#for at least some portion of the population

[zillychu]

I’ve gotten a WAVE of asks about this AU, so I decided to flesh it out some more and answer some of those questions!

I’ll probably polish this extended summary up at some point and submit it to AO3. But for now, here’s a rundown of my thoughts–please feel free to send more questions! I’ll update this post if I get any more. But if you’re someone who wanted to write fic for it, don’t worry, you don’t need to take my headcanons as gospel. It’s a pretty basic AU honestly lol

Summary:

The portal accident results in a violent explosion that wipes out the whole block, and condemns all of Amity Park. Danny haunts the city for 100 years, before Sam and Tucker find him. 

Setup:

In the 1920’s, 19-year-old Danny went into the incomplete portal on his own, hoping to help out his parents. Ripping the portal open through unnatural means created a huge burst of energy that resulted in a massive explosion. A good portion of the Amity Park population died, many were injured, and the ones on the fringes relocated–Amity was quickly deemed too dangerous due to the excess ectoplasm in the area that attracted ghosts. 

While the disaster was in Amity, the fallout was seen around the globe. Before, natural portals were rare, short-lived, and rarely allowed ghosts to fully slip into our realm (the most severe cases being on par with poltergeists that most people didn’t believe in). Now, natural portals pop open frequently around the world, large enough to allow the entirety of a ghost into the physical plane. They’re more common the closer you get to Amity, but they happen enough elsewhere that this change was something of a small apocalypse before people settled back down and found out how to combat at least some of their new, permanent neighbors. 

Danny is unaware that he’s only half-dead, believing he’s a full ghost. He ends up sticking around Amity, unintentionally making it his haunt. His grief and guilt over causing the death of his loved ones (and many others) makes him isolate and avoid human contact. Though he has, at times, scared nosy people away from the city in a mix of territorial instinct–and to get them to leave before a less friendly ghost finds them. 

Ghosts are much more of an uncontested danger in this AU. Lesser ghosts are practically mindless, and while stronger ghosts are capable of reason, their interests are limited. They’re highly territorial, possessive, and often destructive. Most worrisome is that they also like to snack on the life force of anything alive. No one is sure what dictates a ghost’s propensity to attack or hunt the living for their life force since ghosts don’t exactly experience hunger. At least, not the way we do. If a human is rescued before their life force is fully drained, they can make a full recovery–though humanity has still not yet found what this “life force" is. 

And since the Fentons’ research died along with them, there aren’t many tools available to the public to protect them from ghosts. Most homes have standard ghost shields and some weapons are available on the market, but certified ghost hunters are required to take care of anything more powerful than your average spook. 

Sam and Tucker met in high school, and are now rooming together for college very close to the Amity border. Rent is surprisingly cheap when you’re a stone’s throw away from a condemned area crawling with ghosts. Sam is the one who drags Tucker along with her fascination over finding out more about the city, and its largely mysterious demise. Sam is aware of the danger, but feels ghosts have a place in this world just like everything else, and does exercise caution–like one would while foraging in the woods with a known tiger population. 

What she and Tucker weren’t expecting was to run into a ghost that felt almost human. One that hasn't hurt them, not for lack of trying–while being powerful enough to walk past ghost shields without so much as a flinch. The long white hair is familiar in the whispers of the ectobiologist community, but there’s no way it could be the rumored ghost king Phantom, right?

About Danny:

He has very long hair, claws, and black sclera. His hazmat suit is more torn and ragged, with exposed hands and feet that fade into a burnt black.

His hair tends to float a lot on its own. It can start morphing into fire under duress. 

He does still technically have gloves and boots, they've just charred and melted into his skin towards the ends. He can't take them off in his ghost form. His hands and feet have a leathery texture that's tougher than the rest of his skin.

The white of his hazmat suit is both supposed to look like flames, and also a battered look representing his more violent, explosive death.

Overall, he appears rather listless and sad, with an unnerving air of danger around him–even for a ghost. 

Danny’s “ghost sense” comes out as white smoke.

He does breathe black smoke at times, usually when agitated. 

He's already fought and defeated Pariah Dark by the time Sam and Tucker find him, technically making him the Ghost King. This is heavily speculated by ghost experts, despite there being no real proof beyond a massive battle that scarred Illinois. He has not donned the Ring or the Crown, and captured sentient ghosts are hesitant to answer questions surrounding him. Danny basically has the throne but doesn’t do anything with it, and finds it meaningless enough to routinely forget he has the title. He only fought Pariah because he knew otherwise, humanity would have perished. A lot of ghosts are scared of him because he's so hard to figure out, and he's strong. 

Danny is usually very quiet and speaks softly, because his lungs were damaged in the blaze that half-killed him. He's technically healed since becoming a ghost, so it's more of a compulsion due to the traumatic memory. That, and he’s just… very forlorn and distant, shy around humans who don’t seem to understand how dangerous it is to keep hanging around him.

His memories pre-accident are extremely fuzzy. He knows the very basics of who he was, but specifics have been muffled due to trauma and isolation. He routinely forgets human habits, etiquette, etc. and tends to act more like a full ghost with some odd quirks. 

He does try to scare Sam and Tucker off numerous times. Unfortunately for him, they realized they shouldn't have been able to escape a ghost that strong–but they did, because he let them. 

Sam and Tucker think he's mute at first! He doesn't speak a word to them until several encounters later, when he fumbles his whole scary act and saves them from another ghost. 

He’s still half-ghost, though he doesn’t figure this out until Sam and Tucker come along trying to unravel the mysteries behind the Amity catastrophe. Physically and emotionally, he’s been stuck for 100 years–so his human form is still 19. It’s unclear at this point if he can age normally like a human as long as he stays in human form, or if he’s immortal. 

Danny's family did not turn into ghosts, though he sometimes worries he'll find them in the afterlife as shells of their former selves. He doesn't know if it's better or worse that he's not sure he'd recognize them. 

(Danny also still has some living family. Take a guess.)

Yes, he knows how to Wail. Understandably, he very rarely uses it. You do not want to witness this.

Danny :) is not immune :) from the allure of eating a human's life force :)))

#danny phantom #au #zilly art #I just wanted to draw a boy with long hair and claws how did this happen #fire core au

[extremely-nervess]

I had wanted to do a more thematic picture for halloween this year, but I just didn't manage to make time u_u But I am at least delivering on my promise of more Needle. Honestly I had a bunch of things I wanted to add to this but It was also just taking too long, so I'll leave some of it to text... ---- Lore ---- Artificial Vampire: Needle Age: 21 Age of death: 17 Height: 156 cm Weight: 70 kg (She has a decent amount of brass in her body) Needle comes from an alternate earth setting similar to modern life that we know on the surface, but with shadows thick with supernatural horror just below. One such horror is vampires, of which several kinds and cultures exist, but most major governments co-operate with the largest most organized group of them - Afterlight Agency, which has grown to be more of a sort of government than a unified origanization. Agency vampires negotiate the protection of humans from other supernatural entities in return for feeding rights, information control, legal protections, whatever else they can squeaze from their hosts. Naturally this is a carefully kept secret, and for the most part genuinely beneficial to humans on a population level, if not on an individual one. Still there are those who resent Afterlight and its 'people' convinced that this is nothing more than a large scale protection racket (okay it sort of is) and bristle at the idea of keeping the masses ignorant sheep, sheparded by those who consume them for sustenance. Needle is the product of one such group -The Steel Masons, an extremist secret society that seek to secure occult power for the benefit of man, and to expose vampires for the parasites that they are. Needle was created by Dr. Tilly Hornwood, by gradually saturating the flesh of a living human with specially treated vampire blood and various surgical interventions. Dr. Hornwood hoped to instill vampiric power into a living human and do away with their less desirible traits. In this regard Needle is a failure, for while she technically never died during the long and painful process she is certainly not alive now (not conventionally anyway) She does possess some of the common advantages of the undead - regeneration, strength, speed but to a lesser degree than even a young vampire, and still has most of the typical weaknesses flaws one might expect of their kind. Needle's most unique trait is that anything in which a sufficient portion of her cursed blood flows acts as a part of her body, and she can feel, perceive and control it as if it were a natural extension of herself (After some adjustment). The effect attenuates rapidly if the blood does not make a round trip to her heart, but still last a few minutes in ideal cases. Anything affected by this also enjoys the benefits of her vampiric powers allowing her to integrate with all sorts of attachments - like her injector tail - or various weapons and devices devised by the Steel Masons. Her blood is most effective on dead flesh, including that of vampires, and brass. I'll leave this here for now since my self-consciousness is getting unbearable and I'm sure I've already made 10000 typos u_u

#vampire #oc lore

[fatehbaz]

Today, as you read this [...], there are almost 2 million people locked away in one of the more than 5,000 prisons or jails that dot the American landscape. While they are behind bars, these incarcerated people can be found standing in line at their prison’s commissary waiting to buy some extra food or cleaning supplies that are often marked up to prices higher than what one would pay outside of those prison walls. [...] If they want to call a friend or family member, they need to pay for that as well. And almost everyone who works at a job while incarcerated, often for less than a dollar an hour, will find that the prison has taken a portion of their salary to pay for their cost of incarceration. [...] These policymakers and government officials also know that this captive population has no choice but to foot the bill [...] and that if they can’t be made to pay, their families can. In fact, a 2015 report led by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Forward Together, and Research Action Design found that in 63 percent of cases, family members on the outside were primarily responsible for court-related costs [...].

Rutgers sociology professor Brittany Friedman has written extensively on what is called “pay-to-stay” fees in American correctional institutions. In her 2020 article titled, “Unveiling the Necrocapitalist Dimensions of the Shadow Carceral State: On Pay-to-Stay to Recoup the Cost of Incarceration,” Friedman divides these fees into two categories: (1) room and board and (2) service-specific costs. Fees for room and board -- yes, literally for a thin mattress or even a plastic “boat” bed in a hallway, a toilet that may not flush, and scant, awful tasting food -- are typically charged at a “per diem rate for the length of incarceration.” It is not uncommon for these fees to reach $20 to $80 a day for the entire period of incarceration. The second category, what Friedman refers to as “service-specific costs,” includes fees for basic charges such as copays or other costs for seeing a doctor or nurse, programming fees, email and telephone calls, and commissary items. 

In 2014, the Brennan Center for Justice documented that at least 43 states authorize charging incarcerated people for the cost of their own imprisonment, and at least 35 states authorize charging them for some medical expenses. More recent research from the Prison Policy Institute found that 40 states and the federal prison system charge incarcerated people medical copays. 

It’s also critical to understand how little incarcerated people are paid for their labor in addition to the significant cut of their paltry hourly wages that corrections agencies take from their earnings. Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of incarcerated people work behind bars. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, those who work regular jobs in prisons such as maintaining the grounds, working in the kitchen, and painting the walls of the facilities earn on average between $0.14 and $0.63 an hour. [...] Arkansas and Texas don’t pay incarcerated workers at all, while Alabama only pays incarcerated workers employed by the state’s correctional industry. [...]

For example, if someone sends an incarcerated person in Florida $20 online, they will end up paying $24.95. [...]

Dallas County charges incarcerated people a $10 medical care fee for each medical request they submit. In Texas prisons, those behind bars pay $13.55 per medical visit, despite the fact that Texas doesn’t pay incarcerated workers anything. Texas is one of a handful of states that doesn’t pay incarcerated people for their labor. 

