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00127am · 9 days

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CASE 001. holding hands (yours, mine, and its)

@ happilyeverhaunted as far as xiao dejun is concerned the night parade of one hundred demons is nothing more than a folklore to scare kids into behaving. so imagine his surprise when he's thrust into exorcising all hundred of them. the only thing worse is having you as a ghoul hunting partner. word count 2.4k

GONJIAM PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL west wing 3:12 AM

If someone had ever told Xiao Dejun that he would be promenading down the halls of Korea’s most infamously haunted asylum with you, he would have laughed in their face and told them to fuck off. Because being anywhere with you, for all intents and purposes, is something that would not occur within the reign of his own free will. Spending time with you in a haunted asylum is completely, utterly, and wholeheartedly out of the question. Unreasonable and unfathomable.

Or so he wishes.

“What’s a matter, pretty boy? You scared already?”

Xiaojun shoots you an irked look, shoulders tense and eyes narrowed. “No. Are you?”

You scoff, turning to face him while walking backwards. Shrugging your shoulders, you tilt your head and flash a toothy smile-- cat like features warped into a cavalier expression. “Nah, it would take a lot more than this to scare me,”

Your classmate rolls his eyes as you pivot back around, muttering under his breath in repetitions of “yeah, yeah, yeah.” Xiaojun shakes his head, watching the back of your sneakers slide up and down your heels with each skip of your step. The sight induces a slight scowl to lift onto his lips. He can’t quite get how you’re so composed but it’s irritating. Especially when his hands are gruffly shoved into his sweatshirt pocket to hide the fact that he’s trembling. His gaze travels to impatient tapping of your fingers, drumming on your thigh. Then to the ever so slight sway of your hair and the perfectly relaxed stature of your posture. His scowl turns into a glower. You’re aggravatingly calm. Too calm for someone aimlessly wandering a deserted pitch black hallway which is probably-- no, definitely haunted. Not that Xiaojun would ever admit that. Not to you at least.

If he did, he’s fairly positive you would tease him to death before a ghost could actually get its hands on him.

As if feeling his prying stare, you turn your head just enough for him to catch the shit-eating grin on your face (at the sight of that, he can practically hear the pestering remark about to come out of your mouth). You stick your hand out mockingly, accompanied by a pout that just barely hides the crooked, upturned quirk of your lips.

“Wanna hold hands?”

Annoying. Rip-his-hair-out annoying. That’s the only correct way to describe you. Or perhaps insufferable. Or infuriating. Or… well, Xiaojun digresses. He swats your hand away with a glare. “Can you shut up?”

You abruptly stall in your tracks and for a moment Xiaojun thinks he actually ticked you off. He follows suit, tilting his head onto his shoulder with a sigh and the grit of his teeth. “Don’t tell me you actually wanted to hold hands-”

“Xiaojun, shut up,”

“Huh? Don’t tell me to shut-”

“No, I’m serious,” the tone of your voice wavers and you take a quick succession of steps backwards, “Don’t you hear that?”

Oh. You are serious. So serious that Xiaojun can’t help but inch closer to you, laying a heavy palm on your forearm. You jump at the sudden touch, turning to him with worried eyes and a clawed hand landing on his bicep. Your right hand travels up to pick at your lip as you nervously scatter your gaze to the walls surrounding you. Normally Xiaojun would leap at the chance to make some witty, snarky comment about how scared you are. Maybe poke fun at the way you're holding onto the sleeve of his sweatshirt like your life depends on it or perhaps the wobble in your stance, otherwise unnoticeable without the lack of distance between you. But he doesn’t. Far too occupied with the fact that for once this entire night, something is wrong. And not just because you’re clinging onto him like a scared high school crush at the movie theater. Xiaojun tightens his grip just enough for you to flinch underneath his touch, his eyes flipping between the look plastered on your face and the long, seemingly never ending stretch of hallway in front of him.

Xiao Dejun has always been afraid of the dark. Hes convinced himself it’s a childish fear due to one too many scary movies late at night (blame Renjun). But now, he’s beginning to think that there could be another, underlying reason. That maybe there’s something there in the night that he just can’t see. Something or someone lurking around every corner. Eyes that peer at him in the shadows, unbeknownst to him or you.

