I have this manga. I thought that would be ironic put this as the name. SO I DID IT!!! ^•^

Since i wanted to keep the basic things about precure, we will have some really childish and repetitive things. I tried to make the story as nice as possible, but, sometimes, creativity don't help. So, the basic lore is:

There was these world with a punch of cute small animalistic kinda like things. They were in a war with other world with bad things, and loosing. So, their government send the 5 most powerfull of them to earth to ask a human to help them channeling their powers. But, when they got to earth, they ended up separating from each other. Since they didn't had much time, they just decide to go ask help of the closest human that look at least a bit trustble for them.

Ok, this is the base. Not much cool, ik ok?? But i liked it! So, the main character, as in must precure, will be the "pink cure". The creature that talked to her was a fox, so she will be the Cure Foxy. Her real name will be Kyoko Nomura. In her normal form she will have dark Brown hair, quite short, a little above the shoulders, and blue eyes. When she turn into a cure, her hair turn pink and her bangs grow up a bit. (I'll draw it later, i promisse!)

Ok, but how the girls parents don't see the animal kinda like they bring home?? Easy! They turn into STUFFED ANIMALS!! The fox one would be like this:

So cute, right???? Yes, i know!!

The list of cures by now is:

1. Cure Foxy (Pink)

2. Cure Bear (Black)

3. Cure Leopard (Yellow)

4. Cure Bunny (Blue)

5. Cure Wolf (Purple)

Only Cure Foxy have a name yet, but i'll work on it!!

"oh, but how will they transformate?? Like, in smile precure, the girls have that makeup case where they put the amulet and transform. And in "Princess Go" (ig) they use perfume and transform themselves" Good question!

Soooo, they will have a Key! Yep, a magical key. It opens a little box with 5 lipsticks in it. When they open the little box and put the lipsticks, is the start of the transformation!

The key would be like this:

This is basically It!! I was dying to talk and talk about it!! Will prob post more about it and about more ocs i have later. Goood night!!!

#anime #precure #oc #lore

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beelzerog · 8 months

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RANT - The Leopard-Eating-Face Party

So I'm listening to the news and commentary as I'm working this morning and it always amazes me the hubris of the MAGA crowd, but I guess that's been their problem in the first place.

Like Trumpy says "I'll be a dictator for just the first day", and they cheer. Now on one hand, I see their point. A dictator can get things done. A benevolent dictator is usually the most efficient form of government. The problem being that you're not always guaranteed a benevolent dictator and if you do get one, there's no guarantee that the next one will be the same. History kinda shows that almost never happens. A benevolent dictator is rare and a benevolent successor is even rarer.

So it's obvious, the MAGA crowd wants things done and if Trumpy's a dictator, those things will get done (though history hasn't exactly been in his side for promises kept). Of course, he'll say "Oh, everything isn't finished, I need one more day". And one more day. And one more day. Until it's four years later and he'll say "Well, we have more to do, so I need another term." And I'm sure, if the country isn't a smoking wreck already, they'll give it to him... or by then, he'll just take it.

But the hubris is the idea that a Trumpy dictator won't affect them... or at least affect them negatively. You think some of them would have learned from before. Queue the video clip of the midwestern elderly woman complaining that Trumpy is "hurting the wrong people". They don't care that people are being hurt, they just want 'the right people' to be hurt. They don't realize they will be the first affected when the jobs go away, when the economy tanks, when the weeding out of who isn't sufficiently loyal to the Trumpy regime starts to look at their own ranks, when the world turns their backs on us and Trumpy will be forced to threaten the world with nukes in order to get them to pay attention to him, like the stubby little dictators he looks up to.

The MAGA crowd also likes the idea of Christian Nationalism. "One Nation, Under God" and all that. First of all, they never specify which version of Christianity they mean. To them, Christian is Christian, it doesn't matter who. The only thing you have to worry about is the 'fake Christians'. But who's the fake Christian? I mean, maybe all of these denominations should get together and agree on what Jesus said and what he meant when he said it, then come back to the rest of us and proselytize. Get your story straight first (not that Christianity is the only religion that has this problem. But I'm not worried about a Buddhist Nation or even the scare-tactic Muslim Nation in the US). Because I see a whole mess of problems if the Christian Nation ever gets brought into being. A lot of the people who cheered for it and prayed for it and voted for it are going to suddenly find out that they are not sufficiently Christian in the eyes of the new regime. That the Jesus that supposedly rules the nation is not the Jesus they know. And suddenly they are in the camps with the rest of us heathens, wondering what went wrong.

A lot of MAGA hubris comes from the same place; they believe they are the norm, they believe that what they believe is simply logical & common sense, and they believe they are the majority. A friend of ours frequently tells my wife to not use herself as the baseline when thinking about things and this is the same flaw in the MAGA thinking.

First of all, they are not the majority. Trumpy lost the popular vote, the vote of the actual individuals, by almost 3 million votes the first time and over 7 million the second time. The only Republican that has won a majority of popular votes recently was the re-election of George W Bush. And the only one previous to that was the election of his father, George H.W. Bush, 16 years before. They are not the majority. And when you stack them against those who vote Democratic and those who just don't vote and the number shrinks. The US barely gets over 50% of eligible voters to vote. The 2020 election got the highest percentage of Voting Eligible Population ever, with 66.9%, meaning out of the 239,247,182 eligible voters, only 159,690,457 showed up. And where do you think those non-voters fall? I'm guessing they are not MAGA supporters. I mean, maybe some. There's a certain number of the population who show up for rallies and protests, but don't actually vote. But I'm betting you that the vast majority are not MAGA. And even if you only went with the voters who voted, they are outnumbered by at least 7 million currently.

But if they are the majority (and this is an old trope. Nixon spoke of the Silent Majority, those who just work day-to-day and don't get involved in politics, who would rise up to support him) then why do they whine about persecution? Well, that's a good question. This is part of the reason that they easily believe in stolen elections. "If the country is as logical and common sense as me, why don't our people win? Must be a conspiracy! Must be illegal votes and giving illegal immigrants the ability to vote so that they steal the election. Yeah, that's it!" You also notice that the people that they blame are usually considered a numerical minority. A small group of Hollywood elites, the Deep State (non-elected government employees secretly making policy), the Jews, etc. They can't be the minority themselves. They just can't! Because that would make them wrong. And they can't comprehend that they might be wrong.

I'm not sure what else to put here. I think one of the reasons why the country seems to divided is that we've all been outed. You & your neighbor or your co-worker may have not talked politics personally, but we now see each other's FB posts and re-Tweets and suddenly we know who is the "flaming liberal" and who is the "fascist conservative" and it's now set everything on edge. We thought everyone around us was like us and now that's been blown up. I think the MAGAs, deep down, realize they are the minority and that's why they are so loud and violent. They claim to be fighting to preserve their way of life from 'immigrant hordes' and 'woke minorities', but somewhere in the back of their lizard brains, they know they have already lost and it's driving them mad.

#ranting #fuck maga #diaper don #screaming at the void

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traveltales3 · 1 year

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Panna national park & Panna Tiger Reserve , Madhya Pradesh / India

Panna National Park is a renowned wildlife reserve located in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is situated in the Vindhya Hills region and covers an area of approximately 542 square kilometers (209 square miles). Established in 1981, the park is named after the Panna River, which flows through its boundaries.

Panna National Park is known for its diverse flora and fauna, and it forms an important part of the Panna Tiger Reserve, which is a Project Tiger Reserve aimed at conserving the endangered Bengal tigers. The park gained international recognition when it became one of the first tiger reserves in India to successfully reintroduce tigers that had gone locally extinct. The successful tiger reintroduction program has been a major conservation milestone for Panna National Park.

The park is characterized by its mixed dry deciduous forests, open grasslands, and serene rivers. It offers a variety of habitats for wildlife, including tigers, leopards, sloth bears, Indian wolves, Indian gazelles, sambar deer, chital, and many more. It is also home to a rich avian population, with over 200 species of birds, making it a paradise for birdwatchers.

In addition to its wildlife, Panna National Park is also known for its scenic beauty. The park is dotted with breathtaking waterfalls, rocky escarpments, and serene riverbanks. The Ken River, which flows through the park, adds to its natural charm.

Visitors to Panna National Park can engage in various activities to explore its natural wonders. Jeep safaris and elephant safaris are popular ways to venture into the park and observe its wildlife. The park also offers opportunities for birdwatching, nature walks, and boat rides along the river.

Panna National Park has made significant efforts in conservation and community participation. The park management works closely with local communities to promote sustainable livelihoods and ensure the protection of wildlife and their habitats.

In conclusion, Panna National Park is a notable wildlife reserve in Madhya Pradesh, India, famous for its tiger conservation efforts and diverse range of flora and fauna. With its picturesque landscapes and abundant wildlife, it provides an enriching experience for nature lovers and wildlife enthusiasts.

History of Panna National Park

Panna National Park has a long history, with evidence of early human habitation dating back to the Stone Age being discovered in the area. The Mauryas, Chandelas, and Bundelas were just a few of the dynasties that dominated the region that is now home to the park.

Hunting was a favourite pastime for British officials and Indian royalty throughout the British colonial era. Panna was noted for having an abundance of wildlife, particularly tigers, which drew a lot of hunters there. However, the excessive hunting caused the ecology to deteriorate and the tiger population to plummet.

The Project Tiger project was started by the Indian government in 1973 to safeguard Bengal tigers, who are in risk of extinction. Panna National Park was created as a part of this programme in 1981, largely to offer a secure home for the declining tiger population in the region.

Panna National Park suffered a major blow in the early 2000s when all of its tigers were killed by poachers. The situation was alarming, so the park's administrators and environmentalists moved quickly to remedy it. Together with other Indian tiger sanctuaries, a successful tiger reintroduction programme was started.

From various tiger reserves, six tigers were sent to Panna National Park between 2009 and 2010. In terms of the park's conservation efforts, this was a significant turning point since it made it one of the first tiger reserves in India to successfully reintroduce tigers that had gone extinct in the area. The reintroduction programme has been quite effective, and Panna National Park's tiger population has been steadily growing over time.

