#your honor these are my emotional support war criminals

[angstyastro]

13 tickets for Barbie pls

Late for pride month but have my gay war criminals

The lighting is based on pride flags for each chara!

[nelyoslegalteam]

like obviously “x did nothing wrong” is a satirical phrase but have u considered. your honor that is my emotional support war criminal please adn thankyou. no charges on account of i love him.

[sinnabee]

got polls lads. time to fuck around and find out

[duelistkingdom]

i am ash from your fire

Summary:  For the longest time, Aki had been at war with themself. She demolished everything in her path, leaving smoke and ashes wherever she touched. It was an easy way to describe what they'd done to their childhood self - once happy and unaware until things began to grow in wrong. It was like her body was a ticking time bomb, one doomed to go off at any minute.

Rating: Explicit

Ships: Yusei Fudo/Aki Izayoi

Author’s note: commission from @diabetic-best-bi for the pride month special. features gender stuff, strap ons, and references to transitioning surgeries. there is also a reference to aki’s abusive relationship with divine. if you’d also like to commission me, please check out this post. i also currently have a pride month special going on right now, so please check out here for more details.

read on ao3 / support me on kofi / join my discord (18+)

​​For the longest time, Aki had been at war with themself. She demolished everything in her path, leaving smoke and ashes wherever she touched. It was an easy way to describe what they'd done to their childhood self - once happy and unaware until things began to grow in wrong. It was like her body was a ticking time bomb, one doomed to go off at any minute. And it exploded against their father, a kind man who had done his best to raise his daughter as loving and understanding as he could when he already was uncertain of how to properly care for her. When the psychic powers came in, he folded to a bluff. And so Aki ran away from home, hoping to find something somewhere that would help her better than her father could.

Divine had claimed to offer salvation, presenting himself as a hero in their story. He had all the right words, and knew exactly what Aki wanted to hear: that she could be fixed. He promised a lifeline the same way Lucifer presented the apple of knowledge to Eve: a bite and she'd understand everything. He'd arranged for Aki's transition and then later demanded payment on her knees. And they'd been so blinded by gratitude that they saw nothing wrong in Divine's actions. It was why when Yusei first crashed into her life, she'd refused to admit that he might be right about the snake in her garden.

Wrath disguised as justice had been all Aki had ever known. Across the battlefield, Yusei was holding out his hand with humility, honor, and grace - a white flag of surrender oddly out of place considering his decisive victory. If he was honorable, then perhaps...

It was something that Aki had no interest in thinking about so she buried it deep in her mind. Divine was more than happy to help them seal away all unpleasant thoughts of Yusei. Once again, her most destructive habits were encouraged and her emotions discouraged. Divine promised it was just a silly crush that would go away with enough time, however he took no risks when it came to keeping Aki under his thumb. He revealed the truth of Yusei - a criminal who claims to still be a woman. It didn't fit into what Aki knew, and it was easy to dismiss Yusei's existence out of hand.

However, Aki would not be allowed to wall up the way she'd like to. Yusei was more than determined to make sure that they saw the truth and fought to be their friend. It was enough to shatter Divine's control over Aki, but it did not stop at his control. The resulting force had been overwhelming, shattering Aki's sense of self too. Once again, Yusei held out his hand to her, and this time Aki had no reason to doubt the honor and truth in his words when he promised her that he was her friend. They took his hand, allowing him to pull them off the ground.

From that moment, Aki clung to him as he reintroduced their family back into their life. Her father had been grateful to Yusei, claiming that he had shown him a perspective that would help them move forward. Her father promised to do better by Aki, that all will be better now. And for the first time in Aki's life, they saw hope.

Yusei was true to his word about being a friend to Aki, and yet... some part of her knew there was something between them that wasn't only friendship. It wasn't more or less - it was just something that was alongside that friendship. Aki found themself staring at his arms for just a bit too long, wondering what they'd feel like around her. And they'd stare at Yusei's chest, wondering what he could possibly be hiding under there. All of it was overwhelming, and they elected to ignore those feelings. It was easier to ignore the desire they felt due to previous experience with sex. What she'd done with Divine left her feeling raw and tainted - no way could Yusei ever see her like that, no matter how much she wished he would.

Instead, the team had a job to do - protect the world. As much as Aki would love to get caught up in the thoughts about Yusei and them going further in their relationship, now wasn't the time. And yet the back of her mind couldn't scratch the itch of the thought away. It persisted. Once the seed was planted, Aki couldn't help herself - she had to nurture it. It was what they did.

The thought came back again after the dust settled and the goal of rebuilding the future and shaping it themselves came into view. Crow and Jack welcomed her like a sister, teasing her about the relationship with Yusei in ways that left Aki flustered and angry. Of course she wanted the teasing to be about something real, but the fact was that he'd never seen them as anything but a friend. And they were fine with that. Really. They were fine being nothing more than one of Yusei's many, many friends. She bit her tongue, holding everything back of her throat - sticking there. It was difficult to pretend, though. Difficult to choke back the words that she wanted to say.

I love you. I love you. It sticks in her throat, and she can't seem to say it. If she couldn't say it to her own family, to Divine... how would she say it to Yusei? But it didn't make it any less true. I love you. I love you. It ran through their head over the simplest things that he did. They watched him all the time, saying nothing. I love you. I love you. It pounded in their chest.

How she wished that he'd see it without her having to say it. Aki never liked pain, no matter how much she claimed she did. It was all bravado, a facade that she couldn't keep up around Yusei. He saw through every mask she tried to put up, and every wall she'd ever built. It was like their heart was restarting again. And so the two of them danced around the question of defining the relationship, growing ever flirtier but never truly saying what they meant.  Everyone could see it - everyone but them. Aki's graduation was starting to loom ever closer, and the thought of what she should do next was being trudged up. They'd never planned on living past eighteen, and yet nineteen loomed ever closer. When her friends asked what she was going to do after Duel Academy, she'd shrugged. All they knew is they wanted to get out of Neo Domino to avoid the heartbreak of seeing Yusei fall in love. It was an inevitability.

They'd heard how people talked about him. He was strong, handsome, and helpful - a dream girl for anyone, really. During the graduation celebration, she went out with the girls alone. Under the plying effects of alcohol, she finally divulged her crush to her Duel Academy friends. The more Aki drank, the more she thought about how one day, Yusei would really wind up finding someone. They could picture his whole life with a stranger that they hated for existing, and threw up. And eventually, she kept slurring Yusei's name until her friends laughed and said that she ought to get home. Their friends teased them the whole cab ride back home and helped get them into bed.

Germany seemed like a far enough distance from Yusei. It was always what they did best: run away from the problem. If the problem was that she had feelings that were only getting more intense as she got older, then she would simply put several thousands miles and a few time zones between them. At first, she had no intention of telling him that she was planning on leaving. Her parents guilted her into it by reminding her that she owed him an explanation. It was why they were standing in front of him now, his smile lit by the moonlight and his normally bright eyes darkened by the dim lighting. If she got a full view of his face, she'd lose her nerve. And so they spilled out, "Yusei, I always..." She cut herself, shaking her head. They couldn't say it. What if he rejected them? "Never mind."

His warm hand had wrapped around hers, and her heart came to a stuttering hault for only a few seconds before pounding wildly out of control. They felt dizzy. "Aki," he said, his voice huskier than she'd ever heard it before. They'd always liked the way he said their name. He was a woman of such few words, and yet they wished he'd say something, anything. And then... "Please don't go."

The grip on her tightened, and Aki couldn't break it even if she wanted to. Their heart leapt into their throat, and all they could wonder is if the reason he didn't want them to go is for the same reason they were leaving. "What?"

Yusei's lips crushed against hers, and she melted into the kiss. Every single thought they'd ever had left their head all at once. For all the flirting, they'd never cross this line, they never made it physical. It was, after all, a foolish thing to do. It would make things complicated. And she didn't care how complicated it made things - she pulled Yusei in closer with a low moan. He spun them around so their back was up against the wall, his grip on them tightening to the point of almost pain. When he broke the kiss, his breathing was ragged, with a dazed look in his eyes that she'd never seen before. In the moonlight, she'd never seen his eyes look that color blue before. "What do I have to do to make you stay?" He pressed himself to her, a plea in his eyes. "Please, Aki. I'll do anything."

