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myjunkisyuzuruhanyu · 4 years

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[ICE JEWELS VOL. 12 SPECIAL INTERVIEW - YUZURU HANYU

Translation by Juro (juroscorner.blogspot.com)

Please click on the link in the reblog to read the full interview (I put left out parts in brackets [...]) and the Yuzuru related part from Satomi Ito’s interview about her costumes! (Tumblr is acting up with a direct link in the post)

Towards a “me” who surpasses myself

The World Championship (“WC”) was cancelled, drawing the 2019-20 season to a sudden conclusion. This season, he won a title that he hasn't conquered before. The victory at 4 Continents Championship (“4CC”) established Hanyu Yuzuru’s Super Slam as he entered glorious records and memories. His reflection on this season and resolution towards the upcoming season is told as follows.

On the victory at the 4CC

Do you think of the victory at 4CC as a special memory? - I really did win that competition, so I was happy. The last titles to obtain would probably be World Champion or Olympic Champion, but in this season, so far I’ve fulfilled tasks like winning competitions (which I haven’t won until then) like Skate Canada. Rather than any competition, this very one (4CC), is where I competed and won a silver medal at 16, but from then on, I couldn’t win it for a while. It’s good that I can finally win it. We heard that after Japan National, there was a period when you couldn’t get back on your feet. How did you spend that period? Was there any specific feeling? Then, how did you recover? Please let us know some details. - I went through 3 consecutive competitions. (After JN), for I while I thought that Ahh, I’m quite tired out. I’ve been living placing pressure on myself and there was no time to recharge both my physical strength and emotion, so I let myself do whatever I felt like doing. I didn’t really pay attention to anything, so I don’t remember (what I did) clearly…

Just for now, “SEIMEI” and “Ballade no. 1”

[....about change of programs...]

You gave us a brilliant performance of “Ballade no. 1” at 4CC. It’s been previously said that you skated in absolute harmony with the pianist or as if you became the sound of the keyboard. What was your feeling this time? - This time, it seemed like my body’s movement synchronized with the music playing in my head. Every single sound and melody thoroughly soaked into my body, and I let my body be in charge of the performance. Although I was nervous when doing jumps or difficult parts and there were plenty of matters to focus on, I left more than 80% of myself in the program to the music’s guidance rather than my consciousness. About the FP, what did you have to be cautious about when editing the music, to avoid destroying the world of “SEIMEI” now that the music needs to be 30s shorter? - I found it compelling not to spoil the flow of the music or the program, so I avoided omitting any iconic part. There were parts where the tempo was quickened in the interest of time. However, even when the tempo was faster, for me, there was a certain meaning in skating [“SEIMEI”], and I had to be careful not to let the unique rhythm of my own fall apart. If the rhythm was changed too much, the true meaning of skating this program would be substantially different. Do you have any intention with SEIMEI’s new layout? To be specific, in the first 1 minute, you include 4 jumps. There was no run-up in between, only a mere turn from 3A to 3F. Please let us know how you came to engendering such a layout, something that can’t be done by anyone but Hanyu Yuzuru. - Firstly, I wanted to cherish the music cuts which make up the program as much as possible. Then, there was editing to do. I didn’t want to change the flow of the first half, so the solution was to have 3 jumps with [1.1x] bonus in the 2nd half, I must find some way to insert one more jump in the 1st half, and I came up with placing 3F there. It could be either 3Lo or 3F, but I chose 3F since it did not to disrupt the music and rhythm. I showed Shae [my idea] right after she finished shaping the whole program, but she was also pleased by it, so we went with that layout.

Is there any experience from skating “Otonal” and “Origin” that you can utilize? - “Otonal” is a piano piece but there’s also an orchestra. With the piano’s sound as the core, I was trying to express the completion of the music, and [skate] while gathering picking up various shades of music. When skating “Ballade no. 1”, because I have [experienced] expressing an orchestra, I’ve come to feel the purity and transparent quality of the piano’s echo, and the expansion of sound even more deeply. I skated “Origin” while channeling the power surging up from deep inside and I always performed it taking my own self as a (candle’s) wick. Throughout the performance, that energy became the nuclear*. In “SEIMEI”, even when receiving those energy and power, it’s important to adjust so everything is kept under control. Rather than letting the overflowing energy run loose, I want to embody floaty, airy image and philosophical insights, even with my feet on the ground.

On this season’s achievements and next season’s goals You adopted the strategy of changing jump layouts according to the competition. You also competed in the GPS, GPF, and JN. What did you achieve? - I think not getting injured is my biggest achievement.When I forcefully try to push myself from poor to peak condition, my body can’t catch up. I went through a long time with no serenity even in my heart, but this season, I think I was able to adjust well. Would you let us know how your training, for injury prevention and such, is coming along? - I think I know the where within myself the “line” (limit) at which I should stop pushing ahead is. However, I’m aware that if I can’t overcome that boundary, I can’t improve, so I think cautiously about the days when I can push beyond the limit and days when I shouldn’t.

The WC was cancelled, but how was the result of your training after 4CC, and how that will connect to next season? - I feel like I was even more attentive to practicing skating basics and jumps. I wouldn’t say everything is completed, but if I train earnestly now, I can detect what goes wrong, and that’s how the result will connect to next season in my opinion. Did the novel coronavirus affect your training and daily life in Canada? Also, what are the precautions you’re practicing? - I’ve been washing my hands and gaggling my throat. Besides, whenever I come home from practice, I disinfect various things. I think there isn’t much impact on my training. From now on, it’s off-season. Do you have any training you want to do in mind? - I want to spend time on practicing 4A, for it’s extremely difficult to train for a new jump mid-season. My home rink was already closed, so it’ll be tough from now on (Interviewer: By 3/16, Ontario had been locked down to reduce the spread of coronavirus). However, I can still make use of other methods like on-land training, etc. I think it’s helpful to build a good foundation. Please let us know your vision of next season’s program, image of music and such, to an extent that you find acceptable. - I want to do new programs. I don’t know for sure how long it would take to incorporate 4A, but that’s also my goal to work hard for next season. I haven’t had any tangible image of the programs or music for now. However, I hope to do something that is meaningful to myself.

We’ll ask you about the 4A. At GPF, you’ve given us a glimpse it for the first time. What do you think about the atmosphere in the arena at that time after you showcased the jump? - I was nervous, but because I was jumping in front of everybody, I kind of hoped I would succeed. I really enjoy the taste of climbing over the hindering wall.

[...about state of 4A...]

Finally, please let us know your resolutions for next season and send a message to fans. - I’m really thankful that you keep supporting me to the end in this season as well. I think everyone is all going through a hard time because of the novel coronavirus right now. Please be careful. For me, from now on I will keep on accumulating the training towards next season, including the 4A.

[...Bonus: Yuzu-related parts in Satomi Ito’s special interview ...] [Juro’s explanation on use of words and message by Juro]

#yuzuru hanyu #fstranslation #figure skating #yuzu

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astrology-with-charu · 4 years

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April to November 2020 -

The Summer of Stormy Eclipses & Jupiter Pluto Conjunction

==========================

“Chipping around, kick my brains around the floor, These are the days it never rains but it pours” ...

~ Under Pressure

It’s like David Bowie had seen the future we live today. It’s the title song of my Aries season as this Jupiter Pluto conjunction starts playing it’s tangible role meeting Sun and Mercury till 25/26 April in harsh aspect with Pluto standing still at its full potency about to go retrograde on 25th April.

Can you feel the pressure ? Everyone can ... from pressure come truth bombs & real growth, so let’s see what comes out of this for us. We will go into each sign as usual in part 2 of this post but let’s get clear on what it is cause there is an astrological aspect soup in the Sky right now.

I apologise this report was tough to write & I am sure it will be tough to hear, I rarely post these kind of reports. But looking at expectations for global events we would see how at an individual level we can contribute to growth that comes through this crisis and hopefully together we see deeper meaning of what’s about to come.

Jupiter meets Pluto every 12.5 years like any outer planets meeting in their path around Sun (synod) - this meeting defines global events but especially economic events.

Economic events have been historically clearly linked with this cycle, the conjunction being catalyst for growth that comes through popping of a bubble - truth coming to light, draining fake accomplishments & then becoming catalysts of growth away from previous cycle, away from our comfort zone. I had written about this in the 2020 introduction note along with the 12 Jan event on New Years - the note is pinned on the Facebook page for you to see sign specific focus of this aspect.

https://www.facebook.com/595133057621535/posts/770204786781027/?d=n

I had mentioned both US shifting it’s stance on severity of virus before the spread & further emphasise on economic crisis in my March note.

https://www.facebook.com/595133057621535/posts/818486065286232/

Do see April video if you haven’t on views of upcoming aspects on timelines of year ahead.

https://youtu.be/T8G-tgqcd4s

While these two planets will meet three times between April to November- the heliocentric meeting of 31 July will reflect a clear transition of global events. This would be critical moment in economy & a marker of financial markets bubble popping. First meeting which is in April usually stokes ambition and even greed - we see corporations & markets take a bullish outlook and stoke the bubble expanding it bigger. Seeds are sown of growth but with objective to gain power over resources by a few - rich become richer essentially & social disparity grows. At personal level despite the obvious signs, we try to gain growth & more control over the life that’s over - life as we know is shifted so we must look to reinvent our growth channels putting seeds of new way of doing things versus sticking to doing what we have been doing. The things that used to make us feel in power & control won’t appeal to us anymore - definition of growth will be reinvented in our individual capacities.

Central banks throwing money at the problem for example fuelling the junk bubble of large corporates & defunct industries is lower manifestation. We will see unfounded optimism on old crutches in markets possibly in May due to that. Instead of working on evolution to new way of growth.

This all goes out of the window in summer when it becomes starkly clear that it isn’t going to function for future - second meeting geocentrically is on 30th June, smack in middle of eclipse season and right after Venus Retrograde when Goddess of love transforms to Goddess of war. Mayans used to use this transition of Venus to time wars.

Truth has no way to hide. Mars would have just entered Aries then and clashed with the karmic nodes (26/27 June) springing us into action cause we have just seen the gap between what we truly want and what we are getting with Venus Retrograde - at individual level we would want to rage a war to change the course of life - it will be a summer of people totally shifting what they do & who they want to become and ofcourse of shifts in post quarantine relationships.

This second meeting usually comes with a crisis of faith, belief & question - is this worth it ? A stark U-Turn!

This period in June we would see loss of faith in leadership, it will be time of failure of leaders & resignations, people’s opinion of the heads of companies and administration will shift enormously as possibly how many have been benefiting from the crisis will be revealed & power hungry identities will be brought to light. This period can be marked with severe storms & accidents as well especially transport or airline related.

Travel should be avoided even if allowed in June, especially around 5 June eclipse.

Pluto rules oil & the few rich elite with power and money - the mafia elite or real. Jupiter rules airline, trade & education industry and we have already seen that bubble burst of artificial high prices in oil and industry coming to a crashing halt but we are trying to still live the same way by strengthening the oil cartel and bandaging airline industry and pretending that trade truce exists. We would see another round of crash in June July when the leaders will move back on their economic promises during Venus Retrograde in first ten days of June. We could see the oil cartel walk back on their promises at the time - as well as trade treaties being broken. Overall Venus Retrograde in Gemini - we would see people walking back on their contracts & promises. Don’t take promises made right now on the word - Venus is walking the flaky degrees it will walk back on between 13 May to 25 June - people will reconsider giving you what they promised in life & money. Bailouts of oil industry & airline wouldn’t work and possibly fire back.

As the Jupiter Pluto conjunction is happening in zodiac sign of Capricorn opposing Cancer zodiac (tropical), industries which could be impacted include - Real Estate, mortgage debt, stone work, ceramic, building / construction & supplies for it, large corporations, small businesses, women rights, women run businesses, children linked businesses, small farms, milk products, sheep, goats, water linked services & ports.

We would see CEOs stepping down, ruling class & high society disclosures, loss of religious leaders & bubble bursts in terms of truth and this will come with a slew of bankruptcy of industries with over leverage / debt in July. We would see truth of the multi trillions bail outs as well.

Capitalism requires failures - bailouts only delay them so what’s going on right now & will continue in May is just bandaging & greed - there is no getting away from this cycle of fluff moving out of financial markets with over exaggerated stock prices - unfortunately Cancer industries opposite to Capricorn could suffer but only briefly - Capricorn archetype represents big industries and Cancer small businesses, small Farmers, families, child education businesses which will suffer briefly in the process. But with north node solar eclipse in Cancer small businesses, women & children linked businesses, small farms have opportunity to reinvent themselves & save themselves whereas large corporations wouldn’t have any short term solutions to do so and would see a structural breakup or breakdown.

Also small businesses would receive some levels of additional support with north node solar eclipse in June as it gives a new start while south node Capricorn eclipse in July will ask big corporates & administration to release something as truths come to surface especially in United States as the 5 July lunar eclipse falls on Sun of United States in 8th house of crisis & transformation.

June July will be a very volatile time for US due to loss of diplomacy & international affairs crisis as well during Venus Retrograde going between natal Uranus & Mars in 7th house of partnerships diplomacy of US chart. This is triggered by the first eclipse of the season on 5 June which is a Lunar eclipse at 15° Sag square Mars in Pisces - t square of underhanded actions. International diplomatic affairs will go through a wringer in early June in wake of Venus retrograde and this very volatile eclipse of 5th June - which we would start feeling from end May.

This would be followed by 21 June solar eclipse at 0°21’ Cancer which is is conjunct Ascendant & Uranus of North Korea pointing to escalation in that direction. We would see a warning shot fired as early as 25/26 April when this eclipse of 21 June is getting activated by the nodes. But it would not be taken seriously.

Pluto is also going retrograde on 25/26 Apr within orb of natal Pluto in house of resources of United States - that’s why I believe both the diplomatic crisis & financial will strike together during summer with a trigger seen now in last week of April which would be ignored in noise of current moment. Bubbles in Pluto Jupiter burst not because of it being a surprise but more due to greed & complacency or overconfidence.

Pluto rules nuclear energy and July heliocentric conjunction in aftermath of unstable eclipses can be a dramatic. This along with 5 July eclipse were part of astrological configuration involved in 9/11. Though nothing is exactly same but this time between the eclipse of 21 June is happening within one degree of karmic nodes - this is instant event which isn’t long pronged but what would brew in this short period between 25 April to 21 June with diplomatic escalation in first ten days of June.

5 July lunar eclipse eclipse at 13°38’ Capricorn as I mentioned opposes Sun of United States square natal Saturn - this would be a tough eclipse on incumbent President and administration of US. Activation of this eclipse happened in September 2019 with the start of impeachment process in that month. This was the eclipse involved in events leading upto 9/11 as well. But this eclipse has repercussions way beyond United States as charts of major countries are engaged in this eclipse - UK, Russia, Germany for sure bringing pressure on Euro, Canada, Russia, Australia. I am not in politics so not sure what’s the common threat between these nations.

The eclipses don’t directly interact with China but they are very much leading from Jupiter Pluto conjunction in 12th house Jupiter of China’s chart. That’s where Covid began with Saturn Pluto conjunction Nov-Feb. Jupiter meeting this point will clearly bring out how China in a hidden fashion whether willingly or not are benefiting from this unfortunate crisis. This crisis will tilt the balance of power between the two Super powers. Pluto return of United States will threaten it’s position as largest economy in the world and these events have the power to shift that position.

I know I am taking this call when trillions are being thrown to ensure economic recovery & we will see some of it in May but as I have mentioned in my previous posts - Jupiter Pluto heliocentric(as seen from Sun) conjunction in July burst bubbles & Pluto is within orb of natal Pluto of United States in house of finances & value system.

This will hurt American economy very differently than China, where in US chart Saturn conjuncts natal south node all the way to 2021 in house of finances and in 2021 it will square Uranus in 6th - prolonged financial troubles and social divide. We will talk of Saturn square Uranus in 2021 separately though we are seeing preview of it right now as both planets are in loose square. All tangible strides that human civilisation has taken in name of advancement has engaged Saturn-Uranus cycle. Magna Carta - all men are created equal, American Revolution, World Wide Web, Euro, Napster as well as Putin & Harvey Weinstein were birthed under Saturn Uranus cycle. We will have a society revolution at our doors in 2021 and you would see a preview of it while Saturn is in Aquarius till 1 July as it’s in loose square to Uranus right now. Questioning boundaries, restrictions, people shaming each other for having different opinions, division like a chasm forming in a society but at same time ground breaking inventions & biggest tech breakthroughs which would be made available to large set of population.

That’s all for 2021 taking roots now.

In this unrest people who invent or espouse solutions to blend the past with future will gain - pairing the offbeat ahead of time ideas with new way of living new rules. Have an eye on your contribution to society in face of volatility as Saturn in Aquarius will take our vision through the wringer as a preview till July.

This cycle will possibly break up Euro which was birthed in the last square. We could see a civil war in America next year along with clear division in society, driver being the 14 December eclipse which is key for Trump and would be a catalyst. We could only do our part in these cycles - which is follow the principles of North Node in Gemini & South Node in Sagittarius as I mentioned in our videos - stick to concrete data & stay off extreme belief system, prejudice, stay in present moment, concrete practical commercial skills come into play & use versus generic ideologies. Upgrade your practical skills, Street smart skills, language skills, tech skills & your communication devices - stay with what you know in name of data without attachment to a specific belief system. Don’t listen to gurus, don’t listen to me, don’t listen to astrology if it feels like a cult or blind faith without use of concrete data & rules - stay with what you know in data & facts not perceived facts & belief system.

Unsubscribe to news or channels that pollute your thinking as I mentioned in the video - through north node in Gemini we manifest our destiny to existence through our mind & talk. Stand guard of your mind & learn practical stuff that can be implemented quickly and now. Stick to simple, local businesses using real life skills & talents versus generic global concepts - think of time following 9/11 and how globalisation went out of the window as did global travel.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv3tUTLu8-MSgPM9mLoblQ7YErDkX6tYu

Coming back to current moment.

