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the-bottom-of-the-abyss · 1 year

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siren song

Simon "Ghost" Riley x Reader

This used to be an OC but I'm changing it to a reader insert; Other characters will still talk about "you" in the third person. While a reader insert, the MC will still be American and have a fleshed out backstory.

They called you Siren They called him Ghost

----

"Siren," Price told Laswell, "Sniper, expert in infilitration and undercover ops. American Special Forces."

Kate stared at the picture for a moment before asking, "Siren? As in the sea creature?"

Price shot her a half-smile. "Yes, the same. She seems to be the weakness of every man and she knows it. She's damn good with a rifle but her best weapon is herself."

next chapter: chapter 1

Notes: This is my first Ghost story! I have played the campaign and I just couldn't help myself! This is just the prologue but they will meet next chapter. Oh, and this fic will 1000% have smut. This takes place before and during the first mission, "Strike"

This used to be an OC but I'm changing it to a reader insert; Other characters will still talk about "you" in the third person.

Prologue

"Who's your crew?"

John Price sat opposite of Kate Laswell, taking in the cozy atmosphere of the cafe, but still somehow feeling on edge from recent events.

"Sergaent Garrick," Price replied.

"Kyle?"

"They call him 'Gaz'." the Captain continued, "He never said anything."

He handed Kate the folder for Gaz and continued reading. "John MacTavish, SAS. Sniper - demolitions. Goes by 'Soap'."

"Why?" Kate questioned as he handed her Soap's dossier.

"That's classified."

Kate gave him a dubious look, eliciting a chuckle before he moved on.

"There he is..." Price said, handing Kate the folder. "Simon Riley."

Laswell's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "There's no picture."

Price's reply was quick. "Never."

He handed her a final file, one with a picture of a woman with hair the color of fresh espresso and with a face like an angel. But it was the eyes that set you apart, a piercing hue that seemed a little too empty, void of emotion in comparison to your smile. At first glance you seemed harmless, but the longer one looked, the more unnerving your portrait grew.

"Siren," Price told her, "Sniper, expert in infilitration and undercover ops. American Special Forces."

Kate stared at the picture for a moment before asking, "Siren? As in the sea creature?"

Price shot her a half-smile. "Yes, the same. She seems to be the weakness of every man and she knows it. She's damn good with a rifle but her best weapon is herself."

"Now the rest," he continued, leaning forward across the table, "That's need to know. Unless we got a deal."

"What are you calling this task force?" Laswell asked.

"1-4-1."

---------

Months later

13 July 2022

2200, Upscale hotel somewhere in Europe

The bar was crowded but you weren't focused on all the other people. Those who were drinking away their sorrows, the ones meeting mistresses, and suits on a business trip. No, you was focused on the group of ten Russian Ground Forces operatives in the corner, sporting casual clothes instead of a uniform. Your eyes jumped from man to man, silently matching them up in your head with some of the pictures in the brief General Shepard gave you. Of course, this was only a portion of them, there were about fifty in total staying in the hotel. All of them were waiting on a flight to Al Mazrah and transporting a boat load of weapons, and it was your job to figure out exactly where they were headed.

You leaned back against, resting your elbows on the bar as you sat on a barstool, softly jutting out your chest and letting your hair perfectly frame your face. You knew you were beautiful, and you knew what men would do, what men would say, for a beautiful woman; all the secrets they would reveal, just to touch. A strapless navy dress stuck to your body like a second skin, accentuating every curve on your body, save for a slit in the leg that went up to your mid-thigh.

Your targets were already glancing your way. Oogling, more like.

Too easy, you thought. You intentionally locked eyes with one of them and batted your eyelashes innocently before looking away, appearing embarrassed to the untrained eye. For extra affect, you crossed one leg over another, causing the slit to reveal more of your smooth skin.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw some of his buddies nudging him and pointing in your direction, all of your plans falling neatly into place. You brought your eyes back to the man now coming towards you and made a show of looking at him up and down, pointing your gaze in between his legs for a second longer and giving a sultry look. You could see his throat working to gulp down his nerves.

He squeezed himself in the opening beside you and you turned to fully face him. He was average looking, nothing too special. It was what was in his pants you were interested in.

His phone.

"Hello, beautiful," his accent was thick, but the English seemed fluent.

"Hello there," you cooed, letting your voice become sickeningly sweet.

"You are not from here?" He questioned, noticing your accent sticking out among the natives around you.

"No," you replied, "I'm from America but I'm on a work trip. What brings you here?" As you talked, you ran your finger over the hand he had placed on the bar and traced nonsensical patterns.

"A-Also business," he said, obviously getting distracted by the physical contact. You kicked it up a notch, going as far as to rub your high-heeled foot along the side of his calf. You leaned forward and was pleased to note he seemed already intoxicated, speeding up your plan by being able to avoid spending needless time ordering drinks.

You placed your hand on the man's chest and ran it slowly upwards before traveling down one of his arms. He seemed young and nervous but also attempted to exude confidence while you carressed him.

"I'm only here for tonight but..." you purposefully trailed off, looking at him with doe-eyes and gently biting you lip. "I've been looking for a real man to help me." You were laying it on a little thick, but time was of the essence, and he didn't seem all that concerned. You had him right there and decided to go in for the kill.

You leaned in real close and whispered in his ear, "I need a man to fuck me."

He audibly groaned, prompting you to bite his earlobe softly before pulling his hand off the bar and setting it on your waist. "Can you be that man for me?"

He nodded comically fast and pulled you to stand up, not bothering to wait for any privacy before sliding his hand down over your ass. A long time ago, you would have been repulsed. You would have showered for days, trying to scrub off any evidence. Now, you didn't feel it at all, didn't pay attention to anything except your next goal: getting him away from his phone. He led you out of the crowded bar, leaving his friends to cheer him on. You boarded the empty elevator and he pushed you against the wall after pressing his floor, smashing his lips against yours. It was sloppy and anything but a turn on but you willingly let him explore your mouth and grope your body and reciprocated with responding movements, all while you were plotting on how to steal the information from him.

A hand made its way to your covered breast. I bet the information is in his email.

Another grabbed your thigh and hiked it over his hip. These lower guys never bother to encrypt anything, a blessing, really.

A hardness grinded into the apex of your thighs and you let out a manufactured moan. Luckily they are on a tight schedule, they likely won't look for a body tomorrow when he doesn't show.

The ding of the elevator caused him to break away and grab your hand before rushing to a hotel room. As he fumbled with the keycard you kissed and bit his neck, all while sliding your fingertips below his belt. He finally got the door open and pulled you inside. He attacked you with his lips again and shoved his tongue in your mouth, pawing at your ass and grinding into your hip.

Pathetic. You thought to yourself while you faked a whimpering noise and a gasp when he moved on from your lips to bite the top of your left breast. While he was occupied, you reached for the small, curved knife, a minuture karambit, that sat holstered in a sewn in slot inside your dress, just under your armpit. One of his hands creeped up the inside of your thigh, touching the edge of your lace lingerie.

However, he never made it to his destination on account of the knife sticking in his neck.

A quick kill, although a little bloody. His body fell limp on the ground in front of you, blood continuing to pool out. You dislodged your knife and searched his pockets, finally pulling out his phone.

"Jackpot."

You used his finger to open up the phone before stepping over his body and sitting on the bed, all of your attention now focused on scanning for any information about tomorrow's final destination for the selling the weapons. A certain message caught your eye; it detailed the schedule for tomorrow and the directions to the base they were meeting at in Al Mazrah for the arms deal. A sense of satisfaction filled you at acquiring this information. You did not feel guilty about killing the man. You have killed many men, and the part of you that felt guilt for the role you played died a long time ago.

You wiped off the blood that got on your chest and walked out of the room, phone in hand. You were not worried about cameras, you knew the CIA counter-terrorism team would take care of it. You took the elevator back up to your own room and immedaitely went for your computer once inside. You pulled up the video call option for General Shepard and sat in the chair, not caring about your mused hair or slightly smeared lipstick or the bruise forming on your upper breast.

He answered immediately and with him was Kate Laswell, the CIA Station Chief. "Siren, tell me you have intel," the general said in lieu of a greeting.

"Of course, sir," you replied. "I have the location, I'm sending you the coordinates now. They are located in Al Mazarah. It says they will be meeting with General Ghorbani."

Both Laswell and Shepard sported a confused look at that. "Why would they be meeting with Ghorbani?" Laswell questioned out loud.

"We will find out tomorrow," Shepard said. "For now, Siren, continue."

"Any hiccups?" Laswell questioned.

"Just the usual," you said. "I will need someone to remove a body and dispose of security footage but other than that, everything was smooth."

"Great work, Sergeant. Your next assignment will begin immediately. You have been apart of the 141 Task Force for some time, but now you will begin your work with a team. Your flight leaves tonight."

---

15 July 2022

1600, Al Mazrah, U.R.A

"Watcher-1 to Bravo 0-7, you in position?"

Ghost walked through the rocky terrain, stepping back into the sunlight.

"Nearly there," he replied, continuing moving, climbing towards a vantage point on the sands below. He heard the helicopter before he saw it, flying straight overhead and towards the target point. "Got a heli incoming."

"That's General Ghorbani." Laswell replied.

"He's punctual, I'll give him that," General Shepard chimed in. "Now get up there and see what he's up to in the middle o' nowhere."

Ghost climbed up a few more rocks, finally reaching the opening and peering down at the base. "I'm eyes on."

"What do you see?" Laswell questioned. He brought out his Spotter Scope and peered down at all the equipment and people milling about.

"Armed personnel, armor and hardware," he replied. "All Russian."

"Our intel was right about them meeting," Shepard said. "But it still doesn't explain why the Russians would be meeting with Ghorbani."

"Supplying Iran," Kate replied, "it's an arms deal." Ghost sat silently as they talked, observing the scene below.

"You copying this Shadow-1?" Shepard asked Graves.

"Affirmative, two birds, one stone..."

"We need positive ID on Ghorbani before we kick this off boys."

"Ghost, can you identify the General?"

Ghost scanned the area, zooming in to look at specific people, checking to see if they were Ghorbani. He found a bunch of soldiers in one spot and said as much. "Armed escorts around one VIP. Russians are very happy to see him."

"It'll be the last time they do..." General Shepard said in response.

"Visual on General Ghorbani."

"Copy. All stations target confirmed."

"Shadow-1," Shepard started, "you are cleared hot for launch."

"Roger that, Actual," Phillip Graves replied. "Ghost, you are danger close to the zone. This arrow's gonna pack a punch."

"Copy. Approved," Ghost replied. "Send it."

"All stations, Shadow-1. Missle is ready for immediate delivery, stand by for launch. Coordinates. Target designated. Two... One... Shot out."

Soon enough the missle hit the target and the force of it made Ghost step back a bit. "Bloody fuckin' hell. Direct. Target destroyed."

#simon ghost riley #ghost #cod mw22 #ghost fanfiction #ghost smut #simon riley x reader #simon riley #ghost x reader #this is now a reader insert #simon ghost riley x you

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aspd-culture · 2 months

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aspd and adhd(/possible autism) culture is realizing only once you're out of high school "ohhhhhhh wait, so i thought i wasn't abused growing up, but actually i was and it only stopped due to covid, and that resulted in my osdd system and aspd?"

buckle up, this is Long and definitely classifies as a Vent. honestly, you can ignore the middle section and jump to the next blank line of space if you want.

jesus christ. i was punished more harshly than my peers, i struggled to make friends, i was put into a little school program where board games were used to reinforce good behavior in problem kids which i only realized two months ago, my memory issues (which were always there, but only noticed in fifth grade) got me into so much shit with every authority figure ever, i broke a window using one of those mechanical hamster things that were popular at the time by accident but i didn't care at all, that's just scratching the surface

memories of things have been coming back to me lately. according to my mom i was such a nice little kid, always shared and was polite and highly empathetic, all the goods.

school came along, flipped everything on its head. i remember harassing and hurting animals, and people, and sometimes telling those people not to tell—not because i felt bad but because i didn't want to get into trouble again, it was an inconvenience. my home life was pretty good but other kids left me out of things a lot and sometimes called me names, even the neighbors' kids i liked to hang out with would make me the monster of their games and that does something to a kid (one of them is also the reason i'm a victim of cocsa). when i did something wrong or bad there was only punishment because i "should know not to do that" and so i had to teach myself how to be a functioning and good member of society. i got good at lying towards the end of third grade, the skill got better from there with every punishment i faced

when a former friend told me "hey, you have aspd traits/might have aspd" i went and found the checklist, because thorough research is how i work, went through it. at the time i didn't think it fit very well because "yes, i experience that but that's pretty normal for people, i learned how to manage it under several layers of creating a socially acceptable person just like everyone else"

i've gone back to it a couple times since and wow, surprise surprise, everything applies! the "this doesn't apply to me because i have a system to help with this thing" mindset means the thing still applies! there's some stuff, namely the destruction and truancy, that i didn't do but that's solely because i knew i couldn't get away with it and therefore didn't bother trying. so thanks to aaaaaaall that stuff and more, i definitely grew up with both conduct disorder and odd, and now it's aspd

i can't say i'm mad about having aspd? it causes problems in my life, yes, but i've spent so long wrangling myself into a form small enough to fit into society's box that it's not the worst thing anymore. i think i'm more mad at society, my peers, for not helping me with this and being kind where they should've, especially my mom as of recently

that said: it is fucking hard-wired into me that there's only good people and bad people in the world. harmful behavior towards me (or someone else doing something i can't forgive) is automatically met with hammurabi's eye for an eye. the coping mechanisms i use work very well, are generally healthy, and people who don't do anything to calm themselves down and think rationally tend to piss me off. i have been fighting those things for a while but they're the ones that simply won't go away. hamburger help me.

aspd-culture-is

There's a lot of good information in this ask. Too many people see ASPD as a direct result of physical abuse or CSA/SA, when a lot of ASPD symptoms really develop around things that are seen as smaller issues, where a child's problems get diminished by the people who are supposed to help that child to the point where they feel the only person that will help them is themself.

