#anyway none of you are as smart or above the influence of harmful ideas as you think & more infkuenced by your identity than u know ect ect

[giza815r]

KOTOR 2, Dark Side run. There is one moment on Nar Shaddaa with Atton and Kreia that seems pretty important to me in understanding the relationship between the two (and yes, most of that turns into a headcanon).

When Atton, who suddenly became the informal leader (although this is a DS run, he worries about the fate of the team (but if the Exile has low influence on him, he will only care about the safety of the ship)), and Bao-Dur are going to fight their way through the crowds of bounty hunters to get to the Exile, Atton needs to choose the third member of the squad or not to choose anyone at all.

No fucking way he would choose Kreia for this, and I don't think that even if he did, she would agree to go with them, because soon after that she "unexpectedly" has some things to do.

So, whoever Atton chooses as the third member, squad moves through the Refugee Landing Pad, killing all enemies in its path, and runs straight to the docks to get to Jekk'Jekk Tarr and rescue the Exile.

The playthrough for this squad is interrupted at this point to show how the Exile is doing (failure and capture by the forces of Goto). Force knows how much time the squad and the Exile took on their adventures, but immediately after the docks, Atton finds himself in the Mira’s safehouse. Without his squad. But with an unconscious Hanharr. And with Kreia, who was supposed to stay on Ebon Hawk. Kreia, who was the only one of the whole team who didn't want to go to save the Exile, arguing that the Exile "was told to meet alone" and "We cannot disrupt their meeting until the alien reveals the information he has". How? Why? What happened?

Well, the game shows us those Kreia's "unexpected things to do". She is the first to appear in Jekk'Jekk Tarr Tunnels, for some reason (for showiness, probably) she drags Hanharr out of the tunnels where Zez-Kai Ell knocked him out, into the arena, tortures him (of course, he attacked her first, but I'm sure she would have Force Choke him anyway) and brutally recruits him (oh, and even if this has nothing to do with the topic, don’t forget that before dealing with Hanharr, Kreia used Force Choke on Zez Kai Ell without breaking a sweat). And then Kreia also ends up in the Mira's safehouse with the unconscious Hanharr.

Imagine, Atton and his squad are running to the docks, and suddenly, for some reason, he has to separate from it, leave it, perhaps right in the middle of the battle (maybe not, maybe they already got to the Jekk'Jekk Tarr, but achieved nothing there). The reason is simple: another Kreia's "request". Somehow she contacts Atton (Kreia and the comlink? Not in a million years), most likely through the Force, and orders him to come to her. And so he leaves his squad, with the help of stealth or explaining the situation (which is unlikely, I'm sure he wouldn't expose Kreia), and comes to the safehouse he had no idea existed and sees this picture: Kreia, who shouldn't be here, rises above the defeated Wookiee.

And he has to think how exactly Kreia was able to get Hanharr from Jekk'Jekk Tarr all the way through the docks? She couldn't drag him herself, she is weak and old (in appearance), Atton himself wouldn't be able to drag this huge Wookiee anywhere. That means Kreia used the Force to do this. She levitated Hanharr across Jekk'Jekk Tarr and the docks in front of everyone. And the scariest thing is that no one even noticed.

This is the very moment where Atton realizes what else Kreia is capable of. He recalls how none of the people he and the Exile met react to an old woman who doesn't hide her Jedi robe and loudly voices her mean but practical ideas, decrying help and encouraging deception. No one heard or saw her then, and no one sees or hears her now.

[Yes, I know that the Exile may learn about this Kreia's special mind manipulation ability, but they may not know if the player decides to do so (you know, just don't talk to Kreia). And even if they do know, the Exile never talks about Kreia with the other crew members in the game, so Atton can’t learn about this ability from the Exile.]

But he doesn't have much time to ponder this terrible conclusion, because he needs to pay attention to Hanharr himself. Unlike Mira, he knows exactly what a Wookiee is.

