#animus exchange

[softglowofcandlelight]

I totally forgot I hadn’t uploaded these yet! My animas gift to the lovely @sotoro-ma of their wonderful characters Sandy Sweet and RezzeSil DezzeSil (along with @cherrppi ‘s Skip)

#toonkind #animus exchange #sandy sweet #rezzesil dezzesil #skip #my art #all these characters deserve good things

[barnbridges]

which one in your relationship is the girl-matron and which one is the manchild

#i am... sometimes apalled by that readers missed that this was #fghjk #they complement each other in that way #bunny who is way too fucking old but a “child at heart” and his mommy #again i fully do believe they are the anima-animus concept #where in bunny spendthrift wife is weakest when it comes to his masculinity #where marion takes on the masculine traits you'd not associate with such a person #like the line where he goes “that'll teach her a lesson” but she's the teacher girl she's teaching YOU the lessons #it's by far not an even exchange of power - it way much advantages our beloathed dead man #but bebsides the point of power - they are very similar and complementary people #borderline the same person #which is why their dynamic is funny and also why girl's insanity is the best thing to ever happen

[flawseer]

Jade Mountain Academy students

#1 - Seawing chapter

Part one of my attempt to draw all the students of Jade Mountain Academy. Keep in mind that a lot of these have virtually no usable character information available beyond one or two short quotes, especially the poor sods in the copper and quartz winglets. That means some of this data is going to be made up and will likely conflict with any established popular headcanons. Just trying to make sense of this for myself.

With that out of the way:

Turtle, Prince

Tribe - Seawing

Winglet - Jade

Color - Jade green

Relatives - Princess Tsunami (sister), Princess Anemone (sister)

Clawmate(s) - Umber (Mudwing)

Favorite subject - Literacy

Least fav. subject - Exercise

Physical characteristics - luminous markings: large, polygonal, interlocking; royal wing markings; average size, slightly overweight

Other characteristics - socially subdued, low confidence

Pike

Tribe - Seawing

Winglet - Gold

Color - Lapis blue

Relatives - Barracuda (cousin)

Clawmate(s) - Bigtail (Nightwing), Flame (Skywing)

Favorite subject - Cultural Exchange

Least fav. subject - Science

Physical characteristics - luminous markings: small to medium size, jagged; minor scarring; unusually small stature, lean and wiry

Other characteristics - unusual attachment to Princess Anemone, socially aggressive (suggest counseling), prone to self-injury (suggest monitoring)

Anemone, Princess

Tribe - Seawing

Winglet - Silver

Color - Baby blue

Relatives - Princess Tsunami (sister), Prince Turtle (brother)

Clawmate(s) - Ostrich (Sandwing)

Favorite subject - Exercise

Least fav. subject - History

Physical characteristics - rings of petal-shaped patches around eyes; royal wing markings; pink accents in wings and webs; small stature, average weight

Other characteristics - animus wielder (necessitates close behavioral monitoring), socially domineering (possible maladaptive coping response, suggest counseling)

Snail

Tribe - Seawing

Winglet - Copper

Color - Seafoam green

Relatives - none on site

Clawmate(s) - Alba (Icewing), Mindreader (Nightwing)

Favorite subject - Exercise

Least fav. subject - History

Physical characteristics - curly horns; luminous markings sharp and vibrant; strong hindlegs, stature and build otherwise average

Other characteristics - fastest swimmer

Barracuda

Tribe - Seawing

Winglet - Quartz

Color - Violet blue

Relatives - Pike (cousin)

Clawmate(s) - Mightyclaws (Nightwing)

Favorite subject - did not disclose

Least fav. subject - did not disclose

Physical characteristics - luminous markings sharp and jagged; dark stripe patterns on neck scales; large stature

Other characteristics - socially outgoing, most enigmatic

#wings of fire #wof #dragon #digital art #wof art #flawseer art #flawseer talk #wof seawing #wof turtle #wof pike #wof anemone #wof snail #wof barracuda #jade mountain academy

[teecupangel]

I'm almost sorry to add another story idea to your backlog pile, BUT:

Elijah finds out what his dad went through, manages to break into a parallel universe, time travels to the 3 eras of the main ancestors, and tries to change things enough to save Desmond. Altair, Ezio, and Ratonhnhake:ton ask this tiny, angry, sarcastic, cactus of a child why he's doing what he's doing, and he eventually explains it over time.

Desmond, on the other hand, is watching all of this through the animus: a son he didn't know existed was trying to save him. An infant who he had never met, and who had never met him, was fighting time and reality itself to save him from a fate that still hasn't been explained, was showing more care and love and compassion for him than anyone Desmond had ever known before. And it hurts, because Desmond just grows to love him more and more, but thinks he'll never truly meet him outside of a Bleed.

Elijah never seems to age, even though he spends like forty years picking on Ezio. There's a statue of him in the Monterrigioni sanctuary, and he hates it with a passion.

Just... Elijah trying to fuck up time enough to save his dad, and Desmond watching all of it both touched and heartbroken, because if he's going through all of this anyways, it was all for nothing.

Then Elijah comes out of nowhere in the Grand Temple and sucker punches Juno with a data virus he had hardcoded into their lineage's DNA over nine centuries lmao

Please never be sorry for sending me an ask. Pile as much as you want as long as you guys understand that it would take a while for me to answer them (a month or so at this point XD)

Okay, but can you just imagine if Elijah was just a teenager in this one? That would give more of a sucker punch vibe to Desmond once he learns who Elijah is.

He has the ability to time travel but he can’t control where he gets sent. His goal had been to save Desmond Miles but he made the mistake of tying his time to Desmond Miles and not to someone more stable like Rebecca Crane or Shaun Hastings.

Hell, William Miles would be a better choice.

