Arm has a top-secret file that he keeps on a separate partition of his hard drive, locked behind three different password walls. It’s a list of all of the main family’s bodyguards, ranked by how likely they are to be the mole.

(It’s top-secret because he’s not supposed to be looking into this. Chan explicitly ordered him not to.)

There’s a handful of people Arm doesn’t even bother putting on the list. Pol, for one. Pete. Erika. Chan.

By contrast, every single one of Kinn’s personal bodyguards, past and present, is a prime suspect. Kinn’s had a notorious streak of bad luck lately. Four murder attempts in four months cannot be a coincidence.

Ken is just aloof enough that nobody seems to know what he’s up to on his off-days. This rockets him straight to the top of Arm’s list, tied with Big, who has fallen so far out of favor with Kinn that Arm can’t help but wonder if Kinn is doing it on purpose.

And then there’s the name directly under those two.

“Be honest,” he says to Pete one day. They’re sequestered in his armory, but he keeps his voice low: there’s no harm in being careful with matters like this. “Do you think there’s any chance Porsche is the mole?”

Pete is silent for a good, long moment.

“You live with him,” Arm says. “You’ve been on more missions with him than me. If anyone here knows him best, it’s you.”

“There are reasons to suspect him,” Pete says slowly. “A lot of his missions have gone wrong. He didn’t stop that girl from attacking Kinn in the bathroom. The casino stakeout was a mess. The diamond auction was worse.”

“But…?”

Pete sighs. “I don’t know. He’s young. He’s made a lot of mistakes, but he’s improving.”

Arm stares forlornly at his list, cursor blinking innocently next to Porsche’s name. “Pete, I can’t clear his name just because he’s young.”

“No,” Pete concedes. He leans back in his chair, arms crossed behind his head. “But he’s kind, too. He’s principled. He won’t betray people he cares about.”

“And that’s enough? You trust him?”

“I do.”

The knot in Arm’s chest jerks tighter. “But… he’s so likable.”

“Ohhh, right, he’s nice. Never mind. Death by firing squad.”

Arm smiles, sheepish.

“Okay,” Pete says. “So you think he’s tricking us?”

“Shit, Pete, I don’t know,” Arm splutters. “Isn't it possible?”

“I don't think so. Porsche isn't like that.”

Arm considers this, then plops his face into his hand.

“Did you want me to say something else?” Pete says, faintly amused.

“Yes,” Arm groans.

“Why?”

“Because…” Arm trails off.

Because the security of the main family rests on his shoulders. Arm cannot afford to be anything other than objective; he needs to leave Porsche on his list.

But the problem is that Porsche barreled into their lives and immediately made Khun Noo happier than Arm had ever seen before. The problem is that Pol hasn’t been this comfortable around someone since Arm himself. The problem is that Arm vaguely remembers being carried home from Hum Bar by an equally drunk Porsche, who took off his shoes for him and tucked him into bed and grinned brightly over his shoulder before staggering out the door.

The problem is that Arm is biased.

Pete, on the other hand, is the most level-headed person Arm knows. Leaving Porsche’s name on his list wouldn’t feel so terrible if Pete agreed with it.

“I wanted you to give me a reason to keep him on here,” Arm mumbles. “I feel bad. He’s our friend.”

“You’re doing your job,” Pete says sincerely. “There’s no shame in that. But…” He reaches over to pat Arm on the shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with trusting your gut. If you think he’s innocent, leave him off.”

Arm mulls over this. Then he pokes Pete in the side. “I think I trust your gut more than mine.”

Pete lets out a laugh, incredulous, and pokes Arm back.

-

Later, Arm highlights Porsche’s entry with his cursor and drags it to the bottom of the file. Then he pauses. His hand hovers over the delete button.

He thinks about Pete saying, I trust him. He thinks about what Pete didn’t quite say: you should trust yourself, too.

He hits delete.