"Love me." It spilled out like she was under some kind of spell - she simply couldn't help herself when Yusei was looking at her like that. "I... I can't stay and think about how you might love someone else, I -"

A scorching kiss that burned through them cut them off before they could ramble. His hands slipped under her sweater, lifting her up and forcing her to wrap her legs around his waist for stability, gripping tight onto his shoulders. "I already do," he said, and the gates broke loose as they tugged at the collar of his shirt. He'd begun to move them, and Aki didn't care where he took her at that proclamation. It was rattling around, and she knew he'd never lie to her. If Yusei said it, then that meant…

Nothing else mattered as they felt the softness of Yusei's bed against their back as he placed them down. Each of his kisses were searing - it felt like she'd be marked for the rest of her life. How long had she wanted this? Longer than she would ever admit to. Aki pushed his shirt up at the hem, and he yanked it off without question. He tossed it aside, and the sports bra he wore underneath was simple and plain. It was very Yusei to lean more practical over everything else. The two of them had never had much time alone together before, and she was itching to take advantage of it. Especially now that she knew how he felt about her. If this was a dream, it was one that she hoped she never woke up from.

Yusei tugged at their sweater, and they leaned up just enough to let him pull it off. As embarrassed as she was at the idea of being in her raw state around him, it was worth it if she got to feel his touch upon her skin. They'd been craving it for so long that when his lips theirs again, they drank it like a person tasting water after wandering the desert for so long. It reminded her of when she was a child, and her parents took her camping and encouraged her to try the fresh spring water. Pure, natural, and probably better for her in the long run. And then his lips were on their jaw, and any thoughts of comparison went out the window. Each touch was like a wound cauterized - a painful heat that seared over, leaving them feeling raw and exposed. As much as she wanted to ask Yusei to define the relationship out loud, there was no need to. If she loved him, and he loved her, then they were together. And they'd had almost three years of talking at this point. The physical was what mattered now.

"Wait a minute," he said, getting up. "I need to get a few things." She sat up, arching a brow. What could he possibly need in this moment? They watched him head over to his dresser, riffling through it. Her breath hitched as she realized what he meant - he'd pulled out a harness with a thick dildo attached to it and some lube. And when he turned back to her, there was a new hunger in his eyes that threatened to devour her whole. He placed both on the bed, and started fully disrobing. "Wait, sorry, did you want to do this?"

They weren't sure what they wanted at this point. Yusei taking the lead was a relief. So she shook her head and smiled. "I'm enjoying the view."

He winked at her, and she realized she'd never felt this safe before. As he pulled the strap on, Aki began to pull her bra off. She hesitated at her skirt, realizing that there was definitely something she should give Yusei a heads up about. "Um, wait. I, ah... how do I put this... I don't... look like other girls downstairs."

He furrowed his brow, tilting his head. "What do you mean?"

Heat pooled into her cheeks as she looked away, feeling slightly uncomfortable as she remembered how Divine took it when she was undressed. He'd made it seem like they were lucky that he'd tolerate their dick at all, outright telling them that as soon they turned 18, he'd get them vaginoplasty to "deal" with the problem. While they definitely wanted that surgery, it still was embarrassing and uncomfortable to have their partner openly hate part of their body and resent its existence. "I mean I have a penis."

"Oh," Yusei said and shrugged. And then he did something surprising: he pressed kisses to her hips and glanced up at her. "Is this because you'd prefer I don't touch it or... am I fine to go down on you still?"

Aki blinked a few times, attempting to process what he was asking. In her entire time that she'd been with Divine, not once had he offered to go down on her. It was always expected of them, though, and they'd assumed that was simply how sex was always going to work for them. Her doing everything to please her partner while their partner tolerates their touch. She didn't trust herself to speak from the overwhelming emotion - she simply nodded and Yusei understood. His fingers hooked at her skirt, yanking it down to expose her to him. They bite their lip as his tongue circled at the head of their cock. His tongue teased, exploring every inch of her before taking her into his mouth. Aki's hips bucked involuntarily, and Yusei pinned her hips down as his eyes caught hers.

The purple of his eyes were suddenly sharp and in focus, with the moonlight pouring in through a crack in his curtains. She propped herself up to look at him better, moaning as he sucked and licked at every inch of her cock. He reached for the lube, expertly uncapping it with one hand and coating her entrance with the stuff as his head bobbed on her length - never once breaking eye contact with her. It was intoxicating and overwhelming. Somehow he was able to keep focus on going down on them while he coated his fingers with the lube. Before they could ask what Yusei was doing, he'd pressed a single finger into her and pressed right against the sweet spot.

A haze came over her as her hips ground down towards his touch, and bucking up to his mouth. They twisted their hands into his bed sheets, his name exiting their lips like a prayer to a god once thought long dead. With each touch, she felt more and more like he was reviving them from the dead. In this moment, they felt truly and honestly alive for the first time in years - a feeling they'd come so close to forgetting. His lips pulled away from her cock with a loud pop, smirking up at her as he pressed a second finger into her. "You look so pretty like this, Aki," he husked, moving up to steal a kiss while they were too dazed to really focus on any one thing. "A writhing mess under my touch... Such a stunning view."

Her lids felt heavy but she didn't want to look away from him. If it was any consolation to her dignity, he at least had a similar half-lid moon eyes at her - a look she wanted to commit to memory. Their eyes darted over Yusei, and it took their breath away. His abs slightly toned, the petite but well defined breasts, and of course, the strap-on that was promising pleasure. "Do you not want me to go down on you?"

He shook his head. "Don't normally like being touched like that," he said, pressing a third finger into them. "Don't worry - I'll get off. Trust me - with how you look right now? I'll be fine."

As confused as she was, she was in no position to even argue as his fingers set a demanding pace that took all her focus. He kept pressing gentle kisses along her jaw, neck, collarbone, breasts - anywhere he could get his lips on, really. And they were so distracted by his attention that they didn't notice Yusei lubing the strap up next. "I," they said soft, trailing off as they forgot what they were going to say. "I've never..."

"Never what?"

"Been... with a girl before," they said, the first thought that came into their mind. "Is that okay?"

Aki moaned as the head of the strap pressed up against their entrance. Yusei's hands moved away, and he lined up as he pressed into her with a low groan. Suddenly it became clear what he'd meant when he said he'd still get off despite her not touching him. His hands gripped at their hips, and it was tight to the point where they were certain that he would leave marks. They hoped he'd leave marks. "More than okay," he said softly, pushing all the way in. She yelped in surprise, and he held steady for a minute, allowing her to adjust to the size and feeling of him deep inside her. It was like she'd entered an oasis in the middle of the hot desert. Every inch of her felt on fire, his hands running along her sides. "You're beautiful."

The praise was overwhelming, too. It was not in their experience that anyone could be so gentle with them even as they were manhandled the way Yusei was. Yes, he was in control, yes, he was domineering her but... it was obvious that if she asked him to stop, he would. And it was for that reason that she didn't want him to stop. Their hips rolled against his strap, giving him permission to go. He started achingly slow, and when she tried to pick up the pace herself, he held her hips down. "Yusei," they whimpered. "Yusei, please. Please fuck me, Yusei, please."

As soon as they made the request, Yusei's thrusts became animalistic and rough. Aki swore there were now stars in the ceiling of his bedroom overhead her, twinkling in the inky black void. His hands were gentle whenever they were on her face, forcing her to stare into his eyes. Even in his deep violet eyes, she could see galaxies. Everything that they didn't understand before about love suddenly made perfect sense as his lips captured hers in an impassioned kiss. All the years the two of them had been waiting for the other to say something was in that case. There was a desperate edge, a reminder to them vaguely that they'd almost left this behind. They were grateful he'd stopped them from leaving, had taken them here instead. It was building in her stomach, tensing up as she moaned so loud she could hear herself echoing back from the walls. There was no need to worry about anyone catching them now that they were alone.

Before this moment, there had always been something that needed Yusei's attention or kept them from truly talking about everything they both had buried so deep inside them. All of that was coming out now as Aki's nails dragged down Yusei's back, her legs wrapped tight around his waist keeping him firm against her. Nothing else mattered, no one else mattered. For once, selfishness could ring out and Aki was taking everything she never got to have before all once greedily, hungrily. Until now, they'd never known what they'd been deprived of - a love so pure that even as he fucked them into the mattress, they could feel as if both of their hearts was beating as one. "Fuck, I'm gonna cum," Aki moaned, unable to help herself.

"Me too," he gruffed, and leaning in to whisper a filthy moan of, "Cum with me."

It was never any question. Her head spun, no longer processing anything but the loud moans and his searing touch that seemed to erase all scars on her heart that Divine had left. When they arose from the ashes of the fire, they were born anew. He'd collapsed next to her, panting as heavily as she was with a light smile on his face. A heartbeat passed before they finally managed to get out, "We should've done that a long time ago."

Yusei chuckled, and nodded with an "ah". They rolled over, tracing out hearts onto his body with a look of awe and reverence. He'd saved her so many times, and now here he was, next to her. They knew without even asking that he was now all theirs, just as they were all his. He smiled at her, and she felt the love blooming in her chest. "I love you, Aki."