[I remind you that Kashyyyk was discovered by Czerka some 60 years before KOTOR I, and Wookiees are very rare in the galaxy outside of their planet, usually only as slaves or exiles, although I saw one Mandalorian Wookiee in KOTOR comics. In principle, Mira is young (she is 23 and Atton is 29-32) and may not know about Wookiees due to her inexperience, but she claims to be "the best bounty hunter in this system", and Hanharr hunts her, so she could dig a little in this case. Shame on you, Mira!]

And definitely Atton should've heard all the scary stories about Hanharr, because he spent so much time on Nar Shaddaa (and in fact he knows so much that sometimes I wondering if there is anything Atton doesn't know (except cryptic Jedi stuff)).

And now he watches how that Hanharr whines and looks back at Kreia, waiting for permission, receives a Force Push in the face for having his own opinion, and begs to take him on a rescue mission on Kreia's orders. Just like Atton did in the Telosian Jedi Academy.

In the game, Atton is too busy planning the rescue of the Exile, and not much attention is paid to all this, but I just couldn’t pass it by. Kreia has shown Atton what she is capable of twice in a row, without showing him anything in particular, and now, after Telos, she knows that Atton is not such a fool as she thought he was, that he is smart and very experienced, that he will understand everything that she showed him, and will take note and give up his foolish and desperate little "rebellions" against her.

P.S. Oh, and one more thing. This no longer concerns Nar Shaddaa stuff, this is another headcanon concerning these two.

On DS run with a high influence on Bao-Dur, Bao-Dur tries to drive Kreia off the ship, because she is "harming the Exile with her presence". In response, Kreia mind-rapes him with the images and horrors of Malachor V so hard that he falls unconscious (but at the same time he hears everything Kreia tells him). So, in my opinion, absolutely nothing will force Kreia to get rid of the Iridonian who is lying around in her "chambers" like a sack of potatoes on her own, and Bao-Dur would definitely not be able to leave by himself after this torture, so I think that Kreia could use this moment is like another obedience lesson for Atton. You know, to call Atton to her so that he can see how easily she wipes the floor with Bao-Dur, in order to discourage him from standing up to her ever again, and then, of course, make him drag a very heavy Bao-Dur back to the garage.

#kotor 2 #atton rand #kreia #hanharr #bao-dur #just me thinking of my beloved assassin torturer and really good friend Atton #i like to think about Atton #because i love him so much ugh

[floralmotif]

I'm not sure if you've written about this before, but I was curious as to how you think John regarded Sam and Dean when they were children. Who was his favorite? Who did he abuse more? Was Sam completely safe from John's abuse because of Dean? Who do you think he was more emotionally invested in? I guess what I'm mainly asking is how different were Sam and Dean's childhoods from each other?

Ah muffins, I had part of this written out and forgot to save it to drafts. Oh well, hopefully this will be more coherent than the last one anyway. Coffee, do the thing.

I did have a previous statement that sort of addressed this information a little https://floralmotif.tumblr.com/post/159194818777/sam-his-view-of-dean

The brother’s relationship is definitely interesting, especially concerning their dad. Ready to dive into the joyful land of content warnings and sadness?? Great!

Content warnings btdubs… child abuse and neglect…Talking about this topic isn’t easy because it is fairly complicated. I don’t really subscribe to painting things in black and white most of the time. My basic interpretation of John is that he did love his kids and he never intended to do them harm, but he did. Extensive.. cycling harm.. if they play “Will the circle be unbroken” by the end of the season, you’ll be able to detect my screaming by radar.

The sitch gets complicated further by the fact that Dean is heavily framed as Sam’s parent. Specifically his mother. He exhibits a lot of behavior that is associated with mothers of children who are abused by their spouse, trying to protect their child by being in the way and crafting a sort of reality for them to simulate something close to normal in their lives. He has also taken on the role of parent in that he was generally much more present for Sam growing up than John was. He wasn’t really allowed to have a childhood because of the way his life was set up by John. He was told by John to always put Sammy first and to protect him. Dean was basically a background entity for John. He existed to perpetuate Sam and his own feelings were neglected. When Sam and John didn’t get along, Dean was there to deflect the fighting. Dean’s support of Sam basically made him his first child. He was so smart, motivated and more aware of the initial situation. He eventually learned to want out because he was encouraged to think for himself. Dean was not taught this way, and when they went off to find their Dad again, they really “went to find him again”. Him and his influence. Sam lost his agency in that influence. Dean’s was already gone.