-

#kpanniversary2024 episode 9 + prompt 9: trust

↦ #kpanniversary2024 | prompt #8 | favorite scene

its prosecutor jiang wanyin!!!! oh fuck!!! / gifs + au rambling below the cut / follow for more mdzs x aa crossover stuff :3

all the gifs i made (poses traced off franziska):

hes so similar to franziska when you think about it. theyre both deeply insecure tsundere adoptive younger sibling of successful main characters. who carry whips. something something edgeworth choosing death and wwx actually dying also

his share code is HWFEFF if you wanna use him in a trial! you can't share backgrounds but heres the scenery from the donghua i used.

the easiest way to put custom stuff into objection.lol is to send it in discord and then use the link from opening it in your browser :)

a whole lot of AU stuff

the art im making is for if mdzs was an ace attorney game, playing from WWX's POV to solve various mysteries/cases over the course of the plot. so this scene would be from turnabout goddess, which would loosely cover the dafan mountain mystery.

cases include:

Turnabout Revenge (Mo Manor, quick introductory first case)

Turnabout Goddess (Dafan mountain, the good times flashback)

Turnabout Saber (the man-eating castle (omg hiii nhs))

The Blind Turnabout (Yi City arc)

Turnabout Deviation (the Koi Tower conference, Empathy on NMJ ala turnabout memories or beginnings. opening cutscene is his qi deviation)

The Blood-Soaked Turnabout (second Burial Mounds siege, flashbacks: Xuanwu, Sunshot, YLLZ, Nightless City massacre)

Turnabout Lotus Seeds (testimony about JGY, tree scene, golden core reveal, bathtub scene. opening cutscene could be JGS' death but that would make it canon rather than ambiguous)

Turnabout Confession (Guanyin temple)

the problem with splitting novel!mdzs into turnabouts is that flashbacks are a huge chunk of the book but they don't have mysteries/ cases to solve so they've gotta be lumped together with present day stuff. imo? many of the flashbacks would likely have to be abridged so they could be retold ala DL-6, SL-9, or the fourth grade incident, where characters talk about it over some pieces of art. this is really difficult when theres a metric ton of unspoken, complex, and signifcant history between every character lmao

there's not as much of a problem with the cql timeline but i have not finished it. so.

the opening cutscenes in ace attorney always show the murder and/or the murderer plotting. the first cutscene of the game would be MXY summoning WWX, muttering about getting revenge on his family (it would also be good for him to mention the yllz being dead because that's how the novel starts.) cut to WWX's POV as he wakes up covered in blood and the investigation segment begins.

for investigations of monsters (goddess, saber, etc) the cutscene would be a scene of some poor throwaway cultivator getting their shit wrecked.

it would be cool to make a breakdown for JGY but again I need to review that scene cause I don't know who I'd base him on. maybe Vasquez or Dahlia.

tell me your thoughts!! i'm working off of a mdzs summary/ skimming the novel because i don't remember it too well so if i get anything wrong please yell at me

Jin Ling's sprites & Nie Huaisang's sprites / masterpost

Reblog if you've made at least one friend because of a fandom.

Wet Beast Wednesday: pistol shrimp

Oh snap, it's the snapping shrimp post for Wet Beast Wednesday! Snapping shrimp or pistol shrimp are loud little critters that have evolves a very useful and fascinating tool in their pincers. Let's not waste time and shoot off to learn about these little gunslingers.

(Image: a pistol shrimp. It is a mostly white shrimp with red stripes. One of its claws is considerably larger than the other. It is standing on gravel and next to some seaweed. End ID)

