#I'm specifically taking about the United States btw

[jeannereames]

Hii😄, could you talk about Alexander and hefestion's skills? Whether militarily or diplomatically, I heard that Hephaestion was better at politics, diplomacy and logistics, and that in some ways his and Alexander's skills complemented each other.

I'm always a tad amused when my own research is quoted back to me as a bit of general knowledge. 😂 That's not at all a slam, btw! I'm quite pleased it's escaped out of academia to become part-and-parcel of what people know about Hephaistion. Means I made an impact on rehabbing his career.

But yes, those things are true. I wrote about them first back in 1998, in my dissertation, then published it as part of an academic book chapter in 2010, titled "The Cult of Hephaistion" in Responses to Oliver Stone's Alexander: Film, History, and Cultural Studies, P. Cartledge and F. Greenland, eds. Complete with tables! Follow the link to read it.

I am now, some years later, returning to Hephaistion's career with the current monograph I'm working on. I've altered my opinion about some things (primarily details), and modified my take, but it remains largely the same. I've even convinced a number of my colleagues, so Hephaistion as logistics officer now appears in most summaries about him. Now, if I can just convince them he wasn't either incompetent or the quarrelsome bastard he's often made out to be.

He did have diplomatic assignments too, although he's hardly the only one. Erigyios, Perdikkas, Ptolemy...they were also used for diplomatic purposes. Plutarch (in a long contrast with Krateros) says ATG employed Hephaistion for business with the "barbarians" and Krateros for business with Greeks and Macedonians, because Hephaistion agreed with ATG's "Persianizing" whereas Krateros kept his traditional ways. From Plutarch, that's not necessarily a compliment for Hephaistion. It's also not stated so anywhere else beyond Plutarch. I have some theories I'll be discussing in the book.

IF we can take the disproportionate assignment of logistical/diplomatic assignments as any indicator, it would seem that Hephaistion was more skilled in that realm than in combat command. That isn't to say he was no good at combat command, mind (I've had some read it so, as if "not as good" = "bad" because middle ground apparently isn't permitted).

It also doesn't mean he wasn't a decent fighter. He probably was, as he seems to have been assigned to lead the agema (Royal) unit of the Hypaspists, e.g., the king's personal guard in battle. According to earlier accounts of the origin of this unit, Philip created them to cut across regional divisions, picking the largest men and best fighters. The agema was, if Waldemar Heckel is correct, drawn specifically from the sons of Companions (Hetairoi). That would back up Curtius' description of him as "larger in physique" than Alexander. (That's what the Latin actually says, not simply "taller.") But keep in mind, the best fighters are only occasionally equally good at command. Those are two different skills.

Finally, his choice as Chiliarch may also underscore some of what we've already seen in his assignments. But it's this appointment that leads some scholars to conclude that he rose due to Alexander's favoritism, not actual ability on his part. That, however, seems to me to stem from several (erroneous) assumptions.

IME, competent people surround themselves with other competent people, at least for any length of time. Flatters may be tolerated, but they're not continually advanced. It's dictators who surround themselves with yes-people (and not all of them; they also need competent individuals). Alexander may have been called a "tyrant" by the Greeks, but he wasn't. He was a king. The Greeks/Athenians/Spartans/Others were playing politics. Macedonian kings had to court their courtiers. If Alexander had been manifestly unfair in his appointments, his men would have rebelled against those officers. They rebelled...but not for that reason. They wanted to go home.

For those who regard Alexander (and Philip) as tyrannical, and/or the enemy of (Greek) freedom, and/or megalomaniacs, and lucky rather than competent, then sure. It would follow that ATG would surround himself with asslickers. But if one thinks he was actually good at what he did (which is a different thing from approving of conquest, mind), and a halfway decent politician--then no, it doesn't follow that his top officers were yes-men. Curtius bluntly tells us that Hephaistion was freer than anyone to "upbraid" the king. Doesn't sound like a yes-man to me.

I think Hephaistion was appointed as Chiliarch for two reasons: Alexander trusted him AND he could do the job. Too bad he didn't live long enough for us to see what he might have done with it.

#asks #Hephaistion #Hephaestion #Alexander the Great #Hephaistion's military assignments #Hephaistion's status in the army #chiliarch #Classics #ancient Macedonia #ancient Greece #Plutarch's hit job on Hephaistion

[impossiblesuitcase]

K your requests are closed but you said you would accept my one. (Thks btw) This can take place anytime after the series (when cinder is on Luna, when they are engaged or married etc) basically the idea is that Kai starts getting extremely bad headaches one day. Like so bad that he has had to leave the room to go throw up from the pain, and is constantly zoning out etc. He doesn’t tell anyone cause he thinks he should be able to handle it. And then one day Torin is like “you know your dad had migraines too.” And he finally goes to the doctor for it. It’s mostly Kai and torin but you can certainly add as much Kaider as you want.

Elwin also received this prompt and wrote a fabulous fic. Make sure you read it!

Take What I'm Handed

My love

Hey love, feeling any better?

You

Not really

My love

:(

Hows your head?

You

Like the entire Rampion engine is firing in my skull.

My love

My poor sweetheart. 

Have you been working?

You

Not this morning. I’m trying to stay away from screens before my brain bleeds out

My love

Then voice comm me so you don’t have to look at the screen

You

I’m in a meeting

My love

Important?

You

Earthen Union

My love

So not important ;)

What’s it about

You

Hey there missy, since when are you entitled to know?

I seem to recall you abdicating the throne seven months ago

You can’t have your cake and eat it too

My love

I will eat all the cake I want :P

You

It’s for mandatory declaration of status as a lunar at international borders

My love

Ah

Vargas will like that

You

Of course. You know Americans

My love

We know one American and that’s enough

here let me prepare an answer for you

The greater issue to consider here is how this bill will be received by the provinces. The mandatory declaration of origin at international borders has traditionally been a residual power decided on a state by state basis. Adding Lunars into this heated issue does not change legislation. If we exclude the provinces from discussions in these mandates, it could be perceived as an aggressor.  

How did I go?

“Your Majesty.”

Kai startled, ripping burning eyes from his port to the holograph. 

A line of portraits floated before the conference room—world leaders and their cookie-cutter identical representatives. The speaker’s portrait was lit up, emblazoned with a United Kingdom; as if any breathing soul could even enter such a high-ranking meeting without knowing all present. 

All present were staring at him.

Releasing his port with a jolt—and a loud thud—Kai garbled a, “Pardon, Your Majesty?”

Queen Camilla’s pencilled eyebrow quirked. It was difficult to know what she really thought under that impeccable diplomatic visage, but Kai had been raised to speak that language. It could be:

It’s your turn (kind and prompting).

It’s your turn (desperate to be freed from this tedious meeting).

It’s your turn (speak, incompetent moron).

Judging by her pursed lips, Kai guessed it was a combination of those last two.

“We are awaiting your response,” she said plainly.

“Right,” he started, with absolutely no inkling of where his words should go. “My apologies. I trust this is referring to the, uh, the mandatory declaration of status as a Lunar at international borders?”

“Yes, it isin relation to the sole topic we’ve been discussing for the past hour,” intoned Governor-General Williams of Australia, near-glaring. Kai appreciated the bluntness.

“Thank you. I just wondered if…there was…a…specific point in this matter that you were referring to. So I can verify with my notes before contributing,” he lied, knowing he hadn’t intended to present anything in this meeting. He just hoped one of the other Commonwealth representatives—ones who were currently capable of breathing without their intestines tying around their lungs—had already spoken on his behalf. “The Eastern Commonwealth’s position remains unchanged.”

“Forgive me if I misspeak, but I do believe your country is yet to offer anything on this matter thus far,” Camilla observed, tone devoid of any request for forgiveness.

Ah, so option three: speak, incompetent moron.

“Th-that is correct, my sincerest apologies again. I was referring to our position as discussed in our private meetings”—(meetings he hadn’t attended, though he’d briefly skimmed over the minutes at breakfast that morning)—“and I mistakenly assumed we had already expressed those views today. Our stance is…is…”

His eyes fell to his port, fingers primed to race for those minutes when he saw Cinder’s last message on the split screen. 

His brain barely paused to screen them before the words tumbled from his mouth.

“The greater issue to consider here,” he recited haltingly, “is as to how this bill will be received by the provinces. The mandatory declaration of origin at international borders has traditionally been a residual power decided on a state-by-state basis.” Heart calming, he eased his tone, donning the veil of a well-rehearsed speech. “Folding Lunars into this inflammatory mix does not alter legislation. If we exclude the provinces from discussions in these mandates, it could be perceived as an aggressor.”

Mind clearer as the panic subsided, he looked up gravely, concluding, “I think we can all agree that after the cataclysmic ramifications of the war, none of us desire the possibility of internal insurgence.”

A crackle of static crossed the connection. All were voiceless.

Is this not what they’d been discussing? Is it obvious he hasn’t paid attention?

Then Camilla’s nose pinched, reminiscent of a teacher’s glower when they’d pick on an inattentive student, expecting floundering, only to receive the correct answer. Smarting over the rebuff, poor concealment to save face. Yet she wasn’t disagreeing. Nor did any of the others fire back some warmed-up-leftovers retort.

“That is…not something we’ve yet considered,” she conceded.

Stars bless his woman.

You

Thank you.

My love

You used it?

I tried my best to sound like you

You

It was a lifesaver.

Though I changed a few words.

My love

Which ones?

You

Heated is a bit general. I used inflammatory.

My love

Ooh ill add it to my ‘fancy politician speak’ list.

“And what does the EC propose we do to prevent seditious mentalities arising from the provinces?” asked Prime Minister Kamin of Africa after several points Kai hadn’t heeded to passed.

Autopilot. “Considering this matter concerns the provinces, should we not turn to the provinces? I suggest” —Stars he is just making this up as he goes—“we first hold counsel with the province representatives individually. With impartial moderators of course.” (Nice, that’ll make it sound fleshed out.) “Once the opinions of each province are compiled, we can adjourn again to find the best strategy moving forward.”

Don’t see it as a cop-out to end this meeting. Don’t see it as a cop-out to end this meeting. This totally a cop-out.

President Vargas of the American Republic cleared his throat. The person who had introduced this bill, the person with a propensity for dragging a meeting through sleeplessness, hunger, and absolute thirst until he got his way. Kai felt everyone brace for argument, but Vargas simply commented, “That seems to be the most logical plan for the time being,” Oh, thank you, loud American man.

“I agree,” said Grand Minister Clay of Luna, always kindly looking even with the grimmest of subjects. He had been noticeably quiet this meeting; understandably, as he had held this position for less than a year and the Union were still not in the practise of including Luna in debates about Luna. “Luna only wants its citizens to interact with yours in peaceful, harmonious relations. We will do all we can from our side of the atmosphere to accommodate these adjustments in what is, as we recognise, an incendiary issue.”

A murmur of polite agreement. Good. Everyone’s happy. The end. Now. Please.

My love

Finished?

You

I wish.

Incendiary. From Jacin’s dad.

My love

adding some flavour. It makes the list.

谢谢

You

‘You’re welcome’ in Mandarin

My love

You’re too tired to type it out? You are sick

Here

不客气 

You

不客气

Thanks

My love

Have you eaten yet?

You

Yeah. I threw up ten minutes later.