Because…

Desmond Miles’ ‘time’ is connected to the memories he watch in the Animus, making Elijah slip in and out of certain ‘times’, following the memories Desmond watches.

Desmond assumed Elijah was one of the informants in Altaïr’s memories. It’s only when Altaïr began to see him as an annoying child who always got in the way of Altaïr’s missions that Elijah told the truth.

Why?

Because Elijah has nothing to lose from telling Altaïr the truth. He was a prisoner of time itself, being yanked time and time again. He has a theory that he was being yanked to the time in Altaïr’s life where Desmond was watching him so he figured he could give Desmond information as well using Altaïr.

It would be funny, after all.

The Isus have chosen Ezio Auditore to be their prophet.

Why couldn’t Elijah make Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad his prophet then?

And he’ll take Ezio Auditore from the Isus as well.

Maybe it was Aita’s selfishness and desire for power.

Maybe it was his very own selfish desire to have something that was truly his.

“Shall we make a deal, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad?”

“A deal?” Those golden eyes seemed to pierce his very soul.

But it didn’t matter what he saw.

He cannot begin to fathom the truth.

Not yet, anyway.

Right now, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad was a man lost in a vicious snowstorm threatening to swallow him whole and pull him to his frozen grave.

He still haven’t found the warmth he was meant to have, given to him by the Calculations.

“My name is Elijah.” He said, “I am a child of Time itself.”

“What nonsen-”

“I will correctly tell you what will happen when you confront Garnier de Naplouse.” Elijah stated, making Altaïr stop from walking away from him. Altaïr turned just enough to stare at him with one of his golden eyes as Elijah continued, “And I will tell you the future you are meant to have.”

“And what do you want in exchange?”

“From you? Nothing.” Elijah admitted, “All I want is a bit of your time.”

“My time?”

“To talk to Desmond Miles.”

Altaïr frowned as he said, “I do not know anyone by that name.”

“I know.” Elijah answered with a nod, “But he’s watching you. The Templars are forcing him to watch you right now and it is because he is forced to watch you that he comes to care for you so…”

“I will help you save yourself, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.” Elijah said, “To change your fate to whatever you desire, instead of what has been laid out in front of you. In exchange…”

“All I ask is you listen to me so I can take to my father.” Elijah’s lips curved into a small smirk that felt more Aita than him, “And to commemorate my first message to my father, I believe I should tell him an important truth.”

“Lucy Stillman is a Templar who betrayed the Assassins.”

(I feel like in this case, Elijah would provide more information and let Altaïr do what he wants. He only starts to actually have a more active roll once the memory seals from ACR starts and he grows close to Altaïr’s children. By the time he gets to Ezio and Ratonhnhaké:ton, he’s more ‘fuck the backseat, I’m driving’ and actively helps. This ends up with Elijah finally ‘returning’ to Desmond Miles’ time just as Minerva and Juno told him what will happen if he lets the world burn and, by that point, Elijah had already completed a device that would force Juno’s consciousness to operate the device in Desmond’s stead).

#assassin's creed #ask and answer #desmond miles #altaïr ibn la'ahad #teecup writes/has a plot #fic idea: assassin's creed #elijah miles

[warsofasoiaf]

On ceasefire negotiations related to how Israel-Hamas is operating. Israel demanded to know how many hostages remain and who is alive, and apparently Hamas is refusing to provide the names and count. Is this a normal thing to argue over and is it normal for a country to sacrifice military campaigns for a comparatively small number of civilians? For example would the United States act similarly if it were in Israel's situation? Would another Western country?

This is actually something I can talk a great deal about, because it deals with negotiations, game theory, and applying economic concepts to non-economic subjects. This will be pretty clinically heartless, so I'm going to throw a cut down.

A hostage negotiation is, at its core, taking prisoners to extract some form of compensation for their safe return. The hostage taker wants something, and trades in human lives to get it. This can be money (ransom), an exchange of prisoners (a prisoner swap), or to exert pressure to enact political change (terrorism). The negotiation is largely an argument over price - how much is it worth to return the hostages safely. We'll get back to this in a bit.

It is typically standard practice to declare the name, number, and status of hostages for a few reasons. One is verification, to prove that the organization has the hostages in question. The second is to establish good faith that the negotiations can be conducted, that the hostages won't be immediately executed. If there is no good faith, the other side does not negotiate and instead attempts rescue (or in Russia's case, just mows them down indiscriminately). That's the same reason why hostage takers can release hostages as a show of good faith that further negotiations are fruitful.

At the end of the day, a hostage negotiation is an argument over the price of the hostages' lives. In any negotiation, information asymmetry is the name of the day, and the more advantages you have in that category, the better price you can command. Hamas is incentivized not to declare the name and status of the hostages for both benign (relatively) and malign reasons. By refusing to name the number and status of the hostages, it forces uncertainty into the Israeli negotiations. If Israel doesn't know how many hostages it's "buying" then it's liable to offer more than Hamas is willing to settle for, which makes Hamas come out ahead in the exchange. If Israel offers too low an amount, Hamas can simply demand more - there are no downsides unless Israel refuses to negotiate.

Of course, the malign reason is that the hostages are not in the best shape - they're either the victims of torture or are already dead. In this case, Hamas is disguising the status to up the price of the negotiations. Typically, negotiators don't pay for dead hostages, so in the event you have dead hostages, it's advantageous to disguise that status to extract something for them (typically money because once you have it in your hand, it's tough to go backsies). It's not good business in the long run, because no one does business with you again, but Hamas likely doesn't believe it's going to be in a position to negotiate again so that threat is less prescient. Similarly, Hamas likely believes it's insulated from the inevitable blowback that it would bring. Support for Hamas, either from their Iranian backers or Western groups, doesn't typically go down even in response to perfidy, torture, or other crimes. So in that sense, being a habitual bad-faith actor doesn't hold the same animus - they're still going to enjoy support from their backers regardless of what they do, which are prime conditions for reinforcing bad behavior. It's similar in Israel, where the Netanyahu government largely doesn't care about foreign political pressure - their reaction typically to international condemnation is to close ranks and accuse their critics of wanting them dead, or at least not caring whether they live or die.

