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violet-t-9 · 3 years

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Check in on my (not very realistic) wish list for episode 139

1. Nobody dies in the potential battle against Lucien/the Somnovem? I will be fine with temporary unconciousness but please nobody actually dies? Will they even fight? What was going on with the cliffhanger? I have so many questions!

Hey nobody died! Nobody even went unconscious. Can't believe we have a part 2 to this epic boss fight. This showdown is awesome! At least we know what will happen next episode.

2. The group uses their new eye powers for something (group telepathy will be hilarious, especially accidental) or just in general goof off with their new eyes.

NVM we are doing the boss fight right now

3. Beau or Caleb discover more new eye functions that we have not seen before (antimagic cone anyone? Does the eye location have any meaning? Lucien’s was also on the chest right?)

NVM we are doing the boss fight right now. If the locations mean anything, so far it's not revealed.

4. We get to see more of the party members’ new powers/abilities since they levelled up and got a long rest! Let’s gooo.

MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH thanks Cad. It's a new power we haven't seen before! Caleb knows gravity fissure now, apparently! Fjord and Veth also considered using new abilities before the break. Jester used contagion on Lucien! It was a nice try.

5. They get some sort of contact with/update from the material plane (i.e. their family, Yussa, or anybody else I guess just not Trent please), it’s been a while I wonder what’s going on over there. Has Jester’s parent trap succeeded fully yet? Has the assembly been investigated yet? Has Yussa figured out what the Nein did with his emergency exit gift? How are Yeza and Luc doing in the crime bar? Is the Dynasty looking into Essek? So many possibilities.

NVM we are doing the boss fight right now

6. The M9 succeed in stopping the city from going to the material plane and find a way to potentially destroy it by the end of the episode.

It appears that them plane shifting the crest away actually does ensure that the city cannot return to the material plane, that's great news! Also, I assume destroying Lucien would be a good first step to destroying the city.

7. Beau and Yasha continue to fight like the power couple they are and to indulge in PDA in the flesh horror city (because why not). Bonus: we find out Yasha’s plans for Beau’s red cape/the cape is used by Beau in the episode.

The discussion between Beau, Yasha and Veth LMAO. Oh NO Yasha is fighting Beau again - that natural 1 though! The miss! Another natural 1! The power of love!!!! Yasha also used the battle cry to protect Beau!

8. Fjord and Jester continue to be domestic and supportive of each other in these trying times because they are great. Bonus: more Sprinkle/Artagan mentions or interactions.

Jester and Fjord starting strong with the dirty/natural 20's! Also "I'd rather you wear it" "Fjord, it's so expensive!" They are so cute. Ayy Sprinkle/Artagan both got fed the Heroes' Feast! The excitement over the ring finally working lol. "Imma cast it at 4th level" lol Jester really tried her best to remove his slow and it worked!

9. Obligatory wish for Essek’s fancy dunamancy or magical items (Bonus: STILL hoping to see more high-damage AOE offensive spells that Essek has never cast because of the party placement, dark star anybody?).

The trapped haste spell MmmMm. GRAVITY FISSURE YAY hot spell flavour is hot. THANK YOU for that dispel magic on Yasha Essek you are the best. Nice magic missile but he is out in the open oh nO he is charmed oh no is he going to dark star the party?? Wheww thank you Caleb for the dispel, at fifth level too! He was so going to dark star Lucien if Cad was not pulled.

10. Obligatory wish for Caleb’s polymorph spell on himself or a party member. Actually, let’s expand to any party member’s polymorph! Give me those sweet polymorph interactions.

NVM we are doing the boss fight right now

11. The party tries to reach Lucien by mentioning Molly and Lucien actually having a physical reaction to their words.

Wow that was a physical reaction alright, definitely to Jester and Caleb's mention of Molly's name. Jester's song also had an effect. Everybody is trying yay! Well, it was worth a try. BEAU'S bonus action Gustuv talk made him lose a legendary action WOW. Fjord's, Caleb's attempt also succeeded. In round 2, Beau removed 1 legendary action, followed by Jester

12. Obligatory wish for Essek’s room in the tower (it will stay until it happens).

NVM we are doing the boss fight right now

13. Obligatory wish for Cad being a MVP in and out of combat because he always is.

CAD what a good pep talk I love you. Path to the grave and also the reaction war caster blight, very nice.

14. I NEED MORE RP PLEASE like last week’s high intensity combat was fun but I miss one-on-one conversations give them to me thank you. Longer conversations are even better.

NVM we are doing the boss fight right now, however there was a lot of Molly RP involved.

15. Everybody being super freaked out/creeped out by the terrible flesh city thanks to Matt’s wonderfully detailed and awesome descriptions.

The damaged state of the city, how it leans towards Lucien's cocoon thing and Lucien's transformation... OH NO the stalks not the tentacle stalks.

16. At least one of the party members get mind-influenced/charmed by some effect during the combat (well at least Caleb’s got mind blank and Veth got intellect fortress, but I would be surprised if there was no mind shenanigans).

Well, I knew it would happen. Gaudius, the eye of longing/love that did not affect Beau DID charm Yasha with a failed wis save and Yasha attacked Beau, again. However thanks to Essek it didn't last long!

17. Somebody check in a bit on Essek’s mental state because he is clearly not entirely desensitized as seen from last episode. At least he got a full rest so physically he is fine (just squishy, like wizards are).

Hey Essek got to open up a little bit before their final fight, so that was great.

18. Caleb uses more fire or his customized spells or just any cool spells in general I guess because what’s sexier than wizards NOTHING I’m still hyped from last week.

Gravity fissure already?? Sweet max damage, despite the save! Caleb you can literally just copy any spell you see cast can't you, high int wizard I love you. Also the use of that potion and the scroll were pretty smart too.

19. We learn more about Lucien’s motives and what he is actually trying to do, or more about the Somnovem’s different? motives because I was very confused last episode. Lucien wants to “parent” the Somnovem by bombing them with 10 intuit charges, like okay are you sure you are not trying to kill them? Then again, if that doesn’t severely damage the Somnovem I don’t know what will.

Well we now know that Lucien has all the Somnovem power inside himself now and is still very much wanting to bring back the city - at least he can't right now because of the threshold crest they got rid of last session. This clarifies a lot. I guess the "parenting" was to weaken the Somnovem for him to absorb them all into himself?

20. Obligatory wish for everyone to remain relatively happy and alive by the end of the episode except Lucien, and the episode ends on a terrifying cliffhanger as always.

I mean, should have known that Lucien cannot be killed in 1 session. Otherwise though, what an episode! What a session! Absolutely amazing.

Bonus:

ESSEK IS MAKING A JOKE LMAO I can't with this man, he is also giving everybody spells/gifts, cute - I guess wizards all have the save love language.

CALEB IS ABOVE 100 HP thank you Jester for that 17 roll from Heroes' Feast! I knew you'd do it. The feast was so crucial in their combat too, what a queen. Caleb always be covering his friends in his anti-aberration cone, and burning Lucien's legendary reactions. Great moves.

Veth are you... horny for Lucien??? LMAO

OH NO Gaudius on Essek this is the alternative Essek bossfight timeline OH NO but at the same time YES the angst- oh nvm Caleb thanks lol.

Extra - combat notes for my record:

Saves minus # eyes

Elatis - Excitement, pulling the target 120 ft towards Lucien + eye.

Ira - Rage, fireball effect AOE damage.

Fastidan - Disgust (wilting dull green) necrotic damage

Luctus - Grief (Dex save), slow spell effect.

Timorei - fear effect, but negated by Heroes' feast immunity.

Culpasi - guilt (Con save) disadvantage on saving throws +...

Miramus - (wis save)

Vigilan - the eye that moves/emanates the anti-magic cone

Gaudius - (wis save) charm effect

WHAT A FIGHT! I can't wait for part 2 and hopefully that's Lucien's final form. I did not think that the Molly influence will have such a profound effect, but I sure am glad it did! Everyone was so amazing in this combat, I love it all.

