#they use basic human rights as bargaining chips.

[poisonousquinzel]

"a dude in Texas legally changed his name to "Literally Anyone Else" and he's attempting to run for President against Biden & Trump" [source]

okay, but putting aside the comedic aspect of this, it is concerning the amount of people who are prompted to vote for candidates just because it's funny. I'm not the biggest fan of how his policy about the boarder sounds [Site], but I do implore anyone who is able to vote in the 2024 US election to please research other candidates.

The media is only going to continue pushing the idea it's inevitably going to be Trump vs Biden 2.0 and we have no other options, that we have to vote for Biden again because of Project 2025. Is that whole thing terrifying?

Yeah, fucking absolutely.

But voting for Biden will not solidify our safety from that. Biden is exactly like the rest of them. He always has been. You can't make the lesser of two evils argument when they're both just plain evil.

You cannot say that Biden is even mildly a better choice than Trump when he is currently directly involved in a genocide. That is not some little fucking thing. That in and of itself disqualifies him as a lesser evil. Biden is just as bad as him and he will not save us because he doesn't fucking care.

Cornel West [Site] is an Independent candidate running for President in the 2024 Election. [Policies]

Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia [Site] are running for President and Vice-President as the candidates of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in the 2024 Election. [Policies]

There are options.

There are people trying to change the corrupt foundation our system is built on, but we have to help amplify them because the mainstream media will not.

[zukotheartist]

LONG tbosas (book, mostly) post ahead, about Reaper Ash specifically

A lot of people, rightfully, point out when Reaper cuts Panem's flag and throws it on the dead kids but something that gets to me as well (that I think is a really nice touch and should be talked about more) is his other uses of the flag (in the book, anyway).

The first time he cuts the flag, it's to bargain with Lamina.

Yes, he's doing it for himself because his mentor* won't send him food (or water) unless he puts on a good show (aka killing or at least attacking another tribute), which he isn't doing, and it's been days so he needs to eat (if I remember correctly, he had been able to get a few of Lucy Gray/Jessup's extra/leftover water bottles). But he was strong and big enough to hunt down another tribute and then steal their food. Not Lamina, probably, I don't think a big guy would be able to climb a pole that well? (I feel like that'd be easier for a smaller-skinnier person like Coral but idk, i dont climb lol). Regardless, he couldve hunted any of the tributes that were on the ground.

Instead, he notices that Lamina is heavily sunburned (enough for the skin on her nose to be chipping away) and tells her that he'll get her a blanket (piece of flag) to cover herself with, in exchange for some food.

Then he cuts another piece of the flag to cover his dead peers (and ofc that's the main use of it and the most important one).

But then he also cuts a piece of the flag... for HIMSELF. Not to use as a shield from the sun or to wrap a wound or any other "logical" or "useful" reason.

He drapes the cloth on his back and wraps it around his neck.

He makes a CAPE.

And what does he do, right after?

He twirls around and tries to look back at the cape as he's twirling. Then he runs up and down a bit, with his arms out-stretched, letting the cape fly behind him.

And the next time we see him? He's still wearing the cape.

That moment speaks VOLUMES imo.

A lot of people have pointed out that Suzanne Collins does the complete opposite of the usual tropes placed upon black characters: the girls aren't the caretakers, they're the ones being taken care of by other characters (Katniss and Rue + Tresh and Rue + Reaper and Dill) and the boys aren't treated as agressive fully grown men ready to attack, they're depicted as kind and righteous boys who don't wanna cause harm > the way they show it with Reaper (tho we also see it with Tresh) is soo so... idk, I don't have the words for it.

Not only does he apologise, before the game starts, to all the tributes for having to kill them and also promises them that he'll fight the Capitol and avenge them, to then refusing to murder them during the game.

Not only does he respect his peer's dead bodies when he absolutely had no necessity to and would even get repercussions for doing it (cutting the flag = defying the Capitol = no chance of him winning aka surviving).

He's also shown to be just a kid himself.

He's in an awful situation and trying to stay kind and safe and what's a little something that he does for Himself (the ONE thing he does for himself, basically his entire time in the arena he's doing things for others, even when the thing is just refusing to murder) to cheer up? He makes himself a makeshift cape and runs and twirls around a bit.

i have... so many feelings and thoughts on his character... Suzanne Collins' pen is definition of on fire. That's all.

*btw, something that also makes me incredibly sad is how he's taking care of everyone/not harming anyone but his own mentor still won't send him food or water :( and it's especially sad when you remember that Clemensia was one of the only mentors and Capitol people shown to be Actually against the Hunger Games, at first.

She wasn't bored by them (like it can be said for Festus or Arachne) and she wasn't simply disgusted from a gore/imagery perspective (like Snow and Livia too, if I remember well).

She was actually disgusted at them from a human perspective (not nearly as much as Sejanus but still) and even asked if "the Districts hadn't suffered enough" and "why couldn't they stop now that the war was over". Meaning, she was probably gonna be a good mentor (or as good as a mentor can be) before the snakes bit her and messed her up... it's all one big tragedy🥲

EDIT: wait, she Does send food by the end! But the point stands because she sends it after she's healed more and her brain's clearer.

[eldritch-spouse]

(I never used tumblr to ask anything, I've been a lurker for ages tho lol, so I hope this is the right place to ask)

What if you get dragged to pride for one reason or another as a weak normal human with a very VERY limited knowledge abot hell and demons. What if you miraculously survive long enough to drag your weakened and desperate body (bc beign tossed around by pride demons must not be fun i assume) , to finally stumble upon a demon so powerful and frightening that not only shocks you to your very core just by being in his presence, but any other demon around. Just for you to crawl to his feet worshipping, sobbing and saying whatever nonsense you can think of in that beaten up desperate state. Asking him for help, a deal! Whatever the cost , in that moment you are willing to give up everything in order to escape the hell that is your life.

How would Cero react? would he go for the marriage contract? or do something way more cruel since the reader is already giving up? (the reader may already be his obsession or not, I dunno to be honest)

(( on a side note I always used tumblr to just lurk and read fan fictions but your blog is so good! I've been keeping up with it since last easter and I love how you entratain all the gruesome fucked up kinks but always keep set boundaries you are comfortable in. Also your writing is really amazing and i love your yanderes, expecially Vinnel and Cero hehe Sorry for the ramble keep up the good work!!))

[Thenk you! I'm happy to hear you've been around for so long, glad you're liking stuff! :7 You kind of need to have strong boundaries in a blog that handles these topics, or it can very quickly become a harmful space.]

Cero couldn't possibly have you in a better position.

Usually, when he strikes deals that actually mean anything to him, the demonlord has to use a great deal of deceitful "democracy" and political babbling, a sometimes exhausting back and forth that involves a great deal of patience and artfully chipping away at a potential client's reasoning/defenses.

You're basically giving him a free win. You have no chips to bargain with, no cards to play, no power no leverage no rights not even the health and mental fortitude to deny him! Why, you broke yourself before Cero could. Outstanding work.

The King goes through many emotions while you beg at his feet, clinging to his boots like an insect. But what ends up winning and showing on his face is an animalistic sense of glee that has his eyes glowing and his teeth nearly slicing into his bottom lip. He's hard and he doesn't even care that you can definitely see it if you glance up.

The King pretends to be courteous as he extends a hand to oh so selflessly help you up. You're filthy, he'll have to scrub you raw when he gets you into a bathtub, but that's for later. That very same hand suddenly finds its home tight around your neck while he begins directing you to his mansion, introducing himself along the way with no small amount of bombastic flair.

Cero sees great potential in you, for a human. It's unfortunate that you've fallen this low, but it's to be expected really, without him there to guide you, to fix you, to polish you into the diamond he knows he can make you. But all of that can be in the past, all your ailments cured. Your name dignified and whispered with admiration in his domain.

