#we need actual fucking consequences for companies that break the law

[solvicrafts]

Wow, $250 whole dollars!

[nathaslosthershit]

Trips to See the In-Laws (LS2)

Summary: In order to save his teammate from an interviewer with not so innocent thoughts, Alex has to reveal that his thought-to-be-single friend, Logan, is actually in a long term relationship.

“Alex, Logan, so wonderful to have you both here with me today. Now that we are rapidly approaching the first race of the season, how are you both feeling? How was both your breaks?”

“Well firstly, thank you for having us. It has honestly been crazy. Break has gone by fast and with all the training we’ve been doing, I honestly feel ready to just jump in the car and start back up.” Logan replies.

It was no secret that Logan Sargeant had been training much more during the off season, everyone had seen how much he had changed. The way the interviewer was staring at him though, as if he was their next meal, was making him shift uncomfortably in the seat. 

Alex, being as perceptive as ever, immediately saw the change in Logan’s demeanor. He was confused by it until he saw how the interviewer shifted closer to Logan, eyeing him up and down in a very flirtatious manner. He then chimed in to try and alleviate the tension. “Yeah, busy break but we have been putting in the work and I think we are both ready for this upcoming season.”

“You both look very different from the start of last year. Alex with your hair and Logan has gotten very, very fit.” Dammit, this interviewer really wasn’t going to let it go, Alex thought.

“Um yeah, we are both pretty different looks wise.” Alex weakly responded. What was he supposed to say, the interviewer didn’t exactly ask a question.

“I was in a pretty bad state at the end of last season, both mentally and physically. I worked really hard this off season to improve both of those things and gained 5 kilos. I feel much better now that I am at a more healthy weight and I think it just cements how much more learning and growing I needed last year.” God, how can the interviewer continue to try and eye fuck Logan while he gives such a sincere and vulnerable answer, Alex wonders. He knew he needed to help his teammate and friend in some way, but the idea that came to mind might have some consequences. But surely it was better than the alternative of letting Logan get harassed.

“Well Logan, you took some time to travel a bit since being here in New York” Alex teased.

“Ohhh, where did you go Logan?” the interviewer asked, intrigued at the blush on Logan’s face that had appeared as he picked up on where Alex was trying to go with this.

“Well actually, my girlfriend is originally from New york and still has family that live outside the city so they very kindly invited me to visit them and watch the Superbowl. She wasn’t too happy that I got to see her family while she is stuck in London but also was ecstatic that they clearly like me enough to invite me to visit even when she isn’t with me. It was sweet and such a kind gesture, definitely beats spending that night watching the game in a hotel room alone.”

“Hey, I would have watched with you. You wouldn't have been alone” Alex said, offended.

“Mate, you did not have any actual interest in watching the game.” Logan responded.

“But I still would have kept you company.” 

Before the two could continue their fight, the interviewer bursted out a very aggressively asked “Girlfriend?”

The two were quiet then, not knowing what to say. The interviewer wasn’t looking at Logan like a piece of meat anymore, but now he had to deal with this sudden hard launch of his relationship.

“Uh yeah, I have been in a relationship for a while now. Met my girlfriend when I moved to London. We lived in the same apartment and had moved in around the same time. Insane luck, I guess.” Logan answered, still blushing.

“Leave it to Logan to find the one other American in his apartment complex and immediately start dating her.” Alex teased.

“Hey! It was a coincidence and she is from New York while I’m from Florida, they are practically two different countries.”

“Yeah whatever.” Alex rolled his eyes playfully.

The interviewer, now upset at practically getting rejected, stopped asking questions and just watched as the two Willaims drivers took over the interview, rambling, and teasing each other, till it was time to end it.

The interview had immediately gained popularity once it had been posted. Not many drivers hard launch the way Logan did and while Logan hadn't anticipated that this was how his relationship was found out, he did have to thank Alex for getting him out of that situation.

logansargeant

liked by alex_albon, williamsracing, and 73,355 others

logansargeant My favorite New Yorker 💙

[bisluthq]

Someone: hands me an NDA after the thing asking I don't talk about the thing

Me: lol. No

Someone: surprised Pikachu face. Adds a payout to it

Me: warmer warmer

😂😂 I joke, but I've had to sign a lot of NDAs for work and it's basically like the equivalent of "don't tell people our business model or how much we spend", I've never had one say "and don't tell people you signed an NDA". Very few times have I been asked to sign one after the thing and it was only because the person who was meant to give it to me forgot to earlier, or some extra info came to light that they didn't want out (how much the other company was spending on another campaign and paying their celeb endorsement). If I didn't sign the ones I was asked to after the thing, worst case scenario they might've fired someone on their team, but me personally - no consequences (I always signed anyway). And none of them had legal consequences for me except getting fired and sued if I shared our business model with a competitor (which I didn't, but when I left that company I took my skills and knowledge with me sooooo....... Lmao).

Idk I used to be a kaylor and the constant NDA talk was one of the things that broke me when someone said 'its not worth prison' to break an NDA and shit. They're more corporate docs than scandal management shit (I knew some people who wished they could use them to guarantee silence for their own mental health though lol 😂 but also once you're in that scene where you get actual gossip, you don't risk your career for $1,000 to share a pic of a C list model doing ❄️ at a party a b lister you're trying to work with is at)

yea look, NDAs are civil contracts (ie it’s never a “right to jail” situation), primarily used for business purposes (as you describe and actually it’s really not just in entertainment industries like all corporates use them and anything to do with R&D uses them a ton). From a scandal management perspective, an NDA can be used to finalize a settlement right, so you CAN sign an NDA on settling a case whereby one or both parties agree not to reveal the details of the settlement agreement.

The thing is, NDAs are also grounded in law. So you can’t, for example, NDA illegal activity (however much some people might want to 😂) because let’s say even as a silly example, I can’t make my employee sign a contract that says they vow never to reveal my use of ❄️ because (even though a lot of people do it) ❄️ is illegal so if a cop catches me they can arrest me and if my employee saw me do it they’d have to testify tbh and whether I got them to sign something to say they wouldn’t or nah is irrelevant. I can ask them to perjure themselves like privately but I can’t say “dude you signed a document that says you can never talk about illegal shit I do.”

NDAs also have to be clearly defined in terms of what the fuck they’re protecting (you can’t NDA any publicly accessible info for example) and generally are limited in time (let’s say I’m in R&D at Apple right and I move to a better job at Samsung like yes I can take my knowledge and skills but I can’t take the stuff we were working on at Apple with me BUT at a certain point that needs to expire because either that’ll become publicly accessible when Apple files its patents and/or they’re not planning to use what I worked on so I can use it etc) and also have to be demonstrably confidential issues that are very clearly defined as being such (actual example of an NDA I signed in the capacity of being a household PA in UHNW settings stated things like I can’t release addresses of RENTED properties (their official residences are publicly accessible info tho), any financial information I’m privvy to that I learn at work, security details, I can’t post any pictures on my socials where I can be clearly identified as being at one of their known properties without their permission etc like what was confidential was explicitly stated; an on set NDA I signed said I can’t refer to the project other than by its code name until it airs, I can’t reveal where precisely filming took place, and I can’t reveal any technical information I am privvy to on set; etc).

but like also those - and other NDAs I’ve signed - were contracts not Unbreakable Vows. They’re the same as employment contracts (mine came with jobs/projects) and prenups and leases of all kinds in that you… can break them. I haven’t broken an NDA or a rental lease but I’ve broken an employment contract and nothing really happened lol because the hassle and expense and embarrassment for them to sue me wasn’t worth it and they just hired a new person. Like technically they could’ve sued me for damages and shit but I wasn’t asking for their side of the contract either (ie my payment for fulfilling it lol) so suing me would’ve been a colossal waste of time and money even tho I’m pretty sure they’d have won lol because I basically just said “I don’t feel like doing this job anymore” and peaced out lol.

If someone breaks an NDA (or any contract), you can sue them, obviously for breach of contract and damages. That’s not a situation anyone really wants to be in over like celeb secrets (also because the celeb would have to file this so it’s kinda not non disclosing since they’re gonna have to sue you lol). I think the most common thing that keeps people’s mouths shut aren’t NDAs but the… need to keep working and also not wanting to be in mess/a snitch? Gaylor world NDAs wouldn’t work at all but even like a Joebless NDA where he signed one to get a payout would be like… idk man how that’d work lol tbqh from a legal perspective because I’m not sure how she’d enforce it so 💀🤷🏻‍♀️

[wandering-wolf23]

Building off of my previous post, I’m not saying to treat everyone on the web like they might be Jack the Ripper or that you need to a digital hermit. I’m not even getting involved in discourse here.

What I am saying, though, is that you need to exercise some level of caution when it comes to interacting with people online. You also need to brush up on some common rules of internet etiquette. I’ve attached a free video course here that explains things in a way that everyone can understand it and not the way an Army documentation specialist would teach it.

Predators are good at hiding. Companies can and will decline to hire you, no matter how qualified you might be at a job, because you made a call-out on TikTok and used your real name, face, and voice. This actually recently happened where I worked and prompted me to create that first post.

We had an opening for another documents person. It’s procedure to run a fairly thorough background check on anyone working at my facility because we work with some sensitive things. The background check turned up a TikTok account that not only had their real name as the handle, they did not obscure their face or alter their voice.

The videos they made were... inflammatory. I’ll put it at that. I’m not privy to all of the information, but they were anti and they accused a good number of people of being pedophiles. When asked if they reported the accused to the FBI cyber tipline (the job would include training for being a mandatory reporter), they replied that they had not. This was just a cursory background check that doesn’t go very deep. Who knows what the for real FBI check would have turned up.

They were yanked from consideration pretty quickly after that. I don’t know if they quit their job already (I hope not), but they lost a very good, secure job with decent salary because they could not keep their internet life and their meatspace life separate. They also made a habit of breaking local law (yes, in many places, sui-bait and cyberbullying is VERY illegal).

The Powers that Be were told that this person would likely create a hostile workplace environment, couldn’t follow the (fairly lax) security guidelines, and that the background check was going to be a shit show.

All of that to say this: social media has consequences. Crusading against CSAM is a noble cause, but please make sure you A), have solid evidence beyond “icky fiction/drawings” and B), report crimes if you see them.

And for Tecumseh’s sake don’t put your fucking face/voice/real name on TikTok!

[rjalker]

I don’t trust people who call themselves “comrades” because 90% of them I’ve seen so far sell out other poor people in a second if it means they can feel good about themselves.

Like. You have to pick one. Either you actually support other poor people, or you’re just doing shit because you think it makes you look cool. You can’t have it both ways.

You can’t call yourself a “comrade” and then continue to shoplift for fun after minimum wage expendable workers who are literally risking their lives tell you you are putting them and their job in danger.

You either actually give a shit about other poor people, or you only care when it makes you look cool and edgy. You can’t have it both ways.

Stealing food and medicine is one thing. That is fine.

Stealing shit you do not need because you like the adrenaline rush and you think it makes you Anti Capitalist™ to ruin other poor people’s lives makes you an asshole.

And I just fucking know I’m gonna get dozens of assholes on this post telling me I’m “anti-poor” for telling them that their actions have consequences lol.

You know what people shoplifting for fun did to me?

Ruined my fucking legs. My hip was dislocated for months and never properly healed because I couldn’t afford to go to the doctor. Because so many people stole from the self checkout lanes that Walmart took away our rubber floor mat and forced us to walk around the 20-50ft self checkout lane every second we were on the clock. If they saw you standing still you got yelled at. If someone stole on “your watch” you got yelled at.

Your actions have consequences.

Don’t fucking try to give me bullshit “they can’t do that! That’s illegal!” when you are also literally breaking the law. You cannot fucking break the law and then act shocked when other people also do that. That just makes you a fucking idiot.

Steal what you need to survive but do not fucking steal for fun. Don’t steal because you think it makes you look cool.

Shoplifting is not activism. You are not hurting the billiondollar CEO, you are hurting the minimum wage expendable workers who are risking their lives so you can treat them like shit.

I have literally never met a single shoplifter that had any fucking basic human decency towards retail workers. You’re all fucking smug assholes who don’t give a shit about anyone but yourself.

If you steal for fun, block me. Because if you try to defend your bullshit on this post, I’m blocking and reporting you. Learn to give a shit about people other than yourself. Listen when fucking poor people tell you your actions are causing them harm.

Stop fucking pretending to be an ally because you think it makes you look cool and start actually being an ally.

Shoplifting for fun literally just makes you an asshole. You aren’t hurting the company, you’re hurting the workers they’re already exploiting, who can’t fucking afford to eat everyday, who are literally risking their lives for you during a global pandemic just so you can stab them in the back because the only thing you care about is looking cool.

[generallypo]

[   Constellation ’Director of the False Last Act’ is looking at you.   ]

------

dark academia!hsy, yeeee! the white coat is fantastic, but unlike kdj and yjh, she doesn’t really switch up the color scheme. no, her bum-aesthetic purple hoodie does not count. i think she’s super hot. i yell about how much i love her under the cut.

------

yo han sooyoung is actually amazing, incredible, powerful, witty, drop-dead sexy... what makes her so irresistible? let me explain

1) yeah, kdj takes the kdj company to end of the scenarios, but please. how many times does he have to kill himself to get there? not to mention his intentional (and unintentional) kill count? 

sure, he does the job, but damn is he kind of inefficient about it. say what you like about hsy’s methods or personality, but the 1863rd round far surpasses the 1864th in terms of the lives preserved while still managing to take the team to the end.

without the benefit of cheat-like knowledge, skills, and resurrections, hsy almost single-handedly orchestrates the events of the 1863rd round to a satisfying finale. kmw, problematic as he is, survives and becomes an admittedly better person, yjh finds a timeline where he can rest in peace, and the rest of the cast have their eyes set on the hopeful end of all scenarios. all this, while only being HALF of a person (hsy originally split off into two after misusing her avatar ability). do her actions lead to the happiest ending? no. but it’s the one that sacrifices the least and saves the most. for the greater good, in other words. 

hsy may be an intrinsically selfish person, but unlike kdj, she has the ability to grasp the entire picture and avoid tunnel-visioning into a crappier, more convoluted and self-sacrificial solution. ironically, it ends up saving more lives. perks of being a talented writer, i guess. 

and the 1864th hsy emerges as a leader in her own right as well. the epilogue arc shows her assuming roughly the same role as her 1863rd self in kdj’s absence: yjh breaks off from the main group (AND BECOMES A TERRORIST AKFDJDSLKSL HAHAHA) to assume a similarly antagonistic role to the remaining members of kdj company. as a result, she’s the most powerful lawful incarnation remaining, and once more the incarnations circle around her for direction.

