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unproduciblesmackdown · 3 months

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something abt The Family Unit as this bordered site potentially of a little system of authoritarianism being that it's really this example plenty of people have of how like, You Would Think "oh if the people In Charge realize the structural integrity of what they're in charge of & say they're Supporting is being degraded then surely on a practical basis they'd change course? compromise?" & like the compromises Are continually made to shore things up a little longer but it's a pyramid scheme & it's continuously crumbling. & the Logic of the authority is what's held on to no matter what, not whatever else is claimed to be the goal (e.g. having a Good Family, workplace, corporation, country...) & that means having all the power, which is never actually the case or possible so since that goal's never met it's really just about having More power (what's next, constant profit growth), & everything's oriented around That, such that yeah strategic fleeting compromises may be made but as this structure inevitably deteriorates further, i.e. the control as successfully applied power is being lost, it's not about compromising more & more until eventually things are egalitarian, it's more about lashing out & doubling & tripling & quadrupling down on the exact same measures always taken anyways, because of how the entire like belief is in being the authority, expressed by forever only following the logics of authority/hierarchy & control/abuse

that is to lead into how like, the Failure of [ostensible alternate practical goal: the cohesion of the perfect family(tm)] can happen in more obvious ways / on shorter timeframes than, say, the agenda of propping up an empire, & so there's like all this evidence of how even when the theoretically inviolate borders of The Family are ruptured there's like "wouldn't the relevant family members change their approach in the face of this undeniable failure. wouldn't they question themselves." b/c like, surely? how could you not? but the experience being overwhelmingly "absolutely they do not" with instead the doubling down, perhaps the strategic compromises that are then only used to wear away the targeted parties & then (perhaps after an incremental transition) be back at it once that defense is seemingly breached, but the same logic seems to "work" even in situations where whatever Unit is destroyed, partnership, family, friendship, acquaintanceship, b/c the sense of [i am entitled to More] is just like. undisturbed or "supported" by the ruptures & lack of access to whomever, the Denial of what they feel they're already entitled to. the dehumanization of others / No Need to ever have to consider & contend with those ppl's real feelings if you control their life enough anyways is all still at play & there's no room for even Now considering if you were wrong about how someone felt, so the logic might also default to things like "it's a total mystery but what matters is i was / am wronged" &/or "well things would've been great if i had my total authority like i should have & imagine i could have, so basically some Other enemy authority must be at fault (e.g. guess my child was converted by the gay agenda, the devil, the evil outside world, communist spies, anarchists, [the pc police the virtue signalers the woke dei agents the "almost forgot abt 'critical race theorists'"]" that it just so happens that agendas of Autonomy & Equality are ones that seem to inherently insidiously threaten & undermine their own. like yeah you're not wrong about that but in also true [every accusation a projection] form of course the belief must be that They are fostering bliss & freedom & the jealous evil agents of The Other are always trying to stop them :(

like "don't they realize this is counterproductive to the wellbeing of [what they're in charge of]" like compromises may be temporarily made along the way but not Really, no, & when push comes to shove it'll be about the priorizing of asserting & holding on to Controlling Lives vs anything that'd serve anything else. & that again, with families like you might see the decided Failure of that, e.g. very limited or completely absent relationship with an adult child, and you see that like. the Authority guardian/s who are the reason with it don't change their approach. any adjustments are strategic & meant to Ultimately restore the status quo; the people who managed to extricate themselves have to rely on their own ability to actually manifest their own choices to, say, be able to remove themself from the presence of this person if they want. and that like even with that lifelong experience of dealing with that Authority & the system under them it can be so difficult to believe like do they really not even question themself on all this despite the actual external consequences manifested? b/c the Logics are so different. the child made effectively Responsible for the actions of an adult or two / the supposed Wellbeing of the family is so much more used to having to consider others' Feelings & what might make them act xyz way, b/c of that impossible but evident tasking with being harmed if there's any Problems there, versus that the person "in charge of" the wellbeing of the family & individuals therein (& certainly the young children) being concerned with their own entitlement & whether everything seems to reinforce their authority, flexing it if not, disinterest in so much else, resentment for the physical needs of children as a begrudged investment in then lifelong entitlement to kids as property to give deference / whatever support you want. & when these "supported" children are never "grateful" enough, i.e. not noticeably thwarting efforts to access whatever a parent feels entitled to (with, exactly in line with all of this, pretty invariably Issues With (denial of) Any Boundaries, e.g. not allowed to close that bedroom door this is my house, not allowed to not want to be touched i made that body, not allowed to be unsupervised what are you hiding, not allowed to say no, not allowed to have feelings/moods/preferences/opinions not in harmony with mine...) like it's supposedly only an extreme, all the more sympathetic (to the authority parent) escalation of this Ingratitude to, if possible, escape the realm of said authority. can't believe they'd do this to me

just that tl;dr of like "but at this point [authority] is sabotaging themselves i.e. the longevity of any system where they even have that position of authority? surely they realize that & change their approach b/c they Have To?" & beyond "no, not necessarily" like it's so almost Necessarily that "they definitely will not & will just try to 'invest' in their perpetual authority (which is always trying to be Increased b/c it's also never total or unbroken) by upping the violence & lashing out & ignoring w/e they have to ignore b/c they do Not have any actual alternate way to address it" like no the parents lose the entire relationship with children & don't have Realizations abt it, don't question themselves, don't make a real change, don't stop feeling as, & increasingly, entitled

#you'd think they would. but they do not think that they would. it's a completely different Logical Framework #the impenetrability of ''i'm Superior to anyone; objects/props/property/tools in My life for My agenda''#if there's negative consequences of this treatment & it's constantly shattering b/c That Is Not Reality? it's just them being Wronged #you can just believe that forever. if you're trying to reject even the Vulnerability of [gotta consider other ppl Have thoughts; feelings]#then taking on the Vulnerability of; for one thing; That; & an entire upheaval of the rest of what you've built your whole Self around.....#it does not really happen. presumably some outliers / sure it can be Possible but even then it's like #is the priority ''converting'' ppl doing this. Convincing them to stop. or in how those affected can throw them off & have more support #yes we all think that would be lovely. but it's a whole Ideology. & [what do i care if xyz Believes im nonhuman if they cannot in practice #act on that belief & make it my problem] the external situations & manifestations of power Can be dealt with by others. ppl's internal #self is their own personal business Ultimately ofc. can feel entitled to Everything Forever sure but gotta get Other Ppl outta that sitch #this has also been resonating with like head in hands deep breath the like. [it's On Sight; Sound; Read Text; Anything] dehumanization as #an autistic person like ppl Do immediately assess the [this person's existing wrong] diagnosis & do not necessarily ''learn'' otherwise #the vulnerability is pounced on / the ''opportunity'' for abuse in any situation b/c it's Deserved in this case ofc / the like ''we Do #officially label you Autistic & we Do prescribe; even require; abuse about it'' aba / rejection/ostracization / pathology / Inferiority #like what else can you do but go ''maybe ppl will change their minds? maybe i can act a way to convince them to do so?'' But No #ofc all Compounding vulnerabilities only feed into all other systems of dehumanization / vulnerability / abuse / disempowerment #my experience being autistic seemed to support my experience w/family abuse...B/c It 100% Did support it #other disabilities; less resources; more poverty; appearing nonwhite & ''worse'' black; cultural ''difference'' from the norm(tm)....#further layers (often given ''priorities'' like how Race is given 1st Consideration in who's ''beneath'' whom) in dehumanization #which is an ideology people have to Reject to; you know; humanize everyone they encounter. but they don't ''have'' to so: might not!#& obviously playing into it is what's encouraged And demanded so yeah go find the ppl in Your life to scapegoat / deem inferior! to cope!#while this is so entrenched/supported By Everything As Is that it's just ppl ''being normal'' instead of consciously disdainfully violent #so it's Something having to go ok no the double standards never cease the Sympathy (i.e. again taking unilateral Responsibility for other #ppl's feelings (& by extension hopefully their resultant actions)) will never even afford you Being Liked much less the Basic Respect #whether someone happens to personally find you Likable or not in the first place. have to ofc Hope others have other principles about it #which; you know; the logic of Ableism is in all the systems of dehumanization & exploitation. it's Just Biology / Reality....#everyone's so Great abt things now. def don't have ppl like ''haha the lack of social skills am i right autists'' / ''annoyingly nd ppl''#just saying the same shit in an XD arm slung around your shoulder tone now. dont want me saying Idiot this is why i love ableism #(it was bc everyone is already taught to love ableism & leverage it however they can) i wasn't a violent bigot: then the leftists pwned me #anyways consulting Exp. w/Authoritarian Family sure can be a touchstone recognizing resonances anywhere else. dynamics/interactions. govts

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queenburd · 10 months

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- how much of the narrator's not caring what happens to the other narrators/"they don't deserve to have a protagonist at all & can rot by themselves for eternity" is rooted in his own guilt/shame for his early-days treatment of stanley??

- are there any stanleys whose stubbornness against leaving the parable is rooted in something more. codependent (....not sure that's the correct word to go there, or maybe not the Only correct word to go there????), rather than a lack of trust??

- are there any stanleys that regret leaving??

- ........can very easily picture like. a situation where they connect to a parable with a narrator who just lost his stanley,, missing. oh this is getting confusing to delineate. is it enough of a distinction to have The narrator vs A narrator. missing stan's narrator by hours or even minutes.

- or them connecting to a parable that one of the other stanleys Recognizes.

- or —

- ....uh. getting carried away a bit maybe. anyway

- in all the times he's done this,, does the narrator ever get found by a stanley at the escape pod,, before he can even leave the area to go find him (either out of sheer temporal coincidence,, or him lingering in the area for a long enough while)??

- do some iterations hit closer to home?? how does that affect how he handles the situation??

- how long (ballpark guesstimate) does it take him to. find his footing insofar as Where To Start & how to navigate the interactions are concerned??

........okay okay okay okay it is. two in the AM should. uh. also maybe possibly also move in vaguely the sleep direction probably. but will almost certainly have more queries to fling at you post sleep cycle on account of brain very much keeps going aND ANOTHER THING— haha

my god, anon, I really hope youve gotten some sleep. im still waking up so ignore any weird tone here im mostly like "wowza", not annoyed or anything. this one's intense, so lemme break this down.

ding ding ding give anon a prize!!!! you did it you saw my repeated themes of self-punishment!!!

- are there any iterations he feels at All bad for. uh. possibly (....probably?? ........presumably????) condemning to isolation in perpetuity,, or. if not that,, any he feels Less vitriolic towards?? - are there any stanleys whose stubbornness against leaving the parable is rooted in something more. codependent (....not sure that's the correct word to go there, or maybe not the Only correct word to go there????), rather than a lack of trust?? - are there any stanleys that regret leaving??

considering that this process seems to drop him most specifically in versions of the Parable where the narrator and Stanley are are in far more antagonistic/abusive relationships (and there are some considerations about that, about perhaps the fact he keeps getting dropped where he's "needed most") no, not really, to all three of these.

there's definitely some stanleys that are.... wishing their narrators could get along with them. but it's been framed by their narrators that it's their faults theyve been treated so poorly.

sometimes the Narrator wonders if he's being brought to places he's needed and that's why he hasnt run into a kinder iteration similar to himself, or if he really is the outlier and he wasn't supposed to ever change this much. maybe this is his fault and his punishment for wanting to be more.

then he decides "well, so what??? Im not going back! Im not going back to who I was before, I don't like that person!" and commits fully.

- when the stanleys that made it out band together to try to get the narrator out Also,, would they be likely to connect to some number of Other iterations of the parable before finding the one he's in?? ....especially since he's. jumping between them. - ........can very easily picture like. a situation where they connect to a parable with a narrator who just lost his stanley,, missing. oh this is getting confusing to delineate. is it enough of a distinction to have The narrator vs A narrator. missing stan's narrator by hours or even minutes. - or them connecting to a parable that one of the other stanleys Recognizes.

so this has a lot more to do with the part of the concept that's subject to change because I have it in my head but I feel like.... idk it's too easy. I just want my happy ending and the payoff that exists so far gets me there but it's not a hard earned one.

what ends up happening is the Stanley we follow, the one who is good with code and made the online call, etc, uses Stan's code (or DNA? fuck mate. pseudo science time) to track the narrator specifically so they don't get lost in the wrong parables. sooo the above situation you have described has not happened, to me. but like i said. subject to change.

yes. absolutely. some of his escapes go much quicker than others.

- do some iterations hit closer to home?? how does that affect how he handles the situation??

yes, absolutely. some of them are just.... terribly sweet Stanleys who deserved much, much better. and he is so himself with them; gentle, fond, happy to bow to their every request and whim. when those ones leave, he tends to need longer to recover before beginning again.

he misses and loves his Stanley so much. he expects that someday Stan will move on from him and want to be with someone else, but he knows he's never going to be able to move on. every Stanley who reminds him of his Stan just reinforces that.

- how long (ballpark guesstimate) does it take him to. find his footing insofar as Where To Start & how to navigate the interactions are concerned??

maybe 5-10 "escapes" in. he notices the patterns by this point and knows that he needs to get a feel for the relationship and general power level of the narrators he's dealing with before getting too intensely distracted helping a Stanley.

by the time the group is formed, there's at least 30 or so Stanleys who have gotten out. probably more; these are just the ones who span America, the UK, and Canada.

#tsp #the sparrow parable #repeat and write this story #Parable Actors

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hellofeanor · 3 years

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Fëanorian Quenya

Hey friends! Do you like elves? Do you like the Silmarillion? Do you like Fëanor and co? And most of all, do you like spending hours thinking about minor details pertaining to made-up languages??? If so, boy do I have a treat for you! Let’s delve into the weird world of Fëanorian Quenya and explore some history and mechanics of why they talk Like That.

I’ve seen a lot of posts joking about the Fëanorian lisp, which is about as funny as a joke about a speech impediment can be. 👍 It’s important to understand, though, that this IS a joke. No, they didn’t really speak with a lisp. Yes, they did pronounce some S sounds as TH. That’s the critical disclaimer here: SOME. It’s not a blanket pronunciation. There’s a lot of background research that goes into determining which words would be pronounced with S and which would be TH, and that’s what we’re going to look at.

So if this is something you’ve come across in fandom and you’re not totally sure on the details, or if you ARE sure and just want some more in-depth info, read on.

The stuff probably everybody knows already

For anyone who’s been hanging around the Fëanorian corner of the Silm fandom for more than three minutes, there’s about a 100% chance you’ve heard of Fëanor’s penchant for retaining an archaic TH pronunciation after the majority of the Noldor went ahead and started pronouncing this sound as S instead. You may also know that this sound is represented by the letter thorn (Þ) in HoME, but since thorn doesn’t exist in modern English orthography and it’s a pain to keep typing the ALT code, I’m sticking to TH here. Anyway, all this was due to the fact that Fëanor was a huge mama’s boy, and his mom Míriel Therindë (later called Serindë, which made Fëanor want to punch walls and possibly also fellow elves) was an outlier who retained the TH after it fell out of use. Her son Fëanor, in turn, kept this up to honor her. Now, whether or not he would have bothered if this sound hadn’t literally been a critical part of her name is debatable, but that debate is outside the scope of this essay.

Fëanor continued to use the TH pronunciation until his death, and required his sons to use it as well. Finwë, however, switched over to S after the death of Míriel and before his marriage to Indis. Fëanor, reasonable and level-headed as he was, took this as a personal insult and decided that anybody who rejected TH likewise rejected him. So presumably, his loyal followers would have obeyed his totally reasonable demands not to give in to the seductive S-shift.

Why tho

Why did the Noldor decide to alter their pronunciation from TH to S? Great question. Nobody really knows. For the hell of it? IDK. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But the important thing to understand is that elves, and especially Noldor, were really committed to making sure their language sounds cool. This is why it changed so much and so comparatively quickly for an immortal population: they were actively invested in changing it. They liked inventing new words and exploring new sounds and messing around with grammar.

So at some point some influential Noldo might have been like, hey y’all, let’s stop saying TH and say S instead! And everyone (except Míriel I guess, who was known for her elegant manner of speech and didn’t want to muck that up by changing pronunciation of a whole letter) was like, whoa, capital idea my good egg. And they went with it. Previous ideas along these lines included ‘hey y’all, let’s stop saying KH and say H instead’ and ‘hey y’all, let’s stop saying Z and say R instead’, and those went over swimmingly. Nobody could have foreseen the problem this TH to S business would cause.

Now here’s a fun fact. There was another change to Noldorin pronunciation that happened AFTER Fëanor’s birth, that he himself was involved in. This one was all about bilabial to labiodental F. And those sure are some words, so if you don’t know what I’m talking about (I don’t blame you), BILABIAL is a more whispery sound that happens when you say F using only air passing through your pursed lips, and LABIODENTAL is when you say F with your top teeth touching your bottom lip. Going forward I’m going to use PH to represent the bilabial sound, and F for the labiodental.

So F got on the radar of the Noldor via the Teleri, who used this sound in their language. And ol’ Fëanor figured it would be awesome to incorporate it into Quenya because he thought the PH sounded too close to HW, and the two were getting confused by lazy speakers. Why did he care? Because of his dad’s name and his own, of course. If people started to get lazy in their pronunciation, we’d end up with Hwinwë and Hwëanáro, which would be terrible and stupid and unacceptable. He accused the Vanyar of leaning down that road, and he wanted to stop that kind of shift before it happened to the Noldor. How to do that? Why, by instigating a different shift from traditional Noldorin PH to Telerin F!

“Hey y’all, let’s stop saying PH and say F instead!”

“Whoa, capital idea my good egg.”

Moral of the story: Fëanor is only concerned with Quenya pronunciation insofar as it affects his own name and the names of family members he likes. He does not care whether it’s staying the same or moving to a new sound so long as it personally makes him feel good and his name sound cool. Therefore the true way to piss him off would be to call him Curuhwinwë Hwëanáro, son of Serindë.

Okay so here’s how it works

Now that history is out of the way, let’s get back to how TH was used by the Fëanorians. As I mentioned earlier, TH wasn’t a blanket pronunciation. It all depended on the original form of the word, and whether the root had a TH or an S. And some very similar-sounding words come from different roots, so this can get tricky. A great resource that’ll give you this information is Eldamo: Quenya words where the S was originally TH are marked out with the Þ (thorn) symbol in the wordlist.

Some examples:

Súlë (spirit, breath) comes from the root THŪ, which means it would be pronounced with a TH. Silma (white crystal) comes from the root SIL, so it and related words like Silmaril would be pronounced with an S. No Fëanorian would say Thilmaril. Isil (moon), however, is a similar-sounding word that comes from a different root: THIL. Olos (mass of flowers) comes from the word LOTH, but: Olos (dream) comes from the root LOS. Fëanorian pronunciation would immediately differentiate between these two words.

While Fëanorians may have retained the distinct pronunciation of TH vs S, other Noldor can still differentiate between original S and S-that-used-to-be-TH in their writing. There are specific tengwar to use depending on the word’s original form. Silmë (the one that looks like a 6) is used for original S, while súlë (or thúlë, the one that looks like an h) is used for original TH.

Which other elves used this sound in their speech?

Fandom has really latched on to this TH as a Fëanorian thing, but it wasn’t that exclusively. The TH sound was actually ubiquitous in other elven languages, and in Valinor, only the Noldor dropped it. It was still used in Telerin and in Vanyarin Quendya. The Vanyar retained the TH not because of anything to do with Míriel, but just because they were a little more conservative and their language didn’t pick up on all the changes that the Noldor made. They also noped out of the Z to R shift the Noldor initiated, opting to keep the Z around.

When Indis married Finwë, she stopped using the normal Vanyarin TH and switched over to S as a gesture of loyalty to him and his people. Finarfin, however, out of love for the Vanyar and Teleri, switched BACK to TH. I like to think about how much it would have annoyed Fëanor that his snot-nosed kid brother was speaking correctly, but for the wrong reason. Go down one more generation, and Galadriel very specifically did not use TH. But this time it was absolutely a choice made as a glaring middle finger to Fëanor.

What this means for your fanfic or whatever

The big takeaway here: you can’t just have Fëanorians replace every S with TH and call it a day.

If you’re inventing names for your Fëanorian OCs or coming up with phrases for them to say, it’s important to look into the history of all Quenya S-words you end up using to determine if they should be S or TH. If Fëanor got mad about somebody saying Serindë instead of Therindë, he’d get equally mad about somebody saying Thilmaril instead of Silmaril and assume they were mocking him. Remember: this is a dude with no chill. (On the other hand, if you WANT somebody to be mocking Fëanor, Galadriel would 100% do this because she has an equally negligible amount of chill.)

It’s also important to note that the TH isn’t a true shibboleth, since pretty much all elves EXCEPT the non-Fëanorian Noldor use it. And even the S-preferring Noldor would still be able to pronounce the TH. Those who went into exile would go on to use it commonly in Sindarin, and those who remained in Valinor would still encounter it among the Vanyar and Teleri. So if you’re writing a scene where somebody has to pronounce a TH word to prove their loyalty… yeah, everyone can pass this test. And in the opposite direction, you can’t use TH to prove somebody’s an evil Fëanorian, either. They might just be Vanyarin or something. Or, like. Really Old.

Would the sons (and followers) of Fëanor keep using TH after his death? Oh hell yeah. This is an entire family unfamiliar with the concept of not dying on hills. They will keep using it unto the ending of the world. Actually, with Sindarin becoming the common language of Middle-earth from the First Age, probably not a lot of change happened in exilic Quenya. It became a lore language: a piece of living history. It would have been preserved as it was when the original speakers left Valinor.

