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xxyumeno · 3 years

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Disclaimer: Crepus is headcanon heavy due to a lack of information on his character, despite his small appearance and mention in manga and in Diluc’s and Kaeya’s respective character stories.

INFORMATION

Name: Crepus Ragnvindr Alias: Umbra (present) Face Claim: Cross Marian from D.Grey-man Gender: Male Nation: Mondstadt Affiliation: Dawn Winery (former) / Abyss (present) Age: Mid 40s- Early 50s Birth Date: October 23rd Zodiac: Scorpio Vision: None Constellation: None Sexuality: Demiromantic/Pansexual Status: Deceased (former) / Alive (present)

PERSONALITY

While alive Crepus was a man who would put the lives of his family above himself, even if it meant sacrificing himself to do so. As he had done so in order to protect Diluc from Ursa the Drake from killing him. He love his family above all else as he has lost so much that he cherish what family he has deeply.

His heart is big and perhaps care too much. It is known both within the Dawn Winery and Mondstadt that Crepus has the tendency of bringing in and/or adopting strays to household. When he teased about it he tend to get real embarrassed to the point even the tips of ears turn red. He’ll try to laugh it off like it isn’t a big deal. Just feeling that others deserve a second chance at having a better life if possible.

Crepus is one to support and encourage those to reach their goals. This is quite apparent when Diluc had received his vision at a young age. Though, he may help he also allows those to solve problems on their own with giving small tips here and there. He isn’t one to completely solve a problem for another as it would be a waste and there wouldn’t be much learnt if he did.

He has developed a bad habit often talking ill about himself. Feeling regret and shame that he had not achieve a vision when he was a much younger man. Feeling it being quite hopeless now that he was no longer in his prime of youth.

After being revived very little of his original personality has remained. His kind and caring side only tends to show in spades and it really all depends on whether or not give he give a damn about you. Otherwise, he was quite prone to playing with others damning the consequences of his actions. The only times one will actually see him being soft is with animals. He has an aura that naturally draws them to him somehow.

He has an undying loyalty to the Abyss, for it was the Abyss that revived and gave him a second chance of life. Getting him to betray, turn his back on, sell information on will only fail and put one life in mortal peril. As Umbra he does not believe in giving other second chances and can be rather cruel about it. If by chance he does show you a sliver of mercy, best believe it will come at a price. Perhaps a broken limb or two to remember to his kind generosity.

Umbra isn’t the optimistic and has no problem with delivering the cold reality to those who fool themselves otherwise. In doing so make him appear to be an asshole to others in the wake of despair and hopelessness. In a backward way he want those who faced his pessimism and use that energy to prove him wrong. Yet, only few have done so only leaving him with bitter disappointment.

It quite easy to catch Umbra cursing at himself for whatever reason. Often chastising himself for whatever mistake he has made or for showing somehow too much mercy when it wasn’t needed. A habit that followed him from his previous life that he could not get rid of even if he was aware of it.

As hard it is to get him drunk, once he get drunk he is emotional as well as very honest. Admitting to anything he wouldn’t while sober and being sorry with how he acts toward others. Merely wanting to protect himself from forming attachments and being hurt by said attachments. It is only during these moments he can recall memories of his past life before dissolving into tears again wanting another drink.

HISTORY

Crepus wasn’t born the only child of the Ragnvirdn. There was an elder son who would have taken over the Dawn Winery if it weren’t the eldest son’s weak health. In light of this it was Crepus, the youngest son, who had become the heir of the winery and one who held the alcohol industry in the palm of his hand.

As a child Crepus had grown with it being expected of him to take over the family business. He did not fault his elder brother for this responsibility being passed over to him. A young Crepus would rather have his brother concentrate on his health than on something that could further damage it.

Over time his brother left the mansion and moved across Teyvet where the weather could improve his health, leaving him behind. Now Crepus was the only one who resided within the mansion with the maids, servants, and cooks. Along with some of the other staff members who helped maintained the grounds. His parents had gone along with his brother to look after him instead of allowing someone else to do so.

Crepus was hurt that his parents would choose to leave him behind for his brother, but he carried on with a smile while waving good bye to his parents and brother as they left in the early morning. Determined to make his parents proud in their decision of making him heir. He studied day and night while also aspiring to obtain a vision to further prove he was a good choice. That even if his brother did get better and they came back he would remain as the heir.

Secretly, the reason Crepus aimed to obtain a vision was for self-validation. He feared he would be seen as someone one’s breathe could not be wasted on if he didn’t. It was also to serve as a source of motivation for him to join the Favonius Knights. He had always looked up to and admired the knights of Mondstadt since he could remember. They were the ideal image he wished to obtain. It was a dream of his.

Despite the months and years that had gone by and eventually taking over the winery when he had come of age. Crepus had not obtained a vision nor did he not join the Favonius Knights because of it. He kept this sense of failure, the disappointment in himself and has not expressed it to anyone else. Wishing not to become a burden to anyone or the staff. He swallowed his hurt pride and moved on like it didn’t bother him when it really weighed him down.

Crepus eventually found love and fell for adventurous young woman around his age by the name of Aurora. The woman was like magic lifting all the burden, self-doubt, and insecurities had about himself. She had immediately stolen his heart and given him a smile no one had ever seen give before. One full of happiness and confidence. It didn’t take long for the two to get married and the two spent their happily married life in bliss like nothing could stop the two. Many were glad to see the master of Dawn Winery smile.

Eventually the happy couple was blessed a child of their own. A baby boy with a head full of red messy hair like his parents. The mother had named their son Diluc with a smile. The wet maid handed the baby Diluc to Crepus and the new father was filled with an unimaginable amount of joy while holding his son. Then there was pain when Diluc got a hold of his hair and pulled. He was soon handed over to his mother for feeding.

The Ragnvirdn family’s happiness did not last. Some months after Diluc’s birthday Aurora had suddenly come down with an illness that had her bed ridden. It was an illness no healer or doctor had seen before. Crepus was stricken with grief at this, afraid of his losing his light, his heart, his everything. One day a ‘traveling doctor’ had come by and shade some light on Aurora’s illness. It only crushed Crepus to learn of what it was and that there was no cure for it.

Aurora tried her best to console her distraught husband. Telling him it was all right and they should make what they had left together the best they could while caressing his cheek. Crepus fought back his tears and tried to agree with even though he found it hard to. He swallowed the pain he felt at eventually losing his wife and tried to make her remaining days the best he could along with their son Diluc.

