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empty-movement · 4 months

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Empty Movement's 2023 Revolutionary Girl Utena UPDATE

Fashionably late? As always. 2023 was a HUGE year for Empty Movement, so much so that to confess, we did a big fail in actually keeping up with sharing the stuff we did! OOPS. So finally, we proudly bring you: all the Revolutionary Girl Utena content we dropped in 2023. Essays, artbooks, CD information, you name it. Click below for the entire site update, or get it at the source, as always, at ohtori.nu.

In Analysis (Fan Essays): • seebee's essay The Power of Living an Embodying Narrative is about more than Utena, it's about the fandom--including us. We were both interviewed for this piece, and the result is an absolutely beautiful essay that has helped inform how we do Utena stuff going forward. Thank you so much for letting us be part of this! • seebee's VIDEO essay FILM CUTS BACK | transfeminism in utena absolutely blew our minds and it's so good we're listing it. Look at the title. Just go watch it, it rules. • Nicole Winchester's essay No Choice But To Become Witches: The Bishōjo-Demonic Phallic Mother Dichotomy in Revolutionary Girl Utena catches you up to speed on the academic discussion around what might best be described as the shoujo manga iteration of the Madonna-Whore complex. Then, naturally, it finds plenty to say about Utena. Great work that was well worth the coding!

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In From the Mouths of Babes (Translated Meta/Creator Content): • Cross X Talk, A Round Table Discussion Commemorating the Second Musical Utena GOGAI FUCKIN' GOGAI. Nagumo and friends bring us the final untranslated part of the 2019 Black Rose Musical's program guide: the monster interview with Ikuhara and the director of the musicals, Yoshitani. INCREDIBLE content here that 100% lives up to the first musical's similar encounter! A must read!! • The Rose Apocalypse's Ei Takatori Interview The director of the mysterious 1999 musical (yes the machine gun one, and YES WE HAVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT IT COMING) interviewed in The Rose Apocalypse book. This...is that. Thank you so much to iris hahn for translating, and I can't wait to bring you more of this mythology!!! • The Utena Dossier Animage Magazine's June 1997 supplemental, this 36-page Utena tome has ben translated by Nagumo with editing by Ayu Ohseki. Because so much of the content is in its visual presentation, I worked the translation into the original scans! Check it out! (PS. Yes that is an entirely different gallery on the emptymovement.com domain, no this won't stay there, yes it has been a weird couple years.) The Dossier includes two long interviews that are also worked into html pages for easy viewing! The Auspicious Joining of Manga and Anime: Saito and Hasegawa For Whom the Director Smiles: Ikuhara and Kitakubo

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In Historia Arcana & The Bibliothèque (Untranslated Resources): • There are a lot of changes happening in this arena!!! How and where to place different materials has been a moving target, so I'll do my best! The sites don't quite reflect this yet, but Historia Arcana will be for cover to cover Utena media, including special magazine publications. Something Eternal's gallery, the Bibliothèque, will be for magazine articles, clippings, and other things. Major artbooks will likely be in both places, cross referenced. New books in Historia Arcana: • The Rose Spiral: Reflections on the Mythology of Utena While not strictly official, this is a fan published book of in depth analysis of Utena, circa 1998! Yep, cover to cover. • Revolution Dictionary (OST 1 First Press Bonus) Cross-referenced from Audiology, this is the bonus dictionary you only got if you grabbed it early! Cool! • Revolutionary Girl Utena Making of Visuals Book Art of UTENA I am mentioning this for completions sake and because I already uploaded it, but this is a cover to cover high resolution, uncleaned scan of the 1999 Art of Utena artbook. I am going to clean the scans, and ultimately be posting the official artbooks elsewhere. • Revolutionary Girl Utena Photobook: Rose Memories This special Animage bonus could be purchased for 700 yen, and back then, was probably a great way to keep the anime in your pocket! It's entirely shots from the TV series, though, so there's nothing specifically new. But I scan it all, baby. New books in the Bibliothèque: • Chiho Saito's 1999 Revolutionary Girl Utena Original Illustration Collection HI THIS IS A VERY BIG DEAL. Read more about why when you visit! TLDR? Here's some of the best artwork of Utena, rescanned and remastered by yours truly to be the best big big scans of big big beautiful Chiho Saito Art. This is a feast. I even made myself a calendar! (Note that the price is such that I don't make a profit on these, so if you're looking to donate, definitely go by other routes, haha.) You will find multiple ways to obtain the scans, and in more than one size. Either way you soak up the rays, enjoy 'em! New articles and clips in the Bibliothèque: • H! Rockin' on Japan Magazine Saito X Oikawa This fashion music magazine's July 1999 article has ALREADY BEEN TRANSLATED? Like, I am going to add the translation officially to the site of course, but holy hell Nagumo is amazing!! This article is actually the origin of a Saito art piece that uh, well. Now we know she went to a love hotel with movie Akio's VA. Cool! Anyway check it out! • Comickers Magazine, August 1997 This absolute monster find is an industry-focused magazine with this gorgeous spread and interview with Chiho Saito. It gets into how she does things. The making of Utena. All kinds of stuff. I'd LOVE to know more about this one!! • Comickers Magazine, June 1998 Again, an industry-focused publication, this time it's exploring the manga and the anime and how they compare. Again looks like a tasty meal!! • Volks Magazine, Spring 2022 YEP SCANS OF THE BOOK OF THE DOLLFIES. For a lot of us, this is at close as we get to these ludicrously gorgeous dolls. I included a few extra pages because they were just fuckin' cool and felt relevant. • Sega Saturn Magazine, December 1997 One of two grabs I got recently on Yahoo! Japan! This appears to be the first look announcement of the 1998 Utena video game! (Yes we have more on it, yes we will eventually post links.) • Sega Saturn Magazine, April 1998 This feature brings attention to the voice actors, who are all returning for the game! • Dengeki G's Magazine, January 1998 Another gaming focused magazine, with frankly a more adult edge, cheaply lets the readers know about Utena. These three game magazine moments are just a bizarre reminder of how we did things before the internet, LMAO

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In Audiology (Music and CD Information): • Complete information about the STAR CHILD - Girls Character Song Best album! You also definitely can't grab the two new remix tracks there. • Did you know there was a first press bonus dictionary for the first OST? I DIDN'T UNTIL RECENTLY. Now I know all about it, and so can you. Check it out! Obviously, scans available, both here and in Historia Arcana. • I FINALLY acquired a complete set of the Utena CD singles!! Check out complete track lists, scans, and information for ALL FIVE Utena singles. Yes. Including the movie Akio guy's one.

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In The Doujinshi Gallery: • Several dozen dounjinshi were uploaded earlier in the year, and can be found listed on the Site Update archive here.

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That's all for now, folks! There's so so so much coming. I have the episode 18 and 20 (!!!!) storyboards to scan, as well as a fully translated scanlation of The Duelist Bible. We're planning to do something for Anthy's rare LEAP YEAR birthday coming up, probably a musical stream or something! Love!

#revolutionary girl utena #rgu #empty movement #empty movement update #utena meta #chiho saito #shoujo kakumei utena #utena movie #utena merch #utena

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mauesartetc · 7 months

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Redesigning Helluva Beelzebub

Hoo boy, roll up the sleeves for this one.

The Original

In my review of Helluva Boss 108, I mentioned that Beelzebub's character design put me in mind of how some DeviantArt kid's fursona might look. And... Yeah I stand by that statement. The most likely reason I can figure Viv Medrano wanted her to be dog-like was to make a reference to her Die Young music video, which featured an anthro wolf singing a Kesha song (for context, Kesha herself voiced Beelzebub and co-wrote a song for this episode).

But for those who are unaware, Beelzebub's traditional depiction looks nothing like this.

Really the only visual similarities the Helluva version shares with the Infernal Dictionary version are the insect wings, six limbs, and the crown thingy over the head. (At least I think that's a crown-? Kinda hard to tell on both counts.)

Bee's eyes get somewhat more insectoid later in the episode, but that feels like a cop-out. Wow, her eyes and colors changed. Totally a bug demon, right?

They had the same problem in Hazbin Hotel with Katie Killjoy, who's allegedly supposed to be a praying mantis but barely resembles one, even after her transformation.

I understand the desire for fresh takes on old figures, and taking creative liberties so the new interpretation doesn't feel generic. But the changes should at least make sense. By now it's pretty clear Viv couldn't care less about representing Ars Goetia demons faithfully, as demonstrated with Paimon, Andrealphus, and now Beelzebub. You could slap completely different names on these characters and it wouldn't change a thing. I posted this meme a while back but it's never been more relevant:

On top of that, what reason could there possibly be for the design to be this damn complex? Why did she need so many markings on her face? Why did she need so many layers of hair? Why did she need flowing goo for her hair, tail, and body, each requiring dedicated effects animation?

When it comes to a hand-drawn production, less is more. Any superfluous details on a character just make unnecessary work for the animators.

Anyway, here's what Viv has to say about it.

Alright, I'll admit: The lava lamp bit is a little clever. Basically it works as a regular stomach does, but on demonic steroids. But it wouldn't look so much like Viv's making this up as she goes if we'd seen Bee's stomach performing its intended function in the episode. Let her chow down on a giant piece of food (maybe that cotton candy she's been handing out-?) and swallow it, and let Loona (and the audience) see it dissolving in her transparent belly. As a general rule, if it's not shown or explained in the work itself, it's not canon. Like I've said before, Viv: Elaborate on the nuances in the story you're telling, not on social media.

Also, "Her ears are designed after beehives"? Wh...Wha? Ma'am have you ever seen a beehive.

(Hell, even if you told me the ears were inspired by the generic cartoon beehive we're all familiar with, I wouldn't have guessed. There's a difference between being subtle and being vague.)

I can kinda see it in the overall shape, but that's a very specific design inspiration that wasn't clear at all in the design itself. Same with the "animal trainer" thing: I never would have picked up on that if Viv hadn't pointed it out. If a character design doesn't visually convey all the necessary information, it's not a successful design. Show, don't tell. There's a communication breakdown between what Viv's telling us and what Bee's design shows us.

(It's possible she actually meant "Her ears are designed after honeycombs", but even then, each compartment has a specific pentagonal shape that's not coming across at all here.)

I also find it interesting that Bee and Loona have almost the exact same body type. Of course Viv's pretty infamous for samebody syndrome, but it's actually unnerving how similar these two are.

Might this be a reference to Vortex's "type"? Is this foreshadowing a relationship with Loona? Am I overthinking this? Yeah, probably. Viv's demonstrated a clear preference for tall, skinny body types over the years, so it's safer to assume that's the explanation. It's all aesthetics. It ain't that deep. Occam's Razor and all that.

Finally, Bee how the hell does your shirt work.

The Concept

So at this point it seems most logical to lean into the "bee" thing for the redesign, and scrap all the canine elements. As for the blobby hair and tail... yeeeah let's nix those too. We're going for a streamlined version that's easier to animate. And because I ignored the ringmaster look for my redesign of Asmodeus, it only makes sense to do the same for Bee's animal trainer vibe (what little there is) for the sake of consistency. I know this version of Hell has a circus theme with its highest-ranking demons, but there's never been an in-universe explanation for why that is.

Let's look at actual bees, then. A quick peek at Google has informed me that certain insect species have smaller, "simple" eyes (also known as ocelli), in addition to their compound eyes. In bees, this manifests as a triangular grouping of three beady eyes on top of the head.

In her Helluva Boss episode, Bee's full demon form has three eyes, which could be a reference to this triangular arrangement, plus her regular form has two spots on her forehead in addition to the third eye. So it's possible Viv actually did research for something. Pleasantly surprised on that front.

Next, the body. I've noticed that some folks find Bee's skinny body type refreshing, as the sin of gluttony is too often personified with fatness. And that's fair. That's valid. But consider this:

Imagine any Vivziepop character saying that about a chubby person. Imagine the series sending the message that fat people can be sexy too, and that they have worth outside of their appearance, enough for at least one character to consider them girlfriend material. That they're valued and appreciated regardless of this culture's beauty standards (which we know nothing about since the worldbuilding is as thin and flimsy as tissue paper, but whatever). Imagine if this show finally had a fat female character who wasn't relegated to the background. Don't know about y'all, but that would be refreshing to me. And when you take into account all the fat-shaming of a character who isn't even fat, portraying a fat character as attractive would be a nice change of pace for this show.

Now let's talk about clothing. In the episode, Bee's clothes show off a lot of her body, with a cutout crop top and short shorts. We can take a similar approach for the redesign (something that still shows off her chest, belly, and limbs, in keeping with the extroverted "party girl" persona), but that perhaps includes more queenly elements.

The Redesign

Because this is a redesign, many elements were already in place, but I still had to figure out how this character would look as a bee. Here's where the preliminary sketches came in. Lots of trial and error in this process.

Wrestling with this character's face got a lot easier once I realized I could mold it into a pentagonal shape akin to a honeycomb compartment. It took a few tries, but at last, I had a final sketch.

All that was left to do was test out some color combinations.

I tried a few different approaches, but in the end, this is the version I felt worked best.

I used many of the colors from the original, but pushed the orange much harder since orange is the symbolic color of gluttony as a sin. And overall it gives Bee a nice honey-ish look rather than the generic black and yellow we already see on so many bees in cartoons. I thought the colored outlines on her clothing would add a soft, feminine touch, as well.

And just for kicks, here's a quick sketch of her giant form, inspired by the Infernal Dictionary drawing of Beelzebub.

Conclusion

The canon version of this character exists in the form she does for no reason than to stroke her creator's ego. "Hey guys, remember when I animated that Kesha fan video? Remember how cool that was? Wanna see me foist this unnecessarily-complex character design on other animators while I take a victory lap?" I wouldn't mind so much if Viv animated any of this herself, but she didn't. I could almost excuse this if she had no animation experience and didn't know how much work it requires, but she does. The self-aggrandizing entitlement is just off the charts. But a nonsensical design is leagues better than a stolen one, so... brownie points for that, I guess.

#character design #redesign #helluva boss #helluva critical #helluva beelzebub #vivziepop critical #body positivity #long post

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clavissionary-position · 1 month

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Full Translation of Azel's LINE Chat

Ikepri's official LINE account here Kagari's chat ✦ Matias' chat Azel's keyword: ちゃりん (*clink of coins*)

*Accuracy is not guaranteed italics = Rude Azel

> *clink of coins*

Thank you for making an offering to God. How may I help you?

Choices 1) Would you like to go on a date together? 2) Would you like to tour Tanzanite's attractions together?

> Would you like to go on a date together?

I humbly refuse. I don't sell myself too readily as a matter of principle.

