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markantonys · 4 months

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The show hasn't really gotten into the Breaking as much as I think they should have at this point. Which does kinda go into the fact that Lews Therin doesn't seem to be feared by the general public at least as far as we know? Which does make me a bit concerned as that is important. It does seem like the AOL flashbacks are leading up to Dragonmount and therefore the Breaking so maybe that's why it hasn't been addressed as much yet? Rafe did say there's less knowledge of the prophecies or at least less belief that they're 100% accurate since they're over 3000 years old and translated a million times so that might play a role too? Idk I'm curious for them to get into the prophecies more so we know what the world thinks and believes about the Dragon.

i just wanna say that as someone who studied ancient history and ancient literature, it is completely accurate that the current people of randland know very little about what happened 3000 years ago, that the average population outside of scholars doesn't care about what happened 3000 years ago, and that nobody is willing to put full trust in the accuracy of the few ancient texts and prophecies that survived to the present.

and mind you, i ran into all these things in my studies of events that happened only 2000 years ago. 3000 years, we are talking the late bronze age collapse in the mediterranean region - an event that's infamously mysterious precisely because we have so little surviving evidence to say what caused it.

when it comes to human history, 3000 years is a MASSIVE amount of time, and to be honest i don't think RJ/the books really understood just how massive (for example, randland should have been able to advance more, technologically, in 3000 years than it did, even considering how destructive the breaking was and how destructive the taint & false dragons & shadowspawn continued to be). the general population outside of scholars does not spend a second thinking about things that happened 3000 years ago or specific people who lived 3000 years ago. they just don't. realistically, lews therin shouldn't be anything more than a vague fable to the average population of present-day randland. of course they're not afraid of him. why would they be? he's insanely far-removed from and irrelevant to their lives - for now. i daresay they'll start to get nervous once they start to see true signs that the dragon has been reborn and that the last battle will happen in their lifetime. but until then, i cannot emphasize enough how much any dragon- & breaking-related shit is not on the general population's radar. they don't care about the bronze age collapse. they don't care about any sort of war or destruction or apocalypse until it starts to affect them personally (see: nobody caring enough to help falme in s2, just as nobody cared enough to help manetheren).

i will also add that as someone fresh from reading the books for the very first time, i can comfortably say the show is NOT lagging behind on Breaking Info-Giving compared to where the books were at this point. we had zero clue about the bore or any of that stuff until rand's rhuidean trip (and even then, i didn't really understand what the hell was going on in his visions until quite a bit later, and in large part due to learning some extra-book information that explained it better). as a show-only during s1, i can assure you that the 3000 years later flashback showing us a futuristic society made me go OH SHIT and hit home the full impact of the breaking far more than anything in the books, where we don't even see any AOL scenes onscreen aside from the rhuidean visions (which are very confusing to a first-time reader) and the dragonmount prologue (which isn't very useful since it's the first scene in the whole series and a first-time reader has zero context for anything learned there).

honestly, i think longtime readers forget just how much of our AOL/forsaken/breaking knowledge comes from extra-book sources like the companion, Word Of Jordan, etc; the books alone are very vague about so much of that stuff and i remember being repeatedly bewildered as to how you guys knew so much about the AOL when the books either didn't have those details at all or had them so vaguely that they flew right over my first-time reader head. i'm not 100% sure, but i believe latra posae decume isn't even MENTIONED in the books and comes purely from "the strike at shayol ghul", as do many of the details about the strike and the bore and the breaking. and so i definitely think the show has already included more information, and more CLEAR information, about the breaking than the books alone had by the end of TDR and in fact for much of the series.

#anonymous #answered #wot book spoilers

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bizarrequazar · 11 months

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Zhang Zhehan, 813, and Zhang Sanjian FAQ

I’ve been thinking for a while that I should make this as a starting place for people just learning about the situation. Please let me know if you have any corrections or anything you would like me to add.

1. What happened to Zhang Zhehan? / What is 813?

On August 13. 2021, a photo was spread by online water armies of Zhang Zhehan in front of cherry blossoms from a trip he had taken to Japan in 2018. This was accompanied by claims that he had been there to visit the Yasukuni Shrine—a politically controversial shrine which honors WWII war criminals—and that he held right-wing anti-Chinese sentiments. This photo was later joined by others, all either photoshopped or with falsified context, “backing up” these accusations along with further claims slandering him and his family.

In the days following, Zhang Zhehan lost all of his endorsements, had all of his past works taken down, had all of his social media shut down, and was boycotted by the private association CAPA without the chance to defend himself. His name and image were also later banned from social media, he was used as a negative example in schools and on exams, and his name is blocked from registration on some social media sites and certain devices. He and his family have been subject to intense harassment including death threats.

All of the accusations against him have been shown to be false and he is currently pursuing legal action, but he is still unable to speak or appear publicly in any capacity.

Further reading: - Talking points pamphlet - Wiki page

2. Who was behind 813?

The boycott was issued by the China Association of Performing Arts (CAPA), a private industry association that at the time held sway (but no official authority) over many social media and streaming companies. CAPA is heavily suspected of being the ones who orchestrated the entire incident and related events, see point 4 below.

2.5. Was Gong Jun behind 813?

No, he had no motive whatsoever, was still a small name in the industry at the time, has no industry sway, had his most popular show taken down because of 813, and was targeted by similar attacks in the months after. If he had not stayed quiet about 813, Gong Jun very easily could have been taken down by it as well. Please see point 7 below if you have this belief because of Zhang Sanjian / zhangzhehan_super3, and if you have this belief because of the Twitter account Justice for Zhang Zhehan please know that she is an idiot.

3. Was 813 caused by censorship / homophobia / the Chinese government?

No. There is no evidence for 813 having anything to do with censorship, it was perpetuated by private venture capitalism. The Chinese government had no known involvement—CAPA has no government affiliation, and both the NRTA and MCT confirmed after inquiry that they had nothing to do with Zhang Zhehan’s cancellation. Quite the opposite, it was said by Li Xuezheng that government officials were in attendance during the interview between him and Zhang Zhehan released 2022-01-01.

4. Why Zhang Zhehan? / What was the motive behind 813?

The exact reason is not known for sure, but it is heavily suspected that he turned down an exclusive endorsement deal with one of CAPA’s subsidiaries around March / April 2021. CAPA took this as a slight and, because he was heavily in the public eye at the time, they decided to make him an example of what they could do to people who refused to play their game.

Other smaller parties who participated in 813 were driven by industry competition, private capital, mob mentality, and/or because they’re shitheads who found it fun.

Further reading: Lead-up to 813

5. Does the lack of news about Zhang Zhehan mean he’s given up / he’s lost his case?

Absolutely not, and quite the opposite in fact. Avoiding the public eye is the best thing Zhang Zhehan can do to avoid media frenzy and the potential skewing of the narrative that that could cause. Due to the length of time it has been since 813, whatever Zhang Zhehan first does when he becomes public again is guaranteed to cause a stir, and therefore he has to be very careful about not saying anything publicly until he and his case are at a favourable point to do so.

Further reading: - Question about the length of the case - Breakdown of the legal process in relation to Zhang Zhehan’s case

6. Could Zhang Zhehan pursue a career internationally instead?

Until his name is cleared, no.

Zhang Zhehan did not have enough international recognition prior to 813 to realistically build a career overseas, and he has not shown fluency in any language other than Mandarin with which to do so. Even if he did pursue this, until his name is cleared he will always be associated with 813 and would struggle to find success with how he would be viewed by Chinese diaspora.

As well, given the nationalistic nature of 813, seeking a career overseas would communicate guilt and/or giving up on his case.

7. Is Zhang Sanjian / the zhangzhehan_super3 Instagram account / the person releasing new songs Zhang Zhehan?

No. There is overwhelming evidence that Zhang Sanjian etc. is a scam using Zhang Zhehan’s name and image, utilizing photoshopping, deepfakes, and impersonators.

The people behind this have known professional connections to CAPA, and the activities the scam has engaged in have consistently been aimed at further damaging his image. The Zhang Sanjian persona is characterized as having given up on clearing his name, being degrading and rude to both his fans and former costars, and giving up on his career in China to pursue international fame (see point 6 above). Practically every action made by the persona and related parties go completely against Zhang Zhehan’s character and/or make no logical sense for someone in his position.

Further reading: - Timeline of the IG’s early activity - Deepfake breakdown - Collected information about the Bangkok concerts - Wiki page for the IG account

8. Why doesn’t Zhang Zhehan speak out against Zhang Sanjian?

See point 5 above. It is likely that part of the original aim of Zhang Sanjian was specifically to try to bait him into saying something against it. The scam has been trying very hard to control the public narrative via buying public screens, commissioning tabloid articles, releasing a ridiculous number of songs and artificially raising hit counts on these, etc.

9. Why go through so much effort to erase Zhang Zhehan / continue the Zhang Sanjian scam?

For CAPA, Zhang Zhehan winning his case and overturning his boycott will heavily diminish their industry influence (not to mention jail time, hopefully). It could, in the best case scenario, even lead to the complete disbandment of the company under Chinese anti-monopoly legislation. (see the first point under [this post])

For the smaller players involved in the scam specifically, the motive is by and large personal financial gain. Many are known to be in debt / have been in debt but are suddenly now making lavish purchases (Sophie for example), some are known professional con men (Peter), and some are seeking other personal goals such as trying to get famous themselves (Lexus), to promote their own businesses (the Chens and the gym bros), or even for sexual gratification (Hewitt).

As well, it’s important to keep in mind the financial scale of the extremely lucrative Chinese entertainment industry. The amount that has been spent on 813 and everything since is barely anything in the grand scheme of things.