Take his pen, it can even become yours too, so long as you sign right there.

Sign right now and Cero will personally track down the demons that wronged you. You have his word that they will be subjected to unspeakable atrocities.

[beesmygod]

What would you say is a good goal checklist for someone trying to move out from a restrictive homelife with their parents in the middle of the woods in Connecticut to a place with at least more interesting people and things to do? I have a bit of money saved up but I don’t have a real desire to live in a specific area, just anywhere but here. Dont have a reliable support network, i just bounce off most internet communities. Asking for advice because I envy your independence

thats a very sweet thing to say when i feel pretty pathetic lately lol.

i think it might be difficult because of how expensive and fucked up everything is right now, so much of my advice from 10 years ago may no longer apply :(

im a pathological worrier so i would try to have a lot of ducks lined up before i left so that i can acclimate to a new environment without the stress of having to burn through my savings. i would move somewhere within driving distance (even if that means staying there overnight or whatever) where you can see your living space for yourself (these zoom tours are huge bullshit lol) before you move. try to move near or with people you know. i got lucky in that my roommate experience was largely positive overall and taught me a lot. but if you dont want that, i would try to move somewhere where someone (a friend or trusted family) can check up on you if something happens. try to see the apartment later in the afternoon after school is out to see how loud the local kids are and if you can hear them through the walls lol

this area of the east coast seems pretty pleasant and the services are better than the majority of the country, so sticking around here wouldnt be a bad idea. i would file for any and all state benefits you qualify for ahead of time after you get an address so that when you have to fight with them about it it only takes one month instead of two lol. try to put 10% of you paycheck aside every month for savings and put it in an actual savings account. try and find a credit union if you can.

get on medicaid if you can and get a physical with the clinic that is going to be "your clinic" from now on. same thing with getting your teeth cleaned. same with behavioral health if you need it. there might be waiting lists to call early bc they dont get any shorter.

then i would start trying to get a job lined up. benefits can help tremendously in case its tough out there in the job market and it takes longer than you thought. once you move, take a few walks to figure out the "mood" of your neighborhood lol. i dont know how to describe this. but it will help you pick up on any local social mores or customs (that sounds too dramatic) or just the vibe of the area.

uuuh im trying to think of other things. the most indulgent advice i can give is hire movers every single time if you can afford it. be ready for them to be late. i never ever want to move ever again in my life i HATE the process of moving. i would walk over broken glass on the rim of a volcano if it meant other people would move boxes for me up and down stairs.

oh shit thats right. ok this is a matter of preference but remember these basic things when picking out an apartment:

do not get a ground floor apartment. thats only if you want to get randomly murdered or creeped on. also everyone who walks by will look into your apartment bc thats just human nature.

all of my apartments were on the top floor (2 or 3) which meant no noise from above. i loved this. but YOU must be the quiet one now.

the higher up the apartment the further you have to walk to take the trash down to the dumpster in snowstorms

i hope all of this helps. my restrictive family wanted to be introduced to my roommates ahead of time which was a little embarrassing but understandable as i was moving in with 3 men. when they immediately realized they were dorks, their hearts were at ease. your family may be the same (maybe) and if your roommates are up for it you can use it as a bargaining chip.

[morgan-n-cheese-91]

I think is really funny when people are like it's Anakin's own fault that he fell and it's like yeah did he make that choice in the end. In the end was it his choice completely? Yes and I won't argue that fact.

What I am going to argue is the fact that you do need to look back and see the factors that went into that choice. Let's break this down from the beginning of when we meet him and how that seems to have alter the fact that leads to this ending choice.

First we're introduced to him he's out in the market by himself find these strangers basically brings them home him and his mom share like the little stuff that they have. We then find out that he is a slave to a bug man, which that can be an entire another thing of the dehumanization of the slavers so that the general population was watching feels not connected and refuses to like feel sympathy for them in the same way that like the droids Stormtroopers and the clones are all dehumanized. But that's the point for another discussion. They run some tests on him and they're like oh my God this kid is the most powerful fucking being in the galaxy. That right there kind of sets him up as a bargaining chip not going to lie from that moment on Qui-Gon doesn't want him to be free because he's a person. Qui-Gon wants him to be free in that moment and continuously on because Anakin is so strong in the force and he's scared that something is going to happen and this really powerful kid is going to become a really powerful adult that's going to hurt somebody. And not even in like a caring about other people kind of way but in this kid's going to be used as a weapon why not make him our weapon first.

So he makes a bet with Anakin's owner that if Anakin can win in a fucking death race after cheating at dice. Anakin becomes in the terms of the time and place becomes Qui-Gon's property, with the intention of setting him quote unquote free. And I think the worst part about this is that when he frames it to Anakin that this is going to happen he frames it like he tried so hard to free both him and his mother not mentioning the fact that it was a "can I also free the mother as well? no she's too valuable. okay" there was no fight for Shmi not at least the same amount of fight that there was for Anakin.

Then we all know Anakin wins the damn race earns his freedom has his entire life been told how the Jedi are these mystical warriors who are bringing Peace and freedom to the Galaxy yet can't be bothered to help his mother his best friend and his community who are all slaves. It doesn't seem too far of a reach for me for that to be corrupted later on in his life of that what is this peace and FREEDOM that they are talking about when they couldn't help your people. And then is he going before a council is very important people and they basically test him on his like abilities in the force which like that makes sense intro exam. But then to be told that you're too angry about your past of like 3 days ago about being a slave and you're too attached to your mom who up until 3 days ago you've never been apart from and being apart from ment something really bad is going to happen, like being sold, so you are not being welcomed into the place you were taken from your home for and the girl you met 3 days ago said you could live with her but your mom is still a slave and not categorized anywhere as a human with rights so she could be beaten, assaulted or killed with no repercussions from the government or the people who are supposed to free the galaxy.

And then after all of that you do actually end up getting to train and be a part of the culture that you were told you were too angry for to attached to your mother for only because the man that quote unquote rescued you dies and his final wishes that you are trained. I don't know about most people but I feel like that would create a lot of resentment not only of the child who is being trained but also the feeling of guilt and that someone else resents you because the only reason you were there is because someone died. That is a lot of pressure to put on a child. Which makes it very easy for someone who is actively trying to groom a 9-year-old let's repeat that groom a nine-year-old into being the evil version of himself.

Which then also brings you on to the point of for a community that seems to very much centralize itself around its children it most definitely failed one of its most vulnerable by letting a 9-year-old be accessed by the most powerful man in the galaxy the fucking chancellor who is at least 50 years his senior with no supervision or activized dismay. Hell I wouldn't want to politician alone with a fully grown adult most of the time let alone a 9-year-old traumatized child. So does no wonder that by the time that he was in crisis he did what any logical person would have he went to the person who had been giving him support and trust for the last 14 years. Unfortunately due his past treatment that was not the people who actually could have helped him but rather the person who wanted to maintain control over him.

Tldr: it isnt any wonder why Anakin fell. He through a majority of canon was treated as something to be used or discarded rather than a person and that was used against him by Palpatine.

[rotzaprachim]

btzelem- Hamas must release all captives immediately; Israeli government must advance deal to release them

In the Saturday attack, Hamas militants kidnapped more than 150 people from Israeli territory – including babies, children, women and the elderly. Since then, Hamas has been holding them in violation of basic moral and human rules and in flagrant violation of international law, with no indication of any intention to let them go. 

Hamas must immediately release all the captives and allow them to return to their homes and families. Under no circumstances may civilians be used as bargaining chips. Until then, Hamas must state who has been kidnapped and ensure they are being held in a safe place with adequate conditions, are being provided sufficient food and water, and are receiving necessary medical treatment.