(And then, thousands of years later, Galadriel finally returns home to Tirion like, Long have mine eyes awaited this most blissful of sights, and ne’er hath my sprit soared with such grace, for I am returned! And all the Amanyar Noldor stare at her like, whatchu bangin on bout, eh? Because they had nothing better to do in the peace of Valinor than push Quenya to brave and frankly questionable new horizons.)

Anyway, there you go: a somewhat brief history of Fëanorian Quenya. I hope you found this informative and useful, or at the very least not boring. Obvs this is super condensed and, uh, not particularly scholarly, but I promise I know what I’m talking about. I have a university degree! (Not in anything even remotely related to what’s written above, but I hardly see how that’s relevant. It’s still a DEGREE.)

Questions? Need clarification or want more info? My asks are always open!

#feanor #silmarillion #quenya #tolkien #middle earth

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thequibblah · 3 years

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⭐️ would love some commentary on that dancing scene (or really any commentary on the various parties thrown by the marauders) from the party happening next to the Potions Club party ⭐️

WELL WELL WELL

"This is...a lot of trouble to go to." "It's the Marauders. They love trouble."

i love writing party scenes (as i'm sure you all know lol) and one of the best/worst things w the marauders parties is striking a balance between their, uh, audacious plans, and what's realistically possible at hogwarts without getting caught. (aka literally why i made up the dodgy lodgings). i went back and forth so long on whether or not they could plausibly have managed that with slughorn's dinner next door, but then was like ah whatever the party has to happen for plot reasons so.... plot ex machina??

anyway, i love using parties to establish character — what a brilliant stage of teenage performance they provide. i love contrasting the hogwarts parties to, say, evan wronecki's — for instance, how lily and co. are more at ease in the former, as seventh years, with their classmates hosting, than they were at evan's nye bash

i also love that it gives me space to establish who is and isn't popular, so to speak, but also who acts or doesn't act the way we presume popular kids will act

doe, for instance, who is by all accounts a level-headed and non-wild person, has a more exciting time on net at marauders' parties than mary (drinking game, kissing remus), though she's not a big drinker and isn't really into parties. but she's comfortable in her own little social circle at a bigger event (like with michael at evan's) and so isn't bothered at all by the marauders' do, because...

She did, in fact, trust the Marauders. Her general belief in the inherent goodness of people notwithstanding, she didn't think they would do anything to harm their friends. Intentionally.

this bit always makes me laugh

as with many things, i feel very saddened that i didn't get to make more out of the fools' olympics (although one could argue that The Dance was a pro) — as in, i wish i'd been able to squeeze more of it into the story itself. i could probably come up with a list of tasks and who completed them LOL

WAIT OH MY GOD I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THIS it just might be my favourite part of this chapter

"How did you do that?" Gillian said, glancing between the other two girls. "Just — drink it without a second thought?" "Practice," said Mary. "Scottish — constitution," David said hoarsely. "I once drank some of Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mass Remover," said Priya.

priya is all i aspire to be

can i say, too, it's hilarious to me how many people worried niamh would be a james love interest? i feel like you will not rest easy on that count until he and lily are together... but that is not where the danger lies babes

circling back to popularity/unpopularity, another fun outlier. gillian is first established, in 33, as someone with friends (we see her around sara and in the seventh-year ravenclaws' compartment) but she's not exactly at ease at the party either — recall how she hesitates when mary invites her. only later, in 38, do we realise that our opinion of her has been skewed by the narration (from doe, who naturally assumes any friendly, nice person must have a wealth of friends and be floating through life; and mary, who naturally assumes anyone she isn't bored by must have the social skills of a medieval noblewoman at court), and she's a bit of a pariah in her own house

david, on the other hand, is just flat-out not in his element. and not because of the drinking or the, er, general revelry (see: summer with mary!), even though he doesn't partake much in either. unlike doe, the company breaks rather than makes his enjoyment — he's acutely aware, the whole time, that his cooler, more liked brother is around:

"Not your scene?" "What gave it away?" said David drily. As one they looked at Chris...

...and mary has intuited as much too, even though she has a lot more in common, superficially speaking, with chris than david

so, i think while i was writing this chapter i made a post complaining about how, as much as i love juggling the constraints of historical fiction, i hate that music from the 70s limits me in terms of tracklists. i.e., when i say a certain record is playing i can't just hit shuffle and go somewhere entirely different to set the mood shortly thereafter

this problem was because i wanted, NAY, NEEDED, to have "martha my dear" playing in the aftermath of that mary and david interaction. of course, time passes in that section break, but since "come and get it," which they talk about it, is a sirius song (though it could be a mary song), and i feel too strongly about needle drops to let that conversation go without a soundtrack. germaine even correctly guesses the white album is on because of mary:

Apparently Mary got fonder of the White Album the drunker she was.

...and of course the song itself makes me squeal with how very mary it is — not that it is something she would listen to, necessarily, or identify with (it would hold up too close of a mirror, ha), but it sounds like it could've been written about her ("hold your head up, you silly girl/look what you've done/when you find yourself in the thick of it/help yourself to a bit of what is all around you," which really sums up the entirety of her portree holiday, lol)

BUT! if "martha my dear" is to play here, then i have some Serious Chronology Concerns. i knew germeline had to kiss and jily had to dance and ideally in that order. but what would those scenes be soundtracked by!!!! i was limited to side two of the white album!!!

so i did the healthy thing and panic-listened to the white album. "don't pass me by" was, right away, an easy lock for the dance, because it's danceable, but not in a way that would've scared lily off. lyrically, it feels GREAT for jily in this moment, on the cusp of lily's realisation ("waiting for your knock, dear [...] i don't hear it, does it mean you don't love me anymore?" vs OF COURSE "don't pass me by [...] 'cause you know darling, i love only you"). i feel about "don't pass me by" the same way as NYT critic nik cohn: it's "straight ahead and clumsy and greatly enjoyable, backed by a beautiful hurdy-gurdy organ," which, if that isn't everything i wanted to evoke with the dance itself!!!!!!

ok we'll circle back to this, but onward with the musical discussion

thus i had four songs to choose from, between "martha my dear" and "don't pass me by," for the germeline scene — "piggies," "blackbird," "i'm so tired," and "rocky raccoon." the latter is on my sirius playlist, so auto-no; "piggies" is, well, like that, so also a no. "blackbird" is a certified germaine classic that was written personally by paul mccartney for germaine, but it seemed too introspective for the moment. i don't think i'd ever listened to "i'm so tired" before this panicked searching, and honestly it must be some wild luck that it is. just SO RIGHT!!!! it's so lethargic and tortured and angsty and, well, a bit of a stoner song, so.... it's THERE

AND NOW for the dance! true story, i initially wanted jily to have a real conversation, after the party. i had the dance in there and then james would catch up with lily after to be like, "hey i was wrong actually, you should write to petunia." but then i realised i wanted james and sirius to have a conversation about the bike/money, and i wanted it to strike a different chord, tonally, than the jily conversation. then i realised it would be too much to have both and i'd need to condense that conversation into the dance. VERY nearly cut the dance in favour of the conversation but wow i am glad i didn't

The tinkling piano signalled the start of the next song; she extended a hand, very matter-of-factly, to James, "Come on, this is a good one."

not pictured: james having a fucking breakdown

obviously, i could have gone the route of a genuine dramatic dance, but as previously mentioned lily would have chickened out, and i wanted to have this be an experience she could look back on and pine about because of how fun it was and james totally doesn't like her back

Loath as she was to admit it, this most indelicate of waltzes suited the plodding chords of "Don't Pass Me By." And worst of all, once they had stopped stepping on each other's feet James started to sing, in the poorest possible Ringo imitation she had ever heard in her life.

by the way, attentive readers of blink three times will recall:

He finally starts to lead — thank goodness, because she’s not the one who was forced into formal dance lessons as a child...

so in 36, this is james being drunk, but it is also james being silly on purpose because not only is he JAMES and so he must take the mick, he also knows it will put lily at ease

okay, and this bit:

"Don't pass me by, don't make me cry, don't make me blue," they both shouted rather than sang, "'Cause you know darling—" Lily broke off, laughing, dimly aware that she had done so to avoid saying I love only you while staring right at him.

from the FIRST MOMENT i picked out "don't pass me by," i knew i knew I KNEW that lily would have thoughts about this line. at this point in the story if someone questioned her about it she would probably have a full-scale breakdown about her male friends vs her female friends ("but no... i suppose i wouldn't mind saying it to remus.... but that's different!" how is it different, lily? "it's different!")

anyway, the bottom line is she could NOT abide saying it. i enjoyed writing that because 1. same girl and 2. it felt like a nice bit of close foreshadowing for her realisation, which i knew was coming soon. so that's a really circular way of saying, i knew what it meant but ideally to readers it was just oh this will mean something far-off in the future!!! which is usually true for me but SURPRISE babey it was just two chapters away!!!

note btw that lily "falls for james"

Lily spun faster than she’d intended to. The room was a brief, kaleidoscope blur. Then there was James. “Jesus, Evans,” he said, steadying her as the next track began.

>:)

and after i thought tracklists would fuck me up, i turned them into my WEAPON!!

Huffing, she stepped out of his arms. (There were some songs you could sing along to with your mates, and “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?” was not one of them.)

(so, you know, keep in mind that for the rest of this conversation, paul is in the background howling "no one will be watching us/why don't we do it in the road?")

also:

"...I’m not drinking tonight, but I’d better get the royal treatment after we win on Saturday."

and then what happened <3

wait jesus oh my god i really went hard on this huh

She only saw its result: the easy grin had given way to an expression so serious it was almost sweet.

LILY??????

and hey, remember when:

...because in chapter 26:

Dex’s measured opinions about the wizarding world seemed more the result of upbringing and inexperience than ill will, but Lily had not expected a radical change of heart.

...but then in 36:

He was right, damn it. And a part of her had known all along, had sought him out expressly so that he would say the opposite thing to her. He’d gone and proven her wrong. She broke the staring match first [...] “What brought on the change of heart?” “It’s a long story, and I expect it’ll have an unsatisfying end if I told it to you.” Lily scoffed, but James had on that maddening grin that meant he would not budge. “Oh, all right.” Softer, she added, “Thank you.” He began to back away, towards the bar. “It’s give and take, Evans.”

in conclusion, i never forget, besties

#i literally had to retype this entire fucking response #i hate tumblr #but anyway #be warned i talk about the beatles :/// in here #ask me #anon #director's cuts #36

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ksbwnotes · 3 years

Text

Chapter 9, Part 1

Ahhhh...poor son of a bitch.

1. Heyyyyy, green tape

Hmmmn, Koogi seems to use green a lot...is that just more common a color for duct tape in Korea? But thing is, her main outfit for Bum is green tones. And he likes froggies, which are green.

Also, we never do see Sangwoo use this tape with CEO daughter girl (just ropes, a cloth for her mouth, and this weird metal thing to cover her eyes). Or with Bum, for that matter (I only saw it so far used with Koogi’s illustrations, which are a different matter altogether...I might be mistaken, I won’t skip to that part, but Sangwoo might have used it on Bum in the last chapters, which could signify how far his mentality has deteriorated).

But this guy is different. Sangwoo has no emotional attachment to him. The duct tape could be, in a way, signifying how worthless this person is to Sangwoo. That he’s nothing more than a box full of unsavory memories he would rather tape shut forever and throw away to rot.

2. Ooohp. Bastard’s bringing out his iconic apron

Sangwoo the butcher.

But this is something new that we haven’t seen before. Again, Sangwoo has never once wore this with Bum. So that means Sangwoo truly has no intentions of going easy on this guy. Blood is going to be pretty much spurting every-the-fuck-where.

So even though Sangwoo doesn’t consciously plan to kill someone, he has his habits and ideas down to a pat so that once he does get into that territory, he can more or less get right down to it. Sangwoo seems to do what he can to ‘separate’ himself from his atrocious acts, but also fulfilling an ‘aesthetic’ that fits with the atrocity he has become.

Like, that apron. Too risky to wear regular clothes, so apron is the next best thing and can act as a barrier of some sort once the blood goes flying. It’ll reduce how much splatters onto his skin and how much of his body he has to actually clean. It’s also just keep things less gross and more sanitary that way lol.

3. I am the type to find this funny and really be amused by Sangwoo’s smartass-ness

I suck at being a smartass and I can’t do it, so I really appreciate it whenever someone else can, even if it’s mean lol. But if it’s mean, it’s a guilty pleasure for me, like right now. x’D

4. Honestly, Sangwoo, how did you get yourself into this situation...

Oh! So he was able to get out of the blow job. Nice. The guy was actually respectful. If Sangwoo were sane, he’d understand this and just run away instead of luring this guy in to kill him.

But, really, why did Sangwoo put himself into this position? I don’t have anything foolproof as evidence, but I really don’t think Sangwoo is the type who actually needs to kill at specific intervals as an outlet.

If anything, Sangwoo has a more...instinctual response to sexual situations, like Bum. For Bum, he becomes hyper-aroused and zeroes in on the pleasure to a point that it overrides his more logical line of thinking. The “he’s a killer I should be scared” becomes “it feels so good and nothing else can exist but this pleasure”.

For Sangwoo, he has two modes. The first one is passive, where he’s just following his partner’s whims and saying that he’s enjoying things but he’s actually just powerless to resist. It’s his instinctual reaction after being forced to just...take his mom’s advances. He feels empty, like a doll that is just meant to be used and taken for pleasure. It’s no better than being a corpse that is fulfilling another’s necrophilic tendencies.

The second mode, I believe, came to be as a self-defense mechanism to the first mode. In order to avoid ever feeling like that, he is in control of everything. He has complete dominance over his partner. In a way, the extreme violence is the only way he can genuinely feel pleasure because he’s ‘safe’. He can literally go one way or the other, his trauma has made it impossible for him to have any other mode than ‘docile’ or ‘predator’.

5. Well, even without the possibility of murdering someone, Sangwoo choosing an alias is no surprise

He did go into a gay bar, lol.

I also find it interesting that this is where we get a look into Bum’s thoughts. And it’s regarding Sangwoo’s alias.

Also, now I am wondering if Sangwoo ever resorted to using aliases with his other prey. Because if he had, then this does add a whole other layer of premeditation to his serial killing. Even if he’s not purposefully scouting for prey, it would at least mean he’s always prepared in the event that he comes across prey.

That is what makes Jieun such an outlier and also Sangwoo’s downfall in terms of getting caught. Jieun knows Sangwoo personally. There is a connection between them. And her disappearance could easily be traced back to him. Sangwoo isn’t an idiot. He knows how to pick and choose his prey and he probably makes sure to never make it so that the prey can call him by name.

That is also what makes Bum such an interesting outlier. Because Sangwoo is risking A LOT just to keep him--someone who knows Sangwoo’s real name and actually has witnessed his personal life, both in the outside world and behind closed doors. Sangwoo chose him over the girl. Sangwoo broke his legs, not only to keep Bum from escaping, but to keep Bum with him.

This does suggest that Sangwoo is not serial killing for the thrill of it (at least, not just for that), but because he’s in search for something that could replace the kills. Sangwoo doesn’t want a pile of dead bodies under his feet--he wants one alive body to stay by his side and love him, in spite of those dead bodies.

6. ....cute motherfucker

Koogi, I resent you so much for making him this cute...

Honestly though, it just strikes me how Sangwoo keeps trying to keep on a carefree and happy facade even during times like these. We do later see him doing that as a habit as a child, so it fits that he does that on steroids during his adult years, especially considering the things he does. I’ll refer back to this when we get to Jieun’s death scene.

7. Shows of weakness

Ah damn I’m going to have to revisit this part. I have a lot of thoughts on it, but I’m too sleep deprived to actually make sense of it. But this part is important in understanding Sangwoo’s mentality and the ways he tries to train Bum to fit a certain image.

Aaaaaand today is a new day!! So going forth:

During the times Bum showed fear and was trembling, I do think a major part of why Sangwoo hates it so much is because it reminds him of how much of a monster he is. But I also think it’s because it reminds him of his mom, which he does say about Bum’s trembling. Because no matter what happened to his mom, she never learned her lesson. If she were able to change, then Sangwoo’s childhood would be less painful.

But Bum being quiet and looking scared, but still able to meet Sangwoo’s eyes...that reminds Sangwoo of what he was while with his parents. And even though Sangwoo does hate himself--to a point where he doesn’t want to change because he has no belief he can be better--I do think he’s grieving for that child who had no clue that things will just get worse and worse from there.

Especially since, from what I’m assuming, he knew how to manipulate his image so that he could avoid being beaten and locked up like his mother. So he would hold more respect towards his conditioned response versus his mother’s conditioned response. He probably refused to admit to himself how he felt back then, because obviously that’s a cruel thought to have and Sangwoo’s level of empathy was still average to high at the time. But it still doesn’t erase his resentment towards her inability to be better (I think this also contributed to why Sangwoo presumably felt ‘free’ after his first kill).

I think I’ll have a better grasp over my thoughts once we get to Jieun’s death >_<

8. *opens mouth, then silently closes it*

That first sentence probably is not meant to sound the way Sangwoo makes it sound. xD Which is a bit too gay for someone who firmly claims he is wholly hetero.

Oh actually this is funny. Since the only other person in the basement is a guy, the card dude probably thinks Sangwoo really is gay or internalized-antigay or something. But the truth is a lot more complex and sinister than what it appears to be on the surface.

9. Ooooooh, high stakes indeed

Lol, this does drive home the idea to me that Sangwoo is really pissed at Bum. Because, again, he would’ve never went to that gay bar had it not been for Bum. So, in a way, even though Sangwoo internally knows Bum isn’t the one going out in a body bag, this instillation of fear is a punishment for making him question his sexuality in a way that triggered Sangwoo’s trauma. Because there is literally no safe way for Sangwoo to explore his sexuality considering his past and his current lifestyle.

On the other end of the spectrum, I wonder how Bum is feeling about this. He probably genuinely believes that Sangwoo is genuinely putting Bum’s life on the line, in a way that if he fails the card game, he’ll die. Like. I definitely would. No matter what past form of affection Sangwoo showed, if he says he’ll kill me, I would full-heartedly be like “Yeah. Yeah, I don’t doubt you, hun.”

And, still, Bum knows better now than to complain or beg. Because unlike his mother, despite his own mental issues, Bum can be trained and that is why Sangwoo keeps him around.

10. Where do you come up with these things, you bastard

I mean, seriously, he has so many ideas on how to break a person. These are more psychopathic than sociopathic tendencies, I think, so that’s why Sangwoo right now, is a high-functioning sociopath.

11. Oh my fkkn god tho, this smart boi XD

Or maybe I’m just dumb and have no clue how to play cards.

Or maybe Sangwoo has been spending time with Bum playing cards.

Or maybe Bum is just good at cards and has spent his time practicing them.

Either way, the fact that Bum is able to fkkn pay attention during these times shows that his own trauma and mental issues have no bearing on how smart he actually is. He doesn’t have strong observation skills and is slow to understand people, but that’s more of a natural character trait, even if it is more emphasized by his mental disorders...mmmn, I do kinda wonder if Bum could have some traits shared with autism but I’m too neruotypical and untrained to say whether or not he does.

12. No seriously, we have creative Sangwoo here with this card game from hell...

...Then we have Bum here able to pull out logical conclusions like his mind is clear despite the immense anxiety and pressure of the situation. There’s a reason why Bum is still alive. For some reason, the longer Bum is stuck in his situation, the more

13. Seriously, I could stab him in the eye for being so cute despite being revolting, it’s not RIGHT KOOGI

Stab stab stab stab

14. It probably doesn’t mean much, but I still can’t help but point out how Sangwoo is making sure to be close to Card!dude and facing Bum

This would be the most logical choice since it will ensure his victim doesn’t try to escape. And even if he does, he can quickly do shit like pulling back his hair if he tries to be ‘bratty’. Also, being behind someone like this is meant to represent a menacing appearance and being the ‘controller’ behind the scenes. Sangwoo has the upperhand since card!dude can’t see him and Sangwoo can do whatever he wants to the guy.

But this also puts Sangwoo and Bum on more equal ground. Sort of like “partners in crime” because they can face each other and communicate via body language. In a way, Sangwoo can help Bum or make Bum do things, influencing his next move. While, at the same time, keeping a literal eye on Bum but without the upperhand he has on card!dude--because Bum can also keep an eye out on him.

15. I’d probably laugh if I were Sangwoo too lol

I bet you Sangwoo didn’t expect Bum to actually get the goddamn ace. The fact that Bum is this fkkn lucky is indicative of how Bum is lucky enough to even be alive at this point. Bum has been able to avoid his ‘fate of death’ over and over again that, honestly, the sheer disbelief of it is ridiculous. But it’s also like Sangwoo is saying ‘Of course you’d get the goddamn ace. Of course you would, you little shit, why am I even still surprised by you at this point’.

In a way, Sangwoo might also be thinking that ‘Huh, it’s like I meant to mess with the cards so that’d they be in your favor.’ But of course, he can’t have that because Bum being ‘too’ happy about things means he won’t be able to control Bum. So, for Bum’s case, he’s doing a second round to train Bum further, rather than to fuck with him before he kills him (like what he’s doing with card!dude).

