#purely because there's so much more resources available today

[concerningwolves]

Hi! I really like your blog and you have some much appreciated writing opinions to me. Apologies if this is not an allowed question but would you have any suggestions on what to keep in mind when writing a character with Russell Silver Syndrome? I have been doing my research but unfortunately as with many conditions most things I can find are based towards parents of children with and not adults who have it. Sorry if this is disruptive,Thank you for your lovely blog

oh man this question makes me so happy anon you have no idea. RSS/SRS representation!! Yes!!!

Writing a Character with Russell-Silver Syndrome/Silver-Russell Syndrome

Russell-Silver syndrome (RSS) is a rare condition associated with poor growth both before and after birth. Signs and symptoms vary and may include low birth weight, short stature, characteristic facial features, large head in relation to body size, body asymmetry, and feeding difficulties. Other features may include poor appetite, clinodactyly (curved finger), digestive system abnormalities, delayed development, and/or learning disabilities. The genetic causes of RSS are complex and relate to certain genes that control growth. — information on RSS from rarediseases.info.nih.gov

What this this answer will cover:

My experience with RSS and various thoughts on living with it

RSS in adults (+ adult characters)

Things to remember when writing any disabled character

Resources

My experiences with RSS and various thoughts about living with it

Russell-Silver syndrome has felt like a non-issue to me for a long time, but I'm realising now that that was only because so little was known about it. There was no molecular test when I was born so my diagnosis was purely clinical, (using "a checklist", as my dad always told me). Still, I've grown up under this... not quite a shadow, but definitely a pervasive awareness, that I had this rare disorder. It made every meeting with a new health professional that much more exhausting, because nobody ever knew what it was (and this is still a problem I have when explaining my health history to new doctors today). Either me or my parents would end up teaching doctors, and for a long time, we were working with outdated information because very little was available to us. Since I first got access to the internet in about year two at school, I've repeatedly sat down and searched for Russell-Silver Syndrome – and I've watched as, over the course of those last seventeen years or so, increasing amounts of information have appeared.

The increase in information is wonderful! It gives me hope! But growing up with this sense that there was something strange wrong with me was deeply alienating. I have a lot of grief about it.

What you say about not being able to find many sources for adults with the condition also raises a very important point: RSS literature focuses very heavily on symptoms in infants and children because that's when the condition is most "obvious" and/or when it has the most noticeable impact on a person's life. In other words, most information is written up to help parents cope with the extra needs that RSS kids have because of their condition. Infancy is also treated as a sort of golden period for clinical diagnosis, because individuals with RSS will usually lose the more obvious physical traits as they age.

Although RSS has a firm diagnostic criteria, it can look quite different between individuals. (I'd actually say it's fairly similar to autism in that respect). The term used for this is phenotype:

... a phenotype is all the physical characteristics and abnormalities found in an individual patient that are attributed specifically to RSS. Some individuals with RSS have many traits, thus a severe phenotype, while others have very few traits, thus a mild phenotype. → from the MAGIC Foundation's RSS page

I was an extremely ill baby. A lot of the medical problems I faced were linked to RSS, but I don't remember this on account of being, y'know, a baby. So, if you'd asked baby me for my opinion and if baby me were somehow able to answer and comprehend, I'd have said I had a severe phenotype. Now that I'm in my early twenties, I'm more inclined to say I have a mild phenotype – but as I'll explain, I'm no longer sure how true that is.

[Russell-Silver Syndrome in adults, basic disabled character guidelines, and resources below the cut]

Russell-Silver Syndrome in Adults (+ adult characters)

You can see in my childhood photographs the RSS-typical "triangular" face caused by a too-small jaw and large forehead, and slight facial asymmetry. I was chronically underweight until I got urgently referred to a dietician in like 2018, and my parents had an absolute nightmare of a time with feeding and making sure I ate enough when I was younger. I was still ordering toddler or child portions at restaurants well into into my early teen years because my appetite was so limited. I was also quite delayed in walking, speaking, and in development of motor skills, which are again typical of the condition.

Most of these traits don't affect me any more. The facial asymmetry and face shape are basically unnoticeable. I had surgery to remove four teeth, which fixed the overcrowding caused by the small jaw, and braces sorted out the rest. The dietician helped me learn how to make foods that were calorie-dense so I could get the nutrition I needed in smaller portions, and I'm now a good weight.m(The only part of the infant criteria that noticeably still affects my day-to-day life is the lack of appetite stuff, actually). I grew taller than the doctors expected me to, although I'm on the short-to-average end. I still have issues with balance and spatial awareness, but it's manageable. I've been in and out of physiotherapy and podiatry since I started walking. So, no, most of the RSS traits so common in infancy don't affect me now – but I'm still living with the condition, and it's taken a hell of a lot of treatment to get to where I am now. I honestly didn't realise how much until I started writing this answer!

Interestingly, the end of the MAGIC Foundation's RSS page has some information on RSS into adulthood, prefaced by this sentence: "Many people with Russell-Silver Syndrome (RSS) believe that once they reach their final adult height, their “RSS issues” are over." Other anecdotal evidence from other sources says the same thing. I would have once been inclined to agree, but my latest bout of reading up on RSS has taught me some interesting things. For example, there's overlap between autism and RSS! Or at least, according to the silverrussellsyndrome.org: "Some evidence indicates that there may be neurodevelopmental differences between the different genetic causes of SRS". Other sites state more explicitly that there's a link between RSS and Austism Spectrum Disorder, and research seems to still be ongoing, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

When I went to a chiropractor, he pointed out an issue with my jaw muscles and placement (? Couldn't quite hear what he said about that), and said this could be at least a partial cause for my chronic migraine. I explained about the RSS small jaw thing, and he nodded and said that made sense. Anecdotal evidence also now shows that many adults with RSS experience functional problems with muscles and their skeleton, including back pain – which sure goes a long way to explain the near-constant pain I get, as well as the fibromyalgia. Once again, research on this is ongoing.

There are also some health risks that adults with RSS are more likely to face. These include metabolic syndrome, hypertension, testicular cancer and gynaecological issues. It's stressed that not everyone with RSS will develop these; but some are more common and should be monitored for, as in the case of testicular cancer risk in RSS individuals whose testes didn't descend properly.

Your takeaway from this is that RSS in adult characters would be represented differently from the way it's described in children. Because the phenotype varies so much from person to person, my experiences are absolutely not universal. There may be people out there who've retained the asymmetry, for example, or those for whom the digestive/appetite issues are an even bigger problem. It would be so nice to see an adult character with RSS though, because it's not a condition that you outgrow – it's one where the condition seems to grow with you.

Things to remember when writing any disabled character

People are people: don't just think about the disability! We're more than that. Make sure your character has what any strong character should have (regardless of identity) – quirks, desires, motivation(s), some kind of conflict that affects the plot, their connection to other characters, etc.

Do your research: might feel slightly counter-intuitive to the first point, but it is important you know what you're writing about. I.e., does your character take medication or undergo treatment? Do they use accessibility aids of any kind? What accommodations do they need in day-to-day life? How does their disability impact said day-to-day life?

Reasonable limitations: it's okay to have a disabled character be, y'know, disabled. Sometimes they need help, or sometimes they'll need to assert boundaries or ask for accommodations. Sometimes they simply can't do something because they aren't able to. These are facts of a disabled existence. The crucial thing is to avoid framing the character consistently like a burden or a hindrance.

Inclusive worldbuilding: most relevant in SFF genres, but basically, if you're taking the time to do any degree of worldbuilding (be that a "real"-world urban fantasy environment or an entire invented continent with dragons), consider where disabled people fit in. Abled authors rarely, if ever, have to consider their place in the real world, so they rarely consider accommodations and accessibility features in their fantastical worlds. It's important to consider these things if you want to have well-rounded representation for disabled characters.

Listen to disabled voices: Ask disabled people, read/watch/listen to media created by disabled people, and remember that no one disability is a monolith. There may be a lot of nuance and debate within communities, but you can do your best by listening to the consensus and keeping an open-minded, good faith mindset.

This list ↑ is very much a TL;DR set of guidelines, but it's a good place to start. You'll find more information in the resources section below.

Resources:

In reference to your question, you might find my answer to this ask about including little-known conditions in fiction useful.

You'll find more discussions and guides in my disabled characters tag, my disabilities tag and my sensitivity & representation tag, as well as links to other resources.

The MAGIC Foundation – they have more in-site resources for RSS linked at the very bottom of the page

Silver Russell Syndrome Organisation – whole website dedicated to providing information about RSS

Diagnosis and Management of Silver–Russell Syndrome: First International Consensus Statement – This is a 2017 international consensus of research on RSS, condensed and simplified for general audiences. The original consensus is geared entirely towards medical professionals for treatment and research of the condition.

If anyone who has RSS wants to weigh in, please do!!

#russell-silver syndrome #silver-russell syndrome #disabled characters #writing advice #sensitivity & representation #disabilities #genetic disorders

[strategic-social-media]

Perspective & Prayer for Today

Hell is bankrupt. All that the Kingdom of Darkness does through their Babylon system on Earth is rape and pillage of all value, all resources. They are LOCUSTS. They devour, leaving nothing. They make DESOLATE. They make bankrupt at every level.

Heaven is not in scarcity. Heaven is prosperous and multiplying. Heaven is in LAVISH riches, because the true source of all VALUE — Jesus the Holy Son of God — reigns as King of Kings. We so much NEED Him, His life, His ways, His leadership, His Lordship, His Majesty, His perspective / values / heart — to INFUSE OUR LIVES in a fallen world.

As the Bible says, “Apart from Jesus, you can do Nothing. But as Jesus INFUSES you with HIS strength, you can do everything you need to do!” (paraphrase of John 15:5 & Philippians 4:13) Jesus is your life and your victory. Your resurrection POWER for overcoming all schemes of the enemy, to steal, kill and destroy.

We see this at the level of our bankrupt, greedy, banking systems. We see this that the education system is bankrupt of knowledge, and only have indoctrination and hellish propaganda. We see shithole cities. We see war and famine and persecution and collapse — all the trademarks of corruption and godlessness.

We see this everywhere in every Babylon system. Babylon is confusion and failure. It is desolation pretending to be glamorous — like some drag queen. When you SEE THROUGH the spell of Babylon over the mind, you realize it is FAKE goodness and it is disgusting.

We need Jesus, not just to save our soul so it can go be with Him forever in heaven… we need God’s power to BE A FORCE FOR GOOD in the here and now. Just as the fake religious leaders of Jesus’ day are still working their evil systems, their pretense of morality, their religious spirits TODAY. We need to overcome their striptease, their charade, through REAL LOVE. Sincere love. Unselfish love. Bold love. Courageous love. A love like Jesus showed us!

We have enemies who have studied how to distract and subvert us. They are expert at wooing us away from our first and TRUE LOVE in Jesus. It is not easy; it is a battle. But we fight FROM VICTORY. And we also overcome through the PULLING IN OF REALITY into the Babylon systems of illusion trying hard to get us to agree with them. Let us not be enticed and seduced by that which glitters, but is not pure gold.

We must RELY on Jesus, not our own understanding. Things are not as they seem. The wicked traffic in deception after deception. The wicked love to parade around AS IF their ways produce WINNERS. As if we should imitate, adore, worship, and ape them. But no, keep it real, keep it humble, Keep your eyes on Jesus Himself.

Jesus is the Pearl of Great Price (well his Kingdom is, to be specific). Jesus is the REAL value. The treasure that LASTS. Seek more closeness, more alignment with the PERSON of Jesus. Heaven is so drenched in wealth that it uses pure gold as road pavement.

Jesus did not die to give you the gold/riches of this physical and temporary world. He wants far better prosperity for you that that! He put his life AVAILABLE and INTO you to be a force for good — a representative of His own HEART of love and grace, in the face of a needy, deceived, broken, bankrupt and fallen world. Help Jesus, this day, as only YOU can!

Pray: “Jesus, give me a FRESH revelation of you. Give me discernment to see through and sort our between the false and the real. Give me strength and conviction and followthrough to do the right things that will not disappoint or produce bitter regret (like all the fakeness and bait of the Babylonian world will).

Show me, I pray, where I have curses on me. Where I have made semi-conscious AGREEMENTS with your enemy, and its kingdom, its ways, its values. Where the enemy has been at work in my life, let YOUR RESTORATION more than break forth, to Your Glory and my own FULLNESS of life, as is Your Will, Jesus.

Give me clarity and the conviction to BREAK ALL THESE AGREEMENTS with everything ugly that holds me back from Your GOOD WILL and glorious destiny, both today and forevermore. Show me and help me to desire as YOU desire, and pray as YOU would have me pray. I trust in You and the truth that You want my HEART WHOLE. Jesus, you want my whole heart healed and NOT ENTANGLED with lies, curses, evil strongholds, addictions and bondage to the dark one. Jesus, You are my life, my destiny and my present power to make love REAL. Help me love truth for You ARE truth. Help me to love HEROICALLY as you do!”

[overfedvenison]

I looked over the old Tau 3e codex, specifically on how Farsight Enclaves played as originally published Back in those days, Tau didn’t have specific Sept Abilities - Although different Septs were detailed. This meant Farsight, as an Independent Power, was one of the few ways to really play a different sort of Tau rules:

Since Farsight’s faction was small at this point, he had fewer resources. I’d heard it noted that he could not take Kroot a lot of the time, and while this is true it was not an anti-kroot bias but just because he was small didn’t have a lot of allies in general. If you’re curious, Farsight Enclaves had the following options: HQ: Commander Farsight (And up to one XV8 Bodyguard,) who must be the warlord Commander* Elite: Crisis Battlesuits 0-1 Stealth Team (Squad size 3-6.) Troops/Transport: Fire Warriors** Devilfish Fast Attack: 0-1 Pathfinder Team Heavy Support: 0-1 Broadside Battlesuits (Squad Size 1-3) 0-1 Hammerhead * At the time, the only commander was in XV8 armor. In addition, the normal force organization chart allowed two HQs... This means that you would usually get a max of 1 non-Farsight commander ** Note that in this era, Fire Warriors used Pulse Rifles and Carbines - so no Breacher Teams were available. So that’s... Tiny. The only truly unrestricted options here were Fire Warriors, Devilfish, and XV8s. If you follow this, you can more or less ‘max out’ your Farsight Enclave choices, which is actually kind of cool. Obviously, even early on Farsight Enclaves had a deep focus on XV8s. You might be sharply limited in your amount of Pathfinders and Stealth Suits - basically just more elite infantry - but you sure can spam XV8s. XV8s in this edition had only three “Hard Points” which can be equipped with weapons and wargear. Your weapons options were much of the same as you have now, but notably more technologically limited in a really interesting way. First, there are Cyclic Ion Blasters or Airbursting Fragmentation Projectors. Some weapons could be “Twin-Linked,” which allows you to shoot two paired weapons at an enemy - You could otherwise not shoot mutliple weapons at once without a Multi-Tracker. Note that Flamers could not be twin-linked, so if you wanted a pure Fire squad you needed to go dual Flamers and Multi-tracker. You also needed a special Drone Controller slot to take Drones, and could not mix Gun and Shield drones; with the aforementioned limitations this seems like it would have been an important way of getting more firepower out of your XV8s The XV88s were a Heavy variant of them using Rail Rifles, and not yet their “own” suit - In lore, this was an upgrade which was experimented on with the rare XV88-2 variant before settling on the cool design we see today:

Finally, the BIG thing for Farsight that makes him different:

Your entire army can become better at melee for 5 points of a model. This seems like it advantages Battlesuits a lot more than other units; 15 points a model for a Fire Warrior who has an alright attack when they are already a ranged unit does not seem super worth it. However, upping your Stealth Squad might be worth it, too It’s also worth noting that you can’t get Kroot and use this at the same time, so it’s sort of a choice: Do you want the hordes of kroot, or do you want your XV8s to be able to fight things? It’s neat that you can go top-heavy, though. A Commander, including Farsight, can take a squad of up to two Bodyguards... Bodyguards are 40 points each, and Shas’o are 75, before equipment. Farsight himself is 170... So a full HQ squad is like, about 500pts. That’s really not bad, especially with flamers for anti-charge, but as usual with melee tau you have to punch down at infantry and troops if you aren’t Farsight himself.