The song “Because of you” by Kelly Clarkson is a pretty accurate assessment of Dean’s takeaway from John, interestingly. There are piles of fan videos on youtube that point it out.. like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtddeCGKl90

Hoo boy…

None of the above was Sam’s fault, obviously. He grew up in that situation already established and he had few outside influences even after he started seeking them out(hell, he has few consistent ones now). When he did find them, he was torn from them. Really, they all were. It’s one of the things that prevented Dean and Sam from really learning what “normal” was in a familial sense. They both grew up in situations that were often life or death, and in Dean’s case, he or Sam. He didn’t even really grow up with himself as an option. It was always for Sam.. and Sam growing up with Dean essentially being his parent, he would do the same for him.

No wonder they’re always sacrificing for each other. That’s what they learned from their respective “roles”.

Really, everything they do makes sense if you interpret them as parent and child in my opinion. But feel free to interpret them however you like. My interpretation feeds into the rest of my analysis though, so keep that in mind.

From what I’ve been able to glean from watching the show, Sam was definitely John’s favorite. In many ways, John treated Dean as though he was lesser. He basically treated Dean as an extension of himself and projected a lot of his nonsense onto him. His doubt about the world, his cynicism, his need to keep Sam safe, his self loathing.. and all that that implies… it’s framed at times that Dean suffered some physical abuse from John and Dean did everything he could to prevent the same thing happening to Sam even at his own expense.. Dark Side of the Moon is one of the instances where we’re shown how Dean’s crafted reality affected him and Sam separately. He crafted it so well, Sam didn’t even think about how his absence may have affected the dynamic. 

Dean tried to create a world for Sam where none of that stuff existed. It was his duty to protect Sam from everything: Monsters, John and his own feelings. Not even he saw the extent of it at the time. He only really seems to be starting to see it now.

This show does something brilliant(and at times painful) with its premise. It really didn’t have a choice in the matter if it wanted to be good, but it did it very well.

Rule of media monsters: Monsters represent aspects of humanity that we are afraid of and block out to other. Vampires, werewolves, witches, zombies, etc. They all connect to aspects of humanity and what about us we’re afraid of. What we don’t want to admit about our reality, what we don’t want to address because they scare us. Those aspects of the human experience that are stigmatized.

Sound familiar? Sound maybe like what Dean and Sam do with their feelings? It should.

Where did they learn that from?

Yep. John… well, Dean from John, and it sort of rolled over into Sam. All of the mantras Dean gave him in the early seasons are starting to come to light now. They’re being revealed as black and white, unsustainable, overly simplified and unhealthy. The co-dependency, the imbalance between humans and monsters, the “just world” idea that all monsters are inherently evil and must be destroyed, etc. All of those things are breaking down and at this point, Dean has noticed, but Sam hasn’t or he avoids them directly. Sam has resigned to these things as truth because not doing so would mean he had a choice before.

I think Sam really wants agency, he always has and it’s always been an important part of his character, but his life has told him to fear it. Both he and Dean grew up in and have experienced lives of limited agency. Sam especially had pretty much all of his ideals thrust upon him(on screen. Dean pretty much had them so early, we only see him learning them in flashbacks). He was told they were the only choices. He went to Standford and learned a new choice, but was pulled right back into the old mantras. Again, not really Dean’s fault. Dean was just operating on the “good soldier/mom role he had been given. He didn’t really have agency either.