My love

Get some water into you and go to bed after youre done

You

Can’t. I’ve got two more meetings

My love

No you dont. Go to bed

You

I might feel better by then

My love

Kaito

You

I’ll rest before then

Promise

———

He didn’t rest.

Kai trudged to his office, feet clawing on the carpet. His shoes were sure to be scuffed. That was all right; maybe he could throw one against his temple to knock himself out of his misery. 

The meeting had ended later than scheduled, as per usual. Then when the connections beeped out, his own staff had turned to him with ready-made speeches for the meeting after the meeting. It was terribly impolite how he’d blown them off and stumbled out to the hallway.

It was also terribly hard to care.

His hand skimmed the wall as he turned a corner. Eyes resolutely closed, he had never been so glad to live in this palace his whole life, for he knew the path just by sense. His stomach was roiling yet ravenous.

Four more steps, instinct reminded him.

Cold hands grazed a door frame. Kai fumbled, eyes still sealed, until he found the scanner and flashed his wrist, waiting for the whoosh of the sliding door.

Silence.

He flashed his wrist again.

One, two, three seconds.

Hailing a thousand planets’ worth of strength, he forced his eyes open. Kai centred his wrist where the scanner’s electronic beam should lie. Except there was none. 

“Wha—”

“It’s locked.”

He jerked and spun to the voice, surprised to be surprised to see his adviser seated in an armchair by the window. Of course—Torin had been at the Union meeting. And now he was here for the next meeting, to be held in precisely thirty-four minutes. 

“Well,” he spoke, tongue iron in his mouth. “Can…can we unlock it?”

“No.”

“…No?”

“I locked it, Your Majesty.”

Kai smacked his lips, hand still hovering beneath the scanner. It took a significantly long moment before he uttered, “...Why?”

Torin abruptly stood, brushed down his suit and approached him. His mouth was set in a fine line, eyes enigmatic black. Kai momentarily felt that he should be bowing to this man as his superior, not the other way around.

His adviser procured something from his suit pocket, folding Kai’s fingers around it. A small silver flask, cool to the touch.

Kai held it. Stared at it dumbly.

“Ahem.”

Fingers waking under the discipline, he quickly untwisted the cap and brought the flask to his nose. He gave a cautionary sniff to scan for anything deadly—coffee would surely murder him. Finding it scentless, he drank. Water. He drank, drank, drank.

Once the flask was drained, Torin pulled it back to his possession. “This way,” he said, extending a hand towards the corridor.

Kai’s budding question died as Torin began striding away. His office door sung out to him—promising escape, promising rest. 

He could cancel that meeting. He could just not show.

But it was important. It was always so important. The mere fact that his country was still his and united and free was not to be understated.

He would take what he was handed. The burden, no, the responsibility that had been bestowed.

Three corridors in, no explanation had been offered. The hope that he was being led to his quarters was quashed on the cross-path to the sixteenth floor, where Torin diverted to the left. From the corner of his periphery, Kai noticed Torin studying him with a strong expression.

Great. He’s probably here to toss me a pack of painkillers, a ‘toughen up’ pep talk and force me into the meeting early.

Rather than do any of those things, Torin proffered him a pair of sunglasses. “Shield your eyes.”

He was frighteningly prepared. Slipping them on, Kai began blinking rapidly as the hallway was sucked of light. The sting behind his irises soothed. It did help. But his brain was still bleeding out of his ears, and every step, no matter how delicate, sent a throb up his spine. “Torin, I don’t think I can—”

“Just a moment, Kai.”

Kai was gently steered into a door that he had never noticed before, despite having walked this path countless times. Once inside, and only once he processed that they’d stopped walking, he realised it was an elevator. Not like the other elevators in the palace with their polished mahogany and dragon emblems and Edo period landscapes as the wallpaper. This was a plain stainless steel. It didn’t even have an android standing by.

“This is a servant’s elevator,” Torin supplied, expecting the curiosity. “It is a more direct route to our destination. I also believed you’d find the fewer guards along this path preferable.”

Yes. The less people who saw him like this, the better.

A disorientating swoop landed in his belly as they descended five floors. Ten. Thirteen. Then, the doors whished apart—with Kai’s genuine gasp—to blue, blue skies.

The cold hit his bones like a shockwave. The sunshine hit his skin like a prayer.

They trickled out of the lift into the immaculate paradise of the Imperial Palace Gardens. The buds were in bloom, the grass wet and dewy. Birds larked happily—the sound too beautiful to be bothersome to tired ears. Kai gaped in the wonder as they walked this unknown path, ignoring the complaints from his aching temples.

When was the last time he’d been out here?

A chilly afternoon drifted before him, the last before Cinder had left for another ambassadorial stint. They’d had a picnic lunch under the willow tree on the east side of the garden. The leaves were brown and wilting. Cinder had cosied up to him to fight the crisp wind and sprinkled bark in his hair.

Winter.

He hadn’t been outside in a whole season.

“Kai,” called a calm voice. Torin was gesturing to a shady hollow amongst shrubs and trees. Slivers of sunlight flickered and shone down upon plush grass and foxglove blooms and pussy willows. In the centre of the flora was a wooden pavilion.

Torin brushed past him to set up the pillows already resting there. He patted the deck invitingly.

Kai didn’t need to be told twice. Shucking off his suit jacket and tossing it aside, he collapsed onto his back. His tendons groaned at the unforgiving mattress of wood, but Kai didn’t care. He was as content as a cooing baby in a cot.

The pavilion was small, but enough to accommodate all of Kai’s five feet and eleven inches. He gulped in the sweet scent of jasmine and breathed with the beats of the wind whistling through hollyhocks. Time passed; something vaguely prodded at him, badgering on about being back on time for his meetings.

Eh, Torin can force me back inside when he must.

At least, he assumed Torin had stayed. He was yet to hear the rustle of a wool suit and departing footsteps, though he doubted his woozy mind would notice.

Throat dry and hoarse, he tested, “How’d you know about this place?”

Birds chirped in response. Wind added its opinion. But no voice of his adviser.

He’d left.

But then, softly: “You are certainly not the first to struggle with the pressures of palace life.”

“Are you implying you’ve had moments of inability? You?” Kai laughed, rubbing his eyes. “Don’t joke, Torin.”

“I’m sure it is a great shock to you.” The response was more humoured than he’d heard in a while. The last time Torin had allowed such openness had been early in Cinder’s reign, when he’d informed her that she was not in fact bowing to the prince and princess of the United Kingdom, but the delivery florists.

(Kai didn’t think he’d laughed so hard since.)

“I am not as indestructible or unperturbed as I exert myself to appear, Kai. Nor should you have to be.”

Cracking open an eye, Kai glanced weakly at him. The perpetual frown was as present as if it were carved out of marble. Yet the slightest glimmer in his outstretched gaze warmed the stone.

“This place belonged to your father.” His voice assumed a warm, reminiscent timbre. “He and his father —your grandfather—built it together during one of Rikan’s school holidays. In later years, Rikan would come here when he required a reprieve from the necessities demanded of an emperor.”

Kai smiled at the thought of his father and grandfather together, working on a project—an idyllic image of bonding. His grandfather had died when Kai was too young to remember him, making Rikan a very young emperor. Kai had since claimed that record. His grandmother had died his last year of high school. As for his mother, her family originated from Japan and still lived there. None of them had ever been fond of his mother’s decision to marry a prince, so while his maternal grandparents sent gifts every year, they’d only promised to come visit to officially meet their granddaughter-in-law-to-be. “Why didn’t dad ever take me here?” he wondered aloud. “If he’d made it with Zǔfù…”

“Rikan was a good father. But he was also a young, troubled widower.” A sigh. “He came here to relieve those frustrations. He only ever wanted to give you the best of him; perhaps that’s why he did not bring you.”

A brown leaf blew in from the wind, a remnant from winter. Torin caught it in mid-air, crumpling it in his fist.

Kai recalled many things after his mother’s death, but the image of dad crying was obscured. The months following, Rikan had devoted himself to time with his son; outings, ice creams and bike rides, hugs and hot milk before bedtime. Kai had wondered at the time if his dad was a superhero, because he seemed to handle the pain that was suffocating Kai with such ease. Now older, a well-acquainted unwilling friend of grief, Kai guessed those tears had been shed into his mother’s pillow at night.

“He always did,” Kai confirmed, turning to his side. The breeze kissed his chin. “I wish he were here.” I wish he’d cried with me. I wish he’d let me see that it was okay.

“As do I.”

His eyes fluttered as he breathed, thinking of Cinder. More and more as he aged, he understood what his father felt when his mother died. To lose Cinder…he feared the person he would become. She was everything to him. She was everything that helped him stay him. For his father to smile and endure and lead the nation with conviction proved yet again that Rikan was a far greater man than himself.

“He was much stronger than me.”

“That is hardly true,” Torin reprimanded coldly.

A chuckle bubbled in Kai’s throat, the image of a young prince being scolded by a tall, stern-faced adviser flitting by his memories.

“Don’t laugh. Your father would not want you to believe him an infallible saint.”

“Sorry, sir.”

He exhaled loudly through his nostrils, an eye roll in Konn Torin language. “Your father struggled just as any person under such conditions would.”

“Yeah, he struggled. Me, I collapse.”

 A scoff. “Do you know what would happen when you father struggled?”

“No.”

“He would develop migraines.”

Kai froze. A pointed look was aimed his way.

“Anxiety is normal. It’s healthy, in a way. It motivates you to do things well, knowing their negative results if you do not. But worrying about the anxiety, overexerting yourself in hopes of pre-empting that anxiety…”

He didn’t need to finish. Kai knew he was doing better than the eighteen-year-old orphan who had just lost his father and inherited half the world. But vast experience two more years did not make.

“You deserve respite, Kai. Do not be ashamed to take it.” Torin hesitated, an uncommon sight. “I…I won’t always be here to tell you to take care of yourself.”

A smile curled over dry lips. “Soon I’ll have an empress to do that.”

“Indeed. Still I am certain your fiancée would not want you to be overworking yourself as you are now.”

She doesn’t.

Torin opened his hand. The leaf he had claimed was now no more than a pile of brown ashes. Closing his eyes meditatively, succumbing to the cadence of the breeze, Torin seemed to be waiting. Trees kindly lowered their branches, inviting any wandering travellers to pass through.

Torin was patient. A burst of wind whistled overhead and at its loudest, he tossed the crumbs. Each piece scattered through the current, dancing a pas de deux in the exhilaration of freedom, and then they were gone.

Torin held out his empty palm. “You should always have someone you can lean upon when you struggle, Kai. But you must learn to stand up on your own.”

Planting his hands on the deck, Kai took a breath. He heaved himself upwards.

He took Torin’s hand. 

A fatherly smile, a tired smile, in tandem.

“Thank you,” said Kai.

Torin’s wrinkles creased back into that hard-set indifference. I’m proud of you, in Konn Torin language. He patted Kai’s knee. “I have postponed your meetings for today. Your office will unlock in three hours.”

“It’ll be the end of the workday by then,” Kai contested, laying back atop the pillow.

“Oh. What a shame.”

“Sarcasm?” A yawn as the suitcoat was tucked against his chest. “Cinder’s rubbing off on you.”

“We could all use a touch of her fiery spirit now and turn.”

Maybe. But right now, Kai just wanted Cinder’s icy calmness, when she’d kiss his head and pull him in her arms. Determination and drive could wait for tomorrow.