#warhammer

[selormohene]

day 118 (sunday, october 29th 2023)

For some reason I have a lot to say for today, which is nice. 

When I was in college (I think it was, although it may instead just have been the first semester of my first year of the PhD — but I’m pretty sure it started in college) there was this donut shop called Union Square Donuts that used to come to the weekly farmers’ market on Tuesdays in the Science Center Plaza. They had the best donuts. There was one particular kind I used to get, the maple bacon flavour, which actually had pieces of bacon on it. It was incredible. Then later it used to be that I could only get them on Sunday mornings at the market near where I lived, so I had to make sure I woke up early. I usually got them after church, if there were some left, or if I managed to wake up early enough I could get them before church. Anyway, they opened a branch in Harvard Square just a few weeks ago, and you’d think that would be an incredible thing — finally, this great donut is incredibly accessible, and so on — but actually it seems to have made it less appealing to me than it used to be.

It’s weird, how much I used to look forward to having Union Square donuts but can barely be bothered to buy them anymore now that they’re more freely available. It’s not even that I don’t like them as much or that it’s the mere fact of availability that makes things less appealing. For example there are all sorts of things in the Square which I consume frequently, and it’s not a matter of a lack of novelty either because I have all sorts of old favourites which I continue to enjoy. I think it’s something about the fact that it used to be less accessible than it is now. There was a point when being able to get Union Square donuts was something I could look forward to on Tuesdays (or Sundays), when it gave me an extra incentive to be out and about doing whatever I was doing, when going to get the donut was a point around which I could organise my other activities, and so on. I felt a sense of accomplishment if I could wake up early enough to get to church on time and that kind of thing. And there’s a whole thing about the relation between dopamine signalling and reward relative to effort or something but I’m not sure about the details of that. In any case, though, the fact that my reward system seems to be functioning in this way — that the increased availability of something like that seems to have made it less rather than more appealing — feels like a good thing, a sign that I’m well-adjusted in this respect, if you want.

On legality and morality in mathematics. I feel like I’ve become a lot more legalistic since I started studying university-level mathematics. I’ve thought about the “bait-and-switch” from big fundamental questions to narrow technical problems in academic philosophy, such that when one comes back to the big fundamental questions one either ends up working on them in an overly narrow technical way or else has to work one’s way back to capturing the “big, fundamental” spirit behind them while not throwing away the resources one has gained from the technical questions. But now I feel like something similar is happening to me with math. To be fair, I did realise some time ago that the change in focus or content or subject matter (from calculations and concrete objects to more general classes of objects and proofs, so from following certain rules to solve algebraic equations to proving general theorems about the class of all objects governed by certain axioms or kinds of axioms) was a thing that happened in math. And in the past I’d thought about the issue more in terms of the purely theoretical cognitive-scientific question, that is, of how it was that facility with spatial reasoning or visualisation and the sort of math that you do in middle school (as well as interest in that kind of math) should translate to facility with and interest in pure math, in proofs and stuff. And that’s still an interesting question for me as well. But I didn’t realise explicitly until now how much there’s also a question of psychology, how much one becomes legalistic rather than moralistic, in the sense that you may still have a sense of morality, of an intuitive sense of how things work or just being able to accept certain claims as true based on hand-woven definitions for the purpose of being able to solve problems or build up a general Gestalt, but now you find it much easier to make progress in following the rules, and the rules become a lot more precise (formal proof rather than formulas, or mathematical modeling, or conceptual creativity). Like I’ve become even so legalistic that if I’m reading some book which involves an introduction to some sort of thing (like a book on information geometry which begins with a basic account of differential geometry), I feel like my understanding is incomplete unless I first metabolise an entire book on differential geometry, which builds up the axioms and definitions and proofs all the way from the ground up, and that even my understanding of that would be incomplete (no matter how self-contained the treatment is) unless I first read entire books on linear algebra, analysis, point-set topology and then differential topology, and then differential geometry. I’m not sure how much of this concerns my actual ability to understand or to “go on” from the minimum required background, or to feel comfortable in the process of actually learning the material in question, and how much of it is just learned aversion to not being thoroughly grounded in the fundamentals of a given topic, because in the past I’ve studied stuff for which I didn’t feel like I had the prerequisites fully mastered and it went badly and so because I don’t like the feeling of things going badly I now feel like I want to master all the fundamentals first. Perhaps all of this is also a matter of changes in fluid intelligence versus crystallised intelligence. Like now I feel like I’m most in my element when I’m synthesising insights from knowledge I already have, rather than coming up with them spontaneously.

On “you should listen to X people about X issues” and “only X people should speak about X issues.” I think some version of the thought expressed is correct and significant, but it needs to be expressed with care, and the right version is hard for people to come to appreciate because the conceptual basis for it isn’t as widely understood as it should be. The idea is that it’s not about certain minorities or members of various ascriptive identity categories being in a better epistemic or moral position with respect to issues that pertain to them, but a special, distinctive epistemic and/or moral position. It’s a kind of authority (in the sense of first-personal authority), but also that authority is kind of better construed as responsibility, not in the dyadic sense of “accountability” as in they owe something to someone, but in the monadic sense of “up-to-me-ness.” Like we should listen to people because the experience is theirs, they have a perspective on it (both as a series of objective features of social reality) and as a vantage point on the world. Only black people are capable of having the double consciousness that pertains to being black in a society like the United States, no matter how much a non-black person may know about the reality of racism, no matter if their scholarly understanding or even moral clarity goes far beyond that of some particular black person. This goes also to the question of practice. There’s a sense in which a black person fighting racism is fighting for self-determination, or at any rate fighting for the self-determination of people of a category under which they also fall, in a way that non-black people aren’t (at least not insofar as they’re fighting anti-black racism), no matter how morally invested they might be in ending such anti-black racism. Moran’s discussion of this notion of responsibility or authority in his book Authority and Estrangement is very good. So this is a good counterpoint to both the people who think “X people are hallowed oracles on X issues” and the ones who say “there’s nothing particular to X people with respect to X issues that non-X people can’t also have.”

(This would be an interesting lens through which to examine the Killers of the Flower Moon movie.)

This pertains also to the variety of kinds of knowledge. You could divide knowledge into at least three kinds: practical, propositional or theoretical and experiential knowledge, or, roughly, know-how, know-that, and knowing-what-it-is-like. I feel like a lot of work on this question of whether or not X people have a special relationship to X issues depends on either conflating these kinds of knowledge (you can’t have any one without all three) or sharply distinguishing them (you can have any of them without any of the others, or some particular one, probably know-that, to a completely adequate extent without know-how or knowledge-of-what-it-is-like). And I’m thinking of the Dror paper here, as well as the work of Williamson and Stanley. Like I think we need a richer understanding (informed by the phenomenological tradition, Heidegger, Gadamer, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre etc.) of the interrelations between these kinds of knowledge, as well as more engagement with the first-personal stuff, in order to properly engage with this question.

On the first and second commandments. The second commandment, “Love your neighbour as you love yourself” is inadequate on its own because (a) it’s overly voluntaristic, (b) it’s too close to “treat others as you want to be treated,” which is too close to “treat others as you want others to treat you,” which is too close to “treat others as you expect them to treat you.” The point of the first commandment, “Love the Lord your God” and so on, is that it teaches you how to love yourself, and gives you the proper basis from which to love yourself; it’s not a question of how you happen to love yourself, and it’s not that the principle of equal treatment has its source in the value you happen to confer upon yourself, but rather that, although your love for others may have its proximate motivational basis in your love for yourself, your love for others and yourself both have their ultimate motivational basis in God’s love for us. “We love because God first loved us.”

[taglineinfotech]

10 Reasons to Hire React JS Developers for Your Next Web Project

React JS has been used in front-end web development for quite some time now, but it’s still gaining popularity among developers and website owners alike. Many are convinced of its superiority over other JavaScript frameworks and libraries, so they’re beginning to incorporate it into their projects. Because of its popularity, there’s also an increasing demand for React JS developers. Here are 10 reasons why you should hire React JS developers for your next web project.

1) The web is moving towards JavaScript

This isn’t going to be news to anyone. But it’s important when thinking about why you should hire React developers. When Mark Zuckerberg spoke about shifting Facebook away from its homegrown Hacker Language towards a real programming language, he chose JavaScript. After Google developed Dart and failed in its attempt to get it accepted as a standard, they were forced back onto JavaScript. And Angular 2 is written in TypeScript, which extends JavaScript with features such as classes and modules, meaning that even Google needs developers who know Javascript (or who can learn it quickly). In short: you need Javascript developers more than ever before.

2) JavaScript is everywhere

If you’re looking to hire a new team of programmers, you may be wondering where you should start your search. There are a variety of languages out there that can help your project go smoothly—and dozens more that will only make things more complicated. One of today’s most popular languages is JavaScript, which comes in two flavors: classic and modern. Here are 10 reasons why hiring react js developers will give your next web project a boost.

3) ReactJS lets you build applications with UI components

You don’t need to know how they work, but you do have a certain amount of control over their look and feel. The great thing about ReactJS is that it builds web interfaces from components. The term component may be familiar if you already have some experience building UI for applications like Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop. It means something similar in software: components are reusable chunks of code that can be combined with other components—or even other components from your own code—to form larger pieces. Each component has a set of options (called props) and can contain state, which varies depending on what’s going on in an application at any given time.

4) React is developer friendly

Developing with React is easier than developing with other frameworks because it provides a simple API that allows you to easily create reusable components. It comes with a large set of predefined components, which makes it easier to build apps with little or no HTML, CSS and JavaScript knowledge. You can use your existing web development skills with React and then let React’s compiler translate it into pure JavaScript. That means you won’t need any new tools or technologies. It’s easy to scale react js developers if needed: You might already have some assets in place that are built on another framework, but they probably aren’t compatible with React without an update.

5) Third party libraries are easily available

The library supports all major operating systems, and it’s easily adaptable across multiple frameworks. In fact, there are many third-party libraries available that enhance developers’ capabilities and make it easier to write applications with fewer bugs. Additionally, its popularity means that there are plenty of online resources available should you have any questions or run into problems during development. These advantages combine to make one of the most widely used libraries available today, so don’t be surprised if your next project is built on top of it!

6) Code reusability

React code is much easier to reuse than code in other frameworks and libraries. Because of its one-way data flow, where data only flows from parent components down to child components, you can easily pull out a piece of code and drop it into another application. You don’t have to worry about keeping state synced or breaking other parts of your application. This makes working with existing applications and third-party libraries simple without needing complex dependency management systems (such as webpack).

7) Fits into a variety of front-end frameworks and architectures

With a substantial and loyal following, there’s no doubt that developers want to build on top of React. So if you don’t have a large investment in another technology stack, such as AngularJS or Ruby on Rails, choosing React makes sense from an enterprise standpoint too. It also helps you keep your development options open by not locking yourself into a single system. If in two years it turns out that Ember is better suited to your business goals, you can jump ship with minimal effort.

8) Great open source community support

With an open source community of over 5,000 contributors, Facebook’s React is regularly updated with new features and fixes. New features are often first rolled out as a minor release (0.13 was released in April 2018) before they become part of a major version update (0.14 will be released in May 2018). These updates can introduce new APIs that allow developers to build more advanced applications; and minor releases can fix bugs or security issues if you encounter them in your application. As a result, you get more stable software and fewer bugs with less work on your end.

9) High quality mobile apps with cross platform support

React Native is a cross-platform library that allows developers to build web and mobile apps using a single codebase. This means that you can use your existing JavaScript knowledge in order to develop for different platforms. You’ll be working with similar objects and modules, meaning your team won’t have to spend time learning new languages. Additionally, you won’t need an entirely separate design or development team — saving both money and time.

10) Best practices on any technology stack

Learning and following industry best practices will go a long way in keeping your software lean, maintainable, and efficient. As web developers, it’s important that we are aware of these standards as they evolve over time. Making use of JavaScript libraries is an effective (and often necessary) way to leverage best practices in any modern web stack. But there’s also more than one way to skin a cat—or write an app!

Conclusion -

Developing with React has made it easy to create user interfaces that are flexible, fast, and fun. These 10 reasons will hopefully convince you that you should use React in your next web project—or if you’re already using it, they’ll help reinforce why you chose such a great framework. If you’re ready to hire react js developers, look no further! Contact us today, and we can help get your project off of its feet.

#react js #hire react js #Hire Developer #Web developers

[vivalamusaine]

Modern Au Eponine

At the age of 16 she began to realise her home life wasn’t ‘normal’. She had made a friend and when she went to his house his mother was kind and welcoming and wasn’t shouting at her or her children 

She dropped a glass and flinched. Grantaire’s mum merely laughed as she cleaned it up and told her a story about how they used to call his little sister ‘butter fingers’ 

It was the start of an awakening for her. She’d never had to question her parents actions or behaviours because she’d never considered that she shouldn’t trust her parents. That’s what they always stressed. Trust each other, say nothing to anyone and don’t talk to the police.

It took her a year to find the courage to call child protective services. It wasn’t for her, she practically spent every night at Grantaire’s home anyway. But her younger siblings deserved better. And Azelma had almost been to juvie once already. Gavroche was hardly ever home and while it used to seem normal it now frightened her how little her parents cared.

It didn’t work. The system merely sent somebody to interview her parents, and her father did his usual snake oil trick of seeming like an out of work but loving father. Eponine got her first taste of injustice, and it kept her awake and fuming lit a fire inside of her. Her siblings deserved better, and how many other children who were in worse situations had to go through the same thing?