Panna National Park still plays a crucial part in preserving tigers and other wildlife species today. In conservation activities like as anti-poaching measures, habitat restoration, and community-based ecotourism projects, the park administration and the surrounding people take an active part. Read more

#travel #national park #tourism

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swldx · 2 years

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Voice of America 0330 20 Jan 2023

6080Khz 0258 20 JAN 2023 - VOICE OF AMERICA (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) in ENGLISH from PINHEIRA. SINPO = 45333. English, @0258z dead carrier s/on. @0300z “News via remote” read by Marissa Melton. Hours after Ukraine appealed to its Western allies to send tanks to help its forces defeat Russia, the United States on Thursday announced more than $2.5 billion in military aid; but no tanks. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov welcomed Britain's move to send its Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, while urging countries that have German-made Leopard 2 tanks to also send them to Ukraine. President Joe Biden said Thursday there is "no there there" when he was questioned about the discovery of classified documents and official records at his home and former office. "We found a handful of documents were filed in the wrong place," Biden said to reporters who questioned him during a tour of the damage from storms in California. "We immediately turned them over to the Archives and the Justice Department." Biden said he was "fully cooperating and looking forward to getting this resolved quickly." Families of Americans wrongfully detained in China are calling on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to bring up American detainee cases during his meetings with top Chinese leaders in Beijing next month. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has tested positive for COVID-19, the central bank announced Wednesday. Powell, 69, "is experiencing mild symptoms," the Fed said in a statement. "Following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, he is working remotely while isolating at home." The Fed noted that Powell was up to date with vaccines and boosters. A major Indian journalist group urged the government to reject a proposal to police fake news on social media, saying such a change to the country's information-technology rules would be akin to censorship. The proposal would bar social media platforms from hosting any information that the authorities identify as false, the latest in a slew of measures by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government that are being seen as efforts to rein in big tech firms. Preliminary reports from an on-going investigation into a deadly landslide in Malaysia that killed 31 people at a farm and campsite seem to indicate the area was not zoned for agricultural, commercial or recreational use. Dozens of people were buried as they slept in their tents at Father’s Organic Farm in Batang Kali, a popular recreation area about 50 kilometers north of the country’s largest city, Kuala Lumpur, when a landslide swept over the campsite in the early morning hours of December 16. The tragedy shook the country and has led to renewed calls for increased safety and accountability. Greta Thunberg called on the global energy industry and its financiers to end all fossil fuel investments on Thursday at a high-profile meeting in Davos with the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA). During a round-table discussion with Fatih Birol on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, activists said they had presented a "cease and desist" letter to CEOs calling for a stop to new oil, gas and coal extraction. "As long as they can get away with it, they will continue to invest in fossil fuels, they will continue to throw people under the bus," Thunberg warned. David Crosby, one of the most influential rock singers of the 1960s and '70s with the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, has died at age 81, Variety reported Thursday, citing a statement from Crosby's wife. @0305z "Daybreak Africa" begins. MLA 30 amplified loop (powered w/8 AA rechargeable batteries ~10.8vdc), Etón e1XM. 100kW, beamAz 138°, bearing 82°. Received at Plymouth, United States, 10777KM from transmitter at Pinheira. Local time: 2143.

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kindtobechurlish · 2 years

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I’m supposed to have tunnel vision, ignore conditions and men.. to push forward. The key is me selling my daughter, but ball cap babe doesn’t want a track star. Never thought of it. Greek, legal. You can’t picture having a child, and introducing them to track just to hope you don’t fail - and from track you see the plain as a plain. But, have you seen that kid who holds a football and isn’t interested? Well, it’s about customs and things lead to the next. “Fun.” But what do I know? Go figure. Who wouldn’t want a daughter who is a track star? Now, she considers herself and she wasn’t a track star. I tell people I want to make it rip, make it burn, and only people not in shape and my mom knows what I am talking about. I made up a diet and saw results in six weeks, why can’t I just snap and do what I did? Everyday is a restart, and the last day determines the next. Now, I’m telling you what I don’t want, personifying I am just as free as you, and I don’t need paternalistic methods to promote my good. You are promoting people as adults be gay to one another, well you are doing nothing but calling for the nanny state and you hate manly character. Imagine someone selling you out, losing sentiment of founders due to the vote in a precarious government (bad policy, standing with kikes), and they suddenly are this racialist who wants to make me into an animal. It doesn’t work that way bucko, look at the monster you are.. and the weapon you warrant. The day you stop letting that guy be you, it’s no longer you. Look at the weapon you warrant. Myth says that leopards have their spots due to Anubis. “Seth turned himself into a leopard in order to approach Osiris (to steal his body?). Anubis overcame Seth, branded him all over with a hot iron, skinned him, and wore his pelt. Thus the leopard-skin robes worn by Egyptian priests.” Now, I have been talking opium and you act like I am the only animal. Sell out!

The chili isn’t as good as it used to be, and the soup isn’t the same, but nothing is good as the hype, due to more than once, and now you see that person who eats five star, and it trickles down - as that Kike woman is condemning the maxim, “nothing tastes as good as feeling skinny.” That Kike doesn’t need to speak for my race, and weight is a problem. I was friends with a rich man in his 70’s, California, and he told me how he went to Romania and all of the women were models. All they ate was “tomato soup.” Soul food? I would know that white man, and he married a European after divorce, she was Eastern European, and you can tell it. She wasn’t what he praised, but she was in shape with a body. You know that white guy who doesn’t listen, and he has gotten a divorce and white women with that kike woman label him as off limits, “Judeo-Christian values?!” Yes. I’m giving you a picture

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farlynthordens · 2 years

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SKB Volume 6 Summary

this is a summary of important points, including spoilers and new characters.

the plot of 6 is a direct continuation from 4 + 5, so you must read them first to understand what’s going on.

*Note that names of new charas and places haven’t been officially translated yet, so the way I write them may not end up being canon.

The volume starts off with a few pages of manga drawn by akagishi, described below:

Kurokawa holds a smoking gun as milo supports a wounded bisco. K: What’s wrong, Akaboshi? Legs not workin’ so good? B: You bitch...! K: Oh, so you’re just being lazy? / Get going already - surround them at once! The masked bunnymen open fire as milo and bisco run away. tirol, riding actagawa, grabs them. T: Hold on! We’re gonna use the boosters to fly outta here! B: Fly away?! That’s bullshit, you’re tellin’ us mushroom keepers to run away with our tail between our legs?! T: Actagawa!!! The jet boosters activate and they shoot into the sky. Kurokawa watches them. K: That’s fine, Akaboshi. We need that to get to the next plot... [THEN, ONE YEAR LATER...]

Imihama has turned into a ghost town. no one is outside, even on the usually bustling main street lined with shops and food stands, except for the bunnymen touting automatic rifles.

The bunnymen call all the citizens to come to the routinely scheduled movie screening. when watching the movies, many of them cry and scream and throw up, saying they don’t want to see any more.

Kurokawa is having a blast watching the movies and seems to be living the high life. she wears a sparkly black dress with an open front and large thigh slit, a leopard skin shawl, and a fancy hat. she drinks grape Fanta out of a wine glass because she’s a bad bitch who can do whatever she wants.

1 year ago (so immediately following the end of vol 5): Kurokawa suddenly reinstates herself as Imihama’s governor. pawoo was demoted back to being the lead of the vigilante corps, and seems to be brainwashed because she’s begun attacking citizens (going against her own code). we learn kurokawa’s first name is kenji.

Kurokawa’s new government is forcing people to watch movies and programs they choose, and citizens must write reports on them. if they don’t receive passing grades, they’ll be punished.

She teamed up with her buddies at matoba manufacturing and received tons of bioweapons, which were used to take control of kyoto, and much of north and east japan. she is still expanding her territory further.

Tirol has gone back to being one of kurokawa’s lackeys - she’s been promoted to a bunnymen manager due to her prior experience. she’s there to spy, but also get free money and a place to live. she notes how the city’s been transformed to look like hollywood.

As tirol is checking over caravans of imported goods (mainly cameras and film equipment), she finds milo and bisco hiding in one of them. she asks what they’re doing there, because kurokawa will kill them on-sight if they’re spotted. milo admits they had no plan and were hoping tirol could help them sneak in to town.

They steal the uniforms of some bunnymen they knocked out. tirol takes them to the employee apartments, and the receptionist stops her from bringing them back to her room. tirol says she has every right to buy some whores to have fun and de-stress with on a friday night, and the receptionist decides to let her go. bisco doesn’t really like that being their cover story.

In tirol’s luxurious room, they read the headlines of the local paper. the current big story is about how pawoo captured actagawa, who had been on the loose around japan and apparently working with “terrorist” organizations?

A live announcement suddenly pops up on the TV. kurokawa’s personal film studio is making its first movie, “Rust Eater.” pawoo is there with her, wearing a combo of armor and bondage gear. kurokawa says that this film will be 100% real stunts, and that all of japan is the stage and every citizen is an extra. if you see surveillance cameras, you’re being filmed for the movie. forcing everyone to watch movies over the last year was her way of teaching them how to be good actors.

As you’d expect, the protagonist of her movie is bisco. she somehow already knows he’s in the city.

Bisco and milo go free actagawa, and do so surprisingly easily. as they escape the factory the crab was held in, kurokawa appears above them in a starfish-looking airship that’s covered in cameras. pawoo is there, protecting her from their arrows.

Kurokawa explains her reason for making a movie, saying she wants to capture a truly authentic struggle between the hero and the forces of evil.

Bisco and milo run away towards Niigata. kurokawa says she’ll meet them at Kobawashi Island, where all of chayka’s tribe is being held prisoner. they have 2 days to save the tribe before the island is blown to bits by a giant cannon.

Milo thinks to himself that this kurokawa seems off from the one they used to know. he asks bisco if they should split up and call for help, seeming to imply jabi specifically. bisco says no, they can handle this on their own, and this is jabi’s last chance to make memories before he. you know. dies. he speaks gently, and milo holds bisco’s hand to reassure him.

Up in Yamagata prefecture, jabi is on vacation... skydiving and camping in the very dangerous, snowy wilderness. while chillin out in a tent, he pulls out a notebook and makes a check on his bucket list. he notices that he’s running low on things left to do. (sidenote: why the FUCK did jabi never teach bisco to read or write despite knowing how to himself???)

He hears something crash outside his tent, and finds one of tirol’s drones. she flew it all the way out there to find jabi, and tells him that pawoo’s been brainwashed, bisco and milo are being strung around by kurokawa, and neither the izumo priests nor benibishi can help because they’re all captured. however, jabi doesn’t want to help.

Jabi shows tirol his bucket list. we learn “jabi” is just a nickname, and his real name is Hebikawa Akemi - this is written on his notebook. he explains that he’s lived longer than he should have, and pushed himself too hard back during the tokyo incident (vol 3). he’ll only live another month or so.

Speaking of vol 3, bisco and milo visit the scientists they met during that time who are now hiding out in niigata, and they help upgrade actagawa’s jet boosters. milo ein (the milo robot) is also still there being helpful.

They fly over the ocean toward kobawashi island. they’re nearly attacked by a flock of flying scorpions, but purple lightning strikes them from the air. it was kurokawa blasting them from what she calls a living cloud, because they were getting in the way of how she wanted the movie to go. she starts dictating her ideas for the next “scene” to them.

K: “In the old days, you had to have a car chase scene. I dunno why, but whatever! But here’s the problem: we don’t have paved roads to race on OR cool cars, AND neither of you have licenses*. So instead, we’ll have a dogfight over the ocean.”

They fly through the air, dodging lightning strikes. bisco uses his goggles to examine the cloud, and realizes there’s a giant starfish hidden underneath.