His head throbbed a quieter drumbeat, syncopated by the footsteps that clipped away on the pebbles. Kai let his face muscles slack, his mind slip away, exhaustion excusing the lack of goodbye.

Something startled him from sleep.

He mumbled incoherently, rising on instinct and squinting at the silhouetted figure.

Torin put a hand to Kai’s chest, easing him back to the deck. “Easy there,” he soothed. He nestled something by Kai’s hip.

Blearily, Kai found the flask from before, refilled. A strip of medicine lay beside it.

“You have an appointment booked with Doctor Li at 13:00 tomorrow if you wish to attend.” A final smile. “Get some rest, Kai.”

There was the goodbye.

“Thanks Torin,” he called distantly with a slow wave, eyes drooping like sleepy autumn buds.

The sounds surrounding him were numerous and beautiful. Before he’d wished to be in the void of space for blessed silence; now he dreaded it. This lulled him like his mother’s voice and his father’s low laugh and Cinder’s humming.

He would take what he was handed. The compassion, the love, the promise of endurance.

Rest he would.

———

You

Did you sic Torin on me?

My love

Let me check the controlling every aspect of Kai’s life group chat

Nope i haven’t commed in a week

You

-_-

My love

Did he make you sleep

You

Yeah

My love

That’s great

He’s a good guy

I actually thought about comming him

But I kinda figured he’d be looking out for you anyway

You

I love you Cinder. You’re my whole world

My love

Sap

(Same)

Go to bed, handsome

You

<3

@cindersassasin @hayleblackburn @spherical-empirical @salt-warrior @just2bubbly @gingerale2017 @zephyr-thedragon @icarusignite @kaider-is-my-otp @slmkaider @luna-maximoff-22 @cosmicnovaflare @kaixiety @snozkat @mirrorballsss @skinwitch18 @vincentvangothic @bakergirl13 @zsysartsandfics

why was this so easy to write yet so difficult to edit? Also I will probably go through and fix this again because I just wanted it out of my drafts. Okay byyyeeee!

#tlc #kaider #the lunar chronicles #lunar chronicles #linh cinder #emperor kaito #prince kai #tlc fandom #lunar chronicles fanficition #kaider fanfiction #konn torin #emperor kai #yes the title is from pressure from encanto #I COULDNT THINK OF A TITLE OKAY #but i know this song is perfect for him

[ilbenmalpensanteus]

It's funny how ss fans can be wrong even when they are... right. Yes, I'm not contradicting myself.

As you all can see thanks to the pics I posted, one of them was "talking" (read: whining) about how ss has mythology references as well.

Well, I won't denying it.

Saying otherwise could be 1. false, 2. wrong, 3. hypocrite, 4. honestly against my very line of work.

However, I would like to point out something:

Ninigi has, indeed, similiarities with Sasuke, such as:

a. his "connection" with Amaterasu

b. kusanagi

c. he will marry Sakura

But. The similiarities end here.

Now, that could be hardly casual given Kishimoto's clear knowledge of mythology, history and literature; however, aside from the marriage and the sakura flower, the similiarities between Sakura and Sakuya-hime, instead, stop here.

Thinking he could have used this specific, eventual, references to mark Sasuke and Sakura's relationship as a romantic one is ontologically wrong.

Why? For the genericity of the references, obviously.

Amaterasu and Kusanagi are two milestones of Japanese mythology and one can find them in several legends, related to very different characters.

Secondly, the comparison between Sakura and Konohana Sakuya-hime isn't flattering.

She was the usual empty, batshit crazy woman who burned the hut with their children inside to prove she didn't cheat on him.

You can find it in every, single, version of the myth. The girl was not fine.

The usage of fire as well: great, really, but a fuckton of japanese deities are fire-repellent, so it's like to say... nothing spectacular?

Now, about the "sources" they shared:

Aside from the one pic with Kaguya (totally out of the blue, I would say, given I only stated sun and moon symbolism are often associated with sexual intercourses or lovers), we have:

- Sakura and Sasuke's name on the sand (probably written by Sakura, don't know why this is relevant.

- Sasuke with kusanagi (that's okay) and snakes: here the snakes are clearly the focal point. But why? Was Ninigi associated with snakes?

- The cover with Sakura wearing a sakura-flowered dress and while holding the Uchiwa fan.

The last one specifically is... interesting because: where is the deep references? The flowers? That's the girl's name. The fan? It seems more like another sign of Sakura crushing on Sasuke and writing "Sakura Uchiha" on her notebook while giggling.

So, the point is:

If you want to make an analysis you need:

1. real sources (not photos already crafted to prove your ss point) - btw, I gave actual books, but they refused to take them in consideration;

2. to use images consistently.

Here a summarised analysis:

Shinjū is a Japanese term meaning "double suicide". Lovers committing double suicide believed that they would be united again in heaven. It was also possible for lovers to commit a murder-suicide (muri-shinjū).

This is a clear example of Shinjū's reference:

Here, we have:

- the will to die together

- the hope they will meet again in the afterlife

- the "connection of hearts" (from the very term's meaning and the context)

Here the sources:

1. Becker, Buddhist Views of Suicide and Euthanasia, Philosophy East and West

2. Takahashi, Cultural dynamics and the unconscious in suicide in Japan

3. Leupp, Male Colors: The construction of homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan

4. Heldt, Between followers and friends: male homosocial desire in Heian Court Poetry

5. Saikaku Ihara, Love of Comrades

6. Saikaku Ihara, The Great Mirror of male love

7. Rogers, She loves me, she loves me not. Shinju and Shikido Okagami

8. Heine, Tragedy and Salvation in the Floating World

THIS is a sensible reference. And a very small analysis.

And a parallelism.

Bye :)

PS Tumblr fucked up the pics order (sorryyyy)

#sns #naruto analysis #anti sasusaku stans #anti sasusaku #japanese mythology #literature

[daenerysoftarth]

hey, I know this may be a stupid question to ask, but can you explain what makes the meme with "thing, japan" and "thing, china" racist? I don't know a lot about these topics, and I'm genuinely confused.

(for the record, I'm taiwanese, and we make similar jokes about our own balls-to-the-wall education system and strict parenting really often)

Idk if racist is the right word here

And for that post, it’s only understandable through a very specific American lens and context so don’t worry about being confused. We’re not talking about people actually from China or Taiwan or Japan criticizing and/or praising their own countries, but rather how westerners and American westerners specifically view Asia. As well as how the Pentagon is pushing another Cold War against China in the propaganda department, considering how sinophobia has intensified in the late 2010s/early 2020s in America. Anything which is Chinese is immediately discarded as “evil”, ie that stupid ‘China spy balloon’ hysteria which wouldn’t have occurred if it had been a Japanese weather balloon in American airspace. But the American media saw a chance for ratings, and they took it by running with the anti-China Cold War style rhetoric that’s been swirling around American culture for the last several years.

Racism is definitely a method in which the Pentagon uses to dehumanize whoever they’ve deemed our “enemies” (which is ofc based on the economic interests of the week), so as to coerce consent from the majority white American population. All of whom have been raised within the mortar shells left behind by segregation and slavery and the genocide of indigenous people, and therefore have a very warped perception about how it’s acceptable to treat people. This primes the American population for anger, which gives way to consent for war.

However. Like I said, China is a legitimate foe. Japan is not. ONE of the reasons Japan started the Second Sino-Japanese War was because in 1930 their population reached 50 million people, and Japan’s land mass can only support the food supply for up to 50 million people. And instead of being reliant on other nations, the Japanese Imperial Army decided to invade and colonize their neighbors. It worked for a minute, until America got involved. The United States had a lot more resources for weapons and machinery, while Japan was on the brink of an environmental catastrophe by the end of WW2 due to the amount of deforestation performed to provide supplies to troops. After the US committed a terrorist attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japan pulled out of the war (which btw they surrendered bc the USSR was threatening to invade not bc of the nuclear bombs), in the terms of surrender America forced Japan to dissolve the military and give up its right to fight wars. While today Japan does still have somewhat of a military, it’s obviously nothing compared to the Japanese Imperial Army at its height. Many Japanese bases also share with American military bases as well, which I imagine was originally intended to keep eyes on each other. But since WW2, japan has sought to rehabilitate its image somewhat, and has continued to intensely attempt to align itself with the West. Japan is probably now the foremost American ally in the Asia Pacific region.

China however? They do not have a lack of agricultural land, like Japan does. They are much more autonomous and less dependent on other nations and international trade in general in order to feed its population. The numbers of those in poverty has been decreasing over the past several decades. Also, they’re the most populous country in the world. You best believe that scares the shit outta Washington, knowing that each American soldier could be outnumbered by multiple Chinese soldiers. In addition to communism being a direct threat to capitalist profits, this means that Washington has set its sights on China as the next “big bad” that they wanna take down, or at least suppress Chinese culture altogether so that the American people don’t look too closely at the social support systems in China and start demanding it for ourselves. As a result, even everyday trivial things in China are demonized, as a way to dehumanize Chinese people themselves. Both for war purposes, and for propaganda.

There’s also this tendency to infantilize Japan and Japanese people that I see amongst white westerners, which is specifically linked to Japan’s specific utilization of ‘soft power’ post WW2 as a part of the larger attempt to rehab its image in the international political arena. By investing in and promoting Japanese cultural products, it shifts public memory away from war and onto art, which makes it easier to forget that Japan was a colonial empire and still denies justice to the victims of its former empire.

Hope that made sense. Thanks for the ask xoxo

#sorry this is so long #it’s just Thoughts #China #Japan #my posts #asks

[maranull]

Μodern Greek rant so here I am cause boy do I have a bone to pick with this fucking culture, country and people. This will probably out of order and with poor formatting to really give you the Greek experience™ (also because I get angry and don't want to reformat all this fucking bullshit).

Note, this is obviously a generalization, and I'm just talking about my own, PERSONAL view of this shithole. And I'm well aware people elsewhere have it worse. But I'm here, so I'll bitch about this country here.

So. Let's start with the obsession over our history.

Is it a very rich history and was it the base for what has now evolved to the concept of the Western World? Yes. Was ancient Greece also filled with rampant pedophilia, slavery, sexism and corruption? Abso-fucking-lutely. Did modern-Greeks fought tooth to nail against the Nazis and made them bleed in ways no one expected from our tiny, shitty little nation? Yes. Did also half the country sold their own families over to the Nazis for a loaf of bread during the occupation (both the Nazi one and the Ottoman before it)? Or even for not even that? Also yes.

Most will call Greece, and specifically Athens, the birthplace of democracy. BUT! It was a democracy for those that were considered citizens, aka male Athenians. Women where "encouraged" to never leave the houses/mansions. And slaves were, well, slaves. Anyway, the democracy Athens boasted about is no more, unless you can call democracy a few families running over and over for head of state and a police force that feels more and more Americanized by the year (I do not need to say that this is a bad thing, right?).