It was Enjolras who overheard her ranting and raving to Grantaire about the system the next day at lunch, and he politely interrupted to extend an invitation to an after school club to them.

Eponine was hesitant to attend. She didn’t want to come across just another group of people who talked about doing something but never did. But she went, and dragged Grantaire along with her.

After months of attending, she now knew the ABC society was the real deal. They’d thrown more fundraisers, protests, bake sales, sit-ins, information sessions, and flyers then the rest of the schools clubs combined.

She bonded with Feuilly the most. He was more than familiar with the delays and bureaucracies involved with the foster system. Not only did they talk about their frustrations but he had ideas on how to fix things, ideas that sort of sounded plausible as well.

She moved out the moment she turned 18. Renting a small house with Feuilly and Grantaire and another girl called Musichetta that they met through craigslist. 

The process of gaining her child welfare social worker education and license took a frustratingly long time. But she got there in the end, and in the meantime, her sister and brother always had a place to crash in her room. Once she received her license, she was able to find them a better place permanently.

She started a voluntary child outreach program with Feuilly. Where children could come for activities, snacks, free counselling or sometimes just a warm place to escape to for a few hours.

It wasn’t perfect. There was still so much that needed to be done, and systems with so much red tape that sometimes she cried until very late at night and thought it all pointless. 

But she had friends now, a support system, and most importantly, she had hope. She had gotten out, and she could help others get out too.

#my stuff #eponine #lesmiswomen #lesmiswlw #so this is kinda personal and important to me but yeah #i think modern eponine would not have had a tragic end #purely because there's so much more resources available today #also fuck the CPS system its broken #feuilly #grantaire #enjolras #les amis de l'abc #modern au

[seriouslysnape]

Teacher’s Pet

__

Severus Snape x Fem! Professor! Reader

Warnings: Smut. Teacher/Student Roleplay.

Request: what about snape and a fellow teacher in a pre-established relationship, but the reader is roleplaying as a student for some fun bedroom play? maybe some funny stuff about how he’s sweeter on her than the actual students?

A/N: HNksdnasodasndk WOW I LIKE THIS ONE.

Word Count: 1,970

“I told you that you’re sweeter on me.”

__

“You’re tense, Severus.” Your gentle voice spoke out to break the silence in Severus’ home study.

The strain in his muscles caused a wince to clearly show on your expression as your hands massage at his shoulders and back. Fridays usually proved to be the hardest on Severus. The students were always much more rambunctious and much more difficult to control when they had the weekend on their consciences, much to his dismay. Students of all Houses had given him a run for his money today, even the Hufflepuffs who were usually the most well behaved were causing Severus grief. 

Cauldrons had been knocked over, potions were spilled onto the floor, glass vials were broken into tiny pieces, and heated arguments had broken out that Severus had to break up, and he had assigned at least five kids to detention.  On top of everything else, all the kids had seemed to be off the walls with excitement.

The absolute bane of Severus’ occupation.

He was disgruntled and aggravated when he returned to his home office, plopping himself behind his desk near the bed and sitting there to stew. He feared that his sour mood would cause him to snap at you and start a fight that he surely didn’t want to have.

However, he should’ve known that you’d come looking for him when he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. Professors weren’t supposed to reside outside of the castle during the school year, but Severus wanted to get away from just one night. You peeked into his bedroom with a bright grin, indicating that you had clearly had a much better day than he had. His irritation was very obvious to you, so you allowed yourself in and had rubbed his shoulders and given him sweet kisses to soothe him.

He had told you all about his terrible day, not leaving out any detail.

“Darling, I’ve been fending off obnoxious students all day. You’d be uptight as well.” He grumbled, rolling his neck to try and work out the hard knots.

A soft laugh fell from your lips, sending a rush of warmth to shoot through Severus’ heart.

“Oh, come on. They’re just kids. They were good today.” You remarked, firmly running your fingers along his arms.

“They’re always good for you,” Severus claimed; “Even my Slytherins don’t give you any trouble.” 

You moved from behind him to stand beside him, looking into his tired pools of black.

“Because I’m flexible with them. I understand how difficult things can get and I offer my help for those who need it,” You explained; “You don’t have to be their friend or anything, but you could be easier to work for.” 

Severus scoffed incredulously. That was probably the biggest difference between the two of you. You had very different views when it came to teaching. Students seemed to favor you over Severus (however, most students preferred anyone over Severus) due to your friendly nature. You were warm hearted and made sure your students knew you were available as a resource to them. They respected you as a professor and were comfortable around you as a friend.

“Maybe if you weren’t such a hard ass all the time, they might like you a little more.” You added, hiding your smirk.

Severus’ eyebrows dipped a tad, his tongue running along the inside of his cheek.

“Watch yourself. I’ll send you to detention too.” He said purely as a joke, but his body flushing with arousal when he saw your demeanor turn lustful.

“Have I been bad, Professor?” You purred, your voice going up a pitch.

The use of his work title coming from your lips was turning him on way more than he would’ve liked to admit. His pale cheeks went dark red, and his skin began to itch with desire. 

“I think you already know the answer to that.” He rumbled, sitting up a little straighter so he could touch you.

One of his hands came to peel off your long winter coat to show more of your skin that was hidden away, but his pupils blew about 3x their usual size when he saw what you were wearing underneath. It was a seemingly innocent outfit to someone who wasn’t very observant, but to Severus it was about as scandalous as he could handle.

“What are you wearing?” He asked lowly, his eyes unashamedly gawking over your chosen outfit.

It was an old uniform skirt of yours from your days at Hogwarts, adorned with your House colors and the mascot stitched in the lower left side of the skirt. It was much shorter than when you wore it as a student. You had grown taller since first wearing it and you now filled it out in a much more provocative way since you had been in your adolescent years. 

“This old thing? I just had to change before coming to see you,” You teetered, knowing good and well it was driving him wild; “You know, I think you’re much sweeter on me than your other students, Professor.”

“My other students don’t look at me the way you do. My resolve is so very thin around you,” He reminded you, his hand sliding up your leg to push the skirt past your hips. A surprised exhale of air escaped his chest when he saw you weren’t wearing anything underneath; “Not even wearing your knickers...I’m tempted to take House points away for your behavior.”

Ecstatic thrills buzzed through you that he had jumped onto your little game. You arched your back to meet his frame as his hands began to massage at your hips.

“Oh, please. Anything but that!” You mocked a desperate tone.

A hard, rutted fucking would take tension away from even the most strained of people. Severus needed a good stress release, and you knew this was a hell of a good way to do so, and have some fun while you were at it.

“Bad students have to be punished, Miss [L/N]. Actions have consequences.” He tutted.

Arousal was beginning to glisten your inner thighs, something that Severus never failed to notice. His fingertips were ice cold against your heated sex, a pitiful whimper leaving your lips when he glacially dragged his fingers through your folds.

“Surely...there’s something I can do to rectify my behavior, Professor.” You purred out in a hush of a voice.

“Are you suggesting what I think you are? You’re much worse than I thought...” Severus teased.

Severus stared at you thoughtfully when you only looked at him through batting lashes. His fingers were stilled and refusing to move despite your desperate grinds against his hand. He stood from his chair to tower over you, a rush of intimidation and desire beginning to spew through the cracks of the dam that was ready to crumble completely.

“Get on the bed.” He ordered.

You teased your lower lip with your teeth, obliging to his husky command and retreating to his large bed, sinking and sprawling yourself out on the mattress seductively. This was a damn gorgeous sight to see. He loved the way you were wriggling with anticipation and expectation for him. Your thighs were rubbing together to create even just an ounce of friction to appease the ache.

“You’re so impatient. If you’re so needy then I suppose you can get yourself of-”

“No! Please, I need you, sir,” You droned. 

He had joined you on the bed, placing a knee on either side of you to keep you from going anywhere. He watched your squirm some more while he removed his belt and pants in a painfully slow fashion. He was determined to bring you to the brink of insanity. He wanted every noise that came out of you to either be a plea or a moan. 

“I’m feeling rather generous tonight.” He fished his hard dick out of his boxers, the sight filling you with joy.

You couldn’t help but smirk up at him, rolling your hips into his pelvis casually.

“I told you that you’re sweeter on me.” You grinned.

With that statement and without missing a beat, Severus shoved all of his cock into your throbbing entrance, the dam breaking completely. A stunned cry wailed out into the room, echoing off of the walls. Severus didn’t even bother to strip you of your clothes. 

He had all the access he needed.

He gave you only a few seconds to adjust to his length before he started pounding into you. You didn’t realize just how much pent up stress and aggravation he really had until each new thrust had your eyes rolling back into your head.

You thanked your lucky stars that you were in the privacy of his home and not his quarters at school, because even with a silencing charm you were sure that it’d be blatantly obvious what was happening. You didn’t think it was possible, but he started pushing in even harder, earning him a praise.

“Oh, fuck! Severus...” You rang out, not even realizing your mistake.

He stopped completely, his hand coming up to grip your chin to make you look at him. 

“Do you call all of your professors by their first name? I probably should just leave you here for-”

“Please, no! I’m sorry, Professor Snape, just...please, don’t stop.” You yowled pathetically. 

Severus rotated his hips to find a new angle as well as putting your heel on his shoulder to push into you deeper. He started fucking into you again, almost breaking when he saw the way your eyes squinted shut.

“Such a bad girl,” He muttered out through thrusts; “Showing up to see your professor and expecting a reward.” 

You moaned out in response, your brain was too cloudy to form a verbal response. Your breasts were pushing against the thin material of your shirt, your lacy bra underneath just barely visible. He held your wrists above your head to keep them pinned down, his other hand firmly gripping your thigh draped on his shoulder.

Severus' pace and pressure was perfect, throwing you into a continuous spiral of pleasure with each delicious movement. He was sucking hard hickeys on your neck and just on the tops of your breasts, leaving marks to let the world know you were his. 

That familiar coil was hot and close to snapping at any moment. Severus twitched somewhere deep inside of you, hitting every bundle of nerves he could possibly find. It wasn’t until his ring and index finger found your clit and began rubbing firm circles that you alerted him.

“P-Professor, I’m close.” You whimpered, praying that he wasn’t going to stop now.

He didn’t stop, continuing his perfect thrusts. 

“Let go, darling. I’ve got you.” He said through a strained voice.

With a final lust driven hum, you clenched and came around him, his own release spilling into you shortly after. He filled you with everything he had with a loud groan. His recent release mixed with yours as it leaked from you onto the sheets. Severus didn’t care in the least. 

He fell next to you, breathings heavy and words feeling impossible to come by. The lust had cleared from his vision, and he was feeling much more relaxed now. 

“Are you alright, love?” He asked, pulling your skirt down to cover at least a little bit of you from the cold hair.

A sleepy, satisfied smile appeared on your face as you nodded. He captured your lips in a lazy kiss, your voice breaking it shortly after.

“I think...it’s safe to say that I’m your favorite student.” You joked.

Severus chuckled.

“Well, if you WERE a student then yes. But I’m perfectly happy with how things are.” He praised.

You giggled lightly, kissing him once more.

“Yeah. Me too.”

#severus snape #severus snape x reader #severus snape x y/n #severus snape x you #severus #Harry Potter #harry potter snape #alan rickman #severus snape x female reader #severus snape smut #severus snape oneshot #severus snape fanfiction #seriouslysnape

[pinkteapotwriting]

Long day

Lol, so this is the first fic I ever wrote I hope you enjoy and let me know if you’d like more thinks like this!

Marauders x Gender Neutral reader 

Summary : You’ve had a hard day so you get comforted by your darling boys.

Warnings : Food mention, but other than that it’s pure fluff. Oh and sorry Snape stans I decided to make him the bad guy today please forgive me xxx

Word count : 961

You made your way up to the boy’s dorm and much to your dismay you found it empty. With tears threatening to fall you knew you didn’t have the energy to search around the castle for the desperate pick me up that you needed. So you decided to make do with what resources you had available and walked towards Sirius’s bed stopping by his trunk to grab your favorite sweater of his. Curled up on the bed with your arms clutching the sweater you inhaled Sirius’s scent and slowly but surely started to drift off.

---

“I thought we’d be polishing trophies all night” Sirius said. 

“Well we would have if I hadn’t made Mister bighead stop fawning over his quidditch trophy.” 

“Shove off, we were in there because of you in the first place Remus, I can’t believe out of all of us you threw the first punch” 

Remus contemplated on responding to James, but nothing needed to be said; he regretted nothing. Snape out did himself this time and deserved every swing that came his way. In all honesty he thought James and Sirius were too hard on him, but hearing him insult you was crossing all kinds of lines. 

He could handle the snide comments about him being a monster, a dangerous creature who shouldn’t be here, but to insult you in his presence was enough to make sure it would be the last time you would be insulted audibly period. He didn’t realize how lost in his anger he was until he bumped into James at the doorway to their room. Before he could question why they stopped his eyes saw you curled up, looking terribly fragile with the dried tears on your face. 

---

Sirius was the first to move. Wordlessly he made his way to his bed and couldn’t help but smile when he saw his sweater encased tightly in your arms. Bending down ever so cautiously he whispered in your ear, “wouldn’t the real thing be better love?” Your eyes opened slowly as you processed the fact that you were awake. Once the realization fully kicked in you turned abruptly, wrapped your arms around his neck and yanked him onto the bed with you. Sirius gave a hearty chuckle and nestled in comfortably as you readjusted on top of him and buried your face in his chest.  Remus (with James following suit) then proceeded to sit at the foot of the bed and started rubbing his hands soothingly on your legs and asked with much tenderness and caution, 

“Do you wanna talk about it, sweetheart?”

With your forehead still planted firmly against Sirius’s chest you moved it side to side. You knew that if you looked up at them the tears would fall and you just couldn’t do that to yourself again. Not when their presence was already so soothing.

Sirius’s suddenly stern voice grasped your attention, “Pup, look at me.”

Remus sensed your unwillingness to move and said’ “Darling it’ll be alright he just wants to talk”

You slowly lifted your head to find Sirius’s piercing gaze. “Bub, do you know how late it is? I reckon you haven’t eaten anything for supper have you?”

The tears started to well again and you pressed your face to his chest again, shaking your head no and stifling your sobs. 

“On it.” James said, while quickly getting up and dashing out the door.

Sirius rubbed your back soothingly, “It’s alright bubs, I just wanna make sure that you’re being taken care of, yeah?”

Remus had never stopped rubbing your legs and he certainly wasn’t going to stop now. Of all the days to punch Snape he felt so guilty it was today. He should have been here taking care of you. 

It’s like you could sense his self deprecation and turned to wrap yourself around Remus instead. Leaving one teary puddle to make another. He found comfort in your arms wrapped tightly around his neck and legs around his waist and sighed. He then started rubbing your back and murmured “Don’t worry love, we’re gonna take care of you.”