Pluto is lord of underworld and brings rebirth through disruption, storms, crisis & acts through our subconscious. Usually an external catalyst causes deep emotional reaction which drives us to bring a big shift in our life. Gut gnawing emotions become our source of growth when Jupiter & Pluto meet. It’s disruptive, it’s raw, it’s real - everything that’s safe is violated by this invasive planet (Pluto) touching our knowledge & faith (Jupiter) in a way freeing us from our own self even if that’s not perceived as such in that moment.

Pluto standing still brings the crisis & fear part of this cycle to obvious external display especially as its standing in connection with Mercury & Sun - fear of survival, death, change, transformation, of letting go yet subconscious drive to not wanting to accept limitations, control issues anymore. That’s the moment where we stand today to early May.

Old is being demolished but what “new” needs to be build isn’t clear yet - in this first contact of Jupiter Pluto cycle. Most cycles only have one contact - back in Dec 1994 we had one, then Dec 2007 we had one - but as unique 2020 is we got 8 months of this with exact contacts in April then in June & lastly in Nov. But as I mentioned July heliocentric meeting would normally bring a global economic event to pass & its usually burst of an economic bubble - fallen angels as it’s called in financial markets.

At personal level we would also feel clear markation of transition from one cycle to another & we would be bursting our own bubbles to see some truths which would ultimately become source of power & strength for us.

Pallas Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom is a key participant in this cycle. She is a Greek warrior Goddess who represents win of diplomacy & strategy over conflict and shows us a way. Greek myth goes as Gods decreed Sea God Poseidon and Wise Goddess Pallas to present a gift to the city to earn guardianship. Who will be the protector? Poseidon gifted Horse and Pallas Athena gifted Olive tree. Horse was majestic royal show piece but did nothing in name of usefulness for stony ground of the city. Olive tree on the other hand would benefit larger set of citizens and will flourish over time.

She sets a different example - she is a woman in the man’s world. She is a warrior without hostility & brutality - she is cerebral, the weaver of patterns, she knows how to link ideas together , see the pattern of current times and create a war strategy.

She points to claiming your power through wisdom in crisis & conflict - keeping your head, objectivity is strength here & it’s going to be tough to come by as we are all being put through the wringer. She is represented as a diamond on top of a cross - purity, clarity, impartial to emotional pull of either side cause there will be two warring sides - what did you expect we have six months of Mars in Aries and we are reaching Saturn Uranus square of 2021 - revolution is knocking on our doorsteps just look around at the divided society we are living in - key raw material for it. But I digress from the solution -

She sees patterns of human behaviour in current moment - reads the direction of wind - understands that world is shifting & instead of fighting it - creates new strategies for it. She is a brain child literally born out of the brain of Zeus / Jupiter - she is a brain wave, she is non judgmental intuition - do you see it ? Can we try to stay objective & see it ? A heavenly flash pointing to a talent, an opportunity, a pattern we have been missing before.

This brain wave in the current moment can help us plant a seed of growth provided we stay objective & see what the current moment is showing us - it’s popping a bubble - can we take it, can we see beyond the pain of it so see the writing on the wall of what’s ahead for us so we can take right strategic move.

It will get easier - once the Sun and Mercury are done squaring Pluto Jupiter till end Apr along with conjunction to Uranus. Mid May these will be trines - easier to execute but squares in April create stress enough for us to do something about it. It’s a gift of obsession that needs to be productively channeled. End goal is more prosperity & mastery but through dogged determination but more importantly through adaptability.

Growth comes from crisis that gets rid of fluff & pretence. But growth comes with the intention to have more power & control (Pluto). Sense of expansion is strongly attached to sense of power over others - we see that clearly in chart of people who have Jupiter Pluto conjunction provided they interact with their personal planet else a whole set of people born in those years would be billionaires and power hungry.

Month of July will bring us closer to truth through a crisis or realisation - it will come after Venus & Mercury retrogrades in June - is it worth it - quintessential question - we would try to see our life path through the veil of happiness and many of us will take a total u turn in what we do for our living, it will provoke a crisis of faith & belief globally in July in administration & big corps as it happens in Capricorn

Through this gut wrenching feeling will come the intensity to doggedly pursue expansion of power in specific area of our life though underlying theme is career, life path & abundance - having more power over own time & resources as well as happiness in having it. It’s restructuring our life for power, autonomy, seeking prosperity - it’s obsession of something we truly want.

Focus on a life change - a project of consequence to shift your status for long term, change the structure of your body, your knowledge your thinking, your inner wiring. It’s going to introduce you to you - it will make you own your own desires - channel the intensity you are feeling - the passion, the rage, the anger, the jealousy - all the things we are told we shouldn’t feel but we would feel - our so called shadow side - to get what your soul desires. Don’t waste it in trying to convince anyone else about the validity of your dream or about the value of you - it’s an obsession but it’s yours - you have the ability to propel it in right direction.

So now in part 2 let’s see where would you feel the intensity to make something big happen, where some truth bombs will drop in releasing you to expand authentically with more power organisationally / mentally / physically ! Remember it’s all happening in zodiac sign of Capricorn - so we go cautiously optimistic & with a plan.

It’s the same area by sign that I covered in the 2020 post on New Years by sign -

https://www.facebook.com/595133057621535/posts/770204786781027/?d=n

Disclaimer - Views presented here are not equivalent to investment advice for professional or non professional investors, they are purely based on historic synods of Saturn Pluto Jupiter

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dxmedstudent · 5 years

Note

I hope your e-learning is sufficiently satisfactory. If you want a break, how’s about D&D asks 16, 24, and 31-35?

Aww thank you! Getting this ask cheered me up. It took me all that evening to do my elearning, but I feel hinoured to answer your questions now. I thought I’d leave them til I could do them justice :D From this meme. 16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer?DnD? Online, sadly. It doesn’t stop me from buying way too many dice because they are small, relatively cheap, shiny and make me happy. My friends and I do play in person from time to time - we spent almost a week doing nothing but play games when we went to the expo earlier this summer. But we haven’t played DnD when we meet up. So I’ve never - technically - rolled for initiative XDI love playing online with them because we all live geograpgically scattered in or around London; close enough to meet occasionally, but not close enough to play on weeknights. This way, we get to play more often because we don’t have to worry about travelling to each other, or the other realities of in-person gaming. Which means playing more often, and moreBut when we play games IRL it’s much nicer, because people get more into the roleplay and you just get to spend time with your friends. There’s an atmosphere about being in the same room that you can’t quite get from skype.

24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game?

When I started, I made a spreadsheet of spells I was considering for my wizard, having looked at lots of discussions of which ones work well and which don’t. I basically picked all the spells I thought I’d want. But, each time I level up, I re-examine it and change my mind. Oh, I’m also in charge of the group loot and finances. Mostly cos I like making colourful spreadsheets. Interestingly, my friends decided that meant my character should be the one carrying the Bag of Holding in game. They just all started assuming that. I let them roll with it cos why not? My wizard would probably think it was pretty cool. At first, I did a lot of reading to make sure I could understand the rules. Now, I open up my spreadsheets and word docs (I chronicle what happens as we game), and I’m good to go. Oh, and when I’m not in an art block desert, I sometimes try to set the mood for games by posting art to our whatsapp group before the game to get my friends excited. 31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?Hmm, I’m not sure I could pick one! I’ve gotten furthest with my level 8 elven wizard, but I found my bard/sorc tiefling to be such a fun dynamic. I didn’t enjoy being very squishy as an early level wizard, but it really helped shape her character. And I enjoyed how my group (made up of 3-4 elves) played that snootiness and social drama to its full effect. I quite liked another game in which I had a cleric halfling (or was it gnome?) sort-of-pirate, in part because our entire party was coincidentally made of little people - dwarves, gnomes, halflings and a kobold. I’m looking forward to playing something different at some point - I’’d like to create characters for most of them. There are so many races and classes I haven’t yet made characters for, or played, so I couldn’t say for sure, until I played more of them. 32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?)I deliberarely chose a wizard at first because I didn’t want to be a healer; enough of that at work, thanks. I just wanted to do cool things. It’s pretty fun playing the glass cannon; you get to be an under-estimated character who then turns around and does something frighteningly awesome. Even if you fail all your strength rolls and nearly die if an opponent touches you. But of course, you don’t let them touch you because your intellgence is 20. Mwahaha But really, I like being able to cast spells that change battle for my friends; blinding an opponent, for example. I try to avoid fireballing everything because I don’t want to dominate play or deprive my friends of things to do. So that remains a potent nuclear option for when the situaiton is desperate, and I avoid it losing its effect. For my tiefling, I was guest-starring in my friends’ long-running game and didn’t want them to die. So I picked a chacacter which was partly a bard for the healing spells and musical flair. And healing people is surprisingly nice. I like making sure my friends don’t die. That’s the one thing wizards suck at. 33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory?Oh, I write so much of a backstory. First, I pick a race and class and have a rough idea of what they might be. Then I roll up some stats and create them as per the book. Once the basics are out of the way, I get to work making a story behind them. I have to know what their childhood was like, how they got on with family and friends. If they’ve ever fallen in love, and if it worked out (usually not, cos why would they leave their sweetheart to kill rats in sewers?). I need to know what motivates them. Not only why they are adventuring, but what they want out of life. What they fear. What they think of their party. 34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?Both. Also, what I think my character will pick as a person. So my barely-of-age evoker wizard wants to prove to her overbearing family that she’s good enough to be a wizard and take on her mother’s family legacy, despiite her father’s humble (and shh! not entirely high elven) heritage. She’s young and naive and a little angry and her idea of learning to be powerful is big spells that go BOOM! She wants to defend herself and her friends, and defeat the bad guys, and she believes that just immolating them is a viable tactic if they are evil and out to kill her. She doesn’t have to find a clever solution when that will do. So I pick spells with that evocation feel whenever I can. But she’s also sensible and recognises that we don’t just need boom spells, we need to hold enemies, or help our friends, so she’s begun to diversify as she got more mature. And out of character, whilst I try to pick things I think she wold want to learn, i’m not just going to pick every evo spell going for the flair. I know that I also don’t want to be useless to the team. But, whenever I can, I try to retain a bit of that flair by reverting to her style of magic so she’s still herself. 35. How much roleplay do you like to do?I love roleplay. I’m also quite shy, and sometimes tired, so there will be sessions when I don’t say much; my character would never volunteer herself as the first to talk ot strangers - not with the Lady High Elf or the talkative bard or the thief/paladin charmer all in the party. But I do love our roleplay heavy sessions, and when I’m relaxed and when it feels in-character, I do love to get into it sometimes. I’m lucky that my friends are a mix; some people love roleplay, others like it but are more shy, so there’s no pressure to ham it up, but also no judgement if we do. It’s easier if the character is like you; a reserved wizard (or my librarian in our CoC game) is not far removed from a nerdy doctor introvert. My more loquacious and flambouyant tiefling bard is alittle harder for me to get into the mood to play, but I think I’m getting more into it with time. I’d like to get better at diving into roleplay because I feel it adds something to the game.

#askdx #ask dx #dnd meme #dnd #personal #my life #Anonymous

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antoine-roquentin · 6 years

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At some point during the fighting in Libya a few years ago, Nato planes attacked pro-Gaddafi forces near an oilfield in the north-east. A number of smart bombs hit a storage facility belonging to the oil company for which I worked. The facility contained thousands of barrels of chemicals, worth millions of dollars, which are used in the process of drilling for oil. Most of the barrels were destroyed outright but a good number remained intact. Exposed to the extreme heat of the explosion and subsequent fires, the chemicals inside the surviving barrels were altered permanently. At around the same time, as the fighting in and around the field intensified, Libyan employees of my company (the expats having cut and run a long time ago) worked frantically to move high explosives and detonators used in the oil extraction process to a safe location so that none of the various factions involved in the conflict could get their hands on them. For some reason, the employees made the decision to leave the live explosives in the bunker and take the detonators – the piece of kit they judged most useful to any would-be bombers. In their haste, they left the bunker compound gates open and the door to the bunker unlocked.

Since the attack on Gaddafi and its aftermath, the Libyans working for my company had got used to having to act on their own initiative, often in danger and under extreme pressure as the fighting took hold of the country. But then, during a lull in hostilities, the employees responsible for dealing with the chemicals and explosives decided it was time to update HQ on what had happened. They also had a more serious problem on their hands. As well as using chemicals and explosives, oil companies deploy radioactive materials in their quest for oil. Nuclear probes are inserted into potential wells in order to determine whether they are suitable candidates for further exploration. These probes also happen to be the perfect size to use as the core of a dirty bomb. As a consequence, in all jurisdictions in which they are used they are heavily regulated. But in Libya there was no longer any regulation. My company’s store of nuclear materials was kept in a bunker designed to withstand the force of a massive explosion and was normally heavily protected by specially trained troops. Now the bunker lay completely unguarded. It seemed that the warring factions hadn’t yet discovered its existence but the employees believed that it was only a matter of time before this bunker, too, was overrun and plundered. What should they do to make the materials safe? Should they try and smuggle them out of the country? Should they keep them in the bunker and pour concrete over them? As the compliance lawyer with responsibility for the region, I was invited to join a conference call to discuss these questions, along with the operations manager for the oilfield and the regional head of security, an ex-special forces officer on secondment to London from US HQ.

Also on the call was the new country manager for Libya. While operations managers – the people who deal with the practicalities of getting the oil out of the ground – work out in the field, the country manager sits in the city, near the seat of decision-making power over the award of contracts. In companies like mine, country managers are powerful people, as much imperial proconsul or colonial governor as businessman. They can run the business in their countries as they wish. The only thing that matters is that they return a profit. The country manager for Libya was a company high-flier, who was sent in to Tripoli as soon as Gaddafi had fallen in the expectation of rich pickings, and who now spent his days shuttling from one hotel to another in fear of assassination. It was clear that he hadn’t had any involvement in the matters under discussion and he remained silent as the rest of us trawled through possible solutions to the various problems.

Sitting in a bland conference room in London, listening to disembodied voices relaying facts over the phone, it felt as though we were participating in some crisis simulation exercise. Almost casually, we came to some conclusions: the barrels of chemicals could stay where they were. Nothing could be done with the remaining stock. There was nothing we could do about the explosives either. In the fog of war, people make strange decisions and at least the detonators had been removed and were under company control. It was the best we could hope for. We decided that the risks of smuggling the nuclear materials out of the country and into Egypt were too great and that the employees should bury them somewhere in the Libyan desert.

Then, as the call drew to an end, the country manager spoke up. ‘I want to talk about something,’ he said. ‘I want to talk about the theft of company property.’ He was angry. One of the employees had taken advantage of the chaotic conditions to steal a number of company trucks. ‘And now that it is more stable over here,’ the country manager continued, ‘he’s holding the trucks to ransom. He’s refusing to give them back. His tribe wants money for them. They might attack our base.’ He told us that he had personally been out into the desert to bargain with the employee and his tribe. Negotiations were ongoing, but he insisted he was going to solve the problem. ‘I call the ball,’ he said. He was convinced that this misconduct was only the tip of the iceberg. ‘I want you to come and see what is going on here,’ he told me. ‘I want you to come and look into matters. They need it.’ After the call, he made an official request for a compliance audit – a review of the fraud and corruption risk in a country – for Libya, and coming from a well-connected hi-pot, his request went to the top of the organisation. The company, worried that it might be losing more money than it should be, in a market so bad that the smallest profit would be considered a miracle, agreed with him and sent me to Libya.

I flew into Tripoli in the first week of Ramadan. As I walked through the baggage collection hall looking for my luggage, the first thing I noticed were the groups of sub-Saharan Africans being shepherded through the airport by North African minders. After an hour of searching, it became clear that my luggage wasn’t going to turn up, so I made my way to arrivals, where I was collected by a driver and a security contractor employed by our company – a former NCO in a Scottish infantry regiment who served in Iraq and Afghanistan before becoming a corporate mercenary. He was hired to act as a bodyguard for expats but his only remaining client, he told me, was the country manager. ‘But now he never leaves his hotel room when he’s here and spends as much time out of the country as he can.’

We drove to the contractor’s quarters, a small, dusty lock-up in the suburbs. Sitting outside at a camping table, he gave me a neat PowerPoint presentation on his laptop about the security situation in Libya. ‘Frankly speaking,’ he said, ‘it’s a bit shit.’ Libya was dangerous. Tripoli was dangerous – not as dangerous as Benghazi but still dangerous. Random, lethal violence was to be expected. There were no police officers, no official law enforcement of any kind – only tribal militia, who ruled the roost. He told me to be careful of ambushes while being driven around the city.

‘What should I do if I get ambushed?’ I asked.

‘Well, standard operating procedure in the army is to shoot your way out. Don’t be static. Push on, fight back.’ I pointed out to him that I was an unarmed middle-aged lawyer who would be sitting in the back of a rickety saloon car when the moment came. He shrugged. ‘As I say, it’s a bit shit.’

After the briefing, we went on to my hotel, which is used by diplomats, journalists and those on (mostly oil-related) business. At one end of the driveway that swept past the hotel entrance, there was a traffic barrier operated by armed guards. No such obstacle existed at the other end. Men in various degrees of military dress stood outside the entrance, smoking or talking together in the lobby. I was greeted by the receptionist, who spoke in a broad Dublin accent. He (and his identical twin, also on duty at reception) was a young Irishman with a Libyan father who had decided to come and experience the free Libya and was now wishing he hadn’t. Then I headed for my company’s office. The car that took me there, like most of the others in Tripoli, had small cubes of sponge stuck to its doors to prevent bumps while driving on roads that were no longer policed and where traffic rules were now purely a matter of convention rather than enforceable norms. As we drove along the Corniche, the deep blue of the Mediterranean on one side, I noticed that most of the old traffic rules were still being obeyed. In an environment in which robbery, kidnap and death were commonplace, people still seemed to want to give way at roundabouts.