2) independent, confident, competent (hot and kinda shameless about it). this woman has the most delightfully unrepentant attitude towards life -- how to defeat the man with the strongest defensive ability without dealing a single blow? summon a horde of your naked dancing clones to terrify his innocent sensibilities, and then cackle at his helplessness. the fact that her sponsor is literally the chuuni-est cringefest in the entire galaxy and she gives no fucks about him is just additional comedic gold. her undisguised disgust for what should otherwise be a highly respected/feared entity is a clear indicator of her supremely dominant position over everyone else, and i admire her consistent irreverence of everyone and everything.

hsy is the only character who can consistently bully kdj, brush off his deflections, and bully him again. 1863rd round hsy gives kdj about 50 migraines in the span of 5 minutes of conversation before confirming her superior wit. jhw comes close, but unfortunately, she actually respects the rat bastard. i wish i could mention yjh, but let’s be real: he -- and just about every existing version of him -- has been whipped for the guy for at least 250+ chapters now. 

hsy, on the other hand, has no regard for anything except herself... man, i respect that so much. what a queen. 

and i won’t lie! i didn’t like her in the first fifty or so chapters. plagiarism? homicide? kind-of-in-general-just-being-an-obstacle-to-kdj’s-plans? yeah, i almost fell into the trap of disliking her purely because she didn’t cave immediately in the grand scheme of kdj’s plotting -- thereby denying me the power rush that came with seeing kdj bulldoze his way through the puny attempts of small fry characters. she’s neither a friend nor a despicable foe, but rather someone who acts independently and in her own self-interest, WITH the ability to thwart major players if need be. aka, the one who frustrated kdj’s plans -- and me -- the most. 

going by my previous isekai/power-fantasy trope experience, i figured she’d get pegged into the sexy-but-sassy harem candidate, or get killed off if that didn’t work out. in hindsight, i’m just pretty fucking dumb, but honestly, i can accept that with gratitude -- 

-- because in fact. the whole ‘she-gets-in-my-way-so-she-either-goes-into-the-harem-or-dies’ trope in light novels/webnovels and the like, is, frankly, misogynistic and boring as hell. i had some admittedly low expectations for ORV, which consequently blasted my ass to the moon and left me there sobbing for 42 years as i mourned my stupidity and paid my respects to its incredible ending and character development. hsy is a particular delight, especially in her meta awareness of these tropes -- blatantly stating she isn’t obligated to kdj for saving her life and declaring the damsel-in-distress cliche as ridiculous, for example. 

and it really is, because suspension bridge effect aside, you’re not gonna want to bang a total shady stranger in the middle of the apocalypse. it’s the little statements of self-awareness, self-worth, and frankness that build up hsy’s charm. as ORV progresses, these little windows of her personality bloom as her presence takes stage center -- and then BAM! you really get to know how strong she is, how hugely capable of love she is, how subtly but wonderfully she expresses it, how she leads and protects those close to her, and how damn good she is at it. hsy is amazing. we stan an iconic queen -- no, black flameS EMPRESS. *kneeling*.

3) writes an entire EPIC, just to keep one lonely, broken fifteen-year-old alive. like. at that point in ORV, i knew. i knew. hsy is the fucking GOAT. seeing her spend the rest of her life on WOS, making sure it reaches completion because it’s the only thing that will sustain kdj until the advent of the scenarios... that hits too hard. inadvertently, it also damns the rest of the world to the terror and tragedy that the star stream brings.. but that’s the call she makes in order to save kdj’s life. 

obviously, there’s no precise beginning to the timelines -- ORV is so neatly crafted in its cycle of writer, protagonist, and reader -- but i’d have to argue that hsy holds the greatest power in the trinity. creating the existence known as ‘yoo joonghyuk’ and granting life-changing hope to an otherwise forgotten boy.. is pretty powerful. yjh, for the most part, is a slave to the scenarios (until he breaks free in the 1863rd and 1864th rounds, in particular), while kdj (unwittingly) admits it himself: he’s truly the most powerless god in existence. i forget exactly where he mentions it, but it’s in response to lgy’s reverent commentary that, with all his knowledge and presumed confidence, kdj seems like the protagonist of story or a god to him. kdj’s inner monologue, of course, is appropriately self-deprecating and scarily accurate.

in a lot of ways, WOS -- and ORV itself, really -- is a love letter to readers. it’s a two-way connection, writer and reader, between someone who creates with all their passions and someone who consumes and responds with equally sincere feelings. Ways Of Survival -- the story of a man who defied death and grief and great powers far beyond his being -- is a fictional guide to surviving in a ruined world. but to a battered, bullied, and ostracized boy, it’s not just escapism, or wish fulfilment anymore. WOS is the map to navigating the hell of his reality. there’s a certain power in the right words being spoken -- or in this case, written -- at the right time, even if it’s only for the temporary burst of endorphins upon reading an especially delightful chapter. even if it’s forgotten the next day, you’ve managed to connect. you’ve touched another person’s heart. you made them think about questions they’ve never considered before; maybe, you made them smile. 

what can i say but the honest truth? ORV, without a shadow of doubt, has most certainly reached me. i’m a goner for this story and its excellent characters -- long, long gone. something has changed, something that wasn’t there the previous day. 

the mark has been made on the reader -- small as it is, it’s irrevocable. behold, in all of its little magnificence: the power of a writer, and their story.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Section 230 is Good, Actually

There's a bipartisan movement to abolish CDA230, the Clinton-era law that makes people liable for their own speech, while simultaneously immunizing tech providers who carry that speech and incentivizing them to moderate it. On the right, you have trumpy calls for a social media fairness doctrine that would require a platform that removed false claims that masks don't prevent covid transmission to also remove true claims that masks DO work (seriously, wear a fucking mask). On the left, you have people who claim that CDA230 is corporate welfare, absolving Big Tech companies of the need to hire an (impossibly large) army of moderators to approve everything their users say before it goes live. The truth is that CDA230 is one of the very few internet regulations that is a serious force for good. Its primary beneficiaries are you and me - members of the public who get to speak without having to host our own webservers, DNS, and CDNs. To really understand the issue, read Jason Kelley's "Section 230 is Good, Actually," for EFF: a comprehensive guide to CDA230 and the myths around it. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/12/section-230-good-actually Have you read 230? You should! It's 26 words long! "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." Kelley: "the law means that although you are legally responsible for what you say online, if you host or republish other peoples' speech, only those people are legally responsible for what they say." It really isn't that complicated. It's arguably the most important 26 words in internet history. Without it, there would be no Wikipedia, no Internet Archive, no Patreon, no Github. Security researchers couldn't compare notes on forums. Parents couldn't organize afterschool activities on public systems. Kickstarter couldn't host project updates with backer Q&A. Kiss Wordpress goodbye. Kiss goodbye your favorite geneology forum and the place where you show off your Warhammer and Blythe doll paints. All of these forums for speech need CDA230. You know who doesn't? Big platforms. To understand how this works, cast your mind back to the fight over SESTA, a bill that made online forums liable for blocking acts of sex trafficking, a horrific crime. Sex workers opposed this bill. They said that because platforms couldn't know whether conversations among sex workers or between sex workers and their customers were voluntary or coerced, this would lead to a total shutdown of all forums. Initially, Big Tech fought SESTA. Then Facebook endorsed it - they, after all, have lots of moderators who could seek-and-destroy sex work conversations, and they have lots of other ways to make money. Two years later, sex trafficking is untouched, voluntary sex work is more dangerous than ever (which means that pimps finally have a reason to exist again - offering physical security for sex workers who can't use online forums to identify abusive customers). Many of Facebook's smaller competitors have, of course, disappeared. SESTA was the first real change to 230 in decades. It's a preview of the likely consequences of the proposed 230 reforms: more power to monopolists whose bad moderation practices will be harder to punish. Despite this, there is a wealth of disinformation about 230. Kelley tackles the most common shibboleths.

Moderation violates the First Amendment

As a matter of law, this is completely wrong. Private actors are not bound by the First Amendment.

That's not to say that there aren't serious speech problems with Big Tech's moderation policies, but these are problems of Big Tech's bigness, not of a lack of fairness.

https://locusmag.com/2020/01/cory-doctorow-inaction-is-a-form-of-action/

A fairness doctrine for online speech wouldn't just limit when Facebook or Twitter remove or put warnings on speech - it would mean that a BLM safe-space would have to tolerate white nationalism; and that Parler couldn't kick off people who think Ayn Rand was a sociopath.

230 does not draw a distinction between "publishers" and  "platforms." No such distinction exists.

Rather, 230 distinguishes between "offline" and "online" platforms. That's because the public - you and I - can contribute to online publication but not offline ones.

No matter how loudly you shout at your newspaper, it will not be audible to the other subscribers. But newspapers' online editions can be discussed, corrected and disputed by their readers. CDA 230 protects newspapers online editions, too.

CDA 230 encourages online publishers to moderate bad speech

Before 230, a US court found that if you moderate at all, you have to moderate EVERYTHING. The result was that no one wanted to remove even the worst speech because this created unlimited liability for them.

230 changed that, creating a "Good Samaritan" rule that allows moderators to pick off the bad stuff they catch, without holding them liable for the stuff they miss.

230's detractors have a point. Big Tech's moderation *sucks*. They hold all our friends and content hostage and  they do a terrible job of moderating content. But making them double down on stuff they're bad at will only make things worse.

We should fix these real, harmful moderation problems by creating alternatives, not wiping them out by making it impossible to co-exist alongside of Big Tech. If you hate having 90% of your online life inside of Big Tech silos, your *really* gonna hate when it's 100%.

Antimonopoly work, in other words: break 'em up, block their mergers, mandate interoperability, strip them of the legal power to block interoperators.

And if we DO want to mandate good moderation, then use the The Santa Clara Principles On Transparency and Accountability in Content Moderation, which are a good, multistakeholder starting place:

https://santaclaraprinciples.org/

[365days365movies]

January 15, 2021: Casino Royale (2006) (Part 1)

So...we meet again, Bond. What’ve you been doing for the past few years?

...What. Not who, James, WHAT. Jeez.

Whatever. BrosBond had 3 movies after GoldenEye, and they were...not great, from what I’ve heard. Remember, I wasn’t as big of a fan of GoldenEye as many critics and fans were; so, I can’t imagine what I’d think of the latter three. Maybe one day, but not today!

Today, I’m focusing my sights on the revitalization of the brand. See, in 2002, Die Another Day came out, and that movie was apparently crazy. TOO crazy. So crazy, in fact, that audiences and critics accused it of losing the plot, and the production studio in charge (Eon Productions) had a yearning to change direction. And their inspiration came from...a surprising place.

See, Joel Schumacher’s campy, over-the-top Batman films were basically wiped out by Christopher Nolan’s 2005 reinvention of the character in Batman Begins. Which is, in my opinion, a highly underrated classic, Seriously. And in 2005, this film was absolutely a smash-hit. Batman was cool again, which a lot of people never thought would happen in film. Eon saw this, and thought...how can we apply that to Bond?

Out with Brosnan...in with Craig.

The first of the new, darker, reinvented Bond films is planned for release in 2006, starring Daniel Craig as the suave, sophisticated spy. And the director of the film was selected to be...Martin Campbell? From GoldenEye? The guy who kinda sorta started the modern over-the-top Bond? Really? I mean, OK. The writers this time are different...except for one. I didn’t talk about the writers last time because I don’t like putting people on blast if I don’t gotta. This time...maybe. We’ll see.

If this Casino Royale is basically Bond Begins, I’m definitely interested. Maybe this’ll revitalize that Bond-love from the Connery days. Let’s find out! We’re also gonna look at the Bond checklist again!

Gadgets: better have more cool gadgets than GoldenEye, I swear...

Bond Girl: GoldenEye’s Natalya wasn’t bad, to be honest; let’s see who his Inevitable Love Interest is this time.

Villain: Alec Trevelyan had so much potential. I need my dastardly villain, let’s do this. Oh, and let’s throw the henchman in here, too. Xenia Onatopp was...a lot...but she was a memorable henchman, at least.

Music: Of course. GoldenEye’s theme was good, and we’ll see how 2006 does.

OK, movie time. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

We start at an office building in Prague, where a man makes his way up to his office. Waiting there for him is, of course, James Bond (Daniel Craig). The man is Dryden, section chief at the British Embassy in Prague, whom M has accused of selling secrets, a big no-no. But Bond...isn’t a double-0 agent. Huh. You got me interested.

Apparently, agents get the two zeroes once they’ve killed two people on file. James hadn’t killed anyone...until recently. Which is when we get this.

OH SHIT

This is an absolutely BRUTAL fight. It’s not choreographed flashily, it’s not pretty...it’s rough. It’s intense. And it’s...oh my God, wow. Made me feel it. And what’s astonishing is that it’s SO short.

On learning this, Dryden tells him not to worry, the second one is...

...YOU GOT ME. I’M IN FOR THE FUCKIN’ RIDE

HOW??? How is it that in 3 minutes of screentime, I’m already more satisfied by Craig’s Bond than I was for the ENTIRETY of GoldenEye? That is masterfully done, right off the bat. WOW. We even get a smooth-as-silk segue into the classic bullet turret sequence, and that takes us right into the song and opening credits. And...wow.

Here’s the thing about Bond openings, as I mentioned last time: they were all directed by one guy up until GoldenEye, and were basically all silhouetted women with themes and scenes from the movie projected around them. The Brosnan movies followed suit, always having silhouetted women in one way or another. Die Another Day used CGI women and...a really bad Madonna song. It was...it is NOT GOOD, guys. Look it up, it’s the most 2002 thing I’ve ever heard.

But here’s the fin bit about Casino Royale. This is the first Bond movie opening with no women in it. Yeah. It’s the first one. And the song is Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name, and it’s good! Not sure it’s going in my soundtrack, though.

Finally, the opening credits sequence itself: it’s once again Daniel Kleinman doing it, and it’s actually inspired by the first James Bond book Casino Royale, which had already had a TV special and unofficial Bond movie made from it! The cover had a playing card motif, and the opening carries over that motif creatively. I really dig it, if I’m honest! Definitely a welcome break from the 44 years of Bond films preceding it.

Uganda! And we meet the villain of this film: Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). And GODDAMN if that isn’t a Bond villain! He’s a banker, making a deal with a rebel leader, Steven Obanno (Isaach de Bankole), via their liason Mr. White (Jesper Christiensen). Setting up an attack by supplying Obanno with money, he sells his stocks of a company called Skyfleet, knowing that they’re about to fail.

Meanwhile, a ferret’s fighting an Asian species of cobra. In Madagascar. My zoology senses are EXPLODING, OH my God. So much wrong there. Anyway, there’s a bombmaker in the crowd watching the fight. He’s being tailed by Bond and another agent, Carter, who tips off the guy by being a bad spy. Bond chases him to a construction yard. What now, James?

Awesome. Why is this awesome when I said that the tank was dumb? Because at least it makes sense for a bulldozer to go haywire in a construction yard, just sayin’. Plus, this dude clearly isn’t the best, as he fires on construction workers and cops.

Eventually, this chase sequence brings us to the top of a crane, where this exchange happens.

I, uh...I love this movie already. That’s goddamn great.

The chase scene as a whole is also fantastic, as it continues off the bridge and into an abandoned building, then escalates into the streets, brings in law enforcement, and eventually ends with Bond at an embassy, facing down both the military and the bomb maker. He kills the guy, shoots some gas tanks, grabs the bomb, and then gets the hell out of there.

...Y’know what, that was fucking amazing, but he also almost certainly caused an international incident there. And I should be annoyed about that, but guess what! It makes sense! This is an inexperienced Bond, one who’s JUST been promoted to 00 status as 007, as the prologue explained. So, y’know what? I’m into it!

Cut to a yacht, like you do in a Martin Campbell Bond film. There, we have our villain, Le Chiffre, playing a card game. Also, he weeps blood. Yeah. HE WEEPS BLOOD.

OK, if that isn’t some Bond villain shit, I don’t know WHAT is. He’s also asthmatic, because I love it. I love it so much. He’s a mathematically-brilliant asthmatic that weeps blood. More, please. 

He’s also a person aware of what Bond did at the embassy, as it’s already become an international incident! Thank you for showing consequences, movie! Damn! I love it! This has two additional consequences. One, Le Chiffre notes that the code “Ellipsis” used by the bomber may be soon to expire, indicating a connection between the two. And the second consequence? M’s pissed.

