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jacenbren · 1 year

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I know it's probably been pointed out before, but I am Having Thoughts about the twins' shift in personality after the Big Fall so forgive me but I NEED to rant (here be spoilers be warned)

At first glance it's easy to think that Knives is very cold and emotionless and closed off, but when you look closer, you realize that that's probably the furthest thing from the truth. When we see him as a kid—no matter which iteration of Trigun you're watching—Knives is the high-energy, outgoing twin, with big ambitions and an even bigger desire to go seek out knowledge. Especially in trimax, he's the one who's the most intrigued by humans and wants to get along with them (it should be noted that both of the twins have a very black-and-white way of thinking and a very strong sense of justice; I personally headcanon both of them as autistic). He's the one who follows Rem around the ship, constantly bombarding her with why why why, and when she doesn't give him answers—either because said answers to his questions require a level of maturity he doesn't yet have to understand, or because Rem is fucking tired from taking care of twin alien boys who age rapidly and could blow up the entire fleet with their godlike powers—Knives stubbornly starts to look for them himself.

Then the Tesla incident happens. For Knives, this is the mother of all fuckery, and he basically is subjected to the alien equivalent of watching Mufasa get K.O.'ed by a herd of wildebeests in The Lion King. This scares the living shit out of him, because every one of his prior beliefs have just been obliterated. Knives being naturally very inquisitive and hungry for knowledge... well, after Rem comes and gets them and calms them down, Knives starts digging. He doesn't want to believe that this is what humans are capable of, but as he combs through the ship's data archives, he keeps getting atrocity after atrocity thrown in his face. Knives bears witness to the horrors of mankind's history, and with his black-and-white thinking, he can't help just fucking losing it.

We're all pretty aware that Knives wears his heart on his sleeve. Sure he acts all cool and calculating, but when he's actually in the heat of the moment, he clearly reacts to everything in a very emotional manner. That adventurous, energetic little kid he once was is still in there, but he's been damaged so very badly, and twisted to where his strong emotions are expressed almost entirely as anger and his inquisitive nature has become recklessness; Knives just doesn't know when to stop, because he can't. All he's been focused on for the past century and a half is the survival of himself and his kind, and he's basically been in a kind of high-alert attack mode since the Big Fall.

Knives has built up a shell around himself. A sharp, spiky shell of weaponized emotions, that nothing but Vash can break through.

Speaking of Vash, he was a pretty shy, reserved kid. Especially in tristamp, he's the softspoken, mama's boy type. He's pretty clingy towards Rem especially, and he's more than happy to let Knives do all the decision-making and talking. He fits the younger sibling archetype very well, despite him and Knives being twins.

When the Tesla incident happens, Vash takes it a bit better. He's not curious to a fault like Knives is, so he takes Rem's word for it when she reassures him and says that she would never let anything happen to him or his brother. Instead of flipping his viewpoints on a dime out of fear, Vash instead becomes even more firm in his ideals: yes, humans are by no means perfect, but they've been nothing but kind to him and Knives so far. Vash comes to the conclusion that if he doesn't give the humans a reason to hurt him, everything will be okay, so Vash constructs a wall around himself like Knives did, only Vash's is purely defensive and deliberately disarming. Especially after the Big Fall, Vash is extremely aware of how untrusting humanity is of him, so he pours all his energy into making himself as likeable and non-threatening as he can.

Unlike Knives, we rarely see Vash react to dangerous situations with genuine emotion. It's very obvious that Vash's careless, happy-go-lucky attitude is a construct that he uses to hide his true feelings, and a meticulously-constructed one at that—in the '98 anime, Wolfwood is one of the few people who seem to be able to pick up on this and point it out. Sure, Vash might be a genuinely good-hearted and hopeful person, but he's just as scared as Knives is, only he hides behind a facade and tries to make himself as palatable to humans as he can (yet another reason why I headcanon the twins as autistic; homeboy has been masking for literal centuries and when he finally ends up having a meltdown because of it he levels cities lmao).

Vash has also built up a shell around himself. His, however, is deliberately made to seal himself away from the world, out of fear for himself, humanity, and the rest of his kind.

forgive me for the long post but I am rotating these two little shits in my Mind Microwave omg

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hermitshippingbigbang · 11 months

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Interest Check Results

For those of you who love some good data, here are the results of the Interest Check for the Hermitshipping Big Bang 2023 from 151 responses.

“On a scale of 1-10, how interested are you in participating in a Hermitshipping Big Bang/Reverse Big Bang?”

The most common answer was 8/10 (32% of all respondents). Only 8% of respondents ranked their interested at 5/10 or below. From this, we concluded that there was more than enough interest to warrant running the event!

“Between a Big Bang (writers create first) and a Reverse Big Bang (artists create first), which type of event would you prefer?”

While the plurality of respondents did not have a preference one way or another, of the respondents that had a preference, about twice the respondents said they would prefer a Big Bang (38.7%) than those that said they would prefer a Reverse Big Bang (20%). From this data, we chose to officially make this event a Big Bang. Depending on the outcome of this event, we may consider running a Reverse Big Bang in the future.

“Which roles would you be interested in participating as?”

Many respondents indicated that they would be interested in participating in the event as multiple roles. We are extremely hopeful for all the new fanworks this event will bring to the Hermitshipping tags!

“What fic lengths would you be most interested in creating (writers) or creating art for (artists)?”

The majority of respondents said they were interested in creating or creating art for fics under 20,000 words, putting the majority of fics in Tier 2 or below. Several respondents expressed interest in 50,000+ word fics, which means some fics may end up in Tier 6 and above!

“Which ratings would you be comfortable working with?”

Nearly all the respondents are comfortable working with works rated for Teen Audiences and over half said they would be comfortable working with works rated for General Audiences and Mature Audiences. Over a quarter of the respondents were comfortable working with Explicit content.

“Which ships would you be most interested (i.e. top 3) in creating for?”

Respondents expressed interest in a total of 86 different ships—wow! Here’s a look at just the 15 ships with the highest total interest score. For anyone interested in the complete data, please see the extended graph here.

Desert Duo took the top spot with Team Rancher hot on their heels; Ethubs, Treebark, and Flower Husbands round out the top 5.

As a note, the interest score is just a tally of how many times each ship was submitted by respondents as something they would be interested in creating for. This tally was then sorted based on whether the respondent expressed that they would like to participate as a writer or as an artist (and in the case of respondents who wanted to do both, their ships of interest were counted towards both tallies).

This data provides a great overview of the general spread of ships that folks are enthusiastic to create for! It should be noted that these interest scores are not the expected number of creations for each ship—these scores are just to gauge the overall interest level in each ship.

Just for fun, we also tallied which characters appeared most frequently amongst respondents’ ships of interest!

The submitted ships featured a total of 40 different characters. Here is just the top 15, but for the complete data you may view the extended graph here.

Closing thoughts

This is already shaping up to be a vibrant and lively event with lots of interest from both writers and artists! We can’t wait to see what everyone creates <3

Sign-ups open June 10, 2023!

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beskarinhyperspace · 11 months

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Moon Dust

He can’t help but think about your perfect skin beneath his gloved finger. Wishing it was bare so he could feel you.

More Chapters | MASTERLIST

3. Breathe

*Mature, Explicit, NSFW*

Din Djarin x fem.reader

Word Count: 2.7k

A/N: We're getting into it people, i also have the next chapter already half written soo yeah, I'm in it.. Enjoy !

Buzzing ears and head heavy. Your body feels like boulders. You’re trying to figure out where you are. You opened your eyes slowly, seeing everything blurry around you. You lift your arm to remove the hair from your face. As you go to touch your head, you can feel something wet at your fingertips, squinting your eyes trying to focus.

“What do you mean you’re thinking? We have to move!”

The man without waiting a second more, looked at a data pad and turned a key on the board.

Dropping from Hyperspace, you see a bright sphere and the Mandalorian without hesitation, moved forward into its atmosphere. He turns his head quickly to you while pulling the wheel forward. “Hold tight!” Before turning back to press buttons on a pad. “Should be breathable. Well try to-” At the same time, a high pitch sound could be heard as if it was coming from inside your head.

Going down full speed you couldn’t help but scream as loud as you can. Meanwhile he was pushing a lever, pulling the ship upwards trying to minimize damage.

Finally gaining focus. Your eyes glanced at the ship. Pieces of it torn, pulled out, some even missing. Cords hanging from the dashboard and ceiling, cracked windows and everything in between just thrown everywhere on the floor. You looked at the man, unmoving in his chair. Unbuckling yourself from your seat, you try to get up. Losing balance as you stumble on debris. You glanced in his direction, only seeing the back of him. “Hey.. Mandalorian.. Are you okay?”

You can hear grunting as he lifts his hands towards his helmet, perhaps trying to stabilize his mind. You stay still looking to see if he can at least stand. As you watched him, you noticed his breathing going faster.

Moving forward through the wreckage you put a hand on his shoulder. His breathing getting heavier and sharper, he jumps from the seat. “I can’t breathe-“

You looked at him confused as he was pacing around. Tugging at his cape around his neck. “I can’t breathe, I need air..” as he moves towards the door. He tries to push the pad on the side of it, getting angrier.

You follow as he kicks the door of the ramp with his foot. Making an opening big enough for him to pass under. Going right after him, you hear him land on the ground. When you do the same and lift your head to look up. You see a man on his hands and knees, leaning forward on the earth beneath him, breathing quick and short.

You’ve seen it happened with other man from your clan, but never thought you’d see it in a man as hard and impressive as the Mandalorian. You move to his right, bending lower to his level. You put once again a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, you’re safe, we’re safe..” Leaving your hand there to reassure him.

He calms himself down, taking deep breaths in, before turning his helmet slowly to you. You give him a small smile from the corner of your lips. Noticing his hand from his other side, going towards his hip. You move your hand as fast as you can to your ankle and pull out your blade, placing it directly on his neck.

“I wouldn’t do that.” You warn him.

In a single movement, he grabs your wrist, squeezing which made you drop the knife. You extend your other arm to put a hand on his neck as he does the same to you. Both in each other's grip, you stay silent. Not being able to see his face makes it harder to read him.

“Who are you? Who is your clan?” he demands, still on edge.

You try to speak but his grip is too tight around your throat, you can’t even breathe properly. He notices it, loosening his fingers as he sees water coming from the redness of your eyes.

“Answer me..” still urging.

You swallow deep before replying. “They’re no one to the galaxy, but everything to my family.”

He stays still, staring at you, trying to see through the lies. After a moment he finally removes his hand from your neck, and you do the same. He looks at you stone cold as you take a few steps back trying to get some air back to your lungs.