And then there’s that feeling. The skin crawling sensation of something unnatural breathing on the back of his neck. And the way the hair on his arms stands at attention as he feels the sudden urge to remain completely motionless. How the eerie silence of the building turns to a chaos of white noise, supplying a sharp ring in his ears which echoes through his brain before slipping off his tongue in the form of a whimper. And then it’s gone, replaced with the sound of your shallows breaths. Or maybe those were his. Or something elses.

That thought causes a lurch in his stomach, one that winds and squeezes his innards like a python on its prey before slithering up with throat and getting caught in his windpipe. There’s a slight choke which unwillingly falls from his lips as he begins to move his head. The bang and batter of his heartbeat is overwhelming, as if it’s about to break free from his chest. It’s cold, so cold that the room seems to come to a standstill-- time moving at a snail’s pace as his eyes get a first glance towards the hallway behind him. Xiaojun doesn’t want to look, convinced that when he does flip around he’ll be met with a grotesque face much too close for comfort. How long has he been turning now?

It couldn’t have been more than seconds and yet it feels like a lifetime as he feels your nails slowly scratch at the fabric of his sleeve. The drum of his heartbeat is so loud now that he can’t help but clench his fists, knuckles turning white as the crescendo builds to a climax. Beating and beating and beating until he finally stares into the empty eyes of the night. No ghost or creature pressing cold caresses to the back of his neck. No stranger lurking behind him. Xiaojun exhales, shoulders slouching and tensed hand dropping from your form. It’s a sigh of relief which meets his ears next as his heartbeat begins its slow descent back into its usual pace and the hairs on his arm lay flat on his skin. It was nothing. Nothing but the captivation of his wild imagination.

He’s just about to turn back to you and assure you that everything’s fine when he feels a sharp, clawed jab on his side. He lunges forward, a wisp of a feminine scream erupting from his throat as he fumbles on his feet before falling hard onto the floor. He flips back towards your direction, eyes nearly popping out of his head with heaving, panting breaths, expecting to see some creature of hideous and horrifying descent but…

Xiaojun scowls. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

The only creature there is you, laughing hysterically as you double over-- the sounds of your entertainment bouncing off the empty halls of the wing. Form faded in the dark, he can only imagine the pure pleasure on your face as you stamp your feet onto the tiled panels of the flooring. It’s a wheezed exhale that emerges from you before gasping for air-- one hand coming up to wipe the tears brimming from your eyes. You straighten up (almost falling back down in the process) and stagger over to him with a lean in your step. It takes you a few more moments before you're able to stifle your giggling with no help from your classmate, of course, as he’s staring you down with a gaze that would rip you to shreds if it were possible. And then burn those shreds to ash for good measure.

“I can’t-” another infuriating bout of laughter (you’ve been laughing for much too long in his opinion), “I-I can’t believe you actually fell for that!” a barked out cough paired with more giggling, “Don’t ya hear that? I mean, come on!”

From his position on the floor, Xiaojun doesn’t find this as nearly as amusing as you. His heart was still recovering from the monumental scare only a few moments earlier. And his back from the quick and painful fall to the floor. And his pride for being tricked by the likes of you. Oh god, you’re infuriating. Every inch of you sets him off. You know how to push his buttons, grind them, rip them off. And you’re good at it. So good that Xiaojun can’t begin to imagine a calm, collected, and civil conversation with you. Nor does he want to have one. This time spent with you has been more than enough and frankly, he’s ready to never see you again. Especially after this stunt.

“You got so scared. God, I thought I was gonna break my act before I even got to scare ya,” another snicker before you clear your throat dramatically, turning an entertained eye to your peeved classmate. “Were you gonna say something like I’ll protect you-”

“I do not sound like that,”

Xiaojun’s right. Your impression is bad and frankly a little too high pitched but that doesn't stop you from ignoring his interruption and continuing with your sentence as if you never had heard him. “-before I scared the shit outta ya? Did…did you think I was gonna play the part of the damsel in distress?”

“No,”

Liar.

“I thought-” he begins with his tongue pressed harshly up against his teeth.

“-That you would be my knight in shining armor?” you finish with a sly smile and an extended hand in his direction.

Xiaojun pushes your gesture away, brushing the dirt and dust from off his clothes before sending you an aggravated glare. “Hardly,” he snaps, running a hand through his hair with a locked jaw and strained, irritated smile.