M! DAME JUDI DENCH! One of my favorite things about GoldenEye was bringing in Judi Dench as M, and she made it through the reboot! And she’s still as entertaining as she was before, calling Bond out for his stupidity, and explaining that she misses the Cold War.

In her apartment, M does her normal exposition schtick, and her interactions with Bond are fantastic here. She’s understandably angry at him, and gives him what for, but she’s also clearly impressed that he FIGURED OUT WHERE SHE LIVES, as well as her REAL NAME. Shows her opinion of Bond and aspects of Bond’s character in a single, masterful stroke. 

Well. Goddamn. Done.

The Bahamas! Bond’s here to find Alex Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian), a Greek businessman who’s believed to have a connection with Le Chiffre himself. And, as James Bond is wont to do, he finds him at a party, playing cards. And here’s where the reinvention of Bond comes full circle.

See, Bond’s doing all the typical Bond things, yeah. But there are some differences present here, as well as some neat nuances. Bond isn’t wearing the suit, first of all. He actually hasn’t worn a suit the whole movie, which makes perfect sense for a spy. Suits aren’t exactly the least conspicuous thing in the world; bound to get you noticed if you don’t want to be.

And then, there’s the girl. This is Solange Dimitrios (Catherina Murino), the wife of Alex who was treated BADLY by him at the party. That gives her a reason to take Bond’s offer for a ride to his place, outside of just his raw animalistic charm that he seems to have in some of these movies. Look at that, already more chemistry than he had with Natalya in GoldenEye.

And yes, this results in her cheating on Alex. Is her cheating justified from a moral standpoint? No, of course it isn’t. And of course, this leads to the typical Bond-handsome-sex-GOOD sequence, but again, some nuance here! First of all, he doesn’t win her over with corny clever lines, like what we saw in GoldenEye multiple ties. Second, this is actually all an attempt to get some infomation from her about her husband. Bond might be enjoying it, but his womanizing here actually has a purpose. And that’s rare!

That’s further punctuated by the fact that he STRAIGHT UP LEAVES BEFORE ANYTHING HAPPENS. Yeah, she tells him that Alex just made his way to Miami, and he leaves! Dick move, yeah, but it makes sense! James isn’t here for pleasure, he’s here for work!

He follows Alex to a Bodies at Work exhibit (you know, the preserved and skinned cadavers put into poses that used to tour around the USA? I saw it in Times Square at the end of its popularity. A little ghoulish, maybe, but I think it’s pretty cool), where the two of them get in a very tense close-up knife fight in public.

Alex is dead, but not before passing off a package to someone else at the exhibition. Bond tails the guy to Miami International Airport, where the largest airplane in the world is set to be unveiled. Using the code sent to the bombers, Bond gets into the back, and goes to intercept the disguised bomber who’s set to blow up the SkyChonk (I mean it, that giant airplane is THICCC).

Time for another cool chase sequence! Some luggage is destroyed, along with a bus, the cops join in on the chase, an airplane is prevented from landing (making someone on that plane probably very upset), and Bond somehow manages to prevent the plane from blowing up. And it’s by the SKIN of his teeth, lemme tell you. Also, he blows up a dude with his own flashlight bomb.

Nice. Somehow, Bond isn’t arrested, and makes his way back to the Bahamas. And it looks like Solange isn’t the Bond girl after all. Because she was thought to be the information leak (which she was, to an extent), she was tortured to death. Whoof.

M’s in the Bahamas now, and the exposition continues. She’s done with Bond’s bullshit, and she plants a tracker under his skin. She explains that with the big boi plane destroyed, somebody stood a lot to gain financially from the stock crash to come. Except that the plane wasn’t destroyed, and that person lost $100 million by “betting the wrong way.”

That person, of course, was Le Chiffre, a manthematical genius and chess prodigy, who plays poker for fun, and plays the stock market with his clients’ money. Bond’s the best poker player in MI6 (a good addition that we already saw foreshadowed earlier! See what I mean?), and she’s sending him to a high stakes poker game that Le Chiffre’s looking to regain his money from. 

Bond FINALLY dons his suit, and gets on a train in Montenegro, where he meets...

Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). THERE’S our Bond girl! Although, there’s a reference to Miss Moneypenny in their introduction, which is interesting. But Vesper is an agent for the British Treasury, supplying the money for the buy-in for the tournament. And their conversation on the train...wow. Now THIS is chemistry, seriously.

Vesper’s a great character, and she gives Bond NO quarter. She reads his character, and calls him out very accurately. They also explain why both Bond and Vesper are good at poker: it’s all about reading people. I’m genuinely impressed by how this movie is put together, and how well-thought out Bond is as a character. And this is the dimension I love to see in a Bond girl as well!

GODDAMN, I am in love with this movie. More coming in Part 2!

[trikruheart]

Bellamy Is The Abusive One, Not Octavia: A Rant/Meta

There’s two main “reasons” that people give when they claim that Octavia is abusive. That she beats up Bellamy after Lincoln’s murder, and that she has him put in The Fighting Pits.

Let’s start with the old discourse; Bellamy did get Lincoln killed, not Octavia. Bellamy is the person who got Pike into power, the person who stood by him even after seeing + being told multiple times by people he supposedly cares about that Pike was instituting facism and going to get everyone killed. Bellamy knowingly decided to be a Nazi even though he had other options and was aware of them. And, no, Nazi is not an exaggeration, Bellamy was 100% willing to wipe out an entire race just for being that race including putting them in concentration camp-like conditions to die.

Octavia is not at fault just because she didn’t accept Bellamy’s last minute “help”, he had given her absolutely no reason to trust him so it’s not her fault she didn’t. If my brother was fhe right-hand man of a fascist leader then I wouldn’t have trusted him that after he belittled my concerns several times and stopped me from escaping, he’ll get my boyfriend out of the camp he put him in to begin with. Octavia had no obligation to trust Bellamy after he did everything in his power to destroy her trust.

So, yes, Octavia beats up Bellamy. If I had just saw and heard the love of my life be murdered at the hands of the man that my own brother knowingly put in power then I probably would beat him up to. Especially if my brother had already been abusing me my whole life.

Side note: Let me also just point out that Bellamy was never adequately redeemed for that whole being a Nazi thing, everyone just pretended it never happened. Octavia herself even calls him out “You didn’t turn on Pike because you thought what he was doing to the grounders was wrong.” and he AGREES. Bellamy 👏 never 👏 earned 👏 redemption, because men in this show don’t need to be held accountable for their actions while women (mainly Octavia and Clarke) have to supplicate themselves to men and be dragged through the dirt mercilessly for every wrong breath they take.

The Fighting Pit issue is an even weaker example because Octavia didn’t put Bellamy in there because she was angry or wanted to (although she had every right to be) she did it because Bellamy publicly broke several laws and she would have completely undermined her own authority (and given special treatment, making her a poor leader) if she let him get away with treason, child endangerment, murder, and attempted assassination. Bellamy getting put in the fighting pit was a consequence of his own actions, one that he was well aware of. Octavia wasn’t being abusive, she was being a fair leader.

Now that that BS is out of the way, here’s a list of why Bellamy is abusive to Octavia:

1.) Bellamy has had all of the power in their relationship from day one. Octavia was literally trapped in a room and only able to interact with two people for sixteen years, Bellamy came and went as he pleased. Octavia was essentially a captive, she couldn’t have possibly been more powerless during the entire time their relationship was developing. Then when they get on the ground, Bellamy is almost instantly put in a position of power which he uses to isolate and control Octavia. There’s also the age difference, I think a lot of people forget that Bellamy is way older than all the other Skaikru. Bellamy is 23 at the start of the show and everyone else is under 18 (except Raven is 18). So, we’re talking about a barely 17-year-old girl, one who grew up extremely isolated so is even more immature than most kids her age, and a 23-year-old man who lived most of his life relatively normally.

The power difference entirely favors Bellamy. Octavia has no power over him at all pre-Blodreina (which we’ll get to that) so the idea that she could possibly abuse Bellamy is pretty absurd. Abuse is a habitual pattern of controlling and belittling behavior by someone with more (actual or perceived) power over another, Octavia had no power over Bellamy at all; Bellamy had an insane amount of power over her that he constantly abuses to isolate and control her.

2.) Bellamy supposedly goes to the ground to “protect” Octavia but his means of doing so are abusive and controlling. In season 1 alone; Bellamy uses physical intimidation and manhandling against Octavia several times, he terrorizes a harmless teenager (remember how he’s a grown ass adult? Yikes...) to keep him away from Octavia who was enjoying his company, then he tortures a man in front of her while she begs him to stop because he doesn’t care about her opinions (more in 4) and he’s the leader of The 100 so he can.

3.) The whole “my sister, my responsibility” thing that everyone thinks is so cute? Yeah, that’s emotional abuse. A figure of authority repeating to a child that they are a burden for existing is disgusting and so, so harmful. That phrase is a reinforcement of the more vicious things Bellamy has said “Mom was floated for having you, she’s dead because you’re alive!” and “My life ended the day you were born!”

4.) Bellamy is constantly belittling, dismissing, and patronizing all of Octavia’s opinions and identity.

“You turned this place into a story from your childhood. I mean, the red queen? It’s a joke.”

I’m not saying that Blodreina was a positive identity for Octavia, but it was something she was forced (remember, she didn’t seek power like Bellamy and Clarke did) to become to survive. Octavia was a mentally ill teenage girl with very limited exposure to the world who has never had any power in her entire life, and suddenly she was responsible for saving the human race. How fucking dare Bellamy mock her for basing her leadership off of stories WHAT THE HELL ELSE WOULD SHE BASE IT OF OFF???

Bellamy had a job and a life on The Arc, Octavia never left her room and had no way of seeing the outside world except through stories. She has literally no reference for ruling, or anything else, except those stories and her brief time with the Grounders. Fuck you and your privilege, Bellamy.

On top of that, Octavia actually did save the human race. That “joke” kept humanity alive.

“It is time to stop playing Grounder before you get yourself hurt.”

Yes, how dare she identify with the only people who have ever accepted her and treated her like a human being. How about you stop “playing” Nazi before you get us everyone killed. Seriously, Octavia is not allowed to disagree with Bellamy without him grabbing her arm and talking down to her like she’s a toddler throwing a tantrum.

5.) As soon as Octavia is in a position of power, one she didn’t even ask for, Bellamy’s abuse gets progressively crueler because he’s trying to regain control. He starts actively using Octavia’s mental illness against her and literally suicide baits her several times.

There is NO excuse. None at all. To tell someone who is severely mentally ill, traumatized, and an active suicide risk that “I wish you were dead” and “you’re already dead”. Trying to push someone to suicide and using someone’s mental illness to hurt them, let alone your own sister, is one of the most evil things you can do. The fact that so much of the fandom ignores this genuinely makes me sick.

Bellamy chooses those words because he knows that is what will hurt Octavia the most and he wants to hurt her. Bellamy has heard Octavia say that she’s already dead when she’s at her lowest points, he knows that those are the words that haunt her and drive her to want to kill herself, and that’s why he uses them as a weapon. Notice that he says them multiple times and at very purposeful times, this is not something he yelled once when he was angry; we see him calmly make the choice to say these things to her several times when he is losing control and wants to break her back down to the helpless little girl who was always happy to see him because of her Stockholm Syndrome.

6.) I think trying to MURDER Octavia THREE FUCKING TIMES deserves its own point. Bellamy poisons Octavia, he suicide baits her and let’s her go through with it (someone else stops her, Bellamy makes no move to), and then he leaves her to die with a lovely extra “My sister is dead” for the road.

7.) Octavia spends most of season 6 groveling and trying to “earn” back Bellamy’s love and we see clearly that “earning” Bellamy’s love means being utterly powerless and subservient. Bellamy loved Octavia when she was a captive little girl but suddenly he can’t produce an ounce of human decency towards her? And don’t give me some “but she’s Blodreina” like Mr. Nazi has any room to judge Octavia for becoming a dictator out of desperation when she didn’t know what else to do and she was forced in a very, very difficult leadership position that she never wanted and all of humanity relied on.

My point is basically that Bellamy’s love is conditional, he holds it over Octavia’s head like a fucking dog treat. He wants “his sister” back but what does that mean? He wants back the scared little girl who couldn’t leave one room and was entirely dependent on him. It’s Octavia having autonomy that Bellamy hates, not her being “evil” because Bellamy is 500x as evil as Octavia and I will die on that hill. You’re telling me that Bellamy of all people is soooo upset that his sister was forced to kill some people in the context of war and keeping humanity alive? As if Bellamy isn’t a mass murderer who has killed way more people for way less. Give me a fucking break. “Octavia is dead” because Bellamy’s victim is dead and he can’t handle that.

But, please, do tell me again how two isolated incidents over six years apart from each other that are both the direct consequences of Bellamy’s autonomous choices make Octavia “eMoTiOnAllY AbUsIvE tO pOoR WitTlE BeLl”.

[wistfulcynic]

Across The Snowy Places (5 /5)

And so the trope-alicious trope-fest comes to an end. Thus far we have seen: fake dating, bed sharing, matchmaking, snowed in, heater not working, favourite author, found families, and drunken affection/confession. Now it’s time for some mistaken first impressions and of course the happy ending! 

I’ve loved writing this very silly thing, and especially loved the enthusiastic response it’s received from all you lovely people. Thank you ❤️❤️❤️

SUMMARY: Desperate to avoid another disastrous setup, Emma Swan tells her sister-in-law Mary Margaret she doesn’t need a date for Thanksgiving dinner… because she’s dating her neighbour, Killian Jones. The neighbour she tries to avoid but can’t seem to get out of her head.

Killian has been captivated by Emma from the moment they met, and he’s thrilled at this opportunity to get closer to her. But when they are trapped in a freak snowstorm in a room with only one bed, can he finally take the chance he’s been longing for, or will his actions drive Emma away forever?

In other words: TROPES GALORE

On AO3 | Tumblr Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4

For my favouritest person @thisonesatellite​​​​ who is never less than the best despite her VERY SUBTLE reactions to things. 

@kmomof4​​​​​​ @shireness-says​​​​​​ @snidgetsafan​​​​​​ @darkcolinodonorgasm​​​​​ @snowbellewells​​​​​​ @stahlop​​​​​​ @mariakov81​​​​​​ @courtorderedcake​​​​​ @jonirobinson64​​​​ @tiganasummertree​​​​​ @ohmightydevviepuu​​​​​​ @shardminds​​​​ @jennjenn615​​​​ @superchocovian​​​​

-

CHAPTER FIVE: SATURDAY

Slowly, carefully, Emma removes Killian’s hand from where it rests against the bare skin of her stomach and slides out of the bed. She’s instantly freezing, not because the room is that cold but just from the loss of Killian’s warmth. She wishes she could crawl back in with him, curl up against him and feel his arms around her. But she remembers just enough of the night before to know that can never happen. 

She grabs her sweater and pulls it on over Mary Margaret’s pajamas and slips through the door and downstairs to the kitchen. Her head is pounding and she’s desperate for coffee. 

Mary Margaret is already in the kitchen, loading the dishwasher and humming Christmas songs. 

“Hey,” she says. “How are you feeling?” 

“Awful.” Emma collapses into a chair and cradles her head in her hands. “Is there coffee?” 

“Of course.” Mary Margaret pours her a cup and loads it with milk and sugar. “No cinnamon syrup,” she says. “Sorry.” 