"I love you too, Yusei," they said softly, feeling teetering on the edge of being overwhelmed. They looked over Yusei's body again to ground themselves in the moment - the toned arms, the gentle curve of his hips, and... the mark of their cum on his stomach. "Oops," she said with a giggle as she scooped her cum off his chest. "Guess I'm a bit of a squirter."

He laughed, moving to press a kiss to her lips before gripping her wrist. He pulled their hand close, deliberately licking every drop off their hand with an exaggerated moan. "Mhm, I like that," he teased. "Got anymore for me?"

She laughed, shaking her head. "I think I'm pretty spent for the night but..."

"But?"

They pulled him to them with a laugh, nuzzling into his neck. "Cuddle me and I'll let you have some more tomorrow for breakfast."

He nodded, pulling away for a second. She was confused before he took the strap off, tossing it aside. He then pulled the covers over the two of them, cuddling her close to him. "As long as you're willing to have nights like this with me for the rest of your life."

She nodded. Now that was an exchange that she could happily make.

[i-yeeteth-and-i-yoinketh]

you don’t get it your honor, he’s my emotional support war criminal

[terezis]

call essssssssek i want to seeeeee him that’s my emotional support war criminal your honor 

[sikkusushotto]

cant find the “but your honor, he’s my emotional support war criminal” post but that post is daniel witwicky talking about sixshot

[howlingday]

About Jaune ships...

I have opinions. You may not agree, but they are mine. They may change in time, but not now.

LANCASTER ( RUBY X JAUNE )

The old tried and true. I mean, what's not to like? Cute girl falls for first guy she meets at Beacon? Classic romance trope, and after reading how much Ruby loves romance stories (I consider certain parts in the manga canon), it makes sense. In fact, after Arkos sank (A moment of silence, please . . . Thank you), many moved to Lancaster, which isn't bad. Happens all the time in fandoms. Sad thing, though, is far I think she'll last. If we're talking Volume 5 or earlier, then maybe. However, I feel if Ruby were to have an endgame in romance, it would be RoseGarden (I have opinions on that as well, but today isn't the day to discuss that), mostly because Oscar bumped Jaune's role from male lead to male side. Not to mention that while Jaune is becoming a beast in his own right, Ruby is a different creature altogether and evolving her character more rapidly and chaotically than anyone else (Must be all that screentime).

TLDR: I want it to be canon, but I might just be hoping.

WHITE KNIGHT ( WEISS X JAUNE)

Doofus in tin foil meets princess who hates daddy (Am I in the romance section of the library? You know, the corner for adults only?) No, but I do like this ship. I'm always a sucker for the fantasy genre, and using a zero to hero male makes it relatable. I also kind of ship it because the same reason I ship NaruSaku in the Naruto fandom: he likes her and he's willing to go the distance. But enough about that; instead let's talk about canon. Will they hook up? It's a soft maybe for me, for two reasons. 1. Rosegarden is most likely to be endgame, and after Ruby and Pyrrha, I'd say Weiss is Jaune's next to be his love interest. 2. Weiss has warmed up to Jaune. Sure, not lover or crush level (Yet), but she's definitely changed her opinion on him. In Volume 1, Jaune was bugging her, like all the time, which I could see as him getting mixed signals on (Exhibit A: Tall, blonde, and scraggly). When Volume 5 came around, everyone jumped onboard because he saved her life (Don't lie, because I'll admit that I did it, too). Not the best reason, but still reason enough, I'd say. Then in Volume 7, she hangs out with him and Oscar to the movies (It was either that or awkward Bumbleby all night. I feel ya, sister). Nothing romantic happens, but it does show how much their relationship has developed. If Weiss is Jaune's endgame, then they have set the pieces up perfectly to do so.

TLDR: High likelihood to be canon and I'm a sucker for Knight/Princess ships.

KNIGHTSHADE ( BLAKE X JAUNE)

This is the part where I say definitely not. Not in a million years, but I'll explain why I like the ship, though. As for why it won't work, the answer is Bumbleby. They haven't kissed yet, but you know they're going to eventually (Because if they don't, the fans will attack like a swarm of hornets). But here's the question you might be asking now: why do I ship this? Well, it's part of the allure of "opposites attract" ('Cause I'm dressed like a cat!). Blake is an intelligent, outspoken, and agile ninja with a criminal history of terrorism who spends her free time reading novels. Jaune is a B at best on his tests, soft-hearted, and ground-based knight who's worst crime is fraud (Still a crime, but peanuts compared to literal terrorism) and spends his free time hanging out with his team. Day and night. But they also tried that with Sun for a season and a half and it didn't last (BECAUSE BEES).

TLDR: Not even a snowball's chance in the summer sun, but so much story potential if you do (Which I do)!

DRAGONSLAYER ( YANG X JAUNE )

This, I would say, is the opposite of Knightshade, where Jaune is the day and Blake is night, here Yang is the Sun and Jaune is the Moon (Like their crests! Remember those? Y'know, when they were relevant?) Will it work? Even less so than Knightshade. However, it does open up some interesting paths considering how... provocative Yang can be, and Jaune, compared to the other guys, is the nerdiest, geekiest dude at Beacon. It's like the cheerleader/nerd romance, except the cheerleader is the captain of every sports team... and rides a motorcycle. The Volume 8 preview introduced us to Yang and Jaune riding motorcycles and we went nuts over it. Yang was back in her element, roaring down the street, riding on walls, popping off tricks with Oscar riding- Back to what I was saying, people were asking, "How did he know how to ride a motorcycle?" and the elementary answer is "He didn't." He almost fell off his bike from a small box in the road. True, anyone would, but look at how he reacts: he stiffens, he refocuses on the road. This kid literally started riding at breakfast, and I DARE you to prove me wrong. But hey, great fic material right there, though, eh?

TLDR: Never gonna happen, but I don't care. All I care about is writing that they love each other. And they also fu-!

ARKOS ( PYRRHA X JAUNE )

I'm sorry, I need a moment. . . . Alright. Do it for her. This ship... was perfect. Probably the best ship out them all. I legit almost cry every time I think about Volume 3. Pyrrha was everyone's favorite. Her background, her interactions, her choreography, everything! But, of course, like everything in our lives, she was too good to be true. But let's honor her memory by talking about her ship, Arkos. Pyrrha was the champion of the world, the Brothers' and Oums' gift to Remnant. She could do no wrong and she HATED it. Her plight was with how she was seen. Everybody knew her! Everybody, except Jaune. And he only figured out she was "a big deal" was because Weiss had to spell it out for him! As time went on, they became the best of friends, two peas in a pod, the perfect odd couple! They worked together and trusted each other, they cared for and supported each other, they lo- No. No, I can't say it. It's been years, and it still hurts. So, I'll explain something else: the reason why Jaune SHOULD NOT be shipped right now. That reason is Pyrrha. Jaune was helpless to save her. He's suffering from survivor's guilt and he's still grieving. In Volume 4, he would sneak away and train until late at night to scroll recording of her. In Volume 5, he confronted Cinder and got Weiss almost killed because he let his grief for Pyrrha take control of him and let his emotions run wild. In Volume 6, he finds the Pyrrha statue and he... I don't know how to say this, but he let's go. He accepts that Pyrrha is gone and he's starting the healing process. He's finally ready to move forward.

TLDR: T.T I never felt that it was wise to wish too much~

MARTIAL ARCS ( REN X JAUNE)

I'll be honest, I don't really ship it. Yeah, it's cute, and it falls perfectly into the "if I had to pick a guy" part of me, but to be honest, I don't ship it. 10% because Renora and 90% it just doesn't click with me. They both just seem too soft, too quiet, too introverted. Best friends? Yes, definitely! But lovers? Eeeeeh, not really.

TLDR: I will only ship as neccessary.

NORA'S ARC ( NORA X JAUNE )

I've only just got in this deep with the fandom only recently, so I don't know if a lot of you know me. Heck, I'm probably just some RWBY fan you happen to spot as you move through your dash. However, old or new, I want to be made absolutely positively clear on this. Of all the ships here, this has got to be my-

O T FUDGIN' P

Wow! Never thought I'd feel so strongly about a crack ship like this. And yes, as sad it is to say, this is a crack ship. Renora was planned from day one, so it can't be helped. At least it didn't blast me in the face all of the sudden (OH NO, NOT THE BEES! AAAAARGH! THEY'RE IN MY EYES!). But why this ship? Well, for one thing, it's that whole opposites attract thing with Nora as the bubbly, outspoken, airhead powerhouse and Jaune as the soft spoken, introverted, nerd tactician. But wait, there's more to this trope, because it can go deeper: Order VS Chaos! Who makes all the messes? Who cleans up those messes? Who follows all the rules? Who makes their own doors? It's just. So. Damn! GOOD! One sad thing about this ship though is that it's not only not canon because of Renora, it's anti-canon because Renora. Every fan fic of Nora's Arc requires an explanation for Ren and Nora to not be together-together, like you have to write a formal apology to the FNDM for liking something that's different from what is canon or commonly accepted. If that's the case, then I'll be the anarchist here!

