#was gonna participate in hijack week
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Jack likes to give surprise kisses when Hiccup goes flying.
Toothless is not amused.
#hijack#frostcup#httyd#rotg#hiccup horrendous haddock iii#jack frost#HI IM NOT DEAD#i haven't drawn these idiots in a hot minute#was gonna participate in hijack week#but artist block 🧍♂️#anyway i hope you enjoy#this took me so long#myart
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HAPPY 1-YEAR OF DRAWING ANNIVERSARY TO ME!
(Warning: slightly longer post incoming cause sometimes I gotta be a sentimental bitch ok? So let's go on a little trip down memory lane.)
This day, a year ago, I made my very first fanart. It was dnf (if that surprises you, then welcome to being on my blog for the very first time). I drew a little frog face too so I could use it as a watermark (fun fact: I still use that very same first one).
I immediately put my drawing up on twt because I told myself that I wasn't gonna be afraid of having people see that I was at the very beginning of this journey and had no clue what I was doing. That instead of being bad at art, I was gonna be awesome at being a beginner who doesn't know shit.
I started with little doodles and silly comics and then I laughed way too long when the first drawing of mine that gained some attention was a dnf butt joke. At the time I was trying to balance shipping and non-shipping art so I didn't even draw dnf that much but in hindsight it's probably the only possible way this could have gone.
At the very end of August I woke up to @honelle56 caps-locking at me in my messages - I was very confused and tired (I am no morning person and I will never be, fuck off with your mornings) because Dranart liked my drawing of singing Dream. Dranart was my 17th follower on twt which is a useless yet extremely funny fact about my time on that hellsite.
I also drew human!patches because a) patches was and will always be my favorite dteam member and b) it was a really cute trend and while I do love drawing dream, george and sapnap, I was also quite happy to try drawing anything but a white man for once. And I really liked how the drawing turned out.
Much, much later, I tried to draw my first slightly more realistic looking drawing. I was extremely confused on how to draw anything like this. Especially their hair gave me tons of trouble but given my experience, I think it's not a bad attempt.
When hijacked smp started I obviously wanted to participate, and I drew c!blu who doesn't associate with any side in particular but instead serves soup to everyone who visits her tavern 'The Soup House'. She also wants to be paid in stories from all around the map.
One of the events I was most excited about was dnf week. I even collaborated with two talented writers and I drew the corresponding art for two fics.
(Fun or not so fun fact: when twt had like three hundred collaborative aneurysms about the situation at that moment, that was when I created this tumblr account. I didn't use it super actively (I guess I needed another situation to fully make the switch) but I at least started the account that now developed quite a bit since then.)
I didn't really draw at all through January and February and I actually kinda thought I would move on from that hobby and fandom (not because of negative feelings, just because I didn't really have the urge to create anything within this fandom) and then situations happened and now I am here; and for some reason that is beyond any logic and my understanding I am now even more insane about dteam.
Wild to me but we are rolling with it now, I guess.
Since I got here, I drew more than ever (I actually think I might have made more drawings in the month since I got here than I made the whole rest of the year). There's just such an active and funny community here that cares about fan works for the sake of creating and not just because a CC might see it.
Unfortunately, Tumblr won't let me add more than 10 images in one post (maybe fortunately for everyone who has this monstrosity of a post on their dash). So if you want to see all the progress I made since I got here, you can look at everything in my art tag. For now, I will close this post with one of the art works from the past month that I like the most:
Can't wait to see what the next year might bring :)
Love, blu
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ok I’m gonna take the likes on that post I made as a yes so
a few of my other ideas for Vocal Android episode plots under the cut! reminder that these are only ideas, I’m not a master writer or anything-
there’s actually more than this but I wanted to put stuff where I’m actually like “ok this could be a solid premise”
“Hate It! Hate It! Huge Ego!” - Una gets jealous of Miku, Rin and Len getting asked by the Event Committee to headline the school sports festival, leading her to attract a Module that turns her into a monster.
“Turkish March -It’s Over- \(^o^)/” - Miku gets serious nerves when the group has to perform a concert for a very influential classical musician.
“A Song of Wastelands, Forests, and Magic” - After a few weeks of having no free time because of crimefighting, Miku becomes determined to make the class trip to the mountains a relaxing one, come hell or high water.
“ONLINE GAME ADDICTS SPRECHCHOR” - Rin, Len and Miku gets hooked on a new VR MMORPG game that’s hit the market, but they end up having to go inside the game itself when a mysterious virus starts holding players hostage inside the game.
“Panda Hero” - When Gumi’s school softball team starts falling behind, Gumi creates some robots to help them improve their game - except the robots go rogue and try to become the new softball team, causing her to enlist the Cryptons’ help in beating the machines.
“Ai Dee” - Miku and Luka get a chance to model for a popular fashion designer holding a show in town, Chika. However, Luka starts to notice something’s very off about Chika.
“Weekender Girl” - Miku tries every trick she can think of to get into a newly-opened club in town that doesn’t allow robots.
“Paris Cinema Girl” - A foreign exchange student named Kokone arrives on the scene and hires the Cryptons to star in a commercial for her family’s chocolate company. Meanwhile, hearing about Kokone’s upper-class status, Dex and Daina attempt to get involved.
“Nostalogic” - Miku stumbles upon a video disc in the basement of Meiko when she was a one-hit wonder teen idol. The kids then team up to convince Meiko to take the stage one more time.
“Happy Halloween” - The kids join the Kenmochi Investigation Club in a ghost hunt at the school for a supposed spirit haunting the gym.
“Dance Robot Dance” - The Crypton Crew take a trip to a robotics exhibit in town as part of Crypton’s showcase, but things go awry when Dialtone hijacks the headliner mech robot.
“Ohedo Julia Night” - The team gets a gig performing at the local obon festival, but Miku’s attempt to join the festivities before showtime becomes interrupted by Dex and Daina pulling a raid. Meanwhile, Gumi and Kokone wage battle for getting to see fireworks with Len.
“Dramaturgy” - Miku and friends visit a theater in town to learn more about musical theater and opera. Unfortunately, it becomes more of a showdown against their teacher’s snobby star student, Prima.
“Super Charge Macher” - Miku gets the opportunity to guest at a grand prix race that Rin and Len happen to be participating in, but ends up having to leap in when she realizes two rival racers are trying to run everyone off the track.
“Newly Edgy Idols” - Miku, Rin, and Luka participate as guest judges at a freelance idol contest, with the winner getting signed to a popular label. However, the girls quickly realize that the idols are acting unusually hostile to each other…
“Burenai Ai de” - Dialtone attempts to take over every screen in Sapporo with the help of some new tech during an important televised concert, causing Miku to go inside the infrastructure of Sapporo’s TV waves to save the day.
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"tsp zombie au" please!
WIP Wednesday!
heya ked! side note, but are you participating this week? i saw the post you made a couple hours ago, but there arent any of your wips listed on it- i was gonna send you one too lmao (is all good if not! just curious)
will this one ever make it out of the planning stage? we'll never know
SWITCHING TO MORE GENERAL OUTLINE FOR SANITY’S SAKE
Stanley’s lost for awhile, trying to make it on his own. Not sure how long, the city is chaos and everywhere he goes there’s either zombies or military killing zombies and also civilians in the area rather than risk infection. Shit’s wack
Some time later, Stanley stumbles across a friendly English pointer with a yellow collar who seems dead set on dragging him Somewhere. With no other options and going a little loopy from idk, hunger or something, he follows and ends up snuck inside some small encampment/building/what have you. It’s got a radio tower up top. I want the pointer to point at something painted on the wall; its numbers, but Stanley doesn’t know what the fuck is up, and after a few moments of frustrated pointing, the dog gives up and drags him somewhere else
It’s a radio station that Nar’s hijacked and is broadcasting out a message of ‘come here there’s food and protection’ but Stanley’s an idiot and also delirious rn so we’ll give him a pass.
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Geats episode 13 liveblog:
- Has Ace reeeally not suspected Giroli being the game master yet, I wonder.
- 'just the concierge', yah right.
- 'Why save the world for so long, and still be hated?'
Yeah Ace-kun, why?
Why do we turn out as the bad one even after everything? Why are some people just meant to be the antihero protagonist? 🙂
(I'm sorry, having way too relatable existential dread right at the start of the episode... Excuse me. No wonder I get Ace.)
- obviously scared that Ace is trying to unravel DGP's secret. You've got a lot more to worry about game master-san, pretty soon many more riders will figure out how suspicious DGP is.
- hmm but eliminating and erasing Ace's memories should'nt be the solution, Ace made a wish to participate in every game, so unless DGP just ignores the wishgranting rule or whatever, their only option is murder.