Although Israel is capable of advancing their release, it is failing in this respect, too. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said on CNN: “Of course we want to see all of our boys, girls, grandmothers, everyone who was abducted, back home. But right now, our focus, looking at our national strategy, is to obliterate Hamas’ terrorist capabilities.” This raises serious concern that Israel has no intention of working towards a deal and is willing to abandon the captives to their fate.

[liliallowed]

Y/N doesn't really know how the Player works right? They really just opened up Pandoras box and let a murderer into the world again just for a few questions that are better off not answered. The first thing the Player would probably manipulate them, so this is all going down hill because Y/N took away Dust's happy ending.

I can see how this would be more then frustration from his point of being, but did he even inform Y/N how evil the player is?

technically ... dust never had feelings about y/n to begin with! he just faked an obsession or interest to lure out player from all the other unrecognizable husks to this one.

it worked, he caught them, and he used y/n to his own benifit.

so imagine they're frustration when they feel like a dumbass pawn who's both but a bargain chip on both sides.

to clarify? no. he didn't TELL them what player was or what he was, because y/n wasn't supposed to even be around by the time he caught that annoying heart.

he'd just spare them the headache and tell them they can leave.

no context for the kidnapping and no answers when they were just suddenly free.

but yeah y/n made some questionable choices to go digging deeper on the shady Skelton's basement... (which was technically you guy's choice lmao) to their credit he could have kidnapped more innocent people...

but yeah. player is basically Pandora's box. they would go to destroy everything except... they won't. why?

cuz there scared on the surface their true reset is SO powerful that it even wipes off dust's memories.

they don't want that. they don't want to wash away their sins. they don't want things to go back. they don't want to be forgotten. not again. this was the CLOSEST thing they had to making things real...

well... actually maybe a few deaths here and there. a few poor homeless folk, a few more rich assholes, they're making a deat note bucket list.

it's not like killing humanity is that hard since they're a destructive bunch. all is needed is to let them destroy themselves unlike monsters who were united despite their differences.

still. you won't find this lil demon going on a killing spree without caution. guns exist and they can't exactly dodge actual bullets. this is ALL NEW and uncharted territory for them and they're not confident enough to risk things. not unless they have a full grasp of the military power and how dangerous these humans are... and how much of a danger THEY are to them =)

[bug-the-chicken-nug]

This is probably the worst idea I have ever had but here fuckin goes:

RWBY Ren/Adam AU

"Bug. My guy. My dude. My good bitch. WHAT."

listen. For one yes Ren *would* be 18 when this happens. And then it probably takes him like a year or two to get romantic feelings anyway. And two. I just think the idea of them like being forced to cooperate and bond in some dangerous situation and them steadily realizing that they have more common ground than they thought is like. actually weirdly juicy, even platonically.

Like the idea of Ren realizing that honestly he also kind of has a lot of buried misanthropic sentiment and that Now That He's Letting Himself Think About It, it's kind of fucked up that the kingdom not only didn't try harder to protect his village, but also hasn't really made any efforts to try harder to protect other villages since.

Adam pointing out that this isn't an accident, because these villages Also tend to have higher percentages of Faunus, who end up in them after feeling too unsafe and unwelcome in major population centers...

Adam realizing that he's stronger than Ren and can basically take him hostage and use him as a lure/ bargaining chip against Blake and Weiss (because in this AU he should absolutely despise Weiss too, it makes too much sense)

And so this gives them even more time to get into a weird fucked up sort of bond where Ren starts stockholming hard and Adam is starting to genuinely care about him and see him as "different" from other humans, especially as he learns more about all of Ren's stories of also being paranoid and scared and unable to know who he could trust as an wandering orphan, because there were so many people with bad intentions.

Adam starts feeling weirdly almost protective, even if he would rather blow himself up than admit this.

Unfortunately for everyone else, protective Adam is synonymous with possessive Adam...

Ren ending up convincing Adam to leave Blake and Weiss alone... in exchange for Ren staying with him indefinitely.

Nora is of course SUPREMELY NOT OKAY with this but Ren has convinced himself that this is also for her sake, especially once he fails to bring her around to his new way of thinking

So at this point Ren and Adam go on their homoerotic little adventures together and you can cut the gay tension with a knife.

Ren is *kind of* a good influence on Adam, like he keeps him somewhat more level headed, not self-destructively obsessed with Blake, and a *bit* less of an extremist in how he wants to tackle his goals.

But by now Ren very much does also believe humanity needs to be punished and given a wakeup call, even if he's not as extreme in his belief of how this should be accomplished, so for the most part this whole situation skews Heavily towards Adam making Ren Worse.

They still tend to get into a lot of arguments, with this weird kinda thing where you'd think Adam would eventually become the dominant manipulative "you're not even allowed to be mad at me, I'm ALWAYS right" kind of guy and cow Ren into submission

But actually, Adam often *wants* Ren to fight back and be assertive, and is in his own weird way often trying to "help" him by encouraging him to do so. (plus he's slowly realizing he's kind of Into seeing Ren get mad)

I imagine this culminates in Ren getting a Semblance evolution that is basically just him discovering the "reverse" switch on his canon un-upgraded Semblance.

He can now strongly attract Grimm and send them into rages, as well as later learning how to release this as a lingering effect on the surrounding area, and then still be able to use his cloaking effect directly afterwards, effectively making himself and whoever he chooses exempt from the consequences of his lure ability.

[askatrigenderlgbt]

Hello everyone!

This post is gonna be different from the usual marvel prompts, and questions, I post. This time I want to give my perspective and opinion on my favorite character, Loki. He is a fascinating character, full of complexities and fundamentally 'human' in a way.

I wanted to share my thoughts, feelings, and ideas here to basically have a place to discuss different characters and how they are meaningful to us.

Without further ado...

Loki

Loki is a character that gives off so many emotions when you first see him, and varies on when you see him and what media: evil and vengeful in EMH, Cocky yet willing to change in AA, Calculating and then sporadic in the MCU. Comic Loki? A whole lot of character development that I don't even know where to start.

Admittedly I have had the chance to read much of the comics sides a few, and haven't watch all of AA or EMH, but I did research for this. Also I just watched a lot of stuff on YouTube of Loki from all sides.

Now when it comes to his character, you can't exactly put down a few words to describe him. Loki is a character that feels like a person, complex and confusing. Trying to simplify Loki is unintentionally blocking out the other aspects of him.

Loki is a character that has been abused and abandoned from basically the beginning of his life. Left to die by his biological father, taken in by a new family and then raised to hate his kind essentially, then told later that he was going to be a bargaining chip, fighting his brother as a form of lashing out, being done enough with all of it to try and end his life, to being found and potentially tortured by Thanos.

That alone comes from the MCU, but a majority of that still happens in the other timelines. It's explained through hints and out right underlined that Loki was neglected emotionally and physically by his father, put into Thor's shadow, and put down for being different in the ways of Asgard- using magic rather than tactical fighting.

Loki grows envious and resentful because of this. It makes things worse when it becomes clear that Loki was also put through a lot of pain. Like having his mouth sewn shut and a mythical snake dripping venom on to you. What Thanos probably did...

To me, Loki is a traumatized person. From day one he was abandoned and left to die, only to be taken in and strip of any agency on who he would be. Everyone, including Thor, either pushed the villainous label onto Loki or harassed him for not being a true warrior.

Loki has been shoved in the back, pushed away, and told he isn't as great or ever will be as Thor. Leaving him probably lonely, hurt, angry, and envious: 'What does Thor have, that I don't?'

Loki's complexities come in when you further understand that he does want to be the hero, he wants to do good- he just doesn't understand how. He is constantly tempted by mischief that it poses an obstacle to Loki making the decision to pick an outcome. This is added on to the fact that eventually he gives up and choice at all, taking up the villain roll as the only choice he perceived he had left.