His response doesn’t seem to hold any weight as you carry on with your teasing, going on about the exact facial expression he made when you hit him. Xiaojun doesn’t care enough to pay attention, knowing the only thing listening will do is elicit a reaction out of him. A reaction which you could further torture him with. But it’s not very easy to tone you out, certainly not with the way your inflection fluctuates between a teasing emphasis and a purred resonance. It’s with several weeks of practice, however, that your classmate is able to render your voice to nothing more than the up and down melody of your speech patterns. That and the occasional interjection of your accent which pops out in noisy iterations of ‘ya,’ ‘yer,’ and ‘ta.’

He rolls his eyes, leaning back on his hands and laying his head on his shoulder-- choosing to focus on the slight alterations of your various expressions rather than anything actually coming out of your mouth. Or rather, he was.

“You really should have seen yerself-” Xiaojuns staring straight past you, expression warped into an impressively authentic mix of terror and confusion. You bite down on your tongue and your previously amused countenance falls flat, irked at his sudden lack of attention. “- What the hell are ya lookin’ at?”

He can’t seem to muster a response, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water as his fingers flex upon the tiled floors--like he was preparing to shoot upwards and run with his tail tucked between his legs. His fear looks so genuine that you can’t help but be impressed. Who knew Xiao Dejun was such a talented actor? You raise a brow, scoffing as you cross your arms.

“Cute expression but ‘ts not gonna work on me. I just played this trick on you, I’m not that naive,”

No response.

“Even if you keep lookin’ like that I ain’t gonna fall for it,”

…

“Ya can seriously stop now, Xiaojun,”

He raises a shaky finger, eyes blown wide and chest heaving. His effort is good, much more convincing than your prank earlier, but that doesn’t mean your going to play along just like that. Doing this only mere minutes after yours isn’t in good taste. Not enough for you to fall for it at least. In fact, it’s getting on your nerves. How many times do you have to tell him you’re not going to be tricked before he gets the hint and calls it quits? You huff, foot tapping on the floor in impatience. “I know there’s nothin’ there so knock it off,”

Silence, again.

Your patience snaps. “Will ya stop?! I’m actually gettin ticked off-”

SLAP!

There’s a heavy hand perched on your shoulder. One that consumes the entire surface of it-- long, bony fingers reaching down to the middle of your forearm. Its palm just hitting your shoulder blade. It’s cold and clammy with bones that you can feel digging into your flesh and dirtied nails which press every so slightly onto faded bruises. The skin itself is delicate as if it’s made of fine lace. Capable of ripping at only the slightest of tugs. It’s tawny in color with rough calluses and wet blisters which seep onto the surface of your skin. And it smells. It smells horrible, like rotting meat left out to cook in the sun for a week or a mixture of day old vomit and sweat. Even so, just the sight of it is enough to conjure a gag in your throat.

You look to Xiaojun, who appears as if his soul has exited the husk of his corpse, and then back to the hand. Then to him, tears threatening to spill from his frightened gaze, and then to the hand. And then to your hands, then his, then the hand. Then to the figure standing behind you.

Then back to Xiaojun, whose voice was finally emerging from his throat in stuttered syllables of complete gibberish. Then to the face of the owner of said hand which rested prominently behind a tattered, tangled mass of black hair. It blinked slowly at you with large, yellowed eyes before opening its mouth in what could have been interpreted as a poor attempt at a smile. Or maybe an attempt at taking a chunk out of you with whatever decaying teeth it had left. You weren’t planning on sticking around long enough to find out.

taglist. @clockwork--fandoms @evilsailorsenshi @222brainrot @marvelous-llama @yangasm @trourevaille @ikozen thank you for supporting happily ever haunted! ♡

🧾 © 00127am 2024

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creatrixcymraes · 1 month

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This is a message for my West Wales honeys :

I will be at Aberystwyth Pride this weekend!! I'll be trading with the main market area in the Pavilion (on the promenade)

Hopefully see some of you there 💖

#aberystwyth #pride in aber #pride #pride weekend #west wales #cardigan #cardigan bay #cymblr #Cymraeg

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lordadmiralfarsight · 6 months

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Why is Leftblr plagued by political Karens ?

And no, I can't think of any other way to refer to so, so, so many of you who gleefully cheer for Hamas, deny or justify their crimes, apply a double standard against Israel (always in favour of the terrorist organisation, always), and so on and so forth.

Make no mistake, what Israel is doing in Gaza is horrible (though I would argue there's little alternative considering Hamas' goals and behaviour so far), and it's getting especially awful and violent in the West Bank, with too little oversight and far too much political complicity from the current Israeli government.