Further Resources: - Zhang Zhehan wiki - Masterlist of my posts about Zhang Zhehan - My ZZH info tag

#Zhang Zhehan #Zhang Sanjian #813 #Word of Honor #Shan He Ling #zzh info

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19burstraat · 7 months

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proving kaz is a tidemaker, even tho it's not canon and shouldn't be, but I'm gonna argue for it anyway

I already made this post ages ago and now this has been in my drafts for even longer, I just unearthed it... but I'm making it again, more in depth, bc I didn't hit on everything I wanted to last time. obviously this isn't canon bc the point of kaz is he's Just Some Guy and how that really really pisses off more powerful people, and I think that's definitely best, Kaz NEEDS to be otkazat'sya for his function in the story... but if you ever wanted to prove it in a fic, shit is EASY. (I am vaguely considering how it might work out in a fic. we'll see. I've done stuff that couldn't/I wouldn't want to be canon before with my jordie-lives fic, so...) I'll mostly talk in the context that he'd be a tidemaker bc I feel like that's the conclusion a lot of this comes to, but some of the points are more generalised.

obviously the basic argument everyone makes for this is that the reason kaz was able to get back to shore from reaper's barge is bc, subconsciously or not, as a tidemaker he could control the currents to help him, since that's one of the most basic tidemaker powers. in the harbour scene, he notices that the tide has moved to work against him, but it doesn't seem to prove much of a problem; he attributes it to his new will to survive, but... Well. Kaz is exceptionally good at withholding information, even in his own POV.

grisha not using their powers become ill or weaker; kaz isn't really physically ill but he has an element of the underfed and sallow about him that's generally attributed to living in the barrel.

kaz is also ESPECIALLY horrified by the state of mikka, the tidemaker under the influence of jurda parem at the start of SOC; this is attributed to his past trauma and his dislike for things he can't rationally explain, which, yeah, but he is thrown in a way we don't really see again for the rest of the series. he instantly thinks of jordie, and it's maybe the one time he succumbs to superstition in the whole series.

the obvious explanation for how kaz knew that coffee extract and paraffin hid the scent/evidence of grisha is that he's very clearly involved in smuggling (jesper mentions how coffee grounds were used when packing smuggled jurda shipments) but the second explanation,,, is that he uses them himself. he comes up with the solution with IMMENSE speed and he just like, has the coffee extract around. ok, sure, not that hard to get hold of, but still. and coffee gets mentioned in relation to him at least a few times, most noticeably the 'bitter coffee eyes' thing inej uses, which is amusingly romanticised, but also... inej why do you associate coffee w kaz... something you've noticed abt him?

(but then, you wonder why he didn't suggest this to jesper previously; the answer I'm sure he would give you is he did, when it was a problem. before that it wasn't a problem and jesper was doing fine at staying hidden on his own)

the gloves can also add to this one, since they presumably at least cover his wrists and therefore his pulse somewhat, though obviously that's not their main function.

recovers with startling speed from nearly drowning at the ice court; matthias has to get his breathing going again but he's almost immediately fine after. I know yk, heist fantasy book, gotta keep going, but still

kaz is almost completely correct about the methods, powers of, and appearances of the council of tides (one single thing, the method of hiding their faces, is wrong.) impressive, no...? he is also shockingly apathetic in the face of their threats; they fill his lungs up with water and he just coughs it up and then is like "lol" immediately after. this is funny no matter what the fact of the matter (major general of the idgaf war) but the fact his link to them is left hanging is also a thread that could be easy to pick up. I think it would be hilarious if he was secretly in the council, but I won't stretch it that far bc they clearly don't like him lmao, that would have to be a proper AU.

in the dregs, kaz has a corporalki (nina) and a materialki (jesper) but no etheralki. wouldn't it be prudent to recruit one, if he could find one? or maybe he doesn't need one. if he already has one around, for an emergency of emergencies... for a rainy day... (ha ha)

the way kaz's trauma is often described as manifesting, is with the rising of the harbour waters; so it's pretty reasonable to suggest that in suppressing that, he'd also, inadvertently or not, suppress any kind of tidemaker/etheralki impulse or power. possibly he can't even tell the difference between the two, or they're so tangled up he can't really separate them anymore, which is why he doesn't so much as even think to attempt to use it. still, if this was the case I think improvement with one would not necessarily improve the other, or vice versa. kaz hypothetically using grisha power he'd had suppressed would not magically make his touch aversion go away, I think that'd be weird, and I'd not want his PTSD to be passed off as solely being the sickness from not using grisha power, that's reductive as hell. but I can see them certainly being two things very much intertwined.

we don't know a lot about grisha who are native to kerch, but assumedly he'd not have had much cause to use it in his childhood, on a farm somewhere inland, so most, if not all, of his experience with using it would likely be irretrievably tied to ketterdam and jordie so no wonder he just wouldn't use it. I don't think he'd even see it as feasible. perhaps it would be a very very final resort, but he'd never let it get to that point, he'd always want to try something else first. and anyway, he'd not be trained.

the sankt vladimir story is also thematically quite close to Kaz; holding back the harbour waters until he's finally too exhausted and lets it drown him. I like this regardless of this analysis actually it's a good comparison. patron saint of the drowned and unlikely achievement....

even if kaz wasn't an otkazat'sya, after all that happened, I think he'd try very hard to pretend he was. it couldn't save jordie, therefore in his extreme as hell thinking around that entire thing, I imagine he'd reason it wasn't useful, that he could get on better without it, and, like jesper, think it was a liability.

this would add a wild layer to him being the one to have the jurda parem on him for almost all of crooked kingdom; it would make it feel like his plan z was to take it himself. certainly he'd sooner do that than let jesper take it.

and finally: thematically, it slays. like half of the imagery around kaz (and kanej) centres around water (think the bathroom scene, how he only washes in front of her, etc) and that plays into both of their trauma, plus religious imagery, all this... it's a fantastic bit of extra theming. it just doesn't really work with how his character operates.

basically I think you could DEFINITELY make it work and it'd be a killer fic but again it's one of those things, like jordie living, that I don't really want to be canon because it undermines something about kaz's character that I consider pretty critical; in this case, that kaz is not really endowed with any special power or circumstance, he's just bloody-minded and clever, but that's enough for him to pull off almost impossible jobs anyway.

#six of crows #crooked kingdom #kaz brekker #soc duology #soc #my post #six of crows duology #this has been in my drafts for sooo long lmao #it'd be an interesting fic but idk how I'd frame it. I'll have a think

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notvv0ltz · 1 year

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❗🏳️‍⚧️ How is it going with trans people in Russia

Spoiler: very very bad...

Please make sure to share, this is the best you can do to help us right now, read more information by clicking "Keep reading"

I'd like to add some context at first:

In 2013 there was signed a "gay propaganda" law in which The Russian government's stated purpose for the law is to "protect children from being exposed to homosexuality"

Amongst the war crimes our country is parctipating in there are new comedically bad and authoritorian laws being signed to silence basically everyone who has common sense...

However, I dare to say, queer and especially POC are affected by these the most

In 5th December 2022 "gay propaganda" law's extension is called

"on the prohibition of propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations or preferences, pedophilia (lol) and gender reassignment"

It states that now also adults, not just children can be exposed to ✨ the gays ✨

Under this law literally every queer person can be charged even by just openly being themselves

Despite this we still have very advanced queer activism organisations and the one this thread's about is Center T that currently needs awareness and external help

Center T is one of the organizations that specifically:

helps trans people by having contacts with clinics that help with transition and therapy

provides spaces for trans people to connect with each other

helps with donations for people in need

This organization is like, very vital for trans Russia residents

Thanks to them my friend is going through transition and had succesful top surgery and I have contacts with people in city I live in

So we really hope that people outside of the country will help them

❗️🏳️‍⚧️ Right now, the head of Center T - Yan Dvorkin is charged by the "LGBT+ propaganda" law

Court has done formal violations and refused to hear witnesses and experts from the defense. They literally give no fucking shit

Currently Yan will be will be awarded a fine of 100,000 ₽ (1298 USD) and this is the minimum fine for individuals. The case is still going on and I'm afraid that it's not the end

Please consider to help simply by sharing info as much as possible

The org's twitter account: @Center_T_ru

________________

Sources about the law:

Original document of law's extension (on Russian):

Wiki page (only 2013 ver.):

Article about law's extension:

#trans #transgender #trans community #urgent #important #queer #lgbtq #lgbtq community #russia #queer activism #trans activism #need help #pls share PLSSS #gay

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cleolinda · 2 months

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Weekend links, March 24, 2024

My posts

Good news: We haven’t had a third Trespasser Incident. Bad news: There was a fuckin’ coyote staring my dog down from the driveway across the street last night. I won’t lie to you, there have been aggressive coyotes spotted in people’s yards around here, but not in my neighborhood before this, and also, I live in THE SUBURBS.

Worse news: I had a migraine so bad that I was hungover for two days. In fact, I’m having a hard time thinking straight even now. Apparently a ton of people had migraines around the middle of last week? I have no idea.

Meanwhile, I will be in the dentist’s chair for a few hours tomorrow. For half of that I’ll be staring at the ceiling waiting for the dentist to come back from some mysterious task, except that I won’t because I’ll be glued to the Hot Vintage Lady Polls: Round 2, starting tomorrow (3/25). Currently going: The Shadow Bracket, to see which fortunate souls get to escape. (I have filed this under “My posts,” but these are not my posts at all; they’re simply the reblogs I’m going to inflict on you, every single one.)

The point of my addition here is that there’s a wider culture war in the U.S., it’s all connected, and the KOSA bill is merely the online expression of that.

Reblogs of interest

A much quieter week since I wasn’t reblogging polls around the clock and also, I had a migraine:

New Hozier songs! And the one that’s charting is--light and fun and catchy, to the amazement of all. I mean, in context it’s still about going to hell, but you wouldn’t know that if someone didn’t tell you, and damnation just adds a little spice.

This post is nominally a link to “I’ve found the key to making everyone mad in Sea of Thieves,” but please read the second article, “Everyone hates my big stupid horse in Red Dead Online,” as well. You will regret nothing.

This is a good post about the difference between couture and haute couture, but honestly, I reblogged it for the last line.

I would say “tag yourself,” but everyone would choose Lady Page Turner

The imaginary Barbie Dream Sandworm smells like cinnamon. I can’t.

“Is Fox Mulder the most comically-brutalized protagonist in television history?”

I can tell you that this is a pressed flower collage of a comet moth and you will not believe me

Also unbelievable: art made in Microsoft Office applications

Honestly I hope we just keep talking about fairies and walruses forever

Video

One fear: Chocolate Guy

More sounds from the pallas cat

I played this bird singing a cookie song like 15 times in a row while I was stressed, and it helped.