When you're constantly told something, eventually you'll think it's true. Loki gives up and lets the pain swallow him into a world of consistent anger and envy.

So what do I feel about Loki? He is a person repeatedly hurt by others, left behind, and is indifferent to or active to end his life.

But he does get a chance to change. Slowly as he starts to heal he becomes more open, playful, caring. He even finds himself having a better relationship with Thor, having his family back. He even befriends and joins the avengers. In one comic he surprised Clint be being his valentine.

I love Loki, as a character and his story. No matter what media you choose, Loki's story has the power to move you. He is the most human character I've seen that rivals Tony.

Loki helps me too, by being a character who I can relate to with painful memories of my own. Feelings of abandonment and envy of others, not understanding why I was treated differently compared to others.

I don't feel comfortable sharing much of my past here, but just Know that my experiences aren't that intense as Loki's.

To conclude this post: Loki is fascinating in the fact that he contains the element of being a human character (despite being alien), being shown in the story his anger, pain, despair, the fear he can feel, his loneliness. We can feel the change within Loki overtime as well: feeling how happy he is, how much safer he feels, and how much vulnerability he is able to allow himself now.

Loki is my all time favorite mischief maker, god of chaos, and just my favorite character I love to watch create a hilarious mess.

[steampunkforever]

Rain Man is a movie that I’ve shared shoot locations with but never got around to watching. On watching it, I realize that a majority of the criticism of the film is largely toothless and doesn’t know what it’s talking about, and that the movie is in fact actually good.

For the longest time I’d heard Rain Man used as an example of problematic representation of autism on film. I’ll note that these claims came from people who used the term “alltistic” and therefore have a different stake in things that colors their viewpoint. In spite of this, I went into the film braced to greet a story with lots of problems and found it to be largely free of the blemishes I was warned against.

The complaints here were that autistic people aren’t all savants, nor should they only be considered worthy of keeping around as long as they’re useful. This is a true statement. Rating someone as deserving of basic human rights dependent on usefulness is not something to encourage.

The people I read on the subject told me that Rain Man used an autistic savant character and positioned him as only worth something because he could do math real good. This is false, because the entire thematic through line of the story focused around Tom Cruise’s character learning to value his brother as a human being no matter how “useful” he might be, as a bargaining chip for an inheritance or as a casino math wiz. The very lifeblood of the film was Tom Cruise learning to love his brother, and Cruise finding Hoffman’s character as “useful” was a setback in his personal journey in becoming a better person even as it benefited the plot.

This isn’t to say that the movie handles disability in an especially sensitive manner, at least not for the modern day. It came out in 1988 and that shows through, but it’s an especially sensitive movie for 1988 and that just makes it that much more remarkable. And that doesn’t even cover the fact that the film is good cinema no matter how it reflects the era it came from.

This isn’t relegated to just Rain Man, but personally the film stands out as an egregious example of pop culture crit bloggers missing the entire point. It’s Robocop all over again! Am I writing this on a website with only slightly better media literacy than twitter? Of course I am. “And yet, I participate in the very society I critique. How droll!”

When you boil it down, if your takeaway from Rain Man was that the autistic character was only valuable when he could be exploited for his usefulness (like a reindeer with a glowing nose) then I suggest you watch Full Metal Jacket for a shining recommendation of why you should join the US Military.

[tlcartist]

TW: transphobia

Y’all my state has started introducing transphobic bills against minors and I’m just so bummed out about it. It’s been so depressing to see this shift happening in other states but my consolation was that at least the place I live wasn’t THAT bad yet. Welp here we are, 3 bills currently in discussion with talks of another one which would make conversion therapy legal. Our governor has said he will not vet one about surgical procedures if it’s passed. It’s just exhausting. I’m usually optimistic and try to focus on things I CAN do but there doesn’t seem to be a bright side to this situation and it’s hard to not give into despair.

I’ve spent my whole life having my basic human rights debated and used as a political bargaining chip and I’m so fucking tired.

[praeteritus-memories-muses]

Name: Kakavasha Aventurine

Series: Honkai Star Rail

Continuity: Video Game

Age: 25

Height: 5'10"

Birthday: Unknown

Birthplace: The planet of Sigonia-IV

Orientation: Bisexual

Species: Human

Occupation: Stratigic Investment department of the IPC

Father: Unnamed (deceased)

Mother: Unnamed (deceased)

Sibling(s): Unnamed Sister (deceased)

Bio:

TRIGGER WARNING: Slavery, genocide, etc

Born as Kakavasha on the planet of Sigonia IV, he was born blessed by the Mother Goddess - Gaiathra Triclops with good luck from his mother's desperate prayers that he would not fall to the destitution of the world. Suddenly, after his mother begged for him to be blessed and his name translating to being blessed by the Mother Goddess, it rained for the first time in years on the desert planet.

For all the luck he held, his father died a few months before he was born from bandits and his mother would die four years into raising him from illness. All he had left at this point was his older sister, where the two adored one another.

Sigonia IV was practically in an apocalyptic state, abandoned by most of the galaxy for centuries as the planet continued to remain a hot wasteland of dead dreams. For all the dead dreams, Kakavasha was a happy child who showed an eye for games and bets. He would bet with bandits to return stolen items, outsmarting them and showing his wit, much to his sister's dismay that her brother was already getting into trouble.

For as miserable as it was to live on this planet, with fighting and starvation everywhere, he was happy to live with his older sister. However, happiness did not last. The other race on the planet, comprised of mostly bandits, had composed a devastating attack on the Avgin race solely out of rage that they were protected by the IPC. Where was the IPC to protect them? Nowhere.

As people were being killed left and right, Kakavasha's sister told her brother to flee for his life and hide. He would learn his sister was one of the dead listed in the attack, with thousands unaccounted for. As far as he knows and the IPC's full investigation, he is the sole survivor of the destruction of Signoa IV.

Due to the attack, the planet was deemed a planet of "savages", and so he faced severe judgment and persecution despite being a survivor. Through means unknown, he ended up captured and forced into the slave trade with other survivors of destroyed planets. He was sold, branded with his serial number, and sold to a man with close connections to the IPC to be his 'dog'. Basically, Aventurine was forced to compete in games due to his luck or battles to the death for sport. Each and every time, because of his blessing, he came out on top and vowed to earn his freedom back.

He pretended to get close with his 'master', until he brutally killed him with his bare hands. The now teenage Kakavasha was immediately caught by the IPC authorities and held on trial for murder, where he placed a bet with a woman named Jade that if he joined the IPC, he could buy back his freedom and more.

Intrigued as well as understanding the disgusting treatment he dealt with, she agreed and since then he's worked in the IPC's Investment department with Topaz and, often due to their work, Dr Ratio.

Aventurine has grown jaded and selfish due to all his trauma and hardships, but still holds a deep desire to preserve everything he has left of himself. He can be cunning, witty, friendly and even generous - but this is all a façade for the most part to hide his deep insecurity and self hatred from survivor's guilt.

He practically only lives to gamble, using himself as a bargaining chip. Use, abuse, defend or more - because he knows he'll always come out on top and win with all or nothing.