But what I'm talking about, in your behaviour, is in direct relation to the 7/10 attack, not what's happening in the West Bank.

You don't look at their ideology. Do you know what the ideology of Hamas is ? It's the same as Al Qaeda, the same as ISIS, the same as Boko Haram. It's violent, totalitarian islamism. It is intolerant and hateful, it wants to kill all who do not fit its mold. They openly - OPENLY - said they wanted to take over the world, and that once they were done with the Jews (the Jews, not the Israeli, the JEWS) it would be the Christians' turns. Does that sound like someone you want to cheer on ? Does that sound tolerant and acceptant ?

For me, as a French, all Hamas is, is another form of the monsters that killed hundreds in the Bataclan. That sent a truck through the crowd in Nice on the Promenade des Anglais. That murdered and took hostages in the Hyper Kasher.

It's the same cruelty and hate, the same interpretation of Islam that pushed Mohammed Merah to murder children in school in 2012. Because those kids were Jewish.

And all I can think, when I watch how you react ... how you cheer on Hamas ... is that it isn't the acts that bother you. It's whether it has the right stickers, the right buzzwords associated to it.

You're like a Karen, ranting and throwing a tantrum, because the mangos don't have the little organic sticker.

It's not an organix, marx-fed terror attack, so you don't like it. But the one in Israel, oh this one, it has the sticker, you're sure of it. You put it there yourself, because it is much, much more socially acceptable, in your little social circle of murderous, bloodthirsty political Karens to stamp your little Revolution-certified sticker on that particular terror attack.

But it's the same ideology, Karen. The mangos are identical. The murders are the same. The only real difference is the numbers.

And you can go "But IDF in Gaza D:" all you want. All I hear, is that you're willing to support ISIS, Al Qaeda and Boko Haram, so long as they put the right stickers on their murders.

You don't need to cheer for the monsters. You don't need to cheer for ISIS under a different flag.

You can criticize Israel without being antisemitic, as you keep saying. Maybe you should start doing that.

#israel/palestine #israel #palestine #antisemitism #karen #political karen #they want their organic revolution-certified terror attacks #It's about self image #the loss of life is immaterial #you cheer on Hamas you cheer on ISIS #you cheer on Hamas you cheer on Al Qaeda #You cheer on Hamas you cheer on Boko Haram #hamas #hamas attack #leftblr #leftist

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emaadsidiki · 8 months

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Every art is a masterpiece. 🗿🎨

#Sculpture #statue #Art #West Promenade #Odaiba #Tokyo #Japan

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hurricane105 · 6 months

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Y'all Hyrule is BIG. Outside of fast travel with the slate or swapping horses out, it would take days to travel across the continent. Zelda isn't getting to the Spring of Wisdom in a day.

Korok Forest (black line): Hyrule Castle bridge to Boneyard Bridge to Helmhead Bridge to Woodland Stable to the platform in front of the Great Deku Tree: 33 hrs 10 min

Goron City (orange line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Orsedd Bridge to Thims Bridge to Foothill Stable to Bludo's house: 65 hrs 15 min

Spring of Power (pink line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Orsedd Bridge to Thims Bridge to Akkala Span to Shadow Pass to where the trail splits for Skull Lake to the Spring of Power (last stage was cross country): 66 hrs 30 min

Akkala Citadel (red line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Orsedd Bridge to Thims Bridge to Akkala Span to Akkala Citadel: 45 hrs 10 min

Zora's Domain (blue line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Orsedd Bridge to Thims Bridge to Inogo Bridge to Mipha's statue: 59 hrs 20 min

Kakariko (purple line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Sacred Ground Ruins to Mabe Prairie to Rebonae Bridge to Sahasra Slope to the stairs in front of Impa's house: 27 hrs 20 min

Spring of Wisdom (purple line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Sacred Ground Ruins to Mabe Prairie to Rebonae Bridge to Sahasra Slope to Great Fairy Fountain to Lanayru Promenade to Lanayru Road - East Gate to Naydra Snowfield around Mount Lanayru to platform in front of the goddess statue in the Spring of Wisdom: 52 hrs 10 min

Hateno (white line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Sacred Ground Ruins to Gatepost Town Ruins to Proxim Bridge to Big Twin Bridge to Fort Hateno to the gate of Hateno: 55 hrs 40 min

Spring of Courage (green line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Sacred Ground Ruins to Gatepost Town Ruins to Bridge of Hylia to Faron Woods to Zonai Ruins to platform in front of the goddess statue in the Spring of Courage: 44 hrs 30 min

