#which totally ruins the point of the feat

[starryletters]

gojo; friends to lovers headcanons!

notes : set in 2006, reader being silly and a bit dense, gojo falls first and you fall just as hard , fluff! suguru and shoko mentioned bc i love their friendgroup🫶

a/n : eep my first (published) piece of writing! im so excited, and i hope people like it!!! this isn't the most polished, but i wanted to start off with something a little more simple ( ◡‿◡ *) anywhoo satoru is the boyfriend ever!

you met him when you joined the jujutsu high second years aka geto shoko and gojo!

and gojo IMMEDIATELY decided to annoy the shit out of you

but like in an endearing way (that's what he thought, at least)

surprisingly, you actually found him funny, and bantering with him back and forth quickly became your favorite part of every day.

he really liked how you were able to keep up with him and how easy it was to talk to you about anything and everything. no matter what he had to say, you had a reply (or an insult) ready to go.

satoru's a really physically affectionate person in general and he was over the moon when you didnt seem to mind how he randomly slung his arm around your shoulder or how he liked to fall asleep with his head in your lap. (i could tie to this whole thing to his infinity and talk about how sad it is for someone that shows love through physival affection to experience smth so traumatic that they put a LITERAL barrier between them and others preventing all forms of touch but..i wont!)

it wasn't anything romantic at first! (i love platonic physical affection, okay?)

but there were small moments where you felt his touch and felt such a warmth in your heart. you had pure adoration for him [and if you ever caught his stare, you would know he adored you the same.]

anywhoo! you always thought he was attractive because i mean, look at him

but you never really saw him as a romantic prospect. at least not until you talked to him and got to know him. which you told shoko later on, and she called you a freak of nature for it because "usually he has the opposite effect on people"

there wasn't really a distinct moment you can remember where you developed feelings for him. the realization totally caught you by surprise!

you were hanging out with your fellow second years after school, and gojo made some dumb dad joke, at which only he laughed (of course), but you glanced at him from the side and his laugh!!! it was so beautiful!!! like, why are you enchanted by this LOSER right now???

either way, that's when you noticed that maybe that feeling you got in your stomach whenever gojo touched you may not have been entirely platonic. horrified and also a teensy bit excited at your discovery you look away and try to make your blushing face cool down. cool, this was definitely gonna ruin one of the best relationships and friendships you've ever had! gojo knew geto and shoko before you, so if you ever confessed, it would probably ruin your friendship with them too! cool, cool, very cool.

of course, that was total bs, but whatever you were anxious at, your newfound feelings and relationships are confusing, and you maybe (definitely) had a bit of tunnel vision in that moment.

after that (like the smart person you are), you convinced yourself that "well. if i just avoid gojo..the feelings will probably go away, right?"

oh, you poor naive FOOL

first of all, avoiding gojo was no easy feat (just ask nanami)

second of all... by the point you realized your feelings, he was already completely WHIPPED for you

"suguru! did you see? she totally looked at me for two seconds longer than usual today!"

"uh-huh"

"she definitely loves me back, dont you think so too?"

"you're delusional."

"you're my best friend! you're supposed to indulge me in my delusions!"

definitely the type to lay on his stomach and kick his feet in the air while thinking about you

and he NEVER shuts up about you

shoko and geto seriously deserve financial compensation for this and are BAFFLED by the fact that you dont notice how lovestruck he is by you?

so as soon as he realized you stopped replying to his texts like you usually did and you didn't sit next to him anymore so he could lean his head on your shoulder, he was devastated

DEVASTATED

like what did he do????? why does the universe hate him??? ( like he isnt the strongest sorcerer ever?)

you thought you were clever for coming up with your "get rid of feelings for satoru" plan

but no. for days now everywhere you were, suddenly there he was.

you didn't give him the silent treatment or anything you just... kept your distance.

well, you tried anyway

man has no sense of personal space.

"i missed you." he pouts, leaning down and placing his head on your shoulder from behind. "we see each other everyday, thats not enough for you?" you replied, trying to remain calm while he was so SO close to you. "we barely saw each other at all yesterday!" he whines. "i was busy -" "no, you weren't." "yes, i was?" "nuh-uh, " your face contorts into a grimace. "seriously, how old are you?" "sev-" "it was a rhetorical question." he moves from his postion behind you and stands right in front of you. if he wasn't so silly looking, you would probably be intimidated by his towering height.

his face turns serious. "you've been avoiding me." he states, a small pout on his lips. shit, dont look at his lips! "eh..uh..what? no, i'm not! that's crazy talk..." you sputter nervously. he sighs, and puts his hands on your shoulders "are you okay?" he's genuinely concerned for you now. damnit why couldn't he be less likeable?! this was really throwing a wrench in your plan.

"i am..i'm just..uh..argh." you lower your head and massage your temple out of frustration. your heartbeat was going a mile a minute. "i didn't mean to avoid you, satoru." you say in a soft tone. a lie, but you couldn't handle telling him the truth. his face brightens instantly. "i'll forgive you if you pinky promise to never avoid me ever again." he reaches out his pinky. "wow, future me is gonna regret that when you get inevitably annoying.." you chuckle reaching out your hand to interlink your finger with his. this was good, this was normal. you felt normal, platonic, and normal feelings. yep. a bright grin spreads across his pretty face. "although.. you might still have to buy me something sweet to really convince me!" of course. "you're the worst." "you love it!" yeah, you do.

okay, plan b. push it all down and focus on your friendship!

you did really enjoy just being his friend after all..otherwise you wouldn't care so much about ruining your friendship!

so things went back to normal sort of...except for the fact that over the next few months, the romantic tension got worse and worse.

you thought it was just you being delusional when he started holding your hand more and more frequently, freuqently bought you small trimkets and gifts( his reason being " i thought of you!") told you how pretty and cool you looked after missions, even with your hair all messed up and uniform askew. you tried so hard not to read into it even though these things were obviously pretty romantic.

satoru thought he was going insane

"i mean??? am i not being clear enough, suguru? am i being too subtle?"

"i dont think the word subtle really suits you, in any situation ever."

at this point, he was close to giving up. maybe you just didn't like him as much as he liked you?

but then! one late summer night!

the first kiss!

which was sort of out of the blue but also not really, since you'd been pining for each other for a while.

he was invading spending time in your dorm room late at night again like he frequently did. he got real chatty at night. you were both sitting on your bed, and his head was leaning against your shoulder, the soft ends of his hair tickling your neck.

it was around mignight, his voice was low and he spoke in a hushed tone.

"..you know? and then he had the audacity to insult nintendo? like sorry you hate fun, loser? anyways my original point was..." he trails off his voice, getting lower and lower by the end. you turn your head in his direction, expecting to find him asleep. instead, your nose almost bumps against his.

his eyes are..so breathtaking this close, with the moonlight reflecting in his sapphire irises. his snow-white lashes flutter as he glances down at your lips. a silent request.

this moment was so full of tender love while still so quiet. you had never felt anything quite like it before. you nod ever so slightly and softly your lips meet eachother. slotting together like two puzzle pieces, it made something click in your brain. suddenly everything made sense.

after a few moments you pulled back. your face felt hot. it was still quiet. gojos thumb rubs over the back of your hand.

he leans his head back onto your shoulder, positively beaming, he giggled "like i was saying.." he starts again the smile still evident in his voice.

an equally bright grin breaks out on your face. he was not even acknowledging the kiss you two shared. but it felt right that he didn't. this moment felt so warm and so much like satoru. there was no more confusion and no words that needed to be said. you both understood what it meant. you both finally understood what you were.

what you failed to consider was telling your best friends. geto and shoko. the four of you were hanging out and gojo had to leave early for another mission, before he leaves he quickly pecks you on the lips (which to be fair surprised you too) before waving and running off. shoko's eyes were practically bulging out of her head, and getos face couldn't decide between a surprised expression and one of disgust. "what. was that." shoko furtows her brows. "uhh..oh! oh." you couldn't exactly pinpoint what you were supposed to say now. how did you forget to tell them? how did GOJO forget to tell them? granted, it only happened last night, but still... you had assumed he spent the rest of the night lying on his stomach, feet kicking, telling geto every detail. "we're dating?" you reply awkwardly. "damn it!" shoko exclaims, and suguru smiles smugly. odd reactions... that's what you thought until you saw shoko pull out her wallet and hand suguru a big wad of cash. "see? i told you they would figure it out before they turned 25." he chides.

thank you for reading!!! and i hope you liked it! im not sure about this formatting (w/ the tumblr bulleted list. it's like not spaced apart enough, yk?) anyway! im open to constructive criticism, but please be nice im sensitive LOL (ﾉω･､)

[katyawriteswhump]

the power of love part 2 (new steddie, stobin, steve whump fic)

Steve has a habit of surviving near death experiences then getting sick for no reason. And Eddie and those fatal bat bites? After an impossible feat of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from Steve, he’s mysteriously fixed. So, Eddie’s back to being banished, this time with Steve and Robin in tow. Eddie’s healing, but Steve isn’t… and life gets even more confusing, when Eddie develops feelings for Steve, which aren’t entirely unrequited.

Part one here Also on AO3 (where it's tragically in need of some love *sobs*) Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

Chapter Two

Steve POV

Steve blinks his eyes open. Fear lurches then fades. Leaning over him, kinda blurry, are… Robin? Munson!?! He’s at home. Lying on the couch in his parents’ living room, to be precise.

“Steve? You back with us?” Robin appears wild-eyed, spooked out. She’s holding a bloodied cloth over his bat bites, which stab like new again.

Steve presses the heel of his hand to his brow, disguising his pained whimper with a shaky, “Yeeeeah.”

“Phew! Not delirious? Only a bit woozy, huh?”