Oh, but there would be room for consideration if you were to sign a promissory note. It would be you selling your body to me, though. How about it?

Choices 1) I'll sign it 2) Please have mercy

> I'll sign it

Are you stupid?

My apologies, that text just now was sent by mistake. So a date, was it? I shall happily oblige. I'll draft up a promissory note to send over, so please wait without making any attempts to stiff me.

Oh, and don't worry; I already know your whereabouts even without you divulging it. I am God, after all. While we're at it, I'll go ahead and throw in a free oracle as a bonus.

[voiced clip] "Something good will happen if you stay with me all day today." On what basis...? There's no such thing. Take a guess.

> Please have mercy

It was a mercy that I didn't just ignore you.

Ah, what I mean is, you are a devout follower of mine… In which case, fine, very well; I don't mind going out with you just this once.

I don't know what it is you expect of me, and I don't wish to know, but I also hate the thought of being needlessly hounded any more than this.

[voiced clip] Of course I'm not planning anything. For I am a benevolent god. What are you saying—that I'm going to force a bill on you after? I would never!

> Would you like to tour Tanzanite's attractions together?

Why me?

Aren't you confusing me for some kind of handy local guide or something? There's no way I'd resort to doing menial work on my day off, no matter how greedy they say I am, but I'll at least humor you.

Choices 1) I want to go see your statue in the market 2) I want to go to your most-recommended spot

> I want to go see your statue in the market

...Not another word.

Can you even comprehend the abject horror that grips me whenever I walk through the market—you can't, can you?

Your payment just now was mere compensation money. Come to the temple right this instant and make an offering. Then we'll talk.

[voiced clip] Wait... I don't get myself. Why am I calling you over here for no reason?

> I want to go to your most-recommended spot

Do NOT come here. You're a pain.

My temple is my paradise. No prying eyes from the public, and I can spend my time in self-indulgence.

Then again, if you were to come by with worship money, I wouldn't exactly turn you away. But we'd pass the time as I see fit.

[voiced clip] I limit myself to doing nothing on my days off. I try not to think too much, and I don't meet with anyone either. You're just special.

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The Nice Azel chat segments end with him saying "If you have any further concerns, I'll gladly hear them out. For a fee." The Rude Azel segments end with "Is there anything else? You're such a tiresome follower."

This is the word he uses when he talks about selling himself, if you want some different interpretations:

(from Jisho.org)

I'm relieved he seems to be a tsundere. And I refuse to believe he doesn't walk around his temple completely naked when he's alone. It's his Mancave of Wonders 😭 He really feels like Silvio Part Deux (affectionate) but his theatricality seems very Clavis (affectionate).

Disclaimer

I'm not a translator. I just throw lines into various different translators and dictionaries and make a lot of guesses in-between. Take everything with a huge grain of salt.

Sources for specific phrases: (if you care about that sort of thing)

#azel radwan #ikemen prince #ikepri azel #ikepri spoilers #ikepri jp spoilers #ikepri translation folder

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spirithunter · 21 days

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Fan-translation Plagiarism for DM Vol.1

I've noticed similarities between a Death Mark manga translation that is currently being worked on by @lamentations-lighthouse (aris on Discord) and a translation done by @kasmis, posted on Tumblr in 2022.

Enough similarities that I suspect kasmis' existing translation has been lifted directly in parts of their translation. I spoke with kasmis about it and she’s aware of the situation and shared some more info from her side.

You can view kasmis' original translation here. On the first page, you can see the disclaimer about working with an existing scanlation group with plans to publicly list the final version on an ad-free manga sharing site (added once she was made aware of the situation). I won’t go over all similarities, but this second translation in question is available on a public Discord and can be compared there. I wanted to point out three instances that I think are particularly noticeable, but I encourage anyone who is curious to look for themselves.

Pictures & Evidence under the cut.

1st comparison: translation notes

The translation notes shared between the two versions regarding the way characters speak is similar both in content and flow. They also both come at the end of Chapter 2.

kasmis' translation:

other translation:

I think this is also worth mentioning considering a comment made by lamentations-lighthouse in their Discord where they make a very blatant error determining who is speaking during a panel in a Vol 2 extra, when they spent an entire translator’s note going over how the characters talk. They incorrectly assume Banshee is the speaker, when it’s obvious with a working knowledge of Japanese that the speaker is female and likely Yasuoka, the only woman in the panel (again, aris is lamentations-lighthouse, Kiu is the current editor who is not on Tumblr):

2nd comparison: "guess we're in the same boat"

One of the lines from Chapter 2 is lifted directly from kasmis' translation. This isn't a matter of translating the same material and coming to a similar conclusion, as the original Japanese line is completely different.

In the bottom left corner, Mashita uses the expression "腹をくくる" when talking about the Mark. His line (very) literally translated would be something like "Looks like I should prepare for the worst, too"

kasmis has gone on record with me saying she took some creative liberty when translating this bubble, using it as a callback to a line of his from the actual game (the scene from the car ride back to the mansion where they're having this same conversation). Additionally, she was very clear in stating this change was purposefully made to act as an indicator of if someone was using her translation without her permission, as a translation not referencing hers would likely translate it differently. In her words: it’s a phrase that doesn’t get spit out neatly when put through machine translation, but also is easily understandable to anyone using a dictionary for reference. The term for “being in the same boat” as someone is entirely different (一連托生) and is not a logical conclusion when going solely based off the text. Here is a link to the site in the second screenshot showing an explanation of this phrase by native Japanese speakers offering English advice. The phrase has the same translation when entered into a Japanese dictionary as well.

kasmis initially didn't translate the line such a way either. Here is a comparison from her first draft (which was copy-pasted from her individual chapter translations she did back in early 2021) and the eventual change later that same year. The part in question is underlined:

Here's the comparison between the most recent version of her translation and the other translation:

Even if this group were employing a similar strategy, the chances of the "indicator" line being exactly the same is hard to believe.

3rd comparison: XX/XX/199X

This observation is somewhat minor, but the date format used throughout Chapter 2 is the exact same one used by kasmis in her translation, just with the order switched around. In the raws, the dates are written as "O (Month) X (Day)," aka censored placeholders for month and day, with no mention of the year. kasmis stated she decided to use the 199X/XX/XX format to better relay some of the info from the game (the year 199X being mentioned in the diary seen after the final confrontation). While this team may be doing the same, it's odd how it's exactly the same.

Raws for comparison:

kasmis' translation:

other translation:

Public Bashing of kasmis and Proof of Knowledge of Her Translation

kasmis was contacted by @buffaloborgine about using her translation in their project, but she stated she was working with a separate group and that she did not give them permission to use any of her translation in their own project. This user is currently working on a translation of Volume 2 of the manga. For transparency, in the 3 day gap between messages seen below, buffaloborgine joined lamentations-lighthouse and Kiu’s group, so the relationship was not established initially. buffaloborgine did not disclose however they were collaborating/in contact with lamentations-lighthouse, when in fact both are now moderators in the discord where the new translation is being uploaded. kasmis followed up with buffaloborgine once she was made aware of this connection. Below are her initial answer to the offer (note dates) and the follow-up messages (screenshots taken on 4/24):

buffaloborgine discussed their conversation in the Discord server (screenshots taken on 4/24):

They later followed up complaining about kasmis’ reply publicly in the Discord while omitting similar relevant details (screenshots taken on 4/24):

Again, note that kasmis’ reply was only 3 days after this initial explanation, not 1-2 weeks as they originally stated. Though this gap doesn't really need an explanation in my opinion, kasmis agreed to allow me to share that she was in fact in preparation for a medical procedure and was not available to answer messages at the time. She sent her follow up message regarding lamentations-lighthouse's translation because I informed her of buffaloborgine's presence in the Discord server.

The messages from buffaloborgine to kasmis also appear to show the team had direct knowledge of her existing translation, as the editor in question is Kiu. At no point did any individual besides buffaloborgine reach out to her about potentially collaborating or using her translation in any way. aris/lamentations-lighthouse claimed to have no knowledge of the translation and similarly shamed kasmis in their public (reiterating this fact) Discord, where all of these messages are available to anyone who joins (screenshot taken on 4/24):

For this reason kasmis decided not to reach out to lamentations-lighthouse directly as they already publicly denied knowing anything about her translation.

I think it’s also worth pointing out, since the SH Reddit has been mentioned, that kasmis shared her translation there as well last year. The comment can be found here. As a relatively inactive subreddit, this post and her comment are not hard to find.

If anyone mentioned in this post wants to go on record in response, something as simple as posting the version history from their working draft (as seen in kasmis’ Google Docs screenshots, for example) to show that they aren't simply modifying her existing translation could help clear up any confusion. lamentations-lighthouse stated in the Discord that they use Google Docs to communicate with their editor, so showing their process should be fairly simple (screenshot taken on 4/23):

Disclaimer: kasmis and I are friends and she provided input and helped write parts of this post. This post is not meant to be an outright accusation, nor is it implying that lamentations-lighthouse’s translation is a one-to-one copy of kasmis’. I wanted to draw attention to the similarities between the two translations, kasmis’ experience, and the available information we have. All screenshots and images shared here are unedited besides cropping, redacting the information from third parties, and marking relevant points. Time stamps marked as “today” have the associated date attached to them in the description. The relevant Discord server is publicly available at the time of posting and all conversations screenshotted are available in public channels.

#death mark #spirit hunter death mark #death mark 2 #shibito magire #kazuo yashiki #satoru mashita #spirit hunter series #shiin #death mark manga #hanahiko death mark

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thehungergamesbreakdown · 1 year

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Katniss, Oh Katniss.

Katniss Everdeen is such an iconic heroine. She sparked so many young girls to pick up archery as a sport. However, there are two different Katniss that exist - the book Katniss and the Movie Katniss. In this post, we will be talking about Book Katniss today.

Katniss is our narrator in the books. It is the first point of view, we get her thoughts and everything through her eyes. Katniss is an incredibly blunt narrator - she tells things exactly how she views them with her opinions mixed in. She definitely suffers from C-PTSD (Complex PTSD) from growing up in Panem.

Names are important in "The Hunger Games". Most of the characters have Roman names, like Plutarch and Cinna, and others have plants. Katniss reveals that she is named after the water plant Sagittaria, otherwise known as "Katniss" or "Arrowheads". The plants grow these potato-like tubers that are edible. Her father taught her that "As long as you can find yourself, you'll never starve" (Collins, 52). From what we get from her name, Katniss is a born survivor and has a connection with her main weapon - arrows.

Second, we can look at her at Katniss' appearance. This is established on page 8 as Katniss describes her friend, Gale. "He could be my brother. Straight black hair, olive skin, we even have the same gray eyes. But we're not related, at least not closely. Most of the families who work the mines remember one another this way." (Collins, 8). Katniss reveals in the same breath that her mother and Prim do not look like her with their light hair and blue eyes. This is because Katniss's mother is from the merchant class.

While there are no official maps of Panama, Katniss ensures we know exactly where District Twelve is. She said, "District 12 was in a place called Appalachia. Even hundreds of years ago, they mined coal here, which is why our miners have to dig so deep.” (Collins, pg 41). Appalachia is a region of the USA that is set in the Appalachian mountains, it makes up "423 counties across 13 states and spans 206,000 square miles" (Appalachian Regional Commission). Most people argue that District Twelve is either in West Virginia or eastern Kentucky on details about the weather and fauna and flora but Collins left the details muddled.

While this is complete headcanon ("ideas held by fans of series that are not explicitly supported by sanctioned text or other media" Merriam-Webster Dictionary), a lot of readers take the location of District 12 and Katniss's description to believe that she is indigenous or a part of the Melungeon people, a marginalized mixed-race Appalachian community. Regardless of whether you believe in this headcanon or not, Katniss's olive skin and grey eyes are an important distinction in her community that she is from the Seam, the poorest part of District 12.

Katniss in the first book is a rough and traumatized young girl. I feel like a lot of people focus on her bitterness at the world. Katniss doesn't trust anything at face value even if she's not in a stressful situation. She wants her family to be safe and well-fed, no matter what it costs her personally. Poaching is a high offense in District 12 after all and she has been going in the woods since she was 11 to feed her family. What most people forget about Katniss is that she is King. She loves her sister, Prim, more than life itself and she tries again and again to make sure she can have some semblance of a childhood then when she meets Rue in the arena, she cannot help but ally her - mostly because she reminds her of Prim.

"I can almost hear Haymitch groaning as I team up with this wispy child. But I want her. Because she's a survivor, and I trust her, and why not admit it? She reminds me of Prim." (Collins,

In later books, Katniss allows the circle of people she cares about to grow. In "Catching Fire", she comes across two women named Bonnie and Twill, on the run from District Eight to the supposed District Thirteen. Despite the fact it might get her in deep trouble because of the Capitol watching her, Katniss helps them.

"First I give them all the food in my pack, grain and dried beans mostly, but there's enough to hold them for a while if they're careful. Then I take Twill out in the woods and try to explain the basics of hunting. She's got a weapon that if necessary can convert solar energy into deadly rays of power, so that could last indefinitely. When she manages to kill her first squirrel, the poor thing is mostly a charred mess because it took a direct hit to the body. But I show her how to skin and clean it. With some practice, she'll figure it out. I cut a new crutch for Bonnie. Back at the house, I peel off an extra layer of socks for the girl, telling her to stuff them in the toes of her boots to walk, then wear them on her feet at night. Finally I teach them how to build a proper fire." (Collins, pg 68).

Katniss is a fascinating character to study because of her complexities. This is barely scratching the surface of her character. In the next post, I'll be examining the Movie Version of Katniss and how she differs from the Book Katniss. See you then.

#the hunger games #the hunger games breakdwon #katniss everdeen

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a-la-campanella · 5 months

Text

Diamond and the Ten Stonehearts; who are they?

This was going to be part of a more comprehensive post about the Myriad Celestia IPC video, but fuck it, I've been scratching my head over this for hours now.

The Ten Stonehearts represents ten members of the IPC, led by Diamond. We know a few things about Diamond courtesy of this text. ->

This is from a larger post about the IPC, posted here. (According to the note left on Diamond's fandom wiki page, there was an official English translation, but it seems to have been deleted now.) Regardless, here's a translation for the above:

The Strategic Investment Department possesses the corporation's second-most long-term vision, and their investments are never constrained by short-term returns.

The investment department established an elite organization(1) of "Non-Performing Asset Liquidation Specialists" led by the mysterious supervisor "Diamond", one the few confirmed Emanator of Preservation leaders. They travel around the universe, actively liquidating lands with bad debts(2) produced by the Cancer of All Worlds.