Speaking of bastards, cops seem to be one of the most well equipped forces in the public sector, along with the army (we'll get to those fuckers later). Here are some posts (1) (2) (3) that I made during fire season (I was foaming from the mouth when I made those, hence the language and caps). Take note how in the 1st one, it's a motherfucking cop that is pissing on the fire (also remember his division, ΔΙ.ΑΣ, it will be relevant later). On the 2nd one you can see where the money is actually going during fire season. And I linked the 3rd one to see the hellscape that was the 2021 fires. Btw, this year, we got about 5000 or so (I can't recall the exact number) priests being hired in the public sector, comparative to only around 500 hired in the special forces of the firefighters. Also during the first quarantines, a ton of firefighters were laid down, allegedly for refusing to wear masks. Which would make sense, only by 2021 the whole force was and is understaffed and then we got one of the worse Attica fires to date (2021). "But Mara, they had a reason to fire them!" Yeah, I agree. What I don't agree with is that they never fucking hired or trained replacements, while they kept hiring more and more and more and more cops.

There are constant, and I mean all day —can't tell about the night, I don't live near— anti-riot units in the center of Athens.

A cop shot and killed a teen in 2008. And for all the shit I give Greeks, they are insanely protective of their kids and close friends so the 2008 riots (Wikipedia article here) lit the city on fire. The killer was convicted in 2010 and he walked fucking FREE in 2019. I can promise you that if the riots didn't happen, he would still be "serving" as a cop.

In terms of LGBTQ treatment from the police, here's the Wikipedia article for Zak's murder. And another post of mine doing a partial translation of an interview from a Greek trans woman. That should tell you everything about the LGBTQ-cops relationship.

Oh btw, remember that ΔΙ.ΑΣ unit? About a month ago they were accused of raping a woman inside their fucking department in Omonoia (<- Athens' center). And they generally have a reputation of violence almost equal to the riot unit. I always get the urge to spit when seeing them.

So, now that we've covered politics and cops, let's go to those who enable them, the people.

Biggest characteristic, their passion about their history (minus the bad, of course). So passionate in fact, that the modern Greek seems to forget that modern Greece is younger that the freaking US. Greece got it's independence from the Turks/Ottomans at 1821. We were under the Byzantines before them, which while they were culturally Greek, the rule was a remnant of the Roman Empire, which we were also under before the change (mainly in name) to the Byzantine Empire.

What I'm getting at is that the modern Greek is mainly proud about achievements that happened literally thousands of years ago. And even if you count the Byzantine Empire as Greek (it's too complicated for my non-historian ass to actually explain), the Ottomans tried their absolute best to "cleanse" and integrate Greeks into Turkish customs. And you know, they almost did manage that. A ton of what you'll hear are traditional Greek dishes and sweets have their bases in Ottoman cuisine. "Greek coffee" is literally the coffee Ottomans brought during the occupation. MY POINT! IS! That modern Greeks are so far evolved/disconnected from our ancestors that using them as their whole personality is insane, stupid and gives of "superior race" vibes.

And so. with being a proud Greek, comes the racism. At work, I might be able to sneak in a black or middle eastern person on the side of the posters/ads. If I put an Asian, the phone will ring the moment they see it and I will be commanded to remove them from the image.

Like, even if being a casually racist fuck wasn't bad, Greeks are one of the biggest migrant peoples in the fucking west. How in the shit have you returned from England, Romania, Italy, France and most of Europe and USA and still be a racist bastard?

Racism and being way to proud of ancestry aside, let's go to religion!

Greece is heavily Orthodox. Most will attempt to say that religion is not tied to the state and that the Orthodox Church is just one of many. Yeah, fuck no, it isn't. Religion and education are bunched in the same ministry (Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs) and I don't think I need to say how not "not tied to the state" that is, right? Anyhow, the Church did give shelter to the rebels during the 1821 rebellion (against the Ottomans) and now they still rub it in the face of the public during speeches. Like, "Remember, you own us your freedom, now hire us with taxpayers' money and also except us from taxes, thanks xoxo." and then driving off in their BMWs.

The Church having such a hold on the country is also one of the reasons why it's such a slog to have any sort of progress. The people listen to the Church first, the government second.

Sexism, racism, homophobia, patriarchy, toxic masculinity and anti-scientific rhetorics thrive here because that's what the Church preaches. And has preached for as long as it has had power.

I was the first generation that was able to be excused from "religious studies" (aka Orthodox brainwashing) and I was the only kid that its parents asked to be removed. Not in my year, but in the whole school (primary education is 6 years here). As 6-12 year olds we were dragged to attend service every fucking week. Literal country-wide brainwashing.

The day I'm writing this part is 17/11, the day when the 1967-1974 Junta assaulted Polytechnic and we are expecting a march. So, speaking of marches, riots and people trying to have a say in their country, let me point you at the 2015 Greek bailout referendum.

A country wide vote to for the people to decide if we should accept the bailout conditions concerning the debt crisis. I was barely 19, depressed and understood very little about politics, but what was clear is that this was (supposed) to be a decision taken by the people, not the politicians. I voted No (weather I was right to do so or not is irrelevant), along with 61.31% of the voting population.

Take a wild guess what the government did. That's right, agreed with the bailout conditions. What? You thought they'd listen to a clear, legal vote from the people? Nope. At least they resigned after, only the agreement had already been sealed.

~

And you know, I do love this country. I love that you can find ruins in almost every corner. I love the little villages in the mountains. I love that white, sun bleached rock that's characteristic of our islands. I love the myths. I love how I can just walk to the source of the river Styx, how I can climb to the top of the actual Mount Olympus, see and walk on top of Zeus throne (and have done so a couple times <- this is a public flex and i deserve it). I love how the air feels in the mountains and the soil that has been cultivated for thousands of years. I love the rivers and their thin, small canyons. I love the wild, fierce wind of the islands.

~

I genuinely love this land, and I hate the country.

#greece #also #personal #<- if that's your blocked tag of choice for these rants

[queermediastudies]

Intro Post

Hello everybody! I'm so glad to meet all of you. My official name is Shenyu Zhang (he/him), but you can call me Miles and I would prefer that. I'm a COMM senior from China (ICB program more specifically; Selene posted some information about it). I also minor in Philosophy and International Studies.

The first reason for me to take this course is that this is an Exit Course for my major. And more importantly, I believe Queer theory and Queer media studies can bring me a more inclusive and diverse understanding and enrich my communication knowledge. After I graduate, I want to go to a graduate school in the direction of media and cultural study, so I believe this course can also contribute to my future study.

Outside of class, I usually watch movies and TV shows and read some books. I recently finished reading Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari (a professor in History from Israel and also a gay member). He basically reviews the history and discusses how technology like AI will impact the future of human beings (sorry that my English ability doesn't allow me to introduce it very well; anyway, highly recommended). And I also recommend a movie named The Wedding Banquet (1993) directed by Ang Lee, who is also the director of Brokeback Mountain (2005). The Wedding Banquet tells the story of Wai-Tung Gao, a gay man living in the United States, who marries Wei-Wei Gu, an illegal immigrant, in a fake marriage to ease his parents who urged him to get married. You can know some of the conditions of the Chinese LGBT through this movie. Btw, Ang Lee's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) is also a good movie (my aunt cried when she was watching it).

Hope to have a wonderful learning experience with you all.

[bloededhoine]

world building cause twn doesn't part 4: elves!

everyone loves elves! they're a fantasy genre mainstay, archery is so sexy, and they have those E A R S. plus, they play a pretty important part in the witcher universe!

series masterpost

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

background

i'd recommend going through the last parts, or at least the tl;dr's first

elves arrived on the continent about 2000 years before humans, and are divided into 5 distinct cultures of varying importance: aen undod, aen elle, aen seidhe, black seidhe, and aen woedde

elves only came to the continent in one group, but not all of that group stayed. the different branches based on where they settled make up the different cultures

the main two languages in the witcher are common speech and elder speech (aka hen llinge), the former used by most humans and the latter used by the elder races

aen undod

the aen undod are the oldest elven culture, having existed years before the conjunction of spheres

their home world faced some huge catastrophe, so the aen undod left in search of new worlds, leaving their descendants to become all the future elven cultures.

the aen undod spoke the oldest dialect of elder speech, laith aen undod, or one speech

aen elle

the aen elle use a language derived from hen llinge called ellylon, in which their name means "of the alders"

they don't actually live on the continent, having abandoned it years ago for their own world.

however, when the aen elle arrived in this new world, it was already populated by humans and unicorns. unfortunately, these elves are notoriously ruthless and both the native species were eradicated.

the capital of the aen elle world is tir ná lia, and is described as stunningly beautiful, featuring open air buildings made of marble, alabaster, and malachite. here it is in the third witcher video game, by djkovrik on nexus. their screenshots are amazing btw.

[ID: screenshot from wild hunt showing tir ná lia. the city is built on cliffs above a sea, there are waterfalls falling from the cliffs and bridges connecting them. there are mountains in the background and the buildings are fairly small and out of focus, they seem to be in the gothic revival style with ornate windows and steeped roofs. end ID]

the ruler of the aen elle was auberon muircetach, king of the alders and aen saevherne (aen saevherne is the honorary title of an elven mage who has extensive knowledge of magic, geneology, history, and many other subjects). auberon was also ciri's 5 times great grandfather. this gwent card pretty much sums up his vibe: scary yet sexy.

[ID: illustration of elven man with long white hair on a brown horse. he has defined cheekbones and facial features and is wearing a gold crown and blue robes with a red sash, gold belt, and leather boots. he is holding a white unicorn head in one hand. the unicorn's horn is cut off, and is bloody around its neck and where its horn was. end ID]

auberon's consort was another aen elle named shiadhal, with whom he had one daughter, lara dorren. lara is so so so important for the witcher, as she is the beginning of the elder blood, or hen ichaer.

hen ichaer is a gene that carries incredibly powerful magic, and those who have it are usually sources. i talk more abt this in part 3.

for better or for worse, lara dorren fell in love with a human sorcerer, cregennan of lod, and left tir ná lia for him. auberon took this as cregennan "stealing" his daughter and therefore the hen ichaer, and developed a pretty hefty vengeance and dedication to "take back" what was his (yikes).

this also set a precedent of people "claiming" the lives of carriers of the hen ichaer

auberon also formed an elven cavalry known as the red riders or wild hunt (dearg ruadhri in ellylon) and he appointed eredin bréacc glas as their commander. the initial purpose of the wild hunt was to travel to different worlds and capture slaves for tir ná lia, although they later became auberon's tool to find and exploit carriers of hen ichaer.

the wild hunt also uses specially trained mages known as navigators to open portals to other worlds, the most notable of these navigators is caranthir ar-feiniel, who doubled as one of eredin's most trusted men.

the aen elle also live a pretty long time, average is around 650 years, so the timelines are kinda hard to keep track of.

notable aen elle include: auberon muircetach, shiadhal, lara dorren, eredin breácc glas, crevan espane aep caomhan macha (aka avallac'h, also an aen saevherne and lara dorren's ex), caranthir ar-feiniel (also avallac'h's foster son), ge'els (the viceroy of tir ná lia), and imlerith (general of the wild hunt)

aen seidhe

put simply, the aen seidhe are the elves that did not leave when the aen elle did

the aen seidhe don't really have a society like the aen elle, they're pretty dispersed across the world. but, there are certain areas the aen seidhe have claimed as their own.

one of these little civilizations is dol blathanna, also known as the valley of flowers. unfortunately, it's not an independent state, as it was conquered by aedirn in the 1150s. however, then-king baldwin thyssen did allow the elves to retain a lot of their cultural identity and live in peace.

dol blathanna includes the village posada and the capital silver towers, which is where filavandrel aén findháil is from. he's that sexy man right there