TLDR: I LOVE IT! What's that? Not canon? Who gives a damn?! I just explained why Jaune won't be shipped anyways! Now, if you'll excuse, I have some fan fics to find.

ARCFALL ( CINDER X JAUNE )

Oh, here it goes! Now, if we're talking ships that'll never happen, this is where we find better reasons than "it's not canon" and "character development". No, this... This is a declaration of war. Allow me to explain. Cinder Fall is evil. Like, down to her core. She wants power and she'll cut through anyone to get to it. Including Pyrrha. This woman sank Arkos by means other than "X and Y kissed, so..." She killed X, leaving Y alone. And her interactions with Jaune tell me she wouldn't even be worth a hate-bang. But, as Momma always, there's a thin line between love and hate. This is where the appeal comes in. Cinder is evil with no past, which leaves the previous chapter's of her life story blank to be filled in. Jaune is good with a troublesome, albeit easy past, but untapped potential for more. It's another opposites attract, but different from INTRO VS EXTRO and CHAOS VS ORDER; this is GOOD VS EVIL. Who will win this battle of wills; will our hero purify the tainted heart, or will he slip deeper into darkness, never to return to the light?

TLDR: Should be a NOTP, and yet the allure pulls me in.

What do y'all think? Do you agree? Let me know!

[twopoppies]

Hi Gina! :) have you read If I should Stay?? The bodyguard fic! I reread it again and absolutely loved the action part and the thrill leading up to it! Do you know any other fic where one of them has to protect the other from danger/harm in more of a physical sense? Im stocked up on the emotional support ones, thanks to you

I have read it! I love that author’s writing. And I don’t have any other bodyguard fics to suggest, which is super sad. But here are a few others that have more “action” and the boys protecting each other from harm.

of the divine by @thedevilinmybrain (Mixed ratings, 2-part series, 104K) Oh my god. This series. I cried buckets. It’s so beautifully written. The sex scenes are so tender and sexy, but in such a pure way. Their relationship is so good… you can totally feel how much they love each other, the fight scene OH MY GOD so intense. It’s also got great zouis friendship and a very sweet narry friendship. Tender punk Louis and guardian angel Harry. Read it.

To Honor by Awriterwrites / @a-writerwrites (E, 15K) there’s so much about this fic I love. The battle scenes are full of tension, the smut scenes are super charged and sexy, the story line is unique, the boys are in kilts… the list goes on. Seriously though, this author took this fic to a different level — the writing fits the time period (13th century Scotland), but still feels fresh and alive. Give this one a try — I hope you like it as much as I do.

Say Hallelujah, Say Goodnight by alivingfire (E, 110K) This is an epic Angel and Demon fic that I still think about from time to time. It’s action packed throughout, heartbreaking at points, and full of beautifully written passages. A wild ride from start to finish.

Sodalite & Adventurine by @forreveries (E, 81K) Gay pirate adventure that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat until the end. Amazing chemistry, great world building, super sexy smut, and beautiful writing. Do yourself a favor and read it!

Yellow by 13ways  (E, 85K) Oh mah gawd. I love this fic so much. This was the result of a reverse big bang I made a prompt for and I’m forever grateful that this was the author who chose it! Yes, it’s Batman/Catwoman. No, you don’t ned to know anything about the comics. But wow! Such good pacing, the smut scenes are fire, the concept is so original and keeps you guessing until the very end. Link is to a download.

Tied Down by HamPalpert / @ham-palpert (E, 49K - detectives) Harry and Louis are criminals in this one, the other boys are the detectives, and I really liked how original and layered this one was. If the tags concern you, contact the author (or me) –– the fic is a wild ride, but so worth the read!

everything that shine ain’t always gonna be gold by sarcasticfluentry (E, 49K) You don’t need to know anything about the movie that inspired this fic (it’s an Inception AU). What you do need to know is that it’s got great OT5, it’s super sexy, it’s got a terrific story line, and the pacing is just right for a nail biter. Extractor Harry and Louis.

Landslide by aimmyarrowshigh, spibsy (lucy_and_ramona) (E, 143K) Set in the 1970s. Read the tags because this fic is a lot. There are pairings you may not enjoy, there’s a lot of period typical unpleasantness, cult psychology, violence, etc. etc. HOWEVER, it’s very well written and the exploration of Harry’s internalized homophobia is done very well, IMO.  

a prayer for which no words exist by Eliane (M, 34K) Gorgeous, deep, layered writing that really makes you slow down and think. At times this fic felt like a metaphor for the war these boys had been through IRL. Normally a dystopian fic with no smut would not be something I’d even bother reading, but I’m really glad I did.

–––––––––––––

And the fic you mentioned:

If I Should Stay by Gloria_Andrews / @gloriaandrews (E, 31K)

Louis is a television actor who suddenly needs a bodyguard. Harry is the bodyguard he ends up hiring.

A fic loosely based on the classic 1992 movie The Bodyguard.

[whetstonefires]

mcu ethics bad

The thing is that, while I was angry at Tony during Age of Ultron, particularly when he rode over Bruce’s compunctions about building a giant combat super-robot and pressured him into the project like a very very bad friend who happened to also be wrong...

...and when he equipped Hulkbuster armor and fought the Hulk in the middle of a city rather than attempting de-escalation or attempting to haul the Hulk out into the giant adjacent desert....

(And my suspension of disbelief snapped like a frayed cable when he brought down a skyscraper that had had no time to be evacuated on a street full of fleeing people and the only reason we were given to believe he hadn’t just cold-bloodedly created massive civilian casualties was that he told his AI to find the impossible magic angle where doing this wouldn’t kill anyone...)

While I was angry with him then, and unspeakably relieved that he recognized his own damage and retired at the end, haha psych, I was revolted by him during Civil War.

It’s supposed to make us sympathize with a character more, spending so much time with them, getting into their heads, being shown their emotional drives and reactions to things, and we spent so much time with Tony during that film, understanding his point of view. And...I did understand him. He’s not complicated. I even sympathized with his emotional state.

But in the context of his actions, throughout the film, I gazed into that understanding the way I did into Kylo Ren’s face in the seconds after he first unmasked. I see you, I know you, everything you are is written here, and the lines of your shame and self-revulsion are so thick upon you, and you should be ashamed but your self-destruction does not expiate or justify one jot of the harm you do.

Because everything Tony did in Civil War came from a place of selfishness. He was selfish all throughout that movie down to his very spine.

And selfishness isn’t itself necessarily bad--you need a little, to get through life, you have the right to your own portion of it. Your boundaries and your needs. But the type of selfishness that is forcing other people pay dearly for your emotional comfort and sense of control: no.

That is tyranny. That is not acceptable.

And you know how I know he was being selfish? Because his motive for pushing the Sokovia Accords was his personal guilt for the destruction of Sokovia.

But the Accords didn’t address that at all! They were tangential to the issue! None of the terms of the Accords would have saved Sokovia--in fact, the existence of them could easily have prevented the evacuation and harm-reduction the Avengers managed there, without saving a single soul.

The Ultron crisis was something Tony did, not as Iron Man but as Tony Stark, with Bruce Banner’s help, and which Wanda as criminal fugitive later helped exacerbate, and which all the other Avengers were involved in only to mitigate harm.

Legislation, or...treaties, idk, the UN isn’t actually empowered to pass laws so who knows what this thing was...aimed at preventing another Sokovia would mandate constant ethical oversight of billionaire science man’s mad science. At the very least! He never has to run things by ethics boards because he’s self-funded, at the very least let’s invent a mechanism to make up for that.

That would address the actual Sokovia issue, both in terms of risks and in terms of Tony’s personal guilt feelings.

But no one suggests that! It’s not even on the table! Because no one, certainly not any government, can tell Tony Stark what to do unless he lets them, that’s been a clear matter of record since Iron Man 2.

And because no one writing this legal instrument of whatever description was actually motivated by wanting to avoid another Sokovia, or even another ‘Wanda tries to neutralize a suicide bomber but merely gives him a different, smaller victim pool’ incident.

They didn’t care! They blatantly didn’t care! The entire thing was a ghoulish use of the dead to gain enough political leverage over the Avengers to put a leash on them!