Other than that, this is also indicative of just how well Bum is dealing with the anxiety of this moment. Card!dude might have done better (though he can’t have that much control over the cards) under normal circumstances, but between the both of them, Bum is actually calm enough to think things through. It says a lot about his capabilities lol. It makes me wonder what kind of person he could’ve been had he been raised well.

ALSO, AGAIN WITH YOU BEING CUTE SANGWOO. NO. ESPECIALLY NOT UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES YOU ASSHOLE. STOP IT.

16. Lol, even though this is a throwaway line, I think this is indicative of who Sangwoo has already chosen

This is really like a “come on, partner in crime, get up to my level here and let’s fuck with this fucker together”. But the thing is, Bum is just as much a victim as this guy. There is literally no way for Bum to think any other way but Sangwoo fucking with both of them, not just card!dude.

Because the thing is, if Bum forgot himself and reacted the same way as card!dude, Sangwoo would kill him, along with card!dude.

But yeah, it does make me think of how Sangwoo would’ve reacted if card!dude actually won. How would his script go? Would he still do a practice round? Or would that have been enough for Sangwoo, and he would’ve skipped to the next part of his plan?

I don’t think this second round was something Sangwoo expected. And that really drove home to him how Bum keeps surpassing his expectations again and again.

17. *wince* Oohp.

The trembling and slight protest. Definitely not what Sangwoo wants to see. I can’t blame Bum for responding like this, BECAUSE A FKKN SERIAL KILLER IS PRETTY MUCH TRYING TO SCREW HIM OVER, but at the same time, he should know better than to respond this way.

I also do think, other than the threat to his life, Bum is perceiving this as Sangwoo ‘choosing’ card!dude over Bum. It’s like a rejection and that probably hits Bum’s rejection sensitivity. If it was just a threat to his life, Bum would probably be able to still stay silent at this point (uh, most likely not because again, life is on the line, but still maybe). However, there’s also this sense that Sangwoo doesn’t actually want him to live--that the card game is just an excuse to kill Bum.

18. think it says a lot that Sangwoo still responds to Bum’s protest via ‘patting’ him on the head rather than pulling on his hair.

If card!dude was more intuitive, then he probably would’ve noticed that something was off in the way Sangwoo was treating Bum. More leniently. Because any small variation in treatment is not a promising outlook for card!dude.

But the thing is--now that I know how the ending is--Sangwoo is just doing this as a way to fuck with the other dude. Actually he was probably proud of Bum winning so that he could further fuck with card!dude and make him taste the bitterness of false hope. Sort of like a “heh, you did better than I thought you would”.

Sangwoo does want him to live because this card game is not about ‘who’ to choose. Sangwoo has already chosen Bum. This is just a matter of how much satisfaction Sangwoo can get against his revenge on the other guy.

Though, Bum is genuinely worried because why would he think that lol. There is also this thing where Sangwoo chose to kill a pretty girl and keep him, a skinny male loser, alive. So from his stand point, Sangwoo’s choices are difficult to pinpoint. Bum also won’t see himself as more ‘attractive’ than card!dude, so he most likely was scared that Sangwoo’s choices has changed once again and he would be thrown away like CEO daughter.

19. Hmmmn...

Now that card!dude has been given a second chance and can see Sangwoo’s willingness as a show of ‘favorability’, he has more control over his anxiety (which I do think is different from Bum, who has this sort of ‘on-off’ button for his anxiety, versus card!dude who seems to have more of a ‘reduction-enlargement’ slider). He probably feels more confident.

And this is probably exactly what Sangwoo wanted, because then that will make the fall so much sweeter, the look of horror that much more gratifying.

20. Really, and there were people who wanted Sangwoo and Bum to have a happily ever after

The psychological warfare Sangwoo is putting onto Bum is so brutal that it’s really difficult to keep reading. Again, Koogi making it so that Sangwoo got better, then got worse when he realized he couldn’t handle what it means to ‘improve’, and then die...it made me respect this work so much, because nothing about this is romanticized. And furthermore, Bum didn’t die, but at the same time, he was scars that will never be able to heal. His mentality was worse in the end than it was in the beginning, which is a goddamn feat because there wasn’t much left for him to fall.

Another alternative that I saw float around was Bum and Sangwoo dying together and...no. No no no. That’s too romanticized as well. And Bum being left alive while Sangwoo dies has this very...god I don’t even know how to explain. It’s not a happy ending. For me, there’s no vindication for it because I got to see just how deeply Sangwoo was suffering, which made it impossible for me to enjoy his death despite every incredibly shitty thing he has done. It was literally just...a masterpiece. One that showed just how, really, there are places on earth that truly have no hope and the suffering only ends with death.

I usually never like nihilistic stories like these. Like seriously, there’s a reason why I avoided Killing Stalking like the plague. But after so many stories where things have a happy ending just because they MUST, it doesn’t only get tiring, but destructive for me.

And Killing Stalking is special to me because instead of showing that everything was hopeless in the beginning just BECAUSE life is hopeless, period...it shows that things could’ve gone differently because Sangwoo and Bum were never truly without hope in the beginning. Sangwoo wasn’t a classic serial killer. Bum just needed better guidance. They just needed to be given a goddamn chance, like so many people in the world in general.

Instead of outright nihilism, it’s more in line with existentialism and that things reach the point of no return if nothing is changed. Or that if there are changes, it’s the type of change that makes things worse and doesn’t allow for healing.

Anyways, I don’t quite have all my thoughts on this together, so this is something I have to revisit once I’m done reading KS.

#chapter 9 #volume 1 #again this became too long #these two need to be less...just less gdi

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yuvon-writes-letters · 3 years

Note

Hey guys :)

Maybe I'm going chronological for one time, so I can sort my thoughts easier.

Yeah, Goldie's much mire active than I would've thought, too. But they did all those things to keep me alive and kind of save, since we still don't know who they are exactly working against. (I mean, we don't know who Goldie exactly is either, but you get my point)

Honestly, I am pretty sure the TSB timeline is continuing, at least if my theory that Goldie just set me back in an alternate timeline is true. In this case I feel sorry for TSB, though..Extremely sorry. He still was 'my' Jake back then, even though he acted weird in the end (maybe was manipulated by entities). I mean, if what he wrote was true he went with authorities. And in the end..this could've been his downfall.

And yeah, maybe I'm not exactly safe, but I just have to go back. If I go, and if I lose my job, I have some things to sort out. And Jake luckily agreed with me that clearing up my desk isn't the worst thing I can do before leaving. We're still thinking about a location, which I could luckily deside myself. Max agreed on that. Even though he still has some doubts. (I mean, of course...His cousin opened the door with bruises all over her face.) He did promise to not ask any questions until I feel ready, though. That gives myself and Jake some time to figure that out.

And also, Jake is right! We have three Jakes and three smart people. YUVON. And of course Goldie, like you said Yu :) And some information about the previous timeline. (And that was it with being chronological)

So yeah, like I said, Max and I'll go. And I also think we can be pretty certain now that the message came from Goldie not the MWAF (which is relieving). I saw the messages and they didn't make Jake the bad guy. I honestly just don't think I can quote them yet. (They're too good, but I probably start daydreaming if I do) But they talk about Jake being an important part of my life and my heart and Max protecting me when he cannot. My dear cousin jumped to conclusions when he saw my bruised face. About Max' phone...I'll probably throw it in a river or something if he brings it with him. I told him not to, also because of Jake (he's not only worried about the MWAF apparently...He didn't exactly say it out loud, but I think it's pretty obvious) but he loves this device.

And I emphasize with you about the being kidnapped thing, you'll manage it, I know it :) And if I need to jump dimensions and box some sense into your Crow-Crew xD

No but for real, you can do that. I know it :)

Jake, find a good point in time to talk to her. But do it :)

Otherwise, I still think the 'underlying desire' theory is a possibility! But, like always in the moment, we could be wrong.

As for my stasis, I really do not wish to talk to more people who think I've been kidnapped. And I am a bit scared that could somehow lead to either them or me being in more danger again. But for now we have to wait.

I for now will pack some important things and paper & pens xD I don't want to leave y'all behind :P

Liska🐾🔥

[A screenshot is glued to the back of the letter and the quick sentence "Jake wants to talk to Jake" is written above]

Hello Jake, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am not quite sure in which way Liska will handle giving you my message, but she promised me to not read it for now.

I don't know whether she told you before or not, but as far as I am concerned she realised I am not only worried about the MWAF chasing her.

With me breaking out of this stasis I am sure that my followers aren't that far behind. And I know you can't do anything from where you are, but cross checking way to protect her doesn't seem to bad to me. Especially since we are similar but still fairly different from each other. At least it seems like that from what I have read.

For my part, I recently improved and updated Nym-OS which allows me access to Liskas whereabouts. If Yuvon should read this, she knows and agrees to it.

Still I am yet stuck on one little detail: I am trying to help Nym-OS in counterattacking. So, even though I am sure you already knoe this yourself, Nym-OS gets the ability to access location of the people attacking Liskas phone. I am almost done with that, so we are able to see a bit easier if and where people are that could be a danger.

Do you have any other ideas for ways I could help? Or even improve what I am doing momentarily. I wouldn't normally ask this since I know and trust my skills, but I think that this is fairly different from a 'normal situation'.

~ Jake

Lis,

Um. I don't know if you've seen the newest person to send in a letter, but we now have an issue.

Jessy, if you're reading this, I was sort of trying to avoid talking about this right away but I'm sort of trapped in a weird place, and Jake's here too because I'm a dumbass. I did not, so you know, let him read your letter or my reply. I figured you wouldn't want that. Sorry for dancing around the issue earlier :/ But at least you can get a good sample of the complete insanity we go through on the regular now!

Yeah... you're getting thrown into the deep end right now, aren't you. Sorry. There's no way to ease into this. You should probably either stop reading these entirely or start reading the letters from the beginning, so this will all at least make some sense. The first letter should start with the words "To whoever reads this," just so you know you get the right one.

Back to you, Lis. Yeah, I feel pretty bad for TSB Jake too. I honestly can't imagine being in his position right now.

Alright. So, you can choose the place. Great! There's way less chance of you being caught that way...

Tragedies just seem to be happening to all us Duskwood detectives, recently, don't they? Rai is chronically overworked and barely has time to sleep, I'm stuck in this hellhole and I've been forgotten by most everyone, you were shot, and poor Matt died and... well.

I never knew him, but I feel really bad for him :(

You could give Max half the truth. Tell him you have a stalker, and he's starting to get physical. Jake has been trying to help you get away from the asshole. It's not even a lie, just... not the full truth. Because. You know. The whole truth is completely fucking insane.

Writing to Jessy just put into perspective how insane everything is, I think. Gimme a sec.

Oh, fuck. My Jessy just texted me. Great timing.

Jeez that whole thing with me leaving myself out was just a joke XD If I knew you and Jake would take it so seriously, I'd never have said anything. I'll steer clear from now on.

Yeah, okay, definitely Goldie. That makes way more sense. I don't think you have to be quite so drastic as destroying the phone. Just get him to leave it at home for the trip.

Ahaha, thanks. I don't think that's necessary, though. Actually, seeing future!Jessy's perspective has caused a bit of a paradigm shift. I think I might need to reconsider what all to tell and not to tell the Crow Crew. I just sort of default to keeping things secret, now, but you've seen how well that worked for me with you and Rai, and with Jake.

Again, you probably should wait for them to contact you first, but you WILL need to talk to them when that happens. What you say to them and what you don't is up to you.

Pack a couple different pens XD We're all a bit long-winded.

That's all from me :)

(The handwriting changes to Jake's.) Hallo, Lis.

Yuvon refuses to tell me what precisely she means about Jessica. Was she somehow contacted by an alternate version of Jessica? If so, how?

I am glad it was Goldie who contacted Max. Yuvon's suggestion for an excuse seems a good one, as there are far less things to remember that way. You simply need to oversimplify everything.

I do not, unfortunately, entirely believe that Yuvon was joking when she made that comment, based on previous comments and her ongoing guilt. I can't understand sometimes why she feels the need to lie so much. It is difficult for me to read people, much less her.

I will speak to her eventually. Early tomorrow, perhaps, if nothing else rears its head. Yuvon looks tired, and I am also admittedly not at my peak. I sincerely hope she does not wake up as early as she does every single day. It may get somewhat taxing, what with the lack of coffee here.

I think that is all from me to you, Lis. If you would kindly find a way to send the next section to my counterpart without looking at it, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you :)

—Jake and Yuvon

Jake,

It is a pleasure to meet you as well, despite the unusual circumstances.

That our pursuers may be freed from the stasis is a logical conclusion. Seeing as the last known location I had on them in my universe was approximately five hundred miles from Duskwood, they will likely be some of the first to free themselves from the stasis. I do not believe I need to warn you that time is of the essence.

It seems as if I am a small distance ahead of you in the development of countermeasures, perhaps because I have had more linear time to develop them. If you are where I think you are at in the development, you likely have or will soon hit a bug you cannot pin down that makes the pinpointing mechanism simply refuse to work at all. Presuming your and my version of NYM-0S are similar enough, the issue should lie in the public bool set in line 132 of the third part of the targeting script, the script that decides what constitutes a target; you have it defaulted to "false" where it should default to "true".

As for additional countermeasures: I was attempting to work on a rudimentary automated system of pattern detection when I was brought here. Essentially, its function would be such that it would be able to triangulate using the locator features already installed to find a rough estimate of where their headquarters might be. However, I have not found any way thus far to eliminate outliers, and as such the feature is currently next to useless. I am no longer able to work on the code, but perhaps you will have more luck than I did.

That is all I can think of for the moment on that subject. However, I have an odd theory on what may be part of the reason we vary so. If you have a moment to spare, please answer me this:

When I was very young, back when Mother was still around, she took me to a doctor for odd behaviors. This included not looking people in the eyes, but there was a list. I was given a diagnosis; if you had the same experience, you should likely know which one.

Did you have this experience? If so, please prove it by stating what the diagnosis was.

Do not worry if you do not know what I am talking about; I would rather you did not guess. Simply state that you don't know. It will confirm my theory.

Good luck with your pursuers.

—Jake

(The letter tucks itself in the paper clip with the others.)

#duskwood letter game #yuvon writes letters #duskwood #duskwood game #duskwood everbyte #duskwood jake #lis #this isn't precisely a puzzle #it's a genuine question on jake's end #you aren't expected to answer unless your jake is the same

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fortunatelylori · 5 years

Note

Love your analyses. (You are to Sanditon what jbuffyangel was to Arrow.) Question about 1x03, When Sidney asks Charlotte for “feedback,” her first question is why didn’t he help Tom more. When Sidney says it wasn’t fair. he’d done all he could, she says, ”Have you?” Did she inadvertently contribute to the demise of her own relationship? Sidney is a loyal brother, but he’s also already in love with Charlotte and, whether he realizes it or not, wants her approval.

Before we get started on the ask, I would like to thank everyone who has sent me messages or asks over the past few days. I really appreciate your guys’ interest in my blog and Sanditon opinions and it’s immensely satisfying to me to play a part in the growth of the very new Sanditon fandom.

I have many Sanditon related projects in the works at the moment, namely a new fanfic one shot that should be uploaded in the next couple of days, a very exciting meta that I think you’ll all love and I need to get started on my Christmas fic if I am to finish by the middle of December as I have announced. All of that in addition to my and Mrs. @kitten1618x ‘s Sanditioncreative blog which will be hosting the first Sanditon Christmas event this year.

All of this is to say that I might not be answering your questions as quickly as I would otherwise. If that happens, please don’t get discouraged! I will answer ALL asks eventually, whenever I find the time to work on them. To that end, I would also kindly ask all of you to please send your asks solely to my ask me anything inbox because if you send it via replies or private message, they will end up getting lost and I will forget to answer them.

Hope this works for everyone! Let’s get to the ask …

Oh, nonnie … I’m pretty sure you had no idea what you were getting yourself into when you sent this ask but strap in … because the time has finally come to talk about …

Tom THE WORST Parker

Leaving aside the torch and pitchfork party we’ve all thrown for Tom, I do think we should take a moment and give Kris Marshall a shout out for an outstanding job playing this character. Look at the desperation in his eyes, the strained smile, the implied pressure he is applying on his target (Sidney as per 90% of the time). He even does that annoying calling people over with your hand as if they were your dog thing that drives me nuts!

Fortunatelylori: Put the hand away, Tom, unless you want me to cut it off! Arghhh!!!

Now, you might rightly ask why we’re going to talk about Tom when your ask is about Charlotte and how she might have ended up sabotaging herself.

The thing to keep in mind is that Charlotte Heywood is our entry point into Sanditon. We are being introduced to this world and these characters through her eyes. So we are inclined to take her opinion on everything that is occurring as gospel. However, we should remember a few things about Charlotte: despite having excellent instincts and insight into people, she is still very much a young, inexperienced girl who has lived a very sheltered life. In addition to that, she is very kind hearted and a true romantic.

All of that makes her prone to having better opinions of people than she should at times. For example, she thinks Otis is “a good man who made one terrible mistake” because she doesn’t truly grasp the seriousness of his gambling addiction and because she feels that if he truly loves Georgiana then he can’t really be bad.

Her opinion of Tom is similar to that. Tom is, if not a nice man (he isn’t but we’ll get to that), he’s at the very least a pleasant one and that outward ease and friendliness makes her empathize with him.

On the other hand, her major issue with Sidney is her inability to figure him out and his desire to keep people at arm’s length:

Charlotte: You are determined to remain an outlier. God forbid you give something of yourself!

Sidney: Please do not presume to know my mind, Miss Heywood!

Charlotte: How can anyone know your mind? You take great pains to remain unknowable.

Again and again, she reproaches him for not being more involved with Georgiana, for not helping Tom, for trying to separate himself from those around him. And while there is truth to what she’s telling him, it also reveals that Charlotte can be easily taken in by people who display affection and/or involvement towards others, even if the cost of that is very steep.

She judges Sidney harshly for not behaving that way, while allowing Otis and Tom to get away with their bad behavior because they do involve themselves in people’s lives and give “proof” of caring and thus make Charlotte think they are inherently good people. However, what she fails to see is the selfish reasons behind those characters’ actions.

I did reblog a gif set of Charlotte telling Sidney to help Tom more and made the joke that she shot herself in the foot. But that was me joking and noting the dramatic irony that the writing employs.

The serious interpretation of Charlotte’s line isn’t that she unknowingly acted towards the demise of her own love story but rather that she completely misunderstood the dynamic of the Tom/Sidney relationship.

In her mind, it was Sidney who held all the power in his relationship with his brother, as the younger, more handsome, more successful sibling to the put upon and fate tested idealist Tom. As such, Sidney’s “refusal” to help him seemed petty and cruel to sweet angel Charlotte who is utterly fascinated by what Tom is doing in Sanditon

And by and large I think the viewers have also bought into that image of Tom and Sidney.

But I would like to propose a different interpretation:

There is no reason to assume that Sidney wasn’t helping Tom prior to Charlotte calling him on it. Why else would he have dragged Crowe and Babbington to the ball in episode 1? Why else was he getting his liver smashed in, boxing for their entertainment or playing at cards in the hotel restaurant? Why else would Tom talk about Sidney “profiting” from the success of Sandition if Sidney had not already invested in his brother’s project?

The problem isn’t that Sidney isn’t helping him. The problem is that Tom has an endless list of things he needs help with:

Sidney: At least this time I leave knowing you are in good heart. A new physician, a new regatta to plan. All is well with Tom Parker.

Tom: So it would seem … Oh, I say … I’m … I just wonder if while you’re in London you could stop by the bank for me and see if they might consider extending …

First he needs help attracting fashionable people to Sanditon. Sidney provides them. However, as he points out, there isn’t enough entertainment in Sanditon to make it worth their stay. I would suggest that’s Tom’s fault, not Sidney’s.

On that note, remember what Eliza said during the regatta:

Eliza: At the last regatta I attended, they raced Arab stallions. The one before that featured 18 clippers in full sail. But for sheer exhilaration what could compare to a sand castle competition?

Leaving aside that this is Eliza and we all hate her, what does this tell you about Tom and his understanding of his clientele? Because it seems to me he wants Sanditon to be the Regency’s version of Monaco while offering the quaint entertainment of whatever seaside resort your granny goes to.

He then reveals that he has financial troubles and needs money and eventually sends Sidney hat in hand to beg the banks for a loan. Sidney doesn’t want to do it at first because he knows there’s no point to it but because Charlotte made him feel guilty, he relents. The result is what he already knew: no more credit for Tom. This is Tom’s reaction:

Tom: No, no! That is not possible! Clearly you forgot to explain about the regatta. We are soon to be the most popular resort on the South Coast. Did you even mention Dr. Fuchs?

Sidney: Tom, I spoke to 3 different banks, at lenght. Not one of them is willing to extend your credit any further.

Tom: What do you suggest I do now, Sidney? What exactly do I do now?

Look at that violent, desperate reaction! That’s what emotional blackmail looks like. And that, my friends, is abuse. Because in one fell swoop Tom has not only put the blame on Sidney for something that is out of his control (Sidney can’t force the bank to give Tom money) but also put the eventual consequences Tom will face squarely on Sidney’s shoulders.

Also Tom decides to go buy necklaces for his wife instead of paying his workers. When they argue with him at the cricket match, he walks away in a fit, leaving Sidney, and Charlotte, to clean up the mess. It’s also up to Sidney to resolve the workers’ problems by “loaning” Tom the money to pay them. I’ve put loan between “” because one has to be truly naïve to think Tom would have ever paid that loan back.