“It’s okay, I’m more interested in the caffeine,” says Emma, wrapping her hands around the mug and leaning her aching temple against it. 

Mary Margaret returns her attention to the dishwasher. “Where’s Killian?” she asks.

“Still asleep.” 

“Thanks for bringing him yesterday,” says Mary Margaret. “I know you were reluctant, but we really loved getting to know him. I’m so glad you found someone you can love.” 

Emma squeezes her eyes shut, fingers tight on her coffee mug. 

“I don’t love Killian,” she says harshly. “We only just started dating.” 

“I know, sweetie. But sometimes it doesn’t take any time at all to know you’ve found The One.” 

“Ugh,” says Emma. “Not you too.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Ruby said the same thing to me. ‘Mulan is The One, capital letters’.” 

“Well that does happen. You know that David and I knew, pretty much right away.” 

“Yeah.” 

“And Killian, I think he’s pretty sure.” 

Emma nods. He did a great job acting sure in front of everyone. She couldn’t have asked for a better fake boyfriend. If only he actually felt the way he pretended to feel.

She blinks in surprise at that thought, sitting up straight and immediately regretting it when a fresh jolt of pain pierces her eye socket. She groans and takes a gulp of coffee, then leans her head against the cup again and tries to think. Does she want Killian’s pretend feelings to be real ones? She thinks about how nice it’s been these past two days, being the focus of his attention and interest, how much she’s truly enjoyed his company. She thinks about her poem... God, her poem.... and about Killian and the pull she’s always felt towards him… not just the physical attraction but something more... and she thinks about how she kissed him, twice, and he rejected her both times. She gulps more coffee, swallowing a stab of pain along with it. It doesn’t matter what she wants if Killian isn’t interested, and two solid rejections have made that more than clear he’s not. She can’t allow there to be a third.

-

Killian wishes he were surprised to find himself waking up alone. But he’s not, not at all. He knows Emma, however much she might wish he didn’t, and he knows the consequences of pushing her too hard, coming on too strong. She’s run, and he’s all too aware of what that means: if he hasn’t completely fucked up his chances with her he’s at least reduced them to nearly nothing. 

He rolls onto his back, rubs his hand over his face. There’s a hollow ache in his chest, an empty feeling of loss that he tries to tell himself is absurd as he never had her to begin with. And yet the idea of going back to how things were, to the snatches of conversation in the hallway between their apartments and long stretches of not seeing her at all... now that he knows how she kisses and the feel of her skin against his... now that he knows how much she treasured his most personal poem… it’s unbearable. He’s not sure he can survive it. 

He wants to go home. Back to his familiar surroundings, to his books and his kitchen, where he can hide away and lick his wounds in peace. He drags himself from the bed and changes back into his clothes, wincing a bit at wearing the same things for the third day in a row, then folds David’s pajamas neatly and places them on Emma’s bed. He scans the room to be sure he hasn’t forgotten anything and his eyes fall on his poem, lying on the floor where it must have fallen when they got into bed last night. He picks it up and stares at it until the words are a watery blur and then he blinks the tears away, carefully folds the page and tucks it into the back pocket of his jeans. 

He finds Emma where he expected he would, in the kitchen with Mary Margaret. She looks up as the door opens and their eyes meet. He holds his breath, half expecting her to look away, but she doesn’t and he offers her a smile, small and tentative. When she returns it he exhales in relief. It appears they’re still pretending, and he figures the least he can do is put on a good performance during his last moments as Emma’s boyfriend. 

“Morning, love,” he says, giving her a one-armed hug and a kiss on the cheek. “How are you feeling?” 

“Bit worse for wear,” she replies. “Mary Margaret gave me some aspirin though and she’s making eggs.” 

“Would you like some, Killian?” Mary Margaret offers. 

“No thank you, but I’d love some coffee.” 

“Of course,” she says. “How do you take it?” 

“Just black.” 

He takes the cup Mary Margaret offers him, removing his arm from Emma’s shoulders as he does. She feels the loss like a dagger through her heart, and when she realises that’s probably the last time Killian will ever put his arm around her she has to blink back tears. 

“I’m going to go get changed,” she says. “So we can get on the road as soon as breakfast is finished. I don’t know about you, but I really want to put on some clean clothes.” 

“Aye.” Killian agrees heartily. 

“David and I have some things you could—” begins Mary Margaret, but Emma interrupts. 

“Oh, no, don’t bother, please, it’s just another two hours in the car then we can wear our own things,” she says. “I’m just going to... go… now…” she gestures vaguely and hurries from the room. 

In the privacy of her bedroom she presses the heels of her hands firmly against her eyes, forcing down the thick knot of tears rising from her throat. If she cries her eyes will be red and Mary Margaret will know something’s up. Killian will know, and she can’t bear for him to pity her. She dresses quickly and runs her fingers through her hair, takes a deep breath and as she turns to go she spots her journal lying on the small table next to her bed. On a whim she grabs it, takes it downstairs and tucks it into her bag before returning to the kitchen. 

-

They don’t speak in the car on the way home. Killian tries to summon the will to tease her or tell her a story that will make her laugh but he can’t do it. He fears his heart may be breaking, and it takes every ounce of strength he has just to hold himself together around the brittle shards of it. 

Emma just wants to forget. She thinks about getting home, putting on her own pajamas and curling up on the sofa with a cup of hot chocolate and watching movies all day and just not thinking. Not about Killian or her hopelessly tangled feelings or anything else. 

She parks the car in front of their apartment building and they get out, still saying nothing. Wordlessly they head inside, into the elevator and out again, and to their respective doors. 

The silence is thick and tense as they unlock and open them, and then as one they turn to face each other. “Well,” Killian forces the word out, and a smile to accompany it. “I guess I’ll see you around, Swan.” 

“Yeah.” Emma smiles too, though she fears it may crack her face. “Thanks for doing this, Killian. I really do appreciate it.” 

“Of course, love. I’ll be your fake boyfriend any time, just say the word.” 

“Yeah.” 

Their eyes meet and hold and for a moment they stand still, trapped in emotion and the unspoken words that hang in the air between them. And then again as one they exchange stiff and awkward nods and turn away. 

-

Emma takes a long shower, as hot as she can stand, then gets immediately into her favourite pajamas. She makes herself hot chocolate in her largest mug, tops it with cinnamon and a truly obscene pile of whipped cream and curls into a ball on the sofa. Netflix is full of Christmas movies but none appeal to her, and when she realises she’s been scrolling aimlessly for more than half an hour she turns off the TV and throws the remote down in disgust. 

Despite her earlier resolution she can’t stop thinking about Killian. About how much she enjoyed her time with him, and how he turned out to be nothing at all like she expected. The flirting and innuendo is just one layer of him, she realises now, just the protective wrapper on the sensitive man beneath. The sweet and considerate and funny man with a strong streak of nerd that she finds ridiculously attractive. 

The man who wrote her poem. The mystery poet who understood her without even knowing her, whose words got her through one of the most difficult times in her life. It should be unbelievable, she thinks, for that poet and her flirty, womanising neighbour to be one and the same and yet she finds that it makes perfect sense. Killian hides behind snark and innuendo the way she hides behind her prickles, and she’s willing to bet that the women she’s seen leaving his apartment early in the morning, never the same one twice, are just another coping mechanism. She understands those.  

If she’d only understood it earlier. Killian has tried, over and over again, to get to know her. He invited her to dinner, offered her coffee, and each time she refused. She didn’t want to be someone he slept with once and never saw again, and caught up in her fear of pain and rejection she couldn’t see that that was never what he wanted. 

And why is that? 

Because she’s always felt it, that pull of connection, of recognition between them, and it terrified her. For a person who’s known precious little connection in her life and lost nearly everyone close to her, someone who’s spent her life wondering if she’s even capable of love, the idea of actually finding someone, of opening up to another person is a frightening thing to contemplate. 

And now it may be too late. 

She needs to sort out her thoughts, try to figure out what she wants, and now she understands where her impulse to grab her old journal this morning came from. She retrieves it from her bag along with a pen, flips it open to the blank pages at the back, settles down on the sofa and starts to write. 

Two hours later she’s mentally exhausted and emotionally wrung out, but she knows what she has to do. 

-

Emma stands outside Killian’s apartment taking deep breaths and trying to calm her racing heart. She’s just raising her fist to knock when the door swings open. 

“Swan!” Killian stops abruptly and gapes at her. He looks terrible, his hair standing up in tufts at odd angles and his eyes red-rimmed. “I was just coming to see you.” 

“You were?” 

“Aye.” He runs his fingers through his hair, tugs at it, and Emma understands why it’s such a mess. He’s clearly in turmoil. His distress hurts her heart but before she can think of what to say to ease it he speaks again.

 “Emma, listen,” he says, “I know I fucked things up, but—” 

“You fucked things up?” She doesn’t mean to interrupt him but the words just burst out. That was what she planned to say to him. 

“Aye, and I’m sorry but—” 

She shakes her head. “Wait how did you fuck up?”

“I tried to push you too hard,” he says, in a voice dripping with disgust. “I should have slept in the chair last night. I shouldn’t have kissed you.” 

“You regret kissing me?” 

“No, I—I regret making you uncomfortable.” He yanks on his hair again, making her wince. 

“But I kissed you back,” she points out. “I wanted to kiss you.”  

“You were a bit worse for alcohol, love—” 

“I still wanted to.” 

He stares at her. “You did?” he whispers. 

“Yes of course I did.” Emma’s head is spinning again. “Didn’t you get that from the morning at Granny’s?” 

He visibly cringes, his ears turning pink. “I owe you an apology for that as well,” he says. 

“What?” 

“I don’t know what happened.” Killian is too caught up in his self-flagellation to see the way she gapes at him. “I woke up and the next thing I knew we were kissing and I… I couldn’t stop myself from...”  

“Killian, I kissed you!” 

He frowns. “Did you?” 

“You really don’t remember?”

“I—I’m not at my sharpest first thing in the morning,” he replies. “It takes me a while to wake up fully.” 

“Yeah, I got that.” She starts to laugh. 

“Is this funny?” Killian sounds hurt. 

“Not really, no. It’s just— we’ve had each other so wrong. I thought you didn’t want me.” 

He snorts. “Why, because I practically begged you for months to go out with me? Because the first chance I got to spend time with you I jumped on with both feet?”

She glares at him. “Because I kissed you and you pushed me away. Twice.”

“I didn’t push you away, I just didn’t want to take advantage. To push you too hard.” 

“Yeah, well I see that now.” She’s nearly shouting. “But it felt like rejection. And that plus all your other women, well...”   

He frowns in confusion. “What women?” 

“You know, all the women that are always leaving your apartment in the morning.” 

“What are you talking about? If there are women fleeing my apartment I have no knowledge of it.” 

“They’re not fleeing, they’re just, you know, leaving. After a night of—she waves her hand—you know. Sex hair and last night’s clothes. Those women.” 

Killian looks completely baffled. “Swan, I haven’t slept with anyone in nearly a year,” he says. “I mean, yes, when I first moved here I had a few… dalliances, but once I—” he breaks off, ears going pink once again. 

Emma gasps and her heart begins to race. He can’t possibly mean what she thinks he does. “Once you what?” she whispers. He reaches for his hair again but she catches his hand and holds it tightly. “Once you what, Killian?” 

He swallows hard, then meets her eyes. “Once I met you,” he says gruffly. “After that I just couldn’t summon the interest anymore. It’s been a bloody inconvenience what with you not giving me the time of day, but there you are.”

“But I saw…” she trails off as she thinks back to the last time she actually saw any of those women. It’s... longer than she realised. Not since the first few months Killian lived in the apartment, in fact, when she glimpsed him in passing but before they officially met. 

“Oh,” she said. “Well I feel dumb.” She looks up at him, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “You really haven’t—because of me?” 

“When you say it like that, I feel dumb,” he tries to joke. “But yes. I haven’t wanted anyone but you since we met.”

“I want you too,” she says softly. “I always have.” 

He pulls her closer by their still-entwined hands, close enough that she can feel his breath on her temple, see the raw vulnerability in his eyes. “You’ve got me,” he says, softer still. “You always have.” 

She fists her hand in the front of his shirt and pulls his lips to hers. He meets her open-mouthed, his own hand clenched in her hair and holding her close as they devour each other without hesitation or restraint. Emma pulls her hand from his so she can slide it beneath his shirt, desperate for the feel of his skin, and Killian curves his hand around her ass and pulls her hips hard against his. 

 Emma whimpers at the pressure of his cock against her, the small noise bringing just enough awareness into Killian’s lust-drenched brain that he realises they’re still standing in the middle of the hallway. 

He breaks the kiss. “Emma,” he pants, letting his forehead rest against hers and trying not to notice how wrecked she looks.  

“Hmmm?” 

“I wonder if you’d care to share a bed with me again,” he says. “For more enjoyable activities this time.” 

“More enjoyable than sleeping?” she teases. “That’s a bold statement. I love sleeping.” 

“Bold, you say?” He grins at her cheek. “Is that a challenge? Because you know how I feel about those.” 

“Definitely a challen—oh!” she cries as he scoops her up and carries her into his apartment, kicking the door shut behind them. 

-

“So does this mean you’ll finally have dinner with me?” Killian asks much, much later as they lay entwined in the tangled sheets of his bed. 

“If you want,” she replies, and Killian frowns. 

“Of course I want,” he says. “I think we’ve established pretty firmly how much I want you.” 

“But are you sure you want, like, an actual full-on relationship? I’m not the easiest person to be with, Killian. I work long hours and I don’t open up easily. I mean, you said yourself I’m prickly.” She bites her lip and he can see the fear and worry in her eyes. 

“And as I told you, I like your prickles,” he says, running his hand up and down her back until she begins to relax. “I like everything about you.” 

The other L word dances on the tip of his tongue but he swallows it back. She’s not ready for that yet. He puts the word into a kiss instead, letting her feel how much he treasures her, and when they break apart the worry is gone and her eyes are soft and happy. She snuggles against him with a contented sigh and in that moment he knows—knows—that he won't have to wait too long to tell her how he feels. And for now, the knowing is enough for him. 

For now.

-

Three hundred and sixty three days later Emma wakes up warm in a very cold room. She grins and snuggles closer to the source of the warmth, her very own personal radiator. 

Killian just rolls his eyes when she calls him that, but she knows that deep down he loves it. 

He’s still asleep, his hand warm against her bare skin, his cheek on her hair. She nudges him and he opens his eyes, blinking sleepily. 

“Morning, love,” he says. 

“Morning yourself.” She rubs her cheek against his chest. “You remember the last time we woke up in this room?” 

“Aye. You accosted me before I was properly awake and had your wicked way with me.” His morning voice is deep and rumbly and it still does funny things to Emma’s insides, even after nearly a year.  

“Are you properly awake now?” she inquires. 

“Not quite yet. Why don’t you accost me again?” 

“Well, if you insist,” she purrs, and kisses him.  

A moment later her phone begins to ring. They ignore it. 

-

They linger in bed for as long as they dare, but Emma’s phone continues to ring and so they drag themselves up and get ready to head for Mary Margaret and David’s for Thanksgiving dinner.  

Killian shrugs on his coat and feels around his various pockets for wallet, phone and keys. When he’s sure he has all three he scans the room for anything they’ve forgotten, then looks over to find Emma sitting on the bed watching him with a small smile. 

“What?” he asks. 

“Nothing.” She gets up and goes over to him, kisses him on the cheek. “I just love you.” The words come so easily to her now but they still make his heart soar each time he hears them. Just as it soars whenever he sees the framed poem above their bed, when he thinks about everything it represents for them, how far they both have come. 