Gerudo Town (yellow line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Giant's Forest (pretty much straight south, then turned west at the Great Plateau) to Digdogg Suspension Bridge to Gerudo Town: 74 hrs 5 min

Rito Village (brown line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Carok Bridge to Tabantha Great Bridge to the arch guarded by Mazli at the base of the stairs into Rito Village: 63 hrs 15 min

Royal Ancient Lab Ruins (gray line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Carok Bridge to Royal Ancient Lab Ruins: 20 hrs 50 min

*these routes follow the shortest/most direct roads, doesn't go cross country unless it's unavoidable (like when approaching the springs) or unless it looks like a road was there pre-Calamity (like the Sahasra Slope); the exception is the Spring of Courage, where I didn't see any obvious route; I'm guessing they either did some climbing and cross country hiking, or rafted up the Dracozu River

*this is the slowest walking speed I could get - any slower and Link stopped moving, but I think it's still faster than the walking speed shown in the memories, especially #3 (Resolve and Grief) - pushing the left stick all the way forward results in what looks like jogging, not walking

*this doesn't include time for sheltering from inclement weather, sleep, making/breaking camp, rest/meal breaks, monster attacks, walking slower due to changes in elevation (the hike to Goron City has to be brutal) - it's literally a walking pace straight through

#y'all gotta be realistic about travel times #loz zelda #botw

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queering-ecology · 3 months

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Queer Environments: The Sexual Politics of Natural Spaces

To discuss the politics of natural spaces, we return to the subject of parks (wilderness and urban). Parks are publicly designated ‘nature’ and are more formally regulated than other nature spaces. Parks emerged as public institutions in the same period as the ‘articulation of evolution and degeneracy’ (13), the naturalization of heterosexuality, and the connection drawn between deviant sexuality and environmental contamination, urbanization and industrialization.

“Medical thinkers of the late nineteenth century came to believe that the environmental conditions of large urban centers actually cultivated the homosexuality that people were (they thought, increasingly) seeing (13). So, parks were created and wilderness in general touted as the ‘cure’ for homosexuality and emasculation. When in fact, this was not the case—the western ‘wilderness’ was full of prospectors, cowboys, ranchers, foresters (and natives) and if Alfred Kinsey’s research is correct, there was more same-sex sexual activity among men in the wilderness than there was in the cities (15).

“Many of the city centre parks in North America and Europe […] were redesigned in the late nineteenth century with an emphasis on the public promenade, the male gaze, suppression of public sexual contact, and team sports as a means to lift up working-class morality. Such public parks have usually been programmed for what are sometimes conspicuous displays of heterosexual desire, courtship and conquest.” (1997b, 102) (18). Examples include two seated benches, open walled gazebos, and wide ‘lover’s lanes’. Another example provided is public campgrounds; especially postwar, there was a new auto recreation culture that reinvented camping as a family activity, and many campgrounds were designed to resemble suburban cul-de-sacs.

In the mid nineteenth century, the Donation Land Act (DLA) “encouraged a heterosexual pattern of colonization” (19). White males, twenty-one or older could receive a 160-acre parcel and an additional 160 acres for his wife. This encouraged heterosexual marriage along the settlement of the west and imposed a monolithic culture of single heterosexual family sized lots on the land that have significantly impacted the region’s economic and environmental history.

With capitalist globalization, new spatial relations between queer and ecology have emerged and are being explored; tourism and the collision with indigenous and other non-western cultures, “the contestation of Western sexual categories by diverse sexual minorities whose lives, bodies, and natures are not nearly captured by even the proliferating initials in the acronym ‘lgbtq’” and the use of postcolonial theory to challenge intersections of sex and nature in imperialist practice among many other investigations (20-21).

#queer ecology #queer theory #colonialism #usa #lgbtq #critical ecology #environmental politics #heteronormativity #north america #europe #queer ecology sex nature politics desire #queer ecologies: sex nature politics desire

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mariacallous · 3 months

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Even as missiles fall on Ukraine and troops brace for a Russian spring offensive from the east, Kyiv is looking west. The U.S. congressional fight over aid to Ukraine, entangled as it is with border policy and presidential politics, has become a matter of survival for 43 million Ukrainians. In more than two years of war, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not broken Ukrainian will. Abandonment by the United States could achieve what Putin never has.