I would suggest that Tom is an irresponsible, selfish man and a terrible businessman who doesn’t need help. What he needs is a business partner that will control his terrible decision making and handle all of the business aspects of Sanditon while Tom scribbles away at his architecture plans (plans that I suspect were mostly created by James Stringer and that Tom is taking credit for).

And on some level, I think, Sidney knows that as well, which is why he fights Tom’s desire to involve him in the running of Sanditon at every turn:

Sidney: I’m sorry but I have done everything you’ve asked of me, Tom. I’m not your keeper. I will gladly own my mistakes but I cannot own yours.

Oh, you sweet summer child …

I don’t think it’s Sidney’s dream to manage a seaside resort, not is it his responsibility. His brother is an adult who should be held accountable for his own actions. However, at the rate this story is going, running Sanditon while Tom gets all the credit for its success is exactly what Sidney will end up doing.

His reluctance to get more sucked into Tom’s schemes in the beginning, I think, has less to do with Sidney being a bad person or an outlier and more to do with knowing that once he relents, there will be no end to Tom’s demands on him and he will end up being his keeper for all eternity.

Episode 8 also reveals something very interesting about the entire Parker family: they are all enablers of Tom’s bullshit. Arthur is the first to offer up his inheritance on a silver platter, Diana refuses to let him blame himself and Mary is ready with a love declaration the moment Tom shades one crocodile tear.

Despite being the hardest one to crack out of all of them, Sidney is ultimately one more enabler to Tom. He hops on the first carriage to London and gives up his life in order to spare Tom prison time.

From where I’m sitting, the dynamic of these 2 brothers is the complete opposite from what Charlotte estimated. It is Tom that holds all the power and he and Sidney are involved in a toxic relationship that has been going on long before Charlotte ever met either one of them. Perhaps it started the moment Tom paid Sidney’s debts before he sailed to Antigua. Perhaps it started long before that.

However, I don’t think Charlotte’s intervention in episode 3 influenced Sidney’s final decision. What ultimately sealed the deal on that was the emotional blackmail Tom has been inflicting on Sidney for years, Tom’s expectation that everyone in his life do everything to service him and his family’s compliance with those wishes and, not least of it, Sidney’s lack of selflove that allowed him to prioritize his brother’s temporary stint in prison (he could have worked to pay off Tom’s debts over time; there’s no law that says Tom had to be in prison forever) over his own permanent misery.

I’m not sure this was the turn you were expecting my answer to take but I hope you found it useful nonetheless.

#sanditon #sidney parker #tom parker #charlotte heywood #my meta

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vaguely-concerned · 5 years

Text

empire of ivory here we go!

previous temeraire let’s read here

- um excuuuuse me I have waited two books for us to come back home to britain to see everyone again and now everything is awful and shitty and scary and my fave is leaving and nothing’s how it should be??? no??? this is unfair??????

- tharkay NO please don’t go everything provably goes to hell whenever you leave D:D:D:

(to be fair to him I guess it’s understandable to want some time alone to process the absolute outrageous bullshit he just pulled for a guy he’s known for like four months)

he used his page time well tho; instantly convincing roland of his worth and making her laugh... giving laurence his cup of tea b/c he looked like he needed it more... telling laurence that he’s leaving because he promised to do that much at least... truly the best boy, off to fetch more dragons apparently because it wasn’t quite crazy enough the first time

- god I love jane roland, I’m so glad my two faves got along instantly, between them they could... maybe protect laurence from himself? at least a little??? I can but dream

- I think this is the most emotionally invested I’ve been in a piece of media since that time I spent a few months completely incoherent over uncharted, and naughty dog very kindly held my heart in their hands and chose to be gentle with it in the end but I am not so sure that is how it’s going to be for this series and I am Not Prepared for the suffering

- I love whenever laurence thinks uncomfortably about one of the various and sundry atrocities committed by the government he’s still pledged all his loyalty to. yes william maybe the british empire... is in fact not good and has enough blood on their hands to dye the ocean red. I can’t wait until he connects the dots here (and presumably has a pretty intense crisis if faith about it because it seems like one of the loadbearing structures of his character... actually no wait I’m not ready to see this D:D:D:)

- the little details like the fact that he just calls bb!roland ‘emily’ and harcourt becomes ‘catherine’ so easily in his narration now are so so sweet

- lord allendale is one of those dudes who have good politics but is a shitheel to his family and I want to smack him

laurence being the mortified poster boy of this party, though? priceless, imagine coming up with a protagonist this effortlessly involuntarily hilarious, it’s the mark of true genius

- I don’t usually quibble over things like this, but I think the edit for this fourth book specifically is a bit lacking? I’ve come across a lot of mistakes even my dumb ass can pick up on already, and I’m only a hundred pages or so in

- caught between crying and cackling at this part b/c like laurence I’m d e v a s t a t e d at the thought of temeraire getting sick but also temeraire is just like cheerfully getting laid the whole time

also how did none of the aviators think to give laurence The Talk about giving his dragon The Talk, you all know what he’s like

- oh thank god

- I have spent half of today crying about dragons coughing, how are you this fine evening good reader

- btw this series fills a hole in my soul left by jkr giving me all those tantalizing hints of different types of dragons in ‘fantastic beasts’ and never following up on it

- tharkay may not be here but laurence just mentioned him like once in his narration so let’s take the excuse to reminisce about the good old days (when tharkay was here)... remember that time when the one of his own jokes he laughed openly at was about lawyers and laurence frankly should have responded better b/c it was kind of funny and sadly temeraire doesn’t have the worldly experience to know it yet.... aaah precious, he truly is a sardonic blessing to my heart and deserves the world

okay back to our regularly scheduled content

- riley why u gotta b such a bitch about this

(I love how laurence is constantly doubting himself over this tho, as if he’s done something wrong in this situation... like honey baby if there’s one thing worth breaking a friendship over it’s probably them being cool with slavery lol. it shows how much laurence has grown, considering that this disagreement has always existed between them but he used to be willing to just overlook it... I’m so proud of you laurence)

also lol @ berkely coming in to tell them everyone can hear them, I have a desperately soft spot for him and maximus. just the image of both of them turning to him ‘united in appalled indignation’ like ‘excuse you???’ and him giving exactly zero fucks... *chef kiss emoji*

- most important information revealed in this book: a) dragons are not widely considered to have committed original sin, thank you reverend erasmus and b) laurence has taken time out of his day at some point to worry about it b/c he’s a dork

(this is the sort of world building I am hopelessly weak to lol)

- gong su tricking temeraire into eating in the most melodramatic way possible... god bless you chef

- fkjhsadkjfhsdkjalhfaskjldhf laurence judging chenery for what he’s wearing while going out into the jungle in full uniform hat included himself... I caaaaan’t

- demane has only appeared on three pages so far but if anything happens to him I’ll kill everyone in this book and then myself

- ‘average dragon speaks one million languages’ factoid actualy statistical error. Temeraire Linguist Georg, who wants a pavilion thank you very much & learns over 10,000 languages each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted <3<3<3

(I love that temeraire is like... a nerd dragon with a hopelessly jock captain)

- laurence effortlessly rating the relative hotness of the other male aviators to try to suss out who harcourt has slept with fjsaldfhsdkljafh do you ever hear yourself think william

like this is the thing about him it’s so easy to headcanon him as bi b/c he can be so mindbogglingly oblivious it’s entirely possible he literally wouldn’t even have noticed until someone smacked him over the head with it

- see I’m very happy they found the cure but I don’t fucking trust it b/c the pattern of these books tends to be to give you one moment of ‘oh phew everything is going to be okay’ about 2/3 into the story and THEN everything goes to hell and fifty pages later laurence is dissociating and napoleon has conquered prussia

- THERE WE GO RIGHT ON SCHEDULE

temeraire is never going to let laurence go anywhere without him again and rightly so

- hasn’t mrs erasmus been through enough. can’t she just be allowed to chill

- this is really cool world building but I’m too stressed out to appreciate it

really enjoy the description of architecture tho this sounds so awesome

- sfahdfklsahdfksjda laurence making sure his clothes are as washed and presentable as possible... I can’t with you you beautiful idiot

- TEMERAIRE OH MY GOD IS HE HERE IS LAURENCE HALLUCINATING PLS SAY HE’S ACTUALLY HERE

- ...well I mean if anyone has a freudian excuse for being kind of dickish I guess it would be these guys? it’s actually pretty chill of them to only flog one of them (laurence, because he just can’t play it any way but stupid lawful good at every turn) and not just killing them all I guess, they kept them fed and stuff

- oh thank god

- temeraire you are the most darling dragon boy and I love you

I was really really worried for a moment there that the reference to the Colosseum was a not-so-subtle hint they would have to gladiator fight to the death but thankfully they were basically just calling in a parliament

- DID THIS MOTHERFUCKER JUST STAB A CHILD IN THE STOMACH?? I HOPE HE ACCIDENTALLY SHOOTS HIMSELF IN THE DICK AND DIES pls say demane is going to be okay

- aw okay finally something good for mrs erasmus I will take it

- laurence you useless fool of a narrator is demane okay??

- god roland is just so cool naomi novik really gave us a jovial butch silver fox aviator lady huh... she did that for us and I for one am full of gratitude

- oh thank GOD (hm I sense a running theme here lol) the kid is going to be okay I can breathe again

- iskierka the pirate captain + temeraire’s reaction... perfect

- ;____________; I would lay down my life for temeraire and also that’s a gutpunch of a moodswing... the perfect hilarity of ‘that is an ugly hill’ immediately followed by That... jesus

- awww every time volly shows up again is a joy (temrer!!!)

- laurence... laurence you need to stop asking people to marry you because you never actually really fucking mean it!!!!! have you learned nothing about yourself since book 1, trust your goddamn instincts for once in your life you and roland have been doing perfectly okay thus far as like... affectionate fuckbuddies right?

(her reaction was priceless tho god bless)

- aaaah there we go the british government is looking more like itself... welcome to the world of realpolitik laurence I’m really sorry :(

- “It is only dragons, you know” JANE ROLAND WTF DID YOU JUST SAY

- “This government is not of my party; my king is ill and mad; but still I am his subject. You have sworn no oath, but I have.” He paused. “I have given my word.”

:) this is... fine

(like. I know this is necessary character growth and he’s basically been a waste of a good man in service to a government like this the whole time and the writing’s been on the wall since book 1 but I don’t want this to be happening to hiiiiim)

- tfw... ur dragon boi is so good... that being anything less than good for him in turn is unthinkable...................... b o i

- ...jane doesn’t really know him very well if she didn’t see this coming from a mile off tho does she

I mean I guess she has other stuff to think about but this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone

- remember when he thought the entire corps was weird and now he’s finally at home there... and has to leave it behind :):):) super extra fine is what this is

- yeah okay laurence definitely has a crush on ol’ bonaparte noting that down lol he’s all but blushing after that kiss on the cheek

also... if you just overlook the dictator thing for a moment is napoleon wrong about what he’s saying tho. (no and not even laurence is prepared to say so he’s just going to go back there and get murdered anyway b/c idk lawful good is dumb as fuck sometimes I guess)

It’s really cool how the author shows that napoleon has a better handle on laurence’s psychology after barely meeting him than a lot of people he’s known for years now, though, really adds to his menace and appeal as a character

- wow uh that’s one way to end a book... it’s actually tipped over from tragedy into a strange sort of hilarity for me now: he literally got sued out of his life’s earnings for being a decent human being, committed treason for the same reason and is about to be hanged for thinking genocide might have been a step too far -- in the span of thirty pages. I believe ‘that escalated quickly’ is not too much of an exaggeration here

- SIPHO IS GONNA WRITE BOOKS ONE DAY YOU GUYS!!!! I PROUDLY WELCOME OUR SECOND NERD TO THE CREW

- I think this one might be my least favorite so far? not that I disliked it, it’s just the one that’s hit the worst by the fact that there’s not always that much time spent with the cultures central to the book; tswana seems really interesting but because of the way the plot played out and our limited perspective though laurence it just didn’t work for me? the cool shit comes in sipho’s book at the end, like how thoroughly they kicked the europeans out of the coast of africa, which is very cathartic (I will say that most of the second book being set on the ship and then only a sliver of it is actually in china annoyed me too haha)

I have the distinct feeling this book is setting up for some Misery and breaking of the pattern a bit in the next one though, which will be interesting! ONWARDS TO MORE PAIN AND LAURENCE IS ALREADY PASSIVELY SUICIDAL FROM THE OUTSET SO LIKE... I’M SURE THIS WILL BE REAL FUN :)

maybe my boy will be back tho? silver linings silver linings clinging to some silver linings

#temeraire #empire of ivory #meta

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sugarpinecrews · 6 years

Text

Okay, let’s go step-by-step through the Parker McGhghy death story. We all know the beginning ( end ? ) of the story — Cib breaks in, there’s a brutal fight, ‘Bell’ by the Chromatics is playing dramatically in the background. But what happened after that?

Note: this post contains heavy discussion of death, decomposition, funeral procedures, homicide procedures, and Disney. Read at your own risk.

First, let’s clarify the connections Parker had, in canon, to people outside of Steven’s circle. We have Jeremy and Andrew, roommates who were mysteriously absent that night, and we have a confirmed attachment to Disney. That’s right, Parker Plays was a canon thing in this universe (see: ‘The third wheel’, ‘This is why you shouldn’t fall in love.’ ). In ’What do we do with the body?’, James says they’ll make a big post, tell everyone that Parker “is working on a secret project”, that he “went to another country”, that “he told [Cib]” because they were friends, but he didn’t tell anyone else. We see Jeremy being asked to bury the body, but Andrew doesn’t learn about it until later. If James and the rest of the gang did in fact make that post, then that could shed a negative light on them once the truth comes out, but we’ll come back to that.

With that out of the way, we move on to the first attempt of a burial. Parker is buried in Jeremy’s backyard, and later, in ’Don’t listen to the news…’, it’s explained that a body was found outside of an apartment complex somewhere. The body is described as a young male between the ages of 20-25, with a cause of death being possible trauma to the head. Sound familiar? If it does, then that’s because you’ve seen the video before and know the rest of it; Jeremy tells SP7 that he told the authorities the body was Parker’s, and the reporter even says they’ve “[since] closed the investigation” and that they’ve “sent the body [for] an autopsy”. We aren’t told if Jeremy personally told them or if he attempted to do it anonymously, and we’re also not told if his death and his connections with Disney were ever matched up.

…and this is where things get a little tricky.

In ‘No More Jeremy.’, it’s explained that Parker was created by Jeremy, using goat DNA, soil, and a whole bunch of other weird ingredients. He defends that it was an “expensive product and [SP7] ruined it”. Since Parker was a “laboratory baby”, would he even be in any database or system at all? Would his DNA even exist as human? If the authorities could possibly ID the body using the usual methods, would that even work? We’re assuming that, despite Parker being man-made, he did still live a normal life ( presumably with Jeremy feeding him lies? Maybe fabricating an elaborate backstory for the guy? ). I mean, Parker is confirmed to work for Disney, and that may be just the loophole this plot needed…but let’s come back to that.

The body, anonymously or not, was revealed to the LAPD to be Parker’s, but we don’t know exactly what happens next. If Jeremy didn’t give his name or identity when giving this tip, then he wasn’t immediately attached to the body. If a body isn’t immediately claimed, then it’s held by the city for a certain amount of time until someone does claim it ( be it by a family member, a friend, etc. ). Usually it’s open to be claimed for a few days before the city makes a decision. If it’s not claimed in this time frame, it’s usually given away for science reasons, but that’s typically more applicable to fresher cadavers. Parker has been dead now for…two weeks? Three? So his body is not going to be super useful. If this is true, then the next step for unclaimed bodies is a trip to the local potter’s field. That’s called different things in different places, but the gist of it is this: a place where unclaimed cadavers are buried three deep, countless across in unmarked graves.

However, that adventure is reserved for human bodies only, and keep in mind that Parker was supposedly made from a whole lot of not human things. It’s entirely possible that, if DNA testing was applicable to the pile of skin and extremities presented to them, it would come back inconclusive ( which would be fucking weird, testing a dead dude’s body and getting back nothing but goat DNA and some dirt ). So if the body was said to be Parker’s, then really all they would have to go by is word of mouth on this one, especially considering standard testing isn’t working and the body is severely decayed at this point. Now. Remember what I said about unclaimed bodies? Yeah, forget all of that.

In ’Day of the dead dude.’, we see a real, official burial site, complete with a tombstone and some flowers. This means that, one way or another, the body was not only claimed, but someone also paid to have a proper burial of the deceased. Hell, someone was even visiting the site. So, regardless of whether or not Parker was a real person or not, the body was still claimed and buried properly. Of course, you can argue that maybe Jeremy buried the kid himself, maybe he didn’t get into contact with a funeral director or anything ( which would be pretty difficult considering the local authorities had, at one point, possession of the body ), but hey. This is Jeremy, he’s a constant outlier to those death standards. Remember what I said about Disney being a saving grace? About that message James said they would put out eventually coming back to haunt them?

In the aforementioned video, we get a good look at the tombstone, but we can really only see two things: part of the last name, and the death date. The latter, of course, is July 28th, 2017, and the last name, as most people on this site have already figured out, is probably ‘McGhghy’. If you watched Anti-Social, then you’ll remember the name, but if you didn’t, you probably don’t have any clue what I’m talking about right now. That, my dear reader, is the saving grace Steven Suptic prayed for every night: a last name for Parker is never said in Sugar Pine 7 canon. Never, in any video he was ever in or not in, is his last name ever spoken; now, we can assume, for simplicity’s sake, that he used his ‘real name’ when working with Disney — we can also assume that Jeremy is a sneaky little man who knows the ins and outs of aliases and alibis. So, although Parker (Coppins?) is a Disney boy who went missing, Parker McGhghy’s body was found brutally murdered outside of an apartment complex. With me so far?

With that in mind, let’s think back to what James said they would tell the world; “he’s working on a special project, he went to another country, he didn’t tell anyone”. That would sound shady if he was referencing, say, a Disney boy, maybe the star of Parker Plays, but Jeremy could easily ensure that Parker’s name and story were completely different in those two groups. Remember, we have confirmed evidence that the body was in fact decomposing at a semi-normal rate, which means that by the time the body is revealed to the public, it’s pretty fucking gross. Like, real bad. Bad to the point of it probably not being too recognizable if you didn’t really know the guy, and bad enough to where if someone claimed it was a certain Disney boy, you couldn’t really prove that statement true. Now, if a roommate solemnly claimed it to be that of his loving friend, Parker McGhghy…well, then that’s a little bit more believable. Especially if Jeremy, as we could probably expect, had an entire lifetime of details and information on Parker on the ready.

So. Parker (McGhghy) is presumably buried and given a proper service, though we aren’t sure exactly how much was spent on the ordeal. We can probably assume not much since, in ’Treasure hunt.’, it’s confirmed that Jeremy and Andrew lost their shared house. Either they went into debt without Parker’s end of the rent coming in, or they spent so much money on the burial that they went broke on their own — either way, Parker is buried, and either way, that body is in a box buried beneath some dirt. That’s a given fact, not counting Jeremy’s many variables: it’s nearly impossible to bury a body without an official of some sort involved, no matter the circumstances at play here. So Parker is put in a box and put in some dirt, buried at least a few feet deep. These boxes aren’t extremely air-tight, but they also are usually secured shut, meaning that if you woke up inside of it, you wouldn’t have much time before suffocation started to sink in.

Assuming Parker didn’t get reborn with super-strength, he would probably have a hard time pushing the top off of this thing…if it was secured shut. Knowing Jeremy’s connections and creepy persuasion, however, we can probably assume that it wasn’t. So Parker wakes up, shoves the top open, and has to literally dig his way up out of his own grave, all before he suffocates. The rest of the story — Cib resurrecting him with a demonic ritual, etc. — is totally up to interpretation and future videos, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.

#sugar pine 7 #sp7 #steven suptic #parker coppins #sp7 meta #❛ waving through a window. ❜ | meta analysis.

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blueboxesandtrafficcones · 7 years

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Written on Your Heart - Chapter 2

Soulmates AU where Rose is 12 and James (Ten) is 15.

Fic masterlist

Here’s chapter 2. @doctorroseprompts for soulmate au (and a Ten story)

Please welcome Sarah Jane! (And Jackie)

That night, Rose excused herself early to lock herself in her room and stare at her arm. By now, the earliest messages she and James had shared had been washed away, but most of it remained. She gently traced her nail over his words, and bit her lip nervously.

He was fifteen. To twelve year old Rose, that felt impossibly old, especially for someone she was meant to spend her life with. She knew rationally that most couples had an age gap, and three years was almost nothing, but he was right – at this point in their lives, it might as well have been centuries.

She’d mostly managed to convince herself that this was some cruel trick of the universe when she saw new writing appear.

Hi, Rose.

Her heart leapt, and she only considered ignoring it for a second before diving for a handful of pens, determined to figure out which would be best for writing to her soulmate.

Hi, James.

It was a long few moments before he replied.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent most of the afternoon staring at my arm, smiling like an idiot.

She didn’t hesitate. Me too. My mum thinks I’ve lost the plot.

Does she know?

No, haven’t told anyone. Too new – not ready to share. You?

No, though my aunt’s been giving me a strange look since she got home.

You live with your aunt?

Yeah. Parents died a few years ago. You?

Just me and Mum. Dad died when I was a baby. Sorry about your parents.

Thanks. You, too.

Where are you?