In Kentucky’s McCracken County Jail in Paducah, it costs $0.40 a minute for a video call; this translates into $8.00 for each 20-minute video call. [...] For those who need to use email, JPay charges $2.35 for five emails for people in the Texas prison system ($0.47 an email). [...]

People in Florida prisons pay $1.70 for a packet of four extra-strength Tylenol and $4.02 for four tampons. And with inflation, commissary items are priced higher than ever. For example, according to the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, incarcerated people in Kentucky experienced a 7.2 percent rise in already-high commissary prices in July 2022. Researchers noted that a 4.6-ounce tube of Crest toothpaste, which costs $1.38 at the local Walmart, is $3.77 at the prison commissary. [...]

In Gaston County, North Carolina, incarcerated individuals who participate in state work release may make more than the state’s $0.38 an hour maximum pay, but they pay the jail a daily rate based on their yearly income of at least $18 per day and up to $36 per day. In fact, Brennan Center research indicates that almost every state takes a portion of the salary that incarcerated workers earn to compensate the corrections agency [...].

These room and board fees are found throughout the nation’s jails and prisons. Michigan laws allow any county to seek reimbursement for expenses incurred in relation to a charge for which a person was sentenced to county jail time -- up to $60 a day. Winnebago County, Wisconsin, charges $26 a day to those staying in its county jail.

---

Text by: Lauren-Brooke Eisen. “America’s Dystopian Incarceration System of Pay to Stay Behind Bars.” Brennan Center for Justice. 19 April 2023. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

#abolition

[ladykailitha]

Staking My Claim Part 3

Hey, guys! We're back!

Part 1 Part 2

We finally get the lowdown on what happened. Otherwise known as don't mess with Jeff.

Robin freaks out.

And Gareth is loaded. Or at least his parents are. ;)

I'm also going to try tagging the untaggables separate and see if you can't get you lovelies tagged.

@redfreckledwolf, @mira-jadeamethyst, @itsall-taken, @emly03, @rozzieroos

***

He hurried over to the phone and called Family Video.

“Hello, thank you for calling Family Video,” the soft female voice said. “How can I help you?”

“Robin!” he cried again. “I’m so sorry!”

“Steve!” Robin shrieked. “Where have you been? Are you okay? You’re not in the hospital or jail are you? What happened?”

“I’m not in jail or the hospital,” he assured her. Eddie huffed out a laugh. He whirled around to stick his tongue out at him. “I’m okay. I’m still in Indy. I just landed at some friendly metalheads’ apartment.”

“Wait...” Robin said. “Those friendly metalheads wouldn’t happen to include one Eddie Munson, would it?”

Steve looked over at said metalhead and turned away to hide his blush. “Maybe,” he mumbled into the phone.

“Hell yeah!” she crowed. “Now tell me what happened now!”

Steve pressed his lips together. “Um...to be honest...I’m not one hundred percent sure I know what happened last night. Like I remember bits and pieces, but it all kinda blurs together.”

Eddie walked over and pointed to the phone. “May I?”

Steve nodded and hand it to him.

“Robin?” Eddie asked. “This is Eddie Munson.”

“Hello, Eddie,” she said coolly. “Would you like to explain why my best friend isn’t, I don’t know, home?”

“I would love you to tell you that story if it’s okay with Steve finding out by me telling you?” Eddie questioned, looking over at Steve.

He shrugged and waved his hand for him to go ahead.

“He’s says it’s fine,” Eddie said.

“Noted,” Robin said. “Now spill.”

So Eddie did. He told her about the sleazeball at the bar who wouldn’t take no for an answer. About his daring rescue of pretending to be his boyfriend.

Steve blushed when he heard Robin go, “Awww,” at that.

Eddie grinned at him. Then he launched into the actual fucking rescue. It turned out that Mr. Persistent bumped into Steve to lace his drink with a drug to knock him out.

Steve’s eyes went wide. “He did what now?”

Eddie hummed. “Yeah...it was this whole thing. Jeff even got to punch the guy in the nose. I think the bartender has a crush on him now.”

Steve’s eyebrows went up. The bartender was a thirty something Asian dude with tattoos and piercings. But he supposed it made sense, considering the bar’s general attitude toward that specific portion of the population.

“At least he’ll get free drinks for life, right?” Robin said with a chuckle.

“That’s certainly one way to look at it,” Eddie agreed. “So yeah, this dude bumps into Steve and suddenly our friend is getting tipsy, fast. And I’ve been at many a rager to ply my wares, there was no way Keg King Steve was drunk after two beers, a margarita, and a half of a Cosmo.” The half a Cosmo was from sharing with Gareth.

Steve blushed. He wasn’t proud of those wild days in high school, but it probably saved his life in this case.

“Yeah...” Robin agreed. “I’ve seen him drink men under the table who were bigger and had been drinking longer.”

Eddie nodded even though she couldn’t seen him, but Steve could.

“Then the asshole comes over and starts flirting with Steve again, trying to draw him away,” he continued. “That’s when we really got that Steve wasn’t acting normal. So Brian steps in and tells asshole to leave him alone. But this guy has gone past persistent and into full creep territory.”

“Eww...” Robin hissed. “How did Jeff get his punch in?”

Eddie chuckled. “That’s honestly the best part, so Brian and Gareth take Steve out to my van and I go and get the bouncer. We come back and asshole is trying to get past Jeff to make his escape. So he takes a swing at Jeffy.”

“Bad idea, I’m guessing?” she said with a hint of laughter in her voice.

Steve tilted his head in interest and Eddie fought down a smile.

“Jeff’s dad is a former boxer who taught him how to fight to make the bullies leave him alone.”

Steve’s eyes go wide and Robin said, “Oooh. Please tell me he laid this asshole out! Please!”

“Dude stiffened like a board and went straight down,” Eddie confirmed. “The only downside is that they couldn’t prove anything, so he just got tossed out, but make no mistake, they’ll make sure spread the word around the other gay bars about this guy.”

“That’s good,” Robin agreed.

Steve wandered back over to his food, safe in the knowledge that he was in safe hands.

Jeff and Brian were at the counter grabbing their breakfast so Steve joined them. Coffee was was doled out by Eddie a few moments later.

Creamer, milk, and sugar were placed next to the coffee pot.

“Robin says not worry about coming into work,” Eddie murmured to Steve. “She said she would tell Keith you have the stomach flu. Which according to her will get you at least three days off.”

“That’s pretty impressive,” Brian said. “I don’t think there is anything I could tell my boss short of being in the hospital that would get me even a couple of hours off.”

Steve laughed. “Keith has a weak stomach. You just mention vomiting and the dude turns green.”

“Handy that,” Eddie said with a smile.

“It’s very handy when you’re out drinking and drink too much,” Steve said with a shrug.

“I’ll say,” Jeff said. “I’m just glad we were there, man.”

Steve blushed. “Yeah, me too.”

He dug into his food and was happy to note that while it didn’t necessarily ease the queasiness in his stomach, it didn’t make him want to throw it all back up, either.

He cleared his plate.

“So this is what’s going to happen, Stevie,” Eddie said as he cleaned up the pans from breakfast, “you are going to stay here until I am sure one hundred percent that you won’t throw up on the three hour journey back to Hawkins.”

Steve opened his mouth to argue, but he couldn’t. Right now nothing was coming up, but put him in a moving vehicle and he couldn’t say for sure that breakfast wouldn’t come right back up.

He nodded.

“I gave Robin the address so she’ll be stopping by after she gets off work,” Eddie continued. “I recommend that you get so actual rest, she seems like she’s a lot without her worrying about you, I can only imagine what she’s like when she is.”

Steve blushed.

“We’re going to all stay here,” Gareth said. “At least for one more day. I talked to my mom about it and she would rather pay more for utilities this month then worry about Steve getting worse.”

The other boys nodded their agreement, while Steve blinked at him in confusion.

“What now?”

“You do realize I live in Loch Nora, right?” Gareth asked, raising an eyebrow.

Steve shook his head. “My parents were very much exclusionists, dude. I only got to hang out with people that they deemed acceptable. Nicole, Carol, Tommy H. If they thought they weren’t in the right trade or held more liberal views, they weren’t worthy to interact with their son.”

Gareth blinked. “Fuck, that must have been lonely.”

He ducked his head and half shrugged.

“Anyway,” Gareth continued into the now deafening silence. “They pay for this apartment in the city for when we play gigs or need a place to crash after a night of drinking.”

Steve frowned. “You’re not eighteen yet, though, right?”

“No,” Gareth said with a laugh. “But my parents trust these guys to keep me safe.”

Steve thought about Dustin and his mom. That despite all the things that Steve had gotten up to in his high school career that she still trusted him to take care of her baby.

“Yeah,” he said fondly. “I can see that.”

Eddie came over to the other side of the counter. “Come on, up you get. You’ll be sleeping in my room.”

Steve’s eyes widened. “How many rooms does this place have?”

“Three,” Jeff said. “Brian shares with Gareth, but Eddie and I get our own rooms.”

“That’s because you’re both sluts,” Brian said rolling his eyes, “and me and Gareth don’t want to be kicked out of our rooms when you bring someone home.”

Steve laughed. “Yeah, okay. That’s fair.”

“I’ll give you the tour when I steer you back to my room,” Eddie promised.

Steve nodded and allowed himself to be lead back through the apartment and back to the bedroom.

Eddie tucked him back in and put a garbage can next to the bed. “I’ll be out in the front room, holler if you need me.”

Steve nodded and let himself drift off to sleep.

***

Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Yeah, I'm sorry, I doubt even a middle class family would buy their very young son (if we hold to the belief that Gareth is OG drummer and was in the talent show with Eddie and Chrissy, putting Eddie in 8th grade, Chrissy in 6th, that would make Gareth in 5th grade) a drum kit.

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @rozzieroos @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @emly03 @bookworm0690 @itsall-taken @vecnuthy @bookbinderbitch @redfreckledwolf @littlewildflowerkitten @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @scheodingers-muppet @mira-jadeamethyst @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @genderless-spoon @anne-bennett-cosplayer @irregular-child @lololol-1234 @r0binscript @monsterloverforhire @mugloversonly @live-the-fangirl-life @f0xxyb0xxes @lublix @breealtair @croatoan-like-its-hot @confuseddisastertm @dissociatingdemon @sleepdeprivedflower @thedragonsaunt @jamieweasley13 @hellfireone @dragonmama76

#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #corroded coffin #tw under age drinking

[tw1l1te]

𝖋𝖆𝖑𝖘𝖊 𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖔- 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖔𝖓𝖊

ᨒ↟ ⋆｡°

Hyrule was no more.

That's what the elders told you, at least.

The sacred fields and forests of the kingdom have been blanketed with white snow for a millennia, the sun only behind the clouds. The population of Hyrule has dwindled over time, making this era lonely and full of decay.

Truly an era that should be forgotten.

An era that didn’t deserve a place in the historical archives. 

An era that was doomed to begin with.

Looking out onto the cold, dreadful expanse of Hyrule, you wonder what your life had come to. Being alone for a significant portion of your late teens and constantly on the run wasn’t your idea of a good life. A life where you got to be happy. But, no one really got to have that anymore, everyone lived to survive. They’ve all accepted that in this life, you lasted as long as you could, and that was that.