Milo goes on a lengthy explanation about how clouds and condensation form - for the first time ever, his “I learned this at school” catchphrase is actually true AND the info is relevant. they use heat-generating mushrooms to disperse the cloud, leaving it unable to shoot lightning. they kill the starfish, and as it descends toward the ocean kurokawa gets a phone call informing her that the island-destroying cannon was fired ahead of schedule.

Bisco attaches an anchor to the starfish, and pulls it into the path of the cannon. it takes the brunt of the hit and explodes into pieces, saving the island. however, they get blown away by the wind generated from the blast.

They wash up on the island chayka’s tribe is trapped on. the northerners don’t have much to offer the boys, but have enough alcohol and fish to throw a small party. bisco doesn’t drink at all, and is annoyed by the drunk mushroom keepers pestering him, including kubla kahn.

Milo is VERY drunk. some girls try to slide up to him, but chayka blocks them to have milo for herself. things don’t go how she planned: Chayka sat herself next to Milo, pressing against him. However, he just continued to watch Bisco dejectedly, not once turning to look at her. ... “Excuse me, aren’t you being rude? You have the shaman next to you, on the night of a party? Can’t you be a little more flustered or blushy?” Chayka pouted. “Oh, ‘m sorry... I have to watch Bisco.” “Watch him...?” Chayka held out a cup of sake, and he downed it in one go. “I used t’not need to. when he was Maneater Akaboshi, no one wanted t’ go near ‘im cuz he was so scary... But now he’s lost that wildness.“ “Isn’t that a good thing?” “It’s not!!! Cuz I mean, he’s too cute! I used t’ be the only one who knew how cute he was, but now he draws in people like moths to a flame... And you guys are all so damn pushy, I need to be real careful.” “You exaggerate too much. I mean, he’s our hero, so of course everyone loves him! Plus, father lost his own partner, so he must be happy to chat with such a lively fellow mushroom keeper?” “Oh......... I see...... Kahn’s riding solo, is he? Just you try and get taken away from me, spiky boy.... we’ll die together after I poison our drinks.” Chayka realizes she misjudged who the truly scary one out of the pair was.

When milo sobers up, he asks chayka if she can provide him with reibyou spores to make vaccines with, because kurokawa’s roses are immune to any effects from mushrooms, rust, or flowers on their own. unfortunately, it’s difficult to summon the reibyou’s power when separated from hokkaido. instead, she gives him a crystal made of solidified reibyou spores.

Chayka gets super drunk and tries to kiss milo. before she can, kurokawa, pawoo, and a bunch of bunnymen jump out of the nearby bushes. it seems most of their fancy equipment was destroyed, as she’s using a handheld camcorder. bisco and milo are unable to attack them with pawoo defending. kurokawa points out that they could use a rust eater arrow to kill her and leave them defenseless.

Kurokawa’s squad leaves for their next location: the pinnacle of Shoukai mountain in northern yamagata, where sisi and other benibishi are being held.

Bisco and milo go to the mountain, and see that it’s decorated with a set for a psycho thriller movie. they’re brought backstage to a dressing room where bento boxes have been left for each of them. they’re a little suspicious but very hungry, so they start eating. bisco’s has a note saying pawoo made it for him. milo is so happy pawoo made food that looks edible, because she sucks at cooking. milo seems to be a bit jealous though, and for some reason says: “you’re so lucky you have pawoo - or really, I should say that you’re lucky to have *me*...”

Bisco is moved that someone put care and effort into something for him, though when he takes a bite he realizes the food is hard as a rock. he’s still willing to eat it, even though milo offers to share his own bento. unfortunately, kurokawa calls their break short and bisco never gets to eat. she tells them that sisi will be killed if they don’t hurry up.

They go to a ballroom where benibishi children are trapped in a reinforced glass box. a timer is displayed above it, with only 3 minutes left. kurokawa says that the kids will die to poison gas when time runs out. to save them, bisco and milo have to do a ~fun quiz~

Does the bunnyman standing before them tells only truths or lies? they can only ask him 1 question to figure it out. there are also 2 buttons, one that stops the timer and one that activates the poison gas. bisco is ready to risk the 50-50 odds and press a random button, but milo stops him. milo thinks for a while and manages to ask a question that solves the riddle.

Sisi wakes up in an empty, white room chained to a chair. she realizes she still has a little bit of her powers left, and summons vines to break the locks on the chains. the device attached to her head sends a powerful shock through her entire body. as the boys as ushered into the room, kurokawa hurriedly calls for someone to stop the electricity.

The next game is basically a lifesize version of pop-up pirate but with a kurokawa doll inside the barrel. they win if they stab the right slot and make the doll pop out, but any incorrect stabs will cause sisi to get shocked with increasing voltage. there’s almost 40 slots, and no trick to the game - only luck.

Sisi is willing to throw her life away if that’s what it comes to, and bisco puts his faith in her words. he stabs the barrel again and again, his own face contorting in pain every time sisi suffers. when he’s about to make the 7th stab, kurokawa warns the level 7 shock is strong enough to cause instant death. however, the doll pops out when he stabs the barrel.

Kurokawa is disheartened that the game finished so quickly. milo tells her to shut the fuck up and let him treat sisi’s injuries, but a bunnyman carries her off instead.

Every time kurokawa mentions sisi, she makes it a point to call her “queen” rather than her actual title of king.

Bisco reveals to milo that he had been putting drops of his own rust eater-infused blood on the blades, and very slowly/discreetly growing rust eaters inside the barrel. by the 7th time, the combined pressure managed to make the doll pop out. milo is impressed by this smart idea.

Milo says jabi would be proud of him, and bisco turns a bit red in embarrassment. bisco doesn’t seem to think anything he does could really impress the old man... despite already having impressed him multiple times during this story.

Satahabaki and more benibishi are in the next room. they had been drugged to sleep, but satahabaki wakes up earlier than expected. he begins going on a rampage, destroying the entire set. kurokawa gets onto her starfish-ship again and runs away.

Sisi uses her powers to protect everyone from satahabaki’s ensuring sakura storm. milo treats her wounds afterward during a moment of rest. sisi is upset at herself for being captured by kurokawa, saying housen would never have gotten into such a situation. M: “Do you think king housen was always a king? he had his own hardships, not unlike what you’ve gone through. he experienced the good and the bad, and that helped make him into a king. yeah? you’re still just a young kid**, so of course you wouldn’t know how to be a king yet.”

Milo asks sisi for a sample of her plants to use for making his vaccine. sisi creates an entire vine sword, breaks it off from herself and gives it to milo. she laments not being able to come with them to defeat kurokawa, but she and satahabaki have their hands full protecting the benibishi. S: “There are only 2 people who have ever bested me in a battle of blades: Housen, and you... Take my sword and use it to protect Bisco. I hope it will make it feel like I’m there with you, even just a little...”

The next location is Banryou Temple, the head temple for seemingly all buddhist sects in japan. it’s high on a mountain in iwate prefecture, with a spiraling path carved into the rock that is lined with scripture. at the top there are 108 more stairs, each 150cm (about 5ft) tall, that you must climb to reach the temple.

Skipping all of that, bisco and milo fly right to the top using actagawa’s boosters. bisco seems pretty upset about it because the god that’s worshipped at banryou is important to mushroom keepers, so he wouldn’t want to piss it off by doing the journey wrong. they decide to split up: bisco goes through the front door, and milo goes to the back.

Before entering the temple, bisco says a lengthy, formal prayer to the 3 gods that mushroom keepers worship. it’s interrupted by amli, who invites him inside. something seems off about her, and the suspicion is confirmed when ruskenny and 2 nuns show up. they all grab him and pin him to the ground. ruskenny tries to kiss him, but...

Bisco shouts as loud as he can for milo to come save him, but instead pawoo crashes through the ceiling. she’s still brainwashed, but her Love For Bisco breaks through. ruskenny didn’t actually kiss him, but pawoo doesn’t realize this and asks whose kiss was better. she’s still overflowing with a deadly aura, and bisco realizes he will 100% Actually Die if he answers wrong, so after thinking he says “of course you’re better! haha lol”.

Pawoo tries to kill everyone there, only stopping once she hears kurokawa, who reprimands her for ruining the scene. bisco demands she turn amli and co back to normal, to which she says that they aren’t under the control of the rust flowers, just an intoxication drug.

Everyone at the temple is fine after a while. bisco sleeps while milo continues working on the vaccine after getting some rust from amli........... forcefully (using the emerald cubes to vacuum it out of her). despite amli having nothing to do with what happened, milo seems to be taking his anger out on her.

He mixes bits of the reibyou crystal, sisi’s vines, and the rust in a vial and puts it in his mixing device. it explodes into smoke, but milo declares that he successfully made a vaccine as he holds up the resulting vials of silver liquid.

Milo and bisco head back towards imihama, still chasing after kurokawa. as they get close to the city, they’re suddenly attacked by other mushroom keepers - specifically, people from bisco’s own village. kurokawa has all of them under the rust flower’s spell. she somehow knows about the vaccine milo made, and that he only has 3 vials of it.

The mushroom keepers are relentless in their pursuit, impossible to escape. milo knows that kurokawa’s goal is to get bisco to kill his own people, so he suggests that he himself kill one or 2 to make an opening. bisco very much disapproves of the idea.

Milo uses mantras to put a shield around them, but it’s broken by the villagers’ arrows. just as milo is about to be shot, bisco jumps in front of him and takes the hits: “Milo... don’t shoot them... It wouldn’t matter which one of us did the killing; it’s the same either way. we’re one, in both the acts we choose, and in life...”

Milo screams and cries as he holds bisco, unable to stop the intense bleeding. the rust eater’s regeneration can’t repair the damage, because the mushroom keepers shot him right in the spot where the rust eater cells are generated from, thus greatly weakening its power. the mushroom keepers surround them and begun closing in. milo yells at them to stay away.

(I’m a doctor. I’ve fought like hell to save people’s lives) “Isn’t this some new guy? Sure is fulla spite, ain’t he,” one person said. “That’s Bisco’s partner. Don’t underestimate him based on his looks, just kill him now!” (But, if I’m doing it for Bisco, then I...!!!) His resolve turned into animal-like depravity as he bared his teeth and shouted, “I don’t care whose blood I have to spill! Step any closer, and I’ll fucking kill you all - no matter how many hundreds or thousands of you come at us!!!” As he let out this determined roar, many emerald cubes materialized in the air around him, spinning at top speed as they awaited his commands. “Mi...lo, stop...!” Bisco pleaded.

Just as milo is about to cast a deadly spell, jabi swoops in. he destroys the other mushroom keepers’ bows and grabs both of the boys, carrying them far away to safety. he had been guided to their location by tirol’s drone. jabi disappears just as quickly as he arrived, going back to hold off the mushroom keepers. he tells bisco to be good and let milo help him.