At home. You?

Same – I’m in London.

She held her breath, wondering where her soulmate lived.

Ealing.

Really? She managed to restrain from using an exclamation point as well, but couldn’t contain the bubble of happiness. She’d been prepared for something unreasonable, but Ealing wasn’t too far – technically, it was part of greater London.

Since my parents died. Any siblings?

Just me. You?

Half-sister. 20. Lives in Chiswick with her mum and grandfather.

Sorry. Are you close?

Were; she lived with us most of the time, didn’t get on with her mum. But Sarah’s my mum’s sister, so she went back to her mum and I went to Sarah.

Wish there was a better word than sorry.

It’s ok. We talk a lot – she drives to get me sometimes.

Rose felt her heart squeeze; somehow, she could feel the loneliness and grief radiating off him.

I wish I could give you a hug.

Me too.

Before Rose could reply, her mother stuck her head into her room.

“Rose, what are you doing? Why do you have ink all over your arms? Doesn’t matter – time for a shower. Now, missy.” Jackie gave her daughter a serious look when Rose didn’t immediately jump up.

“Ok, Mum.” She dutifully replied, not moving. Her mother didn’t leave, just stared at her, waiting.

“I’ll go in a minute – I have to finish something first.” That seemed to do the trick, as Jackie only gave her a five minute warning before pulling the door shut behind her.

I have to go.

Was it something I said?

No – my mum needs me to do something.

Ok. I was all that came through, and after a few seconds Rose gave up and started preparing to shower. By the time she was ready to head to the bathroom, the message had been completed.

I really enjoyed talking to you. Can we talk more tomorrow? I want to hear about you – feels like you already know my whole life story.

Rose smiled down at her arm, debating what to write. The decision was made when her mum shouted that her time was up.

Definitely more tomorrow. I enjoyed too. Good night!

Dropping the pen, she raced to the bathroom. She saw his final message when she leaned over to turn the water on.

Good night, love.

That night, she dreamed she was a princess, and James was a handsome prince come to sweep her off her feet and love her forever.

James made it about three days before his aunt figured out what was going on. The first Saturday since ‘meeting’ Rose, he shuffled down to the kitchen to find Sarah Jane seating at the table, reading the paper and drinking coffee.

“Good morning, sleepy head.” She greeted him brightly, carefully folding her paper and rising. “Can I make you some breakfast?”

“Uh, sure. Thanks.” He sank into his usual seat at the table, watching suspiciously as she bustled around, fixing him breakfast, an altogether unusual sight.

“So, how was your week? I feel like I’ve hardly seen you.” She started off. He tone was casual, but James was well aware how good of an investigative reporter she was; if he wasn’t careful, she’d know everything without him even realizing. He and Rose had not yet discussed whether they wanted people to know; until he knew her feelings, he figured better safe than sorry.

“Uh, been good. Busy. Lots of tests, you know.” He tried to relax, knowing Sarah had bloodhound-like instincts. Feeling a message come in from Rose, his hand instinctively twitched for a pen, but he managed to stop himself.

“Did you see Donna at all?”

He groaned with genuine remorse. “No. We texted a bit, but she started a new job for some bloke who said ‘secretary’ and meant ‘slave’. She’s miserable, cause he’s got her running around London with his dry cleaning and personal errands. The pay’s decent, though, so she’s hoping she may be able to move out within a couple of months.”

“You know she’s always welcome here. I’d love to have her join us – why, this house is so big, she could bring Wilf if she wanted!”

“I do, and so does she, but you know Sylvia’d never go for it, even if she is 20.” James reminded his aunt, who sneered at the mention.

There’d been a vicious battle when Sydney and Verity Noble had died. For as long as James could remember, Donna’d spent most of her time with her father, stepmother, and James. They’d died not long after Donna’s seventeenth birthday, and it had been presumed that the siblings would stay together. Despite Donna not technically being her sister’s daughter, Sarah had welcomed both children with open arms. However, Sylvia had put her foot down, and managed to win a long, drawn-out legal battle to bring Donna back to her.

Now, three years later, Sarah still despised any mention of her deceased brother-in-law’s ex-wife, and had Donna round for dinner at least once a week.

“Well, if I can help in any way…”

“I know, but you can remind her tonight if you want. She promised she’d be here.”

“Excellent.” Sarah said brusquely, setting James’ breakfast in front of him before returning to her seat.

“So,” she started once he’d taken his first bite, “what’s going on?”

He froze only momentarily, before continuing to eat and making a confused noise.

“Don’t make that noise at me, James David. What happened? Did you make contact with your soulmate?” She guessed shrewdly, and he put his fork down with a sigh. He’d tried, but he couldn’t very well lie to a direct question, could he? He rationalized to himself.

“I did. Wednesday. How’d you know?”

Sarah smirked at him, victorious. “Because that’s the only possible explanation for why your arm has been slowly covered in ink since you came down. Perhaps you should let them know you’re all right and will talk to them in a bit?”

James looked down at his arm to see she was right – there were a dozen messages from Rose now, the latest in all caps with multiple question marks. Grabbing a pen from the sideboard, he quickly scribbled I’m ok. Aunt knows. Talk ASAP.

An immediate ok followed by a small heart appeared, and he set down the pen with a relieved sigh.

“So, start at the beginning and leave nothing out.” Sarah leaned forward, waiting.

He began.

Fifteen minutes later, he was finished with the story, as well as his breakfast, and he sat back to watch his aunt process.

“So, soulmated. To a twelve year old girl who lives in London. And you haven’t met?” She asked for the third time, and James rolled his eyes.

“No, we haven’t. And we haven’t discussed it, either.”

“Do her parents know?”

“It’s just her and her mum – her dad died when she was a baby. And as far as I know, no. But, again, we haven’t talked about it.”

“So what exactly have you talked about?” Sarah asked. He shrugged.

“School, likes and dislikes, that sort of thing mostly. Some personal, and I’m certainly curious, I want to know everything about her, but – I know the age difference now is a lot more problematic than it will be in five years. I don’t want to do anything that could put her in harm’s way, or have her be judged or disparaged. I know I have responsibilities being the older one, and the guy, and – I’m her soulmate, Aunt Sarah. I’ll do anything to protect her.”

Frustrated, he ran his fingers through his hair, making it look wild. Surprisingly, when he looked up she was smiling at him.

“Well, I’m glad to see that you’re being reasonable and responsible. You’re right – as she’s twelve, and you’re fifteen, the… optics could be bad. I like that you’re already trying to take care of her.” She hesitated then, before adding carefully, “You do understand that you can’t meet in person until she’s eighteen, don’t you?”

It was an unwritten social taboo that you could not go looking for your soulmate if you had contact but not met before you were eighteen. This rule specifically applied to people with soulmarks like Rose’s and James’ – where you were in contact, able to share information about yourself, but had never met. Because soulmates could have a sizeable age gap, it was specifically done to protect children who were matched with adults.

Though the majority of soulmated couples felt as James did, with nothing but love and respect for their partner, there were always the few outliers who abused the power. Scientists were researching it, of course, but as it stood, no one knew what could make them snap.

Bearing all this in mind, James promised his aunt, “I do know, and I won’t try to. I know Rose and I need to discuss this sort of stuff, and we will, but I’ll make sure she understands as well. I’m sure she does though.”

Sarah nodded slowly. “I know this will be a long, difficult six years for you, James, trying to resist meeting her, and just know that I will always love and support you – and her, once she’s of age. You can talk to me any time, and know your confidences are safe with me. Just one last thing, then I’ll let you get back to talking to her. Have you thought about what, if anything, you’ll tell your sister?”

#bbatcfic #doctorroseprompts #ficandchips #Doctor Who #human!tenxrose #human!ten #rose tyler #Written On Your Heart #soulmates au

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coppermarigolds · 7 years

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Dear Yuletide Writer 2017

Hello Yuletide writer, and thank you in advance for whatever you write this year! This will be my eighth year in a row doing Yuletide. I can't believe it's been that long, but it really has become one of the highlights of my year. Here’s a bit of general information about my fic preferences that I hope will be helpful.

What I like: I typically prefer gen and/or het. Genre-wise, pretty much anything goes–angst, romance, fluff, humor, etc. More specifically, I love fics that dig into characters’ heads: what they’re thinking and feeling, what drives them, how they interact and react to the world around them, and so on. The same is true of relationships–what makes this pairing tick? Why are they together? And so on. I also love love love awesome female characters being awesome. That doesn’t have to mean being physically kickass, either. It could be anything from a witty line of banter to a thoughtful conversation to a creative problem-solving method, just to scratch the surface. I particularly enjoy female characters being assertive and taking charge in relationships.

What I’m not so into: Rape/non-con is my biggest squick. I would prefer for character death to be avoided if possible (unless the story deals with the ramifications of a canonical character death, of course). While I’m fine with an angsty story, I tend to stay away from extremely dark, punch-to-the-gut angst. I like my endings happy, or at least bittersweet and/or hopeful.

Fandom-specific notes:

Alpha Protocol, Mike Thorton and Mina Tang

I’ve been requesting this fandom for years, and by this point I’m pretty sure I will never actually match on it, but I keep trying out of some combination of tradition and stubbornness. Alpha Protocol is actually something of an outlier when it comes to my fandom/video game preferences: the lack of a female player character option and the allusions to real-world politics are usually pretty high up on my “meh” list, but for some reason, I’m still very fond of this game despite both of those things. I think something about the lone agent cut off from almost all support, but still trying desperately to save the world, strikes a chord with me.

For this fandom, I’d primarily enjoy a post-canon fic about what happens next. The variety of endings means there’s a lot of potential ways that could go down, but no matter what happens, I like to think Mike and Mina face it together. I know there are a hundred different options for everything in this game, but somehow whenever I play, I can’t seem to get my Mike to end up with anyone but Mina. I’m a big fan of friends/coworkers to lovers, and I enjoy the mutual respect and support they have for each other throughout the game (assuming you don’t play Mike as a total jackass, anyway :p).

The Expanse (TV), Fred Johnson and Drummer

For all I know, I might be entirely alone in this, but boy do I ever ship these two. It all started the moment Fred jokingly told Drummer to get him some coffee and she gave him that perfect look + hand gesture that told him exactly what she thought of that idea. From that moment on, I knew I was in love. That said, I would be perfectly happy with a gen fic about them as well, so please don't feel obligated to write anything shippy if you don't feel like it.

I'd love to read anything about these two, so I'm not picky, but here are a couple of potential ideas:

• Post-"Pyre" fic! Drummer basically got shot in the gut because she refused to betray Fred. That's some pretty hardcore loyalty to a man who inspires significant mistrust and even outright anger in a lot of people. Fred and Drummer clearly already know each other pretty well, but I feel like this episode presents even more significant bonding opportunities (especially in a shippy scenario), so I'd love a missing scene or coda fic.

• It bugs me that Drummer's never been given a first name in the show. I'd love some kind of explanation for this in fic. Presumably Fred knows her first name. Is there some reason it's seemingly never spoken aloud? Maybe she doesn't think it suits her, or maybe it's just an overabundance of professionalism, or maybe it's something deeper. Feel free to surprise me on this one!

Horizon Zero Dawn, Aloy and Erend

This game has been one of the highlights of my year. Aloy is such a breath of fresh air and I love her so much. She's wonderfully snarky and take-charge and doesn't let anyone talk down to her, but also struggles with the pain of abandonment and ostracism. She's one of those characters that I both relate to in some ways, and aspire to be more like her in other ways.

I also love Erend, and I ship him and Aloy like you wouldn't believe. Physically tough capable dude who is in utter awe of his warrior-goddess girlfriend is basically my shipping catnip. What I love most about their friendship in the game is that Erend admits he started out with the "hotshot guy talking to a pretty girl" mindset, but by the end of the game, he's recognized that Aloy's mission is bigger than him and he was just lucky to have met her as she went about her business. His lack of male entitlement and machismo is really refreshing.

Since there's no actual romance in the game itself, I'd naturally love a fic that delves into their relationship and takes it from friends to lovers (another of my favorite tropes). But if Aloy/Erend or shipfic isn't your thing and you'd prefer to keep it gen, I'm fine with that as well!

A couple more specific ideas (though please don't feel limited to these):

• One thing I wished the game would have explored more is Aloy's reaction to finding out she's a clone. After spending her whole life in search of her mother, discovering she technically didn't have one must have been a blow. But aside from a moment or two of shock and angst, the game doesn't really give her much time or space to process the revelation. Fortunately, fanfic can help with that! So, once HADES is defeated and the dust has settled, how does Aloy deal with the truth of her past? How does she feel about Elisabet? Does she tell Erend about any of this, and if so, how does he react?

• One of my favorite things in the game is finding the bits and pieces of files left behind by the "Old Ones"--i.e., us! I'd love to see a story with Aloy reacting to some of the ancient ruins and information she finds. Does she find them strange and confusing? Or do they help her feel closer to Elisabet?

• I definitely plan to play the DLC that's coming out next month (as of this writing), so if you come up with a fic idea based on that, feel free to write that as well!

Until Dawn, Jessica

Until Dawn is something of a fandom happy place for me (twisted, I know). It's one of those rare fandoms where I genuinely like and am interested in every single one of the characters. I would be happy to read about any or all of them, so feel free to include any of the other characters as you see fit, whether they were nominated for Yuletide or not.

I requested Jess because even though I love all the kids in this game, I have something of a special soft spot for her. I love that she's a little brash and willing to stand up for herself, but also self-aware enough to admit she struggles with insecurities. (My heart goes out to her in that moment, every time.)

A few potential story ideas (though again, please don't feel limited to these):

• As much as it hurts my soul, part of me is morbidly fascinated by the idea of Jess as the night's sole survivor, particularly because she has the least knowledge about what actually happened. She doesn't know anything about Josh's prank, the stranger on the mountain, or Hannah and Beth's ultimate fates. All she knows is that "there's something in the mines." After surviving a night of horror that mysteriously killed all her friends, how would she move forward? Would she struggle with survivor's guilt and/or PTSD? Would she attempt to figure out what exactly happened, or just try to put it all behind her and move on with her life? Would she ever figure out just who/what it was that attacked her?

• Since Jess spends half the game either dead or unconscious at the bottom of a mine shaft, we don't really see much of her relationships with the other kids aside from Mike and Emily. I'd love a story, either pre or post-canon, that expands on her relationship(s) with any of the other characters.

• Does she experience any guilt, either after the game or in the one-year interim after Hannah and Beth's disappearance, for being the one who came up with the idea for the prank on Hannah? How does she deal with it? Does it strain her relationships with any of her friends (including, and perhaps especially, Josh)?

I hope this letter gives you some ideas on where to start! I also typically have anon asks turned on here on Tumblr, so if you have any questions or need clarification on anything, feel free to drop me a line.

Happy writing and happy Yuletide!

#dear yuletide writer #yuletide 2017

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adambstingus · 5 years

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What is grey culture, precisely? Here’s what the stats say

Whiteness is hard to define, but apparently it involves lots of veggies, alcohol and the arts and reputations like Yoder

A few months after I moved to New York, a magical communication happened that would radically shift my psyche forever. I was telling my friend that I had gone to his favorite shop and he expected:” Who sufficed you? Was it the tall lily-white guy ?”

I frowned and replied,” Are the rest of the staff not grey ?” to which my friend responded” Huh? What do you necessitate? No. I was just describing him .”

While he strayed off to get a beer, I stood dumbfounded. This was the first time I had discovered a white person’s hasten used as a casual descriptor, a simple phase of differentiation in what I perceive to be a grey nature.

As a Brit, I grew up in a country that was 86% white-hot, so “white” was the norm. That kid you were seeing in volumes like Roald Dahl’s was lily-white, unless you were told otherwise( which you never were ). The males paraded on the TV appearance Crimewatch were described as black when they were black, and short or towering or thin or fat once they are white.

Now I live in the United States, countries around the world that is 61% grey. Non-whiteness is much more visible here, and abruptly the distinguish of whiteness is very. But I’m still struggling to constitute the shift from my previous mindset, where grey is the default, the presume, the baseline. You don’t notice normalcy; you consider the divergences from it. So the word “white” could ever be hop-skip over as an adjective.

Now, “white” still feels like an absence: an absence of colour, an is a lack of food that is “different” and an is a lack of a mum who enunciates your mention differently from the room your friends do. But if my friend can use “white” as an adjective, then what exactly are they describing? What is grey culture, exactly?

I decided to find out by expecting the questions that I and many other non-white people have been asked over and over again. I looked for answers in data.

Q: What do white people dine? A: Vegetables.

The US Department of Agriculture’s latest data been demonstrated that the average lily-white American eats 16 lb more vegetables at home each year than do non-white Americans( that could add up to 112 medium-sized carrots, 432 cherry-red tomatoes, or God knows how much kale ).

The only thing that white people are likely to adore more than vegetables is dairy. White Americans chew 185 lb of dairy produces at home each year, are comparable to exactly 106 lb for pitch-black Americans.

But this isn’t just the result of our desires: all of these numbers are influenced by structural parts. For instance, fruit and vegetable uptake increases each time that a new supermarket is lent near to someone’s home, according to a 2002 study . That same study too found that grey Americans are four times more likely than pitch-black Americans to live in a census tract that has a supermarket.

Q: What do white people drink? A: Alcohol.

Almost a third of non-Hispanic greys had at least one heavy drinking day in the past year, according to the CDC. Only 16% of black Americans and 24% of Hispanic Americans said the same.

If you’re wondering which drinks white people are boozing, then you have the same question as a unit of researchers who followed 2,171 girls from the time they were 11 years old to the time the issue is 18. As per year extended, the researchers “ve noticed that” compared to the black girls, white-hot girlfriends imbibe a lot more wine-coloured( and beer, actually, and, er, hearts, more ).

Q: What’s a typical white-hot name? A: Joseph Yoder.

The Census Bureau did an analysis of 270 million people‘s last names to find those that are most likely to be held by particular hastens or ethnicities. Yoder had not been able to the more common family name in the US- only about 45,000 parties have it- but, since 98.1% of those people are white-hot, it’s just ahead of Krueger and Mueller and Koch as the whitest last name in their respective countries. Which means that statistically speaking, the Yoders of America are maybe the least likely white people to marry someone of a different hasten to themselves.

The most common grey last names. Sketch: Mona Chalabi

The most common Hispanic last names. Instance: Mona Chalabi

The most common pitch-black last names. Illustration: Mona Chalabi

The most common Asian last names. Illustration: Mona Chalabi

Many of these last names have German and Jewish descents. Which seems to run counter to my ideology of lily-white culture being intangible- Jewish culture “re a long way from” it. Having experienced discrimination, and having a distinct, tangible culture is sufficient to potentially disqualify you as white, as some American Jewish beings themselves ask the question: ” Are Jews White ?”.

As for Joseph, well, the best data I could find was the most popular child refers rolled by the hasten or the ethnicity of the mother( no mention of the father so some of these Josephs are possibly mixed hasten ). Even then, the numbers are exclusively from New York and were collected from 2011 to 2014. Still, I found that the most common white appoints are Joseph, David, Michael, Jacob and Moshe( seven of the most common refers were male because people tend to be more creative when they’ve delivery a girl ).

Q: What do white people do for merriment? A: Enjoy the arts.

I turned to my esteemed colleague and friend Amanda and asked what she would like to know about white people. Amanda, herself a white person, replied:” Why do they affection guitars so much better ?” Alas, despite two hours of online research, I couldn’t experiment her speculation about musical instruments and hasten.( Although I did find out that bassoons are more popular with women than servicemen, which led me to a YouTube clip of the status of women playing the bassoon with specific comments that spoke” THIS is how you bassoon “. It built me laugh so difficult I had to take a break from preparing the present .)

Instead, I looked at the latest American Time Use Survey. It was published after the Bureau of Labor Statistics expected 10,500 beings in the US how they expend their experience. White beings are the only ethnic or ethnic group in the dataset to have a number higher than zero for time spent attending museums or the performing arts. It’s only 36 seconds, but recollect, this is a daily median, so that adds up to 219 times each year.

I double checked my findings against a 2015 report from the National Endowment for the Arts, which found that white-hot Americans were almost twice as likely as pitch-black or Hispanic Americans to have done at least one arts activity in the past year. Their definition of an artworks task was pretty broad- it included” jazz, classical music, opu, musical and non-musical plays, ballet, and visits to an art museum or gallery “.

Pondering leisure activities. Instance: Mona Chalabi

These counts feel closely connected to home. When I was growing up, my family never set foot inside a museum, gallery or theatre. Not once. I didn’t think it was strange, I exactly thought it was like tripping in duos or taking coaches- specific activities reserved only for school trips.

And yet, despite having better access to these institutions, it seems like it’s some white people who seem to feel culturally deprived.

Remember Amanda? I mentioned her earlier- she’s my colleague with the disdain for guitars. In 2015, she interviewed black psychologists to ask their mind about Rachel Dolezal, a white-hot professor who intentionally misrepresented herself as an African American.

Anita Thomas, an assistant professor of counseling psychology at Loyola University, said:” In some paths it’s normal, but not at her age .” Thomas explained that numerous lily-white teens reacted similarly to Dolezal, attempting to take on what the fuck is perceived to be the types of another race while exploring their identities. Being “the other” sure as hell has its downsides, but it is about to change that not being “the other” does too- especially if you’re a teen.

” For white[ American] youth, “whos” disconnected from European patrimony or gift, it often feels like whiteness as a idea is empty ,” Thomas added in a quotation that has really protruded with me. It seems to tie together some disparate conceptions I have had on “white” as an adjective.