Something to note, 使团 (which I translated as an organization above) refers to specifically a diplomatic corps or mission, like something more along the lines of an ambassador or representative for foreign relations.

It's basically the Topaz in Future Market situation. That's their job.

Note: I used a dictionary for most of the above translation, so it's a very literal reading on the text. My Chinese isn't good enough to translate this alone.

We can infer that the so-called Specialists probably refers to the Ten Stonehearts and maybe some other members of the IPC, or at bare minimum there's some level of overlap between these Specialists and the Ten Stonehearts. There's a reason Topaz was sent to Jarilo-VI instead of some low-ranking grunt, and those kinds of projects tend to be managed by people who can pull rank.

So we can confirm Diamond's the leader, and we assume to know what the Ten Stonehearts do. What else?

In the Myriad Celestia Trailer about the IPC (or what I like to call the IPC Recruitment video), we get an overview of how the IPC works and the different departments within it. We also get to see the gem representations of the Ten Stonehearts when the video starts talking about the Strategic Investment Department. What Owlbert says isn't important, he's talking fluff for the most part. What is important is what we're shown.

The picture on the left is cropped from before the person in the video picks up the gems. The one on the right is from after the gems are thrown, which is the image everyone else I've seen has been using.

But if you count these, there's nine gems before they get picked up, and eight after they're thrown.

I tried to match the numbers in both pictures to keep track of which gems were which, based on their colors and shapes.

Next train of thought: what's with the 9th gem?

A few theories, speculations, whatever you want to call it:

The boring answer: the producers working on this video straight up forgot about it. I find this hard to believe given the company's track record with lore in general.

It's hidden behind one of the other gems. I'm also skeptical of this answer, mostly because when you go frame by frame, it's still only eight gems, no ninth one. Besides, the only gem big enough to cover the missing one completely is the diamond, and for what reason? All the other gems are on display, why hide one?

Or? It's supposed to be missing.

In that case, why?

Whoever that gem is supposed to be is being withheld from working by the IPC board directly. The big guy who holds all the gems got to choose which ones to toss into the world, after all.

The person behind that gem is actually gone. Like, they no longer exist. Maybe it's a Garden of Recollection moment or something more sinister, or they woke up and decided to leave the IPC one day.

My friend's answer: that gem represents Topaz. She was, after all, demoted after her failure in Jarilo-VI. I personally don't believe that would've kicked her off the Ten Stonehearts group, but this is still worth considering.

There's more things we can consider, but this is what I think so far.

And what about number 10, the last gem?

I'm inclined believe it's actually represented by this heart-shaped gem seen right after the zoom-in on the diamond, in the Talent Motivation Department. It's literally a (gem)stoneheart. This one could not be any more obvious. Why are they here and not with the Strategic Investment Department? No fucking clue. Nobody said outright that all Ten Stonehearts had to be from the same department, I guess(?)...

We see the heart gem throughout the Talent Motivation Department section, so they're probably a big name in that part of the IPC. There's not much else to say here; we don't know enough to make any decisive comments and the readables about the Talent Motivation Department are rather scarce.

Fun fact, I guess! The two heads of the Talent Motivation Department? One of them named Yan Shiluo. Yan Shiluo is also the name of a cult leader in Honkai Impact 3rd. The more you know!

...that honestly isn't relevant to HSR players, since Yanqing was a rotten old man in HI3 and he becomes some Guy in HSR.

#honkai: star rail #hsr #hsr ipc #ten stonehearts #building an accelerated tree #was gonna play genshin tcg while servers were down #but that got boring real fast #didn't finish sd yet either :(#lore post #theory post #i guess?#hope this helps someone trying to piece tgt info abt these stoneheart guys #all it did to me was drive me up a wall

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aelaer · 1 year

Note

for the whumpy prompt list: 🎧

I don't even know if you remember submitting this babywarg, and I *know* it took 3 years, but in my defense, 2020 was a shitshow after I asked for whump icon prompts. If you don't remember, this one stood for sensory deprivation. And here's a 6k fic to fill it!

This originally started very differently, then Wong took the reins and never let go. The first two parts were deleted/moved around entirely, and Stephen's POV disappeared as Wong decided this story was going to be from his POV. I would apologise that I am using the kidnapping trope *yet again*, but I'm not that sorry, either.

So canon Endgame doesn't exist in this fic world though I don't get too much into it beyond some hints with character endings and the timeline. It's probably mid-2019 in terms of timing (no 5 year jump). I'm not sure who, if anyone, is Sorcerer Supreme because of this. I also accidentally did the "insert plot into the prompt" thing that I have a bad habit of doing and made this way long. And finally, I don't know Latin; I just used a dictionary and a conjunction table to try and make something cool.

Grem's a character from a side-issue comic that I've appropriated and who has appeared in some of my earlier works. He's "played" by Rupert Graves. With a beard.

Thanks to @coolnemmythings for betaing the majority of this and helping me brainstorm an ending because it finally pushed me into completion (more on that below).

———

Finding the Way Back Home

The Avengers found out Stephen was missing by happenstance. Peter, once he had discovered where Stephen lived, made it a habit to visit the Sanctum on what he called "slow days" when he was in the area. Wong had gotten used to him over time.

Naturally, one of his visits corresponded with when a team of sorcerers uncovered Stephen's ambush site. Normally this would be fine as official Kamar-Taj matters were discussed nowhere near Peter. Wong couldn't hear the passing conversations of the distant apprentices and acolytes in the hallway adjourning the foyer of the Sanctum, so it should have been fine. He would entertain the young man for a few minutes, tell him Stephen was busy, and then lead him out.

Just as Wong was about to give his excuses, he learned that the kid had super-hearing and that the conversation Wong couldn't hear was very, very audible to Spider-Man. It was a rather unfortunate time to discover such a fact.

And once Peter learned the news, it was just a matter of a few texts before every Avenger knew.

"We'd like to help out," Tony said, being the first to call Wong. Wong had given his number to a couple Avengers on the off-chance Stephen was wounded while working with them. He hadn't expected his number to be used in this fashion.

"Us sorcerers handle our own affairs," was Wong's gruff reply. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be retired?"

"Special occasion."

Wong said, "We're fine," hung up before Tony could retort, then sighed. Stephen would be displeased if Iron Man ended up dying after all the work he did to save him in the multiple future fiasco. He was just happy Stephen managed to get to 16 million—from what he understood, a couple other "winning" timelines were absolutely dismal on a global scale—but that was another topic altogether.

Then Tony gave out Wong's number to the others.

"It really would be no trouble," Steve said. "We consider all of you our allies after Thanos."

"You're supposed to be retired, too," was Wong's exasperated retort.

A pause. "Well, I did pass on the mantle of Captain America to Sam, sure, but that doesn't mean I don't go out in the field here and there. Just less public."

Wong hung up on him, too.

"We really would like to see him safe," was Bruce's call.

Bruce was a little harder to hang up on; he had been visiting the New York Sanctum frequently for meditation purposes, to better understand and work with the other side of his personality and come to some sort of balance with it. According to Stephen, Bruce had achieved something like this on his own in other futures, but he was certain the resources at Kamar-Taj could help him achieve this faster and with potentially better results.

Still, Bruce Banner was not a sorcerer. "I appreciate the offer, Doctor Banner, but this is a matter for our order," he told him, then hung up before the other could retort.

"It's pretty slow right now; you'd be doing everyone a favor in letting us help," Natasha admitted when she called.

Wong pulled the phone away from his face to sigh; if it weren't for the very slim chance of Stephen potentially calling him, he would have turned off the damn thing. "Weren't you supposed to retire from field work, too?"

"People like me never retire," she answered. "Think on it, Wong."

He grimaced and hung up.

"You have to let us help!" was Peter's plea. Peter had been barred from the Sanctum until the issue was settled—Wong knew that Stephen wouldn't want the kid involved—but apparently Tony Stark was more than happy to give Peter Parker his phone number, as well.

"Stephen would want you to stay out of this," he told the kid without ceremony, and hung up on him, too, though he felt a little bad doing it.

This was getting ridiculous. The other Masters had decided the Avengers shouldn't be involved, but if they had to endure what Wong was enduring, maybe they'd change their minds. Besides, the extra eyes wouldn't be a bad thing to have, at least in Wong's opinion.

By the time a sixth call from an Avenger in under an hour occurred, Wong was ready. He surrounded himself with sorcerers in the Masters' strategy room as they discussed leads and next steps, then let the phone ring.

The Masters caved in less than two hours. Part of it may have been due to the Avengers' resilience, but Wong liked to think that setting his ringtone to Beyoncé's "All The Single Ladies" helped encourage the use of outside help. They agreed that the Avengers could assist them, though they were taking absolutely no responsibility if anything untoward or deadly happened to them. The Avengers didn't seem to care about the warning, which didn't particularly surprise Wong.

The dead security cameras near the site of the ambush suggested magical tampering, which meant that every two to three Avengers was paired with one or two Masters. The tracking was long and it took everything within their power to narrow down the search to the three most likely locations out of the many that Mordo had passed through over the last year.

(They were 99% certain Mordo was behind Stephen's disappearance. For the past several months Mordo had been stealing former students' abilities to do magic—and on three occasions, ended up killing the former student instead. The Masters of Kamar-Taj had been actively hunting him down for some time, doubling down when they learned Mordo was gathering followers. That Stephen's body wasn't found instead is a miracle, but it made Wong worry as to what Mordo could possibly want with him.)

They decided to infiltrate the three chosen locations as soon as they narrowed down the list. All the Avengers that had been allowed in (eight of them sans Peter because no, Wong wasn't going to be responsible for a minor no matter how close he was to 18) were on standby and allowed themselves to be split into groups by the Masters without contest.

Wong ended up with Master Grem of the London Sanctum and Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Natasha Romanov—all the supposedly-retired-but-not-quite-yet Avengers. Exasperating.

Still, he couldn't say that he minded having them at his back in such an unknown situation. With a lesser sorcerer, the Order could have set monitoring wards on all the rogue sorcerers’ known locations to go off whenever another made a gateway into the area. But Mordo was one of the best and such magic would immediately alert him and his followers to the order's knowledge of their current bases and send them into hiding, and all that work of the last few months in tracking them would be lost.

The original plan, before all this, had been to track Mordo's movements for a pattern until they could ambush him and his followers. With Stephen taken, though? The time for waiting was over. Still, it was largely unknown what they would find at their assigned location—a dilapidated, Soviet-era warehouse in Eastern Europe—so having experienced company was no bad thing.

He was especially grateful for the Avengers' presence when it turned out that the warehouse was not devoid of life. Ten of Mordo's recruits (only four of whom were former students of Kamar-Taj) were present and quite willing to kill him if necessary. He and Grem alone would have been very hard-pressed. With the three Avengers helping them, the fight took only a couple minutes, the most difficult of the group being two of the rogue sorcerers that proved more creative than their counterparts.

Those that survived the fight were quickly disarmed and restrained for later questioning, and it was easy enough for Wong to push a portal around each person to the rarely-used cells of Kamar-Taj. He frowned as he considered their number; that was a significant number of recruits in what seemed to be an unimportant building.

"That's convenient," Tony said as he watched the portals take the surviving combatants.

As Wong opened and closed the portals, Grem scanned the building for any remnants of magical use, carefully scanning above and below as he slowly circled around a single point. He stilled, then squinted. "There's something in that corner office." He pointed.

Wong saw Grem, Steve, and Natasha take off to the office, then turned back to his own task. Tony Stark stayed with him to guard his back as Wong finished securing their prisoners and had the bodies of those who did not make it portalled to the morgue within Kamar-Taj.

As the last body was flown through the portal, a streak of red burst out of the corner office and onto the larger warehouse floor. Wong would recognize the Cloak of Levitation anywhere, and it currently darted to and fro about the space as if searching.

"As you can see, the Cloak's fine," Grem called as he left the office, the other two Avengers in tow. When he got closer, Wong could see the scowl on Grem's face. "But I don't think that's the only thing this building's hiding. There's something else here, Wong, but I can't see what."

"How did they manage to separate it from Stephen in the first place?" Natasha asked. "From what I've seen, that thing is quite protective of him."

"It is," Wong agreed. "But there are some complicated spells in existence that may temporarily incapacitate a relic, even one as unique as the Cloak. Mordo is a skilled enough sorcerer to perform such a spell."

Grem hissed between his teeth. He was performing another pivot on the spot as he searched the area with his third eye yet again. As he ended, he shook his head. "Nothing. We're going to need to do a more manual search, and we may need to split up to better cover ground."

Wong, though, remembered something that happened after one of the fights during the War of the Infinity Stones. "That may not be necessary," he said, and looked over to the man beside him. "Tony, you are able to scan for heat signatures with your suit, correct?"

"Sure can, Wong." Tony paused and began to scan the interior, slowly pivoting on the spot, then froze halfway through. "Basement, northeast corner. One person lying down. Looks like it's empty otherwise."

"Useful," Grem remarked as he immediately headed towards the stairs. As one they followed him, hurrying their way to the stairwell, descending to the basement, and then making a sharp left to head in the indicated direction. They encountered no one else along the way, as expected. Despite this, when Tony said, "That door up ahead," both Wong and Grem paused before they could reach it. Wong held up a hand to halt the others. The Avengers wouldn't see it, but the magic upon the door was very evident to them.

"Wards are more your thing, Wong," said Grem as he eyed the door up and down. "But even I know this is quite a piece of work. I didn't realize Mordo knew all these warding spells."

Grem was right; the warding was very intricate. It was no wonder they could not find Stephen through his magical signature alone; the spells set about the room were put in to prevent such magic from having any use. A closer study of the details within the intricacies of the design showed that any attempt to remove the wards or force one's self into the room by magic would have dire consequences for not only the caster, but the person held inside.

Wong pursed his lips together unhappily, then glanced over at the Avengers. "The wards set on this room mean I will not be able to enter, not in the usual way. Not easily."

"Do we even know if it's locked?" Natasha asked, eyeing the door up and down.

"It doesn't matter if it is or isn't. The warding includes spells against non-approved visitors touching the doorknob, and the side effects of doing so are not pleasant."

Tony's repulsor flared. "I can blast it open."

Wong shook his head. "No; too much kinetic energy. The wards might see it as spells and react negatively to you."

"Yeah, but if it's Stephen inside, I'll take my chances," Tony shot back.

"The same consequences that fall upon you also happen to the individual contained within," Wong said, and he heard the man hiss in frustration.

"I hear you," Grem muttered in sympathy. "Wong, your dispelling is faster; how long do you think it would take you to remove all these wards?"

Wong shook his head. "Hours, likely. Too long of a time for my comfort." Behind him, he heard Grem mutter a curse under his breath.