Right on cue James walked through the doorway holding a tray of hot food, a glass of water and a mountain of your favorite sweets. Sirius leaned forward to attempt to pry you away from Remus but you were unbreakable. Remus chuckled and boosted himself up “Darling I know you just wanna be held, Sirius knows that too, but you have to eat something. He then moved forward and placed you in a perfect y/n spot between Sirius’s legs with your back against his chest. 

James placed the tray on your lap, kissed your dampened cheeks many times until he pulled a giggle from you. Satisfied with the results of his quest, he moved to the end of the bed and placed your feet on his lap and rubbed them. 

Sirius started moving his hands slowly up and down your thighs and leaned forward towards your ear and muttered. “Seriously Pup you need to eat.” 

So you did. You laughed merrily, forgetting why you had been so sad as Remus was knelt beside you, Sirius behind and James in front updating you on why Remus’s knuckles were black and blue.

You picked up Remus’s hand and kissed each knuckle tenderly before saying, “I love you, all of you, so much. 

Sirius returned the favor for Remus and pressed some kisses to your neck, “We love you too Pup” 

“So much,” Remus added in.

---

#marauders era #marauders x reader #marauders x y/n #marauders x you #james potter #sirius black #remus lupin #fluff #harry potter fanfiction #fanfiction

[mx-metronome]

Sky Theory: The Light and The Darkness

A post about my thoughts on light, darkness, how they react to one another, and (possibly) what it all implies regarding the Eye of Eden. (Spoilers ahead!)

I wrote a post about the civilization we see rise and fall, but today we're going to delve a little deeper into how the story might really be going, from the conflict to the climax to a possible resolution.

To quote the game's story (from the updated Isle of Dawn):

"With the stars united, our light was infinite...and together, we lived in harmony."

It is well established that light is a valuable resource that the spirits relied on, and way back at the beginning, it was also a renewable one: Winged Light fell from the sky continuously, a symbol of innocence and purity as a gift from the Megabird. Because it was infinite, the spirits all flourished, and there was no squabbling over a scarcity.

"As spirits, we soon became many...creating our home here in the clouds."

Here is where the civilization really starts to grow, specifically in the Daylight Prairie stage. The spirits' needs are all met every day of every year. But somewhere down the line, their basic need wasn't enough for them anymore. As they grew in number, so too did they grow in curiosity and want.

"But darkness came and the stars fell...

This sentence here sums up the remainder of our story, although what take place over the course of this sentence is an entire age. Here's how I feel it goes down:

The darkness coming literally refers to darkstone being discovered, and how its potential in advancing the people tempts them away from the comfort of their infinite light. The spirits did not have the light ripped away from them: they chose the darkness over light and turned away willingly, severing themselves from the stars. The Winged Light stop falling and become a precious commodity.

So they toy with this newly discovered darkstone and find that it reacts to light: as light is applied to any kind of darkness, it gives off energy, a rudimentary sort of power generation. There are several pieces of evidence to confirm this:

Darkstone technology only activates when you apply your light to it.

In fact, whenever you activate a darkstone door in the Hidden Forest, you recharge a little bit of cape energy, suggesting excess energy is produced in the reaction.

Darkness plants, when exposed to light, are used up in the process (as they are less dense than darkstone), but they release candle wax in the reaction, a concentrated form of energy.

However, as mentioned above, you need light for the darkness to be of any use to advancements, and now that supply is finite. The spirits must now find alternate sources of light, and the only source available to them at this time is the creatures of light.

The prairie begins transporting butterflies en masse to the forest to be broken down, and their light is channeled through their dark machinations to keep things running. As the butterflies become scarce, they look to mantas instead, and so on.

The civilization continues to grow and with it their demand for light, but the supply continues to dwindle. The scarcity of light is now threatening the people, and an ultimatum must be reached. They need a reliable, renewable source of power, one that can run almost indefinitely, so the King has one built, for the future of his people and their way of life. That's right: the Eye of Eden was never a weapon, but a near-infinite energy source, like a nuclear plant.

The finest engineers gather at the capital city and splice together mass quantities of darkstone into one megalith, only requiring enough light to kickstart a chain reaction. The reaction would cause a feedback loop: the energy emitted by the light-dark reaction would be enough light to perpetuate the reaction for an extended period of time, and any excess energy can be harvested or siphoned off and used to power the grid.

The people have spread far and wide and into different factions, each jealously guarding what little light they have left, knowing the King has intent to seize it. Skirmishes turn into battles turn into a full scale war. The desperation of each front has them all take the glorious darkness and turn it into weapons, and in this production of arms the people are failing to realize the true long-term side effects of utilizing darkness: pollution.

The weapons are produced as close to the front lines as the people could safely manage, hence the heavy pollution in the Golden Wasteland, just outside the capital. The water becomes thick and near impossible to sail through; the light from the light creatures begins to react to the darkness in the air and water, hence the presence of krill and dark crabs twisted by the corrupting dusts. The people try to infiltrate the capital city to seize the light that the King was hoarding. Perhaps some of the elders were even privvied to the King's plan and were working to defend him to save their own factions of people. Perhaps some of the elders even fought each other over differing ideals regarding the new generator.

As a last-ditch effort, the King moves the generator to as close to the sky as he can in a futile attempt to harness the holy light of the stars they had turned away from ages before. He hopes that the reaction will reach high enough to begin drawing in star power, slowly draining the heavens to keep his people alive.

He gathers any light left in the capital city and sends it through the machine, and the reaction kicks off in an instant. The power is greater than the engineers had calculated, and it is too great for them to harness; the wave of energy is massive enough to wipe out most of the denizens in the city within the first few seconds. The displacement of energy creates fierce winds and kicks up poisonous dust clouds, even scooping up entire bricks and boulders and flinging them through the air.

The mighty capital begins to crumble under the weight of this blazing light, and the flinging rocks tear down surrounding cities, picking up more debris as it grinds away at buildings. The dark dusts scatter across the land, settling over what few survivors remain, reacting to their inner Light and encasing them in stone, leaving them with no light left to return to Orbit whence they came.

The people had fallen to the darkness and its powerful properties, using up all their precious light to maintain their mortal existence. Now there is no light left and no way home. All that is left of their existence is husks of darkness, broken bones of old cities, and a radioactive storm with an unholy hybrid of light and darkness at it center that will run its course for thousands of years more.

"...and with their light we faded away."

...But not without one last plea.

"A long time has passed. Now we call to you."

In their last few moments, some groups of people, those who still had faith that they'd rejoin the stars, began to pray. They stated prophecies, chanted incantations into the sky, erected shrines with candles, hoping that their selfless offerings of light would grant them grace. That somehow Megabird would hear their cries and send them a chance at redemption, a chance at attaining Her inner Light once again.

And so the Megabird sent down the Winged Light again, hoping it would be enough to begin healing the land. But She did not quite understand the inner workings of this darkness, for it was beyond Her: this Light was fragile, and couldn't stand up against the darkness that swallowed the sky. She needed a vessel able to carry this Light safely into the heart of darkness where Her people slumbered.

So She learned of the darkness and how it cancelled out Light, and in response, she created the first sky kids.

"Go forth, child. Return our spirits to the stars."

Sky kids are different from spirits in many ways. Firstly, spirits are also creatures of light in that they originate from Orbit. It was their go-to source of energy and sustenance. But that connection between the spirits and all the light they'd ever need was so easily broken by the want that darkness produced, and their sensitivity to this darkness made them fall prey easily when it fell out of control.

By contrast, sky kids were created as instruments of the Megabird, shells carrying Her fragile Light within. They are not beings of pure light, but that's the point: they were designed to withstand darkness, and granting them a corporeal form provides more protection for Her Light from darkness than otherwise.

So the first sky kids go and deliver their inner Light to what fallen spirits they can find. The elders see the coming of the sky kids as Megabird's answer to their pleas, as Her Light is within them, and as the sky kids present their Light to the elders, they are able to reconnect with the stars and send up the spirits freed from darkness. So begins the pilgrimage back to Orbit, spearheaded by an army of children.

The first sky kids free some of the spirits and then head to the capital where light and darkness collide, the point nearest the stars. Megabird's intent was for the collected Winged Light in the hands of the sky kids to be enough pure Light to dispel the storm, but the darkness is too great, and as the Light was torn from them, they had no Light left to keep away the darkness, and they fell at the summit with no way of returning to Her.

So She sent more sky kids, thinking greater numbers would aid Her will. But two things began to happen, things She did not foresee: the sky kids, blank slates with no discernable emotions or features, learned from the spirits they saved: they learned how to wave hello, they learned how to laugh, how to cry, how to cheer, and so on. They even began taking on some of the fashions from the spirits! They presented individuality, suggesting that Megabird's Light was more than just pure Light: it was also a soul in its own right, much like the spirits that came before.

The second thing that happened was at the summit of the Eye of Eden, as it came to be called: when the sky kids realized their Winged Light wouldn't survive the Storm, they passed it on to fallen sky kids instead so that they may ascend back to Orbit and rejoin Megabird, at the cost of their own ascension. This soul of Light each sky kid carried not only established a personality, but also compassion, as Her Light was always meant to do. Sky kids were drawn to one another, and they started to work like teams and help one another out. They gave each other offerings of light as symbols of friendship and acceptance, not unlike the spirits' desperate offerings of light and candles to Megabird.

The Eye of Eden is the purest, most powerful light colliding with the purest, most potent darkness, which makes it an ideal euphemism for death: suffering and then release. It is the door to Orbit, but their possessions - their Winged Light - will be left behind. They only carry their deeds in their darkest time, which they are rewarded for after the fact.

When they came to Orbit at last, Megabird lauded them for their sacrifice and kindness, and invited them to remain with Her. But many of them expressed distress and dismay for all the sky kids still down in the clouds that needed help, and all the friends that they would miss. So She sent them back with two boons: additional Light granted by the spirits they helped ascend, and the knowledge needed to guide other sky kids back to Her.

Even if not everyone would rejoin Her in the Light, it brought Her comfort that Her Light was spread across an aching kingdom, sharing hope and peace to those who couldn't be near to Her.

#sky cotl #thatskygame #sky children of the light #sky theory #sky spoilers #eden spoilers #FUN TO WRITE #hope it's equally as fun to read

[riktorart]

“Welcome for the third, and (hopefully) final time to the auditorium, beloved students of Night Raven College! Yes, as many of you expect, this assembly is in regards to our ice cream fundraiser, which has yet to take off! However, now that I’ve recovered from my horrific injuries from last month’s assembly, I say it’s time for us to start anew, and introduce our new line of flavors!

… Why are you all groaning??? Truly you’ve not grown tired of ice cream already, have you?! … No, no, it can’t be… You all just must be far too excited to carry on! Very well! I shall introduce to you the newest flavors, and then you’ll be off! Making me… Err, the school, enough Madol to fix the chandelier that was broken (again) last week!

… Hm? Why aren’t we using the past flavors? … Well… You see there was a… Ah, would you look at the time! If we don’t start now, we’ll never finish! Vargas! Bring up the first cooler!!! NOW!!!

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Lemon Zestvolt- Don’t let his frown fool you, this sweet cream is actually quite sweet, with it’s mellow mix of lemon and lime that’ll make you smile! (... Though, it does take quite a while to actually get past the bitter aftertaste… And it’s surprisingly loud… And… It feels like it’s constantly judging my every move according to a standard that’s quite frankly unrealistic… And... You know what? We’re just going to move on for the sake of my self-confidence!)

Blue Berrygrotto- Despite it’s name, this treat’s name is quite deceiving! It’s not just blueberry, but in fact, a mix of eight different types of berries, all baked into a freshly warm pie and served a la Mode with a trustworthy smile~! (… Hm? What do you mean that sounds a bit much…? Ehrm, no matter!) 

Even if it’s a bit… Wet, you won’t mind at all once you enjoy it’s wonderfully sophisticated taste! Ah and would you look at that! On sale for only 300 Madol! What a steal~! Make sure you stop by the cafeteria to buy a Blue Berrygrotto today!

Lion-Colored Kingsicle… Stick- … Well! There was a batch of ice cream in this cooler… And now it’s gone. We have no idea where it we- (... Oh, hold on, did we find them?) … Well! Turns out that as we speak, the original ice cream has been found tucked into obscure corners of the college where no person in their right mind would even think to look, or… On beds… (It seems the only reason they’ve been found is because they’ve begun to melt…)

… Well! We still have popsicle sticks available, so why not treat yourself with some? I’m sure at least one of you could find something to do with so many popsicle sticks!

(Warning: If you encounter this treat on your daily commute, simply back away slowly, and contact a trusted member of Night Raven College Staff to dispose of this treat. Do NOT engage. (Night Raven College is not liable for any injuries/death that may result in confrontation of this product.))

Coco’lover!- Ah, did you think this treat was simply coconut! Well, my delightful students, you are wrong! This ice cream is a delicate balance of coconut, and pistachios, a surprisingly friendly combo! … Well, that is as long as you like coconut… And pistachios…  (On second thought, this combo wasn’t the best idea now, is it?)

… Ahem! I hear it pairs quite well with baked delights, so do keep that in mind!

Mortho Energy Drink… Sicle- Tell me children, would you like to stunt your growth by drinking unhealthy shots of pure caffeine? Well, I’m here to inform you that is a foolish idea! Why drink them, when you can eat them instead with an ice cream sponsored by Mortho™ Energy Drinks! Whether it’s for a late-night study session, or for an extra kick during finals, Good ol’ Mortho here will help to keep your poor body conscious against its will! 

(... Also, please buy these as soon as possible. He’s beginning to miss one of our discontinued flavors, and will melt… (Night Raven College is not liable for injuries/death that may result from consumption of this product. If Mortho™ Energy Drink-Sickle commences Self-Destruction mode, toss it as far as possible, and duck for cover. To avoid such an occurrence from happening, do NOT insult any person with fire-like hair within the vicinity. It WILL hear you, and it WILL be upset.))

Catolate Diamikan- Do you need to take a… (Wait, what was that one site called…? Ah, yes!) MagiCam-worthy photo of yourself and friends? Well, fret no longer students, as this is the treat for you! A picture of you and Catolate’s smile is sure to be a hit! And if it’s not… Well, he’s flavored like white chocolate and oranges, so either way, you’re a winner!

(... Speaking of photos… Trien, why did you not like my “selfie” that I took earlier this afternoon? … Ah, you’re right! This isn’t the time for such trivialities! I shall simply discuss it with you later then!)

Mir-Lot- A treat based on the likeness of our beloved Magical Mirror itself! Doesn’t it look absolutely stunning, in all it’s glory? Ah, even this old bird can’t help but marvel at it’s timeless beauty… This treat is a nice, deep merlot-flavor, (non-alcoholic, of course!) that I’m sure more mature audiences will enjoy… 

And even if you don’t… Well, you don’t want to hurt our beloved mirror’s feelings now, do you? You should buy one anyway, just so it knows for sure it’s appreciated~!

