#destructive mind of the radical left

[alphachamber]

liberal moments...(2)

liberal moments…(2)

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#destructive mind of the radical left #refugee becomes radical left politician and wrecks host country #wokeness

[probablyasocialecologist]

I’m going to be honest straight away. I think “Gender Critical” people* are radicalised and I think there is a lot of danger for many cis people on the periphery to follow them down that rabbit hole. I’m writing this essay in an effort to prevent radicalisation of any feminists looking in on the situation who haven’t made their minds up yet. I’m speaking to people who consider themselves feminists and don’t consider themselves transphobic. I’m speaking to people who don’t spend time accusing trans people of having fetishes, who don’t think selfies with Proud Boys are excusable, and who don’t think soup is worse than Nazis. If that’s you, I hope you read on and consider what I have to say in good faith.

[...]

Here’s what else I know for sure. Trans people are real people. Their lives are not hypothetical. While we are discussing this topic on Twitter like it’s a theoretical game, they are truly scared for the future of their rights. So far in the UK there has not been significant legislative change, but we’ve seen hundreds of anti-trans laws proposed in the US, from threatening to perform genital testing on young women in high school sports to revoking the medical licenses of doctors who provide affirming care to threatening to take kids away from parents who even socially affirm their child’s gender. These are real children. They are not fodder for us to argue over. How many trans people, adults or children, do you know in person? And what aspects of their well-being are you willing to risk for a theoretical argument?

[...]

I don’t think I’ll have to work very hard to convince you that whatever so-called values Tucker Carlson, Matt Walsh, Jordan Peterson or ACTUAL NAZIS have do not align with the values of radical feminists. I would suggest that the reason they are interested in the issue are because they see something you don’t. Right-wingers recognise women’s liberation when they see it, because they hate it so much. They have never been on our side. They never will be on our side. They do not respect our right to our own lives, our own bodies, or our own minds, so if they are agreeing with you on an issue of women’s rights, THERE IS A PROBLEM. You might be thinking that you and Tucker don’t see eye to eye on the basics of the issue: he is pro-gender stereotypes and you are against them. But where does this all end up? It pains me to point out the right is very often several steps ahead of us; the devastating destruction of Roe v Wade shows us that. What is in it for them? They get to divide the left, something the gender debate has been extraordinarily effective at. They get to distract feminists from real issues (again Roe v Wade, the cornerstone of American feminist achievement, has fallen). On this very trip, Posie Parker has been spouting anti-abortion sentiment for the minors who need abortion and birth control the most, and since becoming radicalised, she’s claimed that lesbian mothers weren’t really mothers, and that trans men (whom she views as women) should be forcibly sterilised. They get to paint the left as the real agents of hatred, as the real homophobes, as the people really trying to shut down debate. They get to watch as lifelong feminists start criticising women’s appearance and behaviour for not being feminine enough. They get to watch as lifelong feminists start to argue that male violence is not a product of socialisation, of entitlement, of broken legal systems that do not view women’s bodies as their own, but as something inherent to men. Something they can’t help. Something we shouldn’t even try to change. And they get to recruit you. And they are doing that with remarkable success.

#gender critical #lgbt #transgender #transphobia #radical feminism

[nanabansama]

Knowing that Mitsuba’s yorishiro is likely up next, do you have any predictions on how that is going to go down?

I agree, anon! I can't imagine us ending on any yorishiro but Hanako's, especially since Hanako's is an actual main character who's integral to the story. And theres little doubt the story is leading up to all of them being destroyed...

Now... as some may be aware, we already know Mitsuba had the same yorishiro as the former Number 3 during the Hell of Mirrors arc.

That said, we have no way of knowing if this yorishiro being destroyed would have weakened Mitsuba. Maybe his actual yorishiro was located somewhere else.

Still, it's important to remember that consuming a supernatural allows humans to turn into them.

Eating part of the hand allowed the four human characters to travel to the boundary during the Severance. The affects were temporary, so it's not exactly the same scenario as Mitsuba, but he ate the heart of a Mystery which might explain the more radical side effects of his feast.

I think it's even possible that Mitsuba outright became the former Third itself, allowing him to harness his yorishiro.

But it is a bit underwhelming if Mitsuba's yorishiro is something he doesn't even care about, isn't it? And the rules of the yorishiro are not set in stone. It's possible that, over time, Mitsuba's yorishiro could've changed into something else. If his former yorishiro was the former Third's, anyway.

But I do want to point out that Tsukasa is wholly unconcerned about destroying it.

He lumps Mitsuba's yorishiro in with the destroyed ones. He says there are only three left. Mind you, this was BEFORE Number 6's was destroyed. So he's likely talking about the Sixth's, the First's, and the Seventh's here. (Remember, a yorishiro can't just destroy itself. He needs either Hanako or Nene's help with that.)

This makes me think Tsukasa knows what it is, and that whatever it is just isn't a problem.

Still, if it hasn't been made abundantly clear in the recent chapters, Tsukasa is a little more of an... act first, think later type of guy.

He very well could just be underestimating Mitsuba!

Unfortunately, I don't really have predictions for Mitsuba's yorishiro. But I think it would be fun if, leading up to its destruction, he receives an item he comes to care for very dearly? He just doesn't have anything that's really yorishiro material right now... hmm...

But there's really no doubt in my mind that, one way or another, Mitsuba's yorishiro is going to be destroyed. And then the story will have to deal with the fallout of whatever happens after every single one is destroyed, which could either turn into an extremely short or extremely long arc...

Anyway, thank you for the ask! Anyone can feel free to share their own Mitsuba yorishiro theories with me.

#tbhk #jshk #toilet bound hanako kun #jibaku shounen hanako kun #asks #jshk 109 #mitsuba sousuke

[goodqueenaly]

I feel like the succession of Viserys II might be an excellent opportunity for GRRM to explore his favorite theme - say it with me - the human heart in conflict with itself.

On the one hand, there was the then-Prince Viserys' loyalty to his elder brother Aegon III. That the two were very close is explicit: as Gyldayn notes in Fire and Blood Volume 1, "Viserys [had[ shared his [i.e. Aegon III's] bedchamber, his lessons, and his games" when the two were boys, the younger prince became his brother's "constant companion" after the former's return to Westeros,and as quoted from Munkun, "Aegon [III]’s affection for Gaemon Palehair was born of his desire to replace the little brother he had lost, but only when Viserys was restored to him did Aegon seem once more alive and whole". Nor did this closeness merely exist in the private, personal sphere: Viserys openly denounced and helped unravel Unwin Peake's conspiracy to seize power for himself and his faction during the Lysene Spring. As Hand for Aegon III, Viserys literally served as his brother's right-hand man, working to effect his royal policies.