You notice his helmet moving downwards, scanning you. As you follow his gaze, you see a trail of half dried blood on your thigh from the slit of the dress. Remaining silent, he turns around to go back onto the ship.

Puzzled, you stay put. Looking around, taking in the new environment. Nothing much is going on. Trees and greenery, nothing to get excited for.. You used to train on a planet just like it was when you were younger. Hopefully you can remember some of the skills you were taught.

You hear rumbling from the ship before seeing his shape again. Your duffle bag in one hand and a metal box in the other. He walks towards you, stopping just a few inches from you. He drops the bag to the ground next to him, opening the box. Taking a spray bottle from it as he hands you the container. You take it close to you as he takes his other gloved hand to your scalp.

“This might sting” he says softly.

Without a word, you just let him do what needs to be done. Feeling the burning rising, you squint your eyes.

“I'm sorry” he says, as he notices it.

You close your eyes simply nodding to let him know it’s alright. He starts going lower hesitantly, kneeling in front of your leg. You turn slightly to the side so he can have better access. He goes under the edge of the dress opening, just a little to have a better look. With light pressure, he passes his index around the wound as you let an obvious sound of pain.

He looks up to you, “can you give me a bacta square...”

Looking down into the silver box, you pick one, handing it to him. He nods as he takes it from your hand. You can’t help but feel small, which never truly happens. Lost in your thoughts, you didn’t even notice he was done, rising as he hands you your bag.

“And you?” asking calmly.

“I’ll go check in the fresher later. I only feel sore at the moment, almost as if I was in a ship crash.” He replies with a serious voice.

You look at him with frowned brows, “Was that supposed to be a joke?”

He tilts his helmet to you, “Could be.”

Your eyes squinting to him, you turn around, going further into the woods, “I’ll go change..”

With a hand on his hip, he watches you move away as he does the same going back to the ship.

You finally open your bag after looking for a somewhat safe spot and start undressing yourself. Seeing bruises on your stomach and hip. Nothing too serious but you're definitely sore.

As you put on your dark carbon pants and long tight sleeves, you can’t help but feel better in your combat clothes. You tie your leather arm brace in place, putting back your knife and blaster holsters as well. Walking back towards the ship, you think about his earlier episode and wonder if he was okay.

While you were gone, the Mandalorian had locked himself in the fresher. Removing his armor to have a better look at himself. Few scratches and bruises here and there but overall could’ve been worse. He wasn't hurt as much as you.

You. He looked at his eyes in the mirror, appearing even more tired than the last time he checked. Thinking about your perfect skin beneath his gloved fingers. Wishing it was bare so he could feel you. The way he wanted to just make you feel better upon seeing your wounds. He doesn’t understand why but he doesn’t feel good enough, almost as if he wasn't worthy of wanting such things.

He sighs, going to see if the water is still working in the shower. It’s not, but the one from the sink is.

He takes his soap and a dry towel to start washing himself in the sink. As he passes the bar of soap on his chest. His mind goes towards your bare neck catching the sun. The low cleavage dress and how soft and creamy your breast looked in it. The gown fitting your curves perfectly, admiring the way your ass sway as you walked.

Feeling a twitch coming from his underpants, he closes his eyes, seeing yours looking straight at him while he was on his knees. His hand now grabbing his fully harden cock over the fabric. Giving it a good strong squeeze, he growls deep while thinking of your bare leg in front of him. So close yet so far from his mouth.

Lowering his pants, he lets it out his harden cock as he grabs more of the soap, lathering his hands to pump it up and down. He goes back to your thighs and how he would’ve loved nothing more than to caress the inner part of them.

I must protect her, protecting her is my job..

The pleasure becomes louder in his stomach as he moves his fist quicker. His breathing intensifies as he starts to shake a little, leaking into his hand. He leaned over the sink while the water was still running.

I need to put this nonsense to an end.

“Mandalorian?”

His eyes rounded at the mention of his name. He looks quickly at the door handle to make sure it’s locked. He closes his eyes trying to focus, opening them back as quickly. He swallows before talking. “Yes.. I'm in the fresher! Give me a minute-” trying to sound normal.

All he could hear was his new favorite voice coming from a distance.. “Take your time, I'll make a fire!”

Leaning over the sink, he takes a deep breath trying to ground himself while dropping his head back to the ceiling.

“Fuck..”

As he comes down from the ship, he stares at you. Simply just looking as you're gathering branches for the fire pit you apparently made from rocks and dirt.

Even though your dress fitted you perfectly, he thought your new outfit suited you better. Noticing your shape since the clothes were tighter to your body. He analyses the blaster on your hip that he saw you use in battle. The knife that if it could tell a story, it would tell him you knew how to use as well. Your movements being calculated as if you've done them a million times.

"You're a fighter." Stating more than asking.

You stop what you’re doing, now looking straight at him. He's standing there, thumbs in his belt.

You move towards the fire pit with branches in your arms. Dropping them before replying. "Yes, I am.. so are you." Pointing out to his blaster.

He tilts his head to its side, and you start feeling nervous again. You didn't know him. All you knew was that something must've happened for him to react the way he did earlier.

He turns around towards the ship and comes back with a small bag. "Here, you must be hungry." Saying, as he's giving it to you. You thank him but he's already walking away, moving deeper into the forest. You watch him pull out a dead trunk out of it. Sliding it across the ground before pulling it closer to the pit. He gestures with his hand, asking you to sit on it.

You look at him confused before asking him, "You're not going to eat?"

He paused before answering you. "I already ate when you were changing."

You don't ask any further questions as you sit on the trunk. Watching him squat in front of the pit. Seeing the man in beskar activating a small flame from his wrist. Starting the fire before coming back to sit next to you.

The sky was getting darker, the sun was still up but you were able to see some stars starting to up. You couldn't help but stare at them as you finished your meal. Sensing eyes, you turn your head slightly to him, but he changes his gaze back to the fire, making you smile a little to yourself.

"Do you always have your armor on? You ask, seeing him tense at question.

He stays still, looking in front of him as he answers you. "Most of the time, yes."

"So, you never really go around without it? Even the helmet?" You seemed genuine in your innocence.

His hands turning into loose fists. "That's correct, no one has seen my face since I was a child. Since.. I took my creed."

You stay silent as he turns his helmet to face you. Nodding to him, you can't help but notice the hardness in his voice.

"Where do you plan to sleep?" You ask him after a moment.

"Here" he replies simply.

You bend to your bag taking a blanket and your cape out of it. He looks at you as you spread the blanket on the floor, laying on it.

"Then I'll sleep here as well." Glancing at him, taking your cape to cover your body and your bag as pillow. Both of you stayed in silence as you watched the flames, falling asleep quickly.

You hear grunting, making you open your eyes to see the dark sky full of stars. Turning your head towards the noise. You see the Mandalorian on the ground near you. His head and upper back resting on the trunk. You push yourself up to sit, rubbing your eyes as you try to focus. As you wake up, you notice his chest rising and going down rather fast while his body looked agitated.

He's definitely dreaming.

"Mandalorian?" You try to wake him but just like last time, it's in vain.

You pull yourself up, moving to him and start to shake him softly by gripping his shoulder. "You're dreaming. Mandalorian, wake up."

You hear a sharp breath before he jolts, taking his knife out. Making freeze, looking straight into his visor. You instinctively push your body back slightly at the sight of the blade pointed directly at you. He quickly notices that you’re scared and lowers it as fast as he gets it out. "I'm so sorry I-I don't know.." Sensing panic and remorse in his raspy voice.

You stay silent, letting him come back to reality. After a moment he starts talking again. His hand going to his helmet "I was dreaming of my kid.. I.. I think I miss him."

You stay still while speaking yourself. "Isn't he with his mother? He must be safe?" Not knowing how to approach the subject.

"No, I don't have a–" he looks up to you before putting his gaze back down. "My kid is not human, he's.. to be honest I don't know what he is. But no, he's training with someone who can show him the way to his inner powers"

You nod while giving him a small and shy smile. "I understand better now. Thank you for trusting me." You say simply before using your soft voice. "You need to rest. We've had a big day; you must be exhausted." You state, going to turn back around.

Not wanting to let you move away from him. He grabs your wrist, stopping you in your steps. Confused, your eyes go to his grip before moving to his helmet.

"I'm sorry I- can you sleep closer?" He asks as he lets go of your hand.

You nod getting up to grab your stuff. Coming back to lay your blanket next to him. Placing your bag in front of the trunk. Starting to cozy up again. "He's going to be fine, plus if the power you speak of is what I think it is. He's going to be more than fine." You say with your eyes already closed and facing the stars above.

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k-rising · 2 years

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Jaemin's birth chart analysis

DISCLAIMER: This is an analysis of the idol's natal chart, which wants to show a deeper perspective on the idol's life. This analysis is carried out based on the data that appears in the birth chart. The point of this post is to entertain. [This idol hasn't confirmed his birth time, so I used the standard 12pm time to calculate his natal chart].

since jaemin has three planets in leo (sun, mercury and mars) that means he has a leo stellium! this boy is warm, affectionate, romantic, confident and proud of his ideas and ambitions, but sometimes he can be quite selfish... jaemin is very ambitious, so he may hold himself to very high standards and gets mad at himself for not meeting his own expectations. this dude loves being the center of attention, he wants to be successful and become a role model; he lives for praises and compliments. jaemin is friendly, sociable, creative and very dramatic lol. he's also very loyal and has a big heart. he has a lot of vitality and communicates with a lot of passion and style, which may make others think he's arrogant and a know-it-all. jaemin can also be quite domineering with his own opinions, but he softens it with his sense of humor. he can be a quiet impulsive sometimes and it can be difficult for him to separate facts from fiction. he's charismatic and optimistic; he tends to see the bigger picture.

jaemin's very childish and it can be hard for him to take responsibility of his actions. he likes spending time with people who are younger than him or just people who are not that mature with his sun square saturn. he doesn't like when others tell him what he has to do and he can also be quite rebellious with his sun and mercury opposite uranus. jaemin doesn't like following rules already established, he likes creating them. this boy is often questioning everything, specially traditional things. he's very open-minded, but he doesn't like when people don't think the same way as him lmao. he can also be prone to arguing a lot.

having mercury and mars sextile jupiter makes me think that he's a very smart and curious individual who likes to talk A LOT lol. he may be good at sports and learning languages!

when conflicts arises, jaemin can be very manipulative and will always try to make himself look like a victim guwjf. but he can also be quite good at getting to the heart of the problem with his mars trine pluto.

even though I said jaemin is very affectionate and loving, it can be hard for him to be openly affectionate sometimes with his capricorn moon... plus, he can be quiet cold when it comes to feelings. jaemin will only show his affection towards you once you became closer to him. this boy has the need to feel useful and productive; he wants to be respected! he knows what he wants and his boundaries are clear. jaemin seeks for safety and security in his life. he often uses humor to hide how he really feels and he can also be quite patient and practical when he wants to.