Tirol (the person) directs them to a nearby cave where milo can do emergency surgery to remove the arrowheads in bisco’s torso. when milo cuts him open, he sees how bisco’s organs glow with an orange light. he thinks to himself how strangely beautiful it is. tirol notices his reaction and comments, “Admiring your partner’s internal organs? Hmhm, I see, so you’re into some *weird* shit, huh?”

Milo notices that bisco has an extra organ - similar to the reibyou hive they saw in hokkaido, it’s a small organ that generates rust eater spores. he removes the arrowheads, and the rust eater’s power takes over with healing bisco’s body. he injects bisco with one of the rust flower vaccines.

After jabi subdues the villagers, kurokawa sends pawoo to be his opponent. jabi is a bad match for pawoo’s attack style, and struggles until milo and bisco arrive to provide backup.

The boys distract pawoo as jabi climbs aboard kurokawa’s airship and blasts it to pieces. jabi confronts the defenseless kurokawa as the airship nosedives towards the ground. he says they’ll have plenty to talk about as they cross the Sanzu into the afterlife together.

Kurokawa pulls out a gun and shoots at jabi, but he dodges and shoots her with multiple arrows. suddenly, multiple spear-like objects pierce his body....... they’re kurokawa’s fingers.

She laughs as her body is slowly melts into some black, metallic material, transforming her into a human-size tetsujin. this is her true form.

After the events of vol 1, the head of the matoba group organized the recovery of the tetsujin’s parts. they were planning to mass produce new tetsujin, but the one they recovered still contained bits of kurokawa’s consciousness. the engineers put its parts into a cultivation tank and re-created kurokawa’s body into that of an ultimate (yet mini size) tetsujin.

Kurokawa requested to be made up like a woman because it seemed like it would be fun.

The metal fingers piercing jabi cause rust vines to grow on his body, and rust flowers begin to bloom. kurokawa calls pawoo back to her side, sending the now-brainwashed jabi to replace her as milo and bisco’s opponent. bisco tells milo to stand back and let him handle this, because it’s a personal fight for him.

Like with pawoo, jabi’s feelings for bisco come through as they talk. jabi says his only lingering regret is that he spent his entire life winning fight after fight, but he never fought against bisco seriously. he wants to know if he, the greatest mushroom keeper in history, or bisco, the ultimate hunter who he raised, would win.

As they fight, jabi pulls out tricks that bisco has never seen him use before. jabi says that even though they were master and student, as fellow mushroom keepers he of course wouldn’t want to ever reveal all of his secrets.

The boys are surrounded by smoke, unable to see or sense jabi at all. bisco is hit with multiple arrows and collapses to the ground. milo doesn’t know how to protect him or if he could possibly hit jabi with an arrow carrying the rust flower vaccine. as bisco is shot in the back, they hear jabi’s voice from the shadows: “When you obtained that godly power, you got weaker. You’re different than you were before - where you’d put your life on the line for every shot. Everyone in the world worships you, and it made you forget to worship yourself. You got so lost in saving others that you forgot you're an arrow. ... How can I get you to remember who you were?”

Another arrow pierces the air, hitting milo in the throat. milo tries to stop the bleeding himself by using one of his medicines, but jabi shoots his hand and knocks it away. bisco sees red as he yells to jabi, telling him to stop.

“Is it because of him?” Bisco quickly pulled out his knife, but it was knocked away from him by another arrow. 2 more soon followed, coming from Bisco’s blind spot, hitting Milo in the side and leg. Milo let out a cry in pain. “It’s all that boy’s fault - he spoiled you. I’m going to take my time killing him, then your arrows will finally have a bite to them again.” “Jabi, stop! Please, just stop! I don’t want to hurt you, you’re my god damn dad!!!” “See, that’s it. So, so weak. You’re no god nor demon, you’re an arrow! And there’s only one thing an arrow can do...!”

Milo collapses against bisco after being hit again and again, his blood staining both of their clothes. all of bisco’s worries and hesitation turn into determination. bisco nocks an arrow, and drops of both of their blood stain its feathers. it begins glowing in rainbow colors as the dormant nanairo in their blood comes back to life. (remember that from vol 3??)

(When it comes to archery, there’s only one important thing to remember... to believe), Bisco thought to himself. He closed his eyes amidst the darkness, only able to sense the warmth of Milo’s body. Bisco simply thought of Jabi, from the bottom oh his heart, and let go.

Jabi fires an arrow back, but it stops midair just before bisco is shot in the head. jabi’s special bow technique, shimon-kyu (lit. “ripples of willpower bow”), can fire arrows in a curved trajectory so it can hit any target he wills it to. it’s impossible for it to miss, so he wonders what bisco’s done. bisco says with tears in his eyes that all he did was believe, just like jabi taught him to.

Bisco’s nanairo arrow follows jabi no matter how much he runs or tries to block it. jabi says this is the legendary choushin-kyu technique (lit. “bow of absolute faith”) that’s able to reverse other techniques and just generally defies logic itself, the rules being dictated by will of the user.

Seeing that jabi is about to die, bisco cries that he was never able repay jabi for everything he did. jabi says that’s not true. he just bested his master, and that’s the greatest way he could go. as his final words, he says: “Hey, Bisco! The two of us really were the best master and student [parent and child] to ever live, eh?”

Bisco’s eyes trembled as he watched Jabi’s body fall from the air like a bird that had been shot - this scene to be forever burned into his memory. Despite the intense sadness threatening to violently burst out of him, someone was there holding him, steadying his heart. It was Milo. Milo’s wounds were closed. In this the warped world created from Bisco’s choushin-kyu, Milo’s injuries were being fully healed by Bisco willing it so. Milo said nothing, simply clinging to his partner by wrapping his arms around Bisco’s neck - simply being a shoulder for Bisco to cry on. Milo continued embracing him as if that was what he was put on this earth to do. Bisco’s eyes were fixated on Jabi, watching how his cape fluttered in the wind as he lay motionless. Hands shaking, he tangled his fingers in his partner’s sky blue hair and gripped it tightly.

The boys take jabi’s body with them as they follow kurokawa’s airship into imihama. bisco’s expression has an unsettling calmness as he suppresses all of his emotions.

Kurokawa tells the workers in her cgi sweatshop to hurry up before the last scene starts filming. a video tape is delivered to her, containing the final mix of the rest of the movie. tiol (disguised in her bunnyman uniform) swipes the tape and runs off. kurokawa chases after her and is led into a warehouse.

Tirol activates the dozens of robots she had secretly built and stored in that warehouse. tirol says she’s done with kurokawa’s shit and this is payback for all the misery she endured working under her. however, the robots are destroyed when kurokawa uses her tetsujin weaponry to fire a large caliber gun containing mushroom poison-laced bullets. kurokawa beats tirol up a bit, asking what’s the point of stealing the tape. milo swoops in to help before tirol gives an answer.

Milo takes tirol out of the building, kurokawa and all of tirol’s robots (now being controlled by rust flowers) following them. bisco is somewhere else fighting pawoo, since now he has the power he needs to destroy the rust flower.

Pawoo finds bisco chilling out eating some snacks. she tells him she’s almost fully taken over by the rust flowers and there’s no way to save her. if they fight, she’ll likely end up killing him.

Bisco says she’s lying. pawoo, even while brainwashed, has never killed a single person. he can clearly tell that SHE wants to die, and just like jabi she’s using the excuse of being brainwashed to get bisco to kill her. he tells her to throw away her morals and everything else that’s holding her back, and come at him with the intent to kill.

Pawoo realizes he’s exactly right - she DOES want to die. she’s overwhelmed by excitement at the thought of fighting with no holds barred, and of being utterly destroyed. she had both underestimated bisco’s strength and tried to always protect him, but she also held herself back, wanting to be seen as a kind and obedient wife.

They have an intense fight and beat the shit out of each other. bisco realizes the 2 of them are truly fighting seriously, and that they’re both wishing for him to win. pawoo tries to use one last move that would kill both of them. she says “I love you,” to which bisco replies “I know.” he uses the choushin-kyu’s power make their wishes reality and destroys the rust flower on pawoo’s back.

She’s freed from the spell. bisco explains that he was only able to make the choushin-kyu work because pawoo made him fight seriously, and that maybe he’s finally fallen for her a little. she hugs bisco and cries into his chest, apologizing for trying to die. bisco feels weird about hugging her back, his arms just left kind of awkwardly hanging in the air.

Pawoo’s tears immediately dry up as their attention is drawn to milo and tirol being chased by kurokawa and the robots. the 2 confront kurokawa directly, and this happens: B: “Y’know, after all this fighting I’ve realized she’s not bullshitting us. Unlike before, Kurokawa isn’t tricking us with any evil schemes, she just wants to make a movie. I dunno how other religions work, but I can tell she’s devoted to this. That’s something to be proud of, not something to be angry at. ... If Kurokawa wants to film me, then I’ll let her.” K: “I don’t get it - this whole time, we’ve been setting the stage for you to become blind with rage and then kill me with the power of good to save everyone!? Isn’t that what the hero is supposed to do??” B: “There’s no such thing as heroes or villains! It’s just you and me here, that’s it. If you’re forcefully sticking roles onto people, you’re not seeing them as they really are! In our travels, we... it was just ‘us’ and ‘them,’ our different ideals clashing, and we lived or died by them. ... If you want my ‘authentic’ self, then come at me with everything you got. If you wanna die a villain, I’ll make it happen.” Bisco puts away his bow and takes Pawoo’s polearm. B: “If you’re not fighting me seriously, I can’t use my bow. I‘ll have to use my amateur-level polearm skills.” K: “But... you HAVE to be the hero! You’re noble, and genuine, and wild and free...! My life is only for your--” B: “I don’t give a fuck what your reasons are. I’m just saying I can’t give my all if you’re not gonna take me seriously either!”

One of kurokawa’s new abilities is summoning barriers she refers to as “after effects” (yes it’s a reference to adobe after effects). anything that touches the barrier is absorbed and sent off somewhere else, because they’re made of a power drawn from the 4th dimension. kinda bs? yes.

Milo and tirol are still being tailed by all the robots. the ones milo already shot keep combing back like zombies. he can see bisco fighting in the distance, and he gets distracted thinking about how he needs to finish things here asap so he can get back to bisco’s side. he realizes he’s surrounded, when...

Jabi comes in from above, riding on actagawa. tirol doesn’t get how he’s alive. milo explains that technically jabi IS dead - his heart stopped and everything. jabi shows them his neck, where the nanairo arrow is stuck in the front and a rust flower vaccine in the back. somehow, the effects of both arrows and the specific wish that bisco imbued into the nanairo prevented him from being dead dead. if you’re confused, you’re not alone.

Jabi and actagawa hold off the robots, allowing milo to go help bisco. milo says he and bisco will definitely win, but jabi cuts him off and tells him to just leave. T: “Shouldn’t you of all people get how Jabi feels? If I had to put this into words, it’s basically like he’s handing off his precious daughter to you in his final moments. So what should you, as the groom, do first...?!” M: “Go to the bride...!”