My company’s offices were in one of a cluster of tall tower blocks overlooking the sea, a once prestigious address. The tower blocks were set in a deserted concrete courtyard. The entrance lobby’s cool, airy silence was a contrast to the intense heat and white light of the afternoon outside. I took the lift up and was let into the office, where I was shown into an empty room with a desk. I spoke with the first of the people who had been asked to come for interview. As with every compliance audit, on my list of interviewees were those exposed to higher than usual risk of corruption – including members of the sales team, anyone in a leadership role, and anyone who had contact with government or public officials. I also talked to those who were in a position to prevent corruption or spot it if it occurred, such as members of the finance department or human resources. Some of the employees had made great efforts to attend. One of the sales directors had come from Benghazi, and the various operations managers – those who were in charge of actually drilling for oil in the field – had travelled in from their desert bases and rigs.

At first, the interviews followed a script in which I asked a list of set questions relevant to the interviewee’s role. But soon, picking up on a remark or an answer, I would take the opportunity to broaden the conversation. Formality would dissipate and people would start to talk more generally about the company and the wider environment in which they lived and worked. Some common themes emerged. No matter whether they were for or against Gaddafi (and it soon became apparent which side someone was on), most people thought that having him back would be better than the current situation. There were shootings and kidnappings. House break-ins were rife and everyone had a Kalashnikov at home for defence against burglars. One woman I spoke to had just returned to work after having her teeth knocked out with the butt of a gun in a robbery. A man told me that a range of weapons from handguns to SAM-7 surface-to-air missiles were openly for sale in the street just a few minutes’ walk away from the office. But there was one thing that united the pro and anti-Gaddafi factions in the office: their hatred of the country manager. Echoing the security contractor, they told me that he rarely appeared in the office and never visited the oilfields. He was arrogant, incompetent and a coward.

I asked several of the interviewees about the theft of trucks by the employee and got a story very different from the one given by the country manager. They told me that in the middle of the fighting, the employee, rather than let the assets of a company for which he had worked for many years be stolen or destroyed, had decided he would drive a number of the company’s vehicles to a safe location and hide them, with the intention of returning them when the situation became more stable. As soon as the country manager arrived he made a big show of going out into the desert to demand the return of the trucks. But the employee had refused to return them without a reward.

‘What did he want in return for the trucks?’ I asked one of the interviewees.

‘He wanted a certificate of thanks for his behaviour.’

‘That’s it?’

‘Yes. And the country manager wouldn’t give it to him.’

‘But he would have given all of the trucks back if we had given him a certificate?’

‘Yes. The country manager refused and told him he was in breach of the code of conduct.’ I could see why the country manager had taken to changing hotels on a regular basis.

In a series of calls and emails over the first few days of my visit, the country manager gave me the slip, making various excuses as to why he hadn’t been around to speak to me. Finally I arranged to meet him in the lobby of my hotel: we were to go for dinner at a restaurant close to the magnificent Arch of Marcus Aurelius. As we sat at a table outside, making small talk and waiting for the call to prayer to end the day’s fast, it occurred to me that the company couldn’t have made a more inappropriate match than this one between the country manager and the failed state of Libya. A dapper, American-educated corporate droid, he was a prisoner of management speak: he had ‘reached out to’ employees, he told me; they hadn’t ‘embraced the new reality’. He didn’t seem able to adjust to the fact that he was operating in a warzone, dealing with people who were suffering, many of whom had demonstrated great loyalty to a company that abandoned them at the first sign of trouble. He was keen to tell me that he was now close to resolving the truck issue. ‘You can’t trust these people,’ he told me. ‘They just don’t get it.’ Then his phone rang. ‘Sorry, I’m going to have to take it.’ This hunted, scared individual suddenly inflated with pride as he talked. After a few minutes, the call ended.

‘That was the CEO. He wants me to head up a new project team when I get out of this fucking place.’ Somewhere in the city there was the crack of a rifle, sounding like a cheap firework set off in the street. And his face said: if I get out of this place.

The next morning, I was sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for my car to the office when a man approached me. He was dusty and tired and wearing shabby street clothes. He introduced himself and immediately handed me a memory stick. His name was Ahmed and he told me that Yusuf, one of the operations managers I had met and whom I recalled as a physically huge but softly spoken man, coated with the grime of the oilfield yard, was muscling in and taking over the business in Libya.

‘He’s very well connected. He’s close to some of the tribal sheikhs. He’s also a gangster. There’s no doubt. He’s controlling many of the suppliers. It’s all on the USB.’ And then Ahmed made a plea for complete confidentiality. The consequences in this broken state of being revealed as an informant could be dire.

Later that day, in between interviews, I read the contents of the USB. There was clear proof that Yusuf had been buying up local firms that supply to the oil business and then putting contracts in place on extremely favourable terms between them and my company. In his own, admittedly criminal way, in predicting that eventually, despite all appearances, the oil market would pick up, Yusuf was showing more confidence in the prospects for Libya than the company’s senior leadership. They saw it as a basket case but Yusuf, like the best hedge-fund managers, was playing the long game with his investments and had picked the very best time to pull off this kind of scam, now that monitoring of the goings-on in the business in Libya had all but ended. Many of the company’s transactions had to be performed manually in Tripoli rather than through the centralised electronic finance systems in the US or UK. This meant that there was no longer the usual intense oversight of where money came from and went to. Instead there were numerous opportunities for an unscrupulous employee to make hay while the country detached itself from the world.

That evening, just before midnight, I was driven to British Home Stores in downtown Tripoli to buy some new clothes, since my luggage still hadn’t turned up. When we arrived, the driver sat in the car with the engine running while the security contractor stood at the shop entrance. I had ten minutes to go around the deserted aisles putting socks, pants and shirts into my basket. ‘Any longer,’ the contractor said, pointing to the shop assistants, ‘and their mates could be over to pick you up.’ But the two women at the counter seemed completely uninterested in my supermarket sweep. They didn’t lift their chins off their hands as I shopped, and they took payment from me with as much curiosity as if I were buying clothes on a Saturday afternoon in Oxford Street.

The next day, one of my scheduled meetings was with the oilfield operations manager who had been on the call a few weeks earlier. We worked our way through the scheduled questions and answers and then he said: ‘Can I ask for your opinion on the chemicals?’ He reminded me of the story of the damaged barrels in the warehouse and I expected him to ask for compliance advice regarding their disposal, as he had done with the explosives and the radioactive materials. But instead the conversation took an unexpected turn.

‘We’ve been approached by the authorities in the east of the country,’ he said. ‘They would like to buy the chemicals to use for drilling for water.’ He explained that there was a desperate need to repair infrastructure and restore running water to areas that had been ruined by the fighting. ‘The company won’t allow us to use the chemicals that survive the attack to drill for oil. They no longer meet our quality standards. But the Libyan authorities would be happy to buy them from us. They’re not proud.’ And here was the bit that made it all worthwhile. ‘They will pay us millions of dollars for stock that we will otherwise throw away.’ He showed me photos of the damaged chemicals and the letters requesting the deal from the authorities. ‘We need this deal,’ he told me. ‘We haven’t had any significant revenue for years.’ This would mean that at least some people would keep their jobs for a little while longer. A draft contract had already been drawn up and legal approval had been given. He showed me the approvals from the commercial lawyers and a chain of emails from our leaders showing their desperation to screw some profit out of this situation. But the authorities were running out of patience. They had a window in which they had to get drilling and if we couldn’t help them they would need to find someone who could. So time was of the essence and all that was lacking was the compliance seal of approval.

Over the next few days, I went over the areas of possible risk created by the opportunity – legal, commercial, reputational. The operations manager called daily, asking whether I had made my decision, reminding me that the clock was ticking. I spoke with our commercial lawyers and with finance. I made sure that the chemicals actually existed and I got assurances that there really were functioning authorities in the east of Libya. My training and experience had made me very sensitive to the signs of fraud and corruption and I was confident that I’d covered off those avenues. But I was still very uneasy with the deal. Then I realised I might have missed the most important risk factor of all. I got hold of the names of the chemicals and rang a senior company chemist to ask him to carry out an analysis of each of them to make sure they couldn’t be used as chemical weapons. The analysis came back: all clear. None of them, either alone or in combination, could be used in chemical weapons.

I let the operations manager know that he could go ahead. He was delighted. ‘This is really going to make a big difference to the bottom line for my business,’ he told me. It also meant that he would get his bonus and lots of kudos for having the winner’s mindset: he would keep his job for at least the next quarter or so. I was relieved too. The pressure had been building, and for me to have turned the transaction down at the last minute would have provoked a shitstorm in the region and even higher up the chain. As promised, the operations manager sent me the confirmation documents with the various legal restrictions and covenants that the authority had agreed to abide by regarding its use of the chemicals. In a matter of days, the sale was completed. We had sold countless barrels of useless chemicals to the Libyan water board for a huge profit. The perfect deal.

During the remainder of my time in Libya, Ahmed continued to provide me with evidence about Yusuf’s acquisition of suppliers. It was so compelling that, as a first step, I blocked the suppliers in the central accounting system. This meant that no matter how hard Yusuf tried, his supply companies couldn’t receive any significant payment from my company. I concluded the compliance audit and left Libya. My bag was waiting for me when I arrived at Tripoli Airport. As soon as I picked it up from the airline desk in departures, it was seized by a man wearing an old police jacket and grubby suit trousers. He took me to a small room at one side of the departures hall and ordered me to unpack every single item onto a large table in front of him. Everything was covered in dust. When I finished he told me to repack it. I checked my luggage in and made my way once again past the gangs of sub-Saharan Africans travelling from misery into misery, past the stall selling tatty Free Libya merchandise, to the plane.

Then the oil price collapsed. It was already bad but now the price of a barrel had really tanked. There was a lot of talk about permanent structural change in the industry. Firms like mine fired thousands of employees in a matter of weeks. I made sure that Ahmed was put on a protected list of essential employees as his reward for doing the right thing. Somehow, the Libyan senior managers, Yusuf included, found out about this almost as soon as it happened. I received a series of increasingly desperate emails from Ahmed. He knew what was about to happen and thought that I had betrayed him. The emails stopped abruptly when he was fired. When I raised Ahmed’s case with a senior HR manager, I was told that it was unfortunate but that, given the state of the market, it was a matter of only a few weeks before all the employees on the protected list were going to be fired anyway. Any concern for Ahmed got lost in the huge wave of redundancies that the low oil price brought.

I went ahead anyway and presented the allegations against Yusuf to senior management. Despite the evidence, they didn’t find them convincing and the matter was closed with no further action taken. The supply companies that were the subject of the investigation were unblocked in the system. In the rapid restructuring of the company in Libya in response to the manically deteriorating market conditions and worsening violence, Yusuf was promoted, along with the operations manager who had arranged the sale of the damaged barrels to the water authorities. This was to fill the gap created by the departure of the detested country manager, who had managed to get out of Libya with a plum posting to a new project back at US HQ. Not long after I left Tripoli, a large car bomb was left outside my hotel, driven through the entrance, which was undefended by bollards. Thankfully, it was defused.

Eventually I caught up with the regional head of security about the sale of the chemicals. ‘They didn’t want the chemicals you fucking idiot,’ he said. ‘They wanted the barrels.’ He was sure the whole deal was a scam, that one of a number of groups – tribal, terrorist or government – was tapping available sources for the basic ingredients to make their weapon of choice, the barrel bomb. There was no proof of this. I had done all I could to verify that the deal was genuine but in my heart of hearts I knew that it smelled. The regional head of security just found it bleakly funny that one of the most advanced weapons in the world – a laser-guided bomb – had spawned hundreds of the crudest airborne weapons possible, responsible for so much indiscriminate killing. But there was a silver lining. ‘Look, we made a few million bucks. With Brent Crude at sub-$40 a barrel for the foreseeable future and Libya eating itself alive, that’s an awesome result,’ he said. ‘As long as the company logo doesn’t appear on a report by CNN, no one is going to give a shit about where those barrels end up.’ And, as it turned out, he was right.

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annsparksthegmr · 6 years

Text

Dangan Thieves Third Palace

...This is over 4300 words - last I checked. I hope this makes up for all the delays of the Third Palace and revives the AU. Thank you all for waiting! I had to take a hiatus from writing this summary and @shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl also got pretty busy. Plus writer’s block decided to knock my head up for the Boss Battle and ending bit. Luckily for everyone, that’s all gone now for this to arrive. As you can tell, we got ourselves Juzo Sakakura being the Third Palace Ruler and let me say - it was a blast figuring out how this would go down. Without any further delay, let’s begin anew! PS Don't blame any mistakes in here because this took long enough as is. Might revise it later if I feel like it needs one. Consider this your Christmas Present everyone!

Third Palace/The Prison Palace

Keywords: Juzo Sakakura, Hope's Peak Academy Security Building/Faculty Building, Prison