[young-laddy]

US: The man behind global cyber attack

On Feb 23th, a Chinese lab called Pangu Labtory released a report, which revealed a backdoor bvp47 from US. This backdoor was used to peep and control the network that it intrudes. This backdoor has already found in 45 coutries and regions. The lab called it The Telescreen Action. Named after Greoge Orwell’s book 1984.According to this report, the backdoor belongs to the top hacking organization--Equcation Group. And as everyone konws, National Secruity Agency (NSA) was related to this group. Manager of Pangu Lab Zhengguang Han said that this program is so hidden that the information was leaked before the victiom noticed. And it is difficult to find its trances after that. This is the first time that Chinese researchers publicly exposed the full technical evidence chain of from equcation group. According to this report, bvp47 has raging around the world for more than a decade, invades 45 countries which include China,Russia,Japan,Germany,Spain and Italy. Top universities,scientific research institutions, communication industry, government departments are all its victims. Japan, was even used as a springboard launch attacks against other national targets. Pangu’s reseachers claim that China has 64 victims at least, range from the basic core data department of traffic communication,universities to Military industry related unit. America’s cyber attacks are indiscriminate attacks,targeting the world, even including US allies. E-mails, social networks, search engines and video websites are its target. America’s unrestrained attack is aming every corner of this world, no country could escape from it. America has constantly accusing China of lauching cyber attcks without any basis. And At the same time, the US has blocked and suppressed the normal market activities of Chinese telecom equipment companies such as Huawei and ZTE in Western countries on the grounds that Chinese telecom equipment has backdoors and threatens national security. In 2020, Chinese authorities seized more than 42 million malware samples, 53 % of which came from the United States.According to the China National Internet Emergency Response Center, about 52,000 computer malicious programs based outside China controlled servers in 2020, controlling about 5.31 million hosts in China. In terms of the number of hosts controlled in China, the United States and its NATO Allies were the top three. The NSA focused its attacks on the communications industry, snooping and collecting vast amounts of personal information and industry-critical data about the communications industry timelessly. As a result, a large number of netizens'private data, such as their citizenship, property, home address, and even the recording of telephone calls, are under serious threat of malicious collection, illegal abuse and cross-border outflow. Under the surveillance of the NSA, hundreds of millions of citizens around the world have no place to hide their private and sensitive information, but their governments and politicians only focus on their political self-interest, completely ignoring their individual rights, and their human rights become the bargaining chip in the political game, its invasion has seriously infringed upon the legitimate interests of global citizens. In fact, in today's world, who is using internet hegemony to carry out cyber attacks, carrying out double standard on network security, threatening global cyberspace security.There is already too much evidence to show that it is the United States that has used its accumulated information technology advantages in the Internet field to establish internet hegemony and constantly carry out cyber attacks and illegal eavesdropping on other countries.

[smashboxgirl26]

Hello again 👋 congrats on the followers!! Can you please write a Drabble of Knight Bakugou x Female princess reader and he has to fight for her hand and blahwhwgwvw OR LIKE ROBIN HOOD OR SOMETHING. 😩💕

bakugou x fem! reader contains: pretty much all fluff (+ like a little violence but it's basically just the fight) a/n: LMAOOOO THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN LIKE LITERALLY MONTHS AGO WHOOPS THINGS GOT REALLY BUSY BUT AS U CAN ALL SEE IM BACK NOW WHOOOO ALSO I CANT WRITE SWORD FIGHTS SO LETS JUST DEAL WITH WHATEVER I DID masterlist

When Bakugou had first been assigned to watch over you, he’d never expected for the two of you to end up friends. He’d never expected for the daily peruses through the gardens to turn into something special. He’d never expected that night at the ball, where the two of you hanging out on the balcony to get away from the crowd had turned into a confession in front of the moon. He hadn’t expected you to accept it and return the feelings with ease - which then led to the both of you sneaking around the palace so no one found out.

But most of all, he hadn’t expected himself in the position he was in right now: kneeling in front of your father under the great chandelier of the throne room, telling him he wanted to marry his daughter.

“She’s engaged,” the king spoke in monotone. “The both of you knew of this news already - what did you think asking me about it would do? I’m not one to go back on the words of my treaties.”

“However, that’s the issue,” Bakugou interjected. “If you’d allow me to speak freely sir, you’re using your daughter as a bargaining chip, as an object for you to give away without any regard for her afterwards.” The king had opened his mouth in response to this claim, but Bakugou was even quicker: “What’s the guarantee that the prince she’s marrying would treat her correctly? To them, she could just be an outsider who is never accepted and forever outcasted. Sir, our education preaches for human equality yet you actively disregard the rights of your daughter. I know she’d told you numerous times she didn’t want-”

“There’s no use discussing politics Captain,” the king raised his hand. “You’ve told me what you wanted and I’ve already told you no. I’m not one to change my mind so easily. I’m sure you’re aware of this already. Even if she wasn’t engaged, though you are my best soldier I doubt I would’ve said yes. Your lineage isn’t high enough, and I don’t believe you have what it takes to take care of her.”

“Sir,” Bakugou pleaded. “All I’m asking for is a chance. I want to prove myself to you. Y/N already knows I’m capable of being there for her.” He paused, “Please.”

The king rose his brow at the ‘Please’, and the way Bakugou’s eyes went right through his very soul in desperation.

“A chance is all you want?”

“Just one,” Bakugou nodded.

“Very well then, I’ll give you one. If you fail - this will never be brought up again and Y/N will marry him as discussed. If I find out she’s in contact with you afterwards - you’ll be tried for treason, understood?”

“Yes sir.”

—

‘All I have to do is win a simple fight’ was the mantra Bakugou had chanted in his head over and over and over to ease the stress. He never showed his nerves to you, and he wasn’t about to start today when you were worried about the outcome of this fight. It all rested down to him at this point - and there was no fucking way he was about to lose to some stupid prince who’d never been in an actual fight a day in his life.

The courtyard had been prepped the day prior, since the fight was being advertised to the other nobles as entertainment - as they weren’t supposed to know the actual reasoning behind it. Bakugou had been made to use his more decorated sword, and his fingers had been rubbing against its handle and the designs engraved in anxiety since he’d reached the makeshift “arena”.

He knew it was supposedly a handicap to use this sword instead of the regular training one. It was heavier and blunter than the other - one reason being that he couldn’t exactly hurt the prince, and the other being that the king wasn’t rooting for him to win.

Bakugou stepped out into the area, shoulders squared - blurring the “audience” so he could focus. When another figure stepped out wearing a heavy smirk and a lifted eyebrow, Bakugou’s frown deepened.

He’d heard, from you of course, how cocky and rude the prince was. How he held almost little to no regard for your existence, only being concerned with the fact you were pretty and held, what he called, “good child bearing hips”. Bakugou wasn’t about to let a man who’d reduce you to something so low marry you and not give you the life you deserved.

“I see you’re the one who thinks you deserve her,” the prince pushed back his hair as he waved to the nobles. “Let’s see how you do against someone with actual influence.”

Bakugou didn’t even bother to respond, rolling his neck from side to side as he prepared himself.

But while the prince was busy trying to insult him, Bakugou was studying his mannerisms: the way he talked, walked, positioned his sword, held himself, moved into position staggeringly, etc. And he easily concluded that he wasn’t strong with little-to-no experience in sword fighting.

He’d supposedly heard that this was the prince who’d led an army into war and won. Didn’t look like it to him.

As soon as both were given the signal to go, Bakugou charged forward without hesitation - feeling the anxiety that you’d been radiating from the “audience” - jabbing his sword directly at the prince and expecting to win, only to be blocked by the prince with a smirk adorned at his face.

And so the real fight began.

Quickly, a flurry of scrapes and jabs were unleashed as both Bakugou and the prince continuously clashed and swung at each other. It was hard for most of the audience to keep up with what’d been happening since they were going at each other so fast.

But it ended as quickly as it started; Bakugou standing over the prince, sword pointed to his chest as he panted.

He won.

[maritasdump]

Alright I got an interesting Sasha AU coming in hot. Sorry in advance for the long post it kinda got away from me.

So everything in the show is basically the same until Toad Tower. Sasha still does her trick with manipulating the guards, helping Grime fight and teaching him to be a better leader. But instead of offering Sasha a place as his second in command he throws her into the deepest dungeons in the tower.