You felt a stinging cold brush of air against your cheek, instinctively causing you to bundle your scarf tighter around your face. An old habit.

It was about to snow soon. That’s all that Hyrule did anymore: snow. There were no more seasons or days of clear skies, the sunniest the fallen kingdom got was a gloomy gray sky, a white orb just barely being seen amidst the gray blanket. 

Getting up from the rock you sat on, you made your way downhill, back to the run-down village you called home, or the closest thing to that. The elders did their best with the limited resources they had, as after the Reawakening, there was hardly anything left.

The village was small, you could walk the entirety of it in just under five minutes. Being located South of central Hyrule, you were lucky enough to be shrouded in thick forests, protecting your little village. 

Walking through the main pathway, you wave to a few people, a small smile under your scarf. These people were the closest thing to family, as yours had been forgotten about long ago. It was for the best.

You walk up to the main entrance of the meeting house, knocking twice on the wooden door. You open the door and walk inside, making sure to latch the door behind you so the wind wouldn’t blow the damn thing inward. 

“Another storm comin’, aye?” 

You look behind you to see Arden, one of your closest friends and comrades. He was a few years older than you and taller, with shoulder-length black hair that was begging to be trimmed.

“Yep, second one this month and it's only the third week. Make sure your mother stores her plants in the cellar, her herbs are crucial to us.”

He nods, walking to the table in the middle of the shack. The table was littered with half-torn maps and old trinkets, most of them collecting dust.

“...Anything new?” he asks, arms crossed over his form. You knew what he was asking about. Your memories.

“Bits n’ pieces, they’ve been kind of blurry lately, its hard to even understand what’s happening.”

He nods, satisfied with your answer. 

“Well, at least you’re not having constant nightmares, I couldn’t even imagine the horrors you saw.”

You look away from him, recalling your last nightmare. Though so much of it was in fragments, you remember it being so vivid and… real. As if you were him.

“I haven’t had one in a bit, which is nice… I guess. Haven’t gotten any answers to our main issue though. Her.”

“Have you tried writing down what happens in your dreams? Maybe connect the dots after you’ve taken some notes?”

You shake your head, mentally tired from talking so much. After your journey a year ago, you’ve gotten so used to not talking for days or weeks at a time that even a few sentences makes you exhausted. 

“I see. Well, the others are supposed to meet us here-”

There were rapid knocks on the door, sounding impatient and frantic. Looking at Arden, you go to unlatch the door, curious as to what the disruption was about. You were surprised to see Colin, another comrade of the team, standing there looking worried, eyebrows creased.

“Y/n, Arden… I think you should follow me. You need to see this.”

You turn to look back at Arden, giving him a curt nod. Your meeting could wait.

ᨒ↟ ⋆｡°

You and Arden walk with Colin, the lack of information eating away at your brain. What could have possibly worried Colin so much? Did something happen?

You all walk up to the large tent where you kept most of your supplies and food, the thick canvas fabric flapping in the wind. You could hear talking in the tent, several people already residing ithin.

Colin turns to you, muttering “Y/n, they might recognize you based on your clothing. I’d suggest concealing your face a bit, we don’t know their intentions. Could be some of her’s.”

Taking in the tone of his words, you wrap the scarlet scarf around your face, making sure only your eyes were visible. Your hood was already up, so you didn’t have to worry too much about them seeing more of you.

“Thanks.” you murmured, already walking towards the entrance of the tent, hands balled up into fists.

“Be careful, Link.”

ᨒ↟ ⋆｡°

Immediately after walking into the tent, you halt at the number of people in the room. Including two of your other team members, there were twelve people in the room. All of their focus was on you.

Dusk, one of the women of your team, walks up to you.

“We found them while scouting the back woods. They’re armed, but not hostile. They say they’re the heroes of Hyrule, whatever that means.”

You nod curtly at her words, eyeing the group. Their eyes are glued to you, each one with varying degrees of frustration, confusion, or curiosity across their faces. Then it hits you.

It is them. Each one, from each era.

But all together? This is a first.

You wonder why they’re staring at you so much, but then you remember you are wearing the hero’s garb. Same green hat, full green getup. An obvious indicator to them.

You groan internally, you should've changed.

The blonde man with the blue scarf stands up and walks over to you, hand out for a handshake.

“You’re a Link, aren’t you? Pleasure to meet the hero of this era.”

You look at his hand, then back up at him. 

Is he serious?

You snort under your scarf, the casual interaction being so alien to you. The last thing you were interested in doing was being acquaintances with the past heroes.

Seeing your lack of response makes him pull back his hand, face full of confusion. What was up with this era?

The one-eyed hero from behind him suddenly stands up and makes his way to you. His good eye bores down at you before speaking.

“My apologies for my Captain’s forwardness. My name is Link, but we all go by monicker’s to diffuse the confusion. I go by Time, and the others will introduce themselves at a later time. We happened to stumble into your woods and are currently trying to find out where and when we are located.”

You raise an eyebrow at his statement.

When? Meaning… they time traveled?

Dusk beat you to the chase answering, “We don’t exactly count years, but based off of the last era counted, we are about 10,000 years after the Era of The Wilds.”

Time takes a moment to process the information, seemingly doing some mental calculations. He looks back down at you.

“And it’s safe to assume you’re the hero of this era?”

You nod slowly.

He takes a hesitant breath before continuing, “... what happened in this era? From what we’ve briefly seen, its the most destroyed time period we’ve seen.”

Dusk walks up behind you, saving you from the interrogation.

“Our country destroyed itself. No monarchy, no kingdom, barely anything left.”

His brows furrowed, “Ganon’s doing?”

You still at the name. You should have been prepared to answer this question. After all, it was inevitable.

You shake your head.

“Ganondorf?”

Again, you shake your head.

“Then who?”

You look at Dusk, silently pleading her to not tell them of your fate. This was something that needed to be eased onto them slowly. After all, most of them were devout to Hylia in one form or another.

Seeing your desperation, Dusk sighs.

“It’s better if you follow us back to the Resistance Headquarters. We have more information there.”

“And why would we do that? For all we know, this could be an ambush,” the pink-haired male responds.

Dusk rolls her eyes, sending you a smirk, “Because it would be way too much work to clean all the blood and guts up, plus, we don’t have the resources nor luxury to do that.”

You lightly shake your head, not knowing how her sense of humor was still intact after everything. In other circumstances, you would’ve scolded her, but you weren’t up for chatting at the moment.

Tossing a glance over your shoulder, you lead Arden, Dusk, and the heroes back to the headquarters. This was going to be a long day.

ᨒ↟ ⋆｡°

“So yer tellin’ me you’re Wild’s descendant? Surprised yer not feral or somethin’,” Twilight mutters, earning an elbow jab from the one referred to as “Wild”.

They seem… brotherly.

Wild turns to you, holding his chin, “Do you… still have the Sheikah Slate? It might be too old now in your era, but-”

You nod, taking out the slate from under your poncho. It was in much worse condition than Wild’s, but it had alterations and had been through a few thousand years.

He hesitantly picks it up from your hands, almost worried that the Slate would wither away from how fragile it felt.

“It looks… different, changed. Does it have new functions?”

Arden points at the screen, “Yeah, Link added a few alternate functions like a more expansive map and the ability to communicate with others.”

“Communicate?”

“A couple other groups across Hyrule have a similar type of slate, though they can only use it to communicate. It’s good for fast and quick communication.”

He nods, examining the slate some more. He shuts it off, handing it back to you.

 You choose to ignore the warmth coming from his fingertips.

“It seems you’re advanced in technology, and yet, so rural and primitive. Is there a reason for that?”

Arden looks at you while he speaks, “Well, technology was advancing right up until the Reawakening, and quickly declined after that. We managed to salvage a few things during the event, though a lot of it looks ancient now. Still works, though.”

He shoots you a lop-sided smile, “You should totally see Link’s snowbike though, that thing is a beast.”

Wild raises an eyebrow, “Snowbike? Like the Master Cycle Zero?”

You nod. You forgot he had one of those.

Time buts in, seemingly preoccupied with something else.

“As much as I am curious about your modern advancements, I believe we have more pressing matters at hand. Primarily, why we’re here in your era.”

You nod again, eyeing Arden and Dusk. You needed the room.

Arden walks up to you, murmuring “You sure? I don’t trust them.”

You place a hand on his arm, nodding. He looks down at your hand, eyes flicking between your hand and your eyes. He wanted to say something, but decided to bite his tongue. He wordlessly nods, and both him and Dusk leave you with the group, latching the old door behind him.

You ignore the strange interaction between the both of you, deciding to check up on him after.

You adjust your scarf, pulling it downward so your entire face is visible. The scarf muffled your speech and you were starting to get a bit suffocated with the fabric over your mouth.

“Y-you’re-”

“A female?”

The group seems to go silent at that, emotions ranging from confusion, shock, disbelief, even some excitement from a couple.

Arm over your chest, you kneel on one knee, your head bowed. Taking a small breath, you raspily introduce yourself:

 “My name is Link, the Forgotten Hero.”

ᨒ↟ ⋆｡°

#yandere linked universe x reader #yandere linked universe #linked universe au #linked universe x reader #linked universe #false hero au

[flyin-shark]

Well now you know I have to ask- why do you hate liberals?

Ok so the main issue is their support of capitalism. Capitalism exploits workers, greatly exploits the global south, gives capitalists (the people that own capital not the supporters of capitalism) way more than they could ever hope to work for. Literally look up the numbers on bezos and other billionaires it’s ridiculous. There’s a LOT more on capitalism but that’s enough for this post.

Besides their support of the system that exploits us, they fail to understand the connections between capital and the state. They’ll say things like “vote with your dollar” without realizing that people with more dollars get more votes. On a larger scale this means governments are going to side with capital. The nature of power structures is to centralize like this.

Liberals will say they support bipoc and queer folk without caring to change the power structures oppressing us. Sure they’ll sell rainbow pins on Etsy but they aren’t going to address the structural changes that need to be made to protect queer people. Sure they’ll support black artists but we can’t do anything about the prison industrial complex. Maybe putting even more cops on the streets will help /s

So much of what they do is performative. Look we painted Black Lives Matter on a street. We solved racism. Look all the corporations used rainbow logos for a month. Homophobia and transphobia have been defeated. Like at least you sound like you want change but only enough to keep enough people happy so the status quo doesn’t change.

Last point I’ll mention is that liberals always expect compromise. One side is fighting for their rights and the other wants that side dead. Liberals come in saying come on guys let’s be civil here. Surely there’s some compromise we can come to. My existence and the rights of others are not up for debate. Compromise is what got us the three fifths rule where African Americans were counted as 3/5 of a person. Compromise gets us the 13th amendment which outlawed slavery except in cases of s crime. Which then leads to the prison industrial complex and the prison population of today. Compromise is what gave the right the Supreme Court, ending abortion rights for millions of people.

That’s a good portion of why I don’t like liberals. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

#shark sayin stuff #196 #liberals suck tbh #they should get better ideologies #long post

[waitmyturtles]

THE MORNING AFTER: ONLY FRIENDS, EPISODE 12 -- WHEN ONLY FRIENDS GOT 2GETHER-ED

TRIGGER WARNING: EVERYONE'S UP FOR CRITICISM HERE, JOJO AND TEAM, FORCEBOOK, FIRSTKHAO, ALL OF THEM. Read at your peril.