Berry Bad Cat- This… “Cute,” little feline’s filled with many surprises, and though most of them are a hassle… This surprise is actually quite pleasant! A bold blackberry taste, sprinkled with small popping candies that seem to light a spark along your taste buds… Why, it’s surprisingly easy to grow attached to it!

(… Wait, what do you mean my tongue has turned black?! Oh heavens, get me a mirror!!! And water!!!)

Ramshackle Special- Um… Well… This ice cream had no specific flavor. It was an amalgamation of every single flavor crafted so we could save funds and resources, and it was quite awful the majority of the time, so we’d lowered the price for 100 Madol, but… Before we even made the official announcement, someone snuck into my office and took every single one… Of course, they were at least kind enough to leave the funds for it all, but…

Oh, who cares about manners?! WHICH ONE OF YOU RELEASED FIREFLIES INTO MY OFFICE?! … Well, if no one will confess to the crime, then everyone will be punished for the crime! … Later, of course! 

Now, like before, we have three special options that are just a tad bit above the rest in terms of flavor and appearances, so despite how kindhearted and generous I am… We will have to charge just a bit extra for these three. Surely you all understand~! These next treats are also quite limited, so if you desire to delight in one, make sure you buy them fast! Once they’re gone, they’re gone!!!

(Well… Not completely, but if people are under the illusion that there is no second chance, then they’re be far more likely to make impulsive purchases! Oh ho ho~ Dire, you clever, dapper man, you~ … Wait, did I say that out loud?)

… Anyway! Our first premium snack!

Rhymes Rosetarts- A delightful treat of sweet cherry tarts with cream and… Oh, is that actually a hint of roses I caught?! How interesting! I’d love nothing more than to dig in, yet… For some reason, I feel that even if my manners slip just a tad, that I’d be chastised… Ah, I suppose I will simply have to consume the treat carefully, lest my suspicions are confirmed true… Which they’re not!

(Night Raven College is not responsible for injuries/death resulting from consumption of this product. Make sure to review the rulebook supplied with each purchase before unwrapping this treat. Once it is free from it’s wrapper, it will always have it’s eyes on you…)

Varbucks™ Iced Protein Coffee- Are you fan of coffee? Or perhaps something sweet, but healthy? Well this treat i-”

“OI, DIRE! WHY AM I THE ONLY STAFF WHO’S ICE CREAM WAS AWFUL?!”

“A-ah! Professor Crewel! Well, err… I’ll… Get back to you on that, yes! So why don’t you have an ice cream and calm d-OWN NO, NO, NO!!! GET OFF THE STAGE I’M SORRY CREWEL PLEASE DON’T H-YAHHH!!!”

Apple Farmier- “... Well, I suppose since the Headmaster was forced to step away for “business,” I should wrap up this assembly. The final dessert available for purchase during our school fundraiser will be the... “Apple Farmier?” (... Crowley seems to have a knack for finding such strange names…) 

The Apple Farmier is described to have an almost overly-sweet aroma of ripened apples, yet when bitten into, administers a horrific shock from it’s incredibly sour taste. Those who have tried it described an almost numbing sensation on their tongue, and one such person even lost consciousness as a result of it.”

“Meow.”

“(Hm? Quite right Lucious, thank you for the reminder.) If you purchase this treat, do be aware that our esteemed institution does not hold any accountability for any harm that comes upon you. Do consume the product at your own risk… As for the lot of you who’ve decided to fall asleep during the assembly, I shall see you in detention. In case you’re wondering, yes, I see you, and I will remember if you decide to “ditch.”

Now, you are dismissed. Vargas, please make sure the students return to class while I check upon the Headmaster’s condition… (And hopefully this will be the last of these tedious assemblies…)”

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Bonus

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Lionel Kingsbutter- “Have you ever sat down and thought, “Hm, there seems to be something missing in my life… Something… Hard, surprisingly sweet… And yet, something with a mean bite to match it’s bark?” Well, this treat has no bark, but it does have quite a bite! Smooth, delightful cookie butter than just melts upon your tongue, and plentiful chunks of crispy cookies! They’re a bit… Spicy… But strangely... Delicious! (... Water… I need water...! … Thank you, Trien.)

And if that’s not enough, why, just look at it’s adorable little ears, and i-YEOWCH!!! DID IT JUST BITE ME?! IT’S FROZEN CREAM, HOW DID IT DO THAT?! BAD KITTY, BAD KITTY! WHERE’S THE TRASH C-AAAAH IT’S LATCHED ONTO MY CLAWS!!! SOMEBODY, ANYBODY GET IT OFF!!! GYAAAAAAAH!!!”

#Twisted Wonderland #Leona Kingscholar #Sebek Zigvolt #Azul Ashengrotto #Trey Clover #Ortho Shroud #Cater Diamond #Grim Twisted Wonderland #Riddle Rosehearts #Ashton Vargas #Epel Felmier #Fan Art #Digital Art #Riktor's Art

[kylosgenesis]

Teardrops on Fire

Synopsis:

Steve Rogers is the last Alpha of the an almost extinct Lycan pack. With only less than 100 members left. Steve must produce an heir to ensure the species survival and reduce the chance of attacks from others. Omegas are rare, and betas have a hard time producing children. Steves reality is finally setting in as his obligation of producing an heir faces a major set back.

Reader is the last suitable omega to mate with Steve, due to the fear of her daughters fate in the pack, her mother kept her hidden from the pack after her own exile. Only her mother, and Bucky's family know of her existence. Bucky is Steve's right hand man, and the packs best warrior! He and the reader developed a friendship and bond over the years, but age forced them to become distant.

What happens when she presents and her first heat cycle comes? Her body is in excruciating pain and a strong fever quickly overcomes her body. Facing the fear of her daughters possible death, her mom calls on the only person who can save her at this point, Alpha Steve! Bucky and the alphas friendship will be tested. The reader will be faced with her love for Bucky or her duty to the pack.

Chapter warnings : descriptions of death, abuse, blood, and mentions of miscarriage.

Chapter 2: Honey I tried

“When did it start?” Bucky was holding on to the edge of his kitchen table.He felt nauseated with the thought of her, sick and yearning, He couldn't even picture what she had grown up to look like, A part of him was scared of his own emotions.

“It hasn’t yet!”

“ At least not as of this morning.” her mother was breaking apart! Bucky could tell she was very scared and exhausted! He knew that her daughter's well being must've weighed heavily on her, he could see the physical manifestation of her pain. In just a few hours her nails had been bit to the core, and her tears streaks had left vivid and raw tracks around her cheeks.

“Buck! I know this is a lot to ask, but you have to tell Steve! Were worried she wouldn't make it otherwise. This will be her first heat”

He’d almost forgotten his mothers presence in the room, cause he turned around and met her eyes, tears streaming down her face. She'd grown fond of her friend's daughter over the years. After her own kids had left to form their own lives, she could still go to her and relive some memories of her little ones' younger days.

“I know! I'm still wrapping my head around it, but I know what I have to do” agitation surrounded his voice. He didn't know when his heart started to feel like it wanted to jump out of his chest or when he gripped the glass of water that was left on the table so hard it shattered, but it was evident that he wasn't going to be getting any rest that day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky parked his pickup in front of Steve's house. It was the largest house in the village, it wasn't Steve's choice, but he'd inherited it from his father, and his father had inherited it from his father before him. Being the house farthest away from the city limits, but right in the middle of the village meant Steve was protected, but could also be easily accessed.

Looking back at his passenger seat he saw Winnifred with her mom cradled upon her shoulder, comforting her best friend through the probably the second hardest day of her life.

“You should stay here Ma, I'll go get Steve” I know he’ll be happy to see you, but I still don't know how he'll react to her'' He opened his tool box on the bed of his truck and pulled out a large fleece blanket. Neatly folded he handed it over to his mother.

“Just keep her company till I come back”

The lights in Steve's house were on, but Buck could hear the sound of wood being shopped and Steve's grunts coming from the back of the property. As he reached his best friend's view, he took a deep breath. It was all gonna be different now, for all of them.

Steve had a large pair of headphones in, and was clearly a few songs deep into his playlist because when Bucky came around the corner; Steve almost lost a hold of the axe he was holding! Lookin at Buck he lowered his bulky headphones and stabbed the axe to the soft moody ground next to the small uncut piece of wood he was about to turn into lumber.

Steve's hair was not as long as Bucky's, and he had taken a liking to a neatly kept beard.

He grew it out as a joke at first! Clint dared him to grow it for a month, and after a month he'd grown fond of the style.So for the past year now, Steve looked less like a young soldier, and more like those lumberjacks from the cheesy romance novel covers his sister Rebecca loved to read.

“Hey Buck, didn't expect you around so late” Steve combed his hair back with his fingers. A nervous habit Bucky had noticed since childhood, especially when he had a lot on his mind.

“Couldn't sleep?”

Bucky was concerned for his friend, momentarily forgetting the reason for his sudden visit.

“ Banner called! Wanda was there earlier today, she wasn't feeling well. Turns out she was pregnant, and didn't know it!

“Steves that's awesome, when is she due ? we need to celebra…” as he looked into his best friend's eyes he saw the pain behind his look.

“She was miscarrying at the same time she found out she was pregnant, Buck. That's the third pup we've lost this year.I don't know how we're gonna get through this, It's getting harder and harder to keep everyone safe, and pretend we're not gonna be extinct in 50 years”

“Steve…” Steve's gaze was filled with a mixture of tears and rage. He took everyone's pain personally. And hearing about Wanda had awoken an unease within his soul. He couldn't fight the problem! How could a man used to protecting and fighting, deal with a problem that didn't require a fight?

“There’s an omega! She presented this morning!

“Who is she?”

“Remember Katerina? She … uhh … after she was exiled from the pack, she had a daughter!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 20 years ago

“We can't just let him die! We have to take him outside the walls! Someone out there can help him”

Joseph was the second in command to Benjamin Rogers. Two of the strongest alphas the entire western district had ever known. Both feared together, but explosive apart.

Benjamin had fathered a son 7 years earlier, a frail boy. He was often sickly and his future wasn’t promised! He wasn't meant to live much longer, the boy had once again woken up sick. A high fever overcoming his small body.

Benjamin had changed after his wife's death, he blamed the boy for Sarah’s death. A man that was once kind, and dedicated to his family, now lived like a wandering dark shadow inflicting cruelty against anyone that disagreed and crossed his path. His pack was strong! But there was no harmony, only fear.

Sarah had been a beautiful alpha as well as Benjamin. She had a hard time carrying Steve to term, at 7 months she fell bedridden and two weeks later, she had a seizure that compromised her pregnancy. Benjamin himself had to cut the boy out of his dying wife. That choice, as his wife laid there lifeless , covered in blood, and cut open like an animal awoke a demon in Benjamin. He saw death in his son's eyes, that is why he could never love him. He could never care!

Katerina took care of his young baby like her own, she had struggled to have a baby of her own so when Joseph came home holding a still bloody wailing baby, she fell madly in love with the small bundle in his arms.

The boy was small, but smart! He picked up words as young as a few months, and as a toddler he was incredibly gifted. Steve excelled in art, and even knees bit of music. Katerina loved to sit down and play piano! A young Steve would lean into her side and follow suit to her fingers on the side of the pano with his small hands. Joseph and Katerina watched him grow up, and took care of him.

Steve got sick often, but nothing too serious!

One day as she prepared breakfast she had a feeling of dread on the pit of her stomach, she ran upstairs to check on Steve and found him comatose on the bed!she wailed as she held her adopted infant son to her chest. Joseph came running to her after hearing her screams. He picked up the boy from her hands and loaded him into the car, with Katerina at his side he headed to Benjamin's house.

That was the first time Benjamin had seen his son since his wife died, his son himself nearly dead!

"Please Ben! He needs help! There's another pack two hours away, they have a doctor that can help him. She can heal him for good, please open up the walls so we can go to her! They both pleaded with Ben for hours, but to no avail!

The man was already covered in anger and reeking of alcohol, “Don't you dare challenge your alpha Joe! If I find out you defied me and left this territory you will never be allowed back”

Katerina couldn't let her boy die! With that warning in heart, she and her husband plotted to get little Stevie outside the pack territory, and to that doctor.

Behind Ben’s back, and knowing the consequences in his heart Joe called the Alpha from the neighboring pack, the other alpha had the resources ready for them to arrive in the morning. His doctor, a witch, was ready to give little Steve the life he deserved.

In the early morning of the night they sped their way through the woods. Once they reached the border a car awaited Rina, a beta from the fury pack was ready to take them to their pack.

Ben had closed the pack off to treaties when his wife died, he believed the world was dangerous and the pack was better off without interruptions, he couldn't even save his wife! His pack did not deserve to be mercied, they didn't deserve to live if she couldn't. So Ben slowly watched his pack become secluded and lost.

In the morning Ben, even drunker than the night before, had shown up at Joe's doorstep demanding to see the boy. Fully convinced he'd be dead by now, when Joe failed to produce an explanation as to why his wife was gone and so was Steve.

Ben lost it!

He called a pack meeting on which he publicly executed Joe, whether it was a display of power or just pure psychopathic joy. Joe’s death left the town broken, when Katerina came back with a healed Steve, she found herself widowed and exiled.

As a last sick jab into Joe’s heart even after his death, Ben took Steve!

As the years went by Steve forgot his early years, he forgot Joe and Katerina!

Steve remembered stories of his betrayal, her exile! How their actions forever changed a pack. He grew up kind, giving, and strong! Even if Steve didn't experience or know much love from his father, he was full of it!

And thanks to that witch both Katerina’s little growing heartbeat and Steve were stronger than ever!

Tags:

@austynparksandpizza @exposition-belongs-somewhere

#alpha steve x omega reader #alpha bucky x omega reader #bucky barnes x reader #steve rogers x reader #omegaverse #a/b/o fic #a/b/o verse #steve rogers #bucky barnes #alpha steve rogers #alpha bucky #alpha bucky barnes

[littlefeather-wolf]

STAR ELDERS MESSAGE ~ IMPORTANT~

From CHIEF ARVOL LOOKING HORSE

19th Keeper of the Sacred Bundle

Received 1.17.2018

I, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations, ask you to understand an Indigenous perspective on what has happened in America, what we call “Turtle Island.” My words seek to unite the global community through a message from our sacred ceremonies to unite spiritually, each in our ways of beliefs in the Creator. We have been warned from ancient prophecies of these times we live in today, but have also been given a vital message about a solution to turn these terrible times. To understand the depth of this message, you must recognize the importance of Sacred Sites and realize the interconnectedness of what is happening today, in the reflection of the continued massacres that are occurring on other lands and our own Americas. I have been learning about these important issues since the age of 12 when I received the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle and its teachings. Our people have strived to protect Sacred Sites from the beginning of time. These places have been violated for centuries and have brought us to the predicament that we are in at the global level.

Look around you.