Bisco broke pawoo’s polearm so he returned to using a bow. unfortunately, he can’t trigger the choushin-kyu again, because he doesn’t see kurokawa as a real threat. kurokawa is very upset by this, reprimanding herself as being a failure of a villain. her arm transforms into a large cannon, and she threatens to blow up all of Japan as the cannon accumulates rust to charge the blast. this still isn’t enough to activate the choushin-kyu, and bisco is extremely frustrated.

Suddenly, gopis appears and she traps kurokawa using her new electric whip that can interfere with the programming of tetsujin. gopis is for some reason very beat up and tired. bisco shoots kurokawa with multiple rust eater arrows, and she collapses.

Gopis admits she’s the one who brought kurokawa back to life. working in rokudou prison was part of reviving kurokawa, because she needed the benibishi’s power to do it.

Kurokawa is still just barely alive. bisco has an unexpected heart-to-heart with her as pawoo and gopis watch in utter astonishment. they wonder why bisco doesn’t just kill her.

Kurokawa’s wish to become a worthy villain activates the choushin-kyu, and bisco shoots her with a nanairo arrow to fulfill the wish. this gives kurokawa an insane power-up, and her body is healed. she immediately takes off and starts causing havoc around the city.

Milo finally finds bisco. they realize they’re in some real shit now, because kurokawa’s power-up has made her immune to even choushin-kyu shots. her whole body is now an “after effects” barrier, so things only get absorbed rather than ever hitting her.

Tirol is heard from somewhere, her face/voice appearing on every screen or radio as she hacks every channel. she calls for everyone in japan to pray for bisco to win, and the incredible energy activates the nanairo’s power. jabi shows up right before bisco fires a super charged choushin-kyu arrow, saying he still needs the most important prayer to be added to the lot: milo’s.

Milo takes hold of bisco’s bow and arrow, his power changing it into the mantra bow. “Were you thinking of firing that choushin-kyu without me? I’ll show you once more... so don’t take your eyes off me, Bisco.” *** Bisco met Milo’s gaze, his eyes shining like stars just as they always do. Mesmerizingly beautiful.... “I told you before, didn’t I? I believe in you. Even all the prayers of everyone in the world can’t compare to how I feel.”

They fire an arrow together from the LEVEL TWO choushin-kyu, the nanairo arrow turning into a rainbow itself. it pierces kurokawa’s 4th dimensional barrier whatever, basically piercing reality itself. the powerful blast sends her flying high into the air before exploding into metal shrapnel. she proclaims in her final words that she loves bisco, saying this movie will win an academy award.

Flash forward: As it turns out, kurokawa’s movie became a huge hit...... thanks to tirol, who named herself assistant director and took partial credit for the movie (and all the money from selling it out to theaters). she shows up to the academy awards show in a convertible, looking like a movie star. pawoo and nuts are there on security duty.

Nuts asks where milo and bisco are. pawoo says they had important business. unfortunately, no one could come with them because it’s something only mushroom keepers are allowed to attend.

In the shikoku mushroom keeper village, a select handful of people are gathered around in prayer for jabi who is on his death bed. the choushin-kyu was able to extend his life a little bit, but now time is up. milo and bisco each hold one of his hands, unable to do anything else for him.

Jabi is unable to see. bisco hugs him and presses their foreheads together to reassure him that he’s still there. bisco asks if there’s anything he can do as jabi’s final wish, and jabi asks him to retrieve a bottle of pipsnake sake so he can try it once before he dies.

Bisco leaves to find it, leaving jabi in milo’s care... but by the time he returns, it’s too late. he and milo cry profusely. bisco’s tears are not that of sadness or regret, but that of a love words can’t express. B: “This is goodbye... but only for a little while. When he gets bored of running around by himself, I’ll be going to meet him. ...Jabi. ....Dad. Thank you...”

Bisco pours a few drops of sake into jabi’s mouth before downing the whole bottle himself. milo is shocked by this because bisco doesn’t drink (for religious reasons). bisco leads all the villagers in a chant, hailing jabi as a new mushroom keeper god.

Other notes:

The masks the bunnymen wear are modeled after Imihama’s mascot that kurokawa designed, Imy-kun. i can’t remember if this was mentioned in vol 1.

Hebikawa Akemi means “snake river” + “see the light”. his nickname is likely a combination of the different pronunciations of snake - “ja” and “hebi.” in the fight scenes, it’s constantly mentioned how he’s incredibly agile even in midair, moving and twisting quickly like a snake.

Things on jabi’s bucket list: receive a buddhist name, hunt a pipesnake by myself, flirt with a widow, draw on gafune’s face [the female elder he doesn’t like], read all of kariage-kun, skydiving. they are all checked completed.

* In the car chase explanation, kurokawa says milo and bisco are too young to drive but this is blatantly false because both of them are 19 by now, and japan’s legal driving age is 18.

Chayka keeps a bunch of random shit inside her giant hat.

Milo and amli seem to have had it out for each other since vol 2. I don’t think milo’s ever gotten over amli flirting with bisco, and amli doesn’t like being alone with him because she likes bisco way more.

** When milo talks to sisi, he interestingly refers to her as “shounen” - the word for “young boy.”

The 3 gods (all made up and not actual shinto or buddhist gods) that mushroom keepers worship: Ketsuba, Yoh, and Enbi. based on the kanji of their names, they seem to be the gods of bloodlines, the sun, and fire.

Kurokawa has an unhealthy obsession with grape fanta. she drank nearly 40 bottles of it in the course of this volume.

Milo uses the “I went to school” line on kurokawa, who then replies “I DID TOO, SHITHEAD!?” probably the most valid response to it so far.

*** In the “I believe in you” scene, the word milo uses for “show” is miseru. but not the commonly used miseru... it’s a play on words using this one, meaning “to captivate/grab the attention of”. he wants bisco’s eyes on him and only him in that moment.

#sabikui bisco #sbkb summary series #akaboshi bisco #nekoyanagi milo

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pilothusband · 3 years

Text

A lit torch to the woodpile high (part 2)

A Paz VIzsla Bartender!AU

Rating: T (for now)

Pairing: Paz Vizsla x F!Reader

Warnings: Alcohol, pining, some vague descriptions of wanting to be plowed, vague threats of violence

Word count: 2.7k

Description: More pining ensues, we see a lil skin (@softdin 👀), something eerie happens, two idiots who don’t know how the other feels.

Author’s note: Let me know what you think!! Please go here to be added to the taglist!

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

The next few weeks passed by without incident. You still hadn’t seen Orso since he initially hired you on, which was kind of strange, but you figured it was because he was busy and had other ventures he had to keep an eye on.

So far your favorite part of working at Bear’s Den was working with Harlow. When it was slow you would pass the time chatting and getting to know each other better. You found out that Harlow was in the middle of getting her Master’s in Business Administration at the local school. She wanted to open her own bakery someday and worked at the pub to help pay for her degree.

Dillon was a little more frustrating to work with. In other words, he was lazy and he tried flirting with you (and every other woman around his age) every chance he got. It was harmless, but after a while you couldn’t help but roll your eyes at him.

Paz was almost always at the bar, but it seemed like he was busy most of the time. In fact, he had barely said a word to anyone all day, other than grunting a short “hello” as he stormed in.

“What crawled up his butt?” Dillon asked after he had slammed the office door. You and Harlow looked at him and shrugged. He seemed pretty surly in general, from what you could tell, but this was a whole new level, even for him.

A little while later, some customers had trickled in and there was a low hum of conversation around the bar. You were wiping down some glasses that had come out of the dishwasher. The damn thing never dried the glasses completely, and Donny never dried them himself before carting them out to you.

Harlow came out from the back, coat and purse in hand. You instantly deflated, realizing she was heading home for the day.

“I thought you were closing up with me tonight?”

“I was going to, but Paz switched with me. Said something about a meeting he had later on anyways,” she said, applying chapstick.

Oh, just great.

“Don’t worry,” she said, almost like she could read your mind. “I’m sure he’ll be less grumpy once Madge brings him some food from the kitchen later,” she laughed.

“Yeah, he could use a Snickers or two.” You both dissolved into giggles.

It was as if Paz’s ears were ringing. As soon as you had made the comment, he stepped out of the office. He still looked pretty angry, so you figured whatever was bothering him hadn’t gotten any better. Harlow could sense his mood and all but ran out the door, throwing a quick goodbye behind her shoulder.

You waved after her, distracted for a moment. That’s when you heard your name being called, rather impatiently. You whipped back around and walked over, not wanting to sour his mood any further.

“Sorry about that, what’s up?” You asked, looking up to make eye contact.

Big mistake. You could feel your stomach clench up with desire as soon as his eyes met yours. You could have sworn you saw his expression change momentarily, but as quickly as it appeared, he blinked and it was gone.

“I have a meeting later today. If you see a couple guys wearing matching white coats walk in and I’m not out front with you, come out back and get me. Don’t talk to them.”

You bit your lip and nodded. Paz’s gaze followed the movement and he swallowed heavily. You didn’t catch yourself watching his Adam’s apple bob up and down until he cleared his throat.

“Remember. Don’t talk to them.”

“Roger,” you said, turning on your heel to get back to the bar.

You had no idea how to feel about that interaction. He either didn’t trust you enough to talk to some important business associates, or something else was going on. You felt a little uneasy, but chalked it up to Paz’s fowl mood.

Was Paz involved with some bad people? Did this have anything to do with Orso not showing up to the bar for weeks? More customers were trickling in, distracting you from all the wild conspiracies your brain was coming up with.

Orso and Paz were in a secret society and were plotting to steal an important government document. Orso and Paz secretly swapped faces and were living each other’s lives.

You really needed to stop watching Nicolas Cage films before bed every night.

After a while, Paz came out of the office to tend the bar with you. He wasn’t much of a conversationalist, but it was almost hypnotizing to watch him pour drinks. He knew the layout of the bar like it was the back of his hand. There was no hesitation to look for the correct liquor types when a customer ordered a cocktail that required a vintage bourbon. He didn’t struggle to remember which spout to use for cranberry juice vs. orange juice (like you did).

There was a point in the night where he was serving 5 customers at the same time, when you struggled to juggle just two of them. It was almost embarrassing, to be honest.

You heard a woman’s voice in your peripheral, snapping you out of a detailed and vivid daydream where Paz bent you over the bar to have his way with you.

“Excuse me, can I get a glass of Merlot?” She was probably in her mid-50s, wearing a slinky black dress that looked stellar on her, with leopard print heels. Basically, you wanted to be this woman when you got older.

“Of course,” you said, turning to the shelf.

Before you could even ask for Paz’s help, you heard him in your ear.

“Red wine?”

You had to suppress a pleasant shiver.