Steve stared at the door thoughtfully. "So we don't want to touch the doorknob, but we can't blast it with firepower. What about just—knocking the door off its hinges?"

Again Wong shook his head. "I can't use magic against the door to do so."

"No, I mean, I can do it," Steve clarified. "Just brute force, no firepower. It would be a lot less kinetic energy than a repulsor blast and I won't touch the doorknob."

Grem looked sidelong at Wong. "I don't see anything in the wards that would react negatively to that scenario. I don't think the average person could knock this down, but they weren't expecting us to bring anyone else."

Wong studied over the wards once more himself, and brute force that didn't have enough energy to be mistaken as magic was not warded against. "I think that may be our best shot," he agreed.

"Then step back," Steve said, and the team gave him some room.

The Cloak, on the other hand, continued to hover closely beside Steve with an urgency that Wong wouldn't have known was possible on a piece of fabric before seeing the Cloak with Stephen.

"Cloak," Wong said. As it turned to him, he told it, "You can't enter the room. That warding could do you serious harm." The Cloak stiffened, as if offended by the suggestion. Wong resisted the urge to roll his eyes and gestured to it. "Come on. Stephen would be very upset if you got hurt."

That Cloak remained stiff and unmoving for another three seconds, but Wong gestured again and its shoulders slumped in resignation and it moved itself beside Wong.

Steve then put himself in a braced position. He had a shield—not the iconic Captain America shield, but a smaller black one that was more rectangular in form—and used that in his lead up run towards the door to force it open with his shoulder.

The door flew open and Wong watched Steve—and Tony, who immediately followed—carefully for any side effects. When none happened, he spared a quick glance at Grem.

"I'll keep a watch out here," Grem said quickly. Natasha nodded in agreement and moved her gaze down the hall.

Wong inclined his head, again told the Cloak, "Stay out here," then followed the other two men in. He immediately felt when he was cut off from his magic by the wards and grimaced at the foreign wrongness of the feeling. But he could still sense the wards, so at least Stephen would have hopefully realized that he was in a warded cell rather than drained of magic.

Speaking of.

The room was mostly bare except for a cot, a chair, and an IV pole in the corner. Laying on his back on the cot was Stephen, stripped of his outer clothing and left with only his tunic and pants. His upper left arm's sleeve was cut off and the arm itself was bandaged, while further down an IV tube was connected to his forearm. A neat line of stitches crossed over his left temple, and some sort of feeding tube was inserted into one of his nostrils and taped down to his face. Both lines led to the IV pole, which held what looked like saline and a bag that Wong guessed was used for tube feeding.

Steve slowly approached the bed. "That noise should have woken him up. Is one of these lines drugging him?"

"Possibly," said Tony, "But this doesn't look drugged. I'm getting really weird readings on his vitals."

Feeling unusually bare without the connection to his magic, Wong approached the bed with the same caution as he asked Tony, "What are you seeing?"

"Elevated heart rate just under 120 bpm, and—" He paused as if listening to something, then said, "Right, the suit can't quite scan brainwaves of other people to the detail of an EEG—yet—but I can get a good picture. FRIDAY's saying that it looks like the brain of someone awake, not someone drugged or asleep."

"Does that mean he can hear us?" Steve asked.

"That means he'll be pissed we're talking about brain stuff without his contributions," was Tony's remark, but his tone fell flat. Suddenly his helmet disintegrated away as the nanites retreated from his face, and he turned his attention from Stephen to Wong. "What're we doing here, Wong? Is this magic or something else?"

A good question. "I won't be able to find out here," Wong answered, then strode forward and carefully removed the cannulas from both Stephen's nose and arm. "Grem, do you see anything on Stephen that prevents him being removed from here?" he called as he worked.

Beyond the warding of the room at the open doorway, Grem performed a gesture before tapping his own forehead. He squinted. "Nothing I can see, Wong. They weren't expecting anyone to get through the door or enter the room through a portal. You can carry him out."

Wong nodded once, then frowned down at Stephen's tall, lanky body. He looked at Steve and Tony. "I don't suppose one of you could—"

"Got it," Tony volunteered, and Wong stepped aside as the other man bent down and carefully picked Stephen up. The way Stephen's body remained utterly limp made something clench in Wong's stomach.

He's alive. Stop it.

They left the room soon after that. The second they were out the Cloak was fretting about Tony back and forth from side to side, and in the hall Grem already had a portal set up and ready. But it led to the infirmary at Kamar-Taj.

"No, his room at the Sanctum," Wong said.

Grem frowned, but closed the portal. "Why?" he asked as he started up another.

"You know he's not fond of being in the infirmary. He complains that it's 'too open.'"

"That was before shit hit the fan and everything changed," Grem answered and, well, Wong knew that Stephen had changed significantly in ways he still hadn't come to full terms with. It hadn't been that long since he had Returned, not really. What was eight months, after all? But he hadn't gotten Stephen's opinion since, so, his bedroom.

The portal opened in the hall now led to Stephen's chambers in the Sanctum, which was a sizable bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. The Sanctum had sensed Stephen's love of the dramatic when it had formed this room for its Master when he was first instated there: the building had installed a bedroom with dark mahogany furniture with intricate carvings and delicate curves around the edges, with even the computer desk and bookshelves not being spared the finery. The star of the bedroom was the ostentatious four post king-sized bed with a top canopy and a cream-colored comforter that had red accents with a design that resembled the embroidery on the Cloak of Levitation.

Now that he thought of it, the motifs on the furniture looked similar to the faded design in the checkered lining of the Cloak, too. Interesting. He spared them no further thought as he walked in and flicked on the light switch from across the room, bathing the dim room in a golden light.

Tony lowered Stephen into his bed as Grem and Natasha entered last, and the portal closed in behind them. The Cloak immediately lowered itself over Stephen once he was laying down. Wong, in turn, started casting what Stephen liked to call 'diagnostic spells' and ever since he said it, the term had stuck in Wong's mind. That was largely what they were: spells that identified what was wrong with the body and spirit, and so could aid a sorcerer in narrowing down the possibilities in what was happening to the person and if it was magical, multidimensional, or mundane in nature.

"I'm not quite sure what I was imagining for a sorcerer's bedroom, but I don't think I was expecting the computer," Natasha said.

"Why not? He has a phone," Steve asked.

"That Tony gave him," she answered.

"You should have seen the brick he was carrying around before," Tony complained. "And if that hadn't drowned in the Hudson, I'm not sure if he would've taken mine. I had to nearly threaten him."

"We find email quite handy, actually," Grem said. "And I really love the Google suite. Calendar, Docs, Sheets."

Tony cracked a smile. "So wizards do their business over Google's servers, huh?"

Grem winked in reply. "Wouldn't you like to know." He cast a look at Wong. "I'll let the others know that we've found him. I warrant they've seen the cells and morgue by now, but I'll double check on that. I'll send an apprentice to wait in the hall in case you need a runner." Wong only grunted in reply. With a quick, "Thanks for your help, mates," Grem made a portal and left the room.

It took a few minutes of various spells and analysis, but eventually Wong came upon an answer as to what was keeping Stephen unconscious—and he felt his heart drop into his stomach as the realization came. His poker face fell and he murmured, "Oh, Stephen." But he banished the sorrow quickly; such an emotion wouldn't help Stephen. Instead, his face became stone as he began to bark orders. "One of you needs to get the lights; make it as dark in here as possible. When I remove this spell from him, I need you all to be as quiet as possible, and if you must speak, do so in a whisper."

Natasha's loose stance immediately stiffened and she took a step closer to the bed to look again at Stephen. She pursed her lips as the rest of her face hardened. "Sensory deprivation?"

"Unlike anything you can imagine," Wong answered grimly.

Steve was now frowning. "Do you think he was like this the entire time? How long was he missing?"

"Between thirty to thirty-six hours," answered Wong, already starting the preparations for the removal spells. They would take a couple minutes to fully set up. "I don't know how long they have kept him under this spell. If it has been for that full length of time, just note that he might not—be fully in his right mind."

"Then we should give him some room," Tony said, with a note of sympathy that admittedly startled Wong. Before he could make anything further of it, however, Tony was already ushering the other two away. "We'll wait in the hall, Wong."

Steve's expression was clearly one of worry as he walked away, Tony's prodding quickly understood. "We'll be here if you need anything." He flicked off the light switch as they left, and the door softly closed behind them.

Wong slowly exhaled and looked at the Cloak. "Up," he ordered. The Cloak raised its collar, but like the stubborn, fickle thing it was, didn't obey immediately. Wong didn't have time for this. "If you don't want to hurt Stephen, you'll get off immediately and wait until you're given permission to touch him again," he snapped, his anxiety for his friend making him shorter than usual.

That did the trick. The Cloak lifted itself, albeit reluctantly, and set itself hovering on the other side of the bed instead. That was fine.

Everything would be fine. Stephen would be fine. Wong forced himself to take a deep breath once again.

As he performed the last of the preparations for the spell's removal, Wong could not help but remember the last time the spell had come into conversation. Unsurprisingly, the conversation had been with Stephen, perhaps two to three months after he had become Master of the New York Sanctum.

"Why does this spell even exist?" Stephen asked Wong as he gestured to the open book on his desk. Wong had made the mistake of entering the New York Sanctum library to find something while Stephen was reading through one of the Ancient One's old tomes, and thus the first fellow master available to hear his complaints.

"You're going to have to be more specific," was Wong's dry answer.

Stephen grimaced and clarified, "Excidit Sensus. It's utterly inhumane."

Wong went to the bookshelf where he suspected his quarry lay. "Compared to contemporary methods of interrogation when the spell was created, it was likely considered a more humane option."

"Incorrectly so!" Stephen shot back, fuming. "This spell removes everything: sight, hearing, touch, all sensations. If you keep a person like that for, say, forty-eight hours, there is a significant chance of hallucinations, anxiety, and depression. The ability to do the simplest tasks deteriorates upon freedom, and if this goes on longer than that, the results can be catastrophic!"

The librarian paused to look over at his colleague, who was slowly (perhaps inevitably) becoming a friend. "I am simply explaining the likely rationale behind its creation," Wong said. "That doesn't mean I endorse its use."

Stephen exhaled. "Sorry. Right. I just wasn't expecting to see something like that."

"For what it's worth," Wong said as he found the book he wanted, "that spell hasn't been used in over a century. Very few sorcerers would have the power and skill to successfully apply it, and there are none in Kamar-Taj who would consider using it now."

"Good," was Stephen's answer, and the conversation ended.

How could Mordo fall to such lows?

Wong finished the prep work and stalled no longer; Stephen had been suffering for more than long enough. He moved his spell work that he performed on the side to hover over the prone man, then in one gesture, settled it upon his body to release the spell. He steeled himself for the fallout.

It came all at once: at first Stephen was utterly still, and then he inhaled sharply and audibly as his eyes flew open. He immediately squeezed them shut and then cradled his hands near his chest, every breath shuddering. To Wong's alarm, the little light remaining in the room glinted on the wetness of his cheeks. He was crying very, very silently.

Still, he did not say anything; the sound of breathing may be too much for Stephen at that moment, never mind conversation. Instead he waited for some sort of cue from the other sorcerer. Opposite him, the Cloak fretted as it swung back and forth in silent worry through the air; it clearly wanted to envelop its Master and it was only Wong's strict word that kept it from doing otherwise.

When Stephen did speak, several minutes later, it was barely above the volume of breathing. "I forgot—how much they hurt."

Wong could not help but exhale in dismay. Stephen made it easy for others to forget that he experienced what would be categorized as chronic pain. One eventually learned to cope and live with such a thing until it became a background ache on normal days, or so he understood it, and his friend had perfected that act a long time ago. However, Wong had not considered how the reintroduction of feeling to his hands would affect Stephen. That was his folly—he was only glad that Tony had the sense of presence to get all others out of the room.

The sigh caused Stephen to freeze. "Who's there?" he whispered.

He tried to keep his voice just as low. "Wong." He paused to gauge his reaction to his voice; Stephen did not flinch, and so he added, "And the Cloak." That was the most relevant, for now. The Avengers were out of sight in the hall and could wait a little longer.

Stephen's breath shuddered. "Give—give me a minute. Just—give me a minute."

He kept his response limited. "Take your time."

The silence sat for longer, the only sound being of the soft breathing from the both of them. All other sound from the rest of the Sanctum was completely muted. Eventually Stephen carefully moved an arm down from his chest to his side on the bed, and the Cloak took that as permission to reach out and lightly touch him. Stephen stiffened before relaxing and breathed, "Cloak. Right." He swallowed. "How long?"

Wong exhaled. "Thirty to thirty-six hours, if you were under the whole time."

"I was." He kept his voice at a whisper. "You need a report."

"It can wait." He kept his voice at the same volume. "The Avengers helped in your recovery. Stark, Rogers, and Romanoff are outside."

A pained look crossed over Stephen's face. "They can't—they can't see me like this."

"There is no shame in your condition," said Wong, "but I will not press it."

Stephen clenched his eyes shut. He swallowed. "Please."

Wong inclined his head and concealed his alarm; Stephen never begged. "I'll be right back." He rose and cast a silencing spell around the room to filter out all noise from outside, then left the bedroom.

Three pairs of eyes met Wong as he closed the door behind him. "How is he?" Steve asked.

"He'll recover, with time," said Wong. "At the moment he does not wish to have any visitors. You may call in a few days." That should be enough time, hopefully.

"Understandable," Natasha said.

"Ring us if there's anything else you need," Tony added. "And let Merlin know that if I don't hear from him soon, I'll be making a house call."

Wong didn't doubt it. "Noted. You know the way out."

After they turned the corner of the hallway, Wong turned his attention to the apprentice hiding in the shadows; the runner Grem sent. "Bring up a bowl of chicken soup and a cup of herbal tea. Soup should be largely broth." He had no idea what a stomach living off a liquid diet for two days did to solid food, so he'd have Stephen start small. "Keep others away unless it's urgent." The apprentice bowed and took their leave.

Wong sighed, letting his emotions flow away from him now that he was alone in the hall. He only allowed himself a brief moment before he solidified his serene expression and entered Stephen's bedroom once again.

"It's me," he whispered. "Food's on its way."

Stephen hadn't moved in the short time he was gone and his eyes remained closed. He was conscious enough to make a face at Wong's words, however. "Not hungry."