“I love you, too,” he replies. He tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, looks into her eyes. “Are you happy, Emma? Truly?” 

“What? Of course I am.” She frowns. “Are you?” 

“Very. More than I ever imagined I could be.” 

“Me too.” 

He kisses her, soft and sweet and full of love. “Are you ready to go?” 

“Yeah, though I should probably call Mary Margaret back first to let her know we’re on our way.” 

“All right. I’ll go check out and you meet me in the lobby when you’re finished.” 

Mary Margaret answers on the first ring. “Emma!” She sounds half-panicked. “Where are you? When are you going to be here?” 

“Um, in about an hour, I guess.” 

“Really? Are you calling from the road?” 

“No, Killian and I stayed last night in the inn where we got stranded last year. Kind of an anniversary thing.” 

“Oh, that’s sweet.” Mary Margaret sighs. “Killian’s so sweet.” 

“Mmhmm.” Returning to the inn was Emma’s idea, but she’s not about to admit it. Only Killian is allowed to see her soft, sentimental side. And besides, Mary Margaret’s not wrong. Killian is sweet. 

“Well, I’m glad you’re not far, honestly. Regina and Robin are already here so the sooner you arrive the better.” 

"We’ll be on our way as soon as Killian’s done checking out.” 

“Great! See you soon, sweetie.” 

“See you soon.”

-

“Did you sleep well?” asks Granny as she swipes Killian’s credit card. 

“We did, very well. Bit cold this morning, though, the heater went out during the night.” 

Granny nods. “Happens sometimes in that room, as you know.” You should know, her tone suggests, you requested that room specifically. 

She hands back the card along with a pen the receipt for him to sign. 

“I do indeed,” Killian agrees, signing his name with a flourish. “Oh, and by the way...” he gives her a razor sharp smile as he slides the receipt back across the reception desk. “I’m on to you, old woman.”

“What do you mean?” Granny tugs at the receipt but he doesn’t relinquish it. 

“I know what you did last year,” he replies. “With the ‘only one room’, and the ‘broken’ heater. Are you aware that my girlfriend’s sister-in-law is Mary Margaret Nolan?” 

“Darn it, Ruby,” huffs Granny. “That girl never could keep a secret.” 

Killian thinks that’s rather unfair. Ruby has kept his and Emma’s secret admirably. 

“Aye,” he growls, still holding the receipt. “And I have only one thing to say to you.” 

“Oh? And what’s that?” 

“Thank you.”

[redhoodieone]

Don’t Tell Me

A/N: I honestly don’t know how this came to me, but I can say this is a serious fic. If it’s well-received, I’ll write chapter 2, and so on.

 SUMMARY: Tim Drake discovers his longtime girlfriend, Y/N, is cheating on him with Jason Todd. But after Tim finds out about everything: relationships are tested, friendships are burned, and those who made mistakes will suffer from the consequences. Even happy endings aren’t guaranteed for everyone.

 WARNINGS: Cheating, betrayal, smut, language, and more later.

 Tim Drake knows something is going on. He’s usually on top of his game; he’s always 12 steps ahead than the Batfamily, and even his enemies. He was trained to always know the consequences and the outcome for everything, that’s what makes him a better detective than Bruce (who even admitted Tim was a better detective than him). But even being the best Red Robin and detective takes a toll on him; sleepless nights, obsessive compulsive habits on the computer, and even many cups of coffee to where he’s a shaking caffeinated addict. But that was before Y/N. For the past two years of his life, he knew he’s become a little better at taking care of himself because of his girlfriend, Y/N Y/LN. Instead of drinking five pots of coffee, he’s down to three cups at night. For sleeping, he’s in bed at ten o’clock beside Y/N. And the obsessive-compulsive disorder? He’s back on his medication, and he now he knows to ask for help when he needs it.

Many would say Y/N made Tim Drake a better person. Which comes back to his actual first serious girlfriend Y/N. Tim knew his past flings were just for fun, and never meant to last long or even be ready for committed future plans. But when Tim met Y/N at Bat Burger, he knew his life was just starting. She was an employee, dressed in a Catwoman costume, and served him, his brothers, and Bruce their food. Y/N’s eyes shined beautifully, her smile was full of laughter and fun, and her personality was kind, humorous, and even addicting. Not only was Tim captivated by her, but so were his brothers, minus Damian, who just respects her as a girl, and nothing more. Bruce was even amazed by her and admitted to the boys after dinner that she’s the daughter he’s always wanted (if he had one).

But Dick and Jason were surely sexually attracted to her. And again, like before with many rejections, Tim truly believed Y/N would choose Dick or Jason.

Who was he kidding? Dick was a prince charming kind of guy, who could win any woman over with his looks, compliments, and confidence.

And as for Jason, Jason was considered a “Sex God” by women who lusted after him. He was tall, strong, and literature nerd on the inside. What Jason also had was confidence like Dick, something Tim never fully gained in his life.

Confidence? Tim knew the definition well, but never knew what it truly was. Anyone who knew Tim would say he always resembled a nervous, always on edge mouse amongst lions, never fully speaking up for himself or even defending himself against those who mocked him. Bruce would even try to teach him how to be positive and have better self-esteem, but no matter what, Tim would always put himself down and be ashamed of everything about him. Tim always knew he would never be good enough for anyone.

Tim wasn’t even that tall for a 20-year-old. At just 5’5, he was barely an inch taller than Y/N. While Y/N was three years older than him, he truly feared he would never stand a chance now.

But to everyone, even Tim’s surprise, Y/N asked Tim out first. They’ve been together ever since then.

For two years, Tim and Y/N were inseparable. They were the couple who kissed in public, but never made out in front of others due to Tim’s social anxiety about PDA. They went on dates with other couples, most notably Dick and Barbara, and sometimes Jason and Artemis, when Jason felt like he needed a booty call for the night. But Tim began to finally loosen up, and enjoy himself around Y/N, more.

And for the first time in Tim’s life, he felt as if he finally had someone to live for, come home to, and to love and protect for the rest of his life.

While the girls were in the restroom fixing their makeup and gossiping, the boys were left alone; sipping their non-alcoholic beverages before patrol.

“So, you finally made it to two years with Y/N, Tim? I’m so proud of you!” Dick exclaims excitedly. Pretending to wipe a tear from his eyes.

Tim nods his head; even he can’t help but blush and smile from the news. He and Y/N spoke about it a while ago, and how they should celebrate their anniversary this upcoming weekend. While Tim had mentioned about a private vacation trip to Paris, Y/N had suggested going to Bruce’s beach house in the Hamptons with their friends.

“It is…really great. I’m really happy, and I think she is, too. I still can’t believe it we made it to two years,” Tim says, trying very hard to not lower his voice to hide his nerves.

“I can’t believe it either, Timbo. I mean, I figured you guys would have made it maybe to three months considering you act like a woman too, and that would have been a lot of estrogen in one relationship,” Jason jokes.

“Normally, I would be insulted by your God-awful jokes, but not tonight, Jay. I really think Y/N is the one,” Tim says.

“Really?” Dick asks.

“Yeah, really Tim? How?” Jason asks, equally shocked.

“I think you just know when you’re with someone, who you feel like you could spend the rest of your life with. I mean, I never believed in love at first sight, but when she gave me a chance, I realized it was more like love at the second sight, when truly, you see each other for the first time and learn more about each other. Y/N is just a wonderful, loving woman, and I know I want to spend the rest of my life with her,” Tim confesses.

Dick smiles and fist bumps Tim. “I think that’s great, Tim! Y/N would be the best sister-in-law, ever! Oh my God! I can’t wait for a wedding! Food, cake, and strippers!”

“Calm down, Dick. I haven’t even popped the question yet,” Tim says, smiling at his oldest brother.

“Yeah, why pop the question when you have yet to pop your cherry,” Jason jokes.

“Tim’s not a virgin, Jaybird,” Dick defends Tim, before noticing Tim looking away. “No way…”

“What? You haven’t had sex with your girlfriend of two years, yet?” Jason asks, surprised and joking as usual. But his eyes widen when Tim looks down. “What? Timbo, you still haven’t even fucked her? What the hell’s wrong with you?!”

“We just…haven’t had sex yet. It’s not a big deal, Jason. Most relationships can survive without sex. I wasn’t necessarily ready yet, considering sex is merely for procreation and I find it difficult to bring up the fact that I’m still a virgin,” Tim reveals. “And besides, I don’t really…need sex. I’m not even a sexually being. I just really love Y/N’s company.”

“So, what are you saying, Tim? You’re just never going to have sex ever?” Dick asks seriously. Dick’s a sexually active guy and he can’t figure out why Tim wouldn’t want sex.

“I just don’t see the need for sex. I’m living my life greatly, and I always feel satisfied with her emotionally. She hasn’t brought it up, so why ruin it now?” Tim expresses anxiously.

“Maybe she hasn’t brought it up because she thinks SHE’S not sexy to you! Jesus Christ, Timberly! You’re with the most beautiful girl in the world, and you have yet to fuck her pretty little brains out?” Jason snaps. He literally cannot believe Tim. “I would have fucked her when she allowed me to touch her the first time! I would make it so clear that I want her, and I’d get her to want me too!”

“Enough Jason!” Dick yells at him.

Tim knew sex is important to almost everyone. It wasn’t that Tim wasn’t sexually attracted to Y/N, but he never figured sex was a make it or break it deal with her. She has, a few times, initiated sex with Tim after dating for only five months, but he gently turned her down and insisted he needed some more time.  

Another time was when Y/N wanted to suck Tim’s cock in the Batcave, after he came back from patrol. The second she got down to his zipper, he softly removed her hand from his pants, and went to bed with her. Just sleeping, of course.

And ever since then, sex was never initiated or brought up again. Tim knew Y/N has her sexual urges, and she often resorts to masturbation, sex toys, and even smutty novels. That doesn’t bother him one bit, as long as his girlfriend relieves herself and keeps herself satisfied.  

But still, Tim sometimes wondered what sex would be like with Y/N, but his heart and body would tell him to stop.

“There’s nothing wrong with remaining abstinent, Tim. Just tell her the truth of how sex makes you feel. Y/N will understand. She loves you, and you love her,” Dick comforts Tim.

“I hope it’s enough though,” Tim whispers quietly.

Once the girls return, Dick and Barbara go back to his apartment for the night. Artemis claims to be tired and decides to go home but reminds Jason to go her apartment when he’s ready for bed. After they say their good nights, Tim drives Y/N and Jason back to Wayne Manor for Alfred’s homemade chocolate cake he made earlier.

Tim leads Y/N to the kitchen, with an arm wrapped around her waist tightly, and his lips kissing her forehead. With Jason trailing behind them, they all see the homemade chocolate cake in all its glory chocolate frosting on the counter, waiting to be devoured by all of them.

“Remind me to thank Alfred in the morning. Nothing beats chocolate before bed,” Y/N says, before sitting down on one of the stools by the counter.

“Yeah, chocolate and sex go good before bed,” Jason teases. He cuts three slices, one slightly smaller for Tim, and gives them their plates.

“Or just a night of cuddling goes a long way,” Tim mentions.

“Of course,” Y/N agrees, with a kiss to Tim’s cheek.

The three of them indulge themselves with the delicious cake. Bruce hastily walks into the kitchen, looking more stressed than ever. He’s in his Batman costume, without the cowl. There must be a serious problem.

“Trouble. You three in the Batcave. Now.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Y/N became a part of the Batfamily right after getting with Tim. Although she wasn’t exactly a vigilante, she worked the Batcomputer when Barbara wasn’t available at times. Still in her short black dress, Y/N removes her heels and gets comfortable in the computer chair for Bruce’s orders. She knew she has work to do.

Tim and Jason quickly got into their costumes and were standing beside Batman, while Y/N is at the computer.

“People have reported sightings of Deathstroke by the docks. He is possibly working alongside Bane because there was a reported shipment of weapons from an unknown source. I currently have Nightwing and Batgirl at Arkham in case anyone tries to break out to join Bane’s team up. Red Robin, I need you to go the docks and see what’s exactly being shipped in tonight.  Do not engage in any fights; this is only a recon mission for you. Robin and I will see if Deathstroke will be anywhere near the docks and see what he’s planning. Red Hood, I need you to stay behind in case we need backup. You can assist Y/N on the computer. I need you two to watch our backs and make sure there isn’t a planned attack tonight,” Batman commands.

“But I can stay behind and help, Y/N. I know more about computers than Jason,” Tim says, slightly offended by his father’s order. “No offense, Jason.”

“I’m already offended, Timberlina,” Jason says sarcastically.

“Jason could use the extra practice. I rather have him learn now then when the world’s already in danger, Tim. You either do as I say, or you are benched,” Batman threatens. “You know how I work. I get the final say.”

“I’ll do it your way then,” Tim mutters under his breath.

“Good, because for a second there, I was beginning to wonder if you needed to remember who’s in charge of this family.”

Batman growls under his breath and goes to the Batmobile where Robin is waiting for him. As soon as the Batmobile’s gone, Tim strolls over to Y/N. He slips his mask on and helps her to her feet. Tim embraces her tightly, and he kisses her cheeks before one peck to her lips.

“Be careful, Tim,” Y/N whispers in his ear.

“I will. I’ll always come home to you, sweetheart.”

And with that final peck, Red Robin jumps onto his bike and drives off.

______________________________________________________________________________

The night is slow. Red Robin wondered if the shipment was a rumor for tonight. He seriously doubts whatever Deathstroke and Bane have planned is for another night. All Red Robin was doing is sitting on the rooftop nearby, hanging along the edge for amusement, and tossing bread crumbs for the rats below.

He figures since it’s almost one in the morning and hasn’t heard back from anyone, he’d head back home now.

If anything, maybe tomorrow night is when they’d show up with the weapons, and attack Gotham right then and there.

All Tim could think about was a hot shower. The summer nights in Gotham are scorching hot and humid, and wearing a thick armored costume can make a guy sweat a lot as if he’s ran a marathon. He could just imagine Y/N, in her short pajama bottoms and tank top, snuggling with her back to his chest, as he holds her until he’s fast asleep.

Tim knew Y/N is the reason why he sleeps now. He always looks forward to bed now.

By the time he gets into the Batcave, Tim’s completely silent. He wants to surprise Y/N; sneak up on her with his arms around her waist, squeezing her until she surrenders, and carry her upstairs for a nice hot shower.

Just the way Y/N likes.

Tim parks his bike far away from the other bikes, so Y/N wouldn’t hear him. He slips off some of his armor and removes his mask and boots. When he’s down to his boxers, and t-shirt, he grins playfully as he makes his way to the Batcomputer.

Moans.

Skin on skin slapping.

Panting, breathing heavily.

Wet noises.

Is that…Y/N moaning?

Is she really relieving herself in the Batcave?

Tim slowly approaches an area to continue to hide but can see the Batcomputer where he’s standing. He sees his girlfriend, Y/N, naked on her back; lying on her back on the computer table with Jason, still in costume but with his cock in Y/N, in between her legs, fucking her hard and fast.

Tim freezes. His chest suddenly tightens to the point where it hurts, and he feels as if he can’t breathe.

How could they do this?

How could they do this behind my back?

He’s not even ashamed to cry. Wouldn’t anyone cry if they saw their loved one cheating on them with someone who’s clearly better than them?