Our Mother Earth is very ill from these violations, and we are on the brink of destroying the possibility of a healthy and nurturing survival for generations to come, our children’s children. Our ancestors have been trying to protect our Sacred Site called the Sacred Black Hills of South Dakota, “Heart of Everything That Is,” from continued violations. Our ancestors never saw a satellite view of this site, but now that those pictures are available, we see that it is in the shape of a heart and, when fast-forwarded, it looks like a heart pumping. The Diné have been protecting Big Mountain, calling it the liver of the earth, and we are suffering and going to suffer more from the extraction of the coal there and the poisoning processes used in doing so. The Aborigines have warned of the contaminating effects of global warming on the Coral Reefs, which they see as Mother Earth’s blood purifier. The indigenous people of the rainforest say that the rainforests are the lungs of the planet and need protection. The Gwich’in Nation in Alaska has had to face oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, also known to the Gwich’in as “Where life begins.” The coastal plain is the birthplace of many life forms of the animal nations. The death of these animal nations will destroy indigenous nations in this territory. As these destructive developments continue all over the world, we will witness much more extinct animal, plant, and human nations, because of humankind’s misuse of power and their lack of understanding of the “balance of life.” The Indigenous people warn that these negative developments will cause havoc globally. There are many, many more original teachings and knowledge about Mother Earth’s Sacred Sites, her chakras, and connections to our spirit that will surely affect our future generations. There needs to be a fast move toward other forms of energy that are safe for all Nations upon Mother Earth. We need to understand the types of minds that are continuing to destroy the spirit of our whole global community. Unless we do this, the powers of destruction will overwhelm us. Our Ancestors foretold that water would someday be for sale. This Prophecy was hard to believe! The water was plentiful, pure, full of energy, nutrition, and spirit. Today we have to buy clean water, and even then the nutritional minerals have been taken out; it’s just clear liquid. Someday water will be like gold, too expensive to afford. Not everyone will have the right to drink safe water. We fail to appreciate and honor our Sacred Sites, ripping out the minerals and gifts that lay underneath them as if Mother Earth were simply a resource, instead of the source of life itself. Attacking nations and using more resources to carry out destruction in the name of peace is not the answer! We need to understand how all these decisions affect the global nation; we will not be immune to its repercussions. Allowing continual contamination of our food and land is affecting the way we think. A “disease of the mind” has set in world leaders and many members of our global community, with their belief that a solution of retaliation and destruction of peoples will bring peace. In our Prophecies it is told that we are now at the crossroads: Either unite spiritually as a global nation or faced with chaos, disasters, diseases, and tears from our relatives’ eyes. We are the only species that is destroying the source of life, meaning Mother Earth, in the name of power, mineral resources, and ownership of land. Using chemicals and methods of warfare that are doing irreversible damage, as Mother Earth is becoming tired and cannot sustain any more impacts of war. I ask you to join me in this endeavor. Our vision is for the peoples of all continents, regardless of their beliefs in the Creator, to come together as one at their Sacred Sites

#native american #wayawolf412 #spiritwithin #littlefeather wolf

[lorei-writes]

Fandom Spaces Online & Minors

This is one of those posts that are hard to type due to the complexity of the issue. Some may say it’s been long overdue, some that there isn’t even a reason for me to type it out — and honestly, I am not sure whether either of those approaches is “righter” than the other one.

Regardless, this post is more so addressed to minors who may follow me.

(Summary at the bottom).

So, where to begin? Maybe at the very core, which for today is adult content in fiction, or to be more precise — so-called “smut”. As you might have seen, I did write some pieces which fall into this category, although it’s by far not the dominant type of content on my blog. 

I have never spoken before about this issue, because I considered it pretty self-explanatory. This is not brought forward by anything in particular either. However, today I thought that perhaps a couple words would not hurt.

Adult content is by far not the main focus of my blog, and as with anything which may be potentially triggering or otherwise inappropriate for viewers of a certain age, I do try my best to mark it accordingly. Works which do fall into this category, when listed on my masterlist, are described as either “smut” or NSFW even before you click into them. As for any trigger I mention, I do work under the assumption that you do know whether it is appropriate for you to read something — and whether it isn’t. 

You must be aware that any NSFW fiction you might have read online is only the fantasy of the author. No matter how close to reality they try to stay, it’s just the fantasy. Humans are sets of immense amount of variables and what may be true for one person may not even be a thing for another one. I do know that sexual education isn’t really available in plenty countries. I do know curiosity is spiking during puberty and such — and I would be damned if I stuck to saying “no” without saying “why”.

You see, as I’ve said, NSFW works are fantasies of the authors. They do not have to be correct in details, they don’t have to display “standard situations” (whatever those could be), they do not have to meet any sort of criteria… And honestly, plenty of times, they do include harmful beliefs, stereotypes, misinformation, simplifications, or work under some (unrealistic) assumptions to make something work in a given setting. Now, this isn’t a major issue for adult viewers — more often than not, they do possess some sort of experience which can act as a filter. Adults are usually capable of distinguishing between purely unrealistic elements, plenty can see hurtful messages, they aren’t influenced by those too much.

Minors, on the other hand? You lack this sort of experience. Those are things you may be learning later on in your life. Now, it isn’t to say that what you would read would with 100% certainty become a standard for you — but the chances of that happening aren’t zero either. The thing is, reading NSFW works may not hurt you instantly. It is only that you may learn some hurtful things from them, which you will later have to unlearn. They may set unrealistic standards for you, they may give you a wrong idea about something. Acting based on those later on in life may lead to disappointments or, in worse cases, to being hurt. In other words: you lack tools to navigate through nuances of this sort of fiction. This is fine. It isn’t meant for you. You have time to grow and shouldn’t rush it.

Now, to give a SFW example. Let’s say, character A passionately kissing sleeping character B on the lips. First issue is consent. A sleeping person cannot give consent to anything, much less to a passionate kiss — and I think we all can agree on that. But here start the problems. What we can read is still only the fantasy of the author. What are the standards for the relationship described in the story, what are the standards of the author, why they wrote it this way in the first place — it’s all very individualistic and we do not have access to that information. Then, there is a narration. The words we choose make a world of difference. The action above can be presented in both negative and positive way.

Let’s say person B isn’t consenting to being kissed like so. We will most likely be able to say it’s wrong and shouldn’t be allowed — at least if we were introduced to what consent is and why it matters. Being accustomed to the concept of consent before reading the scene is what provides us with the framework to judge whether it’s okay or not to do something. Imagine if the concept at play was something foreign to you, and even though it made you feel uncomfortable, it was presented as something completely normal and positive. It can be confusing, right?

And with NSFW things? You will most likely lack this sort of framework — maybe (hopefully) not necessarily in terms of consent itself, but factual things, expectations, risks certain actions may carry, preferences. If you are curious, do look for educational content. I know there is plenty of it online — and that was in my native language alone, not to mention English. Give yourself time to grow and never let fanfiction serve as the lone source of information for you on that matter. Check whether the information is cited in other places too. My intention isn’t to shame you, but to remind you that fanfiction isn’t an educational resource. It’s okay to be curious. It’s only that curiosity should be satiated with appropriate measures — the same way most people would pick water over alcohol to quench their thirst, even though technically both are liquid.

Lastly, I would like to state that I will not chase after you. I do believe you are responsible enough not to interact with content which isn’t meant for you. This isn’t an open invitation to read it, no. This also isn’t an invitation to prove to me that you are of appropriate age — I have honestly no way of verifying the truthfulness of such a statement, and I’m glad I don’t. (Not for accountability reasons, but because I think it would step too deep into a person’s privacy). I am aware of the fact that this may be wishful thinking. However, I also know I have only limited control over the situation — after all, I am sure there are people who read my work and otherwise leave nothing behind, either here or on Ao3.

Summary:

You shouldn’t read NSFW fiction not because you are a minor, but because (as a minor) you lack the framework to navigate through it — you are unlikely to be able to spot inaccuracies depicted in it, misinformation, stereotypes, and otherwise hurtful messages. This may affect the expectations and standards you have later on in life — it could lead to disappointment and, in worse cases, being hurt.

This isn’t about intelligence. You will simply lack the necessary experience. This is fine. Give yourself time to grow and learn.

NSFW fiction is just fantasy of the author and may have very little to do with the reality.

NSFW works should never, never, never replace proper age-appropriate sex-education. Even if an author tries to stay true to the reality, it is still just their fantasy and inaccuracies may occur. Authors are not educators. 

Puberty does spike up the curiosity in regard to sex. Especially if you did not have any sort of sexual education — do not replace it with fanfiction. Do look for resources online. Do make sure to check whether the source is credible, or whether the information is cited in other places too. It is okay to be curious, but again, fanfiction isn’t an educational resource. 

It isn’t humanly possible for authors to check every single person interacting with their work and to verify whether they’re a minor with 100% accuracy. Tags and warnings do exist for a reason. You must take responsibility for your experience online and, the same way you wouldn’t interact with triggering content, you shouldn’t interact with things which are potentially harmful to you.

#update #lorei is still alive and honestly very anxious about posting this #but oh well #i tried my best to word it properly and it's not like im not anxious overall

[icollectyoursins]

Merman Jotaro x Fem!Reader NSFW Part 1

Anon said: "Merman Jotaro merman Jotaro merman Jo... SPICY PLEASE"

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Honestly. I dream about this often. 9/10 times it’s hot. 1/10 times it’s really hot. It’s not gender neutral, I guess, but it’s not a fem!reader. The reader just happens to have a vagina and tits. I could do a reader-with-a-dick version of this, if you want. This one is very long. Couldn’t stop writing! I am the biggest Jotaro simp and I am not afraid to admit it.

Heads up, Jotaro is referred to it as ‘they’ for most of this, only because the reader doesn’t really know what he’s packing on first glance. Anyway, I hope this is in character because Jotaro is one I haven’t quite nailed yet.

For as long as you can remember the ocean would call to you. After a lot of resource managing and hard work, you finally had enough money to get a boat and a small cabin by the beach, free to escape to the vast blue as much as you liked. Which is exactly what you did today. Someone was a little less than happy to see you in his territory.

Have a character, but no idea? Prompt list here!

Looking for more? Master post here!

WARNINGS: Dubious consent (dub con), size difference, fingering, cunnilingus, nipple play (sucking specifically), uh... tentacle dick? Kinda, two dicks, breeding, mention of kidnapping at the end.

Word count: 2506

Rest and Reproduction   

     The smell of the salty air tickled your nose as the mist of small waves splashed your face. You breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against the railing and staring out at the land. You could just barely see the sand and your little cabin. The rest was blue. A deep, calming blue. The stars reflected on the surface, twinkling pleasantly. Maybe you should go out a little bit further?

   Maybe tomorrow, you were tired from preparing your boat all day. The sun was just starting to set when you finally got on the water. You deserved a break.

   You sat down on a small fold-out chair you grabbed yesterday. It was comfier than you thought it would be and you sank into it happily, curling yourself into it as you stared up at the stars. A long sigh left your lips. Today was a good day.

   A loud splash to your left startled you, making you sit up quickly and run to the source of the sound. All you saw were the ripples it left behind. Whatever it was, it was big. Then another large splash, this time it was accompanied by a thunk on the metal. The boat rocked from the impact, instinctively, you reached for the railing, holding on so you don’t fall over.

   A third splash comes from behind you. You turn around quickly, catching the glimpse of a tail, pure black and big. It banged the side of the boat again, throwing you off balance. You stumbled backwards into the chair, knocking both it and yourself over. The knocking suddenly stops along with the rocking. Silence never felt more terrifying. You sat, frozen by fear.

   Then the bow started to dip and creak. You scrambled backwards hoping to keep out of the water as long as possible. A large, black, clawed hand gripped the front of the boat, then another. Whatever it was, it was trying to pull itself up. Slowly, you were able to see its face the closer it got to you. 

   Sharp, angular features with piercing blue eyes and full lips. Short, black hair messily stuck to their face. They crawled towards you, eyes narrowing with focus the more they tried to fit themselves onto the boat but their weight kept tipping it. You were holding onto whatever would keep you up, unfortunately, nothing was helping and you slowly began sinking towards your pursuer. 

   You tried to scramble your way up to no avail. The closer you got, the less they moved, waiting for you to come to them. They reached out with one of their massive hands, grabbing your ankle then pulling you towards them. What happened next was a blur.

   Arms wrapped around your torso, holding you close to keep you from struggling. Whoever was holding you was massive, significantly stronger than you, easily trapping you and pulling you into the frigid waters. The salty sea stung your eyes as it whipped around you. Then, just as you were about to blackout, you were pulled to the surface again, gasping for breath. 

   You pushed against what you assumed was a rock sticking out of the water because of the sting against your back. Your arms were pinned down as your attacker shifted himself so your legs were under them. They were cold and wet; slimy. As your eyes gradually focused, you saw fully who this thing was. 

   Glaring down at you was some kind of half-man, half orca or shark mix. Their arms up until the elbow were black, then faded to a light flesh tone. You couldn’t quite see the rest of their body, but you imagined the rest was similar. Light skin transitioning to a pitch black. Bright blue eyes started you down, full of rage and confusion. 

   “What are you doing here?” A low, rumbling voice boomed from them. You struggle to speak, unable to think straight with this whatever it was on top of you. Their eyes narrow at you, threatening you without words. You continue to stutter and attempt to free yourself from their grip which only tightens, claws digging into your skin. They snarl, face getting closer to yours. “What are you doing here.”

   “Ah! I’m just- nnf- I didn’t do anything wrong!” You gritted, tears forming at the corner of your eyes. “I was just trying to relax, I didn’t mean to do anything wrong.” Their lips pulled back, baring their teeth slightly. It was at this point that you noticed that they were... well. Hot. They were hot. “Who are you?”

   They glared at you, deciding whether or not to answer and you felt yourself shrink under their gaze. After a few seconds, they finally did. “My name is Jotaro and you are in my territory.”

   “I didn’t mean to, I swear!” They snarled again. You could feel your heart race. They leaned into your neck, sniffing. You gasped, trying not to move, hoping you wouldn’t upset them more, but the closer they got to your neck, the more (regretfully) aroused you got. You moved your head away, stretching out your neck, shamefully trying to entice them. Meekly, you said: “I didn’t know.”

   They rolled their eyes, tail swishing in frustration. You could feel them moving against you, which only made your situation worse. You moaned quietly at the slight movement on your groin. They stopped, staring at you; perplexed. Embarrassed, you screwed your eyes shut, praying they wouldn’t notice the blush on your face. They moved again, deliberately this time, deeper and more fluid making you bite your lip to stifle another moan.

   Jotaro leaned in, raking their teeth along your sensitive neck taking in how you shivered. You were ashamed, but it’s hard not to react like this when there’s a really hot, strong, slightly intimidating merman on top of you. They released one of your arms, placing it by your shoulder to get more leverage as well as loosening their grip on the other. Their lips came dangerously close to you, breath kissing your skin, then they sat back again. 