Typically, governments don't like to negotiate ransoms for hostage taking for the all-too-logical reason, it incentivizes other hostage taking attempts. Private citizens often pay ransoms because for them, it is a singular iteration of game theory - there typically isn't a second instance of hostage taking unless the individual is quite unlucky. Governments however, frequently interact with terror groups and are thus less likely to negotiate directly save in the event that the hostage in question is extremely important.

In that sense, hostage taking is usually an attempt to force private citizens to enact domestic pressure on a government, not to pressure the government directly. In the sense of the United States or any other Western countries, this is more effective than in autocracies such as Russia or China, which both are relatively resistant to domestic criticism and are more willing to accept civilian casualties. So to answer your question of what would the United States or another Western nation do, the answer is "it depends on the willingness of the public to place domestic pressure on the government to free the hostages versus their desire to punish the perpetrators."

Thanks for the question, Cle-Guy.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#hamas #israel #economics #cw: terrorism #cw: hostages

[theghostwrites]

I love how satisfying the Willow finale was in terms of storytelling. My personal faves were Willow getting over his imposter syndrome, and guilt over past mistakes to become the fatherly figure Elora needs. He transcends the mentor archetype to become an everpresent beacon of strength and hope for her, even choosing Elora "over" his real daughter. That is not to say that he doesn't love Mims more, but he chooses the safety of the savior of the world, rather than letting his very human fear for his daughter lead him astray. It would have led him on a not less honorable (IMO) quest to save one person. And yet, by refusing himself, by assuming the spirituality of his role beyond being a mere teacher, that's what ultimately will save Mims and his people.

The second bit of imagery that made me insane was Elora's magical kiss (I don't know how else to refer to it) and how she refused to give it to Airk, parallelling episode 5. It looks to me as a representation of her connection to both of the guys. It's interesting how she refuses to kiss Airk while they are in that lovely, bright, perfect scenario where they are back to an idyllic yet completely fake past. He, who was literally Prince charming and the reason she embarks on this journey in the first place. Not bc she wants to figure out who she is or her place in the world (which happens to be its savior, no less). She even rejects who she is and tries to escape it.

In contrast to this, she actually shares the magical kiss with Graydon as a horrible, dark past is revealed to her. A version of it, in which the intimate exchange of the essence of their beings connect, but their physical (sexual/romantic) connection is strongly hinted at, but they're not at that point with each other yet.

He is the diametric opposite of pretty boy Airk. Graydon is reserved, grumpy, a pawn to his power-hungry father's schemes, and a scholar. He wears all black and has physical reminders of the evils in the world. And I'm obsessed with the fact that by knowing and accepting Graydon throughout the season, Elora shifts the focus of her spiritual quest inwards. Elora starts embracing who she is, training her magic, and LO AND BEHOLD Graydon is a sorcerer too. The animus to her anima. In knowing him, she knows herself. She comes into her power. Her relationship with Gray serves as a parallel for her self-acceptance.

Graydon says it himself, by loving her, his anima, he self actualizes into a brave, good man, even improving his magical skills. This leads me to theorize they are meant to rule together in the end, complementing each other, as equals, but that's a topic for another post.

#Willow analysis #Willow meta #Graylora #Elora danan #Willow ufgood #Willow 2022 #willow tv #Have I mentioned how much I adore this show? #the richness of the story has me drooling #I didn't check for grammar mistakes sorry #PLEASE feel free to add <3

[snow-jade]

Things I've Found From The "Guide to A Dragon World" Scholastic Teaser:

A Seawing Scroll by Coral called "How The Seawings Ended The Great War and Saved The World!"

A letter from Anemone to Tamarin talking about her personal opinions on the Seawings approach to intertribal relations and her own fears and thoughts on becoming Queen. She also mentions dreaming of a town like Possibility but it's built on the SeaMudRain border. She signs the letter off with "Love, Anemone"

Not much is known of the Rainforest. Knowledge on Flora and fauna is extremely limited since the Rainwings are an isolated tribe

There is a letter from a Rainwing named Python during Anaconda's rule. The letter talks about how the Rainwings are falling from grace and power

Rainwings were amazing assassins during Anaconda's rule.

Queen Vigilance was a scholar and created the island temple dedicated to the first librarians of the Nightwing tribe

(Unfortunately) there is a section on scavengers

List of Icewing Animus Gifts with annotations from Snowfall

A scroll written by Caribou of the Icewings called "In The Village-of-The-Plentiful-Seals"

A Skywing National event called "Clash of Claws". There are seven challenges each day. The event is to determine who is the fastest, strongest, and smartest of the tribe. Winners get seats at the Queens advisor table.

Silkwing school curriculum

Rules set by the Hives for Silkwings

Hivewings school curriculum

Silkwings learn on the job and get basic education

Hivewings choose a general course of study, then when they attend university they choose a more specialized path.

Hivewings are expected to choose their future careers while their young

Luna's Honeydrop recipe

An official guide/overview of the Hives

Artwork of Clearsight's Book

Prophecies written in Clearsight's Book

Poison Jungle survival guide

Exchanged Letters between Belladonna and Sequoia

List of Leafwing Books

Artwork of the size differences between a full adult human female (Rose) and a full adult dragon male (Smolder)

#wof #wings of fire #wings of fire art #icewings #rainwings #hivewings #silkwings #pantala #pyrrhia #skywings #nightwings

[endy-boi]

Guide to the Dragon World Spoilers

got my hand on the guide from my local library!!!

this was not good for my sleep schedule lol, but i got some stuff anyways

if you don't have access to it, feel free to dm me for an mp4 of me scrolling through it or hopefully an epub whenever i get around to making one.