I remember he used to do a lot of volunteer work when he was a kid and, actually, that makes a lot of sense, cause he has moon conjunct neptune

it can take some time for him to find someone he can trust and love because of his high standards, but once he does, he's very observant and is willing to make his relationships work. jaemin likes punctual and well-mannered individuals who tend to go unnoticed with his virgo venus. he likes taking his time to get to know someone on a deeper level and wants things to be reciprocated. he can get quite shy at first, so his way of showing affection is through acts of service. this boy is loyal and wants people to appreciate all the little things he does. he usually likes playing it safe and will approach his crush once he feels that the other person feels the same way.

although jaemin pays attention to his partner, his main concern is his own enjoyment; he wants to have a happy and romantic relationship. however, with his venus square pluto, he may become quite possessive and jealous once you're his...

jaemin likes working in an environment where he can not only communicate and use his voice, but also where he can learn new things all the time. with his gemini jupiter, he will get luckier as he ages. success and luck are on his side if he can push past the struggles earlier in life.

jaemin's life mission is to nurture his relationships and surround himself with the people he loves; he has to protect them. with his cancer north node, he needs to understand his emotions and embrace his vulnerable side.

#na jaemin #nct dream #nct #nct u #na jaemin astrology #nct astrology #nct dream astrology #nct u astrology

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south-sea · 1 year

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I would also LOVE to hear about the dynamic you have planned for Metal and Shadow in the Second Chance AU. Give me some headcanons if you'd like.

some of this was touched on with the previous ask because it kind of got away from me, but i'll keep this one more to the point and conversational--

metal definitely struggles to see this timeline-displaced shadow as not-the-one-he-originally-knew, but only in a responsibility kind of way. he knows they're two separate people, but he will still always default to "taking care" of this-shadow. he thinks of it somewhat as repaying the kindness that-shadow showed him in the events referencing rivals 2.

they are literally housemates. metal's new mechanic/caretaker lives in the same general area shadow eventually takes up residence. metal basically invited himself to "live" there too, and shadow just never questioned it. this mostly equates to metal occasionally sitting down in the den somewhere to defrag his systems.

metal communicates via sign language, but eventually allows his new caretaker to reactivate the voice box that was still left in him from his little IDW neo metal arc. speaking aloud is often a last resort, purely because sign language is more comfortable. the only exception is when he's communicating with shadow, in which case the default is using his voice, because shadow doesn't know sign language (yet).

i consider metal's voice to be Adrenaline Dubs's take on neo metal, so it's a big spooky scary voice that tends to catch people off guard when he does use it. he doesn't find this funny nor does he particularly have the foresight to warn people/care if it would startle them, even though it does all the time.

metal does not have the capacity for empathy, and is still figuring out how to logic his way around why people act/react the way they do, as he can't predict it. his method for "taking care" of shadow largely involves doing whatever's logical on a purely scientific level, whether that's ratting him out for self-isolating, or forcefully dragging him into his black shield when things get dicey.

both are travelers to an extent. shadow's focused on undergoing tests (some grueling and even downright painful) for the first few months after his revival, but eventually starts to branch out once the research is more out of his hands. metal, also given the ability to hop worlds, does whatever he damn well pleases, if for no other reason than to collect data. he's a walking library.

metal has a truly unfathomable amount of storage space for data, and only questionably-realistic methods for which to manage it. this is part of why he (eventually) chooses to travel-just-because; data collection is one of the very, very few things he has identified as Something He Likes To Do. every single world he visits and person he meets has a "profile" in his database.

if he's processing, metal's eyes glimmer not unlike the way they do in the OVA; if he's just thinking normally, they do not. since his storage space is so large and consequently demands longer processing times on occasion, this distinction was intentionally programmed in by his caretaker, so people know he's not just ignoring them.

shadow is tiny. i erroneously claimed he was 2'09" without his shoes earlier today. i was wrong. he is 2'10". (3ft exactly with them on.)

if you only count the time he was consciously awake, shadow is like… a year old, maybe just under two. metal is, at max, six, and that does include all the time he was out of commission/put into stasis. both are childish in their own ways. both are also incredibly responsible. (usually.) shadow's relationship and understanding of his own age is complicated. his trying to be "mature" is more often than not a façade. there are days he allows himself to be more childish, and that usually amounts to being more emotionally open/needy. metal is similar, but more rarely, and it usually amounts to him demanding company; he is not subtle about his needs, when he can identify they are in fact needs.

shadow has a full set of chaos emeralds, which he keeps stashed away in a bag-of-holding type thing. these are emergency-use only, as the full array of his powers still rely on them. these were acquired through questionable means after he got his shit kicked in by a giant poison plant-thing and realized he is in desperate need of his usual arsenal. he has never (and probably never will) go super; the max he's used at once is 2. he likes the green and light blue ones the most.

sonic is eventually made aware of metal's absence and why. he doesn't find the whole multiverse thing unusual, just based on the game canon alone, and accepts it. if anything, he's relieved metal has finally found his freedom.

Mr. Tinker, and a whole bunch of other ex-badniks, will eventually be involved. "second chances" is the running theme for the entire cast, so a lot of it revolves around these guys getting their lives reframed in a more safe and freeing environment they wouldn't otherwise be allowed if eggman/the weight of their original timelines were still holding them down. (metal in particular will have some extremely complicated feelings about Mr. Tinker (and sage)'s return.)

#measlyfurball13 #sea answers #second chance au #thank you for your interest i'm cry #lots of thoughts about this au bouncing around the inside of my head at all times of day #i will never run out of words about it #fun fact me deciding he's actually a whole inch taller than initially claimed is exactly how this #'i'll finally talk about this au now actually'#parade started today #somehow. because i wanted to just share headcanons.#adhd/autism brain works in weird ways #this one also got a bit long akdjkgjh i'm sorry #i tried to make it less of a text block i really did #but tumblr stopped letting me make ANY edits to it unless i left it exactly like this augh

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shitposting4squares · 2 years

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Duke Nukem as a Digimon!

Some additional info (and a secret bonus digimon form) under the readmore

So the designs include a bunch of references from different duke games, with Duke Nukem 3D being peppered throughout.

But otherwise following the trend of starting from Duke Nukem 1 through 3. Boommon and Minemon reference the pink shirt of Duke1. With Minemon referencing the auto destruct button that would end the levels of Duke Nukem 3D. Unlike most fresh and in training Digimon, who can often only blow bubbles. These two are still rather threatening thanks to how explosive they are, being able to self-destruct multiple times for big damage, but very little damage to themselves. Although they are nearly immobile. Minemon especially. Having to be picked up and carried around by people or other digimon. Both forms are friendly, kind, love attention and praise, and a bit dim-witted, but also they really like to explode, so watch out. Detomon, the rookie form, references Duke Nukem 2. Where duke now has his red shirt, but no sunglasses yet. And has those weird metal armbands. Also I put him in daisy dukes shorts for a laugh (get it? daisy dukes) And the mine resembling the Duke 3D auto destruct button, is now carried on his back like a backpack. This device is now used almost like a campfire for camping, and as essentially a nuclear alchemy machine for crafting. Detomon being able to put things in there to be used at material for creating new items. This being how he gradually builds up the majority of his arsenal of weapons and gadgets as he matures. By using not just physical building blocks, like metals, but also, as a digimon, using data for crafting. Which means things can get a bit less literal and a bit more conceptual. Such as finding data related to cold things, using that as a basis for items that use cold as a theme. Such as using ice + flamethrower = freeze ray, or ice + fan = air conditioner.

The rocket launcher he’s carrying is one of these crafted items, but is one of his most relied upon, as this guy is a rocket jumper by nature. Pulling off some crazy maneuverability and damage for a rookie stage digimon. Especially as he practices with it. This desire for experimentation and learning probably makes Detomon the most strategic and intelligent seeming member of his evolutionary line. But all that goes out the window when you hit....

Nukemon

So in order to unlock Detomons champion form, you need to either find, or craft a cool pair of sunglasses for him to equip. And while most digimon champion forms are like the size of a T-rex with godzilla laser beams to match, Nukemon is 6′5 and literally just a guy.

He is very human-passing for a digimon, but also very egotistical, rude, and painfully American in that Japanese parody of American action movies way. More relying on the things he learned as Detomon, but cranking them up to 11. His nuclear alchemy device is now split across his belt buckle and the backs of his gloves, letting him rapid switch between tools and weapons on the fly. And with the speed, physical strength, and resilience befitting of a champion stage digimon, he can be a real force to be reckoned with. Especially with how capable he is of playing the long game in a fight to take down foes much larger than himself. Also, unlike many digimon, instead of his rookie stage, his champion stage could be considered his “normal stage” as once he reaches that stage, he will rarely revert to his previous stages. Kind of like the digimon Gatomon. His design mostly takes from Duke Nukem Forever. GigatonNukemon Is when the evolutionary line finally starts getting some height, because the guy is about 60 feet tall (so that part that looks like a dude merged into a robot. that’s not a regular sized dude, that’s a BIG dude who could hold a regular person in one hand) In his ultimate form, he show’s off a little more of the terminator influence on the Duke Nukem franchise, leaning in on the cyborg part. While also being a big reference to one of the biggest bosses of Duke Nukem 3D, the Cycliod Emperor. Which in terms of the narrative description for the form, which are almost like a fake item description in the digimon world, which can be a bit confusing in that they would exist in the world, but not actually be cannon to how the digimon function. It would basically describe GigatonNukemon as having defeated the bosses of the games he was built from, stripped them of their organic parts save for some teeth, then upgraded what was left over and grafted himself to the result. With his own overwhelming nuclear power being the machines power source.

As opposed to a more speedy and precise form, he’s now a giant walking tank with a full arsenal, capable of flight at will thanks to an inbuilt jetpack, and just as much of a painfully american egotistical himbo as he was before. But with more a focus on weaponry than on lookin good now. He can detach from the larger mecha suit, to just be a giant half naked man in daisy duke shorts and sunglasses, though he will still have some robotic parts attached to his torso and legs.

Overall Narrative....