The sacred texts

None this week.

Personal tag of the week

I’m not sure how I had two entire posts celebrating “cringe”/freedom of expression, but here we are.

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spacemagicandlaserswords · 1 year

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Open and Waiting (Chapter 2)

Gif from this post by @ashr-jedi

Summary: Hunter makes an appearance. You continue to warm Tech’s cock with your mouth and ruminate on previous experiences with Crosshair, Wrecker and Echo.

Relationships: Tech x f!reader, a little bit of Hunter x f!reader, mentions of Crosshair x f!reader, Echo x f!reader and Wrecker x f!reader

Warnings: NSFW, cock warming, voyeurism, domination, submission, Dominant Tech, submissive reader, poor self worth, feelings, smut with feelings, sexual inexperience, inexperienced reader, polyamory, gag reflex, pretend sci-fi technology/science, pretend Star Wars planets and locations, not beta read. Mentions of: Deep throating, face fucking, fingering, thigh fucking, tit fucking, bukkake, cum as lube, finger fucking, grinding, toys, butt plug.

Word Count: 2085 (Chapter 2)

Authors Notes: Please read the warnings! And please let me know if you enjoyed it. The filth continues. Interspersed with … feelings? In my smut? It’s more likely than you think.

I realised I forgot to give any context for where this story sits timeline wise and who the character of the reader is! Timeline wise, this happens at some nebulous point after Echo joins The Bad Batch and before Order 66. The reader is part of the Batch but beyond that you can interpret them however you wish. The most common example I've seen is a medic but a jedi, mechanic, intelligence officer or some other random reason for the reader being in the squad could all work as well. Whatever works for you. The main thing is that the reader is a submissive that the Batch share between themselves and are the reader's dominants. The Batch are all Dom’s in the AU of this fic, but they all have different ways of approaching it, which you’ll hopefully get a little inkling of in this chapter.

Chapters: One, Three, Four, Five, Six | Ao3

Open and Waiting (Chapter 2)

I don’t know how much time passes but eventually I hear the faint hiss of the cockpit door opening and a soft, smooth stride moves out into the main area of the ship.

Hunter.

Our sergeant can be completely silent when he wants to be, so he’s deliberately making sure his approach can be heard. An existence created purely for tracking means that he’s basically permanently stealthy. It can be decidedly startling when he just appears next to you out of nowhere. We really need to put a bell on him or something. Though he’d probably figure out how to move so that it didn’t make a sound. Sneaky bastard.

A gruff voice at the end of the workbench announces his arrival.

“That’s in more bits than when I saw it last.”

“Yes.” Tech replies. “I hypothesised that the size of the casing could be reduced by 2.56% if I reconfigured the internal power connectors into a series of bi-linear couplings. I am currently applying this theory to the prototype you see before you, hence the 'bits' on the workbench.”

“That’s a lot of parts to shove into a small box.” responds Hunter.

“They will fit.” Tech testily replies.

“I don’t doubt that.” Hunter answers.

There’s a brief pause while Tech zaps something and Hunter shifts slightly to the side.

I think I’m being inspected.

Hunter definitely can’t have missed that I’m currently naked, kneeling between Tech’s thighs with my eyes closed, hands restrained behind my back and Tech’s cock stuffed in my mouth.

“You went with the leather cuffs then.” Hunter states.

I am definitely being inspected.

“They are more suited to the purposes of this exercise.” Tech explains. “The focus is on sensation and submission and as an introduction to this practice, I thought it pertinent to ease into the experience gently. The leather cuffs provide an acceptable level of restraint and serve as a reminder of their position, both physically and mentally.”

“Plus you made them.” Hunter adds.

“Correct. Both the wrist cuffs and collar are of my own design and creation.” Tech replies.

They’re talking about me like I’m not even here. Like I’m not currently desperately drooling around Tech’s cock, unable to move or escape their gaze. The thought makes my pussy throb.

“Oh, she’s enjoying this.” Hunter laughs.

“I trust you can smell her arousal.” Tech asks, though it’s not framed as a question.

“Yup.” Hunter answers. “I could smell her in the cockpit like she was in there. It’s stronger than usual.”

“I have observed a number of indicators of her heightened state of arousal myself.” Tech adds.

“Is this what she’s been worrying about?” asks Hunter.

“If by ‘this’, you mean the practice of cock warming that the two of us are currently engaging in, then yes.” Tech replies.

“You’ve just got your dick in her mouth.” Hunter observes bluntly.

“Yes.” replies Tech. “That is the point.”

There’s a rather telling pause and I can just picture the looks that are being exchanged. An arched, tattooed eyebrow is probably being met with a decidedly unimpressed flat stare emanating from behind yellow lenses. Another slip of drool spills from the corner of my stretched mouth and runs down my chin to join the rest of the mess that is covering my face.

Tech shifts and launches into a lecture. There’s probably a finger being raised.

“Cock warming is the practice of placing one's cock in an orifice of one's partner. This can be done via the mouth, rear or vagina, if the penetratee possesses that particular genitalia. The cock is then left inside the partner's orifice where they are to keep it warm. The name speaks for itself. Outside of the basic principle of the act, the parties involved can agree on various additional stipulations, such as how long the penetratee must keep their partner's cock inside them or if they are allowed to move or make noise. I have read numerous accounts where both partners extol the virtues of this practice, describing it as surprisingly peaceful and an excellent way of entering subspace.”

“I’m sure it’s enjoyable, I’ve just never heard of it, that’s all.” Hunter supplies.

“I must admit that I was not overly familiar with the practice myself but it has proved to be a most enjoyable addition to our play thus far.” Tech provides.

I could already tell he was enjoying it, given the harness of his erection currently occupying my mouth. Hearing the verbal confirmation just adds to the feeling of deep satisfaction and submission warming in my chest. Another shiver runs through my body and I can feel more of my saliva pool in my mouth.

“Was there a reason for your interruption of my work?” Tech directs at Hunter in a slightly curt manner.

“That’s not the only thing I’m interrupting” Hunter snarks back.

“Quite.” Tech leaves the implication implicit.

Hunter sighs briefly before adding “Yeah we got a comm from the 369th.”

“Ah. Are they still experiencing difficulty with the Separatist base built into the side of the Markontia Gorge on Bezril IX?” Tech asks, fully aware of the answer already.

“Yeah, they might need our help with their current campaign but nothing’s confirmed yet so we’re on standby for now. If they need us to blast a hole into the Seppie base then we should hear back by the next rotation.” Hunter adds.

“Wrecker will be pleased.” Tech comments.

“I can think of something else that would please Wrecker.” Hunter slyly hints at.

“Wrecker may make use of our shared submissive when it is his turn.” Tech replies swiftly, irascible intent laced through the words, making it crystal clear that I am his right now.

“Additionally, he has made it quite clear that he does not wish to test the limits of her capacity for oral penetration until her gag reflex has improved.” Tech adds.

A slice of shame and disappointment cuts through me. I’ve always had problems with my gag reflex. Lack of experience will do that to you, I guess. I’ve been slowly working on improving it and they’ve all been so gentle and careful and patient with me. I desperately want to be able to deep throat each of them or be face fucked into a wall one day. At the moment though, the best I can manage is the tip of one of their cocks at the back of my mouth and even that still sets the damn thing off sometimes.

Wrecker has been so sweet about it. There is no denying that he is exceptionally well endowed and that his cock is, well, enormous, to put it bluntly. The poor man is well aware of it too. There is nothing I’d love more than to be absolutely impaled on his thick cock, but the first time I saw it I did worry that I’d never be able to fit it in me. I still do but we’re slowly getting there. He’s been so wonderful and understanding of my current abilities and their limits. Wrecker is such a beautiful human to experience pleasure with. He’s so full of joy about the entire thing. I didn’t have a great deal of experience before somehow ending up with all of them and I’d never had a joyful sexual encounter before Wrecker. I didn’t even know it was possible and had burst into tears afterwards. He’d been so alarmed and concerned that he’d inadvertently hurt me but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Thankfully, he’s the most emotionally intelligent out of all of them and we’d had a wide-ranging, open and reassuring conversation about sexual experience and intimacy as I lay curled against his chest. I still struggle with tensing up sometimes and Wrecker has been a great boon in getting me more accustomed to preparation. He’s a big proponent of lube and has a whole assortment of different types that we’re slowly working our way through. One or two of his fingers are more than enough to open me up and I could have those big, thick, slicked up digits sliding in and out of me for hours.

And there is nothing quite so wondrous as lying there laughing and kissing and giggling as he fucks my thighs. Wrecker has been very keen to emphasise that there’s more to sex than just penetration and we’ve been exploring some intriguingly varied ways to experience pleasure together. The first time he’d fucked my tits was something else. His oleaginous, lubed cock sliding between my breasts, cupped in his massive hands as his fingers and thumb played with my nipples. When he’d finally exploded all over my chest, neck and face, I don’t think I’d ever been covered in quite so much cum.

Well, at least not until we had that bukkake session. Trying to get cum out of your hair in a sonic is difficult to say the least and Hunter ended up hand washing it out for me. It had been worth it though for the way they had all looked down at me while they pumped their cocks and came all over my obedient, kneeled form, mouth hanging open and tongue out to catch as much as I could.

I’d knelt there afterwards like a statue. Covered in their cum, stained and claimed in their release. Rivets of translucent white slowly running down my skin. I could feel it pool in the hollow of my neck and drip off my nipples. It sounds ridiculous but in that moment I just wished I could exist like that forever, eternally marked as theirs. Just like I wish I could openly and proudly display the marks they leave on my skin, claims bruised into my neck for all to see. They are all such wonderful dominants, each unique in their own approach. I’m eternally thankful that they all chose me to be their submissive. I would happily serve at their feet and allow them to use me as they pleased for the rest of my existence if this damn war wasn’t going on.

I do need to work on having a bit more self preservation though. One of them is bad enough but whenever they end up scheming together, they start coming up with Plans and Ideas. That’s how I then found myself wiping their cum off me with my hands before eating it in front of them like some lewd and licentious spectacle. Being made to finger yourself using the cum of your dominants as lube while they watch is also a whole new level of depravity. I’d had to beg each of them for permission to cum before I’d finally been allowed to finger fuck myself into oblivion.