This month, I made a 1300-mile trip around Ukraine as part of a delegation hosted by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). We visited Kyiv and Odesa as well as Dnipro, Kharkiv, and other places farther east. The situation on the ground is changing, and U.S. political leaders should understand the enormous stakes. Those now debating the fate of assistance to Ukraine are deliberating over the fate of Ukraine itself.

The first thing that strikes a visitor to wartime in Ukraine is how remarkably normal life seems in many areas. Normal, that is, until the signs of war creep in—gradually and then suddenly.

Odesa’s elegantly beautiful theater remains open, and operas and shows go on. (Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco and Franco Alfano and Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot played a few days after our visit.) Yet the city was under an air alert as we arrived, and a walk along the seaside promenade revealed coiled barbed wire at each staircase.

In a mostly unheralded success, Ukraine has cleared the Black Sea coast of Russian warships—despite having a tiny navy with no warships of its own—and now exports grain from Odesa at near prewar levels. Ships load grain and skirt the coast as they head west, staying away from Russian predation. Outside the city, soldiers man roadside checkpoints to examine the papers of draft-age men.

In a town that we visited in Kherson Oblast, which suffered under Russian occupation until late 2022, virtually every building was damaged. Missile strikes, mortar fire, and machine guns took a serious toll. Many inhabitants fled the fighting, joining either the 6.5 million Ukrainian refugees outside the country or the 3.7 million displaced inside it. UNHCR and other aid agencies are assisting those who remained and others who have returned. Some never will.

We met one man in the town who stayed through it all. “It’s like you see on TV in America,” he said. “You know when there’s a hurricane and someone says, ‘It’s my home, I’m not leaving?’ That was me.”

The biggest problem, he said, were soldiers from the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, the puppet governments set up in the regions by Moscow. Often drunk, the soldiers looted houses, hassled people, and carted home everything they could. A local official said that Russian troops had established multiple torture centers during the occupation.

The man’s son, a tall 15-year-old with a grin and the taciturn bearing of a teenage boy, described life before and after the Russians came. Did he miss the way things were before the war? Yes, he said: “Some of my acquaintances have passed away.”

Downtown Dnipro could pass for Vancouver or Boston, with its illuminated streets, pedestrian areas, fine restaurants, and high-end boutiques. Couples dine, families stroll at night, and the stores are stocked. Yet the war wasn’t far away during our visit; an air alert awakened us early in the morning. As our phone alerts went off and air raid sirens sounded, we headed to the shelter. Russia launched more than 60 drones and missiles at Ukraine that day, some of which made it to Kyiv. The attack set a large apartment building on fire in the capital and killed four people. Two days later, we would visit this site, where the rebuilding had already begun.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, has emerged as an epicenter of recent Russian military activity. Most students there are relegated to online learning, since their schools lack the shelters necessary to protect against air attacks. More than 2,000 children go to class underground in subway stations. We visited one of these subway schools, watching fourth graders solve math problems and work on projects. Play areas took up space at the backs of classrooms. I wish members of the U.S. Congress could see the effects of Russia’s two-year war on the country and witness Ukrainian resilience in the face of relentless attack.

Ukrainians are resilient but not invincible. They see bombed-out buildings, awaken to air alert sirens each night, and feel Moscow’s newfound confidence on the battlefield. They know that last year’s counteroffensive produced few gains, and that Avdiivka’s recent fall marks Russia’s first significant territorial gain since May 2023. Diminishing supplies of ammunition and other Western-provided weapons have made the war more difficult and more costly in terms of Ukrainian lives.

Yet most wish to fight on. Polls show a small but growing number of Ukrainians wishing to trade land for peace, if such an outcome is possible. The majority wish to continue the fight. They watched Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson and saw the Russian president’s insistence on their country’s historic artificiality. They know, from the atrocities that have occurred in Bucha and elsewhere, what Russian occupation might mean. They see the war as a fight for survival.

Ukrainians also know, however, that they cannot keep it up alone. They quietly observe that European aid (generous though it is) won’t be sufficient, either. In Kyiv, officials follow every twist and turn of the $60 billion earmarked for Ukraine in a proposed supplemental aid package from the United States. It’s a large amount of money, equivalent to roughly 7 percent of the U.S. Defense Department’s annual budget, and combines military, humanitarian, and budget support. Ukraine’s future turns greatly on it.