A year after the family had received the news Aurora passed away in relative peace with a smile on her face. It took all he could muster to not fall apart when planning her funeral. Trying to put on a brave front for Diluc, so his young son would not worry about him. When the day of funeral came, the whole of Mondstadt was in attendance. Aurora was a person who left a big impression on each and everyone of its citizens. Somehow this was a comfort to him that many had comet to send her off. It did nothing to quell his shaking heart.

“Father, why are they putting mother in the ground?” Diluc suddenly asked as the coffin had started it decent. “How will mother wake and hug me?” Diluc urgently tugged on his pant leg and when that didn’t work his small hand had reached up to pull on his hand.

At that small touch all strength in Crepu’s legs went out as he dropped to his hugging his one and only child and cried. Finding the words to explain to his child that his mother would not be coming back. That he would no longer receive any of her hugs before he went to bed at night.

It took months for Crepus to come to terms with Aurora’s passing. When she was buried his heart was buried along with her and he still grieved. He knew he couldn’t allow his grief to overshadow his care and rising of Diluc who looked very much like his mother that it hurt. The master of Dawn Winery finally decided he would raise his son to the best of his abilities while managing the business, so Aurora in the afterlife could smile proudly at him. That brought some comfort to his aching heart.

Some years after her passing Crepus had finally come to peace with Aurora’s passing and stopped blaming himself for being unable to help her. During that time, he had begun to teach Diluc the family business. Well as much as he could teach an easily distracted child. It was around this time he had found a young boy in the middle of rainstorm shivering out in the cold thanks to the words of a passing stranger.

After the storm had passed the next day Crepus learned that young mysterious boy’s name was Kaeya. Happy to have another child in house he formerly adopted the boy and affectionately raised him alongside Diluc. It wasn’t until then he learned the troubles of rising two rumbunctious boys. Though, it was mostly Kaeya who was the energetic one compared to Diluc. They were still a handful regardless. Still, he wondered where all his ties kept disappearing to.

Diluc had received his vision at the young tender of age of twelve and Crepus couldn’t help but be the happiest for his son. Like himself Diluc wanted to join the Favionus Knights much to his father’s surprise. From there he began helping Diluc in his pursuits of accomplishing his dream. Though, he was quite unaware that his clever son had somehow found out about the unfulfilled dreams he had. Unaware that he had confessed to these dreams on the rare occasion that he had gotten drunk at home. To the point the butler had to carry back a sobbing Crepus to his room.

The years past by in relative peace with Crepus rising his two boys encouraging and pushing them to do their best in whatever it was they pursued. Yet, whatever happiness Crepus had managed to obtain always ended in tragedy.

“Sometimes, life can change in an instant.” Crepus had spoken these words, not at all expecting it to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The day Diluc turned eighteen they were returning from Angel’s Share to the Dawn Winery. Crepus sat in the back of the wagon while looking at a box with a delusion resting inside that he had picked up somewhere several years past.

A forlorn expression passed over his visage murmuring to himself that Diluc would not need this weapon. It was then their caravan was attacked by a fearsome monster that been terrorizing Mondstadt for so long. Ursa the Drake had attacked them quickly overpowering Diluc and injuring him. With some quick thinking Crepus had don the Delusion and fought the drake.

As if to laugh in the face of the Favonius Knights whom denied his admittance and for the gods who shunned him defeated Ursa the drake with the Delusion. Though he had defeated the beast, it seemed Ursa still had a little strength left in him and aimed to kill Diluc. Seeing what the drake was about to do, without hesitation threw himself in-between Ursa and Diluc sacrificing himself as the power of the Delusion backfired on him. Mortally wounding him in the process.

As Crepus laid dying in Diluc’s arms, strength slowly leaving him as his body started to disintegrate. With the pain wrecking his body and is unbearable for him to keep conscious. He raised a hand and tenderly laid it upon his son’s cheek despite the immense pain he felt. His lips moved to leave words for his son, but the words he spoke did not reach his ear. There was a sudden an unexpected sharp pain in his chest wine red eyes still looking at Diluc. A sad, but happy smile formed on his lips as his lips formed the words “Thank you…” before his body completely disintegrated leaving nothing behind.

His soul did not reunite with his love Aurora in the afterlife. As a price for using the “Eye of the Demons” his soul was cast into the Abyss. Where his soul was cursed to wander for all eternity or until his soul disappeared. With time being nonexistent or ran differently of its own accord in the Abyss the soul of Crepus did not know how long he had been wandering. Despair and loneliness eventually started to consume his soul until a voice spoke out to him.

The voice was sweet like honey and as intoxicating as the alcohol he once served at Angel’s Share. Promising him a second chance at life, a chance to see the family he had left behind after his death if he accepted its offer. The offer was too good to pass up or even think over. Crepus was desperate he wanted to see his family again. His soul was not able to reunite with his beloved Aurora and if he could be with his remaining family in the living, he would take it. He accepted the offer without question unaware of what the Abyss had in store for him.

In the Abyss were time fluctuated and ran oddly, it took years for the Abyss to construct Crepus’ original, but new body. More so that it looked slightly older than when he originally died. When the time came for Crepus to return to his body, things had surprisingly gone smoothly. What he didn’t realize when accepting the deal with the Abyss without question the price he paid was the loss of his memories from his previous life. When he woke up in his, still in the abyss he couldn’t recall any of his previous memories nor who he was. He had become a blank slate.

With this the Abyss had made Crepus into its agent and gave him the name Umbra for his new identity. After putting Umbra through a hellish training regiment to ensure he would at least be difficult to defeat in battle. Umbra had pledged his undying loyalty to the Abyss grateful toward his savior for granting him a second chance of life. He would dare not betray the trust and mission that was bestowed upon him before leaving the Abyss.

Now back in Teyvet, it has been some years since his original death and he filled with nostalgic looking upon Mondstadt. Yet, he does not the reason why he feel this way and quickly diminishes the unnecessary feeling before being on his way.

ABILITIES

INHUMAN STRENGTH. His strength can be described as being able to easily (and mostly accidentally) completely reshape or change the terrain he is in (it usually causes him major embarrassment). Most would choose to run from him in the middle of a fight if they value their lives more than a moment of glory. There have been times, that in a fit of rage he has demolished a mountain side especially when annoying Adventures or Mercenaries challenge him to fights and can’t take no for an answer. He would be able to hold his own against The Eleven. Though, tripping them as a form of holding one’s own is very questionable.

ABYSS IMMUNITY. With his body being created/reborn in the Abyss he has gain an immunity toward its impurity. He is able to freely go between Teyvet and the Abyss without suffering any negative draw back like he did in his previous life when he utilized the Delusion.

EYE OF DEMONS. Much like the Delusion with the very same name. He is able to create a myriad of chains covered in Abyss flames to ensnare, trap, or strangle his enemies. Though, he does at time use it for mundane things like climbing up cliffs and bridging gaps in-between cliffs. There was a time he used it for fishing… that provided interesting results to say the least. More times than not, he has used it to trip others.