"It'll be waiting for you when you are." The joy of everlasting heat spells on dinnerware. He then considered his next words carefully; Stephen had been unusually emotionally vulnerable the last few minutes, but it did not mean he wouldn't start to close up if he was too brazen. "Would you prefer solitude or company?" Straightforward, yet not coddling—a statement that could be said in any normal situation. Stephen was often allergic to sentimental emotions, especially if they were because of his condition. He'd rather tend to his own wounds than for anyone to see him less than capable. It was only if Wong acted unaffected and casual that he could slip past that shield in times like this.

Stephen was silent for a moment. "Company's not unwelcome," he muttered. "Quiet company, at least."

"That is expected," said Wong. And once Stephen's meal was here, he was ready to sit in silent meditation and companionship as his friend recovered his senses throughout the rest of the evening.

—————

I was stuck on this damn ending (after Stephen was brought back to New York) for over two years. The issue was I wanted to have something with Stephen and the Avengers, as well as a scene from Stephen's POV that Wong could access. I could never make either scene fit, so I just went with my gut and tossed them. The deleted scene from Stephen's POV will be posted on tumblr once I get this fic up on AO3.

The majority of this was written pre-MoM so I just kept the bedroom description as I had imagined Stephen's room back in 2020.

#wong #stephen strange #tony stark #natasha romanoff #steve rogers #doctor strange fanfiction #doctor strange #mcu fanfiction #whump #my writing #my fanfiction #prompt fill

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chibitantei · 6 months

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Roses are red, violets are blue, Naoto loves books, what about you?

Rank 3, or WHAT IS LOVE BABY DON'T HURT ME DON'T HURT ME NO MORE

Naoto found a card in her shoe locker. Yippie!

There are three choices as per usual, none of them really matter in terms of insight. Picking the first option ("A challenge for a duel?") is the best choice, though.

Well, I guess this kinda provides something.

Naoto has a soft spot for corny, old-fashioned things like that, and it makes sense since she grew up reading and watching extremely old detective/mystery/crime novels, perhaps even.... gentleman thief novels. Everyone knows of a good showdown between a detective and a thief, and Naoto is no exception. Considering how Naoto was charmed by suggestion that someone was challenging her to a duel, it wouldn't come off as a surprise if she was enamored with the idea of facing off against a phantom thief as a kid. Perhaps Yu saying this temporarily stirred that childish (wink) memory.

(By this point, the official challenge hasn't been sent yet.)

Naoto once again flexes her Big Brain Academy skills and provides more clues about the card in her shoe locker. It's from a hopelessly smitten girl. The anime shows us the letter, but I cannot read the bottom kanji because I am stupid and I didn't study enough Japanese.

However, it looks like Naoto was addressed as "Shirogane Naoto-sama", the girl is from Class 1-3, which is different with Naoto being in 1-1, and according to the hiragana, the girl's first name might be Mayu. (This is not important. I like Naoto so much I share completely irrelevant bullshit.)

She has different things to say for the dialogue choices but I will bunch the first and third one together. The second one is one of the many opportunities to piss her off.

This is what she says for the first and third choices.

The first one goes into what she talks about like... right after these choices, but she states here that even if she were to read these love letters, there's nothing she can do. She's obviously not interested and whether she rejects them in person or not doesn't matter because the end result will be the same. She's not going to take anyone out on a date. The third one reveals the most brutal part of Naoto lore. She shreds all of the love letters she's been given and never reads a single one.

Naoto pulls out a nice word for your to look up in your dictionary. Callow means, and I quote from google "adjective, (of a young person) inexperienced and immature".

This highlights that she's so obsessed with work. Again. Like if we didn't get that point already.

But more importantly, it shows that Naoto doesn't buy into cheap declarations of love. She needs to know someone before she could begin to have a crush, and I don't mean 'we know each other because we're coffee shop regulars'. I mean, actually know them.

Naoto gets a lot of these letters and she has a lot of fans, who only see the side of Naoto she wants them to see, the Detective Prince. The Detective Prince is perfect, everything Naoto is not. When they write the love letters or profess their love, they only love the idea of her, or the Detective Prince, not Naoto Shirogane.

This is a headcanon, but I think Naoto does the same with the team, Yu being an exception-ish, as in showing a side of her she thinks they want to see. They know some of her flaws, her insecurities, but she presents a side they'd rather see, one she thinks is easier for them to digest and pretend that's all there is to her—she's going to leave in a few months anyway, what's the point?

And... they might be lying about wanting her around... Getting Naoto to open up about anything is difficult so lol.

Just as soon as Naoto realizes she shared too much, she changes the subject and wants to talk about murders. Yippie!

Now, I would stop here but I am a Naoto connoisseur.

Let's talk about a scene from her Social Link that was cut. There's nothing of value in it, but it exists. This presumably would only trigger when it was raining. She left her umbrella in the classroom, and you are presented with a choice.

If you pick the second, the scene would mostly play out the same as the rank we got, except they're standing outside.

The best choice is when you share with Naoto, and remove the need for her to jog back to her classroom to retrieve it.

The closest you could get to "sharing" an umbrella with Naoto scene that I can recall is in that scene where Yosuke rudely and annoyingly barges under your umbrella. Kanji is also there, and in the end you're forced to go with Yosuke under your umbrella. But now, you don't have to deal with either of these two nuisances to ruin the moment.

Perfect.

What does she mean by this???

Probably that she hasn't shared an umbrella with her grandfather or Yakushiji in a while. Don't be silly.

Interestingly, you would get three music notes from this. Make of that what you will.

#Dossier: About Naoto

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keingleichgewicht · 2 years

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THOUGHTS ON CONVERGENCE??????

YEAH SHITS CRAZY RIGHT

i've made some posts already but there remains a lot to talk about and i kind of want to holler about... the title. 'convergence.'

like with 'the mill', i think the simplicity of the word here kind of betrays how the deep the name really goes. so, starting with the dictionary: a convergence is A Coming Together, yes? it's a meeting place, it's a falling into line. when we talk about 'convergent evolution', we're talking about how living under the same pressures can cause very different creatures to take similar shapes. when we talk about 'convergence' in maths, we're talking about two sequences approaching the same infinity; we're talking about a curve flattening out into a forever approach to a line it won't ever reach.... !

i do too much fuckin calculus in my daily life to really romanticize it — but, you know, cmon: pafl's all about being stuck, it's about treading water, it's about the dreadful uniformity of the monsters being trapped like that eventually turns you into. so this all feels relevant. and on account of being a huge freak about etymology i will go ahead and mention that it's from the latin — convergere — and con means 'together' and vegere means 'to bend', or 'to turn towards':

circles in the sand, driving each other round the bend. or something.

SO. there are, i think, at least a couple convergences the title's referring to. the first one's kind of the most obvious one: this song's the convergence of anya-and-dima pafl, as begun in punch it, punk!, and yura-and-sanya-and-kt pafl, as begun in, well, pafl.

to elaborate: up until this point those two pafls have always kind of existed separately. they evolve out of a communal origin point — that's COMFORT ZONE, and dmitry's breakout — and they start to edge in on each other's narrative territory somewhere around olga getting arrested, but they're mostly happening in parallel. each half of the story gets one sibling, one mutant, and one stoic adult stalker who discovers the truth about said mutant (...only obviously olga and sergei reacted real differently to that discovery)

i've talked about it before um here but anya-and-dima and yura-kt-everyone-else really do feel like they exist in different genres. punch it, punk! has this brightness, a willingness to forgive, an adventure-story resilience to it, which none of the other songs remotely possess — kt's guide get's closest, but kt also gets fucking crushed for it. in punch it, punk! things to wrong, and then they go right again! dmitry gets beat up, so he gets bandaged and band-aided and fed breakfast; olga finds him out, but she doesn't call the police, and she doesn't get telekinetically dismembered either, because anna's there to help them deescalate. no other pafl song works like this, i think. in every other song, things go wrong, and then they get worse.

( ^ again i've said this already but SUPER META-AWARE LINE. eo ibis quo omnia eunt: 'you will go where everything else is going.' welcome, says yura, to what it's been like for the rest of us this whole fucking time! welcome to being completely fucking doomed, baby!)

this genre thing is why i think occam's razor doesn't qualify as the two storylines meeting, yet — because in occam's razor, anya and dima's luck is still holding. yura looks dmitry in the eye, but anna drags him away, and nothing happens. for the time being the adventure story keeps rolling. whereas in convergence their luck's run out, which to me means the narratives have come together for real. they're operating by the same tragic rules as everyone else now: for most of us that's how it goes!

so it's a convergence 'cause it's a collision, and it's a convergence because the narratives aren't gonna separate again, i don't think, no second chances on that kind of thing. from here on out anya-and-dima's fate is fully tied up with yura's, narratively first, and then also in the very literal sense that they're all going to go down into that facility together, probably. every player still on the board (except sergei) is now traveling out towards those got taken out already (kt, olga, nikita)* and those that have been down there the whole time (temnova). the paths have unified and there's only one line forward....

even our old friend The Cube's here, representing..... uhhh ......., Something. what the fuck does the cube represent? all we know is that it's a silent, perceptive little object; it's shaped an awful lot like a game dice (and we've had game-theory metaphors before, revolver roulette, cards on the table, we've talked about luck); yura found it, olga didn't want it, sanya was it. which means, idk, anyone's guess. the cube's so fuckin weird dude. although speaking of :

i am actually totally convinced that we have no idea yet what the real significance of The Cube is. the problem is that its only current known ability (recognizing zone influence in artifacts or people) is something stalkers can literally already just do. the cube didn't out dmitry or katya, it didn't have to! yura did that completely on his lonesome! which means the cube doesn't actually have something to do in this story, not enough to warrant the amount of attention it's gotten. yet. and pafl's way too tightly-constructed to hang up a gun like that on the wall and then not fire it. PRETTY SURE this thing's gonna come back to bite one way or another

but right anyway: storyline convergence. i also figure that's basically what the pronoun ambiguity in the first run of the chorus is about. we have yukari and kyo here, which is very straightforward — yukari sang both pafl-the-song and punch it, punk!, and kyo did occam's razor. this is the two siblings, two storylines, talking over each other, talking both sides of the conversation. the two sides follow each other very closely now, because they are sliding down into total convergence. everybody's on the same page now — that's not a good thing!

the other convergence i think a lot about is.... character arcs.

this is where "convergent evolution" is relevant, i figure. you will come running back like a dog. i will come running back like a dog. earlier i was saying the two halves of the story in pafl are yura-and-sanya-and-kt and anya-and-dima, and that's true, in a straight-up parallel plotlines sort of way, but also arguably the two halves of the story in pafl are just yura and dima: the protagonist and, probably, deuteragonist. two boys trying to be heartless!

i've talked about them before (uhhhh for instance) and how they are basically doing each other's arcs backwards; that's been true since at least kt's guide, where they're explicitly placed at opposite poles of her narrative, "being used is really uncool" vs "giving up is really uncool." in kt's guide they're two boys who don't believe in a future. this is a fucking lot in itself: how they each get a verse-chorus cycle dedicated to them, how yura's "he" but dima's "you." how dima says, "this life's not fit for the likes of you and i", ironically a perfect echo of sergei's "the world is a cruel place to people like you", and yura says "pathetic ones like me lose before we join the game."

the interesting thing is kt tells both of them they're wrong, but when she says goodbye to yura, she's hoping he'll keep believing in a future from now on — whereas when she says goodbye to dima she's admitting that he was right not to. there's a really deliberate juxtaposition happening there! and what's crazy ironic about it is that, yet again, she's right but she's wrong: she's kind of got them the wrong way around. she's associating yura with freedom, and dima with the cage, but not to put too fine a point on it, it's yura's fault she got locked up! it's dima who set her free!

when i say they're "doing each other's arcs backwards".... they're two boys trying to be heartless. "i've weaponized my helpless spite" vs "i've an objection not one you can overrule." "fair play is overrated" vs "men like me have the right to be cruel." that much is true...

... but also, like, the thing is, dmitry started heartless. he has no fucking reason to believe in a future; he does not even know how to imagine one. we make a lot of hay about yura having Killed A Man (big deal, it was a cop) but honestly: dmitry has absolutely killed people, right? dmitry has, at the very least, canonically tortured children. he has been the weapon with which war crimes were committed. what is yura talking about, "bark all you want?" who is he fucking kidding? what does he fucking know? dt-001-319's quiet, he was obedient for years, but he most certainly bites!

(^ BY THE WAY this shot's fascinating because it's almost a kind of flashback. this can't be dmitry in the present, because in the present he's wearing his black sweater and his stolen jacket; in this shot he's in his uniform. these are his facility clothes. weird, right?)

but yeah: yura's attitude here is almost as ironic as kt's infamous "are you afraid of pain." dt-001-319 is unspeakably well familiar with pain, and familiar with violence, and he has zero moral compass to speak of; even the highly skewed one the facility gave him got screwed when they betrayed him. i'm not sure if yura understands this, at this point, but the remarkable thing is not that dmitry attacked him. the remarkable thing is that dmitry did not follow through.

i actually don't know if i've seen anyone talk about this yet, but i think it kind of might be the single most important thing that happens in this song, and also maybe the reason it's named like it is. yura makes his threat, he puts olga up as the sacrificial lamb, and dima stops.

like, alright, let's back up: pafl, so far, has been the story of yura getting ever more ruthless. he is ever more willing to burn anything, everything, if it will get him power, if it will get him control, if it'll get him an inch of what he has always been willing to die for, which is freedom, any freedom at all. any room to breathe: that's his arc.

& at this point i think it doesn't even have to be to his personal advantage to hurt you — i'm pretty sure, now that he's made that excuse for himself, he'll take any opportunity he can get. it's a really miserable fact of human nature that you will sometimes hurt other people just to prove to yourself that you have enough control over them to do it. i'm going to talk about this some more, if i ever make my post about "poor little boy can't solve all his problems with force", but there's so much hatred in how he treats dima and anya in this song, there's so much totally vindictive joy in having that power to cause pain. he sees it as turning the tables and he's going to keep chasing it until he's turned into something awful.

to put it together: dima has been learning to care about people. yura has been learning to treat them like gears in the machine. i think the other reason this song's called convergence is 'cause this is where the intersection is, this is where they cross each other's paths. this is where they officially swap places on the roster of the ruthless. this is where it starts coming down to dust !

and my argument for that is basically: that dima stops. he doesn't stop for katya — he isn't willing to go back down into his own personal hell to save her — and that's not exactly a heroic decision but it's also, honestly, understandable, in some level. he knew her for like, two hours, and she said things to him that felt very cruel at the time, when he had just saved her life and was in the middle of having the worst headache ever conceived of. and then she went off on her own, and did the exact thing he said not to do, and got caught: you can see how, from dmitry's perspective, it's not really his problem. not enough to be worth breaking back into a death-trap for.

and to be clear: he probably has done kt a lot of wrong, in his time! again, under temnova's rule, dmitry was definitely complicit; he's a kid, and he can't be blamed, but katya's a kid too, and he's most definitely hurt her before. but i don't think his brand-new education in having a heart is really far enough along to process that yet, and i can't hold it against him, all things considered.