Dolezal was treated as if she were a “bizarre” outlier, but she’s part of a much bigger structure of white action. It includes Mezz Mezzrow, the 1930 s jazz musician who affirmed himself a” voluntary Negro” after marrying a black both women and selling marijuana. It includes the millions of white-hot Americans who take DNA tests and proudly reveal that they are in fact x percentage non -white. And it’s a structure that includes the grey Americans who listen to a” rights for whites” album that includes sungs designation Sons of Israel and Fetch the Noose. One reaction might seem ludicrous, the other frightening, but they are all eventually about meeting a concept of whiteness that isn’t empty.

But what does all that searching yield? I’m not sure I can answer the issues to” what is white culture ?” but I’m certain we should try. If whiteness takes no chassis, then the concrete organizations that shaped it( and often benefit from it) remain invisible very- the supermarkets, the unions, and the museums that stir these numbers what they are. If the “somethingness” of grey culture is never quite pinned down, it remains both” good-for-nothing, certainly” and” well, everything “.

If white culture remains vague, then it can lay claim to every recipe, every garment, every suggestion “thats really not” explicitly “non-white”. That would mean that my identity is just a summing-up, that my “non-whiteness” can only be understood as a subtraction from the totality of “whiteness”. I refuse to be a remainder.

This article will be published in the March edition of The Smudge .

Do you have conceives on white-hot culture? We want to hear them! Please leave a comment below or email me at mona.chalabi @theguardian. com .

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/what-is-white-culture-exactly-heres-what-the-stats-say/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/182730797017

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throwingideasatthewall · 3 years

Text

Clone Wars Episode 17

Blue Shadow Virus

Inter- sting

[Title Scene]

[Quote: Fear is the disease, Hope is the only cure

Acc oun tab- Okay

Battle Droids

Narrator is on point again

Uhm

Wasn’t This Estab -lished

I’ve already given my thoughts on the ‘peaceful planets’ thing

Need to be more accountable

Neat Looks. Cool

High Alert.

When is it not?

What’s with the look?

It wouldn’t matter so much...

Nvm

Just weirds me out a little

Also, yeah, she is a senator now

Aha

That makes A Lot Of Sense

Mean- while

Even graver threat

Aight

Okay

This is what we’re doing

My lady

That’s a different look

[Was is expecting her normal uniform or her handmaidens thing; It works; just confused About the protocol

If it’s a separate planet do you wear the handmaiden (robe) thing?

But then the senator...

[i’m just really curious about clothing]

Only the three

Okay,

That makes sense

I was about to say...

‘Amidala kicks ass but I don’t think she’s the one you wanna have fighting in the war,’

I really like this character, they got her tone more so right

Clearly knowing she could fix the problem but deciding to blame someone else

In a ‘make someone else deal with it’ gesture (Even if it is a little wobbled)

Liking it a lot better

Then the Pho- quasi- Adult Thing

Amidala unfortunately Borders Close To

With the I’m -an- adult- but- not- accountable

Which No if she’s an adult; She is accountable and therefore an enabler

Not Cute

A few battle droids won’t be enough

Yeah, no, duh, it’s a war Queen saw a few battle droids and flipped out

That’s a scouts sighted in the area report and that’s it

Also this is what I’m talking about

Right there was an up swell in music

To portray innocence

When in reality it should probably be something a bit more somber, bit more struggling ‘do I want to conscientiously, enable this?’ Instead of ‘this is new and surprising information!’ Generally speaking, her tone and the music are bit too light

Could use more base

Can’t make me feel for Enabler Amidala (if she is supposed to be an adult)

(If they were going for child soldier then the opposite is true; it needs to be a lot lighter, to denote innocence

And the dialogue really needs to be altered

(Sorry I went on a rant there About her chara cter it’s just been bothering Me for quite some time)

Just... don’t do quasi-adult; it’s creepy

On with the story;

Captain Ty -phoo

Also Jar Jar Binks is here

Who knows

Well I didn’t really cover the last review he was in

It wasn’t character saving

But they did show pro-

Aight, This doctor bot is everywhere

Must be always on call

[I know. there might be millions of copies of him But this one seems relatively sentient and the model looks relatively ineffectual)

(Not to mention grievous’s medical droid..)

The personality is at least very convincingly. programmed

Retrieve any information

Why is the Med droid here?

Like... I know he’s a droid ....

�� Does no one have a different model droid?

Some thing a little less clanky?

....

They did a relatively good job

Like a pod for maybe the venting system armor, being off (Possibly)

I don’t know what I’m looking at

He looks completely fine

(Looks like he should be standing about now)

I mean maybe it was a headshot

But I haven’t seen that yet

But all the date isn’t stored in the head, right?

Robots aren’t human beings

(Except for general grievous)

He’s a noticeable outlier

Aight

Ha, he is acting more accountable

Like an actual sentient creature

Whelp

Also, see there’s not even a scratch on him!

Queenie Here

was over reacting!

I don’t think they could’ve brought him back

(In better shape)

Like seriously what did they use?

Electric?

water?

(Did she want them to read them their rights?)

Also, that’s fair

I mean that’s like an apple sitting on the table

Still acting like a relatively accountable character

(I still have no idea what generation he falls in, But that’s a constantly reoccurring. problem, Not limited to his character?)

....

You brought a bot to witness a bot autopsy

Cruel

(Treat your roombas with respect)

Permission denied

Dick

Well

Also that bug is going to be the one that carries the virus isn’t it?

Like, I held my tongue earlier

But there is a lot of focus being put on that bug

So what Jar-Jar is the cure?

Also shouldn’t the others leave?

Emotional Manipulation

(Yeah I know these are robots and they technically signed up for War)

But...geez

If...this scene doesn’t wanna make you hug you nearby roomba

Medical Heroics

Whelp

That Sucks..

Off

Secret

Geez

Dick

Off

Also, That does kinda sense for a child To Do

Whelp

Dick

Also you just got back from the dead but now he’s dead, for good?

....

Yeah if you killed me multiple times...

Sorry,

Wow well he really does act like a child

They got the download eye-movement, ‘ Feel bad gesture Really Well

(Shame they can’t do it for the rest of the characters)

After

...

It does really make sense

Including his awkward reflection

I really like what they’re doing with Jar-Jar this episode

Though it begs to differ for how old is he compared to the Senator? I thought he Padme and Anakin were somewhere around the same age group

(And you can say this is stupid because he was clearly older than Anakin in the movie, but things get ret-conn ed And he wasn’t acting like a child)

And Ahsoka’s generation was another entirely Where that puts him, I don’t know

Since I’m going with them going with adults for Anakin and Padme (Given the initiative) Despite this means that the chancellor can’t groom him

If he’s an adult

He can make his own decisions

And while it is a very weird decision to skip over the 22nd birthday

It’s not forbidden

Just Weird

(Hope they don’t try to play it off as Anakin being victim of circumstance, after all the initiative and free will he Shows)

Oof

[generally speaking I really liked what they did with Jar-Jar’s character, I felt that what they did with the beetle and the bot transition was very smooth, [even if there is no mud on that bot], I just really think they did a good job using Jar-Jar’s character for plot importance, making his character more consistent, And that the writing team for this episode was just very good]

“ I think Jar-jar just figured out where that lab,”

I mean he did help providing, information

But you were the one that put it together

Still seems to be a child and therefore can’t do that

[otherwise I have to break out the unchildlike]

“They’re planning an attack on Naboo,”

No shit

Seriously

Do you think the scouting droids were just for the scout for real estate? [Not to conquer] We will send two Jedi,”

Oh- so...

Seriously is it never not them?

Like is there ever a time he says I’ll send two Jedi

And it’s just like Mace Windu and Luminara?

Like you know you’re getting those assholes

Especially Obi-wan Who seems to be esteemed bitch of the council

Like he always gets thrown at the problems and he never ever does anything

And they just seem to do it for shits and giggles Like, “are you going to do anything interesting this time will Obi-wan?”

[Not questioning core conventions]

Oh gosh, please no love triangle

[or I guess maybe it’s ok since they’re both adults, but please no Quasi tone]

Please

For the life of me...

“ General Kenobi and General Skywalker,”

Like seriously is it ever someone else?

[Alt. ‘No, sorry we can only interest you in a Windu,”]

[ Seriously when ever...

Relations with a Gungans are a little tense right now

Okay, that makes a little sense

Also Shouldn’t the Queen be doing some thing?

Like I know Amidala is from around here

But She seems to be able to date on the most recent news

The thing with the Gungans could’ve calmed down by now by the time they got there

Send them we will

I want as much information as possible

‘You didn’t ask this before’

You just started calling shots

Which is fine

It’s just a little weird with Queenie sitting right there

Maybe get them some virus gear

That seems pretty important

[Like...

I don’t think they said anything about the virus..]

Which is kind of a big deal

Download any of the other. battle droids memory

Oh yeah you only checked one

Also, you should go to the Senate?

Wasn’t that the whole purpose?

Also - to keep people up-to-date in case shit happens?

Are you sure that’s wise?

He’s right it is a stupid plan

If you want to be a scout - sure

But you’re not really made for hard-to-hard combat

[and should probably bring some kind of virus protection gear]

Because you know some bullshit could go down

[though I acknowledged it is a bit complete of a jump given that most of the warfare we’ve seen so far has been combat-to-combat, ship-to-ship, hand-to-hand, In biological warfare [against your own species] Is a horrific escalation We need to bring this man down before he kills our entire species

[Which he has proven wanton to do]

And their reaction is completely understandable

Given that the species has likely never heard (/seen biological warfare)

And might not even know that you can engineer a virus

(Or illness)

Depending how idealistic this little village was before this

Come on Jar-Jar

Oh neat

Also yeah bring the child along with you

“Enabling power of love,” Doesn’t excuse actually enabling child soldiers

Weird Out fit

The tick bugs are also a bit kind of weird

But, alright

Inventive

Whelp

Okay

WTF

Illnesses

Then again it has been leaked for quite a while

Don’t think just rubbing your hands off will help

Also, so the Gungans are definitely dead ,right?

They live in water presumably where this stream is going...

Water...

It’s not a pretty picture

Poor Here

Also, so that the whole river is polluted right?

Aight, Go tell someone...

Oh, hey they were smart

Off

Came across the exact same area?

I thought...

I thought they were just going to see like a bunch of angry farmers and put together the pieces

Like, ok, time to head back to the Senate and get bigger reinforcements, * didn’t like only two of them drink?

Not that many

Or cut off the pollution Plague

Wait you knew there was a plague??

We’re not just gonna skip over that...

Like, I would’ve gone with some asshole dumped pollutants in the water and now we got to kick his ass

Like we went from a parenthetical virus

To...

The plague

That shit takes time and a lot of enabling...?

And, also we went to murder real quick

Like that farmer has a pitchfork and is ready to kill

In like... five minutes

Shouldn’t you be petitioning a council right now?

Or deciding to nope right out of society

Like; That’s what I would do

Bullshit’s happening outside you stay inside

Whelp

What the heck, Lady?!

You literally attacked someone for wearing a different color shirt!

(Because remember they live right next to air walkers, and they been their neighbors for like ever]

Whelp, Shit

“Whatcha thinking,”

Exactly

That’s my thoughts

Like regardless of what situation you’re into

That kind of thinking is never first to rational thoughts

She was just down to body someone regardless of who they are

And you can’t make me believe her the victim

Like... Tox lady

Tox

Whelp

Okay ‘Day

Lady you pounced on someone wearing a helmet

Might’ve been a fashion statement

Might’ve their life support system

(Because, remember, this is a galaxy with multiple different ways is that regularly visit each other on different basis,)

Like I’m not gonna right First Contact rules here

But if that was Plo he’d be dead

Because not all species are adapted to other environments

And you can’t colonizers place and make it hospitable because there’s like other life

So, yeah you could’ve murdered someone!

Just dick move lady

That was just a generally dick move

Water

Why didn’t you just say that instead of attempting to body them?

Like I will never get over how much of a dick move that was

(Like that episode with Kid Fisto)

(Such a dick !)

What

You’re just believing a random person...

Like she could be a separatist spy

Trying to kill you

(Like we know she isn’t but seriously)

Wtf

Peppe Bow

Well, Peppe you just attempted to body a senator...

How do you even know that they’re her animals?

You just got here

All you know that she tried to body you

[i’ll get over the bodying thing]

but seriously not cool

“Mesa Take you,”

“No,”

Yeah like that’s a bad idea

Like should’ve send a warning up to the whole colony and world idea

Like, seriously, Amidala, shouldn’t you call someone about that?

“Peppe, you’ll be going home soon,”

Wait she can’t even go home?

Like, seriously, how bad is the situation?

How Tox is it?

Theed

Dude...

What if she doesn’t live in Theed?

Like, does Amidala just have a photographic memory of everyone’s names and facial structure, including the Gungans?

Because she’s making a lot of assumptions

And is why assumed authority doesn’t work

Aka

Amidala being pretty tox

Like that’s a presumed adult you’re taking authority of it Amidala

I’m pretty sure she knows not to run towards the tox...

Nodded

Well this got dark...

Anything out of the ordinary

Whelp

Lel-lants

Levilance?

Leverance (leverage?)

And seriously what was with that camera zoom

Escort our guests inside

Why?

[like I know he’s the Mad science archetype, and where this is headed, but like that is a really stupid move

Like she has no idea where your hideout is So just, invite her in,

Weird Not Of The Question Weird

Seriously the Separtist are just a bunch of war crimes

Aight

Jar-Jar is just the lord of all conveniences

Okay, new plan, you got the entrance, grab some guards, come back, beat the shit out of them

* I know I’m doing the all for accountability and beat the shit out of the asshole yourself but A) Amidala hasn’t an experience any of this bullshit and there’s crossed into severity ‘I’m going to kill all humanity’ territory

I don’t blame Amidala for her innocence

Because this is becoming one of those ‘immediate accountability situations’

Good job

I really have no idea how to react to a virus situation to be quite honest

Like how tox...

Seriously how did you not hear that?

Play the victim

Then possibly fecking shoot him (Thinking smart, not accountably)

Nope

...

Dude (Not to shame,) But I think he is a swamp creature

I mean - we don’t see anyone else that looks like him

He’s out Of nowhere

He doesn’t seem Kamooin (Long neck) But he doesn’t seem quite .... Human

Life

Aight

How

Oh, He’s a polite creatin of mass destruction planning to destroy all life, and literally the most toxic

A demonstration is in order

Uhm, no

No thank you

Dude, you just removed the whole force field for one vial?

That is a disaster waiting to happen?

Like you obviously shouldn’t fuck around with things like that

- the past

- what’s beneath the earth’s core

- Earth’s waste products

- human body

- Toxicity (in general)

“The return of the infamous blue...”

Wait, infamous...?

This shit has happened before??

“Blue shadow virus,”

Well if it’s happened before then you can easily kick it’s ass

*like I know the implication is that he modified it

But only in a toxic society would that work...

Extinct

So you use accountable practices to kill it

So it isn’t a threat

Ago

I have given it life

Tox

(The actions

not the storytelling)

Like you literally enable this just because he wanted to screw over humanity (Sentience?)

Humanity on Naboo?

It’s a bit weird because I don’t think Earth is ever brought up

(Which is good for suspension)

Taking life

He’s.... trying

But... Again

If.....everything had separate water and food and General Accountability Practices...

“Poison The Gun-gan Water...”

So, we’re just going to acknowledge that right?

Like they’re screwed?

“Yeahyeahyeahyeah”

Wtf..?

Am I having a stroke...?

What... the.. fuck...?

(It sounds like a SpongeBob laugh)

Heck....?

Yes...?

Un-fortunately What?

....

Improved

Dude

Are you trying to get everyone .. dead?

(Like I know that’s the point...)

But.... ....

Don’t

Okay, going full mad scientist with the lightning

Nice

Air-born strain

Oh, my god there were multiple problems with that

But, mainly don’t play god

Like lightning can cause shit

But...it shouldn’t

Like, just don’t commit war crimes

Specifically against your fellow man

Because shit tends to happen when you do

(Unpredictable]

Bombs

Last

Geez that bot reacts worse than general grievous ’s

Who is actually quite nice to his bots when the episode doesn’t demand it

WtF, did you do to the roomba?

Seriously, we went from 1 to 10 on the scale

From Yoda and Sidious throwing airplanes at each other

To intentional biological warfare

[Break up was rough]

[Sidious is tox]

[Yoda isn’t helping]

“ are you insane?”

No he’s malicious

... and you’re an enabler

Come on kick his ass

Like, not innocent here If he can make it, you can destroy it. (Pretty Much)

Immediate accountability is hecking up my vibe

But you’ve seen the shit kill

And know that he caused it

(Like no one gets brought into a secret lab and thinks ‘oh yeah this is a good situation’)

So, like it is accountability, on sight

And you’re failing

“ no life forms are immune to it,”

Then it would’ve killed everyone

Like this this is a little bullshit

Like not only do you live on the planet

Having some degree of compatibility with it

But...

Also wildly different compatibilities and biology

Secondly, eradicated

If there’s a problem, there’s likely a solution right over the corner

Also hey there’s a cure so no problem

Murdered

No, she’s right, eradicating

A life form that can’t produce positivity (Or has the structure to produce productivity without the assistance of others)

Aka; difference between Toxic and non-sentient /Affable Evil sentient

And the difference between nonsentient and affable evil

It’s some kind of non-essential logic

Meaning it is capable of thought processes that don’t involve eating and or doing (basic maintenance Survival)

That shit isn’t alive

Tox

Okay

Poor Guy

Bunny eared bot

Superior Life Forms Are Spreading Their Disease

Dude... Who seriously gets hit with this shit and doesn’t think I’m going to go take a bath?

Or you know behave cautiously

(Seriously as noted this requires everyone to be an idiot)

And a dick

(More Specifically]

Wipe out the galaxy

As awful as it seems, he is doing this maliciously

So I try to (avoid) using the word “Idiot,” Because a better description is Unaccountable, Toxic, Or Malicious

(I don’t let people out of accountability that easily)

Like; no one is innocent in the circumstance

(Even though he’s the most toxic)

Amidala should be snarking while doing it

Because if everyone is accountable and doesn’t enable this bullshit, It can’t go that far

What?

Beautiful

Beautiful shot

Sun composition

And texture

Very Nice

They really did a good job

Also hey there’s now

Also I’ll say what I do with Ahsoka -

Please let her be good

*with everyone else there’s room for doubt

But with her they specifically call her youngling

*and I’m just gonna have to assume everyone else is badly written

*Excluding Jar-jar because that was very clearly Operated And Managed - Not to - Just have him be a walking disaster pile

Aight

Where’s Senator Amidala?

.....?

And you let her go....?

He has a point....

Not really...

Assumed authority is bullshit

But in terms of the story

And Amidala position as just a senator Enabler

And Anakin it is either being really tox...

Or...

Peppe Bow

She still here?

Are you keeping the girl hostage?

Also yeah ‘I tried to attack-

*slice*

I don’t see this conversation going well

Specifically When Tox

‘They’

Seriously, no one is questioning the sick maker?

Like, I don’t think they mentioned that in their report?

Also yeah she brought the child with her

[Amidala- Enabler-]

“ You got it master!”

Again with the enthusiasm

They’ve clearly never seen a child in a classroom

(Or bothered to use the memory of being a child)

Why didn’t you send someone to look for them?

Again, Toxic?

Or, replication of tox orders (with too heavy a tone?)

I don’t know

And neither does the music

Here’s the thing; you can’t make me feel for enablers

Here’s the thing I like about grievous;

Particularly my favor ite episode;

Notice how they never betray him as a good guy?

Like there was any validity to him turning over?

And the theme well it had updrifts, never completely lightened up, with this flow -ery Non Sense? Yeah he got shit thrown at him

And I admit To “Aww -ing A few Times- - But I never questioned the validity of the fact Or had any doubts that it was of his own making

Here I’m constantly doubting my emotions to the circumstance

Which is not a good thing

When writing a good and consistent story .... For me to be wondering the age of the characters ..... Because context clues should key me in ..... Meanwhile we’ve been through (almost) Monotone Anakin to voiced-by an adult, acting

Acting like what I don’t know

Remaining (squarely) in the realm of I-don’t-know What the fuck they’re doing

Hoping that they aren’t going for the pho- “Teenager”

“This is how they talk like”

When no child or adult Has ever talked like that ever

Which is disturbing when this is supposed to be a “love story” (No I won’t touch that with a 50 foot pole)

And leaves me questioning how I should feel about scenes like this

As a possible allegory for the over sexualization of children

Or a show or Anakin becoming a toxic individual and a toxic adult (partner)

I don’t know (Possibly bad writing) Back to the story

“What latest developments?”

You seriously Didn’t tell them about The Virus??

Dude Obi-wan’s bringing his (possible) child And Anakin’s Definite Child Apprentice - Those Don’t have a lot of defenses against tox

Seriously Dude

(Dick Move)

On Everyone’s part

“Robo anatomy,”

Is that seriously what you’re calling it

Like they literally brought him back to life?

To kill him again

That’s rough Also who’s managing coms with Padme?

Like she clearly made a sound when she was kidnapped right?

Who is that?