ENHANCE SPEED. When not using Eye of Demons he will use a claymore. Due to his choice weapon most would assume his speed suffers due to wielding a heavy weapon. This proves to be false and he take advantage of people underestimating his speed. The weight of his weapon does not at all effect his speed as it proves to be the opposite. He is able to adjust his speed at any given moment and will use his claymore to give him better momentum.

MAGIC. He is only good at doing small complex spells and can’t do a simple spell like heat up water to save his life. Doing larger spells will always, if not usually, end with an explosion so he avoids them together. Though, he has proven to be a glutton for punishment at times because of this.

NOTES

Memories. Despite the Abyss making Crepus a blank slate when making him into Umbra. It did mess up in a way. Crepus can recall the memories of his prior life when and only if he completely drunk. A drunk Crepus is very emotional and honest and will admit to it. It hasn’t been figured out why this is the only time he can recall those memories at all. The following day he won’t remember a thing even when asked about it.

Tolerance to Alcohol. Like his previous life Crepus has an absurdly high tolerance to alcohol that it is very hard to get him drunk let alone shit faced. It will more than likely take three to four bottles of Snezhnaya’s specialty alcohol, Fire-Water. It has to be really strong alcohol for it to happen.

Abyss Order. Umbra is not at all found of this order and want nothing to do with it or the Prince(ss) who commands it. As both leave a disgusting flavor in his mouth that he does not like. The Abyss Order is very much aware of his existence and have relentless tried to get him to join their cause. They forget one thing. He does not have a hatred against humans. Which was something he didn’t get from the Abyss when he was reborn.

Soft Spot. Despite the doings of the Abyss Order he may or may not have a soft spot for the Prince(ss) that commands it. Perhaps seeing them as a child and may give them head pats if they encounter each other outside of the Prince(ss) respective duty. Though, it may stem from his subconscious remembering he had children before and see them as child and want to take care of them. The feeling get crushed as it make him feel awkward and a bit uncomfortable.

Purification. He has the biggest version to those who are able to purify Abyss energy and will avoid contact with them at all cost. It just set him on edge there are those who are able to do so. Due to this he cautious around said people. In the event where it inescapable of being around it easy to notice how fast he’ll be uncomfortable be with said person.

#🕊 ＊ catch all. muses to be learned #🕊 ＊ about. crepus ragnvindr / umbra 「 agent of the abyss 」#🕊 ＊ profile. genshin impact #( this came out longer than i originally thought it would #( i can say i feel happy about it lol #( apologies for all the unintended angst #; u;

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mutantsrisingrpg · 5 years

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WHO

Name: Cain Douglas Dossier: Io Age: 38 Mutant Risk Level: Two Affiliation and Occupation: The Jem Family, Doctor Gender/Pronouns: He/him Faceclaim: Ricky Whittle

POWER

HEALING: The ability to heal others, often coming in various forms. One’s control over this power can determine how fast they are able to heal more serious ailments, how close they must be to the target being healed, and how draining the task is to their own energy. These mutants are often seen as the least dangerous by society, and can sometimes even be seen as beneficial. Cain’s hands must hover near the injury being healed, and can find healing bigger injuries draining to their own strength.

AESTHETIC

They are fists born to hurt with palms born to heal. They are the feeling of swimming stubbornly upstream, that aching breathlessness in one’s chest from denying which way the water is destined to flow. They are the dark purple of a bruise, the ugly tenderness left behind from the force of a blow. They are a wildfire out of control, igniting everything flammable in its path, consuming all fuel in sight until nothing is left. They can be the reason you’re alive, or the reason you wish you were dead.

BIOGRAPHY

The anger is with him all along.

It’s a cyclical kind of story. His father’s father meets some poor woman, makes a baby with her, and leaves. Over two decades later his father does the same thing. This time he clears out their joint bank account before he disappears.

Cain hates his grandfather and his father. He hates that part of them is part of him, buried in his blood and his bones. They ruin his life and neither of them stick around to see it happen. The older he gets the more of his father he will see in the mirror, and the angrier he will become.

His ma is a good woman. She is a good mother. She doesn’t deserve to be married to his deadbeat, chickenshit father.

Cain adores her. She does her best. She doesn’t complain when his father leaves, she doesn’t even resent him for being such a shitty husband. When it becomes clear that his time out on the road is the type of time out on the road that never ends, she just sighs a deep, sad sigh from the middle of her chest. Cain will always remember that sigh, the way it sounds. It is like a reverse Pandora’s box’ all the hope emptying out of her at once and leaving only the bad shit behind.

She has a kid to raise and she does it without complaint. She works herself to the bone to keep him warm and keep him fed. She cleans for a living. The work is hard and the pay is shit. The hours are long. Cain spends a lot of nights waiting for her to come home. She comes back sore and tired and aching. Sometimes she is barely able to stand. Cain learns how to help as quickly as he can. Maybe this is where the healing starts; him and his mother, his hands running over her back, knuckles digging into the knots of tight, angry, wrong, and digging into them until they slowly break apart.

All of the cards are stacked against him as a kid. for most of his childhood he is a shrimp with no father. He is a dirt poor. His mother works all of the time. He’s not that smart and he’s not that friendly. He is at the very bottom of a very long social food chain. He gets into fights often and he is destined to lose most of them. A lot of his time is spent getting hit. He uses up the rest crying, hot angry tears in his room, alone. He makes few friends. As soon as he’s old enough to fake fourteen, and even a little before that, he works. He rides newspaper routes and scrubs dishes and fixes cars and mows lawns and does anything anybody tells him to as long as it will get him paid.

There’s no magical thirteenth year for Cain. He never goes away for summer and comes back gigantic. Growing up is a slow, laborious process that ticks by in centimeters and inches. There’s a time where he’s small and scrawny and always picking fights and always losing them. Then he starts losing them less. Eventually he isn’t losing any at all. His bullies start to look small and scrawny themselves and they start to leave him alone unless there’s enough of them that they think they can all gang up on him at once, but after awhile even those fights are ones that Cain can win.

That’s about when he starts to get paid to fight. This time he gets to fight in a ring. He’ll never get his chance at becoming a boxer or some MMA jackass but he’ll come pretty close. There’s no star power in Cain. He’s an angry, ragged son of a bitch. He’s got the charisma of a fly. People don’t like him much on principal. No one is ever glad to see him win a fight except maybe his mother. But you don’t have to be well liked to win, and Cain does win. He wins a lot. Eventually people start to show up to watch him fight.

That’s how he finds his father again.