So the idea is that within the digimon world narrative, Nukemon would have been a failed early experiment created by evil digimon, to create a type of digimon that would be able to infiltrate the human world, blending in among the humans, to then commit strategic acts of terrorism. Them getting pretty far along in development in creating an explosive, human passing digimon. But problem was, the data they were using to achieve the result of creating a human passing digimon? Too much of the, for lack of a better term, DNA code, was too linked with good guy stuff. Angels, action heroes, videogame protagonists, to get him looking human, also carried a lot of baggage of the positive traits humans would like about themselves. So Nukemons evolutionary line, while not very smart, which one would assume to make them easily manipulateable, developed such a chronic good guy syndrome that made them nearly incorruptible morally. Because even when they would try to make him evil by force, instead of making something actually evil, you instead get....

Bravomon Soooooo... yeah the evil alternate version of Nukemon isn’t some turbo demon thing.... it’s Johnny Bravo. Which isn’t so much evil-evil, as much as careless and self centered. He’s just not smart or mature enough for deliberate evil mastermind behavior. And he’s too lazy and easily distracted to follow through on plans or bother to rampage. Despite looking somewhat intimidating, and theoretically having even greater destructive power than Nukemon, by taking away the sense of justice and desire to protect others that kept Nukemon motivated, you’re left with something who’s only motivations left are being lazy, eating junk food, and getting his ego stroked by others. And is almost completely uninvested in anything else Like you could defeat Bravomon by showing him a funny video on your phone, or telling him to look behind him and then running away. Bravomon was the final nail in the coffin for the evil plot to create a secret assassin digimon form. And when ways were discovered to just create human looking disguises for digimon, the project was never revisited. And Boommon was left in a file cabinet in storage somewhere in an evil lair, until some kidnapped kids found him and used him to blow a hole in the wall and escape..... ;)

#Duke Nukem #digimon #johnny bravo #duke nukem 3d

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asrisgratitudejournal · 1 year

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Confirmation

HAAAAAAA akhirnya selesai juga per-confirmation-an kemarin! Tbh this one did not make me as nervous and anxious as the transfer one last year sih. Tapi emang secara psikologis pun tahun lalu I was in a such dark place compared to this year, jadi cukup paham. Sesungguhnya I kinda wish I did better on the interview yesterday, sampai sekarang masih kepikiran berulang-ulang kali kenapa w jawab pertanyaan uncertaintynya ngalor ngidul ga straightforward sama sekali tapi apa gunanya juga menyesali yang sudah lalu…. Dijadikan pelajaran saja Non. Besok-besok begitu denger pertanyaan dipikir dulu baik-baik baru dijawab…

Btw buat dokumentasi aja, ku tulis pertanyaan confirmation interview kemarin di sini ya (biasanya I would make a separate word page containing list of questions buat dibaca lagi entah buat diriku sendiri di masa yang akan datang ataupun buat orang lain – my interview questions on oxford phd admission and jardine proved to be helpful for a lot of people – tapi sekarang lagi malas) dan berhubung lagi drafting postingan ini sekalian aja kutulis di sini:

Jadi confirmation interview ini durasinya 30 menit (sama seperti transfer) dan oleh Laura (Deputy Director of Graduate Studies, btw Laura ini keren bgt dia literally angkatan 2007 dan udah jadi associate prof di Oxf, publikasinya BANYAK bgt, w ngefans) dijelasin dengan sangat baik bahwa dari durasi 30 menit itu 25 menit bahas sains dan 5 menit bahas if I have any concern relating to supervisors, academic advisors, or any other things outside the science. Di 25 menit itu Mike Daly nanya 5(?) pertanyaan – kucoba mengingat-ingat:

What are the uncertainties in the data/results? W kemarin jawabnya ngalor ngidul dan NGGA NGEJAWAB PERTANYAAN SAMSEK tapi harusnya w bisa bahas: dari sisi homogeneity samplesnya, terus calibration alat (walaupun ini offsetnya gaakan gede-gede banget sih palingan 1 digit ppb), hmmm apa lagi ya… fractures? Veins? Selain ini ga kepikiran lagi apapun samsek. TAU ga kemarin w jawabnya apa?? Uncertainty-nya adalah kita ga tahu what was actually happened, which factor contributed to the process and how big portion of this factor was. LOL naon sih non.

Looking at other OM type? The lacustrine type instead of marine OM? Ini ku jawabnya cukup OK sih I think(?), ku bilang iya kita looked into Wealden lacustrine in LSB too tapi ya cuma ada 1 well, gaada 3 wells dengan different levels of thermal maturity kaya si Posidonia shale ini. Sama di office juga ku punya Eagleford Iona-1, yang a bit different characteristic OM-nya dengan Posidonia shale. Jadi kalau mau palingan bisa di-proceed si Eagleford atau lacustrine samples ini di pyrolysis experiment.

Terus Mike nanya apakah si pyrolysis experiment ini termasuk new methodology that I designed? Semoga pertanyaan dia maksudnya ini ya… ku jujur ngerasa takut missed pertanyaannya Mike, dia nanya apa w jawab apa. Tapi ini kujelasin aja yang kulakukan pyrolysis ini di-design oleh Alex Dickson methodnya, ku cuma ngikutin dan optimising method aja.

Hmm apa lagi ya… Oh masalah time frame. Mike juga nanya… dengan waktu yang tersisa kira-kira bisa bakal beres gak ini sesuai plan? Terus w ngebacot masalah teknis propane (lol) dan ngejelasin method yang thermal desorption panjang lebar (eh ini di pertanyaan ini apa bukan ya…? Atau dia ada pertanyaan lain yang akhirnya membuat w jawab ini?) pokoknya tapi w ngejelasin juga deh method thermal desorption ini… buat bisa ngeliat peak-peak Hg yang di-release di temp tertentu… Ini jawabnya mayan panjang dan belibet sih w, sampe dibantuin sama Laura buat ngejelasinnya.

Terus bahas any thought on doing thermal fluid inclusion on the beef veins? W bilang dibahas juga di meeting tapi for now mau focus di Hg behavior during the thermal maturation dulu aja. Tapi baik banget Mike juga chip in putting into thoughts ya kemungkinan besar emang prosesnya convection aja walaupun pasti susah banget juga, namanya juga di low permeability shale kan.

Udah sih itu aja yang aku inget. Ku sempat ngasi disclaimer juga di awal-awal kalau English is not my strongest suite, tapi langsung ditepis sama Laura disuruh don’t care about the English. Mereka di akhir nanya plan w habis lulus mau ngapain. W jawab mau balik Indo buat ngajar tapi kalau ada opportunity buat jadi post-doc ya mau banget jadi masih dipikir-pikir lagi. Laura nyaranin buat negotiating kalau bisa push back the starting date of teaching back home bisa bagus banget. Intinya people ARE really nice to me pusing…. HUHU.

Pas presentasi juga w surprisingly bisa finished my talk in less than 15 minutes lho, hebat. Padahal malemnya w rehearsal sampe 25menit, makanya cukup khawatir (slotnya cuma 20menit including tanya jawab). Tapi memang ku merasa lebih puas pas rehearsal sih, kayanya pas beneran presentasi kemarin cukup lumayan banyak kalimat yang ga sempat kuucapkan padahal sangat interesting. ANYWAYS, sudah lewat juga Non it’s OK you did well. Pelajarannya adalah: practice lebih banyak lagi dan jangan menunda2!!!

Dah deh itu dulu aja. Sebetulnya masih banyak sih yang mau diceritain karena kemarin Sabtu sempat ikutan outreach dept juga di Natural History Museum London… terus tadi siang (akhirnya) makan sama Puspa (setelah sekian lama membuat janji makan bareng dan catch up)… kemarin Selasa randomly diajak Bu Yani ke Windsor buat ngedrop makanan tapi jadi bisa makan Indonesia enak juga… tadi malam Kalina pulang dari South Africa… besok Senin harus ke London (LAGI YAAMPUN CAPEK BGT GAKSI) buat bikin visa schengen via Belanda… semalam makan chinese sama Diny pedes banget sampe tadi pagi w sakit perut… nanti sore Pak Anies Baswedan ke sini buat talk…. Dan masih banyak keanehan-keanehan lainnya dalam hidup w sampai bingung kenapa hidup ini sangat eventful sekali ya OMG (oot tapi lagu OMG-nya NewJeans sangat bagus). Tapi kalau gaada apa-apa dalam hidup juga w akan depressed banget dan kesepian… bingung gaksi jadi manusia kok banyak banget maunya non. Dah gitu aja dulu. Mari kembali bekerja dan happy (almost) weekend everyone!

Best,

Asri // 12-01-2023 14:02pm @30.18

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newstfionline · 1 year

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Friday, March 10, 2023

The decadelong boom in U.S. oil production is waning. (WSJ) The Permian Basin—America’s busiest oil patch, spread across West Texas and New Mexico—is home to fewer new big gushers, evidence that shale companies have drilled through many of their best wells. And their biggest and best wells are producing less oil, according to data reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The Permian’s leveling off looks like what has happened at other, more mature U.S. shale plays. The industry said the stagnation signaled a return to more dependence on foreign energy sources.

Snow Season Continues (1440) California’s Sierra Nevada received another batch of heavy snow yesterday, just over a week after parts of the state were buried under 6 feet of precipitation. This latest round—which is expected to transition to heavy rain today and into the weekend—may hamper efforts to dig out from historic snowfalls in recent weeks. Across the northern central US, a separate system stretching from Wyoming to Michigan could drop up to a foot of snow. California’s mountain ranges have seen a total of 48 feet of snow so far this winter, partly the result of nine atmospheric rivers battering the region since December. Snow in the Plains and Midwest will likely disrupt major cities like Chicago and Detroit, while Minneapolis approaches one of the snowiest seasons on record. The same system could also cause flash flooding in many areas of the South.

In race to arm Ukraine, U.S. faces cracks in its manufacturing might (Washington Post) A sharp hissing sound fills the factory as red-hot artillery shells are plunged into scalding oil. Richard Hansen, a Navy veteran who oversees this government-owned munitions facility, explains how the 1,500-degree liquid locks in place chemical properties that ensure when the shells are fired—perhaps on a battlefield in Ukraine—they detonate in the deadly manner intended. “That’s what we do,” Hansen said. “We build things to kill people.” The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, one of a network of facilities involved in producing the U.S. Army’s 155-mm artillery round, is ground zero for the Biden administration’s scramble to accelerate the supply of weapons that Ukraine needs if its military is to prevail in the war with Russia. But the conflict has laid bare deep-seated problems that the United States must surmount to effectively manufacture the arms required not just to aid its allies but also for America’s self-defense should conflict erupt with Russia, China or another major power. Despite boasting the world’s largest military budget—more than $800 billion a year—and its most sophisticated defense industry, the United States has long struggled to efficiently develop and produce the weapons that have enabled U.S. forces to outpace their peers technologically. Those challenges take on new importance as conventional conflict returns to Europe and Washington contemplates the possibility of its own great-power fight.