Pistol shrimp are over 1,000 members of the family Alpheidae, which is part of the infraorder Caridea. This means they are true shrimp, not to be confused with superficially similar animals like brine shrimp, mantis shrimp, tadpole shrimp, and prawns. Yeah, I only recently learned that prawns and shrimp aren't a language difference between British English and American English like chips vs fries. They're not even that closely related. As true shrimp, pistol shrimp have two main body parts: the cephalothorax and abdomen, which are composed of 19 body segments. The abdomen forms a flexible tail with a fin on the end. When startled, the fin can rapidly curl under the body, propelling the shrimp backwards. Like other decapods, there are 10 limbs. The front pair of limbs have evolved into claws used to manipulate objects. The claws are the most distinguishing feature of pistol shrimp. They are asymmetrical, with one growing extremely large, over half the size of the body. The big claw has a modified version of the typical pincer. This pincer has an upper claw that can open up at a right angle. Under the claw is a pocket in the lower pincer, into which water flows. The upper pincer then slams down into this pocket, forcing the water out. The pressure of the pincer closing water in the pocket creates a cavitation bubble that is forced away from the claw at up to 26.8 meters per second. This is enough force to seriously wound small animals and hurt larger ones into leaving the shrimp alone. The cavitation bubbles can reach up to 4,427 degrees C (8,000 F) . For comparison, the surface of the sun is about 1,000 decrees (C) hotter. When the bubble pops, it creates a snapping sound that can reach 218 decibels. For comparison, most gunshots max out at around 170 db. This puts pistol shrimp is the running for the loudest ocean animals, with whales being the other main competitors. If that all sounds like a lot, the whole event happens so fast that the heat doesn't have time to affect much and the noise sounds like a moderately loud snap to us. Adults can snap their claws shut with an acceleration of up to 30 meters per second squared and juveniles can do it up to 20 times faster. The whole process takes less than a millisecond. When the cavitation bubble collapses, it can produce light. This is called sonoluminescence and nobody knows how it happens. If a pistol shrimp loses its large claw, the small claw will grow into a new large one while the missing limb will regenerate into a small claw. Adult pistol shrimp average between 3 and 5 cm long.

(Image: a drawing showing the process of a pistol shrimp snapping its claw. In the first panel, the claw is closed. In the second, the upper claw opens at a 90 degree angle, revealing a cavity. In the third panel, the cavity fills with water. In the final panel, the claw is closed again and a jet of water is ejected from the claw. End ID. Source: Wikipedia user Carermyers)

(Gif: black and white, slow-motion video of a pistol shrimp's claw snapping shut and creating a cavitation bubble. End ID. Source)

Pistol shrimp live worldwide, though most species live in tropical or temperate water. There are some cold water species and even freshwater species. Most prefer habitats where they can make burrows and where there are plenty of other animals. Coral reefs, oyster reefs, seagrass beds, mangrove groves are common habitats. Snapping is used for hunting and communication. They typically hide in burrows, waiting for fish or other small animals to pass by. When prey passes, the shrimp will snap to stun or seriously wound the prey, then drag it into the burrow. Some social species actually form eusocial hives with a single queen who produces all offspring. These shrimp are the only known marine eusocial species and all occur within the same genus (Synalpheus), though not every member of that genus is eusocial and eusociality appears to have evolved at least 3 times within that genus. It appears that a reason why only this genus developed eusociality is their larvae do not disperse, instead staying in the same area as the parents. The hives are usually located within sponges. Other social species are not eusocial, but still live together in colonies. Many less social species have formed a symbiotic relationship with gobies. Both species live in burrows, but gobies are bad at digging while the shrimp have poor eyesight. The goby will protect the shrimp while it digs a burrow, then the two live together. They will forage together, with the goby using its superior eyesight to watch for predators and warn the shrimp to get back to the burrow. Pistol shrimp are monogamous, the same pair coming back to mate over and over again (this does not apply to the eusocial species in which only the colony's queen is permitted to mate). The female is only fertile during a short period after molting. The male will stay with the female and protect her during the vulnerable period after mating and some species will remain with each other until the eggs hatch or permanently.

(Image: a eusocial pistol shrimp queen with eggs. Her body is translucent and multiple eggs are attached to her abdomen. The eggs look like translucent balls. The is inside of an orange sponge. End ID)

(Image: a pistol shrimp and goby emerging from a burrow in the sand. The shrimp is a mottled green and white. The body is a bright yellow fish covered with blue spots. End ID)

Pistol shrimp are a major source of noise in the places where they live. If you've ever been swimming and can hear repeated cracking noises, that may have been a bunch of pistol shrimp. Some scientists monitor the level of pistol shrimp noises as a method of monitoring the ecosystem. If the noise level drops, that is an indicator that the local ecosystem is suffering. The noise of the shrimps can get so loud that it actually interferes with sonar and forms of underwater communication. During World War II, members of the navy realized that the shrimp disrupted sonar enough to hide submarines, so they started hiding submarines near reefs with lots of the shrimp to keep them from being found by enemy subs. Weirdly not the only small marine animals to mess with submarines. I'll get the the other major one soon. The largest threats to pistol shrimp come from habitat destruction. Some species of pistol shrimp have entered the pet trade. As coral reefs, seagrass beds, and other habitats are destroyed, the shrimp that rely on them will suffer as well.