   “You have two choices. I rip open your guts and feed you to the sharks, or-” they lean in, lips brushing against your jawline teasingly, “-satisfy me enough and I’ll let you get out of here alive.”

   “What?”

   “I’m not repeating myself. Now, hurry up before I make the decision for you.” You gulped. I mean... it’s not like he’s giving you very many options... you shyly nodded your head. “Say it.”

   “I’ll uh... satisfy you...” your voice trailed off into a question, not sure if that was the right word.

   “I’ll be the judge of that.” They pushed themselves back, looking up and down your body, probably to see if you were built to satisfy them. “You’re lucky I haven’t found a female yet, otherwise there would be two to worry about. The others of my kind aren’t so forgiving.”

   Okay, so they were a he. Good to know. That meant he had the... parts for everything to work, right? Or, at least most of the parts. He makes eye contact one more time before getting to work. Jotaro rips your bottoms off, slightly scratching your thighs, a low, rumbling sound coming from his chest. What little fabric is left is tossed aside and he holds open your legs, inspecting you.

   You stare at him a little dazed. This can’t be happening, right? He drags his teeth along the inside of your thigh while glaring at you from the corner of his eye, the shivers down your spine prove that this is very much real. When he gets close to your sex, it’s very apparent how aroused you were. He can smell it so strongly. A clawed finger cuts open your underwear leaving you completely open to his stare.

   He quizzically pokes at it, pushing your folds apart. Gently, he takes his thumb and rubs your entrance, eyes flicking up to you as you squirm, moaning quietly. His brows furrow together, testing you further by swiping up to your clit, pressing into it then circling. You moan louder this time, bucking your hips up into his finger.

   He quickly gets sick of your squirming, pulling his fingers away and bringing them to his lips, tongue slipping out for a taste. Jotaro stopped, sitting completely still. You shook, hoping he wasn’t offended. He looked at you with a new fire making you gulp down a breath. He slams one arm down across your hips, pinning you down while he brings his face closer to your cunt, licking along your entrance. Your hands fall into his hair, back arching off of the rock as much as it could in your immobile state. He groans at the taste of you, needing more. 

   He leans into you, lapping up your juices vigorously. His lips then wrap around your clit, lightly sucking. Your body tries to move, buck up into him as you mewl, but his arm is too strong. His eyes flick up to you, watching your cheeks get more and more red as he picks up his pace. Suddenly, he pulls back making you gasp. The two of you make eye contact before he crawls up to your face again, cool body rubbing against your unclothed lower half.

   Jotaro crashes his lips into yours. The kiss catches you off guard and you let out a small, muffled sound of shock, but soon melt into him. The taste of you mixed with the saltiness of the sea had your eyes rolling back into your head. Again, just as you were starting to enjoy yourself, he pulls back, moving onto another area of your body. This time it was your breasts.

   He tore a large hole in your top and bra, wide hands roaming over your now exposed chest, pinching where ever he saw necessary. Immediately, he drags his tongue along your soft flesh, flicking over your pert nipple. You gasp and groan, grinding up into him as much as you could under his weight. He pulls away sharply, baring his teeth as he growls at you.

   “Stay still,” he warns, pinching one of your nipples harder than he probably should have. You arch up into his touch, crying out in a mix of pain and pleasure. He twists. Hard. Your hands come to meet his, trying to pry him off, pain now taking the forefront of your feelings. Obediently, he pulls off, leaning into your face, voice low and dangerous. “Stop moving.”

   You meekly nod your head, still holding onto his hand which he then brings up to your face, wrapping your hair around a clawed finger. A sweet, kind change from the aggressiveness before. Jotaro’s eyes wander over your face, taking in your soft features. Once again, he kisses you, gently this time before shifting so he could focus back on your vag with his other hand. 

   His fingers spread your lower lips open again, middle finger pressing into your entrance. He’s careful, doing his best not to scratch you with his sharp nails. He moves his finger up and down before finally pressing into your warmth. You both gasp as your head tosses back. He starts with a slow pace, gently massaging your walls, coaxing more of your juices to seep out of you, squelching whenever he moves back in.

   Gradually he picks up the pace, testing your limits as well as listening to the sweet sounds that fall from you. He adds a second finger when he thinks you're ready, then three, stretching you open. You were so close, holding onto his hand still, pulling him closer to you as you reached your peak. Unfortunately, you never got there. He pulls his fingers out, licking off any traces of you from his fingers before moving so he was exposed to you.

   Jotaro takes your hand, bringing it to a slit below his waist. Your fingers trace over it lightly next to his, taking into account how he shudders. He leads your fingers, pressing into the top of the slit. Slowly, you watch it grow wide, a small pink nub starting to protrude from it. The more you tease his slit the bigger the nub grows into two full, smooth, tapered cocks. Tentacles? You weren’t quite sure, but they looked... exciting if a little intimidating. 

   You let go of his hand, opting to hold one of his cocks instead. They were slick and warm with a pleasant weight to them. The one you were holding curled around your hand slightly, covering your hand in moisture. You start jerking it with slow, shallow pumps, noticing how his eyes close shut and the slight buck of his hips. You pick up the pace, enjoying how the tip starts drooling what you assume it pre onto your hand. 

   Quickly, your hand is pulled away and he moves to align himself with your entrance. Slowly, he slides into you, groaning as he gets deeper. At first, it was okay, but the more that entered, the more full you felt, his tapered tip reaching into every crevice inside you. His other tenta-dick rested between your cheeks, teasing your back door, but never entering. He growls, picking up the pace slowly so you got used to the new intrusion.

   The feeling was driving you mad, whatever warm liquid was seeping out of him added to the pleasure, gradually building up to a tingly feeling that made you babble like an idiot. Jotaro places one of his arms above your head, pressing into you more while the other hand reaches up to your breast, teasing your nipple again. Instantly, you wrap yourself around him, pulling him closer as he gyrates into what feels like your soul. You cry out his name over and over, head tossing back in ecstasy.

   His breath tickles your ear as the two of you chase your release. He groans into your ear, lips trailing down your neck to your shoulder where he kisses you gently before sinking his sharp teeth into you. You scream as pain and pleasure mix together again. He speeds up, the lip of his slit stimulating your clit more and more. 

   “Ah, ah ~aah! I’m cl-hnn. I’m so close!” He laps up the blood from your shoulder, taking your words to heart, somehow getting deeper into you. A few powerful thrusts into you sent you hurtling over the edge, eyes rolling back while your vision when white and you fell limp in his arms.

   Jotaro soon followed you, the feel of your tightness around him made him plunge deep into you, spilling as much of his seed as possible. A vision of you growing round with his pup dances across his eyelids. He looks down at your face, flushed and relaxed. You were more than satisfying to him. He would never allow anyone else touch you after this.

   The last thing you recall was a warm kiss placed on your temple before being swallowed by the cold water and then black...

#this didn't save the first time so I need to write all of the tags again. woot #oooh cliff hanger #kinda #jotaro kujo x reader not sfw #jotaro kujo x reader n/s/f/w #jotaro kujo not sfw #jotaro kujo n/s/f/w #jotaro not sfw #jotaro n/s/f/w #jotaro x reader not sfw #jotaro x reader n/s/f/w #jotaro prompts #monster prompts #mer prompts

[scripttorture]

You likely don't follow Dream Smp but there was just a reveal that one person (Character A) is torturing another (Character B, former villain, now in prison) for info on necromancy while the warden of the prison gave CA the equipment to do it and is ignoring CB's screams for help. And half the fandom is trying to justify it with "oh, CB deserves it for threatening to kill a child, killing (1/2)

another child (who he then revived, not justifying /that/ though) and manipulating/abusing the latter." Not only that, but so many people are telling off anyone who pointing out how messed up it is (and don't worry, the story itself so far is showing that it's messed up and won't work) with "it's just fiction, get over it." Like I am legit concerned over how many people are claiming it's cathartic and the character deserves it for their actions. Rant over I guess (2/2) (Dream smp anon) And I forgot to add that this character was /already/ being tortured; he has been in complete solitary confinement for upwards of 2 months and is being starved) and was actively self-harming and destroying items in his cell in a bid to get the warden to come replace them (looking for social interactions, even if it was negative) and people STILL thought that wasn't "enough of a punishment"

-

I have no idea what this show? Comic? Piece of media is but I’m happy to give my opinion on the general situation and use of violence in fiction*.

 But I’m not here to take sides in fandom wars and the aim of this blog is not to tell people they can’t write about violence or abuse. It’s to make people think about how it’s used in stories and hopefully create something that’s more realistic and respectful to real survivors.

 At the end of the day the reason I’m interested in fiction is because it effects our perception of real survivors. When so much of our popular media is unrealistic in ways that demean survivors that has an effect. I want to remind people that while the violent acts we write about are fiction, similar acts are happening to real people today.

 Torture survivors are real. They’re human and they deserve respect.

 Here’s the thing Anon, the people you’re mad at are real too. And the characters that sparked this are not.

 There’s nothing wrong with having a strong emotional respond to fiction. There’s nothing wrong with getting frustrated with how pigheaded or outright bigoted fandom can be. But it is worth questioning whether responding to this kind of thing is worth it.

 Arguments over fictional characters can become extremely heated and result in real world harm. And so long as you’re engaging with stuff in a purely fictional context… well I think the chances of being dismissed, belittled etc are significantly higher. (Note however that being dismissed and belittled still happens when you’re dealing with torture in the real world.)

 This is not fair. That does not change other people’s responses or the cultural climate.

 I will be blunt; if you are writing and reading in English the majority of fans you deal with will be Western and white. I have personally found this intersection very likely to treat violence as something purely fictional. I have found them unlikely to consider torture as a reality unless they are prompted to.

 And from my side of things that prompting is often like dropping an anvil on someone’s foot during the conversation.

 Believe me I get it. It is infuriating to see real, deadly torture techniques interpreted as harmless. It is hurtful seeing torture victims blamed for their own suffering. This happens on the news as often as it does in fandom so the fact these feelings are being set off by something fictional doesn’t make a lot of difference. Because these arguments are used in the real world against real people.

 Seeing torture apologia touted as this weeks hot take is something you are allowed to be mad about. I’d be a hypocrite if I said otherwise.

 But educating other people is hard work and you are talking about a piece of media aimed at children. You are probably talking to children. If you’re a teenager yourself it might be hard to hear it put like that.

 It’s still true.

 If you really want to have these conversations in your fandom then you need to centre the reality. Underestimating or dismissing the damage solitary confinement and starvation do to people is serious because it props up real world systems of abuse. Because it justifies ‘tough’ sentences to level of isolation that leave people mutilated by their own hand, or unable to function in society. Or dead. Because it leads to doctors ‘prescribing’ diets used in death camps.

 Here’s the thing, talking about that reality to children is a fraught process. Especially when they’re children who don’t have any experience of seeing this stuff. And unless you’re their parent or teacher educating them is not your job.

 Sending them down an internet rabbit hole that leads to photos of real injuries, real torture, real mass graves… I think that has the potential to go very badly.

 Enjoying something and then discovering that the fandom is toxic is unpleasant. But my impression is that’s the problem here: the fandom interactions are leaving you feeling like shit.

 Disengage.

 You do not need the fandom to enjoy uh… whatever Dream smp is. You do not need their permission and if the fandom is a negative space for you, you are allowed to leave.

 If some of these people are your friends then by all means try to privately explain why their words hurt you and use this blog as a resource. But ask yourself how much you want to be friends first because that is a long painful process that might not work.

 Torture apologia is everywhere and fixing it is going to take decades.

 Accept that you can not control other people’s actions. Accept that some people will always be assholes.

 If seeing torture apologia hurts you then… you probably need to find a piece of media without torture to enjoy. Because apologia is so present that I think that’s the only way to completely avoid coming across it in fandom.

 Once again I understand. I’ve volunteered to be bombarded with this stuff every day. It is upsetting. It is also embedded our global culture and the popular media exported to every single nation on the planet.

 Constantly being confronted with it and stewing in that anger and hurt is unhealthy.

 Step back. Do something else for a while. Take a look at this post I made last week. You might find some of the advice on dealing with these feelings helpful.

 You can not make people care. Hopefully most of the people you’re talking to will grow and learn and become more compassionate people. But you can’t force that process.

 And you don’t have to deal with their bullshit while they’re still growing.

 Shouting at other people isn’t always helpful and it isn’t activism. If you want to do something constructive there are a lot of organisations that would gladly accept your money and your time.

 Here’s a couple that seem relevant:

Just Detention

Solitary Watch

The World Food Programme

Amnesty International

 I hope that helps. :)

Available on Wordpress.

Disclaimer

*I asked a friend to explain what Dream Smp is and I’ll be honest I still don’t understand it. But hey I got an idea of the target audience which helps. Please don’t explain Minecraft to me any more let me rest.

#writing advice #tw torture #tw starvation #torture apologia #tackling torture apologia #fandom #solitary confinement #starvation #torture in fiction

[ryosei-hime]

Sex and Therapy: The Mending

Cog begins the extensive repairs on Fizz and Concord grapples with the fear and rage battling for his attention. Waiting for the new episode slowed me down in writing this one as I was way to excited to be too productive. Also available on AO3.

Concord burst into Cog’s apartment without knocking. He’d run the whole way and fell several times on the stairs. His knees were skinned, the thin pajama bottoms he’d thrown on ripped, and he clutched a blanket around his shoulders. He hadn’t the patience for a shirt but still tried to retain some sense of modesty in his panic. 

He found Cog elbow deep in Fizz’s chest already. He ran to his other side which gave him a good view of his crumpled chest plate. He put his hands to his mouth as he kneeled beside him. He had blood on his face and for a moment Concord forgot it couldn’t be his own. 

“Fizz! Oh, Fizz, no.” 

Tears were already streaming down his cheeks. One of Fizz’s arms had clearly been broken,  longer than normal as he brought the hand up to Concord’s cheek. His thumb tried to wipe away the tears there, but it seemed glitchy in its movements. 

“No crying.” 

Concord grasped the hand on his cheek and hid his face in the palm. He couldn’t stop the tears. He’d been so afraid Fizz would be hurt while working and now it had come true. He knew it would and he’d let him go out there every night just because he’d been depressed. 

“Who did this?” Concord sobbed. “Who hurt you?”

“Can’t say. Confidentiality.” 

Concord’s eyes dried up suddenly and widened. Him. He’d kill him! Pure rage washed away the guilt that had been threatening to eat him alive, a dark overlay of a cross shape in his pupils as the wrath imp in him came to the forefront. 

“Tell me where this happened!” 

Fizz shook his head softly. 

“You can’t fight him. Look what he did to me. And, Concord, he has my paperwork. He still...technically owns me.” 

“No one owns you!”

Fizz’s eyes flickered and Cog pulled her arms out of his chest. 

“Concord I need you to...just go make some tea or something. I need to concentrate!”

Fizz smiled at him. 

“Go on, baby. Cog’ll fix it.” 