More than anything else, I personally think a very quick and simple way to decrease the number of people who end up with ASPD would be to get parents and other caregiving adults, and honestly society as a whole, to understand that regardless of how simple, silly, or insignificant it may seem to someone older, these "silly" things are often the worst thing the child has experienced up until that point. Someone always having to be the monster sounds like nothing to an adult, leading to no response to help besides maybe "they're just teasing you, ignore them". But "just teasing" is the most social rejection a child has experienced to that point, and so it is extremely distressing and emotionally painful. It feels like the most isolated they could possibly be, because they haven't been around long enough to experience worse. Then, the child is told to ignore it, which not only fails to make them feel better, but often causes it to get even worse as the other kids try and push harder to get the reaction they're looking for. Do they eventually give up? Sometimes. But the lengths and extremes many bullies will go to when "just teasing" doesn't elicit a response is disturbing and that fact is either unknown to or ignored by adults.

Part of why always being made the monster does something to a kid is that it is treated as a non-issue. When that is what a developing brain learns is the reaction to their pain, they will no longer seek outside help when things become extreme.

TW: descriptions of SA/r threats. Skip the following paragraph and move to the next one to avoid. Also a bit of a vent.

When I was in school, I was teased. I was made the dog who was not allowed to talk or a person with their vocal chords removed any time we played pretend. Sometimes they made me a rock or stick on the ground, even. It sounds like nothing, and when I was told it would go away if I ignored them, I listened. It didn't stop them. It led to an entire set of multiple schools that were combined into one building seeing me as a verbal and sometimes physical plaything; a place to take out your angst and distress. I lost my personhood in their eyes, so my understanding of social interactions were tainted and colored by the way my peers treated me. I told anyone who tried to befriend me not to be seen talking to me, to bully me publicly so they wouldn't get the treatment I got, so even the few people who tried to be kind got a skewed, unnatural social interaction with me. Many listened, and I don't hold that against them at all. That's simply what they had to do to make it. It got to the point of receiving verbal and *detailed, written-out, and signed* r word threats, and boys who were 11 years old talking about kidnapping tying me up in their parents attic and using me whenever they wanted (theirs was more detailed). Some even attempted to touch me, and adults nearby ignored it because "X likes to handle it themselves, they don't like when adults get involved", because I learned that they would only vaguely say stop, and it would get worse. That's what happens when you just ignore it.

And what do we call a person who learns that only they can protect themselves, and who doesn't understand any positive interaction with anyone that isn't transactional? Antisocial. I hate the idea what a positive relationship with family is incompatible with ASPD, sorry about the rant. Because of how ASPD develops, I refuse to dislike or resent myself or my symptoms when it comes to ASPD. If people didn't want me like this, they shouldn't have treated me like this.

Plain text below the cut:

TW: descriptions of SA/r threats. Skip the following paragraph and move to the next one to avoid. Also a bit of a vent.

#aspd-culture-is #aspd culture is #aspd culture #actually aspd #aspd #aspd awareness #actually antisocial #antisocial personality disorder #aspd traits #anons welcome #tw sa mention #tw abuse mention

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captain-mj · 1 year

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Price X Graves

They meet in Afghanistan or Iraq, its Graves first deployment, he is fresh out of boot camp.

Price is already in the SAS maybe a L.T

They fuck in a supply closet and Price gives Graves a presentation of his eh bandage skills.

Price remembered the exact moment he saw Graves. He felt like his heart stop for a moment.

After that, he found excuses to be near him. Graves acted like any other soldier until they were alone. Price wasn’t sure exactly when it started, but Graves would immediately relax when they were alone. He’d still call him sir and Lieutenant, but he spoke more candidly, his accent thickening when it was just the two of them that could hear. He also smiled more, always directed at Price.

“So you’re in the special forces?”

“Yes. Do a lot of solo missions.” Price had been eating when he asked.

“Could you tell me about some?” Graves’s eyes sparkled. He leaned in, so close Price could count his eyelashes if he made him stay still long enough.

“All classified I’m afraid, kid.” Price smiled at him.

Graves recoiled at the nickname, making a face. He quickly made an excuse to leave and that was about a week ago. Despite his best efforts, Price hadn’t been able to get them alone since. He was a goddamn rookie, it shouldn’t have been that hard, but he felt almost guilty at the thought of ordering him to come with him. Which was stupid.

Price was training the recruits that day, watching Graves grapple with the other person. He pinned them down, locking his thighs around their head and holding steady. Christ, the pants he wore were tight already but they strained at the position. His shirt had started pulling up, showing off toned abs. There were a couple of bruises, probably from training. He made a bloody damn good picture.

The kid being pinned finally tapped out, rubbing his shoulders. “Jesus, you’re strong.”

Graves smiled and blushed. Price felt his blood pressure spike.

“Graves. With me.” Maybe he could order him around a little. He stalked off, hearing the squeak of his boots as he followed him.

“Something wrong, sir?”

“At ease, soldier.” Notable, Graves didn’t relax. His hands behind his back as he walked, puffing his chest out unintentionally. He stayed wound up like a coil next to him.

“Did I do something wrong, Lieutenant?” Graves had to look up at him and Price made a very quick decision. He shoved him into a supply closet.

“Why have you been avoiding me?” He could pretend this was just so they wouldn’t be overheard. This was a private conversation after all.

“I don’t know where the miscommunication came from, Price.” The disrespectful tone and the use of his name was enough to set Price on edge already. Anyone else and they’d be running laps until they fell over. But this wasn’t anyone else. “But I thought I made myself pretty clear. I understand you like play dad to a lot of the recruits, but I’m not interested.”

Price frowned. “What do you want then?”

“I thought we were...” Graves blushed and seemed to realize himself. “I'm sorry, sir. This is... so inappropriate.” He looked around, probably looking for a way out. Price let him for a minute before stepping closer. Graves scrambled back, trying to keep the same distance between them but the wall behind him stopped that.

“Come on. What did you think we were? Friends?”

“Wanted to be a whole lot more than friends, sir.” Graves was bold. He’d give him that. They were in a fucking closet and he was admitting to his superior officer that he had a crush on him.

Price grabbed him by his chin and forced his head back. Before Graves could get too nervous, Price kissed him, nice and slow. Graves relaxed after a moment, grabbing Price’s shirt.

“That what you wanted? Really? Can’t believe that nickname got you so upset.” Price bit Grave’s bottom lip, keeping his eyes on him.

“Wasn’t going to waste my time, sir.” Graves growled at him.

Price shoved his knee between his legs, feeling him immediately start to rut against him. He reached over, finding the rope they kept in there along with some thick bandages. He tied his arms tight behind his back.

“Waste of time? You know in war, you need all the friends you can get.”

“Don’t think I could be just friends with you, sir.” Graves whimpered when he pulled the ropes just a bit too tight. “Admittedly, I’ve been trying to get in your pants since I saw you. Well... heard you.” He blushed more and Price bent him over the table.

“Heard? Got a thing for my accent?”

“Yes. But also how gruff you sound and how you bark orders at people. Just all of it.” Graves sounded dreamy. “Don’t make me wait any longer, please.” He wiggled his hips and Price groaned.

“You’re going to kill me, sweetheart.” He checked the room, finding lube luckily. He yanked Graves’s hands down and pushing his shirt up. After carefully slicking his fingers, he pushed them into him, feeling him keen against him. Graves tried to shove himself back with a whimper as Price slowly started to pump his fingers.

Price grabbed the bandages from earlier and quickly gagged him.

“I’d love to listen, but this room isn’t soundproof.” He patted his hip gently and Graves nodded, relaxing a bit. Price could still hear his muffled moans as he pushed another finger in, scissoring and trying to get them deeper. Graves gasped and arched when Price pressed against something in him. Price adjusted his grip on him, hitting the spot every time now that he knew where it was.

Graves groaned softly and tensed against him, panting a little. He whimpered when Price pulled his fingers out, trying to press back against them.

“Just relax. I got you.” Price unzipped his pants, coating his cock in lube before gently pushing it in. A thought popped into his head and he froze. “Is this your first time?”

Graves blushed but shook his head. Price waited for a second and he rolled his eyes before mumbling around the gag “first with a guy”.

And it was in a supply closet. Price would make it up to him later, though Graves hardly seemed to mind. He continued gently pressing into Graves, being a little more mindful. Graves whimpered at a certain point and he stopped, rubbing his back soothingly until he relaxed enough for him to keep going.

Price closed his eyes, trying not to melt at the tight heat. Graves felt sinful against him. The view wasn’t much better. His pretty blue eyes filled with tears, the soft blush that he still had across his cheeks. Price put his hand gently on the back of his neck, holding them both steady as he pulled just a little before thrusting back in.

Graves moaned and started to relax again, body loosening up enough to make this easier. Price did it again, pushing just a little bit more, but Graves just moaned and took it. Judging by the glazed look in his eyes and how hard he was against the table, Graves was taking it happily.

Price rolled his hips right against his prostate before thrusting again. He kept repeating it as he kissed along his shoulders, biting down and leaving marks all over him. Graves started panting harder, suddenly trying to move again. He started to whine harder, hands trembling.

“You close?” Price asked gently and Graves nodded, whimpering. Price stroked him to help him along and left a few hickeys on his throat. He fucked Graves straight through his orgasm, rutting into him. Graves started to whine from overstimulation but didn’t move, just let Price thrust in a few more times before finally spilling into him. He blushed more at the feeling and his eyes fluttered closed.

Price made quick work of cleaning him up and getting him untied. “Normally, I’d drag you to my room, but unfortunately, we both have duties. So I’ll see you tonight, yes?”

Graves nodded immediately, looking up at him like he strung the stars.

#cod #call of duty #call of duty modern warfare #Phillip graves #John Price #Captain John Price #Price x Graves #Graves x Price

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mikhailwrites · 4 months

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Waiting for Connection 7 / Ghost x Soap NerdAU

Ghost is retired and plays milsim videogame. Soap is still in the force and sometimes plays that same videogame...

Previous chapter | AO3

Ghost accepts the invitation from John and is immediately thrown into lively banter.

“…look, all I’m saying is that having APC is all nice and fun, but not when at least one person in every team has Titan. Armour is slow and loud,” a male voice says with conviction.

“So going on foot is faster? If you need to cover a serious distance, armour is your best bet,” another voice disagrees. This one has a strong accent and a particular lilt to it. If Ghost had to guess, this bloke’s first language is Spanish.

“Oi, lads, cut it out, will ye?” Soap’s Scottish brogue is easily recognisable. The corners of Simon’s mouth twitch. “Ghost, hello, glad you could make it.”

As if he had anything better to do.

“How’s it going?” Simon says because, at this point, it would be weird not to say something when he was directly addressed.

„Oh, so you’re the Ghost!“ the first voice says with a hint of excitement. „Nice to finally meet you!“

Ghost feels his eyebrow raise. „Finally?“

„Yeah, Soap wouldn’t shut up about you, mate. Was starting to think you’re a sock puppet or something,“ the bloke laughs.

„He’s exaggerating,“ Soap interjects, with a hint of defensiveness that picks Ghost’s interest. “Anyway, that’s Roach.”

„I’m not exaggerating,“ Roach stands his ground.

„He’s really not,“ the second voice confirms.

“Och away ‘n bile yer heid!” Soap says with exasperation.

“So you introduce Roach and not me? Duly noted, Sergeant!” the man chuckles. “I’m Alejandro, by the way. And the last one without a mic is Rodolfo, or Rudy if you want; his headset broke yesterday.”

“Hey, looking forward to seeing your allegedly legendary skills,” pops up in the chat from Rudy.

“A pleasure,” Ghost says, carefully filing away any and all information. “So, are we going to play?”

“Yeah, sure, hermano. Soap said you had some sweet custom level?” Alejandro

Of course, he said that. At this point, Simon is quite interested in what exactly John shared about him. “I might. Although it’s meant for two people, five will breeze through. Especially since Soap and I know it through and through.”

He’s right, they breeze through the compound in some fifteen minutes. Ghost provides sniper support, not that it’s truly needed with the level of teamwork the rest of their fireteam has. Roach and Soap are quick and ruthless, kicking in the doors and disposing of any enemy they stumble upon. Alejandro and Rudy, on the other hand, have a much more cautious approach. It makes sense since, unlike Soap, they are not familiar with the level.

Alejandro is taking the point, relaying any information or command through gestures. They clear building after building in a very methodical manner. Something about how they move through the compound and recon the situation reminds Ghost of some guerilla warfare tactics he’s witnessed and utilised many years ago in South America.

He’s tempted to ask about their background later. Not that he’s really going to ask. It’s most probably classified, they are not on a secure channel, and he wouldn’t appreciate them poking into his past either.

Roach is SAS through and through, Ghost can easily recognise the training patterns. Moreover, it’s clear that he works closely with John. There’s a level of unspoken communication and a limited ability to predict what the other man will do the next second. That only comes after being partnered with someone for a long time and through some serious shit, Ghost knows this from experience.

They finish the mission flawlessly and decide to jump into the multiplayer for a change. It’s a shitshow, for the lack of better words. It always is; Ghost and Soap are simply too good not to wipe the opposing teams, even if they are outnumbered. And they’re not outnumbered today.

Five elite operators are enough to take on an enemy stronghold, let alone a fireteam. Some days, Ghost feels a little like a bully, though today, he’s just having fun. Banter is running rampant, replacing most tactical communication with jokes and idle chat. And still, they win.

Alright, one time it’s a close call when the opposing team plants mines on the perimeter borders, and Soap learns about them the hard way. Roach runs to him, even though it’s clear that Soap didn’t survive, and drops to his bloodied body.

“Nooooo!” Roach cries out theatrically. “You can’t die here, Sergeant! Think of your sweetheart at home, waiting for you! You’re getting married when we get back! And this is your last mission before retirement! Don’t you give up!”

Ghost feels a deep, low rumble in his chest as he starts laughing. Alejandro and Rudy join in.

“Are you sure you’re not meant for Hollywood, Roach?” Rudy asks over the chat.

They don’t get to hear the reply because bullets start flying. Honestly, Ghost is surprised it took the enemy team this long. They must’ve heard the explosion.

Even if they are one man short, they still prevail. Roach is still very much reenacting some corny film, swearing to avenge Soap as he runs into a building where the enemy is holed up. He gets shot, of course, but Ghost, with Alejandro and Rudy close behind, they manage to clean and clear the house before Roach is killed. Alejandro uses his medkit to get him up.

“Well, that was fun,” Roach says, and it’s apparent he’s smiling.

They all agree just as they agree it’s time to call it a day.

“I hope we get to play with you some more in the future, Ghost,” Alejandro says.

“Don’t see why not; it was a good game,” Ghost replies. They start to drop off the channel, Rudy first, then Alejandro and Roach, until only Ghost and Soap remain.