- Tsumuri's saga of not being fully on board continues. So, let's guess which episode is she gonna go against game master? When is she gonna henshin?
- Keiwa back in the opening lineup, and his demeanor changed a lot from the first arc, more matured. Ah, sweet character development!
- his uniform's shirt also changed to cyan instead of the previous green.
- Ooo finally game master talky talky to the mad botanist! And sure, strong monsters do create interesting action, episodes, he's talking like a viewer 🤣
- Neon's father answering just like a typical father.... Or at least what I've known. Man, too much relatability this episode!
- congrats to Keiwa's temporary job, and his love for tanuki soba! If this is a food commercial, I'm sold!
- mystery about this red hat girl, interesting.
- punkjack directly attacking geats now. So they removed no fighting each other rule for him? Sure, that's what they'd totally do!
- This is probably the most vulnerable we've seen Ace.
- Even punkjack isn't spared from driver hijack, haha
-how do you keep doing this 'teleport stealing', kid? But thanks to this, we get to see rare n awesome unmorphed fights!
- Neon using her fanbase for info, of course, very useful, Misora says hi. Good thing she didn't get lost with misinformation.
- lol, using zombie so much made you do zombie gestures normally too, Michinaga?
- I like how the tables have turned here, the weaker players, Neon and Keiwa are in a stronger position than the stronger ones, huhu!
- And Keiwa's return re-establishes the status quo (Michinaga not acting so heroic again, hehe)
- teamwork? Overconfidence? Your keiwa-fied dialogue makes me cry, Ace-kun!
- but you're gonna trick Keiwa and take his driver now, right? No? Ok....
- More unmorphed fight yayy! Ace getting more beaten up yayy... Err I mean oo nooo...
-the world's against you Ace-kun....
- now Tycoon protecting unmorphed Ace, thats a nice parallel.
- New DGP staff, interesting. Are they the board/council kinda member, Game master's senior?
- Wait, they're NOT against Ace?? Ehhh?! Woah!
- aha, so you're gonna nicely ask for Keiwa's driver now, such improvement.
- Keiwa-kun and I both: just the face? Well well, this is what you'd call minimalist design lol
- And the full command twin buckle debut. I personally found the sword action much cooler.
- Ace-kun too nice these days, returning the driver exactly within few minutes, plus giving away the new buckle too.... At least secure the driver before being nice!
Am I the only one left being the antihero protagonist of my own story.... Er... Umm.. ignore the last line. Sorry.
- new DGP guy seems like another interesting character. And he does seem to have more authority than game master, once again, I'm eager to know how they work. And it's very interesting how even they're not on the same page, wow.
I miss the sly fox, not-so-nice Ace! And next week, game master henshins and possibly reveals his identity?
Well, I've been waiting for Ace to 'die' at least once pretty soon, (wow I say that so casually) and Christmas episode isn't too far, with how things are going, so....? Hm? Can we assume that?
#kamen rider geats#kr geats#ukiyo ace#geats liveblog#geats spoilers#sakurai keiwa#kamen rider punkjack
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once again the feeling of sillyness returns, but this time we are gonna talk about of a different Coroika AU I have, aka The metro's monsters.(also i decided on the name for it finally)
So uh let's get right into it, the info is under the read more like always.
Okay so, this au doesn't really diverge from Coroika canon up until the Octo Expansion arc's prequel chapter.
So first off, Samon Run with mask never happens, instead, Agent's 1 and 2 call upon Goggles and Rider(after the celebration) to investigate the Deep-Sea Metro. Along the way they get separated, during the separation process Goggles passes out and ends up in the starting area of Octo expansion where he is found by Hachi, just Hachi, No captain cuttlefish he isn't here. Anyways Hachi get's his name and then the arc basically happens as similar as to what happens in canon as possible with the biggest change in the au.
But the most major difference is the Sanitized Octolings, hell they don't even look like octolings, just giant goopy octoling shaped monstrosities. But a few shots of ink could take them out just fine. And everything is fine and dandy up until it's blending time. Don't worry Rider still saves them. Headphones just stays behind with him for reasons unknown.
But what happens when Rider get's Hijacked by Tartar? Well, his body contorts from what it originally was to something more monstrous, and by the way it was indeed extremely painful for Rider to go through that transformation. But hey at least he get's to be taller, specifically growing to be 9'3. But he does gain claw-like fingers and a tentacle tail plus sharper teeth. So yeah Hachi and Goggles are gonna have a fun time fighting him.
And so, Canon mostly happens from here on out except Rider is passed the fuck out. Don't worry the super canon is still destroyed. Goggles and the others had to do a lot of explaining to Rider.
after the whole thing Blue team + Rider took two whole weeks away from turf wars and drama in general. Somehow Rider is still allowed to play in turf wars and ranked because the people that decided who could participate in turf were somehow convinced by Marina and Pearl that Rider was a Giant Squid Inkling that hadn't hit a growth spurt yet.
Of course the trauma they all got still sticks with them all, so they can't handle looking at Aqua ink or anything that looks like the Sanitized ink at all, especially Rider.
To be honest, this au isn't as fleshed out as most of the others ones I have. but anyways bye.
#coroika au#splatoon manga#coroika#splatoon coroika#rider coroika#goggles coroika#POV: you are me looking at the octo expansion arc and wondering 'how can I make this more fucked up?'#also I thought about combining this au with 'Disciple of Tartar' but nah#The Metro's Monsters AU#once again not tagging all the characters
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E.M.Pathos - Chapter 1 - Anticipation (new WIP, unedited)
Jenny was nervous.
First the first time in a very very long time, she was actually nervous. Not apprehensive, not cautious, not anticipatiory, not fearful. Just straight up nervous. For her it was an unusual experience.
It wasn't the tests coming up. No, she'd always strangely enjoyed being tested, measuring herself, having documentation of her own internal competition with herself. No it wasn't the tests. Or was it? She was actually quite excited to be part of this new program, to have been selected for the second round. So what was it?
She looked around the small, sterile waiting room for the hundredth time. 'Waiting room? More like hastily converted scientist's broom cupboard is more like it,' she mused. Stark white plastic chairs with no padding made her shift in her seat again.
"They could have at least had some out of date 'zine's laying around," she muttered. "I mean what self respecting doctor doesn't have dozens of magazines that are like 5 years old just laying around?"
"Well for one thing, there's not even a coffee table to put em on Jenn-o. Which only makes the lack of coffee even more noticeable."
Trust Dax to complain about missing his morning fix. It didnt seem to matter how far from home they got, he always seemed to find a way to make coffee. Like that one time on Estoc Prime. Jenny shuddered at the memory. That one had been close. A little too close for any sort of comfort. She hadn't been able to look a cup of coffee in the face since then. Ok, sure, poisoning the commander of the ship that had hijacked them with espresso had been a stroke of genius from Dax, but it still brought back too many unpleasant thoughts; not something she needed today of all days.
'Breathe. Just breathe. Dont think about that right now.'
Dax winced. "Sorry Jen-o. I'm just a bit nervous and having to go off caffeine entirely's made me a little spacey."
"Don't worry about it Dax, I understand. We're both a little jittery right now. You have any idea what to expect this round? I mean, last time, they were just like following me around for months with a bunch of weird cameras and asking a bunch of questions. Idk man, just wondering how this whole 'in-depth examination' thing is going to play out."
"Yeah, don't worry about it too much ay. She'll be right. We always are."
Jenny exhaled deeply again. Her mind was working overtime due to the lack of anything to hold her attention at all. There weren't even any cracks or motes of dust to stare at mindlessly to pass the time.
"Stop chewing ya nails- you're gonna end up with hands like a Thraxian if ya don't cut that out."
"I'm nervous, Dax. Nervous. Me! Actually nervous. I dont even know why I'm here, much less how both of us got in, what they're going to be doing, whether I'm actually qualified, or any clue what any of the probably thousands of ways I could fuck this up somehow are."
"You worry too much. Over-sensitive, you are. Always have been. Then again, maybe that's why you made it to round two."
They fell silent again. This particular waiting room was definitely not conducive to conversation. Being alone in their own thoughts might have been worse though.
Dax started bouncing his leg rapidly. He was nervous too, but not from the unknown. He was more a combination of anxious and bored. Jenny placed a hand on his knee to still him again.
"Ugh, all that study and no one in IGSARC managed to figure out that bored humans are a dangerous thing to leave unsupervised."
"We're not dangerous Dax! Jeez how many times do I have to tell you to stop buying into the hype and stereotypes?"