So for Viserys, there may have been no question about continuing as Hand for his brother's sons, not simply as a reflection of his executive experience but as an expression of his loyalty to his brother's memory. The first and most powerful supporter of Aegon III's sons would be Aegon III's devoted younger brother; he, Viserys, would serve them as ably as he had their father, guarding against external threats to the dynasty much as he had during the Lysene Spring. Moreover, there may have been no doubt in Viserys' mind, at least at his brother's death, that Daeron and/or Baelor would have sons of their own someday, and that Aegon III's (male) line would remain the ruling line of Westeros for generations to come.

On the other hand, however, there was Prince Viserys' consideration for the welfare of the kingdom of the Iron Throne. Under the reign of Aegon III, this concern might have seemed part and parcel of Viserys' support for his brother: as Aegon III explicitly identified his policy, upon his majority, as "giv[ing] the smallfolk peace and food and justice", Viserys might have easily equated service to his brother with service to the realm. If Aegon III had proven withdrawn, cold, and unwilling to court his vassals and subjects, the king nevertheless worked with Viserys in "deal[ing] with the remaining turmoil in the realm", eliminating the false Daeron pretenders and trying to restore the draconic power of the dynasty. As a survivor (along with his brother) of the Dance of the Dragons, and an eyewitness to the devastation and destruction wrought between the warring factions, Viserys I think believed very strongly that the realm could not endure such a civil war again, and that it was his job, as the chief executive under the king, to ensure that it did not.

When Aegon III died and Daeron I succeeded, I think Viserys may have felt little had changed in this mission. If Daeron committed himself to making war on Dorne, Viserys may have enjoyed the free hand (no pun intended) left to him to run the government while the king warred in the south; he, Viserys, could continue his policies of stability and justice for the kingdom's subjects (which of course did not yet include the people of Dorne, at least more than symbolically). However, when Daeron himself died and Baelor became king, Viserys I think found his assignment radically different. Instead of a brother who agreed with Viserys on the importance of peace and stability, or an imperial conquering nephew who let him, Viserys, take control of the government in his long absences, here was a nephew with both very defined opinions about his rights and responsibilities as king and policies which had little to no basis in reality or practical governance. Baelor's care for the realm's well-being came in the form of grand gestures which emptied the treasury, balanced with zealous assaults on those who did not, so the king believed, belong in his vision for the realm.

So by the end of Baelor's reign, Viserys, I think, faced a choice which, while once one and the same, had become mutually exclusive: what mattered more, his brother's legacy or the prosperity of the realm? To remain loyal to his brother's dynastic line, Viserys would need to support his brother's son as ably as he could as Hand - already a difficult proposition but made worse as that son called for a bloody crusade against "non-believers", not only attacking the very subjects Aegon III had wanted to give "peace and food and justice" but plunging the realm back into civil war. The alternative, of course, was for Viserys to take control of the government himself, to institute all the ideas for good governance that he might have exercised during the reigns of Aegon III and maybe even Daeron I - but to do that, Viserys would have needed to disinherit, and indeed perhaps murder (at least in the case of Baelor), his brother's own children. (Nor might Viserys have ignored the fact that, as both he and his brother were sons of a would-be Targaryen queen regnant, his brother's daughters might have stood a real chance of at least making a claim for themselves at the death of Baelor, even if he realized a potential advantage he might have had over them during Baelor's reign.)

(And all of this is separate from how Viserys might have personally felt about the crown during his life. Viserys might have genuinely, and not even necessarily irrationally, believed that he was the best man for the job of king, especially compared to Baelor. Viserys may also have genuinely wanted a more glorious future for himself and/or his grandson Daeron.)

I hope GRRM takes the opportunity to let Viserys have this moment of internal conflict, these aspects of his heart battling with each other as he decided what to do. Just as Bloodraven certainly killed (or at the very least ordered the killing of) Daemon Blackfyre and his sons while I think thinking of Daemon as the "brother I loved", so I could see Viserys poisoning Baelor (which I certainly believe he did) while struggling internally with the betrayal, as he might have seen it, of his much-loved brother's memory and legacy. This might have been no easy choice for Viserys, and if he eventually chose (what he saw as) the prosperity of the realm, there is plenty of room for conflict within himself as he made that choice. (Which is not to mention the irony of his own son setting in motion the future Blackfyre Rebellions, but that's probably a separate post to write.)

(Also yes this ties into The Accursed Kings but that also has to be a separate post because I have too many thoughts there.)

#asoiaf meta #viserys ii targaryen #baelor i targaryen

[beens-on-toast]

Practically 5% of Gaza's population is dead or injured. Most people have lost a limb or more. Some are in critical condition and will probably die from lack of fuel and medicine. Some sources say 800000 might die from hunger. Many Palestinians in the northern strip have gone without food for 3 days. And the world moves on.

The West hasn't won a single war it waged on the Middle East unless you think of kill count and complete destruction of infrastructure a win. All it has done is caused destruction, killed millions, created more radical groups, and left the countries it has invaded in economic ruin. Dear Zelensky had a wonderful taste of Western interference. He was convinced not to take a peace deal last year by Biden and Boris Johnson. 500000 Ukranians either dead or severely injured later, he requests Switzerland to write up a peace deal. All those promises of "we will stand with you till the end" to "we will stand with you for as long as we got the supply too" to "sorry your old news" cost half a million their lives. When a peace deal does come through the media will rave how Putin lost and was the one forced to make a deal. They won't mention the 500000 causalities of the war or that Zelensky drafted people as old as 70 since all their young men were either dead or so injured. They will never be able to work and live a normal life because a peace deal wasn't brokered earlier. An entire generation of men and women gone.

Anyone who thinks the West is still powerful is drinking some strong Kool Aid. Countries have surpassed the US in military strength. A million dollar missile is being used to take out 2000$ drones. Wrap your mind around that, what a trade off. For every 100 drones the Houthis send out to the Red Sea it'll cost around 100 million of missiles. And most countries are sick of being bullied. Sanctions only work for a certain length of time, it takes only a little bit of research that they only had a impact on Russia's economy for a short period, they just ended up trading with India. All tactics are ineffective and the world has realized that. And they have finally realized that it is better to be enemies with the West than to be its friend.

The only way I am able to stomach the horrors I have seen in Gaza is that they didn't die or suffer for nothing. Their deaths had an impact, it unmasked the West, showed the West has no interest in helping the "weak", that democracy and human rights is for some not all, and that the West, the boogeyman, is more afraid of the world than they are of them. Ceasefire, free Palestine, and stop the genocide.