(Which might not be a bad thing in principle, everything needs its checks, but when the last quasi-governmental organization you worked for turned out to be Nazis who were only prevented from staging a mass slaughter of undesireables by the skin of your teeth, I think you’re well within your rights to be very choosy about who you agree to obey, and to be firmly against pledging your honor to follow people whose first move was dishonest coercive tactics.

Actually you’re well within your rights to demand to negotiate the terms of even a much less sweeping contract, even without the Nazis. The whole approach to this thing stank to high heaven.

The fact that it was written by the UN like a treaty, expected to be signed by private individuals like a contract, and then enforced like a law except not because 1) laws are for everyone 2) if you break a law you get a trial not extrajudicial incarceration and 3) being pressured to consent to a restriction and then punished for refusing consent is hypocritical circular logic and in fact police corruption at its finest, all continues to show it was a bullshit nonsense franken-document.)

The whole movie is people ghoulishly using the dead to manipulate Tony into making bad decisions in response to his emotional pain. That’s. The plot of the film.

Then Zemo staged T’Chaka’s assassination and framed Bucky for it to raise the tension, ramp up the pressure, and prevent any sitting-down and talking reasonably through this, which might have allowed for the recognition of how extremely bullshit the entire concept was.

Tony was being used. Tony was a tool of bad people for most of that movie, and while Zemo banked on using his wrath for it, the politicos were leaning on his guilt.

And there’s honestly little I hold in deeper scorn than going out and hurting other people to assuage your own guilt and treating this as having the moral high ground. No. You don’t have the moral high ground on account of your guilt motivation. You have it if the actions you took were just, or at least could reasonably be assumed to have been so at the time.

And Tony fucking knew they weren’t. He didn’t even last to the end of the movie before recognizing that he’d been manipulated and fucked up, and doubling back.

That he then walked into a different manipulation, turned on a dime, and had to be stopped from doing a murder doesn’t unwrite that.

And it drives me nuts that people will say Tony was acting out of principle while Steve was acting out of personal attachment. Because sure, the Bucky thing was important, was the reason he was walking forward against all opposition instead of standing still to argue, but it wasn’t the reason Steve said no, while...

Tony wasn’t acting out of principle. Tony isn’t...very good at having principles. That’s not even a criticism or condemnation, it’s just how he functions. Since Iron Man he’s been substituting good intentions and emotional investment, which has worked out to varying degrees. It works best for huge, difficult, very straightforward decisions like ‘ride the nuke through the portal and save my hometown.’ It works less well for nuanced situations.

Tony was, as usual, acting out of emotion. And some awful shitheads who’d figured out where his levers were had calculated how to jiggle his emotion switches in the right places to make him do exactly what they wanted.

And you can tell he wasn’t acting out of principle because, for example, someone who was trying to get the superhero community under outside control for the sake of harm mitigation...

...well, firstly wouldn’t have chosen to stage a massive battle? But it’s possible someone in the UN specifically told him to do that, and in theory they at the very least signed off on it, presumably for its PR value of making Captain America look deranged and violent since it’s a deranged decision from every other angle, so yay, he can pass that responsibility up the chain and not have to angst about it, as promised.

But I was going to say would not have approached a minor who (this timeline takes pains to show us) had no prior experience of battle or even, somehow, serious violent crime, to recruit him to go be a government child soldier on another continent, without his guardian’s knowledge or consent. There were overtones of blackmail in Tony’s approach, before it turned out Peter was such a big fan he didn’t need that. What the fuck frankly.

That is not the action of someone who wants to start doing things by the letter, scaling the violence down, keeping within the law and putting the power of decisionmaking in other people’s hands because he’s realized he can’t trust his own.

And frankly even if he did act like that I wouldn’t necessarily support his choices, in particular his snap decision to behave coercively toward other Avengers with vastly less social power and security than he has.

And that’s the other thing! Everything about ‘Tony + Accords BFFs’ rings so hollow because he has never thought rules applied to him, and he knows perfectly well the entire time he’s fighting to force this surrender of agency down other people’s throats that he is going to be practically immune.

This man was technically a terrorist, proabably the most prolific single terrorist in world history until his rogue android exceeded his body count, but he was immune to prosecution because he was in tight with the United States military-industrial complex and basically untouchable due to his status within capitalism, and pursuing their international goals anyway. In the time between Iron Man and Iron Man II he was basically a one-man upgrade of the US drone program, and so good at it that the crest of blood he carved through the Middle East allowed him to announce he had ‘privatized world peace.’

(You are never going to get a world peace worth anything on the basis of a giant flying gun, okay.)

He went to war as a private individual, against non-state actors who were not directly threatening him, which is very much defined as ‘mass murder’ in all domestic and international law, and the US army in response sued him for control of his weapon. And lost! Lost.

No one attempted to press charges. No one. Because Tony Stark is above all that. And he knows it.

And like. I’m willing to accept the mass murder under the heading of ‘superheroing’ within the terms of this setting! Even if, after his vengeance rampage on his specific kidnappers, this violence was kept strictly off-screen for a reason. I did that! I bent that far! Genre convention!

But this history is kind of vitally important to any analysis of what he thought he was doing, and what he actually was doing, when he decided to become the iron gauntlet of the Sokovia Accords.

The currently active member of the Avengers who needed muzzling most was very manifestly Iron Man, and he knew even as he jammed the muzzle on all his comrades to make himself feel better that it would affect him the least, even if he didn’t finally retire for real this time. You don’t force Tony Stark. Not if you want anything out of it but blown up. You persuade him.

And once you have...oh, look at what he can do.

[youngbugandtonystank]

while I want to agree with what you said, you need to consider the fact that steve associates people getting locked up with concentration camps, he lived in a world where that's what he saw every day so maybe a little compassion for him next time

Ok, going by your logic, why did he have Clint call Wanda to the airport fight knowing the consequences that were going to follow her for the rest of her life then?

Clint: Cap needs our help. Come on.

-

Steve Rogers: You know I wouldn't have called If I had any other choice. (But he did have a choice, Tony gave him multiple ones)

Clint Barton: Hey man, you're doing me a favor. Besides, I owe a debt.

-

Steve Rogers: We're outside the law on this one. So, if you come with us, you're a wanted man.

Tony offered Steve very reasonable options, Steve refused all of them. Tony said he would take care of the PR fire that was going to follow not only him but Wanda and the entire team, promised to get the documents amended, sent Ross Zemo’s files, tried to get Ross to reroute the satellites and start facial scanning for Zemo to get him so Bucky could be off the hook, said he was wrong and was willing to make up for that, said he would file a motion to have Steve and Wanda reinstated after what happened. Even after everything, he lied to Ross and let the entire team escape.

Steve was aware of this. He was even aware that people were going to go after Sharon Carter and refers to Scott AND Wanda as ‘recruits’. He did this after calling Wanda a ‘kid’. 

Wanda herself recognized that it was probably for the best and wanted to stay:

Clint Barton: Okay, we gotta go. Wanda Maximoff: I've caused enough problems. Clint Barton: You gotta help me, Wanda. Look, you wanna mope, can go to high school. You wanna make amends, you get off your ass. 

Clint feels responsible for her because he feels guilty for what happened to Pietro. You see, this is where I don’t follow, Jeremy Renner said ‘He had to repay a debt to Scarlet Witch, and Cap called in need, so he came out of retirement.’ How is helping Cap repaying debt with Wanda? He’s basically using her to help Steve, and this is for her own benefit? He pays off this debt by helping Steve? Isn’t that debt supposed to be about Wanda? lmao

Clint even mocked her for wanting to feel responsible for the death of the people in Lagos. She was not going to feel responsible forever but at least let her take responsibility for that. At the end of the day, Wanda even said sorry to Vision because she saw the disaster that little fight created. 

Natasha Romanoff: Try not to break anything while we fix this.

Tony Stark: [still on the phone.] Consequences? You bet there'll be consequences. Obviously you can quote me on that 'cause I just said it. Anything else? Thank you, sir.

Steve Rogers: 'Consequences'?

Tony Stark: Secretary Ross wants you both prosecuted. Had to give him something.

-

Steve Rogers: I'm not getting that shield back, am I?

Natasha Romanoff: Technically, it's the government's property. Wings, too.

Sam Wilson: That's cold.

Tony Stark: Warmer than jail.

-

Tony Stark: GIVE ME A BREAK! I'm doing what has to be done . . . to stave off something worse.

-

Secretary Ross: I'm putting Special Ops on this.

Natasha Romanoff: What happens when the shooting starts? What, do you kill Steve Rogers?