"Oh so you think IGSARC got funding for this second round of research just because they were curious? Nah, somebody on the Council is worried. Or hoping to find an advantage. Something. IGSARC found something they weren't expecting to find, and stereotype or not, I'd wager a month's ration of beer that they're either scared of us, or wanting to exploit us."
"God Dax, you're so negative! Maybe you really do need coffee to survive!" Jenny laughed, the bright sound tinkling around the small room they were ensconced in, brightening the mood instantly.
"Haha, yeah, you're probably right Jen-o. Ahhhh I'm just tired waiting is all! You always know how to make me feel better though.
Jenny smiled at her best friend. They'd been through so many things together, from the first day at the Merchant Academy when she'd accidentally stepped on a Lorathian cadet's tail and nearly started an intergalactic incident when her rush to apologize ended up with her hands in what were for Lorathians, very inappropriate places. Even just thinking of that still made her blush a tiny bit, even if it did make her smile.
Dax had totally saved her bacon on that one, with his smooth talking, good looks and dazzling charm. The accent probably helped too. Not many actual Australians seemed to be out and about in the galaxy, and she had to admit, the combination of his dark brown skin, beach-blond curly hair and brilliant smile were the perfect combination to be disarmingly noticeable. He'd managed to get the Lorathian talking, and eventually the two sauntered off, Dax with his arm around the other, headed to the Canteen. They'd been fast friends ever since.
'That was such a long time ago now,' Jenny, lost in her own thoughts again sighed. 'Well, it seems like it was a long time ago anyway.'
"How long's it been Dax? Since we met, I mean. Seems like I've known you forever."
"What? You forget me that easily? I'm insulted!" Dax laughed easily. "Probably about as long as we've been sitting in this damn room."
"So what, 5 years?" Jenny chuckled.
"Sounds about right. Fuck we were so much younger then."
Jenny punched him. "Hey! Speak for yourself!"
"Hahaha gotta get the dig in when I can Jen-o!"
Just then, right as she was cocking back to punch him again, the near-invisible door to the room hissed open.
The IGSARC representative did not come in. Their face was obscured by the doorframe, but the clipboard they held was dwarfed by the massively long fingered blue hand that clutched it to their chest like a child's treasured toy.
"I apologize for my tardiness, it was unavoidable. Also, please forgive the sparseness of the accommodations at the moment, our study is only just getting started." The alien scientist had bent down to be able to see into the room better while speaking, and now Jenny and Dax were able to see them properly.
"Ah where are my manners! I apologize again, we are all just so excited about this newest phase! Let us introduce ourselves properly, so if you would be so kind as to step out here, as I am sure it would become even more uncomfortable in there were I to attempt entry."
"We should've just waited in the damn hallway," Dax muttered to Jenny as they stepped out into the large corridor that stretched along the top deck of the starship.
The view from the glass that looked out into the neighboring nebula from the floor to ceiling glass on one side was truly breathtaking. Or at least, it would have been, had Jenny not been short of breath already, due to the nervousness from earlier slamming back into her like and old earth freight train. The momentary reprieve from it, courtesy of Dax, evaporated as quickly as liquid nitrogen on Mercury. He was right though, the hallway was wide enough that they could’ve driven their ‘spacers to the meeting, parked in the hall and still had enough room left for a dinner party. It just made the cramped waiting room seem all the more ridiculously sized.
The scientist caught her attention again as they started speaking again.
“Allow me to introduce myself- I am Doctor Itraxilitanthudinilatz of the IGSARC Advanced Research Division. I realize my name is a bit of a mouthful for most humans, so you may call me Doctor Traxi. Firstly, I want to welcome you to the second phase of a very exciting program! We here in ARD are extremely excited to be working with you for the next 18 to 24 months on this groundbreaking area of research. Since today is the first day of the program, we’ll be beginning with a brief tour of the area of the facility that will become your home, your quarters, and the areas of the ship that will be accessible to you. Unfortunately, due to the highly classified nature of our work here together, as well as the parameters of the research, in order to eliminate any external influencing factors, you will not be permitted access to the entire ship, however, we’ve made sure to include a large array of amenites within the research facility’s designated areas, so you should not feel too restricted.”
Of course, Dax raised his hand.
“Did ya at least make sure there’s a pub in there?”
“Ah. Sadly, at the moment, no, however, being aware of the necessity for many humans to participate in ritual toxification, there will come a stage in this project where that will be made available, but sadly, until we reach that stage, your dietary intake will be strictly monitored, which does include the elimination of any physiologically altering substances, at least for now. But more on that later! We will go over all these things and answer as many of your questions as possible during the orientation period tomorrow. For now, let’s begin the tour!”
As Dr. Thraxi started off down the insanely large corridor, Dax grabbed Jenny’s arm. “Great, first no coffee and now no beer!��
“Yeah I know, you’re torn up about it. OMG Dax, just suck it up for now, you should’ve known what you were signing on for,” Jenny hissed under her breath. “You’re just being a baby about it right now because you haven’t had any coffee for a week.”
“Right, I know, and now it looks like I’m not gonna for ages too!” Dax whispered back.
“Shush and pay attention!”
“...of course this corridor will be off limits due to it being the main concourse connecting the two main parts of the ship. Our section is coming up, which I hope you will find most adequate.” Dr. Thraxi had been droning on for the couple of minutes that it took them to make it about a third of the way down the observation concourse, when they turned to a side hallway, significantly smaller than the main walk, stopping in an alcove facing a large frosted glass door. Dr. Thraxi placed six of his long fingers on a blank section of the wall next to the door, at which point the door frame lit up a pale blue, and the glass slid open silently like some fey portal to another world.
A disembodied voice called out softly, “Welcome back Dr. Thraxi. I have detected that you have guests. Are they the new study subjects?”
“Yes thank you Janet, these are the newest participants in the second phase of our research. Could you please update their files?”
“Of course Doctor. Subject 1, please step forward.”
Doctor Thraxi gestured at Dax, who took two steps forward into the main room.
“Scanning. Linking data files. Subject 1: Dax Fellowes. Planet of origin: Terra Prime. Age: 35. Height: 172 centimeters. Weight: 95.2 kilos. Species: Human. Genetic Sub-group: Aboriginal Scottish Australian. Hair: Blond. Eyes: Brown. Circulatory system: Internal, Pressurized Atrial system. Condition: Healthy. Respiritory System: Dual internal lung. Primary absorbative content: Oxygen. Condition: Healthy. Registering bio-markers. Profile complete. Please state your name for voice-print identification.”
“Uh, Dax Fellowes.”
“Registering Ah Dax Fellowes.”
“Oh wait, hold up, that’s not right, my name’s just Dax Fellowes.”
“Adjusting. Voice print identification for Dax Fellowes saved. Thank you.”
“Stupid bloody machine,” Dax muttered to himself as Dr. Thraxi walked past him into the main area of the lab.
“Jenny, if you could also step forward now so that Janet can scan you as well please.”
She stepped forward into the room, and was instantly too caught up in looking around to pay any attention to Janet’s robotic voice as the scan proceeded. She was too interested in seeing all the other scientists milling about, some lounging and talking in the common area of the room at the far wall, where a window the size of her mother’s old van framed the expanse of deep space, a dark contrast to the low white couches that were currently occupied by several scientists- at least she assumed they were based on the white lab coats that matched what Thraxi was wearing. Off to the side several others were gathered around a couple small tables, chatting and eating. Various posters and artworks were scattered tastefully across the walls. One in particular caught her attention since it seemed to be a hologram representing the birth of a star that was constantly changing and moving in all three dimensions.
“Please state your name for voice print identification.”
The ethereal voice of Janet snapped Jenny’s attention back to the present.
“Jenny O’Rourke.”
“Voice print identification for Jenny O’Rourke saved. Thank you. You both may now access all areas of the lab designated Participant Level 1 security clearance.”
“Excellent! Now that you’re registered in the system, let’s get you acquainted with the areas of our facility that you’ll be using most!”
The rest of the hour long tour went by in a blur- both because listening to Dr. Thraxi was just so monotonous, despite their best effort to be engaging, but there’s only so peppy you can be about showing off chairs and toilets, but also because the reality of what she’d signed up for was starting to sink in, as the more and more they saw of the research facility, the more it became clear that she and Dax were the only visible humans in the entire place. Although the variety of species was astounding, even for a deep space vessel, and that one game of four player multi-dimensional chess looked fascinating, Jenny found herself simply letting the information wash over her.
“...and that brings us to the conclusion of our tour! I hope that the two of you will be comfortable during your stay with us. We all look forward to working with you, and I’ll be introducing you to the rest of the Phase 1 research team tomorrow at 10:00 hours in Conference 3. If you don’t remember where it is, that’s fine, just ask Janet for directions.”