#cr spoilers #the mighty nein #critical role #critical role spoilers #c2e139 #cr liveblog

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bondsmagii · 3 years

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I was watching the Crown and you know what I don't get? When they went and blew up the boat in Dublin, I keep thinking how the fuck the royals didn't think they would get murdered. They knew of the conflict and went to fucking DUBLIN. Are they stupid or just ignorant? Like, going to Ireland seems like a very dumb choice. Scotland, too. Just stay in for fucks sake. Also fuck Thatcher and seeing her on the series made me want to kill the bitch all over again.

yo was he in Dublin in the series? I haven’t actually watched to that part yet, so I’m not sure if they changed it for the show. at the very least, in real life it was even worse. he was blown up in county Sligo, at a place only a few miles away from the border and not only that, but a spot on the border that was notorious as a crossing point for IRA men. like, that entire border area -- Fermanagh and Armagh in the north, and Cavan, Monaghan, Louth, and to an extent Sligo and Donegal in the south -- is notorious for IRA activity. I mean, it was popping off constantly in that area from the 50s to like... well, it was still going on when I left for university lmao.

anyway, to get to the point: Dublin would have been safer. aside from a few isolated incidents, Dublin was left out of the unrest. most of the south was, with the exception of the border areas. if he had been in Dublin it wouldn’t have been such an exponential risk, considering the IRA also travelled to England for their campaigns, so really the risk would be no greater there. but the fact that he was in Sligo, and the fact that he was in a place only 12 miles from one of the most notorious IRA hotspots in the country? not only that, but this was a summer home of his. he had a routine. he had local people working on his estate. the local villagers would have all known him and recognised him and they were absolutely passing information to the ’RA. he made a catastrophic error of personal safety, and to be honest I don’t feel sorry for him. what he did was fucking stupid. he was essentially walking around with a target on his back, putting everyone he interacted with in danger. the bombing was the second known attempt on his life -- before, there had been an attempt to shoot him, but due to bad weather the sniper hadn’t been able to take the shot. that would have been a better way to do it, in my opinion, because bombs always cause collateral damage. as well as the legitimate targets, a civilian was also killed (a boy of 15), and while Mountbatten’s grandson could also be seen as a legitimate target he was still only a child (14 years of age) and I’m kind of in the “don’t kill kids even if they’re royal shits” camp. he had no choice as to where he was; the adults around him should have assessed the risks far better than they did.

the fact that he knew the danger he was in; that he never bothered to practise basic security; that they left the boat unguarded and allowed an IRA volunteer to climb aboard the damn thing and wire up a bomb; that they never varied their routine; that he put his family and civilians in danger despite knowing the inevitable risk; and that he thought he had a right to show his face there in the first place? what the fuck did he expect lmao. literally negative sympathy. I practised better security as a wean living in the same general area, and I was a regular-ass civilian. all I had to watch out for was getting caught up in things, and yet he was a huge fucking target and off he went without a care in the world. his death was inevitable, yet everybody acted so fucking shocked. the royals really do live on another planet.

#sorry for going off but like i'm from south armagh i have Opinions™#the wee 'ra tag #anon #asks

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luimnigh · 5 years

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The True Allegory of the Faunus Plot

Or: the Faunus Plotline is actually great, y’all are just Amero-centric.

I’ve always enjoyed the Faunus Plotline in RWBY, and I’ve never really understood the criticisms. But recently, I saw someone talking about how “Adam doesn’t fit the Malcolm X role” and I had a realization why.

For natural reasons, the African-American Civil Rights Movement and subsequent movements are the most prominent touchstone to Americans on the subject of racism and civil rights. It’s the thing that you guys automatically compare stories with racism allegories to. And while the Faunus Plotline does have parallels, it fails to follow that sort of narrative, and as a result it’s kinda throwing people off.

But I don’t think that’s a failure of writing. I think the fandom, as a whole, is looking at the wrong racism.

Now, let me be clear: no matter what race you are, if you feel that the Faunus Plotline represents you, that is completely valid. I’m not here to take that away from you. All oppressed peoples face similar struggles.

But I believe that the intent of the writers is not to create an allegory for African-American discrimination, but instead to create an allegory for Anti-Irish discrimination.

Or, TL;DR: The Faunus are Irish, Atlas is Britain, Vacuo is America, and our heroes are partaking in Gulliver’s Travels.

Confused? I’ll explain under the cut.

Part One: The Faunus As Irish

I started recognizing the parallels between the Faunus Plotline and the history of Ireland around the Volume 4/Volume 5 hiatus. It started off, as the plotline did, with the White Fang.

The evolution of the White Fang matches incredibly well with the evolution of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. In the mid-1960s, inspired by the African-American Civil Rights Movement, an Irish Civil Rights Movement sprung up in Northern Ireland. While there was no official legislation discriminating against the Irish specifically, there was rampant institutionalized discrimination; voting laws that ensured only homeowners could vote (not many Irish owned homes, and many avenues towards homeownership were discriminatory); and gerrymandering that ensured Unionist control over local government, even in locations where Unionists were a minority.

These protests maintained a policy of non-violence. But they were often met with violence, from both counter-demonstrators and police forces. Which lead to protestors arming themselves for self-defense

Thanks to police violence, the situation in Northern Ireland deteriorated into rioting and violence in the streets. Which lead the British Military being brought in to restore order, which lead to an escalation of tensions as they took the Unionist side of the conflict The situation was exploited by a paramilitary force called the Irish Republican Army, which originally advocated for self-defense, but after a schism in the group, became determined to wage an armed struggle against British Rule in Northern Ireland.

You might be seeing the parallels now.

They waged a campaign of guerilla warfare for several decades, striking not only military and political targets, but also commercial targets. They were held in high esteem by the majority of the Irish population of Northern Ireland, seen as defenders of the community. They were seen by some as holding themselves to “standards”. For example, alerting authorities of bombing targets in advance so that they could evacuate the area of civilians, causing only infrastructural/material damage. Despite this, there were still civilian casualties across the entire campaign.

Over the course of the Troubles, civilian deaths began to sour opinion towards the IRA. People turned away from them due their growing disregard for such civilian casualties, ultimate leading to a growth in popularity for the peace movement. This ultimately culminated into a series of ceasefires and the IRA coming to the table and signing the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998, a peace deal which stands to this day. The last of the public goodwill towards armed conflict died in August 1998, when an IRA splinter group bombed the town of Omagh, killing 29 people, all civilians.

You can see the parallels right? The White Fang began as a peaceful Civil Rights Movement, were forced into a policy of self-defense due to violence against them, and the movement was co-opted by a faction advocating waging a campaign of violence, but violence that they held to “standards”. However, over the course of the campaign, these “standards” began to be disregarded and ultimately the Faunus turned against the White Fang. Hell, both armed campaigns had tacit approval from the people of the “homelands” (Menagerie/the Republic of Ireland) for the majority of the conflict.

But the parallels with Irish history aren’t just limited to the Troubles. The Faunus Rights Revolution took place in the aftermath of The Great War after promises of equal rights turned out to be false. Meanwhile, the Irish War for Independence took place in the aftermath of The Great War (World War I) after promises of a devolved parliament turned out to be false.

And there are even parallels between the epicentres of discrimination for both peoples.

Part 2: Atlas As Britain

Let’s not beat around the bush here: in history, Britain has treated Ireland and the Irish horribly. And Atlas seems designed to parallel Britain in many ways, especially the British Empire at its height. The largest fleets in their respective worlds; centres for the development of science and technology; stuck on a cold, wet island with limited resources; having a neighbouring land that it controls and takes resources from; a history of discriminatory practices against races it believes are beneath it.

Hell, stop for a minute and think for me? Give me a named character that practices anti-Faunus discrimination.