Jason grunts, and lowers himself down to capture Y/N’s lips. Tim watches how her breasts bounce up and down, and how her back arches when Jason begins to rub her clit viciously. He’s seen Y/N naked a few times, but never saw her naked the way she’s lying down and getting fucked like how she likes it. Y/N bites her bottom lip, and moans Jason’s names as if it’s the last thing she’ll ever say.

She even giggles when Jason bites and sucks her hard nipples.

“You-you like that, baby girl? You like how my cock fills you up so perfectly? F-fuck! I love how you tighten around me!” Jason moans louder than before. “Your pussy is so fucking perfect!”

Tim watches in horror how Jason gently slaps Y/N’s vagina. The way he’s treating her dirty and talking to her is repulsive to Tim. How could Y/N let Jason fuck her like that?

Or just fuck her in general?

But I’m her boyfriend…Tim thinks to himself.

Maybe sex was important in their relationship. Was Tim really making Y/N miserable without having sex with her?

“Yes! F-fuck me harder, Jason! Fuck me faster!” Y/N begs. Tears at the corner of her eyes threaten to fall. “I-I need this so bad!”

“I know you do, doll. I’m gonna make you cum so hard, you won’t be able to walk straight for a week.”

“J-Jason! Oh my God! I-I think I’m going to cum! Keep fucking me!”

“Fuck yes, doll! I’ll fuck you the way you deserve to be fucked!” Jason growls. “You’re mine now!”

Jason’s hands lift Y/N in a sitting position and slams her down onto his cock, as he fucks up into her. They kiss again; more passionate and sexual than Tim’s ever kissed Y/N.

Y/N wraps her arms around Jason’s neck, and cries out in pleasure as a powerful orgasm goes through her body. Jason’s thrusts begin to get sloppy, and then he releases inside her, with a groan in her neck as he squeezes her tightly.

Y/N removes her head from Jason’s chest. He lowers his head and kisses her again. Tim watches the way Jason pulls out of her but keeps Y/N’s legs around his waist.

They don’t know but Tim can hear them speak.

Jason even says three words he’s never said to anyone.

As for Y/N, she says them back.

And this just proves to Tim, how this wasn’t the first time they’ve fucked behind his back.

______________________________________________________________________________

[Tim’s point of view]

 So, that’s it then.

The trust was already broken.

Y/N cheated on me with my brother.

Jason. Of all people, it had to be Jason.

It’s been two months since I saw them fucking in the Batcave.

I didn’t say anything to them. I wouldn’t even know what to say, anyways.

I know they’re still fucking, though. Y/N seems a lot happier nowadays. She kisses me more, and she’s even living with me in my room at the Manor.

And as for Jason? He’s not seeing anyone now. I was the first to figure it out, since Y/N’s got him wrapped around her finger.

But in those two months, I’m starting to see some changes in Y/N.

She’s moody. She’s hungry a lot. She hasn’t even started her period. The list goes on…

I know what’s wrong with her before she does, and it kills me to the point where I want to tell her; and catch her in her own lies.

But I don’t.

I don’t say anything because I know when the truth comes to light, it’ll all come back and hurt them.

And let’s just say I’m done with being treated like shit.

I’m done with being cheated on.

I’m done with everything Y/N and Jason are putting me through.

Oh…but it’ll all happen in good time. I’m just going to sit here, smile at them both, and wait for my chance to expose and hurt them.

Because I only have one shot at this, and I’m going to take it.

Joker’s out of Arkham, and maybe it’s time he’s heard the news that the former dead Robin is going to be a father.

And Jason deserves to go out with a BIG BANG.

[codenamesazanka]

Forgive this, but I gotta rant!

I don’t really like Deku! I feel his character has unutilized potential - or, rather, the character he is supposed to be isn’t the character he is. Of course, this is my opinion.

But yeah! I get it - he wants to be a Hero, he wants to ‘save people with a smile on his face’, but he’s quirkless. Still, supposedly he had this great determination and heroic qualities even before meeting All Might - his hero analyses, him applying to UA... which really means nothing. And that’s all he did.

Sure, he’s a kid, he’s 14, give him a break, but there was so much he could’ve done!!! Learn first aid(!), learn self defense, volunteer, community service, all that. He’s said to be smart, sure, but even better way to show this is to have him realized or had planned for his future Hero career by gaining supplement skills before he ever applied to UA. I really really wish we could’ve seen the UA kids learn first aid.

Biggest problem I have - though, granted, this is brought up in the story - is that everyone still thinks being a Hero is punching bad guys, when it should mean helping people. And yeah, it’s not just Deku, but he’s supposed to be so different All Might thought he should be his successor. The scene where he saves Bakugou, honestly he was also standing in the crowd hoping for a Hero to come - its only when he realizes it’s his friend, that he says his body moved in its own. Which, true, is brave; but him helping a unlucky rando without a second thought might have been better. Have him Good Samaritan the heck out of strangers.

It’s just, the story makes him out to be so kind and gentle and self-sacrificing, and yeah, I can see the times where those shine through; but I also am reminded of that time he heard Todoroki’s family life and decided the appropriate response is to focus on their upcoming match, and when he helps out Bakugou and Eri, it’s because it was relevant to him (recognizing Overhaul in the latter case). Sure, it’s just how stories and plot conveniences are - but there should be other times too for randos; just like two panels of it at the beginning of the chapter.

(Which is why I like the protag from Vigilante much better! In his spare him he just decides to pick up litter and help ppl in small ways, to destress! Yes! He missed his high school entrance exam saving a stranger from drowning! He’s got his flaws, he’s not pure heroic either, but he’s much more aware of his to help people than Deku)

The base for his character was Jack Midoriya from the oneshot My Hero; but Jack fitted well for his story. Iirc, He didn’t want to be the greatest hero ever, he didn’t even really wanted to save everyone really - he just wanted to be a ‘hero’ and help out. At least that’s more honest. He couldn’t be a hero tho, but he showed initiative in trying to get as close as he could to it - working for a support item company to get his hands in support items to be a hero with, going vigilante. But transplant that character to BnHA then try to say Deku is selfless and kind and determined from the get go is a bit of a mistake.

He’s also really not that smart. You know who’s really smart? Shigaraki Tomura!!! Hero analyses, sure, but besides brief tactical brains when relevant to plot, most of his fights is just punching. IIRC.

And why did he care so much about Kouta not liking Heroes? Leave the kid alone, let him hate cops if he wants

*

(Another pet peeve - the fandom’s focus on his quirklessness and how he meant he suffered great discrimination. He was obviously bullied for it, and I don’t doubt there is discrimination for quirkless people - but I don’t think it’s as bad as others make it out to be. I’m ready to eat my words, but I just don’t feel the story supports this - but again, it could be fault of the creator for now showing.

Like, just looking at him doesn’t tell you he’s quirkless. There’s no visible marker of it. He’s not gonna be called a ‘mutt’ or ‘dumb lizard man’ at first glance. Appearance-wise, he’s still the ‘norm’ in the universe - no appendages, no physical transformation.

Besides that, there a lot of people with ‘useless quirks’ - quirks that don’t do much at all, factor very little into their everyday life or skills. This is a superpowered society, sure, but it’s one where people are forbidden to use quirks unless licensed and where you still need boring old accountants and taxi drivers and real estate agents and busboys. These jobs don’t require quirks.

Instead, often we see it’s that people with the more ‘unheroic’ quirks that gets the short end of the stick. Mutant discrimination, quirks that can easily harm people if not very careful, quirks that violate human taboos (like blood drinking). I think, yeah, there is a hierarchy of valuing people for their quirks, definitely, but it’s not a clear hierarchy with quirkless people at the bottom. I do wish we see more quirkless people doing stuff!! But honestly I think there’s very little difference between someone quirkless and someone who has ‘bendy fingers’ (David Shield) for a quirk.)

*

Moreover - tho this is more the fault of the author I guess? - is that only according to genre and story conventions do we know Deku and Shigaraki will duke it out, or otherwise confront each other. There’s very very little interaction between the two beyond their actions effecting each other (and not on purpose, it just so happens because they’re on hero and villain sides). Their goals don’t even factor each other in beyond the vague

There’s still ample time for Deku to find out more about Shigaraki but the idea of Deku extending a hand to help Shigaraki is kinda laughable right now. Honestly Bakugou and Shigaraki had better connection and potential; for one, one of Shigaraki’s schemes was all to capture Bakugou and recruit him; for another, Bakugou learning that being a Hero isn’t punching out bad guys and having to save people’s hearts is an actual, interesting storyline that develops both characters, IMO.

All Might reaching out to Shigaraki and redeeming/ trying to redeem him? I’ll accept because I love whacked up Shimura family drama! The connection between the two, AFO’s meddling with them both, all that buried history and mystery to uncover, all those emotions of hatred and guilt, and the emotional consequences of Shigaraki getting incarcerated or executed for his crimes and All Might willing to try his hardest to prevent that / soften that for him, which contradicts his supposedly heroic and impartial justice law-abiding gimmick; and the fate of the story and effects on society resting absurdly on how their relationship turns out, bringing up questions about sacrifice and familial duty and justice - yes, absolutely!!!

Deku saving Shigaraki? :/ nothing to back that for now, still.

Petty, but it’s partly why I don’t wanna see allying-with-the-heroes-type-redemption for Shigaraki if it means Deku helping him lmao. Anyone else who’s relevant, sure! Fucking Gran Torino could work.

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 7 Chapter 9 Rundown

I felt very satisfied for the first 90% of this episode but then I got kinda annoyed in the literal final 40 seconds before the credits. But that’s just my own growing agitation for Cinder, so it’s fine. We’ll get to that later.

There isn’t exactly a very happy vibe at the start of the chapter though, as it opens on the cold streets of Mantle as the cold is now likely setting in something fierce and people have realized the heat is gone. As Maria and Pietro welcome folks into the shelter of his pharmacy, some of those inside wonder if this same problem is affecting Atlas as well, and if this dangerous change was done intentionally by the city on high. The two kind elders stare up at Atlas with growing concern.

In the dinning room once more, the council continues to bring up criticisms that have been leveled at Ironwood, specifically that he has two council seats. He tries to counter there are checks and balances to make sure he doesn’t misuse his authority, but they interject that he has been ignoring those regulations and making major decisions all on his own. The General tries to defend himself and say he had no intention of running amiss of the rules, but Councilman Sleet reminds him that intention and action are not always the same and his actions have been wrong. Speaking of making wrong decisions without meaning to, a faunus servant comes in to whisper concerning news in Jacques ear, presumably that the SDC Heating Grid has been off for a while and people are freezing. And it was done on his authorization. Guess Watts just loves to frame people. As Jacques urges the staff member to check the system again and grows visibly concerned, Sleet notices he’s not paying attention and pulls him back into the conversation. He tries to act like he knows what’s going on and agrees with what Sleet was saying, then claims he has no further concerns or questions. But Robyn is by no means done yet, badgering Ironwood about all his secrecy and fears that he refuses to share with the council. He says he fears Atlas becoming a tragic site like Vale or attacked like Haven, but she knows there’s more to it and wants to use her lie detector Semblance to force the truth out of him and test if he’s hiding something. The pressure is palpable, and we know he wants to be more open after the talk he had with Oscar...

But then the door behind Jacques slams open to reveal Weiss with a Phoenix Wright worthy OBJECTION to this one sided accusation. She knows the real culprit for the killing of anti-Ironwood speakers, and the fraudulent election, and she claims Jacques not only knows him in name but knows him personally. With such an accusatory prelude she sets Willow’s Scroll on the table and projects the video big enough that Camilla and Sleet can recognize Arthur Watts, who was thought to be dead since the “Paladin Incident” years ago. Papa Schnee feigns confusion and ignorance, but Daddy Ironwood stands in steely determination and tells Weiss to play the video. It shows the tail-end of Jacques conversation with the bad Doctor, how he hates Ironwood for the embargo and wishes he could fire everyone to save money, and we get to see just what Watts had in mind for Jacques to have his cake and eat it too. Watts is pissy and petulant that Ironwood disgraced him despite his genius contributions and wants to return the humiliation he received ten-fold. All Jacques has to do is give Watts his login for the Atlas Network and promise he’ll make ol’ Jimmy’s life a nightmare, and Watts will manipulate the polls to guarantee he gets that Council seat. Robyn seems very pissed off to learn the voting was rigged and she would have actually won like she had hoped. Jacques, or at least the version in the video, is delighted at the offer and commends Watts for his cutthroat “business” strategy. Ironwood has had enough of this, and Weiss stops the video so they can all glare at Jacques. He tries to get up to run and claims the video is fake. Sleet tells him to SIT. BACK. DOWN. but instead he bolts for the door only to find Weiss’ Knight standing guard and ready to take him down. By the power vested in her by the Kingdom of Atlas, Weiss arrests her father for treason... but maybe she doesn’t actually have the power to do that? It’s unclear but I definitely hope she can. Her entire relationship with her father has been based on him having power and control over her, her wanting to earn his approval and remain on his good side or suffer the consequences of his rage. The crux of her character arc has been recognizing her old way of living was unacceptable and finding ways to get free of that control and influence to become her own strong person. Now, through her hard work, she has more power than him and he has to do what she says or suffer the consequences of his actions against justice. But on the other hand you have to wonder what legal authority Huntsmen have to make arrests and the like. They’re not military or police officers, but they do handle more dangerous threats than the common man. If their job involves apprehending human criminals then they probably would be sanctioned to make arrests. To draw reference to another of my favorite shows, perhaps they are akin to deputized vigilantes like Green Arrow and his team on Arrow? They have specialized skills with which to handle threats the regular military and police aren’t trained enough for.

But breaking off from that topic and back down to one such criminal, Watts is standing on the street catching a snowflake in the palm of his glove before he sees people looting a store that I SWEAR is called Dust in the Wind. Desperate civilians have already started burning things to create a big enough fire so they can keep warm, and a few stolen Fire Dust crystals get thrown in to make it really flare up. Atlas soldiers are watching on and requesting advice on what to do. Glad they’re not stopping them forcefully since no one really knows the procedure for all the heat not working and this being the only way to live in warmth at the moment. Watts relishes in the chaotic moment and is joined by Tyrian.