Dr. Thraxi turned to leave Jenny and Dax standing in the middle of what could have passed as a comfortable modern hotel shared suite lounge, his clipboard fluttering slightly at the rapid movement.
“Oh hey, one more thing Doc!” Dax called out as Dr. Thraxi stepped through the doorway.
“Yes?”
“Dumb question, but what’s Janet? She a person, a computer, what? I was pretty sure computer, but the responses are pretty personalized.”
“Ah yes, one of our earlier successes actually- Janet, an acronym of “Genuine Artificial Neural Network” is an AI program designed to interface between all of our various systems. We worked quite hard on getting her responses to seem more natural, as well as being able to understand intent over data requisitions.”
“Bonza mate, thanks for the tour,” Dax yawned. “I think I’ll be hitting the sack soon then, been a long day.”
“I understand. Will see you at the meeting in the morning.” Dr. Thraxi stepped back and the door whisked shut.
“What was that about Dax? Like why do you even care what their stupid computer is called?” Jenny was a bit irritated. Bed definitely sounded like a really good option.
“I don’t give a royal shit what their computer program is called, it can go fuck itself and the rest of this program for all I care. I wanted to ask an innoccuous question to see something.”
“Whoa there boyo, why the hostility all of a sudden? I thought you were all pumped for this program, except for the lack of coffee.”
“Yeah well I was excited for it....until the tour.”
“Ok buddy you’re starting to scare me, what gives?”
“I’m not sure- I can’t put my finger on it yet, but there’s something...off about this place.”
“Damn. I wish you hadn’t said that Dax.”
“Why? Oh no! Oh did I just trigger you again without thinking? You ok?”
“No no, that’s not it, it wasn’t you. This whole place kinda started putting me on edge soon as we walked through those doors too. I kinda tuned the doctor out while they were showing us around, but that gave me more time to look around at everyone else here. You notice we’re the only humans in this facility?”
“Yeah. That we saw anyway.”
“Dax. Don’t make this more melodromatic than necessary. But yeah, no other humans. Ok that could be explained away with we’re the first ones in this section of the study. Fine, i’ll buy that.”
“But…”
“Yeah, there’s always a ‘but’. I hate ‘buts’.”
“Bullshit, you love a good butt.”
“Dax! For real! I’m being serious!”
“I know, I know, I can’t help it, you know me when there’s a chance for an inappropriate joke, I gotta jump on it ay.”
“Not the time man. Anyway. I couln’t tell what was setting me off either, but I just got more and more uneasy as we went through the tour.”
“Yeah me too Jen-o. That’s why I asked ol’ Blueberry Slenderman about the AI. I wanted to see if there was a difference between when he was on-script versus off it.”
“And?”
“Did ya notice the darker purpley markings on his hands and neck?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, they change color slightly- they get darker and lighter. I thought I was seeing things at first, but that last bit confirmed it.”
“So what, his skin changes colors a little. Loads of aliens have that.”
“Right, they do, but this one’s interesting, because the minute we walked through the facility doors, he started lying to us. Right up until I asked him about the AI. And even then, he lied about something in that explanation of what it is.”
“Well duh, of course he was lying- probably not our definition of it though; if his spots react to deception like our pupils do, it could’ve been a reaction to the fact that there’s a lot more going on here than he was covering in the tour, a lot of it’s classified, and a lot of it he’s saving for tomorrow! Doesn’t mean he’s like lying lying.”
“I hope you’re right Jen-o. I hope you’re right.” Dax sighed. She was probably right. She usually was; Jenny had good instincts. Probably one of the reasons she was here to begin with. Then again, so did he. Instincts that had saved his life on more than one occasion, so Dax had learned to trust his gut. And something was definitely not right about this place.
He just hoped it didn’t bite them in the ass.
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Evanston Round Robin 2018!
Ok everyone, the 2018 Evanston Round Robin is on! Last year was my first year joining in on the festivities and it was wonderful. This year, I’ve taken over the logistics from the lovely @luninosity who has organized a fun event and a great fanfic outcome for a few years now.
If you’re interested in joining the Evanstan 2018 Round Robin, please reply to this post by Saturday, November 10 at midnight, Eastern Time.
Once we have our writers determined, we can decide together what kind of story we want to write. Also, depending on how many people want in/people’s schedules, I’ll map out a posting schedule and we can hopefully begin around the week of November 19th so that everyone has some time to write and we’re finished around mid/end of December (depending upon how many authors join us).
I’m tagging everyone that joined in last year and everyone that has expressed interested (so far!) in joining this year. Tumblr won’t let me tag everyone, apologies!
@concavepatterns @marciellaniello @itsvarza @viperbranium @linzanitee @edible-crayon @thebestpersonherelovesbucky @boopifer @bearceptionus @accol-fics @dekudani @worrisomeme @brendaonao3 @amarulasmile @little-lottie @ms-zilia @hakunahistata @prplprincez @antiquitea @ahnjunae-blog @luninosity @musette22 (also hey @rooonil-waazlib any interest in joining in?)
Round Robin 2016 can be read here
Round Robin 2017 can be read here
General Guidelines under the read more:
1. The way a Round Robin works is, one person writes a small chunk of the story, then someone else jumps in, then someone else, and so on, and at the end we generally give the first person a chance to write one more time (since they didn’t get to respond to anyone, the first time)
2. Word count per person…roughly probably 200 to 1,000 words. We’re not gonna count words, so that’s somewhat flexible. However, please be considerate - this is not the place to write 20 words and not advance the story at all, nor the place to hijack the storytelling with your 50k epic, right? Right.
3. Depending on number of participants, to keep momentum going, you’ll probably have between 2 and 5 days to post your contribution, after the person before you posts theirs. More on scheduling later, after I ask you all about that.
4. Because the goal is to be inclusive and to have fun, please avoid topics that may be triggers or squicks, for example noncon, abuse, underage, self-harm, or really *heavy* BDSM. Being malicious about this will have Consequences.
5. Consensual sex is fine but please keep it contained within your own contribution - not everyone’s comfortable writing sex, so please don’t get them right to the brink and then hand the climax off to the next person, as it were (exception: if you know and have discussed this with the person writing immediately after you, and they’re cool with that, then that’s cool)
6. In general, be respectful of your fellow authors! If someone says it’s autumn in New York, as a setting, don’t randomly without explanation decide they’re living in Australia in the summer. Likewise, don’t have Chris or Seb wake up and go, “wow, that last chapter was all a terrible dream!” That devalues the contribution of the person who wrote that chapter. Basically, y’know, the point is to have fun and to take what you get from previous contributors and play with that, like a neat shiny delightful fic-toy that we all make together, so remember that everyone’s playtime is equally valid.
6a. Do your best to avoid absolute language or using your chapter as a soap box. For example, Chris or Seb “always” or “never” does a particular thing. Being policed isn't an enjoyable feeling and we want to be sure writers participating don't feel undermined or limited by absolute language.
7. We have an Evanstan end goal, though how we get there is certainly flexible! One of the McFassy versions @luninosity contributed to ended up including a flying unicorn spaceship and alternate-dimension versions of the main pairing turning up in their apartment. Anything goes! :-)
8. Once we have a more confirmed time frame/participant list, I’ll ask you if you’d rather contribute more towards the beginning, middle, or end, as far as writing your bit!
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Daily Toony Circumstance/These days in toon history
Yesterday was a first for us, working for the newest Chief Justice of Toontown, Judge Judy. No, not that one. She's a pretty decent dame, not corrupt at all and doesn't take crap from us, which is.... unfortunate. She had us memorize exactly what we can and can't do under her watch. She wants to be a "no-nonsense, stabilizing force in our lives". Our duties as judicial police for Toontown are limited to the following: The powers of the Judicial Police for criminal investigation are set out in particular in arts.7.º and 8 of TOC – Law No. 49/1943 27 August. Competence of the Judicial Police regarding responsibility for criminal investigation, includes:
First-degree murder, Slavery, abduction, kidnapping and hostage taking; Counterfeit currency, securities, stamps and other similar securities;Hijacking, sea air or land, Criminal gangs; Trafficking of influence, corruption, embezzlement and participation for economic business; Misconduct and abuse of power practiced by holders of political office;Bank robbery, offices of Finance Public and couriers; Forgery of driving licenses, registration documents, ID documents and other official documents; Trafficking in persons and serious drug trafficking cases; Cases involving the use of firearms.