“You seriously still shitting yourself about rabies?”

“To be honest, no. That’s slithered so far down my list of things to lose my mind over, I’d forgotten. Trust me, he’s as likely to have it as you now.”

Eddie, who hovers at her shoulder, pokes out his tongue, kinda jokey. The rest of Eddie’s face is still slightly blood-smeared. Haunted. His hair is a mad mess, his bandana repurposed as a bandage about his elbow. Steve glances down his own aching body, which is damp, vaguely shivery. Near naked, in fact, with a towel tucked around his waist.

Oh yeah. He went for a swim, and then… 

“Shit! Are you seriously mopping my blood with Mom’s linen napkins?” Steve tries to push himself up, and flops back down, humiliatingly fast. On top of that, his head throbs—when does it not, these days? He makes a more concerted effort to sit, forcing himself through a wave of nausea and dizziness, then notices: “Shit, shit, SHIT! I’ve bled on the couch—this cost a thousand bucks!”

“I knew there was a reason Wayne avoided white faux leather,” says Eddie, as he and Robin share a look. “Oh, and a Munson never splashes less than fifteen-hundred bucks on soft furnishings.”

“You’re hilarious,” mutters Steve.

“Your Pops can chew my head off,” says Eddie. “Some of that blood is yours truly’s. I mean, I got got bad. Really bad. And theeeeen… I got better.” He narrows his eyes to inquisitorial slits, which bewilder Steve, given how rough he feels.

Robin lifts the ruined napkin. “You’re bleeding like before Wheeler first bandaged you up. It makes no sense.”

“Nothing’s made sense for about two and a half years,” Steve points out. Actually, scratch that. Little of his life has made much sense. “There’s a first aid kit in the kitchen, with proper bandages. Where did you think I got the Hibistat towelettes from? Didn’t you morons think to look?”

Robin hurries off. Eddie takes over holding the now thoroughly disgusting napkin over Steve’s bites. “Woah, he’s not lying,” she calls. “His parents keep an actual first aid kit with actual useful crap in it.”

“Yeah, in case you forgot in the last thirty seconds,” says Steve, “the Harrington family bleed.”

“It doesn’t even come out green,” Eddie says. “Totally destroys your ‘rich folk are aliens’ theory, Buckley.”

“Haha,” snarks Steve.

“This might take a minute,” calls Robin. “I had no idea there were so many sorts of dressings. We don’t want a triangle one, huh?”

Left alone, Eddie doesn’t seem able to look Steve in the eye. He’s giving off such awkward vibes that Steve takes pity, nudges Eddie’s hand away, holds the napkin himself.

“I guess this is where I thank you for saving my life,” says Eddie.

“From what I could gather from Dustin, you’d only gone and done the same for us. Not a hero? Total bull.”

“Those weren’t normal circumstances.” 

Eddie’s so squirmy, Steve flinches away too. He’s felt drawn to Eddie for some time. He likes the guy way more than he’d expected, finds he likes looking at him too, crazy rocker tresses and all, but… Jesus Christ! Talk about shitty timing.

It’s not the first time Steve’s been blindsided by a crush on a guy. Plus, he knows Eddie is queer; he’s one of the few other friends that Robin’s lately ‘come out’ to. However, Steve’s simply not gotten the energy to figure out if the weird fizzle of chemistry he feels is all in his head. What he really wants is to stagger upstairs to bed and sleep for a week. No time for that, though. He groans, threads the fingers of his free hand through his damp hair.

 “We need to take advantage of this earthquake chaos. Get you outta town right now before somebody comes looking.”

“Yeah. I figured as much.” Eddie sighs hard. “No more facing down ferocious monsters. I return to being Eddie the Banished.”

“Not much choice, man. Look, we can bring bedding, whatever supplies we need from here. Take one of Dad’s cars and find a place to lay low till we know what’s happening and what the next plan of attack is.”

“You were worried about the couch and now you’re suggesting we jack your Pop’s wheels?”

“I don’t give a crap about the furniture—it was a dumb knee jerk reaction. I mean, things change. People change. Last time I looked, we weren’t exactly bestest buds.”

Now we’re off saving each other’s lives.

A loud crash from the kitchen slices between them. “Sorry!” yells Robin. “Kinda dropped… everything.”

“Need some help there, Rob?” Steve tries to push himself to his feet. His head rush is instant and epic; his vision blacks out, nearly taking his entire consciousness with it.

“Easy, easy!” Eddie’s arms are around him, clumsily guiding him back down. Steve whimpers before he can stop himself; his stomach churns and he feels painfully sick. Eddie wedges a cushion beneath Steve’s head, presses the cloth back to Steve’s bleeding side. “Robin’s right. You need those injuries looked at. I go alone.”

“No.” Steve snatches a shaky breath. “Way I see it, we’re both deep in the shit."

“I’m the one with the murder rap snapping at my butt, Harrington.”

“And I’m the one who’s been harbouring a known fugitive, stealing Winnebagos, and Christ knows what else. Crap, I bet they’ll blame me for Nance’s sawn-off shotgun. While the rest of those underage brats get off light, I’ll be dragged to jail as sure as you.”

“Your daddy can afford a lawyer, man.” At least Eddie’s looking at Steve now. His words still feel like a punch in Steve’s already bleeding gut—with those knuckle dusters that’d gotten lost somewhere on the ride.

Steve retaliates with as daggers a glare as he can conjure: “You wanna thank me for saving your life, Munson? Then stop trying to ditch me.”

Part 3

Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13

...

tags: @estrellami-1 (thank you, thank you, thank you!) If anybody else would like to be tagged on this fic or any of my writing, I would probably cry... in a good way, honest! Reblogs, comments and likes also very much appreciated :)

[wannaeatramyeon]

need more writing of taehoon asap!!!!

how about reader and taehoon go a simple date together, going to a cute cafe, and then them hanging out around his room?? 🩷

(add some teasing and suggestive things 🫥🫥)

-ps, can i be 🍫 anon?

Hi Anon! Thank you for requesting! Spoiler alert - you don't make it back to his room. Oof!! Edited to add of course you can be 🍫anon!!

Seong Taehoon x Reader: Two menaces walk into an arcade...

'cute' date with your boyfriend

Taehoon bites his tongue, and it's no easy feat.

He cannot cause a scene before you've even arrived.

Still. The girls seated at the next table must have a deathwish if they point their finger and giggle in his direction one more time.

In his periphery, he sees more staring... and a finger wagging at him yet again. He snaps.

"Fuck you looking at?"

Frustratingly, their giggles get louder and Taehoon wants to tear his hair out.

The braver one of the group, or stupidest - depending on how you look at it, approaches him. Sashaying over, confident and cocky, she holds out her phone. "Can I have your number?"

Taehoon scowls, leg twitching at her audacity. Just as he's about to tell her to piss off and maybe throw a kick her way to emphasise his point, he feels an arm around his shoulder.

"This one's taken. Fuck off." Tone saccharine and syrupy with a smile to match, even as you flip her off with your other hand.

"Excuse me?" she reels, aghast with your language and attitude.

"You're excused," You pull the chair out from under her, taking a seat as she stumbles out the way. "Now go."

As a last ditch attempt, the girl looks at Taehoon. Like he's the knight in shining armour that would save her.

Taehoon pulls out an expression that is usually reserved for you but he knows not many can resist. The one that walks the line between seductive and arrogance.

He arches a brow and lazily peers at her from beneath his long lashes, he smirks when he sees her gulp as his bad boy charm takes hold.

A last little bit of false hope before he lands the finishing blow.

"You heard my girlfriend. Now fuck off."

.

.

Really, he only had himself to blame when you plastered yourself to his back, finding the milky white skin of his neck far more fascinating. He doesn't move at all feeling your body pressed against him, distracted with unleashing a combo of moves.

"Quit it." Taehoon snaps as you nip at his neck, eyes still fixed firmly on the screen.

Afterwards, Taehoon had grabbed your wrist and dragged you to the arcade. A quick detour he had said, before you continue on your evening with him.

You were the one that suggested the cafe, both finding out once the food arrived that it was more suited for pretty social media pictures, the meal itself being tasteless and overpriced.

Reluctantly, you gave in. A truce for your shitty choice and his shitty encounter.

...There was nothing quick about it.

The detour turned into an hour of you hovering around, having circled the entire place five times, trying and failing to win yourself a plushie on the claw machine (which totally should be Taehoon's job, by the way), and now attempting to entertain yourself by watching your boyfriend knock out his opponent.

Yawn. You are very much not entertained.

Until now.

You go in for another bite.

"Seriously!" He shoves your head away with far less force than you deserve, then hand returning to its position on the joystick, not missing a beat.

You huff as he resumes his button mashing, but your patience and penchant for terrorising your boyfriend is almost on par with how much of a terror Taehoon is to everyone else.

Third time's the charm when you latch on, sucking away at a particularly tender spot. Taehoon's eyes flutter shut, the sound of his groan is drowned out by the game announcing 'K.O!", ruining his chain of victories.

Oops.

The computerised voice registers and suddenly you find yourself looking into the eyes of your very pissed off boyfriend.

"Do you want to die?"

You give him the smile of yours that you know he finds adorable but he continues to glare daggers. The vein throbbing on his temple does not subside. He will not be manipulated.

"Taehoon~" you try, your sugary sweet tone from earlier returning.

"No."

"No?"

He scans the arcade and your eyes follow.

Ah, you should have noticed that it had emptied out, not a body in sight.

The general public - usually your last wall of defence. Taehoon normally at least toning it down and somewhat behaving himself for your sake, caring about your propriety.

If no one is around though, that's a whole other story.

Taehoon fiddles with the hem of your skirt. You had thought it was particularly cute when you put it on this morning, and now you regret your hubris.