We go back to the dining room where the adults stand around a sitting Jacques to continue interrogating him while the teens stand off to one side. As Ironwood berates the still defensive Schnee for stooping for such disgraceful lengths to get what he couldn’t fairly earn, Clover gets a blip in his earpiece and walks away to take the message, likely about the freezing crisis. Jacques warns Ironwood he’ll hurt his knees if he keeps jumping to such wild conclusions, but no avail. Better switch condiments, cuz that weak sauce ain’t working on the General. Now that he knows Watts is around and willing to cause trouble, all the loose ends are tying together quite smoothly. Since he made the Mantle security network he would know exactly how to manipulate it and work with Tyrian to do such violent acts and frame good people for it. Penny still seems pretty upset over her tarnished reputation because of that. And to top all of the scandalous deeds of Arthur Watts off, all of that was just to help Jacques cheat through the election. I should like to note that as Ironwood is giving Jacques the works he is backed by a smirking portrait of an armored Nicholas Schnee, as if even now the founder of this great company of his is amused by just how badly his son in law has fucked up royal. Jacques didn’t even consider the consequences of his alliance, he only saw the way it benefited him. There is blood on his hands for this, and he needs to be held accountable in a court of law for both his treason against the safety of his kingdom and the lives it lost. He is of course very much against this idea, all he intended was to win the election after all! But like Councilman Sleet said earlier, what you intend and what you are responsible for doing are not always the same thing. An excuse like that is not enough, and Robyn is physically enraged that he would try to trivialize the deaths of good people, to the point that she throws a chair across the room. Councilwoman Camilla asks the important question, what will Watts be able to do with the power Jacques gave him? They can only speculate into the grim infinitudes, until all their scrolls start buzzing with the concrete facts of just what he’s done. The heat is off, and Jacques can’t even log in to fix it anymore since Watts took his account and locked him out. The bastard tries to save his own hide and distance himself from the situation by saying he didn’t know Watts was planning this, but Winter tells him to SHUT. UP. and fix the heating grid, but he reveals what I did just now about no longer having access. Sleet voices the depressing obvious as Ironwood stares at his scroll and Robyn looks out the window, both in solemn concern: if the heat doesn’t come back on people WILL die. Ruby tries to get the General’s mind off of desperate what-ifs to focus on the facts of how things are right now. Since they know whose credentials Watts is using they can follow his network activity, but he would now have the ability to find out about the Amity project and get into its network. Fortunately, he hasn’t looked hard enough yet so neither he or Salem know about it. Weiss asks if they can lock the good doctor out, but he’s already set to work blocking their access instead. They can’t exactly trace him if he’s on the move so they need to lure him out so they can get to his access point. Robyn interjects, since she has been listening to all this cryptic talk and planning with no one paying any mind to her still being in earshot, that people as vastly different as Tyrian and Watts banding together seems rather farfetched without some larger factor. Their unanimous decision to go after Ironwood in particular seems even stranger with only one of them having much motive, and she still doesn’t get why Ironwood is keeping the Amity Tower a secret. James is quite shocked that she even knows about that, and I’m sure Blake and Yang will have a rather sheepish confession to make. 

But we don’t see that, because instead we bear witness to Atlesian Knight robots being sent in to dispel the rioters gathered around the massive fire. But as Pietro and Maria watch on in silent shock, the people of Mantle lash out hard at these cold metal symbols of a cold ruling society and smash two of the robots. But these heated emotions are the tipping point and the streets start lighting up red to warn the civilians. Grimm are coming, and they are coming in mass. Mammoth-like Megoliaths and swiftly vicious Sabyrs are charging at the massive gap in the border wall, and the assembled Atlas soldiers and robots are not enough to hold the line, while Manta aircraft on bombing runs do nothing to slow the pack or thin the numbers. The Sabyrs are the first to get in and demolish the robots at ground level, and unidentified avian Grimm fly over the heads of the soldiers on top of the wall.

The scene shifts again from that chaos to the dining room again for a calmer moment of building faith, as Robyn admits she now sees just how much Ironwood is trying to protect with all the work he’s doing and the secrets that means keeping. She recognizes he has genuine fear for what will happen if the truth comes out. But the moment is stalled there as Clover and Oscar burst in to inform everyone about the Grimm swarming into Mantle, and how the airfleet can’t do much of anything or else it might result in civilian casualties. Ironwood goes back into beard-stroking panic mode, this is precisely what he hoped wouldn’t happen. Clover urges him to send in ground support to handle the Grimm within the city, but Robyn insists nowhere in the city will be safe if it gets completely overrun. Evacuating people up to Atlas with the airfleet should be their priority. But Daddy Ironwood has to raise his voice, he can’t move the fleet for any evacuation measures or else Atlas would be vulnerable instead. He worked so hard to keep everyone safe, and it’s all falling to pieces in the worst way. But Oscar is there to offer his advice again, though Ironwood rudely rebuffs him that he doesn’t want that. He wants Ozpin’s advice, but Oscar tells him that’s not the fix all answer he wishes it were. Oz would have told him to keep secrets, but Ironwood already knew that wasn’t the right way to go and made his own new and better plan. That plan has failed, the General argues, but that just means the day he was preparing for is upon them already. It’s time to tell the truth and have faith that the world will accept it, starting with Robyn and the council. Ruby assures him, he will not be alone in this. That puts the wind back in his sails, and he starts making a plan. Oscar is probably best off going back to the Academy for safety, and Ironwood needs to have a talk with his critics. In the meantime, the huntresses and huntsmen need to head down into the fray to do what they do best. And that means everyone is coming, even Penny. They still trust and believe in her, and the people will too. Winter has a look of approval as Ruby starts calling the shots, she definitely sees growth from how unimpressive the young rose seemed at Beacon. Clover couldn’t have said it better himself, and they all go running out the door... past a servant who had been in the dining room a couple times last episode bringing in drinks. She watches the trained warriors all leave, and smirks. Creepy.

As everyone else heads out the door, Ruby and Oscar stop for a moment to try and talk, and of course they talk over each other and act like a couple of dorks. They both think that since Ironwood is revealing everything he knows, they ought to do the same. But a lot of the fans are just thinking how they seem like such a cute adorkable couple. Y’all know who I ship so I can’t say too much about this, but I do certainly think it’s fun how they get along so well and seem to be on the same wavelength. Anyway, Ruby wants to be the one to tell Ironwood but duty calls so it has to be Oscar. Marrow is not amused by their awkwardness, or by the fact that Ruby uses finger-guns. Still, the Ace Ops, Qrow, and the young huntsmen head down in an airship where Clover lays down a reminder that their priority is saving people not racking up a Grimm kill count. Ren seems very distressed, so Nora holds his hand and it seems to help a little. They both feel a bit safer being able to feel that they still have each other, and Blake and Yang share a look that seems to imply the same sentiment even if they’re not going to hold hands too. As the ship soars swiftly downward into the danger, we see a streak of danger soaring above them too.

Back to the political scene, Sleet and Camilla are quietly discussing the world changing whiplash they just had  from Ironwood telling them about Salem existing, and how they almost can’t believe it’s true but know he wouldn’t make something that serious up. Robyn, meanwhile, is just staring at the ground as if thinking to herself “I know I asked what he was hiding, but I immediately regret asking”. She looks over to the closed door, and we cut to the other side to see the General in his own mind shattering crisis. Oscar told him everything they know about Ozma and Salem’s past, how as far as they know she’s immortal and they can’t do a damn thing to change that. He’s understandably upset that Ozpin kept this from all of them, you can almost hear anguish and sadness in his voice, but Oscar affirms that it was for the sake of keeping hopes alive so they would stay motivated. Oscar also apologizes on behalf of RWBY and co. for likewise keeping it a secret, but they just didn’t know who could be trusted to know. Of all people Ironwood would understand that. But now was the time to bare it all, before anything terribly important was lost for good. It might be too late for that though, Ironwood’s hope seems pretty broken now. The poor boy tries to make sure the General is okay, to see what he’s going to do now that he knows all this, and for a second it seems like even he doesn’t know. But his head finds a firm place back on his shoulders and his gaze returns to the task at hand. Grand scheme matters will have to wait, they need to save Mantle. Oscar seems proud, says Ozpin would be too. Atlas is providing the hope it was always meant to, since such a marvel of ingenuity and power is supposed to be held to standards matched only by its altitude. I’m paraphrasing, but the way Oscar says it seems all too familiar to Ironwood, as if he was there to see Atlas get its start. It would seem there’s more of Ozpin in Oscar than even he realizes, or maybe there hasn’t been much Oscar himself in there for a little while?... But we don’t have time for that, because their transports have arrived and they need to go. The two agree that neither of them could handle any more surprises, but it’s the huntsmen and huntresses who are in for the surprise. 

A new Grimm called a Teryx that as you would expect resembles a pterodactyl has latched onto the ship and no matter what fancy flying Harriet does to shake it loose it’s not budging. All that comes of it is Jaune starting to get airsick for the first time since Volume 1 and the Grimm moving around to the starboard side and digging its talons into the wall, right between Blake and Yang’s heads. Any further to either side and one of them might have died. The news only gets worse as another Teryx dive bombs them and damages the starboard engine. They all agree now would be a good time to bail and just get to the ground, and Clover opens the side door... on the side where the Grimm is. As his copious luck would have it, the damaged engine breaks loose and takes the Teryx down in a ball of flame so they’re safe to jump. As the kids start jumping, Elm playfully tells Harriet not to stay on board too much longer and she responds with sarcastic thanks. Not friends my ass, they all get along so well! Harriet decides to be a little extra with her exit and punches the windshield to go out onto the roof, inviting Ruby to try and keep up. Ruby gives a smile with more purity than distilled mountain spring water and follows her. Clover and Qrow are the last to jump, and Clover tries to show off a little for his boyfriend.

We go back to Schnee Manor for the last time as Jacques is being taken away by soldiers and Willow watches from the front door. Whitley is sitting sadly on the stairs alone, and Willow looks over to him with a slight smile. Clearly, she feels like the worst is behind them and hopefully they can try to be a real family now, but he runs away up the stairs. I don’t blame the poor kid, he feels like he has no one now. His mom has always preferred to drown her despair in liquor over being a present parental figure, and his sisters see him as an annoyance whom they never give the time of day. His father was the only one who showed him any attention or guidance, and that was so he could mold the boy in his image. He played along and did as he was told because no one else was there for him to give him much choice. Whitley probably wants to get along and be cared about by his sisters, but they thought the worst of him because he chose to listen to the father they wanted nothing to do with. Its a tragedy of circumstances, and it gives new context to lots of old scenes. The poor kid probably was kinda hurt that Weiss didn’t even say hello or show joy in seeing him again when she arrived for the party last episode. I definitely hope these two can recover and find a happier life. But as Jacques is brought to the armored truck, complaining all the way, we instead focus on a member of the staff leaving rather nonchalantly: the same young woman we saw smirking at everyone leaving earlier. She even starts skipping and if you couldn’t tell the twist already the familiar creepy music should make it obvious; Neo is already in Atlas, and if she’s here then Cinder can’t be far behind. Neo goes to a locked room in an unknown building with wall to wall windows showing the city outside, and sure enough there’s the fiery cockroach herself waiting for her companion’s return. Neo was in disguise to do recon since Cinder would stick out too much in a crowd, and it seems she found what they’re looking for. That sounds quite ominous and troublesome, and I’m a little annoyed that at the first sign of the new interesting villains getting exposed and being in our heroes crosshairs we return to the old villains who’re still trying the same old shtick. Still, at this point they almost feel like the Pilaf gang from original Dragon Ball, once the worst thing our heroes had to deal with but are now practically comedy relief villains who still think they’re the top threat. I’m not that mad, I just don’t much like Cinder and her nefarious schemes anymore. Still, doesn’t detract from the great satisfying episode.

[cookinguptales]

So a couple days ago, Angela Peters, a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy, tried to get her nails done at a local nail salon. (“Da Vi nails”.) She was turned away because of her disability. Witnessing this, an employee at the Walmart nearby did her nails for her.

Here are some real headlines about this:

“Walmart Employee Gives Woman With Cerebral Palsy A Manicure” “Walmart employee uses break to paint nails for woman with disability” “Why This Walmart Employee’s Act of Kindness Is Going Viral”

“Walmart cashier steps in…” “Walmart worker gives…” “This Walmart employee painted…” “Cashier’s act of kindness…”

You can probably already see where I’m going with this, but I’m not finished. I read a few of the articles. Many of them did not provide the name of the nail salon who had broken the law to discriminate against Peters, and the articles that bothered to quote Peters at all were sure to quote her as saying she “forgives” them and doesn’t want to get anyone in trouble. She’s described as a “sweet” and “humble” regular customer.

As for the Walmart employee (who I won’t bother naming because she isn’t the important part of this story), each article is basically a hagiography. They talk about how kind she is, how selfless she is, how she “stepped in” to right a wrong (even though the nail salon will continue to discriminate and no one is stopping them so the wrong really hasn’t been righted). She’s interviewed at length and no one fucking talks about the ADA or how it’s not just thoughtless to turn away a person with a disability, it’s cruel, discriminatory, and illegal.

“We’re not trying to bash the nail salon. We’re not trying to make them lose customers, make them look bad.”

WHY THE FUCK NOT? Imagine if your local businesses refused to serve women or POC — hell, we’re having a national dialogue about the fucking homophobic bakers. This is discrimination.

The thing is, it’s not just this story. This happens all the time. A disabled person is discriminated against, and instead of the focus being on a business, law, or entire system that has failed them, a news story will focus on an employee who helped them. Or a teacher. Or a cop. (Note: A recent report found that half of all people killed by cops have a disability! Google it.)

This reframes the story, and more importantly, refocuses it. This is now a story about an act of kindness. No one has to pay attention to the discrimination at play. No one has to pay attention to the laws being broken, or the laws being changed. No one has to look at a system of discrimination against PWD — because that might implicate them. If the causes of discrimination are examined, then people will have to change the way they behave. Funds will have to be reallocated. Laws will have to change, and existing laws will have to actually be enforced.

Most of all, no one actually has to pay attention to the disabled folks being discriminated against. We can, once again, just be another inspirational prop in a feel-good story that improves the lives of able-bodied readers but not those of the disabled people who actually need help. It’s dehumanizing and it prevents us from claiming our rights.

Here’s the real story here: A woman was turned away from a local business because of her disability and they will face no consequences. No one even wants them to. This Walmart employee who did her nails for fun? Doesn’t matter at all.

I get wanting to see examples of human kindness. But kindness and justice are not the same thing, and one cannot replace the other. It’s kind when my family interprets for my deaf relatives. It’s kind when people help me with non-accessible doors. It’s kind when a stranger gives a woman a manicure.

But kindness didn’t help us when the cops came to our house multiple times and each time refused to bring an interpreter, which resulted in abuse victims being forced to interpret for the person who just beat the shit out of them. Kindness doesn’t help me when I go to a building and there’s no visible way to get inside. Kindness won’t help the next person who goes to that nail salon and gets turned away.

We cannot rely on kindness, just like we cannot rely on luck. That’s literally why we have discrimination laws. So people won’t have to hope their boss is “kind” enough to hire disabled people — or women, or POC, or religious minorities, or LGBT people. So people won’t have to hope transportation companies are “kind” enough to take your accessibility equipment. (I’m fucking looking at you, Uber.) So people won’t have to hope their doctor will be “kind” enough to get an interpreter. (Yes, my family members have literally been turned away from doctors before.)

I don’t want to have to hope that I can live a normal life. I want to know I can because there are laws in place to protect me and my rights. Which is why these articles are so goddamn damaging. It takes the focus off of the issues we face and puts it right back on the able-bodied people who the media has always felt more comfortable spotlighting.

This approach prevents tangible change.

The fact that this news story went viral but HR 620 passing the House didn’t? That says everything. It says that able-bodied people (and the media organizations that shape our culture) do not actually care about the well-being of people with disabilities. They care about feeling good about themselves without doing a goddamn thing to truly help us. They don’t mind that we still depend upon them for every scrap of good we get — and don’t want to fight so that we have the ability to get good things all on our own.

It’s far easier to go “wow, that woman’s so nice” than to change laws or make sure existing laws are actually enforced. That requires funds. It requires work. It requires legislative changes. And those are all things we’ve been conditioned to never ask for for fear of being labeled a drain or a burden. No one wants to be that bitter cripple that no one likes. The one who asks for far too much, like basic human rights.

Fuck off with that “a wonderful woman helped a pwd who was turned away” bullshit. How dare you call this a feel-good story! Every headline should be “LOCAL BUSINESS DISCRIMINATES AGAINST PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES” and until it is, I’ll just keep on being goddamn furious.

‘Coz frankly, I don’t much care if they like me anymore. Having legal rights is better than being liked — because then you don’t have to depend on being liked to survive. Amazing!