#israel #gaza #ukraine #usa #genocide #its not a war its a genocide #palestine #free palestine #west #drink less kool aid #the west is all propaganda #if you cheer for the resistance in books then cheer the ones in real life #save the children #deliberately starving people is a war crime #world peace

[outrunningthedark]

I had a nonnie in my inbox who asked me to expand my thoughts on the sperm donor arc and when I tried to post I got an error, so here is the answer without exact context, ugh:

I'm glad you brought this up because it's giving me a chance to express my thoughts more...calmly, as opposed to the *screaming into the void* moment I had yesterday. I, personally, am not a fan of what the show has done to Buck's character since season four. To me, it feels like the intention was to go one way with his story (the therapy arc, maybe revisit things with the parents in s5 to officially move on to the next phase), but then...problems? unforeseen circumstances? changed it up. I mean...think about it. We get this "huge" Buck backstory, he realizes he needs to start learning about his past/accepting it, and then...two episodes later...here comes his former hookup who causes nothing but drama and she's not just a blip on the radar again. They're bringing her back to be part of the cast in s5. If you want my opinion (and this is not a slight on any actors because it is what it is), once it was realized that Jennifer was pregnant and she would have to be written out, and then the question turned to what to do with Chimney... Buck in healing mode didn't mesh with how the audience would expect him to react to Madney "leaving", so...why not let him self-destruct even more! The show abandoned the therapy arc. That's the part people are ignoring. That's the part that makes their arguments about "healing not being linear" irrelevant. There was no hint at healing beyond those two conversations (the end of 4x05 and beginning of 4x06). Shit happened and the show changed course. Very quickly. Skipping ahead to the sperm donor storyline...Well. I would argue that it narratively doesn't make *total* sense when we left off 5x18 with Buck finally doing something for himself by breaking up with TayKay. Maybe if it was TayKay who cut ties, we could more easily accept him still not being willing to listen to that voice inside that knows he's doing the wrong thing(s). Also, now that we know "radical acceptance" isn't supposed to be explained the way Buck explained it (they should have just stuck with "saying yes to possibilities")...I'm annoyed that his behavior is the antithesis of radical acceptance and looking at the show like "you just threw fancy words out there hoping people would call you genius, huh?" (Sad to say it worked.) It makes the fandom look dumb af, too, "He's saying yes without thinking! He's bound to backslide!" He's...he's not performing radical acceptance until he STOPS falling into old habits, actually. It's now a conversation that could have been avoided if they didn't use THAT exact term. 🤦‍♀️ (It's like someone decided they should use a word other than 'open-minded' or even 'automatic' and chose radical without considering it's a real phrase with a completely different connotation.) I'm not a fan of the sperm donor arc, I've made no secret of that. The timing of it (to me) seems like a way to appease the people who want to think of him as a father (because Chris isn't biologically his and therefore it doesn't count 🙃) since it's probably gonna be awhile until he has a bio kid of his own, if ever. But. I was trying to stay optimistic. "Well, surely, this is not gonna work out and he's gonna have a moment where he realizes his purpose is to build/be a family with Eddie and Chris." And by "not work out" I mean he gets rejected or the attempts aren't successful. *That* would have been my preferred scenario - he makes a rash decision, but backs out before it's too late because he's finally like "Wtf am I doing? This isn't gonna make me happy." *That* would have fit with him putting himself first. *That* would have been a way to expand on the growth we saw a glimpse of in 5x18. Now...there might be a baby? (Still allowing a 1% chance that it ends up being Connor's baby after all...) And as long as there's a baby, people aren't going to let it go. "Is Buck gonna have to save his bio kid when they get sick???" "Will Connor and Kameron die to bring up a new trauma for Buck???" "Are we gonna get Big Man, Tiny Baby because he gets to be a friend to the family???" And the thing is...I can't blame people for going there with it. As long as there is a (hypothetical) child in the story, the show could bring them up at any time. To some in the fandom, Buck should be capable of walking away peacefully from this situation he's found himself in, but the fandom is not in the writers' room. If the show doesn't have any "better" ideas, if the show needs easy drama...Buck's attitude could change on a dime. The saving grace is that this storyline is happening now when (I highly doubt) we'll get to a season where the child is old enough to want to get to know their dad. Because you know that would happen.

#praying the original ask doesn't pop up on my dash after this lol #tina speaks #tv: 911 #tv: 9-1-1 #evan buckley #buddie #(because they are mentioned briefly)

[desultory-novice]

I have a headcanon/theory I wanna run past you. It revolves around Marx, but there's A LOT of lead-up to it, so buckle up: Given what we know about alternate dimensions, rifts between them, and the nature of Elfilis' abilities, it's probable that the setting of Forgotten Land is not merely an Earth a long distance away from Pop Star. Rather, the fact that Shiver Star fills that niche already could imply that it and the New World are alternate universe versions of the same planet.

(Which means there's a fair chance there's an alternate Pop Star equivilent out there too, but more on that later.)

Elfilin & co. crossing over from a different universe would also explain why Kirby's home dimension doesn't have much history with a being like Fecto Elfilis. You'd think a hostile multiversal conqueror would be more of a Big Fucking Deal back in the day, but once the Ancients developed warp tech they just ditched it along with their planet and moved on to greener pastures.

Perhaps one reason the Ancients were split into two distinct camps was because the science-users from another dimension joined up with the magic-users from this one? This is just spitballing — but the point I'm trying to lead up to is that alternate universe counterparts may be similar in some respects but radically different in others: from mere pallette swaps to differences on a conceptual level (like science vs. magic).

Given that the full scope of Fecto Elfilis' abilities is different to most anything we've seen, it's safe to say that they run on a different power source than, say, Dark Matter does. Out of the four components of Void the progenitor — Dream, Dark, Soul, and Heart — if Dark Matter embodied, well, Dark, and whatever Morpho Knight's schtick is toys with Soul, then perhaps there are those such as Fecto Elfilis who hold dominion over Dream. Or over nightmare. Who can say?

Also Ripple Star is literally a giant fucking heart. Whether it's in the same dimension as Pop Star or not (since the Crystal makes star-shaped rifts as you pointed out) is up for debate, but Ripple Star's environment is a lot like Popstar's, having many of the same enemies and similar design. Maybe different worlds have different balances of the four humours i dunno.

Actually, yeah! Maybe different parallel dimensions come with a different balance/power dynamic! If Ripple Star is indeed a Heart-coded iteration of Pop Star instead of a Dream-coded one, then maybe the clade Fecto Elfilis belongs to is an antagonistic threat on par with Dark Matter within their reality of origin. Similar in concept, yet radically different.

With all of this context in mind, let's get to to the point I was originally trying to make. Take a look at the geometric style of wings posessed by 0² and especially Void Termina. Now take a look at Marx's wings.

Similar, yet radically different.

This is straying into pure headcanon territory, but I don't think Marx comes from our Pop Star at all.

Suddenly, a lot of things start clicking into place. His desire for control. The desire to remake Pop Star the way he wants it. His out-of-context nature compared with most other antagonists who are Dark Matter-affiliated or Dark Matter-adjacent (i mean, even Dark Crafter implies some link with those arts n' crafts witches). Marx is most certainly not tied to Dark Matter, but he could very well be tied to Something Matter, right? (Plus that one spin-off manga where I think he insists that he and Kirby were childhood friends??)