Secretary Ross: If we're provoked. Barnes would've been eliminated in Romania if it wasn't for Rogers. There are dead people who would be alive now. Feel free to check my math.

Tony Stark: All due respect, you're not going to solve this with boys in bullets, Ross.

-

 Tony Stark: Or a squad of J-SOC guys . . . with no compunction about being impolite. 

-

Natasha Romanoff:  Is this, part of the plan?

Tony Stark: Well, my plan was to go easy on them. You wanna switch it up?

If Steve knew the consequences, then why would he prefer Wanda to be in a real prison over a place he himself calls ‘home’?

Gif not mine.

Consequences the rest of them suffered:

Natasha Romanoff: After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families, they're on house arrest.

And this is Clint’s reaction: 

Tony Stark: Because you broke the law. Clint Barton: Yeah. Tony Stark: I didn't make you. Clint Barton: La, la, la, la, la . . .

And Tony is the man-child? lmao

And Tony even tells them they were aware of their decision. First, they don’t want Tony ‘controlling’ them and then they blame him for not doing enough for them? lmaooooooo

Tony Stark: Alright, you're all grown up, you got a wife and kids. I don't understand, why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?

I do agree that maybe because Tony used the word ‘confined’ Steve immediately felt defensive. One thing the writers did wrong with him is trying to make him look like the honorable tough soldier all the time. And that’s not it, you can clearly see Steve lives in the past; has some big traumas under his sleeve. How about instead of making him look ‘badass’ why not deal with those things first? Why not make him learn some mistakes first and then help him heal? Perhaps giving him time with Bucky in the compound while they all work things through. Not a hard thing to do. Instead, they chose to make him a nomad bearded ‘badass’ fighting crime in the dark. This is where the Russo bros fail with Steve, while they can write him in an amazing setting and a perfect compelling storyline, they fail to understand Steve’s emotional side and the fact that men DO feel too. Especially someone like Steve. They think his submerged feelings over a failed past should be dealt with heroic acts of rebellion over what society tells Steve to be. Nobody tells Steve he’s wrong except for Tony, the rest of them actually drop everything to help him (Clint his family, Wanda, Sam, Natasha their freedoms, Scott is disappointing his daughter all over again after spending a previous movie talking about how he doesn’t want to do that anymore, etc).

Scott Lang: No, I’m serious, man. I’m not going back. I got a daughter to take care of.

-

Scott Lang: I’m trying, okay? I’ve changed, and I’m straight, I had a job, and… I want to provide. I had a lot of time to think about it, and I love her. So much. I’ve missed so much time and I want to be a part of her life. What do I do?

Maggie Lang: Get an apartment. Get a job, pay child support. And then we will talk about visitation, I promise. You’re her hero, Scott. Just, be the person that she already thinks you are.

I highly doubt becoming a war criminal involves that. They sacrificed a lot of characters’ development to fit into Steve’s predicament. They write him in a way where he’s always going to come out on top, where he’s always right, where he doesn’t deal with his consequences and the entire audience has to see everyone trust him no matter how matter mistakes he’s made. 

This Steve looks nothing like comics!Steve. MCU Steve is an entitled jackass. 

And let’s not forget, when given the time to spend time with Bucky, he left and went to the past to rob a woman’s whole life. That’s his happy ending? 

None of them are perfect. 

[jiankimura-ffxiv]

The Legacy of the Broken Lance

Jian raps at the hard, oaken doors before clearing his throat and patting down his clothes, making sure his furs are in order. His chest pocket empty, the soul crystal remains behind at the Forgotten Knight, a precautionary measure in case his shade wished to throttle the man who seeks to criminalize the dark arts.

The door creaks opened, and an elderly eleven greeted him.

“Hello, I’m Jian Kimura. Chartered accountant of Limsa Lominsa, Vylbrand, Eorzea. Acting finan-“

“My master, Gilles Raoult, has been waiting for you.”

“-cial- Oh. Uh, sorry.” Jian chuckles nervously as he bows humbly. 

The door widens to invite him into the warm interior of the house. The lacquered walls are homely, made of wooden support beams and white plaster. Light emanates dimly from glass wall lamps stalled down the hall and up the stairs. The servant of the house escorted him to a brightly lit study room, with books lining the walls to the ceiling. A large window let in the morning light onto a clean, ornate desk and a pair of lush sofas facing each other with a low, coffee table between them.

A tall Elezen man -judging to be two heads taller than the accountant- stood to the side of the windows, watching the snow fall. The dark shades of his red satin suit accented his silvery blonde hair and pale, youthful face. If Jian had to guess, he would probably be ten or twenty years his elder. He subconsciously rubs at his aging sun-touched skin, thinking about it.

“Tea or coffee?” A firm voice erupted from the man, startling the Hyur from his thoughts.

“Uh tea. Thank you.”

The Ishgardian turns around; his violet eyes glance over him as he then looks to his servant.

“Tea for two, Rene. With cream and sugar on the side.”

Rene bows quietly, closing the door behind Jian, leaving both in the studies in uncomfortable silence as the statesman examines the highlander, from the wild wisps of his black hair, down to the wet leather boots. Gilles speaks up, offering the man a seat at one of the sofas.

“Jian Kimura.”

“Aye, that is me.” Jian smoothes down his coat again as he moves to sit.

“You are my first visitor that is not of Ishgardian citizenry. However, that letter you sent piqued my interest in your concerns, seeing as I am indeed the editor of Leaves from a Nymeia Lily.”

“Well, it’s been an honor, sir, to invite me here to have this discussion, as I’m just simply waiting for the trade hearings.”

Gilles put a hand over his chest, realizing his motion in the house of commons had left behind an inconvenience to a visitor. “Oh, well, I do humbly apologize for prolonging your stay in Ishgard, but the matters in regards to my legislation could no longer be ignored by my peers.”

“So, these dark knights, have they been that much of a large threat to Ishgard? From what I’ve discerned from the locals is that they don’t work in an organization of sorts, and so far, I don’t see them running around causing havoc, let alone seeing any.”

“The powers they wield are a much larger threat, second from the Dravanians. And since Dravanian are now our allies, instead of our enemies, most of the heresy laws have changed to criminal laws, and the dark knights are to be given no quarter or exceptions.”

“You are confident in that assessment.” The door opens once more, letting in a tray of tea and biscuits.

“Of course, I proudly specialize in handling them when I worked as a senior inquisitor prior to the end of the dragonsong war. You see, the dark arts these knights wield are amplified by their raw emotions. The stronger the emotions, the more potent their spells. There have been written records of incidents where dark knights were consumed by the arts, and caused untold slaughter and destruction in their wake, threatening the peace within the borders of Ishgard and Coerthas.”

Jian rubs his chin in deep thought, “If the dark arts is drawn by one’s emotions, shouldn’t there be more dark knights? From my experience in my field of duty, there are quite a number of folks with emotional personas, but I’ve not seen any that seem to be dark knights.”

“Well, that just means either I did my job well or they are well hidden,” Gilles chuckles, before his face returned to his serious demeanor, “As a means to handle these cases and identify suspects of the dark arts, I had to understand the source of their arts, the Abyss.”

“The Abyss?” Jian raises his brow incredulously.

“From what I’ve observed, the abyss is the source of one’s inner darkness. It mostly consists of one’s vices and personal trauma. Everyone has them, and several acted on them. The dark knights, however, somehow formed aethereal magic with the abyss, at the cost of being driven into insanity or death when they draw too much.”

“So, you are saying, if a dark knight loses control of their emotions, the magic will make them crazy?” He frowns in concern.

Gilles nods, “And I have experienced the consequences of the repercussions.”

“Surely, there’s a means to dispel the abyss, or control their powers. If someone finds it, then the knights won’t be a threat anymore.” Jian gestures in thought, “Sorry to offend, but I tend to consider long term solutions that don't require offing people.”

“None taken, Mister Kimura, but once someone drinks from the abyss, they are at the mercy of the abyss for the rest of their life.”  Elezen closes his eyes for a brief moment in thought. “However, there was once a means to somehow prevent the abyss from consuming a dark knight, despite having fallen.” 

“And that is?”

“It’s a lost cause.” He sighs as he opens his eyes, looking up at a painted portrait of an elder Elezen, with similar striking violet eyes and dark gray hair, holding a serious expression that borders between fatigue and determination. Jian furrows his brow, and his eyepiece whirs quietly, feeling some familiarity with the man, like he recognized his shape somewhere.

“Say, are you interested in some family history of mine?”

Jian leans over to pick up the teacup from a tray on the coffee table, before sitting back and making himself comfortable.

“Well, I do enjoy listening to stories.”

“You might enjoy this one then, as it had been stricken from the written history of Ishgard.” He looks back up at the painting.