VV spoilers under the cut VV

here are my notes (disorganized but technically in order):

the scorching bit left some to be desired, which is helpful for me lol cause i wanna write in something for that.

up to date maps!!!! in color!!!! with all the towns!!!! FINALLY!! i had to search for some to save and COULD NOT find up to date ones, so this is GREAT.

the art of all the queens is GREAT love that. i will admit it took me a while to figure out who moorhen was, cause apparently all the mudwings look the same?????????? might just be me, but my first thought was that clay was wearing some flowers which i loved. anyways ignoring that in favour of hc. :3

more info on the mudwing troops was ver nice, glad that's there will def integrate those roles into my stuff.

they somehow managed to make coral seem EVEN MORE empty lol. like she has only gotten worse from the books.

the aquatic section was..... a lot less detailed than i might have guessed. this could turn out to be a good thing tho, cause it's easier to have a lotta different glowy patterns and also plenty of room for HCs on the language.

lil bit upset at how FEW annotations there were from glory in the rainwing section. coulda gotten away with a LOT more detail too

SO GLAD there is a rainwing color guide that i don't have to pull off the wiki. now i can ignore it accurately!!

i guess. tui. tried????? with the rainwing history section???? like she just kinda canonized the instant flip in society with one queen after one really bad war. i could go on about how long it would take to flip a society upside down like that, but i'll leave that to someone else i guess.

apparently nightwings are all the same color, soooo uhhhhh, fuck that one.

still no mention of seers having any unique visual features, so still runnin on HC for that one.

mastermind exchange was meh. very underwhelming for a confrontation with the dragon that did all that. having "glory would not" moments rn.

thorn is bigger than that

sandwings deserve more detail, so imma just ignore that desc.

once again, icewings should be more colors. (it's happening to every tribe like cmon!)

minks sculpture :3!!!

i guess the fragment of the rankings wall gives us some more examples of written draconic?

with how the animus vault of the icewings was described i was kinda hoping for a bit more in that section. the descriptions for the items are pretty much just the notes underneath them, along with a bit of stuff already in the books.

glad to hear more from the icewings that are allowed to have friends!! (socialist icewings >:3)

i liked hearing abt scarlets history a bit more.

silkwings can be any color????? cmon now all the others are so limited. and not black? nahhh. silkwings are butterflies/moths. more to ignore!

mention of flamesilk in the "legend of the hive" bit leads me to believe that beetlewings also had flamesilk, which i dunno was already mentioned.

the instant flip to belladonna was. uh. interesting. i'm beginning to wonder how much time passed between those letters and how old belladonna was... she reminds me a lot of fierceteeth tbh.

and that's it! i was really hoping for some more general notes at the end after all the tribes were discussed, but there weren't any. still, bit more info here so i'll run with some and ignore more!

#end.txt #wof #wings of fire #a guide to the dragon world #got whiplash reading this cause i couldn't remember what was canon or not lmao #that was fun #anyways #enjoy the ramblings #and if you want to read it yourself feel free to message me

[birdinabowl]

Please ramble to me about your Steven Universe x Wings of Fire AU. Literally whatever you want. Fun facts, story ideas. I want to hear it.

Using this to talk about story ideas

For some context: Icewing Animuses are supposed to only use magic once. They get to give a gift to their tribe once they turn 7 using their magic and that’s it. (neither white or pink will follow this rule). 7 is an adult age for a dragon btw. Icewings also have rankings and rankings basically correlate to the social class of that dragon.

White is the queen of the Icewings (she is also an animus). Her three daughters are Yellow, Blue, and Pink. White had wanted an Animus dragonet because she had regretted her own gift to the tribe and already had a specific gift in mind to make her dragonet cast. Unfortunately, neither Blue or Yellow showed signs of being an animus and once they reach 4, White decides to try again.

Whites next dragonet, Pink, was an Animus making her perfect for what Pink wanted. Pink never really felt connected to her older siblings, they were already 5 and some of the highest ranking dragons. She had always wanted to explore and talk to everyone but she was constantly scolded because she wasn’t behaving like a “proper” Icewing. Once she’s older and approaching her 7th hatching day she starts to sneak out and she sneaks out to the coast. One day she finds a pink seawing hiding in the water, Volleyball.

Volleyball and Pink make quick friends and Pink uses her magic to impress her. I haven’t figured out exactly how I’m redoing the volleyball incident in this au so skipping past that. The night before her 7th hatching day Pink decided she had enough, she wanted to be free from her mom’s rigid rules and system so she runs. She eventually makes her way to the rainforest where she meets a lone rainwing. Pink was interested in the rainwing (Pearl) because she was nothing like how rainwings were said to be. She was smart and funny and Pink found herself wanting to be with Pearl all the time.

Pearl agrees to leave the Rainforest and travel the continent with Pink. The two grew closer as they traveled, exchanging secrets and being opened to eachother. Pink found it natural to open up to Pearl, it was natural in a way she had never gotten with the dragons in her tribe.

Haven’t really gotten around to why the crystal gems were formed yet but it’s definitely going to have something to do with White. Debating between White just wanting more territory or if White had accused a tribe of stealing Pink and declaring war on them (other tribes could join in via alliances similar to the original war in the series maybe??). The crystal gems could always just be a group of outcasts tho.

I’ll make another yapping post later this has gotten long 😭

#birds rambles #steven universe #wings of fire #steven universe au

[missr3n3]

just realizing i dont think ive given a proper introduction to this lady, even tho i used her for an art exchange thing lol

so! this is lori ramos! she's going to be one of the protagonists (though definitely not Good Guy) of Access Animus Healing Archives! here she is circa 1980, fresh after leaving the cult and maybe killing a guy

#original characters #ocs #original character art #oc art #artists on tumblr #character design #analog horror #access animus healing #r3n3 art stuff #r3n3 ocs #lori ramos

[kakajoju]

Here's a rough sketch of my two newest OCs that I'll never finish lmao.