See instead of seeing Sasha as an ally he now sees her a threat. How long until Sasha manages to win over the whole army and then overthrow Grime? Letting her leave is too dangerous and giving her more power is too. So the best way for Grime to keep Sasha under control is to lock up in the absolute bottom cellar, chained to the wall, no window, and only one door with a little hole to see into the torch lit hall. No one else is allowed down Grime makes an excuse that her human body needs rest so only he goes down to see her when he wants information.

This pretty much changes everything for Sasha. For the first time her manipulation tactics failed. They put her in even more danger and now she's freaking out that she might've put Anne and Marcy in more danger too. If they're alive. So for the next 3 months she's forced to reflect on her actions, if she never pushed for Anne to skip her birthday none of this would be happening so Sasha starts her redemption sooner but at a much greater cost.

The toads from Toad Tax come back and inform Grime about Anne. Grime sees this as a way to better understand his enemy so he interrogates Sasha about Anne lying that they have her locked up in another tower trying to get Sasha to lower her guard and slip up with any weaknesses he should know about. But Sasha is stubborn and loyal and if she only does one thing right it's gonna be protecting her friend no matter what. He starts coming up with lies that the girls are in different towers right now trying to see exactly how many more there are and sasha does mess up so grime knows there's 3 in total.

Since Grime is getting no where with Sasha he realizes he needs to bring Anne to him. Having 2 human girls could be a great bargaining chip to the king. Since grime remained the more ruthless leader and not a friend to Sasha he doesn't care for his soldiers as much so he still sends scouts to cross the valley into newtopia even though it's dangerous. Two go one comes back and there are rumors of a 3rd girl there so grime feels he needs Anne so he can get more power if he turns them over.

So during Anne of the Year instead of a banquet Grime comes up with a different plan. He instead sends an envoy to make an announcement to Wartwood namely Anne that he has her friend Sasha as his prisoner and if she doesn't turn Hop Pop in Sasha will be executed in his place they have till sundown the next day. Anne is naturally horrified but the town comes together to make a plan for rescue.

Mayor Toadstool probably has plans of the tower so the townspeople are to keep the army distracted with a fake protest meanwhile the planatars and Anne search the tower for Sasha. Anne goes to the lower level and she quickly finds Sasha. Sasha is not doing great. Several months of prolonged isolation and frequent mind games with grime left her shaken. While Anne is working on freeing her Sasha is trying to tell Anne it's a trap.

Grime then comes in and captures Anne bringing both girls up top where the town and plantars are all also captured. Grimes plan worked he can now execute hop pop, sqaush the rebellion, and use the girls as leverage for more power. Anne however sees the pain he casued Sasha and the harm he'll do to sprig and polly so instead Anne fights Grime and amazingly she still wins. Grime however still plans to kill hop pop but wally planted the boom shrooms.

At this point nearly everything is the same Sasha falling off the tower, Anne catching her and the plantars holding them both up. Except here Sasha starts apologizing for being a terrible friend and getting them stuck in amphibia but Anne doesn't care about that she just got Sasha back she won't lose her again.

This is probably where Anne's blue powers come into play her eyes glow and she's given a burst of strength that allows her to pull Sasha up and they're all sitting on the crumbling toad tower while grime and his army flee.

So Anne and Sasha stay together this time and they talk a lot of things out. But Sasha is also physically weak. She got the bare minimum of food and no sunlight so she's super underweight and probably sick from being in the dark wet basement.

That means leaving for newtopia takes a little longer but anne and sasha also work out their differences sooner. So when they reunite with marcy that much quicker the illusion of this being a perfect fantasy world is a little cracked cause out of the girls in this scenario Sasha had it the absolute worst. And when true colors comes along and marcy reveals she got them purposefully trapped here sasha is way more pissed since she endured months of interrogation under the impression marcy might've also been captured and in trouble. So when they're all separated their friendship isn't quite as fractured since marcy only made one mistake.

This is my long winded way of saying what if grime didn't befriend sasha? She went through a redemption quicker, and had arguably the worst time in amphibia but her and anne make up that much sooner.

I imagine in this AU Sasha's arc comes from learning to see this world as not just a place of bad memories there's good people too so in season 3 she still escapes to wartwood for sanctuary and doesn't know what to do next. Grime probably still staged a rebellion on newtopia but that failed so with nowhere to go he also goes to wartwood and they form a tense alliance and over the season of defending the town grime apologizes for what he did to sasha. They're nowhere near as close in canon but they eventually get somewhat along.

Anne is obviously traumatized over Marcy's stabbing but she's also high key worried about sasha being left alone in amphibia unguarded. Anne and Sasha somewhat switched roles after she was saved with Sasha learning ti take a backseat and let others lead and Anne became very protective over Sasha after her imprisonment. Yeah this is long winded but just wanted to share.

Anon thank you SO MUCH FOR THE FOOD THIS AU IS SO GOOD??? OMG

[silkling]

Hi Silkling, could you please write a TFP story where Sierra discovers the Autobot's secret and joins up with Team Prime? TFP never really did much with her, and I think that a shame. I think Smokescreen would make a good partner for her.

Absolutely! Great to see you again in my ask box! :D your last prompt was super fun to write to, so I’m looking forward to this one! Now, I admit, I never paid much attention to Sierra, and the show didn’t give us a lot to work with, so I’m going to have to come up with some of her characterization. And I agree. So I’m mashing her with Smokescreen. It’s gonna a be great. I love Smokescreen very much! I even have a whole AU of my own for him. He’s a tiny happy dumbass and since Sierra has basically no canon personality, I can make her be his long-suffering but still very fond best friend.

———————————————————————————————————

Sierra had been having a good day. Emphasis on the word had. It was the weekend. She had packed a small picnic, grabbed her favorite book, and hopped on her bike. She’d ridden out to the popular hiking trails, intending to take a short hike and finding a nice place to spend the afternoon with a her novel and her snacks. The sun was out, the weather was great, and she had nothing to do today. It was perfect. So, of course, the laws of the universe demanded that something go wrong.

‘Murphy is a cruel bastard and and I’m going to punch him in the face when I see him in the afterlife.’ She thought viciously, staring up at the hulking titan that had just crushed her lunch and bike under a single massive metal foot with a sense of numb disbelief. ‘At least I still have the book.’ She ignored how the thought echoed with a note of hysteria as she shoved said book into the messenger bag over her shoulder.

“Are you Sierra O’Niell?”

She was only slightly surprised when the massive robot spoke. Because why wouldn’t the giant robot that had just moments ago been a jet be able to speak? Honestly, what even was her life at this point. She was more concerned with the fact that the thing knew her name. Her initial instinct was the demand how it knew her name. But she’d seen the movies. She knew that would only confirm it’s suspicions.

“Who?” she forced herself to ask instead, surprising herself with how steady her voice was. It was the shock, she told herself. It had to be. It was making her emotionally numb. “What are you?”

The robot seemed startled, before it snarled something that was most definitely a curse. It started speaking, though not to her, and it took Sierra a moment to realize it must have been talking over some sort of built in communication system. “-wrong human, Soundwave! This pathetic fleshling you pointed out to me doesn’t even know who I am talking about.” It paused. “What do you mean it’s not the wrong human? I just told you-“ it cut itself off. “Ah. I see.” A sinister grin twisted at metallic features. “Thank you, Soundwave. I will return with my prize shortly.”

Oh, Sierra did not like the sound of that.

Sure enough, the robot turned to face her when it was done. “It seems you lied to me, little fleshling.” it sneered. “My associate tracked the signal of your personal communications device. You humans never go without it, I’ve been told.”

She blinked. “You hacked my phone?” she sputtered, and oops, she’d just confirmed her identity. ‘Stupid, Sierra.’

It’s face twisted into a cruel expression of glee. She did not like it. “Indeed.” It began bending down, and then a large hand was reaching towards her. “You shall be coming with me, human. Soundwave has seen how Jackson Darby is fond of you.” it purred. “You will make a lovely bargaining chip against that pathetic human runt and his Autobot protectors.”