Yet another time I get to use one of these cards in a post

(Image: the Weird n' Wild Creatures card featuring pistol shrimp. End ID)

Get attacked!! ✨🌈SEND THIS TO OTHER BLOGGERS YOU THINK ARE WONDERFUL. KEEP THE GAME GOING🌈 ✨

❤😊❤

I think you're wonderful too, dav!

I also think that enjoying something without caring about how “good” the results are requires a confidence Kinn has under all the family competition. Kinn likes winning and being right, but he does recognize himself as greater than any individual win or loss.

…Guess who sucks at being bad at a hobby?

…Guess what’s a necessary stage in most hobbies?

So Vegas and his talents for gardening and delicate mechanical work and cooking, yes--but also. Vegas’s first ill-fated attempt at painting.

He thought he could do better than Kinn.

He was incorrect.

He puts the painting in a bag, fills the bag with bricks, and dumps it in the Chao Praya at two in the morning. Pete’s nearby with the motorcycle, smoking and surreptitiously keeping watch and trying very hard not to laugh or over-interpret this.

So my secret dream is that Kinn and Vegas both pick up a ton of non-mafia hobbies down the line.

Now, Kinn is a shit cook. He plucks a trigger much more steadily than he’ll ever pluck Kim’s guitar. His clumsy attempts at painting draw a rare smile to Porsche’s mother’s lips. Kinn knits the lumpiest, most uneven scarf in a climate where nobody will ever want to wear it.

Kinn is bad at his hobbies.

And it is so freeing, to enjoy something and to be bad at it. For Kinn, who has always had to be the best—for Kinn, whose father’s money made him the best even when he wasn’t—what a tremendous relief, to love something and to do it poorly.

Meanwhile—Vegas is an excellent cook. His hands are just as dexterous on the pliers whether he is extracting the movement from a clock or the bones from a man’s ear. His bird’s eye chili plants thrive on the balcony.

Vegas is good at his hobbies.

And it is so satiating, to enjoy something and to be good at it. For Vegas, who has never been the best—for Vegas, whose father’s goalposts moved every time he thought he might be good enough—what a tremendous relief, to love something and to do it well.

Privately (and sometimes not so privately), they laugh at each other. Privately (always privately), they are so much happier.

(And neither of them plays chess. <3)

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who liked or reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers (ू•‧̫•ू⑅)♡

Thank you, raksh dear!

the tea kettle in my bedroom

I keep clean teacups in my room now too, so I can make myself a cup of tea before I get up in the morning or as I’m settling in for the night. Extremely cozy.

dragon fish

Where most deep-sea critters can’t see red light (because why would they? those shorter wavelengths have long since filtered out by the time you reach that depth), a few species of dragon fish have evolved to not only see but generate their own red light, and use it to invisibly sneak up on their prey. They have flashlights that their prey can’t even see! I am so chuffed about this.

cat on chest

I was only recently allowed to move my cats back into my room following my surgery. They are much happier and more relaxed now. And I had so missed having a warm purring lump dozing on me at all times!

phone calls from my sister

Despite phone anxiety, I always look forward to my little sister’s calls. ❤️ She is one of the strongest, kindest, most brilliant people you could ever have the fortune to meet. We almost lost her to a stroke a couple years ago. She calls nearly every day, and it brings me so much joy.

early-morning sunlight

Early-morning sunlight is I think at its most glorious in spring. One of the few benefits of my brain forcing wake-ups at 3 and 5 a.m. every morning is that I get to sit in a lawn chair and enjoy the sunrise spreading across the yard.

This was fun! Back in undergrad, I used to keep a running list of things that made me uncomplicatedly happy, but I just kinda stopped doing that somewhere down the line. I should pick it up again.