Cardin Winchester? Based on Henry Beaufort, the Cardinal of the English City of Winchester.

Roman Torchwick? Visually based on Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange, a work set in a futuristic Britain.

Caroline Cordovin? Based on the nursery rhyme The Little Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe, itself speculated to be about Queen Caroline of Great Britain.

And I know what you’re about to say: the Schnees. They’re German, right? Yeah, but that plays into the theme of “Atlas as Britain” too. The Schnees are surrounded by Royal imagery (“a royal test”, “ice queen”). They’re Atlas’ Royal Family.

Did you know that since the 1700s, the Royal Family of Great Britain has been German? First the House of Hanover, then the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which changed it’s name to the House of Windsor due to a rise in Anti-German sentiment in World War I.

Honestly, though? While I’d noticed the parallels between the history of the Faunus and history of the Irish before, I didn’t personally see the parallels between Atlas and Great Britain until the Volume 6 finale. Which also convinced me these parallels were intentional.

You see, after seeing Atlas for the first time, the second thing to pop into my head (right after “Cloud City”) was “Laputa”.

The Castle in the Sky from the Ghibli film? No, it’s namesake.

Part 3: This is where Gulliver’s Travels comes in.

You’ve heard of Gulliver’s Travels, right? It’s that kids story with the guy who washes up on the island full of little people.

Yeah, most of what you know about Gulliver’s Travels is wrong. It was written by Jonathan Swift, the pre-eminent satirist of the day, and it’s work of satire. It’s supposed to be a crude parody of Robinson Crusoe, with subject matter not meant for the eyes of children. The version you see as a child is heavily sanitized, and usually has most of the story cut.

See, Gulliver ends up in four different lands. First, Lilliput, where he is big and important. Lilliput obsesses over trivial matters, and when Gulliver is sent on a war mission for Lilliput, he completes it but not to their satisfaction. Ultimately, while doing something he believes is helping (putting out a blaze in the Queen’s Palace), he commits a faux pas (he did it with piss) and ends up having to leave Lilliput.

Yes, I am drawing parallels with the Beacon Arc.

Then, Gulliver ends up in Brobdingnag, the land of giants. This is usually the furthest the adaptations ever go. In Brobdingnag, he’s small and unimportant, but still a curiosity that people want to possess and objectify. Unlike in Lilliput, he lacks agency, despite meeting with the leader of Brobdingnag himself. He’s even kept in a house for the majority of his time there, only taken out when wanted.

Yeah. This is starting to sound a little familiar.

On his third voyage, he ends up in Laputa. Laputa is a flying city full of upper-class scientists. It takes the resources of the land below, Balnibarbi, and if they ever seek to rebel, they use their air superiority to violently crush the rebellion (usually by throwing rocks down, occasionally by landing the city on the offending rebels). The men of Balnibarbi are obsessed with science, but not to any useful pursuits, attempting things like extracting sunlight from cucumbers. They’re so self-absorbed they literally cannot see things going on right in front of them, including the affairs of their neglected wives.

Laputa was designed by Swift explicitly as a condemnation of the colonial practices of the British Empire, and “science for science’s sake” attitude of the Royal Society of London.

In fact, in a series of paragraphs considered too bold to print, Swift details the successful rebellion of the city of Lindalino against Laputa. They build giant towers of magnetic materials to prevent Laputa from flying above them, and would tear the city apart if they tried to land on top of them.

Lindalino is supposed to represent Ireland, Dublin specifically. (Lindalino -> Two “Lin”s -> Double “Lin” -> Dublin) Swift was Irish himself, and a known supporter of Irish Independence.

It was when I saw that Atlas was a floating island full of scientists, and the epicentre of anti-Faunus discrimination, that I began to believe this couldn’t be coincidence anymore. It had to be purposeful. RWBY was making reference to Gulliver’s Travels, and specifically to a part of it that was based on Anglo-Irish relations, while setting the stage for a large-scale Human-Faunus conflict. I could accept that the previous parallels were accidental, an unconscious thing added to the story, but Atlas having striking similarity to Laputa was too much of a coincidence to reasonably be a coincidence.

Part 4: Vacuo, and the future.

So where does Vacuo fit in?

Well, Vacuo is a lawless desert, but it’s also a place where Faunus aren’t discriminated against. The one Vacuoan Faunus we meet is totally disconnected from the struggles of the rest of the Faunus, and has to be educated about what “his people” go through on a regular basis before deciding to take up the cause.

Vacuo is America.

“Lawless Desert” is a pretty apt description of the entire Western genre, which is uniquely American concept. And the disconnect of the Vacuoan Faunus parallels the disconnect Irish Americans have from the struggles of the Irish. Irish Americans don’t face discrimination at all nowadays, they’re considered “white”. Bernadette Devlin, a major figure in the Northern Irish Civil Rights Movement, found she had more in common with African Americans than Irish Americans when she visited the United States.

As for the Gulliver parallels… well, the fourth place Gulliver ends up in is the Land of the Houyhnhnms, a race of talking sources who’s society Gulliver becomes enamoured with, to the point of being blind to it’s faults, like it’s mistreatment of the Yahoos, a race of human-looking animals. This doesn’t even change when they cast him out as danger to their society, and he grows to shun his own people and continue to talk to horses once he arrives back in England.

Swift meant this as parody of those who became enamoured with “exotic” countries, claiming them to be objectively better than their own, while being blind to the flaws of said nations.

Yeah, Jonathan Swift was dunking on Weeaboos back in 1726. Truly a man before his time.

I guess what this means is that while Vacuoan society is better in some respects than the rest of Remnant’s, it’ll still be worse in others, though our heroes will be attracted to it’s virtues.

Conclusion

So yeah. This is what I think of the Faunus Plotline. As an Irish person, I find it to be a great allegory for discrimination, because it parallels the situation my people have faced in the past. If you’re a person who hasn’t liked the Faunus Plotline so far, I hope this perspective/theory has helped or will help you enjoy the Faunus plot more. In the end, we all deserve to enjoy the stories we consume to the fullest possible extent.

So, thanks for coming to my TED Talk, next time I’ll be telling you guys why I think Remnant doesn’t use the Gregorian Calendar.

#rwby #faunus #irish politics #irish history #british history #gulliver's travels #little dash of #GUN Theory #rwby gun theory

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hccxtewrites · 5 years

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@bloodkingdomrp - talk tag okay straight up this is probably gonna get too fucking long and i’d like to neck myself over it; but i’m beca, aussie trash and i’m currently in the middle of butfuck nowhere suffering from bad internet connection, so pls appreciate what it took for me to get this done. i’ll be playing two kids; the cataclysmic and the paradox... and .. i’m putting this shit under a readmore...

the cataclysmic: zephyr jackson - kovali underboss, 39, co-owner of purgatory.

Ye ol’ zeph here is from Northern Ireland, born to one of the many respected members of the IRA and his mother who did little more than take up a spot beside his father and claim she was a natural when it came to being a mother. not true, then again she certainly could have been worse.

Something was always a little off about him, a little too interested in what his dad was doing behind closed doors and a little too intent on listening in on everything that he shouldn’t have. It led to him knowing more than he was meant to and figuring out that he wanted what his dad had and.. well, more, even if he had to take it somehow.

after slowly convincing his dad that he was ready to find out about the business and that he wanted in, no matter what the cost, he was shown the ropes and tacked himself in with some hitters in the organization

low and behold, ya boy ended up murdering both his parents in cold blood and taking everything his dad had built up for himself, pinning the murders on another even though it was v clear that Zeph was the one behind it. He won’t hide it if he’s ever asked, and tbh he’s pretty impressed by anyone who’s willing enough to even bring it up most of the time.