Over time the two have learned more about agency, but only one has really been given the opportunity to explore it: Dean. That’s really what Cas is for him in a lot of ways. He’s a representation of “ideals” and his presence and connection to Dean kind of forces both of them to explore what that means. Sam doesn’t really get a direct outside force with a great connection that allows him to branch out.(this is probably on purpose at this point so they can have a counterpoint) His main connection to anything has been Dean, and Dean is still operating in the augmented reality he built to protect Sam even if he’s starting to breach it. Even as it’s breached, Sam is so deep in that reality, that he barely sees it. And Dean is understandably afraid to fully breach it. It has implications for Sam too. Implications Dean is probably afraid Sam would blame himself for.

This season is starting to address “Sam’s wall” and Dean’s ability to contain the version of himself that he had crafted is breaking down. Lucifer is a holdover of the “old” the looming ghost of John Winchester that darkens the lives of the Winchester’s and stagnates their relationship, stagnates the show.

Interestingly, the greatest influence besides Dean that Sam has had in years is his mother. She is a powerful representation of the old goals and truths of the show. A promise to get out and to silence the lambs. The one thing John said he wanted that has turned around and given him hope. Her coming back to life means that the ideal world that John dreamed of could be a reality, but just like the BMoLs, that ideal is badly informed, near sighted and unsustainable.

I’m guessing in the next few eps, the ideals of both Sam and Dean will start to merge to “a better way” and they can both learn to reconcile their past to embrace the future. To embrace those aspects of themselves they are afraid of and have tried to other.

#character analysis #dean is sam's mom #feelings for everyone #sams wall #embracing new ideals #its time for humanity to embrace those aspects of itself it's afraid of #agency for sammy #spn and agency #hopefully this makes sense #john winchester's pervasive ass ghost #spn meta #my meta #child abuse cw #neglect cw

[humanauction]

THE WEATHER REPORT #10

W.R. 10 - week ending 24.11.17

Brrr it is getting cold in Baghdad this week with temperatures ranging from lows of 18C/64F to highs of 21C/69F. if it gets any colder, we would have to recommend moving to Somaliland. there will be no rain, of course, but humidity will sit around the 30% mark and winds will not exceed 10mph. this week’s Weather Report is presented in association with the Iraq Bikers. they’re a mixed bunch, riding all over Iraq and include Sunni, Shia, Christian, Kurd and Turkmen among its membership. they are currently on the look-out for 1 Jew, some Sikhs and a pair of Mormon as they feel this would really help break down barriers regarding “Motorcycle Clubs” and their nefarious reputation, so if you are Jewish, a Sikh or Mormon and in Iraq (or even if you just like motorbikes) give them a call on [phone] or send them a message on facebook - they usually reply within 24 hours!!

Iraqi Bikers - supported by HUMAN AUCTION

*

meanwhile, elsewhere:

EUROPE - SCOTLAND: Scottish National Party introduce a minimum alcohol price standard as the whole of Scotland, literally the whole country, totally lost their shit. Kirsty Leslie commented “the SNP are literally, destroying Scotland"; Richard Haines echoed the sentiments of her and most other people adding “low income (households) just about getting by, and happen to enjoy a few responsible drinks here and there, will now have to give that up as well,” for any readers who don’t know much about Scotland, there are a few things you should know:

i) Scotland is **beautiful**. it’s really stunning - from the forests in the middle, to the windswept and brutal coastline, including the borders to the south, and all the way out to the far-northern isles (hebrides) where little has changed, well, ever, it is really quite a special place. if you haven’t been you should *totally* go. but go in august. and take your winter clothes.

ii) Scotland is COLD. like really, really, cold. it’s a wet cold too and it chills you to your bone. you need to be warmly wrapped and waterproof at all times.