He looks at you, fangs bared and you gulp.

Shit.

A resounding SMACK lands on your asscheek, the sting causing you to yelp and your eyes to water.

Your hand immediately moves to cover your ass from any further assault, but Taehoon captures them both and holds them steady.

The bastard smiles. "Here's the attention you deserve."

Even through the pain, you feel a thrill of excitement as your mind wanders, thinking about what he would do to you in this empty arcade.

Taehoon all but abandons the game, focusing now entirely on you.

[monkey-d-ezekiel]

Ranking my favorite One Piece theories:

1. Evil Shanks. There's a very strong case to be made for Shanks being evil, most of which revolve around his acquaintance with the Gorosei and role as the self proclaimed balance-maintainer of the world.

2. Rocks D. Xebec being the Old Generation version of Buggy. I can definitely see it happening, as we know almost nothing of Rocks' strength, not even through repute. All the repute in terms of strength goes to the pirates under him, like Whitebeard, Kaido and Big Mom. You can see the same pattern with modern day Buggy and his Cross Guild.

3. Buggy will be the Pirate King before Luffy. This appeals to me on a lot of fronts, but mostly on the gag front. It would be hilarious and totally in line with Buggy's trend of failing upwards.

4. Usopp's lies eventually all being true. I mean, are there any examples to contradict this? Every single lie this man has told became a truth, from goldfish poop to the Island of Dwarves. What else might be true? 8000 men being under Usopp?

5. Blackbeard has three souls. He has three skulls on the Jolly Roger, something which seems very deliberate. He already has two devil fruits, and I definitely feel like Moria's devil fruit is one that would very neatly complete Blackbeard's devil fruit collection. He also never sleeps, which is very strange.

6. Croco-mom. I mean. Yeah. It's pretty unlikely but Ivankov having the genderbending power makes anything possible. Plus she did specifically say that she can "fix" Crocodile and that she "knows his weakness" so.. maybe? It would be insane and absolutely pointless if it turned out to be true, but why not? Oda has done wackier things before.

7. Luffy breaks the Red Line. It's totally in line with the themes of unity and liberation in the story. Marie Jois is also located there. So is Laboon, who's been bashing his head tryna bring it down. Not to mention Fishman Island, which was prophesied to be destroyed by Luffy someday. Not at all an unlikely occurrence.

8. Shanks will lose to Blackbeard. It's barely even a theory at this point. There's been an indirect tension between Shanks and Blackbeard all throughout the story, as Shanks is the one most wary of Blackbeard. He's been warning people about the dude ever since Water 7. Not to mention, he's the only one known to have scarred Shanks while he was on guard, a feat which we still can't explain.

9. Luffy will travel back in time/Has already traveled back in time/Joyboy traveled to the future and became Luffy. These are all different theories but since they're all about time I put them as one. I genuinely have no basis for any of these and they would kinda ruin the inherited will concept of the story but yeah. It would be cool to see Luffy travel forward/backward in time.

10. Brook and Laboon reuniting is the key to the One Piece. I saw this theory on Merphy's channel, and she discusses it a lot better than I could in this post. Here's a link: https://youtu.be/xfLO4NEvEss

What are some of y'all's favorite theories from OP? I wanna hear any obscure and wacky crackhead theories anybody has to share!

[theculturedmarxist]

Israel’s military strategy follows precisely the parameters its war planners proclaimed: total war. This would not be mowing the grass. This was a fight all the way to the end of the line. To eradicate Hamas, yes. But far beyond that.

US leaders have telegraphed their acceptance of this approach by floating the notion of “what comes after Hamas is defeated.”  In other words, after Hamas is totally dismantled and destroyed as a viable entity.  They may be thinking of how the west and its regional allies attacked and largely eliminated ISIS as a viable force.

But as this article points out–the proper insurgency analogy for Hamas is not ISIS, but the Vietcong.  A people’s army rooted in every home and village.  With disciplined political and military cadres operating covertly and overtly everywhere and anywhere.  Even when the Vietcong faced the most severe US-Vietnamese attacks, they never wavered.  It was their country after all. They could never be defeated in any real sense.  And events proved them right. They outlasted the invaders: a Vietcong version of summud.

Gaza, of course, is a much smaller area than Vietnam. So targeting Hamas would be an easier feat.  But among 2-million people, you cannot eradicate a movement the people embrace.  You would have to eliminate all the people to do that.  Which brings me to my next point.

It is very likely, I believe, Israel intends to expel all Gazans.  This isn’t just a war to destroy tunnels, or to eliminate Hamas fighters.  It wasn’t even exclusively a war to eliminate Hamas.  It was a war to make Gaza entirely unlivable.  It is total war in an urban setting.

By total war, I mean one that destroys everything. Everything and everyone.  Leaving the living to bury the dead…or die trying.  The goal is to make Gaza so uninhabitable, that the world will find this version of the Final Solution perhaps unpalatable, but in the end unavoidable.

I can’t think of any modern version of total war comparable to this one.  In every similar attack on a major city, the attacker did not intend to render the place permanently unlivable for survivors.  Even in the case of the atomic bomb attacks in Japan, the US formed an Occupation government which entirely rebuilt the country, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while also creating a new democratic political system. After murdering 500,000 during the infamous Dresden bombing, the city was rebuilt. Only the ruins of the bombed cathedral remained, as a testament to the cruelty and suffering of the War.

There are ancient versions of this, all revolving on conquerors sowing the earth of the vanquished state with salt, so it would be unable to produce anything that could sustain life. In fact, this ancient version of a scorched earth-total war strategy, may originate in the ancient Middle East.

This may Israel’s Total War 2.0: a military strategy “updated” for the modern age.  Preferably, it would be studied in military academies more for its horror than for the innovation of tactics or long-term success in achieving political goals.

The first stage of this process is the one we are in now–genocide by degrees. Eliminate neighborhoods, infrastructure, institutions. Render hospitals, schools, businesses either destroyed or inoperable.  The latest is they’re even bombing water tanks and solar panels.  Because I presume they’re major weapons of war.

People will then die not only from the bombs, but from their untended wounds, starvation, disease, etc.  Despite the savagery of Israeli tactics in this stage, eventually the world slowly becomes acclimatized to it.  What was once horrifying and downright uncivilized, is now the new normal.

That leads to what may be the next stage: Israel declaring, Gaza is now unlivable. It’s a sad tragic fact of war. We had to do it. They gave us no choice, etc. But guess what, the Israelis could say. Let’s start over. Let’s reconceive what Gaza is.

They might have a hybrid approach to how the post-war landscape will look: perhaps Israeli Jewish settlements, interlaced with Gazans carefully screened by the security apparatus, who are permitted to remain.  Or perhaps it would be Palestine-rein (though that might be a bridge too far for a finicky global audience).

Gaza: Nakba 2.0

Israel has already published two separate plans, one produced by a whack job analyst, Amir Weitmann, arguing it would only cost $5-8-billion to resettle Gaza Palestinians in existing or newly built housing stock on the outskirts of Cairo.

In the video below, he tries to tear an RT reporter a new asshole. Pulling an Israeli Rambo, he threatens to personally destroy Russia. Or something.

A mentally deranged genocidal Nazi threatens Russia… 🤷🏽‍♀️#GenocideinGaza #ShutElbitDown STOP THE #GENOCIDE NOW! pic.twitter.com/GrMWMmbc4A — 🗣️📢 𝕗𝕣𝕖𝕖 𓂆 𝕡𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕖 (@ronnie_barkan) October 20, 2023

The other proposal came from the intelligence ministry.  It was similar in some respects to the other plan.  But it did not offer the newly expelled refugees anything other than tents in the Sinai. As far as this proposal was concerned, Israel dumped them there. It was now someone else’s problem.

Which wasn’t much different than what Israel did after the 1948 War.  It expelled a million indigenous Palestinians and foisted them on neighboring Arab countries: your problem, Israel said.  These countries now have 5-million Palestinian “problems.”

Media reporting on these two documents noted they weren’t produced by the country’s highest level security think tanks and that the intelligence ministry is really an insignificant backwater as far as government ministries go.

But a different strategy may be involved.  These plans may be part of a broader plan.  After they are leaked, the government gives them time to be absorbed by Israelis and the world.  Then the genocide continues. The body count continues to rise.  Savagery even escalates. Pressure builds up.  Then Israel says: hey, we have a plan to end all this. No more killing. No more terrorism. No more Palestinian Gaza.  Are you interested, world?  It is quite possible that so many nations and world leaders will be so outraged by this Israel will pack it in and return to killing business as usual.

But…if Israel preps enough allies, if it gets Biden and Blinken on board. If they lobby the European allies, then Israel may be able to pursue a diabolical plan to its “logical” criminal conclusion. At least that’s what Israel hopes.

Gaza as colony. Israel, US, and European and Arab allies as colonial powers

The US and Israel have cooked up a real stew. They propose that after Hamas is eliminated (a dubious proposition to begin with–but more on that later), an occupation force consisting of American troops would administer Gaza:

The US and Israel are exploring options for the future of the Gaza Strip, including the possibility of a multinational force that may involve American troop…

Plan B involves an Arab multilateral force that would administer Gaza. It has even designated who that could be–none other than the next-up in the Abraham Accords sweepstakes, Saudi Arabia.  Yes, those Saudis did such a bang-up job in Yemen, where they not only murdered 80,000 Yemenis, they also slaughtered hundreds of Ethiopian refugees fleeing from Yemen. We want these humanitarians to work their magic in Gaza.