Well. Big deep breaths. I spent a lot of time on a show that had been marketed as not-a-BL, that ended as a BL. As a mom with not that much time to spend on watching and writing on dramas that were marketed incorrectly, I am feeling some kinda way (fucking pissed off).

So many people had amazing takes yesterday, on both sides of the aisle, regarding how the show ended (pro-ending here, anti-ending here, here, here, here, here, and here, and my dear friends @neuroticbookworm and @lurkingshan did heavy lifting on reblogs yesterday, so stroll on over to their blogs for more).

I want to set up a constellation of points to touch upon before I get into the meat of this post.

1) I referred quite a bit to my review of Theory of Love throughout my watch of Only Friends. In that review, I meditate on how the majority of the general global public judges sex, and casual sex, and people who have sex and/or casual sex. Generally speaking -- even in countries that makes as progressive art on sex and sexuality as Thailand and the United States -- that's a rule of thumb that I can rely on. Sex is judged by the majority of the global public.

2) I hate to say it. I cannot believe this happened. But I was right about monogamy being an ultimate theme in Only Friends. Not just a theme, fam. A theme by which people judged others for having open, casual, and consensual sex. Queer sex. Queer sex that is so very often had outside of the constraints of a monogamous relationship.

There was a reason why that holiday party was populated by couples, except for Boston, and Boston had to grovel to them in apology for their friendship. In Only Friends: monogamy wins, and casual queer sex loses.

3) Unfortunately, in part though an analysis of Cheum inside of last week that I accidentally started (ha), I see that points 1 and 2 come together to have created a fabric and framework of judgement that Only Friends ended on.

The last paragraph in this excellent post by @benkaaoi notes that the assumption by a large portion of the OF fandom that the creative choices that were made to end this series were designed to save the sanctity -- economic and otherwise -- of the shipped pairs of ForceBook and FirstKhao. This rings true to me.

Most of the BL shows that I've watched this year are older shows, through my Old GMMTV Challenge, in which I've been studying the changes over time that GMMTV and other Thai networks, have made towards their editorial choices, attitudes, and risks in producing BLs. I included Only Friends on this syllabus to note the show's impact as a kind of zeitgeist measure of how much heat and literary controversy GMMTV could take in airing increasingly progressive queer media -- even though Only Friends wasn't originally intended to be a BL.

To the theory that Only Friends needed to save the ships... and to another theory that the ships needed to be saved in the most moralistically judgmental way that I could have ever imagined (I was actually blown away by how heavy-handed this messaging was) -- I look to the ending of 2gether.

The majority general reaction to the ending of 2gether from within the existing BL fandom in 2020, was one of guffawed incredulousness. BrightWin/SarawatTine did not kiss in the first season of 2gether. It took Aof Noppharnach to come in to make Still 2gether to indicate that these two young men may have been at least vaguely sexual with each other throughout the course of their fictional relationship.

Yet, 2gether was a massive success. Many theorize it was because 2gether was the first big BL to air during the start of the COVID pandemic, and new BL fans had time to be at home and watch shows. But I posit in my 2gether/Still 2gether review that 2gether was also successful PRECISELY BECAUSE IT LACKED SEX (and by sex here, I mean plain old kissin').

As I stated earlier: sex is judged by the majority of the global public. With BrightWin NOT kissing, new fans who may have been implicitly and/or explicitly turned off by physical depictions of queer love could glom comfortably onto 2gether, and watch a BL without the "threat" of physical depictions of two men expressing their love to each other.

Subsequently, BrightWin gained massive social media followings, 2gether made GMMTV buckets of money, and GMMTV went -- well, hot diggity.

Many of us had impressions of Only Friends as...something else than it ended up being. Early on, Jojo Tichakorn, for instance, cited an early non-GMMTV, non-BL show, Gay OK Bangkok, that he and Aof Noppharnach worked on in 2016 and 2017, as being referential to Only Friends. Gay OK Bangkok centered on a group of queer friends, mostly cisgender men with Jennie Panhan in the mix, as they lived their lives and dated away in Bangkok.

I'll tell ya, GOKB didn't end the way Only Friends did, and I'll get into that more in a bit. I believe @benkaaoi, @lurkingshan, and others are absolutely right that the ultimate moralization on casual sex that this show depicted -- and how Only Friends punished Boston for his casual sex -- was an economic decision designed to reflect on the sanctity of monogamy that shipped couples like ForceBook and FirstKhao can sell back to their fans, fans that may have actually flocked to GMMTV shows from 2gether, and that demand a fantasy of devoted monogamy from both fictional characters and professional actors who are actually only just doing fan service to earn their livings. GMMTV has known for a long time how to make money, and money the network doth has made from Only Friends, and from shipping their ships around the world to service the growing fandom.

Casual sex in fiction, casual sex that breaks up the ships.... fucks that economic shit all up.

GMMTV has taught us our lesson, a lesson that we had already learned from the no-kissing rule of 2gether. Loose lips shall not sink ships at this network. And I think we lost a chance for a big and progressively artistic zeitgeist that GMMTV could have taken risks on, if it had the courage to risk depicting something truly novel.

I want to note quickly another framework that I dug into while I was watching this show. I sent a flare to @lurkingshan before I started watching the episode that I was going to, in part, watch this last episode from my personal Asian lens. I wanted to ask myself, as I was watching this disaster -- is there anything happening here that strikes my heart with fear and doom as an Asian?

Indeed, yes. I didn't expect it, but there was a dialogue on individualism vs. collectivism.

Boston. My dear, sweet Boston. Boston, named after a city so very distant from Bangkok.

Boston was punished by his group of friends because he didn't adhere to the rules of the group. His individualistic actions and preferences -- his preferences to "roll alone," as Nick stated, would not work in the frameworks of either monogamy with Nick and/or the group dynamics of the hostel crew.

The link I linked above is an amazing answer to an inquiry I posed to dear @absolutebl last year about how Asian social collectivist paradigms are depicted in BLs. In that question-and-answer dialogue, I asked ABL Sensei about the motif of queer revelations in BLs, and how seemingly straight characters respond in kind to being approached with a proposition to a queer dalliance and/or relationship. Generally speaking, the Asian collectivist mindset is to at least attempt to respond in kind to those kinds of propositions, as one's behavioral habits are designed to be responsive to others instinctually, as opposed to only servicing oneself. To only service oneself is not only seen as selfish, but also as disturbing to the general flow of public existence among one's societies. To respond in kind means that you will not cause potentially disturbing angst to another individual or group. (Collectivism explains why Asian countries performed much better with mask mandates during the pandemic than we in the States did.)

So -- Boston filming Ray, Boston sleeping with Top, created waves in the friend group. He was so severely punished for it.

And the show iterates, and repeats, Nick's preference that Boston move forward alone in Boston's life, because of Boston's tendencies to make decisions that suit himself. As an Asian-American, I mutter to myself: god forbid.

Nick will not commit to Boston -- and yet, will also condemn Boston for making his own decisions outside of the specter of a monogamy that does not exist between Nick and Boston, and that Boston will still get judged for, as referenced in the Sand/Nick conversation depicted above.

In other words: if Boston makes a decision for himself? That's punishable. Because it might hurt someone else's feelings -- a someone else that actually hasn't committed to Boston, and/or allowed Boston to commit himself to.

This group caught Boston in a moralistic and collectivist catch-22, the likes of which I just would have never expected from Jojo and team, even if the creative team faced the economic pressures of the GMMTV bigwigs. I'm sorry to state that I am beyond disappointed in this condemnation of individualism, sending Boston alone, judged, and friendless, off to New York City to live in, what, the immoral boundaries of Chelsea? Homey, get a fucking SWEET-ASS PAD, and FUCK THESE LOSERS, leave 'em BEHIND in your cloud of airplane gas emissions. See you at the La Quinta rooftop bar on 32nd Street, friendo.

Only Friends could have ended so much better. And I understand that in the Only Friends novel, published AFTER the script was finished, that it did end somewhat better for Boston (cc @jinitak, reporting from Thailand, thank you for this heads-up about the novel!).

So. Any-fucking-way. Do y'all know how Gay OK Bangkok ended?

Of many lovely endings for the various GOKB characters, an older main character, Aof, was dating a much younger character, Big. (CC to @neuroticbookworm for our quick convo on this last night.)

Aof was sex-averse. Big wanted lots of sex. Big slept with a lot of people. He loved Aof. Aof couldn't handle Big having sex with other people, and they broke up. It was a lovingly handled break-up, written just gorgeously by Aof Noppharnach.

After their break-up, I thought Big would disappear from the show. Instead. Instead! Nong Big, the little brother to the core group of queer friends that centered GOKB, was welcomed back with open arms. Arm, Pom, Sathang (played by an effervescent Jennie Panhan), and others toasted to Big, telling him he would always be family, no matter if him and his ex, Aof, had broken up. In the queer circles of friends that I'm a part of, exes are not as commonly excommunicated as they are in straight circles.

Only Friends could have been this. Something, a little something, like this.

Instead, Only Friends punished a friend for acting outside of the rules of their group.

Boston was punished because.... because Only Friends had to end up being a BL. For the sake of the moolah, for the sake of collectivism, for the sake of the shippers who'll buy tickets around the world to see ForceBook and FirstKhao perform fan service on stage.

I just didn't think that the show would be so brutal, on so many levels, in the end, to people who want to have casual sex. I don't think any of us expected this. But, it's over, it's done, and the piece has been said -- GMMTV said, no casual sex today, and here's how we actually feel about it.

I'll see you over on Gagaoolala for Playboyy. Deuces, OF.

(It was an absolute pleasure writing meta with the Ephemerality Squad -- onto the next one! @lurkingshan @neuroticbookworm @ranchthoughts @twig-tea @slayerkitty @thatgirl4815 @distant-screaming @clara-maybe-ontheroad)

#only friends the series #only friends #only friends meta #force jiratchapong #book kasidet #forcebook #topmew #top x mew #mew x top #firstkhao #first kanaphan #khaotung thanawat #neomark #neo trai #mark pakin #sandray #sand x ray #ray x sand #bostonnick #boston x nick #nick x boston #lookjun bhasidi #nonnie pitchaporn #lookjunnonnie #april x cheum #cheum x april #neo trai deserved much much better than this stupid role #ephemerality squad

[essektheylyss]

The reason that Ashton learning about the Luxon is interesting is not because it would change their stance on the pantheon (considering the Luxon is not of the pantheon and therefore any change in opinion on, say, Pelor, would be a false and reductive equivalence), but because their stance on religion as a whole is currently reductive in a deeply unproductive and, frankly, potentially dangerous way, and the Luxon's existence flies in the face of that.

Ashton has a basic but narrow view of how the gods operate: someone asks for something, and the gods answer. He may acknowledge that generally the answer is given as part of an exchange, but might also feel that the extent of his suffering is worth more than the offering usually made. This is a very valid and understandable position! They suffered under some destructive force of nature, and later under the general indifference of the world, and if there are gods who claim to do good in the world*, and suffering persists, how can those gods be considered just?

This is, I must make very explicit, an incredibly complex and old philosophical question in the real world even where the existence of gods is not a material reality, and not one that's going to be solved by a bunch of fandom bloggers, no matter how enlightened one thinks they are. It is also a question that is straight up not a concern in a lot of faiths, so by necessity, one cannot equate "in this context, are the gods just?" to the question of whether worship, as a practice, is just.