“Playable” Thieves: Hajime, Chiaki, Komeada, Ibuki, and Fuyuhiko with Monomi

The world inside the Metaverse created by Juzo Sakakura, it formed itself quite differently compared to the previous two. Even the way they find themselves entering the Palace is different than before. Rumors of the supposed Dangan Thieves spread throughout the campus and none of the group knows how to handle the fact their popularity is growing. And as much as Hajime, Chiaki, and Nagito would like to continue - a longer question keeps them under pressure from doing so quickly. From the last Palace, not even Nagito could understand what his cognition meant by a strange animal. It has them wanting to learn more - something that they believe may or may not backfire later on down the line. Constantly meeting up after school, their adventures to the Metaverse and Mementos continue onward slowly. In one such case, a certain student just so happened to be minding their own business when they overheard a meeting before a trip to Mementos. Unbeknownst to them, not being aware of their surroundings most of the time would be their undoing. Sometime later, Hajime, Chiaki, and Nagito are meeting up for some downtime - with nothing really relating to their identities as the Dangan Thieves when Ibuki surprises them. Startled very much at first, the group is very confused at how Ibuki even found them. She admits to stalking them and being a huge Dangan Thieves fan; it gets to the point where her loud noisy voice gets the attention of a security. Catching the attention of one of the guards in the area, the group gets scared off when that guard releases that Hajime isn’t supposed to be in that part of the school. Getting off without much of punishment, this would only be the beginning of the next Palace’s discovery. Days go on as Ibuki keeps pestering the group to have her join one of their adventures to the Metaverse. As much as it annoys Hajime, the attention starts to bring Juzo Sakakura into the whole ordeal. Everything starts off as small, minor annoyances to the party - mainly to Chiaki since Fuyuhiko’s sister isn’t at all punished whenever she visits her brother as with Mahiru visiting Sato. The weird fixation Juzo has for Hajime gets to the point where the Head of Security gets restraining orders on the poor students. No matter what Nagito and Komaeda - though mostly Chiaki - try to get the restraining orders lifted, Juzo won’t budge one bit. Now forced to meet up outside of school ground and far away from the sight of any security guards, they believe that this has to stop. Yet even that clearly an objective due to the fact it could have repercussions and could get Hajime expelled if it proceeds any further. No leads for them to go on, it is then Ibuki appears and apologizes for getting them into that mess. Hajime still isn’t at all forgiving since Ibuki caused him a new annoyance. Still, the Ultimate Musician wishes to join them in the Metaverse and comes up with a solution. Using her mobile device, the trio discovers that somehow Ibuki gained access to the strange Navigator App and is able to find out Juzo has a Palace. The thought of a Palace didn’t really cross their minds since they couldn’t even think or believe it got to that point. Having the information in hand, Ibuki agrees to help get them to the Palace with her “distracting” music recordings if they agree to take her to the Palace. A goal clearly set a way to get past security by Ibuki’s boisterous loud mouth, they accept it in order to lift the restraining orders on Hajime. When the first attempt into the Palace begins, it doesn’t appear to be anything fancy. It first appears to be the security building and is fairly straightforward. Possessing a single floor without any real map, the Thieves quickly sweep it with ease and find themselves getting into the Treasure seemingly way too easily. At first, they seem pretty cautious since it looked to be way too much of a walk in the park. Yet temptation gets the better of them and they reach out to the “Treasure” - something Ibuki is an entrance to the glowing chest. By a twist of predictable fate, however, that was but a trap! Getting surrounded by many Shadows appearing as Prison Officers holding various equipment. Even worse is the fact of not only being outnumbered is the liability of Ibuki. Despite her somewhat well-meaning intentions, her voice goes unheard as they try to fight them off. The battle rages on until one by one, the party is knocked out and Ace has no time to react to the sound of sirens blaring is the last thing he hears. The next thing he knows, he awakens in a prison room with Pierrot welcoming him to their cell. Much to his surprise, Ace finds that while they were unarmed, their rebellious appearance still remains. A relief to the leader since everything might become compromised if his real identity was known. Shocked at not seeing Bonnie, Monomi nor Ibuki with them, neither of the Thieves even have an idea on how to get out. Yet by looking through the bars of the cell, Pierrot places his hand on the lock and by chance or just his pure luck, it opens up for them to escape. While they still possess their outwards appearances, both Ace and Pierrot realize very quickly that neither of their Persona was summoning one bit; something that nearly cost them both their lives by mistakenly engaging in a battle. Resorting to the stealth techniques of actual thieves, they sneak around the Prison and come across Bonnie not far from their cell. Unlocking the cell door for her to escape, the trio quickly tries to locate Monomi and Ibuki to make sure they’re okay before reclaiming their weapons and escaping. As they go more and more through the Palace, they come to find that every flight of stairs didn’t lead them to anyplace where there were windows. Everything seemed to be shut off from the natural light and instead lit by the electrical system powering the place. None of them could really explain just why this was going on but soon enough, they encountered Ibuki yelling her in what appears to the lobby of the prison building with Monomi trying to get Ibuki to calm down. It is there that they find a Shadow carrying a large sack - the same one being chased by the obnoxious yelling and not trying to harm Monomi nor Ibuki. Really perplexed on what’s going, the Thieves discover that on the ground floor that they can summon their Personas. Having their power back, the Shadow is quickly defeated and the sack is dropped to the floor to reveal the missing weapons. Pumped up by the action, Ibuki starts making a ruckus - much to the dismay of the Thieves that eventually gets the attention of the prison officers and are forced to fight some of them off. Exhaustion from the floors and the last battle tolls a good deal of hinderance on the Thieves. Monomi worries for their well being but as the battle continues, Ibuki is watching and getting excited but worried about the Thieves since even she was threatened. No matter how much she shot and yells out, it doesn’t seem to be helping all she wishes to do is to help. She feels powerless in all sense of the words due to the fact that not even becoming a distraction is helping the situation at all. This sparks triggers her awakening to her Persona and a great asset to the battle since her starting powers are Nuclear and hits all the enemies. The force of her powers suddenly causes a power outage yet opens up an escape route for the Thieves to flee. Escaping to the real world after that deadly encounter, Ibuki is hyper-energetic about awakening to her Persona, everything stops when they realize where they are. Wait for a second - when did they get to the Faculty Building?! Yep - much to their shock and horror in Hajime’s case - Juzo’s Palace is split into two different parts. The strange one-floor area that was a trap and then the prison. Nagito notes that they only escaped from the lower floors and didn’t get a chance to go up those floors in the Palace. Trying to collect their thoughts, Ibuki realizes that it wouldn’t be ideal to continue since she’s pretty tired and everyone else appeared to be also. With the thought that everyone else is quite tired as well, they agree to come back tomorrow with Ibuki - much to her joy and group’s reluctance. Yet as they are leaving the area, a certain somebody notices their activity but speaks nothing of it as they leave. The next day, the group meets up to try and get back in order to quickly change Juzo’s heart. Even with not encountering the Shadow Self, upon their return they find that the Prison is inaccessible for any of them. Ibuki even tries making a ruckus in front of the prison gates and in the first area to no avail. Stumped on just what exactly to do to get back in, Monomi questions the group on how they even got in there in the first place. Ace explains the restraining order and how strange it was that they couldn't go back inside. The magical talking bunny suggests it may be because of Ibuki’s Nuclear power spiking and causing the prison to reset its systems that by chance his cognition would have reset on who he saw at a major threat - so even if the Thieves attempted to get back inside it wouldn’t let them. A major threat that he had to restrain even more due to the rumors students were gossiping to each other. Now in order to reset it and get them back inside, somebody would have to appear as a prisoner in order to get them inside. Knowing that Hajime could no longer by their ticket to get in, Chiaki suggests for the group to investigate the rumors going about and see if there was any way to seemingly get Hajime or any of them “caught” to allow them back inside the Palace. Taking some time, their chance doesn't really show up on Nagito’s, Chiaki’s or Ibuki’s end at all. Fortunately for Hajime, he just so happened to notice how Natsumi seemed to be upset and alone during one of their classes. By some persistence and slowly gaining her trust, she lets it slip that her brother got in trouble for meeting up with her. It was so bad that Peko got hurt pretty badly and she could tell Fuyuhiko wasn’t at all pleased. She confesses that it's even spooked Mahiru and Sato for meeting up - a thought she scowls at. Nothing she seems to be doing is getting him to talk to her. Yet she fears that Sato might be losing her and starting to blame both herself and Hajime for not being able to meet with Mahiru. Hajime tries his best to cheer her up and Natsumi appreciates his help before leaving. Getting that information from the younger sister to the Ultimate Yakuza, he goes to text the others with that lead and hopes that by talking with Fuyuhiko they can get caught and get back into the Prison Palace. Meeting with Fuyuhiko sometime after the news, it surprises the group to see him alone with Peko by his side - something Hajime believed wouldn’t be the case. At first, the Ultimate Yakuza is reluctant to comply with even speaking with the group. Ignoring them seemed to be a priority until Hajime brought up what happened to Peko from the information his little sister told him. This pisses of Fuyuhiko and puts him on the defensive on just how he acquired that knowledge. Finally getting him to talk, they slowly get out of him that Juzo had apparently gotten information from somebody about false dealings that would disrupt order for both the Main and Reserve Course. It wasn’t anything he knew about but Peko got badly hurt inside of him and he wasn’t going to deal with any more of that shit. Of course, this was climax since afterward Juzo comes along to break them. Upon seeing Hajime, Fuyuhiko, and Ibuki with the other Dangan Thieves, hell breaks loose and the group flees the scene before the Head of Security can catch them. By either Komaeda’s turn of good luck or by the wheels of destiny, they happened to get out of getting caught by accidentally finding themselves at a corner of the school. How they escape would be something to question. Recollecting themselves, they found that Fuyuhiko had joined them in running off, only for him to scoff it off since Ibuki had dragged him along with her phone open. Her gleeful smile shocks the group when it suddenly transports everyone into the other world. This grandiose event that gets them into the Metaverse to not only freak out the Ultimate Yakuza but everyone as to why Ibuki would do such a dangerous thing. They’d be arguing a bit with trying to explain to Fuyuhiko just what’s going until security Shadows from Juzo’s Palace roam by and once again kick their asses back in into the Palace’s lower sections. Fortunately this time, Ace and Pierrot find that neither their Weapons or Personas are gone this time - at least for the floor they are on. Losing Bonnie, Noise, Monomi, and Fuyuhiko once again, they break out and begin to examine the floor fully this time. What the two find unusual is a security room on their level and how it seemed to be broken. Going to an above them, their Personas once again won’t appear but having their weapons, they soon come across Monomi cowering inside a security room in that level. Testing out a theory, they end of smashing the head controls of the room to find that their Personas appear once the power in that room goes out. Monomi makes a comment that it would best to destroy all the security rooms they come across and to find the others. Going up the floors again, they destroy the power sources of each room to allow access to their Personas and regroup with their remaining members. Upon reaching the main floor of the building, somebody finally decides to grab them a map during their regrouping moment. When they notice Fuyuhiko is still missing and that on the bottom floor of the Palace looked to be the main generator room, Ace decides to attack their to make sure the security rooms won’t have the power to restrict their Personas and that on their way down they can try and locate Fuyuhiko before bailing out. Descending down below with banter between the group, it comes to Bonnie’s realization that even with the map they have of the lower levels that not even Monomi knows where the Treasure Room is located. Monomi apologizes for not being of much help and reminds the Thieves that even while they are going to change Juzo’s heat, to be aware that anyone not welcomed in a strong Palace’s cognition could easily be killed. A warning - though rarely late - gets the party motivation to continue onward when they hit that roadblock. Through every level they descend, none of them are aware of a certain figure following behind them. Not only that, but the security rooms are mysterious repaired whenever they leave and return. One way or another, the group finally reaches the main generator room and find it guarded by Shadows. Having no other real choice, they ambush the guards and defeat them to gain access to the generator. Getting a clean access to the generator, their next issue is trying to the big power off switch. Noise finds the switch first on the other side of the room and goes over to pull the switch. Just as she is about to grab the switch, she stops upon hearing something upstairs and their only exit has it bursting wide open as Fuyuhiko falls down the stairs. Pierrot and Ace go to see if he’s alright only to find themselves surrounded by shadow guards as everyone in their party is forced to the center of the room. It is here of all times does Shadow Juzo makes his appearance on the very top the railing, all the while belittling the thieves for breaking in and trying to cause an uprising for all the crimes those ‘prisoners’ have committed. Being in a high position compared to the Thieves, his presence alone makes them angry - especially Fuyuhiko at how arrogant the guy is. What gets to the Ultimate Yakuza is how Shadow Juzo only refers to Peko as ‘some common convict’ and not as her own person - in fact, her name is only brought up by Fuyuhiko during the whole exchange between the Thieves and Shadow Juzo. Their exchange of words only lasts so long until Shadow Juzo gets fed up and uses his position as the cognition’s prison warden to order them executed before leaving - not wanting to waste his time watching them. Another battle begins between the waves of shadow guards and the Thieves while Fuyuhiko and Monomi watch it all happen. Ibuki tries to cheer the Ultimate Yakuza to see if she gets him to awaken his Persona but to no avail. Fuyuhiko awakens his Persona more on his own after taking what Shadow Juzo said and comparing it to how he really feels about Peko. Getting the resolve he needs in order to have Peko avenged, his awakening happens and Agrippa’s first action is to rain down flaming bullets that explode upon contact. Yeah, let’s just say Gangster comes out guns ablaze to get all the remaining forces and leave burning remains inside the room. We’ll go with that, and I’m going to leave it at that since afterward the group realizes Gangster’s outburst caused a major blackout as it somehow destroyed the generator. They do escape somehow unharmed and no longer trapped inside the Palace. Just don’t question how they did it in pitch black darkness and no backup generators; ACCEPT. IT. Blame Komaeda’s luck ok? Or that it “overloads” the Palace and the Palace itself kicks them out to the real world. Either one is acceptable. Probably a few days afterward since Fuyuhiko would obvious pass out after causing that much destruction the group would all meet up. Now, they got Fuyuhiko who agrees to join their cause to mainly avenge Peko and get the whole deal with not meeting with his younger sister over with. With Gangster finally added to the party, Monomi introduces the whole switching party member things and almost everyone goes back main lobby before Gangster points out how stupid that idea is. Then through some search, they find a secret entrance to the back part of the prison and finally, Monomi gets to sensing the Treasure Room. Gangster is also while more reckless when fighting he’d another level-headed member help keep everyone in check as long as they didn’t piss him off. Solving puzzles involving finding the right key cards and avoiding the protocols set up to stop them, the group goes through them one by one until they reach the Treasure Room. And where was the room they were searching for all this time? By the looks and the irony of the Thieves… it's the exact same place they first enter! Yelp, it's the main security office/room but now looks more like the hideout of Shadow Juzo with many monitors and backup generators running. Though now they see the misty like a sphere of where the Treasure would appear for them. Monomi confirms it as Ibuki goes and has her hand faze through the cognition’s unstable form of the Treasure. So now after going through all that hassle to get to the room, it is very reasonable for the party to finally have the chance to now send the Calling Card. As to how they send the Calling Card, it's either getting a mass amount sent to Juzo’s office or Fuyuhiko pulls some strings to get the Calling Card to Juzo. Who knows, maybe he does both; he does whatever he wants but either way it's delivered to the man himself. Of course, it triggers the Treasure to appear and then the Thieves enter to steal the Treasure. Entering the security room, the group finds that its manifest into what appeared to be a large arena surrounded by cells and filled with inmates they recognized or know... And while the group questions it a bit, they are quickly cut off when Shadow Juzo appears by nearly shooting Ace’s head off. Ace only barely gets away from the stray bullet due to Gangster noticing it ahead of time. Shadow Juzo appears with his gun snarking at how easy it lured petty thieves into the grand arena of his. Deciding to use them as the perfect pieces of scrap metal, he makes them examples to the rest of the ‘furnace’ and the begins the battle. Shadow Juzo has a similar start to how Shadow Chisa began, sending out inmates of all sorts and kinds out from the cells on the arena’s floor. He’ll be out of range of the attacks for the time being. The Thieves will have to focus down the waves of enemies to even have a chance at facing the Shadow Prison Warden. He’ll even have Shadow Guards of his give status ailments of Rage to the party or the Shadows they are facing if not taking down the guards quickly. One of Shadow Juzo’s moves is an instant K.O to everyone left in the open. The only way to survive is to get into the empty cells around the arena to survive the attack. It also kills the Shadows on the field as well, so it is risky since Shadow Juzo might fake people out with it at times. About halfway through the battle, Shadow Juzo is getting tired of watching the Thieves win and decides to take things into his own hands… ...Or heads in this case since when he lands and destroys the remaining Shadows, he transforms into his second state. While the Shadow mainly is based on the guardian dog of the Underworld Cerberus, this form is quite different as while there are three, dog heads that are floating. Not connected to anybody but just floating, severed heads. Each one has a guillotine collar around the neck to symbolize that the leash/collar was too tight and it literally killed him. What makes this worse is while unleashing powerful Curse, Fire and Physical attacks one by one, their most deadly attack are when the three combine their strength. Together, the trio can unleash a deadly attack that will drop the party’s health to 1 and nullify all buffs followed up by one head making a strike to KO another party member. This makes it very challenging to face the heads working together, so the gimmick with this is distracting the heads to prevent this from happening. Who are the ones best at distracting the heads? Well, it would be Ace, Noise, and Gangster since they were the ones to piss off Shadow Juzo the most. Only one can distract one head at a time, and while Gangster and Ace will only distract ahead, Noise ends up not only distracting ahead, but causes that distracted head to attack another. After one member is sent to distract a head, they’ll need a break before another chance to distract a head comes around. Each head is weak to a different attack: Curse to Bless, Fire to Ice, and Physical to Gun. Also, each head has a move to revive another head at fifty percent health that might use used if one head falls. Through distracting each head and ganging up, they finally take down the Shadow Juzo and the fight ends, returning the room back to normal and the Treasure finally materializes as a security badge, glittering gold and making Monomi super excited. Shadow Juzo gets to here all the Thieves and does agree to go back and give the real Juzo a change of heart. The Shadow doesn’t directly state the blackmails, but mentions that “they” weren’t kidding underneath his breath. None of the Thieves hear what he says before he vanishes. Then, as soon as they take the Treasure into their possession, suddenly the alarms go off and they look at the monitors around the room. Much to their surprise, the Palace collapses as a prison riot breaks out and gives them a new challenge. Escaping while trying not to get caught in the riots. A timer begins as they escape as they must leave before it runs out. Once they escape, everyone returns to the outside world and confirms that the Palace has vanished and all are accounted for. Ibuki cheers in excitement at their successful heist and Fuyuhiko admits that the group isn’t that bad to hang out with. Of course, the hyperactive student takes this as meaning he’s permanently going to hang out with them. Everyone laughs it off a bit until Fuyuhiko points out the treasure in Chiaki’s hands. The Ultimate Gamer is confused at first about what he meant until realizing that the Treasure was in its real form. Much to everyone’s surprise, they find it to be a photo - much like Chisa’s Treasure. What made this different is the obvious crudely cut letters pasted on it blackmailing Juzo into doing everything. Though instead of a name being signed - the group finally learns of the Despair Bear named Monokuma. Getting this lead of sorts, the true race of finding out what’s really going on begins and prompts them to stick together.

#dangan thieves au #third palace au #danganronpa 2 #I'm too lazy to tag the rest #this is also the christmas surprise #so if you will excuse me #I need to unwind a bit

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PEMDAS - 12•3•20

Open below for PEMDAS!

POLITICS/NEWS

Coronavirus

Case numbers this past week in the U.S.

New cases: 948,177 people

Hospitalizations: 98,691 people (on Dec. 1st)

Deaths: 8,476 people (almost three times the number of people killed on Sept. 11, 2001)

Case numbers this past week in the world

New cases: 3,449,295 people

Deaths: 59,579 people (in one week, the death toll is a number within the estimated range of deaths from the War in Afghanistan, a war that has been going on since 2001)

Vaccines

Genetic vaccines -- Vaccines that deliver one or more of the coronavirus’s own genes into our cells to provoke an immune response.

Pfizer - to distribute 6.4 million doses in U.S. by mid-December; found to be 95% effective in trials, but still needs final authorization in the U.S. before widespread usage; has been authorized for emergency use in the U.K.

Moderna - applied to FDA for emergency use authorization; could begin distribution as early as Dec. 21st

Biden’s Cabinet - New York Times

I’ll do my best to speak to the political actions for each cabinet nominee that I find favorable and those which I find questionable, but for now I’m leaning towards the side of questionable because most news sources are printing the favorable stuff already. You can basically Google each name, find a headline that names them as the Biden pick, and it will list their credentials.

Vice President: Kamala Harris 👩🏽

“Kamala is a cop” - Devyn Spring, in The Independent

Secretary of State: Antony J. Blinken 👨🏻

Former Deputy National Security Adviser (2013-2015) and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State (2015-2017) under Barack Obama

Co-founder of WestExec Advisors (see below)

Summary of his views with key U.S. global relationships - Newsweek

Russia: tough on them; believes in isolation and undermining of Putin/Russia to reduce their global power; sees a couple avenues of cooperation with Russia (such as extending New START)

China: wants to find opportunities to cooperate with China on things like arms control and climate change; won’t shy away from criticizing Chinese Communist Party’s abuses

North Korea: does not see possibility with denuclearization, so will focus instead on arms control

Iran: rejoin and strengthen the Iran nuclear deal (which he helped establish under Obama), which he believes will put us in a good position to push back against Iran’s other destabilizing activities

Afghanistan, Syria: “large-scale, open-ended deployment of large, standing U.S. forces in conflict zones with no clear strategy should end and will end under his watch,” but not quickly; believes some troops should remain

Palestine, Israel: supports the U.S. financial and military relationship with Israel; “Israel has never been—until now, unfortunately—a partisan political issue," he said in August. "And I think it's very bad for the United States and for Israel that someone tries to turn it into one.” He would restore U.S. assistance to Palestinian authorities but said it would not condition Israeli aid on its honoring international agreements and the two-state solution.

Secretary of the Treasury: Janet L. Yellen 🧑🏻‍🦳

First female Treasury Secretary

Former Federal Reserve Chair (the Federal Reserve is the central banking system of the U.S., responsible for many economic objectives, such as maximizing employment, stabilizing prices, and moderating long-term interest rates)

She is considered a “dove” to Wall Street (as opposed to a “hawk”) because she prioritizes unemployment over inflation. She also aligns mostly with Keynesian economic philosophy, which “seeks to preserve the system rather than overthrow it.” -- New Yorker, 2013 -- this New Yorker description of Yellen’s work pre-federal government work has solid info about her various economic beliefs, such as how Yellen supports higher minimum wages to reduce unemployment.