(I have so many sketches on my PC because I just love sketching sm so I'm thinking of sharing some)

The first one is a sky/ice animus, the current IceWing queen wanted to breed animus magic back into her family so she hunted all the dragons who posessed the animus gene and made them an offer they couldn't refuse. In exchange they had to have offspring with members of the royal family.

He is one of the offspring who actually managed to inherit animus magic so they keep him locked up and eventually plan to breed out the SkyWing out of his lineage.

(His mother joined the program because one of her dragonets was already killed in the Sky kingdom due to it posessing animus magic. She doesn't really care about him.)

The second one is a Rain/Night hybrid. I'm still developing her story but I'm thinking she's mainly RainWing but due to having both mind-reading and future vision she wants to fit in more with the NightWings and tries to erase the Rain heritage. Tho the NightWings will never truly accept her so she's fighting a losing battle.

(Her tail is all snappy because she tried to make it stop from curling like Rain tails do, she makes her scales stick to the black/white colour scheme, despite them naturally being black/gold.)

(She also changed her name to try to fit in more. Going from Tapir to Fortuneshifter.)

#original character #dragon #wings of fire #wof #sketch #sketches #wof oc #wof hybrid

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Wings of Fire Guide, Part Four: NightWings and LeafWings

This is a NightWing, or night dragon. Their scales are black, sometimes with green, purple, blue, or gray undertones. They can breathe fire, blend into dark shadows, have silvery star scales on the underside of their wings (hence the name NightWings), and if hatched under one full moon, will either be able to read minds or see the future; if hatched under two full moons, they will have both; if hatched under three, their powers will be stronger than most (but three full moons only appear every one hundred years). NightWings used to live in the Night Kingdom, until Darkstalker, their first animus, scared the entire tribe with his twisted magic to the point of leaving entirely, hiding away and making sure no more eggs hatched under the full moons. Their tribe still has animus dragons. They moved to a volcanic island, where the prey became scarcer each year, and each year less dragonets hatched, to the point each year less eggs came out uncracked. They bit their prey and left it to die, then came back and ate its rotting corpse. This changed when the NightWings moved to the Rainforest Kingdom, accepting the RainWing queen as their queen in exchange for forgiving them of their crimes against the RainWings and not leaving them to die on their island, which soon erupted. They soon turned to a diet of boars, panthers, and sometimes sloths and monkeys, as well as fruits. Their names can be such as:

Night adjacent: Starflight, Moonwatcher, Midnight, Eclipse, Starclaws...

Assassin-like/death-related: Foeslayer, Deathbringer, Quickstrike, Slaughter, Bonecruncher...

Moon-gifted abilities: Mindreader, Allknowing, Farsight, Fatespeaker, Clearsight...

Wisdom and knowledge: Prudence, Wisdom, Vigilance, Thoughtful...

Powerful/Mighty: Mightyclaws, Strongwings, Fierceteeth, Bigtail, Fearless...

Dark and spooky: Battlewinner, Darkstalker, Vengeance...

Black gemstones: Obsidian...

This is a LeafWing, or leaf dragon. Their scales can be green, with some gold, red, pink, or brown mixed in. Some of them have a power called leafspeak, where they can understand and grow plants (faster than normal). They used to live on the second continent, Pantala, in the forest kingdoms, until it was destroyed by the evil and insane Queen Wasp of the HiveWings. They then had to move to the Poison Jungle, where they struggled to survive. They split into two separate groups of the tribes: the peaceful, patient SapWings, and the vengeful, fierce PoisonWings. They would wear pouches full of poisonous berries and roots, knock-out flowers and petals, smoking leaves, venomous bugs, as well as seeds. The two tribes had two different naming systems. They are as follows:

SapWings kept the tradition of naming themselves after trees, while PoisonWings started to name themselves after deadly or poisonous plants...

Tree names: Sequoia, Willow, Ash, Hazel, Rowan, Juniper, Hawthorn...

Poisonous or deadly plants: Nettle, Sundew, Belladonna, Hemlock, Mandrake, Cobra Lily, Pokeweed...

#honeycomb thoughts #platonic yandere marvel #yandere platonic marvel #platonic yandere xmen #🐉wings of fire au #🥚tiny talons🐉 au #🥚tiny heir❄ au #🥚tiny sting🐝 au #🍷the heir of evil🐉 au #🍯honey and venom🧪 au

[flawseer]

Jade Mountain Academy students

#Bonus - Faculty chapter

And here, as has been requested, we have the ones in charge of the operation. And so I am left pondering that, over the course of this project, I have drawn essentially all of the arc 1 and arc 2 protagonists... with the exception of Glory. That's pretty weird.

Anyway, here goes:

Sunny

Teaches subject(s) - Art, Cultural Exchange

Additional responsibilities- Founder, chief administrator, student admission, teacher-student relations, Silver winglet guardian

Tribe - Sandwing (partial Nightwing heritage)

Color - Sunrise gold

Relatives - Stonemover (father)

Physical characteristics - bright golden color; green eyes; no venom barb; small stature with slim to average build

Tsunami

Teaches subject(s) - Exercise

Additional responsibilities- "Head of School", security chief, Jade winglet guardian

Tribe - Seawing

Color - Cobalt blue

Relatives - Prince Turtle (brother), Princess Anemone (sister)

Physical characteristics - bent horns; royal wing markings; small burn scar on right side of neck, small cut in wing membrane; large build, long and burly

Clay

Teaches subject(s) - Anatomy

Additional responsibilities- Chief healer, student counselor, Copper winglet guardian

Tribe - Mudwing

Color - Bronze

Relatives - Umber (brother), Sora (sister), Marsh (brother)