In any case, Ashton's concern is more personal than philosophical—his stance is borne not of any intensive questioning of the justice of gods, but because he's been hurt, and he wanted to be helped, and wasn't**. And this is valid, but the extrapolation to "the gods can die for all I care," does attempt to make that equivocation. In suggesting the removal of the source of worship of a large portion of the world, which at least something of the means to act upon that suggestion, they're implicitly taking the stance that their anger alone is worth more than the mundane benefits that collective portion of the population receives from their worship.

It bears noting here that this is specifically about his anger, and not his suffering, because the death of the gods won't change his history. In fact, nothing is going to change that! This is really where Ashton's anger lies, but the anger isn't actionable there, which is why it comes out elsewhere. When funneled in a reasonable and willful direction (such as towards Ludinus) anger can be very productive; this isn't to say that this emotion is the problem in itself. But directing it toward the gods will have a pointed negative impact on much of the world, and will likely not stop those worshippers who are enacting harm from finding other ways to do so, which means it's a net loss in terms of what Ashton wants, which is to keep people from harm.

And drawing attention to the anger is also relevant, because, well, that's where we get back to the Luxon.

Ashton's Rage mechanic is based explicitly in dunamis and, by extension, the Luxon itself. The ability is linked narratively to their fall at Jiana Hexum's house and subsequent patching up by Milo, who dumped a potion of possibility into their head. When Imogen and FCG have entered his mind, the description is similar to the description of concentrating on a Luxon beacon.

There's an argument to be made that dunamis itself more than the beacons individually is what comprises the entity known as the Luxon; the potions were distilled initially from a beacon, and we've seen other forms of the same thing, such as the purple gems in Aeor. We also know that the Luxon is an entity that may go back to before the Founding***, because Essek, a noted skeptic, found evidence of its existence as such in Aeor, an arcane society that attempted to kill the gods themselves.

The Luxon as a divine entity*** has not, as far as anyone has claimed, directly spoken to a mortal, follower or otherwise. The Dynasty believes it has sent messages that their umavi can divine and interpret into scripture, and in theory clerics that follow it can receive information via divination the same way as any other cleric, but none of these involve direct speech, and overall it's not clear that it is in fact an entity capable of communication as mortals would imagine communication.****

This is notably different than the Pantheon as a whole. The primary boon that the Dynasty believes the Luxon has given them, based on their ability with the beacon to escape Lolth's dominion, is to wield more control over one's own destiny. If we proceed under the assumption that this is how the Luxon brokers any relationship to mortals, then we end up back to the idea that the ability that Ashton has gained from the dunamis that was used to seal their wounds was control over, and the ability to act upon, the anger that they harbor.

It's in fact exactly what Ashton asked for, both in his past and now, in this past conversation with the party, suggesting that he'll actually hear out any god that actually suggests they want him. It's also clearly something they still want, given that they went looking for it in Issylra. No matter how disaffected Ashton may claim to be, his actions betray the fact that he does in some way want the acknowledgment of an entity larger than he is.

So whether or not Ashton changes their tune on the pantheon doesn't matter in the long run. What learning about the Luxon would do is force Ashton to confront the fact that, first, gods as a whole do not necessarily conform to the limited knowledge they've based their views on, and second, that maybe a god already gave them what they asked for.

And Ashton is still perfectly at liberty to ignore that without consequence—the use of dunamis has never been contingent on belief or worship, as evidenced by the numerous wizards who use it regardless. But it does raise the question for Ashton both of his own worth in the view of something larger than he is, regardless of whether he thinks the gods have already discarded him, and also the very premise on which he chooses where to direct his anger.

It's up to Ashton, as it's always been, to actually decide where to go from there.

*I won't interrogate this at length here because I don't think it's relevant, but I also don't believe the Prime Deities have ever claimed that their purpose, if they can be said to have a purpose, is to do good. Even the temples of Vasselheim orient themselves more toward the purpose of maintaining balance and order rather than any concept of "good", and many of the pantheon who are not explicitly included among the Betrayers have neutral alignment.

**For further commentary on the flaws in Ashton's assumptions around relationship to a god, see here.

***The question of whether or not the Luxon is A God is also irrelevant here, because it has been worshipped as such and confers power comparably to the Prime Deities, so we'll proceed without worrying about it.

****For further commentary on the nature of how the Luxon communicates and enacts its will in the Material Realm, see here.

For further commentary on the general tone of this post, see here.

#yes as you can see from the preview this IS a meta with footnotes #I make no apologies. read my footnotes boy. #critical role #cr spoilers #ashton greymoore #cr meta #was this intended to be this long? no. is this where we're at? yes. #you really do need to disclaim every fuckin thing around here.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

I had always wondered why Binns wasn't replaced or the material updated for the History of Magic classes.

However I recently realised that History is a crucial part of understanding the world's past and paving the way for future. Not to mention History is tied with Civics/ Politics and plays a role in gaining your footing in the world and navigating creature relations.

To take such a crucial element away from the students and tell them to flounder on their own (especially muggle borns and raised who don't have the resources that pureblood and even half blood children do)

Coupled with the fact that whenever Harry learns a piece of history it's always from a biased source and by word of mouth (I mean text books can also be biased but still)

What I want to say is that generations of kids were seriously screwed over by the decision to not hire another effective History teacher.

Yes!! Yes!! All of this!!!

History is such an important thing to teach (I actually think real schools, at least where I live don't do a great job at it). As you mentioned, History is crucial to understanding politics, language, economy, and so much more. In the Harry Potter world, each spell comes with its own history of how it came into being and why, which affects how the spell is cast and what its effects are.

Now, Binns was the Hogwarts history Professor for a good century at least (he taught history in 1890 in Hogwarts Legacy as a ghost already), so it's not just Dumbledore who willfully keeps generations of Hogwarts students ignorant. And I think, if we opened their school books, we'd find a very biased account of Wizarding History and the goblin rebellions.

Now, I have a bit of a conspiracy theory about this and why history and magical theory aren't properly thought. Because their school books don't really cover why spells work or why potions need one ingredient over another, which in a world of magic feels like the bare minimum. I think the education problems, both with magical theory and with history are for the same reason — control.

As you mentioned, history is crucial to finding your footing in a culture, to understanding the world around you. Someone who is ignorant of history is easier to manipulate. They would be more prone to believing biased accounts and propaganda. And it's chilling how easy it was for the ministry to paint Harry as a deranged liar in book 5 by printing it in the Prophet. Even students who spoke with Harry and knew him personally believed it.

In book 7, a good portion of their world just kept living their lives, like there wasn't a war, like the minister wasn't under the Imperius. Some of the pure-bloods and half-bloods that have nothing to fear and aren't involved with the Death Eaters or the Order, they're just, there, living like nothing's wrong. They go to school, they go to work. Because if the newspaper (that's controlled by the ministry) says everything's fine, it must be true? Right? *sarcasm*

These are all signs of a very media-illiterate community that doesn't know how to be skeptical of what they read. And learning history, learning to ask questions about history, play a big part in teaching people how to be skeptical. I mean, learning about the history of propaganda and fascist regimes helps you know what to look for and how to hopefully not fall for the same tricks.

But the Wizarding World isn't interested in that. They're interested in a calm and controllable population.

Magical theory is the same in some ways. I wrote about how magic is all about intention here and here a bit. If you are focused and have enough magic and the force of will to back it up you can do anything. You don't actually need a wand or spells to cast magic, just a strong enough wish. This is how accidental magic works. Bright wizards like Tom and even Harry can learn to control their accidental magic, proving magic doesn't need wand waving and incantations. Yes, they make casting easier but they're not necessary.

But do you know what wands are necessary for? Following and identifying wizards. Wands are used to identify wizards and forbidding the use of them by creatures adds to the treatment of creatures as second-rate citizens.

And incantations? Well, if anyone could just cast whatever without a spell, magic would be incredibly hard (I might even say impossible) to regulate. You can't define which spells are unforgivable if spells don't exist. You can't make a list of illegal dark incantations if there are no incantations.

TL;DR

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is kind of a dystopia.

#harry potter #hp #hp meta #hollowedheadcanon #hp headcanon #ministry of magic #wizarding world #harry potter meta #hollowedtheory

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Western Gull, Best(ern) Gull

The western gull (Larus occidentalis) is a common sight throughout the western coast of North America, from British Columbia in Canada to Baja California, Mexico. Within this range, it is found almost exclusively near the coast or on offshore islands, and only rarely turns up more than 160 km (100 miles) inland or far out at sea.

One of the larger gull species, L. occidentalis weighs about 0.8-1.4 kg (1.8-3.1 lbs) and measures 130 to 144 cm (51 to 57 in) from wingtip to wingtip. The markings are fairly plain; adults of both sexes sport a white head and body and grey or black wings. The bill is bright yellow, with a red spot on the lower portion. Because of their simple plumage, the western gull bears a strong resemblance to several other gull species that inhabit the same region, including the California gull and the glaucous-winged gull. In fact, the western gull has been known to hybridize extensively with the glaucous-winged gull, and in some regions the hybrid population is larger than either parent species.

Western gulls establish territories as mated pairs within a larger colony, and once a territory has been established they almost never relocate. Courtship begins in the spring, around March, and is usually complete by May. Males establish a nest in the colony, and prospective females arrive to inspect it. After a brief ritual, the male and female become paired for life. A typical clutch consists of 1-3 eggs, which are incubated by both parents until they hatch about a month after laying. Chicks remain at the nest for an additional 10 weeks, but mortality for young western gulls is extremely high and only 1 in 3 typically make it to independence. Adults may live to be anywhere between 15 and 25 years old in the wild.

L. occidentalis is perhaps best known for its large and voracious appetite. While strictly carnivorous in the wild, individuals will consume a variety of unappetising foods including plastic, decaying plant material, garbage, and food scraps offered by humans. In their natural habitat, the western gull feeds on fish, marine invertebrates like crabs and snails, and terrestrial invertebrates such as earthworms, beetles, and carrion. This species is also known for stealing from other animals, and groups often establish themselves near other shorebird colonies in order to poach their meals. Adults themselves are seldom predated upon by other animals, but chicks may become food for predators like foxes and coyotes.

Conservation status: Based on their large and stable population, the IUCN has determined the western gull to be of Least Concern. The most common threats to this species are contamination from pesticides and herbicides, habitat loss, and consumption of inorganic materials like plastics.

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Photos

John C. Avise

Mick Thompson

#western gull #Charadriiformes #Laridae #gulls #sea birds #birds #marine fauna #marine birds #coasts #coastal birds #north america #western north america #Pacific ocean #animal facts #biology #zoology #ecology

[yaut-jaknowit]

Allergies. A male reader who absolutely SUFFERS during spring and summer, constantly using eye drops, nasle sprays, and even pills if it's bad enough. But is always too stubborn to take it. And it's like "oh I'm fine." Or "this is nothing I'm okay I promise" shit. And their partner has to force him to take them, and they admire the humans fight, but in the end. They end the human takes the medicine✨️

It's fine if you don't write this. I just really love your writing frfr

Allergies

Pairing: Wolf (Male Yautja) x M!Reader

Word Count: 1716

Summary: It's unfortunate that males trees are sought over than female trees. Because that leaves a good portion of the population to suffer during the spring time. Wolf knows a simple pill could relieve you of this agony and fetches the needed box. Yet, you brush it off. This is a hunter we're talking about. He doesn't get 'brushed off'.