This is her first task: to reorganize our jobs! TPD, she says, has been using us as beat cops for years when we're not supposed to be. A lot of what we do is patrol duty, which IS legally part of our work, but we can't be on call to rescue Thomas O'Malley and the rest of the Aristocats from trees no more. We gotta protect her, or prosecutors, criminal investigators or prosecutors, transport criminals to and from jail or the precinct, make arrests and do investigations, and apparently serve legal papers. Basically, we're glorified sheriffs. When the Judge saw how we've been operating, her lips pursed and she said what we was all thinking; "This is gonna be interesting." We can keep our office in the precinct, but have to spend way more time helping her. We're gonna learn a LOT more about Toontown's laws in the next few weeks. -Smartass
#los angeles toon patrol#who framed roger rabbit#disney#disney villains#toontown#toon patrol#whoframedrogerrabbit#roger rabbit#disney movies#daily toony circumstance#this day in history#this day in toon history#toons#toonproblems#toon problems
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Belarus Hijacked a Commercial Plane
Russia’s power over Belarus is in the spotlight after plane ‘hijacking’ incident
Reported yesterday: Belarus hijacked a passenger plane in order to arrest a foe of its government
As global leaders expressed outrage at Belarus’ “hijacking” of a Ryanair plane and the detention of an opposition activist, Russia was notable for its vociferous defense of the country. Now, analysts are saying Moscow stands to benefit from Belarus’ further estrangement from the West.
Belarus on Sunday ordered a Ryanair flight carrying prominent Belarusian opposition activist Roman Protasevich to divert to its capital Minsk, whereupon the activist was detained. Russia described the uproar in the U.S. and Europe as “shocking” and accused the West of having double standards.
Russia has been steadily increasing its power and influence over its neighbor Belarus, but the countries’ leaders President Vladimir Putin and President Alexander Lukashenko are somewhat uncomfortable allies — it’s arguable that any allegiance is fragile at best, and borne out of necessity.
For Belarus, Russia is a powerful economic and political partner and a source of support, having backed Lukashenko’s leadership
CNBC
If there's one thing Rocky IV taught me, it's that you can never trust the Russian government.
I'll stand by those teachings 'til the day I die.
More – Detained Belarusian dissident appears in video as fury mounts over hijacking of Ryanair flight
Blinken says US will aid Gaza without helping Hamas
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed Tuesday to “rally international support” to aid Gaza following a devastating war there while keeping any assistance out of the hands of its militant Hamas rulers, as he began a regional tour to shore up last week’s cease-fire.
The 11-day war between Israel and Hamas killed more than 250 people, mostly Palestinians, and caused widespread destruction in the impoverished coastal territory. The truce that came into effect Friday has so far held, but it did not address any of the underlying issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something Blinken acknowledged after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We know that to prevent a return to violence, we have to use the space created to address a larger set of underlying issues and challenges. And that begins with tackling the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza and starting to rebuild,” he said.
AP
It's about time.
Mysterious air base being built on volcanic island off Yemen
A mysterious air base is being built on a volcanic island off Yemen that sits in one of the world’s crucial maritime chokepoints for both energy shipments and commercial cargo.
While no country has claimed the Mayun Island air base in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, shipping traffic associated with a prior attempt to build a massive runway across the 5.6-kilometer (3.5 mile)-long island years ago links back to the United Arab Emirates.
Officials in Yemen’s internationally recognized government now say the Emiratis are behind this latest effort as well, even though the UAE announced in 2019 it was withdrawing its troops from a Saudi-led military campaign battling Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
“This does seem to be a longer-term strategic aim to establish a relatively permanent presence,” said Jeremy Binnie, the Mideast editor at the open-source intelligence company Janes who has followed construction on Mayun for years. It’s “possibly not just about the Yemen war and you’ve got to see the shipping situation as fairly key there.”
AP
Not gonna lie: I put this here mainly for the headline.
The White House Is Partnering With Dating Apps To Get Horny People Vaccinated
In a national effort to get through to horny but vaccine-hesitant Americans, the White House announced Friday that it is joining forces with dating apps to encourage people to get their COVID-19 vaccines so that they can go forth and fuck freely this summer.
Vaccinated users on Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, and Badoo will have access to some premium features for free. OkCupid, Chispa, BLK, and Match are giving out a free “Boost” to those who've been vaccinated so that their profiles are more likely to be seen first. Plenty of Fish is also offering free credits to vaccinated members for its livestreaming feature.
Buzzfeed News
Not gonna lie, Part Deux: I put this here ONLY for the headline.
The Climate Real Estate Bubble: Is the U.S. on the Verge of Another Financial Crisis?
Increasingly, experts see a collective threat to the U.S. economy. As the risks of owning a home in places affected by climate change stack up, economists and policymakers say climate-induced flight from threatened areas could shock the U.S. economy as home prices plummet, lending dries up and the local tax base diminishes in hard-hit regions.
“The degree of capital reallocation and the speed of that is going to be larger and happen more quickly than most market participants expect,” Brian Deese, President Joe Biden’s chief economic adviser, told TIME last year when he was the head of sustainable investing at BlackRock. Zimmerman calls herself “the canary in the coal mine.” She may be one of the first, but if the U.S. doesn’t heed her warnings, she won’t be the last.
Time
I'll go out on a limb here (while trees still exist): Real estate prices will plummet long before the climate change makes it happen. Prices are so inflated right now (in so many asset classes), and asset bubbles are popping up all over the place. Like all bubbles, some will burst and others will deflate slowly.
Look at student debt, credit card debt, housing prices, stock indexes, precious metals, and cryptocurrencies.
Political artist John Sims detained, handcuffed by S.C. police in his gallery apartment
“When a police culture suffocates the voice of justice, why should I trust the police with my body? Why? If resisting and cooperating bring the same outcome — death — what am I to do, especially if good cops cannot stand up to bad cops? When there are no internal moral checks and balances, you become a pack of animals in an uncivilized wilderness motivated by fear and the naked power to punish and destroy,” Sims said last June in a commentary in the Orlando Sentinel. “You become the judge, jury and looter of Black bodies. You become a virus of racism and white supremacy. You become the face of a broken America.”
Yahoo!
Thanks for the story, Mike. I think it sums up well what we all want to say about police violence on Black people.
The article was originally published here!
Belarus Hijacked a Commercial Plane
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Okay also I am SERIOUSLY going to properly try to organize (a bit late, I know) this year’s Evanstan Round Robin Fic! So that we can squeeze things in while it’s still 2017!
Last year was most excellent, so I shall tag people who came to play in that one, and anyone new who might want to join us. I’m kind of thinking that we start off in a couple weeks? I’ll be in Hawaii from this Thursday (11/9) until Tuesday (Nov 14), so maybe the week *after* that? Depending on how many people want in/people’s schedules?
(I am also kind of thinking some sort of holiday-related fake-dating plot but ??? we can discuss)
Link to last year’s Round Robin on AO3, for reference:
http://archiveofourown.org/works/8378476/chapters/19193818
Some people I’m tagging, and feel free to share and/or join in even if you weren’t in last year! We love new and old writers. We love everyone. @concavepatterns @marciellaniello @itsvarza, @viperbranium, @thebestpersonherelovesbucky, @boopifer, @bearceptionus, @accol-fics, @worrisomeme, @brendaonao3, @amarulasmile, @little-lottie, @ms-zilia, @hakunahistata, @prplprincez
General Guidelines under the read more:
1. the way a Round Robin works is, one person writes a small chunk of the story, then someone else jumps in, then someone else, and so on, and at the end we generally give the first person a chance to write one more time (since they didn’t get to respond to anyone, the first time)
2. word count per person…roughly probably 200 to 1,000 words. I mean, I’m not gonna count words, so that’s somewhat flexible. (And we all know how bad I am at estimating my own fic length…) On the other hand, be considerate - this is not the place to write 20 words and not advance the story at all, nor the place to hijack the storytelling with your 50k epic, right? right.
3. depending on number of participants, to keep momentum going, you’ll probably have between 2 and 5 days to post your contribution, after the person before you posts theirs. More on scheduling later, after I ask you all about that.
4. because the goal is to be inclusive and to have fun, please avoid topics that may be triggers or squicks, for example noncon, abuse, underage, self-harm, or really *heavy* BDSM. Being malicious about this will have Consequences.
5. consensual sex is fine but please keep it contained within your own contribution - not everyone’s comfortable writing sex, so please don’t get them right to the brink and then hand the climax off to the next person, as it were (exception: if you know and have discussed this with the person writing immediately after you, and they’re cool with that, then that’s cool)
6. in general, be respectful of your fellow authors! If someone says it’s autumn in New York, as a setting, don’t randomly without explanation decide they’re living in Australia in the summer. Likewise, don’t have Chris or Seb wake up and go, “wow, that last chapter was all a terrible dream!” That devalues the contribution of the person who wrote that chapter. Basically, y’know, the point is to have fun and to take what you get from previous contributors and play with that, like a neat shiny delightful fic-toy that we all make together, so remember that everyone’s playtime is equally valid.