“That portrait you are seeing is Sir Jacques de Raoult of the Stalwart Lance. That was his full title. Now, he goes by Jacques Raoult of the Broken Lance. He was a decorated dragoon who belonged to a well-established house under the Fortemps, one of the four high houses of Ishgard. He was a fierce warrior and well-versed with Halone’s scripture. With so many dravanians slain under his lance during the early era of the war, he was chosen to be the next Azure Dragoon.”

Jian tilts his head in thought, as he sips from the tea cup.

The statesman continues, pacing back and forth, “Then one fateful day, he decided to defend a caravan of heretics during a Dravanian attack onto Ishgardian soil. The Holy See was displeased by his actions, indicted him for dereliction of duty,  and sentenced him to trial-by-combat as a means to restore honor to the Raoult house.”

“He lived?”

The Elezen’s face darkens. “He survived indeed, and the house of Raoult fell into obscurity for his actions alone. What was even worse was finding out months later that he was consorting with the dark knights.”

“And so now you are on a crusade against them?”

“Whatever it takes to restore the Raoult name for the sins of my forefather. The portrait is just a painful reminder of what I am fighting against.”

“So, what happened to Jacques afterwards?”

“The dishonored coward fled the lands, abandoned our family, so he could live a different life under a different name. Judging by your letter concerning a book I edited, you are familiar with an author named Fudo Yasumura.”

“Yes, I-wait. Fudo Yasumura was your ancestor?” Jian nearly choked on his tea. 

“The very same.”

The highlander looks down at his emptied cup, feeling the room shrinking all of the sudden. He stares once more at the portrait.

“So, Fudo- I mean- Jacques had the remedy to cope with the abyss?”

“Of the sort, but his scriptures were not accepted in Ishgard. No one would read to the harmless ramblings of a dark knight’s thoughts, fearing being branded a heretic. I had to take the liberty of editing the literature so it would remain in Ishgard.”

“So, you can not use it to help the dark knights cope with their problems because the un-edited book itself is heresy?”

“The book is merely half the solution. The other half also requires the soul crystal that housed the memories of Jacques de Raoult.”

The accountant blinks, “And he died somewhere in the Far East. That sounds like finding a needle in a haystack then.” “As I said, it’s a lost cause.” Gilles sighs, “And so, we must cull the knights as tradition.”

Jian returns the tea cup back onto the tray, “I thank you for your insight, but I shall not overstay my visit.”

“You’re welcome. Pray tell, what made you decide to stay in Ishgard? You could have left when the trade talks were postponed.”

“Oh, well, it's rather an embarrassing reason, but I tend to get air sick, and had only ordered enough medication for a round trip. And of Ala Mhigan descent, I don’t work well with the cold to travel on foot.”

“I see. Well, I hope you enjoy your stay, Jian Kimura.”

He stands up, and gives a curt bow as Gilles opens the door out to the hallway. Rene awaits at the entrance, stoically opening the door to the bitter cold. Jian pauses midway out, and he turns.

“I almost forgot, Sir Raoult, but do you have the original manuscript of the Leaves from the Nymeia Lily? I lost my copy decades ago when the Garleans invaded my homeland.”

“Unfortunately, no. It had to be burned like the rest of the heretical manuscripts.”

“Ah, forget that I asked,” And the man leaves.

[ay-aaaah]

100 Days of Productivity:

November 7, 2020

Yesterday was most definitely a rollercoaster of emotions, just as the rest of the year has been. And while I poured my heart and soul into making sure trump is taken out of office, I don’t feel overwhelmingly excited for this new administration given the fact that I’m not big on identity politics and the fetishization of politicians just because they look like you. They can look like you, but are they doing good work? And I saw somewhere someone said: “This is making me realize more and more that all the BLM related “work” folks claimed to be doing in the summer was performative. because if you had done that work you claimed to be engaged in, you would not be obsessing over a cop and a war criminal.” Which I highly agree with. You cannot be in support of liberating one marginalized community and not another. And for people to continuously dismiss the fact that these administrations have collectively destabilized the Middle East is to be dismissive of our oppressions. On another note, the fall quarter is about to end and I have not been able to bring myself to do any work. I got extensions on two papers and I’m still struggling, a lot. But hopefully I can barricade myself for the next couple of days and force myself to focus.

Words of wisdom for the upcoming week: respect your body when it’s asking for a break. Respect your mind when it’s seeking rest. Honor yourself when you need a moment.

[adapembroke]

Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition (Poly Sci Edition)

I have gotten requests for a version of my essay “Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction: Nobody Expects the Inquisition” with the astrobabble removed. I have also made some small changes to the three suggestions in response to feedback.

-AP

I recently had the opportunity to listen to a lecture by Christof Niederwieser, who discussed the similarities between the 13th century and today.

The 13th century was a wonderful time for knowledge in Europe. Many of the most illustrious colleges in Europe opened. The church stopped being the gatekeeper of knowledge, and education became accessible to people who were not clergy for the first time since the fall of Rome. Literacy rates soared. Cities boomed. Europe dropped roman numerals in favor of Arabic numerals making math much less cumbersome. All of these developments represent an amazing moment for intellectual freedom, but this time period also gave us the inquisition, making this simultaneously a time of sparkling wonder and terror for free-thinkers and intellectuals.

The Inquisition was a judicial branch of the Catholic Church tasked with trying and prosecuting heretics. It was concerned with thought crimes. People were not put on trial for things they did but for things they believed.

One of the more famous victims of the Inquisition was Galileo who was put on trial twice for the crime of believing in heliocentrism (that the earth orbits the sun). The first time, he was forced to recant and was released on the condition that he promised not to talk about heliocentrism anymore. The second time, he was threatened with torture during interrogation and was sentenced to house arrest. All of his works were banned, even works that he might write in the future. He lived under house arrest until he died nine years after his second trial.

I don’t think I need to make a prolonged argument for why the 13th century resembles our time. We have the rise of the internet, the urbanization of society, and the transportation-oriented gig economy. Gatekeepers are being put out of business, and calculators have become so ubiquitous there is serious debate about whether it’s worthwhile to teach children to do math by hand anymore.

Mirroring the Inquisition, we also have totalitarian movements, cancel culture, and internet flamewars.

Intellectual freedom matters.

The idea of living in a society that criminalizes heretical thought is distressing on many levels to me. I am a person with an emotional need to swim up stream and think for myself. A society that punishes divergent thought has the potential to be deadly for me.

Intellectual freedom is, also, the cornerstone of a free society. It’s not an accident that totalitarian regimes are infamous for banning books. Writing tends to make people better thinkers. Journaling is such a powerful practice because physically seeing your thoughts on paper (or screen) forces you to confront and evaluate them in the physical world.

Reading the thoughts of others challenges your assumptions. A well-formed argument (or an emotionally impactful one) can change people’s minds. It can even help them to be better people.

As the critical theorist Hannah Arendt pointed out in her analysis of the rise of totalitarianism in Nazi Germany, the inability to think allowed ordinary human beings to commit crimes against humanity at a gigantic scale. Without the ability to reflect on the reasons for their actions, they had no need to justify their actions to themselves. They functionally lacked the ability to tell right from wrong.

There is value in reading ideas that are uncomfortable, or even problematic. Developing critical thinking, or the ability to evaluate arguments, necessarily requires you to engage with ideas you don’t like. The brain is like a muscle. It needs to be exercised in order to be at its best. If you are surrounded exclusively by people you agree with, it is easy to become intellectually lazy. Problematic ideas are like resistance training for the mind. They give you the opportunity to think hard, to wrestle with nuanced arguments, and (most importantly) articulate exactly why you think the ideas in question are right or wrong.

This isn’t just important for people who want to think of themselves as intelligent. The ability to evaluate ideas and articulate why certain ideas are right and wrong is necessary if you are going to have a consistent moral system. Feelings are flighty and group-think is easily mistaken for intuition. Evaluating morality based on feelings alone is not enough.

Even if you are certain that you’re right and have weighed the arguments carefully, the choice to use violence or intimidation to force your will on people is problematic. The Inquisition used those techniques, too. It also canceled people.

Ultimately, intimidation isn’t even effective. Punching Nazis in the face isn’t enough. If it was, World War II would have settled the issue. The only way to kill an idea is to slay it with a better argument.

What are we going to do about this?

At this point, you may be panicking. When I realized the implications of potentially living through another Inquisition, I was not at my emotional best.

However, one of the reasons history is worth studying is because it gives us the ability to choose how we are going to respond consciously to the issues of our time.

Not many of us have the power to overthrow despots single-handedly, but we can still make choices about the types of behavior we will put up with in the communities we belong to.