Mexican cartel delivers ‘kidnappers’—five bound men—and an apology (Washington Post) Police in the Mexican border city of Matamoros early Thursday discovered five men, bound with zip ties, in a truck near the intersection where four Americans were kidnapped last week, with a note claiming to be from a Gulf Cartel faction saying it wanted to “hand over” those behind the abductions, authorities reported. Mexican crime groups often leave notes or banners describing their actions or blaming their rivals, in a macabre form of public relations. And cartels have, in the past, turned over gunmen whose actions brought on the wrath of Mexican or U.S. officials. The attack has become a flash point in U.S.-Mexico relations. Republican lawmakers have demanded the Biden administration declare Mexican cartels to be terrorist groups; some have called for U.S. military intervention.

The 4 kidnapped Americans are part of a large wave of U.S. medical tourism in Mexico (NPR) The four Americans who were shot at and abducted in Mexico were reportedly visiting for medical tourism — making them part of a booming industry that is vital to Mexico's economy. "Pre-pandemic, some 1.2 million American citizens traveled to Mexico for elective medical treatment," Josef Woodman, CEO of Patients Beyond Borders, told NPR. His firm publishes a guide to international medical travel. Nearly 780,000 people were projected to leave the U.S. for health care in 2022, according to Healthcare.com, citing data from the medical travel website Medical Departures. Cosmetic surgeries are just one of the procedures that are far cheaper in Mexico—for years, people have been visiting from the U.S. to get elaborate dental work or cosmetic treatments done, or to pick up antibiotics and other medicines at favorable prices. Costa Rica is the second-most popular destination for U.S. visitors seeking medical care elsewhere, Woodman said. It's a particular draw, he added, for people in the Northeast and Southeast.

Chile: Attempted $32 million airport heist leaves two dead (AP) An airport shootout in Chile’s capital killed a security officer and an alleged robber Wednesday in what authorities said was an attempted heist of more than $32 million in cash aboard a plane from Miami. Around 10 heavily armed robbers were able to skirt security measures to reach the runway at the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, where a Latam airlines aircraft had $32.5 million in cash that was being transferred to an armored truck, Interior Subsecretary Manuel Monsalve said. There was a shootout between the would-be robbers and security officials that killed an employee of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, or DGAC, as well as an alleged assailant. The other robbers fled. Two burned vehicles were later found nearby.

Greece Will Make Trains Safer, Transport Minister Vows (NYT) As thousands of workers went on strike Wednesday to protest the train crash in Greece last week that killed at least 57 people, the country’s new transport minister turned toward the future, saying railway safety would be improved in the coming weeks and service would resume. He conceded that perennial inadequacies in infrastructure had contributed to the crash and that Greece’s railway network was, until recently, “chronically obsolete.” He also apologized for the authorities’ failure to avert the tragedy. “I am in shock,” he said. “I understand the collective pain that this disaster has caused to society,” he continued, adding that the anger unleashed by the crash was “very reasonable.” Across town, there was proof that outrage over the crash had not subsided, as thousands of Greeks took to the streets of Athens, the capital, holding banners saying, “We will never forget the crime!” “Our lives matter!” and “Let anger lead to overthrow now!” Similar rallies were held in other major cities, including Thessaloniki and Larissa, the city in central Greece closest to the site of the crash. Civil servants, including teachers, nurses and bus drivers, joined railway staff members, who have been holding rolling strikes for a week, to protest the years of neglect and understaffing that they say had made the crash all but inevitable.

Major Russian missile barrage slams targets across Ukraine (AP) Russia unleashed “a massive rocket attack” that hit critical infrastructure and residential buildings in 10 regions of Ukraine, the country’s president said Thursday, with officials reporting at least six deaths in the largest such night-time attack in three weeks. Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the barrage that came while many people slept as an attempt by Moscow “to intimidate Ukrainians again.” The latest missile attack left almost half of consumers in Kyiv without heating, with temperatures at around 9 degrees Celsius (48 Fahrenheit) amid a spring thaw. In southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is occupied by Russian forces, lost power as a result of the missile attacks, according to nuclear state operator Energoatom. It is the sixth time that Europe’s largest nuclear plant has been in a state of blackout since it was taken over by Russia months ago, forcing it to rely on diesel generators that can run the station for 10 days. Nuclear plants need constant power to run cooling systems and avoid a meltdown, and fears remain about the possibility of a catastrophe at Zaporizhzhia.

Nord Stream intrigue raises tricky questions for Kyiv (Washington Post) A six-month-old mystery could complicate Kyiv’s current-day war efforts. The undersea explosions that severely damaged the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines last September seemed like a distant memory as Ukrainian forces battled their Russian invaders this year, even if the question of the blast’s perpetrators remained. But new reports have brought that Nord Stream attack back to the fore, bringing with them potentially risky complications for Kyiv. Western intelligence officials have said privately that they suspect that pro-Ukraine saboteurs may be responsible for explosions that severely damaged the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines. The reports are far from conclusive and the Ukrainian government strenuously denies any involvement. But whether involved or not, Kyiv has good reason to be cautious about the intrigue, which comes as it continues its push for new support from its allies, including weaponry. For Ukraine, covert action outside of its borders is a balancing act. Western powers have long been worried about Ukraine crossing a “red line” with Russia.

Washington Has Become Beijing’s Scapegoat (Foreign Policy) Recent days have seen yet another uptick in China’s anti-American rhetoric, with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang—a former ambassador to the United States—complaining about how the country was “cheating” in global competition at a press conference and with Chinese President Xi Jinping taking direct aim at Washington and its allies in a speech. What is striking is how both officials leaned on a recent theme in Chinese politics: Everything is the fault of the United States. Washington has become a convenient scapegoat for anything that doesn’t go Beijing’s way. Economy faltering? Xi claimed in his speech that Western countries, led by the United States, “implemented all-round containment, encirclement, and suppression against us.” Pushback in the South China Sea? Washington has stirred up trouble. Is the public revolting against the elite? The United States must be behind so-called color revolutions. Xi has now entered his third term, and national failings are more clearly linked to his leadership. But acknowledging this has become impossible. The only entity left to blame when things have gone too wrong to cover up—such as the economy—is the United States.

Indonesia unveils construction site of new capital city (AP) Orange-red ground has been broken in the jungle of East Borneo, where the Indonesian government has begun construction of its new capital city. Indonesia began construction of the new capital in mid 2022, after President Joko Widodo announced that Jakarta—the congested, polluted current capital that is prone to earthquakes and rapidly sinking into the Java Sea—would be retired from capital status. Plans for the new capital—about twice the size of New York City—are grandeur. Officials tout the creation of a futuristic green city centered on forest, parks and food production that utilizes renewable energy resources, “smart” waste management and green buildings. Some 7,000 construction workers are clearing, plowing and building the first phases of the site. Worker dormitories, basic roads and a helipad are already being used. Construction of key buildings—such as the presidential palace—is expected to be completed by August 2024.

#headlines #news

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tinmunky · 2 years

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About Last Night

Found on AO3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086437/chapters/2185605

No Galaxy for Old Men Series - Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four

Characters & Pairings: Zaeed Massani/Fem!Shep, James Vega (if you squint), Aria T’Loak, Grizz

Summary: Shepard has some unhealthy coping mechanisms and the next morning leaves some surprising results.

Rating: Mature for violence, language and innuendo - 4,183 words

Tags: Sexual tension, drinking problems, friendship, banter, canon typical violence

Audio Parings: The Black Keys - Howlin’ For You

Commander Shepard needed a fucking drink and every bill comes due.

Chapter One - One Night on Omega

It had been three weeks since Horizon and Shepard’s mood had steadily darkened only to reach a crescendo of absolute rage when Kaidan had the nerve to write that joke of a non-apology letter. She had fucking died for god’s sake. A Letter! Everyone else seemed to be able to find her vid com if they wanted something, yet he couldn’t even apologize properly. God. Damned. Asshole.

Shepard was pretty sure this was some sort of galactic joke. How many plot twists could a girl take before cracking. Apparently three. Death, Cerberus and one betrayal. On a purely rational level, she got it. It had been two years for him, and two months for her. Everything was still pretty raw for her and he had calloused over.

Garrus was on eggshells, Chakwas hadn’t left the infirmary since Horizon and Joker was using his high pitched “everything’s fine” voice. He was probably terrified that the massive rage brewing in Shepard’s biotics were going to short the inertial dampeners or some equally ridiculous sciencey bit. The only person who seemed unfazed was Massani.

It was shortly after Horizon Joker started hounding Shepard to put in at the maintenance dock on Omega for “routine maintenance,” Shepard had heard “unstoppable paranoia”, narrowed her eyes and decided to forge on. Joker wasn’t exactly good at subterfuge. Though, after Joker’s 50th request and that piece of shit Alenko’s letter, she had relented. Omega might be exactly what she needed after the whole Alenko debacle.

So, here she was, waiting for the airlock of the Normandy to release her onto Omega so she could do some nice, healthy damage to her liver. Work out some of that aggression and get back on track to saving a galaxy that didn’t give a shit that it was in danger.

This was probably the only place in known space that could handle her mood right now. The deep thrum of the ship eased as the last dock clamp clanged into place and the main engines powered down to reserve levels. The airlock eased upwards and the atmospheres met in a hiss of vapor as Shepard took her first step out the door and towards a big ass drink.

_____

“Commander Shepard.” A voice as sweet as a babbling brook and about as deep slashed into her little storm cloud. Shepard took a breath, her eyes fluttering closed in exasperation, and counted to ten before turning.

“Yeoman Chambers.” She hoped she put enough disdain into the title to head any friendliness off at the pass. Joker may not trust EDI, and Miranda and Jacob seemed like the obvious loyalists, but the real spy threat came from Chambers as far as Shepard was concerned. A Cerberus lackey through and through, she had drunk the Kool-Aid to the last drop. Chambers had dossiers on all crew members, knew their dirty little psych profile secrets and Shepard would bet dollars to donuts, reported everything down to the last deuce to The Illusive Man. She was not a fan.

“Commander Shepard, are you going ashore?” Chambers tapped at her data pad. Shepard looked at her dumbfounded. Looked at her armored feet on the dock. Looked back at Chambers still in the lock.

“Well Chambers. It appears that I am outside of the ship. And I am on shore. So suffice to say, yes. Yes, I am going ashore.”

“Cerberus regulations state that any shore party must consist of a commanding officer and two squad members! This really is against policy.” Chambers huffed.

If Shep wasn’t already at the homicidal rage point of her day, she probably would have laughed.