7. we have an Evanstan end goal, though how we get there is certainly flexible! One of the McFassy versions I contributed to ended up including a flying unicorn spaceship and alternate-dimension versions of the main pairing turning up in their apartment. Anything goes. :-)
8. once we have a more confirmed time frame/participant list, I’ll ask you if you’d rather contribute more towards the beginning, middle, or end, as far as writing your bit!
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i've been puzzled by Critical Role for such a long time like i know it's a bunch of people playing D&D but how does it WORK??? and how can you binge it?? i checked an episode at random and it wAS 4 HOURS LONG HOW ???
Oh man, I honestly had these same exact questions/concerns before I started watching. It literally took me 8 months to finally decide to give the show a try and I just cannot express how glad I am I did. It seems so massive and overwhelming, but I’m gonna legit answer these questions and only hijack your ask to gush about the show a little to tempt you in.
how does it WORK???I knew veryyyy little about the mechanics of D&D going in. I’d never played any tabletop RPG (though I’d been interested in trying one for a long time), and pretty much my understanding was the really general ‘it’s whatever you can imagine/you do whatever you want to do and you roll dice to see if you’re successful’ etc., and the Community episodes where they play D&D. I was not quite sure how this was going to logistically be something you watch long term (as a non-participant) nor if I was going to be interested in/connect with characters that I can’t really see—I’m a pretty visual person. The idea of D&D made sense to me logically before I watched Critical Role, but I didn’t really get it until I started watching. So, tbh the best way to understand how it works is to give it a shot. (If you’re like me you won’t understand everything immediately—you pick it up as you go, and what you don’t understand of the mechanics really doesn’t matter because you can still understand the story they’re telling.)
Logistically speaking, everyone is visible on screen at the same time: 7-8 players on one half of the screen, and the Dungeon Master (DM), Matt, on the other side. Matt basically describes where the characters are (physically and narratively), and presents them with a catalyst (e.g., a character asking them for help, a villain attacking, etc.) that starts the action and the players decide how to respond. Really, the three core aspects in my opinion are 1) collaborative storytelling, 2) improvisational theatre, and 3) logic puzzles.
and how can you binge it?? Oh man. I mean this literally: I was watching/listening to Critical Role every single chance I got. I devoured it. Minimum of three episodes a day, and forcing myself to go to sleep and leave it. There are a lot of reasons I could binge it:
The storytelling. It’s so damn good. One of the most narratively rewarding stories I’ve watched or read in years. The world-building is fantastic and has no loose ends (while feeling MASSIVE and open and real). The plot is interesting, well-planned, and character-driven; everything feels meaningful in one way or another. The NPCs Matt introduces are all rich and compelling and unique. And—something I value immensely in story that I rarely get—there are consequences. Honest-to-god consequences for everything, and it always feels appropriate for the action, and well-timed (things don’t always bite you immediately! But also sometimes they do!).
The players. They make such ridiculous, amazing choices that keep the story unpredictable but realistic. All of them have stellar comedic timing, but can also make me cry at the drop of a hat. They care so deeply about the characters and invest everything into the game/their interactions, and it just feels rewarding to invest my time in them and their world. Not a single issue connecting to the characters—they sell them 100%, but they do feel separate from the actors in a good way.
Found family. The chemistry of this group is amazing—it’s a group of real life best friends and it feels like it, constantly—and it comes through in both the players’ relationships and the characters’. It’s just fun, and warm, and comforting to see people (real and fictional) who care as much about each other as these guys do. It’s just a good time. I see my friends in them, and I see friends I would like to have.
You can have it on in the background. Logistically speaking, this is how you can binge it. While it can be something you sit and watch—trust me—it’s also essentially a filmed podcast, so you have have it in the background, or listen to it without video like I did while I was doing my dumb data entry job. (Bless my boss for letting me listen to stuff.) And, as much as the completist in me hates to say this, it’s likely you’ll tune out occasionally; the long fights can become number-crunching heavy/repetitive, and they do have some circuitous conversations when they’re planning what to do.
You’ll wanna go into the tag. If you don’t care about spoilers this won’t mean as much to you, but I was dying to dip into tumblr to find fanart and headcanons and gifs and stuff, but I didn’t want to spoil myself. So there was that kind of urgent push for me to catch up AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE!!! so I could go looking. Plus, because there is a new episode every single week, there’s none of that pesky urge to put off watching something until a hiatus, you know?
i checked an episode at random and it wAS 4 HOURS LONG HOW ???And sometimes more than that! They do SO MUCH STUFF each week (plot and character development and fighting and relationship progression and they don’t rush ANYTHING), they have to make so many decisions, and they just burn through those 3+ hours. (And they usually end up stepping in it somehow and having to make a detour to clean up their own mess, lbr.) Honestly, these episodes look fucking long, and they are, really. But the time stamps are a bit off at a quick glance; about the first half of the series has inflated run times—fans started sending in gifts they would open at the end, they did Q&As, they had subscriber milestone awards, etc.—so some of that is skip-able. It’s fun, but definitely stuff you can go back and watch once you’re caught up and out of content. There are also a few one-shot episodes here and there that you can also skip until you catch up. (Definitely worth watching though, later!)
So, it is a little less than it looks like. But truthfully, it just goes by really fast. You get sucked in. The action goes fast. You’re dying to see what happens next. The biggest issue I had with this series was starting it, so honestly for anyone interested in this series I recommend just watching the first episode. Don’t worry about reading up on what happened before they started streaming the show, don’t worry about knowing who the characters are, or what it’s going to look like. It won’t make full sense until you just dive in. (That being said, if you want a reference theargentumlupine’s primer is fantastic and was very comforting to have going in.) It seems unthinkable when you’re looking at 2384975987295 hours of canon, but as early as episode ~40 I started worrying about being out of episodes ❤
#thesnowymeadows#ask#me#personal#have i mentioned lately that i love this series?#k cool#sorry for the word vomit but also i'm not#long post#kind of#cr faq#critical role#crc1
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God. She done yet? I've been here so long. I barely register anything related to her. But some days, man. Just 1 little thing reminds me how f'ed up it is that he's had his career & life hijacked by someone who only does him damage. And for us, promo can mostly be laughed off. But I wonder what it does to D to have to lie over & over, even for trivial stuff. Especially knowing that he's gonna have to face his fans, his community, & be accountable for all of it, whenever he comes out. (Pt 1/2)
(2/2) All that guilt, fear & everything. It must take such a toll & always be getting worse. And it's been clear for some time that he just wants to be done. Idk, I guess there's just something about hearing his IDAD so much & alongside her promo that makes me particularly sad about it all *********************************
Hi anon, thank you for your note. I think we hear in CCland try to laugh at some of this stuff, because the alternative is to cry. In a way, it is our coping mechanisms as we are fairly powerless and, while I can only personally speak for myself, it breaks me heart on a regular basis when I really think about the impact this nightmare has had a Darren. No human being should ever be inflicted with the amount of torture that he has. And I think we all agree, this has far surpassed the “normal” closeting (if there is a norm but I think you understand) of an entertainer and what is happening in this situation has spiraled completely out of control.
I actually can’t for one second imagine when must go through Darren’s head regularly. Because I have never been in a situation even remotely comparable. I know we get glimpses about how he really feels but we can never really understand his thoughts and feelings about the situation. And one of those glimpses is his performance of IDAD. I think I have already said this week, it is clear to me that every single word resonates in his soul. He is incredibly passionate about this song and watching him perform it, it is evident that it has a very significant and personal meaning.
There is no doubt in my mind, that Darren has been ready for some time to end this charade and to finally speak the truth. But I can imagine, no matter how ready he feels or how prepared he is for that moment in time, there must be an incredible amount of fear for the future and guilt about the past.
And to him, i would simply say, it is going to be ok. I know it. He is one of the most talented individuals I have ever had the pleasure of seeing perform. But he is so much more. It is so clear that he is a genuinely amazing individual and incredibly personable. And that will take him far.
I am not trying to make light, when the time comes, it is going to be difficult and there will be many who are hurt and confused. But if they are as invested as they say, and they love him as much as I do, and they admire his talent, I think in the end, they will understand and continue to stand by his side.
And those who don’t, and there will be some, aren’t the kind of fans he needs.
As for his community, I am sure there are those who won’t understand. But I think about is the amazing platform he will have,if he chooses, to really make a change in this world once he is free. And to me, that is much more significant than the mistakes of his past and the decisions that were taken away from him and the stunts he was forced to participate it because of a few youthful mistakes made because of his desire to share his talent with the world.