Basically Fanfic At This Point, But Picture This: Perhaps the New World wasn't the first planet Fecto Elfilis had invaded and rained destruction upon. Perhaps, before moving on to the New World, it first invaded the Pop Star equivilent that Marx once belonged to. Perhaps unlucky Marx was one of the few creatures left alive when the ashes finally settled. Perhaps he went hunting for a desperate hope. Maybe he made a deal with the devil; maybe he got those wings another way. Maybe he even went a little mad.

Perhaps this is when Magolor first meets him; invites him aboard. Tells a tale to Marx about clockwork stars from another era, in another universe.

Perhaps its best that Marx never gets to know Elfilin.

Cool Marx asks for Christmas! Hooray! Thank you...!

-"Alternate universes of the same planet..." Someone else who loves the alternate planets/same planet, different dimension theory to explain the New World and Shiver Star discrepancies! Yes, yes! I agree completely!

-"Distinct camps..." Ooh! That is a FASCINATING reason for two such divergent groups as scientists and magic users coming together! It reminds me that I've got a Parallel Halcandra theory of my own! (Although in my case, I've toyed with the parallel theory to explain what happened to it, rather than how it was formed.) But I really like your take on it too!

-Fecto Elfilis and Dream Matter being in the same sphere sounds pretty darn sensible to me! And yes, Ripple Star and Pop Star both being... for lack of a better phrase "children's cereal marshmallow shapes" almost has to lead to some kind of connection! (Love the idea that Eflilis is SOME universe's Dark Matter!)

-"Marx isn't from our Pop Star" Oh gosh! This is such a cool idea! It plays into all the fun of the various Mirror Marxs people have created, but leaves room for so many different and interesting angles!

-

Tangent, but one of my favorite retro RPGs is Tales of Phantasia. The bad guy is this fairly generic seeming pretty boy "Demon King" who just goes around wrecking the world and leading an army of monsters, yadda yadda. But the more of the story you uncover, the more you realize he's only attacking technologically advanced cities. And those cities only got to be advanced by syphoning power from the world's Mana Tree. By this point, the protagonists are pretty much locked into having to destroy him (time travel is involved) but toward the very end, you realize he isn't a "demon" he's an interstellar traveler from another planet. He's, in fact, the last survivor of his planet. An environmental scientist-type who campaigned to get his people to stop killing their Mana Tree, only to fail. His planet was utterly destroyed afterwards, and only he escaped. He just wanted to keep the protagonist's people from destroying their planet (and maybe find a way to save what was left of his) but miscommunication led to a war and him being demonized by the people...!

N-not saying Marx had such pure intentions, but I love that the possibility exists that his conflicts with the people of Pop Star come from those came kinds of misunderstandings! That he would wish on a star to get HIS Pop Star back!

I've been thinking of parallels to make the friend trio of Marx, Magolor, and Taranza make more sense, since while I adore the idea of the three of them interacting, both Magolor and Taranza have such history and pathos to them. I sort of liked the idea of Marx being the "Kagero Mansion" magician to balance things out, but this would maybe be an even better start for them to have more in common!

Thank you so much for this! I really enjoyed it! (The lead up was awesome too! So many great ideas!)

#Kirby #Marx Kirby #Dess Answers Questions #Dess Text Post #Magolor #Taranza #Tales of Phantasia #long text post

[planetofsnarfs]

Elon Musk is showing the world how radicalized he has become.

The billionaire, one of the most consequential figures to walk the Earth, spent another weekend swimming in the right-wing fever swamps of X — a bad habit that was apparent when his interview with Don Lemon was released Monday morning.

In the contentious interview, Musk equated moderating dangerous and appalling hate speech to “censorship,” bashed the press for legitimate reporting, assailed DEI programs without supporting evidence, skewered advertisers who fled the X platform last year and yet again gave credence to the racist Great Replacement theory, among other things.

To those not fluent in the intricacies of right-wing media, some of what Musk said may have sounded bizarre or even foreign. But in the right-wing fever swamps, where Musk is now deeply entrenched, these are the issues that animate the masses.

Musk’s comments on the premiere episode of Lemon’s new online show added to an unhinged 72-hour posting spree on X, in which the erratic businessman raged against the “woke mind virus” and said its “goal” is “the destruction of America,” agreed with a user who wrote “Fake News is the Enemy of the People,” said the press is “basically the [Joe] Biden cheering squad,” accused the news media of “lying” about Donald Trump’s “blood bath” comments, called NPR a “nice version of Pravda,” alleged Google “manipulate[s] their search results with left wing bias,” said the January 6 insurrection was “not a ‘bloodbath’ by any definition,” and argued that if there is not a “red wave” in November, “America is doomed.”

At this juncture, calling Musk a right-wing shitposter is no longer provocative. It’s simply accurate. And his ugly behavior is even more troubling because of the fact that Musk is enormously influential, casting a large shadow across multiple industries and doing billions of dollars’ worth of national security business with the US government.

In his ownership of X alone, Musk controls one of the world’s most important communications platforms, spitting corrosive venom into the public discourse at a faster speed than his SpaceX rockets hurtle into orbit.

In fact, as users of the platform once called Twitter know all too well, Musk’s posts often find themselves to the very top of the home feed. That is because, according to reporting from Zoë Schiffer and Casey Newton, engineers were forced to build “a system designed to ensure” his posts do well on the platform he owns.

To make matters worse, Musk appears to be growing more intolerant of other viewpoints. While elevating right-wing extremists, he simultaneously seeks to destroy trust in credible news sources.

Once upon a time, Musk welcomed having a media personality like Lemon on the X platform. Not so much anymore.

On Monday, after his interview with Lemon was posted online, Musk trashed the former CNN anchor, calling him in various posts a “stupid asshole” and saying he is “just a bad guy, plain and simple.”

“He’s not used to having to answer to anyone,” Lemon said in a Q&A with People’s Jason Sheeler, “especially someone like me who doesn’t share his worldview, who doesn’t look like him.”

In effect, Musk has become self-radicalized on the very website that he was forced to purchase for $44 billion, sliding deeper into the darkest and most unsavory corners of the platform that has served to only reinforce his own worldview with an echo chamber of conspiracy theorists and ego-stoking sycophants that regularly fawn at his every move no matter how outrageous or preposterously false.

All of it dished up by an algorithm designed to regurgitate it right back to him. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, Musk is hell bent on taking everyone else down there with him.

#x corp #spacex #tesla #twitter #xitter #linda yaccarino #elon musk

[mariacallous]

I have found myself thinking about Michael Gove more and more recently. Not just because of his profile this week over the new definition of extremism, but because I think he - in his own way - is the author of a lot of what has become the extremism of the Tory Party.

That sentence won’t go down well in many quarters. Gove does not come across as a radical at all. By all accounts (I have never met him and the only thing we have in common is our ability to perform all the words of 80s banger Wham Rap) he is incredibly charming. Some say smarmy, but most say charming - and by most I mean people across the political and media spectrum. His reputation for politeness is pretty legendary.