I couldn’t find much about how her ideology aligns with Leftist thought. She seems decent enough to me, but... idk economics. Here’s something in the Wall Street Journal about the challenges she’ll face entering the arena of politics.

Secretary of Homeland Security: Alejandro N. Mayorkas 🧑🏼‍🦲

First Cuban (and Latinx) Secretary of Homeland Security

Helped develop and implement the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows children brought to the U.S. through “unlawful” means to have two-years safe from deportation in attempt to obtain a work permit

“In 2013, the DHS inspector general investigated Mayorkas for allegedly improperly granting visas under pressure from former DNC chair Terry McAullife and Tony Rodham, Hillary Clinton’s brother. While a report from the inspector general’s office said Mayorkas’s actions created “an appearance of favoritism and special access,” he was not sanctioned by the department.” -- Daily Beast

TBA: Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Veterans Affairs

WestExec Advisors

Washington consulting firm founded by Antony J. Blinken and Michèle Flournoy.

Avril D. Haines (see below) was one of its former principals.

“By not directly advocating for federal dollars on behalf of their clients, they don't have to publicly divulge who is paying them and for what activities, such as the connections they make with government agencies, she said. But it is also impossible to assess the influence they have on federal expenditures.“ -Politico

Basically, we don’t know which companies fund this consulting firm, so the people coming out of it could have corporate interests or foreign government interests that we do not know about. There should be a demand that the people who worked here and/or the firm itself disclose this information!

Cabinet noms’ relationships to corporate interests - Democracy Now

Biden’s Cabinet-Rank Status and White House Staff

Chief of Staff: Ron Klain 👨🏻

a veteran political and policy operative well-known in Washington

has worked with Biden off and on since the late 1980s, when he served as a top aide to the then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee

previously served as Biden’s chief of staff when he was vice president

took point on the Obama administration’s handling of Ebola

has been outspoken about President Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic

was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Revolution LLC, an investment firm launched by AOL Co-Founder Steve Case in 2005

buzz words like “big corporate law firm” and “worked as a venture capitalist” got me to this fact, but it’s pretty hard to Google... hmm!!

I’m going to keep my eye on this...

Office of Management & Budget Director: Neera Tanden 👩🏽

President of the Center for American Progress

apparently, she changed her Twitter bio, removing “progressive” from her bio and replacing it with “liberal”

she “hates the left” - Hasan Piker (a hot leftist who I like a lot, but I’m still gonna try to look up his claims)

Director of National Intelligence: Avril D. Haines 👩🏻

First female Director of National Intelligence

Played a key role in Obama’s “drone wars” as former Deputy Director of the CIA

“She approved an “accountability board” that spared CIA personnel reprisal for spying on the Senate’s torture investigators, and was part of the team that redacted their landmark report. After the administration ended, Haines supported Gina Haspel for CIA director, someone directly implicated in CIA torture, a decision that remains raw amongst progressive activists. Until late June, she consulted for the Trump-favorite data firm Palantir, which emerged from the CIA.” -- Daily Beast

National Security Adviser: Jake Sullivan 👱🏻‍♂️

Youngest person to serve as National Security Adviser

Held top positions at the State Department and in the Obama White House, playing a key role in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal

U.N. Ambassador: Linda Thomas-Greenfield 🧑🏿‍🦳

an American diplomat who served as the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the United States Department of State's Bureau of African Affairs from 2013 to 2017

following her work as a diplomat, Thomas-Greenfield became a senior vice president at Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington, D.C.

strong supporter of multilateralism (or, cooperation among several nations)

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate: John F. Kerry 👨🏼‍🦳

Worked in a top position at Bank of America, one of the largest financiers of fossil fuel development in the world. So like... can he not have this role?

Communications Director: Kate Bedingfield 👩🏼

in November 2011, Bedingfield started working at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)

in May 2013, Bedingfield was named spokesperson and vice president of corporate communications at the MPAA

in 2015, Bedingfield was named communications director for then Vice President Joe Biden; she also held two additional roles in the Obama administration: director of response and deputy director of media affairs

after working in the Obama administration, Bedingfield returned briefly to sports and entertainment communications

Press Secretary: Jen Psaki 👩🏻‍🦰

Jan. 2009 - Dec. 2009: White House Deputy Press Secretary

2009 - 2011: White House Deputy Communications Director

2013 - 2015: Spokesperson for the United States Department of State

2015 - 2017: White House Communications Director

TBA: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, U.S. Trade Representative, Small Business Administrator, CIA Director

EDUCATION - Topic suggestion from Justin Myhre: The Tuskegee Experiments

CDC Title: “The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male”

The CDC page for the Experiments

offers a timeline of the events from 1895 to 2009

1895: at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Booker T. Washington describes his vision for Black economic development and gets “philanthropists” to come on board

this speech is known as the “Atlanta compromise” speech, with the compromise being “an agreement between African-American leaders and Southern white leaders in which Southern blacks would work meekly and submit to white political rule, while Southern whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic education and due process of law” -- Wikipedia

the Expo was “designed to promote the American South to the world and showcase products and new technologies, as well as to encourage trade with Latin America” -- Wikipedia

2009: the last widow receiving Tuskegee Health Benefit Program benefits dies on January 27th

contains write-ups for how the study began, what went wrong, and how the study ended and reparations began

How the study began: the Public Health Service (a division of the executive branch’s Department of Health and Human Services that began in 1798 as a system of marine hospitals and grew into a larger system that was given its official title in 1912) along with the Tuskegee Institute (an HBCU in Alabama, established on July 4, 1881) “began a study to record the natural history of syphilis in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks”

in 1932, 399 Black men with syphilis and 201 Black men who did not have it (Wikipedia says that these men were “impoverished, African-American sharecroppers”) were told that they were being tested (without consent) for “bad blood” and were promised a form of health care

they were also told it would last 6 months but it ended up lasting 40 fucking years

this CDC page fails to mention that “the victims of the study included numerous men who died of syphilis, 40 wives who contracted the disease and 19 children born with congenital syphilis,” a fact from Oliver J. Kim and Lois N. Magner’s book A History of Medicine

What went wrong: in 1971, a panel was assembled and they “found that the men had agreed freely to be examined and treated. However, there was no evidence that researchers had informed them of the study or its real purpose. In fact, the men had been misled and had not been given all the facts required to provide informed consent”

1947: it is discovered that penicillin can treat syphilis, but none of the men are offered it

the men were never given the option to quit the study

How the study ended and reparations began: in October 1972, the panel stops the study; in 1973, the study “participants” and their families file a class-action lawsuit; in 1974, a $10 million settlement is reached in which the U.S. government agrees to paying for health care and funeral services of the “participants” (called the Tuskegee Health Benefit Program, or THBP); in 1975, wives, widows, and offspring received these benefits as well

“Study clinicians could have chosen to treat all syphilitic subjects and close the study, or split off a control group for testing with penicillin. Instead, they continued the study without treating any participants; they withheld treatment and information about penicillin from the subjects. In addition, scientists prevented participants from accessing syphilis treatment programs available to other residents in the area. The researchers reasoned that the knowledge gained would benefit humankind; however, it was determined afterward that the doctors did harm their subjects by depriving them of appropriate treatment once it had been discovered. The study was characterized as ‘the longest non-therapeutic experiment on human beings in medical history.’” - Wikipedia

on May 16, 1997, President Bill Clinton formally apologized to the study “participants” and their families

this study about the Legacy of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study makes the point that “Blacks are more reluctant than Whites to participate in biomedical research studies because of the infamous study of syphilis in men run by the U.S. Public Health Service from 1932-72″ -- there are very valid reasons to distrust the U.S. government with biomedical advancements, particularly for Black people

here is an article that connects the legacy of Tuskegee to fears around Coronavirus

now, does this mean we shouldn’t take the vaccine? no! but don’t shame people, particularly Black folks, for very reasonable distrust of the U.S. government!!!!!

this is also an interesting case of reparations given in modern times!

MEDIA (Other)

BOOKS - Tues. 12/8

Layla •• Colleen Hoover

A Universe of Wishes •• edited by Dhonielle Clayton

Mozart •• Jan Swafford

An Inventory of Losses •• Judith Schalansky, translated by Jackie Smith

The Book of Moods: How I Turned My Worst Emotions Into My Best Life •• Lauren Martin

Mercy: The Fair Lady, the Frost, and the Fiend (Vol. 1) •• Mirka Andolfo

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain (The Singing Hills Cycle #2) •• Nghi Vo

Bag-Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-Up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House •• Rachel Maddow & Michael Yarvitz

The Invention of Medicine: From Homer to Hippocrates •• Robin Lane Fox

The Mermaid from Jeju •• Sumi Hahn

MOVIES

Friday 12/4

76 Days •• limited theatrical & virtual cinema release

Directors: Hao Wu, Weixi Chen, Anonymous

Writer: Hao Wu

Premise: Set in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, this documentary captures the struggles and human resilience in the battle to survive the pandemic in Wuhan.

Run time: 1 hour 33 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (46 reviews)

Metacritic: 83 (14 reviews)

Oscar buzz?

Best Documentary Feature: long-shot

All My Life •• theatrical release

Director: Marc Meyers

Writer: Todd Rosenberg

Starring: Jessica Rothe, Harry Shum Jr., Chrissie Fit, Jay Pharoah, Keala Settle

Music by: Lisbeth Scott

Premise: A couple's wedding plans are thrown off course when the groom is diagnosed with liver cancer.

Run time: 1 hour 31 minutes

Oscar buzz?

Best Picture: long-shot

Best Actor: long-shot (Harry Shum Jr.)

Best Actress: long-shot (Jessica Rothe)

Best Original Screenplay: long-shot (Todd Rosenberg)

Best Original Score: long-shot (Lisbeth Scott)

Ammonite •• premium on-demand

Director: Francis Lee

Writer: Francis Lee

Starring: Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Jones, James McArdle, Alec Secăreanu, Fiona Shaw

Music by: Dustin O'Halloran, Volker Bertelmann

Premise: Acclaimed paleontologist Mary Anning works alone selling common fossils to tourists to support her ailing mother, but a chance job offer changes her life when a visitor hires her to care for his wife.

Run time: 2 hours

Rotten Tomatoes: 68% (152 reviews)

Metacritic: 72 (34 reviews)

Oscar buzz?

Best Picture: good chance

Best Director: decent chance (Francis Lee)

Best Actress: great chance (Kate Winslet)

Best Supporting Actress: good chance (Saoirse Ronan), decent chance (Fiona Shaw)

Best Original Screenplay: decent chance (Francis Lee)

Best Production Design: good chance (Sarah Finlay, Sophie Hervieu)

Best Cinematography: good chance (Stéphane Fontaine)

Best Costume Design: good chance (Michael O’Connor)

Best Editing: decent chance (Chris Wyatt)

Best Makeup & Hairstyling: good chance

Best Sound: decent chance

Best Original Score: good chance (Dustin O’Halloran, Volker Bertelmann)

Another Round •• limited theatrical release

Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Writers: Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm

Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, Lars Ranthe

Music by: Janus Billeskov Jansen

Premise: Four friends, all high school teachers, test a theory that they will improve their lives by maintaining a constant level of alcohol in their blood.

Run time: 1 hour 55 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 90% (59 reviews)

Metacritic: 72 (9 reviews)

Oscar buzz?

Best International Feature Film: submitted for Denmark

Black Bear •• theatrical release & premium on-demand

Director: Lawrence Michael Levine

Writer: Lawrence Michael Levine

Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott, Sarah Gadon, Paolo Lázaro, Grantham Coleman

Music by: Giulio Carmassi, Bryan Scary

Premise: A filmmaker plays a calculated game of desire and jealousy in pursuit of a work of art that blurs the boundaries between autobiography and invention.

Run time: 1 hour 44 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (52 reviews)

Metacritic: 81 (14 reviews)

Godmothered •• Disney+

Director: Sharon Maguire

Writers: Kari Granlund, Melissa Stack

Starring: Isla Fisher, Jillian Bell, June Squibb, Jane Curtin

Music by: Rachel Portman

Premise: An inexperienced fairy godmother-in-training tries to prove that people still need fairy godmothers.

Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 67% (24 reviews)

Metacritic: 49 (6 reviews)

Half Brothers •• theatrical release

Director: Luke Greenfield

Writers: Eduardo Cisneros, Jason Shuman, Ali LeRoi

Starring: Luis Gerardo Méndez, Connor Del Rio

Music by: Jordan Seigel

Premise: Renato, a successful Mexican aviation executive, is shocked to discover he has an American half brother he never knew about -- the free-spirited Asher. The two very different half brothers are forced on a road trip together. masterminded by their ailing father, tracing the path he took as an immigrant from Mexico to America.

Run time: 1 hour 36 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 36% (11 reviews)

Mank •• Netflix

Director: David Fincher

Writer: Jack Fincher

Starring: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard, Tom Pelphrey, Sam Troughton, Ferdinand Kingsley, Tuppence Middleton, Tom Burke, Joseph Cross, Jamie McShane,

Music by: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Premise: 1930s Hollywood is reevaluated through the eyes of scathing wit and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish "Citizen Kane."

Run time: 2 hours 11 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (139 reviews)

Metacritic: 80 (38 reviews)

Oscar buzz?

Best Picture: top contender

Best Director: top contender (David Fincher)

Best Actor: top contender (Gary Oldman)

Best Supporting Actor: great chance (Charles Dance), good chance (Arliss Howard), decent chance (Tom Pelphrey), long-shot (Tom Burke)

Best Supporting Actress: favorite to win** (Amanda Seyfried), decent chance (Lily Collins)

Best Original Screenplay: top contender (Jack Fincher)

Best Production Design: favorite to win** (Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale)

Best Cinematography: favorite to win** (Erik Messerschmidt)

Best Costume Design: top contender (Trish Summerville)

Best Editing: top contender (Kirk Baxter)

Best Makeup & Hairstyling: great chance

Best Sound: favorite to win**

Best Visual Effects: great chance

Best Original Score: favorite to win** (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross)

Mayor •• limited theatrical & virtual cinema release

Director: David Osit

Starring: Musa Hadid

Premise: This documentary follows Musa Hadid, the mayor of Ramallah, the de facto capital of Palestine, for two years.

Run time: 1 hour 29 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (17 reviews)

Metacritic: 77 (8 reviews)

Minor Premise •• on-demand

Director: Eric Schultz

Writers: Justin Moretto, Eric Schultz, Thomas Torrey

Starring: Sathya Sridharan, Paton Ashbrook, Dana Ashbrook

Music by: Gavin Brivik

Premise: Attempting to surpass his father's legacy, a reclusive neuroscientist becomes entangled in his experiment, pitting 10 fragments of his consciousness against each other.

Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (17 reviews)

Nomadland •• theatrical release

Director: Chloé Zhao

Writer: Chloé Zhao

Starring: Frances McDormand, Jason Strathairn, Linda May, Charlene Swankie, Bob Wells

Music by: Ludovico Einaudi

Premise: A woman embarks on a journey through the American West after losing everything during the recession.

Based on: Nomadland •• Jessica Bruder

Run time: 1 hour 48 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (140 reviews)

Metacritic: 97 (25 reviews)

Oscar buzz?

Best Picture: favorite to win**

Best Director: favorite to win** (Chloé Zhao)

Best Actress: top contender (Frances McDormand)

Best Supporting Actor: great chance (David Strathairn), long-shot (Bob Wells)

Best Supporting Actress: great chance (Charlene Swankie), decent chance (Linda May)

Best Adapted Screenplay: favorite to win** (Chloé Zhao)

Best Cinematography: top contender (Joshua James Richards)

Best Editing: great chance (Chloé Zhao)

Best Makeup & Hairstyling: decent chance

Best Sound: top contender

Small Axe: Red, White and Blue •• Amazon Prime Video

Director: Steve McQueen

Writers: Steve McQueen, Courttia Newland

Starring: John Boyega, Steve Toussaint, Joy Richardson, Neil Maskell, Stephen Boxer

Music by: Mica Levi

Premise: Spotlights the true story of Leroy Logan, who at a young age saw his father assaulted by two policemen, motivating him to join the Metropolitan Police and change their racist attitudes from within.

Run time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (48 reviews)

Metacritic: 85 (13 reviews)

Sound of Metal •• Amazon Prime Video

Director: Darius Marder

Writers: Darius Marder, Abraham Marder, Derek Cianfrance

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff, Mathieu Amalric

Music by: Nicholas Becker, Abraham Marder

Premise: A heavy-metal drummer's life is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing.

Run time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (118 reviews)

Metacritic: 82 (25 reviews)

Oscar buzz?

Best Picture: great chance

Best Director: good chance (Darius Marder)

Best Actor: great chance (Riz Ahmed)

Best Supporting Actor: decent chance (Paul Raci)

Best Supporting Actress: good chance (Olivia Cooke)

Best Original Screenplay: good chance (Darius Marder, Abraham Marder, Derek Cianfrance)

Best Cinematography: long-shot (Daniël Bouqet)

Best Editing: good chance (Mikkel E.G. Nielsen)

Best Makeup & Hairstlying: decent chance

Best Sound: great chance

Best Original Score: good chance (Nicholas Becker, Abraham Marder)

Tuesday 12/8

The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone •• limited theatrical release

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Writer: Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Andy Garcia, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, Bridget Fonda, George Hamilton, Sofia Coppola

Music by: Carmine Coppola

Premise: Coppola tweaks the little-loved final part of his Godfather trilogy as Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone tries to go into respectable business.

Run time: 2 hours 42 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (11 reviews)

Metacritic: 74 (7 reviews)

Thursday 12/10

Funny Boy •• Netflix

Director: Deepa Mehta

Writers: Deepa Mehta, Shyam Selvadurai

Starring: Rehan Mudannayake, Arush Nand, Brandon Ingram, Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi, Seema Biswas, Shivantha Wijesinha

Music by: Howard Shore

Premise: Explores Arjie's sexual awakening from a young boy to a teenager who falls in love with a male classmate, just as political tensions escalate between the Sinhalese and Tamils in the years leading up to the 1983 uprisings.