KINNPORSCHE TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY EVENT

— Ep 4: Favourite Location/Set

nothing makes me go "ooooh we are NOT the same" quite like reading some post about how people talk with their parents about their interests. what do you mean you told your father about stevebucky. what do you mean he asked further questions

Did we just fucking witness a love story happen between you and the other anon 👀😲

we do not place labels upon the sacred bond between a girl and her anons, anon! it's terribly uncouth! 😜

And thank you again for another reference. Busy with school work atm, but I will check both of them out when I have time ❤

And best of luck of course with your busy-ness! ❤

Your Vegaspete ficlets with attention to detail and exploration of themes also make me go a bit 😍 about you, so I guess the feelings are mutual

😳🥺🥰

🎊❤🐠

reciprocation!

send this to the twelve nicest people you know or who seem to have a good heart and if you get five back you must be pretty awesome ✨☀️

❤️❤️❤️

Right back at you, immy! Thank you for being so kind to me. I deeply enjoy you and feel very lucky to have your friendship in my life.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REFERENCE!

I will definitely check her out! And no no it is not at all boring. I, myself, am from Asia ( south Asia) to be exact and some of our movies do incorporate the Gothic in certain genre of films. I have always loved the idea of using a genre that's usually connected to a culture, being explored through the lens of another culture. To be more exact, I love exploring these elements of European literature and using it to tell our own stories. For the longest time our literature were thought to be inferior, the culture not worth exploring. So to use elements from those so called superior cultures and breaking them down to fit the mould of the world we live in, to tell our own stories is something that I find fascinating. And I find that Gothic is one such genre that can do so. It has the ability to depict fear and violence that's embedded in our own societies. The prejudice, the bias. And of course it can tell tales of colonial violence too.

Anon!!! 🥰 no but I was a li’l worried I was going to disappoint you when you sent me a KP ask and my response was mostly oriented around translating the Gothic 😅 but now you send this incredible reply! *vibrates intensely*

There is so much to explore in the purposeful nativizing of traditions that have for so long been imposed as “superior” to native ones. And of course there’s an additional layer in the context of colonization, where a culture has suffered forceful foreignization to hew closer to the cultural standards of the colonizer. The distinction between having your culture reshaped by a dominating culture’s traditions, so as to better suit how that dominating culture writes or erases their narrative about you—versus using your culture as the lens through which you transform the dominating culture’s traditions, so that you can use them to speak to your own fears and your own truths.

And—returning to the Gothic—what a fascinating meta element that can be within a postcolonial Gothic narrative, wrt colonialism as part of the violent looming past whose effects still sit heavy on the present. (And what a rebuttal to those older European Gothic narratives so steeped in Orientalism!)

If you have the opportunity, you might enjoy South Asian Gothic: Haunted Cultures, Histories and Media? It’s a collection of scholarly articles edited in part by Dr. Ancuta, and it spends a lot of time delving into the postcolonial Gothic and also how the spiritual and supernatural beliefs of a given group shape their version of the Gothic narrative.

Thank you again for the ask, anon! 💖

your brain is.. an escaping octopus?

…I fear this was just a fanciful way to say I had chiari decompression surgery and like fish, anon, I hope that doesn’t disappoint. 😅 My skull’s too small and about two centimeters of my brain have been living outside of it, which is sometimes harmless but in my case was not! So a neurosurgeon shaved away a bit of my skull at the base and a bit of my first vertebra, and then he used electricity to make my brain retreat back towards where it goes.

I’m actually two months post-surgery as of today and doing pretty well! My neck muscles are mostly working again, and my massive head scar is healing nicely. I feel more clear-headed and focused than I did before the surgery. Still hand pain, but my feet don’t go numb anymore. And! the squidgy sucking-through-a-flattened-straw noise I used to hear behind my ears every morning when I sat up seems to be gone, as is the accompanying headache. I hadn’t realized that wasn’t normal.

Anyway, I am under the impression that with the aquarium filter unblocked, the octopus's tank feels more comfortable and it hopefully will not attempt to escape again. 🤞