Secretary of State Blinken summed up the (stupid) thinking behind the plan:

“We can’t have a reversion to the status quo with Hamas running Gaza,” Blinken, who will travel to Israel on Friday, told the Senate Appropriations Committee. “We also can’t have — and the Israelis start with this proposition themselves — Israel running or controlling Gaza.” “Between those shoals are a variety of possible permutations that we’re looking at very closely now, as are other countries,” he said.

So you can’t have Hamas running the show. And Israel wants nothing to do with the job itself because, guess what? It tried it and didn’t work well for them: one of the reasons Sharon so unceremoniously withdrew in 2005. A decision which led–you guessed it–to Hamas’ takeover of Gaza. Israel, of course, wants to foist the unwelcome job on someone, anyone else.  Smart move for them. But not for the sucker left holding the bag.

But look at the language of Blinken’s statement. Who’s missing from consideration?  Gazans themselves. They are an after thought.  Or a non-thought.

The only thing colonial powers understand is who will run things. Not who lives there or what they want. But who’s on top. The problem with that approach is it ends up as all colonizing schemes do–the natives reject the guy running things because they want to run them for themselves.  This is precisely the disaster the US is heading for under any of these schemes.

For once in his professional life as a pro-Israel US diplomat, Aaron David Miller is right when he warns:

“The idea of bringing Arab states in to do counter insurgency in Gaza in the wake of the death and destruction that the Israelis have visited is going to be extremely problematic because it would involve Arabs killing Palestinians,” said Aaron David Miller…

You bet.  Not only that. It will involve Gazans killing Israel’s Arab stooge occupiers. That’s a message that would resonate with any Gazan.

Oh and here’s another Biden humdinger:

…One option would grant temporary oversight to Gaza to countries from the region, backed by troops from the US, UK, Germany and France. Ideally, it would also include representation from Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates,

Consider all the vague meaningless unquantifiable terms in this passage: “temporary,” “oversight,” “representation.”  These words mean nothing: tissue paper floating on the breeze. What European country in their right mind would want to station troops in a Gaza tinder keg?

It was bad enough for them when they joined multinational forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.  At least there was some international consensus behind the US invasion (as wrong as it was).  There is no such consensus how to deal with Gaza.  They would be walking into a building already on fire.

Which Arab nations would be foolish enough to join this shit show? Of course, those buddy-movie heroes, MBS and MBZ.  They’ll go anywhere, do anything: Starve Yemen? Check. Murder Shiite clerics? Check. Fund ISIS? Check. Fund anti-Iran terror? Check. Dissolve dissident journalists in vats of acid? Check.

Israel’s friends at the Washington Institute came up with their own plan. It has as much merit as my last Amazon packing slip:

[It] called for a Palestinian-run interim administration, with the UN Relief and Works Agency continuing to provide food, heath and education. “Public safety and law enforcement could be directed by a consortium of the five Arab states who have reached peace agreements with Israel—Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco,” Washington Institute scholars wrote in an Oct. 17 note. “Only those Arab states would have Israel’s confidence, which is essential for this effort to succeed.”

So in other words, some Palestinian stooges, presumably the PA since they’re perfect casting for such characters, and UNWRA, will respectively, feed Gazans and administer traffic tickets (if there any cars left); while Abraham Accord stooges do all the heavy-lifting on behalf of Israel. I couldn’t have come with anything better myself (and I didn’t!).

As if reading my mind, Blinken offered fond hopes for PA’s future stooge role. Just not quite yet:

…What would make the most sense would be for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza..

If those aren’t a few choice euphemisms concealing his admission that the PA is a bunch of corrupt aged incompetent grifters.

Media reporting on the various plans say Democratic senators were receptive. I wonder: do they have eyes in their head? Do they read the news? Do they remember when we imposed our own version of “democracy” on captive nations in Afghanistan and Iraq?  How well did that end?  If any of these harebrained schemes sees the light of day they should all have their heads examined.

But hey, it’s their own party. Let them make the rules. But remember the Pottery Barn rule, which Tom Friedman so infamously and erroneously attributed to Colin Powell: you break it, you buy it.  The beauty of the these plans, especially for Israel, is that after they break it, they don’t buy it or fix it. They pawn it off on the Saudis and they “fix” it, as only the Saudis do (cf. Yemen). If Biden thinks that a joint military occupation by European or Arab allies will absolve him of responsibility for the inevitable disaster, he should think again. It won’t.  Republicans will see to that.  And for once in their lives, they would be right.

Hamas will last

Whatever happens to Hamas during this war, no matter how decisively it has been defeated (which is by no means certain), it will not disappear. It will not be eliminated. You can kill 100,000 Gazans and you will not eradicate it. Like the Vietcong, it is so part of the people the two cannot be separated.

No matter how much propaganda Israel tries to peddle. For example: Whispered in Gaza, a dog and pony show “hosted” by pro-Israel front-man, Dennis Ross, with his Foundation for the Defense of Democracies sidekick, Jonathan Schanzer.  I tell you: there’s nothing that validates Israeli genocide more than offering Israelis and the west the delusion that they’re actually helping Gazans.  One question? How did they obtain these purported statements from Gazans?  Under what guise or pretense?  Because even if these statements are genuine (not necessarily established), I guarantee that interviewees were deceived as to the purpose for which their statements would eventually be used.  This is plain and simple information warfare. Ross has moved on from US diplomat to propaganda warrior.

That doesn’t mean all Gazans love Hamas. Not all Vietnamese loved the Vietcong.  Not all colonial Americans loved the patriots.  But Hamas fights. It resists.  There is no other force in Palestinian society that fights for its rights against occupiers and oppressors. So until something better comes along, Gazans say this will have to do.

In whatever bright new future the colonial powers have in mind for Gaza, Hamas will not just fade into the mist never to be seen again.  It will be there. It will assert itself and its presence. It will resist whoever calls himself a colonial Lord Jim. Doesn’t matter whether its a GI Joe, Saudi commander, or a Jedi knight.  They’re all foreign occupiers. All unwelcome. It will be the undying mission of Hamas to rid Gaza of them.  And eventually, if it takes a decade or five, it will.  My money is riding on it.  Colonial powers don’t have a very good, or long track record.

Something better could come along if these powers deciding Gaza’s fate recognized a Gazan voice, and compelled Israel to recognize a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, including free, full and fair elections.  Never happen. I know. But I wanted to put out the real and only solution that works. Not the one that these colonial douchebags are sticking together with rubber bands and wood glue.

Gaza: the Biggest Loser

The Biggest Loser–and they always are–are the Gazans.  At least one can say that in the Saudi scenario, they aren’t expelled and turned into refugees twice in 75 years. But they would now be under the boot heel of a hated, corrupt, despotic monarchy.  If Hamas resonated with Palestinians before–it will even more in this scenario.

The Saudis failed to quell the Yemeni Houthis. In Gaza the conditions would be even less favorable.  Despite their Israel-induced deprivation, Gazans are worldly, technologically-adept, politically engaged, etc.  They are not tribal kinsman from the mountains.  Gazans have as much in common with Saudis as Gigi Hadid has with Tokyo Rose. The Saudis will be as unwelcome occupiers as Israelis.

[beevean]

Honest to god saw the argument being made multiple times that obviously Lanolin is right not trusting Silver because he's just some rando to her who's inexperienced as a soldier. And, the fact I can think of THREE events in the games (not even counting '06) wherein he changed a ruined future, it puts a lot of stock in the idea that people only see some out-of-context panels and base their whole perception on that. Because Duo asks in issue 63 about Silver's feats and mentions multiple world-saving ones. Not from the games, obviously, but still a clear indication that civilians can reasonably know about Silver's exploits that literally stopped the world from ending, and thus that he's not some inexperienced little kid with powers he uses irresponsibly for fun. But of course that would mean Silver actually gets complimented (😱) and gets his rightful respect as a powerful hero (😱😱😱😱) and we can't have that! Oh, goodness no, right back to thinking Silver is just some fuck-up wannabe dumbass who's never done a single day of heroing in his life we go. The Archie parallels are off the charts.

Fuck this comic and how it mangles the game cast, seriously. And I hate how everyone just gobbles it up and proclaims that this is totally who Silver is.

Even if we do like the comic and pretend the games didn't happen, Forces included (which should be but whatever), Duo proves that Silver is known for at the very least contributing to saving Angel Island.

This is more than Lanolin ever did. Her first and only operation went sideways very quickly and she had a breakdown over it :) and Sonic's friends had to intervene :)

Again, I'm not asking that Lanolin drops to her knees and begs for an autograph. But she shows zero respect for someone with Silver's qualifications and experience: she speaks to him as if he were nothing more than a clumsy, annoying rookie (and that's not even considering that she's also no one to him, but she talks as if she were his actual superior). Most importantly, she doesn't respect him or Whisper (who also at this point is a veteran with way more qualifications than Lanolin could ever hope) enough to even listen to their concerns, immediately digging her heels, dismissing Silver as a dumbass who can't even control his powers and Whisper as some sort of harassing delusional bitch.

And I still stand by my point that Silver is not the kind of guy who immediately folds over when a rando scolds him. This is the same dude who chased Sonic down to kill him off, he is plenty stubborn.

[justtosealmyfate1]

The legacy of war in HP

My fic, the fates, which follows when Albus and Scorpius’ relationship is discovered, takes place only 25 years after the war! That is, in the grand scheme of things, so little time. I thought a lot about societies after dictatorships— more specifically Spain and Latin American countries. Spain took a total head-in-the-sand approach. They don’t discuss their 30+ year long fascist dictatorship, don’t teach it in school and there are still political parties (like Vox) who actively want to return to that era. After Cambodia, Spain has the most mass graves in the world. But since Spain is a liberal, democratic Western country, nobody is forcing them to reckon with this history. This is in contrast with Latin American countries like Guatemala, Argentina and Chile, which had their dictators prosecuted for war crimes to varying degrees of success.