Run time: 1 hour 49 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (6 reviews)

Oscar buzz?

Best International Feature Film: submitted for Canada

Let Them All Talk •• HBO Max

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Writer: Deborah Eisenberg

Starring: Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, Gemma Chan, Lucas Hedges, Dianne Wiest

Music by: Thomas Newman

Premise: A young man finds romance with a literary agent while taking a trip with the woman's famous aunt and her friends.

Oscar buzz?

Best Director: long-shot (Steven Soderbergh)

Best Actress: some chance (Meryl Streep)

Best Supporting Actress: some chance (Candice Bergen), long-shot (Dianne Wiest)

Best Original Screenplay: some chance (Deborah Eisenberg)

Best Cinematography: long-shot (Steven Soderbergh)

Best Editing: long-shot (Steven Soderbergh)

Best Makeup & Hairstyling: long-shot

Best Original Score: good chance (Thomas Newman)

TV SHOWS

Friday 12/4

Big Mouth •• Season 4 •• Netflix

Earth at Night in Color •• Season 1 •• Apple TV+

The Hardy Boys •• Season 1 •• Hulu

MacGyver •• Season 5, Episode 1: “Resort + Desi + Riley + Window Cleaner + Witness” •• CBS

Magnum P.I. •• Season 3, Episode 1: “Double Jeopardy” •• CBS

The Mandalorian •• Season 2, Episode 6: “Chapter 14: [tba]” •• Disney+

Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special •• Apple TV+

Synopsis: Faced with a holiday cheer crisis, the North Pole knows there's only one person who can save the day: Santa Claus's great friend, Mariah Carey. Combining musical performances, dynamic dancing and groundbreaking animation, the undisputed Queen of Christmas jumps into action to create a holiday spectacular to make the whole world merry.

Appearances: Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Tiffany Haddish, Billy Eichner, Snoop Dogg, Jermaine Dupri, Misty Copeland, Mykal-Michelle Harris, The Peanuts Characters

Pokémon Journeys: The Series •• Part 3 •• Netflix

Selena: The Series •• Season 1 •• Netflix

Sunday 12/6

Euphoria •• special episode part 1: rue •• HBO

A Holly Dolly Christmas •• CBS

Synopsis: Performing from an intimate, candlelit set, Dolly will bring both powerful, faith-ﬁlled hymns and light-hearted holiday classics to help viewers celebrate her favorite time of year, as well as tracks from her new holiday album, A Holly Dolly Christmas. The beloved entertainer will share personal Christmas stories and faith-based recollections of the season to spread some much-needed joy and holiday cheer at the end of this challenging year.

MTV Movie & TV Awards: Greatest of All Time •• MTV

Host: Vanessa Hudgens

Performers: Sia, Steve Aoki, Travis Barker

Presenters: Neve Campbell, Sofia Carson, Lily Collins, Derek Hough, Jacob Bertrand, Peyton List, Xolo Maridueña, David Spade, Maddie Ziegler

The Real Housewives of Atlanta •• Season 13, Episode 1 •• Bravo

Shameless •• Season 11, Episode 1: “This Is Chicago!” •• Showtime

Your Honor •• Season 1, Episode 1: “Part One” •• Showtime

Monday 12/7

His Dark Materials •• Season 2, Episode 4: “Tower of the Angels” •• HBO

Nurses •• Season 1, Episode 1: “Incoming” •• Global TV

A Suitable Boy •• Season 1 •• Netflix

Wednesday 12/9

Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical! •• NBC

Thursday 12/10

One Night Only: The Best of Broadway •• NBC

Host: Tina Fey

Performers: the casts of Ain’t Too Proud, Chicago, Jagged Little Pill, Diana, Jersey Boys, Mean Girls, Rent; Kelly Clarkson, Brett Eldredge, Patti LaBelle

Appearances: the cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Annaleigh Ashford, Lance Bass, Kristen Bell, Ron Cephas Jones, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Peter Gallagher, Josh Groban, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sean Hayes, Nathan Lane, Camryn Manheim, Alanis Morissette, Jerry O’Connell, Leslie Odom Jr., Billy Porter, John Stamos, Aaron Tveit, Blair Underwood, Vanessa Williams, Susan Kelechi Watson

TIME Person of the Year •• NBC

VIDEO GAMES

Friday 12/4

Commandos 2: HD Remaster (Switch)

DARQ: Complete Edition (PC, PS4, XBO)

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC)

FIFA 21 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S)

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light (Switch)

Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise (Switch)

John Wick Hex (Xbox One, Switch)

Madden NFL 21 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S)

Suzerain (PC)

Tuesday 12/8

Call of the Sea (Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC)

Destiny 2 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S)

Destiny 2: Beyond Light (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S) – December 8

Doom Eternal (Switch)

Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch)

Ryte: The Eye of Atlantis (PSVR)

Shakes on a Plane (PC, Switch)

Swords of Gargantua (PSVR)

Temtem (PlayStation 5)

Wednesday 12/9

Woodsalt (Switch, PC)

Thursday 12/10

Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia (PlayStation 4)

Cyberpunk 2077 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, PC)

Haven (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC)

Orwell's Animal Farm (PC)

Sword of the Necromancer (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)

DIRECT ACTIONS / DONATIONS

Donate to...

houseless encampments in Minneapolis

order a book through a Black-owned progressive independent bookstore

list for various cities

Minneapolis: order from Black Garnet Books

enjoyed a queer artist’s music this year? purchase their album on Bandcamp (even if you won’t listen to it on Bandcamp, who cares, just buy their music!!!)... aaaand Friday 12/4 is Bandcamp Friday, in which ALL of your money goes DIRECTLY to the artist... here are some recommendations from moi of who to support and listen to their music, is güd

BLACK SAILOR MOON •• Backxwash

Peaceful as Hell •• Black Dresses

ROSETTA •• Dua Saleh

“A Dead Cop Is A Good Cop” •• GOYACONNECT

BRAT •• NNAMDÏ

Beauty •• Patricia Taxxon

Read up!

abolitionist manifesto (MPD150)

Political witness

attend your city’s city council meeting -- i did this the other day virtually on this site... maybe your city has something similar!

ALBUMS - Fri. 12/4

Limbo (Deluxe) •• Aminé

Mrs. Clean

Zack & Cody (feat. Valee)

Gelato

Talk (feat. Saba)

Chicken (feat. Toosii)

Buzzin (feat. Unknown Mortal Orchestra)

Solid

Burden

Woodlawn

Kobe

Roots (feat. J.I.D & Charlie Wilson)

Can’t Decide

Compensating (feat. Young Thug)

Shimmy

P.I.M.P. (feat. Vince Staples & slowthai)

Riri

Easy (feat. Summer Walker)

Mama

Becky

Fetus (feat. Injury Reserve)

My Reality

Goosebumps [EP] •• Bastille

Goosebumps (ft. Kenny Beats)

survivin’

WHAT YOU GONNA DO??? (ft. Graham Coxon)

survivin’ (One Eyed Jack’s Sessions)

Goosebumps (One Eyed Jack’s Sessions)

Real Bad Boldy •• Boldy James & Real Bad Man

Real Bad Boldy

Light Bill Master (feat. Meyhem Lauren)

Thousand Pills (feat. Stove God Cooks)

Failed Attempt

Lil Vicious (feat. Eto)

On 10

Held Me Down

Street Shit

Good Food (feat. Mooch & Rigz)

Champion

We Know the Truth •• Drakeo the Ruler

We Know the Truth (feat. Icewear Vezzo & ALLBLACK)

20 Pieces

Too Famous

Fullys for Bullies (feat. Lil Mosey & Ralfy the Plug)

Punk Rock Bitch

Fights Don’t Matter

Energy (feat. Tee Grizzly)

Lil Boosie (feat. Stupid Young)

Hundiddy

In My Rear (feat. Da Boii)

Big Dogg (feat. Ralfy the Plug & Ketchy the Great)

Who Am I (feat. Desto Dubb & Rich the Kid)

Captions

Friday

Mardi Gras

Mr. Mosely Claps Back

John Madden (feat. RMC Mike, Rio Da Yung OG, Lil Yachty & Ralfy the Plug)

Polar Bear

Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special •• Mariah Carey

[tracklist TBA]

Fresh Tapes 2 •• Patricia Taxxon

APJGHPLRKGH

THE WITCH IS DEAD

CHECKC

BAPBAP

SLAPJUG

WICKEDTRACK

THECREATURE

BATTLESHIP

A Very Poppy Christmas [EP] •• Poppy

I Like Presents

I Won’t Be Home for Christmas

Kiss in the Snow

Silver Bells

Nightmare Vacation •• Rico Nasty

Candy

Don’t Like Me (feat. Gucci Mane & Don Toliver)

Check Me Out

IPHONE

STFU

Back & Forth (feat. Aminé)

Girl Scouts

Let It Out

Loser (feat. Trippie Redd)

No Debate

Pussy Poppin

OHFR?

10Fo

Own It

Smack A Bitch (feat. ppcocaine, Sukihana, & Rubi Rose)

Smack A Bitch (Bonus)

SAWAYAMA (Deluxe) •• Rina Sawayama

Disc 1

Dynasty

STFU!

Comme des Garçons (Like the Boys)

Akasaka Sad

Paradisin’

Love Me 4 Me

Bad Friend

Fuck This World (Interlude)

Who’s Gonna Save U Now?

Tokyo Love Hotel

Chosen Family

Snakeskin

Disc 2

LUCID

We Out Here

Bees & Honey

Love It If We Made It (The 1975 cover)

XS (Live)

STFU! (Acoustic)

Bad Friend (Acoustic)

Chosen Family (Acoustic)

Comme des Garçons (Like the Boys) [Brabo Remix] ((feat. Pabllo Vittar))

XS (Remix) [feat. Bree Runway]

Bad Friend (Dream Wife Remix)

Wonder •• Shawn Mendes

Intro

Wonder

Higher

24 Hours

Teach Me How to Love

Call My Friends

Dream

Song for No One

Monster (with Justin Bieber)

305

Always Been You

Piece Of You

Look Up at the Stars

Can’t Imagine

Odin’s Raven Magic •• Sigur Rós

Prologus

Alföður orkar

Dvergmál

Stendur æva

Áss hinn hvíti

Hvert stefnir

Spár eõa spakmál

Dagrenning

Christmastide [EP] •• Tori Amos

Christmastide

Circle of Seasons

Holly

Better Angels

The White Stripes Greatest Hits •• The White Stripes

Let’s Shake Hands

The Big Three Killed My Baby

Fell in Love With a Girl

Hello Operator

I’m Slowing Turning Into You

The Hardest Button to Button

The Nurse

Screwdriver

Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground

Death Letter

We’re Going to Be Friends

The Denial Twist

I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself

Astro

Conquest

Jolene

Hotel Yorba

Apple Blossom

Blue Orchid

Ball and Biscuit

I Fought Piranhas

I Think I Smell a Rat

Icky Thump

My Doorbell

You’re Pretty Good Looking (For a Girl)

Seven Nation Army

SINGLES

New Tracks

“Coco” •• 24kGoldn feat. DaBaby

“Better Days” •• Ant Clemons feat. Justin Timberlake

“Grove Elation” •• Bernice

“Swimming in the Stars” •• Britney Spears

“Matches” •• Britney Spears feat. Backstreet Boys

“Blame It On the Mistletoe” •• Ella Henderson & AJ Mitchell

“No Flag (en Français)” •• Elvis Costello avec Iggy Pop

“Keeps Me Running” •• Esther Rose

“Family Farm” •• The Hold Steady

“Real Shit” •• Juice WRLD & benny blanco

“Oh Santa! (Remix)” •• Mariah Carey feat. Ariana Grande & Jennifer Hudson

“Dark Side of the Party” •• Miss Grit

“Snow Day” •• shame

“Her Revolution” •• Thom Yorke, Burial, & Four Tet

“His Rope” •• Thom Yorke, Burial, & Four Tet

“Greener Pools” •• Witch Egg

“Santa Stay Home” •• U.S. Girls feat. Rich Morel

Covers

“Stay Home” (American Football cover) •• Anamanaguchi

“Our Anniversary” (Smog cover) •• Bill Callahan & Bonnie “Prince” Billy feat. Dead Rider

“Boris” (Melvins cover) •• BORIS with MERZBOW

“In the Bleak Midwinter” (Traditional English Christmas Carol cover) •• James Blake

“River” (Joni Mitchell cover) •• Margo Price

“Nobody Wants a Lonely Heart” (Arthur Russell cover) •• Muzz

Remixes

“Teenager (Robert Smith Remix)” •• Deftones

“The Ground Below (Royal Jewels Remix)” •• Run the Jewels feat. Royal Blood

New Tracks + New Music Videos

“Diazepam” •• Buke and Gase / So Percussion

“Paper Fog” •• Cory Hanson

“Unblu” •• Jenny Lewis & Serengeti

“Reason” •• Jordana

“Hindsight” •• Madison McFerrin

“Foxes” •• Midnight Sister

“Shortcummings” •• Sleaford Mods

youtube

“The Crack” •• Goat Girl

youtube

“Satisfied” •• The Staves

youtube

“Lemon Mouth” •• Tigers Jaw

youtube

“Creatures” •• Viagra Boys

Old Tracks + New Music Videos

“Savior Complex” •• Phoebe Bridgers •• directed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge

New Music Films

youtube

The Road to Miss Columbia: A Documentary •• Lido Pimienta

0 notes

ayearofpike · 6 years

Text

The Tachyon Web

Bantam Books, Inc., 1986 197 pages, 14 chapters + epilogue ISBN: 0-553-26102-9 LOC: CPB Box no. 677 vol. 12 OCLC: 14404988 Released July 30, 1986 (per B&N)

The Tachyon Web is a network of satellites that creates a sort of hyperspace fence. It defines the boundaries of the Union, and no civilian craft is allowed to venture across it. But the Excalibur, piloted by high school kids, finds a loophole – literally – in the form of a star gone nova that shorts the Web and allows them to get through. Of course, messing with interstellar nuclear physics never goes smoothly, and the Excalibur is crippled. In the effort to save their ship and themselves, the friends discover a whole race of people also fleeing the nova, also without much knowledge about their future, and also fearful and anxious about the days ahead.

When I got into Pike, he was well into his career as an author, and already the majority of his books were published under the Archway Paperbacks imprint of Pocket Books. When I went looking for his new books or stuff I’d missed, that’s the bulk of what I would find on the shelves. There were a couple ways to know I’d not read one:

The inside front cover had a long list of Pike’s books under Archway, so I could go down and check or cross them off as I easily found them.

On the author notes page, after the history and outside interests, he’d list all of his works (getting longer by one every time), not limiting himself to the Archway stuff.

The Tachyon Web was always in those author notes, second-to-last. (Getting Even never was.) But without a printer or a publisher, I had no idea how to find this book. Remember, this was pre-Internet, pre-public-Web. I couldn’t just Google it because it was pre-Google. I couldn’t ask Amazon to find it because it was pre-Amazon. (Earliest purchase in my Amazon history? Getting Even, which I requested in January 1998.)

My only sources were the bookstore or library card catalogs, and while everything else had gotten a reprint (my copies of Slumber Party and Chain Letter are like 20th printings), The Tachyon Web never did. It was also a time when bookstores could, like, survive, so they didn’t have to put used and new books together on the shelves. My school library snootily didn’t carry Pike (though they sure had goddamn Stephen King and R.L. Stine) and the regional one didn’t have a copy. My local bookstore had a used and out-of-print book finding service, but come on: they’re looking for historical editions of classics of literature, not some pulpy juvenile sci-fi paperback that’s only eight years old. And so I resigned myself to never seeing this one.

But then this happened.

Reprint, Pocket Books, 1997 211 pages ISBN 0-671-69060-4 OCLC: 970433587 Rereleased January 15, 1997 (per B&N)

Now that I think about it, I have to imagine that Pike was subtly putting pressure on Pocket to reprint this story. Why would he include it in his accomplishments if it went away so fast because it actually sucked? (N.b. consider the absence of Getting Even.) Wouldn’t he have known that as he grew in popularity there would be a groundswell from fans to get an easily accessible edition of this story that almost no one had ever seen? Regardless of their critical acclaim, the sales of the books alone would have been enough to give him some leverage to have this one put out there again.

I mean, I can see why it might have disappeared so fast back in the day. The Tacyhon Web is hard sci-fi: lasers, aliens, spaceships, hyperdrive, force fields, supernovae. It’s not what anybody was looking for from the Slumber Party guy. Let’s be real: authors get pigeonholed into genres from the start, teen horror was historically (and probably still is) marketed to girls, and sci-fi has long been a no-girls-allowed clubhouse. The shift in YA speculative fiction to female-driven future dystopia stories, I could argue, isn’t so much a loss of traditional sci-fi as it is an adaptation of that traditional horror to bring in some sci-fi elements. Which Pike eventually figured out, but again, he wrote largely before YA was received critically as “real books.” And honestly, his type of fiction might be more of a reason than a victim.

More than any of his other books, The Tachyon Web requires Pike and his readers to think about the implications of meddling in the affairs of another culture. Eric and his friends can quite literally save an entire race, but is that their right or their place to do so? Should we share this huge technological leap with a people who might not be ready for it? What if the Kaulikans are greedy and protective, and start to use the new power to subjugate humans? What does it say about humans that we immediately think this about someone else? This examining of culture and society is all in the narrative, to be sure, but not with the degree of complexity that either sci-fi fans or readers from the future have come to expect. It just wasn’t asked of a teen author in the ’80s, and Pike doesn’t waste too many words on it.