“Yes, please. The Merlot,” you looked over, giving him a sheepish grin. His face was still close to yours, you could see the flecks of amber in his deep brown eyes.

You stepped back, allowing him room to get to the shelf, and tried not to drool as he reached up towards the shelf, his shirt riding up his back with the movement. Time seemed to stop as you caught a flash of skin, toned and smooth.

“Here you go,” he said, handing the bottle over to you. “We’ll keep it over by the register in case she wants another glass.”

You nodded, your mouth too dry to come up with words. Once the bottle was opened and the glass filled up, you handed it to the woman as she handed you her credit card.

She gave you a wide-eyed look as you accepted her card.

“That man is an occupational hazard,” she said, taking a big gulp from her glass.

You laughed, but didn’t say anything in response.

“Do you want me to open a tab for you?”

“Yes, I think I’ll stick around for a while,” she said wiggling her eyebrows.

Later on that night, it was about 15 minutes past closing time and all of the customers, as well as your bouncer Rick, had long left for the night.

Paz had gone out back to count the till and you were organizing the liquor bottles when two men entered through the front door, which was strange because you could have sworn you had locked it.

They were wearing long, cream colored trench coats with some sort of emblem on the front pocket. It looked like a cog with six spokes. Something about it made your blood run cold. You had every intention of running out back to tell Paz they were here, but something about these men had you frozen in fear.

They weren’t like any men you had seen before, with short, cropped hair that was slicked back and eyes as gaunt as their thin faces.

Good evening,” the taller man said as he reached the bar. He gave you a smile, trying to appear amiable.

“Um, hi. Paz is out back, I can go get him for you,” Paz was going to lose his shit when he found out you talked to them.

“We’re looking for Orso Van, actually. Do you know where he is?”

“I haven’t seen him for weeks. I can go get Pa–”

“I don’t want to speak with his whipping boy,” he interrupted, his tone growing cold. “I want to speak to Orso. Now.”

You were grateful at Paz’s immaculate timing as the back door swung open.

Paz looked more formidable than ever. He seemed to grow even taller, if that was even possible.

“As I told you last week, Dax, no one’s seen him in weeks.”

The silent man who was not Dax scoffed.

Paz continued, “and I thought I told you never to speak to my staff.”

Dax gave Paz a sickly, unnatural smile. It didn’t look like it belonged on his face. “I figured she might know something, seeing as she showed up right as Orso disappeared.”

You felt as if your entire body had been plunged into ice cold water. A deep, dreadful feeling took over the pit of your stomach.

These men have been watching us.

“Leave her out of this, she has nothing to do with any of it.”

He stalked towards the men threateningly.

“Now, if you want to talk to me, we can go ahead and talk in the office. Otherwise, get the fuck out of my bar.”

The other man scoffed again and nodded towards Dax.

“Come on, let’s go. We’ll be back next week to check on Orso’s whereabouts. If he doesn’t show his face soon, you know what will happen.”

They turned, their pristine white coats whipping behind them. The door swung shut with a bang.

You could only gape after them, so many questions spinning through your head. You weren’t sure if you wanted to know the answers to any of them.

“I’m going to drive you home tonight,” his tone left no room for argument. You weren’t about to object anyways. Even if you had to endure a tense car ride, you were a hell of a lot safer with him than by yourself.

You both locked up as quickly as possible and made your way to his truck, slamming the doors shut harder than necessary.

The air was thick as a blanket, filled with so many unanswered questions. If you weren’t so rattled from earlier, you would have realized this was the closest you had ever been to Paz.

“Are you going to tell me what that was about back there?” You asked, already knowing his answer.

“No.”

“If I’m in danger, I want to know why,” you told him, voice trembling. Your pulse was going a mile a minute.

“The less you know, the safer you are,” he said. His tone was still final, but not nearly as hard as you were expecting.

He looked over at you. All you could do was stare back at him, mouth agape. His face was half bathed in the moonlight, painting his face in a pale blue light that contrasted with the dark that surrounded you.

“I won’t let anything happen to you.” He said quietly.

You felt like your lungs couldn’t get enough air, as if the wind had been knocked out of you.

“Okay,” was all you said back. You weren’t sure if Paz even wanted to be here with you right now, but you trusted him.

He regarded you for a moment, seemingly trying to read your expression that gave way to any trepidations you had. You looked back at him, having every intention to tell him you trusted him, but the words died in your throat when you saw his expression. He looked so open, so raw.

You let yourself bask in this moment, in the dark cab of his truck. There wasn’t an opportunity before now to just look at him freely. He had a scar below his right eye, and his nose was just a little crooked. You wondered if it was from getting in fights. You wondered what, or who, he had fought for.

He was quite beautiful, in a hard, unrelenting kind of way. You wanted to find out why he had built a thick wall around himself. You wanted to trace the lines of his jaw and feel the contours of his lips.

His lips. Your eyes were laser-focused as his tongue came out to wet them. You found yourself thinking about what it would be like to taste them, to chase his tongue with yours.

He let out a shaky breath, snapping you back into the reality of the moment. You looked away, staring out the windshield, still watching his movements in the corner of your eye.

“We should go,” you wanted to flinch at the anxious edge to your voice.

Paz looked down at his lap and nodded.

“I’ll need you to navigate.”

You were grateful that Paz had stuffed a wad of cash in your hand last night before he dropped you off at your front door, mentioning to use it to Uber to work the next day. That meant you didn’t have to rush getting ready this morning to catch the bus to work, since you had left your car there.

It only took one tense night of locking your doors and windows, double checking the locks, drawing up your curtains and checking the locks again, followed by tossing and turning for hours on end only to fall asleep an hour before your alarm went off. It only took that one night for you to overthink everything.

It’s not that you were thinking about the creepy men that came in after closing. You had spent enough time to fret about that while you were trying to force your amped up body to relax last night.

This morning was spent overthinking every single interaction you ever had with Paz. He already had so much weight on his shoulders, running a business while his boss was off doing fuck knows what, while some seedy men were breathing down his back and basically stalking him at work.

Why should you add yourself to that list of responsibilities?

You had every intention to say good morning to him when you first saw him. He was walking out from the office, looking just about as exhausted as you were. You must have looked like a deer in headlights, because his eyebrows were raised in question, his head cocked to the side.

“I um, I was just going to the kitchen,” you said in an almost robotic voice.

You hightailed it out of the room before you could see the expression on his face.

Your heart was still pounding as you burst through the kitchen doors. This crush on your boss was really getting out of hand, and it only got worse after being in such close proximity last night. God, you probably looked ridiculous right now.

“What’s got you bursting in here like a bat out of hell?” You almost jumped out of your skin. Had Madge been next to you this whole time?

“I um, need coffee?” You said, accidentally wording it as a question. “If you have any extra, that is,” you added quickly.

Madge smirked, seeing right through your lie, but she didn’t question it.

“Just brewed a fresh pot. Knock yourself out.”

A little while later while you were back out front, stacking glasses between sips of coffee, you saw a plate slide into your peripheral.

“You look like you need this,” Madge winked. You looked down, mouth watering at the large pile of french fries.

“You’re a fucking saint, Madge.” You deadpanned. She cackled all the way back to the kitchen, throwing you another wink.

You didn’t see Paz much that day, and you were kind of grateful for it. Every time he entered the room you found some way to keep yourself busy to avoid his gaze.

He could probably tell you were being extra squirrely. Hell, everyone could tell.

Donny had taken you aside earlier and offered to let you take a hit of his cousin’s homegrown, to which you politely declined. Dillon remarked on how tense you looked and offered to massage your shoulders, to which you told him to fuck off.

Harlow didn’t say much, but she looked concerned. You pretended not to notice the sideways glances she was giving you.

A little while later, you were hunched over the bar, in the middle of writing out a supply order when you heard a throat clear from above you. It was a distinctly male sound. You almost dropped the pen in surprise when you looked up and saw Paz was standing before you, arm resting just a few inches from where yours was resting on the counter.

“I um,” Paz trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just wanted to see how you– how things are going out here.”

He sounded unsure of himself. He was standing a little less tall today, with his shoulder slumped over. Weary to the bone.

“I’m great, so good,” you babbled. “Nothing going on with me. Feeling peachy.”

“Uh, cool, yeah. Okay, I’ve got to uh...” he removed his hand from his neck and gestured towards the office before making his exit.

You collapsed, letting your head hit the bar with a thump. God, you hoped no one saw that go down.

“So, what the fuck was that?” Harlow said, walking over.

You sighed dramatically, your entire body feeling like it was being held down by bags of sand.

You lifted your head up a little, giving Harlow the most pathetic look you could muster.

“It was nothing,” you told her. You stood back up fully and busied yourself with organizing the coasters on the bar, hoping she would let it go.

“That didn’t look like nothing,” she said, trying to hide a smug smile.

You had two choices here. Tell Harlow about the sketchy men from last night, which was not an option, or tell her about the pathetic crush you were harboring for your boss.

You turned around to make sure no one else was around. Thankfully, Dillon was on his lunch break, Paz was holed up in the office, and Donny and Madge were both in the kitchen.

“Please don’t tell anyone–” you started, but were interrupted with a squeal.

“Harlow, shhhh!” You admonished her, desperately trying to reach out to her to clap a hand over her mouth to no avail. She danced away, wiggling like a toddler at a birthday party.

“You guys are totally fucking,” she whispered, her brown eyes wide as saucers.

“I– what? No we aren’t.”

“Come on,” she scoffed. “I saw that little trainwreck of an interaction back there.”

“No, really, we aren’t,” you told her, and added with a whisper, “though, I kind of wish we were.”

“Well,” she said, chewing on her lip in thought. “Judging by the way Paz was bodysnatched back there, he’s in the same boat.”

You rolled your eyes. No, that was absolutely because of the threatening men from last night. He just felt guilty you were now in the middle of all of it.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, missy,” she admonished, good-naturedly. “He totally looked scared shitless back there. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

You frowned in thought. He must be really freaked out by those men. You felt bad that you hadn’t noticed.

“No, I think it’s just a big misunderstanding,” you told her. “I think he thought he offended me last night because I was in a bad mood.” You were kind of impressed with the lies pouring out of your mouth at the moment. “I’m going to go talk to him.”

“Okay then,” Harlow said, smirking at you.

You charged towards the office and barged in before you could talk yourself out of it. It was Paz’s turn to look like a deer caught in headlights.

This was the first good look you had at him all day. The scruff on his chin was longer than usual. His eyes, despite being open wide in surprise, had dark shadows under them.

“I’m sorry, I should have knocked,” you said, turning to leave.

“Wait–” Paz reached out, grabbing your shoulder. He let go almost immediately, as if the touch burned him. “Come in.”

“I just wanted to see how you were doing after last night. I didn’t ask you how you were doing and I– I’m sorry.”

“That’s why you’ve been avoiding me all day? Because you feel bad for not asking me how I’m doing?”