There are pros and cons to prosecution and reparations versus amnesty. It’s interesting to think about what Wizarding Britain would have chosen. Even though Voldemort’s actual dictatorship only lasted about nine months, there were years of political instability and terror in the 90s. It seems like something similar happened during the First War in the 70s, so there would be multiple generations affected by this culture of violence. 

There are other fics that explore this better (like castles by pebblysand and beasts by whinlatter) but I would hope that there would be some form of justice after the Second War. I think there would have to be some degree of amnesty, simply because you can’t prosecute all of the Ministry workers who were complicit in the regime, but I think the point of the HP series would be moot if there weren’t institutional changes after Voldemort’s defeat. The same thing happened in Spain— many of the people who served in Francisco Franco’s regime also served in their democratic government. It’s just more realistic. 

The kids in Albus’ year would be born in 2005/2006– less than 10 years after the war ended. His generation lives in the shadow of a war that shaped their entire society and culture. For Albus especially, because his entire family was deeply entrenched in the war, this would be so consequential. While other members of his family may be able to segregate themselves from “the other side” of the war (i.e. the Death Eaters and people complicit in their violence), he can’t. He’s exposed to a different political class in Slytherin (though not social or economic class, which I think is an important note— Albus is a privileged rich boy from an important family!) I don’t think the kids in Slytherin would be explicitly pureblood supremacists/Death Eaters, but I do think some may be more sympathetic to that way of life considering their families had more social and political power in the 20th century. 

This is what makes Scorpius and his relationship with Albus so exceptional. They have every reason in the world to be prejudiced towards each other. The last two generations of Malfoys have been Death Eaters while the last two generations of Potter-Weasleys have been DA or Order members. The fact that they’re able to forge this dynamic with each other after decades of hatred is insane to me. Which makes it so fun to write fic about!

(disclaimer: If you disagree with me that’s okay! And don’t say I didn’t like that play! Clearly I liked it enough because I’m sitting around writing fanfiction about it nearly a decade later.)

I’m tossing my hat into the ring of this eight year discourse. I’ve seen CC on Broadway, and it was incredible! The technical feats, the acting and the story works on stage. In my opinion, plays are better when they have a very visual, dramatic, jumping-off-the-page storyline. But as a script and as a part of HP canon, the plot doesn’t work as well. The whole time travel thing, Voldemort’s daughter retcon and cutting (and kinda ruining) major characters doesn’t translate well. Albus is also just an unsympathetic character. He’s impossible to root for because he’s so destructive and self-absorbed. I think all fic writers kinda make him better than he was in the play, and this fic is no different. Although I think his personality does tie back, to an extent, to what can be accomplished in a book versus in a play. CC was very plot driven, which is interesting because the main draw of the show is its characters. I think it works on stage, but as HP canon, not really. The younger generation of characters aren’t really fleshed out enough. Albus wasn’t standing around giving soliloquies, he was participating in the plot, and while we can glean his personality and motivations from that, it’s not enough for character-driven girlies like me. I think a lot of the characters in CC are kind of caricature-like and one note because the play was so plot driven. I can see what they were trying to do. Like Rose is bossy and smart like Hermione, but Hermione was also so much more than that, so it feels reductive. Ron is this silly comic relief, which he could be in the books, but again, he was so, so much more than that. Harry is (presumably) very traumatized and quick to anger, which is true, but he also was sweet and kind and a chill guy most of the time. 

I do like some of the elements, like Albus and Scorpius’ relationship (or non-relationship), Albus being in Slytherin and even the difficult relationship between Al and his dad. The play really takes it to an extreme that’s definitely a turn off to a lot of readers, and rightfully so. But it would be hard to have such a famous father who you look exactly like!

[beautifulduckweed]

Dear Yuletide Author 2023

Shh! Listen—can you hear it? That weird humming sound? That's me, vibrating with joy and anticipation for everything that Yuletide brings, especially what you, dear Yuletide author, have in store for me.

I’m beautifulduckweed on AO3. Below is a list of likes, a short list of DNWs, as well as my requests for Yuletide. I've included prompts, but please know that they are ABSOLUTELY just suggestions and points of inspiration; feel free to deviate from them, or ditch them entirely and write me something else. God knows I can’t write my own dang stories without taking several wild left turns along the way.

Thanks so much for my gift, and I hope you have a blast writing.

💖🥰 Some things I like 🥰💖

Crackfic and mashups. No premise to stupid, no crossover too incongruous. Listen, recently someone in another exchange requested John Wick x Marie Kondo and I have legit lost sleep thinking about that.

Sexytimes. Please note that I absolutely do not require sex! Some of my favorite exchange gifts have featured absolutely zero sex on page. But if the smutty muse strikes—well, far be it for me to stop you. My tolerance is…high. No, higher. No, no, higher than that. Look, I’ve been a denizen of the Internet long enough that I subscribed to porn newsgroups, OK? My constitution is CAST IRON. I especially enjoy service topping, orgasm control (delayed? denied? forced? ruined? YES), femdoms, people coming untouched, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, improbable feats of horny stamina, people losing control while fucking, gangbangs, and threesomes/moresomes/orgies. I also really love first times, and people finally dropping their defenses and allowing themselves to be vulnerable during sex, and the STOP MAKING LOVE TO ME WHEN WE'RE FUCKING trope. I do have a small list of smut no’s in the Do Not Wants section.

Tropes. Some of my fave tropes are idiots to lovers (idiot4idiot4eva), friends to lovers, forced proximity, cramming attractive people into corsets, drag queen AUs, SFF AUs of every stripe (daemon? Pacific Rim? Superhero/supervillain? Vampires? Inception? Yes yes yessss). I absolutely adore the golden retriever/hissy feral cat dynamic. I also like two soft-hearted dinguses doing their best and trying to treat each other right. And ain't nothin' wrong with enemies who are obsessed with each other who OOPS realize their preoccupation may be more than mere antipathy.

I’d also like to note that much as I love a fic that’s like, a trope confetti cannon, I also really love having tropes (and expectations) subverted. Like, take your standard daemon AU. What would happen if the main character and their daemon…didn’t like each other? What if they were, in fact, mortal enemies? It would be so fucked! I would love to read about it!!!

Horror and gore. I love scary stories and horror; I have a really high tolerance for gore. If you want to lean into action sequences, gore, and body horror, I am (with a few exceptions, which I’m gonna list in the DNWs) gonna be totally cool with it. I basically jumped straight from Enid Blyton to Stephen King. My childhood media consumption was very normal why do you ask 😊

And other stuff. If you want to fuck around with the format of the fic, play around with structure, format, voice, POV, all of it, please do. Here for any weird shit you care to toss my way.

I also really love having my sense of what’s real and what’s not messed with. Like, is it ever possible to have a fully reliable narrator? What is the nature of truth and reality anyway? What role does the overall narratorial voice or framing device of the story play in our perception of the story? I regret to inform you that I'm writing this 100% sober; this is just how my brain is all the time.

😭🚫Do Not Wants 🚫😭

Pet death. I am totally fine with, like, random rabbit needs to be killed for dinner while out in the woods, or oh no, we have to defend ourselves from a charging hippo or hostile lizard from outer space.

Animal cruelty. Brief mentions of stuff happening in the past or whatever are fine; seeing an animal tortured on-page is a big no.

Major character death. Random minions, as always, can be sacrificed to the storytelling gods. NOTE: Major character undeath fine.

Kink and smut no’s: I’m not into blood, scat, vomit or piss. Please no noncon/dubcon where a woman is the victim. NOTE: sex pollen scenarios whereby everybody loses their mind simultaneously is totally fine, as is Fuck or Die.

Unhappy/hopeless endings. Bittersweet is fine; endings where it’s clear a cost has been paid and everybody’s changed etc. etc. also fine, but like, please don’t leave the characters absolutely miserable or unrelentingly tormented by their demons (unless the demons are sexy and the torment is also sexy).

Breakups without makeups: If I requested a canon pairing, or if you decide to write a shippy pairing, please leave their relationship intact at the end of the story. It can take a battering! Just don't break them—or my poor little heart—apart. NOTE: If you're writing a missing scene that takes place while or leads up to a period when the characters are canonically on a break, leaving them broken up or the fight unresolved is fine, because I know canon takes care of things.

🍪🧁Treats 🧁🍪

Are very yes. Love me some treats!!!

📝🎅The Requests 🎅📝

Fandom: The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting - K.J. Charles

Characters: Alice Fenwick, Marianne Loxleigh

Thoughts/Prompts: I am a simple bean, and all I want is Alice and Marianne having adventures. Maybe some lesbian porn. Or platonic lesbian BFF vibes. You can have 'em fall in love, or become platonic life partners, or fuck a lot and never fall in love, or start an elaborate grift or heist together. Like, wouldn’t it be hot if Marnie decided Alice needed some tutoring in the ways of fuckboys, lured one in, and used him to tutor Alice in the ways of satisfying herself while not getting pregnant? I’m seriously down for whatever.

Also, as with all of my fandom requests, please feel free to drag in as many other characters in as necessary. The more, the merrier; I just want Alice and Marnie’s relationship front and center.

Crack Prompts: Hey what about a vampire AU? Marnie as a vampire would be hot—hundreds of years of grifting, and GOD what the hell is up with this entirely-too-nice nerd oh WHOOPS turns out she’s her generation’s foremost vampire hunter. Alice as the vampire would also be amazing—Marnie tries to con Alice and discovers she’s bitten off more than she can chew (ba-dum-tish).