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Historical Hour With Hilary: 1x05
Missed an installment? Want to read up on where the team has been before? Just bored? Catch up with previous Historical Hours here. Otherwise, come along and discover that you probably don’t actually remember the Alamo, on March 6, 1836, as our heroes find themselves trapped in the legendary mission on the eve of battle.
If there is one thing that American Southern folk mythology really enjoys, it’s a romantic “Lost Cause” about a small group of brave patriots fighting to the end against a much larger and morally bankrupt foe: their bodies may be broken, but their spirit prevails. I could be talking about the Civil War, the end of which the team visited in 1865 a few episodes ago, but I could also be talking about the Alamo and its context within the Texas Revolution, which began just thirty years previously. It was a very short war, lasting only from October 1835 to April 1836, and it resulted in Texas’ independence from Mexico and official entry into the United States, which... may or may not count as winning, but never mind. The causes of the conflict are complex, but I’ll try to summarize quickly. In 1821, Mexico had achieved freedom from Spain and recognition as its own sovereign country, with the Mexican War of Independence, and the territory of Texas became a formal Mexican state, Tejas. Eight years later, in 1829, Mexico banned slavery, which um. Did not go down well:
The aversion toward the Mexican government felt by most American Texans (who objected to learning Spanish, abiding by Mexican law, becoming Roman Catholics, etc ) was further exacerbated by the 1829 abolition of slavery. [...] The overthrow of federalism in 1835 finally prompted the Texans to revolt, given that a centralist state would tighten the Mexicans' grip over the distant and increasingly U.S.-populated secessionist province with uniform laws and taxes. However, the fact that the imposition of a centralist state would result in the abolition of slavery in Texas remains one of the main, yet often downplayed, reasons why the Texans rose up in arms. (p. 162-63).
“Often downplayed.” Wow, who could have possibly seen that coming? In case it wasn’t clear, the Mexican government objected to so many Americans moving to Mexico, as the Americans then made no effort to integrate and behaved (shock, surprise) like they owned the place. For another tidbit to annoy your racist uncle on Facebook, how about this:
The Law of April 6, 1830, said to be the same type of stimulus to the Texas Revolution that the Stamp Act was to the American Revolution, was initiated by Lucas Alamán y Escalada, Mexican minister of foreign relations, and was designed to stop the flood of immigration from the United States to Texas.
This was an entirely symbolic law, given as it was completely impossible to enforce with 1830s-level bureaucracy and communication over vast stretches of the Southwest, but it reflected Mexico’s attempt to impose control over an unruly and secessionist state (I’m not gonna say anything here, I’m not gonna say anything) and cut immigration levels from troublesome Americans, spreading moral disorder and presumably stealing jobs. If you’re interested, you can read in more detail about Texas-Mexican politics and the influences on the revolution here (you will need an institutional login to access full text). Otherwise, you can probably see that by the time the uprising actually started in 1835, the causes of the Texians’ (as the Anglo-Texas settlers were called) discontent were, well, something less than noble.
Mind you, they weren’t entirely unjustified, as Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón, or “Damn, Son, Leave Some Names For the Rest of Us”, Mexico’s eleven-time president, general, and towering statesman of the period, made even his contemporaries uneasy. His cruelties and excesses during the Texas campaigns, including the slaughter at the Alamo and the Goliad massacre of March 27, 1836 (or the “Other Alamo”, which killed at least 350 men, nearly double the Alamo’s death toll of 182, and which Santa Anna ordered against the wishes of his subordinate, General José de Urrea), got him into hot political water upon his return home. Part of Mexico’s political reforms had been in an attempt to avoid a post-revolution Santa Anna dictatorship, which he certainly possessed the talent and temperament to try. However, as noted before Flynn mucks things up, he did not indiscriminately butcher the women, children, and slaves inside the Alamo. Instead, they were given a blanket, safe passage, and two dollars apiece (see page 39). Only the defenders were killed.
As the team encounter, these defenders included some of the most colorful figures of later American folklore, including Davy Crockett and James Bowie, and William Barret Travis’ famous letter, which Lucy ends up having to write, is commonly cited as an enduring legacy of patriotism and “victory or death.” (It’s now a standard part of the history curriculum for Texas schoolchildren, which does not surprise me.) Of course, the participation of actual Tejanos in the events has been obscured and understudied, and almost immediately after the battle, it began to be memorialized in sentimental (and racist) novels. The supposed villainy and racial inferiority of the Mexicans was highlighted and made a key part of remembrance of the Alamo, especially as it was easy to take that view from the winning side. On April 21, 1836, General Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto, which lasted just eighteen minutes, and won the war (and independence) for Texas. As mid-19th-century Southern generals go, Houston is actually not that bad: he was very close with the Cherokee Indians, including being an honorary citizen and having an Indian wife at one point. He also fiercely opposed slavery and secessionism (or: Texas, having joined America, immediately wanted to leave it again) in the run-up to the Civil War, and was the only governor of a Southern state to refuse an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy, which caused him to be removed from office. Davy Crockett also hated the daylights out of President Andrew Jackson and his heinous Indian Removal Act, so hey. They’ve got that going for them.
Overall, I feel as if this is one episode where Timeless could have pushed a little harder at this history in places, but hey, that’s what I am here for. I therefore have to make the point explicit that yes, of course it was about race and slavery in the American South just a few decades before the Civil War, and yes, Texas has always been like that. It also flips our modern ideas about “illegal immigration” on their heads, and invites us to think more cautiously and critically about our fondness for “Lost Cause” patriotic mythology, because frankly, the Alamo wasn’t a Lost Cause. Yes, the soldiers died, but Texas won its independence less than two months later, which allowed the story of the Alamo to serve exceptionally well as a tragic tale and propagandist memory, and which was deliberately constructed as an important event in a way that far outstripped its actual historical significance. The Goliad massacre was arguably more significant in terms of the number of soldiers killed and the point of “no return” for the rebel cause, but nobody particularly remembers that today, which demonstrates the way in which the mythologizing of the Alamo stretches beyond its real impact. The Texas Revolutions’ origins were also less about a valorous desire for liberation from Mexican tyranny, and more about the Texians wanting to do things their way, especially if it involved their right to go on holding slaves and ignoring the laws, language, and customs of the country they had moved to. So yes, Wyatt, every kid in Texas might know the story, but I’m not sure how much anyone -- individually or collectively -- actually cares to remember.
Next week: An insane president, scandal in the White House, the threat of domestic terrorism and nuclear war, plane hijackings, and more? Are we staying in 2017? Nope. It’s 1972.
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ok so i'm actually weighing up the pros and cons of doing this chris wood appreciation week (ngl i'm worried it's gonna get hijacked and they'll create an anti week and then that makes things even worse than not doing one at all) so i need to know if people are really going to participate or not, i've made the themes for the days so you can do a gifset or an edit or just a post about it, so really anyone can join in if they want so either reblog or comment on this post with a "yes" if you're actually going to participate in the appreciation week
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GoRA Kizuna Meeting #6 Q&A
Q&A from Kizuna Meeting in Ikebukuro on Jan 22nd. This is really long so I categorized them into 5 groups: ①Munakata, ②Fushimi, ③Scepter 4, ④Homra, ⑤K Project, including K7S.
Munakata
Q: Did Munakata study abroad out of his own intention?
Red: He received government grant.
Munakata's major was information engineering.
(I saw a dozen tweets regarding this. Shocking, isn't it?)
Q: Is there more setting about Captain's studying abroad?
Green: The government recommended him to, since it's about time for the country to become more open.
Based on every GoRA member's opinion, Munakata's awakening gotta be an airplane incident. There was a proposal of crashing the plane, making Munakata the only survivor. But...
Red: Once we decided that Awashima should be by his side in his awakening, it turns out this way.
Green: The only timing for their encounter...
Red: That's right. As with Tatsuka & Kusanagi being by Suoh's side when he woke, we want Munakata to have Awashima by his side.
Q. How did Munakata suppress the hijackers?
Green: I think he practiced battle skills such as martial arts. Oh and his swordsmanship isn't amateur either. Basically, he's like a superman.
Q: Did you appoint the "Producer Munakata" in R:B?
Green: Oh. It was random. I picked the most interesting one among the designs (kimono and such) I received.
Q: Does Munakata-san have any friends besides Mikoto-san?
Green: Lol. Umm how should i say this. I think, in school days he hung out with classmates, but that was different from with Suoh. I guess in terms of friends like Suoh, the answer is no.
Q: What's the age difference between Munakata and his older brother?
Red: It's decided. But I don't have the notes at hand, so I can't give the exact number right now.