[ID: photo of white elf man with blonde hair going to his shoulders. he is wearing tattered green robes and is looking slightly to the side with his lips pursed. end ID]

not that anyone cares, but here's him in the hexer. it's not important to the lore or twn it's just fuckin funny

[ID: old man with white frizzy wig. he is wearing a headband that appears to be rocks on a string. he has what looks like a potato sack tied around his shoulders over a green tunic. he is scowling. end ID]

outside of dol blathanna, there aren't really any places where elves can live with minimal human interaction, although the blue mountains are home to a few incredibly powerful elves

side note: dol blathanna is technically part of the blue mountains, but is in the far southern foothills so they're usually treated as separate entities.

the blue mountains are also a natural border dividing the northern kingdoms from the far east, and where filavandrel went to live after he got fed up with dol blathanna.

they're also the home of ida emean aep sivney, who's also an aen saevherne and future member of the lodge of sorceresses.

next season, we're going to meet the beautiful elven sorceress francesca findabair, also known as enid an gleanna (hen llinge for daisy of the valley)

here she is with fringilla vigo (nilfgaardian sorceress) in twn season 2. note that enid is preggers! that's very odd and i will go into detail on it later

[ID: photo of two women walking side by side. the one on the left is black and has black hair in braids going over one shoulder. she is wearing a silver dress with a similarly coloured floor length coat. the one on the right is biracial and has strawberry blonde hair in a braided updo. she is wearing a floor length blue gown with gold embroidery and a metallic brown cloak. she is pregnant. end ID]

enid is crazy interesting and important for the story of the witcher (and confirmed for season two!), so i won't go too in depth about her now

as i mentioned in part 2, nilfgaard tends to favour elves, leading to a lot of militaristic forces allied with nilfgaard. most notably, the scoia'tael, or squirrels. the scoia'tael are an incredibly ruthless and effective nonhuman guerilla force, generally divided into commandos, units that patrol a given area and eliminate the northern (or simply human) threat.

there are a lot of scoia'tael, so i'll just give you the commanders for now: angus bri cri, coinneach dá reo, iorveth, isengrim faoiltiarna, riordain, and toruviel.

you might remember toruviel as this sexy angry lady from twn, and she is possibly going to get a much bigger role later... pay attention to toruviel.

[ID: young elf woman with white skin and red hair tied over her shoulder. she has a bloody nose and is wearing a light green top with a dark brown leather studded belt. her belt is also around an olive green coat. she looks quite angry. end ID]

the scoia'tael were very well organized, but also quite dispersed, so when nilfgaard needed more specific tasks done, they would assemble specific military units (usually led by some of our favourite squirrels)

the vrihedd brigade was the most important of these units. they were especially notorious for their cruelty in the second northern war, so i'm sure we'll meet at least a few members next season.

their leader was colonel isengrim faoiltiarna (aka the iron wolf), and his officers coinneach, iorveth, riordain, and angus.

francesca findabair is not directly involved with either the scoia'tael or the vrihedd brigade, but she does work quite closely with them very often.

also important to note that not all scoia'tael are aen seidhe elves, most (including all higher ranking commanders and officers) are, but there are a number of nonhumans including dwarves and halflings.

unfortunately, the aen seidhe are slowly going extinct, both from years of genocide from humans and their slow reproductive cycles (elves live a Long time, but can only have children towards the beginning of their lives)

that's why it's so surprising to me that enid is preggers! we don't exactly know her age, but by my calculations she was over 150 in twn (pretty far past the age elves can have children).

because of this, elves are pretty divided between fighting against human rule and seeking coexistence. there are arguments for both camps, mainly that humans are colonizers and should not be trusted for the former, and that elves are dying out already and need to live with humans to survive for the latter.

the most prominent stand for the fight was in the 1060s when an aen seidhe named aelireen led an uprising against humans. most of the elders told her that it wouldn't end well, but she didn't listen and led hundreds of young elves into battle. it was an utter massacre, and basically all elves who could have children died.

yikes

unfortunately, the movement for coexistence was just as unsuccessful. it was led by our man cregennan of lod, lara dorren's husband. the poor simp just wanted to live in peace with his wife, but a lot of humans thought he was a traitor because he married an elf, and he and lara were murdered in 1137 in redania.

the last real push for independence was with the formation of the scoia'tael in the 1260s. I say 1260s because the very beginnings of the scoia'tael were right around 1262-1236 (the start of ciri's timeline) but they became majorly important around 1267. although, even the scoia'tael realized they needed humans to survive and began working with nilfgaard.

however, some scoia'tael are less keen on being nilfgaard's attack dogs, leading to further division amongst the aen seidhe.

black seidhe

remember the elves i talked about in part 2 as being the ancestors of the albans? this is them!

the black seidhe are native to the south, more particularly the valley around the alba river. they are practically extinct, but the nilfgaardians carry a lot of their cultural identity in the nilfgaardian language, a variation of hen llinge.

aen woedde

the wood elves, or aen woedde, is the elven culture we know the least about, they primarily live in the areas around nilfgaardian forests and speak hen llinge.

the only notable wood elf is aenyeweddien, or iskra, a member of the rats, a gang of semi violent youths in the northern realms. we'll learn more about the rats in future seasons.

tl;dr: elves, especially the aen seidhe and aen elle cultures, make up a large part of witcher lore. they are most notable for their long lifespans, magical and historical knowledge, and militaristic alliances with nilfgaard.

#the witcher #the witcher netflix #aen seidhe #aen elle #witcher lore #twn #geralt x jaskier x yennefer #geraskefer #geralt #geralt of rivia #yennefer #yennefer of vengerberg #geraskier #geralt x jaskier #the witcher three #tw3 #wild hunt #isengrim #iorveth #scoia'tael #mine #lore tag #gen tag #haven't got a fucking queue

[laissez-fire-oh]

Aww 3?? I'm glad I said 3-4 lol. first thought was 4 but maybe that included your key? :') then saw a hand with three fingers.. anyway I would love to ask for a past life reading, please. Thank you so much, have a great day, E! ✨❤

Hi! Yep congrats! In the rules I stated that you could have mistaken by one unit as well, so it would have been fine either way. I have 4 keys btw ;)

Anyway, seeing that you don't have specific questions, I'll try to go blind and start from goodies. I never did so, so we'll find out how it is.

I think you may have had many past lives. In one, you might have been from South America (you may have had a tanned skin and dark slightly curly hair and eyes) and someone rich (maybe someone even from a royal family) from probably Europe or Asia took you in their homeland. They found you beautiful, but probably it didn't work out as they wished it to. You were ofc scared, felt persecuted and shy, tried to rebel to them but couldn't really change much of your situation. You weren't really able to talk their languages so you only could find your new life boring and feel kinda sad about it, missing your homeland and your old life. Someone may have given you some kind of work, probably in the royal palace, as a servant. I see you wearing modest clothes, and sitting waiting for orders, while grumbling, your head on your hand.

Take care!<33

#vmp3 #pastlivesgame

[evilelitest2]

Okay I'm going to be very careful with my words but I wanted to get a second opinion on this. We know besides the establishment being cowards and backing Biden he never would've gotten this far without older blacks. Do you think it was a bad call and against their best interests to vote for him despite his record showing he uh doesn't have the best track record on race? This is not me blaming anyone by the way.

Ok, this is complicated, an`d i’m seeing this talked about a lot, the African American vote.  some caveats because this is a really complicated subject

1) The african American vote is not universal.  Like the white vote, it is divided based on age, location (there is a big distincition in southern vs. northern vs. Western black voters), religion, income and class.  There isn’t a universal way to understand the african American vote, so eveyrthing I am going to say are generalizations and anyone reading this should be careful to fall into generalizations.  There are many african Americans who voted for Biden btw.  

2) Voters make their choice for a variety of reasons, some of which I am not getting into, and it doesn’t always affect their ideology.

I also want to make clear that I am talking about black voters who ideologically might actually like sanders platform more than Bidens, there are also many african americans who just are conservative (like whtie conservatives).  

Ok so something that people need to understand about the African American community, espicially in the south is this.  Since the Republican party is so defined by white Nationalsim, blacks are among the worse hit by any republican administraiton, this has always been the case.   like Trumps administration has hurt me personally in a few ways, but no where near as much as it is hurting racial minorities in the United States.  So a lot of African Americans tend to focus on “harm reduction”  when voting since they are the ones who get harmed.  

tied to this is the place of hte Democratic Party in black culture, where it is one of the fundemental pillars.  Espicially in the south, where the democratic party is sort of the one major national instiution actively trying to protect black Americans.  Like try to imagine the sheer level of shit that the Black Community in Missisopi or Alabama has to endure, being trapped in some of the most conservative red states.  So loyality to the democratic party is as fundemental in the black community as the Republicans party is to the eventalist community.  

Its also important to understand that as a rule, african Americans are the best voters in the country.  not just in the sense that they always go out to vote in every eleciton, its also that they tend to organize, voluenteer, give money, and raise awareness.  This is partly due to the very well established community focus of black culture, but its also because they know full well what happens if a Republican wins.    a good example of this was Doug Jones 2018 shocking victory in Alabama, which was only possible thanks to massive black voter turn out.  

The only other voting community as good as the African American in terms of being voters are the Evengelical Christian community, who are like their evil fundementalist twin.  But that is a story for another time.  

But you know how despite Trump clearly being an atheist, the religious right supports him because he gives them what they want, and Mike pence serves as their surrogate.  That is very similar to Biden with Obama as the surrogate, except that what the black community wants are objectively good things and not crypto fascism.  

Because of how good the black community is about getting the vote (espicially older black women) the democratic party relies primarilty on black voters.  And in the last 30 years, the black community has been extremely successful at steadily taking over the democratic party, and forcing it to address their issues.  Which is why Joe Biden in 1980 is playing nice with segergationists and Joe Biden in the 2020 is running on a platform of racial justice.  Because now the democratic party needs the african Americans to survive, they are moving steadily to the left on those issues.   If the progressive movement wants to really be successful, we really should copy their example, because that the political leaders of community knows exactly what needs to be done to acheive tangible results.   Ideally by turning many African Americans into progressives, but that would require the progressive movement to purge itself of its nastier elements (Chapo House) 

See the progressive wing of the party has a long history of valuing rhetoric over the pratical, and this alienates them to a lot of black voters who are desperately afriad for themselves and their families.  

and that is why they supported Joe Biden, because while many of them don’t actually like him and aren’t happy about his legacy on race, the fact is they know that he needed them to win.  And thus as a reward for supporting him, he will give them what they want (again just like the evengelical community for trump but not evil).  

specifically, they want the following 

A) A democratic Supreme Court.  The greatest blow to the Black community in the last 20 years (except Trumps election) was SCOTUS overturning the 1965 Voter’s Right act, which has been devestating to black voting power, espicially in in the south 

B) A national law to push back against voter repression 

C) Federal support for Black lives Matter

D) The Federal goverment to really crack down on the Alt Right and White Nationalism.  

E) Pushing to end the wealth gap between the black and white community (which shrank dramatically under obama).

And most importantly, get trump and his white nationalist supporters out of office.  

There are other policies obviously, but for many prominent african American leaders, Biden is a major way to acheive those ends and so they support him.  And biden frankly is likely to deliver, between his 8 years working with Obama and his reliance on the black community in 2020, many African Americans feel like he is somebody who is going to listen to them and take them seriously.  