Vampire AU not your cuppa? How about crossovers with literally any other KJC universe? Stick ‘em in Magpies, or have them tangle with the Lilywhite Boys, solve a murder mystery with Pat and Fen, cosh some villains on the head with the Will Darling crew, accidentally fall into an orgy with the Murder, be pulled through time by one of the Green Men. I have read all the KJC books and extras. Go nuts.

Fandom: England Series - K.J. Charles

Characters: Bill Merton, Jimmy Yoxall

Thoughts/Prompts: Look, I love idiots, and these two are SUCH MAGNIFICENT IDIOTS. Jimmy is a giant doofus, and Bill thinks he's smarter, but all evidence points to him being at least as big an idiot when it comes to matters of the heart. I get all feral and heart-eyes over these two nincompoops. I will accept any and everything for these two: fics of the two of them getting to know each other during their university days, falling in love in London, THAT HORRIBLE FIGHT AFTER BEN HUR. Whatever. I ain't picky. I also said one time that they'd be great in Lower Decks and ever since then I may have brainwormed myself a little. They'd be so good in the USS Cerritos! Also down 2 clown with like, incongruous mashups---like John Wick? God, what if Jimmy Yoxall was just really weirdly good at murder, and Bill has to keep his stupid ass alive?

Opt-in for this specific fandom: waiving the breakup without makeup DNW for anything that takes place pre-Proper English events.

Fandom: Fire Island (Movie 2022)

Characters: Noah, Will

Thoughts/Prompts: Goddd, over a year later and it's still my favorite Pride and Prejudice adaptation to date. The found family vibes! Noah explicitly being non-monogamous! The dynamics between ALL the characters, but especially Noah and Howie!!! I am down for whatever for this fandom. Wanna write a big ole sweaty orgy? Have the entire crew go on a giant chaotic family vacation together? (Maybe even…the following year’s trip to Fire Island???). Somebody somehow manages to dare Will into entering a drag contest, and it’s gonna take everyone’s help to make this happen. Noah suddenly finds himself a TikTok sensation and gets into a weird Twitter beef with Taylor Swift.

Crack Prompts: These fools would be incredible in What We Do in the Shadows and Our Flag Means Death.

ALSO, oh my god: since this is a Pride and Prejudice retelling, how about sticking ‘em in a Regency romance novel? I’m inordinately fond of Loretta Chase, and the thought of these four idiots running amuck in the ton is giving me so much glee. Like, think of the Lord of Scoundrels retelling: Will is determined to rescue his idiot friend Charlie from the toils of Noah, a notorious rake, only to find himself reluctantly falling for Noah’s charms. And in the meanwhile, Charlie is falling in love with Howie….

[hero-in-waiting]

McLeppard Regency OR Single Dads?

im gonna do BOTH bc i can!.

MCLEPPARD REGENCY

Okay so this one is more of a vague idea. I love Regency AU's, esp in like a semi-bridgerton show style where the only thing regency about them is the clothing/pining no touch and no time era racism/sexism yadda yadda ya. But basically, Evan and Rodney were childhood sweethearts and they fell in puppy love but then Evan went Off To War and time passed and stuff happened and they drifted apart. While Evan was away the Sheppards moved in next door to the McKays and everyone thought it was so lucky that they both had single sons to MARRY THE FAMILIES TOGETHER and so John and Rodney are like...kinda Swan Princessing it at this point. They think each other is cute but Cannot Stand Each Other

CUE EVAN RETURNING FROM WAR AS A HERO. (John was also at War Bc I Said So) but Evan is more dramatic about it. And he and Rodney still like each other a lot, but Rodney likes John also but he won't say anything.

Basically, a fuck tonne of pining, no touching except for brushes of hands and longing sighs. Ther might be some letters, a little bit of angst, and then they all fall in love and ride off into the sunset together.

SINGLE DADS

Okay, this is post canon Atlantis, John is Old and Whumped Badly enough he can't actually function and so retires back to Earth. Drinks more than he thought, wham bam thank u man, suddenly John is a single parent bc the Mom was like cute kid but not for me in a totally reasonable way. The kids name is Amelia Teyla Sheppard but she is four in the story and loves lizards and so john calls her Liz (which tickles him bc Elizabeth). he's chilling, loves his old team but doesn't talk bc the long distant rates between galaxies are HORRIBLE.

Rodney comes over and is like. HEY ATLANTIS IS GONNA BE INDEPENDENT HOLY FUCK WHY DO U HAVE A CHILD and one thing leads to another but John ends up back on Atlantis with a TBD job, a four year old. And Rodney also has a kid from some Ancient Machine that he named Carson John but everyone calls him CJ and he's a year old and doesn't speak but when he does its creepily clear. like perfect english.

Basically its a slow brady bunch love story where John's living his best life as silver fox dad on Atlantis and Ruining Peoples Days when he's sexy silver fox in board shorts playing with his daughter in a pool and Rodney's enjoying having his BFF back, especially a BFF who is a pro at kid stuff now. Bc John always gives it his all

Feat: Teyla/Lorne dating but Kanaan is also around so Lorne and Kannaan are bff's. John's bitch best friend is Jennifer Keller who is still on Earth and people getting second chances at happiness.

Ronon snorted, before dropping a hand to Amelia’s head and squeezing slightly. “Hey, baby Sheppard. Guess what this is” “Your hand,” Amelia said, trying to tilt her head back. “No, it’s a brain sucker, guess what it’s doing,” he said with the same sort of joy John remembered from when Ronon had first been retelling bad jokes the marines told him. “It’s starving.” “Why do you need my brain Uncle Ronon?” Liz asked, turning and staring up at Ronon with a frown. “I don’t,” Ronon said, dropping his hand away and looking a little put out. “The brain sucker does.” “But it’s your hand,” Liz said before her face cleared in understanding and she wrapped her arms around his legs. “It’s okay, Uncle Ronon! I can share my brain with you if you need one! Daddy says I’m smart so I can be smart for us both!”

[yokohamabeans]

What do you think about Kakucho's relationship with Takemichi? We didn't say a lot, and it's a shame =(

I hope it’s okay to combine these two asks because it’s about the same topic!

KakuMichi (I’m using this shipname in the platonic sense here) is ruining me!! Not their friendship itself, but what it impiles about Kakucho. On one hand, I adore that Kakucho gets to be himself when Takemichi’s around, but when I sit down to think about it, it made me realise that Kakucho’s life is even sadder / more tragic than it is...? 🫠

Nonetheless, all things considered I do enjoy KakuMichi (even though I sometimes think it is kinda played to glorify Takemichi’s shounen-protag-influence. NO hate to Takemichi here!)

Again, incoherent rant ahead because it’s about Kakucho. Slight spoilers for the Final Arc too (up till 255).

Throughout his life, even after his tragic accident, Kakucho’s been holding Takemichi in high regard (if not one of the highest). Even when his allegiance is with other gangs / people, he respects Takemichi a great deal.

During the Tenjiku Arc, Kakucho immediately trusted Takemichi with the favour of stopping Kisaki / saving Izana, even though they’ve JUST been reunited (since they last saw each other at 7-8 years old). I suppose Kakucho’s heard about Toman and Takemichi’s feats before that, which probably assured him that Takemichi is still the same ‘hero’ he was when they were kids, but still, it’s got to take a lot of faith to believe that your childhood friend (who you haven’t seen in 6-ish years) is capable of saving your most important person.

During the Three Deities Arc, Kakucho was adamant about recruiting Takemichi for Rokuhara Tandai. At this point, he’s lost Izana, the purpose of his life, and coerced into serving a tyrant who he probably really disliked / disagreed with. I think the only thing he was hopeful about after Tenjiku was fighting alongside or being with Takemichi. 

During the KanToMan Fight, Kakucho was reluctant to go against Takemichi and expressed that he wasn’t fighting for Mikey but Takemichi (in the sense that he’s valuing the fight above Mikey’s agenda). He also readily trusted Takemichi’s words about his vision / Sanzu’s plan to kill everyone, which would’ve sounded totally bonkers. He also had no hesitation nor questions about forming an alliance with Takemichi lmao. 

We weren’t shown how close KakuMichi were in their childhood (i.e. at the level of besties, schoolmates or simply playmates), but they at least agreed with each other’s views and played a lot together. Nonetheless, they hung out enough for Kakucho to believe in Takemichi’s goodness, which he sustains throughout his life. (Like c’mon Kaku, what if Takemichi grew up to be a total scumbag? People change and you were KIDS. Even you acknowledged this!!) 

It’s bittersweet because it means that his relationship with Takemichi is one of the few positive things in his life, or that Takemichi is the only person who Kakucho can entrust himself to.

Even after meeting many people and cycling through two gangs, Kakucho can only place his hopes in someone who he rarely sees / keeps in contact with (I’m assuming this because we don’t see them interacting outside of gang clashes). Sure, he’s hung out a lot with the S-62, but he probably didn’t agree with their ways and morals. Perhaps he cared for them and had good times with them, but I’m not sure if they were ever as important to him. It really seemed that since Izana’s death, the only time that Kakucho’s been happy or enjoying himself is when he’s fighting Takemichi at the train tracks. 

Like, I’m glad that Kakucho has such a person in Takemichi, but sad because it means he hasn’t really met many good people in his life... 

(On this note: Post-Tenjiku Kakucho reminds me of a rōnin, or a samurai who’s lost his master and is wandering the lands with nowhere to belong to. Idk if Wakui had this thought in mind when designing Kakucho, but it certainly evokes such a thought!)

Anyhow, I feel that KakuMichi’s friendship is special and precious in the sense that they are bosom friends who understand one another, but they also accept that they’ve got their own lives to lead and are thus moving forwards in parallel. You know what I mean? This is also bittersweet in its own way.