Wrecker isn’t the only one that is explicitly clear that their boundaries for playing with me are guided by my current abilities. Crosshair steadfastly refuses to even entertain my suggestion of face fucking until I can, in his words, “keep my balls against your chin, doll”. Echo had gone all serious when I had timidly requested to go down on him for the first time. There had been some stern yet heart-felt words about the importance of pacing and not rushing into things or pressuring yourself to try something you’re not ready for. We’d ended up grinding against each other instead, which was just as enjoyable. It meant I got to watch him come undone as I thrust my hips into his groin and then he’d made me straddle his leg and grind myself to completion on his thigh. There is something about the sensation of smooth durasteel gliding under your wet, sensitive pussy and pressing against your clit that is otherworldly. I’ll have to ask Tech if he’s able to shape some kind of toy out of the metal. A durasteel butt plug sounds like an excellent idea.

I still wish I could do more for them and wasn’t trapped in my own body and mind. The discontent and shame at my perceived failures is still there, despite how well I might be managing to warm Tech’s cock with my mouth at the moment. My lips are wrapped around a decent amount of his length and the tip of his cock is fairly close to the back of my mouth but I could always do more and try to get him a little deeper. I take a steadying breath through my nose, will my throat to relax and move to take more of him in.

------

Author’s Note: Tiny bit of a cliffhanger! This is mainly because I wrote this all in a giant keyboard mashing haze with absolutely no thoughts of structure. Going back while editing and trying to figure out where to shove in chapters to break it up has been a bit tricky, so if they’re a tad clunky that’s why.

You’ll see how Tech reacts in Chapter 3, along with some musings on previous sessions with Hunter and Crosshair.

Taglist: @queenariesofnarnia @skywlker-sluvtt @techs-assistant

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trisockatops · 1 year

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Okay I lied, one more post about the blatant antisemitism that isn't getting as much as attention as the creator's cissexism.

Thread from Unsidhe, Artist&Vtuber|Illust/Live2D OPEN on Twitter:

cw: antisemitism 1 of the 'goblin artifacts' you can find in That Wizard Game is literally just a shofar, a Jewish musical instrument, described as being 'used to annoy witches and wizards'. In it's description is the year 1612, which was when the Fettmilch uprising took place.

This uprising was followed by an outright massacre of Jewish people. If you STILL think it's just "a coincidence based on unfortunate folklore about goblins" and not literally an antisemitism propaganda simulator, fucking BLOCK ME. I want nothing to do with you.

People are trying to tell me "but it's not a shofar because it's painted" like, you're grasping at straws for excuses at this point.

Learning that they wrote 'stuffed with gorgonzola to silence it' about the horn, and finding out that gorgonzola specifically is not a kosher cheese... when they could have just written 'stuffed with cheese' for the Haha Funney Points really says a lot someone had to think.

/end thread

Thread from Yonah Gerber on twitter:

For those saying Hogwarts Legacy isn’t antisemitic, the game devs made it canon that goblins use shofar

“Generally annoy witches & wizards” literally the text in the game is that Jewish practices are just an annoyance like what the fuck

To address the dumbassery in my responses: assume good intentions must be earned. If this was the first time a Rowling property has been antisemitic, that's a woopsie. But it's not.

Here's the facts as they exist: - The object is a war horn - The artifact in the game is located at a place named after a pig & stuffed with dairy products to stop its music - The year of its most famous use is also the year major antisemitic pogroms happened in Germany

If ONE of these things were true, but Rowling & the franchise otherwise hadn't made any major missteps, that's when we give the benefit of the doubt. But I'm not willing to give said benefit when considering all the in-game context AND ALSO prior antisemitism in the franchise.

At a certain point, "benefit of the doubt" becomes "any plausible deniability is sufficient to ignore all context to the contrary" & to me, & to many Jewish folks, we are way past that point.

Hogwarts Legacy is not the first time the Harry Potter franchise has been accused of antisemitism. If the franchise & its creators wanted to avoid further accusations, they could've done some basic historical research to make sure these alleged coincidences were not included.

Once you have harmed a marginalized demographic, it's on your as a creator to prevent *further harm*. If you're using an IP that another creator once used to harm others, then I'm sorry, you do have the responsibility to undue that harm where you can in your own work.

EVEN IF these are coincidences, had the development team made a point to avoid antisemitic caricatures & educated themselves on that history, this wouldn't have happened. They chose not to care. And that's not much better, really.

Obviously I don't know what the team at Avalanche thinks or believes & frankly that's not my business. What matters to me is the end product & that end product either is purposefully antisemitic or was made by folks who don't care if they're accidentally antisemitic.

However you twist this, there's a tremendous lack of care going on here, & a choice to perpetuate cruelty that didn't need to happen.

Don't yell at folks in my mentions who genuinely don't understand the layers of context here. This is a great education opportunity. Block the obvious trolls, I sure am, but some folks have only seen a piece of the whole, & education is the best solution to ignorance.

Deleting my last tweet because I saw the point on Mastodon, but I can no longer find the post. I don't want to share what I can't currently verify.

To add, though: - The shofar is located at the Hog's Head (aka pig) Inn - The music of the shofar is prevented because a wedge of gorgonzola was used to stop the music, & while many cheeses are kosher, that one is not Take from that what you will.

/end thread

Thread from moby dickgirl on Twitter:

// CW: antisemitism; discussion of Islamophobia Concerning Gorgonzola (expanding on a comment in Yonah's thread) N.B. Once again, I am speaking as a gentile

It's a really common trope in right-wing propagandistic fiction for the "heroes" to desecrate the graves of religious enemies by putting profane items in them. The example I'm most familiar with is endless post-9/11 masturbation about putting pig products in Muslims' graves

I understand that there's a prohibition, deriving from a law given by Moses at Sinai, on seething a kid in its mother's milk, and that this is generally interpreted pretty broadly as meaning having meat and dairy in the same meal, or otherwise combining them, is unkosher

Some cheeses are kosher. Traditionally, Gorgonzola is not. This is because the production of Gorgonzola requires the use of a complex of enzymes called rennet. Using animal-derived rennet to make cheese is unkosher because of the prohibition mentioned above.

Now, this doesn't always apply to Gorgonzola today; you can get Gorgonzola made with non-animal-derived rennet which I understand may be kosher. However, this was unequivocally not the case in 1612. Gorgonzola made then would have been made with animal-derived rennet.

It's also been noted that the year of that goblin rebellion is 1612, the first year of the antisemitic purge called the Fettmilch Rising in Frankfurt. Both the real Fettmilch Rising and the fictional rebellions may have been based partly on allegations of financial misconduct.

There is, however, a shorter path. A distinctive quality of Gorgonzola — unique to it as far as I can tell — is that it's made with unskimmed milk, that is, milk with the milkfat still in it. The German word for "milkfat" is "Milchfett" — "Fettmilch" with the syllables reversed.

(I've heard that "Fettmilch" is literally a dialect German word for "unskimmed milk," which would make the link even more direct, but I don't have a sufficiently comprehensive German–English dictionary on hand to confirm this. German speakers are welcome to chime in.)

/end thread

Not to mention that the basic plot of the game is suppressing the rebellion of a canonically oppressed race that has always been an antisemitic caricature (hooked nose, beady eyes, hoard money, apparently control the wealth, manipulative, sneaky, greedy). We didn't need to look far to find the antisemitism, and yet here it is, ratcheted up times ten.

#hogwarts legacy #jk rowling #harry potter #hp goblins #antisemitic #antisemitism #oh fuck just lemme piss off the hoards of radfems still clinging to life here #oh and by the by #the supposed trans-inslucisivity comes in the form of a trans woman named Sir Ryan #islamophobia #THE GAME IS A FUCKING PRO NAZI PLOT #nazis #nazism #long post

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judasrpc · 3 months

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LYRIC STARTERS BASED ON MY CURRENT "ON REPEAT" SONGS

aka, subtly exposing my music taste by slamming a bunch of songs onto one post, even if these probably exist as separate ones somewhere. the sections will be separated by the song titles & artists. this only includes my top 10, because we would be here forever if i included any more.

add context & change gendered language to your needs !! if multi, please specify which muse(s) !!

INVISIBLE - DURAN DURAN

" Living without choice is a life without a voice. "

" Has the memory gone? Are you feeling numb? "

" Will you say my name? "

" Hindsight is falling on my face. "

" When you don't hear a word I say […] "

" But a voiceless crowd isn't backing down. "

"Can you say my name? "

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

FLIGHT OF THE CROWS - JHARIAH

" I cannot help but think I've overstayed my welcome. "

" The company's quite nice on crimson nights like these. "

" Well, I think that I've gotta go, and I don't know why. "

" I need you to promise that you won't cry. "

" Let those old memories go. "

" Please understand that I will find a brand new life. "

" So just let me out of your mind. "

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

BLOOD UPON THE SNOW - HOZIER & BEAR MCCREARY

" Nature offers a violence. "

" The world that hardens as the harsher winter holds. "

" The ground walked here is a wonder. "

" And all things nature's given; she takes all things back from the living. "

" I've walked the earth, and there are so few here that know. "

" It's not my arms that will fail me. "

" This world takes more strength than it gave me. "

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

RISK, RISK, RISK - JHARIAH

" We would've never worked out together. "

" Wager all you've got, and run me all that shit. "

" I can't take another day! I need some change. "

" There's things you just can't see with such precautious eyes. "

" I don't think I need to tell you; you'll see me when I do. "

" Better bite your tongue! "

"I don't second-guess a vision. "

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

EAT YOUR YOUNG - HOZIER

" Let me wrap my teeth around the world. "

" I want to feel the edges start to burn. "

" If there's something to be gained, there's money to be made. "

" Throw enough rope until the legs have swung. "

" You can't buy this fineness. "

" If there's something still to take, there is ground to break. "

" Putting food on the table selling bombs and guns. "

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CARELESS WHISPER - GEORGE MICHAEL

" I feel so unsure. "

" Something in your eyes calls to mind a silver screen, and all its sad goodbyes. "

" Though it's easy to pretend, I know you're not a fool. "

" To the heart and mind, ignorance is kind. "

" But there's no comfort in the truth, pain is all you'll find. "