“Um, Ghost? Got a minute?” Soap asks, voice slightly unsteady.

“Sure,” Simon replies, dragging the mouse away from the button that would quit the online session and terminate the voice chat.

“I’m on mandatory leave starting next week, so I thought I could stop in Manchester on my way home. We could grab a pint or something.”

“Why would you think I’m from Manchester?” Ghost asks with the tiniest hint of suspicion. As far as he knows, he never told John where he lives.

“With that accent? Don’t insult me, Simon,” Soap snorts.

“Fair enough,” Ghost relents. The accent is one thing, but Simon is well aware he’s been dropping some details that could give away his location. Soap is definitely smart and sharp enough to put the pieces together. “We could meet up if you want.” Ghost tries not to sound overly thrilled even though he is. An occasional chat with locals in a pub is all nice, but to sit down with someone he could, perhaps, call a friend, someone from the military, someone who understands at least some things about Ghost that civilians can’t? That sounds real good.

“Alright, it’s a date, then,” Soap exclaims, loud and obviously pleased. “I’ll go by train. Should I book a hotel near the station?”

Ghost hums in disagreement, and before he can stop himself, he’s offering. “Waste of money. If you’re fine with a couch, you can crash at my place.”

Soap chuckles. “If I’m fine with a couch? I’m a soldier, Ghost. A couch is considered an unrivalled luxury on most days.”

“Couch it is, then.”

#call of duty #john soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #ghostsoap #soapghost #ghost x soap #ghoap

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rmd-writes · 6 months

Note

RMD RMD!!!

This image is from this post that @goodways shared.

As an Australian and our resident person who knows and explains things. Please!! Is this a real thing? If yes, for the love of god, why?????

Thank you for your time!

Lemon!

Oh dear. Yes, that map is a real thing. Australian time zones in the summer are a quite literally a (very) hot mess. What that map doesn't show you is that there is a tiny part of New South Wales (the bigger state in the red part) that observes South Australian (middle orange state) time zones for some reason that I don't understand. It's wild.

I'm going to do my best to explain this but the reality is that I don't entirely understand why myself.

Okay so, the first thing you need to know is that Australia is very big. It is about the same size as the continental US. The second thing you need to know is that we are a federation meaning that until federation, each state you can see outlined on the map essentially operated as it's own little country. Western Australia did not want to join the federation but eventually did. South Australia (orange, middle) has the distinction of being the only state that was solely a settler colony, no convicts. They think that makes them very important. Also yes, Australia was initially colonised by the Brits because they had too many criminals and needed somewhere Very Far Away to send them. So, lots of white people here are descended from convicts . Anyway, I digress, the colonial history of Australia is a matter of record and a disgrace and the racist effect of that history is still very present and is most evident in the referendum that happened on the weekend but this is neither the time nor the place for me to get into that and my absolute disappointment in the country I live in. (how's that for a run on sentence)

ANYWAY, sheer size means that many time zones are necessary. Federation means that the states are like squabbling siblings and no one wants to do what anyone else says.

Next fact, the top of Australia is quite close to the equator. The northern part of Australia is classified as sub-tropical to tropical. It's hot and humid. The sun rises very early up north, even in the winter. We do not have long winter nights here. The sun setting in the afternoon is not a thing.

Also Australian populations are concentrated on the coasts, the middle of Australia is sparsely populated. After the coastal areas, there is farm land and then desert in the middle.

In Queensland (big yellow state on the right) there is no DST because the top two-thirds of the state (mostly rural/regional) will not countenance it for reasons such as "the cows won't cope" but also because up there they do not want longer days in the sun because it's too fucking hot and actually they look forward to the sun setting and things getting cooler. The bottom third of Queensland (which is mostly urban) wants DST but the state government cannot implement it without the cooperation of the rest of the state.

As for Western Australia (big blue state on the left), they do whatever the fuck they want and quite often don't opt in to federal laws and do their own thing. I can't explain what's happening there.

Do not ask me about the 30-minute time zone thing happening in the middle. My only explanation is that, as per above, SA thinks it's better than everyone else and did it to be ✨special✨ (the Northern Territory (middle green territory (not a state) at the top) was part of SA until some time after federation which is why they follow the same time zone (except for DST).

Did any of that answer your question? I'm really not sure.

Anyway, Australia where time zones are in the future but are also fucked ✌🏽

#rmd answers #time zone witchery

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euphoricimagination · 8 months

Text

Summary: Two weeks have passed since the preliminaries, Nationals starting tomorrow with the opening ceremony. Since Nekoma didn’t classify, you technically couldn’t go there, but nothing it's going to stop you from seeing your foxes again.

Kenma x reader; Haikyuu x reader

Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11

From the beginning

“Guys, are you all here?” you call them as you enter into the gym

“Yes chibi, what happened?”

“Nothing much, just some info. On Friday all the gyms will be closed, the school is going to do an inspection, so we don’t have practice on the afternoon”

“Thanks for telling us chibi” says Yaku as you sit next to him “Nationals start tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, did your friends arrive already?” asks Kenma sitting on your other side, eyes on his phone

“They should be arriving to Saitama soon; they need to be in the opening ceremony tomorrow”

“Oh yeah, their first match is on Friday morning, right? Well at least you can go and see them on the weekend” Kuroo says with a smile

“Oh, I’m going to see their first match, thank God we can’t practice on Friday”

“How? It’s in the morning, you would have to ditch school to be able to see them” Yaku asks confused before sighing at the realization of your plan “Yn-chan, do you think your friends will be ok with you ditching school for them?”

“Well, Kita-san will probably scold me a bit, the rest like me too much to get mad at me”

“Oh…then what about your mom? Do you think she will be okay with you not coming to school?”

“Oh yeah, you don’t know my mom, she and my brother are going too. The moment they knew about the guys going to the Nationals she asked for the time so we could go”

“Your…mom…is letting you and your little brother ditch school to go to see a volleyball game?” asks Yaku dumbfounded

“Yeah, pretty much”

“It’s just a day, and it’s not like chibi-chan or her brother neglect school and have bad grades anyway” adds Kuroo

“I feel like we should have expected something like this from chibi-chan”

“Well, Yn always does something different to what I expect, it’s hard to read her sometimes” Kenma says nonchalantly

“I don’t know if I should take it as a compliment or not…anyways go back to practice” you stand up, making them stand up too

Friday came in, and since Saitama it’s quite far, you had to wake early to arrive at a good time. Yesterday after practice you made some onigiris for the boys, and just like he promised, Kenma kept you company. Despite saying he was going to play the whole time, he still helped with the instructions and other little things.

You go out of your house stretching your arms when you saw two figures in front of you

“What are you doing here?”

“C’mon chibi-chan, you really thought we will let you go alone?” says Kuroo smiling at you, coming over to rub your hair before whispering “Kenma wanted to go with you, but I didn’t tell you anything”

“Guys hi! I didn’t know you were coming” your mom greets them

“Hey miss, yeah sorry, you don’t mind us joining you, right?”

“Of course not! You guys are always welcome, we should get going though”

You start walking towards the subway, Kuroo talking to your brother about his interest in volleyball and if he wanted to play, trying to see if he can get him into playing, while you and Kenma walk together, him looking at his phone like usual

“Thank you for coming with me, Ken”

“Of course” says pausing his game to look at you with a tired smile “It’s important to you”

You arrived to Saitama and went to the gym, which had a lot of people inside ready to play and watch. Inarizaki's first match was at 10:00 am, and you arrived at 9:40, plenty of time to look for them. You walked around through the sea of bright uniforms when you saw a group with the contrasting black uniforms ahead of us.

“…so we should try to break their formation as soon as we can” you hear Kita say as you get closer

“Yeah, I was thinking I could use…chibi-chan?” Atsumu noticed you right then, making the team look to where he was looking “CHIBI-CHAN!” says standing up alongside Osamu and Suna. Atsumu is the first one to hug you, followed closely by the other two, crushing you into a big group hug. The rest of the team, except for Kita and the first years that you didn’t know, come to join the hug

“Oh my god guys, let go” you chuckle

“Shut up and let us love ya, we missed ya lots Chibi” Atsumu squish you even harder

“I missed you too, but I still need to breath”

“Guys, let her go” says Kita making the team slowly move away while rubbing your hair, your three idiots best friends standing close by “I should scold you for not being in school, but I’ll let it go for now. I hope you have good grades and that you didn’t force your friends to miss school with you”

“My grades are good and no, I didn’t force them” you go to give him a quick hug

“Good, then I’m glad you’re here, we did miss you a lot”

The four of you go back to where your cats are, Atsumu and Osamu playing around with your brother while Suna talks to your mom. Kuroo and Kenma were sitting there watching the scene happen in front of them.

“Tetsu, Ken, come here” you say making them come to you, Kenma holding your pinky sneakily “cats, these are Tsumu, Samu and Suna; foxes, Kuroo and Kenma”

“Hi, Kuroo Tetsuro, Nekoma's captain”

“Kozume Kenma”

“Hello, hope ya have taken good care of our princess” Atsumu says with a challenging smile

“Of course we have, not like she needs to be taken care of though” Kuroo answers with his challenging smile

“Tsumu, stop being an ass, they’re chibi-chan friends too” Osamu hits his head “Sorry he’s an idiot, we saw the match against Itachiyama, ya were really good”

“Thank you, we did the best we could”

“Don’t you guys have a match in a few minutes? Don’t make me come here for nothing”

“Yeah, we should go and warm up, Kita-san will get mad we don’t go soon; we’ll see ya after winning chibi-chan” Osamu says kissing your temple

“Chibi, let’s talk later” adds Suna pulling you into a quick hug before planting a kiss in your forehead

“Let’s go and sit” you take your backpack to go to the seats in the middle of the rows with Kuroo on one side and Kenma on the other, the latter laying his head on your shoulder.

“All of them are super fit, no wonder they are intimidating” Kuroo says

“They only look scary and mean, they’re not”

“I felt they were judging me” Kenma moves a little closer

“Tsumu is just like an overprotective brother, give him time, he’s nice” you assure him. The boys enter the court with the band starting to play, making their presence be known.

“Their band really helps them set the mood”

The match starts with the boys saying hi to the opposite team, Inarizaki serving first with their best server, Atsumu. He does a jump serve, targeting the libero of the other team, who simply can’t dig it because of how strong it was.

“That’s a nasty serve, he’s strong” comments Kuroo

“He has better at control too”

And their dominance lasted for the whole match, winning the two sets. You went to congratulate them as soon as they finished, giving them all a hug and saying how good they were.

“Here pass them around. Hope you like them” you say as you take the containers with their onigiris out

“Chibi-chan, ya cooked for us? Ye’re the best” Atsumu kisses the top of your head before taking a bite “These are better than the ones Samu makes!”

“It’s literally my recipe, ya idiot!”

“No no, they’re definitely better” Suna passes his arm through your shoulder, making Osamu scoff jokingly. It felt like you were back in Inarizaki with their silliness, making you remember the promise you made to Osamu back then when you were confused about your feelings

“Ah yeah, Samu, can I talk to you? Now?”

“Yeah, sure what is it?”

“In private”

“Hey! Why can’t I know!” pouts Atsumu

“Because I promised to talk to him first”

“Can I know? I feel like I should” Suna looks at you suspicious

“I’ll tell both of you later, I promise. Let’s go Sam!” you push him away “You two try to sneak up on us and I swear that I’m not talking to you ever again”

“Ya’ll never do that, ya love us too much” Atsumu says

“True…Kita-san! Can you keep an eye on these two for me?”

“You got it Yn-chan, go ahead” says Kita while the two boys look at you annoyed. You enter the gym with Osamu, staying on the top near the seats where you were with the guys.

“What is it Chibi? I could tell that ya were quite tense when we met the cats''

“Eh…Does…”

“Spit it out”

“Does Rin still like me?” You look at the court pretending to focus on the Fukurodani’s match, feeling Osamu eyes on you

“I’m pretty sure he does, yes. I shouldn’t tell ya this, but I think ya need to know...After ya told us to not plan practice matches for that training camp of yers in Tokyo…he asked Tsumu, Tsumu out of all people, if he should confess to ya”

“Ahh…I see”

“Ya still don’t know if ya like him Chibi?” he passed his arm through your shoulders in a comforting manner, when you received a text from Kenma making you smile unconsciously.

“No, no, it’s not that…it’s just…I…I’m pretty sure I… fell in love with Kenma” you whisper

“Kenma? The blonde one?” he asks, a little shocked by your confession, making you nod “how come ya think that?”

“I don’t know how to explain it, but the moment I met him…there was something, I don’t know what it was. After that we got close really fast, even Kuroo was surprised by how fast he warmed up to me. Being with Kenma just feels…so right, you know? With Rin, while I love being with him too, it’s not the same feeling. I just can’t think of Rin other than my best friend, even before I met Kenma”

“I see, well, ya can’t force yourself to look at him in another way, chibi-chan. Especially if ya feel that way with Kenma, that definitely means something”

“Do you think Rin will want to continue being my friend? I don’t want to lose him” you say with tears threatening to fall from your eyes

“Of course he will, he was yer friend first, I’m sure he’s intelligent enough to understand that ya don’t love him in the way he wants; and if he really loves you, he’ll want you to be happy, but ya need to tell him soon. Don’t overthink stuff Chibi” he pulls you closer, putting your face into his chest

“I just want everyone to be happy”

“But yer happiness matters too, chibi-chan, don’t forget that”

After finally pouring out all your feelings, Osamu goes to look for Atsumu and Suna so you can go and eat lunch all together, since the match was already over when you stopped talking. You go back to the things to get your things and the boys.

“Chibi-chan, you missed Bokuto’s match” says Kuroo

“Oh, I kinda watch it, I was talking to Samu over there” you look at them with a much more relaxed smile

“About what?”

“It’s not your business, Kuro” Kenma adds looking at you like he understood what happened

“Feelings and such, he helped me out with some stuff. Let’s go and have lunch with them”

You all go to the lunch area and find the whole Inarizaki already sitting there. Osamu waves at you so you can see them, making Atsumu turn around looking at you with a pout

“I’m hurt Chibi! Not only ya don’t tell me stuff but not even my twin tells me about it. I thought ya loved me too!” he cries

“I love you too Tsumie” you go to hug him “you’re just terrible at keeping secrets”

“I’m not!”