He is also a fantastic media performer. Partly that is to do with the above charm. He’s self-deprecating and also seems thoughtful. When asked a question, his body language makes you think he’s considering the answer, and the right thing to do, very carefully. His head cocks slightly, his lips purse (more) and his shoulders open up as if to indicate he has nothing to hide or defend. Whatever answer he gives, that impression is at the core of his presentation.

He also has a reputation for competence in government that is rare among still-active Conservatives. When he was at Defra, many environmentalists found him more open and easier to work with than pretty much anyone else who has had that brief. He hasn’t got a lot through that housing campaigners would like, but it isn’t for the lack of visibly trying.

He also instituted a revolution in education that is underestimated by most in the impact it will continue to have on this country long after he has left office. For example, I still hear a great deal of wrangling about the National Curriculum. Many Labour education pledges reference it. But, here’s the thing: Gove’s reforms have quietly and without telling anyone basically abolished the National Curriculum in all but name. Because Academies don’t have to follow the National Curriculum and at present around three-quarters of schools are academies. Even though the plan to force all schools to academies by 2030 has been dropped, this trajectory is likely to continue (and unlikely to be reversed at least in the first term of a Labour government). Anything that does not affect over 70 per cent of schools does not deserve the title “national” anything.

Two notable things happened during Gove’s time as Education Secretary beyond the policy that, I think, illustrate the point I am trying to make here. Firstly, he hired Dominic Cummings as his special advisor and secondly, he was described by David Cameron (somewhat fondly at the time, though I would be fascinated to know if post-2016 thought it quite so amusing) as a “Maoist” who like Cummings “believes that the world makes progress through the process of creative destruction”.

Now look again at the record of this mild-mannered, Wham-rapping, Aberdeen-dancing politician.

Gove publicly and loudly backed Brexit breaking a long friendship with Cameron to do so. He then agreed to head up Johnson’s campaign team for the leadership in 2016 only to run himself at the last minute torpedoing Boris’s chances. He was in May’s cabinet at the end, but also on telly calling her planned Brexit vote offering a temporary Customs Union and a vote on a referendum unworkable (to be fair, it was). He again served in Johnson’s cabinet - having apparently changed his mind about his unsuitability for the post (and to be fair, Johnson certainly delivered his fair share of creative destruction) - and as all around him were resigning, Gove was, hilariously, sacked by Johnson. Then who can forget the Laura Kuenssberg interview with Liz Truss and Gove responding where he - just feet away from the then PM called her plans profoundly concerning and unconservative. She didn’t last much longer.

Gove does serve in government now, but whenever plotting is mentioned - evil or otherwise - his name is never very far from the frame. Of course, plotting in politics is as natural as breathing. But plotting for the sake of it is a different matter. I think Gove enjoys the chaos of the game more than the outcomes.

Michael Gove gives off all the vibes of the Cameron-era type of Tory politician. And let’s be fair, that was when he made his most destructive changes to the education system as he abolished things that might have come in handy, such as a massive school repairs programme.

And maybe that’s fair. Because that government was slick and went on a media charm offensive that vastly belied its destructive instincts. The behaviour of Johnson and the insanity of Truss may lead us to forget that the underlying reasons why the country is in the mess we are is down to the economic policies of the Cameron and Osborne government.

Michael Gove has been the great survivor of the Tory years. At the heart of so many plots one loses count, yet endlessly returning to serve semi-loyally at the heart of government. He may charm the press. He may come across as a decent bloke. But his record of destruction and chaos is one we all suffer from. We may enjoy it when his dagger is turned towards his colleagues, but don’t forget for one minute that his destructive instinct is one that could take us all down if we let ourselves be charmed into thinking of him as the acceptable and moderate face of the Tory party. He is anything but.

[baeddel]

some notes on radical feminism, concerning what i believe to be popular errors

1. historically ‘radical feminism’ was not used exclusively for Dworkin & MacKinnon-style carcereal feminism. in the 60s it was most often applied in the media to Shulmith Firestone, and the reason was that she advocated for the abolition of biological reproduction, and more generally for that milieu because they were anti-capitalist or used direct action instead of institutional reform (notice how ‘radical’ is used in a 1969 article by Gloria Steinem, see—also you will learn a lot about that era from its title, lol). this is the sense it was used in the 2013 obituary for Firestone in the New Yorker (see), which says that she “launched the first major radical-feminist groups in the country” like New York Radical Women and New York Radical Feminists who called for the “burial of traditional womanhood” and disrupted beauty pageants. Steinem’s article discusses WITCH (’Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell’—a splinter group from New York Radical Women) who’s mission statement she quotes as being “the destruction of passivity, consumerism and commodity fetishism” and for whom “the routine of daily life is the theatre of struggle.”

most of this is stuff is not what you have in mind when you tell people to read about radical feminism’s history before they try and reclaim it. a lot of this stuff is characteristic of its era (the American ‘New Left’); it was tangled up with psychoanalysis and new age psychology, it embraced vague spiritualism and alternative histories, it was jealous of the militancy, success and even the spectacular defeats of the black struggle and wasn’t even ashamed of being jealous. it generally understood itself as a faction within the left. i believe that would stop being true by the end of the 70s.

2. not all radical feminist organizations today have an anti-trans agenda. as you know, the label TERF was coined by radical feminists to distinguish between types of radical feminism. MacKinnon is somewhat quietly pro-trans and acts embarassed about the Raymond endorsement.  she did an interview with TransAdvocate here. she says a bunch of fifth column garbage about sex workers the whole way through the interview, and talks about how she works with a lot of radical feminist trans women who are good opponents of sex work.

i am not aware of any radical feminist organization today that is not anti-sex work. transgender issues are an option on the menu you can take or leave, but there seems to be a consistent platform around anti-"trafficking" (which is a recent relabel of the term “white slavery” btw), anti-pornography, and anti-surrogacy. as i understand it the platform revolves around forming cross-political alliances with conseratives, the Catholic Church, Evangelicals and so forth, and even far right groups (it’s not uncommon to see the Heritage Foundation listed as a funder), in order to lobby states and international organizations like the UN (the UN’s charter on sex work was written by Janice Raymond) to pass legal reforms criminalizing the purchase and sometimes sale of those services. a handful of organizations do this while being militantly pro-trans. many Leninist and especially Maoist parties have incorporated this version of the radical feminist agenda into their program, such as the (now defunct) MIM and Af3irm.

point one is supposed to address errors about how radical feminism was used historically, and point two is supposed to address errors about how radical feminism is used today. i generally find criticisms of radfem i read on tumblr misguided and i become frustrated about it, but i’m not aware of any organization that uses the label which is remotely supportable, so it’s a battle not worth fighting. you should probably just let people get it wrong. nowadays i think all kinds of feminism are vulnerable to the best criticisms of radical feminism and i no longer use the label at all. it's enough to Defend Freedom Everywhere.