Author Note: I've been blessed to not have allergies, not that I've noticed at least. That says something living in a place full of dust and wind storms.

Masterlist

Ao3

A fun fact you learned back in high school has always haunted you. Most trees that are planted in cities and the such are male. Female trees are known to produce fruit and flowers. Such things would create an unnecessary messy on sidewalks and roads. So, city planners decided to plant male trees instead to reduce the mess those trees would create.

They did not take in account the fact male trees produce pollen. The very thing causing you weeks of misery during the spring and summer. You can’t breathe right. Your eyes water constantly, blinding you at points.

It’s life though. You’ll live. Just got to grow some balls and power through.

Here you were, sitting on the porch of your apartment that faced the forest. A steaming cup of coffee in hand. Said drink gracious concocted by your loving partner. He was back inside after mumbling about grabbing you something that you didn’t quiet catch. You happily sipped away at the coffee held in your hands and looked out at the forest.

The sliding glass door behind you squeaked its call. Out stepped your hunk of a mate: Wolf. You smiled and leaned back in your chair, head tilted backwards to look at his towering frame. “Hey, love,” you greeted softly, voice a bit hoarse. You sniffled and rubbed at your running nose with the back of your hand.

Wolf scoffed and stopped shy of your plastic lawn chair. In his hand, he held out a box. You gave another sniffle and looked down at the small paper box. Allergy medicine. You huffed and rolled your eyes. “Wolf, I’ve told you. I’m okay,” you disregarded him and kicked your legs up on the footstool across from you.

There was a grunt behind you before the large Yautja moved in front of you.

Luck was on your side when you first moved into this little one-bedroom apartment. With the forest being your backyard on the second floor, you didn’t fret if anyone could see your mate. Neither did he attempt to conceal himself. There was no reason to. Which allowed him free roam of your apartment, including this dinky little balcony that’s offered to you.

Playfully, you smiled up at your lean mate. He threw one leg over your crossed limbs and stood tall. You couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled in your chest at the sight of him. The male was being stoic and stern with you.

After breaking away the outer, steel edge of his personality, you learned how soft he was on the inside. Ready to swoop in and protect you at a moment’s call. You would never trade him for anyone or anything.

A brow was raised due to his antics. “Love, I’m fine. This is nothing. I’m okay, I promise,” you cooed to Wolf. Yet, the Yautja wasn’t convinced. You sniffled snot back into your head and grinned a toothy smile at him. He grunt again and leaned down, fully getting into your face.

Those bright eyes on you weren’t anything like the predatory gaze he was attempting to use on you. You reached out and cupped his jaw, stroking his cheek with a thumb.

The box was offered, more like shoved into your face, again. Another roll of your eyes. If you had to name one thing about Wolf, it would be his persistence. The corner of your smile tilted up further.

You grabbed the box out of his hand. Hope grew in his eyes. He settled for the fact he had won. Then, you placed it on the side table and returned to sipping away your coffee. It was nearly gone at this point. “I told you, Wolf. I-“ you reeled your head back and sneezed into the crook of your elbow. The snot was wiped away with your shirt. “All good, see?”

Wolf groaned and let his head rolled forward, nearly smacking you with the large dome portion of his head. You placed a kiss there. “There, there,” you consoled at his lost. He huffed and pulled away.

Something alit in his eyes. The Yautja dipped his head, turned on his heel, and leapt down from the balcony.

Earlier in the relationship, you would’ve scrambled to see if he had made it safely. Knowing now how nimble and agile this hunk of muscle is, you stayed rooted in your chair.

He had something planned. You didn’t want to get wrapped up in it.

.

Despite the fact you knew late at night you would wake to regret this decision, you left your bedroom window open all night. With it being spring, the weather was perfect to allow the outside air to mingle with the indoor air.

Only for you wake to a completely stuffy nose. Your eyes watering so much you couldn’t see clearly to walk to the bathroom for tissues. You did stumble your way to the sink while gaining a couple new bruises along the way. You found yourself leaning against the counter with snot and tears dripping down your face.

A groan sounded from your scratchy, dried throat. This was a completely, horribly mistake on your part. You should’ve taken one second to even think of how you were going to wake up. Worst of all, you had work later today. Eight hours of dealing with stupid people like this. You groaned and rested your forehead on the cool laminate counter.

Today was going to suck.

After taking ten minutes to clean your disgusting face and orifices at the same time, you lumbered into the kitchen. The smell of fresh, brewing coffee wafting past the hardened snot still plugging your nose. You smiled softly to yourself and spotted a newly poured cup sitting on the kitchen counter, right in sight. Thank whoever brought Wolf to you.

Mentioned Yautja was standing at the kitchen table, hunched over while reading something. His gauntlet sat on the wooden table top, a screen hovering above the device. You walked over to him and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Morning, Wolfie.” You got a grumble both at the greeting and the name calling. If it was anyone else saying that to him, that person would no longer live.

You happily picked up the cup and leaned against the counter. From your spot, you admired Wolf. From what little he’s spoken about, he’s a highly ranked hunter on his planet. Something you liked to tease him about how your Wolfie is such a big bad predator. What ever did you do to do deserve a man like him? Well, whatever is it, you’re thankful to have done it.

Wolf pulled himself away from his work and took the two steps to crowd you against the cabinets. Not an ounce of fear entered your veins at the sight. No. Instead, a smile spilt your face as you gazed up at your man.

With your chest to his stomach, he pinned you there. You sniffled a couple of times during the silence and continued to drink away at your coffee. You already knew what he was trying to do without him showing his cards.

Persistent.

The box was pressed to your chest. Wolf leaned down and got into your face. “Take it,” he rumbled and stared directly into your eyes. You leaned forward and kissed the space between his mandibles.

“No.”

“Take the pauk-de medicine.” Oh, he growled this time!

Your pointer finger hooks on one of his bottom mandibles and gave it a tiny tug. “You’re cute when you get all demanding,” you cooed to the hunter. Wolf groaned with exasperation.

A light bulb appeared over Wolf’s head. Your eyes narrowed on him while watching him carefully. He raised one of his upper mandibles in an alien grin. Uh oh.

One moment, your coffee was resting in your hands. Then, it was gone! You whined as Wolf held it high above your head. You attempted to jump and take it back from your rude mate but he kept you trapped to the cabinets. The box still pressed to your chest.

“Take it and you’ll get this horrible tasting liquid back,” he argued and dipped his head down at the medicine he was holding to. Wolf knew your weak points. He did this on purpose! Being all sweet, making you coffee for every morning for the last year, just to do his bidding! You huffed and leaned far enough away to cross your arms.

“You’re so mean, Wolfie,” you mumbled and glared at the floor. You wiped at your leaking eyes. “Can’t believe you mess with a man’s coffee. You know nothing of human culture.”

All he gave you was a deadpanned look, face going slack. He tapped a claw against the box, creating a clicking noise. You huffed again, looking into bright eyes to see if that would get him to relent first. Yet, with the threat of your coffee being taken, you sighed and tilted your head back. You flipped your hand, palm up, waiting for the box to fall into your hand. “Fine,” you relented and dragged out the word. “Give me the damned box.”

A large smirk graced your mate’s face. The medicine was dropped into your open palm. A chaste, closed mandible kiss was pressed to your cheek. Wolf stepped back but kept the coffee out of reach. Smart little sucker.

You grabbed a glass then filled it up with just enough water to down a pill. A pout clouded your expression as you looked upon Wolf. “There, happy?” His grin had yet to fade.

Wolf leaned in and rubbed his forehead to your temple with a purr beginning in his chest. The sour expression soon fell away to a soft smile. “Alright, alright, you big teddy bear,” you laughed and patted cheek. “I’ve got work later tonight so I’ve got a few things to accomplish beforehand. Give me my coffee back.”

The cup was returned to your hand. “Don’t know how you can drink that c’jit,” he rumbled with a sneer.

“You don’t know what you’re missing, love. Now, don’t mess with a man’s coffee again,” you threatened your mate with a grin. He chortled gave a final purr before stepping away.

.

“Oh, hey. I can breath again!” There was a grunt of exasperation.

#yautja #predator #yautja x reader #yautja x you #alien vs predator #predator x reader #yautja x human #predator x you #predator x human #x reader #Wolf

[alex51324]

It's Almost Here! North American Solar Eclipse, 2024

As I mentioned in that other post, it will be visible as at least a partial eclipse to most of North America, with the path of totality cutting a diagonal from Sinaloa, Mexico to Newfoundland, Canada, including 15 US states from Texas to Maine.

Don't be fooled by how we just had one back in October, and another one a few years ago in 2017: total solar eclipses are rare! They only happen when the Sun, Moon, and Earth line up just perfectly--and only for a small portion of the Earth's surface each time.

It's a wild coincidence that North America/the US has gotten three in such a short span of time; the last one before the recent trio was in 1979, and the next one won't be until 2044. (We do have a big partial coming to us in 2033!) The Northeastern US won't see another until the 2070's.

(Note: If you are not in North America, you can use these maps to see when your continent will have its turn!)

This eclipse is also really special in that its path of totality sweeps across a lot of heavily-populated areas. About 31 million people live within the path of totality, and millions more are expected to visit.

So, it's a pretty big deal, and now's the time to get ready!

If you live in the path of totality:

Lucky you! Look up your location on these maps to get the exact time and duration of totality.

Be ready for extra traffic & crowds--especially if you live somewhere with stuff for tourists, or a place that people outside the immediate area will have heard of.

Totality times are in the afternoon, ranging from about 1:30 in Texas to 3:30 in Maine (local times), so if you'll be at school, or at work in a setting where you can't choose your own break times, now's a good time to talk to whomever you need to. It's not unreasonable to ask to step out into the parking lot for the three minutes that people will be coming from far and wide to see--but depending on your setting, it may take some arranging ahead of time. (If you're in school, hopefully your science teachers have already thought of this, but if not, ask them. And if your science teachers are jerks, try other teachers.

If you live near the path of totality:

Try to go! As the American author Annie Dillard says, "Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him, or as flying in an airplane does to falling out of an airplane."

(Link is to the Atlantic; if you hit a paywall, the 12-foot ladder works.)

Here's a map of approximate driving distances to the path of totality, in the US (from this page).

If you're close enough to think about going, here are some Google maps with eclipse overlays for more detailed planning. (I like the Xavier Jubier one.)

Once you're inside the path of totality, anywhere you can see the sun is a valid viewing location, but if you're making a day of it and you want to find a special spot, check local visitor's bureaus or tourism offices for the area you'll be in. They'll probably have a list of parks and other places. For instance, here's what Erie, Pennsylvania has.

Seriously, If you are able to drive/have a car, live within day-trip distance of the path of totality, and can be away from work/school without losing your job/being arrested for truancy, you should go. This is a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing, and there's still loads of time to plan a day-trip.