" I wish that we could lose this crowd. "

" We could have been so good together. "

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

APOCALYPTICISM - MOON WALKER

" We fight fire with silence and pray somebody hears. "

" No one said the world can't change in just a couple nights. "

" We want a revolution, but only with condition. "

" He came baring the heart of a liar; wearing the face of an honest man. "

" Start feeding the dogs of war. "

" We're in your head and hiding in plain sight. "

" But I don't see any difference, they both look the same to me. "

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

DIGITAL SILENCE - PETER MCPOLAND

" I won't ask a question; I'll state the truth. "

" This is the way that it is. "

" Something you love turns to something you miss. "

" This is the way that I know. "

" I feel it inside me like a pulse; it's starting to slow and the meter dips. "

" This is the sound of the truth. "

" There is nothing you can do. "

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

KINGSLAYER - BRING ME THE HORIZON & BABYMETAL

" Are you looking for the other side? "

" I need to know where your loyalties lie. Tell me, are you gonna bark, or bite? "

" Wipe the system and back the fuck up. "

" You are modified. "

" You're a puppet! When they cut your strings off, don't come crawling back. "

" You're on your own. "

" I'll fight for you until I die. "

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

I'M AFRAID I'LL GO TO HEAVEN - MOON WALKER

" I don't wanna live forever, 'cause I don't want what's coming next. "

" Don't think we stand taller together, 'cause half of us ain't got no spine. "

" My biggest fear ain't no red Devil, it's being near you people all the time. "

" I'll be fine as long as you go somewhere else. "

" They tell you truth is what you make it. "

" It's like we don't even gotta try no more. "

" I'm sure your god would love to keep it white, but I think that me and mine will be alright. "

#rp memes #rp meme #rp prompts #rp prompt #roleplay prompts #writing prompts #ask box meme #askbox meme #rph #rpc #judasrpc #// can i say as an aside: i love that these vastly different songs have similar thematic elements #// that when stripping the lyrics down. you get such similar messages?#// i'm sure that says smth about me BUT--

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prince-of-elsinore · 7 months

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I was pondering, as one does, what S. E. Hinton told Rob Lowe about Sodapop dying in Vietnam, and decided to do some digging. For context:

S. E. even says it's not canon (😌), but it did get me thinking. Soda fits the demographic (lower class, not highly educated) hardest hit by the draft to a T, so what would his chances have been like?

Here's a graph of conscription via the draft by year (source):

Soda is 16 going on 17 in The Outsiders, which takes place in 1965, meaning he'd turn 18 in 1966, the year with the highest conscription levels. So far not looking so good.

However, I also remembered that there is such thing as a Hardship Deferment, classified as 3-A: "Deferred from military service because service would cause hardship upon his family" (source). Unfortunately I was unable to find clear eligibility requirements for a 3-A deferment during the time of the Vietnam War. Many sources refer to "dependents," but to the best of my knowledge (based on current military guidelines and various historical references I've come across), that does not mean it would be limited to fathers/legal guardians of dependent children (though it would almost certainly apply to Darry as Ponyboy's guardian). It seems to apply in any situation where a family member is dependent on the draftee due to minority (being under 18), illness/infirmity, or financial hardship. Considering that Sodapop dropped out of school to work full time and help Darry pay the bills, and that Darry already works two jobs and is hardly able to be at home with his underage brother, it seems that as long as Pony was under 18 Soda would have a strong case for a 3-A deferment. (Please, if anyone has more information on 3-A deferment, feel free to add on/correct me.)

Ponyboy had recently turned 14 in the book, meaning he'd turn 18 in 1969 (I'm guessing in the summer, based on my understanding of the book's timeline). Theoretically, Soda's draft number could have been called up as soon as Ponyboy was of age, and I'm guessing a 3-A would no longer apply. There was a significant drop-off in conscription from 1969-1970, however, and it continues to decrease rapidly from there. With a 3-A deferment Sodapop would have been protected from conscription during the years he would be at the greatest risk.

So, while not impossible, it seems relatively unlikely that Sodapop would've been conscripted after all. I'm sure this has been keeping you up at night, too; now you can rest a little easier 😌

#don't mind me obsessing over in my corner here #my greaser meta #those greaser boys #the outsiders #sodapop curtis

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zazzander · 1 year

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Translating the Prophecy of Seven into Latin:

In light of the fact that the current version of the prophecy isn't done very well at all. I decided to try and translate it myself! This is bringing me back to Latin 101 lol, but it's pretty fun.

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,

Septem filii deorum curam respondebunt

The Latin word for "demigod" is literally heros, however, the translation is "halfbloods". This is tricky. A literal version of this would probably be semisanguines, however, I believe the intent is to refer to children of gods (rather than legacies). So I've made this filii deorum, "children of the gods".

I used the word "curam" for "the call". It can mean that they are answering a command / charge (I think). But it also means they might be answering/reacting to:

an attendant, guardian, observer.

anxiety, grief, sorrow

trouble, solicitude

So basically they're responding to this Big Concern or to Hera herself (the "guardian"). I like the ambiguity of it. And the English phrase "the call" is a decent translation of such an ambigious phrase.

To storm or fire, the world must fall.

Aut ab procellae aut ab igni, Terram cadenda est

I had some fun with grammar in this one and learned what a gerundive is - wow! Anyway, this version is less ambigious on what is falling exactly. Because "Terra" = "Gaea", the personification of the earth.

The verb comes from cado, which has several meanings related to "fall" such as "fall in battle", "fail", "loose strength", or "die". This fit nicely :)

I used the term procellae rather than tempestas for storm because the latter is more general and can refer to any type of weather, as well as seasons etc.

So this reads more like: To storm or fire, the Earth must fall. But it's close enough.

An oath to keep with the final breath,

Fidem ad ultimam animam praestabitur

Okay, so I think in the context of the story, this phrase is closer to the concept of keeping one's word. Like "Leo kept his word to Calypso" / "Leo fulfilled his promise to Calypso". And in that case, in Latin", fides is the best term. Rather than the straight-forward sacramentum, which I believe is used in more formal contexts only.

I put this phrase in the passive tense because it doesn't actually say who's keeping the oath. In Riordan's original Latin the sentence adds a mysterious "we" - this doesn't work for obvious reasons.

The translation of "breath" was kind of tricky. In Riordan's version it's spiritu which I think is okay, but on the face of it, anima is better. Anima refers to both "breath" and one's "life / soul". So if I'm right, to give the indication this is a death, anima works better.

Another translation of this is: An oath will be kept with a final breath

And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death

Et inimici arma ad Ianuam Leti ferent

So this really depends on what Riordan meant by "bear arms". There are two meanings:

carry firearms

wear or display a coat of arms

Neither of these really match what I think Riordan was going for. I think his intention was that a battle would take place. The second meaning fits this in a way, armies traditionally "bear arms" when they are about to fit. In which case, it would be signa ... ferent.

However if the idea is simply that they're carrying weapons, then it's arma ferent. I think, based on how it's presented, the second option makes more sense.

I have made a couple other changes compared to the original Latin in the books as well:

It's inimici "enemy, rival" rather than hostes "enemy if the state, hostile".

And Leti not necem. This is because the Doors of Death are named after Letum, the god of Death. It's also in the genitive case now (yay!).

A fun part of this version is that it can also mean both: And foes carry arms to the Doors of Death & And foes endure war at the Doors of Death.

So together:

Septem filii deorum curam respondebunt.

Aut ab procellae aut ab igni, Terram cadenda est.

Fidem ad ultimam animam praestabitur,

Et inimici arma ad Ianuam Leti ferent.

What do y'all reckon??

#having fun trying to understand Latin grammar #disclaimer: i'm not a latin expert #any latin scholars rattling around on tumblr feel free to correct me!!#heroes of olympus #camp jupiter #new rome #prophecy of seven #this is supposed to be a poem #but making poetry work in latin is a bridge too far #octavian hoo #octavian pjo #jason grace

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yanderefairyangel · 7 months

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You know, something I forgot to add in the video when talking about Engage being darker then you'd thought, is that this makes the light-hearter, kinda cheesey-vanilla and silly moment even better. It makes me appreciate them even more, like I am so thankfull Engage doesn't take itself seriously during the entirerty of the story cause when Engage takes itself seriously, the emotional damage you receives is unreal.

Cause like, all those cheesy moments, those light-hearted moments and silly moments gets a lot of nuance when you know the entire story and know the full context between each thing. Really, it makes the balancing between the dark and light-hearted moment just perfect and it makes the story very refreshing since it allows you to breath. Cause I'll tell you, if Engage was trying to be dark and serious all the time, knowing that there is those moments, I think it would make the story less endearing, less fun and would actually work less well when it comes to the tragic aspect of some scene.

Take the training session with Lumera in chapter 2.

In a first run, this is a pretty light hearted moment, especially compared to the previous entry. In Awakening, chapter 1-2 had you having to kill Risen when learning they are quite a danger. And in Fates, the training session between Corrin and Xander took place at night, with Xander being quite harsh towards Corrin telling them stuff "fight as if you wanted to kill me".

In comparison, this training session with Lumera feels like a friendly sparring, when she teaches things to Alear she is so soft to them and when fighting you can tell she is still enjoying this sparring session. I think I already said it but this scene, despite it being about preparing to war, doesn't take the risk or context seriously, instead it's very light hearted. It takes place in a beautiful garden, with a sweet toned Lumera. It feels like a friendly family sparring session between Alear and Lumera just for the sake of spending time together and with the Stewards being invited.

And this is such a great thing. It's so good because of what's comming next. Because Lumera is clearly enjoying this and no wonder why when you know the whole story, the fact that she and Alear never got to spend proper time as mother and children, to the point that things as trivial as snacking together and chit chating together is something that Lumera said she dreamed to do with Alear. Even though Alear is amnesiac she is still enjoying this time they spend together because it is the first moment they are finally reunited after 1 000 long years and they can finally be a family.