“You are, last year you almost told chibi-chan about her birthday surprise” adds Suna with a smirk

“It was OUR birthday surprise, and yet everyone spoiled it to me”

“YA agree on organized it because it was her first birthday outside of her country, ya idiot”

“Shut up!”

“I’ll tell you both soon, okay? I need to sort it out first”

“Fine…just remember that I’m here for ya too” he says kissing your cheek

“I know, I know, and I love you. Now eat, you have a match after”

With that Atsumu feels happy enough to stop pouting so you can eat in a somewhat peaceful environment. Atsumu, Kuroo, Kita and Aran ended up talking a lot between them, mostly about volleyball and the teams; Kenma was silently eating by your side while you were talking to Suna and Osamu, you knew he was probably uncomfortable with all the people around him.

“Ken, you okay?” you whisper to him, making him look up at you

“Yeah, it’s just too many people. You know I’m not good with them”

“I do, we can go eat somewhere else if you want”

“Nah, I can deal with it for you, I know you want to spend time with your friends”

“Are you sure? We really can go-”

“Kenma-san is amazing at COD!” you hear your brother say to Suna, making the both of you look at him “whenever he comes to our house, we play together before he goes to Yn’s room. Kenma-san aren’t you in rank 80? And won tournaments and such?”

“Ah…yeah, I’m about to hit Prestige actually” he suddenly takes your hand under the table, squishing it as he talks

“Are you kidding? How? I’m barely rank 30, and that took me a while” asks Suna amazed

“Well, going to tournaments definitely helps a lot with XP, since you have to play a lot of rounds before winning”

“Dude, can you add me as a friend? I know that I’m probably not as good as you, but I need to see you play”

“Yeah sure, you can’t be worse than Yn” Kenma smirks when you paused your eating

“Excuse me? Why was that shade for? I can’t be THAT bad if you ask me to play with you all the time”

“True, you’re pretty decent for someone who just plays with me, definitely not rank 30 though. And I just think is fun watching you get nervous while playing” he says with his soft smile

“I…I can’t deny it and that annoys me”

“I still like playing with you” he smiles at you “have you...”

Kenma seems much more relaxed as he continues talking about games with Suna and your brother, explaining how tournaments work, making you smile. A few minutes later your phone rings with a message

[Samu❤️] “The dude is a whole ass gamer, has won tournaments, is on the highest rank possible…and yet still likes to play with ya” “dude’s whipped for ya”

[You] “Okay, Rude” “😳”

He looks at you smirking, making you blush before joining the conversation with Kenma, asking him if he could join him while playing. After a while you go back to the gym while the boys go to prepare for the other match. On the way there you see Bokuto looking to the other side, so you went to say hi

“Yeah?…CHIBI-CHAN!” he wraps you in his arms “I thought you wouldn’t come because of school, so I wasn’t looking for you”

“And not come to cheer my friends? Besides I promise you something” you wiggle your way out of his arms to reach his snacks “Here you go”

“CHIBI-CHAAN! You’re the best. Y/b/n!! My little fan! You came too” says going to hug your brother. While he says hi to the rest you turn to Akaashi

“Akaashi!”

“Bokuto-san is infecting you, hi Yn-chan, thank you for coming, we probably don’t have to worry too much about the emo modes”

“Of course ‘kaashi, here I made some for you too”

After having a little chat with them, you go back to the gym to watch the rest of the matches. Inarizaki ended up winning the last match of today, passing to the next round. Since you have a long trip back home, and they had to go back, you say goodbye to them as soon as they finish.

“Ken, thank you for coming, I know you don’t like going out”

“It’s fine, it was quite fun” he says while blocking his phone

“I told you the guys were nice”

“They were. Are you going tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I want to be there tomorrow since I can’t go on Sunday morning, and I should make it for the finals in the afternoon”

“Why can’t you go on Sunday morning?” he asks confused

“You guys have practice”

“I’m sure Kuroo and the coach won’t mind you not going, they know you wanted to see them”

“But I’m your manager now, and I want to help you too. You guys are also important to me”

“Ahh… okay” says blushing

The next day goes pretty similar, despite you telling Kenma that he didn’t have to go with you, he decided to go anyway, insisting that Kuroo told him that ‘it was a good way to get ready for the next Nationals’. After the guys win their last match of the day and pass to the next round, you decided to tell them the plan right before leaving

“Guys, I can’t come tomorrow morning, but I’ll be here in the afternoon”

“What?! Why? Chibi-chaaan” whines Atsumu

“I have practice tomorrow morning”

“Then don’t go! We’re your friends, ya should come and see us!”

“They are also my friends Tsumu, and they are my team too. I’m going to help them just like I did with you”

“Don’t be so selfish Tsumu” Suna interrupts while back hugging you “if she’s coming in the afternoon, we just need to win on the morning”

“Exactly, she can’t just abandon her team, she wouldn’t have done that to us. You can ask the rest of your team to come, Yn-chan” says Kita

“I’ll ask them, thank you Kita-san, thank you Rin. Tsumu, you know that I love you, but I also love them, I can’t not help them” you move to give him a hug, which he return tightly

“I know”

“I need to go now, see you tomorrow, ok?”

You woke up early to go to practice the next morning, tired after the many travels. Once you step outside, you see Kuroo looking at his phone while waiting for Kenma. Almost as he can sense your presence, he turns around to see you

“Why are you up so early?” He asks

“You guys practice early”

“I thought you were going to see your friends match?”

“You are also my friends, and I’m your manager, so I’m helping you too”

“Aww chibi-chan” he hugs you “so you’re going to the finals then?”

“Yep”

“Cool, I’m going too, and probably Kenma, he loves you too much, the rest I don’t know”

“He lov-”

“Should we go?” says Kenma arriving

“Yeah” you started to walk. On the way there you talk about the video game Kenma is playing, the loss at the prelims, Inarizaki’s finals at the Nationals, and the upcoming Spring High Tournament. Almost everyone was already there when you entered the gym.

“Eh? chibi-chan? We thought you wouldn't come today, we were setting things up” says Yaku

“Your faith in me is that low, huh? I see how it is” you joke

“That's not it, we know you're the best” he pats your head “Everyone is here already except for Lev”

“Didn’t we tell him that the first years should be earlier today? That dude” Kuroo shakes his head

“I will never understand why the youngers need to do everything”

“Me neither, but it’s Lev so I don't really care” says Kenma making you roll your eyes chuckling

You enter the gym so the guys could start to warm up, saying sorry to Inuoka and Shibayama for making them wake up so early to arrange the gym. The team were doing their warm ups when Lev arrived, 10 minutes late and with an orange cat in his hands.

“LEV! WE TOLD YOU TO ARRIVE EARLY!” screams Kuroo at the boy

“HOW CAN YOU BE SO IRRESPONSIBLE!!” screams Yaku too, yet Lev seems rather unaffected. You normally let Lev get away with things, but it was way too early to do that today. You stand behind the boys and clear your throat, making them all pay attention and move away.

“Lev you’re 10 minutes late, care to explain?” you ask crossing your arms

“Y-Yn-chan, are you angry?”

“It's 7 in the fucking morning, I wake up this early on a Sunday to come and help you practice only for you to show up late? You better thank God that it takes a lot to make me angry. Go warm up now” you say in a monotone voice while taking the cat out of his hands

“Y-yes!” Lev answers scared, doing a 90° degree bow before leaving “I'm sorry Yn-san!”

Once he leaves you take a closer look at the cat, who was nuzzling in your chest, before relaxing and instinctively petting it, making it purr slightly. A smile appears on your face while turning around to where the rest of the boys were

“I should be mad, but there’s a kitty! Look at it, is so cute” you put it on the floor so he can walk around

“How did you go from terrifying to cute in such a short time?” says Kuroo

“We better tell Lev to bring more stray cats if they make you this happy chibi-chan” Yaku adds after sighing, watching you play with the cat

“I would love that, I love cats. Now go to practice” They turn around to tell the team to start today’s practice, but the two third years noticed Kenma looking directly at you, eyes full of adoration with a little, but the most genuine smile they have ever seen.

The cat ends up leaving after the guys started practicing, scared of the loud sounds, while you were taking some notes of how the team was doing; in the middle of their practice, coach Nekomata says to you

“Since Lev it’s half Russian, it gives him a great height, physical ability and strength that would put him easily above any Japanese person, but he’s so inexperienced and it shows” Just in that moment Lev is able to receive Inuoka’s serve but gets so distracted by this accomplishment that he doesn’t get up in time to block Yamamoto’s spike. A little later you watch Lev fail to make a spike, making Kenma refuse to give him another set, saying that Lev will just miss again. After the practice match ends, the coach calls them.

“Good practice guys, good practice. By the way, next Friday we have a practice match against Kunihira Senior High”

“So soon? The training camp starts on Monday, and we don’t really plan practices that quickly” you ask confused

“Yeah, it was out of nowhere. Plus, I want Lev to take place in the match”

“Really?! Yes!” exclaims Lev while the rest are shock by the news

“However, Lev still has problems syncing to tosses; so Kenma, you and Lev are going to pair up to help Lev adjust”

“That just impossible” says Kenma, receiving an annoyed sound from Lev

“Yn-chan, wouldn’t be good that those two pair up?” ask you the coach

“I mean, yes, it would be good if Lev can spike properly, he can add more strength to the team, and that’s something that we need to get better at if we want to go to the Spring Interhigh”

“Then it’s settled, you two have to practice together. Continue” with that he walks away with the other coach. When you turn around to say something to Lev, you notice Kenma glaring slightly at you

“Ugh why? Why did you agree with it? Now I have to practice with him” Kenma comes closer to put his head in the crock of your neck

“Do you want to go to the Spring Interhigh and play against Shoyo or not? It’s good to try it out” you say playing with his hair, hearing him grunt as an answer “I know you can do it, you´re amazing, and I’ll be here for whatever you need”

“Thanks” he whispers

“Kenma-san! Let’s practice together!” Lev comes closer, making Kenma grunt again

“Yeah, you should practice together. Right Ken?”

“…Fine” says going back to practice with an annoyed face

“Chibi-chan” calls you Kuroo before heading back “You normally motivate Kenma by just being here, but I’m pretty sure you are the only one who can motivate him now”

“I know, go ahead”

During practice, Kenma takes note of Lev’s jumping point, height, and the size of his backswing, but despite being given a perfect toss, Lev keeps missing them. The practice reaches an end, so the guys go to take a shower and change. After that all of you go to the convenience store to buy some lunch, you walk next to Kenma and Lev to give them small feedback.

“Lev, you two need to sync up, you can’t go changing the way you play out of nowhere”

“I hate this” Kenma puts his head on your shoulder once again

“I’ll put all my effort into it, I promise Kenma-san, I have to be Nekoma’s Ace”

“Yeah, whatever. Let’s go Yn” he says taking you by the wrist and walking away from the team

“Ken, I’m going to Saitama to see the finals, not home”

“I know, I’m going with you, let’s go”

“But the others…”

You are on the train on the way to Saitama, just Kenma and you; and even though the rest of the team knew that you invited them, they rather give you time alone. He is playing something on his PSP while you lay on his shoulder with your eyes closed.

“Why are you so grumpy with Lev?”

“I just think he’s annoying…plus we barely have talked since he joined”

“Why don’t you think of Lev as a boss level? It would be boring if it was too easy, wouldn’t it?”

“Well…yeah”

“I’ll do my best to keep Lev in check, the twins were a good practice for that, but promise me to put effort on this” you say looking at him now,

“Fine, I promise…just because you ask me though”

“Thanks” you whisper before moving just enough to give him a kiss on the cheek.

You arrived at the gym with just enough time for you to talk to them, letting them know all you knew about Sakusa spins and Itachiyama's defense. You go to sit to watch the match, you feel unnaturally nervous. The first set goes to Inarizaki, however the rest of the sets went to Itachiyama, marking them as the winners of this Interhigh. Despite knowing that it could happen, your eyes still get a little bit watery knowing that the boys are probably dissatisfied and disappointed.

“Are you okay?” asks Kenma by your side with worried eyes

“Yeah, it’s just sad seeing them being so close to win” he nods understanding

After the ceremony, you immediately go out to find them with Kenma right behind you, which lead into him staying behind once you spot them and went to them

“Chibi-chan” says Atsumu with a little pout, while Osamu and Suna look disappointed “We didn't won, sorry”

“Why are you saying sorry? You did your best, didn't you?”

“Of course”

“Then that's enough, I'm still super proud of all of you. Come here idiots, I love you” you open your arms, making them come immediately for a big hug

“Kita-san, Aran-san, Omimi-san, am I seeing you for the Spring Interhigh?” you ask going to them to also give them a hug

“Of course you are” Aran answers

“We’re not leaving just yet” says Kita. After you say bye to the rest of the team, you went back to the twins and Suna

“We will see each other again on the training camp, it’s not that far away” you say laying on Osamus’s chest

“At least that's something good, we can actually spend time together without a whole tournament in between” Osamu hugs you tightly before letting you go

“Thank you for coming chibi-chan” Suna pulls you to give you a back hug while kissing the top of your head

“And cooking for us, I swear they were better than Samu’s” says Atsumu

“I get it, chibi-chan made them, but she literally used MY recipes”

“Samu accept it, I'm just better than you” you joke. You continue talking for a few minutes before you look at where Kenma is, who is in his phone passing time.

“I gotta go now, I dragged Kenma enough this weekend” you say

“See ya soon chibi-chan, I’ll miss ya” Atsumu hugs you tight, kissing your temple one more time

“See ya Chibi” Osamu hugs you tightly “yer gamer boy is looking over here, I better receive good news about ya two”

“Oh god, why did I tell you?”

“See ya chibi. Remember, follow yer heart” Osamu kisses your temple before walking away with Atsumu, leaving you alone with Suna

“Chibi-chan, I really missed walking you home” he says pulling you to his chest

“Yeah, it was fun, I missed being with my best friends” you unintentionally put emphasis on the best friend part, making him tense up for a second

“Yeah, I can't wait for the training camp, it will be fun to be with you again”

“It’s going to be fun, I miss you. I need to go now” before you could fully get away he grabs your face and leans to put his forehead against yours, eyes moving to your lips

“If you don’t leave now, I’ll drag you with me back to Inarizaki and make sure to not let you leave” he jokes, but you could see a small sadness in his eyes when they shift behind you

“I miss you a lot, and while you’ll always be my favorite friends, I can’t leave them either, I’ll miss them too”

“I know, I can tell that you found amazing people that you love. I…I love you” he kisses your forehead before leaving. You sigh before turning around and going to where Kenma is sitting, you sit beside him to wait for him to finish whatever he’s doing, but he closes the game immediately to look at you

“Can we go home now?” he asks playing with your hand, making you smile

“Yeah, we can”

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jeonqkooks · 6 months

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I seriously don't get it. Like, you can be a fan of an actor or a director and it doesn't mean you automatically love every single movie they've ever been in or made. You can talk normally with other fans about what you loved and what you didn't. And *gasp* you might have different opinions because taste is subjective! And just because it's not your type of movie doesn't mean you won't give it a chance or not be excited about the next one.