[elinora-froach]

New DnD character teehee :) backstory up ahead: (death, cult, and violence warning)

in this world, it is cursed to be eternal night because a long time ago the moon god and sun god fought, the mood god won and took over the world. This guy's family had been worshipping the moon god for years in an attempt to be spared in case the god would do something destructive.. One day, people who took radical attempts to free people from the moon god's power (killing people who worshipped him) raided his family's home. Quickly trying to protect his loved ones he rushed to save them, and actually managed to fend the attackers off. However, as soon as he saves them his father, seemingly 'possessed by their god' and reciting some religious scripts literally stabbed him in the back. noone else in his family were in the place to challenge their 'god's' actions, so they left him to die. thankfully an old man found him and healed him with magic, once he was healed he learned about life outside the cult, and how evil the moon god was. He quickly learned to resent his family and the moon god after leaving the old man he became obbsessed with helping the innocent and weak, to the point of not letting his mind focus on anything else. He's quite quick to agree with or join anything that seems good or helpful

#dnd oc #dnd #dnd stuff #dnd memes #original character #my art #digital art #digital illustration #art

[delicatefade]

For #talktometuesday I'm v curious to hear more about corrupt Eilan is that in a world where she follows Solas and helps him bring the Veil down or something else? I love hearing about Inquisitors who turn to the dark side 😈

Aha! The turn to the dark side is full of thrashing and self delusion. Quick world state catch up. It's close to canon-ish. Solas broke up with Eilan and left to pursue his goal of tearing down the Veil to restore the world to its rightful order. Eilan stayed on as Inquisitor. The Inquisition is now a direct military and ops vehicle of the Chantry lead by Leliana with Cassandra as her hand. The Inquisition's main target is Solas. tl;dr: If you're wondering what radicalizes her.... nothing? She never agrees with Solas philosophically about the Veil or why it needs to come down. But she is so singularly focused on staying in a relationship with him, so self-absorbed in her love, that she makes a series of small, compromised decisions. Each decision feels, in that moment, absolutely human and excusable. But ultimately those decisions culminate in her corruption because they make her his accomplice. And once the deed is done, she engages in a series of mental gymnastics to live with herself and with him and her transformation from a do-gooder to a villain is complete. The slightly longer explanation below: 👇

Eilan corruption arc. The story starts six months after Trespasser. Eilan and Solas were a couple and very much in love. She is convinced that if she could just find him and reason with him, he can be persuaded from his destructive path. She dreams about him, finds him that way (dream magic!) He's actually thrilled by this turn of events. For him, it represents the possibility that she might change her mind and join him. He also wants this to end with his lover Eilan at his side. What a dream! They both ignore the elephant in the room for a while, just enjoy being together and pretend they aren't at odds. But as he gets closer to his goal, she starts getting desperate and leaks some of his secrets to Dorian so that power players of Thedas can perhaps oppose Solas a little longer. But she never actually gives up any critical information that would help Solas' enemies stop Solas once and for all. That would be a step too far. Her heart isn't there. Dorian, and others, doubt Eilan's loyalties. She had said she is Team Modern Thedas, but her actions speak otherwise. Dorian in particular feels betrayed by her. 😟 Meanwhile she's arguing with Solas all the time, their relationship is frayed very badly, she acts out, but he will not be dissuaded. He is convinced she will prefer life as an elf without the Veil and their lives will be better. He is also hoping that removing the Veil will make all elves immortal again. Fingers crossed, vhenan!!! You and me forever!!! Finally, when Solas does take down the Veil, Eilan against all odds shows the fuck up and does have a way to stop his ritual. Bruh, it won't even kill or wound him. It is like, the perfect Solavellan gotcha: stop the ritual without hurting Solas? Wow, the dream. SHE STILL BACKS OFF!!!!! She's too in love to disappoint and hurt him (emotionally) this way, and will absolutely choose him over the world (as her friends had accurately accused!!!) Sure, she gives herself a little mental band-aid about it, she reasons her decision not to stop Solas from *checks notes* destroying civilization as millions of people know it is about, uh, "having faith in him." Nah, dawg, it's toxic, obsessive love. That story is completed and published. Comes in at just under 30k. Read it here -> https://archiveofourown.org/works/38774526/chapters/96954213 I am working on the sequel which covers the first 3 years after the Veil falls. The draft is currently at 65k words. In that fic, the consequences of the apocalypse are dire!! A little worse than Solas expected. You know. For consistency. Eilan, at first, is not coping well and says ugly things to Solas. But in order to cope, she has to compartmentalize. Also, she's essentially in the most privileged position in all of Thedas at that point, and shielded from most horrors.

Meanwhile we see Solas start to have doubts about his choices re: the Veil (both putting it up and taking it down). His self-doubts start to eat at him and it is Eilan who builds up his confidence again. She's a playwright and writes literal propaganda to retell history where Solas is the singular greatest Byronic hero of all time. She tells him that what he did was right and good. Does she actually believe that? Doesn't matter! And not really? Look, they need to live. Here's what she does start to believe: Some people just matter more to world history, you know? 😉 And her turn to villainy is complete without ever, even once, having a god damn point. She just wants her love. I might write a part 3 where we see Eilan at her happiest. She and Solas are married, have kids, and the ugly past feels distant. In that story they learn that actions have consequences and the misdeeds of the past catch up to them both.

#eilan lavellan #dragon age fanfiction #ask #delicatefade wip #solavellan #solas dragon age

[artsyjesseblue]

Randomly reading tumblr articles, I stumbled upon a link to an old interview with Voltron’s EPs. This part of the interview stood out to me, as I’ve been supporting the same interpretation of why Zarkon and Honerva became corrupt.

Interviewer: Do you think that, had Zarkon not been infected by the poisoned Quintessence, he may have remained “good?” Or do you think his obsession with Quintessence was already too great and it would’ve only been a matter of time before he became truly evil?

Dos Santos: I personally think that he had very ideological differences with the way Alfor saw things, even without the Quintessence coming into play. I think they came from very opposite ends of societal places.

Montgomery: Different cultures.

Dos Santos: But, they found common ground, and they worked together, so I think there’s a good chance that they could’ve worked together. Maybe there would’ve been ups and downs.

Montgomery: They didn’t see eye to eye, but nothing quite on the level that this has taken had he not encountered that Quintessence. Had they never discovered Voltron, even if they had resorted to war, it would’ve been a much smaller fallout. Something bad would’ve happened in their galaxy, but he wouldn’t have this world denomination that he’s been going on because of his obsession.

Dos Santos: I think Quintessence, if anything, it sort of grabs on to the worst of us and accentuates those elements. Like anything, it corrupts.

Montgomery: Anything at all, even, whether it’s good or evil. Medicine in large doses can kill you. So that’s really what Quintessence is. It’s not innately good or innately bad. It’s a power source, and if you misuse it, it can be very disastrous.