... so he won't go back for her. and yura has the audacity to stone cold condemn him for this. "i see your decency has long degraded." (another dreadfully ironic line! degraded from what??? he's been locked up underground since he was a literal baby!) but — and this is the important bit — then yura puts olya on the line. cards on the table, everybody place your bets....

... and for olga he agrees. for anya he agrees — because the other, easy solution is to kill yura where he stands, dead men don't report mutants, but anya wouldn't want that to happen. dmitry who was raised to believe that sympathy is a weakness and mercy is a failure and the only holy purpose is to be used, and used up, he stands down, and he gives his freedom away, and he agrees to go back to hell for someone else's sake ... !

occam's razor sparked a lot of discussion about how yura is quickly starting to resemble the doctor temnova, which, oh boy is he ever: "some ventures require a sacrificial lamb" and "sacrifices are something that we have to make" are the same song set to different tunes. i think convergence marks the point where he starts to follow through. i mean, olya's in prison for his crime! she sacrificed herself for him! as recently as the beginning of occam's razor, the guilt about this was still killing him, as it would kill anyone; now he's bartering her life as if he doesn't care at all. sympathy has no place in a righteous heart... and as far as he's concerned saving kt is the most righteous cause there is.

so that's hence the title, hence convergence, because this is where yura and dima meet in the middle (and cross over, and start fully swapping places). i am actually relatively hopeful for dima's chances right now, in a nailbitey sort of way, i am hope hope hoping that this whole mess is .... awright, not a good thing for him, obviously, but also not as bad as it appears?

the thing is: sure, he's back on the leash. he's back under someone's command. he's going to be a weapon again. but also this time, he's there because he decided to be, in order to save someone he loves. there is a difference, isn't there? that means something! yura has the leash, but unlike temnova he does not have dima's heart. dima's heart belongs to dima, more than it ever has before. his loss of agency here is also kind of a demonstration of agency! that's hopeful.

and yura on the other hand... i mean, christ alive, yura.

yura's going to keep getting worse, but we've known that for a while now. they're all going down into hell anyway. what convergence actually gets me thinking about is the question of, what is going to happen when they meet temnova again?

i worry about dima, in that situation — in particular i worry about the fact that his faith in the facility was broken, but i'm not sure his faith in temnova specifically was. after all she warned him. she set him free. she's the only one who didn't betray him! and like a dog sure seems convinced that he'll come back to following her — one way or another — waiting / like a dog with a bird at your door, and so on

but also all things considered: sure, he might, but also, he's grown a lot in the time he's spent with anya. the decision to stand down for olga's sake means he's at least figured out some concept of agency. and he's got the advantage that he knows what actual love looks like now, he's got a better model to fall back upon than temnova's "noble to serve / as means to an end." it may or may not save him — but at this point i figure he's got a chance. whereas yura....

... yura already believes everything that she believes. and yura figured it out on his own. yura didn't have to be taught. mercy is the sign of a talentless actor — and dima does mercy now, so is he really her perfect little monster anymore, her golden boy? he's kind of... gone rotten, in his time away, hasn't he? he's gotten all sorts of human. (and as we know: the only use for a motor not meant to start... )

and despite the worst of circumstances yura has been doing the precise opposite: he is, by temnova's standards, a talented actor. by god, he's a prodigy; he's a natural. he didn't even need to be a mutant, to end up a monster — he got there his own way, the old way, for hunger ... and temnova's always struck me as hungry.

i don't know! it depends what temnova's motives are — and despite like a dog we frankly still don't understand her motives at all. she works at the facility, she believes in science, but also it only makes a limited amount of sense that she'd really be there to study the mutants. after all she's some kind of zone-creature herself, if not exactly a mutant, and i'd guess that she already has the answers to a lot of the questions the rest of the scientists down there are cracking their heads over. so what does she actually want to learn? why would she go to the humans to find it? what was she trying to make happen, in raising dmitry like she did? what are her plans for him, anyway?

the only thing we know for sure is that she was trying to build a boy without a heart .

and okay, yura's not a mutant, but despite what she says in comfort zone (we still don't really know how much of comfort zone was what temnova really believes, anyway, and how much is what she's feeding dmitry to make him into what she wants) — temnova strikes me as generally too pragmatic to actually be a stickler for the distinction. there's more than one way to be inhuman, i'm sure. and anyway the implication in like a dog ("a gear in the machine grew immune to corrosion") is that temnova started out human too. it's just that she got better. she got hungry. she learned devotion.

i used to worry that temnova would take dima back, and that yura would probably get killed, because he's out of his depth and too deep in self-destruction. right now i am honestly mostly worried that they actually might get along way too fucking well

footnote:

*yes I am conflating "being in the facility" and "being in jail" and "being dead" here. this is because 1. in narrative terms all three of those are kind of the same amount of "taken out of the story" 2. because let's be perfectly honest some of Our Heroes (irony, yura is not a hero anymore) are probably going to end up biting it 3. i am totally convinced at this point that dima and yura's journey to rescue kt is going to fully qualify as a katabasis, e.g. A Descent Into The Underworld, orpheus style. which raises the question of, oh you know, who's going to look back?

#pafl #parties are for losers #metatext #ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh lads this is a longun #what else can i really say but mercy on our uniform #and also to anyone who manages to read this whole thing that i am kissing you on the mouth as we speak

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danglovely · 6 months

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Regrading Taskmaster: S05E05 A wind-dried puffin.

*Score changes noted in parenthesis.

Back from a brief hiatus.

Just something I noticed at the top -- the title disappears where the period would normally go. Maybe that's just the YouTube edit.

Prize Task: The Most High-Octane Item

I think it's worthwhile to get a dictionary definition of "high-octane." From Merriam-Webster, "powerful, strong, or effective." Mark steals Greg's pants . . . and I'm of two minds on this one: (1) It seems like it deserves five points. (2) Mark did this, didn't find a good category to submit it for, so he shoehorned it in here. Nish's and Aisling's submissions somehow fit the category even worse and Aisling beats him out because a pie on a rake actually paints a decently effective image.

Despite being forced in, Mark deserved five points. I think Bob's rocket bike is better than Sally's pig feed for what I would think are obvious reasons.

Aisling: 2 (-1) Bob: 4 (0) Mark: 5 (+4) Nish: 1 (-1) Sally: 3 (-2)

VT 01: Put the biggest thing inside this balloon. The balloon must then be successfully inflated, tied, and bigger than your head.

I don't want any credit for it, I just want to say I'm fed up.

There's a possible order-of-operations loophole here. It seems like the thing could be removed from the balloon, then it's inflated + tied + etc. It's highly dependent on whether it's worth defending the spirit of the task.

As Taskmaster has taught us before, many contestants struggle with blowing up and tying balloons. I'm okay with other people blowing up the balloons for Mark and Aisling. I'm less okay with aggregating items to make the biggest thing -- because the task specifically specified an individual thing. That means Aisling's item is either a tomato or a breadstick.

Bob and Sally have to take zeroes because they don't get their balloons tied. Of course Nish's just explodes when he tries to blow it up in a perfectly normal way.

Aisling: 5 Bob: 0 Mark: 4 Nish: 0 Sally: 0

VT 02: Generate a watercooler moment involving this watercooler. Most remarkable watercooler moment wins.

Let's save the best 'til Nish.

So we're looking for a moment that people would talk about in the office. First things first -- dear god, Sally. It's the easiest five points I've ever seen . . . I won't say any more.

Bob rips an apple in half and I think I'm giving it one. Two big drawbacks to it: (1) There is no reason for the watercooler to be in the shot . . . at all. (2) Bob has already done this trick on Would I Lie To You?, and Greg was on the damn panel for that episode.

Nish's is awful. I do sort of buy into the "so shit it's good" argument. It helps that Mark and Aisling's attempts are so very very bad. I think Mark edges her because Aisling herself says "I forgot that happened."

Aisling: 2 (0) Bob: 1 (-2) Mark: 3 (+2) Nish: 4 (0) Sally: 5 (0)

Solo Task: Send the Taskmaster an anonymous cheeky text message, every single day, for the next five months.

When I look back at this calendar year, it's one of the major things I've done with it.

I often see this task cited as one of the most unfairly graded in the series. Mark gets zero for months of work . . . and I'm entirely okay with it. He sends 148 when he needed 150; he didn't complete the task.

Mark: 0

VT 03: Make the tallest tower of cans on this table. Highest tower of cans wins. Also whilst building your tower you must shake Alex's hand and say you're from a different country once every ten seconds.

Half the countries in the world.

If you're not going to remove the rope, move the cans to Alex then move the table to Alex. I don't think there are any ambiguities to the grading. Nish's subsidiary towers obviously shouldn't count and too bad for Aisling.

Aisling: 1 Bob: 5 Mark: 5 Nish: 3 Sally: 2

Live Task: Find the Fins. You may each ask one question to one person.

This is the stupidest task. No comment otherwise.

Aisling: 4 Bob: 2 Mark: 5 Nish: 4 Sally: 2

Final

Watson just kicked ass on this one.

Aisling: 14 Bob: 12 Mark: 22 Nish: 12 Sally: 12

#taskmaster #tm regrade #aisling bea #bob mortimer #mark watson #nish kumar #sally phillips

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krakenartificer · 3 years

Text

When I got my ADHD diagnosis, I looked at the questions on the screening form and thought, "If this result comes back positive, then I'm definitely not the only person in my family who has it." Questions like

"Have difficulty finishing one activity before starting another one" and

"I finish others' sentences before they can finish it themselves" and

"have trouble staying on one topic when talking"

...I thought were just weird quirks of my family, but no. When I got my results, I contacted my cousin, and she contacted her sisters and mother, and .. .. yeah. Basically everyone in my dad's side of the family is ADHD.

Now there are some problems with that, obviously, (getting family reunions to stick to a schedule is lol no) but there are some really fantastic perks. For one thing, no one in that family minds if I interrupt them while they're talking ... everyone's happy to keep 3 conversations going at the same time .... and no one minds if you fidget constantly.

But the best perk -- at least that I've found so far -- is that all of our parents have coping mechanisms, and passed them on to us. When I found myself unable to handle tasks with more than one step, my father didn't say "WTF are you talking about? It's easy! Just do the thing! Stop being lazy!" No, he could relate completely, and he sat down and taught me how to handle that.

So today, I'm going to pass on to you the coping mechanism my dad taught me for handling the "cannot put tasks in order / cannot get started / forget what I'm doing" problem. You'll need to adjust it for your own needs and your own struggles, but hopefully it'll be helpful in setting up your own process.

I'm going to walk through it with a big project I'm doing at work, just to have a concrete example. That will make some of the discussion specific to computer programming and technical writing, but I do the same thing for all my projects, so hopefully it'll be generalizable.

So to set the stage:

I was supposed to modify this piece of code -- we'll call it "Rosetta" -- to make it handle call data as well as what it was already doing. I did that.... but we now need the code to be able to handle calls (if that's wanted) but also to be able to handle NOT having calls (if THAT'S wanted).

Which is just .... ugh. So much. SOOOOOOOO much.

So. Break it down.

Step one is to get some recording mechanism - pen and paper, whiteboard, blank computer document, whatever

(Technically, this is a different coping strategy, so we'll just take a quick detour: WRITE THINGS DOWN. Your brain is shit at remembering things, and anyway you've already got limits on your working memory; why would you choose to tie up some of that limited resource in something that could be accomplished with literal stone-age technology? Don't even try to remember things. WRITE THEM DOWN.)

I like sticky notes: they're readily available in all offices, they're pretty cheap, and (most importantly) they can be rearranged if it turns out that I forgot a step or put the steps in the wrong order (which, like, let's be honest, I am definitely going to do). But they kill trees and create unnecessary methane emissions, so I've recently switched over to using virtual sticky notes. That's the format I'm going to use for this example, but you can use anything that meets your purposes.

So, you've got something to write with, you're ready to start.

The first question is: what are you trying to accomplish here? What would "done" look like? What is our goal?

I need to end up with a version of Rosetta that will make the correct results if you don't want calls, and will also make the correct results if you do.

The goal here is that you end up with a statement that you can definitively say (a) Yes this is what I wanted or (b)No this is not right because _______

In this case, in order to do that, I'll need to define "correct results" for both call- and non-call versions. But if I have that nailed down, then this statement meets that criterion: I'll be able to say "Yes, this is what I wanted: see, it makes the correct result for calls, and it makes the correct result for not-calls". Or else I'll be able to say, "No, this is wrong: see, it makes the correct result for calls, but on not-calls it does X and we wanted Y."

I have a clear, definitive standard about what I need to do and whether or not I've done it.

But there was a prerequisite there: I need to define "correct results".

So that goes on a sticky note: Create test that will compare my results to existing call!Rosetta-results and to existing not-call!Rosetta-results.

[ID: Two blue boxes, one on top of the other. The top one says in white text "Create test to compare my results to call!results" The bottom one says "Create test to compare my results to not-call!results"] OK. So now we know what we want. The second question is: what do we need to do in order to get that? Here's where the sticky-note recording system really shines, because you don't have to answer this question sequentially. You just start writing down every single thing that is not the way you want it to end up.

I need it to remove commas in the python script, not the bash script

I need to delete the first part of the get_runs() function, which doesn't do anything

I need to delete the rest of the parameters passed to build_query_script() function, because runs encompasses all the others

while we're on that subject, runs doesn't even need the group_variable, so let's pull that out of the parameter document

we also have a dmf defined, which the bash script demands but doesn't use; let's change that demand

since we're changing the structure of the parameter document, we don't need to pull new metrics for each run, so let's move that outside of the runs() loop and only run once

right now the parameter document is ALMOST but not quite "one row per template". Make it so it's actually one row per template.

among other things, that's going to require making it possible for a template to be followed by nothing at all, since it's the assumption that a template will have a metrics block after it that makes it not quite one row per template. So make it possible to publish a template with a null block

the other thing that's weirdly hard-coded is the definition of what a block looks like. Would it make more sense to separate that out into an input file, like the parameters document? On the one hand, that would make it much more flexible; on the other hand, that's another piece that can break. Don't know. Put a question mark on it.

etc

Here's what it looks like at the end of this step:

[ID: A black and white background showing many boxes in two different shades of blue, all with white text. Some of the boxes are overlapping each other.]