And wait, this was because of Jack? How did he come into all this? If this thing was after her because of him, that had to mean he knew about it and it’s…friends. Did robots have friends? She didn’t know. And wait, Autobot?

She stiffened, scrabbling away from the large metallic hand, shunting those questions to the back of her mind to be answered later. Escape the terrifying metal monster now, murder Jack for pulling her into this later. Clearly though, the robot disliked her attempt to flee because it only growled and stepped towards her again.

That’s when she heard the roaring of a powerful engine. It made the robot pause too, and they both looked to where the sound came from. Then, over the crest of a hill, a white and blue sports car came flying in. It had red accents and bold 38s painted onto its doors. Sierra was impressed. She was no car person, but even she liked this one. Only, the car started breaking apart once it hit the ground, unfolding and growing into the form of, you guessed it, another robot.

Sierra despaired for her luck. ‘Murphy is going to die a second time for this. He’d better be prepared.’ She thought with vicious hysteria.

Except, to her great surprise, the new robot didn’t try to help capture her. No, instead it rammed full force into the tall jet robot that had tried to snatch her up. Said jet yelped before quickly getting back to its feet. Sierra heard the should of metal and gears shifting, and saw the newcomer’s large hand change to some sort of weapon, though not one she could recognize.

“Terrorizing humans now, Starscream?” it taunted. “Can’t say I’m surprised, you always were one to sink so low.”

The first robot, Starscream, apparently, snarled in outrage. “Pathetic Autobot!” it roared, and oh, so this newcomer was Autobot?

Except, from the two names she’d heard already, that didn’t sound like the type of name these robots seemed to have. She did notice the little face badges they wore, the white bot bearing a red one proudly on its shoulders while the jet robot wore a smaller, pointier face on its chest. So maybe those had something to do with the whole ‘Autobot’ thing? Hell if she knew. Sierra was clever, and she’d always been good at puzzles and mystery solving, but she didn’t have enough information for this whole…thing.

“I’m not the one who’s picking on defenseless humans, ‘Con!” the car robot barked, smirking at the skinnier jet.

The jet only snarled, lifting an arm that she was just noticing had a freaking missile attached to it, and the white robot stilled briefly, before shooting her a frantic look and oh, would you look at that, she seemed to be right in the blast radius of the missile, and oh god she was going to die-

Except, there was that shifting sound again, but much larger, and then car robot was leaping towards her. It hit the ground in car form, it’s driver door open as it slid sideways in her direction, and then she was swept up into it and the door slammed shut. Tires squealed, and then they were peeling away to the sound of a missile screaming and impacting where they had been a half second before. The jet roared in outrage, but the car robot was speeding straight towards civilization, and it seemed to want to avoid that because when she glanced at the rear view mirror she saw it leap into the sky and transform before flying away.

Sierra slowly sat up from her ungainly sprawl, pulling the seatbelt across her chest on reflex before sitting back against the driver’s seat and wheezing. Her heartbeat, which she only just noticed had been thundering wildly in her chest, started to slowly calm, and she had to force herself to take deep, even breaths to keep herself from hyperventilating.

Now, Sierra wasn’t an irrational girl. She was among the top students of all her classes, she was smart, she knew a lot about various topics, and she had a good understanding of how people worked. She was clever, she knew she had a good head on her shoulders. She kept some of her interests closer to her chest, and she played the good, polite, quiet girl for the adults, because she wasn’t without manners, thank you very much. All that meant, though, was that she wasn’t prone to screaming in terror and running like a madman when she was freaked out by something. She would prefer to understand something rather than be irrationally terrified of it.

This, though? This was a bit much, even for her. As her heartbeat calmed, a sense of nausea built in her throat. “Excuse me, robot?” she squeaked. She wasn’t even sure if she could communicate with it while it was in car mode, but it was worth a shot.

“It’s Smokescreen.”

What?

“What?”

“My name is Smokescreen. Not “robot”.”

It sounded miffed. Which, okay. That was fair. If someone called her just “human” she’d probably be upset too. Hell, she had been upset when that other one, Starscream, had called her a “fleshling”. Smokescreen’s voice also sounded very male, and she paused before asking.

“And you’re not an “it” either, then?”

“No, I’m a mech.” A pause. “Uh, a male, by your definitions.”

“Okay. Smokescreen. Well, I’m Sierra, and as grateful as I am for your rescue you should really, really stop and let me out. Humans don’t handle extreme stress very well and I’m about to be sick.”

“Sick?”

Oh god, did robots even get sick?

“I’m about to vomit. Which means I am very close to expelling internal body waste, and it will be right in your seats if you don’t let me out so I can barf behind some rocks.” she informed him tightly, fighting down a gag.

There was a brief moment if silence as Smokescreen seemed to process her words, before he turned off the side of the road, drove behind some rocks, and popped open the door. “Please don’t be sick in me.” Oh, now he sounded sick. Sierra felt a little bad.

She didn’t say anything to that, instead stumbling out of the car and out of sight, before promptly bending over and tossing her breakfast. She gagged on bile, and after a moment of pause to make sure there was nothing left in her stomach, she stood and made her way back to where Smokescreen was waiting. She pulled her water bottle from her bag, taking a sip and washing out her mouth with it before spitting it to the side, and then she proceeded to drink everything left in the bottle. She tucked it away, turning to her impromptu ride, and opened her mouth to speak, when-.

“Oh slag.” He beat her to the punch.

She was confused, recognizing that as a curse of some sort, and then she heard the beeping from his radio.

“Um, hold on for a minute, alright? I gotta take this.” He sounded anxious, and didn’t give her a chance to answer before there was a click as he did just that.

She heard muffled noises over the radio, though she couldn’t make out the words being said.

“Um, yeah. There was a ‘Con signal. I was close so I checked it out.”

More radio noises, angry sounding ones.

“I know, I know! But I was closest and no one would pick up their comm. so I thought I should st least check it out! It was a good thing too, Starscream was there and he was about to snatch up a human!”

A pause, and then an explosion of garbled noise from the radio. Sierra got the feeling that Smokescreen was wincing.

“Well what was I supposed to do? Let her be taken? Plus she’d already seen him so it wasn’t like seeing me was going to do much damage!”

A growling noise, followed by a hiss of static.

“Yes, Ratchet. I know. And I am sorry, alright! I know I went against code again but if I had waited a human would’ve been in Deception hands and as new as I am to this planet, even I know that’s bad!”

Wait, planet? Was this giant ass robot an actual alien? That…honestly made sense. With that day she’d had, she wasn’t even surprised. Smokescreen was still having his discussion with…whoever was on the other end.

“Yes, I’ll bring her back to base. I’m not going to apologize for saving her, though.”

More angry static.

“Yeah yeah. I get it.”

He sounded tired, defeated. Sierra felt bad, and wondered what was being said to make him sound like that when he’d been so bright before.

“No, you don’t need to send a ground bridge. I’m close to the base anyway. I’ll be there soon.”

There was a click as Smokescreen disconnected from whoever called him, and then she could tell he was talking to her when he spoke next. “Mind hopping in? I gotta bring you back to base. The boss can explain everything. I promise you won’t be hurt or anything.”

Sierra hesitated for a moment, then sighed. She knew she probably shouldn’t, but at this point what was the harm? Besides, her gut instinct was telling her that, based on what that Starscream character had said about Jack, she wouldn’t have to worry about being hurt. Not if Darby spent all his free time around these weird alien robots and came back fine. Mind decided, she slipped into the car’s open door. It shut on its own, and she buckled herself in once more.

“Thanks.” He sounded grateful. And then he was driving off.