Dude, seriously the command droid didn’t see this shit but the basic clanker got it When all that’s left of him is a head

Do you know this could’ve been a really good call back to the previous episode and an improvement on that Intel bit I mocked Un-miercilessly (Stairs) But it’s just nonsensical here

What is a shame because it would make so much more sense (emotionally) and (physically For the lower ranked Clanker on the emergency table to be a bit stunned, about giving a speech

- And showing us a sur-prise amount of intelligence

While the severed head Would hold more intelligence as the commander

I just.... have a lot of feelings

And, am a little... disappointed

I like the Roombas...

On with the story...

“Nerro Vindi, the senior medic for the para-families,”

Oof

“Ten years ago,”

Any more specifics?

Or did he just wandered into the woods On his own free will?

Wait, Where are you getting the transmission

And why aren’t you sending a rescue party?

Or going to remove the bombs

Or going to inform someone?

Or going to fix the clearly broken architectural of your entire place if this is a threat to you?

Like, seriously captain of guard

Do something!

You could’ve had an intel guy tell this information

“Plague,”

Oh so having terrible architecture that allows this to go any father isn’t just -is a galaxy wide problem

Great

Good to know I never have to worry about those fuckers

“There is some good news”

You fixed your arch-

(I’ll stop roasting their architecture- For now-)

Found the Lab

Dude Just completely-

“Disappeared,”

Hold up

Let me rewind

Yep

That’s Amidala with a com device

[if anyone was wondering where the bullshitery lands;

It’s the fact that she could literally be transmitting this all straight to the base and her superiors (she put it in her pocket)

[Presumably still has it]

If there was an a questions about accountability

“Here, here and here,”

How?

Never mind- she did ask them to do that

That’s-

fair logic

....

Okay

...... .....

“If,”

Seriously what is that voice?

Killed.... ....

....

Better to have one planet infected in the entire galaxy...

Aight

.....

Here

Whelp

Also yeah they didn’t give Ahsoka a map or any kind of instruction?

Great freakin mentors (They all shit but Especially)

Seriously- Just

Well she did help her down eventually

Also does it not have sound?

Okay

I would normally commentate about how they don’t report that back

But when it’s Ahsoka I just let my brain go numb

There’s no risk so why bother

“They’ll be here in a moment,”

Again, there was an insane maniac out there - who possibly kidnapped your “girlfriend” (Possibly) - and you’re just sitting here doing nothing?

[This could be a good saying about Aniken showing toxic traits but his tone is too light, I cannot tell,]

You aren’t even worried about Ahsoka?

You seem a bit on edge

Like un-childlike so

Or adult being toxic so?

Because the scene is holding him accountable to nothing

[if it was just plain toxicity He should be knowingly so....

And more on edge

.....

Hmmm

You know

Wish that had some weight

I’m better at hiding it

Anakin needs less snark and Obi-Wan needs more

[or they both need more]

I don’t know what they were going for in this scene

[or anything else with this character or tone]

Lab

Seriously, You waited for that

Do not attempt to get inside

‘We haven’t for the last hour,’

Like, seriously this is supposed to be intense, right?

‘Bunker Bomb,’

Whoa, movie I need you to differente The bombs - A little Better

What- Does this thing do? - Hatchet - - - “Rex and his men,”

Oh yeah

Where are they? C’mon

Oh, they’re here

“Anakin, Padme may be lost,”

A child...

Would not react (Would react With The Emotion-less Response Taught)

An Adult....

Wouldn’t worry Because another adult Could Handle It

A (Toxic) Adult;

Smug bastard that knows another adult could handle it but choses to be toxic anyway

Anakin;

Reactionary No confidence

?????

WHAT AM I-

.......

Anakin decide to go on the carrier

(For, no apparent reason)

And...

Aight, There Still There

Okay

Good for Her... ?

Right How

What?

Good for her

Was that a Bunker bomb?

[I’m confused]

Woah

Also that alarm is a lot more destructive than the actual explosion

Whelp

Breach

....

- -

He’s creepy

- -

Oh now he puts on the mask

After... all this bullshit

You’re still in the air?

Thought you would’ve been on the ground

In Case, he tried to escape

And Rex was supposed to be backing Ahsoka up

?????

[what is this plan?] .....

Why...didn’t you arrange an escort....

Like, She’s almost definitely going to get involved in the action now

Or is more likely to get caught in the cross-

Never-mind she’s an adult, she knows how to take care of herself

Aight, O’kday

Peppy is ready to put her skills of bodying people to use

The most terrif -ying

Whelp- Wait, Fighting’s already happening...

You got there five seconds ago...

HOW?!

What?!

Okay...

There are BOMBS in there

Obi-wan is overdramatic

And should have broken knees

From not slowing down the fall

Whelp

Skywalker Is Down For Death

[I wouldn’t recommend watching the scene if you have a fear of heights or falling!]

And he ends up with a spr-

Rex; Show Off [Intern-ally]

“it’s quiet in here,”

“looks like a Ahsoka,”

I love how he starts with Ahsoka Like Obi-Wan doesn’t matter

“’s, Distraction is working,”

Not a word to Obi-Wan

-we all know Obi-Wan didn’t do shit

The fact that the child soldier is more likely

How?

Alright

Bunny eared bullshit

Okay

The child soldiers are kicking more ass than Obi-wan

This is a problem in writing

Okay

“Padme”

Great to shot your weakness?

Die!

No! Not Jar-Jar!

His character has surprisingly grown on me

And he’s the only innocent party in this cir -cum-stance

Being chara- cter- ized As A Child

Padme can get out of that situation-

He can’t

Aww

Also - Obi-Wan is nowhere to be seen

Great Job

Anakin, Stall

Enablers

Room full of enablers

Okay... Whatever

What’s Obi-wan Up To

Ahsoka’s being an abomination of nature

Good...

Obi-Wan... actually decided to do something

Greaaat, Isn’t there a virus you’re supposed to be destroying?

Yeah, Okay

Also, Better Snark

Your child character shouldn’t be capable of the same amount of emotion as your adult character .... Great ...... He’s a smart Villain

Then again literally all the adults are fine

The only two characters we have to worry about are Jar-Jar And (Tech- nic ally) Ahsoka Who logically shouldn’t be able to get out of the situation

But she has broken that wall so many times it might as well be a free space on a bingo board a cardinal sins (of writing) the writers have committed

So I’m only worried about Jar-jar in this scene

A surprising turn, for some

Choice

“Killing you,”

HOW!

Seriously that should be an actually threatening moment, But it’s like if a kicked a puppy dog said it

Either Anakin should know those words and that’s the tragedy of the situation (Not the emotion of the situation which he shouldn’t have)

Adult;

That should be an actually terrifying situation ....

Going back to the General Grievous example;

Remember how I said I aw- that it elicited emotion Out of me?

It wasn’t because he was vulnerable (Though Chil-dren Circum-stance Can Elicit Said (Emotional) Response)

It was because the situation was bad And no one deserves bad Even though I acknowledge is one of his own making (And Liverance)

Here- I just shrug

If he’s an adult, that’s tox If he’s Child, then it’s un-childlike. (Un-adultlike Too)

But the narrative doesn’t commit to either

So, I don’t have any emotion

.....

Dude, seriously flatter him

He’s clearly the type of villain that gets distracted by flattery

Damn it Jar- Jar

He is the only one that big dramatic music better be playing for

Whelp-heck

.....

Ahahhhahaha

That clone...

Just...

Lightly.

TAPPED ....

[Re:watched; I don’t know why but for some reason the animation made it look like, dude, here just lightly tapped this droid’s shoulder and it [just] fell down and this other dude just fucking bodied both of them]

I don’t know why that just cracked me up

Good on whoever animated that

Made me laugh

On with it

Are you okay

[Of course she’s OK is Jar Jar, alright?]

[Romance Music]

Hmmmm, Ha

No- Just no-

If you can’t put in the effort to write accountable adult characters, movie,

You don’t get to have a romance scene

*You didn’t earn it

[accountably write adult characters, you can still portray toxic relationships,* If you do so accountably]

*Without narrative rom antici zation

[Cuts Away]

Thank You

Okay

Oh yeah she can definitely handle a tank

Ahsoka’s A Mary Sue

[I’ve already called Anakin this before I have no hesitation

Continuing on

Grab your blasters

Oh yeah screw getting the important person away from danger!

They wouldn’t be on the floor in the first place...

Also, hey where is Jar-jar?

(He was the only innocent party in this.)

S’up Aight

Also I’m surprise that Obi-Wan’s guys are orange I thought this theme would be blue

Blue eyes

Blue Temperament

(Chill)

Etc

Yes

Don’t speak-

Heck

There they went

“ Spoke too you soon,”

No shit - Sherlock

“Anakin,”

I guess - you didn’t- capture the doctor

“No Obi-Wan I rescued the very important prisoner which was ne -cessary,”

They could send her with the clones

But she could also take care of herself

So I was never really worried about her

* do you have the bombs*

His lips- Didn’t move

-The lip-synch

- [ The animation- Re-Watch,-]

Just didn’t work-

For that scene!

Bombs

Missing

There’s Jar-Jar

[“Master?”]

[Stops, in the hallway,]

DON’T stop in the hallway...!

....

Missing bomb

Yeah you should go upstairs and look for it

Or WARN your people!

[at least get the kids away from it!]

Vindi, bomb

Great

[that’s a good thing I wasn’t really paying attention to that]

Also great it’s an egg hunt for a bomb

Fun Times

Droid

Let’s move

[I was about to say who gave Ahsoka her own command?” But that’s Rex,]

Okay, Get It

Also, Wait-

Never-mind Amidala’s An Adult

[I was about to bring up a point that she should get her- clearance quarantine thing back, because the Jedi (adult) might have shields, but it doesn’t matter Either way

Also; that thing looks bigger than it looked in other scenes

Never- mind Might be the same

Good reaction

Put it somewhere safe

Then go beat the ever - loving crud out of him

[for the story, not for accountability]

Okay, Aight

Can someone not screw with the power to his ship

Aight

That works too...

Okay...

That’s wood Right

Okay, Poor Drones Clones

Hope they’re good at their jobs

Then again they do have helmets

....

There’s the thing

[Again Why would you follow]

Damn!

That’s toothless

but scary

Got It

Oh No

How did you not have a bomb diffuser on your team??.

What were-

There was no risk-

But still-

The logic

* Obi-wan does a Leap*

Drops vials

Well, crud

Don’t they have masks tho-

Also- no

Crud

So why can’t one Force dude just play catch?

- while the other-

-was it because Obi-wan wanted to show off?

- I think it was

Never mind

Crud

Body Him Peepe

How

Yes

Get Him

Whelp

Her skill came in use

Okay

His voice actor must be having a fucking day

(It sounds like a fun role)

...

Whelp

Good �� For Him

“Deactivated as well,”

That’s actually pretty funny

“ i’m ok too,”

Yeah he really didn’t care about you

Then, again, neither do I abomination

Cool Neat

Cool, so that episode

It’s very like the last one

“Hidden enemy”?

With a very clear gimmick

That one - spies

This one; the plague plot

Not with a lot of logic- (or the best set up) - if you focus on the main “gimmick,”, it works

- with minor animation issues that bug me

Unfortunately, unlike the other, This one doesn’t have the basis of a compelling character

- This one’s tone is too light

While the other’s tone was perfect, and matched the seriousness of the subject

And showed the tragedy of enabling a bad situation

(And elicit an emotional reaction from me)

While this one can’t even take himself seriously

And neither can I

0 notes

bountyofbeads · 5 years

Text

Waiting for Bolton: A Capital Speculates on What He Will Say https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/26/us/politics/bolton-trump-impeachment.html

Waiting for Bolton: A Capital Speculates on What He Will Say

As the House impeachment inquiry enters its second month, there may be no witness investigators want to question more than John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser.

By Peter Baker | Published October 26, 2019, 11:52 AM ET | New York Times | Posted October 26, 2019 |

WASHINGTON — The message that John R. Bolton, President Trump’s former national security adviser, sent supporters of his newly reopened political action committee last week raised as many questions as it answered in a capital consumed by impeachment.

Mr. Bolton implicitly criticized Mr. Trump’s foreign policy, declaring that “despite all the friendly notes and photo ops, North Korea isn’t our friend and never will be.” But he also wrote that the nation’s security “is under attack from within,” citing “radicalized Democrats.”

The conflicting signals were maddening. After either resigning or being fired last month depending on whose version is to be believed, is Mr. Bolton so estranged from Mr. Trump that he might provide damaging testimony to House investigators? Or does he share the president’s view of out-of-control Democrats pursuing an illegitimate impeachment out of partisan excess?

The question is more than academic. As the House inquiry enters its second month, there may be no one in Washington that investigators want to question more than Mr. Bolton. His name has come up repeatedly in testimony that has depicted him resisting Mr. Trump’s Ukraine pressure campaign and warning that Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, was a “hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up.”

But even as he has been at the center of the discussion during the impeachment inquiry, the outspoken former Fox News commentator has remained uncharacteristically silent. To Democrats who vilified him for years as an ultraconservative warmonger, suddenly Mr. Bolton has emerged as a much-sought witness who in the narrative they are assembling may have made a principled stand against Mr. Trump’s abuse of power to advance domestic political goals.

“What it says is this is not about competing Republican versus Democratic visions of American foreign policy,” said Representative Tom Malinowski, Democrat of New Jersey. “This is about whether our foreign policy should be made in the national interest or in the personal political interests of the president.”

It may take longer for investigators to find out. Mr. Bolton shares a lawyer with his former deputy and longtime ally, Charles M. Kupperman, who went to court on Friday to ask a judge to decide whether he should obey a House subpoena or a White House order to not testify. Mr. Bolton presumably might follow the same course.

If and when he does testify, Mr. Bolton appears positioned to answer fundamental questions surrounding the events that have led the president to the edge of impeachment. As the national security adviser, Mr. Bolton was charged with managing the government’s foreign policy apparatus. Yet Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani worked around Mr. Bolton to try to pressure Ukraine to investigate Democrats. At the same time, the president froze $391 million in American assistance to the former Soviet republic.

“According to the testimony given to Congress so far, Bolton was a central figure in trying to prevent any delay in releasing foreign aid to Ukraine,” said John Yoo, a University of Berkeley law school professor and senior Justice Department official under President George W. Bush. “I cannot see how any responsible investigation would not seek Bolton’s appearance.”

But he added that the White House would presumably “go to the mat” to fight any effort to interview Mr. Bolton. “If the White House were to fight the House impeachment on executive privilege grounds, Bolton would be the hill on which to die,” Mr. Yoo said. “The Trump White House could claim not just that the impeachment investigation is illegitimate, which is its current line of defense, but that it is defending the right of future presidents to have an effective White House and to conduct a successful foreign policy.”

A Yale-trained lawyer, Mr. Bolton brought years of experience when Mr. Trump made him his third national security adviser in March 2018. Mr. Bolton served in both the Justice Department, where he headed the civil division under President Ronald Reagan, and the State Department, where he was an assistant secretary of state under the first President George Bush and an under secretary of state and ambassador to the United Nations under the second Mr. Bush.

While Mr. Trump appreciated his firebrand style of politics on Fox News, Mr. Bolton saw his job as keeping Mr. Trump from making unwise deals with outlier states like North Korea or Iran, leading to friction. Mr. Bolton struggled with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for control of foreign policy and left just a day before Mr. Trump agreed to restore the frozen aid to Ukraine under pressure from Congress.

With his trademark bushy mustache and unapologetic conservative views, Mr. Bolton, 70, has built a following on the right, even flirting in the past with running for president himself. His political action committee has donated more than $1.5 million to candidates since 2014 and spent another $6 million to promote his policy views related to national security.

Since leaving Mr. Trump’s team last month, Mr. Bolton has already identified five Republican senators and congressmen for whom he plans to raise $50,000 each and, as reported by Bloomberg, sent out the solicitation email on Thursday that seemed to provide conflicting clues. He has also rejoined the Rhone Group, a private equity firm where he worked before the White House, and was spotted in South Korea in recent days talking with investors. And he is reportedly thinking about writing a book.

The combination of his pedigree and the possibility that he really does have incriminating information about Mr. Trump makes him a particularly appealing witness to Democrats. The prospect of one of the nation’s most visible foreign policy conservatives testifying against his former boss would, in their view, underscore the significance of Mr. Trump’s transgressions.

But some Democrats warn that they cannot be sure what he will say once he sits for an interview. “You just can’t work from assumptions,” said Representative Mike Quigley, Democrat of Illinois and a member of the House Intelligence Committee. “I don’t know what he had. I don’t know if he has value. I don’t know if he is willing to talk about it.”

The president’s defenders dismiss the idea that Mr. Bolton could hurt Mr. Trump. “I don’t care what Bolton says,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a close ally of the president’s, said on Fox News on Thursday. If the Ukrainians did not know the president had held up their aid when he was pressing them to investigate Democrats, Mr. Graham said, there is no impeachable offense. “You can’t have a crime unless you have a victim. There is no victim here.”

Democrats disagree with that logic, saying it can still be an impeachable offense to pressure a foreign power to provide dirt on a political opponent regardless of when the Ukrainians knew about the suspension of the assistance. Moreover, The New York Times, citing interviews and documents, reported that in fact word of the aid freeze had gotten to high-level Ukrainian officials by the first week in August, earlier than previously known.

Mr. Bolton has hired Charles J. Cooper, one of Washington’s best-known lawyers and a colleague and friend since the Reagan administration, when Mr. Cooper was an assistant attorney general. Mr. Cooper, whose firm’s motto is “victory or death,” also represented former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, another Trump adviser who fell out with the president.

According to testimony presented so far, Mr. Bolton bristled at efforts by Mr. Giuliani to bypass the national security process as he pressured Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and a conspiracy theory that Ukrainians, not Russians, intervened in the 2016 election, and did so to boost Democrats, not Republicans. Mr. Trump’s former homeland security adviser repeatedly told the president that the theory had been “completely debunked.”

Mr. Bolton met on July 10 with Ukrainian officials and Gordon D. Sondland, a political appointee serving as ambassador to the European Union, who was working with Mr. Giuliani and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, on the issue. When the investigations came up, Mr. Bolton grew so irritated that he abruptly ended the meeting, according to Fiona Hill, his former top Europe and Russia adviser.

Ms. Hill testified that Mr. Bolton told her to report what was going on to a White House lawyer. “I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up,” he told her to tell the lawyer. She also testified that, on an earlier occasion, Mr. Bolton said, “Giuliani’s a hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up.”

Mr. Bolton unsuccessfully sought to block Mr. Mulvaney’s effort to arrange an Oval Office visit in May by Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, an authoritarian leader whose criticism of Ukraine reinforced Mr. Trump’s already hostile views toward the country. Mr. Bolton likewise opposed the July 25 telephone call in which Mr. Trump pressed President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to “do us a favor” by investigating the 2016 conspiracy theory and Mr. Biden.

Mr. Bolton went to Ukraine on Aug. 27 to try to prepare for a meeting between the president and Mr. Zelensky that ultimately did not happen. While there, William B. Taylor Jr., the acting ambassador to Ukraine, said he raised his concerns about the frozen aid and Mr. Bolton recommended he send a cable to Mr. Pompeo.

But Mr. Mulvaney and Mr. Sondland have said that Mr. Bolton never brought any concerns about the Ukraine pressure campaign to them.

“I read that and I was surprised, because John Bolton never complained to me about it,” Mr. Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday” last weekend. “No one at N.S.C. ever complained to me about anything that was going on.”

Mr. Sondland testified that Mr. Bolton embraced their efforts during a conference call in June. “We went over the entire Ukraine strategy with Ambassador Bolton, who agreed with the strategy and signed off on it,” Mr. Sondland said. “Indeed, over the spring and summer of 2019, I received nothing but cordial responses from Ambassador Bolton and Dr. Hill.”

So now Mr. Bolton has been left in the middle, a key witness in the unfolding impeachment drama. His friend, Thomas M. Boyd, an assistant attorney general in the Reagan and Bush administrations, said Mr. Bolton understands his obligations to guard the confidentiality of communications with the president but will also be prepared to give his unvarnished views if it comes to it.

“I just don’t think that he’s in an awkward position at all,” said Mr. Boyd. “He’s very comfortable in his own skin and whatever decisions he’s made or plans to make, I’m sure he’s comfortable with them as well.”

Nicholas Fandos contributed reporting.

*********

U.S. House impeachment testimony resumes as court buoys Democrats

By David Morgan, Richard Cowan | Published October 26, 2019, 6:04 AM | Reuters | Posted October 26, 2019 |

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic-led impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump resumed on Saturday with testimony from a senior State Department official, a day after a federal judge buoyed the probe by dismissing Republican claims that it was illegitimate.

Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, met with the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees behind closed doors at the U.S. Capitol.

Lawmakers and staff held the first weekend deposition of the investigation, after Reeker’s testimony was postponed due to memorial events this week for the late Representative Elijah Cummings, who had played a lead role in the inquiry as chairman of the Oversight Committee.

Democrats claimed victory after a federal district court judge on Friday rejected a claim by Trump and his Republican allies that the process was illegitimate because the full House had not voted to authorize it.

The judge ordered the Trump administration to give the House Judiciary Committee secret material from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

The White House, citing the lack of an authorizing vote, had claimed the inquiry was “constitutionally invalid” and defied numerous congressional subpoenas for documents and testimony.

“The American people had another victory yesterday in the court decision validating not only the impeachment inquiry but the imperative that the administration stop stonewalling,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who is leading the inquiry, told Reuters.

But Republicans remained defiant. Representative Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said the ruling ignored historical precedents set by past impeachment inquiries and that he looked forward to “an expeditious appeal.”