“Chambers” She spoke slowly “Do I look like I give a shit about Cerberus regulations and/or policy?” Folding her arms across her armored chest. The polycarbonate clicking against each other as a satisfying bookend to her crisp tone.

Chambers looked Shepard up and down. At 6ft tall, face scarred and armed to the teeth, she didn’t look like she gave a shit about much, other than her own objectives.

“Well, no. No I suppose you don’t.” Chambers’ brow furrowed and then quickly cleared. “Shall I inform XO Lawson of your absence?”

“You can inform Ms. Lawson of any goddamn thing you please Chambers. I am going to the bar.”

_____

Shepard climbed the stairs to Afterlife a woman on a mission. She strode straight through the door, passing the Elcor bodyguard without stopping. An outraged snarl made it above the ambient din.

“What the fuck! She wasn’t even in line!”

“With barely contained disdain, she is on the list. You are not.”

Shepard never slowed her pace until she pulled up to the bar and hailed a passing Salarian bartender.

“Commander Shepard! Shall I make Ms. T’Loak aware of your arrival.” Solicitous as only Salarians can be.

“No need to bother her majesty, I’m here for a drink only.”

Afterlife had the charm of that special circle of hell that religion threatened you with if you had too much fun in life. The pulsing music, the beautiful creatures that moved across the dance floor, the high potential for bloodshed. All pleasant distractions for her simmering anger. She had been here many times on business. Most of the upper management knew her on sight. The rest, by reputation. Shepard had paid homage early on with Aria T’Loak. Trading information, doing favors, taking Massani off her base. With a bit of tit for tat, Aria forged a grudging respect for Shepard, offering her an open door, but not an open tab.

“Oh uh, well then. What will you be having?” he folded his hands happily.

“Do you happen to have anything from Earth?” Shepard sat down for the long haul.

“As a matter of fact... ah yes! I have a lovely bottle of, what I am told, is a human delicacy.” The Salarian placed a square edged green bottle in front of Shepard.

“Ugh, licorice schnapps? Really? It tastes horrible.”

“The Krogan seem to like it.” The Salarian shrugged.

“Whiskey. I’ll just take whiskey. If you have it.”

“Thessian or Sol distilleries? I have a Canadian brand…” The Salarian chortled happily as he bustled under the bar for a glass.

“No, no! No Canadian.” Shepard waved her hands frantically.

________

Aria commanded quite the view from her loft. Nothing of interest passed unnoticed from the comfort of her couch. She knew she would see Shepard in her dominion the second she had heard that the Normandy had entered Omega space. Her network had informed her that Shepard had some Alliance trouble on Horizon and had expected her to slink in sooner this being one of the few places Shepard would be safe from Alliance and Council reach. The Commander was becoming quite the regular and Aria found each visit more intriguing than the last. She ventured she actually was beginning to like the human. Shepard had cured the plague in the lower levels and relieved Aria of a particularly irritating vigilante and another rather expensive mercenary. Shepard was a heavy hitter, and a wild card. Too noble by far, but her gray area was unpredictable. One minute a paragon of virtue and the next leaving a trail of bodies. She was never boring.

So when Shepard turned up on Omega’s doorstep in the wake of, if the gossip could be trusted, a lover’s quarrel, Aria expected at least some cheap entertainment. What she got was a mopey Cerberus agent dead set on getting shit faced. If the Commander yacked on the bar, it would cost her. Aria had sighed in disappointment and went back to regular business.

________

The Patriach had already come and lumbered off, polishing off that nasty piece of work in a green square bottle. Old Krogan couldn’t hold his liquor.

“Hey Teddy!” Shepard half climbed over the bar flagging down the passing bartender.

“I’m out of scotch, please don’t kill me.” The Salarian weaseled up to his side of her bar with a wince and a groan.

“I only killed that last guy ‘cause he tried to poison me.” Shepard scoffed, offended “Now Teddy,”

“Tedelonis…”

“Yeah, yeah, Teddy.” Shepard leaned against the bar and peered into her empty glass. “I need something a bit stronger. These implants make it a bear to get a buzz nowadays.”

“That so,” he tapped his nonexistent lips in contemplation, “You ever have alcohol from Kahje ma’am?”

Her ears perked up. She had come to Omega to see the sights, smell the horrible Omega smells, and drink the good stuff.

“Now you’re talking my language Teddy.” Barked out a laugh as she felt someone take the seat at the bar next to her. She spins her empty glass, sliding half a look to her left. Tall, human, dark hair and honeyed skin. He’s out of place here. She pointedly ignores him.

“‘Evening ma’am. What brings an Alliance officer like you to a shit hole like Omega?” He asks with a confidence left only to the stupid and young.

Shepard slides the rest of her look his way as she shifts in her chair. Taking in the whole picture of the man so lacking in self preservation that he’d take the empty seat next to her. Handsome and practically a baby for all his bulking muscles and crisp ink. He was at least 10 years her junior, dark hair shorn tight to his head. Alliance jarhead right out of the mold. Too green to be sent here hunting her. Maybe a chance encounter? She smiles all teeth and bad intentions.

“Lemme buy you a drink kid, and don’t ever call me ma’am again. Two Kahje specials Teddy.”

The Salarian groaned again. Handing over the verdant liquid. A evil glint in his massive eyes. “Good luck, Commander.”

The jarhead next her snorted into his glass. Clearly picking up what the turd behind the counter was putting down. She shot Tedelonis a withering glare. He was getting a bit big for his Salarian britches.

“Remember what I did to the last guy that poisoned me Teddy.”

The Alliance kid didn’t seem to notice her thinly veiled threat and plowed forward.

“We tend to know our own don’t we.” He sipped and winced. “We get that ‘been out a space a while’ look and no matter where you are or what you do, you’re Alliance ‘till you die.” He smiled like he shared her secret.

Maybe it was the alcohol, but she felt like her heart finished breaking. She did NOT want to be seen right now, but he knew. Maybe not her, or her circumstance, but he knew what it was like to be cast adrift. To be dropped.

“Huh.” She huffs into her glass “ Annoyingly astute. I’m just going to have to work on my covert abilities then. You got a name marine?” She poked.

James picked up his glass with a slow spreading smile.

“James. You got a name Commander?” He poked back apparently. At least he wasn’t a chickenshit like others she could name.

“Nice to meet you Jimmy.” Shepard sipped her drink, eyeing him across the lip of the glass and licked her lips. Jesus, they were already going numb. Apparently she had just hit the drinking big leagues. For the first time since her resurrection she might actually be able to dull the edge of whatever the fuck this was.

“Logan.” What possessed her to give her given name she would never know.

“Pretty name.” He smiled.

“Bad pickup line.” She frowned.

“Am I that obvious?”

“I’m that good at reading people.” She set her drink down with a click and looked him up and down. “Listen Jimmy, physique like that shouldn’t have too much of a problem finding a date in a place like this. You may be rusty on your one liners, but I’m definitely not the girl you should be talking to here. ”

“How you figure that?” He asked.

”Because, I figure you know who I am, and what I can do, and what I’m about.” Shepard stood, omni tool at the ready to shoot Teddy her tab and beat feet to an even seedier bar if she could find one. This one was too friendly.

“How about this,” James sighed. “I’ll pretend I don’t know who you are, and you pretend that you’re a normal person having a normal conversation keeping me out of trouble while I wait for the private transport I hitched a ride on to make repairs. Humor me, and if I can make you laugh, you’ll let me buy the savior of the Citadel a drink.”

“You’re asking a lot here kid.” Shepard warned. “I was in a right fucking mood when you came up.”

”Challenge accepted.

_______

After a couple of hours of her sad sack drinking, Aria ceased to check on Shepard herself. She had delegated Grizz to update her of any change in Shepard’s activities and went about her usual business.

“Hey boss. Uh, your pet human is talking to another human. Thought that would qualify as a change.” Grizz leaned in to whisper.

“What are they doing Grizz?” Aria sifted through entries on her data pad.

“Uh, well it looks like talking. And Shepard’s laughing,” Aria laser focused on Grizz. “A lot.”

“Laughing?” Aria was incredulous. She must have drank more than Aria thought.

“Laughing boss. “

“Well now. Maybe she’s not actually the ice princess I thought. Let me know if something really interesting happens.” Aria dismissed him with a wave. Grizz remained in place, his subvocals clearing uncomfortably.

Aria huffed and looked up.

”You’re still here Grizz.” Annoyance seeping into her tone.

“On an unrelated front, the front door would like to inform you that a certain Batarian that shall not be named, has resurfaced. “

“Gorzic?” Aria looked up. “That varren fucker. He’s got quads on him to show his face.”

“One and the same boss, and it appears he’s approaching Commander Shepard.”

“You have got to be shitting me.” Aria leaned out over her loft to see for herself. Gorzic was approaching the Commander. She’d clearly caught his eye as his lackeys slapped each other in their excitement. Shepard was no companion or dancer, but she definitely would catch anyone’s eye. This halfwit had no idea what he was getting into.

“Do you want us to detain him?” Grizz asked, his omni glowing, ready to send the order.

Shepard and her companion clinking glasses in that strange human custom before tossing back the drinks in hand. Shepard stood with her back to the sauntering warlord and leaned across the bar to grab Tedelonis in passing. Her hips pressed against the bar edge as she reached. Aria could hear her booming laughter over the din of the music. Well, this should be interesting.

“No, not yet. I want to see how this plays out. Inform Bray he may have to order up a cleaning crew.”

Shepard is in animated discussion with Teddy and her human companion only to be cut off mid sentence as Gorzic’s meaty hand lands flat and hard against the armor weave of the Commander’s left ass cheek.

Aria’s hands fly to her mouth in shocked glee.

Chapter Two - Every Bill Comes Due

Unnnnnngh. God.” Shepard rolled onto her side and cracked a gummy eyelid with an audible click, looking for the bedside clock. Oh ow. What the hell?

0400 ship’s time. She had left for Afterlife at 0100. So either she’d had a really rough three hours or almost twenty four had passed. Gingerly she rolled to her back slowly taking stock of the situation. Okay, fact one, she was in her cabin on the Normandy. The ceiling observation window exposing the gnarly twists and turns of Omega’s infrastructure. Shepard threw her arm over her eyes to block the glare. Fact two, she seemed to have all of her appendages intact, if a little worse for wear. Somehow she’d stripped down to her black Cerberus issue skivvies, hopefully she came home with her armor.

Shepard let out a groan, followed by a gravelly snore. Wait, what?

In a move that would have done any scream queen proud, she turned her head ever so slowly to the opposite bedside, terror building as her mind raced with what she might find.

“AIEEEEE!” she squealed shrilly. Placing both hands and feet into the back of Zaeed Massani, Shepard shoved him clean across the bed and off the other side.