You blanched. Yeah, you felt bad but that definitely wasn’t why you were avoiding him.

“I guess, yeah,” you said, huffing out a laugh.

“I wish I could tell you more, I really do.” Paz said, sitting on the edge of the desk. It immediately groaned in protest, so he stood back up. “I don’t want any of the staff here getting involved with Orso’s bullshit. The less you all know the better.”

You nodded in understanding. You really did understand it. But something nagged at you.

“But what about you?” You asked him. “You’ve already been dragged into it.”

The sad, fleeting look on his face was devastating. You could tell he wasn’t used to others worrying about him. He must have caught himself, because his expression hardened in resolve a moment later.

“I can take care of myself,” he said. “I’m working on getting a hold of Orso. Once he’s back they’ll leave us alone.”

You weren’t sure if you believed him, but you let it drop for the time being. You would just need to keep an eye on him in your own way.

“You should get going,” Paz said, changing the subject. “Your shift was over 10 minutes ago and I’m sure you need to get some sleep.”

“Yeah, I really do,” you said, giving him a tender smile. “Make sure you get some sleep tonight too.”

“I’ll try,” he said, his smile matching the one on your face.

Taglist: @tenderclio @softdin @maybege @recklessworry @cannedsoupsucks @pocket-pudding @simping-for-clones @gallowsjoker @idiotonastar @seratoninforyouseratoninforme @devanthus @legally-a-bastard @my-awakened-ghost

#paz vizsla #paz vizsla x reader #paz vizsla x you #paz vizsla au #bartender!paz

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tiesthatbind-tf · 3 years

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I have two new questions: Wouldn't Onyx Prime be African because of Eukaris more closely related to African traditions? And what would your version of Cyclonus look like and what ethnicity he would be?

Nope! Because I'm not using the extremely convoluted history IDW has for the characters/world before the main story. Onyx here is not Shockwave in disguise, he's much closer to the Aligned/Fun Publications version of the character. Eukaris exists but it's sort of a central homeland state created specifically for Beast Men where all variants of them would receive equal treatment (This is due to the fact that even in places where some of them were well-accepted, others were not, as an example Bird-style beast men being revered in Japan as 'Tengu', while fox-style beastmen were always pegged as tricksters and bear-style Beastmen were outright demonised outside of Ainu culture).

Beast Men in Ties That Bind are also not associated with a single culture or people.

There's actually a whole page dedicated to the explanation for Beast Men and Eukaris in this AU, I'll include it under a cut since it's long (TW for mentions of Human Trafficking and general dehumanization).

I haven't as of yet decided anything on Cyclonus!

BEAST MEN

A new subset of humanity which occurred during the Quintesson Invasion, Beast Men (Homo Bestia) were the product of genetic experimentations on humans and animals alike by Quintesson scientists in the early days of the invasion.

The exact nature or reason behind these grotesque experiments have yet to be fully understood but from what little has been translated from salvaged texts, it is believed that they were conducted to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of earth’s indigenous lifeforms and to create a robust ‘working animal’ for strip-mining and slave labour purposes by combining traits between them.However much of the early experimentation yielded less than satisfactory results; The Beast Men despite their enhanced strength were often wilder in nature and even more defiant than standard humans, with some unable to adapt to their heightened senses causing them to lash out at all stimuli.

Many were terminated as failed experiments while others were kept incarcerated as stock to continue Quintesson research to fine-tune the process.However, many still managed to escape through concerted combined efforts between themselves or were liberated by rebels later on between 1930 and 1945. They took part in the Second Quintesson War under the leadership of Owais Naseem, one of the thirteen heroes of the war and a Horse-Man (Centaur).

The most populous subset of Beast Men comprises of Canids, which make up 20% of their entire demographic due to their purported usefulness as huntsmen, guardsmen and even ‘pets’ to the Quintessons.This is followed by felid (15%), ruminant (15%), avian (10%), rodentia (10%), oceanic (10%) and others (17%).The rarest type of Beast Men are Insectoid (3%). They usually feel a strong affinity for nature and most commonly reside in South America, Africa, Asia and their established ‘homeland’ of Eukaris. They are least found (outside of government-commissioned Cold Constructs) in the USA, France and the UK.

CLASSIFICATIONS OF BEAST MEN

Beast Men are classified into three categories according to a worldwide government census, mostly based on the level of visible mutation.

Class A (‘Humanoid’) Accounts for 15% of Beast Men.

Mutations are recessive/subtle, mostly centered around eyes, ears. Occasionally will sport claws.

Due to their mostly human appearance, they are better accepted by society with some reaching fame due to their perceived safe but ‘exotic’ looks.

Little to no limitations on personal rights. Mixed marriages with standard humans are allowed but heavily frowned upon due to presiding fear that, as they are still carriers of the animal gene, their mutations will pass down and could become more dominant in their children.

Little to no animal instincts.

Class B (‘Mix’) The most common class accounting for 50% of all Beast Men.

General public perception tends to vary from mild distaste to full on disdain.

Their physiology tends to be animal-like wrapped around a human frame. Anatomy remains mostly human (eg: Having paws or claws, but relegated to human-size and shaped hands or feet).

Allowances made for public transport/spaces with conditions.

Mixed marriages with standard humans banned in most countries.

Overlaps can occur with Class C.

Mild animal instincts.

Class C (‘Feral’) Accounts for 30% of Beast Men.

The class facing heaviest persecution due to their completely non-human appearance. Human traffickers have been documented selling them to hunting parties and reserves.

Full animal traits, including major to full coverage of fur/feathers/scales, tails, teeth, digitigrade legs, etc. Will occasionally sport ‘distorted’ anatomy (like elongated arms for flight or running on all fours) or missing anatomy altogether (legs for snake-men) to better support animal physiology.

Not allowed in public transport and spaces unless clearly designated.

Mixed marriages with standard humans banned in most countries.

Strong animal instincts, however level of intelligence/emotional empathy remains the same as standard humans.

Class D (‘Shifters’) The rarest class, accounts for 5% of Beast Men

Are an offshoot of Class B and C individuals who have the ability to fully shapeshift into animals.

The phenomenon is still being studied.

BEAST MEN IN SOCIETY

Despite their role in helping to win the war, the relationship between Beast Men and modern society is shaky, with a majority of them suffering some form of discrimination from governments and people unwilling to make concessions for them in modern living and personal engagements.

Like Cold Constructs, many of them are seen as second-class citizens who find it hard to rent property due to landlords who insist on a ‘no animals’ rule being applied to them (thus pushing most of them into redlined districts and neighborhoods). Most forms of public transport also bar them entry due to the ‘hassle’ that accommodating all subsets of them would invoke.

More so, the ‘non-domestic’ variants of them are often seen as dangerous or unpredictable due to their enhanced sensitivity to stimuli which would otherwise not affect a ‘normal’ person (and there have been cases of people deliberately overloading their senses to force them to react in a violent manner), and this limits the job market for them as well.

Metropolitan cities, particularly in western countries, place heavy restrictions on their movements in public; Establishments and businesses are allowed to refuse them service or bar them entry if they are seen to be a threat or if the facilities are (often deliberately) not built to accommodate them.

Violence against them is a regular occurrence despite laws being passed to combat the issue and most Beast-Men will only go out in public with a chaperone or in groups for protection from harassment.

Worse yet are the cases of illegal hunting of Beast Men, whether for game or their body parts, which sees a steady demand in the black market.

However, the case isn’t the same in all countries; In many areas of Africa and Asia, certain subsets of Beast Men are mostly accepted as members of modern society.

Snake-Men are a welcomed group in Thailand due to their resemblance to mythical Naga, while Tiger-Men are seen as protectors and a symbol of courage in Malaysia.

Bird-Men receive adulation in most South and South-East Asian countries due to their resemblance to the Garuda, while the same can be said for Japan which sees them as Tengu.

Lion, Leopard and Panther-Men find similar acceptance in African nations, which sees Lion-Men in particular to have been royalty in a past life.

Scotland stands out among western nations due to its granting of full-class citizen status to Wolf-men, affectionately known as ‘Wulvers’, particularly in the Shetland Islands which in turn sees a high population of them compared to other European nations.

That said, as not all Beast Men subsets are accepted to the same level even in countries that accept certain types, a Beast Men-centric state that levies the same rights and acceptance for all subsets, Eukaris, was established in 2004 via extensive terraforming on Queen Maud Land in Antartica.

#inbox #tw human trafficking #tw human rights violations #long post

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ellestra · 3 years

Text

Superpowered life

I really liked how this episode took time to humanise both John Walker and the Flag Smashers.

I like how it gives us those moments from Flag Smasher’s point of view. Showing the small moments like Karli taking time to make sure the guy Walker shot is OK. And then her clear heartbreak for the friend who sacrifices himself. This is so different from the opening of last episode when Sam was killing LAF men left and right and Batroc didn’t care his people died. They were treated as disposable but Flag Smashers aren’t. They think themselves the heroes who fight for those who lived through Blip.

Last episode we saw the hurdles the returned have to go through but we also got a taste of the way those extra five years changed those left (from Hayward to Sarah). This episode we see the Walker and his group created as enforcers of the Global Repatriation Council so the returned at least have a body that takes care of their needs (even, as we see with Sam imperfectly) but it just makes those who grew up in the world without them more resentful (this movement seems to attract a lot of young people for whom the world without half of humanity became norm).

They had to give up a lot and their needs got swept under the rug when billions of people came back wanting the world to be just like when they left. It’s a misplaced anger (it’s not like those people had a choice and they are refugees often with even less than FS) but it is understandable and it’s no wonder there are so many people willing to hide them. And it’s hard for them not to feel vindicated when GRC sends men to “pacify” them. Making the Flag Smashers so diverse and throwing a guy dressed in American paraphernalia to fight them somewhere in Europe just drives home how not completely wrong they are.

But it looks like neither Walker nor our heroes are really the Flag Smashers big problem. It looks like they stole the serum that makes them super soldiers form Power Broker and that’s what was in those creates not vaccines. I wonder if they want to make so many more super strong followers or d the powers wear off with time and they need to keep taking it.

In many ways John Walker is a lot like Steve. He wants to help people and make the world better. He believes in the ideas of America and wants people to believe in them too. He wants to be the hope Steve was. He jumped on top of grenades. And he got really good at throwing that Shield fast (the way he saved Hoskins was pretty cool). He’s the best man for the job, isn’t he?

He’s even appropriately bashful about being lauded for his accomplishments. Feels weird about being trotted for shows in public. And have doubts he can live up to being Captain America. He’s also a little cocky and likes to use his influence (the government line, releasing Bucky) but that’s not that different than Tony. Or Thor. And he even has the same Big Three idea as Sam. He’s just like our heroes.

He’s just like those guys before they learnt their lessons about humility and blind trust. So isn’t us, or Sam and Bucky, not wanting to have to deal with that journey again just unwillingness to give him a chance?