Physical characteristics - curly horns; diminished mobility in right hindleg, walks with a limp; very large stature, muscular, heavy, broad

Starflight

Teaches subject(s) - Science, Literacy

Additional responsibilities- Chief librarian, chief accountant, Quartz winglet guardian

Tribe - Nightwing

Color - Midnight blue gray

Relatives - none on site

Physical characteristics - severe burn scarring across face, neck, and chest; blind in both eyes; average size and build

Fatespeaker

Teaches subject(s) - Science, Literacy (assisting)

Additional responsibilities- Assistant librarian, assistant student counselor, inventory

Tribe - Nightwing

Color - Dark violet black

Relatives - none on site

Physical characteristics - curved horns; small silver scales near eyes and along body; smallish stature, slim, slightly underweight

Webs

Teaches subject(s) - History

Additional responsibilities- Assistant healer, assistant accountant, Gold winglet guardian

Tribe - Seawing

Color - Teal green and blue

Relatives - none on site

Physical characteristics - blotty, luminous markings across body, luminous birthmark on left front talon; small puncture scar on tail; medium to large size, gaunt frame

Stonemover

Tribe - Nightwing

Relatives - Sunny (daughter)

Additional notes - Stonemover is neither a member of the Jade Mountain Academy faculty, nor a student, but remains on site as a consultant on various animus-related matters (and also because he is stuck to the floor).

#wings of fire #dragon #wof #digital art #wof art #flawseer art #wof sunny #wof tsunami #wof clay #wof starflight #wof fatespeaker #wof webs #wof stonemover #jade mountain academy

[teecupangel]

I've been replaying Nobodies and in the middle of the second game I thought "Hey this guy talks like Desmond!" then I thought it would be pretty funny if Desmond became a murder cleaner lol

Nobodies: Murder Cleaner is available for Android, PC (via Steam) and Apple if you want to try it. It’s a point and click game where you play as a member of a secret government organization and your job is to clean up after other members have killed the target.

So we have two option for this idea.

Option 1: Canon ‘Verse where Desmond becomes a Cleaner instead of a Bartender

In this one, the only thing we have to tweak is what Desmond’s history becomes when he left the Farm. Maybe he saw one of the Cleaners doing their job in Rapid City and the Cleaner didn’t want to kill a kid to cover his tracks so he makes Desmond his accomplice, helping him clean it up, all the while teaching him the ‘craft’. After that, Desmond tags along because the Cleaner says that’s the only way he’ll survive and maybe Desmond’s upbringing mess him up enough that he thinks this is okay. That this kind of life is actually better than the life he had back on the Farm. The Cleaner keeps a close eye on him and notices how ‘unique’ Desmond’s upbringing is. He even thinks Desmond has what it takes to actually be one of the ‘messy ones’ but Desmond preferred to clean. It feels… more distant to his life before.

We get our timeskip and Desmond is one of the best cleaners out there. His identity is ironclad because his Cleaner mentor gave him a new one and their organization made it official since they do have a bit of leeway with the government. In exchange, Desmond will be in their service which he doesn’t mind because the organization pays for everything he needs (other than the equipment and items he might actually need when it was time to clean up because having such equipment with him when he gets to the scene would be security guard bait).

At this point, the organization has an idea that Abstergo is very sus and there’s a shadowy organization that does questionable things against Abstergo most of the time. They don’t know the full story though but Desmond believes that his parents’ cult is actually an ecoterrorist group. He keeps it to himself though since he doesn’t want to be anywhere close to them.

With the backing of the organization and his more honed skills and espionage, Desmond is actually more or less a ghost even to Abstergo. They know Desmond Miles exist but they also know that he disappeared nine years ago. Desmond’s government records are all fake data but authenticated by the government itself. Hell, he even has an SSN and tax records. (Your call if he keeps his Desmond Miles name or he changes to like Desmond Miller or full on fake name like Derek Milton or something XD)

If you still want Desmond to be part of the Animus Project or to kickstart the main plot, Desmond gets caught because the organization has traitors and one of them took him while he was cleaning a scene that turned out to be a trap. However, Desmond knows how to play the game and his childhood training only help him become better at his job.

If Vidic kept the same ‘security’ in AC1 (cameras only, no visible guards), Desmond would find a way to kill Vidic and (maybe) Lucy before the guards even get there. Once he gets access to the computer (thanks, Lucy), tampering with the security feed would be easy because he’s done it before as a Cleaner. He’s also used to using items and devices he sees on the ‘scene’ so yeah…

Before the even finishes Altaïr’s memories, he’d most probably already made his escape after cleaning the scene.

And that’s when…

The Bleeding Effect starts…

Option 2: Full Spy AU where every Assassin is messy and Desmond has to clean after them

Okay, this one plays loose with the lore.

In this one, the Brotherhood is a secret organization that has the capital and the influence that a usual Hollywood super spy organization has.

And Desmond is the poor son of a high ranking member of the organization. He was being trained to be an operative but he didn’t want to be an operative like his father.

So… he became a cleaner instead.

In this one, I think it would be fun if Desmond is just some poor cleaner who has to clean up for the messiest of the operatives because he’s one of the best cleaners.

So the setup could be Desmond appearing on the scene and deducing which of his messy ‘regulars’ did this one and he all have nicknames for each of them.

One of them is super good at his job that Desmond just have to take care of the body most of the time. That one he calls “the light of my life” because it means a quick easy job then Desmond can just chill somewhere and see the sights until he’s called again.

Another one is someone who always has to chase their target and dear god, Desmond wants to strangle this operative so badly because Desmond has to clean up multiple places and that includes CCTVs used by the local government for the roads and such. That one he calls ‘the bane of my existence’.

The funny thing?