Q: Did Munakata read the documents in "E Archive"?
Red: I think he did.
Q: Did he talk to the Special Ops about it?
Red: No way. He was like reading by himself and thinking, "So that's how it is."
Q: What happens to the sand castle in the short novel "Sand Castle"?
Yellow: Not decided yet. It's interesting if it remains. But without the power of the slate, it might crumble a bit.
Fushimi
(Fushimi got especially many asks since Yellow is the only one who can answer them, yet she doesn’t participate in Kizuna Meeting often.)
Q: What happened to Fushimi's uniform and saber after he left (in anime #8)?
Yellow: Hidaka brought it back, I think. He'd be flustered like "What should I do? What should I doooo???"
Q: Does Fushimi know that Munakata paid 30 million Yen to save him?
Yellow: I'll have to ask Orange to confirm this. But if he knows, I think he'd say things like, "Are you stupid or what?"
Q: In R:B, Akiyama and Benzai fought Fushimi. Do they remember this battle?
Green: Since all three of them are intelligent, they can get along well while knowing, "yep, so he was that guy back then."
Q: Can Fushimi drink?
Yellow: He doesn't have high alcohol tolerance, but can handle social drinking.
Q: After the ending of season 2, would Fushimi's attitude toward the Special Ops change a bit?
Yellow: Sure will! I want to write about what happens afterwards.
Q: Fushimi, in spite of being excellent, values himself low. Does he ever give himself 100 points?
Yellow: Um. Rarely, I think, such as when he got something done really well.
Q: Is there any food Fushimi likes?
Yellow: Nothing to the extent of "like". If you ask him what food does he like, you'll get "nothing" as a reply.
Q: Does he have a favorite dish in Yata family's cooking?
Yellow: Didn't really think about it. I think he'd say "hmm so this is family taste".
Q: In LSW, while being attacked in Jungle mission, did Fushimi feel that Totsuka protected him?
Yellow: I wrote "like bathed in sunlight" in the novel. Yes. Fushimi felt it, since the beginning.
Q: What do Fushimi think of Totsuka?
Yellow: He doesn't dislike him, but thinks he's annoying.
("Not dislike" is already special, comparing to what he said to Aya.)
Q: When Fushimi left Homra, what were Kusanagi's and Totsuka's reactions?
Yellow: They both saw this coming, especially Totsuka. Now that I think of it, Kusanagi would feel so lonely.
Q: Will Fushimi interact with Kusanagi in the future?
Green: As the important intelligent units of their clans, they will.
Q: Does Fushimi visit Bar Homra after the ending?
Yellow: Basically no, since he feels awkward to. But if invited, he might.
Q: Who has better alcohol capacity? Fushimi-san or Yata-chan?
Red: About the same. But Yata seems weaker.
Q: What alcohol do they drink?
Red: Um... Calpis Sour, like students do.
Q: Would Yata and Fushimi meet Aya again after season 2?
Yellow: Not decided whether they should meet or not.
Q: I'm curious about how Aya's doing afterwards.
Yellow: Thank you. It'll be great if I can write something about it.
Q: Does Kisa know that Fushimi joined Homra and Scepter 4?
Yellow: Homra is underworld, so she doesn't know he had been there. Scepter 4 is a government institution, so she's aware of this, I believe.
Q: Will Fushimi and Kisa reconcile?
Yellow: Not in the near future, but it'll be nice if they come closer.
Q: Why did Niki marry Kisa? Was it some plan?
Yellow: Niki, in his own way, loved Kisa.
Q: Why is Saruhiko's hairstyle like Niki's?
Yellow: This can't be explained with reasons.
Q: What's Fushimi Niki's parents' family like?
Yellow: It's a family of ancient extraction. Niki was a maverick among them.
(Note: Fushimi's family being quite grand isn't really surprising. It was hinted in LSW when mentioning "head family [本家]". If it's an ordinary family without some heritage, no one cares about head family or branch family.)
Scepter 4
Q: Does Saruhiko set his hair every morning?
Yellow: Yes. With hair wax, I suppose.
Q: Does Akiyama set his hair every morning, or is that the result of his hair naturally disarranged during sleep?
Red: You'll have to ask the anime director regarding this.
Q: Among Munakata, Fushimi, and Enomoto, who has the worst eyesight?
Yellow: Munakata. Not decided who comes second, but Munakata has the worst eyesight IMO.
Green: Scepter 4 members goes to family restaurant often. Especially Special Ops, since unlike Munakata, they are common people with common people taste.
Q: Who has the best alcohol tolerance in Special Ops?
Red: Akiyama drinks quietly, but he's really good at it. It seems that he often enjoys drinking nice and slow with Benzai.
Q: When did Akiyama and Benzai first meet?
Red: When they were students, attending the same school. They've known each other since long ago.
Q: Doumyouji kept going to blind dates (in Countdown manga). Any luck?
Red: I think yes. He has good looks to begin with. But in the end, he gets no progress.
Q: Is Konomura (in Case Files of Blue) doing well?
Red: Good as ever. He's still travelling around the world. BTW I plan to write about this too.
Q: What's Kusuhara's role in Idol K?
Red: He joined Scepter 4, but didn't make a debut yet. He might have the chance to.
Homra
Q: Is Kusanagi-san happy?
Green: Don't worry. He finds happiness in bringing happiness to the people around him. So he gets his happiness alright.
Q: Does Kusanagi-san have various recipe for red bean paste cocktail?
Green: I heard that red bean paste cocktail does exist in reality. But Kusanagi improved his in trial and error, day by day.
Q: In the after story, did Munakata drink that red bean paste Martini?
Green: Kusanagi can make red bean paste Martini tasty. However, the one he made for Munakata was deliberately not.
Q: What brand of cigarette does Kusanagi smoke?
Green: What does that dude smoke? ...Nothing weird, just ordinary brands.
Q: Does Kusanagi get to fight in K7S?
Red: Oh will he? Um... (really long thinking) ...Ah! He will!
Q: Did Suoh know the arrangements in Bar Homra's kitchen? Did he step into it at all?
Red: I think he went in once for dish washing. He basically wouldn't set foot in the kitchen though.
Q: Will Anna attend Ashinaka Academy?
A: Not decided yet, but this sounds like a nice idea.
Q: If Anna goes to junior high school while Suoh and Totsuka were still around, what will they say?
Green: They'd be like overly-fond parents, won't they! Tatsuka would be acting like a big brother, while Suoh getting a bit jealous about it.
Q: Did Yata's mom name her children Misaki, Minoru, Megumi for a reason?
(Note: Misaki means flowers beautifully blooming. Minoru means fruit. Megumi here means spout. Nope, Misaki does not mean vanguard. That's a pun.)
Yellow: She gave them plant related names, representing her hope in them growing fast and well like plants.
Q: Are details of Kusanagi-san's siblings decided? Age and stuff.
Green: Kusanagi? (Turns to Yellow) Say, any plans for Kusanagi's siblings?
Yellow: Eh? We haven't discussed this yet.
Green: That's right. Pending.
K Project
Q: How are K characters' birthdays decided?
Green: We decided together. "This character should be this zodiac sign. What do you say?", sort of like this.
Red: Ady's middle name might be revealed in the future.
Q: I wonder about Kokujouji's tomb and funeral.
A: I think he had a quiet and solemn ceremony.
Q: Did the slate just get wracked without having actual settings?
A: We didn't have time to show it in anime, but we did come up with settings, which might be revealed if necessary.
Q: What happens to Homra insignia after the slate is gone?
Red: It remains.
Q: Including Fushimi's?
Red: Yes.
Q: Is there a reason why Neko and Nagare both got heterochromia?
Green: Kagutsu Incident did a great deal of damage. Their heterochromia is due to its effect as well.
Q: Will Habari Jin show up in K 7 Stories?
Red: Habari in K7S? Eh... Well...
Q: Is this a secret?
Red: It's a secret.
(This one was from last week's Q&A.)
Q: Will Fushimi show up in K 7 Stories?
Red: Yes. I suppose every character will.
Q: Including Kagutsu?
Red: We have visual of him. Can't say if he's gonna speak or not. I guess that counts as yes.
Q: Will some clans' past be elaborated in K7S?
Red: Yes. Oops, I shouldn't tell. Please look forward to it.
Red: Last year was for making preparations. This year we'll show the world!
#k project#Scepter 4#Munakata Reisi#Fushimi Saruhiko#Kusanagi Izumo#totsuka tatara#suoh mikoto#yata misaki#kushina anna#akiyama himori#benzai yujiro#Hidaka Akira#Kusuhara Takeru#GoRa Tweets#translation
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