Why is the attitude towards BTS so different? Hell, sometimes they don't even love the work they put out or change their minds on it as their tastes evolve. You can support and love JK and wish for his happiness and success without vibing with every single thing he does. And it's ok to talk to each other about it without it being classified as a personal attack on the artist. The whole point of art is to provoke thought and discussion!

i think the reason why the attitude is different toward bts is bc kpop fandoms (and maybe this fandom especially) are toxic as hell 😭 the kpop fandom culture sucks and i think we can all agree on this. literally anything less than absolute worship is considered “hate” and (as you said) “a personal attack on the artist”, which i think is stupid as hell because ??? make it make sense. 😑

yeah i don’t know why it’s such a “controversial” thing to have an opinion that’s different than the majority of the fandom, an opinion that doesn’t include always screaming about how much you love bts and the thing they’re doing. i say bts but honestly i only ever see this kind of stuff happening with jk. 95% of the discourse i come across is jk discourse.

i am literally a jk stan. we all know that. if i love a thing he does, i’ll proudly say it. i can yell about how much i love Stay Alive all day long. you guys KNOW how much this blog used to revolve around jk. clearly i am not “out to get him” and i am not lurking in the shadows with my little rat hands waiting for him to release new content just so i can dunk on him. 😑

as a fan and a literal consumer of his music, i am allowed to have certain expectations. he doesn’t seem to be going down the direction that i would’ve liked, and that’s perfectly fine. you do you, boo 😗 if it’s not my taste, then it’s not my taste. but i’m still allowed to have my opinions on this and i’m still allowed to express them.

expressing my disappointment does not mean that i hate him or i don’t support him anymore. it’s as simple as that, but apparently even that is still a very hard pill for a lot of people to swallow. “but they see everything!” okay lol i can guarantee you (not you anon, just people in general) that bts are not creeping on my tumblr blog and taking notes of every single thing that i’m saying about them. even if they are, i can still guarantee you that they do not care lol. me not listening to a song/album literally will not affect their streams at all. it will not affect their revenue in any way. jk is still a multi millionaire whether or not i listen to or buy jjk1. he does not give a shit about me because he does not know i exist lol.

with that said, a big reason why i am PISSED is because of the fans. jk doesn’t care about me, do you think he’s crying in his room because i said i didn’t like a song? do you think that he - a 26-year-old grown ass adult and global superstar with 10 years of experience under his belt - cannot handle criticism? do you think he’s a baby in an adult man’s body or something that you feel like you personally have to defend him against any and all criticism? that you have a duty to make sure that he doesn’t hear anything less than positive that people have to say about him?

if your answer is yes, then, well, idk what else to say to you lol.

but if your answer is no, and you still come after people for having different opinions, then lol sorry i think you’re weird 🤷‍♀️ why can i only speak my mind when it’s something along the lines of “OH MY GOD I LOVE IT SO MUCH. ALBUM OF THE CENTURY”? when i say something as simple as “i’m a little disappointed by this. this isn’t something i really vibe with,” i’m considered a hater, an anti, and told to shut the fuck up? why can i only say what i really think when it aligns with what the majority of the fandom is thinking?

i am not attacking jk by not being into his music. i am not attacking jk stans by having a different opinion than they do. i am literally just being honest about what i think, my opinions which only affect me. what is so hard to understand about that lol

another point that i would like to touch on is when people say things like “but why can’t you let people enjoy it?” erhm. i’m not going into people’s inboxes and screaming in people’s faces “I DON’T LIKE IT, SO WHY DO YOU? YOU SHOULDN’T LIKE IT EITHER!” 😑 if my not liking the music ruins your fun, if it genuinely hurts and upsets you, then maybe you should take a step back from all of this and reevaluate. if you are hurt by an online stranger having a different opinion than you about something as simple as MUSIC (which is subjective to everyone’s personal taste) made by someone you will never know, then i don’t think the internet is for you, honestly.

#this was longer than i intended lol #but thank you anon for giving me a chance to say this #hope you have a good day/night 🫶#anon #answered

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midnighttheroies · 2 years

Text

Helluva Boss Theory “Stolas, Stella, and Octavia Relationship”

before you read this blog, their will be mentions of abuse, and a very light mention of SA, so please keep that in mind before reading this

i wanted to dive into the relationship between the goetia’s, and how their relationship is now, and it will progress in the later seasons to come

What is their relationship dynamic now?

in childhood, octavia seemed to be very close with her dad, and so much her mom, yes she did call for her when she had a nightmare, but if you look at the background, you can see a drawing made by her, that’s is supposed to be her and her dad, and we see no other mention of stella at all

now in current time, she still seems to be more of a daddies girl, but their is a bit of strain between them due to stolas cheating

(even though it’s rightfully deserved)

and stella being a fucking bitch about it, but it looks like stolas is the one to always put octavia first, to listen to her, and to actually spend his time with her, even if he get’s distracted, he always makes it up to her, and not to mention is never-ending support, such as having interest like stylish occult, but he loves her regardless of who she is, and will forever love her

stella on the other hand, has yet to do and shown to do anything of these things, i am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt since the show just started season 2, but i think it’s worth mentioning that even when octavia is near, she doesn’t stop screaming and yelling at stolas, and then goes about her day, not once does she ever ask about octavia or even properly acknowledge her, in season 2 ep 1, stella referres to her as this “i’m glad one egg fell out of me”, she called her own daughter an egg while referring to how terrible stolas is in bed,

(which btw, i would classify that was SA, nothing about that is consent at all),

she calls her own daughter an egg, like she’s property to her, where as stolas refers to her as “girl”, like octavia is a person, not an object and in season 2 ep 2, when stolas and stella are arguing, and stella ask’s stolas if he’s turning Via against her, which is btw a very CLASSIC thing for a narcissistic mother to say, that’s all she ask’s when referring to via, not to ask if she’s okay, just that, basically, if whatever concerns her daughter ends up negativity effecting her, then she suddenly cares about her daughters existence

how will their dynamic change as the season progress

i think for stolas and octavia, their’s definitely going to be a-lot of issues that are gonna spring up that i think well hinder their relationship a bit, octavia doesn’t know her mother is abusive and that her happy family was just a facade stolas made up so she could have a normal life, but due to this, she doesn’t understand why her father cheated and does seem to hold some resentment towards him because she is now lead to believe that all the fighting and dysfunctional dynamic between her parents is due to the cheating, and while the affair did bring light to their unhappy arranged marriage, it wasn’t the cheating that ruined marriage, it was stella

i 100% believe that stella will try to manipulate octavia into resenting her dad, cause she knows how much octavia means to stolas and she likes to torment him for the hell of it, i also think she will very slowly start to become abusive towards octavia as well, especially when their both alone, but she’s going to be very smart on how she does it cause she is aware that stolas is more powerful then she is and would go fucking insane if anyone where to even touch his daughter

i can see octavia either slowly start to fall or it, but then eventually will see past through the manipulation and abuse, or completely have it clicked into her head what was happening behind their arranged marriage,

i defiantly do think when octavia finally learns the truth, she will feel very guilty and probably fall into a deep self-loathing state, because in her mind, it would translate to “my dad went through abuse all because of me, he had to pretend to be happy and let himself get abused because of me, my existence caused him pain”, and i defiantly think she’ll feel even more guilty cause this entire time, she was blaming her dad for how their family became, saying things like

“i guess wanna go home, but home doesn’t even feel like home anymore, you ruined it” and “why does he hate her more then she loves me”

which we all know is not true all, he literally went through so much abuse from his shitty wife just to give octavia the childhood he never had, he loves her more then he hates stella, but octavia doesn’t know that yet

but luckily, stolas will be their to reasure her that he loves her and that her existence was the only thing that got him through that horrible time in his life, because it’s true, octavia was his only light during the abuse he had to endure, and i think that would also make via like blitz a little more, cause it’s no longer “my dad cheated on my mom with some random guy” it’s gonna be more “my dad found love in someone else and can actually be happy with him and does’t have to be with that abusive bitch anymore”

(though tbh, i think octavia would hate blitz for originally using her dad for the book, but overtime, will grow to like him, and loona can defiantly be a great support system for her, since she seems to have a good understanding on how abusive some parents can be, since she seemed to understand the situation that via is in)

Isn’t it too early to call something out like this?

i’m gonna be honest, maybe it is, considering we haven’t seen how stella and octavia interact with each other, but considering how she is with stolas, and how much of a abusive narcissistic bitch she is, it wouldn’t surprise me if she only cared about octavia when it affected her too

#octavia #stella goetia #octavia goetia #stella #stolas #stolas goetia #helluva boss #helluvabos #helluvabosstheories #helluvabossseason2 #helluva boss season 2 #mentions of abuse #mentions of SA

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acourtofthought · 1 year

Note

"And again, back to my original point, Feyre, for whatever reason, does not feel she was sexually assaulted by Rhysand."

again, feyre is not a real person. She doesn't have feelings of her own. The ONLY reason she doesn't feel like Rhys SA her is because it made it easier for sjm to bring them together, because she's obsessed with Rhysand. I didn't bring up tamlin in my last ask because he too is abusive and I don't think that Feyre should have ended up with him either. But people are allowed to criticize harmful narratives in books they have read without being told to just ignore it and not pointing out the problemstic elements just because you happen to like it.

Saying that having a SA survivor (because forcing someone to give you lap dances naked IS sexual assault, even if sjm wrote Feyre not minding it) end up with their abuser is sexist and harmful isn't any different that saying that Nehemiah's death in ToG had racist undertones. You can't just brush those things under the rug.

You are trying to turn a fictional work of art into a compass for real life human morals.

Sorry but that's not a valid argument and completely wrong. Humans should never base their real world actions and morals off something they read that's sold under Fiction in the book store.

In Outlander, Claire ended up with one of her kidnappers. Do you feel that series should be reprimanded?

Or for the fiftieth time, are we all capable of understanding that books don't follow the same rules as the real world?

Yes Feyre doesn't have "real" emotions but I'm a real person who has had certain experiences that I don't personally classify as SA though you may. And personally, I don't necessarily feel what happened UTM was SA to Feyre because of the circumstances surrounding it, how the author intended that scene to go. Rhys wasn't in a club trying to trick females for his own benefit because he enjoyed it. He was acting in a way that was part of his plan to save everyone in Prythian.

Yes, in the real world drugging a female and forcing her to dance would be SA. But these books are not the real world. Because in the real world you don't have a Fae female tricking a group of High Lords into giving up their powers and them being willing to do anything to save an entire land.

It's up to an individual to decide their real life experience but it's not necessary for a reader to expect an author to write her story with a what's acceptable in real life moral compass.

I've used this scenario before but undercover officers will sometimes assault innocent people to get into a gang. Is that "OK?" No. But do you still feel the officer is the good guy because of what's he's trying to accomplish by taking down the gang leader by infiltrating the gang? Yes. The officers actions while undercover are not his normal actions. They are only being done to eventually be in a position to save many others. That's as close to the real world and what Rhys did as I can get because Rhys and no one like Rhys and the circumstances Rhys found himself which resulted in what happened UTM will ever exist.

#pro rhysand #pro feyre #pro feysand

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fardell24b · 1 year

Text

The Engineer and the Time Lady - Nina, Octavius and Investigations

Nina, Octavius and Investigations

Nina thought more about the rescue. There was certainly more to it than that. She then checked the console and saw that the TARDIS didn’t see anything unusual in that data. ‘I’ll look over it this evening,’ she thought.

She went straight to the Bugle.

Betty showed Nina the room where the archives were stored. “That is a lot,” Nina said, seeing that there was only a small amount of walking space in that room.

“Yes,” Betty said. “The Bugle was founded early in the last century, and Jameson bought it nineteen years ago. He wants you to build the archive in reverse.”

“So, literally backwards?”

“Yes.”

“I can do that.”

“Good,” Betty said in an encouraging tone.

She soon, got to work. Some of the information was interesting.

On Baffin, Aialah started her duty shift. As she entered the Bridge, she could see that Alpha was reading something from a PADD whilst sitting in the Command Chair and Eta was looking at something on Science Station 1. She also saw the Pilot make minor course correction. She looked at Earth’s Moon on the viewscreen. 'Quite interesting that it's tidally locked,' she thought, as those of her home weren't, although their rotations were in resonance with their orbits. ‘Maybe because it’s so big relative to the planet?’ she considered.

Alpha put the PADD down. “Good morning,” she said.

“Not sure why we have synchronized the shipboard time to American Eastern Standard Time,” she groused. Earth rotated a couple hours a day slower than her world.

“Given that Nina's there,” Alpha said.

“Right,” Aialah said. She went over to Eta. “You have found any further information?”

“Not much. It seems to have been classified by the National Security Agency,” Eta answered as Aialah sat at the other Science station.

“I see.”

“Uh!”

“Uh?” Aialah asked.

“It seems an organisation called the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division is also involved. But I can’t find much on them either. Just the fact of their existence. Whatever data they have, it must be stored offline.”

“I’ll help you find out.”

“Thanks.”

Somewhere in a nondescript office in the District of Columbia, a phone rang. “Coulson here,” the man said.

“The hack is continuing. The Agency may be compromised,” the woman on the other end said.

“Have you traced the origin yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Keep me informed.”

“I shall.”

“Uh oh!” Eta said.

“What?” Alpha asked.

“SHIELD is tracing our crack,” Eta said.

“SHIELD?” Aialah asked.

“That's what the acronym spells in Federation Standard, or as it's usually known on Earth, English,” Alpha answered.

“Oh, right,” Aialah said. “I guess I need to know more of that language.”

“It would probably be a good idea,” Eta said.

“But the trace back?” Alpha asked.

“It's still within the terrestial network,” Eta said.

“Still, I'll help,” Alpha decided.