As you can see, at this phase you don't need to worry about any of the following:

ordering the tasks. Just stick 'em right on top of each other for now

how you're going to do any of this. Right now we just need to know what, not how

sticking to only one project. As I was working on this, it occurred to me that this whole process would have been a heck of a lot easier if someone had just made a user manual for this, and since I have to go through all the code line-by-line anyway, I might as well write up the documentation while I'm at it. (To help out future-me, if nothing else.) So I put those tasks on another color of sticky note.

making notes that make any ***ing sense to anyone else. This process is for you, and only you need to understand what you're talking about it. Phrase it in ways that make sense to your brain, and to hell with anyone else.

on that topic, also don't worry about making steps that are "too small" or "too dumb" to write down. This is for you. If "save document" feels like a step to you, then write it down.

You also don't need to get every single step involved in the project right now. Get as many as you can, to be sure, but the process is designed on the assumption that you ARE going to forget important steps, and is designed to handle that.

When you can't think of any more steps, then the third question is: what order does it make sense to do these in? Are there any steps that would be easier if you did another step first? Are there any that literally cannot be done unless another step is complete?

This is also a good place to group steps if they fit together nicely. When I used physical sticky notes, I used two different sizes; digitally I can of course make them whatever size I want.

So I have several documentation steps that (a) do need to be written to make sense to other people and (b) I really need to know what's going on before I can do that. I could write them now, but if I did, I'd just end up re-writing them based on things that change as I'm coding. So we'll move those to the end:

[ID: Three dark blue boxes with white text. They read "Create step-by-step instructions for creating your own metric agg", "Create step-by-step instructions for modifying a metric", "Create step-by-step instructions for modifying a query."]

These parts, though -- if I had all the variable structures written down, I could look at them while I'm coding. Then I won't have to keep scrolling back and forth in the code, trying to remember if it's an array or a dictionary while also trying to remember what part of the code I was working on. Brilliant. Move that to the front.

[ID: Seven dark blue boxes with white text, three large, four small. The first one is large and says "Write up explanation of how Rosetta works." The second one is large and says "Document structure of all variables." Attached to that one are four smaller boxes that say "All_blocks", "Runs", "metric", "New_block". The third large one says "Document what qb_parameters.csv contains"]

Also, while I'm at it, I should get the list of variables I need to document -- then I won't have to keep scrolling to find them. Make those sub-steps.

I definitely keep needing to look up what's in the parameters document, so I should write that down, too. For the user manual I also should write down what's in the metric document, but I don't need that for myself, so I can send that to the end.

[ID: The same three dark blue boxes from two screenshots ago (create step-by-step instructions for metric agg, modifying a metric, and modifying a query), now with another dark blue box in front of them with white text that says "Document what granular_metrics.tsv contains."]

These five are all small steps, and are all related in that they don't actually (hopefully) change the functionality of the code; they're just stuff left over from prior versions of this code. So we can lump them all together.

[ID: Five light blue boxes with white text that say "Delete first part of get_runs()", "Have build_query_script only receive the "run" parameter" "Delete dmf" "Move metrics=get_metrics() outside build_all_blocks (all the way up to the top level?" "Delete group_variable from qp_parameters"]

My brain likes this better, so that I can keep track of fewer "main steps", but that's just a peculiarity of me -- you should lump and split however you prefer to make this process easier for you.

[ID: The same five boxes from the prior screenshot, now all made smaller and attached to a larger box that says "Remove Legacy Code"]

Keep going, step by step, sticky by sticky, until you've got them in order. If -- while you're doing this -- you remember another thing you need to do, write it on a sticky and slap it on the pile; you don't have to stop what you're doing to deal with it, because it's written down and it's on the pile and it will get processed; you can just keep working on the thing you're on right now.

[ID: All the same boxes from the first screenshot, now in a neat row. Some of the original boxes have been grouped together. The ones that were said to be at the beginning of the process are on the left and the ones that were said to be at the end are on the right.]

Step four: for the love of all that's holy, SAVE THIS LIST.

Write it on your cubicle whiteboard where it won't be erased

write it on a piece of paper and tape it to the office wall

send an email to yourself

take a picture with your phone

I don't care but save it.

When I used physical sticky notes, I kept them all on the hood of my cubicle's shelf. Now, as you can see, I use Powerpoint, which is irritating af but does allow me to keep everything in a single document, which I can write down the path of.

[ID: White text on a black background says "open ~/Documents/Rosetta\ Modifications\ and \Documentation.pptx" The next line says "Notes in Rocketbook pg 10-12, 16" The next line says "Turn that into documentation that can be used for making modifications."]

And now (finally) you can answer the question "How would I even get started on that?" You look at the first thing on the list, and you treat it as its own project. You can hyperfocus on this step and completely forget about everything else this project requires, because everything you need to remember for the rest of it is written down.

If, as you're working a step, you think of something else you need to do for the big project, write it on a sticky and slap it on the pile. Don't even worry about trying to order it or identify sub-steps; as long as it's not blocking the thing you need to work on right now, you don't have to care. Just stick that bugger anywhere at all on the list, and go back to what you were doing. When you un-hyperfocus and come back to look at your list, there'll be a big sticky note stuck sideways across all the rest of the steps, and you'll remember to file and order it then.

Other benefits of this system

1) The first question really helps with unclear directions from your boss. You can take whatever they told you to do, and translate it into a requirement that is clearly either met or not-met, and then run it back by the boss.

If they say, "No, no, we want ______" then phew! You just saved a huge miscommunication and weeks of wasted work! What a good employee you are! What an excellent team player with strong communication skills!

If they say "Yes, that's what I want," then you know -- for sure -- what it is you're trying to accomplish. Your anxiety is reduced, and your boss thinks you're super-conscientious.

(And if your boss is a jerk who likes to move the goalposts and blame it on their subordinates, then have this conversation over email, so you can show it to their boss or to HR should it become necessary.)

2) Having this project map means that when you spend an hour staring at the requirements and trying to figure out how to get started (which, let's be honest, you were definitely going to do anyway) ... When your boss/coworker comes by and says, "How's it going?" Instead of having to say "I haven't even started 😞" You can say, "Pretty well! I've got all the steps mapped out and am getting ready to start on implementation!" and show them your list, and they think you're very organized and meticulous. 3) Sometimes, especially in corporate jobs, you and your coworkers will run into a problem that's too big for even Neurotypicals to hold all in their heads. At that point, the NTs will be completely lost -- they've never had to develop a way to handle projects they can't just look at and know how to get started. So then you pipe up in the meeting and say, "OK, well, what exactly are we trying to accomplish?" and everybody at the conference table looks at you like you're a goddamned genius and you don't have to tell them that you use this exact same process to remember how to make a sandwich 😅

4) Having this project map makes it so much easier to stop work and then start it up again later, but this post is already really really really long, so I'm going to address that in a separate (really really long) post.

#adhd #adhd life #tips #semi-solicited advice #gpoy #your mileage may vary #long post #very long post #sorry I wish I wrote more concisely too

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survivetoread · 2 years

Text

Read With STR: मृत्युंजय - कर्ण 1.20, 1.21

We're reading मृत्युंजय [mṛtyuṅjay] by Shivaji Sawant!

कर्ण 1.20

आकांत [ākāṅta] - shout, yell, outcry

गुरगुरणे [gurgurṇe] - to snarl, to growl, to purr

घुटमळणे [ghuṭmaḷṇe] - to hang about, to linger

लुसलुशीत [lusluśīt] - tender

दंग [daṅga] - absorbed or engrossed in

Words I did not get

झिरमिरीत [jhirmirīt] - "त्या रथाला चोहोबाजूंनी झिरमिरीत वस्त्रांचे पडदे लावलेले होते." A dictionary records झिरमिर [jhirmir] as 'drizzling', but that doesn't seem to work here.

Summary

Karna and Shon are walking near the royal palace when they see a covered royal chariot on its way out. Despite having space for six horses, it has only five horses of pure white.

Shon breaks away from Karna and rushed towards the chariot to rescue a kitten from being run over, risking getting run over himself. Karna is unsure of whether to admire or scold his brother.

The kitten's mother arrives shortly after, and mother and child are reunited. Karna thinks poorly of the mother cat for not watching over her child, and appreciates his own mother Radha for caring for him so much.

Karna and Shon then make way fro the chariot to pass, which is declared to be carrying the Queen Dowager Kunti.

कर्ण 1.21

पार [pār] - completely

घुसळणे [ghusaḷṇe] - to churn

चिरपरिचय [cirparicay] - known well, known for a long time

धान्यागार [dhānyāgār] - granary

शस्त्रागार [śastrāgār] - armory

चर्मकार [carmakār] - leather-worker

उपलेपक [upalepak] - plasterer, bricklayer

महार [mahār] - a caste typically charged with guard or protective duty

अठरापगड [aṭhrāpagaḍ] - a collective term for eighteen castes (see note)

Note

अठरापगड [aṭhrāpagaḍ] is a curious term that is used to collectively refer to eighteen castes (listed here). The term originates from the conception that each caste of the eighteen (अठरा [aṭharā]) has a unique way of wearing their associated turban (पगडी [pagḍī]).

Errors

तीक्रता [tīkratā] - this should be तीव्रता [tīvratā], i.e. intensity

Summary

Karna comes to enjoy his time in Hastinapur, even if he occasionally misses Champa and his mother. When depressed, he would take Shon for an outing to the town. Over time, the two become intimately familiar with the streets and sites of Hastinapur. Karna is awed by the many different kinds of people who live in the city.

He sometimes daydreams of not going to training school and just exploring the city, but then reminds himself that he is here to learn.

#marathi #langblr #languages #learn marathi #language learning #learn languages #read with str #मृत्युंजय #शिवाजी सावंत #Shivaji Sawant

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no1gaytheist · 3 years

Text

Alright, you whores it's time for more rtfg Obey Me quotes *rolls up sleeves and takes a swig of non-alcoholic cocktail juice*

***

Mammon: International police? That doesn't seem right... Why are they in France? France doesn't leave France...

Satan: International means "all over the place," Mammon. Here, let me grab my dictionary –

***

MC: Uh... Solomon? Did you put something in my water? I'm... hallucinating.

Solomon: Yes, I did, MC! I put some performance enhancement drugs in there so you can complete your tasks on time! We're on a strict schedule.

***

Levi to Asmo: Hey, great job! You found a picture of yourself, you narcissist.

Levi: ...

Levi: Could you find a picture of me, too? It's really gonna help me with my self-esteem.

***

(MC arriving in the Devildom)

Asmo: Hey, bitch. Welcome.

***

Asmo: Y'know, I think we should have... sex. Is that alright with you? I feel like, it's... y'know, are you there for that or...?

***

Belphie, Satan, and Asmo: You see, we're wanted from the law... and raves.

Lucifer: I am the law... and raves.

***

Satan: Latin is my language of choice but, I just like to make it up by adding "us" to the end.

Satan: Anyway, so I open the book-us and turn-us the page-us –

***

Solomon: It's me, I'm Solomon! And I like science!

Beel: I just really like food! Please help me!

***

Simeon: You see that right there? That's electricity! That powers all of our modern devices! TVs, tablets, iPads... Tablets and iPads are different things, I've determined recently in my studies.

***

Solomon: MC! You found the recipe for fire juice! It burns a whole lot if you drink it! But, in order to cook it, you need the bones of a dead relative! So why don't you go grave digging and give me the results when you get back?

Luke: Why did we agree to cook with you...?

***

(Mammon and Asmo causing chaos, idk)

Asmo: I need you to help me.

Mammon: Okay, maybe I'll shoot myself out of a cannon...

Asmo: No! Don't do that! That'll lead you in the opposite –

Mammon: Yeah, I think I'm gonna do that...

Asmo: Opposite. Direction. IF YOU DO THAT I'M GONNA FINE YOU!

***

Leviathan: Upon finding out that I'm part Japanese, I started eating Pocky under a bridge.

***

Levi: I want you to know that I've forgiven you for shooting me. I can understand, my face is shootable.

Mammon: It really is.

***

Satan: Dear Lucifer, here's a special code just for you: "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo Yankee Oscar Uniform." Have fun figuring that out, Lucifer! I'm sure you can do it. Have a wonderful day!

***

That's all from the Sly Cooper dub btw ☝🏻

Hhhhh anyway, these seem to be my most popular posts, so if you like this please check out my work on ao3! I'm working on a Simeon/reader fic right now soooooo 👀

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nachotrash · 3 years

Text

MORE INCORRECT QUOTES WITH MY MOOTS

ft: @catchmewiddershins @lilikags and @paradise-creator // no haikyuu boys this time

Pauline: No more making fun of me when I misuse dated cultural references, alright? Are we cowabunga on this? Wid, sighing: Fine. We're cowabunga.

------------------

Pauline: We're having a baby. Shiyu: Oh, congradu- Wid, slamming adoption papers onto teh table: It's you, sign here.

---------------

Pauline: Why are there little handprints all over the walls? Shiyu, whispering: Why are there little handprints all over the walls? Wid, whispering: Because I have little hands. Shiyu: Because they have little hands.

------------------

Wid: I was born for politics. I have great hair and I love lying.

--------------

Lili: Life keeps fucking me and I can't remember the safeword.

---------------

Wid: Pros and cons of dating me. Wid: Pros. You'll be the cute one. Wid: Cons. Holy shit, where do I begin-

(cons. you're the smart one😔)

----------------

Shiyu: Sure, you're verified on twitter, but are you verified in the eyes of god?

-------------

Pauline: Theater kids are just choir kids who joined forces with the band and strings kids.

-------------

Shiyu: Did you just call me a shrimp, you asshole?! I'm still growing, dammit!

(*lipbites in 166 cm*)

--------------

Wid: I don't dab. I stab.

(nOw WhEarE HAvE i SeEn ThIs BeFoRe)

----------------

Shiyu: I scare people a lot because I walk very softly and they don't hear me enter rooms. So when they turn around, I'm just kind of there and their fear fuels me.

(t-pose to assert dominance)

---------------

Shiyu, as a child, reading their school assignment out loud: I love my library because... Shiyu, mouthing words while writing: I love reading, fuck you.

(lmao baby nacho really be bold)

--------------------

Shiyu: The ‘how the fucks’ and 'why are you so dumbs’ don’t matter. All that matters is that I have a new gun.

------------------

Lili: It's not ugly, just aesthetically challenged.

----------------

Pauline: The last time I went to an urgent care clinic, I checked off 'excessive crying' on the symptom list, and then the nurse got really confused and said that was meant for babies.

--------------

Pauline: All of your existences are confusing. The Squad: How so? Pauline: Your presence is annoying, but the thought of anything bad happening to any of you upsets me.