FOCUS ON UKRAINE

At the heart of the inquiry is a July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading Democratic contender to face Trump in the 2020 election, and his son Hunter, who had been a director of a Ukrainian energy company.

The Trump administration was withholding $391 million in security assistance for Ukraine at the time, and investigators are looking into whether Trump improperly tied the release of the aid to getting Ukraine’s help in probing the Bidens.

William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, testified on Tuesday that Trump made the aid contingent on Zelenskiy announcing he would investigate the Bidens and a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, had meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

U.S. election law prohibits candidates from accepting foreign help in an election.

Trump denies wrongdoing. And, backed by his fellow Republicans in Congress, insists he is being treated unfairly.

Reeker, 54, a career diplomat whose portfolio includes Ukraine, is the latest on a growing list of current and former officials who have met with investigators despite the administration’s argument that the inquiry is invalid.

Among issues the committees are expected to explore with Reeker is Trump’s abrupt dismissal of Marie Yovanovitch in May as ambassador to Ukraine. According to emails given to congressional committees this month, Reeker sought to intervene when Trump supporters accused Yovanovitch of being disloyal to the president.

Another diplomat involved in those communications, George Kent, testified last week that he was told to “lie low” on Ukraine and instead defer to three of Trump’s political appointees. Yovanovitch has also testified, accusing the Trump administration of recalling her based on false claims.

The committees have scheduled several depositions for next week, all behind closed doors.

For Monday, they have called Charles Kupperman, a former deputy national security adviser to Trump, and on Tuesday, lawmakers expect Alexander Vindman, the White House National Security Council’s top expert on Ukraine.

Kathryn Wheelbarger, acting assistant secretary of defense for international security, is scheduled to appear on Wednesday, and Tim Morrison, a top White House adviser on Russia and Europe, is scheduled for Thursday.

Kupperman on Friday filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to determine whether he can testify. His lawyer said the judicial branch needs to weigh in on whether the president can block Kupperman and other White House officials from complying with congressional subpoenas.

Reporting by David Morgan and Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Writing by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Leslie Adler, Chizu Nomiyama and Daniel Wallis

*********

House Democrats get a legal victory in impeachment inquiry

By ERIC TUCKER | Published October 26, 2019 | AP | Posted October 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge has ordered the Justice Department to give the House secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, handing a victory to Democrats as they gather evidence for the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.

In a Friday ruling that also affirmed the legality of the impeachment inquiry itself, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ordered the department to turn over the materials by Oct. 30. A Justice Department spokeswoman said it was reviewing the decision. The administration can appeal.

The ruling in favor of the House Judiciary Committee comes as Democrats gather closed-door testimony from current and former government officials about the Trump administration's efforts to get Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden. The Mueller materials could reveal previously hidden details to lawmakers about Trump's actions during the 2016 election and become part of the impeachment push.

The material covered by Howell's order consists of redacted grand jury testimony mentioned in Mueller's report. The Justice Department says that information is the only piece of the document that key lawmakers have not had access to.

Democrats believe the still-redacted information could shed new light on key episodes of the investigation, including discussions Trump is reported to have had with associates about the release of stolen emails during the campaign and conversations about a 2016 Trump Tower meeting at which Trump's eldest son expected to receive damaging information about Hillary Clinton. The judge said the materials could help lawmakers as they decide which witnesses to call for an impeachment inquiry and what additional lines of investigation should be pursued.

In a 75-page ruling accompanying the order, Howell slashed through many of the administration's arguments for withholding materials from Congress, including the need for continued secrecy.

"The reality is that DOJ and the White House have been openly stonewalling the House's efforts to get information by subpoena and by agreement, and the White House has flatly stated that the Administration will not cooperate with congressional requests for information," Howell wrote.

While the Justice Department said it could not provide grand jury material under existing law, "DOJ is wrong," she wrote. And though the White House and its Republican allies argued impeachment is illegitimate without a formal vote, the judge said: "A House resolution has never, in fact, been required."

The judge also rejected the Justice Department's argument that impeachment does not qualify as a "judicial proceeding." That distinction matters because, though grand jury testimony is ordinarily secret, one exemption that allows it to be legally disclosed is in connection with a judicial proceeding.

"To the extent the House's role in the impeachment context is to investigate misconduct by the President and ascertain whether that conduct amounts to an impeachable offense warranting removal from office, the House performs a function somewhat akin to a grand jury," the judge wrote.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he was pleased by the ruling.

"The court's thoughtful ruling recognizes that our impeachment inquiry fully comports with the Constitution and thoroughly rejects the spurious White House claims to the contrary," Nadler said in a statement. "This grand jury information that the Administration has tried to block the House from seeing will be critical to our work."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the ruling was "another blow to President Trump's attempt to put himself above the law."

"This critical court ruling affirms Congress's authority to expose the truth for the American people. Most importantly, the Court recognized the House's right to obtain grand jury information pursuant to its impeachment inquiry," Pelosi said.

Justice Department lawyers argued against providing the materials at a hearing earlier this month. They pointed out that House Democrats already had significant evidence from Mueller's investigation, including copies of summaries of FBI witness interviews. But the judge said that information is no substitute for the actual grand jury testimony.

"To insure most effectively against being misled, HJC must have access to all essential pieces of testimony by witnesses, including testimony given under oath to the grand jury," Howell said, referring to the House Judiciary Committee.

"Additionally, for purposes of assessing and following up on the Mueller Report's conclusions, the full Report is needed: the grand jury material may offer unique insights, insights not contained in the rest of the Report, congressional testimony" or FBI reports, she added.

The Mueller report found insufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. It also examined multiple episodes in which Trump sought to thwart the investigation and pointedly determined that he could not be exonerated on obstruction of justice allegations.

*********

Diplomat who tried to quash smear campaign against colleague testifies in Trump impeachment inquiry

By Karoun Demirjian and Carol Morello |

Published October 26 at 11:00 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted October 26, 2019 |

Philip Reeker, a senior State Department official who tried to counteract a campaign of falsehoods that undermined the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, is testifying before House impeachment investigators Saturday.

He arrived at the Capitol shortly after 10:30 a.m., accompanied by his personal lawyer. According to an official working on the impeachment inquirer, Reeker gave his deposition under subpoena to get around an effort by the State Department to block him from appearing. Foreign Service officers are required to answer subpoenas issued by Congress.

Reeker, who heads the team of diplomats specializing in European affairs, is the latest Trump administration official scheduled to appear behind closed doors despite a White House edict that no government employees cooperate. Based on previously released accounts, he can be expected to provide a limited but critical piece of the backstory involving an informal endeavor to prod Ukrainian officials to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

In March, Reeker was selected as acting assistant secretary in charge of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. As head of the bureau that dealt with Ukraine, Reeker was nominally in charge of policy for the country. In reality, the policy was being steered by political appointees and by Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, according to previous testimony given during the impeachment probe.

A crisis was already brewing, in the form of rumors and conspiracy theories targeting Marie Yovanovitch, many being pushed by Giuliani. Highly regarded among her fellow diplomats, Yovanovitch was then the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv. State Department officials considered baseless the roiling questions being raised among conservative U.S. media about her loyalty and honesty. They began suggesting ways to defend her, both internally and publicly.

George Kent, the Reeker deputy overseeing Ukraine policy, warned in an email to colleagues that Yovanovitch was the victim of a “classic disinformation campaign.” Reeker passed along Kent’s concerns to David Hale, the third-highest ranking official at the State Department, and to T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, the closest confidant and longtime friend of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Their emails were provided to House investigators by the State Department’s inspector general.

Ultimately, the efforts were futile, and Yovanovitch was abruptly recalled. Reeker may be able to shed light on whether his appeals on her behalf reached Pompeo, and if so, how the secretary of state reacted. Pompeo has faced mounting criticism from State Department diplomats who contend he has not done enough to publicly defend Yovanovitch and their colleagues who are running up large legal bills due to the impeachment inquiry.

Like other diplomats who have testified before him, Reeker is a witness whose testimony will be difficult to assail. He is a career Foreign Service officer with a reputation for being apolitical, hard-working and professional. Colleagues say he is the type of leader whom junior Foreign Service officers turn to for career guidance. He has at times advised them to grab opportunities elsewhere, even when it was in his own interest for them to stay.

“He’s a workhorse, not a showboat,” said Daniel Fried, a former diplomat who resigned at the onset of the Trump administration. “He comes from the Masha Yovanovitch school of professionalism. He’s a capable, nice, relaxed guy, not at all stiff. And he’s utterly nonpartisan.”

Reeker joined the State Department in 1992. He signed up for the Foreign Service exam “on a lark” when he saw a flier for the test while attending the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University after graduating from Yale.

His did tours in Hungary and Macedonia, and was the U.S. consul general in Milan. He won wide praise for his public diplomacy, serving as the deputy to spokesman Richard Boucher under secretaries of state Madeleine Albright in the Clinton administration and Colin Powell under President George W. Bush. His work has been recognized with the Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Public Diplomacy, and with several State Department awards.

Boucher said Reeker was unflappable, even when Reeker was the sole person in town who could speak for the department when a crisis broke out somewhere in the world.

“He made the transition from a Democratic administration to a Republican one without any difficulty,” he said. “That’s because he’s fundamentally nonpartisan.”

Boucher said it was in keeping with his independence that Reeker would jump to alert the top officials on the seventh floor of the Truman Building that lies were being spread about Yovanovitch, a friend as well as a colleague.

“Masha is someone we all know, and we all think she is one of the best managers of people and policy we have in the State Department,” he said. “To hear her talked about in any other terms, the right thing to do is to stand up and say it’s wrong.”

The State Department ethos, particularly among officials tasked with explaining policy in public, is to stand up and speak the truth inside the building, instead of taking it public where it can become politicized. Reeker epitomized that ethos, according to friends and colleagues.

But as a career diplomat whose position was preceded by the adjective “acting,” Reeker may not have as much clout as the political appointee who preceded him.

“He’s done a good job,” said Fried. “But in this administration, if you’re not political, you don’t have a lot of juice. Now, all of the Ukraine team is under the knife.”

*********

The Impeachment Inquiry This Week in 6 Developments

Details of a quid pro quo. Enter the “Deep State.” Steve Bannon is back. Revenge of the Republicans. And more.

By Kaly Soto | Published October 26, 2019, 5:00 5:00 ET | New York Times | Posted October 26, 2019 |

More damning testimony. A Republican resistance emerges and so does the “Deep State.” Steve Bannon is back and so is Anonymous. So many developments ... so little time. It’s O.K., we’ll recap the week for you.

DAMNING TESTIMONY

The top American diplomat in Ukraine gave a vivid and impassioned account on Tuesday of how multiple senior administration officials told him that President Trump blocked security aid to Ukraine and refused to meet the country’s leader until he agreed to publicly pledge to investigate Mr. Trump’s political rivals.

In testimony to impeachment investigators delivered in defiance of State Department orders, the diplomat, William B. Taylor Jr., sketched out in remarkable detail a quid pro quo pressure campaign on Ukraine that Mr. Trump and his allies have long denied. He said the president sought to condition the entire United States relationship with Ukraine — including a $391 million aid package — on a promise that the country would publicly investigate Mr. Trump’s political rivals, including former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his family. His account implicated Mr. Trump, citing multiple sources inside the government.

Read Mr. Taylor’s opening statement.

6 Key Revelations of Taylor’s Opening Statement.

______

A REPUBLICAN RESISTANCE

It’s been a week of pushback by members of the Republican Party. On Wednesday, House Republicans staged a protest at the Capitol that delayed a crucial deposition in the impeachment inquiry. Chanting “Let us in! Let us in!” about two dozen members pushed past Capitol Police officers to enter the secure rooms of the House Intelligence Committee, where investigators have been conducting private interviews.

On Thursday, Senate Republicans introduced a resolution condemning the impeachment inquiry. Senior Republican aides said the resolution was not expected to come to the Senate floor for a vote until next week at the earliest.

The president also got some encouragement from Stephen K. Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, and other supporters and former aides. They have launched a new radio show from Mr. Bannon’s basement, called “War Room,” to help fight impeachment.

And finally, Mr. Trump has canceled subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post. Officials in the West Wing on Thursday announced that copies of the two papers would no longer be delivered to the White House. The administration is moving to force federal agencies to end their subscriptions, as well.

______

THE IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY IS ON, JUDGE SAYS

On Friday, a federal judge ruled that the House is legally engaged in an impeachment inquiry, delivering a major victory to House Democrats and undercutting arguments by President Trump and Republicans that the investigation is a sham. (Representative Adam Schiff, above, is among those leading the inquiry.)

The House Judiciary Committee is entitled to view secret grand jury evidence gathered by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, Judge Beryl A. Howell of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled in a 75-page opinion. Attorney General William P. Barr had withheld the material from lawmakers.

______

TRUMP’S War ON THE ‘DEEP STATE’ TURNS AGAINST HIM

Nameless, faceless and voiceless, the C.I.A. officer who first set off the impeachment inquiry seemed to be practically the embodiment of the “deep state” that the president has long accused of trying to take him down.

But over the last three weeks, the so-called deep state has emerged from the shadows in the form of real live government officials, who have defied a White House attempt to block cooperation with House impeachment investigators and provided evidence that largely backs up the whistle-blower. Here’s the warning letter received by one of the witnesses, Laura Cooper, the military’s Russia-Ukraine expert, before she testified.

Also worth noting: An anonymous Trump administration official who published a September 2018 essay in The New York Times, about the active resistance to the president’s agenda and behavior from within his own administration, will publish a book next month.

______

IN UKRAINE, A FORGOTTEN WAR

We traveled to the front lines of the war in Ukraine, a bare-bones fight against Russian-backed separatists. The war there has killed 13,000 people, put a large part of Ukraine under Russia’s control and dragged on for five years. It was almost forgotten by the outside world until it became a backdrop to the impeachment inquiry. Ukrainian soldiers on the front line were jolted when American military aid was suspended in July. While the aid was restored in time to prevent any military setbacks, it took a heavy psychological toll, they said, striking at their confidence that their backers in Washington stood solidly behind them.

The president and his allies have said that there was no quid pro quo with Ukraine because Ukrainian officials did not know military aid had been blocked, but word of the aid freeze had reached high-level officials there, according to interviews and documents.

______

IN COURT

One of the two indicted associates of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani tied the casease to the president himself, saying that some of the evidence gathered in the campaign-finance investigation could be subject to executive privilege. The argument was raised by a defense lawyer in federal court in Manhattan as the two associates, Lev Parnas, above, and Igor Fruman, pleaded not guilty to federal charges that they had made illegal campaign contributions to political candidates in the United States in exchange for potential influence.

*********

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thecoroutfitters · 5 years

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The Honest to Goodness Truth on What Does Base Mean in Math

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thrashermaxey · 6 years

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Ramblings: Shooting Percentage Outliers (Jan 30)

If you’re like me, you desperately want to see the All-Star draft return. It’s probably never coming back as the players hated it, but considering the NBA has started to dip their toes into the water we could see it sparked up again. My fresh idea to remove some of the angst of the players is that once the All-Stars are named, you have three captains who draft three teams’ worth of players. The leftovers are the fourth team. This way, you don’t have one player singled out. You have an entire team who could then band together. I’d bet the leftovers team would win more All-Star tournaments than not.

This idea only works now that they’ve moved to the 3-on-3 tournament style, which was a brilliant wrinkle. Bringing back the draft would kick it up one extra level and really help to market the players, but maybe this is just too counter to hockey culture.

I really enjoyed the wrinkle of the consecutive saves streak replacing the shootout challenge as it flipped the narrative towards the goaltenders and took pressure off the skaters, allowing them to be more creative. I still like the idea of having mic’d up celebrities tending goal against NHL shooters in a shootout challenge and really getting them to ham it up, but I wonder how long it would take for that gimmick to get old.

There are 12 players with at least 25 games played who are currently shooting 20% or higher. Last season six players pulled off that feat, and none of them are repeaters. In fact, since 2013-14 there have only been 14 players who have shot over 20% for a full season and only one of them shows up on that list twice: Paul Byron. The point being, these kinds of outliers don’t usually hold up over 82 games, and more scarcely do they pop up more than once. The list of players currently above 20% shooting:

Goals

SOG

SH%

Brett Connolly

30.2

Alexander Kerfoot

27.9

William Karlsson

101

26.7

Kevin Roy

23.1

Anders Lee

119

22.7

Sonny Milano

22.2

Mathieu Perreault

21.4

Jaden Schwartz

20.9

Matt Nieto

20.4

Yanni Gourde

20.2

Brad Marchand

104

20.2

Anthony Beauvillier

What the top three on this list are doing is ridiculous. You have to go back to 1994 and Cam Neely for the last time anyone with any kind of shot volume scored on over quarter of their shots. Peak Mike Ribeiro also had a 25% shooting season once, but generally this kind of shooting is a thing of the past. None of this is to say that these guys can’t continue to be productive, but a lesser version of said productivity should be expected going forward.

On the flip side, let’s look at players with at least 50 SOG shooting less than 5%:

Goals

SOG

SH%

Joel Eriksson Ek

1.4

Artturi Lehkonen

2.6

Max Domi

102

2.9

Ryan Callahan

2.9

Joakim Nordstrom

3.1

Jason Chimera

3.2

Sean Kuraly

3.2

Brendan Leipsic

3.3

Logan Shaw

3.3

Magnus Paajarvi

3.4

Derek MacKenzie

3.7

Boone Jenner

103

3.9

Tomas Plekanec

4.1

Carl Hagelin

4.1

Alex Iafallo

4.4

Colton Sissons

4.4

Charles Hudon

124

4.8

Zack Smith

4.8

Most of that list is predictable junk, but some of these players, particularly the top three are of real interest to fantasy owners. What in the hell happened to Domi who carries a career 10.2% shooting percentage? I know Lehkonen has been banged up, but how does a shooter that good fall off so steeply? Some of the players on this list should improve in the second half.

Filip Forsberg could be back as soon as tonight against Chicago. He practised yesterday with full contact. Make your lineup adjustments accordingly.

This could really help Ryan Johansen who has stumbled with just five points in 12 games since Christmas. I’ve discussed this before, but with Johansen’s game steering more and more towards playmaking he has become very volatile. Not only have you lost his shot volume, but he is also at the whims of his shooters, and outside of Forsberg, there aren’t too many above average shooters in this lineup.

Jacob Trouba will miss the next 6-8 weeks with an ankle injury. The first instinct is to pray for Connor Hellebuyck, but the Jets have been quite resilient in the face of injury having already lost a good deal of center depth with Mark Scheifele and Adam Lowry on the shelf. Eventually, however, you hit the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I am not sure if we are there yet as the Jets are one of the few teams with legitimate right-handed defenseman depth. Presumably, Tucker Poolman will draw in as a lineup regular. While Tyler Myers and Dustin Byfuglien will step into bigger minutes.

This could prove particularly beneficial for Byfuglien who has taken a real step backwards after having his minutes clipped by over four per game. The entirety of his loss in minutes has come from penalty kill and 5-on-5 use so it shouldn’t have impacted him that badly, but Byfuglien has had gripes about not playing as much as he’d like. I hope he’s ready.

The Jets also have a ton of cap space, organizational depth and their full complement of draft picks to play with if they want to dip into the rental market. They have generally been resistant to making big splashes, but did pull off the Evander Kane/Myers deal, along with some low-cost rentals in Jiri Tlusty and Lee Stempniak on the road to their last playoff run.

I’d argue that promoting internally is the best method for these guys to upgrade since Jack Roslovic is on the cusp, but playoff teams can never have too much depth. They are also still giving Matt Hendricks a regular shift so there is room for upgrades. Do they risk upsetting the apple cart too much if they push him out?

Some Avalanche updates:

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/Avalanche?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Avalanche</a> Varlamov full practice today could play on trip; Bernier in tomorrow; Barrie possible for tomorrow; Andrighetto and Barberio still ailing, staying home.</p>— Rick Sadowski (@RickS7) <a href="https://twitter.com/RickS7/status/958103232080789506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2018</a></blockquote>

Jonathan Bernier was the bee’s knees for a couple of weeks but has now lost two in a row. With Semyon Varlamov apparently close, you can probably jump out soon.

Tyson Barrie’s imminent return takes a bite out of Sam Girard, but the truth is that even with top PP usage Girard hasn’t been particularly relevant. He could take over full time if Barrie is trade, but remember that Cale Makar looms as the future here.

It sounds like John Gibson is ready to go after getting banged up before the All-Star break.

Amazingly, Victor Hedman will travel with Tampa Bay on their four-game road trip meaning he is likely to play at some point in the next week. Apparently, he has been out for three weeks already, but it seems like he has barely missed time. I suppose January was the month to miss. Between the bye week and the All-Star break he missed more games than he might have.

Mark Stone was placed on IR retroactive to January 20th, so he could return right away, but this looks like it’s going to be a bit of a guessing game.

Stone has been the only Senator who has avoided slumping yet this season so losing him is a big hit.

Jaromir Jagr has passed through waivers and is expected to be heading overseas.

In other Flames news, Michael Frolik appears to be back from injury. Frolik isn’t particularly fantasy relevant, but he is a massive upgrade on Troy Brouwer, which will help the shutdown line with Mikael Backlund and Matthew Tkachuk tilt the ice better.

Check out my latest fantasy hockey stock market piece.

Thanks for reading! You can follow me on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw.

from All About Sports http://www.dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-shooting-percentage-outliers-jan-30/

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