Chicago is a big city. It’s the kind of place where you can meet someone and never see them again for a decade, maybe two if you didn’t get out much.

He’s just finished a fight in some seedy arena on the west side of town. He’s won in a single, brutal knock out and some people are excited about that but most people are pissed off that there wasn’t more of a show. Cain’s ignoring whatever the fuck people are yelling at him and Cain is just tryign to leave so he can peel of his dumbass shorts in the bathroom and go home.

And there’s a man in the crowd in front of him. He’s staring at him. Cain stares back.

He is older than Cain remembers, and he is shabbier. There’s a beer gut where there wasn’t one before and his arms are thinner. His face is lined with wrinkles and his teeth are yellow. A few are missing. If Cain were anyone else he might not recognize him

But a boy always knows his father and a man always remembers someone he hates.

This is what he remembers in that moment as his hands curl up into fists. He is a kid. He is watching his mama make some calls. She’s asking around to see if anyone has seen his father. He knows what she knows but refuses to admit. No one has seen him. No one has heard from him in days. He is gone and he is not coming back.

Eventually she dials that bank. Cain isn’t really sure what she’s talking about but he knows that it’s not good. His mother’s face goes pale and her lips go tight and thin and she nods along to whatever the man on the other line is saying even though it’s clear she’s not listening to him anymore.

She says her goodbyes in a tight, polite voice. It only shakes a little at the very end. Then she hangs up and she sighs that sigh. It’s going to stay with him all his life. His father leaving doesn’t destroy his mother. It just hollows her out. That’s worse in Cain’s opinion.

He is only 12. But even 12 year olds can want to kill people. He swears that if he ever sees his daddy again, he’s going to beat him dead.

In 15 years the anger is still there, pure and white hot. It will always be there. It will always be waiting.

He jumps out of the ring in one easy lunge and then he’s on top of his dad. He’s punching him in the face. The man spits blood and broken teeth. Cain is hitting him again and again and again and again. His hands feel hot, unnaturally so, like something other than his own blood is heating them up from the inside. Beneath him his father bleeds and spits out more teeth and groans and still Cain beats him. No amount of beating will ever be enough for him and he knows this. He knows he’s going to murder his father on this floor and he knows it will make his mother cry. He hates that these things are going to happen and he accepts them anyway. This is what needs to be done. This is what his father deserves.

He grips his father’s head in his hot, hot hands and he spits in his face.

It takes six guys to drag Cain off of his father. There aren’t enough inside the bar to do it. He knocks three out when they try. But eventually the police show up and there are enough of them. Cain is a big guy and he’s strong and he’s tough but even big strong, tough guys don’t do well when they get tazed.

They drag him outside and they shove him into a cop car and the last thing Cain sees of his father is a man, covered in blood, pulling himself off the floor with shaking arms.

He disappears before anyone has a chance to ask if he wants to press charges. Cain isn’t surprised.

Three aggravated assault and battery charges are enough to put him away for a long time, though. The sentencing is actually lighter than what he expects. Weirdly enough, despite the bloody crime scene and Cain’s size and all the witnesses who were sure they saw Cain beating his father to death, there’s no serious injuries to speak of. He hears down the legal grapevine that his father walked away that night, and that the guys who tried to pull him off didn’t even need trips to the hospital. Cain had bloodied their noses but somehow neither of them were broken. Miraculously, his public defender tells him. They all claim that they’re feeling better than ever.

Cain sits and listens to him. There’s a tick in his jaw that won’t go away, an angry jump of muscle as he grinds his teeth.

His mother does cry when he’s sentenced. He’s not happy to see that.

When he’s back in his cell, alone, he drives his fist into the wall hard enough to split the skin of his knuckles

His hands feel hot. His knuckles hurt but they stop hurting very quickly. When Cain turns them over to see, he watches his skin knit slowly back together, closing over the open wound until it looks as if there were never a wound there at all. Cain stares. He swallows. He hits the wall again, hard, in the same place. He watches blood drip from his hand and then he watches the dripping stop. The same thing happens again.

Oh, he thinks to himself. Oh fuck.

Prison is a lot like being a kid again, except his mother isn’t there to comfort him when he gets into fights or when he crawls into his bed to bleed. Everyone wants to get a piece of the new guy, especially since half the time somebody gets into a fight with Cain, none of their injuries ever really seem to take. Cain puts his hands on them. He lays them out and he holds them down and he hits them again and again and again and they hurt and they bleed and they get back up afterwards feeling fine.

He hates his powers at first. He wants to be able to beat the shit out of people the same way he has for years but the moment to hands get hot it’s over. Nothing he does is really going to hurt his opponent. Sometimes they leave the fights looking better than when they came in.

It doesn’t take long for his prison mates to learn what he is. It doesn’t take much longer for the warden to get wind of it too.

And that is how Cain Douglas finds himself moved from Cook Corrections to Hornsbury Prison for mutants.

If Cook Corrections was prison then Hornsbury is something below it, something sub-prison where men and women aren’t allowed to feel even the slightest bit human. It’s the type of place that’s not even trying to pretend it’s here to fix you. It’s here to break you and it wants you to know it’s here to break you, all that guards, all the wardens, and most of the prisoners all want you to know you’re here to be broken.

He’s roughed up by a couple guards in the first week. Thanks to his power not much of what they do to him manages to stick, but not much of what he does to them manages to stick either.

After that they just throw him in the hole for insubordination. It’s cold in that dark, empty concrete room. It smells of the piss and fear sweat of the last guy they had in there.

He spends a lot of time in that hole. He will never admit it to anyone. But sometimes he is afraid he will die in there, all alone.

He gets out eventually. Maybe it is for good behavior. Maybe it’s because people realize that Cain can win fights but he can never end them. His hands are harmless and by extension, so is he.

There’s no job waiting for him when he gets out. He’s just spent five years in prison. Two of them were in Hornsbury. Everyone in his part of town knows about what he did to his father and worse, they know that he’s a mutant.

The first night Cain spends back in his home, someone sets fire to his mother’s front lawn.

He packs up and leaves the next day. He loves his mother. This will always be true. But he won’t stick around her if it puts her at risk.

And then there’s really nowhere for him to go but the Jem Family. He’s heard of them, before prison, but he never cared about it before becoming a mutant. He doesn’t care much about it when he first arrives either. It could have been any gang as they gave him a warm place to sleep and some food to eat. Cain isn’t picky. Unfortunately the Jem Family and Damien have a way of creeping under his skin. They’re good people. They care about people, about mutants. And they care about Cain, which more than he can say for just about everyone else in Chicago except for his mother. They give him food to eat and a place to sleep and pay him money he can send to his mother every month.