With enough respect and fear built up, he solidified himself within the IRA and looked to expanding, to which he looked directly to a man as twisted as he was; Rafal Kovali. After a little bit of peddling product, Rafal agreed to the alliance on the premise that Zephyr stuck around for the take over of Chicago and he’s been here ever since, doing Rafal’s bidding and enjoying every single fucking minute of it.

He’s.. not a great guy.. like at all, but he’s got some amiable qualities. It’s not completely unknown for him to take certain people under his wing. Aka The Phoenix (sera) and also The Prospect, but they’re the kinds of people who find out more than most that there’s pretty much nothing that Zeph won’t willingly do himself before he asks anyone else to do it for him.

He’s got a lot of plans, terrible.. horrible plans, but he’s patient af and doesn’t have a huge temper or anything so a lot of the time it’s pretty impossible to see the point that he just.. snaps. He’ll smile while breaking necks just ‘cause

doesn’t trust anyone, literally. even if he does trust you -- he doesn’t, don’t believe the few minutes of softness he could show just because he has a pretty smile, he’s probably already planned out how he’d get rid of you if you got in his way.

connects: he could use people he’s known since he got to chicago, whether that’s an amicable or not.. preferably not. i’m so fucking down. one night stands that went horribly wrong are always my fav. people he’s gone up against that either still feel some kind of way about that; maybe we’re all pissed since they’re both still standing. people within the kovali that he doesn’t trust --- people in the faction that.. he does trust. people trying to push his buttons and failing miserably bc what buttons. maybe someone who doesn’t really know who he is? they know the name but have never really seen the face before.. honestly, i’m down for any kind of crazy fucking shit you could throw at me from left field.

secondly.. the paradox; monica “nic” pelletier, 28, exotic dancer. Unaffiliated, but in debt to the Faction

baby girl here was abandoned by her mother on the doorstep of a church when she was nine months old, nobody in the church wanted her so she ended up in the system for a while until she landed with the Pelletier family who were, exactly what every foster kid wants in an adoptive family tbh.

except, something just never clicked for her and she never felt at home in her home. it was always just like, staying over at that weird cousin’s house that you didn’t really know much about but had to visit every summer. anyway; queue the child rebelling.

she swan dived into bad crowds, bad choices and a terrible outlook on life and who she was as a person, but something about her never really looked as defeatist as she felt and part of her made it easy to believe that she was actually enjoying the life she had to the people around her. Jokes on them, she was ready for the void super early on

Met The Traitor (Julian) in school and that swept her up like some bullshit OG fairy tale nobody asked for. It was toxic and fucking euphoric and they’ve been on and off again for most of the time they’ve known each other until more recently.

Found out the hard way that she’s a sucker for a good high and very quickly became addicted to anything illicit that she could ingest just to numb herself a little longer. this got her really tied up with the mad scientist and a whole lot of Faction members that she really shouldn’t have.

was given a full ride to some fancy ass art school and purely out of spite, since it was everything her adoptive parents wanted for her, she tore up the offer and waltzed right on into the nearest stripclub and landed herself a job working the bar for a while, until her boss was looking for a quick fill in after firing a girl and honestly, she’s never looked back. loves her job; doesn’t for one second feel any ounce of regret for it. center of attention and the ability to refuse it at the same time? goldmine.

But, working the stage didn’t pay quite enough to double back the debt she’d racked up from her addiction and eventually the Faction and the people she owed the money to started asking her to do random, small jobs. e.g petty theft, break and enter. It led to a B&E turned assault, which ended in a high speed chase in which she lost control of the car and plowed headfirst into a railing, killed three of her friends in the back and when she woke up, trapped in the car --- julian was gone, had left her for dead cause he didn’t want to be caught and lost his the power he’d gained within the faction.

skip forward and ya girl has been bailed out of jail, but that’s not the last of it. The casanova has found out that she’s a fucking wreck and forced her to do his bidding... in becoming the “other woman” in The Senator’s marriage and started a whole new shit fuck situation for her there.

connections; people who knew the three friends who died in the accident, i’m potentially putting in connections for her brothers when the OC’s become plausible but her brothers friends are always good. People she’s borrowed money from to pay some of her debt, one night stands, ex friends and people who don’t agree with the life she doesn’t seem to care about changing, i’d love someone who was a target for a job the Faction put her up to; a robbery or even something as little as a distraction. people who encourage her shitty decisions too much.

i’m honestly just here to fuck shit up and be fucked up by everyone. i’m talking replies that are too long and screaming into the dead of night about how the FUCK i’m gonna reply to some bullshit ass crazy shit.

---- apps i wanna see?? the infiltrator, the casanova, the hotshot, the contractor

#bktalk #bloodkingdomrp #god come join us please #i'm so ready

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ericvick · 3 years

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A year after COVID, personal finances are not so grim for millions of Americans

A year into the coronavirus pandemic, Megan McClelland is surprised by how steadily her credit and finances have improved.

“At first, it felt like doom and gloom,” says McClelland, 35. “But now I feel like I finally have more financial security.”

McClelland, a high school counselor in Petaluma, California, carries student loan debt from putting herself through both college and grad school while working multiple jobs. More recently, she worked a side gig at a seafood restaurant in a hotel to sock away extra money.

When she was laid off from the restaurant last spring, McClelland used her $1,200 stimulus check to meet with a financial advisor who showed her how to pay down her student debt while prioritizing saving for the future.

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McClelland, who already has a 403(b) retirement plan through her employer at a public school, opened up a Roth IRA and a high-yield savings account to stash more money into her nest egg.

“The pandemic forced me to be smarter with my money,” McClelland added. “The past year has been so challenging on everyone, but I’m feeling more hopeful.”

Consumers made positive financial habits in pandemic

McClelland isn’t alone.

Americans made smart choices with their money at the start of the pandemic, according to Credit Karma, which provides consumers online tools to improve their finances. Payment delinquencies fell, consumers paid down debt and credit scores stayed relatively flat or even rose among certain score bands, says Colleen McCreary, chief people officer at Credit Karma.

This was helped in part as trillions of dollars in stimulus aid from Congress and the Federal Reserve propped up an economy gripped by recession.

“Americans are doing better financially than they think,” says McCreary. “The stimulus payments helped people pay down debt and make on-time credit card payments. There have also been fewer opportunities to spend money during the lockdowns, which has helped people save.”

Story continues

A year later: How much has the economy recovered and how far does it have to go?

As soon as Camara Queder received all three of her stimulus checks, she knew exactly what she would do with them: invest.

Camara Queder

Queder, a 43-year-old single mother who lives in Boston, Massachusetts, used her payments to help max out her Roth IRA for both 2020 and 2021. She also deposited all three of the stimulus checks she received for her 11-year-old son into a custodial account to get him started investing early.

It felt like a relief, she says, after she spent recent years aggressively paying off her student loan and car debt through extreme couponing.

“It feels great,” says Queder, a customer relations representative at an analytical-equipment maker. “I want to teach my son all of the financial lessons I didn’t learn.”

Americans save more

Consumers are also prioritizing saving in an effort to be more prepared for the next economic crisis, according to McCreary. In aggregate, Americans have saved an extra $2 trillion during the pandemic and put away 13.6% of their income in February, government data shows. That’s down from a record 33.7% last April but well above the pre-pandemic level of about 8%.

A quarter of Americans reported they saved money during the crisis, Credit Karma data shows. Of those that were able to save, half were able to stockpile more than $1,500. That’s a lot considering almost 40% of Americans wouldn’t be able to cover a $400 emergency expense, according to the Federal Reserve.

“The pandemic has really inspired people to think about their finances and build a cushion just in case something else happens again in the future,” says McCreary.

More than a third of Hispanic respondents said that since the emergence of COVID-19, they have been able to save money, compared with 26% of Black and 22% of white respondents, according to Credit Karma.

The majority of consumers were also able to maintain or improve their credit scores in the second half of 2020, says McCreary. About 82% of Credit Karma members either saw their credit score rise or remain the same in that time span. And nearly a third saw their score increase.