Lumera welcoming Alear in Lythos castle, spending time together training like this, it's stuff she never was able to do 1 000 years earlier because of the current war and she just wanted to share those little moments with the child she came to love as her own child. She can finally do it, so it's no wonder she doesn't want to take the whole context seriously, this is why this scene is so light hearted. And the parallel with chapter 25 is just *chef kiss*

Cause this one moment was so dear to Lumera that even in her Corrupted form, when you fight her, she is speaking the exact same cue as in chapter 2. Chapter 25 is chapter 2, but darker as this time, it's not a friendly sparring session, it's a deadly fight. Yet Corrupted Lumera still remember that time, she still treasure it as the only moment she could spend with her child after 1 000 year of being separated.

And what's even better is the evolution Alear went through. While they don't remember what happened 1 000 ago, they still regained one memory, the one where they "die" and I already explained how this one scene was enough to convey all the love Alear felt for their mother and right after they meet their past self. In chapter 3, I already mentionned how Alear's use of hiragana was a hint of subconsious memory, that they still remember even if their mind is blocking it and this means they still recall their deep love for their mother, and even after her death you can tell it no matter the context, whenever Alear speaks of Lumera. And as @dancerladyaqua explained in that post, the use of hiragana by Alear in chapter 25 this time is not subconsious but conscient.

This means that Alear's perception changed. In chapter 2, they didn't knew at the time that this was the very first and will be the only moment they will spend with Lumera as family, as they forgot everything but during their journey, by the time we reach this point, Alear gained enough knowledge to realize that, so fighting Lumera and Lumera saying the exact same things as she did in chapter 2 hurts them even more as it reminds them of the only time they spend together as family, but Alear realized that it was their first and only time as acting as family, and that they won't have a chance to spend time together as such again so Lumera's second death was this time a farewell forever, but Alear ended up maturing enough to accept it but to still cherish their mother no matter what.

PH fans will get it but Alear's response to chapter 25 is the equivalent of Oz finally answering the question "Where are you ?" : this is showing how far they come.

And stuff like that is so present in Engage. Like when a quicky character turns out to have some darkness within them, its makes their silly and light hearted side even more endearing and tasty. It's like how Alfred's bright demeanor makes him very strong when you know about his illness.

The darkness in Engage makes every of those cheesy, vanilla, power rangers like light hearted moment even more endearing because of how well it balance with the rest of the story, and this makes the tragic aspect hidden behind all those light hearted moments such as chapter 2, when you realize that Lumera and Alear never really got to be a family, to the point that Lumera was dreaming of sharing trivial moments with Alear.

Veyle as well, in her support with Nel and her entry when you give her the PR shows she dreamed of such moments with her family, even though for most of us it might seems trivial, Lumera and Veyle went through such horrible situations that it makes those moments precious, dream even. Veyle never got to have a real family and to spend happy moments with them, Lumera lost her entire family and her entire kind and felt lonely, had to fight all alone and to brace herself to never let anyone see her weakness. Just how Alear is the innocent child they were inside in front of Lumera, chapter 2 is showing Lumera is finally able to stop putting her facade and finally show her soft side to someone, someone lonely who wish to have someone to chit chat with while eating snacks. This also makes in retrospective the lesson about not running away and fighting until the end in chapter 2 have even more weighed as it is something Lumera had to deal with herself and even become a burden to her.

They lived through such horrible things that it makes you realize that getting to chat and eat snacks with your family and friends is actually something very precious, and that you should treasure it. This is the sweet bitter lesson behind chapter 2/25 as Alear realized that it was their only moments with Lumera and that there wouldn't be anymore.

In the same way, the darkness within Engage makes those light hearted moments even more precious, especially knowing what's comming next.

And again, PH did that too, where the moments where the plot would give you sweet and lighthearted moments become even more endearing when you know the full end.

An example is the unbirthday party. When you know the full story of Oscar Vessalius, it makes this moment he spend with Oz and the other even better, even more precious.

So really, Engage's light hearted and even vanilla tone is such a good thing.

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #fe engage #lumera #alear fire emblem #fe alear #i love this family so much

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fantasticalbiology · 20 days

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The Amazing Digital Battle Circus ep 2 Aftermath

For more context on this here The Amazing Digital Battle Circus Pilot. For those of you who don't want to read that in short The Amazing Digital Battle Circus is an au idea in which the Amazing Digital Circus is a blood sport watched on by millions. The cast fight die and respawn all the time

Gangle is the most deadly person and takes no shit especially from Jax

Kinger is crazy but battle hardened

Jax has the same personality and gets the crap beaten out of him by everbody for it

Caine is more blood thirsty because he in this AU has acess to all the internet. Whenever he says the boys at C&A he talking about the company behind The Amazing Digital Battle Circus Caine and Able

Ragatha while nice is cold blooded

and Pomni is still a nervous wreck, but is just as deadly as everyone else

Now what this post is about

Caine: Hello, Hello and welcome to the recap of the Amazing Digital Battle Circus, as always I’m Caine, host and commentator of the greatest blood sport on the internet. For those who don’t know this is a way to decompress and tell you about everything even the unseen stuff of our little show here, so lets begin.

Gangle

Caine: The most dangerous woman in the ADBC suffered her first lost in the Candy Canyon Kingdom arc at hands of THE FUDGE, but she got her run back as she filled Jax with explosive and turned him into a chocolate rabbit and you can guess the rest.

Pomni

Caine: The rising star of the ADBC [Laugh track]. Who am I kidding she is not, losing fight after fight, she has a worse record than Zooble. However a bleak light has opened up as Pomni is now able to summon the gummy gator gang. The boys at C&A however had to make some room for these summons so say goodbye to the abstracted long arm mcgee and Jummy, they will not be missed, I mean seriously they only ever talked to Zooble so what is the point of keeping their memories alive.

Ragatha

Caine:Thanks to the beautiful freaks that watch the ADBC, the Ragged Ravenger Ragatha due to popular demand now has the ability to summon Princess Loo. This is the only time were doing this so don’t expect the Amazing Digital Battle Circus to become the Amazing Digital Love on the Battlefield Circus because that is already a registered trade mark somewhere else. I do however think she threw the token for Princess Loo away as most npc are useless against human combatants in a direct fight anyway

Jax

Caine: Jax can now add drowned in chocolate and fed to The Fudge as one of the many ways he has died in the ADBC. However before he died he saw Gangle lose to The Fudge so his Moral should go up and he’ll keep fighting. [Looks off screen] Nevermind he is currently being made into Gangle b**** all is right with the world

Kinger

Caine's announcement

Caine: As you all know I made Kinger the war commander for the Candy Canyon arc, and he did wonderful so Kinger has won the MVP award for most amount of candy guts spilled. He has also gained army of candy men,

Zooble

Caine: Gangle… was there, and that’s all I can say

#the amazing digital circus #tadc au #tadc kinger #tadc pomni #tadc ragatha #tadc jax #tadc caine #tadc gangle #tadc zooble

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darkonekrisrewrite · 1 year

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Hawks didn’t have to kill Twice

Meta: Necessary 1 and Hawks inner conflict 2 (Warning: spoiler Heavy and very Long post, images and writing)

(Sorry for being so late to this topic, this Meta took a long time to make and update with current plot points. Also permission is given to Re-post (not rewrite) this Meta anywhere/any site)

Necessary: Sedation and backup options (1)

It wasn’t “necessary” for Hawks to kill Twice and by extension not justified either. Hawks could have used a sedative on Twice to capture him or at the very least rendered him unable to be a threat for an extended period of time.

Within the story and overall context of Bnha, Hawks should have been able to do this quite easily, especially compared to what he was already doing in story.

Momo can create some form of drug so powerful that it could knock down Gigantomachia given enough time, obviously something so powerful wouldn’t be needed to knock out Twice but the point is that Momo’s powers are based off of things that already exist in their world, things that she has to know the components of to create. So things like an agent that can render someone ineffective/unconscious do exist in Bnha.

A drug of this size ^ was eventually able to knock down Gigantomachia, so surely something much smaller should be able to do the same, and in much quicker time, to a normal human like Twice.

Hawks was being observed at the time he was acting as a double agent in the MLA, so it may have been difficult for him to obtain such a sedative without notice, but that line of thinking doesn’t really add up with what we see in the story.

Hawks uses the Destro books to warn the Heroes about the impending threat of the LOV/MLA and he does this by marking/highlighting certain words and sections of said books.

He literally tells Endeavor to read those specific parts and despite being observed in some form, no one thought any of that was suspicious enough to do anything about.

So either Hawks wasn’t being observed that thoroughly or those watching him were very incompetent, I’m thinking it’s the former.

Hawks is a Hero, primarily a fighter but also a pretty fair rescue hero as well, if the Destro book warnings flew under the radar then I don’t think anyone would have found it very suspicious for Hawks to obtain a sedation drug/tool and keep it on his person, if ever needed the excuse could simply be that such a thing may need to be used to render a frantic or injured civilian immobile in order to rescue them.

Is that legal for heroes? Not sure but I don’t think it would have been discovered or mattered that much in Hawks’s already very shady situation.

But if it did need to be hidden and couldn’t be discovered, like for instance if Hawks’s person was searched and he didn’t want such a thing to be discovered in the first place, then what?

This wasn’t a problem either as Hawks was able to apparently sneak in a very noticeable and fairly sized recording device.

(This was cut from the anime as far as I know (for some reason??) and only shown in the manga.)

The device itself wasn’t even a bug, shown in size by being scaled to Hawks’s hand; a sedative injection could fit in such a device of that size. The concept isn’t so far away from the Quirk erasing bullets.

(Scaled to size the injectable device/contents is about the same size as the recording device Hawks brought (easily snuck in) with him.)

“A villain who refuses to be knocked out” is a part of Hawks’s reasoning in his decision to kill Twice, but Twice is still just an ordinary human being aside from his Quirk, the ‘sedative option’ logically was more than possible and definitely would have had the desired effect of either completely stopping the threat of Twice’s Quirk or at least severely undermining it.

Why wasn’t better backup prepared on the heroes’ side?

The hero commission and the overall hero side never had much of a problem using the students in the war, there wasn’t even much protest against this course of action, Midnight herself even justifying it by saying that Kaminari knew what he was getting into (which given the situation I very much doubt) and that no one else can do this because his specific Quirk is needed.