So I don’t really feel comfortable saying that they are voting against their own best interest, instead they have a different set of “best interests” than what leftist usually consider.   There is more at play than a strictly materalist understanding of politics.  

#ask EvilElitest #joe biden #African American community

[antistudyblr]

hello! so, columbia is my dream school, but, anyways, that's not what this is about. i'm going to year 8 now! a baby, yes. practically a new-born. so, i don't live in the united states, britain, australia... not in an english speaking country, that is. the deal is we don't get many education opportunities and i really wanted to pursue an academic field! i really want to be an english professor :') the dream. but, well, i want to ask 2 questions: what should i do with all this time?+

(2/2) +(that's the baby again) and i also wanted to say: we don't have any ap classes here, so i guess my app will be a little less competitive, which... yeah. also, the other question is: all the international success stories i come across end up involving maths olympics and all that jazz... from your experience, do you think that's necessary? btw, i love your blog! 

Thank you so much for the kind words! According to my Googling, year 8 puts you at about 13 (if I’m wrong please let me know, I’m a dumb American). That means you’ve got a ton of time before you make any big decisions or have to even put in any applications so to be honest, I wouldn’t really worry about that. I’ve heard all kinds of international success stories at Columbia, so I’d say the biggest thing is just to keep challenging yourself academically however you can and engage with the things you love however you can. Maybe you can’t take AP classes and that’s fine; are there other advanced classes offered by your school? Take advantage of other extracurriculars that will enrich you intellectually if your school offers them and see what the internet has to offer if they don’t. Do you like to write? See if there are essay contests you can enter or places you can submit short stories (some will let you do it for free too). Listen to podcasts about the things you’re interested in. Make your own podcast telling a story that interests you, explaining something you love, or exploring your community. Keep a blog of book reviews (also a great way to see your writing grow over time). This is such a time of learning and growth and you can take advantage by exploring your interests as much as you can.

As for wanting to be an English professor, that’s an awesome goal but also can be tricky especially if you’re looking to get your Ph.D. in the US (even then, there’s no guarantee, but you probably know that.) Being a scholar is my goal as well and I’d say the biggest thing you can do right now is read, read, read. 

Yes, read books (they can be from the Western “canon” or not, as long as you’re reading!) More importantly, see if your school or library has access to databases like JSTOR or Project Muse and read scholarship on subjects that interest you. Some of it can be tricky to understand, full of weird jargon and otherwise inaccessible but it gives you an interesting look at what scholarship actually requires and also might help you out with a paper or two along the way. Don’t pay your own money for this stuff because it’s really expensive; talk to your school and library and if that doesn’t work, consider reaching out to the writer themselves if there’s a specific paper you want to read—oftentimes they’ll help you figure something out if you’re polite and they have the time. There are also Facebook groups dedicated to open access that can be helpful. And if its too confusing now, bookmark it for later and see what happens when you’ve got a bit more knowledge under your belt.

Follow people in fields you’re interested in on social media if that’s something you have access to and choose to engage in. Twitter is great for this but can be overwhelming. At some point, you should probably read the scary stories about the future of the humanities, grad student’s struggles with mental health and how hard it is to become a tenured professor so you go in with open eyes. But, don’t forget to read about the positives of going to grad school and studying what you love at the same time. Just keep reading, learning, and loving what you do! 

I wish you the best of luck; feel free to reach out with any additional questions!

#isabel says things #isabel gives advice #preparing for college #english professors #academia #scholarship #college studyblr #studyblr #ask answered #anonymous #getting an early start but also make sure to have fun! you're only a kid once #Anonymous

[tmitransitioning]

hi! so im considering metoidioplasty in the future, but all of the results for cost that i've tried to look up have been inconclusive because there's apparently different things that you can have done and I'm also unsure about insurance potentially covering it? what are all of the things that you can have done with metoidioplasty and does insurance potentially cover it? (i live in the united states btw)

The different things that you can have done with metoidioplasty, as far as I know, are a “simple” release, where a couple of ligaments are cut so that the phallus projects more forward, the addition of fat to the phallus so it’s thicker, lengthening and rerouting the urethra through the phallus so you can pee out of it, metoidioplasty and scrotoplasty where the labia are formed into a scrotum (complete with testicular implants), and metoidioplasty and vaginectomy where the vaginal canal is shut, and any combination thereof.

Insurance in the United States is so gd weird that I wouldn’t be able to answer that question. It depends on the specific insurance you have and the specific surgeon you go to - not all surgeons take all insurances (or any at all) and not all insurances cover the same things. It’s also hard to assess final cost because you have to factor in the things that you will definitely have to cover out of pocket - you’ll need somewhere to stay while you recover, unless you’re lucky enough to live within driving distance of your surgeon, and all the associated costs of living.

- Mod Rabbit

#genitals #surgery #mod rabbit #Anonymous

[artsyeti]

Hi, I hope you don't mind me asking this, but I'm curious. I'm an australian studying a course on race and ethnicity for my assignment i was considering doing multiculturalism in aus. I feel that for most of my life people have DRILLED into me that Aus is a successful multicultural nation with everyone mingling together in harmony etc etc. However, some people i talk to including think this is not the case at all - that we're actually a little racist. Im really interested to know ur thoughts?

FUCK OKAY SORRY I TRIED SO HARD TO EDIT THIS LIKE 9 TIMES BUT IT’S JUST A BUNCH OF WORDY VOMIT SORRY !!

I don’t mind at all, I’m honored you’d even be bothered to hear my dumb opinions !

Personally I feel like Australia is FAR ahead of other countries when it comes to the legal aspects of racism within the country, and similarily progressive when it comes to educating primary and highschool students on other cultures. but socially we have a LITTLE bit more to go, and i think we’ll get there in about 20 years when the older generation…. dies off lol… If you take a little look into our laws, you’ll find a LOT of things to protect minority (and specifically Indigenous rights), one of the most controversial being section 18c of the Racial Discrimination Act which essentially condemns hate speech to a HELLA strong degree (like…. a little too strong if you ask me, like it literally says it’s illegal to say things that could ‘offend’ but moVING ON).We have a lot of publicised fear of ‘boat people’ but I genuinely do not believe that this countries fear of immigrants is intrinsically tied to a fear of POC like it *appears* to be in other countries. (Obviously, I am an Australian citizen and don’t know the inner-workings of anywhere but Australia - if that - those countries could be racism free.) A lot of the language politicians and news outlets use to describe immigrants are NOT race specific or racially coded, I’ve found. We have a bit of a fear of muslims, but I think this is more central to the religion (and ofc, brought on by a fear of terrorists) than is tied to the race, so I wouldn’t exactly put it as racist? more… prejudice? I’m arabic, not muslim, and people usually find out these facts together so aside from my friends purposefully racist jokes I don’t hear much about islam from people.(Also yeah, maybe thats worth mentioning, AUSSIES HAVE A REALLY DARK SENSE OF HUMOUR and if you’re a minority coming from other western countries, you might think the jokes are racist but they never intend to be. And when youre raised here, you don’t take it that way, you usually make the jokes more than your friends. One of my mates is just a whole mix of different darker skinned races??? literally i don’t even know what exactly, but every time he see’s a POC on tv he goes ‘thaTS ME’ for some fucking reason, its so dumb but it makes us laugh.)

I’m not sure about you, but I know in my childhood I was taught that the colonisation of Australia was a violent and kind of disgusting event in our history. To me, this seems like a given, but from what I’ve read not every country condemns colonisation like that, and I think and important part of ensuring children don’t develop racist tendencies from their parents is teaching them history from a critical standpoint (this way we don’t get any of that ‘Make Australia Great Again’ garbage). From a VERY young age I was well educated on the culture and history of Indigenous Australians (I can literally still quote to you the Mabo Case) and it was treated with the same amount of respect that, say, Catholic studies were. This might vary across state lines though. I spent my primary school years in FAR North Queensland (Townsville and above) where there is a much larger % of Indigenous students than say Ipswich. Something about focusing on ensuring there is no racial tension between white and indigenous students, kind of limited all kinds of racial tension. I’m half afro-arab, half white, and I never felt subjected to racism or bullying from the other kids at all. The most annoying thing I had to deal with is people fucking touching my hair and telling me to ‘brush it’… but that’s not really a racism thing because the filo kids did it just as much as everyone else ksjsks. When I got into highschool I moved to a rural school (it was like 85% white which was SOOOOO weird, and i think contributed to me experiencing the racism i did). Racism in students was rare, and the racists were bullied for their beliefs, ostrazised even. Instead of the other way around. The biggest issue in children, I think is when poorer kids see the sheer amount of benefits AUS provides to indigenous students. The biggest issues in adults is when they see Australia letting overseas chinese billionaires buying up land to rent out here. Either way, I think ‘racists’ blame the government, not the people more than anything.

Now, I’m in university (Studing law and psychology which btw both have EXTENSIVE units on race and racial discrimination, literally everything here does). I live in Brisbane, I walk past signs in chinese, arabic and korean every day. Some specific areas don’t even have english-speaking shop workers and no one bats an eye. The university lecturer’s read of a spiel about honoring the traditional owners of the land (they did that in my senior year of highschool too btw) BASICALLY, yeah in Brisbane it’s incredibly multi-cultural, and the government doesn’t really care if you like that or not. And i think that’s the best way to sum up australia’s multi-culturalism. It’s forced upon the older generation, but embraced by the younger. The most ‘racist’ of the new generation see themselves as victims and are usually poor or homeschooled or something, but they’re honestly REALLY rare, in my experience. 

ALSO lol in this whole spiel I kept refering to australia’s history as ‘my history’ in my head. But lmao,,, i’m first generation Australian, the white half of me is Irish for gods sakes BUT I have never doubted my identity as an Australian first and foremost before anything else and neither has anyone else. A huge difference between AUS and like the US is that. American people tend to hyphenate, yknow? african-american. asian-american. that doesn’t happen in australia, were just AUSSIE, and to me that means we’re doing something right in terms of multi-culturalism.

WOW WOW THIS WAS SO LONG SORRY I DIDN’T MEAN TO WRITE THAT MUCH I’M SO PATRIOTIC SORRY

#australia #racism #multi culturalism #anon #Anonymous #fuck im so #patriotic #woops #iM SORRY #I TRIED TO BE UNBIASED #I LOVE MY COUNTRY #we're a little racist #we are #but NOT FOR LONG AYE

[ruffoverthinksthings]

I'm dying to know about the interactions between Claudine and Phoebus. Knowing them, I feel that it would be a mixture of hilarious hashing about life and routine vs. a hit-and-miss about the best courses of action regarding the VKs. After what Claudine's gone through, how would Phoebus' humor be effective? Especially with Claudine. Btw, you're awesome, keep on turning out the headcanons. You're doing better than the actual canon material.

God Help The Outcasts (Part 3): The Traitor

Warning: Referencesto Past Sexual Abuse.

Claudine’s bigpublic outburst obviously had massive consequences, reaching far pasther getting dragged off-stage, the sanctions on her permanent recordand her probation in Auradon, and extra Remedial Goodness classeswith Quasimodo.

On a larger scale,it opens up a massive rift in the public, split between those thatsay she was completely out of line for exploding like that and usingso much profanity and rudeness (in front of children, no less), andthose that believe she was completely justified, as they had beenusing the “proper channels” to communicate with the governmentand had either gotten apologies before being ignored, or wereoutright oppressed as with the case of the Magic Ban.