AND THE SECOND ANON BROUGHT UP A GOOD POINT! How was Kakucho feeling when Takemichi was beaten half to death by Mikey right in front of him?! I’m hoping that Kakucho was still knocked out cold when it happened, to save him from all the emotional turmoil.

But if he was already conscious then, I imagine that Kakucho’s first reaction would be shock (like everyone else), but mostly at Mikey’s savagery and the fact that South could be beaten and killed. Like what you said, he must’ve also felt helpless and was probably praying that someone would stop Mikey from killing Takemichi (because he physically couldn’t). Yet at the same time, I think he might’ve a gut feeling that it’s not the end of Takemichi, like a ‘you won’t die in a place like this, not like that’ kinda thing, y’know? Which probably explains why his priorities are about South when he’s fleeing the scene with Ran instead of Takemichi.

All this talk about KakuMichi’s got me wondering... WHAT ABOUT KAKUMICHI IN THE FUTURE?! How would their relationship be like? I’m speaking about all timelines btw, from the original TL where Takemichi’s a loser, all the way to Bonten. Takemichi probably didn’t know about Kakucho’s membership in Bonten considering how veiled in secrecy Bonten was. Did he think about looking Kakucho up? Did he think about inviting him to his wedding? Did Kakucho still think of Takemichi as his hero, even after becoming Number 3 in Japan’s worst criminal organization? Would Kakucho have been disappointed if he ran into Takemichi in his loser timeline?

I think if I go any further I’ll turn delirious, so I’m just gonna end this post with all these questions, alright? 🫠

[memento-morri-writes]

yess I also relate to not being able to show your family your writing because they will def laugh at you/ think it's not "good enough"

in fact my parents doesnt know that I'm writing sth, only my sister does and I only talk to her about worldbuilding or really specific plot points, not the Plot™

I started buying Rom coms recently instead of reading them on my kindle/laptop/phone and my parents are constantly telling me to start reading "real books" soooo I guess I'm keeping my wips secret for now haha

I'm sorry that you can't share that part of you with your mother though, and I know it's obviously not the same, but feel completely free to rant to me about Fallon, Kris or whatever you feel like <3

(also that wallpaper? can we maybe see it?? 👀)

@/ink-fireplace-coffee

Ahh, thank you, Carmen. I 100% understand the feeling. I convinced my dad to read Six of Crows, and he liked it, but he said "I'm surprised you liked it, given how romantic it is." And I was so confused??? For one, SoC has some of the best romantic relationships, because none of them are toxic, and none of them are "instant love" either. People have awkward crushes, and have known each other for months or years before anything happens. And also, not to mention the whole kick-ass heist plot and found family aspect???

I'm tired of being judged for when I was like, 8 and said romance is icky because I was a child and also aro/demi/ace something, but didn't know what that was. For the past 5 years I've said I have no issue with romance as long as it's believable to me, but everyone ignores me when I say that...

Anyways, rant over! I will definitely rant at you about my babies, and you are welcome to yell at me about whatever you're reading or writing at the moment!! :)

As for the wallpaper, I'm going to regret this, but yes, you can see it. It's going under the cut though, because I'm lowkey embarrassed by it.

Here it is! One of my other special interests is The Sims, so these are my babies as sims, ajsdkajsd. (Feat an absurd amount of CC) I took and edited a shit-ton of pics of them at sunset at these ruins (which I built the ruins lot, btw.), and I'm obsessed. The total photoset is 14 pics. I have a problem.

My desktop on this laptop, as of yesterday, is a sim version of Nikolai Lantsov, who I made and made an edit of.

[jakey-beefed-it]

Had a game of Goblin Squad d&d last night. We continued our exploration of the magic-blasted wasteland we find ourselves in, trying to track down Altanin’s blood relatives who are also a potentially super dangerous cult. Tracked them to this not-quite-abandoned ruin, talked our way past the hobgoblin squatters, and proceeded into the depths. 

There had been a load of automatons set to guard the depths of this place, but Altanin’s family/the aforementioned cult came through with around 30 people and just obliterated the automatons. There was only one left, and it was pretty badly damaged. We managed to sneak past it and find a big old pile of ordinary treasure- the cult having taken only the magical items that were present.

At this point, the sorcerer’s Extremely Evil and Powerful family patriarch (they’re a whole family of evil sorcerers, she’s more of a neutral sorcerer) showed up to taunt her a bit. He also activated the remaining automaton, which attacked us. We set up a pretty good ambush, with our rogue and I doing a fair amount of damage to it, but it rushed past us and attacked the ranger and the sorcerer, mauling them both pretty badly

Well, this simply will not do, thinks Altanin, so on my next turn I charged the thing, hit it once with my sword, then used my other attack unarmed so I could grapple it as a bonus action (wooo Tavern Brawler feat). So I basically grabbed it by some important central mechanism and hauled it back, away from the squishies.

It whirled on me and attacked four times, two of them crits because of course I was reckless attacking so it had advantage on me, and my AC was only 16 instead of 20 since my magic-shield-bearing hand was occupied with holding the ‘bot by its middle. I took literally 107 slashing damage (halved to 53, woo rage) and then the thing started making this eye-watering, teeth-shivering whirring noise that built and built

It was pretty obvious it was going to explode in some way, so the whole party ran out of the vault we were fighting in. Except Altanin, who felt he needed to hold it in place and anticipated being able to shrug off half of whatever explosion damage it did. Selflessly keeping it from hurting his friends, at relatively little cost to himself. That’s the bear totem lifestyle, ba-by

Well, the noise crescendoed and when it popped, it did Ninety Eight damage. Psychic damage. The only damage type I don’t resist. Which took my HP total from a comfortable 149/198 to 47. Also, I was stunned.

We killed it the next round, thankfully, but oy. Altanin was a bloody mess- literally oozing blood from his eyes, nose, ears, mouth, his head ringing. The scratches from its physical attacks were nothin’ in comparison. And since our life cleric’s player exited the game due to time/energy constraints, our only healer is currently our ranger. 

She gave Altanin a talking-to about maybe being a little more cautious from now on, as a result. She always has been the group tactician, so he’s inclined to cooperate. Could’ve been worse, though. Could’ve been better, too.

Next time hopefully I’ll remember that one of my attuned magical items lets me do double damage against constructs. >.>

[candy-floss-crazy]

Jacket Potato Cart Hire

Jacket Baked Potato Cart Hire.   Juicy Jackets, When You Need The Food To Be Remembered.   Reputed to have been introduced by Sir Walter Raleigh, if you don't like 'taters' you could always try his other offering, tabacco. but we don't think 'baccy' goes with chilli too well. Everyone remembers what the food was like, poor food can totally ruin your event. Don't offer your guests or colleagues the usual boring platter of sandwiches and a slice of cake. You need something a bit more filling, a baked potato cart is just the ticket. Everything is taken care of for you, preparing and serving the food, and the clean up after the event. Your choice of hot and cold fillings with side salad. to make a perfect late night offering for your guests at a wedding. Although it’s just as good through the day at parties or company fun days. Fancy a Tater, just ask, we don't bite!  Yes PleaseThe menu lists a small selection of what you can choose for your event. If you have something specific in mind let us know and we can put a customised menu together for you. We can also offer veggie and vegan options, so everybody can be happy.You can have the baked potato services on a quirky range of carts, remember nowadays the service needs to look as good as the food tastes. Victorian style pickwick potato ovens are used to cook your juicy jackets to perfection fluffy on the inside, crunchy on the exterior. •Victorian •Alpine •Contemporary •Tikki Hut •Horse Box •Gazebo You have the option of a custom design and build service for promotional events and exhibitions. Check out our carts... Branding For sales promotions and exhibitions your baked potato carts can be branded to suit your theme. This can be as simple as adding a logo to the front, right through to a complete custom design and build, you also have the option of; Custom Branded Napkins. Custom Branded Plates. Custom Signage.The same old buffets are beginning to look a bit stale. Adding a baked potato cart serving a range of healthy options is a sure fire way to keep your guests happy. Add a touch of class your event with our delicious hot fresh spuds and range of both hot and cold toppings. Perfect for private parties, and wedding receptions. In addition to our jackets, we also offer other great savoury options, why dont you check out;  Hot Dogs, Chipstix and Nachos. History Of The Potato The humble potato has become the world’s 4th largest food crop. Quite a feat for a vegetable which was first cultivated in Peru around 8000 to 5000 BC. When Peru was invaded by the Spanish Conquistadors in 1536, they discovered the taste of the potato and carried them to Europe. Sir Walter Raleigh introduced potatoes into Ireland around 1589, planting them on 40,000 acres of land near Cork. It took around 4 decades for the potato to spread to the rest of Europe Did You Know At one point during the Alaskan Klondike gold rush, the potato was worth its weight in gold. They were valued for their vitamin C, and gold at that time was more readily available than nutritious foods! The potato was the first vegetable to be grown in space. NASA and the University of Wisconsin created the technology with the aim of feeding astronauts on long space voyages, and eventually providing a staple crop for future space colonies.DO YOU OFFER VEGGY OPTIONS; Yes, we can provide a range of veggy toppings, or a mixture of both. CAN YOU PROVIDE HALAL OR KOSHER TOPPINGS; Yes we can work up a menu to suit your precise requirements. HOW MUCH IS A JACKET POTATO CART; The price varies depending on where you require the service and how many guests you need us to serve, but expect to pay around £500 for upto 100 servings. WHERE CAN I HIRE A JACKET POTATO CART NEAR ME. We offer a service covering the full U.K. and can provide a cart for you. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A JACKET POTATO AND A BAKED POTATO; In reality they are the same thing, basically the English call it a jacket, the Americans baked. U.K’s Premier Traditional jacket potato carts are available to hire throughout the FULL U.K. and Europe. Including the North East, The Midlands, London, Scotland, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and they are perfect for military balls, corporate events, college balls, weddings, parties, university balls, company fundays, barmitzvahs, bat mitzvahs and any other type of public or private event catered for. Hire Jacket Potatoes Near Me. Baked potato food trucks and carts for any event. Waffles make a perfect complement. Read the full article

[vitaminwaterreviews]

IU - Chat-Shire

More than anything else, this album showcased her soft voice. I don’t remember if she had a single high note anywhere, and those are kind of her signature thing. But that’s not really an issue; her soft voice is gorgeous, definitely give Knees a listen if you’re into that sound.