This instance/battle is important for more than Kaminari’s big hero moment and confirmation of his feelings for Jiro, the heroes had intel of Kaminari’s specific chosen opponent, “The Amplivolt villain” a high ranking member of the PLF, who’s power is very similar to the young hero’s quirk in the absorption and manipulation/discharge of electricity.

Kaminari fulfils his role in this specific battle, a success because the heroes had obtained Intel on this specific opponent, the only logical line of reason being that this Intel must have come from Hawks, being the heroes source.

So why wasn’t this same logic applied to Twice? Or even to other villains?

Hawks confronts twice and shuts down a sad man’s parade in an instant, as well as pinning him down:

Now leaving aside the Hawks/sedation point, what happened next with Dabi’s entrance into the fight and using his powerful fire Quirk to push Hawks into a corner is often used as justification for Hawks’s killing blow, placed at a severe disadvantage and doing anything to prevent Twice’s escape.

It’s a fair point at first but looking a little deeper I don’t think it stands up as a whole when going back to the Kaminari battle and later Chapters in the Manga.

Inasa Yoarashi, Quirk Whirlwind, introduced during the hero licensing exam:

The scene depicted above shows Inasa using his wind Quirk to lift and manipulate a large number of people and debris (rubble), here using it for saving/rescue but could also reasonably be used in combat against a large number of opponents.

And later in the Manga this is exactly what happens:

Inasa uses his Quirk to great effect against the clone parade.

While true that this wasn’t enough to fully stop the parade in its entirety, in the Hawks/Twice situation it would have been more than efficient in containing twice, and even more than that would have subverted Dabi’s threat as well.

Though Dabi’s flames are more powerful than Shoto’s, there’s no reason to assume that Inasa’s quirk couldn’t have thrown off the flames similar to what happened during the Exam. And if that’s not enough of an edge in this fight, there’s one other person who’d be ideal:

Mina Ashido, Quirk Acid, apparently very fire proof. (This was really cool; I wish more had been done with this aspect of Mina’s abilities.)

Mina’s fire resistance paired with her physical skills/mobility would be a great asset in a fight against Dabi, could it defeat him? Probably not, but when taken all together: Hawks easily defeating twice before the parade can form, Inasa being backup in case this failed to contain the clones, and if Dabi showed up the pairing of Inasa and Mina together having pretty good odds against Dabi with their Quirks naturally countering his, it’s a pretty good plan.

But was it possible given the timing and circumstances? I think it was.

The licensing exam was common hero knowledge, or at least government knowledge, the picture above showing Mera, a worker for the Hero Public Safety Commission, overseeing the event and directing it. And then was present later at the Remedial Course in the same position.

A hero (definitely a high ranking one) could have obtained information on the students and how they performed during, with Hawks and how well connected he is through hero society (doubly so through the hero commission), this should be easy, either by being present or viewing recorded info.

Mina’s resistance to fire wasn’t shown or mentioned until it was used to get through Dabi’s flames, but given her facial expression (lack of fear/surprise), it seems fine to assume that she didn’t just run into the fire and hope for the best that her Acid Man could take it. That’s a reasonable line of thought right? Though not revealed in present or flashback, there must have been some point before this where the ability was tested, because the scene wouldn’t really make sense otherwise.

The two being at the battle would be the next issue but given how quickly Tokoyami reached Hawks’s vicinity riding inside Fatgum, part of the first few waves of heroes advancing to the Paranormal liberation headquarters, traveling by running (Fatgum was doing the running, not slow but definitely not a hero known for his speed) on the ground, then entering the building by flight to get to Hawks to help him.

It’s also reasonable to assume that using Inasa’s ability to fly and carry others (Mina in this case) with him, the two could have reached the building, entered inside and gotten to Twice’s location at the time or even before Dabi had reached them. I feel there’s evidence for this because Inasa was able to beat Shoto Todoroki in terms of Speed in their first meeting, Shoto who can keep up with Deku and Bakugo.

Official Bnha Wiki Entry: The practical exam consisted of a marathon race which Inasa narrowly defeated Shoto in.

The heroes were already willing to put the students on the front lines to increase their odds (Kaminari), and the knowing of the student’s abilities was there to be known if looked for (Solidly proven in Inasa/license exam, less so in Mina ashido but still feasible).

Was there enough time to consider and prepare all of this? Definitely.

Hawks had more than a month, I think the timeline provides even more time than that, to obtain and plan anything that was needed for the coming conflict.

So all that being taken into consideration, why wasn’t any of this done? The Sedative option or the increased backup (Quirk counters) on the heroes side? Hawks isn’t stupid by any means so why wasn’t this thought out? I think the answer was given in one of the first descriptions of Hawks and his character:

“Hawks the hero that moves too fast.”

Hawks moved too quickly, not considering the full scope of his options in dealing with twice. The tools and strategic moves were there, he just didn’t make use of them. So looking at all the details, every character and scenario as a whole, Hawks didn’t “do what he had to do” and the death of Twice wasn’t necessary.

Hawks’s Conflict: past and present (2)

I was never a big fan of Hawks but I do see that his character is very complexed and layered, less so and being more straightforward in recent chapters but maybe that’ll change soon.

Hawks was conflicted during his confrontation with Twice but just as deeply as the fight or the nuance of the situation was Hawks’s inner conflict.

The confliction of the current self and the past self, the government spy and the child hero.

Some say that Hawks never intended to take Twice alive and that his intent was never to save him, which is true.

If Hawks really wanted Twice to back down from the fight (a fight Hawks claims he doesn’t want) then why would Hawks mock Twice like this?

It’s like he was trying to goad Twice into a fight in this scene because what other reason could Hawks have for saying it?

In the scene above Twice consistantly uses the word “us”, refering to those like himself who’ve been left “to the wolves” by hero society and heroes, by extension also talking about his closer friends in the League of Villains.

His friends who Hawks made no mention of trying to help at all, despite knowing how much Twice valued frienship and loyalty. There was no way Hawks could have seriously believed Twice would turn his back on the LOV, even if it was to save his own life. Twice confirms this in his own words later and Hawks isn’t surprised at all.

(Also side point: Twice was definitely not going to be given a fair shot at rehabilitation anyway, Hawks had no position or power to guarantee those words at all. Hero society has never been known for its nuance or understanding, a good example being evident in how Gentle criminal was treated after his arrest.

Gentle criminal was barely what could be considered a villain, even the police admitting as much in the interrogation after Gentle’s capture at UA. And from the way the conversation ended in the chapter it seemed like Gentle was going to be given a second chance or at least some form of lenience, for the tame nature of his crimes and for turning himself in.

But that clearly didn’t happen.

Gentle Criminal was put in prison, incarcerated alongside others who are clearly much more violent offenders than he ever was. Them not knowing who Gentle is at first look does call into question how much contact he had with the other inmates but that really doesn’t make it any better even if he didn’t.

Gentle criminal’s reasons for stopping the other inmates is a nice sentiment, but considering that he wasn’t much of a villain to start with and how he was treated before/after his arrest, the message falls a little flat. That the downtrodden must fight and suffer for the sake of a system that doesn’t care about them and only rewards them after they’ve “done the right thing” which really translates to fight for the system.

Looking back at Twice and the crimes that he had already committed, coupled with his mental state, and the fact that Hero Society is not in any way nuanced, it’s hard to see Hawks’s words of rehabilitation and a second chance if he comes quietly as anything other than a lie at worst or a delusion at best (I think it’s the latter.))

Back to Hawks

Some others say that Hawks did intend to try to save Twice, in his own way or at least make the attempt, which looking at those points made does seem true at the same time.

Hawks did say that he didn’t want to fight Twice and his expression does look conflicted leading to the impression that what he’s saying is his truth.

And Hawks did save Twice from Dabi’s flames, protecting him, the action itself is undeniable.

Put together this is why there appears to be so much conflict around these scenes, because both points of view are by evidence true.

And the reason why that is I think, is because Hawks himself is conflicted at his core, his origin and present.

Allmight describes great heroism present in heroes like this: “There are stories about every hero, how they became great. Most have one thing in common, their bodies moved before they had a chance to think, almost on their own. And today, that’s what happened to you.”

Sir Nighteye gives a very different description, calling such heroism madness of its own, especially in Allmight and Deku.

Hawks embodies these statements or rather he did.

Hawks did have that same Heroic ‘instict’ to save others, to be a Hero in its purest form, wanting to be a bright light shining for others.

But that was who Hawks was, not who he presently is.

Only a vestige remains of Hawks’s true desire to save others, as evident by how he did save Twice in that instant of Dabi’s attack and that’s the conflict.

People are shaped by their experiences and what they are taught to believe, dictating most of their actions. Hawks was raised/trained/manipulated from a very young age to be an asset for Hero society, so much so that the possible deaths of innocent people are something he’s meant to shrug off for the sake of the “greater Good”.

Hawks goes along with this, part of which included the High-end vs Endeavor fight, an instance that if Endeavor hadn’t gone “Plus Ultra!” or if the Nomu had taken the time to finish him off, could have resulted in an unknown number of hero and civilian deaths.

That uncaring willingness to sacrifice the lives of others, even those you claim to care about, to achieve a greater goal.

The manipulation of a young child to believe and act a certain way into adulthood, while de-valuing everything else and using them as a weapon against your enemies.

This sounds familiar right? The Master(s) and the student.

And in the end, due to Hawks’s own lack of planning, his conflicted inner selves, the manipulation/conditioning that he’s been through all this time, and the present situation that it all resulted in…

So while I would say that what happened was partially Hawks fault, I wouldn’t say that it was his entire fault, because when someone is made to believe in a certain way of doing things, even more so when it’s since childhood, it can be extremely difficult for them to see and consider options outside of that Box.

End + Afterword

But then scenes like this happened:

This ^ is not a good thing, no matter the framing (though the anime does make it more clear as a negative), because this line embodies a central (likely fatal) flaw in the hero side.

“Optimistic to a fault” isn’t going to help things, the aspects of society that creates villains and wrecks heroes.

Lady Nagant was a hero (Assassin) that worked for the hero commission, operating during Allmight’s “Era of Peace” killing more than a few innocent people.

And they were (presently) innocent people, corrupt heroes whose crimes were never clearly stated and villains planning on committing “acts of terror” also never really described.