In the words of oneof Claudine’s sympathizers, “She was just making sure youcould hear her now!”

Either way, she’scharged with disruption of the peace, obscenity, and corruption ofminors.

Because of thespecial and highly politically charged nature of a VK being taken infor a crime/s,* she gets sent to a very high ranking member of theRoyal Guard who has experience handling “crossing a minefield,whilst blindfolded, dizzy, and drunk” cases:

Captain Phoebus ofFrance.

For logistical andconvenience reasons, he flies in all the way to Auradon Prep, wherethey meet at the interrogation room of a local garrison. The air ismusty, the furniture old and long unused, and the whole place wasobviously just cleaned since its last use a couple of months to ayear back.

Claudine is escortedin without handcuffs, and at Phoebus request, her guards aredismissed, leaving the two of them alone but for the camera, and thestenographer and emergency guards watching behind a one-way glass.

“Do you know whyyou’re here?” Phoebus asks, his expression and tone completelyserious.

“Because I calledout your whole society on their bullshit?” Claudine replies.

“No, you’re herebecause of your fashion choices: it’s illegal to show thatmuch skin. Do you realize how many pedestrian and vehicularaccidents you could have caused just by walking by?”

Claudine blinks.“What.”

Phoebus smiles.“That was a joke. In all seriousness, though, you are in bigtrouble for that tirade you had yesterday—excellent choice ofwords, by the way, never heard those specific combinations of cursesand insults before, they made quite the impact.”

“You learn a loton the Isle,” Claudine replies flatly. “And I’m not apologizingfor it, if that’s what you’re getting at! Throw me back on theIsle for all I care, I’d rather be back there eating garbage, thanbe a bunch of fucking Pharisees like majority of the ‘Good’people running around here!”

“I expected asmuch, which is why I’m here to offer you a deal.”

Claudine sighs, andstarts unbuttoning her shirt even more than it already is. “So longas I don’t have to swallow, pretend you’re amazing, or fake anorgasm…”

Phoebus looks awayand shields his eyes. “Not that kind of deal! Please, buttonyour shirt back up.”

Claudine laughs.“Why? Afraid your wife will find out her tits have gotten too oldfor you?”

“No, because one,I respect you too much to let you degrade yourself like this, two, Ilike being the guy that puts people into jail, not being the guybehind bars, and three, my wife’s breasts are perfect, andI’ll never want for anything more than what she has, thank you verymuch!

“Now would youplease make yourself decent again…?”

Claudine sighsheavily. “Alright…”

A few moments ofsilence and shuffling.

“You’re stilltopless, aren’t you?”

Claudine smirks.“How’d you know?”

“I’ve got asixth sense for whether or not a woman is in a state of undress;blame a wife who likes to lounge around the house completely naked.”

“You luckybastard, you,” Claudine says flatly.

Phoebus smiles. “Iknow, I still can’t believe it myself! Anyway, about that deal Imentioned, one that does not in fact involve you getting naked nor usdoing the do-diddly-dangeroo…”

Claudine sniggered.“That is the dumbest fucking innuendo for ‘fucking’ I have everheard.”

“Ah, but it madeyou laugh, didn’t it?” Phoebus says, pointing a finger at her.

“Only because itwas so offensive I have to laugh to keep myself from dyinginside.”

“Touché, but Istill count that as a win. Now, do I throw out some more jokes andtry to make you laugh, or do you want to get serious and hear out myoffer?”

“I can’t takeyou seriously if you can’t even look me in the eyes, ‘Captain,’”Claudine says playfully.

“I will onceyou’ve put your clothes back on.”

Claudine sighs.“Fine.” A brief moment of silence and more shuffling. “I’mcovered up now! Seriously this time.”

Phoebus carefullyopens his eyes, and is pleased to find she’s about as decent as shecan get with her get up. “Happy to see you didn’t pull a ‘madeyou look!’ on me.”

“Trust me, it’sonly because I want to know what it is you actually want fromme…”

The plan is rathersimple: an hour’s detention after-school Monday-Friday, wherePhoebus is supposed to teach her how to interact with people in apolite way, keep her cool, and not have another outburst or rant likethat, either in social media, in public, and especially anothertelevised event.

“I understandwhere you’re coming from,” Phoebus says on their first meeting.“Everyone talks to everyone, and the internet makes that easierthan ever. But that doesn’t mean you should just say whatever is onyour mind, and more importantly, that you don’t reply to everyonethat talks to you, those who insult you especially.

“And moreimportantly, you have a secret weapon on your side: Part One of ourBig Master Plan.”

Claudine raises hereyebrows. Images of IP traces, royal guards bursting down doors, andinternet trolls pissing their underwear come to her mind. “I’mlistening…”

“This secretweapon, the most powerful move you have against your Pharisees, oneyou can rely on to be 100% effective when used properly, is this:

“Ignore them.”

Claudine stares athim. Then, she scowls. “Are you shitting me right now? Sowhat, I just let their shit-talking stink up my air, never give themcrap back for their bull?”

“No, and beforeyou continue, let me explain: a lot of people don’t realize this,but insults only have the power to hurt you if you let them. YourPharisees are like vampires, sucking out your self-worth, confidence,and good feelings, but also like vampires, they can only hurt you ifyou invite them into your house.

“Your reaction iswhat the Pharisees want—they want to know that they hurt you, thatthey riled you up so bad you find you have no choice but to payattention to them.

“If you deny thempermission to ever enter your front door, they’ll just glare at youthrough the windows, yell at you to let them in, before they leaveand find someone else to feed on. In my experience, they’re reallynot that picky.”

“But even if Idon’t let them in through the door to bite my neck, I can stillhear them through the walls; it may all be bullshit, but it stillfucking hurts, you know…?” Claudine says with much lessbite.

Phoebus eyes soften.“I know. Trust me, I’ve been where you are. But that’s a storyfor another time, as we’re going to move to step two of our BigMaster Plan:

“Be a betterperson, with better problems.

“Find people whoseopinion you should listen to, who you need to listen to, and willwant to listen to. Think of reading troll comments on YouTube, vsreading a really good, well-reasoned blog-post as the differencebetween gorging on potato chips, vs a nice, baked potato with chivesand gravy.

“One, you canreally savour and enjoy, the other, you just shove into your mouthwithout a second thought—baked potato’s healthier for you, too.”

The two take a quicktrip to a vending machine, before resuming.

“So what’s step3 of the Big Master Plan?” Claudine asks as she settles in with apack of Oreos.

“You removeyourself from your Pharisees,” Phoebus replies as he opens up a bagof nuts. “Get out of their circles and comment threads. Keep yourdistance, and just observe. Watch how they talk, act, and/or screaminsults into the void, hoping someone will take offense and engagethem.

“Then, askyourself: ‘Why?’

“Why do they dothis? Why you specifically? Why do they spend so much of theirprecious time and limited days on this world to bother you?”

Claudine nods. “Andis step four confronting them, now that I know my enemy?”

Phoebus shakes hishead. After swallowing his mouthful of nuts, he says, “No, that’sstep five; four is to go out and compliment people, engage in realconversation, and civil, reasonable, fruitful debate. Acquaintyourself with how people really talk when they want to make aconnection with someone and exchange ideas. See what it’s like whenyou don’t reduce yourself to sound-bites, mean flits, and memes.

“Maybe even havethem face-to-face.

“And this is wherewe get to step five: return to your Pharisees. Ask them, why do theydo what they do? Why the hate? Don’t they have anything betterto do with their lives?

“This iscompletely optional, by the way, but whether or not you do it, everytime you find yourself tempted to reply to a stupid insult onStorybook, just repeat step one.”

To help with this,he teacher her all about humour, “the art of making something funout of terrible, awful things.”

He relates to herhow incredibly tense things were immediately after the Great Uniting.Before, when it was just communications through rifts in reality andthe occasional ambassador, it was all good will, excitement, andbeing on their best behaviours, “like all the different realms weredating each other.”

“The Great Unitingwas all of them getting married and moving in together, and formajority of the people, this is when the reality finally hit themthat they’d have to live with each other, every single day ofthe year, for the rest of our lives.

“Metaphoricallyspeaking, we had to share our bathrooms, see each other when we wokeup in the morning before a shower, pants, and a nice strong pot ofcoffee, and be keenly aware of all our bad habits, our flaws,and whenever we indulged in our, ahem, baser pleasures.

“It was a roughtime, even with the translators to help smooth the transition intoEnglish.

“Sometimes, it’d actually make things worse when atranslator decided to soften, change, or completely cut out the badparts of whatever a Grecian said to the woman from Corona, and theyhappen to have a bilingual friend who could tell them what theyreally meant.

“The honeymoon wasover, and lots of people were having regrets. They were feelinghomesick, and even if they had literally brought home with them,Auradon definitely wasn’t the Kansas. Things were lookinglike we were headed to a divorce, and an ugly one at that.”

“Did things everget to the shouting and breaking dishes level?”

“For some, yes.But that was inevitable and expected when you pulled off something asbig, complicated, and messy as this. The rest, however, we had todefuse before things really got ugly, with the one universallanguage all of us could understand:

“Humour.

“I’ve yet tomeet a culture that doesn’t like to laugh—and if they don’t,Beast and the others passed them over for the final list.

“Using comedy wasthe perfect tool. It defused tensions, it broke the ice, it letpeople find something they had in common so we could start buildingbridges there. And as a wise man once said, ‘If your enemy isdoubled over in laughter, he can’t club you to death.’”

Claudine smirks. “Ibeg to differ, but I get the point…”

Phoebus becomes aguide, a protector (for both external aggressors and Claudine’sworse impulses), and a third regulating force in her life, a properfather figure for her whom she frequently hangs out with every otherSunday to go out and bond, be her chaperon for when she starts datingagain (and seriously, this time), and being one of the people she canalways call when things go wrong.

She also calls him for advice, and often times, when he catches wind of her getting into trouble, offers helpful advice, like this one tacked onto the end of many lengthier pieces: “… But most importantly: don’t punch anyone in the dick, or where they would have one if they’re female.”

The humour helps her get over her natural distrust of authority, seeing as that’s what caused and enforced the Isle, and Maleficent’s guards aren’t saints themselves, or follow much of a “code of honour.” Claudine often timescalls him when she can to ask him to tell a joke. One of them isthis:

“One day, a nunliving in a convent in a forest comes across a hunter trying to bagsome deer. As she gathers herbs and berries, she watches as thehunter nocks his bow, takes aim, and misses.

“’Goddammit, Imissed!’ the hunter cries as his prey gets away.

“’Oh mygoodness, what foul language!’ the nun says to herself. ‘God,please give this man the strength, so he may never take Your name invain ever again.’

“Later, the nun isgetting some water from the river, and she sees the hunter trying tobag some deer again. Again, he nocks his bow, takes aim, and misses.

“’Goddammit, Imissed!’ he cries as his prey gets away yet again.

“’Oh mygoodness, what a horrible man!’ the nun says to herself. ‘God,please show this man why you do not take Your name in vain!’

Suddenly, the skydarkens, clouds roll in, and a bolt of lightning comes shooting downfrom above, striking the ground just beside the hunter!

Then, they hear adeep, rumbling voice echoing all throughout the forest:

“Me-dammit, Imissed!’”

* The Rotten Four’s“forgiveness” at the end of the first movie was not nearly asclean and quick as was portrayed in canon.