iii.) Scotland is a nation of alcoholics, drinking mainly single malt whisky and Buckfast. it is so ingrained in the culture that in Scotland they are wary of non-drinkers, treating them as other nations would treat severe alcoholics. how much do they like drinking? well, 24.11.17 was Black Friday, and where the rest of us perused electronics, internet deals, that kind of thing, in Scotland they had massive ***4.5 LITRE*** bottles of Famous Grouse (a terrible whisky) - “normal” size is 0.7L or 1.0L - as well as other spirits. for Black Friday. why did the SNP make such a desperately unpopular decision now? well, to be fair this legislation passed five years ago and has been in court ever since. also, the Scots aren’t very good at drinking. for a nation of just under 6 million people, in the last 2 years, Scottish police confirmed 6,500 reports of antisocial behaviour and violence relating to buckfast alone. “alcohol-related” crime statistics include: 54% of all violent crime was influenced by booze; 50% of convicted murderers were drunk or on drugs at the time of offence; 67% of young offenders were drunk when they committed the crime(s) they were sentenced for. as usual this will impact society’s poorest the hardest, with most Scots seeing it as yet another stealth-tax for the already poor. that said, in a 2016 report, alcohol harm (inc. health; social care; productive capacity) cost the tax-payer £3.6billion PLUS National Health Service bill was £267million PLUS crime cost at £727 million. and they reckon a minimum price is the thing destroying the country.

making friends, with Buckfast (a.k.a. Break the Hoos(house) Juice, Vino d’Jaikey, Commotion Lotion)

*

NORTH AMERICA - USA: all-round definitely (and you know what that means) good eggs, facebook, are set to release (in December 2017) a tool allowing users to see where posts actually come from. this is all because of the US voting “scandal” where Hillary lost to the Donald because she is a sadistic sociopath with a long list of extra-judicial killings to her name, personally, whereas the Donald only killed some people and only ever over money - which is the one thing you can do without facing jail time. so long as you give a stack of cash to someone. like the president at the time. *then* it’s ok. anyway, the Russian company Internet Research Agency - which doesn’t sound at all sinister - and behind “hundreds of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts”, posting thousands of politically-charged messages and buying advertising space has been outed as… hackers?! apparently this is not an okay thing to do. no one uses propaganda to further their own narrative. except for terrorists. these “fake” pages were patriotically designed & presented appearing as if they were created and posted by Americans, and had *white power-y* names like “Heart Of Texas” or “Secured Borders”. in previous statements, facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said as many as up to, maybe, 126 million Americans *may* have seen content uploaded since early 2015. the confusing thing about all of this is why is it illegal if Russia do it and it is pro-the Donald? Hilary’s people put together a concert with Beyonce and Jay-Z headlining which some might have called propaganda (because that’s exactly what it was). shouting out (or post, article, op-ed, tweet, interview, photo, opine…) your biased views - that’s called campaigning; not telling the truth - politics; manipulating details to make them appear as something else/new - that’s called spin; the people who write these ideas - communications directors; making sure specific people are in a photo or post (even if they wouldn’t choose to be) - Public Relations; spreading ideas for support, influence, money - lobbying/lobbyist; deciding how to split the image you wish to project between various media - that is a campaign manager. what you wear, how you talk, “anonymous” charitable donations you make, what your kids do… all of this , and *SO* much more is how you become head girl or boy. there are also things like the party whips - who lie and bully and collect information to use against someone in the future. none of the above is morally just, hell most of it is morally deplorable, but it is what happens, *every day*, on both sides of the coin. but don’t take our word for it, check out the figures below:

Expenditure/Figure --------------------------Number/Detail

Total US operation expenses -------------- $2.3 million

Staff working on US campaign ------------ up to 90 people

# of US social media accounts ------------ at least 118

Total subscribers --------------------------- more than 6 million

Most page views in a week ---------------- 70 million (October 2016)

American activists supported ------------- 100

Rallies held in US cities -------------------- 40

Budget to support US activists ----------- approximately $80,000 over two years

Budget for social media promotion ------- approx. $120,000 over two years

so whilst we don't know about you guys, it sure looks a lot like campaigning from over where we’re standing. the difference? the Russian campaign team ran a good race and the Donald won. whereas the Democrat campaign team were rubbish and Hilary lost.