None of this consideration keeps Eric from playing great white savior for the Kaulikans, either. (Though, as he’s described as a soCal boy with brown skin and black hair, I imagine Eric as Latino. More hidden representation for me!) See, he fell in love with the first alien girl he laid eyes on, and now he wants to make sure she can live beyond the spaceship. His friends mostly buy the human party line that we can’t give our tech to an unproven people, and he has to literally hijack Excalibur to give it to the Kaulikans. Except, oh shit, here comes the human army to take the ship back! Turns out they’ve been watching the whole thing and let the fucking sun explode on these people without helping. And now their orders are to retrieve the hyperdrive at any cost, but the Kaulikans obviously can’t let the hopes of an entire people, now within their grasp, be simply taken away from them. We’re at an impasse.

If you thought the humans would see the light and let the Kaulikans have the ship, you’re better than the people in charge. If you thought they’d escort the Kaulikans somewhere safe and then take the tech away, you’re overthinking a solution. It ultimately comes down to one dude with a conscience who has suffered a terrible loss in his past, who knows that he should help but has been ordered not to intervene, who has been looking for an excuse like Eric to act like it wasn’t his fault that the aliens discovered the tech. So he gives up instructions to build the hyperdrive on what amounts to an SD card (which can conveniently be read in alien computers). The humans get Excalibur back, and Eric’s friends are going to be OK, but he was sitting in the meeting so he knows too much and can never go home. It’s a good thing he already found love, just like it says on the back!

If I hadn’t been so into Pike when this reappeared in 1997, I’m not sure I would have been eager for or even interested in this story. (When it came out, all we’d gotten for a year was Spooksville stories and Last Vampire sequels; I was aching for something different.) The characters just don’t have the depth we got in Slumber Party, which is still the gold standard he’s trying to write up to at this point. The situation is an interesting one, and the problem arises because of mistakes the characters themselves make, but it gets a little too big a little too fast. The expectations and limits on kid lit at the time simply didn’t give Pike enough room to explore everything that needs to be addressed. And the reprint is just that: aside from some edits to improve understandability, it doesn’t change anything.

But then, these limitations might be what make the story realistic: we’re stuck trying to understand interglobal and racial dynamics from the perspective of an eighteen-year-old who’s never wanted for anything and has to absorb and process injustice on the fly. He’s still neurotic and insecure, like all of Pike’s main characters, but he lives in a society that prizes his culture, his language, and his abilities. It’s got to come as a shock to see that this foreign one is not only considered inferior, but that we aren’t even going to risk contact, let alone help it survive. Interesting that YA fiction is the genre taking so much more initiative to make us think about these issues today, where thirty years ago a book on it didn’t perform and almost went away forever.

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grahamfinch1990 · 4 years

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Save The Marriage Lee Baucom Pdf Jolting Ideas

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How To Stop A Divorce In Massachusetts

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Does Separation Ever Save A Marriage

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#Save The Marriage Lee Baucom Pdf Jolting Ideas #How To Stop My Divorce Proceedings

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not-just-any-fangirl · 7 years

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Flirting With Disaster

A/N: Happy Birthday to @constellunaa! I saw your beautiful drawing of Laxus and Cobra and thought ‘hey what if she actually ships it?’ and then wrote 6.5K of it in hopes that you actually do lmao.

If not, have some hint of nalu bcus I am so sorry

Part of my deaf!Natsu college au bcus I’m a slut for continuing universes! Also shout out to @papalogia for putting up with me yelling about this and for helping with some of the words. Natsu and Cobra are cousins, with Indian!Igneel and his unnamed brother who is Cobra’s dad.

Also praise @rivendell101 for helping me title it! Apparently I’m useless without my friends :D

College!AU

Pairing: Cobraxus, Nalu, Fairy tail

Words: 6515

Rating: M for language

Part: Oneshot

Laxus wanted to die, and not just because of his pounding headache or the fact that he was in an eight AM lab for fucking chemistry of all things. No, Laxus wanted the sweet embrace of death -or maybe to plead for manslaughter on account of insanity- because of his benchmate.

“Could you please make your stomach make disgusting noises quieter? I’m trying to measure out our chemicals, considering you’re going to be useless today.”

Laxus narrowed his eyes at his labmate, thinking of other uses for the sodium hydroxide solution that was being poured from the erlenmeyer flask to a petri dish.

“Stop looking at me like it’s my fault you decided to do jagerbombs instead of sleeping like a normal human being with an eight AM.”

Laxus scowled. The dude wasn’t even able to see his face, eye on Laxus’ side closed from a nasty looking scar. Laxus felt his own scar over his right eye twinge in sympathy, line thinner than the other boy’s. “How’d you know what I was drinking?” he asked, tongue fuzzy and thick in his mouth and voice rough with disuse. He sounded like his dad, and Laxus wished for another double jager to push back that unwelcome comparison.

“Because you reek of licorice, red bull, and regret.”

Laxus snorted, grinning as he scrawled down the fourth trial’s measurement in his lab notes. “I showered.”

“Don’t feel bad,” the boy drawled, sealing the vacuum box the petri dish now resided in before they turned on the chlorine gas, “it’s a stench that permeates engineering students.”

Laxus frowned, wanting to bite back against the generalization of his major, but flashbacks to the group of twenty somethings doing keg stands and flip cup after their last electrical midterm stopped him. His labmate wasn’t exactly wrong.

But his class had fucking earned going a little wild, especially after the hell that was the four hour midterm of Jose’s quantum nuclear midterm. Laxus was pretty sure that time length wasn’t even allowed by the school board, but seeing as how his grandfather was at a bit of a cold war with the dean, Laxus wasn’t about to say shit.

“Well I’m sure you biology kids know all about the danger of popping illegal prescription pills, don’t you?” he snarked. He had yet to meet one that wasn’t permanently shaking from a near overdose of Adderall, struggling to stay awake to finish making their four hundredth flash card.

“I'm not a biology major,” he said flicking on the highly poisonous gas with the most uncaring expression Laxus has seen on something besides his mirror.

Laxus eyed him critically. “Only biology majors are actually interested in chemistry labs,” he said finally, watching the plastic cube in front of him as the gas reacted with the solution.

“What about chem students?” he asked flatly, switching off the gas lever after the thirty seconds had passed on the stopwatch.

“Those freaks can do this shit in their sleep and try to go and set shit on fire under the fume hoods.” Laxus said just as flatly as his lab partner, focusing on writing down the chemical equations involved in their experiment. “If you aren’t biology then why the hell are you in this lab then?” Laxus asked. He knew why he was there, stupid requirement for his degree saying he need at least a 200 level in each of physics, chem, and bio. Not that Laxus fucking understood why he needed to know how bases and ions reacted to make deadly gases, considering he was going to be an electrical engineer.

Fucking reqs.

The student gave a long suffering sigh, turning his face so Laxus could see his withering look, red-so-dark-it-was-almost-brown hair falling in his face and styled on the sides and back, chin and cheekbones sharp. HIs tan skin was smooth, Laxus fairly certain it was because he could only make two facial expression: blank apathy or an unimpressed sneer. “I’m a toxicology major,” he said, opting for the latter of his whole range of two emotions.

“What the shit is that?” Laxus asked, barking out a laugh before writing the final time when salt crystals stopped forming in their solution.

“It is what it sounds like it would be,” the darker hair boy hissed, opening the cube and retrieving the crystallized solution so they could separate the salt and the bleach.

“It sounds fake,” Laxus snorted, adding a fourth row in the weight of the crystals and the PH of the solution. He must still be drunk to be egging on someone he didn't know, but Laxus really didn't give all that much of a fuck.

“And you still sound drunk,” the boy said coolly. He held out the filtered vial of lab-made bleach. “Here, drink this and it'll disinfect your stomach.”

Laxus blinked at the clear liquid behind the glass before barking a short laugh. “Alright, what's your name for the report.” Lab or human resources to be determined by if his bench mate slipped the chemical into his coffee thermos.

“Cobra,” the boy said, grin sharp in victory at Laxus’ startled expression. “It's similar to my major, don't you think?”

“Still don't know what the fuck toxicology is,” Laxus shrugged, recovering quickly. His cousin’s boyfriend’s name was Natsu and one of her best friend’s Gajeel. At least Cobra was a thing that existed and not a fucking season.

Laxus wrote down the name, frowning at the spot ‘ Freed ’ usually went. His best friend -and ex-boyfriend- unusually absent. Laxus had found out when he sat down from a text from Ever that he was delirious with a fever and needed to be restrained so he couldn't spread it to the rest of the university in his attempt to not miss class. Hence how a late Laxus had ended up with the possible-psychopath as a lab partner.

“It's the study of toxins and poisons you dumbass,” Cobra said flatly. He huffed in irritation before prattling off the volume of the fifth sample of sodium hydroxide. “How did you even pass Biology Two-hundred if you couldn't put together ‘tox-’ and ‘-cology’?”

“By studying for twelve hours and then forgetting everything about that bullshit course.” Laxus said back, defensive. He'd worked hard for that A in the course, and was proud of it.

“Only idiots forget what they've learned,” Cobra hummed, face once more a mix of cocky and blank. How he managed to look bored and superior at the same time was starting to grate on Laxus’ last nerve, though he knew he was one more incident away from academic suspension.

Laxus could really use that shot right now.

At least this was the last trial they needed before he could fuck off and never worry about dealing with Cobra again.

Laxus looked over, taking in an appreciative view. Laxus may be stoic and rough around the edges but he wasn't blind. Cobra was hot , with rich brown skin and spiky hair and two bars in his right ear. His personality might have been garbage, but that'd never stopped Laxus from being able to appreciate someone's aesthetic.

“Take a picture, it'll last longer,” Cobra said, corner of his mouth twitching at his own joke. Laxus remained unfazed, expecting to be caught and uncaring.

“How'd you get your scar?”

“How'd you get yours?” Cobra sneered, flicking on the gas switch and recording the pressure and flow rate of the gas as shown on the display connected to the nozzle.

“Fair,” Laxus hummed. “What's your number?”

“What the fuck? ” Cobra spat, eye large as he whipped his head to look at Laxus. He thought the boy's cheeks might have been a little darker, but he couldn't really tell. The thought made him preen in victory though, that he had gotten the upper hand.

“For the lab report? In case our data doesn't line up?”

Cobra grunted, looking back at the chamber as the reaction took place. “Whatever.”

Laxus blinked when at the end of the lab there was a torn off corner of paper shoved in his notebook, ten digits scrawled across it in sharp handwriting. He shook his head with a rueful smile, typing in the numbers to his contacts under the name ‘Snake Boi’.

Why was everyone he interacted with so fucking weird.

Laxus woke up, sitting straight up in his small single bed that came with his dorm room, staring unseeing into the dark.

“I fucking hit on him.” Laxus whispered to himself.

And Cobra gave him his number .

He jerked the cord from his phone where it had been charging on his bed side table, barely registering the time of 3:47 fucking AM as he blinds himself with the full brightness. Cursing, Laxus adjusted the screen to barely painful before typing a message to Freed. Laxus was smart with books, but interactions with other human beings was a thing Laxus liked to avoid at the best of times. And now he was texting his ex about the possibility of him hitting on some random dude. And succeeding.

Me - 3:47 AM: So uh I asked a guy for his number for a lab cus you have the fucking plague and looking back i think i flirted with him and i think i hit on him and now i have his number uhhhh what the actual fuck is this?? Was I actually hitting on him?? Did he hit back??

Me - 3:48 AM: is hit back the right term?

Me - 3:48 AM: I don’t think it is but I’m going to use it anyway bc fuck english

Laxus flopped back on his pillow, rubbing his scar. Fucking emotions. Did Laxus even want to have been hitting on Cobra? He thought about his fuller bottom lip and the twinkle of mischief in his eye when he was telling Laxus to drink bleach and the way his cologne smelt like the riverside and musk and his stupidly spiky hair that Laxus wanted to fuck up just to see that small fire light his dark eye.

Ah fuck, Laxus wanted to hit on him.

His phone buzzed in his hand, and Laxus blinked in surprise at Freed still being awake. Or maybe he had woken him up. Either way, Laxus wasn’t about to complain about getting some damned advice.

Freed (Sword Emoji) - 3:50 AM: Yes, babe. You were hitting on him. It’s okay, it took you four dates to realize we were dating.

Freed (Sword Emoji) - 3:51 AM: Two weeks to realize we broke up.

Me - 3:52 AM: I’m beginning to realize why you wanted couples therapy

Freed (Sword Emoji) - 3:55 AM: It’s okay babe, I still love you. Now go get laid please, you’re insufferable when horny and have a crush.

Laxus snorted. He wasn’t insufferable , if anyone was insufferable in their group it was Ever and at all times. Insufferable. Ha.

Wait.

Did Freed mean right now? Wouldn’t that be uncouth, as Freed would put it? Did he want a booty call? Or did Laxus want more? Laxus didn’t know what the fuck he wanted to eat most of the time how in all holy hell was he supposed to work out stupid things like feelings .

Ugh.

Me - 4:00 AM: Like... now? Cause its 4 am and idk if hes up. I mean, hes a fucking chem/posion/fuck knows major so probs but wouldn’t it be rude? To start a date with a booty call? I feel like asking for sex this early would be rude

Me - 4:00 AM: both time of day and in regards to a possible relationship

Laxus stared up at his ceiling, eyes barely able to make out the rock poster above his head from the brightness of staring at his phone screen. Him and Bixlow were supposed to be going to the Thunder Claps next saturday and Laxus was looking forward to getting stoned and zoning out to some good rock EDM for a couple hours with one of his best friends so-fucking-much. He startled out of his thoughts at the dark phone buzzing on his chest, screen lighting up with Freed’s text.

Freed (Sword Emoji) - 4:05 AM: I love you, but how you manage to keep your stupidity secret from everyone we know I’ll never comprehend.

Freed (Sword Emoji) - 4:06 AM: No do not text him for a booty call at four am.

Freed (Sword Emoji) - 4:06 AM: You animal.

Me - 4:09 AM: Ohhh, like later today okay i get you

Laxus rolls over, groaning into his pillow. He turned his head, typing another message.

Me - 4:13 AM: Can’t we just date again that was a good thing

Freed (Sword Emoji) - 4:07 AM: No darling. We tried that before and while the sex was amazing you were frankly a horrible boyfriend. But you have grown and I have full confidence in you not fucking this new one up horribly.

Laxus grinned at his phone, rolling his eyes before typing out a quick ‘gee thanks’ and clicking off his phone.

Ah fuck what the shit was he going to say to Cobra?

Laxus adjusted the strap on his shoulder as he exited the math building, three stories tall and made entirely of brick that was probably twenty years old when it was built fifty years ago. He groaned as he rubbed his neck, thankful that he was finally done his last class of the day. How Natsu had gotten into his fourth year electrical physics course Laxus had absolutely no fucking clue, and how that fuckhead had gotten a better grade than him on the last assignment was even more astounding.

Thinking of annoying chemistry majors, Laxus’s pocket burned where his phone rested and the uncontacted number that Laxus felt judging him. He could actually hear Cobra’s snarky voice calling him a pussy in his head, scowling as he continued to walk along the cracked sidewalk.

“Angel I swear to every fucking god in existence if you tell anyone -”

Oh shit, Laxus was really hearing Cobra’s voice.

He looked up, spotting Cobra standing beside a bust of some old dead dude that had helped found math or whatever, a pretty woman with long silver hair pinching his cheek with an almost cruel smile. “That our little snakey has a crush ?” she sang. Cobra’s shoulders tensed, and Laxus leaned against the bust five feet away, curious to see where the fuck this was going to go.

“I talked to the bastard once ,” Cobra snapped, swatting away Angel’s hand. The girl smirked as if Cobra had just told a joke, twirling a piece of hair between her fingers.

“Uh huh, and that’s why you’ve kept your hand on your phone all day. ‘Cus you two ‘talked’ once.” Cobra sputtered, Laxus watching the side of his face twist in a flustered sneer. “Tell me, was he tall and muscular? You always were too easy for the masc types.”

Laxus snorted, covering it with a cough but too late not to draw Angel’s attention, and by extension, Cobra’s. The girl’s face lit up like it was fucking Christmas and Cobra looked like he wished he still had that bleach.

“Awwww you two match face scars!” she cooed, clapping her hands together once in excitement.

“You say another word and I’ll put Kerberos in your fucking bed.”

Angel pouted at Cobra before huffing and flipping her hair over her shoulder. “Whatever, spoil my fun as usual, Erik ,” Cobra -or should Laxus say Erik?- glared at her sharply but Angel carried on, paying his threat display absolutely no attention, “I’m off to make sure Midnight didn’t die in their sleep in whatever nook they’ve found now.”

Laxus returned her small nod as she passed, lifting an eyebrow at her sniff as she looked him over again. He thought it might have been a silent ‘my friend could do better than you’ and judging by the RBF she had Laxus was pretty sure he was right.

Cobra was silent as he glared at Laxus, a new expression painted on his face; pure and clear murder.

“I don’t know what fucking game you’re playing but I’m over it and-”

Laxus interrupted the rant Cobra was spitting at him, looking over his worn but polished combat boots and torn black jeans that were tight enough on his thighs to leave Laxus with no need to imagine how muscular he was, tight black tank top with a deep purple snake skull partially covered by leather jacket that had deep red accented strips of leather along the arms and two over the breasts, dark black studs on the shoulders and back of the arms from what Laxus could see, band patches thrown over the pockets and back as a visual record of all his concerts. Laxus finally eyed the thick black collar with large and shallow spikes on it before meeting Cobra’s pissed-off glare.

“I’m going to the Thunder Claps concert next weekend. Judging by the Poison Blood sticker you got on your ass there I’d say you’re in need of being taken to a concert with good music playing.”

Cobra choked on his words, staring at Laxus blankly before barking a sharp laugh. He drew his pointed gaze over Laxus’s own slides, ripped jeans, loose work out tank, and the large bright yellow headphones that hung around his neck.