#god help the outcasts #Descendants #Disney #headcanon

[bisexualamy]

hi Ren! i soon will be going to change my name (hopefully) and i just wondered if you had any tips on stating my case in front of the judge. (btw, it's not because i'm trans and it's my last name but i think that you could still help me, cause i pretty nervous) thank you! 💕

Hi! So if you live in the United States (where I do) each state handles the process slightly differently.  I changed my name in a pretty liberal state (CT) so the entire thing took like fifteen minutes and the judge was very kind about the whole thing.  Regardless, I can talk to you about my experiences, because I can’t imagine they differ wildly between states.  Also!  If you check your probate court’s website, there’s a good chance they have documentation about name change law up there for you to read, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to read up on that as well.

**This process is also different if you’re a minor!  I’m going to assume you’re not because I changed my name when I was 19 and can’t speak for the experiences of minors.**

It sounds like, from the way you worded your message, that you’ve already submitted the correct forms to the clerk and are waiting for your court date. Regardless, in case I read that wrong, I’m going to go through the whole thing.

The first thing you’re probably going to have to do is submit two forms: the first is basically a thing you sign saying that you’re not changing your name for shady reasons like avoiding the law or debt, etc., under penalty of perjury.  The second is the actual form you fill out requesting your name change, where you put down your personal information, your old name, and the name you want to change it to.  Please remember to bring forms of ID, and backups.  They’re going to require multiple forms of ID to prove who you are, and not all IDs are considered “valid enough.”  Please check the court’s website and additional resources to make sure you’re bringing the right IDs.  You’re also going to need to give a reason for your name change.  They like it when you’re specific (instead of writing just “personal”), because if you’re specific, the judge will 1) have less of a reason to refuse your name change and 2) you will have to do less explaining when you actually see the judge.

You’re going to submit these forms to a clerk, who’s going to look them over, approve them, take some money for a processing fee, validate your IDs, and give you a court date.  This will not be the same day you submit your forms. I thought it would be, but it could be weeks out depending on how busy the court is, so sorry in advance.

On the day of your court date please dress business casual.  You’re going before a judge.  And just in case, bring an ID or two as proof of identity.  Check the policy on this, but in my state you’re allowed to bring family with you if you think it will help your case.  They need to sign in as your guests.  The good news is that you probably won’t be in an actual court.  I just sat in the judge’s office across the table from him, which is much less intimidating.  You’re not being charged with anything, this change is clerical in their minds, so that’s less pressure on both the judge and you.

The meeting with the judge is just to clear up any confusions he has about why you’re changing you name.  It’s much lower pressure than it feels.  If you’re specific on your form, like I was, he might not have any questions.  Mine just signed the form and congratulated me.  However, be prepared in the event that the judge does have questions, most likely just why you are going through all this trouble to change your name.  But if they don’t have proof that you’re doing this for illegal reasons (I think they do a cursory background check to make sure you’re not shady) and you’re not just doing this on a whim, it’s pretty likely he’ll sign your form and then you’re good to go.  They’ll mail you a court order a week or two later, which is what you’re going to need as proof to change your IDs and anything else that has your old name on it.

I hope this was helpful! Please let me know if you have any more questions, and other people can feel free to reblog.

#anonymous #hailing frequencies open #name change #trans #transgender #just in case i know you're not trans but trans people might want to see this #long post /// #advice ask #transition questions

[politics-and-philosophy]

Ok, so I know that I'm supposed to be weirded out by the fact that this person clearly created a random brand-new tumblr just to message me anonymously, but honestly, I'm honored.

Look, this tumblr is straight-up blank, aside from the header photo. Is that a homemade handgun btw? It looks like it. Honestly though, I just feel kinda honored. Because this person is either scared enough of me to want anonymity (I can't see why) or scared enough of the reprisal they would face on their main blog (this one makes more sense).

So, again, let's go point-by-point.

I don't think the government should have control over who owns a gun in the same way I don't think the government should have control over who lives and dies. I think that gun ownership should be restricted constitutionally, by removing and replacing the second amendment. In this new amendment, I want only three types of individuals to be allowed to own guns:

1. Those in remote areas who require guns for survival.

2. Collectors of historic guns who can only load and fire them on shooting ranges.

3. Active duty military personnel deployed in foreign soil, and domestic soil only during a foreign invasion.

This list notably excludes cops, active duty military on domestic soil, security details, sport hunters, and everyone else. I have said all this before though.

This would not give a monopoly on power to the government, in fact, it would significantly stymie the power the government already has over people by removing the threat of firearms.

Personally, I think this would stop almost all gun violence, not just mass shootings. The majority of gun killings are committed with guns which were once legally owned (the US is a net exporter of illegal firearms, mostly to Mexico, due to our lax gun laws). Furthermore, while 4 in 5 gun homicides are committed with a gun not owned by the perpetrator, that's not the end of the story. 30% of those guns are stolen, but of those 30%, over 4 in 10 are not reported stolen until after a crime is committed, and 44% of gun owners whose guns were stolen did not respond to attempts to be contacted by police. Of the other 70%, reported lost, in 62% of instances, the legal owner of the gun was unaware of where or when the gun was lost. That is a staggering number of people who are reckless with firearm safety.

A large part of this is due to shoestring purchases, where someone who passes a legal background check will go and buy a gun for someone who wouldn't, or to then go and sell it at an upcharge on the black market, only to claim it lost or stolen when it shows up at a crime scene. The legal gun market directly supports and enables both gun crime and the illegal gun market. Making it more difficult to legally get a gun will make it exponentially more difficult to illegally acquire a gun. More on this later.

Mass shootings are a small percentage of total deaths, but these deaths are unique in how horrible, violent, and early in a person's life they come. They are always the direct result of hate, and are a uniquely American problem within the developed world. Unlike robbery murders or even homicides motivated by passion, mass shootings don't target a specific individual. They seek to kill a group of people indiscriminately. Essentially, they're a violent hate crime, almost always motivated by a right-wing view of society and a belief that violence solves problems.

It's also laughable that the ownership of a gun somehow puts you on even footing with the government. Do you know how much firepower the government has? Even military grade weapons are useless against an actual military.

Ok, here's Oxford's definition of a civil right:

Please go read this. Civil rights are rights of society and politics. They are things such as voting rights, marriage rights, freedom from religious infringement in your life, right to exist in society and politics. Gun ownership is no more a civil right than is the right to smoke crack.

America has a gun violence epidemic, compared to the rest of the world, and even compared among the states.

Here's a fun graph comparing gun violence and gun ownership among first world countries.

Here's a graph comparing gun violence and gun regulation within the United States:

Ok, finally, on to fascism. So, let's start from the top and work our way to different outcomes. We have our first decision at "Is the current gun violence rate and mass shooting epidemic within the US worth fixing?" Personally, I think yes. If you think no, I invite you to tell that to anyone who lost a family member in a mass shooting and see if you don't get punched.

Having resolved yes, we move onto what to do. There are three real solutions.

1. Increase of law enforcement

2. Increase of surveillance

3. Regulation of firearms

Notably, mental health reforms is left off this list. I've addressed that several times in other posts. In summary, mass shooters don't seek mental services and the majority of perpetrators aren't mentally ill, they're disillusioned with society.

Now, as a liberal and specifically a social liberal, I hate fascism and think that among the political ideologies out there fascism and authoritarianism are a special kind of evil. In general, I see it as better to have a large government which serves the people instead of a small government which oppresses the people. A lot of conservatives, especially anarco-capitalists, think that a small government is necessarily less oppressive, but that is not true. Governments can be large, but if they are beholden to a citizenship, they'll obey said citizens. Small governments who are isolated from the populace easily turn towards oppression.

But I digress. Let's start with the first choice, and see where it takes us. For this exercise, we'll be assuming that when the government is given control over a certain aspect of our lives, they'll want to increase that control. So, we increase the law enforcement in all major metropolitan areas, meaning armed guards at malls, churches, movie theaters, schools, etc. And even though mass shootings still occur when armed guards are present (Parkland) or when police arrive on scene within the minute (El Paso), it's okay because we get to keep our guns, everybody has a gun so everyone is safe. This is basically a police state. The scary thing is conservatives have actually proposed this. Sean Hannity said on live TV that we need to place armed guards at every public area. And if you don't trust the government, how the hell could you trust the armed guards they have stationed outside the grocery store.

Next solution is increased surveillance. If access to guns is to remain unrestricted, then we need to be able to find the killers before they kill. What do all of the mass shooters have in common? An internet history rife with extremism and alt-right views. So, screen everyone. And go ahead and start censoring people who have those views too, just to be safe. But once we have a suspected shooter, how can we know when they're about to commit murder? You can't arrest someone for fitting a profile. So, you start tracking them, looking through their purchases, making sure they aren't trying to get someone to buy them a firearm, following them, watching them. Even if all they did is post on the internet with no intent, now the government knows their every move. And suddenly, the small minor infractions that everyone commits daily start to add up. So, one agent decides to hell with it, let's just bust him early for something, anything we can make stick. This isn't a hypothetical, either. There are countless stories of cops falsifying evidence just to make the arrest because they believe an innocent person is guilty.

Finally, firearm regulation. Now here you might think that if you lose your firearm, you lose your safety. Ignoring for a moment that I specifically advocated for law enforcement to not have firearms, if you genuinely think you are safer with a gun than without it, you are wrong. The mindset that, without your gun, there's nothing to stop the government from trampling your rights ignores the fact that even with your gun, there's nothing really stopping the government from trampling your rights, because the government has a lot more guns than you and they're a lot bigger. Now, perhaps you think that having an armed populace means a resistance or insurgency is possible. Ignoring that the government could squash any insurgency within the US, who even says the insurgents are on your side politically? What's stopping them from rising up right now? The same thing that's stopping the government from killing any dissidents: the fact that we live in a society and without it the government would collapse. Often times people speak as though the government is some separate entity when in reality in America every single person who us eligible to vote or pays taxes is a member of the government. We are the power base of the government, and to distinguish between the citizens of the US and the government if the US is a real gray area, because the government can't exist without the economic base that is our society. You called us sheep but we aren't sheep, we're the golden goose and you never ever kill the golden goose. The government won't come to put us all in camps because they'd wake up broke the next day. And even if they did, your gun wouldn't stop them, it just means they'd kill you.

When you arm everyone, you arm EVERYONE. Not just the lawful responsible owner, but the mass shooter, the murderer, the rapist, the insurgents on both the right and the left, the domestic terrorists, the gang bangers, the government sympathizers, the government itself, everyone. And while obviously it's not every gun owner, it could be any gun owner. And any realistic way to distinguish the difference between a responsible individual looking to own a gun and a mass shooter arming up is with a level of invasiveness that should make you incredibly uncomfortable. This is what I mean when I talk about surveillance.

Let's come to a conclusion here, because this post has gotten quite long.

The idea that you could amass enough firepower to resist the government is not reasonable. What protects you from the government is not weaponry but anonymity. Currently, our system has both, but having both allows criminals and murderers to readily access firearms and kill people. So, since the weaponry isn't protecting us anyway, might as well get rid of it and save some lives.

EDIT: The blog that sent these messages no longer exists, and I don't have access to them anymore, so I'm glad I screenshoted when I did. Kinda confirms my suspicion that they just wanted to anonymously harass me. Oh well, nothing as predictable as a coward.