Financial pain still lingers

To be sure, although Americans are feeling more optimistic, many are still struggling financially.

Although job growth is expected to build in the coming months thanks to vaccinations and another round of stimulus, economists say that it may take several years for the labor market to heal. So far, the U.S. has recovered 13.9 million, or 62%, of the 22.4 million jobs lost last spring, and is still 8.4 million below the pre-pandemic level.

Deep financial scars have been inflicted by the pandemic, with low-income households, minorities and women, in particular, suffering stinging job losses, which have only widened the divide between the haves and have-nots.

“There’s a tale of two cities across the U.S. in finances,” says McCreary. “One group can save money and pay down debt, likely people in jobs where they’ve been able to work from home. But then there’s this other population who is feeling the pain from the trickle down effects of unemployment.”

Fifty-one percent of Hispanic respondents, for instance, say their financial situation had worsened as a result of the pandemic (51%), compared with 39% of Blacks and 35% of whites, according to Credit Karma.

Not everyone feels financially secure

Although a majority of middle-income families continue to feel positively about their financial situation in the face of COVID-19, underlying economic vulnerabilities have surfaced, according to the latest Middle-Income Financial Security Monitor from Primerica, a financial services provider.

It conducts a quarterly national survey to monitor the financial health of those with annual household incomes of $30,000-$100,000.

About 57% of respondents say their financial situation is in good shape, while 59% say their income is falling behind the cost of living. More than half don’t have savings to go beyond three months of living expenses.

“Stimulus checks can help shore up people’s finances, but it’s only temporary,” says Glenn Williams, CEO of Primerica. “Those who have lost jobs are having severe financial difficulties. A stimulus check will help them for a period of time, but it’s not a long-term answer.”

About a third of consumers say their financial stability depends on a third stimulus check, according to Credit Karma. Nearly 50% of Black respondents reported their financial stability depended on a third stimulus check, compared with 43% of Hispanic and 31% of white respondents.

Affluent Americans achieve milestones

The split-screen America created by the coronavirus recession left many people financially intact and others facing lasting scars. One group is saving and spending while the other counts on unemployment and stimulus to make ends meet.

For instance, nearly half of affluent Americans have been getting their financial lives in order during the past year, according to recent data from Bank of America. It surveyed more than 2,000 affluent Americans with investable assets between $100,000 and $1 million.

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Despite challenges imposed by the pandemic, about 84% of respondents believe they are on track to reach or have already achieved several financial milestones earlier in life than their parents, including opening an investing account (54%) and starting to save for retirement (53%).

The vast majority of affluent Americans are also prioritizing many traditional milestones in life, including owning a car (98%), owning a home (97%), saving their target amount for retirement (96%) and paying off credit card debt (94%), the survey found.

How people are feeling about their current financial situation is very much based on their personal circumstances, according to Williams.

“This is not a time to give people cookie-cutter financial advice,” says Williams. “You have to really look at people’s individual needs, goals and the impact the pandemic has had on their family to figure out what challenges they may need help overcoming through the advice of a financial professional.”

Families save for future but may need to do more

More than 70% of families are confident in their knowledge of important financial fundamentals like paying down credit card debt, building good credit, budgeting and saving, the Primerica data shows.

But they are less confident in setting up investment accounts like an Individual Retirement Account. They also are less likely to know how to buy life insurance (57%). Only 40% know where to find a financial professional who could provide assistance.

“What keeps people awake at night is their personal health, finances and being unemployed,” says Williams. “If you prioritize expenses, get your debt under control, protect your family’s income with life insurance and start a small investment program, it will better position you to withstand the next economic crisis.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Stimulus checks 2021: Finances not so grim for millions of Americans

#Americans #COVID #Finances #grim #Millions #Personal #year

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jjr1971 · 6 years

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THIS (Chapter 10, Volume 5 of RWBY) is how you do a redemption story. Wow. I’ve spent all evening absorbing and re-absorbing this amazing latest episode or RWBY. I watched it on Crunchyroll first, as is my usual practice. Then I jumped on YouTube and watched my favorite RWBY “Reactors” give their reactions to the episode (mostly at x2 speed), re-living the drama (and trauma) of this episode over and over. I gave myself a headache I cried so much...mostly tears of joy mind you!...But nothing a little Advil after a long walk around the neighborhood to de-stress couldn’t fix. Both our heroines did a good bit of crying this episode, too. Mad props to Cherami Leigh Kuhn as Ilia for turning in such an electrifying performance that made this episode GOLDEN. Blake’s big cry up top is directed at Sun, a pleading look telling him “please don’t hurt Ilia....” Their fight was epic, as was Ilia’s fight with Sun. The death flags looked pretty ominous for gay lizard girl at first, but after an intense dialogue with Blake and wrestling with her own conflicting emotions....Ilia at last turned against her White Fang handlers and sided with Team Belladonna. She was also the first one to be willing to take a stand alongside Blake against Adam Taurus and his planned assault on Haven Academy, inspiring other Faunus to join in droves after hearing Blake’s rousing speech and personal declaration to go it alone if she had to. As Ghira (Blake’s father) declares, Blake has learned the power of forgiveness. (And as Menagerie Chieftain, essentially Governor General of the Island, it is his prerogative as Head of State to grant Ilia a full legal pardon for her crimes, which he proceeds to do) The reason the attack on the Belladonna residence is so meaningful is because it is literally an attack on the symbol of Menagerie’s Civil Institutions, namely the residence of the Chief Executive. Think of it as Menagerie’s White House. The Mansion belongs to all of Menagerie and is occupied by Ghira and Kali by virtue of his public office. Kali is essentially the “First Lady” of Menagerie, as it were. Until this attempted Coup d’Etat, the White Fang in Menagerie operated more like a dominant Political Party and/or Quasi-Religious sect than an active terrorist organization. Being in the White Fang in Menagerie was treated differently than being in White Fang abroad. To use an admittedly imperfect real-world example, White Fang in Menagerie are...well, were at least...more like belonging to Sinn Fein in the Republic of Ireland. White Fang abroad is more like the provisional IRA during the bad old days. More militant, violent, and willing to engage in terrorism, etc. Interestingly, Blake was perfectly fine with being more militant & resorting to violence, but she drew a line at the killing of innocents. She was only in favor of targeting “legitimate” targets, like the Schnee Dust Company. This was ultimately what caused her to break with Adam in the Black Trailer. He was willing to target and kill innocents (because he didn’t believe any human truly was innocent) and Blake was not. She fled to Beacon to start a new life and escape her past---and because she was still too ashamed to go back home to her parents. Ilia tried to convince herself of this extremist philosophy herself, but her conviction wavered once the White Fang demonstrated a willingness to target and kill their fellow Faunus as well. She could rationalize the assassination of Sienna Khan as “a necessary sacrifice”, but murdering the Belladonna family was a mission she ultimately could not carry out. Ilia’s expressive eyes and Cherami Leigh’s stunning performance signaled that she was never fully okay with this mission and tried to rely on the grief over her dead parents at the callous hands of the Schnee Dust Company to propel her forward. Ilia tried to turn her heart into a cold stone...but her undying, passionate love for Blake won out in the end. Ilia will stand by the catwoman she loves because how could she do otherwise...? To borrow a line (paraphrased) from The Last Jedi, “We will win, not by destroying the things we hate; We will win by saving the things we love.” PS: Kali is a BEAST. Don’t mess with Cougar Mama!

#rwby volume 5 #rwby #ilia amitola #cherami leigh #lgbt #redemption

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familycourtcorruption · 4 years

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Retirement After Divorce: I’m 60, Still Single And Made BIG Mistakes

I wrote an article earlier about being a single mom 20 years later and how one can survive, called “15 Insights from a Veteran Single Mom” that was posted on this site in January.