Both operative are the same person: Altaïr who seesaw between absolutely the best or having a bad day that can only be summed up as “the universe is conspiring against him to get some cardio today”.

Of course, there’s a lot more operatives that Desmond cleans after.

There’s one that liked to actually steal shit and Desmond just usually make that a burglary gone wrong most of the time.

There’s another operative who may or may not have a dog that he uses to rip apart his target and Desmond always prays the scene is somewhere outside so he can just make it look like a wild animal attack and always hate it whenever it happens in an office building or anywhere indoors to be completely honest.

There’s another one that tries to be sneaky but that only makes Desmond’s life harder because he has to make sure to look everywhere just to be sure that the sneaky operative didn’t miss or fuck up somewhere.

In other words, Desmond has a lot of complaints for his regular operatives XD

#murder cleaner desmond #two ideas for the ‘price’ of one #lol #yes #i am basing altaïr’s part #on how ac1 assassinations can be super sneaky #or would lead to chasing the targets everywhere XD #ask and answer #assassin's creed #desmond miles #fic idea: assassin's creed #teecup writes/has a plot #i guess i can tag #altaïr ibn la'ahad #too since i did name him specifically XD

[vague-humanoid]

The arrested officers include a K-9 handler named Morteza Amiri, who is accused of inducing his Belgian Malinois, Purcy, to bite 28 suspects over three years, and Eric Rombough, a member of Antioch’s SWAT team and Gang Unit, who allegedly shot eleven suspects in one year with a “less lethal” launcher. The launcher is a shotgun-like device that fires 40mm impact rounds, about an inch-and-half in diameter — designed to bludgeon and bruise, rather than kill. According to the indictment, Rombough blasted suspects from close range, often hitting “potentially lethal” areas of their bodies. The alleged conspiracy includes a third cop, Devon Wenger, who, according to the charging document, cheered on Amiri as “my hero,” and also used a 40mm launcher to shoot a suspect in the chest who’d raised his hands in surrender.

The indictment paints both Amiri and Rombough as twisted: they allegedly collected “trophies” to memorialize their uses of “excessive force.” Amiri bragged he took “gory pics” of each K-9 bite for his “personal” collection, while Rombough allegedly collected his “spent 40mm munitions” for an art project: a hand-crafted American flag collage. (According to the indictment, “the munitions were used among the stars and stripes to commemorate” his shootings.)

These cops were remorseless about their bad actions, according to the indictment; Rombough even bragged about his unconstitutional actions, as in this text exchange:

Unidentified officer: What’re you guys up to?  Rombough: Violating civil rights

Officers Amiri and Rombough also sent texts indicating racial animus, repeatedly referring to city residents as “gorillas”; Rombough texted of another suspect: “I seriously want to beat his black ass.” 

The alleged sadism of Amiri, the K-9 handler, is presented in excruciating detail across the indictment, which reproduces texts to his fellow officers gleefully recounting his violent exploits — e.g. “that shit is fun” — and includes snapshots he sent of the wounds left by Purcy’s bites. He’d send such messages from his personal phone, along with the numeric tally of how many times he’d used the dog to attack someone. For example: “#4 on fire rn.. Lol.” (According to the indictment, the bite count rose above two dozen before Amiri was removed from the Canine Unit in 2022.)

@chrisdornerfanclub

#state violence #antiblackness #police abuse

[mariacallous]

Like a soap opera, you skip an episode and lose track of the story. For the past month, two of the most successful hip-hop artists of recent times—Kendrick Lamar and Drake—have been embroiled in a back-and-forth rap beef that reached new levels over the weekend as Lamar released “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us,” and Drake dropped “The Heart Part 6.”

The conflict might be the most newsworthy music event of the first half of 2024, as both MCs voiced strong opinions about each other on the diss tracks, leading to secondary discussions fueled by fan hives, trolls, think pieces, and social media threads. And while the early exchanges might have only slightly piqued some listeners’ interest, the stakes went up following the release of Kendrick’s “Euphoria” last Tuesday. At that point, the beef became something bigger, evolving (or devolving) from the standard stuff of rap and into stormier waters. This includes accusations and exchanges around serious topics: racial authenticity, domestic violence, illegitimate fatherhood, moral posturing, grooming, hypocrisy, colorism, and even colonialism.

The conflict is now mature enough to warrant some larger reflection. Specifically, an examination of what this beef tells us about the marriage between hip-hop, conflict, and online culture.

No advertising campaign can generate the anticipation that rap beef creates, sometimes out of thin air. Whether we are enjoying it or not, we all wait for the next iteration. Through Drake and Kendrick Lamar, we are reminded of just how quickly public squabbles can seize attention—and the many ways that the ecology of digital space in 2024 can shape how these conflicts happen.

For one, artists now control the timing and pace of the releases. Unlike years past, when popular DJs often folded diss songs into radio sets, artists today can curate the release of these tracks, going directly to listeners via platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and X.

Second, the war on truth in the age of misinformation now renders fact-checking irrelevant; whatever someone accuses another artist of in a song might be true or false. Whether we believe it is mostly about whether we want to believe it, whether the message aligns with our preexisting views. And while dodgy accusations have always been true in beef raps, the speed through which falsehoods can spread today makes it easier for absurd claims to take on a life of their own.

Finally, there is the specter of fake songs, generated by artificial intelligence. This makes us double-clutch before clicking a link, as we scramble to debate the authenticity of what we’re about to hear. Saying someone employed ghostwriters used to be the most damning accusation in hip-hop. Today there are many more ways to fabricate a song, and fewer ways to tell the difference between us and the robots. This specifically came to the fore in April when Drake released “Taylor Made Freestyle,” a track that seemingly used an AI-generated version of Tupac Shakur’s voice. (The rapper removed the song after Shakur’s estate sent a cease-and-desist.)