Russia & America - closer than most think

*

THE WORLD - BEEHIVES, EVERYWHERE: who doesn’t love them? especially the chubby little high-fiving bumble bees. bees control ALL international honey deals and they run the international honey monopoly with support from HSBC (money), DeBeers (diamonds) and Goldcorp (gold). bees are the ultimate “blood in, blood out” organization renowned for their unflinching readiness to sacrifice as many as it takes in the face of certain death. because what matters is the hive. with internet connections and speeds improving all the time though, access to information is now available to juvenile bees in a never-seen-before way. and young bees have been exploring different avenues. at first it was suspected that they were just curious, maybe even lazy, or that it was a generational phase the kids would grow out of. however this recent study has shown that in fact the bees are more likely to be so god-damned high on pesticides that they have forgotten how to buzz! with many young bees now rejecting the practice as “old-fashioned” - preferring to communicate via smart phone using the iBee messaging service - they are also rejecting traditional pollen collection methods. an ever increasing number of bees preferring instead to purchase pollen online through notorious websites like beeroad and using beecoins. the problem with this, apart from the fact it is illegal and unregulated, is that 80% of all plant species rely on pollination - with bees doing most of it. talks are due to take place next month with the wasps preparing their pitch for the control of the pollination racket and honey industry. the wasps have been muscling in on bee territories for the last 10 years now, but their inability to produce honey has always left them with operating costs far exceeding the bees. however with several prominent hornets named in the paradise papers and damning allegations of sexual misconduct and rape against 5 queen bees has created a power-void and now the insect world is gearing up for a war between the bee and wasp mafias.

wasps - just assholes

*

AFRICA - ZIMBABWE: Robert Mugabe falls asleep as the world tries to work out what kind of coup took/is taking place. if it is a coup, but everyone *insisted* it isn’t a coup, per se, and if you’ve read the various W.R.s you all know what that means (i.e. of course it is without a doubt a Coup). the whole thing started when Robert Mugabe was placed under house arrest and his wife, Grace, fled the country altogether, by the military in what appeared to be your run-of-the-mill coup d’etat led by military chief General Constantino Chiwenga. so it was a standard “get the f@*k out” Coup d’Etat. *then* someone confirmed it was actually the Army who arrested him, making it a military coup again; only then it became not the army, but the Veterans Association - making it a *guardian* coup. at this point, Mugabe’s own party - ZANU-PF - said they wanted him gone too and would fire and impeach Mugabe on Sunday and Tuesday respectively if he didn’t go quickly and quietly. those deadlines came and went during which time - over 72 hours since the initial coup - Mugabe was presiding over a university graduation ceremony(?!). then he fell asleep. then embarked on one of several looooooooong speeches. then the police added their support to the army, via the veterans association, taking it back to some sort of military coup; then the opposition said they were involved - from exile in Kenya - and it became a political coup; then the people all came out on the street insisting it was ***their*** coup (which would mean it was a civilian coup). and through all of this, Mugabe was giving rambling speeches and generally falling asleep. to be fair, he is 93. **everyone** was now saying “get the f@*k out or we will arrest, impeach and imprison/execute you”. to which Mugabe said “i give **ZERO** f@^!s, this is my country, f@^k you”. this had, for Mugabe, a most undesirable effect - it galvanized everyone else for the first time since the British left Rhodesia. suddenly, it was a VETO coup! Mugabe, still giving zero f@^!s, went back to sleep. as of the 23.11.17 though Mugabe is willing to step aside so long as no one can try the corrupt, racist, war criminal we all know him definitely not to be ;-/

robby’s next project - it’s the mugababes!

have a sunny weekend,

HA

@humanauction

p.s. please, if you liked this report leave comment, share, like, re-post, link to, follow or any of that good stuff. you know, if you’d like to. we sure would really appreciate it! :-)

HA

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#news #world news #usa #uk #africa #europe #mugabe #politics #satire #funny #writing #photography #monday