In Engineering, Gamma checked over the Warp Core. It was working perfectly, without any problems. All the systems were working fine. She was tempted to deactivate herself again, but Alpha had decided that at least one Hologram would be on duty in Engineering at all times. She didn't fault her reasoning. She walked over to a panel and brought up the scans from Octavius' experiment again. There were many reasons why it had gone awry. “OK, replay it in real time.”

She watched as the experiment unfolded, and listened to the commentary Nina had recorded. 'Something...' she thought as the she watched the magnetic field increase. Maybe it was the fact that Octavius was using Tritium? Or was there something with the Tritium. 'OK, did Nina scan the Tritium container specifically? She checked, and saw that she didn't. 'It is a mystery then,' she thought. Or were there other such containers? “Gamma to Alpha.”

Alpha listened to Gamma's proposal. It seemed like a good idea. “We'll use the probes to scan the planet for more concentrated Tritium.”

“There's certainly something there,” Gamma said again.

“We're doing it now.”

“SHEILD is giving us the runaround,” Aialah said a while later.

“In that case, I think we should pause it, and check with Nina later to see if the TARDIS had gained the information yesterday,” Alpha decided.

“Sure,” Aialah said.

“We'll look at historical databases instead,” Eta decided.

“For now,” Aialah said.

During her lunch break, Nina saw a commotion in a nearby Bank. Something was happening. She took a moment to adopt the persona she had used the previous night, taking off her dress, showing the Starfleet uniform underneath. She then loosened her hair and put on her mask before taking out the quarterstaff. She took a moment to calm herself, then ran around a corner and entered the bank. She saw that Spider-Man was already on the scene and Octavius was throwing money bags at him.

How to stop Octavius? She could wonder why he was robbing a bank later. She could see Spider-Man having some sort of problem before Octavius knocked him down. “Octavius!” she called. He ignored her as he focused on Spider-Man and began squeezing his head with two of the actuators. She ran up as the superhero produced two webs and slammed two tables against his opponent.

There was a brief scuffle before Octavius was knocked into the street.

'Maybe Spider-Man doesn't really need help,' she thought as the two continued to fight. But then Octavius grabbed an old lady.

Nina ran after Octavius and his hostage. “Octavius!”

“I said don't follow me!” Octavius said as he looked up a nearby building.

“I'm not a cop,” Nina said, but Octavius then began climbing up the building. “OK...” She tapped her combadge. “Nina to Baffin. Octavius tried to rob a bank and is now escaping with a hostage. He's climbing a building with her.”

Aialah brought up the scan of the situation as a response to Nina’s request. Alpha took a closer look at it. “Certainly, but Spider-Man is on the scene. He may see,” she said. But there was another issue. “Also, Baffin is too far away. Transporter range is only 45000 km.”

“I don't think that would be a violation of General Order One. And couldn't the probes be used as relays?”

“They don't work that way. Adding a teleporting superhero where one doesn't already exist might be,” Alpha said. Her and Aialah’s researches had proven that Spider-Man was unique.

“Don't the shuttles have transporters and be controlled remotely?”

“That can work. Their functions can be controlled from the Bridge,” Alpha said. She turned to Aialah. “Start up the Calgary.”

“Aye, Alpha,” Aialah said.

She then turned to the Pilot. “Program her to take up a geosynchronous orbit above the 74 degrees west longitude.”

“Aye.”

“Shuttle is ready for launch,” Aialah reported.

“Launch!”

Nina watched as Octavius continued to climb the building. “I’m sure ‘Spidey’ will be here soon,’ she thought.

“Shuttle is in position,” Alpha reported.

“Energize!”

Nina materialised at the top of the building. She looked down. She saw that Octavius was still quite low down, but she didn't see Spider-Man. “OK, beam me to a floor which is a few higher than Octavius' position.”

“Sure.”

She materialised in an office, startling the various workers.

“Sorry!” she said, as she noticed the vibrations caused by Octavius' actuators piercing brickwork. “He's close!” she said. “Evacuate!” she said.

Then Octavius came by the window. She tapped the commbadge. “Up another three levels.”

“Acknowledged.”

She materialised and ran to the nearest window, which she smashed by extending the staff against it. Octavius had stopped a level above.

“Hand her over!” Spider-Man said.

“Of course,” Octavius said as Nina clambered out the window, her hearts beating fast.

“Easy now!” Spider-Man said as he reached for the hostage.

'No No No!' Nina thought as her panic started rising. Octavius then let the hostage go; letting her fall towards the ground!

“Baffin!” Nina started before Spider-Man shot a web line, catching the falling woman. He flung her upwards. Octavius then started laying into Spider-Man.

'His focus is on him,' Nina thought quickly. There was definitely something she could do.

“Spider-Man's on the scene,” Aialah reported as Nina climbed out the window, dodging falling masonry.

Spider-Man knocked Octavius aside and began climbing.

Nina looked at Octavius, who began to climb up after him. “No!” she cried out, only to have an actuator knock her off the building! “Baffin, emergency beam up!” She panicked for a second or two, before she felt a transporter beam.

She materialised aboard the Calgary.

“Report,”Alpha ordered.

“I'm fine. Octavius knocked me off the building,” Nina reported.

“Are you sure you want to do what you're doing?” Alpha asked with concern.

“Yes!” Nina said, although she wasn't entirely sure. “Beam me back.”

“Wait a moment, Spider-Man and Octavius have fallen off the building.”

“Beam me close to the hostage.”

“Energizing!”

Nina materialised and then smashed the window, startling the older lady. “It's OK,” she said holding her hand out. The lady grabbed onto the offered hand. Nina then helped the lady through the window. But not quickly enough.

“I see Spider-Man has a new side kick,” Octavius said as he smashed his way through after them.

“It's a coincidence,” Nina said as she stood in front of the lady. “We're not working together.”

“Hand her over!” Octavius said.

“No!” Nina said. She could see Spider-Man behind the new villain.

“I know you're there,” Octavius said. Rather quickly he used two actuators to grab both Nina and the older lady!

Spider-Man saw Octavius emerge from the room with both Aunt May and a disguised young lady. “Let them go!” he said.

“No! You've stuck your webs in my business for the last time! You are going to have either of these women's death on your conscience!”

“Shame on you!” he heard Aunt May whisper.

Whatever happened, he knew he would try to rescue Aunt May first. “Sorry,” he whispered to the younger lady. At least he didn't have to choose between Aunt May and MJ. Octavius then flung both of them in opposite directions. He then moved after Aunt May.

Nina saw Spider-Man go after the older woman. 'Of course,' she thought. She waited another second before calling for yet another emergency transport.

Peter sighed a sigh of relief as he caught Aunt May. But there was still time to catch the younger lady. He looked back and saw a strange light, but no sign of her. That was something to think about but first he had to get his aunt on the ground.

“We sure showed him,” Spider-Man said once they were on the ground.

“What do you mean 'we'?' May said. She didn't do anything.

“Oh.”

“And I know you weren't able to save the other woman. Sometimes people have to choose.”

“I know,” Spider-Man said quietly. He then shot a web and swung away.

Nina breathed deeply after materialising on the Calgary. The events were catching up to her. She thought of going back to the TARDIS and the Zero Room, but she also needed to go back to the Bugle.. “OK, beam me back to the Bank.”

“Are you sure?” Alpha asked.

“I have to get back to the Bugle. It's near there,” Nina responded.

“OK,” Alpha said.

Nina materialised and quicky found the dress she had taken off. She then rushed back to the Bugle offices. “Miss Lumber!” It was Jameson. “I'd like you to meet someone.”

“Who?” Nina asked as she entered Jameson's office.

“This is Peter Parker.”

'Good,' Nina thought. “Nice to meet you,” she said to the younger man. She shook his offered hand.

“Parker takes photos of that wall crawling menace,” Jameson explained.

Parker gave a look of annoyance. “I keep saying.”

“I know that, Parker. I understand you have photos of that incident with Doctor Octopus.”

“Doctor Octopus?” Peter asked incredulously.

“Professor Octavius. I came up with the nickname earlier today!” Jameson explained.

“Doesn't seem respectful,” Nina commented.

“Did I ask your opinion?” Jameson asked.

“I have the photos,” Peter interjected.

“Good! It will make a great first page tomorrow. Doctor Octopus and Spider-Man rob bank and take hostages!”

“That's not what I heard,” Nina said.

“Did I ask your opinion? Get back to work.”

“Yes, sir.”

Peter watched Nina as she left. He turned back to Jameson. “He was trying to rescue the hostages Octavius took,” he argued.

“I don't pay you to argue. I pay you to take pictures.”

“Yes, sir.”

Back on Baffin, Alpha finished looking over the scans of the battle with Octavius after he had left the bank. 'Crewman Nina is being reckless,' she thought. “Maybe if she had a parachute?”

“What?” Aialah asked.

“What is Nina thinking?”

“I'm thinking that she is trying to help, like when she rescued me.”

“That's certainly something to think about,” Alpha considered.

As Nina scanned in another page she saw Peter come over.””Hi, Nina,” he said.

“Hi Peter,” she said as response.

“That was a good comment there,” he said.

“Which comment?” she asked, although she had some idea.

“That the 'Doctor Octopus' moniker isn't a respectful one for Professor Octavius.”

Nina nodded as she grabbed another article. “I see you try to stand up for Spider-Man.”

“He does good for the city,” Peter said in a tone that suggested that he wasn't really sure.

“I've looked at the records since I have arrived,” she said.

“You're not from New York?”

“No, I'm from out west,” Nina answered. She had to give some answer.

“Oh.”

“Back to Spider-Man.”

“As I said, he does do good for the city,” Peter said, just as unsure as before.

“You sound unsure.”

“He's said that he's having trouble with his powers.”

“What kind of trouble?” Nina asked.

“He couldn't explain it,” Peter said quietly.

Nina could tell he didn't really want to tell her that.

“I'll let you get back to work.”

As Peter left, Nina wasn't sure what to make of what he had divulged.

“More chatter in the White House,” Aialah said. “The Director of SHEILD is meeting the President.”

“He certainly knows something,” Alpha surmised.

“It would be risky to evesdrop,” Zeta said.

“Could we beam a tricorder down from the Calgary?” Aialah asked.

“No, it could be discovered rather easily,” Alpha said. “A definite violation of the Prime Directive would ensue.”

“It has replicators, right?” Aialah asked. “We could disguise one?”

“I'm not sure that would work,” Alpha considered. “And it will take a while to design the disguised tricorder. Probably long enough that the meeting would be over first.”

Aialah nodded.

Having been stimied with that; Alpha decided to take a different track. To look over the internet information for strange events.

Upon leaving the Bugle that afternoon Nina filled Alpha in on what Peter had divulged.

“So, you think something is happening with Spider-Man?” Alpha asked.

“It certainly seems like it,” Nina answered. “I didn't want to pry too much, but I'll keep looking for him.”

“According to our investigations here, it seems that there is more to this Earth than it appears,” Alpha said.

“Oh?”

“There is much in the data from the internet,” Alpha said.

“Of course.”

“We're still going through it. But there seems to be rumors of magic within New York City at a place called the Santum Sanctorum. The location references are contradictory, but it most often refers to a place in Greenwich Village.”

“I'll keep an eye out for it.”

Alpha considered what Nina had divulged. 'He could be struggling with something to do with his powers,' he thought. 'Or maybe it's his life balance.' She wasn't sure. She checked the sensor data from the probes. There wasn't any activity at Cape Canveral or Baikonur that hadn't been planned. Neither the United States nor Russia suspected that Earth was being observed from space. 'Good,' she thought. Despite the references they had found to the Sanctum Sanctorum earlier, they hadn't detected anything unusual that would be indicative of magic. She remembered that Baffin had visited various Earths where some kind of magic existed during their journey. She decided to look over those encounters. 'Wait!' she thought. 'Maybe Aialah would have a different perspective.' There wasn't magic in her world, but it's variety of speculative fiction seemed to be as rich as that of Earth.

Aialah took in what Alpha had divulged. That the Baffin crew had encountered worlds where there was magic. Most of them were version of Earth of course. “I'll have a look at the list,” she said to Alpha.

“Sure.”

“Let's see,” Aialah said.

Undead in Romania

The Nordic Ice Queen

The British Hidden Society

Hidden Places in Japan

Miraculous Family in the Colombian Highlands

“Undead?” Aialah asked with a shudder. “Or maybe the Nordic Ice Queen instead? Or the British Hidden Society?”

“Your choice,” Alpha said.

“Of course. Computer, compare how long Baffin spent at each version of Earth listed.”

Undead in Romania: Eight Months, three days.

The Nordic Ice Queen: Three months, four days.

The British Hidden Society: Two Years, six months, ten days.

Hidden Places in Japan: Five Months, seven days

Miraculous Family in the Colombian Highlands: Four months, two days

Aialah wasn't sure which one to start with. “The Nordic Ice Queen is the shortest and the British Hidden Society is the longest.”

“You don't have to go through all of it at once,” Alpha said, seeing that Aialah was indecisive.

“Of course not,” Aialah said. “I'll start with the Nordic Ice Queen.”

#betty brant #doctor who #fanfic #j. jonah jameson #may parker #otto octavius #peter parker #phil coulson #spider-man #spider-man 2 #star trek

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scriptorsecular · 6 months

Text

10:40 AM

***

Rage, sky-splitting, broiling yet cold,

Drives pharisees unto battle;

And pious pledges of harvest untold

Fuels lying stormbound tattle.

Waster in queen's clothing

In gilt-cage theater seeks a thrill

Makes injustice out of loathing

Discarding boys and men to kill.

Her inner eyes age-blight;

Microcosms rot to entropy.

Her twin snakes uglying sight;

Snapped tree of life's canopy.

Far-flung province, uncultured garden,

Queen expects little children unharden'd;

Then whom damn she for unsown land

Save her ruler's absent hand?

Her covetous court's fear-whispers its chance;

For life the queen's ear; for them a wife's dance.

"A tyrant, yes, I loathe him so;

His hold o'er me it long must go."

For she so loved the world,

She sent down her comely Sun-Thane;

Unto trials of Hell Lord she hurled,

Vow of silence thus swore mundane.

Youthful night's flirting laughter,

Kneeling after rich wine;

Then holy days mourning after,

Kneeling before rich shrine.

She of youth self squander'd

Fingers false sins and fools;

Those twin souls true wander

Amongst world's cesspools.