They help him learn how to control his powers. They give him back a part of himself he thought was lost forever. Thanks to the Jem Family, he gets to decide what, when and who he’s healing. He also gets to decide what and when and who he’s hurting and honestly, he’s a little more thankful for that than the former. He starts to be happy that his power is what it is. He gets to help people that he cares about. He starts to care about helping people at all.

It was easy not to care about mutants when he wasn’t one. It was easy to ignore the way they were treated.

But that’s not something Cain has the luxury of doing anymore. He sees how much people hate them. How afraid they are. He’s seen it in the scorch marks on his mother’s lawn, and in Hornsbury. He sees it now more than ever as everyone in the city starts to pick a side. It pisses him the fuck off.

This city has needed the shit kicked out of it for a long fucking time and with the gan’s finally uniting, now is as good a time as any to land the first blow.

CONNECTIONS

DANA RAMONE, Antithesis: It’s easy to see how opposite they are; Cain longs to harm but can do nothing but heal while Dana trained to heal but now can only hurt. It’s as if the universe created them both to balance them in this way, and yet forbade yin and yang from ever colliding by bestowing upon them the title of enemy. Cain doesn’t care much – though they’ve never met Dana, they’ve heard the whispers about their reputation. If they don’t so much as speak to one another in their lifetime, it won’t matter much to Cain.

JACKSON RAEMERS, Patient: Cain has a specific sigh that can only be associated with the sight of Jackson walking through their door. While they’re used to reluctantly healing all sorts of injuries the other mutants in the Jem Family bring to their door, there’s something about the frequency of Jackson’s presence that annoys Cain. Maybe it’s more than just their frequency, but the fact that half their injuries aren’t life-threatening in any fashion, or maybe it’s just because Cain’s anger is an easy thing to stir up. Either way, there are times they find themself wanting to cause pain to Jackson, rather than taking it away from them.

LUKE ESPINOSA, Punching Bag: If there’s one thing that Cain can’t stand above most things (which is saying something, since they can’t stand most things in general), it’s a Blackburn member who doesn’t know what’s best for them – and what’s best for them is remaining under Cain’s boot as a bloody pulp. Cain and Luke can often be found fighting at the Jungle, where Cain quite obviously prefers the powerless laws that govern it. There, they’re on a much more even playing field, or at least that’s Cain’s opinion – that’s where they thrive, after all. Luke’s much more of a threat when they’re able to use their powers, but in this domain, Cain saw nothing more than someone who could use a good beating.

IO is CLOSED for applications. He is taken by DEL.

#io #cain bio #taken #tj #a

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fvstboi · 6 years

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[ jesus castro, he/him, 29 ] pietro maximoff has been spotted in gotham city! the hero is publicly known as quicksilver, and have often been described as determined, but also arrogant. they have also been affiliated with the avengers, and said to mainly operate in new york city. will they help find answers, or add to the chaos? [ han, she/her, 23, mst ]

triggers: childhood trauma , kidnapping , experimentation , HYDRA mentions , minor violence , auschwitz mentioned , mental illness , death.

hey fam !! here’s my fast boi , pietro maximoff. i love him bunches.

so first things first: he is comics based with mcu tie-ins. and comics before marvel ruined his backstory by making him not actually erik and magda’s son and not a mutant. can u tell i love my son and hate what marvel has done to him ? keep on reading to find out.

pietro was born in the wundagore mountains to magda eisenhardt , a romani woman that magneto met and fell in love with. ( she survived auschwitz because of him i stan ). although pietro and wanda didn’t know it at the time and wouldn’t for many years , erik lehnsherr / magneto / max eisenhardt was their father. magda didn’t stay around for very long , though. not long after , magda fled into the woods with the fear that her husband would find her. pietro and his twin sister would soon enough be given to the maximoff’s , a romani couple who lived down the mountain and had always wanted children. ( note: while pietro was both raised romani and is romani in heritage , a lot of it was lost to him after his adopted parents died which was when he was quite young. he does want to make sure his daughter knows about it and where she comes from but he’s not an expert since everyone from the romani side of his family is dead. )

he was literally that obnoxious older brother but he’s also hella protective and loyal ? he’s a bit of an ass . scratch that , he is 100% an asshole :’)

pietro and his twin , wanda , were raised in transia / sokovia by the maximoff’s , who were an amazing couple and even better parents. eventually , their “ adoptive “ father , django , began to steal food so that he could feed his family. enraged villagers attacked the ( romani ) camp they were living in. pietro was able to get him and wanda out , thankfully , but the trauma from that event was so severe that they wouldn’t be able to recall anything from their childhood for years and not even small details. they had nothing. they’d then travel across europe , fending for themselves and only relying on each other. the streets were really hard. they were hungry and tired on most days and pietro would steal food and warm clothes with his powers but wanda would always say he would get caught one day. ( he didn’t ).

one day , wanda accidentally caused a house to burst into flame through her hex powers , which she could not yet control. superstitious townspeople began chasing her. pietro would try his best to protect and defend her but they were outnumbered and overpowered. thankfully , magneto ( dad !!! ) came to their rescue. they would then join the brotherhood of evil mutants , feeling like they had to serve him since he saved them from what would have been horrible mob violence.

when magneto was defeated in a battle against some powerful guy who took him away from earth , pietro and wanda took it as their chance to leave and went back to transia / sokovia / whatever it’s being called now.

( mcu tie ins ) pietro and wanda were kidnapped by HYDRA ( aka not willingly joining HYDRA ) and experimented on with one of the infinity stones , which only augmented their powers. the second HYDRA fell , they left it and joined ultron ( pietro blaming tony stark for the reason why sokovia / transia was in such turmoil due to seeing stark industries on a shell that hit their home that trapped pietro and wanda for nearly two days ). at some point the twins allied themselves with the avengers and also joined them and fought against ultron , who they had previously sided with.

pietro was injured in the battle against ultron and almost died and so he stayed with the inhumans for awhile. he formed a relationship with crystalia amaquelin , princess of the inhumans. the whole thing was somewhat forbidden since he’s not an inhuman but they soon enough got married. it was p rushed, which is super on brand for pietro. they eventually had their daughter , luna and ? not only did he find out that magneto is his dad during this time but pietro’s a dick and almost killed her by putting her in the terrigensis ( this was much later on , not right after she was born omg ) but hey , she got powers so ! he’s never been the best dad , honestly ? he’s run away from a lot of responsibility , even stuff that wasn’t luna related lol. but he’s trying ? ( with pietro’s age , luna is about ? 5-6 years old. his lil princess. )

the relationship that pietro had with crystal would become rocky due to pietro’s mind being elsewhere and not paying all that much attention to his wife. crystal would then cheat on pietro ,,,, ( note: crystal left some other guy for pietro sksksk ) pietro wouldn’t forgive her and “ vowed vengeance on her and all those he perceived as having wronged him “ but !! crystal’s cousin , maximus , was manipulating his mind and augmenting pietro’s anger towards crystal which was prob meant more for the avengers. he did a lot of dumb shit during this time basically. moreso than usual. but he wasn’t in control of himself or what he was doing so really ? it wasn’t his fault.