“Christ woman!” His sleep rasped roar followed his resounding thud.

“What the fuck are you doing in my bed?!” Shepard’s words high with panic as she leapt to the other side. She put a healthy distance of one queen sized bed between them.

“What the fuck are you doing shoving me out of it? I was comfortable.” Zaeed slowly rose from the floor. Naked to the waist and clothed only in tattoos, black sleep pants and a bad attitude.

Shepard swallowed thickly and pulled herself together as the adrenaline spike wore off and the hangover rolled back in.

“I asked first.” Her voice dropping an octave.

Zaeed casually fluffed the pillows and laid back into them without so much as a by your leave. Arms folded behind his head, feet crossed at the ankles and a smirk upon his dichotomous face.

“Well about last night…would you believe keeping you from drowning in your own vomit?”

“I hardly believe you’d be so selfless.” Shepard retorted. The acid back in her tone, or was that just bile, ugh she hadn’t felt this vile since waking up dead.

“How bout I had the opportunity for a good night’s sleep in a soft, sweet smellin’ bed, and I would be protecting my paycheck from drowning in her own vomit.”

Shepard looked at him pointedly for a heartbeat longer than the average person would deem comfortable. He obviously had no intention of moving and her internal struggle to stomp the nausea down overrode her social awkwardness from waking next to one of her more tense working relationships. She gingerly settled back into her spot and resumed to nurse the mother of all hangovers. She’d be damned if she would be the one to leave her own bed.

“So then, care to explain our current situation?” Shepard casually waved her hand in an all-encompassing gesture.

“Well lessee.” His tongue darted out to wet his lips “What do you remember last?

Afterlife. Yeah, that sounds about right.

“Last thing I remember is drinking some kind of Hanar juice at Afterlife and…” She was cut off as Zaeed laughed. He laughed much harder than warranted.

“Is it really necessary to laugh so.. loudly?”

“Hanar juice… Honestly, Shepard, for the savior of the galaxy you’re pretty goddam thick. Ever hear the phrase, drinks like a fish? That should be, drinks like a jellyfish. The Hanar distill venom for Christ’s sake. I’m amazed you can string two words together right now.” He turned to look her. Blue eyes narrowed to mismatched ones.

“Do you want to hear the fucking story or not?” Shepard snapped.

“No, no sweetheart, don’t mind me.” Zaeed raised his hands in submission.

Shepard paused… and paused some more.

“And I don’t remember much more than that.”

“Well sweetheart, let me fill some gaps for you. Zaeed purred with amusement.

“Ugh, spare me.”

“Do you want to hear the fucking story or not?” Zaeed threw her words back at her, his smirk playing at the ruined side of his face.

“By all means…” Shepard sunk deeper into the pillows throwing her arm across her face.

“So last night you left the Normandy in a fine fit of rage and looking for trouble. Naturally all proper young ladies looking for a bar fight end up at Afterlife, drunk as a skunk I might add, and apparently you found trouble… does any of this ring a bell?”

“Aside from this being pretty characteristic of an alcoholic, no, it’s not exactly,” Shepard air quoted “Ringing Any Bells.” Before dropping her arm back over her eyes.

“Well you were gone for about ten hours, and in that time you drank 1,000 chits worth of booze," Shepard groaned, "and did 20,000 chits worth of damage to Aria’s bar.” She cringed. “I know this because Aria delivered a bill with your laughing, drunk ass.” He cast her a sideways glance.

“Laughing you say?” she peeked at him from under her arm.

“Still conscious I say! Girl you drank the Patriarch under the table, got your ass slapped by a Batarian warlord and then proceeded to rip his arm off and beat him to death with it. What I wouldn’t have given to see his face! Fucking Batarians!” Approval laced his voice as he ran his hand across the stubble of his check. The hair rasped attractively under his callused palm.

“Yeah, me too.” Shepard let a ghost of a smile cross her face “Though, I don’t particularly like owing Aria money.”

“Oh and you shouldn’t!” Zaeed’s raspy chuckle rolled across her frayed senses, “That’d come outta your ass 110% mark my words! But no worries sweetheart. That Batarian you beat to death was under breach of contract with Ms. T’loak. She had a hit on him for 50k. She wrote on your bill “Paid in Full.” Ha! You’re gonna run good honest bounty hunters like myself outta business if you keep your rates to reimbursement for property damage.” Shepard snorted.

“So the slate is clean?”

“As anything on Omega is.” His lopsided grimace the closest approximation to a smile he could manage.

“Lovely. So if I was such a disaster,” Zaeed chuckled low and rolled on his side facing her. She swallowed. “how’d I make it back here?”

Heat radiated off of his body, soothing her wretched consciousness. His eyes looking her over. God woman, play it cool. Cool. You’re just jacked up on whatever those stupid jellyfish drink. She closed her eyes in a supreme effort of serenity.

“Eh? Some punk with face scars and neck tattoos shows up at the airlock with you slung over his shoulder, armor and all, giggling like a drunken idiot.” Shepard cracked a lid to look him in the opaque eye. The irony not lost on her. He pointedly ignored her pointed look.

“Giggling, Shepard. Like you were some kinda girl. Honestly, I think it scarred me emotionally.” He leered.

“Jealous Massani?”

“Me? Of some fluffed up Omega brat? No, darling. I’m not worried about some young buck. Skills and talent will take you only so far without the refinement of time.”

Shepard shifted uncomfortably. Her clammy skin had warmed from his proximity. Zaeed was definitely one smug piece of shit.

“So. What did I do next?”

“Well, EDI wouldn’t let him on, so she had him leave you in the airlock. Which he was none too pleased about. The Cheerleader woke me out of a lovely sleep, dreaming about the good ole days with my Jessie, on my hard, narrow cot I might add, and had me hoist your ass into your cabin shower. And let me say, you weigh more than some slip of a girl should.”

“I’m 6ft tall Zaeed.”

“And dense as fuck. Anyway, you were still laughing up a storm when Lawson started to hose the Batarian off of you, armor and all. I think it’s still in there, may want to look to that. We put you to bed, don’t worry I looked the other way when she dressed you. Now her you might owe.” Zaeed’s sly smile curled the corner of one lip. He looked away EDI’s shiny metal ass.

“So how did you end up here?” So nonchalant Shepard she thought. Zaeed smiled. Shepard sat up in the bed much more casually than she felt. Making her next question even blander than Kelly Chambers.

“So. Um. Did we…?”

Zaeed barked a laugh, but shifted uncomfortably. Shepard released a breath she hadn’t realize she was holding. It wasn’t like Zaeed wasn’t attractive, especially considering his current arrangement, but Shepard had more post death, my Alliance boyfriend broke up with me because I was resurrected by the space devil, oh and I’m all that stands between everyone and galactic annihilation baggage than a one night stand with a surly merc she had to work with on a professional level could handle.

“No. I’m not going to ruin the one friendship I’ve managed in 20 years by sleeping with you. I prefer my women only slightly more cognizant” Shepard smiled “…and unlike to vomit on me.” And the moment was gone.

“Besides, and no offense Shepard, but I’ve seen you dance.”

Ah, his acerbic wit. Like a cold shower dousing any innuendo he had left to smolder. She wasn’t quite sure if she appreciated the gesture or not.

“Wow, thanks for kicking me when I’m down Massani.”

Zaeed tipped his imaginary hat.

“Not a problem sweetheart. Do you still need your puke bucket? I’m sure Gardner would like his pot back.”

#mass effect #mass effect 2 #Zaeed Massani x Fem!Shep #Fem!Shep #Zaeed Massani #James Vega #Aria T’loak #fanfic #fanfiction #tinmunky writes #She’s got Canadian problems #And a drinking one too #Spotify

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sciencespies · 1 year

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Bat diversity and abundance are highest in old deciduous forest stands on the river banks in Eastern Ukraine

https://sciencespies.com/nature/bat-diversity-and-abundance-are-highest-in-old-deciduous-forest-stands-on-the-river-banks-in-eastern-ukraine/

Bat diversity and abundance are highest in old deciduous forest stands on the river banks in Eastern Ukraine

European forest-dwelling bats require complex woodland structures at both the micro-habitat and the landscape level for successful breeding in summer. Particularly, the results from Kharkiv region (Eastern Ukraine) demonstrate that large stands of mature forests older than 90 years improved the breeding activity of bats, their abundance and overall species richness. Abundance and species richness increased from upland plots surrounded by agricultural lands to riverine or waterside plots with high forest cover. These are the results of a newly published paper in the scientific journal “Forests” by an international team of authors from the Ukrainian Bat Rehabilitation Center (UBRC) and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW).

Mature deciduous forests are the most targeted forest type for logging because of the high potential revenues from selling timber on international markets. Biodiversity associated with these forest stands is therefore threatened worldwide. One group of species that is a key conservation target are bats. In their investigation the scientific team around first author Dr Anton Vlaschenko from UBRC and Dr Viktoriia Radchuk from Leibniz-IZW asked how bat diversity is affected by land cover types and the age of forest stands in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, in an area on the border between forest-steppe and the steppe zone. The fragmented broadleaved forests typical for this region are common for temperate regions, but the relationships between bat diversity, land cover and forest structure remain largely understudied. Yet, understanding such relationships is of key importance for designing efficient conservation measures.

The results showed that logging intensity in the study region differed between districts and was not related to the amount of mature forests. This allowed the scientists to study how bat assemblages were influenced by the share of clear-cuts and mature forests in the landscape. “The most conspicuous result was a clear increase of bat diversity close to riverine habitats, further enhanced by the presence of mature forests with a mean age more than 90 years,” says co-author Dr Yehor Yatsiuk from the University of Tartu (Estonia). “Although old forests represent 22% of all forests in the Kharkiv region, the combination of mature oak forests and riverine habitats covers much smaller areas, considerably limiting areas suitable for bats.”

First author Anton Vlaschenko, Co-Head of UBRC, says: “The field data used in this study were collected over a long period, in more than ten years of summer field expeditions. It was a continuous effort and hard job. We camped in tents and spent hundreds of sleepless nights near mist-nets. Later on, we also had some challenges when analysing these data. We were close to wrapping up the manuscript at the end of 2021. The collaboration with Leibniz-IZW scientists and, after February 24, 2022, the three-months scholarship for me and our team members offered by Leibniz-IZW meant that we could finish this paper.”