(Note: If you aren't in day-trip distance, but now you want to go, you don't have a lot of options: hotels and flights have been full for ages. However, if you're in two-days-driving distance, you might be able to find a Sunday-night base camp, from which you can get up on Monday morning and drive several more hours to the path of totality. For instance, in Pennsylvania, there are still reasonably-priced hotel rooms to be had in State College, which is--in normal traffic--three and a half hours from Erie. (You might even be able to get a little closer than that; I just checked State College because they have a lot of hotels for the Penn State football crowds.} So if you're coming from, say, Maryland or Virginia, that could work, and there may be similar creative options for other regions. Again, if this is something that's feasible for you to do, without bankrupting yourself, getting fired, or other long-term consequences, I would strongly consider doing it!

If you live in North America, but have no way to get to the totality:

A partial eclipse is still pretty cool! And again, it'll be a while before you have another chance to see one, so it's worth it to make the time.

All of the 48 contiguous US states will be able to see some amount of eclipse. So will Hawaii, Mexico, Central America, and most of Canada and the Caribbean islands, plus a little bit of South America. (Alaska and part of the Yukon are SOL, but you will have your turn in 2033!)

Use these maps to look up the time and extent of the eclipse in your location.

As of this writing, you can still get eclipse glasses here, among other places. If you run out of time to get them, check for eclipse-viewing events at local parks, libraries, etc.--they may also have some to give away ahead of time, but even if not, if you go to an event, there will almost certainly be some to share.

The plus of a partial eclipse is that you have a fairly relaxed viewing window--as much as a couple of hours, depending how far you are from the middle of the eclipse zone--rather than a standout moment that you want to make sure you're in position for.

That makes it pretty easy to get a chance to see it even if you're at work--everybody can take turns stepping outside for a look. You can share eclipse glasses, too.

#eclipse 2024 #psa #my other post was such a big hit #I now feel an obligation #hope this is helpful to someone!

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

By Josh Marshall

I want to return to this revelatory interview with coconspirator John Eastman, the last portion of which was published Thursday by Tom Klingenstein, the Chairman of the Trumpite Claremont Institute and then highlighted by our Josh Kovensky. There’s a lot of atmospherics in this interview, a lot of bookshelf-lined tweedy gentility mixed with complaints about OSHA regulations and Drag Queen story hours. But the central bit comes just over half way through the interview when Eastman gets into the core justification and purpose for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election and overthrow the constitutional order itself. He invokes the Declaration of Independence and says quite clearly that yes, we were trying to overthrow the government and argues that they were justified because of the sheer existential threat America was under because of the election of Joe Biden.

Jan 6th conspirators have spent more than two years claiming either that nothing really happened at all in the weeks leading up to January 6th or that it was just a peaceful protest that got a bit out of hand or that they were just making a good faith effort to follow the legal process. Eastman cuts through all of this and makes clear they were trying to overthrow (“abolish”) the government; they were justified in doing so; and the warrant for their actions is none other than the Declaration of Independence itself.

“Our Founders lay this case out,” says Eastman. “There’s actually a provision in the Declaration of Independence that a people will suffer abuses while they remain sufferable, tolerable while they remain tolerable. At some point abuses become so intolerable that it becomes not only their right but their duty to alter or abolish the existing government.”

“So that’s the question,” he tells Klingenstein. “Have the abuses or the threat of abuses become so intolerable that we have to be willing to push back?”

The answer for Eastman is clearly yes and that’s his justification for his and his associates extraordinary actions.

Let’s dig in for a moment to what this means because it’s a framework of thought or discourse that was central to many controversies in the first decades of the American Republic. The Declaration of Independence has no legal force under American law. It’s not a legal document. It’s a public explanation of a political decision: to break the colonies’ allegiance to Great Britain and form a new country. But it contains a number of claims and principles that became and remain central to American political life.

The one Eastman invokes here is the right to overthrow governments. The claim is that governments have no legitimacy or authority beyond their ability to serve the governed. Governments shouldn’t be overthrown over minor or transitory concerns. But when they become truly oppressive people have a right to get rid of them and start over. This may seem commonsensical to us. But that’s because we live a couple centuries downstream of these events and ideas. Governments at least in theory are justified by how they serve their populations rather than countries being essentially owned by the kings or nobilities which rule them.

But this is a highly protean idea. Who gets to decide? Indeed this question came up again and again over the next century each time the young republic faced a major political crisis, whether it was in the late 1790s, toward the end of the War of 1812, in 1832-33 or finally during the American Civil War. If one side didn’t get its way and wanted out what better authority to cite than the Declaration of Independence? There is an obvious difference but American political leaders needed a language to describe it. What they came up with is straightforward. It’s the difference between a constitutional or legal right and a revolutionary one. Abraham Lincoln was doing no more than stating a commonplace when he said this on the eve of the Civil War in his first inaugural address (emphasis added): “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.”

In other words, yes, you have a revolutionary right to overthrow the government if you really think its abuses have gotten that intractable and grave. But the government has an equal right to stop you, to defend itself or, as we see today, put you on trial if you fail. The American revolutionaries of 1776 knew full well that they were committing treason against the British monarchy. If they lost they would all hang. They accepted that. They didn’t claim that George III had no choice but to let them go.

From the beginning the Trump/Eastman coup plotters have tried to wrap their efforts in legal processes and procedures. It was their dissimulating shield to hide the reality of their coup plot and if needed give them legal immunity from the consequences. The leaders of the secession movement tried the same thing in 1861.

In a way I admire Eastman for coming clean. I don’t know whether he sees the writing on the wall and figures he might as well lay his argument out there or whether his grad school political theory pretensions and pride got the better of him and led him to state openly this indefensible truth. Either way he’s done it and not in any way that’s retrievable as a slip of the tongue. They knew it was a coup and they justified it to themselves in those terms. He just told us. They believed they were justified in trying to overthrow the government, whether because of OSHA chair size regulations or drag queens or, more broadly, because the common herd of us don’t understand the country’s “founding principles” the way Eastman and his weirdo clique do. But they did it. He just admitted it. And now they’re going to face the consequences.

#us politics #news #talking points memo #2023 #op eds #Tom Klingenstein #Claremont Institute #john eastman #Josh Kovensky #Josh Marshall #jan 6 investigation #jan 6 insurrection #domestic terrorism #treason #traitors #donald trump #capitol riot investigation #Declaration of Independence

[elexuscal]

[redacted]

Un-Redacted

As Dr. Ayda Mensah discussed various colony evacuation options, a small removed part of her considers the command deck of The Perihelion. It possessed plush, comfortable chairs, a pleasing blue and white colour scheme, easily readable displays, and multiple clear exits. All told, on her internal ranking of Places To Be Making Life Or Death Decisions, it warranted a solid third place. (An even more removed part of her gave a wry laugh at her possession of such a list.)

"We were prepared to house a significant portion of the colonist population aboard, at least in an interim capacity," crew-member Iris was saying. "Obviously, though, the contamination situation means that isn't viable, so we'll--"

SecUnit stood up.

Ayda caught the movement out of the corner of her eyes. Honed instinct whipped her head around. SecUnit was tensed, its expression startled, alarmed.

Scared.

Blood rushing, Ayda's white-knuckled hands gripped the edge of her chair. "SecUnit, what's wrong?"

By the time she'd finished saying the words-- almost faster than she can see, faster than she could blink-- it was already at the other side of the room.

All conversation had stopped. The Perihelion had looked up from their paperwork, and even Pin-Lee had dredged herself from the legal documentation, the group collectively trying not to stare and not quite succeeding. Other people began repeating the same questions, asking if there was some danger, but Ayda could barely hear it, could barely feel her own body.

What now. What could possible have gone wrong now?

[SecUnit?] she asked.

It didn't respond.

Its expression had evolved past alert, past panic, to something wild. Its eyes were roving around the room, as if tracking something she couldn't see. Its drones were doing the same-- or were trying to. One fell out of the air, then a second, clunk, clunk. And still it wouldn't respond.

"What? What's going on?" And Amena's voice over the calm cut through the noise like no one else's could. "Has something happened?"

"Unclear." Remarkable, how steady her voice is. "SecUnit's responding to something, but we can't tell what."

Captain Seth prompted, "Any insights, Perihelion?"

[Our situation remains stable,] the ship's AI intoned. [SecUnit is sending warning alerts in the feed, but they appear distorted and irrelevant to the situation at hand. Further communication attempts are not being received.]

"Why not!?"

Despite the abject terror on SecUnit's face, it wasn't trembling. It never trembled.

[Unclear,] Perihelion echoed.

At some point in the exchange, Ayda had gotten to her feet. But of all of them, the crew-member Matteo had been sitting closest to where SecUnit now stood, and they were the one to reach it first. "Hey there buddy," they said, voice and gestures placating. "Can you hear me--"

A blur, a woosh.

When the scene resolved itself, Three had SecUnit pressed against the wall, holding itself between Matteo and the other SecUnit.

Her mind reeled, trying to piece together what had happened, but it was all too fast. Had SecUnit done something threatening, or had Three simply assumed--?

Now SecUnit was pressed into the kind of hold that would threaten a choke a human, but it wasn't fighting back. Not really. Ayda knew what that would look like, knew its speed and brutality, and this wasn't it. Instead SecUnit was flailing, kicking ineffectually, or trying to, letting out a sound terribly close to a whine--

"Three," Ayda barked. "Let it go."

Voice muffled slightly, Three began, "It is not advisable--"

"GET AWAY!" SecUnit shouted, "GET OFF, GET OFF, GET OFF--"

Perihelion ordered, [Let. It. Go.]

Three let SecUnit go.

"SecUnit!" Ayda said, rushing towards it, but stopping herself before she got too close into its personal face.

It had fallen to the ground when Three had dropped it, and now was clambering unsteadily to its feet. Ayda had seen it more graceful after literally being pummelled by reprogrammed assassins. "Coldstone," she said, and this time something got through, because its gaze steadied on her.

"Dr. Mensah?'

"Yes, yes, I'm here."

"You can't--" it began, and then jerked backwards, towards the door. "You need to-- we need to--"

"We need to what?"

And it bolted.

It would have hit the door head on, if it hadn't slid open at the last minute.

Ayda stared after her friend. Then she moved.

[Dr. Mensah.] Perihelion's voice in her head was cool and collected as she ran down its cooridors. [SecUnit is undergoing a major systems failure of unknown cause. A full reboot is recommended. Do I have permission to proceed?]

Permission?

Right. Yes. Because she was SecUnit's guardian, its owner, and therefore, the closest thing it had to a medical proxy.

[That will help?]

[There is a >93% chance.]

[Permission granted.]

SecUnit slowed, then stopped. A soft chime. Then it went limp. It slumped onto the floor. SecUnit Three, who of course had rushed ahead of her, caught it as it slumped to the floor.

Ayda cringed as she came to a stop, forcing herself not to reach out and take her friend from Three's arms.

The others were hot on her trail. "What the fuck--" exclaimed one of the crewmen, Ayda couldn't remember who just then-- "Was that?"

<Unknown,> Perihelion said.

But Ayda knew. Or thought she knew.

She had recognised that terror, that disorientation. Recognised it from the mirror, from the stories her partners told, of waking up screaming in the night, from the too-many times she had cried herself ragged. The way SecUnit hadn't responded to them, how it had seemingly reacted to things which weren't there.

That had been a flashback.