pietro and crystal had a messy relationship after that. they’d reconcile , get back together , breakup , fight , get back together , fight together , etc. it was a messy relationship for awhile.

pietro lost his powers for a bit and ,,, it was hard fam he was actually depowered due to m day but i’m just saying he lost his powers w/o m day since it’s a big part of him

honestly !! pietro was in a pretty horrible state at this time. he was taken to attila which is basically inhumans hq , where his medical injuries were taken care of. pietro couldn’t stand being human so much that he underwent terrigensis even though king black bolt said no since it can kill u ! wtf u doing pietro !! he then started to plan a way to steal and bring the terrigensis crystals to earth. pietro ,,, no. angel boi. slow down u gonna kill everyone.

then he made his daughter undergo terrigen ,,,, which could’ve killed her since nobody knew if her inhumans genes would just cancel out her mutant ones.

lots of shit happened ,,,, its just 2 much

pietro was then put in jail and while there he had a serious of hallucinations. o boi

but ig it was also the end of his episode , u could call it ?? his powers were restored and he rediscovered his desire to be a hero !!

pietro recovered the remaining terrigenesis crystals returning them to the inhumans and clearing his name of criminal charges through a lie that a skrull committed all of his felonies.

he joined all new x-factor which was his half-sister’s x-men team !

he actually just claimed to have a falling out with the avengers ,,, which wasn’t rly tru ,,, lorna’s ex bf , alex summers , just wanted pietro to spy on her sksksk

but like ? pietro in x-factor with lorna was one of the best things marvel could’ve done. just siblings working together and on a team together who usually never interact. goals. ( might lowkey have a thing for a certain cajun mutant )

he taught at avengers academy for a hot second !

he’s paid a ton of money for luna to go to a fancy school in england which she eventually just ,,, ran away from lmfao

he’s a hero. but he also doesn’t pay much attention to authority and if he thinks someone is wrong and he’s right then he’ll follow his own path and ignore everyone else. he’s tried to repower mutants with the inhuman crystals and continued to do so after mutants got sick and some even died. while that’s not really canon it does give a good insight to who pietro is. he’s not bad and most of his bad ideas do have good intentions.

he’s been off and on with the avengers for awhile and never stays with them for extended periods of time but they all mean a great deal to him. he loves many of the founding / returning members and cares more for them than he’d ever care to admit.

pietro once ran 300+ miles so he could punch erik in the face lol [ x ]

pietro is in gotham to see what’s going on ? he also has luna while crystal is away doing stuff. so single dad pietro ! he’s never been alone with luna for more than a few days before ! it’ll be fun !

tldr; pietro is messy, an asshole and a drama queen but he’s trying HIS BEST.

stats - tba / pinterest / wiki page.

#gchq:intro #<3 #hes just trYING HIS BEST #╰ ° ɪ ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ʀᴇᴍᴇᴍʙᴇʀ ʜᴏᴡ ɪᴛ ғᴇᴇʟs ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴄᴀʟᴍ. 「 about. 」

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fadingfartconnoisseur · 7 years

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TBEX Zimbabwe: An Unethical and Irresponsible Choice

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, by quiquefepe

My dear readers, today’s post is about the travel blogging industry. I think some of you would find it to be an interesting read, but if that’s not your thing, feel free to check out my Best of the Blog page.

On Saturday at the Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) conference in Huntsville, Alabama, it was announced that the first TBEX Africa will take place in July 2018.

It will take place in Harare, Zimbabwe, to be exact. And the primary sponsor will be the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, a government-run organization.

Holy shit. TBEX actually entered a business partnership with Robert Mugabe’s government.

Background: TBEX is not representative of the whole travel blogging industry.

TBEX is the largest travel blogging conference. A few different conferences are held in different parts of the world each year — generally one in North America, one in Europe, and one somewhere else. And because they’re so big, they tend to dominate the industry.

I’ve attended one TBEX, in Girona in the Costa Brava region of Spain in 2012. It was a fantastic experience, but that was more due to Jaume Marin and the team at Costa Brava Tourism, who have long been leaders in creating innovative marketing campaigns for travel bloggers. (I mean, they threw a party in a castle with a “ham room” filled with jamon iberico! Yeah. That had nothing to do with TBEX; that was all Costa Brava.)

TBEX is only interested in making money; they have zero interest in bettering the travel blogging industry. Because of this, most of their conferences are geared toward beginner bloggers. I call it “churning and burning newbies.” They’re the easiest to convince to buy a ticket; it’s easier to build a conference around the needs of beginners. Most of the talks are geared to beginning topics on SEO, Instagram, freelance writing, and the like.

And while the sessions haven’t changed much since 2012 (though newer platforms like Snapchat and Pinterest now have a presence), the demographics at TBEXes have changed a lot. Few long-time professional bloggers attend anymore; if they attend, it’s usually because they’re giving a talk. Nowadays, many of the people who attend TBEX haven’t even started a blog yet. Isn’t that crazy? I can’t wrap my head around that.

The watering down of TBEX has been bad for the industry. As the quality of the attendees goes down, the quality of would-be sponsors and industry attendees goes down, the work the newbies produce isn’t as good and doesn’t get as wide an audience, and because TBEX is such a big conference, this sends the message that travel blogging is ineffective and not worth it.

These are the reasons why I am no longer involved with TBEX, but it gets much worse.

TBEX has been under fire over the past few years.

The first major controversy was prior to the Cancun conference in 2014. One of the post-conference activities was swimming with dolphins kept in captivity, an activity that is cruel to the dolphins.

Many bloggers protested TBEX; 2,300 bloggers signed a petition asking them to remove the dolphin tours. And it worked. TBEX eventually removed the dolphin tours, but only after a major outcry.

The second major controversy was when TBEX selected Bangkok as their first Asian conference location in 2015. Almost every travel blogger has been to Thailand; plenty of travel bloggers have even lived there. I love it there, too.

But the hosting partner for this conference was the Tourism Authority of Thailand, a government organization, and Thai government has a long history of prosecuting journalists. While Thailand has never had free speech, the 2014 coup took a turn for the worst, when the constitution was suspended and any protections for freedom of expression were eliminated. By attending a government-sponsored event as media, the bloggers could have been putting themselves in danger.