U.S. missile defense currently protects Ukrainian cities, and officials worry about the violence that Russia will unleash if U.S. interceptors stop arriving. Front-line Ukrainian troops are running out of ammunition, and declining access to military equipment could allow Russia to take more territory. Even factoring in the latest European aid package, Ukrainian officials (and those at the U.S. Treasury Department) project empty government coffers within months, rendering them unable to pay worker salaries or pensions. Their fallback plan is to print more money, fully understanding the disastrous hyperinflation such a move would produce.

In the meantime, U.S. humanitarian aid provides food, shelter, medical care, and other support for a traumatized population that nevertheless wishes to carry on.

Beyond material support, my visit made clear that the psychological effect of global solidarity, especially from the United States, remains vital. In conversations with everyone, from the top of government to citizens living just miles from the front lines, there was one message: Please stay with us—we can’t do this alone. U.S. abandonment would be devastating.

There is a lot of trouble in the world today, some of it far closer to home for Washington than places such as Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Kherson. A poll conducted in February by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and Ipsos found that a majority of Americans continue to support helping Ukraine, as do majorities in both houses of Congress. Yet two years in, and after billions of aid has already been delivered, Americans might reasonably ask why more, and why now.

Calls to defend the rules-based international order tend to provoke eye-rolling derision these days. So too do descriptions of the United States’ indispensability in the face of global problems. Yet the prohibition against forcible conquest stands at the heart of the postwar global order. Putin’s violation of that taboo—if ultimately successful—would augur a new and more dangerous era. The United States, unfashionable though it may be to observe, is indispensable in resisting it.

Ultimately, Ukraine is fighting a shift from order to the law of the jungle, where the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. In a world awash with trouble, and with huge demands on U.S. resources, the stakes in Ukraine remain very high—and perhaps unique. The alternative to continued Western support is not an indefinite stalemate or frozen conflict. It is a potential Russian victory.

This is the context in which today’s debate should take place. It’s clear on the ground: Ukrainian will to resist aggression is remarkable, but it remains inextricably linked to U.S. support and solidarity. If the United States abandons Ukraine, then the West may well accomplish the very thing that Putin has thus far found impossible.

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myhauntedsalem · 1 year

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The Spooklight

The Spooklight, also called the Hornet Spooklight or Devil’s Promenade, is a mysterious visual phenomenon allegedly experienced by witnesses in a small area known locally as the “Devil’s Promenade” on the border between southwestern Missouri and northeastern Oklahoma west of the small town of Hornet, Missouri . Despite the fact that it is named after a small, unincorporated community in Missouri from which it is most commonly accessed, the light is most commonly described as being visible from inside the Oklahoma border looking to the west.

The Spooklight is commonly described as a single ball of light or a tight grouping of lights that is said to appear in the area regularly, usually at night. Although the description of the light is similar to that of other visual phenomena witnessed throughout the world, the term “Spooklight” when standing alone generally refers to this specific case.

Numerous legends exist that attempt to describe the origin of the Spooklight, one of which involves the ghosts of two young Native American lovers looking for each other.

#The Spooklight #ghost and hauntings #ghost and spirits #haunted locations #paranormal #haunted salem #myhauntedsalem

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baesimss · 2 months

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my hand-drawn map of simmisota (my personal save file) ✨

clearly, i am no artist lol. but, as i continue to work on my save file, i thought it would be fun to share my map of the state of the simmisota with you all. there have been different iterations of this map but this is my latest work and (currently) i'm very happy with it!

i love having a map handy to help me curate my perfect save file. it also helps me during gameplay because i like to make sure my sims aren't traveling all over the state on a frequent basis. i prefer to keep them regulated to their specific cities (or counties) during their normal day-to-day.

i see simmisota as being on the southwest coast of it's respective country. to the east and north, are unknown states and to the west is the ocean (which also flows through certain cities of simmisota such as san myshuno).

currently simmisota is split into 6 counties (including the isles) and they are color-coded accordingly.

magnolia county:

newcrest

magnolia promenade

willow creek

brindleton bay

tartosa

starlight shores county:

windenburg

henford

britebury (aka britechester)

moonwood mill

evergreen harbor

pleasantview county:

granite falls

glimmerbrook

copperdale

hollowview (aka forgotten hollow)

mt. komorebi

oasis county:

oasis springs

chestnut ridge

del sol valley

echo valley (aka strangerville)

las simona county:

san myshuno

san sequoia

blossom isles:

tomarang

sulani

selvadorada

i've done an overview of san myshuno on my blog already and, eventually, i plan to do overviews of the rest of the cities as i make progress on my save file.

let me know if my map is similar to where you imagined certain worlds or not 😊🖤

twitter | tiktok | instagram | patreon

#baesimss #📁: simmisota #baesimss world overviews

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minaharkers · 1 year

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OC TAG GAME ｡*･♡;

tagged by @aragorngf to categorize my ocs and make them in this picrew by crowsen!!