#murderbot diaries #system collapse #murderbot spoilers #redacted

[blackpearlblast]

from @/wtp.resist on Instagram:

Tax Day is Monday, April 15th... just 4 days away ‼️ 💸 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Follow this outline for an easy-to-understand guide on how to participate in war tax resistance this year. If you are unable to participate in war tax resistance but still wish to legally protest, please see slide #7. We want to encourage people to think big and act with courage, but we also understand not everyone can resist in the same way, so we wanted to provide several measures of resistance and resistance support in our Act I — War Tax Resistance — Tax Blackout 2024 Campaign.  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Our #TaxBlackout goal is 50 million people... with 16% of the U.S. population participating with at least 5% being redirected to vetted emergency relief in Gaza, Washington D.C. will receive a message loud and clear:  ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We will not fund Genocide and Imperialism!

transcript of all slides under the cut

slide 1: Act I Tax Resistance

by @ WTP.resist / We the People

The Tax Blackout 2024 Guide

Tax Resistance

slide 2: Is It Illegal?

Taking any type of direct resistance or civil disobedience action for peace often means taking risks. War tax resistance is no exception.

Since World War I, only two war tax resisters (James Otsuka (1949) and J. Tony Serra (2005)) have been brought into Federal court, convicted, or jailed because of war tax resistance. Most resisters have been taken to court for failure to file, "falsifying" 1040 forms, contempt of court (by refusing to produce records), or (in the early 1970s) "fraudulently" claiming too many dependents on their W-4 form.

slide 3: Filing And Refusing - Step-By-Step

How to File as a War Tax Resister (typical process):

1. File your Form 1040 on or before April 15

Fill out the form per IRS filing instructions. To avoid being considered a "frivolous filer" (an IRS category) and being subject to frivolous filing penalties, do not make claims or write your thoughts on the form.

2. You can enclose a letter that explains your refusal to pay part (or all) of your taxes

Many war tax resisters send letters to explain their refusal to pay is an act of conscience, of civil disobedience. War tax resistance is about refusal to pay for war, not promoting tax evasion or challenging the constitutionality of taxation or war taxes.

slide 4: Filing And Refusing - Step-By-Step

3. Refusal Options:

Refuse a symbolic amount, a percentage (at least 5%), or refuse all of the federal income tax (see next slides).

4. Withholding Adjustments:

Salaried employees can increase the # of deductions on their W-4 form at any time to owe federal income taxes on April 15, and then can choose how much you want to refuse. Take the form home fill it out and return only the first page of the form, not the worksheet (page 3), to your employer. If you are self-employed and don't use a W-4 form, you must adjust the amount of estimated taxes you pay quarterly to resist when you file.

slide 5: Methods Of Resistance

1. File and Refuse to Pay

This involves filling out a 1040 form and refusing to pay either a token amount of your taxes (we are asking at least 5%) a percentage representing a "military" portion, or the total amount (since a portion of whatever is paid still goes to the military).

2. Refuse to File a Tax Return

NWTRCC recommends filing your taxes or the IRS will file on your behalf. They cannot garnish wages until the tax debt has been assessed, which can take some time. The statute of limitations begins at the point the tax is assessed.

slide 6: Methods Of Resistance Continued

3. Earn Less Than The Taxable Income

This can involve having such a low income that you are not required to file federal income tax returns (approximately $12,550 for a single person in 2021), or it can mean filing and taking deductions so that no income tax is owed.

4. Tariffs and Excise Taxes

Today, thousands of people continue to "Hang Up On War" by refusing to pay the small amount on their local telephone bill listed as "Federal Excise Tax" or "Federal Tax." This federal excise tax, like many others, pays into the general fund of the U.S. government - the same place your federal income taxes go. The monies in the general fund help to pay for the Pentagon, the militarization of our culture, and war.

slide 7: Ways To Legally Resist

Send a letter of protest with your 1040 tax form. Enclose it along with (but do not staple it to) your form. Send copies to your elected officials.

Write letters to editors protesting taxes for war, especially when people are thinking about taxes during tax filing season between January and April.

Write a message of protest on the check you send with your tax forms.

Pay the tax with hundreds of small-denomination checks or coins.

Lobby for Peace Tax Fund legislation that would allow conscientious objectors to pay taxes to a fund that would not be used for military spending.

slide 8: Remember!

If at any time you have questions about risks and how to prepare:

War Tax Resistance Counselor: NWTRCC.org/resist/contacts-counselors

War Tax Resistance Hotline: TEL: [phone]

slide 9: Sources

Is It Illegal?

nwtrcc.org/resist/consequences

Methods of Resisting:

nwtrcc.org/resist/how-to-resist/

Legal Protest

nwtrcc.org/resist/how-to-resist/

Step-By-Step

nwtrcc.org/resist/war-tax-resistance/filing-and-refusing-step-by-step/

Tax Withholding Calculator

irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator

#tax resistance #war tax resistance #we the people #free palestine #palestine #EndIsraelsGenocide #tax blackout 2024 #anti imperialism

[prismatic-bell]

ok so this is less a zionism question and more one related to judaism as a whole, but: the hebrew calendar is currently in the year 5784, yeah? but of course, that doesn't necessarily mean jewish history is necessarily over five thousand years old- jesus's birth precedes christianity in its current form by at least a couple of centuries.

but here's the thing- one post, whose actual content i don't recall, happened to mention that jewish history is three thousand years old. This is where my question gets specific enough so that you'd be able to answer it in a tumblr ask.

you see, the author of one of my favourite books of all time, Sun Tzu, is rumored to have served under Hu Lu of the Wu kingdom, which would put his life at about 500-400 b.c.e. Did judaism exist during that time? could Sun Tsu have credibly met a rabbi in his lifetime (ignoring the Huge distance between the levant and china, of course)?

(also, i know like. Very Little about the history of that area so sorry if my question is stupid or offensive in some way. was the Temple already built there and stuff? were there already people keeping kosher? that sort of stuff)

So let’s start here: that post is incorrect. It’s closer to 3500 years, and the reason it’s not more than that is because before that we were still Canaanites. (Torah claims we defeated the Canaanites. The truth is more like “we were a small sect of Canaanites who out-babied all the other Canaanites.”)

As for whether Sun Tzu could have met a rabbi…no, but not because we weren’t around then. Sun Tzu’s life falls smack in the middle of the return to Jerusalem; Judea had an extremely small population at this point (the whole country is estimated at no more than 30,000 people, with only a single city—Jerusalem), but it did exist as a Jewish nation under Persian rule. We were very much around. But rabbinic Judaism—which is the modern form of Judaism, and what people usually mean when they say “Judaism”—didn’t exist until after the fall of the Temple in 70CE led to the end of blood sacrifice, and the beginnings of the concept of what we today call “rabbis” didn’t exist until the mid-100s BCE. We do have some men older than that who we call “rabbi” sometimes in modern discussion, but this isn’t any kind of official title—it’s more a mark of respect for their great wisdom and learning (like having an honorary doctorate degree). Far more commonly, these men are called the sages, or were kings.

That isn’t to say there’s no chance of Sun Tzu having met influential figures in Judaism, however. Torah was first being written down right around the time he lived, and it so happens that a lot of Jews were in Babylon at the time. Depending on how far he traveled (if he did), he could absolutely have met some of the Jewish figures codifying Torah and the Mishnah, and since some of our earliest fragments of Torah are written on papyrus rather than parchment, it’s even possible he read portions of it. This is doubly true because Israel-Judea is a linchpin between three separate continents: Europe, Africa, and Asia-by-way-of-the-south (nobody was crossing the Alps in 400BCE). That’s why our particular patch has been so fought over throughout history—for most of history, he who controlled Jerusalem controlled international trade. Could some of our writings have been included in a trade headed east? Absolutely. It wouldn’t even be that weird for a few stray copies to have not survived—keeping in mind how many more forms of media and record we have today than we’ve had throughout history, and how much easier it is to make those records, it is still estimated that over 99% of all media and records made in human history are permanently lost. Yeah, totally, Sun Tzu could’ve been like “are there wise men in these western countries? Bring me their writings” and read them and gone “huh, neat, I’ll have to think about that” and then because his scrolls got eaten by bugs and he didn’t use MLA format nobody would ever know. It’s extremely likely that’s happened with many writings from many places throughout history. And yes—it’s equally possible that a few stray Jews became merchants or great travelers and made their way to China and we don’t know because their publicity agents sucked. That is, unfortunately, the case with most of history. We find half a dozen puzzle pieces from a picture we know must contain at least five thousand pieces and we’ve got to reconstruct what it looked like and hope a seventh piece turns up somewhere. So is it likely Sun Tzu met Jews? Not at all. Is it impossible? Absolutely not.

Now as for what Jews were doing at the time…first, I’m going to say the idea that ancient Jews all did exactly as Torah said to do all the time is a lovely fairy tale. I think those of us who did most of our study of the ancient world in sixth grade during our Egypt phases tend to forget that then as now, people were people everywhere you went, and “the [insert ancient race here] people believed ________” is a convenient oversimplification. There would have been varying degrees of observance just like there are today, and I suspect that’s even more true in the peasant class; you’re not making your kids go hungry so you can sacrifice an expensive calf. But this WAS the period when we started getting a unified “this is what we are supposed to do, here, we wrote it down for you” practice, so here are some examples:

1) this is the period when the Jewish pantheon—yes, that was a thing—got collapsed into a single god, the one we now call the One G-d, Adonai. (Yes, the one with the Y-name, no, I’m not saying it.) This is why in some portions of Torah G-d is referred to as Elohim—El was originally another god. The “im” ending is a plural.

2) the rules of Temple sacrifice were formally codified. This isn’t to say it was a free-for-all before this time, but your options were…squishier, so to speak.

3) THE RULES OF KASHRUUUUUUUUUT this is when all of that stuff got written down and formalized. Before this things like not eating pork would have existed, but they would have been more of a cultural taboo than a religious law. This probably reflects why some parts of kashrut, or kosher, laws are so weird in Torah. Like—it tells you some birds are kosher and some aren’t, but it’s super vague on which is which. That makes a lot more sense if “everybody knew” what was and wasn’t taboo. Sort of like how if you open a cookbook and see a recipe asking for two eggs you automatically look for a chicken, not a goose.

4) a lot of laws just didn’t exist yet, or didn’t exist in their modern form. For example, the law against mixing meat and dairy at this point applied only to mammals, and it referred only to how it was cooked. You couldn’t cook an animal in its own mother’s milk. If the ancient Judeans had had ancient chicken alfredo, that would’ve been fine. The rabbis of Talmud (by that point they were actual rabbis) expanded this law due to a superseding law whose name I can’t remember at the moment but the idea of that law is “don’t do anything that could look like you’re breaking Jewish law even if you’re not.” Since you can’t necessarily tell what a meat is without tasting it, or what kind of milk a dairy product has come from without tasting it, the expanded law says “just don’t eat meat and dairy together at all, it looks bad.” Other laws that exist now but didn’t then include the creation of an eruv and all laws surrounding Chanukkah, which celebrates events that didn’t occur until the 300s.

So TL; dr: yes, in theory Sun Tzu could have met Jews, or at least read our earliest writings; the Temple existed (although at that precise moment in time it was very small and not at all grand); and the laws of Judaism-as-we-know-it were just being formalized after a thousand years of oral tradition, so we were doing some stuff and not other stuff.

#you ask nina answers #Nina blogs Judaism