But then the uncomfortable parts hit you. From the fact that he took the job over a black man. Sam isn’t completely wrong about becoming his own symbol and not just using Steve’s clout. The fact that John took it like it was something he deserved is already telling something about his confidence and show points us to the “white men confidence” on that by making it uncomfortable. From the way they have people of colour telling him he can do it. To the black best friend/sidekick. That last one really hit hard.

This is, however, not fully on John really. It’s on people who created him. In universe, the men who lauded Sam for giving up the Shield only to give it to a white dude. In real world on all those who keep creating protagonists like these.

This hit differently when the character of Captain America was created almost century ago and we were already so accustomed with him it’s easy to ignore the dissenting voices for the comfort of it’s always been like this. But there is still to many media that repeat this pattern over and over again with new characters.

The patterns so ingrained it has to be pointed out again and again how skewed that is and the show rammed it home with Walker calling both Sam and Bucky Steve’s wingmen. He was implying he wants them to be his now and they both went clearly “sorry, man, we are the protagonists now”. And that made him resort to threats and that is on him.

The thing about Steve was that there was plenty of brave, smart, decorated men with him in that camp. He wasn’t chosen because he was better then them at fighting but because of his heart and willingness to stand up for what is right no matter what. And when he jumped on the grandee he didn’t know he would survive. Walker has special helmet. And he clearly enjoys the privileges and power that comes with the position.

It’s all fun when he is the main character in this story - saving the Avengers and getting them out of trouble - but when they refuse to be appropriately grateful and fall in line his generosity turns to anger. And that really drives home that white man entitlement, doesn’t it? (I hope it does.)

And the show doesn’t stop there. There is still the way US government treated Isaiah Bradley. Bucky got pardoned for everything with just Steve’s backing but the man who protected Americans from him got nothing but abuse. All Bradley can have is being left alone while Bucky is recognised as an Avenger. At least Steve was always a hero but Bucky used to be a villain and he still is better off. It reminds us how long this has been and issue. (The kid is Eli, though, isn’t he?)

And then there is the way police treat Sam. The tone they use when they ask Bucky if “this man is bothering you”. And then complete change when Bucky says “do you know who that is” and the celebrity status hits and suddenly Sam isn’t jut a black guy but Mr. Wilson, the Avenger. But it really hits when it turns out Bucky is to be arrested because he missed his therapy session for a trip to Europe. The policeman is still polite and all “Mr. Barnes” and “sorry about this”.

We see Bucky’s super soldier serum powers in work (with jumping and running) and Walker I think just has the suit and good coordination but it’s clear their greatest superpower is being white men.

I liked this episode take on racism better as it was better at showing it as a background didn’t involve Sam ignoring his sister’s agency and her knowledge. And because it showed the status his celebrity grants him better, especially when contrasted with the life of Isaiah Bradley who has powers but not fame so none of the perks and all the burdens of being experimented on.

And I like the way it shows it also gets to those who are discriminated. After all the kid who calls Sam Black Falcon is black too. It’s just Falcon. No qualifiers necessary. But then Sam calls Bucky White Panther. The colour coding gets to all of us. (In Polish pantera = lampart and both mean leopard so we actually say żółta pantera = yellow panther along with black but I’m glad no one uses that for people.)

I also liked that Sam thought Bradley meant white people when he said Bucky’s people. I mean he wasn’t wrong since Hydra was pretty much white supremacist but still funny.

The only thing that bothered me was Bucky’s therapist forcing Sam into the session. The excuse was flimsy, the was no real indication she knows they fight all the time and the whole thing seemed to be only for that one line when Bucky admits he’s afraid Steve was wrong about him. But the execution of this was clunky and the moment with Bradley worked much better.

#the falcon and the winter soldier #sam wilson #bucky barnes #isaiah bradley #john walker #lemar hoskins #karli morgenthau #flag smashers #falcon #winter soldier #james bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #doctor raynor #tfatws #christina raynor

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reginaldqueribundus · 3 years

Text

I posted 2,372 times in 2021

598 posts created (25%)

1774 posts reblogged (75%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 3.0 posts.

I added 2,111 tags in 2021

#star trek - 666 posts

#a samuel post™ - 576 posts

#star trek ds9 - 211 posts

#one piece - 136 posts

#this blue hellsite - 127 posts

#oh what a stupid post i have made - 90 posts

#star trek tng - 86 posts

#lol - 80 posts

#tumblr - 75 posts

#star wars - 64 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#it wasn’t his obsidian order implant it was the aggravation of having to watch quark mix horizonal stripes with leopard print day after day

My Top Posts in 2021

One of my all-time favourite Star Trek TNG scenes is when Lal kisses Riker. It’s easy to miss but at the beginning they mention Riker is on leave. So the poor guy has no clue what’s going on. Imagine being William Thomas Riker in that situation. You take some time off work, you come back and pop by Ten Forward for some refreshment and social engagement and as soon as you walk in a young woman you’ve never seen before who’s working behind the bar grabs you with the strength of 20 Nausicaan powerlifters and sticks her tongue down your throat. Then your unmarried, unattached, childless robot coworker (who’s around the same age as you and definitely did not have kids when you left) walks up and announces this grown-ass lady is his daughter and demands to know your “intentions” toward her like he just tumbled out of a sitcom from Earth’s 20th century. You can’t blame Riker for being flustered.

1842 notes • Posted 2021-02-02 17:05:18 GMT

Things about One Piece that crack me tf up

not one single character has worn an eyepatch in over 20 years of this 1,000+ chapter pirate manga

there's like… laser guns and cyborgs and CCTV but everyone's still using sailboats to get around (with square sails no less)

there are canonically three different kinds of furries

Luffy hangs around all day with the only person in the world who knows where the Death Star is, but he doesn't give a shit

Eiichiro Oda has spent more than half of his life so far writing and drawing One Piece. at age 22 he created his first ever manga series and it became the bestselling comic book in history and when it finally ends he can probably just retire

Oda planned One Piece would last about five years. This was in 1997

Oda just casually confirming his universe has SECRET ANCIENT MOON CIVILIZATIONS with ROBOT ARMIES and FUCKING SPACE PIRATES, and possibly ACTUAL ALIENS… in a fucking chapter cover story. And then never mentioning it again for 14 actual real-world years

eat a devil fruit. is it the one that makes you a godlike indestructible force of nature, or the one that makes you a rubber band who can't swim? welp

Sengoku is one of the most serious characters in the whole series, he runs the military, but he has a giant stupid afro and a pet goat that follows him everywhere and he can turn into a giant buddha with an even bigger afro

Chopper was just vibing as an animal and then one day he ate a weird fruit and woke up with self-awareness and hopes and dreams and anxiety and now he has a medical degree? the reindeer, he walks like a man

Dr. Hiliruk is basically one of those hippie moms who tries to cure measles with essential oils and shit but he's also one of the most heroic characters in the entire series

it's one of the goofiest wackiest manga out there but when you look closely the setting is actually a morally grey hellworld mostly run by a corrupt government built on secrets and lies which only exists to support cartoonishly evil aristocrats who live on a mountain beating slaves all day, and the rest is either lawless wastelands or controlled by 10 foot tall invincible psychopaths who could easily take over the rest of the world if they didn't all hate each other

the Celestial Dragons commit horrific atrocities every 0.001 seconds but they all dress like fucking idiots and have Dr. Seuss haircuts

there's a guy named Dragon who has dedicated his life to destroying them

Luffy meets people and goes "you're my friend now" and they have like no choice in the matter

Luffy: I'm not a hero! also Luffy: I will not rest until I crush this cruel tyrant who is taking food away from little kids

his grandpa is a world-famous war hero and his dad is trying to overthrow the entire government but Luffy doesn't even care

characters will show up and be like "I'm an 800-year-old time traveler from a lost period of history" and the story is like "that's neat. time for fifty pages of men crying"

Buggy the stupid fucking circus clown with blue hair and a flying penis, who spent his formative years with the literal greatest pirate in the entire world and yet somehow completely sucks shit, has more screen time than the main character's mentor and beloved elder brother combined. love it.

now that Jinbe has joined the crew Robin finally has another person with more than one brain cell to talk to

Brook became a global rockstar while being a skeleton and his fans just rolled with it

the Marines show up at his concert and accuse him of being a random pirate from 50 years ago and he's like "yes I am that pirate and I'm quitting the music gig to go back to being a pirate, also I work for the guy at the top of your shit list!"

2170 notes • Posted 2021-08-12 21:30:48 GMT

Hello and welcome to Deep Space Nine. We are a space station, not a starship, so you’ll be spending a lot of time with all these delightful side characters like: bisexual fashion lizard. hologram of Frank Sinatra. goblins. goblin comes in 3 varieties: bartender, nephew, and idiot. our doctor is a twink, our commander is antifa and the captain talks to the gods sometimes. our policeman is sometimes a liquid and the science lady is part worm. we have many fine storylines, such as: Goblin Does A Crime, Watch The Irishman Suffer, or The Horrors Of War. As you stroll along our promenade enjoying a raktajino or delicious jumja stick, watch out for our nefarious villains: Pope Karen. clones of Jeffrey Combs. and a horny bastard reptile man who seems convinced this is actually his show. we suspect he may be possessed by demons. Have fun!

Deep Space Nine: now with Worf™!

5821 notes • Posted 2021-04-24 23:20:52 GMT

Keanu Reeves’s career is so funny to me. Like these are the movies he’s famous for:

Himbos save the universe

FBI undercover surfer man

Bus go boom if drive too slow

Reality is a hologram and this guy is the Messiah or something, he knows kung fu

Man loses wife, dog, murders literally everyone

9995 notes • Posted 2021-04-30 22:08:41 GMT

I feel like nobody talks about this but remember Jay’s “job interview” in the original Men in Black movie? Sure, they play it for comedy, he’s a smartass cop surrounded by all these elite military graduates. But he was also literally the only one in the room smart enough to bring the table over so he had something to write on. And he offers it to the other guys too!

And in the shooting test, on the surface it just seems like a goofy joke when he shoots the little girl cutout in the head, but look at the way he responded to the situation.

The test starts immediately without any warning, we can see that everyone is caught off guard. The other candidates immediately open fire on what they perceive to be threats, but Jay takes a second to assess the situation. He sees he isn’t in any immediate danger, and in a handful of seconds he’s able to scope out several minor details about the targets and hit one with a near-perfect headshot. Jay showed he was an innovative, quick thinker with situational awareness, attention to detail and high-level marksmanship skills, and they never say it outright but I think that’s probably why Zed picked him. (Zed never actually says anything negative about Jay’s performance, just that he has a problem with authority.)

This is highly underrated writing but, then again, this is also the movie where Tommy Lee Jones says “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago, everybody knew Earth was the centre of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat and 15 minutes ago, you knew humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you’ll know tomorrow.”

28670 notes • Posted 2021-06-12 01:59:20 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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