Years past gaze long vacant thrones,

Cold wardrobe of unpicked bones,

Near him mind-set in stone,

Meager passion and parting moan.

Reconnaissance from afar;

Plotting never over.

Without him, at war;

Within her, another

Lover demons split her mind.

Her father strikes her blind.

What's kind to the unkind?

the years to him are 7hey s0 kind

bind

aligned

by mankind

defined

play my games be my main

consume new/you to my womb_tally no not yet

Everything's a sign A philosopher-king yes I love him so none must know why must he go Everything's a sign

We're Jewel-Snakes it's in our veins

That explains these mental labor pains

Pruny and stings cradle them wins

Her web of she spins and she spins in sin

winding

i prithee re-turn hourglass unwind mote white sa ds of mine

im resigned

left behind

confined

assigned

DhYEUSPhATR WHY

the years to me are so unkind

What's unkind to the kind?

Motherhood purblind bears a life landmined.

Her demons split her mind.

"Milord has gone I know not where

Surely keeps divers queen;

None ever must be made aware

Upon whose frames I've been."

She shall deliver by Sklaven-cause;

Noble lies and never truths expose.

For want of him, she be lost;

To see him 'tis only way she knows.

Feud becomes unto him her bond;

Erring-boys malreport his mood.

Withdrawal'th vapid pride abscond;

Kingdom kingless proclaims her good.

Yet bold chanced secret meetings for

Lord's stored stock and seed sans indulgence plenary;

Vanities, foot ex door, (there's the door)

Shot marching-plans for choice granary.

The queen knocked on the soldier's door

At some year she could take no more

To bribe herself to become his pawn

Homecome eve of twain fields foregone.

He said, "Why do you fear?

Have you still no faith? Fifth year

Perfidying self; should you seek

Salvation's shame, your Lord bid you speak."

Unrepentant, vain, even in defeat,

To homeless land tail-tucked retreat.

For woman by glib

Cleav'd of Reason's leave

As from Adam's rib

By the stray of Eve.

He has changed but seems the same;

She seems changed but wreaks to maim;

And rather play a stupid game

Than love make true and die of shame.

Speak in tongues and sweet-talk creed;

Meets her wants, whom starve her need;

Feed to lions of paper to save pure face

Martyr who makes another take her place...

He spies a queendom corrupt fraught;

He strikes whilst pig-irons hot:

He sends a dove to those aflood;

He receives ravens soaked in blood.

Her democracy sows chaos, and for what?

Cities put down, rabid dogs in rut.

To spare his hand is to spoil the harvest;

To stay his tongue is for justice hardest.

"Cancel now my marshall-plan

For this loathful ungoverned land

They've lost the plot we'll classify

Lest T&R she mollify."

Suitor-fed Penelope unto calumny,

Death to the Sapphic tragicomedy;

Anima's racket by mental mobsters,

Yin insurgent live by shamming gospels;

Breakaway province his empire prospers;

Easier, richer, fallow; there be others.

Her vow of silence out of petty pride

His renunciation earns with stoic snide.

The Damned Lord, free of wanton love,

Transcendent scarlet heaven above.

She belongs to the world's men;

In Hell she shan't him see again.

War is won, worth little gain;

Buried lives, a peace in pain.

***

11:25 AM

#What starts in Rage ends in Pain.

0 notes

electricapp411 · 2 years

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thewhizzyhead · 3 years

Text

a non-filipino's guide to trese: ep 1

So some of my mutuals decided to check out Trese aka the Netflix adaptation of the Filipino horror comic book series that I keep rambling about here and then since well um most of my mutuals aren’t from the Philippines fshfs I decided to make a long-ass post that basically consists of me rambling about the cultural context present in Trese with fun little tidbits about Filipino folklore. I’m not an expert on Filipino mythology so um I just typed out the stuff that I know and the stuff that I looked up on Wikipedia so um take this with a grain of salt aaaaa I’ll save the extensive google scholar research ramble on folklore present in Trese for another day.

I’ll try to find the sites where I got some of the information from cause um yea I kinda had a bit of a hard time finding the other shit so um once again, take the stuff here with a grain of salt. Also, feel free to add more info if you guys got any!

SO ANYWAYS ENJOY ME RAMBLING ABOUT EPISODE 1 OF TRESE WOO

+ MRT and LRT (Manila Metro Rail Transit and Light Rail Transit) are train systems in NCR (the capital region) and yea them suddenly stopping and malfunctioning in the middle of the goddamn rail is a daily occurrence and we have been trying to deal with this bullshit for years but alas, corruption and negligence are sweet sweet drugs.

+ When the MRT broke down, you'd see a red bee in the flashing billboard right? Well that's Jollibee and that's probably the most well-known fast food restaurant chain here heck there are even branches of it abroad!

+ According to many youtube comments along with other social media posts that I am way too tired to link here, the opening theme is an Ifugao ethnic song called Balluha'd Bayyauhen but with modern accompaniments and I think the song is about a fruit called a balluha that the character in the song tries to it but cannot swallow. (someone please correct me if I’m wrong here fjkfs)

+ The first um monster that we see Alexandra interact with is the White Lady of Balete Drive. White Ladies or “Kaperosa” are a type of female ghosts typically dressed in ghostly white dresses or similar garments. According to legend, she died in a car accident while driving along Balete Drive (a two lane street formerly lined with Balete Trees which are said to be a home for spirits and mysterious creatures) in Quezon City while other accounts say she died waiting for the arrival of her lover; others also say that she was a teenage girl who was run over and killed by a taxi driver at night and then buried around a Balete tree while another variation of the tale claims that a student from the University of the Philippines was sexually assaulted and killed by a taxi driver nearby and so said ghost haunts the street in search of her murderer. There are many other variations but according to local rumor, the legend was fabricated by a reporter in 1953 in order to make an interesting story. What remains consistent in many variations is that apparently taxi drivers would be stopped by a beautiful lady asking for a ride and if one would look at the rear window, they would see that the white lady in question is bruised and drenched in blood.

+ There are a lot of mentions about "lakans" and stuff in reference to Alex and her father right? In precolonial times, the term is used to refer to the paramount ruler or the highest-ranking political authorities in Tagalog communities (so um NCR and some parts of Region 4). In Muslim communities, they are called sultans while communities with strong trade connecitons with Indonesia or Malaysia called them Rajah. Datu is umm the more generalized term though when it comes to discussing the leaders of the precolonial Filipinos.

+ So, Alex’s mom is a babaylan and back in the pre-colonial period, each barangay (which a native filipino term for a village or a district; said term is still used today to describe um divisions in municipalities like) had them and these are basically Philippine shamans and they specialized in communicating with the spirits of the dead. To my knowledge, the role of babaylan went to women and yea people assigned male at birth but then identified as female were also allowed to become babaylans and they would be treated with the same respect given to any woman back then (honestly I dunno much about lgbtq+ stuff back in the precolonial times but all I know is that precolonial Filipinos were much a lot more welcoming towards trans identities bUT THEN THE SPANIARDS CAME AND UM ERR RUINED THAT); also the writing Alexandra's mom did in that one scene with the dagger is in Baybayin - preHispanic Filipino script. I dunno what she wrote down though. .

+ Also I kinda find it funny that the people here esp those who were at the White Lady scene are um,,, not at all surprised? Like yea quite a number of filipinos have their own superstitions and beliefs and all that but um yea the people in Trese seem very used to the bullshit,,,which in retrospect, isn't at all inaccurate fsdfd I MEAN WE DEAL WITH UNSURMOUNTABLE AMOUNTS OF BS ON A DAILY BASIS SO I DON’T THINK DEAD GHOSTS WOULD EVEN FAZE MANY FSKJDS

+ The one that appears right before Alexandra talks with the duwende (the one in the manhole) is called Laman Lupa (which i guess translates to um "What is in the earth"? just um YEA THEY ARE DIRT CREATURES). normally this is an umbrella term for duwendes and nunos but in Trese they are servants of these aforementioned creatures.

+ Duwende (which came from the Spanish phrase "dueno de case" which means "owner of the house") or dwarves in Filipino folklore are known to be mischievous and magical environmental guardians. They are believed to reside in trees or under earth mounds (those that live in the latter are called nuno sa pundo or old man of the mount) which is why quite a lot of Filipinos say "tabi tabi po" or “excuse me” when wandering around a forest or earth mounds as a sign of respect and in the hopes the duwende won't torment them. If the person is friendly, the duwende can also be friendly in return and will bring that person good lucl; otherwise, those who destroy their homes by stepping on them will face their wrath in form of heartless curse and predictions of ominous and disastrous fates. A duwende's color also depends on their budhi or conscience: to my knowledge, white duwendes are kind, red ones give protection amulets, green ones are firnedly with children and the black ones give nothing but trouble.

+ Chocnut aka the snack Alex bribes the nuno with is a very yummy chocolate snack made of coconut milk, crushed peanuts and cocoa powder. They are umm about an inch in length and maybe half an inch in width so it's fairly small; that being said I WANT THE CHOCNUT THAT ALEXANDRA HAS CAUSE HOT DAMN THAT'S A BIG CHOCNUT

+ In Trese, the creatures in the MRT scene and in the warehouse Alexandra visits after she talks with the duwende are called "aswang". In Philippine folklore, it is an umbrella term for any kind of monster so um an aswang in Luzon would be very different from the aswang in Mindanao. According to what I saw on wikipedia, they can be classified in 5 categories: the vampire (self-explanatory um they drink blood), the viscera sucker (the manananggal, i'll get to that next time), the weredog (cats and pigs are also possible but um yea they target pregnant women), the witch (self-explanatory boom curses and stuff) and the ghoul (they gather near trees in cemeteries to feast on human corpses). Aswangs are often described to have a long, hollow tongue, sharp claws and sharp teeth, although they do also have human forms.

+ To my knowledge, Ibwa, the leader of the aswangs in the warehouse, is a creature from Tinguian or Itneg mythology (they, like the Ifugao, are an indigenous ethnic group in northwestern Luzon) though I could be wrong about this dksfsf Ibwa seems like an ethnic filipino term tho wah I can't remember where I once read that. But anyways, Ibwa often stalk sthe house of a dying person to steal its body. In order for the ibwa to NOT succeed in that, some people burn holes in the garments of the dead and put a sharp iron object on top of the grave since those are most powerful weapons against aswangs which is what Alexandra uses to subdue the Ibwa and kill all the other aswangs (the knife alex uses is named Sinag which means "ray of light".)

+ ALSO I AM SO SO GLAD THEY KEPT THE FILIPINO SWEARS IN THE ENGLISH DUB YES YES THIS IS A VERY GOOD JOB so lemme discuss the versatility of tangina-

+ Also umm Bossing is a nickname of Vic Sotto - one of the three pioneer hosts of Eat Bulaga! which is the longest running Philippine noontime variety show. Over time, most probably due to the show's popularity, the term "bossing" then became um slang for "boss" or "chief"

+ Translation of what Alex says when she's stirring the eye inside the cup: “In the eyes of others, secrets will reveal themselves.”

+ Sidenote: The English dub's pronunciation of many of the tagalog lines are um yea they r pretty good but they could use a bit of work but then again I'm really not that good in speaking in Tagalog so who am I to judge gkdkf sorry po guys conyo po ako-

+ Maria Makiling is arguably the most famous of all the diwatas (ancestral spirits, nature spirits, or deities) in Philippine Mythology; she is associated with Mount Makiling in Laguna as the guardian spirit of the mountain. Mount Makiling is said to resemble a profile of a woman and people associate the profile with Maria herself. She is also known as a goddess by the name of Dayang Masalanta and people would pray to her for safety and to stop storms and earthquakes. That's the goddess Alexandra's mother mentions right when she tells Alex to hide. (Translation to what she said there: Maria Makiling, goddess of the mountain, bless us.)

+ ALSO YEA THAT MAYOR IN THE MRT STATION IS UMMM RATHER REMINISCENT OF MAAAANY POLITICIANS AND PUBLIC SERVANTS HERE LIKE BELIEVE ME I CAN THINK OF SO MANY NAMES RN. THEY WOULD FLAUNT THEIR MACHISMO AND PROMISE THAT THEY THEMSELVES SHALL PUNISH THE PERPETRATORS HARSHLY BUT IN THE END THEY DONT MEAN SHIT AND ARE IN OFFICE TO SERVE ONLY THEMSELVES AND TO SHIT ON THE REST ESP THOSE OF THE POORER SECTORS AND *NOTHING IS DONE ABOUT IT*. WE LIVE IN HELL OKAY. also hmm how the police are represented here is umm,,,interesting,,, like i know there are sOME good police officers like the ones alexandra assists but like,,,our current sociopolitical climate + the many cases showcasing the corruption in the police force + tHE SHEER AMOUNT OF POLICE BRUTALITY HERE would ummm beg to differ. but um anyways-

+ Also Mang Inasal posters can be seen in the MRT station backdrops and um it’s a very famous restaurant chain here and they serve lots of barbecue and other filipino stuffs and i miss them a lot God their halo halo is very yummy

+ Santelmo - oki so this is the fire face thingy that Alexandra summons inside the ruined train. This is the shortened version of the term "Apoy ni Santa Elmo" or "St. Elmo's Fire" - this is a weather phenomenon wherein plasma is created from an electrical discharge from a rod like object in an atmospheric electric field. This phenomenon was used to warn of imminent lightning strikes or storms (there is a chapter in Noli Me Tangere where Pilosopo Tasyo talks about that bUT I'LL SAVE THE NOLI ME TANGERE RAMBLES FOR ANOTHER DAY). But according to Philippine folklore, santelmos - which are said to be souls of people lost as sea - are balls of fire that appear where accidents or big arguments happen. In Trese, santelmos (alex's santelmo being "The Great Spirit of the Binondo Fire") can be called to assist in supernatural investigations

+ Translation of what Alex says when she draws the circles to meet with the purple ghosts: "Souls, where are you off to? I'll be entering too, so please open the door."

+ Remember the scene at the train with all the purple ghosts and the woman in a veil? Yea the woman is an emissary of a goddess named Ibu and she is the Manobo (again, another indigenous ethnic group but this time they're from Mindanao; fun fact we have around 134 ethnic groups) goddess of deceased mortals and the queen of the underworld; she also serves as a psychopomp and guides the newly deceased souls to the other side (having an MRT be the ride to the underworld isn’t in the legends tho so fkkjsf)

+ The aswang in the top hat is called Xa Mul and according to the Isneg/Apayao people (yay another ethnic group but this time in northern Luzon - the Cordillera regions to be specific), they are an evil spirit known to swallow people whole.