I wrote it because I wasn’t seeing that kind of perspective and wanted to share with others that are new to the journey, with a message that you can indeed survive.

You can even thrive as well.

But it may cost you as it has me.

My article was mostly from an emotional perspective. But what about the business of “your life” after divorce and the kids are grown? What does the other side look like from a financial perspective?

I have seen some good articles related to financial advice on “new single mothers”. But, I have yet to find anything that speaks to single mothers who have given it all to raising a family alone and who now find themselves in a very precarious position financially; 20 years down the road.

An article on guilt would have served me well in the early days and throughout my single motherhood.

I felt guilty for being the reason my husband left. Or so I thought I was anyway.

I felt that it was my job to make sure that my children never felt left out. Never went without and always felt like all the other kids in school whose parents were together.

I live in a community where there really are very few single parents. My kids pointed that out a lot to me.

My ex-husband gave me $328.00 per child each month. That was the court allotted amount. I had a 4-week-old infant when I started this journey, and I have to say that $328 didn’t go very far towards formula and diapers alone.

So, in order to keep up with “Mr.” and “Mrs.” Jones, I sacrificed a lot financially. I sacrificed as I tried to keep up with everyone and everything which living in Southern California expected of me.

I sacrificed myself, literally. I wouldn’t realize it until many years later.

There have been many times on this journey that I vowed to change my name back to my maiden name. I hated having the same last name as the woman my ex-husband cheated with and then married. I was not proud to have that name anyway.

But my kids were really against me doing it. They didn’t want to have a different last name than me. When the time came that they were old enough and no longer cared, I started to research the process.

I was required to show my decree of divorce. My brother who is a Superior Court Judge advised me as well. Because when the divorce became final, I was in the thick of raising an 18-month-old and a 6-year-old, I was kind of busy. I couldn’t find my documents anywhere.

My brother was able to help me. In the documents package that I received from him was an additional paper that stated that I had signed off on my ex-husband’s retirement.

I almost fainted dead away when I read it. I didn’t remember ever doing this. When we sold our home and we were in the final escrow, I received a call from the escrow officer. She said that my husband would not sign the escrow papers and ran out of the office.

Panic consumed me.

I was buying a house and selling a house and escrow was scheduled to close for both properties on the same day. This was going to cause a domino effect. I called him and he said he wanted the retirement accounts.

He would not sign the escrow documents unless I signed them over.

At the time, I thought he meant the IRA’s. I said, “If I agree to this will you get out of my life forever?” He said yes. My naivete would cost me more than I could ever have imagined now that I am 60 years old.

So here I am now. Twenty years later. In reading the articles on this site, I realized how much I would have loved to have known about DivorceMoms.com much sooner into my divorce.

So, here is what I have to say to you all as I literally sit here learning in real-time.

Retirement After Divorce: How To Get Ready

Credit Cards!

I hate them and you will too! Don’t use them unless it’s an emergency. Keep two and that’s it. They are your emergency fund and should only be used as such.

Your heartstrings will tug at you and your Catholic guilt will get the best of you, so leave them home when you are at Target with the kids!

You will be a hostage to yourself! All the toys and stuff you bought them will end up at Goodwill! I promise you!

Budget, Budget, Budget!

And stick to it! Again, I found that the guilt I had made me do stupid things and spend money foolishly on toys, dinners out, and things they and I didn’t need. All done in the name of guilt and keeping up with The Jones.

You want to feel normal. You want to feel like you are in the club of intact complete families. So, you push your budget to fit in.

I’m here to tell you that you will regret it if you don’t stay inside your own lines. Who cares what everyone else is doing? They really don’t. It’s all on you and your guilt issues! So, Stop!

Get Rid of the Cape!

Get rid of your Super Woman Cape altogether. It may fit you now, but it’s when you are 60, it’s too darn tight! So, chuck it now! You are a Super Woman on your own merit by the mere fact that you are raising a family solo.

You are your own Caped Crusader and you most definitely are your kids! They love you and need you and want you all without your trying to be everything to everyone.

Just be their everything! Give the cape to the Salvation Army and don’t look back!

If I was speaking to my younger, confused self I would tell that poor girl to calm down. I would assure her that she was good enough and didn’t have to spend money on stuff that will eventually end up on the curb for pick up.

I would tell her to stop all that. I would tell her that if people really loved her, they didn’t need her to “keep up” with them. And if they did expect that, they never really did care in the first place.

And lastly, I would tell her to love herself so much by saving money, any money and put it into her retirement and teach her children that the real value in life isn’t by having things. It is by loving each other. Period.

But as I speak to myself today, I just start each day as I step further into a time of traditional retirement age and say “Breath. Just Breath.”

The post Retirement After Divorce: I’m 60, Still Single And Made BIG Mistakes appeared first on Divorced Moms.

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shopggdb-blog · 5 years

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ggdbcheapsale-blog · 5 years

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londonlanded · 6 years

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Week 29

Alright, it’s time for one last hurrah - aka, this week I went on my last trip before the regularity of a Monday to Friday schedule rears its predictable head.

Monday was a typical workday that ended with a fabulous surprise in the form of my second free Four Seasons massage, courtesy of my lovely friend Pau who wanted to give me a leaving gift in the form of 90 minutes of care that my muscles more than needed. He also passed along the information that ours was the only 5 star hotel that boasts a 5 star spa in Europe, and he encouraged me to take advantage of the other facilities while I was there.

It was one of the few times I was grateful for London’s early evenings, since it meant the end of my massage coincided with a beautiful sunset that just happened to be best viewed from the sauna. I headed home a happy girl.

Tuesday took a turn for the strange when I fell quite ill quite quickly, managed to rally enough to meet my friend Giulia at Heathrow but not before questioning calling the whole trip off. No better way to test the limits of my own stubbornness than to give me a stomach bug on my first day of a planned trip. Regardless of my state and pace (bad and slow), I made it to the airport and through our short journey to Belfast City Airport. Waiting for us with open arms (and driving the same car he had the last time I saw him a decade ago, lefthand drive and all), was Keith, one of my dad’s ex-trainees who was born and raised in Northern Ireland before the stint in Toronto that brought him and his young family into our lives. We quickly popped home so I could see his family, and I found myself face to face with two boys, taller than me, both with the goal of following in their father’s medical footsteps. Last time I saw them, my siblings and I were forcing the youngest one to repeatedly say the word “eight” in his adorable accent because we thought it was the funniest thing we had ever heard. Time has one hell of a way of changing, aging people. Keith brought us home and we settled into our hostel for the evening, but not before meeting two Canadians who we realized would also be two of the people that would be sharing our day tour the next day.

Wednesday morning, met Paul our tour guide right beside the Europa hotel, which Keith had pointed out as being the number one most bombed hotel in Europe thanks to the IRA choosing it as its main target. We found out later that it was the number one location for journalists to stay while in Belfast documenting the conflict in Northern Irerland, so any time the IRA wanted to make sure an attack got international attention, it made (contextual) sense to bomb the very place those documenting everything were sleeping.

We set off, and as we left Belfast proper, the weather changed more drastically than I had almost ever seen. The world went gradually, peacefully grey, before turning black all at once. It was the kind of sky you looked up at and realized you were literally looking at your day’s luck changing. Behind us, bright blue, ahead of us was a Northern Irish storm. Still, we ploughed on, and in spite of Paul’s initial warnings that we’d have to skip our first stop due to the weather, we arrived at the Dark Hedges right on time after he decided we could pull it off after all.

The Dark Hedges are simply someone’s driveway - the property owner decided to line his drive with arching birch trees and what came of his agricultural endeavours are what are now frequently used as a set for a number of Game of Thrones episodes. The car and foot traffic has damaged a ton of the trees, so the road is now pedestrian only though some locals still drive on it illegally.