The next uproar came when the 2016 Asian conference was hosted in Manila by Philippines Tourism, a government organization. President Rodrigo Duterte rode to the presidency on a promise to end drug crime by murdering all drug criminals, and these murders have been carried out at an alarming rate.

Additionally, the Philippines is also a dangerous country for journalists. 78 have been killed since 1992, most of the journalists focusing on crime or corruption. Duterte himself once said, “Just because you’re a journalist you are not exempted from assassination if you’re a son of a bitch.”

And finally, the venue for TBEX International in 2017 was revealed: Jerusalem. A bit of a controversial destination, no matter how you look at it. And while it branded itself as an opportunity to explore both Israeli and Palestinian cultures, the main sponsor was the Israel Ministry of Tourism, which is an organization that condones the occupation of Palestine.

Shit hit the fan in late 2016 when it was revealed that TBEX wasn’t paying its employees and contractors.

Deborah Ng, former conference director of BlogWorld and New Media Expo, which acquired TBEX in 2012, posted a revealing account on Medium. In short, she and several other people were not paid for the work they did.

You can read the whole saga here. Here’s a taste:

“Around the time I left, I learned there was a long line of people waiting to be paid by BlogWorld/NMX/TBEX. I heard of tax liens, garnished bank accounts, bounced checks, and lawsuits…Since the owner didn’t respond to emails, Skypes, texts or calls, I sent an email around to the entire team letting them know I quit. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks later — when he made a rare appearance on a team call — that the owner learned I was gone.”

The owner, Rick Calvert, later admitted to everything in Ng’s piece:

“It is true that we owed Deb money when she left NMX and it is true we still do.”

Ng received the last of money she was owed in January 2017, years after it was due:

“Management is telling TBEX sponsors and attendees that they’re all caught up with their debts. This isn’t true. I know people who are still waiting to get paid.”

As someone who has done a lot of freelancing over the years, I know this: freelancers time their work contracts and payments carefully so they’ll have money to cover their bills and expenses at all times. When you miss a payment to a freelancer, you throw the whole system off and force them to dip into their savings — if they have enough in their savings. Many freelancers don’t make much, especially if they’re starting out or in a creative field.

There was one time in 2013 when I was down to $200 in my bank account and was owed more than $9,000 from companies that hadn’t paid me on time for various reasons.

It’s bad enough not to pay someone on time, but it’s especially cruel to do so to someone who makes a non-salaried living.

Kennedy Vlei, Zimbabwe, by Jason Wharam

What’s wrong with the Zimbabwean government, anyway?

The president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, is often cited as one of the worst dictators of the past century. Zimbabwe has terrible human rights abuses and a dreadful record on free speech.

On human rights violations:

“The government of President Robert Mugabe continues to violate human rights without regard to protections in the country’s 2013 constitution. It has intensified repression against thousands of people who peacefully protest human rights violations and the deteriorating economic situation. Police use excessive force to crush dissent, and violate the basic rights of civil society activists, human rights defenders, journalists, and government opponents. Widespread impunity for abuses by the police and state security agents remains. President Mugabe has undermined the independence of the judiciary and of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) through verbal assaults on the two institutions.” —Human Rights Watch

On Mugabe murdering his way to reelection in 2008:

“In May, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced the presidential vote results, confirming that Tsvangirai secured 47.9%, to Mugabe’s 43.2%. As neither candidate secured 50%, a run-off vote was scheduled. Mugabe saw his defeat as an unacceptable personal humiliation. He deemed it a victory for his Western, and in particular British, detractors, whom he believed were working with Tsvangirai to end his political career. ZANU-PF claimed that the MDC had rigged the election.

After the election, Mugabe’s government deployed its ‘war veterans’ in a violent campaign against Tsvangirai supporters. Between March and June 2008, at least 153 MDC supporters were killed. There were reports of women affiliated with the MDC being subjected to gang rape by Mugabe supporters. Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans were internally displaced by the violence. These actions brought international condemnation of Mugabe’s government. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed concern about the violence, which was also unanimously condemned by the UN Security Council, which declared that a free and fair election was ‘impossible’. 40 senior African leaders — among them Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, and Jerry Rawlings — signed an open letter calling for an end to the violence.

In response to the violence, Tsangirai pulled out of the run-off. In the second round, Mugabe was pronounced victor with 85.5% of the vote, and immediately re-inaugurated as President. —Wikipedia

Zimbabwe has a bad record on freedom of speech. This is how they deal with it on the digital end:

“In April [2016], President Mugabe threatened to introduce laws to restrict access to the internet.

In August, in response to the rising discontent expressed on social media, the authorities introduced a draft bill on Computer and Cyber Crimes to curb anti-government criticism. The bill had not become law by the end of the year.

During a national stay-away on 6 July in protest against corruption, fronted by the social media movement #ThisFlag, social media apps such as WhatsApp were shut down by the government.” —Amnesty International

And let’s throw in some LGBT rights violations, too:

“Laws passed in 2006 criminalize any actions perceived as homosexual. The Zimbabwean government has made it a criminal offense for two people of the same sex to hold hands, hug, or kiss. The ‘sexual deviancy’ law is one of 15 additions to Zimbabwe’s Criminal Code quietly passed in Parliament. The sections involving gays and lesbians are part of an overhaul of the country’s sodomy laws. Before then, laws against sodomy were limited to sexual activity, and the revised law now states that sodomy is any ‘act involving contact between two males that would be regarded by a reasonable person as an indecent act.'” —Wikipedia

In short, TBEX has chosen to partner with the government of a brutal dictator.

Bravo, TBEX. You’ve really outdone yourself here.

It’s not safe to host travel blogging conferences in countries that are hostile to journalists.

I never identify myself as a blogger, journalist, or member of the media when entering a country that is hostile to journalists. The reason is that I value my life and I’m not going to give them any reason to watch me.

But TBEX goes further — these conferences openly identify bloggers to the government as members of the media.

I’ll be honest: I worried during the entire TBEX in Bangkok that one of my friends would be reported to the police for saying something negative about the king. That’s what Thailand is like nowadays. When you’re living in a military dictatorship and you’re already identified as media, you never know who’s watching.

This goes back to my point that TBEX does not care about the travel blogging industry. If they actually cared about the industry and bloggers themselves, they would not host conferences in Thailand, Philippines, and Zimbabwe, where journalists are routinely murdered for writing negatively about the government.

That’s kind of a basic requirement, don’t you think?

But doesn’t tourism help locals?

Yes. When done the right way, tourism helps locals a lot, especially in countries with corrupt governments. Tourism strengthens economies, allows financial independence, and educates locals about the outside world. And that includes Zimbabwe. I want people to travel independently to Zimbabwe.