“I highly doubt you’d be able to have any taste in music if you insist on dressing like a fucking gym rat, but I won’t turn down free shots and concert tickets,” Cobra smirked at him, grin sharp as he insulted him. Laxus grinned back. Flirting was fun when you got to rip into the person.

“Who said I’d pay for your drinks?”

“The way you can’t take your perverted eyes off me would be a damned good hint that all I have to do is touch your dick and have you wrapped around my little finger.”

“Aw, that’s not a very nice thing to call your dick. I’m sure it’s at least three inches.”

Cobra sneered at him, stepping closer as fire danced in his eye, obviously delighted at the challenge. “Two inches longer than yours.”

“You wanna find out or something? Laxus asked, tipping his head down as he towered over Cobra by a good four inches, stepping forward as well.

“You that desperate to get fucked?” he asked, meeting Laxus’ gaze and holding his own, unperturbed by Laxus’ height.

“ You that desperate to get your face pinned against a wall?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Cobra smirked, thumbs hooked in his belt loops and leaning further into Laxus’ space, looking up at him through thick lashes and a promise of danger and battle of wills in his dark gaze.

“Yeah, I think I fucking would,” Laxus said, unashamed. His smirk widened when Cobra’s faltered and his cheeks got distinctly darker as he blinked up at Laxus, the blond man’s confidence sure enough at this point that he hooked his pointer through one of Cobra’s unfilled belt hoops and pulled his crotch closer so that it brushed against Laxus’. “Wha'dya say, Erik?” Laxus breathed against the shorter man’s lips, noses almost touching.

“Call me that again and I’ll strangle you in your sleep, shithead,” Cobra hissed, not pulling away from him as his eye darted to Laxus’ lips and then back up. Laxus swallowed roughly at the challenge that sparked in his sharp grin as he reached up with both hands and yanked on Laxus’ headphones so that their foreheads touched. “Now why don’t you show me your tiny ass dorm. I ain’t getting my sheets fucked up for a douchebag like you.”

“Ain’t you full of romance?” Laxus snorted, brushing his nose against Cobra’s and barely speaking above a whisper.

“One of us is about to be full of something and I was never big on the flowers and chocolates crap.” Cobra said back, chin tilting up slightly to brush his top lip against Laxus’ lower one.

“Good to know,” Laxus grinned, pulling back before he could actually kiss Cobra. He readjusted the strap on his shoulder again, nodding with his head in the direction of his dorm.

Cobra looked at him like he was a lab report that wasn’t making sense - a thing that Laxus interpreted as baffled and irritated and determined to understand- before nodding and walking towards where Laxus had nodded.They walked in silence, Laxus’ hand twitching each time he almost grazed Cobra’s. It felt wrong to just walk apart considering what they had planned, or at least insinuated, but Laxus had zero fucking clue how to make the first move. Especially because Cobra apparently wasn’t into that. The minutes passed awkwardly as Laxus considered just fucking texting Freed about what to do but also not thinking that texting his ex-boyfriend would be good hook up etiquette. Was this a hook up? Was this all that was? Cobra had said yes -kind of- to the concert and oh fuck Laxus had asked him out on a date without realizing it-

And Cobra said yes again.

They were halfway to his dorm, just passing the English building his cousin Lucy was probably still in working on her seventh draft of her creative writing piece, and her stupid boyfriend probably draped over her like a god damn blanket -how was that for romantic, as if Cobra would ever let Laxus do that to him- when Cobra moved and startled Laxus from his thoughts.

“You’re useless at shit like this aren’t you?” Cobra sighed. He kept looking ahead as he grabbed Laxus’ arm and slung it over his own shoulders. “I could basically hear you thinking about holding my hand. Better?”

Laxus swallowed thickly, grunting an affirmative as his face heated at being caught. He glared at a flock of geese under a tree to their right, channeling his anger into the birds resting in the shade on the warm fall afternoon.

What the fuck had Laxus’ gotten himself into?

“What do you mean you haven’t kissed besides when you fuck ?” Lucy gaped at him, dumbfounded as she gathered her own nine dollar strawberry cooler and Natsu’s four dollar beer, Laxus both thankful and irritated that he had run into his cousin and her dumbass boyfriend at the concert. Bixlow hadn’t been the happiest to give up his ticket, but had been placated by Freed reading aloud first Laxus’ panicked four AM text messages and then his even more panicked nine PM text messages about having just gotten laid before going on an actual date.

Fuck, all of his friends were massive dicks. No wonder he was dating Cobra.

Well, kind of dating Cobra.

“Listen I don’t need to be lectured about relationships by someone who brought their deaf boyfriend to a fucking concert.” Laxus frowned, careful of the shitty vender beer cups so that he wouldn’t crush them by accident in his annoyance.

“One,” Lucy huffed, half running to keep up with him through the crowd, “ Natsu dragged me here. He likes to be part of the chaos of the crowd and to feel the bass bump through him or whatever. And two, we are still on the topic of you and your inability to have a relationship like a normal human being.”

Laxus rolled his eyes as they walked to where Natsu and Cobra were standing by one of the entrances into the stadium, hands moving quickly and in agitation as they signed to one another.

Laxus couldn’t fucking believe that Lucy was dating his maybe-boyfriend’s cousin.

“You fucking dick, you know I can’t understand ISL!” Natsu roared, throwing his hands above his head, voice loud enough to draw passing glances from a few people entering the large arena.

“Not my fault you don’t know your own heritage,” Cobra sneered, following it with something that Laxus could extrapolate was an insult by the sneer of his lips despite not understanding the other language. “ Ullu de pathe.”

“I can read Hindi on lips,” Natsu hissed. Lucy smiled as she moved the beer in front of his face, Natsu blinking at the sudden liquid blocking his view of Cobra. He smiled down at her, lip ring shifting as it was pulled. Lucy signed a quick hello, her hand flat as she did something that Laxus thought looked like a short and relaxed salute, quickly dropping her hand with her pointer and middle finger intended in a weird peace sign and flicking her lower lip with her middle finger twice.

Natsu grinned and rolled his eyes, Laxus lost at what the gesture meant. He had managed to learn a few swears and the alphabet, but otherwise relied on Natsu’s ability to read lips and speak when interacting with him. He’d offered to take better notes for Natsu in their class, but the stubborn bastard had refused and instead relied on a voice to text app on his phone as he took his own notes from the board.

Cobra signed something, the only sign Laxus caught making him grin at the end; Cobra flicking his hand from under his chin and out with his palm facing towards himself.

“I ain’t a bitch you fucking emo furry.” Natsu spat.

“Just because I respect and collect snakes doesn’t mean I want to fuck them,” Cobra snarled, “and at least I’m passionate about animals that actually exist, dragon boy .” Cobra held his hand so his fingers were splayed, wiggling the three middle fingers as he moved it from his chin outwards, palm facing down this time. “I don’t even know how we’re related, even your fucking hair is off brand! What kinda genetic fuck-up gets pink hair?”

“I like his hair,” Lucy defended. Laxus groaned loudly, throwing his arm around Cobra’s shoulders.

“We're gonna go somewhere else now,” Laxus said to Lucy, nodding at Natsu as he led Cobra away from his own cousin. They moved through the crowd, Cobra fitting nicely under Laxus’ arm as they walked. They entered the stadium, filing their way to the ground level where they would be standing for the show, Laxus letting Cobra stew as he learned the other man liked to do.

“That useless little jackass follows me everywhere,” Cobra hissed. Laxus looked at him from the corner of his eye, debating if he wanted to get into family dynamics right now. Considering how Natsu was more likely to become family than Cobra though...

Laxus swore internally before speaking against his better judgement.

“Technically they decided to come here before you,” Laxus said, not looking at Cobra. He felt him stiffen under his arm, but didn’t pull away.

“Whatever,” Cobra spat, taking a long sip of his beer. Laxus grunted, content with listening to the crowd around them mill between one of the opening acts and Thunder Claps. Two girls were standing by them, talking loudly with flower crowns in their hair and neon bras under white netted tops, one tucked into her short jean shorts and the other hanging down to her mid thigh and touching the top of her thin stockings, her own shorts barely visible under the netted fabric.

Laxus didn’t think he’d have noticed if it weren’t for Cobra tensing again under his arm and leading them away from the girls.

“I know you’re a big fan of my dick but I didn’t peg ya as needing to avoid an entire gender.” Laxus commented, taking a sip of his own drink as he waited for Cobra to speak.

“Their voices were irritating me,” Cobra said flatly, lips turned down slightly in his neutral expression. Normally when Laxus wore that look as his own neutral expression people said he looked liked he was plotting murder, when in reality he just thinking of dumb shit. Laxus was pretty sure Cobra was definitely plotting to murder someone, though. Laxus thought there might have been more to it than what Cobra was telling him but decided to drop it. Freed had been very adamant about not pissing off his date when at a social event.

Cobra took out his phone as Laxus glared at a boy that was staring a little too intently at Cobra’s biceps, revealed by his ripped sleeve tank top. The boy scurried off as Cobra slipped his phone back into the back pocket of his tight jeans. Jeans that Laxus knew for a fact Cobra was wearing because he was aware how tight they were on his ass and Laxus’ appreciation of it.

“Natsu and Lucy will down here in a second and if you say anything about it I will bite your dick off tonight.”

Laxus blinked once before nodding. He pulled Cobra closer to him when the other man downed his drink in a way that the other engineering students would cheer on, and made Laxus respect him just a little bit more.

Natsu and Lucy appeared again like Cobra said, Natsu sending a wary glance at Cobra before smiling brightly. Laxus huffed and sipped his beer as he scanned the crowd again. Natsu didn’t have a fucking single grudge-holding bone in his body when it came to abuse against himself. Laxus also wondered how the pink-haired pyro freak and Cobra were related, though for different reasons.

Laxus noticed Lucy lean towards him and Cobra, Natsu’s attention on the stage as the stagehands brought out the equipment and instruments for Thunder Claps. “If you do anything to ruin this concert for Natsu I will find out where you live and do something so horrible and scarring you’ll never be able to sleep again.” Lucy said sweetly, not bothering to lower her voice as the back of her head was to Natsu. She smiled once, lips pulled up sharply and eyes cold enough to make Laxus’ heart skip a beat like the time he thought he had missed a final. He took another sip of his drink, already half done but choosing to pretend he hadn’t just witnessed his cousin promising to maim another student in a huge crowd. His one law course taught him nothing if not plausible deniability.

He snuck a glance at Cobra’s face, somehow surprised and not at the bright grin pulling up one corner of his mouth.

“I like her.” Cobra said, looking around the crowd as well. Laxus shook his head, offering the rest of his beer to Cobra. “Well isn’t someone trying to get me drunk.”

“You’re much easier to top when you’re already a little fucked up,” Laxus grinned down at him. Cobra snorted, drinking Laxus’ beer and twisting his lips into a sneer, retort lost in his disgust.

“Thought an alcoholic like you would at least know how to drink good beer,” Cobra drawled.

“If you don’t like it I’ll definitely be needing it to deal with you all night,” Laxus said, raising an eyebrow at Cobra. He rolled his eye, taking another large sip with a grimace.

“I’m a fucking delight.”

Laxus snorted loudly, grinning at Cobra’s flat glare.

The crowd began cheering as people in ripped jeans and wearing over a dozen glow stick pieces of jewelry began filing onto the stage, the lights dimming and the crowd enveloping them so there was no place that Laxus wasn’t being touched by slightly sweaty and glitter covered bodies. Cobra glared, hiding deeper under Laxus’ arm and away from the chance of anything too sparkly and happy touching him. “Why’d you agree if concerts ain’t your thing?” Laxus purred, leaning down so his lips brushed his ear.

“I like concerts ,” Cobra hissed back, turning his head so his lips almost brushed Laxus’, “I don’t like raves.”

“This isn’t even close to rave. I’d be on way more drugs if this was a rave ,” Laxus murmured back, distracted by Lucy’s lecture in the back of his head about normal relationships. Heat from where Cobra was pressed against his side and under his arm scorched him, Laxus’ brain focusing on Cobra’s lips and how the top one was thinner than the bottom, a slight dimple under the left corner of his lip where a lip piercing might have once been. Laxus’ throat grew dry at the thought of seeing the silver against his warm-toned skin.

Laxus lifted his gaze to meet Cobra’s, a dark, unreadable expression piercing him.

“Maybe you just wanted to be here with me,” he said, leaning forward slightly so his nose brushed Cobra’s. A slight grin lifted the corner of Cobra’s mouth, a mocking glint flashing in his eye that made Laxus smirk in turn. Whatever Cobra was about to say was lost as the DJ of the band made the bass drop and the crowd went wild, jumping and thrumming around them. Cobra got jostled, shoving him towards Laxus, his forehead pressing into his lips. Laxus glared at the clearly drunk girl who had shoved Cobra and ruined whatever the fuck Laxus had been trying to do.

Laxus grinned when he heard Cobra swear under his breath, pleased that he wasn’t happy about it either. Deciding that a EDM concert probably wasn’t the best place to figure out what the shit was going on between them, Laxus turned his attention to the stage and lost himself in the performance. He sang along with the next few songs, moving with the crowd, bouncing on the balls of his feet and losing himself to the pounding that resonated with his bones and overrode his own heartbeat in his blood.

Cobra shifted slightly in front of him when Lucy and Natsu got crushed to his side, rolling his eye less sarcastically than Laxus expected at Lucy’s mouthed apology. Laxus grinned at the opportunity to both touch and embarrass him, grabbing his hips and pulling him against Laxus’ chest, dancing behind him as one song bled into another, the crowd going wild at the new mix.

Cobra stilled at first, looking over his shoulder with a sharp glare that made Laxus’ smirk grow larger as he rolled his hips against Cobra’s ass. His cheeks looked darker when a strobe light rolled over his face, bathing him in purple light and a voice in the back of Laxus’ mind compared him to what a god of contempt and poison might look like. Thoughts of how fucking whipped he was were forced out of his mind as Cobra gave him a dangerous smile before turning his head back to the stage and crushing his ass into Laxus with a lewd and rough roll. Laxus cursed through a grin, fingers digging into Cobra’s hips, thumbs slipping under the hem of his shirt and moving over the taut skin of his hip bones and stomach.

More songs passed like that, Cobra and Laxus working up a heavy sweat grinding and rutting against one another in the sweltering heat created by a crowd full of young adults doing the same. Laxus pointedly ignored his baby cousin going even harder against Natsu than Cobra was to him, Natsu’s sweaty forehead connected to her jaw as he sucked at her neck, one hand flat on her stomach as he guided her in deep rolls against him in what Laxus was almost disgusted to note was practiced movements.

He didn’t know how well Natsu would understand a ‘touch her and I’ll castrate you’ without being able to hear Laxus’ tone but he was hoping he’d be able to convey the right amount of ‘I could kill you with you hand’ in his eyes when he cornered the pink haired brat after the show.

He was thankful to see Lucy stop trying to ride Natsu’s dick through their clothes, shrieking with joy when Natsu stooped low and put her on his shoulders. She gripped his hair as he stood again, bare thighs clenching around his head and his own hands gripping into her pale skin tightly. Laxus was stopped from straight up decking Natsu for putting his face so close to parts of Lucy Laxus would rather fucking claw his eyes out with a rusty spoon than think about when he noticed Natsu looking up at Lucy. His eyes were soft, fondness almost palpable in an aura around them as they met each other's gazes. Lucy beamed as she smiled down at him, braid messed and slung over one shoulder and glitter paint smeared over her cheek and bare shoulders. Natsu’s smile was lopsided, the couple completely separated from the music and crowd around them as Lucy leaned down, sealing her lips against his sweetly. She pulled back slightly, giggling as Natsu rubbed his nose along hers and they got lost in each others eyes again.

Laxus let his gaze drift to Cobra, an unfamiliar ache in his chest making him frown at the spiked hair in front of him.

“Put me on your shoulders and I’ll create a mosh pit,” Cobra said, serious and flat as he looked over his shoulder at Laxus again. The blond smirked, nodding and forcing his attention back on the stage. He frowned down at Cobra when he stopped dancing against him. He cocked his head at Cobra’s searching scowl, unsure of what was going through his head. "Fuck it,” he grunted, confusion making Laxus knit his eyebrows at Cobra’s low grunt. He froze for a second, Cobra twisting fully in his arms and threading his fingers into the short hairs at the base of Laxus’ neck. He grunted as Cobra slammed his mouth to his, rough and a little awkward as he leaned up into Laxus.

The music dulled in his ears, arms winding around Cobra and pulling him flush against his chest. Their lips slated against one another's easily as the kiss drew on, Cobra’s short nails digging greedily into the back of Laxus’ neck and fisting at his short hair. Laxus nipped at Cobra’s lower lip, opening his mouth at Cobra’s demanding swipe of his tongue along Laxus’ lips.

His hand dropped to push into the back pocket of Cobra’s jeans, squeezing harshly and pulling his body flush to Laxus’ again. Cobra broke the kiss, grinning up at him hungrily and with lewd joy dancing in his eye. Laxus squeezed again, returning the dark smirk. Cobra chuckled under his breath before kissing Laxus softly once, returning to demanding and impatient kisses as if to cover up the almost tender action. Neither said anything, resuming dancing and losing themselves in the atmosphere of the show and trying to one-up one another.

Laxus figured Cobra liked having a boyfriend that wasn’t afraid of a little friendly competition.

His hand released Laxus’ hair, sliding between their bodies and roughly groping at the front of Laxus’ pants. Cobra smirked against his mouth when he grunted at the unexpected touch. His self-pleased grin fell when Laxus pulled his hand from Cobra’s pocket and instead ran along the center seam of his jeans, fingers pressing firmly and rubbing at him there. Laxus looked at Cobra through his lashes, pleased to see Cobra’s deep scowl and to feel his face warm in the lack of space between them.

Okay, so maybe a little less-than-friendly competition.

Not that Laxus was complaining.

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