As we approached the mouth of the road, the wind picked up and a murder of crows leapt up from the grassy cornfield to our right, they swarmed and shouted above us as our little group walked under the first of the massive, arching trees. A few seconds later, massive wet snowflakes began to fall on us, and I remember thinking the place had a darkness about it regardless of the Game of Thrones association.

Up next, Bushmills distillery, the oldest Whiskey distillery in Northern Ireland (note, Whiskey is Irish, Whisky is Scottish). It’s a company that’s managed to weave itself in to the fabric of the country, but it also plays an integral role in the local community. In years where tourism was slow, it kept locals employed, even during times where the entire country’s economy was suffering. This distillery is so important to the people of NI that it’s even on their five pound notes, which I only noticed on our last day in the country while Giulia was paying for lunch.

On our way out of town, we stopped at Dunluce castle for a photo op, just as the sun began to shine again. Dare I say, I was getting hopeful about the weather?

15 minutes down the road, Paul let us off at the top of the walkway down to the Giant’s Causeway. You can take a shuttle down for 1 pound, but we felt brave in the newfound almost-sunshine. Ten minutes walking, and you make it down to NI’s number one most well-known tourist attraction, and just as we made it to the bottom, the weather welcomed us enthusiastically.

Through sideways rain and flying seafoam, G and I clambered all over the hexagonal basalt columns that make the causeway so famous. They were truly one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen, geologists theorize that they’re left over from a volcanic eruption but Paul offered a skeptical ‘well no one’s ever showed me no volcano,’ as his thoughts on that. Amusingly, clambering on top of slippery rocks brought some life back into me that I had forgotten I had, I wound up scaling the stones while G sort of watched me dance with my own demise, armed of course with her camera.

I’ve genuinely never felt more stupid than I did while standing atop some of those stones, with the wind, rain, and foam flying at me from every direction, I thought I was about to meet my end. Thankfully, the local guards stepped in and pulled us all off the rocks before anyone got too carried away, but they let us have more than a satisfactory amount of adventure before pulling the plug.

Giulia actually had to pay for the shuttle back to the top of the cliff face since my hands were too numb to sort out my change, we wound up in a local cafe where G ate and I used their fireplace as a personal full-body dryer. While I can’t comment on the food, the ambiance of The Nook more than made up for my inability to feel my extremities.

With the main event over, I was sort of skeptical I’d get much out of the rest of our day, but I was more than pleasantly surprised with how the rest of our adventure transpired. An hour later, unfazed by the weather at our last stop, we made it to the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, which marked the end of a 1km pathway from the park entrance. Paul parked and set us free once more, we paid for tickets to cross the 60 foot bridge waiting for us at the end of our walk, and we set off once again.

The walk actually wound up being the most beautiful part of the day, at least in my opinion, in spite of the weather descending beyond even what it was at the causeway.

There were literally gale force winds coming at us in every direction, there were hailstones collecting in the rain puddles we were dodging on the unpaved path, we were trying to hold onto railings that weren’t completely anchored into the muddy earth that framed our glistening, stony walkway.

Having feeling in my hands became a thing of the past, forget being dextrous enough to bother refastening my hood, it’s not like my hair was salvageable anyway.

Regardless, we were met with some of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve ever seen, Giulia’s little pink raincoat made for an easy subject.

The rope bridge was initially built so that fisherman could make it from one little island over to the mainland, with their fishing gear in tow. A few months ago, the bridge was redone to be made safer and steadier, but before those refurbishments it was actually much more similar to how it was when it was built however many years ago when it was still being used for its initial purpose. The bridge only had a railing on one side so that fisherman could stabilize themselves without having to hoist their fishing gear above shoulder height and out of the way of where a second railing would have been. The modern version of course has two railings, and none of the boards are missing from the footpath either, much to tourguide Paul’s chagrin.

Unfortunately, once we made it to the bridge, they (expectedly) told us they’d closed the walkway due to the rain, but we still were glad to have made it far enough to see it. On the way back, my Canadian companions caught up to us, one of them was bloodied and the other was sort of confused looking, but her expression was also blended in with a bit of pride. The bloody one announced to us she had just saved a local farmer’s sheep from being tangled in a broken fence, and I’ll admit that there have been few moments where I’ve been prouder to be Canadian than at the moment I was told my countrywoman was playing sheep Jesus.

A few hours back to the city, G and I braved local NI trains and made it to Keith’s neighbourhood of Holywood (pronounced like the California version oddly enough), where he fed us and took care of us, and ensured the two of us were warmer than we’d been all day.

Thursday morning while G slept in, I headed downstairs for a tea and wound up chatting to Brett at our hostel's reception, who recommended that we do a Black Taxi tour of the city that morning. For £35, you can take a tour of the city from a local who's lived through its recent past, including the years of tumult that lead up to things being as they are. I'll admit I was quite naive to the state of Northern Ireland before arriving in it, but a quick google got G and up to date before Walter, our driver arrived.

He started by showing us the area we were in, pointing out Queen's University Belfast as the main landmark nearby. He told us the story of its construction, and said that an identical but smaller version was built in nearby Glasgow. Apparently the smaller one was actually supposed to be built in Belfast, but the plans got swapped by 'accident' and the larger building wound up being put up. It's a beautiful building, and its responsible for attracting most of the people that reside in the area near the hostel, South Belfast.

From there, the real tour started, and we were shown a side of Belfast we were definitely not expecting. Though the conflict between the Catholic and Protestant communities in Ireland can be traced back hundreds of years, back to when the Protestants were first invited to live in England by the British, the modern cause stems back from a Protestant government in 1969 that was viewed as treating Catholic and Protestant communities unfairly. This government favoured the middle class, and did not allow for many reforms that would have made life easier for those not in it. That in itself might not have been a standalone issue, but the problem was that most of the Protestant population was included in the middle class, so they did not feel the unfairness as heavily as the Catholic, working-class population did. The closest thing the government did to reforming anything was when they put up what are called 'kitchen houses' throughout Belfast, they were called this because while these strings of connected houses had kitchens, they lacked bathrooms entirely. These were built externally, which meant you had to walk across the driveway to make use of communal restrooms. Modern modifications of those kitchen houses can be identified by the fact that they're a long rectangular stretch of conjoined buildings, but moreso by the addition of single small bathrooms at the back of each house in light of the progress that's been observed since they were first put up.

In any case, the reason this government was deemed unfair seems to be that the Protestant population felt as though everyone was being treated unfairly due to their mostly-middle class view of the state of things, while the Catholic population saw that the government was being much harder on the working-class in light of the fact that they made up the majority of it. This disagreement led to the conflict that still polarizes West Belfast today. This was what inspired the beginning of what's known as 'The Troubles' in 1969.

Soon after they began, the British stepped in to try and ensure that peace reigned between the two sides. To try and do that, they proposed building a 'peace wall' between the two warring sides, with the intent of leaving it up for 6 months while the conflict settled (spoiler alert, the wall is still up today). It was built on Cooper Street which naturally bisected the two communities. Protestants move slightly north, Catholics slightly south of their newfound border. The British remained involved until 1971, when the Irish Republican Army became hostile, and attacked some of the British soldiers there, at which point they removed themselves from the area as the conflict began to escalate. At the heart of the conflict was a Catholic desire to leave Britain, and a Protestant desire to remain a part of it.

We started our tour by driving into the Eastern, Catholic side of West Belfast, where we began seeing the first signs that not all was as idyllic as our initial impressions of Belfast led us to believe. Black cabs, identical to those in London, whizzed past us on the street. Walter told us how, during the peak time of conflict, public transport was both unreliable and frankly dangerous. Busses were being burned in protest, and so the IRA responded by purchasing a host of London's black cabs and driving them up and down the main roads themselves. This served a dual purpose, both as a transport system for the citizens that had been left without transport, but also as a way for the IRA to remain informed about everyone's movement throughout the city. Walter said that there's nothing going on that the IRA doesn't know, and that to this day, ex-IRA members drive the cabs on the Catholic side of the wall, even though busses now safely run.