(we are the squad now)

---------------

Lili: Blackmail is such an ugly word. I prefer extortion. The X makes it sound cool.

---------------

Wid: Real life should have a fucking search function, or something. Wid: I need my socks.

------------------

Pauline: New year, same me. Because I'm perfect.

(yes yes you are how dare you)

------------

Shiyu: Yeah I'm LGBT. Shiyu: cuLt leader. Shiyu: God hates me personally. Shiyu: cowBoy hat. Shiyu: *sniffles* Trying my best.

(my asexual ass be like;)

-------------

Wid: *plays shreksophone* Wid: Woo. Wid: Time to listen to this on loop for all eternity. Shiyu: ...Genius coping mechanism my friend

---------------

Shiyu: Treat spiders the way you want to be treated. Pauline: Killed without hesitation.

----------

Pauline: The next time I open up to someone, it'll be my autopsy.

---------------

Pauline: Sometimes, I don’t realize an event was traumatic until I tell it as a funny story and notice everyone is staring at me weird.

-----------------

Pauline: I hate Lili. Shiyu: "Hate' is a strong word. Pauline: I have strong opinions.

(oh no)

----------

Wid: How does that even work? Shiyu, mocking them: hOw dO yOu UsE a cOmPUteR aNd KnOw wHaTS GoiNg oN iT DoEsNt mAke SeNSe?! Wid: Your face doesnt make sense.

(...fair enough)

------------

Pauline: Get in, loser, we’re committing vehicular manslaughter!

-----------

Pauline: My stomach growled super loud in French. Pauline: I would like to clarify, my stomach did not speak in French. It growled during French class. Shiyu: Bonjour. Lili: Le growl. Wid: Hon hon hon, feed me a baguette.

(reminds me of the 'ill speak french between your legs' tumblr legend and im wheezing)

------------------

Shiyu: *tapping fingers on table* Lili: *taps fingers back furiously* Wid: …What’s going on? Pauline: Morse code. They’re talking. Shiyu: -.-- ..- .-. / - …. . / -.-. ..- - . … - Lili: *slams hands on table* YOU TAKE THAT BACK!

-----------------

Shiyu: For self defense reasons, I'm going to pretend to be a burglar and you guys have to act wisely. Wid, Lili, & Pauline: Okay. Shiyu: If you don't want to die, give me all your money. Wid: Bold of you to assume I have money. Lili: Bold of you to assume I don't want to die. Pauline: Bold of you to assume I can die.

(pauline is a goddess. goddesses cant die)

------------------

Lili: If I punch myself and it hurts, am I weak or strong? Wid: Strong. Shiyu: Weak. Pauline: An idiot, is what your are.

(as long as you dont flinch or scream youre strong. unless you get punched in the gut by someone like ushijima ofc)

--------------------

Shiyu: Those darn tall old people. Wid: Darm em' indeed. Pauline: Don't worry, they'll be gone soon enough. Lili: *sharpening knife* Yes. Dead. The Squad: Lili: Hahaha. Lili: ...Is this self-destructive behaviour?

-----------------

Wid: Oh god, they texted you ‘hi.’’ punctuation only means one thing, Pauline. They're mad at you. Pauline: No, it's Shiyu. They're just being gramatically correct! *meanwhile* Shiyu: And then I used a period so they'd know that I'm mad at them. Lili: A period doesn't say 'I'm mad', it says 'you're dead to me'. Shiyu: I stand by my choice.

------------------

Wid: What do we think of Shiyu? *pause* Lili: *sighs* Nice pal. Pauline: I think they're gay.

=------------

Wid: Where is Shiyu? Pauline: I'll do you one better, who is Shiyu?? Lili: Here's a better question, why is Shiyu?

(i dont know man. ive been trying to figure it out for the last few years)

--------------

Wid: On the count of three, what’s your favorite cake? Wid & Lili: One, two, three- Wid & Lili: Chocolate cake, peanutbutter frosting, and chocolate chunks! Shiyu: Our turn, Pauline! One, two, three- Shiyu: Vanilla! Pauline: I’ve never had cake before. What is cake?

----------------

Pauline: I am darkness. I am an power. I am your worst nightmare. I could kill a man in more ways than you can imagine. I am the night. I am fury, I am a weapon, I am- Wid: A doll. Shiyu: A cinnamon roll. Lili: A sweetheart. Pauline: Pauline: ...stop it.

(cant deny the truth bby)

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Wid, Pauline & Shiyu: *screaming* Lili: *runs into the room* What's wrong, Shiyu?! Wid: Wait, why are you asking Shiyu that when Pauline and I are also here? Lili: Because Shiyu wouldn't scream unless it's an emergency. You two scream whenever you have the chance.

(i mean... its true )

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Pauline: What’s wrong? You look 10 seconds away from ripping someone’s throat out. Wid: Fucking Shiyu and Lili were trying to invoke one of the minor gods again last night. I didn't get an ounce of sleep, thanks to their bloody chanting.

(manifests dvalin cause i wanna ride on their back and fall off)

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Lili: Wake me up- Wid: Before you go go Shiyu: When September ends Pauline: WAKE ME UP INSIDE

(cant wake up- WAKE ME UP INSIDE)

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Shiyu, watching Pauline & Lili panic : What's going on? Wid: Pauline is having a midlife crisis and Lili is just having a crisis.

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Lili: *Gasp* Pauline: wHAT?? Lili: What if soy milk is just milk introducing itself in Spanish? Pauline: *inhales* Wid, in another room with Shiyu: Why can I hear screeching?

(shiyu: same shit different day)

----------------------------

Shiyu: Christmas is cancelled. Wid: You can't cancel a holiday. Shiyu: Keep it up, Wid, and you'll lose New Year's too. Wid: What does that mean? Shiyu: Lili, take New Year's away from Wid.

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Pauline: So, are they your friend or... Lili: They’re like Wid, but if Wid was ordered to be around you. Pauline: Oh, so Shiyu. Lili: Precisely!

(if its about how annoyed i always look then you ahve a point)

----------------

Wid: You’re just being paranoid. Again. Pauline: When have I been paranoid? Wid: Um, when you first met Lili you thought they were an undercover cop…? Pauline: No one has a wart that big, I thought it was a surveillance camera! Wid: And last year you were sure Shiyu was a mermaid! Pauline: They hate wearing shirts! COINCIDENCE?! *Later, when Pauline’s theory is proven wrong* Wid: Do you have anything to say for yourself? Pauline: I still think Shiyu is a mermaid.

(id gladly be one)

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*Wid drunkenly wanders around the manor and Lili is drunkenly giggling* Shiyu, completely sober: *sighs* Well, looks like it's just me and you against the wold, Pauline. Pauline, going to their room: Nope, just you. *shuts door*

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Wid: We need to distract these guys. Lili: Leave it to me. Lili: Centaurs have six limbs and are therefore insects. Discuss. Pauline & Shiyu: *immediately begin arguing*

(*pulls out dictionary*)

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Police: You’re under arrest for trying to carry three people on a single motorcycle. Shiyu, with Wid and Lili behind them: Wait, what do you mean THREE?! Police: Yes…three. Shiyu: Oh, my God— What the fuck!? Police: Wha- Shiyu: Pauline FUCKING FELL OFF!

----------------------

Wid: What is love? Pauline: An emotional minefield. Shiyu: A neurochemical reaction. Lili: Baby don't hurt me.

(BECAUSE FUCK EMOTIONS)

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Pauline: I currently have 7 empty notebooks and I have no idea what to put in them. Any suggestions? Wid: Put spaghetti in it. Pauline: I am currently taking suggestions from everyone but you. Lili: Put spaghetti in it. Pauline: I am currently taking suggestions from everyone but you two. Shiyu: Put spaghetti in it. Pauline: I am no longer taking suggestions.

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Shiyu, pointing to the wall: What color is this? Pauline: Gray. Lili: Grey. Shiyu, turning to Wid: Now tell them what color you think it is. Wid: Dark white.

#incorrect nacho

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scarlettrose0 · 3 years

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Indeed, the thing inside you is well, ya know a human being. The definition of a human being is an:

“any individual of the genus Homo, especially a member of the species Homo sapiens.” When you have an abortion, you lose an distinct member of the human species. You don’t just lose them, you kill them. You may argue that it’s not even alive, but even pro-choice biologists admit life begins at conception. After all, if it wasn’t would it be taking a toll on your body? Using your nutrients to survive? The definition of alive is...

”noun, plural: lives. (1) A distinctive characteristic of a living organism from dead organism or non-living thing, as specifically distinguished by the capacity to grow, metabolize, respond (to stimuli), adapt, and reproduce.”

If it wasn’t alive, would it really be able to develop into an fully developed newborn? No, clearly not. There’s also a reason why you often see the ”viability“ argument, arguing since it can’t survive outside the mother’s womb, she should be able to kill it. Which also obviously suggests it’s alive inside the womb. Also, see here:

”Life Begins at Fertilization The following references illustrate the fact that a new human embryo, the starting point for a human life, comes into existence with the formation of the one-celled zygote:

"Development of the embryo begins at Stage 1 when a sperm fertilizes an oocyte and together they form a zygote." [England, Marjorie A. Life Before Birth. 2nd ed. England: Mosby-Wolfe, 1996, p.31] "Human development begins after the union of male and female gametes or germ cells during a process known as fertilization (conception). "Fertilization is a sequence of events that begins with the contact of a sperm (spermatozoon) with a secondary oocyte (ovum) and ends with the fusion of their pronuclei (the haploid nuclei of the sperm and ovum) and the mingling of their chromosomes to form a new cell. This fertilized ovum, known as a zygote, is a large diploid cell that is the beginning, or primordium, of a human being." [Moore, Keith L. Essentials of Human Embryology. Toronto: B.C. Decker Inc, 1988, p.2] "Embryo: the developing organism from the time of fertilization until significant differentiation has occurred, when the organism becomes known as a fetus." [Cloning Human Beings. Report and Recommendations of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. Rockville, MD: GPO, 1997, Appendix-2.] "Embryo: An organism in the earliest stage of development; in a man, from the time of conception to the end of the second month in the uterus." [Dox, Ida G. et al. The Harper Collins Illustrated Medical Dictionary. New York: Harper Perennial, 1993, p. 146] "Embryo: The early developing fertilized egg that is growing into another individual of the species. In man the term 'embryo' is usually restricted to the period of development from fertilization until the end of the eighth week of pregnancy." [Walters, William and Singer, Peter (eds.). Test-Tube Babies. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1982, p. 160] "The development of a human being begins with fertilization, a process by which two highly specialized cells, the spermatozoon from the male and the oocyte from the female, unite to give rise to a new organism, the zygote." [Langman, Jan. Medical Embryology. 3rd edition. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1975, p. 3] "Embryo: The developing individual between the union of the germ cells and the completion of the organs which characterize its body when it becomes a separate organism.... At the moment the sperm cell of the human male meets the ovum of the female and the union results in a fertilized ovum (zygote), a new life has begun.... The term embryo covers the several stages of early development from conception to the ninth or tenth week of life." [Considine, Douglas (ed.). Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia. 5th edition. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1976, p. 943] "I would say that among most scientists, the word 'embryo' includes the time from after fertilization..." [Dr. John Eppig, Senior Staff Scientist, Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, Maine) and Member of the NIH Human Embryo Research Panel -- Panel Transcript, February 2, 1994, p. 31] "The development of a human begins with fertilization, a process by which the spermatozoon from the male and the oocyte from the female unite to give rise to a new organism, the zygote." [Sadler, T.W. Langman's Medical Embryology. 7th edition. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins 1995, p. 3] "The question came up of what is an embryo, when does an embryo exist, when does it occur. I think, as you know, that in development, life is a continuum.... But I think one of the useful definitions that has come out, especially from Germany, has been the stage at which these two nuclei [from sperm and egg] come together and the membranes between the two break down." [Jonathan Van Blerkom of University of Colorado, expert witness on human embryology before the NIH Human Embryo Research Panel -- Panel Transcript, February 2, 1994, p. 63] "Zygote. This cell, formed by the union of an ovum and a sperm (Gr. zyg tos, yoked together), represents the beginning of a human being. The common expression 'fertilized ovum' refers to the zygote." [Moore, Keith L. and Persaud, T.V.N. Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects. 4th edition. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company,

1993, p. 1] "The chromosomes of the oocyte and sperm are...respectively enclosed within female and malepronuclei. These pronuclei fuse with each other to produce the single, diploid, 2N nucleus of the fertilized zygote. This moment of zygote formation may be taken as the beginning or zero time point of embryonic development." [Larsen, William J. Human Embryology. 2nd edition. New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1997, p. 17] "Although life is a continuous process, fertilization is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed.... The combination of 23 chromosomes present in each pronucleus results in 46 chromosomes in the zygote. Thus the diploid number is restored and the embryonic genome is formed. The embryo now exists as a genetic unity." [O'Rahilly, Ronan and M�ller, Fabiola. Human Embryology & Teratology. 2nd edition. New York: Wiley-Liss, 1996, pp. 8, 29. This textbook lists "pre-embryo" among "discarded and replaced terms" in modern embryology, describing it as "ill-defined and inaccurate" (p. 12}] "Almost all higher animals start their lives from a single cell, the fertilized ovum (zygote)... The time of fertilization represents the starting point in the life history, or ontogeny, of the individual." [Carlson, Bruce M. Patten's Foundations of Embryology. 6th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996, p. 3] "[A]nimal biologists use the term embryo to describe the single cell stage, the two-cell stage, and all subsequent stages up until a time when recognizable humanlike limbs and facial features begin to appear between six to eight weeks after fertilization.... "[A] number of specialists working in the field of human reproduction have suggested that we stop using the word embryo to describe the developing entity that exists for the first two weeks after fertilization. In its place, they proposed the term pre-embryo.... "I'll let you in on a secret. The term pre-embryo has been embraced wholeheartedly by IVF practitioners for reasons that are political, not scientific. The new term is used to provide the illusion that there is something profoundly different between what we nonmedical biologists still call a six-day-old embryo and what we and everyone else call a sixteen-day-old embryo. "The term pre-embryo is useful in the political arena -- where decisions are made about whether to allow early embryo (now called pre-embryo) experimentation -- as well as in the confines of a doctor's office, where it can be used to allay moral concerns that might be expressed by IVF patients. 'Don't worry,' a doctor might say, 'it's only pre-embryos that we're manipulating or freezing. They won't turn into real human embryos until after we've put them back into your body.'" [Silver, Lee M. Remaking Eden: Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New World. New York: Avon Books, 1997, p. 39]

#pro-life argument #biology #pro-life #abortion

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