Dos Santos: I think that was the point also that Alfor was trying to get across. He was saying, “Guys, look, you’ve got to covet this stuff extremely cautiously,” in mind that there’s a balance with all of it.

Their commentaries go hand in hand with something Shiro’s clone said in S6: “Zarkon fell prey to his own evil instincts. The quintessence field didn’t create them, it revealed them.”

I’ve written two metas about Zarkon and Honerva’s madness arcs in detail, starting exactly from this premise - the blame is not shifted solely on quintessence, but on their own initial flaws.

The way I like to see it is like this: imagine a slider on a scale from white to black. In between there are lots of grays, which we all have, to a darker or lighter degree. Quintessence will take that slider and radically shift it in one or the other direction, depending what gray zone you’re in. Allura would be the positive example: she tipped the scale towards the bright side - when saving all realities, she transformed the quintessence "from a destructive force to a life-giving force."

Neither Honerva nor Zarkon were devoid of their past selves, even after becoming so vile. Their old selves were still there, their consciousnesses buried deep inside, and my metas explore their gradual transitions towards loss/recovery of their own personas, also taking into account the role of the dark entity within their journeys.

Lance says this nicely at the end of the show: “And had Princess Allura not seen that there was still good left in Honerva, we most likely would not be sitting here today. She grew to understand that there is good in everyone.”

Kid: “Even Emperor Zarkon?”

Lance: “Yes, even Emperor Zarkon.”

#voltron #voltron meta #vld meta #quintessence commentary #jesseblue writes #zarkon #honerva

[arewelemmings]

Downward Spiral

Downward Spiral written by Are We Lemmings, 2022-12-07

Right wingers hate everyone who is isn't a right winger. It's fact.

Evidence? There's plenty. Let's look at one example.

Remember the phrase, "There goes the neighborhood?" It's a well-known fact that right wingers hate gays. The why doesn't matter. They will make up any reason. Basically, it's because gays are different from them; right wingers hate anyone who's different. I remember being a kid and hearing someone saying, "Those homos better not be moving into the neighborhood. The next thing you know they'll be having disgusting sex on the front lawn. We can't have that." Really? Did they really beleive that? I'm sure some did. But for all my life, I've never read, seen or heard a news story about anybody having sex on the front lawn, gay or straight. It's not homophobia. They don't fear gays. The right wing hates gays. They hate anyone who isn't another right winger. It's just that simple.

They did their best to drive gays into hiding. "If they stay out of sight, it will be okay because we can pretend they don't exist. Out of sight, out of mind." But that wasn't good enough. Gays created their own bars and nightclubs. Gays were behind closed doors. And the right wingers broke down these doors and murdered them. It's not enough for people who are different from right wingers to be invisible. They weren't doing it on the front lawn. They simply can't be allowed to exist. That's the right wing agenda.

These days they're in a tizzy about transgenders. The recent Oklahoma bill HB1011 is a step toward preventing people from transgendering, making it a crime to aid a person in the process. They are trying to erase anything other than straight sex. Next thing you know, they'll try to erase anything creative, so we are all forced into heterosexual missionary exercises of the dull and boring kind while we secretly fantasize of all the wonderfully creative things we would choose if we were given the choice to indulge ourselves. It's puritanical and authoritarian. It's anti-freedom.

Okay, clearly we can't allow this kind of terrorist tyranny take root in America (or any other part of the world where you live). But let's think for a frightening moment about what happens if the right wing wins. And the way they cheat, it's not impossible. It has been proven with abundant evidence that conservatives, far above any other group, will lie, cheat, steal, betray and do whatever necessary to sieze power. They need to be in control.

Imagine right wing hatred and bigotry has eliminated all humankind except those who are radically right wing. There are no other groups of people to hate and fight against. But, no, they won't settle for that; they can't. I remember when I was young, the people in the Irish neighborhood hated the people in the Italian neighborhood, who hated the Polish, who hated the Greeks. They were all white, but there was still bigotry between them. That will happen again. Terrorism and fighting will continue until there is only one group left. And then, within that group, they will begin looking for differences between them to divide up and fight some more. "You hate bean sprouts? How could you?! That's it, buddy. You'll find I don't have your back anymore. I can't believe people like you exist. Maybe you shouldn't exist. I wouldn't have anything to do with you if you were the last person on Earth." And before you know it, there is a literal last person on Earth. And then we're extinct. Of course, it wouldn't proceed nearly as simply as this, but it would gradualy follow this sort of path through hatred and destruction.

Right wing thinking leads us in only one direction. Down. Right wing hatred is a downward spiral of destruction that leads to nothing but death and decay, and nobody left to get sick about it.

Is there a solution? Education will help tremendously. Which is why conservatives cut school budgets to keep us all ignorant and easier to control. Re-educating deplorables won't be easy, but we've got to try. It will surely take a Herculean effort.

What about faith? Jesus teaches kindness, forgiveness, empathy and compassion. But today's Christians don't teach what Jesus taught. So, religion isn't the answer. In fact, the right wing uses religion as a weapon, and are bigoted toward other religions, too. Beyond beefing up education, and possibly passing laws to ensure freedoms, and reforming police to actually do the job of protecting and serving, I don't know anything else that will help. If you've got good ideas, let's hear them. Really. Speak up. Use your voice. That's one of your freedoms that we need to protect.

#AreWeLemmings #article #op ed #right wing #politics #education

[cactosaurio]

This is a certified mucho texto, but I had ideas about the Luofu plot (there is selfship again) (and spoilers)

ok, so Mao Qian and Jing Yuan exchanged fates when she gave JY her trainee uniform and he showed MQ a library to hide from bullies; coming into contact with each other's life experiences makes them invert their philosophies on words and conflic. She's a bit unhealthy, the idea that Jing Yuan is hers to protect starts fermenting in her mind and so does the fear that anything might happen if he's too far from her reach.

Jing Yuan didn't consider himself a gifted cloudknight and he truly wasn't, but seeing Mao Qian amazed by his swordmanship despite its flaws makes him realize that purely hard work can bear fruits in the shape of other people's safety, dismissing her inability to access such effort due to a poor physical condition. Mao Qian reaches the opposite conclussion when Jing Yuan compliments her memory and starts to believe in her inherent talent and efficiency, despite him taking much effort and succeeding in teaching her calligraphy.

The age of the High Cloud Quintet starts and both friends hang out less, Jing Yuan goes with the legendary group, eventually close-knit friends while Mao Qian becomes the main scribe for the previous general Teng Xiao. The death of Baiheng, Dan Feng's successful attempts at granting her a new life, preserving Ying Xing's and Jingliu's fall into mara breaks the group apart; dealing with the aftermath eventually leads to Jing Yuan being ascended to general, giving him a chance to lessen the blow of punishment for all of his old friends.