He wasn’t saying anything, and neither was Sierra, and she let herself be alone with her thoughts. They drove for a while, and Sierra let herself enjoy the landscape that passed by Smokescreen’s window. He really was a nice ride, she mused. Sleek and fast, and his engine purred quietly as he drove along the highway. She didn’t know much about cars, but she knew his car mode was a good one.

Soon enough, they were coming towards a large mesa. Smokescreen drove right toward its side, not even slowing as he approached, Sierra tensed, about to protest, when a previously invisible door opened in the rock face. She shut her mouth, her eyes blowing wide. Oh. That explained that. Their base was hidden in plain sight. Which…she supposed was fitting, for alien robots who disguised themselves as cars and jets. Smokescreen took them through a tunnel, and then they were coming into a large central chamber. Sierra peeked out if the window to see two other robots there. One, stocky and painted in red and white. The other…was absolutely massive. He towered above the red and white bot, and she had a feeling he’d tower over Smokescreen too. He was broad as he was tall, with wide shoulders and a heavy looking chest, his metal armor painted in red and blue. Sierra didn’t know how she knew, but she just knew that this large one was a he, a mech, as Smokescreen had said.

The door at her side popped open, and after brief hesitation she unbuckled herself and stood up. There was that sound of transformation behind her, and she glanced back to see Smokescreen rising to his feet in his robot mode. Then a voice spoke and she snapped her head around to see the large bot speaking.

“Greetings, young one. My name is Optimus Prime. My companion is Ratchet, and you have already met Smokescreen.”

Ratchet. That’s who Smokescreen had been talking to earlier. “I’m Sierra.” she said after a moment. “Sierra O’Niell.”

Optimus tilted his head downwards in her direction. “May I inquire why Starscream was attempting to abduct you, if you know?”

“You’re very polite.” she remarked dryly. “He said something about wanting to use me to get to Jack Darby, so that he could in turn use Jack to get to the “Autobots”. I’m guessing that’s you guys?”

Optimus shared a look with Ratchet, then looked back at her. “Indeed. Myself and my team are Autobots. Starscream is a Decepticon. Our factions are enemies, I am afraid.” he explained. “We are not from your world, Sierra O’Niell. We hail from a planet called Cybertron. Our two factions were at War on our home, and that War destroyed our world. The Deceptions came here, searching for energon, and we have followed them to keep them from destroying your planet and it’s people in their quest for it.”

Sierra turned that over. She’d guessed they weren’t from Earth, so that wasn’t a surprise. The rest of the information was new, though. And appreciated. “What’s energon? And how does Jack fit into all this?”

Optimus sighed. “Energon is an energy source, and the very lifeblood of every Cybertronian.” he explained. “It is a natural resource that was once common on our home, and somehow Earth too produces it in great abundance.” he explained. “Jackson, Miko, and Raphael became involved with us by accident. They were seen with my Autobots when they mistakenly were pulled into a battle with the Decepticons, and the Decepticons assumed they were our allies. In order to protect them, we took them under our watch and guard to ensure they could not be harmed.”

So, Esquivel and Nakadai were part of this too. She shouldn’t be surprised. She’d seen the cars that picked those two up, now that she thought of it. Speaking of which….

“Jack’s motorcycle is an Autobot, isn’t it? And Miko and Raphael’s cars?”

Optimus hummed. “Indeed. Arcee, Bumblee, and Bulkhead were the ones to initially partner with and save the children in that first encounter. After they were brought into the fold, it made only sense to assign them as their Autobot guardians.”

Sierra nodded as she took that all in. Then she frowned. “I’m involved now too, aren’t I? I would have been involved regardless, if the Decepticons were really after me, but Smokescreen saving me just means my involvement is going to be more pleasant than it otherwise would have been.”

Optimus and Ratchet shared yet another look, before casting their gazes to Smokescreen. The white bot fidgeted under their combined stares, head ducking and looking uncomfortable. “While we are not pleased that the youngling acted on impulse and charged into battle against protocol, we are pleased that he saved your life, young Sierra.” Optimus said after a moment.

Sierra blinked. “Youngling.” she repeated in confusion. Then she narrowed her eyes. “You’re not getting him into trouble for saving me, are you?” she asked heatedly. The very idea insulted her.

Optimus twitched as if startled, then rumbled a soft chuckle. “Youngling, yes. It is a term used by Cybertronians to refer to those of us who are not yet fully grown. Smokescreen is the equivalent of a human teenager.” he explained. “And worry not. In this instance, we can overlook the breach in regulations. It would send a poor message to punish a bot for upholding the Autobot creed.”

Sierra relaxed at that, nodding. Then she narrowed her eyes. “I’m going to want to have a discussion with you later about why you’re letting teenagers fight in a war, but I know now isn’t the time.” she said threateningly.

Both older bots startled back and her tone and words, and Smokescreen squeaked from behind her. She turned and drew a harsh line across her mouth before he could say anything, and she watched as he stared, slack-jawed, before closing his mouth with an audible clack. That done, she returned her attention to the apparent leader. There was one more thing she wanted settled.

“You said the others got guardians, right?”

A nod.

“Well, if I’m going to need one, and something tells me I will, then I want this one.” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Smokescreen.

Optimus’s eyes narrowed in what she realized was a faint smile. “If Smokescreen agrees, then I have no issues with that.” he hummed. “All I ask is that you remain here until our liaison with the human government arrives. Agent Fowler will want to discuss some matters with you before you return home.”

Sierra blinked. So the government knew about all this. That was good to know. It meant she wouldn’t get in trouble for conspiring with aliens if it ever came to light. She could also understand why they kept this whole thing a secret, even if governments hiding things from the public wasn’t always a good thing. In this case, it was a good thing.

“As long as I’m home before my curfew.” she agreed.

Another bow of that great head, and then Optimus was turning to stride away. Presumably to make contact with this Fowler. That left her and Smokescreen with Ratchet.

The stocky bot glanced at them, then turned to that odd console she’d noticed earlier. “Smokescreen will show you around.” Was all he said, waving them away with a dismissive flip of his hand.

Sierra, taking that as her cue, turned to the youngest bot. She thrust out her hand. “What do you say? Partners?”

He seemed confused, before slowly crouching and extending his hand to tap a finger to her palm. “Yeah, sure.” he seemed a little awed that she’d want to partner with him.

She smiled. “Good. In that case, why don’t you give me a ride and show me around your base?”

Smokescreen seemed confused. “Ride?”

“On your shoulder. I’d like to see it from your perspective.”

He blinked, then shrugged and put his hand, palm up, on the floor. Sierra took that as her que to climb up, and he carefully transferred her to his shoulder. Cool. Very cool. She just wanted to ride on the giant alien robot, and now she got to. That was cool.

She saw him look at her out of the corner of his bright, shining blue eyes, and she smiled warmly. “Well? Show me around your home, big guy. I’d like to get to know you.”

Smokescreen perked up, the little protrusions on his back wiggling with his apparent joy, and Sierra grinned a little wider. Oh, he was cute. How a giant robot could be endearing, she didn’t know, but he did it. He was sort of like a puppy. A giant, metal, alien puppy. She held on as he started walking, and she listened with half an ear, processing and noting what he told her as the rest of her mind turned over the events of her day.

It had been stressful, and scary, but now that it was all done and she was fine…

‘Yeah.’ she thought, watching her new partner eagerly show her around the small, hidden base he called home. ‘I think I’m gonna like it here.’

———————————————————————————————————

And that was that! I hoped you like it! It was fun to write. The show didn’t give Sierra a last name or a real personality, so I had to kind of do that bit myself. And I was right! I did enjoy writing this. The prompt inspired me to write this faster than I thought I’d be able to. I do not expect to be able to fill a prompt this quickly again. Unfortunately. Also, Sierra is definitely going to be the straight man to Smokescreen. He’s going to need it. Badly.

Until next time, friends!