Battle rap, whether it takes the form of in-person face-offs or is done via diss tracks, has always been one of hip-hop’s flagship sports, defined by banter between artists, often—but not necessarily—derogatory in tone. It has roots in “the dozens” and related relics in African American culture that thrive on spontaneity, humor, and wit (often at others’ expense). So while “battling” can be strictly done for the sake of competition, “beef” requires some degree of personal animus between the parties. What’s happening in 2024, as artists like Drake and Lamar trade bar(b)s via IG posts and YouTube clips, and their fans debate the merits on social media, marks a new era of rap beef.

Even this summary has some recency bias: Competitive poetry existed in parts of the world centuries before hip-hop did. Yet, there is something special about how conflict happens in hip-hop: Beef has driven some of the most popular songs ever made, and has been linked to real-world violence. It’s an issue that hip-hop reflects on for small windows (often following the loss of a popular figure, like after the deaths of Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. in the mid-'90s), after which it returns to business as usual: Rappers A and B exchange taunts, maybe several times. Sometimes a winner is declared. Sometimes it doesn’t matter. Sometimes there is violence; sometimes there is formal peacemaking, like when Jay-Z and Nas ended their beef onstage during a show in 2005. Often, there is widespread attention: rinse, rap, repeat. In the digital world, the cycle moves at the speed of a click.

Very early on, hip-hop communities (like many subcultures) found a home on the internet. At first, message boards served as a place for discussion, and shortly thereafter, rap battles: lines exchanged message by message. No physical stage. No hand gestures. Punchlines only traded bit by bit.

YouTube and streaming created the possibility for something different: the propagation of live battles featuring artists skilled at in-person battling. So popular was battling on YouTube that successful rap battle leagues emerged, turning participants into influencers that accumulate large followings.

Woven throughout is the rise of algorithms and social media, which provide not only an ecosystem for viral videos and songs, but also automatic (and unconscious) instruments to curate media for certain audiences.

The hip-hop movement that can be most directly traced to digital space is the rise of “drill rap,” a form born in Chicago during the 2000s. Its catchy minimalist beats and lyrics make it easier to adopt across regions, local dialects, and lifestyles. It has spread nationally, and spawned the careers of dozens of successful artists. Unfortunately, the story of drill is not the innocent tale of another unique subgenre of hip-hop. Its lyrics feature lamentable celebrations of youth violence, and its songs and videos can include taunting and direct mentions of specific murders.

Public conversations around drill have intersected with debates around policing, gun control, and the contagiousness of high-risk behavior in a digital world. As the genre’s popularity grew, a blame game ensued: Mayors declared war on drill, and appointed special units to investigate local acts; award-winning scholars chimed in, joining a chorus of activists who argue that algorithms should share some of the blame.

Whatever one's take, we can agree that the scenes are chilling: A teenager is gunned down on a Monday. By Thursday, the alleged assailants (often members of a group in conflict with the victim) are boasting about their death on a drill song posted on YouTube. By the following Tuesday, affluent teenagers in Beverly Hills are TikTok-dancing to the track. Rinse, rap, repeat. And in this case, another homicide.

What makes drill so unique is in where rapping stands in the structure: Drill can use rap as little more than a messaging canvas for a street conflict. This is unlike the Kendrick-Drake beef. While the conflict may have taken a dark and personal turn, violent threats haven’t (yet) made their way into the barbs. Given the visibility (and maybe ubiquity) of violence in hip-hop conflicts, we should be grateful to the artists for this. And in general, the Kendrick-Drake beef has the ingredients of a classic rap beef: two talented artists, who care about the craft, trying to settle a score over a beat. Yet, it feels so different.

Fans of hip-hop history know the stories of old: That Boogie Down Productions’ “The Bridge Is Over” (1987) was so impactful that, in its aftermath, artists from Queens allegedly had a hard time getting signed. We’ve heard tales of Big Daddy Kane hunting Rakim around New York City in the late 1980s, looking to battle and end the debate around who was the better lyricist. Most of us know the legendary story of a twentysomething Jay-Z battling DMX in the Bronx. The audiences were small, but the stakes were never higher. In those days, many thought hip-hop was just another fad. The artists were battling for their own ego, but also to grow the art form.

In 2024, we find ourselves at an inflection point. Hip-hop is now as mainstream a form of music as any. Today, narratives live and die on digital timelines, and not in project hallways. The stages are no longer sweatbox nightclubs occupied by dozens (like the ones depicted in 2002’s 8 Mile), but rather online spaces with an audience in the billions. The veracity of claims matters less. And more than ever, the size of the narrative is more important than the quality of the product. “Winning” and “losing” mean everything and nothing, depending on what we care about (e.g., even if Drake is “losing” this beef, it will likely cost him little). This all makes conflict so much more intriguing, and drives a distinct flavor of techno-rap beef—one neither better nor worse than the past, just different.

The manner that technology has already changed rap beef begs the question of where it will go next. One day, the taboo around AI in hip-hop will disappear, and entire battles will be orchestrated by LLM-rappers trained on the raps of individual artists. Quants will develop metrics for who the winners are. If we are offended by a lyric about a member of our family, we’ll blame the machines. It may sound like the stuff of science-fiction, but the gap between this future reality and 2024 might be smaller (in time and manner) than the gap between Canibus vs. LL Cool J (1998) and Kendrick vs. Drake.

The state of things highlights another example of the late MF DOOM’s clairvoyance. The sarcastic lyrics on “Beef Rapp” (the lead song from the acclaimed 2004 album Mm..Food) were not only about the past, but also about a present and future of hip-hop where conflict has life-and-death consequences. Early in the song, DOOM scolds our addiction to rap bloodlust, using beef consumption as a metaphor: “I suggest you change your diet; [beef] can lead to high blood pressure if you fry it.”

The world might agree. Soon, rap beef will cease to exist as we once learned to love it. And that may not be a bad thing.