That said, when you attend a travel blogging conference, you’re not an independent traveler — you’re essentially a marketing consultant hired to promote their destination. And when you’re being hosted by the government, they are only allowing you to see what they want to see. When it’s a corrupt government in charge of your trip, they will likely only show you places that give them the most financial kickbacks.

The reason why travel blogging conference tickets are much cheaper than in other industries — tickets to TBEX Africa are literally only $97 right now — is because you’re expected to promote the host organization. Nobody is holding a gun to your head, but the host expects you to do so.

Professional bloggers generally provide accurate, truthful coverage of a host destination that isn’t too whitewashed. But newer, less experienced bloggers tend to write glowing accounts, thinking that it’s their duty because they got a “free” trip.

Also, a tidbit: the one time an organization ever asked me for more coverage was after my one and only TBEX trip in Spain. One hotel in Costa Brava felt insulted that I hadn’t written a fawning post exclusively about their property. It doesn’t work that way.

“As a tourist, you have a certain amount of control over where your money goes, using your own judgment calls. That’s theory, and practice may be tricky, but there’s more freedom there to do the right thing — partly because you’re a consumer, too, not a state-funded temporary consultant for the country’s marketing team. That’s supposed to be one of the great things about travel blogging — the freedom to sneak in, make your own mind up and write what you think and feel — and act according to your values as a traveler. Two kinds of freedom: one about strategic spending power, one about bias. Both are personal calls.” –Mike Sowden, Fevered Mutterings

In short, at TBEX Africa in Zimbabwe, participants will only be seeing what Mugabe wants them to see.

Would I visit Zimbabwe as an independent traveler? Yes, I would. (Though writing this post has probably put me on a list somewhere. Ugh.) I would spend my travel dollars close to the ground and learn as much as possible so I could have a well-rounded experience.

I wouldn’t dream of working for Mugabe and the Zimbabwean government.

How to Travel Ethically and Independently

Some people will argue whether it’s ethical to visit Zimbabwe. Yes, money from visas and taxes goes to the government no matter what, but it’s a small amount compared to what you can give to locals. I think that it can be done, and almost anywhere can be, if you make an effort to travel as sustainably as possible. Here are some ways to do so:

Research extensively in advance. Read up on the country’s history, politics, and environmental issues and use that information to illuminate your trip. Don’t show up clueless and unaware.

Visit on your own dime. Pay your own way. If you’re a blogger, don’t ask for comps at small family-owned places.

Spend your money, at small, locally owned businesses. Avoid major chains and international properties.

Buy from the source when possible. If local jewelry is popular in a place you’re visiting, buy from a local artist rather than a gift shop. (That necklace I’m wearing above was purchased directly from a Xhosa artist on the Eastern Cape of South Africa who took my hands and thanked me for buying directly from her instead of from a shop.)

Spread your money among as many businesses as possible. Don’t book tours through your hotel; book direct through the tour operator. Don’t buy all your souvenirs from one vendor; buy from several vendors.

Be kind to animals and the environment. Never ride an elephant. Never take part in activities with animals in captivity. Produce the least amount of waste possible and don’t waste water or energy.

Engage with the locals you meet. Don’t just talk to your waiter when you need another drink — have a full conversation. Rather than just taking, taking, taking, use conversations as an opportunity to exchange.

If you’re a blogger, write comprehensive, thoughtful, and well-researched posts. Be especially sensitive in developing countries, countries where the locals are of a different race than you, and countries with a corrupt government.

“This is one of the main criticisms about travel bloggers and I agree with it. As many don’t have professional journalism training or something equivalent, they run around the world publishing stories that lack cultural/political context and understanding. In some destinations that matters more than others. I don’t trust that a lot of bloggers will have the sophistication to write about a place like Zimbabwe.” –Mariellen Ward, Breathe Dream Go

And finally, if your destination has a corrupt government, absolutely do not go on a trip sponsored by the government!!!!

Sunset over the Zambezi, Zimbabwe, by Stephen Mawby

Should you go to TBEX Africa in Zimbabwe?

Since the Zimbabwe announcement was made, I’ve seen lots of starry-eyed travel bloggers excited to go to Africa. Some genuinely had no idea who Mugabe was and changed their minds once they learned about him. But others won’t let that stand in their way because, well, they really want some free trips in Africa.

The choice is yours, but I hope you choose not to attend. I urge you to do your research on Mugabe’s regime before deciding whether or not to attend. These are the people who are funding this event.

And if you’re thinking of speaking at TBEX Africa, I would reconsider. Apply for a different conference instead. I think the people who choose to participate in this conference are going to have a spotlight on them in a bad way.

The problem, just so it’s clear, is not the country of Zimbabwe itself, which could use the tourism. The problem is that this conference is being hosted and controlled by the government.

Outside Harare, Zimbabwe, by Romain

Should you go to Zimbabwe otherwise?

YES. Go to Zimbabwe independently! Zimbabwe is a beautiful country with warm people and some truly wonderful travel experiences. The wildlife in Zimbabwe is outstanding; Victoria Falls is an icon. And they could really use your tourism dollars.

“I’ve written extensively about Zimbabwe, its people and social programs where tourist dollars directly help the local communities and wildlife conservation and will continue to. I love the place, warts and all. The people are amazing, but I choose to travel independently or with companies that benefit the people/wildlife etc.

I don’t think for a minute that a travel blogging conference in Harare will have the same effect. It’s always going to be a personal choice, but not everyone against this is sitting back and not visiting Zim.” –Andy Higgs, Grown Up Travel Guide

You can cruise down the Zambezi, track lions in Hwange National Park, check out caves in Chivero National Park, or party the night away in Harare. Zimbabwe is huge and there’s a lot to see.

Are there good alternatives to TBEX?

TBEX is the big conference, but it’s far from the best. There are four small travel blogging conference that I recommend attending:

Women in Travel Summit (WITS). A smart conference geared toward women covering thoughtful issues most others ignore. Men are welcome. The next one is in Québec City, Canada, in 2018.

Social Travel Summit (STS). A small, Europe-centric conference for professional bloggers with great networking opportunities. The next one is in Kitzbühel, Austria, in September 2017.

Travel Bloggers Conference (TBC). An invitation-only conference for professional bloggers that has been based in Sri Lanka so far.

Traverse. I haven’t attended, but it’s made by bloggers and I’ve heard they do an excellent job. The next one is in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 2018.

TBEX, you are welcome to respond to this.

I reached out to TBEX for comment; requests for comments were not returned. If that changes, I’ll share their response here.

What do you think? Is this conference a good idea?

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#IFTTT #Travel Blogs

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