♡ FAVORITE OC. (At the moment)

Lukas Warren — Fallout: New Vegas

This was cruel to make me pick between all of my kids but I think Lukas at the moment is always kicking around my head — my sweet boy my poor little meow meow. I have so much in my head about his relationship with his family both the complicated horror story that is his family and his adopted ghoul mom Majorie and how much that really shaped his worldview <3

♡ NEWEST OC.

Caroline Clarke — Various

Cara my beloved!! She’s my OC for a post-apocalyptic RP group I’m in and I love her sm <3 She’s a hunter from West Virginia who’s still trying to getting used to living in a (somewhat) civilized part of Boston after living in the literal Appalachian woods for a solid three years with her brother. I’m excited to write with her more !! She’s a sweet person but is still sort of closed off after so much has happened

♡ OLDEST OC.

Aerie — The Elder Scrolls V: Skryim

Aerie is definitely one of my oldest ocs!! Skyrim was really one of the first rpgs I played and honestly I feel like she’s both gone through so many iterations but also stayed pretty consistent!! We love a wild girlie who the universe had to make her a short nord to balance out the whole dragon soul thing

♡ MEANEST OC.

Ethan Warren — Fallout: New Vegas

Some people deal with their issues in all sorts of ways; Ethan decided to deal with it by razing his hometown to the ground <3 Having his father be burned instead of crucified like the Legion normally would to not give him the satisfaction of dying like jesus is understandable given what an awful person Richard Warren was, but joining the Legion and staying for years is a bad move maybe 🤔

♡ SOFTEST OC.

Merethel Lavellan — Dragon Age: Inquisition

This was tough between Merethel and Ophelia but I think he’s someone who’s got a quiet compassion to him. The role of inquisitor does chafe on him a lot with him being more comfortable behind the scenes and being with people one on one as a healer. But I think people tend to underestimate how intelligent he is at first with his gentle nature, because he definitely learns how to play the “game” of politics in his own right by the time of Trespasser (even if he is very eager to get rid of the Inquisitor title).

♡ MOST ALOOF/STANDOFFISH OC.

Endaryn Ravel — The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Even before he lost his place at the Arcane University in Cyrodiil after being booted to Morrowind because the Emperor Said So (rip 😔) , Endaryn is someone who just wants to be left alone to study!! And stuff KEEPS happening to him and he just wants to finish his thesis can he please stop getting weird dream messages from Dagoth Ur

♡ DUMBEST (AFFECTIONATE) OC.

Leondas Vendicci — The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

It’s not that he’s dumb, he just lacks any and all self-preservation or self-respect! <3 Jk, but Leondas is definitely the guy who acts first and thinks about it later when he realizes the consequences. A fuck around and find out kind of guy, you might say. But yeah, definitely the type to run into Oblivion portals without much of a plan. But he’s MY favorite dumbass so it’s okay

♡ SMARTEST OC.

Ophelia Faye — Fallout: 3

WOMEN! IN! STEM! Ophelia’s definitely the most intelligent; (I did actually give her a 10 in her Intelligence SPECIAL score). But I would say it’s pretty much all like science and medicine based intellect, and she’s the most comfortable in a lab or med bay than out in the Wasteland.

♡ OC YOU’D LIKE TO BE FRIENDS WITH IRL.

Euurydia Daeron — Star Wars: The Old Republic

I have NO idea if Dia and I would actually hang out IRL but she’d be the most fun to hang out with. She’s the perfect extrovert to adopt an introvert like me and talk my ear off and convince me to try one drink and suddenly it’s 2 am and we’ve been cantina hopping in the Lower Promenade on Nar Shaddaa for hours

tagging: @statichvm @chuckhansen @denerims @indorilnerevarine @risingsh0t @leviiackrman @florbelles @unholymilf @fashionablyfyrdraaca

#this was so fun!!! thank you for tagging me #ocs #oc: lukas #oc: caroline #oc: aerie #oc: ethan #oc: merethel #oc: endaryn #oc: leondas #oc: ophelia #oc: dia

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