“The first time I participated to the field research studying bats in 2009, as an undergraduate student. The data collected back then contributed to the current paper. Since then, bats have become my big passion and focus group for my current research. By investigating the ecological requirements of such enigmatic animals, we better understand ecological leverages of the natural world,” adds co-author Dr Kseniia Kravchenko from UBRC and Leibniz-IZW. Dr Yehor Yatsiuk continues: “My research is focused on associations between historical distribution of forests and management of animal species in eastern Ukraine. Over recent decades we observed an increase in clear-cutting intensity in this region. Our aim is to ensure protection of forest biodiversity here. Ten years ago, we initiated a series of projects aimed to survey the oldest and the largest forests here with the main focus on several groups of vulnerable species from land snails to birds of prey and bats.”

“Our study shows that old forests and riverine habitats are beneficial for breeding activity of bats, for abundance of single bat species and for the overall community composition. The fact that we see the same response to landscape structure across levels of ecological organisation underlines the importance of preserving mature oak stands and riverine habitats for conservation of bat diversity in the region. I enjoyed working with Kharkiv bat researchers a lot, their enthusiasm and group spirit inspired me,” adds senior author Dr Viktoriia Radchuk, scientist at the Leibniz-IZW Department of Ecological Dynamics.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW). Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

#Nature

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carriesthewind · 2 years

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Oh, Ana.

So AM (if you are found this, you know who he is) has been in some hot water recently over the fact that apparently he’s been facilitating America’s machinery of death and war for years while publicly positioning himself as a social justice activist.

Before I begin: it is unfortunate that the reason this was discovered is because a bunch of The Worst People on the Internet targeted him. That sucks, and I’m sure that he is currently receiving a lot of really scary harassment (in addition to bad faith attacks). I am genuinely sorry for him for that, and I hope it passes quickly and he emerges with as few scars as possible.

HOWEVER.

Ana’s “analysis” has long been a turd in the punch bowl of progressive media criticism spaces. And so I am taking the opportunity to celebrate him leaving twitter by looking at a recent-ish media “deconstruction” post that he wrote. This is partially petty point-and-laugh schadenfreude, but with the added point that Ana’s analysis is extremely bad, always, and even when he makes good points or important arguments, he makes them badly and without appropriate care.

So let’s jump right in. This is a post he made on his blog titled “Animation: Villain Eyeshadow.” I’m not quoting the entire post, just the parts I’m responding to, so I would encourage you to find the post and follow along if you want the full picture.

Ok, setting up what we are looking at here. He is going to, in a post labeled “deconstruction,” talk about queer-coded and female villains in animation through the lens of eyeshadow. It ends up being less about villains and more about sympathetic vs. non-sympathetic characters (including villains), but in fairness, this isn’t an academic essay, so I will give him a pass on the way the post shifts from its initial premise. (Except to add a petty little aside here that if you are going to call what you are doing a “deconstruction,” you should maybe pay attention to minor details like “what am I going to be analyzing.”)

So. 1) Personally, I see zero difference in the shades of eyeshadow on these characters. If there is a difference, Ana picked terrible pictures to demonstrate it.

2) The actual difference in the eyes is the shape, and, yes, the length and placement of the eyelashes. But this, to me, this is indicative of age-and-maturity-coding. Snow White is an innocent teenager, the Evil Queen is an adult. Snow White has smaller visible eyelids because she has big round innocent child eyes.

…and I just did more actual analysis of the visual differences between the characters and the effect of those differences than Ana will do at any point in this “deconstruction.”

In fact, Ana does not mention how the use of eyeshadow might be be informed by a character’s age or perceived maturity anywehre in this post, other than noting in a few places that particular characters without eyeshadow are children. He also doesn't mention class. In addition, he doesn’t really talk about either history or mechanics of animation, both of which could add interesting context here to why certain things are depicted in certain ways.

Ok, so here is Ana’s ACTUAL thesis for this post. We already see that his evidence supporting this thesis seems to be weak from the problems with the Snow White/Evil Queen pictures. Let’s see if his later examples demonstrate an actual pattern, and how well he does analyzing any patterns he finds.

So Ana has correctly identified the amount of eyeshadow depicted on the characters this time (yay!) But he’s already building in exceptions to his hypothesis that will need to be accounted for and addressed in more detail; otherwise he’s just handwaving away contradictory data and saying it doesn’t count.

Ok. So Ana is not asserting that the eyeshadow coding he is positing is universal. That’s…good, actually! Any given kind of coding usually won’t be universal, especially in a medium like animation! Acknowledging (and, at the 201 level, discussing potential explanations for) the exceptions is a necessary part of any analysis. Good job Ana, you get a cookie.

…Ana, I’m going to need you to give me that cookie back.

Ana, I know you understand the difference between eyeshadow and eye-bags. I know you know, because you literally just said it. And then you put these two pictures together, right next to each other, and reviewed them with your own eyes. Oh my god.

…The Lady’s eyelids are shaded. We can see it in this picture, that you posted, in your post.

What…what do you mean you “don’t know what to make of that”? Do you think that Disney is tricking you by not including the coding you are hypothesizing in every single one of its movies? Do…do you know how coding works? Or animation? I already took away the cookie I gave Ana for realizing that it wouldn’t make sense for this coding to be universal back when he was talking about Alice in Wonderland, so unfortunately I cannot now take it away for forgetting the point he seemed to understand just a few movies ago.

Ana, you owe me a cookie.

…Also, he picked a scene of the squirrels where the girl squirrel has her eyes half-closed, so we can see her eyelid shading. If he had included a picture of Arthur-squirrel with his eyes half-closed, we would be able to see his eyelids shaded in the exact same manner. Oh no! Is the Sword in the Stone secretly about how Arthur is trans???

(ANA THAT IS A JOKE)

So, this looks to me like an animation artifact? And while I didn’t rewatch the movie, after a quick google search I couldn’t find any other frames or images that show Prince John having different-colored eye shading.

ANA I KNOW YOU KNOW WHAT EYE-BAGS ARE, I AM BEGGING YOU

Gee, Ana, I thought this was a deconstruction - haven’t we previously established that bumbling and ineffective sidekick villains shouldn’t get eyeshadow?

…

...

ALSO WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T TELL WHAT’S GOING ON WITH HIS EYES

HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED ANIMATION BEFORE

CAN YOU SEE ANY OF THE REST OF THE FEATURES THEY CHOSE TO INCLUDE IN HIS FACE

ANA WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

So. Two things here: one, this is supposed to be a deconstruction. Ana has already demonstrated that femininity actually does not equal eyeshadow in this film. In fact, from the evidence he has presented, there appears to be a better correlation between “eye-shading” and “animated object.” Two, with all of these characters: is eye-shadow supposed to be something we should be wary of, or not? Because with the exception of Lefou, all of the examples he's shown in this movie are of sympathetic characters.

Oh, cool, Ana admits that sometimes eyelids are just shaded slightly differently in animation because that’s a stylistic thing about animation, now that it would hurt the point he is trying to make if he applied the same standard he was applying previously. Also,

This is the picture Ana used to evidence his contention that Jasmine has no eyeshadow in her red outfit. It's a frame in which it looks an awful lot like she is wearing red eye shadow. Like, looking at some other stills from this scene, I don’t think she is supposed to be wearing red eye shadow? I think it’s just the lighting of this particular scene combined with the red outlines? But this was a terrible piece of evidence to use to make that argument, almost like Ana is grabbing screenshots to support the conclusions he’s already come to, without really looking at them.

Ana. Ana. I am going to have to breeze right past calling Frollo “queer-coded” because that’s not what this post is about.

“Frollo has eyes that just…are naturally shaded, even in the bright of day.”

Ana.

ANA.

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A POST ABOUT VILLAIN EYESHADOW

YOU ARE OSTENSIBLY WRITING ABOUT HOW ANIMATION USES VISUAL CODING

WHY ARE YOU CONFUSED ABOUT WHY THE EVIL OLD MANIPULATIVE VILLAIN IS BEING PORTRAYED WITH DEEP-SET AND SHADOWED EYES

HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED A MOVIE BEFORE

EYESHADOW???

EYESHADOW?!?

EYESHADOW?!?!?!?!

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A HUMAN FACE BEFORE

Ana. Ana please I beg you. These men are not wearing eyeshadow. Their eyes are deep-set into their skulls, to make them look skeletal (not feminine!) and villainous. Ana I have to believe that you know this.

These two examples have exhausted me so much I’m skipping the rest because nothing can live up to these heights (down to these depths?).

This is a ok point. It is both accurate and and there is sufficient evidence in this post to back it up. It is also completely banal.

This may or may not be true…but no consistent pattern is evidenced by this post. By my count, Ana talks about 34 movies. She provides evidence that actually supports this claim (that eyeshadow is present or darker for morally bad characters and lighter or absent for morally good characters) for…eight of those movies (Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, Rescuers Down Under, Oliver & Company, The Little Mermaid, the Aladdin sequel show, Simba’s Pride, and The Emperor’s New Groove.)* I counted at least seven movies where the only characters presented wearing eyeshadow, sometimes heavy eyeshadow, are morally good or neutral characters.

*I’m not including any movies where there are multiple villainous characters who should have darker/present eyeshadow if Ana’s pattern holds, but only one does (Cinderella and Pocahontas).

Ana is presenting here something that sounds reasonable, sounds like it would be right, but he has entirely failed to evidence it. And as we have seen, he frequently misrepresents what the movies actually depict in order to support this theory. He is either doing this deliberately, or is completely illiterate to visual language.

You can just copy and paste my previous paragraph is response to this point.

Ana includes that last paragraph as a “get out of jail free” card. This is the paragraph he can swing at a detractor like me who howls at his inclusion of Hades and Shen Yu and say, “HA! You’re the one who doesn’t have reading comprehension! I was explicitly talking about how some of these villainous characters have naturally shadowed eyes!”

But the preceding paragraph puts the lie to this paper-thin excuse. He is talking about an “eyeshadow trope” that is used to convey a sense of femininity. He is not making an incredibly banal point about western media using shadows to imply villainy.

While this was fun to laugh at, I hope this silly post also shows why it was bad that Ana was such a prominent voice in progressive media criticism circles. Ana applies the same level of criticism to everything he reads and watches (including real life). It’s not just that he is really really bad at media analysis. It’s that the points he makes are not necessarily wrong, but he consistently fails to evidence his claims. He mixes obvious, evident truths with claims that *sound right* - and are potentially even interesting and worth discussing - but need actual evidence to back them up. It’s that he misrepresents the texts he is examining in order to support his claims, so that his readers cannot trust that they are being given an accurate version of the media he is criticizing. Readers who believe him without double checking are likely to be mislead into believing claims that sound reasonable on the surface but are in fact inaccurate. Readers who follow his lead will become less critical media consumers.

Good riddance. I hope he lives a very long happy life, very far away from any public media criticism circles or moderation duties.

#deconstruction #AM #lol #being petty on the internet

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