(Yo, call your senator about HR 620, a bill that will strip all efficacy from the ADA and prevent PWD from enforcing their rights. Donate to a local disability rights organization. Or heck, if this post resonated with you, drop a couple dollars in my ko-fi to help pay for my bus fare. I just learned that the nearest library to my new home is inaccessible, so I’ll have to take the bus across town! Lovely.)

[bywandandsword]

Ok so, just now for that last post the generator shot out ‘Simple Country Protagonist of Noble Birth’, and that’s essentially one of my OCs so here’s her story if your interested

The takes place in the 1880-90s. When the story starts, Simon’s been on the run for almost five years, dressed as a boy, and half the time she forgets that she’s not one. She spent six months riding up and down the river on the steamboat and got off in Missouri to find other work, hopping from job to job, always reading the papers for any news from New Orleans, and has gotten very good at pretending to be just another young man looking for work. She spent a few months riding the rails, with the vague notion of California or Canada or where ever, just always on the move. Margaritte’s family down south has gotten very powerful, and even more so when she married again, this time to an oil baron turned senator. Simon doesn’t know if Marg is still hunting for her, but isn’t about to risk being found. At the start of the story, she finds herself in Kansas, following a river she was told would lead her to a road, which she could follow to a railway, but either she’s lost or it’s way father than she anticipated, she’s almost out of food, and it’s late September, so it’s getting cooler than is comfortable for someone without a jacket at night. That’s when she sees a farm, miles away from anything, and all the residents are having their lunch outside, enjoying the some of the last few pleasant sunny days of the year. Well, this is too easy, Simon thinks, she’ll just take a bit of bread, a bit of meat and cheese, maybe a better knife, and be on her way with none the wiser, just like she’d done a dozen times in the last few years, she’s long gotten over any moral debate about stealing. Only this time after she grabs what she wants, an incident involving an insistent horse leads to her being discovered. The oldest son Michael (who has two younger twin sibs), wants to take her into town right then and hand this thieving boy over to the law. The father, an older man named Mr. Elias Blez, sees how travel worn and ragged the youth is, how he didn’t take anything but food, and knows that winter is almost upon them, and thinking they’ve been needing a bit of help around the farm anyway, makes Simon a deal. If Simon agrees to work for them as a farm hand until May, they’ll let him leave with as much food and supplies as they can spare and won’t turn him into the law. Mr. Belz also makes it clear that if Simon does try to run, he wouldn’t make it out of the county. It’s black mail, but Mr. Belz think’s its ultimately going to prevent Simon dying of exposure or worse somewhere. Simon, who doesn’t feel like she has much of a choice, agrees. Almost immediately, Mrs. Johanna Belz figures out that Simon isn’t a man, but Simon is like, “We already have an agreement, I won’t be treated any different because of this realization” (cause guess who doesn’t ID as a woman anymore but who doesn’t have the vocabulary to say she’s genderqueer!) and the family hesitantly agrees to let this weird half-feral runaway be. So, she helps them do the last of the harvest and the culling and the rest of the winter preparations. Michael expects Simon to rob them blind and run away any moment now. Simon is secretly glad to have a place to stay for the winter and actually grows to care a great deal for this family, though she still puts up the distanced grumpy front she started with. They go into town sometimes and Simon always presents as male. As winter goes on, Simon gets the first taste in a long time of what it’s like to be in a family again and all the feelings she’s suppressed start bubbling up. Once, after a long day, a family friend and his kids brings over some food, booze, and instruments and the two groups have an impromptu party. Simon gets shnockered and when she gets pressured and dared to sing something, she grabs the fiddle and preforms an old diddy her father used to play in French, then a piece by Bach, then a waltz. And once she’s felt the shape of French in her mouth, her first language, she doesn’t release it easily, the more she drinks the more French she speaks and the more the Belzs wonder how the hell a ragged vagabond they found stealing from them acquired training in classical violin and learned French. 

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Flashback: Her full name is Marie Simone Madeline Lereau de Saint-Maxent, but everyone just called her Maggie. She got this absurdly long name cause she happens to be the eldest child of the wealthy merchant Saint-Maxent family, living in New Orleans. Her father is gone a lot for business and she’s an only child but she has her mother and tutors for company and spends most of her childhood receiving a strict, classical education, even spending a few summers at a boarding school in Paris. When she’s 14, her mother gives birth to her younger brother, Jean René, but she dies shortly after. Obviously everyone is devastated, but Father decides his children need a mother and, as was commonly done at the time, he marries a recently widowed woman with three children of her own, Margaritte. It starts out pleasant as it could be, but as Maggie ages, and Father refuses to change his will to prefer Margaritte’s children over Maggie and Jean, Marg gets manipulative and controlling of Maggie, though never towards baby Jean. The years roll on in this tense way until, when Maggie is 17, Father, Maggie, and two of Marg’s children catch the Fever. Father dies, but Maggie and the other youths recover. Marg uses this as an opportunity to force Maggie to sign paperwork denouncing her claim to the inheritance, and produces a forged will to back it up. She’s paid off the police and the lawyers to make it stick and threatens that if Maggie turned up dead, no one would know that she didn’t die from fever too. Maggie refuses and that night, men sent by Marg break into her room and try to drag her out, but she manages to get free of them, grab one of their guns, and kills one of the assailants. The others flee. She grabs as much clothes, money, and just, stuff that she can fit into a bag and runs. She catches a train that night to Baton Rouge. She’s still got the gun and the whole train ride, she’s processing wtf just happened and cleaning the blood off her hands and worrying about her brother and wondering if it was really fever that killed her father or poison, but by the time she gets to Baton Rouge, she’s together enough to think. She uses her mother’s maiden name, gets in contact with a friend, the son of a family servant, and rents a room in a low-key b&b and waits for the newspapers. Sure enough, they report that all members of the Saint-Maxent family had died, except the youngest, and that Marg find herself a fortunate and exceedinglyy wealthy new heiress. Her contact reports that Marg’s men are still looking for Maggie and offers to help her disappear. They sell what valuables Maggie brought with her, except the gun, she cuts her hair, starts going by Simon. She buys some of men’s clothes clothes, using enough money to bribe her way onto temporary employment on a steam boat headed north. 

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Simon doesn’t say anything more about it until almost February. By this point, she’s grown to love and trust the Belzes and their community and vice versa, Michael has grown to trust her too (especially after Plot and Hijinks), and when he stopped being a dick to her, she befriended him and has feelings for him but like hell is she going to admit it to herself much less anyone else. She’s starting to think this might be someplace she can stay, actually build a life, a home. Then Marg’s name shows up in the paper. I haven’t figured it out but for business reasons Marg has bought a house in the closest big city, maybe Kansas City or Dodge City? and is using it as a base of operations for a branch of her business. But that means she and many of her people are less than a stones throw away, practically breathing down he neck, and Simon just fucking has a panic attack. What if her step mother comes to their town? Are they still looking for her? What if someone identifies her? What if one of her men recognizes her? And what’s happened to her brother, who’d be about ten? Well, Mrs. Belz finds Simon clutching the newspaper, hyperventilating, and after that, the truth comes pouring out. Everyone is shocked. I haven’t actually thought much past this scene, where Simon tells her story to the very shocked Belzes, but Stuff will happen. The Belzes talk her out of just bolting for Canada, Simon will eventually encounter Marg again face to face after she rogues into the house for some reason. Marg has a delicate little pistol, but Simon still has that old blood stained revolver. Way after this, Michael will fistfight one of the goons, and the story will eventually be brought to light, but I have no idea how that will all play out or the consequences. 

[autismgavemychildvaccines]

Why I’m Ashamed to Be Christian

So, now that I am literally sick of the Measles nonsense (no, fucking literally, working 12+ hour shifts on an incident management team has got me sick and tired enough to call in tomorrow), I’ve decided to do a non PH rant, though it’ll for sure rear it’s fucking head somewhere in here. Instead, let’s tackle something real fun. Religion! Time to buckle up.  In my half fucking awake daze that I was just nudged out of, something really wild hit me. My faith, my belief in a very specific God with a specific book (though I admit that other religions, so long as their origin is not a company or a tool to oppress others on the outset, are valid/likely just as true) makes no God damned sense.  (For reference, here I will claim my most closely related sect as my own; American Evangelism [though if one were to ask in person I’d say “non-denominational”, but historically, the two are close] and will be speaking as a part of a community I used to closely belong to but now have drifted away from on some granola-crunching dumbassery that is “I am a church of one” bullshit. I’ve wanted to be other things, but ever since I left the Freemasons, fuck all else has had much appeal.) So, first things first, Garden of Eden, right? Pretty fucking cool place, some might have even called it a perfect garden, a perfect place for humans and God to interact? But here’s my hang up with it. The trees of Life and Knowledge, and the rule that Adam and Eve could eat of any fruit except those grown upon that pair. Why even fucking have them?

 When I asked that as a kid in a faith based area, they said because it was a test.

 Of what?

 “Well, of our loyalty to God and our Faith, of course”. 

Except again, what the fuck? Like, I get the idea of free-will, in fact I am a huge believer in individual free will (I’ll get to that in a sec), but here’s the stickler here. As any other creative type will tell you, we want our work to take on a life of its own. Like say I wanted to program a remarkably bright AI, and it worked, and all I wanted was for it to recognize me as its creator and to discover and enjoy what home I could make for it. You know what I wouldn’t do? I wouldn’t give an AI, even with some simulated free will, the ability to break certain rules. For example, I wouldn’t allow it unrestricted access to the internet or my personal accounts. I wouldn’t even give it the concept that such things existed, let alone put it right fucking there to be used. That would be a flaw, an imperfection in an otherwise perfect place. And yeah, there’s something to be said for giving free will with not-free consequences, sure. But two things: 1) Don’t be pissed when the thing happens that you allowed to exist in the first place and thus forced it to be a mathematical certainty now that you’re dealing with perhaps the most curious species to ever exist.  2) Don’t go blaming them for a lack of faith. If anything, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, an act that abusers often use to get what they really want and have a thin veneer of an excuse to make happen. Now doesn’t that sound a lot like a good number of the followers of this faith, as opposed to an almighty, omnipotent, powerful being? Hmm, something to consider there, maybe.  Speaking of followers, let’s actually also take a look at some of the prophets that we as American Christians often hold so dear. Now me? I’m a Luke guy, I like Luke. Peaceful, loving gospel for the most part, and I dig it. Peace and love, baby, that’s all I want coming from stories regarding a higher power that we had to hang up like a fucking tapestry to make sure we got all that love. But do you know who I fucking hate, and who I blame the most for how the American chruch is? Paul/Saul of Tarsus. Thiiiiiiiiiiis prick. This fucking Deus Vult Vulture. Actually in many ways, he really is the archetype to the Modern Evangelical fucking anything. Actively participated in the harassing, attempted extinguishing and successful terrorizing of a marginalized group. Then after being hit back for it, literally “seeing the light” and trying to be the fucking vanguard of said group only to lead it down a path where he’s suddenly the appointed expert of anything to do with the issue. And while he does this, he helps create the most violent and bigoted thoughts in the whole of the religion, and is praised for his visions as he says they are truly from God, and can thus act oh so righteously. This right here is a fucking problem, y’all. Like, I know the whole forgiveness idea allows for some mental gymnastics on how this could even happen, but even then to make a genocidal ass-face your de-facto leader aside from Christ himself for the next 2000 years is a fucking flip that even at the 1988 Olympics, if Christians were America, Russia would give them a straight 10/10.    And yet, for many of us, that’s exactly what we’ve done. Hell, we’ve even fallen into the forced victim narrative of the synopsis of this asshole:  “Oh well, you see, I was a heathen and thus I couldn’t help myself, but then like, the God of the people I was killing talked to me and like, now I have to do this (Take on the “burden” of leading the church) as penance for what I couldn’t help myself over.” We’ve fallen for it so much, that it may as well be hard wired into our nervous system to believe anything resembling it, just as we assume if something is flat, green and on a tree, it’s a leaf.  Maybe it’s why we as a religion (and let’s face it, other Abrahamic religions as well) are so damn good at beating down the marginalized while screaming that we are the saints, we’re the sacrificiers trying to make things better. Like, let’s have some modern day fun with this bullshit, man; let’s see how we treated and in many places continue to treat women.  Of the few churches I have been to, 100% of them had one dual-sided message that made me real fuckin’ uncomfortable, fam:  Part 1) That women cannot be trusted onto themselves and thus 2) Men must take control of them and society to not allow for some unspecified “Ridiculous bullshit”.  (as a fair heads up; I do fully recognize non-binary, trans individuals, etc, but for the sake of brevity I’ll be mostly referring to M/F in the traditional sort of way, because opening up Christianity’s treatment of anything regarding gender fluidity is a Ph.D. thesis for another day)  Now, I don’t know about y’all, but I know damn well that out of all the dudes I know, and all the lasses I know, they’re a pretty mixed fuckin’ bunch. It’s almost like their gender assigned at birth doesn’t really affect how reasonable they could be as people nor how much responsibility they should have. Obviously some cultural practices skew this quite a bit in so far that women are expected to take more responsibility, younger, and for less praise, but if anything that should help destroy, not reinforce that message.  And yet, the idea persists so much in Christian circles. And not just by the men themselves, but the women, also. For the longest time of my church going days, the pastor was a woman. She wholly believed it was just and right that her husband be in charge of everything, that women should be loyal to their men in all aspects. Then again, she also (despite recruiting members primarily from college) did not believe in evolution at all, so there’s that in terms of an intellectual hurdle. But regardless, this inherent submissive attitude within the faith (and even the half-hearted and self-congratulatory “Yeah but we REALLY are the ones making the decisions because we can withhold sex if we want” is essentially that too just a smidgen more empowering), when combined with the idea that men should be wholly in-control (which is a breeding ground for toxic masculinity if there ever was) is shameful. It’s what has allowed so much bullshit in the past, including these recent abortion laws. Now, I’m going to cover abortion in another post (I might get to it tomorrow; It’s been on the burner for weeks), but it’s super pertinent here.  We, as a religion, have allowed ourselves to tell women (just as we tell/told minorities before) that they cannot be trusted with their own bodies, that they cannot be trusted when they speak, and most certainly cannot be trusted to truly hold dominion over anything. And that has allowed the most insidious, hateful, bigoted, disgusting things to happen in the name of God. A God that while I am writing this post I still believe in, but my doubts about how genuine the message has ever been is hitting home. One whose words about peace have been ignored when they could be interpreted or pointed to to support war, where the rich can profit off the poor, or to support sexism, because we as men historically have wanted to control “everything of ours”, or to take the very free will we claim to hold so dear from those who need the ability to make their own decisions the most. Words that have been used to hold down good people from making lives better. Words that in the hands of those who wanted, could be profaned and desecrated and thus allow for profane and disturbing events, both on the grand stage of the world and behind the closed doors of any house in some small town. Words which are held up with a wink and a nod so that followers feel included when they are scammed by some fucking fried chicken joint who wants to make more money to fight against equality, or to pay for another $9 million jet for some asshole who croons about how the poor should be grateful they do not have the temptations of the rich.  To other followers, do you not lament that we are this way? That we have been this way for so long? Because I fucking do.  And to those who have been discriminated or marginalized or whatever else against because of your gender or skin colour or situation or victimization or  past deeds of any sort; I’m sorry. Genuinely, truly sorry you have suffered as you have. Sorry for what people have done thinking it was somehow morally or spiritually justified, sorry that they thought they were saving you. And I can assure you that I will never try to lead you as those before me have tried to. Though if it’s all the same, I’d like to get to hear you, and walk beside you.