These are some of the things I’m doing to make sure that I don’t support the next Inquisition:

Learn (and practice) critical thinking. Having a college degree (or even a graduate degree) does not guarantee that you learned critical thinking, even if you studied the liberal arts. I know many people with graduate degrees whose preferred way to solve arguments is with verbal intimidation and social violence. There are better ways to fight bad ideas. If you don’t know how, learn.

When you disagree with someone, fight fair. If you are not able to fight fair, and you are able to escape, walk away. It is better to be a noncombatant than to fight without honor. An honorable fight over ideas means engaging with ideas, not insulting people.

Cancel ideas, not people. The enemy that fights the fiercest is the enemy that is trapped and has no path to retreat. I have seen more people become extremists because they were humiliated by people who thought they were wrong than for any other reason. People can change their minds. They should always be given the opportunity to do so without losing their dignity or social standing. Even the Inquisition gave people that right (occasionally).

[sueboohscorner]

Top 10 #OneChicago Crossovers #ChiHards #ChicagoFire #ChicagoMed #ChicagoPD

 The Chicago series has been around for eight years and while we've had three out of the four still on the air and being part of the Law & Order universe; maybe this would be a great time to do a Top 10 list of the best Chicago Crossover episodes that include SVU.

Let me just say that this is my list of what I consider to be the best crossover episodes. There will not be any mention of the backdoor pilots; because it was a one episode event and not two series or more. So let's begin.

10. Chicago Fire-Chicago PD "A Dark Day"/"8:30 PM" 

This was the crossover that started it all with a two-night event. When Chicago Med gets bombed during a fundraiser; Gabby is trapped and while Casey and the rest of the 51 not only try to rescue her and others.  Boden and Mills stop a second bomb from going off. Voight and the team come in and learn the stakes that this is an act of revenge against Chicago's finest. And Burgress's niece's life hangs in the balance. 

That was such a huge event seeing the promo and getting ready for it. I still get chills from seeing Voight going after the suspect yelling out "I want him alive" and start shooting at him. This episode event had me, even more, wanting a Chicago Med series with Dylan Baker as a badass doctor saving Burgess' niece.

9. Chicago Fie-Law & Order: SVU-Chicago PD "Nobody Touches Anything"/"Chicago Crossover"/"They'll Have to Go Through Me"

When Severide and Firehouse 51 rescue the owner of a house that's on fie; Severide finds a suspicious box that leads to Voight and team to team up with SVU. They take down a child pornography ring that also reunites Erin with her brother.

This was the first three show crossover that added another depth into the crossover with a powerful story and amazing performance from Sophia Bush. Bush and Mariska Hargitay sharing scenes felt like the passing of the baton to the next strong actress in the crime drama.

8. Chicago PD-Chicago Fire "Profiles"/"Hiding Not Seeking"

Why not celebrate the 100th episode of Chicago PD with a crossover event with Chicago Fire, right? When Trudy goes on a local television program a bomb goes off in the middle of the interview. Voight and team investigate to learn that the suspect is seeking revenge on the media for what they had done to him. Voight gets 51 to help and event stop the suspect from harming others.

This was a close second in the Fire-PD crossover event episodes that I really enjoyed with the ripped from the headlines type of story. A real on the edge of your seat story with some amazing moments; one of them being Jay Halstead driving a motorcycle like a badass superhero.

7. Chicago Fire-Chicago Med-Chicago PD: "The Beating Heart"/"Malignant"/"Now I'm God"

It's the first three-show two-night crossover event that got started at the end of the season four fall finale of Chicago Fire when Herrmann gets stabbed. While Herrmann's life is in balance; 51 gets called to house fire of a cancer patient but the doctors at Chicago Med learn that not only that patient. But a multiple like her that were diagnosis for cancer but never had it.  Voight and team investigate, but learn that the suspect doctor happened to be the one that took care of Voight's late wife.

While this was the first crossover with all three shows, it was a powerful story all the way through. While each show had its moments, it was Chicago PD that saved the best for last when we learn that the doctor that treated all these patients that didn't have cancer took care of Voight's wife. Jason Beghe gives a stunning performance.

6. Chicago Fire-Chicago Med-Chicago PD: "Going to War"/"When to Let Go"/"Endings" 

This was the crossover that we had hoped for since we learned that all three shows will air on the same night for the season. When Firehouse 51 gets called an apartment fire in the city while trying to save the residents; things took a hit on the chin when Jay was looking for his dad, Otis sees a mother and baby die and Kidd sacrifices her life to save Severide that sent her to Med. While at Med, Will, and Jay lose their father. Dr. Charles tries to help Otis from his PTSD. Chicago PD takes over to find the suspect that started the fire, while Halie and Voight think that Jay isn't stable to help, he goes on his own and stops and kills the suspect.

This came close to being like a movie event. For the first episode of the crossover, in the beginning, it felt like a salute to the city of Chicago. This whole event felt it belong to Jesse Lee Soffer, who gives a stunning performance. That scene of Otis seeing that mother and baby died in the elevator from the fire was so powerful. Heck, that scene of 51 trying to save Kidd on-site was powerful too. While this crossover is ranked at number six, wait till you see the top five.

5. Chicago Fire-Chicago PD: "Three Bells"/"A Little Devil Complex"

After Firehouse 51 lost a well-beloved member at the beginning of the third season. After a string of fires, Dawson and Severide team up to investigate these fires that turned out to be arson made and there was a connection to Shay's death. While they couldn't prove it, Dawson brings in the big guns of Antiono and Intelligence. The suspect gets under Voight and the team's skin after blowing up Burgess and Roman's squad car. After learning who this guy is, Dawson becomes the new target.

While this was a two-night crossover event, it should have been a one-night event. This was such an emotional episode from Chicago Fie's standpoint as in the end they honored Shay's life in a way that still gives me chills and the waterworks going. This arsonist was terrifying. Stong story, well-performed from the cast. These crossover episodes took a step up from the previous crossover episodes.

4. Law & Order SVU-Chicago PD "Nationwide Manhunt"/"The Song of Gregory William Yates"

Criminal mastermind Gregory Yates escapes New York State prison and gets Voight and team to help with SVU of the manhunt. Yates plays to Lindsay's mind and follows him back to Chicago, where they have a standoff that could end deadly.

While this was a second chapter of the creepy criminal Gregory Yates; I didn't know this was going to be a crossover. Once again Sophie Bush gives a stunning performance and the ending to this story leaves you on the edge of your seat with goosebumps.

3. Chicago Fire-Chicago PD-Law & Order SVU: "We Called Her Jellybean"/"The Number of Rats"/"Daydream Believer" 

When Firehouse 51 gets called to an apartment fire that has a connection to a case of attempted rape and murder in Chicago. It just so happens to resemble an unsolved case in New York. This leads Voight and team teaming up with Benson and SVU where they meet with the man that every One Chicago fan knows, Gregory Yates. Yates, the modern-day Ted Bundy, starts with his fascination with Erin Lindsay. Just when Lindsay got the drop on him, he takes a step further by taking someone close to Erin and Intelligence.

Like #5, this crossover plays with all the emotions and thrills. And it marks the second time a supportive character gets killed on Chicago PD. That was so heartbreaking!!!

2. Chicago Fire-Chicago PD-Chicago Justice: "Deathtrap"/"Emotional Proximity"/"Fake"

A Ripped from the Headlines episode of a fie of a complex/warehouse building leads Firehouse 51 to a dangerous rescue, while Chicago Med tries to save as many lives as they can. Voight and the team learn that the fire was arson while Al watches his daughter die after Will and Natalie try to save her. It introduces Chicago Justice takes down the suspect for his revenge on a girl that dumped him.

This was literally a four-show crossover event with Med being in-between Fire and PD. When this crossover aired it felt like a giant event tv-movie of the week type of thing. The beginning of Chicago Fie just took my breath away as they get going and head towards to scene of the fire. And during PD, you knew you were hoping that Al would go full Voight on the suspect. And while Justice got a mixed reaction; I'd enjoyed the show but they could tweak it more. 

1. Chicago Fire-Chicago Med-Chicago PD: "Infection"

When a deadly bacteria has been spread in Chicago; Chicago's finest tries to stop it before more people can get infected. It's basically the Chicago movie that we've been waiting for with the suspense, thrills, scares and even action. Once it started there's no point in stopping in the middle whatsoever. This crossover was the best crossover One Chicago has done since they had started. And at the end of the event, there's a heartwarming message that really holds up to what's going on right now. 

What’s your Top 10 list of One Chicago Crossovers? Leave a comment and tell us your list.

You can catch Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago PD Wednesdays on NBC.