The two sides of the wall are drastically different in ambiance and aesthetic. On both sides of the wall, local artists have turned to artwork to express their political inclinations. Walter intimated that while there were aspects of their statements he didn't agree with, the art and murals themselves were quite tastefully done. He explained a ton of them but I can't pretend I know every detail, but in brief, the polarization of both sides was palatable in the artwork. It's amazing how close two communities could live to each other while sharing such radically different ideals. The Catholic side had portraits of everyone from Fidel Castro to Che Guevara, there were pro-palestine signs and Irish flags painted beside portraits of hunger strikers who had died, text in Irish language and statements that peace is harder than war when it's not real resolution. The Protestant side was the blunt opposite, there were pro-Israel pieces beside pro-Britain murals, paintings of their lost hunger strikers and statements made by Protestant politicians acknowledging the wrongs of the government and addressing the conflict.

The loudest contrast, at least in my mind, was illustrated by two gardens with identical commemorative purposes, but for people on opposite sides of the same war. On the Catholic side, a garden commemorating lost members of the IRA stands tall near one of the four gates in the wall. On the Protestant side, a garden commemorating people killed by the IRA stands clearly on the main street of that side, they were identical in purpose but completely opposite in content.

The gate itself spans the entirety of West Belfast and still closes every single night, which Walter says is indicative of the mistrust between both communities. There are four gates, and each one of them is controlled by members of government from each side. One closes at 4PM, 7PM, 8PM and and the final one closes at 10PM. You can still cross from one side to the other after 10PM, but you need to pass through central Belfast in order to do so. It's an inconvenience that's one of the clearest signs that the peace we observed at the time has nothing to do with having reached a resolution, and only to do with having become exhausted with constant and persistent conflict.

Another element of that stark contrast was that while the Catholic side of the wall was incorporated into people's backyards, made up their fences and was generally undecorated and unmarked both by government and by citizens, the Protestant side was the complete opposite. Perhaps it has more to do with the way the wall was built, but the fact that the Catholic side of the wall is right up against a ton of houses and a factory somewhat limits it in terms of its function as a potential canvas.

That same limitation does not exist on the Protestant side, in that the wall is built on the far side of Cooper Street away from most of the buildings on that side of the divide. That distance perhaps led to artwork being justified, but regardless of the reasoning, Walter had come prepared with towels to dry the painted wall, and sharpies for us to sign it ourselves. Apparently it's painted over every year, and adding artwork is actually encouraged. Messages of peace, patriotism, hope and everything in between blanketed the blue base coat of paint, G and I added our own two cents to the nearly-covered wall.

We were dropped off at our hostel to pick up our stuff, and after a moments rest we were up again and off to find a final adventure before g caught her airport bus. We found ourselves at the towns city hall, which actually had a pretty excellent self guided tour, and was stunning enough just in terms of its construction.

Turns out there’s a lot more to know about Northern Ireland than I imagined. Of note, the entirety of Belfast’s governing body is currently female, and it isn’t even the first time it’s happened as it occurred once before back in 2014. There are still some words that are native Irish in origin that are used colloquially today (for some reason I didn’t take note of any though, not my finest journalism). There are also some remnants of Shakespeare’s English due to the fact that, well, England and its neighbours are an island and therefore somewhat separated from mainland linguistic dilution. I can hardly understand some Irish at the best of moments though, perhaps that’s why?

There’s also strong desire (or stated desire at least) for peace between the two still-warring sides of the troubles conflict. Like I said, it’s not that peace reigns at the moment because a problem has been solved, it’s more about the maintenance of a ceasefire than it is about having found a solution to what ails both sides.

Inside city hall was an entire room dedicated to statements from those who had lost people on both sides of the conflict, profound and acute is the desire for peace, the universality of human loss the clear undertone of what we read.

I know most of you are probably wondering where the titanic stuff is going to come in, hate to disappoint but we elected to skip that part of the city. We did learn a bit while at the city hall, most notably that the titanic sunk only 12 days after leaving port, but beyond that t and I were mostly interested in everybody else the town had to offer. We left city hall and meandered to whites tavern, the second oldest tavern in Belfast.

G caught her bus but I found one more adventure in the form of the linen hall library, which was dedicated to documenting the political comedy that surrounded the troubles themselves.

The whole four story affair is decorated with tapestries depicting artistic interpretations of both sides of the conflict, and while I had to leave the members area I still managed to find somewhere to sit and enjoy a national geographic while waiting for my turn to set off.

My flight was a mere 45 minutes long, and before I knew it I was aboard the bus to Edinburgh after having landed in cold and clear Scotland. No borders, no problem, I was with my friend Rachel in the centre of the city within an hour of landing. The next morning, our grand foot tour of the city began, but only after a tea and a coffee at Rach's favourite cafe. From there, we hiked up Arthur's seat, which is probably what Edinburgh is most famous for if not for it being the place Harry Potter was conceptualized and partly written.

It was a fairly painless hike and the reward was one of the most beautiful views I've seen on any of my travels, especially of a bustling city.

Rach and I weren't exactly in tip top shape (she was coming down with a cold, I was still running on nearly 0 fuel thanks to my protesting organs) so we took it slow, but we still managed to somehow tally almost 30000 steps worth of exploration that day. We headed down through town to see the gorgeous centre.

Basically, the entire city looked like the photo below in different sized versions. The whole place is just a connected series of spires, stained glass, and time-stained stone. I wound up taking so many photos Rach started to make fun of me, so here’s just one of them.

From there, we headed to Dean village, which is pretty much the cutest little area I could ever imagine, and was worth every bit of trespassing we did to snap our photos.

From there, Rach took me to the Elephant House cafe, which became famous thanks to JK Rowling having penned her first book from the comfort of its cozy back room. Out front, there's actually a metal plaque outlining that JK had been there.

The vibe inside was actually something I would have dug myself had I had more time to appreciate it - there was even a sign that said something along the lines of "we have no WiFi, talk to each other, pretend it's 1995" which made me smile. When you look out the back window of the place, Edinburgh's castle looms above you, and apparently that was the view that JK saw when she thought of Hogwarts. After seeing the town she used as inspiration for her novel, it all sort of makes sense how Harry's world came to be.

Rach and I ended the day at a Jazz bar with a couple of her friends, and though I didn't know it at the time, we were at one of the most popular Jazz spots in the city. I suppose that's the magic of a small town though, it's really not hard to hit the best places when everything's so perfectly close together.

Saturday morning, my last day with Rach, we woke up and stopped at two farmer's markets on the way to the Surgeon's Museum which was beyond incredible if not a little draining considering its jarringly painful-looking content, combined with the fact that it was the most cognitively engaging thing I had done since arriving in London I think. I couldn't take photos because the specimens were human, but I strongly recommend that place to anyone who's in Edinburgh with a few hours and £7 to kill.

Last but not least, Rachel made sure I had the ultimate taste of Scotland. This dish is called haggis, nips and tatties, and that's short for haggis, turnips, and mashed potatoes. It's served with gravy, and this little trifecta is a delicious, hearty, and earthy meal if I've ever seen one. The haggis takes a second to wrap your head around, but I promise it's at least worth the try. We cleaned the whole plate off of course, I'm not sure how my stomach felt about my first real meal consisting of a combination of oats, sheep organs and suet, but my mouth was pretty happy regardless.

With two minutes to spare, Rach walked me to my bus and before I knew it, I was back at the airport with years of time to kill (typical me). I was reminded later that evening that no matter the weather on the ground, the world above the clouds can be more glorious than words can convey.

After landing that evening, I had a quiet shift on Sunday with none other than my little Giulia, who made my return to real life about as palatable as it could have been.

Next week, a really out of the ordinary dose of luxury I never in a million years imagined I'd be getting!

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