And no matter what their acts/crimes would have been, discreetly assassinating them to maintain a false facade of Peace and flawless justice, hero society was right to be called a phony illusion by L. Nagant.

Though the hero commission was wounded by a clone of Re-destro, it isn’t gone, Mera the blonde Commission worker from above is currently acting head.

Coupled with this scene:

This ^ probably isn’t a good thing either, again despite the framing, because nothing has been done to prevent the faults of the past from reappearing in the future.

How does this relate back to Hawks?

Hawks, like most of the other heroes in the series, can’t accept the fact that there are big problems in their society and way of doing things.

And the only change they do seem willing to accept is the kind that benefits them:

This ^ scene here is…mostly a good thing, though with some very important parts missing.

Ochako’s speech was very sweet but while it did inspire the civilians to help (which was really just letting the heroes stay in their own shelter and not abandoning a kid that has fought to protect them all this time), the speech was still centered around the heroes and what they need, not any other victims of hero society (although Ochako did consider that inwardly and later, that was good).

Getting to the final point of this meta: Just like Lady Nagant who came before Hawks and probably like another downtrodden, easily manipulated child that will come after him (If Deku really does succeed and bring it all back), Hawks is a part of the hero system that does the right and wrong things for the sake of saving others but because of their inability to accept the darker truths of that system and it’s failings, they’re not really saving anyone at all.

(Will make another Meta expanding on this, the Villains/hero society/civilians and the Quirk singularity Theory at a later date)

To be continued…

#bnha #bnha spoilers #bnha meta #mha meta #bnha hawks #bnha twice #takami keigo #jin bubaigawara #hero society

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ask-vladimir-makarov · 4 months

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This blog is going on hiatus until further notice.

This will be a long post. Please read it anyway.

I've gone back and forth on this for a while now. I've been dealing with health problems and real life responsibilities that make it difficult to keep up with my regular posting, let alone with projects like this, which is why I haven't posted in so long. However, in the end, I decided I don't want to anymore.

I like Vladimir Makarov, as a character. I’ve been drawn to him since high school. He’s an interesting character to pick apart and analyze, both in the context of his fictional world and the larger meta context of his place in the narrative and how he’s received by his audience, especially in the realm of fandom.

However, he's also a character who has canonically committed genocide against the Chechen people during the First Chechen War. He is a character who, during his operations as a terrorist, profits from genocide in the Global South, particularly on the continent of Africa. And his reboot incarnation is no better, having taken part in Barkov’s occupation of Urzikstan and seeking to reoccupy it—timeline discrepancies aside, this is the character Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer wrote. And it’s for a reason.

I can sit here and talk about the nuances of fiction and reality and what it means to like a fictional character all day. However, I cannot and will not run a fan blog for a fictional genocider when my country, the United States, is funding, conducting, and aiding and abetting in multiple genocides across the world. I cannot draw Makarov cheekily answering asks about his love life and personal tastes while people suffer in Palestine, in Sudan, in Congo and elsewhere. I cannot contribute to a fandom environment where colonialism, oppression, and genocide are glossed over, whether fictional or real.

I implore everyone who follows this blog, or who reads this post, to do something within your ability if you aren't already. Attend a protest, participate in strikes like the one currently underway, and contact your representatives and implore them to denounce genocide and apartheid. Boycott companies on the BDS list and give your financial support to those who need it, whether that means donating to trustworthy organizations, purchasing e-sims for people on the ground in Gaza, or donating directly to those in need. Buy your electronics used and refurbished, not new. Create art—draw, write, make music, whatever it is you do—in solidarity for the peoples affected by colonialism, apartheid, and genocide. If you use social media frequently, follow those affected by these conflicts, pay attention to the news they share. Take the time to put the present into context and educate yourselves on the history of these conflicts and the systems at play. Encourage others to do the same.

Here is a very small list of resources on Palestine, Sudan, and the DRC to get you started. I may add more links in the near future, but keep in mind this is no way meant to be exhaustive; it is imperative that y’all take the time to inform and investigate yourselves. I nor anyone else can spoon-feed the facts. I've linked directly to donation pages for some, but I encourage y'all to dig through their sites to learn more and find more resources.

🇵🇸 Eye on Palestine + Taawon Association + Palestinian Children's Relief Fund 🇵🇸

🇸🇩 NasAlSudan: The Sudanese Revolution + What is Happening in Sudan? 🇸🇩

🇸🇩 Darfur Women Action Group 🇸🇩

🇨🇩 Friends of the Congo + their Resource Center 🇨🇩

>> kandakat_alhaqq on Twitter also has an extensive linktree of resources on many countries and groups in need of aid, including Sudan and South Sudan, Palestine, Somalia, Congo, Libya, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Morocco, and the Uyghur people Some of the links I've already listed here.

>> Genocide Watch tracks genocide around the world. They have a list of reports by region and many resources on educating oneself about genocide, including a breakdown of the Ten Stages of Genocide.

Finally, as fans of Call of Duty, it’s important to acknowledge and reckon with the fact that these games are military propaganda. I’ve seen this refrain passed around the fandom time and time again, but very rarely do I see it actively engaged with; most often it’s used as a way of dismissing the game’s narratives in favor of doing whatever one wants with the characters. And as someone who’s made it My Thing to do whatever I want with the characters while also staying cognizant of the themes of the stories these characters come from, I’m going to challenge y’all to do the same.

Engage with the propaganda.

Take the time to analyze and deconstruct the games and their themes and pay attention to what viewpoints they’re encouraging. Pay attention to who you, the player, will have your guns pointed at most often, and why.

(Also, please please PLEASE watch Jacob Geller's excellent video, "Does Call of Duty Believe in Anything?")

And for those of us who like Makarov the character, take the time to educate yourselves on the very real things this fictional character was involved in, whether in the context of the original trilogy or the ongoing reboot. Put the present into context. Consider the role this character plays in the narrative, and why.

Do these things privately and publicly. Post about it alongside whatever else you share in fandom, whether that's art, fanfic, headcanons or meta analysis. Discuss it with your fellow fans.

I may one day come back to this blog, or I may not. Please do not hold your breath either way—this blog was a short and fun thing while it lasted, but to me, paying attention to the real world and treating these games with the gravity and depth they require is a more important use of my time. None of us are free until all of us are.

Thank you to the kind people who've followed this blog and sent asks, and thank you for reading this post all the way through.

I’ll see y’all downrange.

#vladimir makarov #call of duty #I feel like this is worth putting in the tags considering. everything.

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thefirstknife · 1 year

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What are your thoughts on the critisism that Neomuna, and more specifically cloudstriders, feel "out of place", or the feeling some have that Lightfall has a whole has thematically defied their expecations in a bad way? (insert that comparison of the key art from the BL reveal vs the current key art here.)

Really hard to critique any aspect of it currently before we know more and play it.

A lot of stuff in Destiny can feel really odd and out of place without any context! I remember similar doubt and questions about Lucent Hive for example. For any serious critique, I'll have to see the expansion first, learn more about Neomuna and Cloud Striders and see if their story fits and has something valuable to add to the setting.

So far, I don't think they're out of place. The ECHO ships and surviving human colonies outside of Earth have been seeded almost 3 years ago and I've quite literally accurately predicted how that specific lore is tied to Neomuna. I think it's a pretty cool way to tie in an older open-ended storyline with something new that they need for an expansion.

A story about "survivors of the Collapse" is pretty much a given, as that's something that we've always wondered about in the setting. Could some humans have escaped? Could they have survived? What would've happened if they did and how would've they developed if the Collapse hadn't stopped us? Going there and examining that story can give us valuable information about our past (Golden Age and speculation on what we could've achieved if it continued) and our fall (the Collapse, how it happened, what exactly happened, how to prevent it a second time). On top of that, it's giving us super cool scifi concepts about neo-human civilisations and advanced development through nanotechnology.

And yeah, the original key art was really striking; no colours, grim, very evocative with imagery of a Pyramid eclipsing the Traveler. It was of course simply just a base for the expansion. It was a placeholder. I've seen a lot of people saying that Bungie "robbed" us of something; they did not. They cannot rob us of something that never existed. Concept art is a really long process with millions of ideas being thrown around, especially placeholder concept art.

For what it's worth, from what we know about Lightfall, the base idea for the expansion is still the same. We are very much in deep trouble, especially if we're correct in our predictions that the Traveler is about to run and if the trailer's footage of a massive battle in Earth's orbit is anything to go by. Neomuna itself is under massive siege by a new disciple and the Witness itself. There are new enemies and enemy threats that we haven't seen for a long time acting up again (the Vex).

Is the expansion much more colourful in comparison with a black and white placeholder image? Yeah. But that doesn't remove the danger the system is in. I'm not sure what people expected. Destiny is not a super edgy setting of only doom and gloom. It certainly has a basis of incredibly terrible stuff going on, but it never presents it without a balance. Even in the Red War and Forsaken, things were still colourful and beautiful and had a lot of different vibes packed together.

To me, a massive fleet of Pyramid ships descending on colourful Neomuna is an incredibly powerful image with a really visceral theme of how nobody can successfully escape the Darkness forever. You can buy yourself time, but ultimately it will find you. I think that's a pretty doom and gloom theme. I feel like the only reason people aren't seeing it is because the original was black and white, while the current is colourful.

My only proper concern is that they're introducing a whole new aspect to the setting this late. Introducing it itself is not the issue as much as that we're 2 expansions (including Lightfall) until the end. There's still a lot of stuff to go through and solve and deal with so I'm not sure how wise it is to introduce a whole new set of characters and a setting of this scale. Of course, as with the rest of the question, we can't really fully make a judgement on that before we play.

#destiny 2 #lightfall #long post #ask #i really do think that people are only complaining over colours #a lot of people have this idea of how things can only be presented as bad or dread inducing or horror if they're dark #and as a horror afficionado i resent that a lot. it's an easy way out #giving us such a beautiful environment like neomuna and dropping the black fleet in the sky is so much more powerful #than if we had just everything razed to the ground and black and white and dead and dull #creating something scary or unsettling while still employing vivid colours is a true feat #films like annihilation and nope are the first that come to mind #incidentally annihilation was mentioned a lot by the writers in connection with them making presage #and i am a huge fan of dead and dark space ships but I also like seeing something new and different

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