Concord let the anger seep from his limbs, the rage in his eyes abating. It left him tired and scared. He kissed Fizz’s hand and reluctantly released it.

“I love you. Please be okay.”

“I love you, too, my sweet Concord.” 

Concord pulled himself away and did as he’d been told. He puttered around in the kitchen but never got around to making the tea. He just watched the water boil down to nothing and eventually turned the stove off. He paced back and forth, absently wandering back towards the living room from time to time. Cog told him to get out each time without taking her eyes off her work. He felt like a puppy being scolded. 

After hours of work, Cog met him in the kitchen. He tried to run by her and to Fizz’s side, but she grabbed him by the shoulders, pushing him back. 

“Wait, Concord. I need to talk to you.” 

Concord’s face screwed up in agony as he backed up and fell into a chair. Oh, no. He knew that tone. Something bad had happened. He’d died. 

“He’s alive,” Cog stated pointedly, recognizing the fear in his eyes.

Concord choked out the breath he’d held and clutched the blanket to his chest. He tried to give Cog his full attention as she went on, but he also kept trying to peek around her to get a look at Fizz.

“But the damage is extensive. It’s more than just the chest cavity and the arm. A lot of very small, delicate, and important bits got broken when his chest collapsed. It’s gonna take me a while to get him back to full functionality and I don’t know if I’ll be able to find what I need here in the Pride Ring. I won’t get technical but there’s a very important piece that needs replaced as soon as possible. It regulates his power source. He’ll be experiencing power drops and surges. If he doesn’t respond, he’s not dead. Don’t panic.”

Concord pulled the blanket up to his mouth at that. 

“But what if he...does just. Shut off and doesn’t wake back up because I can’t tell the difference between a power drop and...and….”

“Calm down. I’ll show you how to check. But, Concord, you should know, there is the risk that his system does a factory reset with all the fluctuations he’ll be experiencing. And if it does...he won’t remember you.” 

Concord felt the tears spilling down his cheeks again, a hollow feeling digging out his insides. He darted around her and she didn’t try to stop him this time. He rushed to kneel beside Fizz once more, taking his hand. He tried to get his tears under control and put on a brave face. 

“See,” Fizz said, smiling up at him. “Cog’s got everything under control.” 

Concord nodded, fighting back more tears. Fizz had so much confidence in Cog. He thought of her as some kind of miracle worker. But no matter how good a mechanic she was, she couldn’t do everything. Her resources were dictated by their location and their status. He knew how being an imp could limit your business.

“Did Cog tell you anything about your condition?” 

He shook his head. 

“Okay. You’re….you’re going to have some power surges and drops, she said. And there’s parts you need that will be hard to get. But you’ll be fine. Everything will be fine. We’ll get you fixed up.” 

Fizz squeezed his hand. 

“I know, baby. I’m not worried.” 

Concord wanted to yell that he should be. Things were so bad. And he was so scared himself. And so angry. He rubbed his face against the back of Fizz’s hand, letting the anger pull him back up from the sea of despair that threatened to overwhelm him. 

“Fizz, I need to know who he is. You have to find a way to tell me.” 

“No.” 

His voice was sharp. 

“Please, Fizz. He can’t get away with this.” 

“Oh, he didn’t. I bit that bastard’s nasty dick before I got away.” His teeth were particularly sharp as he grinned evilly, blood still staining them. “Hope the fucker bleeds to death.” 

He looked tired suddenly and his eyes began to dim. A power drop! Concord felt his system kick into panic mode.

“Too bad he’s so…..high status….has the best doctor. Probably come out with a bigger dick.” 

Even in his panicked state, Concord’s mind filed that clue away. High status meant visibility. He’d be in the public eye. Something to use later. Right now, he had to pay attention to Fizz. He leaned over to kiss him gently on the cheek, a tremble in his voice.

“Don’t go, please?” 

“Just tired. Not going anywhere.” 

Fizz slipped his hand behind his neck and pulled him down for another kiss. Somehow he missed his lips and ended up sucking on his neck, teeth scraping across the skin lightly. Concord smiled shakily as he gently coaxed him away so he could sit back up. 

“You’re determined to bite me no matter what, aren’t you?” 

Fizz’s tired eyes glowed a little brighter as a small bit of energy came rushing back. 

“Mm hm. My Concord.” 

“Oh, is that what that’s about?” Concord joked, trying to keep his own spirits up as well as Fizz’s. 

Fizz took Concord’s hand in both of his, fingers sliding up his wrist before bringing it to his mouth. He bit down lightly, pressing his teeth into Concord’s soft skin for a moment before kissing it gently. 

“Mine. My beautiful Concord.” 

“All yours,” Concord assured him, tears threatening to return. “I’ll always be yours.” 

Fizz smiled groggily and pulled him down onto his chest. Concord felt his whole body seize up as he tried not to put pressure on his injuries. Fizz pressed kisses against his horn between assertive murmurs. 

“Mine, mine, mine.”

He could see Cog standing in the door of the kitchen wincing as a hand reached futilly towards them. He pushed himself off as delicately as he could. 

“We have to be careful of your chest.” 

Concord laid down next to him carefully and curled in towards him, hoping that would satisfy him. Fizz tried to turn on his side as well. Cog actually stepped out of the kitchen this time, but Concord sat up to stop him. 

“You have to stay on your back for now.” 

“Mmm but I wanna fuck ya,” Fizz moped. 

Cog blushed and retreated back into the kitchen quickly. Concord laughed a little. 

“We’re really getting to the core of your psyche today aren’t we?” 

“You’re so cute, it makes me wanna wreck ya.” 

Fizz made grabby motions at his face and Concord leaned in to let him have it. 

“Is this what every power drop is gonna be like?” 

“If you’re lucky, baby.” 

Fizz winked at him and Concord had to kiss him again, his own fingers ghosting over Fizz’s cheek to cup his jaw. 

“Silly robot.” 

“You love it.”

“I do,” Concord whispered, brushing the circle on his cheek with his thumb. “I love you .” 

Concord stayed at Fizz’s side, Cog joining them when Fizz’s power had evened back out. Concord was worried that while he witnessed several drops over the next few hours, he wasn’t seeing any of the surges Cog had talked about. Cog was of two minds on this. She agreed it was troubling in that it meant the regulation was skewed dangerously low. But she also had concerns that surges would make him hard to control and he might hurt himself further. Either way, there was nothing they could do about it.

She eventually bid them a good night and headed to bed, leaving Concord some blankets on the couch. But Concord couldn’t find it in himself to leave Fizz’s side. He clung to Fizz’s good arm, eyes locked onto his face, watching for any sign of another power drop. He couldn’t let Fizz out of his sight for even a second. If he looked away, he would die or reset. He knew it. Fizz’s free hand rose to his face, fingers tracing his jaw softly. 

“Go sleep on the couch, baby. I’ll be fine.” 

Concord shook his head, tears flowing once more just at the sound of his voice. Tears of relief or fear, he wasn’t sure. He pressed his face against his arm. 

“No, I want to be with you.” 

“You need to sleep.” 

“I can sleep here.” 

“You know you won’t.”

Concord was surprised to find his arm coiling around him. He lifted him and brought him close enough to kiss before depositing him on the couch. He even pulled the cover from the back of the couch and tucked him in. 

“Goodnight, Concord.” 

Before Fizz could even get his arm entirely retracted, Concord hopped off the couch, bringing the blanket with him, and cuddled up to his side again. 

“No. I want to be here with you. Please? I’m so scared.” 

“Okay,” Fizz sighed, wrapping his arm around him.

He pressed his face against his side gently before hearing a slight shuffle from the hall. 

“Get on the damn couch, Concord,” Cog commanded. “What part about not jostling him did you not understand?” 

Fizz tried not to laugh, but it got away from him. 

“I’ve been overruled.” 

Concord pouted as he sat up, keeping his back to Cog. 

“Okay, fine.” 

He waited until she’d disappeared back down the hall before leaning over to kiss Fizz on the forehead. 

“Goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning.” 

“You will, I promise.” Fizz ran a hand down his arm.

When Concord woke in the afternoon, he immediately scrambled off the couch and across the floor. He hadn’t actually opened his eyes yet so he didn’t make it far before he cracked his head on the coffee table and had to fall back to nurse his wounds.

“Careful, baby.” 

Fizz’s arm wrapped around him and lifted him over the table to place him at his side. The hand came up to check his head as his arm unwound. Concord almost started crying again between the pain and the gentle touch of Fizz’s fingers in his hair. But he held it together, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. 

“See,” Fizz assured him as their eyes met. “I’m still here.” 

Concord nodded, taking the hand as it slipped from his head and pressing it close to his cheek. He could hear movement from somewhere else and the sound of tools being shifted around. Was Cog up already? Before he could gather the energy or wherewithal to look, she came over with her tools again. 

“Outta the way.” 

Fizz decided to save Concord the trouble of moving and simply picked him up and placed him on his other side. Cog dropped down next to him and immediately started working again. 

“Did you eat?” Fizz asked and Concord was a little surprised to see him do that to someone else.

“No. I can eat later.” 

“Eat.” 

“Sorry, I’m not Concord. You can’t tell me what to do.” 

“Well, it was worth a shot,” Fizz said with a smile. “What are you doing now?” 

“Stabilizing some more. Once this is done you can move around again. But only a little. At least enough to get home and sit up.” 

“Don’t want me on your floor for another night?” 

“Yeah, I’m not interested in babysitting. If you two want to ignore my warnings, you can at least do it where I can’t see you.” 

Concord cleared his throat and excused himself, leaving Cog to continue her work. He retreated to the kitchen and sat down at the table, putting his head in his hands. He let himself cry for a bit before wiping his face with his arm and sucking it up again. He had to focus on something else. Something that made him feel like he was getting things done. 

He took out his phone and called Lannah.

“Lannah, I need a favor. You know how I always asked you to recycle the magazines from the waiting room? Yeah. I need you to get them from wherever it is you hide them and bring them to me. No, Lannah, I’m not mad. No...Lannah...Lannah! I need them. It’s an emergency. Yes. An emergency that requires a ton of magazines. Thank you. I’ll text you the address. Just bring them when you can.” 

Concord hung up and carefully placed his phone on the table, hands shaking. Tears were gathering in the corners of his eyes as he stared down at the picture Fizz had taken of them on the couch. The two of them, smiling, no idea what would happen in a few short hours. 

The darkened cross shape slipped into his pupils again. He’d find this monster if it was the last thing he did. He had to appear in some article or news story somewhere over the course of the past six years. If Fizz couldn’t give him the name, even if he couldn’t tell him yes or no, Concord would know when he saw him. He knew the look of trauma well. 

Once he’d managed to calm himself down, he returned to Fizz’s side to wait for Lannah, watching Cog work. While she was in there, she also showed him how to check the regulator to make sure it wasn’t dead, though she assured him that was highly unlikely to occur. She seemed to be carefully avoiding any mention of the possibility that he’d reset but they shared a few looks as she skipped around the subject.

Just as she was explaining a more technical aspect that Concord, honestly, wasn’t grasping, there was a knock on the door. Cog looked up in surprise and Concord realized he’d never filled her in on his plan. But she had already moved to answer it before he could speak up. She opened the door to reveal Lannah holding a very large stack of magazines in one hand and a can of soup in the other.

“Hey, did you guys know there’s like a million cans of soup in the stairwell?” 

Cog stared for a moment before reaching out and taking it from her slowly, the look on her face saying “don’t you judge me.” 

“...Soup is easy and affordable. Who are you?” 

Lannah looked her up and down with a smirk and Concord could feel his secretary’s attraction from where he sat. That’s what they needed right now. Although Cog didn’t seem to react to it in the least. 

“I’m Lannah. That’s my boss on your floor with his sexbot boyfriend.” 

Cog took another long moment to respond as Concord covered his face with his hands. 

“I really wish I knew how this became my life.” 

Lannah slipped by her with a giggle and let the magazines fall on the floor next to Concord as Cog closed the door.

“There’s one stack. What do you need these for anyway?” 

“Identification.” 

Concord held up the first magazine so Fizz could see it and pointed to the cover, finger landing right in the eye of Lucifer himself. Fizz gave him a tired look. 

“Concord, I did not belong to the King of Hell.” 

“I’m not skipping anyone,” he replied. “I’d die trying, but I’d still try.”

Fizz reached out to hold Concord’s chin in his hand, bringing his face down to better stare into his eyes. 

“That’s sweet, baby, but don’t be crazy.” 

Concord kept his face serious as he opened the magazine and pointed at the next famous demon without even looking, eyes locked onto Fizz’s. But Cog snatched it from his hands before Fizz could respond. Concord’s eyes snapped to her in shock. 

“Do you mind if I finish what I’m doing first?” Cog demanded. He could see she’d been pushed to her limits and shrank from her a bit. “You know, the life-saving stuff? It’s bad enough we can’t get the regulator in the pride ring. Who knows when I’ll be able to get it, and the longer it takes, the more dangerous this becomes. You’d think you’d be a bit more concerned with his survival than your revenge.”

Concord’s cheeks colored as he bit his lip and tried not to look at anyone. Cog had never gone off like that before, and Concord felt bad that he’d pushed her this far. She was also right. And now he felt ashamed of himself. How had he let his priorities get so skewed? 

“You’re right. I’m sorry, Cog. I’m not thinking straight.” 

Cog settled down next to Fizz to finish her work without responding and an awkward silence fell over the room. 

“I have a car, you know,” Lannah spoke up suddenly. All eyes turned to her. “If you need to go to another ring to pick something up, I can drive you.”

Concord wanted to agree immediately, but he looked over at Cog as she closed Fizz back up, a tired look on her face. She sighed and sat back. 

“If we leave soon, we can probably be back in three days.”

“Thank you, Cog, thank you.” Concord grabbed her hands but released them immediately. He didn’t think Cog appreciated her personal space being violated.

“It’s fine. I don’t want this idiot to die either.” Fizz stuck his tongue out at her playfully. “All right, Lannah. Go pack a bag and we’ll drop these two off on the way out.”

Lannah gave Cog a wink and a couple of finger guns before hurrying out the door. Concord could see a shadow of confusion on the mechanic’s face, but it was overtaken with exhaustion as she stood. Fizz sat up and as Cog headed for her room to pack a bag, he stretched his arm out to grab her wrist. 

“Eat.” 

Cog sagged visibly before turning towards the kitchen instead. 

“Fine. I’ll have some damn soup.” 

Fizz smiled and Concord watched him with a gentle expression. He’d gotten so good at taking care of people. It made him happy to see it wasn’t just him that Fizz cared about that much. Concord put his arms around his neck and fell into him now that it was safer to do so. Fizz wrapped him up in the coils of his good arm and pressed his face into the hair between his horns. 

#Helluva Boss #Robo Fizz #Robo Fizz Helluva Boss #RoboFizzxOC #myfanfics #stuffididmyself