Musically, nothing too special. I think Red Queen did some neat stuff, the harmonies during the chorus in particular were excellent. A lot of the album felt simple - I think it’s her first self-composed EP though, so she’s probably keeping it simple just because she’s not a very developed songwriter at that point. The background harmonies were probably the highlight from a musical perspective - all of the cute “doo”s and “ba”s and stuff, love those. Average score of 7.4 which actually might be a bit high from my perspective, to be honest. I liked a lot of this album, and I love her voice, but overall I wish it had a bit more to offer. The musical ideas were good but often felt underdeveloped. The production was excellent, her voice is excellent.

Shoes

Nice chill pop, lovely harmonies

For some reason I’m getting Twicetagram vibes out of this

“doo doo doo doo”

7/10, some really cute moments but ultimately nothing special

Zezé

Mkay, we’re a bit jazzy again

Hmmm I dunno about the synths in the post-chorus

Haha I love when they cut the music and just leave her voice

Yeah, this song feels like it can’t decide whether it wants to be electronic or jazzy and idk how I feel about that

7/10

Twenty-three

A chair in an empty black room

Happy birthday IU

Also, with Palette in mind, also “Growing Up,” seems like her age is a prominent theme in her music

Love the sound of this song

Haha shadow monster, cute

Bruh she just ruined the mukbang to become a blanket monster

And what’s with the closeup of her hips?

Also the cigarette fake-out lol

This MV is honestly kind of a trip and I’m enjoying it

8/10

The Shower

Much simpler. Wikipedia says that the music here is by IU, so this must be her on guitar and piano

Harmonies

Her voice is so pretty when it’s soft

Like Kim Bo-ra, with the high notes. Maybe that cover of My Sea was more telling than I thought

7/10

Red Queen (feat. Zion.T)

Woah, funky IU, alright

Oh my god these harmonies

Her features are always So good

I want a bit more from Zion

Oh ok, here we are

Hm… I dunno about this

8/10, quite fun, had some things I wasn’t a huge fan of though

Knees

Ballad time

It’s certainly showcasing her voice

Maybe I’m just not in the mood, but in general I’m not a huge ballad fan

Also this is a Quiet ballad, yes those are still ballads

Some strings now, okay

Pretty

7/10

Glasses

A bit more upbeat

Almost … reggae?

Oh my god though, I will never tire of her background harmonies

“ba ba ba ba” heh

Did we just speed up a bit?

I Quite like this actually. Wasn’t sure at first, but I totally get what she’s going for here, good stuff

8/10

[ajthinks]

Kemuri the Air-Dragon Sorcerer

I’ve finally had the opportunity to play as a player in a D&D campaign! A friend kindly offered to dm, so I slapped together a character.

Meet Kemuri, an air genasi that discovered their golden draconic bloodline and became a fire sorcerer as a result!

(image source: sakimichan on DeviantArt, https://www.deviantart.com/sakimichan/art/River-spirit-286483620)

My plan is to take a bunch of fire-power spells, particularly Scorching Ray, then multi-class into fighter for Action Surge. This, combined with the Quickened Spell metamagic, will let me cast 2 spells and 1 cantrip in one turn, which could be very, very cool for damage output. Really, I’d just like to pull it off once. :3

On a more character side, I’ll be trying to incorporate as many weird, magic-y bloodlines as I can. Starting as an air genasi, with a gold dragon bloodline, and moving into Fey Ancestry with a feat at lv 4 (the one with hex and +1 charisma).

(Don’t worry, I’ve cleared all this with my DM. Always do that.)

Stats

Kemuri has... interesting stats, to say the least. My DM friend had us roll stats in such a way that everyone in the party has the same total for stats for balance sake. It’s pretty interesting: roll the number of d6s you want the total stats to be, then just count up how many of each number you have. (Ex: 10 fours, means one stat will be a 10)

Yes, you counted that right. I rolled a total of three 4s... meaning one of Kemuri’s stats is 3... with a modifier of -4. And, because I hate myself, the chosen stat is strength. For the air genasi racial ASI, I took +2 to dexterity and +1 to charisma to end up with

Kemuri Backstory

Kemuri’s mother is a seamstress in Ansben, which is near the ruined city of Drakkenheim. They have two siblings, and they’re all very close. They never never knew their father (he was an air genasi). Mother once mentioned that he was some kind of mage, but refused to ever say anything else. Kemuri looks nothing like their siblings, but shares their mother’s golden eyes (gold dragon bloodline from Mother).

Kemuri sparked as a child and was swiftly bundled off by the Amethyst Academy for tutelage. For a few years, they studied at the Inscrutable Tower, as it was the nearest magical institute to their hometown, where Mother & siblings still lived.

They were traveling on a yearly visit to see family -- the only reason Kemuri’s still alive -- when the meteor crashed. “I saw it strike from the vantage point of a hill. It changed my life and brought me nightmares every night in the 15 years since.”

The insubstantial puff of hot air that is Kemuri has since completed sorcerer training, come of age, and set out to investigate Drakkenheim. Their goal is to find the central crash point and investigate it. However, they’ll assist in any foray the Academy may make into the recovery of the Inscrutable Tower. After all, one may help the other.

During their investigations, Kemuri made a friend, one of the aarakocra race (another party member), an artificer and very handy to have around. Together they’ve have prodded at Drakkenheim for a handful of years now, gathering information.

Every year, Kemuri pays a visit to see family and catch up. Letters and money is sent as often as can be spared, but it's no replacement for seeing everyone and knowing they're getting along just fine. One sibling is apprenticing as an artisan (seamstress or smith, not sure yet), but the other has Kemuri’s (and Father’s) wandering feet and wants to find said Father. Mother worries they'll leave home soon.

At the beginning of the campaign, Kemuri’s on their way back with my friends to Drakkenheim from such a visit home.

I’m looking forward to this! :3

[pinercharlotte]

12 labours of hercules cretan bull 2.7 guide

There is Food toward the bottom of the path: take it. A mighty boulder has fallen, and you must get rid of it somehow in order to unblock the path. Your journey starts with a simple task: Clear the road. Completion of levels with higher scores grant pieces of Marvels, which can eventually be constructed near endgame. The faster levels are completed, the higher your total score raises. Hercules is used most effectively for feats of strength, such as moving massive boulders or taming the savage Cerberus. Workers can collect supplies such as Wood and Food, and can construct Farms to generate resources as well. Levels are a map, presented in an isometric view, with your cursor controlling your workers and Hercules. 12 Labours of Hercules II – The Cretan Bull Walkthrough Gameplay Overviewġ2 Labors of Hercules II: The Cretan Bull is an action game with heavy emphasis on Time Management in its game play. Waiting until everything on the map is cleared results in a higher score. Make sure to gather whatever Gold, Food, or Wood can be found around the map before committing to Hero actions, because this often triggers a level endstate. ~ When calling upon the aid of Hercules, Cerberus, Medusa, or other Heros encountered along your journey, save their actions for last. There are many respawning food resources that need harvesting at any given moment, and there should always be progress towards the end of the level, so make sure all your Workers are occupied. ~ It is important to have every Worker performing a task at any given moment. The sooner you have multiple workers, the faster you can complete the level, raising your final score. Prisoners turn into Workers, capable of clearing paths by collecting resources such as Food or Wood, and repairing Cracks and Broken Bridges. ~ Any Prisoners should be freed as soon as possible. 12 Labours of Hercules II – The Cretan Bull Walkthrough.A daunting task, even for an Olympian, but this game play Walkthrough of 12 Labours of Hercules II: The Cretan Bull will assist with tricks, ensuring your success in all endeavors. As the titular hero, your task is to restore the great kingdom to its former glory, expand with new wonders and explore by solving perplexing puzzles. Amidst the ruined roads and buildings, a hero emerges: Hercules. Its particular value lies in the diversity of the evidence presented and the breadth of the questions asked of the sources.Hera has angered the Cretan Bull, causing it to go on a rampage. The Companion should also prove useful in teaching courses on issues of ancient sex and sexuality, since it assembles up-to-date, authoritative, well-written treatments of key aspects by noted experts. "Thanks to its wide scope, the collection of papers is guaranteed to appeal to beginners in the field of ancient sexuality as well as to specialists, who will find many details which are new to them. “Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualitiesprovides a thought-provoking overview of an important subject area, it is a fascinating collection of chapters offering a tantalizing taste of a scholarship that is ripe for debate and will continue to encourage scholars to develop their research methods, bringing the cultures of Greece and Rome together for comparison and criticism and dissection and discussion.” ( Reference Reviews, 1 December 2014 Overall, this is a useful volume with much to recommend it to anyone who needs a solid introduction to any aspect of sexuality in ancient Greece or Rome.” ( Religious Studies Review, 4 June 2015) “This volume will be of use to many scholars and teachers across a variety of fields. The discourses of sex in the ancient world are not confined to love poetry and erotic vase paintings, but pervade almost every aspect of life, if one knows what to look for.” ( Phoenix, 1 June 2015) “While perhaps few readers will work through the volume as a whole, nearly all classicists will find some points of intersection with their own sub-fields.