It indirectly rekindles his relationship with Mao Qian as well; the Quintet's consecutive losses left him with a gaping solitude that will never close, but when she's around at least one of the five pieces of his heart won't be alone and he feels so sure that she won't open a new wound. On her end, what has happened to both her previous general and the legendary group makes her willing to do anything (withing the confines of the law for now) to keep Jing Yuan safe, including thwarting assasination attempts whenever his guard is lowered.

Both take radically different perspectives after witnessing YX/Blade's immortality; the general is set on the disaster it caused and finds it more trouble than it's worth, the scribe fixates on the fact that it's not impossible in the first place without realizing why she would want to keep it in mind.

Among the old stories and texts the woman recites to distract him there's the existence of a very old, destructive nuisance hiding among the roots of the Luofu.

The main conflicting forces are Phantylia/Tingyun and the Stellaron Hunters, since one wishes to destroy the Luofu and the other wants it in one piece for an ulterior motive; Sanctus Medicus and the Astral Express are means to an end for each. The neutral ground they fight on is the ship itself, lead by Jing Yuan.

Tingyun is either related to Yukong or has some deep affection for her, is aware of how much time the older woman has left and is unwilling to accept it. Phantylia, a being that has pestered the ship for centuries and spent a long time hidden has made her believe she has the power to extend someone's lifespan if both strike a deal and revive the Ambrosial Tree; the foxian's body now partially possesed both take turns using it and lead a double life. This collaboration revived Sanctus Medicus with monetary support and illegal trafficking, something in which Luocha is involved.

When the Astral Express arrives Jing Yuan finds himself with a new chance to get rid of that very ancient nuisance, but it also reveals a weak link within the Seat of Divine Foresight to Tingyun.

Just as when the mine fills with gas canaries panick inside their cages first, Mao Qian is the first to notice something's amiss with their arrival, although she chalks it up to them being paperwork nuisances.

She won't believe Phantylia/Tingyun's words or promises for a second, but there is merit to their goal and the scribe is more skilled at working than uncovering secret plots, following them might give more results. Betrayal stings regardless, so she must put her anxieties aside or else her new bosses will try to exploit them; she proves to be a little hard to manipulate, a self-proclaimed simpleton that turned out to be the opposite of hot-blooded.

Part of the plan is using Jing Yuan's scribe to obtain intel, erase inconvenient registers and eventually lure out the general himself where Phantylia can catch him; it's good that Tingyun and Mao Qian have the same exploitable weakness, if a bit inconvenient that both want a potentially limited resource.

The true issue is when, instead of confronting his scribe and retaining her personally as the antagonists expected, Jing Yuan lets Mao Qian do as she pleases and tracks down Phantylia's whereabouts by checking what is written, what's missing, where she says she's going and her most recent strange aquaintaces.

At first it looked like an arrogant move that only benefits their plan, but a lot of Sanctus Medicus followers have been imprisoned by the cloudknights recently.

Knowing the Stellaron Hunters were the ones to bring the Astral Express to him after the stellaron outbreak and those two who broke apart centuries ago, Jing Yuan releases Blade as bait for Dan Heng to reveal his true powers and eventually open a way to the tree. This way there's the cloudknights as a handle that will open the way while tracking down Mao Qian's road, and now there's also the spearhead as the Astral Express for when everyone reaches destination.

Dan Heng's power opens way to friends, foes and traitors alike, anyone that's relevant to the main fight arrives and the tree starts to grow its first fruits after a long time.

Knowing this exacerbates the scribe's growing anxiety, Yanqing got the ass whooping of the century and soon Jing Yuan will be involved in the frontlines of this tangled issue. Her deal with that double-faced foxian doesn't matter compared to them, she was getting played anyways, and so the single ripe fruit that grew fell in her hands.

Phantylia's true goal was the destruction of the Luofu and Tingyun realizes such an entity won't care enough about Yukong to keep even the ground she stands on, so she decides to deviate from Phantylia's plans, getting her to twist her neck and reveal her position early.

After Mao Qian's death/imprisonment (undecided) while attempting to give Jing Yuan the fruit of immortality she managed to snatch, the fight proceeds as normal.

The current loose threads in this business are the silent enablers.

#honkai star rail #jing yuan #jing yuan x oc #jing yuan x self insert #i'm a bit foggy on the lore but i tried to cook #i may not have cooked at all because this feels tangled #but we'll see #is this a rewrite? #this is a rewrite

[nocluejustexisting]

SNEAK PEEK!

Resurfacing Shadows Series

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OC Villain

Warning: 18+ only, angst, mention of suicide, bullying, future smuts (more will be added through the series)

Summary: Steve Rogers x OC Villain

In the dimly lit underground lair of a clandestine Hydra compound, a flickering fluorescent light revealed a high-tech laboratory shrouded in secrecy. The ominous hum of machines and the acrid scent of chemicals hung heavy in the air. In the center of the room stood a figure, her silhouette casting eerie shadows on the walls.

The woman, known within Hydra as Agent Viper, had undergone a transformation that defied the laws of nature. Her eyes gleamed with an otherworldly, malevolent light. She possessed powers beyond comprehension—demonic energy capable of destroying reality itself.

As she conducted her sinister experiments that involve harnessing her demonic energy to create devices capable of unleashing catastrophic destruction upon the world. These malevolent experiments are designed to develop weapons of mass devastation, posing a grave threat to global security and stability. As she delves deeper into this dark research, Viper becomes increasingly aware of the destructive potential of her actions, setting the stage for her eventual redemption as she grapples with the consequences of her choices.

Agent Viper couldn't help but recall her past. A past that involved a scrawny, frail boy named Steve Rogers, the same Steve Rogers who had become Captain America, a symbol of hope and justice.

Long before the Super-Soldier Serum had transformed Steve into the superhuman icon he was today, he had been a target of relentless torment. The memory of her cruel actions toward him in the crowded streets of Brooklyn that haunted her.

Agent Viper had been Steve's childhood bully, and she had made his life a living hell. Her taunts and relentless ridicule had nearly crushed the spirit of the young, weak Steve Rogers. She had planted seeds of doubt in his mind, making him question whether he even wanted to go on living.

But fate had a twisted sense of humor. On that fateful day when Steve Rogers had taken the Super-Soldier Serum, his life had taken a radically different turn. He had become Captain America, a symbol of courage and resilience. Agent Viper, on the other hand, had been left behind in the dust of history, until now.

As she felt the power coursing through her, Agent Viper couldn't help but wonder what Steve Rogers would think if he saw her now. Would he recognize the face of his tormentor from a bygone era in this powerful, malevolent being?

The past, once buried deep within the recesses of her mind, clawed its way back to the surface, intertwining with her newfound abilities. Agent Viper knew that her past and Steve Rogers' past were forever intertwined, and the specter of their shared history would play a pivotal role in the battles to come.

#steve rogers #steve rogers smut #steve rogers series #steve rogers 18+ #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers x oc #dark steve rogers #40!steve rogers #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fanfic #chris evans #chris evans series #marvel