+ Alex has two henchmen right? Yea they are named Crispin and Basillio and No I still don’t know who’s who and I'm really sorry about that fsfjs so anyways the names Crispin and Basillio are actually those of two brothers featured in the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo novels (Crispin is younger and Basilio is older) which are basically the national novels here cause um yea written by national hero Jose Rizal as sociopolitical commentary about the Spanish regime here. I don't know if I want to spoil this cause I kinda want other people to read the novel too fskfs BUT ALL IN ALL, ONE OF THEM DIES IN LIKE THE 10TH OR 11TH CHAPTER OF NOLI ME TANGERE (and the novel has 64 chapters btw) AND UM YEA-

+ OKI SO TO ADD MORE CONTEXT TO THE SQUATTER STUFFS MENTIONED IN TRESE (we r gonna use the tiny font here because holy shit this rant is long): So,in the Philippines, especially in the capital region, there are lots of slum areas called squatters. These are dense urban settlements made of compact makeshift housing units that aren't really officially recognized by the government. This is um very reflective of the poverty situation here and there are maaany factors that come into play here and if i were to go into depth about this topic, that rant would probably turn into an academic paper so for the sake of brevity, let's just say that Things Are Fucked Up Here. Oftentimes the poorer sectors are being ignored and left to their own devices despite tons of campaign promises to make things better and easier for them. The communities that live here are incredibly vulnerable to floods, fires, and the like and afaik no concrete solutions have been in effect to protect these people and their settlements. There have also been many times where squatter areas are dismantled or demolished despite protests of people living in those areas and yea I understand the need to make space and the need for renovation but the people should still be offered some sort of temporary settlement or financial compensation thingy that doESN'T fuck them over but alas, we have an anti-poor government. That being said, I really like Trese Ep 1's portrayal of governmental negligence, but I also have some thoughts, especially in regards to the mayor being arrested THAT FAST which um believe me, NEVER FUCKING HAPPENS BECAUSE MANY MAYORS AND A LOT OF POLITICIANS HAVE THE POLICE IN THEIR POCKETS SO UM ERR YEA JUSTICE IS RARELY A THING HERE BUT UM ANYWAYS YEA THE GOVERNMENT LIKES TO SHIT ON THE POOR WOO LET'S SAVE THE USE OF SOCIOLOGICAL LENS ON THIS MATTER FOR ANOTHER DAY

+ The news channel reporting the arrest of the mayor is ABC-ZNN WHICH IS AN OBVIOUS REFERENCE TO ABSCBN aka the top media conglomerate here (that has been fucked over by the government so many times to the point that they had to shut down operations last year which is all sorts of unfair so seeing them being referenced here kinda made me happy gksfks)

#HI PATROC I HAVE A GIFT #IT'S A VERY LONG AND CONVOLUTED GIFT #BUT IT'S A GIFT #I WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK IN TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THIS #this is literally 2813 words long AND IT TOOK ME 12 HOURS TO TYPE THIS OUT OH GOD #AND THIS IS JUST EP 1 #here's to hoping the following eps are gonna be much easier for me to like ramble about considering that i explained quite a lot here gfsfs #please do take this ramble with a grain of salt tho cause obviously I am not a mythology expert so um feel free to add more info!#i'd really love to see more info about trese so yay!#trese #trese netflix #alexandra trese #trese spoilers #ask to tag

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sou-ver-2-0 · 4 years

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Why calling it "logic versus emotion" makes sense

At the end of chapter 2 in Your Turn To Die, the player is forced to choose between killing Sou or Kanna. Kanna frames this as a choice between "logic" and "emotion," where saving Sou is the "logical" choice and saving Kanna is the "emotional" choice.

Personally, I love the writing in this part. I think it's the strongest writing in the whole game. However, since joining the YTTD fandom, I've read various posts from fans who don't like calling this a simple choice between "logic" and "emotion." For them, it felt like an emotional choice to save Sou, while it was a logical choice to save Kanna. After seeing this argument so many times, I decided to unpack my feelings on it. I also wanted to write my own defense of why calling this a choice between "logic" and "emotion" makes sense, at least to me. For me, it all comes down to how it’s written as a choice between two opposing worldviews, and I don’t focus on the little technicalities. I’ll also argue that the game is using descriptive language, rather than prescriptive language.

But first, we have to deal with a strange irony about this choice:

For the genre-savvy player, yes, it IS "logical" to save Kanna and "emotional" to save Sou.

Before writing anything about this choice, I need to acknowledge that Sara and the Player are two different people. They're obviously connected, and they inform each other's feelings and choices, but they still exist in different worlds. Sara is actually trapped in a Death Game. The Player is vicariously experiencing what it would be like to be trapped in a Death Game through a fictional story.

I'm not going to argue that Sara necessarily likes Kanna more than she likes Sou, and thus it is more "emotional" for her to save Kanna. It's possible to play Sara as someone who isn't that affectionate of Kanna, and she can act generously towards Sou. That's not the main issue here.

The issue is that the Player expects the fictional story to go in certain directions based on the morality of their choices, while Sara has no such meta expectations. The Player can reasonably expect to be rewarded with a happy ending at the end of YTTD if they make the "correct" moral choices. Saving Kanna feels like the "morally correct" choice on a gut level because she's a child, while Sou is an adult. So the Player may choose to save Kanna purely for logical reasons. They're not trying to be selfless or wise; they just want a reward from a videogame. And...they're not wrong! Immediately after saving Kanna, the player is rewarded with a cathartic scene with Joe, cluing us in to the idea that choosing Kanna is the "good path."

Meanwhile, if the Player saves Sou, they're saving him in spite of knowing that this could logically lead to a "dark path." You might save Sou because he's a fascinating character, or because you're curious what will happen, or simply because you think he's cute. These are all emotional reasons. Maybe you don't expect any "happy" rewards if you save Sou, but you still expect the story to be exciting with him around.

Speaking for myself, I want to see both the Kanna and Sou routes for reasons that are both emotional and logical. I sympathize with both characters, and I want to analyze them as they continue their arcs. I just think they're great characters connected to fascinating themes about humanity.

In other words, the Player is going to have all sorts of feelings about this choice based on the safety of their separation from the Death Game. It's only a videogame to us. We're not actually killing a child or a young man. We still feel sad about the story, but it's a safe sadness, one we can control. You can make your choice based on which type of tragedy is more interesting to you in the moment.

So that's how the Player experiences the choice, but what about Sara? Does it still make sense to call it a decision between "logic" and "emotion" for her? I would argue, "yes." First of all...

"Logic" and "emotion" are descriptive terms for the argument styles of Kanna and Sou, respectively.

Using "descriptive" terminology means that we attempt to classify language as it is actually being used. Using "prescriptive" terminology means that we dictate how we should be using language.

When Kanna calls this a choice between logic and emotion, you might have thought she was being prescriptive. You might have thought something like, "You can't tell me how I should feel about this." But I think Kanna was simply being descriptive of the language she and Sou were using. It's a fair assessment of their opposing argument styles.

Kanna argues that you should vote for her by appealing to your sense of logic. She eloquently makes the case that Sou has proven himself invaluable to the team with his computer hacking skills. He came extremely close to finding an escape route just before the second Main Game began. With more time, he could find another one. If he dies, there is no one else in their party with his valuable skill set. She also effectively weaponizes her own helplessness by arguing that she is a "useless" child. She states that dying for the greater good "is the only thing she can do." What I love about Kanna's argument is how she twists Sou's own words against him, since Sou has been using coldhearted logical arguments since the beginning. She shows how much she's learned from him, and she's even able to outsmart him.

Sou argues that you should vote for him by appealing to your emotions. He furiously makes the case that he is the most hated member of the team and that you should give into your hatred of him. He says that the choice ought to be obvious based on your feelings. He calls Kanna stupid. He keeps shouting "Stop!" and "No!" He waves his arms in despair. He resorts to threats and exclaims that he will never forgive anyone who votes for Kanna. Sou's argument is compelling because we have never seen him so vulnerable before. Even with his strong will to live, he has an even more desperate will to save the little girl he's grown to care for. It's devastating to watch such a man break down. After losing his previous eloquence, he is forced to bare his soul and pray that that is enough.

However, even with all that in mind, you could still argue on a technicality that some of Kanna's statements are emotional while some of Sou's statements are logical. For example, when Kanna says that she is useless, this reflects her emotional state since she has low self-esteem. And when Sou starts threatening people, it's logical to take his threats seriously.

But there's something deeper at work here than technicalities. There's still something at the core of their arguments that makes the choice to save Sou "logical" and Kanna "emotional."

At its core, this debate is about how to measure a human life's worth. Do you measure a human life based on how "useful" they are? Or do you recognize a person's worth based on their humanity alone?

This is a choice between two worldviews, which the story calls "logical" and "emotional."

In the logical worldview, you prioritize a person's usefulness over their humanity for the greater good. Also, you must be willing to use people like tools for the greater good.

In the emotional worldview, you refuse to reject anyone's humanity, even if it threatens the greater good. Also, you must accept that some moral causes are more important than survival.

If you vote to save Sou, then Sara prioritizes the greater good; theoretically, the group can use Sou to escape. But being willing to use Sou this way rejects Sou's humanity, because we would be using his talents against his will. For Sou, escape is not worth the cost of Kanna's life. Sara also rejects her own humanity by treating both Sou and Kanna as objects instead of people. Kanna is discarded as a useless object, while Sou is kept as a potentially useful one. This is why Sara guiltily calls this "the worst possible choice" when she makes it. And it's why Sou seems to care more about revenge than survival in this route; there is no meaning in a world where we must sacrifice children.

If you vote to save Kanna, Sara does so knowing it may be harder for the group to escape without Sou's skills. But she embraces Sou's humanity by allowing him to follow his heart. She also strengthens her own humanity by refusing to cross a moral line. This is why Sou actually keeps his will to live in this route and mounts a desperate escape before his death. Because there's still meaning in a world where Kanna is allowed to live. He still dies, but with peace and purpose, and having repaid Sara for freeing his true heart.

In any case, you may still disagree with the semantics of "logic" and "emotion" to describe these worldviews, though they work for me personally. I have one more point to address.

Is it really logical to save someone who threatens you?

At this point, I'd like to talk about the most logical member of the group, the character who immediately votes to kill Kanna: Keiji Shinogi.

You, the Player, may believe that Sou will get his revenge if he lives, because it would make a compelling story. And Sara, a high-school student, may be reasonably afraid of Sou's threats, because Sou has tried to hurt her before. Even though the text doesn't portray Sara as being afraid of Sou in this moment, I understand why the Player would fear for Sara's life. In other words, a logical reason to kill Sou is because you don't believe you can control him. How do you force an adult man to behave?

Enter Keiji Shinogi, who doesn't hesitate. Keiji is stronger than Sou, and he's wicked smart. He's confident in his own abilities. And he understands vengeance better than anyone. He doesn't underestimate Sou, who has outwitted him before, but he decides to accept the risk. Like Sou, Keiji has a ruthless will. I believe that one reason Keiji voted first was because he wanted to assure everyone that "your friendly policeman" would keep Sou in line. So even though Sara doesn't act afraid of Sou in this moment, Keiji is there to calm any hypothetical fears the Player has.

And Keiji commits to this role! In the beginning of Chapter 3, in the route where Kanna dies, the first thing Sou does is disturb the group peace. He puts on his "tough" mask and pretends that he never really cared about Kanna. In response, as everyone else is fidgeting nervously, Keiji laughs and calls out Sou on his bullshit. He eviscerates Sou emotionally, effectively putting Sou in his place and forcing him to be submissive, for now. It's Keiji's way of reminding Sou that they already know how weak he is, and Sou isn't going to get away with any tricks under Keiji's watch. Even if Sou's only "trick" in this case is to pretend he has any pride left.

From a storytelling perspective, I'm sure that these two will keep playing their power games, and Sou is likely to regain the upper-hand eventually. But from an in-universe perspective, Keiji looks like he knows exactly what he's doing in this scene, and Sou looks like a fool who better do what he's told. That is, if he doesn't want Keiji to skewer his heart in front of everyone again.

So where am I going with this?

My most generous interpretation of Keiji's vote is that he decided that Sou's life had value inasmuch as he could use Sou. After all, it's not like Keiji spared Sou out of compassion. Keiji just said that he hated Sou more than anyone he's ever known--and Keiji already killed someone else he hated. The harsher interpretation of Keiji's vote is that he fully expects Sou to die later due to his zero percent survival rate, which would make Kanna's presence technically more of a "threat" to Keiji's own survival. However, I prefer to think that Keiji was swayed by Kanna's brilliant defense of Sou's usefulness. That's because Keiji isn't a simple monster; he's a complex man who still wants to "serve and protect" the group...in his own way.

To follow in Keiji's footsteps and vote with "logic" means that Sara decides to trust Keiji's judgment. We know that Keiji is one of the smartest and strongest characters, in addition to being Sara's reliable ally. This is why I think it's still "logical" for Sara to save Sou in spite of his threats. Because Keiji is still there.

Conclusion

That's why framing the choice as one between "logic" and "emotion" works for me. I see it as a choice between two worldviews, one in which people are valued for their usefulness, and the other in which people are valued for their humanity.

I understand that the Player is going to have their own thoughts and feelings about this choice. Believe me, I was heartbroken too! I really wanted Sou to redeem himself and live. And I think Sara even feels the same way, since she pleads "Don't kill our ally!" when Safalin threatens Sou. It's still possible that Sou could redeem himself in the route where he lives, but I imagine it will be more important that the Player faces consequences for killing Kanna. But no matter what happens in Chapter 3, it doesn't change the fact that it looked possible in Chapter 2 for Sou's skillset to save everyone, and everyone was operating under that mindset.

I think that the writing in this game is stellar so I wanted to defend the story's framing. It surprised me to see folks who had reacted to it differently, but that's all part of the fun. It got me thinking about how interesting it is that the Player and Sara view things differently. It also got me thinking that what seems like a logical choice in the moment could feel like the wrong decision in hindsight.

Thanks for reading!

#yttd #your turn to die #sou hiyori #kanna kizuchi #sara chidouin #keiji shinogi #shin tsukimi #kimi ga shine #your turn to die spoilers #meta #mine #this is absurdly long haha sorry #sou and kanna #my meta

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